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Follows Tony Godwin and his work with cops who uncover online exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice before they harm children.
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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.
00:11Next, a predator thinks he's meeting a woman to have sex with her nine-year-old niece.
00:17Come here, you 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.
00:46And 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 and his team is...
01:40The Predator Hunters.
01:42All right, DPS 101.
01:44I think I got him.
01:46May 2020.
01:47A police helicopter tracks a pickup truck through Plano, Texas.
01:51We 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.
02:02And I started recording him.
02:05You have a nice, sexy little baby girl, boys.
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.
02:39He 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.
03:18How 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.
03:30Then 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.
04:28me, 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?
04:41If 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.
04:57So I was like, perfect.
04:59I'm downloading our chat.
05:00I'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.
05:25I don't know how the heck I knew to do that.
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 is 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.
05:55So 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.
06:15I could just see your reaction to it.
06:17What 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?
06:49The 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.
07:04I give all of this information and intelligence that I have right now to Tavey 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.
07:36What 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.
08:04This 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, and I think Sven is not anyone of importance to us.
08:30We dig deeper into Sven Mallinson's background.
08:34We 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.
08:46That'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. The 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?
09:52And 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.
10:22He's now making it very clear that he wants the niece.
10:26That'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 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.
11:32All 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.
11:39Lost visual for a second here at 15th and, uh, 75.
11:45I'm flipping out at this point.
11:48Exited, exited, 100, 100, fast.
11:52It feels like 12 months is going by in slow motion.
11:57It's agonizing.
11:59There he is.
12:0110-4, sir, thank you.
12:02I got him. Eastbound 15th.
12:04Anselet keeps moving.
12:06He's very, very close to our takedown location.
12:09Looks like he's going to go, uh, 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.
12:22He's behind a cement truck.
12:24I 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.
12:34Miller 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.
13:14He'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,
13:19this is a grown man who's getting himself dressed up for a meeting to have sex with a nine-year
13:25-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.
13:40Okay, 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,
13:55I think he's going to punch the gas and haul butt out of there.
13:59The squad car does a U-turn.
14:03It activates 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, sir.
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 y'all need from us, we're going to clear.
14:42All right?
14:42Yeah, it ends more.
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,
15:02and that's something that we'll do a forensic exam on.
15:05Can I have my phone also?
15:07Uh, you'll get me over there.
15:10A 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,
15:23and talking sexually with her about her niece.
15:26But 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.
15:35I have a lady who is sending me sexual pictures of her.
15:38I 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. I have four months of communications with this guy that speak very, very differently as to the position
15:54he'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. I knew it.
16:29May 9th, 2023.
16:31As soon as I park in.
16:33Tony 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 Steadman. This guy looks like every normal dude on the street.
16:59This guy can write a master class on how to groom a child.
17:02He 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.
17:21Even though it's Christmas time, I'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.
17:37I 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.
17:47It's definitely an icebreaker for sure.
17:49Clearly, I'm not 80. I'm 13.
17:52Tony cannot reveal Bailey's profile picture.
17:55He uses it today in active investigations.
17:59I 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.
18:19Yeah, I do.
18:20I'm 13. Is that okay?
18:23He comes at me with this.
18:25Are you alone? Just wondering who's with you.
18:28Why would he want to know this?
18:29He 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.
19:11And within 20 minutes, Dive In It, he's right back to messaging me.
19:16He's definitely into this.
19:17I start reengaging with him.
19:23And then he tells me how he was divorced in 2019 and 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 because they don't have the bandwidth to really
19:44detect 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 username Dive In It.
20:02I don't have an awful lot to go on.
20:05I've got his username Dive In It.
20:07I've got these three different photographs of this guy on his chat hour profile, but 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.
20:31I can now figure out, is Russell a real name?
20:35I'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.
21:06Just 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.
22:53I 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 to 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.
23:30I'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
23:43is 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 absolute textbook. It's giving them an out, and oftentimes they don't
24:16want to possibly lose a real thing. So 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 Stedman.
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. He's out.
24:50He's out.
24:56He's out.
24:56What about this?
24:59Put your hands on the truck.
25:02Hang on.
25:06Come on, this guy, sir.
25:08Get in.
25:11Officers are able to get onto that car, and they find a bunch of great evidence.
25:15evidence. They find his cell phone. They find condoms and Viagra. The cell phone's unlocked
25:22and on the screen are the messages with Tony's undercover persona. That's the greatest evidence
25:27you can possibly wish for. You stupid! I knew it! As soon as I park in.
25:43My name is Tony Godwin. This is Tim Malkin. We are on the same task force. I want to have
25:51a conversation with you. What brought you here today? Something stupid. And he's thinking,
26:00am I going to lie? Am I going to tell the truth? Then tell me the truth. You were going
26:04to come
26:04have sex with this kid today. To be honest, I was hoping yes. First she told me 16, then
26:1318, and then I found out she's 14. When did you find that out? The last couple of days.
