To Catch a Predator
Title card from theDatelineNetCrime era
Presented by	Chris Hansen
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20
Production
Producer	David Corvo[1]
Running time	44 mins
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	November 11, 2004 (2004-11-11) – December 28, 2007 (2007-12-28)
Related
Crime Watch Daily

To Catch a Predator is an Americanreality television series in the televisionnews magazine programDateline NBC featuring confrontations of hostChris Hansen, partly filmed with ahidden camera, with adult men arriving at asting house to have sex with aminor and typically being arrested as a result. The minors are adults impersonatingunderage persons (generally ages 12 to 15) inonline chats.^[2]

The series premiered in November 2004. It followed twelveundercoversting operations as they were conducted across theUnited States with thewatchdog groupPerverted-Justice. Following the third investigation, law enforcement and other officials became involved, leading to the arrests of most individuals caught. Upon its airing, the series received mixed reactions for itssordid tone, and the ethical and legal concerns raised over the nature of the sting operations it depicted, in particular potential violations ofentrapment laws.^[3]

The show was cancelled in 2008,^[4] following the suicide of Rockwall County, Texas, assistant district attorneyBill Conradt, as police attempted to serve him with a search warrant^[5] after he had been caught talking to and exchanging pictures with a Perverted-Justice volunteer posing as a 13-year-old boy.^[6][7] Conradt fatally shot himself as police and an NBC camera crew entered his home,^[8] an act that was captured by the filming crew.^[9] His estate suedDateline for US$105 million,^[10][11] then settled out of court.^[12] Hansen stated that the show ended because it had simply run its course,^[13] though he later ran aKickstarter campaign to relaunch the series,^[14] and he searched for new broadcast venues for it.^[15] In 2016, aspiritual successor program namedHansen vs. Predator became a recurring segment onCrime Watch Daily, a syndicated television news magazine hosted by Hansen.^[16] A third spiritual successor,Takedown with Chris Hansen, premiered in 2022 and currently airs on the TruBlu streaming network.^[17][18]

Reruns of theDateline segments are occasionally broadcast onMSNBC.^[6] NBC affiliatesWTMJ inMilwaukee,KSHB inKansas City, andWBRE inWilkes-Barre have also produced local versions ofTo Catch a Predator. Variousspin-offs have aired in the same format, includingTo Catch a Con Man,To Catch anID Thief,To Catch aCar Thief, andTo Catch an i-Jacker, which featurediPod thieves.To Catch a Predator is also aired onFX andCrime & Investigation in the United Kingdom, theCrime & Investigation Network in Australia and New Zealand, andFox Crime inPortugal.

To Catch a Predator began as a series of segments on the American NBCnews magazine/reality showDateline NBC, premiering under the titleDangerous Web in 2004.^[19] In its four years of production, it grew to become the most popular segment onDateline, its cultural status underlined by satirical references in parodies and other comedies, such asThe Simpsons,30 Rock, andConan O'Brien's opening sketch at the58th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006.^[20]

The show's hostChris Hansen clarified inan interview withNPR News that the subjects confronted on the show should be labelled properly as potentialsexual predators and not as pedophiles. Hansen stated, "Pedophiles have a very specific definition, people who are interested in prepubescent sex."^[21]

The first two investigations did not include law enforcement officers on site, and individuals caught in thesting were allowed to leave voluntarily, thoughDateline provided all video and transcripts to law enforcement and suspects were eventually arrested. Arrests are sometimes made in a dramatic fashion by multiple officers who, withTasers drawn, ambush the suspect and command him to lie face-down on the ground before being handcuffed. In the Fort Myers investigation, a police officer in camouflage sometimes arrested the perpetrators as they left the sting house. Tasers are sometimes shown being used to subdue fleeing^[22] or merely unresponsive individuals.^[23]

The show was cancelled in 2008.^[4] In an interview withTime magazine, Hansen stated that the show had simply run its course.^[13]

The first installment drew 18 men throughout two and a half days to a sting house inBethpage, New York.^[24] One of the men arrested in the series' 2004 investigation, Ryan Hogan, was aNew York City firefighter, assigned to Engine Company 237 in Brooklyn, who used a firehouse computer while on duty in order to lure a Perverted-Justice agent posing as a teenage girl to have sex with him. On June 8, 2006, Hogan pleaded guilty to putting obscene photos of himself on the Internet, as part of a plea agreement. He was sentenced to five years of probation, continued psychological treatment, and submission to randompolygraph tests.^[25]

