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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Cops Search for Serial Killer; Mom Denies Son Cancer Drugs
Aired April 12, 2011 - 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, shock and horror ramping up in the Long Island Craigslist serial killer case. Cops say the body count could be up to ten, including nine women and a toddler. Now sources say this killer could be a copycat of the infamous BTK serial killer, which stands for bind, torture, kill. Prostitutes are being warned not to work in the New York City area. Will police find this deranged murderer before he claims another life?
And tonight, a sobbing mom found guilty of attempted murder for refusing to give her cancer-riddled autistic son chemotherapy drugs. He later died. Did she maliciously stand by as her kid suffered? Or does she really think he was cancer-free, though the doctors told her otherwise?
Also, dying for beauty? It`s happened again. Cops say a woman was dropped off at an unlicensed plastic surgery clinic for a buttocks enhancement, then turned up dead just a few hours later at a nearby hospital. Police arrested two suspects just as they were trying to flee the country. Is our culture so addicted to beauty that we`ll pay with our lives?
Plus, the woman at the center of super star football player Brett Favre`s sex scandal speaks out. Below-the-belt photos, sexy text and voice mail, allegedly from Brett Favre, hit the Internet, but the TV host says she is not a gold digger or a home wrecker and has never even met the famous quarterback. She says she`s the victim in all this. I`m taking your calls.
ISSUES starts now.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARD MANGANO, NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE: The search has obviously turned up some remains. There`s debris. There`s certain things that have been found. And we`re going to investigate and determine what they are and how they may or may not affect the ongoing investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news tonight: the body count of the Craigslist serial killer could now be as high as ten as word spreads that divers will now be brought in. That`s right, divers, to see if there are even more bodies in a nearby 40-acre pond.
Police on Long Island, just 40 miles outside New York City, are desperately hunting for the serial killer -- or killers -- who`s dumped at least nine bodies along a stretch of deserted beach. Cops believe that serial killer is also taunting a young relative of one of the victims.
Meantime, tonight, a warning is going out to sex workers up and down the East Coast of the United States. This killing spree could be happening as we speak.
Sex industry counselors are warning prostitutions, do not engage in prostitution. But if they do, they are urged to use a buddy system so somebody always knows where they are.
When will we get some real answers about the identities of the latest set of human remains? Do cops have a profile of the suspect? And where is missing 24-year-old prostitute Shannan Gilbert?
CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff on location at Jones Beach, New York.
Allan, what is the very latest?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning, police here in Nassau County were using a helicopter to try to see if there`s anything else of interest. They say no, they didn`t score anything today, after yesterday`s exhaustive search involving 125 troops. And they did find yesterday, of course, a skull and more bones.
Over in Suffolk County, to the east of where we`re standing, divers were surveying the waters. Tomorrow they`re planning to go in to see if they can find any more clues -- Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, this is a 40-acre pond, apparently, they`re going to go into. So if he`s decided to throw bodies in that pond, who knows how many might turn up?
Let`s talk about getting identities. Of the bodies that have been identified, one woman vanished in June; another vanished in September. Do cops fear, since that`s pretty recent, that this is an active killing spree and that he could be in progress, committing his murders as we speak?
CHERNOFF: The thinking among police is that this has happened in the past. They`re, of course, still searching for Shannan Gilbert, the prostitute who went missing last May 1. She was last seen in Oak Beach, about 12 miles from where I`m standing right now. She visited a client, ran from the client, screaming, saying "somebody was trying to kill me." She went to a neighbor of the client. He called the police. She dashed away.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: CNN`s Allan Chernoff, thank you so much.
Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor, even though you heard Allan Chernoff say that cops think this is in the past, I am not so sure. It seems like we have a ripper on the loose now. And he`s been active recently. Two prostitutes whose bodies have been identified were seen alive this past June and this past September. That`s not so long ago.
Cops reportedly believe he`s also phoning and taunting a young female relative of one of the murdered women. So do you think these killings will continue and possibly even accelerate?
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Look, the best evidence we have is that it is both current and ongoing, and it may also have occurred in the past. I`m sure that they know that some of the bodies have been there for a long time. But that`s what serial killers do. They keep going and going, and they taunt law enforcement and victims. Because that`s what they do. And they`re not going to stop until we catch them. That`s what they do. This is not mysterious.
The notion that this isn`t a serial killer, I think, you know, is a silly -- a silly claim, because the bodies are all in the same region of the same small area where nobody else goes. Please.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy, four of them were found in burlap bags.
