Going the distance

Whether near a big city or a rural area like Harris County Georgia,  lines of potential predators find their way to our undercover houses.

Meet 24-year-old Brian Lindsey. Here, because he was invited by a girl who said online she was 15.

Using the screen name “blindsey_01,” he describes how he wants to give the girl oral sex.  He says “ I can’t control my horny level. “Then he says “I want to ____ your brains out I can’t help it.” Now he’s driven two and a half hours to meet her.

Decoy: Have some tea if you want some.  It’s sweet tea, is that okay?

Brian Lindsey: Yeah.  I already drank some on the way.

Chris Hansen (walks in): Did you find the place okay?

Lindsey: Yes, sir.

Hansen: Why don’t you have a seat right over there, please.  What are you up to tonight?

Lindsey:  Just driving around.

Hansen: Just driving around?

Lindsey  Yes, sir.

And why is he just driving around? He says he’s been away from Georgia for two years while serving in the United States Air Force and he wanted to learn his way around again.

Hansen: How is that lesson going for you tonight so far?

Lindsey: Not too good.

Then he comes up with a completely different excuse.

Hansen: What made you drive into this driveway and walk into this house?

Lindsey:  I’m just asking for directions, like.

Hansen: Oh, so you’re lost?

Lindsey: Yes, sir.

But he drops that story as soon as I read to him from his chat log.

Hansen: ‘I take it you’re a virgin.’

Lindsey: No, sir.

Hansen: Not you. I’m reading from the conversation between you and Natasha.  You say to her, “I take it you’re a virgin.”  She says, “No, but I’m no ho.”  You talk about oral sex in great detail.  How you like to do it.

Lindsey: Honestly, my intention was not to do anything like that because I know it’s jail bait.

Hansen: Jail bait.

Lindsey: A 24-year-old with a 15-year-old, that’s jail bait.  You know?  However, I do believe you can be friends with a 15-year-old.  And maybe go out and go bowling or something like that. 

Hansen: But that’s not what you talk about here.  You don’t talk about going out bowling.  Or just hanging out or mentoring this 15-year-old girl.  You talk about having sex with her.  In great detail.

Lindsey: I will get on there and I will speak inappropriate.  Sometimes people will just talk about that.

Hansen (reading from chat): “If you were here right now and wanted to, I would not deny you.  I want to ___ your brains out.” 

Lindsey: Yeah, there—

Hansen: “I can’t help it.”

Lindsey: There is—

Hansen: Is there any other meaning for that?

Lindsey:  I mean, yeah, it’s different, though, between wanting to and actually doing it.

Hansen: It sounds like you truly wanted to based upon this.  “I can’t control my horny level.”  You say during the conversation you just masturbated twice and it hasn’t helped.

Lindsey: And I was lying both times. Did I fall into a trap?  I mean, granted, yes this is my fault.  But did I actually fall into a trap?

Hansen: Well I’ll tell you exactly what happened.  I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC.  And we’re doing a story on adults who try to meet teens on the Internet.  And then try to meet them.

Lindsey: I see.

Hansen: Now everything you’ve just said has been recorded with our hidden cameras.  From the moment you pulled into the driveway. 

Lindsey: I did not come here with the intention of having sex.  I came here with the intention of hanging out.  Doing—you know, talking a little bit.  Maybe go bowling.  Maybe shoot some pool or something.

Hansen: Well, Brian, what should happen to you?

Lindsey: Well, honestly—with this, I think I should just be able—just be allowed to just go home.

Hansen: Like nothing ever happened.

Lindsey:  No, sir.  Go home.  Just take it as a lesson learned.  Not to do it again.

No such luck. Like all the other men who show up at this house, he gets arrested.

While this former military man talked even after he knew he was being recorded, the next man, currently a soldier, doesn’t stay long enough to find out he’s on national television.

Decoy (hidden camera footage): Hey!  Just gotta put this in the washer.  Come on in.

Marshall Girtman: Okay.

He’s 27-year-old Marshall Girtman, a first lieutenant in the National Guard who served a year in Iraq. He’s been chatting with a decoy posing as a 15-year-old. Using the screen name “hiexcitement” he sends the girl a link for her to view pornographic pictures and asks her, “What do you think?”  And then asks, “Do you like it?” Later he makes plans to come over and go skinny dipping.

Decoy: Hey, just have a seat. 

Marshall Girtman: Oh, right.

Decoy: You could just take a seat.  I’ll be right there.

As he’s walking in, he seems to spot our  crew...

Hansen: He’s leavin’.

And takes off. While he never tells us his side of the story, as you’ll hear later, he speaks at length to investigators. 

Back at the house, there comes another soldier—an army staff sergeant who served a tour in Iraq, 33-three-year old Rolando Restocruz.  Online, he calls himself “marriedandlookingforfun31313.” He’s been chatting for three weeks with “bed_head_red,” a decoy who told him she was a 14-year-old virgin.  He tells the girl when he first gets to her house they can take a shower together, “I will undress you and you will undress me ok.” The decoy says, “ok.” Then he says “I will have to get some lubricant too. For a virgin to have sex, it hurts so is better if I put some extra lubricant.”  He also promises to bring her beer, a Web cam and sexy lingerie. 

