“She didn’t expect it as far as I know”

“My friend dated someone who ended up disappearing, then we eventually found out he had been arrested for trying to sleep with an under age girl and having rope and guns in his trunk. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that we even learned he was on the show. It just kept unraveling!

He had come to get drinks for one of my birthdays and to be honest he seemed completely normal. There was nothing that stood out to me as creepy or off. My friend was a WRECK after everything happened. She’s a smart girl too and didn’t expect anything like that AFAIK. I felt really bad for her.” — wolfeybutt

“He was nice”

“I’m pretty late to the game, but my husband worked with/good friends with one of the men on the first ever episode. We were all in our late 20s, he was a highly educated, well liked guy. He was nice, funny as hell. We were all shocked. He got busted trying to sleep with a 12 or 14 year old girl. He got a good lawyer and so the TCaP didn’t show the video of him getting busted, only a photo that he shared in the chat with who he thought was the young girl. We read the chat log between him and the “girl”, it was disgusting. He called my husband one time after the show aired to say that “this was the first time he did anything like this, and he got caught up in the taboo nature of it.” Never spoke to him again.” — SeoulFeminist

There were no signs

“I’m a lawyer. I worked closely on a case with another lawyer who later was caught trying to have sex with an underage girl (who was really a cop). He was married and had kids and was the nicest guy. Very earnest and dedicated to the cause, trying to make the world a better place. There were zero signs he would do something like that. It was a shock when it came out. It really shows that it could be anyone who does this type of thing. There aren’t necessarily signs you would see that would tip you off that your co-worker or neighbor or acquaintance is interested in underage girls.” — Moonlightonthelake80

He was a nice guy

“I had a youth hockey coach who I always thought was a really nice guy. I was like 14 at the time but he’d always call me after games and give me tips and pointers, and I never found it weird. Just figured he was a good guy doing something for kids. He didn’t have any children though.

20 years later or so I see him at a rink. To my surprise, he remembers me! We talk for a half an hour. He asks me about my parents, I show him pictures of my family. He starts telling me about this girl that he coached since she was 10 on a girls hockey team who is now in college playing for a very good school. I’ll be honest. I didn’t think anything of it. Anyway, we go our separate ways but do exchange phone numbers. I go home and tell my wife that I saw my old hockey coach and I’d like to invite him over for a cookout. I figured I’d call him over the weekend.

Literally the very next day, he gets arrested for trying to meet up with a 13 year old girl in a chat room that was really the State Police.” — AZ285

I Googled him

“This was over a decade ago back in 2008 or 2009. I was on a dating website and was talking to a guy that claimed to be a doctor. I thought it was very unusual that this doctor (Maurice Wolin), had so much free time thruout the day to text me so frequently (texting back then was a bit time consuming with flip phones). Was also begging me to meet up with him and telling me he wanted to shower me with all these gifts. He seemed a bit arrogant and pompous to me, in the way he would brag about his wealth and cars.

I was getting suspicious of the guy and reverse searched his phone number. I found out he gave me a fake name, and after getting his real name, I saw all the articles online and saw the guy was on To Catch a Predator. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and asked him to send me a new selfie. Sure enough, it was definitely him. I ghosted him and blocked his number and reported his profile to Plenty of Fish and told them he was on TCAP. Just really glad I never met up with him. Be careful out there everyone!” — CalcifersMyHero

We all knew he was bad

“Rapey, extremely rapey. Was someone from my hometown in NY. Went to school with their younger sister. After he graduated high school, he did everything he could to hang out with much younger kids. Always wanted to buy booze for us or roll up a joint and smoke us out in his van. Never touched me but there were rumours of him molesting a 12 year old in sleep away camp.” — Just1morefix

People asked not to work with him

“A supervisor at my previous job got busted in a big sting at the end of last year, with a bunch of other dudes. He was kinda dumpy in appearance but thought he was hot shit. Both at the job and with the women. He wasn’t. There were more than a few who transferred out of his area or specifically asked not to work directly with him. A couple of them said he just creeped them out and let his touch linger longer than was polite. He was just another shitbag to me. One of those guys that never did anything unless the boss was around, liked to be the one at the company meetings who told everyone to quiet down and listen up when it was already quiet.” — Blue_E_Tank

He was weird but friendly

“I was one dudes RA in university. He was a seriously weird dude, but was relatively friendly, came out to all of the campus events, and was not suspected of being a predator at all by any of us in the dorms back in those days. He was busted on TCAP about 2-3 years after I graduated, so probably sometime 2003-2005.” — unittwentyfive

He was a cop

“I knew the cop from (I think Florala) Alabama that was arrested on the show. He had guns and rope in his vehicle when he went to meet the girl. Super creepy stuff.

