YouTuber Pete Zogoulas reveals he was charged with stalking for videos exposing alleged ‘scammers'
Pete Zogoulas, who has 251,000 subscribers to his Pete Z channel, had gained viral fame for his 'sneak-in' videos, filming himself trespassing in various locations including theme parks, hotels and planes.
The 25-year-old abruptly stopped posting new content a year ago. On Saturday, Zogoulas returned with a 26-minute video explaining his absence.
'I went to prison because of YouTube,' he said.
The video opens up with police bodycam footage of the August 10, 2024 raid on his Brisbane home.
'So Pete, as I said before, I do have a search warrant for this premises, OK?' an officer tells Zogoulas as he sits on his couch looking shell-shocked.
'And now you're detained under that search warrant. I have to let you know that you have the right to remain silent. So if you do answer any questions or make any statement, it may later be used as evidence.'
Zogoulas went on to explain that he had landed in hot water after pivoting from his sneak-in videos, which he said looking back were 'pretty messed up', to exposing alleged scammers.
'I knew my life's purpose was not for me to just be sneaking in and trespassing and doing all those kinds of things,' he said.
'So I thought to myself, how do I go from someone who does bad things to making content that actually helps people? I made a massive pivot in my content, which was to do exposing scammer videos. Now I thought this was the most innocent kind of videos that I could possibly have done where I finally felt like I was doing something good for the society and I was doing good for people.'
Zogoulas said he was confused when his first scammer videos, titled 'I Exposed A Scammer On His Own Local Billboard' and 'I Scammed A Scammer', were taken down by YouTube after generating millions of views, and his Instagram account was banned.
Then came 'the worst day of my life'.
In bodycam footage, police inform Zogoulas that the search warrant is 'in relation to a stalking matter'.
Zogoulas said the stalking charge stemmed from his use of an AirTag — hidden in a Star Wars Mandalorian piggy bank — to track an individual as part of his own investigation.
'It wasn't like I was actually following him to his house or anything like that, but under the law that's technically stalking, I suppose,' he said.
'So, there's that. And then for me to actually post the video goes under cyber-bullying and harassment. I didn't have any bad intent and it still didn't matter. Still technically a law is broken according to them.'
Footage showed police seizing a number of electronics, along with the AirTag and Mandalorian piggy bank, from Zogoulas' room.
Zoglouas was charged with unlawful stalking in relation to incidents on April 8 and July 1, 2024, and using a carriage service to 'menace, harass or cause offence'.
He was also hit with two additional, unrelated trespass charges from a year earlier.
'All I was trying to do was make content to help people who had been scammed by scammers,' Zoglouas said.
'Isn't it ironic that police would never help me catch a scammer, but then they help a scammer catch me for putting them in my videos? Like, it's kind of crazy.'
Zoglouas argued the charges were 'pretty excessive'.
'There's actual people committing dangerous acts in the name of those charges, those crimes, and then you just get me for doing a YouTube video,' he said.
He was taken to Brisbane Watch House and placed in a holding cell 'like a little box'.
'They eventually took me out of that and put me into an actual holding cell, like a larger one with like five other people,' he said.
'They were asking me like, 'Oh, is this your first time?''
Zoglouas said he was held in jail for five hours before he was charged and released on bail, to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on January 29.
Under his bail conditions, Zoglouas was prohibited from contacting the alleged victims, approaching them or attending certain locations, or publishing any information or images of them on social media.
It wasn't until his first court date that Zoglouas realised the gravity of his situation and the potential prison time he was facing.
The stalking offence carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison, while the harassment charge risked up to three years.
Eventually Zoglouas' lawyers reached a deal with prosecutors to have the two more serious charges dropped if he undertook Adult Restorative Justice Conferencing, or justice mediation, and plead guilty to the trespass charges.
'I have to speak to this … mediator and then have the two victims on the other side where I like, you know, have to sign some agreements, like apologise and really understand what I did wrong, et cetera,' he said.
Zoglouas was also required to pay compensation.
'It all made sense to me why this all happened, why those scammer videos were getting taken down,' he said.
'The police officers, the [prosecutors], were constantly reporting those videos. That is the reason why, because they were charging me with those crimes. They saw what I did to them, which was expose what they were doing, and then they thought they want to take it out with revenge on me. So that's how I saw it anyway.'
