On the hunt for Internet sex predators

NBC VIDEO 'Dateline' investigates computer predators Nov. 4: NBC's Chris Hansen reports on the "Dateline" computer predators investigation that involved the help of a vigilante organization called Perverted-Justice. Today show

The men come knocking at our door
A lovely home in Virginia just outside of Washington D.C. has become the secret meeting place for potential Internet sex predators. It’s rigged with nine hidden cameras, three with views outside, one pointed at the garage and five inside the house. 

Several volunteers from Perverted-Justice, the group dedicated to catching Internet predators, are in chat rooms posing as 12, 13 and 14-year-olds ready to make a date for sex with men they meet online.

A 39-year old Frag (his screenname), who has been a Perverted-Justice volunteer for more than two years, is posing as a 13-year-old girl in a Yahoo chat room set up for Virginia residents. It’s a chat room not intended for romantic or sexual conversations.

As “Dateline” cameras roll, the undercover operatives enter chat rooms. They are quickly inundated with adults wanting to talk.

There’s a 46-year-old who calls himself “the-sphinx59.” He thinks he’s talking to a 12-year-old girl named Sarah.  It takes him only four minutes of chatting online to ask her, “Are you a virgin?” 

She says she is and then he asks if she’s ever performed oral sex. In this case as in many other men’s chats, things get much more graphic and disgusting.

Del, Perverted-Justice volunteer: As those boundaries are crossed in a lot of ways, the chat tends to get a lot more explicit very quickly.

One man, screenname “va_male692005,” who’s 28 years old, thinks he’s talking to Erin, a 14-year-old. He asks her bra size, if she shaves anything other than her legs, and says “There’s just something about a teen body.”

In most cases, the men ask for pictures of the young teens and then send pictures of themselves. Sometimes after the chat turns sexual, the man turns on his Web cam and exposes himself. Several men go as far as sending pornographic pictures hoping to teach the inexperienced child about different sex acts.

Here in Virginia, as in many other states, it’s generally a crime to send children obscene material, even if it turns out the recipient is an adult posing as a child.

After chatting about having sex online, the decoy suggests a phone call.

23-year-old Del puts on her best “young girl” voice. She needs to verify that the man on the phone is the same man in the chat room.   

Del: The worst thing about doing verification calls is that you have to smile while you’re doing them so it sounds like it in your voice even though you don’t mean it.

She can also play the part of a young boy.

Once a predator has made it clear he wants sex with a minor, and makes a date for the liaison, the crime has already been committed. He doesn’t even have to show up.

But will he?

One man who came to the house, saw me and not a teen, realizes he’s made a big mistake, and runs for the door. Another guy also doesn’t stay long. He makes a beeline out to the garage, barely touches the stairs and with his arms flailing runs down the driveway and down the street. Clearly this man knows he’s done something wrong. So does yet another man. He also makes a run for it— but he didn’t come in a car, so he keeps running and running  presumably back to a bus station trying desperately to hide his face.

It may look funny, but what these men had in mind, based on their Internet chat, was anything but. They’ve come to this house after a sexual conversation online.

Del (on hidden camera footage): Come on in. Sit at the counter. I’ve got some water and chips there for you if you want.

"the_sphinx59": Okay.

Remember “the_sphinx59”? He thinks the girl in the house is a 12-year-old virgin home alone and willing to perform oral sex, but like many other men you’ll meet, he’s in for a big surprise when I walk out. Some think I’m the child’s father, others apparently believe I am with law enforcement. One thing’s certain— none of them know our hidden cameras are recording their every move and they’ll be appearing on “Dateline.”

“The_Sphix59” is really Aladdin. He lied online about his age saying he was 35— he’s really 46, and instead of admitting he came here to meet a 12-year-old girl, he says he was there to look at real estate.

Aladdin, screenname "the_sphinx59" (hidden camera footage transcript):  I know that a house is for sale.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: Oh, that this house is for sale?

Aladdin: Yes, yes sir.

Aladdin: I hear that about a friend of mine.

Aladdin goes on to say that his friend found our house for sale on the Internet and he just came to check it out for him. Later, he decides to come clean.

Hansen: Why did you really come here?

Aladdin: To see what’s her name.

Hansen: Sarah.

Aladdin: Yes.

Hansen: Okay.  And, you were talking with Sarah online.

Aladdin: Yes.

Hansen: So, all that other stuff about the house and all that, that was all a big fat lie.

