Responding to a viewer: Why publicize a child sex predator's alleged actions?

This week, I covered a man who allegedly sexually abused more than 90 children while he taught at numerous American schools in foreign countries. 

(Read/watch the story: http://bit.ly/1mCXFWk) 

The allegations are heartbreaking. May of the victims may not know because court documents show William Vahey allegedly gave his victims sleeping pills before he took photos of himself molesting them.

The alleged actions may have started in the 1970s and could have continued until Vahey killed himself in March after learning he was under investigation.

Some viewers, including "hunterson" asked why we were making the story public and whether it could harm victims. Here is why we chose to publish the story.

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hunterson • a day agoHmmm... the perp committed suicide. So why the big high profile push? Why stir this up further?

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You aren't the only person who has asked this question. Let me try to answer.

Victims often have an intense desire to know what happened to their perpetrator. They want to understand why they were targeted. Often they want to attend court hearings to see justice be carried out. In this case, because Vahey killed himself, that's not possible.

In a court case, victims are given the opportunity to seek counseling through the victims compensation services offered by state or federal governments. Though Vahey is dead, victims can still seek such help in this case. Making them aware of this option is very important to the FBI and to me.

Because of the nature of these alleged actions (sleeping pills,) some people victimized may never know they are victims. Parents have a right to know their children may be victims. Sadly, without making this story public... there was no good way to reach such people.

You'll notice we did not publicize any victim's names. Many have courageously chosen to come forward and share their stories.

Lastly, this case may very well highlight problems in the "system" that would not be brought to people's attention without the case being made public.

With all that said, I'm open to further discussion. Thank you for letting me respond.

My morning show debut w/ @KPRCconflenti & @KPRCRachel

To most... idea of working a 12-hour day... then sleeping for 6 hours... then coming back to work at 5 a.m. might not sound like fun.... but I loved it. I made my KPRC Local 2 morning show debut today.

Just like you, I watch Owen & Rachel each morning... and just like you, I rarely see them in person.

It was a nice treat to see them both as we talked about football helmet safety ratings this morning.

Here's our report.

Read more on our website: http://bit.ly/1l6GYmw

"Sunshine Kitty"... going after an online business

First of all... anytime I get a story about someone named "Sunshine Kitty," I'm going to jump on the tip.

It turned out to be a Houston-based online company whose customers weren't getting their products.

I certainly don't investigate every company I get tips about, but we decided to dig into this one after learning more than 50 people in a month had complained to Houston's Better Business Bureau.

With only her website name and a post office box, we went to work to try and track her down. If you've never used the site www.whois.com, check it out. It will show you the registered agent of most websites including addresses, emails and phone numbers. This is how we got her phone number. From there we tracked back her recent address.

We are pretty sure we have her Facebook page too.

Starting up a business is hard, but ceasing to communicate with your customers is inexcusable.

Worth remembering something about 911 call takers

As people watch my story tonight on 911 hangups, I hope viewers remember that in most cases 911 operators work to save people's lives.

I've spent time at the 911 call center and found most of the employees I interacted with to be friendly.

The Houston 911 center takes somewhere near 300,000 calls a year, according to its spokesperson.

The cases in tonight's story deal with only a small portion of the calls the center receives. However they are important to bring to light. Every life is important.

I hope you will share with me your thoughts on the story.

"I love you, but I need your money/iPhone"

Love is a powerful thing and scam artists know it.

I'm proud of a woman who agreed to speak up about a military romance scam where she was nearly a victim. She was only duped for a short time, but she wanted to warn others after a "Sgt. Major in Afghanistan" fell in love with her and needed her to send him an iPhone.

Not all people who are victims of a scam are willing to go on TV and warn the rest of us. Here's how we uncovered proof of the bad guy's scam.