Scott was locked up in a foreign jail

As human beings, we are often very protective of our own sense of personal justice – and injustice.

When I was a child, I had a teacher who – to me – seemed very unfair. If one of the kids in the class did something like write a bad word on the chalkboard, she would ask the entire class who did it. She really did her best to find the culprit, and carry out punishment.

But sometimes she just couldn’t figure it out. No one would admit it, and there wasn’t enough evidence to pin it on any specific student.

So her solution was – the whole class loses recess for the whole day. Definitely not fair! It always bugged me when that happened – I was being punished even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

My guest today, Scott, was also a victim of injustice, but on a much larger scale. He was charged with a crime that he didn’t commit, and was held in a foreign jail for far too long. This is one of those stories where you just can’t predict what’s coming next.

And if you’re an American, it might just make you think twice before traveling outside the US.

 

 

 

 

If you’d like to contact Scott:  thescottmcmahonstory@outlook.com

 

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/222

 

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

 

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

 

Episode transcript (download transcript PDF):

As human beings, we are often very protective of our own sense of personal justice – and injustice.

 

When I was a child, I had a teacher who – to me – seemed very unfair. If one of the kids in the class did something like write a bad word on the chalkboard, she would ask the entire class who did it. She really did her best to find the culprit, and carry out punishment.

 

But sometimes she just couldn’t figure it out. No one would admit it, and there wasn’t enough evidence to pin it on any specific student.

 

So her solution was – the whole class loses recess for the whole day. Definitely not fair! It always bugged me when that happened – I was being punished even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

 

My guest today, Scott, was also a victim of injustice, but on a much larger scale. He was charged with a crime that he didn’t commit, and was held in a foreign jail for far too long. This is one of those stories where you just can’t predict what’s coming next.

 

And it might just make you think twice before traveling outside the US.

 

Scott J

This started with your son being diagnosed with PTSD and he was just a little kid then. How old was he and what happened?

 

Scott M

He was five years old. What happened was we had a neighbor that was, long story short, scaring him. Her husband had moved in to live with us because they had separated – this was separation number two. He was a friend of mine, a Belgian guy. What I didn’t know was she would come over and argue with him and then she’d yell and scream at my kids and I’d be gone working. I’d be gone 14 hours a day. I’d leave early, come home late and just crash one morning. He didn’t want to go to school because he was scared of the monster, the lady next door. I’m like, “The lady next door? The monster?” And it was her. Well, what had happened that night previously was that my house was raided by Philippine National Police Bureau of Immigration on live television to arrest him because she went and made a complaint that he abuses her and burns her face with cigarettes while he’s drunk and makes her mixed concrete. Of course, she has no scars on her face to prove it. It’s all a set up.

 

Scott J

Yeah. And what we haven’t said so far is that this is taking place in the Philippines too.

 

Scott M

Yeah. Oh, right, in Manila.

 

Scott J

So your son is just being terrorized by this woman?

 

Scott M

Yeah. Because she was yelling at the kids and she had been doing that for the week prior, and no one had told me. My wife didn’t tell me she was scared. Because see, she was telling my wife, “If you say anything to anybody, you’re next.” When I found out, I was like, “What?” So I called my attorney and he referred me to a clinical psychologist. He was one of the best in the country actually. I took my son to him that day and he talked to my son first for, like, 45 minutes. Then, he came out and they called me in his office and he goes, “What happened? Who’s the monster and what’s going on?” So, I explained the story to him and he just goes, “Your son has chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.” And I said, “What, justifies that?” And he showed me all these tests. He goes, “Here’s the tree person test.” The tree person test was this big tree. He put himself underneath the tree, and he was really small in size. Then next to him was a woman, but she was big and she had an angry face. And then he showed me, he goes, “Look in the back.” Back behind the tree was an even bigger drawing of a man that was strong, had his arms up. And he says this, “That’s him. This is Dolores coming to get him. And behind the tree is you and you’re the only one that can save him.” And I wasn’t there.

 

I just couldn’t believe it. So I said, okay, and he finished his report a couple days later and I took it down to my attorney and we filed a complaint against her. We filed a case against her for violence against women and children. They did a preliminary investigation, found probable cause, arrested her, she posted bail, and then we just waited. We waited a year and a half for it to get to the court. We went to court. We went to court on the morning of April 7 for our first hearing, and we told the kids, “We’ll be back in four hours. We’re going to go to a meeting and I’ll take you guys to the mall.” because they love going to the mall. They love the air conditioning inside, and there’s a roller coaster. So they’re like, yeah.

 

We get to the court. There’s a McDonald’s downstairs and we’re sitting at the McDonald’s and we see her walk in and she has a weird look on her face. We go, “Oh, there. Yep, there she is.” She’s looking to see if we’re there. The door opens and you see these bright lights and five policemen, a camera crew and a reporter, and I’m like, “I wonder who they’re looking for.” They’re walking, they’re getting closer to us and sure enough, they come right up to us. “What’s your name?”

 

“Scott M.”

 

“Well, we have a warrant for your arrest.”

 

I’m like, “For what?”

 

They go, “Rape.”

 

I’m like, “What?” And then I saw her and I’m like, “Oh, it all clicked.” My attorney looks at it and he grabs it and yeah, it’s real. I said, “Well, I have a court date right now.” And they said, “That’s too bad. You’re coming with us,” all on national TV. When we got outside, before they put me into the car, she’s there and she goes, “You think you can rape me and get away with it?” I didn’t say anything. I’m just like, “You fucking lying bitch.” Got in the car and off we went.

 

Scott J

So you were arrested. Do they have bail?

 

Scott M

Not for rape. No bail. She gave them an address that I didn’t live at, so when they sent the forms for the preliminary investigation, it went to a place that I didn’t live. So of course there was no reply.

 

Scott J

Yeah, it looked like you were just ignoring them.

 

Scott M

Exactly. So between that and her testimony, there’s probable cause. So she had it all planned out. She did her homework and she had it all planned out.

 

Scott J

Well, a little bit of backstory. You are actually an American. Why were you in the Philippines?

 

Scott M

I was living here in Seattle, and I was a musician. I played in a band. We did pretty well. We had a small record deal and, long story short, we’re demoing for our second record for some major label stuff and we broke up. Bam, broke up. That band was my baby. Man, I did everything and even managed it. Me and the singer wrote everything. So I was just kind of devastated. I said, “You know what? I’m out of here.” I worked so long and hard on this. My uncle lived over there in South Pacific, Saipan, Philippines, for 30 years. He goes, “Jaime has a construction company. He wants you to come work for him.” Jaime was his best friend. He owned a construction company in Manila, and that’s what I did – construction. So I said, “Alright, good, I’m coming.”

 

Scott J

And who was living with you at the time?

 

Scott M

That was me. It was Marnelli, my wife, my son, and my daughter. So four of us. My daughter was two at the time.

 

Scott J

Okay. So you were arrested and brought to their offices. What did they tell you? What was their plan?

 

Scott M

Well, first they brought me to their main headquarters, which was down in the heart of Manila. They said, “We can make this all go away if the price is right.” They call it allegro. Allegro pot means “Let’s make a deal.” And I said, “No way. I ain’t paying for something I didn’t do.” And then my business partner, James, came down, went in, talked to the chief, and he came back, said, “Yep, they want money.” I said, “No way, man.” Because I figured it would just all get work itself out once they figured she was lying, and I’d be out in a day or two.

