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Police Identify Person of Interest in Mysterious Death of Pregnant Soldier; 17-year-old boy Decapitated at Six Flags Over Georgia; Prostitution on Craigslist

Aired June 28, 2008 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, John McCain heckled four times, but why?
Look at these riots. And Condi Rice is there.

The mystery of a soldier seven months pregnant found dead. Is her killer taunting police? And where's her boyfriend?

Imagine finding out your daughter is selling her body on Craigslist. Tonight, a CNN special investigation.

Let's see -- Ronald Reagan airport, FDR Drive, JFK this or that and George W. Bush sewer plant. Sewer plant?

Oh and why the baseball bat? And why you got to go there? Jam- packed. The news starts now.

And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. We're going to begin tonight with breaking news. This is really a bit of a blockbuster. Do you know that pregnant soldier that was found dead last week in a hotel bathtub in North Carolina?

Tonight, we have learned from the Army that there is a person of interest. Brand new information. And that it's another soldier right there at Fort Bragg. And there's also something else tonight, something which is even more weird than that.

Let's break this down for you. This new person of interest information that we got really just about an hour ago. Quickly, let's go to our criminal profiler, Pat Brown.

Pat, we know that she had a boyfriend. And we're hearing that he, too, has returned apparently from Germany to the United States. Is there reason to believe that this person of interest that we're just now being told about and this boyfriend can be one in the same?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Rick, well, I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, this is kind of a funny thing because here's this girl. She just arrived at Fort Bragg. She's seven months pregnant. And who is she going to call first to tell that she's coming, her boyfriend.

She's going to say -- honey, I'm going to be in Fort Bragg, I'm going to be at this motel. He would know she was there. And yet, we heard nothing about this boyfriend. We didn't hear that he went to the motel, that he talked with her, that he was worried about her. Where did he go all of that time when his seven months pregnant girlfriend was sitting right there? He just ignored her.

SANCHEZ: Good point. You would think that somewhere along the line for the last eight or nine days that he would have contacted police and said -- look, I'm worried. How can I help?

By the way, if she was pregnant with his baby and nobody knows that for sure, but there certainly has been talk of that, and we do know that she was pregnant. How important would that detail be as a profiler?

BROWN: It's extremely important because as we've seen with so many pregnant women who end up dead, it's almost never a stranger. It's always the fiance, the husband, the boyfriend. And so, when you have a 7-month pregnant woman who ends up dead, that's the first person you're going to look for.

Let me put it this way, Rick. Serial killers do not like big fat women. They like little cute cheerleaders. They don't -- this is just not their choice for an amusing time.

SANCHEZ: What would be the motive, though? So you have a girlfriend, she gets pregnant. That should be a wonderful thing. What's the motive for wanting to kill her, as you would presume as a profiler?

BROWN: Well, you would think that would be a wonderful thing. But if a woman has hooked up with a psychopathic kind of fellow, he may have liked her for a while for some reason or other. Maybe he enjoyed her company, maybe he liked the sex, and suddenly she's pregnant.

And then as time goes on, he realizes -- gosh, you know, I'm going to get saddle with this kid. I'm going to have this kid for the rest of my life. It means, you know, I've got to marry the woman or I've got to have child support payments. And this is just quite frankly too much for me. I'd rather her just disappear.

SANCHEZ: I want to bring something else in. And I want to show this to you and I want to show it to our viewers as well. Dave, get a shot of this, if you possibly can.

All right, this is a letter that was sent to a newspaper, "The Observer," there in North Carolina which then came into the hands of police. Now, do you see that symbol right there? The zodiac symbol? He goes on to say in this letter - "To whom it may concern: The following is to inform that I am responsible for the dead body that was found on Saturday."

Interesting, because this same symbol, by the way -- and this is important -- this same symbol was found in the hotel room where she was found dead. Leading anybody to believe that whoever wrote this was also the person who was in the room, is a cop, had some information about the case or is the killer. BROWN: Right, exactly, Rick. And I think what really probably happened was -- as I said, I don't think this is a serial killer. And the zodiac is the most well-known serial killer out there. So anybody who wants to have stage a crime and say it's not me, look some place else, might use this as a symbol and an idea.

SANCHEZ: So, that's interesting. What I hear you saying is we don't need to be worried about a serial killer out there who is going to strike again. In fact, you think this is almost something planned.

BROWN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Let me show you something else. Dave, go in on this if you can. All right, we got our telestrator here. This line right here I thought was very interesting. Where is it? OK. "I confess that I have killed many times before in several states." Who would write something -- I mean, would a real serial killer write something like that, you as a profiler, I can't help as that question though.

