#operation soap

"We were being hunted"

A group dedicated to busting child sex predators just announced they are shutting down after they "were unknowingly closing in on someone tied to a child sex trafficking operation".

"It was protected, shielded, and surrounded by power"

"Operation Soap" started in October of 2024 in Missouri. They are brand new, have busted over 16 criminals, and were quickly gaining traction. Link to news interview: https://ky3.com/2025/04/03/springfield-civilian-group-takes-aim-suspected-online-predators/

Hours ago, they announced they are shutting down after being intimidated and threatened. They stated "we have families to protect". This group never looked for fame. In fact, they did the opposite doing their best to remain anonymous to protect the operation.

source: Matt Tardio

@angertab Below is a link to their FB announcement. I want to thank my followers who continue to bring things like this to my attention. This is disgusting and needs to be exposed.

@AngryCops

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In October of 2024, we started something we believed in with everything we had. We called it Operation Soap. It was never about fame or recognition. It was about protecting kids, our kids, your kids, the ones living just down the street. The goal was simple: catch as many child predators in our local area as possible.

We never expected what would come next.

In less than a year, we publicly exposed sixteen predators. More than a hundred others engaged with our decoys but never showed up, monsters hiding behind screens, uncovered through persistence and planning. We built decoy profiles on every platform we could. We spent late nights organizing every detail into evidence. We confronted predators, recorded the truth, and followed them into courtrooms to make sure they didn’t slip through the cracks.

We weren’t a flashy operation chasing clicks or followers. We weren’t in it for money or attention. We were parents, family, regular people with jobs to do and bills to pay, who put everything on the line to protect children.

And we were relentless.

By early 2025, it felt like we had momentum on our side. One predator a week, that was our pace. Every week brought another name, another face, another child potentially saved. We even caught a family member! We went live during our catches so the public could see the truth unfold in real time. It wasn’t just about justice. It was about awareness. About making sure families knew who was living among them.

Then everything began to change.

The posts slowed down. The live videos stopped. People began asking where we went.

The truth is, we got too close to something dark. We were unknowingly closing in on someone tied to a child sex trafficking operation. Not overseas, not in some distant city. Right here in Missouri. We only found out because a jurisdiction reached out and warned us not to proceed. What they didn’t say was just how deep that darkness ran.

That’s when things escalated.

Members of our team began to realize they were being watched. Unmarked vehicles lingered outside their homes. Strangers followed them through stores, making no effort to conceal the fact they were watching. Devices were remotely accessed and compromised. One member’s garage was opened in the middle of the night. And if that wasn’t bold enough, they even had the audacity to knock on our doors.

We weren’t just being watched.

We were being hunted.

And then we uncovered the most chilling truth of all.

Some of the very people tasked with protecting children already knew about this trafficking ring. Not only did they know, they did nothing. Worse, they tried to silence us. They used their badges not to help us, but to attempt to shut us down.

One of the agencies involved was created specifically to catch child predators. That is their mission. Yet here they were, obstructing a group of parents trying to do exactly that.

And it didn’t stop there.

This ring wasn’t just a handful of sick individuals hiding in the shadows. It was protected, shielded, and surrounded by power. We uncovered links to attorneys, judges, prosecutors, police officers, politicians, and business owners. We won’t name towns, departments, or counties, not because we fear the truth, but because we already know what happens when you get too close.

People we trusted to serve and protect turned their backs on us. Some even turned their power against us.

It’s easy to believe this could never happen in your neighborhood or to your family. But we’re telling you, it is happening right now, in your community. Behind closed doors, by people you may even know.

And so, with heavy hearts, we are stepping away. Operation Soap is officially shutting down. Not because we lost the will to fight, and not because we were wrong, but because we have families to protect. We’ve looked into the eyes of the people we’re up against. We know what they’re capable of, and the resources they have.

We want to be absolutely clear, we still believe in law enforcement. We respect and support the brave men and women who wear the badge with integrity, who risk their lives every day to protect their communities and uphold the law. Many officers out there share our mission to protect the innocent, especially children, and we are deeply grateful for them. This is not about them.

This is about a small group of individuals, people in positions of power who chose secrecy, control, and self-preservation over truth, justice, and accountability. Their actions do not reflect the values of the law enforcement community as a whole, but they do reveal a dangerous problem that needs to be exposed. We refuse to let the actions of a corrupt few tarnish the honor of the many who genuinely serve with courage and principle.

