Original subtitles

[suspenseful music playing]

-[crickets chirping] -[car engine revving]

[beeping tone from cellphone]

[Roo] Shelby, what the [bleep]?

Every day, adults exploit and abuse minors online.

[man speaking]

My name is Roo, and my non-profit organization

helps law enforcement stop that.

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.

[car engine revving]

We become the target to help protect the underaged.

[Mark] Roo, I think you should duck down,

he's staring straight at you.

[Roo] This man wants to meet at [bleep] candies at 8:30.

A candy store?

Yeah, which I feel like

-it's a bit on the nose. -On the nose.

Right. I mean, does he also drive an unmarked white van?

His behavior is worrisome

because he is willing to meet within 20 minutes of chatting.

So we have a potential meet at 8:30.

Um...

I need to get law enforcement looped in.

I am super concerned that he is very dangerous.

The last thing I want to do

is get in someone's car to see what happens.

Would you just pull it up on Google Maps

and see what parking looks like over there?

[Kelly] This is actually happening.

[Roo] I am very nervous.

I don't know what I'm walking into,

and, you know, I imagine the rest of the team is nervous,

but this is the whole point.

What if this was a real 15-year-old girl?

She'd be in dire straits right now.

We'll get law enforcement involved,

but we need to go now.

An ACM, an adult contacting a minor,

reached out to our 15-year-old persona, Flori

via a Connecticut team chat an hour ago.

Now, along with Mark Suda, SOSA's consultant,

we're minutes away from an in-person meeting.

Our goal, uncover the identity

of the ACM we're calling the Candyman.

So we are meeting at 8:30.

His opening line was, "You dtf", which is down to [bleep].

"Not gonna lie, you're mad cute for 15,

like, I would have never considered

hooking up with you before, but, damn,

I want to see what's under that dress. Show me."

We asked for a phone number. "Got to see what's under first."

And then, "I want to see you play with yourself.

I could show you playing with myself."

Has he sent any objection material?

Yes, he sent photos of his genitals.

We know almost nothing about the Candyman,

except his interest in a 15-year-old girl.

He thinks you're going to Uber there, obviously.

-[Roo] Yes. -[beeping tone from cellphone]

[Matt] She should send it right at...

8:18, 8:19. For an 8:35 arrival.

[Roo] Every detail matters.

I just sent him a screen grab,

some Uber X is dropping me off.

If he's convinced the details of Flori's life are real,

he's more likely to share the information we're after.

-[clicking sound] -[beeping tone from cellphone]

All right. He's driving a black Toyota.

[Mark] Okay, we are literally one block away.

[suspenseful music playing]

But just keep in mind, he could already be here.

Mm-hmm.

-You're my driver, okay? -[Mark] Yep.

[line ringing]

Hi, I'm in that Uber,

and it says I'm going to be, like, five minutes late.

Is that okay?

[Candyman speaking]

Oh, okay, I'll see you there.

Bye.

He's five minutes out.

[Mark] It did sound like he was driving, too, so.

[car engine revving]

-Toyota just pulled in here. -[Mark] Yeah.

[Roo] On the left in this drive way.

See how fast that car pulled in?

[Roo] Yeah, like he knows exactly where he is going.

[Mark] Exactly.

[Roo] It's a beard, isn't it?

-I really can't say. -[Mark] Mm.

[Roo] That's not him.

He's inside. He said, "I'm inside."

[Roo] The Candyman lied about his vehicle.

He said he was driving a black Toyota.

Seeing an unmarked van suggests his intentions

could be sinister.

[crew 1] When he came out of the white van, was he alone?

[Mark] Yes. I can see into the white van.

[crew 1] No one's in the van now, right?

[Mark] No one's in the van. He went into the passenger side

and then he went in, like, the back and checked something.

[Roo] Get the plates.

[crew 2] Okay.

[crew 2] He's coming out, he's coming out.

[Mark] Call, call him right now.

[line ringing]

He's looking at the phone.

-That's him. -[Roo] Okay, that was him.

Clear as day, I saw him pick up.

We have a confirmation, that was him.

[clicking sound]

I said, "My mom just called me.