BROWN: Well, theoretically, it's possible. But I tell you what's very interesting about this letter is that there are two things that really stand out. One is, the following is to inform. This is not the way a guy who has bad grammar and spelling, which is what the rest of the letter looks like, would write. This is a very legal-like statement only used by the military, the police or a legal document. So this does not fit a low life serial killer.

Secondly, he writes 17 June. Now, no American who has just never been to college and never been out of the country is going to write -- they're going to write June 17. 17 June is a very European -- certainly, not an American way of stating the date.

This person has been outside of America. Who could that be? Someone who has been outside of American, who has been maybe in the military police or dealt with legal things. Hmmm, who could that be? And I'm going to guess this also, Rick. That I think what happened is after this crime went down, the person who did this said -- wow, now what do I do? She's still out there in the motel. It's going to come back to me. People will start looking at me. Let me run back there and turn this into something else. Let me put a symbol --

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: And that's where this letter comes in.

BROWN: I think so.

SANCHEZ: And that's what you're experience as a profiler would tell you. Pat Brown --

BROWN: Serial killers don't like seven-month pregnant women that's for sure.

SANCHEZ: I got to tell you. It's an amazing story. The information has just been coming in to us tonight. We're so fortunate to have you to try and break this down for us. As we get more information -- by the way to our viewers, we don't know who this boyfriend is.

His name is not out there, hasn't come forward, hasn't talked to the police. We're working to try and get information on him. And certainly if he's out there and he'd like to give his side of the story, here we are to present that side of the story. As we get more information, we'll share it with you.

And let's talk about this zodiac killer. Just to remind you that he or she is a serial killer believed to have shot or stabbed at least five people to death in the late 1960s. You heard Pat Brown said she doesn't think he has anything to do with this case.

Although the killer claims to have many times have number of victims, the real zodiac killer, by the way. No suspect was ever positively identified. No arrest was ever made. And the zodiac killer, if were he or she is still alive is still out there tonight somewhere.

Something absolutely horrific to tell you about right now. A 17- year-old boy is dead tonight. He was decapitated at Six Flags Over Georgia while visiting the theme park with his church group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of them ducked under the ride, the other one got caught in between the ride. And it picked him up and slammed him into the pole. And you heard a big pop and he just laid there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Can you imagine what that must have been like? It happened at the speeding, looping thrill ride called Batman. A park spokesperson says that the boy climbed two fences to get inside a restricted area posted as dangerous. The teen was hit by the roller coaster and beheaded. And the amusement park is at a loss to try and explain it.

These words, tonight, from Six Flags. "We reached out to them. They reached out back. They say we do not know why this person was intent on gaining access to this restricted area. As multiple signs clearly state, danger zone, do not enter, authorized personnel only.

Next, did this Indian father kill his daughter in law for only one reason? She was black.

Then, $59,000 of his hard earned money is taken away from him. I called the Department of Justice for him. I called the State Department, I called senators, I called congressmen to try and find out what was going on. This is about fighting for the little guy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. Your son falls in love with someone you think is the wrong race. So you hire someone to kill her. What an amazing story. That's just ahead. But first, 12 years old. She's from Vermont. A little girl. She asked her uncle to drop her off at a convenience store. She may have taken off with someone that she met on MySpace from that convenience store. OK, we've got video from inside the store. This is it.

It shows one of the last times that she was seen. It shows little Brooke Bennett and her uncle walking in, then going their separate ways. Many are wondering why she was left there, especially now that her clothes have been found and they're dredging a nearby lake. But the girl's father is asking people not to jump to any conclusions yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BENNETT, MISSING GIRL'S FATHER: It says people out there spreading rumors, don't. This is bad enough. We don't need it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The FBI says they are going through her computer to see if they can figure out who she was talking to at the time she disappeared while she was on the Internet.

Tonight, a long, unsolved murder is finally solved. And this week, the man responsible was sent away for life. His son married somebody that he didn't approve of. She was black. So he had her killed. Think about that. As you watch this story by CNN's Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chiman Rai did not even flinch at his fate.

UNIDENTIFIED JUDGE: I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of Sparkle Rai.

LEMON: Not surprising considering the cold-blooded nature of this crime. Hiring a hit man for $10,000 to kill his daughter-in-law, the mother of his granddaughter. Because she was black, the 68-year- old native of India believe it cast shame on his family.

