Return to Transcripts main page
Jane Velez-Mitchell
Behind Bars with Joran
Aired June 17, 2010 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, ISSUES goes inside the walls of Joran Van Der Sloot`s living hell. We`ll get a firsthand look at the nightmare that is the Castro Castro prison. Violence, overcrowding, jailhouse justice.
Tonight, will Joran survive in this Peruvian dungeon from hell?
And a primetime exclusive. Tonight, I`ll talk one-on-one with the mistress of axed ESPN sportscaster Steve Phillips. Brooke Hundley fires back. Now she`s suing ESPN.
Brooke`s been criticized for having an affair with a married man, even confronting his wife. Tonight, we`ll hear her side of the story.
Plus, bizarre new developments in the tragic death of Gary Coleman. His friends are finally planning a memorial, but guess who`s not invited? Gary`s parents and his controversial ex-wife Shannon Price.
Tonight, I`ll talk to Shannon`s agent here on ISSUES as she defends the ex-wife`s bizarre behavior.
ISSUES starts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, behind bars with Joran Van Der Sloot in a mind-blowing HLN exclusive. "In Session" correspondent Jean Casarez goes inside the perilous Miguel Castro Castro prison.
She goes into the very cell where Joran Van Der Sloot is being held captive, apparently fearing for his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: This is the cell of Joran Van Der Sloot. They just took him out so we could come in here. This is where he lives day in and day out at Castro Castro.
This is his clothes. Remember you saw him on television in these clothes? He still has them here. Here are his pants, and over here, here`s his bed. It`s a mattress.
Here are all of his personal belongings, you can see, a lot of books. I see religious books. I see toothpaste. I see the bible right there. I see books that are written in Dutch. And then over here he has his own bathroom. As we`ve heard, it is a hole in the ground.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow. The bible and a hole in the ground. Jean is just steps away from the man accused of brutally beating, strangling and smothering innocent 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez.
What is it like inside Joran`s hell? We will find out.
Joran is being held in a maximum security area which is one other prison, an infamous killer, a Colombian assassin known as "The Clown." And guess what, the clown has reportedly befriended Joran and given him a prison nickname, "Psychopath," which is exactly how Stephany`s devastated family has described Joran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLINA JORGE, VICTIM`S SISTER-IN-LAW: I think he`s a psycho, a murderer, and he has to pay.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Plus, if Joran tells all about Natalee Holloway`s disappearance, will they give him what he desperately wants and extradite him to Aruba? The chief prosecutor in Aruba says it will not happen. We`re going to talk to him live tonight in just a moment right here on ISSUES.
And I want to hear from you. Call me, 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out now to my fantastic expert panel but first, Jean Casarez, correspondent with "In Session" on TruTV, who has scored this amazing exclusive.
Kudos to you, Jean. You are in Peru and you were just steps away from Joran Van Der Sloot today inside the Miguel Castro Castro prison. Tell us all about it. The highlights or the lowlights.
CASAREZ: You know we had to drive maybe 20, 30 minutes to get there. It`s really on the outskirts of Lima, but we had been invited for exclusive access, and when we got there, we had to give our fingerprints electronically, they took our passports. I had to go through a full body scanner to get in.
Security was really tight but once we got in there they just allowed us to walk around the general population. Now there were some cell blocks that were above us, and we saw prisoners, you know, just hanging out, sort of the cell blocks.
They wouldn`t let us go there. They said it was security concerns. We asked and we asked because we wanted to see a typical cell. Well, then they took us to Joran Van Der Sloot`s cell.
Now they had to remove Joran Van Der Sloot to a nearby office building before we were allowed into his cell but we had full access. They let us walk in there. They let us just look at whatever we wanted to look at. And you`ve heard about --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Can I jump in and ask you a question?
CASAREZ: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to ask you a question about that green area we saw just a second ago. There it is. Is that the hole that he has to go into the bathroom?
CASAREZ: That`s the bathroom.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Is that the hole where they say he --
CASAREZ: That`s right. That`s the hole in the ground, yes, ma`am, that`s it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excuse me.
CASAREZ: But he`s got a private hole in the ground. I mean, it`s only his cell, so he`s the only one that`s in there, but that is the bathroom and does have running water. It has a little drip that keeps dripping all day, but the mattress is pretty comfortable.
And I`ll tell you, when I`ve seen some jails before, and this is a comfortable one, at least his cell right there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, you saw Joran for a second. We have video of him. He`s wearing an orange shirt and he`s walking from one place to another escorted by two men. What -- what was your reaction to all of that? What did you get a sense of when you saw him?
