409: Worst Ex Ever: Betrayed By The Badge

Summary

Podcast Summary: True Crime Obsessed – Episode 409: Worst Ex Ever: Betrayed By The Badge

Introduction to the Episode

In Episode 409 of True Crime Obsessed, titled "Worst Ex Ever: Betrayed By The Badge," hosts Patrick and Gillian delve into a harrowing true crime story from the Netflix series Worst Ex Ever. This episode, released on January 7, 2025, unpacks the intricate tale of Simona, a hardworking single mother, and her deceitful ex-boyfriend Jerry, whose betrayal not only leads to Simona’s wrongful imprisonment but also exposes significant flaws within law enforcement.

Background on Simona

Simona is introduced as a dynamic woman balancing a demanding career and personal life. In 2006, she serves as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley while simultaneously opening a Jamaican restaurant franchise, Golden Crust. As Gillian describes, "Simona is super busy...she's got Wall Street, the restaurant, and she's taking care of Kiara, her daughter."

Simona’s dedication is evident as she juggles her roles with grace, embodying the epitome of a modern, empowered single mother. Her resilience and work ethic are traced back to her upbringing in a hardworking family from Guyana, highlighting her strong foundation and determination.

The Meeting with Jerry

In June 2006, Simona meets Jerry, a man who enters her life under the guise of a Brooklyn detective. Initially, Jerry appears helpful and supportive, offering unsolicited advice on her restaurant’s security and performing favors that seem genuine. Patrick remarks, "Nobody asked. But she's kind of grateful because he's like, let me come back."

Despite Simona’s busy life and reluctance to sacrifice her freedom for a relationship, she becomes entangled with Jerry. Unbeknownst to her, Jerry harbors ulterior motives stemming from a traumatic past, including a pending rape trial against him.

The Assault and Frame-Up

Fast forward to March 2009, the relationship takes a dark turn. Simona receives a distressing phone call from a woman claiming to be Jerry’s wife, revealing Jerry's true nature as a deceitful individual with a history of misconduct. Simona confronts Jerry in her restaurant, only to be violently assaulted and raped by him. In the aftermath, Jerry orchestrates a complex scheme to frame Simona for multiple armed robberies.

Gillian poignantly states, "He's a racist, rapist, and all of this to avoid accountability. What a piece of shit." This betrayal not only devastates Simona personally but also sets off a chain of events leading to her wrongful arrest.

Simona’s Arrest and Trials

In May 2010, Simona is unjustly arrested for a series of robberies she did not commit. The orchestrated crimes, executed by Jerry and his unwilling accomplices, paint Simona as a criminal in the eyes of the law. Despite possessing solid alibis—such as her documented presence at the Mohegan Sun casino—Simona faces severe charges, including robbery in the first and second degrees, criminal impersonation, and menacing, with bail set exorbitantly high at one million dollars.

Simona's ordeal is exacerbated by the incompetence and bias within the police force. Gillian emphasizes the systemic failure, stating, "Simona is happy and she's living her life. If she's happy, I'm happy." However, the reality is grim as Simona endures months of incarceration, separated from her daughter Kiara, who copes by being raised by her aunt.

Unraveling Jerry’s Lies

As the case against Simona progresses, cracks in Jerry’s facade begin to appear. An ex-friend, initially coerced by Jerry, becomes a pivotal witness, revealing Jerry’s deceitful tactics. Through determined legal efforts, Simona’s attorney, Anthony Grant, uncovers phone records and witness testimonies that connect Jerry to the fabricated robberies. Grant asserts, "If we can prove that they all know each other, or at the very least, they all know Jerry, then we can prove that these...independent witnesses are setting Simona up."

Despite these revelations, systemic obstacles hinder Simona’s defense, including jurisdictional challenges and resistance from corrupt law enforcement officials. The narrative exposes how Jerry exploited his supposed connections within the NYPD to manipulate evidence and intimidate witnesses, ultimately prolonging Simona's suffering.

The Conviction of Jerry

The relentless pursuit of truth culminates in Jerry’s arrest and trial. His manipulative schemes and criminal actions are laid bare in court, leading to his conviction. Gillian highlights the momentous trial proceedings: "She was sort of like the most compelling witness he's ever seen in his entire career. He says during her testimony, jurors were crying."

In December 2010, Jerry is sentenced to 32 years in prison—25 years for rape and seven for conspiracy—ending his reign of deceit and oppression. This sentencing serves as a semblance of justice for Simona, who has endured significant personal and professional losses.

Simona’s Aftermath

Despite achieving wrongful conviction, Simona's journey does not end with Jerry’s imprisonment. She faces immense challenges, including foreclosure of her family home and the emotional toll of losing time with her daughter Kiara. Through a legal settlement with Nassau County and the involved detectives, Simona receives two million dollars—a partial recompense for her suffering. However, the scars of her ordeal linger, emphasizing the profound impact of systemic failures and personal betrayal.

Gillian reflects on Simona’s resilience, stating, "So Simona sues Nassau County and the detectives...they're so out of line and wrong because I didn't want to have to go testify." Simona's story underscores the critical need for accountability and reform within the justice system to prevent such injustices from recurring.

Conclusion and Insights

"Worst Ex Ever: Betrayed By The Badge" serves as a stark reminder of the potential for abuse within law enforcement and the devastating consequences of personal betrayal. Patrick and Gillian highlight the importance of vigilance, support systems, and systemic reforms to safeguard against such injustices. The episode not only narrates Simona’s harrowing experience but also calls for broader societal reflections on trust, accountability, and justice.

Notable Quotes

• Patrick [00:07]: "I mean, like the twist, it just gets worse and worse and worse."

• Gillian [03:22]: "Simona is super busy...she's got Wall Street, the restaurant, and she's taking care of Kiara, her daughter."

• Gillian [12:01]: "He drags Simona down to the basement and he sexually assaults her. He rapes her."

• Patrick [31:18]: "A million dollars bail...she's stuck in jail, waiting trial."

• Gillian [60:36]: "This episode is called Betrayed by the Badge. And at first, you think it's about how Jerry's pretending to be a cop. Sure, that's part of it. But also, the cops betrayed Simona because they failed her."

Final Thoughts

This episode of True Crime Obsessed intricately weaves a narrative of deception, betrayal, and the quest for justice. Through engaging storytelling and insightful analysis, Patrick and Gillian shed light on Simona's wrongful persecution, urging listeners to reflect on the profound impacts of personal and systemic failures within the criminal justice system.

Transcript

[Patrick]

This one was literal. Jaw on the floor. I could not believe what I was watching.

[Gillian]

It's absolutely insane.

[Patrick]

I mean, like the twist, it just gets worse and worse and worse.

[Gillian]

It's really bad. Like, it's just. It's really bad.

[Patrick]

Hey, fam. I just wanted to remind you that I'm heading back out on tour in February. In case you don't know, it's a storytelling party evening where for the first hour, I'm going to be telling you a hilarious story about a disastrous night I spent with Golden Girls. I, Bea Arthur. I loved her. She hated me, but she needed me. And hilarity ensued. I have a drag queen playing Bea Arthur from beyond the grave via video. It's hilarious. It's ridiculous. You're going to love it. For the second part of the night, we all go to the bar and drink and hang out. Do not be afraid to come alone, fam. We've made special stickers for solo travelers to wear if you're looking to make new friends. We've also made other stickers for people who come in groups but want to invite solo travelers to join their group. It's going to be an amazing night of, like, laughing, hanging out, and making new friends. We are super close to selling out in Seattle, Los Angeles and Indianapolis. All of those shows have fewer than 15 tickets left. And Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Salt Lake are all more than two thirds sold out as well. Just a heads up, I'm going to be announcing a bunch more cities in a couple of weeks. You can get all the information and get your tickets@Patrick Tours.com. anyway, girl, what are we talking about today?

[Gillian]

All right, that show. Worst X ever on Netflix. This is our second episode that we're covering because it's episode two of the series. It's called Betrayed by the Badge.

[Melanie]

Emotions, especially with exes, bring out the absolute worst in people.

[Patrick]

This is 911.

[Gillian]

They ruled me over.

[Melanie]

I've seen instances where exes kill each other.

[Gillian]

Ma'am. Yes.

[Patrick]

What incident happened?

[Melanie]

But as far as this elaborate plot was just gut wrenching.

[Gillian]

How is life saving your face? Horrible.

[Melanie]

Plain, simple.

[Patrick]

Right at the top, we meet Simona. She's a Queens girly.

[Gillian]

She's the freaking coolest.

[Patrick]

She is.

[Gillian]

Yeah. Her name's Simona. It's spelled S E E M O N A. She's super cool. Yeah, it's 2006. At the time, she's a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley and.

[Patrick]

And, And.

[Gillian]

And she's opening a restaurant at the same time.

[Patrick]

She says it was like I was always busy. It seemed like all I knew how to do was work, work, work. And I was like, great for you, Simona. Who would ever want to open a restauran?

[Gillian]

I mean, it's one of the hardest things to do. It really is. It's incredibly hard to open.

[Patrick]

Nothing but respect for anybody who owns, like, a food service business like that. But, I mean, it is just having spent 20 years working in restaurants, I cannot imagine the stress. And, like, above and beyond that, she's a financial adviser with Morgan Stanley. Like, she does it all.

[Gillian]

And it's not. Neither of those things are nine to five jobs.

[Patrick]

No.

[Gillian]

So it's not like she's like, oh, nine to five. And then she clocks out. Like, when you're working on Wall street like that, it's just endless.

[Patrick]

And beyond that, she's a single mom. Yeah. She's got this awesome daughter named Kiara we'll get to in a minute. Like, she. This woman is full time.

[Gillian]

So here's the deal with Simona. She's the coolest. Her family is from Guyana, which is in South America.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

She came to the US when she was 11 years old. She's the oldest of three. She has a younger brother, younger sister. She grew up on Long Island.

