Law & Order Special Victims Unit s05e19 Episode Script
Sick
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
You know what sucks? Cramming two people in a room with only one phone line.
I hate dorms.
Use your cell phone.
I keep going over my limit because you're always online.
You mind logging off for, like, two seconds? This is kind of life or death.
You're in a freaking chat room.
Read this.
"Rage is eating me alive.
Must release it.
"I have a knife and rope.
"And a 5-year-old.
Screw her innocence, then slice her up.
" This is sick.
He swears he's not joking.
"Hey, Dickweed, I'm calling the Denver cops.
" I'm trying to calm him down.
He's replying.
"Thanks for the heads up.
I love killing pigs.
I'll mow them down when they come through my door.
" Hey.
His screen name is "Psychokiller"? Yeah, in a chat room for slasher film fans.
I tracked down the Internet service provider.
I'm on hold with them now.
The guy's obsessed with mutilation.
And killing cops.
He logged off half an hour ago.
Check out his last post.
"Got to get ready for my big date.
See you in hell.
" Uh-huh.
Hold on.
Who? Jeremy Ostilow? I'm afraid he's a little out of our jurisdiction.
We're in Denver, Colorado.
Where is he? Where else? New York City.
Maintain fire discipline.
He's got a kid in there.
Hit it.
Police! Don't move! Hands where we can see them! Jeremy Ostilow? Yes.
Mommy.
It's okay, sweetheart.
Are you okay? What the hell are you doing? Looking for a "Psychokiller.
" A "Psychokiller"? Your slasher site screen name.
We linked it to your main account, JJO Rules.
That's not my husband's.
It's JJ's.
And who is JJ? Our son, Jeremy Jr.
Found him under the bed.
It was just a joke.
He's 12 years old, for Pete's sake, didn't you pull pranks at that age? Pranks, yeah, but I never threatened to kill any cops or say I wanted to "Rip off her clothes, slashing as I defile her.
" That's what you'd like to do? Trust me.
No more horror movies or websites.
Don't blame them.
They didn't make me do this.
Then who did? Please.
He was just trying to impress other kids on the Internet.
Your son had hardcore slasher fans freakin' out.
They asked him repeatedly, "Are you joking?" They thought you were serious, and I got to tell you, JJ, I still do.
Then you're an idiot.
Give it up, Detective.
My parents would die before they'd let anything bad happen to me.
Please don't do this to my son.
He's very sensitive.
Have you read the printout we gave you from the Internet? It's nonsense he picked up from comic books and movies.
He has no idea what it means.
He went into graphic detail.
Who's gonna fix the door? You can fill out a form to be reimbursed by the city.
How long will that take? If you're lucky, I'd say six to eight weeks.
No, it has to be tonight.
What will I tell the neighbors? Mrs.
Ostilow, how long has your son been obsessed with violence? He's not.
Has he ever hurt his sister? Never.
I need to talk to her.
Lisette's in her room.
I'll get her.
Underage suspects are entitled to have a parent present.
Underage victims are not afforded that same right.
Lisette's not a victim.
I need to talk to her alone.
Fine.
She'll tell you she adores her big brother.
"Screw her innocence and then slice her up.
" This is about your sister Lisette? No.
You're telling me there's another 5-year-old out there who pisses you off that much? Believe me, I know what a pain little sisters can be.
Just tell me what she did.
She melted my favorite CD in her Easy-Bake Oven.
That sucks.
What did you do? Nothing.
I never do anything.
When someone makes me mad, I just imagine hurting them.
That makes me feel better.
So it's like a release valve? You think about it, but don't actually do it.
That's what I said, moron.
You have these thoughts a lot? All the time.
What are you so angry about? Stuff.
What kind of stuff? Life is really stressful, you know? I know mine is.
I deal with dirtbags every day.
Like yesterday, there was this case.
These four guys gang-raped this sweet Haitian woman.
Detective! You want to hear the details? I really don't think this About how they beat her up and they degraded her? And when she begged for mercy, they defecated on her.
This is a child you're talking to.
Read what he wrote.
If he wants to act like an adult predator, I'll talk to him like one.
You really want to grow up to be like one of those perverts, huh? Why wait? So, Lisette, has JJ ever hurt you? He pulled my hair once.
He did? That's not nice.
Has he hurt you any other times? I have a new game.
Want to play? You know what? Ah, maybe later, but we need to finish talkin' about JJ first, okay? Okay.
Okay.
So, Lisette, I need you to show me on this doll, all the places where JJ hurt you.
Right.
And has he hurt you any place else? Not me.
Has he hurt someone else? Who? Beverly and Erica.
And do you know where he hurt them? Okay.
Now, Lisette, I need to talk to Beverly and Erica.
Does your Mommy know where they are? No, they're in the hospital.
What hospital? Lisette, sweetie, we need to finish talking before we can play.
But you said you wanted to see it.
This is the hospital.
Mr.
Ostilow, your son needs help.
He's a boy.
Boys break their sister's dolls.
He mutilated 23 of them, all in the genital area.
He's emotionally disturbed.
You're a psychiatrist, are you? No.
No, sir, I'm not.
That's why I would like you to sign this.
What is it? It's a parental consent form to commit JJ for psychiatric observation.
I won't have him branded crazy.
You'd prefer a criminal record? For what? Posting terroristic threats is a felony.
I am so sick of people co-opting 9l11 for their own agenda.
Where do you want to send him, Guantanamo Bay? I'd prefer Bellevue's Adolescent Ward.
Absolutely not.
Well, he's not going home to his sister.
So it's either Bellevue or Juvenile Detention.
Your call, sir.
I hear they shipped JJ off to the loony bin.
Cragen talked the father into a 72-hour hold.
Heard anything from the neighbors? That he should be locked in a rubber room permanently.
Why? What's he done? Traumatizes every tot in the building, screams at them till he's red.
About what? Any little thing, like lookin' at him the wrong way.
He locked a few of them up in a utility closet.
Convinced them they would be murdered.
They cried for an hour before he let them out.
Dad smoothed it out with the parents, sent them expensive gifts.
He's making it worse by excusing it.
This kid is a ticking time bomb.
Well, let's just call his school and see if he's exploded already.
Trouble paying attention in class, poor grades inappropriate behavior.
Such as? He drew a pornographic image on a girl's desk with a magic marker.
A tortured artist.
Another time, he wrote an obscenely graphic scenario, passed it on to another student.
It upset her very much.
Do you still have it? I contacted his parents, suggested he needed therapy.
They disagree.
What's the school doin' about it? We're not inviting him back next year.
We'd ask him to leave now if it wasn't so close to the end of the term.
Did he ever hurt another student? We suspected he did once, but the victim denied it.
What was the incident? A locker-room fight.
Mitchell was a bloody mess.
JJ didn't have a mark on him.
It was perplexing.
Why's that? If I had to name the school bully, it would be Mitchell.
Dodge ball? Haven't they outlawed this barbaric practice yet? I loved this game.
Yeah, well, you're a sadist.
You know, I literally weighed 98 pounds.
I can still hear them.
"Break the pencil.
" I was a walking bruise.
I think we found Mitchell.
You're out.
Get over here.
What the JJ came out of the showers.
Someone might have pulled his towel away.
Why? Something to do.
So what happened? He might have gotten snapped by a wet towel or two.
All in good fun, you know? Yeah.
Getting pelted by Neanderthals in the privates sounds like a blast.
JJ went postal.
He started wailing on me.
He bloodied my nose, gave me a black eye, a busted lip.
So how is it a guy like you doesn't fight back? I was freaked out.
Why? Because somebody half your size finally stood up to you? No, because the whole time he's hitting me, he's screaming, "rape.
" Explosive rage, sexual acting out.
The slipping grades.
Behavioral and personality changes.
JJ's got all the classic signs of being molested.
Question is, by whom? Well, we canvassed his school, he's not in any extracurricular activities, so I doubt it was a teacher.
No older friends anyone knows about.
No friends at all.
That leaves the parents.
