Former Orange County teacher Michael Cadilli faces several charges after being caught in an online sting operation with a young girl.
What is an online sting operation?
Online sting operations is a legal matter when legal officers or agents of sorts make plans to “pose as criminals, victims, or participants, often on digital platforms, to catch those involved in or considering illegal activities,” this technique is typically used in a variation of cases such as, “fraud, solicitation, drug distribution, human trafficking, or other crimes facilitated through digital media.” (according to wklaw.com)
These sting operations tend to be directed towards cases of sex crimes against minors, specifically, in an attempt to catch sexual predators before they get to the children who are at risk.
What Happened in the Case of Michael Cadilli?
Michael Cadilli, the former high school teacher at Pacifica High School, Orange County, is currently being charged with soliciting a minor.
The online citizen group known as “Caught-Fished” set up the sting operation (the specific man going by “Big Bad Wolf” when working these operations). This online citizen group poses as minors to incriminate adults looking for sexual relations with underage children, and they use the evidence they gather to get these people arrested by law enforcement.
The man going by “Big Bad Wolf” making this investigation claimed that when Cadilli learned that the girl he was “talking” to was “15,” he began to go on about how he wouldn’t want to break the law, but “within hours, he was talking about buying her bikinis.” Not only this, but in the conversations shared, Michael Cadilli goes on to discuss with someone he thinks is a 15-year-old girl about taking her shopping for these bikinis previously discussed. He follows this with the implication that she would be trying on these swimsuits in the dressing room, as well as the fact that she can watch him undress.
After all of this was released, the school Michael Cadilli used to teach at came forward (Pacifica High School) to reveal that Cadilli’s last time he wrecked at the school was in 2021, and he has “not been in a classroom since 2019”.
Following even that, former students of Cadilli have begun to gather online to share their own experiences with this man in school environments, and due to the incriminating evidence gathered about Cadilli, “Big Bad Wolf’ has claimed and assumed that this wasn’t the first time this has happened with Michael Cadilli and his encounters with minors.
“I told my team, I guarantee you a lot of other kids are gonna come forward once they see him online,” he said. “That’s what’s happening now, so many kids have come forward.” (Big Bad Wolf)
As of now, Bail is set at $25,000, and Cadilli’s next hearing is scheduled for October 7, 2025.