Zoglouas appeared in court in April where he avoided a conviction on the trespass charges.
'It is finally over,' he said. 'After eight months we actually did it. We went from a conviction to only getting an $800 fine.'
Zoglouas said he was relieved the ordeal was finally over and he could return to making videos.
'I could have done up to eight years in prison,' he said.
'I'm going to have to really gain your trust again and I'm excited to do that … I love you guys.'
Zoglouas has been contacted for comment.
'As this matter has been finalised through the courts, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further,' a Queensland Police spokeswoman told news.com.au.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Wighton cops four-game ban in a huge blow for the Rabbitohs
Wayne Bennett's hopes of avoiding his first wooden spoon have taken a massive hit with veteran playmaker Jack Wighton slapped with a whopping four-match ban after he was found guilty of a grade two shoulder charge at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night. The Rabbitohs have lost eight in a row and head into round 22 in last spot behind the Knights and Titans on points differential, but their hopes of causing a gigantic boilover against the Broncos have copped a devastating blow with their five-eighth sidelined. He joins a host of stars who are missing for the club including Cam Murray, Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker. Wighton could have accepted a three-match ban for the grade two charge that saw him sent to the sin bin for a tackle that knocked out Cronulla's Toby Rudolf on Saturday night but rolled the dice after he pleaded not guilty. The panel of Greg McCallum and Bob Lindner listened to the 75-minute hearing and deliberated for just 15 minutes before they unanimously found him guilty. 'It was a fair hearing,' Wighton said afterwards. 'We came here thinking we had a good case. We didn't get the result we wanted. 'I'll turn my attention to preparing my teammates and really helping everyone at my club the best way I can.' It was a reunion of sorts between Wighton and judiciary counsel Patrick Knowles, with the five-eighth asking him 'how many games of rugby league have you played?' during a fiery hearing in 2023 when he was banned for three matches for biting. Wighton didn't give evidence on this occasion, a point not lost on Knowles who suggested he could have explained why there were no other options available to him to make a different type of tackle. However, judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew reminded the panel that Wighton had no obligation to justify. Knowles described the contact as a 'textbook example of a shoulder charge' and that he twisted his body, the right shoulder led the forceful contact and that his left arm raised in a bracing motion but didn't attempt to wrap. 'The amount of force generated in a tackle that used no arms carries a significant risk of injury,' he said. 'The shoulder was the first impact and carried the primary degree of force.' Prominent Sydney lawyer Nick Ghabar represented Wighton and argued it was 'quite wrong' to suggest he propped and drove with the shoulder and that he did his best to avoid a head on collision. Ghabar argued that the right arm wrapped around Rudolf's left arm before contact and that the Cronulla forward generated the force by leading with his head and arms. 'Rudolf stepped 'violently' off his left foot,' he said, arguing that it was inevitable that there'd be a more violent collision if Wighton hadn't dipped his body. 'Wighton drops his body height to avoid the risk of a head clash. He's got a split second decision to make. He's attempting to tackle with his left arm but his right arm doesn't have the ability to swing around the back of Rudolf.' The referee's report from Belinda Sharpe included a quote from Wighton that said 'I couldn't get my arm out', while the medical report said the injury was caused by a 'head clash from opponent'. Ghabar suggested that the first contact was shoulder on shoulder, but that played into the argument it was an actual shoulder charge. Knowles refuted a number of those arguments and pointed out Wighton's right fist was clenched so it couldn't have been a conventional wrapping tackle and that he could've twisted the other way and made a conventional left shoulder tackle. Ghabar sought a downgrade that would have seen Wighton miss two matches, but it was dismissed after Knowles argued the force was moderate, it was careless and the risk of injury was moderate and that the risk came to fruition. Wighton will miss matches against the Broncos, Titans, Eels and Dragons and will return in the final round against the Roosters, with Lewis Dodd likely to start in the halves.