Dad was running interference all through the interview.
Gonna be hard for JJ to talk about abuse if his abuser is sitting right there.
I think the mother knows about it.
I got the feeling that she was covering something up.
Aside from her worrying about what the neighbors thought, this woman has major guilt issues.
We gotta get JJ to open up.
We might have trouble gaining his trust.
I put him through the wringer a little bit there.
Huang's got privileges at Bellevue.
We'll have him pay a visit.
How are you feeling today, JJ? I'm locked up in an insane asylum.
How do you think I feel? Uh, angry, frustrated, betrayed.
You're the doctor.
Well, it seems to me like you're angry.
Are you angry at someone? My parents.
They're so lame.
What did they do? They let me wind up here.
Well, maybe they thought it was for your own good.
They don't care about me.
Sounds like they've let you down before.
I can't say.
You know, JJ, it's okay.
You can tell me.
You don't understand, I'm not allowed to talk about it! Why not? Because of the contract.
You made a deal not to tell? I didn't.
My parents did.
JJ.
There isn't a contract that can legally cover up a crime.
They're not protecting you.
Why are you protecting them? Tell me where it happened.
At a sleepover.
Mmm-hmm.
There were a bunch of kids there, but I was the only one who got to sleep in the Treasure Room.
What's the "Treasure Room"? His bedroom.
Whose bedroom? Billy.
And what did Billy do in the Treasure Room? He had these pajamas laid out for me.
He helped me undress.
I can't.
JJ I'm real sorry that your parents made you keep the secret so long, but you've got to get it out now.
He touched me.
He made me touch him.
And did you tell your parents what happened? Yeah.
What did they do about it? Got rich.
What do you mean? Billy owns the company my dad used to work for.
He paid them so much money not to tell, they never have to work again.
Until three years ago, Jeremy Ostilow Sr.
Worked for Tripley Toys.
The company did $1.
7 billion in sales last year.
It's owned by William J.
Tripley.
Whom, I see by his press release, prefers to be called Billy.
Thirty-five, never married, clean slate.
Inherited the company from daddy.
He doesn't actually run the empire, but he does receive the bulk of the profits.
I pulled the Ostilows' financials.
Jeremy received $2 million when he left the company.
Lot of corporate executives have golden parachute provisions.
This guy was middle management.
Still he received an additional million a year after he left and another million earlier this year.
The boss molested their son, then bought their silence.
Tripley always had deep pockets when it comes to kids.
He's given tens of millions of dollars to charities, usually child-related.
Programs for gifted kids, sick kids, underprivileged kids.
The man sure loves children.
Yeah, too much.
There must be other victims out there, somewhere.
How are we supposed to weed them out? We've got JJ's statement.
I say we pick up Tripley now.
Have Novak get a search warrant before he has time to clean house.
Lederhosen? Guilty.
A functioning soda fountain, stuffed animals, arcade games all this for a guy who doesn't have kids of his own.
He owns a toy store.
Maybe he likes to bring his work home.
This has got to cost more than my family car.
What the hell is that? That's Mr.
Tripley's lemur.
You frightened it.
Lemur? Aren't those things endangered? It's here.
God knows what he's doin' to it.
Don't you dare insult Mr.
Tripley.
He's a saint.
Really? Well, have you ever seen anything, uh, inappropriate, you know, questionable? Never.
There are 10 servants on staff.
Ask any of them.
Oh, we intend to.
We understand that you have a, uh, secret Treasure Room? You know about that? It's no secret.
It's every child's favorite place.
Pervert ahoy.
Pedophilic pirate motif.
Interesting choice.
What you gotta do to get booty from this treasure chest? I wonder how many victims walked Tripley's gangplank? It's just like JJ said.
This is where he was molested three years ago.
This bed's a tight squeeze for two to sleep in platonically.
Oh, this is just wrong.
Little jammies, each one a different theme.
What's this about? Tripley's idea of lingerie.
Bag them up, give them to the crime lab.
Hopefully they'll find some dirty laundry in the dirty laundry.
It's inconceivable that no one has turned this guy in by now.
Don't worry, Billy.
I'll have you out in 15 minutes.
Did you do it, Billy? How many kids have you molested? Is the victim male or female? No comment.
Let us through.
There is no truth in these outrageous allegations.
Could you clarify the allegations? Scurrilous lies, plain and simple.
Someone trying to cash in, no doubt.
Please, people, clear a path, please.
Billy has dedicated his life to helping kids.
I can't fathom why anyone would smear his good name.
But I promise you anyone doing so will be sued for slander.
You're not trying to threaten a witness through the press, are you? No, are you trying to trample my First Amendment right to free speech? Watch your head.
One more question.
Tell them I would never hurt a child.
We're standing right here.
Tell us yourself.
What's it going to take to make this go away? You mean a dollar amount? I'm afraid Billy can't buy his way out of this one, not this time.
I didn't do anything.
I love children.
So we hear, from the boy you molested.
It's a big lie.
No, it's a $4 million secret.
That's what you paid the family to keep them quiet.
How many payments you got left? The Ostilow settlement has nothing to do with molestation.
It was business.
Really? You mind if we look at that contract? Sorry, we have a nondisclosure agreement involving a toy patent we purchased from Mr.
Ostilow.
That's a bunch of crap.
It's hush money.
You molested their son and paid them off.
Filthy lies.
Do you deny having a 9-year-old boy spend the night at your house? Kids spend the night all the time.
Billy has numerous functions there.
You've seen the place, of course the kids don't want to leave.
The parents are there, too.
If they're not, I always get their permission over the telephone.
And how often do you sleep in the same bed with these kids? All the time.
What's wrong with that? You're a 35-year-old man.
I would kill myself before I did anything that'd hurt a child.
Pedophiles never think they're hurting 'em.
You're just loving them, right? Yes, but not in the sick way you're thinking.
I don't think that way.
There's nothing more natural and more beautiful than loving a child.
You're sick.
I think we're done here.
No, you're not.
Billy needs to be booked and you've got a long, nasty trial ahead.
Unless you really do care about kids, in which case you'll save the victim an awful lot of pain and plead out.
Motion for dismissal? The DA has no physical evidence, no third party witness.
We have the victim's sworn statement of inappropriate sexual contact.
Delusional fantasies of an emotionally disturbed boy, obtained while he was sedated in a locked down unit of a psychiatric facility.
Where he was sent for treatment stemming from the sexual abuse inflicted by Billy Tripley.
The alleged victim was sent to Bellevue for posting violent threats on the Internet.
He made no mention of my client.
The boy had suppressed the facts of his abuse for three years.
He'd been forbidden to mention Billy Tripley.
The fact remains that every sick threat was proven to be a fantasy just like the accusations against my client.
That's for a jury to decide.
I agree.
Anything else? Motion challenging the admissibility of the alleged victim's complaint.
Didn't we just go over this? The statement was taken by Agent Huang.
JJ thought he was talking to a psychiatrist, not a cop.
Dr.
Huang is a psychiatrist.
But he concealed his role as an FBI agent from JJ and encouraged him to disclose information under false pretenses.
This one I'll have a closer look at.
I'll give you my ruling next week.
Mr.
Zeirko isn't the only one who knows how to draft a motion.
It's come to my attention that the defendant, who had no trouble making bail, has continued to entertain children at his home.
Mr.
Zeirko? My client had many charitable functions scheduled prior to this nightmare.
He opted not to punish thousands of needy kids due to the bad behavior of one.
Let's err on the side of caution.
Hmm? Until this case is resolved, he's restricted to supervised visits with children under the age of 16.
See, he's soft.
Very nice.
Tripley.
Got a call from one of your neighbors who found it very unsettling to see so many kids come through your door.
What's the special occasion? They lower the age of consent? That's not funny.
What is funny is a man in your position finding a reason to celebrate.
My friends and associates threw a party to show their support.
The crowd looks a little young.
There are plenty of adults here.
Just make sure there are no sleepovers.
I'd invite you to stay, detectives, but we only want positive energy here.
