To "Catch a Predator" is a classic. It transcended your run of the mill reality tv/crime drama story.
Chris Hansen and his crew reeled us in like we were part of the bust. We were ALL the UCs (that's undercovers... thank you Law & Order:SVU) and it felt like we got the bad guys in real time.
And Lord were there plenty of bad guys. Most importantly it shined a light on how to be more aware of danger in this age of the internet. That was when danger took a turn.
Redditor u/BreakupSimulatorLite wanted to hear about the behind the scenes on the iconic show by asking:
Redditors who knew men caught on "To Catch a Predator" before the show, what were they like?
***ATTENTION- ADULT MATERIAL GOING FORWARD***
I read somewhere that that show caught over 400 peeps. That is an extraordinary accomplishment. That show did an amazing amount of good. And also showed us just how low humanity has sunk.
Covenant Transport.
"One guy showed up to the sting in a company semi-truck. It is blurred out in the episode but the company is Covenant Transport. I went to work for them a few years after the episode. During orientation, they gave us a list of "things that will result in immediate termination. Things like "Driving under the influence, failing a drug screen, and impromptu meetings with Chris Hansen."
Jurors
"I met the ex-wife of a police officer that was on To Catch a Predator a few years ago. We were both prospective jurors for a sex crime. She was dismissed because of her relationship to the law enforcement profession and because her ex-husband was involved in a sex crime. She had to discuss the whole story to the entire court during voir dire."
The Lingering
"A supervisor at my previous job got busted in a big sting at the end of last year, with a bunch of other dudes. He was kinda dumpy in appearance but thought he was hot crap. Both at the job and with the women. He wasn't. There were more than a few who transferred out of his area or specifically asked not to work directly with him."
"A couple of them said he just creeped them out and let his touch linger longer than was polite. He was just another crap to me. One of those guys that never did anything unless the boss was around, liked to be the one at the company meetings who told everyone to quiet down and listen up when it was already quiet."
Be careful out there everyone!
"This was over a decade ago back in 2008 or 2009. I was on a dating website and was talking to a guy that claimed to be a doctor. I thought it was very unusual that this doctor (Maurice Wolin), had so much free time throughout the day to text me so frequently (texting back then was a bit time-consuming with flip phones). Was also begging me to meet up with him and telling me he wanted to shower me with all these gifts. He seemed a bit arrogant and pompous to me, in the way he would brag about his wealth and cars."
"I was getting suspicious of the guy and reverse searched his phone number. I found out he gave me a fake name, and after getting his real name, I saw all the articles online and saw the guy was on TCAP. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and asked him to send me a new selfie. Sure enough, it was definitely him. I ghosted him and blocked his number and reported his profile to Plenty of Fish and told them he was on TCAP. Just really glad I never met up with him. Be careful out there everyone!"
Alabama...
"I knew the cop from (I think Florala) Alabama that was arrested on the show. He had guns and rope in his vehicle when he went to meet the girl. Super creepy stuff. When he was a sheriff's deputy in Florida, he would come into my job frequently. So, I didn't know him on a personal level, but I did talk to him on a regular basis."
"He was a really nice, respectful guy; he seemed to be a good cop too. I was SHOCKED when I saw the episode. You never really know what goes on in someone's bedroom. Here is part of the episode - https://youtu.be/83BoaCfp9EI"
Why are people like this? And why do they always seem nice? Nice. Never trust nice. Well, never trust anyone at this point.
University
"I was one dudes RA in university. He was a seriously weird dude, but was relatively friendly, came out to all of the campus events, and was not suspected of being a predator at all by any of us in the dorms back in those days. He was busted on TCAP about 2-3 years after I graduated, so probably sometime 2003-2005."
The Voice
"I fortunately don't know any predators, but I did work with a young woman who had worked on the show--she did the post production voiceovers for the catfishing texts between the detectives and the predators. She was the voice of the non-existent teen girl. Like the "oh I don't know much about sex, I'm only 13 lol" stuff."
"Apparently she was a production assistant or intern at the production office, and one of the producers was like, "We need somebody with a young-sounding voice--you, say something" and she did, and he was like "Perfect! Come with me" and she recorded all the dialogue. Right after she told a bunch of us at work (this was a couple years later at a different job) I went home that night and watched an episode and could tell it absolutely was her voice. Hilarious."
Matty
"Yes, Matty Nash. He was creepy and kept trying to get me to go to Burning Man. When I told him I didn't think that was a good idea because I had a 10 year old kid at the time he said I should bring my kid. Now I don't think he was interested in my kid at all but I did tell him I thought that would be super creepy to bring a kid to Burning Man with a bunch of people on E. This was in 2001. He came over to my house under the guise of talking business and then put the moves on me. I turned him down and sent him home to his wife."
