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- [00:05]
Lacey
We took a couple shots of just like positioned around her bed and on the couch. And then it was, well, you should get naked. You should take a picture that's naked. And I was like, I don't, I don't know, like, I don't need one like that, right? Like that's, I don't need that one. And she's like, well, it'd be really cool. So I disrobed and just kind of like stood there. And at that point I was like, well, now I feel like I'm so far into this. How do I get out of this?
- [00:42]
Charli Webs
This is Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills, hosted and executive produced by me, Charli Webs. In the bedroom of fierce, badass mother of two, Candice Rivera led at the time, as she was still married. Her friend Lacey stood naked. She'd missed the photo shoot. Her friends from Mothers of Preschoolers MOPS had taken part in the night before a photo shoot that was supposed to be about empowering women.
- [01:34]
Lacey
Candice was like, well, you can just go lay on my bed. Just lay on my bed and put your feet up on the headboard. And so she took a couple photos from the head down. My feet were up on the wall with heels and all the things. She knew what she was doing.
- [01:51]
Charli Webs
What do you mean?
- [01:51]
Lacey
Just in the way of you go here, put your leg here, put this here, wear this, put this lipstick on. Very, very, very arrogant. It wasn't until later that I talked to other team members who they did the same thing the night before. They had done a full boudoir shoot. So the intention was to take these strong willed women photos to show our MOPS group that women can be strong. And we never use those photos, the headshots or anything for any of the MOPS meetings after that. I feel like she was very comfortable in knowing what she wanted out of me as far as wear this outfit, do it this way, put your legs here. And I don't know for me if I would know how to do any of that. It's just really sad because I was really vulnerable. Time of my life.
- [02:52]
Charli Webs
Yeah.
- [02:54]
Lacey
And I was just doing everything I could to just have a friend.
- [03:01]
Timber
She would not take no for an answer.
- [03:03]
Charli Webs
This is Timber. Timber was also a part of MOPS and worked closely with Candice and Lacey on the leadership team. Timber was another of Candice's besties. Candice had made the entire MOPS group do the exact same style of photo shoot as Lacy the night before. And Timba was there for it.
- [03:24]
Timber
We Were getting ready to start another season of mops. So we were in all of the planning stages, and so we needed to have a big planning meeting at Candace's house. Candace told me the day of that, you know, she's like, I think it would be so fun and so liberating if we gave everyone the opportunity to do a boudoir photo shoot also tonight. And I was like, what are you talking about? Where is this coming from?
- [03:51]
Charli Webs
Like, just totally out of nowhere.
- [03:53]
Timber
This is coming out of. This is such a random idea. I'm not against that per se. You know, like, women expressing their, you know, being comfortable in their bodies and expressing their sexuality and that a boudoir photo shoot can be, like, a really beautiful way for women to do that for themselves. However, entirely inappropriate for the context and the setting and what we were there to do. I was really frustrated because Candice was just pushing it so hard and really trying to sell it to me. And I was like, I don't like it. I don't think it's a good idea. I don't think that we should bring it up at all. But she just. She would not take no for an answer. I was like, fine. If you're insisting on doing this, you cannot tell them that they have to because you are the leader. And if you are telling them that they have to do something, then they will feel like, oh, well, in order to be a part of this group, I have to do that thing, and that is not okay. And so she presented to everyone right at the beginning of the meeting, and it was just bringing it on. Everyone. It was like 7pm on a weeknight. We're all, like, showing up in, like, comfy clothes so we can, like, sit down and, like, plan out a year of meetings and events. So we did it. We did the meeting, and then they did do the photos. Everyone that was there participated, but she had everyone go up in her room with the door shut. She had lingerie that she offered for everyone to wear.
- [05:29]
Charli Webs
Was it her own lingerie?
- [05:30]
Timber
I assume so, yeah. She's also.
- [05:33]
Charli Webs
She's a very different size.
- [05:34]
Timber
She's also not the same body type, but me or most of us. Yeah, yeah.
- [05:39]
Charli Webs
Candice had each of the women wear what she said was her own lingerie. Candice is 55 with a curvy figure. Timber is 5 2, and her frame is very petite, While Lacey is tall, about 5 10, and has a slim build. Yet the lingerie fits each of the women better than you might. It got me thinking about the role gender plays in how we perceive coercion and if it's harder to recognize when it's done by a woman, especially one that you trust and look up to. Did you do the boudoir shoot?
- [06:13]
Timber
I did, yeah.
- [06:15]
Charli Webs
Did you want to?
- [06:15]
Timber
I mean, no. I felt very, very pressured to do it. I also didn't know what was going to happen to all of those photos. I didn't know if they were going to be in her possession. Like, what could she. What could she do with.