An hour-long special that premiered in November 2005 depicted an operation inHerndon, Virginia, in the suburbs ofWashington, D.C., and saw 19 men arrive over three days. Among the men caught were arabbi, Rabbi David Kaye, an emergency room doctor, Dr. Jeffrey Beck, and an elementary school teacher, Steven Bennof, who lost their jobs after taping.^[26][27] One of the more memorable predators caught included a man by the name of John Kennelly, who arrived at the sting house naked and was caught byDateline the very next day at a McDonalds in Arlington, Virginia trying to meet another decoy.^[28]

Fifty-one men were caught inMira Loma, California, over the course of three days.^[29]

The premise behind the fourthDateline investigation was to see if internet predators were as big a problem in small towns as in big cities, soDateline set up operations inGreenville, Ohio. In total, 18 men were arrested over three days between March 24 and 26, 2006.^[30][31]

By June 30, 2009, all the cases stemming from investigations inFort Myers, Florida, made it through the court system. Of the 24 men captured as a result of the investigation, 20 were convicted of using the Internet to solicit a child for sex. The 20 sentenced men were ordered to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. Among them included a Sunday school teacher, Brian Emmons, a teen mental health counselor; Peter Ernandez, a youth counselor and medical student who was studying to be a pediatrician, who stripped naked; Marvin Lakhan, Fredi Fernandez, a security guard at the Miami National airport, as well as Clifford Wallach, a man who brought his son to the house.^[32] Most of them were also put on sex offender probation.^[33]

The sheriff's department inHarris County, Georgia, had arrested 20 men over four-and-a-half days in a sting operation inFortson, a suburb ofColumbus.^[34]

Shortly after the first half of this investigation aired, the Georgia Governor's office announced a new Child Safety Initiative which would triple the number of special agents in theGeorgia Bureau of Investigation dedicated to catching Internet predators and double the number of forensic computer specialists dedicated to helping prosecute computer crimes.^[35]

In January 2010, Lt. Matthew Stapleton of the Police Department ofPetaluma, California, credited aTo Catch a Predator sting operation with scaring potential predators away from Petaluma. Referring to later decoy operations by local police, Stapleton said, "As soon as they found out that we were from the Petaluma area, they completely cut off communication with us."^[36]

However, after six days of testimony, a judge threw out the case against one of the defendants and criticized the tactics used byDateline's partner, Perverted-Justice, for engaging inentrapment.^[37]

To Catch a Predator's eighth investigation was a two-part special shot inLong Beach, California. The investigation resulted in the arrest of 38 men, one of whom had previously appeared in theRiverside County investigation.^[38][39]

The ninth investigation was shot inMurphy, Texas, just outside ofDallas. 25 men were caught at the sting lasting four days. The apprehended included a former church music director and a former police officer in his 60s. The charges for this investigation were laterdropped.

The tenth investigation in the series was shot inFlagler Beach, Florida. Over the course of four days, 21 men were arrested, including a police officer who brought several guns. In one of the cases, a judge orderedChris Hansen to testify at adeposition about what he witnessed.^[40][41]

The penultimate investigation was shot inMantoloking, New Jersey; the wealthiest municipality in the state.

WhenDateline conducted an investigation inBowling Green, Kentucky, only seven men showed up to the decoy house, a sharp decline from previousDateline investigations. The men arrested include a man with cerebral palsy and a man who claimed to be a police detective, who was tasered due to his claim that he had brought a gun with him. The taser probes failed to stick, so police chased him into the house, where he was subdued. It was later discovered that he was no longer a police officer at the time and had actually been fired. All men arrested faced five to ten years in prison if convicted.^[42]

In November 2006, Perverted-Justice announced that anotherTo Catch a Predator sting had been conducted with law enforcement inMurphy, Texas. There were 25 men who arrived at the location on Mandeville Drive over four days, with law enforcement investigating additional suspects that did not arrive. These additional suspects, who conducted chats but did not arrive at the undercover house, includedKaufman County assistantdistrict attorneyBill Conradt, who shot and killed himself on November 5, 2006, at his home when police attempted to serve him with a search warrant,^[5] after he had been caught talking to and exchanging pictures with a Perverted-Justice volunteer posing as a 13-year-old boy.^[6][7][43] After Conradt failed to appear at a prearranged meeting, NBC and local police tracked him to his home. Conradt killed himself as police and an NBC camera crew entered his home, capturing the scene when the fatal shot was fired.^[8][9] His estate, managed by his sister Patricia Conradt, later suedDateline for US$105 million.^[10][11] The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.^[12]

