'Predator': A deadly turn in Texas
Part 2 of the Texas investigation: For the first time, police track down potential predators at their homes... and one makes a tragic decision
By Chris Hansen
Correspondent
Updated: 8:34 p.m. ET Feb 20, 2007
We're back in Murphy, Texas for Part 2 of our investigation there. We want to warn you that some of what you’re about to read is explicit. This report aired Tuesday, Feb. 20 on NBC.
MURPHY, TEXAS - For our latest investigation into online sexual predators, we’ve come to Murphy, Texas—a bedroom community outside of Dallas. After two days, we’re starting to see a trend: Men make the trip, but then seem reluctant to actually come inside our undercover house.
Some suspected sex predators do make it in the door, but don’t stick around for long.
But as always, there are plenty of men who stay and try to explain themselves. Legally, in Texas, it makes no difference if they come in the house or not—they all get arrested.
Murphy’s Police Chief Billy Myrick explains why.
Police Chief Billy Myrick: Under Texas law, the offense had already been committed when the communication was completed through the Internet, so we don’t need them to come in. I mean we don’t even need them to show up at the scene.
According to Myrick, the men were arrested and charged with soliciting sex online with a decoy posing as a 12, 13 or 14-year-old—a felony in Texas. The decoys were really adults—members of the watchdog group Perverted-Justice. Dateline hired the group for its expertise at pretending to be young teens online and on the phone.
During this operation, about 35 Perverted-Justice members, some in the undercover house and others in different parts of the country, are in local Texas chat rooms using profiles of young teens waiting to be hit on by adults looking for sex. Once a man solicits a decoy, Perverted-Justice turns over that evidence to the Murphy police who are staked out in a U-haul in the driveway next door.
23-year-old Christopher Cothrum, online called himself “chris_c_1983.” He starts chatting with a girl who tells him she’s an eighth grader and a virgin.
chris_c_1983 (chat log): r u scared to loose ur virginitymanderzrulez: prolly a little I guesschris_c_1983: can i take itchris_c_1983: il be gentle
Then he suggests that the girl “come to the door naked.” And makes it clear he wants sex saying “I think I would like to shower with you... We can do it in the shower too”
The decoy—an 18 year old actress hired by Dateline answers the door fully clothed.
Decoy (on hidden camera): Did it take a long time to get here?Chris Cothrum: Oh, my God, unbelievably long.Decoy: Traffic? Cothrum: Over an hour and 45 minutes.Decoy: So how are you Cothrum: Doing alright.Decoy: Yeah?Cothrum: It’s a nice house.Decoy: Thank you.Hansen: So you find the house okay? Cothrum: Yes, sir.Hansen (walks out): Why don’t you have a seat right there please?Cothrum: Yes, sir.Hansen: What’s happening?Cothrum: Not a lot.Hansen: What’s your name?Cothrum: Chris.Hansen: What are you doing here tonight, Chris?Cothrum: Hanging out.Hansen: Hanging out with who?Cothrum: With her. Hansen: With her. And who is she?Cothrum: I don’t like this.Hansen: Well, I have a couple more questions for you, Chris.
23-year-old Cathrum quickly heads for the front door and tries to make a run for it. Little does he know he’s heading straight towards the police staked out next door.
Officers take him to the U-haul next door and hold him there because another man is scheduled to arrive. The next suspect never makes it in the house, instead he runs from police. He’s arrested down the street. Both men are brought to the station.
Cothrum is booked, photographed, and brought in for questioning. After he’s read his rights, he starts talking.
Cothrum (to police): I can’t honestly say I was gonna act on anything. Cause I’m.Det. Sam Love: Well know when you say act on anything, what did you all talk about doing?Cothrum: Having sex.Det. Love: Really?Cothrum: Yessir.Det. Love: What else did you talk about?Cothrum: Anal, oral—Det. Love: Did you talk about touching her breasts with your mouth and stuff too?Cothrum: I may have. Probably.Det. Love: That understood and agreed upon, are you telling me that you did not intent to engage in sexual conduct with her? Cothrum: I’m saying I think it was very unlikely. Det. Love: If she had come to the door with just a sexy shirt on— Cothrum: Or nothing at all.Det. Love: Or nothing at all, would that have changed what you felt was gonna happen?Cothrum: I probably would have went into shock and fell over, honestly.Det. Love: Why?Cothrum: Because that’s just—I’m—like I said the way you talk and conduct over the phone, over the Internet—I mean like me, I’ve talked about it and talked about it. And then seen breasts and just completely blush and just freeze up. It’s just easy to express—even overly express on the internet, on the phone.