Nickelodeon...
"I didn't know the person directly, but I worked at a company that had an employee caught on the show. This was particularly problematic, as the company was Nickelodeon Animation. Everyone who knew the guy was actually pretty shocked. It was particularly rough for his girlfriend at the time, as she also worked at the studio, so there was no hiding from it."
"For their part, Nickelodeon instituted rigorous background checks for every new employee after the incident, with zero tolerance for any misdeeds involving children. Those background checks are what keeps this lore alive though, as the process if much more intensive than any other studio."
The Dad
"I just knew a kid who's dad was on the show when we were in middle school. Always felt really bad for the kid and his family."
I See Herbert
"Oh I can actually answer this one. He legit was always trying to sleep with men that were way too young for him (albeit just barely legal) and we made jokes all the time to him about how he was going to wind up on that show. We literally called him Herbert. It was the opposite of a "he was the last person I would suspect" situation."
Gotcha!
"Never heard of this show so I googled it."
"Why did To Catch a Predator get Cancelled? Cancellation. The show was cancelled in 2008, in part because Louis Conradt, an assistant district attorney in Rockwall County, Texas, shot himself after he was caught talking to and exchanging pictures with a Perverted-Justice volunteer posing as a 13-year-old boy. HAHAHA WOW WTF!!"
In the Navy
"I don't think he was on the show, but when I was waiting to leave for Navy bootcamp, one of the recruiters was caught in a sting operation. He thought he was texting and meeting up with a teenage girl and went to meet her during work, while in uniform, and in his government vehicle. I know he was arrested but I don't know what happened besides that his wife divorced him iirc."
He was Sweet
"Actually a friend of mine's roommate ended up being one. He was super normal and kind of good looking. He had a girlfriend as well. The only odd thing about him was that he had inherited a bunch of money from his family all in cash. Aside from that he was in his 20s and you'd never think it at all. He was one of the ones that thought he was meeting a 16 year old girl or something like that. He also wasn't very bright."
Family Entanglement
"It was my best friend's dad. I slept over there all the time as a kid and hung out. He was relatively normal to be honest. Worked a lot. My friend and I recall getting on their home computer when we were younger and there were pictures of trips to Thailand and it looked like he was at some strip club."
"The strippers looked like children but we didn't think anything of it because we were kids and figured the women looked younger in Thailand. They ended up moving out to California and he got caught on the show during my junior year of college. He called my family and all of the other families to explain that he never did anything to us. As far as I know he didn't."
Bless You
"I didn't know him personally, but he went to the same church as me (when my parents forced me to be religious), and I never knew he existed. He tried to lure an 11 year old girl from the internet to the local park, pretending to be her age, but that 11 year old girl was actually a 19 year old dude (I think that was his age) who had known about him being a creep, and wanted to turn him in to police for it."
Mom's Wheels...
"There was a kid who went to my middle school who went to meet up with this "14 yr old girl" who he told he was 21 for some reason (He was actually 13). He took his mom's mini van and drove about 20 miles to go see her. I don't think they ever aired that episode, but I remember hearing Chris Hansen and the rest of the Perverted Justice team were PISSED."
"Officers called his mom and that was pretty much the end of it. He was at school the following Monday and it was almost like it never even happened lol. It was the talk around my small town down there in GA though. I'm still friends with him on Facebook. He's married with a few kids now."
Mr. Babst
"Anyone remember Walter Babst? He was the high school teacher that got busted on the show THEN WENT BACK TO WORK for a few days. I went to that high school, but I was never in one of his classes, so I can't exactly comment on how he was before."
- shuttyt
Creep Catchers...
"There's a local one called Creep catchers in hometown area and a co-worker was on it. He was very quiet and strange, you'd say good morning to him and he would ignore you. He was 23 years old and got caught emailing a so called "13 year old girl" which in reality were the guys on "Creep catchers."
"He talked about sex, and what he wanted to do with her over email and they made a meet up spot, sure enough he shows up and these guys absolutely roast him on camera. He ended up quitting the company that week because management saw the video and asked him to leave."
Normal
"Normal dude, loved his girlfriend, working on his car, that sort of thing. I worked with him for two years and had no indication, we went to lunch, hung out, had good conversations. Then years later I walk into work and the boss asks if I still talk to him. Nah lost touch with him a few years back. Why?"