MURPHY: Exactly. That`s right. And that`s a very telling sign, Jane. It`s not an accident that they ended up in burlap bags. And I guess -- and I bet you this: cops already have figured out whether those burlap bags are from the same place and where they`re from, which is why they`re concerned this is from one person, at least a bunch of the bodies are from one person, and that he is still out there. Absolutely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And I believe, and I know you do, too, that he could still be active.
Thank you, Wendy Murphy.
Tonight, Dr. Drew takes a closer look at the victims. Why do women sell sex for money? The shocking truth behind prostitution. Tonight, at 9 p.m. Eastern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIN LABRIE, FOUND GUILTY OF ATTEMPTED MURDER: He was very, very sick. And I was afraid, and I did not want to have to make him get any more sick. Any sicker. And I thought that he would die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A Massachusetts mom claims she was so devastated as she witnessed her cancer-stricken 9-year-old son get sick from chemotherapy drugs that she denied him the medication.
Tonight, take a look at that boy. He`s dead, and that mother, 38- year-old Kristin LaBrie has been found guilty of attempted murder in that precious little boy`s death.
Adorable 9-year-old Jeremy, who was autistic, had been diagnosed with a treatable cancer back in 2006. In fact, his oncologist said that she told the mother that his type of cancer had an 85 to 90 percent cure rate. There was a glimmer of hope when Jeremy`s cancer went into remission, but when it came back in the form of leukemia, doctors didn`t realize his mother had not filled five months worth of prescriptions for the little boy who, again, ultimately died.
In the meantime, this heart-wrenching story has another very odd twist. Jeremy`s parents, in a stormy relationship. The mom, Kristin, lost custody of Jeremy after his cancer came back but even before that prosecutors say the mom was ranting about the boy`s father on her MySpace page, where she called herself "one beautiful disaster." One beautiful disaster.
Prosecutors also claim that even as Jeremy lay dying, mom was quickly returning to the single life, taking a trip to Miami and going out with friends.
Well, the jury agreed. She was just found guilty. But does that mean that we have all the answers? What was the mother`s real motive in not giving her precious son the life-saving medication? Was it malicious? Or was she truly upset as she watched her little son get sicker and sicker from the drug`s side effects?
What would you do? Give me a holler: 1-877-JVM-SAYS.
Straight out to Vinnie Politan, host of HLN`s "Prime News." Vinnie, at first prosecutors say the mother denied withholding the drugs from her son, but then she finally admitted that was a lie. Did that lie poison the jury against her?
VINNIE POLITAN, HOST, HLN`S "PRIME NEWS": Yes. Come on. You`ve got someone who`s responsible for a 9-year-old boy who is so sick, and she`s lying to investigators about what happened. My goodness, how do you not do everything to save the child? How are you not 100 percent honest?
And that is a big problem for her, because she testified. She was standing, because in Massachusetts when you take the stand, you literally stand. And she had to withstand three hours of cross-examination.
And the bottom line is, a jury, No. 1, hates liars. No. 2, she is responsible for this beautiful little boy. He was in her care. His life depended upon her care and her doing the right thing, and I can`t -- I could not see a jury not holding her responsible.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Dr. Gwen O`Keefe, pediatrician and founder and CEO of PediatricsNow.com, would these prescription drugs have likely saved the boy`s life and what are the side effects? Are they awful?
GWEN O`KEEFE, PEDIATRICIAN: Well, you know, Jane, in this case this boy probably would have lived. When you have a prognosis of 85 to 90 percent, there is every reason to believe this boy would have been saved by this round of chemotherapy.
The side effects can be intense: nausea, vomiting, hair loss. But there are medications we can give to counteract those side effects. If the mom had reached out for help to the medical community, this boy`s side effects could have been lessened and maybe perhaps even -- even gone away. So there is no excuse for her to have withhold the chemotherapy for the side effects. They can be intense, there`s no question, but they`re not not treatable.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, on the other side of this break, we are going to talk exclusively to the gentleman you see here. He is the attorney for the mother, Kristin LaBrie, and he will give her side of the story. We`re going to hear both sides. Why did this mother do it? We`re hearing from the attorney for the mom right after the break.
And we`re taking your calls: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7927.
Then later, police say a woman went for a butt lift and winds up dead. Is our culture willing to pay the ultimate price for beauty? Look at this place. Would you have a butt lift there?
