Thief Tips Off Police After Finding Child Porn During Break-In
“A Red Deer man has been jailed after an outraged burglar spotted massive amounts of child pornography on his computer and called police. William Mitchell, who pleaded guilty earlier this year in Red Deer provincial court, was charged in October 2005 after RCMP, acting on an anonymous tip, searched his home. An agreed statement says that someone had broken into Mitchell’s residence and taken a video camera. The camera, the tipster said, had images of child pornography and would be left on the steps of a church. Police retrieved the camera and soon realized the burglar had videotaped a computer monitor displaying images of child pornography. Following the address printed on the burglar’s note, police seized computer equipment containing 13,315 pornographic images. Mitchell will remain in jail until he is sentenced on Dec. 1. Cpl. Greg Brown of Red Deer City RCMP said outside the court that the burglary remains unsolved.” — Chronicle Herald (Canada)
It’s hard not to laugh when you see one criminal considering himself morally superior to another. For example, in prisons there is a caste system that enables the murderer to look on the pedophile with contempt, all the while leaving others to wonder if it’s really “better” to kill a person than to grope a child. A similar logic is at play in this case. Like the hooker who turned in a pedo client or the robber who discovered naked pics of his underage sister, the burglar in this story was apparently poking around his victim’s computer for some valuable information — credit card records, perhaps. And when he found child pornography, his outrage inspired him to find this clever way to rat on the guy.
And yet, while you admire the robber’s stratagem, you still can’t help but wonder about the criminal’s notion of moral superiority. Is breaking into someone’s house and robbing him “better” than downloading illegal internet porn? Probably far more people are engaged in the latter than in the former, if for no other reason than the fact that dl’ing porn is easy — just a click away! — while breaking into a house requires a bit more skill and perhaps moxie. If more people are doing it, does that mean the act acquires a “moral majority?” Or is it just a common crime, like speeding or jaywalking?
Either way, you can be sure that the anti-pedo vigilante groups springing up on the net are going to take notice of a story like this. Currently groups like Perverted Justice simply “out” a pedo by posting personal information about him online. Can it be long before they employ black-clad ninja burglars to invade houses in search of more incriminating evidence?
good on that thief for doing the right thing and helping put yet another sick pedo in jail, i don’t agree with theft but this good deed has got to cancel out the bad actions of what might be just a desperat junky looking for enough money for thier next fix a pedo is much worse.
in blowing the whistle on a pedophile there is something in for the thief. In fact, everybody gets his/her piece from the imaginary cake of the absolute moral integrity becuz of the grossness of the pedophile act.
What is disturbing: the arrogance of that pedophile, keeping thousands of gross pictures on his computer, feeling so damn secure. I mean, he knows the rules: if spotted, he is socially dead, he goes to jail for a long long time. What drives this maniac to dl those silly pics in spite of the heavy wight of the sword of damocles? is this not a self-destructive force? maybe that same that makes junkies destroy themselves, cutters cut themselves, people starve themselves towards anorexia? psychologically hard to handle…but certainly not a black/white thing…
13,315 pornographic images? aeropuzz, I for one do not believe it’s a self destructive force in this case, but more of an acclimated disregard toward how much he thought he could get away with. Kinda like a petty thief who gets lucky and never gets caught, so he decides to try his luck at at burglary, then bank robbery and so on until his luck runs out.
I know you can’t compare a thief to a pedophile morally, but in this case this child molestor’s luck just ran out, and I’m glad to see that it did.
intothewind, calling him a child molester is uncalled for; there doesn’t seem to be any indication that he did more than download pornography.
SuperVert,
I had to look up the word “moxy,” and, according to dictionary.com, it’s spelled “moxie,” in case it matters to you.
Well Sven, excuuuuuse me!
Sven, the correct spelling absolutely does matter. This is the sort of error that seeps through to the public when you’re cranking out a few thousand words a week — not that that should be an excuse. Foolhardily enough, Supervert rarely uses a spellchecker, tending instead to rely on its own noggin for spelling and grammar. Maybe it’s time to reconsider that approach.
Anyway, you were right, it does matter, and the entry has been updated to the correct spelling. Thank you!
A self destructive force? Acclimated disregard toward how much he thought he could get away with? Why would a man spend years accumulating pornographic pictures, just so he could be caught? I think it’s more natural instinct that anything else. When one sees a picture on the internet that they like, one tends to save it. I currently have about 10.000 pornographic pictures and drawings saved, albeit not of children. Child pornography is not something that is easily attainable. It isn’t like you can just go to xxxhotchildren.com. If such a site even existed, it’d be banned the next day. Only logical thing to do is hog up as much as he can in his limited timeframe, quite natural. So, please don’t assume he was going after society; it isn’t what paedophilia is about.
