Dennis Jutras said he was just trying to warn a 15-year-old boy that there are dangerous people out there.
The former Baltimore teacher of the year told that to Chris Hansen, known for hosting the early aughts TV show “To Catch a Predator,” at the scene of his arrest at a Bel Air park last month. Jutras was charged with one count of sexual solicitation of a minor for allegedly attempting to meet with a detective posing as a teen.
“I was hoping to meet this young person and possibly tell them why it’s dangerous to meet with older folks,” Jutras told Hansen while sitting handcuffed on a park bench. “I understand that right now everyone thinks that I’m a dangerous person. But I’m letting you know that my full, 100% God-given intention today was to talk to him and advise against him continuing this kind of behavior, because it is dangerous.”
The scene played out on a YouTube episode of “Takedown with Chris Hansen” released Thursday. In the video, titled “School District Dennis,” Hansen accompanies members of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office to arrest Jutras, who, according to charging documents, exchanged graphic sexual messages and pictures with a detective on a hookup website. The detective pretended to be a high schooler named Aiden and agreed to meet Jutras at a park, the documents allege. The two had previously discussed having sex, according to law enforcement.
Michael Schaech, the attorney listed for Jutras, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the sting operation, cop cars surrounded Jutras and his vehicle before he was ordered to step outside of the car with his hands up. Shortly after, Jutras agreed to an interview with Hansen. The full video of the interaction is only available to subscribers.
Sheriff Jeff Gahler said in an April YouTube video that Hansen and his office have done two sting operations together that led to 15 total arrests. Gahler said a Harford lieutenant attended a training in Polk County, Florida, where Hansen was conducting an operation.
“And we reached out, and we were the first Maryland agency you worked with,” Gahler said.
Hansen did not respond to a request for comment.
Throughout the interview, Jutras reiterated that he thought the person he was messaging was 16, the age of consent in Maryland, and not 15. When pushed on some of the graphic messages and pictures he sent, he said the app they talked on is built for role-playing fantasy situations. He also said that Aiden initiated the more sexual conversations.
“Despite the way this looks, I 100% had no ill intention. I 100% thought he had said 16,” Jutras said. “I 100% have never, ever in my life, ever conducted myself in a sexual way or manner with anyone who is underage or anyone that was in my care as an educator.”
Jutras spent 27 years with Baltimore City Public Schools, first as a social studies teacher at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and most recently as the coordinator for gifted and advanced learning for the school system. In that role, he mostly dealt with elementary school students, Jutras said. He is not accused of soliciting students at work.
In a statement after Jutras’s arrest last month, City Schools spokesperson Sherry Christian said Jutras had been placed on paid administrative leave.
“Baltimore City Public Schools places the health and safety of students among its highest priorities,” Christian said in an email. “We are not aware of any impact on City Schools students.”
The charging documents said Jutras expressed interest in having sex with people younger than him. But Jutras said he likes “younger” guys in their 20s and 30s — not boys, like the fake 15-year-old Aiden.
“I think his age maybe came up only one time, and I swear to God I thought it was 16,” Jutras said. “I know how creepy that sounds anyway, but from a legal standpoint, I didn’t feel that it crossed the lines legally.”
Hansen, who read many of Jutras’s explicit text messages back to him, said that Jutras’s position as a school administrator makes his arrest just as alarming as when police officers are caught in similar stings.
“Gee, thanks,” Jutras responded.
Jutras said he didn’t get police involved because he was afraid the teenager would “ghost” him. If that had happened, Jutras said, he might not have gotten the chance to warn Aiden against talking to older men in the future.
Jutras added that Aiden had told him that he had just ended a relationship with a 47-year-old neighbor, and Jutras was wary of involving the police in case that neighbor was part of law enforcement.
When pushed on why the conversation was so graphic if Jutras was trying to protect the teenager, the former teacher said “the mindset shifts” when talking on hookup apps. According to charging documents, Jutras told Aiden that their text messages “should remain PG” and “discretion is vital” when having intimate conversations on the hookup site.
Jutras said he considers himself a mentor and knows that people in the school system will view his actions as a betrayal. He said if Aiden had been real, his intention to guide the teenager away from similar relationships would have vindicated what happened before.
“I want people to understand that the breadth of my work over the years, decades of work,” Jutras said. “I need that to count for something because that has been my passion.”
At the end of the episode, Hansen said the sheriff’s department executed a search warrant on Jutras’s home and is looking at his computers.
Jutras appeared last month before Harford County District Judge Tracey Delp, who ordered him held without bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 12.
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