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tv   To Catch a Predator  MSNBC  July 17, 2011 8:00pm-9:00pm PDT

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>> hi, how are you? date line's hidden cameras head to the beach and so do the cameras. >> oh, i'm kind of shy. >> grown men on-line, targeting kids. >> brought my clothes. >> there is a college teacher who arrives bearing gifts. >> chocolate and flowers, very nice. >> a man who is shy but hopes our decoy isn't. >> flash me. >> come on, come in here. it's freezing. >> flash me. >> and a volunteer fireman in a fire engine red sports car. >> is this a dangerous guy? >> absolutely. >> they run, they hide. but when they get outside -- >> get on the ground, get on the ground. >> get on the ground.
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>> sexually explicit. >> chris hansen with "to catch a predator." our cameras are on the beach and suspected predators are online. thanks for joining us. i'm stone phillips. >> and i'm ann curry. we're in florida where men who prey on children crowd the internet. >> during the course of our four-day investigation, 21 men showed up at our house on the beach, and fun in the sun was not what was on their minds. a warning, some of what you are about to see and hear is explicit. here's chris hansen. ♪ >> it's december in flagler beach, florida, population 5,000. it's time for the annual holiday parade. the entire police force of flagler beach, a town some 20 miles north of daytona, is working parade duty. he's turning right on 14th
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again. he's coming back out to a1a. >> sam, why don't you go downstairs. guy, pod up sammy. >> but later that evening, most of those same officers are working one of the biggest investigations they've ever tackled. the police are hiding in a garage behind our latest undercover house waiting to arrest the man who is about to walk inside. >> come inside. it's cold out here. >> 34-year-old mohammed abdullah works in real estate. he's married and has an 8-year-old daughter. >> hi, how are you? >> how you doing? >> good, how was your drive? >> good. do you want me to leave it open? >> yeah, you can leave it open, it's fine. >> long before he got to the house, abdullah used the screen names blondy91972 and midas1972 to chat with someone who was a 13-year-old girl. but he was really talking to a decoy for the online watchdog group perverted justice, a group
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we hired because of its experience pretending to be teens online who are curious about sex. in his chat, abdullah wants to know the girl's bra size, whether she slept with her old boyfriend, if she masturbates and if she's ever performed oral sex. then he says he wants to perform oral sex on her. >> it will be nice. i think you will love it. but you will need to open your legs all the way. >> reporter: then he suggests the girl perform oral sex on him, and abdullah sends along these naked pictures. note the distinctive necklace the man is wearing. and like most of our potential predators, abdullah makes a date online to come to visit the teen when she says she's home alone. >> you can shut it if you want, that front door. >> now he's at our house, and he doesn't know it's outfitted with multiple hidden cameras that record his every move as soon as he enters. also out of sight is a large "dateline" crew and members of perverted justice. >> hey. how are you?
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why don't you have a seat right over there? so what made you come on over here tonight? >> i was just right there. >> you happened to go by and you saw this blond woman out there. and she waved at you. >> yes, she waved at me. >> that explains everything, doesn't it? >> she waved at me. i'm thinking she owns the house. i was thinking what is it, and she said come in. come in. >> and so you just walk right in. >> i asked her, what's this door? >> what an amazing coincidence. you're a lucky guy. you're driving along and this good-looking young girl waves you in. there's amazing. >> i know. >> what do you suppose the odds of any of that even being remotely true? >> it is. >> now it's time to let him know that we know he wasn't just doing some sightseeing and looking for real estate. now, the problem with that is i know you were chatting online with a girl who said she was 13. she gave you directions to come over here. >> did she say i was 13? >> she said she was 13. >> who was this?
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i don't know. >> you tell me. >> i chat with a lot of people online. >> then i show him these pictures he sent. is that you, these pictures there? >> that looks like me. >> it looks like you, okay. >> and i showed him those naked pictures. >> okay. how about that one? >> that looks like me too. >> that one? >> yep. >> that one? >> it looks, yeah. >> that one? okay. then i remind him what he told the girl who said she was 13. you asked her what she's doing. she said she's sleeping on her back. and you say sleep on your back and open them wide open. what did you mean by that? >> what is it? i don't know. >> this is your chat with a girl who told you she was 13. >> when was that? >> this particular one was december 3rd at 10:32:29 seconds in the morning. >> i was in the office at this time. i do not chat in the morning. >> you don't chat in the morning and, oh, well, right here you say you're in our office. so that's consistent with what you just told me.