- [06:32]
Aura
I hate it.
- [06:32]
Timber
I hate talking about it. We also knew so much about these women personally and some of their struggles in their marriage and with their body image and their self esteem and their sexuality. She wanted to talk about our marriages, about our sex lives a lot and like, what's working, what's not working, or what are you into? And wine was very present. We had a few women who were very vocal about how they had struggled with alcohol. And Candace would actually encourage them, like, oh, well, one glass of wine won't hurt you. One drink won't hurt. So I think because she had gotten so many of the women to share vulnerably and candidly, putting them in a position to manipulate everyone, to participate in something like this just felt even worse to me because she knew what everyone's vulnerabilities were with their bodies and their sexuality or maybe difficulties they were having in that area of their life. I felt like she was just beginning. Like her, her behavior was increasingly erratic and a bit unhinged.
- [07:48]
Charli Webs
Timber wasn't the only one who was concerned about Candice's change in behavior. Another member of the MOPS group who was close to Candice, Patricia, was noticing it too. At that time, Patricia was actually moving across the country for her husband's work, leaving Utah and MOPS behind.
- [08:05]
Patricia
Candace was devastated. She was so sad that I was leaving. As we were ramping up towards leaving, she wanted to be there. As we drove away, me and my sons and I, I kind of had a sense. I understood she wanted this very emotional scene of me leaving and her crying behind. The experience that I'm going to create around moving is not going to be a trauma one for my children. And then she also did not like being told no that she couldn't actually watch me drive away from my house. But I held the boundary. But she kept pushing and pushing. So I got up, load the kids up and my husband stayed behind and the movers were there and loading the trucks with all of our stuff. And I pulled out to start driving across the country. And she waited until I was gone and went over there and had a conversation with my husband when she knew that I wouldn't be there. And she took a lot of the things that I had said within our friendship, and she twisted them and made up things and crafted all sorts of different kinds of stories that actually had a pretty negative impact on my marriage and my life.
- [09:32]
Charli Webs
If you're reading between the lines, yes, Candace was coming on to Patricia's husband. He had to lock himself in his bedroom to escape Candace and wait for her to leave. She told Candice things about her marriage in confidence. Candace took them and told Patricia's husband what she'd said and twisted caused a major rift in Patricia's marriage that is still being repaired to this day. Patricia found it very difficult to talk about.
- [10:00]
Patricia
I didn't find out until a few hours later that night when I was in a hotel room with my children and they were sleeping and I was in the bathroom and got the full story from my husband. Candace had taken things that I said and crafted different things out of it so it sounded credible because there was enough truth to it to sound credible that I would say these things. And he was very angry and very upset, and she refused to leave. And when I called her to confront her about it, and I was focused on the fact that you took these things that should have been within the confines of our friendship in private, and you twisted them and said these other things, she just laughed and said, oh, I wouldn't try to sleep with him. He's too short for me.
- [10:56]
Charli Webs
What?
- [10:59]
Patricia
She was not apologetic. I knew at that point I would never interact with this person again. And I never spoke to her again and just tried to work through what had happened and heal the damage.
- [11:15]
Charli Webs
The MOPS women were starting to have doubts about Candace. The perfect image that she portrayed was unraveling, and so too, it seemed, was Candace. Candice's divorce from her husband Patrick was getting messier, and her behavior was getting more and more worrying for Timber.
- [11:42]
Timber
It was getting more tense. Her personal life was falling apart, and her marriage was falling apart. That was, you know, becoming increasingly concerning because she was showing up more erratically to the group more. And it was like more wine, more alcohol, more talk of sex, and things like that.
- [11:58]
Charli Webs
Lacy was also concerned about money from a mop's fundraiser that she was having a hard time getting from Candice. There was about $300 that was missing.
- [12:07]
Lacey
We had Chick fil a come in, and they brought free sandwiches. And then the purpose is then the families come and buy the food from US and then we keep the proceeds. We made a couple hundred dollars, and Candace had taken the money. I was part of the finance team in our MOPS group, and so I had reached out to her and said, hey, I need that money. Like, I need to get it in the account. At that time, she started saying that her and Patrick were fighting and she wasn't allowed in the house, and the money was in the house and I'll get it for you. And she kind of kept putting me off and putting me off all at the same time. In our leadership group with MOPS and the money, everything kind of started to implode on itself. Where I started feeling like the capacity in which Candace should lead MOPS wasn't what it should be. Her life was getting turned upside down with Patrick. She started saying that Patrick was hitting her, and he was coming to the house and making it a mess and punching walls.
