Expensive home rich with potential predators

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

OCEAN COUNTY, N.J. - We're in Ocean County, New Jersey for our eleventh internet sex predator investigation.

Mike: You're Chris Hansen.

Hansen: I am.

Here, men will show up after making a date online, apparently hoping for sex with a young teen and knowing exactly what they’ve walked into…

            Justo Benavides: This is the Dateline thing.

...seem to realize what they are doing is illegal…

Hansen: So you know what happens next.

Lubrano: Yup (hands behind back).

...and know they are likely to end up in jail. But the possibility of being caught doesn't stop them.

Eugene: I knew it. I seen this stuff on TV.

And as we told you last week, the number of men convicted in connection with these investigations is growing. So far, 118 men have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a judge or jury.

Judge: How do you plead?

Man: Guilty.

Dateline rented this summer house on the ocean, in the off season, and hired Perverted Justice, the online watchdog group, as consultants.

Perverted Justice’s volunteers are experts at pretending to be kids online. For this investigation, they are posing as 12, 13 or 14-year-olds. The volunteers are in local chat rooms waiting to be hit on by adults interested in sex. Perverted Justice says its volunteers never contact anyone first. Once a man makes his intentions clear he is invited over to our undercover house.

Staked out in the detached garage are officers from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. They are working with Perverted Justice, ready to arrest any man who attempts to meet a minor for sex. Del from Perverted Justice hands over chat logs to the arresting officers, providing them with the evidence needed to charge a suspect with a crime.  

Hansen: What were your expectations?

Mike Nevil: We wanted people to show up.

Mike Nevil, a lieutenant in the computer sex crimes unit for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says it was his first time working with a civilian group and he was pleasantly surprised.

Nevil: Perverted Justice did a great job in providing those leads to us, the information they provide us in the chats, everything was 100-percent accurate. 

Frag from Perverted Justice is inside the house communicating with the police via a two-way radio.

Frag: That is him guys.

The house and surrounding area have been rigged with 17 hidden cameras; 11 of them are set up outside so we can spot a potential predator as soon as he arrives. The outside cameras are able to follow him as he gets out of his car, walks anywhere near the house, even if he goes to the front. Six more cameras catch his every move once he walks inside.

Mitch: This is him, this is him.

Everyone gets into position as this potential predator pulls up. Watch as he confidently approaches the house for his date with a girl who told him she was 14. Without even bothering to knock, 42-year-old Richard Burnham enters the house.

(Hidden camera)
Decoy: Hey.

We hired 18-year-old Casey to play the part of the young teen. She's 5 feet 2 inches and weighs 95 pounds.

Decoy: I made some brownies, have a seat

Casey is posing as the 14-year-old virgin he met over the Internet. He was really talking to a decoy from Perverted Justice. While online he pretends to be two different people to try and lure the Perverted Justice decoy into having sex with him. He starts off as “uconnbluenwhite,” a 21-year-old college student named Rick. He chats about having sex with her then introduces a ‘friend,’ “stevetakespix.”

(Chat transcript)
uconnbluenwhite: I have an older friend who wants a virgin lol.
Decoy: o
uconnbluenwhite: yea bad lol
Decoy: how old is he?
uconnbluenwhite: 35

“Uconnbluenwhite” continues to promote his older friend Steve. 

uconnbluenwhite: yeah im really sick but Steve is a great guy I hope you like getting laid he'll do an awesome job taking your virginity hes really excited about it.

Now playing the part of the older friend. He uses the screen name “stevetakespix”:

Stevetakespix: i hear you wanna lose your virginity
Decoy: lol
Decoy: wat all did rick say?
stevetakespix: he said you were a virgin and seemed like you wanted to lose it.

The decoy agrees and “stevetakespix” goes on to use graphic and disgusting language to describe how he plans to take her virginity. Now the man with two online identities has driven three hours, all the way from Connecticut, to meet Jane the 14-year-old.

Decoy: So, do you want some brownies?

Burnham: No. 

Decoy: He just passed right by the seat, kept going. So I just said, "See 'ya later," and got out of there real fast. 

Casey knows she is surrounded by security personnel and she's been instructed to slip away if she ever feels uncomfortable.

Burnham: How you doing?                    

Burnham: Hi.

Chris Hansen: Good, why don't you have a seat right here. What you got in your back pocket there?

Burnham: My phone.

Chris Hansen: No, the other back pocket.

Chris Hansen: May I see it?

Chris Hansen: What is that?

Burnham: It's K-Y.

Chris Hansen: Lubricating jelly?

Burnham: Yep.

Chris Hansen: What were you going to use that for?

Burnham: Was, intending on being with her.

Hansen: And how old is Jane?

Burnham: 14

“Stevetakespix” says he's a freelance photographer but in his former career he was a firefighter for 22 years.

Hansen: Did you have a rank when you were a firefighter

Burnham: A captain

Hansen: A captain.

He also reveals that he is divorced and the father of two young children.                 

Hansen: Why'd you do it?

Burnham: Lonely and I've got no money. 

Hansen: So, because you're short on cash, you decided to have a date with a 14-year-old girl.

Burnham: Because I'm lonely. 14-year-old, yeah, and doesn't make it right.

Hansen: Have you done this before?

Burnham: (Laughter) No.  This is…

Hansen: Really? Because, you seem pretty skilled at it.

Remember this man telling the sad story about being lonely and broke is the same man who came up with an elaborate scheme apparently trying to entice a young girl into having sex with him.

Hansen: You started this as "Yukon Blue and White."

Burnham: Uh-huh (affirm).

Hansen: Posing as a 21 year old college student.

Burnham: Yeah.

Hansen: Why would you do that?

Burnham: I prefer younger women in the college to out-of-college age range, and I like talking to them. 

Hansen: So, now you change identities online, right?  And, then you pick up the conversation.  "I hear you wanna lose your virginity."  "You really 35?"  "I'm 37."  Which is not true, because you're actually 42.

Burnham: Right.

Hansen: So, there are layers of lies here.

Burnham: Yeah.

Hansen: All intended, it would appear, to set up the sexual liaison with a 14-year-old girl. Right?

Burnham: Yes.

Hansen: This goes on for some 20 days by the way, that's called, "grooming." 

Hansen: What do you think would have happened had there been a 14-year-old girl here home alone?

Burnham: I think it's pretty evident.

Hansen: It's pretty evident.

Hansen: Alright, well Rick, I need to tell you that I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC.

Burnham: Uh-huh (affirm).

Hansen: And, we're doing a story on adults who try to meet young teens online for sex.

Burnham: Yeah, I don't want cameras.

Hansen: You can leave right now.

Burnham: Well, I'm going be in trouble once I go.

Hansen: That's not up to me.

Hansen: You should take your jelly.

Burnham: Okay.

While “stevetakespix” has been inside, the police have moved into position along side the house waiting for him to walk out and arrest him.

Police: Get on the ground.

Police: You down.

Police: Get on the ground.

Police: Get down. Do not resist.

Burnham: I know.

Police: Get on the ground. Lay flat on the ground.

He's taken away in an unmarked police car and later transported to jail. He and all the other men who show up at our undercover house will be charged with solicitation of a minor.

As our investigation in New Jersey continues, you’ll met many more potential predators who stick around to answer my questions…

Male Voice: What about visiting a boy who's home alone?  Does that make you nervous?

Male Voice: Well, yeah. A little bit.

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