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Speaker 1: Hey guys.

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Speaker 2: Before we get into the episode, a quick note. We're

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Speaker 2: looking for news stories of betrayal for our weekly Betrayal series,

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Speaker 2: which returns in August. If you've experienced betrayal and feel

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Speaker 2: ready to share your story, now is a great time

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Speaker 2: to reach out. Email us at Betrayal Pod at gmail

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Speaker 2: dot com. That's Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com.

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Speaker 3: He would come in before he worked out and said hi,

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Speaker 3: but the only reason he was there was so that

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Speaker 3: everyone could say, well, he was there working out, but

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Speaker 3: he was there for the sole purpose to take a

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Speaker 3: shower after his lunchtime activities.

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Speaker 2: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, Season four, episode six,

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Speaker 2: Circling the Drain. In the last episode of Betrayal, you

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Speaker 2: heard Caroline describe her final meeting with Joel in twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two. They met to discuss issues surrounding their impending divorce.

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Speaker 2: The location was a coffee shop they had frequented when

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Speaker 2: they were a couple. After more than two months at

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Speaker 2: an inpatient rehab, Joel looked like a different person. Gone

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Speaker 2: was the clean cut cop she had lived with for

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Speaker 2: more than twenty years. Caroline barely recognized him. His cell

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Speaker 2: phone panged relentlessly during their meeting with messages from dating apps.

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Speaker 2: Joel's behavior hadn't changed, he just didn't need to hide

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Speaker 2: it anymore. As far as Caroline was concerned, the relationship

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Speaker 2: was beyond repair. And as you heard in previous episodes,

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Speaker 2: their son had already made up his mind too. But

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Speaker 2: Caroline wanted Nicole, their daughter, to make her own decision

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Speaker 2: about a relationship with her.

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Speaker 4: Father if she wanted to try to have a relationship

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Speaker 4: with him, and he was open to that, I wanted

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Speaker 4: that for her.

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Speaker 2: At the time, Nicole was the only one in their

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Speaker 2: family still grappling with weather to have a relationship with Joel.

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Speaker 5: When that first happened, I just couldn't believe the depth

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Speaker 5: of the lies that he told us or integrate all

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Speaker 5: of his actions just as one person and as him.

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Speaker 2: Nicole was entering her senior year of high school and

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Speaker 2: it was just her and Caroline at home.

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Speaker 4: In September, Labor Day weekend, our daughter and I decided

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Speaker 4: that we were going to get away for the weekend,

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Speaker 4: and we were going to go visit my best friend

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Speaker 4: who lives in New Mexico. And as we're on our drive,

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Speaker 4: it's about a six hour drive. This text comes through

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Speaker 4: and it's from Joel and it's probably two to three

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Speaker 4: screens long.

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Speaker 2: He'd sent it to both Caroline and Nicole in a

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Speaker 2: group chat.

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Speaker 4: And it just says, I just want you guys to

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Speaker 4: know I love you more than anything in the world.

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Speaker 4: I think about your mother and you guys every day.

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Speaker 4: I regret my stupid actions. I hope that we can

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Speaker 4: be a family. And our daughter was just devastated by

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Speaker 4: this text.

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Speaker 2: Joel was saying he wanted to be a family, but

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Speaker 2: his actions showed otherwise.

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Speaker 6: And so I tried calling him and he did it respond.

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Speaker 4: And then she goes to call him again, and this

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Speaker 4: time you could tell he put her to voicemail, and

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Speaker 4: so I said, maybe he's at work.

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Speaker 2: Caroline just couldn't bear to see Nicole in so much pain.

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Speaker 4: She wants to connect with him and he doesn't answer.

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Speaker 1: Nicole was holding out hope.

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Speaker 6: He still holds this sort of grassp on me.

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Speaker 2: Nicole and Caroline arrived in New Mexico for a much

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Speaker 2: needed visit with Caroline's best friend, Deborah. We met her

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Speaker 2: in an earlier episode, and Deborah could see Nicole was hurting.

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Speaker 7: I felt like she really struggled because she was a

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Speaker 7: daddy's girl. She was trying to weigh out do I

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Speaker 7: want to still have a relationship with my dad.

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Speaker 4: The next day, my best friend, her husband, me, my

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Speaker 4: daughter were facetiming with my son who is in college

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Speaker 4: on the East Coast, and we start just reminiscing and

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Speaker 4: going down memory lane, and my son says, oh, I

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Speaker 4: remember this picture. I got to pull this picture up.

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Speaker 4: He's real silent, and then all of a sudden, he says, Mama,

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Speaker 4: could you take me off speakerphone and just talk to me?

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Speaker 4: And so I said, well, what's going on? And so

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Speaker 4: he gets very serious and he said, please just take

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Speaker 4: me off speakerphone. I just want to talk to you.

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Speaker 4: And so I excuse myself and I said, is everything okay?

