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00:00The following program documents real law enforcement investigations of child sexual predators.
00:05This deeply disturbing content may be triggering for some viewers.
00:09Please watch with care.
00:11The subject is on the northeast corner parking lot.
00:14He's in a parking space.
00:16I got him.
00:16I got eyes on him.
00:19Next, a man turns up to meet two underage boys for sex.
00:25He doesn't know he's walking right into a sting.
00:29Then, Detective Tony Godwin tracks a predator with thousands of illegal images on his phone.
00:35I'd like for you to please stand over here in the kitchen, we're going to search the
00:39house real quick.
00:39Have you ever looked at child pornography?
00:41I've come across it.
00:42And the team takes down a man trying to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.
00:49Hey, Billy.
00:50You sound sweet.
01:00A team of police professionals in North Dallas has one goal.
01:05Take down online predators before they harm a real child.
01:11Child predators are everywhere.
01:12Online predators pose the biggest danger to America's children today.
01:18Kids are being targeted at an alarming rate.
01:21This team is opening its case files for the first time to show you how it tracks them down.
01:28All right, he's coming this way.
01:30And brings them to justice by any means necessary.
01:37This is Detective Tony Godwin and his team is the Predator Hunters.
01:47I grew up in a military family.
01:49We moved around a lot.
01:52At 17, I joined the army.
01:55By 23, I'd left the military and started tracking down criminals on the street.
02:01In 2005, I made detective.
02:03And ever since, I've worked internet crimes against children.
02:07Now that I've got kids of my own, this work, it means everything.
02:11It's personal.
02:13There is nothing I'd rather be doing than saving kids' lives.
02:16I'm surrounded by a team of people who are just as dedicated as I am.
02:21So far, we've put away close to 200 predators.
02:25Most of them are serving 10 years or more.
02:28That's over 2,000 years of prison time.
02:30And we're not done yet.
02:32I call this my wall of shame.
02:34I put every one of these offenders behind bars.
02:37No two of these guys are the same.
02:39Every one of them has a story to tell.
02:41Take this guy for example, James Wade King.
02:44This is the classic guy.
02:46It really took a team effort to get this guy into custody.
02:49But at the end of the day, it worked.
03:00February 13, 2020, Detective Tony Godwin waits in a parking lot for Wade King.
03:07The predator believes he's meeting a 13-year-old girl for sex.
03:12He's convinced she's into him after talking to her on the phone.
03:17Hello?
03:19Hey, Billy.
03:20You sound sweet.
03:24In reality, the girl is an undercover police officer and Wade King is walking into a trap.
03:44The cases I work, there's two kinds.
03:46Proactive and reactive.
03:48In a proactive capacity, I'm putting myself online as a child in the hopes that a predator
03:54is going to reach out to me and talk to me.
03:57Social media platforms, gaming applications and sites, chat rooms, anywhere that kids are
04:03is where I put myself.
04:06Today, Tony is investigating a social media platform called Antiland.
04:11One of the things that they market is the fact that you're anonymous while you're on here.
04:16Age terms of service says you have to be 18, but there's kids all over it.
04:23I set up the vanity name as Dinosaurus13TX, which lets everybody in the rooms know that
04:31my name is Dinah, I'm 13, and I'm from Texas.
04:34And then just put myself out there and start to fish.
04:39Within seconds, I'm just slammed with messages.
04:43One user in particular, his name was Kingfish, he was very interested.
04:47Kingfish opens up with, how old are you?
04:50You ever talk to older guys?
04:52That is a huge red flag.
04:54When I tell him, I'm almost 14, what about you?
04:58Kingfish tells me, probably too old, I'm 45.
05:03A bunch of things run through my head.
05:05Like one, this guy's too comfortable talking to a 13-year-old kid about this.
05:09I can't put myself out there and lead someone into a sexual situation.
05:15Anything that got initiated by me would wipe my case.
05:20Developing the ability to speak like a kid definitely took time.
