Jerry Hetherington

Jerry during his arrest

"*NO! NOT FOR THE BOY!*"
―Jerry when asked why he would build a glory hole
**Jerry Hetherington** is a potential predator who was caught in the **Monroe, Michigan** sting of Takedown with Chris Hansen. He is well-known for claiming he was going to make a glory hole for himself and the decoy to use at his own house, and for complaining about his fake back pain throughout his interview.

## Biography

At the time of the sting, Jerry was an unemployed forty-seven-year-old who had lived in Monroe, Michigan for the past five years. He initiated contact with a Sheriff's decoy posing as a fourteen-year-old boy, claiming that he was nineteen and staying with his uncle nearby. The close proximity with fellow suspect Matthew "Matt" Daly greatly surprised the V.I.P.E.R. (Violent Internet Predator and Exploitation Response) team, who had never dealt with two men who were practically neighbours coming to the same sting house in such a short amount of time. Although the specific details of his chat aren't entirely clear, it is known he initially wanted the boy to come to his home, where he would make a glory hole so they could engage in an anonymous sexual encounter, also sending pictures of other younger men's genitals he found online. Towards the end of the chat, Jerry told the decoy "if you still wanted head bro I will still come" before admitting he was actually forty-seven, not nineteen, revealing it was a picture of a family friend he was using on the dating app. He made it clear he wanted oral sex from the decoy before leaving to find the sting house.

After Matt was escorted to the police station, the decoy gave Jerry to go ahead to come to the sting house. Upon arriving, Jerry politely greeted the decoy, who immediately left the room with the phone charger excuse. Jerry, who was nervous, made the decoy swear that nobody else was in the home, which the decoy denied, claiming his mother was at work until the next morning. Chris Hansen then immediately entered the room and told Jerry to take a seat at on a stool at the kitchen island. Jerry at first obliged and claimed he was doing nothing more than meeting "Travis". When Chris inquired as to how he met "Travis", however, Jerry became even more nervous and attempted to flee. Although Hansen warned Jerry that he wasn't allowed to leave, Jerry didn't listen, and was violently tackled to the ground and arrested by the V.I.P.E.R. team.

After taking a second to fix his glasses, Jerry calmed down and allowed the officer's to handcuff him. Hansen tried to question Jerry while he was being searched, but Jerry began complaining about his bad back, caused by the scar from surgeries he had prior to the sting. The officers sat him up and he immediately pulled the pity party, breathing heavily and continuing to complain about his back. Hansen took a seat in one of the armchairs and introduced himself, with Jerry confirming he already knew who Chris was, having seen his shows before. Jerry then began to belittle himself and call himself "stupid" over and over, having previously believed he would never try and solicit a minor. Hansen ignored Jerry's moaning about his back and began to question him about the chat log, with Jerry continuing his "stupid" excuse as he quivered and moaned over his back. Hansen reiterated there wasn't much sympathy for Jerry, who said he understood while also explaining he had back surgery twice, calling himself "disabled."

As Hansen pressed Jerry further, the latter denied having attempted to solicit a minor before, with Hansen refuting him by pointing out how experienced he seemed in the chat, such as pretending to be nineteen, although Jerry denied this, continuing to call himself "stupid" and claiming he found the picture of nineteen-year-old teenager online. Hansen brought up the glory hole, with Jerry attempting to dismiss his actions by claiming he wasn't going to do anything, claiming he only wanted to see if the boy was real or not. Hansen pointed out Jerry asked if anyone was home, with Jerry changing his story up slightly to being "dumb" instead of stupid. Hansen acknowledged that preying on a child was a step above "dumb", but Jerry continued to deny intending to have sex with the boy, while also admitting that his chat log didn't look good on him.

When one of the camera men came and knelt down beside Hansen to get a better shot of Jerry, the latter began pouting like a child, rolling onto the floor face-first to avoid being on-camera. Hansen (most likely sarcastically) tried to make small talk by asking Jerry about his tattoo, but he refused to answer, telling Chris he wasn't going to talk to him. He once again reiterated this was his first time trying something like this, not caring if Hansen believed him or not, but also admitting he knew how it looked. He claimed he was looking for older, but admitted he was an "idiot" for finding and chatting to a fourteen-year-old. When asked if he had a glory hole, Jerry denied this, and flipped out upon being asked if he would've made one for the boy, claiming it wasn't "what [he] meant!" Jerry accused Hansen of messing with his head and again refused to answer more questions.

When asked if he had seen Hansen's investigations before, he said he had, admitting he found the people on the show to be stupid (just like him). He then claimed he had never wanted to do this before and that it was a "dumbass decision." He again brushed off his grooming as stupidity, with Hansen calling it a cop-out. Jerry then admitted he knew he had broken the law before telling Hansen one last time he didn't want to talk and was "tired of listening to [him]." He asked to be taken to jail so he could call his lawyer and sort things out, warning any other predators watching not to do it, otherwise they would be stupid (like him).

## Aftermath

On his way to the police station, Jerry apparently told investigators he was glad they were conducting the sting because there were other men like him who behaved in a predatory manner online and in the neighbourhood. After being looked over by EMT, no serious injuries were discovered to have taken place.

In the interrogation room, Jerry continued to call himself stupid for falling into the trap of trying to meet an underage boy through a dating app, acknowledging that he didn't understand why he did what he did as a father and grandfather, but he still denied actually wanting to do anything with the child. He further denied ever having done anything like this before, usually reporting minors (including the decoy) as opposed to meeting up with them. He claimed that the only reason he sent pictures of other men naked is because he himself didn't really want to do things with men or minors, but, for reasons he couldn't explain, he persisted in chatting with the decoy. He then further admitted to the detective that there were other men in the park who were potential predators, specifically describing Matt Daly as a particularly shady character. According to Jerry, Matt would tell some people he was in his forties and others that he was only thirty. He had apparently hit Jerry up on Grindr before with the same thirty-year-old age lie, although Jerry denied ever meeting Matt due to the fact that he "creeped [him] out." In regards to the glory hole, Jerry claimed he was going to make it using a tool his uncle gave to him. He went on to say he always saw Matt walking about the neighbourhood while kids were out playing, having a bad feeling about him. After the interrogation concluded, the detective wished Jerry luck before he was calmly escorted to jail.

Jerry was charged with three felonies: Child Abusive Commercial Activity, Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, and Accosting a Child for Immoral Purposes. Perhaps his second worst nightmare (after being caught in a Chris Hansen sting), Jerry wound up in the same cell as Matt, with Hansen and the V.I.P.E.R. leader hilariously acknowledging the potential awkwardness of such a pairing.