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00:00The following program documents real law enforcement investigations of child sexual predators.
00:06This deeply disturbing content may be triggering for some viewers.
00:09Please watch with care.
00:11Next, a predator thinks he's meeting a woman to have sex with her nine-year-old niece.
00:17Come here.
00:18You ready to take him?
00:20He has no idea that a police helicopter is tracking his every move.
00:25Put your hands up!
00:26Hands up!
00:28I was coming to see a girl.
00:30Then, Detective Tony Godwin searches the home of a special education teacher.
00:35Do you have any reason to believe why we would be here?
00:38Not really.
00:39And makes a shocking discovery.
00:41It was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my entire life.
00:47And the team hunts down a predator who makes a chilling admission.
00:51To tell me the truth, you were going to come have sex with this kid today.
00:55To be honest, I was hoping yes.
00:58A team of police professionals in North Dallas has one goal.
01:03Take down online predators before they harm a real child.
01:09Child predators are everywhere.
01:11Online predators pose the biggest danger to America's children today.
01:16Kids are being targeted at an alarming rate.
01:19This team is opening its case files for the first time to show you how it tracks them down.
01:27All right, he's coming this way.
01:28And brings them to justice.
01:30By any means necessary.
01:33Candle card.
01:35This is Detective Tony Godwin.
01:38And his team is...
01:40The Predator Hunters.
01:43All right, DPS 101.
01:44I think I got him.
01:46May 2020.
01:47A police helicopter tracks a pickup truck through Plano, Texas.
01:52We are still headed southbound into the complex.
01:55The Predator behind the wheel believes he's catfished this woman to supply him with a minor for sex.
02:03And I started recording him.
02:05You have a nice, sexy little baby girl voice.
02:09He thinks he's meeting her nine-year-old niece.
02:12He has no idea that he's the one being catfished.
02:16And that Detective Tony Godwin and his team are about to take him down.
02:21Get your hands up!
02:27This guy right here, John Anselet, this is a case I will never ever forget.
02:32He used a dating app to groom an adult woman who was there just looking for a normal relationship.
02:40He flipped that into a conversation about engaging in sex with children?
02:45To catch this guy, I had to catfish the catfisher.
02:57The case begins in January of 2020.
03:00At its heart is a 44-year-old woman named Shonda Kulig.
03:04She reported a man named Sven she met on a dating site as a potential child predator.
03:10I invite Shonda to my office to discuss this.
03:13And little do I know, this will be one of the most complex cases I've ever worked.
03:19How did you meet this guy, Sven?
03:21Yeah, I met him on Tinder.
03:23And we started just kind of chatting.
03:26He's very flirtatious.
03:31Then he started sending me like a lot of pictures.
03:33Which I thought was nice because a lot of guys don't do that.
03:36He just looks like an everyday, normal dude.
03:41Young, athletic, good looking.
03:46Everything up at this point is looking really somewhat normal to me.
03:50But then, tell me about this.
03:55And then all of a sudden it kind of took another really weird turn.
04:00He started talking about how he was hooking up with his mom.
04:05I was sitting there in shock.
04:07Like, I have no clue what is happening with this guy right now.
04:10At first I was wondering like, is this a fantasy?
04:12But then he went to another level.
04:15He said, I know I will my real daughter when I have one.
04:21And then he said at 11 to 13, they were so horny.
04:25And then he said, yes, I have let one me that was 12.
04:29I'm a daddy to them.
04:30And he was like, can you kiss the 11 year olds and help me train them?
04:36I sat there shocked and went, what the actual heck is happening right now?
04:42If he's saying these things, is he doing these things?
04:45I'm thinking, how can I hunt the sucker down?
04:49I just flat out asked him, what's your last name?
04:54And he just tells me, Melanson.
04:56So I was like, perfect.
04:59I'm downloading our chat.
05:01I'm downloading the pictures that he's sending.
05:03And then he tells me he has a friend that he would love to introduce me to.
