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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Woman Held in Dirt Pit Under Shed; Hotel Rapist Blames Clerk for Giving Him the Key; Cocaine in the Courtroom; Incredible Video; Dramatic 911 Call; Mom Repeats Crime. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired April 26, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s just really scary knowing that I`ve known somebody for five years and wouldn`t see something like that in
somebody.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST (voice-over): Underground evil, what neighbors are learning about the house next door has them holding their breath in
horror.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was hearing voices.
BANFIELD: A woman kept in a pitch-black hole dug barely deep enough to fit a small child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s out on his front lawn with a gun in his hand.
BANFIELD: Now investigators say they say this man just might have snapped.
911 OPERATOR: I`m going to stay on the phone with you until they get there, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I`m scared!
BANFIELD: A dad found passed out with his little girl in the car finds out what a judge thinks about his crime, begging the judge for rehab instead of
jail.
911 OPERATOR: Is the car still running?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don`t know how to turn it off!
BANFIELD: Caught on tape running from a hotel room, pants around his ankles, a rapist is now testifying to help the woman he attacked. Why he
blames the hotel for his sex assault.
Mrs. Robinson next door? A married mom of two is charged with having sex with a teenage neighbor. And if that`s not bad enough, she`d been found in
his bed before and was sent to jail because of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was only here for a traffic ticket.
BANFIELD: A first for a judge in Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A simple traffic ticket.
BANFIELD: What was supposed to be an ordinary plea turned upside down when a strange little package fell out of his hat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White powdery substance. Not a good day for him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
It all began with two calls to the police in the middle of the night, a woman telling 911 her daughter was missing. That was 2:00 AM. Just a few
hours later, she called back saying there were cries coming from the back yard shed next door. And what officers say they found when they arrived to
check it out is beyond disturbing.
Inside that shed, police say they found a false floor, a makeshift set of wooden boards with a heavy bunch of material piled on top. And beneath
those boards, someone had dug a small hole and forced a 30-year-old woman to crouch down inside of it, effectively trapping her in the pitch black
tiny cramped space for hours.
The pit was dug barely deep or wide enough to fit a small child, just over 3 feet deep and 2 by 2 wide. So just imagine that for a moment. Sit down
on the floor, pull your knees tight to your chest and fix your elbows tight to your body. You cannot move. Now turn out the lights. And that doesn`t
even begin to describe the terror for this abducted woman and what she went through.
The victim was rushed to the hospital. She is expected to be OK physically. But investigators still aren`t sure how or why she ended up in
that hole or what was planned for her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF SCOTT REINBOLT, BLANCHESTER PD: I don`t have any idea what he had in store for her, but I`m sure it wasn`t pleasant. When they woke me up at
4:00 in the morning to say they had found her, they said, We found (DELETED) buried under a shed. And I thought the next sentence was going
to be, She`s dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Police waited with guns drawn outside the home until their suspect walked out. Dennis Dunn was arrested and charged with kidnapping,
so far.
Evan Millward is a reporter for CNN affiliate WCPO and he joins me from the scene in Cincinnati, Ohio. Evan, is that the actual shed that I see behind
you? And what else have you been able to see at that crime scene?
EVAN MILLWARD, WCPO: Yes, Ashleigh, this is the shed. It`s not very big. But you mentioned just how small of a pit this was dug out in the floor
underneath here, a dirt floor in that shed. This scene has been clear for several hours now, but we`ve had a lot of access to it and been able to see
just how small and crowded that shed is.
It really is a miracle that people heard these cries early this morning out here. You know, it is a close town. This is a town of 4,300 people just
north of Cincinnati, about 45 minutes drive. These folks look out for each other.
BANFIELD: Evan -- yes, Evan, the police chief...
MILLWARD: But there is a lot, an alley way -- a lot going on.
BANFIELD: Sorry. I apologize. I know we have a delay between us. The police chief, Scott Reinbolt -- either he or his -- you, me, his members
were able to see that, that pit. And the best we can do for our viewers at this point other than through their imagination is have the police chief
explain what it was they discovered. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:08]REINBOLT: It`s just your basic back yard shed with an earth floor. It`s not much to speak of, really.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But what about the (INAUDIBLE) How deep was it? I mean, kind of paint a picture. We`re not back there.
