Author's note: I do not own internet watchdog group Perverted-Justice, nor do I own the television show Dateline NBC. The latter is owned by NBC Universal.
Elwood City Police Department
Elwood City Police detective Maryann Tucker walked into the office, manila folder consisting of files in one hand and coffee in the other. She had been on the force for ten years, and a detective for four. She was in her mid 40s, but looked like she was ten years younger. It helped that she worked out constantly and took great care of her skin. She had dealt with special cases before, but nothing like this. In a way, it was almost laughable, because she did not believe that the man would be involved in something like this.
She walked into the police chief's office, sat down in the open seat, and set the manila folder on the desk. Sitting by her was police chief, a bulldog named Mason, a deputy from the Beaver County Sheriff's Department, and Dateline NBC correspondent and "To Catch A Predator" host Chris Hansen.
"These are the files that Perverted-Justice we have on Nigel Ratburn." said the detective.
"So Nigel Ratburn, a nearly 20 year teacher at an elementary school, has been involved in these obscene chats with a 13 year old boy?" asked Chris Hansen pensively.
"Affirmative. We have his chat log, which is 100+ pages long, and some photos of himself that he sent to a perverted justice decoy." the detective replied.
The police chief and the sheriff each took a look through that Nigel Ratburn (screenname PuppetMaster2007) chat log, and their faces scrunched up in anger.
"This man used his position of power to try to inflict abuse on someone he thought was 13. That is completely unacceptable." added the police chief, shaking his head in disgust.
"We have to get this man off the streets as soon as possible, but we have to do it very tactfully, so that the kids don't get traumatized by the teacher's arrest." replied the detective.
Over the next hour or so, the detective, the sheriff, the police chief, and Hansen all discussed how to confront the teacher. The group wanted to move in and out, but were concerned that either some parents would try to interfere in the arrest and try to aid his escape, due to his status in the community. They were also worried if the local news crew would get wind of the story, since Dateline NBC was a very popular TV show.
The Elwood City Police Department contacted the principal, Herb Haney, to let them know that the Dateline NBC crew would be coming to the school. The chief explained that one of the teachers was being questioned for his sexual chat. At first, Haney denied it, saying that it wasn't true. But the police chief explained in more detail about Ratburn's chat online, and Haney granted permission, but said that the camera crew was not allowed to come in until after the last of the students had left the building, which would be around 3:30pm. Chris Hansen and the rest of the Dateline crew took off towards the school, with one police unit from Elwood City and an unmarked squad car from the Sheriff's Office, to attract as little attention as possible.
Chris Hansen walked into Lakewood Elementary, signed in, then proceeded to Nigel Ratburn's room, with the Dateline NBC cameraman trailing behind. The school is pretty much empty, as the school had an early dismissal at 2:30pm, and there were no after-school conferences that day. Nigel Ratburn had just finished packing up, and was prepared to head out the door to grade the tests that the students had taken early in the day, and to enjoy the following day off. He was totally caught off guard for what came next...
"Hello, sir, how are you doing?" asked Chris Hansen, walking into room 37.
Nigel Ratburn looks up in shock. "I'm okay. Who are you?" he asks.
"I need you to have a seat over there on that stool for me." replies Hansen.
"No, what's going on here? What is this about?" asks Ratburn.
"I'll tell you everything that's going on, but first I need you to have a seat." replied Hansen. "We have a lot to talk about, you and I."
To be continued...