 

Scott J

That’s logical. Yeah,

 

Scott M

Right. I mean, that’s what would happen here. But that’s the problem. I was thinking like an American. I was there for three hours, I think, and they figured out it wasn’t going to work. They just said, “All right.” They took me down to the Muntinlupa City Jail, which is where we lived, which was like a mile from the main prison. Everybody that was going to prison would go there first, and they would get there until their papers were ready to go up to the prison. Then, they go up to the prison.

 

It’s really congested – the most congested jail in the country actually. We’re standing outside, we’re waiting for them to finish my intake papers, and the warden comes out and he introduces himself, shakes my hand, and he says, “Who’s the girl over there? Is that your wife, your sister, your cousin? What?”

 

I said, “It’s my wife.”

 

So he calls me, he says, “Come over here, ma’am.” And he goes, “I’ll let you bring him food three times a day and you can visit him six days a week and bring him water because he won’t be able to drink the water there.”

 

She’s like, “Okay.”

 

And he says, “Do you live far away?”

 

She says, “A couple miles” which can be 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on traffic.

 

Then he says, okay. And he looks at me and goes, “You see that guy sitting inside?” and I go, “Yeah.” He goes, “He’s the mayor. He runs inside there. I suggest you become friends with him and I’ll even introduce you to him.” I said, okay. And he goes, “Any questions?”

 

I said, “Yeah, just one.”

 

He says, “What’s that?”

 

“What’s the mayor of Muntinlupa City doing in jail? And two, how does he run day-to-day operations for the city?”

 

He laughed at me like I was just dumb. He goes, “What do you Americans call it?” He goes, “Gang leader. He’s the gang leader.”

 

I’m like, “Oh, gotcha. That makes more sense.”

 

And then he looks at my wife and goes, “Ma’am, bring him food and water. If not, he’ll die.” And they said, “Let’s go.”

 

And I’m, like, looking at my wife going, “Bring food.” And we turned around and walked in.

 

Scott J

This has got to be so crazy for you. I mean, you are running your own company, you’re making money, you’re doing business, and you’re just being a citizen and now you’re being taken to jail.

 

Scott M

The way it really hits home is like– I told the kids we’ll be back in four hours. So we walked in. It’s a chain link fence on the outside, and it’s pink because the colors of the jail are pink. It’s pink with just like dirt all over, just a nasty pink. We walk in and they have me sign some papers, and then you walk to a hallway. You get to a hallway that’s about 10 feet long. The second you get to that hallway, the stench just– man, the stench is like bile and body odor and shit and piss, and it is just foul. I remember right away just breathing through my mouth so that way I couldn’t smell it. So we walked down, like, 10 feet this hallway, and then it kind of opened up a little bit. Right to the left is a door made of three quarter inch rebars. It’s a hallway that’s about 20 feet and about five feet wide, and it’s just packed with people. There’s four cells, one cell to the left, three cells to the right, and it’s just packed. I looked at the guard, I’m like, “I’m not going in there.” He’s like, “Yes you are.” Opened the door and kind of gave me a shove, and in I went.

 

Scott J

So what would you say is the total size of this space?

 

Scott M

The space I was in – I measured it – it was 880 square feet.

 

Scott J

So not very big.

 

Scott M

Not very big.

 

Scott J

And how many people were there?

 

Scott M

 

Scott J

You’re just wall to wall with people, basically.

 

Scott M

Yeah. A two-bedroom apartment with 300 people is the best way to describe it. But the ceilings were 10 feet high, so they had the ground level and then three feet up would be a plywood floor and then three feet above that, another one. So that’s the only way to fit that many people in there.

 

Scott J

So the plywood is used for what? Is that for beds?

 

Scott M

Yep. For sleeping. Sleeping and just accommodations, I guess.

 

Scott J

Were there any toilets?

 

Scott M

In the first cell on the left, which was cell A, there were two toilets. Cell B, cell C had no toilet. They had to go use cell A’s toilet. Cell D where I was at, had one toilet, and that wasn’t a toilet. They weren’t toilets. They were just the toilet bowl that sits on the ground. There was no tank with water behind it. You had to take water out of a 55 gallon drum with a pan and dump it in there to flush it.

 

Scott J

And with 300 people in there, at any given time, somebody is sitting on a toilet.

 

Scott M

Right. And during the daytime, everybody would have to sit down. So you would sit on your butt on the person-behind-you’s feet. Your hands would be over the person-in-front-of-you’s shoulders. And if you wanted to sleep, you had to put your head on their shoulders and the person behind you, their head on your shoulders, so on and so forth. And if you wanted to go to the bathroom, you had to raise your hand, and they would say, “Oh, what do you need?”

 

“I got to go to the bathroom.”

 

“What do you have to do?”

 

“Oh, I got to piss.”

 

“Okay, just stand up.”

 

And then they’d hand you– they’d bring a bottle. It was a plastic 1.5 liter bottle of Coke that had a hole near the top, and you would just piss in it. When that was full, they would dump it into a five gallon bucket. When the five gallon bucket was full, they’d take that and dump it in the toilet bowl.

 

Scott J

This is animal-like conditions.

 

Scott M

And if you want to take a shit, you go into the bathroom, but there’s no toilet paper. It’s not allowed.

 

Scott J

Why would they not allow toilet paper?

 

Scott M

Because the guys would take it and they’d roll it up super, super small and they’d use it to smoke drugs. Even pens and paper are not allowed. Anything that could possibly be used as a weapon was not allowed. Cell phones weren’t allowed. There were no phones there. No payphone, no nothing. No recreation area.

 

Scott J

Wait. So no recreation area? So you were in this room all the time?

 

Scott M

Unless you have a visitor. If you have a visitor, you have to go upstairs. Visiting hours were 4 hours a day. But if you don’t, you sit in the cell all day long.

 

Scott J

Not even like a book to read or anything?

 

Scott M

I did. My uncle would send me books, so I did read quite a bit. But the people there– yeah, mostly, no. I mean, the ones that didn’t have family to bring them food would starve to death and die.

 

Scott J

Man, in conditions like that, everyone’s health is going to go downhill. Was there any kind of medical attention?

 

Scott M

I mean, there was, but you had to buy your own medicine once in a while. They have medicines there, but they are very rare. If you didn’t have family from the outside supporting you in there, you were toast. You would die.

 

Scott J

Was there no food at all?

 

Scott M

500 calories a day is what you got.

 

Scott J

And what did that consist of?

 

Scott M

So in the morning, each cell would get a five gallon bucket – they call it champorado and it’s like if you had hot chocolate and put rice in it. In the morning for breakfast, you get one scoop of that – the ladle, one scoop – and that’s what you got for breakfast. Lunch would come and you would get, like, a small hard boiled egg and three quarters of a cup of rice, and that’s lunch. Dinner would be three quarters of a cup of rice and a three and a half or three inch piece of dried fish or a three inch piece of pork that was about an inch wide, and half of it was fat. It’s a quarter inch thick. That’s what you got.

 

Scott J

And you were one of the lucky ones because your wife, Marnelli, could bring you real food.

 

Scott M

Right. I would’ve died if it wasn’t for her. She brought food, she brought me medicine. She did everything I needed.

 

Scott J

It seems like it’s almost impossible to fit this many people in that small of a space. But you described different levels with plywood. How did it get determined who would use those? Because otherwise you’re sleeping on a concrete floor, right?

