Episode name - Betrayed by the Badge
Story - After Seemona learns her boyfriend, Jerry, lied about his identity, she breaks things off, only for him to launch a campaign of torment against her.
All rights reserved @Dailymotion.com - Daily_Shows
Story - After Seemona learns her boyfriend, Jerry, lied about his identity, she breaks things off, only for him to launch a campaign of torment against her.
All rights reserved @Dailymotion.com - Daily_Shows
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Emotions, especially with exes,
00:05bring out the absolute worst in people.
00:15I've seen instances where exes kill each other.
00:25But as far as this elaborate plot,
00:28it's just gut-wrenching.
00:34Horrible.
00:35Plain and simple.
00:48In 2006, I was a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley
00:53and opening a restaurant at the same time.
00:58I was always busy.
00:59There was always something that I was doing,
01:02and it seems like that's all I knew how to do.
01:09Work, work, work.
01:16My family are all from Guyana, which is in South America.
01:21I came to the U.S. when I was about 11 years old.
01:26It was my parents, my brother, my sister.
01:29I'm the oldest of three.
01:33When I was growing up in Long Island,
01:35we basically grew up in the same house,
01:37and we lived there for years
01:39until I purchased the house from my parents.
01:43In my mind, that house,
01:45it was always going to be mine, I guess.
01:49Or in the family type of thing.
01:54I saw my dad do so much.
01:57My dad worked for Steinway Piano Company,
02:01and he also had his own business.
02:04He had a taxi company.
02:07So in my mind, I always wanted to have my own business.
02:12After school, I first worked for a broker on Wall Street.
02:17And I learned fast and moved up fast.
02:21I used to work ridiculous hours.
02:25After a couple years that I was working there,
02:28I thought I had enough time
02:30to try to have my own restaurant, both simultaneously.
02:34Got all my savings and everything together,
02:37and finally decided on a Golden Crust.
02:40Golden Crust is a franchise
02:42that serves Jamaican food,
02:44Golden Crust is a franchise that serves Jamaican cuisine.
02:49Growing up, I ate that food a lot.
02:52I knew about that cuisine
02:54and even had experience in cooking the food and everything.
03:03I was very busy.
03:06I worked X amount of hours at Morgan Stanley.
03:10When I was off from there, I'm at the restaurant
03:14trying to get everything up and running,
03:16permits and whatnot,
03:19and taking care of Kiara at the same time.
03:25I have the most amazing daughter.
03:28Kiara's sweet, honest.
03:31She's just the best thing that ever happened to me.
03:35It amazes me how much she knows or she senses,
03:40and she's always been like that.
03:43It was a lot of work, but at the time,
03:46I just wanted to just do so much,
03:49so I wasn't seeing anyone for quite a bit
03:53because I've been adamant that I was never going to get married.
03:58That's not something that I want to sacrifice, my freedom.
04:02So that conversation I dodged at all times.
04:08I was supposed to open in the beginning of March of 2006.
04:14And my dad died.
04:20He actually committed suicide.
04:23So it was tough.
04:26After that happened,
04:29I pushed back the opening of the restaurant
04:33till after all the prayers and everything was done
04:38and gave myself enough time.
04:41So it was opened in the very last week of March.
04:53A few months after the restaurant opened is when I met Jerry.
04:59He came by the restaurant.
05:02He purchased food
05:05and struck up a conversation with me.
05:10He was wearing a suit, and he had a holster,
05:13and he had a gun on the side.
05:16He told me he was a cop
05:19and a detective for the Brooklyn DA's office,
05:22and he did consultant work, which was conveniently
05:26right down the street from where my restaurant is.
05:29So in the day, he could pop by any time.
05:33He pointed out that my cameras were positioned wrong.
05:38And he volunteered to stop by during the week
05:42to look at my camera system, which I thought was amazing, you know?
05:47That's what good people do.
05:51He showed up just to do random things for me.
05:55If it is to just take my car to the car wash,
05:58little things like that to make my life on a daily basis easier.
06:04And then I guess we became friends.
06:08We were going out, maybe a movie here or there
06:11or whatever free time that I had, which I had not much of.
06:15I was seeing a lot more of him.
06:18By somewhere in 2007, we were dating, yeah.
06:23Simona is my dad's sister.
06:26I was close with Auntie Simona.
06:28I used to work at her restaurant with her.
06:31With the family's overall impression of Jerry,
06:34we all kind of looked up to him in a sense
06:37because, you know, he was this guy that worked for the NYPD.
06:40He showed us his gun before.
06:42You know, he's always had it with him, stuff like that.
06:45And then, like, we always thought he was so cool, just a cool guy.
06:48He was just a cool guy the way he talks, walks.
06:52Jerry used to be in the restaurant doing things and whatever.
06:56So, tell her the truth, I was so happy for her.
07:00I said, you know, at least you have somebody to help her around.
07:04He just fit himself right there.
07:07As far as my family goes,
07:10I think they were worried about me as me being alone.
07:13And for my safety, I was out and about late at night.
07:19It's a cash business.
