Case index

To Catch a Predator · Fort Myers investigation

Clifford Wallach

Also reported as Clifford Eric Wallach, Clifford E. Wallach, FOTOPHIX, Jason

Clifford Wallach appeared in the Fort Myers, Florida sting and was convicted by a jury on two charges. He received a five-year prison sentence in January 2008.

Photo: To Catch a Predator Wiki

Outcome
Sentenced
Evidence
Attributed reporting
Jurisdiction
Fort Myers, Florida
Encounter
Apr 23, 2006
Decoy posed as
Boy5
Case number
0616171

Personal details

Born
December 11, 1965 · age 40
Occupation
Construction worker · IT worker
Marital status
Divorced
Height
5′6″
Weight
291 lb
Hair
Grey (formerly brown)
Eyes
Blue

Charges & sentence

0616171

  1. Attempted lewd or lascivious battery on a child aged 12 to 15

    Jury trial

    Convicted7

  2. Child abuse

    Jury trial

    Convicted7

Sentence

5 years in prison.

Attributed to the sources below. Consult the original record for full terms.

Case records

0616171Hansen investigation · 2008 · Sentenced
Case number
0616171

0616171

  1. Attempted lewd or lascivious battery on a child aged 12 to 15

    Jury trial

    Convicted7

  2. Child abuse

    Jury trial

    Convicted7

Sentence · Jan 28, 2008

5 years in prison.71

  • Prison: 5 years71

Recorded release · Feb 9, 2012

Actual FDC release entry, historically current on this date; mechanism and present custody not inferred.1

The four-page saved PDF was visually reviewed: April 24, 2006 first-appearance order and April 23 arrest report, not a sentencing judgment. Initial computer-solicitation wording differs from the final attempted-battery label, so no additional final count or amendment mapping is inferred. FDC confirms two five-year entries, not a ten-year aggregate. Family identities and contact details omitted.

Sources 714

Case narrative

Arrest

Instead of being tackled when he left the house like many of the men in the Fort Myers investigation, the officers demanded 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.

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. 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 on 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.

Aftermath

Wallach was released from prison on February 9, 2012. 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. 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.

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

Verification recordings were done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and not Perverted Justice, so the audio is not available on their site, and was not recovered when Tish obtained the Perverted Justice archives. Which calls into question the genuineness of the reactions of Perverted Justice staff when what they knew was going to happen happened.

Community-written, from the To Catch a Predator Wiki. Not independently verified, and it does not establish charges or court outcomes.

Clifford Wallach, To Catch a Predator Wiki contributors; see revision and history links. · CC-BY-SA

Media

Sources

  1. 1Clifford Eric Wallach: prison sentence historyPublic agency · Florida Department of Corrections · Checked Oct 23, 2026DC Y35524 lists Lee case 0616171, April 23, 2006 offenses of attempted lewd battery and child abuse, with five-year entries imposed January 28, 2008.
  2. 213: Oh no! He brought his son! on MegaphoneOriginal publisher · Megaphone · Published Apr 19, 2021 · Checked Oct 23, 2026Public episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
  3. 313: Oh no! He brought his son! on SpotifyOriginal publisher · Spotify · Published Apr 19, 2021 · Checked Oct 23, 2026Public episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
  4. 4Clifford Wallach: April 2006 first-appearance order and arrest reportCourt record · Lee County court / Fort Myers Police Department; archived copy · Published Apr 24, 2006 · Checked Oct 23, 2026The saved four-page packet contains an April 24 first-appearance order and April 23 police arrest records. It corroborates the subject and encounter date, but contains no sentencing judgment.
  5. 5Clifford Wallach (community wiki)Community wiki · unverified · To Catch a Predator Wiki contributors · Updated Sep 11, 2026 · Checked Oct 23, 2026Attributed community article. Revision date describes the article update, not a court or sting event. Full infobox, narrative sections, references and assets are retained in the private archive.
  6. 6Clifford Wallach: occupation informationCommunity wiki · unverified · To Catch a Predator Wiki contributors · Updated Sep 11, 2026 · Checked Oct 23, 2026The profile infobox lists these occupations. Undated roles do not establish current employment.

An on-camera appearance does not establish guilt. Charges, court outcomes, and reported information are kept distinct. Research standards

Record updated Oct 24, 2026 · Version 7 · Suggest a correction