 

Scott M

Right. So the plywood floor area was called VIP. So if you wanted to be in the plywood floor area, you had to pay every week. And if you couldn’t pay, you’re down on the floor. I would say half of the guys couldn’t pay because they didn’t have money, so they’re on the floor. At night, when you would sleep, the best way to describe it is like if you open a can of sardines and you see the sardines, how they’re not laying flat like this, they’re on their side like that. That’s how everybody slept. There’s no room, no space in between. I mean, body on body, arms over arms, and feet over feet. And if you wanted to go to the bathroom at night, you walked over. People just walked over bodies.

 

Scott J

And I assume it was rather hot in this space.

 

Scott M

Oh man. In our whole area, we had one window and there was a three foot brick wall right behind it. So no, nothing for circulation. We had some ceiling fans, but no air con. It’s like 100-510 degrees every day with 95% humidity and all that body heat, probably more with all the bodies.

 

Scott J

So you’re sleeping side by side right up next to each other. Everyone must have feces in their butt because you can’t wipe.

 

Scott M

They do it with their hands. Everybody had TB – they call it pixas. It’s like boils. These boils are the size of a quarter. They would start down by your bones. So by the time it got to a head where it could actually be popped or whatever, your whole three-inch diameter of your arm or whatever part of your body it was on was just beet red and it was hot as hell. When they would pop it, the stuff inside is this– it’s gross, it’s white stuff, but it’s really sticky. So you’d have to take a Q-tip and make sure you get it all out because, if you didn’t, it would come back. So when you get it all cleaned out, now you just have this hole the size of a quarter on your body that’s about a quarter inch deep. It’s just nasty. I remember there was one guy – Jok Jok was his nickname – and he had 27 pixas on his body at one time on his front and back and, when it would be time to sleep or whatever, he would cry because the sweat would come down and just sting. Oh, it was just nasty.

 

Scott J

And in conditions like that, you’ve got all those open sores on your body that’s just inviting infection.

 

Scott M

Right. And when they did heal, which would take forever, it would be a red. You’d have a red mark there. So you’d see almost like a bullet that leaves a big round scar. You could see that. Yeah, it was just gross.

 

Scott J

I’m trying to picture your first night sleeping in this space.

 

Scott M

Oh my God. Yeah. When I went in, the first thing they did was they took all your belongings and they brought you in front of the gang leader, the mayor, and they said, “I came in just by myself.” What I found later was different than the ordinary, but I came in and they took me to his cell, which ended up being my cell. They put me in front of him and he says, “What’s your case?”

 

I’m like, “Fuck. He already knows. He just wants to see if you’re lying or not.”

 

I’m like, “Rape.”

 

He’s like, “Who’d you rape?”

 

I said, “No one.”

 

He goes, “Oh yeah, okay. One of these.”

 

Scott J

Of course, everyone’s innocent

 

Scott M

Right. Everybody’s innocent, right? I’m like, “I didn’t,” And he goes, “Okay. We need to check you for any gang.” Of course he’s not speaking English, he’s having one of his boys speak it for him because he can’t speak it. This guy’s English was horrible and I was pretty fluent in Tagalog, but I didn’t let them know. I just spoke English. So, I knew what they were saying about me and they didn’t know that I knew. So he says, “Gang tattoos.”

 

I said, “No.”

 

And they said, “Off your shirt. We’re going to check.” So I take off my shirt and check. And then they said, “Okay, your shorts.” I take off my shorts and then I’m just in my boxers. I said, nothing. Everybody’s surrounding me and there’s about probably three feet of space. Then, I feel this finger, like, on my hip and going inside my boxers and it’s going to take them off. Instinctively, I whacked his hand. Man, that circle went to, like, a foot, and I’m thinking, “Oh shit, I’m going to get jumped.” And the gang leader says, “No, it’s alright. We just got to check you there for tattoos.” So I’m okay, okay. So I took my boxers off. “Okay, you’re good.” Then, they took my shirt and they gave me a yellow detainee shirt and they said, “All right, well go sit down. Make yourself at home.” And I’m just going, “Fuck.”

 

So I’m sitting there with all these other guys, and none of them speak English. I’m just going through this whole scenario of what just happened in the last 3-4 hours through my mind and just can’t believe I’m here. What the fuck is going on? But, oh, it’ll be over soon. They’re going to figure out that she’s lying. After that happened, it was visiting time. My wife was there, so I got to go upstairs and she had some food and she’s like, “Listen, we’re going to get this taken care of. I’m going to call an attorney and they’ll see that it’s all bullshit.”

 

And I said, “Okay.”

 

“And you have a court hearing tomorrow morning for your arraignment.”

 

So I’m going, “Okay, I’m going to go do the arraignment, say not guilty, and I’m going to get bail.” Next morning comes, I go to the court and meet the attorney. My attorney says, “Okay, we’re going to petition for bail.” He makes it sound like, “It’s just bail.” So I’m thinking, “Okay, it’s bail.”

 

We get in there and she says, “How does your client plead?”

 

And I’m like, “Not guilty.”

 

And then he says, “Motion for bail.”

 

And she says, “Denied.”

 

And we’re like, “Why?”

 

She goes, “Listen, he never responded to the preliminary investigation. So his intent already doesn’t look good.”

 

Scott J

It looks like you’re going to be a runner.

 

Scott M

Right. “His case is a heinous crime with strong evidence against him.” What’s the strong evidence? Her pointing at me and saying that I raped her is considered strong evidence there. So she says, “I’ll review the bail application though.” I came back from court that day thinking, “Okay cool, I’ll be out of here in a week” because my attorney’s saying, “Oh yeah, you’re going to get bail. You’re going to get bail.” And I’m like, “Okay.” Well, I went through 4 attorneys in that case.

 

Scott J

Your wife is actually Filipino, right?

 

Scott M

Yep.

 

Scott J

Okay. What was she doing on the outside? I mean, since she’s native, did she have any connections or know anyone that could help speed this up or anything?

 

Scott M

She did everything, man. When I met her, I was down in the province, down in the countryside, and we were renovating a church, and her mom and dad were pretty high up in the church. They’re really active in the church. Her mom also cooked. Her mom had, like, a canteen for my workers and they would get food and I would just deduct their salary every week and pay her. So she was making money too. So, it’s just a simple life. The third day we were there, she came walking up with this girl and we’re all like, “Jesus, who’s that?”

 

And she says, “Oh, this is my daughter, Marnelli.”

 

And I’m like, oh my God. Wow. Okay. And she was like, at that time, 18 and I was 32 – I think getting ready to turn 33. She’d lived, born and raised there. A week later, we went out and sang karaoke together and we’ve been together ever since. When I finished there and came up to Manila, she came with me, but it was her first time, so she didn’t know how to navigate the system, so to speak. So she had to learn quick,

 

Scott J

But she didn’t have any inside connections or anything, even if she wanted to.

 

Scott M

We had to rely on what the attorneys told us, which I came to find out is not reliable because they just want to make more money.

 

Scott J

Okay. Now you are an American and there’s an American Embassy there for help.

 

Scott M

The State Department doesn’t do shit to help you. Do you know what they did? They came on the day I was arrested or the next day and they brought– they said, “Here’s some toilet paper.”

 

And the guard says, “No, that’s not allowed.”

 

“Okay, here’s a razor you can shave.”

 

“Sorry, that’s not allowed.”

 

“Well, here’s a pen and paper so you can write stuff.”

 

They go, “That’s not allowed.”

 

“Okay, well, here’s a magazine to read.”

 

They’re like, “Well, yeah, okay. He can have that.”

