'I'm Doing The Right Thing:' A Conversation with Jake Hockey

There are few names hotter on the local social media scene than Jake Hockey.

In only a few months, Hockey (his alias) has amassed more than a quarter million followers on Facebook and Instagram by posting videos of himself confronting people who appear to be meeting up with minors for sexual activity.

Hockey lives in Traverse City, and many of these incidents have occurred in Grand Traverse County. In many incidents, the subjects of these videos have been arrested by police (who have been previously notified) and some now face criminal charges.

Hockey’s activity is praised by many, but criticized by some in law enforcement for a host of concerns based on safety, evidence quality and more. 

Hockey, 34, worked in landscaping for many years before deciding to devote his time and energy to catching predators.

“I never expose the exact reason, but it’s a very personal reason that got me into this line of work,” he tells The Ticker. “I have an absolute disdain for any person who’s willing to hurt a child…and I felt in my heart that this was the right thing to do. I felt like God put it on me.”

He and his partner “C.J.” act as underage decoys online in a variety of forums, not unlike the infamous "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC years ago.

“I'll give you the main three pillars of our thing,” Hockey says. “We never message them first – they have to message us first – we never lead with sexual intent and we give the age of the underage person within the first 10 messages (so there’s no doubt). There’s never a situation where we’re not 100 percent sure what they’re up to.”

After a meetup is initiated, Hockey and C.J. have usually turned information over to police and record the entire encounter.

“Our goal is at that point to get them to admit to it, which in most cases, I'd say a good 85 to 90% of the time, they do,” he says. “And it’s because they don't want us to call the police. I tell them I'm not going to call the police if [they’re] completely honest with me…and I use that for leverage. I hate liars as well, but this is a justified lie in my mind.”

Hockey and C.J. have “caught” about 30 alleged predators since they started this work only a few months ago, with about 20 of them facing charges, Hockey says. One was a Gaylord City Council member.

The work is hard, Hockey says, especially since he sees a lot of explicit and disturbing content while acting as a decoy.

“I don’t sleep much,” he says.

Kyle Attwood, Grand Traverse County’s chief assistant prosecutor, says his office has issued criminal charges in about half the cases that came from Hockey.

“The cases that we have charged are strong cases, but the cases that we haven’t, a couple of them at least, were quite weak,” he tells The Ticker.

While Attwood supports getting child predators behind bars, he does not condone Hockey’s activity for a variety of reasons. He said there are often significant problems with the quality and admissibility of evidence collected by civilians, for one, and that Hockey and his partner lack proper training.

“We're not in the business of ignoring criminal activity, and if we see it and it's chargeable and prosecutable, we're going to do it,” Attwood says. “Would I encourage folks to do (what Hockey does)? No. I think that it should happen the right way, through law enforcement. Law enforcement does these stings regularly, and they do it well. I’d much rather get these folks the right way knowing we’ve got a guaranteed prosecution.”

Attwood also has significant safety concerns.  

“When law enforcement does these investigations, they do it in a way where suspects are arrested and confronted in secure private locations where the chance of injury to law enforcement or to the individuals involved is minimized,” he says. “Whereas…with these online folks, they confront them in very public areas where there are families around...and it's exposing everyone around to (the potential for) significant harm or death."

Hockey says he “always deescalates” in his confrontations with suspects.

“Safety is my utmost priority,” he says. “We're never going to push for content. If we think something's going to go south, we're done.”

He also brushes off suggestions that he's a vigilante. Vigilantes pursue their own justice, he said, whereas he wants to see offenders punished within the confines of the legal system.

"We want these guys prosecuted in the court of law," he says. "We want to do this the absolute right way, by the book."

Hockey and C.J. don’t plan to slow down. Hockey is open about his past, which includes struggles with addiction and some of his own legal troubles, including a 2015 felony conviction for leaving the scene of a serious injury crash. But he’s never felt better than he does now, he says, and it's because he has a clear purpose. 

“In my heart, I know I'm doing the right thing, and I'm doing it for the right reasons,” he says.

Photo: C.J. (left) and Jake Hockey