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
NT government responds to landmark domestic violence inquest into killings of four Indigenous women
The Northern Territory government says more than two-thirds of recommendations from a landmark domestic violence inquest "are already in place" in the territory, with a minister saying the report has failed "dismally to hit the mark". WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names of Indigenous people who have died, used with the permission of their families. The Country Liberal Party handed down its response to NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage's report in NT parliament on Tuesday, more than eight months after it was handed down. Judge Armitage made 35 recommendations, after spending more than a year investigating the domestic violence killings of four Aboriginal women — Kumarn Rubuntja, Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk and Miss Yunupiŋu. They were among more than 80 Indigenous women killed in domestic violence attacks in the NT since the year 2000. The coroner's recommendations included calls for increased funding for frontline emergency service responses, women's shelters and men's behavioural change programs. In NT parliament on Tuesday, Prevention of Domestic Violence Minister Robyn Cahill said the government would support 21 of the recommendations in full and accept 11 in principle. The government did not support three of the recommendations: In handing down the government's response, Ms Cahill said "overall" the recommendations from the coroner were "uninspiring" and the report "failed so dismally to hit the mark". She said only a "small proportion" of the recommendations made would lead to the "implementation of a new and innovative approach". She also criticised Judge Armitage's approach to the inquest, calling it "protracted" and resulting in "lengthy reports delivered in a manner seeming to lack the humility one might expect from an officer of the court". "More focused on the reveal rather than the result," she said of Judge Armitage. When handing down her recommendations, Judge Armitage said she did not believe the 35 recommendations were "radical", saying the DFSV sector had been calling for them for many years. In a statement, Ms Cahill said "extensive consultation with government, non-government agencies, advocacy groups and experts found that 24 of the 35 recommendations related to programs or processes already in place". "Some of these measures have been in place for years without delivering the results we need," she said. Ms Cahill said the government was developing a DFSV roadmap to address domestic violence in the territory, which would set "strategic priorities" for the government's $36 million a year funding for the sector. In response to Ms Cahill's comments, opposition MLA Chansey Paech said it was "absolutely appalling" for the minister to "take aim at the Northern Territory coroner". "It was a long inquest, absolutely," he said. "It was four families, four unique circumstances that absolutely deserved the right to be comprehensively reviewed." Mr Paech said all 35 recommendations could "absolutely be accepted", despite government concerns over funding limitations. "The coroner designed all of these in a way that they could absolutely be supported," he said. In a joint statement, a coalition of NT DSFV services said the government's response was "underwhelming in the face of the Northern Territory's biggest criminal issue". "This is about more than programs. It's about a system that is currently failing women and children, and the urgent need to redesign it alongside the people who know what works," the statement said. "The government's ongoing lack of genuine consultation with the specialist DFSV sector is creating missed opportunities, poor coordination and unsafe outcomes." The NT has the highest rates of family and domestic violence in Australia, with a rate of intimate partner homicide seven times the national average. Recommendation 3: Amend the DFSV workforce plan to better engage Aboriginal workers, communities and universities. Recommendation 5: Create and implement an evidence-based strategy to reduce alcohol availability. Recommendation 6: Increase investment in specialist alcohol and other drugs rehabilitation services. Recommendation 7: Implement the police and children and families department co-responder model — which has been trialled in Alice Springs — on a permanent basis NT-wide. Recommendation 8: NT police to review protocols and improve officer training on information sharing. Recommendation 9: Consider establishing a multi-agency protection service to formalise partnership between police and government departments. Recommendation 10: NT police to embed interpreters and/or Aboriginal liaison officers in the emergency call centre. Recommendation 11: Provide PARt training to all current police officers, auxiliaries and new recruits, including emergency call centre workers. Recommendation 12: NT police to expand the DFSV command in Alice Springs and Darwin. Recommendation 13: Expand NT police's family harm coordination daily auditing program. Recommendation 14: Children and families department to audit and continue its commitment to the Safe and Together framework. Recommendation 15: Fund and implement "timely and intensive" early interventions for young people engaged in violence. Recommendation 16: Extra funding for community-based approaches to child welfare. Recommendation 17: Replicate the specialist DFSV court in Alice Springs in other regions. Recommendation 23: Increase funding for men's prison-based