07:21And they saw him as this cop
07:25that he was the one to protect me in a way.
07:31I didn't really introduce Kiara to him at all.
07:36Because he was around the restaurant.
07:38Jerry was there so much.
07:40And Kiara never really questioned anything about him.
07:46Although, I sensed that she didn't care for him very much.
07:54Jerry's mother was living with him.
07:56So, Jerry started to spend a lot of time at my house.
08:01First, it would start as getting me home safe.
08:04But then, he would stay over.
08:07Timing was convenient as well.
08:10I think he was probably the only person, you know,
08:13I could talk to about my dad.
08:17Because my dad passed the way he passed.
08:22It's not easy...
08:28to have that conversation with family.
08:32I knew I was angry all the time.
08:37Because I didn't understand
08:39that my dad would do something like that.
08:45And there weren't anybody to talk to except for him.
08:51It was one of the reasons why we became so close.
08:57While I was working at the restaurant,
09:00this phone call came in just around the middle of the day.
09:05I had like a little office in the basement at a restaurant.
09:08I took the call.
09:10This girl, she asked me if I'm such and such.
09:13And I said, yes.
09:15And she said, well, you know,
09:17I don't know if you're a good cook or not.
09:20And I said, no, I'm not a good cook.
09:23And she said, are you such and such?
09:25And I said, yes.
09:27And she said, well, I have something to tell you.
09:30Are you sitting down?
09:33And I was like, oh, okay.
09:35She said, you're not going to like what I'm going to tell you.
09:39Jerry's been lying to you.
09:41She said that she was married to him.
09:44And she had two kids.
09:50I'm so confused. I'm like, oh, my God.
09:53I did ask her about what he did for a living.
09:56And she said, oh, well, let me guess.
09:58Is he telling you that he's a detective or he's a cop?
10:01And I'm like, yes, both.
10:03So which one is he?
10:05And she says, none.
10:08If you guys are married, where do you live and where does he live?
10:12Because he's spent a lot of time at my house,
10:15even when I'm not there sometimes.
10:17And she said, I live in Brooklyn.
10:19He does live mostly at his mother's house.
10:25So quite a earful I got from her
10:27to confirm that he was definitely lying.
10:31What's going on in my mind at that time is that,
10:36how are you so stupid?
10:40I should have known.
10:44When I did actually finally calm down,
10:47I went back upstairs to the restaurant.
10:51I got a phone call from your wife.
10:55Cherry said, oh, don't believe a thing she says.
11:00And I'm like, okay, is she or is she not your wife?
11:04Like, it's that simple.
11:06Oh, well, no, but yes.
11:10And then he says that they were still married
11:13because she had to get a green card.
11:18And I said, okay, fine.
11:20People need to get their green card.
11:22You have to stay married a certain amount of times.
11:24I get it.
11:25But you have two children with this woman.
11:28Even when I confronted him about how I knew
11:31that he's really not a cop and he's really not a detective,
11:36he tried to spin it
11:38to make it seem like it's not really what it is.
11:43I made it clear to him that it's over between us
11:47and I don't have any hard feelings.
11:50I thought that was it.
11:59I have to ask, why do you want to be anonymous today?
12:03Well, basically, you know, I don't want anyone to think
12:07I was associated with this lowlife, Jerry.
12:11But I feel that, you know, everyone has a right
12:14to know another part of this story,
12:17and I just wanted to say my part.
12:23When I first met Jerry, we both enjoyed going out,
12:27having drinks, of course, girls, you know,
12:30and we started hanging out and becoming friends.
12:33Jerry was married with two kids, but, you know, on the side,
12:37he would go out, he had this security company,
12:40so he would provide services to these nightclubs, these bars.
12:44He would make it believe he was a ladies' man,
12:47he'd have all these girls here and there.
12:50I never asked questions.
12:52You know, he was the person that would go out,
12:55have drinks, so I don't really care.
12:59The first time I met Simona,
13:01she opened a new restaurant at the time, Golden Cross.
13:05Simona was on a different level than Jerry.
13:09She's a successful woman, she has her own restaurant,
13:12so I guess, you know, that's what drew him to her.
13:16Sometimes he would be, oh, yeah, I want to see my wife,
13:20but other times he'd go hang out with Simona.
13:23I don't even know why Simona would have wasted time
13:26with someone like Jerry, like, sir, this is Jerry.
13:30He would tell me he's an undercover detective,
13:33with a NYPD for years.
13:36Jerry would walk around with a badge in his wallet,
13:40but you would never see the badge,
13:42you would see the imprint of the badge through his wallet.
13:48On one particular occasion,
13:50I had an expired sticker on my plate,
13:53so we were driving and the cops pulled me over.
13:58While I was talking to the cop,
14:00Jerry was talking to the cop on the passenger side,
14:03and he showed his wallet with a shield hidden,
14:07and the boat cop's like, okay, have a good day,
14:11without going further into, like,
14:13asking me for a driver's license or anything.
14:16Every time he would see cops, he would talk to them like he knew them.
14:24Jerry knew everybody.
