WEBVTT - The Girlfriends S5/E6: The Gold Bracelet 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:12.240 Novel. Last time on the Girlfriends Trust Me, Babe. The 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.320 group chat has grown by one member. He got cut, 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.480 and Derek Aldred is finally in custody. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:20.239 He's gonna get what he deserves. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.680 It's early summer twenty seventeen and Laurie, Wendy's big sister 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.360 detective from episode one, is at home in Texas. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.320 I am in my kitchen making dinner. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:42.400 Laurie's barefoot, hair up in a ponytail, wooden spoon in hand. 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.120 Five o'clock news comes on on my little kitchen TV, 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:49.840 kind of in the background. 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:50.880 Well, I'm doing my thing. 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.240 She's just stirring the orange chicken sauce into the walk 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:58.600 when her ears perk up. 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:05.280 I whip around and I'm thinking, surely I heard that wrong. Well, 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:10.680 that looks like him, and that's his name, Derek Aldred. 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.520 Wooden spoon still in one hand. Laurie turns the gas 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.320 stove off and pivots towards the TV. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.200 I go over and I'm watching and it shows pictures 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.320 of him, pictures of him in like some navy uniform. 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:32.119 She moves closer, leans her elbows on the kitchen counter 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.880 to get a better look. It really is that loser, 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.880 her sister Wendy dated back in twenty thirteen on the news. 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:44.400 But you know the weirdest part, this whole takedown of Derek, 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.120 It's all happened just down the road from where Wendy's 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:49.600 sister Laurie lives. 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.600 Literally about three miles from my house. 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.280 Laurie is immediately on the blower to Wendy. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.840 I'm like, are you sitting You're not going to believe. 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.600 This, and She's like, he was arrested. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.440 And that's how Wendy, here's the news. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:11.480 We are just going nuts. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.800 No way, I cannot believe all this is happening. 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:26.000 Sure, just a handful of miles from Laurie, we'll get more. 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:27.160 Couple, will take your caught off. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.919 Derrek Audred has been marched to the County jail house 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:37.920 in Fort Worth. Well. He's now face to face with 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:42.280 Special Agent Mike, whose planned to catch Derek at the 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:47.000 hospital with Tracy's help. Has all fallen into place a Mike. 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:49.960 Anyway, we knew that we were never going to get 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.880 him to admit that he was doing anything. The strategy 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:54.480 was to confront him. 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:55.920 And let me ask you, have you ever served in 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:00.680 the military, Have you ever been in law enforcement before. No, okay, 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:05.960 do you wear uniforms of military personnel? Don't? I don't. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.679 Never I happened to pass, but I mean yeah, I 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.440 mean last week, last week, not last month, not last year. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.639 He had no idea that I had pictures of him 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:19.240 on Dorry's balcony wearing uniform, which was like literally a 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.880 week prior. And I remember putting that picture down and 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:22.880 his response was. 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.280 I can tell you this much. I never wore this 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.400 in public anywhere. And that's a I don't even know 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.600 how that was taken. That's that's crazy. 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.160 He's loosening his tie up. He's kind of sitting back. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:38.400 You can see his demeanor change. 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.800 Military ideas now even bake counterfeit anything like that. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:46.520 And think so now, every chance we confronted him on anything, 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.440 it was a denial or a lie or some sort 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:49.960 of story. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:55.160 You have these credentials here and you had this navy No, yeah, okay, 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:56.880 and what were you going to do with these here? 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:57.120 No? 0:03:57.640 --> 0:03:58.800 I haven't done anything with. 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.840 Him Nowhere was he remorseful for anything. No where did 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:03.560 he take responsibility for anything. 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.960 In particular as the Rangers ticket, we were able to 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:13.720 pull some footage clearly you are showing idea and insisting 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:18.799 now you're military and gaining something, which is the equivalent 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:19.840 of stolen valor. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:21.080 I didn't like. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:24.360 This is a guy who's a professional liar. He's a 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:25.520 professional con man. 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:30.239 I think in the last twenty minutes you have lied 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.360 to our face about fifty times. 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.000 Guys, I just told you, I told you the truth. 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:43.040 Special Agent Mike is looking for the truth, the whole truth, 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.680 but he's not going to find it in this interview room. 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.560 Why would all of these people say this, Then there 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:55.960 is evidence of it happening. Then there's videos and pictures 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:58.080 of you doing it. 0:04:58.960 --> 0:04:59.760 Guys, look look at. 