05:09His name was John.
05:13And then my phone is ringing.
05:20I knew when I heard the phone ring to grab my other phone and start recording.
05:24I don't know how the heck I knew to do that.
05:27Oh, I love your voice.
05:29Oh my God.
05:30Yeah, you have a great phone voice.
05:33He says, hey, this is John.
05:36I'm the friend of Sven.
05:38And then his next words were like, oh my God, your voice is so sexy.
05:44Yeah, this totally new.
05:46This is going to be different.
05:49So it kind of sounded kind of interesting though, didn't it?
05:52It's interesting.
05:53Yeah, definitely.
05:54So you're ready to be trained though, aren't you?
05:57Mm-hmm.
05:59Yeah.
06:00You do have a nice, sexy little baby girl voice.
06:05The creepiness of his voice is a first thought.
06:08Honestly, it made me never want to be on the phone again for a while.
06:12Yeah.
06:13I know how difficult that call really was for you.
06:16I could just see your reaction to it.
06:18What happened next after the call?
06:20At this point is when I contacted the police.
06:25I'm really proud of what you did and the perseverance you had trying to figure this out.
06:29You'd be surprised how many people don't do that.
06:34I begin my investigation into Sven Mallinson and his friend John.
06:39It's happened so fast, so quickly with two predators with the same woman.
06:43I'm wondering, have I latched onto some sort of underground perverted network of people?
06:48The reality is that Sven and John are grooming Shonda because that's the tactic.
06:55They groom the adult first so they get access to the child.
07:00I've got names.
07:01I have phone numbers for both of these guys.
07:03I give all of this information and intelligence that I have right now to Tady Guthrie.
07:09She's the crime analyst in my unit and we're going to build this case together.
07:16Tony's given me a number for John.
07:18And with that number, I'm able to serve a subpoena to AT&T for their records.
07:24AT&T does come back with records on that number for a John Anselet.
07:33I run John Anselet through some police databases that I have.
07:37What I found was really disturbing.
07:39In 1997, detectives from Dallas PD arrested Anselet for aggravated sexual assault of a child.
07:47He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault causing bodily injury.
07:53So now check out Sven Mallinson.
07:55I find out that his phone number is a voice over internet line.
07:59Which means that it's using internet protocol instead of a cellular network.
08:05This makes it hard to trace, but not impossible.
08:08His internet IP address comes back to an address in Pottsboro.
08:13But shockingly, it's not just an address because it's actually John Anselet's address.
08:19We're not looking for Sven and John.
08:23John is the guy.
08:25And I think Sven is not anyone of importance to us.
08:31We dig deeper into Sven Mallinson's background.
08:33We find no link whatsoever between him and John Anselet.
08:38John Anselet used Sven Mallinson's name together with photos of another man to create the dating profile.
08:47That's super rare.
08:48I've come across only one other predator in my entire career who's done that.
08:53The fact that he victimized a whole other person that had nothing to do with this is double trouble.
08:59This guy, John Anselet, he's a pretty smart predator.
09:02I have a plan to catch him.
09:04The last way he would ever expect, I'm going to catfish the catfisher.
09:10Shonda gives Tony permission to use her cell phone.
09:14Tony picks up the conversation with John where she left it.
09:19The predator messages around the clock seven days a week.
09:23So I continue to exchange messages back and forth with John.
09:28He quickly turns the conversation really sexual about minors.
09:33This is my opportunity to lure him in.
09:37When John replies, you're going to see what his true intentions really were from the start.
09:45Can I love her and have her sexually?
09:49How many people are going to offer up a child that they have access to?
09:53And so I have to reply and be very cautious in what I say.
09:59This is the beginning of a long waiting game.
10:02Over the next two months, Tony, posing as Shonda, exchanges thousands of messages with John.
10:10Finally, Monday, April 27th, all my patience pays off.
10:15John sends a message.
10:19I want to make love to her on the first meeting. Holy moly.
10:23He's now making it very clear that he wants the niece.
