WEBVTT - Episode 1: The Hotel Constance 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.440 There's a kind of inside joke in the hotel industry 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.080 that the last guest of the day is typically your worst. 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:20.440 That's Devon Khan. He's a reservation supervisor at the hotel 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:22.600 Constance in Pasadena, California. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.880 It's always that last person that prevents you from being 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:29.360 able to go home on time. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.720 Not me, basically my girlfriend. 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.479 There ahead a bunch of breaks. Breathing right now, you're 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.839 absolutely breathing, and I'm a doctor at is. 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:42.319 You wake out? 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:44.960 No? 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.560 Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not going home anytime soon. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.920 Devon Khan has been in the hotel business for most 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.440 of his career, and working in hospitality has shown him 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:58.480 some truth about. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.240 Human nature, not all of it. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:07.160 Great Gevon knows that once you get pass an upscale 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.440 hotel's elegant lobby on the other side of that do 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.520 not disturb sign all kinds of human dramas play out, 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.440 and people are not always what they see. This is 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:21.920 a story that begins in a hotel room in Pasadena 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:24.319 and it ends with the undoing of some of the 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:29.600 most powerful people in Los Angeles. It's about influence and 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:32.480 money and how they can eat away at people and 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.559 make them look past things they know are very, very wrong. 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.039 My name is Paul Pringle. I'm an investigative reporter for 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:44.600 the La Times. This is Fallen Angels, a story of 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.800 California corruption, Episode one. 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:52.280 The Hotel Constance. 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.960 Pasadena, California is a smaller city wrapped into greater in 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:12.880 La Leafy, largely old money, rich and quiet. It's a 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.239 place you can raise a family even if you're not 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.880 part of the town's upper class, and Devon Khan is not. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.680 I was living in Pasadena with my wife and my 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:27.680 daughter and had gone through a few career ups and 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:32.320 downs and kind of bounced around from a few hotels 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.919 and reinvented myself as a massage therapist and was also 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.800 doing uber I always found a way to earn money 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.560 and keep a chicken in the pot, so to speak. 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.079 The Hotel Constance opened in the nineteen twenties. It went 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.480 through some tough times over the years. For a while 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.720 it was a retirement home, but it's been renovated and 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.600 now it bills itself as the only luxury, boutine hotel 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:02.000 in this part of town. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.359 The clientele that we catered to was kind of really 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.200 all over the place. Because our rates were relatively low. 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.920 We really had a mix of people who were affluent 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.400 and came to the hotel because it was a brand 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:23.120 new hotel in old town Pasadena. But we also attracted 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.960 the late night partiers who found a one hundred and 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.000 nineteen dollars rate online, and so you never knew who 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.200 you were going to get. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.680 It's Friday, March fourth, twenty sixteen, and Devon is finishing 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.080 up his shift. It's been a long day. 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.920 The day of the incident, I wasn't in a particularly 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:52.200 good mood. I had been passed over for promotion that 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.520 was pretty much promised to me by the previous general manager. 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.760 There was no leadership at the hotel. Everyone was across 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:04.640 the street at the corporate office. I'd say probably somewhere 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:08.040 around three o'clock, the front desk agent called me and 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.800 asked if I could assist him because there was someone 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.800 who wanted to speak to a manager. And I went 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.200 to the desk and tried to get the gist of 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.560 what the situation was. There was a guest that was 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.279 supposed to check out but wanted to extend his stay. 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.880 It was room three oh four. I'd looked to see 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:29.800 what the name of the guests was in the room. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:36.160 It did come up as Carmen Puliafido. Once I arrived 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.719 to the third floor, everything about the situation was not 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:48.360 what I expected. Waiting for me at the elevator was 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:54.039 a housekeeping supervisor and a security agent. They stopped me 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.279 before I went to the room and gave me a 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.920 heads up that inside the room there was an unconscious 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.719 female whom they were very concerned about that they felt 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:05.360 that she needed medical attention. 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:09.200 He knocks on the door of room three zero four. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.960 The guest, a mister Puliafido, opens it, but he keeps 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.160 the door closed behind it. 