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Western Australia Police Review The Circumstances Leading To Virginia Robert's Death · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Authorities over in Australia have launched an investigation
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: into the final days of Virginia Roberts' life and the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances leading up to her passing away. And according to
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  Speaker 1: the reporting, they're looking at the way the police were
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  Speaker 1: interacting with Virginia prior to all of this going down.
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  Speaker 1: especially surrounding the circumstances of the claims of abuse that
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  Speaker 1: she was making against her ex-husband. And according to a
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  Speaker 1: letter that was sent by Virginia's family, they feel like
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  Speaker 1: more could have been done and that there was some
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  Speaker 1: negligence on the part of the authorities in Australia. So
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  Speaker 1: now the Australian authorities have launched this investigation as they
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  Speaker 1: try to collect some facts about what led up to
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  Speaker 1: Virginia allegedly taking her own life. So today, we have
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  Speaker 1: an article from Western Australia Today and the headline, Western
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  Speaker 1: Australia Watchdog Probes Police Interactions with Virginia Roberts. This article
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  Speaker 1: was authored by Carla Hildebrandt and Melissa Fyfe. Western Australia's
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  Speaker 1: government watchdog is investigating whether police acted appropriately in their
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  Speaker 1: dealings with Virginia Roberts before her death last April. It's
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  Speaker 1: understood that that the WA Ombudsman's investigation is examining the
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  Speaker 1: issues raised by Robert's family in the United States, detailed
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  Speaker 1: in a letter to the organization in June. And I
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  Speaker 1: know there's a lot of people that think that the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances surrounding Virginia's death are questionable. And look, I get it.
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  Speaker 1: When we're dealing with what we're dealing with, and how
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  Speaker 1: many people have quote-unquote committed suicide, I think it's a
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  Speaker 1: legitimate question to always ask. Now, at this point, I
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  Speaker 1: haven't seen any evidence that would lead me to believe
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  Speaker 1: that it's anything but what was reported. But that doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean that won't change. Look, we're only getting what they
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  Speaker 1: give us, right? So that's all we can base our
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  Speaker 1: opinion or speculation upon. Whatever the evidence is, that's available.
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  Speaker 1: And according to the evidence that we know about, they
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  Speaker 1: say that Virginia took her own life. And look, When
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  Speaker 1: you've gone through the stuff that Virginia went through, you're
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  Speaker 1: carrying a load that is almost impossible to bear. And
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  Speaker 1: then you add all the other stuff on top of it.
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  Speaker 1: Stuff with her husband, stuff in the media, other lawsuits
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  Speaker 1: that are, you know, making their way through the court, whatever.
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  Speaker 1: It's a lot of pressure and it's a lot of stress.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, I could see that leading to somebody having
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  Speaker 1: a breakdown. That kind of stuff happens all the time.
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  Speaker 1: But on the flip side of that, We all know
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  Speaker 1: that Virginia had a lot of information that was damaging
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  Speaker 1: to a lot of powerful people. So of course, there's
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  Speaker 1: going to be questions. And that's why the authorities need
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  Speaker 1: to do a good job when they're investigating something like
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  Speaker 1: this and when they're detailing what happened to the people.
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  Speaker 1: That way it kills all the fertile ground for any
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  Speaker 1: kind of crazy talk to even begin. But the problem is,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: when we're talking about these investigations surrounding Epstein, that's never
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  Speaker 1: the case. These investigators make things more difficult and make
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  Speaker 1: things more blurry just about every time. And whether that's
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: by ignorance or design, I'll leave it up to you.
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  Speaker 1: The ombudsman's responsible for independently investigating complaints about the actions
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  Speaker 1: of public authorities. So kind of like their version of
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  Speaker 1: internal affairs, I guess. They're the ones that have to
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  Speaker 1: go in and investigate other police officers or other agencies
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  Speaker 1: when there's some kind of issue like this. Roberts' brothers,
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  Speaker 1: Sky Roberts and Danny Wilson, and their wives, Amanda Roberts
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  Speaker 1: and Lynette Wilson, wrote to the ombudsman requesting a formal
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  Speaker 1: review of WA's police action in the lead up to
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  Speaker 1: her death at her near Gabby farm in Perth's Wheatbelt.
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  Speaker 1: The review comes after WA police announced last month they'd
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  Speaker 1: launched an internal review into their dealing with Roberts and
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  Speaker 1: her allegations of family violence against her husband, Robert Joffrey
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  Speaker 1: made in January of 2025. In their letter, the family
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  Speaker 1: asked why Robert was not charged with assault after the
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  Speaker 1: incident and whether police acted appropriately in response to her
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  Speaker 1: reports of domestic violence and fears for her safety. I
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  Speaker 1: have questions about that too. Now, I won't jump on
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  Speaker 1: the train and say they didn't do their job because
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  Speaker 1: we haven't seen the reports yet, but I'd like to
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  Speaker 1: see a written report and see what the officers had
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  Speaker 1: to say. Now, are we going to get that kind
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  Speaker 1: of information? I doubt it. The investigators will have it,
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  Speaker 1: but we're talking about Australia here, so I don't think
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  Speaker 1: we're going to get that information released to the public.
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  Speaker 1: I would hope, but I doubt it. We remain concerned
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  Speaker 1: that the broader risk picture Virginia reported was not treated
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  Speaker 1: with sufficient urgency by police. The family's letter to the
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  Speaker 1: ombudsman said, well, especially considering that they punished Virginia. They
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  Speaker 1: took her kids away. She wasn't able to contact them.
