What happened to potential predators?

Would men show up in a different house in a different state to meet a child home alone? You bet they would… and they’d also meet Dateline.

Our second investigation took us to the suburbs of Washington, D.C.  Our house was rigged with nine hidden cameras—three with views outside, one pointed in the garage and five inside the house. 

As the investigation progressed, volunteers from Perverted-Justice, the group dedicated to catching Internet predators were busy as ever chatting online with men like “va_male692005.”

He’s 28, talking to our decoy Erin, who says she’s 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 Virginia, as in many other states, it’s generally a crime to send children sexually explicit material - even if it turns out the recipient is an adult posing as a child.  Add using the Internet to entice a child into having sex, and Lt. Jake Jacoby of the Fairfax County Police department says the laws are even tougher.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: So merely by using the Internet to set up a sexual liaison with somebody who’s underage, that’s a felony?”

Lt. Jake , Fairfax County Police: “Yes, it is.”

It was during this second investigation that we truly began to see just how vast the problem of online sexual predators was—the men coming into our house apparently for sex with a minor were from all walks of life.

Joe Wunderler was a military intelligence sergeant interested in bestiality.

Hansen: Why are you so nervous?

Joe Wunderler: I just get nervous.

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

Wunderler: No I didn’t.

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

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

Now, Wunderler is doing his talking in court. He pleaded guilty to attempting to entice a minor to have sex.  Federal guidelines call for a minimum sentence of five years in prison. He’s due to be sentenced in July.  Until then, he remains on “limited” active duty.  The army has initiated a separate action to have him removed from service.

Over three days, they came—one after the other. There were so many we had to keep a detailed calendar.

They were men whose professions made them respected members of the community.

Steve Bennof makes his living working with children. He’s a special education teacher looking to meet a 13-year-old boy.

Hansen: What are you doing here?

Steve Bennof: Thought I would come see him, but—

Hansen: Come see him for what?

Bennof: I wanted to meet him.

While online our thirteen year old decoy asked the teacher to bring condoms.  Did he?

Hansen: What does that say about your intent?

Bennof: Well I always have them with me but…

Hansen: What is a 54-year old man doing, coming to this home to see a 13-year-old boy?

Bennof: Well, I obviously I made a big mistake.

After our broadcast, Bennof, after 31 years of teaching,  retired.

If you think a teacher trolling for a date with a minor is a breach of trust, how about an emergency room doctor?

Dr. Jeffrey Beck, a 50-year-old, is here to meet a boy who claims to be 14.  His online chat is not as sexually explicit as the others.  He   talks about covering the teen with “hugs and kisses, saying  “I want to cuddle you and make you feel safe and loved and cared about.”

He even tried to follow our decoy upstairs.

When I confront the doctor he says he had no intention of having sex with the boy.

Hansen: What’s really going on here?

Jeffrey Beck: What’s really going on is I came over to take him out for lunch.

He said he only came here because he felt badly for the teen who was left home alone.

Beck: He was so anxious to have some company when he was left by himself for four days, under the circumstances it sounded neglectful.”

Hansen: So you’re the Good Samaritan?

Beck: That’s correct.

After our story, Dr. Jeffrey Beck moved to California.  His medical license there has been suspended.

That a doctor would show up at this house surprised us, but it would be one of many surprises here just outside Washington D.C.

From David Kaye’s chat with our decoy, the 54 year old, clearly knew what he was doing—

REDBD (chat log)- just you are sooo sooo young

REDBD- ive never been with a young man like you

REDBD- but i would like to

Then he walks right into our kitchen.

Hansen: So how can I help you? What are you doing here?

David Kaye: Not something good. This isn’t good.

Hansen: Not good? That’s kind of an understatement, isn’t it? What do you do for a living?

Kaye: I’m a rabbi.

That’s right a rabbi, David Kaye, the man who sent several pornographic pictures of himself is a man of God—he’s been a staff member of an organization that provides educational programs for Jewish high school students.

Hansen: What are you doing in this house trying to meet a 13-year-old boy?

Kaye: Okay, look, you know I’m in trouble and I know I’m in trouble. I am not interested in getting any further in trouble.

And when he learns he’s going to appear on national television, it was a scene.

Hansen: “I am Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC and we’re doing a story on computer predators.”

Kaye: Oh no.

Hansen: You don’t want to - you don’t want to touch anybody—you don’t want.

Kaye: You’ve got to stop this.

Hansen: Sit down, sit down.

Kaye: You don’t have any right—

Hansen: You are free to leave at any time.

Rabbi Kaye called us several times claiming he did nothing wrong. He resigned his post with that Jewish organization the day before our story aired.  And just this past Friday, six months after our broadcast, the U.S. Attorney’s office filed two charges against David Kaye—one for attempting to entice a minor to engage in an illegal sexual activity and the other for travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.  

Meanwhile—our investigation in Virginia wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

Our decoy had asked one man to strip before he came into the house. Police sometimes use this technique to show intent. But we never thought he’d really do it, but he did that and even more. 

Hansen: Could you explain yourself?

John Kennelly: I’m sorry.

Hansen: Why don’t you go ahead and cover up.

Kennelly: Certainly.

The man’s name is John Kennelly... he’s 43 and his father says unemployed.

Hansen: So you just woke up this morning and said I’m going to get involved in a Internet conversation with a 14 year old boy . I’m going to go to his house, strip naked and walk in with a twelve pack of beer.

Kennelly:  No sir.

Hansen: What would have happened John if I wasn’t here?

Kennelly: I probably would have chickened out sir.

You might think he would have learned his lesson, yet we find him right back online, in a chat room the very next day trying to arrange another meeting with a young teen.

The man who called himself "specialguy29" defies the odds and agrees to meet at a fast food restaurant. But first he confirms the meeting is not about food.

He comes walking from McDonald's.

Hansen: I have been in television for 24 years –

Kennelly: I just came to get something to eat.

Hansen: ...and I have very seldom been at loss for words.

Afterwards, police raided Kennelly’s apartment and removed his computer.  He’s been charged with using a computer to solicit a minor—a felony.  His trial is scheduled for later this year. 

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