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.159 He looked like he was in his sixties. He was 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.040 very disheveled. He just looked like he had had a 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.120 rough night. I don't know if he was a partying 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:29.520 all night or whatnot. The first thing he asks me 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.200 is if I have his room key, And now I'm 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.599 confused because I don't know what he's talking about. He 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.640 made no mention of the girl. He says, they said 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.359 that you could change my room for me since I 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.440 can't stay in this room, and I'm like, okay, awesome, 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:50.520 that sounds like an easy fix to the situation. I 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.360 can move him to a new room, and as i'm 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.200 moving him, I'll have an opportunity to see the young 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.680 lady in the room and to ascertain if we need 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:05.960 to get paramedics involved. As I'm leaving to go get 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.320 him a room key, I'm stopped again by the security agent. 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.120 He advises me that the day prior, housekeeping had found 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.720 what they believed to be methamphetamine in the guest room, 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:23.160 and that the manager had said that they were not 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:27.240 going to extend his stay. But I'm like, you just 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.040 told me that there's an unconscious woman in the room 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.400 and I need to get eyes on her. So if 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.560 I have to allow him to stay another night and 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.440 do the room move as a method of getting eyes 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.480 on the girl, That's what I'm gonna do. 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.720 Devon finds the guests another room, so now he has 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.760 access to room three h four. He gets his key 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:54.240 card and opens the door. It's not what he expected. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:07:09.520 It's worse. Room three oh four. It's a disaster. 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.640 It looks like a crime scene. There's obvious drug activity 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:19.000 that has taken place. I'm seeing little nitrous oxide canisters 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:24.360 and balloons strewn around the floor. There are scorch marks 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.400 on the linens from where it was obviously burned, and 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:32.240 there was an empty box, but it had the outline 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.160 of abutane torch. 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:36.440 Devon knows what this means. 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.920 Someone's been doing drugs in this room, smoking heroin, cocaine 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:41.559 or meth. 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:47.320 Unfortunately, I was very familiar with the paraphernalia that was 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.559 around the room. I recognized what that box was for 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:56.640 because my mother had been addicted to crack cocaine for many, 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:57.560 many years. 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.880 And then he sees them. 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.120 In the wheelchair was this very young lady that was 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:11.560 clearly too young to be with this gentleman. She was 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.760 literally like a rag doll in the chair, all her 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:21.280 limbs just completely just dead weight, wearing nothing but one 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.720 of the hotel robes. But the thing that really made 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:31.320 my skin crawl was attached to the television, was like 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.959 a tripod that would hold like a recording device or 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.439 cell phone or whatnot. I could look at that situation 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:43.920 and see exactly for what it was. I saw every 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:49.960 father's worst nightmare, but I had to remain professional. I'm 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.800 pushing the wheelchair of the young lady down the hallway. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.199 I'm speaking to her, ma'am, ma'am, are you okay? It's 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:02.480 at that time that I advice mister Puliafedo that it's 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:04.800 my intention to call the paramedics. 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:09.600 But despite the woman's condition, this older man, mister Puliofido, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.720 is strangely blasse. He says, there's no need for paramedics. 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.400 He tried to talk me out of it. He says, well, 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.040 she's just had too much to drink. I'm going to 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.800 be keeping an eye on her. I'm a doctor, and 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.520 I didn't believe that he was a doctor. As far 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.880 as I could throw him. In my mind, there's no 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:30.200 way this guy's a doctor. 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.920 Although it goes against all his years following hotel protocol 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.120 to assure the guests every need is met, to never 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.520 make a scene, to handle awkward situations with total discretion. 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:47.559 Devon ignores Polyiffido and he calls the paramedics himself. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.640 The dispatcher picks up Farmed. 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.400 I am calling from the hotel Constence in Pasadena nine 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:58.000 two eight East, Colorado. And what room is the pion 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.119 in three twelve? A male or female female? 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:03.720 How old does she uh? 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.200 I'd say maybe mid twenties. She's passed out? 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.200 Unresponse, is she breathing? Yes? 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.360 Are you able to transfer me to that room or. 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.280 Devon transfers the nine to one one call and pull 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:20.040 ther Fido. 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.520 Answers, hi's a fire department. You say you call for 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.000 one one, not me. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.640 Basically, my girlfriend here ahead. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:29.440 A bunch of drinks. 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:30.520 Is she wake now? 