STAMFORD — Chris Hansen, best known as the former host of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” turned himself in to police in Connecticut on Monday on charges of issuing a bad check.
The 59-year-old allegedly failed to pay a $13,000 bill despite a police warning, according to the Stamford Advocate.
Hansen allegedly ordered 355 ceramic mugs, 288 T-shirts and 650 vinyl decals from Promotional Sales Limited in Stamford, Conn., receiving an invoice for $12,998.05 in September 2017.
Owner Peter Psichopaidas then filed a complaint in April, saying a check he received had bounced.
An apologetic Hansen offered to make partial payments, but the money never came, according to an arrest affidavit, which notes Hansen also bailed after agreeing to give a statement to police.
The charges came after Hansen was warned he could be arrested for larceny, according to investigator Sean Coughlin. “I told Chris … that nearly $13,000 is a lot of money to a ‘mom-and-pop’ business and it is not fair that he accepted the material but hasn’t paid for it,” he writes.
Per The Wrap, Hansen previously offered coffee mugs and T-shirts as a way to attract investors to a 2015 Kickstarter campaign intended to revive “To Catch a Predator,” which NBC canceled. (The campaign worked, sort of.)
