Capitol Correspondent
LANSING – The profile of a man identifying himself as "reststopcop" on Manhunt.net has police worried. The picture in the profile is that of Detective Sgt. Roy Holliday of the Ingham County Sheriff Department and appears to have been shot with a camera phone as Holliday was entering a public space.
Holliday has assisted in the arrest of men at the Holt rest area as recently as 2004.
The "reststopcop" in communications with BTL staff attempted to entice the staff member to the Holt Rest Area for sex.
But Undersheriff Alan Spyke says the department has not been involved in sting operations at the Holt Rest Area since 2004 and has no plans to be involved anytime soon. He also says the profile was not created by Holliday.
"We are going to look at this as someone impersonating an officer," Spyke told BTL.
Manhunt.net is a website for hooking up for gay and bisexual men. The site specifically forbids law enforcement from using it to entrap people, and it also forbids illegal activity. Impersonating a police officer is a crime in Michigan.
A spokesperson for the web site was not immediately available, however, officials from the web site acknowledged they would begin a member investigation on the profile in question.
Within 24 hours of speaking with BTL, the profile for "reststopcop" was deleted by Manhunt.net, but a second profile appeared with the name "holtreststopofficer." The person on that account again communicated with BTL staff, and provided an email address of ,Aeureststopcop1,Aeu through a nationally known Internet service provider.
In addition to the Manhunt posts, Squirt.org, a cruising site for gay men, also has a warning posted. "Also FYI I think the cops may be checking it out, or someone goes and sits out there, and has a friend hiding in the back seat trying not to be noticed." The post was dated April 30, 2007 at 8:12 pm. The post was written by an anonymous male.
"We are concerned about this," says Jeffrey Montgomery, executive director of Triangle Foundation, which has monitored police sting operations and hate crime activity in the state for years. "We already know that people who want to do harm to gay men often find the places we gather. This would be a great concern to us if some one is potentially luring people somewhere they might get hurt. We are pleased the police are saying its not them. It,Aeos another point for people to be aware of and be safe."