Aladdin: Yes.

Hansen: Okay. Do you know how old Sarah is?

Aladdin: No.

He tries to convince me that the girl, Sarah, is 18 years old even though his own words from his Web chat tell a different story.

Hansen: You say you’re a 35, male, and you say where you’re from. She says she’s 12. You say, “Oh you’re real young. You like older men?”  You ask her about her former boyfriends. Did she ever give them oral sex?  She says yes. She tells you here that she’s 12 years old. So, that 18 thing was a lie as well.

Aladdin : I guess.

Then Aladdin apparently begins to feel faint and lies down on the kitchen floor.

Our background research reveals that Aladdin is a waiter at a Holiday Inn. He says he’s an immigrant from Egypt who became a U.S. citizen two years ago.

Hansen: Why is it appropriate/ to come to a home where—

Aladdin:   She’s—

Hansen: a 12-year-old girl—

Aladdin:  W can meet to—we can—you can come over to my place.  And, you can—can spend time together.

Hansen:    But, does that make it right for you to do it?

Aladdin: No.I feel guilty. Or, I feel bad about this.

You’ll here more apologies from Aladdin a little bit later. First, there are more men headed to our house. 

Meet “vamale692005,” who online said “There’s just something about a teen body.”  He’s 28 years old and thinks he’s talking to a 14-year-old. He’s actually chatting with this 23-year-old from Perverted-Justice.

"He was by far the worst guy I’ve ever talked to," says the Perverted-Justice volunteer.

What separated him from the run-of-the-mill computer predator? Bestiality. He chatted online for more than a week with our decoy— and slowly introduced more and more depraved sexual requests. He says he wants to use a dog.

A Perverted-Justice volunteer says that men like these test the waters, and when he they don't get negative reactions to their sexual suggestions, they feel comfortable to go further.

Was this all talk or would this man actually walk into our kitchen?

We saw him come through our door.

Hansen (hidden camera footage): How you doing? Why don’t you have a seat right on that stool please. What’s happening?

Joe, screenname "Vamale692005": Nothing much

Hansen: What are you here for?

Joe: Just coming to talk to...

Hansen: Coming to talk to who?

Joe: That’s it.

Hansen: Why are you so nervous?

Joe: I just get nervous. I was coming to talk to Erin.

Hansen: How old is Erin?

Joe: She didn’t tell me.

Hansen: Try again.

Joe: I saw 14.

Hansen: So you thought it was okay to come see a 14-year-old girl?

Joe: No, I didn’t.

Hansen: And you say, “Would you ever try anal?”  “Ouch.  That’s like it could hurt,” she says.  “Not if done right. You have to be very gentle with that.”  Quite a Romeo.

Joe: I’m a lonely guy, what can I say?

He’s more than just a lonely guy. We did a background check and it turns out his real name is Joe Wundaler, an army sergeant stationed at Fort Belvoir at the intelligence and security command.

Joe: I’ve never done anything.  I’m trying to get help with it.

Hansen: What are you doing to get help?

Joe:  Seeing a psychiatrist right now.

Hansen: Well, it doesn’t look like it’s working too well, based upon all this.

Joe : I just started talking to him.

Hansen: This gets pretty freaky here. You talk about sex acts with a dog.

Joe: It’s one of the reasons why I’m trying to get help.  Because I get into fetishes that I know aren’t right.

Hansen: I guess you’re gonna tell me next that this is the very first time you’ve done something like this.

Joe: Actually, it is. I’m serious.

True or not, remember this guy tried to entice a young teen into depraved sex acts and it only takes one visit to harm a child forever.

We set aside three days to see how many men would actually show up at our undercover house.  To keep track of our appointments, we set up a bulletin board. It didn’t take long to fill up our calendar.

Some came bearing gifts, like beer, condoms, and a pornographic tape. One man brought shoes and dinner— just what the decoy ordered. You may not think that’s significant, but Lt. Jake Jacoby who runs a child services unit in Virginia says during undercover stings, it can help get convictions.

Lt. Jacoby: At times when they show up, we like to have them either bring us something or do something so we can show that they’re doing specifically what we asked them to do.

Hansen: Shows intent.

Jacoby: It helps, yes.

The men who show up at this house looking for a liason with a child come from very different backgrounds. And as our investigation unfolds, you might be surprised at just how diverse our group gets. Some hold very prominent positions— more prominent than you’d ever imagine.

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