When he was a sheriff’s deputy in Florida, he would come into my job frequently. So, I didn’t know him on a personal level, but I did talk to him on a regular basis. He was a really nice, respectful guy; he seemed to be a good cop too.

I was SHOCKED when I saw the episode. You never really know what goes on in someone’s bedroom.” — leejo1979

“Bring your kid”

“Yes, Matty Nash. He was creepy and kept trying to get me to go to Burning Man. When I told him I didn’t think that was a good idea because I had a 10 year old kid at the time he said I should bring my kid. Now I don’t think he was interested in my kid at all but I did tell him I thought that would be super creepy to bring a kid to Burning Man with a bunch of people on E. This was in 2001. He came over to my house under the guise of talking business and then put the moves on me. I turned him down and sent him home to his wife.” — Immorefunthanyou

Volunteered at a community center

“I dont know anyone from the show but I was very close to my father who is a predator.

Middle aged geeky dude, had 2 daughters (I was 18, my sibling 20 at the time of arrest), bit socially awkward but known as a really kind guy. Always generous with his time, worked at a community center helping under privledged kids learn how to use computers.

Yeah turns out he was molesting at least 2 girls from there (4 and 8) and hosting a child porn ring from the centers server.

No one suspected it, he loved kids but that’s cause he had 2 right? He’d fix everyone’s computers for free and help them get into work. Really great upstanding citizen.

He got 16 years and everyone else got a lifetime of trust issues and trauma” — SnowPaw850

He worked at Nickelodeon

” I worked at a company that had an employee caught on the show. This was particularly problematic, as the company was Nickelodeon Animation. Everyone who knew the guy was actually pretty shocked. It was particularly rough for his girlfriend at the time, as she also worked at the studio, so there was no hiding from it. For their part, Nickelodeon instituted rigorous background checks for every new employee after the incident, with zero tolerance for any misdeeds involving children. Those background checks are what keeps this lore alive though, as the process if much more intensive than any other studio.” — SidePullSandwich

He was just along for the ride

“I was roommates with a person on the show for a bit. His name was Dave and he was one of the few people they let go when they started having the Sheriff’s Dept waiting outside. Felt bad for the guy, completely gullible and too nice of a dude. It was the Riverside, CA episode where two really young guys show up at the house. Basically my buddy was out in Cali visiting a friend that told him that he needed to detour to drop in on this girl he’s been chatting with (no age was mentioned and it’s not like he could say no as the only car they had was his friend’s in California’s car).

So he’s like “sure, I’m down to tag along”, immediately regretting the decision when Chris Hanson pops out. They only interviewed his friend and he just had to stand there nervously guzzling a Rockstar waiting for it to be over. Funnily when Chris told them they could go they thought they were in the clear and were giggling on the way out until a bunch of cops in tactical gear jumped them in the driveway lol.

Like I said they let him go with no issues as he never had contact with the girl and had only been in state for less that 24 hours. Really sucked though cause when the episodes were still available online that whole episode had his face as the thumbnail.” — FaithfullyHellish

My dad knew

“My dad pulled my brother and I from a fancy expensive elementary school and put us in public school despite him really wanting us in a private school. He said after meeting the principal a couple of times, he had a weird feeling, strong enough to override my mom not having felt the same way. We were starting first and third grade (had done kindergarten and second grade there) and then switched to a new school. Six years later the guy was busted for molesting a couple of his young students, girls and boys.

My dad told me this story years later, right after another strange incident, when he and I were on a train and when we got off he had us duck around a lot of people and pillars. I didn’t get why; the dude across from us had been absolutely hardcore eyeing me (a 15 year old dressed-for-opera girl) and I figured that was (regrettably) normal, but dad said “When he’s eyeing me too, it’s a problem.”

I trusted my dad about people ever since 😂” — sea_rhapsody

We knew he’d end up on the show one day

“He legit was always trying to sleep with men that were way too young for him (albeit just barely legal) and we made jokes all the time to him about how he was going to wind up on that show. We literally called him Herbert. It was the opposite of a “he was the last person I would suspect” situation.” — some-seventy-years

“My brother made me do it”

“I went to school with Robb Kline. From what I can remember of him was that he was quiet and kept to himself. He never did anything to label himself a creep.

His excuse for showing up has to be one of the worst. Robb said he showed up to let the 13 year old girl know he wasn’t going to be able to hang out after making the 2 hour drive there. He also throws his brother under the bus for the child porn that is on his computer.” — iFuckZebraCakes

The company made a joke out of it

“One guy showed up to the sting in a company semi truck. It is blurred out in the episode but the company is Covenant Transport. I went to work for them a few years after the episode. During orientation they gave us a list of “things that will result in immediate termination. Things like “Driving under the influence, failing a drug screen, and impromptu meetings with Chris Hansen.” — zombiemann