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you talk about licking her. she says, i don't really know much about licking and stuff. and you say, would you like to try? she says, might be interesting. >> i would never say to someone like that never. >> it will be nice, i think you will love it. >> never. never, ever. you know, i'm an egyptian, i'm muslim, i don't do this stuff. >> i'll lick you all over. >> it's not me. just -- >> no, before you do that, i need to tell you something. >> tell me. >> i'm chris hansen with "dateline nbc." and we're doing a story on men who try to meet underaged kids online for sex. abdullah doesn't want to talk to me anymore. outside the flagler beach police are racing into position. >> down, down! >> thinking he's going to run, the police come down hard. >> down! get on the ground. give me your arm. >> come on out, sir, step out of the vehicle. >> i didn't do anything.
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>> step out of the vehicle. >> at the police station, abdullah seems a little uncooperative at first. >> mohammed, mohammed, listen to me. >> okay, i'm sorry. >> we don't want you to make any sudden moves like that. >> officers find a large amount of cash. >> there's 100, 200, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3, 4, $1,400. >> inside the interrogation room after he's read his rights, abdullah doesn't want to speak to the police. >> i need my attorney. >> okay. >> detective liz williams of the flagler beach police department thinks abdullah's excuses were creative. >> his self-assurance was impressive. >> except for one thing, remember those pictures of the naked man? >> the images that show the genitalia, the head was cropped off. >> and that unique necklace he wore? >> it was obviously handcrafted. and that evening when he was at our station, he was wearing the same piece of jewelry around his
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neck. >> what does that say to you? >> it was him. >> even though he cropped the head off? >> right. >> two days later, abdullah made bail. he's charged with three felony counts, attempting a lewd act upon a child, using a computer to send lewd images and using a computer to attempt to seduce a minor. those charges carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison. he later pleaded not guilty, and because he's an egyptian citizen his case has also been referred to immigration and customs enforcement. if he's convicted, abdullah could be deported after serving his sentence. he's just 1 of 21 men who show up at our undercover house over our four-day investigation. >> come on in. >> reporter: coming up, this man wants our decoy to prove this across the street, the padillas. ben and his family live here, too. n's a re/max agent,
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okay. open the door and just wave him in, sam. >> come on in. >> it's about to get busy at our undercover house in flagler beach, florida. >> how are you? it's cold outside. >> here's a 24-year-old interior landscape designer named brian dory. >> you can have a seat if you'd like. >> online dory uses the screen name briman31282. he was chatting with a decoy who called herself ally who told him she was a 14-year-old girl. he tells her he wants to have sex with her and what position he will use. he says he'll bring condoms and then sends pictures of himself masturbating. he even tells her he's had sex before with another underage girl he met online. the decoy responds -- >> did you teach her the same things you're going to teach me. >> he replies. >> i sure did. and she loved it.
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>> i circled around again. >> here he is in our house. >> well, did you bring anything? >> yeah. >> what did you bring? >> i brought my clothes. i brought condoms. >> the decoy he's meeting is really a 19-year-old actress hired by "dateline." >> let me go change, and i'll be right back. >> i'm going to get my stuff. >> why don't you have a seat right over there for me, please. >> okay. >> what are you doing here? >> just meeting somebody. >> and who are you here to meet tonight? >> somebody i was talking to on the computer. >> what's her name? >> ally. >> and how old is ally >> she said she would be 15, going -- but i didn't know if it was true or not. >> what did she tell you online? >> she didn't really say her age. >> what age was on the profile? >> 14. >> so when you looked at the profile, you saw that she was 14 years old? >> yes. >> so you knew that going in? >> well, i don't know for sure. >> was there any other reason to suggest she wasn't 14? >> no. >> reporter: dory said he almost changed his mind about coming. but during his hour-long drive from orlando, he made a point of stopping for some supplies. >> i just stopped for supplies. >> and what all did you get?
