How a Myrtle Beach group’s attempts to expose child predators helped feds in sex case
A Myrtle Beach man is suspected of having sex with a minor and producing child pornography, and federal officials say work by a local group helped lead to his arrest.
Theodore Woolings Bye, 36, faces a federal charge of production of child pornography. That arrest comes months after the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office charged him with 26 child-pornography related counts. The new charges were filed last week.
Early last year, federal officials began an investigation that involved a girl used in human trafficking and sexual encounters, according to federal court paperwork by the investigating officer. The investigation involved another person who pushed the child into having sex with others and having the child send explicit images and videos.
A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agent saw pictures of the child posted on the website for the group that goes by the acronym PANDA. That organization is a local group that tries to expose sexual predators in the area through identifying them in sting operations and posting their information online. It’s akin to the popular television program “How to Catch a Predator.”
The victim’s mother reported to investigators a video on PANDA’s website that showed a man meeting with a purported minor—who was really an adult in the PANDA group—at a hotel in Myrtle Beach, according to court paperwork. In the comment section, PANDA posted a picture of the child at the center of the federal investigation with the suspect.
Federal investigators reviewed the video and determined Bye was the suspect in the video, court records indicate.
Officers found Bye’s Facebook page and it matched the person in the videos, officials stated. In September, state and local police searched Bye’s Myrtle Beach home and took various computer devices. Investigators found several videos of child pornography on the devices, according to court records. In one video, a child performs a sex act on Bye.
Bye is being held without bond in J. Reuben Long Detention Center as he awaits trial on his state child pornography charges.
If convicted of all state and federal charges, Bye faces centuries behind bars.
What is PANDA?
Parents Against Not Doing Anything, i.e. PANDA, is a run by a local group and tries to identify alleged child predators in the area. The group had posted on Facebook, but has not posted since November. The group did not respond to a follow-up request for comment.
But, in September, the organizer sat down with The Sun News to discuss its effort. The Sun News agreed not to identify the organizer by name given the sensitive nature of his work and risk as he meets with people who are accused of victimizing children.
The organizer said he was laid off during the start of the COVID pandemic and saw people in other states doing similar sting operations. He saw people sharing the efforts on social media to expose sexual predators, but that wasn’t enough for him.
“Everyone is trying to save the world with a hashtag, but let’s try to save our community with action,” he said.
PANDA created a profile on an online message board where it pretends to be a teenage girl. The make-believe minor’s photos are of the organizer’s friends when they were younger and used with their permission, he said. The group posts a generic message and then, typically, men reach out. PANDA lets them know their pretend age, but many men continue to message even after learning the fake profile is that of a teenager.
They then ask for another picture, the organizer said.
“Once they get a picture, it doesn’t matter what you say,” he said. “That’s the only thing that’s going to consume their mind at that point.”
The conversations continue until they become more sexual, which PANDA then plays up, the organizer said. The men then suggest a meeting and he agrees.
The organizer said he is nervous when he goes to meet the suspects. When the men see the adult, they usually offer some sort of excuse, such as they were trying to warn the victim or they just wanted to hang out, the organizer said.
“They show up, their intentions are extremely clear,” the organizer said.
Some suspects will even talk about how PANDA is ruining their life, and the organizer scoffed at that notion.
“That’s what they want to do, ruin lives as well,” he said.
PANDA then posts the video of the sting operations and the photo of the accused on social media to alert the community about the alleged predators. The organizer said he does the operations, instead of leaving it to the police, because people will know instantly a dangerous person is in the community. He added a fight to change laws would take years.
PANDA wants the activity to stop, but also wants to see the suspects criminally charged.
“I’m scared, but there are kids out there that are scared too,” he said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 11:17 AM.