behaviour programs and counselling. Recommendation 24: Improve access to men's prison programs. Recommendation 25: Develop and implement a prison program for men who are 'deniers' of their violence. Recommendation 26: Establish reintegration programs for men leaving prison and returning to community. Recommendation 29: Boost funding for community-based behavioural change and prevention programs. Recommendation 33: Full implementation of the DFSV Action Plan 2, which will require $180 million funding over five years. Recommendation 34: Increase baseline funding for frontline DFSV crisis services by about 10 per cent. Recommendation 1: Establish a permanent, whole-of-government unit to lead DFSV policy and practice. Recommendation 4: Boost funding for Aboriginal interpreter services. Recommendation 18: Fund culturally-appropriate, trauma-informed, mediation/peacekeeping for family and community violence. Recommendation 19: Regulate and fund mediation and peacemaker groups as recognised alternative dispute resolution providers. Recommendation 20: Develop and fund alternatives to custody for DFSV perpetrators. Recommendation 21: Make the NT victims register an opt-out system, and consider how victims can be notified of the release of inmates. Recommendation 22: Embed the charter of victims' rights in NT law. Recommendation 27: NT Health to improve its DFSV screening and assessment of patients. Recommendation 28: Better support for Aboriginal liaison officers in hospitals and clinics. Recommendation 30: Invest in culturally-appropriate prevention and education programs in schools and on social media. Recommendation 31: Fund DFSV awareness training for clubs and pubs. Recommendation 2: Establish an NT peak body to represent the sector on a national level. Recommendation 32: Mandatory 12-month trial of banned drinker register scanners in licensed venues. Recommendation 35: Ensure funding agreements for frontline DFSV services include indexation increases.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Abattoir lawyer accused of 'blame shifting' after worker loses foot
A New South Wales Riverina abattoir has been accused of "blame shifting" despite pleading guilty to charges related to a workplace injury that resulted in a worker losing his foot. During a sentencing hearing in the NSW District Court in Sydney on Tuesday, defence counsel representing Hilltop Meats in Young, Bruce Hodgkinson, said an auger system in which the worker's foot became entangled had a lock-out system that could have prevented the 2021 incident. He told the court that lock-out system would have demobilised the machine. "That's not a complex procedure," Mr Hodgkinson said. The worker had been clearing a blockage in the meat auger conveyor in October 2021 when a colleague turned the machine back on, causing his foot to become caught inside the screw mechanism. Emergency crews worked for more than two hours to free the man in his 30s, who suffered significant injuries to both legs and later had a foot amputated. SafeWork NSW started action against the meat processing facility in 2023. Hilltop Meats pleaded guilty in March to failures which allowed the worker to be exposed to dangerous moving parts of the auger, admitted to placing the worker at risk of falling from height on the auger and being at risk of death or serious injury. It further admitted it failed to conduct a risk assessment of the task of removing blockages in the auger. Crown prosecutor Matthew Moir accused the defence of "blame shifting". "It's the duty holder who has the obligation to ensure employees are property trained, instructed in the correct method of work," he said. He accused the defence of "trying to blame others … in particular [the victim]", for failing to follow the procedures in place. The court heard the victim began work at the abattoir in 2015 and had previously been trained in the lock-out process, before he left the company in 2018. The victim returned in July 2021. The company had changed hands, however, Mr Moir noted the victim was not retrained in the lock-out procedure. The court heard that about three months after the workplace incident, the victim was called back into work and reprimanded for his actions. Judge Wendy Strathdee was concerned by the company's action. "Would the more appropriate fashion have been to speak to the rest of the workplace rather than issue a written warning and threat of termination to the man who lost his foot," she said. Mr Hodgkinson said the "difficult" decision to call in the victim had not been taken lightly but deemed it necessary. "If they're going to take enforcement action, how are they going to do it if they don't go directly to [the victim]," he said. Judge Strathdee said while she understood it was a "very difficult, delicate situation", she remained concerned the victim was reprimanded before he had returned to work. The court heard workers had developed their own practice of clearing auger blockages, which were a common occurrence, by standing above the unguarded conveyor screw several metres above a concrete floor. Agreed facts in the case showed workers told SafeWork the guards over the auger had been removed for months prior to the incident. The court heard a maintenance supervisor had told a different worker not to stand in an unguarded auger, but no further action was taken. It heard while the maintenance manager was aware of the practice, he did not tell senior management. Mr Hodgkinson said they were unaware workers were engaging in the practice until the incident occurred. Judge Strathdee adjourned proceedings and to hand down a judgement at a later date.