14:26I've heard him on the phone multiple times,
14:29talking to other people at the DA's office in Brooklyn.
14:33Other people referred to him as a cop,
14:36or he was paid to be an informant or something.
14:39He did definitely know some people here or there.
14:43However, he's connected to them.
14:46That part I don't know.
14:48I had a fall-out with Jerry, because I couldn't really trust him.
14:52He'd go behind my back and make me look bad in front of people.
14:57He was a sketchy character.
15:08After so many months, I told Jerry that I needed him to return the keys.
15:15It was a Sunday, around 9 o'clock in the morning.
15:18Nobody was in the house.
15:22Jerry shows up at my back door,
15:25asking to talk to me.
15:28I told him through the door. I didn't open the door.
15:31No, I didn't want to talk to him.
15:33I'm tired. I have a headache.
15:36But he obviously did not know how to take no for an answer.
15:44He agreed that he was going to give me the keys,
15:46and I won't have any trouble with him.
15:49And I'm like, all right, that's good.
15:51I'm glad that, you know, we don't have to fight over this.
15:54So I opened the door.
15:59As I turned around, he pushed me face down.
16:06I heard the damn duct tape.
16:09I heard it.
16:11Now I'm angry, and I'm cursing.
16:14Really angry, so I'm getting loud.
16:17And he just put a piece on my mouth.
16:22Then he's trying to plead
16:25that we could still get back together.
16:27You could take all the time you need.
16:30And I saw Jerry's gun is there.
16:34At one point, he was crying.
16:36He was saying that he was going to use the gun on himself.
16:40And in my mind, I'm thinking,
16:42is he going to commit suicide in my house?
16:44Is he going to shoot me and then do something to himself?
16:49And then he picked me up and...
16:58pulled me down the stairs,
17:02through the basement door,
17:05pushed me down on the floor.
17:08I was face down.
17:12And that's when the rape happened.
17:19After the rape, instead of me sitting there crying,
17:25he sat there crying and begged me
17:28not to say anything or report it.
17:35He got up and left.
17:39And I ran upstairs and I locked the door.
17:44And I ran upstairs and I locked the door.
17:48And I ran to the front window
17:52to make sure that I actually see him driving off.
18:01I grabbed the phone. I called the cops.
18:14After I made the 911 call, police showed up.
18:18They took me to the hospital right away.
18:21There was a rape kit done there.
18:25When I found out, I was very shocked.
18:28That's like one of the worst things that could happen to a woman.
18:32And then in the way it happened, he even resorted to using a gun,
18:36a gun that we were all impressed that he had.
18:41Sick.
18:45Jerry was arrested.
18:47God put on a $150,000 bail.
18:50And his mother paid his bail.
18:54And he was released.
19:03When I was assigned the case against Jerry Remerton,
19:06I was working in the Queens District Attorney's Office.
19:09The case came into my office in March of 2009.
19:14And it came in as a forcible rape case.
19:17I brought Simona Sumasar, the complainant, into my office to meet with her.
19:22She was highly composed in her conversation with me.
19:25She was able to compellingly retell the details of what had happened to her.
19:32All the evidence that we had at that point
19:34seemed to support her account as opposed to contradict it.
19:37We had a DNA match between Jerry Remerton
19:40and the swab taken from Ms. Sumasar.
19:44Simona came across very credibly,
19:46so it was a case that I felt very comfortable prosecuting.
19:50The case was presented to the grand jury.
19:53We secured an indictment against the defendant.
19:56And at that point, we were waiting for the trial to launch.
20:02I would get visits from random people that we knew
20:05or mutual friends or some friend of his.
20:08His mother called me.
20:10They were pleading for him, asking me to drop the charges against him.
20:14But I knew he sent them.
20:17It was obvious.
20:19I did get a restraining order.
20:21And then the calls stopped.
20:24I remember Frank, the ADA, calling me,
20:28telling me that by August of 2010,
20:31we should be having some hearings for trial.
20:35I remember thinking, the sooner I get a trial out of this,
20:39the sooner some decision is made, it's going to be over.
20:43There's no way that he's going to go to trial and get off of this.
20:47There's no way.
20:55I think it was a Friday.
20:57I was working at the restaurant.
21:00A friend asked me to prepare a fish dish for him
21:06and drop it off at his work, which was just a few blocks away.
21:12I was pulling up right in front of the school where he worked.
21:17As I'm pulling up, I hear sirens.
21:25Of course, I didn't think it was for me, so I thought I was safe.
21:31But it was for me.
21:34I was told to step out of the car.
21:37Did I run a stoplight? Did I signal?
21:41I just stepped out of the car,
21:43because I'm still thinking this is a big mistake.
21:46Let me just do what they want, and handcuffs go on.
21:53They just escorted me to another vehicle,
21:57and they started to drive towards Long Island.
22:05At that point, I'm like, why are we going to Long Island?
22:12And they were like, when we get there, you'll understand.
22:17I get to the precinct.
22:20I was in the interrogation room with Detective Charles and Detective Neal.
22:27Do I have anything to confess? Do I have anything to say?
22:31And I said, no.