When the detective asks Cothrum for permission to examine his computer, at first he objects because it turns out the computer isn’t even his...it’s his girlfriend’s.
Cothrum: The only reason why I would object is because the involvement I don’t want with my girlfriend and her children.Det. Love: Do you think she has a suspicion that you’ve been doing this?Cothrum: No, I mean there’s no suspicion about it, you know? Of course I lied about where I said I was going earlier, when I talked to her. Det. Love: My only objective is—well my—objective is not to embarrass you with your family. Trust me.Cothrum: If I get any embarrassment, it’s only because I deserve it. I mean—you know— I did something that I—I shouldn’t have done. And— Det. Love: Well let me ask you this. Why shouldn’t you have done it? I mean I know—Cothrum: She’s 14. I shouldn’t—you know, I should have blew her off as soon as I talked to her.
As the interrogation wraps up, he seems to realize he’s in deep trouble.
Cothrum: It haunts you for the rest of your life.Det. Love: Well—we’ve all got to look to the future. And the best way to handle this—Cothrum: Future doesn’t look too bright right this second.
He’s brought before Judge Kathy Hayden, and his bail is set at $50,000.
Men come to our hidden camera house from all over Texas in hopes of meeting a young teen home alone. Some live right here in Murphy, others drive long distances. 31-year-old Eric Rubalcava comes from Houston, more than four hours away.
Decoy (on hidden camera): Hi. Come on in. How are you?Eric Rubalcava: Okay. How are you? Decoy: Good.
Online, he calls himself "sunsetliquid," and talks romantically to the girl posing as a 13-year-old saying he wants to kiss her everywhere.
Sunsetliquid (chat log): and lick you all overtorys_got_a_storylol: really?torys_got_a_storylol: lick me?sunsetliquid: yes
He makes it clear he means oral sex - both giving and receiving. Could that be why he drove all this way?
Decoy: Well we’ve got soda. I’m sure you’re thirsty. Got soda and some Halloween candy and everything. Sit down.Rubalcava: You got water? Decoy: Um, no, I’m actually out. I drank it all today. I’ve got root-beer and Coke. And as is often the case, after a long drive he needs to go to the bathroom.Rubalcava: You have a restroom I can use? Decoy: Um, I don’t know. I think the toilet’s gone—I don’t know. Do you wanna sit down? I mean, I bet you’re tired, right?Rubalcava: No, you don’t have a restroom?
But the decoy, an actress hired by Dateline, doesn’t want to let him go any further into the house where he could spot our crew.
Decoy: Why don’t we just sit and talk first. I mean, you just got here.Rubalcava: I’m gonna go outside for a little bit.Decoy: No, no sit down. Come on.Yeah you said it was a long drive.
That’s when I step in.
Chris Hansen: Hey sir?Rubalcava: Yes?Hansen: I need to talk to you for a minute, please. C’mon over here. What’s happeninG?Rubalcava: Not much.
Then he recognizes me.
Rubalcava: It was a show.Hansen: Huh?Rubalcava: You mean the show?Hansen: Which show? “To Catch a Predator”?Rubalcava: Yes.Hansen: On Dateline.Rubalcava: Yes, sir.
So even though he knows who I am, he decides to stay and talk. "Sunsetliquid" starts off by claiming he thinks the girl he’s here to meet is 18.
Rubalcava: I’m serious. I thought it was 18.Hansen: But that’s not what it said in the chat log.Rubalcava: I really don’t remember, sir.
Here’s a reminder—the decoy told him she was 13 and he types “I could get in big trouble by just talking to you.” “I could even go to prison.”