You must be wrong about him.
Don't tell me he donated a boatload of cash to your organization? No, I I don't belong to any organization.
I just met him today.
So, how'd you get on the invite list? He couldn't possibly be guilty with all the good things that he's done.
I wrote him a letter thanking him and he invited us to this party.
Us? My granddaughter, April.
April? April, come here a minute.
Are you having fun, sweetie? It's the best day of my whole life.
Oh, good, good.
What kind of parents would let their kids around this guy after the allegations against him? They can't tell he's a freak.
They don't care as long as they're gettin' a handout.
The naive ones are just blinded by his generosity.
Something tells me he's been shoveling more money on his problems.
Now what? I'm just back from a motion hearing with Zeirko.
Imagine my surprise when he handed me this.
The story I told you about Mr.
Tripley was a lie.
He never touched me.
He was never anything but kind to me.
I apologize for any trouble my lies may have caused him.
Mr.
And Mrs.
Ostilow! Open up this door or we'll break it down again.
What do you want now? Did Tripley get to you? Did he threaten to enforce the nondisclosure agreement? If JJ's abuse was ever discussed, then you'd have to pay back all that nice money.
Lower your voices.
People can hear you.
Let us inside, then.
We just want a quiet word with JJ.
He's not here.
Well, where is he? He's getting over this whole mess in a place you'll never find him.
How gone is JJ? He hasn't shown up for school and no one in his apartment building's seen him.
We pulled their credit cards.
There's no tickets on them.
He's 12 years old.
Someone has to be taking care of him.
We don't know.
We have surveillance on the parents.
They're not visiting him.
They're saying they sent their son on vacation.
That's not a crime.
That's hindering prosecution.
That's what I think, but until I talk to JJ, I can't prove it.
So what? You're just gonna dismiss the case against Billy? I don't see what other option I have.
We're talking about letting a pedophile walk free.
Find one.
I'm not dropping the charges.
I admire your tenacity but you know, without a complaining witness, your case is over.
Billy Tripley is guilty of witness tampering.
Can you prove it? Not yet, but I know Tripley got to the parents, threatened to enforce the nondisclosure agreement.
Are you absolutely sure that JJ recanted under duress? I know that boy was molested.
JJ told Huang he could identify a birthmark on Billy's penis.
She doesn't get out much.
It's just so frustrating.
If a jury heard the boy's original statement, believe me, they'd put Tripley away.
Well, unfortunately, the boy's out of the picture.
And we can't very well go around violating a defendant's Eighth Amendment right to face his accuser.
We also can't allow rich offenders to buy their way around justice with nondisclosure agreements.
There's your loophole.
The NDA.
They're always very carefully worded.
There's never an admission of guilt.
But there might be a mention of the boy, and legally, a minor can't enter into a binding contract.
No, but his parents, acting as his guardians, can.
But the question is, were his parents acting in his best interest? If not, that boy deserves a lawyer of his own.
And I think I know just who it should be.
The People request Jeremy Ostilow Jr.
Be appointed a guardian ad litem.
What does that mean? Is she trying to take away custody of my son? No, Mr.
Ostilow.
Guardian ad litem is a person appointed by the court to protect the interests of a minor for purposes of legal matters only.
Your honor, there is no legal matter.
And if there were, I've ably represented the family for several years.
"The family" meaning the parents, not the child.
Everything I've done has always been in my son's best interest.
Everything you've done about what, Mr.
Ostilow? Are you referring to the nondisclosure agreement? Any answer he gives to that question would constitute disclosure, thereby breaching the agreement.
This kind of circular reasoning is indicative of the whole problem, Your Honor.
The court must step in for the child.
I'll appoint a law guardian, pro bono.
I'm available, your honor.
Mary.
What kind of backroom deal is this? The court would be honored.
Thank you, Joe.
I'm now representing your son, Mr.
Ostilow.
I'll need a copy of the agreement between you and Mr.
Tripley.
This is a blatant fishing expedition.
My client informed authorities that that agreement pertains to him, and it also impinged on a criminal matter.
In a statement he later recanted.
Begging the question, why? Why did you take him to the lawyer of the man he had accused? And why wouldn't you bring him in to the police or the ADA? Because he was scared to death of them.
They knocked down our door, arrested him, interrogated him and then put him in a nuthouse.
He just told them what they wanted to hear.
It was the only way to get them to leave him alone.
Let me ask one more question: Why, if Jeremy recanted of his own volition, are you hiding him? I am not.
He just needed to get away.
Isn't it so he can't testify against Billy Tripley? No.
Mind if I ask him that myself? There's no way you're going to talk to him.
In that case, I request a Material Witness Order to produce the child.
Your honor, she's overreaching.
No, but she's right at the line.
I want the boy produced in my chambers.
I'm going to talk to him alone, and then I'll make a decision.
No.
Sir, if you refuse to comply, I'll be forced to find you in contempt of court.
You don't want to go to jail, do you, Mr.
Ostilow? They actually put him in jail? He's playing the martyr.
Claims he's protecting his son.
He's protecting his millions.
JJ testifies, he loses everything.
That gives him a big incentive to sit tight.
I'll see that he sits there till the boy turns 21, if I have to.
They don't call her the hanging judge for nothing.
Who? Who called me that? No one.
Why wait for dad? Let's find JJ ourselves.
We're doing the best we can.
We've pulled phone and credit card records.
So far nothin'.
I'll tell you the good thing about working for a rich law firm.
We've got resources you civil servants can't even dream about, including a slew of Pls on retainer.
They're at your disposal.
Billy Tripley's PR machine is painting JJ as a pathological liar.
We still can't find JJ.
Det.
Benson? Yeah? They said I should talk to you.
Well, why don't you have a seat? Thank you.
How can I help you? I run a program for terminal patients.
Doing what, exactly? Preparing them for death.
I'm a therapist.
This morning I counseled a That must be hard.
It gets worse.
I believe she was sexually molested by Billy Tripley.
It's all my fault.
I don't know how I have been so stupid.
You got me.
You left your granddaughter alone with this man? We've seen him twice since we met you.
Two days ago he threw a party for kids just like April.
She's got leukemia? Diagnosed a year ago.
Nothing the doctors are doing seems to be helping, so I'm searching for alternative cures.
Where are April's parents? I don't know.
There never was a father in the picture.
My daughter got mixed up with drugs, abandoned April right after she was born.
I'm all she has.
We're gonna need to talk to April.
She had chemo this morning.
She's in maintenance, gets it every two or three weeks.
She threw up all afternoon.
Well, she fell asleep about an hour ago.
Thank you.
There you go.
I don't know if I can keep it down.
Oh, honey, try just a little.
We don't want you dehydrating again.
We'll just talk as long as you feel up to it, okay, April? So, can you tell me what happened at Billy Tripley's house? There were lots of kids there.
We played games, really fun ones.
Hide-and-seek and stuff.
She got overexcited, wore herself out.
Tell her what Billy said to you.
That I could take a nap.
He said kids took naps there all the time.
And did he take you someplace to lie down? A place just for special kids.
Did Billy have a name for it? The Treasure Room.
Okay.
What happened there, April? He said if I was good, I got to pick a present out of the treasure chest.
Did you get to pick a toy? He said she could have it after the nap.
He didn't want her to wrinkle her pretty outfit.
He had pajamas she could wear.
He took her clothes off.
I'm sorry, Mrs.
Hodges.
I understand how difficult this is, but I really need to hear it from April, okay? Thank you.
Honey, your nose is bleeding.
I'm sorry.
Oh, this happens all the time.
Not that I wish it on anybody else, but why did it have to be this girl? Children with any disability are twice as likely to be sexually abused.
Cowards always target the weakest prey.
They're more likely to comply, less likely to report.
Billy's been around hundreds of terminally ill kids.
Makes you wonder how many died before reporting abuse.
I knew he'd have other victims.
I just wasn't expecting a girl.
Sexually indiscriminate pedophiles aren't uncommon.
His victims are all prepubescent.
There's less anatomical differences at that age.
It's more about the hairlessness, the innocence.
Billy's pretty childlike himself.
Look at this lifestyle.
He lives in a magical toy-land, playing with kids.
It's the Peter Pan Syndrome to the extreme.
Look, that really hurts.
Come on.
Are you gonna pull out every hair on my head? I have to make sure we get one with the root attached.
Ten hairs is standard procedure.
Look, this is police brutality.
Trust me, when you're being brutalized by me, you'll know it.
You just threatened me.
Did you hear him threaten me? Nope.
Open wide.
And if you bite me, I'll hurt you.
What's that for? Oral swab.
No pain involved.
You know if you can't take the pain, you shouldn't go around molesting 9-year-olds.
I never touched her, not that way.
Nap time, the Treasure Room.
I can't bring myself to go back in that room since you people desecrated it.
Please lower your pants and underwear.
Why? Pubic hair sample.
I'll need 10 of those as well.
I don't have any.
Any what? Hair.
Down there.
Stand up and strip.
Hmm.
I guess we can wait till they grow back.
It's permanent.
I had laser hair removal.
It just gets freakier and freakier.
Notice where his birthmark is? Right where JJ said it would be.
Now, if we only could find JJ.
I got a call from the investigator Conway Clark gave us.
He may have picked up JJ's trail.
Where does he think he is? Maine.
Clark's sending him up there now.
April mention any birthmarks? No, she had her eyes closed tight.
Have you seen Tripley's bombshell? More like a firecracker.
His legal team put a PI on Nora.
Followed her and April into a department store where he alerted security.
For what? "Toy mogul's alleged victim caught with shoplifting granny.
" So much for our perfect witness.
It's not like it sounds.
Let me show you how it looks.
Tripley's private investigator took a pretty clear picture of it.
That's $200 worth of merchandise you're stuffing in your bag there.
Yes, it was all for April.
She needed clothes.
Well, that's no reason to steal them.
I had to.
Her medical bills have wiped me out.
I can't work because she's sick all the time.
I didn't know what else to do.
Tripley's lawyers are having a field day with this.
Well, they can't punish April for my mistake.
They already have.
It's in the papers.
My granddaughter has had a miserable life.
Both her parents abandoned her, she's dying of cancer, and now she's been molested.
Please let her know justice at least once in her life.
Grandma muddied the case big time.
Luckily she's not the victim, April is.
You couldn't ask for a more sympathetic witness.
But I could ask for a second one.
If the jury heard it from April and JJ, it'd be a lock.
I take it Mr.
Ostilow is still sitting in his cell? Yeah, maintaining his vow of silence.
Clark's private investigator made it to Maine.
He thinks he's got a bead on JJ.
What about April's rape kit? Warner's still waiting for the final results.
But she found a hair in the girl's underwear.
It made a preliminary match to Billy.
I heard he had no hair to leave.
It's from his head.
Let me know when the full kit's back.
I'll need all the evidence I can get.
Huh.
I found something that doesn't make sense.
Is that good or bad? As part of the kit, I drew blood to check for STDs.
Please don't tell me he gave her something.
This kid cannot take another hit.
No.
CBC and differential came back absolutely normal.
That's a good thing.
Yes, and that's the point.
Leukemia affects the white blood cells.
I expected to find abnormal metamyelocytes, so I checked the smear.
Still nothing.
Meaning no sign of cancer? None.
Could she be in remission? It's a possibility.
But when leukemia is diagnosed in a child, the pediatric oncologist takes a bone marrow biopsy to confirm it.
It's done by drilling small holes in the pelvic bone.
They don't heal.
This is a pelvis after a biopsy.
See the holes? As part of April's rape trauma exam, I took a pelvic x-ray.
No holes.
They didn't do a bone marrow biopsy.
She never had cancer.
It's a good thing you brought her in when you did.
Another few weeks, she'd have been dead.
What's wrong with her? Mercury poisoning.
What? There's a toxic level in her system.
How was she exposed to mercury? Ingested it, probably put in her food.
Nora.
She was killing her own granddaughter.
Judging by these levels, I'd say for almost a year now.
I don't understand.
She was going to doctors for chemotherapy.
No.
She wasn't.
Her grandmother convinced her they couldn't afford a doctor.
Told her she was giving her the medicines she needed, but it had to be their secret.
The medicine was actually the mercury which was making her sick.
Let me guess.
Leukemia and mercury poisoning have the same side effects.
Both inhibit cell growth.
Same nausea, hair loss, weight loss.
April honestly believed she was dying.
Is she gonna be okay now? Mercury weakens the bones, so some of that damage is permanent, but at least she'll live.
You're gonna start feeling better now.
They told me Gran's the one who made me sick.
I'm sorry, April.
Looks like your gran did a lot of bad things.
She lied about the leukemia.
Has she lied about other things that you know about? The stuff I told you about Billy.
Okay, was any of it true? Gran told me to make friends with him.
I took a nap there once, but just on the couch.
Well, you sure knew a lot of details.
How did you know what to say? Gran read all the stories about him in the papers.
She cut them out, made a scrapbook.
She quizzed me from it every day.
Do you know where she keeps them? In the kitchen, between her cookbooks.
April, we know that you didn't want to do it.
She said it was my only chance.
If we didn't get the money, I'd die.
I just didn't want to die.
Sweetheart, you're not going to.
Gran said she loved me, but how could she make me sick if she loved me? I don't know what's wrong with me.
I love that little girl.
Funny way of showing it.
I never wanted to hurt her.
There must be something wrong with me.
There is.
It's called Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome.
What is that? A recognized psychological disorder that causes a parent to make their child sick because of a pathological need for attention.
So let's talk about the Tripley scam.
Well, that was April's lie, and I believed it.
We have the scrapbook.
Well, it's not as though he's an innocent victim, is it? He's a pedophile.
He deserved it.
I'd just as soon clear this one off the books.
Fill in the blanks and I won't charge you with the fraud counts related to it.
It sounds like you know everything already.
Crime lab found a hair in April's underwear.
During the party, I snuck into his room and I took it from his hairbrush.
When they asked me for the clothes she'd been wearing, I'd already planted it.
Do you have any idea how much damage you've caused? But you agree with me.
He deserved it.
He deserves to go to jail.
Thanks to you, he can claim he's a victim of a false allegation every time a legitimate one comes up in the future.
I'm sorry.
I don't believe you, but you'll have a good long time to pay for it in prison.
We just made a deal.
I'm not charging her with fraud on Tripley.
I'm charging her with fraud for the cancer scam.
Munchausen.
Bull.
She's been working this for a year.
Totaling all the bake sales, canister donations and Internet solicitations, she's bilked people out of $60,000.
What are you offering? Not a thing.
I'm taking you to trial.
Please, please think of April.
There is no one else to look after her.
You've got to be kidding me.
What you were doing nearly killed her.
I'm charging you with fraud and attempted murder.
But you heard what she said.
I'm sick.
No jury's that stupid.
They'll see it wasn't Munchausen, just pure, unadulterated greed.
Well, we found JJ.
Where? He was with an uncle up in Maine.
My PI got close, but we just missed him.
What happened? They crossed the border into Canada.
The Material Witness Order doesn't extend that far.
I don't have the authority to bring him back.
Unbelievable.
Two cases against Billy and both of them blown up.
He's the Teflon Pedophile.
What happens with JJ's father? Now we know where JJ is, we'll have to notify the court.
Oh, that's nice.
He gets out of jail and keeps the money, huh? Oh, no.
Sending his son out of our jurisdiction does not vacate the order.
Until he produces that kid, I am keeping his ass in jail.
This, you've got to see to believe.
Billy is having a victory party.
Billy, do you harbor any resentment? He invited the media.
I do feel sorry for that little girl.
She was as much a victim as I was.
The mood in here is pretty festive.
I've been vindicated, but the real winners are the children.
One of these kids is gonna be his next victim.
It's sick.
We'll get him.
