Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Pervert Finally Got Caught - The Bill Conradt story

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

The this the story of Bill Conradt aka Louis Conradt who was allegedly caught by Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator

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This is your fix. I am your host, Stasi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Stephen, because he's so evil. I do think he is misunderstood. You see everyone face consequences. It's intoxicating.

The writers just know how to trick you. There's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast, January 6th, and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies, January 13, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. So this guy, his name's Bill, and Bill has a problem. He's kind of a pervert. He's a weird guy. And one day, Bill goes online and he starts trolling in chat rooms.

And Bill is 56, and he ends up chatting with someone much younger than him. This kid, who we'll call 13, because he's 13. Now Bill doesn't tell 13 that he's a 56-year-old man. He pretends he's much younger. He's essentially catfishing this kid. Regardless, Bill and 13. they chat for a while and they hit it off and Bill starts flirting with him and eventually Bill sends him photos, inappropriate photos. And their conversations get pretty dirty. It's gross.

But here's the important thing about 13. He's not really 13. 13 isn't a kid at all, actually. He's actually a group of adult vigilantes who pose as teenagers because they're trying to catch P3DOs. So Bill isn't sure. chatting with 13. He's actually chatting with an adult. And these vigilantes are working with to catch a predator. And to catch a predator is a famous TV show hosted by this guy, Chris Hansen. And the whole idea of to catch a predator is to catch predators and expose them on television for the world to see. And sometimes police are with them and arrests are made. It's actually a really good show. And it's really popular, I guess, because people just like seeing them ambush predators. And that is what the show

is planning on doing to Bill. So this covert operation goes on for about two weeks. Bill chats with this fake teenage boy. And by that point, the vigilantes feel like they have a lot of evidence with these adult conversations that they've been having online. So they decide it's time to trick Bill into meeting up with 13 so they can run in and ambush him with the cameras

and bust him. So they hire an actor to pretend to be 13 to talk to Bill on the phone. So then Bill, and Fake 13, they talk on the phone and they agree to meet up and to catch a predator is recording this whole call. Are you going to come over? Is it okay?

Yeah. Be sure. Totally. And of course, they talk about the things they're going to do once they meet up. And what do you want to do? Um, whatever you'd like to do. Gross. And so, Bill agrees to come over and meet.

But, strangely, when the time comes to come over and meet. But, strangely, when the time comes to do. comes, Bill never shows up. And so the undercover crew, they keep trying to get him to meet, but from there, Bill just kind of disappears, like he suddenly stops answering his phone and responding to messages, and they can't figure out why. Now, here's the thing about Bill. Bill isn't just some regular old pervert. Bill is actually the assistant district attorney for the county. So he's a prosecutor. In fact, he's been a prosecutor for more than 20 years, suggesting that he's probably prosecuted a few predators in court himself. So being an assistant district attorney, he's kind of a high profile guy locally, which makes this ambush a big deal.

And when Chris Hansen and the undercover crew discover that he's an assistant district attorney, they know this is going to be really good TV. And that this episode is going to be huge. and they busted other predators in the area, but nothing like this. However, Bill still isn't showing up, and he's still not answering his phone, and this throws a monkey wrench into their whole operation. Because if he doesn't agree to meet up, then Chris and the crew, they can't run out and ambush him with the camera like they planned.

So they decide they can't just let this opportunity go. They have to take a different approach. And so then Chris, he hits up the local police, and he tells them what's going on, and he asks them to get search and arrest warrants for Bill. Because the plan is when police go to Bill's house to arrest him, Chris and the To Catch a Predator crew will be there with the cameras to capture the whole thing. Anyway, so the police agree to help,

and they work through the night to get everything in order, and by morning time they have what they need. So they all head over to Bill's house because they're about to arrest him. And by the way, Bill has no idea any of this is going on. Now, at Bill's house, Chris Hansen and the rest of the TV crew, they're already over there. They're waiting outside, and they're kind of being low-key, like hiding behind trees and stuff. Like, they don't want to alert Bill. But I don't think they're doing a very good job of being low-key.

Regardless, police get there, and an officer goes to the door, and he knocks, but no answer. However, one of the officers can see inside through a window, and he can see that a TV and a computer are on. So clearly Bill is home, he's just not answering his door. So then police decide they're going to have to force their way in, and the SWAT team shows up, and they all head around back to a sliding glass door, and they break the lock. Then the whole SWAT team files inside,

and they start sweeping the house. And they finally spot Bill standing there. And Bill, he's got a pew-poo in his hand. And he apparently knows exactly why they're there, because as soon as he sees them, he steps back inside another room, and he yells, I'm not going to hurt anyone. But then he puts the pew-poo up to his temple,

and he pulls the trigger, unaliving himself. And from there, the story blows up, and it hits the news, and it gets national attention. Everyone's talking about this. And people start heavily criticizing the show, accusing them of being too focused on TV ratings, when instead they should be focused on justice. But despite all that attention,

the episode about Bill still airs, and it seems like the show is just going to go on as normal. Until... Nine months later, the district attorney's office announces it will not be prosecuting any of the predators that Chris Hansen outed in that local Texas area. Because some of them, there were some jurisdiction issues, and in other cases, the evidence collected really isn't usable.

So, of the 24 men that they had arrested in this area, of Texas using the to catch a predator sting operations, none of them went to prison. In other areas they did because they shot the show like all around the country, but in Texas none of them were prosecuted. But then it gets even crazier because Bill's sister, this woman, Patricia, Patricia learns about her brother's case and what happened to him and she is really not happy. She doesn't like how this whole thing was handled. She thinks police illegally raided Bill's home

for the sake of TV ratings, and that they failed to protect her brother's safety, and that all of this led him to unalive himself. I intend to fight as hard and as long as I can't to prevent other people from becoming victims of such reckless actions as those taken by your employees, which were set in motion by a self-appointed group acting as judge, jury, and executioner. So then, bam, Patricia files a lawsuit against NBC Universal, the network who owns to catch predator. And she actually sues them for $105 million. It's a wrongful death lawsuit. And ultimately, NBC negotiates with her and they end up settling out of court for an undisclosed amount. So it seems

like Patricia ended up getting paid quite a bag of money. But then, around this time, sadly, after four years on the air, NBC cancels the show to catch a predator. And it is speculated that Patricia's lawsuit is what led to the cancellation of the show. However, that is just speculation because to my understanding, NBC never put out an official statement as to why they actually canceled the show. They just kind of suddenly canceled it. That's what they normally do. RIP. It was... Jackson Hewitt has a great tax prep deal, $149 or less. Missing out is like ignoring the check engine light in your car. You regret it. Seriously, the price is only 149 or less, no matter how complicated.

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