James Rutherford

He was a track coach and was married, about to go through a divorce. He lived in Northwest Dayton.

Ultimately, he arrives at the house and searches for the girl, calling on her and telling her to come to him; Emily then says no, come here, and the pair go back and forth. Chris Hansen then appears and swiftly brings justice, asking Rutherford to sit down for some questions. He responds that he had expected it to be a set-up.

During his interview with Chris, Rutherford stated that he was going through a divorce and wanted to 'get out of the house.' Chris asks, "Why not go to a sports bar?" Rutherford responds yes. When asked what he was there to do with the girl he had been talking to, he says that there were no plans for anything sexual to take place, a very common excuse. He appears confident from the beginning that he was on national television and states later in the interview that he is "probably on TV," Chris Hansen confirms, making Rutherford put his head into his hands as the camera crew walks out.

As seen in the uncut version of the interview, Rutherford does not leave initially and has a lengthy conversation with Chris, which lasts for half an hour. Rutherford tries to understand what made him do this. He then asks Chris if he can please not show his face or profile him, and Chris replies that there are no guarantees who will be in the story. Rutherford then says he loves kids and cannot believe he did this and that he was not some pedophile.

Rutherford then began to admit to Chris that he had a problem. He acknowledged that he had talked to other children before but did not admit that he had shown up in person and claimed he did not explicitly look for young kids to molest. He then said he needed help and Chris asked why he did not seek help. Rutherford replied that he did not think it was as bad as it evidently was. Rutherford then said he could have left the seat and ran out of the sting house but he chose not to. Chris then asked him about being a teacher (pointing out he worked around children) and what would have happened if he was demonstrating this kind of behavior.

Rutherford finally said, "Tell everyone I am sorry, I am sorry for what I did, I am sorry for everyone watching, tell that kid (the decoy) I'm sorry, and I am sorry, Mr. Hansen" (without Chris even telling him who he is). James then asked Chris if there are cops outside, to which Chris replied, "I can't answer that." Rutherford then accepted his fate, leaves the seat, and walked outside.

Rutherford exited the house where the Darke County Sheriff's Office arrested him and took him into custody. He was put in an unmarked car and was taken to the Greenville Police Station. During his police interview, Rutherford admitted the same thing he said to Hansen: he had a problem. The cops agreed he did have a problem and ask him if he had ever done this before. Rutherford tells them the same thing he told to Chris; he never showed up in person but had talked to other kids, not specifically only kids.

The Greenville police notified the school where Rutherford worked and he was fired immediately.

In 2017, Rutherford had his name removed from the public sex offender list. According to Hansen in a Predators I've Caught podcast in 2021, they have one child and he worked as a cosmetics salesman. Hansen said his case highlights how a predator could be anyone. Hansen attempted to reach out with a number he found but has yet to hear anything from Rutherford.