10:27That's really huge.
10:29I have to give him something really plausible.
10:31I say, I'm dog sitting for a girlfriend in Plano.
10:34I'm planning to keep my niece overnight on Friday.
10:41This has taken me a couple of months to get to this point.
10:44And I'm super excited because on Friday, May the 8th,
10:47I'm going to get my chance to arrest this guy and get him into custody.
10:51This takedown, it's going to happen in Plano, Texas.
10:56This takedown is really unprecedented.
10:59Covert surveillance, air surveillance, takedown team.
11:03There's so many moving parts.
11:09All right, DPS 101, I think I got him.
11:13At 2.36 PM, I get notified that Anselet has left his property.
11:17And over a white Dodge Ram, left lane.
11:20I've got a live feed of this from a police helicopter.
11:23DPS 101, no change, southbound 75, left lane.
11:27I'm glued to my phone watching this white truck drive southbound on an eight lane highway.
11:31All right, he's setting up to exit park.
11:34Stand by for direction.
11:36When Anselet's about a mile away, the worst case happens.
11:40Lost digital for a second here at 15th and 75.
11:45I'm flipping out at this point.
11:48It feels like 12 months is going by in slow motion.
11:57It's agonizing.
11:59Cut areas.
12:0010-4, sir. Thank you.
12:02I got him. Eastbound 15th.
12:04Anselet keeps moving.
12:05He's very, very close to our takedown location.
12:09It looks like he's going to go eastbound on 14th from P Avenue.
12:15And then out of nowhere, he takes a quick right into this industrial area.
12:20I took a right turn.
12:23He's behind a cement truck.
12:25I don't know what this guy's doing.
12:27All right, he's getting out.
12:28I got a white male, gray long-sleeve shirt, red shorts.
12:33Miller Drive, M-I-L-L-A-R-D Drive.
12:41Tony's takedown of John Anselet hangs in the balance after the Predator makes an unscheduled stop.
12:47I don't have a clue what Anselet's doing.
12:49He gets out of his truck and he walks around to the passenger side.
12:53I'm thinking the worst case scenario possible.
12:56He's got a long gun, pistols, plenty of ammo, and he's setting up to hurt one of my guys.
13:0232-81.
13:03He had shorts on.
13:04He looked like he was carrying a pair of pants.
13:08Anselet changes clothes, puts pants on, and immediately drives away.
13:13All right, DPS-101, he's on the move again.
13:15It's like he's going to face back northbound and head out.
13:17If you look at this for what it is, this is a grown man who's getting himself dressed up for
13:24a meeting to have sex with a nine-year-old female.
13:28All right, we are still headed southbound into the complex.
13:33When Anselet pulls into the apartment complex, he literally drives right in front of me and has no idea that
13:39I'm there.
13:41Okay, we got him in the complex.
13:43Plano squad cars head on with him right now.
13:45Plano squad cars head on with him right now.
13:49When a marked police car from Plano PD drives right past him, I think he's going to punch the gas
13:58and haul butt out of there.
13:59The squad car does a U-turn.
14:03Activates their lights and sirens, and they initiate the stop.
14:14Officers just descend on his vehicle, and they pull him out.
14:19I'll explain it to you in just a second.
14:22I was coming to see a girl.
14:23You are? Yes.
14:25When Anselet says he's just there to see a girl, he knows he's caught.
14:30But he somehow wants to portray to these cops that, hey, this is just a very innocent thing.
14:35Like, what is going on?
14:37I'm sure Tony's wrapped up, but if that's all you all need from us, we're going to clear.
14:42Yeah, Anselet.
14:49I have my wallet and everything in that car.
14:52Hey, his wallet's in the car.
14:54And my phone.
14:55His wallet and his phone are in the car.
14:57My hope is that every bit of evidence that has built this case is right there on Anselet's phone, and
15:03that's something that we'll do a forensic exam on.
15:05Can I have my phone also?
15:07Uh, you'll get that over there.
