John Kennelly

Kennelly's latest RSO mugshot

> *"I just came to get something to eat!"*
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> *-* Kennelly's response when being confronted by Chris Hansen a second time
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**John Michael Kennelly** is a predator confronted in the Suburban Washington, D.C. edition of To Catch a Predator**.**  He is best known for showing up to the sting house naked, and being confronted twice in a 24 hour period.

## Biography

Kennelly, using the screen name "SpecialGuy29", engaged in explicit sexual conversation with a boy he believed to be fourteen-years-old. He called the boy "so fuckin hot" and expressed his desire to hang out with him. Kennelly stated that he was serious about wanting the boy to be his boyfriend if given the opportunity. He fabricated details about his age and job, claiming to be an 11th-grade prep school teacher at the age of 29, even though he was actually 43 and unemployed at the time of the sting. To establish intent, the decoy solicited Kennelly to strip down to his underwear and enter the location. When Kennelly mentioned he didn't wear them, the decoy replied, "then come in nekid." Kennelly openly discussed his interest in oral sex before the meeting was fully scheduled. He demonstrated a fast-paced approach, taking approximately one hour from initial contact to declaring a boyfriend relationship and making the decision to drive to the sting house

## Sting

### First Encounter

Kennelly arrived at the designated location with a twelve-pack of beer. He entered through the garage and proceeded to undress completely, leaving only his socks on. Awkwardly, he made his way towards a stool where, according to details mentioned by Chris Hansen on his "Predators I Caught" podcast, Kennelly was counting to 100. As Hansen entered, he was left speechless. Requesting an explanation, Hansen grabbed a towel from the top shelf of the refrigerator. Kennelly turned around, expressing regret. Hansen handed him the towel and advised him to cover up. Following the instruction, Kennelly wrapped the towel around himself. When questioned about the situation, with Kennelly initially mistaking the decoy for Hansen's son, he claimed that he had received an instant message from the teenager inviting him over. Perplexed, Kennelly asserted he had no knowledge of the reason behind the message. Hansen responded, sarcastically stating that the teenager randomly selected him and instructed him to enter the room in the nude. When asked about his age, Kennelly reiterated that he was 29. Regarding his occupation, he initially claimed to be a school bus driver but later changed it back to being a school teacher. Meanwhile, Del Harvey took the twelve-pack of beer and moved away, while Hansen approached Kennelly and requested identification. Later during the interview, Kennelly insisted that he had never previously interacted with a minor online. Hansen became frustrated, declaring Kennelly's claim of innocence to be absurd.

Hansen asked Kennelly for identification once more, and he complied. Hansen then questioned Kennelly about his plans after understanding that he had just woken up in the morning and intended to engage in an online conversation with a fourteen-year-old child, visit his home, get undressed, and enter carrying a twelve-pack of beer. Kennelly stated that he probably would have "chickened out." Hansen claimed he found it difficult to accept that. Hansen began to read from Kennelly's sexually explicit internet communication, but Kennelly cut him off and claimed he was simply "just chatting." Hansen yelled, "CHATTING?! YOU'RE SITTING IN THIS KITCHEN NAKED, JOHN!" After reading more of the chat log, Hansen declared that it was illegal to have an online communication with the intention of having sex with a minor. Kennelly admitted that he was aware of the immorality of what he was doing and that he was in violation of the law. Hansen disclosed that he was not the boy's father but rather a Dateline NBC reporter. Kennelly was exposed when the cameras emerged. He struggled to grip the towel while grabbing his clothes. Kennelly changed into his clothes including a pair of underwear he claimed not to wear, and left the house quickly.

### Second Encounter

Kennelly was back online not even 24 hours after getting busted. He was contacted by a Perverted Justice member who pretended to be a thirteen-year-old boy. Kennelly continued to use the same screen name but changed his name to "Shane." He continued to claim to be 29. When the decoy questioned if he was gay, Kennelly replied that he wasn't and mentioned having a girlfriend. The decoy inquired if Kennelly wanted to meet at a McDonald's restaurant after claiming to reside nearby. Kennelly promised to do so and asked the decoy to meet him outside the restaurant. The child was questioned about his penis size and whether he wore underwear. When the boy claimed to wear boxers, Kennelly specifically asked him to arrive without any.