I wasn't supposed to go out tonight.

I need to go home. I'm so sorry."

He said, "Damn." I said, "I have to check in from my house

with FaceTime, or I'm grounded."

I mean, he just texted me too.

What he say?

[Roo] "It's okay, I understand you got cold feet."

Okay. Brake lights are on.

So what we're going to do is

we're just going to give him a loose follow.

We're going to see where he goes.

If he goes back to Norwalk, if he goes back to New York.

We'll see where he goes on the I-95.

And then we'll have a good indication on

if he does live in Connecticut

or if he does live in New York.

[suspenseful music playing]

[crew] He's pulling into the bank, Mark.

Okay, I got him.

He's backing up to that garage, so.

[Roo] The good news is we got a license plate,

but it's probably not for a vehicle he owns.

Um...

So I'm hoping we are able to watch him

come out of this storage building in his own vehicle.

He just texted me. He said,

"How about we just sit outside your place?"

Because I've said that Flori has to be at home.

Unless you just tell him your mom...

My neighbors will totally see.

What do you think, Roo? Oh, here he comes. Here he comes.

[suspenseful music playing]

Pulling out, he's going to come right by us.

Roo, I think you should duck down.

he's staring straight at you.

I would just put your head down.

If I move suddenly, then it will look like movement.

I feel like we've been in this insane standoff

for five minutes now and...

[suspenseful music playing]

[bleep]

[sighs]

Our bodies are directly facing each other right now

from 30 yards apart.

[cellphone ringing]

-[Roo] Ooh! -[Mark] Do not pick up.

[clicking sound]

[Roo speaking]

[sighs]

He texted, "Aren't you home already?

"I was thinking while you're getting punished,

I wait for you by the door, so that they are distracted

with you and we get to see each other." What?

We have been in this silent standoff for 20 minutes now.

Um, just hunched over hoping he doesn't see us

waiting patiently for him to drive off.

[Roo speaking]

[cellphone ringing]

[Roo] Hey, I need you to do me a favor.

It's important, I need you to do it right now.

I need you to grab a mug

and grab a tea bag and take a picture.

I need a fake cup of tea on a counter.

And I need it to look like I'm...

I need to look like I'm there.

Put Shelby's hand on the mug.

You need to take a picture of your hand holding a mug to be Roo.

[Roo] The Candyman is relentless.

We're hoping that this photo

convinces him Flori is home and under adult supervision.

[Mark] He's driving off, he's driving off.

Good thinking, Roo.

[Roo] He's going to text me when he's home, so we can video chat.

[cellphone ringing]

[Candyman speaking]

Hello. Hi.

Um, I just want to say I'm so sorry about earlier.

Do you have, like, brothers or sisters?

Yeah, it's just me and my mom.

No cats, no dogs.

No. No. I see him like once every other year, maybe.

They were married, but, like, for just a very short time

and they divorced right away. And so,

he's, like, never been around. And he lives out in Ohio.

Um, I have to go to bed,

'cause I have to be up kind of early for my mom.

Are you around tomorrow to just chat?

Okay, cool.

Well, nice, nice seeing you face to face.

Night.

[exhales]

It's really hard not to say, but...

Why the white van?

[sighs]

He told Flori that he was coming in a black Toyota.

If he had said, "I usually drive a black Toyota,

but today I've got, you know,

a work van because I'm making a delivery to that store",

that would be one thing.

But he didn't say that.

He said, "I drive a black Toyota."

So we were on the lookout for a black Toyota.

But he rolled up in a white van.

[cricket chirping]

[birds chirping]

[Roo] Let me update you on everything that's going on.

Right now, our main players are these four.

[Avalon] There's a new one from Kik.

This guy is 33 and he's in Providence.

There are people who have these horrible,

violent intentions for children

and to be able to help ensure

that that might not happen to another child

is very powerful.

[Roo] You've got someone else?

[Avalon] Yeah. So, um, this guy

instantly asked to meet up. He wants to buy her alcohol.

Hope is the thing that keeps you going, right?

The potential for adults contacting minors

to not be on the Internet,

the potential for them to be scared.

