Scary chats and a repeat 'predator'

Our undercover house in Long Beach is busy. 38 men are arrested over three days.

But eight months earlier, during our previous investigation in Riverside, California—one man, 26-year-old Michael Siebert walked into our house. 

Back then, Seibert had a sexually explicit online chat with someone who told him she was thirteen, and he sent a picture of his genitals.

Seibert certainly had some explaining to do then. Seibert told the Riverside police he gets treatment for seizures, and that the scar on his head was caused by a fall when he was an infant.

Later, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of an attempted lewd act on a child and attempting to send harmful matter to a child with intent to seduce. That case is still working its way through the court system.

So, fast forward eight months from our house in Riverside to our Long Beach investigation.

He’s still online, still  using the same screen name, and amazingly---  still chatting with someone who tells him she is 13.

Just like his chat eight months before, he asks:

(chat log) bud44800: Have u ever had sex yet?

bud44800: I need sex.

He also asks about group sex....

But he’s also suspicious, and asks, “Are you a cop?”

To which she replies, “No, I’m not a cop.”

Then, apparently referring to his meeting with Dateline eight months earlier, he writes:

bud44800: I got caught before.

Incredibly, he tells the decoy he has to delay the Long Beach liaison for a day because he has to go to court--- a court date to face  charges arising from our riverside investigation.

But the very next day... there he is!

Michael Seibert: Who’s all here?

Female decoy: Just me.

Seibert: Oh.

Decoy: Promise, my parents are gone.

Chris Hansen (walks out): You know, you look familiar to me.

Seibert: Oops.

That’s right! oops. he’s done it again!

Hansen: Michael, right?

Seibert: Oops, sorry.   

Hansen: Do you remember who I am?

Seibert: Hmm. Can I just go?

Hansen: What are you doing here Michael?

Seibert: I’m sorry.

Hansen: We talked about how it was wrong.  You were just in court on Friday, right?

Seibert: Uh-huh (affirms).

Hansen: And what happened in court on Friday?

Seibert: He said more time.

Hansen: More time before the next court date.

Seibert: Yeah.

Seibert: I’m sorry what I did.

Hansen:       Okay.  But you gotta explain to me why or how you thought it was okay after having a court date, stemming from our last visit.  And then within 24 hours you show up at this house to meet another young girl.  What are you thinking about?  Now you know—

Seibert: I know.

Hansen: You know what you said online, right?

Seibert: Yeah.

Hansen: How old is this girl?

Seibert: Don’t know.

Hansen: Thirteen.  She told you she was 13.

Seibert: Yeah, and I told her to go away.  But she keeps I-M-ing me back.

Hansen: You ask if she’s got naked pictures of herself.  You ask if she performs oral sex.  What color her underwear is.

Hansen: Michael you know this, right? We had this very same conversation in Riverside, California.

Seibert: Yeah.

Hansen: Do you remember that?

Seibert: Yeah.

Hansen: And right then you told me that you knew this was wrong—

Seibert: I know it’s wrong.

Hansen: And that you would never ever do it again.  And that turned out to be a lie, didn’t it, Michael?

Seibert: I’ll promise this time. If you rip it up I’ll never come back.

But if he appears to be a sad case, you should know that, according to Perverted-Justice, Seibert has had sexual chats with at least three other decoys who said they were under age girls.

And you should also know that there’s another side to Seibert’s story.

According to court documents from this case in 2002, Siebert pleaded guilty to two counts of “Assault by means likely to produce Great Injury (no weapon involved)."  Though in the original charges, he is charged with assault with automobile, bat, and hands and feet against two different people (man and woman).  A total of four original counts.

He served a year in jail for a dangerous assault.

Hansen: What was the deadly weapon you used in the assault?

Seibert: Bat.

Hansen: And who did you go after with the bat?  Some guy?

Seibert: umm.

Hansen: Is there anything else you want to tell me, Michael?

Seibert: I know I did wrong.

Hansen: You did wrong.

Seibert: Can I go?

Hansen: Michael, you can go.  But I’m gonna remind you that I’m Chris Hansen with “Dateline NBC” and we’re doing another story on adults who try to meet kids on the Internet for sex.

Seibert: I know I did wrong.

Hansen: You can go.  You can go.  You can go right now.  You can walk right out that door.

Seibert: But any cops out there?

Hansen: That’s not up to me, Michael.

Seibert: Yeah, it is.

Hansen: I’m not the police.  So why don’t you go ahead. It’s time to go.

Seibert clearly doesn’t want to leave. Having been through this before, he knows the police are waiting outside.

Seibert: F**k.  I need a bathroom.

Hansen: Michael, you’re gonna have to go outside.

Seibert: I know.  I hear ‘em.

Police: Come out.  Walk out.  Walk out.  Walk out get on your knees—

Like the others, Seibert is charged with an attempted lewd act upon a child.  He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer says Siebert has “severe mental issues.”

Hansen: Is that a defense in any way in this case?

Sgt. Lee DeBrabander: In my mind, no, it’s not a defense.  He knows what he did was wrong.  He knew enough that when you confronted him his first words were “oops.” You know, he knew enough to promise you that he wasn’t going to do this again.

Hansen: Siebert admitted to me during our interview that he had been previously convicted of assault. What does that say about the danger he could present to a young teen home alone?

Sgt. Lee DeBrabander:  My biggest fear is that he would show up.  The young teen would decide not to go through with what they had been talking about in their Internet chat.  He would become frustrated with that, and his violent nature would come out.

If Seibert is convicted of the Long Beach charge,  as well as the earlier charge in Riverside,  he could be facing up to seven years in prison.

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