On this week’s episode of “Law & Order: SVU,” two women were walking down the street with one of them pushing a baby stroller. They crossed to the other side of the street to avoid a group of men that looked dangerous. The two women then parted and one of the women, Sofie, was grabbed by a masked man when she entered her apartment building. He pressed her against a wall and raped her.
Benson and Rollins arrived on the scene and found out Sofie had been taken to the hospital so they could examine her. The other woman that had been with Sofie told Benson that a nearby homeless shelter had opened that took in sex offenders. Rollins said Sofie thought she had seen her rapist running in the direction of the shelter. Benson, Finn and Rollins went to the shelter to question the people that run it. Benson asked everyone in the sex offender section of the shelter to come to the police station and talk to them. Benson realized one of the sex offenders that lived at the homeless shelter was a man named Gregory that SVU had investigated in the past. Gregory had been in prison but had been paroled due to health issues.
When the men came from the shelter to the precinct, Benson told Rollins to keep them away from the victim, who was also there giving her statement. One of the homeless men that came to the precinct was Sonny acting undercover, posing as a homeless man himself. Sofie’s father was in the room while Benson was talking to Sophie and he blamed SVU for allowing sex offenders to live in the homeless shelter. Benson told Sofie that they had brought some men into the station, and Sofie had to listen to the men’s voices and tell her if she recognized one as her rapist. Rollins and Finn recorded the voices of each man they brought in.
Rollins and Finn talked to Sonny about what it was like being undercover in the homeless shelter. Benson then played the recordings of the men’s voices for Sofie, and she said she thought maybe the first voice she heard was her rapist.
Mr. Zimmerman, a lawyer for two of the men, brought in for questioning, arrived at the precinct. Sonny introduced himself to the other homeless men as Smitty in a group therapy session at the shelter. As Smitty, he said that he had been arrested for having pictures of young children on his computer. Sonny was walking down the street outside the police station when Sofie’s dad approached him and asked him if he had raped a woman.
Rollins and Finn went to the apartment of a woman who was married to Richie, one of the suspects in the rape. The woman said Richie wasn’t allowed to live in the apartment because it is too close to a school but he was visiting the night Sofie was raped. She told them he had raped a woman he met at a party in the past but that he only did it because he was drunk.
When Finn and Rollins further questioned the woman she admitted she was not home at the time Sofie was raped. She said she knew Richie had been in the apartment while she was at work because food she had left for him was half gone.
Robin, the woman that had been running the group therapy sessions at the homeless shelter was stabbed to death on the street. Sonny went to the police station to find out what happened and found out she had been stabbed. Benson asked Sonny if anyone had been late for the group therapy session she never made it to and he said a couple of the men weren’t there, including Richie. Sonny said he thought a man named Loomis had murdered Robin. He said that Richie had shown up at the group therapy session an hour late and that the last crime he had committed was a rape.
Finn and Rollins inspected the homeless shelter for clues and found a picture of a woman. One of the men living in the shelter said the picture was of his niece whom he hadn’t seen in over 20 years. Rollins found keys hidden in a pillowcase. The key opened a storage unit owned by Loomis. Finn and Rollins went to the place and opened his unit. Finn found a knife and a black hoodie inside it. He also found jewelry that was later identified as being stolen from a rape victim. At the time Loomis was living in a homeless shelter in the same neighborhood the victim lived in, and other rapes had been reported in the neighborhood as well. They determined that they had two rapists on their hands and that one of the rapists was also a murderer.
Sonny and Rollins went to the parole office to speak with Richie’s parole officer. She said he had a meeting with his lawyer a few hours before Sofie was raped and his meeting was near the scene of the crime.
Sonny admitted to Richie that he is a cop and he had to talk to him. While they were talking Sonny got Richie to admit he raped a waitress named Mary. Benson overheard this conversation and brought Mary to the station to talk to her and play the voice recordings for her. Mary and Benson were in the station when Sonny came in with Richie, and they bumped into Richie’s lawyer. Mary overheard Richie and said she recognized his voice as the rapist.
There was security video footage of Robin being killed and Sonny asked Richie to just admit it was his face on the video. He refused to, saying he was innocent. Benson said that they could get a warrant to search Richie’s wife’s apartment for evidence. In the toilet in the apartment, Sonny found the jewelry that was stolen from rape victims and recovered at the homeless shelter. They also found a necklace that was stolen from Robin. Sonny arrested Richie’s lawyer for Robin’s murder. Sonny told Richie that his lawyer had raped women living near the homeless shelter so that the sex offenders in the homeless shelter would be the suspects.
In court, Richie’s lawyer pleaded innocent to all charges. He was sent to Riker’s Island until his trial began. Loomis also appeared in front of a judge to face rape charges and pleaded not guilty.