REINBOLT: I think we measured it at a little over 40 inches deep, and it`s probably two feet by two feet and 40 inches deep. So it`s tight quarters
back there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Evan, it`s astounding. Tight quarters even doesn`t begin to describe this. I heard the reporter suggest it might have been a well or
some kind of a -- whatever it was, how long do we assume that victim was stuck inside that space?
MILLWARD: Ashleigh, we know that she was in there -- at least, she was reported missing for four hours. We can only assume that from the time
that she left this house or may have been pulled from this house next door, then she was in the pit the entire time. At least, that`s the assumption
police are operating on, as far as we know right now.
BANFIELD: Do we have any idea about a connection? I mean, obviously, they live next door to one another. Was there any connection between Dennis
Dunn and this woman next door?
MILLWARD: Ashleigh, this is where things get really interesting. This is not the first time police have been out to this address and it`s not the
first time these two have had interactions with police because of interactions they had together.
Back in October of last year, this woman actually reported getting harassing phone calls and text messages, reported that to Blanchester
police. She decided not to press charges at that time.
And then earlier this month, April 1st, Blanchester police say they got phone calls from Dennis Dunn saying that he thought people were breaking
into his house, were inside his house. They got out here. They found no one. He said he kept hearing voices.
It happened again the next day twice, two calls to police on April 2nd saying, People are trying to get into my house. I hear talking in my
house. People are banging on my window, trying to get in. No one was ever found around the house.
BANFIELD: And I think it happened on April 4th, as well, where had he said, you know, the windows -- people are banging on the windows, and the
police responding there, as well.
In fact, Evan, the police chief -- again, Scott Reinbolt, the police chief had something to say about those calls, what other witnesses said they saw
him do outside of the house, and what the police chief says is the real tragedy here. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINBOLT: He was hearing voices. He`s out on his front lawn with a gun in his hand, you know, all those things. I`m not Sigmund Freud, but all those
things to me should point to the fact that he`s a danger to others. And I just don`t understand how is it anymore -- how is it more humane to let
somebody like that out in the community without any treatment, apparently, or with limited treatment, than to keep them someplace where they can be
cared for. I just don`t understand it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Evan, what do we know at this point about where Dennis Dunn is being held? Typically,, people are carted right off to a local jail while
they`re dealing with a kidnapping charge. Clearly, there could be other charges. I`ll ask you about that in a moment. Where is Mr. Dunn?
MILLWARD: Mr. Dunn is in the county jail tonight. He -- in between a couple those prior incidents, he had gone in on an involuntary mental
health psych analysis, and then they let him out, and another incident happened. And then here we are tonight.
BANFIELD: But no hospital visit, no mental health evaluation at a hospital prior to going over to the county jail?
MILLWARD: As far as we know, right now, Ashleigh, he is in the jail and has not been in the hospital at all, at least the latest we`ve had from
police. And you`re going to hear the chief make a mission of this mental health issue. He said earlier that between two counties here, the Sheera
(ph) mental health board, they are allotted only eight in-patient mental health beds for two counties combined with about 250,000 people in them.
BANFIELD: You know, he also -- that chief also said something about Dennis Dunn`s father. Dennis Dunn`s father apparently came to the scene where you
are, Evan, and had a few things to say, it`s and not what you would expect. Have a listen to what chief -- Chief Reinbolt said about Dunn`s dad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REINBOLT: To me, it`s kind of heard-breaking. His dad came over here to apologize to us that we had to deal with it, and it`s really not -- it`s
not his responsibility to provide mental health care for his adult son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: He also said that he wished that Dunn had been in an in-patient facility and that we might not have been at this stage today. I don`t know
if you know this or if the local authorities are indicating as such, Evan, but do we know if kidnapping is it right now? We know that`s the charge,
but do they suspect anything else happened and that there`ll be any other charges down the pike?
[20:10:10]MILLWARD: The last time we talked to the police chief, he still didn`t know what Mr. Dunn`s intent was in this. We can only assume it was
nefarious, but he didn`t know. So I think once they talk more to this woman who was in the pit, they`ll get a better idea if maybe if anything
happened between the hours of midnight and 4:00 AM, or if he said anything about what he was going to do. And then potentially, you could see extra
charges after that. But as of right now...
BANFIELD: Things are a bit...
MILLWARD: ... kidnapping`s it.
BANFIELD: Yes, things are a bit foggy about that midnight to 4:00 AM piece because, apparently, she lives with her mom. Mom came home at midnight to
find her grandchild asleep but no one else in the home. So it`s entirely possible that this was longer than just half a night that this woman was
cramped in that position in a pitch black, again, mud pit.
