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.
Double chai latte,
half-caf, whip cream. Bathroom this way?
Hold on.
Hello.
The Quarterly Reports aren't on your desk
because you asked me to pick them up on my way in.
Not good. They spiral bound them.
Yes, I know that makes you crazy.
That's why they're redoing them as we speak.
I told him, velo binding.
No, I can't hand him the phone.
He said it'd take 20 minutes,
so I ran next door for a cup of...
Damn it!
What in the world?
What the hell is this?
Digital CCD, waterproofed, pinhole lens.
A spy camera.
Taking some candid photos.
Video, actually. High resolution.
Do you have any idea
how long it's been in there?
These puppies burn batteries pretty quickly.
Three, four hours tops.
30% power remaining.
It was set up less than two hours ago.
So where's the video?
Camera was hooked up to this micro-transmitter.
Could have been recording as far as a block away.
Or as close as the next room.
It's getting way too easy to invade someone's privacy.
All our guy needed to do was turn on his computer
and pick up the signal.
Peeping Toms have gone high-tech on us.
They used to have go outside and hide in the bushes.
Now you can violate somebody
by sitting in front of a computer
enjoying a cup of coffee.
Which one of them's a pervert?
Where are we on the potty perv?
Lab got a thumbprint
off the bottom of the transmitter, but no matches.
Any of the cafe patrons looking good?
The ones who'd used the john just looked freaked out.
TARU searched their hard drives. Nothing.
Figure our guy was watching it live,
high-tailed it out of there
when the complaining witness found the camera.
Gives a whole new meaning to "live streaming video."
You're either looking for a urophiliac,
that's a sexual attraction to urine,
or a coprophiliac, that's...
Okay, let's not go there.
This stuff I just don't get.
These aren't heavily studied paraphilias,
but they're often the result of an abusive childhood.
The outside world is so hostile
that these kids turn inward on themselves
and they become fixated by their own bodily functions.
This guy dangerous?
Probably not. But he's anti-social,
his crime was voyeuristic
and he didn't have any physical contact with his victims.
We have more calls on this guy than on the Midtown Rapist,
and I'd like to put him out of commission.
Maybe we can track him down
through his spy-cam equipment.
You name it, we can put a camera in it.
Alarm clocks, buttons, shoes...
What the hell would you need a camera
in your shoe for
unless you're going to look up a girl's dress?
Hey, this is a legit business. I sell a lot to the Department.
I'm a licensed P.I. myself.
What's this?
Pedophiles must love this thing.
There's a nanny cam in the left eye.
Who knows how many young lives this has saved.
We talked to one of your competitors.
He said he thought this looked like your work.
Could be. I don't do the special orders myself.
Who does?
Charlie. Works in the back.
Parts are from various kits.
No serial numbers, really no way of tracing it.
Did you put it together?
I do so many custom jobs,
it's really hard to keep it all straight.
Charlie, unless this is a cleverly disguised camera,
that information should be in here, right?
Let me try searching for an order
using the same various components, okay?
No... No.
How many itty-bitty cameras could you have made?
In the last year, about 500.
This one was water-proofed, so that's gotta narrow it down.
Hey, wait a minute. This might be something.
Six months ago, a customer came in
and he ordered five of them.
What's his name?
F.E. Tischman.
Fetish Man.
Fetishmanor.net
Are you in charge here?
I'm production manager. Gil Tanner. Oh...
Your call was half an hour ago. Get your asses in there.
Keep your pants on. We're coming.
Gil, what exactly are you shooting in there?
Porn. It's perfectly legal.
Broadcast live over the Internet, 24-7.
Anything goes?
Long as no one gets hurt.
We supply the models, you direct the action.
We got more positions than the Kama Sutra.
You must have a lot of cameras
to catch all those angles.
Closed set.
Yeah. House has over a hundred.
Including five toilet cams
There's only one in the bowl itself.
Our heavy hits are in the showers and the hot tubs.
Gil, we got a situation
with the Chinese spinning basket.
Copy, I'm on it. Gotta go.
Hey, Gil, you ever shoot on location?
Like, say a coffee house?
Why? We've got a one-stop fetish shop right here.
It's an effin' cash cow.
So all of your toilet cam's are accounted for, huh?
