Tonight, for two hours, I watched Dateline NBC, which aired a show called, “To Catch A Predator III.” The show was about Internet predator/pedophiles who thought they were coming to a home to have sex with a 12 to 13-year-old girl or boy. Amazingly, some of the men that showed up, after a lengthily and explicit instant message conversation, were in their late 60s – and some were even teachers or law enforcement agents.

Why?

For some time now, I have thought about doing a column about this atrocious sickness, but never had the chance to do it. It was only after watching tonight’s Dateline that I finally decided to sit at my keyboard and finally confront this sick part of human life. Besides the obvious fact that sex with a minor is wrong – the part that I have trouble wrapping my mind around is how these men could possibly find a child sexually attractive?

I have dated my share of women, and I am humbled and honored to say that they were all – at least to me – sexually attractive. In other words, besides their personalities for just this point – there was something about each one of their bodies that aroused me. And although they were all from different ages, races, and walks of life – they had one thing in common – they were adults. How a man can look at a child under the age of 18 and think that there is something about them that is sexually attractive – much less sexual at all – is sickening to me, and I am sure the rest of normal society.

I have heard about and seen many crimes take place – but to me – no crime is worse than the rape of a child. Yes, of course, the rape of an adult is horrific. But what makes child rape worse is that children do not even know what sex is – so how can you explain to a child under the age of ten why a man inserted his penis into her vagina – when she doesn’t even know what a penis or a vagina is?

When I was working for OEM, I met a detective from the New York City Special Victims Unit who told me about a case he worked on that was so disturbing – I will never forget the story. He told me that he was called to a home by a neighbor who heard unusual screams coming from the house next door. When he arrived with his partner and knocked on the door – a five-year-old boy answered. When the detective asked if everything was okay – the boy, who was as pale as a ghost, looked toward the staircase leading upstairs. As the detectives made their way upstairs – they heard a strange moaning coming from one of the bedrooms. As they opened the door – the detectives saw something that was so vile – the partner of the detective I met actually had to pistol whip his own partner in order to render him unconscious – because the detective I met, in less than five minutes, broke the man’s jaw, ribs, nose, and fractured his skull – and if left to continue, by his own admission – probably would have killed the man inside the bedroom.

What was so disturbing was that the man they encountered in the bedroom was sexually molesting his daughter…

…who was three.

Why?

More important than the “why” is the “how.” How could these men find girls or boys who have not even reached puberty yet sexually attractive? What drives these men to arousal when they see images of children – or worse – children in person? What possible sexual interest can a child produce in a man as old as me – or older? And worst of all – why are the men who commit these absolutely disgusting atrocities allowed to still walk the face of the Earth?

According to statistics from “The Mental Health Journal,” an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 new cases of sexual abuse occur each year. And, amazingly – many of the men who commit them are released back into society after serving only a minimal jail sentence. Incredibly, one of the men who came to the house used by Dateline NBC for the sting on tonight’s program was a convicted child molester – who raped three children over two decades ago who were all under the age of ten. This pattern continued all throughout the three-day sting operation, which, by the way, was conducted by Dateline NBC in conjunction with the local police department and www.perverted-justice.com – a website dedicated to putting people like these sickos “out of business.”

In fact, before I began writing this, I went to www.perverted-justice.com to see the “rogues gallery” of animals that they have amassed by posing as vulnerable young boys and girls – and what I found staggered me. Of their, as they put it, “Top 5 Most Slimy,” I came across, “DavieWants2,” who is actually 54-year-old Michael J. Coffey of Suffolk, New York. In what he thought was a chat with a 14-year-old boy screen-named, “SnapShotDeath,” he said, among a conversation that lasted from 12:43pm until 6:13pm on July 20, 2004:

• DavieWants2 [1:31 PM]: i like to rape my bois for REAL
• SnapShotDeath [1:31 PM]: i swear i do what u say
• DavieWants2 [1:32 PM]: what if i tell YOU i want to put a rope around YOUR neck as i fuck YOu in YOUR sweet ass, and hear YOU beg not to die
• DavieWants2 [2:50 PM]: ill be very demanding boi, andi dont want to hear YOu complain
• SnapShotDeath [2:50 PM]: i swear i wont
• DavieWants2 [2:50 PM]: if i tell YOU drink my piss in the morning i dont want to hear you bitch boi
• SnapShotDeath [2:51 PM]: i wont i swear

Why is this man able to solicit these boys, why is he not in prison – and most importantly – why is he still alive?

I am completely appalled and disgusted by the fact that these predators are able to roam the Internet as easily if it were a shopping mall full of innocent, vulnerable children. If you know my history of columns, you would know that I have never before in the almost 900 columns that I have written over the last nine years ever written one this explicit, profane and sick – but, after watching today’s Dateline NBC and having the idea of writing this column in my head for quite some time – I thought it would be appropriate to bring this topic to light in such a blatant manner. I am not a parent, nor do I ever want to be – but I appeal to parents everywhere to understand that this topic is not only real – but is going on even as I type these words and you read them. In the past, predators like this piece of garbage were only able to find their prey by trolling schools and playgrounds – but now – they can come into your home by the same tool you are using to read these very words.

As for what we are doing to stop these monsters, we are simply putting them in jail. As for what we should do to stop these monsters – how does the death penalty sound? There is absolutely no reason why we should allow these men the chance to re-enter society, or “turn their lives around.” In other words, once a child molester – always a child molester. There is no rehabilitation for what these men are addicted to. And as long as there is one child walking the streets of our neighborhoods – there is a pedophile waiting to rape them.

I am truly sorry if this column offended or disgusted anyone. I just think it is time that these predators be exposed – and eliminated.