An Iraq War veteran and candidate for a Connecticut police department was ambushed by child predator investigator Chris Hansen- and he tried to blame PTSD for his deviant lifestyle.
30-year-old Stephen Buchanan looks like your stereotypical creeper- blank expression, mouth perpetually hanging open and thin patches of facial hair. However, this predator had served near Mosul in the Iraq War, and was slated to become a police officer in the city of Stratford. In addition, he was still serving with the Connecticut Army National Guard.
All that came to an end, however, when he was caught by Chris Hansen of To Catch A Predator fame, this time on his newer show Hansen Vs. Predator.
Right off the bat, Buchanan claimed he meant no harm to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl on the other side of the phone, saying he was just there to “show her around” the area that she had allegedly just moved to.
When Hansen began reading some of the sexually explicit messages he sent to the predator decoy, Buchanan claimed he had PTSD from his time in Iraq.
“I haven’t been the same since I deployed to Iraq,” he said, saying he was based at Camp Marez.
Chris Hansen didn’t buy it.
“I’ve never been to war, so I can’t pass judgement on PTSD or any long-lasting effects, I can’t,” he said. “But I still have a difficult time connecting that to trying to sexually solicit a 13-year-old girl.”
Buchanan attempted to lie his way out of the situation, claiming this was a first-time offense and that he didn’t do this kind of thing. However, records show he had been speaking to two decoys.
When the predator left, police quickly apprehended him. Upon searching his vehicle, they discovered a bag that contained a loaded Glock pistol, a roll of duct tape and a knife.
At his 2016 trial, Buchanan claimed PTSD was to blame, with his lawyer saying that the decoys offered him attention, “something that was missing in his life.”
According to the CT Post, Buchanan was thankful that he was arrested.
“This situation has given me a new outlook in life,” he told the judge in June of 2016. “I hope I can help out other veterans who are going through the same problem I am. I want to say thank you to the detectives who arrested me. Because of you I am still here on this planet today. You know what I mean.”
“I respect your service to our country,” state Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin said. “But you believed these were two real 13-year-old girls, you discussed the sex acts you wanted to perform on them and then you went over there.”
The judge sentenced Buchanan to eight years in prison, with a suspension after he serves three years. Afterwards, he will serve ten years of probation and be on a sec offender registry for one decade.
He is due to walk among the rest of us next year.
Earlier this year, a full transcript of Buchanan’s chat with the decoy was released by a To Catch A Predator fan group, revealing the kind of horrendous and depraved acts he was willing to commit on a child.
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