Shawn O'Brien

At the time of the sting, O'Brien was eighteen-years-old and was a virgin.

O'Brien had been communicating with a decoy posing as a fifteen-year old girl. Spanking and very strict." Those messages were sent prior to the decoy revealing her age, but after she did so, O'Brien said that he was "ok" with it. He then asked her to wear leggings and a butt plug.

When O'Brien arrived to the hotel room used for the sting, he was immediately pulled inside and handcuffed on the bed. O'Brien instantly started crying and screaming, "My mom's gonna kill me!" Some time later, Chris Hansen began his interview with O'Brien. O'Brien told Chris that he did not know why he showed up. Regarding the age, O'Brien admitted that he knew the decoy was fifteen but decided to ignore it and continue anyway.

While being questioned by Chris, O'Brien was crying and repeatedly pulling his hoodie over his face to wipe his tears and cover his face. Chris, outside of the interview, said that while people may be sympathetic to the small age difference, factors to consider are the sadomasochistic fetish requests that O'Brien had discussed with the decoy, his work as a babysitter, and his pornography addiction.

Chris, considering those previous factors, was seemingly very sympathetic to O'Brien himself. He asked O'Brien to seek help and become the "poster boy" for people like him to make better decisions. O'Brien mentioned that his cousin, who was in 5th grade at the time, seemed to show very similar traits to him at that age, and that he will discuss appropriate relationships with his cousin. O'Brien promised that he would turn the situation into a positive thing and would advise others in his situation to reach out to a trusted adult to get help before doing anything.

O'Brien posted bond and eventually entered into a diversion program as part of a plea agreement that would include include intensive behavioral treatment. He has since successfully completed the program.