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PRIMETIME JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

3-year-old Girl Found Locked in Box; Murder Victim`s Husband Stops Talking to Police; Body of Missing Reality TV Star Found; "Pot of Gold" Thief Identified; Knockout Punch Regrets?; Woman Accused of Trying to Scam Toys-For-Tot. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired December 21, 2016 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[20:00:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST (voice-over): It`s the stuff of nightmares.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s like a nightmare, and I wish I`d wake up.

BANFIELD: Being locked in a small plywood box infested with bugs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve seen people treat their animals better.

BANFIELD: But this was no movie. It was a toddler`s living hell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just don`t believe it. My God, who would do this?

BANFIELD: It`s every American`s right to remain silent, but when your wife and baby have been slaughtered, why would you clam up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s very scary.

BANFIELD: Police are asking the same thing in Texas tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Lisa Marie.

BANFIELD: From reality TV to a dark and shallow grave.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to just wake up and (INAUDIBLE)

BANFIELD: A famous bride mysteriously disappears after finding her 15 minutes of fame.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to step out there and say I feel good about me!

BANFIELD: Joe Mixon keeps piling on...

JOE MIXON, OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL PLAYER: She was being disrespectful.

BANFIELD: ... about that big, bad, burly girl...

MIXON: I was kind of shocked because she hit me so hard.

BANFIELD: ... who slapped him before he broke her jaw.

MIXON: It felt like really like a dude hit me.

BANFIELD: She`s 130 pounds. He`s 6-2, 220. So was this a fair fight?

MIXON: (INAUDIBLE) boom. My reaction was (INAUDIBLE)

BANFIELD: And tall, beautiful, and a Wimbledon tennis champ -- how this blond beauty got the best of a violent robber, but what his knife took from

her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.

Just the headline is enough to make anyone angry, a 3-year-old girl found inside a wooden box. Acting on a tip that was never meant to be heard, the

Pulaski County, Indiana, sheriff`s department executed a search warrant at a home in North Judson. Even they were shocked at what they found, a

little girl curled up inside that small plywood box, the lid shut. It was lined with a filthy blanket and a mat. Inside, dead bugs piled up in the

corner.

Officials that little girl was left in the box for extended periods of time. And now nine different adults, including the girl`s father, have

been taken into custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it just breaks your heart. And even the other kids that were in that house -- I mean, you just look at that and think, my God,

how does that happen? And we see that on a regular basis, to be quite, honest, I think. I think you see kids put back into houses that they

should never be in, I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Sheriff Jeff Richwine is with the Pulaski County sheriff`s office, and he joins me from Winnemac (ph), Indiana. Sheriff, thanks so

much for being with me.

This -- I mean, it`s only been described as one of the worst cases of child abuse. I want to get your feeling for what the officers went through as

they made this discovery at this home.

SHERIFF JEFFERY RICHWINE, PULASKI COUNTY (via telephone): Well, it was one of those deals where you go to it thinking, you know, hopefully, this isn`t

true. I think everybody felt the same. And you know, once we made entry into the house and got it all secured and the deputy (INAUDIBLE) you know,

in the area of the box, and she looked in there and looked over at me and said, yes, she`s in here. It`s like, you know, how does this happen? And

why would somebody do this? And so, you know, it`s a mixture of shock and just -- you know, you just don`t believe it until you see it.

BANFIELD: And this is a little 3-year-old girl. So presumably she could articulate some sort of material evidence for you about why she was in

there. What did she say, if anything?

RICHWINE: Well, that`s kind of the sad thing about this, Ashleigh, is that she`s a 3-year-old girl that`s pretty much nonverbal. You know, from what

I`ve understood from the interviews they`ve had with her since then, she knows one word, and it`s "No." I think, physically, she`s all right, but

it`s obvious that, you know, she has some emotional issues, I believe.

BANFIELD: I`ve also learned from some of the affidavits that we`ve been reading that when she was retrieved from that box, she was soaked in urine,

which could only lead us to believe she spent extended periods of time in that box. And yet some of those people who`ve been arrested said that that

was her choice, that she went willingly into the box? Can you explain that?

RICHWINE: Yes, in some of the interviews we had with, you know, some of the folks there at the house, they said that the box would be left open and

that she would willingly go in there. And you know, whether that`s true or not, you know, I don`t know.