Believe me,
I'd be the first to know if that website went dark.
Feel free to check it out.
Can you believe this?
FetishManor.net had over 300,000 hits?
Casey says we don't have enough to subpoena
their subscriber list.
No, ma'am, we haven't recovered any videos yet.
To be honest with you, I have no idea
how we're gonna identify the victims.
Liv, Mr. Carson here saw the video voyeur on the news.
He needs to talk to somebody about it.
I take it you used the facility
at the cafe yesterday.
No. I work in the building next door.
He believes he might have run into our perp.
A gentleman with a laptop.
Where? On the sidewalk.
I was getting out of a taxi
and this guy practically knocked me over getting into it.
What time? 8:30.
How do you know he was coming from the cafe?
I recognized their logo on the coffee cup
which he spilled all over me.
Okay. Can you describe him?
White, late 20s,
dark hair, about my height, wore glasses.
Are you on an expense account?
Yeah, why?
Your receipt can tell us the cab number.
The dispatcher should be able to tell us
where he dropped him off.
We're looking for a geek.
He carries a laptop.
I don't know his name,
It sounds like someone I've seen in the building.
Do you know which apartment?
First door on the right. That'd be 1-A.
1-A is Donato.
Do you know anything else about him?
Just that he creeps me out. Never makes eye contact.
Just stares at people's asses.
Mr. Donato!
TV's on. Somebody's home.
If there's any poetic justice,
we caught him in the bathroom.
Hey, if it isn't Charlie the spy girl.
You know her?
She's the technician from the camera shop.
What do you want now?
Let's take another crack
at who you made that toilet cam for.
Here's a clue: he lives in this apartment.
It's my baby brother, Wade.
You live together?
Actually, he has trouble holding down a job
and he asked if he could spend a few weeks on my couch
and it turned into two years.
Now there's sisterly love.
Free room and board and surveillance equipment.
Look, you guys. This is my fault.
I should never have made it for him.
You knew that he was a pervert.
He's not. He's just troubled.
I've always had to look out for him.
We didn't have a pleasant childhood, all right?
You seem to be high-functioning.
Wade took the brunt of the abuse.
He's a very sensitive boy.
I think the people he caught
with their pants down might disagree.
This where the little peeper keeps his stuff?
Please don't. Wade doesn't want anyone touching his things.
Just a peek.
No! Charlie...
your brother is sick.
You're not doing him any favors.
Help us stop him
so we can get him the counseling he needs.
"Ur-ine Luck"?
Must've been good, they're sequels.
What are you doing?
Admiring your video collection.
Wade, these are detectives. They know.
I didn't break any laws.
You did if you took any of these
without the subject's consent.
Now, uh, these look homemade, Wade.
I can explain.
Let's come back to our place.
You're going to love our facilities.
Seriously, Wade, just tell me.
What do you get out of it?
I really don't feel like discussing it.
Wade, I've gotta commend you on your fine penmanship.
Our friend here's been keeping a journal
detailing his toilet tour of Manhattan.
You had no right to read that.
You had no right to shoot the crap.
The witness you ran over fleeing from the scene
of the crime positively I.D.'d you.
That's how we got our search warrant.
I can't stand people touching my things.
You get anything off his computer?
Footage from the cafe, yeah.
Oh. Did he write about it in his journal?
Try May second, 8:05 A.M.
Please don't do this.
"Female subject, fat butt, urination, 33-second duration,
Marigold yellow."
I wasn't hurting anyone.
You violated hundreds of people.
The videos were for my own private use.
No one else was ever going to see them.
Just let me pay the fine so I can go.
Doesn't work that way anymore.
They passed Stephanie's Law in August.
Video voyeurism is now an "E" Felony.
You're looking at one to four years.
Per count. No way.
Oh, yeah. You serve those consecutively,
you're looking at a life sentence.
I wanna make a deal.
Unfortunately, you don't have anything we want.
No, I do. A real crime.
Yeah? What is it?
If you catch the guy, will you reduce my sentence?
It depends. What have you got?
Check out DVD 62, about an hour in.
This is from two weeks ago.
Saturday, 1:00 P.M.
I'll spare you the details.
Next one's three minutes after this.
It's marked "N.S."
What's N.S.?
No specimen.
Here we go.
Oh, no.