He'll give us a lot more chances.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
You know what sucks? Cramming two people in a room with only one phone line.
I hate dorms.
Use your cell phone.
I keep going over my limit because you're always online.
You mind logging off for, like, two seconds? This is kind of life or death.
You're in a freaking chat room.
Read this.
"Rage is eating me alive.
Must release it.
"I have a knife and rope.
"And a 5-year-old.
Screw her innocence, then slice her up.
" This is sick.
He swears he's not joking.
"Hey, Dickweed, I'm calling the Denver cops.
" I'm trying to calm him down.
He's replying.
"Thanks for the heads up.
I love killing pigs.
I'll mow them down when they come through my door.
" Hey.
His screen name is "Psychokiller"? Yeah, in a chat room for slasher film fans.
I tracked down the Internet service provider.
I'm on hold with them now.
The guy's obsessed with mutilation.
And killing cops.
He logged off half an hour ago.
Check out his last post.
"Got to get ready for my big date.
See you in hell.
" Uh-huh.
Hold on.
Who? Jeremy Ostilow? I'm afraid he's a little out of our jurisdiction.
We're in Denver, Colorado.
Where is he? Where else? New York City.
Maintain fire discipline.
He's got a kid in there.
Hit it.
Police! Don't move! Hands where we can see them! Jeremy Ostilow? Yes.
Mommy.
It's okay, sweetheart.
Are you okay? What the hell are you doing? Looking for a "Psychokiller.
" A "Psychokiller"? Your slasher site screen name.
We linked it to your main account, JJO Rules.
That's not my husband's.
It's JJ's.
And who is JJ? Our son, Jeremy Jr.
Found him under the bed.
It was just a joke.
He's 12 years old, for Pete's sake, didn't you pull pranks at that age? Pranks, yeah, but I never threatened to kill any cops or say I wanted to "Rip off her clothes, slashing as I defile her.
" That's what you'd like to do? Trust me.
No more horror movies or websites.
Don't blame them.
They didn't make me do this.
Then who did? Please.
He was just trying to impress other kids on the Internet.
Your son had hardcore slasher fans freakin' out.
They asked him repeatedly, "Are you joking?" They thought you were serious, and I got to tell you, JJ, I still do.
Then you're an idiot.
Give it up, Detective.
My parents would die before they'd let anything bad happen to me.
Please don't do this to my son.
He's very sensitive.
Have you read the printout we gave you from the Internet? It's nonsense he picked up from comic books and movies.
He has no idea what it means.
He went into graphic detail.
Who's gonna fix the door? You can fill out a form to be reimbursed by the city.
How long will that take? If you're lucky, I'd say six to eight weeks.
No, it has to be tonight.
What will I tell the neighbors? Mrs.
Ostilow, how long has your son been obsessed with violence? He's not.
Has he ever hurt his sister? Never.
I need to talk to her.
Lisette's in her room.
I'll get her.
Underage suspects are entitled to have a parent present.
Underage victims are not afforded that same right.
Lisette's not a victim.
I need to talk to her alone.
Fine.
She'll tell you she adores her big brother.
"Screw her innocence and then slice her up.
" This is about your sister Lisette? No.
You're telling me there's another 5-year-old out there who pisses you off that much? Believe me, I know what a pain little sisters can be.
Just tell me what she did.
She melted my favorite CD in her Easy-Bake Oven.
That sucks.
What did you do? Nothing.
I never do anything.
When someone makes me mad, I just imagine hurting them.
That makes me feel better.
So it's like a release valve? You think about it, but don't actually do it.
That's what I said, moron.
You have these thoughts a lot? All the time.
What are you so angry about? Stuff.
What kind of stuff? Life is really stressful, you know? I know mine is.
I deal with dirtbags every day.
Like yesterday, there was this case.
These four guys gang-raped this sweet Haitian woman.
Detective! You want to hear the details? I really don't think this About how they beat her up and they degraded her? And when she begged for mercy, they defecated on her.
This is a child you're talking to.
Read what he wrote.
If he wants to act like an adult predator, I'll talk to him like one.
You really want to grow up to be like one of those perverts, huh? Why wait? So, Lisette, has JJ ever hurt you? He pulled my hair once.
He did? That's not nice.
Has he hurt you any other times? I have a new game.
Want to play? You know what? Ah, maybe later, but we need to finish talkin' about JJ first, okay? Okay.
Okay.
So, Lisette, I need you to show me on this doll, all the places where JJ hurt you.
Right.
And has he hurt you any place else? Not me.
Has he hurt someone else? Who? Beverly and Erica.
And do you know where he hurt them? Okay.
Now, Lisette, I need to talk to Beverly and Erica.
Does your Mommy know where they are? No, they're in the hospital.
What hospital? Lisette, sweetie, we need to finish talking before we can play.
But you said you wanted to see it.
This is the hospital.
Mr.
Ostilow, your son needs help.
He's a boy.
Boys break their sister's dolls.
He mutilated 23 of them, all in the genital area.
He's emotionally disturbed.
You're a psychiatrist, are you? No.
No, sir, I'm not.
That's why I would like you to sign this.
What is it? It's a parental consent form to commit JJ for psychiatric observation.
I won't have him branded crazy.
You'd prefer a criminal record? For what? Posting terroristic threats is a felony.
I am so sick of people co-opting 9l11 for their own agenda.
Where do you want to send him, Guantanamo Bay? I'd prefer Bellevue's Adolescent Ward.
Absolutely not.
Well, he's not going home to his sister.
So it's either Bellevue or Juvenile Detention.
Your call, sir.
I hear they shipped JJ off to the loony bin.
Cragen talked the father into a 72-hour hold.
Heard anything from the neighbors? That he should be locked in a rubber room permanently.
Why? What's he done? Traumatizes every tot in the building, screams at them till he's red.
About what? Any little thing, like lookin' at him the wrong way.
He locked a few of them up in a utility closet.
Convinced them they would be murdered.
They cried for an hour before he let them out.
Dad smoothed it out with the parents, sent them expensive gifts.
He's making it worse by excusing it.
This kid is a ticking time bomb.
Well, let's just call his school and see if he's exploded already.
Trouble paying attention in class, poor grades inappropriate behavior.
Such as? He drew a pornographic image on a girl's desk with a magic marker.
A tortured artist.
Another time, he wrote an obscenely graphic scenario, passed it on to another student.
It upset her very much.
Do you still have it? I contacted his parents, suggested he needed therapy.
They disagree.
What's the school doin' about it? We're not inviting him back next year.
We'd ask him to leave now if it wasn't so close to the end of the term.
Did he ever hurt another student? We suspected he did once, but the victim denied it.
What was the incident? A locker-room fight.
Mitchell was a bloody mess.
JJ didn't have a mark on him.
It was perplexing.
Why's that? If I had to name the school bully, it would be Mitchell.
Dodge ball? Haven't they outlawed this barbaric practice yet? I loved this game.
Yeah, well, you're a sadist.
You know, I literally weighed 98 pounds.
I can still hear them.
"Break the pencil.
" I was a walking bruise.
I think we found Mitchell.
You're out.
Get over here.
What the JJ came out of the showers.
Someone might have pulled his towel away.
Why? Something to do.
So what happened? He might have gotten snapped by a wet towel or two.
All in good fun, you know? Yeah.
Getting pelted by Neanderthals in the privates sounds like a blast.
JJ went postal.
He started wailing on me.
He bloodied my nose, gave me a black eye, a busted lip.
So how is it a guy like you doesn't fight back? I was freaked out.
Why? Because somebody half your size finally stood up to you? No, because the whole time he's hitting me, he's screaming, "rape.
" Explosive rage, sexual acting out.
The slipping grades.
Behavioral and personality changes.
JJ's got all the classic signs of being molested.
Question is, by whom? Well, we canvassed his school, he's not in any extracurricular activities, so I doubt it was a teacher.
No older friends anyone knows about.
No friends at all.
That leaves the parents.
Dad was running interference all through the interview.