Hansen: Have you met other girls who were this age?Rubalcava: No, no sir. I like to meet people from all ages. All ages doesn’t mean that I’m gonna have a sexual encounter with somebody. That’s not my intention.Hansen: So you were just gonna come over here and hang out?Rubalcava: Well she said she wanted to take photographs. I like to photograph all kinds of people.Hansen: How were you going to have her model tonight for your photography session? Rubalcava: With clothes. I never said anything about modeling naked.Hansen: So you would never have had sex with this girl tonight.Rubalcava: Never. I would not be able to live consciously knowing that—I even touched somebody.Hansen: But here you say that you want to perform oral sex on her. That’s touching, by the way. “I wanna lick it though.”Rubalcava: The thing about on-line chat is a lot of it’s fantasy too. You become a different person.Hansen: So you don’t think she was 13, you thought she was 18Rubalcava: No.Hansen: You talked about performing sex acts—Rubalcava: I would not—I would not have come here.Hansen: --but you really weren’t going to go through with it. You wanted to be in a fantasy world but yet you walked into the world of reality.Rubalcava: All because I like to meet different people.Hansen: Do you see why those contradictions make it hard for—Rubalcava: I never—Hansen: --someone to believe your story. You understand?Rubalcava: --I understand that. But like you just said it’s just a story. Hansen: Have you ever seen the Dateline show before, “To Catch A Predator”? Rubalcava: I’ve seen it one time.Hansen: What’d you think about what you saw?Rubalcava: It’s disturbing. How these men are actually wanting to have sex with this girls.Hansen: Does it disturb you that you’re now one of those men who’s walked in to the investigation?Rubalcava: It does disturb me, but again, I don’t feel at all guilty because my intentions are not to have sex with these girls.Hansen: As you know, I’m Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC, we’re doing a story on men who try to meet children online—Rubalcava: Definitely, you know, it’s definitely a shame that I’m in this predicament.Hansen: A shame why? Rubalcava: Well because I have one, two cameras, two booms above me and a person here interviewing me. And has this chat, this fantasious world that—that I was in, and that I’m here and I don’t know what the consequences are going to be when I walk out that door.Hansen: What do you think? Rubalcava: I don’t know. There might be FBI, police outside that door and, you know, it’s really disturbing for me.
He’s got good reason to feel disturbed—just as he suspected authorities are waiting for him to come out the front door.
Like all the other men who show up at our undercover house, he’s taken to the police station where his car is searched.
Investigators read him his rights and begin to question him. Now he remembers the decoy telling her age.
Rubalcava (to police): She didn’t seem like she was an underage girl. You know, just by things that she was saying. Sgt. Robinson: Okay. Rubalcava: She—Sgt. Robinson: But she did say—she did tell you that she was 13. Right?Rubalcava: Right.Rubalcava: I don’t have any criminal records. I have never—Sgt. Robinson: We’ve already checked that.Rubalcava: --I have never done anything in my life, to hurt anybody.Sgt. Robinson: Okay.Rubalcava: I’m a pretty honest man. I just found spirituality, a few years ago. It’s helped me. And I have never done this before.
But apparently his spirituality didn’t stop him from asking for sex with a girl who said she was 13.
Sgt. Robinson: No matter if it’s your fantasy or not, talking to a 13-year-old girl this way, it’s totally wrong.Rubalcava: I understand that, sir.Sgt. Robinson: Totally wrong. It’s totally illegal. And all I can tell you is that, you know, you’re being charged with a second-degree felony.Rubalcava: So, that means I could go to prison?Sgt. Robinson: Yes.
And there are more men who will be facing the same charge—who admit openly they think it’s no big deal to send pornography to young teens.
35-year-old Timothy Knowles is here to meet a boy who said he was 13. Online, calling himself “mytboi,” at first he seems careful not to say he wants to have sex but later using a nickname on yahoo “taktex2005 brighton,”Knowles asks the decoy to show his private parts on a Webcam.
taktex2005 brighton (chat log): how much you gonna let me see? hahafallouttboi93: i dunno lol what u wanna seetaktex2005 brighton: chest and stomach fallouttboi93: theretaktex2005 brighton: mmmmtaktex2005 brighton: how much more can i see? hahafallouttboi93: on cam? dats itThen he sends the decoy a picture of his own genitals.fallouttboi93: OMG thats hottaktex2005 brighton: can i see yours please?fallouttboi93: well not on cam taktex2005 brighton: lol, i just want to see it for me, thats ittaktex2005 brighton: i showed you mineDecoy (in the hidden camera house): So, why did you send me that dick picture. That was pretty hot.Timothy Knowles: I figured, why not.Decoy: Yeah. So, what are you thinking we should do?Knowles: I don’t know. What do you wanna do? Decoy: I don’t know what do you—what do you want to start?Knowles: Doesn’t matter.Decoy: Doesn’t matter to me either.Knowles: Okay.
Since “mytboi” is getting suspicious, it was time for him to meet me.
Chris Hansen (walks out): How’re you doing?Knowles: Good. How are you?Hansen: Why did you come here today? Knowles: I was going to play pool actually.Hansen: Play pool.Knowles: Yeah.Hansen: With who?Knowles: Kyle.Hansen: Kyle. And how old is Kyle?Knowles: 13 or 14 years old.Hansen: And you are?Knowles: 35. Hansen: 35. But in your chat you said something different didn’t you?Knowles: Yeah.Hansen: What did you say in the chat?Knowles: I honestly don’t remember.
Well, we remember how old he said he was 26.