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  Speaker 1: Wasn't able to call them. Nothing. And I still haven't
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  Speaker 1: seen a legitimate reason for that. Especially considering Virginia was
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  Speaker 1: the one who said she was being abused. So what gives?
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  Speaker 1: And why would they go to the extreme that they
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  Speaker 1: went to? And look, I'm more than willing to listen
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  Speaker 1: to their explanation, right? But it better damn well be good.
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  Speaker 1: And it better not be some kind of cover story
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  Speaker 1: to try and protect the people who shit the bed.
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  Speaker 1: The family requested the ombudsman examine whether Robert's complaint was
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  Speaker 1: properly investigated, what risk assessments were undertaken, how firearms concerns
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  Speaker 1: were handled, and whether any systemic failures contributed to the outcome.
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  Speaker 1: That's all pretty basic stuff that should have been done, right?
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  Speaker 1: And there should be an accounting for it. There should
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  Speaker 1: be reporting. There should be, you know, memorandums, the whole thing.
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  Speaker 1: Robert was served with a 72-hour police order after the
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  Speaker 1: alleged January 9th assault. The day after that order expired,
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  Speaker 1: on January 14th, 2025, he successfully obtained a family violence
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  Speaker 1: restraining order against Virginia in the Perth Magistrates Court, which
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  Speaker 1: included her two youngest children, aged 15 and 17 at
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  Speaker 1: the time. Like, how do you even give that order
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  Speaker 1: as a judge? What exactly was so dangerous? What was
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  Speaker 1: Virginia doing that you have to have that kind of
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  Speaker 1: order where she can't see her children? Now look, I
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  Speaker 1: understand separating the two adults, right? Okay, here's an order.
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  Speaker 1: You guys shouldn't be around each other. This is a toxic,
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  Speaker 1: violent environment. I get that. But the kids? Why shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: the kids be able to see their mother? She was
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  Speaker 1: that big of a risk, huh? Sorry, I'm not buying that.
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  Speaker 1: Not for a minute. The interim order lasted for six months.
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  Speaker 1: We believe that the combined toll of the sustained abuse,
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  Speaker 1: loss of access to her children, and failure in the
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  Speaker 1: system's response contributed to Virginia's death by suicide, the family
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  Speaker 1: letter states. And look, that's probably the most likely scenario.
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  Speaker 1: All these pressures, all this stress, all this trauma from
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  Speaker 1: over the years just turned out to be too much.
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  Speaker 1: And when somebody has dealt with the things that Virginia
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  Speaker 1: has dealt with throughout the years, to lose your children
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  Speaker 1: on top of it, and to be basically given a
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  Speaker 1: scarlet letter saying that you can't see your kids, that
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  Speaker 1: has to be just brutal. I can't even imagine. So
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  Speaker 1: I can certainly see how that could contribute to somebody,
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  Speaker 1: you know, having a mental break, whatever it might be.
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  Speaker 1: The family and several domestic and family violence experts and
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  Speaker 1: researchers have also written to WA Coroner Ross Fogliani seeking
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  Speaker 1: a public inquest into Robert's death. A spokesperson for the
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  Speaker 1: Western Australia Coroner's Court said no decision had been made
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  Speaker 1: on whether a public inquest would be held. Well, that's weird.
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  Speaker 1: Why not just have a public inquest and be done
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  Speaker 1: with it? If you want to put things to bed
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  Speaker 1: and you want to make sure that people don't have
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  Speaker 1: any kinds of crazy questions, then you have to be transparent.
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  Speaker 1: And you have to tell the people the truth. Here
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  Speaker 1: are the findings. This is what we did. This is
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  Speaker 1: how we messed up. And this is how we're going
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  Speaker 1: to fix it. But we never see that, do we?
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  Speaker 1: It's always somebody else's fault. It's always the system's fault.
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  Speaker 1: Never the person making the decision, though. The spokesman said
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  Speaker 1: the coroner was awaiting the police report into Robert's death
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  Speaker 1: before determining whether an inquest would be held. Alright, well,
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  Speaker 1: I guess we'll have to wait and see what they
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  Speaker 1: come up with. But I have no idea how anyone
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  Speaker 1: could think that not having an inquest is a good idea.
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  Speaker 1: The more information we have, the better off everybody is.
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  Speaker 1: And if Virginia's family wants this inquest, I don't see
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  Speaker 1: why the authorities would be against it. I would think
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  Speaker 1: that the authorities would want to make sure that everything's
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  Speaker 1: on the up and up. Especially considering all of the
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  Speaker 1: attention on this story. you would think that you'd want
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that everything's kosher. And hopefully that's what
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  Speaker 1: we end up seeing. And hopefully the authorities in Australia
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  Speaker 1: don't just go through the motions and actually investigate the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances leading up to Virginia's death. Because I don't believe
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  Speaker 1: we have the whole story, that's for sure. And I
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  Speaker 1: have a very hard time believing that Virginia should have
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  Speaker 1: lost custody of her children for any amount of time.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll have to see what that report says if
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  Speaker 1: we get to see it, if one's ever filed. And
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  Speaker 1: if one is, you better believe we'll get it added
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  Speaker 1: to the catalogue. But until then, that's going to do
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  Speaker 1: it for this one. All the information that goes with
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  Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box.