[Simona]

When I was growing up in Long island, we basically grew up in the same house. And we lived there for years until I purchased the house from my parents. In my mind, that house, it was always going to be mine, I guess, or in the family type of thing.

[Gillian]

The house is really, really important to her.

[Patrick]

And, like, her dad is a workhorse, too. Like, you can tell she gets her work ethic from her dad. He worked for Steinway Piano Company, which is amazing. And in addition to that, he owns his own taxi company, which is exactly.

[Gillian]

What Simone is doing because she has a job and her own business.

[Frank]

Yeah. Yes.

[Gillian]

So she's following in his footsteps. So right out of school, she's a broker on Wall Street. She goes, I learned fast and I moved up fast. And I'm like, yeah, you did get it.

[Patrick]

I mean, oh, my God.

[Gillian]

Oh, those finance bros hated to see her coming, of course. Oh, she's amazing.

[Patrick]

I mean, it's one of those things. I would love to learn how to do that. I don't know how you learn how to do that.

[Gillian]

No interest.

[Patrick]

I mean, like, I would love to know how to, like, make my money. Make money or whatever, but. Sure.

[Gillian]

But that's what the experts are.

[Patrick]

I get like, Simona, like Simona, when you love her to shoes, your broker.

[Gillian]

Well, now it's different. Now I'd want to. I'd like, we'd be like finance girlies. And I take her out to Cosmos and be like, tell me everything.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God. Stories for days.

[Gillian]

So after a few years of working on Wall street, she decides to open a Golden Crust, which is a franchise that serves Jamaican food. And they are all over New York in the.

[Patrick]

I mean, you see them everywhere.

[Gillian]

She knew the food, she loved the food. And that's the thing. Like, she had a passion for this thing and she also wanted this other business. I just, like, I totally understand why she was doing.

[Patrick]

She's also not like one of those passive owners. Like, she's like super hands on. She's there all the time.

[Gillian]

You do it.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

That's how you become successful.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

So it's January 2006. She's beyond busy. We have Wall street, we have the restaurant, and she's taking care of Kiara, who's her daughter, who she describes as the best thing that ever happened to.

[Patrick]

Her, the total love of her life. I love Kiara because she. She seems like, quiet. But, like, what?

[Gillian]

She watches everything.

[Patrick]

Watches every.

[Gillian]

She'll let you know what she's. If she feels like it. She watches, she absorbs everything.

[Patrick]

She's got a little bit of a Jillian quality to her. She seems to know things about people before everybody else does.

[Gillian]

Yeah, I was going to say we'll get to what she's absorbing in a moment.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So Simone is super busy and she was pretty adamant that she was never going to get married because honestly, she was too fudgeing busy and she wasn't going to sacrifice anything, including her freedom for a man.

[Patrick]

And that's the thing. Like, she describes a marriage as, like, losing her freedom. I was like, damn, Simona, who hurt you?

[Gillian]

Right. But also, like, I get it because she's got two completely different jobs and completely different different fields. And like, then she's got, like, her and Kiara have it all worked out, so now you're bringing someone else into that. And it's not like a man hating thing or it's. It complicates everything. And Simone is kind of like, my life is great. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. She's getting fulfilled. She doesn't need anybody.

[Patrick]

She doesn't need it. And so the restaurant was supposed to open in early March 2006, but then, like, we take a fucking serious left turn and we find out that Simone's dad dies by suicide.

[Simona]

After that happened, I pushed back the opening at A restaurant till after all the prayers and everything was done and gave myself enough time. So it was opened in the very last week of March.

[Gillian]

So she delays opening the restaurant. Of course.

[Patrick]

Yeah, we should say that. Like, this suicide. We'll get more into it later. But, like, it really affects her. Like, she really. Like, she can't understand why her dad would have done that. She also doesn't really feel like she can talk to her family too much about it. So. Well, like, it's a. This is a. This is an important part of the story, right?

[Gillian]

So she opens it the very. So she opens the restaurant the very last week of March 2006.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

By June 2006, Simona meets this guy, Jerry. He comes into the restaurant. He's ordering food. He strikes up a conversation with her. I'm sure Simona was dealing with guys hitting on her all the time. But Jerry's a cop. He's a detective for the Brooklyn DA's office. He also does consulting work down the street, so hooray. Jerry can stop by any time.

[Patrick]

And you know what? She's always happy to see him. He's being really helpful. Now, obviously, this is called worst ex ever. This guy's gonna end up being a total fucking piece of shit, right?

[Gillian]

But he's giving her. At first, I'm like, jerry, take a walk.

[Patrick]

Because he's just like, a long walk off a short pier, double, 100% kick pushing you off.

[Gillian]

But he's giving her notes on the restaurant, telling her that the cameras are in the wrong places. I'm like, jerry rocks. Nobody asked.

[Patrick]

Nobody asked. But she's kind of grateful because he's like, let me come back. Probably the cameras weren't pointed in the wrong direction, I'm sure.

[Gillian]

But did she ask for help? She was probably like, hey, move that.

[Frank]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Patrick]

He's just looking for a reason to come back and hang out her.

[Gillian]

And also like, he's being. Because she says, he was making my life easier on a daily basis. Like taking a car to the car wash. And this can be a form of love bombing. So I'm sorry to sound like a cynical, cold bitch, but like you said, we are talking this like context matters. I mean, he's going to show called worse.

[Patrick]

And wait until you hear what this guy like. He's awful.

[Gillian]

He's awful. Context matters.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

If you're not on the show, worst sex ever, and your husband took your car to the car wash for you, I'm not talking to you.

[Patrick]

And the problem is people like this ruin Shit for people all the time. Like, I'm a flowers sender. You know what I mean? I like to send flowers to people. I'm not love bombing anybody. I'm just a good person who likes to send flowers.

[Gillian]

And he's doing this so that he can, like, rack it up, rack up the points and use it against her. Like, none of this is out of the goodness of his own heart.

[Patrick]

My point was not about me. My point is just to say 90% of the people who do nice things for people are just doing nice things for people. You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

When they end up on a show called Worst Sex Ever, then we'll have a conversation.

[Patrick]

So about a 60 minute conversation with a couple of ad breaks in between.

[Gillian]

Context, people. Context. Not everyone's the main character.

[Patrick]

No.

[Gillian]

Girl.

[Patrick]

Home Chef is back. We had friends over for dinner the other night. Steve pulled out a Home Chef and they were like, do you guys really actually like this? And Steve went on for 15 minutes about how much he loves Home Chef.

[Gillian]

Yeah, because they're delivering hearty recipes and your favorite comfort foods for the winter too, which I love because there's something about, like, eating a really cozy meal in the winter time.

[Patrick]

Oh, my gosh.

[Gillian]

It's such a vibe.

[Patrick]

Yes. What did we have last night? We had fettuccine and shrimp last night.

[Gillian]

Stop.

[Patrick]

And made it in 22 minutes. It was so good.

[Gillian]

That's like $42 at a restaurant.

[Patrick]

Not at my house.

[Gillian]

The shrimp.

[Patrick]

The shrimp. The shrimp was genius. Oh, my gosh. It was so good.

[Gillian]

Home Chef is all about streamlining dinner time. Because everyone, we all grew up, and we were like, oh, we have to think about what we're having for dinner every single day.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God.

[Gillian]

And Home Chef kind of answers that question.

[Patrick]

It cuts out the, like, what are we having for dinner? Panic. I always say it. Also, it saves you money. Dining out with a family can break the bank, as we all know. And while grocery shopping saves money, it's. It eats up your time with meal planning. And also, grocery shopping can also be expensive. You're always buying more than you need.

[Gillian]

Totally.

[Patrick]

Home Chef is sending you exactly what you need. There's no waste. You're not overspending. It is the perfect answer.

[Gillian]

Yeah. Users of leading meal kits have rated Home Chef number one in quality, convenience, value, taste, and recipe ease.

[Patrick]

Okay, Home Chef, we love you so fam. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 18 free meals, plus free dessert for life and, of course, free shipping. On your first box, go to homechef.com TCO that's homechef.com TCO for instance, 18 free meals and free desserts for life.

[Gillian]

Homechef.com TCO must be an active subscriber to receive the free dessert.

[Patrick]

And you're gonna wanna be. I say it every time. The free dessert is the thing you pull out first. I swear to God. You eat it while you're putting the rest of it away.

[Gillian]

Yeah, it sounds like a caveat, but it's not. The home chef, anyway.

[Simona]

Exactly.

[Patrick]

Now we meet Melanie. I wish she was a main character. Cause she is so awesome. This young lady.

[Gillian]

She's Simone's niece.

[Patrick]

Her niece. She is saying the family loved Jerry. We all kind of looked up to him in a sense, because, you know, he was this guy that worked for the nypd. He showed us his gun before. You know, he's always have it with him, stuff like that. And then like we always thought it was so cool. Just a cool guy.

[Gillian]

He was just a cool guy.

[Patrick]

The way he talks, walks. And we liked him. And he cared for Simona. He can also protect Simona, who's like walking home from work by herself at 3 o'clock in the morning oftentimes.

[Gillian]

Right. Cause the thing we glossed over is that over these six months, they become friends. He infiltrates her Life and by 2007 they're dating.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

And the family, like you're saying, is like very excited about it. And so even Simona's aunt is like. Yeah. She was a single mom, two jobs. It was kind of nice to have some like, big protective guy around to like do the little things, like taking the car to the car wash and like making sure she's safe with the cameras.

[Patrick]

Because most of the time those guys end up just being like normal, nice guys.

[Gillian]

Right.

[Patrick]

You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

Yeah. And he's going to always protect her. Right. He also has a lot of time on his hands for a fucking Brooklyn detective.

[Patrick]

I know.

[Gillian]

He's always. He has all of this time to make her life easier. I know, but he's a detective in Brooklyn. Really?

[Patrick]

I know.

[Gillian]

And a consulting firm and.

[Patrick]

I know. Listen, guess who is the only person who doesn't really like Jerry.

