Man risks prison to expose alleged child molester

Man of Honour
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On a late February night in 2005 Matthew Hahn was just performing another burglary which would leave him in a great moral dilemma. That night Mr. Hahn broke into the house of Robbert Aitken and among the property stolen was a Liberty Gun Safe.

Inside the safe Mr. Hahn found a memory stick that was full of some usual everyday photos. Among these "everyday" images though was something much less ordinary. Images of Robbert Aitkens molesting an infant girl.

Risking life in prison as a result of California's Three Strikes Law, Hahn mailed the memory card to the Los Gatos Police Department. As a result Robbert Aitkens was convicted. Hahn was later arrested for unrelated crimes and faces life in jail.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060512/NEWS09/605120340/1004/SPORTS
 
Soldato
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Hmmm.. Well he knew the law.. and knew that if he got caught then he'd go away for life. But I supose he did the right thing.

Good on him, even if he is a thief :).
 
Soldato
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he did an hounorable thing if I were the judge I think I would be inclined to be a bit soft on him, IMO pedo's are a lot worse than burgulars
 
Associate
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Or... if you're going down, take someone with you... as it said, he got life for unrelated crimes..

I would say that his motives might have been far from altruistic and maybe he was thinking that exposing the perv might help his case.

Personally, I'd say burglars and the like are just as much scum as pervs and paedophiles in that they wreck lives too to a certain degree.
 
Man of Honour
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Xpander said:
I'm confused by this a bit. I've read (albeit rather quickly) the story within that link. How did the police know it was the burglar that sent them the memory card? At the end he said something like "But I gave you Aitken", was he already arrested at this point for a third offence?

You're the first one to pick up on it.
He originally sent the USB stick in anonymously.
A few weeks later he was caught for other burglaries and he decided to prove he sent the stick in to get off.
 
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richard smith said:
I hear what you're saying but for many, the violation of ones home is something that people never completely get over.

yeah, I agree. I don't have any soft spot for burglars at all. I'm obviously not OK with paedophiles but if you consider being attracted to children as an illness, there's no acceptable way in society to get "treated". I'm pretty sure paedophiles wouldn't be like that if they had a choice.
 
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Otacon said:
He did the right thing, and we should recognise that, regardless of his crime.
Mailing off the memory stick to get a child molester sent down is a good thing, it's the right thing.

That doesn't justify robbery. That doesn't justify breaking and entering into someone else's house. He didn't break in to be some kind of vigilante and catch out nonces; he did it for personal gain and was probably bricking it when he found out what he stole. The fact that he did a good act after the cirme does in no way vindicate his actions.

He broke the law, and the appropriate punishment was cast down without exception or mercy. That's justice. Or are you suggesting that they, like us here in the UK, continually give our criminals pathetic sentances and constantly re-release them back into society? The 3 strike rule is there for a reason - catch out people who simply cannot rehabilitate back into society and get 'em off the streets.
 
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