But, first, a mother found guilty of attempted murder for not giving her autistic cancer-riddled son chemo. I`m asking you what do you think her sentence should be, because she`s going to be sentenced very soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LABRIE: I was afraid, and I did not want to have to make him get any more sick. Any sicker. And I thought that he would die. I thought that he would die with me at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was an excellent mother to that little boy and did everything in her power to take care of him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A mother convicted of attempted murder after her 9- year-old son died because she withheld chemotherapy drugs from him. Five months worth of prescriptions that she did not fill.
Little Jeremy, who was also autistic, was not Kristen LaBrie`s only child. Jeremy`s older brother, Matt, had been removed from her custody by social services years earlier.
So I want to go straight out to Kevin James, the attorney for the defendant who was just convicted, Kristin LaBrie.
Thank you for joining us, sir. So many questions. She`s going to be sentenced Friday. What do you think she`s going to get at sentencing and what`s your defense? What is her explanation for not giving her son these life-saving drugs?
KEVIN JAMES, ATTORNEY FOR KRISTIN LABRIE: Well, the explanation is, she had significant trouble doing so. She did not intentionally withhold the medication from little Jeremy.
I think what`s been missed or what -- what fails to get through to some of the members of the jury is that caring for an autistic child that has cancer, having to give him medications that make him extremely ill, is not a very easy thing to do. She did it alone. She`s a single mom. And incredible financial problems and other pressures and a failure of the system to help her...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a second. Wouldn`t the medication be covered by insurance? Obviously, if you have problems...
JAMES: No, no, no, this is not an issue. This is...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You said money problems.
JAMES: This is not an issue. No, I`m talking about financial problems. You`re talking about issues with money.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. No, you said -- what does financial troubles have to do with not getting a prescription filled for your son?
JAMES: OK. Let`s talk about it. Let`s talk about what money problems would have on a woman that has to live on a very limited income and all of a sudden hits the ground running and has nine hours` notice to start a chemotherapy regimen and has to go from Salem to Boston, Mass., General Hospital one day after another, one hospitalization after another, cannot hold a job, can hardly afford her own needs. And now she has to take care of her child who has cancer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But wait a second.
JAMES: We`re not talking -- we`re not talking about issues -- we`re not talking about issues of whether she had insurance.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on. Let me ask a follow-up question, Counselor.
JAMES: Please. Please go.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: No, seriously.
JAMES: Seriously.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: If you have problems, then why lie about it? Why not go to the doctors and say, "I want to give my child this life-saving medication, but I can`t afford it right now." Don`t you think that there would be some way that they would come up with that? Why did she lie and say that she doesn`t have any recollection or -- or initially denied not filling the prescriptions?
JAMES: Look, Jane, I mean, some of times when people have mental problems, they have a hard time reaching out. That`s the purpose of social workers. Social workers are supposed to be able to detect when people have problems. The social workers on this case failed to do that.
Certainly, the warning signs were there. Initially at the outset of the cancer, it was more than clear that my client had presented to the oncologist and evidenced that she had problems giving the cancer medication. That was in testimony. So that is without question.
The question is, is, or the true issue is, is why didn`t the people that knew better, why didn`t they come forward and help my client?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Now, little Jeremy had really a tough life and a very short life. We`re talking about his cancer. We`re talking about the medication.
JAMES: Jane, I`m sorry?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hang on a second. And, of course, the autism. Listen to how his mother described how she learned her son was autistic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LABRIE: He was kind of gray and not super -- not a lot of movement or noise. At age 2, he was about nine months developmentally. He had not walked yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, as testimony in this case and as evidence, the prosecution brought in the fact that Kristin had raged, allegedly, against her ex-husband on MySpace, where she called her "one beautiful disaster." In a post, she claimed her ex hadn`t played child support and said her truck was about to be repossessed. She referred to her son as a handicapped cancer-ridden boy.
So my question to Wendy Murphy -- and we`ll get back to you, Kevin James -- but do you think prosecutors -- you`re a former prosecutor. Do you think prosecutors, Wendy, were suggesting that she had another ulterior motive for withholding the medication, that perhaps she was tired of the responsibility of raising a child that she described as handicapped and cancer-ridden?
MURPHY: Yes. I mean, I don`t think the prosecutors had to do much to cause the jury to draw that inference. Everything she did suggested that her behavior was malicious.
