A parade of potential predators in a small town The latest in Dateline's investigation, this time, in the U.S. heartland

NBC VIDEO •'To Catch a Predator' IV April 26: NBC's Chris Hansen previewed Dateline's fourth sex predators investigation on the "Today" show. Today show

Today Show

GREENVILLE, OHIO -

Chris Hansen Correspondent •Profile

We've set up a new computer sex predator operation in a new location, but one man's excuse sounds pretty old.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: And what have you heard about those stories?

Alonzo Wade: That there's pedophiles out there. But that's not my intention tonight, I just wanted to have a party and have a good time.

Two years ago, Dateline launched an undercover investigation into on-line sexual predators.

We had no idea we were about to expose a national epidemic: adults trolling the Internet looking to meet young teens for sex.

Our investigations revealed the enormity of the problem. Over the course of three undercover stings, we exposed almost 90 men. 

Our past investigations have been in major metropolitan areas: the first near New York City, the second in a suburb of Washington D.C., and the third close to Los Angeles.

Could it be that this is a crime that only happens in and around big cities, or does it happen everywhere? Even in rural America?

This report is Dateline's fourth investigation into Internet predators-only this time, we went straight to the heartland: Greenville, Ohio, population 13,000.

Nestled among the corn fields and cow pastures, Dateline found a large house just the right size for our crew and specialty cameras. It was outside of Dayton Ohio, and six hours from Chicago.

"Frag" and "Del," their screen names, are from Perverted-Justice.com, an online watch dog group that for the last four years has been catching Internet sex predators and exposing them.  We hired the organization as consultants so we could watch them do what they normally do- go into chat rooms and pose as 12-to-15-year-olds home alone interested in having sex. 

So while the Perverted-Justice decoys troll chat rooms, our crews set up 11 hidden cameras-seven outside covering all angles of the driveway, side, and back of the house and four cameras on the inside.

One man emerges from the shadows. He's 40-year-old Alonzo Wade. He's been chatting online about sex with a girl who said she was 15. When she says she's worried she'll get pregnant he says "I am fixed."

He drives 104 miles, more than two hours, to meet the young teen home along. And he's loaded down with alcohol. Del, pretending to be the young girl waves him in.

Wade (on hidden camera): Where are you?

Del: I just ran upstairs to get a band aid I'll be right back down okay?

Wade: All right.

Del: Sorry. If I bleed on the carpet, I'll be totally dead.

Wade (laughs)

Then, he appears to pull down the zipper on the front of his pants. What he was planning to do next we'll never know. He stops as soon as he sees me.

Chris Hansen: What were you doing with your pants there when you started heading towards the door?

Wade: My zipper came down excuse me (hear zipper go up) I was just going to go outside and make sure everything was okay.

Hansen: You brought quite the selection tonight.

Wade: Yes sir.

Hansen: What do we have here?

Wade: That's mine.

Alonzo claims the 12 pack of beer and two six packs of Mike's Hard Lemonade are all just for him.

Hansen: Were you gonna give any to the 15-year-old?

Wade: Oh no no no. No, I don't do that. I got a 15 year old daughter myself.

Hansen: Well, come on Alonzo, you brought the 12 pack and 2 six packs her to this house.

Wade: What I said was 'What did she like to drink now?' Did I say never, 'What I was gonna bring' You got it in black and white that I'd say I'd bring it.

Hansen: And you brought it.

Wade: Yes, I did.

Alonzo says he didn't want to drink in front of his daughter so he came here to drink- not to have sex, but he seems to leave the door open.

Hansen: It appears to be clear from this transcript that you are open to the idea of having sex with this girl.

Wade: Well appear yes. Would I? No, well maybe, maybe.

Hansen: What is it Alonzo yes, no, maybe?

Wade: Maybe.

Hansen: So maybe you would have had sex with this girl?

Wade: Maybe.

Hansen: What should happen to you Alonzo?

Wade: I should be put in jail.

And that's exactly what was about to happen. Like our most recent investigation, Perverted-Justice is cooperating with local law enforcement, providing the Darke County, Ohio sheriff's men with the evidence needed to make an arrest. In Ohio, showing up for sex with a minor after soliciting them online is a felony.

After deputies read Alonzo his rights, he is taken in for questioning, photographed, finger printed and put behind bars.

Detective Mike Burns of the Darke County Sheriff's department says he contacted Perverted-Justice about doing a sting operation because he was looking for a way to combat Internet predators in his area. 

Det. Mike Burns, Darke County Sheriff's department: It was just a miracle from heaven as far as meeting our needs because we are just struggling so badly to get things going that here it is. Here's the answers for you.

The detective and his men conduct their stakeout from the house across the street and in the mobile home behind the undercover house. Just as they did with Alonzo, once a suspected predator goes in the house, Det. Burns will have his men move into place, ready to make the arrest.

And this time we'll be doing something new: Because some predators try to get kids to appear in front of Web cams, we hired an actress to pretend to be 12 or 13 years old. She looks the part, but she's actually 19 years old. When a potential predator sees her, it should be very clear that this could be an underage girl he's talking dirty to, not an adult.

It's a parade of potential predators, this time, in the heartland of America.

CONTINUED: The evangelical university student and the paramedic

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