Not a kid.
Check out his right eye.
Looks like he's been attacked.
Recently.
Maybe he ran in there to hide.
Look, the door's shaking.
Someone must've followed him in.
Don't open the door.
Camera's going out.
Toilet Perv caught a sexual assault.
And didn't do a thing to stop it.
You watched that boy being molested.
What are you doing?
Where were you? Where were you?
I don't know what you're talking about.
You were standing right outside-- No.
Watching. No, no, I saw it later.
Wade, don't lie to me. That's not your M.O.
You like a live show.
You saw that whole thing go down--
you didn't even help?
What was I supposed to do?
Help him!
Yeah, and tell the cops
that I caught the whole thing on my toilet cam?
Where did it happen?
Central Park.
The camera didn't catch the guy's face.
Describe him.
I was on a bench
50 yards away. I never saw him.
Can't get what's not there.
All we have is the perp's blue sweatshirt and jeans.
What about the boy?
We'll never get an ID, it's too grainy.
We have some new technology on loan from NASA.
Let's see what it can do.
Software's a video image stabilization system
called VISAR.
That's what they used to solve that car wash abduction
down in Florida.
That's amazing.
You can see just how fresh the cut over his eye is.
Not to mention eye color-- blue.
I'll print it out for you.
Hold on, hold on. Pull back out.
There's a section that we kept replaying.
We couldn't quite make it out.
Right there.
Go back a few frames.
Zoom in.
There's something in the perp's hand.
Can you enhance it?
That's an athletic cup.
He must have been playing some kind of sport in the park.
He's wearing a soccer jersey.
That explains the cut over his eye.
Probably got injured during the game.
Which the pedophile may have been watching.
Guys, we've got something else.
What?
The nails are manicured.
Tips are white.
Our molester's a woman.
Well, that certainly narrows the suspect pool.
Only ten percent of all pedophiles are female.
That we know of.
It's definitely understudied
and probably under-reported.
Patrol had a walk in the park that day.
No one reported so much as a mugging.
Which bathroom are we talking about?
Wade says it was close to the Boathouse Cafe.
Nearest facility is Mid-Town here.
There's a lot of practice fields in that area.
His journal says the attack occurred around 1:03 p.m.
I checked the team schedules.
Closest field reserved for a soccer
was Vipers versus Bulldogs.
The boy's jersey was red and black.
It's the Bulldogs.
Talk to their coach.
That's Shane Madden-- our star forward.
Anything unusual happen at that game?
Yeah, we were actually winning for once.
Till Shane got thrown out.
For what?
Fighting with the other team's sweeper.
Any adults get involved?
Shane's mom ran onto the field.
Real piece of work.
How so?
She's got a little too much team spirit...
in the liquid form.
So she was drunk?
She wasn't feeling any pain.
Not even when she fell on her ass.
Trying to break up the fight?
No, joining in.
She assaulted a kid?
Verbally.
She slipped in the mud
before she could reach him.
Then she teetered off to clean herself up.
I assume to the nearest restroom.
How long after all of that
did Shane leave?
Right away. Never came back.
Any other women leave the game around that time?
Not that I noticed.
What school does Shane go to?
Trumpet section, last chair on the right.
You notice any behavioral changes in the last two weeks?
I don't have that much interaction with him.
Shane's a good student. Only the problem cases
get sent to the principal's office.
We're going to need to speak to his homeroom teacher.
Fred Moynihan. Room 109.
Is there a place where we can speak
to Shane privately?
You're welcome to use my office.
Go ahead and pull him out, please.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Shane, it was caught on tape.
There was a hidden camera in the bathroom.
It wasn't me.
Someone who looks just like you.
Even wearing your jersey.
Who was it?
Was it a stranger, or was it someone you know?
A stranger.
Can you describe her?
Why? I thought you had a picture of her.
We do.
We just need you to tell us
anything you can remember about her.
You know what, I really don't want to do this.
Shane...
You have nothing to be ashamed of.
You didn't do anything wrong.
You guys suck.
What happened?
We're going to need to talk to his parents.
Well, there's just a mother.
I use the term loosely.
So you know about her problem.
She came to speak to the kids on Career Day.
It was horrible.
Great lesson on the perils of drinking, though.
What exactly is Mrs. Madden's career?