The sting prompted protests from local residents, who were opposed to law enforcement officials purposely attracting sexual predators to their neighborhood. Others countered that these predators were already in the area (or close by) and that this sting revealed them to be sex offenders. NBC broadcast this investigation on February 13 and 20, 2007. Prior to the settlement of Patricia Conradt's lawsuit againstNBC Universal Inc, portions from the February 20, 2007, broadcast ofTo Catch a Predator were intended to be introduced in civil court.^[44]

On June 1, 2007, the Collin County district attorney's office declined to prosecute any of the 23 cases brought against those arrested on this installment of the show, citing insufficient evidence.^[45] District Attorney John Roach explained that in 16 of the cases, he had no jurisdiction because the decoys and suspects who participated in the online chats were not in that county when they did so,^[46] a point seconded by Assistant DA Doris in a 2009Esquire article. Berry also discovered that the Murphy Police Department had done "literally no prior investigation" before making the arrests, thus making most, if not all of them, illegal under Texas law.^[47] Furthermore, Roach explained, the involvement of non-professionals tainted many of the cases, stating, "The fact that somebody besides police officers were involved is what makes this case bad. If professionals had been running the show, they would have done a much better job rather than being at the beck and call of outsiders.” The use of a residential neighborhood for the sting was also criticized by those who lived near the house used for the operation, one of whom stated that the speeding up of cars up and down the street and the sprinting of police from hiding spots with guns drawn, which led one suspect to drop a bag ofcrack cocaine, endangering the neighborhood. Another neighbor commented, "They can chase predators all they want, but they shouldn't do it in a populated area with children, two blocks from an elementary school. This is a family community. It didn't look kosher at all."^[45]

On September 5, 2007,Dateline aired the results of the forensic report on Conradt's computer. According to the report, Conradt's "CDs, laptop computers and cell phone all contained pornographic material—some included child pornography."^[48] Additional reporting byEsquire in 2009 disputed this claim.^[47]

On September 7, 2007, theABCnewsmagazine20/20 aired an investigative report into theTo Catch a Predator series byABC News investigative reporterBrian Ross. The report critiqued certain aspects of the specials and also investigated the controversy over the suicide of prosecutorBill Conradt. In the report, two former police detectives with theMurphy, Texas, Police Department, Sam Love and Walter Weiss, claimed that the decision to arrest Conradt at his home was made by Chris Hansen, a charge NBC denied. Love and Weiss claimed that the NBC News crew had every intention to confront Conradt, and the attorney for Conradt's family charged thatDateline chose to stop at nothing to get Conradt. Love and Weiss also claimed that Conradt's death was shrugged off by many in Murphy's police force, and the two of them left the department in disgust.^[49]

NeitherNBC News nor Perverted-Justice cooperated with Ross's report. NBC News accusedABC News of using the20/20 report as a hit piece on the rival newsmagazineDateline NBC. NBC News presidentSteve Capus toldUSA Today, "I chalk this up to the usual network silly competitiveness, in a territory of a much more serious handling. The competitive wars [for ratings] right now are at a very high level...That's fueling this." The allegations were denied by Ross, who was formerly a reporter for NBC News.^[50]

In late 2007, Conradt's sister, Patricia Conradt, subsequently sued NBC Universal, saying that the police had raided Conradt's house at the behest of NBC. In January 2008, federal judgeDenny Chin dismissed most of Patricia Conradt's claims, but found that she had a reasonable chance of proving that NBC had pressed police into engaging in unreasonable and unnecessary tactics solely for entertainment value, thus creating "a substantial risk of suicide or other harm". He also found that Conradt could prove that police disregarded their duty to prevent Conradt from killing himself and that NBC's actions amounted to "conduct so outrageous and extreme that no civilized society should tolerate it".^[51] NBC and Patricia Conradt reached an undisclosed settlement that June.^[8]

This is an episode guide for the television airings of the respectiveinvestigations.

