Speaker 1: There's a kind of inside joke in the hotel industry
Speaker 1: that the last guest of the day is typically your worst.
Speaker 2: That's Devon Khan. He's a reservation supervisor at the hotel
Speaker 2: Constance in Pasadena, California.
Speaker 1: It's always that last person that prevents you from being
Speaker 1: able to go home on time.
Speaker 3: Not me, basically my girlfriend.
Speaker 4: There ahead a bunch of breaks. Breathing right now, you're
Speaker 4: absolutely breathing, and I'm a doctor at is.
Speaker 5: You wake out?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 1: Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not going home anytime soon.
Speaker 2: Devon Khan has been in the hotel business for most
Speaker 2: of his career, and working in hospitality has shown him
Speaker 2: some truth about.
Speaker 5: Human nature, not all of it.
Speaker 2: Great Gevon knows that once you get pass an upscale
Speaker 2: hotel's elegant lobby on the other side of that do
Speaker 2: not disturb sign all kinds of human dramas play out,
Speaker 2: and people are not always what they see. This is
Speaker 2: a story that begins in a hotel room in Pasadena
Speaker 2: and it ends with the undoing of some of the
Speaker 2: most powerful people in Los Angeles. It's about influence and
Speaker 2: money and how they can eat away at people and
Speaker 2: make them look past things they know are very, very wrong.
Speaker 2: My name is Paul Pringle. I'm an investigative reporter for
Speaker 2: the La Times. This is Fallen Angels, a story of
Speaker 2: California corruption, Episode one.
Speaker 5: The Hotel Constance.
Speaker 2: Pasadena, California is a smaller city wrapped into greater in
Speaker 2: La Leafy, largely old money, rich and quiet. It's a
Speaker 2: place you can raise a family even if you're not
Speaker 2: part of the town's upper class, and Devon Khan is not.
Speaker 1: I was living in Pasadena with my wife and my
Speaker 1: daughter and had gone through a few career ups and
Speaker 1: downs and kind of bounced around from a few hotels
Speaker 1: and reinvented myself as a massage therapist and was also
Speaker 1: doing uber I always found a way to earn money
Speaker 1: and keep a chicken in the pot, so to speak.
Speaker 2: The Hotel Constance opened in the nineteen twenties. It went
Speaker 2: through some tough times over the years. For a while
Speaker 2: it was a retirement home, but it's been renovated and
Speaker 2: now it bills itself as the only luxury, boutine hotel
Speaker 2: in this part of town.
Speaker 1: The clientele that we catered to was kind of really
Speaker 1: all over the place. Because our rates were relatively low.
Speaker 1: We really had a mix of people who were affluent
Speaker 1: and came to the hotel because it was a brand
Speaker 1: new hotel in old town Pasadena. But we also attracted
Speaker 1: the late night partiers who found a one hundred and
Speaker 1: nineteen dollars rate online, and so you never knew who
Speaker 1: you were going to get.
Speaker 2: It's Friday, March fourth, twenty sixteen, and Devon is finishing
Speaker 2: up his shift. It's been a long day.
Speaker 1: The day of the incident, I wasn't in a particularly
Speaker 1: good mood. I had been passed over for promotion that
Speaker 1: was pretty much promised to me by the previous general manager.
Speaker 1: There was no leadership at the hotel. Everyone was across
Speaker 1: the street at the corporate office. I'd say probably somewhere
Speaker 1: around three o'clock, the front desk agent called me and
Speaker 1: asked if I could assist him because there was someone
Speaker 1: who wanted to speak to a manager. And I went
Speaker 1: to the desk and tried to get the gist of
Speaker 1: what the situation was. There was a guest that was
Speaker 1: supposed to check out but wanted to extend his stay.
Speaker 1: It was room three oh four. I'd looked to see
Speaker 1: what the name of the guests was in the room.
