Jean Pierre Wehry

Wehry's Riverside mugshot

"*What does the real story get me?*"
―Jean's infamous backpedal to Chris calling him out on his lies.
**Jean Pierre "Michael" Wehry** is a predator that was featured on the Riverside, California investigation of the *To Catch a Predator* series. One of the most infamous predators in TCAP history, he is notorious for taking 3 different buses and walking for 3 hours to arrive at the sting house, as well as frequently licking his lips and having an adamant dedication to the non-sensical lie he was feeding Chris Hansen.

## Biography

Jean Pierre Wehry grew up having a very tragic childhood. He was sexually molested and abused by his stepfather when he was a young child. Wehry was diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia when he was very young. When he was eleven years old, he was molested by a 15-year-old boy. When Wehry was 14, he was charged with child molestation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after getting two 13-year-old girls drunk and having sex with them. He showed how to perform oral sex to a 12-year-old girl while detained with other minors. Wehry was charged with forced sodomy on a minor and sentenced to two years in juvenile detention as a result. He was incarcerated for about a year before being committed to a mental institution.

Instead of schizophrenia, his psychiatrist diagnosed him with Asperger's syndrome. Wehry was later released from the mental hospital when he was 17. Wehry moved in with his male psychiatrist when he turned 18 and the two began dating. He left and started working as a prostitute after being accused of stealing. A little over a year later, he returned to live with the psychiatrist. After failing several classes while studying to become a psychiatrist, Wehry started to smoke and distribute crack cocaine. When he was about 23, Wehry was arrested and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon in 1981 after shooting a man in the neck. He was sentenced to three years in prison. He was then later charged and convicted of two counts of felony rape by force after sexually assaulting the ex-girlfriend of a friend of his. He served about two years in prison and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

Wehry then began dating another inmate after falling in love with them. Wehry started attending church services that were led by a member of the Manson family because he wanted to become a minister. Once he was freed from custody, he moved back in with the psychiatrist. He then began training to become a minister. When he was 38 years old, Wehry began dating a 25-year-old woman in his bible study group. After they were married, he began his education to become a medical assistant. In 2000, he was also sent to prison for failing to register as a sex offender. His wife then filed for divorce. He performed sexual favors for other prisoners while he was incarcerated. He served roughly five years in prison before being freed in July 2005.

### Chat

On December 30, 2005, 48-year-old Wehry made contact with a Perverted Justice decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy named "Luke" through email. Using the email address "jmichaelwiltse@yahoo.com," he used a public library computer to exchange messages to the decoy. Wehry said that he was a promotional photographer for "Kindergarten Cop," alongside some gay pornographic films. In exchange for sex, he promised to help the boy launch his modeling career. Wehry made statements like: "By the way why wouldn't I wanna... make love to you?"; "I also want to be your man... lover"; "I wanna have sex"; "I would love to suck you and swallow and everything else as well as cuddle"; "I will be there for you from the moment you put your hand in mine to your be and tongue [sic] kiss me as your lover."

## Confrontation

Wehry arrived at the sting around 11 p.m. He knocked on the door and repeatedly said "psst" to get the decoy's attention. Del Harvey, posing as the teenage boy, talked to Wehry from another room. As Harvey asked if she brought a camera, Wehry made a beeline towards her. This caused Chris Hansen to come out and order him to take a seat. Wehry claimed to be looking for a man named John Pederson to speak with about a job opportunity. He stated that he heard John Pederson was in the area and decided to pay him a visit. Wehry claimed to have received a phone call from an unknown man. He then admitted to taking the bus and walking from Claremont to the sting house. He then contended that a "young man on the phone" informed him that John Pederson owned a construction company. Wehry stated that the "young man" called him because he had his phone number, knew he was looking for work, and was informed that John Pederson live in the neighborhood. Wehry then attempted to claim he had a "college kid" friend who told him about John Pederson and invited him to his house.