A beautician.
She works at a place
called Creme De La Crop.
The little girls just love him. They call him all the time.
Ma'am, do you understand what happened to your son?
He's a gorgeous kid, just like his father.
Girls couldn't keep their hands off him either.
We're talking about an adult.
Who would do something like that?
We understand that you had a little mishap at the game.
Some idiot knocked me in a mud puddle.
Where's you go to clean yourself up?
Bathroom.
Happen to run into your son there?
No.
Would you mind if we took a look at your nails?
Why?
What the hell are you implying?
Just that you both were in the restroom at the same time.
I used the one at the Boathouse Cafe
and then stayed for a drink.
How long were you there for?
Let's see,
I was just finishing my second beverage
when Shane came and pulled me out.
Did he say anything about what had happened?
No, but who talks about sex with their mother?
Did you notice any female spectators
that didn't have a son there?
Cindy Bellamy.
And who's that?
Shane's baby-sitter, until about a month ago.
Used to just love her, but one day ups and throws a fit.
Says he doesn't need her anymore.
What was she doing there?
I have no idea.
I went to more of Shane's games than his own mom.
While I was there, I networked a little,
picked up three other gigs.
So you were baby-sitting another kid that day.
Yeah, Davey Auerbach.
Come on, Alex, Dylan,
five-minute time out. Separate rooms.
Come on.
Got quite a way with the boys there.
Yeah, I'm strict, but I always make sure they have fun.
And $12.50 an hour is nothing to sneeze at.
Shame you were fired from that Madden gig.
Shane said he was too old for a baby-sitter.
But too young for a girlfriend.
I'd never do that to a kid.
I'm dating one of my professors.
I like 'em older.
Now if you'll excuse me.
Did you talk to Shane at that game?
Yeah.
I asked if things had gotten any better with him mom.
There was a problem?
She's a total alchie.
Heard she was really knockin' 'em back at that game.
I can't tell you how many times I was baby-sitting,
she showed up hours late, blotto.
Lot of times with a younger guy than the one she left with.
Must be rough on Shane.
God knows what he's seen.
When she's drunk, Mrs. Madden has no idea what she's doing.
We're seriously looking at the mother?
She was in the vicinity at the time of the attack.
Witnesses say she was drunk.
And when she drinks she gets horny for younger guys.
When I was on the bottle,
I woke up with my share of regrettable bedmates,
but her own son?
The more you drink, the blinder you get.
And her alcoholic blackouts are legend.
We canvassed the building-- Everybody had a horror story.
Like the time she woke up so drunk
she couldn't find her own bathroom.
Ended up pounding on a neighbor's door
at 3:00 a.m. asking to use his.
Naked.
So at the very least,
we're looking at an unfit mother.
Where's the father?
Baby-sitter said he split years ago.
Apparently, Shane took over some of his duties.
Okay, but in the bedroom?
You know how big a role alcohol plays
in sexual assaults.
Before we stagger down this road,
let's not rule out other possibilities.
Shane's team has a game tomorrow.
Well, it should be the same crowd.
Chat up the cheering section, see if anybody saw anything.
Check out the redhead-- blue sweatshirt and jeans.
Just like the perp in the video.
Ma'am?
Yes?
"Soccer Mom."
That's what it says.
You got a boy on the team?
Do you?
No, but we'd like to talk to you about your outfit.
What about it?
Did you wear it to the game two weeks ago?
I wear it to all the games.
The booster club pushes them to pay for the pizza parties.
Every mom in the league's got one.
Of course I bought a shirt.
Got to support my little man!
Hey-ya!
Probably appreciate it a little more if you were sober.
Screw you.
Ma'am, have you been drinking?
No.
No? Mind if I examine your travel cup?
Mrs. Madden, you're in violation of Code 10-125,
and we could arrest you right now.
What do you want from me?
Is this a school team?
No, it's sponsored through the city.
Shane's principal, Ms. Rice--
she have a son on the team?
No.
What's she doing here?
Awful close to the student body.
She's awful popular around here.
Looks like she has a thing for young boys in uniform.
Principal Rice.
Hey, good to see you again.
Detectives.
Who's this young man?
Jason.
My son.
Really? You look way too young
to have a son this age.
Stepson.
His team just won.