Ricky Rai hired Sparkle Reid as a clerk at his family's hotel. They fell in love. Had a baby and married in March of 2000. Sparkle's family welcomed Ricky with open arms. But knowing his family wouldn't accept Sparkle as his wife, Ricky tried to keep the marriage secret. Even telling his new wife that his parents were dead, but his family found out. And Chiman Rai harassed the couple to the point they had to move from Louisville to Atlanta.

RICKY RAI, VICTIM'S HUSBAND: We were brought up that, you know, we should marry, you know, Indian, same race.

LEMON: One month after they married, 22-year-old Sparkle, at home alone with her 7-month-old daughter when the hit man, using a young girl as a decoy, knocked on the couple's front door. Sparkle's dad and step-mom said she never stood a chance.

DONNA LOWRY REID, VICTIM'S STEPMOTHER: She was tortured. The testimony came out. It's very difficult to hear, that he wrapped a vacuum cleaner cord around her neck and put his foot on her head and pulled and thought she was dead. And when she came back to life and reached toward her child, he got a knife out of the kitchen and stabbed her 13 times.

LEMON: For four years Sparkle's murder went unsolved until the girl the killer brought with him, now all grown up, was arrested for another crime and confessed to witnessing the murder.

BENNET REID, VICTIM'S FATHER: The hardest thing about it now is, as I speak to her daughter, and trying to relay things that I hope that Sparkle would have said, not having Sparkle here to say it herself.

LEMON: Eight years after their daughter's murder, the truth and its tangled details all rolled out in an Atlanta courtroom. The years of wondering suddenly turned into the ultimate lesson in racism.

B. REID: I think as individuals, we should be able to talk to each other and let's work things out. Don't let it get to the point where it makes anger and hatred.

D. REID: I guess we just didn't realize that the extent of the racism within this other culture, and it has been shocking to us that anybody would go to such lengths to get rid of somebody who is considered an embarrassment to their family. It's just mind boggling to imagine that.

LEMON (on camera): The Reids have adopted their granddaughter who now has no recollection of her biological father, Ricky. Ricky is now married to an Indian woman.

Don Lemon, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: So tomorrow night, what we'll do is we'll focus on the other family destroyed by all of this. What does Ricky Rai up to now? And why is skin color so important in Indian society? Don Lemon will have more on that.

John McCain being heckled in Spanish, and it didn't happen only once. Also, what would you do, dad, if you found that your daughter was advertising on Craigslist? And you know what she's selling, don't you?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A federal judge is now saying the feds got it wrong with this guy. He's a hard-working man caught up in a legal mess that cost him about every penny he had. Just didn't seem right. So I started making some phone calls. And I'll show you where his case stands tonight. That's ahead. First, this. Imagine you're a parent and you find out that your daughter is trying to sell her body on Craigslist.

Our Veronica De La Cruz spoke to a couple this actually happened to. This is a CNN special investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like all parents, Roslyn and Sergio want to be proud of their daughter.

ROSLYN, PARENT: She's pretty upbeat, pleasant.

SERGIO, PARENT: She likes to sing.

DE LA CRUZ: But on this day, pride is the last thing they feel, because their daughter is here, at the Sacramento Police Department inside. Her head is slumped on to a table in a police interrogation room. Detained but not arrested on suspicion of prostitution. She has just turned 17.

ROSLYN: It hurt because you don't want to see your children involved in things like this.

DE LA CRUZ: Police also arrested this man, 21-year-old Bruce William Carter, on charges of statutory rape. He's entered a not guilty plea and is in jail with bond set at $35,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is a great picture of our primary suspect.

DE LA CRUZ: He calls himself Bruce Banna on the popular social networking site MySpace. Click on his profile and you see him holding fistfuls of cash. As for the girl, police said she'd used the free Internet classified site Craigslist to post an ad. An ad under the heading "Erotic Services." Police seized the computer.

SGT. PAM SEYFFERT, SACRAMENTO, CALIF, POLICE: We pretty much found what we thought we would find. And the big things are the computer that was used to post the ad. The actual photos, the fake photos that were used on the Internet ad on Craigslist, those were on the computer that we found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vehicle leaves after dropping a juvenile off.

DE LA CRUZ: In Sacramento, undercover cops on the Vice Squad have spent much of the past two years on this draining beat, trying to at least limit child prostitution online. They're in motel rooms like this. Browsing cyberspace, making phone calls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm calling about your ad, definitely interested in hooking up tonight.

DE LA CRUZ: Making some arrests. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pregnant? How far along are you?

DE LA CRUZ: But for the most part, police release the under aged girls to foster homes or group homes, decriminalizing them. No charges are filed. Instead, they concentrate on the pimps.