22:33Like, clearly, you made a mistake. I shouldn't be here.
22:38They're like, if I tell them now, it's going to be much easier later on.
22:44Did you think that I did something?
22:47Because I didn't do anything, so I'm not thinking like that.
22:49You know exactly what you did.
22:52I was pleading to her, like, why can't you people just tell me
22:55what it is that you think I did, so I could say yes or no.
22:59But nothing.
23:04For hours it went by.
23:06At one point, Detective Charles brought a file,
23:10and it was Jerry's picture in it.
23:13And I asked, does this have something to do with Jerry?
23:16If you think I did something, then he's behind it. I didn't do it.
23:20And she brushed that off like, no, this has nothing to do with him.
23:29I worked for the New York City Police Department
23:32in the division of the Police Impersonations Unit.
23:36I was working two crimes that happened in Queens
23:40within the NYPD jurisdiction.
23:43The cases were police impersonation robbery cases.
23:48Victims were given the description as one female committing these crimes.
23:55We received a call from Nassau County.
23:58They had a pattern similar to our pattern in Queens.
24:02I was told, we just arrested this person.
24:07And we believe that this is the same perpetrator
24:10that the NYPD was looking for.
24:14When I went to the 4th Precinct in Nassau County,
24:18Detective Charles showed me a photo array.
24:21She said the complainant picked her out.
24:24I asked Detective Charles, do you want to come inside with me?
24:28She says, no, I don't need to. I said, okay.
24:31So I went there myself.
24:34During the interrogation, I had no idea
24:38what it is that I was being accused and charged with.
24:42By the time Marissa came, it was late.
24:47And I was worn out.
24:49Like, I was done. I didn't know what else to say.
24:54I could see that she was crying.
24:57I explained to her, look, I don't know what's going on.
25:02I explained to her the two crimes that happened in Queens.
25:06Marissa, she told me about an incident
25:09that happened seven months ago or something like that.
25:12Impersonation of a cop and robbery at gunpoint.
25:17That's the two things that stuck out to me.
25:19What I'm thinking at that point is impersonating a cop,
25:23that's just like Jerry.
25:26So I figured Jerry's obviously behind this.
25:31And she starts to tell me about this person named Jerry
25:36and that she was raped.
25:39And she said, I'm here because my ex is setting me up
25:46because she was going to trial for the rape.
25:50That's not what I expected.
25:52From what I could see and how Simona was acting,
25:56and of course what Simona was telling me,
25:59Simona was not being heard.
26:01And plus, the woman was raped, and I believe her.
26:05And I remember how she held my arm and she kept saying,
26:09please don't leave me here.
26:11That's stuck with me until today.
26:14I still can't.
26:16It's still very...
26:23There's nothing we could do. It's not our case.
26:26This is Nassau County.
26:28When Detective Charles took me out of the room,
26:31I said, what's going to happen to her?
26:33There's a lot of information here that needs to be investigated.
26:37I could feel by the way Simona described the cases
26:41that supposedly she was supposed to be part of in Nassau County
26:47that she didn't know what she was talking about.
26:49She just didn't know how to do...
26:51She didn't know how to do a robbery.
26:53She didn't know how to stop a car.
26:56I was sure that she would be let free
26:59if she did not do the crime in Nassau County.
27:02But I knew she definitely did not do the crime in Queens.
27:15I can't even remember in between how I got from point A to point B,
27:19from the prison to the courthouse.
27:23But it was that same very morning, a few hours later.
27:30I was sure when I saw the judge,
27:32they're going to realize they really don't have anything
27:34and they have no choice other than to let me go home.
27:37And then the next thing I remember, I'm being read charges.
27:43In my mind, I'm like, is this some type of joke?
27:48Now that you're telling me what I did,
27:50I know I absolutely didn't do that.
27:52None of that even happened.
27:55And then the next thing you know,
27:57I'm being transported to Nassau County Correctional Facility.
28:07I was at the store working.
28:09My cousin comes up to me and he's crying.
28:12All he keeps saying is, Auntie Simone, Auntie Simone.
28:14So I'm like, what happened?
28:17He was like, she was locked up.
28:20We closed the store and we left.
28:24Nobody know what was going on.
28:26All we know is they have her for armed robbery, armed robbery.
28:32You got to be kidding me.
28:35I was like, what the hell?
28:38Kiara, I talked on the phone on the very first day.
28:42I tried to give Kiara some hope because she's a child.
28:46Bear with me. I'm not going to be home for a couple of days.
28:49No matter what, just listen to your grandmother and your aunt,
28:53and that's it.
29:01I became involved in Simone's case at the request of a colleague
29:06who knew me from representing people
29:09who were arrested and convicted for crimes they had not committed.
29:15Simone was arrested on two separate felony complaints.
29:19She faced catastrophic jail time.
29:23I mean, her exposure was immense.
29:25These two armed robberies carried 16 separate felonies
29:30with a maximum exposure of up to 50 years in jail.
29:34Simone's bail was set at a million dollars.
29:39At that point in time, the court was well aware
29:42that Simone could not make that bail, unfortunately.