26:22Okay. Obviously, this guy's lying. I'm never going to let him get away with this.
26:27You spoke very openly and very candidly that you've had a sexual encounter with another kid.
26:33Oh, I used that as a kind of enticement, I guess. But no.
26:40So you're saying that never happened?
26:42No, sir. One of the things that we do, Russell, to validate that, we have what we call a tactical
26:51polygraph to prove that you're not a hands-on offender. Is that something you might be willing
26:56to do? Sure.
26:59I call in a friend of mine with the Department of Public Safety. He's one of the early guys
27:05that I cut my teeth with when I was a new Internet Crimes Against Children guy. He is one of
27:11the best
27:11interviewers that I've ever seen.
27:16So put your hands like this over your head.
27:18Sit. Can I move forward a little bit? Perfect. This one's going to go around your alley.
27:26No. Are you sitting down? Yes. In your entire life, have you ever broken any law? No.
27:35All right. Now what about, have you had sexual contact with a minor you live with? No.
27:42Okay. What about this? Are you withholding information about meeting a minor for sex? No.
27:52Did you ever travel and just talk to them like you didn't actually meet? Meet? No. Okay.
28:00This test is not complete. Okay, you can relax. Yeah, we're all done. Okay. The results were
28:07inconclusive. I do as much investigating as I possibly can to determine if that claim of sex
28:14with a 16-year-old was legit, and I'm not able to find anything to substantiate that. However,
28:20based on my investigation up to this point, 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 with them
28:46over time. Fortunately, Stedman wasn't talking to a real child. He was talking to me.
28:55August 2017, Tony is in a race against time to snare a predator teacher before the start of the
29:02school year. We've got to get moving before this guy does some real harm. I'm Detective Godwin. I have
29:09a search warrant for your residence. Tony and his team discover the predator is a prolific collector of
29:15illegal material. But 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,
29:44we had to act super fast 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
29:58agencies. They tell me that they have a suspected IP address that's targeted in my city that's
30:04downloaded about 192 child sex abuse material files. And then I pull five of those files out just
30:11randomly to kind of spot check and verify if what that is is actually child sex abuse material. And it
30:17is.
30:18My next course of action is to determine does this IP address actually belong to someone that lives in
30:24my jurisdiction. It 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. Right now, it's July 19th. School starts
30:55on August 17th. That gives me four weeks to figure out where this guy is, track him down and get
31:02him
31:02into custody before school starts. So 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 before he returns to a classroom full of
31:24vulnerable children. For me and my team, the clock is ticking. I want to find out as much as I
31:31can
31:31about Kirk Kessler. So I reach out to my colleague Mark Castile in our intelligence unit to help me.
31:39I run a DMV check on Kessler and I find out that he's got a silver Chevy truck, a black
31:45Lexus,
31:46and a red Chrysler vehicle. I learned that he is a divorcee, that he has three grown children,
31:52and then I find out a real bombshell.
31:56I locate a 1998 report from Garner, North Carolina, showing that he had been investigated for child
32:02porn. A person reported to the police department that they'd actually seen child porn on Kessler's
32:08laptop. Garner PD went out and investigated it. Unfortunately, they were not able to locate
32:15any child porn or any reason that they could arrest him. So he walked away.
32:20This just adds to my stress level because of this history that Mark has found out.
32:26I need to move on this guy right now.
32:36Now that I know who Kirk Kessler is and where he works, I've got to put a surveillance team on
32:40his
32:40house. I know that he's got three vehicles and a boat that are registered to him. So the surveillance
32:46team goes out there, gets some photographs, and this is what they give me. What's missing is one of his
32:52vehicles. So what I do is reach out to the school district. What they tell me is that he's out
32:57of
32:57state. He's not due back until August 16th. The troubling part is the new semester starts the next day,
33:05August 17th. I have no authority whatsoever or jurisdiction to arrest him when he's out of state.
33:13I need to get to Kessler before the start of that class on the 17th, which means I have to
33:18arrest him
33:19on August 16th.
33:27Today's a big day. This is our takedown of Kirk Kessler. The problem is we don't know if he's there.
33:33He's supposed to be coming back from vacation. He has no idea that we're looking at him. I've got a
33:39team
33:39set up at his house, and they're there to tell me, hey, do you see him or not? We're on
33:44a window.
33:44We've got a couple of hours, and the next thing you know, it's going to be dark. It's going to
33:47make
33:47things much harder for us. I can't run the risk of this guy slipping through and even attempting to
33:53try to go to work tomorrow. Now, this is a two-prong takedown. One is a team that's going to
33:59arrest
33:59Kessler. I'm part of that team. Two is a search team that's going to find that evidence. We can't allow
34:05Kessler to delete evidence, and so we want to make sure that he is secure so the other team can
34:10find
34:11all of his electronics.
34:22Hello? I arrive at Kessler's house. The lights are on inside. I know it's go time.
34:28Hey, sir. Hey. How are you? What's your name? Kirk. Kirk, I'm Detective Godwin.
