The Coast News INLAND EDITION
.com ESCONDIDO, SAN MARCOS, VISTA
VOL. 5, N0. 20
OCT. 2, 2020
Vigilantes take on illicit sex economy
With tax credit, firm to expand in San Marcos By Tigist Layne
By Jordan P. Ingram
REGION — After 18 months of allegedly exchanging messages online with a 14-year-old child, a Leucadia bagel store owner agreed to meet the youth in person. But when Steve Amster arrived at the parking lot near a Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt on September 11 in Oceanside, he was instead met by a man holding a video camera asking him what he was doing there — a question Amster didn’t stick around long enough to answer. The confrontation caught on camera was one of the latest videos released by Ghost, an online vigilante who targets sexual predators in San Diego County. Since 2018, Ghost and his crew, known as Creep Catcher (CC) Unit, have posted 155 videos of individuals caught on video attempting to meet minors for sex in several North County cities, including Carlsbad, Encinitas, Oceanside, Vista and Escondido, in addition to neighboring Murrieta, San Clemente and Los Angeles. “I’ve always wondered how many of these creeps live in the area and I wanted to make a change,” Ghost told The Coast News. “I started looking online where these people troll the internet. It’s crazy how many (sexual predators) there are. It’s ridiculous.” Ghost’s strategy is to create decoy accounts in online chat rooms by using profile pictures of adults who look like underage teens, but who aren’t actually minors. Once the profile is created and the trap is set, Ghost waits for someone to initiate contact. “Every person I’ve caught, they’ve contacted me first,” Ghost said. “I always say, ‘I hope you don’t mind, I’m 13.’ If they are fine with the age, then I continue talking with them. TURN TO VIGILANTES ON 9
CARLSBAD PUMPKIN MUNCHKIN
Kylie, 2, plays in a field of huge orange gourds on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Carlsbad Strawberry Company’s pumpkin patch. The company’s annual fall attraction features games, food and giant pumpkins through Nov. 8. Photo courtesy Instagram: @mywellofjoy
SAN MARCOS — Piercan USA, Inc. has secured a $1.5 million California Competes Tax Credit (CCTC) this summer with the help of San Marcos’ economic development division. The income tax credit is set up to help businesses that want to grow and stay in California. Piercan, an international company headquartered in France since 1948, is a worldwide leader in manufacturing niche polymer products, including specialty gloves used by NASA, pharmaceutical companies, national laboratories and the military. The company began operating in the U.S. in 1995 in Vista before expanding to San Marcos, where it currently employs more than 60 full-time workers. This tax credit will essentially give Piercan $1.5 million over the next 5 years, and it’s up to Piercan to set and meet certain hiring goals and capital investment goals each year in order to receive the full amount. With this assistance, Piercan plans to expand its San Marcos operations and hire 62 new employees and TURN TO TAX CREDIT ON 7
CSUSM student paper’s first edition reflects ongoing challenges By Tigist Layne
SAN MARCOS — California University at San Marcos’ (CSUSM) campus newspaper, The Cougar Chronicle, recently released its first edition of the semester featuring a variety of stories that directly impact students, faculty and staff, and members of the San Marcos community. The paper’s first edition features stories from a staff of roughly 30 students. Some of those topics include a controversial freedom of speech issue that recently arose on campus, the theater department's plan to offer virtual
performances, a student selling earrings to raise more than $500 for Black organizations and more. This semester looks very different from others for The Cougar Chronicle, according to the paper’s editor-in-chief, Anneliese Esparza.
Esparza, a 22-year-old senior and Literature & Writing major, joined the newspaper during her junior year at CSUSM. She told The Coast News that they are facing some unique challenges this semester as a result of the university’s decision to move to completely virtual learning to reduce the spread of COVID-19. “It’s been a little bit challenging to reach a wide enough audience without our print edition… and not having print is making selling advertising more challenging, as well,” Esparza said. “We’re pushing it through our social media…
we’re sending out emails to heads of departments, city council, chamber of commerce, etc. to try to get the word out. We also have an announcement in our school’s weekly communications email that goes to all students, faculty and staff.” Esparza added that the staff has also launched a new YouTube channel to be able to tell visual stories, as well. “It’s also exciting to see the new staff writers take off,” Esparza said. “We’ve already had a couple of new people that are starting to thrive and learn how to write compelling
journalism stories, so we’re excited to see them continue to grow.” Kent Davy, who has been the faculty advisor for the newspaper since 2014, also noted the changes that he and the staff have been grappling with, including having to reformat staff meetings to include a journalism boot camp class that he used to teach separately, but is now canceled. Nonetheless, Davy said he is excited for what this semester will bring and is already blown away by the staff’s work. The Cougar Chronicle is available online at CSUSMChronicle.com.