We are proud of what we’ve accomplished. And if you followed us, supported us, or stood behind us even once, thank you. You helped make this real. You helped protect children.

Maybe one day, when it’s safe, we’ll return.

But for now, we go quiet.

Please, stay alert. Stay involved. Keep watching. Because when the people doing the most harm are counting on you to look away - don’t.

As part of my project, I've been reading up and revisiting a lot of really important queer sex culture and queer night life, as that is where focus with this archival aspects come into focus. Inevitably, this has taken me into bathhouse territory, (see my previous post for some of my first thoughts on that) namely Operation Soap in Toronto. While those specific raids concerned queer men and gay/mlm bathhouses, an extremely similar raid happened less than twenty years later. Given my focus on sapphic community, I immediately wanted to learn more about The Pussy Palace.

Enter the Toronto Women's Bathhouse, "affectionately known among queer women in Toronto as the Pussy Palace" (Gallant & Gillis 2001, 152). Pussies Bite Back: The Story of the Women's Bathhouse Raid details the experiences of queer Torontonians in 2000, amidst the post-raid chaos.

To begin their article, Gallant and Gillis remark on the role of the bathhouse, "Whether or not women attended the Pussy Palace, it existed as an option, as a possibility, as a problem for how women think of themselves as sexual beings." (2001, 153). Within the article, the authors note the inclusive nature of the space as trans men, women and "trans folk" (2001, 155) are welcome clientele. (I was ecstatic to learn this, and therefore even more disappointed in the current state of Goliaths.) Similarly to Goliaths, and bathhouses generally, the Pussy Palace is home to regular rooms, porn rooms, showers, a pool and sauna, etc. The detail that caught my particular eye was the inclusion of exotic dancers and spaces for exotic dancing.

Author Chanelle Gallant wrote about her own perspective in a way that deeply resonated with me; "I lap danced at first bathhouse [...] I walked away [...] newly aware of my femme power." (2001, 156). Exotic dance is not my strong suit, but I recognize the feeling Gallant described. Experimenting with your body, with what feels fun and good and powerful, is especially important as a queer person. The presence of sexuality and/or sensuality really doesn't matter. The point lies in the ability to do so; to exist openly and without shame or fear for ones' body or desire. It's very healing to dance with yourself and as yourself, in my own experience.

That autonomy, created through visibility is what made the Pussy Palace so important. Of course, this is also what made the raid heartbreaking; "The police raid on the Pussy Palace adds another layer to how we think about ourselves as sexual beings-- our public expressions of sexual desire have been witnessed, monitored and documented by the state." (Gallant & Gillis 2001, 154). The voyeuristic threat the authors point to here make me think of what I'm doing, in the immediate sense. Recording myself, my body and displaying my thoughts for the public to see and ingest? My experiences with the online pole community has been lovely across multiple platforms, but I know that is not true for everyone. In striving to create space for myself, and for those like me, I leave a (hypothetically) damning paper trail. And yet, I intend to continue. I love to dance, after all.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Operation Soap, a police raid on four Toronto bathhouses which saw the arrest of almost 300 men for being found in a “bawdy house” or brothel - although no incidences of sex work were proven and most of those arrested were later found innocent.

The following night the community responded with a protest 3000 strong. The protests continued over the coming weeks, and evolved into what is today Toronto’s Pride Week.

On this day in queer history: July 18, 1981

Toronto police raided the 4th annual Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, arresting activists and igniting a wave of resistance that transformed Pride into a powerful political force in Canada.

Earlier that year, the infamous Operation Soap bathhouse raids had already led to nearly 300 arrests. Tensions between the queer community and police were high—and when officers tried to shut down Pride events, the crowd had enough.

What was meant to be a celebration turned into a protest. Thousands of people marched, chanted, and demanded an end to police violence, homophobia, and state-sponsored harassment. This moment marked a shift: Pride in Toronto was no longer just a parade. It was a movement.

RAID: Operation Soap to premier at Buddies In Bad Times Theatre

It’s been 35 year’s since the Metropolitan Toronto Police simultaneously raided 4 bathhouses, arresting over 300 men in grotesque display of power intended to humiliate the men they found. These raids were the catalyst for one of the most significant turning points in Canadian LGBT history. Dubbed Operation Soap by police the raids sparked outrage among the LGBT community and the next day over…

Toronto’s bathhouse raids circa 1981, more info here.

Operation Soap

The Barracks: 1981 Witness Interview