05:24I have honed that to a pretty decent skill set.
05:28I misspell things, I say words that to adults mean absolutely nothing, and that needs to
05:33be as realistic as possible.
05:35I want to see what direction he's going to take this.
05:38And I say, LOL, why wouldn't I want to talk to you silly?
05:41You seem really sweet.
05:45Kingfish suggests we move over to SMS.
05:49I give him my cell phone number, and he immediately text messages.
06:02Tony hands Wade's name and number to his coworker, Tavey Guthrie.
06:07She is a specialist in unmasking predators.
06:11I'm a digital investigative analyst.
06:13I've been doing this with Tony for about two years now.
06:17I am a little bit of a cyber sleuth.
06:19I started out as 911 operator.
06:22I really credit that to preparing me for what I do now.
06:28When I get a phone number, the first thing I do is just check our local database to see
06:32if we have any records with them.
06:34If they're in our system, then it makes it really easy because we've already verified an
06:39ID for them.
06:39So, our guy is James Wade King, and this guy is a real winner.
06:49He's got prior charges.
06:52He's in the Dallas area.
06:53We've got false report, terroristic threat, interestingly, no prior sex offenses, but I'm
07:02not sure if that's just because he hasn't been caught.
07:09My communications with Wade, they keep going.
07:12Wade begins to ramp things up.
07:17He wants to normalize sexual behavior, bring it down, where a child would feel okay to have
07:23a conversation like that, and then he sends me a text.
07:29He's asking this child about having sex with a grown man.
07:32It's freaking disgusting.
07:35So, I want to feed into his little fantasy.
07:38There's not one doubt in my mind.
07:40This guy is an absolute predator.
07:41He's got to be a real threat to a real child, and I need to get him.
07:45But I need him to make a mistake for me to do that.
07:52Wade decides to send me a photo of himself.
07:56It's a mirror selfie.
07:57The way he's posed himself in this photo to look like a teenage kid, even though he's
08:02a creepy old man, very sexually suggestive.
08:05And then Wade does what most of these predatory types do.
08:11He asks her to produce nude imagery or videos.
08:16Obviously, I can't do that.
08:17I don't look much like a 13-year-old girl.
08:20But fortunately, I do have access to people who do.
08:26I first met Tony about eight years ago.
08:29He came up to me and just said, you look pretty young.
08:32I must have looked so creeped out, like, who is this man?
08:35My coworker was with me, and she kind of gave me a little bit of backstory on him.
08:40And we got to talking, and he asked me if he could maybe use my photos or my voice to
08:46make a profile to talk to predators.
08:50To know that Wade is looking at these photos, it's just disturbing.
08:56But providing my photos to Tony means that these people are looking at a picture of me rather
09:03than a picture of a real child that would be really traumatized.
09:08Tony sends Wade a photo of Audrey taken when she was a young teen.
09:14I kind of make fun of my hair looking kind of crazy.
09:17I immediately say, yeah, I'm sure you don't really like this.
09:20And that's okay.
09:21You can just tell me.
09:22The fact is, I'm just trying to make him buy into the fact that I'm a 13-year-old kid.
09:25with some low self-esteem.
09:27And then he replies immediately.
09:31You don't think bad of me, do you?
09:33I'm like, yes, I do think bad of you.
09:36You're a 45-year-old creepy dude chatting with a 13-year-old girl.
09:40That's a problem.
09:43All I got to do now is just reel him in, because he's wrapped up in this fantasy.
09:51In order for me to get my hands on him, I have to put Wade,
09:55behind the keyboard of the device, with 100% certainty that he is the person that I've been communicating with.
10:05I get the break I need through Wade.
10:09The fact that he suggested a meet in person, he's just crossed the line as far as criminality and his
10:15intent.
10:16And so now that puts together a better case for me.
10:18So I tell him, I am available February 13th.
10:23I'm ready for that meet to take him down and arrest him.
10:26Tony's undercover profile, Dinah, arranges to meet Wade at an apartment complex.
