Dateline NBC shows on catching internet predators

[DavidMn]

HOORAY for this program and AMW for doing these stings to catch these creeps and bringing more attention to the problem. If nothing else, someone watching this and thinking of pulling something hopefully will think twice about the person on the other end of the computer and back off.

[JazmenFlowers]

did you see the one where the guy brought his young child with him to meet what he thought was an underage virgin?

I was sick.

[DavidMn]

did you see the one where the guy brought his young child with him to meet what he thought was an underage virgin?

I was sick.I thought it was really hilarious when he was in the van begging for his son back. memo to dumbassDude ya shoulda thought of that before you went there!

[bikerchic]

Love this show! I so applaud NBC for doing this. Although, I always feel so dirty watching it. I mean, these perv's are just so sick.

[bikerchic]

did you see the one where the guy brought his young child with him to meet what he thought was an underage virgin?

I was sick.
I missed that. Do you mean "his" child for a threesome? Please explain.

[JazmenFlowers]

I missed that. Do you mean "his" child for a threesome? Please explain.
I missed the entire piece, but he just decided to bring his kid, like he just had nothing better to do with him...while he messed around with this underage girl.

[DavidMn]

I missed that. Do you mean "his" child for a threesome? Please explain.And I dont know if I'd have the cahones to do what that interviewer is doing. I mean what if the guy has a gun when he confronts them?

[xdreamsunwindx]

I'm kinda surprised they didn't mention Brian Peppers on there.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/peppers.asp

THAT'S some creepy ****. X|

[Jason T.]

It is sort of great that they expose these people for their sick attempts. I just cannot believe it took this long for attention to be devoted to this subject.

[DavidMn]

I missed that. Do you mean "his" child for a threesome? Please explain.No he brought the kid with him to wait while he did whatever he was going to do.

[bikerchic]

I missed the entire piece, but he just decided to bring his kid, like he just had nothing better to do with him...while he messed around with this underage girl.
Ho ****, that is sick. I have an 11 year old daughter you uses the comput all the time, msn, my space, surfing web sites for Rihannon (sp?), JoJo, that kind of **** and scares the living crap out of me! I have the computer in my kitchen and I hover over her all the time, but I can't catch everything. I have internet safety proofed her, but that doesn't keep her completely safe. She has even seen this program and realizes how dangerous it is.

[DavidMn]

Ho ****, that is sick. I have an 11 year old daughter you uses the comput all the time, msn, my space, surfing web sites for Rihannon (sp?), JoJo, that kind of **** and scares the living crap out of me! I have the computer in my kitchen and I hover over her all the time, but I can't catch everything. I have internet safety proofed her, but that doesn't keep her completely safe. She has even seen this program and realizes how dangerous it is.Not being a parent it makes it harder for me to offer you an opinion, but if I was, I would point out to my son/daughter in a calm way that you need to be careful what you pay attention to. I'm not saying at all Theresa that's what youre doing or not, that's none of my business, just a general opinion. I think parents initial reaction is to freak out and that to me will make it more likely for a child to rebel and look at these sights anyway.

[becca]

I agree that some or most of those people were dangerous, but I felt some were just flakey and that the fifteen year old seemed to have typed a lot of encouragement. Maybe I am going to get attacked for this but I am not all that shocked that a ceratin number of men would respond to a 15 year old initiating a chat about sex. And I got the impression that the pretend 15 year old did a lot of initiating. I expect that wouldn't matter to some but it sure looks a lot like what they used to call entrapment. I would feel a lot better about the program if they made the girls 12, then you would be sure you were getting a real creep. My experience of a typical fifteen year old female is that they can drink, swear, initiate sexual situations, and basically act and dress very adult. Some 12 year olds probably do too, but nobody could say a 12 year old is adult in any degree. The sad thing is there are prostitues as young as 9 in most big cities and nobody is doing much about the creeps who use and abuse them, but they get bent out of shape over some dumb flake who responds to a 15 year old at a computer soliciting sexual situations in a non-sex related chat board. And thast is another thing, if it was a chat area labelled underage sex in some way I'd feel a lot better that they are putting such effort into getting some definite problem people.

