Editor’s note: A News Cafe is using first and last name initials when referring to alleged perpetrators who do not have pending criminal charges filed.
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A new wave of vigilante activism is sweeping the North State with the rise of two chapters of a group that calls itself Dads Against Predators, or “DAP”.
DAP was originally founded in Ohio in 2020 and it is now active in several states.
Chapters of DAP tend to consist almost exclusively of men in their 20s and early 30s. DAP members launch sting operations against alleged sexual predators by posing as minors online to lure in adults who agree to meet up for sex, and at times, send explicit photographs.
Once a meeting location has been agreed upon, members of DAP show up to confront the alleged sexual predators. Members of DAP often record the confrontations on their cell phones, and share the videos on social media to publicly shame the alleged offenders.
Sometimes members of DAP report to local law enforcement agencies the alleged predators they’ve captured in their sting operations.
Other times, members of DAP give the alleged perpetrators a choice between being assaulted, usually in the form of slaps to the face, or being reported to law enforcement for agreeing to meet up with a minor for sex, and/or for sending photographs of their private parts to online correspondents they believe are minors.
In January of 2023, DAP founder Joshua Mundy, along with two other men, posed as a minor online and lured a man into a Target store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mundy and the two other men who accompanied him assaulted the man inside of the Target.
To fight back against the three DAP members, the alleged sexual predator pulled out a firearm and fired at Mundy and the two other men, hitting one in the leg. Warrants were issued for all four men involved in the North Carolina Target altercation.
DAP in the North State
Redding DAP and DAP Tehama County, the first two DAP chapters in the North State, were founded in early August.
Since their formation about a month ago, the local DAP groups have shared content on social media regarding more than one dozen sting operations in Anderson, Redding, Chico, and Orland.
The first case occurred on August 9 and involved a 25-year-old man visiting the Redding area from Idaho named Trent Stokes.
Stokes allegedly agreed to meet up with a Redding DAP member posing as a 15-year-old.
Members of Redding DAP confronted Stokes in a Redding parking lot, recorded the incident, and reported Stokes to the Redding Police Department.
Stokes, who was reportedly in the area working the Park Fire as a fuel tender, was arrested and booked into the Shasta County Jail for soliciting a minor, and for arranging a meeting with a minor for sexual acts, not knowing that the minor was actually a DAP member posing as a minor.
Trent Stokes photo courtesy of Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
Members of DAP did not assault Stokes during the encounter. However, the local North State DAP groups did not remain nonviolent in subsequent confrontations.
DAP Gets Violent
On August 11, members of Redding DAP confronted a 40-year-old man with the initials J.J. while he was sitting in his car in the Cinemark 14 parking lot in Redding, allegedly waiting to meet and have sex with a 15-year-old boy.
Redding DAP shared a video on its Facebook page of members confronting J.J., as well screenshots of J.J.’s text messages sent to who he believed was a 15-year-old boy. The faces of the Redding DAP members on scene did not appear in the video. But a man can be heard in the video telling J.J., who does appear in the video, to “not reach for nothin’,” as J.J. sat in his vehicle’s driver’s seat.
J.J., who told members of Redding DAP he lived in Cottonwood, complied with DAP members’ orders.
One DAP member told J.J. that he would call the police if J.J. didn’t comply with the orders. The DAP member then made a deal with J.J.
“There’s a few ways this can end, OK? We can either cause a scene, get the cops called – a lot of people are here right now — or, we can take you to the back. You can get out with us and walk to the back – we’re going to be recording the whole time and me and him can slap you each three times – six open-ended slaps — and we’ll let you go on about with your day.”
J.J. chose to be slapped. Redding DAP posted a separate video of J.J. being slapped with an open hand so hard that he fell to the ground onto the carboard the DAP members placed under him to protect his fall.
Redding DAP recently deleted from Facebook the video of DAP members slapping J.J.
Screenshots from the video shared by Redding DAP of an unknown member of DAP slapping “J.J.”
However, many North State DAP members appear proud of their tactics. Case in point, DAP Tehama County released a TikTok music-video compilation of several DAP confrontations and assaults.
“Blast Him Bro”
Three days after Redding DAP confronted and assaulted J.J., on August 14, members of DAP Tehama County shared a video on social media of themselves confronting a man named “F.B.” in a Redding grocery store.
A News Café identified the DAP Tehama County member seen on the video as 24-year-old David Zimmerman of Redding.