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>> i got mountain dew and a box of condoms. >> mountain dew and a box of con donees. what did you all talk about, brian, when you were online with this girl? >> we talked about meeting and we did talk about sex a little bit. >> sex. >> yes. >> that may be an understatement. >> you say, hey, i could have said i was naked with a [ bleep ], and you go on from there. do you think it's appropriate for somebody your age to come visit -- >> no, i do not. >> -- a 14-year-old girl home alone? >> no, i do not. but she is the one that invited me. >> does that make it right? >> that does not make it right. no. >> have you ever done this before? >> no. i have not. i did lie about that. yeah, i know what you're fixing to say. i lied. >> you say right here, i have met two on the knit, one young like you. >> yeah, i know, i lied about all that. >> have you ever seen our show called "to catch a predator"? >> yeah. >> reporter: i'm chris hansen with "dateline nbc." we're doing a story on -- dory heads for the door.
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>> [ bleep ]. >> outside he meets the flagler beach police. >> get on the ground. get on the ground. >> reporter: they take him around to the back of the house because the next visitor is about to arrive. but the cops have everything under control as that second man, william roach, a tae kwan do instructor approaches. he even parks nose to nose with our previous visitor's car. >> come on in. it's freezing. hurry. >> but he won't come inside and perhaps to prove to himself this isn't a setup, he keeps asking our decoy to flash her breasts. >> flash me. >> the neighbors might see me out here. >> okay. real quick. >> online, roach wasn't quite so suspicious. using the screen name thenamestheygivearedumb, he chatted with a decoy who told him she was 13. perhaps to make the girl feel more comfortable, the 31-year-old tells the girl he's also a teenager, just 19.
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he asks if she's a virgin and what sexual things she's done. he says he would like to perform oral sex on her and asks her intimate questions like how large her breasts are. he sends her a pornographic video and says, can i do that to you? >> yeah, if you wanted. >> just like our earlier suspect. roach sends along video of himself masturbating, but at the house, he remains wary. >> come in the house. >> someone in the house? >> no, hurry. someone's going to see you. >> and the standoff continues. >> i'm afraid to come in. >> come on. >> my neighbors are going to see you. >> come here. >> it's freezing out there. >> come here for a second. >> please come in here. >> roach decides it's time to move out, and the flagler beach police move in. >> get on the ground. i said get on the ground. >> i didn't do anything. come on, i did not do anything yet. i did not do anything yet. >> he may think he didn't do
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anything wrong. but in florida, he didn't need to go in the house to commit a crime. it's illegal to use a computer to attempt to solicit a child for sex. we find out later that according to perverted justice, roach had a sexual conversation with another decoy during our flagler beach investigation, and in april 2006, he chatted with three other decoys during our investigation in ft. meyers, florida, 270 miles away on florida's gulf coast. >> okay. i want you to have a seat in this chair right here. >> reporter: at the flagler beach police station, roach tells the investigator, he doesn't remember how old roach said the decoy said she was. >> it says right here that you're hot for 13. she told you she was 13. >> i chat with, i mean anybody. >> do you send just anybody pictures? >> yeah, pretty much. >> of you masturbating? >> yeah, it's unfortunate. >> detective liz williams of the
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flagler beach pd. >> unfortunate? >> yes, which would lend you to believe he was a little more sorry that he did it for his own self as well as far as -- >> unfortunately, because it was the wrong thing to do or because he got caught doing it? >> unfortunately because he got caught was the impression i got. >> what are you doing at flagler beach? >> reporter: the police find more as they dig into his past. remember how he kept asking the decoy at the house to flash her breasts? >> flash me? >> there's a pending case now of where he had allegedly grabbed a woman's shirt and pulled it down to expose her breasts. >> in that civil suit, two women who worked for roach at the time alleged he also exposed himself to them and touched them inappropriately. roach denied the allegations. and there's more. >> due to the fact that he also works around children. >> teaches kids tae kwan do. >> right. >> which is a physical activity. >> correct. >> roach was later charged with four felony counts, including
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attempting a lewd act upon a child, using a computer to seduce a child. he's pleaded not guilty. roach was still listed on the tae kwon do school website months after he was arrested but we were told that he no longer works there. later, that previous suspect, brian dory, is also questioned by an investigator. >> did you think you were going to have sex with her? >> i thought at first but actually this past hour that i've been driving around it's been like no, no, no in my head. >> when you were driving around saying no, no, no in your head, what was that reason for? >> age, felt uncomfortable. because she was 14, didn't feel comfortable just doing that to that age. >> dory is charged with three felony counts and he also faces a misdemeanor charge for possession of marijuana that police found in his car.