10:38As we're set up for the takedown, Wade throws a curve ball.
10:43Wade wants to have a conversation on the phone.
10:47Tony calls me and he asks me if I can come help him.
10:51Use my voice to convince this man that he has actually been talking to a real child.
11:02Audrey prepares to call child predator Wade King.
11:05She must make him believe that she's 13 years old.
11:10I'm feeling like the weight is on my shoulders if he doesn't believe what I'm saying.
11:17The weight of this is not on you at all.
11:19This is just unnecessary evil.
11:22Audrey was full of nerves.
11:25I told her, you're going to do fine.
11:27Just keep it short.
11:28Keep it sweet.
11:32Hey, Colleen.
11:34You sound sweet.
11:36Oh, my God.
11:38I'm ready.
11:40I'm ready to see you.
11:42I'm coming in the morning.
11:45We're not going to get in trouble, are we?
11:48No, I'm just a little bit nervous.
11:51I'm very nervous.
11:52I don't want to get pregnant or anything.
11:55Oh, that's no, no, no, no, no, no.
11:59It always surprises me that as soon as the men hear my voice, they immediately have this
12:06sigh of relief.
12:07You can hear that their confidence builds and that they are much less nervous to actually
12:12come and meet up with me.
12:14So what time do you want me to come up there?
12:17Well, my mom leaves at like a little bit after nine.
12:21So I'm thinking like, I'll text you when she leaves and I want to take a shower and get
12:26all ready for you.
12:28Okay.
12:30Sleep good.
12:34Audrey nails it with the phone call.
12:36You did a fantastic job.
12:38Like I couldn't have asked for anything better because all he thinks about is the prize.
12:43And the fact that he thinks he's about to score with a real kid, you can just hear how
12:50assured he is.
12:56So the meeting is set for the next day.
12:59The location that I use is one that I have used many, many times over the years.
13:02It's a controlled environment for us because it's a one way in, one way out.
13:06It's a huge operation.
13:08A lot of moving parts, a lot of people, a lot of assignments.
13:11People have to be at the top of their game in order for it to happen and go down perfectly.
13:15And so that Wade doesn't know it's a trap.
13:28735 AM.
13:30I send King a message.
13:38I radio all that information to my team and now we're good to go.
13:45Wade, our guys in the area, there should be a takedown commencing in just a few minutes.
13:51Takedown days are full of angst, concern, worry.
13:57I'm very demanding because I don't want it to go wrong.
14:01I will keep the camera rolling and see when he pulls into the complex.
14:0710-4.
14:10One of Tony's teams spots Wade's black car.
14:14He's heading your way.
14:16Standby.
14:18He just passed on through the house.
14:22Looks like he just pulled in the west entrance.
14:24So he's in the complex.
14:26He's pulling in.
14:27He's pulling into his spot right now.
14:30He's walked right into the trap.
14:33Start moving in.
14:33He's getting out of the car.
14:36Blue jeans.
14:37White hair.
14:40Put hands up.
14:43Put hands up.
14:44Put hands up.
14:45Put the phone down.
14:46Put the phone down.
14:48Put your hands on the car.
14:49Put your hands on the car.
14:50Put your hands on the car.
14:51Don't move.
14:52Hear me?
14:54Don't move.
14:55What have I done?
14:56I'll point to you in a second.
14:57Give me a minute.
14:59All right.
15:00Turn it off the video.
15:00Subject's in custody.
15:04We got him.
15:07My involvement with the case isn't even close to being done because now I have to go interrogate
15:11him.
15:13It's my favorite part of the job.
15:15This case came to me as a report that there was something not right going on online involving
15:22a 13-year-old girl.
15:24He's got an open posture through a good portion of it, but you can just tell like he's got
15:28stress all over him.
15:29Like he is freaking out inside as he should be freaking out.
15:34Do you understand that?
15:35How long?
15:3513.
15:37He does like this Oscar award winning performance.
15:41I'm just, I'm scared to death.