Speaker 1: It did come up as Carmen Puliafido. Once I arrived
Speaker 1: to the third floor, everything about the situation was not
Speaker 1: what I expected. Waiting for me at the elevator was
Speaker 1: a housekeeping supervisor and a security agent. They stopped me
Speaker 1: before I went to the room and gave me a
Speaker 1: heads up that inside the room there was an unconscious
Speaker 1: female whom they were very concerned about that they felt
Speaker 1: that she needed medical attention.
Speaker 5: He knocks on the door of room three zero four.
Speaker 2: The guest, a mister Puliafido, opens it, but he keeps
Speaker 2: the door closed behind it.
Speaker 1: He looked like he was in his sixties. He was
Speaker 1: very disheveled. He just looked like he had had a
Speaker 1: rough night. I don't know if he was a partying
Speaker 1: all night or whatnot. The first thing he asks me
Speaker 1: is if I have his room key, And now I'm
Speaker 1: confused because I don't know what he's talking about. He
Speaker 1: made no mention of the girl. He says, they said
Speaker 1: that you could change my room for me since I
Speaker 1: can't stay in this room, and I'm like, okay, awesome,
Speaker 1: that sounds like an easy fix to the situation. I
Speaker 1: can move him to a new room, and as i'm
Speaker 1: moving him, I'll have an opportunity to see the young
Speaker 1: lady in the room and to ascertain if we need
Speaker 1: to get paramedics involved. As I'm leaving to go get
Speaker 1: him a room key, I'm stopped again by the security agent.
Speaker 1: He advises me that the day prior, housekeeping had found
Speaker 1: what they believed to be methamphetamine in the guest room,
Speaker 1: and that the manager had said that they were not
Speaker 1: going to extend his stay. But I'm like, you just
Speaker 1: told me that there's an unconscious woman in the room
Speaker 1: and I need to get eyes on her. So if
Speaker 1: I have to allow him to stay another night and
Speaker 1: do the room move as a method of getting eyes
Speaker 1: on the girl, That's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2: Devon finds the guests another room, so now he has
Speaker 2: access to room three h four. He gets his key
Speaker 2: card and opens the door. It's not what he expected.
Speaker 5: It's worse. Room three oh four. It's a disaster.
Speaker 1: It looks like a crime scene. There's obvious drug activity
Speaker 1: that has taken place. I'm seeing little nitrous oxide canisters
Speaker 1: and balloons strewn around the floor. There are scorch marks
Speaker 1: on the linens from where it was obviously burned, and
Speaker 1: there was an empty box, but it had the outline
Speaker 1: of abutane torch.
Speaker 5: Devon knows what this means.
Speaker 2: Someone's been doing drugs in this room, smoking heroin, cocaine
Speaker 2: or meth.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, I was very familiar with the paraphernalia that was
Speaker 1: around the room. I recognized what that box was for
Speaker 1: because my mother had been addicted to crack cocaine for many,
Speaker 1: many years.
Speaker 5: And then he sees them.
Speaker 1: In the wheelchair was this very young lady that was
Speaker 1: clearly too young to be with this gentleman. She was
Speaker 1: literally like a rag doll in the chair, all her
Speaker 1: limbs just completely just dead weight, wearing nothing but one
Speaker 1: of the hotel robes. But the thing that really made
Speaker 1: my skin crawl was attached to the television, was like
Speaker 1: a tripod that would hold like a recording device or
Speaker 1: cell phone or whatnot. I could look at that situation
Speaker 1: and see exactly for what it was. I saw every
Speaker 1: father's worst nightmare, but I had to remain professional. I'm
Speaker 1: pushing the wheelchair of the young lady down the hallway.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking to her, ma'am, ma'am, are you okay? It's
Speaker 1: at that time that I advice mister Puliafedo that it's
Speaker 1: my intention to call the paramedics.
Speaker 2: But despite the woman's condition, this older man, mister Puliofido,
Speaker 2: is strangely blasse. He says, there's no need for paramedics.
Speaker 1: He tried to talk me out of it. He says, well,
Speaker 1: she's just had too much to drink. I'm going to
Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on her. I'm a doctor, and
Speaker 1: I didn't believe that he was a doctor. As far
Speaker 1: as I could throw him. In my mind, there's no
Speaker 1: way this guy's a doctor.
