Thomas Jerome Soetaert is a predator caught in a Marquette County, Michigan investigation of Takedown with Chris Hansen. He is notable for wanting to take the decoy into the middle of the woods to have sex with her. At the time of the sting, Thomas lived in Skandia, Michigan. He previously had a live-in girlfriend, but the relationship failed. He also had two kids who lived with their mother. Thomas began communicating with a decoy posing as a fifteen-year-old girl. Initially, he requested to meet the decoy in the middle of the woods so that the neighbors wouldn't see him, and he wanted to have sex with the minor "doggystyle" while there. Thomas arrived at the sting house, "sex bag" in hand. The decoy asked him what was in the bag and Thomas responded, ominously, "oh, just something I never told you about that I like to do." It turned out to massage oil that he asked the decoy to smell. That’s when Chris stepped in and Thomas immediately admitted to Chris that he intended to have sex with the girl.