15:11A forensic search of Anselet's phone reveals that he used Fen Mallinson's name in photos of another man.
15:18He admits that he did speak to a woman online, to speaking sexually to this woman, and talking sexually with
15:25her about her niece.
15:27But he claims he was never going to do anything at all about that.
15:31I have my report here, and I can tell you specifically what he said.
15:36I have a lady who is sending me sexual pictures of her.
15:39I sent no sexual pictures to her.
15:41I'm very clear on meeting her today that my intentions were only to meet her.
15:46No, John.
15:48I have four months of communications with this guy that speak very, very differently as to the position he's taking.
16:04If there's one thing that I could take away from this case, is I'm going to talk about Shonda, her
16:09bravery, her vulnerability, her ability to put herself on a different level to say, this is wrong, and I'm going
16:16to do something about it.
16:17We always see and hear and preach, see something, say something, and she did.
16:26You stupid.
16:28I knew it.
16:29May 9th, 2023.
16:32As soon as I park in.
16:34Tony grills an online predator.
16:37You spoke very openly and very candidly that you've had a sexual encounter with another kid.
16:43What will a lie detector test reveal about his sickening admission?
16:48Are you withholding information about meeting a minor for sex?
16:55Russell Stedman.
16:57This guy looks like every normal dude on the street.
16:59This guy can write a master class on how to groom a child.
17:03He did everything he could to communicate and have sex with a 13-year-old kid.
17:07But at the end of the day, I was able to get this guy into custody.
17:18The case starts on Christmas Eve 2022, even though it's Christmas time.
17:23I'm proactively hunting for predators on an app called Chat Hour.
17:29Chat Hour is a free site that anybody can download.
17:32It allows you to enter chat rooms based on a category that you have an interest in.
17:38I establish a new profile for the name Bailey, a 13-year-old female from North Texas.
17:43I list her age on the platform as being 80 years old.
17:48It's definitely an icebreaker for sure.
17:50Clearly, I'm not 80. I'm 13.
17:52Tony cannot reveal Bailey's profile picture.
17:56He uses it today in active investigations.
18:00I find a room called Flirting and I just wait.
18:04So within minutes, I get a private message from a user and his name is Dive In It.
18:11I look at this guy's profile picture.
18:13He is definitely a middle-aged man.
18:18I reply back, yeah, I do.
18:21I'm 13. Is that okay?
18:24He comes at me with this, are you alone?
18:27Just wondering who's with you.
18:28Why would he want to know this?
18:30He really wants to know who's paying attention.
18:33I tell him my mom and my aunt are here and my little cousin.
18:37This guy really has moved to the top of the list for me.
18:39I want to figure out what's going on with him.
18:45What I need is just a little bit of proof that he's into more than just sending a dirty message
18:50to a kid.
18:52The best way for me to make that connection is what happens if I ghost him.
18:56It's Christmas Eve and I can just leave it alone and then come back and say I was with family.
19:03I stay off chat hour for three weeks.
19:06The next time I log in, it's January 12th of 2023.
19:12Within 20 minutes, dive in it, he's right back to messaging me.
19:16He's definitely into this.
19:18I start re-engaging with him.
19:23And then he tells me how he was divorced in 2019.
19:26And he wished we could talk more.
19:28He's classically using a couple of different techniques.
19:31Let's love bomb this kid, but then also let's guilt trip this kid.
19:37The reality is that kind of techniques works very well with children
19:41because they don't have the bandwidth to really detect that manipulation that's going on.
19:47And so it's effective.
19:48I'm 100% positive this guy's a predator.
19:56Tony hunts for clues that can unmask a predator with the user name DiveInit.
20:02I don't have an awful lot to go on.
20:05I've got his user name, DiveInit.
20:07I've got these three different photographs of this guy on his chat hour profile.
20:12But I need a little more.
20:16I offer up a cell phone number and see if he wants to move over to regular SMS messaging.
20:24And much to my surprise, he's okay.
