Original subtitles

[Roo Powell] I think we need to really look at the voter records.

It's just so much data.

Address, last name, first name, birth date

and then two other categories.

Right now, there are over 120,000 entries.

All we wanna do is ID him.

And we always feel like we're at the cusp of a breakthrough

and then something gets bungled

and then we go, "Okay, nevermind, hands off."

Then he comes back and he gives us another clue.

Okay.

Uh, I'm wrapping up.

-All right. -Yep, see you tomorrow.

I'll see you guys tomorrow.

-Okay. -Drive safe.

[Roo] I am resolute

in my mission to see someone like this

unable to harm girls and women.

-Bye, honey. -Bye.

Could he be one of those guys that's in the wind?

Maybe.

But I won't let that happen without

trying my damnedest because I think he is dangerous.

And I think he should be far, far away from any minor.

Everyday, adults exploit and abuse minors online.

My name is Roo,

and my nonprofit organization

helps law enforcement stop them.

Would this be enough to get a warrant?

All you need is probable cause.

We have all the evidence we need.

I'm a 38-year-old mother of three,

but with the help of my team, I transform into a teenage girl.

We become the target

to help protect the underage.

[Matt] Roo, I think you should duck down, he's staring straight at you.

[Roo] Mmm-hmm.

Yeah.

Now?

[man laughs wickedly]

For weeks, an adult male we call, Kevin,

has been contacting Flori,

a 15-year-old persona we created online.

He's been diligent.

Never revealing enough personal information

to lead us to his actual identity.

Tonight, Kevin's abuse continues.

He video calls Flori while pleasuring himself.

Oh, um...

I'm genuinely nauseated.

It was absolutely criminal activity.

He was [bleep] on his genitals

for, what he believes, is a 15-year-old.

Oh, God!

Okay, goodnight.

[suspenseful music playing]

[woman] I think with Kevin,

everything is like

it's just enough information to be like

you're telling me something but it's also

not anything identifying, really.

I just feel like we are constantly

in two truths and a lie with this guy,

except two lies and a truth.

That is so frustrating.

Honestly, this is why and it's gonna be horrible

but I think, it, like-- we have to go through

everything he's given us and be, like,

this is all the stuff that matches up,

this is all the stuff that doesn't, like,

in the negatives, is that where we find something?

I just feel like we're [bleep].

Hey! I have an idea.

Kevin's revealed the name of his favorite nail shop.

Kelly and I head over to check the place out.

Is this an actual lead,

or is this just another one of Kevin's red herrings?

Mmm-hmm.

Kelly, SOSA's research lead,

volunteers to go into the salon

with a photo of Kevin to see if anyone recognizes him.

[Kelly] I'm just planning to tell her,

or whomever I'm speaking with that,

I met this guy at a bar, he said he comes here

and, you know, we exchanged numbers.

I'm interested, but I would like to know if he has a wife.

You know, it'd be nice, just general gossipy...

-Right. -...stuff-- He said he comes here.

Should we park down?

-No, I think here's fine. -Okay.

-Well... yeah. I'll just hop in. -Yeah.

Hi.

How are you?

I came in last week for

a pedicure, which was great.

And then, I met a guy who comes here all the time,

I guess.

Maybe he told me a fake name.

[all laughing]

That's what happens when you meet people in a bar,

you can't confirm.

He has, like, grey hair, probably like 60s.

I'll show you a picture.

Thank you.

She recognized him immediately.

He calls, though, and makes appointments.

He calls before he comes in.

And he always... he's [bleeps].

[Roo] So, he comes here, but they don't know his name.

[Kelly] Yeah, she did not know his name.

[Roo] Okay, so, we know he comes here.

Well, at least he's not lying about that.

[Roo] We did progress today, certainly.

Kelly did a great job at the nail salon.

But in the meantime,

everyday that we don't ID him,

you know, how many other girls is he talking to?

And how far is it escalating with them?

I think, what we've ascertained with Kevin

is that he's probably exaggerating

his accomplishments, his wealth. He is competitive.

