Kyle Swanson of KTS Predator Hunters makes a call in a 2019 Facebook post claiming he is on the way to a meet a suspected child predator who believes he is meeting up with a 13-year old girl.
EDWARDSVILLE — One of the Metro East’s most well known vigilante “predator hunters” accepted a deal last week to avoid prosecution on three felony charges by agreeing to permanently stop his work.
Kyle Swanson is the former owner of KTS Predator Hunters, a Metro East group that set up “stings” to expose men they believed were sexual predators. At its peak, the group had more than 50,000 followers on Facebook.
Swanson, 31, shut the group down over the summer after he was indicted by a grand jury May 6 on charges of obstructing justice, unlawful restraint and assault.
The group was known for messaging men with “decoys” on social media or dating sites claiming to be underage and then planning meet-ups for confrontations they then livestreamed or filmed and posted to social media.
Kyle Swanson. Photo provided by the Madison County State's Attorney's Office.
Swanson made an agreement with the office of Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas Haine on Friday that stipulates the charges will be dismissed on the following conditions:
• Swanson must stop any sting operations in Madison County as himself or under the KTS Predator Hunter name.
• Swanson agrees to cooperate with any law enforcement investigations into subjects of his past stings.
• Swanson agrees to show proof of treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Swanson agrees to 20 hours of community service and will not commit any crimes.
“It is the policy of this office to give first-time offenders, especially those with honorable military service, due consideration in the disposition of cases,” Haine said in a statement Wednesday. “We seek to balance the demands of justice with a culture of second chances.”
The charges originally stemmed from a sting on Jan. 12. Swanson was accused of luring a man to his car under false pretenses, threatening to hit him and refusing to let him leave the car, according to court documents.
The sting interfered with a police investigation by prompting the man and a woman to “erase digital evidence of crime” contained on a phone, court documents alleged.
Haine said in May that Swanson’s indictment reflected “the fundamental idea that when members of a community decide to take justice into their own hands, even for laudable purposes, they can place themselves and others in danger and damage potential cases.”
Swanson and two other men launched KTS Predator Hunters in December 2018, joining a trend of Facebook vigilantes dedicated to luring and confronting suspected sexual predators, he told the Post-Dispatch in 2019 for a story exploring the trend.
KTS Predator originally had two other members, the T and S, but they quit the group within a few months after getting a letter from a lawyer representing a man they targeted.
Swanson acknowledged in 2019 that some of his videos led to a sort of “mob justice” where people would harass the families of the men he exposed, but said he tried to limit it.
After the indictment, Swanson moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to live with family, according to court documents.
Swanson’s attorney, Don Weber, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. (tncms-asset)2634f4a8-7b06-11e9-b008-00163ec2aa77[1](/tncms-asset)
Erin Heffernan
Erin Heffernan is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