CASAREZ: First of all, I thought he`s really tall. I mean, he`s really, really tall, and then I thought that orange shirt, that`s brand spanking new. I mean, it just reeked of being brand-new so he gotten a new shirt.
And we saw the clothes that were in the -- in the cell and those were clothes that we`d seen on other videos with him in. So when he was being hustled to that building we were able to get those pictures of him, though, as he went.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy Murphy, I want to bring you in for a second. You`re a former sex crimes prosecutor. I`m a little confused because people are describing this as one of the most infamous prisons in the world and Peruvian prisons are like hell on earth.
And yet Jean Casarez scored this amazing exclusive where she`s going in there and she said, hey, you know, he`s living OK. It`s not so bad.
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. You know what`s interesting? We know that Joran does not want to spend a lot of time there, so it could be, in part, you know, just the PR around this case to sort of pressure them to let him come back to Aruba in particular, perhaps even after he`s convicted, do his period of incarceration, some place else, or just get him favorable treatment.
You know, Peru officials don`t want him to leave that country. He killed a very beloved young woman, someone of some influence. They want him to be prosecuted and to remain incarcerated there, and one of the ways they`re going to get to do that is to continue to rebut this notion that we`re talking about a lot in this country that it`s this grotesque hell hole.
If they can show that he`s got basically humane conditions, not all that different from the United States, it`s going to be a lot harder for people to politically justify pressuring the Peruvian government to let him either --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And --
MURPHY: You know, go back to Aruba or at some point face charges elsewhere.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And speaking of that, I want to go to a very special guest. Chief Aruban prosecutor Peter Blanken.
Peter, thanks for joining us. You believe Peru will never let Joran serve his sentence in Aruba as Wendy Murphy was just discussing. I mean he`s reportedly confessed to killing the daughter of a very powerful man who wants run for public office in Peru and who vowed Joran will not walk away this time.
Let`s listen to the dad for a second, and then I want to get your thoughts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICARDO FLORES, VICTIM`S FATHER (Through translator): We will have samples of this man`s skin underneath the nails on my daughter. So once he is captured we will be able to show that he is the killer. And he won`t be able to walk away like he did in Aruba.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Peter, obviously Joran wants out, wants to go back to Aruba. You`ve been quoted as saying that`s not going to happen. Can you explain, sir?
Peter, are you there?
PETER BLANKEN, CHIEF PROSECUTOR, ARUBA: Yes, I`m here.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Could you explain what`s going on? Joran Van Der Sloot wants to go back to Aruba but you`ve been quoted as saying ain`t going to happen, will not happen. Tell us.
BLANKEN: Well, Joran Van Der Sloot has said to the Peruvian authorities that he wants to get clearness about the Natalee Holloway case and that he wants to speak about it with Aruban police so that`s why we are going to Peru to interrogate Joran Van Der Sloot. The case --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But he wants to go back to Aruba.
BLANKEN: The case in -- what? No, because the case -- the case in Peru is -- has the priority, so he is in Peru, and I think it`s not likely that he is going to be imprisoned in Holland or in Aruba.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So you`re kind of saying, hey, he`s going to sit there and rot in a Peruvian prison. You don`t real want him back.
BLANKEN: Well, I think that it`s not my responsibility. It`s the Peruvian authorities, and they have a very severe case, and they have to decide what to do, but I don`t think that they will let him go, and so he will be in prison. He will be judged there and get his sentence over there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know what, sir, you bring me to my big issue tonight. Is it over for Joran? Is this the final coup de gras for Joran Van Der Sloot?
Natalee Holloway was his ace up his sleeve, and, Mike Brooks, you just heard the Aruban prosecutors saying no way he`s going to go back to Aruba. This is big news.
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST; FMR. D.C. POLICE DET., FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: No, there`s no way that the Peruvian officials, the criminal justice system in Peru is going to let him leave until he serves his time there, and how long could that be? He could be there for the rest of his life, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to get Linda in Florida. Your question or thought, ma`am. Lina, Lina, it`s Lina. Hey, how are you doing?
LINA, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Jane. Thanks for taking my call. I have a two-part question.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.
LINA: Did the Peruvian investigators collect Joran`s body hair from the hotel room? Would the DNA in the hair give a more accurate result of his drug use in the day of Stephany`s murder since he was caught three days after the fact and had a negative result?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I think we`re going to go back to Jean Casarez on that, and there have been a lot of questions about whether or not he was on drugs at the time of this murder.
We`d heard reports that he admitted to popping amphetamines and drinking 10 whiskies. What do you know, Jean Casarez?
