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Has NBC Preyed on Its Last Predator?
Chris Hansen by Virginia Sherwood/NBC Universal Photo
Since 2004, Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator has put an uncomfortable spotlight on men who go online to solicit underage boys and girls for sex. But in recent months, the hidden-camera sting operation has been facing some heat of its own.
NBC Universal is being sued by the sister of an assistant county prosecutor from a Dallas suburb who shot himself last November when police and a Dateline crew loomed outside his door with an arrest warrant. The prosecutor, Louis Conradt Jr., was about to be charged with soliciting sex with a minor after he engaged in explicit online and phone conversations with an adult posing as a 13-year-old boy in a Predator investigation. Among numerous accusations in the $105-million lawsuit, Patricia Conradt contends that Dateline "steamrolled" police in Murphy, Texas, into arresting her brother at his home, leading to his suicide.
NBC News has called the suit "preposterous," saying there was no reason to believe that Conradt was aware of Dateline's presence when police showed up. Still, the incident has led to scrutiny of the Predator franchise. Has host Chris Hansen shamed his last pervert on national TV? NBC News hasn't decided whether it will do another Predator report. — Reporting by Stephen Battaglio
POLL: Do you think NBC's To Catch a Predator oversteps its bounds, teetering on borderline entrapment? Vote here.
POLL: Should NBC pull the plug on To Catch a Predator? Vote here.
Related: NBC Sued for $105 Mil over Predator Suicide, 20/20 Investigation Preys on Dateline's Predator
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Sep 5, 2007 11:46 AM
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The prosecutor who killed himself was soliciting sex from someone he thought was a minor. If Dateline had not been doing a show there, the guy would have probably been soliciting a real child.
Dateline doesn't go online asking guys if they want to have sex with a minor. They have someone pretending to be a minor go into chat rooms for children and teens, and then wait to see if an adult comes on looking to talk to kids. They let the adult make the first sexual advances. So the prosecutor goes into a chat room and solicites sex from someone he thinks is a 13-year-old boy and it's Dateline's fault? Please
The guy killed himself because he got caught. I wonder how many real kids he solicited before he got caught?
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Sep 5, 2007 12:20 PM
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These predators destroy our children. We need to seek them out as this program does.
I do not think these predators have a choice in their inclination, but there should be treatment and safeguards to protect our children.
No matter what their employment or appreance these people should know they are monsters.
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Sep 5, 2007 2:37 PM
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this guy had problems, i don't think it was dateline's fault, they aren't responsible for someone's actions, but i hope they have better methods of prosecuting these creeps.
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Sep 5, 2007 2:59 PM
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How can she sue Dateline? It just makes her look bad. Local police departments do this all over the country on their own. So, it follows that it might as well have just been the police out there. He knew about the risk, and I'm sure he knew if he got caught by the police, it would get out—whether on Dateline, or on the local (and national, probably, as he's a prosecutor) news.
How is anyone else to blame if he could not handle public humiliation, and, ultimately, prison? There are other criminals who commit suicide upon discovery. Is that the police's fault?
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Sep 5, 2007 3:46 PM
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I hope Dateline keeps the "Predator" shows running. My teens and I watch the shows and its a good way to prove to them just how dangerous the world of the internet can be.
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Sep 5, 2007 4:30 PM
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Dateline performs a true public service by running these investigations with police. Without them, these seemingly "normal"-looking men would be preying on real children. I disagree that Dateline "entraps" these perverts. If they weren't interested in victimizing children they couldn't be enticed into doing anything they didn't really want to do in the first place.
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Sep 5, 2007 4:42 PM
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Too bad so sad for him. It just saves the taxpayers from the cost of a trial and jail time. If this man had been innocent, he would have found a way to clear his name.
I'm so sick of these sick f*cks (people, if you will) who claim every defense under the sun. Whatever happened to ACCOUNTABILITY?!
I think they all should be rounded up and put in general population or the worst cell block where other criminals know how to deal with the likes of these vermin.
If NBC pays this woman a single dime, it will be as ignorant as this woman bringing the suit. Stand your ground!! Use the money to bring us quality programming.
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Sep 5, 2007 6:06 PM
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I've never watched more than about 10 minutes of the show, so I'm no position to judge its fairness in catching predators, but I am aware of each episode's set-up and how the suspects are caught.
However, unless "To Catch A Predator" intends to hunt down each and every pedophile alive and breathing in the U.S., then perhaps we can begin to question the purpose of basically repeating the same procedure again and again, presumably for the entertainment of its viewers. Maybe the program has made its point and hopefully has educated its viewers about the dangers of children communicating with strangers on-line.
Having said that, and in no way defending guilty parties (who, believe it or not, do deserve fair trials),there have been numerous instances in the past few decades of reality TV in which private citizens have suffered greatly at the hands of "gotcha"-type shows, whether they were perpetuating an illegal act or not. It's just possible that some such shows, in their zealousness to be heroic, could go too far and destroy the lives of people who need serious help.
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Sep 5, 2007 6:53 PM
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Hopefully the judge will eventually toss this suit out on it's ear. And either one of two things is going on here. The sister may not be able to cannot accept the fact that her brother was soliciting a minor online. I mean, this is a difficult thing to find out. Close families often associate the wrong doing of one with themselves. So they defend the family member despits every fact and piece of evidence, as accepting they were guilty means they are just as unclean in their mind .. and that can't be accepted.
Or, perhaps the sister merely sees the opportunity to get some money. I know that is a jaded view. But suing over this will merely drag her brothers name through the mud over and over, across multiple years, until it is worked out in the courts. How can anyone want that .. unless the lure of $$$ blinds them.
A shame really.
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Sep 6, 2007 12:05 AM
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Please someone has to stop these people from violating others. The guy shot himself because he was caught not because of Dateline! Dateline is helping with a very important task by raising awareness in communities
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Sep 6, 2007 10:18 AM
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I'm with bluefairies. But I'd go even further. Round 'em up and drown them. I don't believe they can be rehabbed and they just need to leave the planet. I have no sympathies whatsoever for these men getting caught. Zero. I'm all for the new law that allows lethal injection for child rapists. Go Texas!
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Sep 6, 2007 11:13 AM
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As someone who's about to become a first time dad in less than 3 months, I think they should have "To Catch a Predator" expanded to multiple nights a week.
And though I have not typically watched this show and not a big newsmagazine fan, the parent who came on here and said she makes her child watch the show with her, probably a very smart idea! I hope the show is around catching these evil snakes for years to come. Bravo, NBC.
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Sep 10, 2007 1:41 PM
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