Loophole (Season 8, Episode 13)
Premise: Photos of a boy sent anonymously to SVU lead Benson to a building where a chemical company has been testing a pesticide on poor tenants.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 8, Episode 13
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), CSU Ryan O’Halloran (Mike Doyle), TARU Ruben Morales (Joel de la Fuente)
- Guest stars
- Karen Olivo as Jennifer Benitez, Wayne Duvall as Seth Milsted, Justin McCarthy as Raymond Nesbitt, Ray Wise as Roger Hanley, Bill Goldberg as Cupid
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Jonathan Greene
Summary
“Loophole” opens with a man high on PCP, calling himself Cupid, rampaging through the squad room; Stabler is badly cut and put on medical leave. A courier knocked down in the melee was bringing SVU an envelope with photos of a young boy in his underwear, a camera memory card and an unsigned note urging police to lock up the photographer. TARU recovers deleted pictures of a newly installed front door, and a bakery truck caught in one frame leads detectives to a Washington Heights building. Its super, Seth Milsted, owns the same model of camera and lies about a recent break-in at his apartment. The boy, Diego Benitez, lives upstairs. The 911 call about the break-in came from Raymond Nesbitt, a paroled burglar and heroin user who minds Diego after school and hints that he found the photos while robbing Milsted.
Novak reluctantly agrees not to charge Nesbitt for that burglary in return for his account, and a warrant follows. Milsted is arrested, but his lawyer, Chauncey Zeirko, argues before Judge Walter Bradley that the pictures show no nudity or sex act, and the judge holds off ruling and urges Novak to get the boy’s statement. Diego’s mother, Jennifer, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras whom Milsted threatened to report, lets Benson see him, but Diego and then Jennifer collapse. Benson airs out the apartment and clears the building; twelve people are sickened. O’Halloran finds a sealed hazardous-waste container in the basement and traces of an unknown organophosphate on heaters in three apartments. Diego is found to have cancer.
Milsted is stabbed to death at Rikers. Videotapes hidden in his apartment show him testing the memory of Diego and other children, and payments from a research firm that has since vanished lead Munch to argue that a chemical company paid to test a pesticide on the tenants. An EPA official explains that observational studies of people already exposed are allowed. Jennifer’s consent form, which described the spray as a drug for roaches, names Danforth Chemical. Its lawyer, Charlie Moss, has Benson thrown out, Cragen warns her off, and Novak doubts she can prove intent or that the pesticide caused Diego’s cancer. Spurred by Stabler, Benson persuades a colleague to hack into Danforth’s network, which yields the name of a pesticide awaiting approval, Zilithion.
Spoiler, the ending: Detectives arrest Danforth’s chief executive, Roger Hanley, on twelve counts of assault, with news cameras waiting outside. Novak offers to drop the charges and blame the research firm if Danforth pays lifetime medical costs for Diego, his mother and the other tenants. The company accepts, and Jennifer, bound to keep the deal secret, can now afford her son’s care.
Why it stands out
- Professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, a cousin of executive producer Neal Baer, plays the PCP-crazed intruder in the opening scene.
- Benson carries the case while Stabler is sidelined with the arm injury he suffers in the first scene.
- Peter Riegert returns as defense attorney Chauncey Zeirko.