Return to Transcripts main page
Jane Velez-Mitchell
New Photo Key to Missing Soldier`s Disappearance?; Neighbor Heard Voices Outside Isabel Celis`s Window
Aired April 26, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live from New York City.
Breaking news tonight: Police release a new photo of missing soldier Kelli Bordeaux, taken the very night she vanished. What secrets does this image hold? We will analyze, and I will also be talking to her husband and brother live next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight new leads in the desperate search for a female soldier who disappeared nearly two weeks ago. Now we`ve got this photo of Kelli Bordeaux taken the night she vanished. Who did she send it to? Why have police released it now?
Her husband think a sex offender barkeep who claims he dropped her off at home is lying. If so, where did he go with Kelli? I`ll talk to Kelli Bordeaux`s husband live from the search scene tonight.
And a neighbor now says he heard male voices outside her house the morning little Isabel Celis was discovered missing. Could those voices be the key to solving Isabel`s disappearance?
Also, an accused New York madam says she`s being subjected to brutal conditions behind bars, and her $2 million bond is making it practically impossible for her family to bail her out. Why is her bail so high when killers and alleged child predators are walking free for a fraction of that amount? Former Hollywood madam Jodi "Babydol" Gibson joins us tonight. She thinks she knows what`s behind it all.
Just as we predicted on this show, the Secret Service scandal was not a one-time deal. On the heels of the Colombia prostitution scandal, an insider now says a dozen Secret Service agents also partied it up at a strip club in El Salvador and paid for sexual favors. How deep does the Secret Service sex scandal really go? We`re taking your calls for the hour.
(SIRENS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re getting word that a Ft. Bragg soldier is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That photograph is a photograph that Kelli took of herself, and it was pushed (ph) just before she left to go out that night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My sister is missing. She is -- she`s the most amazing person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To those who are responsible for this, we`re going to find you, too.
NICHOLAS HOLBERT, WORKS AT FROGGY BOTTOMS: I had nothing to do with it. I picked her up and took her home that night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last seen drinking at a bar.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone picked her up and took her to the bar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve never been there. Me and Kelli never went together. We didn`t even go to bars together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had been in the bar before, OK, but at this point that`s about all I`m able to say.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, and I can`t wait to see you. Please come home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... family. Tonight, a massive new search with a key photo of missing soldier Kelli Bordeaux just released by law enforcement. It was taken just hours before she vanished and is sparking a slew of new questions about her disappearance.
Here is Kelli in that final photo before she vanished, looking at herself in the mirror wearing a tank top and short shorts. This was the last outfit she was believed to have been wearing before she vanished. Police released this photo because they want the public to be able to identify her.
But police will not say how they got this photo or from whom. Now, we know they didn`t get it from Kelli`s own cell phone, because that cell phone is still missing tonight.
Take a look at this. It`s an iPhone 4S, the newest iPhone model, very popular. Also visible, an identifying mark, this tattoo seen here on her upper left thigh.
Today, nearly 600 volunteers from all over the United States descended upon Fayetteville, North Carolina, searching near Kelli`s apartment and the bar where she was last seen. Kelli`s husband says she would not have strayed far on her own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE BORDEAUX, HUSBAND OF KELLI: She is very responsible. Like, she would not have missed work. She was a dedicated soldier and a dedicated wife. She -- me and her loved each other very much. And I just appreciate everyone out here helping looking for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, two men have been arrested on unrelated charges, but both of them are connected to the bar, Froggy Bottoms, where Kelli was last seen.
Now, this man is the bar owner and then you have this man, the convicted sex offender, who claims he drove her home that night, something the family does not believe.
What happened to this beautiful young soldier? Call me: 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877,586-7297.
Now on the phone with me, Kelli`s husband, Mike Bordeaux.
Mike, thank you for joining us. I know you must be exhausted. You`ve been searching for Kelli all day.
BORDEAUX (via phone): Hello?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to get to the search in a second. Can you hear me, Mike? Hey, Mike, can you hear me?
BORDEAUX: Hello?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, hi, Mike, can you hear me?
