Clifford Wallach

> *"Please give me my son, please! I didn't do nothin' wrong, I was just trying to take a kid to lunch! I can't feel my hands, please!"*
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>  *- Clifford while being arrested*
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### Aliases

* FOTOPHIX
* Jason

## Physical description

### Hair Color

Brown

**Clifford Eric Wallach** is a suspected predator featured in the Fort Myers, Florida investigation of **To Catch A Predator.** He is infamous for showing up to the sting house with his five-year-old son.

## Chat and confrontation

Clifford Eric Wallach started an internet conversation with Perverted Justice decoy who was a 14-year-old boy named "Tony." He lied about his name, claiming to be "Jason." Throughout the conversation, Wallach said he wanted to have "fun with whatever," and only mentioned having "fun" repeatedly with the boy and wanting to meet and "see what happens." Soon after, Wallach preferred to speak with the decoy over the phone. They stop talking online after 30 minutes, and Clifford started a voice conversation with Del Harvey, the person posing as the teenage boy. He revealed his true motivations over the phone, stating that he desired giving and receiving oral sex with the boy.

When Wallach arrived at the sting house, he proceeded to his car's back seat to let his five-year-old son out. His wife was at work and he had to watch him that day. Frag exclaimed, "Oh, no," and told the other people in the house that he had brought his kid along. Later, Chris Hansen reported that some of the people were crying. Due to the shocking circumstances and the fact that a real child was involved, Hansen came out right away and informed Clifford that he was a part of a sting. Hansen stated that he wouldn't pursue anything because his child was involved, but mentioned that Wallach knew why he was at the house. Wallach claimed he was just taking out the boy for lunch. Hansen repeated that he wouldn't pursue anything asked them to leave. Wallach agreed and said that he would never do it again.

### Arrest

Instead of being tackled when he left the house like many of the men in the Fort Myers investigation, the officers told Wallach to remain where he was. While he was being arrested, the cops took his child away. Clifford would then start crying and declare that he needed his son and couldn't feel his hands. The police then contacted the child's mother so she can pick him up. Hansen claimed that Wallach told the police during his interview that he wasn't going to engage in any sex acts with his child, instead, he was going to place the child in a separate room to watch a movie. Hansen further claimed that Wallach told police that he wanted oral sex from a teenage boy, since his wife would not perform it on him.

## Aftermath

After his arrest, Wallach's son was taken from him and his wife. Wallach's wife decided to stick by him during his criminal proceedings and their child was placed with other guardians. Wallach was charged with two felonies: attempted lewd or lascivious battery with a victim 12-15 years old and child neglect.

### Trial

Wallach made the decision to go to trial by jury rather than enter a guilty plea. Del Harvey and another member of Perverted Justice, Don Pedro, flew to Fort Myers to testify against Wallach. The trial took a day and a half. Francine Donnorummo, an assistant state attorney, presented a recording of the phone call between Wallach and the decoy during the trial. She remarked that the evidence of his desire to have sex with a child that day could was evident in Wallach's sexually explicit phone call and his requests about the boy's parents' whereabouts. Donnorummo told the jury during her closing argument that Wallach's crimes were captured on film and backed up by testimony. She stated that Wallach placed his son in danger and attempted to have sex with a young teenager.

Arthur Brandt, the defense counsel for Wallach, argued that the jury was being told to act as "thought police," mentioning they were being intentionally placed at that "level." Brandt asserted that his client had no desire to engage in sexual activity with the teenage boy he had encountered online. Brandt further claimed that Wallach had fantasies about "younger looking" men and that he had only wished to take the teenage boy and his son to McDonald's. Brandt asserted that Wallach had a "fantasy" but denied his client had any sexual interest in children, and he further told the jurors that it was "not against the law to have a fantasy."

### Sentencing

On November 15, 2007, the jurors deliberated for more than four hours before finding Wallach guilty against both charges he was facing. On January 28, 2008, Wallach was sentenced to five years in prison, the harshest sentence for any of the predators caught in the Fort Myers sting.

