A self-styled creep catcher was arrested after crashing the screening of a documentary about him in London.
Shamed tells the story of Jason Nassr , the controversial creator of Creeper Hunter TV, and explores questions about vigilantism, the justice system and the fallout for the people accused of being pedophiles and predators.
The documentary by Windsor-born filmmaker Matt Gallagher was being screened at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Forest City Film Festival at Citi Plaza, where organizers said Nassr showed up.
London police said Nassr was arrested Monday night after officers were called to the documentary screening for a report of a man who was breaching a court order to stay away from certain individuals.
Nassr, 45, of Windsor is charged with two counts of criminal harassment and one count of breaching a court order. He was held in custody and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
The Free Press obtained a video showing three London police officers following a man in downtown’s Citi Plaza and arresting him.
“You’re breaching your release conditions,” one of the officers can be heard saying to the man while handcuffing him.
The man, whom one of the officers refers to as Jason, was wearing a baseball cap, medical mask, hoodie and shorts.
The executive director of the Forest City Film Festival said Nassr showed up before the screening of Shamed at Wolf Performance Hall.
“We were ready. We had notified the police that it was a possibility, so we were ready for him,” Dorothy Downs said.
“The London police were very, very well prepared and looked after it promptly and put him in cuffs and took him away.”
Nassr was found guilty in February 2023 of harassment by telecommunications, extortion and both producing and distributing child pornography through written word following a five-week trial.
The convictions stemmed from his online actions three years ago on Creeper Hunter TV, a vigilante website that claimed to be exposing child predators, which featured Nassr’s explicit o nline sexual conversations with targets while Nassr posed as a pre-teen girl.
Nassr was given a two-year conditional sentence, including 18 months of house arrest, followed by six months under a curfew, and two years probation. One condition required him to stay 250 metres away from family members of the victim in the case. There were family members in attendance at Monday’s screening.
Speaking with The Free Press before the London screening, Gallagher said Nassr participated in the documentary, sitting down for four interviews, before pulling out after learning the film also featured family members of some of the men featured on his website.
Nassr sent the filmmakers a cease-and-desist demand in September after Shamed appeared at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto.
“It has come to my attention that your film, ‘Shamed,’ contains false, intentionally misleading and defamatory statements concerning myself,” Nassr wrote in the letter.
“You’re a slick manipulator but litigation will soon be pending against yourself and any distributors of such lies.”
Gallagher said he anticipated potential legal action from Nassr.
“I wasn’t surprised,’” Gallagher said. “I decided there is an important story that needs to be told and I was going to let the chips fall where they may. . . . But we’re on solid ground with this documentary.”
– with files from Free Press reporter Beatriz Baleeiro