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.640 When I there's nothing that we're going to do inside 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.039 the interview room that's going to get him to have 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.880 an AHA moment. Go, you're right, I did do it. 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.760 But Mike's not going to give up that easily. He's 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.039 about to discover there's a whole army of women who've 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.559 been working on this case since long before he began. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.839 Every single one of them kept their records, kept documents, 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:24.600 kept pictures. 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.760 Oh and one more thing, Derek did, what are you 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:32.400 thinking they don't play in Texas? I'm Anna Sinfield and 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.520 from the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts. You're listening 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.560 to the final episode of The Girlfriends Trust Me. 0:05:40.520 --> 0:06:12.600 Babe, Episode six, The Gold Bracelet. 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:22.560 Derek is arrested on June first, twenty seventeen, and over 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.400 the months that follow, Special Agent Mike and his team 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:32.680 continue their investigation. It takes them all over the country, 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:37.359 spans years of Derek's life, and as their evidence grows, 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:43.080 so does their charge list. Within a few months, the 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:48.880 indictment is ten charges long felon in possession of a firearm, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:54.960 access to vice, fraud, aggravated identity theft, male fraud, and 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:59.200 the evidence looks pretty damning, so damning in fact, that 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:03.240 Derek takes a plea deal. He pleads guilty to just 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.400 three charges, and all three of them pertain to Dorry, 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.520 two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.440 mail fraud for using Dorry's address and claiming it was his. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:22.440 The question on everybody's mind now will the punishment fit 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:23.480 the crimes. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.600 Every reaction I got from almost everybody was he's going 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:29.880 to get out and he's going to do it again. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.520 If you look over the years, he got a slap 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.800 on the wrist for every single thing he did, and 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.880 he never spent any significant amount of time in jail. 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:39.960 I can't blame them from being skeptical. 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.840 But this time the prosecuting team have got a plan. 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.920 Those three charges are only about Derek's crimes against Dorry 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.280 in the colony, but when you look at all the evidence, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.679 you can see plainly there's a pattern. It's the same 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.760 thing he did to so many women for years. The 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.720 prosecution thinks they can make the case that when it 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.760 comes time to decide on Derek's sentence, the judge should 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:12.120 take all of that history and loss into consideration. It's 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:17.160 a legal concept known as relevant conducts. If the judge agrees, 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.680 instead of the typical three years in prison for mail fraud, 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:25.040 Derek could get a sentence of up to twenty years. 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.840 But they won't know whether their plan has worked until 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.560 Derek Hall dreads sentencing hearing the moment his sentence is 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:36.839 handed down. So it's crucial that as many women as 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:40.960 possible are able to make it to Texas in person. 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.120 For the victim to get up there and talk about 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.760 some things that were excrucially painful for them. That really 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:48.720 does sway what the judge. 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:57.400 Thinks It's Midsummer, a year after Derek's arrest in Fort Worth. 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.720 The prosecution's plan is in full swing. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.680 It was wild because all of us girls were together. 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:11.000 It's the evening before the sentencing hearing. Nearly a dozen 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:15.280 women who'd been scammed by Derek had gathered together in person, 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.520 women who otherwise would have never met but for the 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.560 deadbeat ex boyfriend. They all have in common. They're now 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:28.920 in a makeshift sorority house preparing for the big reckoning. 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.760 It was a huge, beautiful home. Tracy is there, the 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.720 country girl who is whined and dined by Derek on 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:37.520 Dorry's dime. 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.120 Everybody could pick where they wanted to sleep. I think 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.599 I slept down in the basement or something in a 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:45.400 god that was a bizarre time. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.160 That's Wendy our DIY detective from Hawaii who sussed out 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:51.360 Derek scuba diving lie. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:56.760 Immediately there was an instant bonding. I felt like I 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.400 would do anything for these women. 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.240 And there's other women you haven't met yet. A doctor 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:07.360 from Hawaii, a neat clear scientist from Minnesota, a flight attendant. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.880 They were all delightful. Every woman I met I just 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:11.959 really liked. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.200 And though they bond for some of the women. It's 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:15.720 a shock. 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.360 That was the first time I started hearing about the PTSD. 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:22.479 So many of them had. 