We were so excited to receive news of the following story from Trey, our resident “sex sting” advocate.
Finally, one of the MANY, MANY victims of the Central Florida Sex Sting Scams fought back by filing a lawsuit against the Police who had entrapped him.
We’ve know for a long time that these sex stings are a bait and switch scam. Police place or respond to personal ads on OVER 18 websites such as Craigslist, reel in the target with heated exchanges, and then pull a switch by introducing a hypothetical minor into the conversation.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
A man arrested in a child sex sting is suing the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on claims of entrapment.
Kenneth Hochstein’s attorney said deputies tried to entrap his client, who he said never had any intentions of meeting a 14-year-old girl.
After Hochstein’s arrest, he was not allowed to see his children and put on leave from his job as a federal corrections officer.
Sheriff’s Office video of the 2011 sex sting showed men who responded to a Craigslist ad which advertised a woman and her 14-year-old daughter for sex.
Hochstein inquired, saying he was interested only if the daughter was at least 18.
Attorney Patrick Megaro said Hochstein never intended to have sex with a minor.
“Every time the police suggested that he carry on any sort of sexual conduct with anyone under the age of 18, he specifically disavowed that,” Megaro said.
Megaro said once Hochstein showed up at the home to meet the woman, the undercover detectives told him it would be three of them and never mentioned the third was underage.
Hochstein was arrested, but a judge tossed out the charges a year later, saying the Sheriff’s Office failed to clearly communicate that there was a child involved.
“The way the police did this was using trickery and entrapping him,” Megaro said.
Hochstein was put on unpaid leave for a year during the investigation. The Department of Children and Families didn’t let him see his four children for two years.
He’s suing the Sheriff’s Office which he said severely tarnished his reputation.
“No matter how much evidence that proved this man did nothing wrong, people are going to look at him as a child molester,” Megaro said.
Hochstein has no criminal history on record on central Florida.
here is a very informative website about Florida stings:
http://governingus.com/groups/florida-scandal/
Found this great link on what Florida Law Enforcement thinks about Judges dismissing their Florida ICAC Task Forces’ internet sex sting cases. Please read all the comments!!!!!!
http://forums.leoaffairs.com/showthread.php?186269-WHAT-S-GOING-ON-WITH-THE-MANATEE-COUNTY-INTERNET-SEX-STINGS
Is there any way that funds can be collected to help pay for a civil suit. I believe that Mr. Gennette is as well seeking to file a federal suit but needs financial assistance to pay for a good attorney.
These DoJ ICAC Program funded internet sex stings are still on going and clearly still focused at entrapping innocent men with their “bait and switch” illegal tactics that force them to lie, solicit, coerce and lure individuals by creating crimes to make high arrest numbers.
Without these high arrest numbers, these Florida ICAC Task Forces would not receive high $$$ DoJ grants. They have to create the crimes in adult websites to be able to keep the high arrest numbers. They don’t care that the cases are dismissed, charges dropped, etc, etc. by the legal system, Prosecutors and Judges, either way, they get credit for the arrest which they are required to report to DoJ so that DoJ can report to Congress.
Let’s help out Gennette and others that have been found “Not Guilty” or have won their Appeals to sue the Sheriffs and Police Departments and the State and even DoJ who have all been involved in ruining their lives, families, and any future.
Agreed that we should be doing something about this. If anyone is interested, please contact [email protected]
When you get list yet they call you keep calling you then change the meeting spot then start talking sex send you a app yo your phone that don’t say 14 on it.Then you never made it you turned around because you asked her 2 times if she was a cop but she j7st keeps talking sex.Then say you fled meeting spit.
There are actually a lot of these cases that get thrown out that we do not always hear about – I know that at one time a reporter named Noel was looking at them and found that these stings are violated the Federal rules for conducting them …
Yes, read more about that here: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/how-law-enforcement-turns-law-abiding-men-into-sexual-predators/
We need many more of these suits; the bait and switch must stop: https://t.co/znmjY4XiFW
I guess when you have money you can sue the state. There is so much injustice in these situations. Hopefully he will win and it can lead to more people fighting.