34:33I have a search warrant for your residence. There's going to be some other guys coming in
34:37here. We will kind of get kicking. I'll kind of tell you what's going on, why I have the warrant
34:42and
34:43all that. Oh, you have a warrant? I have a search warrant for your house. Can I see it? Yep.
34:47Kessler is coming off very arrogant. It's kind of annoying. You been home all day or what? Yes.
34:55What do you do for a living? I'm teaching. How long you been a teacher?
34:59Uh, 31 years. Three decades of teaching special needs kids. In my mind, there are potential victims
35:08all over the place. I'm really taken back by that. Did you have any reason to believe why we would
35:14be
35:15here? Not really. Okay. I see right through Kessler. He knows exactly why we are there. I work what's
35:23called Internet Crimes Against Children. And that's what brought me here today. You have the right to
35:29remain silent and not make any statement at all. And any statement you make may be used as evidence
35:32against you at your trial. Do you understand that? Yes. Do you knowingly and intelligently
35:37and voluntarily waive those so that we can have a conversation? No, I'd like to get a lawyer. Okay.
35:43No sweat. He's not having a conversation with me. But we're not done. We still have to search this
35:49entire house. Can they call a lawyer? Uh, you can call a lawyer, but that's not going to happen until
35:55we're done. Oh, okay. So, once we're done, you can call whoever you want. Okay? Okay. All right.
36:01So, she's going to get some pictures. I'm going to get my big ugly mug out of the way.
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. This guy lives basically 24-7 out
36:21of this room. It's dirty. It looks like the sheets haven't been washed in a decade, maybe.
36:29It stinks. It is disgusting. I see in the master bedroom a laptop with the lid down,
36:35and I walk over to it. I open it up, and there's a child sex abuse material file playing.
36:43But nothing can prepare them for what they discover next.
36:48There's a closet with bifold doors inside Kessler's master bedroom. One of my colleagues
36:55opens up these bifold doors. Inside 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. There were outfits
37:25and dresses and all kinds of stuff. I've run so many other warrants where there are certain things
37:31you find, but nothing to this level of depravity.
37:37Kessler is done. This dude is toast.
37:43Tony scans Kessler's devices for child sexual abuse material.
37:49My preview tools complete their scan, and 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.
38:07Are you being charged with possession of child pornography?
38:09Mm-hmm.
38:11Knowing that had we not got him arrested tonight,
38:13he would have potentially been in a classroom with special needs kids the following morning.
38:18It is a great feeling. We seize all of his electronic devices, and we send him in for a forensic
38:24exam.
38:26We get Kessler to the police department, and he's already invoked his Miranda right,
38:30meaning he's not going to talk to us without a lawyer, and that's totally fine. That's his right.
38:35I have another way to get to hear what he's talking about.
38:40Kessler calls his son from jail.
38:43Make bail tomorrow.
38:45I'm going to need you to take the dogs to the immune society.
38:50My lawyer said it's 50-50 right now whether I'll make bail or not.
38:55Oh, well, why would you not make bail?
39:02Well, because in these kind of cases, they sometimes don't have bail.
39:07I'm going to do some other things like sell the house for me,
39:12do Texas state retirement so I can get retirement income.
39:16What it sounds like to me in that call is a guy getting all of his personal affairs
39:24in order as though he is never returning home.
39:28I contact Kessler's school to tell them what's happened, and they suspend him.
39:33It's a good thing they did suspend him because a few days later, a judge grants Kessler bail until a
39:39hearing can be held.
39:40Kessler's freedom, it doesn't last long.
39:43On September 8th, I get the results back from the forensic exam and they find loads of child sex abuse
39:49material.
39:51The forensics team finds over 10,000 images and 3,000 videos of child sexual abuse material on Kessler's devices.
40:02Kessler shared this CSAM electronically across state lines.
40:06Now federal prosecutors charge him with transporting and shipping child pornography.
40:12I send officers out to arrest him.
40:14Based on his bail conditions, he's required to be at home.
40:17So they're going to go straight away to his house, knock on the door and take him into custody.
40:22Hey, Kirk, how you doing, man? Can I come in and talk to you real quick?
40:25Absolutely.
40:26Hey, uh, I'm sure you're aware that you're going to have a warrant for your arrest, okay?
40:31I didn't know that.
40:32Yeah.
40:32I thought I was having a hood. There's no indictment or anything?
40:34No, not for a federal warrant.
40:37Go ahead and spin around for me and let me put the cuffs on you.
40:40I appreciate your cooperation, sir.
40:47I'm delighted that Kirk Kessler is going to spend the rest of his, hopefully, natural life behind bars in prison.
40:54A later investigation concludes there is no evidence that Kirk Kessler abused children from the school where he taught.
41:12The Kessler case reminds us that perpetrators come in all forms and all walks of life.
41:18Kessler worked with vulnerable students and had done so for years.
41:22A message to you predators. There'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. And trust me, we are the best.
41:35We will find you. We will get you. You will go to prison.
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