An organization has made it their mission to clean up the Central Illinois area by catching and exposing online child predators by teaming up with a group of dads who use “decoys” to get pedophiles to engage in criminal activities. Apparently it’s working they’ve exposed six predators so far…in just one weekend.
The organization is called Safe Streets Project Catch Em 309 and they have partnered with professionals (Dads Against Predators) who are dedicated to catching predators.
Decoys that are used by Dads Against Predators are images manipulated by editing equipment to make adult pictures of themselves and volunteers appear more “child-like” and then those images are used to entice predators to engage in criminal activity, like Luring a minor which is a criminal offense committed by an adult, 21 or older, who tries to lure a minor, under 18, away from their home.
In Morton, Illinois Ben Dishman was exposed by the Dads Against Predators. For some time, Dishman had been messaging a “decoy” on a dating app and lured the decoy out of the house to meet at Walmart. When confronted Dishman immediately went for the evidence…a cell phone the Dads Against Predators team was using to prove he was wanting to meet a 13-year old girl and “get her pregnant.”
That was just one catch, the Safe Streets Project Catch Em 309 founder told us they have managed to catch six predators in the Central Illinois area since Dads Against Predators came to town.
Kevin Montefusco,62, of East Peoria was caught sending illicit pictures and talking sexual on the phone to a 13 old male decoy.
“We finally pulled up on Kevin at his house Saturday afternoon June 10, 2023. He immediately left in his car with his wife, but quickly jumped on the phone, trying to buy us off and everything else,” states the D.A.P team. “After a long conversation he agrees to meet us for a conversation, little did he know, the police were already on their way. They took him into custody. Tazewell County Sherriff’s office was quick and responsive and appreciated the help. Super professional deputy came out to the scene, and passed it to the detective from there and they took him into custody. This is why D.A.P does what they do.”
The Safe Streets Project Catch Em 309 founder said they have received a lot of hate from the community and social media users nationwide.
“They usually say things like: ‘Why don’t you let law enforcement handle this? There’s teams of people that do this and you guys could be ruining an investigation.’ Okay, true…but I watched a couple of dads expose predators and get them off the streets, six of them, in 40 hours,” said Safe Streets Project Catch Em 309 founder. “I don’t think they could possibly have teams that have the time to do this all day long.”
The founder said these predators try to meet minors at 2 a.m. in the morning — “These guys [D.A.P] are trying to hand the information over to the right people.”
D.A.P has over 200 catches from around the United States.
Another recent catch from Peoria, Joey Knuth Set up a meeting with a 13 year old decoy then fled the scene when we confronted him to ask what he was doing.
Knuth came to meet what he believed to be a 13-year old boy in the Chucky Cheese Parking Lot in Peoria.
“After watching him text with our decoy for 45 minutes, he would not get out of the car and was being extra careful on how what he text, but he still showed up,” stated the organization on their Facebook page.
Both organizations are working on a Central Illinois documentary about predators in the area.
“We have spent 12-hour days watching how D.A.P. move…we follow them and watch how they move on these apps to lure online predators out of the shadows,” said the founder. “They usually don’t move on somebody until someone has broken the law. They want to get them on video and expose them to the communities they live in.”
The founder said sometimes law enforcement has too much going on and D.A.P will hand over full cases to departments.
“We found out there was a guy charged with multiple counts in East Peoria through the Tazwell County Sheriff,” said the founder. “This catch tried to bride us but at the end of the day we want these people brought to justice.”
This group has also brought awareness to the Central Illinois area about an app where you can search for registered sex offenders. It’s called the family watchdog app. The founder said it is troubling to see how many people try to justify the crimes committed by predators and how people don’t report these crimes.
The founder of the organization gave an example of a 75-year old man who has been offending since the age of 35. The 75-year old Central Illinois predator has been disowned by families because of his “addiction” yet no one in the family reported him. The documentary will feature the 75-year old.