Hasan Abu Haleme

Halemeh previously attempted to enlist in the Air Force and apply as a Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputy, but was rejected. He also started an application for the Tampa Police Department but never finished it.

Because Halemeh was reluctant to enter the hotel room where the sting was set up, instead choosing to ask the girl to come to his car, deputies arrested him in the parking lot. While being led into the hotel room, Halemeh claimed that he "wasn't trying to do anything." When questioned by Chris Hansen , Halemeh said that he came to the hotel to "discover if what was happening was true or not." Halemeh admitted to knowing that the girl was a minor. However, he claimed that if the girl had come to his car, he would not have had sex with her. Despite that claim, he did bring condoms to the scene but stated that he always had condoms with him.

Halemeh told Chris that he had not met anyone online for sex before, but had viewed child pornography through a Telegram group that shares such content. He admitted that he would download all child pornography content that came through the group. Halemeh further admitted that the type of content involved both children having sex with each other, as well as adults sexually abusing children. The youngest child he had on his phone was three years old. However, when asked if he watched the content, Halemeh stated, "Not really." Halemeh claimed that he was unaware that it was a crime to have child pornography downloaded on his phone. Child pornography, according to him, came in cycles, wherein he would view and download it, then delete everything for a while before feeling the urge to view it again. When in the cycle, he would view child pornography every day, the last time being the day before the sting.

Halemeh told Chris that he was sexually abused as a child. He was willing to discuss the details with Chris, but would not do so on camera. Halemeh did not believe that there was a link between his sexual abuse and him attempting to meet a child for sex. Halemeh claimed that he was not a predator. His goal in life was to help people, buy a house, and live with his wife and children. To prove the point, Halemeh told Chris that he had been propositioned for sex by minor teenagers before but never went through with it.

Halemeh pled Not Guilty to the charges. In the motion, Halemeh claimed that during his arrest, "deputies rammed his vehicle, ripped him out of the front seat of his car, proceeding to then beat him mercilessly as he lay on the pavement." His motion was denied. Eleven days later, Halemeh was charged with an additional 30 counts of Possession of Child Pornography, stemming from a search of his phone.

Uniquely among those caught in Chris Hansen stings, Halemeh decided to go to trial instead of taking a plea agreement, where he would have served 10 years for both the Takedown charges and for the child pornography found on his phone. He was found guilty by a jury on February 2, 2025 of Human Trafficking, Use of a Two-Way Communication Device, and Traveling to Meet. On April 11, 2025, Halemeh filed an appeal of his conviction. A judge sentenced him later that month to life in prison without the possibility of parole.