[20:05:00]You know, it`s obvious you guys have seen what the box looked like. And it wouldn`t be something I would willingly want to go into.

Now, if it`s something a 3-year-old was playing in would do that, maybe.

But you know, this box was deplorable. It was dirty. It smelled bad. It was dead bugs, you know, that were in it. And the house was that way,

Ashleigh. It was -- you know, it was a mess, you know, dog feces in the basement, cockroaches all over. You know, they were heating the house with

these propane tanks with the little infrared heaters on the top that, you know, if those had been knocked over, I`m sure a fire hazard. You know,

this was a bad place.

BANFIELD: And she was in a wooden box with space heaters all over this. So there`s something else that`s very strange, Sheriff. All of these

people arrested, charged with neglect of a dependent, two of them, and five of them charged with failure to report abuse. When we originally heard a

tip had come in, we thought maybe it was one of these people up on our screen, one of these people who had been charged. And yet it was not. It

was an unintended tip that came from inside a jail.

Can you explain the nature of the tip that led you to this girl?

RICHWINE: It was a prisoner in one of our state prisons. And then, you know, our prisons, I believe -- and we do the same thing in our jail, we

monitor, you know, inmates` phone calls. It was overheard, him talking to some people that they were keeping a small child in a box. And he was

telling them, you know, You got to get this stopped and so on.

And so then a detective with the prisons, you know, then acted on what he heard, and he actually pulls the guy out of the prison and talks to him and

says, Hey, you know, is this true? What`s going on here? And the guy says, yes, I believe that it is.

And so then he put the phone calls on recording and then sent those to, us and we then went and got a search warrant from our prosecutor, and that`s

how we finally got in the house.

BANFIELD: Sheriff, thank God you did, and thank God it wasn`t a moment later.

I want to bring in Frank Jackson. He is the maternal grandfather of this 3-year-old victim. Frank, thank you so much for being with us tonight. I

want to make sure our audience knows your daughter is no longer with us. She took her life, and thus your granddaughter and her father are with a

stepmother now.

But you have not had contact with your granddaughter for almost her entire life, is that true?

FRANK JACKSON, GRANDFATHER: Exactly. Yes, I haven`t seen my 7-year-old grandson. I`ve only seen my granddaughter maybe once or twice. Actually,

I`ve only seen her once since my daughter passed.

BANFIELD: And you`ve also had an inkling that your grandson, the 7-year- old has also been locked away in a room and has also suffered abuse. Where did you get that feeling? Where did you get that information?

JACKSON: I was -- it`s just kind of going through the grapevine. There`s a lot of people talking about it and everything. And it`s just, basically,

I heard it through the grapevine. But it came from four or five different people, saying that he -- whenever he had to use the restroom, he had to do

it on the floor because the bedroom door was locked. He would be locked in the bedroom for multiple hours of the day, like my granddaughter Sarah (ph)

in the box.

BANFIELD: And then this notion of your daughter (sic) -- you had heard from someone that she was given benadryl and put into the box. Where did

you get that information?

JACKSON: I talked to a young girl. She would babysit every now and then, but she wasn`t allowed in the house, but they would let her come up to the

door and receive my granddaughter, and she would proceed to take her home with her. And then whenever they got back or whatever, the little -- the

young lady that was baby-sitting would bring my granddaughter back, but the young lady that was baby-sitting, she gave her a bath, fixed her all up,

fixed her hair up, made her look nice and cute.

And she said -- she told me that when she dropped Sarah off at Chris (ph) and Donna`s (ph) house, that Donna had pulled the bow out of her house,

pulled off all the nice clothes she had on and put her in an old raggedy T- shirt.

BANFIELD: Did you get a chance to call to CPS? Did you -- did you report this to anyone? Did anyone help you to try to rescue your two

grandchildren?

JACKSON: No. No, right after my daughter passed away, after the funeral service and everything, I got with CPS. I can`t remember the exact date,

but it was some time after my daughter had passed.

[20:10:02]I went to CPS and I told them, I said, you know, Chris really needs to be watched with these kids because something -- I just had a

feeling something bad was going to happen. You know, I`ve heard a lot of rumors about him before my daughter passed. And then after my daughter

massed, I heard a lot more rumors. And it just -- some of the stuff I`ve heard, it`s just -- it`s pure evil. I can`t get my head...