How is she? Do we know anything? Do we know about her condition at this point or if she`s back home?
MILLWARD: She`s out of the hospital. We believe she`s back home. Her mom has said that she doesn`t -- not ready to talk about anything, other than
her mom had mentioned to a group of people standing around just probably an hour or so ago, said, you know, she just panicked when this happened. But
as for this woman`s condition, all we know is that she`s at least physically OK, and she`s safe back with her family now.
BANFIELD: Yes. Evan, there was a report -- I don`t know if it`s accurate -- that when they rescued her, she was unable to speak. Did you hear
anything? Do you know anything about her reaction when she saw her rescuers?
MILLWARD: I unfortunately don`t know anything about that, at least not right now. But I do know the officer who found her, the first one in this
shed behind me, is kind of being hailed a hero in this small town right now.
BANFIELD: I think it`s an understatement, without question. Evan, stand by for a minute.
I want to bring in Joey Jackson and Jonna Spilbor, two defense attorneys who are with me now. Guys, this is not looking good. The evidence is in
your back yard. Clearly, she is alive and able to testify as to how she ended up in that circumstance. But is mental health going to be enough to
be some kind of a defense for him?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN/HLN LEGAL ANALYST: In a word? No. Look, here`s the reality. And think about this, Ashleigh. What if the police officer --
what if she was never found? Think about what would happen then. And when you look at this and you talk about the offense itself -- and I know, you
know, there could be additional charges -- it`s 15 years to life. So this guy that you see there is in a world of hurt.
But you know, look, you can say mental health and there`s an issue -- I don`t think it excuses exactly what he did, which was putting her in a pit
to rot and to potentially, you know, engage in otherwise...
BANFIELD: Nefarious behavior.
JACKSON: Exactly.
BANFIELD: And we don`t know -- to be really clear, at this point, we don`t know if any other crimes were committed. This is really early in this
crime, Jonna. But if there are other crimes committed, if she had been assaulted in any way, if she`d been raped, this changes the dynamic
somewhat or completely?
JONNA SPILBOR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m going to say somewhat only because, as Joey mentioned, this is a very serious crime. In this state, it`s going
to be a first-degree felony punishable by a minimum of 15 years. So whatever else he did, you pile that on. Even if he got extra time, it may
run what we call concurrently...
BANFIELD: So guys...
SPILBOR: This is one transaction.
BANFIELD: There`s kidnapping and there`s kidnapping. O.J. Simpson was accused and convicted of kidnapping because he was pushing some guy around
in a hotel room with a gun.
SPILBOR: Right.
BANFIELD: This is almost burying someone alive because, effectively, that`s how she was left, buried alive. That is an aggravator, but does it
matter? Real quick.
JACKSON: It absolutely does, Ashleigh, because again, Jonna mentions the 15 years. You could get up to life here. And there`s kidnapping, as you
say, but putting someone in a pit to ultimately potentially die makes it much worse, very aggravating. He`s in a world of hurt.
BANFIELD: It`s unbelievable. We`re going to keep on this story and find out if there are other charges that come down and what`s going to happen to
Dennis Dunn, who clearly is only at the beginning of his brand-new process.
A woman is raped after a hotel clerk gives her room key to a stranger. And now that man, the rapist, is testifying for her at her trial against the
hotel. And he says it was the hotel`s fault, not his, that that woman was attacked.
And if you blink, you`ll miss it. A guy in traffic court leaves something behind on the floor. Watch carefully! What`s in that hat? What`s in that
hat? What`s in that bag? Again, traffic court quickly became criminal court. I`ll give you a hint. Looks like sugar.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:19:07]BANFIELD: It`s an unimaginable scenario, being sexually assaulted inside your own hotel room with your loved one sleeping right
next to you. It`s unimaginable unless you`re at a Holiday Inn Express near Bakersfield, California, because that actually happened after a rapist
tricked the desk clerk into giving him a key to his victim`s room.
Perhaps understandably, that woman is now suing the hotel. But unexpectedly, the rapist is now testifying to help out the victim with her
lawsuit.
And while you get your head around that, I want to show you some of the surveillance video from that hotel. There`s Jonathan Padilla. He`s at the
front desk at one point. And he told the jurors this week that he asked the front desk clerk for a key to the room where his colleague and his
colleague`s girlfriend were sleeping, only he pretended to be the colleague, and he used that key to break into the room and rape her.
