Dustin McPhetridge

To get to the sting house, Dustin traveled five and a half hours over state lines from Surgoinsville, Tennessee to Bowling Green, Kentucky. The decoy, who was played by Casey Mauro , welcomed him to the home. Dustin struggled to exit his vehicle and enter the house. Eventually, Dustin entered the home and sat down in a lazy boy chair. When questioned by Casey if he brought a razor, Dustin confirmed it. She inquired about his plans with the razor. Dustin responded, "I thought you wanted to be shaved down there." Later, he claimed he desired to hold and kiss her.

His plans were put to a halt when Chris Hansen revealed himself. In an instant, Dustin declared that he had no plans to do anything illegal, claimed he didn't bring anything, and wouldn't coerce anyone into doing something against their will. Chris disputed his excuses and said to have known he had packed some items. Dustin admitted that he brought a razor and was going to shave the girls genitalia. Again, Dustin tried to tell a lie by claiming that he believed the girl to be seventeen.

When Chris queried whether he spoke to any other minors, Dustin acknowledged that he had a conversation with a fourteen-year-old girl, and that the girl's mother's boyfriend, a police officer, had learned about it and wanted to file charges. Dustin stated that he was never charged and apologized to them over the phone. Then Chris shows him a photo of sex between two people that he sent to the decoy. According to Dustin, the girl requested to see it. Chris challenged his lies once more, saying he sent it and she didn't ask for it.

While acknowledging it was "wrong on [his] part," Dustin said that the girl "led [him] on a little too." Chris disagreed with Dustin's arguments and said he was the grown up. When Dustin leaves the house on his own, the Kentucky Bureau of Investigation took him into custody. When the police search his car, they discovered KY Jelly and a camera.

Dustin is later brought into the police station to be questioned. Sgt. John Dudinskie interviewed him. Dustin declared that he would never harm anyone and that he was "too honest about everything." After hearing his rights read to him, Dustin declared that he disliked attorneys. As he was signing waiver to waive his rights, Dustin informed Dudinskie that Chris had assured him that he wouldn't be arrested and that he was free to depart. Dudinskie explained that Dateline NBC were journalists and not police officers. Dustin said he was aware of it and stated that he wished Chris didn't "lie" to him about not going being arrested, not understanding that when Hansen said he was "free to go", it was only from the interview.

Dustin again tries to state that he initially believed the girl to be seventeen. Then Dustin cites his disability as an excuse, claiming he could only make friends online because he believed people thought he had a mental disability. He returned to the blaming decoy, indicating that she "encouraged" him to visit. Dustin then acknowledged bringing KY Jelly and a razor. When asked by Dudinskie on why he brought the jelly, Dustin stated that he "wasn't thinking" and threw it into his car. Dudinskie, who now incorrectly referred Dustin as "Justin," disputed his arguments, asserting that although he is aware that making friends can be difficult, he would never throw KY Jelly into his car without a cause.

When asked if it was KY Jelly or hand lotion, Dustin stated he was unsure. He acknowledged he was going to use the Jelly for intercourse but said he "was going to try not to" when asked whether he would do so. The same line of argument from Dustin is that he "wouldn't force himself on anybody." Later in the interview, Dudinskie inquired about the interaction he had with the fourteen-year-old girl. Dustin indicated that after starting an online conversation with a woman in her late 30s or early 40s, the woman abruptly asked him to start talking to her daughter.

The mother, according to Dustin, approved of the girl wanting to date him. In an effort to persuade the girl to leave him alone, Dustin claimed he was "trying to be a pervert." He asserted that while he celebrated his birthday at a Japanese steakhouse, he learned that the mother and daughter had come looking for him. Dustin then acknowledges that the girl became upset after he had a graphic conversation with her. He explained that a cop was waiting for him when he got home from school. He indicated that his mother talked to the police officer and everything was resolved.

Dustin persisted in blaming the girl for his appearance at the sting home. Throughout the remainder of the interview, Dustin kept bringing up his physical limitations, his weight, and how he had been tormented in an effort to garner Dudinskie's compassion. Dudinskie still disproved Dustin's attempts to be sympathetic with information from his conversation log. The interview lasted nearly 90 minutes and at the end, despite Detective Dudinskie calling him "Dustin" many times over the course of the interview, he snarkily says, "Best of luck, Justin !" as he leaves Dustin to be processed.

Dustin broke his probation when he was caught talking to a group of teenage girls in a video game store, and was brought back into court once again. He once again wrote a letter to the judge in March of 2022, complaining about his treatment and therapy, saying that he should be getting one-on-one therapy sessions instead of group therapy. He also mentions that he is out of money. He concludes the heartfelt letter with, "If I could access a gun, I'd end my suffering and kill myself." This clearly bothered the judge. The outcome of the court hearing was that although Dustin will not have to go back to prison, he must remain under court-supervised parole for the rest of his life, along with his lifetime RSO status.

Dustin answered the phone, and upon hearing Chris's voice, he exclaimed, " Don't call me! " and hung up the phone. Chris calls Dustin a second time, with Dustin threatening Chris by saying, " No thank you, do not call me again or it will be harassment! " No further calls were made.

Dustin seen at a NWA wrestling match in 2022.

Casey and the lead KBI investigator even said they felt sorry for Dustin when he saw him struggle to enter the house, but kept in mind his reason for showing up at the house was to molest a child. Partway through serving his sentence, he wrote a letter to the judge saying he had learned his lesson and requesting that he immediately be released from serving the remainder of his sentence. If his request was denied, in lieu of release, he requested a walk-in jacuzzi in his cell. Both requests were denied. He made a handful of wrestling DVDs for professional wrestler Ricky Morton. He lost all the digital footage when cops seized his computer since it also housed his collection of CP. He also ran Morton's website. In a now infamous article on the site made a couple of months before his arrest, he pleads with the wrestling community to donate to Morton's legal fees stemming from his arrest for non-payment of child support. Ricky Morton references Dustin in an interview about the wrestling DVDs, calling him the "cripple boy". Right after, he talks about seeing Dustin on "the predator show". He also claims Dustin namechecked him during his confrontation with Hansen which he did not do. The only time he was mentioned was in his police interrogation which was unaired and his name was never used. In December 2023, a portion of his post-arrest KBI questioning was shown on the A&E network series Interrogation Cam .