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is everybody ready? >> he's walking back this way. >> the next man to arrive in our undercover house in florida is a 22-year-old college student and chemistry teacher. his name is deepak. and he drove four hours to get here from west palm beach. in a yahoo! romance chat room, bist uses the screen name lovesource7. when the decoy tells him she's 13, he said, wow, you're too young, babe. you should not be out here. a lot of perverts in here. >> after chatting on and off for almost a month, bist makes it clear what he's interested in. he says he wants oral sex and wants to perform it on her. >> i believe it feels good to the ladies. >> he graphically asks what sexual positions she prefers and then towards the end of the
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chat, there's this exchange. >> do you ever watch "dateline"? i was watching it yesterday. >> don't think so. is it good? >> yeah, these tv personnel chat with men as kids and ask them to meet them and show it on tv. >> oh. you should watch it. but in this show, they send those people to jail for meeting a child. >> oh, i don't want you in trouble. how did they find out? >> i don't know. >> so after all this you'd think he would know better than to show up at a stranger's house. not this guy. this science teacher is still apparently still hoping for a biological reaction with our decoy. >> how are you? >> i'm good. oh, thank you. i'm shy. i just want to get comfortable. >> why don't you have a seat right over there. so we have chocolate and flowers. very nice. what are you doing here today? >> nothing.
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>> nothing. >> nothing. >> so who were you here to see? >> okay. she asked me to come. >> she did. >> yes, she did. i did not -- i told her it's not appropriate, that she's too young. >> how hold is she exactly? >> she said she was 13. >> how old are you? >> 22. >> so you knew it wasn't a good thing to do. >> yeah. >> but you do it anyway. >> but she started it. >> so it's the 13-year-old girl's fault, not the 22-year-old man. but the fact is, he was the one who began the chat. you start out telling her that she's too young, you're too young, babe. you shouldn't be out here. a lot of perverts in here. what did you mean by that? >> there's people that want to have sex with you. >> people like yourself. >> no, i don't want to have sex with her. >> you don't want to have sex with her. >> no. >> but if he wasn't interested in sex, why did he bring a lot more than flowers and chocolate? >> did you bring condoms? >> yes. >> yes. what else is in there besides condoms? >> a lotion. >> so why would you bring
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condoms and lotion if you were just here to talk with the girl? >> well, she said we were going to have sex. >> she said? >> yes. >> and despite admitting he's a "dateline to catch a predator" viewer, bist still doesn't seem to realize exactly what's going on. >> what do you think should happen to you? >> i really don't know. >> you really don't know. let me tell you something that i know and that is that i'm chris hansen within "dateline nbc" and we're doing a story on adults who try to meet children online for sex. if there's anything else you'd like to tell us -- bist walks outside into the hands of the flagler beach police. >> just walk. >> do you have any weapons on you? >> no weapons. >> during his questioning at the police station, bist goes back to blaming the decoy. >> well, she lured me, i would say that. >> run that by me again. >> she lured me, i mean. >> but under more questioning --
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>> you drove from west palm beach up here 3 1/2 to 4 hours, got chocolates, flowers, lotion and condoms because you were going to come up to have sex with her. is that pretty accurate? >> that's right. >> all right. >> reporter: bist is charged with two felonies, an attempted lewd act on a child and using a computer to solicit a child for sex. he could face up to five years in prison. he later pleaded not guilty. and because he's from nepal and not a u.s. citizen, his case is referred to the department of immigration and customs enforcement. >> scott, if you can hear me, you need to go to the door and let this guy in. >> reporter: back at the undercover house, our male decoy is greeting this 39-year-old waiter named anthony sorrentino. online, sorrentino calling himself italianlover37, has one of the shortest and most direct chats we've ever seen with a decoy who tells him he's 14 years old. after just ten minutes sorrentino writes --
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>> what are you looking for? >> i don't know, you? >> well, hot sex, what else. >> but soon sorrentino is suspicious. >> how do i know you're not a cop? >> duh, i don't know. how do i know you're not my dad setting me up? >> then he tells the boy he will perform oral sex on him and asks the boy to call him with directions to his house. a perverted justice decoy obliges. >> three stories tall, yellow house. >> and within 15 minutes, sorrentino is at the door. >> you can sit here if you want. just sit down. you want something to drink or anything? >> no, i'm okay. >> you are a fast mover. please have a seat right there. please sit down. what are you doing here? >> relax. just calm down. tell me what's going on. >> nothing, i was just going to -- >> just going to what? >> talk to the kid. >> what were you going to talk about? >> i don't know. baseball. >> baseball. >> football. >> anything else?