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Speaker 4: And he said no.

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Speaker 2: Their son told Caroline that she needed to look at

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Speaker 2: their shared family photovault. Joel was still uploading pictures.

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Speaker 1: To the cloud.

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Speaker 4: When I pull it up, there is just picture after

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Speaker 4: picture of women on a beach who you can clearly

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Speaker 4: tell they have no idea how they're being photographed.

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Speaker 2: Immediately, Caroline went to Deborah and showed her what her

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Speaker 2: son had seen.

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Speaker 8: It's just pictures of girls in their bikinis. Some of

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Speaker 8: them are zoomed in on their butts or their crotch.

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Speaker 8: You know that the women don't know because they're either

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Speaker 8: laying down and their face is on the opposite end,

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Speaker 8: or you know, he's behind them when they're walking.

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Speaker 7: There was one girl I remember she was walking with

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Speaker 7: her boyfriend. She was hand in hand with a boy

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Speaker 7: and he was taking pictures of her butt.

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Speaker 2: Joel had gone to the beach and secretly photographed women.

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Speaker 2: He zoomed in on parts of their bodies, all while

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Speaker 2: telling his family he was committed to change.

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Speaker 4: And I am mortified, mortified that my son is seeing this.

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Speaker 4: His frantic responds to me, is you got to delete this.

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Speaker 4: Get it off of here, Get it off of this.

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Speaker 4: And I go to call Joel and he doesn't answer,

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Speaker 4: and then I'm trying to figure out how to get

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Speaker 4: a hold of him, and I'm texting him what I'm seeing.

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Speaker 2: The photos were right there in the vault for the

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Speaker 2: entire family to access. Joel was indulging himself with no

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Speaker 2: thought about the fact that his kids could see these pictures.

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Speaker 2: And there weren't just photos of women. There was also

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Speaker 2: a photo of Joel out at a bar in California.

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Speaker 2: By his side is a fellow CSPD officer, a buddy

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Speaker 2: who must have come out to visit. In the photo,

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Speaker 2: they were out at a bar, smiling and holding up beers,

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Speaker 2: having fun.

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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, his family was falling apart.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it just appears that he treated this npatient

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Speaker 4: rehab facility as a glorified frat house, not as a

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Speaker 4: therapeutic opportunity.

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Speaker 6: This was just kind of a retreat for him, a

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Speaker 6: little vacation away from Colorado and the mess that he created.

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Speaker 2: Joel finally responded to Caroline's text, saying he didn't realize

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Speaker 2: he was still sharing the digital photo vault.

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Speaker 4: We had extremely minimal contact, but after I found out

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Speaker 4: about the pictures, I told him we can't even share

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Speaker 4: a phone account together. It was almost i uncle. I

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Speaker 4: thought to myself, you're not even safe to have a

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Speaker 4: Netflix account with that next day, I went out and

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Speaker 4: I put the kids and I on a separate phone plan.

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Speaker 1: She acted quickly.

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Speaker 2: All she wanted was to shield the kids from these images.

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Speaker 4: I was so frantic. I am at my best friend's home.

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Speaker 4: I'm not even home, and my immediate concern was to

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Speaker 4: make sure that we are completely separate from him.

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Speaker 2: So she asked Joel to delete the shared account, and

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Speaker 2: he did, but in the rush, Caroline didn't save all

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Speaker 2: the old family photos.

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Speaker 4: Which I mean sounds a little cheesy, but you know now,

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Speaker 4: I don't have the kid's baby pictures or video of

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Speaker 4: my dad's celebration of life. All of that was on

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Speaker 4: our shared account. There is just no way I could

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Speaker 4: chance the kids and I continuously seeing these types of

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Speaker 4: pictures and images that he tod.

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Speaker 2: And just being able to view those photos felt like

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Speaker 2: a liability. Before she separated their phones and photos, Caroline

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Speaker 2: noticed something else in Joel's cloud pictures.

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Speaker 4: There's one woman repeatedly then pictures very recently.

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Speaker 2: It looked like Joel was already in a new relationship.

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Speaker 2: Caroline texted him to ask who the woman was.

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Speaker 4: He says that he met someone while he was in rehab.

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Speaker 4: She lived in Puerto Rico and they had decided to meet.

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Speaker 2: Caroline thought back to the text she and Nicole received

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Speaker 2: a few days earlier while they were driving to New Mexico,

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Speaker 2: when he said he'd do anything to repair their relationship.

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Speaker 4: And so the truth is revealed that he sends this

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Speaker 4: text begging the kids and I that he wants to

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Speaker 4: be a family again and he's so sorry. But the

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Speaker 4: fact of the matter is he was sending it all

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Speaker 4: he was already with a female he met online, and

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Speaker 4: so it just kind of became this awareness in that

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Speaker 4: moment for everyone, but specifically our daughter, that whenever he

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Speaker 4: reached out really trying and wanting to be a part

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Speaker 4: of our lives, it was always a way to mast

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Speaker 4: and disguise the fact that he was doing just the

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Speaker 4: opposite of what he was saying.

