Lawsuit: Network bribed deputies

NBC's sex-predator show said to have paid for cooperation
By Rod Leveque
Daily Bulletin
Aug. 07, 2007

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department has been hit with allegations that the NBC television network bribed a lieutenant to win his cooperation for a televised sex-sting operation.

The claim is part of a lawsuit filed against NBC in a New York federal court, alleging that the producers of the "Dateline" NBC program "To Catch a Predator" routinely bribed law-enforcement officials in exchange for their help in arranging the stings.

A sheriff's spokeswoman declined to comment on the allegations Friday. She referred questions to her supervisors, who did not return calls.

Neither the Sheriff's Department nor Sheriff-Coroner Bob Doyle are named as a party to the lawsuit.

The stings aired on the show require close cooperation between law enforcement and the television program.

To pull them off, undercover operatives pose as children in Internet chat rooms in search of sexual predators, and then invite them to a home for sex.

When the alleged predators arrive, they are met by television cameras and a "Dateline" reporter. Officers then swoop in and arrest them as they leave the house.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department participated in such an operation in January 2006.

In that case, roughly 50 men were arrested at a home in Mira Loma over a three-day span.

According to the lawsuit, NBC approached sheriff's Lt. Chad Bianco about setting up a sting in Riverside County.

The suit states Bianco was initially reluctant to participate out of fear the operation would be "harmful to the community."

The lawsuit alleges Dateline employees suggested the show would be beneficial to his career. It further alleges the network gave him money, services or other things of value to win his support.

It gives no other specifics on the alleged bribery.

The lawsuit says Dateline producers struck similar deals with law enforcement in Long Beach, Petaluma, Florida and Ohio.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court last month by Patricia Conradt, the sister of a former Texas district attorney who killed himself after becoming entangled in a "To Catch a Predator" operation.

The woman is seeking more than $100 million from NBC.

The allegations in the lawsuit are in some ways similar to those made in another case filed against NBC in May.

In that case, a former Dateline producer accuses the network of using shady tactics to stage the stings.

Among her allegations, plaintiff Marsha Bartel claims NBC "unethically pays or indirectly reimburses law-enforcement officials to participate in the predator stings."

Her lawsuit also alleges the network inappropriately provides law-enforcement agencies with video equipment used for the arrest and prosecution of the alleged predators.

Bartel's lawsuit does not accuse the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, or any any other law-enforcement agency, of wrongdoing.

NBC News spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff said Friday that the network denies the allegations in both lawsuits and plans to fight the cases vigorously.

Rod Leveque can be reached by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at (909) 483-9325.