But as he walks into the house he doesn’t appear to be carrying any presents. Could they be in his truck?

Decoy (on hidden camera): I made some sweet tea it’s on the table, I just gotta put this stuff in the washer real quick.

Hansen (walks out): Having a little ice tea?

Rolando Restocruz: Oh hi sir.

Hansen: Why don’t you have a seat?

Restocruz: Yes sir.

Hansen: What are you doing here today?

Restocruz: Sir I wasn’t about to do anything.

Hansen: You weren’t going to do--?

Restocruz: No.

Hansen: Anything? Well who were you here to see?

Restocruz: I was going to meet her.

Hansen: Meet who?

Restocruz: Your daughter

Hansen: My daughter?

Restocruz: Yes

Hansen: What’s makes you think it’s my daughter?

He never answers that question. Instead, he says...

Restocruz:  Sir, I don’t want you to destroy my life.

Hansen: Well, you made the decision to walk in here

Restocruz: I know sir, but I wasn’t going to do anything I swear.

Hansen: That’s not what it sounds like in this chat log.

Restocruz: Yes, I was just, fooling sir .

Hansen (reading from chat):  ‘Damn you’re very sexy you have a boyfriend?’

Restocruz: I know sir, sorry, sorry please

Hansen (from chat): ‘So you ever been with an old guy before’?

(Restocruz starts to stand and move toward Chris)

Hansen: No, I need you to stay in the chair please.

To be certain we have the right man, I ask him about the chat log.

Hansen: ‘marriedlookingforfun’ that’s you right?

Restocruz: Yes sir.

Hansen (reading): ‘For a virgin to have sex it hurts so it is better if I put some extra lubricant’

Restocruz: Sir yes (sobbing) please—please I wasn’t going to do this, I was going to tell her that I can’t do it.

Hansen: Well, that’s not consistent with what’s here, page after page, after page.

Restocruz: I know sir. I was going to tell her, I was coming straight out.

Hansen: You were going to tell her what, that all this sex talk was just play and—

Restocruz: No. That I wasn’t going to do it. I have a daughter. She’s my step-daughter

Hansen: How old is she?

Restocruz: 17

Hansen: 17

Hansen: And what do you think your step-daughter would think about this?

Restocruz: She will, they would kill me. Please sir.

Hansen: Your ex-wife, what would she think?

Restocruz: She would kill me too. 

While on his knees, the 33-year-old appears to try to bargain with us.

Restocruz: I would not, never do it again, I swear. But just don’t destroy my career. I will get counseling I swear.

Hansen: Counseling?

Restocruz: Yes

Hansen: How often do you often chat with teenage girls on the Internet?

Restocruz: No, it was the first time.

Hansen: Why even enter into this discussion with somebody who says they’re 14?

Restocruz: Sir please, please

On his knees, he seems a sad character. But this is the same man who chatted online for more than three weeks—typing well over 50 pages of chat log, saying things to a girl he thought was 14 like, “Remember sex is a little nasty. I don’t want your dad to find stuff in his bed. “

Hansen: Rolando, what should happen to you?

Restocruz: I don’t know, I mean oh my god.

Hansen: I mean don’t you see something wrong with—

Restocruz: Yes sir.

Hansen: a grown adult—

Restocruz: Yes sir

Hansen: A sergeant in the army coming to meet a 14 –year-old girl.

Restocruz: I will get counseling sir, I swear.

Hansen: Why should I believe that?

Restocruz: I promise you with my life.

But what happens to him legally is not up to me. His sexual online chat with someone he thought was 14 is enough to get him charged with a felony.

Hansen: Do you ever watch television?

Restocruz: Yes sir.

Hansen: Do you ever watch Dateline NBC?

Restocruz: Yeah about the cops - I see camera

Hansen: Did you ever see the ‘To Catch a Predator’ show?

Restocruz: Yes. I’m not a predator sir, I swear.

Hansen: I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC and we’re doing a story on

Restocruz: Oh my god.

Hansen: Now if there’s anything else you’d like to say—

Restocruz: (sobbing) Sir please

Hansen: Otherwise you’re free to walk right out of this house

Restocruz: No sir can I go?

Hansen: Yes, absolutely.

The soldier is free to leave, but remains kneeling, perhaps because he knows what will happen next. Eventually, he gets up and with his head hanging low heads for the front door. But he’s not on his feet for long.

The tears keep flowing as the police arrest him.  But his sob story may seem less convincing once we show you what the police find in his truck:  Gifts he brought for a 14-year-old.

Police officer (questioning Restocruz): Astroglide?  Is that some kind of sexual lubricant?

Restocruz:  Yes, sir.

Police officer: You brought that with you?  How about panties and camisole?

Restocruz: Yes, sir.

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