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Speaker 2: Nicole noticed the same pattern.

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Speaker 6: He reaches out, sends my brother and I a text

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Speaker 6: message when he knows that we're going to find out

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Speaker 6: something pretty soon.

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Speaker 2: Dawn is a friend of Caroline's and was also her

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Speaker 2: divorce attorney. She mentioned earlier in the series that she

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Speaker 2: doesn't usually represent friends, but she made an exception for

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Speaker 2: Caroline out of concern.

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Speaker 1: For the kids, who she knew well.

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Speaker 2: Don saw the impact of Joel's absence on Nicole.

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Speaker 9: To see Nicole really struggle to not see her dad

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Speaker 9: or have that relationship anymore, it was just so jarring

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Speaker 9: to her. She still desired that relationship, but Joel really

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Speaker 9: just pulled completely away.

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Speaker 2: Jen Forrester and her husband Tom are among Caroline's closest friends.

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Speaker 2: Jen also was disappointed that Joel didn't try harder.

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Speaker 10: The fact that he kind of just gave up was

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Speaker 10: really surprising. He hasn't tried to repair the relationship, and frankly,

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Speaker 10: as a parent, why would you give up? I would

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Speaker 10: never give up on my kids. I would say I'm

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Speaker 10: still here for you, I still love you, I will

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Speaker 10: always be here for you.

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Speaker 6: How can you know that your child is out there

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Speaker 6: and not want to be around your child or like

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Speaker 6: know what's happening with them.

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Speaker 2: Nicole thought Joel would at the very least try to

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Speaker 2: connect for the big moments, the milestones.

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Speaker 4: And everything that Joel did. One of the hardest days

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Speaker 4: was her graduation. You know, I left that morning because

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Speaker 4: I wanted to get a lay necklace for her to wear.

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Speaker 4: I wanted to get her favorite coffee and have it

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Speaker 4: waiting for her when she woke up. And when I

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Speaker 4: came home, she was already up and there was this

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Speaker 4: envelope taped to our front door, and her little face,

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Speaker 4: Oh god, it just kills me. She just had this

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Speaker 4: desperation in her face, like she just was hoping for

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Speaker 4: it and she said, oh, my gosh, is that from

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Speaker 4: my dad.

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Speaker 2: On the morning of Nichole's high school graduation, Caroline found

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Speaker 2: her daughter staring at an envelope that had been left

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Speaker 2: on their front door.

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Speaker 4: She just had this desperation in her face, like she

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Speaker 4: just was hoping for it. And she said, oh, my gosh,

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Speaker 4: is that from my dad? And I said, I don't know.

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Speaker 4: And when I handed it to her and she saw

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Speaker 4: that it was signed by our neighbors, God, it was

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Speaker 4: one of the worst things to ever see.

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Speaker 11: It was horrible.

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Speaker 4: You just saw her completely deflate this day that she

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Speaker 4: had just worked so hard to celebrate. She just didn't

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Speaker 4: recover from that day. You just saw her with this

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Speaker 4: solemn expression and just flated. Every time she opened the

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Speaker 4: door just a little bit, another lie would come up,

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Speaker 4: you know. On her graduation. That night, she wanted to

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Speaker 4: go out to some parties with some of her friends,

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Speaker 4: and before she left, she said, I'm going to text

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Speaker 4: my dad and I said, okay, that's completely your decision.

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Speaker 4: I wanted her to continue that contact, and she sent

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Speaker 4: just the most simplistic text and just said I graduated today,

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Speaker 4: that's it. And he took a while to respond and

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Speaker 4: then eventually said, oh, I know, I'm so proud of you.

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Speaker 4: But minutes later I get this rage text from him

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Speaker 4: blaming me for not reminding him. And you just saw

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Speaker 4: her pining after just this hope, like just be different.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't just Nicole who was in pain. Caroline's friends

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Speaker 2: watched her suffering too. Joel wasn't around anymore, but every

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Speaker 2: few weeks a new secret was revealed. Here's Caroline's friend Jen.

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Speaker 10: There was an incident where Caroline had gotten a text

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Speaker 10: message from someone. This person had basically told her about

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Speaker 10: a friend of Caroline's who had been intimately involved with Joel,

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Speaker 10: and that was a rough day. You'd see her start

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Speaker 10: to heal, she relaxed, you'd see her start to move forward,

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Speaker 10: and then something else would happen. And this was one

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Speaker 10: of those instances, like it's not just taking two steps

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Speaker 10: forward and one step back. Every time something came up,

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Speaker 10: it just ripped the band aid off again.

