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On 11 February 2018, the Neon Nettle web site published a vivid article under the headline Mom Catches Pedophile Trying to Rape Child, Blows His Head Off with Shotgun, which opened as follows: In broad strokes, this report conformed to an incident reported by local news media in which a Georgia woman fatally shot a burglar who had concealed himself within a closet in her home: However, Neon Nettle is a notorious fake news blog with a predilection for publishing sensationalized (if not completely fabricated) stories about pedophiles, and true to form, Neon Nettle added multiple false elements to this particular report to enhance its luridness. For example, as we confirmed with Early County Investigator Captain Will Caudill, the woman referenced in this report did not blow [the intruder's] off with a shotgun. The weapon she used was a handgun, and the intruder, Michael Lindsey, had no gunshot wounds above the torso of his body. Furthermore, the mother did not find Lindsey trying to rape her 12-year-old child. Lindsey had concealed himself in a closet of the home for reasons that remain indeterminate, as Captain Caudill told us that investigators did not factually determine the motive for the burglary. Finally, although Lindsey was a sex offender, he would likely not be described by any responsible news account as a notorious pedophile, given that he had but a single related conviction on his record, and that was from nearly twenty years earlier (1999).
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