SEYFFERT: We're asking these girls to do a big thing, which is to stop what they're used to doing, stop what's working for them, surviving is basically what they're doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never really knew the seriousness of it until I was about 13, and I kind of got more mature. But when I was 11 or 12, I just didn't care.

DE LA CRUZ: Sacramento police arranged an interview for us with this 14-year-old girl, who they said turned to prostitution via Craigslist when she was just 11.

Why did you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I wanted to feel good. I wanted to feel important. I only use Craigslist because it's free. And in your ad, you would state your name, kind of get into erotic things like what you would do to catch their attention, to make them want you.

DE LA CRUZ: There's a yellow warning sign now when you click on the category erotic services on Craigslist. A warning against human trafficking and exploiting children. But it doesn't seem to stop men who might be looking for sex, nor the girls like this we met earlier from posting.

(on camera): Police had said the 17-year-old had used Craigslist to place her ad. So why would a highly successful, well-known Web site allow such listing? We came to San Francisco to find out.

Why not just take it down?

JIM BUCKMASTER, CEO, CRAIGLIST.ORG: Well, no one dislikes the use of Craigslist for criminal activities as much as we do. And that's our top priority is to eliminate that kind of stuff in the site.

DE LA CRUZ (voice-over): Vice cops admit that the site actually helps to pinpoint girls and sometimes pimps. But the CEO for Craigslist says nothing about the erotic services section will change, at least for now.

BUCKMASTER: It would be a bigger problem once we remove that category and have those ads spread throughout the site.

DE LA CRUZ: Back at the Sacramento Police Department, Roslyn and Sergio are being reunited with their daughter. We agreed in advance not to show her face. For her part, Roslyn has only one message for the man arrested in connection with her daughter's detention.

ROSLYN: I wanted him to stay away from my daughter. I'm going to put a restraining order against him. And every time he goes near my daughter, I'm going to call the police and have him put in jail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And Veronica De La Cruz joins us tonight. I saw that you were talking to this young girl. How do you start prostitution at the age of 11? What would she tell you?

DE LA CRUZ: All right. Well, the girl who started when she was 11, the story that she shared with me was that she had been raped at a very young age. Her mother was a drug addict. Her father had beat her. So she turned to this life on the street, Rick.

She put her trust in this man, who is three times her age. He ended up being her first pimp. He was 36 years old. He promised her clothes. He put a roof over her head.

And she told me that he would give her drug like ecstasy or marijuana before she would go to work. And he promised to take her shopping, get her nails done if she made at least $1,000 a night. And keep in mind, she never saw a penny of any of this money.

SANCHEZ: You know, you can't help but imagine that things like this happen. I mean, none of us are naive enough to think that it doesn't. But we do wonder how prevalent this might be. And is it more prevalent than we'd like to think?

DE LA CRUZ: I mean, it's a huge problem. It's a growing problem nationwide. And I spoke to the Sacramento PD and they said that in the past two days, they arrested two more pimps. They recovered six more girls. Unfortunately, one of them as young as 12.

And the Sacramento Vice Squad is just one of the 24 task forces that exist throughout the country. They are doing a great job. They recovered some of these girls as part of this week-long FBI initiative called Innocence Lost. And that thing resulted in nearly 400 arrests and the recovery of more than 20 children. So things are being done slowly but surely, you know, taking some time.

SANCHEZ: Innocence Lost, appropriate title. Veronica De La Cruz, good job. Interesting report.

Coming up, nine years worth of washing dishes. Almost every penny saved, gone. But now, it may be back.

And you make a call to customer service. The voice on the other end has a very strong Indian accent, but he tells you his name is Bob.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right, take a look at this. She's speaking Spanish, screaming. But it's not a Spanish issue that she's heckling John McCain about. That is one minute away.

Several months ago, I began making some phone calls, trying to find out why a man's life savings had been taken away from him by the government. Just seemed wrong. My dad's been a dishwasher. I've been a dishwasher. This guy's a dishwasher. I called the State Department, I called Congress, I called senators, I called the Justice Department, to try and figure out why his money, all of it, was taken away from him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): It was work few people wanted. Pedro Zapeta didn't care. He spent nine years as a dishwasher in Stewart, Florida, banking on a better day.

PEDRO ZAPETA, DISHWASHER (through translator): I came here to make something of life, not to fail.

SANCHEZ: An illegal immigrant in search of a dream. Zapeta's goal was to go back to this mountain village in Guatemala with enough money to buy land and build a home for his family. By 2005, he was almost there.

All those dishes, all those years added up to $59,000 in savings. He stuffed the cash into a duffel bag and headed for the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. And that is when his dream came up short.

ZAPETA (through translator): I didn't know I had to declare the money.

SANCHEZ: Here's the form Zapeta should have signed but didn't. Federal law requires anyone carrying more than $10,000 out of the country to declare it. Yet when a CNN crew went to the airport looking for signs on that, we found nothing.

Zapeta also didn't speak English. It didn't matter. Screeners seized his cash and accused him of being a drug mule, through pay stubs and testimony, Zapeta was able to prove that he'd earned the money. But he only paid taxes on some of it. The government still has his entire $59,000.

In January, Zapeta left the country and all of his money behind. But that may be about to change.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: In fact, it has. There's a decision that has been made. This week, the Federal Court of Appeals has ruled that what the feds did at the airport by taking all of his money was wrong.

Now, they either have to give Pedro a new hearing or give him back most of his money minus the fines and the taxes. We checked with federal prosecutors in Florida to see if they're going to appeal this. They said, no, they have no plan to appeal because, quote, "They respect the 11th Circuit's decision."

We have been trying to get a hold of Pedro to see what his reaction is. I've talked to him plenty of times. You've probably seen some of the conversations on the air. We haven't been able to get a hold of him. So the next best thing is to get a hold of his lawyer, Robert Gershman. We've talked to him before as well and he's good enough to join us.

Bob, good to see you, again.

ROBERT GERSHMAN, PEDRO ZAPETA'S ATTORNEY: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Have you been able to get a hold of Pedro to give him the good news?

GERSHMAN: No, not yet.

SANCHEZ: You mean, to tell me he's somewhere in Central America not knowing that much of his $59,000 is going to be restored?

GERSHMAN: Exactly. We got the word on Monday, the good news from the court and I haven't been able to get a hold of him since.

SANCHEZ: Why can't you get a hold of him?

GERSHMAN: As you know, it's indigenous. It is hard for him to get to the phone. Hopefully, that will happen any day.

SANCHEZ: When I last talked to him, he told me, Senior Sanchez, I am absolutely positive that the government will rule in my favor because I didn't do anything wrong. I worked hard. It's my money. I deserve it.

He seemed like he was convinced he was going to get it.

GERSHMAN: He was hopeful, he was really a fighter to the end, and he was right. And he did. And hopefully, will get it all back when the case gets remanded back to the district court for Judge Con to decide.

SANCHEZ: Final question, how much do you think you're going to get back of the $59,000? How much are they going to keep for fines and for taxes, et cetera?

GERSHMAN: I think $5,000.

SANCHEZ: That's what they're going to keep?

GERSHMAN: I think so.

SANCHEZ: And you'll get the rest.

GERSHMAN: Pedro will get the rest, exactly.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Well, job well done. Counselor Bob Gershman, thanks so much for being with us.

GERSHMAN: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, just how violent, how angry can they get in South Korea over beef? And Condi Rice is there.

Also, John McCain trying to get the Hispanic vote, but they aren't biting. Why? Mo Rocca, he's Hispanic. Did you know? That's why we got him. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. That's what a lot of people going to be talking about. Did you know that four times -- four times hecklers interrupted John McCain's speech today? He was trying to court the Hispanic vote at a Washington conference of elected Latino officials.

Democratic rival Barack Obama was there as well. The thing is, members of the anti-war group, who, by the way, have nothing to do with the Hispanic causes -- Code Pink, decided to show up as well. Hecklers had plenty to say to McCain. But since they agree with Obama's stance on bringing troops home, they essentially left him alone. Four times they interrupted John McCain.

Joining me now is Mo Rocca. He's a political satirist. He's an author. And I found out from googling him that he's kind of Hispanic. Who knew?

MO ROCCA, POLITICAL SATIRIST AND AUTHOR: I know. Who knew? Yes.

SANCHEZ: Heckling aside, by the way, how hard will it be for John McCain to get the Hispanic vote given the Republican hard stance on immigration?

ROCCA: Well, you know, first of all, it's not Code Pink there. It's Cora Rosa (ph), of course. I think it's tough for him. I mean, I feel a little bit badly watching that scene there, because it's like a production of Westside Story where you have about a thousand sharks against one jet.

And it's not -- this is not very fair. It seemed like a very lopsided thing right there. I think what he needs to do is he needs to project strength because Latinos respect strength.

And I think maybe if he were to go on "Sabato Gigante," and if he could endure that for three hours, I think that show is like three or five hours long and it's far more chaotic than that assembly right there. If he can weather that, then I think he'll have respect.

