ANSONIA – A Naugatuck man confronted in Ansonia last year by members of an online “To Catch A Predator”-style sting operation has been sentenced to prison, court records show.

Roger Pratt, 38, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material March 31. 

The sentence is suspended after five years, followed by 10 years’ probation.

His attorney, Daniel Esposito, declined to comment.

Pratt will receive credit for time served since his arrest May 15, 2025. The conditions of his probation include no unsupervised contact with minors, no internet use without prior approval, monitoring on all electronic devices, disclosure of all romantic and sexual partners, and polygraph tests as deemed appropriate.

Police were called to Pratt’s workplace in Ansonia on March 27, 2025 by a member of the “Predator Poachers of Long Island,” a group whose members travel “the local area attempting to lure and catch child predators,” one of its members said in court documents.

Pratt had talked with a member of the group, who was posing on Facebook as a 13-year-old girl named “Heidi.” 

During that conversation, which lasted for over a month, Pratt asked the fake profile “sexual questions which included pictures of his penis,” according to his arrest warrant. “Heidi” stated her age several times throughout the conversation.

Eventually, Pratt asked to meet up with “Heidi” for sex.

Instead of “Heidi,” Pratt was met by the Poachers, who showed up with a video recording device and asked questions about his previous communications – a technique made famous by the “To Catch A Predator” segments on “Dateline NBC” in the early 2000s.

Officers arrived after the Poachers called them. 

A member handed the officer printouts of the conversations. Pratt spoke with an officer during the interaction, during which he admitted to the online conversations and at one point said “I f–ked up” regarding them.

Police continued their investigation and arrested Pratt May 15, 2025. He posted bail, but was returned to prison after an officer conducting a home visit twelve days later found searches for VPNs (a virtual private network, which helps hide online activities) and pornographic websites in Pratt’s web history.

Pratt pled guilty on Feb. 3. He is incarcerated at Hartford Correctional Center, according to an online database.

Child predator-hunting vigilante groups such as Predator Poachers have become a subgenre on social media, especially on livestreaming websites like Twitch and Kick.

The original “Catch A Predator” television series was canceled in 2006 after a target committed suicide. Hansen revived the central concept of the show a few times, including “Hansen v Predator” on the Investigation Discovery channel.