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Speaker 2: As people in the community learned about Joel and caroline separation,

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Speaker 2: they felt more inclined to contact Caroline with.

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Speaker 1: Detail of Joel's affairs.

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Speaker 2: It felt like every day she learned of new affairs

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Speaker 2: that had been going on right under her nose.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes for years.

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Speaker 2: He had a long term affair with a hairstylist. He

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Speaker 2: sent inappropriate texts to a local college professor who Caroline

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Speaker 2: worked with. He'd had sex with, an insurance agent, a

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Speaker 2: prison guard, a nurse. Caroline was re traumatized every single time.

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Speaker 2: With each new revelation, her entire life was turned into

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Speaker 2: community gossip around town, in the halls of the Colorado

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Speaker 2: Springs Police Department, and even at work.

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Speaker 1: Caroline's not a.

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Speaker 2: Cop, but she does work in law enforcement. Her job

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Speaker 2: requires her to interact with police officers all the time.

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Speaker 4: They come into my place of employment and I have

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Speaker 4: to pass them, I have to interact with them. I

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Speaker 4: see them on elevators, I see them in the hallway. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 4: I've heard the snickering. There's been blatant comments said back

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Speaker 4: and forth in front of me, where they know I'm

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Speaker 4: an earshot.

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Speaker 12: I was humiliated.

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Speaker 4: To walk into work knowing that rumors were starting to

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Speaker 4: fly and spread about what he had done.

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Speaker 2: Caroline had to face the consequences of Joel's actions every day,

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Speaker 2: and so did the kids. They continued to find out

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Speaker 2: new information, and instead of letting themselves be surprised or

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Speaker 2: hear it through a third party. They wanted to control

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Speaker 2: how and when they heard things.

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Speaker 1: Really, it was the only thing they had control over.

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Speaker 1: Here's their son.

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Speaker 13: I wanted to know everything, complete transparency. If someone were

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Speaker 13: to say that my mom shared too much, I think

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Speaker 13: that'd just be continuing this deception. I'd rather find out

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Speaker 13: for my mom so we wouldn't be blindsided randomly in

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Speaker 13: the community. Nobody would want. That was hurt, but it

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Speaker 13: was powerful and it was needed. That was the only

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Speaker 13: way to move forward.

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Speaker 2: The rumors were inescapable. Caroline's friend Jen recalls a day

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Speaker 2: Caroline received particularly hurtful news about Joel. She couldn't even

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Speaker 2: talk to anyone about it.

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Speaker 1: It was too much.

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Speaker 10: I think emotionally, the anger, the hurt, the sadness all

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Speaker 10: comes back. I mean she spent four days in bed

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Speaker 10: reliving all of it. She basically said, don't come over.

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Speaker 10: I don't want to see anybody. I cannot deal with

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Speaker 10: anything right. So Tom and I dropped off dinner on

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Speaker 10: her doorstep. You know, hey, we're here for you if

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Speaker 10: you need us.

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Speaker 2: All her grief, heartbreak, shame, and humiliation was unfair. Joel

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Speaker 2: was able to leave and she left was so much

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Speaker 2: destruction when all she did was love and trust her husband.

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Speaker 2: All of this got me thinking about consequences justice. Really,

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Speaker 2: you're going to hear different perspectives on what consequences mean

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Speaker 2: throughout this episode.

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Speaker 1: But I wanted to start with Caroline.

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Speaker 2: What would justice feel like for her?

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Speaker 1: Turns out, it's pretty simple.

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Speaker 4: It would feel fantastic to be able to walk into

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Speaker 4: professional meetings, to be able to walk into my own employment,

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Speaker 4: to be able to be in the community and not

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Speaker 4: have Copslee think can make blowjob comments next to me.

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Speaker 1: She doesn't want to feel like the butt of a joke,

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Speaker 1: and she wants the.

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Speaker 2: Support of the people at Joel's job, people she has

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Speaker 2: supported for two decades.

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Speaker 4: On a very very personal note, you know the people

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Speaker 4: who surrounded him at his profession. The deputy chief is

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Speaker 4: my son's godfather. I have not heard one word from him,

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Speaker 4: and the mix of all of this, I have not

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Speaker 4: heard one word from any of the people who my

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Speaker 4: kids and I were ever there for them in their

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Speaker 4: time of need. Not one person has reached out to

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Speaker 4: say are you and the kids okay? Not one.

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Speaker 2: Joel was able to walk away from the mess without

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Speaker 2: being terminated. Why because instead of being fired, he retired.

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Speaker 2: In an earlier episode, you heard Joel meet with his boss,

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Speaker 2: Commander Jeff Strawsner. This was at the conclusion of Joel's

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Speaker 2: internal affairs investigation for having sex in his police car

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Speaker 2: while on duty. Strawsner found conclusively that Joel had violated

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Speaker 2: five Colorado Springs Police Department policies, including departing from the

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Speaker 2: truth lying he let Joel know he was going to

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Speaker 2: recommend him for termination.