SANCHEZ: I wish -- I wish I could trade ratings with my good friends over at "Sabato Gigante." By the way, to be fair, John McCain was one of the guys who co-authored the immigration reform. This is the guy who tried to help Hispanics pass something that would let them stay in the United States. And yet he's getting killed 62-28 in that regard.

ROCCA: No, it's actually not fair. Because both he and Obama supported the same legislation, which, as you said, McCain co- authored. They're both in favor of the 700-mile-long fence. I think that what McCain should do in this case, when he encounters hecklers like those today, is he should simply start talking about campaign finance reform because that's political ambience. It is more powerful than a tranquilizer gun. I mean, it would put everyone to sleep.

SANCHEZ: Go to your victories. Start naming them all real quick. Hey, hold on right there, Mo. And by the way, I've got a quick question for you. You ever called a customer service recently when you went to try to fix your computer and you got a guy on the phone from India?

ROCCA: Yes, of course.

SANCHEZ: I imagine you have. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): How do you feel when you call overseas to have your computer fixed and somebody answers the phone with an accent that is very Indian but he says his name is Bob?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those are Indian-Americans. They're students. We talked about very directly as you can see something that affects them. Outsourcing, but not with the big three-letter word. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As you know, I go around the country. I talk to voters. I talk to many new voters. Indian-American voters tell me what it's like to hear people complain about American jobs going to India, about the guy with the accent on the phone who's named Jimmy or Bob. I know it's happened to you.

Now this, the White House gets a memo from the EPA advising that greenhouse gases need to be further controlled this week. President Bush, who's on record saying -- this is a direct quote, "that he's looking for a science-based approach to addressing global climate change," doesn't open the e-mail. The President actually sends it back saying, "I'm not going to open this e-mail."

Political satirist Mo Rocca putting it -- a special appearance tonight for us from New York.

Look, some people are going to look at this and say -- look, it's just internal bickering. Maybe it's not caring. Some are going to say, this is deception. You say what?

ROCCA: I think it's really passive-aggressive. I mean, the EPA went to the White House Facebook page and friended it. And the White House actually ignored the friendship request. I mean it's terrible. It hasn't responded to pokes. It won't allow the EPA to write on its fun wall. I mean it's terrible.

And the White House to be worst about it, to add insult to injury, actually just friended Kim Jong-il. I mean, that's how -- you know, the EPA's on the outs.

SANCHEZ: Well, here's a better one for you. California this week plans to send the President a message -- President George W. Bush to name a sewage treatment plant after him. What's the message?

ROCCA: Well, I think the message is that for Bush lovers or sentimental Bush lovers, it's a way that whenever you plush the toilet, to pull the lever for Bush. I think it's actually very affirmative. It's a way of voting Bush in for a third term. But it makes the prospect of a recount really disgusting.

SANCHEZ: It's getting dirty. We have to stop there.

ROCCA: Really?

SANCHEZ: Now, just saw this new political ad, by the way, and I want you to take a look at it and tell me whether you think it's fair or not. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. This is like the last one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Something about bedfellows, love and politics. You say?

ROCCA: Well, right. The message of the ad is that if you vote for Barack Obama, that you the will have more sex. The woman in that ad is what's known as a very eager poll worker. I mean, I don't know what to say. I mean, it's a very risque ad. I mean, the message seems to be, Barack Obama, yes, I can get you laid. I mean, forgive me, I know it's -- look, it's late.

SANCHEZ: Change, change.

ROCCA: Change. OK. Right. No, she has experience, I think.

SANCHEZ: I bet. Mo, thanks for being with us.

ROCCA: Gracias. Hasta luego.

SANCHEZ: Excelente. Muchas gracias.

ROCCA: Primo, yes.

SANCHEZ: En pas vamos (ph).

What can make you mad enough to grab a baseball bat? A stale doughnut? No. It can't be.

And more jobs going to India and China. Fewer jobs staying here in the United States. However, the stuff we buy as a result of that is getting cheaper. Good trade-off? Or bad deal? Stay there. I want to know what you think. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We do welcome you back to this world headquarters of CNN in Atlanta. There is big news tonight overseas. You should see massive out of control riots that have taken over the streets of Seoul. That's the South Korean capital.

This has been boiling now for several weeks. People are infuriated about this trade deal with America. And they say it's about their safety, too. Another look on that is just ahead.

First, though, American jobs going to India. You've heard people complain about this. I want to know what Indian-American voters think about this. And what do they think about that guy with the thick accent on the phone with you -- giving you a fake name saying he's Jimmy or Larry or Bob.

