On the morning of July 9, a group of people were spotted recording patients, visitors, and staff without consent outside Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital. The encounters caused alarm within the community and raised questions about the boundaries of protected speech and public safety.
Highlights
- On Wednesday, three men, who claimed to be part of the First Amendment Auditors online movement, were seen harassing residents of Santa Barbara.
- The incident took place outside Cottage Hospital on Nogales Avenue.
- The First Amendment auditors are part of a larger group who confront people to test their First Amendment rights to free speech and recording in public.
Three Men Tape Encounters as Part of an Online Trend; Shout Profanity and Threat Identity Theft
The men, two of whom self-identified using a fake name “Mr. Dick Fitzwell” and the other as Mr. Hill used cameras to record people entering and exiting the hospital on Nogales Avenue, claiming their actions were constitutionally protected. At one point, the individuals shouted profanities and made threats about identity theft while continuing to film. Witnesses described the behavior as intimidating, especially as it targeted people in vulnerable situations.
Mike Shinn, a former Navy Seal, currently in charge of the parking lots for the medical offices, observed the trio filming and harassing Kathy Rosenthal and her 85-year-old husband. According to reports by the Independent’s Elaine Sanders and Vince Grafton, the auditors scared the couple and left them wondering if the men were only exercising their First Amendment rights, what was to be made of their rights.
This incident is part of a growing trend where “First Amendment auditors” film in public spaces near government buildings, police departments, or hospitals to see if members of the public will call 9-1-1. It’s believed they are trying to provoke a response where they can record these confrontations and later upload to social media or YouTube, where they often generate revenue through ad views and audience engagement.
The same men were reportedly seen walking down De La Vina and were near El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park on Canon Perdido Street prompting more calls to law enforcement.
According to additional reports from the 805 Immigrant Coalition, these men were reportedly posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The activist group captured photos of the men and posted on social media with the caption, “Not ICE, Racist Instigators” and “No es migra, sina instigadores racistas.”
Similar confrontations have occurred across the Central Coast. In Pismo Beach, residents reported feeling harassed after being unknowingly recorded by individuals engaging in the same trend. While proponents argue that these videos uphold transparency and civil rights, critics say they often escalate into harassment and create unnecessary public disturbances.
Last year an edhat reader documented another group of masked men confronting people on State Street and filming reactions. These were also assumed to be a group of “First Amendment Auditors.”
The growth of these trends in auditing the First Amendment now raises legal and ethical questions about how to balance the right to free speech with public decency and safety.
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Not much more to be said than this: “no es Migra solo son pendejos.”
The urge is to beat the crap out of them but it ain’t worth it. They’d get too much out of it.
Glad to see sacjon might act though.
ANON – if someone is yelling in an elderly person’s face at a hospital, it’s a decent argument for self defense of others. Reasonable belief they may harm that person, depending on the circumstances of course. I’d happily take that risk for a minor assault charge.
Harassing elderly people at a hospital where they may be dealing with tragic news is the lowest of the low. I commend the security guard in his restraint. I would not have been as docile as I assume he was given the article.
These people, while exercising their rights, are doing it for one reason only – to provoke a response. First Amendment aside, actions have consequences and if you get in an elderly patient’s face in front of me, you’re hitting the dirt, hard.
Free speech is one thing, but intimidating people, especially the elderly, is not guaranteed under the first amendment. If one feels that their safety is endangered by one of these bullies getting into their space and face, they have the legal right to protect themselves and the person who they are with. One of these days, these misfits with intimidate the wrong person or persons!
I really wish I’d been there.
That’s the whole point. They want a reaction to upload to Youtube. Just ignore them.
I’d be proud to be on YouTube shoving one of these wannabes to the dirt for harassing elderly patients at the hospital. I’d be mortified to be in the background doing nothing.
But then they have you on film assaulting someone and the cops will be forced to charge you. The best course of action is to troll them back.
