An Austin executive has sued predator-catching group Dads Against Predators for assault and extortion.
Screenshot via YouTube
An Austin man has sued the Ohio-based predator-catching organization Dads Against Predators after he says he was assaulted at an Austin-area H-E-B.
In a federal racketeering (RICO) lawsuit against the predator catchers, James Schellhase claimed the group members accused him of being a pedophile and attempted to extort him for money. The suit claims the confrontation got him fired from his job as an executive. The complaint alleges that after being confronted by a group of men from the predator-catching organization, he was hit in the head with a pumpkin.
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Federal RICO cases are usually in headlines involving organized crime or gang-related organizations. This lawsuit is a racketeering complaint, meaning that the group of people acting as an organization is accused of a pattern of criminal behavior and similar instances to what allegedly happened to Schellhase.
Assault and battery, false imprisonment, deliberate infliction of mental distress, civil RICO culpability, civil conspiracy, tortious interference with contracts, commercial disparagement, unjust enrichment, and breach of privacy are among the allegations Schellhase has made.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, which broke the story, the lawsuit was filed on Sept. 27 and claims that Dads Against Predators files fraudulent dating profiles to lure in men. Then, after starting chats, the group claims to be minors to draw individuals into violent in-person confrontations. The claim alleges the organization films the encounters to make money through social media and its website and attempts to extort targets.
Dads Against Predators was founded in 2020 by Jay Cameron Carnicom and Joshua Alvin Mundy, who are named in the lawsuit. It has operated as one of many online predator-catching content creator groups that target men online for attempting to meet up with minors, taking cues from Chris Hansen’s To Catch a Predator but escalating the operations to dangerous levels for entertainment. Dads Against Predators has been linked to multiple suicides of men who the group videoed and confronted. They have additionally been accused of extortion in the past.
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The complaint lays out Schellhase’s account of what occurred with the Ohio-based group. He was engaged in chats on social media with two adult men and cut off contact with the accounts when they said they were minors. He alleges that the group continued to reach out to him through those social media accounts. Schellhase also indicated he believed he was being scammed or pranked due to the account’s lack of knowledge about the Austin area.
Video of the H-E-B incident was viewed millions of times, according to the lawsuit
The complaint states that Schellhase was asked to meet in person by one of the “prank” accounts at a nearby H-E-B. The complaint says Schellhase was already planning to go to the store to prepare for a business trip the following day, so he agreed to meet whoever was behind the account.
When Schellhase walked into the H-E-B off Lake Austin Boulevard on Sept. 28, 2024, a group of men, allegedly including members of the Dads Against Predators group, approached him and began yelling at him, accusing him of being a pedophile. The lawsuit claims that the men started punching him. Schellhase added that he tried to leave, but they prevented him from doing so.
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The video from the confrontation that circulated online, which has received more than 44 million views according to the complaint, shows Schellhase being hit with a pumpkin in the head and dropping to the floor after impact.
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After the incident, Schellhase said Dads Against Predators sent his company the footage. Shortly after, he was suspended, and a few days later, he was fired. According to the suit, days before being fired, the men from the predator group allegedly told him to pay them $400,000 or risk losing more than his job. If the money was paid, then they would not post the video publicly.
After refusing to pay the money, Schellhase says the organization posted the video on its social media channels, along with his personal number, to which he claims hundreds of threatening messages were sent.
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Although he claims the incident cost him more than $13 million in future employment, he is requesting at least $75,000 in damages. He is requesting triple damages, which may total $39.8 million.