Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – Tenfold

By starrymag | November 21, 2024

By: Kaylyn Bell

 

 

Wallen Sipes (Ciara Monique) gets ready to go out, and her mom (Tarra Riggs) asks if she’ll be out late because she doesn’t want to spend all night worrying. She assures her mom she’ll be fine. Wallen arrives at a popular corner where other escorts ask her about her pimp, but she informs them she doesn’t have one. The other girls are picked up, so she’s left with Jade (Faith Marie Rodriguez). Wallen asks if she’s okay because she notices bruises on her face. Jade tells her it’s because she’s not a good earner, so Wallen offers her money so she can clock out early. Later that night Wallen is walking when she is choked from behind.

Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is heading out when she passes Bruno (Kevin Kane) and Fin (Ice-T) still working, and she tells them to go home too. Fin asks if he wants to get a beer, but as they head out Bruno gets a call.

An officer on scene informs Bruno and Fin that the victim is a sex worker and they found Bruno’s card in her purse, so they called him. Bruno immediately recognizes her, which surprises her. He gives her his coat and she tells him she thinks she was raped and starts crying in his arms.

The next morning Benson is meditating when Carisi (Peter Scanavino) barges in saying he needs to talk to her. He says he saw the pedophile, Timothy Cottle (Ari Brand), who checked out his daughter a couple weeks ago, again around girls. She asks if he looked him up and he tells her he’s a substitute teacher at an elementary school. Benson asks what he wants her to do and he asks her to come with him to talk to the school. Benson says she’s already overloaded with work and schools have mandatory reporting. He pleads that if he finds out Cottle hurts a kid that he’d never be able to forgive himself, so she agrees to help.

At the hospital the doctor (Erin Quill) informs Fin and Bruno that the initial assessment shows clear signs of sexual assault. She tells them Wallen is refusing a rape kit, explaining she doesn’t want the system involved. Wallen tries to leave, but they catch up with her. Fin asks if she’s still in sex work and she lies saying she’s not. She says she needs to go because her mom called her and points out she’s been raped before. They tell her they solved her case before and they want to solve this one too, so she reluctantly agrees to a rape kit.

Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) and Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) arrive, explaining Benson sent them for backup. Fin asks them to look for cameras or physical evidence and Bruno adds to specifically look for ligature and drag marks. Fin explains to Curry that Wallen was the first case he ever worked with Bruno, and she points out that they must have done something right because she seems to trust them.

Silva and Curry investigate the attack site. There are no cameras, but Silva does find a broken heel under a car. Curry notes the drag marks lead from the sidewalk to the road and then notices that the car is electric, which means it has cameras.

Carisi and Benson exit the school. They were told there’s nothing substantial, but Carisi wants to keep investigating. Benson says that without a specific complaint, they can’t do anything. She gets a message from Curry asking for a warrant for the car and she asks him to just focus on this perp and get them the warrant.

The squad reconvenes in the precinct. Benson tells them they haven’t gotten the warrant yet because the car was reported missing in Jersey, but that Carisi is working on it. Curry informs them that the cameras are motion activated, so once they have the footage, they should know what happened. Benson asks how, 24 hours later, Wallen is still denying working the stroll if they claim she trusts them. Bruno gets the results of the rape kit, which will make what she’s saying hard to deny because there were three distinct semen samples found.

Bruno and Fin meet Wallen for breakfast. They tell her they know she is back in sex work, but no one is judging. She admits she had enough customers that night to pay for classes to get her GED and half her mom’s rent. Bruno asks if she saw the man’s face and she says no because he came from behind and dragged her until she passed out. She adds that there was a guy earlier in the night who got rough when she refused to do something and she fought him off before he drove away. They suspect it could be the same guy and she’s able to describe him as a Spanish man who asked for Jade. She explains that Jade is one of his regulars, but she gave Jade money to let her go home early.

Fin and Bruno knock on Jade’s door and a man answers. They tell him they got a report about a domestic and that it is a mandatory follow-up for his parole officer, and it gets them inside. They tell Jade that Wallen was attacked and describe the man they’re looking for. She says his name is Miguel and he drives an old patched-up car.

Benson asks the squad what they know about the timeline. Fin says it only takes 5 minutes to get to the stroll from the bridge, so it’s likely he came from there. They analyzed the cars stuck in traffic on the bridge during the time surrounding the assault, identifying all vehicles registered to Miguel matching the description. He continues that from this list they were able to narrow it down to Miguel Rivera (Miguel Cervantes).

Carisi tells Benson that his investigators went to the Board of Education’s HR department and asked about Cottle. He says they found a complaint about him on file from a girl’s mother saying she got “ick vibes” from him. He continues that HR said the claim was unsubstantiated, but they removed Cottle from the school. Benson reminds him he’s talking about predictive policing and that people must be viewed as innocent until proven guilty.