29:45But it was a very serious charge, and it reflected that.
29:53All I thought about at the time,
29:56I keep on playing over and over again,
29:59is that you could rape somebody and get away with $150,000 bail,
30:05but I'm sitting here and I didn't do anything.
30:10And I can't go home.
30:16Simone immediately professed that she was innocent of any of these crimes
30:21and that she was convinced that Jerry was behind this
30:25and was attempting to frame her,
30:27to discredit her from his upcoming rape trial in Queens, New York.
30:34As soon as I received the phone call,
30:36and I learned what the allegations were,
30:38I immediately thought, this is a little surprising.
30:40It didn't compute, it didn't match what I had known of Simone,
30:45which made me very concerned for the viability of my prosecution.
30:49At that point, the rape case was ready for trial,
30:52but the jury in the rape case
30:54could be interpreting her credibility in a very different light
30:57as someone who was convicted of those robberies,
30:59which could be devastating to our ability to get a conviction in this case.
31:03And so the rape case was kind of in a standstill
31:06while that case played out.
31:12I'd like to say that I always believe my clients,
31:16but, you know, what's so important is to get down to the facts.
31:22On September 15th, there was a call by an individual
31:28by the name of Ramjeev,
31:30and he claimed that he was stopped randomly,
31:35robbed at gunpoint by a dark female,
31:39gold shield around her neck,
31:41and also brandishing a black handgun.
31:45It was investigated by New York PD,
31:47and then the case was dropped.
31:51And then on March 2nd, 1.30 in the morning,
31:55Terrell Lavelle claimed that he was stopped randomly
31:59by a dark Indian woman,
32:02approximately five feet, gold shield around her neck,
32:06holding a black semi-automatic gun,
32:10handcuffed him, steals $100 U.S. cash,
32:15removes his Movado watch, a pinky ring.
32:19Terrell was able to give a partial plate number of a Jeep.
32:28On May 19th, 2010, Luz Johnson called 911
32:34and reported a similar gunpoint robbery in Inwood, New York.
32:41She also stated that this was executed by a dark,
32:45shield-wearing Indian woman.
32:50Luz Johnson did not report any organization
32:53that was involved in the incident.
32:57But she did report that she was caught
32:59in the act of robbing a woman with a gun.
33:04Luz Johnson was charged with a crime of robbery
33:08was executed by a dark-skinned Indian woman brandishing
33:13a black handgun with a bulletproof vest, a gold shield.
33:18The thief steals allegedly $1,400 from her purse.
33:25In this case, Luz Johnson was able to give
33:28the full plate number, and the police
33:32linked the car back to Simona.
33:35And they had conducted a photo array of Simona Sumasor.
33:41And Simona was identified by both Terrell
33:45Lavelle and Luz Johnson, resulting in her arrest.
33:52Now, according to Luz Johnson, she
33:56called 911 at 1.30 AM on May 19 in Inwood, New York.
34:04But the problem with her account
34:06is that Simona's over 100 miles away
34:10at the time of the robbery.
34:13She was at the Mohegan Sun.
34:16So it would be physically impossible for her
34:20to have committed this robbery.
34:231 o'clock in the morning, if it's really May 19,
34:26I was in the casino.
34:27I could prove this easily.
34:29I made phone calls from up there.
34:32Anything you do on a gambling table is recorded.
34:36They have those footage.
34:37I know enough to know that.
34:40Between the surveillance footage placing her
34:43at the Mohegan Sun and, you know, if you make a call,
34:47you're going to ping off of cell towers,
34:49was just an ironclad alibi that presented a host of problems
34:55for the prosecution.
35:03Simona testified in the grand jury under oath.
35:07Not only was the alibi presented,
35:10proof of the alibi, described that she
35:13was at the Mohegan Sun, this was her,
35:16and that, you know, she was with relatives
35:18and arrived back at her place of business at 3 in the morning.
35:21She couldn't have done this.
35:24But in court, I heard that the picture wasn't clear enough.
35:27It was grainy.
35:29So that didn't really help me.
35:32And then, even the cell tower actually picked up the calls
35:37that I made to Kiara.
35:38Apparently, anybody could have had my phone in Connecticut
35:42while I'm in New York.
35:44So that didn't help me either.
35:48They had enough evidence, I guess, to put me in trial.
35:53This is when I really started to panic.
35:58I'm absolutely freaking out because I
36:01am trying to figure out if they have all these things,
36:05they concocted all this falsified stuff,
36:10what is going to be my defense?
36:15A month goes by.
36:17I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to do.
36:19I don't know what I'm going to do.
36:20I don't know what I'm going to do.
36:22A month goes by.
36:24Two months goes by.
36:26The strip down, the pat downs.
36:29Every day seemed like a lifetime when
36:32you're in a place like that.
36:35I'm repeating myself over and over.
36:37This is all Jerry's doing, and blah, blah, blah.
36:40It doesn't help.
36:41It doesn't help because nobody is looking into him.
36:46Simona testified before the grand jury.
36:48She was being set up by Jerry.
