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Multiple arrests in Florida craigslist child sex sting

MatthewChillcott
Matthew Chillcott

I’m going to forgo the headline this time because it ruins the surprise.

So say you’re local police department decided to carry out a sting on craigslist to catch would-be child predators. Say they placed an ad on craigslist posing as a stepmother willing to turn out her 14-year-old stepdaughter for sex on craigslist. How many people do you think they would arrest? 1? 3? 10?

In Polk County, Florida sheriff’s arrested 38 people in a 10-day sting dubbed Operation Cyber Child. If you’re new to the site Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County is my favorite sheriff in the country. He has continued to carry out not only child predator stings through craigslist but also many sex trafficking stings as well using craigslist and Backpage.

Of course among the 38 arrestees, we have the obligatory grade school teacher. During the sting, sheriffs arrested 43-year-old Matthew Chillcott, a 5th-grade teacher from Orlando. Hitting the stereotype daily double they also arrested a registered sex offender in 31-year-old Wilson Silva of Brooksville, Florida. Silva has been on the registry since 2001. I wonder if it took him this long to re-offend or was it just the first time he’s been caught.

Now think about this. If they arrest this many people who think they’re being offered a child on craigslist how much do you think it’s happening without it being the police? It’s disturbing to think about it.

While the national media has moved on from craigslist since they closed the erotic services section I haven’t. I still see craigslist for the unmoderated cesspool of pedophiles that it is. Will it have to take a child version of Julissa Brisman before craigslist is held responsible once again? I hope to hell not.

UPDATE 6/16/2012: Add NASA engineer Phil Luna of San Jose, California to the list of those arrested in the Florida sting.

philluna
Phil Luna

Luna was said to have gotten on a plane to come to Florida in order to meet what he thought was going to be a mother and her 11-year-old daughter.

Apparently being a ‘rocket scientist’ doesn’t make you a smarter pedophile.

68 thoughts on “Multiple arrests in Florida craigslist child sex sting”

  1. I have to say, I find it utterly bizarre how you post an example of how to use things like craigslist to improve the safety of children to then rant on abouthow craigslist is a cesspool for allowing personal ads even after they stop allowing personal ads.
    The only thing wrong with them was they backed down in the face of  self serving knuckleheads and dropped the section which as your post points out was capable of being used and was being used to catch child predators.

    Child abuse is a serious subject and a serious matter and it shouldn’t take an awful lot of thought to realise that the biggest problems we’ve ever had with it were caused by societies willingness to ignore it and hide it an wish it away. Since we stopped ignoring it, things have begun to improve.
    I find it impossible to understand why people who like to claim to have childrens’ interests at heart would want to do anything that would push signs and traces of potential abusive situations out of sight and out of reach of the law.

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  2. “Please tell me where I ever said that craigslist can be used to improve the safety of children. ”
    You did not say it could be used to do so, but you should have as your story specifically includes and highlights the information that craigslist and others were used to do just that.
    “Sheriff Grady Judd of Polk County ”
    and his “not only child predator stings through craigslist but also many sex trafficking stings as well using craigslist and backpage”
    But of course, he could only do that, if  those kinds of ads are offered in a visible location. Once the nice public monitorable places go, especially from those sites who would actually be willing to work with law enforcement agencies, like craigslist would and did do, then the effect on vulnerable and abused children and others is not just neutral it becomes the opposite of helpful, and that really is harmful.

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    1. In Trench’s words: “Now think about this. If they arrest this many people who think they’re being offered a child on craigslist how much do you think it’s happening without it being the police? It’s disturbing to think about it.”
      The police have to do these stings to catch these mutants, but craigslist is not willing to work with authorities. The almighty dollar is what matters to them. Read more posts on this blog about craigslist.

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      1. ‘In Trench’s words: “Now think about this. If they arrest this many people who think they’re being offered a child on craigslist how much do you think it’s happening without it being the police? It’s disturbing to think about it.”‘

        Unless we are to believe that abuse is novel (it isn’t, it has always been around, we just pretended it didn’t exist for far too long) then if it isn’t happening somewhere visible like craigslist then all that is being achieved is that it is happening somewhere we don’t know about.

        “The police have to do these stings to catch these mutants, but craigslist is not willing to work with authorities. The almighty dollar is what matters to them.”

