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Reporter Chris Hansen, a Metro Detroit native, has made a name producing shows of undercover law enforcement stings that result in arrests of adult predators trying to have sex with minors.
For years he had a show on NBC, "To Catch a Predator." Now, the former reporter for WXYZ and WDIV, has a similar show on TruBlu, a subscription streaming network, called "Takedown with Chris Hansen."
Chris Hansen talks to Professor Vijay Mannari
When the predators show up, Hansen, who works in conjuction with law enforcement, typically appears as the TV cameras roll and begins questioning the men.
Earlier this month, Hansen aired two shows featuring law enforcement posing as a teen girl online, chatting with men interested in hooking up. That resulted in the arrest late last month in Harrison Township in Wayne County of Eastern Michigan University engineering professor, Vijay Mannari, 63, and corrections officer Sam Queens, 34, who worked at the federal prison in Milan, outside of Ann Arbor.
The professor has been suspended from his job, and the prison said the corrections officer is no longer employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Wayne County Prosecutor's is considering criminal charges.
"The Huron Township Department of Public Safety, in cooperation with The Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team (GHOST) and Tru Blu Reporter Chris Hansen, conducted a proactive sting that targeted individuals who were knowingly soliciting underage minors for sex," the Huron Township police said in a statement posted on Facebook earlier this month."This proactive initiative was conducted at an undisclosed location within Huron Township."
Eastern Michigan University also issued a statement about the suspended professor, saying:
"The actions the individual is accused of are detestable and abhorrent and stand against everything the university stands for. Although the investigation remains ongoing, the University is not aware of any allegations against the individual that involve University employees or students."
Hansen said both men chatted online with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. When they showed up to a house used in the sting, they were confronted by Hansen and law enforcement and were arrested.
During one show, an officer explains to Hansen that the EMU professor wants to pay the girl $80 for a half hour to cuddle, kiss and touch her.
When he pulls up in his car, a female detective posing as the 15-year-old girl, waves to him from the porch, then ducks back in the house. When the professor enters the house, the girl suggests he take a seat while she gets her "vape." The professor decides to remain standing near the front door.
That's when Hansen appears in his trademark entrance and asks the professor to take a seat. The professor quickly tries to exit the home as Hansen says loudly, "Sir, you don't want to leave." Huron Township Police suddenly appear in the livingroom and arrest him. Then, as part of the show, the handcuffed professor sits down for an interview with Hansen.
"He starts to tell me that he was only there to help a vulnerable child in a bad situation," Hansen explains in a phone interview with Deadline Detroit. "He later admits that what he did was wrong, and later confesses to detectives who interviewed him that he had met other vulnberable females on online and offered to help them financially."
As for corrections officer, Hansen said the man communicated to the decoy that she was too young and it wasn't right. But later that night he said he wanted to see her, and did show up and was arrested.
Why does Hansen keep doing these shows?
"The mission here is to create dialogue and awareness so we can better protect children from this sort of activity," he says. "Twenty years ago when we did the first predator investigation, I thought we'd do two or three and that no one would show up. And here we are 20 years and 600 and some predators later, and the problem is as bad as ever.
"So it's important to continue this work as a deterrent and to both educate parents and children."
Chris Hansen will appear on the Kevin Dietz show on WJR radio at 10:35 a.m. Friday.