36:51So all you have to do is cross-reference phone
36:54records of Luz Johnson, Terrell Lavelle, and Jerry
36:58Ramertan for the cases in Nassau County
37:02to at least be able to verify if there was any contact
37:05and these people know each other.
37:11I wrote a letter to the DA and adamantly
37:14argued that I should be entitled to one
37:16year's worth of phone records between Johnson,
37:21Lavelle, and Jerry.
37:25However, in this particular case, that was denied.
37:30And I was nervous about the reality
37:33that I was not receiving any discovery
37:36to link Jerry to any of these other individuals, which
37:40was the core of Simona's defense.
37:43And without that, it was trouble.
37:54One time, I was looking at the news.
37:57Saw that Simona was locked up in Nassau County.
38:01I was like, oh my god.
38:02This guy's plan actually went through and people
38:05actually believe his bullshit?
38:14One day, Jerry messaged me and he was like,
38:18we have to hang out.
38:19We have to catch up.
38:22Jerry did mention that Simona found out
38:25about his wife and kids.
38:28At the time, Jerry did say he was trying
38:30to get back with his wife and Simona
38:31was going to call child services to mess that up.
38:36To be honest, I didn't think that would be something
38:38that she would do.
38:44Then he went on to say, I need you to do me a big favor.
38:48I need you to go to cops and tell them
38:50that Simona pulled you over and she came up to your car
38:55with a gun and a badge.
38:58At that moment, I'm like, wait a minute.
38:59Is he really serious?
39:01Like, I'm not going to do something like that.
39:04He didn't want to take no for an answer.
39:07I was like, oh my god.
39:08What the hell's wrong with this guy?
39:09Hey.
39:12After that, we went to meet a friend of his, Ranjeev.
39:17I overheard him saying something about the plan
39:21to frame Simona.
39:23That's when I kind of realized everything was real.
39:29Like, this guy is really crazy.
39:31So that kind of spooked me and that's
39:34what kind of like made me stay away from Jerry after that.
39:39He's like someone you don't want to mess with.
39:43You don't want to be in their bad side.
39:55We honestly thought she wasn't going to get out.
39:58Because of the way everything was stacked against her,
40:02we just felt like there was nothing we could
40:04do to prove her innocence.
40:06The story didn't last, I would say,
40:07maybe less than a month after Simona was arrested.
40:12We just didn't know what to do because she handled everything.
40:17I lost everything I worked for, every single thing.
40:24When I found out that the house was going to go into foreclosure,
40:28I was angry.
40:30It was always going to be mine, I guess,
40:33or in the family type of thing.
40:35Because that house is the house I came into this country
40:39and I lived in.
40:45When Simona was in jail, you see
40:48Kiara looking with sad eyes.
40:51So we would tell her, your mom is OK.
40:54She's going to be out soon.
40:57But she looked so depressed.
41:00You could see it in her face.
41:03But I did not give up hope.
41:05I did not give up hope.
41:06I said she didn't do it.
41:08One day she will get out of there.
41:10One day, one day, somebody's going to prove her innocence.
41:18So five months after Simona was arrested and was jailed,
41:23I went out with my friends to a bar in Queens.
41:27And Ranjeev, one of the witnesses that Cherry paid off,
41:32he walked into the bar.
41:34I greeted Ranjeev.
41:35I'm like, hi, how are you doing?
41:36You remember me?
41:39And then he was talking to me.
41:40And I'm like, listen, I know what you did.
41:44You said that Simona robbed you, which we know is a lie.
41:48You need to tell the truth.
41:50And if you don't tell the truth, I'm
41:52going to go to the DA and tell the truth myself.
41:57So he's like, oh, yeah, I feel bad about it.
42:01I want to tell him the truth too.
42:03I'll call you, and we'll take care of it.
42:06Instead of him calling me, Ranjeev called the cops.
42:13And then a couple of days later, the cops called me.
42:18I went to the precinct.
42:19I met with Internal Affairs.
42:23I told them that Cherry was the mastermind behind this.
42:26Simona didn't do anything.
42:28She was innocent.
42:29And Cherry paid off witnesses to lie
42:33and say that she robbed them.
42:35The detective did not believe me.
42:39He told me, no, Simona was guilty.
42:42Cherry has nothing to do with it.
42:44And I was working alongside Simona.
42:47And I was threatening the witnesses.
42:52The detective threw the handcuff on me
42:55and takes me to jail.
42:59It took a while, but eventually we
43:01learned that Ranjeev reported the conversation to Cherry.
43:05Cherry then had Ranjeev Mohanlal file a police report stating
43:11that somebody had tampered with him,
43:12and he had the informant arrested
43:14for tampering with a witness.
43:18Well, when I saw the charges, I was like, oh, my god.
43:22They're actually charging me with a felony
43:24for something I didn't do.
43:32At that point, I was trying to defend myself.
43:35I had to hire a lawyer.
43:37Financially, it was raining.
43:38I lost time out of my job.
43:41Emotionally, I was, like, depressed.
43:44And I was angry.
43:47I just had to get these charges dropped.
43:53I just had to get out of jail.