 

“And here’s a list of attorneys you can hire. Other than that, there’s nothing we can do for you. We’ll come back and check on you in three months.” I said, “Wait, man. I have totally been set up. I wasn’t even here. I was on vacation when she said it happened. We were 10 hours away in the province.”

 

Scott J

So the embassy is like, “Sorry”?

 

Scott M

“Sorry. Nothing we can do for you.” And I was like, what a shit show. I thought they would come and then they’d help resolve it.

 

Scott J

That’s kind of their purpose over there.

 

Scott M

Right.

 

Scott J

Protect Americans.

 

Scott M

Right. That was a wake up call. And I was like, “Fuck, really? You’re not going to help me? You’re not going to do anything?” She said, “Sorry, we can’t get involved.”

 

“Even though I’ve been framed up?” If I was guilty, that’s one thing, I wouldn’t expect help, but I wasn’t. I was framed up and it was so easy to see. It’s like nothing we can do for you.

 

Scott J

Can you talk about what happened on day seven?

 

Scott M

Oh, day seven is like every other day, almost. just sitting there doing nothing. The gang leader’s out because he could go in and out of the cell whenever he wanted. He had that privilege

 

Scott J

Even though he was an inmate himself?

 

Scott M

Mmhmm. We’re sitting there and I hear these five guys say, “Let’s jump him. Let’s beat him.” And they’re like, “Yeah.” And I’m like, “Oh, fuck, here we go.” I knew it was going to happen, it had to happen sooner or later. I’m like, “All right, so today’s the day.” I still hadn’t spoken to anybody there – just English. And they’re like, “When he comes out, you hit him and then I’m going to grab him.” They make their plan.

 

Scott J

And they’re speaking a language that they don’t think you understand.

 

Scott M

Right. And they’re saying it loud, so everybody can hear. I mean, they’re right next to me. They think I don’t know. So I said in Tagalog, like, “Hey man.” They looked at me and I said, (Tagalog). It means, “Okay, let’s get it on.” And they’re like, “What?” They’re looking at each other and they’re looking at me, and I said, “But I just want to say one thing before we do this.” They’re still shocked. I said, “You guys are going to get me. You’re going to win. You’re probably going to kill me because there’s a lot of you, but I just want to let you know that three of you motherfuckers are going with me, man. So which three is it going to be? Because your mom’s a whore and your mom’s a whore and your dad’s a dick, and your mom and your grandma are horse and fuck all of you.” Inside, I’m scared shitless, man. My heart’s going boom, but you can’t let anybody know that. One guy looks at the guy that’s kind of in charge of them and goes, “He’s like that. The fucking dude is crazy.” That’s what they said. So I backed into the corner because I figured they can’t get behind me. I figured I’d give it my best for a couple of minutes, but strength in numbers. As they start to walk forward, Blaze of Glory– you know that song from Bon Jovi?

 

Scott J

Bon Jovi? Yeah.

 

Scott M

That intro is playing through my head and I remember thinking to myself, “I’m ready to fucking die. Why is this song in my head?”

 

Scott J

Going out in a blaze of glory.

 

Scott M

Yeah, right. So they come walking forward and then, all of a sudden, you hear this rebar slamming and it was the gang leader. Someone had must have went upstairs and told him what was going on and they didn’t have his permission to do it, so they’re fucked now. So he comes in and he’s like, asking, “What’s going on here?” I spoke to him in Tagalog and I said, “Hey, your boys are going to jump me, beat me up. I was just telling them that three of them are going to go to hell with me. So which three is it going to be?” And he looks at me, “You speak Tagalog?” And I said, “Dude, I’m sorry and no disrespect, but I hope you understand, but that was the only thing I had, man. I’m the only white guy here.”

 

Scott J

Your only advantage.

 

Scott M

Yeah, it’s my only ace in the hole I had. I knew what they were saying about me and they didn’t know that I knew. He looks at those five guys and he was just like, “You fucking idiots.” And smacked each one of them right on top of the head and sent them to cell A for a week. Cell A was where you went if you were sick and dying or if you were in trouble. He’s like, “I don’t want to see your face for a week.”

 

Then he looks at me and says, “Come here.” He takes me up to his area and he goes, “I wanted to talk to you, but I don’t speak English, so it felt kind of stupid to have everybody translate for me.” And I was like, “Oh, that’s cool.” He goes, “But you speak Tagalog, so now we can be friends.” And I’m like, “Yeah.”

 

He goes, “Is there anything I can do for you?” I’m like, “Dude, I would love to have a place to sleep” because there were eight beds there. Well, plus his area was nine. He had a big area, but the eight beds were for his officers. One guy was in charge of food, one guy was in charge of collecting the rent, so everybody had a job to do.

 

And he goes, “How much money do you have?” I said 300 USD (15,000 pesos). He goes, “I’ll have it done tomorrow.” I was like, “Really?” He’s like, “Yeah. I’ll put you right next to me.” So six feet above the ground right next to him. They had a 4 foot by 6 foot piece of plywood and some coconut lumber, and they made me a bed and I would pay him rent every month, like 20 bucks US for rent. Every time they had a holiday or a function, I would give money. Him and I became really close. So I was able to have privileges like the high ranking gang members had, but I wasn’t a gang member, which was unheard of. I still talk to him to this day, as a matter of fact.

 

Scott J

I can’t help but think how quickly your perspective can change. I mean, this happened on day seven, and you had been in those conditions enough that you were delighted to have a piece of plywood to sleep on.

 

Scott M

Man, I was so happy. I was living large.

 

Scott J

Unbelievable.

 

Scott M

I’ve always been lucky though, because I’ve always kind of been like a chameleon. I could always adapt to whatever situation I was in ever since I was a kid. I don’t know how or why, but whatever situation I was in, I could always adapt easily. So, to get these court dates lined up, you’d have, “Okay. I got three court dates this month. I got four court dates next month, so that’s two months. So this is all going to be resolved in that time. I’ll be good. I had 56 court hearings scheduled. 16 of them went through, the rest of them would get canceled.”

 

Scott J

Why would they get canceled?

 

Scott M

No judge, no prosecutor, lack of material time. Because when they’d take you to jail, they’d chain gang you. So there’d be maybe 15-20 people. You’d be in chain gangs in cuffs. They’d take you out and they’d transport you to the jail, which is like a mile away. In the chain gang, you’d go all the way up to the holding cell where they would take the cuffs off of you, but I would always get in the very front or the very back, so the guards were pretty cool to me because I would loan them money. I could either get in the front or the back because I figured that if shit went down, I had one hand that was free as opposed to being anywhere in the inside. On the inside, both of your hands are toast. So you always had to think of that kind of stuff, like, “What if?”

 

Scott J

But their idea is they still wanted to make a deal with you. What were they proposing?

 

Scott M

About every six weeks, a different policeman would come down to visit me. It was the same spiel. They pretend like they were my buddy and they’d want to help me out. “Well, you pay 5 million pesos and we’ll drop your case against her. 125 grand US.” I said, “Go fuck yourself. No way.” Because I’m thinking I’m going to be out of here. I’ve got this court date and this court date, and this court date. I had it all pre-planned. That was my mistake actually. They’d say, “Okay, and they’d leave.” A month and a half later, another one would come and they just kept trying and trying and all the while my court dates would get canceled, which I figured out later was all part of the plan. The judge was in on it. The prosecutor was in on it.

 

Scott J

They would all get some of that money if you paid.