20:29Now I've got this phone number, I can now figure out, is Russell a real name?
20:36I've got the best person on the planet that can help me do that deep dive.
20:39I reach out to my colleague, Tavey Guthrie.
20:47Tony gave me a first name and a phone number, and my tools gave me exactly what I needed.
20:52A full name for this guy, Russell Wayne Steadman.
20:59His social media has just very normal photos.
21:03He looks kind of like a regular average Joe.
21:07Just from what his conversations with Tony have been, we know that this guy is dangerous.
21:11So it's important for us to go ahead and look at his criminal history.
21:16And he does have two convictions that I can see.
21:22And none of those actually have anything to do with crimes against children.
21:26They're all things like theft.
21:28So I really need to tell Tony about this.
21:37The longer this chat goes on, the more frequent Steadman is messaging me.
21:44The disturbing part is that he puts pressure on her.
21:47Don't tell anybody.
21:51And then Steadman drops a bombshell on me.
21:59This guy tells me that he's had a three month sexual relationship with a 16 year old kid.
22:04Holy moly.
22:05This is crazy.
22:07This changes everything for me.
22:09Even though Steadman doesn't have a prior conviction for something like this.
22:13It's really grounds for serious concern for me because he could have gone unnoticed and nobody knows about this case
22:19yet.
22:20I'm really worried.
22:26And Steadman ramps it up.
22:28He wants to use her bedroom.
22:31Oh my God, really?
22:34I respond and I tell him that she works on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
22:40He doesn't miss a beat.
22:43That tells me that his impulse control is gone.
22:48I might not have much time to get this guy before he grabs a real kid or does something with
22:53a real kid.
22:54I text back and tell him, tomorrow, totally fine.
23:03So the meet is set for May 9th.
23:05My team and I are in place by 6.45 in the morning.
23:08We are set up on an online solicitation of a minor case.
23:11Russell Wayne Steadman has agreed to show up to engage in sexual activities with what he believes to be a
23:1814-year-old girl.
23:21I'm at the back of the complex where I have a visual of where Steadman is going to park.
23:26With me on this takedown is Jen Mulliken from FBI.
23:31I'm trying to take the case federal to have it charged as an attempted enticement case versus an online solicitation,
23:37which is a state charge.
23:38It's a different level of proof he has to show up in order to be charged federally, but it also
23:44is a major sentencing difference.
23:47I'm continually texting him, letting him know, hey, my mom just left.
23:54He replies back, I just don't want us to get in trouble.
23:58Immediately, I get a sick feel in my gut, like, ugh, this guy's going to back out.
24:07Tony sends a message saying, don't bother coming. That's absolutely textbook. It's giving them an out, and oftentimes they don't
24:16want to possibly lose a real thing.
24:19So they show up.
24:227.33 a.m.
24:25I get a notification from the team on the outside that says, hey, we see his truck.
24:317.35 a.m., Tony's team lies in wait for Russell Steadman.
24:37Okay, this looks like our subject just arrived.
24:40Any part?
24:42Yes, next to the tree, by the mailbox.
24:45He's getting in.
24:47He's out.
24:51He's out.
24:56How about this?
24:59Put your hands on the truck.
25:02Hang on.
25:07Come on, this guy, sir.
25:08Get out.