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:26.400 They all had a different story. Some had lost everything 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.720 to Derek, some hadn't, but they all had one thing 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.320 in common. Every last one of them had been lied to. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.319 Before long, they're cracking jokes, swapping war stories. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.880 Didn't he wear those atrocious bike shorts? It leaves nothing 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.480 to the imagination. 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:47.359 And tearing their shared ex boyfriend a new one. 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.680 The worst thing in his mind would be for a 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.000 bunch of women talking about how bad he was in bed. 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:55.920 There you go, there's some justice right. 0:10:55.760 --> 0:11:01.679 There, and among them is Vanessa A'm Miley Californian. On 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.800 her first visit to Texas. 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.320 I felt that it was really important for me to 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:06.960 be involved. 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.480 All the women gathered in that house will have wondered 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.400 at one time or another whether anything Derek told them 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:18.360 about himself was true and how did he become the 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.360 guy who ruined their lives. 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:26.480 He was more naive back then and maybe not so crafty. 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.720 It's Vanessa who can give them some of those answers 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.560 because she's Derek's college sweetheart. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.320 I'm going to date myself, but we're going all the 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:42.439 way back to the nineties. I couldn't believe I got Intocla. 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.640 It's nineteen eighty nine and Vanessa is heading to college. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.680 I was ecstatic when I found out. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.320 Vanessa's dad owns a Mexican restaurant in La and he's 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:58.520 protective of her. Her mom passed away from cancer when 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.120 Vanessa was still just a kid, and she'll be the 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.920 first in her family to get a degree. So for 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:06.239 that first year she lives at home. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.319 I was miserable. I had maybe made one or two friends. 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.240 It's hard to meet people on campus. People don't just 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:14.120 stop and talk to. 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.679 You, except for people like Derek Aldred. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.000 And I think he said something, Have I seen you before? No? No, oh, 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:24.400 you go to school here. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.720 Derek has walked past Vanessa while she's waiting for a 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:32.760 medical appointment on campus one day. He's young, handsome, presents 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.520 himself as a medical student at the same college. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:40.040 He's wearing a white lab coat, his name embroidered. He 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:44.040 said he was studying cystic fibrosis. I didn't even know 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.920 what that was, and I still kind of don't. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.360 It's so strange to imagine Derek in his college years. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:53.880 I can hear the same guy who've come to know 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:55.040 in these anecdotes. 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.600 He really gave off a good impression. I really like 0:12:59.640 --> 0:12:59.959 this guy. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:08.800 Why they date for a year, and as far as 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:14.520 she's concerned, he's it nothing weird or of note to 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:22.920 report until this one thing happened. About six months before 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.360 she's due to graduate. Vanessa is walking up to Derek's 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.640 apartment near campus when she catches sight of him in 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:31.880 the third floor window. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.959 He was in his white lab coat with the French 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.079 doors open, and he was throwing everything that was in 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:40.480 his apartment out of the window. 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:46.480 Vanessa watches from the street below, obscured from view behind 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.439 a tree. 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.040 I see him throwing this Carrera marble top table out 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:52.480 the window. 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.360 Stuff her dad had lent him. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:59.160 This table that my dad loved. He must have spent like, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.480 I don't know, thousand bucks on it, a lamp. I 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.640 gave him this antique typewriter because I felt like he 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:09.319 could use that for his studies. 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.320 Outflies the vintage typewriter. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.640 My mouth hits the floor. I'm frozen. I'm like, what 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:20.200 is going on? I left because I didn't know what 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:20.560 to do. 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.200 Vanessa sits in her car, trying to make sense of 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:28.720 what she's just saying, and I was like, what do 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:29.040 I do? 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:29.800 What do I do? 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:35.080 Eventually, curiosity gets the better of her. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.680 I come back to the front of his apartment and 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.520 I see him now, not in his apartment anymore, but 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.440 he's out in the front on the street talking to 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:49.840 these police officers. He said that someone broke in and 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:55.600 did that he was not taking responsibility for it. I 0:14:55.640 --> 0:15:01.320 was even more perplexed, like what is going on. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.640 When Vanessa brings the subject up with Derek later, she 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.520 remembers that he doesn't admit to being the guy standing 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.240 on the ledge, and he still denies it was him 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.280 throwing the furniture out the window. He claims he even 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.640 went to court to testify against the man who broke 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.680 into his apartment, but so far we've been unable to 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.680 locate court records of this standing on the street that day, 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:26.960 Vanessa felt sure it was him. 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.680 I was so fond of him and so in love 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.960 with him, and I was so attached to the idea 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.920 of building a family with him that I let it go, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:43.080 which was a mistake. 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:53.080 Vanessa finishes college six months later, graduates, and afterward it's 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.120 Derek that she wants to celebrate with. 0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:00.560 I blew off all my friends, all the sorority girl, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.640 even my dad, to be with him, just him. 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.280 It's after the graduation festivities are over that the other 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:16.600 shoe drops. They're sitting in his car. Derek is about 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:19.000 to leave Los Angeles to visit his parents. 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:23.640 I kiss from goodbye and he's like, I'll see you soon, 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.440 you know, when I get back. I never heard from 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:32.560 him again. Literally, he fell off the face of the earth. 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.640 They've been dating for a year and a half, Vanessa's 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.280 first serious relationship, the guy she was in love with. 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.520 But one of the worst parts of all of this, 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.840 Vanessa soon realized, wasn't just the loss of her boyfriend 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.280 or the life she had been imagining with him. It 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:53.760 was something else Entirely. 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.840 On the night of my graduation, Derek said, Oh, maybe 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.120 I'll borrow that, you know, to go with my suit. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:08.040 A gold bracelet. When Vanessa's mum died she was just 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:14.040 nine years old, her father gathered together all her mum's 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.919 gold jewelry, had it melted down and reformed into a bracelet, 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.480 a thick Cuban style chain. 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.119 It was kind of masculine, bracelet. A man or a 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:26.080 woman could wear it. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.600 At first, Vanessa's dad intended to wear it, but in 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.920 the end he had gifted it to Vanessa. And now 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.919 Derek wondered if he could borrow it, and I. 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.639 Was happily just like, yes, borrow it, but don't forget 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.239 to give it back. Of course, he forgot to give 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:42.720 it back. 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:50.600 When he left, the bracelet disappeared with him. For years, 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:55.200 she wondered what had happened, and then one day, about 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:58.080 twenty years later, bored at work. 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.960 I decided to google his name, you know, just out 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.680 of sheer curiosity. What's he doing? Where is he? Is 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.439 he married? You know, I'm expecting maybe a LinkedIn profile 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:15.240 or Facebook link, But instead I see a news article. 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.800 I was like, no, wonder he just disappeared. 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.080 Before she knows it, Like every woman in that group chat, 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:31.560 She's on the phone to Cindy. 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.359 Do I want to get on board with her and 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.359 the rest of the girls to try to fight together? 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:40.080 And at first I was like, no. 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.800 There are a lot of reasons to leave this in 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.119 the past. But as she learns more and more about 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.560 Derek's trail of destruction. 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:54.159 I said, you know what, Yes, maybe I'll get my 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:54.920 bracelet back. 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.200 And now here she is in a house in Texas, 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.840 surrounded by the women who came after her. 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:07.120 We bonded and we told stories. One girl was like, oh, 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.159 he told me he was an attorney, and then another 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:13.920 girl was like, no, no, no, he was a firefighter. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:16.640 He was wearing a white lab coat with me, and 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:21.000 he was wearing a naval officer uniform with someone else. 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.560 There were like eight different names that he used for 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:25.639 each different girl. 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:32.320 Derek cool Right, Derek Cooldread, Richard Aldridge, Steel Aldridge, Richie Peterson, 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:33.640 Richie Taylor. 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.879 And even though maybe he was a different persona, it 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.840 was so relatable and being this persona that we thought 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.720 we were in love with, we had a lot of 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.520 spirit in us. We had a lot to fight for. 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:54.840 Tomorrow they'll learn whether it all pays off, and Vanessa 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.200 will get the chance to look Derek in the face. 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:02.360 That was my moment of truth. This person has been 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:07.280 deceiving people since he was a young man, and it 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:08.240 needs to stop. 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:32.399 It's the morning of August twenty second, twenty eighteen, in Sherman, Texas. 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.040 The women arrive at the old, very pretty courthouse. 