[20:20:02]And it was only minutes later that you can see him -- look! -- running from the room, pants down around his ankles. And we have to blur
out the other business. The victim woke up screaming. That`s why he ran.
Padilla told the court that the desk clerk who gave him that card should have known that he wasn`t the woman`s boyfriend. The attorneys for the
hotel say otherwise. They say that he purposely tricked the clerk to assault that victim.
PRIMETIME JUSTICE producer Michael Christian has been working the story all day. What is the disconnect here? Who is to blame for this?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, PRIMETIME JUSTICE PRODUCER: Well, it depends on who you ask, Ashley. That`s the pivotal question. Padilla himself is being
sued in this lawsuit, but also Holiday Inn Express is being sued, Intercontinental Hotels, the parent company, is being sued, a separate
holding company that may have a stock in this is being sued, along with some individual hotel employees.
So it`s certainly in Jonathan`s Padilla`s best interests to make his testimony -- and I`m not saying that it`s false, but certainly, it`s in his
best interests to make the hotel look as culpable as possible because that means he`s less responsible.
BANFIELD: He`s trying to escape from his part of this, is he? But isn`t it a little tough to skate from your part in the liability when you
actually ended up serving about a year to a year-and-a-half of a three-year sentence because you were convicted of this?
CHRISTIAN: That`s right. He pled no contest to one count of unwanted sexual penetration by a foreign object, and that foreign object in this
case was his finger.
BANFIELD: Ugh. I guess that`s the law, though. You got to state what the law is because that`s what this is ultimately about. I do have a question
about something that sounds familiar in this whole suing the hotel over something that happens when you`re in your privacy of your own room, and it
brings up Erin Andrews.
She was not touched but she was watched through the keyhole, and she sued for $55 million. I think it was a national Marriott and the partners of
the national Marriott. $55 million is a lot of money. So are the victim`s attorneys palpably aware of that case? And are they bringing it up in this
case?
CHRISTIAN: They are very aware of it because one of their investigators was an investigator on the Erin Andrews case. So they are well aware that
she got a $55 million settlement. Now, in their lawsuit document, which I have right here -- it`s 29 pages -- they don`t ask for a specific amount of
money. They just ask for unspecified monetary damages. But they know that she got $55 million, and as they have argued, she was not touched. She was
only videotaped through a keyhole. This particular victim was touched, so if you get $55 million for being photographed, what maybe could you get for
actually being violated?
BANFIELD: For being raped, violated, raped, let`s call it what it is. I mean, so here`s what`s intriguing. And every time I see him running out of
the room, you know, mostly naked, I think you`re caught red-handed, although that might be the wrong appendage. So here`s the deal. What is
the case that he is making to try to absolve himself of the blame and suggest that this business we`re seeing right now is the fault of a
receptionist, like the receptionist actually made him penetrate that woman? Is that what he`s suggesting?
CHRISTIAN: He is arguing that he was very drunk that night, that he had had a lot of beer to drink and also some cocaine and that the hotel clerk
should never have given him the key without checking to make sure he was actually the person he claimed to be.
BANFIELD: Yes, fellow, we`ve all been loaded at one point. I`m pretty sure that 99.99 repeating (ph) of us don`t break into people`s hotel rooms
and assault them and rape them because we`re drunk. I mean, power to you, fella, if you think that`s going to get you any kind of, you know,
absolution break here.
I want to bring in Jonna Spilbor and Joey Jackson again. Is there a method to the madness here? Is he actually going to somehow diminish the
financial responsibility in any kind of civil lawsuit by saying, It`s her fault for giving me the key and letting me do all this?
SPILBOR: His own financial responsibility he will diminish because the Holiday Inn is obviously the deep pocket here. I`m going to assume that
this guy`s not sitting on millions, right? Let`s just -- let`s go there. So if Holiday Inn is more culpable in civil court than he is...
BANFIELD: For raping her?
SPILBOR: ... they will have to -- for allowing it -- for being negligent and stupid and allowing it to happen.
BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) that! He could have gone into her hotel room and stolen her lipstick (INAUDIBLE) but he didn`t. He went into her hotel room
and he raped her.
JACKSON: He did. Look, at the end of the day, that`s who they want. The people suing want the deep pocketbook...
BANFIELD: I get it.
JACKSON: ... of the hotel because that can rain money. And to that point, the fact is, is the clerk should never under any circumstance...
BANFIELD: I got that, too.