Hansen accosted Kennelly much more aggressively than the day before when he arrived at the McDonald's. He claimed that in his 24 years working on television, he had only sometimes found himself at a loss for words. Kennelly kept saying, "I just came to get something to eat," repeatedly. Hansen reminded him that he had entered a home naked, thinking he was going to meet a child. He also read from the chat log that Kennelly had with the thirteen-year-old boy. Kennelly became annoyed at the cameramen and told them to get out of his face after he continued to claim that he didn't know what he was going to do. Hansen stood up for them, stating that Kennelly had no cause to be upset with them because he put himself in the situation. Then Kennelly tried to blame his actions on a death in his family, but Hansen was having none of it. Hansen also found it hard to comprehend that Kennelly was seeing a psychiatrist and had two appointments the following day. Kennelly exited the scene with his shoes untied, got in his vehicle, and drove off.

## Legal process and sentence

After his second confrontation, police raided Kennelly's apartment and removed his computer. He was arrested by Fairfax County and charged by the commonwealth with one count of use of a communications device to facilitate certain offenses involving children, a class five felony. It carried a sentence of up to ten years in prison. Kennelly was set to go on trial before a jury but he changed his plea to guilty on the initial felony charge he was facing on June 12, 2006. In September 2006, Judge M. Langhorne Keith sentenced Kennelly to a suspended two-year prison sentence, three years of probation, registration as a tier one sex offender, prohibited him from accessing any online chat rooms, and required him to have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of eighteen.

### Post-Predator Activities

On March 10, 2007, two fifteen-year-old girls were walking in Cub Run Park when they encountered a man who had his back turned to them. Suddenly, the man yelled to get their attention, and to their horror, they saw that he had removed his shirt and pants, exposing himself. Frightened, the girls quickly turned and ran away, with the man chasing after them. Eventually, he disappeared into the nearby woods. Following an investigation, the police identified Kennelly as the suspect. On May 30, 2007, he was charged with two counts of indecent exposure. Kennelly was arrested at the Adult Detention Center where he already was in custody for violating his probation. It is unknown whether he received jail time or was put on extended probation. Kennelly was spotted in June 2022 at a hotel in Southwestern Pennsylvania along with his mother. A To Catch a Predator fan recognized him and snapped a quick photo, with Kennelly looking far more presentable since his appearances on the show.

## Trivia

* He once had a job at a sandwich shop after the sting. He was fired when his identity was discovered.
* He is well known and popular in the Rocky Horror Picture Show community in his town. The community has proclaimed Kennelly "under their protection" and rally to his defense in the face of any negativity thrown his way.
* He was the first predator to show up naked at the sting house, the second being Marvin Lakhan.
* The McDonald's he "just came to get something to eat at" is now out of business.
* In June 2021, during a Reddit AMA where people shared what the men did before they were caught on the show, one user claimed he met Kennelly at a community event. The user alleged that John kept pleading with their parents to let them visit his house. The user asserted that John always seemed weird, and he could always sense it.

## Notable Quotes

* *I don't wear underwear...* [from chatlog]
* *Are you STR8, Bi., or Gay.??? [from chatlog]*
* *You are so FUCKIN HOT bro. [from chatlog]*
* *I'm sorry [Kennelly's first words to Chris when confronted]*
* *Your son IMed me*
* *Can you get those cameras outta here?*
* *Sir, I just came to get something to eat!*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.perverted-justice.com/?con=SpecialGuy29
2. ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12960173
3. ↑ https://sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov/sor/offenderDetailsx.html?regId=10072022110002-AFE39BB3ED10C221&x=6718de41-ac11-406e-9264-626db2ee42fa
4. ↑ https://orochiyamazaki.livejournal.com/46874.html
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 http://www.perverted-justice.com/?con=SpecialGuy29
6. ↑ http://www.perverted-justice.com/index.php?pg=2006jun
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.nsopw.gov/search-public-sex-offender-registries
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/secrets-revealed\_1/all
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 http://m.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2007/jun/06/man-charged-2-indecent-exposures/
10. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/tcap/comments/v5eav5/guess\_who\_i\_saw\_out\_and\_about/
11. ↑ http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/2109705.html
12. ↑ https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/people-who-knew-men-on-to-catch-a-predator-men-tell-stories