Going the distance

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

FORTSON, GA. - Even when men know it’s against the law, know there’s a chance they’ll be apprehended, men still show up at a house where they were told a child is home alone and willing to have sex with them. 

And the number of men who continue to arrive at the door during each undercover operation is alarming—like our latest investigation (the sixth one), this time in Harris county, Georgia. 

We’ve rigged this house with 12 hidden cameras— five inside and seven outside. From a control room inside the house a crew operates the cameras and records a man’s every move from the moment he drives up to the house. We’ve hired a young-looking 19-year-old to be play the part of a young girl—a decoy who will invite the men in.

Meet 24-year-old Reymundo Anguiano. He thinks he’s here to see a 14-year-old girl named Diane. He met her online just hours ago in an AOL chat room.

To give you an idea why he might be here, take a look at what he said online. Using the screen name truesweetguy69, he asks a decoy—an adult pretending to be 14 --  if she’s good at giving oral sex. The decoy says “nobody ever complained, didn’t do it lots but i know how to do it.” Then truesweetguy69 asks if he shows the girl a picture of his penis would she give him oral sex. The decoy, who he thinks is 14 says “oh yeah.” And sure enough, truesweetguy69 sends her a picture of his genitals.

Chris Hansen (walks out, on hidden camera): How you doing? Why don’t you have a seat right over there.

Reymundo Anguiano: Okay.

Hansen: what are you doin here?

Anguiano: we were just talkin on line, I just wanted to come and meet her

Hansen: And who were you talking on line with

Anguiano: The young lady right there sir

Hansen: the young lady?

Anguiano: Yes sir

He was really talking online with a different decoy, a member of the online watchdog group, Perverted-Justice, which Dateline hired to do what they normally do—go into chat rooms, and set up computer profiles, pretending to be young teens who are interested in sex. And sometimes, as in the case of truesweetguy69, the decoy says she is sexually experienced.

Hansen: And how old is that young lady?

Anguiano: She said she was 14 sir

Hansen: 14, and how old are you?

Anguiano: (sighs)  24 sir

Hansen: 24, And you thought that was appropriate why?

Anguiano: Well I don’t know sir, I mean, I just thought it was all right

Then I ask him about that picture of his genitals his sent to the girl posing as a young teen.

Hansen: Now, when you were online, you sent this picture.

Anguiano:  Yes, sir.

Hansen: You did?

Anguiano: Yeah.  I’m not gonna deny that.

Hansen: Right.  Now, you know that’s against the law, right?

Anguiano: Yes, sir, it is. You just get into these chat rooms and stuff and, you know, you just chat away.

Hansen: Do you send pictures like that very often?

Anguiano: No.  Just if, you know, just only if I’m really serious about talking to somebody or something.  But other than that, no.

Hansen: Well, Ray what—what do you think would have happened if I wasn’t here and a 14-year-old girl was here home alone?

Anguiano: Well, if whatever was gonna happen was gonna happen.  If one—nothing was gonna happen, then hey.

Hansen: So, if she was willing to have sex with you, you woulda had sex with her?

Anguiano: Well—

Hansen: Even if—

Anguiano: --I would still have second thoughts.

Hansen: Second thoughts?

Anguiano: Yes, sir.  But yeah, I’ve seen the show about three times on TV already.

Hansen: You’ve seen the show?

Anguiano: Yes, sir.

Hansen: So, you know exactly what’s going on here?

Anguiano: Yeah.

Hansen: You know who I am?

You heard right.  This man’s aware of our previous investigations.

Anguiano: Mm-hm (affirms).  You’re the—I forget your name.  But you’re on the Dateline show.

Hansen: Exactly.

Anguiano: Yes, I know who you are.

Hansen: I’m Chris Hansen.

Anguiano: Yeah, Chr—there we go, yeah.

Hansen: Now, did you think at all that maybe you were walking into “To Catch a Predator”?

Anguiano: It was—and, you know, that kinda crossed my mind and then I just—wiped it away, you know.  And—

Hansen: So, you wiped it away? Did you think it was a good show?

Anguiano: No … I mean yeah, it was supposed to stop people and things like that, you know.

Hansen: Well, this is the part where usually I’d say, “I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC.”

Anguiano: Yeah, yeah.

Hansen: And—right, okay.  You remember that part?

Anguiano: Yes, I remember—

Hansen: And you remember when these guys come out, the cameras—

Anguiano: Yeah.

Hansen:--come out, right.  And then I say, “If there’s anything else you’d like to tell us—

Anguiano: No, that’s it.

Hansen: ...We’d like to hear it. Obviously, you’re free to walk out tee door you came in.

And like the other men he’s seen in our reports, truesweetguy69 probably knows he’s about to face yet another confrontation.

Perverted-Justice has been sending all the sexually explicit online chat logs between its decoys and the potential predators to the Harris county sheriff’s department.  In Georgia, it’s a crime to attempt to solicit sex online with a minor. And law enforcement says showing up at this house makes a case even stronger—so truesweetguy69 is arrested.

He’s put in an unmarked car and taken in for questioning.

Anguiano (to police): I just choose my right to remain silent.

After that he’s transported to the county jail, were he’s fingerprinted, photographed and locked up. 

The next day he goes before a judge and his bail is set.

Judge (in court): The criminal attempt child molestation is $15,000.

And as you’ll see there are many more men about to go down the same road—from our undercover house, to the courthouse, and all the stops in between.

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