6 November
2006 Chatmag News.
In response to
the news report regarding the suicide of Kaufman County District Attorney
Louis Conradt Jr., NBC issued a statement distancing themselves from Conradt.
"NBC News' "Dateline"
was in Texas reporting on its "To Catch A Predator" series in conjunction
with online watchdog group Perverted Justice. In the midst of that effort,
Rockwall County Assistant District Attorney Louis W. Conradt, Jr. contacted
a decoy from Perverted Justice who was posing as a 13-year-old boy. Local
authorities launched an investigation into Conradt's online communications
and went to his home with an arrest warrant. In the course of that investigation,
Conradt committed suicide. There was no contact whatsoever between Conradt
and "Dateline" at any point in the investigation."
Conradt had been
caught in a sting conducted by Dateline NBC and the online vigilante group
Perverted Justice. Police from Murphy, Texas were attempting to serve a
search warrant when Conradt committed suicide.
Dateline NBC has
been paying Perverted Justice per episode, potentially making Perverted
Justice either NBC employees or contractors. The legal relationship between
NBC and Perverted Justice is unclear, and under scrutiny from legal and
journalistic scholars.
With the suicide
of Conradt, more scrutiny will come to bear on both Dateline NBC and Perverted
Justice. In recent weeks, there has been a backlash against the Dateline
NBC series, with statements from law enforcement and numerous individual
'blog posts condemning the program.
--Chatmag News--
Related Article:
6 November 2006
Chatmag News.
Dateline
NBC, Perverted-Justice.com Sting Ends in Suicide.
