Rutherford was a 6th grade teacher at St Margaret of York Catholic school in Loveland, Ohio. He was 26 years old at the time of the sting operation. Rutherford met and chatted up a decoy online pretending to be a 13-year-old girl named "Danika".

He shows up at the house in search for the girl, calling on her and telling her to come to him. Chris then appears and asks Rutherford to sit down for some questions, to which he responded that he had expected it to be a set-up.

During his interview with Chris, Rutherford states that he was going through a divorce and simply wanted to 'get out of the house'. When asked what he was there to do with the girl he had been talking to, he says that there was 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 into the interview that he is "probably on TV", to which Chris Hansen confirms, making Rutherford put his head into his hands as the camera crew walk out. Rutherford takes his leave and exits the house where he is arrested by the Darke County Sheriff's Office.

Initially, James tried to fight the charges in court, but eventually pled guilty. He received 45 days in county jail, 36 months probation, and a ten year stay on the RSO list.

Adapted from journalist Chris Hansen’s popular TO CATCH A PREDATOR series, each episode of PREDATOR I'VE CAUGHT features Chris recalling the most notorious cases and providing a “Where are they now?” update.

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