Speaker 2: Although it goes against all his years following hotel protocol
Speaker 2: to assure the guests every need is met, to never
Speaker 2: make a scene, to handle awkward situations with total discretion.
Speaker 2: Devon ignores Polyiffido and he calls the paramedics himself.
Speaker 5: The dispatcher picks up Farmed.
Speaker 4: I am calling from the hotel Constence in Pasadena nine
Speaker 4: two eight East, Colorado. And what room is the pion
Speaker 4: in three twelve? A male or female female?
Speaker 1: How old does she uh?
Speaker 4: I'd say maybe mid twenties. She's passed out?
Speaker 1: Unresponse, is she breathing? Yes?
Speaker 4: Are you able to transfer me to that room or.
Speaker 2: Devon transfers the nine to one one call and pull
Speaker 2: ther Fido.
Speaker 4: Answers, hi's a fire department. You say you call for
Speaker 4: one one, not me.
Speaker 1: Basically, my girlfriend here ahead.
Speaker 6: A bunch of drinks.
Speaker 1: Is she wake now?
Speaker 2: No, This is a guy who claims he's a doctor,
Speaker 2: whose girlfriend, which is what he calls her, is unconscious,
Speaker 2: whose room looks like a crime scene.
Speaker 1: We're going to be there early to check her out.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, fine, fine, fine, thank you.
Speaker 4: Do you know how much she drinks a bunch? Did
Speaker 4: take anythingales with it or just the alcohol?
Speaker 1: I think just the.
Speaker 5: Alcohol, just the alcohol. That's a lie.
Speaker 2: Devon stays on the third floor to make sure the
Speaker 2: situations under control.
Speaker 1: I observed the paramedics bringing the young lady out of
Speaker 1: the room on a gurney. They were taking her into
Speaker 1: the service elevator. They were speaking to her the same way,
Speaker 1: trying to get some response from her. They were calling
Speaker 1: her by name, and this is the first time that
Speaker 1: I learned that her name was Sarah, which gave me
Speaker 1: chills because my daughter's name is Sarah.
Speaker 2: While Sarah is being wheeled away, Devon brings the chief
Speaker 2: paramedic into the room.
Speaker 1: The chief came with me. We go into the room
Speaker 1: and he surveys the room. Our security had opened the
Speaker 1: safe and inside the safe were the drugs white crystally
Speaker 1: substance that was in the little plastic ziplock back which
Speaker 1: appeared to be methamphetamine. He took one look at the room.
Speaker 1: He's like, lock this room and don't let anyone come
Speaker 1: in here or touch anything until the police get here.
Speaker 2: It will be hard for the police to miss the drugs,
Speaker 2: but Devon wants to make sure they follow up on
Speaker 2: what he feels is the most disturbing detail.
Speaker 1: The tripod was still on the television. I advised our
Speaker 1: general manager once he came onto the scene, I said,
Speaker 1: when the police get here, make sure they get his
Speaker 1: phone because I'm positive there's some nasty stuff on there.
Speaker 2: Now that the general manager has shown up, Devon can
Speaker 2: finally block out.
Speaker 1: I was ready to go at that point, but I
Speaker 1: was looking forward to coming on Monday to find out
Speaker 1: what happened. Once the police arrived, I had supreme confidence
Speaker 1: in the system that this guy would get what was
Speaker 1: coming to him.
Speaker 2: The young woman, Sarah, still unconscious, is taken to hospital.
Speaker 2: Devon heads down to gather his things. It's business as
Speaker 2: usual in the lobby, the sirens fading into the distance.
Speaker 2: You never know anything out of the ordinary had happened upstairs.
Speaker 2: But any confidence Davon feels in the system, as he
Speaker 2: calls it, it turns out that's badly misplaced. Three days later,
Speaker 2: on Monday, March seventh, Devon is anxious to get back
Speaker 2: to work. He's been wondering all weekend about what happened
Speaker 2: at the hotel after he left.