BORDEAUX: Yes, I can hear you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. We`re going to get to the search in a second. And I know you`ve been searching all day with hundreds of people. But I want to focus on this photo that authorities released. They`re not saying where they got this new photo of Kelli which she took of herself in the mirror with her own iPhone. And so I think this is a very important clue.
Do you have any idea or guess as to who cops got this photo from? In other words, who she had sent this photo to hours before she vanished?
BORDEAUX: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ... the picture of her the night she went out, but I believe she sent that to her sister. And her sister was the one that gave that to the police.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`re taking a close look at this photo. Kelli`s iPhone in the photo. Some people have pointed out -- and again, we`re doing this completely and 100 percent to get information that might lead us to Kelli. She is not wearing any rings. Now, a lot of people don`t wear rings; they don`t wear their wedding ring. Did she usually wear her wedding ring?
BORDEAUX: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So do you have any thoughts on this photo?
BORDEAUX: You know what? I just saw it today, and it was hard enough to even take a look at it without breaking down. So I haven`t really looked at the photo much. But she was always wearing a ring. If that`s what you`re asking.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Well, it doesn`t appear, and we can`t tell for sure 100 percent, but it doesn`t appear that she is wearing that ring. Do you have any idea why she took the photo and sent it to her sister?
BORDEAUX: Why the -- why she -- I`m sorry. I didn`t hear you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you have any idea why she took this photo of herself and sent it to her sister? And Mike, if I could ask to you speak up and hold the phone close.
BORDEAUX: Just -- just because she was going out and wanted to show her sister what she looked like, I`m guessing. You know, girls do that kind of stuff.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Can you tell us about the search? We have some footage of the search, hundreds of people searching. I would like to get a sense of where they were searching.
We know that they had searched a pond at one point and came up empty. That pond was -- I think it was about nine miles away from where she vanished. Where were they searching today and I think we have a map we can show you. Go ahead.
Mike?
All right, we just lost him. Obviously, our hearts go out to Mike Bordeaux. He is exhausted. He`s been searching for his missing wife. There is sort of an outline of where all this is going down. Fayetteville, North Carolina. She was stationed at Ft. Bragg. She was last seen at Froggy Bottoms, the bar.
The convicted sex offender claims he dropped her off at her apartment, around the block of her apartment, and the family doesn`t believe it.
Mike Brooks, as we take another look at the photo, the last photo that was taken of Kelli, hours before she vanished, what is significant to you, Mike Brooks, as a law enforcement analyst?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, one of the things you already mentioned, Jane, is the fact that she`s not wearing a ring that she would normally wear. The expression on her face, she just -- doesn`t look real happy to me.
I don`t see anything in the background that would give -- give away any clues to law enforcement. I`d have to see the picture blown up to see any other particulars. But I also think that, seeing that, that tattoo on her thigh, it looks like it probably goes up onto her side also. I think is also a good clue for anyone who would see something like this. But who did she send it to?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sister. Sister.
BROOKS: Did she send it to -- yes, but did she send it to anyone else? That is the other question. Because you can go back into her account and see where that photo was sent. They can go back in and check that, and I`m sure they already have from the search of her apartment.
So there`s a lot of questions that remain unanswered about this, Jane. And you know, there`s not a whole lot to lead from this, but I want to know who else, besides the sister, did she send this photo to, if anyone?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. And let`s bring in some of the key characters who have surfaced in this tragic disappearance. Today, Fayetteville police have held a news conference. One thing they wouldn`t talk about is Nick Holbert. He is the convicted sex offender who claims -- he`s a bar hand at Froggy Bottoms. He claims, "Yes, I drove Kelli home the night she vanished."
Holbert has a rap sheet for indecent liberties with a 5-year-old child. He was arrested last week for not registering as a sex offender. But police are just not talking about him except that he is a person of information. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second time that I interviewed Holbert and he left the police department, I have not had any contact with him or his attorneys or anything else to do with Nick Holbert.