[Gillian]

Welcome, Kiara. You can sit right next to me, girl. Kiara is the only one who's not enamored by this guy who's like, what's your number?

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

And don't worry about the cameras, Jerry.

[Patrick]

I know, Jer. Kiara being the 11 year old daughter is just kind of like. Because what happens is from a mile.

[Gillian]

Away she sees him.

[Patrick]

Right. Jerry lives with his mom, so he's spending a lot of time at Simona's house. And, like, that goes from, like, dinners to, like, he's spending the night a lot. So he's, like, in Kiara's space, and she's got this guy's number pretty fast.

[Gillian]

Yeah. But the thing is also to remember is that Jerry, like, they do, swooped in when Simona was going through a really rough time because, like we said, her father died by suicide. So it's very hard for Simona to process this with her family. Like, they're going through their trauma. So Jerry is sort of like this impartial person, for lack of a better term, who came in. He's super helpful. He understands her. He's like, he can protect her. He's a cop. He's a safe space.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

And she really lets her guard down and talks about all of her feelings, her sadness, her anger, her confusion, her frustration.

[Patrick]

Stuff she can't talk about with anybody else.

[Gillian]

And that is another layer of attachment now.

[Frank]

Yes. Yes.

[Gillian]

So it's 2008. They've been dating for two years now.

[Patrick]

Two years.

[Gillian]

And Simona gets a phone call at work. This woman, she doesn't know. And the woman's like, are you Simona? And Simona's like, yeah. And she goes, are you sitting down? And Simona's like, I could be. Who are you?

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Simona]

She said that she was married to him and she had two kids. I did ask her about what he did for a living, and she said, oh, well, let me get. Is he telling you that he's a detective or he's a cop? And I'm like, yes, both. So which one is he? And she says, none.

[Gillian]

Surprise, surprise. He's not a cop.

[Patrick]

No.

[Gillian]

So this woman calls Simone, and she's like, by the way, like, this piece of shit guy who I'm unfortunately married to Simone.

[Patrick]

Like, we get the vibe from her in this moment that she didn't necessarily not see this coming. You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

She makes moves instantly.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Because she's like.

[Patrick]

We see in the animation, because that's how this show does reenactment. It's as though she's down in the basement in her office, and Jerry's upstairs on his cell. Like, he's there now.

[Gillian]

He's always there.

[Frank]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Gillian]

So Simone is like, thank you. Yeah, gotta go. Hangs up the phone, walks upstairs, confronts Jerry, because, of course, he's at the stupid restaurant. Not stupid restaurant. Sorry.

[Frank]

Yes, yes.

[Gillian]

Sorry, Simona.

[Patrick]

Amazing restaurant.

[Gillian]

Amazing Restaurant. But of course he's there.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

And Jerry's like, oh, my God, she's crazy. This is a green card marriage. Don't believe a word she said. And Simone is like, cool. What about the kids though, right? Green card. Sween card. You have two kids.

[Patrick]

Oh, and also, I know you're not a fudgeing cop.

[Gillian]

So this guy is lying to her completely. He's married. He has two kids. He's not a cop. Everything he said was a lie. In two seconds flat, Simone a dumps his ass.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And she says to him, she's like, I made it clear was over. I have no hard feelings. Just get the hell out of my life. Thank you for proving everything I ever thought about dating.

[Gillian]

Right. She's literally too busy for this shit.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

She's on Wall Street. She has this brand new business she has. She's a mother. Like. Enough, Jerry. Keep walking. Goodbye.

[Patrick]

Get out. Now we meet this guy who wants to be anonymous.

[Gillian]

The expert. Jerry's ex.

[Patrick]

He's in sh. I don't really know why. He's in shadows. He's the producer asks him and he's like, I just don't want anyone to know that I was associated with that lowlife. Whenever they say lowlife, it's like my favorite.

[Gillian]

It's a New Yorker thing, for sure. I know other people use that term, but it's a very, like, Queens adjacent.

[Patrick]

Like, it's so good.

[Gillian]

I was associated with that lowlife Jerry. So he has a story to tell. He claims it's important. Let's hear it. Ex friend.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

So X friend is saying, you know, when I met Jerry, we became friends, we were just kind of bros. Like, they would go out for drinks and stuff. This ex friend, whose name obviously we don't get get, knew that Jerry was married with two kids. And the friend knows that Jerry's, like, messing around on the side. The friend tells us that Jerry owns security, like a security company. So he would, like, hire out bodyguards for, like, bars, and he would provide.

[Gillian]

Services to bars and nightclubs and also, like, try to act like a ladies man. Even though he was married with two kids.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

But then he also. So in addition to this security company, which is what they call it, like, whatever that means, he's also an undercover cop. Now, Jerry had a shield, but never showed it. But you could see the imprint on the Wal wallet, which is enough for everyone, including the nypd, because what happens is Jerry and this ex friend get pulled over.

[F]

While I was talking to cop, Jerry was talking to cop on the passenger side, and he showed his wallet with a shield hidden. And the boat cops like, okay, have a good day. Without going further into, like, asking me.

[Gillian]

For a driver's license or anything, the cop essentially apologizes.

[Patrick]

I know.

[Gillian]

And lets them on their way. And I'm watching this, and I'm just wondering, like, is this one of the bad apples, or is this, like, indicative of the culture? I'm saying.

[Patrick]

Yeah, I think it's indicative of the culture. I also think that, like, for me, because we're going to.

[Gillian]

I don't believe in the bad apple thing, by the way. That was sarcasm.

[Patrick]

No, like. Like, Jerry is not a cop. He's not an undercover cop. And, like, for me, that was a very risky moment because if the guy had been like, let me see your fucking badge, bro.

[Gillian]

But my point is, like, it's not that risky because the ex friend is saying that Jerry would see cops, imply he was one of them, and they would respond warmly to that.

[Patrick]

I know.

[Gillian]

Even if what Jerry's doing is wrong.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

The bad apples don't exist. It's a systemic thing. I'm telling you.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God. If any cop gets pulled over by another cop, I think they're all letting them go. You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

But Jerry was using this, like, hey, hey, guys. Like, brothers in blue or whatever. The blue flu, all that bullshit. Like, Jerry was using that disadvantage.

[Patrick]

Of course. And it's also one of those things where once the lie is confirmed by an actual cop, then now the ex friend, like, is in even further.

[Gillian]

Right?

[Patrick]

We see that all the time. This friend, by the way, did meet Simona, and he's kind of like, I really don't understand what she saw. And Jerry, like, she was way out of Jerry's. But of course, she thinks he's some big detective with the Brooklyn PD and some.

[Gillian]

With all the time in the world, everyone's just.

[Patrick]

Well, it's because she's so busy. She's kind of. Not really. I feel like Simona was getting what she needed from him. You know what I mean? I don't know. But, like, the friend is surprised that Simone is falling for it, but I'm kind of like. I don't know, like. Like everyone's believing the lie here.

[Gillian]

Yeah. The thing that is really hitting me now is that. Yeah, you're right. What I'm not hearing from Simona is like. Like, we were so in love.

[Patrick]

We were so in love.

[Gillian]

It was like, I needed my oil change.

[Patrick]

Yes.

[Gillian]

And he did that. And everything she asked, he did that she really needed, like, an assistant.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

And also, I'm sure there was affection there. She did confide in it.

[Patrick]

I'm sure, like, the sexing was good.

[Gillian]

Fine. But what I'm not hearing is, like, the love of my life. So the minute she. You know, it was.

[Patrick]

Even the pictures that we see of the two of them, they're, like, holding hands or, like. Like, hand shaking.

[Gillian]

So he was, like, helpful to her. He was a sounding board for her when she was going through the stuff with her dad and all of this stuff. But the minute there's a red flag, she's like, oh, I'm gone.

[Patrick]

Totally. Because he wasn't super available to her, and she didn't seem to care, which I think sort of, like, is not what he was expecting or used. Like, he wanted her to, like, desperately need him, and she never did.

[Gillian]

Which is the other part of this, because they hate that.

[Patrick]

Right?

[Frank]

So.

[Patrick]

But it lasted for two years. Like, it's a long time to, like, live with the lie.

[Gillian]

And it's a long time to not really feel like, oh, my God, I loved him so much.

[Patrick]

Totally.

[Gillian]

So that's what I'm saying, right? So it's March 8, 2009. 9. Simona wants her goddamn keys back. And it's been months, and this asshole hasn't returned them. Simone is like, I just want to get on with my life. I need my keys. Can you stop?

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So she's awesome. She's way too busy. Jerry finally shows up to our house, and she won't open the door. And she's like, I just want my keys. Can you just, like, be normal?

[Patrick]

And importantly, Kiara is not there. Nobody's home. It's just Simona by herself.

[Gillian]

And he won't leave the keys, and he also won't leave. And he, as Simona says, won't take no for an answer. So Jerry finally says to her, look, I'll return the keys. Just open the door. I promise I won't do anything. Like, I just want you to open the door.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So Simona opens the door.

[Simona]

As I turn around. He pushed me face down. I heard the damn duct tape. I heard it. Now I'm angry, and I'm cursing, really angry. So I'm getting loud.

[Patrick]

When she hears the duct tape, she's not scared. She's mad.

[Gillian]

She's furious.

[Patrick]

She's so fucking mad. So she's screaming. He then takes some of the duct tape and puts it over.

[Gillian]

Over her mouth as he's begging her to take him back.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And then she Says he's crying, but the important thing is that she says she sees his gun. And the thing about Simona is that she, I think, is intensely rational. And I think she knows in this moment, I gotta play it cool. Who? He's now saying he wants to kill himself. She's afraid he's gonna kill her, then kill himself. So she's trying to just stay calm.

[Gillian]

And keep him calm, because in his insane mind, this is gonna make her want him again, Right?

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So this gets really bad. Everyone, I'm sorry, but he's obviously having, like, an episode and he's an asshole. I'm not, like, saying episode, you know, He's a bad guy.

[Patrick]

He's just being exactly who he is.

