Jeffrey Stacey - Predator: It's a question! 2023 Cond Nast. So the guys dont see it. "He called a few days later, and we were pretty much together after that." Five men in Oklahoma have been arrested after law enforcement authorities conducted a four-day sting to catch child sex predators. Im not the moral arbiter of society. When asked about how the series came about, Hansen explained that, The idea grew out of a conversation I had years ago, with a fellow reporter, a friend of mine. "I believe that people should be able to redeem themselves.". 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. Is it too much drama? I think it would be fascinating. He also noted that he has never been contacted by any of the men following filming. To Catch a Predator was an American news expos series that featured hidden camera investigations by the television newsmagazine program Dateline NBC. According to a news release from the Canadian County Sheriffs Office (CCSO), the five suspects taken into custody include Trace Turkelson, 22, of Elgin; Cody Ewing, 27, of Yukon; Tracy Fisher, 41, of Tulsa; William Copeland IV, 29, of Calhan, CO; and Otha Smith III, 37, of Linden, Texas. His contract was not renewed in 2013, and he went on to host "Killer Instinct," a show on Investigation Discovery. More than anything, she worried that her decision to stay with Todd could hurt her girls. Avril Lavigne Wore a Post-Breakup Statement Tee at Paris Fashion Week, Zendayas Butterfly Bob Is Springs Biggest Haircut, Gisele Bndchen Models Sheer Chic in Florida, Paris Hilton Wondered If She Was Asexual Until Meeting Husband Carter Reum, Penn Badgley Said His Relationship With Blake Lively Saved Him From a Dark Road, Naked Alison Brie Is the Best Cure for Stress, Penn Badgley Loves His Wife Too Much to Do Sex Scenes in. Got this from the To Catch a Predator fandom wiki. "I complimented his boots, and before I knew it, we'd been talking for two hours," she says. Release Dates 2023 USSA News, The Tea Party's Front Page. It was a hit. One, who doesnt want to go after child predators? And she's an anti-vaxxer. Dumb. ", Dianna decided she'd gather the $7,000 to bail Todd outbut not without trepidation. Two hours into their trip, near the exit for the decoy house Todd had visited, she finally exploded. A few years earlier she'd gotten hooked on crystal meth. I think we put it in the right context, and I hope he gets the help he needs and deserves. It wasnt comfortable. Company Credits It included using a decoy house the suspects allegedly believed was the home of girls ages 14 and 15. Many in the medical community argue that people with sexual proclivities toward youth have a disorder. I have a hard time feeling sorry for him. We had a guy in the last investigation who, when police searched his car, had a loaded gun, duct tape, and a camera, and wanted to take this 13-year-old for a ride. Dianna Strawder had just stepped out of the shower in the early-morning darkness in July 2006 when her phone rang. There was also the matter of her dignity; Todd had cheated on her in the most humiliating way possible. In a Dateline hidden camera investigation, correspondent Chris Hansen catches some of these men in the act. Several of the suspects are also accused of sending videos of themselves masturbating. Trace Turkelson, William Copeland IV, Cody Ewing, Tracy Fisher, and Otha Smith III (Canadian County Sheriffs Office). Dianna had a revelation: Todd was part of her family. I dont think there is any way he could have known it was Chris Hansen and Dateline outside. According to a news release from the Canadian County Sheriffs Office (CCSO), the five suspects taken into custody include Trace Turkelson, 22, of Elgin; Cody Ewing, 27, of Yukon; Tracy Fisher, 41, of Tulsa; William Copeland IV, 29, of Calhan, CO; and Otha Smith III, 37, of Linden, Texas. Well never put our work behind a paywall, and well never put a limit on the number of articles you can read. The minors are adults impersonating underage persons (generally ages 13-15) in online chats. On her weekly two-hour drives to the prison, Dianna would be greeted by an increasingly fragile and withdrawn Todd. Thats part of our protocol. Weve been absolutely transparent about our methodology who the decoys are, where the police are, etc. We did, and I think we handled it fairly responsibly. Her thoughts turned to Dateline; their lives would change dramatically when the episode aired in a few months. Have a tip we should know? "You can make a request to the superior court," said Wadkins, "but there is no judge in Georgia who is going to let your husband live with your daughters.". Rachel called Todd, exulting, "Mom says she'll still marry you. 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. What he did know was that police officers were knocking on his door, and he had child pornography on his computer. One thing you see a lot about today is how difficult it is for sex offenders to find jobs and housing when they get out. Is he former military? Dianna and Todd refused to watch it, but in living rooms across the country, 8.7 million viewers heard a voice-over say: "We've hired a young-looking 19-year-old named Amanda to play the part of an underage girl home alone. "Not especially," he says. Some may recognize me, some think Im the mad dad, some think Im a detective. The suspects are accused of sending nude photos to the decoys and describing sex acts the arrestees desired to perform with the purported girls. Samantha Cope was the female decoy involved in the Flagler Beach, Florida edition of To Catch A Predator. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. The elaborate sting was a joint operation between CCSO and the nonprofit organization Safe from Online Sex Abuse (SOSA). Then Todd told her something that gave her hope: When he'd set out to meet the girl, he said, he'd had second thoughts and turned around. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Can you believe it?" Theyre either defending themselves, explaining themselves, or confessing their sins. And how will I put our lives back together? To Catch a Predator Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. Hosted by Chris Hansen, To Catch a Predator is a series that recurred on the TV news magazine Dateline NBC. For more information, please see our By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. She turned him on so much he began to practice his tongue action and tried rubbing himself hard over his jeans. In her conflicted frame of mind, she began thinking ahead to the next year, when Todd could possibly be out on parole. "I could feel them feeling sorry for me," she says. After cutting away to another man's story, Dateline shows Todd outside the house as cops rush up to him, shouting that he should throw himself to the ground. In his 30-plus-year career as an investigative journalist, Chris Hansen has had occasion to come into contact with all sorts of criminal types. She adds, "I abandoned my kids once when I was addicted to drugs, but I've made a promise to myself never to do that again. The reality is he did his time. Todd seemed like the furthest thing from that," she says. "Can't we appeal?" People were lured to meet with a decoy under the pretense of sexual contact and then . When asked whether his famous have a seat line will be utilized in the new show, Hansen confirmed, Yes, of course. "While it is never easy to accept that someone you know, even online, has been convicted of such a horrific crime, it is important that you, the general public, be made aware of this serious offense." Her comfort came from her relationship with the community of friends she and Todd had established via MySpace, most of whom didn't know about Todd's crime. For upwards of US$100,000 per episode, the production hired controversial vigilante group Perverted-Justice to assist in the "exposure [and] arrest of men ostensibly interested in having sex with children."Perverted-Justice entered chat rooms and posed as children to lure such men to a . And there is a definitive link1 between child porn and child exploitation. Her leaving him "is not about Todd being a bad man. The camera zooms in on Todd's nervous, smiling face. Glamour may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. According to a news release from the Canadian County Sheriff's Office (CCSO), the five suspects taken into custody include Trace Turkelson, 22, of Elgin; Cody Ewing, 27, of Yukon; Tracy Fisher, 41, of Tulsa; William Copeland IV, 29, of Calhan, CO; and Otha Smith . "I wasn't OK with what he did, but I wasn't OK with him staying in jail, either. Dumb.". Click this link for the original source of this article. Two, its compelling television. The next night, Dianna posted Todd's bail. If he was released as a convicted sex offender, he would have to adhere to a strict set of rules. And until Dianna Strawder decided to talk to Glamour, none of these women had ever spoken to a national magazine. The conversations with the predators were extremely disturbing, including fetish demands, using names such as Daddy, graphic sexual acts they planned on doing to the children, and one predator talking about breeding with the female child, officials said. They were going to go to school with that on their shoulders every day," Dianna recalls. Did the 2006 suicide lead to questions about whether you went too far? Do you black out his face? Filming & Production Have you come to have views on this? Trace Turkelson, William Copeland IV, Cody Ewing, Tracy Fisher, and Otha Smith III (Canadian County Sheriffs Office). There has always been a debate about shaming in enterprise journalism. A month later Dianna finally allowed Todd to see her daughters. Del was extremely handsy with Emily, making any excuse to touch her and physically moving her places despite no real need to do so. From left: Jessica, Dianna and Rachel Strawder in the home they once shared with Todd. 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. As Jessica and Rachel sat quietly in the back of the car, it dawned on Dianna how much Todd's arrest would affect them. "Rachel didn't say a word to me for two weeks," she says. Technical Specs, See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro, field producer / executive producer / associate producer (12 episodes, 2004-2007), field producer / associate producer (9 episodes, 2006-2007), producer / additional producer (7 episodes, 2005-2006), senior investigative producer (7 episodes, 2006-2007), assistant producer / associate producer (6 episodes, 2005-2006), executive producer (6 episodes, 2006-2007), field producer / producer (4 episodes, 2005-2007), assistant producer (4 episodes, 2006-2007), assistant producer (2 episodes, 2005-2006), associate producer (2 episodes, 2005-2006), specialty camera / camera operator (12 episodes, 2005-2007), camera operator / specialty camera (11 episodes, 2005-2007), camera operator / specialty camera (9 episodes, 2006-2007), specialty camera / camera operator (7 episodes, 2005-2007), specialty camera / camera operator (7 episodes, 2006-2007), additional camera / camera operator (4 episodes, 2005-2007), camera operator / specialty camera (4 episodes, 2006), additional camera / camera operator (3 episodes, 2006), camera operator / additional camera (3 episodes, 2006), additional camera / camera operator (2 episodes, 2006). But with the help of a new Kickstarter campaign, Hansen is hoping to change that and unleash a new seriesthe forebodingly titled Hansen vs. Predatoron the world. That night when she told her girls, they were ecstatic. It was on a beach and I believe was from the New Jersey sting. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu. The alleged conversations with the suspects escalated to sexually graphic conversations very quickly, the sheriffs office said. Biography An actress that would go on to have many television roles, Cope first started as a decoy on TCaP. Friends advised Dianna to leave him, saying that a criminal shouldn't be around her children. Investigators said all five of the alleged predators cooperated with authorities and admitted to their intentions when they met these decoys.. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and New York Law School and previously worked in financial securities compliance and Civil Rights employment law. It said, "We're not quite sure who is more deludedFather [Johnson] or the fiance. Chris Hansen is doing gods work. He was obviously depressed. Even so, Dianna felt that Todd was falling apart. In fact, I'm going to give serious thought to reaching out to some people who could take part in that. 