25:11officers are able to get onto that car and they find a bunch of great evidence they find his
25:16cell phone they find condoms and Viagra the cell phones unlocked and on the screen are the messages
25:24with Tony's undercover persona that's the greatest evidence you can possibly wish for
25:31you stupid I knew it as soon as I parked in
25:50I want to have a conversation with you what brought you here today
25:57something stupid and he's thinking am I going to lie am I going to tell the truth
26:03then tell me the truth you were going to come have sex with this kid today
26:07to be honest I was hoping yes
26:09yeah first she told me 16 then 18
26:16and then I found out she's 14. when did you find that out last couple of days
26:23okay obviously this guy's lying I'm never going to let him get away with this
26:28you spoke very openly and very candidly that you've had a sexual encounter with another kid
26:33oh I use that as a kind of enticement I guess but no
26:41so you're saying that never happened no sir
26:42one of the things that we do Russell to to validate that we have a what we call a tactical
26:51polygraph to prove that you're not a hands-on offender is that something you
26:55might be willing to do sure I call in a friend of mine with the Department of
27:01Public Safety he's one of the early guys that I cut my teeth with when I was a
27:07new internet crimes against children guy he is one of the best interviewers that
27:13I've ever seen so put your hands like this over your head
27:19move forward a little bit perfect this one's going to go around your abdomen
27:26are you sitting down
27:29yes
27:31in your entire life have you ever broken any law
27:35no
27:36all right now what about have you had sexual contact with a minor who lived with
27:41no
27:41okay what about this are you withholding information about meeting a minor for sex
27:49no
27:52do you ever travel and just talk to him like you didn't actually meet
27:55meet no okay
28:00this test is not complete okay you can relax
28:04yeah we're all done okay
28:06the results were inconclusive I do as much investigating as I possibly can to
28:12determine if that claim of sex with a 16 year old was legit and I'm not able to
28:17find anything to substantiate that however based on my investigation up to this
28:22point on September 23rd of 2023 Stedman is indicted federally
28:36the Stedman case highlights just how devious a predator can be when they groom a child
28:41children can be easily manipulated a predator will gain their trust and build a relationship
28:46with them over time
28:47fortunately Stedman wasn't talking to a real child
28:51he was talking to me
28:55August 2017 Tony is in a race against time to snare a predator teacher before the start of
29:02the school year
29:02we've got to get moving before this guy does some real harm
29:06I'm detective Godwin I have a search warrant for your residence
29:11Tony and his team discovered the predator is a prolific collector of illegal material
29:17but they are about to stumble upon something that none of them are prepared for
29:22it was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my entire life
29:32Kirk Kessler this guy was downloading so much horrific child sex abuse material
29:38the scary part was that he's a teacher with special education students my team and I we had to act
29:45super
29:45fast to get him into custody and deny him access to any kids
29:53this case kicks off about a month earlier when I get contacted by two of my colleagues from different agencies
29:59they tell me that they have a suspected IP address that's targeted in my city
30:04that's downloaded about 192 child sex abuse material files
30:08and then I pull five of those files out just randomly to kind of spot check and verify
30:13if what that is is actually child sex abuse material and it is
30:19my next course of action is to determine does this IP address actually belong to someone that lives in my
30:24jurisdiction
30:25it came back to a suspect and his name is Kirk Kessler
30:30I start to do a social media dive on him and it shows that he's a special education teacher
30:35it absolutely rockets that case to the top of my stack of work and there's no waiting
30:47the school where Kessler teaches is out for the summer
30:50right now it's July 19th school starts on August 17th
30:56that gives me four weeks figure out where this guy is track him down and get him into custody before
31:03school starts
31:05so that's a tight deadline for a really complex investigation
