Oklahoma pensioner Douglas Blansett has pleaded not guilty to ‘engaging in an act of public lewdness’ after a vigilante law enforcer used a drone to film him allegedly having sex in a car with a known sex worker.
The drone was being operated by the man behind Johntv.com, Brian Bates, who “firmly believes that many types of prostitution are not ‘the world’s oldest profession’ and are instead ‘the world’s oldest form of abuse.'”
When the footage of the 75-year-old was filmed and handed over to police back in August, Bates said he believed this was the first case where a drone had been used in this way.
The pensioner appeared in court this week and will be back in court early next year to face the music.
The woman, Amanda Zolicoffer, has also been charged with the same offense.
Since 1996, Bates has used a normal video camera to film and shame men who pay for sex with women on the street.
He has filmed more than 500 such videos since then, receiving hundreds of thousands of hits on his Youtube channel, as well as creating longform documentaries about these issues in Oklahoma.
Clearly something of a one-man crusader, what’s not clear is how this work changes the lives of the women he seeks to help. He does not protect their identities in the videos, for example.
➤ State of Oklahoma v Zolicoffer and Blasnett [Oklahoma State Courts Network via Ars Technica]
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