It wasn`t just that she didn`t ask for help, which you know, her lawyer suggests because she had mental health problems. She partied afterwards. She didn`t go to the funeral. You know, she was, in a sense, celebratory.
Why would she a mother be celebratory after she causes the death of her child? Or even if she didn`t cause the death of her child, why would she be celebratory? Oh, I don`t know. Perhaps that`s what she wanted.
It didn`t require a lot for the jury to draw the inference that she was malicious. That`s attempted murder. She deserves it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Now, on the other side of the break, we`re going to give Kevin James, the attorney for the mother who was just been convicted, who`s about to be sentenced this Friday, the opportunity to respond to that and specifically respond to the allegations that, while her son was dying in a hospice, she did not visit him. We`re going to get both sides on this.
Also, coming up, cops say a woman went to an unlicensed clinic for a butt lift and died.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LABRIE: He was kind of gray, not super -- not a lot of movement or noise. At age 2, he was about nine months developmentally. He hadn`t walked yet. So we definitely had autism.
And he definitely was having trouble breathing. And he was -- he knew it. He was trying to breathe.
(END VIDEO CIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That woman, 38-year-old Kristin LaBrie, found guilty of attempted murder in the death of her 9-year-old cancer-ridden son for denying him five months` worth of lifesaving drugs.
Kevin James, her attorney responding to claims that she may have had an ulterior motive in withholding the drugs, namely that she was tired of the responsibility of parenting an autistic child?
JAMES: Well, certainly, there was no motive in this case. I mean, the -- the facts, as they were presented indicate a woman that was single, had no money, and certainly had an autistic child, went to Mass General Hospital on October 2006, nine hours later, had to jump into administering chemotherapy care.
This woman co-created this child with another person, and that was Jeremy`s father. OK, and he never brought any effort to the table. Sporadic child support at best.
Mass General Hospital let this woman go. They should have known that there were issues here, should have known that maybe they were requesting too much of this single 38-year-old woman to take care of a severely autistic child that now had cancer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Brenda, Texas, your question or thought, ma`am?
CALLER: I have a thought, Jane. My son last March 2, 2010, was diagnosed with brain cancer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m sorry.
CALLER: I mean, it was right out of the blue. He had a seizure. We got a CT scan. Large brain tumor on his frontal lobe. He was -- he was 23 at the time. And, you know, like you said, you get the CT scan. Two days later we`re having brain surgery, followed by radiation and chemotherapy.
And at the age of 23 I would have given anything to prolong his life. Anything. And he had less than 75 percent chance of surviving the surgery. And he has since then had another brain surgery.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you, Brenda, for your important point.
Vinnie Politan, she makes an important point. Anybody who cares about somebody would do anything, especially if they have an 85 to 90 percent chance that those drugs would save the person`s life.
POLITAN: And that`s the message to the jury. I mean, the jurors, you know, the judge tells them don`t put yourself in the place of these people but that`s what you do. And if you`re a parent and you have a child, my goodness, you`re going to think, if there`s any chance, what can I do? And if I`m not able to get it done, I`m going to reach out for help.
And the level of sophistication, well, she`s sophisticated enough to go onto MySpace. And she`s sophisticated down to Miami and take a picture with Chad Pennington, then I`ve got to think that she`s sophisticated enough to be able to reach out and look for help.
Five months is a long time. And then to be sophisticated enough to lie about it, Jane. That tells me everything I need to know.
And I understand how stressful the situation is. And, my goodness, no parent or child should ever go through that, and they need all of the help they can get. I think she`s more sophisticated than -- than she`s letting on.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. Gwen, yes or no, do you think this child would be alive today, if the proper drugs had been given to him?
O`KEEFE: I do. And I think most parents would have, you know, given their right arm to get the help and support.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got to leave it right there. Thank you, fantastic panel.
Next, cops say a woman went for a butt lift and instead was murdered. We`ll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dying for beauty? It`s happened again. Cops say a woman was dropped (ph) off at an unlicensed plastic surgery clinic for a buttocks enhancement but turns up dead just a few hours later at a nearby hospital. Police arrested two suspects just as they were trying to flee the country.
Is our culture so addicted to beauty that we will pay with our lives?
Plus, the woman at the center of football superstar Brett Favre sex scandal speaks out. Below the belt photos, sexy texts and voice mails allegedly from Brett Favre hit the Internet but the TV host says she is not a gold digger or a home wrecker and has never even met the famous quarterback. She says she`s the victim in all this. I`m taking your calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET VILLALOVOS, VICTIM`S DAUGHTER: They looked just like they had so much experience they all looked just fine. That`s why I didn`t worry at all.
