Stephen Coates

> "*Please sir, I beg of you"*
>
>

> -Coates pleading to Detective Chad Bianco to let him go.
>
>

**Stephen "GC" Coates** is a suspected predator featured on the Riverside, California edition of *To Catch a Predator*.

## Chat

56-year-old Stephen Coates, a married man who worked in the Biotech industry and produced his own music, started an internet conversation with a Perverted Justice decoy who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. He lied about his age and said he was 42. Within ten minutes of first contact, he steered the conversation towards sex, asking the decoy how big were breasts were and if she had any hairs on her vagina. He stated that "nothing [is] sexier than a bald pussy" and asked if she ever gave a man a handjob. The girl was then asked to delete their conversations by Coates. The next day, he continued by inquiring if she masturbated and expressed his want to meet, commenting that they would be a "nice tight match." The two then set up phone calls to call one another.

He then provided a picture of his penis after that.  He told the decoy she could "play with it" and "suck it." He further added that she would "explore [her] first cock" and "make it squirt." He offers the decoy a phone card number and would change it to just an 800 number so it won't appear on her phone record. He told her he wanted their relationship to remain a secret and asked her not to call from her home or cell phone. He then inquired about her friend's sex life and brought up orgasms. He then switched the conversation to anal sex with the girl so they could have sex but she would still be a virgin and provided a thorough explanation of how to do it safely. Near the end of the chat, Coates indicated to the decoy that he would bring his CDs to the residence so that they may engage in sexual activity while listening to his music.

## Confrontation

Coates arrived at the sting house with over 19 condoms, lubrication and Viagra. Del Harvey, posing as the teenage girl, led him inside. When entered the house, CD in hand, he was very shocked to meet Chris Hansen. When confronted, Coates declared his decision to leave. Chris stopped him and inquired about the object in his pocket. Coates pulled out a CD and gave it to Chris. He stated to panic. After Chris asked what he was doing at the house, Coates replied, "I was doing something I shouldn't be."

Coates reaffirmed his desire to leave after receiving his CD back. He claimed he had never had sex with a minor and didn't want to. He asked to be let go and described himself as "absolutely, utterly, and completely stupid." He pleaded once more for his release, insisted once again that he had never done anything, called himself "crazy" and "wrong." Chris finally identified himself, and the camera crew came in. Coates left the house while wearing his jacket over his face. The Riverside police then arrested him.

## Police interview

While being handcuffed, Coates tried to bargain with Detective Chad Bianco as well as another investigator to be let go, saying things like, "I beg of you. I've never done such a thing in my life I never want to do it again." Detective Bianco snarkily replied, "Since you're the first person to say that today we'll let you go." When interview by a male investigator, while Coates confessed that he knew what he was doing was illegal and wrong, he claimed he wasn't going to do anything. When confronted with the fact that he talked about oral, anal, and vaginal sex, he repeatedly said "no" and stated that he never talked about vaginal sex. Coates then invoked the "fantasy" defense, asserting that it's impossible to know who you're speaking to online. He asserted that he would have driven her to grab a burger and spoken to her while doing so. Coates asserted once more that he would not have engaged in any sexual activity because it is all online fantasy. The male detective objects his lies, citing what Coates wrote in the chat log.

## Legal consequences

Coates was charged with three felonies: attempted lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, attempted sodomy with a child under 14 years of age, and attempted oral copulation with a minor under 14 years of age and more than a 10 year age difference between victim and offender. His bail was set at $50,000. For three years, Coates fought his case, spending a lot of time at trial attempting to convince the jury that he was expecting to see someone his age or older because he wrote adult contemporary music. Coates ultimately ended up pleading guilty to all three felony charges against him. In 2009, he was sentenced to 180 days in jail to be served on weekends, three years of probation, lifetime registration as a sex offender, completely pay for his own counseling and treatment programs, and pay over $6,000 dollars in fines.

### Aftermath and music career

Since his release, he has occupied his time patrolling the internet looking for content related to his appearance on the show, seeking to have it erased by flagging such content as slander as well as threatening the content providers with lawsuits. Coates is known for his songwriting career, releasing albums such as "Crystal Studded Sky", "Love Sneaks Up On You", and singles such as "Thoughtcrime", which he wrote in protest to his arrest. His musical style is experimental in the vein of Neil Young, but have been overwhelming negatively received. Coates stopped composing songs, deactivated voting on his SoundCloud account, and copyrighted his own music on YouTube. He also lost his children, divorced from his wife, and lost his career.

On January 4th 2019, Coates was convicted for failing to register as a sex offender in April 2017. He was sentenced to one day in jail and three years probation.

## Trivia

* Coates faced a small controversy for titling one of his songs "Always Be Young". Such a title coming from a registered sex offender was not received well for obvious reasons, and Coates promptly renamed the song to "Always Be Young (On Venice Beach)". This fact was mentioned by Chris in his "Predators I've Caught" podcast episode on Coates.

## External links

Youtube link to selected tracks off of Crystal Studded Sky and Love Sneaks Up On You as well as Thoughtcrime

## References

1. ↑ http://www.perverted-justice.com/booking/bookingcollage.html
2. ↑ https://meganslaw.ca.gov/OffenderDisplay.aspx?searchby=offender&ID=29709315N2933&NSOPRFlag=True&x=6b6ff47c-5ccc-4ba6-ad38-ef9726718e01
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 http://www.perverted-justice.com/?con=m4pixeleen
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://dairystatedegenerates.blogspot.com/2020/10/to-catch-predator-update-riverside-part\_26.html