15:44He puts his hand on his face.
15:46Complete garbage.
15:47He's doing that for the camera and for no other reason.
15:52I'm just, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in shock.
15:56I want him to admit what he did.
15:58I want to put some closure to this.
16:00And so that's my goal.
16:01Yeah, I need, I need an attorney.
16:03You don't want to talk to me?
16:04No.
16:05No.
16:07Okay.
16:08That's your choice.
16:11You're going to be filed on for online solicitation of a minor for a child under 14.
16:20I can't talk to him any further, but that's fine.
16:23I know that I've got enough evidence against this guy to put him away for a very long time.
16:37There's one small piece of good news with this.
16:39King has been sentenced.
16:41He's behind bars.
16:42There's one less predator out there to prey on kids.
16:46Me and my team, we just move on and get to the next one because there's plenty more where that
16:50came from.
16:52April 7th, 2022.
16:55A tip-off leads Tony to a new target.
16:58He turns out to be a collector of some of the worst child sexual abuse material Tony's ever seen.
17:04Have you ever looked at child pornography?
17:06I've come across here.
17:07To bring him to justice, Tony must hit two locations at the same time.
17:13We have a search warrant for your residence.
17:15I need to see this, and I need to see that.
17:18A single misstep could give the predator the chance to destroy the evidence of his horrific crime.
17:28Jared Capizzi.
17:30This guy had one of the largest and sickest collections of child pornography that I've ever seen.
17:36This case focuses on the methods used by these predators when they're sharing child sex abuse material,
17:41and how we detect them doing it.
17:53This case begins on March 28th of 2022 when I receive a series of cyber tips.
17:58We call this a reactive case.
18:01Cyber tips are the benchmark for alerting law enforcement that there is online activities either involving some sort of exploitation
18:10involving a child,
18:11or child sex abuse material, which we call CSAM.
18:16A member of the public or one of the electronic service providers reports CSAM through the National Center for Missing
18:22and Exploded Children,
18:23which we call NECMEC.
18:25In this case, the NECMEC cyber tip relates to 31 files that were flagged and uploaded to a cloud storage
18:32system.
18:33NECMEC already identified the classification as a parent-child pornography.
18:38When I download the files, they are absolutely horrific, involving very, very small prepubescent children.
18:46Anyone, in my opinion, who downloads this type of material is an absolute threat to children,
18:51and is someone that I'm going to put behind bars.
18:56And in this case, because it's provided in the NECMEC tip, I know who this target is, and his name
19:02is Jared Capizzi.
19:12To build the case against predator Jared Capizzi, Tony brings in trusted fellow detective Robert Galladay.
19:21We're academy mates. We've been the best of friends for over 30 years.
19:25He really does a great job on the forensic side of the house.
19:29The information search on Jared Capizzi brings up that Capizzi is a habitual offender.
19:35He has convictions for drug possession, forgery, fraud.
19:39He's also on parole. He's living at his mother's house.
19:42We didn't find any previous convictions for crimes against children.
19:51One of the big concerns we had with Capizzi is the fact that he has a child of his own.
19:56He has a son.
19:58Anyone who's in a position of trust or authority who has access or availability to a child pushes them up
20:03higher on the chain.
20:06I know Capizzi is our guy that has uploaded the 31 files from the NECMEC CyberTip.
20:12The problem I have is this. He has access to a cloud account on a device, which means he has
20:17access to a cloud account potentially on multiple devices.
20:21If I don't get all of those devices, Capizzi could remotely wipe that material from the devices that are in
20:28our possession.
20:29So it's vital that I get all of the devices at the same time.
20:35So the simplest way for me to get the most updated information about Capizzi is to reach out to the
20:41parole office.
20:43The parole officer tells me that Capizzi is doing great.
20:48He reports regularly. He checks in. He has a steady job with a construction company. He's living with his mom.
20:55The parole officer also tells me that he does not have his son living with him, that the child lives
21:02in another location with the mother.