Hansen: Have you met other young boys on the Internet before?Knowles: I meet all sorts of people or all ages.Hansen: What’s the youngest friend you’ve met on the Internet?Knowles: Probably 17 or 18.Hansen: 17 or 18. Well, what about the 13- year-old you were talking to tonight?Knowles: What? Hansen: Yeah. That would be the youngest then, right?Knowles: Right.Hansen: And how many of these folks have you actually met in person?Knowles: A whole bunch.Hansen: Thirty? Forty? Knowles: Probably more than that.
So this man who admits to meeting in person dozens of strangers he’s met online says he was just here to play pool... even though he sent a picture of his genitals.
Hansen: What kind of pool game would you use this for?Knowles: (Laughs) You don’t use that for a pool game.Hansen: Why would you send it to someone who said they were a 13 year old boy?Knowles: I send it to everybody.Hansen: So it’s like your calling card? You send a picture of your genitals to everyone you meet?Knowles: Yeah, frequently.Hansen: Why do you do it?Knowles: Just for fun.Hansen: You don’t think it’s weird to send pictures of your genitals to kids on the Internet.Knowles: I might not be the best judge on how everybody does, so…Hansen: How about illegal? Knowles: Probably.
We’ve been talking for almost 10 minutes— he never shows any sign he knows who we are.
Hansen: Tim, do you ever watch television?Knowles: Yes.Hansen: You ever watch Dateline NBC?Knowles: Yes.Hansen: So you know what’s going on.Knowles: Right.Hansen: How many times have you seen the program?Knowles: A bunch.Hansen: Do you like the show?Knowles: Yeah, it’s a pretty good show.Hansen: Did you ever think you’d be on the show?Knowles: No.Hansen: Well, you know then what happens next.Knowles: Right.Hansen: I’m Chris Hansen, Dateline NBC. We’re doing a story on people who try to meet kids online.Knowles: Right.
As he slowly walks out the front door, he knows what’s waiting for him outside. And before the police even reach him, he lies down on the ground. He’s taken to the police station and booked. He’s read his rights...and apparently is done talking.
Sgt. Roberts: You don’t have to talk to us if you don’t want to. We’re just giving you a chance.Knowles: I’m just waiting for a lawyer.Sgt. Roberts: Okay. You want a lawyer that’s fine. End the interview at six-- 6:10.
Our investigation is now in it’s third day. So far 11 men have been arrested.
41-year-old David Pann heads towards our undercover house. Del from Perverted-Justice plays the part of the 13-year-old. And without so much as a knock on the door, Pann brazenly walks in.
Decoy (on hidden camera): So I have Halloween candy and root beer and I think there’s ice, I put some in but it may have melted, I don’t know.David Pann: Make you a root beer?Decoy: Yep.
Online using the screenname “earthshine66,” the 41-year-old chats with a decoy named “torys_got_a_story.” The decoy says she’s a 13-year-old virgin. He tells her he has a picture of his genitals and says “you wouldn’t know what to do with it.” And he continues...
eearthshine66: soo u wanna see it?torys_got_a_storylol: okeearthshine66: ooooookkkkkkkkkeearthshine66: u asked for iteearthshine66: loltorys_got_a_storylol: yupeearthshine66: wanna touch it ;)eearthshine66: lol
Then they make a date to go to the movie and the mall. Now he’s in our living room.
Pann: You got no ice.Decoy: In the freezer.
As he heads into the kitchen to get ice, Del leaves.
So when he comes, back instead of the pretty young girl, he meets me.
Hansen (walks out): Find the ice okay? Come over here and have a seat. Got some—left over Halloween candy here for you.Pann: No, thank you.Hansen: Who are you here to see?Pann: Tory.Hansen: And, how old is Tory?Pann: Tory’s 13.Hansen: Did you send her any of your pictures?Pann: She asked for picture? Hansen: So she asked for it. A 13-year-old girl.Pann: Yes, sir.Hansen: Asks you to send her pictures of your genitals, and you do it. Why?Pann: It’s just a picture.Hansen: When you send it to a 13-year-old girl, it becomes pornography. Pann: Well, I suppose so.
While he admits to sending the picture of his private parts he insists he wasn’t going to do anything sexual.
Pann: I have a daughter who’s thirteen.Hansen: Why aren’t you spending some time with your daughter who is 13?Pann: She’s in Wisconsin.Hansen: How would you feel if up in Wisconsin an adult man came to visit your 13-year-old daughter?Pann: Well, I’m hoping he’s on the up and up.Hansen: So some stranger she met online, you’d be okay if he came to visit?Pann: Alright. I guess not.
