S4|E17: Public Access | Part 1

Summary

Gone South

Season 4 | Episode 17: Public Access | Part 1
Release Date: February 5, 2025
Host: Jed Lipinski
Produced by: Audacy Podcasts

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Introduction

In “Public Access | Part 1,” host Jed Lipinski delves into a gripping story unraveling the dark secrets behind a beloved Baton Rouge TV personality, Scott Rogers. This episode explores themes of deception, power, and the quest for justice within the Southern community.

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The Unexpected Email

[02:32] Ronna Gray:
"I was in a rush to get to the press conference, so I just hit print and printed it out and stuffed it in my purse and walked on down to the news conference."

Ronna Gray, a seasoned public relations consultant in Baton Rouge, receives a shocking email from a man named Ethan. The email accuses Scott Rogers, known for his charismatic presence on the local TV show "Around Town," of being a dangerous child abuser.

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Ronna’s Past with Scott Rogers

[05:47] Ronna Gray:
"It was such a bizarre story. I mean, the reporter talked to me, I said, none of this is true."

Three years prior, Ronna had collaborated with Scott on the "Red Stick Ready" campaign to prepare Baton Rouge for natural disasters. Their professional relationship soured when Scott billed the city for unrendered services, leading Ronna to sue him. This conflict culminated in a tarnished reputation when Scott’s influence led to a defamatory article questioning Ronna’s credibility.

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Connecting with Ethan

[07:32] Ronna Gray:
"My first reaction in reading the email honestly was fear. I didn't know who this person was. I didn't know what their motive was."

Ethan claims to have been a victim of Scott Rogers’ abuse in the UK during the mid-90s. He alleges that Scott kidnapped two of his male students and relocated to the US, continuing his abusive behavior. Ethan’s detailed accusations prompt Ronna and her friend, Nathan Fisher—a criminal defense attorney—to take his claims seriously.

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Assembling the Team

[16:05] Nathan Fisher:
"She asked me what I would charge her to do this, and I said, hang on, hang on. I mean, someone came to you. You're trying to save some children from being molested. You know, I don't know that there's anything I can do for you. Let me just look at it and see. And I'm not going to charge you anything."

Ronna enlists Mary Jane Mercantile, an experienced paralegal with a background in solving complex criminal cases, to assist in investigating Scott Rogers. Mary Jane’s expertise becomes pivotal in uncovering the layers of Scott’s facade.

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Investigation Begins

[17:09] Ethan:
"When we got on the phone call, they introduced themselves, and then they were asking me questions about Scott Rogers to start off the conversation. And I really told them as much as I knew."

During an initial conference call, Ethan details his traumatic experiences with Scott, highlighting the duality of Scott’s personality—charming and philanthropic publicly, yet sadistic and manipulative in private. This revelation deepens the sense of urgency for Ronna and her team to expose the truth.

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Uncovering Scott’s Influence

[26:15] Mary Jane Mercantile:
"According to the website, Scott had even received an award from Child Services for becoming a licensed foster parent and for promoting foster care and adoption. In Baton Rouge, US Senator David Vitter was present for the ceremony."

As the investigation progresses, Ronna monitors Scott’s TV show closely. She discovers his strategic alliances with local officials, including the head of Louisiana State Police and prominent senators, which appear to shield him from scrutiny. Additionally, Scott’s establishment of a church in a struggling shopping mall raises suspicions of cult-like activities designed to manipulate and control his followers.

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The Adoption Controversy

[28:41] Mary Jane Mercantile:
"Mary Jane visited the website of the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services. She was looking for the form you fill out to foster and adopt kids when something else caught her eye."

Mary Jane investigates how Scott managed to adopt a child despite his past accusations. She discovers discrepancies in his adoption application, leading her to file a public records request. However, encountering resistance from the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services suggests potential corruption or cover-up efforts to protect Scott’s image.

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Conclusion and Cliffhanger

[32:51] Mary Jane Mercantile:
"That's next time on Gone South."

As the team faces bureaucratic obstacles and uncovers deeper layers of Scott’s manipulations, the episode concludes on a suspenseful note. The unresolved questions about Scott’s true intentions and the extent of his influence set the stage for the next installment.

