The Windsor, Ont., man behind Creeper Hunter TV has been sentenced. But the story isn't over
Jason Nassr, the man behind the video vigilante channel Creeper Hunter TV, has been sentenced on criminal charges after a five-week Ontario trial earlier this year.
But for acclaimed Windsor documentary maker Matt Gallagher, that doesn't bring closure.
"I think the sentencing is, in fact, the beginning of the story," Gallagher told CBC Windsor.
"It's a complicated story, with people who are torn apart and people who are trying to make sense of this."
Gallagher is working on a documentary examining the aftermath of Creeper Hunter TV, which claimed to be exposing child predators.
Documentary maker Matt Gallagher, shown in CBC Windsor's studios on Monday, was in the courthouse for Nassr's sentencing last month. (Dalson Chen/CBC)
CBC Windsor also spoke to Nassr, who's currently serving 18 months of house arrest.
During the Superior Court trial in London, the court heard that from 2015 to 2020, Nassr posted videos he claimed showed men contacting him for sex when they believed he was under age.
How the channel worked
As part of Nassr's methods, he would communicate with men on dating sites and social media platforms, typically portraying himself as an 18-year-old female.
Once the correspondence turned sexual, the jury heard, Nassr would tell his targets he was under 18 — as young as age 10. He would entice them in phone conversations, adopting a high-pitched, girlish voice.
Those who continued to communicate with him would end up featured on Creeper Hunter TV.
Nassr recorded in-person confrontations, showed screen captures of text conversations, and included full names and phone numbers.
A screen capture of Nassr in an episode of Creeper Hunter TV. He appears to be laughing while an individual pleads with him not to post the video. (Submitted by Matt Gallagher)
Some episodes involved the featured individual pleading with Nassr not to post the video, saying they were suicidal — to which Nassr would respond with laughter and mockery. "Make sure you be honest in your suicide note," Nassr told one target.
Around 100 episodes were posted, the court heard. Gallagher said at least three of the men featured on Creeper Hunter TV have committed suicide.
"He has no remorse," said Gallagher, who has interviewed Nassr extensively for the documentary. "He has no remorse for even the people who have lost their lives.
"In one of my last interviews with him, I flatly asked him: 'Do you have any empathy for even the family members of these men?' And his response was: 'Sure, I guess. It sucks to be dead.'"
As a result of Nassr's tactics, he was arrested and charged in July 2020.
Nassr, shown in a screen capture from his video vigilante channel Creeper Hunter TV, is serving house arrest after being found guilty of harassment by telecommunications, extortion and more. (YouTube)
Nassr was found guilty of harassment by telecommunications, extortion, and production and distribution of child pornography. He was sentenced by Justice Alissa Mitchell on Oct. 30. Although the Crown was seeking a four-year term, including imprisonment, Nassr was given the house arrest, six months of a 10 p.m. curfew and two years of probation.
Court documents say the child pornography charges stem from Nassr's communications with his "catches." The Crown argued Nassr's sexually charged texting in the persona of an underage individual constituted child pornography.
Mitchell said Nassr has "extremely low moral culpability" regarding child pornography, as no actual child was involved in his activities, and she does not believe he had sexual motivations in his communications.
Mitchell described Nassr's work with Creeper Hunter TV as "vigilantism run amok." She felt personal "disdain and disgust" for his treatment of others.
In the specific episode that resulted in the court case, "Mr. Nassr's tone and demeanour were repulsive," Mitchell wrote.
Remorse under question
Another aggravating factor was Nassr has expressed "no remorse or regret for his actions.... Mr. Nassr does not acknowledge that his conduct caused harm, may have caused harm or had the potential to cause harm to others," Mitchell wrote.
Production images are shown from Gallagher's documentary about the aftermath of Creeper Hunter TV. Nassr, the man responsible for Creeper Hunter TV, is pictured. (Submitted by Border City Pictures)
But Nassr told CBC Windsor he disagrees with Gallagher's and Mitchell's characterizations of him.
"I don't think I'm remorseless. I think I don't have to be public about how I feel about these cases and my own actions," he said.
"I'm not going to talk about what it is that I feel about these people. I feel sorry for them because of the decisions that they made. Because if they were to have made better choices, then they wouldn't have been in that position to be filmed — or to meet up with a child that they thought was going to be for a sexual purpose."