I go around the country and I talk to a lot of different voters. This week, they're as interesting as they've ever been. New voters. I sat down at an Indian restaurant just outside of Atlanta with a group of hardworking, decent Indian-Americans, some Democrats, some Republicans, to talk about an issue they hear a lot -- outsourcing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (on camera): How do you feel when you call overseas to have your computer fixed and somebody answers the phone with an accent that is very Indian, but he says his name is Bob? Do you laugh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I laugh at it.

SANCHEZ: It's like an act?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's easier to have an Anglican name. That way, they don't have to -- valuable minutes are wasted on the call that say -- hey, I'm Suresh Kumar (ph).

SANCHEZ: That makes sense. In that way, you get right into it. Does it bother anybody here when they get that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think so. I think it's -- I mean, for us, our parents have that kind of dialect, that accent. So, it is easy for us to grasp it. I can't speak for the Americans, the Caucasian or, you know, African-Americans, but as an Indian, I don't see a problem.

SANCHEZ: Do you hear Americans complain about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do.

SANCHEZ: Does it bother you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can see their side. But I don't try to take it to heart. I mean, it's a job.

SANCHEZ: That's it. It's a job. And that's what seems to be the big point of contention here. Many Americans think, hey, I could do that. That could be my job. Why is some guy in India doing that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Outsourcing these jobs to India -- I mean, with the economy being in the downturn at the same time -- I mean, I don't think that we're in a shortage of jobs. You know, I mean -- or in a surplus of jobs just like we're in a shortage. And I feel like those same jobs that people are here, I mean, if Americans truly feel they could that, I feel we should give them a chance to do it.

SANCHEZ: So why are those jobs that many Americans feel they could do and should do, why are they in India?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For all companies, it's cheaper. And I feel that by offering jobs in America, you know, they have to pay more. You know, they have to give, you know, benefits.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We have to stop providing tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies who are investing here in the United States of America.

SANCHEZ: So this situation that we're all living with now, is it positive or negative?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a macro-economic level, it is a good thing. On a micro-economic level, it's not. Because when Suresh Kumar (ph) is bursting up, I think it's not good. As a country as a whole, well, from productivity, is it good? Is corporate America doing well? The answer is yes.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'll leave it to my opponent to claim that they can keep jobs and companies from going overseas by making it harder for them to do business here at home.

SANCHEZ: But here's the irony of this. Many Americans complain about this situation with this outsourcing, but in actuality, Americans may be getting the biggest advantage from this. Right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the common human mentality when you see that you believe. And right now, I mean, we're not going to -- you know, no one's going to see immediate direct benefits.

SANCHEZ: But they do. Every time they walk into a Wal-Mart, they are able to buy a pair of pants for five bucks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they don't want to accept the fact that -- you know, the fact that we're getting it so cheap. You know, the fact that you see, you know, the only thing that right now you usually see that's made in the United States is the American flag. And even that is being outsourced to China.

SANCHEZ: But if it is such a complex issue, why it is so hard for Americans to put their arms around it and understand it without just saying -- oh, it's bad because that guy is answering my phone call with an Indian accent. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem is they don't make the connection. Like, they focus on one thing. Like, OK, outsourcing, they're taking our jobs. But they don't connect it to how we're benefiting, which is cheaper products.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Interesting perspective. I love doing this. You know what this is about? This is about talking to real, regular people all over the country, of different stripes and nationalities -- all Americans. I'm telling you, it's great.

This election, get the facts and have some fun. You can join "The League of First Time Voters. Just get in, get powered, informed by CNN. Check in. CNN headquarters for the independent thinkers. Join now. For more info, go to cnn.com -- cnn.com/league. Maybe I'll come visit you.

SANCHEZ: Right. Who wouldn't want a beautiful actress publicly supporting your political campaign? Well, it has raised questions for Barack Obama. Our Jeanne Moos tells us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: "Rick's Picks" is what we call it. The most talked about videos of the day. Coming in at number three, let's take you to Seoul, South Korea. People, not happy. Not at all happy. They are angry at the government lifting the ban on U.S. beef imports. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is there trying to convince Koreans that U.S. beef is safe to eat. Beef imports have been banned for nearly four years in South Korea after the discovery of diseased cows in the U.S. Wow.

Number two, look at this fight. It breaks out at a convenience store. This is near Kansas City. The guy grabs a bat and goes after the guy because the other guy had said that his doughnuts were stale.

That's right. Stale doughnuts is what led to this. That's the clerk, the guy with the bat. It's all caught on surveillance footage after he gets real mad at that guy with the red or orange shirt. Follows him, goes in his trunk, grabs the bat, and then just starts taking whacks at him.

