A YouTuber with 2 million subscribers was accused of messaging a fake 13-year-old in a vigilante sting operation
- A YouTuber was seemingly caught attempting to meet up with a young girl.
- He was set up by another YouTuber, Alex Rosen.
- The incident was a vigilante operation staged to expose the YouTuber.
Bryant Moreland, a YouTuber known as EDP445, was seemingly caught trying to meet a 13-year-old in an online vigilante sting operation. Another YouTuber known for filming these "stings" released the footage, which appears to show Moreland exchanging inappropriate texts with the decoy who was pretending to be 13 years old.
Now Moreland has deleted all of his videos from the platform.
EDP445, which stands for "eat dat pu---," is a 30-year-old YouTuber with two million subscribers who has been posting since 2010. He gained online fame as a loud Philadelphia Eagles fan, who mostly posts vlogs, mukbangs, and rants at the camera. He has appeared on Comedy Central's "Tosh.0" multiple times.
EDP445 sent explicit messages to someone he believed was a minor, according to the video
On Monday, YouTube channel Chet Goldstein, run by a man named Alex Rosen, livestreamed chat logs from what Rosen said was a conversation between Moreland and a decoy named Sophie. The channel is known for similar "stings," setting up meetings online with men who appear to believe they are interacting with underaged girls. Rosen also has a controversial online presence, posting other videos using racist language.
Rosen said he set up multiple fake Instagram profiles, including one of a 13-year-old girl, and messaged Moreland on his verified account.
Alexandra, a friend of Rosen's who posed as decoys for other stings, read through the messages she said were shared between Moreland and the fake account. In the two-hour live stream, Alexandra also said Moreland sent explicit videos and photos that could not be shown because of YouTube policies against sexually explicit imagery.
The purported conversation started on Instagram in February, with Moreland giving the decoy his private number, according to screenshots shown in the video. Moreland sent several sexual messages, according to the video. The conversation ended with the pair agreeing to meet.
The next day, on Tuesday, the Chet Goldstein channel posted an hour-long video confronting Moreland. Rosen and YouTuber CC Unit - who goes by Ghost and is known for conducting his own pedophile stings in California on YouTube - approached Moreland with pictures of the purported messages.
"I've gotten messages from my supporters asking me to look into EDP to see what I could do," Ghost said in an interview with Insider. "He sent a lot of graphic things, he sent photos, he sent videos, he sent a whole bunch of stuff we knew we could nail him on."
In the video, Moreland said he fantasizes about women "under the age of 16" and in the past, he's talked to six other girls. He also said the screenshots were of his messages.
"Let it be known I'm not a pedophile," Moreland said, looking into the camera. "My mom did not raise a f---ing pedophile, I know what the screenshots say."
The video ends with Moreland going to his car as Rosen says he's calling the Bakersfield Sheriff's Department. Rosen said that he "followed up a few days later and left a message for a detective."
The Kern County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction in the incident, did not verify that the call was made, but a detective told Insider in a statement that "it is the practice of the Kern County Sheriff's Office to not provide confirmation of or comment on an investigation."
Law enforcement told a local ABC affiliate news station the "video's content is under investigation but as of now no arrests have been made."
Moreland has since deleted all of the videos on his main channel
Rosen's video has over 1.9 million views since it was posted, with popular content creators like penguinz0, PierceTheKid, and Scarce sharing their own videos about it.
Though Moreland has not responded to any of the accusations or claims, he did post an update video on his second channel EDP445 2.0 on Friday saying he was going to delete every video on his main channel, the day before the sting took place.
Moreland was previously accused of talking to underage girls. YouTuber ColdRaven created a series of videos where he accused Moreland of messaging and following underage women on Instagram, posting what he said were screenshots of their interactions. ColdRaven also pretended to be an underage girl himself and claimed Moreland sent his decoy sexually explicit messages. ColdRaven did not return Insider's request seeking further comment.
Moreland did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
'Predator hunting' is a controversial genre of media that's existed for years
"Predator hunting" is a fairly popular genre on YouTube, focusing on decoys pretending to be minors asking to meet adults before "catching" those that arrive.
Creators like Mike Fox, POP Squad, and Anxiety War pull in hundreds of thousands of views with their stings, following in the footsteps of Chris Hansen's "To Catch A Predator." Like Hansen's show, these channels have resulted in real arrests - CC Unit stings have led to the court-martial of a Marine in his 30s and the arrest of a teacher in Los Angeles.
"We catch online predators, who go after minors and kids and expose them online. Sometimes it leads to arrests, they get fired from their job," Ghost told Insider. "Our goal is to change laws and give harsher punishments to these people."
The genre isn't universally praised, however. Prosecutors and police have previously warned that stings being conducted by civilians could fail to produce evidence that would stand up in court. Such stings can also go awry. Chris Hansen's show faced criticism after a man shot himself when confronted by police and a camera crew as part of a sting, according to the New York Times.
YouTube's Community Guideline policies do not explicitly ban these channels, though suspensions or bans can be given for "harmful or dangerous acts involving minors" and "Content that threatens individuals."