I`m not going to comment on anything that Holbert said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that true?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not going to comment on anything that Holbert told you. At the risk of damaging the investigation, I can`t speak about specific evidence and people that are involved or people of interest or anything like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what we wish they would talk about is this other person who was arrested, the bar owner, Steven Cantrell, 49 years old. He was taken into custody on Monday. He allegedly owes $400,000 in child support payments and failed to appear in court for a 2001 DWI.
He`s not being called a suspect, but clearly, Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, they are focusing on the people who were at this bar where she was last seen, and sometimes police focus on more than one person.
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely, Jane. What they`re doing here is since this particular man has outstanding issues and warrants, they can take him into custody. And what they`re hoping is he`s not going to like sitting in jail very much. And so if he knows something, he might give it up in exchange for information, and they`ll maybe reduce some of his other charges.
So that`s what we see going on here. They can take him into custody on another warrant. They know where he is. He`s not going to go dispose of evidence, get rid of a body, do any of that, if he`s involved. But in the meantime, if he`s not involved and knows who is, they can use that outstanding charge to levy pressure.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did he see something?
HUGHES: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He claims -- the other guy claims, "Oh, I took her home." Maybe he saw something that points in another direction.
HUGHES: Absolutely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Remember, this barkeep was a convicted sex offender who supposedly drove her home; lives in a lean-to, like a shanty behind this bar.
Let`s go to Renee, North Carolina, as we show you some more video of the search that is occurring today. Hundreds of people from around the country and military. Renee, North Carolina, tell us about this search that you personally were involved in.
CALLER: Well, I got to the area this morning about 8:30 and signed in. We were split up into groups. They started it with the -- they started with the alphabet. Group A. Each group had about 50 people.
We were shown a picture of Kelli, the new one, and told that this is what we were looking for. Her pink shirt, her black shorts and her phone. And we were also told -- I`m sorry. We were also told to look for bedazzled flip-flops, which she`s not wearing in the picture.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Renee, you`ve got very important things. Hang on. We`re going to get to you more on the other side. We want to hear exactly what law enforcement told you.
We`re taking your calls on this: 1-877-JVM-SAYS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORDEAUX (via phone): I have never been there. Me and Kelli never went together. We didn`t even go to bars together. I mean, the closest bar we would even go to is Buffalo Wild Wings, and that`s -- we don`t even drink there. We just got a couple of wings and take home -- take the rest home.
HOLBERT: I played pool with them and the male friend he was with said he was leaving that Monday. It was a Sunday night, and he said he was leaving Monday morning and going back to Florida. And I was talking with Kelli, and she said that she`d really like to come up on Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn`t sit here and tell you that she was a regular there. You know, that term is relative. She had been in the bar before, OK, but at this point that`s all I`m able to say as far as, you know, whether she had been there before or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. I want to show you photos of Kelli and her husband in happier times.
We`re getting two different portraits of Kelli. And the reason we`re asking this is simply to try to understand what was going on that night, the night she disappeared.
Joe Gomez, investigative reporter, KTRH News Radio, her husband says she never went out, and yet people at the bar says, yes, she`s been there before. She`s having this photograph without her wedding ring hours before she disappears.
The mother said, oh, they were having marital problems. The husband we had on just a little while ago says, "No, we were happy." We`re getting this sort of conflicting portrait.
JOE GOMEZ, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, KTRH NEWS RADIO: That`s right, Jane. A lot of these developments really don`t add up. I mean, if you look at the picture of Kelli, I mean, she looks absolutely gorgeous in that photograph.
And if she`s going out to the bar, she`s definitely going to attract some perhaps unwanted attention there.
And speaking about that bar, they got that sex offender who was not registered. That makes me suspicious. Why wasn`t he registered to begin with, Jane? If he was with her and she was dressed like that, we`re relying a lot on his story. He was the last person to see her. So I can understand why police are focusing now on this guy and have now arrested him on an unrelated charge, though, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and I have to say, Kelli`s disappearance has some eerie similarities to a very -- well, this is a tragic case and we hope the outcome is completely different in this case.