What might make sense is if we bring into play

what we, kind of, refer to as the boyfriend experience

for Flori.

The boyfriend experience is a tactic we use

when we need to make an ACM

think that there is

potentially someone else in the picture.

See if we can get

just a little bit more info. If we can get Kevin

to show his hand a little bit on who he is.

When we create the fictitious boyfriend,

the first step is developing a character.

I mean, essentially we're just creating Kevin, but better.

-Like, the younger... -A younger.

...better version of himself.

We designed Flori's boyfriend

with Kevin and Kevin's ego in mind.

Kevin is 6 feet tall,

so her boyfriend is 6'4".

Kevin's got a BMW M6, the boyfriend owns an M7.

This guy lives in New Canaan.

Let's really get into who this guy is,

what he does for a living, how much money he has,

does he have a dog?

-He's gotta have a dog. -[Kelly] He has a Golden Retriever

or a black lab.

-Yeah. -[Roo] Yeah, like a bigger dog.

[Kelly] A black lab.

[Roo] With the boyfriend created,

we find an actor to play the part.

Our second date, first date was a little spicy.

If we're on the second date,

that means, yeah, we've been moving along.

[Roo] Should you get in the backseat?

-I can just duck and hide myself when-- Yeah. -Yeah, let's try that.

Think we're gonna like go for some selfies,

maybe something like hand holding kind of stuff.

[Roo] Kevin is incredibly competitive

and he is constantly comparing himself to other people.

Well, maybe I could do one of these.

When he is engaging or feels like he has something to prove,

he is a little bit sloppier than when he is level-headed.

Chris, what if you're like, just like,

you know, cutesy like laughing and you're... yeah, perfect.

That is great.

I forgot that he is actually an actor and I'm just...

-Yeah, he's a pro. -Yeah.

All right, I'm gonna send them to him now.

[suspenseful music playing]

Meanwhile, plenty of other ACMs,

adults contacting minors, continue to message the teen.

All looking to communicate with and abuse

underage girls.

Sexual abuse comes in a lot of different forms,

so whatever avenue abuse might come in,

like, we have to pursue that.

Online abuse is really vast, there are a lot of different

parts to it and there are a lot of different avenues

and methods in which a perpetrator can abuse a child.

So, because it's all online,

it's not as tangible as, say,

someone who robs a bank. It's not as easily,

you know, located and prosecuted.

And that makes it really tricky.

A lot of crimes happen, a lot of abuse happens

and there just aren't enough people working on it.

He self-reported what age?

I think he just said, "I'm older."

A new ACM reached out his name is Duke.

Duke is someone that, uh, came across

Floribeth on an app called Addchat.

Do we know where he's from?

Not currently, I don't believe.

[Shelby] I wanted to bring, um, the team's attention

to Duke because he was so aggressive.

Oh, my goodness.

He's escalated the conversation super quickly,

a lot of, uh, pictures of his genitals

and a lot of masturbation videos.

Specifically of him ejaculating onto a mirror.

I'm going to be your man and make you feel good

about yourself and teach you things.

I think he's trying to romanticize, like,

-"Please do not tell anyone that we are doing this." -Yeah.

He had said, "Can I ask for a fav?

A live pic of your face.

A lot of times when ACMs first contact our personas,

they are like, "You're fake."

Could someone that they are talking to

that they are interested in,

could it be a bot? Could it be an adult male?

Or could it be a cop?

All of those are examples of people ACMs don't wanna talk to.

Hi! Yeah, I'm real.

Okay.

I just sent a video saying, "Hi, yeah, I'm real."

If you could just note that for evidence.

I asked him what do you do for work?

Because he wants to get on a video chat.

And I said, "Wait, tell me something about you first."

[suspenseful music playing]

[Roo] Is that a ring on his finger?

I just wanna see some of the images he sent,

is there anything interesting?

He's wearing a hat that says, "[bleep]."

[Kelly] It could something,

which is what's in his username.

I found him.

[suspenseful music playing]

I found his Instagram

and it has his full first and last name.