- [13:11]
Charli Webs
Candice told that to Laci. But Timber actually saw Candice's house. In the aftermath of one of the arguments.
- [13:18]
Timber
I went over to her house with her, and it was a mess. There were a few decorations that had been thrown and broken kitchen drawers and office desk drawers were dumped out and papers strewn everywhere. I mean, somebody was very upset. She told me that argument was about some paperwork, that he was accusing her of stealing money or something from him. And so that was why, like, the office was ransacked, the drawers in the kitchen, like, paperwork was just everywhere.
- [13:53]
Charli Webs
Timber didn't know what to think about what she'd seen at Candice's house. Meanwhile, Lacy was getting to the end of her tether with Candice. She heard that Candace was doing the same thing that she'd done to Patricia's husband, to other women, and that was the final straw.
- [14:10]
Lacey
There was some conversations that she was having with other people's husbands in the group that was not appropriate of what this other woman should be doing in their sex life. Like, Candace went to a husband and said, you need to do this for your wife in their sex life. When I found that out, that's when I was like, if she's going to other people's husbands, she's not fit to be in the leadership. I went to the pastor of the church, and I said, hey, I think we should consider having Candace step down from being a leader. I can take that role. She has a lot going on with this divorce pending.
- [14:55]
Charli Webs
Timber also went to the pastor. One way or another, they were going to get Candace out of mops.
- [15:01]
Timber
I tried to tell him that I can't work with her. She's not fit to be having this much influence over these women. What she did to Trisha, like, she was able to do what she did because of how manipulative and grooming she had been to Tricia and to all of us. And she's putting people in these vulnerable positions. It's going to happen again.
- [15:26]
Charli Webs
Their complaints fell on deaf ears.
- [15:29]
Timber
He chalked it all up to, well, these are just our personal experiences with her. It doesn't have anything to do with the church or with Mops and that he is not friends with everyone he works with. And I should figure out how to work with her. I don't have to be friends with her.
- [15:43]
Charli Webs
Lacey was told the same thing.
- [15:45]
Lacey
The pastor said, everything's fine, which made me feel kind of uncomfortable. Kind of put me in a weird position. A couple weeks go by, and Candace said that she filed a protective order against Patrick because Patrick hit her with a golf club. And then she was, like, dropping the meetings. Like, she'd show up late to the meetings. She'd show up to the church and, like, put her makeup on at the church. I saw her in the bathroom once, like, washing herself, like, with a towel. I'm like, what are you doing? She's like, well, I couldn't shower at home because Patrick was home, and she just was kind of spiraling. So I went back to the pastor a second time, and I said, look, we need to get her out.
- [16:27]
Charli Webs
After multiple complaints, the pastor finally agreed to let Candice go. And Lacey took over the leadership.
- [16:34]
Lacey
And finally, at that time, we were able to remove her from her being the president of the SMOPS group. And I took over at that time. About two days later, my mailbox showed up with a card with $300 in it with a note from Candace that said, you're going to do a great job leading. Good luck. I wish you well. And that was kind of the last time I talked to her.
- [17:01]
Charli Webs
So was that money from the Chick Fil A fundraiser?
- [17:04]
Lacey
Yeah, that was about six months prior.
- [17:05]
Charli Webs
So she did give you that.
- [17:06]
Lacey
She finally did give it back.
- [17:09]
Charli Webs
Candice made a video to mark her goodbye to Mops. Here's what she said.
- [17:14]
Patricia
So thank you so much for trusting.
- [17:16]
Timber
Us with your every other Thursday, every.
- [17:18]
Patricia
Month and allowing us to be real with you and allowing us to make you feel uncomfortable sometimes.
- [17:25]
Charli Webs
At the end of the video, she pulled out her unicorn head, the rubber one, the one we heard about in episode one with the for the Love Book Group. For her final curtain call, Our best unicorn girl danced around the room in her favorite mask.
- [17:42]
Timber
I think that she was really upset but she didn't show that a lot to me because I also think think that she was really trying to maintain her faith with me and with everyone else. She really wanted to meet up or see me in person and I refused and told her I am not interested in continuing a relationship with you anymore. I think that she thought that she could talk her way out of all of that and get me back in good graces. I knew it was just going to be like a never ending hamster wheel. And for me and my own well being too. I was like, I can't do that to myself. You know, I can't keep staying stuck in this loop.
- [18:19]
Danielle
I just need to get out of it.
- [18:22]
Timber
And then I never talked to her again after that.