He declared he arrived at the house so late to leave a note for John Pederson. When asked if he used his email, Wehry stated that he had done so a long time ago. Hansen informed him that he had used the email only a few hours before his arrival. Wehry stated that he used email when he was married but no longer did. Wehry then claimed once again that he was going to leave a note and then leave. Wehry claimed that it was "not his style" and that he had no affiliations with 13-year-olds as Hansen read through his emails. When asked if he was a photographer, Wehry replied, ""I think about a long time ago I was." He asserted he hadn't used email since finishing school in 1999. He then claimed that he had some people who disliked him. Wehry then changed his story again, claiming that he saw construction while walking to his house. He tried to claim a Mexican on the bus told him he knew a cement company and was knowledgeable about construction. When Hansen revealed that he knew he was at a public library chatting with the decoy, Wehry claimed that someone else was using his email address.

He stated once more that it was "not [his] style" and that some people he knew wanted to get him into trouble. Wehry stated once more that he would not have sex with a minor and that he was dating an African American woman. He attempted to assert that someone had been at the library using his email. He then admitted to being arrested and imprisoned for "having problems" with a young woman. When asked if he had a record, Wehry initially replied, "I'm guessing I do," but later admitted to having one and stated "there's no kids in me." Wehry contended that he was unemployed and had no income. He kept claiming that someone else had used his email address and threatened said he would delete the account. Hansen then revealed he worked for Dateline NBC, which prompted the cameras to come out. Wehry alleged he had done nothing wrong. He then incorrectly changed the name of the person he claimed he wanted to meet to Scott Pederson and repeated his story again. Wehry left the house and was eventually taken into custody by the Riverside police department.

### Police interview

Wehry told the same story to the cops that he told Hansen. He claimed that the "young man" directed him to meet Scott Pederson at the sting house. When questioned by an investigator, Wehry refused to waive his rights and requested an attorney.

## Legal consequences

Wehry was originally charged with three felonies: attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, attempted sodomy with a minor under 18 years of age, and attempted oral copulation with a minor under 14 years of age by force or fear. He was ordered to be held without bail. On February 2, 2009, Wehry was convicted and found guilty during a jury trial on two felony counts of attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, one felony count of attempted sodomy with a minor under 18 years of age, and one felony count of annoy or molest child under 18 years of age. Because he had had three prior felony convictions, he violated the three strike law in California and was sentenced to to three consecutive terms of 25 years to life, for a total of 75 years to life.

### Appeal

In November 2010, Wehry filed an appeal challenging two of his charges due to insufficient evidence. Wehry claimed that there was insufficient evidence of his intent to commit more than one count attempted lewd act on a child, and that his conviction on two counts of attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age violated his Fifth Amendment right under the United States Constitution. Wehry also claimed that the evidence supporting his felony conviction for attempted sodomy with a minor under 18 years of age was insufficient. The court concluded that the evidence showed that Wehry intended to molest only one potential victim. They decided he should only face one count of attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age and reduced his sentence to 50 years to life. The rest of his conviction was affirmed. He is currently incarcerated at the California Men's Colony state prison.

### Aftermath

Wehry published an autobiography called "In For Life: Confessions of a Three-Strikes Prisoner" under the identity "Damien Lartigue." He co-wrote it with his cellmate (who he nicknamed his "cellie"). In April 2022, Wehry was denied parole. A new parole hearing was set for April of 2025.

## Notable Quotes

**Chris Hansen:** Did you do any promotions for *Kindergarten Cop* the movie?

**Jean Wehry:** I saw the movie... I know some people who have seen me with the movie, but that was it.

## Links

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_qIOjjyK5q4 (full TCaP segment)
* https://casetext.com/case/people-v-wehry/

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 https://casetext.com/case/people-v-wehry
2. ↑ https://meganslaw.ca.gov/OffenderDisplay.aspx?searchby=offender&ID=1869424101433&NSOPRFlag=True&x=d8e3512a-e0a1-48e2-8367-80606315aaeb
3. ↑ https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11152602
4. ↑ http://www.perverted-justice.com/booking/bookingcollage.html
5. ↑ https://meganslaw.ca.gov/OffenderDisplay.aspx?searchby=offender&ID=1869424101433&NSOPRFlag=True&x=d8e3512a-e0a1-48e2-8367-80606315aaeb
6. ↑  https://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/Details.aspx?ID=AA1678
7. ↑ https://templeoftcap.freeforums.net/thread/18823/jpw-denied-parole-3-years