[Gillian]

Exactly who he is. He's begging her. He's crying, threatening her, threatening himself. And then. Because, like, she's not giving into it.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

He drags Simona down to the basement and he sexually assaults her. He rapes her.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Afterwards, he's crying again and he's begging her to not report it. And I'm like, I just. Two minutes with this guy, I will rip him apart with fucking hands. I just want two minutes.

[Patrick]

I know.

[Gillian]

With him.

[Patrick]

I know, I know. And she says he gets up and leaves. Leaves. She runs upstairs, like, looks out the back window to make like. She runs upstairs, locks the door, then looks out the window to make sure that he's gone. And immediately she calls the cops.

[Gillian]

So he gets up and leaves, begs her not to say anything. Just like the worst piece of shit ever. And Simona makes sure he's gone.

[Simona]

I grabbed the phone. I call the cops.

[Gillian]

What's your name, ma'am? What's emergency?

[Simona]

I was assaulted by my ex boyfriend.

[Gillian]

And I need to make a report. He just left. She's like, whispering and. Or she's like, lost her voice from screaming. It's just the most heartbreaking thing.

[Patrick]

It's horrible. The police show up, they take her to the hospital, they perform a sexual assault evidence kit. And it's horrifying. And you know Melanie, the niece who was with us earlier, saying, you know, how much they all, like, revered him? She says he used his gun against her and, like. Like, it was especially sick because it was like the gun that we were also impressed that he had.

[Gillian]

Right.

[Patrick]

You know?

[Gillian]

Exactly. So he's arrested his mother, pays the $150,000 bail, and he's out. Yeah. Enter Frank D. Gaetano, lead prosecutor. Okay. He's so ready for this case.

[Patrick]

He's so ready.

[Gillian]

He's like, the evidence is There. Simone is a great witness, which is complicated because she shouldn't have to be, but I'm glad she is.

[Frank]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Gillian]

And while they wait for the trial, this guy's friends and mother are harassing Simona.

[Patrick]

Jerry's like. Jerry's friends?

[Gillian]

Yeah. No, not Gaetano.

[Patrick]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Gillian]

Frankie boy. Come on.

[Patrick]

The friends are showing up at the house, his mother calling her, begging her to drop the charges.

[Gillian]

This man is a liar and a rapist.

[Patrick]

In what world is this gonna work? You know what I mean? Like, in what fucking world?

[Gillian]

She has to get a restraining order to stop these people.

[Patrick]

And then she's told that by August 2010, the hearing should begin for the trial. Girl. Pear is a new sponsor this month. I have been waiting forever for Pear to be a sponsor, because it's all about the glasses. I live and die by my glasses. So the whole thing about Pear is that they've got the base frames that you get, and then they've got the top frames that you can just, like, snap over them. So it looks like you're wearing a new pair of glasses every time you do that.

[Gillian]

Yeah, they have, like, hundreds of top frames.

[Patrick]

You literally cannot. Like, it would take you all day to scroll through their website and see what they have. So when I was ordering mine, it took me, like, 20 minutes, because I'm like, I want to try pink, I want to try blue, but then I want to try professional. It was, like, all the different options, and you can, like, be a whole different kind of person based on the glasses you're wearing.

[Gillian]

Yeah. So they have all these collaborations. So they have, like, Disney princesses, Disney, Mickey and Friends, the Movie, Met Marvel, Star wars, NBA, NHL. They also have these collections you can go from, like, the premium collection. Sun tops, sparkle, classic colors.

[Patrick]

And so what I'm saying is that, like, now you can literally wear a different pair of glasses every single day.

[Gillian]

And you can find your perfect frame shape from home with this virtual try on that they have.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Because you're getting a new face, and then you're getting all of these different options. So you can have, like, Mickey Mouse on your face one day, or you can have sparkles on your face one day.

[Patrick]

Literally. It's such a good value. The base frame start at $60, and the top frame start at $25. Free shipping on US orders and free.

[Gillian]

Returns and exchanges within 30 days. No question.

[Patrick]

My friend Chris has been using this for years, and I've always been so jealous, and I'm like, they're a sponsor now. And I'm going to get to do this. I'm going to wear different top frames every time I come into the studio.

[Gillian]

And you also. I just love it. Like, you don't have to have 10 different pairs of glasses.

[Patrick]

That's exactly the same thing.

[Gillian]

And you're just like, what do I feel like today?

[Patrick]

And you wouldn't. You can't tell. It looks like new glasses.

[Gillian]

That's amazing.

[Patrick]

So, fam, show off new sides of yourself this year. Go to pair eyewear.com and use code TC obsessed for 15% off your first pair.

[Gillian]

And support the show by mentioning that True Crime Obsessed sent you in your post checkout survey.

[Patrick]

That's P A I R I Wear.com code TC obsessed.

[Gillian]

TC obsessed, baby, I'm obsessed with your face.

[Patrick]

So it's May 21, 2010. Simone is at the restaurant, and I love that she is full service. She's got a friend who calls, like, loves a fish dish that she makes there. Will she make it and bring it to him? She says yes.

[Gillian]

Yeah. He works at the school.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

And she is. She made this lunch and she's going to drop it off for him. Now when she's at the school, which, like, happens to be like a block or two away.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Simona gets pulled over.

[Simona]

I was told to step out of the car. Did I run a stoplight? Did I signal? I just stepped out of the car. Because I'm still thinking, this is a big mistake. Let me just do what they want. And handcuffs go on.

[Gillian]

She's taken out of her own car, handcuffed, put in a different car, and they take her to Long Island.

[Patrick]

No. I was thinking, for a woman who was assaulted the way that she was, this for me would be absolutely terrifying. She's in the back of a cop car, restrained.

[Gillian]

They rip her out of her own car.

[Patrick]

She doesn't know where she's going or why. They won't tell her why they've arrested her.

[Gillian]

My first thought is like, did this friend set her up? Who is this guy? Like, what is this?

[Patrick]

My. My fear for her was that she was about to have to face Jerry handcuffed in a fucking interrogation room.

[Gillian]

Oh, my God.

[Patrick]

That was what I was thinking was happening.

[Gillian]

Yeah. So Simone is taken to this precinct in Long Island. She's in an interview room with Detective Charles C H A R L E S A Detective Nell. And they're harassing her.

[Patrick]

No. Here's my question. If she had asked for a lawyer at any time, would this have stopped?

[Gillian]

I've been screaming, call Frank.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Call Frank the lawyer. I don't know if they didn't allow her to. I don't know what happened here because they're harassing her and saying all the. All the stereotypes in the book. Like, I know this doesn't feel good. Do the right thing. You know what you did.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Don't you have something to tell us?

[Patrick]

Yeah. She's like, I don't know if you will just tell me what you think I did. I can tell you I did it or not.

[Gillian]

And I'm like, simona, where's Frank? So to me, that means that they either were lying to her, they wouldn't allow her that phone call because they are awful to her.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

From beginning to end.

[Patrick]

This is one of the things that annoys me about this show is that they don't tell us that because it's like, for anybody who knows anything about, like, getting, like, true crime, anything, you watch one Dateline, you know, to call a lawyer. So it's like, I can't imagine that Simona didn't know that. But they don't tell us why she didn't.

[Gillian]

They don't tell us why.

[Patrick]

And, like, because hours pass and they're not telling her anything.

[Simona]

Then finally, at one point, Detective Charles brought a file, and it was Jerry's picture in it. And I asked, does this have something to do with Jerry? If you think I did something, then he's behind it. I didn't do it. And she brushed that off like, no, this has nothing to do with him.

[Patrick]

Does this have to do with that guy? Because whatever he told you I did, I'm telling you he did.

[Gillian]

Right. So Marissa Valli's here. She's a former NYPD detective. She worked in the police impersonations unit.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Investigating a case where a woman is impersonating a cop to commit robberies.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Now she's in Queens, and now Simona is in Nassau. Right. So these are two different jurisdictions. The Nassau cops call her about Simona because they're like, we got her. We got your girl.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

This whole time I'm watching this part of the documentary, I'm like, what the hell are they talking about? It's all going to make sense eventually.

[Gillian]

Right? So it's 11:00 at night.

[Patrick]

She got arrested at like 2.

[Gillian]

Simone's been in custody for four hours.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So Simone has no idea what's going on. Marissa shows up, who is investigating a case in a different county.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Marissa explains what's going on. She goes, look, there are these cases where People are robbed at gunpoint. People are posing as cops. Simona goes, hold on a second. Let me tell you about this piece of shit I know named Jerry.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Who's been impersonating a police officer the entire time I've known him, which is like two years. And also his ex wife called me.

[Patrick]

And blah, blah, and he's got a gun.

[Gillian]

Now, Marissa, thank God, believes Simona.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

How could these other cops let this go on when Simona has the truth on her side? And what she's saying is so clearly and.

[Patrick]

But just to be really clear here, Marissa does not have any authority in this jurisdiction. The jurisdiction that arrested Simona called. Marissa's jurisdiction was like, come down and interview this lady if you want. We got her. But Marissa saying, this is not your girl has no sway. Where Simona was actually arrested.

[Gillian]

The cops that are harassing Simona, by the way, one of them is a woman. So, yes, Simona. So Marissa's like, okay, I can't do anything here. But what I can say is, you got the. You have to let her go. Like, she didn't do anything.

[Patrick]

Not your girl.

[Gillian]

And I can't actually let you go, Simona, but I'll take care of it. Because this is so obvious. You didn't do anything.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Then this heartbreaking thing. Marissa starts crying, and then I start crying, and I. How she held my arm and she kept saying, please don't leave me here. That's stuck with me until today. I still can't. It's still very. There's nothing we could do. It's not our case. This is Nassau County. Please don't leave me here.

[Patrick]

Don't leave here.

[Gillian]

She's begging her, please don't leave me here. And Marissa, like, can't even talk about it without crying to this day.

[Patrick]

Marissa's like, that is the most haunting moment of my entire career.