44:03The last time I went to see Simona,
44:06it seems like she had lost hope too.
44:09She just didn't know what to do, what to say.
44:11It was just weird.
44:12It was mostly silence.
44:16It took a lot of energy just to be there, to have a visit.
44:22I got sick.
44:24I couldn't eat.
44:26I lost a lot of weight.
44:29My skin was breaking out.
44:30My hair was coming out in clones.
44:33I had air infections.
44:35Everything was just spiraling down, one by one.
44:40It was hard because he, Jerry, took everything,
44:45everything away from me.
44:46I lost everything.
44:49And even seven months of being with my child.
45:01In December of 2010, Sophia Lewis
45:05walked into the NASCAR DA's office
45:07and asked to speak to somebody about Simona's case.
45:12Could you tell us, first of all, how did you come to know Jerry
45:15Robertson?
45:16I met him in a nightclub in Queens.
45:20After you met him, you developed a relationship with him?
45:23Yes.
45:24OK.
45:25As a fantasy, you became boyfriend and girlfriend?
45:26Yes.
45:27OK.
45:29Did you hear anything about something
45:31that Jerry wanted to do?
45:33He said that he wanted to set his ex up because she
45:37had threatened to set him up.
45:38So he was going to get her first before she sets him up.
45:43She brought to light the fact that there
45:45had been a robbery and that it had all been staged.
45:48And who was that person that got to do it?
45:50He told me it was his cousin, Rajiv.
45:53What happened?
45:54He said, this is how it's going to go down.
45:56And you're going to say that, you know, this person robbed
45:58him or whatever.
45:59Jerry drove Rajiv around.
46:01And Sophia Lewis was in the car with him at this time.
46:06Jerry asked Rajiv to help him stage a robbery
46:11against an ex-girlfriend.
46:12Jerry pulled out his handgun.
46:14Put it on his lap and told Rajiv that, you know,
46:17something could happen to his family
46:18if he didn't help Jerry out.
46:20I think Rajiv took it seriously.
46:23Did you remember anything else that he said to Rajiv
46:25about this at all?
46:26He said before how it was all going to go down.
46:30He was going to have people in Queens to say they got robbed.
46:33And the last place that he would want to pick her up
46:36would be Nassau County, because their rules are a little bit
46:38stricter than Queens.
46:40Now, what about Terrell Lovell and Loz Johnson?
46:44Do you know those two individuals?
46:45Yes.
46:47Jerry offered Terrell Lovell and Loz Johnson $20,000
46:51to cooperate with him and stage this robbery.
46:54They were never paid the money.
46:57As the details of what had happened became clear,
47:00I was stunned at the machinations
47:02that Jerry had gone through in order to try to derail
47:06the rape prosecution.
47:08In the first stage robbery, very cleverly,
47:10there was no license plate given.
47:12It sounds very reasonable.
47:14Rajiv was scared.
47:15He doesn't get a license plate.
47:17And then this incident in Nassau with Terrell Lovell.
47:24You get a partial license plate.
47:26By the time of the third incident,
47:27we were much closer to trial.
47:29And I think Jerry knew that, you know, he had to close the loop.
47:34And so when the fake robbery that was staged with Loz Johnson
47:38occurred, you get the full license plate.
47:42And there's no way that the police couldn't put two and two
47:45together and end up with Simona.
47:48And so it was actually really devious and incredibly clever
47:52on Jerry's part.
47:56Jerry, at various points, had been a confidential informant
47:59for a number of different units within the NYPD.
48:01He knew how the police operated.
48:03He knew how the detectives operated.
48:05And he was able to leverage that knowledge
48:07to make these accusations look better than they were.
48:11Did Jerry ever say anything else to you
48:13about these false robberies?
48:15No, because after the first two, I told him
48:17I didn't want to know anything else.
48:19But he didn't.
48:20I told him I don't want to know anything.
48:22Don't tell me anything.
48:23I want to know what you're doing.
48:26And he was pissed off about that.
48:29Sophia Lewis was becoming increasingly fed up
48:33with his behavior.
48:34And she deserves a lot of credit for trying
48:36to do the right thing.
48:47I get called down that I have a visitor.
48:51I thought that somebody was coming there to tell me
48:54something terrible happened because no family member
49:01were scheduled to visit me.
49:04But it ended up being Tony.
49:06And he came with good news.
49:09And he told me I was going to be released.
49:14You know, here we are preparing for the trial of a lifetime.
49:18And all the charges are being dropped.
49:21It's, oh, my god, thank you that the truth has finally come out.
49:26I had never had so much energy in my life.
49:29I had never had so much energy in my life.
49:32Jumping up and down for joy.
49:35He had Chiara there.
49:37So I got to see her right away.
49:39I didn't have to wait.
49:42If she wasn't as strong as she was
49:46throughout the entire seven months,
49:50I don't think I would have made it.
49:55So yeah.
49:57Can't think of a better day.
50:03The first time we saw Simona was really emotional.
50:06It was a lot of crying.
50:08We just wanted to celebrate everything.