- [18:26]
Patricia
Timber and I had shared our experiences. We sort of leaned on each other and we were the me too person for each other when it came to Candace. And we had discussions and kind of came to the conclusion that Candace was doing to us everything she accused Patrick of doing to her. We sort of agreed that talking about Candace would probably not be something that is productive going forward. Like we just needed to put it down and have a friendship outside of this subject.
- [19:03]
Charli Webs
While all of the MOPS women moved on from Candace, there was one person from the group who stood by her. Danielle. At this turbulent time in Candice's life for the love was there for her online.
- [19:16]
Candace Rivera
I'm sad that so many things in my life are ending. I know God's got something better, but can I mourn over the used to's and always dids.
- [19:26]
Charli Webs
But Danielle was there for her in person.
- [19:28]
Danielle
Candace and I started spending a lot more time together and so that was kind of our, our time of like everyone else left. So it's just her and I. Candice.
- [19:37]
Charli Webs
Was living in the marital home but the court had awarded her now ex husband Patrick the house because she missed her own custody hearing while she was in Ukraine rescuing two orphan boys. Candice was forced to get out.
- [19:52]
Danielle
I was helping her move out of their marital home during the divorce. Candice's dad was living with her at the time, living with her in the marital home because of the divorce so that he could be there to help with the boys. And he called me kind of in a panic. He was like, I don't know where to go. Patrick and his brother are here with guns. I don't know what to do. I was like, well I'll come over in my truck and we'll just start loading up what we can. And so we did, you know, we packed a few things. I didn't even go in her bedroom because that felt uncomfortable with Patrick there to, like, pack her her clothes. I assumed he'd let her in later. It was a nightmare to get in to get any of her things.
- [20:35]
Candace Rivera
My husband purposefully has me in this position of not even letting me get underwear for my house. It was a hard night of trying to be grateful and thinking, you've lost everything.
- [20:45]
Charli Webs
With nowhere to go, Candice started reaching out to friends for a place to stay.
- [20:50]
Danielle
Two of our friends offered their basement because their basement was a little rental unit, you know, like, separated from the main entrance, had its own little kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom.
- [20:59]
Charli Webs
If you're not familiar with this basement concept, neither was I. Basement, to me, means dark, dingy, underneath a house. Perfect for horror movies. But that's not what it means in Utah. Utah is known for having big basements that are their own separate living spaces. A lot of them are even rented out separately to the main house.
- [21:22]
Danielle
She was there a few months, but then things got real stressful there because the wife was stressed that Candace was coming onto her husband. That's what Candace told me. Like, oh, Diane's so scared that she thinks I'm coming on to Greg. He's not my type. It's not like I ever would. So they asked her to move. And that's when my friend Evelyn and Carlos, he's a Marine, they were stationed here. They offered an upstairs bedroom. Like, well, you can come stay with us. She was there for months. It was kind of, you know, Greg and Diane's for months, and then Evelyn's for months. And then Evelyn called me furious because she told me that Candace had taken money from her debit account. She said Candace used my card to pay her phone bill, and I told her no. She asked me ahead of time, and I even told her, no, you can't. And Candace did anyways. And that put them out on bills and put them in a bad place for bills. And Evelyn was really mad and really hurt, Especially just the direct. Like, you asked me, and I said no, and then you did it anyways, and they asked her to leave.
- [22:35]
Charli Webs
It wasn't just the phone bill. Candace used Evelyn's card to pay for subscriptions to music and TV as well. And in case you were wondering, yes, she also tried to flirt with Evelyn's husband. Candice was running out of friends who would let her stay in their house. She was desperate to get a place of her own. Finally, after Months of bouncing around her friends houses. One of the families at soccer owned a townhome that they rented to Candace.
- [23:03]
Candace Rivera
Is it time for an update? I moved yesterday into the new townhome that I am renting and it was hard.
- [23:10]
Charli Webs
Candice's social media posts are read by Emmy Jory. All the posts in this series are taken directly from Candice's social media. For the Love was becoming somewhat of a personal diary for Candace. And in one of her now daily updates she opened up about how difficult it was to be alone for the first time.
- [23:30]
Candace Rivera
Sleeping alone in the town home last night was weird. I've been staying with friends or had the boys and it was kind of lonely. Maybe next month a few of you will have to come and visit and we can decorate it.
- [23:42]
Charli Webs
Hint, hint.
- [23:42]
Candace Rivera
For the Love visitors welcome. It could be a housewarming party for 300 guests. Anyway, hope you're well.
- [23:49]
Lacey
Kiss, kiss kiss.
- [23:50]
Candace Rivera
Your favorite for the Love unicorn.