[Gillian]

And Marissa's like, look, I'm Queens. This is Nassau. But I'm. I'm going to make it abundantly clear because it's so obvious. If you have frigging two brain cells in your head, you'll say, get rid of her.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

We're wasting time with Simona.

[Patrick]

Right? So.

[Gillian]

And like, well, someone fucking call a lawyer, right? Why didn't Marissa say, simona call a lawyer?

[Patrick]

I don't understand that.

[Gillian]

Maybe she did and we just don't know about it.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So it's 9:00am, 14 hours in custody.

[Patrick]

She's been there the entire time. I mean, like, she's like, overnight she's been there and she doesn't even know why.

[Gillian]

Which is going to make you crazy. Because she's exhausted. She's hungry. And now they're just waiting for her to be like, okay, fine, I did it.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

That's what they're doing, everyone.

[Patrick]

So she's taken from the jailhouse to the fucking courthouse to face a judge after having no sleep, no food, probably no water, no fucking lawyer.

[Gillian]

Yeah. And they're reading her charges. Robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, criminal impersonation in the first degree, menacing in the second degree. She's like. She's at the Nassau Correctional Facility. And she's like, what? How did. I made my friend lunch.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

And now I'm here.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

And I know someone who's actually impersonating the cops. And no one but Marissa is listening to me. And now she went back to her jurisdiction. And what the fuck is.

[Patrick]

Thank you for being here, Marissa. But Marissa doesn't actually fudgeing do anything.

[Gillian]

Right. I want every single person involved to be fired.

[Patrick]

And I'm same. So she's transported from the courthouse to the fudgeing. Nassau County Correctional Facility.

[Gillian]

Right. And finally, because we had Frank.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

The lawyer before. And now another lawyer has entered the chat. Thank God. Anthony Grant.

[Patrick]

Annette, I said, this guy's got a tan for days. And he sounds like Steve from Sex in the City.

[Gillian]

He specializes in representing people who didn't do it. And I can tell by his suit he's very good at what he does.

[Patrick]

What can you tell by his tan?

[Gillian]

That he's very good at what he does. So. And he says in no uncertain terms, he's orange.

[Patrick]

It truly is orange.

[Gillian]

He's got no sense of humor about any of this because. And he shouldn't. Because what he says is. When he said it, I was like, oh, my God.

[Melanie]

He says, Simona was arrested on two separate felony complaints. She faced catastrophic jail time. I mean, her exposure was immense. These two armed robberies carried 16 separate felons. Felonies with a maximum exposure of up to 50 years in jail. Simona's bail was set at a million dollars.

[Gillian]

It's a max of 50 years in jail and a million dollars bail.

[Patrick]

A million dollars. And it just happened. It just snowballed. It went from her delivering food to her friend to being arrested for. I don't know why, for being interrogated for 14 hours, to being in front of the judge, being at the prison. And now she's facing 50 fucking years in prison.

[Gillian]

She's in a lot of trouble.

[Patrick]

A lot. And I'M like, a lot for me. I know I'm all of us here, but I'm pulling my hair out, like, she didn' do this.

[Gillian]

She didn't do this.

[Patrick]

I mean, it's so, like, it should be so easy to prove that she didn't do this.

[Gillian]

Right. You know, so she can't make bail, so she remains in custody. And Jerry has a ton. What I can't. I'm like, Jerry has a ton of felonies under his belt, including rape, and he's out in the world, and Simona didn't do a single thing wrong. And she's sitting in a jail cell feeling like an insane person, like, having this out of body experience.

[Patrick]

And like, Anthony, the lawyer is like, obviously she's telling me she's not guilty. And, you know, she's convinced that Jerry is behind this because remember, his rape trial is coming up. He's not gone on trial for the rape yet. And obvious he's somehow pulling the strings of this thing to discredit her for his own trial.

[Gillian]

Yeah. So he either wants to delay the rape case and. Or ruin her credibility because the fact that this happened at all, even though she's innocent, is very bad for her.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

It's making a lot of trouble for her in a lot of ways.

[Patrick]

Because prosecutor Frank, who was all set to prosecute the rape case, he's like, these charges were surprising and not what I know about this woman at all. But at the same time, the rape case is ready to go, but we can't do it now. We can't do it until this matter is settled.

[Gillian]

So at the very least, Jerry's like, at least I'll delay it for a little bit. Maybe she'll drop it. Maybe I'll intimidate her, Whatever.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

So Anthony, the lawyer in the nice suit, talks about the facts of these crimes that Simona is accused.

[Patrick]

Because if you're like me and you're watching this in real time, you're like, what did they say that she did? This makes no sense.

[Gillian]

We're going to go through a couple of robberies. We're going to go one at a time, and then I'm going to tie it together at the end. I think that's the easiest way to.

[Patrick]

Do in a nice, pensively bow.

[Gillian]

Right. I'm not going to say names yet. You're just. I'm going to go by the crimes one by one.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Robbery number one. September 15, 2009, in Queens. A man calls the cops as he was stopped randomly by a female officer. With dark skin. She had a gold shield around her neck. And he was robbed at gunpoint. The case was investigated by NYPD and then dropped.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Robbery number two. And remember the timeline here. There are months later. So that's September 2009. By March of the next year in Nassau County. Now right over the border. Robbery number two, once again. Man says he was stopped randomly by a woman. Dark skin, gold shield, has the gun.

[Patrick]

This one describes her as Indian.

[Gillian]

Indian, yes. He was handcuffed by this woman. She steals 100 bucks, takes is watch his. Ahem, pinky ring.

[Patrick]

He was on his way back from Hell's Kitchen, of course.

[Gillian]

And gives a partial license plate number. Partial. Now, a few months after that, robbery number three, still in Nassau, right over the border. This is May 19, 2010. Now, it's a woman. A woman says she was stopped by a female officer. Dark skinned, maybe Indian. Gold shield, the same thing.

[Melanie]

The thief steals allegedly $1,400 from her hearsch. In this case, Luz Johnson was able to give the full plate number, and the police linked the car back to Shimona.

[Gillian]

Now this person gives the full plate number. And so now robbery number two and three are, like, corroborating each other even though they're totally independent because we got a partial plate now. A full plate.

[Frank]

Yes. Yes.

[Gillian]

Oh, my God. So the cops are like, okay, this is it. Why would these people lie? They don't know each other.

[Patrick]

I was also like, why does this lady have $1,400 in cash in her purse?

[Gillian]

Yeah. Weird. Everyone is driving around with all their valuables.

[Patrick]

Ok, Like, I have this commemorative plate in my truck.

[Gillian]

Like, what? They're all, like, gold coins in my stamp collection.

[Patrick]

I took my locket.

[Gillian]

All right, Annie. Suddenly it's a rooster. Lily St. Regis. Travel down the road.

[Patrick]

Back again, girl. Haya is back. So listen, you know how, like, typical children's vitamins are basically candy in disguise?

[Gillian]

Well, that's the thing. They're vitamins, but they're, like, packed with sugar and stuff that you don't want your kids eating every single day.

[Patrick]

Literally. No, this is where Hayat is different. Haya is made with zero sugar and zero gummy additives, and yet it is still Daisy's favorite thing to take every single day.

[Gillian]

Yeah. So most children's vitamins are filled with 5 grams of sugar, which is going to contribute to a variety of health issues. So Haya is made with zero sugar and zero gummy additives, and it tastes great. And Daisy's the pickiest eater I know. And if she Loves it.

[Patrick]

Then truly and like we will only give her her vitamin after she eats her entire breakfast. So get this. Hay is formulated with the help of pediatricians and nutritional experts. Haya is pressed with a blend of 12 organic fruits and veggies. Then supercharged with 15 essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin D, B12C, zinc, folate and many others to help support the immune system, energy, brain function, mood, concentration, teeth, bones and more.

[Gillian]

Start this routine early and they'll be healthier for longer. And they taste delicious.

[Patrick]

Are you tired of battling with your kids to eat their greens the way that we are? High End now has Kids Daily Greens plus Superfoods, a chocolate flavored greens powder designed specifically for kids. Packed with 55 plus whole food ingredients to support brain power development and digestion.

[Gillian]

Just scoop, shake and sip with milk or any non dairy beverage for a delicious and nutritious boost your kids will actually enjoy.

[Patrick]

And that is really true. We give it to Daisy every morning. She used to beg for chocolate milk, but now we let her have this.

[Gillian]

There you go.

[Patrick]

You know what I mean? So fam, we've worked out a special deal with Haya for their best selling children's vitamin.

[Gillian]

Receive 50% off your first order.

[Patrick]

To claim this deal you must go to hyahealth.com tco this deal is not.

[Gillian]

Available on their regular website. Go to H I Y a H a H e a l t h.com tco and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults.

[Patrick]

I love the word nourishment. Ooh, it's a good one.

[Gillian]

It's a good one. It's a good meaning too. Be nourished in all kinds of ways.

[Patrick]

But start with Haya girl. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Look, there's no better way to start off your 2025 than preparing your kids with that financial responsibility, right?

[Gillian]

So Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that lets kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. It's never too early to start this at Daisy's. Loving it.

[Patrick]

I want to throw the copy away and really tell you we use this. We love it. I'm so grateful for it. I always say I was given no financial guidance when I was a kid at all. I am so happy to be able to do that for Daisy with Greenlight. So she gets a debit card. Not only do we get to customize it with a little picture of golden on it, but she keeps it in her little wallet. She checks the app to see how much money she has. We pay her through the app. When she does her chores through the chores feature on the app, she's accounting accountable to it. She knows how much money she has. She saves for things she wants. It is the most amazing little thing we do.

[Gillian]

And the cool thing about the chores feature is that you can set up a one time chore or recurring chores.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So if you're like, okay, when we get home, I need you to do this. Like that can be a one time thing.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Or it could be like, you know, empty the dishwasher or whatever on a recurring basis.

