She Tried To Catch A Pervert... And Ended Up As O... [FULL]

But the victory was fleeting. The case was pled down to disorderly conduct. The man received probation and mandatory counseling. Rachel was told she could request a protective order, but it would expire in two years.

In other words, staring into the abyss long enough, the abyss stares back. After two years of court-mandated therapy, Rachel no longer runs vigilante accounts. She lives in a small town in Oregon, works remotely as a proofreader, and has started a new private blog—this time, about recovering from obsession. Her latest post reads: She tried to catch a pervert... and ended up as o...

This is the story of how one woman’s crusade became a cautionary tale. For Rachel Moreno (name changed for privacy), a 32-year-old graphic designer in Chicago, the turning point came on a crowded evening train. A man in a gray hoodie sat across from her, phone angled suspiciously toward her legs. She shifted. He shifted. When she finally peered over her magazine, she saw the telltale red recording light. But the victory was fleeting

That’s when something shifted inside her. The system, she decided, had failed. And she would not. Rachel joined online groups dedicated to catching “creepers.” She downloaded apps to map local complaints. She began riding the same train line at the same time, not to commute, but to hunt. She bought a hidden camera keychain and a voice recorder pen. She started a blog: Catch & Release? No. Catch & Expose. Rachel was told she could request a protective

But within six months, the tone darkened.

“I froze for a second,” she recalls. “Then I got furious.”