For all we know, Kelli is alive and well. But we`re just looking at some commonalities here. Imette St. Guillen. Imette was a beautiful grad student in New York. She went out to a bar, stayed late and was never seen again. Tragically, she was found dead. She was brutally raped and assaulted by Darryl Littlejohn, who was a bouncer at the bar where Imette was last seen. And Littlejohn was actually on parole at the time and was violating his curfew by working there.
Mike Brooks, unfortunately, when a woman is at a bar and somebody from the bar takes her out of that bar, there`s sort of a trust that has to be there, and sometimes that trust is not warranted.
BROOKS: No, and I`m curious if there was any kind of surveillance that showed exactly how close our registered sex offender and her were together.
But notice one other thing. Those pictures you showed of she and her husband at -- as you said, in happier times. She had no ring on there either, Jane. Her husband says she always wore a ring. If you look at those pictures of her with her hand over his back with the -- in the bar or wherever they were, she didn`t have on any wedding rings there either.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It`s a mystery, and we`re going to stay on top of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: More breaking news in a second, but first, here`s your "Viral Video of the Day."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIO CELIS, FATHER: We do love you, and we miss you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isabel was last seen in this home by her parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have been interviewed extensively.
CELIS: We are cooperating to the fullest extent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re labeling it as suspicious circumstances and a possible abduction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New details about what may have happened that Saturday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember briefly waking up and hearing male voices outside my bedroom window.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are here today to plea.
CELIS: We will never give up. We will never give up looking for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dramatic new developments tonight in the case of missing 6-year-old Isabel Celis. A key witness is emerging tonight, a neighbor whose bedroom window is just feet across from Isabel`s bedroom spoke exclusively to Nancy Grace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My bedroom is directly across from hers. It`s going to be right over this wall right here. Isabel`s room. My dog, she`d woken me up. She`s very skeptical of people. And when she heard voices, she started barking. And that woke me up.
And that`s when I noticed the male voices, multiple male voices, and I noticed that the Celises` dog was going crazy. And they bark a lot, but this was a different type of barking. This was a very, very frantic barking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Men`s voices and dogs barking like crazy just about an hour before the little girl was reported missing.
Now, you can watch more of Nancy`s interview with that neighbor tonight, coming up at the top of the hour. But I`ve got to bring in Mike Brooks, HLN law enforcement analyst.
Remember that Isabel`s dad seemed to be pleading with somebody yesterday. Listen to this, and let`s analyze it after that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELIS: Just please, please to the person or persons who have Isabel, tell us your demands. Tell us what you want. We will do anything for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So Mike, can we put these two together? I mean, it seems like there`s something they know that we don`t know about these people.
BROOKS: I`m not sure. I`m really not sure, Jane. It could be just a heartfelt -- I mean, I -- my heart goes out to this family. Because I don`t think that they are involved, at least from what I`m seeing, from what I`m hearing.
The voices that were on the other side of the wall from her house about 6:30, you look at the timeline. The mom said that she left their house at about 7.
Now, I would have thought that maybe she would have noticed the dogs barking unless she was possibly in the shower getting ready for work, and she maybe didn`t hear any of this. She didn`t hear the voices. She didn`t hear the dogs barking frantically, you know, right outside her own house.
So I don`t know. But it sounds like there were more than one voice. Is it connected with this?
Because also, Jane, that time of the morning, there in Arizona, it was sunlight. So it wasn`t in total -- it wasn`t in darkness. So was there anybody else around there that may have seen something? We don`t know yet.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Natisha Lance, did this woman give you a sense that it was definitely happening over the wall at the window of this child? Was she pretty convinced of that?
