Viral predator-catching vigilante arrested after allegedly making man eat cigarette butts

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The leader of ‘Dads Against Predators’ is facing charges of assault and blackmail. He’s accused of attacking one man and forcing another to eat cigarette butts.

Videos featuring people pretending to be predators have gained a lot of attention lately, often inspired by the classic TV show To Catch a Predator.

The videos show people approaching individuals suspected of trying to meet children, and then publicly shaming them on camera.

Jay Carnicom, a leader with the group Dads Against Predators, was recording an encounter in northern Florida when his actions led to his arrest for going too far.

Dads Against Predators leader arrested after allegedly attacking man in video

According to WSVN, in a video from January, Carnicom confronted a man at a Walmart in Clay County, claiming the man was attempting to meet a young boy.

According to reports, Carnicom tricked the man into coming to the store by pretending to be a child. During the resulting argument, he supposedly slapped the man twice.

“Do you think you’ll ever try to meet a child again?” the 32-year-old asked in the video.

Deputies said Carnicom is accused of targeting multiple men in similar viral clips.

I just read the arrest warrant, and apparently there’s another video from January where he allegedly made someone eat cigarette butts! It says he also threatened to share their private conversations if they didn’t. It’s really disturbing stuff.

The search warrant, with many parts blacked out, also claims that in February, Carnicom supposedly tricked another man into thinking he was going to meet a child.

Police urge predator catchers to let the authorities handle investigations

The officer who made the arrest stated he appreciated what the man was trying to achieve, but believed his actions went too far and could jeopardize any potential legal cases against those he was targeting.

Domenic Paniccia, the chief of investigations for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, said he would also be concerned if he were a resident of Clay County and learned about an arrest involving someone who works to protect children, as he told News4Jax.

“But you can’t beat people, you can’t extort them, you can’t make them do things or else.”

Paniccia thinks these ‘predator catchers’ are driven more by gaining viewers and making money than by following the law.

If this isn’t handled correctly, it creates problems for us and adds unnecessary complications. We’d prefer to be involved from the start and conduct a thorough investigation ourselves.

The sheriff’s office also stated that the men featured in the video won’t face charges due to Carnicom’s behavior – which the influencer was already aware of.

He explained that if people see him confront someone suspected of harming a child, he’s usually already contacted the police. However, they’ve often told him they can’t intervene unless there’s an actual child in danger or he’s a police officer himself. He reportedly shared this in a video posted back in March.

Carnicom’s strong urge to identify and stop abusers comes from his own experience of being abused by a family friend when he was a child.

According to Carnicom, the man took his own life in 2020, shortly after an eight-minute video was posted online in which he publicly confronted the person who had abused him as a child.

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2026-05-06 21:49