He appears finished answering questions and starts asking some of his own.
Pann: Am I under arrest?Hansen: Not right now.Pann: Well, can I leave? Hansen: Well, I have some more questions for you first.Pann: I’m leaving.Hansen: You start saying that you can’t talk to a 13-year-old. Wait a minute. You talk about being a predator. Well, then before you leave I wanna tell you one thing.Pann: No, sir.Hansen: I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC…
Before I can finish explaining who we are and why we’re here, he takes off for the front door... and when he steps out police are rushing towards him.
And when questioned by a detective, again he admits to sending the pornographic picture but nothing else.
Officer Weiss: Mr Pann, you’re telling me you didn’t come out here with the intent to have sex with her. But, I’ve got photos of an exposed, erect penis here. I mean, it’s—Pann: I know.Officer Weiss: Well, I’m having difficulty with that.Pann: Well I mean, you gotta understand—I mean, maybe the thought was there. But, you know, you know better. And I understand what I did was wrong. I mean anything sexual. It was just—it was just wrong, I understand that.Office Weiss: Have you ever been arrested, David? Pann: Yeah, I’ve been arrested.Office Weiss: What were you accused of at that time?Pann: It was sexual assault actually. And I was 18 years old.
Back then he was charged with a felony second degree sexual assault against a young teen and later convicted of fourth degree sexual assault— a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to two years probation.
This time he appears before Judge Kathy Hayden and she sets his bail at $50,000.
We’ve had doctors, teachers, even a rabbi show up during our investigations---but here in Murphy, Texas just outside of Dallas, this is the first time we’ve come across an assistant district attorney.
59-year-old Louis William Conradt Jr. is a prosecutor in a neighboring county.
He was chatting on the phone with an actor hired by Dateline and online with a decoy from Perverted-Justice. And there’s little doubt about what’s on his mind.
Frag from Perverted-Justice: He got pretty sexual on the phone and it’s being recorded, we’re chatting with him right now, the phone number he gave traced to his home phone.
Using the screenname “inxs00,” the 56-year-old chats with a boy who says he’s 13 years old. The prosecutor pretends to be a 19-year-old college student sending these pictures of a young man who looks like a model. The decoy acts suspicious.
NoOneZero93 (chat log): ur hot and in college u can get all the guys u want y me?Inxs00: to me you’re hot NoOneZero93: y?Inxs00: i like ynger NoOneZero93: really> like for bf or just sex?Inxs00: both
Later the prosecutor sends pornography to the decoy.
NoOneZero93: is that ur c*ck?Inxs00: yes NoOneZero93: it looks hugeInxs00: :) Inxs00: plz don’t trade it, Luke, ok? NoOneZero93: no i swear
The chat continues on and off for two weeks, the assistant district attorney inx00, asks the decoy if he likes to kiss and cuddle—the decoy asks what he means. Inxs00 responds, “holding each other, feeling all over.” Later the prosecutor says he’d love to see the boy masturbate.
Decoy (on the phone): So when you want to come over? You could bring some condoms. Maybe you could bring some beer.
Eventually they talk about meeting in person, but Conradt never shows up. Still in the eyes of the law it makes no difference. In Texas, he’s already committed a crime. Murphy police Chief Billy Myrick explains.
Chief Billy Myrick: It clearly states in the Texas Penal Code that actual contact with the child, or actual meeting does not have to take place. Hansen: For a minute, did you say, “No, it couldn’t be? It’s gotta be a mix up.”Chief Billy Myrick: Oh, yes.Hansen: It’s not going to be Bill Conradt.Chief Myrick: when I just hear that it was that a chief felony prosecutor of a neighboring county, yes, I did say “No it can’t be. A lot of times and very loudly.” I said, “Let’s confirm everything. Let’s make sure.”
Once the chief is certain he’s got the right man, he takes his evidence to a local judge and gets an arrest warrant. He also decides to involve the police in Terrell, the town about 35 miles away were Conradt lives.
Chief Myrick: We tried to make sure that because of who he was that we took every precaution possible by contacting the local authorities and/ the chief of the Terrell Police Department.
Myrick and his team meet the Terrell police officers at a gas station near Conradt’s home to discuss what to do next. We go along to witness the arrest...and possibly get a chance to speak to the prosecutor.
This sergeant who has known Conradt for more than 20 years has been put in charge.
Back at the house, men continue to show up.
Decoy: How you doing?Edward Hollingsworth: Fine.
Because I’m not there, the decoy invites a suspect to come up to the house but then quickly locks the door. This gives the Murphy police the chance to move in and place him under arrest.