 

Scott M

Oh yeah. yep. It would just drive me crazy because I’m supposed to be out of here. I’m not even supposed to be here in the first place. And then the motion for bail is going, and they don’t let me present witnesses, but they let her present witnesses, which she didn’t have any, but she had her testimony. And I’m like, “What the fuck? Can I present witnesses?” So it was becoming evident very early on that there’s a lot more than just her involved.”

 

Scott J

If you went to trial and you were actually found guilty somehow, what could that have meant as far as your sentencing?

 

Scott M

80 years.

 

Scott J

80 years?!

 

Scott M

Yep. 80 years. And that wasn’t happening. I made my mind up on that one after about a year in. I’m like, “I ain’t doing the rest of my life for something I didn’t do. That ain’t in the cards.”

 

Scott J

By around year three, your mom had found an organization that would try to help you. What was that?

 

Scott M

Yeah. It was about the beginning of third year – maybe 3-3.5 years. I got a notice delivered at the jail that my bail had been denied because of strong evidence shown on her behalf, which was her statement. And I just went, “You know what? I ain’t going to get out of here.” My morale was just gone. Then, it was visiting time and Marnelli showed up and I said, “Listen, my bail was denied.” She’s just like, “How’s that?”

 

I’m like, “Fuck. I don’t know, It’s not looking good. This isn’t looking good. And I’m pretty sure that I’m going to get convicted no matter what I do, no matter what defense we present.” And I said, “I ain’t doing the rest of my fucking life a convicted rapist. No way.”

 

And she’s like, “So what? What are you going to do? You’re going to go up to the prison?”

 

I said, “Yeah. And when I get out, I’m going to run for the fucking wall.”

 

She’s like, “But they’re five meters tall.”

 

I said, “Exactly.

 

She goes, “They’ll shoot you.”

 

I go, “Exactly.”

 

And she’s just like, “What?”

 

I said, “You’re young, you’re beautiful. The kids are young. You just tell them that something happened to me and I died at a work accident or something, and that’ll be that. You’ll find a husband. You better make sure he is good to my kids. By the time they’re 18, which is now, I’ll just be a memory to them, but at least a good one.” I wasn’t going to have them growing up with– because people find out and they’re going to get bullied. Fuck that man. It wasn’t happening. I wasn’t going that way and she couldn’t fathom it. When she finally did, she’s just freaking out. But right after that, I got an email from my mom because we hadn’t told her that I was in jail and I told my uncle, “Don’t tell her because I’m going to get out soon. It’s okay.” Well, when the bail got denied, my uncle’s like, “We better tell her.” So that’s his sister.

 

So he told her, and then we got an email from her saying that she found or she met this guy who knows a guy who has a company and they specialize in Americans that are incarcerated abroad that are innocent and he’s willing to take a look at our case. I don’t want to say his name or his organization because he does a lot of high level cases around the world.

 

Scott J

He benefits from anonymity?

 

Scott M

Yes, exactly. And that’s how he’s able to get things done. So they investigated my case and he goes, “This is the first case I’ve seen where there’s so much evidence in your favor, yet nothing’s getting done. We will gladly take your case.” Well, there’s a fee and this big fee because, of course, they’re doing everything overseas. It’s like over a million bucks. My mom tells him, “We don’t even have anywhere close to that.” And he goes, “I’ve never seen a case like that. You know what? Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to do it for free. You just have to pay for the telephone calls or, if we have to fly there, just pay the expenses. And man, this dude… wow man.

 

Scott J

He saved your life.

 

Scott M

Oh dude, totally. And then he got the California Innocence Project involved.

 

Scott J

That’s a group that we can name.

 

Scott M

Yes. Those guys we can name and I love those guys. They got involved and did a lot of things also. I mean, they came out to the Philippines to attend one of my hearings and they did a lot to get the word out and used what influence and what contacts they had. He got the United Nations to investigate my case. That was a big thing because they don’t investigate a single case – they investigate groups of, like, humanitarian or whatever – but he got them to investigate my case and they investigated and they said, “There’s no evidence against this guy.” And he goes, “Exactly.” So they wrote a letter to the Philippine government and said, “We’re going to give you 60 days to tell us why you have this man detained and why he’s been detained for over three years already, and in inhumane conditions and his human rights are being violated.” The Philippine government didn’t even respond.

 

But that was a big turning point because the media started to get involved and started getting media attention and TV stations here in Seattle, KIRO 7, a guy named Gary Horcher, he really took interest in it and started covering it. Well, the station didn’t want to do it originally, and they said, “What if he’s guilty? That’s going to look bad for us.” He says, “He’s not guilty. I’ve investigated everything.” And they said, “Yeah, I don’t know.” And he says, “I’ll tell you what, if he’s guilty, I’ll resign.” And they went, “Okay.” So he started doing specials on me. Then, other media outlets caught onto it and I always give him credit for really bringing the media on because he’s the one that he just dove into it and really believed in my innocence. He was awesome, man.

 

Scott J

Around the four year mark, you got another visit. You’ve gotten lots of visits. They want you to make a deal. But what happened on that visit?

 

Scott M

Cops are coming every four to six weeks. So, it was like any other time they’re sitting there. They said, (Tagalog). That means, “Scott, there’s somebody at the gate.” I’m thinking, “Oh, great, okay.” I get down and I go to the hallway and there’s this little Filipino cop, and I’m thinking, “Fuck, here we go again.” He sees me from a distance. He’s like, “Parley! Hey Scott!” Parley is like, “Hey bro.”

 

And I said, “Yeah?”

 

He goes, “How are you?”

 

I go, “I’m doing good. Let me guess. You’re here to help me.”

 

He goes, “Yeah, man. I’ve just been worried about you.”

 

Fuck, I don’t even know you. What are you talking about?

 

“I’ve been worried. We want to help you because you’ve been done wrong.”

 

I go, “Yeah, well, I ain’t giving you any money.”

 

So he goes, “No, I’ve got a deal. I’ve been working on this for you.”

 

I said, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

 

He goes, “You don’t have to pay anything, no money.”

 

“So what’s the catch?”

 

He goes, “Nothing. You just drop your case against her – your child abuse case. You drop that case against her, and then you give something for the boys. Pay them off and you’re going to go home because you’ve been here a long time. Man, you’re never going to get out of here if you don’t do this.”

 

And I go, “Yeah, you know what, man? You’re right, I want to go home.”

 

And he’s like, “Yeah, now you’re thinking.”

 

And I said, “But I just don’t know how much I should pay you guys. What do you guys want?”

 

He goes, “It’s up to you what you’re going to give” because they know already that my offer’s going to be probably bigger than what they would think is reasonable. So I said, “Well, I got it. I got an offer.” He’s just so happy. He’s probably going, “I can’t wait to get back and tell these fuckers, “I made the deal. All you guys are lame.” So I said, “I know how much.” And he goes, “How much?” I lean close to the bars because, like, spaced at six inches, and I stick my hand out right in front of his face and I said, “One peso, motherfucker. Fuck you.” And he smiled. He went red. He was pissed. He looks at me and he goes, “You’re going to fucking die in here.” I pointed to the sky and I said, “I don’t know, man. I got a pretty good bodyguard. I’ve been here for four years so far, living large.”

 

And he goes, “You’re dead. You’re going to die in here.”

 

And I said, “Yo, fuck you. Get out of here man. Fuck out of here.” I remember that cop turns around to walk off and he gets about five steps and he kind of raises his arm, like, ah, you never know what can happen. I was like, “Fuck, whatever man. Get, the fuck out of here.”

