Frank Fencepost and Xavier Von Erck (born Philip John Eide). The organization says that its online operations have led to 623 convictions as of October 8, 2018, with over 200 more currently awaiting trial, and an average of 25 arrests a month for the year of 2006. The organization reported an annual income of $825,000 a year in 2006 with Von Erck earning a salary of $120,000. The site originally started with the posting of chat logs to shame people who engaged in sexual chats with purported children. Some members of the site allegedly went further by harassing the targets of their chats in real life, as well as their friends, neighbors, employers, and family. After a falling-out over a vitriolic chat log with a phone verifier in 2004, Fencepost was dismissed from the site. "Xavier became much more oriented toward getting pedophiles arrested rather than just making them complete social pariahs in their neighborhood," says Fencepost. Von Erck said he got the idea for the website while watching people attempt to groom young girls in chat rooms in Oregon. He says Perverted-Justice is a computer watchdog agency that works closely with law enforcement agencies. "The media likes to use the term 'vigilante' because it gets attention, but we don't consider ourselves vigilantes. We cultivate cooperation with police and work within the law to get justice, not outside of the law." Methods Perverted-Justice functions by supporting volunteers who act as informants in chat rooms where minors can typically be found. The volunteers' public profiles have youthful-sounding usernames, young ages, and pictures of children. The administrators of the site say they do not initiate online contact with the users, and refuse to act on tips from the public as a result. If a user starts chatting to the volunteer and turns the conversation to sex, the volunteer responds positively and encourages them to divulge personal details, particularly a telephone number, ostensibly needed to verify their identity so that a meeting can be arranged. In the past, around this point the chatlog and details would be published on the site. Volunteers on the site's forums would then engage in "follow-up", attempting to identify and notify family members, employers, and neighbors. However, in December 2003, the organization set up its "Information First" program, in which interested police departments could contact Perverted-Justice, and any "busts" made within that department's jurisdiction would be sent straight