- [23:54]
Charli Webs
It wasn't easy adjusting to her new reality. She was completely alone for the first time as an adult, Candice leaned on Danielle for support. Especially as the anniversary of the loss of her twin girls was approaching.
- [24:08]
Danielle
She had lost her twin daughters. She told me when it came up, it's coming up on the girl's birthday. Patrick and I always did something for their birthday, but now that we're divorced, like it's just me and the boys and I don't want to do it by myself. Like will you come? Will you come do it with me? We'll do like a little birthday party for them. So I said yes and I brought my kids and so we had a cake and we'd kind of do different memorial things. Each year.
- [24:36]
Charli Webs
Danielle and her children celebrated with Candace and her two boys. They had balloons and a cake set up in the garden to remember the twins.
- [24:45]
Danielle
We'd sing Happy Birthday to them. And so her kids were involved with that and they, you know, talk about their, their sisters and what age would they be and you know, I wonder what it would have been like if I had sisters and my kids would be involved in that.
- [25:09]
Charli Webs
The first few weeks alone in the townhouse were hard for Candice. But as time went on, she found she had more space to follow her growing passion for medical advocacy.
- [25:20]
Candace Rivera
Medical advocacy is not for the faint of heart. If you do not know what starvation looks like. Trafficking, neglect, abuse. Here, I will show you.
- [25:29]
Charli Webs
Candace was taking her passions public, not just posting about it in the private for the Love Book group anymore. She was now broadcasting to the world on her Instagram One fierce mama. She was about to go and rescue another medically vulnerable orphan in Ukraine. Given Candice's nursing experience and that she'd already rescued two severely disabled boys from there, she got the call to help out once again. This time it was an orphan boy who. Who was a victim of human trafficking.
- [26:02]
Candace Rivera
The boy is 16, has been starved, beaten, neglected, and forgotten. Discarded like nothing more than a used gum wrapper.
- [26:11]
Charli Webs
But just as Candace was about to get on the plane to Ukraine, police are searching for a purse snatcher in Lehigh. But the victim doesn't even want her money back. Candace's main concern was her passing passport, which was in her purse when it was stolen. She went on the local news appealing to get it back.
- [26:31]
Danny Remington
Candace doesn't care about the money. She only cares about her passport and government IDs. Candice has a trip to Eastern Europe coming up very soon. It's a mission to bring this boy back to an American hospital.
- [26:45]
Patricia
He is 16 years old and weighs less than 22 pounds.
- [26:48]
Danny Remington
Without her passport, she will not be able to make the trip.
- [26:51]
Timber
I don't want to press charges.
- [26:53]
Patricia
I will thank you.
- [26:53]
Lacey
I'll even give you a hug.
- [26:55]
Patricia
But just bringing back the passport, because.
- [26:58]
Charli Webs
It'S not about me.
- [27:00]
Patricia
It's not. There are kids waiting and I need to go get them.
- [27:05]
Charli Webs
Candice never got her passport back, so she had to apply for a new one. But it was March 2020. So as she was waiting for her new passport to come through, Covid hit the world and she couldn't travel. But that wasn't going to stop Candice. She called up a bestie who lived on the other side of the country. Danny Remington.
- [27:27]
Danny Remington
I'm a registered nurse and currently I'm stay at home mom homeschooling my four kids. I attended Nightingale College for my associates in nursing.
- [27:37]
Charli Webs
Danny and Candice went to nursing school together. That's how they became besties.
- [27:42]
Danny Remington
When Candace started the program, I felt like we clicked as friends pretty quick.
- [27:48]
Charli Webs
Candice and Danny became closer friends towards the end of their schooling when they were doing their clinical rotations before graduation.
- [27:55]
Danny Remington
On the day that we graduated, there was like a pinning ceremony. She did not want to attend graduation. On the day of graduation, she showed up at my apartment and wanted to get a picture with me and had like, her cap with her. And I remember her posting that to social media saying, we did it. We graduated nursing school.
- [28:18]
Danielle
School.
- [28:18]
Danny Remington
And that was to me how she had, like the graduation ceremony for herself.
- [28:25]
Charli Webs
Candice was 28 when she graduated, Danny 30. The majority of students in their class at Nightingale College were adults. But even after you graduate, to be able to get a job or even practice nursing, you need to pass the licensure board exam.