LT. LEW ROBERTS, HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: There were several people who called; apparently she was in a lot of pain. She was visibly requesting help from people who were in the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight is this yet another shocking case of back alley plastic surgery gone wrong?
Cops say a mother of three is dead tonight because of a botched procedure by a phony baloney doctor. Luckily cops caught the fake doctor and his fake assistant just in time as they were trying to board a jet to flee to South America.
Why is this happening again? Why are people so willing to die for beauty?
Forty-two-year-old Elena Caro went to this fly-by-night medical office to get a butt lift. Take a look at this building. Would you want to have a medical procedure in what looks like an outhouse? I wouldn`t.
Her daughter said she watched a man in that building inject her mom with a needle and then the daughter left. But when the daughter came back several hours later to pick her mom up, everyone and everything was gone, even the furniture had been removed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VILLALOVOS: It was empty. There was nothing more -- nothing left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Cops say Ruben Mattallana-Galvas and Carmen Torres-Sanchez allegedly dropped off the victim on a Las Vegas street corner several miles from the clinic and left her there while they took off. Cops say somebody finally called 911 for the woman because she was crying out in pain. An ambulance raced her to the hospital but she died. That beautiful woman dead tonight all because of a botched butt lift.
I am so very sorry for this woman and her family. You just heard from her daughter. She certainly didn`t deserve to die. Granted this is an extreme case where the doctors, fake doctors, allegedly should not have been performing any kind of surgery.
The big picture, though, is when are people going to wake up to the fact that you really can`t bargain with your life? Plastic surgery is not risk-free. What do you think? Give me a holler, 1-877-JVM SAYS, 1-877- 586-7297.
Straight out to malpractice attorney, Spencer Aronfeld; what do you make of this case that people allegedly cleared out the office even the furniture, and then tried to hop a jet to get out of the country after allegedly ditching the dying patient on a street corner?
SPENCER ARONFELD, MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY: Jane, it breaks my heart because we hear these stories over and over again, of people who are being killed and mutilated and their lives destroyed because of flea market medicine. Like you said, you wouldn`t take an animal to this place to get a shot, much less a human being.
And who I really am starting to blame now is the government. It`s the states that allow these places to operate without sufficiently investigating them and without allowing the consumer a very easy way to verify that they are, in fact, putting their lives in the hands of butchers. There needs to be a computerized application in English and Spanish because we`re seeing this a lot with Spanish speakers, where they can go to the Web site and verify that this person is in fact licensed to practice medicine in that state.
These are butchers and the only difference here between murder with a gun and murder with a scalpel is that it happens under a plastic surgery umbrella.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, absolutely.
ARONFELD: And these people need to go to jail.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You bring me to my call to action tonight. Please, people, use commonsense; if you want plastic surgery, do some research. Make sure you`re seeing a reputable doctor, a real doctor who operates out of a real medical clinic. We`ve got to take a look at that place that they went to. I mean we`ve got to show that again. Let`s show that videotape again.
ARONFELD: Ok.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A real medical clinic might be a little bit more expensive, but your life is worth it. Never try to get a deal on plastic surgery. I`m talking about that building. Look at this building. Ok. I would never, never go into a building like that for pretty much any reason but much less to have plastic surgery. That`s got to be a hint.
ARONFELD: Well, Jane --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.
ARONFELD: Jane, if there`s bars on the window and bars on the door, that ought to be the first sign that you`re not in a medical doctor`s office. My recommendation is that you consider having a procedure done either in a hospital or at least in a medical facility that is within walking distance of an emergency room in case things go wrong.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But look, I can`t say -- I can`t say just the bars. That is the Las Vegas area. There are dangerous areas of our community. Not everybody operates and I don`t know where you are, Beverly Hills, but not everybody can go to a Beverly Hills doctor on Rodeo Drive.
So yes, there`s going to be places that might look a little more rundown than we are used to. But Dr. Linda Li, there`s got to be -- I`ve had several operations and I did have one lift in my life. Yes, I did. I talk about it, I admit it. It was one procedure just to pull it back a little bit but I did a lot of research, a lot of research. Dr. Linda Li?