31:08we've got to get moving before this guy does some real harm
31:18Tony has only four weeks to track down Kirk Kessler
31:22before he returns to a classroom full of vulnerable children
31:27for me and my team the clock is ticking
31:29I want to find out as much as I can about Kirk Kessler
31:33so I reach out to my colleague Mark Castile
31:35in our intelligence unit to help me
31:39I run a DMV check on Kessler
31:41and I find out that he's got a silver Chevy truck
31:44a black Lexus and a red Chrysler vehicle
31:48I learned that he is a divorcee
31:50that he has three grown children
31:52and then I find out a real bombshell
31:56I locate a 1998 report from Garner, North Carolina
32:00showing that he had been investigated for child porn
32:03a person reported to the police department
32:06that they had actually seen child porn on Kessler's laptop
32:10Garner PD went out and investigated it
32:13unfortunately they were not able to locate any child porn
32:15or any reason that they could arrest him
32:18so he walked away
32:20this just adds to my stress level
32:23because of this history that Marcus found out
32:25I need to move on this guy right now
32:36now that I know who Kirk Kessler is
32:38and where he works
32:39I've got to put a surveillance team on his house
32:41I know that he's got three vehicles
32:43and a boat that are registered to him
32:45so the surveillance team goes out there
32:47gets some photographs
32:48and this is what they give me
32:51what's missing is one of his vehicles
32:52so what I do is reach out to the school district
32:55what they tell me is that he's out of state
32:58he's not due back until August 16th
33:01the troubling part is
33:03the new semester starts the next day
33:05August 17th
33:07I have no authority whatsoever
33:09or jurisdiction to arrest him when he's out of state
33:13I need to get to Kessler
33:14before the start of that class
33:16on the 17th
33:17which means
33:18I have to arrest him on August 16th
33:27today's a big day
33:28this is our take down of Kirk Kessler
33:30the problem is
33:32we don't know if he's there
33:34he's supposed to be coming back from vacation
33:36he has no idea that we're looking at him
33:38I've got a team set up at his house
33:40and they're there to tell me
33:42hey do you see him or not
33:43we're on a window
33:44we've got a couple of hours
33:45and the next thing you know
33:46it's going to be dark
33:47it's going to make things much harder for us
33:49I can't run the risk of this guy
33:52slipping through and even attempting
33:53to try to go to work tomorrow
33:55now this is a two-pronged takedown
33:57one is a team that's going to arrest Kessler
34:00I'm part of that team
34:01two is a search team
34:02that's going to find that evidence
34:04we can't allow Kessler to delete evidence
34:07and so we want to make sure that he is secure
34:09so the other team can find all of his electronics
34:21hello
34:22I arrive at Kessler's house
34:24the lights are on inside
34:25I know it's go time
34:28hey sir
34:28hey
34:28how are you what's your name?
34:30Kirk
34:30Kirk, I'm Detective Godwin
34:33I have a search warrant for your residence
34:35there's going to be some other guys coming in here
34:37we will kind of get kicking
34:40I'll kind of tell you what's going on
34:41why I have the warrant and all that
34:43oh you have a warrant?
34:45I have a search warrant for your house
34:46can I see it?
34:47yep
34:47Kessler is coming off very arrogant
34:51it's kind of annoying
34:52you been home all day or what?
34:54yes
34:55what do you do for a living?
34:56I'm teaching
34:58how long have you been a teacher?
35:00uh 31 years
35:02three decades of teaching special needs kids
35:05in my mind
35:06there are potential victims all over the place
35:09I'm really taken back by that
35:12did you have any reason to believe why we would be here?
35:15not really
35:16ok
35:16I see right through Kessler
35:18he knows exactly why we are there
35:21I work what's called internet crimes against children
35:24and that's what brought me here today
35:27you have the right to remain silent and not make any statement at all
35:31that any statement you make maybe uses evidence against you at your trial
35:34do you understand that?
35:35yes
35:35do you knowingly and intelligently and voluntarily waive those
35:38so that we can have a conversation?
35:40no I'd like to get a lawyer off
35:42ok
35:43no sweat
35:44he's not having a conversation with me
35:46but we're not done
35:47we still have to search this entire house
35:50can they call a lawyer?