Two more men go through the same drill. One 25-year-old is there to meet a girl he thinks is 13, but he never even makes it to the door.
And one 32-year-old is also here for a date with a girl who said she was 13. You know what’s going to happen next.
Back at the gas station in Terrell, police are waiting for another judge to review the evidence and grant a search warrant of Conradt’s home. They already have the arrest warrant.
Chief Myrick: The only mission on the execution of the search warrant is to get the computer and stuff and anything else with that and bring it out.
While the chief waits in Terrell, his officers back at the police station are busy—the three men you just saw arrested are booked, photographed and brought into an interrogation room for questioning.
35-year-old Edward Hollingsworth, online, planned a date for sex with a boy who said he was 13.
Edward Hollingsworth: I cannot believe that I did this.Det. Sam Love: Why not?
Hollingsworth: My best friend’s mom is dying of cancer. That’s not a real excuse for it. But I wasn’t in my right mind. I’m stupid. Undeniably stupid for doing this. You know, it doesn’t take an idiot to know that you guys were setting up stings. But I wasn’t thinking. And to be honest. People say, well, you were thinking about sex. I wasn’t even thinking about that.
He uses the screenname “twinktoilet” which apparently hints at what he had in mind for the boy.
Police: You said that you loved to be used by young boys. Is that true? Is that what you said?Hollingsworth: Yes.Det. Love: Okay.Hollingsworth: And if you read down further in the line, it’s fantasy. Det. Love: But explain to me what that means to be used by young boys.Hollingsworth: Used, humiliated. I don’t know. Det. Love: And then you say “Love dirty bois. B-O-I-S who love getting freaky. “ Now, what does that last part mean?Hollingsworth: Fantasy takes over reality. If it’s on the computer, I’ve never done really anything. I’ve done a little bit of the water sports. And I’ve had that before. In past relationships. But like I said, beyond that I’ve not done anything. It’s all talk. So once you get beyond that—I’ve never done it. I don’t know if I would have done it. Det. Love: Do you remember during this chat that he told you he was 13?Hollingsworth: Yes. Quickly followed by my genius “are you a cop?” (Laughs)Det. Love: Okay.Hollingsworth: Or related? Or with the NBC show? I don’t know. (Laughs)Det. Love: What did you believe?Hollingsworth: Now I’m hanging myself.Det. Love: Why? Hollingsworth: Yes. I thought he was 13. It was fantasy. The chat was fantasy. The decision to get in my car is the dumbest mistake in my life. To this point.
And what about this man? John Baker is a 25-year-old arrested for attempting to solicit sex with a decoy posing as a thirteen year old.
Det. Love: What kind of work do you do?John Baker: I’m a pharmacy technician.Det. Love: How long you been there?Baker: Four days. Det. Love: Where’d you work before that?Baker: First Baptist Church.Det. Love: Why would you have to resign at the church?Baker: Because me and another woman in the congregation had an affair. And—Det. Love: She married or you married? Baker: Both of us are married. Det. Love: What were you doing at the church? What kind of work?Baker: I was an associate minister of music.Det. Love: Really?
He says he almost turned around and went home.
Baker: Because my girlfriend. Whatever you want to call her. Text messaged me and said, “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.” But I was gonna knock on the door and say, “Hey. Sorry. No. And tell her that I was in love with somebody else. And leave.”
The investigator wants to know why then did he bother having the sexual chat with the girl he thought was a young teen.
Det. Love: Why would you think about it with a young girl that’s—how old did she was—Baker: She’s 13 she said.Det. Love: 13. Baker: Yes, sir.Det. Love: Yeah. Why would you—Baker: Because—it’s a girl in general. It’s not a sexual desire specific to young girls.Det. Love: Okay.Baker: I never did drugs. Never smoked. I have drunk very minimal—girls my entire life. And women have always been my only downfall. They’ve always been my vice.
And now that vice has led him here.
Det. Love: You don’t have to feel shameful in front of me, man. I’m not a judgment guy, okay?Baker: I’m not covering my face out of shame. I’m covering it out of the fact that I have zero life. Now, I’m working minimum wage jobs pretty much for the rest of my life.
But he says he’s not sure what he would have done when he actually met the girl in person.
Det. Love: You intended to come over and have sex with her, didn’t you.Baker: I did not know whether I intended or not to have sex.
Of course we’ll never know. And as for the last man arrested, 32-year-old Steve Rosello, he isn’t talking.
Steve Rosello: I think I’d rather have a lawyer.Det. Love: Okay.