"Then he showed me the video on the web. It was crazy. I remember thinking his eyes were different, like he broke and lost something along the way. Now the other psycho that had worked there we all knew right away. That dude was was messed up."
I hope this show or a similar show picks back up. We need these people exposed often. The internet is just getting crazier.
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It's highly believed that it is important to learn history as a means to improve our future.
What is often overlooked is that what is taught in history class is going to be very different depending on where you went to school.
And this isn't just internationally, even different regions of the United states will likely have very different lessons on American history.
This frequently results in our learning fascinating, heartbreaking and horrifying historical facts which our middle or high school history teachers neglected to teach us.
Redditor Acherontia_atropos91 was curious to learn things people either wished they had learned, or believe they should have learned, in their school history class, leading them to ask:
What isn’t taught in history class but should be?
The Irish Troubles
"The troubles."
"Too many people in America do not understand why a wall straight through Ireland would be a BAD idea."
"I’m referring to the Brexit referendum and possible outcomes."
"If people were wondering why we were talking about walls through Ireland in the first place."- CLCVS.
Forgotten elements of World War II
"What the Japanese did to the Chinese during WW2."
"Unit 731."- CaptainMcBoogerJew.
"Japan gets off easy for their war crimes in WW2."
"They killed an estimated 16mil Chinese civilians and another 8mil soldiers"
"Also, Pol Pot."
"Didn't know who he was until I was like 25."
"Worst dictator all time (in terms of percentage of population he decimated)".
The truth about the American Revolution
"That the American Revolution was part of a wider cold war type of conflict with France."
"The American Revolution was basically the UK's equivalent of the US version of Vietnam."- vinsant7.
The Dark side of Swedish history.
"As a Swede, I'd like to know more of all the horrible sh*t my country has done throughout history."
"It's a damn shame we're trying to hide our history."
"For example, Swedes killed a metric sh*t ton of all Polish people when we were at our strongest."
"That's the kinda sh*t we don't get to learn."- mogwandayy.
Colonization
"Basically what Belgium did to the Congo."
"A lot of people are telling me that they are taught about this actually."
"I'm glad to hear it because I wasn't taught about this in the USA during my public school days (1995-2008)."- EconArch.
The truth about "heroes".
"While teaching about historical Heroes they should also tell students about the unspeakable things some of them did."
"Many famous figures throughout history who are pillars of morality actually did many terrible things." - User Deleted
Intolerance for Mental Illness
"The dark history of mental illness treatments."
"I think it's worth learning about."- 7dayexcerpt.
Slavic Mythology
"Slavic mythology in Slavic countries."
"Don't get me wrong, I love both Greek & Roman mythology and as a person from the Balkans both of those cultures are part of my country's history and had great influence over not only my region but the entirety of the continent & the western world but I wouldn't mind knowing more about Slavic mythology as well."- ShorsShezzarine.
The truth about the CIA
"How the CIA was made and all the shady things they did over the years."- ALargeChip.
There is a lot about the history of our world, not to mention our own country which shouldn't be ignored.
And it's from learning from our mistakes that we really improve our future.
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So apparently we are in the endemic phase of this nonsense.
We have light at the end of the tunnel.
So what now?
Where do we go from here?
Normal seems like an outdated word.
How do we get back to normal though?
Is it even possible?
What are reaching back to?
Life pre-Covid.
Those were the days.
If only we could bring them back.
Redditor hetravelingsong wanted to discuss our new normal in this hopeful "endemic" phase. So they asked:
"What’s something random you miss about pre-COVID times?"
I miss people being sane. Though that maybe election cycle issues not COVID. We'll never know.
I thought I was Alone...
"Being able to grocery shop after 11 pm."
Reading_Rainboner
"Hell yes. I miss the days where the Walmart across the street was open 24 hours."
Small_Tax_9432
let's just go...
"I miss spontaneity... everything now seems to have a barrier of difficulty."
iidosee
"I live very close to Disneyland so I have an annual pass. My friends and I would just go there after work and hang out and grab a bite to eat."
"Now, we have to reserve a day to go. And most of the time, the days are at 'full' capacity so we couldn't even reserve. I don't want to schedule to hang out at Disneyland for a couple hours for July. So yeah, I definitely miss the 'lets go eat at Disneyland tonight?' texts."
mymymissmai
Not til 24-25
"Functioning global supply chains. Ah, the product you want has got microchips in it? 9 month wait."
richard-king
"Minimum, I'd been saying for a while now that I wouldn't expect a true return to normalcy in terms of electronics prices till 2024-2025. Although Crypto crashing through the floor really took some of the pressure off graphics cards which I really appreciate."
statiiic
WTF?!?!
