To Catch a Predator, which started out as a segment on Dateline NBC in 2004, has turned into a decades long crusade by Chris Hansen to catch sexual predators, who prey on vulnerable children. Since the Dateline investigations, he has gone on to continue the crusade with subsequent incarnations, such as Hansen vs. Predator and Takedown with Chris Hansen.
With the advent of the internet, predators gained easier access to minors, who they could abuse, but before the age of the internet, there were other ways.
Exhibit A: Bop Magazine
In the 1980s, I fell victim to a predator. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal, to realize that something was wrong early on and luckily, I wasn’t physically harmed. How could a magazine, that showcased the latest teen idols, lead to me to being a victim of a predator? Well, before the internet and online chatting, teens wrote letters to pen pals.
Bop Magazine had a pen pal page, where teens could submit their info and connect with people from around the world. It seems shocking in 2025, but at 12 years old, I submitted my photo and full address to be listed in a worldwide magazine for people to contact.
It was mostly a positive experience. I loved Japanese culture and I became pen pals with Junko from Yokohama. We corresponded until I was well into high school and we sent Christmas and birthday gifts to each other every year. She taught me some Japanese, which I remembered, when I finally got a chance to study Japanese in college.
Another good friend was Peter. He was a few years older than me and we chatted about everything, including his family trip to Brazil, and how beautiful the beaches were. I loved geography and foreign languages and he made me want to learn Portuguese and travel to Brazil one day.
Corresponding with people from all over the world was so glamorous to me, since I had never even left Ohio. I felt like I was closer to my pen pals than the kids around me, because I was a “nerd”, who was into weird and eclectic things, outside of what other 7th graders thought was “cool”.
I amassed a long list of pen pals, sometimes receiving 5+ letters in the mail every day. Things were going great until I got a phone call one day. I was home alone, waiting for my mom to come home from work and when I answered the phone, a man asked for me by name. I had no idea who he was, then he said that he had seen me on the Bop pen pal page and wanted to talk.
As a 12-year-old, I was flattered. I was too young to date, but I thought I might have found a new friend to talk with on the phone. After the greetings and salutations, the chat was fun for a few minutes, but then the mystery caller asked what bra size I wore.
I was taken aback and I told him that I wasn’t sure. He then asked if I could go check and I told him to hold on, but as I made my way to my bedroom, I had a “WTF are you doing?” moment and I knew that something wasn’t right.
I don’t remember exactly how I worded it, but I went back to the phone and I told him that I was not comfortable giving him that information. I was a bit shy and I didn’t put up too much of a fuss, but I made it clear that I wasn’t interested in “that” kind of a conversation. He ended the call with seemingly no hard feelings and I never heard from him again.
I was disappointed that I didn’t have a chance to make a phone friend, but I was proud of myself for putting my foot down and I moved on. I never even told my mom about the incident and she doesn’t know about it until this day.
In the 1980s, with no internet, I have no idea how this man was able to get my phone number. I can only surmise that maybe he searched my last name in the Yellow Pages to find a phone number that matched my address. The thought is crazy, though, since I have a common English last name (unlike my screen name), and there must have been hundreds of other people with the same last name in my city.
On a more sinister note, I wonder if he could have been a detective or someone in law enforcement, and had access to private information, which was not available to the general public. Either way, he had to have put in some effort to find my phone number.
In any case, I thank God that I didn’t fall victim to a predator, who could have convinced me, a lonely, introverted, bored preteen to go with him for excitement.
Even if there had only been a graphic conversation with no physical contact, it still would have been traumatizing to a little girl, who still played with Barbie Dolls and had never even uttered a curse word before. I hope he never physically harmed a child before or after me.
I’m still a TCAP (To Catch a Predator) fan and I watch Chris Hansen’s busts on YouTube on a regular basis. I rejoice every time I see a predator getting caught, and another vulnerable young girl or boy being protected. If my mystery caller actually did the unthinkable, I hope he was caught and paid the price as well.