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. He looked cowed and broken. Based on what we found in tonight's investigation, that's an apt . Remember that the majority of the interaction is on hidden camera. We dont go above 14 for the victims age, just so it is a clear case. Official Sites He worked for a cable company, so he was in people's houses every day. The male and female decoys that appeared in the various stings. 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.". By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. "I kept expecting people to run up to us on the streetto yell at Todd. I said, How did you know that? And he said, I watch the show all the time, and when I miss an episode, I download it from the Internet., There was only one investigation where some of the cases were not prosecuted," Hansen explained when asked about a story that a handful of cases were thrown out due to a legal technicality. If some retired reporter from the Houston Chronicle with his glasses down his nose wants to take me to task, thats fine. And sometimes they freak out. No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. The roommate had commented, "I can't believe the freaking idiots who do this kind of thing." Todd knew he'd made a stupid mistake, he said, but it wasn't anything twisted. He mentioned suicide. When she told her daughters of her choice, they were furious. ", 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. In the hallway she heard teachers whisper about the episode, saying, "One of guys even had a fiance! 2020 Election Night Video Shows Ballot Shredding! Even Dianna's ex-husband had changed his mind about Todd. "We've hired a young-looking 19-year-old named Amanda to play the part of . And experts in the field say when it comes to female predators, you're more likely to see the teacher/student scenario, as opposed to someone meeting anonymously online. Maybe he was the man she'd fallen in love with after all. Investigators said all five of the alleged predators cooperated with authorities and admitted to their intentions when they met these decoys.. And it never gets tiring., 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. Clip from episode of "To catch a predator". He knew hed face 10 years in prison for each image. Until a few days earlier, she'd trusted Todd more than anyone else in the world. 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. 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. But with the help of a new Kickstarter campaign, Hansen is hoping to change that and unleash a. Cookie Notice Together they'd have to face the repercussions of the broadcast of the Dateline episodeand Todd's trial, which would take place sometime early the next year. On the day before Valentine's Day 2007, Todd went to prison. That's about as far as Todd gets. Home. We rarely will engage with a teenager who is hitting on a 13 or 14 year-old. The voice-over continues: "Thirty-seven-year-old Todd West has no problem following our decoy right into the house. The Addams Family was out. 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. "), Dianna felt she knew something about mistakes and redemption. If you view these people as sick, how do you square that? 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. Is there a question of whether people would have attempted to harm children had they not been lured by the decoy? Of course, you dont want anybody to hurt themselves. I've had to ask forgiveness from peopleand they've given it," she says. Several of the suspects are also accused of sending videos of themselves masturbating. "Minors in towels. While reruns of To Catch a Predator still air regularly, no new episodes have been shot since 2007. "Todd is in trouble, baby," Dianna replied. Dianna couldn't accept that Todd was like this man. "Fourteen," he admitted, his voice cracking. Im not judging the guy. Salt Lake City, Utah I think it's going to be a more sophisticated program. I still think he's nice. He laughs. If I wasnt there, somebody would have been raped that night. [emailprotected]. She and the girls decided to do a walk-through of their apartment and make a list of all the things that would have to go when Todd came home. He battled tabloid stories of an extramarital affair. That they wouldnt have otherwise acted on their fantasies? [1] It is safe to say of all the decoys that branched out into acting after the show that Cope has found the most success. Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice, A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, Intimate portraits of people who have been touched by the criminal justice system. | At first Todd insisted he'd thought the girl he'd met in an online chat room was 18. Chris Hansen himself even said it, he said that his best decoy was Casey Mauro. 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. He handed Todd two consecutive 10-year sentences. He later calmed down, but he still thought that Dianna should leave Todd. We would not do it without law enforcement and prosecutors being involved. Hear behind the scenes details and find out what Casey is up to these days!For additional content and other perks check out www.patreon.com/criminalperspectiveThis episode is brought to you by:Shelter Farm SanctuaryDeep Search TattooAnchorSpotify#tocatchapredator #tcap #ChrisHansen #HansenVsPredator #CrimeWatchDaily #podcast #Dateline #NBC #MSNBC #Youtube #truecrime #crime #internet #internetsafety #safety #decoy #actress #CaseyMauro #predator #tv #television #news #undercover #computer #sexcrime #spotify The ironic thing about Casey is now she looks older than she is, since she's one of those hippie granola folks who's out in the sun all day, and it definitely shows on her skin now. It never happened," Dianna says. The network was sued for $105 million and settled out of court. "Great," Rachel said. May 5, 1987 It's not everyone but's definitely all the major figures shouldn't be hard to fill out the rest. Then, in 2006, one of those men committed suicide. 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