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.520 No, This is a guy who claims he's a doctor, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.000 whose girlfriend, which is what he calls her, is unconscious, 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.080 whose room looks like a crime scene. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:41.800 We're going to be there early to check her out. 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.959 Okay, okay, fine, fine, fine, thank you. 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.280 Do you know how much she drinks a bunch? Did 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:50.200 take anythingales with it or just the alcohol? 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:51.480 I think just the. 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.559 Alcohol, just the alcohol. That's a lie. 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.360 Devon stays on the third floor to make sure the 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:01.720 situations under control. 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:09.240 I observed the paramedics bringing the young lady out of 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.120 the room on a gurney. They were taking her into 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.840 the service elevator. They were speaking to her the same way, 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.200 trying to get some response from her. They were calling 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.640 her by name, and this is the first time that 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.600 I learned that her name was Sarah, which gave me 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:30.160 chills because my daughter's name is Sarah. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.600 While Sarah is being wheeled away, Devon brings the chief 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:34.800 paramedic into the room. 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:40.040 The chief came with me. We go into the room 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:44.360 and he surveys the room. Our security had opened the 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:49.480 safe and inside the safe were the drugs white crystally 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.760 substance that was in the little plastic ziplock back which 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.800 appeared to be methamphetamine. He took one look at the room. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.920 He's like, lock this room and don't let anyone come 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.000 in here or touch anything until the police get here. 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.040 It will be hard for the police to miss the drugs, 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.120 but Devon wants to make sure they follow up on 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.440 what he feels is the most disturbing detail. 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:19.600 The tripod was still on the television. I advised our 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.480 general manager once he came onto the scene, I said, 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.560 when the police get here, make sure they get his 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.600 phone because I'm positive there's some nasty stuff on there. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.079 Now that the general manager has shown up, Devon can 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:38.000 finally block out. 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:41.240 I was ready to go at that point, but I 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.520 was looking forward to coming on Monday to find out 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:49.120 what happened. Once the police arrived, I had supreme confidence 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.040 in the system that this guy would get what was 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:52.679 coming to him. 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.680 The young woman, Sarah, still unconscious, is taken to hospital. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:11.440 Devon heads down to gather his things. It's business as 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.400 usual in the lobby, the sirens fading into the distance. 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.640 You never know anything out of the ordinary had happened upstairs. 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.240 But any confidence Davon feels in the system, as he 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:36.280 calls it, it turns out that's badly misplaced. Three days later, 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.400 on Monday, March seventh, Devon is anxious to get back 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.640 to work. He's been wondering all weekend about what happened 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.360 at the hotel after he left. 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.840 I arrived one Monday, and the only other leader that 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:54.199 is there when I arrive is the director of finance. 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.960 He and I were pretty close. We happened to meet 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.960 in front of the coffee station and and I'm really 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.040 excited to hear what happened to this guy Once the 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.720 police arrived. He goes, the police didn't do anything. I'm like, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.079 what do you mean, didn't do anything? 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.400 Despite a young woman in severe distress, a room littered 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.800 with illicit drugs, a camera with recordings of whatever had 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.120 happened in that room. Devon's colleague tells him the guests 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.840 in three or four had just walked away, and this 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:25.440 makes no sense to Devon. 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.680 I'm like, the drugs were in the room, they see 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.240 the drugs, because yeah, they saw the drugs, but they 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:36.240 said that drug abuse is not a crime, it's a disease. 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.920 And when I heard him say that, my blood just 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.960 boiled because you have to realize, at this time, it 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.400 seemed like unarmed African American men were being shot weekly 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.680 by the police. I knew that if I was found 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.400 in a room with an unconscious white girl and drugs 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.760 were in the room, the police aren't going to be 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:07.000 that compassionate with me. He goes, dev I don't know, 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.680 it's like the police knew. It's like they knew who 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.120 he was before they got here. 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.120 They knew who he was. What exactly does that mean? 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.240 And he says, well, he really is a doctor. And 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.960 I'm like, there's no way that that guy is a doctor. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.480 I'm like, how do you know, he goes because we 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:28.760 googled him. He's the dean of medicine for USC. 