BANFIELD: Yes, we`re seeing a picture of, I think, as you mentioned, his name Chris on the screen right now, Sarah`s dad. And I am curious about

her condition now. Do you know anything about how she`s doing? She`s not with you, but she is with Chris`s parents, as I understand.

And I`m going to ask you a double question. Do you know how she`s doing? And will you be able to get custody of those two little children?

JACKSON: Well, I`m working on it. I`m trying to come up with some funds to get a lawyer because I want to fight for her. I want to get her in a

loving home because I believe these kids have been traumatized, and I`m going to need all the help I can get with them. But I`m willing to fight

and do whatever I got to do to get them in my home because where they`re at right now with Chris`s mom and dad, anybody that acknowledges what their

son does and agrees with him and stands by him for some of the things he`s done to the kids -- I don`t think the kids should be with his parents at

all.

BANFIELD: Well, I wish you the best as you try to navigate this extraordinary process, and we certainly wish the best for your little

granddaughter Sarah and your grandson, as well. And I thank you for sharing your story with us, Frank. Thank you very much.

JACKSON: Thank you very much for having me. Appreciate it.

BANFIELD: I want to move to another story we`re following tonight. Two- time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova is recovering after being attacked by a knife-wielding robber in her own apartment, and she fought him like the

champion that she is. Unfortunately, she was cut terribly. Her left hand, all five fingers, were cut in the struggle. She happens to be a left-

handed tennis player. And so under the knife she went, surgery that lasted nearly four hours. She does say that she feels lucky to be alive. Police

right now are searching for her assailant.

Alan Ripka, former prosecutor, Rachel Kugel, defense attorney joining me now.

What a remarkable story that she was able to fight him off. She is six feet and an elite athlete who`s played Wimbledon. So let`s just be clear.

But he`s out there. He`s out there on the loose.

RACHEL KUGEL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He`s out there, and they`ve got to find him. And also, you know,it`s interesting that there have been so many

tennis players that have been subjected to this type of attack in one way or another. It`s almost like a weird tennis curse or something that has...

BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) the Monica Seles video.

ALAN RIPKA, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. Yes, of course. We all remember that. And in this particular case, it seems like, based on the injury,

that she probably grabbed the knife to protect herself, and if she wasn`t able to do it, wasn`t so athletic and strong...

BANFIELD: With her left hand...

RIPKA: ... she may have been stabbed.

BANFIELD: With her left hand, unfortunately. And she is a lefty. The Monica Seles video we were talking about -- you know, Monica back -- gosh,

it was 1993. She was stabbed on the court. Look at this video. She was actually at a match, and a crazed assassin-style person ran onto the court

and tried to, you know, clearly injure her terribly. It took her two years to get back into tennis, and she never really was the same.

But I will say this. I just want to do this. I want to read a Facebook message that Petra Kvitova actually released because I think it`s going to

make people feel a lot better after what she`s been through.

She says, "Thank you for all your heartwarming messages. As you may have already heard, today I was attacked in my apartment by an individual with a

knife. In my attempt to defend myself, I was badly injured on my left hand. I am shaken, but fortunate to be alive. The injury is severe, and I

will need to see specialists. But if you know anything about me, I am strong and I will fight this. Thank you all again for your love and

support. And now I would appreciate some privacy while I focus on my recovery."

He got away with about $200 -- $200 -- and let`s hope he didn`t get away with her career, as well.

After an infant boy and his mom were found dead at home, certainly, there`s a rush for answers. But the person who came home to the crime scene has

just stopped talking. And here`s a hint. He`s in the picture.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:18:16]BANFIELD: Police in Ft. Worth, Texas, are trying to solve a double murder mystery that tore a family apart, but they`re hitting a very

strange wall tonight. A young woman and her 3-month-old baby boy were mysteriously found with their throats slashed. They were at home. They

were both in the same bed together.

Authorities reportedly say the husband has stopped talking to the police and has hired an attorney. And the husband, Chris (ph), was the one who

made the discovery.

Susy Solis is a freelance reporter. She joins me live from Dallas tonight. So what`s the latest on the investigation? And what happened that, all of

a sudden, this husband just stopped talking?

SUSY SOLIS, FREELANCE REPORTER (via telephone): Well, right now, the latest is that the investigation has stalled since Chris Vandewege stopped

cooperating with police. Police last met with him on Monday, and it was at that meeting where Chris Vandewege said that he needed to find an attorney.

And so since then, as you said, he has stopped cooperating with police.