Topping the list, though, -- oops, Coral Gables, Florida. This building is scheduled to be demolished. Everyone, be real quite. It's about to come down. All of it is about to come down. Every single bit of it is going to come down. Uh-oh, not enough dynamite. Part of it didn't come down. Somebody messed up. Oh, my goodness. Watch.

Sometimes running for president means running away from a gorgeous Hollywood starlet. It's almost as if Barack Obama is breaking up with Scarlett Johansson. Isn't that nice the way I said that, Johansson? Though he hardly knew her.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos reporting. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget "The Scarlet Letter," the only thing scarlet about the e-mails in this story was the sender's name, Scarlett Johansson.

JAY LENO, HOST, "TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": The 23-year-old gorgeous blond actress e-mailing a married presidential candidate. Well, what could go wrong there, huh?

MOOS: And though nothing did go wrong, the story was irresistible.

KEITH OLBERMANN, MSNBC: Why does Senator Obama trade e-mails with Scarlett Johansson. Well, frankly, wouldn't you?

MOOS: Senator Obama told reporters on his plane he traded only one e-mail with the actress, no doubt hoping to put the kibosh on jokes like this.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Sen. John McCain frequently consults with General David Petraeus. Barack Obama frequently consults with Scarlett Johansson.

MOOS: Johansson once joked that she was engaged to Barack Obama, but it is politics he finds most engaging.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: The first time that I met Barack, I was so star struck.

MOOS: Johansson e-mailed Obama offering her thoughts on the campaign. She told the Web site Politico, "You'd imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly traveling and constantly 'on', how can he return these personal e-mails? But he does.

Still, well, Scarlett seems to be saying -- yes, we can.

Senator Obama was saying, no we weren't -- e-mailing a lot, that is. Obama told reporters Johansson sent one e-mail to his personal assistant, Reggie Love.

OBAMA: Reggie! Reggie!

MOSS: Reggie forwarded the e-mail to the senator. Obama said, "I write saying, "Thank you, Scarlett, for doing what you do," and suddenly we have this e-mail relationship." Meaning, that's how everyone made it sound.

MOOS (on camera): Senator Obama seemed to distance himself from the actress without even so much as a dear Scarlett e-mail. Next thing you know some of the blogs are saying, he dumps Scarlett, that he threw her under the bus.

As for their first meeting --

JOHANSSON: He came up to me, and the only thing that I could say to him is that, hi, Senator, I love your wife. So nice to meet you. And he was just like, OK, you know like, oh, I'm sure she loves you, too. Or whatever like, patted me on the head.

MOOS (voice-over): Instead of e-mailing, maybe Johansson could console herself with a Barack Obama action figure featuring eight points of articulation so you can pose him presidentially. The e- mailing brouhaha led one wit to write, I did not have textual relations with that woman, Scarlett Johansson.

Just like a certain pointing president, "Is that what they mean by posing your action figure presidentially?

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: There you have it. It's tough. Like when Charlize Theron said she wanted to make out with me. I'm not kidding. It's true. Google it. You'll see it. Meanwhile, it happens way too -- she felt sorry for me.

Family farms are going under in this country. That's next here on "Heroes." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Get this. About 200,000 farms in the United States go out of business each and every year. This is important. The lucky ones get to meet tonight's CNN hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dad bought this land in 1947. I've been here all my life. It's home. It's where we belong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's our roots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't realize how tough it is until you lose everything. Anything on the path of that tornado, you name it, it was gone. We didn't have no insurance.

BILL GROSS, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: The family farmer is in danger. And so when a major injury, illness or a natural disaster occurs, it's devastating to them.

I'm Bill Gross and I help family farmers in crisis. Farm Rescue is operated all by volunteers. And we're very proud of that. The volunteers are eager to come in. And by the time we leave, we have their crop planted or harvested.

I was raised on a family farm in North Dakota and now an airline pilot for U.P.S. However, my heart never left the farming community. I firmly believe that if you're going to help people, you should do something that you know how to do. And so, I started Farm Rescue to help the farmers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a situation like we're in, there's no way we'd be able to survive on our own.

GROSS: They seeded 200 acres of wheat and about 530 acres of soybean.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a place we can call home again. It's a new beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Farm Rescue didn't come in and plant these farms, then they would not be able to maintain their livlihood. And the families are very, very thankful and become lifelong friends.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Isn't that great? About real people. Thanks to our guests and our staff. Thanks for being with us, especially to you.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Good night.