All language subtitles for Predator.Hunters.S01E03.We.Have.to.Act.Fast.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

a high school teacher caught
sexting a student.

The team confronts a predator

with twisted ideas about love.

And detectives join forces

to trap a predator
targeting both boys and girls.

Get on the ground!

A team of police professionals

in North Dallas has one goal.

Get out of the car!

Take down online predators

before they harm a real child.

Child predators are everywhere.

Online predators pose

the biggest danger
to America's children today.

Kids are being
targeted at an alarming rate.

This team is opening
its case files

for the first time to show you
how it tracks them down.

All right. He's coming this way.

And brings them to
justice by any means necessary.

Put your hands on the car.

This is Detective
Tony Godwin and his team is...

the Predator Hunters.

Tony and his team wait outside

an apartment complex
for a dangerous predator.

He didn't think any
of this was even illegal.

He thinks it's romance,

but it could be
the biggest mistake of his life.

Every now and then,

I encounter a predator that's so
brazen, I have to act fast

to take him down.

Like this guy,
Sethanial Hampsten,

he was determined to meet
a child for a sexual encounter.

That made him a number
one priority

for my team and I
to take him off the streets.

On September 18th of 2014,

I'm online using an undercover
profile named Britany,

and I'm on Craigslist.

Craigslist is a normal place
where people buy, sell, trade,

rent houses, that kind of stuff.

But there is a darker,
devious side to Craigslist.

There is a segment of there
where predators like

to hang out,

and that's really
the personal ads.

As the posting party, you do
have some degree of anonymity,

so there is that appeal to it
from the predator standpoint.

I start to peruse some
of the ads

to see if anything catches
my attention, and sure enough,

I find a candidate.

The ad title is:

"Any freshman girls
wanna come over?"

And it's followed by kind
of a sexual solicitation: "Hey,

"I'm bored and I'm off work
for a few days.

"I want you to just
come over and let's get naughty.

Please send me a pic.
The younger the better."

The freshman reference
in the title

of his ad could mean the first
year of somebody in college,

but then it follows up with
"The younger the better."

And that really solidified
for me

that his opener relates
to high school.

So ninth grade, that's, like,
14 or 15 years of age.

And that's what I
believe this guy is lookin' for.

He's very clear with what
his intentions are,

and I am very willing to reply.

"Hey, I'm a freshman.

I'll be 15 in November.
Is that cool?"

Right from the beginning,

I make it very clear
that I'm underage.

Most people at this point
would just completely walk away.

Not this guy.

The speed in which this guy's
movin' is really fast.

He's talking in a sexual way.

The reality is:
I'm a fake profile.

And what could be happening is
he's talking

to real kids this way.

And that's a big issue for me.

I've gotta get
this guy identified.

So the communications continue.

I can't actually send
my own photo

'cause I don't look very much
like a 14-year-old girl,

but a coworker
who is a detective

in the department has given me
permission to use photos

of her when she was 13 and 14.

This is an opportunity for me.

I'm tryin' to gather intel
on this guy.

So I need to see
what he looks like.

So I do send him a photograph.

His response is wildly
inappropriate and morally wrong,

and almost immediately he comes
back with two photos of himself.

He looks like a creep.
This has to be the real guy.

Like, who would use a photo like
this if it wasn't really them?

So as my Britany profile,

I tell him he's really cute, and
he's really enamored by that.

He tells me
"I'm about to take a bath."

And then he sends me
this sexually graphic image.

It's illegal to send
obscene material to a child.

That's really disturbing.

He kind of blows
me away with what he says.

I mean,
what is this guy thinkin'?

It feeds my drive to wanna get
this guy into custody.

At this point, we've been
on Craigslist the whole time,

but then he coughs
up a phone number.

I send a text message.

And then I get the break I need.

He gives me
the most valuable piece

of information I could
ever ask for: his real name.

I've never heard that before.

This guy is gonna
be easy to find, I hope.