Speaker 1: I arrived one Monday, and the only other leader that
Speaker 1: is there when I arrive is the director of finance.
Speaker 1: He and I were pretty close. We happened to meet
Speaker 1: in front of the coffee station and and I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to hear what happened to this guy Once the
Speaker 1: police arrived. He goes, the police didn't do anything. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean, didn't do anything?
Speaker 2: Despite a young woman in severe distress, a room littered
Speaker 2: with illicit drugs, a camera with recordings of whatever had
Speaker 2: happened in that room. Devon's colleague tells him the guests
Speaker 2: in three or four had just walked away, and this
Speaker 2: makes no sense to Devon.
Speaker 1: I'm like, the drugs were in the room, they see
Speaker 1: the drugs, because yeah, they saw the drugs, but they
Speaker 1: said that drug abuse is not a crime, it's a disease.
Speaker 1: And when I heard him say that, my blood just
Speaker 1: boiled because you have to realize, at this time, it
Speaker 1: seemed like unarmed African American men were being shot weekly
Speaker 1: by the police. I knew that if I was found
Speaker 1: in a room with an unconscious white girl and drugs
Speaker 1: were in the room, the police aren't going to be
Speaker 1: that compassionate with me. He goes, dev I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's like the police knew. It's like they knew who
Speaker 1: he was before they got here.
Speaker 5: They knew who he was. What exactly does that mean?
Speaker 1: And he says, well, he really is a doctor. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, there's no way that that guy is a doctor.
Speaker 1: I'm like, how do you know, he goes because we
Speaker 1: googled him. He's the dean of medicine for USC.
Speaker 2: Doctor Carmen Puliaffido Is It's true, the dean of the
Speaker 2: University of Southern California's Kech School of Medicine. He's a
Speaker 2: world renowned ophthalmologist and his salary is one point one
Speaker 2: million dollars a year.
Speaker 7: Doctor Puliafido is exciting, dynamic, brilliant and phenomenal.
Speaker 1: So we thank USC for loaning him to us.
Speaker 8: Doctor Puliafido, thank you everyone, and welcome to the Kech
Speaker 8: School of Medicine. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of
Speaker 8: blindness in the industrialized world.
Speaker 2: That's Pulyifido making a presentation at a conference of fellow doctors.
Speaker 2: Pulyifido co invented a breakthrough technology to treat eye diseases.
Speaker 2: He founded Harvard's Laser Research Lab, He launched the New
Speaker 2: England Eye Center, and he had run the University of
Speaker 2: Miami's I Institute, the number one ophthalmology school in the
Speaker 2: country according to the US News and World Report. And that
Speaker 2: makes Bulyiarfido a very valuable guy.
Speaker 7: When people around the world think of the intellectual giants
Speaker 7: of the twenty first century, they will be thinking of
Speaker 7: the University of Southern California. For the past two centuries
Speaker 7: we have lived in the age of the Atlantic. As
Speaker 7: our world today is shifting to a Pacific century. USC
Speaker 7: is better positioned than anyone else to lead this change.
Speaker 2: That's Max Deakias, then the president of the University of
Speaker 2: Southern California. He's given a commencement speech to a class
Speaker 2: of bright eyed graduates. Nikias landed in the top job
Speaker 2: at USC in twenty ten, and he was a man
Speaker 2: on a mission.
Speaker 6: We are betting the future of the university as a
Speaker 6: research university on the medical and biological sciences. So it's
Speaker 6: by far one of our very, very top.
Speaker 2: Priorities, as he says on the packed red carpet at
Speaker 2: a fundraising gala. Nikias was determined to make USC one
Speaker 2: of the top schools in the country, and he had
Speaker 2: his work cut out for him. For years, US had
Speaker 2: a reputation as the kind of place rich parents send
Speaker 2: kids who couldn't get into UCLA. USC didn't have a
Speaker 2: big endowment like Stanford up the coast, so they were
Speaker 2: constantly fundraising. Big money is what brings in big name
Speaker 2: faculty who then get big grants for high end research.