Congratulations. Does he play in the same league as Shane?
Jason's 14. He's in an older division.
But the same league.
Where's your "Soccer Mom" shirt?
I'm not big on sweatshirts.
What are you talking about?
You wear that stupid thing all the time.
Yeah? Your mom come to all your games?
Oh, yeah.
She's a die-hard soccer fan. Must be.
We saw you hanging out at the peewee league.
I ran into a student.
Shane Madden.
You run into him two weeks ago?
No. I'm sorry.
We're late for a pizza party.
What do we know
about the principal?
No criminal record.
Just a lifetime of good deeds:
a stint in the Peace Corps, volunteer work,
set up an adult literacy program.
She was I.S. 41's Teacher of the Year in '96, '98.
Promoted to principal three years ago.
Nice gig for a pedophile.
Absolute power over all those kids.
It's just odd that there's never been so much as an allegation.
What about her personal life?
Married seven years to an architect. One stepson.
Who happens to be two years older than the victim.
Most pedophiles don't get caught with their first victim.
Maybe she was fooling around with her stepson.
Easy access.
That's assuming that she's our perp.
Can we place her at the game in question?
We just sat through two riveting hours
of a soccer video that I wrangled from some dad.
No signs of the principal,
but he did catch Shane's mom falling on her ass.
The outfit's a crime, but it's not a match.
Rules her out.
Principal Rice had to have been there.
Her kid says that she goes to all his games.
We checked out where her stepson plays.
The restroom's directly between the two fields.
That's circumstantial at best.
Captain, you weren't there today.
She couldn't get away from us fast enough.
She never gave us a chance to find out
what she and Shane were talking about.
Ask him.
Check out the stepson.
How do you get along with Meredith?
Great.
For a step-mom.
For any mom. I really got lucky with her.
Sounds like you two are pretty tight.
Well, I was a brat when she first moved in,
but she's totally cool now.
How so?
She helps with homework, comes to all my games,
boring school plays, sappy stuff like that.
Sounds good.
No, it doesn't.
What are you doing here?
Just checking in.
You always come to school early to practice?
The noise, it gives my mom headaches.
I don't think it's your playing that gives her a headache.
You know, Shane,
I know you've got a tough situation at home.
My mom, she, uh,
just needs extra help, you know?
She gets sick a lot.
Yeah.
When you feel like talking to someone,
this is my business card.
You give these people a call.
"Alateen."
What's that?
It's a support group for children of alcoholics.
Thanks.
Now let's talk about your situation here at school.
There's no situation.
With Principal Rice.
What about her?
I have to get to class.
We have her on tape.
No, you don't.
In that restroom. Yeah, we do.
We talked to her.
Well, she wouldn't say anything to you.
She has been getting a little weird lately.
How so?
She and my dad have been fighting.
That's what married folks do.
Yeah, but not them.
They never fought before.
I mean, it was getting really bad, too.
She even yelled at me.
So, what'd you get from the stepson?
Nothing to indicate he'd been molested.
What about Shane? He give her up?
As good as.
I just couldn't get him to say it.
Not enough to remove a principal from school.
Which way's the teacher's lounge?
Meredith Rice?
She's as straight-laced as they come,
but the kids still love her.
Do you ever see her interact with Shane Madden?
Actually, she's pulled him from my class
a couple of times recently.
For what?
I don't know. Shane handed me a note excusing him from gym class.
Tell you the truth, I thought it was fake.
Why's that?
It looked like a kid wrote it.
But I double-checked.
Mrs. Rice confirmed it was her handwriting.
Hey, hey, hey!
If Shane Madden passed through here,
odds are he was written up.
So he'd be there in the Disciplinary Action File.
Principal Rice didn't write all of these, did she?
Public school, lot of at-risk kids.
I mean the handwriting.
Looks like different people wrote these.
No, Meredith meets with each one of them.
You're right, she is getting a little sloppy.
Something weighing on her mind?
She has been distracted lately, but aren't we all?
It's so close to summer break.
Nothing on Shane.
Is Principal Rice available?
Oh, I'm sorry, she's not back yet.
Where is she?
Home. Family emergency.
Mr. Rice, have you had any contact with your wife?
Just tell me; is she in some kind of danger?
One of her problem students?
