Street Sweeperz TV: Homegrown safety efforts protecting Athens youth online
- Isabella De La Sierra
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
Angelus “Godzillah” Pereira, an Athens-Clarke County resident, created his organization, Street Sweeperz TV, to protect his community's youth from online predators following the release of the “Epstein Files” and his son's leukemia diagnosis.
This viral group with over 20,000 followers on Instagram works to raise awareness in Athens-Clarke County about predatory behavior towards children and vulnerable people online.
“It was really just about letting the community know,” Pereira said.
And the community feels safer with Street
Sweeperz TV stepping forward.
“I’m glad that some people, the people who are willing to take initiative, are doing it,” said Aadit Shah, a freshman finance major at the University of Georgia. “Now that we know that people are taking charge to help sort out what’s going on, it’s a comforting feeling.”
Viewers online echo their support for Street Sweeperz TV’s actions in the comments on their Instagram page.
User @annettelopez493 on Instagram wrote, “I think it’s disgusting but I love how this guy exposes him and I’ve been spreading it everywhere that people can see it too.”
Despite this visible support, each post averages only 1,500 likes, or 13.3% of their total following.
“We don’t get enough help to keep it going,” Pereira said.
Due to the recent uptick in viewership stemming from a viral confrontation between Street Sweeperz TV and a former UGA professor, Pereira and his team have received a large number of potential leads from the community; however, the resources needed to properly investigate these claims are hard to fund.
“You know a car doesn’t run on air, and I’ve been putting the gas in the car financially for the past six months, and we do get support sometimes, and we do get donations sometimes but it’s just not enough… And I’m just burnt out.” Pereira said.
Members of the Athens community find Street Sweeperz TV’s work important. However, few follow them, and even fewer donate.
“They’re doing it not only for the protection of their citizens, but also for those content reasons. And so, like, they’re also monetizing off of that. So, like, if there’s funding issues and the community can get behind that, that would be perfect. But as it is right now, they’re also getting funding from the content that they upload due to what they do,” Shah said.
However, Street Sweeperz TV is not monetized on any platform yet, meaning they don’t make any money from the posts and videos on their pages. According to Pereira, the expenses necessary to make videos, gather information and confront predators are out-of-pocket costs for the Street Sweeperz, most of whom have day jobs.
Lady Denee, a local entrepreneur in Athens who works with Street Sweeperz TV, said she believes their mission is important for stopping repeat offenders.
“I’m hoping that the people that we did confront, I think it was upwards of 30 people…hopefully they’re reluctant to continue to do what they’ve done,” Denee said.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's most recent bi-monthly report, there are 130 registered sex offenders in Athens-Clarke County. If all alleged predators Street Sweeperz TV confronted were charged, that would be a roughly 23% increase in the sex offender registry in Athens-Clarke County.
“How many people really check that registry?” said Amar Mollon, a member of Street Sweeperz TV and the Georgia National Guard. “It’s like Scooby-Doo, when they take off the mask, it’s another human being. It’s everyday people.”
Street Sweeperz TV cannot continue to look out for their fellow Athens-Clarke County residents, despite their passion for protecting vulnerable Athenians, without further community engagement and support.
“To the pedophiles, anything you do in this life, you’re gonna pay for that,” Pereira said. “Even the rich people, the billionaires, the institutions, the colleges, law enforcement, everybody.”
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