Tonight on NBC Law & Order SVU returns with an all-new Thursday, January 25, 2024 episode and we have your Law & Order SVU recap below. In tonight’s Law & Order SVU season 25 episode 2 “Truth Embargo,” as per the NBC synopsis, “As Benson teams up with the FBI on an unsolved case, Fin and Velasco investigate a flash mob robbery that lead to a sexual assault.”
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In tonight’s Law & Order SVU episode, they still haven’t found Maddie. But Captain Olivia Benson continues to wear her bracelet. She doesn’t let herself forget that Maddie’s out there and that she has to reunite her with her parents.
Benson was so consumed by that case that she was a little on edge. She spotted a familiar delivery van. She opened the door as if she could go back to when she first spotted Maddie and no surprise there was no Maddie this time. It was just a regular delivery van. The driver was even annoyed with her.
Benson was also facing pressure from the FBI. They wanted to become involved in the case. Special Agent Clay wanted to make a case of child pornography against the sex dolls made in Maddie’s image. Clay said he was there to help. Benson suspected directly. She knew that once the feds get involved that they tend to want to take over everything else.
Which she didn’t want to allow. She wanted to keep this case. She was still working it when unfortunately a new case hadn’t popped up. Some kids ganged up to do a flash mob robbery.
These things are put together on social media. They’re considered an open-invitation to anyone who wants free stuff. They hit a boutique in a good part of town and there were two forms of sexual assault. The saleslady was grouped. She was grouped by a white kid who ripped her blouse to grab her breast.
The second assault was done on a woman who was buying a bathing suit. She was trying it on when the flash mob came in and one kid had her in his sights. He followed her to the changing room. He raped her. He beat her up as well when she tried to fight him off.
The victim’s name is Natalie. Natalie couldn’t remember anything after that. She doesn’t remember hiding or Benson finding her and getting her to the hospital. Natalie didn’t want to answer any questions.
All she would say was that the rapist seemed young. They found security footage of one teen pursuing her into the dressing room and that he even took off his mask before he raped her. Meaning she saw his face. Why didn’t she mention that when they talked to her? Natalie’s memory of the event was spotty at best.
Benson was choosing to believe that she might not have noticed that the guy took off his mask. What she did notice in the security footage was that their rapist was buddy buddy with the guy that posted about the robbery online. The guy that posted it was Travis Butler. He was arrested for the robbery.
He was also questioned about his friend in the video. He denied knowing anyone from the robbery. He said he was just trying to put food on the table. He wouldn’t talk only others were arrested from that robbery flash mob.
Benson got photos of all of the male perps involved in the robbery that have been caught. She had Natalie look through all the photos and Natalie couldn’t identify anyone.
She’s still claiming she never saw her attacker’s face. She’s also asking if there was any evidence from her rape kit. They couldn’t get DNA and so Natalie seemed like she wanted to leave things there. It’s as if she doesn’t want to find the kid that attacked her. And so the cops tried to find him by using a completely different source.
The cops found the fence that the kids sold their stolen items to. His name is Crispy. They got a warrant for his place and threatened to tear him down if he didn’t give them information.
Crispy ended up talking to save his own skin. He said that one kid bragged about getting more than just goods. He didn’t know the kid’s name. He was describing him when the precinct got hit by another flash mob. Travis Butler was once again arrested for being a part of the flash mob. This time he was facing felony charges and so he finally said who his friend was in exchange for a plea deal.
Travis said his friend was Jay Watson. They’ve been friends since the fifth grade. Travis didn’t want to believe the worst of his buddy only now it was about more than that.
He didn’t want to face federal charges. He agreed to testify against Jay. Natalie was brought down and she identified Jay as her attacker in a line-up. She was no longer pretending she didn’t see his face. Natalie has been so against identifying him because she and her wife used to be people that thought cops should be defunded. And that racial biasness against black people meant innocent people went away.
Only Jay wasn’t innocent. Benson remembered there’s a liner to bathing suits so that the store could tell if it’s been worn. The male scene techs didn’t pick it up and so Benson went back to the store.
She found the liner. It had Jay’s DNA on it. He really did rape her. He wasn’t some innocent kid that was being blamed for a crime he didn’t do. He did this. Natalie was struggling with that during court and she needed a break because she wouldn’t identify him as her rapist in open court. Jay looked so smug when Natalie froze on the stand.
Later in an aside with Carisis and Besnon, Natalie said she can afford therapy. She has that luxury. She said that a black teenager would go down a path of no return if he goes to prison now. He was barely eighteen. Natalie wanted to still help him and Benson said that he might be beyond help. And so Natalie finally told her truth on the stand.
Natalie identified Jay as her rapist and Jay agreed to a plea right after that. He finally realized what he did was wrong.
THE END!