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Notable Quotes

• Ethan on Scott’s Duality:
  [17:31] Ethan:
  "Scott Rogers, how you describe him was he had two faces, probably more than two faces... the only people that would see that side were the victims."

• Ronna on Community Trust:
  [26:46] Ronna Gray:
  "You do for our community, our state. And our country, just emphasizing the positive when others do the negative. This is what we..."

• Mary Jane on Scott’s Adoption:
  [29:13] Mary Jane Mercantile:
  "If the state of Louisiana then approved him to be a foster parent, we need a new set of people working in Child Services."

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Insights and Themes

• Power and Influence: Scott Rogers leverages his charm and connections to maintain a spotless public image despite heinous accusations.
• The Quest for Justice: Ronna, Nathan, and Mary Jane embody the relentless pursuit of truth against formidable opposition.
• The Impact of Trauma: Ethan’s journey highlights the long-lasting effects of abuse and the challenges victims face in seeking justice.

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Conclusion

"Gone South | Public Access | Part 1" masterfully sets up a complex narrative interweaving personal vendettas, systemic corruption, and the resilience of those seeking justice. As the story unfolds, listeners are drawn into the intricate web surrounding Scott Rogers, promising a tense continuation in the following episode.

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For more episodes and updates, follow Gone South on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Jed Lipinski]

Every week on the Moth podcast, we share stories that are funny, strange, heartbreaking, and above all, true.

[Ethan]

I myself have been married for 56.

[Ronna Gray]

Years.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Unfortunately to four different women.

[Ronna Gray]

You can work out a whole lot of in the aisles of Target.

[Jed Lipinski]

Follow and listen to the Moth on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, let's take a poll. How weird does it feel to be called someone's fiance? Right? The first time you hear it, you do like a double take. Your heart kind of flutters and before you know it, you go from let's just enjoy this moment to we're planning a fall wedding. That's where Zola comes in. Zola has everything you need to plan your wedding in one place and have fun along the way. From free planning tools like a budget tracker, super necessary and website to a venue and vendor discovery tool that matches you with your dream team. Everything on Zola is designed to make your wedding journey as easy as possible. And with invites that can be completely customized and a wedding registry packed with gifts you actually want, Zola takes you from Save our date to thanks so much without breaking a sweat. For from getting engaged to getting married, Zola has everything you need to plan your wedding in one place. Start [e-mail] that's z o l a.com Happy wedding.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

On the afternoon of August 28, 2013, a woman named Ronna Gray was sitting in her office in downtown Baton Rouge. Rana is a public relations consultant, and on that day, she was preparing for a press conference to announce the first annual Red Stick Revelry.

[Ronna Gray]

Three, two, one.

[Margo Gray]

Ringing the New Year at Red Stick.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Revelry, Baton Rouge's official New Year's Eve celebration. Music on the Crest Stage begins. Baton Rouge, as you may know, is French for Red stick. Red Stick Revelry would be the city's take on New Year's Eve. Instead of dropping a ball at midnight like they do in Times Square, they'd drop a giant red stick. Rana's job was to help city officials promote it. But as Rana stood up to leave, she got an unexpected email.

[Ronna Gray]

And I heard the little familiar ping that I had an email incoming. I stopped to read it, and I started reading words I just couldn't believe the subject was Scott Rogers.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

The email was just eight sentences long. It began by describing Scott as, quote, very bad news.

[Ronna Gray]

He's dangerous, he's abused children, and I'm sure he's still abusing. These words are just jumping off the page at me. And you've got to warn parents.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ronna scanned the rest of the email, but she didn't have time to process it.

[Ronna Gray]

I was in a rush to get to the press conference, so I just hit print and printed it out and stuffed it in my purse and walked on down to the news conference.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

At the conference, she spotted a criminal defense attorney she knew, a man named Nathan Fisher.

[Ronna Gray]

When I saw him, I said, I need to talk to you afterwards. He said, walk down to my office, which was just a few blocks away downtown.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Also, Ronna knew Scott Rogers. A lot of people did. He hosted a popular Sunday morning TV show on the local Fox affiliate called Around Town. Thanks for staying with us. The Around Town show. I get invited to many different events, and I get to meet some really interesting people this past. In it, Scott, a small British man with a theatrical air, charmed and praised local elected officials, government employees, and nonprofit directors, with an occasional program sponsor thrown in.