Speaker 2: That's what gets you up in the rankings at US
Speaker 2: News and World Report, and that is what Max Takias
Speaker 2: was determined to do. Some am like Carmen Puliaffido, who'd
Speaker 2: taken Miami to number one. He was just the kind
Speaker 2: of talent Nikias needed at the Keech School of medicine.
Speaker 2: We are committed to training the physician leaders of tomorrow.
Speaker 2: We are grateful for our many supporters who've made it
Speaker 2: possible for us to recruit the best and the brightest
Speaker 2: to our medical school. In the School of Medicine, and
Speaker 2: that slick US admissions video, Pulliafido is looking sharp in
Speaker 2: a jacket and tie. A wall of medical journals behind him.
Speaker 2: Tikias has managed to poach him from the University of Miami.
Speaker 2: When Puliafido arrived at USC, the school was twenty five
Speaker 2: spots behind UCLA, it's crosstown rival, But the new Dean
Speaker 2: of Medicine got right to work.
Speaker 5: Pull the Afido lured.
Speaker 2: Seventy professors to kick from other institutions, and with those
Speaker 2: professors came millions of dollars in research funding. By the
Speaker 2: time pullia Fido got on that nine to one one
Speaker 2: call at the Hotel Constance, he claimed he brought in
Speaker 2: over a billion dollars a new funding for the medical school.
Speaker 2: Devon and his colleagues at the hotel don't know any
Speaker 2: of this, but that quick Google search makes it clear
Speaker 2: that this man is a big deal at USC. But
Speaker 2: impressive credentials and famous names don't typically help in situations
Speaker 2: like this, where there's an unconscious young woman, drugs.
Speaker 5: And a camera.
Speaker 2: Devon wants to have faith in the quote unquote system,
Speaker 2: but days go by, weeks and there's no news of
Speaker 2: an arrest or any other information on what happened to Sarah.
Speaker 5: The young woman.
Speaker 1: Was boiling on so many levels. I saw my mom
Speaker 1: do things that she would never have done before she
Speaker 1: became addicted to crack, and she was like a completely
Speaker 1: different person after that. So I knew that there was
Speaker 1: no way that this young lady would want anything to
Speaker 1: do with this man, if not for the drugs and
Speaker 1: the duality of the injustice where this guy could do
Speaker 1: something so egregious and have no repercussions whatsoever.
Speaker 2: He agonizes over what to do, and he doesn't feel
Speaker 2: the police or the answer.
Speaker 1: My trust in the Pasadena Police Department at that time
Speaker 1: was not very high. They had every opportunity to do
Speaker 1: the right thing, and they didn't.
Speaker 2: Given the unwritten rules of the hotel trade, Devon can't
Speaker 2: afford to come forward on his own.
Speaker 1: My wife was really concerned after the incident about meep
Speaker 1: getting too involved. She really didn't want me to do
Speaker 1: anything to jeopardize our livelihood.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's the memory of his mother's desperation, or the
Speaker 2: shamelessness of the man in room three h four, or
Speaker 2: the fact that the young woman's name is Sarah like
Speaker 2: his daughter. Devon knows he needs to say something, but
Speaker 2: he has to find a way to keep his name
Speaker 2: out of it so he can hopefully keep his job.
Speaker 5: So how do you do that?
Speaker 2: He submits an anonymous complaint to the Pasadena City Attorney.
Speaker 1: Wrote up a little email, and basically told them that
Speaker 1: there was an incident that took place on March fourth
Speaker 1: at the hotel constance, that the police arrived but didn't
Speaker 1: really do anything. I lied and said the press was
Speaker 1: already aware of the incident and that I wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to see Pasadena Police Department portrayed in a bad light
Speaker 1: because they didn't do the right thing. I was pretty
Speaker 1: satisfied that was an appropriate course of action, but the
Speaker 1: more I thought about it, I just wasn't convinced that
Speaker 1: it was enough.
Speaker 5: It wasn't.