CASAREZ: Well, there are some inconsistencies here because he told police he had used marijuana. The police told us that the toxicology report showed that there were no drugs in his system at all, but there was a lot of processing of that crime scene.
What they collected, they`ve not told us, but it was a very forensically collected evidence in the room.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Peter Blanken, you`re the chief prosecutor in Aruba. Sir, what was your reaction when you heard that this guy, Joran, was arrested for murder in Peru?
BLANKEN: Well, when I first heard it, I was real shocked.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And? I mean, did you say to yourself, wow, maybe we should have arrested him. Maybe, oh, my gosh, he`s done it again? I mean -- beyond shock, what was your reaction?
BLANKEN: No, because my reaction was maybe he is going to give us the information we want to have about the Natalee Holloway case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I have one last question. If you can`t bring him back to Aruba, what leverage do you have to get the truth out of him? I mean, what is he -- why would he give the truth now if he can`t get out of Peru?
BLANKEN: Well, his situation changed dramatically, so maybe he is -- he has reason now to tell us the truth.
MURPHY: Jane, I`d like to --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What reason if he can`t get out -- if he can`t get out of Peru?
BLANKEN: Well, because he is in Peru, he has to go to court there. He will be sentenced, I guess, so that will change his attitude, I think and I hope, and I hope that he is -- that he is prepared to tell the truth about the Natalee Holloway case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`re just getting started here.
MURPHY: Jane? Jane? Can we get --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hang in. On the other side of the break we`re going to get your opinion, and we`re going to analyze this. What leverage does anybody have if he`s going to be stuck in Peru to rot forever?
We`re taking your calls on this. 1-877-JVM-SAYS, plus what happened in the final minutes of Gary Coleman`s life. Did his ex-wife have permission to pull the plug? Tonight I will talk to her agent.
But first, Joran Van Der Sloot that put two families through total hell. Now it`s his turn?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIMS` RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Let me just say one more thing about gambling. It may be that Joran Van Der Sloot has taken the biggest gamble of his wife. That would be killing Stephany and thinking he could get away with it.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: You know that Joran Van Der Sloot is here? Do you know who he is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I know who he is because I read in the paper. I know who he is. He come on the news. I -- yes. I didn`t get to see him because he`s under protection.
CASAREZ: What`s the talk about him around here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing. Just one of us. Whatever his crowd was, nothing to do with us. We got people like him, did the same thing, so he shouldn`t be worried about nothing. It`s very secure for him like for us. We have nothing against him.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Our Jean Casarez scoring an amazing exclusive, getting inside the infamous Miguel Castro Castro prison where Joran Van Der Sloot is being held.
You just heard here on ISSUES the chief prosecutor in Aruba saying, essentially, he`s not coming back to Aruba. He did something really, really bad in Peru and they`re going to keep him here.
Stephanie Good, you`re the author of "Aruba: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise." So what could motivate him now to tell the truth about Natalee if basically he`s stuck in that prison and there`s no way to get out?
STEPHANIE GOOD, "ARUBA: THE TRAGIC UNTOLD STORY OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY": Well, for some reason he believes he can still make some sort of a deal, but what concerns me the most about this, Jane, is that from what I understand the Aruban prosecutors aren`t coming over to Peru until at least August or maybe September. So what are they waiting for? Because once --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ll tell what you they are waiting for. They are waiting for the Peruvian government to finish its investigation into the murder of Stephany Flores Ramirez and when they get all that evidence compiled like a giant mountain, Mike Brooks, then they`ll really be able to put the squeeze on him and say hey, we`ve got you, game, set, match. You better talk.
BROOKS: Absolutely, and there`s no hurry whatsoever. They want to make sure. Now, you know, it`s in the hands of the judge, and the way they do things in Peru, as Jean Casarez has been explaining over the past week, is now it`s the judge who does the investigation.
So, you know, we`re also hearing that there`s other evidence that we haven`t heard before that there`s surveillance cameras on the streets there, so I`m sure they`re putting together the timeline of exactly what happened, Jane, and there -- it sounds to me the more I hear and the more excellent investigative work that Jean is doing down there --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got it.
BROOKS: -- the better case they have against him.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jamie, North Carolina, your question or thought.
JAMIE, CALLER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Hi, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
JAMIE: I just wanted to say that we watch you every night, and we just love your show, first of all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
JAMIE: My comment is, I think -- you know, that prison looks awfully clean to be one of the -- or supposedly the worst prison in the world. It looks like some of the prisons over here. And I think --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And I want to go to Wendy Murphy on that. It`s -- you know, we`re pointing at them. We have prison -- we have prison overcrowding in the United States.