35:52uh you can call a lawyer but that's not going to happen until we're done
35:56oh ok
35:56so once we're done you can call whoever you want
35:58ok
35:59ok
35:59alright
36:01so she's going to get some pictures
36:02I'm going to get my big ugly mug out of the way
36:04ok
36:05and we'll go from there
36:10detective Tony Godwin and his team are searching the house of Kirk Kessler
36:15the reason we start in his bedroom is because it's very obvious
36:19this guy lives basically 24-7 out of this room
36:23it's dirty
36:25it looks like the sheets haven't been washed in a decade maybe
36:29it stinks
36:30it is disgusting
36:33I see in the master bedroom a laptop with the lid down
36:35and I walk over to it
36:37I open it up
36:39and there's a child sex abuse material file playing
36:42but nothing can prepare them for what they discover next
36:47well there's a closet with bifold doors inside Kessler's master bedroom
36:53one of my colleagues opens up these bifold doors
36:57inside is a child size sex doll
37:05the doll has hair like a wig on but it's completely nude
37:11it was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in my entire life
37:17we found loads of children's underwear clearly sized to the size of that sex doll
37:24there were outfits and dresses and all kinds of stuff
37:27I've run so many other warrants where there are certain things you find
37:32but nothing to this level of depravity
37:38Kessler is done
37:40this dude is toast
37:43Tony scans Kessler's devices for child sexual abuse material
37:49my preview tools complete their scan
37:52and it finds 661 contraband files of child sex abuse material
37:57I've got everything I need to arrest Kessler
38:01put your hands on your back please
38:03you are being placed under arrest today sir
38:07you are being charged with possession of child pornography
38:10knowing that had we not got him arrested tonight
38:14he would have potentially been in a classroom with special needs kids
38:17the following morning
38:18it is a great feeling
38:20we seize all of his electronic devices
38:23and we send them in for a forensic exam
38:26we get Kessler to the police department
38:28and he's already invoked his Miranda right
38:30meaning he's not going to talk to us without a lawyer
38:32and that's totally fine
38:34that's his right
38:35I have another way to get to hear what he's talking about
38:40Kessler calls his son from jail
38:42if I don't make bail tomorrow
38:45I'm going to need you to take the dogs
38:47to the human society
38:50my lawyer said it's 50-50 right now
38:52whether I'll make bail or not
38:55oh
38:59well why would you not make bail?
39:01because in these kind of cases
39:04they sometimes don't have bail
39:07I'm going to need you to do some other things
39:09like sell the house for me
39:12do Texas state retirement
39:14or retirement income
39:16what it sounds like to me in that call
39:19is a guy getting all of his personal affairs in order
39:25as though he is never returning home
39:28I contact Kessler's school to tell them what's happened
39:31and they suspend him
39:33it's a good thing they did suspend him
39:35because a few days later
39:36a judge grants Kessler bail
39:38until a hearing can be held
39:40Kessler's freedom
39:41it doesn't last long
39:43on September 8th
39:44I get the results back from the forensic exam
39:46and they find loads of child sex abuse material
39:51the forensics team finds over 10,000 images
39:54and 3,000 videos of child sexual abuse material
39:58on Kessler's devices
40:02Kessler shared this CSAM electronically across state lines
40:06now federal prosecutors charge him with transporting
40:09and shipping child pornography
40:12I send officers out to arrest him
40:14based on his bail conditions
40:16he's required to be at home
40:17so they're going to go straight away to his house
40:19knock on the door and take him into custody
40:23hey Kirk how you doing man
40:24can I come and talk to you real quick
40:25absolutely
40:26hey uh
40:28I'm sure you're aware that you're going to have a warrant
40:30for your arrest okay
40:31I didn't know that
40:32I thought I was having a
40:33there's no indictment or anything
40:34no
40:35not for a federal warrant
40:37go ahead and spin around for me
40:38and let me put the cuffs on you
40:40I appreciate your cooperation sir
40:47I'm delighted that Kirk Kessler
40:49is going to spend the rest of his hopefully natural life
40:53behind bars in prison
40:55a later investigation concludes
40:57there is no evidence that Kirk Kessler abused children
41:00from the school where he taught
41:12the Kessler case reminds us
41:14that perpetrators come in all forms and all walks of life
41:18Kessler worked with vulnerable students
41:20and had done so for years
41:22a message to you predators
41:24there's no cookie cutter way to the way we do things
41:27there's nothing we won't do to find you and catch you
41:31we will adapt if needed
41:32and trust me we are the best
41:35we will find you
41:36we will get you
41:37you will go to prison
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