"How affordable everything was!"
Disastrous_Hour_6776
"Yep. Today I was bagging up my things at the grocery store and I heard the cashier say to the lady behind me 'thats $78.12.' She had -- 2 boxes of Kellogg's corn flakes, a carton of 12 eggs, milk, strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, a small cheese cake, English muffins, coffee, and a small whole frozen chicken that could maybe feed 3 people if the meat portioning was small."
SnowyInuk
Sushi
"My favorite sushi place. It was good quality, close by, kid-friendly, and not too expensive."
InannasPocket
All of this... it was a simpler time.
NASTY
"As a retail worker, just how f**king NASTY some people have gotten."
DmitriPetrov*itch
"They applauded you for being an essential worker but won’t vote for policies that’ll raise minimum wage while insisting a wage cap for heavily paid employees."
sketchysketchist
CHANGES your DNA...
"Some of the people closest to me became very bitter and petty over the last 2 years. So many people have the 'crazy eyes' now."
__--__7
"So true and holidays with the family is like who has the biggest tinfoil hat building contest. How many jumps does your brain have to go through to think that the Covid vaccine CHANGES your DNA into the patented DNA so that the government now controls your body."
"So like vaccinated people now have a singular DNA set. I feel like I still have a chunk of my brain just broken off due to that comment alone. I was also told by same family member that I could never donate blood again due to the vaccine. I guess it is so my patented DNA doesn't affect people?? FYI my vaccinated butt just donated today fine and multiple other times after the vaccine."
tyreka13
Homeward Bound
"House prices."
adrianinked
"I'm resigned to never thinking I have a chance on owning property where I live. I'm 30 and just can't imagine it anymore. And I don't want to live anywhere else so, whatever."
Osdab2daf
"That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That was already happening regardless."
CH11DW
Oh Mickey
"All Day Breakfast at McDonalds."
hutch2522
"It was honestly hell to do, and not very popular. ITs margins aren't anywhere dinner and lunch specials. ON top of that, the temperatures are such that They require its own grill, meaning that if you have 2 grills in shop, you are down 50% of lunch capacity."
Freyas_Follower
Way back when...
"Hanging out with friends. And I mean waaaaaay before Covid. Like 2006 back when I had some friends."
LoocsinatasYT
I miss the old days. Maybe we'll get back there.
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What do you believe?
Is there a GOD in the sky?
Is he guiding us and helping us?
Life is really hard. Why is that is a big entity is up there loving us?
Atheists have taken a lot of heat for what feels like shunning GOD.
What if they've been right all along?
Maybe let's take a listen and see what they really think.
Redditor __Jacob______ wanted to hear from the people who don't really believe all that "God" stuff. They asked:
"Atheists, what do you believe in?"
I'm waffling between G-O-D and nothing. So please give me some education.
911
"We need to look out for each other because help isn't coming."
cknipe
Peace Out
"More than 2 decades ago, a priest was giving a sermon in my church and he said 'our faith requires you to believe without question. Why call it faith if you have to ask questions?' I haven't returned to church. Not until my wedding day but you know what I mean."
asiangontear
Delusion
"When I was young I used to think that after death you would have access to a PC that you could see absolutely anything about your life. Stats, any question you had no matter how obscure, replays of moments, perspectives of others in relation to you. No matter what you wanted to know, if it was relatable to you, you could see it. I know it's silly, but as time goes on I just want it to be real, and I don't think I'd have any issue allowing myself to fall into that delusion."
eggwardpenisglands
I think nothing happens...
"Realistically, I think nothing happens. We literally experience nothing after death. Same thing that we experience before birth. We don't exist, so it's nothing. I think the tenant that we should follow while living is to try to be happy and healthy while minimizing the damage we do to each other."
"What I would LIKE to happen after death is whatever you believe in, exists. I think Christians should get to go to heaven if they truly believe in it, Hindus and Buddhists get reincarnated, and everyone else also gets to experience what they believe they will experience."
"'I would still experience Nothing. Maybe it's one of those things where at the moment of death their brain makes them experience what feels like an infinitely long moment in time where they experience their afterlife. I just think it would be neat for everybody."
Better_Meat_
Shrug
"Best advice I received from a dear senior on their way out. 'You win some, you lose some' shrug. Nothing divine, life is that simple and wonderful, accept it and move on."
Tune_Kindly
It all sounds pretty simple. Why are people so up in arms about Atheists?