- [28:42]
Danny Remington
There was several in our cohort that were struggling to pass the board exam. And I remember Candace telling me she didn't pass on two attempts. And then I moved back to the east coast shortly after that and my life just went in a different direction in terms of, you know, we just kind of lost contact. She reached out to me in the spring of 2020. That was the first time I'd heard from her in years. She called me up and said that she had been helping with efforts to provide medical transportation of orphans in Eastern Europe, specifically Ukraine. There was a boy there who she'd worked with on a couple of occasions, but due to the pandemic, they were unable to fly to pick him up. They had worked out some situation where he came in on some kind of government flight and that when he landed, she wanted him to have some medical assessing done. And this boy was just frail and tiny, severe malnourishment, had been in just a very abusive, traumatic situation. She said it would be a big help to her and that this was something that the adoptive mother would be very appreciative of. So I told her that my husband and I would go together.
- [30:19]
Charli Webs
When Danny moved to the east coast, she met her now husband, David, who is a physician, a family doctor, gp.
- [30:26]
Danny Remington
We checked into a hotel and the adoptive mother and the child coming from Ukraine checked into the room adjacent to us. The assessment part was it was a really humbling and distressing and rewarding experience. He was in such a fragile condition and yet he was seeing the love of the adopted mother. And to see this boy connect with and start to have a relationship with someone who I knew genuinely cared for him and loved him. My husband and I were tearful on the drive home and reflecting on all of it and all that we had learned and all we'd seen and felt and felt that we really wanted to do whatever we could to help this cause.
- [31:16]
Candace Rivera
Interrupting your quarantine life. To finally bring you the story you need to hear.
- [31:20]
Charli Webs
Candice posted on Instagram detailing all, all the pieces that came together to make this work.
- [31:25]
Candace Rivera
A Ukrainian embassy diplomat, a Ukrainian security guard and driver, two international adoption agents, a Ukrainian nanny, a Russian area non medical missionary family, a mom from Indiana, an OT from New York, a medical couple from North Carolina, a medical single mom from Utah, and one amazing bad A big God did not let an orphan die.
- [31:48]
Danny Remington
Candice was on FaceTime during the assessment and was just, you know, talking to the adoptive mom and, and to my husband and I and based on our assessments and our just looking at his situation that he was in, in Ukraine, had he stayed there, I don't know how much longer he would have lived.
- [32:09]
Charli Webs
Covid was a huge concern. The orphan's adoptive mother said that his lungs were so weak that if he were to catch it, she didn't know how he'd survive. With the help of Danny Remington and her husband and Candice on FaceTime, the orphan was safely treated and transported to his new home in America. He became the adoptive mother's 14th adopted child. He's now doing really well. Candice was determined to continue her work and a global pandemic wasn't going to stop her. She started volunteering a bit closer to home in Salt Lake City, helping those who are on the streets and being trafficked.
- [32:57]
Danny Remington
I did not know that she had an interest or a passion in that before, but I remember sitting on the phone with her and Candace telling me about a lot of information on anti human trafficking work and had mentioned to me that she was now working with a physician assistant exiting women in trafficking in Salt Lake and told me a lot of details about all of it.
- [33:20]
Charli Webs
The physician's assistant Candice was working with on the streets of Salt Lake City was a guy called Drew. He worked with victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Drew was approached by a local organization that wanted to create an outreach program in Salt Lake. They had a list of volunteers he could utilize to help him out. Candace was on that list.
- [33:41]
Patrick Leard
Candace was looking to get involved in that project, that street outreach type project. And there was a role for like lead volunteers to like lead one night a month. And Candice was a candidate for that role. So that's how I was introduced to her initially. She's very charismatic, easy to talk to. She was very excited, seemed really passionate about the work that I was engaged in. She touted like some really cool, exotic experience, you know, her experience in the medical field. Her experience like working in Eastern Europe in orphanages, doing these like medical transports to bring kids who were medically compromised who had been adopted from Ukraine in particular to the United States. I was interested and I was really curious about that because she said that she was a nurse or a nurse practitioner. That kind of changed over time, like toggle between the two, which was a little weird. But, you know, it seemed like she was also trying to work at the intersection of healthcare and human trafficking. She came out once for Like a interview kind of walk about on the streets where we were actually. I was actually out there doing the work that I do and she came with and I was getting to know her a bit and looking at, you know, if she would be a good person for that role. But then she was really flaky. I like never heard from her again. We asked her multiple times to take on the role because she seemed like a great fit and never heard back from her. She was a single mom, kids at home. So I was like, well, probably just got lots of things going on in 2020 during the pandemic. I was just at home kind of doing nothing, just waiting. But I am personally a bit restless. And so during that time I was planning and I was really digging deep and doing a lot of research into how to get an organization off the ground to accomplish the work that I wanted to accompl. As I did that, I reached out to a lot of people and I remember getting on the phone with Candace. I really like shared with her my vision for creating a nonprofit organization that would provide free health care to people experiencing human trafficking and exploitation and being able to do that all over the world. She really got stoked about that. She was like, yeah, like I've been doing things like that and I think that I could help you take this to the next level. Seemed to have a lot of experience in that space, a lot of business experience or acumen, you know. She said that she'd started multiple businesses with her ex husband. She had a really good like kind of marketing, public facing Persona that I didn't really feel like was my jam. I ran this by a lot of people, you know, they're like, oh yeah, this is great, this will be a great match. So I was like, okay, let's start moving down that direction.