So, he is self-reporting that his name was Duke.

He sent us a bunch of photos.

In one of them, he's wearing a hat that says,"[bleep]."

Did a quick Google search and found his Instagram.

And therefore got his identity.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Roo] While we had never heard of Duke,

he's got a career that makes him well-known in some circles.

And he has thousands of followers,

which could give him unique access to minors.

I would suggest still getting on a video call with him,

because he is somewhat famous and has a bit of celebrity,

I would like to confirm that it is actually him.

That's a good point, so far with just photos,

I mean, he could just be sending photos of this guy.

Oh, my God, he's typing.

[Roo exhales]

He wants to get on a video chat.

Shelby, will you be in here with me?

-Yeah. -You okay with it?

[Roo] I found your sweatshirt and I'm gonna wear it.

Okay.

Can we just go ahead and start recording?

Hair down?

Yeah, 'cause it gives you something to just,

sort of, like, obscure you even more.

Uh, actually, can you just yell for water,

I'm suddenly dehydrated and scared.

Can I please get a water really quick?

Yeah, we're gonna need that light off.

You don't need to see me.

I'm gonna do like a filter, too.

Okay.

Everyone's ready?

[exhales]

[chat ringtone beeping]

Hi.

Can you hear me?

[suspenseful music playing]

I can't hear you.

I'll go, I'll video call you from Snap

and just try one more time.

He... I can... You can hear sound on his side?

He's like pretending.

By looking at him without... even without sound, does that--

does it confirm to you that he is who he says he is?

Yes.

[Roo] Duke claims the audio on his phone isn't working.

A tactic used by perpetrators who want to conceal their conversations

and not be overheard in their home.

[chat ringtone playing]

When I call him back, he's moved to another room,

and he's masturbating.

[suspenseful music playing]

That was...

...so degrading.

It's hateful, you know.

He was making demands about

her watching as he ejaculates.

Like, make sure you keep your eyes on it.

And at one point, he paused,

brought the phone up to his face and did...

like, make sure

you're watching this.

And he's doing all of this with a smile on his face,

as though she should be enjoying it,

she should be flattered

that he would lavish this attention on her.

[suspenseful music playing]

[cell phone ringing]

Okay, I'm getting a call from Detective Wing

I'm gonna go take it really fast.

Hey, Detective Wing.

Hey, how are you?

I am speaking with Detective Wing

who runs the ICAC Task Force down in Orlando.

I'm nervous for a few reasons.

One, I do think that Duke is dangerous.

This is also an important relationship

that I'm developing with Detective Wing,

and so I want this to go well

because I think that this could

kind of determine how we work together in the future.

He has been super quite today.

Detective Wing is logged in to the same account that I'm logged in to,

so we're both seeing the text messages

coming in concurrently,

which is great because then we can discuss

what our next steps are.

Duke has priors.

He was arrested for

lude and lascivious behavior.

He was watching two minors in a hotel swimming pool

and he was caught masturbating to them.

I will keep you posted,

um, and I'll keep updating this evidence doc.

Duke has enjoyed a love-love success

and a love-love celebrity.

He has a lot to lose.

And he can't help himself.

-Okay, thank you so much. -[Jennifer] All righty.

-See ya, bye. -Bye.

So, next steps now really is waiting

to see if there's enough evidence...

for law enforcement to decide

that they want to make an arrest immediately.

[suspenseful music playing]

I want to update you.

Here are the texts that have come in from Kevin.

He goes, "So you're going on a date, great."

If we could get him to show up somewhere,

that would be great.

Okay, so what we could do is this.

We could park at a restaurant and sit there,

let him know that it's happening.

If he pulls in the driveway,

'cause he wants to check up on her,

we get his plate.

Hey, can one of you pull up Google Maps?

-[Kelly] Okay. -Do a street view

to see if you can see the inside of the restaurant

from the parking lot from the outside, driving by.

We wanna see if you can't just drive by and do a confirmation.

-Okay. -Thank you.