DR. LINDA LI, PLASTIC SURGEON: It`s really important to do your research and to make sure that your surgeon is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. It`s a minimum standard that you should expect of your surgeon so that they can take care of you and make sure that you have an excellent result.
You know these people who are looking for cut-rate surgery, they are taking their lives at risk.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. Linda Li, I`ve got to ask you, what is with the butt implant? The last thing I want is a bigger butt. I mean, seriously, I don`t understand why anybody would pay to have a bigger butt. And it`s the rage. It`s like what botox was a couple of years ago, the butt lifts now today are -- what is it about? I don`t get it.
DR. LI: Everybody is looking Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez and they`re seeing that nice, full, round bootie and that`s kind of what they are looking for. As we get older, our buttocks deflate and they look a little saggy. So what they want is that bit of flashback there. So their pants will stay up better.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have another suggestion. Control top panty hose, which is what I use.
All right. Marion, Michigan, your question or thought, ma`am.
MARION, MICHIGAN (via telephone): Hi, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
MARION: First of all, I do have to agree with you that building -- while I wouldn`t go near it within a ten-foot pole. But secondly my question to you is, don`t these type of facilities have to go through some kind of licensing like hospitals would do from like the American Medical Association. And secondly I`m looking at your picture right now and it says it closed at 6:00. What if somebody has an emergency after 6:00? Do they have an emergency line?
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Very good question. Wendy, former prosecutor, yes; Spencer has also raised this point. Where is the government? Why are these places allowed to operate when it doesn`t take a brain surgeon, pun intended, to figure out if this place is going to have problems.
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. It`s also against the law to make child porn but it happens in buildings just like that. The fact is, if you are a licensed reputable doctor, you`re going to get your license and if you`re some nut case with a needle and a ugly, cheap place you can rent out and sucker people in, you`re going to do it. You`re not waiting for anybody to give you a license. You`re not even a real doctor.
Look, I`m with you, Jane. I don`t know why anybody wants a fat ass. But my God, if you`re going to get one, do it in your kitchen where it`s at least sterile. I don`t even understand the desire to subject yourself to this but If you`re going to do it, don`t go into a staph infection petri dish. I don`t get it on any level.
It`s not that much more expensive, I`m sure, in certain communities to actually, you know, shop around because there is competitive pricing out there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: These people are charging something.
(CROSSTALK)
Now plastic surgery is serious and has complications like any other surgery. We want to go to one of your clients, Spencer, Osvaldo Vargas. His wife died after going under the knife to quote, "make her look good for 2011". He`s devastated and he says there`s no reason why his wife should have died. Let`s listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSVALDO VARGAS, WIFE DIED AFTER SURGERY: She was in good, good condition. She was in good health. She`s going to run, she`s going to the gym. She was in perfect condition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And so Spencer, that`s one of the reasons you say you`re getting a lot of these cases. This is sort of the rage now.
ARONFELD: Jane, I don`t want my phone to ring again in Miami of another family who`s lost a loved one because of an unlicensed butcher. And I am calling the government and I`m calling the governor and I`m calling the President to appoint a national task force to investigate the unlicensed practice of medicine particularly, in medical -- in plastic surgery cases.
Enough people have died and I`m representing enough families that something needs to be done so I can come on your show and talk about something other than somebody dying from plastic surgery. There needs to be undercover officers that go and respond to these ads because they advertise in the Spanish news.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Yes, I love that idea.
ARONFELD: And say, look, if you want plastic surgery, show me your license, show me your insurance and arrest these guys before somebody else dies.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That would be good use of our tax dollars. Something I haven`t heard about.
MURPHY: Good luck.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good luck is right. Thank you, fabulous panel.
On the other side of the break, the woman at the center of the superstar football player, Brett Favre`s sex scandal speaks out. Is she a gold digger? She says, "No, I`m a victim in all of this." We`re taking your calls, 1-877-JVM-SAYS. You won`t believe her story. It`s a wild one. 1-877-586-7297.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BRETT FAVRE, NFL PLAYER: Well, I`m still trying. Just got done with practice. I`ll try the other phone. You`re probably caller ID`ing me, but if you can make it, that would be great.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
FAVRE: So send me a text because I`ll be in the building for a couple of hours. Love to have you come over tonight.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A sexting scandal heard around the world when one of the NFL`s biggest legends, Brett Favre, allegedly just couldn`t take the hint, buzz off. Now the model and TV host who got caught up in it speaks out for the very first time on "Good Morning America".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENN STERGER, TV PERSONALITY: I was approached one day at the beginning of the pre-season games by a man wearing a Jets badge, an employee badge, who asked me, how would you feel if Brett Favre asked for your phone number? What would you say? And I just looked at him, my usual smartass self and said, "I would say I like my job an awful lot and I`ve been told I look remarkably like his wife. Have a good day."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jenn Sterger says her life was turned upside down after that day. She claims the married father of two somehow got her number and that`s when he persistently sent texts, voice mails and allegedly photographs of his privates -- below the belt, if you get my drift. But she says she didn`t want any part of it.
