Online and on the beach

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

FLAGLER BEACH, FLA. - It’s December in Flagler Beach Florida (population: 5,000), and it’s time for the annual holiday parade. The entire police force of Flagler, a town some 20 miles north of Daytona, is working parade duty.

But later that evening, most of those same officers are working one of the biggest investigations they’ve ever tackled.

The police are hiding in a garage behind our latest undercover house, waiting to arrest the man who’s about to walk inside.

34-year-old Mohamad Abdalla works in real estate.  He’s married, and has an 8-year-old daughter. 

Female decoy (on hidden camera): Come inside.  It’s cold out here.  Come in.  Come on in.  Hi.  How are you?  How was your drive?

Mohamad Abdalla: Can I leave the door open? 

Decoy:  You can leave the door open.

Abdalla: How you doing?

Decoy: Sit down. Good.

Long before he got to the house, Abdalla used the screen names ‘blondy91972’  and ‘midos1972’  to chat with someone who told him she’s a 13-year-old girl.

But he was really talking to a decoy for the online watchdog group Perverted-Justice, a group we hired because of its experience pretending to be teens online who are curious about sex.

In his chat, Abdalla wants to know the girl’s bra size, whether she slept with her old boyfriend, if she masturbates, and if she’s ever performed oral sex.  Then he says he wants to perform oral sex on her. Then he suggests the girl perform oral sex on him.

And Abdalla sends along these naked pictures. Note the distinctive necklace the man is wearing. And, like most of our potential predators, Abdalla makes a date online to come to visit the teen when she says she’s home alone.

Now, he’s at our house, and he doesn’t know it’s outfitted with multiple hidden cameras that record his every move as soon as he enters.  Also out of sight are a large Dateline crew and members of Perverted-Justice.

First, some small talk:

Decoy: Did you see the rocket go?

Abdalla: Yeah, I was watching.

Decoy: That was cool, huh?

They’re talking about the space shuttle. Sure enough, we’d also been treated to a view of the spectacular launch from nearby Cape Kennedy less than an hour before.

So I decided to continue the discussion about the space program.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent (walks out): Hi, how are you?

Mohamad Abdalla: How you doing?

Hansen: Good.  Why don’t you have a seat right over there?

Abdalla: Sure.

Hansen: How’s it going?

Abdalla: Good. 

Hansen: You see the shuttle go off?

Abdalla: I was just here watching it.

Hansen: Okay.  So what made you come on over here tonight?

Abdalla: I was watching the rocket, then I came.

Hansen: Yeah?

Abdalla: I was watching some homes around here.

Hansen: Right.

Abdalla: You know?  Then she goes outside the door.

Hansen:  Right.

Abdalla: And she tell me come in.

Hansen: Yeah.  And so you just happened to be going by and you saw this blonde woman out there and she waved at you.

Abdalla: (laughs) Yes, she waved at me.

Hansen: That explains everything, doesn’t it?

Abdalla: She waved at me.  I—

Hansen: She just waved at you.

Abdalla:    --I’m thinking she owns the house.

Hansen: Yeah.

Abdalla:I will try to tell her what is it and just as she say “Come in.”

Hansen: “Come in.”  And so you just walked right in.

Abdalla: No, no, just walk— I ask her, you know, what’s this?

Hansen:     What an amazing coincidence. You’re a lucky guy.  You’re driving along and this good-looking young girl waves you in.  That’s amazing.

Abdalla:    I know.

Hansen: What do you suppose the odds of any of that being even remotely true?

Abdalla: What do you mean?

Now it’s time to let him know that we know he wasn’t just doing some sighteeing and looking for real estate.

Hansen: Now, the problem with all that is—

Abdalla: Tell me.

Hansen: —is that I know that you were chatting online with a girl who said she was 13.  She gave you directions to come over here.

Abdalla: Did she say I was 13?

Hansen: She said she was 13.

Abdalla: Oh, who who was this?  I don’t know.  I chat with a lot of—

Hansen: You tell me.

Abdalla: I chat with a lot of people online.

Then I show him these pictures he sent.

Hansen: Is that you, these pictures there?

Abdalla: That looks like me, yeah.

Hansen: It looks like you?  Okay.

Abdalla: Yeah.

And I showed him those naked pictures...

Hansen: Okay.  How about that one?

Abdalla: It looks like me, too.

Hansen: Yeah.  That one?

Abdalla: Yeah.

Hansen: That one?

Abdalla: Looks, yeah.

Hansen: Yeah?  That one?  Okay.

Then I remind him what he told the girl who said was 13.

Hansen: You ask her what she’s doing.  She says she’s sleeping on her back.  And you say, “Sleep on your back and open them wide open.” 

Abdalla: What is it?  I don’t know.

Hansen: This is your chat with a girl who told you she was 13.

Abdalla: When would that?

Hansen: This particular one was December 3^rd at 10:32 and 29 seconds in the morning

Abdalla: I was in the office at this time.  I do not chat in the morning.

Hansen: You don’t chat in the morning?

Abdalla: Nope.

Hansen: Oh.  Well, here right here you say you’re in your office.  So that’s consistent with what you just told me.

Hansen: You talk about licking her.

Abdalla: Licking?

Hansen: Licking.

Abdalla: I have my wife.  Why do I have to talk to some girl—

Hansen: Why don’t you tell me?

Abdalla: I—I’m—

Hansen: Where’s your wife?

Abdalla: --with my wife for five years.

Hansen: For five years?

Abdalla: Yeah.

Hansen: Where is she tonight?

Abdalla: She’s home.

Abdalla: I’m not gonna chat with a 13 years old this way.

Hansen: She says, “I don’t really know much about licking and stuff.”  Then you say, “You like to try?”  She says, “Might be interesting.”

Abdalla: I will never say to someone like that.  Never.

Hansen: “It will be nice.  I think you will love it.”

Abdalla: Never.  Never ever. Just something about me, you know, I’m an Egyptian.  I’m Muslim.  I don’t do this. It’s not me.  Just I—

Hansen: No, no.  Hang on one second.  Before you do that I need to tell you something.

Abdalla: Okay.

Hansen: I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC.  And we’re doing a story on men who try to meet underage kids online for sex.

Abdalla: I don’t—

Hansen: If there’s anything else you’d like to tell me, we’d like to hear it.

Abdalla doesn’t want to talk to me any more. 

Outside, the Flagler beach police are racing into position. Thinking he’s going to run, the police come down hard.

At the police station, Abdalla seems a little uncooperative. Officers find a large amount of cash.

Inside the interrogation room, after he’s read his rights, Abdulla doesn’t want to speak to the police.

Detective Liz Williams of the Flagler beach police department thinks Abdalla’s  excuses were creative... except for one thing. Remember those pictures of the naked man?

Det. Liz Williams:  In the images that portrayed or showed his genitalia, the head was cropped off.

And that unique necklace he wore? 

Williams: It was obviously hand crafted.  And evening when he was at our station, was that he was wearing the same piece of  jewelry around his neck.

Hansen: And what does that say to you?

Det. Williams: It was him.

Hansen: Even though he cropped that off?

Det. Williams: Right. 

Two days later, Abdalla made bail.  He’s charged with three felony counts: Attemping a lewd act upon a child, using a computer to send lewd images, and using a computer to in attempt to seduce a minor. Those charges carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison.  He later pleaded not guilty. And because he is an Egyptian citizen, his case has also been referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  If he’s convicted, Abdalla could be deported after serving his sentence.

He’s just one of 21 men who show up at our undercover house over our four-day investigation.

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