[Ronna Gray]

He also seemed to volunteer for every charity operation in town, whether it was a fundraiser for a charity, all the good ones, you know, Red Cross and children's advocacy, and all kinds of programs that had great reputations.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Scott was a beloved figure in Baton Rouge, the very opposite of a dangerous child abuser, as the strange email suggested. When Rana finally reached Nathan's office, Scott. She pulled the printed email out of her purse and read it again, more closely this time. What she couldn't know is that its contents would consume the next year of her life and shock Baton Rouge to its core. I'm Jed Lipinski. This has gone south. The people of Baton Rouge may have loved Scott Rogers, but Ronna Gray didn't share their opinion. Three years earlier, Ronna had worked with Scott on a public education campaign called Red Stick Ready. The campaign was designed to better prepare Baton Rouge for natural disasters like hurricane Katrina. Rana's PR firm handled the marketing. Scott's TV company handled video production. But Scott wound up billing the city for work that Rana's firm had performed, then kept her portion of the fees. So Rana sued him. The dispute dragged on for more than a year. At one point, Scott convinced a reporter for the Baton Rouge Advocate to publish a story attacking Ronna's credibility and accusing her of mishandling the campaign.

[Ronna Gray]

It was such a bizarre story. I mean, the reporter talked to me, I said, none of this is true.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Rana, a former journalism major, wrote a letter to the editor to set the record straight.

[Ronna Gray]

And while lots of people don't think a letter to the editor means anything to me, it's the only recourse you have when there's false information printed In a newspaper.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Two years had passed since then, and Ronna had all but forgotten her letter. That's when she got the email about Scott Rogers.

[Ronna Gray]

And out of the blue, I get this email that says, I found your letter to the Advocate. And I was like, oh, my gosh. That letter to the editor.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Sitting in her friend Nathan's legal office, Ronna reread the email in a state of shock. Its author, a man we'll call Ethan, said he'd known Scott Rogers nearly 20 years ago. In the UK. Scott had run a school called the Academy of Dance and Performing Arts in the town of Bury St. Edmunds, about 80 miles northeast of London. But in the mid-90s, Ethan wrote, Scott was accused of sexually abusing one of his students, a 12 year old boy. The trial ended in a hung jury and he was ultimately found not guilty of the charges. But Ethan said Scott had abused other boys as well. In the wake of the scandal, Ethan claimed Scott had even kidnapped two of his male students and fled to the US with them and his daughter. He now employed all three of them in his TV production company in Baton Rouge. I am extremely confident that he will still be abusing Ethan wrote, adding, he is a very clever, nasty little man.

[Ronna Gray]

My first reaction in reading the email honestly was fear. I didn't know who this person was. I didn't know what their motive was. I really had no idea what to do with this.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

At the end of the email, Ethan offered to send Ronna newspaper articles about Scott's arrest and his subsequent trial. The next day, Ronna cautiously wrote back asking to see them. Ethan responded, within minutes, you know, I.

[Ronna Gray]

Start receiving all these emails of photos of old news articles. You can see they've been kept in a scrapbook, which also was a little disconcerting to me because I start thinking, who is this person? He has saved these news articles about this trial in a scrapbook and he's photographing them and sending them to me.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

The articles published in the Daily Mail and the Bury Free Press detailed the sordid allegations against Scott Rogers. Former students compared his academy to a cult. They said Scott isolated them from their families and fostered a climate of fear and blind loyalty. One article claimed that as a control tactic, Scott coerced several boys to announce that they were gay in front of other students. Another described a young boy he'd adopted and then severely abused until the boy was able to escape. The articles painted a picture of a sexual predator who'd used his position at the dance academy to exploit vulnerable children. They left Rana Shaken, especially because she knew that Scott had an adopted 10 year old son.

