Self-described pedophile says his Web site was shut down

A self-identified pedophile, who ran a blog featuring candid shots of children in public places, said his Web site was shut down this week when the Web host decided the content was too racy.

The Snohomish County man, who talked on the condition that he be referred to only as John because of safety concerns for himself and his family, said he hasn't done anything illegal even though he admits to having a physical attraction to underage girls.

The man, 45, said he would go to weekend events throughout the Puget Sound region, such as fairs, parades, church events and roller rinks, and then write about the experiences on his blog. He would sometimes take pictures of children at the events and post the pictures on the blog. None of the pictures were of nude children, he said.

He would also link to information and pictures on other Web sites, including seattletimes.com.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said they know about John, but that the Web site was not illegal.

Recently, John has received media attention — a national television crew pursued him and his family and eventually he agreed to give them an interview. He doesn't think that interview has been shown yet, but local news media have done stories in the past several days.

John said he won't restart the blog anytime soon. "The bulk of it was me going to these events every weekend and just blogging about my experiences," he said in a telephone interview. "I think the site was pretty obscure until this week."

Officials at the Web hosting company could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

John said he's had several encounters with law enforcement but has never been arrested.

"We're very familiar with this situation," said Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Rebecca Hover. "We are aware of this Web site. We know this man and where he lives. We don't have evidence of a crime or suspicion of criminal activity."

John said his encounters with the law have been at places he was taking pictures. In at least one circumstance, at a state fair, he had to agree to stay out of the area of "kiddie" rides to be allowed to stay at the event, he said.

"I stay within the law. ... I was never kicked out of any of these events. I've behaved myself pretty well the past couple of years," he said.

John said he has no significant criminal history; he's not listed in the Washington State Sex Offender Information Center's database.

He says he browses many Web sites similar to his, but he doesn't intentionally look at child porn.

"I've inadvertently run across them," he said of child-porn Web sites. "Some of the stuff I saw was very disturbing ... some of it I don't really see what the big deal was about."

John hopes the attention will die down soon, mostly because he's concerned about the privacy of his family. He lives with his parents, he said.

He said his parents have told him that he'll have to move out if he doesn't stop the Web site.

Brian Alexander: 206-464-2026 or balexander@seattletimes.com