To Catch a Predator decoy wanted to warn would-be pedophiles about hidden cameras and police: 'Go...

&34;I didn't realize at the time how taxing it was emotionally and mentally,&34; Casey Mauro says in the new documentary &34;Predators.&34; To Catch a Predator

"I didn't realize at the time how taxing it was emotionally and mentally," Casey Mauro says in the new documentary "Predators."

To Catch a Predator decoy wanted to warn would-be pedophiles about hidden cameras and police: 'Go home'

"I didn't realize at the time how taxing it was emotionally and mentally," Casey Mauro says in the new documentary "Predators."

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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September 19, 2025 10:59 p.m. ET

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Chris Hansen in 'To Catch a Predator'. Credit:

- Casey Mauro acted as a decoy in numerous child molester stings on *To Catch a Predator *as a young adult in the 2000s.

- She says that she wanted to warn the show's unwitting subjects to "Go home" on multiple occasions.

- Mauro reflected on her time on *To Catch a Predator* in the new documentary *Predators*.

A performer who pretended to be a child on *To Catch a Predator* is reflecting on her involvement with the show.

Casey Mauro, who participated in the *Dateline NBC* program as a young adult in the mid-2000s, discusses her time on the show in the new documentary *Predators*, which chronicles the history and impact of *To Catch a Predator*.

In the doc, which is now playing in select theaters in New York, the actress says that she occasionally wanted to warn would-be child molesters about their unwitting appearance on the show.

Casey Mauro as a decoy on 'To Catch a Predator'.

"There were a few, I wanted to just be like, 'Go home. I'm a freshman in college. I'm trying to figure out my life,'" Mauro says in the documentary while watching a clip from one of her old episodes.

"One of the guys that came, we were pretty similar," she continues. "And I'm just talking to some guy on the beach, about, like, 'College is rough. Do I want this major, do I not?' And it was very relatable, and so badly I just wanted to be like, 'Go home. Go home. Go home.'"

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Mauro went on to explain that facilitating meetups between suspected pedophiles and *To Catch a Predator* host Chris Hansen sometimes took a toll on her.

"I didn't realize at the time how taxing it was emotionally and mentally," she says. "Years later, I'm still emotionally exhausted. I have never watched this post– it airing originally. Over the years, I've had my ways of being able to work through it, right? But that's a lot for someone to take in."

** has reached out to representatives for NBC for comment.

Elsewhere in the documentary, Mauro explains how she became involved with *To Catch a Predator* in the first place, noting that her family's house was being used as a location on the show.

'Predators' still.

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"My uncle is a realtor and was helping rent out my Nana's house to NBC, and so my dad went down, helping handle all the paperwork," she says. "They were explaining the show and that they hire an actress from L.A. to fly in and play an underage girl, and he's like, 'My daughter is an actress and she looks incredibly young for 18.' He had no idea what he was getting himself into."

Mauro also reflects on her responsibilities on the show. "I was fine! My job was truly: be a face. That's what they explained to me," she said. "The security guard, he's like, 'You are God to them. That's why it's so powerful when you say sit and point your finger, they will sit down.' I was like, 'Oh, I have the upper hand here.'"

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The actress later analyzes the psychology of the accused predators who appeared on the show. "They know what they're doing to a degree, but it comes from this place of non-acceptance, loneliness, and fear, and so by sitting safe in their computer at their home, they found this easy in," Mauro says in the doc. "I gave them that full permission to disobey any thought that maybe this isn't okay."

*Predators* is currently playing in select theaters. The film will expand to more screens nationwide on Oct. 3. Watch the trailer above.

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