- [36:56]
Charli Webs
Things were finally coming together for Candace. She'd always dreamed of making an impact. She wanted to make a difference and with her medical advocacy work had got a taste of what she could do. Now that she'd met Drew, it was the perfect opportunity to start something bigger than what the two of them could accomplish separately. So Drew and Candice co founded a non profit called Exodus. Their idea was that Exodus would help human trafficking victims to escape or exit, hence the name, and provide the resources, support and aftercare needed to heal. There can be a perception that human trafficking doesn't happen in the U.S. but it does. It's a billion dollar industry, second only to drug trafficking in terms of illegal industry profitability. Salt Lake City is a hub for it because of its proximity to the western part of the country, it's not far from Las Vegas and California. To become an official nonprofit, Drew and Candace would need a board. Candice started assembling a team and a board almost immediately. The board was made up of some prominent names in Utah, including an ex Navy seal, a successful Utah businessman, and a best selling author. Candice tapped her nursing school bestie, Danny Remington and her doctor husband to join as well.
- [38:27]
Aura
Well, I think it's this one.
- [38:28]
Charli Webs
36.403 producer Jackson and I went to Utah and spent some time with the people who were close to Candace. So were they. Are they like multiple different apartments or is that a house?
- [38:42]
Aura
They're like houses connected to each other.
- [38:45]
Patrick Leard
Like a townhouse.
- [38:46]
Danielle
It's pretty big.
- [38:47]
Charli Webs
It is pretty big. And it was beautiful.
- [38:49]
Danny Remington
Yeah, I thought it was going to be small.
- [38:51]
Charli Webs
That's like big. That's like a big.
- [38:54]
Aura
And they have basements too.
- [38:55]
Charli Webs
We were shown around by one of Candace's besties, Aura, who took us on a little tour of Utah with her daughter Bailey. The first stop was Candace's townhouse.
- [39:06]
Aura
Yes, this one on the end, it's.
- [39:10]
Charli Webs
Got at least three bedrooms.
- [39:12]
Aura
They have a pool over there somewhere. A soccer friend of ours helped her get this. That's where we started having girls nights.
- [39:25]
Charli Webs
When Aura first met Candace, she was going through a major life change.
- [39:30]
Aura
I was 38 years old and I had just left the Mormon Church. I had just told my husband, which of course was devastating to our family. And I just, I didn't believe in it anymore.
- [39:39]
Charli Webs
Because your family's Mormon?
- [39:41]
Aura
Yes, and my husband is Mormon.
- [39:43]
Charli Webs
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as Mormonism, is synonymous with Utah. The state has the highest population of Mormons worldwide, over 2 million people. Utah was built by Mormons, so it isn't just a religion, but a way of life. Most of the shops close on Sundays, including the grocery stores. And it seems like there's a Mormon church on every corner. The skyline is dotted with golden angels sitting atop the spires of the Mormon Temple. You can't help but notice it when you're driving in and around Salt Lake City. The streets are all numbered based on how far away they are from the main temple in Salt Lake Temple Square. So it was a little confusing to get around for me. Anyway, after Candice's townhouse, we stopped at Mount Timpanoga's temple with Aura and Bailey.
- [40:37]
Aura
The first time I went in the temple, it's called initiatory, where you do these rituals and then you get, like, your temple garments. So when I did that, this is the temple I went to. This is also where my sister was married.
- [40:53]
Charli Webs
Is it huge inside? It looks massive. Yep.
- [40:57]
Aura
And it's supposed to replicate heaven, so it's very white.
- [41:02]
Charli Webs
Producer Jackson and I stood outside the. The golden sliding doors of the temple with Aura and her daughter Bailey. We weren't allowed in. You need a temple recommend card to get access. Bailey's also no longer part of the church, but she told us about how she would sneak out to go to the temple when she was younger.
- [41:21]
Lacey
I used to come here so much.
- [41:23]
Charli Webs
Did you? Oh, yeah. Me and one of my friends, I literally. I used to sneak out in the high school, and we legit snuck out.
- [41:32]
Lacey
To go to the temple and, like, just sit in the parking lot.