And so the problem with that is that, generally, in these kinds of cases, police always look to the people that are closest to the victim. And they

do that so that they can eliminate these people. But at this point, they can`t eliminate Chris Vandewege as a suspect if he`s not cooperating with

police.

BANFIELD: They can`t eliminate him as a suspect, but let`s be clear. He is not being called a suspect tonight, not at all. But they are very clear

that if he has stopped talking to them, they cannot eliminate him. So he will remain sort of in that unusual limbo.

Elizabeth Rice joins me. She`s a close friend of Shannon (ph) Vandewege. She`s with me live. Elizabeth, do you find it odd that Chris has stopped

talking to the police?

[20:20:05]ELIZABETH RICE, FRIEND OF VICTIM (via telephone): You know, that`s a tough question. I honestly don`t. I think, this day and age,

when you`re involved in something as heinous and horrendous as this, I don`t think it`s out of the ordinary to seek counsel. I mean, this is

uncharted territory for him, for her family, for everyone.

BANFIELD: Have you been able to talk to him at all?

RICE: I have not. I actually -- I never met Craig. Shannon and I have been close friends since 2003. But I moved, and she moved and met Craig

after she moved, and I have never had the pleasure to meet him.

BANFIELD: But Elizabeth, did you ever get any indication that anything was wrong between Shannon and Chris?

RICE: Not at all. Not at all. You know, she -- this was truly the happiest I had never seen her. We talked a few months ago, and Shannon

said she felt like she had lived and experienced more in the last three years since she met Craig than she had lived in her whole life. Her dreams

of a family and happily ever after had finally came true.

BANFIELD: Which makes this even more strange and more mysterious.

Joining me again, Alan Ripka and Rachel Kugel. You know, there`s a reason that you are read something called your Miranda rights -- you have the

right to remain silent -- and that is because anything you say can, will be used against you.

So what Elizabeth just said is really smart. I mean, it doesn`t feel right, but it`s got to be the right thing.

RIPKA: I don`t think it`s the right thing at all.

BANFIELD: Really?

RIPKA: I think when you`re a husband of a woman that`s been killed and your child is gone, all you want to do is help. And you`re going to help

in any way. You`re going to talk about enemies. You`re going to talk about where everybody was and their schedules. Getting a lawyer says one

thing to me. It says that you have something to hide. What statements are you worried about if you didn`t kill your own wife and child?

BANFIELD: I think that`s...

RIPKA: In my opinion.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: ... former prosecutor...

KUGEL: If he called me, I would definitely tell him to remain silent. And if there was going to be any conversation -- and yes, sometimes there does

have to be a balance between -- obviously, I`m sure he wants to find the killer, you know, assuming he had nothing to do with it. But there has to

be a balance between his rights and you know, not being immediately a rush to judgment, which everyone always assumes in these...

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: By the way -- and it`s not a personality thing. It ain`t personal if the police rush to judgment or at least include the closest

family members as people they need to interview. It`s natural.

KUGEL: Well, but...

BANFIELD: It`s natural. It is -- it`s textful (ph).

RIPKA: It`s an investigation. The object is to rule people out. He`s not helping them rule him out...

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: He`s helping himself not get unfairly ruled in.

KUGEL: And remember recently, just the Sherri Papini case, where everyone thought the husband was involved...

BANFIELD: Sherri Papini.

KUGEL: Yes, and then she turns up. You know, and but for a while, everyone was looking...

BANFIELD: And you know what? That story`s not over yet, either. There are a lot of mysterious questions that need to be answered there, as well.

And then there is this other very, very odd story that we`re working on, detectives trying to figure out exactly how and why a nurse who was

starring on a network reality show about brides who want free plastic surgery before their wedding -- well, she ended up missing. And then days

later, she ended up in a place that no one ever wants to find themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a nightmare (INAUDIBLE) a living nightmare. And I just want to just wake up (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:27:50]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a lot of stuff on here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liposuction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, here, all into this area here, here, here, and here, and this area here, here, here. OK, all of this, all of this, all of

this, all into here. You have a little bit of irregularities in here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m a mess!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back here. Back here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I`m part of an Indian tribe!

