He's Baaaaaack!
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If you been waiting to hear the line, "I'm Chris Hanson, why don't you have a seat over there" again, you're in luck.
The Catch a Predator star that got caught cheating on his wife is back and doing his thing.
Ten men, ranging in age from 19 to 64, who police said came to a house in Fairfield, Connecticut expecting to have sex with a minor, were arrested in an undercover operation that started last Thursday and ran through the weekend.
The men all allegedly were in computer contact with someone they believed was either a 13-year-old boy or a 12-year-old girl, via the Internet and text messages. They were to be arraigned Monday at state Superior Court in Bridgeport.
“Our community is safer today as a result of this operation,” Police Chief Gary MacNamara said. The police sting was run parallel to one being conducted by former NBC newsman Chris Hansen for a future program, “Hansen vs. Predator,” that he is preparing.
While three of the men came from out of state, the rest were from the region, including one man from Fairfield.
The sting operation was based at a Fairfield home, offered to Hansen by a friend. While his production company was inside the house, police officers were monitoring a live stream of the activity from the home’s garage, as well as back at department headquarters.
There were also officers stationed throughout the neighborhood, police said. “They didn’t get the address until the very last minute,” said police Detective Fred Hine. He said in every case, officers were able to identify each man’s vehicle when they arrived in town and they were constantly under surveillance.
MacNamara said Hansen could have run the undercover sting without the Police Department’s involvement, but that would have meant the alleged predators would not have faced criminal arrest as they left the house.
“We had a responsibility,” the police chief said.
Hine said the police had live access to the text messages being sent. “We were confident that it was a controlled approach,” he said.
According to police, the men who were arrested all engaged in sexually explicit language with someone they thought was a child and, in some cases either sent, or requested, nude photos.
During the investigation, which ended Sunday, an array of cameras was hidden within the house and outside as well. Much of the time was spent waiting for the men to arrive. One man, after coming in and briefly chatting with the young man he thought he’d been texting with, left the house when Hansen walked into the kitchen. “Oh, Chris,” he said, and turned and walked out the door, only to be taken into custody by Fairfield police detectives.
The suspects were cooperative with police, said Lt. Mike Gagner, head of the detective division.
H/T CTPost.com