- [41:36]
Charli Webs
I wasn't sneaking out to, like, go see boys or kiss or anything. We literally snuck out to go to the temple and sit in the car. Yeah, we just sat. It was just like.
- [41:49]
Timber
It's like these spiritual experiences.
- [41:51]
Charli Webs
But then you got to, like, have it with, like, your friends, I guess. Leaving the Mormon church is a big deal. Aura lost her friends, her community, and the only way of life she'd ever known. Leaving meant having to relearn how to exist in the world again, this time without any external guidance. It fractured her family. You can't even go to your own family's weddings because you're not allowed to step foot in the temple again. And it put a strain on her marriage. Aura's husband is still in the religion, and it took them some time to work through because of the expectations of the church. Candice was not Mormon. She's a Christian. So Aura felt like she could confide in her without being judged.
- [42:36]
Aura
So when I left the Mormon Church, I felt that Candice was a safe person to be my friend at that time, where most of my acquaintances were also Mormons. So I confided in her about the process I was going through. It was an extremely painful time in my life and also the most freeing time in my life. All of a sudden, your brain is like a blank sheet of paper, but your legs are also cut off at the same time. Like, there is no floor underneath you. So everything in my life that I had been taught down to the most basic facts, I could think about again as, like, if I was reborn and make decisions for myself, Candice was there for me. She was safe to talk to because I'd never heard her talk bad about the church. So I was like, I can tell her. And she won't hate my husband. And that was really important to me. She was so kind to my family. But she did tell me after I left the church, she's like, I'm so glad.
- [43:46]
Charli Webs
Now that Aura had left the Mormon Church, she was on a journey to discover what she wanted to do in her life. Candice offered her a job at her new project, Exodus.
- [43:56]
Aura
She's like, I have the perfect opportunity.
- [43:59]
Charli Webs
And was that your first job?
- [44:01]
Aura
I have had other jobs, like, small jobs throughout my life that I actually loved.
- [44:05]
Timber
But this was the first one I.
- [44:06]
Aura
Had where I'm like, I don't need to feel guilty about leaving my house. But then she's like, I think you'd be perfect. As my secretary.
- [44:15]
Charli Webs
Ora told us about when she and Candace first met, which was at her boy's soccer game.
- [44:21]
Aura
So our sons were on the same soccer team. There was a soccer trip to Mesquite with the teams and all their families. And so I remember being at a pool and I was with some soccer mom friends that I already knew, and Candace was there, and they were all talking about the affairs Patrick was having. She just was like this larger than life woman who was like, fun and happy and pretty and just was funny. Like, she's got a sense of humor and just was like, really good at talking and sucking everyone in. We were kind of surrounding her, being her support. And looking back, I think think it's kind of strange how bubbly she was at this time because the whole reason why we were surrounding her was for support because her husband had just been cheating on her. So she was telling me, like, yeah, I just had to get tested for STDs, but like, I'm good type of a thing. But, yeah, like, really bubbly about it. And I think we all saw that personality as someone that was really strong through something really hard. And so, yeah, we were all just drawn into, like, Candace world. And Patrick ended up coming later on the trip. Like, he showed up late and we were all just, like, hating him. We were ignoring him. Candice told us that while she was gone helping children in another country, when she came home, Patrick had another woman living at the house, basically playing mom to her family. So of course we're like, we are Team Candace and we do not support your husband at all. And then his girlfriend came to watch our boys play, and we were horrified. And I'm like, what nerve for these people to, like, parade the relationship in front of her, in front of the children, in front of us.
- [46:32]
Charli Webs
Spending time in Utah and talking to people in Candice's life, there was one person everyone was told stories about, the ex husband, Patrick. We really wanted to sit down with him and see what he had to say.
- [46:48]
Patrick Leard
My Name's Patrick Leard, 44, lived in Utah my whole life.
- [46:52]
Charli Webs
Who's your ex wife?
- [46:54]
Patrick Leard
Candice Rivera.
- [46:56]
Charli Webs
So you're the infamous ex husband that everybody talked about?
- [47:02]
Patrick Leard
Yep.
- [47:04]
Charli Webs
Patrick had a very different take on what Candace was saying about him. We'll get to that in the next episode of Unicorn Girl. This has been Unicorn Girl, an Apple original podcast produced by Seven Hills and hosted and executive produced by me, Charlie Webster. Unicorn Girl is produced by me, Charlie Webster and Jackson McLennan. Original score and theme music by Ryan Sorenson. Editing and sound design by Nico Polella, assistant producer of Fact Checking by Emmy Jory. Candice's social media posts are also read by Emmy Jory, mixed by Little Big Room. Additional production support by Fun Meter. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.