A Fort Carson soldier is under investigation after he was caught by a civilian group of pedophile hunters.
Fort Carson Spc. Brandon Storey states in the first few minutes of a video on YouTube taken by Colorado Ped Patrol he was planning on meeting children, a 12-year-old and an 11-year-old, for sex.
The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division said in a statement they are aware of the Nov. 22 incident in a Walmart parking lot in Fountain and they are investigating Storey. He is also facing a misdemeanor in the 4th Judicial District for obstructing government operations on Nov. 22 related to an altercation with Fountain police after they arrived.
The 27-year-old specialist with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team has served since 2016, according to his military record.
The group, Women Against Predators, organized the meeting with Storey after texting with him and gathering incriminating statements from him during lengthy conversations. The exchanges, including Storey’s graphic sexual statements, are also posted in a YouTube video.
Tommy Fellows, with Colorado Ped Patrol, another private group of pedophile hunters, confronted Storey on camera, in an exchange where the soldier admitted his intentions.
Women Against Predators worked with Colorado Ped Patrol, in part, because none of the members of Women Against Predators live locally, explained Rob Raybourn, the only man in the group. It’s a small group of four volunteers, who live across the country and were working on 27 cases in late December, he said.
Colorado Ped Patrol is bigger with 25 people working at any one time, an email from the group said. The group was working on about 20 cases and had three to four with pending meet-ups in recent weeks.
Fellows, who appears in the video, has had some legal trouble of his own, and he is serving nine months probation on a misdemeanor assault charge. Fox31 reported that the assault charge stemmed from a fight with a former supporter, who went to Fellows’ home to talk with him and got punched.
Women Against Predators and Colorado Ped Patrol at times work closely together to catch sexual offenders, Raybourn said.
Raybourn said the civilians were working with Army investigators on the confrontation. But two hours before an expected meeting, the Army investigation office called to cancel, so the meeting was moved off base.
Mark Lunardi, with the Army’s Criminal Information Division (CID), confirmed that the Colorado Ped Patrol did contact Army investigators ahead of the planned meeting.
The investigators requested additional information but did not receive it before the planned meeting, he said, so they coordinated with Fountain police, Lunardi said in a written statement.
The “(Criminal Investigation Division) appreciates CPP bringing this matter to our attention,” Lunardi said.
Colorado Ped Patrol responded to the Army’s statement by providing email records that show the group did send a link to an investigator with evidence ahead of time. The investigator couldn’t immediately open the link because of information-technology protections.
In early January, Lunardi confirmed the investigation is still underway and Storey is not in custody.
Raybourn said he is concerned the Army has allowed Storey continued access to his electronics. The group can tell he has access, because his profiles have been active on apps they use to interact with potential offenders.
Some law enforcement agencies can be hesitant to work with civilians engaged in this work, and two experts raised issues with this style of civilian-led investigation.
Ryan Coward, a board member with the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, said that these groups are allowed to use tactics barred to law enforcement.
Official agencies have more boundaries based on years and years of court precedent and so it would be better if investigations into suspected offenders were left to law enforcement, he said.
“All those boundaries are designed to keep our judicial system fair at the end of the day,” Coward said.
However, both Women Against Predators and Colorado Ped Patrol provided The Gazette with documentation of past cases where they have seen success.
Raybourn said his group creates fake profiles on teenage Facebook groups and then the members wait for predators to find them and message them first.
He said the group does not entice or lead people who message them online.
“Our goal is to have a case to hand over to the police, the district attorney,” Raybourn said.
Raybourn says members of his group are survivors of crimes similar to those they work to prevent, and that’s what motivates them.
“We would rather them talk to us than a real child,” he said.
In October, Colorado Ped Patrol organized a meeting with Bryan Borenstein and Joanna Ferguson in Cimarron Hills. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call and later issued a news release saying the office recommended charges against the pair of attempted human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude and internet luring of a child.
Following his arrest, Borenstein showed sheriff’s detectives messages in his phone that matched up with those provided by Colorado Ped Patrol.
In this case, a member of Colorado Ped Patrol was pretending to be a 13-year-old, and Borenstein said in his messages he wanted to rape the child.
He also admitted to the investigators he attempted to buy children off the internet and paid someone Bitcoin for three young girls. Colorado Ped Patrol was not involved in that exchange.
Borenstein is in El Paso County jail facing four felony charges, including internet sexual exploitation of a child, internet luring of a child with intent to exploit and enticement of a child.
A Clovis, N.M, resident, Timothy Harper, also was arrested after a similar meeting where he was confronted by Colorado Ped Patrol in August. He was arrested on suspicion of acts including sexual exploitation of children and bestiality. He admitted his intended and previous acts to a detective, according to news release from the Clovis Police Department.
Speaking in general, Laurie Rose Kepros, an attorney and director of sexual litigation for the Office of the State Public Defender, said that the civilian work focused on stopping strangers on the internet is not targeting the bulk of the sex crimes against children. The vast majority, about 90%, of the child sexual assault cases are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, she said.
“It is coming at the hands of the adults that are in their schools, in their homes, at their friend’s homes,” Kepros said.
At times, people who were sexually abused can become perpetrators themselves, so she would like to see more prevention and therapy for victims to help prevent future crimes.
When it comes to predators caught up in online stings, led by civilians or police, those people tend to be developmentally underdeveloped, mentally ill or struggling socially.
“It’s not the universe of the problem or even where most of the problem lies,” Kepros said.
Civilian-led confrontations are also problematic because they can also lead to a physical altercation, and the civilians involved can be harmed, she said.
Kepros said these cases should be left in the hands of law enforcement to prioritize.
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