Dustin McPhetridge

"I'm just too honest about everything."

> *"*I thought you was wantin' to be shaved...down there.*"*
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> -*Dustin showing his desire to groom the decoy*.
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**Dustin Jacob McPhetridge** is a predator that appeared on the Bowling Green, Kentucky investigation of *To Catch a Predator.* He is most known for his disability, as well as his outrageous demands while in prison and refusal to take accountability for what he did.

## Biography

Dustin McPhetridge was a 26-year-old man who suffered from cerebral palsy and collected social security benefits. Dustin started chatting with a Perverted Justice decoy who was posing as "Laura," a thirteen-year-old girl. Between September 30, 2007, and October 20, 2007, Dustin had multiple online conversations with the decoy. After talking to the decoy for a few days, Dustin suggested that he could be the one to take her virginity. He enquired about her period and requested permission to shave her genitalia. Dustin also requested if he could photograph her while she was naked.

He repeatedly asked for the decoy's social security number. He told the girl he wanted to be her boyfriend and marry her. He then asks her to wear a pair of panties nonstop for two to three days, and then send them to him. Dustin indicated he wanted a threesome when the decoy revealed she has an eight-year-old sister. Throughout the conversation, Dustin becomes concerned that the girl might be an undercover police officer.

## Sting and arrest

To get to the sting house, Dustin traveled five and a half hours over state lines from Surgoinsville, Tennessee to Bowling Green, Kentucky. The decoy, who was played by Casey Mauro, welcomed him to the home. Dustin struggled to exit his vehicle and enter the house. Eventually, Dustin entered the home and sat down in a lazy boy chair. When questioned by Casey if he brought a razor, Dustin confirmed it. She inquired about his plans with the razor. Dustin responded, "I thought you wanted to be shaved down there." Later, he claimed he desired to hold and kiss her.

His perverted plans were put to a halt when Chris Hansen revealed himself. In an instant, Dustin declared that he had no plans to do anything illegal, claimed he didn't bring anything, and wouldn't coerce anyone into doing something against their will. Chris disputed his excuses and said to have known he had packed some items. Dustin admitted that he brought a razor and was going to shave the girls genitalia. Again, Dustin tried to tell a lie by claiming that he believed the girl to be seventeen. Chris debunked his lies once more by citing his chat log.

When Chris queried whether he spoke to any other minors, Dustin acknowledged that he had a conversation with a fourteen-year-old girl, and that the girl's mother's boyfriend, a police officer, had learned about it and wanted to file charges. Dustin stated that he was never charged and apologized to them over the phone. Then Chris shows him a photo of sex between two people that he sent to the decoy. According to Dustin, the girl requested to see it. Chris challenged his lies once more, saying he sent it and she didn't ask for it.

Continuing to place the blame on the decoy, Dustin claimed that the decoy begged him to come and that he didn't want to "disappoint her." Chris then exposed Dustin live on television after admitting he worked for Dateline NBC. While acknowledging it was "wrong on [his] part," Dustin said that the girl "led [him] on a little too." Chris disagreed with Dustin's arguments and said he was the grown up. When Dustin leaves the house on his own, the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation took him into custody. When the police search his car, they discovered KY Jelly and a camera.

## Police interrogation

Dustin is later brought into the police station to be questioned. Sgt. John Dudinskie interviewed him. Dustin declared that he would never harm anyone and that he was "too honest about everything." After hearing his rights read to him, Dustin declared that he disliked attorneys. As he was signing waiver to waive his rights, Dustin informed Dudinskie that Chris had assured him that he wouldn't be arrested and that he was free to depart. Dudinskie explained that Dateline NBC were journalists and not police officers. Dustin said he was aware of it and stated that he wished Chris didn't "lie" to him about not going being arrested.

Dustin again tries to state that he initially believed the girl to be seventeen. Then Dustin cites his disability as an excuse, claiming he could only make friends online because he believed people thought he was "retarded." He returned to the blaming decoy, indicating that she "encouraged" him to visit. Dustin then acknowledged bringing KY Jelly and a razor. When asked by Dudinskie on why he brought the jelly, Dustin stated that he "wasn't thinking" and threw it into his car. Dudinskie, who now incorrectly referred Dustin as "Justin," disputed his arguments, asserting that although he is aware that making friends can be difficult, he would never throw KY Jelly into his car without a cause.

When asked if it was KY Jelly or hand lotion, Dustin stated he was unsure. He acknowledged he was going to use the Jelly for intercourse but said he "was going to try not to" when asked whether he would do so. The same line of argument from Dustin is that he "wouldn't force himself on anybody." Later in the interview, Dudinskie inquired about the interaction he had with the fourteen-year-old girl. Dustin indicated that after starting an online conversation with a woman in her late 30s or early 40s, the woman abruptly asked him to start talking to her daughter.

The mother, according to Dustin, approved of the girl wanting to date him. In an effort to persuade the girl to leave him alone, Dustin claimed he was "trying to be a pervert." He asserted that while he celebrated his birthday at a Japanese steakhouse, he learned that the mother and daughter had come looking for him. Dustin then acknowledges that the girl became upset after he had a graphic conversation with her. He explained that a cop was waiting for him when he got home from school. He indicated that his mother talked to the police officer and everything was resolved.

Dustin persisted in blaming the girl for his appearance at the sting home. Frustrated, Dudinskie refutes his claims by reading from his chat log. Throughout the remainder of the interview, Dustin kept bringing up his physical limitations, his weight, and how he had been tormented in an effort to garner Dudinskie's compassion. Dudinskie still disproved Dustin's attempts to be sympathetic with information from his conversation log. Dudinskie further disproved Dustin's claims by reading "mouth, pussy, or ass." Dustin acknowledged having a few pictures and videos of child pornography when questioned if he owned any.