Speaker 2: There's no response to his complaint, no news of a
Speaker 2: dean at usc wrapped up in a scandal, so he
Speaker 2: decides to take it to the press. The only times
Speaker 2: is well known for its hard hitting investigative journalism. It
Speaker 2: had recently published a major investigation into big Pharma in
Speaker 2: the OxyContin crisis. Well, when Devin calls The Times, the
Speaker 2: switchboard at the paper tells him he can leave a
Speaker 2: message on the tip line.
Speaker 1: They say, we have a recording that we send our
Speaker 1: tips to, and I'm like, no, I don't want to
Speaker 1: leave a recording because then I'd have to leave my
Speaker 1: name and number and have someone call me back.
Speaker 2: Still doesn't give up, He wonders if it's possible that
Speaker 2: USC itself is in the dark.
Speaker 1: I love USC. I had planned to transfer there to
Speaker 1: go to the film School, but after I got married,
Speaker 1: my priority was keeping a chicken in the pot. I
Speaker 1: had very fond feelings for USC, and this was another
Speaker 1: reason why I wanted to give them the opportunity to
Speaker 1: do the right thing, because I knew the impact that
Speaker 1: this scandal would have on the college.
Speaker 2: So he places a call to the office of the President,
Speaker 2: Max to Kias, but he has to be careful.
Speaker 1: I went outside because I clearly didn't want to make
Speaker 1: the call from the hotel. I walked out on Mentor Avenue,
Speaker 1: walked about a block or so down the street.
Speaker 9: Thank you for calling.
Speaker 4: Please remain on the line and we'll be.
Speaker 3: Right with you.
Speaker 1: And the first person I got, you know, obviously, I
Speaker 1: told them that I need to speak to the president.
Speaker 1: She says, yeah, he doesn't take calls, but asking me
Speaker 1: what it was regarding, and I advised her quickly that
Speaker 1: your dean of medicine was involved in the incident with
Speaker 1: an unconscious female that was in his room, and there
Speaker 1: are also drugs found in the room, and that the
Speaker 1: press was aware, and that they might want to take
Speaker 1: action before the story was made public.
Speaker 2: When I imagine how this call went, I hear the
Speaker 2: line go very quiet.
Speaker 1: She put me on hold, and someone else came to
Speaker 1: the phone and I basically explained the same thing to her,
Speaker 1: and she said that they would need something in writing,
Speaker 1: and advised hers, I'm not going to put anything in
Speaker 1: writing because I wanted to remain anonymous. But everything that
Speaker 1: I'm telling you is verifiable. I said, the police were
Speaker 1: called to the hotel, addicks were called to the hotel. Now,
Speaker 1: she just said that she would need me to give
Speaker 1: her something in writing.
Speaker 5: And Devon just can't do that. This is as far
Speaker 5: as he can go.
Speaker 1: At this point. I've done everything that I feel comfortable doing.
Speaker 1: I was constantly googling Carmen poopet Fido to see if
Speaker 1: there was anything popping up, like he resigns or he's
Speaker 1: fired or anything like that, and there was no new
Speaker 1: information coming up. And he was still on the website
Speaker 1: as the dean of medicine. So it was at that
Speaker 1: point and I was like, Okay, well, you know, clearly
Speaker 1: he's still being protected.
Speaker 2: It's been about a month since the incident. At the
Speaker 2: hotel Constance.
Speaker 1: Our neighbor was having a party. The uncle of my
Speaker 1: neighbor was there, and this the first time I'm meeting him.
Speaker 5: The neighbor's uncle is named Ricardo der Antonia.
Speaker 10: I've been the La Times since nineteen eighty nine and
Speaker 10: I've been doing all kinds of photojournalism events and lose.
Speaker 2: The month before, Riccardo had been covering the funeral motorcade
Speaker 2: for Nancy Reagan when he was confronted by three Semi
Speaker 2: Valley police officers. Someone had reported it he looked suspicious
Speaker 2: while he was transmitting photos from his car. According to Riccardo,
Speaker 2: the cops swarmed him, forced him to the ground, and handcuffed.
Speaker 1: Him his arm was in a sling and he was
Speaker 1: talking about how he got ruffed up by LAPD while
Speaker 1: he was working, and he was very upset about it.
