Chris Hansen Defends 2006 "To Catch a Predator" Sting After Prosecutor’s Suicide
In a new interview, former "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen said the 2006 sting that ended with Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt’s suicide was handled transparently by law-enforcement and that he does not regret the operation.
Chris Hansen, the former host of NBC’s "To Catch a Predator," told The Hollywood Reporter that the 2006 sting involving Rockwall County assistant district attorney Bill Conradt, who died by suicide during a police raid, was conducted with full transparency and without his own involvement in the arrest decision. > "It was unfortunate that somebody chose to take his life rather than face criminal consequences," Hansen said, noting that investigators had found child-pornography on Conradt’s computer and that he had exchanged explicit messages with two decoys posing as 13-year-old boys.
Hansen emphasized that the television crew was present only to document the police operation, and that law-enforcement agencies made the arrest and raid decisions. He added that the show reported the incident the next day on the Today show and continued to follow the case without regret or second-guessing. > "We were covering what the police were doing. We didn’t have a role in the decision. The police decided to do it, and we covered it like any other arrest we would cover in the course of reporting the story," he said.
When asked about a forthcoming film, "Primetime," that dramatizes the sting, Hansen rejected claims that the series crossed a line into exploitation, calling the movie’s timeline and dialogue fictional. > "From the beginning, we were transparent about what we did, how we did it and the results. The film's timeline, scenario and conversations are completely made up. It just didn’t happen," he said.
The interview comes as the film starring Robert Pattinson is set for release on September 25, revisiting the controversial 2006 investigations that sparked public debate over the methods used by the show.