MaryAnnDVC
"Mare", DISing since '99; prefers being tagless
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2001
- Messages
- 14,950
Did you see the Today Show today? They had some clips from Dateline tonight...a story about Internet predators. Scary as hell. From the website:
Quote: Adults prowling the Web to meet children found Dateline cameras instead (Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent)
Late last August three hidden camera engineers, 2 regular cameramen, a soundman, 2 volunteers from a vigilante group that exposes computer predators, a producer, an associate producer, a security provider and I moved into a big home in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. The mission: to explore the sometimes dark world of Internet chat rooms and to expose predators who seek to seduce children.
We all knew going in that the scope of the problem is immense. At any given time 50,000 predators are on the Internet prowling for children and the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children tells us that one in five children online have been solicited for sex.
Still, I wasnt prepared for what I was about to see. The next five days would leave my crew and me physically and mentally exhausted.
Even before I arrived on the scene, Mitch and Eric Waggonberg and their team had installed eleven hidden cameras and essentially built a control room on the second floor of the house. The cameras could be panned and zoomed from the second floor. One room over, the volunteers from the vigilante group called Perverted Justice were in regional chat rooms of Yahoo and AOL, posing as 12, 13 or 14 year old kids. They posted profiles with pictures of boys and girls who were unmistakably underage. And huddled in with them, a computer researcher was standing by to dig into the backgrounds of men who came to our house to meet a child for sex.
I arrived at our house on a Wednesday morning about 9 a.m. By noon we were expecting our first visitor. He was 54 and called himself Redbd on line. He thought he was talking to a 13-year-old boy named Conrad. Redbd acknowledged Conrads age saying he was sooo soo young. He asked Conrad about his sexuality and his sexual experience. Then he sent Conrad pictures of himself so explicit we cant show you. And then he was walking up the driveway to our home. He was confident, comfortable. He even parked right in the driveway. I was standing in the next room, watching on a monitor as he walked into the kitchen. The decoy said: Hey, spilled Diet Coke on my shirt, I have to go change. The man offered to help.
As a correspondent in these kinds of situations, youre always a bit anxious. Redbd didnt look violent, but you never know how someone in his position is going to react, especially because Redbd was a prominent man who had a lot to lose by being exposed. Redbd was a rabbi at an organization that works with young people. At first he was calm, even though he clearly knew he was in a lot of trouble. Then he became agitated and wanted to know who I was. I suddenly felt a bit on the defensive. When I told him who I was, the camera crew came out of the next room and he started after me. Our security provider intervened and ultimately the rabbi left. Later, in a series of phone calls to us, the rabbi claimed he had done nothing wrong.
All of this happened on the first day of our investigation. He was the first of 19 men who would walk in our house. I knew then, it was going to be a long week.
One after another, a parade of predators showed up at our house. Each confrontation was unique. Sometimes on these undercover investigations you feel almost exhilarated when you catch someone in the act. This time though, it was just plain pathetic and frightening to see first hand how many men would do something like this.
Besides the rabbi, there was a doctor, a special education teacher, an army man, a defense contractor, a medical student the list goes on. Not one of these men, if you saw him on the street would stand out in a crowd. Some were defiant, claiming theyd done nothing wrong. Many said this was the first time theyd ever done anything like this and they werent really going to go through with it. Some broke down and admitted an addiction to the Internet.
Perhaps the most memorable moment though was when a guy actually walked into our home naked. Thats right: Naked. I knew, based upon his chat with the decoy that this might be a possibility. I never really thought the man would do it. But, on the second evening of our investigation, there he was walking into our kitchen wearing nothing, carrying a 12-pack of beer looking to hook up with a 14-year-old boy. I was standing in the next room looking at the monitor, shaking my head in disbelief. Hes sitting on a stool naked and now I have to go confront him and do an interview with him. That was a TV first for me.
Fortunately, there was a towel nearby that I could give him to cover up.
What does your daddy do for a living? My kids and virtually anyone else I told about my interview with naked-guy thought this was hysterical that is until I told them what this same guy did the next day. It highlights the danger and the prevalence of men online trying to solicit children. Within 12 hours of the encounter at the kitchen counter, the very same man was in a chat room talking to a decoy posing as a 13-year old boy. Theres sex talk and he sets up a meeting at a fast food restaurant.
But, instead of meeting a 13-year-old, he meets me with a camera crew. Again, I confront the man.