21:04So luck is on my side. Capizzi is scheduled for a urinalysis test to be in compliance with his bond
21:13conditions or his parole conditions on drug use.
21:18And so I'm like, great. I know where he'll be. I know when he will be there.
21:24And now all I do is basically hatch the plan on how I'm going to get him and what I'm
21:28going to do with him.
21:29I need to get all of the devices from the mom's address. So this is going to be a really
21:34unusual takedown.
21:35I have to have teams at two different locations in two different parts of the city at the exact same
21:41time.
21:443.15 p.m. The operation begins. Tony waits to intercept Capizzi at the probation office.
21:52At the same time, Detective Galladay prepares to search his home. Timing is critical.
21:58What's really vital for me as far as coordinating goes is that I have my hands on Capizzi before the
22:05home is hit.
22:07But Capizzi is late. By 3.30, there's no sign of him.
22:123.40, my concern is growing. If I don't get all of those devices, Capizzi or really somebody else could
22:20remotely wipe that material, causing a big problem for me.
22:25At 3.45, the parole officer updates Tony that Capizzi has arrived.
22:33How are you, man? Good, how are you?
22:34Have a seat forward real quick.
22:36When Capizzi enters the room, we confiscate two phones in his possession.
22:40I need to see this.
22:41I need to see that.
22:42Can I explain to you what's going on?
22:44So the two phones are immediately handed off to another detective who's there with me.
22:48His responsibility is to get them to be processed.
22:51I'm going to have a chat about something, and I'll kind of explain to you what's going on.
22:56He has absolutely no idea why we are there.
23:02While Tony grills Capizzi, Detective Galladay executes the warrant to search his residence.
23:08Capizzi's mother meets the officers outside.
23:11She is unaware of what her son has concealed.
23:15My name's Robert Galladay, and we have a search warrant for your residence.
23:18And so that's what we're here to do is we're searching for computers, cell phones, and stuff like that.
23:26So what we're going to do is we're going to walk in the house.
23:29I'd like for you to please stand over here in the kitchen.
23:31We're going to search the house real quick.
23:32At the parole office, my interviewing and interrogation of Capizzi has started.
23:38Here's my card. I work internet crimes against children.
23:41I advise him of his legal rights.
23:44He waives his rights, he signs a document, and our conversation begins.
23:51Jared, so listen, when I tell you that I work internet crimes against children,
23:55does that give you any reason why I would be contacting you?
24:02In the beginning, he's providing information, he's seemingly pretty chill.
24:07Do you look at pornography on your phone?
24:09Yeah.
24:10Adult pornography?
24:11Yeah.
24:11Have you ever looked at child pornography?
24:12I've come across it.
24:13Okay.
24:14And where would you be when you would come across it?
24:18I mean, I've had people send me stuff inadvertently.
24:22I didn't know that's what it was.
24:23Somebody sent me a link to their mega counter or whatever.
24:26Like, I saw a lot of stuff and I was like, oh, because I didn't, I mean, that's how I
24:29didn't ask for it.
24:30Capizzi makes an admission that he downloaded this random link,
24:34which contained a large amount of child sex abuse material.
24:40He frames it as though it was an inadvertent download.
24:44I know from my training, those are directed links, typically coming at a request of someone who's requesting this particular
24:52type of material.
24:54There's no point in him lying to us anymore.
24:56Just give it up.
24:57We already know.
25:00Detective Tony Godwin grills Jared Capizzi after a cyber tip revealed he'd shared CSAM, child sexual abuse material.
25:10What I'm talking about isn't a gray area.
25:12I'm talking about when you see it at a glimpse, you know automatically this is a very small young kid.
25:23The fact that it contained far more imagery than I even was aware of was a very telling statement.
25:41Tony confronts Capizzi with the images that the cyber tip flagged as CSAM.
25:47Do you remember sending those pictures?
25:48Not all of those, no.
25:49Some of them?
25:50The ones that look familiar, you said.