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Speaker 4: The legislative intent is very clear that we cannot allow

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Speaker 4: peace officers remain employed.

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Speaker 14: When they lied during an ia investigation.

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Speaker 2: Joel's career as a cop would be over. The department

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Speaker 2: set another meeting for two weeks later to make it

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Speaker 2: all final, but that meeting never occurred because instead of

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Speaker 2: facing termination, Joel chose a path that ensured he'd never

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Speaker 2: hear the words you're fired. He retired, and just like that,

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Speaker 2: his work problems vanished. A letter about his pending termination

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Speaker 2: was replaced by an email congratulating him on his decades

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Speaker 2: of service just days after his meeting with Commander Strassner.

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Speaker 1: How did this happen?

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Speaker 2: Well, our team has been investigating it and the first

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Speaker 2: thing we discovered is that this happens all the time. Dan,

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Speaker 2: a former CSPD officer, said it's common for cops under

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Speaker 2: investigation to retire.

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Speaker 15: Honestly, I was surprised he didn't retire like the day

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Speaker 15: this came to light. I figured if he knew that

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Speaker 15: this was true and knew how it could end, I'm

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Speaker 15: truly surprised that it just wasn't happened immediately.

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Speaker 2: It appears that Joel waited until after the meeting with

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Speaker 2: Internal Affairs and Commander Strassner, when he knew for certain

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Speaker 2: they were onto him and there was no talking his

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Speaker 2: way out of it. But before he officially left the CSPD,

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Speaker 2: he took FMLA, or family medical leave, and went off

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Speaker 2: to rehab, where his sexual escapades only continued. In taking FMLA,

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Speaker 2: Joel stretched his time.

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Speaker 15: I hate to say it, when some guys are circling

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Speaker 15: the drain in their career and getting ready to get fired,

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Speaker 15: they will drag it out as long as possible because

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Speaker 15: they're collecting a paycheck and they might as well as

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Speaker 15: long as they can. And it irks you when you're

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Speaker 15: sitting up there knowing that we're paying somebody that is

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Speaker 15: more than likely going to get fired and did some

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Speaker 15: pretty bad stuff.

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Speaker 2: We also found this troubling. Joel had sex in his

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Speaker 2: police car on the taxpayer's dime, and his consequences amounted

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Speaker 2: into an early retirement, a handshake and a.

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Speaker 1: Pat on the back.

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Speaker 2: We contacted Jeff Strassner about it via email. He's now

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Speaker 2: the chief of another police department in Colorado. He pointed

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Speaker 2: out that retirement is managed by a separate agency. Here's

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Speaker 2: some of that email.

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Speaker 16: As I am sure you are aware, he retired prior

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Speaker 16: to discipline, and retirement is a process managed by the

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Speaker 16: Colorado Fire Police Pension Association. The department has no control

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Speaker 16: if someone decides to retire prior to the execution of

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Speaker 16: discipline and does not have the authority to intervene in

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Speaker 16: the retirement process. It is common for retirement eligible officers

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Speaker 16: who see the writing on the wall to decide to

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Speaker 16: retire rather than go through the termination process.

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Speaker 2: The police department wasn't about to interfere with the penchin Association.

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Speaker 2: They don't have the power to. It seems like once

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Speaker 2: Joel chose to retire and took medical leave, he became untouchable.

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Speaker 2: It turns out we weren't the first to investigate this

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Speaker 2: pattern at the CSPD.

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Speaker 12: I'm Carl Rose. I'm a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS.

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Speaker 2: Carle reports on the criminal justice system in Colorado. I

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Speaker 2: sat down with her when I was in Colorado Springs.

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Speaker 2: Her team uncovered some alarming patterns among Colorado cops, which

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Speaker 2: we'll get to in a moment, but first I wanted

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Speaker 2: to share one case that tipped her team off to

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Speaker 2: a larger problem.

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Speaker 12: Alexander Canoyer was a police officer for the Colorado Springs

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Speaker 12: Department and he resigned while under investigation.

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Speaker 2: In twelve Canoyer was caught having a sexual relationship with

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Speaker 2: the subject of a criminal investigation. He left wall under investigation,

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Speaker 2: and that was perfectly legal, but he was never decertified,

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Speaker 2: meaning he could still work as a cop in Colorado.

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Speaker 12: Then he was hired at the Cripple Creek Police Department

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Speaker 12: and that's where he met Kelly Davis.

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Speaker 2: Davis came into the department to report a possible crime,

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Speaker 2: but then Canoy started doing exactly what he did back

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Speaker 2: in Colorado Springs. He started messaging her daily and the

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Speaker 2: messages became sexual.

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Speaker 12: Him, being the police officer, had the power in this situation.

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Speaker 2: Kelly Davis eventually reported Canoyer and he was charged with

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Speaker 2: sexual misconduct.