Gonna be hard for JJ to talk about abuse if his abuser is sitting right there.
I think the mother knows about it.
I got the feeling that she was covering something up.
Aside from her worrying about what the neighbors thought, this woman has major guilt issues.
We gotta get JJ to open up.
We might have trouble gaining his trust.
I put him through the wringer a little bit there.
Huang's got privileges at Bellevue.
We'll have him pay a visit.
How are you feeling today, JJ? I'm locked up in an insane asylum.
How do you think I feel? Uh, angry, frustrated, betrayed.
You're the doctor.
Well, it seems to me like you're angry.
Are you angry at someone? My parents.
They're so lame.
What did they do? They let me wind up here.
Well, maybe they thought it was for your own good.
They don't care about me.
Sounds like they've let you down before.
I can't say.
You know, JJ, it's okay.
You can tell me.
You don't understand, I'm not allowed to talk about it! Why not? Because of the contract.
You made a deal not to tell? I didn't.
My parents did.
JJ.
There isn't a contract that can legally cover up a crime.
They're not protecting you.
Why are you protecting them? Tell me where it happened.
At a sleepover.
Mmm-hmm.
There were a bunch of kids there, but I was the only one who got to sleep in the Treasure Room.
What's the "Treasure Room"? His bedroom.
Whose bedroom? Billy.
And what did Billy do in the Treasure Room? He had these pajamas laid out for me.
He helped me undress.
I can't.
JJ I'm real sorry that your parents made you keep the secret so long, but you've got to get it out now.
He touched me.
He made me touch him.
And did you tell your parents what happened? Yeah.
What did they do about it? Got rich.
What do you mean? Billy owns the company my dad used to work for.
He paid them so much money not to tell, they never have to work again.
Until three years ago, Jeremy Ostilow Sr.
Worked for Tripley Toys.
The company did $1.
7 billion in sales last year.
It's owned by William J.
Tripley.
Whom, I see by his press release, prefers to be called Billy.
Thirty-five, never married, clean slate.
Inherited the company from daddy.
He doesn't actually run the empire, but he does receive the bulk of the profits.
I pulled the Ostilows' financials.
Jeremy received $2 million when he left the company.
Lot of corporate executives have golden parachute provisions.
This guy was middle management.
Still he received an additional million a year after he left and another million earlier this year.
The boss molested their son, then bought their silence.
Tripley always had deep pockets when it comes to kids.
He's given tens of millions of dollars to charities, usually child-related.
Programs for gifted kids, sick kids, underprivileged kids.
The man sure loves children.
Yeah, too much.
There must be other victims out there, somewhere.
How are we supposed to weed them out? We've got JJ's statement.
I say we pick up Tripley now.
Have Novak get a search warrant before he has time to clean house.
Lederhosen? Guilty.
A functioning soda fountain, stuffed animals, arcade games all this for a guy who doesn't have kids of his own.
He owns a toy store.
Maybe he likes to bring his work home.
This has got to cost more than my family car.
What the hell is that? That's Mr.
Tripley's lemur.
You frightened it.
Lemur? Aren't those things endangered? It's here.
God knows what he's doin' to it.
Don't you dare insult Mr.
Tripley.
He's a saint.
Really? Well, have you ever seen anything, uh, inappropriate, you know, questionable? Never.
There are 10 servants on staff.
Ask any of them.
Oh, we intend to.
We understand that you have a, uh, secret Treasure Room? You know about that? It's no secret.
It's every child's favorite place.
Pervert ahoy.
Pedophilic pirate motif.
Interesting choice.
What you gotta do to get booty from this treasure chest? I wonder how many victims walked Tripley's gangplank? It's just like JJ said.
This is where he was molested three years ago.
This bed's a tight squeeze for two to sleep in platonically.
Oh, this is just wrong.
Little jammies, each one a different theme.
What's this about? Tripley's idea of lingerie.
Bag them up, give them to the crime lab.
Hopefully they'll find some dirty laundry in the dirty laundry.
It's inconceivable that no one has turned this guy in by now.
Don't worry, Billy.
I'll have you out in 15 minutes.
Did you do it, Billy? How many kids have you molested? Is the victim male or female? No comment.
Let us through.
There is no truth in these outrageous allegations.
Could you clarify the allegations? Scurrilous lies, plain and simple.
Someone trying to cash in, no doubt.
Please, people, clear a path, please.
Billy has dedicated his life to helping kids.
I can't fathom why anyone would smear his good name.
But I promise you anyone doing so will be sued for slander.
You're not trying to threaten a witness through the press, are you? No, are you trying to trample my First Amendment right to free speech? Watch your head.
One more question.
Tell them I would never hurt a child.
We're standing right here.
Tell us yourself.
What's it going to take to make this go away? You mean a dollar amount? I'm afraid Billy can't buy his way out of this one, not this time.
I didn't do anything.
I love children.
So we hear, from the boy you molested.
It's a big lie.
No, it's a $4 million secret.
That's what you paid the family to keep them quiet.
How many payments you got left? The Ostilow settlement has nothing to do with molestation.
It was business.
Really? You mind if we look at that contract? Sorry, we have a nondisclosure agreement involving a toy patent we purchased from Mr.
Ostilow.
That's a bunch of crap.
It's hush money.
You molested their son and paid them off.
Filthy lies.
Do you deny having a 9-year-old boy spend the night at your house? Kids spend the night all the time.
Billy has numerous functions there.
You've seen the place, of course the kids don't want to leave.
The parents are there, too.
If they're not, I always get their permission over the telephone.
And how often do you sleep in the same bed with these kids? All the time.
What's wrong with that? You're a 35-year-old man.
I would kill myself before I did anything that'd hurt a child.
Pedophiles never think they're hurting 'em.
You're just loving them, right? Yes, but not in the sick way you're thinking.
I don't think that way.
There's nothing more natural and more beautiful than loving a child.
You're sick.
I think we're done here.
No, you're not.
Billy needs to be booked and you've got a long, nasty trial ahead.
Unless you really do care about kids, in which case you'll save the victim an awful lot of pain and plead out.
Motion for dismissal? The DA has no physical evidence, no third party witness.
We have the victim's sworn statement of inappropriate sexual contact.
Delusional fantasies of an emotionally disturbed boy, obtained while he was sedated in a locked down unit of a psychiatric facility.
Where he was sent for treatment stemming from the sexual abuse inflicted by Billy Tripley.
The alleged victim was sent to Bellevue for posting violent threats on the Internet.
He made no mention of my client.
The boy had suppressed the facts of his abuse for three years.
He'd been forbidden to mention Billy Tripley.
The fact remains that every sick threat was proven to be a fantasy just like the accusations against my client.
That's for a jury to decide.
I agree.
Anything else? Motion challenging the admissibility of the alleged victim's complaint.
Didn't we just go over this? The statement was taken by Agent Huang.
JJ thought he was talking to a psychiatrist, not a cop.
Dr.
Huang is a psychiatrist.
But he concealed his role as an FBI agent from JJ and encouraged him to disclose information under false pretenses.
This one I'll have a closer look at.
I'll give you my ruling next week.
Mr.
Zeirko isn't the only one who knows how to draft a motion.
It's come to my attention that the defendant, who had no trouble making bail, has continued to entertain children at his home.
Mr.
Zeirko? My client had many charitable functions scheduled prior to this nightmare.
He opted not to punish thousands of needy kids due to the bad behavior of one.
Let's err on the side of caution.
Hmm? Until this case is resolved, he's restricted to supervised visits with children under the age of 16.
See, he's soft.
Very nice.
Tripley.
Got a call from one of your neighbors who found it very unsettling to see so many kids come through your door.
What's the special occasion? They lower the age of consent? That's not funny.
What is funny is a man in your position finding a reason to celebrate.
My friends and associates threw a party to show their support.
The crowd looks a little young.
There are plenty of adults here.
Just make sure there are no sleepovers.
I'd invite you to stay, detectives, but we only want positive energy here.