“Excuse me everybody! This man is here to meet a 14-year-old little boy for sex!” yelled Zimmerman as F.B. briskly left the building, leaving behind the box of White Claw drinks he’d selected to purchase.
Zimmerman followed F.B. to his vehicle in the parking lot. Zimmerman can be seen in the video cocking back his fist and punching F.B. in the back of the head from behind as F.B. walked swiftly toward his vehicle – this, after the unidentified DAP member recording the cell phone video told Zimmerman, “blast him, bro.”
After being punched in the head, F.B., who had allegedly sent sexually descriptive text messages to what he allegedly believed to be a 14-year-old minor, got into his vehicle and drove away.
Screenshot of video shared by DAP Tehama County of Zimmerman following F.B. in the grocery store.
Zimmerman — in cowboy hat — confronts a man caught by DAP Tehama in Chico at the Chico Marketplace parking lot.
Rapper turned vigilante activist
Zimmerman is an independent rap artist who goes by the stage name OZ Goliath. Over the last four years, Zimmerman has performed live throughout the North State and has published numerous rap songs and music videos, several of which are located on his YouTube page.
With 3,000 views, OZ Goliath’s most viewed music video is for his song “Bottom of the Bottle.” It was published on YouTube in November of 2022. The song lyrics delve into the struggles associated with being an upstanding man and the temptations to consume alcoholic beverages to cope with challenges faced in life.
“They tell me to man up, but I just want to be,” sings OZ Goliath in the song.
“I’ve been feelin’ fucked up, sometimes I feel alone, these feelings is getting’ old. I’m just tryin’ to find my home, but lately it’s been tough love. I got issues on my own and some things I can’t control. I keep walkin’ down this road acting like I’d only know, but my heart is getting’ cold – yeah.”
A good portion of the “Bottom of the Bottle” music video was filmed on the Sacramento River Trail Bridge in Redding.
Screenshots from DAP member David Zimmerman’s OZ Goliath’s music video for the song, “Bottom of the Bottle.
In August of 2023, OZ Goliath published a music video on YouTube for the song “Slide.”
“This is my premise bitch, I go and get it. I turn into an animal, bitch I’m a menace,” says OZ Goliath in the song.
OZ Goliath, as an indie music artist, has produced, edited and recorded catchy songs with flashy effects.
Redding man hospitalized
The violence associated with DAP continued on August 16, when a Redding man in his 20s was transported to the hospital from an area near the Aquatic Center in Lake Redding Park at approximately 10:50 p.m.
DAP Tehama County shared a video on Facebook of them confronting the man, but the video cut off before the altercation occurred.
As seen in the video, after Zimmerman and another DAP member confronted the man, Zimmerman can be heard telling the man to “quiet the fuck down” as he expressed anger that the DAP members set him up.
“You will get slapped bro,” said Zimmerman as he and the other DAP member forced the man to stay seated on a park bench as they encircled him, blocking his exit path.
“Move out of my way please,” said the DAP sting operation target.
“Nope, I’m not moving out of your way,” said the man accompanying Zimmerman.
After being beaten, the man reportedly suffered injuries to his head and jaw, with a hematoma on the left side of his face.
An unidentified person who placed a 911 call about the incident reportedly witnessed three white adult male suspects running from the scene.
After information regarding the incident was shared on the local Redding Crime & Community Alert/Shasta County Facebook group page, DAP Tehama County commented under the post:
“That man where to have sex with a 14 year old boy! And he decided to swing on three men first! He also threatened to kill us!”
DAP Tehama County also posted a longer additional comment under the Facebook post.
“We protected our self when he lashed out and as he continually tried to physically harm us, but what we did was out of self defense. This was our first interaction that played out like this so maybe we made some mistakes but we are reflecting on it and are making some changes so we can continue to run this smoothly and without altercation like this.”
Later, the sister of the man who was caught in the park and injured by DAP members posted a comment on the DAP Facebook page beneath the video saying her brother was developmentally disabled.
“Where Yah goin’ boy?”
On August 26, Zimmerman and an additional member of DAP launched a sting operation on an African American male in Redding. DAP claimed that the target of the sting operation said he was 18 years old, and that he agreed to meet up with DAP members posing as a 14-year-old girl.
Zimmerman and the other DAP member met the target of the sting operation in front of the Dollar Tree on Churn Creek Road and recorded a video of the incident to share on social media.