The series was accused of making news rather than reporting news, blurring the line between being a news organization versus an agency of law enforcement.^[58] Among the more prominent critics of the series has been Brian Montopoli of theCBS NewsPublic Eye blog^[59] and formerly of theColumbia Journalism Review. Montopoli argues that althoughDateline NBC leaves legal punishment up to police and prosecutors, broadcasting the suspects on national television, in the context of exposing criminal behavior, is already a form of punishment which the media have no right to inflict. Montopoli also suggests thatNBC News is more concerned aboutratings than actually bringingonline predators to justice:^[60]

But NBC is first and foremost a business, and the producers' motives are not simply altruistic. Perhaps I'm being cynical, but I find it telling that this program has been remade and rerun so often. You could argue that NBC is just making sure as many people as possible are aware predators are out there, but is it too much to think that a little thing called "ratings" might play a part as well?

In the United Kingdom, columnist and television criticCharlie Brooker wrote of the show, "When a TV show makes you feel sorry for potential child-rapists, you know it's doing something wrong". He also commented on the "overpowering whiff ofentrapment" and the potential for viewer complicity. Brooker also mentioned the selection process for the actress as being disturbing by adding "Presumably someone atTo Catch a Predator HQ sat down with a bunch of audition tapes and spooled through it, trying to find a sexy 18-year-old who could pass for 13. They'll have stared at girl after girl, umming and ahhing over their chest sizes, until they found just the right one. And like I say, she's hot. But if you fancy her, you're a paedophile."^[61]

In May 2007, Marsha Bartel, a former investigative producer forDateline,^[62] filed a $1 millionbreach of contract lawsuit against NBC, stating that the network fired her the year prior, with three years left on her four-year contract, and after 21 years at the company, after she refused to work on theTo Catch a Predator because of ethical concerns she had about the series. Specifically, she said that Perverted-Justice failed to keep accurate, verifiable records of its online interactions with suspects, which had been cited by some of the arrested men's attorneys who argued they were victims of entrapment. NBC, however, stated that Bartel was terminated because of budget cutbacks. The lawsuit was dismissed by the New York Supreme Court in October 2007. Federal Judge John W. Darrah explained that NBC has the legal right to dismiss employees without notification. NBC reacted to the outcome by issuing a statement that read "We believed from the beginning that this case was without merit and we are pleased with the judge's decision."^[63] In September 2008, theSeventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judgment on appeal.^[64]

Entrapment is a practice where a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit a criminal offense that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.^[65][66] It can be used as a legal defense for actions committed by the government but does not apply to investigative actions taken by a purely private organization.

Although entrapment does not ordinarily apply to actions taken by private organizations, when Perverted-Justice works sufficiently in concert with a law enforcement agency, the involvement of the state actor may allow for an entrapment defense. Perverted-Justice takes the position that it has precautions in place to avoid entrapment issues, claiming that volunteers never initiate contact with the target or instigate lewd conversations or talks of sexual meetings.^[67] However, formerDateline anchorStone Phillips disputes that claim, arguing that, "In many cases, the decoy is the first to bring up the subject of sex." Phillips defended the tactic as enticement as opposed to entrapment, stating that, "Once the hook is baited, the fish jump and run with it like you wouldn't believe."^[68]

After a sting operation conducted by Perverted-Justice with theRiverside County Sheriff's Department, a court rejected a defendant's entrapment defense, finding no evidence to support the claim that Perverted-Justice acted as an agent of law enforcement. The conviction was affirmed on appeal, which noted the trial court's observation that the defendant initiated the contact with a Perverted-Justice agent that he had thought was a 12-year-old girl.^[69]

In 2011, a case against a man who had appeared on the show was dismissed because the trial court judge did not find proof of a specific intent to commit the crime. The judge criticized the tactics used by Perverted-Justice, which he suggested lacked credibility and constituted in entrapment.^[70]

In June 2007, Perverted-Justice was criticized following a sting operation inCollin County, Texas, after charges against 23 suspected online sex predators were dropped. Collin County Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis claimed the cases were dropped after Perverted-Justice failed to provide enough usable evidence that crimes were committed within the county's jurisdiction.^[71] Perverted-Justice responded by stating that the district attorney's office was changing its explanation for dropping the charges and "could not defend the claim that the evidence was 'inadequate'".^[71][72]