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That is Lisa Marie Naegle, desperate to get some free plastic surgery and in a TV contest to have the wedding of her dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA MARIE NAEGLE, REALITY SHOW CONTESTANT: My name is Lisa Marie, and this is my fiance, Derek (ph). As a child, I was teased because of acne

breakouts, and it still affects me to this day. So if there can be somebody that can come out of a little genie bottle and wave their little

wand and change (INAUDIBLE), I`d be, like, Yes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, she was famous for 15 minutes but missing for several days. And now the murder of reality TV star, who was found in a shallow

grave, has police asking a lot more questions about why she was killed. Was it her TV status? Was it an affair? Was it a delusional student of

hers?

No answers to any of those questions yet, but some very, very strange details have surfaced from beneath that sinister grave, like the student of

this victim confessing that he did it and reports that he may have used a hammer to carry out the crime -- none of it proven, and again, a lot of

questions.

But that student, Jackie Rogers, was at a party with that married victim. That was the night that she vanished. And the comings and the goings with

her are all caught on surveillance. And that is what led police to him. And that`s what led him to give up the body.

So here`s the big question. Why on earth is he only charged with suspicion of murder?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess he`s saying the motive was, is that he was somehow infatuated or in love with my sister, and -- and my sister didn`t

take notice of his advances and because of that, he became upset and hit her with some blunt object.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:30:10] BANFIELD: Joining me again, Alan Ripka and Rachel Kugel. So, I suppose that question is not going to be answered until somebody officially

puts it in writing. But suspicion of murder?

KUGEL: It might be because officially charging him might require him to get certain hearings faster. You know, it might set into motion certain process

that maybe the investigation is not ready to set into motion.

RIPKA: The fact that once you have an admission and someone says I did it.

KUGEL: And by the way, shows you where the body is.

RIPKA: Where it is and to me, he`s all but charged. Maybe not formally for technical reason, but this guy did it and they got him.

BANFIELD: Yeah, but I mean -- here`s the other thing. You`ve got a charge right now of suspicion of murder with a $2 million bond. And I`m wondering

if he confesses and does all these things. Does this somehow mitigate his charging or it just mitigate what happens after the charge? Or just it

mitigates anything.

KUGEL: I`m not sure it mitigates anything. I think probably the situation right now is they have a sense of what happened to her. But I don`t think

they`ve done a full investigation. I don`t think the medical examiner`s report is back.

And I think that they don`t know exactly how it all happened, they haven`t formally charged him. I`m not sure there is any help for him at this point.

BANFIELD: I`ve got a question. And that is that a lot of people are fans of that show. They are fans of her story line, and they want to know what

would be the motive? Why would someone like a student of hers do this?

Does anybody give a whit about motive at this point or why he might have done this or why he might have confessed now that he has confessed and

showed them where the body is?

RIPKA: You get back to charging of course because if you determine what really happened, it may be murder one or murder two or depraved. He may not

have an intent. It may have happened spontaneously. He may not have ever planned it. And because you need that information to charge him, they have

to do a full investigation.

BANFIELD: (inaudible) if there is ever gonna be.

KUGEL: And I imagine her husband wants to know whether there was actually an affair going on between these two or whether this is the ravings of a

psychopath that believed he was having some kind of a relationship with her when he wasn`t.

BANFIELD: According to a lot of reports, he`s been telling police a lot. We call that singing like a canary in the business. We`ll watch that to see

how that one shakes out. And then we want you to sort of bring back the greatest hit right now. The guy and the Loomis struck. You remember this

one? Loomis armored truck in New York. Back door wide open, no one is there, so hey, why not? Help yourself to that 86-pound bucket of gold

flakes.

Well, now the NYPD has I.D.`d him and now they are asking for your help in finding him. And this is what they know. His name is Julio Nivelo. He`s

also known as David Vargas. I`m not sure why, but he`s got an AKA. He`s 53 years old. He`s a Hispanic male. Police say he`s 5`5", 155 pounds, dark

hair.

And weirdly, since that happened in New York, I say weirdly, he is believed to now be in Los Angeles. That`s a really bizarre heist. You were here on

the set the night we aired that story.

RIPKA: I know. What an opportunist. Not only did he grab it and get away with it, unexpectedly to himself, but now he got away with it.

BANFIELD: How do you suppose we have all this information on who he is, was it the tips that might have come in saying, I know that guy, that`s Dave.

KUGEL: He has been on TV so many times. You know, the reality is you`re on surveillance. I think they say the average person is on surveillance camera

12 times a day or something like that. So, you know, they have video of him. Obviously, he`s got the luck of the Irish.