Tony calls in backup
to track Sethaniel:

Criminal intelligence
specialist,

Detective Mark Casteel.

Normally, it's quite difficult

to locate a Texas driver's
license based on a first name,

but Sethaniel is
a very uncommon name.

I get a hit on a
Sethaniel Winston Hampsten,

a white male, 23 years old,
and he lives in Dublin, Texas.

The city is three
and a half hours' drive

from Britany's location
in North Dallas.

And I was able to
positively identify Sethaniel

as the same person
that had been contacting Tony.

We're movin' fast.

We've only been talkin'
four hours

and I've already got
this guy positively identified.

This is great.

I need Seth to make
his intentions very clear

about, not only meeting,

but the fact that the meeting is
going to be sexual in nature.

But then he throws me
a curveball.

It's the message I dread.

He wants confirmation
that the person he's talking

to on text is, in fact,
a real kid.

There's a real sense of urgency,
and if I don't act fast,

he's going to get really sus
and probably pull away.

To make the play work,

Tony turns to Patrol Corporal
Amanda Weatherford.

He asked her to call Sethaniel.

I've known Tony
about nine years.

I met him in a class
that he was teachin'.

I am nervous
that he is asking me

to make a phone call right now.

But I think of,
"What if that was my child?"

It's very disturbing that
they're trying to meet a child

for sexual gratification.

The challenge really
is just to make yourself sound

as much like a 14-year-old
girl as you can.

Like, little giggles or, like,
you're just unsure.

Just goofy kid stuff.

If it starts to get
weird or uncomfortable or crazy,

all she's got to do is say,

"My grandfather's
about to be here"

and that'll get us out of it.

My adrenaline is very high.

I am trying to make sure that
I don't say the wrong things

or reference something that they
haven't been talking about.

Man...

When he says,
"You don't need a job yet,

you're not old enough."

This is really key
evidence for us.

He's now acknowledging on tape

that he knows
this is a real kid,

and that works for me.

You did a great job.
That was fantastic.

So the phone call
went off perfectly.

The next day, Hampsten suggests
a meeting in person.

He suggests the meeting.

He's coming here for the purpose
of a sexual act

with a 14-year-old girl.

And I have a case
on this guy now.

So the game is on.

Now, I got to put a team
together to make it happen.

It's take down time.

Detective Tony
Godwin sets up the trap

for child predator
Sethaniel Hampsten.

I give Hampsten an address

of where my character Britany
lives,

but what he doesn't know is

that this is a location I use
for takedowns.

So I'm at the takedown location,

hidden in a covert vehicle where
I have a clear line of sight

of where I've asked Hampsten
to park,

and I've got covert people
strewn all over the place.

Detective Casteel, his job is
to let me know when he gets eyes

on Hampsten pulling
into the location.

It's Monday, September 22nd,

at 11:34, Detective Casteel...

A possible
traveler comin' this morning.

He's coming over here to meet
a minor to have sex with her.

I mean, worst case
scenario, he doesn't show up.

He gets cold feet and backs out.

Running checks:
he does own a red Geo tracker.

Supposedly, that's what he'll

be drivin' when he comes
into the complex here.

So Hampsten is texting
as he's driving to the location.

It makes me feel disgusted
that I have to go through

and tolerate this kind of talk.

But if I don't do it,

the chances of him finding
a real kid are very high.

One of the surveillance units
outside the complex has said

that the red Ford truck
is pulling in.

Our predator has arrived.

Now that I have
a visual on Hampsten,

everything's on my shoulders.

We are ready to pounce.

But then a curveball.

Be advised we have a
maintenance man walkin' through

with a ball cap
behind his vehicle right now.

We're going to have to let
the civilian get out

of the takedown area.

The last thing I want
is for a civilian to get hurt.

As soon as that civilian gets
out of our scene, it's go time.

Four armed guys
all the way around him.

Hampsten is pulled out
of his vehicle.

He's handcuffed.
He doesn't resist.

