George Cacioppo, Sony's Senior Vice President of the PlayStation Network since 2013, has been fired after allegedly being featured in a video by the vigilante, pedophile sting operation group People v. Preds. A member of the channel had been posing as a 15-year old on grindr and received nude photos from "Jeff", alleged to be Cacioppo by the group, and arranged to meet for sex. In the video, a member of the group approaches a home and addresses the man standing in the doorway, wearing a PS5 t-shirt, as Jeff, and admonishes him for arranging to meet up with an underage person for sex. "Jeff" quickly closes the door and refuses to engage, even as the man threatens to phone the police.

In the description for the video, there is a Google Drive link to screenshots of the alleged chat logs between "Jeff" and the operators of the People v. Preds account. The screenshots show two different conversations, one on October 10, 2021, which did not result in a meetup, and one on December 3, 2021, the day the video was posted and appears to end with them arranging a meetup. In the chat logs, "Jeff" exchanges many pictures with the minor, and in one selfie is seen wearing the same PS5 t-shirt as in the video. He is also aware he is speaking to a minor and provides his address so they can meet up.

In a statement to Cnet, a Sony spokesperson confirmed that Cacioppo had been fired. "We are aware of the situation and the employee in question has been terminated from employment," reads the statement sent to Cnet. Also, in a correspondence with Kotaku, the People v. Preds account claims they released this information publicly rather than simply handing it over to police because "the police department doesn’t work with ‘Cyber groups’ like us. That’s when the internet takes over.” However, since then, the "evidence has been turned into the authorities." There is no news yet of legal action being taken as a result of the sting.

 

[Spider_Man]

so now sony have no ps5 stock and are full of pedos. keep up the good work!

Never tarnish everyone with the same brush, especially when its something as sick as this.

Regardless if you personally dislike a company, could you imagine your workplace sacking someone for being a pedophile and say everyone at the company you work for are pedophiles?

Jokes aside, sony do right not to listen to take action on the "allegedly" naaa fuck off mate, you've been caught in the act, none of this alleged bullshit.

Fucking lock the bustard away and castrate the fucker.

None of this, ohh im sorry boss, I wasn't well and use mental heath as an excuse, to get a slap on the wrist.

 

[MohammedQ8]

I hope he didn't do anything to sackboy lol.

 

[SG854]

Good

 

[guisadop]

Americans and their puritanism...

 

[depaul]

I am not saying he's innocent, he's wrong and he deserves what happened to him, but:

- Approaching a man
- Pretending to want sex with him
- Saying you're young and lure him to write sexual messages
- Filming him publicly and accusing him of pedophelia, and publish his photos and texts all over the internet ??

I am not sure that approach is right...

 

[eriol33]

How can a 15 years old using Grindr??

 

[Axido]

Though I do not condone someone breaking the laws of sexual consent, a quick Google search found me over 60 countries that have an age of consent of 15 or less. If some old fart like him is trying to engage in sexual activities with minors (sub 18) this is disgusting to be totally honest. Yet as it seems laws about it are quite arbitrary, ranging from an age of consent of as young as 11 to an age of as old as 21.

That being said, some of you guys are considered pedos in Bahrain. How does that feel?

 

[The Catboy]

I am not saying he's innocent, he's wrong and he deserves what happened to him, but:

- Approaching a man
- Pretending to want sex with him
- Saying you're young and lure him to write sexual messages
- Filming him publicly and accusing him of pedophelia, and publish his photos and texts all over the internet ??

I am not sure that approach is right...

Gonna be honest with ya, that’s how it should be when dealing with pedophiles. They need to be exposed and people need to be aware of them, especially when it’s someone with a high profile. The biggest thing they did wrong was not getting the authorities involved so they could properly handle this case.

 

[DJPlace]

maybe this guy is the asshole for sony censorship and moving sony HQ to california. burn in hell asshole you made me a non-sony fan for newer stuff.

 

[tpax]

My point is he could have experienced having sex with a young person without suffering any consequences. It probably wouldn't feel the same if he's not breaking the law but its a compromise between what he wants and safety.

Pedophilia doesn't work that way.

 

[spotanjo3]

Oh boy. Pedophilia is everywhere. And it is not going away. Pedophilia exists because of porn movie. Bad influence.

 

[MohammedQ8]

I am not saying he's innocent, he's wrong and he deserves what happened to him, but:

- Approaching a man
- Pretending to want sex with him
- Saying you're young and lure him to write sexual messages
- Filming him publicly and accusing him of pedophelia, and publish his photos and texts all over the internet ??

I am not sure that approach is right...

Yeah we should catch him while he is doing it to the boy .... you know just to make sure.

It is sad to see people ends their lives due to 15 min pleasure.

 

[linuxares]

Isn't this technically hebephilia?

 

[diggeloid]

I love these amateur to catch a predator groups. Some of them are complete dipshits, but they provide a valuable service. Unfortunately, it seems like the catches rarely result in prison time for these assholes, but even if he doesn't end up in prison, everyone around him at least knows that they should watch their children around him.

There are many things I dislike about Sony, but good on them for immediately firing this guy. No attempt to bury this or pretending like it didn't happen.

 

[Memoir]

Isn't this technically hebephilia?

Oh God, there's more than one term??

 

[g00s3y]

Good, fuck anyone who preys on children/minors/etc

 

[Memoir]

Reminder: GBAtemp administration actively protects pedos. Two of my comments are deleted from this thread.

Oh sit down and shut up. They don't just remove comments.

 

[tsam2]

I am not saying he's innocent, he's wrong and he deserves what happened to him, but:

- Approaching a man
- Pretending to want sex with him
- Saying you're young and lure him to write sexual messages
- Filming him publicly and accusing him of pedophelia, and publish his photos and texts all over the internet ??

I am not sure that approach is right...

That's why police doesn't work with these groups. Police has to follow some rules and the law, otherwise it will be difficult to prosecute someone using questionable means. It's different when the predator approaches the victim and the police intervenes and when someone pretends to be a minor to lure a predator.

 

[linuxares]

Oh God, there's more than one term??

Technically there's 3. My old colleague that was the sex ed teacher taught me that. I was baffeled.

 

[ZeroFX]

Be jailed for life now, prisoners could use another toy, of course this won't happen though. Inb4 "map" freaks, defending the guy.