After Zimmerman and his fellow DAP member confronted the alleged perpetrator, who was significantly smaller than the DAP members, the sting operation target stood up, picked up his backpack and ran to escape the DAP members’ attempts to detain him.
The alleged perpetrator ran through the Dollar Tree parking lot and into the middle of Churn Creek Road as motorists slammed on their breaks to avoid hitting him. Zimmerman and the other DAP member chased the fleeing male.
As they chased the African American male, Zimmerman and the other DAP member repeated yelled at him, “where ya goin’ boy?” and repeatedly called the African American male “boy” as they chased him.
Referring to African American men as “boys” is a racist tradition that dates back to the era of enslavement in American history.
The man ran north on Churn Creek to Dutch Bros. Coffee. When he stopped at the coffee kiosk, in a shaken voice he insisted to Zimmerman and the other DAP member he was 17-years-old, rather than 18.
The video of the incident shared on the Redding DAP Facebook page showed Zimmerman and the other DAP member chasing after – and, at times, not allowing him to leave or move – for about eight minutes before the video cut.
“Dude called him boy like he was chasing his runaway slave”
Several people commented under the video on Facebook about the way Zimmerman and the other DAP member called the African American individual “boy” multiple times.
“I agree and support what you guys are doing but that’s how the slave driver yelled and called African-American people boy,” said one African American man in a comment he posted on Facebook under the video.
DAP Tehama County responded immediately saying, “That’s reaching far here bro. We say boy every single day.”
“Ima slap a white dude just as fuckin hard for trying to meet your kid. Race has nothing to do with this.”
The African American man replied to the DAP comment:
“I watch every single one of your videos like I said, I am grateful for what you guys do and I support you guys to the fullest it’s not about slapping a white person I lived in Redding for 10 years so I know what Redding is like but I will just leave it there. I’m going to erase my comment because I don’t want no problems.”
“Dude called him Boy like he was chasing his runaway slave…only in Redding,” claimed another individual under the video.
“I’ll fucking kill you”
On August 28, two DAP members confronted a 29-year-old man outside of the Amazon warehouse in Orland who had allegedly sent nude photos of himself to DAP members posing as a 15-year-old boy – and also allegedly discussed meeting up for sex.
Two members of DAP Tehama County confronted the alleged sexual predator and recorded a video of the encounter, which was later shared on social media.
A News Café has identified one of the DAP members who confronted the alleged sexual predator as Shaun Smith. According to online records, Smith lives in Oroville and graduated from Las Plumas High School in 2004.
Smith and the other DAP member offered the alleged sexual predator two options: They could either each slap him two times in the face, or they could report him to the police.
The man chose to be slapped in the face.
After Smith and the other man each slapped the alleged sexual predator twice in the face, the situation advanced to a potentially violent situation as Smith got in the man’s face and threatened to kill him.
“If you fuck with kids again, we’re going to do more than slap you dude. I’ll fucking kill you,” Smith said
Screenshots from video shared on DAP Tehama social media page of Shaun Smith hitting a man outside of the Amazon warehouse in Orland.
Screenshot of Shaun Smith’s Facebook page.
DAP Tehama County shared the video of the encounter on Facebook. Within a few hours the video was taken down. Later, a shorter version appeared that did not include the last 20 seconds, when Smith made the death threat.
A News Café possess a copy of the entire video, including the part where Smith threatened to kill the target of the sting operation.
DAP Tehama County recently deleted the entire video from social media of their members confronting, slapping, and threatening to kill the alleged sexual predator in front of the Amazon warehouse in Orland.
Criminal defense attorney speaks out
Redding-based criminal defense attorney Lisa Jensen is one of many people who have spoken out against DAP’s violent tactics.
In a video Jensen shared on TikTok of herself speaking about DAP, Jensen criticized members of DAP for not being properly trained to deal with criminal activity and conduct sting operations that target sexual predators.
Jensen also said members of DAP allude to the fact that more violence happens off camera that is not shared with the public, which she said she believes to be true.
Redding attorney Lisa Jensen.
“It takes some expertise and understanding to know what’s going to be needed for a prosecution, for a conviction to stand, for there to be consequences – legal consequences,” Jensen said in the TkTok video.
“There’s just no room for people to go be vigilantes and try to get justice for themselves,” said Jensen. She also warned DAP members to not be surprised when something goes wrong during their sting operations.