The media loves to sensationalize and programs like this are exploitative, which is why I tend to think they used the oldest illegal ages and were as enticing as they could be in order to get bad guys for the multiple tv shows. I am a hetero mid 30s female and I'm sure I could have gotten a twenty something on this show back when I was legally underage, and I didn't initiate nor was there much of an internet yet. I guess I was just 'lucky'. I sure wouldn't allow anyone 14 or under on the internet, and I don't think schools should be providing it or promoting it, and I've said this for years.

I'm not going to worry much about any semi-innocent entrapped pervert person on these shows, it just has a bunch of flaws that I wish people would realize when watching it. You'd think the jail cells could have worthier contents in some of the cases if you're going to go to the bother. I feel I have to explain my opinion at length while the easiest thing would be to say, 'hooray, get those creeps'. It's a slippery slope when you start removing basic rights from citizens, and would like to see anything done carefully and not for a sensationalist fear-mongering tv network.

[Rickypt]

I agree that some or most of those people were dangerous, but I felt some were just flakey and that the fifteen year old seemed to have typed a lot of encouragement. Maybe I am going to get attacked for this but I am not all that shocked that a ceratin number of men would respond to a 15 year old initiating a chat about sex. And I got the impression that the pretend 15 year old did a lot of initiating. I expect that wouldn't matter to some but it sure looks a lot like what they used to call entrapment. I would feel a lot better about the program if they made the girls 12, then you would be sure you were getting a real creep. My experience of a typical fifteen year old female is that they can drink, swear, initiate sexual situations, and basically act and dress very adult. Some 12 year olds probably do too, but nobody could say a 12 year old is adult in any degree. The sad thing is there are prostitues as young as 9 in most big cities and nobody is doing much about the creeps who use and abuse them, but they get bent out of shape over some dumb flake who responds to a 15 year old at a computer soliciting sexual situations in a non-sex related chat board. And thast is another thing, if it was a chat area labelled underage sex in some way I'd feel a lot better that they are putting such effort into getting some definite problem people.

The media loves to sensationalize and programs like this are exploitative, which is why I tend to think they used the oldest illegal ages and were as enticing as they could be in order to get bad guys for the multiple tv shows. I am a hetero mid 30s female and I'm sure I could have gotten a twenty something on this show back when I was legally underage, and I didn't initiate nor was there much of an internet yet. I guess I was just 'lucky'. I sure wouldn't allow anyone 14 or under on the internet, and I don't think schools should be providing it or promoting it, and I've said this for years.

I'm not going to worry much about any semi-innocent entrapped pervert person on these shows, it just has a bunch of flaws that I wish people would realize when watching it. You'd think the jail cells could have worthier contents in some of the cases if you're going to go to the bother. I feel I have to explain my opinion at length while the easiest thing would be to say, 'hooray, get those creeps'. It's a slippery slope when you start removing basic rights from citizens, and would like to see anything done carefully and not for a sensationalist fear-mongering tv network.


I couldn't have said it better myself. It's entrapment and sensationalism.

I'm sure Dateline thinks they are saving the world, but the reality is that they can run 1,000 of these shows and it's not going to change a thing. A handful of guys are put in jail and humiliated for the rest of their lives because their actions were splattered on TVs across the country.

Meanwhile, predators will continue being predators, does anyone really think that this show is going to make them think twice? I'm all for the police monitoring chat rooms and fighting this behavior where it exists, but creating this sting operation is a bad use of resources in my opinion.

The show could be much more useful by showing parents how best to talk to their children about this issue, how to monitor their online activity, etc. Instead it is just looking for the "sickest" pervert to make this show more exciting than the previous one. What exactly do we learn by watching the same action over and over, just different people?

As for the guy with the kid (and he was going to meet a underage boy, not a girl), I don't defend him one bit. But what happens when his kid is a few years older and watches this on TV? What if his friends recognize the father and start harassing him? Do you think the boy's mother wants this on television?

I think it is exploitation and voyeurism at its worst.

[amber]

^^^^ (becca)

Nice post. I was thinking some of the same things but have only seen one of those shows and wasn't sure what the underage age was. 15 is a little old for calling these people super pervs, I think. I mean, for ages and ages and ages across all cultures women would get married at around 15. It's a very modern construct that 15 is considered too young for that.
I still think the men are kind of pervy, but I agree that energy would be better spent concentrating on anyone who wants to be with a 12 and under.