If I see someone angrily shouting in an elderly person’s face while they’re leaving the hospital, I have a reasonable belief of imminent harm to that person and my shoving (not punching/kicking, etc) would likely be lawful defense of others.
TIP: not yell at old people coming out of a hospital if you don’t want to be mistaken for an aggressor.
Interesting stuff when I googled “have First Amendment Auditors been attacked”
Looks like they’re hitting up our area.
https://www.ksby.com/pismo-beach/encounters-with-first-amendment-auditors-concern-some-residents-in-pismo-beach#google_vignette
some cases are discussed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_audit. Of course, it’s easier to pick on citizens than law enforcement, so they’re harassing what they see as easy pickings. Pendejos indeed!
They are cowards. Usually masked too I think. What kind of loser to you have to be to do this?
They should try speaking out against Israel in public and see what happens if they really want to be tough guy auditors. Go challenge Trump or yell at ICE agents or do any of the things that are ACTUAL First Amendment hot topics right now.
Yelling at old people, possible cancer patients and diners at restaurants is COWARDLY and only meant to provoke good people who don’t want to take it.
Go be real men and talk about the stuff people are actually losing their rights over!
The best course of action to shut down these jerks is to play Disney songs really loud near the guys recording. That way if they try to upload the videos to social media, they’ll get flagged for copyright and won’t be able to use it.
Great. A new way for insane people to think they’re doing something good.
They may be Looney Tunes, but hit them with Disney.
Send these three idiots to Carpinteria to harass the fascists.
There are some really “good” first amendment auditors. And by good I mean they film from a public space and dont try to attract attention by negatively engaging people. Filming in public is a constitutionally protected activity guaranteed by the first amendment. But if they are actually harassing people and engaging them with negativity, that’s a no go for me. This article on one hand seems to be trying to protect people’s feelings. I am not sure I have all the facts. But if they were actively harassing the elderly that could be a legal issue.
I agree with you and… they still have free speech to say whatever they want unless it’s a threat of violence or harm. That is until Trump does away with free speech completely, which he’s working on.
Actually most of them are engaged in illegal activity. That’s why I would have liked to have been there, I had a meeting at a place on DelaVina today and went over to the hospital to see if I could find them. Unfortunately they weren’t, I would have schooled them on camera.
Wow. Complete and total losers. These yo-yos need to go down the drain into the sewers and call it a day. Their parents are ashamed.
Wow….the level of not just mental illness, but people with too much time on their hands is mind boggling.
Yelling at patients going into a hospital, shouting at old people, basically harassing and threatening people whom they KNOW are defenseless or sick…wow…how much of a punk does someone have to be to do stuff like that?
I’d like to see these brats go do this at a gathering of outlaw bikers and see how they wind up. Oh wait…they only pick on sick and old people…right. Punks.
I ran into a similar situation a number of years ago at a laundromat where I had to go to wash some large items that don’t fit in my washer & dryer at home. Some 5150 was in there talking to itself (man? woman? Who knows?) and its companion (which was possibly female…no idea there either) and was muttering about “the poison” and “f*cking White people”, and “that thing in the ceiling”…basically delusional wing-nut stuff. Neither of these people looked like they’d seen soap or water in awhile and were probably from the apartment building behind this laundromat where a lot of these folks live. They came in after our stuff was in the washer and about halfway through the cycle or I’d have just left.
The more aggressive of this pair locked onto us, whipped out a cell phone, and started recording us, our car, the license plates, etc., while shouting more disjointed stream-of-consciousness stuff about the poison, the thing in the ceiling, and the f*cking white people, along with aliens and “the Mexicans”. It was wild.
We went to the car, got in, rolled up the windows and locked the door. This person started yelling, and was right up against my drivers side window, taking pictures and video recording both of us, the inside of the car, etc.
I called the cops. Who showed up and said “Oh yeah…that’s so-and-so and such-and such….they live in the building behind here. Yeah…it’s a pain in the a$$, but there’s nothing we can do about it. They aren’t breaking the law. Just don’t engage with them…if you do, then we may have to arrest YOU.”