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.159 We took a little bus together. I don't think anybody 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.080 ate any breakfast or anything because we were all on 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:43.400 pins and needles. 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:48.760 They step out onto the stairs that lead up to 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:56.000 the entrance, and inside. 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:59.040 You've got all the old woodwork, the old flooring, church pews. 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.920 That's all I saw. It was church pews. The women 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:09.360 are sitting together in solidarity across two rows, waiting, and 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:15.080 then the judge has arrived. When you hear those three 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.840 loud bangs, it's like suddenly everything goes completely silent. William Tatum, 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:23.480 the Assistant United States Attorney in Texas, is the legal 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:24.879 brain behind the big plan. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:27.480 You could hear a pin drop at that moment. 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.440 He's sitting up front with his team as the proceedings 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:35.719 get underway. Then out comes Derek. 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.520 Just the sight of him, ugh, oh, it just made 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:43.000 me sick. 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.440 He did not look our direction at all. 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.239 He's not in a pilot's uniform, not dressed as a 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:55.200 fireman or a doctor. This time he's in a uniform 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:56.400 he's qualified to wear. 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.560 Derek was shackled, his feet were shackled, his arms were shackled. 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:09.000 An orange jumpsuit. Derek has already signed a plea agreement 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:13.240 admitting to the three charges, but it's a judge, he'll 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:17.000 hand down a sentence, and so the lawyers duke it 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:21.480 out over what should factor in and what shouldn't. They 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:26.040 argue over whether Derek has really accepted responsibility for his actions. 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.359 Despite his guilty plea, Derek is still claiming that he 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.679 did in fact have authorization to use some of the 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:40.920 credit cards. Not him personally, of course, but his alter ego, Richie. 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:44.480 His defense lawyer, even disputes the idea that Derek used 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:49.439 sophisticated means to conduct his scams. He argues, there was 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:52.520 nothing particularly complex about any of it. 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:54.439 No, no, no, no. 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.399 He had to have spent hours and hours to have 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:01.840 created those documents and details and on trucks. I just 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:05.720 wanted the judge to know this guy was incredibly calculated. 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:10.520 Before long, Wendy and the others will be offered just 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:14.760 that opportunity. 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.400 They started calling us to read our victim impact statements. 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.439 First off is Cindy, who's been leading the way for years. 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:26.360 Then Dorry steps up. 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.000 I was the second one to read my impact statement. 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.080 May seventeenth, twenty seventeen, was the last day I would 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:35.840 be the trusting, loving, giving person that I had been 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:37.080 for fifty plus years. 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:39.399 Derek is forced to listen. 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.280 It was a day that I uncovered that my boyfriend 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:45.440 Ritchie Taylor, who I now know is Derek Aldred, had 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:46.800 conned and manipulated me. 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:49.720 Statement after statement. 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:54.919 I want my voice to represent those women victims whose 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:59.840 lives have been turned upside down due to Derek the socio. 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:04.320 I believe that swindling for Derek is like a drug. 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:07.439 Every time he gets away with it, he has a 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:09.320 deeper desire to do it again. 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:15.480 He's a master manipulator. He will go to unimaginable links 0:24:15.520 --> 0:24:16.840 to steal money from women. 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:20.960 I don't think that Derek understands the fundamental difference between 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:22.040 lies and the truth. 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:24.919 I've seen in the history that over and over again 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:27.040 the justice system has let us down. 0:24:28.119 --> 0:24:31.280 As soon as he's free, he will just do this again. 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:35.520 He must be stopped from ruining other lives. 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:39.399 No matter what sentence he's given, it's not going to 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:49.320 compare to the one he's given me. I remember, I 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:54.040 felt real powerful when I said it, like, listen to me, 0:24:54.840 --> 0:24:59.719 you know you're not in charge anymore. I wanted him 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:01.679 to look me in the face so I could just 0:25:01.800 --> 0:25:07.000 give him that you discussed me. Look, he never even looked. 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:13.560 When the women finish, the judge turns to Derek and 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:17.679 ask if there's anything he'd like to say. There is. 0:25:20.240 --> 0:25:23.320 After a bit of waffle to his honor, Derek says 0:25:24.640 --> 0:25:27.800 to say, I'm mortified, and I'm embarrassed, and I'm shamed, 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:32.520 and I'm sorry. Doesn't begin to capture really how I feel. 0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:34.639 You know, the harm that I've caused some of the 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:39.440 people behind me. I know the money is really inconsequential 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:44.199 to a degree. I never wanted to hurt someone's trust 0:25:44.240 --> 0:25:46.680 like that to where they would leave me and move 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:51.080 on about life and have that type of deficit. You know, 0:25:51.200 --> 0:25:56.679