        Craigslist went to some lengths to work with authorities, saying it is otherwise is simply false.

        http://www.inquisitr.com/7604/craigslist-working-with-law-enforcement-authorities-to-prevent-illegal-activities/

        http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120405/02403418381/nytimes-columnist-stirs-up-controversy-that-will-only-drive-human-trafficking-further-underground.shtml

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        1. How about some other words by me?

          I’ve had commenters try to tell me that craigslist is a boon for police trying to catch child predators and that moderating the site would drive them underground. That’s the point slapnuts. The farther they are driven underground the less often these crimes happen. Since craigslist has refused to do anything about this they’re nothing more than a public avenue used by pedophiles to network with each other. Take that avenue away from them and there will be less victims.

          And craigslist only works with authorities when they have to.

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  3. “I’ve had commenters try to tell me that craigslist is a boon for police trying to catch child predators and that moderating the site would drive them underground”

    All falling on deaf and unwilling ears apparently.

    “That’s the point slapnuts”.

    Less about protecting children than aggrandising yourself whilst acting childish.

    “The farther they are driven underground the less often these crimes happen”

    Oh for heaven’s sake, if them being hidden and secret prevented these crimes from happening, we would not have spent the last twenty years uncovering the misery and abuse that children suffered for the previous Fifty. It takes particular idiocy to make the claim you make.
    I note you make it without evidence.

    “Since craigslist has refused to do anything about this ”
    They didn’t as even you admit when you say
    “craigslist only works with authorities when they have to”

    So from this, you can be assured, that we are definitively aware that your carrying on is about your own ego mixed with pigheaded ignorance and a determination to ignore reality and absolutely nothing to do with actually aiding in the prevention of child abuse and the sexual abuse of other vulnerable groups.

    You will no doubt carry on, wrapping yourself in the mantle of righteousness while the causes you fight for do more harm to children than those you condemn.
    Just so long as you are happy eh?

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    1. So you’d prefer to see children openly traded on the internet just so it’s not ‘driven underground’? 

      For everyone of these scumbags that they catch there are probably at least 10 more that they haven’t. 

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  4. Trench has cared and done more for children than many people I know. Feel good attacking a caring man? STFU. You sound like the pedophiles I report. FYI: nothing you say will change my opinion.

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  5. These operations are nothing less than entrapment in many cases these officers are posing as female adults luring these men with promises of sex with the ADULT. Contact Jane Velez Mitchell and tell her to do a segment on the other side of this story. 1877 586 7297, or email vcm@cnn.co​m. Do no just listen to these cops side their is another side to these stories in many cases!!

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    1. Yes let’s focus on the poor innocent men who were just looking to pay for rape victims instead of the women and children who are being trafficked for sex. 

      Good luck with that. Let me know how it works out for you. 

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  6. here is a question: Why would a “child Predator” use the adult section of Craigslist (Casual Encounters) to pick up children?

    Here is a quote I heard today that put this into perspective: its Just like a hungry vegan that goes to a steakhouse for dinner.

    Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/09/20/4207285/suspects-arrested-in-sex-sting.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy
    It clearly states you must be 18 years of age to enter the site. Do they think a child predator is thinking “Hey, Lets go to an Adult Website and maybe there is a slim chance that a child will stop in and say hello”

    Its makes no sense. This is why paeople are calling these stings entrapment. Predators are going to go to soft targets such as facebook, twitter etc to pick up kids.

    The only people you are catching in the already sexually charged adult craigslist site are men that have no background or predisposition to commit this crime.

    To catch the right people police either need to move the stings to more appropriate online venues or just stop creating crime in the first place.

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    1. Being an obvious pedo defender you’ve obviously turned a blind eye to all the stories I’ve posted where pedo scum have posted ads looking for children. Or how about the guy who called a handyman that was posting an ad on craigslist and out of the blue offered him money to have sex with his kids.

      And that’s a load of crap about these guys having no predisposition for molesting kids. Most times when these scumbags are caught it’s not their first rodeo.

      So go peddle your pedo crap somewhere else.

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    2. Predators are going to adult websites to talk to other adults who are selling children. Yes, predators troll FB etc for kids to groom and meet, but some would rather just pay some sick bitch on craiglist for her daughter because it’s less work. Nobody has sex with a child out of nowhere. Nobody says “well I WAS going to have sex with an adult, but since the first ad I saw was for a 14 year old, YOLO!” Oh and that vegan in a steakhouse analogy you’re so excited about sucks balls.