[Ronna Gray]

The child was on the spectrum of autism, and he had him featured at fundraisers, brought him on his show a lot, and really showed him off.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ronna's friend Nathan had worked cases involving child abusers before. After telling him about the articles, Ronna asked if he thought the child in Scott's home was in danger.

[Ronna Gray]

And Nathan said, absolutely. And I said, well, then doing nothing is not an option. I don't know what to do, but we can't just get this information and do nothing with it. So that started a series of me every night after work, emailing the young man who contacted me with some questions. And I would wake up the next morning with the time difference to the answers to every question I sent. He was so responsive. He responded perfectly to everything we asked for. He was extremely credible. He told me at one point in an email, I've told you more about this time than I've told family members. And I don't even know you. It just started growing. This person is truthful, and how can we help him?

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Rana is originally from Mississippi, but she'd lived in Baton Rouge for decades. She'd managed three successful reelection campaigns for the mayor and was close to many of the city's power players. She considered calling them up and outing Scott Rogers as a pedophile, but Nathan advised against it.

[Ronna Gray]

And he said, well, you can't go start telling everyone he's a child sex abuser. He'll sue you.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Instead, they shared the story with some trusted law enforcement sources. The response was lukewarm. After all, Scott had been acquitted of assault charges in the uk and he hadn't been charged with anything in Louisiana.

[Ronna Gray]

And Nathan said to me, you know, we need to find out on our own what crimes have been committed that we can refer to law enforcement. That's what they all kept looking for. You can't just bring us a story, you know, bring us a crime that's been committed.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Rana had dabbled in crime reporting as a college student, but she'd spent her career in pr. Proving people guilty of crimes was not her forte. For this reason, Nathan recommended she speak with another unique Baton Rouge character, a woman whose background and disposition seemed particularly well suited to exposing a child predator among Baton Rouge's social elite.

[Nathan Fisher]

I just call myself a nosy person. Okay. I'm just a nosy person.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Wow.

[Jed Lipinski]

What's up?

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

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[Jed Lipinski]

You the person who asked agonized for weeks over whether to Paint your walls eggshell or off white. Bought and financed a car in minutes.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

They made it easy. Transparent terms, customizable down and monthly. Didn't even have to do any paperwork.

[Margo Gray]

Wow.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Hey, have you checked out that spreadsheet I sent you for our dinner?

[Jed Lipinski]

Options Finance your car with carvana and experience total control financing subject to credit approval. College holds a mythic place in American culture. It's often considered the best four years of your life and hailed as a beacon of integr excellence. But beyond the polished campus tours, there are stories you won't find in the admissions pamphlets.

[Margo Gray]

The higher ups are concerned about one.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Thing, and that is avoiding scandal.

[Jed Lipinski]

It's no wonder that college campuses capture the nation's attention, especially in moments of upheaval. I'm Margo Gray. Each week on the Campus Files podcast, we bring you a new story.

[Ronna Gray]

It was the biggest academic scandal in the history of college sports and probably in the history of academia.

[Jed Lipinski]

On Campus Files we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

A chancellor having a pornographic double life is an extremely rare case.

[Jed Lipinski]

Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyse original podcast, available now on the free Odysee app and wherever you get your podcasts.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

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[Margo Gray]

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[Mary Jane Mercantile]

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[Margo Gray]

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[Mary Jane Mercantile]

9. As a teenager growing up in the town of Alexandria, Louisiana, Mary Jane Mercantile dreamed of becoming Della Street. I confess, I didn't know who Della street was, but Mary Jane helped me out with that.

[Nathan Fisher]

Della street was Perry Mason's right hand person. Traveled with him to court with him. She set in on meetings with him.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Perry Mason, as you may know, was a fictional defense attorney famous for solving complex criminal cases on tv. Della was his sounding board and secret weapon. Known for her beauty and scathing wit. Della, you shouldn't have.

[Nathan Fisher]

No, but I'll bet you're awfully glad I did.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

In high school, Mary Jane would occasionally skip class to sit in court during high profile criminal cases. She later served as a paralegal for Camille Gravel, the legendary civil rights attorney who helped implement school desegregation in Louisiana during the 1960s and 70s. But Mary Jane was more than a paralegal.