Beginning with the fourth investigation,Dateline began paying Perverted-Justice a consultant's fee to do its regular work; the fee was reported to have been over $100,000 for that operation.^[73] Al Tompkins of thePoynter Institute for Media Studies suggested that this payment created a potential conflict of interest for Perverted-Justice, an organization run largely on the efforts of volunteers, and furthermore, that forDateline to pay this fee would be tantamount to paying news sources, a practice widely frowned upon in the journalism industry.^[74]

The department kept itself separate fromDateline staff during the sting as well, to avoid legal hassles later on, says Burns. Officials were positioned in a location near but not inside the house where offenders arrived for meetings. Communications and video equipment permitted authorities to keep tabs on what transpired, and all chats were transmitted directly to officials as they took place. "We didn't want to blur the line of ethics between law enforcement and the media," Burns explained. "We didn't even speak to Dateline officials during the operations."^[67]

The potential for conflict of interest was one of several concerns that led to the non-prosecution of 23 cases in Collin County, Texas. District Attorney John Roach questioned circumstances of the May 2007 sting, stating: "What is exactly the deal between the City of Murphy and NBC? What is the deal between NBC and Perverted-Justice? Who's getting paid what? Who has an axe to grind?"^[75] Investigative journalist Byron Harris explained, "John Roach knew the money issue would come up in court as part of the required disclosure of benefits received by possible witnesses."^[76]

The series inspired a trend ofYouTubeprankster videos produced by individuals emulatingTo Catch a Predator as a form ofsocial justice activism, without police involvement or legal qualifications. In these videos, when the sting is revealed to the would-be predator lured to the sting, unlikeTo Catch a Predator, the YouTubers scold the alleged perpetrator and allow them to leave. These videos were debunked as fake, and not actual stings of alleged criminals, which resulted in criticism and mockery by others in the YouTube community, and led some of the content creators behind them to quit YouTube entirely. Sarah Manavis, writing forNew Statesman, criticized these videos, which garnered high viewerships and brand sponsorships, saying, "If the videos are, indeed, entirely staged, then we have a problem of YouTubers lying to their audiences whilst simultaneously self-aggrandising their own actions – painting themselves as white knights when, in reality, they’re just paying actors to make them look like heroes. But if the whole thing is in fact actually real, the YouTubers are literally letting child predators head off after almost committing a violent crime – managing to both find a child predator and equally letting them get away without any legal consequences."^[3]

In April 2015, Hansen announced the start of aKickstarter campaign to fund an onlinespiritual successor toTo Catch a Predator.^[14]

At the time of theFairfield sting, Hansen reported that he was commencing negotiations with various potential broadcast partners in an effort to find a media platform on which to air the footage that was shot during the Fairfield operation.^[15] In mid-2016, Hansen became the host of the syndicated television news magazineCrime Watch Daily, withHansen vs. Predator installments being broadcast as a recurring segment on that show.^[16]

Hansen returned to television in 2022 with the seriesTakedown with Chris Hansen on his streaming service TruBlu, which once more finds him investigating and interviewing online predators.^[77] The show granted him greater creative control, allowing him to use profanity and work further with local law enforcement entities.^[78]

A spin-off book,To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Children from Online Enemies Already in Your Home, was published in 2007.^[79]

• Anti-pedophile activism
• Ephebophilia
• Hebephilia
• Jailbait
• Online predator
• Perp walk
• Public humiliation
• Reaction formation
• Roblox-Schlep controversy

Wikiquote has quotations related toTo Catch a Predator.

• Official website
• To Catch a Predator atIMDb
• Hansen, Chris (May 10, 2006)."Inside Dateline 'Predator': Where are they now?".NBC News.
• Braun, Michael; Breitenstein, Dave (June 23, 2016)."Inside Dateline 'Predator': Where are they now?".WKYC.
• "Men arrested in Internet sting operation".Naples Daily News. April 24, 2006.

• Child sexual abuse in the United States
• NBC original programming
• 2000s American television specials
• Television controversies in the United States
• 2004 American television series debuts
• 2004 television specials
• American hidden camera television series
• Works about child abuse
• 2007 American television series endings
• Vigilantism against sex offenders in the United States
• Child abuse

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