This guy drove three and a half
hours to come

and meet a 14-year-old child
to have sex.

Seeing him arrested
and in handcuffs...

Man, that makes me feel good.

Detectives search
Hampsten's car after his arrest.

They find a box of condoms
in the passenger footwell.

Going into an interview,

these predatory types,
I expect them to lie to me.

But Hampsten...
he didn't do that at all.

I mean, he told me everything.

So the one thing that did shock
me is that he made a claim

that he didn't think any
of this was even illegal.

I don't believe
that he actually believes this.

I'm glad to have been the guy
that put him away.

Hampton will be a registered sex

offender until
September of 2044.

Texas will be a safer place
because of this.

Detective Tony
Godwin confronts a high school

teacher with the evidence
that he sexted a student.

He is like, "I'm so busted."

This drama teacher
fails to grasp the seriousness

of what he's done.

This guy, Edgin,

he's trusted by his community
and he's got access to kids.

This guy's a disgusting pervert.

I got to get
my hands on him fast.

On April 16th of 2018,

I received a phone call
from a really frantic

and distressed mother.

Her and her husband tell me
that over the course

of the past month,

they've noticed their son has
been really preoccupied

with his phone.

His phone's been blowin' up,

and that's just really
unusual for him.

So the father takes a look
at his son's phone,

and he notices a large amount of
very sexually explicit messages.

The mom tells me that she's not
sure if she should

be botherin' me at all,
because her son is 17,

which is a legal age of consent
in Texas,

and so we don't even know

at this point if anything
illegal has happened.

It really needs to be looked
into a little bit further.

For the purpose of this story,

I'm going to call this young man
Christopher,

even though that's
not his real name.

So Christopher told his father
that the messages came

from someone that he met
on Snapchat by the name of Rob.

After a week of chatting,

they moved over
to regular SMS messaging.

The parents provided me
with screenshots

of the messages they saw they
saw and they're really upset.

So the parents asked Christopher
for more information

about this guy Rob,

and he explains that he's
about 19 or 20 years of age.

But now the parents
find something shocking.

Rob has sent their son
a nude image.

The parents take
away their son's phone,

and they monitor all the
messages that are coming in

and see in the messages a
photograph of the lower portion

of Rob's face,
which is a gray beard.

They know right away
that he's not 19 or 20.

They're really concerned.

Christopher's mom takes
the phone number

that Rob is communicating from,

she pops it into
a search engine.

She comes up with a full name:
Robert Edgin.

They find his social media page,

and what they see is a
48-year-old man

livin' what seems like a normal,
happy life to them,

but they find somethin'
absolutely shocking.

He's a teacher
at a local high school.

The parents are
in complete disbelief

that their teenage son is
in some kind

of a relationship
with a teacher.

Detective Godwin is
investigating drama

teacher Robert Edgin,

who has been caught
grooming a student online.

At this point,

the parents don't know

that anything illegal has
actually taken place.

But I can assure them
that a crime has been committed.

The law in Texas is very clear.

It's that power balance between
the educator and the student

that leads
to sexual exploitation.

Edgin is a teacher

and Christopher is
a 17-year-old student.

And therefore
it makes it illegal.

What's prevalent in my mind
is the fact

that I've got this educator who
is actively employed in a school

with access to real children.

Now I have to act super fast.

I meet with Christopher
to interview him.

He tells me that Edgin sent him
ten nude images of himself

and one video where he was
pleasuring himself in the video.

The simple exchange
of the images

and videos described
by Christopher,

that alone is a crime.

Detective Godwin brings

in forensic expert
Robert Golladay to extract data

from Christopher's phone.

As I'm going through the phone,

I do find some things
that are concerning to me.

Edgin asks,
"Are you on spring break?"

Edgin tells Christopher
he should come over tonight.

And Christopher replies,
"I can't stay the night.

My parents won't let me."

It's very obvious to me

that the adult clearly knows
this is a 17-year-old child

that he's talking to that lives
at home with his parents.