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Speaker 1: But all of this may have.

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Speaker 2: Been prevented if he'd been terminated and desertified back in

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Speaker 2: Colorado Springs.

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Speaker 12: He had already done it another department and was caught

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Speaker 12: for in a sense, being investigated, but then he left

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Speaker 12: and was able to go to a different department and

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Speaker 12: victimize another woman.

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Speaker 2: Knoyer walked away from the CSPD and went on to

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Speaker 2: another department. The heat from his first IA investigation did

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Speaker 2: nothing to deter him from future misconduct. It didn't Detergil either.

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Speaker 2: After he admitted to sexual harassment in twenty nineteen, he

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Speaker 2: got little more than a write up, and we all

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Speaker 2: know what happened next. Carly and her team wanted to

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Speaker 2: understand how often officers were avoiding termination in cases like this,

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Speaker 2: so they looked at something called the post database.

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Speaker 12: It's a public database of the certifications of these officers,

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Speaker 12: as well as certain actions against them, like resignations or terminations,

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Speaker 12: or if they were under investigation. One thing that really

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Speaker 12: stood out was this action that was titled resignation in

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Speaker 12: lieu of termin nation and then also resignation while under investigation,

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Speaker 12: we were like, oh, people can resign rather than face

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Speaker 12: the consequences of an investigation.

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Speaker 2: Rocky Mountain PBS reported the story in April twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 2: At the time of their reporting, there were one hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty eight cases in the database in which officers

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Speaker 2: had either resigned in lieu of termination or while under investigation, and.

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Speaker 12: Then about one hundred and twenty had been terminated.

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Speaker 2: Instead of being held accountable, more officers took the option

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Speaker 2: to walk away, and Joel was one of them. In

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Speaker 2: reporting the season, we've thought a lot about early warning signs,

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Speaker 2: moments when Joel's behavior could have been stopped along the way.

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Speaker 2: There were people who raised the alarm on Joel, like

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Speaker 2: the reporter back in twenty nineteen. Back then, Joel Kern

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Speaker 2: was up for the job a public information officer at

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Speaker 2: the CSPD. The reporter came forward to warn the department

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00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,399
Speaker 2: that Joel was a problem. While he had served in

440
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 2: that role temporarily, he had asked her and other reporters

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Speaker 2: to use what'sapp to communicate, and after some hedging during

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Speaker 2: an internal affairs investigation, he eventually admitted to sexual harassment.

443
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 14: I would say that there was a degree of flirtation

444
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:42,960
Speaker 14: going on, and then the sexual innuendo is how it

445
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 14: would classify it.

446
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 17: Were you trying to get more friendlier with those two,

447
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 17: maybe hoping it might go somewhere.

448
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 14: I think if I was honest with myself or then

449
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 14: I would say, yeah, that would be an a curious statement.

450
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 2: Joel was written up in took himself out of the

451
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 2: running for the job. He wasn't suspended or demoted. To us,

452
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,320
Speaker 2: it felt like there wasn't much of a consequence, But

453
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 2: not everyone agrees with that assessment.

454
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 11: I'm well Hilson. I'm a lawyer who practices out of Portland, Oregon.

455
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:24,400
Speaker 11: I have represented law enforcement labor organizations for about forty

456
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 11: five years.

457
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 2: Will has worked on countless disciplinary proceedings, and when it

458
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 2: comes to Joel's harassment case, he thinks the department did

459
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,239
Speaker 2: the best they could with the information they had at

460
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 2: the time.

461
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 1: After all, Joel said all the right things.

462
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 11: It always helps an employee to come in and tell

463
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 11: the boss, I know I've done something wrong and I

464
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 11: apologize for it. He did get a reprimand and he

465
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 11: did lose what is considered in law enforcement to be

466
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 11: a really good job. So I think that punishment is

467
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 11: on the range of reasonable.

468
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 2: We also wanted Will's thoughts on retiring in lieu of termination.

469
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 2: He confirmed what Dan and Strassner told.

470
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 11: Us that's actually quite common.

471
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 2: Police officers received job protections like the ability to retire

472
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,400
Speaker 2: in this way that people and other professions don't. That

473
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 2: can be a good thing. These protections prevent new leaders,

474
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,960
Speaker 2: like a chief or mayor, from hiring and firing randomly

475
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 2: for political or personal reasons.

476
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 11: We do not want a public employee punish for simply

477
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 11: doing their job the way they should.

478
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 2: But these protections also mean that cops like Joel get

479
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 2: a lot of leeway. We asked Will to read the

480
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 2: transcripts from Joel's second disciplinary hearing, the one for having

481
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 2: sex in his police car.