 

And he goes, “What’s your pretty young wife’s name? Is it Marnelli?”

 

And I was like, “Oh, you cocksucker.”

 

And he goes, “And let’s not forget little Nicole.” Now he’s got my attention. And he says, “Oh yeah. And Scott Jr. Let’s not forget him. He’s getting bigger now.” And I’m like, okay. He goes, “You never know. Rape, murder, Alage.” Alage is when they take you up to the train tracks out in the middle of nowhere and they kill you and just leave you there. He goes, “Happens all the time.”

 

I’m going, “He’s got my attention now.” And man, my heart’s just going, bam. I’m fucking scared now. Now what do I do? I’m thinking, like, “Okay. You’re right man.You are right. There’s nothing I can do. But I do know one thing.”

 

Now, he’s the one that’s cocky. He’s like, “Yeah, what’s that?”

 

I go, “Well, you’re here because you don’t have any money and you want my money so you can have money. But you ain’t getting my money. He doesn’t know I don’t have any money. So here’s what’s going to happen. If one hair, any of my family is harmed, I’m going to take that money that I got and I’m going to hire your best friend to fucking rape your wife and fucking kill your kids, and fucking anything he would’ve done to mine twice as bad. So fuck you.”

 

I didn’t think he could get more pissed or red, but he did. He was just like, “You’re fucking. You’re dead. You’re dead.” I’m like, “Get out. Fuck. Get out of here.” he walked off and I’m walking back to my bed, to my little world thinking, “I hope I did the right thing.”

 

Everybody’s telling me, “You’re stupid. You are stupid.”

 

I’m just, “Shut up man.”

 

The gang leader’s out of the cell at that time and when he got back, he’s like, “Get over here.” He’s pissed.

 

And I’m like, “Yeah?”

 

He goes, “What the fuck are you saying to that cop?”

 

And I’m like, “Look what he’s doing.”

 

He goes, “How many times do I have to tell you? This isn’t your world, man. You think that they won’t do something to your family? You’re crazy if you think that they won’t because they can and they probably will.”

 

I’m thinking “Whatever”. That night goes and the next day comes and it’s visiting time and my wife doesn’t show up. I’m thinking that’s odd because she always shows up and I’m thinking what if– nah, nah, no, it’s just something. Maybe they’re coming later or maybe she’s going to drop off food.

 

Scott J

Does she ever just not show up?

 

Scott M

No, never. And if she can’t show up, she’ll at least drop off a letter to the guards or if she knows somebody that can stop by and visit me, one of her friends and tell me what’s going on. She never just doesn’t not show up.

 

Scott J

And this is the day after this guy made those threats on your family?

 

Scott M

Of course, it’s in the back of my mind, but I’m thinking, “Nah, she’ll be here tomorrow.” I’m a little worried, but not too worried yet. The next day comes and she doesn’t show up. Now, I’m getting worried and I’m thinking, “What the fuck? Are they dead? No, man. No way.” Getting back to the American state of mind, right? “No, they don’t do that.” Leo, the gang leader, says, “They didn’t show up, huh?” And I’m like, “No.” And he goes, “Man, I hope they’re all right.” And I’m like, “Yeah, they’re, fine. They’re fine, man.” He’s like, okay.

 

The next day comes – the third day – and they don’t show up again. Now I’m freaking out, dude. I’m freaking out. I’m worried. I have a guy that I know. I said, “Hey, could you ask your wife if she can call my wife and ask him what’s going on?” He says, “Yeah, we can do that.” This is day three. No food, about out of water, so I’m getting hungry. So my mind’s kind of starting to drift into the darker side, but I have to wait till the next day to get the reply from his wife, until she comes to visit him. I’m thinking that night, like, “Fuck, man. Are they dead?” What’s going through my mind is like my wife being raped,aAnd I’m just like sitting there watching it like a movie and my daughter being raped, and my son– and then them being killed. It was like, “Fuck man.” That’s all that would go through my mind and I’m like, “God, what is wrong with me?”

 

Scott J

Yeah. All you have is all day to just sit and think.

 

Scott M

Exactly, yeah. And I put my pillow – I guess you’d call it a pillow, whatever piece of blanket over my head – so people didn’t see me crying because you don’t want people to see you crying. I didn’t sleep that night. The next morning comes and we’re waiting for a visit. It’s just like forever because I got news coming then. So whatever from eight to noon seems like another full day.

 

Scott J

And this is when the other guy’s wife is going to come back?

 

Scott M

Yeah. So visiting hours come and he’s called out, but I still have to wait until after visiting hours until they come back in.

 

Scott J

And that’s a few hours in itself, right?

 

Scott M

Right. Four hours. During that time, I’m waiting for Marnelli, Nicole and Scott, and they don’t show up. By that time, I’m just going, “Fuck, man, my only hope I have is news from her.” So visiting hours are over and he comes back in and he’s got a look on his face, and I knew. He goes, “She called, but it went right to ‘the phone is out of service’.” And I just went, “Oh my fucking God.” So that’s day four. They’re fucking dead. I’m like, “Fuck, I just got my family murdered because of my mouth and all because I didn’t want to pay. And I’m thinking to myself, “Fuck it, why didn’t I just pay?”

 

Scott J

Right. It’s one thing if it just affects you and your integrity of not wanting to admit guilt, but now it’s your family.

 

Scott M

Yeah. Right. And maybe they’re fucking, “They’re dead,” How do you explain it? It is the worst. It’s the biggest mind fuck you’ve ever been in because, again, you have another 24 hours just to sit and think about it. And again, that movie’s playing in my head. I’m watching my wife’s clothes ripped off and these guys raping her and my daughter, and they’re making them watch, and I’m just going fucking crazy, man. I’ve been out for a while but, even now, I still have nightmares about it sometimes.

 

Scott J

That’s mental torture, yeah.

 

Scott M

Yeah. I still wake up every two hours to this day. I mean, I was never a heavy sleeper before. I’ll wake up every two hours and, after 5-6 hours, I’m just up after that. I’ve always been that way though. So that day turns into night and that’s day four, and no food and I’m out of water now. I got hunger pains, man. I’m fucking hungry and I’m thirsty. I can’t sleep and I’m fucking crying. I’m a mess. Day five comes and, again, I’m waiting until noon, until the visiting hours come. The visiting hours come and they start calling people for visitors and none of them’s my name. Then, about an hour in, they said, “Hey Scott, you have a visitor.” I’m like, “Fuck yeah, right on.” And I’m like, “Wait, a visitor?” They always tell me, like, “Scott, your wife’s here.” This time, “Scott, you have a visitor.”

 

And I’m thinking, “Okay, they’re coming to give me the news.” So I got ready. They opened the door and you got to walk up – it’s like ship stairs, man, they’re so steep – 3 levels to get up to the visiting area. So I’m going up the first flight of stairs. One of the trustees in the back says, “Oh, Scott, it’s your wife.” And I’m like, “What? Fuck. Why didn’t you say something?” “Well, we didn’t know. They just said you had a visitor.” I’m like fucking whoa. So bam, I’m beating my feet up the stairs. I get to the top and, there in the back corner, is my wife, my daughter, and my son. And I’m just like, “Fucking thank you Lord.” And then I got pissed. This wave of anger comes over me. I walk over there and I’m like, “What the fuck have you been?” She’s just looking at me and she’s kind of disoriented. When I was done ranting, she goes, “Kids had the flu. What am I supposed to do? Just leave them at home?” And I was like, “Oh, yeah. Right. Kids are sick. Gotcha. Sure. Okay. All right. All good. How are you doing? Can I have some food? I’m hungry.” And four days after that just to find out.

