1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Crime al Art hourly update, Breaking crime News. Now I'm 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:06,880 Speaker 1: Drew Nelson. Alison Max speaks out for the first time 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: since her release from prison. It was a humid June 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: morning in twenty twenty one when Max sat in the 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: backseat of a car headed to a Brooklyn, New York, courthouse, 6 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: wearing a black dress that she had bought just for 7 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: the occasion. That day, the Smallville actress faced sentencing for 8 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: her role in Nexium and XIVM, the so called self 9 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: help empire turned sex cult run by Keith Raniery. Once 10 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: known for playing the sharp and loyal Smallville character Chloe Sullivan, 11 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,279 Speaker 1: Mack was now branded a criminal. Victims called her a 12 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: monster in court, the judge called her an essential accomplice. 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: On the new CBC podcast Allison after Neum, Max said quote, 14 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,879 Speaker 1: I don't see myself as innocent. I think that I 15 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: capitalized on the things I had, and so the success 16 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: I had as an actor, I think I did capitalize 17 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: on that. Yeah, and it was a power tool that 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: I had to get people to do what I wanted. 19 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: Now forty three, Mack had served nearly two years of 20 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: a three year federal sentence before being released in twenty 21 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 1: twenty three. She has since remarried, begun a master's in 22 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: social work, and for the first time, is confronting the 23 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: contradictions of being both a victim and a victimizer. Mack 24 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: grew up in Long Beach, California, the daughter of an 25 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: opera singer and a Montessori teacher. She began acting before 26 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: she could read. By her late teens, she was living 27 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: on her own in Los Angeles, starring in network TV 28 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: shows when Smallville began filming in Vancouver in two thousand 29 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 1: and one. She was just nineteen, earning forty thousand dollars 30 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,039 Speaker 1: a week, and suddenly surrounded by fame and pressure that 31 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: she didn't understand. In the podcast's first episode, Mack recalls 32 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: how her co star Kristin Krook helped lead her into 33 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: what would become the most destructive decision of her life. 34 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: According to Mac, Krook began taking Nexiums, so called executive 35 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: success programs while they filmed in Vancouver, and later urged 36 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: her to try it. Krook has long denied in any wrongdoing, 37 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: saying in twenty eighteen she left Nexium years before the 38 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: crimes came to light and had minimal contact afterward. She 39 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: said she was quote horrified and disgusted by what emerged 40 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: about DOS. That's the so called secret sorority where women 41 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: were branded with rneri's initials. Max's first Nexium seminar was 42 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: held in a hotel in Vancouver. Soon after, she accepted 43 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: an invitation to fly by private jet to Albany, New York, 44 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: where she would meet Ranieri for the first time. She 45 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: says the meaning left her disoriented yet captivated in a 46 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: way that she described as ground shifting. Within a few years, 47 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: Mack had moved to Albany, leaving her acting career behind. 48 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:44,239 Speaker 1: Prosecutors later said she became Rhannieri's second in command, recruiting 49 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: women into DOS under the guise of empowerment. Members were 50 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 1: starved and forced into sexual submission. At sentencing, Max sat 51 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: in silence as victims read their statements, My poor mom, Mike. 52 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: I'm so sorry you guys, you know, just like it 53 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: was more like but I can take it like you know, 54 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: but like you guys think, I'm so sorry. Now sixty five, 55 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: Keith Rniery is serving a one hundred and twenty year 56 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: sentence for sex trafficking, racketeering, and related crimes. MAC cooperated 57 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: with prosecutors providing recordings and testimony that helped convict him. 58 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: More Crime and Justice news after this. The founder of 59 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: one eight hundred and four to one one PAINT is 60 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: arrested after allegedly bringing a loaded gun onto a Miami 61 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: Dade High school campus. Deputy SA fifty nine year old 62 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: Robert Cash Lewin of Southwest Ranches was taken into custody 63 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: around noon on Saturday at Miami Coral Park Senior High 64 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: School in the Westchester area. According to the Miami Dade 65 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office, Lewin was seen sitting on the gym bleachers 66 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: with a handgun tucked in his waistband. When he bent over, 67 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: the weapon became visible, and a student snapped a photo 68 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: that was sent to an assistant principal. Administrator's alerted law enforcement, 69 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: who found Lewin sitting inside a black Lincoln Navigator in 70 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: the school parking lot bearing a vanity plate referring to 71 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: the legal service four to one one PAIN. Deputies ordered 72 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 1: him out of the suv and conducted a pat down, 73 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: discovering the gun, an extra magazine, and a knife. Lewin 74 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: told them he had brought the weapon to school quote 75 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: by accident. He was arrested on one count of possession 76 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: of a firearm on school property, and the gun and 77 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: magazine were impounded as evidence. As of now, Lewin does 78 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: not appear as an inmate on the Miami Day Jail website. 79 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,719 Speaker 1: A Michigan mother accused of killing her three year old 80 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: son to quote unquote make room for a baby with 81 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,799 Speaker 1: her boyfriend has admitted to the crime, ending a year's 82 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,720 Speaker 1: long investigation into one of Saint Clair County's most disturbing cases. 83 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: Amanda May Mason, aged thirty three, pleaded guilty to second 84 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: degree murder in the twenty eighteen death of her son, 85 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: Matthew Mason inside their home and Port Huron Township. Babysitters 86 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: discovered Matthew unresponsive in his bed on f February eighteenth 87 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,239 Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen, prompting an investigation that went cold for years. 88 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: Authorities reopened the case this year after what they called 89 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: quote significant new developments, leading to the arrests of Mason 90 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 1: and her then boyfriend, Maurice Hoole, now twenty eight. Investigators 91 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: and prosecutors said the pair killed Matthew as part of 92 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: a plan to quote make room for a child that 93 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: the two of them could have together. Assistant prosecutor Joshua 94 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 1: Sparling told the court that Houle regularly beat the boy 95 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: and that Mason hid his injuries from Child Protective Services 96 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 1: between twenty sixteen and eighteen. Sparling said the child was 97 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: locked in his room for hours without food or water, 98 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,799 Speaker 1: and died of blunt force trauma and possible suffocation. During 99 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: her plea hearing, Mason admitted to shoving her son's head 100 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: into a wall during what she described as a quote 101 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: military style time out. She told the judge she allowed 102 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,840 Speaker 1: an environment where Matthew was systematically abused and later helped 103 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: Houle conceal the manner of Matthew's death. Court record show 104 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: she also admitted to lying to investigators and covering up 105 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: earlier child Protective Services visits that could have saved her 106 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: son's life. Both Mason and Hull were charged with first 107 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: degree murder in April. They initially pleaded not guilty, but 108 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: Mason changed her plea as part of an agreement requiring 109 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: her to testify against Hule when his trial begins early 110 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: next year. Mason remains in custody at the Saint Clair 111 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: County Jail and faces up to life when she is sentenced. 112 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,679 Speaker 1: For the latest crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert's 113 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: hourly update on your favorite podcast app with this crime Alert. 114 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 1: I'm Drew Nelson.