It's not just then, it's not that moment.

It's something that's going to sit with them

for a really long time. So for me, that's what keeps me going

is the idea that, like

one less girl might be traumatized.

[Roo] Today, we're rolling out a new decoy.

Our Natalie persona is a 15-year-old girl

who lives in East Providence, Rhode Island.

Flori has been "successful"

and that we've been able to identify a lot of ACMs,

a lot of people that are willing to engage in criminal activity.

But the chances of having two ACMs

overlap in Connecticut

is high, and that's risky.

So we have to create a persona to minimize that risk.

The goal for Natalie's look is to be

a grand departure from Flori's look.

It needs to be a young look.

It needs to be conventionally appealing,

and it needs to not look like Flori.

The clothing is going to be a bit different.

The makeup is going to be a bit different.

[Mark] Like, this is so her vibe.

[Shelby] Natalie is a troublemaker.

She's had beer before,

she's smoked a couple of cigarettes.

She likes to hang out.

She is just out there exploring

and kind of being mischievous.

A little more open,

a little more willing to do something that

maybe some of the other girls would be a little

more taken aback at.

-[Mark] Yeah, that feels like Natalie to me. -That's perfect.

That's like a silly face, but a Natalie face.

[Roo] What I'm doing with Natalie is very different

from what I've done before.

We are positioning Natalie as the type of person that

someone who traffics children would be excited about.

She's a bit isolated.

She's publicly saying that

she would love to get a job

and, you know, she's perhaps in financial need.

Those things, you know, can really be appealing

to people who prey on children.

The moment we drop Natalie into a teen chat room,

the ACM start circling.

[beeping tone from cellphone]

[beeping tone continues]

Yikes. Oh, take a tummy pic first.

All right. I'll figure something out.

-Come upstairs with me. -What are you doing?

A stomach photo.

But I can't use my hair 'cause I'm not wearing a wig.

To take the photo this new ACM wants,

I need to buy time.

So I tell him I'm busy remote learning for school.

I have no Discord on this phone.

Bring the laptop up here, so I can just airdrop it to you.

I need a hair tie, too.

Okay, pants are on.

Can you just look at...

Oh, he's typing.

What?

Oh, the thought of a teacher

wanting to see teenage stomach.

[Roo] Okay. He just asked for a photo of clavicle.

[Matt] Clavicle? Okay, that's specific.

[Roo] He responded, "You have very pretty skin."

-[cellphone rings] -[Roo] Here we go.

Hello?

[Sean speaking]

Hey, how are you?

Cool, what are you doing?

Cool. What time is there?

Oh, okay. I have a weird question.

Like, what am I even going to call you?

Is your name Sean?

Oh, that's weird. So I mean, like,

Natalie is actually just my name. What do people call you?

Got it.

I definitely have a challenge

with a teacher because he is so careful.

Getting him to give me information

is going to be tricky.

But we want to know what the hell is on his phone.

We want to know what he's up to.

What he wants from Natalie, is a sexual relationship.

So we have to do this dance.

I have a cousin who lives in Fort Worth.

Is that anywhere near you?

I'm originally from Louisiana. Like, west Louisiana.

How long have you been teaching?

Do you teach at, like, a really big school?

Is your school, like, diverse?

Okay.

Well, I am going to eat and, like, watch something on Netflix,

but are you going to be around? Can I message you?

All right. Well, have fun on your walk

and then shoot me a message later, okay?

Nice talking to you, S-name.

Bye.

[Matt] I think that the teacher is smart and careful.

He has multiple pseudonyms,

and he does that because he needs to protect his real identity.

He mentioned a bayou

and that if you are near a bayou in Texas,

you have to be in Houston.

I'm from Texas

and I'm aware of how large the region is.

But nobody in Texas talks about bayous.

Maybe it's because he's like from Louisiana,

has family there, and that's what he's calling it.

[Roo] He's closer to Arkansas than he is from Oklahoma.

I just asked how often he goes to Arkansas.

[beeping tone from cellphone]

So we know that he is five and a half hours from Fayetteville.

Can we get a map of Texas online?

[Matt] I'll get Texas up.