MURPHY: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This doesn`t look so bad.
MURPHY: Yes. No, it doesn`t, but, again, you know, Jane, as I said before, this could be the show they`re putting on for us --
BROOKS: Oh sure.
MURPHY: -- because they don`t want the pressure to mount.
GOOD: Right. Exactly.
MURPHY: But I`ll say this. I`ll tell you when I think he`s going to make a deal and it has everything to do with the prisons over there. This is not a typical Peruvian prison. There are some super bad ones, and if he`s convicted he`s going to go to something so much more grotesque. You better know --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got it.
MURPHY: -- he`s going to sing about Natalee Holloway to avoid that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: More Joran, plus ESPN`s mistress, Steve Phillips.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s all right. For a prison, it`s all right. They treat us good. And we get fed and all that.
CASAREZ: What do you eat normally?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we call it (INAUDIBLE) here. It`s a meal we get. It`s good. I mean you can walk around and get all -- you know, all this stuff.
CASAREZ: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know? Freedom, exactly -- we need freedom. We need to get out of here.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. This is a prisoner inside the Miguel Castro Castro prison. Our Jean Casarez with an amazing exclusive, spending the day inside there, but Jean tells us she did not see the very worst of it, and there`s also a possibility that Joran could be transferred to a much more infamous prison that is called -- nicknamed "Dante`s Inferno" and "hell on earth."
Wendy Murphy, quickly make the point of when you think Joran could make a deal to reveal the location of Natalee`s body.
MURPHY: Yes, I`ll tell you, it`s going to be the day they tell him he`s getting transferred to that other prison. It is not only grotesque and inhumane, it is notorious as a place where gangs and violence and weapons and drugs and -- there is just no order in that place, and prisoners die while being guarded.
I mean, figure that out. Joran is going to be real worried about being transferred there, and I think that`s the day he`s going to say, please, I`ll tell you anything, anything you want to know. I`ll stay in this prison forever. Anything you want to know about Natalee Holloway, just don`t send me there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brilliant.
MURPHY: And he`d be making a good deal if they give him it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jean Casarez, what Wendy is saying is they`re putting him in the nice prison first and then telling him, hey, you can do arts and crafts and have good meals, but if you don`t spill the beans, you`re going to go to this infamous Dante`s Inferno.
CASAREZ: Right, right, and that could be true. But, you know, there was so much access there as far as inmates, talking with other inmates. They wear street clothes. They have pockets.
I mean look at the issues we have in American prisons with them making weapons that are used inside the prison and I asked the director of prisons. I said, do you have a problem with inmates having weapons in their pockets and violence? And he said, no, not at all.
And I kept questioning and questioning him because it just doesn`t make sense. That`s one reason you have jailhouse blues and so they can`t hide things on their person. Here they had pants and pockets and I think anyone would be scared to be as Castro Castro.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tell us about this other infamous prison. What about this other infamous prison that they named Dante`s Inferno?
CASAREZ: Lurigancho. Right. Right. Lurigancho, I think, is the one it is. Well, Castro Castro has been touted as one of the worst of the worst. A high security prison, Gaucho Gaucho I`ve heard that is bad also. But you know there`s a 2010 United States Department report saying that there was abuses at prisons in Peru, abuses of the prisoners. That came from the U.S. State Department.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Mike Brooks, what do you make of it? I mean, we`re hearing that Joran is not going to be transferred back to Aruba.
BROOKS: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re hearing that this is hell on earth, now maybe not so much hell on earth. But there`s there`s another place that`s hell on earth that he could be transferred to.
BROOKS: You know, any prison is a bad prison. But when you`re in a country like Peru, I`m telling you, they put the good face on here for Jean, and I guarantee you in general population it`s not going to be like what we`ve seen so far in Castro Castro.
It`s -- it`s not a nice place. I`ve been hearing this from international attorneys that there have been murders in this prison, so no matter where he goes, it`s not going to be nice.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got to leave it right there. Fantastic panel, and an update coming right after the break. Plus a young woman shoved into the spotlight. Brooke --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A primetime exclusive: tonight, I`ll talk one-on-one with the mistress of axed ESPN sportscast Steve Phillips. Brooke Hundley fires back. Now, she`s suing ESPN.
Brooke`s been criticized for having an affair with a married man, even confronting his wife. Tonight, we`ll hear her side of the story.
Plus, bizarre new developments in the tragic death of Gary Coleman: his friends are finally planning a memorial. But guess who is not invited? Gary`s parents and his controversial ex-wife Shannon Price. Tonight, I`ll talk to Shannon`s agent here on issues as she defends the ex- wife`s bizarre behavior.