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you seem a little more nervous than somebody who was going to come over here and talk about baseball or football. how old did this boy say he was online? >> 14. >> and you thought it was okay at 39 to come over here and see a 14-year-old boy. >> wow. i was just going to hang out with him. i wasn't going to do anything with him. >> you exchanged names and ages in about 45 seconds later, if that the. you say you're looking for hot sex. what do you suppose would have happened if there was a 14-year-old boy here? >> i don't know. >> willing to have sex. >> i was scared. >> you were scared. >> yeah. why would you be scared if you were just coming over here to talk? >> because i just don't think i could have done it anyway. >> i mean, you get why this is wrong. >> yeah. >> and you know here in florida, that's against the law and you can go to jail for it because it's a felony. >> i didn't know that. i didn't know that. >> you didn't know that. >> no. >> now, the other problem for you is that i'm chris hansen with "dateline nbc, and we're
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doing a story on adults. >> [ bleep ]. >> who try to meet kids for sex online. have you seen our stories before? >> yeah. >> "to catch a predator" show? >> uh-huh. >> so you've seen the show? >> uh-huh. >> now you're on it. if there's anything else you'd like to say to us, we'd like to hear it. if not, clearly you can go. >> i'm just sorry. i just wished they didn't hear that. >> outside sorentino meets the flagler beach police. >> on the ground, turn around. turn around. hands at your side. out. out. >> during a search of his car, police find marijuana and condoms. later, sorrentino tells the investigator he has a mental illness. >> well, i'm bipolar so i'm on medication. >> for bipolar? okay, and have you taken all your medication today? >> yeah, i just take it at night. >> then he explains how the online chat started. >> what about seeing him online made you want to talk to him? >> just because he was new. i'd never seen him online
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before. >> okay. how long did it take before you found out that he was 14 or 15? >> he told me right away. >> he told you right away. did that bother you? >> yeah, it did. >> it did? okay. >> yeah. >> but still you came here and you planned to have sex with him? >> i guess. honestly, i was just really turned on, and i didn't know what i was going to do. i probably -- you know, i mean, that's what i was thinking i guess. i don't know what i was going to do. >> sorrentino is charged with two felony counts, including attempting a lewd act upon a child. he also faces a misdemeanor charge for the marijuana the police found in his car. he later pleaded not guilty.
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yeah, that'll certainly stick withe. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. i'm lynn berry. here's what's happening. a deadly crash in western new york. police say is a tour bus heading from washington, d.c. tonighting a ra falls crashed into a median killing two people, injuring 35.
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a preliminary report indicates a tire blow-out may have caused the driver to lose control snb one of rupert murdoch's closest confidants a out on bail after being in connection with the hacking scandal. brooks denies any wrongdoing. now t.o. back to "to catch a predator." >> the man coming to our house on this windy florida day drove about an hour to get here. 24-year-old david wagner is an amateur boxer. using the screen name davekruz2003, he chats with a decoy who says she's 13. at first, wagner tells her about his boxing prowess, but later he makes it clear he's more interested in sex. are you a virgin? >> yeah. >> do you masturbate at all? >> not really. >> do you get horny at all? >> maybe. >> don't be shy. you can tell me. >> he goes on to ask the girl he
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thinks is a virgin if he can have sex with her and perform oral sex of her. he sends along photos of his penis and says he's getting sexually excited looking at her online snapshots. he wants to come over as soon as possible, and near the end of the chat, he makes sure of her age. >> when do you turn 14 again? >> december 21st. >> oh, yeah. >> but despite being told that she's a couple of weeks shy of 14 -- >> hi. >> hey, what's up? >> he turns up at the house. >> how are you? >> as soon as he walks in, he likes the locale. >> dang, you look -- >> you can have a seat right there. just got to finish packing. you can get like a diet coke or whatever you want. be back in just a minute. >> how you doing. >> good, how are you? >> good, what's happening? >> nothing much. >> yeah. what you doing here? >> just checking the place out. >> what, are you thinking of buying it or -- >> no, no, just looking really. is there like an open house going on today?