[Kelly] My guess is Tyler, Longview, Kilgore.

Maybe Marshall, Texarkana.

I'm guessing he could live in Texarkana

if it's a 5a school that would probably match.

I hope that perhaps information about a school could lead to him

because he mentioned that he's been teaching for 15 years.

So I know a lot of times school districts will give awards

based on how long you've worked in a district and things like that,

so there may be pieces of information

that he can't scrub from the internet.

"Lol I do, but my neighborhood is zoned for another school."

[Avalon] Oh, yeah, that could fit.

Wait. So that means the town is big enough

to have more than one high school.

This area is not super diverse.

If it was even approaching a 60% black school,

it doesn't track exactly with his stats.

[Roo] Finding a location

that is five and a half hours from Fayetteville

is proving to be a little bit difficult.

He's very careful about his online presence

to the point where he won't even give

Natalie a first name.

So my hope is that he will slip up.

[Roo] I'm a good girl.

Dominant?

Well, you are a stranger on the Internet.

Just want to update you really quickly on the Candyman.

We don't know where he lives.

We're also running the plates,

but the concern is that he was maybe using a work van.

So I think the move here is to write down

everything we've got on him.

The given names, age, the location,

the fact that he has roommates,

the connection to the candy store,

the connection to the storage unit.

If we can I.D. him, then, then great,

then we have something to package up.

We should just put everything on the board.

[Avalon] He references gas stations in terms of proximity to him.

Okay. Let's get a photo of him up here.

He has at least one roommate. His roommate has a cat.

I forget if we were able to figure out

if this is a real phone number or not.

I think it was a...

-burner, but I could be wrong. -I also think it was a burner.

But we were able to talk on Duo.

Well, why don't we just call one more time,

could always be a wrong number.

[line ringing]

[automated voice] Call has been forwarded

to an automated voice message system. 914.

[beeping]

-Wait, that number didn't add up. -That was a different...

Wait, did you call this number?

Yes. The voicemail number was different

because I called that number.

So he has given us a number

-that is forwarding to another number. -[woman] Mm-hmm.

It's not uncommon for us to get what we call

burner numbers, whether they're using an app

or another phone or something of that sort.

What he forgot to do was

disconnect the burner number to his actual voicemail.

Well, let's just call it.

-But you can't be Flori. -Sure I can.

[line ringing]

[Candyman speaking]

Hey.

Are you there now?

Okay.

Bye.

He's bizarre.

I feel like he was a little bit caught

with his pants down, like, his brain's

probably trying to put the equations together,

like, "What lies did I tell her?

How do I cover this up without

getting busted on another lie?"

Says, "How did you get this number?"

And I said, "Your voicemail said this number."

I think he realizes he screwed up.

[Roo] In spite of the Candyman

being careless with his phone number,

all of our searches proved fruitless.

His identity remains a mystery.

Meanwhile, the teacher becomes more aggressive.

He did turn the conversation

to supremely sexual last night.

This is a high school teacher

saying this to a 15-year-old child.

I'm nervous because this guy is not dumb,

but he's savvy. He's slightly paranoid.

I want to find out who he is

by the end of the night,

so we can send this to law enforcement

first thing in the morning.

So, we are playing the number game.

The numbers game is a picture,

and it's just a list of numbers

that correlate to a question.

So question number one is like, "What's your name?"

Two is, you know, where are you from?

And then it gets progressively more explicit or salacious.

And, like, runs the gamut of, like, sexuality

to, like, appearance, um, to interest.

It's something that teenagers use to get to know each other.

I want to think about the most helpful answers

that will get us to his ID.

He's been incredibly honest about the fact that

he's hiding who he is.

So typically when we catch people, we catch them in lies.

But he's actively telling us, I'm lying to you.

But also, here's a lot of truth.

And it's making it almost impossible to find him.

So we can't go straight to "Where do you live?"

Because he's super suspicious.

We need to start just building trust initially.

[Roo] What about birthday?

[Avalon] Yeah, yeah. It's not enough

to know large facts about him. We need more specificity.

Nine.

[beeping tone from cellphone]

Anything identifiable?

