Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Texas | |
| Date | November 5, 2006 |
|---|---|
| Location | 201 Davidson Drive Terrell, Texas, US |
| Type | Suicide precluding arrest |
| Participants | |
Bill Conradt, an American local assistant district attorney in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, killed himself on November 5, 2006, when Texas police served him with search and arrest warrants stemming from a Dateline NBC – Perverted-Justice online sting of men soliciting sex with children.
Perverted-Justice (PJ) and Dateline conducted their sting, attracting men to a bait house in Murphy, Texas. Conradt was one of the men who solicited the PJ volunteer masquerading as a minor, but did not travel to Murphy. Instead, a group of police, Dateline, and PJ personnel executed inaccurate arrest and search warrants at Conradt's home in Terrell, Texas. After SWAT breached the house, Conradt shot himself.
The suicide was another point of contention over To Catch a Predator's three-party relationship between law-enforcement, civilian volunteers, and the news media. Police were criticized for improper execution of their duties in the service of ratings, and NBC was criticized for leading police operations at the expense of safety and justice. Ultimately, there continue to be unresolved conflicting claims from both the people involved in the sting, and the investigative journalists who have researched and reported on it.
A US$105 million wrongful death lawsuit brought by Conradt's sister was settled out of court, and none of the other men arrested in the sting were prosecuted.