WTF??
So there it is. There’s the cesspool of a world we live in.
And I bet every one of them voted for Trump.
The losers in the photo going left to right are, iiMPCT Media (Conrad Jack Rankin), KC Cameraboy who also goes by Kern County Transparency, and Siimpl Media (Nick Rankin) who is Conrad’s stepson.
Conrad of iiMPCT Media is a convicted felon from San Diego county. He has been harassing people all over Southern California especially in Los Angles County and Orange County since the beginning of 2024. There are several details about his personal life that he tries to keep a secret from his subscribers such as his failed, past businesses, personal bankruptcy, and the fact that his wife is a trans woman. His two stepsons, Nick and Alexander typically film with him and participate in the harassment too. There is an ongoing criminal case for those two for felony battery from a brawl at the Brentwood post office in 2024. Case numbers 24ARCF01501-01 and 24ARCF01501-02 in the Los Angeles County court system if anyone is interested. KC Cameraboy is another long time scum who was arrested for impersonating an ICE agent fairly recently.
Anyone familiar with these self-proclaimed “First Amendment Auditors” who act like this refer to them as frauditors. If they claim to be doing it to defend the First Amendment then it’s all lies. They only care about starting confrontations with people to film content to monetize. They also get the personal satisfaction of legally harassing people but, it’s not uncommon for them to the cross the line into criminal acts. There’s a reason these losers only target affluent areas or places frequented by people who wouldn’t be able to intimidate them.
ONLYFLANS – love the name, that’s great lol!
Thanks for the info! These guys are losers and should be outed as much as possible.
No more hiding.
Sure thing. My hope is that more people recognize these types of losers so they can avoid them altogether or help with holding them accountable when they inevitably break the law.
Why do you share the assertion that his wife is a trans woman?
You can cast aspersion on her just by saying that he’s married; then she’s guilty by association.
If she is trans, what difference does that make?
It’s not an assertion. It’s a verified fact. Why does it bother you so much? If you want to insinuate someone of transphobia then look no further than Conrad of iiMPCT Media despite him being married to a trans person.
It matters because:
1. He has actively censored comments on his channel that brought up his trans wife even when they were not necessarily derogatory. I can only assume he tries to hide it to avoid putting off any potential subscribers who lean right. The same demographic who tends to gravitate towards First Amendment Auditor content. This should tell you he decided to prioritize maximizing view count/revenue over trans representation and might even be ashamed of talking about his wife.
2. He has harassed some individuals who are LGBTQ+ in the past and went out of the way to bring them up in the clickbait title of his videos. Some people have claimed he also made transphobic comments as well. He may not specifically target LGBTQ+ individuals but, you would think someone who is part of San Diego’s gay community would act more appropriately.
3. There is no way his wife is not aware of what he does. His other family members are all involved in his YouTube channels to some degree. His two stepsons are out filming and harassing people with him full time. He has indicated that his step daughters help with managing the channels. His YouTube channels are their main source of income currently. So yes, she is guilty by association for enabling his terrible behavior.
I reviewed the material from these folks at cottage. In each interaction, a member of the public is upset because they are being filmed in public and then instigate an argument. It is legal to film in public, and to film anything you can see in public. They ate not inviting people to speak to them or engaging with anyone first. People get their feelings hurt and then they call the feelings police because they dont understand the law. The material is on their channel iimpctmedia on facebook.
They instigate the argument? What do you think those people filming are trying to do by being there in the first place? The debate was never about the legality of filming in public. It’s about their behavior while filming. It’s irrelevant that they aren’t engaging first when they typically proceed to escalate the confrontation and harass. There are “auditors” out there who remain silent and professional unlike these clowns. It’s also well within people’s rights to verbally protest those who are filming them in public. The First Amendment is a two way street.
Do you the know what the most likely reason these losers become frauditors in the first place? It’s because they got their feelings hurt by police or society and are trying to compensate for their shortcomings by belittling others. Many of them have a criminal history and are compulsive liars.