Mr. Rice, how's your marriage?
What? What are you talking about?
We heard you were fighting.
That's none of your business.
Well, actually, it might be.
At the time that your wife left school, a young man,
a student also went missing.
You think he kidnapped her?
We think she kidnapped him.
What are you talking about?
Your wife's been molesting that boy.
That's a lie.
We have it on tape. I'm sorry.
Have you noticed any inappropriate behavior
between Meredith and your son?
Now I've got a 12-year-old boy
that's in danger out there
and I need you to tell me what is going on with your wife.
What is going on with her?
I don't know.
She's changed. She's changed, hasn't she?
Yes. Yes.
Please, let me go.
Relax.
She's changed.
She hasn't been herself lately.
She's preoccupied.
She snaps at any little thing.
She's...
And in the bedroom...
she's insatiable.
Are you telling me that she's screw...?
She's not getting enough,
so she's screwing a little boy on the side?
We just need to find her.
Now do you have any idea where she might go?
No.
Does she have access to a car?
We have a car. We don't use it very often.
Could you check with the garage?
I got 911'd out of my VICAP meeting.
We got a cluster?
Shane Madden went missing.
As did Principal Rice.
We're thinking they're together.
Yeah, and getting the hell out of Dodge.
Husband hasn't heard from her, and she took his car.
Long gone by now.
You get out an APB?
And an Amber alert.
And unfortunately, the blue Ford Taurus
is a very popular make and model.
We're getting possible sightings from every highway
in the tri-state area.
She's gotta stop for food and gas at some point.
You tracking her ATM and credit cards?
So far, no pops.
She's either using cash or Shane's piggy bank.
Husband said the tank was near empty.
We got a sighting.
Where? Edgewater, New Jersey.
Trucker's right behind them on the exit.
That's just outside the city.
How sure is he it's them?
He gave me the full plate number.
Get moving.
Out of the vehicle! Move in!
Shane!
Backseat!
Shane!
Help! Help!
Mrs. Rice, exit the vehicle.
Hands where we can see 'em!
Go away!
You need to comply now.
You okay?
I'm fine, but she's not. She's been throwing up.
Please don't let them hurt her.
Come on. Let's go.
She's sick! She's sick!
You're under arrest for sexual assault
and kidnapping of a minor.
You have the right to remain silent.
If you give up that right, anything you say
can and will be used against you in a court of law.
My head is splitting.
I think I need a doctor.
We've got a great company shrink you can see.
You got to be out of your mind
to be running off with a sixth-grader.
I am not crazy. I know it's wrong.
Good. Taking responsibility--
it's the first step to setting it right.
Look, you don't understand.
That day at the soccer field
was the first time.
So help me understand what happened.
He was crying.
I followed him in there to make sure he was okay.
The next thing I know we're having sex.
And that seems like
a perfectly natural segue for you?
Yes.
You didn't notice that Shane was fighting
to get away from you?
The first time.
But after that he couldn't get enough.
It was his idea to run.
You always take orders from sixth-graders?
My life is falling apart and I don't know why.
Look, what are you going to do?
You're obviously attracted to young boys.
This is a nightmare.
I swear, I have never done anything like this before.
What, been caught? Well, you have-- on tape,
and now you got to deal with it.
I am not a pedophile.
I love my husband. I love my job.
I bet you do.
A lot of young boys to choose from.
Stop it.
Tell me what you did to the child.
That's a bad idea.
Come on, let's get it on.
Are you crazy? You're out of your mind.
Is there a problem here?
No problem.
I think she's going for an insanity defense.
She's having a seizure.
Call an ambulance.
The tox screen is clean.
They're still waiting for the head CT.
Olivia, I don't even know what the hell happened.
It was an accident. She assaulted you
and you have witnesses, Elliot.
Rat squad IAB at two o'clock.
Sergeant Tucker.
Detective Stabler.
Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep,
but I'll be waiting for my union rep.
Smart move. If you got something to hide.
He was sexually assaulted.
What a surprise, the partner's going to back him up.
Yeah? How would you feel
if some perp had your boys in a vice grip?
Cuff her. Not bash her brains in.
I thought I used appropriate force.
I was just reading up about your thoughts.
Suspended four years ago for telling the company shrink
you dreamed about killing pedophiles.