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.960 Doctor Carmen Puliaffido Is It's true, the dean of the 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.800 University of Southern California's Kech School of Medicine. He's a 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.400 world renowned ophthalmologist and his salary is one point one 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.040 million dollars a year. 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.880 Doctor Puliafido is exciting, dynamic, brilliant and phenomenal. 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.200 So we thank USC for loaning him to us. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.760 Doctor Puliafido, thank you everyone, and welcome to the Kech 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.880 School of Medicine. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.400 blindness in the industrialized world. 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:12.160 That's Pulyifido making a presentation at a conference of fellow doctors. 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.680 Pulyifido co invented a breakthrough technology to treat eye diseases. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.920 He founded Harvard's Laser Research Lab, He launched the New 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.480 England Eye Center, and he had run the University of 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.520 Miami's I Institute, the number one ophthalmology school in the 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:30.000 country according to the US News and World Report. And that 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.680 makes Bulyiarfido a very valuable guy. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.520 When people around the world think of the intellectual giants 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.840 of the twenty first century, they will be thinking of 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:45.440 the University of Southern California. For the past two centuries 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:49.760 we have lived in the age of the Atlantic. As 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:54.360 our world today is shifting to a Pacific century. USC 0:16:54.760 --> 0:17:01.080 is better positioned than anyone else to lead this change. 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.679 That's Max Deakias, then the president of the University of 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.520 Southern California. He's given a commencement speech to a class 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.080 of bright eyed graduates. Nikias landed in the top job 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.080 at USC in twenty ten, and he was a man 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:19.919 on a mission. 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.320 We are betting the future of the university as a 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:28.920 research university on the medical and biological sciences. So it's 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:31.880 by far one of our very, very top. 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.959 Priorities, as he says on the packed red carpet at 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.320 a fundraising gala. Nikias was determined to make USC one 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.400 of the top schools in the country, and he had 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.760 his work cut out for him. For years, US had 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.720 a reputation as the kind of place rich parents send 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:53.000 kids who couldn't get into UCLA. USC didn't have a 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.320 big endowment like Stanford up the coast, so they were 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.600 constantly fundraising. Big money is what brings in big name 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.800 faculty who then get big grants for high end research. 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.480 That's what gets you up in the rankings at US 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.960 News and World Report, and that is what Max Takias 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.480 was determined to do. Some am like Carmen Puliaffido, who'd 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.440 taken Miami to number one. He was just the kind 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:27.880 of talent Nikias needed at the Keech School of medicine. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.400 We are committed to training the physician leaders of tomorrow. 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.919 We are grateful for our many supporters who've made it 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.320 possible for us to recruit the best and the brightest 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:42.879 to our medical school. In the School of Medicine, and 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.840 that slick US admissions video, Pulliafido is looking sharp in 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.240 a jacket and tie. A wall of medical journals behind him. 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.440 Tikias has managed to poach him from the University of Miami. 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.600 When Puliafido arrived at USC, the school was twenty five 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:03.040 spots behind UCLA, it's crosstown rival, But the new Dean 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:04.440 of Medicine got right to work. 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:06.520 Pull the Afido lured. 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.960 Seventy professors to kick from other institutions, and with those 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:14.000 professors came millions of dollars in research funding. By the 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.280 time pullia Fido got on that nine to one one 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.320 call at the Hotel Constance, he claimed he brought in 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.439 over a billion dollars a new funding for the medical school. 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:27.400 Devon and his colleagues at the hotel don't know any 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.480 of this, but that quick Google search makes it clear 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:36.399 that this man is a big deal at USC. But 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.760 impressive credentials and famous names don't typically help in situations 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.879 like this, where there's an unconscious young woman, drugs. 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:45.280 And a camera. 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.680 Devon wants to have faith in the quote unquote system, 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.240 but days go by, weeks and there's no news of 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.480 an arrest or any other information on what happened to Sarah. 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:57.639 The young woman. 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:04.920 Was boiling on so many levels. I saw my mom 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:09.800 do things that she would never have done before she 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:14.320 became addicted to crack, and she was like a completely 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.359 different person after that. So I knew that there was 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.679 no way that this young lady would want anything to 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.880 do with this man, if not for the drugs and 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.920 the duality of the injustice where this guy could do 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:33.160 something so egregious and have no repercussions whatsoever. 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.200 He agonizes over what to do, and he doesn't feel 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:38.320 the police or the answer. 