NATISHA LANCE: No. Actually, she felt that the voices were coming from her side of the wall, which she thought it was odd because no one usually walks through there except for her or her mother. She`s the only person who parks behind the home. There is an alleyway back there. But usually the place say on their side of the wall, and this wall wraps around their entire property.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely fascinating. More from Nancy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A soccer mom by day and millionaire madam by night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Married mother of four who lives in this secluded home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are going to produce all sorts of surveillance, wire taps possibly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The secret tapes and the photographs.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Her attorney vehemently denies all of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe this young lady is being railroaded by the system.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A so-called soccer mom who cops say led a double life as a madam.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boasted of making millions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely not a millionaire. If she was a millionaire madam, she would be out on bail now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they`re asking for this outrageous bail.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She`s holed up in Riker`s Island unable to make her $1 million bail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her bail was set at $2 million bond on the one charge. I have never seen that before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, is the alleged New York City madam being treated like some kind of serial killer? Anna Gristina holed up on Riker`s Island facing $2 million bond. Gosh, how long has she been there for now? It seems like a long time.
Her family said they are forced to solicit donations on line to help spring this mother of four from prison but they haven`t been able to do so. They`ve even launched a Web site, HelpAnna.org where they ask for help posting her huge bail.
Her husband claims she is being held in outrageously harsh conditions fit for a quote, "war criminal".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY GREENWALD, ATTORNEY FOR ANNA GRISTINA: She`s upset. She`s in jail. She is in a cell by herself.
(inaudible)
GREENWALD: She is not well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Anna`s husband claims there are roaches and rats everywhere and that she is being forced to wear a diaper. Really?
Wait until you hear what Riker`s had to say about those allegations of cruel and unusual and frankly weird punishment.
Prosecutors say Anna ran a multimillion-dollar prostitution ring for 15 years out of this unassuming Manhattan walk up. She was the target of a five-year undercover investigation. There are claims of $2,000-an-hour hookers.
The arrest of this suburban soccer mom sent shock waves through the sleepy little town of Monroe, New York. There is the house where she lived. I guess she would commute back and forth. Her husband Kelvin Gore said they were running a legit match making service where no money exchanged hands.
Why I can`t figure out is however you think about this, whether you think she is guilty or innocent, why $2 million bond? I mean really? Remember her alleged accomplice, the lovely Janie May Baker (ph) who actually came in from foreign soil to turn herself in, she was released on just $100,000 bail. There she is making a splash.
Straight out to private investigator Vinnie Parco. You worked with Anna, the New York Madam, so-called. You visited her at Riker`s Island. What were the conditions there? Did you actually see her?
VINNIE PARCO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Yes, I did see her. I saw her in the visitor`s lounge. They`re not the best conditions, but they weren`t that bad.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, was she wearing a diaper? Did you talk to her about --
PARCO: No, no. She was not wearing a diaper. She was wearing a regular dress.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what about this bizarre charge that they`re forcing her to wear a diaper.
PARCO: I don`t know who said that. I have no direct knowledge of her wearing a diaper. And if she did, there might be a medical reason for that. I have no idea.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me ask you this. Was she freaked out? Was she -- how long has she been there?
PARCO: Well, when I visited she was there about a month and a half or two months. She is a very strong woman. She is committed to fighting this case in court. She is running a legitimate business. And she is going to prove it in court.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Anna`s family says Riker`s Island, which is an infamous jail is treating this mother of four who is charged with one count of promoting prostitution like she is some sort of war criminal. On HelpAnna.org, they allege the conditions are horrific. They say she`s being held in solitary confinement with temperatures over 100 degrees in her cell; rats and coaches all over the place. Her family claims prison officials tried to force Anna to wear a T-shirt and a diaper in an attempt to humiliate her.
Now the New York Department of Corrections told us these allegations are completely false. They told us Anna is not in solitary -- rather she`s being held in protective custody like all other high profile inmates. And they say she`s housed with six other females.
As for the rats and roaches, prison officials say an exterminator makes regular rounds. And there have been no reports of varmint. So, somebody is not telling the truth here.
I want to go to Peter Gleason, you`re Anna Gristina`s former attorney. You believed in her so much you offered to put up your fancy $2.5 million Manhattan loft and even told the judge hey, she can live with me. What do you think is really going on here -- Peter?
PETER GLEASON, FORMER ATTORNEY OF ANNA GRISTINA: Well, you know, to me there`s a certain level of hypocrisy that goes on here -- that is going on here. And the fact of the matter is I`m fearful that this high bail has painted people into a corner where -- you know, I wish we lived in a society where people could admit they made a mistake.