Thought about it, never did it.
You're getting closer and closer.
Detectives?
How is she?
Not good.
We found something on her CT.
They're rushing her into surgery right now.
From a blow to the head?
No. This was a preexisting condition.
Brain tumor the size of a baseball.
We were in there eight hours.
Looks like we got it all.
Great. Now here's my problem.
The law says she needs to be arraigned
within 24 hours of her arrest.
I just opened up this woman's skull
and excised a malignant lesion nine centimeters long.
I'm afraid you're going to miss that deadline.
I've gotten an abeyance,
but I still need to proceed in a timely manner.
She'll be in the hospital five, six days.
That's fine.
I can get a judge and clerk down here
for a bedside arraignment.
I wasn't aware that judges made house calls.
Just tell me when she'll be lucid enough to be swearable.
May I ask what exactly is she charged with?
She molested a 12-year-old,
whom she subsequently kidnapped.
You do know that frontal lobe damage
can diminish impulse control.
This woman knew what she was doing was wrong.
That's right.
The area of the brain that stores moral knowledge
is not affected,
but look at this.
This is Meredith's head CT.
The tumor is here in the right orbitofrontal cortex,
which controls behavior.
That's fascinating,
but I'm not performing brain surgery here.
I'm just trying to get a pedophile off the streets.
Without the tumor, she might not be one anymore.
So what, give her a doctor's note?
"Please excuse Meredith for molesting boys,
she had a bad tumor."
To tell you the truth,
this looks like a textbook case of acquired sociopathy.
How do I know the tumor caused it?
Maybe she's been a predator all along,
and the tumor just made her sloppy.
I doubt it. Shane is our only known victim.
Not as of this morning.
Three additional boys have come forward.
Raped?
One boy sent to her office was hugged and kissed.
The other two were fondled.
When?
All in the last month.
She committed multiple felonies, she has to pay for them.
Not if she lacked the mens rea.
It's obvious the lesion disinhibited her.
The question you have to answer is,
did she act on those pedophilic tendencies before the tumor?
And are those tendencies still there?
Understand, this test is still in the experimental stages.
So we'll be viewing her PET Scan in here
while she's viewing the erotic videos on those goggles.
Yeah, brain mapping is not an exact science yet,
but we do know the areas of the brain
that respond to arousal and pleasure.
And we'll be able to view activity on the anterior cingulate.
Trust me, you won't.
I no longer have those feelings.
What is that, exactly?
It's a very tiny amount of radiation...
the same exposure you'd get flying across country five times.
We're good to go.
How are you feeling?
Like my old self again.
Well, we really appreciate your cooperation.
I want to do this.
Hopefully, this test will give us some answers.
Please...
believe me, I tried to stop.
Did you?
I knew it was wrong,
but the urges were so strong,
that they just took over my mind, my body...
I couldn't control myself.
Every day it got worse.
I am the last person who would ever do anything like this.
Why?
I know the damage it can cause.
When did it happen to you?
It started when I was eight.
Lasted four years.
With someone that you knew?
Someone I loved.
My grandfather.
Ready?
So that's a pedophile's brain, huh?
No, this is.
One who's currently incarcerated.
According to Meredith Rice's PET Scan,
she's no longer a threat to society.
She showed no reaction
to the pedophilic stimuli.
If she had, the area right in here would be red.
Unless it meets the Daubert test for scientific reliability,
it's not admissible in court.
Well, look at the handwriting.
I mean, it went right back to normal
as soon as the tumor was removed.
So what do we do? We let her go?
No, if we let her off,
it opens the door for every rapist and violent criminal
to find some medical excuse.
Yeah, tomorrow there'll be a run on the PET Scan lab.
Wouldn't it be great if that was true?
If they could isolate the part of the brain
that makes somebody a pedophile?
And they could be fixed.
How? Mandatory screenings at birth
to zap some part of the brain we don't know exists?
A tumor changed her behavior,
but that alone didn't make her a pedophile.
She had a lower set point to begin with.
What the hell's that supposed to mean?
She was molested as a child.
And like having any predisposition
to high blood pressure or cholesterol,
she had a higher risk of becoming an offender.
But she never acted on it
until the tumor wiped out her impulse control.
I found a similar case in Virginia.