Here`s exactly what she told GMA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERGER: I had never met him. We`ve never met. There`s never been an introduction. We`ve never been any closer than this and that was in passing in the tunnels before and after games. But that`s it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An NFL investigation concluded Jenn did nothing wrong and could not confirm that Brett sent the graphic photos. So he was just fined $50,000, not a lot for a guy who has made millions, for not fully cooperating in this case. The famous, retired -- now retired -- quarterback admitted to leaving the voice mails but he denied sending any inappropriate pictures. She says they all came from the same phone number.
We`re taking your calls on this, 1-877-JVM-SAYS.
Joining me now, Lisa Guerrero, chief investigative correspondent for "Inside Edition"; Lisa, what I found shocking is that Jenn says these two never even met. That it was like Brett just looked at her and decided I want that. And that would be very arrogant.
LISA GUERRERO, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, INSIDE EDITION: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now you used to cover sports. Are you surprised by this alleged behavior?
GUERRERO: I am not surprised at all, Jane. This is pretty typical athlete behavior, especially you see this a lot with superstar athletes. Remember all those women, the parade of women that Tiger went out with and made his mistresses, almost every single one of them had a similar story where one of his boys would approach them in a nightclub or at a party and it was hardly ever the athlete himself that goes out to her.
And I think a lot of times athletes are cowards. They are scared to be rejected. So they have one of their posse go up to the women and ask for their phone number.
Now, in Jenn`s case, before we hang any scarlet letter on her, let`s consider a couple of things. First of all, he`s the one that was married with two kids and now has a grandchild. She was single.
If you were to believe her, there are three things we have to keep in mind. First of all, Jane, she said no from the very beginning. If you believe her, she said no. Number two, she kept her mouth about this for two years. She didn`t leak this story. Deadspin.com broke the story. And finally, she never made a penny off of the story. In fact, two sources told me she could have made $300,000 when this story broke and she said no.
So to me I think we`ve got to lay the blame where the blame belongs and that is with Mr. Brett Favre.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, here`s what I find fascinating about this. Jenn says when they first approached her, she said, no, I look remarkably like Brett`s wife. Here they are. Jenn is on the left -- you`re going to see her in a second -- and Deanna, Brett`s wife, is on the right.
GUERRERO: Incredible. Dead ringer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look at the resemblance.
Steak Shapiro, radio talk show host, 790 The Zone, what does that tell you? It goes both ways for me. One, it`s like, ok, that makes sense. On the other hand, if you`re married to somebody, why go after somebody who looks almost like a twin sister? You`re a guy. Explain it to us, please.
STEAK SHAPIRO, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, 790 THE ZONE: Well, with all due respect, I wouldn`t call them twins. That looks like mother-daughter to me and by the way, it looks like a younger, fresher model like you`re ready to trade in.
Let`s be honest, that looks like a younger version of his wife and, indeed -- this just in -- athletes are used to getting what they want, when they want it. I wouldn`t call them cowards at least. I think usually the path of least resistance, send my boy in, put this together, I don`t want to go through the hard work.
Eight times out of ten, the answer is exactly what they want to hear. In the case of Brett Favre, I thought one of her best lines was, he was like the dude in the bar who just didn`t get the hint. He just kept trying and trying and didn`t understand -- like maybe -- you don`t ask if you`re not used to getting what you want from Brett Favre. In this one case he was not able to get what he wanted.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t necessarily buy that the NFL could not conclude that Favre sent the messages, they could not figure out who the phone calls belonged to. If it was his phone, are they suggesting that somebody else stole the phone?
SHAPIRO: Right. What are you supposed to do?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He`s acknowledged the voice mail. She said it all came from the same phone number.