[Nathan Fisher]

It sounds like I'm bragging about myself. I am the only paralegal in Louisiana or anywhere else, by the way, that does what I do. I do murders, I do street crime. I do white collar. That's what I do. I am in the private sector. Exactly what a cop does. Okay.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

The FBI had credited Mary Jane a few years earlier with helping to solve a famous murder for hire case in Baton Rouge. This had put her on the radar of criminal defense attorneys like Nathan. He thought she might offer Rana some advice.

[Ronna Gray]

So I met with Mary Jane and laid out everything that I had in the emails and the articles that I'd received about the trial and everything, and explained to her kind of where we were trying to go.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ronna offered to pay Mary Jane to do some research and public records requests.

[Nathan Fisher]

She asked me what I would charge her to do this, and I said, hang on, hang on. I mean, someone came to you. You're trying to save some children from being molested. You know, I don't know that there's anything I can do for you. Let me just look at it and see. And I'm not going to charge you anything.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

By now, Ronna had exchanged dozens of emails with Ethan. She knew he'd attended Scott's dance academy and that he knew some of the boys who'd been abused, but that was about it. They had yet to talk on the phone.

[Ronna Gray]

We were wondering at the time, who is this person? We were still wondering, is he a victim of Scott Rogers? So the next step was we set up a conference call, audio only, in Nathan's office, to talk to the young man who contacted me by phone and to hear his actual voice for the first time and let him bridge the gap and tell us the story.

[Ethan]

When we got on the phone call, they introduced themselves, and then they were asking me questions about Scott Rogers to start off the conversation. And I really told them as much as I knew.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

This is Ethan talking with me in January, 11 years after his conference call with Ronna and Mary Jane.

[Ethan]

Scott Rogers, how you describe him was he had two faces, probably more than two faces. So initially, he was a massive character, like a really powerful kind of aura. He was really charismatic. He had a great sense of humor, and he was just very open and accepting. And when you were around him, he had authority about him, and he would use that to gain the trust of the parents of the children. So he would use his character, his personality, if you like, as a trick, you know, to make you think that he was this Great guy, always helping people, helping charities. And then the other side of him was sadistic, dark, violent, manipulative, terrifying, absolutely terrifying person. And, you know, the only people that would see that side were the victims.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

As Ethan spoke, it became obvious to Ronna and Mary Jane that he was a victim of Scott Rogers. But Rana felt so protective toward him that she hesitated to ask. Mary Jane did it for her.

[Ethan]

And they did ask me and they said, you know, they were worried that I was a victim of Scott Rogers. And I did tell them that, yes, I was a victim of Scott Rogers. And, and I remember it just going completely silent as they obviously were sort of taking in the reality of what was happening. You know, I was a victim, and it was a real thing.

[Ronna Gray]

And so we knew then, you know, we were dealing with someone who had firsthand knowledge of what this man was.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ethan went on to explain that he'd managed to break away from Scott and his academy at age 16. In the wake of the trial, the local city council had issued a warning to parents about the academy's, quote, unhealthy atmosphere. The case destroyed Scott's reputation and depleted him financially. Ethan, who'd boarded at the academy since age 12, saw a chance to get out.

[Ethan]

I went into his office to see him and told him that I was leaving. And then, you know, I had to go through a two or three hour conversation with him and just keep telling him that I was leaving, I was leaving, I was leaving. And then he just, at the, you know, at the end, he agreed to let me leave.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ethan went off to college, but Scott remained in his life.

[Ethan]

What he did do is he would keep calling me back to check up on me, or he'd send someone to find me and bring me to the academy or to bring me to his house as well. So although I'd left at 16, he was still keeping an eye on me and, you know, making sure that I wasn't saying anything about him, you know, where the other victims weren't so lucky.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Two of those victims, their names were Stuart and Matthew, had lived with Ethan at the academy as teenagers. Scott had cut them off from their families after they turned 18. He'd brought them to America to live with him. They were now in their mid-30s and working for Scott's TV company. Despite the abuse he'd suffered, Ethan had graduated from college, built a successful career, and started a family. But he was haunted by Scott's memory and the idea that he was still out there abusing children. In 2008, five years before his email to Rana. He tracked Scott down online and found that he'd reinvented himself as a TV personality in Louisiana. So Ethan sent Scott an email.

