I entered a ‘whistleblower’ complaint against ICAC operatives in WA state over two years ago. As did other parents of young men swept up in their wide nets. I received a form letter back, at that time, basically saying ‘Not our problem’.
After the TImes article was printed I wrote back to the U.S. department of justice, again asking what I could do to facilitate an investigation in to the fraud and noncompliance used in proactive ICAC stings.
I received a reply from
Jeffrey S. Gersh, Deputy Associate Administrator, Special Victims and Violent Offenders Division, Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.
As I shared his email with my coalition, we remembered other emails that specifically speak of Mr. Gersh – written by none other than ICAC task force Commander Captain Mike Edwards
Following is my reply to Mr. Gersh.
Mr. Gersh,
You wrote to me two weeks ago in response to my request for assistance with opening an investigation into Washington states breach of contract concerning the ICAC grants.
I did enter a new complaint with the office of inspector general but I am not anticipating their reply to be anything more than the last time I reached out to them.
You stated to me that the “OJP takes seriously all allegations of misconduct with regard to our grantees’ compliance with the terms of their grant” yet that doesn’t seem to be the case.
In addition to not following the rules in the ICAC manuals, I’ve also just uncovered that you have been personally aware of funds coming in from Operation Underground Railroad since at least 2016, to specifically fund these fake proactive stings. Stings created by law enforcement for the sole purpose of making money for LE involved, and the state in general, with no regard to the actual police work of finding predators.
Here’s an email which states your position of breach of contract dated february 12th, 2016:
February 12, 2016 – Email from Cpt. Edwards to all WA ICAC Affiliates reference Operation Underground Railroad
“All,
The ICAC Commanders Meeting was this week in California. OJJDP Deputy Associate Administrator Jeffrey Gersh addressed the commanders in regard to an organization that has been reaching out to ICAC Task Force groups. The group is known as Operation Underground Railroad and is not affiliated with the national ICAC program. He strongly cautioned any ICAC Task Force group or affiliate organization against working with this organization stating that it would be viewed as a serious breach of the directives and signed agreements for being a part of the national program. If any of your organizations have been contacted by this group I urge that your organization give strong consideration over associating with them. By no means are you to utilize any resources, equipment, personnel, training, etc. that are directly related to, or supported by, the national ICAC Task Force Program. Nor are either the national program or the Washington State ICAC Task Force to be represented in any fashion as being involved in, assisting or supporting operations with this organization.If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me.
Thank you,
Mike”
Yet WSP has received funds every year from OUR and now WSP ICAC lead detective, Carlos Rodriguez, actually left WSP to work directly for O.U.R.!
In 2015, OUR donated $51,948 to the Washington State Patrol; in 2016 $27,000; in 2017 $39,999, in 2018 $52,500, according to the most recent public tax records, a total of $174,447.
Please advise me of someone I can talk to directly to further this investigation. This state has been functioning in breach of their ICAC contract for many years now, ruining hundreds of lives and communities while pretending to save children. Do not let this continue.
Respectfully,
Kathleen Hambrick
The Lady Justice Myth 
Kathleen,
As I have come to know the issues surrounding the sex sting “machine”, I have also come to respect and welcome your blog and writings. You have a fan and I am involved in my own state (Utah).
Well done. I anticipate understanding more and getting involved more in the future.
Tyler
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There is plenty of proof to show that these sex sting operations and the forced convictions are nothing more than a scam.
We have recordings of conversations with defense attorneys, which are very important in showing what defense attorneys do to help the prosecution get these convictions. One of the main tactics these defense attorneys, who are also involved in this scam, use is pretty much focus on blaming the jury ahead of time. They work hard to convince clients that juries are harsh, difficult to convince, etc. There are others working with them who will also work to convince defendants of this.
The reality is that juries are simply manipulated and fooled by the prosecutors who present a very biased case, focusing only on certain details to make the defendant look as bad as possible, and the defense cooperates by also only focusing on those details and pretends to be trying to defend that. The defense avoids presenting anything that shows real innocence and will definitely not present anything that reveals any wrongdoing by the police or any manipulation being done by the prosecutor(s) to make the case look like something it is not. The defense simply focuses on trying (or pretending) to address what the prosecution has presented. These are the kinds of tactics they use to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty. The defense certainly participates in that.
In the end, they’ve pretty much worked together to fool everybody to get exactly what they want. They fool the client, the jury, and even the judge. Some judges may actually be involved in this corruption too. It all has to do with keeping important facts hidden and only focus on what makes the defendant look guilty. They claim that none of the other stuff matters, or it’s not allowed in court, or it’s not going to help, it’s only going to hurt, etc. They do and say anything they can to keep those important facts out of it, to keep from creating any unreasonable doubt. We do know for sure that those things they say (to keep important facts and evidence hidden) are just another dishonest tactic they use to force the convictions they want.
This information should be of particular interest to those who work with uncovering wrongful convictions. The recordings we have show exactly what defense attorneys do and how they do it to help force wrongful convictions.
Unfortunately, there are many wrongful convictions because of these dishonest tactics that we know for sure are being used, and who knows how long they’ve been doing this. It’s highly likely there are many prosecutors and defense attorneys who have been using these unethical tactics for a very long time to force wrongful convictions.
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Correction from my previous comment: I meant to say “reasonable” doubt instead of “unreasonable”
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If I suggest things you’ve already tried or considered a hundred times already, please forgive me. Do you think a media outlet with a good investigative team might take any interest in these abuses?
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