Donnie Vaughn

Donnie was a seventy-year-old retired engineer at the time of the sting. He had been married, and had daughters of his own.

Once a meeting was organized, Donnie drove ninety minutes all the way from New Palestine, Indiana to Montgomery, Ohio. After politely introducing himself to the father, he revealed he brought a milkshake for the female decoy. After complaining about the drive due to construction on the freeway, Donnie complimented the decoy's looks and asked if she was nervous. Disturbingly, Donnie would make an effort to make the 'father' and 'daughter' more comfortable with his revolting comments, admitting he'd done things like this before with another 13-year-old, thought it was great for a parent to be involved in their young child's sexual ventures, and promised to make sure the decoy was safe and wouldn't get pregnant by engaging in sex with him and her 'father', promising to go "slow" and "easy". Chris Hansen , listening in from the other room, cringed at the sound of Donnie, especially when he remarked how much he loved younger women. When the officer playing the father finally had enough, he and the decoy left the room, allowing the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office to move in and arrest Donnie, who claimed he thought this was a sting.

Chris took a seat on the couch next to Donnie to interview him, starting off calmly as he questioned the older man. Donnie revealed that his latest wife had divorced after twenty years, blaming his predatory desires on the sexless nature of their marriage. According to him, his ex-wife was absorbed into her job because their daughter was born with disabilities, and she couldn't handle it. Hansen refuted Donnie's excuses, inquiring as to how a sexless marriage can lead to a man wanting to have sex with a minor. Donnie initially couldn't give Chris an explanation for his behavior, hilariously denying wanting to have sex with the father (claiming he didn't remember saying that) but not denying wanting to have sex with the child herself. As he drank from a bottle of water, he admitted he wanted to have sex with the girl, but tried to shift some blame onto the father, claiming they both wanted it. He admitted to bringing the milkshake because the father said she liked milkshakes, hoping to score more points with the girl. When Chris snapped at Donnie for trying to dismiss his questions as "very dirty", Chris snapped at Donnie, who said he was done talking.

He went on to say that one of his prior lovers and a therapist of his said they believed he had a "love disorder", denying it was a sex addiction, instead claiming it resulted in him having a constant need to be loved and be given attention by other people, but Chris disputed this as an excuse to have sex with a minor.

Donnie further admitted that what he did was wrong and he personally wouldn't pimp his own daughters out as a father, which led to further grilling from Chris. Donnie again tried shifting blame towards the decoy and her father, claiming that they were "excited" to do it. Donnie once again denied having a sex addiction, with one of his psychologists claiming he had "something like deviancy", also hilariously admitting he didn't think he could even get a hard on. Donnie then tried to use his love of "exploring" as an excuse, claiming that it was more so the journey than the end result he enjoyed about having sexual conversations, with Chris suggesting he climb a mountain instead of trying to have sex with children, which he further tried to refute by claiming he liked to meet new people. Chris reminded Donnie he could always meet people his own age, which Donnie admitted was true.

After being exposed by Chris, Donnie apologized for his behavior (at Hansen's suggestion) and said that other men shouldn't do what he did because it's not worth it. Donnie claimed that the treatment he received was for anger management and his sexual deviancy, claiming he was primarily in the program because he was addicted to sexually talking to women online, which he again attributed to his want of being needed. He also revealed that he was catfished online. He described his visit to the sting house as a "relapse", and Chris ended the interview.

Donnie was charged with two felonies; Importuning (or Solicitation) of a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity and Possession of Criminal Tools. He ended up pleading guilty to the former charge and was sentenced to five years probation. He is on the Ohio Sex Offender Registry where he is listed as a Tier I offender.

Chris Hansen believed Donnie to be one of the more disturbing cases in the almost twenty year history of his predator investigations, being particularly disturbed by Donnie's remark about how teenage boys can't satisfy teenage girls as well as an older man can. According to the Ohio prison system, his first name is actually Donnie, not being a nickname for Donald.