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>> no, well, there is sort of an open house going on, but it's sort of a different open house. >> i was just visiting a friend, jena. >> how did you meet jena? >> we were just talking online. >> wagner tells me they were just talking about sports. that's when he starts heading towards the door. just come here one second -- >> sure. >> but then he decides to answer a few more questions. how old is jenna? >> i'm not sure actually. >> i've got the chat log. >> okay. >> so you should probably start telling the truth now. >> okay. >> how old is jena? >> 14 i think, 13, 14. >> 13. and how old are you? >> 24. >> and what's a 24-year-old doing looking to be with a 13-year-old? >> i'm not looking to be with her. we were just talking and stuff. >> what were you talking about? >> just all kinds of stuff. >> are you a virgin? yeah. do you masturbate at all? not really. do you get horny at all? maybe. you can tell me, every girl does it.
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>> i was just messing around. joking around. >> just messing around with a 13-year-old girl. >> yeah, not really planning on anything really. >> you don't know what you're missing. i'm stroking my [ bleep ] right now and looking at your pics. >> as i continue, wagner remembers that he left his car lights on. >> i need to turn the battery off on my car. i swear i'll be right back. my car is going to die. i'm serious. >> why did you leave the lights on anyway? you were going to pick this girl up and take her where. >> just around the area. >> just an the area. you were going to pick up a 13-year-old girl and ride around. in his chat he talks about maybe taking her for a ride along the beach. but the fact is he'll soon be going for a ride with someone else. >> i'll be right back. >> before you go, let me just tell you something. >> he doesn't wait to hear who i am. >> on the ground, down. down. >> he meets the flagler beach police outside. >> wagner is brought back to the station. >> so are you requesting to have
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an attorney present during any questioning? >> yes. >> he's charged with three felony counts including transmitting images harmful to a minor. he later pleaded not guilty. >> that's him. there he is. he's here. >> despite the cold weather, our next visitor arrived with the top down on his custom convertible. >> hi. come on inside. >> this is 58-year-old charles gregory green, a self-employed repairman and volunteer firefighter. online he uses the screen name greggreen98 to chat with a decoy who says she's 13. green writes -- >> kind of young to be in here. >> the decoy responds -- >> guess i don't feel like i am. >> he goes on to tell the decoy about female orgasms and how a part of his anatomy might be too big to have sex with her, but then he writes, darling, i would love to just throw you on the bed and make love to you right off. >> wow, that would be cool. >> then he explains about some
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sexual fetishes and bondage. >> my ex-girlfriend liked to have her wrists tied to the bed posts. >> wow, did you do it for her? >> uh-huh. >> he says he'll try that on her. >> how was the ride? it's cold out there today. >> cold. >> but now here he is in the house. >> what do you want to do? >> he could take her for a ride in his convertible, but then he thinks better of it. >> it's pretty cold for a ride. >> i know. it's pretty windy outside. >> oh, man. >> on the other hand, it's pretty warm inside. >> whew, man. take off my jacket? >> yeah, go ahead. i'm going to grab a sweater. i'm kind of cold. i'll be right back. >> have a seat back over there for me. you need to know that i'm chris hansen within "dateline nbc" and i need to talk to you about why you're here, sir. >> outside the police are ready. >> get on the ground. get on the ground. down. >> just have a seat right there in that chair. >> back at the station, green tells the investigators he was just joking about all the sex.
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he says he was just trying to educate the girl. >> you tried to educate her about anatomy. >> yeah. >> about oral sex. >> she already told me about oral sex now. >> uh-huh. and then about masturbating? >> yeah. >> how to satisfy herself. >> we talked about that. >> and despite his graphic sexual online chat, green says he was not planning on having sex with the girl. >> watch your head. >> green later pleaded not guilty to two felony counts including an attempted lewd act on a child. coming up, we'll move our operation to the shore. >> hi. woman: saving for our child's college fund was getting expensive. man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk. woman: scholarship! woman: honey go get him.