## Post-Predator activities

Wallach was released from prison on February 9, 2012. He worked in information technology and had another son with his wife. In July 2020, Wallach shared his perspective about his conviction on the Florida Action Committee website:

> *I was also entrapped by a sting in 06 and was made an example of from the state. Out of 34 people arrested I was one of the few that went to prison. My mistake was hiring a lawyer that wasn’t part of the good ole boys club in fort Meyers. I lost everything after prison, my children, my family, everything I owned was gone. To this day 15 years later I am still suffering, no one will hire me, and I feel stuck in this state. The prison was a nightmare. Being abused by the DOC police was worse than the abuse I took from other inmates. They kept moving me from camp to camp until finally, I was able to be placed at a protective custody camp. The whole ordeal was a nightmare. Not only was I entrapped but since this was done by a vigilante group and dateline NBC, it was run over and over again especially during my trial. I ran out of money during my appeal and suffered. since being released I have held few jobs until they found out about my prison stay by the vigilante group and subsequently fired. If there was a way to go after the state and all of the money makers in the prison sting industry, count me in.*
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### Aftermath

Wallach would later divorce his wife and move from Florida to upstate New York in 2021. Wallach was categorized as a tier two sex offender, indicating he had a moderate risk of reoffending, and was required to register his status with law enforcement every six months. Wallach was also designated as a "sexually violent offender" on the New York State Sex Offender Registry, meaning he was mandated to continually update his status with law enforcement for the rest of his life. In late 2023, Wallach moved from upstate New York to Connecticut.

## Trivia/Post-Predator Activities

* Verification recordings were done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and not Perverted Justice, so the audio is not available on their site.

## References

1. ↑ https://archive.naplesnews.com/news/local/men-arrested-in-internet-sting-operation-ep-406488369-346556722.html/
2. ↑ https://archive.naplesnews.com/lifestyle/family/sexual-predators-targeting-collier-county-kids-on-the-internet-ep-405153691-335190291.html/
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.perverted-justice.com/?con=FOTOPHIX/
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 https://archive.naplesnews.com/news/local/naples-man-nabbed-on-to-catch-a-predator-found-guilty-ep-403114869-344962882.html/
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/SomsSUBDirectory/ReCaptchaServlet?offenderId=53659&g-recaptcha-response=03AFY\_a8Vpe6Y4QadLPUNQQntgGGlbDYIR93cb0tDHlu54FNZqBb4DMel7zOtjtTLxdy\_8myRsiuEcFDJiUssEVyAKZHAmkkEWltaTpZ7f4aR99hvOw9mwOosMYdmVrx\_ovJPj-WGCVobLQ211BzMSKspmKxIs62hy3QEvXWh5LT2\_Y-lU-i46k1kaWrIcakP9sfbi0keTgymSk31PrjH9XseljFIxZc3KGIhndxL0O\_dkFSEWTmHcW8Wc3jL5M8tMdBGQ5\_keEA3Zbpw6w35KZpWQIjKl4LTL9wZr\_Gy7yO7QsYdb3lsJg6uQnnoakI\_U9Io\_v30OuIQ4DkFhcpVNG7KPWIdd9K4g5EZ0GVovClt9nrPSDZwrtBh3tpBi42for1OoEFZOTJXBmo6j0TaMtUdDqY8Cto5gHAKeU2vFRFuEzZ754yM6j3Hx7Xvr6Sy0PltwxgGV0q\_UL6qYZrKpIBEPZblIfiBwKorFqur984mMKOK7fiiu14hyU3WLbZxew9ucLzMQhaAGm9MMndqogZOYEd-aRnA0mg&Submit=Search
6. ↑ https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/sops/flyer.jsf?personId=60302
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://dairystatedegenerates.blogspot.com/2020/12/to-catch-predator-update-fort-myers.html
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 https://www.icrimewatch.net/offenderdetails.php?OfndrID=13052737&AgencyID=54567
9. ↑ https://floridaactioncommittee.org/floridas-2nd-dca-says-police-sting-entrapped-defendant/