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          1. It’s standard pedo defender bullcrap. It’s all a game of misdirection for them. They’re trying to get you to look in another direction except for the one where they’re raping children.

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  7. How about the information you never hear about…let me check my stats, hmmm CyberChild, lets see……..out of 38, 13 were prison, 3 were dismissed, 10 are still open, 1 had CP, 1 was a prior SO, 2 went to trial and 1 of those only received probation. and 8 received just probation so far. So if you cannot deduce from this information that something STINKS LIKE SHIT, then take yourself some allergy medicine or something…plunge your nose out, or whatever it takes to sniff out the fact that these operations don’t do shit to catch predators. It is like this in just about every single operation and there are some that have even more dismissals. Of course they don’t want to release this info, but it is public record. There is more to these BS operations than people think and LEO’s are blatantly misleading all of you into thinking they are catching real predators….not so fast my friend!.

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  8. For those of you doesnt know this whole sting is just a money making machine for florida police deparments, they are not to cacth real predator, if they really want to catch the real predator they will be on teen sites like facebook, and all those that exits out there. Craiglist erotic section is for man and woman over 18 looking to hook up. I dont expect to find an underage there. Anyway what they do is post and ad as a woman and on the ad they dont mention anything about their real intentions. Then after you reply back to talk to a woman then afterbthe conversation get on the sex topic they tell u they are 14 or 15 a horny teen not a child like they want a public to believe and start enticing you to come over to her place and to provoke your mind, then eventhough u learned the age and say not im not interesting inntalking to you they keep pushing and trying to convince you that there is nothing wrong wigh it. Now do u call that cathing a predator or creating a crime for you to be weak and fell for it? Think aboit people 97% of those arrested never had a previous arrest on their life and just the 2% had child porn on their pc. What that says? They re entraping innocent citizen. Be stupid or moral indecent dont make you a criminal or a predator and that is what really happening wake up florida!! It can be your family..

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  9. You guys sound like predators or johns who got busted. And you’re so precious by posting something on a blog that is maybe third hand information at best and calling it ‘proof’.

    I wish I could introduce you to the guy who thinks all Florida child molesters are illegal aliens brought in by the Zionist Jews at Disney. All of you together would be a laugh riot.

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    1. you seem awfully bitter. Were you victimized as an altar boy or something? My argument is that LEO’s are lying to you and are lying to me and you are just another sucker that listens and believes everything you hear. I have no problem with them stickin it to a true predator but any reasonable person would understand that there are 2 sides to every story so when multiple people follow suit alleging the same thing, then maybe that should tell you there’s more to this than you think, fool!

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      1. That’s some flawless logic you got there champ. If you hate pedophiles you must have been molested. If I didn’t know any better that sounds a lot like victim blaming. Something a predator would do.

        Wow, a bunch of creepers got together and filed a lawsuit. I’m convinced.

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        1. You shouldn’t talk about your priest like that, shame on you. Of course that is what i would expect from a Trashy Trench narrow minded fool who thinks law enforcement can do whatever the hell they want. As far as the flawless logic, that is just your mind failing you once again. Take the time to educate yourself before you start flappin at the mouth and spreading your hate propaganda. Here, this article on Florida Sting Operations Explained might help!
          https://docs.google.com/document/d/13GH9fTymlqyhA3ZOwlGf7Dx7nNTjGH6NoovcTikUAi4/edit?usp=sharing

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        3. Please stop being so gullible, it shows that you’re weak minded and a follower. I sincerely hope you don’t believe something everyone else tells you let alone money hungry law enforcement officials. It’s PROVEN that child predators are far and few in between and it’s PROVEN that who you need to look at in those instances are close family members/friends etc. Not men logging onto adult websites that are LOOKING for consensual legal sex. This is the reason why Florida has a 74% increase in “sex offenders” over the past 5 years compared to a 23% increase for the rest of the nation. Get your nose out of law enforcement’s anal cavity, and wake up! It’s very clear what’s going on here, and if you can’t see it you’re either dumb as f%ck, or don’t give a f%ck, and I hope it’s the first one.