Whatever
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do."
imCIK
Cool with Empty
"Nothing. [Serious]."
rumblingtummy29
"I feel this way about death. When I was 5, my grandfather died and my cousin simple said, he is dead, that means you are gone forever. Everything ends up dying, even plants and animals. I'm now in my 40's and still have this simplistic view of life and death. People think I'm ambivalent to life and death but it's just what it is."
thepigfish82
puppet-masters...
"I think a lot of religious people struggle with the fact that we are all just swirling units of chaos. There is no grand plan or great orchestrator. I think that’s why people who are prone to religion are also susceptible to things like Q anon and the Cabal and all that. They REALLY want to believe that there is some almighty puppet-master who determines all of humanity’s fate."
Lngtmelrker
“we’re living in a society!”
"Just be a kind and empathetic person not because you’re worried about some cosmic justice, but because it’s the right thing to do. If there is some being that created us there’s no way they actually care about believing in it or adhering to some rules from over 2000 years ago."
"Also a big thing for me is that I find the idea that you need religion or the Bible in order to have morals and ethics pretty dumb. It’s pretty f**king clear that most evangelicals have neither. But my main thing is being a good person simply because, as George Costanza once said we’re living in a society!' If you’re only a good person in order to make it to heaven you probably aren’t actually a good and moral person."
conservative_genius
That's All
"You're born. You live. You die. That's it. After you die you cease to exist, the same as before you were born."
serefina
Believe what you want. We're all here together. So let's focus there.
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The list of what irritates me is endless.
I mean... breathing too loud or dust can set me off.
I'm a bit unstable, yes.
But I'm not alone.
So let's discuss.
Redditor Aburntbagel6 wanted to hear about all the times many of us just couldn't control our disdain. They asked:
"What never fails to piss you off?"
I feel like this article can go on forever. Let's get some highlights.
Wasted Time
"Meetings that could and should have been an email."
Sirena609
Lotto People
"Getting stuck behind people playing the lottery at a corner store."
thenuggetlover
"I also used to work in a gas station and you’re SO right. I f**king hated the lottery people. Especially since my store had a small staff and there was usually only one of us working at a time, which meant that I couldn’t get any of my other work done as long as they were there."
"And you’re right, it’s also pretty sad to watch. I had one lady who used to come in every day and spent hundreds and HUNDREDS of dollars on scratch tickets. One day, she won $200 after spending probably around $600 and she was so excited and saying she can 'finally pay her bills.'"
i-am-your-god-now
Aware...
"No situational awareness. Job, home, shopping, driving. Think for one minute and go about. OBSERVE!!"
Dizzy-Foundation8122
"My mom is one of those people who leave the shopping cart in the middle of the damn aisle and proceed to walk twenty feet away. After correcting her a million times to no effect I just walk away now so people don’t know I’m with her."
OutrageousEvent
Shut Up!
"Endless barking in the middle of the night, I love animals but that sh*t I can't stand."
Acceptable-Lemon2924
"Endless barking in general drives me up a wall. One of my friends dogs was barking almost an entire gaming session the other day. I wanted to reach through the computer and smack him for letting it go on."
bangersnmash13
Kindness
"People being mean to service workers, especially if the workers are very young."'
scaryboilednoodles
All of these things. I hate them all.
Admit It
"People who never accept fault when they mess something up. Like, why blame a million people when it was clearly you who did it???"
Quirky-Area-8978
From Above
"My upstairs neighbors."
lutzow89
"I had terrible neighbors at my previous apartment. It was a one person studio for students, but her boyfriend was clearly living with her illegally and he was loud."
"One night we knocked n the door at 3 AM because of the loud music and an unknown girl opened the door. I just thought they were having a little party. But the next door I saw the girl living there come home with a suitcase after having been away for the weekend... Her BF was cheating on her in her own apartment."
Th3_Accountant
Move Away
"People who sit directly next to me at the airport, movie theater, any other place where you can choose a seat when there is PLENTY of other seating."
BacardiPardy33
"I can’t YES this enough and the ones who can’t park for crap so they park so close you can’t open doors on one side of the car or the ones who park directly behind when you pulled through so the door won’t open to load groceries."
BacardiPardy33
It's Over
"People who try to restart old drama. Like I'm done with you, just leave me alone."
Tired_Potatos
"Yep, half the reason I've basically quit playing one of my favorite online video games. People keep bringing old crap up or sh*tting on on someone who used to be our friend. I got tired of it so I just ejected the game out of me."
CaucasianHumus
AHHHHH!!!
"People walking too slow in front of me with no way to get around them. It’s even worse if it’s a couple or group taking up the whole sidewalk. HAVE SOME SPATIAL AWARENESS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
_-v0x-_
Life in general pisses me off. I'm easy.
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