BANFIELD: Can I just ruminate for a minute on how easy that was? It was exactly like that "Groundhog Day" scene where Bill Murray just times it and

the armored guards, they bend down, and Bill Murray helped himself. And this guy just spot a pot of gold literally on the sidewalk, it`s heavy.

RIPKA: And he doesn`t know what it is.

KUGEL: How do you turn that into a payday? How do you get rid of a pot of gold flakes?

BANFIELD: Well, you know what? Now you`re talking Rachel. Maybe that`s what gave us a name. Maybe he tried to turn in a bunch of gold flakes. And maybe

that`s.

KUGEL: It`s not easy to get rid of that.

RIPKA: Or he wouldn`t share with his friends and someone called the cops.

BANFIELD: If you`re from New York, you know you have to walk everywhere. We call it schlepping. It is the biggest bummer about being in the city. You

got to carry everything and you got to get some pipes. That guy did 86 pounds worth of pipe flexing that day. We`ll find out if he is able to

elude this kind of surveillance being on national television.

You know, we`ve been follow this story, and it`s one that`s not going away. I don`t think it`s gonna go anytime soon. The coed knocked out with one

punch, college football player, a star, probably on his way to the NFL. He`s been doing a lot of unsatisfying explaining about why he did this, and

can I tell you, when I say there`s a growing outcry, it`s an outscream.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

JOE MIXON, AMERICAN FOOTBAL RUNNING BACK FOR THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS: It was just like the fact that me being out of character and putting myself in a

stupid situation.

[20:35:00] I just thought, you know, thinking about the future and everything else. And that`s pretty much it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: If University of Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon thought that a violent incident that left a girl with broken cheekbones and a broken jaw

and a whole lot else, if he thought that was over and he was in the clear, he`s going to really have to think again. Because if you`re new to this

story, I want to catch you up to speed on it.

Mixon delivered an incredibly brutal punch to this girl on the left hand side of your screen. It happened a couple of years ago in an off-campus

eatery. He never served a day in jail. She pushed him. She slapped him. And then he did that. She went down, and it was bad.

Mixon, though, told police in an interview right after that he said it felt as though a dude hit him. Felt like a dude hit him when Amelia Molitor

slapped Mixon.

[20:40:00] So he took a fist of steel, all 220 pounds of him, 6`2", and just laid this woman out. All 130 pounds of her. And in the last 24 hours,

so much has happened, a firestorm. High profile figures from the sports world are stepping in, stepping up, speaking up, screaming in fact, and

some really interesting new details are coming out fast and furious.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

MIXON: When the girl got up and came over there and smoked in my face, I was like you know, what you do that for. I saw no one behind her.

(inaudible). The gay dude, he was like, he was just like, he called me something. He was like (bleep).

And after that, the girl, she dropped her purse. That`s when she came in my face, pushed me, and then my glasses came off, and then, she came in my

face. I put my head down. And she swung on me. I was so shocked, because she hit me so hard. It felt like really like a dude hit me.

JAY GLAZER, SPORTSWRITER AND NFL INSIDER FOR FOX SPORTS: When you put your hands at a woman like that, I don`t care what it is, your privilege will be

stripped.

BOB STOOPS, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY: He was immediately removed from every team activity, the locker room.

GLAZER: Not in any of the violent sports (ph).

STOOPS: Two and a half years later, it`s fair to say it isn`t enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Yeah, that`s why it`s not going away. Everybody is talking about this. And there seems to be more information and a brand new nugget every

couple of hours. So in what you just saw, there were some choice moments. And one of the moments was from Jay Glazer. If you don`t know who Jay

Glazer is, if you`re not big into football, he is what you call a big deal. Okay?

If you are into football, you know that he`s, well, not only is he FOX NFL Sunday sports reporter, he also happens to be a world renowned mixed

martial arts instructor, so he knows a thing or two about violence and toughness and fighting. And when a reporter caught with this very high

profile sports personality, here`s what he had to say about this.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re well connected in the NFL. What are the teams saying about Joe Mixon?

GLAZER: (bleep) him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.

GLAZER: (bleep) that mother (bleep). I`m going. You know how I feel about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, absolutely.

GLAZER: We already talked about that. All right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think.

GLAZER: If you`re a dude who plays a violent sport and you put your hands on a woman like that, I don`t care what it is, your privilege should be

stripped. I`m not saying that you shouldn`t be have the right to work, but not in any of these violent sports. (bleep) him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m gonna (bleep).

