Alex Rosen of the “Predator Poachers” was recently arrested in a “kamikaze mission” in Missouri.
Newsweek has reached out to the Predator Poachers via an online contact form and to the Taney County Jail via email outside of regular working hours for comment.
Why It Matters
The “Predator Poachers” is one of many examples of a vigilante phenomenon commonly known as pedophile hunters which has been playing out online for almost a decade.
AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe
The content shared by this group and others involves the group conducting sting operations on adults who are seeking sexual activities involving minors. Individuals will pose as minors on websites or dating apps and then target people who message them. This is generally followed by a staged meeting with the suspect.
According to a recent analysis from The New York Times, there have been more than 170 violent vigilante attacks involving pedophile hunters since 2023.
Who Is Alex Rosen?
Alex Rosen, who is also known under the online aliases Chet Goldstein and Gordon Flowers, is the founder of the Houston-based organization Predator Poachers.
The group has been active since 2019, and Rosen was 19 when he founded the group. Much of the operations from the Predator Poachers involve the LGBT online dating application, Grindr.
Rosen has faced criticism for his usage of slurs, specifically racial ones. A 2020 article from the Cincinnati CityBeat said that in multiple videos, Rosen seemed to “instigate fights or use excessive profanity and derogatory terms.” In July 2024, Rosen said that a 60-year-old man had died by suicide after he and his team accused him of viewing child pornography.
The YouTube channel PP Southeast Texas had over 350,000 subscribers and the videos frequently received hundreds of thousands of views. Rosen has over 450,000 followers on his account on X.
What To Know
In a post on X from Rosen’s account, which has been viewed 2.8 million times as of reporting, Rosen is seen being handcuffed by a police officer.
The journalist Breanna Morello shared further details about Rosen’s arrest on her X account. She shared a four and a half minute phone conversation with Rosen from jail, where he said, “We caught this pedo for the second time today.”
Rosen then says that they had gone to this person’s work, which was a restaurant in Missouri. He said, “I talked in a very loud voice in the restaurant and I didn’t read through any graphic messages because there were kids in there but I did read a message talking about how he wanted to date a 13-year-old and I mentioned in a very loud voice that this place is employing a pedophile.”
He continued, saying that “the owner wasn’t too happy about me doing that.”
Rosen says in the video that he was arrested for disturbing the peace, and the man who Rosen alleges is a pedophile was also arrested.
What People Are Saying
Alex Rosen, speaking to Breanna Morello, in a video shared to her X account: “It was like a Kamikaze mission, you know what I’m saying. I flew my plane into the aircraft here and we both exploded.”
What Happens Next
Rosen will likely be released soon. Law enforcement generally discourages or condemn vigilante pedophile hunter-groups.
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