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          1. Gee. When I was molested, it was the school janitor, not a friend or family member. These guys like to network these days, and kids get passed from one to another, sometimes through Craigslist and other sites like it. I would like to see your “proof” that child predators are few and far between. If that is the case, the few are certainly getting around a lot.

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          4. It’s no secret that sex offenders are usually family members or someone close that the child trusts,that IS PROVEN, please stop acting dumb. It’s sad that you guys don’t know anything about these cases EXCEPT what the police tell you, and you believe it at the drop of a dime and go and run with it. You don’t see t as a problem that men go on the internet without even thinking about “having sex with a minor” (actually it’s the complete opposite), and they stumble into a trap that’s meant for people “who seek sex from minors on the internet” (which is what they tell you and want you to believe) Honestly, do you even care if the police entrap innocent people? Or should they be allowed to do any/everything in these types of cases? If so, just say that but don’t start typing stuff you have no clue about.

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          5. You are getting boringly repetitive. We are not presently discussing that sort of abuse. We are talking about the kind of abuse that happens through Craigslist. Are you able to focus? Good. I am of the opinion that abuse of children should be attacked wherever and whenever it occurs. Trench has already attempted to explain to you that pedophiles not only recruit victims everywhere they find them, but they use Craigslist to network and even to pass victims around. IMO, if a man answers an ad for sex with a minor, he deserves whatever punishment he gets.

            You keep trying to deflect the topic into “police entrapment” and other red herrings. Tell me, are you a pedo yourself, or just acquainted with one (or more)?

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          6. Ronni who told you the police put ads on cl as minor looking for sex?? That what they tell the press but is nothing like that believe me. What they do is put an ad on the sex section about a woman looking to talk or meet someone and that it. When you reply the add they start talking to you like a woman and after they start getting into the sex talk they tell u oh you know what im 15 or 16 and im very horny come over. Eventhough you say im not interested bye.. They keep comming back at you to entrap you. They start playing sex games and calling you less man or tell you that you are a coward and stuff like that. Basically they want you to feel horny with a horny and willing teen to engage on sexual conversation. Now please tell me if that looks appropiate to you or looks like they are catching any predator? Thanks

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          7. Please cite reliable references. As is, you sound like the voice of experience. If you are an adult, you know how to shut down that sort of thing, so quit whining about it. If you don’t want too have sex with a teen (or purported teen), then don’t respond. This isn’t brain science.

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          8. If someone you don’t want to engage further keeps contacting you, this is easily solved by ignoring them, or better yet, filtering your e-mail so anything from them is automatically deleted…not rocket science.

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          9. in many cases there is no communication with a purported minor. It is with a “guardian” and they send an attractive photo to lure men in……its not rocket science..that you are correct

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          10. Reality check. Trench can try to explain it all he wants to but here’s the kicker – Only an extremely small number of extremely dumb individuals would even think about using Craigslist or Backpage to “network” or recruit new victims and even fewer actually do so. For every real case of child trafficking on Craigslist there are untold thousands of children being trafficked right under your nose. First and foremost a criminal wants to avoid detection and that simply cannot be readily accomplished on a public forum like Craigslist. Instead they would set up a means of communication that’s as secure and anonymous as possible using VPN services and/or dark net services like Tor and Freenet.

            Second no pedophiles smarter than a jar of mayonnaise waste time trolling Craigslist going through literally thousands upon thousands of ads hoping against all hope to run across a child lying about his or her age. Predators go where the prey is in abundance and that sure as hell isn’t Craigslist or Backpage. Predators go where the children are and these days that’s a whole host of child oriented social networking sites, Apps and the number one place predators prowl? Online multi-player gaming.

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    2. And you’re so precious by posting something on a blog that is maybe third hand information at best and calling it ‘proof’.

      That kind of describes everything you’ve ever done in life doesn’t it?

