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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 19

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8.8

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 3/30/04

The prosecution of a suspected pedophile is impeded by parents who refuse to produce their molested child for questioning to avoid losing the millions they were paid through a non-disclosure agreement, and by the discovery that a second molestation accusation was falsified in an attempt to extort a settlement similiar to that received by the first victim.moreless

Fan Episode Reviews (6)

Pedofiles, leukemia, munchausen, disappearances, charities, realistic endings, oh my!

9.7

By BELONEPHOBIAC11, Mar 30, 2011

My favorite episode! This definitely shows why I watch this show! There are so many twists and turns and it was incredibly exciting. I mean, there was a child filled with rage, a rich pedofile with plenty of child charities, a disappearance, a sick girl, a crazy granny, and so much more! It was definitely Michael Jackson-esque. And I could totally see this happening in real life. I've talked to some people who were disappointed with the ending, but I found it very fitting. I don't think that there always has to be a "happy" ending because it would be completely unrealistic. This episode was nearly perfect for me.moreless
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An angry abusive 12 year old boy claims he was molested by his father's former boss, a toy mogul, who paid money to his parents to keep him quiet. The man is also suspected of molesting several other kids who stayed at his place.moreless

9.7

By mikeholly, Mar 30, 2011

Two college girls in Colorado receive threatening chatroom messages from a person called JJ in NYC. Stabler and benson investigate the family of Jeremy Ostilow and learn his 12 year old son JJ sent the threats. JJ is arrested and questioned. It is suspected he was abusing his 5 year old sister and mutilating her dolls. Fin and Munch learn from JJ's school that he was getting poor grades and abusing other students. The detectives suspect that JJ was molested. Huang visits JJ at the mental institute where he was commited and JJ tells him his dad's former boss, a toy mogul named Billy Tripley molested him while he slept in his bedroom called the Treasure Room, then paid his parents to keep him quiet. The detectives search Tripley's home and find evidence he had been letting kids sleep in the treature room and molesting them. Tripley is arrested and questioned but denies the accusations. Novak is determined to prosecute him for the crimes. Then they learn that JJ recanted the accusation and his parents forced him to because of the settlement. Then the detectives learn about a girl named April who has leukemia and was also at Billy's place. April claims Billy molested her too. Jeremy moves JJ out of NYC and refuses to tell the court where JJ is so he is jailed. Forensics have revealed a hair belonging to Tripley in April's underwear, proving he molested her. Then things go downhill for Novak and the detectives. A rape kit exam of April yielded no evidence that she ever had leukemia and that someone was poisoning her with mercury. That someone is Nora, April's grandmother and legal guardian, who was just arrested for shoplifing at a department store. April tells Benson that her grandmother deliberately poisoned her and Nora is confronted by Novak. She confesses to poisoning April but claims she suffers from Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome and she also confesses to framing Tripley by planting one of his hairs in April's underwear. Meanwhile, Stabler and gang learn that JJ ended up in Canada and they could not reach him, ruining their case against Tripley. Ripped from Michael Jackson allegedly molesting children at Neverland Ranch.moreless
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Ripped from the headlines...Michael Jackson Style!

10

By DarkWhiskey10, Mar 30, 2011

A college girl from Colorado calls the police when a person on a chat room was saying he had a 5 year old girl at home and he was going to tear her apart. The police track the screen name back to a family in New York. When the detectives raid the home, they find out that the person on the chat room was an eleven year old boy. The detectives take in the boy and he tells them that he wants to be a pedophile. The detectives think that the boy was molested at some point so they commit him to the hospital instead of jail. the boy finally opens up and says he was molested by a toy store tycoon at a party three years ago. He also says his parents know but they threatened to come out and the tycoon pays them one million dollars a year to keep quiet. The detectives bring in the tycoon and he says that the money was for a toy patent but he isn't believed. The detectives search his residence and find that his mansion is a kids dream full with superhero pajamas for the kids. The detectives try to charge him but the parents of the kid hide him away and will go to any costs to not lose the money there getting. The detectives are hopeless until another child comes forward. The kid is a little girl with cancer but it turns she was not molested. Her grandma who takes care of her not only lied about the molestation but she also made her granddaughter sick. The girl didn't have cancer, her grandma had munchausans.moreless
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ripped from the headlines... Michael Jackson story... but wierdly twisted

9.3

By abanana, Mar 30, 2011

I don't understand why some people don't like ripped from the headlines episodes. I think they're great. This one especially was good. I like how they started off the show with investigating the 12 year old boy for sexual abuse of his sister but end up try to prosucute billy tripley who alledgedly attacked him. My favorite part was with the little girl (I can't remember her name) but she was soo cute when she was saying "i just don't want to die" I felt so bad for her because nobody in the whole world cares about her. Her grandmother was just using her for her own personal gain. I also like how novak refused to make a deal with the grandmother because she deserved to rot in jail. I was so angry at that grandmother. I can't believe there's people in the world who would do something like that. I also liked how the billy tripley character looked alot like michael jackson (well i thought so anyways).moreless
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Another story ripped from the headlines.

