WATCH: Former ‘To Catch a Predator' host talks recent Alabama sting operation
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Former 'To Catch a Predator' host Chris Hansen joined CBS 42 Morning News to discuss a recent sting operation that resulted in 6 people, including a school teacher, being arrested.
As part of the sting operation, the suspects were told they were communicating with an underage teen and they reportedly continued to have an explicit conversation before agreeing to meet up with the teen. The Blount County Sheriff's Office stated that the suspects were instead communicating with an investigator.
The six men were all charged with human trafficking, electronic solicitation and traveling to meet a child to perform a sexual act following a sting operation, according to the Blount County Sheriff's Office.
Friend of Alabama man killed in ATV crash speaks out
Among those arrested was Christopher Thompson, a teacher and bus driver at U.W. Clemon Elementary School.
'Per standard procedure, the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave,' said Jefferson County Schools Director of Communication John Huddleston in a statement.
Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon said when officers identified themselves to Thompson at the sting house, he ran to his car and led them on a three-to-five-mile chase before being arrested.
'One of the guidelines that we make that they have to acknowledge at least once, and we try to get them to acknowledge it multiple times that they are indeed speaking with someone who says that they are under the age of consent,' Moon said.
Hansen said that Thompson's arrest was disturbing. When he entered the sting house, he had what law enforcement described as a 'Love Kit.' Moon said Thompson was also carrying a gun.
'No matter what he says he was going to do or what his excuses are, there is physical evidence that he was coming to that house to have sex with a child,' Hansen said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Apple Valley woman latest to be charged in Feeding our Future fraud
An Apple Valley woman is the 72nd person federally charged for her role in the $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic, acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson announced on Friday. Dorothy Jean Moore, 57, of Apple Valley, was charged in a federal indictment with three counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, Thompson said in a news release. According to the release, Moore launched two purported federal child nutrition program sites in late 2020 under the sponsorship of Feeding Our Future. Moore completed and signed meal count forms, claiming to have served 1,500 meals to children each day at each of her sites, which she said she operated out of community churches. Moore claimed and received reimbursements for those meals through the Feeding Our Future program, the release said. In addition, she said she operated a catering company called Jean's Soul Food and claimed additional federal reimbursements for food from that company used at the other sites. The release cited her bank records, saying they show she used 'little of the reimbursement dollars she received to purchase food. Instead, Moore used those funds for other purposes, including to purchase cars and fund an enhanced lifestyle.' She is the 72nd Minnesotan charged with defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture's child nutrition programs during the pandemic, when regulations temporarily were loosened and a variety of businesses and nonprofits were allowed to help feed hungry kids while schools were closed. Federal prosecutors have called the scheme the nation's largest coronavirus pandemic fraud, amounting to more than $250 million. 'This fraud is outrageous, brazen, and seemingly never-ending,' said Thompson in the release. 'Stealing from a program designed to feed vulnerable children is not only criminal — it's unconscionable,' said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis. Moore made her initial appearance in U.S. District Court Friday. Brooklyn Center attorney suspended by Minnesota Supreme Court U.S. Customs Border Protection officer charged with possessing child porn Man once convicted in Minnesota of supporting al-Qaida is now charged in Canada for alleged threats Jury finds Milwaukee man guilty of killing and dismembering 19-year-old woman 'We feel relief': Derrick Thompson found guilty in Minneapolis crash that killed five young women
20 hours ago
Jurors have convicted a Minnesota man of killing 5 young woman in a 2023 vehicle crash
MINNEAPOLIS -- A state court jury convicted a Minneapolis-area man Friday of third-degree murder and vehicular homicide in the deaths of five young women in a crash that authorities said was caused by him speeding, running a red light and slamming into their car. Jurors in Hennepin County District Court deliberated two days before reaching their verdict in the case of Derrick John Thompson, 29, of Brooklyn Park, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported. In November, a federal court jury convicted Thompson on drug and firearms charges because investigators found a handgun, ammunition and illegal drugs in his vehicle after the June 2023 crash, and he is awaiting sentencing in that case. He was convicted Friday of 15 charges and his sentencing is set for July 24. Third-degree murder is unintentionally causing a death through 'eminently dangerous' actions and with 'a depraved mind, without regard for human life.' 'His choices that day scarred many lives and affected an entire community,' Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters following the verdict, according to KARE-TV. The Minneapolis crash victims — Salma Abdikadir, Siham Adam, Sabiriin Ali, Sahra Gesaade and Sagal Hersi — were between 17 and 20 years old, on their way home from preparations for a friend's wedding. Their deaths sparked sorrow and outage among Minnesota's sizeable Somali American population. Prosecutors have said Thompson was driving a black Cadillac Escalade on a Minnesota freeway at 95 mph (153 kph) in a 55 mph- (89 kph-) speed zone and abruptly cut across four lanes of traffic to exit the freeway, flying by a state highway patrol trooper. Thompson's defense attorney, Tyler Bliss, raised questions about whether Thompson's brother might have played a role in the crash that authorities did not investigate. The brother was not charged and testified that he didn't drive the SUV the night of the crash and Thompson was the last person he saw behind the wheel. Bliss called that testimony 'self-serving.' Thompson previously served part of an eight-year prison sentence in California in connection with a 2018 hit-and-run accident that severely injured a woman in the Santa Barbara area. He was released from prison there months before the crash in Minneapolis. Court records show that Thompson is the son of a former Democratic state representative from St. Paul who was sharply critical of police during his one term in office.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Jury finds Derrick Thompson guilty on all charges in crash that killed 5 women
Jury finds Derrick Thompson guilty on all charges in crash that killed 5 women originally appeared on Bring Me The News. Derrick Thompson has been found guilty on all 15 charges for causing the death of five women in a horrific car crash in Minneapolis Thompson was traveling at speeds of up to 100 mph in an SUV rented from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on the evening of June 16, 2023, when he exited I-35W at Lake Street and ran a red light. He smashed into a vehicle carrying Sahra Gesaade, 20, Salma Abdikadir, 20, Sagal Hersi, 19, Siham Odhowa, 19, and Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, killing all of them. In court on Friday, a jury returned a verdict of guilty on all 15 counts – five counts of 3rd-degree murder and ten counts of criminal vehicular homicide. Thompson had claimed he wasn't behind the wheel at the time of the crash, with his defense team arguing investigators had failed to determine it was his brother, Damarco, who was at fault. Thompson, the son of former Minnesota Representative John Thompson, was allegedly was weaving in and out of traffic on I-35W shortly before exiting and running the red light at the end of the ramp. According to the Sahan Journal, the women, some of whom were related, had been together to get henna tattoos applied at Karmel Mall ahead of a friend's wedding. Their families are expected to speak following the conclusion of Friday's hearing. This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
