A Student Used Snapchat To Pose As A 16-Year-Old-Girl On Tinder – And Caught A Predatory Cop

By Lauren Rearick


A 20-year-old California college student used an augmented-reality photo effect on Snapchat that adjusts its users's pictures to adhere to more traditionally feminine codes — and in doing so, he took down a predatory policeman trying to engage in sexual activity with someone he knew to be underage.


The San Jose Police Department confirmed that Ethan, a college student from the San Francisco Bay area who only wanted to be identified by his first name, determined to use the filter to pose as a lady user on Tinder, NBC Bay Area reported. Ethan, who assumed the identity of Esther, told NBC Bay Area that immediately after a friend had shared their account of childhood sexual misconduct, he determined to pose as female on the dating app in a task to catch local pedophiles.


Ethan had listed his age as 19 years old on Tinder, which requires that users are 18 or older; he then filtered the augmented photo to create Esther look younger, the San Jose Police Department said in statement. A gentleman, who police would later identity as 40-year-old Robert Davies, a policeman from the San Mateo Police Department, initially contacted “Esther” on Tinder, asking, “Are you down to have some fun tonight?”


The conversation, which began on May 11, 2019, was moved by both parties to Kik, where Ethan told Davies that “Esther” was 16 years old. Davies later asked for the conversation to be moved to Snapchat, where Ethan repeated that Esther was only 16. Ethan told NBC Bay Area that the conversation lasted for 12 hours, and conversations “got more explicit.” According to the investigation, the 40-year-old officer denied being bothered by Esther’s announced age.


Ethan later alerted authorities to the conversation, and San Jose Police started an investigation on May 13, 2019. Police arrested Davies on June 6, 2019, and he was booked in the Santa Clara County Jail on one charge of contacting a minor to commit a felony; his bail was set at $50,000.


San Mateo Police Department confirmed it placed Davies on paid leave as soon as the investigation began. San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer mentioned in a Facebook statement that the officer’s conduct isn't “a reflection of all that we stand for as a Department, and is an affront to the tenets of our department and our profession as a whole.”


Ethan told NBC Bay Area that he never intended to discover a cop through his unofficial investigation, rather he “was just looking to get someone.”


Yet Ethan was able to assist police through his use of Snapchat, Kelvin Coleman, Executive Director at the National Cyber Security Alliance, does not suggest for others to pursue similar action. “We have very dedicated law enforcement officials who do that for a living,” he mentioned. “This situation turned out really well, although the outcome could have been different in other circumstances. If you’re not trained in this, and if you’re not doing it in the correct way, you can just be in a very bad situation.”


Internet-based sexual misconduct is an ongoing offer in the U.S. The Department of Justice reported that 1 in 7 adolescent Internet users experience “unwanted Internet solicitation” and in 76 percent of these cases, the encounter began in an internet chat room. Yet, apps including Kik and Snapchat have also become popular places for online predators.


Adam Scott Wandt, assistant professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told WBUR that Snapchat’s rising popularity among predators is due in part to how Snapchat operates. Users can set a timeframe for their photographs to vanish, and this makes it tough for authorities to discover potential predatory behavior. “If law enforcement doesn't know that this is going on and so they do not get to Snapchat on time with their legal process to request or to sustain the evidence, they lose it forever,” Wandt explained.


sort in attempt to protect yourself from unwanted followers or conversation, Coleman recommended habitually assessing your online privacy option, especially the options located within individual apps.“Make sure you’re sharing data with who you really intended to be sharing with,” Coleman mentioned. “Think before posting about yourself and others, because once it’s out there, it’s hard to take back.”


Snapchat does have a couple of safety measures in place, including an in-app reporting function as well as a requirement that users be at least 13 years old categorize in attempt to use the app. Kik had also told the New York Times that it was working with law enforcement to prevent child exploitation.


MTV News has reached out to Snapchat and Tinder for comment.