Clearly the bail is excessive. As you correctly pointed out, I was willing to put my place up because I despise hypocrisy to the level where you have to stand up for it. In the same way that, let`s say, George Clooney marches through mine fields in the Sudan.
People look at that and say, you know, he`s crazy for doing that, but in another sense, they`re saying he is passionate about his profession.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, I`m going to jump in this Peter. I am not talking about you, I`m talking about her. You were her attorney and her claims that she is being humiliated and forced to wear a diaper and treated like a war criminal. Is there any truth to it because Riker`s is saying it`s all made up.
GLEASON: When I got the call from Riker`s Island to go first visit her, she was behind a story that she was peddling underage girls. That`s a death warrant when you go to jail. I got in front of that story and I said if there`s any truth to it, I wouldn`t be standing here representing Miss Gristina at that time nor would I continue the representation. I was very happy to see that the district attorney`s office back-pedalled tremendously from that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We are not going to find out about her conditions. We heard both sides and Peter, I`m sorry, I just want to continue on. We have a lot to get to.
Neighbors of the alleged brothel apartment took notice of a whole bunch of women coming and going. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very well-dressed gentlemen, women like I think of European background it looked like. I mean that`s just the way they appeared to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jody "Babydol" Gibson, the former Hollywood madam and you are the author of "Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam", we are coming to you to find out what the heck is really going on here. Give us your theory because this woman is charged with one count of promoting prostitution which doesn`t even have a mandatory prison sentence attached to it and yet she`s getting higher bail than certainly George Zimmerman -- we`re going to show you a whole list of people who have done much more serious things that are being allowed to go out on lower bail.
What do you think is really going on?
JODY "BABYDOL" GIBSON, AUTHOR, "SECRETS OF A HOLLYWOOD SUPER MADAM": Exactly. You know what I`m suspect of is where are the girls? You cannot have a prostitution case without arresting the girls. And as of yet, there has been no arrests of the girls which leads me to believe that they are holding this girl -- they`re holding this madam prison because she is going to lead them to someone else that they want.
Otherwise they would be building their case with the girls. They haven`t arrested one girl yet. Where are they? How do you build a prostitution case?
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, I have to go to this list here. George Zimmerman who killed a 17-year-old is out of jail on $150,000 bond -- he posed $15,000. Accused child rapist, Jerry Sandusky, ok, former Penn State football coach posted $250,000. This woman is being held on -- the list goes on and on. We`ve got tons of them, ok. We`ll show you their photos.
I want to know what is behind this. Now, I`m going to ask you again, Jody. They don`t prosecute the Johns. So they are not after the Johns as customers. Give us your theory and spell it out now. We are running out of time.
GIBSON: I believe that she has someone that they want. They could be politically inclined, I don`t know. But I`m very suspect of the fact that while they are building their case, they have yet to make any arrests of the girls.
You cannot have a prostitution case unless you have girls testifying against the madams. So where are the arrests of the girls? Which leads me to believe that she is being held on this high bail because she is going to lead them to someone that they want who she is not willing to cooperate about now. At this point she is not talking. That`s why they are treating her this way. That`s my take on this.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But why do they want this individual? Prosecutors say they have years` worth of surveillance tape; that they surveilled this quote-unquote, "operation" that they even have videotape of people having sex together.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREENWALD: Next week, we should get all of the tapes which is what you people would love to see -- the secret tapes and the photographs. We`re serving a letter tomorrow on demand to get all that stuff.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Peter Gleason, I know you`re the former attorney. But have you heard whether any of these videotapes of people having sex with each other or these five years of surveillance -- has any evidence been given to the defense in the form of discovery?
GLEASON: I have not heard if anything is passed over as of yet which is shocking in and of itself because if it was passed over, certainly there would have been press reports on it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Vinnie Parco, what do you think is going on? If they are after some John and it`s not for being a John, then for what?