[Ethan]

You know, obviously, I'd made it very clear in my communications with him in 2008 what my intentions were in terms of, you know, getting justice for myself, other victims, and any future victims as well. My intentions were to take him down. My intentions were to expose him.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

24 hours after Ethan reached out, Scott shut down his website. He put his TV show on hold. Ethan believed he may even have left the state.

[Ethan]

So, naturally, there wasn't much I could do. So it was almost like I had to start searching again.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ethan had his second child, a son, that same year. He was focused on being a dad and realized his fight against Scott Rogers would have to wait. Five years would pass before he revived his quest. He made a list of people who'd appeared on Scott's TV show or done business with him in Baton Rouge. He drafted a mass email warning them about who Scott really was.

[Ethan]

Just before I sent the email out, I started just doing more of a Google search. I started typing in things like, scott Rogers lied, Scott Rogers deceived. And when I typed in Scott Rogers deceived, it came up with Ronna Gray's letter to the editor. And as soon as I read the letter, I just knew immediately that that was the person that I needed to get in contact with. Because she'd experienced Scott Rogers, she'd obviously had a very bad experience with him.

[Ronna Gray]

So hearing his voice for the first time and hearing him have to say some of these things, it just hits you in just the pit of your stomach what this young man has gone through in his life and what he has kept in secret and not shared, but has stayed on course to someday at the right time, when he was strong enough, as he says, make it right.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

At the end of the call, Ethan restated his belief that Scott was still abusing kids.

[Ethan]

So once we had that initial phone call, we then started to put a plan together. And that's when it started to sort of form into a strategy of what we were going to do. And they had ideas that were far better than anything that I could ever even think of.

[Margo Gray]

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[Mary Jane Mercantile]

The day after their conference call, Ronna and Mary Jane put a loose plan into effect. Mary Jane agreed to figure out how Scott Rogers had adopted a child despite having been arrested for child sexual assault in the uk. Rana volunteered to start watching episodes of Scott's show around town.

[Ronna Gray]

Nobody else could bring themselves to watch it, but I thought, this is gonna be critical to what we're doing. So I recorded it every weekend and sat through and watched it and took notes about it.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Ron had watched the show before, but never this closely. She learned several things. One was the extent to which Scott had ingratiated himself with local leaders in Baton Rouge.

[Ronna Gray]

The head of Louisiana State Police was a frequent guest on there. The head of Child Services, the sheriff was not only on his program often he did a cooking segment with him. He had made him an honorary deputy. He had made him chaplain of the sheriff's office.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

In one particularly strong display of appreciation, United States Senator Bill Cassidy, who was a congressman at the time, went on Scott's show with a special gift. And what have you got over there? Well, this is a flag. In fact, I'll ask you to read that. This says this is to certify the accompanying flag was flown over the United States Capitol at the request of the Honorable Bill Cassidy, Member of Congress this flag was flown for the Around Town show in commemoration of its seventh anniversary. It's our birthday next weekend.

[Ronna Gray]

And I was just horrified at the people in Baton Rouge who were lending credibility to him by going on his show and complimenting him on all that he did in the community.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Again, just to honor all the things.

[Ronna Gray]

You do for our community, our state.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

And our country, just emphasizing the positive when others do the negative. This is what we Again, this flew over the Capitol and this. Oh, thank you. It occurred to Rana that Scott had intentionally befriended these public officials to insulate himself against accusations that he was a sexual predator. Another thing Ronna learned from the TV show was that Scott had become a minister and even started his own church in a struggling shopping mall.

[Ronna Gray]

He promoted his church on his TV show. He always had a little motivational moment and he brought a co pastor on and they talked about having mass weddings on Valentine's Day, that anyone who wanted to get married, come get married at our church all day long on Valentine's Day. A lot of things that I thought spoke to the cult nature that he had been accused of in the uk it seemed to me he was duplicating through that church.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

While Ronna was immersing herself in episodes of Around Town, Mary Jane was trying to understand how Scott had managed to adopt a child.