JACKSON: ... provide or allow for a key. Negligence, very simple. Duty breach, causation, damages. You have a duty to keep your people safe. The
cause as a result of not keeping them safe is the rape. The damages are what happened to her as a result of that. And certainly, they breached
that duty by being irresponsible, careless, and it shouldn`t happen. Let it send a message that, You know what? Beware, be alert, just don`t give
people keys because they say, I`m the boyfriend and I want to go up there!
[20:25:16]BANFIELD: By the way, as you`re looking at him and this interaction with the hotel clerk right here -- she`s named in the suit,
too, a bunch of, you know, john does who are employees are all named in the suit.
Just so you know what he`s saying in this video, he`s also offering her $100 for sex. So there`s a lot going on in front of that poor clerk, who
probably works in the overnight and gets paid, you know, a pretty low wage to be doing that kind of job. And now she`s facing this?
SPILBOR: Oh, come on, Ashleigh. If somebody comes -- if you`re a clerk and somebody`s offering you 100 bucks for sex and then says, Oh, give me
the key...
JACKSON: Red flag!
SPILBOR: Call somebody!
JACKSON: Right.
SPILBOR: If you don`t know what to do, call somebody.
BANFIELD: I hear you. I think there`s a lot more to it than that. I think she`s probably going to get on the stand at some point and talk about the
training and that sort of thing, as well. There`s a whole lot more to it.
I am fascinated, though, with Erin Andrews getting $55 million for being watched through the peephole, videotaped, and then, of course, that
material being disseminated on the internet. This will be a fascinating case to watch.
I want to get you to Florida right now. Police sent out to prevent a violent crime, and then ultimately, saved the suspect`s life in the
process, and the video is amazing. The officers acted on a tip that this guy -- take a good look. Guess was his nickname is. It`s Gold Teeth. Can
you see why?
He was on his way, they say, to commit a home invasion. But then, ultimately, they (ph) led him (ph) on this chase. It was wild -- swerving,
he hits a stop sign along the way. His truck, you know, in a big pile of cloudy dust rolls over. Look at that. Not good. Boom! Fire breaks out,
and he`s trapped inside the van. The deputies then try to make the rescue. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to get away from the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop, stop, stop! Stop, stop, stop!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to move...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop! (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. You`re good. You`re good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anybody else inside?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s nobody else inside (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Ahhhh, Gold Teeth, you`re such a tough guy! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Sorry. They saved him, and they arrested him, and then they found three loaded weapons near the driver`s seat. By the end of it, the
suspect himself and ends up summing up the whole thing kind of perfectly. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn`t I just stay home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Why didn`t you stay at home, Gold Teeth? By the way, Gold Teeth`s real name is Scott Michael Beekman, Scott Beekman. If he`s --
well, he`s a convicted felon, so he`s got a world of hurt ahead of him. He was also driving with a suspended license. And I think that might be the
least of his worries at this point.
South Carolina sheriff`s deputies on administrative leave after a motorcyclist was killed during a high-speed chase. And police say the
officer at the time was attempting a traffic stop after clocking the biker going 66 in a 45.
The chase lasted five-and-a-half minutes. And the dashcam video -- look at the GPS number at the side there. You can see it`s 104 right there. It
went all the way to 111 at times, shows the motorcyclist, they say, slamming the brakes on several times before then speeding off ahead of the
officers. Again, all the way up to 111 miles an hour, obviously through streets where people could be.
So then the officer bumps the biker and this happens, swerves to the right, passes a car, bam! Loses control, and it doesn`t go well. Interestingly,
the police are saying he was in the wrong gear, wasn`t wearing a helmet, either. He`s dead, and so it`s an interesting story that ensues. But
really, 111, high-speed chase?
A routine appearance in a traffic court went super-duper wrong for a motorist in Ohio. I want to show you him in the courtroom waiting to
appear before the judge. But watch carefully the hat that he takes off. There`s something in it. You can probably just see it there, but watch
what happens. Looks like Kleenex or toilet paper, but it isn`t! It falls to the floor. Nobody notices! It sat there -- nobody. It was actually
about an hour before one of the court officers went over and picked it up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He picked it up, looked at it. It had a white powdery substance in it, which he thought might be a narcotic. So he had it field-
tested by the police department. It tested positive for cocaine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Ah-ha! Yes, that`s never good. Yes. So that small bag of cocaine ends up being a big, big bag of problems. The court employees went
back through the security camera and spotted this and found out exactly where it came from.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:30:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was only here for a traffic ticket, and he made a simple traffic ticket where there`s only a possibility of a fine
and turned into a felony. So not a good day for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Not a good day. Not a good day for Lamar Reid. He was arrested for possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. It would had just been a
small fine. Oops. We see plenty of pictures of people in handcuffs on the show but we can fairly say have never seen this kind of a handcuffing. Can
you squint and notice what they are cuffing there? This is a scene in Slidell, Louisiana.