 

I never told her about the cop. As a matter of fact, I didn’t tell her till about a couple years ago. What do you say? I mean, from thinking your family has been raped and tortured and murdered to boom, there they are.

 

Scott J

What a rollercoaster of emotions.

 

Scott M

Exactly. And I was already unstable enough in there anyways. They all thought I was crazy.

 

Scott J

So she thought your reaction was just because you were hungry?

 

Scott M

Yeah.

 

Scott J

That’s a little overreaction, although four days with no food, that’s–

 

Scott M

And she was like, “Well, I sent you food a couple times. I had my friend drop it off.” I’m like, “Fuck, I never got it.” She goes, “Yeah, I sent it. Said the kids are sick.” And nobody told me

 

Scott J

What unfortunate coincidental timing for that to happen.

 

Scott M

Right.

 

Scott M

Man, because if she would bring food, I’d always get it. Someone must have been in a bad mood or having a bad day or something, and fuck it would need to take it to him. That’s what you dealt with in those kinds of situations. I would’ve taken the physical abuse over the mental abuse any day of the week. Beat my ass. I don’t care. I don’t care. Because at least I know my wife and kids are okay and they’re coming and bringing me food. Then, not long after that, she had a nervous breakdown and went back home, took the kids, so I didn’t see them for a year and two months, something like that. But by that time, I was established enough there and my uncle would send me money every week so I could pay people to buy me food, stuff like that. So she was gone.

 

My mom had come to visit me and the media thing was rolling along really well. She had a couple meetings with the embassy actually because they were getting a bad rap too. So, oh, we’re going to start attending his hearings and this and that, and they make a plan and then they tell my mom, “Why don’t you guys just pay her off?” This is the embassy – off the record, of course. “Why don’t you guys just pay her off so he can get out?” And my mom says, “He won’t do it. He doesn’t want us to do it and he’s not guilty and he’s not going to do it.” And they’re like, okay. And she goes, “So what are the chances? I mean, what kind of success have you had in the past where someone doesn’t want to pay and they’re innocent and goes to trial?” They go, “We don’t know. We haven’t had one that’s won yet.” She relayed the message to me and I said, “No, man.” Even after all that thinking “They’re dead”, even after all of that, I couldn’t pay. I wasn’t guilty. And if I paid, it’s like I was guilty.

 

I always said, I had to set an example to my kids, if that makes any sense at all. You have to stick by what you believe in no matter what. At the end of the day, you can’t take any of that shit with you, but you can take your honor and you can take who you are. I figured, if anything, that’s the message I was going to leave them with because it has to stop sometimes. There’s got to be someone that says, “You know what? Fuck you. I ain’t paying because, otherwise, it’s never going to change.” I figured if I was that guy, okay, then that’s what God wanted me to do. That’s my mission. That was my mission. So that was that.

 

Then, they give me trial dates. By this time, I had attorney number four and he was a guy that my uncle knew. A month later, I get these trial dates, the trial goes and we present all of our stuff. We presented log books from the subdivision that I wasn’t even there when she said it happened. We presented a letter she wrote to the subdivision a week before she moved out, saying, “I’m moving.” So she didn’t even live there when she said it happened. She had already moved out. We had her letter as evidence. We had all the water meters showing zero activity. We had one of the guards testify because, when you go in and out, they log you in and log you out even if you have a visitor. So we had all this evidence down in the province. My wife’s neighbor came up to Manila and testified that they saw me there at the time. She said the rape happened. I was there. They saw me outside drinking coffee. I said hello to them. They saw me there the days prior and the days after that. He was a young kid too. He was in his twenties and he was really good. And I’m thinking, “Man, this kid is going to get smoked up there because he’s this kind of kid from the province that doesn’t know anything about the big city, and the prosecutor’s grilling him.”

 

And he’s like, “So you saw him down there?”

 

And he says, “Yeah.”

 

He goes, “You know what the penalty for perjury is?” Trying to intimidate him. And my attorney said, “Objection.” He said okay. And he goes, “When you saw Mr. Scott down there, you were on your way to school.”

 

He goes, yeah. He goes, “Well, Mr. Witness, it’s a Saturday. You don’t have school on Saturday, so how could you see him if you’re going to school?”

 

He goes, “Oh, we do. I was in ROTC. Here’s my log from my school that gives me credit for it.”

 

The prosecutor’s, like, just no further questions. Now, I was having some hope. We do the trial, we wrap it up and they said, “You have a hearing date set for June for your promulgation a couple weeks away.” That got changed to a week later, and then it finally got changed again to August 2. So on August 2, I go to the court and my mom’s there and I’m still not sure if it’s going to happen because you don’t know until you actually get in the courtroom and the judge comes out. We get in the courtroom. I’m the only one. Then, the judge comes out and she says, “Andrew,” the clerk, “Go to page seven and start reading.”

 

My attorney whispers to me, “No matter what happens, tell her thank you.”

 

I’m like, “You’re high, whatever.”

 

And he goes, “I’m serious.”

 

So they make me stand up while he’s reading it and he’s going through, reading, and it’s, like, really muffled because my head wasn’t there. It’s like my whole life was going through my mind – things when I was a kid and things I did as I was older, good and bad. Regrets and things I was thankful for. All of a sudden, in the middle of that, I hear him say, “We find the defendant, Scott Thomas McMahon not guilty.” And I’m like, “Boom, that caught my attention.” I’m like, “What? I’m not guilty?”

 

She’s like, “So be it. Court, we find the defendant not guilty. Court adjourned.” And then she looks at me and she goes, “Mr. McMahon, I would advise you, ‘Go home and don’t come back here’.” And I said, “Gladly, your Honor.” My attorney kind of jabbed me, like, “Tell her thank you.” Fuck that. I ain’t telling her thank you. So we turn around and they take me to the back, to the holding cell. Well, there’s embassies there. My mom’s there, my attorney’s there, everybody’s happy. I look at the guards when we get to the holding cell. I was like, “Get these fucking handcuffs off me, man,” because we were all pretty cool by that time. They’re like, “Hey, easy.” when they took the handcuffs off. My attorney came in and we took pictures and we were all happy. I got out, went back to jail, and got released three hours later. I got back and everybody’s happy.

 

The gang leader, Leo, he’s like, “You’re going home!” The guard says, “Go get your stuff. You’re leaving in two hours. Your papers will be ready.” I’m sitting there with the gang leader, Leo, and I said, “You know what? We didn’t really have a chance to hang out today. Why don’t I just stay one more night and I’ll just leave tomorrow? That way, we can hang out and we can eat, and so we can really say goodbye.” And he goes, “You’re fucking crazy. Get out of here.” Well, truth was, I was scared. I was scared to go out. I was institutionalizing. I’d been in there so long and I was scared to fucking leave and didn’t want to leave – I did, but I didn’t. When it was time to leave, my mom’s there and my uncle had his driver and one of the other workers picked me up.

 

We went to the store and they said, “What do you want to do?” I said, “All I want to do is get the kids here, but I want to go back to Uncle Mike’s house and I want to have a big fucking glass of milk.” They’re like, “Milk?!” I’m like, “I haven’t had a glass of milk in five and a half years, man. I want a glass of dairy gold milk because you could get it over there.” I went back to my uncle’s and had a big, huge glass of milk and waited for the kids. Marnelli and they showed up about midnight that night.

