For one alleged Maryland pedophile, a dark premonition turned into reality when he walked straight into the path of Chris Hansen — the very man he feared might be waiting for him.
The former host of “To Catch a Predator” was on the scene as part of a coordinated sting operation featured on his show “Takedown,” which assisted police in apprehending nine suspected child predators across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, according to WBFF-TV in Baltimore.
The operation, conducted in October, targeted suspects who believed they were communicating with underage boys or girls. In reality, they were sending explicit messages to undercover officers posing as minors.
When the time came for the supposed meetups, each suspect was instead greeted by Hansen himself — before being swiftly arrested by waiting officers.
One of those men, 32-year-old Tyler Devault from Gaithersburg, Maryland, seemed to sense his fate before it unfolded. In the messages leading up to the meeting, Devault grew wary and questioned whether the person he was chatting with — whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl — might be law enforcement.
According to reports, Devault even confessed he didn’t “want to see Chris Hansen from the show ‘To Catch a Predator’ there waiting for him.”
But when Devault arrived at the meeting location, pizza in hand, that’s precisely what happened. Waiting to confront him was Hansen himself, the journalist whose name had become synonymous with exposing online predators.
Devault was arrested and charged with one count of sexual solicitation of a minor, People reported.
Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said the department had hoped the sting would uncover no offenders — a hope that proved, unfortunately, unrealistic.
“When I was first approached about conducting this operation, it was my sincere hope that we would come up empty-handed,” Gahler said. “That we would find there were no predators that wanted to terrorize our kids here in Harford County, and that the operation would end with zero arrests.”
“But sadly,” he added, “that was not the case at all.”
The sting’s results underscored the persistent threat of online predators — and demonstrated that Hansen’s long-running mission to expose them remains as relevant, and as chilling, as ever.
Police uncovered a deeply unsettling detail about another suspect, Nicholas Fountain, who was taken into custody in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.
According to reports, Fountain owns and operates two day care centers — a revelation that sent shockwaves through investigators and the community alike.
“This is something we see all over the country,” Chris Hansen said. “People who either work directly with children, counsel them in mental health settings, or even have kids of their own — yet somehow manage to separate this kind of predatory behavior from their parental or professional responsibilities.”
Reflecting on the gravity of the situation, Hansen added, “It makes you wonder what would’ve happened — although I think I already know — if we hadn’t been there, and if there had actually been a vulnerable child waiting.”
The arrests, including Fountain’s, will be featured in “Takedown” later this winter, when the series begins streaming on Tru Blu, according to WBFF-TV.