25:54So you've sent those and who did you send those to?
25:56Yeah.
25:58Somebody, you know, asked me for them.
26:00Yeah.
26:01So I mean, that's him.
26:02I mean, like, hey, let's share pictures, whatever.
26:04And then I'm like, all right, what do you want to see it?
26:06The minute we go into interrogation mode, which is more pointed to the actual crime that I'm interested in, his
26:14tune changes considerably.
26:17So here's the deal.
26:18I told you we have a warrant to record anything electronic, anything capable of storing digital media.
26:24That's not only for here, you and your person, but it's for your home as well.
26:37When we go to the house, the mom's not very happy that we're there, obviously.
26:41It's because the police just barged into her house, and we're talking to tell her what her son has done,
26:48and she doesn't believe us.
26:50Holy .
26:51You obviously saw what the warrant is for.
26:54Yes.
26:55Okay.
26:55I cannot believe any of this.
26:57He's already admitted to it, and admitted to downloading it, and sharing it.
27:02We start searching all the drawers, all the closets, under the bed, on the bed, everywhere we could look that
27:08an electronic device could be hidden.
27:10And we found two phones, three tablets, two computers, and two thumb drives.
27:17Detective Galladay uses digital forensic software to scan the recovered devices.
27:22The process takes 60 minutes.
27:25If CSAM is on them, the software will find it.
27:30So the special software we use when scanning these devices has identified over 2,000 items of child sex abuse
27:38material and over 8,500 images.
27:42Those images and videos found on Capizzi's device included the 31 files that were uploaded and sent to me through
27:50NECMEC and the CyberTip.
27:51At that point, we take him into custody and put him under arrest.
27:55Out of the 18-plus images I showed you, or more than that, they're on here.
28:02Which means I've got to take you with me.
28:04Oh, please, sir.
28:05Come on, man.
28:07Oh, my God.
28:11I'm not going to touch this.
28:12I'm not going to touch this.
28:13I'm not going to touch this.
28:13I'm just going to make sure you're going to get this.
28:14No, I'm not doing this, man.
28:15Come on, shut up.
28:16Come on.
28:17.
28:23If I go away, my mom is going to be my 80-year-old mother's, and we left at home
28:28all by herself.
28:33My son's going to lose his phone.
28:35Oh, my God.
28:36I can't believe this.
28:38He throws out the blame game, how now his mom's going to be alone, his kid's going to
28:42lose his father.
28:43And those things are going to happen, but it's because of his own actions that he doesn't
28:47want to take responsibility for.
28:48I mean, I don't think myself is a paraphernal.
28:52I'm not doing anything to kids.
28:53That imagery is the worst day of that child's life.
28:58It's a visual depiction of a child being exploited and sexually abused and molested.
29:04It's a day in the life of that child that never goes away.
29:11He is a predator.
29:12He is a monster.
29:14He damaged more children by sharing the material that he got.
29:19And he absolutely got what he deserved.
29:29That's him walking into the entrance now.
29:32July 27th, 2017.
29:35Tony and his partner, Detective Brandon Poor, are conducting surveillance in a North Dallas
29:41parking lot.
29:42They're monitoring a suspect who believes he's meeting two teenage boys for sex.
29:48He's confident enough to stop and buy condoms on the way.
29:52All right.
29:53He's out.
29:54He's looking hard.
29:55He's out in the front.
29:58His arrest is one of the most dramatic takedowns of Tony's career.
30:07The predator in this next case is the sickest dirtbag I've ever had the misfortune of dealing
30:13with.
30:15William Potter.
30:16This guy was prolific online and super cautious too.
30:21To catch him, my coworker and I had to run two undercover profiles at the same time to lure
30:27this guy out.
30:34July 10th of 2017, I got a phone call from Brandon Poor, one of my colleagues on the task force.
30:40And he began to give me some details about target he's identified that was in my particular area.
30:47Brandon works undercover cases for a neighboring agency.
