Pedophiles Flock to Jersey Shore for Spot on "To Catch a Predator"

Dateline NBC's series To Catch A Predator has become an instant hit among, well, mostly everybody. We all know the storyline - a pedophile arranges an in-person rendezvous with a youngster who turns out to be an adult. Let the fun begin.

Last weekend the good folks from TCAP visited the Jersey Shore area to round up some of the areas Internet-savvy kiddie touchers. And, like every episode, the "first timers" hailed from a nice variety of backgrounds.

Among the 28 male "suspects"- a convicted sex offender, an Air Force mechanic and a school bus driver. In total, four states (PA, NJ, CT, NY) will be making donations to the New Jersey prison system for attempted sexual assault and luring charges.

Each episode also features live bate- an individual of legal age posing as a youngster, eager to learn the language of love.

"You don't realize it's around until it's staring you in the face and they're saying, 'Let's go upstairs,'" said Casey, the New Jersey "youngster". Her last name is not given for obvious reasons.

"Some of the guys are just plain disgusting and think it's fine to do something with a 13-year-old," Casey said.

It went down like this....

Known watchdog group Perverted Justice made the first call to county authorities.

"They had evidence of a large number in online pedophiles who expressed a strong desire to come to Ocean County and engage in sexual acts with what they believed to be children between the ages of 12 and 15 years old," Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas Kelaher said.

"One guy drove here six hours on his motorcycle from Pennsylvania to get here," Casey said.

The potential kiddie touchers ranged in age from 21 to 60, and one by one they arrived at the Mantoloking, NJ home. Each one is probably familiar with TCAP, as well as the odds of actually getting caught. They probably had to reassure themselves that everything was gonna be ok; that what they thought they were about to do was harmless. In hindsight, they probably felt guilty about it too.

Don't drop the soap, fellas.

Credit: NBC10

Copyright: NBC10