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>> he's just getting out of his car. >> meet 25-year-old brian ruffino. using the screen name mandarin guy 78, he chatted online with a decoy who told him she's 13. ruffino asks her bra size, if she wants to get naked with him and if he can probe her sexually. but like some other men who have become aware of online stings, he gets suspicious when she invites him to her house. >> you're not a cop or anything, are you? >> no way. >> sure enough, apparently knowing what he's doing might be against the law -- >> you can come in. hi. >> hi. >> how are you? >> pretty good, how you doing. >> good.
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>> and despite his suspicions, ruffino decides to come to the undercover house. >> so what do you want to do? >> i don't care. >> do you have any ideas? >> well, i think i'm going to go change then. >> brian, i've got some ideas for you. >> ruffino clearly doesn't want to hear them. >> get on the ground! >> which pocket is your key in? >> i think it's the front one. >> but he will be talking to the police. >> what we wanted to talk to you about is what brought you to flagler beach today. ruffino tells the investigator he has two small children at home and another on the way. so why would he come to visit an underage teen? >> you guys talked and made arrangements for you to come here and have sex together. >> it wasn't sex. >> ruffino says it's all a misunderstanding. >> yeah, you said, you know, you were going to do some sexual things.
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>> okay, i didn't know what you meant by -- >> yeah. like fingering and stuff like that. so that's what you came to do. okay. >> yes, i thought you were talking about intercourse. all right. >> ruffino later pleaded not guilty to two felony counts. >> let's get our guys in place. this is going to be the new blue ford 4xx4. >> some of the men were wary of meeting someone they thought was an underage teen at a house and asked to meet at a more public place. so instead of inviting those men to the house, we set up five remote control hidden cameras on the beach and on the walkway ha crosses the dune. the plan was for me to meet the men on the walkway after they approached the decoy. our first visitor at the beach is 34-year-old michael collins, a swimming pool maintenance man and father of two. he drove about 60 miles to get here. online, collins uses the screen name justforfun007 and subtracts 11 years from his age and chats with a decoy named alison who tells him she's 14.
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in their very first conversation collins asks -- >> how far are you gone sexually? >> i sort of don't kiss and tell. >> collins goes on to say what he'll do when they meet in person. >> first i would undress you, and lay you done kiss all over your body and completely relax you. how is that for starters? mm-mm, i could so go on. >> i would love that. >> the next day collins seems well aware that sex with 13-year-old alison would be wrong when the decoy writes. >> do you want to make love to me? >> if you was 18, yes, at 14, you scare me. >> so do you not want to talk to me anymore? >> talk, yes, about sex stuff, no. need to mature a little more before you're ready for me. >> that's cool. >> but collins chats with alison on and off for more than three weeks and continues to write things like this apparently referring to group sex. >> got any friends you want to double team me with or you think you can handle me? >> the decoy says she'll be
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alone on the weekend and another perverted justice decoy seals the deal on the phone. >> i can wait for you if you want to go to the beach, too. i could bring my kite. it's got a big smiley face on it. >> we deploy our 19-year-old actress down to the beach along with that smiley kite and send along some extra security out of camera range. and here comes collins right on time. >> hi. how are you? let me just grab my stuff down here, okay? >> officer kevin paneda of the flagler beach police is stationed right under that walkway along with his partner. they're ready in case collins decides to run. >> give me a sense what it was like crouching down beneath the walkway there. >> well, the sand's falling into our face from his shoes. just walking back and forth, which was very suspenseful for us because we had no idea if he was going to jump down, see us and our position was given away. >> how are you?
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>> and collins does follow the decoy right down to the beach and within just a few feet of the police. >> at that point in time, we >> so -- >> i haven't flown a kite in like forever. >> i know. what's going on? >> how you doing? >> look at the beach. it's so pretty. >> i'm kind of shy. >> come on, no hug. >> let's stand here and look at the beach for a minute. i'm kind of shy. >> let me -- let me go to my truck real fast. >> what are you going to grab? huh? >> what are you going to grab? >> we think collins spots the officers and gets back up on the walkway and starts heading towards his car. that's when our "dateline" crew and i approach him. >> hey, how are you? >> good. >> can i talk to you for a minute? >> sure. >> what you up to today? >> nothing. >> nothing? what are you here for? >> just to meet her. talking to her online. >> who is she?