[Ronna Gray]

Anyone who's filled out federal forms knows there are a lot of questions asked on it, and usually for anything. Have you ever been arrested for a crime? And if you say no, that's pretty much it. If you say yes, you have to give a little bit of detail on it. How did it end up? Were you convicted? Were the charges dropped? What happened? So we are very curious to know what information he disclosed on any documentation, has he told the truth?

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Mary Jane visited the website of the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services. She was looking for the form you fill out to foster and adopt kids when something else caught her eye.

[Nathan Fisher]

On the website of the Louisiana Child Services, they were touting him as this incredible foster parent. We need more like him to come and adopt children and blah, blah, blah. And I'm thinking to myself, how in the hell.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

According to the website, Scott had even received an award from Child Services for becoming a licensed foster parent and for promoting foster care and adoption. In Baton Rouge, US Senator David Vitter was present for the ceremony. Mary Jane was outraged. Eventually, she found the form that all adoptive parents in Louisiana have to fill out. It clearly asked whether the applicant had ever been arrested or even accused of a crime. And if so, what for?

[Nathan Fisher]

If he lied, that's a public document in the state of Louisiana, which is a felony offense. If in fact there is a mailing that takes place, then that becomes a federal offense. Are you with me?

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

To figure out whether he lied on his form? Mary Jane filed a public records request for Scott's application. In Louisiana, adoptive parents get state funding to help with the cost of raising the child. This technically makes them state employees, meaning their applications should be accessible to the public.

[Nathan Fisher]

They absolutely refuse to give it to me.

[Ronna Gray]

She's denied all the requests on any applications on the grounds that they don't release any information on minor children. She makes the argument that we don't want any information on a minor child. We want this man's application to do business with your department. Denied.

[Nathan Fisher]

Well, when you piss me off, it is never a good thing.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Mary Jane's first thought was that given Scott's cozy relationship with Child Services, the department was protecting him from scrutiny. She then considered a few other scenarios. If Scott had told the truth on his adoption application and admitted he'd been arrested for sexually abusing a 12 year old boy in the UK, he should not have been allowed to adopt or foster a child.

[Nathan Fisher]

If the state of Louisiana then approved him to be a foster parent. We need a new set of people working in Child Services. Okay.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

But if Scott had lied on his application and said he'd never been arrested before, that was also a problem.

[Nathan Fisher]

All people who apply to do foster kids, they have to be cleared by the Louisiana State Police, have to do a background check on them, and because he's been tried in England, it should be on some sort of rap sheet somewhere that if they had done their job, then that would have come up, which would have precluded him from being able to get access to these kids.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

Under normal circumstances, Mary Jane would have sued Child Services for access to Scott's application. But suing him would make their intentions public and they didn't want to alert Scott to what they were doing.

[Ronna Gray]

We had learned from the man who contacted us from England that when there was heat on him, he fled. So we didn't want to risk that happening.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

As they went back and forth about what to do next, Scott, Ronna couldn't stop thinking about the adopted 10 year old boy in Scott Rogers home. According to Ethan, Scott had targeted him and his classmates at the academy when they were 12, just two years older than Scott's adopted son.

[Ronna Gray]

I learned there's usually an age group that predators target. And so you kind of imagine that this process is about to start all over again, if it hasn't already.

[Mary Jane Mercantile]

That's next time on Gone South. If you have information, story tips or feedback you'd like to share with the Gone south team, please email [e-mail] that's gone SouthPodcastMail and for bonus content, you can follow us on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram at Gone South Podcast. You can also sign up for our newsletter on substack. Gone south with Jed Lipinski Gone south is an Odyssey original podcast. It's created, written and narrated by me, Jed Lipinski. Our executive producers are Jenna Weiss Berman, Maddy Sprung Kaiser, Tom Lipinski, Lloyd Lockridge and me. Our story editors are Tom Lipinski, Maddy Sprunkheiser and Joel Lovell. Gone south is edited by Chris Basel and Perry Crowell. It's mixed and mastered by Chris Basel. Production support from Ian Mont and Sean Cherry. Special thanks to J.D. crowley, Leah Reese, Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney and Hilary Sh.

[G]

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