[Patrick]

And like with the app, it's such an easy way to monitor her spending, but to also sit down with her and talk about saving and say like, this is how much money you have. This is the thing you want. Do you really want that?

[Gillian]

Exactly. You know, teaching our the value of her money.

[Patrick]

And money means something to her. It really. It really makes a difference.

[Gillian]

Well, maybe that's why millions of parents and kids are learning about money on greenlight already.

[Patrick]

And that makes me so happy to hear. I hope that all of them are TCO listeners. I'm obsessed. Fam. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today at greenlight.com TCO that's greenlight.com TCO to get started. Greenlight.com TCO tell them Patrick sent you.

[Gillian]

Yeah. Get into it and put like a really cute picture on that debit card.

[Patrick]

You know, you can all have a picture of golden if you want.

[Gillian]

Such a cute feature. So now they have the full license plate number. The police run the plates. Guess who it belongs to. Simona.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

Obviously. So the two people who ID her are Terrell Lovell and Luz Johnson.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

These are these two people. Luz is a woman. So we have some problems here because Luz identifies Simona. Oh, that's the one who robbed me. Here's the thing. Simone is 100 miles miles away. Frank goes, she was at the Mohegan Sun Ironclad alibi.

[Patrick]

Ironclad. So this was the one that happened on May 19th at 1:30 in the morning. Simone is like, I was definitely at Mohegan sun casino that night, living it up with her friends. She's got. There's pictures of her at a gambling table. She's making calls from her cell phone at Mohegan Sun 100 miles away.

[Gillian]

Anywhere in a casino without being filmed? No. So there she is at the craps table.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And you're like, so this is it, right? Like this is going to prove they absolutely was not this person.

[Gillian]

And she's being set up.

[Patrick]

Yes, exactly. They bring this evidence to the grand jury. The grand jury fucks us on. Remember the one, the episode we did where they were like, all a jury needs is DNA or surveillance video. We got the fucking surveillance video. It's not enough. They say that photo is too grainy and anybody could have had her phone 100 miles away.

[Gillian]

Now, Simone has been in jail for 28 days.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

I would like to mark the time like this. 28 days away from her daughter 100%.

[Gillian]

You know, for something she didn't do.

[Patrick]

28 days her kid has not had a mom.

[Gillian]

And people making her feel crazy every step of the way because she obviously didn't do this. And there's proof of it.

[Patrick]

And here we are, and the grand jury throws it out. Not good enough. We're going to trial.

[Gillian]

So Simone is forced to spend months in jail awaiting trial.

[Patrick]

And while she's there, she's thinking what I'm thinking.

[Simona]

She's like, this is when I really started to panic. I'm absolutely freaking out because I am trying to figure out if they have all these things they concocted, all this falsified stuff. What. What is going to be my defense if I.

[Patrick]

My actual evidence that I could not have done this isn't enough. What do they have against me if I have the proof that I wasn't there? They're not going to accept that I am fucked.

[Gillian]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

And I'm thinking, like, this is where my brain starts to turn itself inside out, because this should be so easy to prove that this wasn't her. She should have an alibi for every single night that these people said they were robbed. You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

It's enough at least to go to.

[Patrick]

Trial, because what it's making me think is that anybody can do this to anybody. Anybody. If you're going to lay the groundwork over a series a couple of months, and you know, enough, because remember, this guy works with the cops. We're going to learn more about that later. Know enough to mess it up, make it in different jurisdictions, different counties over time, give one witness some information, another witness, more in front. Like, anybody who knows enough to do that could do this to anybody.

[Gillian]

Yeah.

[Patrick]

That's insane.

[Gillian]

It's insane. And especially when you have, like, corrupt, shitty cops.

[Patrick]

Yeah. And like, thank God that Simone is a person of means and has, like, this restaurant. And she was a broker. She's got enough money to hire this fancy lawyer.

[Gillian]

Yeah. But a million dollars bail is, like, nothing to sneeze at. Like, she's stuck in jail, waiting trial.

[Patrick]

The amount of, like, oh, my God. Because this guy's no. Like, he's not. Like, he's like, a smart person. Like, anybody can come up with this scheme and do this to anybody. That scared me to death.

[Gillian]

Yeah. You know, of course. So Simone is forced to spend months in jail while awaiting trial, and she says, every day seems like a lifetime when you're in a place like that.

[Patrick]

And no one is looking at Jerry. She's like, this guy set me up. This guy that is about to go on trial for raping me. Why isn't that enough for you to go look at him?

[Gillian]

Who's been impersonating cops.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

His whole life, seemingly. Now, lawyer Anthony, though, is going to make sure that everyone knows about this at trial. Like, because he says all you got to do is cross reference the phone calls between Jerry and these two witnesses.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

That claimed to see her when she was really at the Mohican sun, as he says.

[Patrick]

Right. Because what. What the attorney is trying to say is that if we can prove that they all know each other, or at the very least, they all know Jerry, then we can prove that these, quote, independent witnesses are setting Simona up, and.

[Gillian]

He fights to get one year of phone records.

[Melanie]

However, in this particular case, that was denied. And I was nervous about the reality that I was not receiving any discovery to link Jerry to any of these other individuals, which was. Was the core of Simona's defense. And without that, it was trouble.

[Gillian]

I feel insane because they're not even making this a fair fight. They're not even making it, like, what? They're all out to get her. It feels. It feels personal.

[Frank]

Yeah, it does.

[Patrick]

It does. And, like, the people that are like, the judge that says no to this, it's just. It's insane. The grand jury that's like, that surveillance video of you is not good enough evidence. Anybody could have had your phone 100 miles away. Like, what are you talking about?

[Gillian]

Like, how is that possible when she has two jobs, a family she's very close with a daughter, like, no.

[Patrick]

Well, and she was at Mohican, done with her family. So I'm assuming that the grand jury is also saying your family's also lying for you.

[Gillian]

Yes. Everyone's in cahoots.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

Idiots. So Simone has been in jail 141 days.

[Patrick]

That's 141 days her daughter has not had a mother.

[Gillian]

Yep. It's October 11, 2010. Now, that ex friend from before, the.

[Patrick]

One that Was in shadow.

[Gillian]

Yeah. He hears that Simone is locked up, and he's like, oh, my God. He actually went through with it?

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

People believed this bullshit. And I'm like, all right, let's rewind.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Now we're going to. Eight months before Simone Simona's arrest, Jerry.

[Patrick]

Is having a drink with the ex friend who's here in shadow and says, look, Simona found out about my wife. She's really mad at me. She's gonna ruin my life, she says, by trying to call child protective services on me. Here's what I need you to do, ex friend.

[F]

I need you to do me a big favor. I need you to go to cops and tell them that Simona pulled you over and she came up to your car with a gun and a badge. At that moment. Moment, I'm like, wait a minute. Is he really serious? Like, I'm not going to do something like that. He didn't want to take no for an answer. I was like, oh, my God. What the hell's wrong with this guy?

[Gillian]

When the reality is Simona just wants to move on with her life. She doesn't give a shit. She doesn't want to ruin his life. She wants to live hers.

[Patrick]

The reality is she's taking you to court for having raped her.

[Gillian]

Right.

[Patrick]

And that's what you are. That's what you want to get out of the lie that you're telling your friend is that she's mad because you don't want to be with her.

[Gillian]

Right. Like, you just want to ruin her life.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

So the ex friend is like, no, I'm not doing this.

[Patrick]

I'm definitely doing.

[Gillian]

But I'm also definitely not going to stop being friends with you either. I'm just going to be totally turned off. But when the cameras are asking me about it, I'm going to be totally disgusting.

[Patrick]

And more than that.

[Frank]

Well, yeah, exactly.

[Patrick]

Like this. This guy is here. He wants all the accolades. I'm not giving them to him.

[Gillian]

Because the ex friend is there. When Jerry is like, all right, I'll ask somebody else. The ex friend apparently is telling us that he was there because this person also that he asked. Now it's going to start to come together when the ex friend is like, no, dude, I'm not doing that. Jerry. Jerry turns to, like, person number three who's sitting there, and this person happens to be the first person who called to report they were robbed. This person is robbery number one from earlier.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

So his name is Rajiv.

[Patrick]

But x friend is saying, I was there when When I said no, and Jerry turned in his seat and asked the other guy. I heard him ask the other guy, right?

[Gillian]

So I'm like, okay, what's up, ex friend? Are you gonna do the right thing? Are you just gonna, like, sit on this information while Simona sits in prison?

[Patrick]

Right? Because now, now that, like, the ex friend knows about this, how is it not every waking minute of his life trying to get to the people to be like, no, no, her up? He tried to get me to do it, and I said no. But he, like, he must have found someone to do it.

[Gillian]

And I was there when him and Rajeev, AKA robbery number one, came up with this plan. And that's why I'm saying I can't believe they actually went through with it, because I know who robbery number one is.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

So it's 162 days in jail. Oh, my God. November 10th, 2010. Simone is awaiting trial.

[Simona]

I lost everything I work for, every single thing. When I found out that the house was gonna go into foreclosure, I was angry. It was always going to be mine, I guess, or in the family type of thing.

[Patrick]

The restaurant closes. The house, the family home that she grew up in and then bought is now going into foreclosure. I mean, and then, like, Kiara, of course, is being raised by the aunt, and it's just, like, so fucking sad and despondent. She doesn't have her mother. She doesn't understand. Like, she knows her mother didn't do anything. So why is my mom in prison?

[Gillian]

And there are also brick walls every step of the way. Like, it's not looking good for Sim. Really scary. She's in a lot of trouble, really.

[Patrick]

Looks like someone is going to get convicted of this thing and go to prison for 50 years.

[Gillian]

And the family is just, like. It's just. It makes you crazy when it's so obvious what the truth is and no one seemingly is believing you. Like, it's just brick walls all the time. Like. Like roadblocks. And so the family's holding out hope, praying for a miracle, but honestly, it's really not looking good because Simona has been in jail for five months.