Upstanding citizen, loving husband and father,
became a pedophile out of the blue.
Let me guess-- same brain tumor.
It was discovered in jail.
It was removed and he was considered cured.
They release him?
Yeah.
A year later, he molested again.
So it wasn't the tumor at all.
No, it was the tumor.
It had just grown back.
So, it's not her fault and she's perfectly cured.
But if the lesion recurs, she'll do it again.
What are you going to do, Counselor?
She pleads to Rape Three, five years probation,
and periodic psychiatric and medical evaluations.
We might be amenable to that.
I'm not done yet.
She's also not to have future contact with her victims.
Of course not.
There are already restraining orders in place.
We're not contesting them.
And she registers as a sex offender.
What?
Come on, Casey, is that really necessary?
Yes.
The registry was set up to protect the public
from sexual predators at risk of offending again.
But that's not me.
This only happened because of the tumor.
What are you going to do if it grows back?
She gets branded a sex offender,
she can never work in the school system again.
She can never work with kids.
Better safe than sorry.
Then I think we'll take our chances at trial.
This is a noble woman who suffered a freak brain tumor.
Everyone fears the big C.
Once I remind the jurors
it could happen to any one of them, they'll acquit.
No.
I'll take the plea.
Meredith, you don't need to do that.
Yes, I do. She's right.
The children have to be protected.
It's a responsibility I need to take.
You're getting pretty good.
Doesn't matter.
I dropped out of band.
And soccer.
If I could, I'd drop out of school.
Kids giving you a hard time?
Jason Rice slugged me in the cafeteria.
Said he'd kick my ass for busting up his family.
He said he'd kill me.
I'll talk to him, okay?
Why won't she talk to me?
I must've called her a hundred times
and she never picked up.
Shane, she can't.
She goes to jail if she does.
She talked to me.
She cared about me.
I thought she loved me.
Shane, she was very sick.
What she did is not your fault.
She's better now,
but I gotta to tell you I'm more concerned about you.
I just wanna die.
Then we're gonna get you some help.
Trust me, you're going to get over this.
The real damage hasn't even begun to set in for Shane.
This kid's gonna need extensive therapy.
And a strong support system.
Not gonna get that at home. Not with his mother.
I think she's the reason why Shane was susceptible
to a mother figure in the first place.
This kid is so screwed up, he doesn't even know he's a victim.
He still thinks he's in love with Meredith.
It's unfortunate his first sexual experience was non-consensual,
but it's even worse that he developed feelings for his abuser.
What are the odds
that he's going to have a healthy sex life?
Not good.
But they're ideal that he'll become an offender himself.
The cycle of abuse just keep's turning.
So when he grows up,
he's going to have a low opinion of women
and be able to rationalize having sex with a child.
How do you stop that from happening?
I think the answer lies in Meredith herself.
If she truly wants to help Shane,
she'd let us study her brain.
Maybe we really could locate
the part that creates a pedophile, and then fix it.
Meredith Rice hasn't changed.
Patrol just responded to an incident at her address.
My partner's with the victim.
She took a pretty bad beating.
She gone after another boy?
This one fought back.
You got it backwards. There's no boy involved.
So who attacked her?
You heard the woman.
she's not pressing charges; I am.
Mrs. Madden, what happened here?
That perverted bitch is still chasing my little boy.
Is that true? I can explain.
Tell it to the judge. She broke her restraining order. I want her arrested.
What did she do? She called Shane
in my home.
Thank God, I happened to pick up the extension.
What's wrong with you?
Everything.
And you think the best person
to commiserate with is your 12-year-old victim?
That's not why I called him.
Tell them!
Tell them why you called Shane!
It doesn't matter why she called him.
You broke one of the conditions of your probation.
Which means you're under arrest.
I thought he had a right to know.
Know what?
I'm pregnant.
And I did agonize,
but I felt like he needed to know.
He is the father.
She's having my baby's baby.
Let's go.
I want it terminated.
That's not your decision, ma'am.
You have no say over her reproductive rights.
You didn't need to lay this on that little boy.
What were you doing?
I don't know.
My husband's leaving me,
my stepson won't even talk to me...
I've lost my home, my job...
The irony is, all I've ever wanted
is a baby of my own.
Be careful what you wish for,