But first tonight, inside Joran Van Der Sloot`s cell. "In Session`s" Jean Casarez went behind bars at Peru`s Miguel Castro Castro Prison.
Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Buenos dias.
Jean Casarez, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jean Casarez, an amazing exclusive. You got inside, and you saw Joran Van Der Sloot. Way to go. And you also talked to his fellow prisoners. What stood out most to you when you were there?
CASAREZ: You know, when I was there, I was saying to myself I am walking amongst convicted felons, murderers. I never thought that we would get that access. And I asked them, I said, you know, is it just those convicted of drug offenses, or do we have murderers here, violent felons? They told me, yes, it`s all right here.
But on the other hand, I had to step back and say wait a minute, they want us to see a lot of this. They want to us see the area -- the culinary arts where the crafts are made and really they put these people to work.
It`s amazing. The pottery we saw, the meals that were being made, all of that. But when you look up and you see the individual cell blocks which we couldn`t get to which has five to six inmates each. There are cells that have two. But they have 5 to 6. And you see their feet are hanging out and their arms and they are waving and yelling a little bit.
You have to say is there another picture here that we`re not seeing that they don`t want us to see.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It kind of reminds me of back in the old days before the Berlin Wall came down and they give you a little tour and tell you how nice it is in East Germany, yet you wouldn`t see what was really going on behind the facade.
Thank you, Jean. And once again, amazing work out there in Peru. Great job.
All right.
We`re going to switch gears tonight, and we`re going to go to a primetime exclusive right now.
The woman at the center of the ESPN sex scandal speaks out to ISSUES about why she is now suing the sports network. Brooke Hundley seen here in CBS News video claims she was subjected to sexual harassment and that ESPN fired her improperly. ESPN has denied those allegations.
Brooke, as a 22-year-old production assistant, made tabloid headlines last fall when her affair with married ESPN host Steve Phillips was exposed by "The New York Post" and here they are in a photo from TMZ.
The scandal erupted when a 911 call placed by Phillips` wife was released to the public. Last August Marni Phillips called cops claiming Brooke was at the family home.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MARNI PHILLIPS, WIFE OF STEVE PHILLIPS: Please hurry and come to (ADDRESS DELETED). I have a crazy woman who is involved with my husband and she has come to my house to harm me and my children.
(ADDRESS DELETED) Wilton, Connecticut.
911 OPERATOR: Ok, ma`am. Is she outside?
PHILLIPS: She`s pulling down my hill right now.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brooke was eventually fired for, quote, "misconduct". Brooke is here tonight as part of a campaign to clear her name, right her reputation so she can get a job and basically get on with her life.
Brooke welcome. Thanks for coming on ISSUES.
BROOKE HUNDLEY, ALLEGED MISTRESS OF STEVE PHILLIPS: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go back to the beginning. You say your relationship with Steve Phillips started out as an ordinary working relationship and then crossed the line into something inappropriate.
What happened? What did you do? What was the response?
HUNDLEY: Without getting into too much of the sordid details of what happened, I can honestly say it was -- I had a casual working relationship with all the members of the talent in which, you know, ESPN clearly laid out that we as production assistants were not supposed to approach them.
We`re not supposed to engage in conversation with them. There would be reprimands, you know, for inappropriate behavior. But we were to cater to their needs, if they asked us for anything in particular or they were to approach us and want -- you know asked questions. We helped with things -- we were supposed to supply it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what happened?
HUNDLEY: Eventually what was just a casual working relationship crossed d the line into, you know, inappropriate questions, comments, suggestions. Really putting me in a place where I felt incredibly uncomfortable, and I immediately reported it to my female supervisor.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what happened? What did she say?
HUNDLEY: She told me to get used to it, kid. If she had a dollar for every time she was sexually harassed at ESPN she would be a millionaire as if I had asked her what she had for lunch that day.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow, that is what you`re saying they said.
Here`s what I don`t understand. You were basically -- you`re saying you`re being harassed. How did you go from being harassed to having a sexual relationship with the person who was harassing you, allegedly?
HUNDLEY: After a series of time repeatedly talking t people about the fact that I was having harassment issues, with that same supervisor then coming back to me and telling me you really shouldn`t be talking to people about this. It`s not in your best interest. Women tend to look bad in these situations.
