Truck driver Michael John Hartfield nabbed by ‘vigilante paedophile catcher’ walks from court

A Gold Coast father who arranged to meet up with a fictitious teen girl in a set up by a “vigilante paedophile catcher” has walked free from court.

A Gold Coast father who arranged to meet up with a fictitious 14-year-old girl for sex as part of a sting set up by a “vigilante paedophile catcher” has walked free from court.

The Southport District Court was told Michael John Hartfield, 36, used adult dating website Plenty of Fish on October 31, 2020 to message the account of “Katie”.

Michael John Hartfield walked from court after pleading guilty to one count of using electronic communications to procure a child under 16 with a circumstance of aggravation. . Picture: Instagram

Website moderators deactivated the account, but an identical one was made and messaged Hartfield.

The court was told the Katie account was made by a member of the public. Hartfield was unaware of this.

After Hartfield initially sent sexually explicit messages over the dating platform, Katie told him she was 14 and asked whether he cared about her age.

The court was told Hartfield responded that he didn’t care and would send an unsolicited photo of his penis to Katie. It was arranged they would meet for sex the next day.

When Hartfield turned up to the agreed meeting point, the member of the public who had been posing as Katie confronted him.

The person took a photo of Hartfield’s car before Hartfield fled the scene. The vigilante then reported the incident to police, who later arrested Hartfield.

Hartfield, a 36-year-old truck driver, pleaded guilty to one count of using electronic communications to procure a child under 16 with a circumstance of aggravation.

Hartfield’s defence barrister Nick McGhee said his client was terrified after being trapped by the “vigilante paedophile catcher”.

In a psychologist’s report tendered in the court, it was believed Hartfield did not have “traits of a paedophile”.

The report stated Hartfield was experiencing “significant depression and anxiety” at the time of offending, having recently been diagnosed with silicosis as well as experiencing financial hardship during Covid and a relationship breakdown.

Michael John Hartfield says he was experiencing “significant depression and anxiety” at the time of offending. Picture: Instagram

The court was told Hartfield worked as a stonemason before being employed as a truck driver.

Judge Michael Rackemann described Hartfield’s offending as “very serious” but noted there was no actual victim involved.

“It should be noted that the offending was opportunistic rather than predatory, in the sense that you were on an adult platform, you were not on a platform associated with children and you were not looking for children to make contact with,” Judge Rackemann said.

He took into account Hartfield’s guilty plea, lack of criminal history and “exceptional circumstances” of the case when he handed down a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for an operational period of two years.

Follow @Melwhiting