Mitchell noted the charges were not about holding Nassr responsible for anyone's death, nor were they about any other episodes of Creeper Hunter TV.
And there were mitigating factors: Police were aware of Nassr's Creeper Hunter TV activities as early as 2015.
Although Nassr never approached police himself, the court heard, he co-operated with their investigations into others. In 2017, he turned over his cellphone as evidence to help police in an online luring case.
Gallagher told CBC Windsor that people are still 'trying to make sense' of the Creeper Hunter TV case. (Amy Dodge/CBC)
Nassr, now 43, has maintained his purpose with the videos was to entertain, and to educate the public about dangers to children and adolescents. He has variously described Creeper Hunter TV as "journalism" and "an artistic piece."
"I'm a filmmaker," Nassr told followers in a livestream on Creeper Hunter TV.
"The main issue here is: What are we doing as a society, once we have watched these videos?"
Nassr also told CBC Windsor that his case should not be seen in black-and-white terms.
"It's not an issue about remorse or not remorse. It's about ... What do we do about these problems in society, and what do we do about the ever-growing risks that children face online?"
Mitchell told the court: "This is a difficult sentencing decision."
Matt Gallagher, right, speaks with an interview subject, a retired FBI agent, during production of the documentary. (Submitted by Matt Gallagher)
Gallagher was at the courthouse for the sentencing — which was also attended by loved ones of a Creeper Hunter TV target who died.
"You could just feel the outrage in the family," Gallagher said about the sentence Nassr received. "My camera crew was there as they came out of the courthouse and we interviewed all of them. They were confused, outraged. They were saying that justice had not been served."
Nassr, shown in a screen capture from his Creeper Hunter TV website and YouTube channel, recently told CBC Windsor, 'I don't think I'm remorseless.' (YouTube)
Along with four interview sessions with Nassr, Gallagher spoke extensively with people close to individuals who were featured on Creeper Hunter TV episodes.
Their grief, and the impact of Nassr on their lives, has shaped the documentary, Gallagher said.
The dilemma of online access
Catherine Tabak, senior manager of the cyber tip line for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, told CBC Windsor about different dangers: She continues to see a growing number of reports of children in online incidents with adults.
"There's an increasing risk," Tabak said. "We're seeing a lot younger children being victimized online."
Tabak said she believes the concept of "online safety" is "really difficult for parents and for the public to wrap their heads around — knowing that we have people walking amongst us that have ill intentions towards children."
She noted real world spaces have rules and regulations to protect children, yet they now have access at a young age to devices and online platforms through which adults can contact them "unfettered."
Nassr is shown in another screen capture from a livestream on his YouTube channel. (YouTube)
According to Gallagher, he is not asking viewers to sympathize with predatory behaviour.
"Nassr got it right once in a while, but he also was careless. I think he put people on his program that didn't deserve to be on his program."
Gallagher believes "there were innocent men who were swept up by Creeper Hunter TV."
"And these men had no recourse. These men couldn't fight charges. Once Nassr pointed his finger and said, 'You're a predator, you're a pedophile,' and posted that video — their lives were essentially changed forever.
"I'm saying that, after all the interviews I've done with family members and all the interviews with Nassr ... I don't want to leave the role of what police do, or what police should be doing, to a guy like Jason Nassr."
"There are dangerous people out there and those people need to be stopped. But giving Jason Nassr the licence to hunt these people is not the right way to do this. It's not helpful."
Nassr told CBC Windsor he "absolutely" believes that all of the 100 episodes of Creeper Hunter TV were justified.
"At no point was anyone ever an innocent player when it came to [the] people wanting to meet up with children... The drug addicts, the sex addicts, the people that were straight-out pedophiles, the people that were child predators — none of them were at all innocent," Nassr emphasized.
"I don't have any regrets about Creeper Hunter TV."
Nassr said he plans to appeal his conviction.
More production images from Gallagher's documentary. (Submitted by Border City Pictures)
Gallagher's past film projects have explored such sensitive topics as sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, people preparing for incarceration and patients at a COVID-19 field hospital.
But the award-winning filmmaker feels his current subject has been the hardest to navigate in his career to date.
"It's the most difficult project I've ever worked on," he said. "It's a very difficult story to ask people to talk about."
Gallagher's documentary is being made possible with the support of TVOntario.
Production continues and a release date has yet to be set.