And as well as talking to the other female supervisors and learning that they all had their own story to tell, it was as if I had been initiated into this club it became you`re on your own, kid. And to me the career, the job, was more important to me than anything, and I thought, as a naive 22-year-old I could somehow still control the situation. Still sort of keep things at bay and be able to do my job and be able to work with this individual if I let a few things slide.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, ESPN has issued a statement, quote, "Hundley`s claims are without merit, and we will vigorously defend against them. Her current charges do not accurately portray ESPN`s handling of the matter." Your reaction to that Brooke?
HUNDLEY: You know, ESPN never at any point in time pursued any of my claims. Only when Steve Phillips complained to them that, you know, there were issues with his family, then they opened an investigation.
They asked me every question in the book. I answered them as best as I possibly could. I supplied a written statement to back that up. I supplied witnesses to my complaints to superiors who were present when I made those claims. And ESPN was completely content w)with me signing a settlement agreement with Mr. Phillips so that ESPN would not be liable for any sort of sexual harassment complaints. I didn`t receive anything in return from ESPN except for the fact that I could go back to work.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have to -- my big issue is crossing the line. You say that Steve Phillips crossed the line. He has reportedly admitted to having sex with you at least three times, but didn`t you cross the line as well?
I want to remind our viewers about the 911 call placed by Steve Phillips` wife last August. Let`s listen to that, first of all.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Did she confront you or dis she threaten you or anything?
PHILLIPS: She has been threatening me via texts and with phone calls.
911 OPERATOR: Did anything happen when she showed up?
PHILLIPS: I was -- I was out. And when I pulled in my driveway, she was on the side of my driveway. So I don`t know. I haven`t -- I didn`t make it all the way to my house. I`m driving up to my house right now to see if there`s any vandalism.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How do you explain, Brooke, going up to the house and leaving a letter scaring his wife and also going online and befriending his son under false pretenses?
HUNDLEY: You know, there`s a lot of claims out there that are, you know, about me that aren`t specifically corroborated by anybody. You know, there was an investigation.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but you went to the house?
HUNDLEY: Absolutely. I went to the house. I tried to solicit help inappropriately from someone who I shouldn`t have even brought into the situation.
You know, I acknowledge my bad behavior, absolutely. I apologize. I wish could I take it back, I can`t. I`m trying to move on from it.
But the fact of the matter is getting back to the lawsuit. ESPN had an investigation of every one of Steve`s complaints, his family`s complaints, and at the end of the day they decided, as well as Mr. Phillips, there was nothing worth investigating any longer. That I hadn`t committed any --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think the thing you have going for you more than anything else is that you were 22 and he was 24 years older than you.
I mean, he was married almost two decades; you were about two decades old. So I think that`s what you really have going for you. You were a 22- year-old kid.
You know, they say when two people sleep together, one wakes up with feelings. Did you have feelings for him? Did that also impact your behavior?
HUNDLEY: You know, I was actively seeking somebody who could really be a mentor to me at ESPN. I hadn`t found that person. I wanted someone who I could rack their brain every day, who I could learn more about the business. I was really just getting into sports and trying to carve my way and I had done a lot of my own individual projects.
But ESPN having these rules wherein which you`re not allowed to approach the talent, you`re not allowed to spend time with these people who have this wealth of knowledge, when someone walks up to you and started asking you questions about yourself and have an interest in you, you automatically think, "Wow, this is an amazing opportunity for me to really spend some time with this person."
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re not really looking into the camera, do you know that? You have to look right into the camera. There you go.
HUNDLEY: I`m sorry.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look up, look up directly at the camera. There you are. Yes, because I want to see your eyes, and I want to say that, you know what, they say in 12 steps, and I`m a recovering alcoholic, there`s no mess you can`t clean up.
You seem like a very intelligent young lady. We certainly invite the other side on to tell their side. But I wish you the best. I hope you can clean up this mess, learn from it and move on with your life and accomplish everything you want to accomplish, Brooke.
HUNDLEY: Thank you. I appreciate that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you so much. Good luck to you.
HUNDLEY: Thank you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Outrage in the Gulf, the slow moving oil apocalypse is now washing up on shore in Florida.
Plus, bizarre new twists and turns in Gary Coleman`s death. Was the sitcom celebrity living in filth when he died? We`re talking your calls on this. 1-877-JVM-SAYS, that`s 1-877-586-7297.
With Father`s Day coming up, we are saluting papa`s out there. Janice Clark says her dad, Red, the jazz musician taught her to appreciate music and nature and that inspired her to work for PAWS, one of my favorite sanctuaries in California.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Up next, Gary Coleman`s ex-wife defends her actions in the wake of withering criticism.
But first, "Top of the Block".
BP`s chief executive grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, acted more slippery than an oil slick. Everyone`s demanding the truth in the wake of reports that risky decisions were made on that rig just to save a couple of bucks before it exploded.