Fin and Bruno meet with Wallen to show her a lineup so she can identify Miguel as the guy she got in the car with. She asks what happens if she does, and Bruno says they’ll arrest him and go to court. She opposes that, explaining she’d have to move, and doubts they’ll catch him. Bruno reminds her that they did a good job last time, and she reluctantly identifies Miguel. Bruno gets a notification that they’ve acquired the car’s footage, and they ask her to come to the station. She’s worried she’ll be arrested for prostitution there, but they ensure that Benson and their squad is there to help.

Benson welcomes Wallen to the station and assures her they take every case seriously. They show her the footage until she asks Benson to turn it off. Benson says she understands it’s difficult and asks if there’s anything in the video that matches Miguel Rivera, since his face is covered. She says his shirt is the same as the man earlier in the night, and it’s missing a button, which she ripped off when fighting him off the first time. Benson instructs them to arrest Miguel.

They arrive at Miguel’s work, and he denies everything. Fin mentions they can just swab his DNA and it’ll match the rape kit, so he confesses to having sex with her. He claims he just paid for that and went home, and that his sister he lives with, Tiana (Stephanie Gomérez), can vouch for him.

Benson instructs Silva and Curry to check traffic cameras and Miguel’s alibi to confirm his story, and to make sure CSU keeps looking for the missing button. They arrive at Tiana’s work and ask about Miguel. She says she knows he’d never hurt a woman because he protected her from their father. They ask what time he came home, and she says midnight.

Benson, Fin, and Bruno meet Carisi as he finishes in court, and he asks for an update about Miguel. They tell him that he’s sticking to his story, and they haven’t found any evidence yet to disprove it. Carisi says he’s only being held for a misdemeanor, so without evidence he’ll be released with a fine.

Benson and Carisi arrive at his office where Cottle is waiting for him. He says Carisi got him fired from his job. Benson says they were just following up, and Cottle questions, “On what…that you think I was staring at your daughter?” Carisi says there’s a difference between looking and intent, and asks Cottle to tell him that he made it all up and there was no intent behind it. Cottle starts crying and admits that he is sexually attracted to young girls, but he swears he’s never acted on it. Benson asks why he’s here, and he says he came to ask for help.

Bruno and Fin inform Wallen that Miguel will only be getting a solicitation charge because his sister alibied him out. She tells them she’s lying, and they say they know, but they can’t prove it. Wallen gets frustrated and leaves. Fin recognizes that Miguel’s MO of dragging with a belt is specific, so it might be worth a canvas of the stroll.

They meet two workers Delphine (Easton Michaels) and Alondra (Jade Radford) on the street and give them money to speak with them. They show them a picture of Miguel and ask if they know him. Delphine says yes because the same thing that happened to Wallen almost happened to her; he came up behind and choked her with his belt, but luckily Alondra stopped him.

Fin and Bruno update the squad that Miguel’s done the same thing to various other sex workers. Only two incidents were reported, one by a citizen that found the girl passed out and one from an anonymous report that named Miguel specifically. None of the victims were willing to cooperate so the investigation hit a dead end, and Bruno adds that Miguel’s sister always alibied him out. Benson tells Curry that they’re going to confront the sister.

At Tiana’s apartment Benson and Curry show her the video of her brother with Wallen and pictures of three other girls he’s harmed. She’s crying now but says they’re lying. Benson tells Tiana that knowing what she knows now, she is just as guilty if she keeps protecting him. Benson walks into the other room with Tiana’s sewing supplies and asks if she recently sewed a button onto one of Miguel’s shirts. She says she did; he said it popped off. Benson tells her that it didn’t, it was ripped off while a woman was defending herself. She asks how many times he’s done this and Benson replies, “You tell us. How many times have you given an alibi for him?”

Bruno and Carisi meet with Miguel and his lawyer. They share their new evidence provided by Tiana. They have images of his shirt, face covering and belt matching the video, all acquired from his apartment. His lawyer defends that thousands of men in the area would own that. Bruno asks how many would own that belt with Wallen’s DNA caught in the buckle.

Benson enters Carisi’s office asking about Miguel. He tells her that he took a plea deal. Benson asks about Cottle next and Carisi says he wants nothing to do with him. Benson reminds him that he told her he couldn’t forgive himself if Cottle harmed a child and now Cottle asked him for help to maybe prevent that, so they’re all on the same side.

Bruno, Fin and Benson wait as Carisi finishes in court. He informs them that Miguel will be getting double digits for the assault on Wallen and with the sister’s testimony the DA’s in the Bronx and Queens are going to reopen the other cases.

Benson and Carisi meet Cottle at the New York Institute of Sexual Health, where they’ve gotten him into a group for sexual behaviour modification. Carisi tells him that therapy and androgen blockers may make a difference, and Cottle thanks them.

Fin and Bruno tell Wallen that Miguel is going to prison, and she doesn’t have to testify. They hear a baby crying, and they ask if she’s ready to tell them the real reason she didn’t want to cooperate initially. She says her son’s name is Freddy, and she was worried about CPS getting involved. Fin congratulates her but reminds her that it’s one thing to protect her son, but it’s another to protect herself. He adds that he knows she’s tough, but everyone’s luck runs out eventually. Bruno encourages her to keep working on her GED and says he’ll find some scholarships for her. She invites them to meet Freddy before they leave.