It's not even clear to me
at this point

that Christopher
sees himself as a victim.

But grooming is the process
that these predators use so

that the child believes
that nothing's ever going wrong.

Christopher tells me that Edgin
asked him to produce nude images

and that he did comply
with this.

That's an entirely new charge.

That's called production
of child pornography.

It's still a crime for imagery
to be produced, shared,

or transmitted back and forth
if you're under the age of 18.

It's reached a really
serious level.

I have a strong feeling that
Edgin is probably communicating

with others that are juveniles,
not just Christopher.

I've got enough to get
an arrest warrant,

and I'm gonna surprise Edgin by
showin' up at his school just

to see what he has to say.

Myself and Detective Golladay,

we drive to the high school

and they have Edgin
escorted from his room.

This guy looks scared to death.
He looks like he's gonna puke.

Yes, he really does.

I really have to tread
carefully and methodically.

I do my very best
not to spook him.

We start to talk about his
social media and what platforms

that he is operating on.

Edgin is cooperative,
but he's cautious.

He is limited
in what he's telling me.

Snapchat...

It's interesting that he
mentions his Snapchat last

because that is the one
he was communicating on.

How convenient.

He wants to be able
to delete it.

Right.

We're not even
a minute into this.

And we already know he's
lying to us.

What a stumble, right?

I'm like, "Hey,
is it on your phone?"

He's like, "Yeah... Uh, no."

He's gettin' really nervous.

He's fumblin' around,

and he's almost acting like he
doesn't know what

the passcode is.

I was trying to sit there
and watch him,

what numbers he punched in, so

that I knew
once we seized the phone,

then I would have the passcode
to get in the phone.

I'm more concerned that he's
going to do something

to delete the device
or wipe the device.

And then that's
when I reached over

and kinda grabbed his phone
away from him.

Like, he goes into panic mode.
He's like, "Wait."

Puts his hand out to try
to get it back.

Detective Godwin
interviews teacher Robert Edgin.

Now his team holds
Edgin's phone.

The truth begins to surface.

Relax. Relax. Relax.

I mean, at this point,

this dude's against the ropes,
right?

I'm gonna deliberately
avoid talkin' about Christopher.

I wanna keep it open ended
and just see what he reveals.

Ultimately, he says yes and
acknowledges the fact

that he did do this.

Now I need to dig further

and see what else he's gonna
tell me about.

He can't specifically
name which child it is.

And this gives me great concern

because what it tells me
is there's other children.

So some of the facts that
I already know is

that Christopher admitted to me
that he did send,

at Edgin's request,
nude imagery to him.

From a legal standpoint,

if Edgin forwarded those illegal
images or videos sent to him

by a child victim,

that's a third charge
that can be added,

called transportation
of obscene material of a minor.

Edgin's situation is compounding
the more he opens his mouth.

I mean there's a
discussion...

Right.

I mean, look at his face.
He's, like, head in hand.

He is like, "I'm so busted."

He didn't necessarily quantify
the gravity of the seriousness

of what he had just admitted to.

Unfortunately for Mr. Edgin,

he's not gonna make that
dress rehearsal tonight.

Officers arrest Edgin,

and digital analysts
search his phone.

After forensic review of his
cell phone

and the contents in there,

we determined there's two
additional victims,

one who is 15 and one who is 16.

Both victims
declined to press charges,

but their statements helped

to strengthen the case
against Edgin.

Investigators find no evidence
that Robert Edgin engaged

in sexual communications
or contact with any students

from the school where he taught.

His arrest and charges really
sent a shock wave

through the community.

It is not uncommon at all

for someone who has a predatory
nature towards children

to position themselves into
these roles where they do have

trust and they do have authority
because it puts them

in the vicinity of kids.

Parents need to do
what these parents did.

You notice a behavior change?
Be intentional. Pay attention.

Look at what's going on.

Get involved in your kid's life,

not just what's going
on in school,

but know what's going on
on these devices.