10

By Dawnsdinosaurs, Mar 27, 2011

This episode is one of the main reasons I never miss this show or any of the Law and Order Series, the "ripped from the headlines" This episode took the basics of the Michael Jackson case and twisted it around. The grandmother faking her granddaughter's illness, then using it to make a false accusations. It really makes you think people like this really do ruin the real cases. I don't remember the exact quote but Stabler made a comment about what are the parents thinking, they know what he's suspected of yet they leave their children alone with him. I've often made that same comment about Michael Jackson, this show brought out much of what people feel and are saying about this case.

Great job with this episode, and like I said, why I never miss it.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Dann Florek	Capt. Donald Cragen
Richard Belzer	Det. John Munch
Mariska Hargitay	Det. Olivia Benson
BD Wong	Dr. George Huang
Christopher Meloni	Det. Elliot Stabler
Ice-T	Det. Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Ed Bogdanowicz	ESU #1	Guest Star
Will Keenan	Billy Tripley	Guest Star
Marlo Thomas	Judge Mary Conway Clark	Guest Star
Jill Marie Lawrence	Cleo Conrad	Recurring Role
Peter Hermann	Trevor Langan	Recurring Role
Peter Riegert	Chauncey Zeirko	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (2)
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- Goof: When Det. Benson is interviewing Lisette early in the episode she refers to a character known as "JJ" using the name "JT".
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- Audio/Visual Track Mismatch: After Munch and Fin encounter the lemur in Tripley's mansion, the camera cuts to the maid defending Tripley. Mariska Hargitay must have had a line here, because you can see her mouth moving, but Christopher Meloni's voice is heard instead.
  
  Goof: The lemur was supposedly sitting in front of the detectives on the staircase, but in the shot immediately after, a maid standing all the way across the room is holding it.
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QUOTES (8)
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- Melinda Warner: (while taking DNA samples) Please lower your pants and underwear.
  Billy Tripley: Why?
  Melinda Warner: Pubic hair sample. (smiles while holding up tweezers) I'll need ten of those as well.
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- Olivia Benson: (speaking to Billy out on bail at a party in his mansion) Tripley. Got a call from one of your neighbors who found it very unsettling to see so many kids come through your door.
  Elliot Stabler: What's the special occasion, Billy? They lower the age of consent?
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- (After walking into Tripley's pirate-themed "play room".)
  John Munch: Pervert ahoy. Pedophilic pirate motif.
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- Mitchell Edison: He might have gotten snapped by a wet towel or two. All in good fun, you know?
  John Munch: Yeah. Getting pelted by Neanderthals in the privates sounds like a blast.
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- John Munch: Dodge Ball?! Haven't they outlawed this barbaric practice yet?...I literally weighed 98 pounds. I can still hear them. 'Break the pencil!' I was a walking bruise.
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- Fin Tutuola: (Opening a closet in the Treasure Room.) Oh, this is just wrong. Little jammies, each one a different theme. What's this about?
  John Munch: Tripley's idea of lingerie.
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- Casey Novak: (After Nora Hodges' scam has been exposed.) He deserves to go to jail! Thanks to you, he can claim he's the victim of a false allegation every time a legitimate one comes up in the future!
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- (About her lawyer's insanity defense for her prolonged child abuse charges.)
  Nora Hodges: You heard her! I'm sick!
  Casey Novak: No jury's that stupid.
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NOTES (2)
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- International Air Dates:
  Finland October 21, 2009 on YLE TV2
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- Episode originally scheduled to air 23 March 2004.
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ALLUSIONS (3)
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- This episode appears to be ripped from the headlines of the Michael Jackson cases. Although Jackson has never been convicted, there have been numerous allegations of child molestation against him since the 1990s.
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- Munch refers to Tripley as 'the teflon pedophile'. This is a reference to the nickname given to John Gotti in the New York media as the Teflon Don because they couldn't make any of his crimes stick.
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- Dr. George Huang: Peter Pan Syndrome to the extreme.
  
  He is referring to Billy's sick attempt to remain young forever - like Peter Pan.
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