Predator Sting: Police Intervene

After 10 of minutes talking outside, Rob and ShadowMaster go into the restaurant to discuss their interests in more detail.

Rob: Do you have a preference? I'm just curious, because I know what I like. But if you have a preference, is it adult or is it ...
ShadowMaster: Actually, I like early teens.
Rob: Early teens? Like 12, 13 ... Jules is 9. You might be able to meet her next week. Hmm. Maybe I can bring her down and play some games. I think I can get Jules.
ShadowMaster: I have no doubt you will be able. Just snuggle with her, cuddle with her, you know? Ease her into it. She might, might actually kind of be into it too, you know, if she's getting to that age. That's why I like that age. They're starting to get into that frame of mind, that curiosity.

 

Apart from ShadowMaster, Rob says, "During our meeting, he told me about molesting two girls: One, his natural daughter and the second a foster daughter that he had care of."

 

Rob: So, you don't do foster parenting anymore, right?
ShadowMaster: I did that in California, and of course ... one of them tempted me. I'm sitting there like this, and she comes up rubbing against my arm.
Rob: With her crotch?
ShadowMaster: Uh huh. I said, "You could get raped doing that."

ShadowMaster: Well, I'm a very strict parent, so I spanked her. Had some ... quite good ... some good times doing that.

Away from the conversation, Rob makes an observation. "I'm sitting across from this guy, and he's talking about kids he molested, giving me pointers. He was actually proud of what he was doing," he says. "No matter how many times I do this type of investigation, or meet with these individuals, it never ceases to amaze me how matter-of-fact they are about molesting children."

Rob: How do you start?
ShadowMaster: The 13-year-old started. She was complaining that she had a burn. So I started to look at it, you know, with no intention of really starting anything. And she pulled down her panties, and I told her, "If you don't like it, tell me. I'll stop."
Rob: And she never said anything? Very interesting. What would you do with your daughter?
ShadowMaster: Typically, she's sitting on my lap. Snuggle her. I would spread her legs, rubbed it a little bit. Pull them down, put her legs over my shoulders...

At this point, Dr. Phil has had enough. He asks that the tape be stopped. "We get the idea. How do you keep from reaching across the table and just absolutely knocking this guy's teeth out?" he asks Rob.

"My end goal is to make sure that they get put away for a long time," says Rob. "So if I get emotional about it, and I get out of role by any means I just wrecked a whole investigation, and I wasn't about to do that. So I look at the end result."

Dr. Phil introduces former FBI investigator Harold Copus, who was on the scene to oversee security.

Harold says, "We were very concerned. When you deal with these guys, you don't know what else may be on their agenda, so we wanted to make sure Rob was safe."

ShadowMaster also claimed to have a collection of child pornography, which is a federal offense. Rob explains that most child pornography collections come from all over the world.

Dr. Phil runs down the list of ShadowMaster's offenses. "He has admitted to molesting two of his daughters, he has admitted to having a collection of child pornography, and we didn't stop there. And I'm going to tell you why we wanted to go further with this. This man reportedly " at least what he's telling us " has had over 19 foster children through his home. We wanted to find out everything we could about that. We wanted to take this further. The idea is if you can find out who the victims are then you know that they're somewhere in this world spinning out of control. We knew that we were on to something very serious and very big."

 

What Dr. Phil didn't know was that the operation was about to take a dramatically different turn.

Dr. Phil partnered with a local restaurant, Hash House A Go Go, and put hidden cameras in various locations throughout the place. Preparations were made for a surveillance truck nearby, so Dr. Phil could watch and listen to Rob as he exposed this pedophile.

"When I realized the gravity of what Rob had already uncovered, I wanted to get the Las Vegas police involved right away," says Dr. Phil. "Everything was in place, so Rob made the call to our guy."

"How are you, buddy? It's Woody," Rob says into a cell phone. "What are you up to, bud? Did I wake you up? ... OK, sorry. I'm going to be there, shortly. I'm just pulling in. Actually, I'm just " " He stops short, listening. A gloomy expression comes over his face as he attempts to reschedule his appointment with ShadowMaster. Upon hanging up he says, "Something's up. Something's up. His voice was totally different. I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. He's not the same, he [said], 'Nope, something came up. Can't make it. No.'"

Dr. Phil explains, "What we didn't know was that the authorities had already arrived at the suspect's house and arrested him."

This case was much bigger than what Rob had uncovered, so the police needed to move in right away. Outside the residence Rob visited earlier in picking up ShadowMaster, a gaggle of law enforcement officers gathers. As one departs from the scene, a Dr. Phil producer follows.

"I can't talk to you right now," the woman tells him. "Maybe later."

 

"OK, cool. We're the guys who gave it to you," says the producer.  

 

"Yeah. We appreciate that too," she replies.

Another member of the law enforcement team is more forthcoming. "Yeah, from what we've seen so far, this guy's a good catch. The target is definitely strong ... I would define as somebody who's prolific that, based upon the evidence that we see here at the scene and the conversation that we had with him, would indicate that he's somewhat of a high-profile offender, somebody who fits a category where you feel good about, you know, the fact that he's being put in jail."

"We have an arrest," Harold reveals, after talking to the officers on his own. "It was a significant arrest, meaning in their terms that we have a major player in child pornography. They have multiple pieces of evidence that they're bringing out of here. This is a major case."

 

 

Back in the studio, Dr. Phil reiterates that he had felt it was necessary to contact the police in Las Vegas and keep them informed about the operation.

 

"When we turned everything over to them and showed them what we have to get the arrest warrants and all of that, they jumped into action and, in my view, we lost a lot of information that way," says Dr. Phil. He tells Rob, "We know about 19 foster children going through this guy's home, we know that he was trusting you and telling you more and more and more. So this guy could wind up under the jail, for a long, long time, and we could identify those victims so we can go out and find them and offer them help. But they went with what they had, instead of what was left to find out."

Rob agrees. "How I looked at it as an investigator is this is a chance for me to get information about past sexual assaults, because we all know that most children don't say anything."

"And I know that y'all have seen this tape for the first time with his face blurred, and we have done that for a reason. I don't want to do anything that could taint this investigation in any way and give this guy any sort of an out," says Dr. Phil.

Dr. Phil reveals that ShadowMaster was arrested and booked on two criminal counts, one for each of the two girls he mentioned. "We believe that there was pornography in the house, and they were taking a lot of things out of the house, so we don't want to do anything to give this guy any kind of wiggle room at all. So at this point those charges are pending, and then as they gather more and more information, I suspect that they will be upgraded even more. Is that y'all's anticipation from what you know about it?"

"I hope so," says Rob.

Because the FBI is involved, Harold adds, "I think we'll see more arrests."

Dr. Phil shares a final point about this case. "This guy is not a registered sex offender. This was on nobody's radar anywhere. Nobody had heard of this guy, police weren't onto him, police weren't looking for him. So again, we know how many registered sex offenders are out there, but how many are out there who haven't been detected and aren't on the radar?"