Officers in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries making a house call last weekend after the homeowner walked into his garage to find this. Ouch.
That`s a six to seven-foot long alligator. And after taking some quick pictures of the gator, who didn`t seem to be terribly afraid of the
reptile, these officers just moved right in and got to business of getting him out of the garage. Have a look.
I can`t believe they are not the least bit worried about it. The gator was having none of it, rolling and fighting the officers. One officer actually
stepped on his snout while the other one sat back on his -- sat on the back of him and then they got to the business of taping his mouth shut so they
wouldn`t be eaten. And then using a handcuff on the gator`s hind legs.
Want to be super clear here, the alligator wasn`t hurt because it kind of looks painful for the animal just doing his thing. But it turns out the
officers were very concerned that once they got him into the back of the truck, the gator might have just used those very strong legs to jump out of
the back of the truck and then could have been really badly hurt. So set of double cuffs did the trick.
A 9-year-old girl saves her own parents` lives after they overdose in the car that she`s in.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m going to stay on the phone with you until they get there, okay?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. I`m scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know you`re scared but you`ll be okay. It will be all right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Little girl begged for help because of those parents and now that parent, that one there, that daddy, begging a court for mercy. So I wonder
what the judge would say to him. As it turns out, that judge, the honorable Fanon Rucker is coming up live straight ahead and you will not believe when
you hear what he has to say.
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: When police found Charles Dove, he was passed out in a car just outside of Cincinnati. He had overdosed on heroin. But what was truly the
crime here, his 9-year-old daughter was in the back of the car, so was the girl`s mom. It was the child`s wrenching 911 call that may have saved both
of their lives.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you in a tan jeep?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s like chocolate milk. It looks like chocolate milk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. Is the car still running?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I don`t know how to turn it off.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it parked? Did they park before they passed out or not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was in drive, but I put it to park.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m going to stay on the phone until they get there, okay?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. I`m scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know you`re scared. It will be okay. It will be all right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have my cat in here with me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have a cat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I found it on the street and it was all alone and it liked me. There`s houses and you know where there`s house with a
boat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: House with a boat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The boat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: It`s unbelievable, isn`t it, to listen to that child. Her dad, Charles Dove, pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges, but he did
not want to go to jail and he blamed his criminal record on drugs. Mr. Dove wanted instead to go to a rehab facility in Florida to help with his
addiction and at his sentencing, he told the judge this.
I just keep continuing to do this. Everything I`ve done has been because of addiction and I mean, you can see that your honor, I`m asking you to please
have mercy on me and please give me a chance. But the judge, the honorable Fanon Rucker, was not buying Charles Dove`s begging and pleading in the
courtroom there. And he joins me live right now.
Judge Rucker, thank you. For starters, what an honor to have you on the program. It is so rare that we get to interview the big cheese, so I really
appreciate you doing this. And I do want to get your insight here because when I first saw this story and heard that phone call from that little
girl, I thought that man, that driver, that daddy is in for a world of hurt. Is he?
FANON RUCKER, HAMILTON COUNTY MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE: Well, first of all, thank you so much for allowing me to talk to you this evening. I appreciate
the invitation. Certainly, ethical judicial rules prevent me from saying certain things about the case, but I can certainly talk to you about the
emotion and the sympathy that this case is indicative of of the cases that we`re having right now in all of our court systems around the country.
You asked whether that father is in a world of hurt, I can`t imagine the emotional pain that he must be in, but more so that he put his daughter in
when he allowed her to see him in that condition. I can`t imagine. And honestly, I didn`t actually hear that tape because it was a plea until
later after it was over and there were stories about this case milling around the internet.
[20:40:00] BANFIELD: I think our viewers would be so surprised to hear that and it doesn`t make -- it`s not surprising to folks who work within the
court system that the evidence is the evidence and that`s what, you know, cases are decided upon and they are closely guarded. But when you did
eventually hear that little girl and what she went through, how did you feel about it?