50:10We just wanted to make a big deal.
50:12If she was going to go eat a meal,
50:14we wanted to make it a big deal.
50:16It was great.
50:20She was framed.
50:22A long-haired woman spent months in jail for a crime
50:24she did not commit.
50:25And now police are finally admitting
50:26that she was set up by her ex-boyfriend.
50:32Once the conspiracy unraveled, the first thing to do
50:36is build a case against Jerry.
50:38We were able to flip the three co-conspirators, Rajiv
50:41Mohanlal, Terrell Lavelle, and Les Johnson,
50:44and use them as witnesses to testify against Jerry.
50:49They gave statements that there were, in fact, no robberies,
50:53that Jerry had coached them, that Jerry had shown
50:57them photographs of Simona so that they could identify her,
51:00that Jerry had provided them plate numbers,
51:04and they sang like canaries, and the gig was up.
51:11As the case was moving towards trial,
51:14the defense provided to us an informant who knew Jerry
51:18and who also knew Rajiv.
51:21When Frank asked me to testify, automatically, I
51:24knew my case would have been dropped.
51:26So I started, like, jumping up for joy.
51:30I felt like I hit the lottery.
51:31You know, that's how happy I was.
51:34What Jerry did was wrong, and he needs to pay.
51:37He needs to face justice.
51:40That was my closure to move forward.
51:44The evidence of the conspiracy, by the time we went to trial,
51:46was overwhelming.
51:47We had each of the co-conspirators testifying
51:50for the prosecution.
51:51We had his ex-girlfriend, Safiya Lewis,
51:54getting onto the witness stand, testifying against Jerry.
51:57The conspiracy case and the rape case
51:59were joined as one indictment.
52:02And that was primarily because, in order
52:04to tell the story of the conspiracy,
52:07the rape was necessary.
52:08The rape was the motivating factor for Jerry conspiring
52:13to bring false charges against Simona.
52:15Simona was superb on the witness stand.
52:18She was as compelling as any single witness I have ever
52:22seen testify in a court of law.
52:25During her testimony, jurors were crying.
52:28You could hear a pin drop.
52:30She gave a chillingly detailed account
52:34of what happened with her and the defendant.
52:37At the end of this case, the jury
52:40came back with a verdict.
52:41The evidence showed him to be a violent rapist, an evil
52:47and convictive schemer, a sinister manipulator,
52:51a diabolical conniver.
52:53And he deserves no mercy from me.
52:57And he won't get it.
52:59Jerry was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
53:03And he was sentenced to life in prison.
53:06He was sentenced to life in prison.
53:08He won't get it.
53:09Jerry was sentenced to 25 years, which
53:12was the maximum on the rape, plus seven years
53:15consecutive for the conspiracy for a total of 32
53:18years of incarceration.
53:23After he was convicted, he made a rant
53:26as to how the true story was still going to come out.
53:29It's fine.
53:31You know, whatever has to happen today has to happen.
53:33I just know we're done and over.
53:35I've maintained my innocence, and there's more to come.
53:38It's not done.
53:41How evil someone can be to do something like this.
53:47She has a kid, and she was in jail for so long.
53:52And he was out there, like, having time of his life.
53:57Well, that's evil.
53:59Just pure evil.
54:01When I found out that he was found guilty, to me,
54:04it's like, I told you so.
54:06Like, I was more angry about it.
54:08You know what I mean?
54:09Like, why couldn't anybody listen to me?
54:11Why did it have to take seven months for us
54:13to go through this?
54:14You know, for me, like, I knew it all along.
54:20So I decide to pursue a case against Detective
54:24Charles in Nassau County.
54:28When Simona was arrested and interrogated,
54:32Detective Charles had a folder with information
54:36about Jerry in it.
54:39How did they have Jerry's folder on their desk
54:43if they didn't really believe he was somehow involved with this?
54:48So they knew at the time that they were interrogating him,
54:54they knew at the date of her arrest
54:58that Jerry may have been involved in these cases.
55:01That is probably the only time in my career
55:08that I've ever seen anything like that.
55:16In my professional opinion, the prosecutors
55:20were asleep at the wheel.
55:22The detectives were bumbling buffoons as well as,
55:27unfortunately, dishonest.
55:30They knew that Jerry was an informant with the NYPD.
55:33They knew that Jerry purported to many, many people
55:38that he was in law enforcement when he wasn't.
55:41Detectives knew you could absolutely not trust a word
55:45that came out of his mouth.
55:47He would tell you with a straight face,
55:49it's Sunday when it was Monday.
55:52And failure to really investigate him and look
55:57into this further was just pure malfeasance.
56:00I never said, oh, I wanted X amount.
56:20I never relayed that to anybody else,
56:22or I deserve that amount.
56:24I just wanted to win, I think.
56:27Admit that you all were way out of line and wrong,
56:31because I didn't want to have to go to testify,
56:33have Kiara go to testify.
56:35Any settlement they probably would have gave me,
56:38I probably would have just said yes to, just for it to be over.
56:43So yes, that was a relief, and I couldn't have
56:46asked for a better outcome.