30:51I basically got him trained up, pointed in the right direction, and he hit the ground running and took off
30:58like a rocket.
31:00I joined the crimes against children unit in 2014.
31:04I love the work.
31:05It's the best spot in the entire policing industry.
31:08It's the place where you get truly innocent victims and you make an impact for life.
31:19Detective Brandon Poor briefs Tony on a suspected predator he's found online.
31:26Brandon tells me that he had responded to a pretty crazy Craigslist ad.
31:33Okay, so this is the ad I responded to.
31:37I'm looking for a son that wants to play.
31:41I'm open to almost anything that feels good, including touching, body contact, cuddle, being , etc.
31:4918 to mid 20s is a plus, but open to all.
31:53Some problematic stuff in there, yeah?
31:55Boy.
31:57Yeah, the 18 to 20s, but open to all.
31:59That was enough for me to know.
32:01Yeah, he tries to be a little ambiguous, but it's pretty clear what he's looking for.
32:07I suspect he's had some success.
32:10If he's so bold to put all that in there, you know?
32:14And you replied to this ad?
32:16I did.
32:20When I saw the ad on Craigslist, I created a profile of a young underage boy named Ethan,
32:28and sent an email in response to his ad.
32:34He introduced himself as Joe Richards.
32:37I know from experience and just doing this for so long that Joe Richards is probably not his name.
32:43I told him that I have a cousin.
32:47He told me that I should tell him I was 18.
32:50Putting in parentheses, hint, hint.
32:58It was clear in his communications that he wanted to do things that would be harmful to children.
33:04He is very dangerous.
33:08Knowing that he's in Tony's backyard, I call Tony and tell him we need to team up.
33:18On July 2017, I created a new undercover profile of a 14-year-old boy named Adam.
33:24And this is Ethan's cousin.
33:26I email Joe Richards as Ethan.
33:30And make an introduction to my cousin.
33:33This is really unique.
33:35Two undercover boy profiles with the same subject.
33:40Joe Richards bites.
33:42I'm trying to just be kind of chill and coy and cool.
33:47But seem appealing enough that he'll want to continue to talk.
33:51So now I want to show that I am a vulnerable kid who's confused about my sexuality.
34:01The particular message about being discreet and secret, it's a huge red flag.
34:08I'm ready to see if this guy's interested in a meet.
34:12I do that by telling him, like, oh, hey, I told you, Ethan's coming to stay next week.
34:17He is very, very excited.
34:19He suggests that we meet July 27th of 2017.
34:25At this point, he thinks he's hit the lottery.
34:29He has scored so big in his own mind, he's going to have a sexual encounter with two boys at
34:35the same time.
34:36This dude is over the moon.
34:39What Joe asked me next kind of shocks me a little bit.
34:43He asked me to go shopping.
34:46Who does he think he is to get this kid go buy condoms for his own sexual assault?
34:53I tell him I'm afraid.
34:55He tells me that's fine, he will do it, but I have to pay him back.
34:59What a cheap ass.
35:01It just shows the real depravity of this guy's brain.
35:11We're trying to find out Joe Richards' real identity.
35:14We subpoena Craigslist.
35:16We get back a treasure trove of records, including postings that he's made for the last year.
35:22All very similar to the one that I responded to as Ethan.
35:27The true identity of the person who's made these posts is William Potter.
35:39Here's our guy, William Potter.
35:42We find out he was arrested by Waco PD on March 31st of 2017.
35:46And he was charged at that time with online solicitation of a minor.
35:50Investigators in Waco later dropped the charge.
35:53And Potter is convicted of no crime in relation to that case.
35:57At the time of that arrest, his computer and cell phone had been seized.
36:02We find out that this guy's been handled by three different agencies.
36:06So we want to make sure that we get our hands on him as quickly as possible.
36:13Tony is hunting suspected child predator William Potter.
36:17There's an exchange of messages between Potter and I about where and how to meet.
36:21And I suggest a local store that's down the street from my house.