482
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 11: And a police officer reading that transcript would be thoroughly

483
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 11: embarrassed by what they were reading and would come up

484
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 11: with the conclusion he should be fired. I think ultimately,

485
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,840
Speaker 11: if he had not had this right to retire, the

486
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 11: city of Colorado Springs would have terminated him.

487
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,520
Speaker 2: Former CSPD officer Dan says that for the most part,

488
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 2: CSPD employees do serve honorably, and the department has procedures

489
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 2: in place to eliminate any bad actors.

490
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 15: You know, that's why you have internal affairs in those

491
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 15: places that are there to try to weed those people

492
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 15: out and get rid of them. And I think most

493
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 15: officers are going to be of the opinion that the

494
00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 15: officers that are given us the black eyed need to go.

495
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 15: I will still say to this day that the Color

496
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 15: Springs Police Department is one of the most ethical departments

497
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 15: you're going to find, and ninety nine percent of the

498
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 15: officers out there are doing it right. They're doing it

499
00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 15: for the right reason.

500
00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 2: Joel ultimately lost his certification to be a but he

501
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 2: was never criminally charged. And there are people who see

502
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 2: Joel's low key exit as telling that it speaks to

503
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,800
Speaker 2: a pattern of corruption and favoritism. If you've made the

504
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,520
Speaker 2: right friends in leadership, you'll get a softer landing on

505
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 2: the way out. We heard rumblings about this long before

506
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 2: we ever set foot in Colorado, because there was somebody

507
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 2: posting stories about it online, a whistleblower acting under the

508
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 2: name Romy Eastridge. They had a page called the Police

509
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 2: Officer's Whistleblower Network where they posted story after story of

510
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 2: misconduct at the CSPD on the clock affairs, covered up crimes,

511
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 2: and inconsistent discipline. This whistleblower has remained anonymous until now.

512
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 2: After several conversations, she decided to break cover to participate

513
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 2: in betrayal.

514
00:32:54,880 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 17: I think that in order for these officers to lose

515
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 17: a fear of speaking out, I kinda need to lead

516
00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:06,760
Speaker 17: by example.

517
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: That's Claudia Aldrich.

518
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,239
Speaker 2: Claudia has a family member who used to work at

519
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 2: the department. Claudia's family member went through an internal affairs

520
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 2: investigation and experienced what Claudia sees as unfair treatment. Meanwhile,

521
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 2: she kept hearing stories about other CSPD cops getting away

522
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,240
Speaker 2: with bad behavior, and she wanted to shine a light

523
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 2: on the double standards within the department, so she started

524
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 2: her whistleblower page. She says CSPD cops are too afraid

525
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 2: to call out misconduct because of.

526
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: The rules for reporting.

527
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 17: Apparently they had to go through the chain of command

528
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,680
Speaker 17: to open ania on internal affairs investigation.

529
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 2: If a cop wants to report misconduct, they typically go

530
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 2: to their supervisor. And even if a cop reports misconduct

531
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:01,080
Speaker 2: directly to internal affairs or to another superior, bird gets

532
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 2: around quick Claudia's sources confirmed a long standing question we

533
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 2: had about Joel's sexual activity. Did other employees at CSPD

534
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 2: know what Joel was doing at work? The answer is yes, absolutely,

535
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 2: But would people report it?

536
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,360
Speaker 17: Who is going to want to do that because doing

537
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:25,320
Speaker 17: that puts their career on a big red spot.

538
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 2: So instead of reporting misconduct, some officers called Claudia. In

539
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 2: one post, Claudia cites three sources in saying, who is

540
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 2: going to state?

541
00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:44,799
Speaker 18: The obvious? From gold Hill would walk over to one

542
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,080
Speaker 18: of us and tell us we had to work the

543
00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 18: desk while Kerrn and her would be holed up in

544
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,080
Speaker 18: his office. Everyone knew what he was doing with her

545
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,439
Speaker 18: during those days. We all just sat and essentially kept

546
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 18: watch in case his wife or kids showed up with

547
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:02,319
Speaker 18: his lunch. That and you could tell that even the

548
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:03,319
Speaker 18: commanders knew it.

549
00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,719
Speaker 2: Here's a former civilian CSPD employee who worked at the

550
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 2: same substation as Joel. We'll call her Rennie.

551
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 3: He would come in before he worked out and said hi.

552
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 3: But the only reason he was there was so that

553
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:25,239
Speaker 3: everyone could say, well, he was there working out, but

554
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 3: he was there for the sole purpose to take a

555
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:31,719
Speaker 3: shower after his lunchtime activities.

556
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:33,840
Speaker 1: Here's Claudia again.

557
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 17: I actually had one officer call me and said he

558
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,360
Speaker 17: did the same thing doing the riots.

559
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,280
Speaker 2: She's referring to protests in twenty twenty following the murder

560
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 2: of George Floyd.

561
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 17: You're telling people to go and basically face rioters while

562
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 17: he was in some motel with someone.