Secondly, I don’t like what the thief did. He went into someone’s home, browsed his computer and then made his findings known to the world. He breached someone’s privacy. For you who think those means justify the end, just contemplate a society where every man is black-mailed by criminals who had once broken into your home, browsed your computer and threatened to make his findings know. Quite a lucrative business; everybody has something to hide. And you want to give medals to burglars like these?
HP
Halene, to begin with, everybody assumes to know “what paedophilia is about”, so are you. I dont. However, I assume the matter is far too complicated
to make such statements as “it is about this or that”. Thats just too simple imho. What about multiple factors?
Second, the essence of intothewinds and my own argument lies in the huge dicrepancy between legal and illegal actions. the reasons for crossing that border – despite of the impending sanctions – are likely to be multifarious and cannot be reduced to “I like it so I do it”. Let me put it this way: why would you risk to throw away your life like that? possible answers: a) you dont worry about sanctions (youre stupid or crazy, you like to put yourself on the line), b) you are addicted to it in a junkie sense of the matter, c) you dont give a shit about law d) you dont give a damn about the raped children out there e) your sadistic core outwheighs all of your concerns f) you hate yourself and got nothing to lose g) you dont mind being a cog that makes society a darker place h) you feel like a loser i)…on and on it goes…
third, i am sorry to open your eyes, but with file sharing clients, it is as easy to get child porn as it is to get any artists latest work.
finally, the thief. I think he is an asshole too. i think he should have warned the other asshole instead of going to the police (taking out the hard disk or so and then sending him a letter, just giving him a second chance). Difficult matter. I strongly recommend Fritz Langs “M”. It deals with the the same matter…
Aeropuzz, regarding the above statement, I was with you all the way until the last paragraph: “giving him a second chance”…I’m not sure exactly what this means; a second chance at what?
Well, intothewind, after all he is not a child molester, is he. the thief, beeing himself a morally dubious character, is imo not in the position to make a decision that so fiercly affects Mitchells fate. The thief should have taken out Mitchells hard disk, then sent him a letter that he will keep the disk until Mitchell proves (eg. by sending a blank to an anonymous mail box owned by the thief) that Mitchell has joined a problem-specific psychological help program, i.e. a kind of “prevent-me -from-offending-program” (there are, at least here in switzerland, such contact points – which is rather progressive.) so long, greez
What utter nonsense, drivel, and bullshit some people speak! Thieves are absolutely nothing compared to paedophiles. This thief deserves a medal, a shake of the hand, and an award.
Stealing jewelry, cash, guns, and electronics is one thing…stealing the innocence of a child, and ruining the rest of their life is quite another.
If you hurt children, you DESERVE your home to be raided by whoever, Police, FBI, burglars.
Alan G, imagine a gang of weird sickos out there who beat up, rape, murder a (grown up) girl. They film the whole crime and broadcast it over the internet. when traced, I am quite sure police will not punish the ones who watch the sick movie but the ones who comitted the crime. And I am quite sure you wouldnt argue that the sickos w a t c h i n g the movie actually beat up, raped and murdered the girl – cuz they didnt.
Mitchell wasnt engaged in “stealing the innocence of a child, and ruining the rest of their life”, as you put it, but was sick enough to dl pictures where others comitted these crimes.
Fact is, Mitchell has not hurt children, so in my eyes, if his home is raided by Police and FBI, that is fair, but whistle-blown by a thief, thats not. Just my humble utter-bullshit-opinion, you decorous chap.
Aeropuzz, I meant something slightly different with my statement. I do not know every aspect of paedophilia, but I know enough to know that not every pedophile is that way, just to hurt society. I apologise if it sounded like anything else.
Also, I your list is to black and white. ‘’ a) you don’t worry about sanctions (youre stupid or crazy, you like to put yourself on the line)’’ How do you come to this conclusion? Talking about file sharing for example: it’s illegal, but half the world’s population does it. Are all those people stupid, crazy or putting themselves on the line? No, let me open your eyes. Everything a person does is selfish. Everyone is out for their own gain. It is as simple as ‘I like it so I do it’, though there are indeed a few more factors(though one may like one action, the consequence, going to jail, is less liked).
Thirdly, you’re right about getting porn is easy, but how about one certain picture. Torrents don’t stay online forever, so it’s impossible to download it every time you want to see it. Now imagine there are millions of pictures which you like equally, but separately. Would you be able to choose between The Last Supper and the David? Pornography is still art.
And I already commented on the society we would have if we allowed thieves to set the morale standard.
Finally, thanks for your tolerance. People like Alan G are the reason there’s violence in this world.
HP
All pedophiles deserve to be locked away. This thief should get a medal, and a full pardon for his robbery.
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