## Aftermath and sentence

The Hawkins County Sheriff's Office was told that Dustin had admitted to having child pornography in his house, and on October 21, 2007, deputies searched his residence and discovered CDs with more than 100 child pornographic photos on them. Dustin was charged with traveling across state lines to engage in illicit sexual contact, a felony. His bail was set a $50,000. Dustin requested during the hearing that he be placed in the custody of his mother. His request was denied.

In 2008, Dustin was found guilty of the felony charge and was sentenced to five years in a federal prison with lifetime supervised sex offender registration. After serving his Kentucky prison term for two years, Dustin was tried and convicted in Tennessee on a felony offense of sexual exploitation of a minor. The wheelchair-bound man appeared before Judge John Dugger in Hawkins County Circuit Court. Judge Dugger handed down an eight-year prison term to be served concurrently with the five year prison sentence he was already serving in Kentucky. Dustin also received a $500 fine and was placed on community supervision for the rest of his life. After being released from prison in 2014, Dustin moved back to Surgoinsville the following year.

## Behind the scenes

Dustin was scheduled to be back in court February 2020 due to probation violations, mainly as a result of being expelled from a court-mandated sex offender treatment program in 2019 because he wasn't making "measurable progress." Counselors came to the conclusion that Dustin wasn't making an effort to change his conduct. His dishonesty included making up details regarding his affiliations. Although polygraph test results are not admissible as evidence in court, they are used to assess the honesty of participants in sex-offender rehabilitation, and Dustin consistently failed the tests on three separate occasions. Two alleged lies surfaced during a routine, post-examination interview in January 2019, when he was questioned if he had ever been "completely alone" with a juvenile and if he had ever seen pornography online. A series of continuances have been given due to Dustin's health, COVID-19 concerns, and scheduling conflicts. He faces up to three years in prison.

Dustin was given yet another continuance September 2021 because his family had paid vacation plans. Recent photos show that Dustin uses a wheelchair. During examination of his counselor, he revealed that Dustin has spent the most time of any offender in the program because he either refuses to own the actions that led him to this point, or makes excuses on why he can't make any positive changes in his life. Dustin also gained the ire from his peers in his classes because they believed his rehabilitation to be a waste of time. Time that could be better invested in their recovery.

During the interim, Dustin sent a letter the judge involved in the case to be taken off probation, citing brain damage he supposedly incurred in 2017 from falling headfirst into a table and promising he would go to prison for life if he was charged with another sex offense and using having a supposed girlfriend as being sex offender treatment. He also asked to have his prohibition from the internet to be relaxed in order to learn skills to become a productive member of society and to make enough money to afford sex offender treatment as well as lower his cost of living.

## 2022 Update

Dustin broke his probation when he was caught talking to a group of teenage girls in a video game store, and was brought back into court once again. He once again wrote a letter to the judge in March of 2022, complaining about his treatment and therapy, saying that he should be getting one-on-one therapy sessions instead of group therapy. He also mentions that he is out of money. He concludes the heartfelt letter with, "If I could access a gun, I'd end my suffering and kill myself." This clearly bothered the judge. The outcome of the court hearing was that although Dustin will not have to go back to prison, he must remain under court-supervised parole for the rest of his life, along with his lifetime RSO status.

Chris Hansen found Dustin's phone number and gave him a call. Dustin answered the phone, and upon hearing Chris's voice, he exclaimed, "*Don't call me!*" and hung up the phone. Chris calls Dustin a second time, with Dustin threatening Chris by saying, "*No thank you, do not call me again or it will be harassment!*" No further calls were made.

## Trivia

* Casey and the lead KBI investigator even said they felt sorry for Dustin when he saw him struggle to enter the house, but kept in mind his reason for showing up at the house was to molest a child.
* Partway through serving his sentence, he wrote a letter to the judge saying he had learned his lesson and requesting that he immediately be released from serving the remainder of his sentence. If his request was denied, in lieu of release, he requested a walk-in jacuzzi in his cell. Both requests were denied.
* He made a handful of wrestling DVDs for professional wrestler Ricky Morton. He lost all the digital footage when cops seized his computer since it also housed his collection of CP. He also ran Morton's website. In a now infamous article on the site made a couple of months before his arrest, he pleads with the wrestling community to donate to Morton's legal fees stemming from his arrest for non-payment of child support.
	+ Ricky Morton references Dustin in an interview about the wrestling DVDs, calling him the "cripple boy". Right after, he talks about seeing Dustin on "the predator show". He also claims Dustin namechecked him during his confrontation with Hansen which he did not do.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://www.perverted-justice.com/?archive=wrestlingdudeeasttn
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.timesnews.net/news/local-news/hawkins-sexual-predator-sentenced-on-child-porn-charge/article\_d89d5983-1855-52c4-b062-549755f17b48.html
3. ↑ https://www.citizentribune.com/news/local/sex-offender-faces-return-to-prison-for-violation-of-terms-of-release/article\_4ecfe558-f445-11ea-8d20-5f157e043b07.html
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/police-news/article\_6dc35a0b-f0c5-5daf-97ed-5542a96c5c48.html
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://www.citizentribune.com/news/local/sex-offender-faces-return-to-prison-for-violation-of-terms-of-release/article\_4ecfe558-f445-11ea-8d20-5f157e043b07.html
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt\_x7\_OsUfk&ab\_channel=BakedSalmon
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aeq7WpbrOjk
8. ↑ http://wrestlingnewscenter.blogspot.com/2007/09/ricky-morton-in-jail.html
9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOnlw9dN664&ab\_channel=TristanbarAvraham