Chief Myrick: Right now we’re just taking this as a normal citizen that has committed a criminal offense. And we’re going to execute an arrest warrant.
Murphy Police Chief Billy Myrick and his team make a plan to arrest assistant district attorney Bill Conradt. He was caught chatting online with a Perverted-Justice decoy posing as a thirteen year old boy.
Chief Myrick: We’re the ones that are supposed to be setting the standards. And making examples out of things. And enforcing the law. He’s not doing that.
Just how graphic were the prosecutor’s conversations? Remember he pretended to be this 19-year-old. In his chat with the Perverted-Justice decoy, he talked about wanting to watch the boy masturbate and “holding each other and feeling all over.” He sent pornographic pictures.
Decoy (phone conversation): Maybe we could take some pictures of ourselves.
He also had a phone conversation with this decoy, during which he asked if they were going to have sex and agreed to bring condoms.
But for some reason, Conradt abruptly stopped chatting and Perverted-Justice discovered he’d deleted his MySpace page. Although he was invited by the decoy, the D.A. never showed up at our undercover house. But Chief Myrick says in the eyes of the law, it doesn’t make a difference— Conradt has still committed a felony.
Chief Myrick: The law in Texas specifies that the meeting itself never even has to occur.
As we mentioned earlier, because the prosecutor doesn’t live in Murphy, Chief Myrick has turned over the job of arresting him to local police in Conradt’s hometown of Terrell. A sergeant who’s known the prosecutor for more than 20 years knocks on the door.
Chief Myrick: We really hoped that as they knocked on the door that Mr. Conrad would peer out through the peephole, through a window or whatever and he would see a face that he would recognize and that he would easily open the door and talk .
But Conradt never comes to the door. The police however can tell that he’s inside. They can see a TV and a computer are both on.
Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: So it appeared as though someone was right there, I guess. A short while ago.Chief Myrick: Yes.
Since police suspect he’s inside refusing to answer the door, the Terrell police call for backup. The police wait outside Conradt’s home about 45 minutes until the tactical team arrives. There’s still no sign of Conradt. The officers line up in formation and head to the back of the house...
Then we hear a faint crack as the officers force their way in.
For almost five minutes, we don’t see or hear anything. Then Lieutenant Adana Barber of the Murphy Police Department emerges and tells us what happened.
Lt. Barber: As they made entry, they confronted the suspect. I believe he was in the hallway. And he told them he wasn’t going to hurt them. And then he shot himself.Hansen: And he had a pistol in his hand? Lt. Barber: A small caliber pistol.
It was a devastating tragedy and a shock to all of us when the 56- year-old, a man who has prosecuted criminals for more than two decades, shot himself.
We watched as an emergency medical team arrived and hoped they could somehow save him. But as Conradt is brought out on a stretcher it’s clear his condition is grave. He is then airlifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas where he later dies.
Hansen: Out of all the scenarios that you considered as those minutes tick by, was Mr. Conrad’s suicide one of them?Chief Myrick: Absolutely not. We anticipated there was going to be a fight and by that, I mean a legal fight, but we never anticipated anything like that.
Police searched Conradt’s home and seized three computers. Chief Myrick says a specialist at the local sheriff’s office was unable to search the computer because the hard drive had so many complicated locks on it.
Chief Myrick: They’ve had to communicate directly with the security personnel, with the Sony Corporation and sent the computers to them and that are working as we speak I guess to try to dismantle those locks and get into the hard drive of that computer.Hansen: What does that say about the contents of those computers?Chief Myrick: I am just surmising or guessing here too that— it’s going to be something that’s gonna be way worse than than the chats that that we already have captured or even in the pictures that he had already just sent.Hansen: Why was it so important to move quickly here? Why not, for instance, wait until Monday morning and let him go to the office and make a controlled arrest at his office?Chief Myrick: Simply because when he started the maneuvers to erase evidence or to close out accounts and everything, we just didn’t want there to be any more destruction of the records and evidence tampering things than what had already taken place. We just felt like it was imperative that we get in there and that way we could get him into custody—and then we could seize whatever computers that he had been operating from and make sure that we could build the best possible case.
Conradt’s boss Ray Sumrow, the district attorney in Rockwall County has been critical of Chief Myrick, saying he rushed to make the arrest without consulting him first. Sumrow claims the chief was more interested in Dateline’s cameras than in justice. Myrick strongly denies that and says he went by the book—and even took the extra step of contacting the police chief in Conradt’s town.