-Oh, 45. -[Avalon] Yeah.

-Oh, he owns his house. -Okay.

So he owns a 1200-square-foot house

in Northeast Texas, drives a Buick...

Encore.

That's brown. We're getting closer.

Okay, so Av and I did the numbers game with the teacher

just to see if we can ascertain

any more information about him.

And we did get a few things that

didn't necessarily ID him, but gave us

some more information. He owns a...

[Avalon] It's 1200 square foot.

[Roo] Yep. Owns a 1200 square foot house.

He sent some photos.

It seems like an older house based on those photos.

[Roo] He mentioned a game that he liked,

at boardgamegeek.com.

[Matt] I know a lot about boardgamegeek.com.

My brother is, like, obsessed with it. Yeah.

Okay, I have an idea.

So with boardgamegeek.com, you can look up a board game

and you can see who on board game geek owns it.

The whole point of it is you can, like,

make a list of all the games you own

who you play. It's like a community.

[Roo] All right, let's get into it.

We just don't have enough to narrow it down,

like, that area of Texas, it's pretty homogeneous.

We can do the really granular research,

but starting with the huge volume of data

that we would have, it's like a needle in a haystack.

We're assuming that everything he's telling us is correct,

and it does feel that way,

but I wish that we could narrow down his location further.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Roo] I have an idea.

Let's do the honey pot.

[Shelby] When we say we're honeypotting someone

or we would like to send a honey pot to someone,

what we're actually saying is we want to send them

a link to a website that we own.

We'll populate that website with modeling shots

of our persona.

Maybe even some poetry samples,

just anything that fits this persona's life and interests.

This is a note book, I spent, like, a night,

just, like, filling it with, like, some bad poetry,

fan art doodles that I made for her, lyrics.

So this is meant to emulate, like,

a 15-year-old girl who won't be, like, going through it.

[Matt] I think it's going to look like colorful snapshots

from her sketchbook, that's the idea.

[Roo] The hope with the teacher

is that we send him the website.

He clicks on it.

We're able to see that in the activity log,

get his IP and an IP address

can give us a rough idea

of where an ACM might be located.

So I said, "I get A's in English,

it's like the only thing I'm good at,

and I started a little website and I'm thinking

about writing online, but I would love your feedback."

Oh, this is bad response. He said, "Uhh, okay."

He just does not want to invest in her at all.

Let's see.

[beeping tone from cellphone]

All right, he clicked on it.

-Great. -[Kelly] Nice.

[Roo] All right. Now, we just wait to see

what the activity log in the back end says.

Obtaining the information via IP address

is not instantaneous.

There is a lag, depending on traffic,

host, what have you.

It can take a little time for an IP address to register.

So there are two scenarios here.

One. He's hooked up to Wi-Fi. He clicks on it.

We get narrowed on his location.

Or he does have his phone partitioned off

with extra security.

So can I see him being paranoid enough

to make it so nobody can ever get his IP? Yes.

I mean, how much time has passed, like...

[Roo] Okay. Hold on.

It's putting him in Shreveport, Louisiana.

[suspenseful music playing]

I am shocked to see that the results say that

he is in Shreveport, Louisiana.

I thought that I had the upper hand with him

and seeing a different location makes me think that

I clearly do not, that he is

definitely more sophisticated than

I had anticipated him being.

If he's going to lie about something that's foundational,

just something as broad as a state he lives in,

it makes me concerned that everything has been a lie.

Does his name is even start with an S?

Does he even own a Buick Encore?

Is he even a teacher?

At this point, I feel like we don't,

like, I know, generally speaking, we don't trust everything

-that an ACM tells us, but I... -[Matt gasps]

I think I found him.

-[Avalon] No way. -What?

On board game geek.

[Roo] No way.

[Matt] So I searched Shreveport

and then I'm looking for names that start with an S.

And I came up with [bleep].

[Roo] I mean, it's just a fake picture, right?

[Kelly] Oh, my gosh. I want to walk in, too.

-[Avalon] Oh, my God. -[both gasp]

-That's him. -[Kelly] Yeah.

[Matt] I told you board game geek was going to do it.