GLAZER: (bleep) him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: . on that. Do you think he`ll get drafted?

GLAZER: No, I hope not. I hope somebody will beat his ass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re saying maybe Jon Gruden might.

(CROSSTALK)

GLAZER: . question. (bleep) him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. Thank you, Jay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I don`t think he left any room for interpretation there. And in case you were wondering about further interpretation, the head coach, you

know, who still coaches this guy, Bob Stoops, gave a press conference today. Let`s all remember that this incident happened a couple of years

ago, it was adjudicated, suspended sentence.

And Stoops, coach of Oklahoma Sooners, look, you interpret the way you want to, but it almost sounded like he was starting to rethink what they decided

to do in terms of punishment back then. Have a listen.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

STOOPS: You know, it`s easy to just dismiss it, or remove a guy and head on down the road. But in the end too, I again may have too strong a commitment

to these guys that I recruit.

But I always have, and believe in them and I believed at that time, a young 18-year-old deserved an opportunity to redeem himself and to improve from

it, and to some day possibly be forgiven. If that can`t happen, it can`t happen, you know, but that was the intent.

It may be wrong in some eyes, in some people`s eyes to give a guy, you know, an opportunity to come back. I think 2-1/2 years ago, some here, even

some viewed the tape locally and thought it was fair or appropriate or to some degree it was, you know, significant penalty. And discipline. Two and

a half years later, it`s fair to say it isn`t enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Two and a half years later, it`s fair to say it isn`t enough. I think you can interpret that a couple of ways. I`m really curious to know

how Dylan Buckingham interprets it. He`s a sports reporter for CNN affiliate KFOR in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dylan, how do you interpret what

the coach just said?

DYLAN BUCKINGHAM, SPORTS REPORTER, KFOR: It`s pretty simple for me. Whenever I hear him say what he just said, it means if it were to happen

tomorrow or if this happened, you know, five months ago, that this situation would be completely different than what it is now.

[20:45:00] And that would mean that Joe Mixon is no longer a member of the Oklahoma Football Program. I think what he`s learned over the past 2-1/2

years, you know, the thing is, the tape just came out about a week ago. And with that coming out, you know, there were reports.

BANFIELD: Dylan, let me stop you there, wait a minute. Are you 100 percent certain that that coach had never seen this evidence back then?

BUCKINGHAM: No, he saw it. He saw the tape probably before any media member did.

BANFIELD: What does it matter that the tape is just coming out to us? Because that makes me feel like the coach just got caught having made a

decision that he thought would be fine as long as nobody saw this crap.

BUCKINGHAM: No, no, here`s how this thing played out in Oklahoma, at least at the media here. He saw it along with the president of Oklahoma, David

Boren, and the athletic director, Joe Castiglione. And Bob Stoops mentioned today at his press conference that it was under his recommendation that

Mixon get a second opportunity.

Now, there has been a huge legal battle to get that tape released. In the State of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters had to sue to

get that tape brought out not because Oklahoma football is hiding it but because it was tied up in legal matters. That case never went to court and

so that tape was never released. It`s evidence.

It got tied up. And that`s why it was just released to the media about a week ago. And for me, I was going to say, I didn`t have a chance to see it

until a week ago, and it is 15 times worse than the people that have seen it described it to me.

BANFIELD: Which is why I say if they saw it and they made the decisions that they made, they have no business talking about having second thoughts

now just because the rest of us have seen it and we`re sickened and outraged.

Big question here, Dylan. He`s still on that team, he is still playing on that team. He has one big, big game left in another week and a half or so.

It`s the sugar bowl. Is he going to play in that game now that the coach has had second thoughts?

BUCKINGHAM: There`s -- to him, there is no more second thoughts. it`s just a matter if he can go back and maybe do things differently, he would. But

his punishment, in terms of Oklahoma and the way this thing is being perceived nationally now, they released a statement on Friday saying that

Mixon immediately was removed from the team.

He was red shirted about a year, didn`t have a chance to participate anything with the team for that one year, and that he served his

punishment.

BANFIELD: So it`s done? He`s not gonna do anything more? Now that he feels this overwhelming sense I wish I would have at that time, but so what, he`s

a great player and I want him to play in the bowl game at Christmas, that`s the way this is gonna play out.