I do not wanna spend any more time with... on him,

truthfully.

But I also wanna ID him.

He is okay with engaging in criminal activity.

Will he do it again

with someone who is actually a teenager?

That's essentially why we're investigating him.

My only goal is to know his identity.

So he's worried. He says, "I'm concerned.

You're a 15-year-old girl," he'll be there in 18 minutes.

Maybe less.

So, once we get there, we'll pull into the restaurant

and then I will go in and get a table,

while we have a few people in the parking lot watching.

Do I look young with a mask on?

[suspenseful music playing]

[Roo] 15 minutes go by.

Thirty.

An hour.

Kevin is a no-show.

[Roo] I think so.

Kevin never mentions why he missed Flori's date,

and I don't want to press the issue.

The boyfriend tactic seems to be working.

Uh, like my mom just like sends it to people.

She thinks that...

I don't know, like, a car dealership

will use me for like a print ad or something.

I know you had, like, your businesses in New York

but did you own a car dealership in Connecticut, too?

Flori.

Flori.

Ma.

All right, all right, all right,

we got lots of info.

He owned a dealership.

I think, our best bet right now is looking up,

has there been an ownership change?

Damien, why don't you call?

My name is Damien,

and my role in team is research and support.

I have never done anything like this before

and just using the skills that I've had previously

to learn to, you know, find these ACMs.

[woman on phone]

Hey, how's it going?

I bought a car from you guys a few years ago,

and I was interested in getting a new one.

I forgot who-- uh, the guy who was helping me out

last time was.

You guys know if you, like, changed owners in the last couple--

it's been maybe three or four years.

When would you have changed over?

Oh, last spring, wow.

Okay, um, is there a [bleep] there?

That's who was helping me out.

Sweet.

[Roo] So, clearly, the sale did happen.

Kevin isn't completely lying.

We can check LinkedIn, Facebook,

if they have some sort of announcement with ownership

and, you know, sometimes they have pictures of the owners,

like, standing outside a thing

or cutting a blue ribbon

-or... -Yeah.

...some sort of, like, local charity event.

Kelly, I'm actually gonna drop this one for you.

Okay.

[upbeat music playing]

I may have actually found something.

[gasping]

[Roo] Oh, my God.

[Matt] Maybe that's him right there.

I found a press release for a groundbreaking ceremony.

In the photo, there's a guy that looks a lot like him.

Maybe there.

[Roo] He looks a lot bigger here though.

Is there a caption on that?

There is info, but it doesn't say

any info about a Kevin.

I could flip this photo

or flip one of the mirror selfies that he sent us,

put it side by side.

There are a lot of similarities,

like, I feel like the nose is the same.

Can you punch in on just the mouths?

[suspenseful music playing]

[Kelly] That's really similar.

Here's the thing, if he is who he says he is

as a part of that company,

then he should be in this photo.

What we need to do is we need to find out

who the man in the photo is.

And then know for sure and then we can google him,

and then there will be a bunch more photos

and we can compare him to Kevin.

This is a long game, and at some point,

he's going to slip up

and he's gonna give us another piece of information

that connects all of these little pieces

into one whole picture.

[Roo] As we dig in on our new lead of Kevin

Orlando PD requests that we keep engaging with Duke

while they work on potential warrants for his arrest.

Duke's intentions are clear.

[upbeat music playing]

[chat ringtone playing]

[Roo] He's calling, everyone out,

-please. Quiet. -Okay.

[Matt] He's calling. Quiet please.

Hey, babe.

Yeah, can you hear me?

Are you? Where are you?

Oh, my God.

Are you sure you wouldn't be with, like, someone older?

You're totally 100% okay with the fact that I'm 15?

Now?

I can't, I'm wearing-- I'm like fully clothed.

Okay, hold on a second, hold on a second.

Duke has repeatedly asked for nudity from Flori.

Something we won't give.

I placate him by showing my legs.

Okay, hold on.

[suspenseful music playing]

Duke takes ten more minutes to pleasure himself.

Yes.