You will help yourself
out immensely in the long run.

a prolific
predator is on Tony's radar.

His appetites
are wide-ranging and extreme.

It takes two detectives
to bring him in.

He's
a non-preferential offender.

He likes boys and girls.

Taking him down
becomes the team's top priority.

Robert Guerra...

This guy's fantasies were nasty
and varied.

To get him off the street,

myself and another detective
worked two undercover profiles

to get Guerra into custody.

I got a call from a colleague
of mine, Detective Brandon Poor,

who works in internet crimes
against children

in another agency.

I always say I'm like
the little brother

Tony never wanted.

We are really close friends.
We talk all the time.

Brandon told me he had
been doin'

an undercover
proactive case online.

He was using a platform
called Kik.

Some of the kids in
our community were using it

as a chat platform.

And it was also kind of a haven
for predators.

I set up a profile of
a 13-year-old boy named Lucas.

I'm using a picture of a teenage
boy that was given to me by one

of my colleagues, another
officer, when he was that age.

Brandon's Lucas
profile joins

a Dallas-Fort Worth chat room
for hookups.

I'm approached
by a user named RobG4.

Early on in the communications,
he's asking me for a picture,

and so I send him a picture

of me as Lucas,

and in turn he sends me
a picture

of himself not wearing a shirt,
lying in bed.

He's already got
the sexual topic on his mind.

And then right after that,

he sends me four more
pictures of himself.

He's trying to send me pictures
that make him look interesting

or put him in the best light.

If a 13-year-old boy sees a
really cool-lookin' dude wearing

a leather jacket
or riding a motorcycle,

I guess maybe
he's trying to say,

"This is why you should
be interested in me."

He asked me how old I am...

...and he tells me that he's 36.

The normal response is,
"You're too young.

Stop talking to me.
Don't send me anything else."

But he doesn't do that.

Definitely stands out
as a red flag to me

because that grooming
conversation starts so quickly.

Detective Brandon
Poor is catfishing online

as a 14-year-old boy.

He has a predator named
RobG4 on the hook.

We continue communicating,

but this time it's a very sharp
turn from where we started.

He tells me he...
He likes both boys and girls.

He's
a non-preferential offender.

He starts asking me questions
of a sexual nature.

All of these things are
grooming in that they're trying

to normalize sexualized behavior
with a child.

We keep talking, and three
or four days later,

the conversation
turns sexual again.

but this time there's
a big change

and it's not talking
sexually about me.

He says...

So I replied to him,

"My cousin is kinda slutty,
I think,"

knowing that it's an opportunity
for me

to introduce another
investigator, my colleague Tony.

I create this undercover
profile for a girl named Jordan,

who's 13 years old, and she's
going to be Lucas's cousin,

which is Brandon's profile
that he's been chattin' under.

Detective Poor tells me

that he's gonna share my
Jordan profile's phone number

with this perpetrator, RobG4,

and almost right away
I get a message.

"Can I have a pic of you?"

So I'm going to reach
out to my colleague,

Audrey Palmer. and see
if she can help me out.

Tony comes to me

because he can use
my current photos,

but edit them in such a way

that I look
a little bit younger.

It is super odd
to be getting these requests

from a colleague of mine,

but I know that it is
for the greater good

and that Tony is using these
to help save children.

I provide pictures of Audrey
from the age

that I'm saying I am, 13,
14-ish, and he bites right away.

All the while Tony's
talking to Rob,

I'm continuing conversations
with him as Lucas.

We're just building evidence
against this guy,

not with one profile,
now with two profiles.

So I need to make him aware
that he's talking to a child.

He has an opportunity
to walk away,

but that's not what he does.

What he does do is respond back.

And now it turns sexual.

And then without any
prompting whatsoever,

another image comes across.

And this time it's a full
frontal nude image of this guy.

Very clear to me what this guy's
doin' is grooming this kid

for a sexual relationship.

So in my mind,

we're do the point where there
are potential criminal acts

that have happened.