RUCKER: Well, unfortunately, it wasn`t the first time that I`ve been made aware of instances where children are personal witnesses to their parents
voluntarily through addiction taking on a drug that causes them to lose consciousness. Just about a week before this, I had -- actually a month
ago, I had an individual in my courtroom whose 13-year-old son had to grab the wheel of the car because he OD`d while he was driving and crashed into
a building. So when I heard that 9-year-old in this particular case, it was a reminder to me of just how devastating and just how harmful this
addictive epidemic as everyone calls it that we`re in right now with heroin.
BANFIELD: Well, regarding that epidemic, your honor, I believe I read your words saying that we average 40 to 50 cases a day. Is that 40 to 50 cases
in the state of Ohio? Is that 40 to 50 cases a day in your county, in your courthouse? What is it?
RUCKER: So I`m in Hamilton County, which is in Cincinnati. And in Cincinnati, in Hamilton County, I`m one of 14 municipal court judges that
handles cases like this. My average docket is about 40 to 50 cases a day. Those cases are thefts, they are domestic violence, they are child
endangerment, they are disorderly conduct, they are resisting arrest.
They are everything which someone is facing essentially a year in jail or less. And so when I say we have 40 to 50 cases a day, I was talking about
out of the 14 of us, my colleagues, that we hear that many cases every day in those courtrooms. And so many of them, unfortunately, are impacted by
heroin.
BANFIELD: Well, to that end, I can`t imagine that Charles Dove is the first person who has faced you and said, judge please no, I need to go to rehab,
everything I do is because of my addiction. And that is true for so many, but how is it for you looking into those spaces and knowing, I got to make
a decision? I`m either going to turn you back and give you the help you need in a rehab and who knows, you know, how long it will last.
And if you`ll bug out and go and do this again or I am going to put you away for a year, like you did, Mr. Dove, in the county jail and tell you to
do the rehab in there and face your demons for what you did to your little girl. How do you know which one of those decisions is the right decision
for each of those faces that come before you?
RUCKER: My goal in every case that comes before me is to examine the individual. The individual circumstances. The individual facts. How a
person was led to the case that led them in front of me at that time. And I tried to mold my decision and my penalty or consequences around those
individual circumstances. For this individual, this wasn`t his first time in court.
He came before the court and he was saying that -- and really, kind of my (inaudible) actually was more of a (inaudible) was prompted by him telling
me that if I -- I could slam him, I think were his words, I could slam him, but if he did, he just go back to doing the same things. And that was as
his lawyer had asked that he could be released and allowed to go to a rehab in Kentucky -- excuse me, Florida.
I`ve been around this long enough and have dealt with enough people in my docket to have concern that when a person is released from the jail and
they are supposed to go somewhere else to receive treatment, that time between their release and the time they actually show up where they are
supposed to is the most dangerous time, particularly when somebody is in active addiction.
BANFIELD: Yeah.
RUCKER: Other people are in danger. They are in danger themselves. And I didn`t necessarily believe based on what I was hearing that was the best
option as I have in other cases. Sometimes I have.
BANFIELD: Sorry, your honor. There is something -- I want to show some pictures while I ask you my next question. It comes to us courtesy of
(inaudible) County Sheriff in Oregon. It`s effectively the faces of drug abuse and it shows the before and after pictures of those who are just, you
know, within several months of drug addiction. How they changed. Their appearances are altered so incredibly dramatically.
You can see the devastation in their lives just in their faces. And ultimately, I think this is what you`re staring down in your courtroom
oftentimes as well. There were two people in that car when that little girl called 911. Her mom was one of them. I think I read her mom was driving. So
if dad got this, mom has yet to be sentenced. I can`t imagine that
[20:45:00] Paula Smith isn`t going to be having to hear the same words. And I`m gonna read your words. I`m gonna read what you said to Charles Dove.
You said putting yourself in his shoes, I can`t handle the idea that my child is going to look at me in 10 years, in 15 years, in 20 years, if I`m
still around and say what happened to the father that I was supposed to have? I mean, those words of yours, I -- they should be on the front of the
courthouse. Do you expect that that mom is gonna hear the same thing?
RUCKER: Well, I have no clue. I don`t know that her case is in front of me or which of my 13 colleagues her case would be in front of. So I don`t know
that she will hear the same words. Hopefully, she has access to this information and she will hear it whether or not she hears it from the judge
who is handling her case or not.
