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Predator Hunters - Season 1 - Episode 05: Catfishing the Catfisher
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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 9-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.
00:25Your hands up! Hands up!
00:28I was coming to see a girl.
00:30Then, Detective Tony Godwin searches the home of a special education teacher.
00:35Did 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 helping, yes.
00:57Go, Graham!
00:58A team of police professionals in North Dallas has one goal.
01:03Take down online predators before they harm a real child.
01:08Child predators are everywhere.
01:12Online predators pose the biggest danger to America's children today.
01:16Kids are being targeted at an alarming rate.
01:19All right.
01:20This 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.
01:28All right, he's coming this way.
01:28And brings them to justice by any means necessary.
01:35This is Detective Tony Godwin, and his team is the Predator Hunters.
01:43All right, DPS 101, I 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 Hunters.
01:57The Predator behind the wheel believes he's catfished this woman to supply him with a minor for sex.
02:02And I started recording him.
02:09He thinks he's meeting her nine-year-old niece.
02:13He has no idea that he's the one being catfished, and that Detective Tony Godwin and his team are about
02:19to take him down.
02:21Put your hands up!
02:27This guy right here, John Ancelin, 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, and little do I know, this will be one of the
03:15most complex cases I've ever worked.
03:19How did you meet this guy, Sven?
03:21Yeah, I met him on Tinder, and we started just kind of chatting.
03:26He's very flirtatious.
03:31Then he started sending me, like, a lot of pictures, which I thought was nice, because a lot of guys
03:35don't do that.
03:35He just looks like an everyday, normal dude, young, athletic, good-looking.
03:46Everything up at this point is looking really somewhat normal to me.
03:49No.
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, like, 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 f*** my real daughter, the way 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 f*** 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, Belinson.
04:57So 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.
05:14And 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.
05:43Uh, yeah.
05:44Uh, yeah.
05:45Uh, 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.
05:55So you, you're ready to be trained though, aren't you?
05:57Mm-hmm.
05:59Yeah.
06:00You do have a nice sexy, uh, 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.
06:16Uh, I could just see your reaction to it.
06:18What, what happened next after the call?
06:20At this point is when I, I contacted the police.
06:25I'm really proud of what you did and perseverance you had trying to figure this out.
06:29You'd be surprised how many people don't do that.
06:35I 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.
07:00And I've got names, I have phone numbers for both of these guys.
07:04I 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 and with that number I'm able to serve a subpoena to AT&T
07:23for 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.
07:38In 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.
08:31We dig deeper into Sven Mallinson's background.
08:34We find no link whatsoever between him and John Anselet.
08:39John 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.
08:52The 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.
10:21Holy moly.
10:23He'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 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.
11:32All 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 digital for a second here at 15th and 75.
11:45I'm flipping out at this point.
11:48Exited, exited 100 and 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.
12:05He'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.
12:22He's behind a cement truck.
12:24I don't know what this guy's doing.
12:27He'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, anyone.
13:03He has shorts on, looks like he was carrying a pair of pants.
13:08Anselet changes clothes, puts pants on, and immediately drives away.
13:12All 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
13:23for a 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
13:38and has no idea that I'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.
13:55I think he's going to punch the gas and haul butt out of there.
14:00The squad car does a U-turn.
14:03Activates their lights and sirens, and they initiate the stuff.
14:14The officers 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.
14:26When 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.
15:02And that's something that we'll do a forensic exam on.
15:05Can I have my phone also?
15:07You'll get that 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, and talking sexually with
15:25her 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.
15:39I 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.
15:47I 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.
16:08Her bravery, her vulnerability, her ability to put herself on a different level to say,
16:15this is wrong, and I'm going to do something about it.
16:18We always see and hear and preach, see something, say something.
16:21And she did.
16:27Stupid. I knew it.
16:29May 9th, 2023.
16:32As soon as I park in.
16:33Tony Grylls, 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.
17:03He 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.
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.
17:38I 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?
18:26Just 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.
19:11And 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.
20:03I 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?
20:36I've got the best person on the planet that can help me do that deep dive.
20:40I 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.
21:12So 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
22:18and nobody knows about this case yet.
22:20I'm really worried.
22:26Steadman 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
22:52or does something with a real kid.
22:54I text back and tell him,
22:56tomorrow, 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
23:35versus an online solicitation, which is a state charge.
23:38It's a different level of proof he has to show up in order to be charged federally,
23:43but it also is 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.
24:10That's absolutely textbook.
24:12It's giving them an out, and oftentimes they don't want 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.
24:50He's out.
24:56He's out.
24:57He's out.
24:59He's out.
24:59Put your hands on the truck.
25:02Hang on.
25:07Come on, this guy, sir.
25:08Come on.
25:08Yeah.
25:11Officers are able to get onto that car, and they find a bunch of great evidence.
25:15They find his cell phone.