And once satisfied, immediately ends the call.

Okay.

It was nice talking to you, too.

Bye.

There's a lot I wanna say,

but I don't wanna say while I'm crying.

So, I'm just gonna...

-[Matt] Take your time. -Yeah, take your time.

It's all good.

The good news is...

...we have all the evidence we need.

And this evidence will be...

damning.

Having evidence that will prevent him

from doing this to other people

is why we did this.

And it makes what we do worth it.

I share the evidence with Detective Wing

at Orlando PD,

and they're ready to make a move.

I spoke with Orlando PD,

and they're completely onboard.

They are writing a warrant now.

And they're setting up a sting

where Duke will be arrested.

The police have instructed SOSA

to tell Duke that Flori is travelling to Orlando.

We need to tell him

that Flori is going to be in Orlando

on Wednesday.

[Matt] Wednesday, okay.

Because the meet is Thursday.

What I do think would be helpful to sell it

is that we show

lots of photos of her being super excited and packing.

Picking out a swimsuit,

we'll put a suitcase out, start throwing stuff in it.

We tell Duke that Flori's dad

has surprised her family with a trip to Orlando.

And that she'll be able to go shopping by herself

at the local mall.

Duke asks to meet Flori in person.

[Matt] That's all like summery floral.

I also wanna try to arrange it where he can see,

like, a little bit of everything.

So, right now, we're creating a story

of Flori going to Florida.

We have a suitcase full of clothing

and everything that she's gonna be bringing.

Also, like, pictures of sunglasses.

[Shelby] I wanna highlight the bikinis

-the bras and the panties. -For sure.

[Matt] Anything that makes it look real

and like our 15-year-old is actually

about to go to Orlando.

I am using a boarding pass that I already have

on the airline that we're gonna send her on.

It just needs to be super convincing.

We can't let him have

any shred of a doubt that this is real.

[Roo] After Flori repeatedly rebuffs

Duke's request for nudity,

he slows his engagement.

[suspenseful music playing]

We can only assume

it's because Flori won't give him what he wants.

It's possible

that it'll affect his desire to meet.

But we won't attempt to convince or coerce him.

The decision is his alone.

It is after midnight and I just got a text

that said, "I want to come over now."

Which is strange after not hearing from him for hours and hours.

And he called, he facetimed. I wasn't prepared, obviously,

so I kept the lights off.

And he said he wanted to come over and leave at 3:00 a.m.

And then he was mad when I wouldn't acquiesce.

So, I think that this is looking more like

he will come tomorrow.

But will he come during the day?

Will he wanna come at night?

Will he wanna do it under cover of darkness?

I don't know.

I don't know how I'm gonna sleep.

[Roo] I did not sleep well last night.

I barely slept, just thinking about today.

And I am just going to do my best to not bork this.

I am feeling nervous.

Is he recognizing that he does have a history

and it is extra high-risk for him to meet up with Flori today.

Maybe.

[suspenseful music playing]

I'll be heading over to Orlando Police Department

to talk with Detective Wing who runs the ICAC there.

The we-- we plan for the take down.

[Jennifer] We get a lot of cases and a lot of tips that come in.

But when I see something the way that I saw

with the 15-year-old decoy,

the way it was progressing,

you know, from start to finish.

And we know it's not his first time.

We know he's probably

talking to other people like that online.

It was particularly disturbing to us.

We felt that he was a threat to the public

here in Orlando.

It was very important for us to act quickly

and move on this guy.

[cell phone ringing]

[Jennifer] So, we can't get too, too close,

but we will do whatever we can.

[Roo] Okay.

[Roo] Does take down mean they're going in now--

Oh, there he is.

[officer] Let me see your hands now. Now!

Step out of the car.

Put your hands where I can see them.

[intense music playing]

10-84.

I wish that he just picked another path.

[Roo] He could've very much recognized

that he has the drive

to reach out to a minor and get help for that.

Instead he chose to

find minors online to abuse.

This is altering this perpetrator's life.