Chief Myrick: From the police end of it, you got reviewed by two chiefs. On the legal end you got the review by two judges and we all think that we’re making pretty sound decisions here and that it is time to do something.Hansen: So this just wasn’t the—Chief Myrick: Nothing that was taken lightly by anybody. And everybody took note of who he was—all the way up the line. We all knew who he was. And nobody anticipated the kind of outcome that resulted. And certainly nobody wanted that kind of outcome.
Another vocal critic was the prosecutor’s sister Patricia Conradt. She spoke at a Murphy town council meeting just days after her brother killed himself.
Patricia Condradt: My family and I have experienced a great deal of hurt and sadness over this situation. And I intend to fight as long and as hard as I can to prevent other people from becoming victims of such reckless action as those taken by your employees which were set in motion by a self appointed group acting as a judge, jury, and executioner that was encouraged by an out-of-control reality show. I will never consider my brother’s death a suicide.
For the record, since Conradt never came to the house, there is no indication that he knew Dateline was involved.
Dateline’s four day investigation in Murphy, Texas ends shockingly with the suicide of a local prosecutor caught chatting sexually online with a decoy.
Back at the station, police transport the last of the suspects who showed up at our undercover house to the county jail.
But it’s not the end of this operation for the Murphy Police. You’ll recall they went to arrest the prosecutor because he didn’t show up at the undercover house. Now, the police track down three other men who chatted sexually with decoys and who also never came to the house.
27-year-old Harjunder Singh Virk lives right in Murphy. He admits to police what he said in his chat log was true he wanted the decoy—who said she was 12-- to come into his car, give him oral sex then go.
Detective: Now you know that’s against the law in the State of Texas? Even if you don’t meet this girl?Harjinder Virk: I know, sir. But I’m sorry.
28-year-old Ryan Fritz chatted online with a decoy pretending to be a 14-year-old virgin. He sent a naked picture of himself and asked “Would u want to see in person?” he also asks the decoy, “u want me to teach u sex?”
Police go to his home and arrest him. They also seize his computer. Officer Walter Weiss of the Murphy Police Department made the arrest.
Officer Weiss: The family is devastated by what happened. But they’re cooperating in the investigation.
Fritz is taken to the station where he’s read his rights and begins to answer questions.
Officer Weiss: She sent you the question, “What’s that?” Is that when you transmitted the picture of you naked wearing a cowboy hat?Fritz: Yeah. Yes.
But Fritz says he stopped chatting because his conscience got the best of him. And that’s why he says he never showed up at the house.
Fritz: I quit talking to whoever it was because it was—I knew that it wasn’t right. I had removed her from my list. She came back.
It turns out, this wasn’t the only decoy Fritz was chatting with. Just a few days after his arrest in Murphy- he is caught again chatting with another decoy—an undercover detective in a nearby town posing as a young teen. And Chief Myrick says that nude picture he sent gave him away.
Chief Myrick: He had on a Cowboy hat with a very specific headband on it. And when they found out that we had copies of those pictures over here, cause that was the same kind of pictures they had over there, then they just tied it all together and just made the affirmative link between the two cities.
He wasn’t the only one caught twice...meet 23-year-old James Marsh. He chatted online about getting “nude” and then giving oral sex to a decoy pretending to be 14. Since he didn’t show up at our house, police picked him up at his work and then went to his home to get his computer. His mother let the police in.
Chief Myrick: She indicated to me that she didn’t know he was doing any of this, and just the look on her face and her demeanor, I’m sure she was shocked and surprised.
When Marsh is brought in for questioning, he tells the officer that he was arrested just five days ago in a different police sting for attempting to meet a young teen at a mall. He tells the sergeant why he didn’t show up at our undercover house.
Sgt. Robinson: Oh, you thought it was a sting operation?James Marsh: Uh-huh (Affirms).Sgt. Robinson: But if it wasn’t a sting operation you’d have gone—Marsh: No, sir. No, sir.Sgt. Robinson: No. I think you would have. You know? And—you know you would have. And don’t lie to me, okay?Marsh: Okay.Sgt. Robinson: You would have gone and met her—met with her.Marsh: Probably. Yes, sir.Sgt. Robinson: So now you have two felony charges on you.Marsh: Yes, sir.
In the end, 25 men were caught in this operation. They were charged with a felony online solicitation of a minor. While many said they were innocent, they have not yet had a chance to enter a plea.
Next week, we head to the beach, Flagler Beach, Florida. It may be a small community by the sea. But still, potential predators keep coming. They all end up pleading not guilty, but some come up with excuses you may find hard to believe. You'll also meet a police officer who drove hours to get to the 'To Catch a Predator' house, with a gun in his pocket and an arsenal in his car.
© 2007 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17247963/
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