He tells me he needs to get help and is seeing a psychiatrist.
Lets hope that he does.
The special report airs on Dateline, Friday, 8 p.m./7C.
Late last August three hidden camera engineers, 2 regular cameramen, a soundman, 2 volunteers from a vigilante group that exposes computer predators, a producer, an associate producer, a security provider and I moved into a big home in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. The mission: to explore the sometimes dark world of Internet chat rooms and to expose predators who seek to seduce children.
We all knew going in that the scope of the problem is immense. At any given time 50,000 predators are on the Internet prowling for children and the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children tells us that one in five children online have been solicited for sex.
Still, I wasnt prepared for what I was about to see. The next five days would leave my crew and me physically and mentally exhausted.
Even before I arrived on the scene, Mitch and Eric Waggonberg and their team had installed eleven hidden cameras and essentially built a control room on the second floor of the house. The cameras could be panned and zoomed from the second floor. One room over, the volunteers from the vigilante group called Perverted Justice were in regional chat rooms of Yahoo and AOL, posing as 12, 13 or 14 year old kids. They posted profiles with pictures of boys and girls who were unmistakably underage. And huddled in with them, a computer researcher was standing by to dig into the backgrounds of men who came to our house to meet a child for sex.
I arrived at our house on a Wednesday morning about 9 a.m. By noon we were expecting our first visitor. He was 54 and called himself Redbd on line. He thought he was talking to a 13-year-old boy named Conrad. Redbd acknowledged Conrads age saying he was sooo soo young. He asked Conrad about his sexuality and his sexual experience. Then he sent Conrad pictures of himself so explicit we cant show you. And then he was walking up the driveway to our home. He was confident, comfortable. He even parked right in the driveway. I was standing in the next room, watching on a monitor as he walked into the kitchen. The decoy said: Hey, spilled Diet Coke on my shirt, I have to go change. The man offered to help.
As a correspondent in these kinds of situations, youre always a bit anxious. Redbd didnt look violent, but you never know how someone in his position is going to react, especially because Redbd was a prominent man who had a lot to lose by being exposed. Redbd was a rabbi at an organization that works with young people. At first he was calm, even though he clearly knew he was in a lot of trouble. Then he became agitated and wanted to know who I was. I suddenly felt a bit on the defensive. When I told him who I was, the camera crew came out of the next room and he started after me. Our security provider intervened and ultimately the rabbi left. Later, in a series of phone calls to us, the rabbi claimed he had done nothing wrong.
All of this happened on the first day of our investigation. He was the first of 19 men who would walk in our house. I knew then, it was going to be a long week.
One after another, a parade of predators showed up at our house. Each confrontation was unique. Sometimes on these undercover investigations you feel almost exhilarated when you catch someone in the act. This time though, it was just plain pathetic and frightening to see first hand how many men would do something like this.
Besides the rabbi, there was a doctor, a special education teacher, an army man, a defense contractor, a medical student the list goes on. Not one of these men, if you saw him on the street would stand out in a crowd. Some were defiant, claiming theyd done nothing wrong. Many said this was the first time theyd ever done anything like this and they werent really going to go through with it. Some broke down and admitted an addiction to the Internet.
Perhaps the most memorable moment though was when a guy actually walked into our home naked. Thats right: Naked. I knew, based upon his chat with the decoy that this might be a possibility. I never really thought the man would do it. But, on the second evening of our investigation, there he was walking into our kitchen wearing nothing, carrying a 12-pack of beer looking to hook up with a 14-year-old boy. I was standing in the next room looking at the monitor, shaking my head in disbelief. Hes sitting on a stool naked and now I have to go confront him and do an interview with him. That was a TV first for me.
Fortunately, there was a towel nearby that I could give him to cover up.
What does your daddy do for a living? My kids and virtually anyone else I told about my interview with naked-guy thought this was hysterical that is until I told them what this same guy did the next day. It highlights the danger and the prevalence of men online trying to solicit children. Within 12 hours of the encounter at the kitchen counter, the very same man was in a chat room talking to a decoy posing as a 13-year old boy. Theres sex talk and he sets up a meeting at a fast food restaurant.
But, instead of meeting a 13-year-old, he meets me with a camera crew. Again, I confront the man.
He tells me he needs to get help and is seeing a psychiatrist.
Lets hope that he does.
The special report airs on Dateline, Friday, 8 p.m./7C.
(((((
