Chris Hansen made a career of ensnaring sexual predators on national television, but apparently that line of work got himself in trouble with the law this week.
According to the Associated Press, the former To Catch A Predator host turned himself in Michigan after an arrest warrant was issued for failing to appear in court to explain why he didn’t turn in video in a case of three men attempting to solicit underage girls for sex.
The story involves work Hansen is apparently did investigating a police sting operation in Michigan where three men were charged with trying to meet underage girls for sex. According to the AP, Hansen and a film crew were embedded with the investigators, and a judge associated with the case wanted to know why that video was not made available.
Chris Hansen, 61, checked in at the Shiawassee County jail in Corunna — 65 miles (104.61 kilometers) northwest of Detroit — was released and has 14 days to produce the full video, prosecutor Scott Koerner said.
According to Hansen’s lawyer, though, the warrant has been rescinded and the whole thing was a misunderstanding.
“He wasn’t intending to not appear or to be somebody that was trying to circumvent the process. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances that resulted in a failure to appear,” he said, citing bad timing and confusion over a subpoena. Hansen, who hosts a YouTube show and a podcast, has a home in Michigan but primarily lives in New York, Perryman said.
Hansen and his team had provided an edited video, but a defendant wanted all of the footage in case there is any exculpatory information, he said.
Hansen himself seemed to echo that in an Instagram post this week, posting an image of the courthouse and claiming that “justice goes on!”
[via AP]