36:26The reason I picked that particular store is he's familiar with the area.
36:31And it gives me and my team tactical advantage.
36:35We can sit up and watch and have the capability of doing a safe takedown.
36:40Guy asked Joe, like, how am I going to know if you're there or not?
36:43What are you in?
36:46And he describes a 1991 Pontiac Firebird with blue wheels.
36:50Really specific, really random car.
36:52Going to be super easy to spot.
37:01This is Detective Godwin and Detective Poore.
37:04This is the arrest of William Ross Potter.
37:08White male, 9-26-1957.
37:10Scheduled time of arrival is 9 o'clock.
37:13We don't have to wait long because he does not live far from this location.
37:18He's the only car on that road.
37:20Y'all can't miss him when y'all roll in.
37:22I'll let you know when he gets out.
37:26The subject is on the northeast corner.
37:28He's in a parking space.
37:29Looks like he will be, as expected, walking into the store where I have a covert officer.
37:35Potter sits in his car for just a minute, just assessing the situation.
37:39And at one point, he exits the vehicle and he begins to walk into the store.
37:46That's him walking into the entrance now.
37:48We're walking out the parking lot, looking around.
37:50I guess he's looking for his targets.
37:58My covert officer, he's identified our subject on the aisle with condoms.
38:04I'll let you know when he comes out.
38:06If he does go to purchase the condoms, it's magnificent evidence it will be used against him.
38:14Stand by, he's walking towards the front.
38:17Potter pays for the condoms.
38:18He's about to exit the store and be arrested.
38:24All right, he's out.
38:25He's looking hard. He's out in the front.
38:27I got him. I got eyes on him.
38:29Everybody get ready.
38:31As he exits the store, we're watching him.
38:35All right, he's almost to the car.
38:38I'll probably go ahead and get him to start rolling.
38:40What happens next is crazy to me.
38:43Hold on. Stand by.
38:45He's running.
38:46He's running.
38:48Oh, he's running.
38:51He's running.
39:00Potter is very unhappy about his arrest.
39:05He is moaning and groaning, making a big production.
39:08I have zero sympathy for him at this point.
39:13Mr. Potter.
39:15My name's Tony Godwin.
39:16This is Detective Poore.
39:18We want to have a conversation with you.
39:22We have to go through this rights waiver process.
39:25I'm not waiving any rights.
39:26I'm sorry?
39:27I'm not waiving any rights or anything like that.
39:29Well, that's your choice.
39:31You're a grown man, so...
39:35When can I see a lawyer?
39:37That is totally on you, sir.
39:40Potter invokes his Miranda rights, which he's very entitled to do.
39:43It was wildly disappointing for me, for him to do that.
39:47I almost take it as a personal failure that I could not convince this guy to have a conversation with
39:54me.
39:55So, Potter is afforded an opportunity to use the phone, and does, and calls his wife.
40:00To accept this call, press 1.
40:04Call accepted.
40:05Call accepted.
40:06That's okay.
40:08I can't.
40:08It's not that way I was kind of set up.
40:14I don't want to go downtown, and I don't want anybody to know about this.
40:19I can't talk, but...
40:21I know you can't.
40:23Or, Grinta, I know I'm very, very upset.
40:26Well, you shouldn't be.
40:28Well, I am.
40:31I feel bad for his wife.
40:34because her life just absolutely fractured in half.
40:39Her world just collapsed with this news.
40:42I feel for her because now she has no choice
40:45but to live with the actions of her stupid husband.
40:52My takeaway from the Potter case is he's just a bad guy.
40:56He wanted to meet a minor boy for sex no matter the cost,
41:00and it was clear that he wouldn't stop until we had to stop him.
41:16This case shows that predators like William Potter, they do exist,
41:20and that is why I do the job that I do.
41:25My team and I, we have one mission and one mission only,
41:28keeping America's children safe.
41:33To all the bad guys out there committing these crimes,
41:36you better sit up and take notice.
41:38The predator hunters are coming for you.
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