Accused molester jokes he doesn’t ‘want to see Chris Hansen’ — right before being confronted by him
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said that a recent undercover sting that focused on identifying and arresting child predators as a part of "Takedown with Chris Hansen" has resulted in the arrest of nine men from across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Gahler provided the update in a video posted on social media and said that the arrests will be featured as a part of episodes by Hansen, the award-winning journalist, on Tru Blu this winter.
The sheriff said that the arrests occurred over the past month.
"When I was first approached about conducting this operation, it was my sincere hope that we would come up empty-handed, that we would find there were no predators that wanted to terrorize our kids here in Harford County, and that the operation would end with zero arrests," Gahler said in his video update. "But sadly, that was not the case at all."
As part of the month-long operation, Gahler said his detectives engaged in online conversations with "dozens and dozens" of people, resulting in the arrest of nine men from across three states, who Gahler called 'The Nasty Nine."
Gahler said each suspect believed they were meeting up with an underage boy or girl for the purpose of sexual activity.
Each of the suspects was met by Hansen and Harford County deputies, and were taken into custody.
One of the suspects, Nicholas Fountain of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, was found to be the owner of two daycare centers in Pennsylvania.
Another suspect, Tyler Devault of Gaithersburg, Maryland, told the undercover officer he thought was a 14-year-old girl that he wanted to meet up with her, and tried to figure out if she was a police officer.
Gahler said that Devault actually commented that they didn't "want to see Chris Hansen from the show 'To Catch a Predator' there waiting for him."
Upon arrival to the meet up location, Gahler said Devault had a pizza box in hand when he was faced with Harford County deputies and Chris Hansen waiting for him.
Harford County Sheriff's Office
With courage, honor and integrity we protect the rights of all citizens
harfordsheriff.org