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>> um, ali. >> and how old is ali? >> she said she was 14. >> 14, and how old are you? >> 33. >> 33. and what's a 33-year-old man coming to meet a 14-year-old girl for? just to say hi, that's all. >> just to say hi. >> that's it. >> collins is 34. but i have other things i want to talk to him about. that's you, right? >> yes, sir. okay. he looks at his online photo and his chat. >> well, you ask her a lot of sexually explicit things. tell me what womanly things you've done in your short years as an adult. >> i had no intentions, no nothing. >> no intentions, no nothing. so you drove 60 miles to see a 14-year-old girl. >> just to say hi. i wasn't planning on doing anything. >> just to say hi. >> absolutely not. i even said it many times, just to say hi. i wasn't expecting anything. >> you may have said that but here you say next after i undress you and kiss you all over, would you like me to lick your [ bleep ] and make you quiver. is that coming over to say hi?
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>> that was nothing when i said i was coming over was anything sexual. absolutely nothing. >> how can you say that? oh, here's one. got any friends who you want to double team with me or you think you can handle me? >> that was all a joke. >> do you think that's appropriate to joke that way with a 14-year-old girl? >> no, but i was on an adult chat site and just in there messing around for someone to chat to. >> yeah, and why did you pick someone who said they were 14 years old? >> i didn't pick them. >> you didn't pick them. so she picked you? >> my intentions were not anything other than to say hi. >> to say hi. >> i never met anybody online. >> you've never met anybody online. do you know how often i hear that? do you ever watch "dateline nbc"? >> no. >> do you ever see our stories on computer predators? >> uh-huh. >> what did you think of those stories? >> i didn't -- i didn't think much about them. i mean -- >> well, this is one of those stories. i'm chris hansen with "dateline nbc." we're doing a story on adults
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who try to meet minors online for sex. if there's anything else you'd like to tell me, i'd like to hear it. if not -- >> this is silly. >> what's silly? >> all of this is silly. i'm not going to keep doing this. >> silly to him, but just for a moment until he sees the police at the end of the boardwalk. >> hands on top of your head. lean over the rail. >> like the others, collins is taken back to the flagler beach police station. >> did you have any questions that you wanted to ask me? >> how much trouble am i in? >> he tells investigators his family is about to get bigger. >> how old are your kids? >> 4 and 6. >> oh, so you got young ones? >> uh-huh. >> are they boys, girls? >> girls. >> two girls. >> four month -- my wife's four months pregnant. >> oh, so you've got another one on the way? >> uh-huh. >> wow. >> yep. wow. >> what do you think your wife's going to say?
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>> i don't know. what would you say? >> i'd be pretty upset. >> yeah, me too. >> collins continues to deny that he was going to have sex with a 14-year-old. but he does admit to a different investigator that his sexy online chat was not a good idea. >> do you think that what you said to her was appropriate? >> at times, no. >> and why did you do it? >> just bored. >> then collins admits something we didn't know. he was recently arrested. >> what was that for? >> me and my wife getting in arguments. >> domestic violence? >> uh-huh. >> were you arrested? >> uh-huh. >> the charges in that case were dropped. in the flagler beach case, collins later pleaded not guilty to two felony counts including using a computer to solicit a child for sex. ♪
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>> okay, open the door and just wave him in. >> during our four-day investigation in flagler beach, 21 men are arrested and charged with felonies. next time we continue our investigation at the beach. >> how was the drive over here? >> good. >> good. >> and you'll meet a police officer who drove hours to get here with a gun in his pocket and an arsenal in his car. >> everything he had, all the weapons were chambered ready to go. >> think this guy has potential to be a very dangerous person.
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>> next time "dateline:to catch a predator" continues to florida. >> what do you think of our predators investigation? tell us on our website. the address is dateline.msnbc.com. >> that's all for now. i'm ann curry. >> and i'm stone phillips. for all of us at nbc news, thanks for watching.

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