25:18They find condoms and Viagra.
25:21The cell phones unlocked, and on the screen are the messages with Tony's undercover persona.
25:26That's the greatest evidence you can possibly wish for.
25:31You stupid!
25:33I knew it!
25:35As soon as I park in.
25:43My name's Tony Godwin.
25:45This is Tony Malkin.
25:47We are on the same task force.
25:51I want to have a conversation with you.
25:53What brought you here today?
25:57Something stupid.
25:58And he's thinking, am I going to lie?
26:01Am I going to tell the truth?
26:03Then tell me the truth.
26:04You were going to come have sex with this kid today.
26:07To be honest, I was hoping yes.
26:09Yeah.
26:11First she told me 16, then 18, and then I found out she's 14.
26:19When did you find that out?
26:20Last couple of days.
26:22Okay.
26:23Obviously this guy's lying.
26:25I'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.
26:41So you're saying that never happened?
26:42No, sir.
26:43One of the things that we do, Russell, to validate that, we have what we call a tactical polygraph
26:52to prove that you're not a hands-on offender.
26:54Is that something you might be willing to do?
26:57Sure.
26:59I call in a friend of mine with the Department of Public Safety.
27:03He's one of the early guys that I cut my teeth with when I was a new Internet Crimes Against
27:09Children guy.
27:10He is one of the best interviewers that I've ever seen.
27:16So put your hands like this over your head.
27:19Can you feel it a little bit?
27:20Perfect.
27:21This one's going to go around your alley.
27:26Are you sitting down?
27:29Yes.
27:31In your entire life, have you ever broken any law?
27:35No.
27:36All right.
27:37Now what about, have you had sexual contact with a minor who lived with you?
27:41No.
27:41Okay.
27:44What about this?
27:45Are you withholding information about meeting a minor for sex?
27:50No.
27:52Did you ever travel and just talk to them like you didn't actually meet?
27:55Meet?
27:56No.
27:56Okay.
28:00Okay.
28:01This test is not complete.
28:02Okay, you can relax.
28:04Yeah, we're all done.
28:05Okay.
28:06The results were inconclusive.
28:08I do as much investigating as I possibly can to determine if that claim of sex with a 16 year
28:14old was legit, and I'm not able to find anything to substantiate that.
28:19However, based 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.
28:44A predator will gain their trust and build a relationship with them over time.
28:48Fortunately, 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 the school
29:02year.
29:03We've got to get moving before this guy does some real harm.
29:07I'm Detective Godwin.
29:08I have a search warrant for your residence.
29:11Tony and his team discover 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 Keschler, 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.
29:43My team and I, we had to act super fast to get him into custody and deny him access to
29:48any 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 that's downloaded about 192 child
30:07sex abuse material files.
30:08And then I pull five of those files out just randomly to kind of spot check and verify if what
30:14that is, is actually child sex abuse material.
30:17And it is.
30:19My next course of action is determined, does this IP address actually belong to someone that lives in my jurisdiction.
30:25And it came back to a suspect and his name is Kirk Keschler.
30:30I start to do a social media dive on him and it shows that he's a special education teacher.
30:36It absolutely rockets that case to the top of my stack of work and there's no waiting.
30:47The school where Keschler teaches is out for the summer.
30:51Right now, it's July 19th.
30:53School starts on August 17th.
30:57That gives me four weeks.
30:59Figure out where this guy is, track him down and get him into custody before school 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.
31:19Tony has only four weeks to track down Kirk Keschler before 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 Keschler.
31:33So I reach out to my colleague Mark Castile in our intelligence unit to help me.
31:39I run a DMV check on Keschler and I find out that he's got a silver Chevy truck, a black
31:45Lexus and a red Chrysler vehicle.
31:48I learned that he is a divorcee, that he has three grown children and then I find out a real
31:54bombshell.
31:56I locate a 1998 report from Garner, North Carolina showing that he had been investigated for child porn.
32:03A person reported to the police department that they had actually seen child porn on Keschler's laptop.
32:10Garner PD went out and investigated it.
32:13Unfortunately, they were not able to locate child porn or any reason that they could arrest him.
32:18So he walked away.
32:20This just adds to my stress level because of this history that Marcus found out.
32:26I need to move on this guy right now.
32:36Now that I know who Kirk Keschler is and where he works, I've got to put a surveillance team on
32:40his house.
32:41I know that he's got three vehicles and a boat that are registered to him.
32:45So the surveillance team goes out there, gets some photographs and this is what they give me.
32:51What's missing is one of his vehicles.
32:53So what I do is reach out to the school district.
32:56What they tell me is that he's out of state.
32:58He's not due back until August 16th.
33:01The troubling part is the new semester starts the next day, August 17th.
33:08I have no authority whatsoever or jurisdiction to arrest him when he's out of state.