DAP tactics called out by Nathan Pinkney
Nathan Pinkney.
On August 18, as members of DAP started to resort to yet more violent tactics in the North State, local comedian, political activist, and social media content creator Nathan Pinkney posted a video on his Facebook page of himself criticizing the violent tactics employed by the local DAP groups. Pinkney, by the way, is Jensen’s fiancé.
Pinkney said he supported the idea of luring in sexual predators with sting operations, but said he did not support vigilante violence, and would rather see DAP report sexual predators to local law enforcement agencies.
Pinkney accused DAP of, in some instances, targeting men who were developmentally disabled, and compared DAP to a group known as the Redding Area Transit Patrol – also known as the RAT Patrol – that allegedly in years past harassed and assaulted members of Redding’s homeless community.
“You can’t just go out and beat people up,” Pinkney said in the video.
“I hope law enforcement is actually paying attention to this, because what’s going to end up happening is they’re going to end up killing someone, or someone that they go after is going to end up killing one of them.”
Pinkney criticized by DAP supporters
After he posted the video of himself criticizing DAP’s violent tactics, Pinkney – like others who have questioned DAP – was roundly attacked on social media by DAP supporters.
Some DAP supporters posted comments on DAP Facebook pages accusing Pinkney of being a child-molester sympathizer, even though Pinkney made it clear he supported sting operations to root out sexual predators, but did not support violent tactics used by some DAP members.
DAP grows in North State popularity
Redding DAP and DAP Tehama County appear to be growing in popularity in the North State. Redding DAP has nearly 7,000 followers on Facebook, while nearly 5,000 people are following DAP Tehama County.
A large number of North State residents have expressed on social media that they view the members of Redding DAP and DAP Tehama County as heroes.
However, supporters of DAP have posted comments on the DAP Facebook pages with such statements as, “make lynching great again.” Some have even posted comments blaming pedophilia on the Democratic Party, and have brought up such conspiracy theories as Pizzagate.
Although supporters of DAP appear to fall across the political spectrum, many clearly identify with the MAGA movement.
There are many instances on social media when those who criticize DAP’s violent tactics are labeled by DAP’s hardcore supporters — as was the case with Pinkney — a pedophile sympathizer and pedophile enabler.
-Screenshots of the Redding DAP and DAP Tehama County Facebook pages.
RPD is aware of DAP’s activities
A News Café reached out to Redding Chief of Police Brian Barner regarding Redding DAP’s activities.
Brian Barner. Photo by Jon Lewis
Barner said the RPD is aware of activities involving DAP, and that the RPD detective division is currently working six cases involving the group.
Chief Barner told A News Café that on August 19, the RPD detective division commander and supervisors, along with a Shasta County Sheriff’s supervisor, met with Kasey O’Donnell, a man who identified himself as the leader of Redding DAP.
Barner said the group of law enforcement officials who met with O’Donnell discussed their concerns regarding the fact that child sexual predator cases are complicated, and requested that DAP work with RPD’s detective division when the group has identified an alleged offender.
“We do not support the physical attacks seen on social media, and our detectives are working with the District Attorney’s Office on these cases,” Barner said.
“Setting up public meetings and conducting vigilante type behavior is not going to end well,” Barner said, who added that “these incidents appear to be escalating, and we hope our meeting resolves our concerns.”
The DAP encounter with the African American man in Redding one week after O’Donnell met with Redding area law enforcement officials suggests that DAP continued to escalate their activities, despite law enforcement requests to the contrary.
Barner also shared the following statement with A News Café:
“The Redding Police Department takes these cases involving children very serious. Our Detective Division, particularly our Sex Crimes Unit and High-Tech Crimes Unit (HTCU), regularly work sting operations and monitor social media for these types of crimes. We have detectives that are directly working with and deputized with Homeland Security and FBI for these particular cases and the complexity they entail.”
Most members of DAP, as well as enforcement officials, DAP supporters, average citizens, as as well as those who do not support DAP’s violent tactics, all agree on one thing: child sexual predators are an enormous danger to society.
However, many North State community members — including law enforcement — believe that DAP’s increasingly violent vigilantism is equally dangerous. They beseech DAP groups to cooperate with local law enforcement agencies, and not take the law into their own hands.
Unchecked and condoned, DAP becomes just one kind of predator going after another.
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