And so I send a subpoena to Kik
to try and identify RobG4,

and I get a hit.

They give me the information.

And his name is
Robert Guerra IV.

He's a 37-year-old male
who lives in Fort Worth.

With that information,

I'm able to check the driver's
license database, and I get

an image of him.

It's pretty clear that this is
the same individual.

Now, I know that RobG4,

whom I've been talking
to on Kik, is Robert Guerra IV.

So as Jordan,
I keep texting with Guerra,

his communications are
getting more and more depraved.

His suggestions are really
disgusting.

I've got Guerra on the hook
at this point,

but then there's a problem.

This is really a common
situation with predators.

They want a proof pic
or a validation pic,

so I need to act super quick.

I gotta maintain the deception
that this Jordan girl is real.

I reach back out to my coworker,
Audrey Palmer.

I honestly don't know
how to respond.

I just try to think about what
Tony is needing from me rather

than what the suspect
is needing.

So I send him a picture of me
with a finger in my mouth.

I have to wonder,
"Is he gonna buy it?:

Within a couple minutes,

I get a message that says,
"Thank you, babe.

You're really beautiful.
I love your eyes."

This guy is.... He's in.
He's in it to win it.

After nearly
100 hours of communication,

Guerra asked to meet
Jordan in person.

What a charmer this guy is.
It's horrible.

The fact that Guerra has now
suggested a meeting in person

for a sexual purpose,
a crime has been committed.

That's online solicitation
of a minor.

As Jordan,
I agree to this meeting

because I'm ready to pounce.

So it's the time for the meet.
I go there with Brandon Poor.

10:07 a.m., my profile Jordan's
phone goes off

with a text message, and it's
from Guerra, and he says...

He arrives
earlier than expected.

So I'm on pins and needles,

just waiting for that perfect
opportunity

to give the order to execute.

Emotions are up. Anxiety's up.

It's, you know,
very high stress.

I see Guerra pull up and park
where he's supposed to park.

At that moment,
I give the order to execute.

Detective Tony
Godwin and his team prepare

to bring Robert Guerra's
predatory game to an end.

long enough.

Three cars,
they swoop in on him.

Two minutes ago,

he thought he was gonna have
sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Now he's got cops
just descending in on him.

The handcuffs go on Guerra.

And that provides
a great sense of relief.

They got him into custody
with no issues.

And it was a good day for us.

I mean, you can see he's
in the back of that car,

and he's movin' back and forth
like the weight

of the world
is on this dude's shoulders.

And it should be.

Brandon and I, we get this guy
into an interview room,

and this is our playground.

This is what we love the most.

I'm glad that I'm sitting
back a little ways.

It gives you that opportunity
to start rapport

with him without being
overwhelmed by a second person.

It is a little game
of back and forth, like chess.

I already know the answer
to some of these questions.

I wanna plant the seed in their
mind so

that they will think,
"Oh, crap."

Like, "He does know about that."

When I confront Guerra
about Jordan's age being 13,

he suddenly is absentminded
that she was 13.

It's always good

to ask questions we already know
the answers to.

Because if he lies,
it's so apparent.

I think he's probably

at the point where he might
actually break down

and give us
a little more honesty.

So he's admitting
to sending pictures,

sexual pictures,
to both profiles.

All right, man, at this point,
it's time to just, like,

let's blow this dude
out of the water.

At this point,
he's not denying anything.

Like, he seems defeated.
He's against the ropes.

The fact that he's got this
information and these images

on his phone, that's a crime.

Bad guys, zero; good guys, one.

It's wonderful
that he's off the street.

In my mind,

there's no telling how many kids
that we've prevented him

from harming in the future.

Takeaway for me on this case is

that these social media
platforms,

like Kik and Snapchat,

these are places
where kids are goin'

to have what they think is fun
and talk with their friends.

This isn't a place where they
should be subjected

to predatory behavior.

Gone are the days
of the predator

in the playground.

We live in this environment
and we need to do better

to safeguard for our children.