You must be wrong about him.
Don't tell me he donated a boatload of cash to your organization? No, I I don't belong to any organization.
I just met him today.
So, how'd you get on the invite list? He couldn't possibly be guilty with all the good things that he's done.
I wrote him a letter thanking him and he invited us to this party.
Us? My granddaughter, April.
April? April, come here a minute.
Are you having fun, sweetie? It's the best day of my whole life.
Oh, good, good.
What kind of parents would let their kids around this guy after the allegations against him? They can't tell he's a freak.
They don't care as long as they're gettin' a handout.
The naive ones are just blinded by his generosity.
Something tells me he's been shoveling more money on his problems.
Now what? I'm just back from a motion hearing with Zeirko.
Imagine my surprise when he handed me this.
The story I told you about Mr.
Tripley was a lie.
He never touched me.
He was never anything but kind to me.
I apologize for any trouble my lies may have caused him.
Mr.
And Mrs.
Ostilow! Open up this door or we'll break it down again.
What do you want now? Did Tripley get to you? Did he threaten to enforce the nondisclosure agreement? If JJ's abuse was ever discussed, then you'd have to pay back all that nice money.
Lower your voices.
People can hear you.
Let us inside, then.
We just want a quiet word with JJ.
He's not here.
Well, where is he? He's getting over this whole mess in a place you'll never find him.
How gone is JJ? He hasn't shown up for school and no one in his apartment building's seen him.
We pulled their credit cards.
There's no tickets on them.
He's 12 years old.
Someone has to be taking care of him.
We don't know.
We have surveillance on the parents.
They're not visiting him.
They're saying they sent their son on vacation.
That's not a crime.
That's hindering prosecution.
That's what I think, but until I talk to JJ, I can't prove it.
So what? You're just gonna dismiss the case against Billy? I don't see what other option I have.
We're talking about letting a pedophile walk free.
Find one.
I'm not dropping the charges.
I admire your tenacity but you know, without a complaining witness, your case is over.
Billy Tripley is guilty of witness tampering.
Can you prove it? Not yet, but I know Tripley got to the parents, threatened to enforce the nondisclosure agreement.
Are you absolutely sure that JJ recanted under duress? I know that boy was molested.
JJ told Huang he could identify a birthmark on Billy's penis.
She doesn't get out much.
It's just so frustrating.
If a jury heard the boy's original statement, believe me, they'd put Tripley away.
Well, unfortunately, the boy's out of the picture.
And we can't very well go around violating a defendant's Eighth Amendment right to face his accuser.
We also can't allow rich offenders to buy their way around justice with nondisclosure agreements.
There's your loophole.
The NDA.
They're always very carefully worded.
There's never an admission of guilt.
But there might be a mention of the boy, and legally, a minor can't enter into a binding contract.
No, but his parents, acting as his guardians, can.
But the question is, were his parents acting in his best interest? If not, that boy deserves a lawyer of his own.
And I think I know just who it should be.
The People request Jeremy Ostilow Jr.
Be appointed a guardian ad litem.
What does that mean? Is she trying to take away custody of my son? No, Mr.
Ostilow.
Guardian ad litem is a person appointed by the court to protect the interests of a minor for purposes of legal matters only.
Your honor, there is no legal matter.
And if there were, I've ably represented the family for several years.
"The family" meaning the parents, not the child.
Everything I've done has always been in my son's best interest.
Everything you've done about what, Mr.
Ostilow? Are you referring to the nondisclosure agreement? Any answer he gives to that question would constitute disclosure, thereby breaching the agreement.
This kind of circular reasoning is indicative of the whole problem, Your Honor.
The court must step in for the child.
I'll appoint a law guardian, pro bono.
I'm available, your honor.
Mary.
What kind of backroom deal is this? The court would be honored.
Thank you, Joe.
I'm now representing your son, Mr.
Ostilow.
I'll need a copy of the agreement between you and Mr.
Tripley.
This is a blatant fishing expedition.
My client informed authorities that that agreement pertains to him, and it also impinged on a criminal matter.
In a statement he later recanted.
Begging the question, why? Why did you take him to the lawyer of the man he had accused? And why wouldn't you bring him in to the police or the ADA? Because he was scared to death of them.
They knocked down our door, arrested him, interrogated him and then put him in a nuthouse.
He just told them what they wanted to hear.
It was the only way to get them to leave him alone.
Let me ask one more question: Why, if Jeremy recanted of his own volition, are you hiding him? I am not.
He just needed to get away.
Isn't it so he can't testify against Billy Tripley? No.
Mind if I ask him that myself? There's no way you're going to talk to him.
In that case, I request a Material Witness Order to produce the child.
Your honor, she's overreaching.
No, but she's right at the line.
I want the boy produced in my chambers.
I'm going to talk to him alone, and then I'll make a decision.
No.
Sir, if you refuse to comply, I'll be forced to find you in contempt of court.
You don't want to go to jail, do you, Mr.
Ostilow? They actually put him in jail? He's playing the martyr.
Claims he's protecting his son.
He's protecting his millions.
JJ testifies, he loses everything.
That gives him a big incentive to sit tight.
I'll see that he sits there till the boy turns 21, if I have to.
They don't call her the hanging judge for nothing.
Who? Who called me that? No one.
Why wait for dad? Let's find JJ ourselves.
We're doing the best we can.
We've pulled phone and credit card records.
So far nothin'.
I'll tell you the good thing about working for a rich law firm.
We've got resources you civil servants can't even dream about, including a slew of Pls on retainer.
They're at your disposal.
Billy Tripley's PR machine is painting JJ as a pathological liar.
We still can't find JJ.
Det.
Benson? Yeah? They said I should talk to you.
Well, why don't you have a seat? Thank you.
How can I help you? I run a program for terminal patients.
Doing what, exactly? Preparing them for death.
I'm a therapist.
This morning I counseled a That must be hard.
It gets worse.
I believe she was sexually molested by Billy Tripley.
It's all my fault.
I don't know how I have been so stupid.
You got me.
You left your granddaughter alone with this man? We've seen him twice since we met you.
Two days ago he threw a party for kids just like April.
She's got leukemia? Diagnosed a year ago.
Nothing the doctors are doing seems to be helping, so I'm searching for alternative cures.
Where are April's parents? I don't know.
There never was a father in the picture.
My daughter got mixed up with drugs, abandoned April right after she was born.
I'm all she has.
We're gonna need to talk to April.
She had chemo this morning.
She's in maintenance, gets it every two or three weeks.
She threw up all afternoon.
Well, she fell asleep about an hour ago.
Thank you.
There you go.
I don't know if I can keep it down.
Oh, honey, try just a little.
We don't want you dehydrating again.
We'll just talk as long as you feel up to it, okay, April? So, can you tell me what happened at Billy Tripley's house? There were lots of kids there.
We played games, really fun ones.
Hide-and-seek and stuff.
She got overexcited, wore herself out.
Tell her what Billy said to you.
That I could take a nap.
He said kids took naps there all the time.
And did he take you someplace to lie down? A place just for special kids.
Did Billy have a name for it? The Treasure Room.
Okay.
What happened there, April? He said if I was good, I got to pick a present out of the treasure chest.
Did you get to pick a toy? He said she could have it after the nap.
He didn't want her to wrinkle her pretty outfit.
He had pajamas she could wear.
He took her clothes off.
I'm sorry, Mrs.
Hodges.
I understand how difficult this is, but I really need to hear it from April, okay? Thank you.
Honey, your nose is bleeding.
I'm sorry.
Oh, this happens all the time.
Not that I wish it on anybody else, but why did it have to be this girl? Children with any disability are twice as likely to be sexually abused.
Cowards always target the weakest prey.
They're more likely to comply, less likely to report.
Billy's been around hundreds of terminally ill kids.
Makes you wonder how many died before reporting abuse.
I knew he'd have other victims.
I just wasn't expecting a girl.
Sexually indiscriminate pedophiles aren't uncommon.
His victims are all prepubescent.