PARCO: I believe it`s a political thing; that they are trying to get somebody who`s in politics and they are trying to get something on them through her. If it doesn`t exist, it doesn`t exist.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But --
PARCO: Well, if they have all this videotape and they have all these tapes, then they must have seen this individual they`re looking. How come they don`t have that person now? If they have thousands of hours of videotape and audiotape, then this person must have surfaced at some point in time. How come they don`t have that person now?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So you think this has nothing to do with the call girl operation? Let me see if --
PARCO: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Do you know that you can go hire Miss America and Miss Universe or Penthouse or Playboy for an event? If you want to go to a charity event? They can -- and you pay them a fee and you go out with them.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t know what your point is.
PARCO: My point is, are they prostitutes also?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you so much panel.
Another sex scandal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A government official today acknowledged past misconduct by Secret Service agents. But it was also quick to defend the government`s internal working (ph) process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secret Service members might have used prostitutes in a foreign country a year before the scandal in Colombia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An unnamed contractor who worked with the Secret Service advance team last year; he says about a dozen agents partied with the strippers in a club and most paid for sexual favors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brand-new shockers in the Secret Service sex scandal -- say that five times. A new report out by our affiliate KIRO says Secret Service agents paid for sex on another trip, a trip to El Salvador more than a year ago. This is exactly what I predicted when the story first broke about Secret Service agents going wild with prostitutes in Colombia. We talked about how this must have happened before on this show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB SHUTER, COLUMNIST, "NAUGHTY BY NICE": This is a black eye on the face of America. People in London, people in Europe, everybody is talking about this story -- it`s a huge embarrassment, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you think it`s the tip of the iceberg?
SHUTER: Absolutely. There`s going to be much more to come is what people speculated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A U.S. government official tells CNN "People make mistakes" -- that`s a quote. "People make mistakes."
Are you kidding me? Oh and it`s ok if they conduct an internal review? No, we cannot trust them to review themselves. An internal review isn`t going to cut it. There needs to be an investigation by an independent organization. There needs to be a congressional, major congressional investigation.
How else will we find out what and when senior officials in the Secret Service knew? Did the Secret Service know this is what happens when the boys are out of town? We have heard the unofficial motto -- "Wheels up, rings off". Why do we have to hear about this incident in El Salvador from a subcontractor? We never heard a peep about other incidents from Secret Service officials.
A source tells KIRO a half dozen Secret Service agents descended on the strip club on three different nights. The men drank heavily at the club, paid extra for access to VIP areas and were given sexual favors in return for cash. Several agents bragged they did this all the time. All the time. And they told a subcontractor not to worry about it.
We are taking your calls, taxpayers, 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to Holly Hughes, a former prosecutor; I don`t think an internal investigation is going to do a darn thing. This is in my opinion a morally corrupt agency at this point.
HOLLY HUGHES, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Right. And on that very show, you just showed a clip from, Jane, I said we need to have a congressional inquiry because you can`t trust them to police themselves Jane. Not until the media broke the story. Then all of a sudden we hear people coming out of the woodwork going oh, by the way, this happened a couple of years ago and we took care of it internally.
Not good enough when you are out there embarrassing the entire United States, you are supposed to be this elite protective agency. Number one, if you are out there behaving like that -- getting so drunk, what information are you compromising? What is it that you are doing and what kind of a black mail are you opening yourself up to in the future?
This needs to be -- absolutely --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jody "Babydol" Gibson, you are a former Hollywood super madam. You dealt with men in government in the past, did you not?
GIBSON: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.
GIBSON: They are in my book, yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: They are in your book. Did these guys have any qualms about oh, I`m with the U.S. government and I`m hiring hookers?
GIBSON: No and that is always what was so amazing to me is they seem to feel that the law does not apply to them, cannot approach them and that they are above the law. That seems to be the way it goes with the men that carry on in this -- that work within the government. And I think it was a coordinated effort.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You do?
