He pretended to be Emma, a 14-year-old smiling girl with brown hair and black eyes.
Behind this false profile, was actually hiding Lucas
(the first name has been changed)
, 16, a first year student in a high school in Rambouillet (Yvelines).
Inspired by a television report on pedophile hunters, he made an appointment with one of them on the edge of the forest in Rambouillet, Saturday March 13.
Accompanied by two friends, Mehdi and Hugo
(the first names have been changed)
, Lucas wanted to know "if it was that easy to trap a pedophile".
The case turned out to be even simpler than expected.
A 29-year-old man showed up and the trio set off in pursuit of him.
Until the latter finds himself stranded on a peninsula and calls the police.
The individual, who initially denied the facts, confessed after being confronted with the result of the exploitation of his mobile phone… which contained child pornography images.
Already under an arrest warrant for rape of minors, he will be tried on April 14 for sexual proposals made to a minor by an adult using an electronic means of communication and followed by a meeting.
He followed the Instagram accounts of girls around them
A victory for teenagers.
“We wanted to scare him so he wouldn't start again,” explains Lucas.
To attract the pervert, the young man has therefore created a fake profile on the Coco.fr dating site, known to identify people who are infrequent.
Quickly, the young Emma is approached virtually by several men.
One of them says his name is Brice and suggests that he continue to chat on the Instagram application.
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“From that point on,” Lucas says, “this guy sent in pictures of himself shirtless and made some really filthy obscene proposals.
The disgusted high school student recalls that he knew Emma's age, 14, but that "it didn't bother him, quite the contrary".
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"Everything happened very quickly," Mehdi specifies.
It was he who directly suggested that we meet in the forest to have sex.
Emma answers that she hesitates but "he insisted and put her in confidence".
The three friends agree and make a date for him the next afternoon.
If they went there, it is also, because in the meantime, they noticed that the famous Brice was following young girls in their entourage on Instagram.
A pure coincidence.
“I don't want my little sister to receive such offers,” Mehdi says.
Naive or fragile people could have had the bad luck to meet him.
"
They don't encourage self-justice
According to their plan, "the idea was to be threatening but not to beat him up."
While Mehdi wishes to contact the police beforehand, Lucas hesitates: “I was afraid of being at fault and that the pedophile would be considered a victim.
"
"I do not encourage anyone to reproduce what we have done but I'm happy that this pervert is sleeping in prison and can no longer harm anyone," says Lucas.
He considers that he "was lucky because he did not have an imposing build, when he saw us, it was he who got scared".
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Mehdi also recognizes that "attracting a pedophile in this way was dangerous, he could have been armed, if it had to be done again, I would not go".
For the young man, "it's up to the police to hunt down the criminals, not us".
Afterwards, the two teenagers realize that the story could have ended badly and promise not to start over.
“After that, we didn't brag about it everywhere, we just told a few friends and our family.
"
For the police, "we do not invent a police officer"
They have therefore learned the lesson of the Rambouillet police officers.
“These young people thought they were doing the right thing but they put themselves in danger,” said a police source.
“The man opposite could have had a gun and things could have turned out differently.
"
Faced with this phenomenon which comes from England and is developing all over the country, the police remain perplexed.
In any case, it is the first time that they have dealt with a case of this kind in the Rambouillet sector.
Even if attracting a pedophile by pretending to be a young teenager is not illegal, for this source, "we do not invent a police officer, this kind of intervention can be dangerous".
While before the police used this kind of practices, for a few years they no longer trap pedophiles on the Internet.
“Several case law consider that it is an incitement to commit an offense.
"
