Long Island’s vigilante collective, the Predator Poachers, claims they’re still waiting for a $25,000‑plus payout from YouTube following a massive online sting that exposed an alleged child‑abuser who also taught elementary‑school music.
The group’s chief, Michael Villani, explained to The Post that their YouTube channel—home to over 47,000 subscribers—was shut down only a few days before the platform was set to release the earnings from ad revenue and independent donations.
“We were supposed to get the money on the 21st, but the account was terminated on Nov. 16,” Villani said.
Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 14 they believe they captured roughly 17 suspected perverts, including the married dad with two toddlers now named Mark Verity. The highly publicized outing and subsequent arrest of Verity generated more than $6,000 from ads running on the footage posted by the Poachers.
According to Villani, YouTube owes the collective about $25,500, a sum that also includes donations—some amounting to hundreds of dollars—from supporters. “YouTube is actively preventing those who seek to protect kids from child predators and stealing from them as well as their supporters,” he told the outlet.
A YouTube representative defended the deletion, stating the channel was terminated for repeated violations of the platform’s Community Guidelines, which forbid in‑person sting operations that accuse individuals of serious misconduct involving minors unless law enforcement is visible.
Villani counters that the channel only ever received one strike a few days before the closure, and that the brief video in question omitted a required police presence screen, a technical oversight rather than a breach of policy.
Following that strike, the group removed the problematic clip, but only a few days later the entire channel vanished, the appeal was denied, and the money remains in limbo. “My biggest hope with this is that YouTube changes their policy,” Villani added.
Verity now faces charges for attempting to send sexual messages to a child and for trying to involve a minor in a sexual act.
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