33:13I need to get to Keschler before the start of that class on the 17th, which means I have to
33:18arrest him on August 16th.
33:27Today's a big day. This is our takedown of Kirk Keschler.
33:31The problem is we 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 and they're there to tell me, hey, do you see him
33:43or not?
33:43We're on a window. We've got a couple of hours and the next thing you know, it's going to be
33:46dark.
33:47It's going to make things much harder for us.
33:49I can't run the risk of this guy slipping through and even attempting to try to go to work tomorrow.
33:55Now, this is a two prong takedown.
33:57One is a team that's going to arrest Keschler. I'm part of that team.
34:01Two is a search team that's going to find that evidence.
34:04We can't allow Keschler to delete evidence.
34:07And so we want to make sure that he is secure so the other team can find all of his
34:11electronics.
34:21Hello?
34:22I arrive at Keschler's house. The lights are on inside.
34:25I know it's go time.
34:28Hey, sir.
34:28Hey.
34:29How 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. I'll kind of tell you what's going on.
34:42Why 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.
34:47Keschler is coming off very arrogant.
34:50It'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 a teacher.
34:58How long have you been a teacher?
35:00Uh, 31 years.
35:02Three decades of teaching special needs kids.
35:05In my mind, there are potential victims all over the place.
35:10I'm really taken back by that.
35:12Did you have any reason to believe why we would be here?
35:15Not really.
35:16Okay.
35:17I see right through Keschler.
35:18He knows exactly why we are there.
35:21I work what's called internet crimes against children.
35:26And that's what brought me here today.
35:28You have the right to remain silent and not make any statement at all.
35:31And 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 so that we can have a conversation?
35:40No, I'd like to get a lawyer off.
35:42Okay.
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, okay.
35:56So, once we're done, you can call whoever you want.
35:58Gotcha.
35:59Okay?
35:59Okay.
36:00All right.
36:01So, she's going to get some pictures.
36:02I'm going to get my big ugly mug out of the way.
36:04Okay.
36:05And we'll go from there.
36:10Detective Tony Godwin and his team are searching the house of Kirk Keschler.
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.
36:36And I walk over to it.
36:37I open it up.
36:39And there's a child sex abuse material file playing.
36:43But nothing can prepare them for what they discover next.
36:47Well, there's a closet with bifold doors inside Keschler's master bedroom.
36:54One of my colleagues opens up these bifold doors.
36:58Inside 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, but nothing to this level of depravity.
37:38Keschler is done.
37:40This dude is toast.
37:44Tony scans Keschler'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 Keschler.
38:01Put your hands on your back, please.
38:03You are being placed under arrest today, sir.
38:07Are we in charge of possession of child pornography?
38:11Knowing that had we not got him arrested tonight, he would have potentially been in a classroom with special needs
38:17kids the following morning.
38:18It is a great feeling.
38:21We seize all of his electronic devices, and we send them in for a forensic exam.
38:26We get Keschler to the police department, and he's already invoked his Miranda right, meaning he's not going to talk
38:32to us without a lawyer.
38:33And that's totally fine. That's his right.
38:35I have another way to get to hear what he's talking about.
38:40Keschler calls his son from jail.
38:43If I don't make bail tomorrow, I'm going to need you to take the dogs to the human society.
38:50My lawyer said it's 50-50 right now whether I'll make bail or not.
38:55Oh, .
38:59Well, why would you not make bail?
39:01Because in these kind of cases, they sometimes don't have bail.
39:07I'm going to need you to do some other things like sell the house for me, do Texas state retirements
39:14or retirement income.
39:17What it sounds like to me in that call is a guy getting all of his personal affairs in order
39:25as though he is never returning home.
39:28I contact Keschler'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 Keschler bail until a
39:39hearing can be held.
39:40Keschler'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 Keschler's devices.
40:02Keschler 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. Based on his bail conditions, he's required to be at home, so they're
40:18going to go straight away to his house, knock on the door, and take him into custody.
40:23Hey, Kirk, how you doing, man? Can I come in and talk to you real quick?
40:25Absolutely.
40:27Hey, I'm sure you're aware that you're going to have a warrant for your arrest, okay?
40:31I didn't know that. I thought I was having a... There's no indictment or anything?
40:34No, not for a federal warrant. Go ahead and spin around for me as we put the cuffs on you.
40:40I appreciate your cooperation, sir.
40:47I'm delighted that Kirk Keschler's going to spend the rest of his, hopefully, natural life behind bars in prison.
40:55A later investigation concludes there is no evidence that Kirk Keschler abused children from the school where he taught.
41:12The Keschler case reminds us that perpetrators come in all forms and all walks of life.
41:18Keschler 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.
41:39I know you're not afraid of just speaking out loud.
41:39I will try and be angry.
41:40I am afraid I are the best.
41:40It's the best.
41:40Two of you.
41:41You will feel.
41:41It's a good.
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