There's less anatomical differences at that age.
It's more about the hairlessness, the innocence.
Billy's pretty childlike himself.
Look at this lifestyle.
He lives in a magical toy-land, playing with kids.
It's the Peter Pan Syndrome to the extreme.
Look, that really hurts.
Come on.
Are you gonna pull out every hair on my head? I have to make sure we get one with the root attached.
Ten hairs is standard procedure.
Look, this is police brutality.
Trust me, when you're being brutalized by me, you'll know it.
You just threatened me.
Did you hear him threaten me? Nope.
Open wide.
And if you bite me, I'll hurt you.
What's that for? Oral swab.
No pain involved.
You know if you can't take the pain, you shouldn't go around molesting 9-year-olds.
I never touched her, not that way.
Nap time, the Treasure Room.
I can't bring myself to go back in that room since you people desecrated it.
Please lower your pants and underwear.
Why? Pubic hair sample.
I'll need 10 of those as well.
I don't have any.
Any what? Hair.
Down there.
Stand up and strip.
Hmm.
I guess we can wait till they grow back.
It's permanent.
I had laser hair removal.
It just gets freakier and freakier.
Notice where his birthmark is? Right where JJ said it would be.
Now, if we only could find JJ.
I got a call from the investigator Conway Clark gave us.
He may have picked up JJ's trail.
Where does he think he is? Maine.
Clark's sending him up there now.
April mention any birthmarks? No, she had her eyes closed tight.
Have you seen Tripley's bombshell? More like a firecracker.
His legal team put a PI on Nora.
Followed her and April into a department store where he alerted security.
For what? "Toy mogul's alleged victim caught with shoplifting granny.
" So much for our perfect witness.
It's not like it sounds.
Let me show you how it looks.
Tripley's private investigator took a pretty clear picture of it.
That's $200 worth of merchandise you're stuffing in your bag there.
Yes, it was all for April.
She needed clothes.
Well, that's no reason to steal them.
I had to.
Her medical bills have wiped me out.
I can't work because she's sick all the time.
I didn't know what else to do.
Tripley's lawyers are having a field day with this.
Well, they can't punish April for my mistake.
They already have.
It's in the papers.
My granddaughter has had a miserable life.
Both her parents abandoned her, she's dying of cancer, and now she's been molested.
Please let her know justice at least once in her life.
Grandma muddied the case big time.
Luckily she's not the victim, April is.
You couldn't ask for a more sympathetic witness.
But I could ask for a second one.
If the jury heard it from April and JJ, it'd be a lock.
I take it Mr.
Ostilow is still sitting in his cell? Yeah, maintaining his vow of silence.
Clark's private investigator made it to Maine.
He thinks he's got a bead on JJ.
What about April's rape kit? Warner's still waiting for the final results.
But she found a hair in the girl's underwear.
It made a preliminary match to Billy.
I heard he had no hair to leave.
It's from his head.
Let me know when the full kit's back.
I'll need all the evidence I can get.
Huh.
I found something that doesn't make sense.
Is that good or bad? As part of the kit, I drew blood to check for STDs.
Please don't tell me he gave her something.
This kid cannot take another hit.
No.
CBC and differential came back absolutely normal.
That's a good thing.
Yes, and that's the point.
Leukemia affects the white blood cells.
I expected to find abnormal metamyelocytes, so I checked the smear.
Still nothing.
Meaning no sign of cancer? None.
Could she be in remission? It's a possibility.
But when leukemia is diagnosed in a child, the pediatric oncologist takes a bone marrow biopsy to confirm it.
It's done by drilling small holes in the pelvic bone.
They don't heal.
This is a pelvis after a biopsy.
See the holes? As part of April's rape trauma exam, I took a pelvic x-ray.
No holes.
They didn't do a bone marrow biopsy.
She never had cancer.
It's a good thing you brought her in when you did.
Another few weeks, she'd have been dead.
What's wrong with her? Mercury poisoning.
What? There's a toxic level in her system.
How was she exposed to mercury? Ingested it, probably put in her food.
Nora.
She was killing her own granddaughter.
Judging by these levels, I'd say for almost a year now.
I don't understand.
She was going to doctors for chemotherapy.
No.
She wasn't.
Her grandmother convinced her they couldn't afford a doctor.
Told her she was giving her the medicines she needed, but it had to be their secret.
The medicine was actually the mercury which was making her sick.
Let me guess.
Leukemia and mercury poisoning have the same side effects.
Both inhibit cell growth.
Same nausea, hair loss, weight loss.
April honestly believed she was dying.
Is she gonna be okay now? Mercury weakens the bones, so some of that damage is permanent, but at least she'll live.
You're gonna start feeling better now.
They told me Gran's the one who made me sick.
I'm sorry, April.
Looks like your gran did a lot of bad things.
She lied about the leukemia.
Has she lied about other things that you know about? The stuff I told you about Billy.
Okay, was any of it true? Gran told me to make friends with him.
I took a nap there once, but just on the couch.
Well, you sure knew a lot of details.
How did you know what to say? Gran read all the stories about him in the papers.
She cut them out, made a scrapbook.
She quizzed me from it every day.
Do you know where she keeps them? In the kitchen, between her cookbooks.
April, we know that you didn't want to do it.
She said it was my only chance.
If we didn't get the money, I'd die.
I just didn't want to die.
Sweetheart, you're not going to.
Gran said she loved me, but how could she make me sick if she loved me? I don't know what's wrong with me.
I love that little girl.
Funny way of showing it.
I never wanted to hurt her.
There must be something wrong with me.
There is.
It's called Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome.
What is that? A recognized psychological disorder that causes a parent to make their child sick because of a pathological need for attention.
So let's talk about the Tripley scam.
Well, that was April's lie, and I believed it.
We have the scrapbook.
Well, it's not as though he's an innocent victim, is it? He's a pedophile.
He deserved it.
I'd just as soon clear this one off the books.
Fill in the blanks and I won't charge you with the fraud counts related to it.
It sounds like you know everything already.
Crime lab found a hair in April's underwear.
During the party, I snuck into his room and I took it from his hairbrush.
When they asked me for the clothes she'd been wearing, I'd already planted it.
Do you have any idea how much damage you've caused? But you agree with me.
He deserved it.
He deserves to go to jail.
Thanks to you, he can claim he's a victim of a false allegation every time a legitimate one comes up in the future.
I'm sorry.
I don't believe you, but you'll have a good long time to pay for it in prison.
We just made a deal.
I'm not charging her with fraud on Tripley.
I'm charging her with fraud for the cancer scam.
Munchausen.
Bull.
She's been working this for a year.
Totaling all the bake sales, canister donations and Internet solicitations, she's bilked people out of $60,000.
What are you offering? Not a thing.
I'm taking you to trial.
Please, please think of April.
There is no one else to look after her.
You've got to be kidding me.
What you were doing nearly killed her.
I'm charging you with fraud and attempted murder.
But you heard what she said.
I'm sick.
No jury's that stupid.
They'll see it wasn't Munchausen, just pure, unadulterated greed.
Well, we found JJ.
Where? He was with an uncle up in Maine.
My PI got close, but we just missed him.
What happened? They crossed the border into Canada.
The Material Witness Order doesn't extend that far.
I don't have the authority to bring him back.
Unbelievable.
Two cases against Billy and both of them blown up.
He's the Teflon Pedophile.
What happens with JJ's father? Now we know where JJ is, we'll have to notify the court.
Oh, that's nice.
He gets out of jail and keeps the money, huh? Oh, no.
Sending his son out of our jurisdiction does not vacate the order.
Until he produces that kid, I am keeping his ass in jail.
This, you've got to see to believe.
Billy is having a victory party.
Billy, do you harbor any resentment? He invited the media.
I do feel sorry for that little girl.
She was as much a victim as I was.
The mood in here is pretty festive.
I've been vindicated, but the real winners are the children.
One of these kids is gonna be his next victim.
It's sick.
We'll get him.
He'll give us a lot more chances.