Anthony Palumbo

Palumbo arrived at the house and handed the decoy the alcohol he brought with him. He then complimented the decoy for providing precise directions. Palumbo told the decoy to put the beer in the refrigerator, the decoy assuring him he would do so shortly. Palumbo and the decoy both acknowledged that they were nervous. After some chitchat about Palumbo's journey to the house, he stated that his trip to Atlantic City served as his reason for going to the residence. He once again told the decoy to put the beer in the fridge. When the decoy stated they weren't sure about what Palumbo wanted to do, he once again told the decoy to put the beer in the fridge. He declared, "We'll see what happens," as the decoy tried to subtly coax more intent out of Palumbo. Palumbo told the decoy to put the beer in his refrigerator again and advised him against getting drunk. The decoy assured Palumbo he wouldn't and they both laughed as the decoy left the room.

While Palumbo was stretching, he nervously stopped as he was confronted by Chris Hansen , nervously explaining that he was heading to Atlantic City to see his other brother. According to Palumbo, he "stahpped by... tah go dere." Chris challenged Palumbo's story by pointing out that he told the decoy he was nervous, although Palumbo claimed he was only nervous because he was driving to Atlantic City and wasn't a good driver at night. When asked if he was nervous meeting a young boy home alone, Palumbo agreed, although he claimed he only dropped by to introduce himself. Palumbo acknowledged bringing beer but denied drinking any himself after Chris enquired, going as far as to offer for Chris to smell his breath, although Chris rejected Palumbo's offer.

Palumbo repeatedly stated that he believed the boy to be eighteen. Palumbo replied that he was "thirty... nine!" when Chris asked him for his age. Chris cited that he said he was thirty-five online, with Palumbo flipping between the two before deciding on thirty-nine. Subsequently, Palumbo acknowledged that he looked after his ailing mother while being unemployed. He made the bold claim he was "not gay or anything," leading to an awkward silence that Palumbo broke by claiming he was "just sayin'." Chris reminded Palumbo that the issue wasn't whether it was gay or straight, that no one cared what adults did, and that the issue was that he had involved a fourteen-year-old boy, although Palumbo's nervousness did not let up.

Palumbo claimed he wasn't a television person and only watched it once in a while when asked, so Chris revealed who he was and the cameras came out. Palumbo implied he didn't want to be on television and immediately fled when told he could leave. The police shocked Palumbo as he exited the residence, causing him to momentarily run away from them before immediately stopping. He was then detained and placed under arrest without any further resistance.

Palumbo was first charged with attempting child luring and attempted sexual assault, both of which carried a possible ten-year prison sentence. Palumbo pled guilty to one felony count of criminal attempt to endanger the welfare of a child; he was given a term of lifetime parole supervision and was required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. According to Chris on his Predators I've Caught podcast, Palumbo was arrested again in 2019 for a "serious traffic infraction" that involved him leaving the scene of an accident, and he spent thirty to forty-five days in Riker's Island Prison between 2020 and 2021. For some reason, he didn’t receive extra time for violating his parole. At one point while incarcerated, he was placed into Riker's institutional care department after either contracting COVID-19 or facing a serious risk of being infected by it.

Despite being one of the most famous and quoted suspects caught on To Catch a Predator , Palumbo has kept a very low profile since his appearance on the show, and very little was known about him post-Dateline until 2025 (see update below).

He would shortly after make another video in which Nasty Nathaniel would call the establishment and have a short conversation with Palumbo, who seemed erratic due to how busy the place was when contacted. By the sound of his voice, he hadn't dropped any of his iconic vocal habits or mannerisms.

Joey shared the image on his YouTube community tab, providing the first ever publicly available picture of Palumbo since his booking photo was taken in 2007.