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  10. People lets be educated and share our opinion with respect. There is always to sides to any story if you want to be the person to be right you need to hear both and make your own clonclusion. Is true there are predators on the web looking for kids to talk to, nobody is saying there are not, but this stings are not perform to catch them is perform for other motives, i know is hard to believe because we live in a democratic and lawfull country but yes we have a lot of cover ups and mess in this country and for some is very hard to believe that the goverment can do this. But yes the real meaning of this stings is to make a budget to make sure they dont get fired, layoff, cut hours, cut increases and cut training and new hiring becuase of the economy. Remember the police deparments depends of goverment budget and when economy is on the down like it is for more than 5 years they get budget cut. So they have to find a way to feed their families. On the other side yes is entrapment because they are going to adults sites not teen sites to get the attention of an adult that is already looking for sex with an adult so they post as an adult and start talking to you as an adult and then tell you they are underage and when u learn that some people say bye im not interested and instead of they leaving everything there like the book says they keep insisting and enticing and luring you with sexual comments and call you names because u dont want to talk even though you say nooo they keep insisting until finally some people the curiosity wins. Now i ask you something is that a pedophile? And remember something they tell the public children when someone says children everyone thinks 5 to 12.. But they say either 14 or 15 or 16 those are teens not innocent children. I know moraly is wrong to talk to any underage eventhough is 16 or 17 about sex but from being moraly wrong to being a predator or pedophile is a huge different si that is what you need to realized that they selling you the wrong story becuase they know you will easily fall for it. The real true will eventually come out question is you want to close your eyes or be right about what is really going on?

    Thanks everyone for reading.

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    1. I just would like Trench to answer my question I asked above. That’s all and there is a reason I asked that which i will explain once I get an answer. I am very capable of keeping a good debate civil, but i can also dish it out as well as I can take the unconstructive criticism. So Trench, your thoughts on the possibility of government involvement into CP?

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          1. if that is how you describe factual information that’s only because the diarrhea is coming out of your mouth which speaks of your character and your site being nothing more than a gossip column

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        1. as far as production, that I do not know, but it doesn’t take much to find out that the government is involved in some way and has been for some time, especially with distribution, etc. Just research Project Looking Glass and the Supreme Court case of Jacobson v. US. In fact, here’s a link.
          http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-law/sting-leads-arrest-suspected-child-predator/nb6BP/
          I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t come across numerous references about this and I can provide that info as well. There is no denying that the government made numerous illegal attempts to solicit Jacobson into purchasing CP related videos furnished from a magazine that they produced. But there is plenty more info, believe me. You can try to make an argument to the contrary, but the facts are the facts and I am not even going to try to pick on you this evening, lol!

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          1. I also want to place emphasis in the article and the Robert Brase case during Project Looking Glass…..The only child pornography discovered was the tape received from the U.S. Postal Service. So yes, the government illegally distributed CP to this guy! But not only to him, but to Jacobson and the others as well. Now who are the true sickos here? Is this the type of conduct we expect of a democratic government? this is unacceptable

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          2. so I guess you call the facts in Jacobson and government involvement into CP diarrhea too? lmao I guess according to you there was never a holocaust either right? it was just a hoax?

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          3. Did I strike a nerve there Skippy?

            So are you really comparing a bunch of creepers who were busted in Florida to the Jews in the Holocaust? Wow, that’s so far off base that it’s in the back row of the parking lot of the stadium.

            Not to mention your prized Jacobson case is over 20 years old and predates public widespread use of the internet.

            You seem to have a gift of comparing apples to oranges.

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          7. you obviously do not know anything about law, or are completely ignorant, but probably both! You’re tarded

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          8. you apparently can’t read either because i made no such comparison….thus confirming tardation. Its quite odd that that case is still used presently in entrapment cases….so once again, tardation is rooted in your remarks.

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        2. Produce as in movie production? No I don’t think so. Produce as in duplicate and distribute? That’s an undeniable fact.

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  11. Ok, I’ve let you jokers blather on long enough. I’m not about to let my site become a platform for pedophiles, predators and perverts. The only reason I let you comment here in the first place is to show that idiots like you actually exist. If even a small amount of what you morons say is true then how come you didn’t have two brain cells to rub together to realize that you were being set up? Wait don’t answer that. You can tell it to the….

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  13. This sheriff is destroying the lives of people who are lured into his trap but would never act out if not enticed. How often does a woman really offer her daughter (or step duaghter) for sex? Never. Sure, some real sex offenders will apply (some really dumb ones) but the ocassional horny college student gets trapped, too and gets labeled a sex offender even though he never touched the girl – who does not even exist.

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  14. “Apparently being a ‘rocket scientist’ doesn’t make you a smarter pedophile.”

    That made me laugh. Sooo…were there any brain surgeons in the mix, too? Just wondering.

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