Daily Voice
By Zak Failla From Daily Voice
A Pennsylvania daycare owner, Virginia lawyer, and several Maryland men were among the "Nasty Nine" caught by Chris Hansen during an operation with the Harford County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced the results of a month-long sting with the former NBC host, which led to the apprehension of multiple men who either traveled, or planned to travel into Harford County to prey on children.
"Some in our society refer to these people as 'minor attracted people,' if you can believe that," Gahler said. "But let me say, and make it very clear, that these people are criminal pedophile predators."
When initially approached about the partnership, Gahler said that it was his "sincere hope that we would come up empty-handed and that we would find that there were no predators that wanted to terrorize our kids and the operation would end with zero arrests."
That was not the case.
During the investigation, undercover officers engaged in online conversations with dozens of people, nine of whom — dubbed the "Nasty Nine" by the sheriff's office — have been arrested, including:
- Patrick Macaluso, 36, of Hampton, Virginia;
- Nicholas Fountain, 38, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania;
- Ben Daniel, 40, of Clarksburg, Maryland;
- Ivan Walters, 41, of Aberdeen, Maryland;
- Charles Schmidt, 72, of Rising Sun, Maryland;
- Tyler Devault, 33, of Gaithersburg, Maryland;
- Amar Bhavsar, 23, of Odenton, Maryland;
- Jeremy Stull, 40, of Triangle, Virginia;
- Tiarnan Guiland-Collins, 34, of Glen Burnie, Maryland.
"They believed they were meeting with an underage boy or girl for sexual activity," Gahler said. "I'm happy to say that instead of them getting what they wanted, they were met by Chris Hansen and our deputies and swiftly taken into custody."
During a six-minute video shared on social media, Gahler highlighted several members of the "Nasty Nine."
According to the sheriff's office, Schmidt was arrested on his way from Rising Sun to Harford County, where he intended to prey on who he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.
Charles Schmidt
"He stopped at a local store to buy condoms and alcohol to wash down his Viagra," Gahler said. "Schmidt was arrested as he entered the home where he was planning to meet this young girl."
The second predator highlighted by the sheriff's office was Fountain, who Gahler said is the owner of two daycare centers in the Collegeville, Pennsylvania area.
Nicholas Fountain
"He came into contact with our undercover deputy on the website Reddit on a forum titled 'Boys ask Dads,'" he said.
"Mr. Fountain was in such a hurry to meet our undercover, who was posing as a 14-year-old boy, that he told him he wanted to meet as soon as possible because his wife was out of town."
Gahler said that police in Pennsylvania were contacted and took him into custody at his home, "putting an end to his online trolling for minors."
An attorney from Virginia was also caught red-handed on his government computer.
According to the sheriff's office, Macaluso was caught on the same forum as Fountain and later learned that he was a 36-year-old attorney for the city of Suffolk.
Patrick Macaluso
It is alleged Macaluso sent multiple explicit photos to the undercover deputy and made plans to travel from Virginia to Harford County to meet the "teenage boy."
"Our team of law enforcement officer decided to put an end to his plans early and arrest him at his city office in Virginia," Gahler said.
"And get this. When they arrived, they found him on his government computer trolling for more underage victims."
The fourth predator highlighted by Gahler saw the writing on the wall without even realizing it.
Devault, 33, told deputies that he was 19 years old, and after "a few weeks of graphic sexual online talk he told our undercover that he wanted to meet up with her," he said.
Tyler Devault
"He even tried to ascertain if she was a cop and actually commented that 'he doesn't want to see Chris Hansen from the show To Catch a Predator there waiting for him."
Indeed, he saw Chris Hansen from the show 'To Catch a Predator.'
"Well, when Mr. Devault showed up at the house — with a piping hot pizza no less — deputies, and yep, Chris Hansen, were there to put a chill on this pedophile's plans."
Gahler said those were "just a few examples of the predators we arrested as part of this operation... and they are part of a larger, ongoing effort to identify, investigate, and stop those who use the Internet to prey upon our children."
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