Man charged after another alleged child groomer is confronted by Adelaide vigilante

A MAN has been charged with grooming a 14-year-old online after a vigilante set up his second filmed sting in a week.

• The moment a vigilante confronts an alleged paedophile

A MAN has been charged with grooming a 14-year-old child online after a vigilante set up his second filmed sting in a week.

The vigilante, who has dubbed himself the “Adelaide Pedo Hunter”, executed the citizen’s arrest of a 28-year-old man, who was later charged with procuring a child to commit an indecent act.

But the sting has prompted a second warning by SA Police against people taking the law into their own hands.

The set-up was filmed by the vigilante, who posted the video online on Sunday.

Advertiser.com.au is legally unable to publish any parts of the video because the charged man’s identity is suppressed.

In the video, the arrested man initially denied sending explicit messages and photos to a 14-year-old child, who was actually the “Adelaide Pedo Hunter” posing as a teen.

“If you’ve done nothing wrong then you’ve got nothing to worry about, we’ll just wait for the police,” the vigilante says in the video.

The accused man pleads with the vigilante not to get the police involved or release the video on social media.

“I’ve learnt my lesson now — you’ve scared me, I’m shaking,” he says.

But the vigilante tells the alleged groomer that there is “nothing I can do — it’s your actions that have put you in this place today”.

The charged man will face the Adelaide Magistrates Court in February.

Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Overmeyer urged the community not to take the law into their own hands as they may expose themselves to facing criminal charges.

“Let us do our job,” he said.

“Don’t take the law into your own hands in relation to any criminal matter.

“If you have information, or suspect that a criminal act has taken place, contact the police.”

On Wednesday, the vigilante executed his first filmed sting at Torrens Park train station, in Adelaide’s south, in a similar style.

A man is taken away by police at Torrens Park train station after a confrontation with an anti-paedophile vigilante earlier this week, in an incident not connected with the second sting.

The vigilante placed the middle-aged man under a citizen’s arrest for almost an hour, during which he interrogated him and accused him of being a “filthy pedo”.

Sturt Criminal Investigation Branch detectives then arrived.

They accompanied the suspect to his home “where further investigations were undertaken by police including the seizure of electronic devices for further examination”.

The accused man denied he was grooming anyone and claimed he was just chatting online to “a young guy”.

A police spokeswoman said that first incident was still under investigation and charges had not been laid.

Law Society President Tony Rossi said while a citizen’s arrest was legal, vigilantes did not help in the “administration of justice” and it was the role of police to detain and arrest alleged offenders.