[Avalon] I found his Twitter.

And now I know what school he works at.

-[clapping] -[Avalon] Yes.

-[Matt] Come on, board game geek. -[Avalon] Yes, Matt!

[Roo] Matt finding that website

and finding the profile on the website

was the turning point for us.

I'm so glad we did the honey pot,

or we would not have known to look in Shreveport.

Oh, my God.

Look at all the pictures of girls he's posting,

-his students. -[Kelly] I know.

[Matt] That is upsetting, yeah.

[Roo] He is posing with three high school students,

three high school girls.

For us, it reads like a nightmare

because he's got his arms around

teenage girls and we know

what he thinks of teenage girls.

We know what he says about teenage girls.

The context of a teacher. Sure, fine.

But the context that we know him?

[Matt] Yeah.

[Roo] I hope that that will allow

local law enforcement to expedite this.

My biggest hope is that tomorrow morning

we call someone in Shreveport, Louisiana,

who wants to haul ass on this.

Because they recognize how dangerous

this scenario and this perpetrator is.

Jacque Jovic. We begin tonight with breaking news.

A school teacher's under arrest,

charged with dozens of sex crimes involving juveniles.

According to [bleep] school,

Louisiana State Police informed them that [bleep]

arrest is a part of an online sting.

He's in Cattle Correctional Center.

He was booked there this morning around 11:15.

He's being held on two counts of computer

aided solicitation for sexual purposes

and 60 counts of indecent behavior with juveniles.

Reporting live, Ya'Lisha Gatewood, NBC 6 news.

-[Roo] Hey. -[Candyman speaking]

How are you, [bleep]? If that's your real name.

[laughs]

I demand more information.

Yes.

[Candyman laughs]

I feel like you owe me at least, like, three more facts

about yourself. Like, real ones.

Which one?

Really?

[speaking Arabic]

[man chuckles]

[speaking Arabic]

Our neighbors are, like, Arabic,

like, they speak... they're from Egypt.

Are you fluent in Arabic?

Okay, I know one more phrase.

[speaking Arabic]

And then you're supposed to say...

[speaking Arabic]

[Candyman laughing]

Why did you live there? Is your family at all from there?

Okay.

[Candyman sighs]

[Candyman laughs]

[Candyman clears throat]

Okay. Sleep tight.

Bye.

[Roo] I expected that on this call

he was going to be overtly sexual.

In the beginning of the call, he was.

When he said, "I lived in Jordan for four years,"

and I spoke in Arabic to him,

not knowing that he was fluent,

his entire family is from Jordan.

There was a shift once I...

spoke to him in Arabic.

And everything stopped being sexual.

He does not live with roommates

and a cat named Cat, but he just calls Cat.

He lives with his family.

My objective was to get more information about him.

And so I did.

He has known the whole time how old Flori is.

-Mm-hmm, that is true. -And while it is

important to consider

even people whose behavior we don't care for holistically

and we can empathize even, it does not change the fact

that he has known what he's doing the whole time.

-Mm-hmm. -In my mind.

-Okay. -[Avalon] And, like, also what, like,

now you're more worthy of pursuing as a human

because you spoke the language of, like, his family?

Like, now you have traits that are like,

"Okay, you're girlfriend material."

Just because he deems you worthy now

doesn't negate any of that for me.

I think we all get options

and we get choices to do the right thing

and do the wrong thing. And I think unfortunately for him,

he was doing the wrong thing and...

he has to face those consequences.

If you were actually 15 and he wasn't backing down

and it became from sexual,

it started from sexual and turned to infatuation,

you would still be a victim, you know?

Just because he started treating you like a human

for the first time doesn't make him any less of a monster.

[Roo] It's really important for us to be impartial and to be factual.

There are times where what we see

is really upsetting,

but we can never lead with our emotion

because it is not our job.

We are not judge. We are not jury.

We're not law enforcement

or not a defense attorney or a prosecutor.

It is up to someone else

to drive those processes and decide,

you know, whether someone needs to be apprehended

or arrested or, you know, subsequently adjudicated.

That's not our job.

Our job is just to hold the facts and hand them over.