[Patrick]

Yeah. So ex friend is at a bar, and he says, the guy that Jerry asked, like, number one guy, the first guy to call in and say that Simona pulled me over and robbed me. Jerry knows who that person is. And Jerry sees that person at a bar, and he's like, girl, I know you lied. I know that Jerry made you do that. Like, Simone is in prison. We don't know. Like, this is really bad. You need to turn yourself in. And the guy's like, you know what? You're right. I do feel bad also.

[Gillian]

Hey, X friend, can you just cut out the middleman and do it your fucking self? Can you just call the DA Instead of, like, asking this guy to do the right? How about you do it, Jerry? How about you do it, ex friend?

[Patrick]

It doesn't make any sense to me. Like, it doesn't. Why are you not, like, at the police station every day kicking the fucking dude? You know what the answer is? He doesn't care that much. I mean, like, he's here trying to pretend like he cared the whole time. He doesn't care that much.

[Gillian]

Yeah, and he's not as in it. It's just like, oh, wow, what a tragic thing. But he's not there with Kiara, and she's, like, crying about her mom being in jail for one day.

[Patrick]

I knew something like this. If I knew somebody, if I had the answer to somebody being in prison wrongfully, I would stop at nothing to get that information to everybody.

[Gillian]

So ex friend is like, so you got to come clean, right? And Rajiv is like, totally. You're right. I feel super bad. I'll call you later. So great seeing you. Have a great rest of the night. You're glowing, by the way. Is that a new blouse? Like, oh. Oh, my God. They go their separate ways. Obviously, Rajeev never calls the ex friend to come clean together. He calls Jerry.

[Patrick]

He calls Jerry. So then Jerry says, all right, we got it. Now we got to take care of this guy. And so what Jerry says, rajeet person number one, you call the cops and say that you ran into ex friend at the bar and he was messing with you. It'll be tampering with a witness. Say he was trying to intimidate you to change your story. And so that's what happens. So Rajeet person number one calls the cops and is like, hey, my story is really true. This guy is now threatening me, saying that, like, I have to take my story back.

[F]

The detective did not believe me. He told me, no, Simona was guilty. Jerry has nothing to do with it. And I was working alongside with Simona and I was threatening the witnesses. The detective threw the handcuff on me and takes me to jail.

[Gillian]

The cops are once again a bunch of incompetent clowns because they. They just believe everything they hear. Jerry's totally innocent ex friend is the mastermind. They throw him in jail. I'm like, I'm Sorry. Can you just look Jerry up and prove that he's never fucking been a cop?

[Patrick]

And, like, the other thing is, I can't.

[Gillian]

We figure out he's lying in two seconds.

[Patrick]

Ex friend who was trying to get the bad guy to do the right thing. The cops now believe that he's working with Simona.

[Gillian]

Right? And they charge ex friend with a felony.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

And Rajeev is a spineless, idiot herb loser who does anything Jerry tells him to do.

[Patrick]

It's just like, we've got these two innocent people in prison. I just like. Because the cops just won't ask a question.

[Gillian]

These cops are bumbling idiots. They are doofus dunce herbs, the lot of them.

[Patrick]

All from you.

[Gillian]

All of these cops are fucking worthless, and they should all be fired.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

They're idiots, every last one of them. Travel down, girl.

[Patrick]

Rocket Money is back, fam. You all know Rocket Money is the personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you lower your bills so you can grow your savings.

[Gillian]

Here's the thing. We all have subscriptions that we don't know we have.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

So you can see all of your subscriptions in one place. You can know exactly where your money's going. You can decide if you actually want something or not. And then for the ones you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them, because, you know, they try to make it really difficult.

[Patrick]

They do. And with Rocket Money, you can see all of your subscriptions in one place. That is the thing that really helped me the most.

[Gillian]

And, like, the dashboard gives you a clear view of your expenses across all of your accounts, like, when I signed up for it. They ask you to connect, like, all of your bank accounts.

[Patrick]

So.

[Gillian]

So it's not just, like, you connect all your credit cards, your bank account, so they can tell you, like, here's what you're paying on what card do you want this? Yes or no?

[Patrick]

I mean, you literally get notifications from them being like, you still want this? Yeah.

[Gillian]

Because the worst thing is when you get, like, thanks for your renewal of the subscription. You're like, what? I never use that.

[Patrick]

I know, I know. And also, this is my other favorite thing. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate to lower bills for you. They'll automatically scan your bills to find opportunities to save. Then you can ask them to negotiate. They'll deal with customer service so that you don't have to.

[Gillian]

It's amazing.

[Patrick]

You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

Rocket money has over 5 million users. You're talking to two of them right now.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

And has saved a total of $500 million. $500 million.

[Patrick]

One more time.

[Gillian]

GP and canceled subscriptions, saving members up to 740 bucks a year when using all of the app's premium features.

[Patrick]

So, fam. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money.

[Gillian]

Go to Rocket Money obsessed today.

[Patrick]

That's Rocket Money.com obsessed.

[Gillian]

Rocket Money.com/eyed.

[Patrick]

They're going to negotiate for you. I mean, you know what I mean?

[Gillian]

The price of admission.

[Patrick]

Totally.

[Gillian]

So ex friend is charged with felony witness tampering, and it carries a prison sentence of 8 to 25 years. So now we have that to deal with too.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God. And the friend is saying, like, I can't even worry about Simone anymore. I got to worry about myself now. Right. I got myself out of this fudgeing mess.

[Gillian]

So Simone has been in jail for 188 days.

[Patrick]

188 days that Kiara has not had a parent.

[Gillian]

And so Ramona is losing hope. She's despondent.

[Simona]

I got sick. I couldn't eat. I lost a lot of weight. My skin was breaking out. My hair was coming out in clones. I had ear infections. Everything was just spiraling down one by one.

[Patrick]

She's just giving up. Because what do you do at this point?

[Gillian]

It's like nothing is working when you have the truth on your side.

[Patrick]

You can't believe that this could possibly have happened to you.

[Gillian]

And you would think, like, okay, well, ex friend is another witness. They have to believe him. Throw him in jail, too. It's like, what is going on?

[Patrick]

And not only did this man ruin her life, he raped her.

[Gillian]

He raped her.

[Patrick]

Her rapist is doing this to her.

[Gillian]

And it's so obvious. Like, look him up in the police Google machine. He's never been a cop. You can find out he's lying in two seconds. Exactly.

[Patrick]

Why do people never do this? I don't understand.

[Gillian]

It's so. It's bizarre.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So December 2010. Sophia Lewis arrives.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

She walks into the DA's office to report Jerry.

[Patrick]

Yes. She's. Sophia Lewis is here to save the day. She gets a hero bell.

[Gillian]

Shocking that she hasn't thrown to prison for the rest of her life. Honestly, based on how this is going. So she wants office. And she's like, I have a story. You know why? Because she went to the DA's office, not the fucking police.

[Patrick]

Exactly. Well, yes, that's true. That's right.

[Gillian]

Police are worthless. So they met. Yeah, she and Jerry met. They started Dating. And he tells her, because this guy can't keep his mouth shut.

[Patrick]

I know.

[Gillian]

He tells Sophia all about his plan to set up Simona.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Because of course, he leaves out the fact that he's a rapist and a liar and all of this.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

But he wants to set up his ex because she threatened to set him up. And of course, like, Simone is the bad guy.

[Patrick]

Right. And I do love that. Like, I will say Jerry, for all of his faults, does have good taste in women. You know what I mean?

[Gillian]

I mean, the minute they see the red flags, they're like, oh, bye. Who do I have to call?

[Patrick]

Yeah. And so she's there to tell the story of how Jerry got each of the people who made these calls to actually do it. So, number one, Rajiv is his cousin, and Jerry threatened the cousin's family. Like, do this or something pretty bad is going to happen to your wife and your kids.

[Gillian]

And Sophia was there when ex friend who is now also in jail.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Was that. That was the. She was there for that conversation, too.

[Patrick]

Right. And then the other two, Luz Johnson and Terrell Lavelle or whatever. Jerry offered Terrell Lavelle and Les Johnson $20,000 to cooperate with him and stage this robbery. They were never paid the money and then didn't pay them a dime.

[Gillian]

Right. Those are like, those dumb criminal stories where it's like, I want to report someone who didn't pay me 20 grand. Well, what's the story? Well, I was supposed to set up. Well, I set up his ex girlfriend, and he never paid me.

[Patrick]

I know. It's that. And, like, how did that serial killer get caught again? Oh, the taillight of his car.

[Gillian]

Perfect. You know, tax evasion or whatever. So there was a lot. But the point. Jerry's really vindictive because there's a lot of planning that went into this. So, like, they started in Queens and then went to Nassau because he wanted to go to Nassau because they were stricter about this. And then, like, he also made sure that each phone call had new information. Remember, like, one of them had a partial plate, the other had the full plate. So, like, this went on for months. He was patient.

[Patrick]

I was gonna say it was also the length of time. Like, it spanned nine months or something.

[Gillian]

Yeah. So, like, he waited and waited and then gave them all, like, new information so the cops would be like, oh, well, this makes sense. And the cops thought this was, like, easy peasy.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

This guy's a liar. He's an abuser. He's a rap rapist. He's doing all of this to avoid accountability. What a piece of shit.

[Patrick]

And like, this is where we learned that, no, he was never a cop, but he had been an informant for a number of different units. Right. So he does know enough about how police operate to put together a scheme like this that would be believable to the cops.

[Gillian]

Like idiots all around. Yes, idiots all around. Because he's ratting on everyone else, thinking he's in with the cops. They're using you, you idiot. And to the idiots in the nypd. Can you look at this guy for two seconds?

[Patrick]

I know, I know.

[Gillian]

He's a rat.

[Patrick]

And just like the world's worst fucking human being. So, Dec 2, 2010, 194 days in.

[Simona]

Jail, I get called down that I have a visitor. I thought that somebody was coming there to tell me something terrible happened because no family member were scheduled to visit me. But it ended up being Tony, and he came with good news, and he told me I was going to be released.