GIBSON: Jane, I want to say something -- I think it`s a coordinated effort -- yes, I do. I think the hotel was in on it. I think -- ok.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: More Secret Service sex in a moment. But first, I think we taxpayers deserve a laugh break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGH BREAK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS HALSNE, KIRO: This particular subcontractor tells us that he went with what they call van load of Secret Service agents to a local strip club. And there he says he witnessed heavy drinking most of the night. He witnessed some of the Secret Service agents going into the VIP area to get sexual favors for cash.
And ultimately he said they were working really hard to try to get the strippers back to their hotel rooms. And that in at least two circumstances he witnessed that despite him telling them it was a terrible idea that that occurred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that was Chris Halsne of our affiliate KIRO, who broke the story. He actually went to El Salvador to find out exactly what happened.
Jody "Babydol" Gibson, you know how this works. You are a former super madam, Hollywood madam. This is a pattern now. We -- it happened in Colombia. It happened in El Salvador, and it has certain commonalities. They go in packs. They find these hookers. They take them back to their hotel. What do you think was the operation within the Secret Service?
GIBSON: What I think happened in this incident was that it was a coordinated effort. I believe that the hotel knew the agents were coming and they provided this information to either the girls directly or the conduit to the girls. The agents, I believe, had correspondence with someone at the hotel or the conduit knowing where to go to see the girls when they got there. I believe it was strategized and organized.
Let me tell you something else, Jane. You know, the most gorgeous girls in the world are in Cartagena. They come from Cali and (inaudible) and you can get them there for $40. So that being said, I`m of the opinion that there was an altercation mostly because the agents got wind of this after the fact. I think that there was a deal made, they agreed to the deal and then somehow through the evening the agent found out that the girls go for $40, which they do there all day long -- the most gorgeous women. It`s hard to believe but it`s true.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So you`re saying that they thought -- they didn`t like the price they were paying --
GIBSON: -- that he was going to engage in this knowing that he was not going to pay her what they had agreed on based on this information. That`s how I think it went down.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, Is there any possibility -- is there any possibility, Jody, that people in the higher up within the Secret Service if, in fact, well now we`re talking about two incidents that they didn`t know? Or is this something that is basically is condoned by the higher ups in your opinion?
All right. I`m going to throw that out to Vinnie Parco.
PARCO: First of all, I`ve used many Secret Service agents that are retired in my business. We do executive protection. We do body guard work. These people are very professional; they`re excellent at what they do. They have a lot of pressure. They want to let off steam, so once in a while they go out.
I`m not condoning what they did. But it`s natural. I work with all police departments. They like to blow off steam. Go out to strip clubs, go to these places, and --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sir, look --
PARCO: They should be more circumspect --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I would not fault them for going to a strip club. I`m faulting them for using prostitutes and in cases --
PARCO: I have to agree with you on that --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And allegedly taking prostitutes back to their rooms, allegedly. I am faulting them for being married men signing that covenant with their wives, most of them are, that`s come out, everybody acknowledges. Lying to their wives, betraying their wives -- I mean the disease that they could bring back.
And I`m also upset because they are jeopardizing the security of our nation. This is not a joke and this is not boys will be boys. I refuse to believe that and I think that to say that is disrespectful to women and taxpayers.
More in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: 21 Secret Service agents, 19 prostitutes, that`s one alleged incident alone. Now we`re hearing about a second incident.
Tangela, Florida, your question or thought, Tangela.
TANGELO, FLORIDA (via telephone): hello.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hey. Hi, Tangela.
TANGELA: Hi, Jane how are you doing?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good. We have only a couple of seconds. Your question or thought.
TANGELA: Ok. I have a question, do you think this was the first time this has ever happened?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely not. "Washington Post" reported that an unnamed source said such behavior is part of the culture at the Secret Service and not a one-time occurrence.
Holly Hughes, I think this is an outrage. Do you agree or disagree?
All right. Well, I`m going to say -- she`s gone. I`m going to answer my own question. It`s an outrage. We`re taxpayers, we`re women. Women are 50 percent at least of the taxpayers in this country. It`s an insult to women. It`s an insult to women of the United States, the women of Colombia, women of El Salvador.
Unbelievable.
END