Oil-soaked protesters stormed the hearing screaming, "You should be charged with a crime." They are right. Crimes against nature and a lifestyle that`s going extinct, but those jaw-boning politicians, you know, they are not going to remove oil from the Gulf waters by talking.
Where were they when Interior Department employees were off partying with oil executives instead of doing their job? Perhaps the lawmakers were out, let`s see, having lunch with oil industry lobbyists.
The slimy slick of corporate influence is long and wide and pollutes all of Capitol Hill. If we really want to avoid more spills, we need to clean up this ethical wasteland in Washington.
That`s tonight`s "Top of the Block".
All right. Bizarre and I mean bizarre, bizarre, bizarre developments tonight as the war of wills escalates over "Diff`rent Strokes" star Gary Coleman. There is so much infighting that when the former child actor is cremated his ashes will be under lock and key because of this war.
And now there are reports that Coleman was living in filth, surrounded by trash. Former confidante Anna Gray paid her respects yesterday in Utah clearing the way for Coleman`s cremation. In fact, it may have already happened.
His controversial ex-wife Shannon Price is fighting hard for her slice of the pie. She lived with Gary even after their secret divorce, but her calls to 911 don`t exactly portray a loving relationship, if you know what I mean. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANNON PRICE, GARY COLEMAN`S EX-WIFE: He is freaking out again. Hitting, you know, hitting his head on the wall, knocked the fan over. You know, he is just being just being crazy again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he suicidal?
PRICE: Yes, he is suicidal but I just don`t know what his problem is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So his ex-wife Shannon versus ex-girlfriend Anna in the battle over the wills.
Straight out to my fantastic panel: Shielia Erickson, agent for Gary Coleman`s ex-wife, Shannon Price, here to defend her; Kent Emmons who was a friend of Coleman`s and says he is the executor of Gary`s will. And we begin with TMZ`s assignment manager, Mike Walters with the very latest - - Mike.
MIKE WALTERS, ASSIGNMENT MANAGER, TMZ: Well, I mean, we first have to lay the cards on the table, exactly who does what in this case.
It`s unbelievable, it`s confusing, because you know, there`s Anna Gray, the ex-girlfriend and Shannon Price the divorced ex-wife and now a couple other friends that are involved.
But here is what I do know. Shannon Price, whatever relationship that they did have they were divorced. She`s profiting off of an interview, she did 12 hours after Gary died, and she`s in on selling photos of him on his death bed.
So now, there`s a private attorney who`s actually doing stuff with distribution of the body which I do agree with. But now -- which will are you going to look at to see if Gary wanted or didn`t want a funeral? There are almost three now private funerals or memorials going to happen by his friends and family separately; Some not inviting the others, L.A., Utah, international. This is all happening at once. It`s really hard to figure out --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And --
WALTERS: -- but that`s so far the cards I have.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike, you`re going to bring me to my big issue on this case, inappropriate behavior.
Coleman`s ex-wife Shannon Price pulled the plug after only one day even when Gary had issued a directive not to. She posed with him on his death bed and now we are hearing that new photos are out that show the inside of Gary`s house. Is the source Shannon?
PerezHilton.com says the photos show a totally trashed house, the kitchen covered in bloodstains, Gary`s bed covered in dirty laundry, et cetera, et cetera.
Shielia, last night on ISSUES you denied Shannon sold the death photos. What about these pictures of the inside of a filthy house?
SHIELIA ERICKSON, SHANNON PRICE`S AGENT: Well, I can tell you that I actually sat with Gary and Shannon a day before Gary fell. And Shannon was actually being measured for seizures so I sat at the end of the bed visiting with both of them for like four hours. Gary is on one side sick and Shannon is on the other side dealing with her seizure issues.
So both of them with their ill health were taking care of each other.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What about the dirty house photos?
ERICKSON: You know, just -- they both had poor health, and so --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But who is selling the photos, that`s what I`m saying? I know, people have dirty houses, if they are sick they can`t clean them, but who is selling them? Who else would have access to that house aside from Shannon?
ERICKSON: Well, I can tell you this. The photos on the death bed were taken by a family member, and Shannon, she would like to deal with that privately. The walk-through of the house was basically they wanted to see the trains. They wanted to see Gary`s trains.
WALTERS: What about the interviews?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Kent Emmons --
WALTERS: Wasn`t Shielia in the interview? Shielia was there when she shot the interview. I have a photo, she was there with Shannon.
ERICKSON: I was.
WALTERS: You`re telling that she didn`t profit off the interview?
ERICKSON: Shannon you know, she sold some photos.