[Gillian]

He visits Simona unannounced.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Which could go either way.

[Patrick]

Well, she's like, somebody in my family must have died.

[Gillian]

Something happened.

[Patrick]

What is going on? He's there to tell her that all the charges are being dropped.

[Gillian]

She gets to leave right this minute.

[Patrick]

Which I like. If you're someone a wonderful. Like, that's great news. But, like, are you not. Like, it took 194 days to get there.

[Gillian]

Trauma of that.

[Patrick]

She'll never get over it.

[Gillian]

So we got to take Jerry down, right?

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Like, let's get the son of a bitch. So step one, we got to get his herb loser coconspirators to flip on him. And all three of them do it in about two seconds. Of course, they canary says Tony in the spiffy.

[Patrick]

I wrote it down before he said it.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

He's like, oh, they all admitted in two seconds, no robberies.

[Patrick]

I hope that they still get into some kind of fudgeing trouble.

[Gillian]

I hope so.

[Patrick]

My God, they put this woman in prison for seven months.

[Gillian]

I know. So they tell the lawyers everything. And you know who else testifies? The ex friend. So, yeah, the ex girlfriend. But here's something that I thought was interesting, because this kind of never happens. So the lawyers combine the rape case and the conspiracy case into one indictment. Because, remember, Jerry is doing this because of his rape case.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

So this all needs to be. That this all needs to be included. And it doesn't weaken the case. They're doing it to get the conviction.

[Patrick]

Right.

[Gillian]

This is combining these cases is Making the case stronger. Sometimes when things are combined, it's a little disappointing for us.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

But that's not the situation here. And I can't remember the last time that's happened where it's like, oh, combining. It is good.

[Patrick]

Exactly.

[Gillian]

Because one is sort of. One case is helping the other.

[Patrick]

They need the rape case to prove the conspiracy case.

[Gillian]

And it, like, sometimes that's not allowed. And I'm shocked that this was allowed because all the judges have been shitty so far. So, like, finally, things are working in Simona's favor in, like, a really big way. Yeah.

[Patrick]

And prosecutor Frank is saying Simona testifies, of course, and that she was, like, the most compelling witness he's ever seen in his entire career. He says during her testimony, jurors were crying.

[Melanie]

You could hear a pin drop. She gave a chillingly detailed account of what happened.

[Patrick]

Happened with her and the defendant.

[Melanie]

At the end of this case, the.

[Patrick]

Jury came back with a verdict.

[Melanie]

It was the only time in my.

[Patrick]

Career I got a standing ovation from the jury.

[Gillian]

Lead prosecutor Frank is like, also. Can I say something?

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

It's the first and only time in my career that I got a standing ovation from the jury. Yeah.

[Patrick]

When they come back with the verdict, the jury gives him a standing ovation.

[Gillian]

Is that not even allowed?

[Patrick]

I don't know. We're breaking all the rules today.

[Gillian]

GP really all about theater anyway. If we've learned nothing, we've learned nothing. That. But holy shit, right? Like, everyone was really, like, at the top of their game here to get this son of a bitch.

[Patrick]

Totally.

[Gillian]

So Jerry is guilty across the board. 25 years for rape, seven for conspiracy. A total of 32 years in prison.

[Patrick]

Which is not enough time.

[Gillian]

Not enough time.

[Patrick]

25 years for rape is not on a death penalty.

[Gillian]

And Simona is like, hi. I was screaming. I knew the whole time, and nobody believes me. It was so obvious. Like, Sandra, once again, it was so obvious.

[Patrick]

She had ironclad alibi. She had all the evidence she needed. Like, this is unacceptable.

[Gillian]

That's what I mean. Like, it felt really personal. That, like, they wouldn't even look at anything. They wouldn't hear.

[Patrick]

Just let them look at the phone records to connect Jerry with these idiots. Like, my God.

[Gillian]

And, like, shouldn't you be mad cops that someone is, like, impersonating a police officer. Isn't that, like, such a slap in the face? Why? Because they felt fudgeing stupid and they should.

[Frank]

Yes. Yes.

[Gillian]

So Simona sues Nassau county and Detective Charles, the woman who is harassing her right at the beginning of this thing, I want everyone fired. So. Because when Simona was. Like we were saying, when Simona was.

[Melanie]

Arrested and interrogated, Detective Charles had a folder with information about Jerry in it. How did they have Jerry's folder on their desk if they didn't really believe he was somehow involved with this?

[Gillian]

Detective Charles had a file about Jerry on the table.

[Patrick]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Which means that they knew he was involved and they still let this happen to Simona, who's innocent and a rape.

[Patrick]

Survivor, to really drive that home. They had the file of Jerry on the table while they were interrogating her. She's like, is this about him? And they said, no. And they brush it aside. They clearly knew that he was involved in this.

[Gillian]

That he raped her.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Like, my God. So Toby. But Tony, the lawyer goes, look, everyone's at fault here. It's not just the cops. The prosecutors were asleep at the wheel. He goes, the detectives were bumbling buffoons.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

And they were dishonest. And I like to put it lightly. They knew Jerry was an informant. They knew he was lying about being a cop.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

And they knew he raped her. And still, like, they were so, like, the cops were vindictive. And that's the thing, everyone. This episode is called Betrayed by the Badge. And at first you think it's about how Jerry's pretending to be a cop. Sure, that's part of it. But also, the cops betrayed Simona because they failed her.

[Patrick]

They just failed her.

[Gillian]

She was betrayed by the badge every step of the way.

[Patrick]

Why can't there be a law, a rule, where, like, if somebody says, can you just look at this one guy, go open his file for five seconds and you don't have to go to prison for 187 days.

[Gillian]

This is why we gotta burn it all down and start over. When I say that, like, I'm not really kidding. It's things like this where it's like, how did we get so far off base from the point?

[Patrick]

And it feels like we're. The more and more we're covering cases where this happens where, like, the woman just. I mean, obviously we know the woman is not listened to, but then, like, what results is that she goes to prison for fucking an endless amount of time for a thing that is so provable that didn't happen.

[Gillian]

It happens all the time. There are tens of thousands of innocent people in prison any given day. It's horrifying.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

So December 2011, Simona sues Dassau county and the detectives.

[Simona]

I never said, oh, I wanted X amount I never really. To anybody else or I deserve that amount. I just wanted to win, I think, admit that you all were way out of line and wrong because I didn't want to have to go to testify. Have Kiara go to testify. Any settlement they probably would have gave me, I probably would have just said yes to. Just for it to be over.

[Gillian]

They only pay her 2 million bucks, which is nothing.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Now Simona is happy and she's living her life. If she's happy, I'm happy.

[Frank]

Yes.

[Gillian]

Now, I did some research. I did some. Some Googling.

[Patrick]

Okay.

[Gillian]

I think both detectives who were women, by the way, should, like, should have been fired and, like, thrown away without the key. Right?

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

Detective Charles changed her name last year when this was in production, when, like, she knew this was coming out.

[Patrick]

No way.

[Gillian]

So she was a sergeant as of 2019. So they just, like, let her continue to put how many other innocent people away not believing women. Like, like, she was a corrupt police officer.

[Patrick]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

And she got to be a sergeant as of 2019. She changed her name. I'm not going to dox her because I don't dox people.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

But the point is, I think it's interesting that she changed her name.

[Patrick]

Wow.

[Gillian]

When she knew this was coming out and she was allowed to be a sergeant. And if you. I'm just saying there's stuff. People want to hold her accountable. And of course, the Nassau cops are going to do that to one of their own. God forbid. God forbid.

[Frank]

Yeah.

[Gillian]

But that is what happened. Wow. I think it's interesting.

[Patrick]

Very interesting.

[Gillian]

You know what?

[Patrick]

Team Simona, now and Forever. Forever and Golden Cross. Go check it out.

[Gillian]

Yeah, go check it out. They're all. I mean, I think it's mostly a New York thing, but still, when you come visit, Go visit one.

[Patrick]

Go visit one girl. What are we doing next?

[Gillian]

Who is Donnie Rudd? Keith Morrison would like to know.

[Patrick]

Oh, my God.

[Gillian]

This is a Keith Morrison Investigates situation. We haven't seen Keith in a while.

[Patrick]

We haven't seen a while. We started doing this one, like, a month, two months ago.

[Gillian]

It was on the calendar, and then we bumped it for either Tegan and Sarah or Sweet Bot or something.

[Patrick]

I got halfway through it, so now I can't wait to find out what happens.

[Gillian]

Something else came out. We were like, oh, God, sorry, Keith. We'll see you in a couple weeks. But we're here now, and we'll see you very soon, Keith.

[Patrick]

All right, well, stay tuned for the trailer for that fam. And we love you.

[Gillian]

We love you.

[Patrick]

All right. Bye.

[Gillian]

Bye.

[Patrick]

People seem to love him and want to be around him.

[Gillian]

He just pulls people in. Donnie Rudd, a man with unlimited potential. He was a lawyer.

[Patrick]

He had a TV show. I am your host. Donnie Rudd, by all accounts a noteworthy medical researcher.

[Gillian]

His IQ would probably be on genius level. He knew all these famous people. He was working on all these big deals. You just get sucked into his world. But Donnie had some secrets.

[Simona]

It did kind of sink in that.

[Gillian]

There'S something that just doesn't seem right about this whole situation.

[Patrick]

He said somebody was trying to kill him.

[Gillian]

The cops were following him. What did you think when you heard that he was a suspect in a murder investigation?

[Simona]

Didn't surprise me.

[Gillian]

Was he a murderer or just a maverick? It was a weird coincidence. And mom always said when it comes to Donnie, there's no coincidence. All of it leaves some people who've crossed his path. Still questioning. Who is Donnie Rudd?

[Patrick]

I don't feel I'm talking to a murderer.

[Gillian]

I don't know how he does it, but, boy, he's good at it.

[Patrick]

You know, if I'm being bamboozled, it's by an expert.