BANFIELD: Judge Rucker, I can`t thank you enough for being with us tonight, and also for adjudicating the things that you do the way that you do. I
hope you`ll come back and be a guest another time. Can I put you on the spot?
RUCKER: I would be happy to. Thank you so much.
BANFIELD: Thank you so much. I do appreciate it. Last July, a mother of two was taken in, cuffed for having sex with her teenage neighbor. She pled
guilty. She spent 10 days in jail. And she promised to stay away from that boy. But last Saturday, that mom was allegedly caught in bed with that
teenager again. So what do you suppose is going to happen now?
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: A young Oregon mother of two has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a teenage boy who lives next door and that in itself is
pretty newsworthy. But there is also this. It was only six months ago that same woman, Jessica Bennett, was convicted of that same crime with that
same boy. That first arrest happened after the teenager`s dad walked in on his son who was getting dressed while Ms. Bennett was naked in his son`s
bed.
And the boy`s dad said that he noticed there were three used condoms on the mattress. Sort of a smoking gun, isn`t it? Mark Raney is the program
director for KZEL Radio. He joins me from Eugene, Oregon. Mark, how did they come upon round two so to speak? How did police -- how did she end up
in front of the police again?
MARK RANEY, PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR KZEL RADIO: First of all, thanks for having me on, and very sad story circulating (ph) titillating in the sense
not once but twice, can you believe it, but sad for this small community of Cottage Grove. What happened the second time around was after the first
July incident, she was in jail for 10 days, two years probation, had to register as a sex offender for life and told to stay away from the youth.
Then last Saturday morning, apparently police got a call about an assault and it turned out that her husband had apparently or allegedly assaulted
the teen. Police went to the hospital, talked to him, went back to Jessica Bennett`s house. She ended up admitting that yes, they had been together
again and not just once, a number of times.
BANFIELD: So, is it correct that she ultimately -- first she denied that anything happened and then ultimately admitted, okay, since round one I`ve
slept with him four, five times but the teenager who was at the hospital because of that alleged assault from her husband said oh, no, no, no, it
was about three times in a car and another four or five times in her home with her kids upstairs while husband was away. Do I have that right?
RANEY: Yeah, you do, and I mean, it just gets bizarre from the beginning. She had told police that she has had sex with the teen two and a half
times, which seems very odd, not two, two and a half. And then the husband had apparently seen them together, had seen them kissing in early April,
and then found them together again on this second go round, if you can even imagine that.
BANFIELD: I can`t.
RANEY: And like I said, the impact of that small community, not only on the young victim but his family, herself, her life, her kids, her husband and
then the community. It`s a mess.
BANFIELD: It really makes me harken back to the Mary Kay Letourneau story where she was given a bit of a break on round one when she had sexual
relationship with her student, Vili Fualaau. I think she met him when he was 11 and I think she was his teacher. And then upon getting that break
and being told to stay away, she ended up in a car having sex with Vili Fualaau, was impregnated by him, and when she was caught for that, she went
away for about seven years.
They are still together and I think this is better -- maybe more than two decades at this point. But it sure does remind me of that story. I want to
bring in Joey Jackson and Jonna Spilbor in. She only served 10 days, which I find surprising always for round one. But there was a two-year
probationary period where she was told to stay away from that boy. She did not stay away from that boy. Real quickly, does that mean she`s gonna have
to serve the year that she didn`t serve before? And maybe if she`s convicted of this second round, two years.
JACKSON: Answer is it`s up to the judge but generally speaking when you violate probation, they slam you when you come back before. And since the
maximum would have been a year, I could see the judge saying, do the year and on this consecutively do another year, making it two years.
BANFIELD: And how about the fine of $6,250? Is that times two as well?
[20:55:00] SPILBOR: I don`t know if they imposed one on the first case because that probably won`t change. They can change the amount of custody
if there is a violation. But, yeah, he`ll max her out on the fine. If being a 28-year-old mother and a registered sex offender with two children of
your own doesn`t give you incentive to behave, what`s going to other than jail?
BANFIELD: For two years.
SPILBOR: And she needs a mental evaluation.
BANFIELD: Seven years didn`t change things for Mary Kay. She came out and like I said, she and Vili Fualaau married, two kids of their own. I don`t
get it. That`s all I can say. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: My thanks to Jonna Spilbor and Joey Jackson.
[21:00:00] My thanks to you for watching. "FORENSIC FILES" starts right now. Thanks for watching tonight.
END