WALTERS: The next morning?
ERICKSON: They licensed some photos but she never made any money off of the interview. They licensed photos. That was it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But that`s what they say in show business --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: they never tell you -- they always just -- they buy the photos. It`s the same thing.
WALTERS: I`m sorry.
ERICKSON: But I want to clear something up. The photos on the death bed Shannon had no part of.
WALTERS: Unbelievable.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, she`s in the photos; it ended up on the "Globe".
On the other side we`re going to talk to Kent Emmons, friend of Gary Coleman.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what about this other mystery woman, Anna Gray? We`re going to show you Anna Gray with Gary Coleman. Apparently they had a relationship. Kent Emmons, you`re a friend of Gary`s and you claim to be the executor of Gary`s will. Who is Anna and why is there this battle of the wills between Anna and Gary`s ex-wife Shannon?
KENT EMMONS, FRIEND OF GARY COLEMAN: Well, it`s actually Anna Gray. And Anna is the primary executor. I`m the co-executor with her. Anna was somebody who was together with Gary for many years; took care of Gary. And it was really -- they were romantically involved but also she really took care of him.
Back during those days, you know, he started to -- he was working for one of our networks. He was starting to rebuild his health. He was starting to rebuild his finances. And he was the happiest I`ve ever seen him.
And she`s kind of like Mother Teresa without the habit.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But Shannon came in, and when Shannon moved in, Gary apparently told Anna, bye-bye? Take a walk?
EMMONS: No. I think that was a lot of manipulation on the other gal, on Shannon`s part. Anna and Gary -- Gary, loved Anna from -- until his dying day, and you know, she took amazing care of him, and you can see from the time that --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but he wasn`t living with Anna when he died. He was purportedly living with Shannon, the ex-wife, who`s been accused of inappropriate behavior.
EMMONS: He was. And I think we`ve all lived with people we didn`t actually want to be living with from time to time. You know Gary had a heart; he didn`t -- he didn`t just want to throw her out on the street.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Shielia.
ERICKSON: I`d love to speak.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Go.
ERICKSON: Ok. I was with Gary and Shannon the day before Gary fell. So all of these people that say, I know what Gary wants, I know what Gary wants. Gary hadn`t talked to Anna in over five years. Gary wasn`t close to Todd Bridges.
The day before Gary fell, Gary said to me, "Shielia, take care of Shannon. Make sure Shannon`s ok. Be there for Shannon."
He knew he didn`t have much time left. There was never, ever a mention of Anna. We sat down; he was working on writing his book. And all that he ever said was how much he loved Shannon. So there`s no manipulation here. He loved Shannon.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Mike Walters, jump in quick.
EMMONS: You know what? I think that`s absolute baloney.
(CROSSTALK)
EMMONS: And I`ll tell you why. You know, the last time I talked to Gary two, three months ago, he said make sure Anna`s taken care of. He recognized the moment that Shannon walked into his life, his health --
(CROSSTALK)
WALTERS: Who was advising Shannon?
EMMONS: His health started to deteriorate and so did his finances. There`s no question about it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Mike.
WALTERS: Who was advising Shannon to let cameras into the house to film the blood on the floor, to do an interview 12 hours after Gary died, to sell photographs and images of his dying last minutes, posing with his dead body? I don`t understand that.
And Shielia, if you were with Shannon, the inappropriate behavior if you were there, who was advising her to do this kind of stuff if she`s not that bad of a person? If she loved Gary and was still with him even though she was divorced, who does that?
ERICKSON: Let me answer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Shielia, let`s answer.
ERICKSON: Ok. All right. Shannon did not sell those pictures on the death bed. Ok? Shannon did an interview the day afterwards. Let me tell you this. It took her three hours to get in the front room to even do the interview. She was so sick and throwing up in bed.
She did the interview just simply because she wanted everybody to know what was going on. She didn`t want to take 500 interviews.
WALTERS: She was selling it.
EMMONS: You know what? That`s absolute baloney.
ERICKSON: Let me finish now. You got Shannon --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re running out of time.
ERICKSON: Gary left her with no money. Ok.
EMMONS: What do you mean? She spent Gary`s money. What are you talking about? Gary`s financial health was coming back. They come together and she blows it all.
ERICKSON: You know, you should have seen how much Gary loved her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, guess what? We`re out of time. But I will say this --
EMMONS: And you`re out of your mind.
ERICKSON: Gary loved her. Gary loved here.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We don`t know who`s will -- Anna or Shannon`s -- will win. But we`ll stay on top of it.
Thank you panel.
EMMONS: Thank you.
END