BUCKINGHAM: Yeah, he will play in the bowl game barring injury or anything else that might go down. But because of all this firestorm, there is not

going to be any change to his playing status, unless Joe Mixon decides to randomly say hey, I`m not going to play, I`m going to focus on the NFL

draft.

BANFIELD: Joe Glazer said, ain`t no way he`s going to get picked in the NFL draft, not the way they thought he was going to. What do you think?

BUCKINGHAM: I talked to people who are very connected with agents across the NFL. I`ve been told that he will be drafted. He will be a second to

fourth round pick in the NFL draft, that this will hurt his stock, but he will get a chance at the next level. I know for a fact that there`s an NFL

team that`s called local media around here and said I want to know everything you know about Joe Mixon.

And not just from hitting this girl, Amelia Molitor, in the face standpoint, but from everything you`ve heard, every issue he`s had, you

name it, I want to know it. So I know NFL teams are doing their homework on this, although we don`t know what Joe Mixon`s future is. He hasn`t declare

if he is going to the NFL draft or he`s going to stay in Oklahoma another year.

BANFIELD: Ray Rice. It will be interesting to see what happens this time around. Dylan, you`re great at your job. Thanks for being here today. The

story isn`t over, that`s for sure. Talk about a lack of Christmas spirit. A woman accused of stealing toys, those toys for tots that are meant for

kids who really, really need them.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are going someplace. You`re going where we lock up grinches. It`s called the county jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Christmas week, right? So toys for tots, great thing to do. We all heard of it, we all do it. Apparently Tammy Strickland does it, too.

She is 38 years old from Eagle Lake, Florida. Here she is getting arrested, because Tammy Strickland allegedly put in fraudulent applications for

dozens upon dozens upon dozens of fake kids and got the toys, loaded them up in an old trailer, and who knows what she was going to do with them?

I mean, it was pretty extensive, what was going on before this happened, before they hauled her off and cops put her in a cruiser. But let me tell

you this, she did have this conversation with an undercover officer that she didn`t know was obviously an undercover officer. Have a listen.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

TAMMY STRICKLAND, ARRESTED FOR STEALING TOYS: It was Friday, and I was like maybe the applications that I had took didn`t get in or something. So, I

started panicking so I had so many people calling me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Had so many people calling me, where are my toys? All right. That was a sting, and that was the sting that led to her getting arrested. So

you can imagine that the toys for tots volunteers that found out about this were really pissed and the police who actually arrested her were really

pissed too. Here`s their reaction.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Makes you mad and makes you sad, too. To know that somebody is out there trying to steal the toys from children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, Tammy, you are going someplace. You`re going where we lock up grinches. It`s called the county jail. Or Grinch City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: I believe that Joey Jackson, who has just joined our panel, was about to do a slow clap.

JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I really was. She completely abused the process. She worked for this entity. She was getting

governmental assistance. She was driving a Cadillac. And we often talk, Ashleigh, on the show about concurrent time and consecutive time.

[20:55:00] The difference being you stack it all in one, you give and give and give and give 28 different applications, 28 counts I say. Give her time

for each and every one, no mercy, throw the book at her, Judge Banfield.

BANFIELD: I`m gonna give you (inaudible). There you go. There you go.

KUGEL: As criminal defense attorney, the client you do not want to have because there is almost no way to get this woman out of any trouble. They

are going to want.

JACKSON: And everybody in court is looking at you as the attorney, right? My client did it.

BANFIELD: So Alan, you know, they make a really good point. She`s got a criminal arrest history, leaving the scene of a crash, a battery, domestic

violence, a felony battery, this is not the client you want. I don`t know why she`s smiling in her mugshot.

RIPKA: This is the case because of all those prior claims this is gonna elevate the sentence. So she said, I want to give it out to kids or I had

no malintent, because they didn`t catch her selling those toys. So who knows what her plan was?

JACKSON: Oh, she was going to give it away.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: When they went to her house, they actually found 118 unwrapped toys still in packaging, some of them from 2015. So this may have been

going on for a while. I have to leave it there.

JACKSON: She was playing Santa Claus.

BANFIELD: By the way, I love that green memo (ph) today. What were you thinking, Ripka?

RIPKA: Next time.

BANFIELD: Thanks, guys. Thanks for watching, everyone. See you back here for PRIMETIME JUSTICE at 8:00 tomorrow night. In the meantime, stay tuned.

"FORENSIC FILES" is next.

[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END