Speaker 1: And he was like, wait till my work gets a
Speaker 1: hold of these guys. You know, they're not going to
Speaker 1: know what hit him. And out of curiosity, I said, well,
Speaker 1: who do you work for? And he says the La Times.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, you know I've been trying
Speaker 1: to get a hold of someone from the La Times.
Speaker 10: He started talking about this incident that you witnessed. It
Speaker 10: started telling me that there was a cover up the cops,
Speaker 10: game and fire department and they all kind of just
Speaker 10: sweeping everything under the rug drugs and officials cover up.
Speaker 5: You couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: I laid it out for him and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a story. He's like, I can get the tip
Speaker 1: to the right person. He goes it, said okay that
Speaker 1: you know, I give him your contact information. Now it's reluctant,
Speaker 1: but I said, okay, yes, but let them know that
Speaker 1: I want to be completely anonymous. I don't want to
Speaker 1: go on record because I could lose my job and
Speaker 1: I can't have that. And he said, no problem, and
Speaker 1: a short time after that, I get a call from Paul.
Speaker 5: Again.
Speaker 2: My name's Paul Pringle. I'm an investigative reporter for the
Speaker 2: La Time Times. When I made that call to Devon
Speaker 2: Khan in April of twenty sixteen, I thought I'd be
Speaker 2: writing a quick hitch story about a drug overdose. I
Speaker 2: had no idea it would take me much deeper into
Speaker 2: the darkest corners of money and influence at two of
Speaker 2: the most powerful institutions in LA Coming up this season
Speaker 2: Onfallen Angels.
Speaker 5: When people fall in line, they fall in live.
Speaker 9: It's a cover up by people that just do not care,
Speaker 9: didn't matter to them at all.
Speaker 3: We were investigating USC, we were investigating Puliathido. Only a
Speaker 3: month or two after the investigation began, I received some
Speaker 3: strange visitors at my house.
Speaker 9: Hey, how did you find this out?
Speaker 3: How did you wink us together?
Speaker 9: Do you understand that people are choosing you of sexually
Speaker 9: assaulting young women for decades?
Speaker 3: There were actually several instances that looking back, I realized, Oh,
Speaker 3: everyone knew.
Speaker 1: She was on the balcony and screaming about all the
Speaker 1: method better means in the grip.
Speaker 3: It's hard enough when a member of your family is
Speaker 3: a drug addict, but add to that unlimited access to money.
Speaker 3: How do you get them out of that situation. I
Speaker 3: had to participate in this effort to get this story
Speaker 3: published otherwise, which is betray my core values.
Speaker 2: Why of a journalists in the first place.
Speaker 9: We're always going to have predators, but it's the good
Speaker 9: people who stand by and do nothing that allow them
Speaker 9: to flourish.
Speaker 5: That's coming up this season on Fallen Angels.
Speaker 2: Fallen Angels, The Story of California Corruption is a production
Speaker 2: of iHeart Podcasts in partnership with Best Case Studios. I'm
Speaker 2: Paul Pringle. This show is based on my book Bad City,
Speaker 2: Peril and Power in the City of Angels. Fallen Angels
Speaker 2: was written by Isabel Evans, Adam Pinks, and Brent Katz.
Speaker 2: Isabel Evans is our producer. Brent Katz is co producer.
Speaker 2: Associate producers are Hannah Leibowitz, Lockhart and Onfajo lock Executive
Speaker 2: producers are Me, Paul Pringle, Joe Piccarello, and Adam Pinkus
Speaker 2: for Best Case Studios. Original music is by James Newberry.
Speaker 2: This episode was edited by Daniel Turek with assistants from
Speaker 2: Max Michael Miller, additional editings, sound design and additional music
Speaker 2: by Dean White, Harriet Ryan, Matt Hamilton, Sarah Parvini and
Speaker 2: Adam Olmaik are consulting producers. Our iHeart team is Ali
Speaker 2: Perry and Carl Ketel. Follow and rate Fallen Angels wherever
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts