“‘Gotta’ Catch Them All,’ a sex offender jokes as he leaves his house, ready to put in a full day of preying on children using the ‘Pokemon Go‘ app,” is a joke I would make if it wasn’t pretty fucked up. But it is, so I won’t make it. In public. This isn’t public. You guys don’t know what I look like.
See, the problem with that joke is, it’s not totally made up. And by that, I mean it’s wholly based on a true story.
Via Fox59:
“A registered sex offender was arrested Wednesday for playing Pokémon Go with children outside the Hancock County Courthouse. The popular mobile game has established the courthouse as one of several Greenfield sites that draws players in. There, a probation officer spotted Randy Zuick, 42, playing the game with a 16-year-old boy, according to police.
Playing with the teen violated the terms of a plea agreement Zuick agreed to three months ago in a child molestation case. He pleaded guilty to a Level 4 felony charge of child molesting for fondling a child under 14 and remains on sex-offender probation, which prohibits him from interacting with children, court records say.
Zuick will likely face a judge Thursday, who will decide whether to revoke his probation and send him back to jail. This incident is one of many drawing concerns about the safety of the hyped Pokémon Go app.”
Steps of a courthouse. Bold strategy. But, you know, the closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm. I feel as if this is just an excellent idea on the part of the Hancock County. Lure them in and snap them up. Like shooting fish in a very small barrel with a shotgun. Though, if I’m being honest, aren’t we supposed to teach kids not to talk to strange, adult men. Isn’t that ‘Protect Yourself 101’? The whole ‘candy with strangers’ rhetoric. I guess we have to re-up our Stranger Danger courses and talk about Pokemon instead of candy.