And not just his life,

his girlfriend's life, his baby's life,

his parents', the people around him.

It's a sad thing all around.

[Roo] The hopeful part, of course, is that now

his would-be victims are no longer would-be victims.

There is a chance now for justice to prevail

and he no longer has access to kids.

While the team wraps up everything in Orlando,

Kevin remains elusive.

We discover that the photo of the man at the car dealership

is someone else entirely.

It's another dead-end.

But after a week of conversation,

an opportunity.

Kevin wants to meet.

Flori and Kevin are going to meet tonight

at 7:30 for pizza,

which is an hour from now.

You know,

honestly, I am...

...I'm pretty nervous.

I'm nervous because...

...I think he's coming this time.

We send Kevin a fake rideshare screengrab

to show that Flori is on her way to the restaurant.

Once he's there, I'll tell him Flori's mom

got an alert on her phone about the rideshare,

and she demands that Flori return home.

If everything times out right,

we'll be able to ID Kevin.

Without having to meet face-to-face.

When was the last text with Kevin?

At 6:24, he said, "I'm going to leave

in about half an hour."

I think about the weeks of communications

and the late nights and the videocalls

and stakeouts that weren't

and the red herrings

and the hours we've spent on this one

detail that ended up being a lie.

We've invested a lot in this

because we do think he is a danger,

we do think he's a threat.

You know, is tonight the culmination of all of this?

I hope so, you know, I hope so.

[suspenseful music playing]

So, you wanna park over here, or you want me to go across the street?

I think, you should park here.

We get to the restaurant five minutes before

Kevin says he's due to arrive.

What if he's doing the same thing

and he's waiting to see a girl walk in?

Yeah, we see it.

He's backing up, uh, by the dumpster.

In that corner, he has access to both exists

and he has eyes on both exits.

Oh! Oh, he's-- he's out.

He's out.

Does he have visibility? Is that him?

Oh, [bleep].

[Roo] Where is he?

Wait, is that-- is that him?

Copy.

He's typing, he's typing, he's typing.

I sent a photo as Flori.

-[crew member 2] No? -No.

-[crew member 1] Get the plate, get the plate. -Get the plate.

I have to keep Kevin engaged inside the restaurant.

While Detective Sudo tags his vehicle.

If Kevin comes outside and sees our team,

he could go dark,

delete all evidence and disappear.

Okay.

[Flori] We have the license plate number.

But now we have to back out of the meetup

without arousing Kevin's suspicion.

It's essential we don't blow our cover.

I got out of it.

He's telling me to go home

because he doesn't want me to get in trouble.

So, we're good. He's not mad.

He's gonna be coming out quickly

because he's afraid that my mom's gonna show up.

[gasps] Okay, hold on, hold on.

Kevin sends a photo

with a portion of his credit card visible.

If we can pull a name off the card,

we've got him.

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

I sent that photo to Matt.

If he can enhance the image,

we might be able to finally discover Kevin's identity.

It's a pretty dark photo so I can lighten it up,

change the perspective of it,

do a little bit of perspective work,

make it face camera perfectly.

So, I'm tracing it out now.

Just filling over it with the pen tool and tracing it.

Hold on, hold on.

His name is [bleep].

Okay, so we have his real name.

I have his wife's name.

I have his home address, I have his LinkedIn.

I have his email address.

So, his credit card is visible on top of the pizza box.

That is unbelievable.

[Roo] Kevin has been our white whale

and we have experienced a lot of disappointments.

And I have kind of endured

a lot of phone calls and video calls and messages.

And I feel...

...very satisfied right now.

We have officially confirmed this man's identity.

[Roo] I guess.

I was so frustrated and upset,

I cried on the way home.

I've been in like just like the Connecticut Team chat room

to like meet other kids my age, okay.

But then there are lot-- there are lot of older people on there

which is...

[Roo] We know Kevin's identity.

We've packaged everything up.

We have communicated with law enforcement.

Justice takes a while,

and we need honor that process.

We want to see success with this case.

So, we will stick with it for the long haul

if we have to.