LISA GUERRERO: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Back in a moment. More of your calls.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
FAVRE: Well I`m still trying. Just got done with practice. I`ll try the other phone. You`re probably caller ID`ing me. But if you can make it, that would be great.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re back talking about a former New York Jets. TV Host Jenn Sterger`s first explosive interview since her sexting scandal broke involving Brett Favre. Jenn told GMA the only reason she did this interview is for herself and her family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERGER: I mean everybody knows when it`s out there in the public like that there`s this perception of you that people automatically start to think, "Oh, she`s a gold digger, she`s a home wrecker." I`m none of those things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, here`s what`s interesting, Steak is that a lot of people blamed her and presumed that she was doing this to make money. Well it turns out what she says is no. I did share some of these graphic ex- rated below the belt texts I got and photos I got with some friends to get advice from them, and they all said basically if you like your job keep your mouth shut, but one of them apparently sold those photos. She didn`t make a dime she says.
SHAPIRO: Yes. Well, we don`t know that. Again she could have made a lot more than the $12,000 they said they got from one of her friends, supposedly.
Look, this is why she got the blame. She`s a hottie from Florida State who got famous for being in the stands in a bikini. When she graduated college, she was in "Playboy", she did a spread.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what?
SHAPIRO: I`m just explaining to you. And she was in maxim. So immediately everybody says she`s no shrinking violet. They must have condemned her for that.
The reality is she got her job because she was really hot. She got her job because she was, you know, an entertaining piece to look at. But at the end of the day -- that`s why she got the gig --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, I can see Lisa steaming.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a second.
SHAPIRO: It wasn`t random. .
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Come on.
SHAPIRO: She came from "Playboy". She went from "Playboy" and "Maxim" --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I speak for myself and Lisa. Just because we`re gorgeous doesn`t mean we`re not good at our jobs and articulate.
(CROSSTALK)
SHAPIRO: If she hadn`t been in "Playboy" would she have gotten the job?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She is very articulate. Just because she`s seriously and I would speak for Lisa, I was being facetious with myself, but just because you`re gorgeous doesn`t mean you`re not a good host, you`re not an articulate person. Some people do have it all, Lisa.
GUERRERO: You`re right, Jane. Really it doesn`t matter how she got her start or how she was discovered. The point was when the story broke and when the scandal broke she was working for a legitimate cable sports show. So, it wasn`t like she was doing anything tawdry when this broke and then that launched her to something else.
It doesn`t really matter. She seems to be a nice person. I don`t know -- I don`t -- I`ve never met her. But I`ll tell you one thing, I don`t feel sorry for her. I don`t feel sorry for Brett. I feel very sorry for Deanna Favre who has battled breast cancer, who`s a breast cancer advocate, who`s the mother of two, who`s the grandmother of one, who I have met, who`s a woman of class and dignity and grace and she`s standing by her man.
I don`t know why. I wouldn`t, that`s for darn sure. But she has chosen to. So I`m not going to cry any big crocodile tears for anybody except for Deanna Favre.
SHAPIRO: Well, it`s embarrassing. It`s unbelievably embarrassing.
I will say this Jane. You can`t -- you want the NFL -- what do you want the NFL to do? You want to suspend him for five games? For sending - -
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wasn`t $50,000 when he --
(CROSSTALK)
SHAPIRO: He text-messaged inappropriately.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He allegedly sent a photo of his private parts -- (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I`ll say the word -- (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SHAPIRO: Whoa. Whoa.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He denies it. He admits the voice males. She says the number was the same in all of them. Ok. More on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We`re talking about this Brett Favre scandal. We reached out to Brett. He didn`t get back to us. But 20 seconds for each of you, beginning with Steak, what can we learn from this?
GUERRERO: I think that we have to keep a couple of things in mind. Just because you`re are beautiful, just because you posed in "Playboy", just because you posed in "Maxim" does not mean that you deserve to be sexually harassed, period. The blame lies squarely on Brett Favre`s shoulders.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Steak, let`s face it, her contract was not renewed with the Jets after she rejected his alleged advances.
SHAPIRO: Well, she`s not a very good broadcaster. I saw her show.
Here`s what we learned from this. Even when you make tens of millions and you`re Brett Favre you don`t get every piece of A you want. So it`s shocking sometimes but sometimes it`s true.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what I`m learning. Women have a long way to go and we can`t just worry about our own lives and our careers. We have to become active.
SHAPIRO: Amen. Power.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We need a new feminist movement because we can be beautiful and talented.
SHAPIRO: That`s what I was thinking.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Nancy Grace up next.
END
