Louis Conradt
Louis William "Bill" Conradt Jr. was an assistant district attorney from Texas. He was inextricably linked to Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator, a TV series that conducted sting operations against suspected sexual predators who target children online. Local law enforcement conducted a sting operation that identified Conradt as a suspect attempting to solicit sex from a person he believed was a 13-year-old boy, and Dateline cameras recorded the events that followed. Conradt shot and killed himself upon encountering SWAT team members that were serving an arrest warrant at his home for his attempt to solicit a minor in sexual acts.
Personal life and career
Louis Conradt was born January 30, 1950, in Terrell, Texas. Conradt graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and received his J.D. degree at Texas Tech University School of Law. He was the Kaufman County, Texas, district attorney for more than two decades before giving up his seat to make a failed run in 2002 to be the 86th State District Judge, losing to Republican Howard Tygrett. Afterward, he became Rockwall County's chief felony assistant district attorney. Conradt lived in Terrell, about an hour southeast of Murphy, where Perverted-Justice, working in conjunction with Dateline, had set up shop to conduct its predator stings. Records show that Conradt was single and lived alone. Conradt was affiliated with the Democratic Party.Interactions with Perverted-Justice
According to Perverted-Justice's logs, Conradt, posing as a 19-year-old university student, engaged in sexually charged online chats with a person using the alias of a fictional 13-year-old named Luke. Conradt solicited pictures of "Luke's" penis and sent him photos purporting to be of himself. After two weeks of these exchanges Perverted-Justice and NBC brought in an actor to play Luke over the phone. For unknown reasons, Conradt stopped responding to phone calls and instant messages. It was then that police decided to bring the operation to Conradt's home in Terrell.Conradt's MySpace page
According to Perverted-Justice members, content from Conradt's MySpace page began to disappear, leading them to believe that Conradt was covering up his tracks. This played a part in the decision of the authorities to pursue a warrant for Conradt's arrest. Chris Hansen mentioned the disappearing page on his blog and on air. Esquire writer Luke Dittrich implies that the disappearing page pushed the participants to make an imminent move as, under Texas law, individuals may be charged with committing a crime if they participate in sexually explicit chats with persons identifying themselves as children. Later investigation by Esquire revealed that Conradt's page had not been touched for months before the sting. Perverted-Justice members claimed that Conradt had other MySpace pages but never produced the evidence to prove the allegation. Hansen later admitted to Esquire that he did not remember actually seeing the page.Sting
The official participants in the sting included Murphy police and the Terrell Police Department, including Terrell's SWAT team. According to raw footage obtained by Esquire, at least one Dateline cameraman had hidden himself near the Conradt residence door. Chris Hansen and Dateline denied that crew members were on the private property.Also in that footage is Frag, a member of Perverted-Justice, who is seen advising police on what to do next. Chris Hansen denied that Perverted-Justice was present but recanted when Esquire was able to describe what Frag looked like.
The warrants were signed shortly after 2 p.m. By this time, police and Dateline had been on the scene for hours. In fact, Dateline had shown up as long as five hours earlier, and later records showed that neighbors had phoned in suspicious persons reports.
According to the Esquire account Dateline crewmembers notified police that they observed that a Sunday newspaper on Conradt's doorstep had disappeared, indicating that Conradt was actually home. Later, in an interview with Esquire, Hansen would claim that he did not remember the incident, nor would he characterize anything Dateline did as surveillance for the police.
Using the tip given to them by Dateline, the police made a decision to call in a SWAT team and perform a tactical entry. They feared that Conradt was aware of their presence and was now destroying evidence. The police broke the door's lock and swept through the house. They encountered Conradt in a hallway. According to the officers' account, Conradt said a variation of "I'm not going to hurt anyone". He then shot himself with a Browning.380 handgun.
Events and reaction
In most cases, To Catch a Predator lured suspected sex offenders with an actor or actress pretending to be a child, into a home that was wired with cameras and surrounded by police.Conradt's death increased criticism of the already controversial show significantly, being criticized by some in the legal and journalistic profession. A year after the incident, Rolling Stone and Esquire published articles denouncing To Catch a Predator. Esquire obtained raw footage of the incident that contradicted Dateline
Hansen did not respond when The Houston Chronicle asked for comment about the Esquire article but deferred to his spokeswoman, who called the idea that Hansen would dictate police action "preposterous".
Perverted-Justice founder Xavier von Erck called the Esquire article fiction. He did not respond to the Esquire story's allegation or supporting evidence that Dateline and Perverted-Justice directed police actions in the Conradt case; rather, he reiterated his disgust for Conradt's behavior. In an email response to The Houston Chronicle, he wrote:
The idea that anything led to the suicide of Conradt other than his want to avoid potential penalties for soliciting a 13-year-old boy sexually is outlandish. We encourage all interested to read the Conradt chat-logs and verification call recordings. Once you do that, you then immediately know why Conradt shot himself rather than face the criminal justice system.
Aftermath
Facts from the aired February 20, 2007, episode of To Catch a Predator were used as part of a $100 million lawsuit by Conradt's sister, Patricia Conradt, against NBC Universal. In March 2008, Judge Chin agreed to allow her infliction of emotional distress and civil rights claims to be heard by a jury.ABC News later did an investigation of the incident on its own news show, 20/20.
On June 24, 2008, the lawsuit brought against NBC Universal by Patricia Conradt was "amicably resolved" out of court.