She'd had time to ask only if he was OK and had no details of what he'd done. "The guilt was eating him alive. Place of birth Friends left furious messages: Some called Todd a bastard or less printable names; others begged Dianna to leave him. Samantha Cope The post Extremely disturbing: 5 men charged in child predator sting using decoys posing as 14 and 15 year olds first appeared on Law & Crime. When we began, we used chatrooms on AOL and Yahoo! It was devoted to impersonating To Catch a Predator is an American reality television series that features hidden camera investigations by the television news magazine program Dateline NBC. Every time they walked by a young girl, she glared at him to make sure he wasn't ogling her. 2020 Election Night Video Shows Ballot Shredding! He chatted with the decoy named mystyk_roses for a week.". Not to say that it hasn't happened, it has, but it just hasn't come up in one of our investigations. He battled tabloid stories of an extramarital affair. Knowing that youre behind us means so much. Like Vincent Ambrosio. "I believe that people should be able to redeem themselves.". Included was a link to Perverted Justice's website, which had posted Todd's chat with the Dateline decoy. So, it wasn't really entrapment. Two, its compelling television. Company Credits I said, Lets do it. He comes in, a big guy, and he goes immediately to hug the decoy, which was a creepy moment. ", Dianna carefully explained and told her daughters that though she wasn't sure about the future of the relationship, she was going to get Todd out of jail and take him to his home. And then youve got to make the decision of whether to air it. Because the decoys never make the first move. Her thoughts turned to Dateline; their lives would change dramatically when the episode aired in a few months. People were lured to meet with a decoy under the pretense of sexual contact and then . Can we count on your support today? "I thought Todd was my soulmate. In April 2015, Chris Hansen announced the start of a Kickstarter campaign to fund a reboot of the series. Even when we stopped shooting new investigations, MSNBC ran the old ones. Getting this newsit was like somebody died.". But she didn't have time to wonder; she had to get to her job as a medical technician at Loganville Dialysis Center, outside Atlanta, where she would spend the day tending to dialysis patients, hooking them up to the whooshing machines that kept them alive. The camera zooms in on Todd's nervous, smiling face. Dateline To Catch A Predator 7 Petaluma, California 1 X 264. "I wasn't OK with what he did, but I wasn't OK with him staying in jail, either. Longtime viewers of the show might remember that many of the predators were asked to bring along some Mikes Hard Lemonade, which didnt sit so well with the beverage-makers. And how will I put our lives back together? Biography An actress that would go on to have many television roles, Cope first started as a decoy on TCaP. According to the sheriffs office, Otha Smith traveled the farthest of the five suspects, driving about five hours to meet one of the decoy actresses at a hotel. There are a lot of frogs who will not turn into princes. [emailprotected]. It never happened," Dianna says. In the aftermath of the Dateline sting, Dianna Strawder has had to wrestle with some disturbing questions. No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. Release Dates "But if I were you, I'd leave him. It's about me being a good mother." Maybe he was the man she'd fallen in love with after all. It comes with the territory of dealing with people who are, at base, uncaring, self-serving individuals more concerned with fking kids than being decent human beings. But fans kept asking him to bring back the stings, and last year Hansen mounted a Kickstarter campaign, raising nearly $90,000 for a reboot called Hansen vs. Predator. The segment premiered in September on Crime Watch Daily, a show Hansen hosts that runs on weekdays, syndicated on local channels throughout the country. We learned about the online watchdog group, Perverted Justice, and I figured if we could combine their talent posting as decoys with our hidden camera technology, it could be pretty compelling. Date of birth Five men in Oklahoma have been arrested after law enforcement authorities conducted a four-day sting to catch child sex predators. His public defender was optimistic, saying that considering the types of sentences given to Dateline predators, Todd would probably serve a short jail stint. Children spend hours chatting online with their friends, and sometimes with strangers. He didnt show up at the house, the police made the decision to issue a warrant. The fanbase is loyal for a few reasons. "I would have been mad if you left him," Jessica told her. He had a hard time finding a temple in which to worship because of the stigma. She is the best women decoy and decoy in general in that show. You shouldnt be going after kids online, and no matter how many we do, they will be out there. This led to a whole series of Dateline "To Catch A Predator" specials and a spin-off, "To Catch A Predator: The Raw Tapes", which shows . Two hours into their trip, near the exit for the decoy house Todd had visited, she finally exploded. The next night, Dianna posted Todd's bail. Because Todd had been arrested in Georgia, where penalties for these crimes tend to be severe, he was given one of the harsher sentences in Dateline history. Todd had been arrested for trying to solicit sex from a decoy disguised as an underage girl. Furious and confused, Dianna had had just one brief phone conversation with her fianc since the bust. That insight helped Dianna believe Todd's story about thinking he'd been chatting with an older girl, and as his court date drew nearer, Todd's mental state improved. Authorities say that SOSA provided the operation with two female actresses who acted as bait. Emailus. What did you learn about the fanbase? Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. He tried to get them off the hard drives, and he couldnt. They played the roles and communicated with the alleged predators. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. After Emily left, Amanda comes in and Del immediately makes an excuse on having her hair look better and begins playing with her hair. We actually got a call from the lawyers at Mike's Hard Lemonade asking us to not use their product anymore, Hansen said. It was devoted to impersonating underage people (generally ages 12 - 15) and detaining male adults who contacted them over the Internet for sexual liaisons. A life where Todd could meet her daughters only in public and only if at least six unrelated adults were present? Have I done my daughters irreparable harm? But with the help of a new Kickstarter campaign, Hansen is hoping to change that and unleash a. But in an egregious case where someone is very aggressive, and poses a threat to child, if hes 19 or 20, well allow him to come in. Of course, you dont want anybody to hurt themselves. But no assignment has made him as familiar a face to audiences as To Catch a Predator, the hidden camera segment-turned-series in which Hansen and a team of decoys helped to expose a parade of Internet sex predators in a series of bizarre encounters that began with chocolate chip cookies and sweet tea and ended with Hansen instructing the suspect to have a seat.. Chris Hansen himself even said it, he said that his best decoy was Casey Mauro. The stings follow a pattern: A man trolling online for sex exchanges lurid messages with a pseudo-youngster, expressing his interest in hooking up with, for example, a 14-year-old virgin. "You deserve better than this," he repeatedly told her. "Great," Rachel said. "Do you have any special ideas for tonight or anything?" Absolutely. Earlier versions of To Catch a Predator included the suspect entering the house, getting a quick talking-to by Chris Hansen, and the suspect getting arrested. she asked. "Can't we appeal?" If you view these people as sick, how do you square that? Dianna didn't want to get out of bed the next day. Dianna stood up, hurled the phone at the window and stalked out of his sight without saying another word. He battled tabloid stories of an extramarital affair. In fact, I'm going to give serious thought to reaching out to some people who could take part in that. Several of the suspects are also accused of sending videos of themselves masturbating. ", Months later Dianna and her daughters met with Bob Wadkins, Todd's public defender, to discuss Todd's probation restrictions in detail. Do people say to you, they should be punished, but not shamed? Predator will differ from To Catch a Predator, Hansen said that, We would change the way that we communicate with predators, because there are so many more ways to communicate online than there were when we began. The predator is talking to the decoy and says "I am really glad this isnt a sting" right before Chris Hansen comes walking over the sand dunes. One, who doesnt want to go after child predators? Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. Clip from episode of "To catch a predator". ", But in other ways, life remained eerily uneventful. The show didn't ultimately cave to criticism about "entrapment." By going to the location of their own volition to try and sleep with someone they believed to be a minor, the perps on To Catch a Predator were freely attempting to engage in illegal activity on their own. All rights reserved. On the day before Valentine's Day 2007, Todd went to prison. They are part of me, my absolute priority. A member of SAG, Samantha found a modicum of success as a television actress and has been featured in series such as HBO's "Insecure", Private, "NCIS:Los Angeles, and many more. Todd had been arrested for trying to solicit sex from a decoy disguised as an underage girl. Hansens last segment aired in late 2007. And she's an anti-vaxxer. At the jail Dianna stared at Todd through an acrylic window scratched with the words "bitch" and "scumbag." Friends advised Dianna to leave him, saying that a criminal shouldn't be around her children. We rarely will engage with a teenager who is hitting on a 13 or 14 year-old. Is he a police officer? What the woman told her next made Dianna's hands and knees tremble so hard she had to pull over to the side of the road. To Catch a Predator Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator (2004 - 2007) is a series of hidden camera investigations by the television newsmagazine Dateline NBC devoted to the subject of identifying and detaining potential child sexual abusers who attempt to contact children over the internet. On the drive to Todd's apartment, Dianna listened to his side of the story. "I knew what a sex offender looked like. and nowadays, we have dozens and dozens of ways to communicate. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Three months later there was an additional blow. And Dianna, a 34-year-old divorced mother of two adolescent daughters, was about to endure the private agonies behind what has become a very public form of entertainment. She often wondered, Am I the example I want to be? Home. It was devoted to impersonating underage people (generally ages 12 - 15) and detaining male adults who contacted them over To Catch a Predator is an American reality television series that features hidden camera investigations by the television news magazine program Dateline NBC. Jessica plucked from the bookshelf one of her favorites from the American Girl Library: The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls with a cover illustration of three young girls wrapped in bath sheets. We consult the prosecutors. But fans kept asking him to bring back the stings, and last year Hansen mounted a Kickstarter campaign, raising nearly $90,000 for a reboot called "Hansen vs. Predator.". These predators deserve jail time or worse. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The two had been married just a year. Extremely disturbing: 5 men charged in child predator sting using decoys posing as 14 and 15 year olds. Do you wrestle with the idea that these people are sick and need treatment? Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said SOSA provided investigators with real-time communications with the alleged predators and other resources throughout the operation. She had to ask herself: Who is this man I said I'd marry? I think it's going to be a more sophisticated program. Not everyone felt so generous toward Todd. The organization also said, "That's what [predators] do, they blame everyone but themselves. In 2003 she left her girls with their father while she recovered in rehab. Because despite his attempt at premarital jitters,' the fiance married him a month later anyway. From left: Jessica, Dianna and Rachel Strawder in the home they once shared with Todd. And that former prosecutors said that every one of those cases could have been taken to court, should the prosecutor have chosen to do so., Though it was suggested that pursuing more female predators would be beneficial to the public, Hansen admitted that, We never had a female predator surface in our investigation. Do you black out his face? Then that changed too. It included using a decoy house the suspects allegedly believed was the home of girls ages 14 and 15. Aliases He went to visit a girl your age for an indecent purpose. If some retired reporter from the Houston Chronicle with his glasses down his nose wants to take me to task, thats fine. Authorities say that SOSA provided the operation with two female actresses who acted as bait. Click this link for the original source of this article. . Many in the medical community argue that people with sexual proclivities toward youth have a disorder. I know Ive been taken to task by the Poynter Institute and some old-line journalists, but I think we had to evolve into what was the right thing to do. Im not a psychiatrist, but Ive come to believe some can be fixed and others cannot. Nor do they raise the issue of having sex. Decoy Highlights From To Catch a Predator - Part 1 (TCAP Compilation) 8,373 views Aug 7, 2022 Links: .more .more 178 Dislike Share Save Nathan Tagalong 9.33K subscribers 56 My excuse to. In the hallway she heard teachers whisper about the episode, saying, "One of guys even had a fiance! Is there a question of whether people would have attempted to harm children had they not been lured by the decoy? In hopes of a light sentence, Todd decided to plead guilty. It was devoted to impersonating underage people (generally ages 12-15) and detaining male adults who contacted them over the Internet for sexual liaisons. It was devoted to impersonating underage people (generally ages 12 - 15) and detaining male adults who contacted them over the Internet for sexual liaisons. A month later Dianna finally allowed Todd to see her daughters. As the attorney enumerated the rest of the conditions of Todd's probationno personal photos of minors in the house, no alcoholDianna's mind reeled. "This [note] is to inform you that Todd West has been convicted of charges stemming from his arrest in the Dateline NBC/Perverted Justice sting operationin which he solicited, for sexual purposes, someone he believed to be 14 years of age," read the e-mail. Investigators said all five of the alleged predators cooperated with authorities and admitted to their intentions when they met these decoys.. Although one night, the brownies were left out overnight, and the first predator the next morning almost broke a tooth, they were so hard.. But this whole mess has become more trouble than it's worth.". 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