563
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:04,239
Speaker 2: People knew about Joel long before Caroline ever did did

564
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,560
Speaker 2: they fear the consequences of reporting his misconduct?

565
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:13,280
Speaker 17: I know that Kern also had a lot of power

566
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 17: and a lot of connections.

567
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 2: A twenty four year veteran of the department who was

568
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 2: also willing to sit with us for this project said

569
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:22,719
Speaker 2: the same.

570
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:27,799
Speaker 19: Joel Kern was one of the golden few. Kern was protected.

571
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 2: Post on the whistleblower page alleged that Kern was also

572
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:32,920
Speaker 2: protecting himself.

573
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:35,920
Speaker 1: One says, Lieutenant Kern.

574
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,520
Speaker 18: Had a black book of CSPD dirty deeds that guaranteed

575
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 18: him protection.

576
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 2: At first, we couldn't believe this, but then we heard

577
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 2: from employees that keeping records to protect yourself is a

578
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,000
Speaker 2: common practice.

579
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:51,799
Speaker 19: When you heard of an instance where a call for

580
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 19: service might have involved maybe the mayor, city council, other officers,

581
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,200
Speaker 19: someone in that sort of political or high level realm. Right,

582
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,360
Speaker 19: the first thing you did was look up that call

583
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 19: quickly print it out, because you were guaranteed within a

584
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 19: couple hours that call screen was going to disappear and

585
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:13,319
Speaker 19: would not be accessible.

586
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 2: When someone calls nine to one one, it generates a

587
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:20,280
Speaker 2: call screen. Sometimes these are referred to as a call

588
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,239
Speaker 2: for service. Call screens contain details like the names of

589
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 2: the people involved, the location, the nature of the emergency,

590
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,440
Speaker 2: and not ites about the calls progress. This officer and

591
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 2: others we spoke with alleged that the identification numbers of

592
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,280
Speaker 2: calls for service for high profile individuals would get hidden

593
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 2: in the system.

594
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,799
Speaker 19: And so lots of us and I did it myself,

595
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 19: would print out these calls for service. So in the

596
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 19: case of some sort of retribution or retaliation, I had

597
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 19: a file folder of all right, if that's the way

598
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 19: we're going to play, then I have this. We all

599
00:37:58,760 --> 00:37:59,880
Speaker 19: protected ourselves.

600
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 2: So employees were keeping dirt on their superiors. Why, because

601
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 2: they didn't trust their leadership. How can a police force

602
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 2: function that way? The story of the callscreens surprised law

603
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 2: enforcement attorney will Achison.

604
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:23,800
Speaker 11: You definitely have an accountability problem. If that in fact occurred. Yeah,

605
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,279
Speaker 11: I'm very surprised by that.

606
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:31,320
Speaker 17: These officers were fighting without anybody knowing, and nobody knows

607
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 17: that these four cops have to go out on the

608
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,600
Speaker 17: street and just watch the back. But also what's the

609
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:41,640
Speaker 17: surroundings where they're in their department among their own peers.

610
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 2: Cops knew the deal. They weren't all going to be

611
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 2: treated fairly. It was all about who you were or

612
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:53,400
Speaker 2: who you were friends with. On the next episode of Betrayal.

613
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:55,800
Speaker 20: There were times that he hit me. There were times

614
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,040
Speaker 20: that he threw me across the room in front of

615
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:05,280
Speaker 20: the kids. They get this chase against him, and unsurprisingly

616
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,160
Speaker 20: they decline to prosecute.

617
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Betrayal season four.

618
00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:17,919
Speaker 2: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal team,

619
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,800
Speaker 2: email us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal

620
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:26,440
Speaker 2: Pod at gmail dot com. Also, please be sure to

621
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,400
Speaker 2: follow us on Instagram at Betrayal Pod and me Andrea

622
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 2: Hgunning for all Betrayal content, news and updates. One way

623
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 2: to support the series is by subscribing to our show

624
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:40,479
Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts. Please rate and review Betrayal five star

625
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,719
Speaker 2: reviews help us know you appreciate what we do. Betrayal

626
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,840
Speaker 2: is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass

627
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 2: Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is

628
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 2: executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason. Betrayal is

629
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,360
Speaker 2: hosted and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced

630
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,760
Speaker 2: by Carrie Hert, also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our associate

631
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:07,959
Speaker 2: producers are Caitlin Golden and Kristin Melcury. Our iHeart team

632
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 2: is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Story editing by Monique Leboard,

633
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,480
Speaker 2: Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, editing by Tanner Robbins.

634
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:21,840
Speaker 2: Special thanks to voice actors Todd Gans and Andrew Kellaway,

635
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,799
Speaker 2: and special thanks to Caroline and her family. Betrayal's theme

636
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:29,879
Speaker 2: is composed by Oliver Baines. Music library provided by mid

637
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 2: Music and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,

638
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts