Predators I’ve Caught with Chris Hansen

David Wesley Schumacher, Jr, otherwise known as freebird_72000, is a suspected predator that was caught in the Fort Myers,Florida sting. He is best known for his previous encounters with the law, acting like a "gangsta" and the staunch defence of his "role-playing chat room" escapades, to the point where he continued to defend his behavior on his own YouTube channel years later. As a result, he is one of the more infamous suspects from the show. In this episode, Chris offers an update David’s most recent runnin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vincent M. Ambrosio was a nineteen-year-old from Wappinger Falls, New York, caught in the Fairfield, Connecticut sting of Hansen vs. Predator. Unlike others, his episode never aired—deemed too grim. In 2019, Chris Hansen quietly released the raw footage as “premium content” on his YouTube channel. Ambrosio had dropped out of high school, was unemployed, and living with his parents while caring for his ailing grandfather. Battling depression, he was under psychiatric care, though the medication wasn’t helping. When he arrived at the sting house, he awkwardly tried to hug the decoy, who quickly distanced herself before stepping away. Moments later, Chris entered. Visibly emotional, Ambrosio broke down. He spoke of his failing mental health, academic struggles, and a life unraveling. He claimed he was seeking friendship—not sex—and even said he dreamed of becoming a police officer but felt his weight made that impossible. Despite showing some empathy, Chris couldn’t reconcile Ambrosio’s pain with his attempt to meet a minor for sex. In a final, awkward effort to defuse the moment, Ambrosio told Hansen, “My dad’s overweight too.” But there's even more to this predato's story.

From career criminal to recovery coach. Chris and JD discuss predators and important legislation. Chris also shares an update on a predator he caught, Robert Sainas.

Edmundo Dasilva, a Transportation Security Officer for Homeland Security at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, was caught in a sting operation on the show "Takedown with Chris Hansen" in Polk County, Florida. Born in Venezuela and raised in Florida, Dasilva moved to Holly Springs, North Carolina after his marriage. During a vacation, presumably in Florida, he was entrapped in a hotel sting where he met an undercover cop posing as a minor's father. Dasilva acted suspiciously quiet, accepted a key to a hotel room, and upon entry, was arrested for soliciting a minor. Throughout the arrest, Dasilva displayed erratic behavior, sweating profusely and screaming claims of innocence and entrapment. Despite his protests and denials of any illicit intent, the situation escalated as he continued to scream, even as detectives threatened additional charges for disturbing the peace. The ordeal ended with his arrest and public confrontation with Chris and his camera crew outside the police station.

Vincent Robert Roop, a former school custodian and alleged predator, was apprehended during a sting operation in Marquette County, Michigan. Roop, known for his unique speech and constant fear of harm, lived in Newberry, Michigan with his therapy cat that assisted him with Major Depression and an anxiety disorder. Prior to moving to Michigan in 2021, he lived in Wyoming and worked as a custodian at Yellowstone National Park nd a civic center. During the sting, Roop mistakenly tried to enter through the garage door, was wearing a shirt with actress Nia Peeples on it, and became hysterical when confronted by Chris Hansen, pleading for his safety and claiming ignorance of the decoy's age. After Chris asked him how he got into the situation that day, Roop responded, "I drove here." Roop claimed that he did not know the decoy's age. Chris asked what would have happened had the situation not been a sting, to which Roop said, "Something bad, maybe? Is-is that a right answer?" He then said that he probably would have had sex. Chris told Roop that he was "a grown ass man."

In this special episode, Chris interviews Danielle Miura aka Dani Jayden. Dani was the female decoy used in the Long Beach, California sting. Chris and Dani share behind the scenes stories of the sting and the predators they caught.

Eric Hernan Gamonal is an unaired suspected predator involved in the Riverside, California investigation. He is known for being a lawyer prior to being caught in the sting. On January 6th, 2006, the first day of the sting, using the screen name "chinaski818," Eric made contact with a decoy he thought was a fourteen-year-old girl named Maria Bothal. Eric was considered a "fast mover," because after verifying that he had seen her age on her profile, he told her she was cute, inquired as to whether she had a boyfriend, asked if he could replace him as his, and inquired as to whether she had had oral sex before. Chris brought all that to a halt.

Timothy Knowles was a potential predator featured in the Murphy, Texas edition of To Catch A Predator. He is mostly known for Chris referring to a picture of his genitals as a "calling card" during his interview, as well as his casual attitude while being confronted over his behaviour. He was also one of several suspects to have seen the show beforehand. At the time, thirty-five-year-old Timothy started a conversation with a Perverted Justice decoy who was acting the part of a thirteen-year-old boy named "Kyle." Even though his conversation log isn't available online, it is known that he initially went by the screen name "mytboi" and that he lied about his age, claiming to be twenty-six. He appeared to be careful to avoid discussing sex. That didn’t matter…he still got to meet Chris. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Timothy Gilliam, thirty-two at the time, began chatting with a Perverted Justice decoy who was posing as a fourteen-year-old girl. Despite the fact that his chat log is not accessible online, it is known that he asked the girl if she had ever experienced oral and anal sex. He repeatedly displayed his penis on a webcam and asked if he could teach her how to orgasm. Gilliam admitted having watched Dateline NBC episodes where older men were arrested for attempting to meet underage children for sex. He was not happy to meet Chris. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Robert Curtis Williams, also known as Brandon Williams, is a predator who was involved in the Long Beach, California edition of To Catch a Predator. He is known for soliciting a decoy posing as an eleven-year-old girl, the youngest posed in the history of Chris's predator-catching programs. Robert was a twenty-six-year-old truck driver shortly before Perverted Justice began preparing the Petaluma sting. He lived in Southern California. He sent her a webcam invite, which showed him masturbating. At 5'10", Williams misrepresented his height as 6'6" and solicited the girl for pictures. Knowing her age, he continued to show his genitals on his webcam, saying he wanted the girl to be his "secret" and told her he was looking for a girlfriend, as well as suggesting she help him masturbate if they met. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

James David Marcotte is a predator that was caught in the Ocean County, New Jersey edition of To Catch a Predator. He is mostly known for admitting to having had sex with minors before, as well as his quiet and creepy demeanor during his interview. James was a thirty-two-year-old chatting with the decoy pretending to be a thireen-year-old girl. He asked the decoy if she had ever had sex and admitted to meeting a fifteen-year-old for sex before. James traveled an hour and a half to a beach close to the sting house to meet the decoy…instead, he met Chris. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

A 39-year-old man facing charges including first-degree felony rape of a child. After being arrested in Chris’s investigation, Smith was arrested again and faced charges including five counts of first-degree felony rape of a child, one count of first-degree felony object rape, one count of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and three counts of third-degree felony assault charges. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Farzad Kalantari is a predator involved in the Long Beach, California investigation. He is known for chatting to a staggering nine different decoys at the same time, as well as lying about being Austrian and trying to help the girl he met with her education. Twenty-nine-year-old Kalantari, a native of Iran, began an internet chat with a Perverted Justice decoy who was posing as a twelve-year-old girl. Farzad stated that he wanted to have sex with the decoy and asked, "DO YOU HAVE ANY COUNDOM?" After she says no, Farzad said, "I MUST GO SHOPPING." When Kalantari arrived at the sting house, he extended his hand to shake the decoy's. She gave it to him grudgingly and he tried to kiss her forcibly. Before things grew worse, Chris quickly entered the room, shook Farzad's hand, and motioned for him to take a seat. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

You just never know what kind of an excuse a suspected sex predator will come up with when he’s confronted. A 25-year-old, Robert Graber, described online in graphic detail how he was going to take the virginity of a 13-year-old—then he said it was all a ruse. And when he finds out he’s going to be on national television...”I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC,” Graber gives some sage advice. “Do not mess around on-line. It can get you really in trouble. I’m extremely sorry. And I hope I don’t go to jail or anything. I’m really sorry.” Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

James "Jim"" Clifford Rauch was a potential predator caught in a KBI sting in connection with the Bowling Green, Kentucky investigation. Despite never being questioned by Chris, he gained notoriety due to his tumultuous journey to the sting house and his outrageous interrogation with the police, where he jokes with detectives and goes off topic numerous times. Rauch, started a webcam session with “Cheyenne," a girl he believed to be thirteen. He literally started off by asking the decoy if she wanted to give him oral sex. Over the course of eleven days, Rauch would send naked pictures of himself (one of them in his office) as well as make plans to take her back to his place for sex. Jim would take off in his car drunk on his way to see Cheyenne. He would get lost on his way, calling her and cursing like a sailor about not being able to find the house, saying things like, “The bears are looking for my dick!” When he arrived at the sting house, no one was there except the police to pick him up. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Stephen Michael Holt is an unaired predator involved in the Flagler Beach, Florida investigation. He is notable for almost being caught in the Greenville, Ohio sting. Eighteen at the time, was almost caught in the Greenville, Ohio investigation in March of 2006. Chatting to a contributor known as "Susan," a thirteen-year-old girl, Stephen's chat was fairly standard, claiming he loved to treat girls really nicely, suggested they play pool with penalties such as the winner getting a hug from the other player, and almost immediately organized to come over and watch movies. By the time of the Flagler Beach, Florida sting, Stephen attended college in South Florida for film studies. He was then nineteen and in college so he complied with prosecutable standards. In December of 2006, he started an online conversation with a decoy pretending to be a thirteen-year-old girl. Stephen inquired as to the type of underwear she was wearing, promised to teach her various sex practices, sent pictures of his genitals, and vowed to take her virginity…until Chris stepped in. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Michael Robert Reyes is a suspected predator involved in the Flagler Beach, Florida edition of To Catch a Predator. He is mostly known for rushing for a hug from the decoy before using having a two-year-old as an excuse as to why he wouldn't abuse somebody else's child. Michael, twenty-eight-years-old at the time, began chatting with a decoy whom he thought was a fourteen-year-old girl. At first, he tells the decoy he would not do anything inappropriate because he did not want to go to jail. However, when the decoy mentions that she is a virgin, Michael questions if she would have sex with him. He also asks if she had sex with older guys, and later sends a picture of his genitals. It took Michael two hours to arrive at the sting house. Upon entering the house, Michael rushes to the decoy for a hug, which causes Chris to come out. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Maroof Shah Farooq is a predator that was caught in the Long Beach, California sting. He is best known for showing up with two other males, one underage, for an apparent group sexual assault. Farooq, twenty-four at the time of his encounter, entered into a chat with a girl he believed to be twelve-years-old. His chat had very broken English to express some very raunchy desires that he wanted to have with a twelve-year-old girl, which included hard anal sex so she wouldn’t get pregnant and to “protect her virginity." Sounded like a blossoming romance... until he showed up to the trap house with two other men. Farooq would send in one of the guys, a fifteen-year-old, as a spotter in case it was a trap; if it wasn’t a trap, an apparent gang rape was in the plans. The fifteen-year-old bumped into Chris and tried to explain that he didn’t come to have sex because he had a girlfriend. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Brian Arflack, a 54-year-old engineer from Illinois who drove about 4½ hours to Vandalia near Dayton to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex. Instead, he met Chris. When Arflack stepped inside the house and into the living room, he was handcuffed and interviewed by detectives and Chris. Before he was taken to the Montgomery County Jail, a deputy noticed that Arflack was wearing a friendship necklace. The deputy removed it after Arflack told him it was a gift from one of the underage girls with whom he said he had sex. “You don’t get to keep this,” the deputy told Arflack. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!

Glenn D. Mitchell is a child sex predator that was caught in the Greenville, Ohio predator sting. Known for his numerous contacts with underage boys, he was the only man not to show up to the sting house. Glenn began a chat with a decoy named "Vance", who was posing as fourteen-year-old boy. Five minutes into the chat, Glenn asked the decoy if he could meet him. He admitted to meeting and having sex with a fifteen-year-old boy and sixteen-year-old boy. Decoy Del Harvey pretended to be the boy, and gave Glenn directions to the sting house. Glenn said he intended to repeatedly have sexual relations with the decoy and treat him as his "main woman." Glenn started traveling from Carmel, Indiana, to the sting house in Ohio where he met up with Chris. Paid Partner of TruthFinder® https://www.truthfinder.com/predators This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!