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.960 My trust in the Pasadena Police Department at that time 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.720 was not very high. They had every opportunity to do 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:48.560 the right thing, and they didn't. 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.639 Given the unwritten rules of the hotel trade, Devon can't 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:54.720 afford to come forward on his own. 0:20:55.600 --> 0:21:00.760 My wife was really concerned after the incident about meep 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.760 getting too involved. She really didn't want me to do 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.080 anything to jeopardize our livelihood. 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.840 Maybe it's the memory of his mother's desperation, or the 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.159 shamelessness of the man in room three h four, or 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.280 the fact that the young woman's name is Sarah like 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:26.480 his daughter. Devon knows he needs to say something, but 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:28.359 he has to find a way to keep his name 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.520 out of it so he can hopefully keep his job. 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:36.159 So how do you do that? 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:41.600 He submits an anonymous complaint to the Pasadena City Attorney. 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:45.720 Wrote up a little email, and basically told them that 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.000 there was an incident that took place on March fourth 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:53.679 at the hotel constance, that the police arrived but didn't 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.720 really do anything. I lied and said the press was 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.760 already aware of the incident and that I wouldn't want 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:04.520 to see Pasadena Police Department portrayed in a bad light 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.800 because they didn't do the right thing. I was pretty 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.520 satisfied that was an appropriate course of action, but the 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:15.440 more I thought about it, I just wasn't convinced that 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:16.639 it was enough. 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:19.159 It wasn't. 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:22.200 There's no response to his complaint, no news of a 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:26.040 dean at usc wrapped up in a scandal, so he 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:31.119 decides to take it to the press. The only times 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.520 is well known for its hard hitting investigative journalism. It 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.800 had recently published a major investigation into big Pharma in 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:43.800 the OxyContin crisis. Well, when Devin calls The Times, the 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:45.879 switchboard at the paper tells him he can leave a 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:47.760 message on the tip line. 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.360 They say, we have a recording that we send our 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:53.879 tips to, and I'm like, no, I don't want to 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:56.560 leave a recording because then I'd have to leave my 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:58.680 name and number and have someone call me back. 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:02.760 Still doesn't give up, He wonders if it's possible that 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:04.440 USC itself is in the dark. 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.920 I love USC. I had planned to transfer there to 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.719 go to the film School, but after I got married, 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:16.399 my priority was keeping a chicken in the pot. I 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.919 had very fond feelings for USC, and this was another 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:22.760 reason why I wanted to give them the opportunity to 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.480 do the right thing, because I knew the impact that 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:30.320 this scandal would have on the college. 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:33.080 So he places a call to the office of the President, 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:35.600 Max to Kias, but he has to be careful. 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:41.040 I went outside because I clearly didn't want to make 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:46.080 the call from the hotel. I walked out on Mentor Avenue, 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.560 walked about a block or so down the street. 0:23:54.440 --> 0:23:55.320 Thank you for calling. 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:57.160 Please remain on the line and we'll be. 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:00.000 Right with you. 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:03.159 And the first person I got, you know, obviously, I 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:05.360 told them that I need to speak to the president. 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:09.040 She says, yeah, he doesn't take calls, but asking me 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:13.160 what it was regarding, and I advised her quickly that 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:17.080 your dean of medicine was involved in the incident with 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.640 an unconscious female that was in his room, and there 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:24.000 are also drugs found in the room, and that the 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:27.440 press was aware, and that they might want to take 0:24:27.480 --> 0:24:30.480 action before the story was made public. 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:33.800 When I imagine how this call went, I hear the 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:35.240 line go very quiet. 0:24:35.480 --> 0:24:38.679 She put me on hold, and someone else came to 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:43.920 the phone and I basically explained the same thing to her, 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:47.800 and she said that they would need something in writing, 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:51.040 and advised hers, I'm not going to put anything in 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:55.080 writing because I wanted to remain anonymous. But everything that 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:58.120 I'm telling you is verifiable. I said, the police were 0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:01.800 called to the hotel, addicks were called to the hotel. Now, 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:04.840 she just said that she would need me to give 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:06.240 her something in writing. 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.200 And Devon just can't do that. This is as far 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:10.120 as he can go. 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:14.200 At this point. I've done everything that I feel comfortable doing. 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:21.840 I was constantly googling Carmen poopet Fido to see if 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:26.280