Former staffer had been arrested for allegedly soliciting a minor
A former Pepperdine Law School employee has apparently taken his own life after he was arrested on suspicion of soliciting a minor. The Caruso Law School terminated Scott Woeckel in August after his arrest by Glendale police. Woeckel was 49.
A result of a search on the LA County Medical Examiner’s website (me.lacounty.gov) confirms that Woeckel was found deceased at his residence on Saturday, Sept. 9. Suicide was given as the cause of death.
Woeckel’s Aug. 12 arrest was made after police were tipped off by a private self-described child advocacy group called “CC Unit” which stands for “Creep Catchers Unit.” CC Unit claims it posed as a 13-year-old girl online and that Woeckel asked for photos and was intending on meeting the underage girl in Glendale for sex. CC Unit has posted video of the arrest on its social media.
There has been increased scrutiny of vigilante tactics used by private citizens posing as decoys to lure adults over the internet. In some California cases, district attorneys are deciding against pressing charges on the grounds that groups like CC Unit does not catch criminals in the act of committing a crime, but that they entice individuals to undertake criminal activity in a nongovernment-sanctioned sting. The popular television show “To Catch a Predator” was cancelled in 2008 after critics accused the show of entrapment and after one of their targets also committed suicide. Critics argued the program’s methods could lead the accused to feeling trapped and hopeless and that the show could ruin the lives of those not convicted.