This is beyond nuts.

These guys are not perverts (and if I was one of the ones arrested, I would be suing ABC for using that as a headline)

They are not flashers who go around accosting young women by whipping it out.

No, these are perfectly innocent men who are thinking it is their lucky day. She's topless, shes playing footsie, even resting her foot on his shoulder which places her in a rather interesting position.

He figures what they hey, no one is around, and he takes the gift that has been handed to him, only to find it is a sting?

How can this not be entrapment? The man would never have done what he did if the woman didn't do and say all that she did, especially the way she was heavily flirting with him.

How many men are getting trapped this way? How many fines are being collected? This needs to be stopped.

"veer dangerously close to entrapment" says the article - it is bloody entrapment!

Considering that the police use an apparently illegal act to catch someone to do an illegal act, the police are on shaky legal ground.

Well, it is legal for women to be topless so that part is legal. However she is asking him to commit a crime, and giving every indication that she is ready to rock his world. She is pressuring him to commit a crime.

If you mean being topless in public, that isn't a crime in Colombus, OH. Showing something more than that is. Enticing someone to do it is entrapment.

In NYC there was a similar tactic (later in the article) where police would leave a wallet for someone to find and arrest them for taking it. If I were a good citizen, I would pick it up, find out whose it was, and return it to the owner. According to the NYPD, just by picking it up I was a criminal. How backward is that.

That is what I meant.

Closest example I can think off: A officer posing as a prostitute. If she asks for sex, it is entrapment, if she gets asked for sex, it is not (Althought prostitution is legal where I come from).

If I remember, it was by not turning it in that made you a criminal, not just picking it up. Their idea was they would have an uniformed officer at exits. If the person found it, turned it in, all was fine. If not, he was busted.

I believe the problem was, they didn't read the entire law which gave a time limit on when you had to turn it in, so no one had even broken a law.

Exactly, but the police are acting out of a fantasy that this it isn't entrapment. I am sure they will be proven wrong and may very well face civil charges.

People will demand restitution for being named a sex criminal, of possibly ruining marriages, hurting families, costing someone their job, having video of their penis floating around, etc, etc. This could be a huge civil case.

Aren't there real criminals out there? Why are we victimizing people with bullshit tactics like this?

Apparently there isn't enough murder, rape, robbery, assault, or extortion going on to keep law enforcement officers busy these days.

Upvote for your awesome avatar choice.

You can't blame the cops because they are under constant pressure from far right conservatives.No wonder NYPD resorts to such gimics to arrest a poor fellow for indecent exposure or as such.The real criminals are the fat cats in Wall Street who evade paying taxes by hiring fancy lawyers.When you get irritated remember that in this circus of ours the show must go on .Make no mistake we do need law and order what we don't need is making a mockery of it.