Members of the organization who approached police about a cooperative effort are the ones who go online and strike up an Internet relationship with the suspects, Dahle said.

But without help from the private group, the Fargo department didn’t have the time, manpower and expertise to put together the necessary sting operations, he said.

Dahle said that unlike in some high-profile national cases in which the offender traveled a long distance only to be arrested, defendants in recent cases here are from the area.

Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Aaron Birst said there’s no real problem in having law enforcement link up with private groups for this kind of work.

Nor is entrapment a problem, although it’s a common defense in such cases, Birst said. Such a defense requires the defendant to show that law enforcement initiated the illegal conduct, rather than waited for the defendant to do that, he said.

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