NBC's Poker After Dark might be of interest to another peacock network employee: To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. The Dateline correspondent may want to know that one of Poker's star players, "Iron Sheik" Sharhram Sheikhan, served nine months in prison for three misdemeanor counts of child molestation in 1995.

Sheikhan's past was first noted by gambling911.com, and the story was picked up by select blogs. One, seeing that Sheikhan had a MySpace page (a convicted molester with a MySpace page? Why not Facebook?), tried to get the popular social-networking site to remove the profile. MySpace said that the "content [had] been removed," but Sheikhan's page was still online as of January 30.

Sheikhan (aka Shawn) noted for his aggressive, hypercompetitive playing style, was nearly deported last fall when his molestation convictions from 1995 came to light. A judge later stopped deportation proceedings against the poker star, citing a lack of supporting documents.

Shawn Sheikhan defended himself against the molestation convictions in a jailhouse interview published after his trial 12 years ago. Speaking to a local reporter in Walnut Creek, California, Sheikhan said the whole thing had just been "a big misunderstanding." He owned the store where he met the 16- and 17-year-old victims and justified the incidents thusly: "[We] had tons of girls and guys who wanted to hang out and be part of something. All day long I would have to hear what guys they wanted to be with ... they were constantly talking about sex." Sheikhan added, "I am not a criminal. I'm a businessman. I don't prey on young girls."

Calls to NBC were not returned by post time.