 

Scott J

So they were coming up on the bus.

 

Scott M

Yeah. And I hadn’t talked to them in a year. I hadn’t seen them, hadn’t heard from them. So we were ready to video the whole moment. They got there and they came walking in the door, and it was not how I expected it to be. Nicole’s like this and my son’s kind of looking around, and I’m like, “Hey guys.” And they’re nervous. I was like, “This isn’t going as planned.” They didn’t know what to say to me. So I said, “Can I want to take them upstairs in the room for just a minute?” They were kind of hesitant to go up. We went up and I closed the door and I said, “Alright, who’s getting it first?” And I start tickling them and then they start laughing, and then boom, everything was good. So we came downstairs and everything was good. And then it takes another turn. On the third day, the phone rings and my uncle says, “Scott, it’s Attorney Navarro.”

 

I said, “Oh, okay.” And I said, “Hi, attorney.”

 

He goes, “What are you doing?”

 

I said, “I’m going to take the kids to the mall. We’re going to go hang out.”

 

And he goes, “No, you’re not.”

 

And I was like, “Oh fuck. Boom, boom. My heart starts going–” What do you mean no, I’m not? He goes, “Listen, one of my former students works at the Bureau of Immigration and he just called me. Apparently, your working visa expired while you were in jail. So now, you don’t have a valid visa. The Bureau of Immigration wants $10,000 and they’re on their way to Mike’s house right now to arrest you. So get the kids, get your wife, get them on a bus and get the fuck out of there.” And I’m like, “Hang up and fuck, here we go again.”

 

I told Marnelli, “Come on, you guys got to go.”

 

She’s like, “What are you talking about?”

 

I kind of explained it as we’re getting ready and I get them to the bus terminal and the kids don’t know what to think. 5-5.5 years gone. I’m back for two days and now I have to leave again. And I said, “There’s bad people out there that don’t like the fact that I got out of jail, so you guys need to go home so I can take care of the bad people.”

 

They’re like, “Okay.” And they get on the bus and as they start to drive away, and I was like, their faces are glued to the window and I could see it in their eyes like going, “Is he coming back?” Oh God, that just broke my heart, man. I can still see it, like, right now – just my little girl and my son and my wife – just the look on her face. She was just stressed. My uncle had another house that was about 30 minutes away, so he said, “Go to La Maria House.” So I went there – that was a gated subdivision also – and I was there for a week. My attorney would pay his former student. Whenever there was an update, he would call him, tip him off. So they’d find out where I was. So a week goes by and I must have been drunk the whole time because every time I go outside to go buy something, drink, people are looking at me because I’m white, but I’m thinking, “It’s one of them. It’s an informant.”

 

After a week, my attorney calls me and goes, “Get out of there. They’re on their way.” Fuck. Okay. So I went to a friend of mine. I go there. Two days goes by, then he calls me, “Get out of there. They know where you are.” I went to a hotel. A few days goes by, “Get out there, they know where you are.” And I said, “You know what? I’m going down to the province. I’m going to go see my kids and my wife.” And I’m talking to the people that are handling my case on the pro bono side, and they said, “No. You can’t do that.” I’m like, “What else am I going to do? I mean, they’re going to find me. I want to spend time with my kids. At least if they get me, at least I got to spend some time with my kids. I ain’t doing this to them again.” And they’re like, “Oh man. Can you disguise yourself a little bit? Maybe wear a hoodie or something.” I go, “It’s fucking 95 degrees and I’m going to wear a hoodie?”

 

Scott J

You’d stand out wearing that.

 

Scott M

Yeah, right. So I took a night trip on the bus down there. I got down to where the kids were, and I was there for a week and my mom called and said, “We’ve been talking to Senator Cantwell.” Maria Cantwell was one of our senators here in Washington, and she has been in contact with the Philippine government. We’re trying to get this thing taken care of. Well, in that time, there’d been more media because they said I was the longest American detained in a foreign jail without a trial. So that gave it more and they said, “He’s released, now he’s on the run.” And the Washington Post had done a big article on it and some other things. Finally, after another week, she called and said, “It’s all done, taken care of. You’re going to pay $1,000, which would’ve been your visa extensions over those years, and they’re going to let you go. You’re not blacklisted anymore.”

 

Now, I’m going, “Okay, so when am I going to leave?”

 

And she goes, “You’re leaving tomorrow.”

 

I’m like, “What??”

 

“Tomorrow morning, your flight. We’ve already got you the ticket.”

 

And I’m like, “What am I going to tell the kids?”

 

She’s like, “You can figure that out later, but you got to go and you can’t bring them.” The day after I was acquitted, the embassy called me for a meeting and we went into this room – and there’s, like, six of them – and everyone’s like, “Oh, Scott, we’re so glad you’re out. We’re just so happy.”

 

And I’m like, “Yeah, right, whatever.”

 

They say, “Is there anything we can do for you?”

 

I said, “Yeah, you can give my wife and my kids a visa so they can come home with me.”

 

“Oh, we can’t do that. There’s a procedure for this and that.”

 

I said, “Where’s the ambassador? Because he’s the representative of the president, he could sign those things and be done in 10 minutes.”

 

“Well, he’s not in, he’s not here.”

 

How convenient. He’s not here. So that was that. I told the kids, “I’m leaving tomorrow.”

 

They’re like, “Now where?”

 

I said, “I’m going back to America.”

 

“Well, aren’t we coming?”

 

I said,  “Not right now, no, but you will.” The look on their faces was just– later that afternoon, about three hours later, we went to the bus station, gave them all a hug, took a picture. I got on the bus and came back to Manila. The next morning I went home.

 

Scott J

You flew back to Seattle without them?

 

Scott M

Yeah.

 

Scott J

So when you get back, what’s the process? What do you have to do to get them over here?

 

Scott M

Let’s see. When I got back, I flew into Seattle. It was like a 36 hour trip. I had a 12 hour layover in Hong Kong in the middle of the night, and it was a shitty flight. But right as we’re landing, two of the stewardesses come back and say, “Hey, there’s a bunch of media out there waiting for you.” So I’m like, “Oh, so they already knew.” They said, “Do you want anything?” I’m like, “Yeah, a beer.” So they had beer with me. They were two guys and we let everybody off the plane first. They said, I’ll just go out last. We had two beers together and they knew all about my case, and they were really cool. I got out and, sure enough, there were cameras and lights and people, and I’m just going, “Fuck man. Okay.” Met with that and did an interview with Horcher and then I went home to my mom’s house and I’m thinking, “Okay, now, I got to get my family here.”

 

So I filed for the petitions and that was 2016. In 2018, they were approved. So Marnelli and Nicole, my daughter, came here in 2018. My son’s petition was denied and he was from my first wife, but Marnelli raised him since he was six months old. Her family is family. So they made us take a DNA test for each kid, and they charge you $1,000 per kid. It’s just a process. I got this letter from the government saying that Nicole Marie McMahon has been approved for citizenship. They said, “Scott Thomas McMahon Jr. has been denied and you’ll be sent a letter stating why.” The next day or two later, I got a letter and they said, “Your DNA and his DNA didn’t match. Therefore, his citizenship petition is denied.” And I’m going, “What?” I mean, what else could go wrong? And I’m thinking, it wasn’t that our DNA didn’t match, that didn’t matter. He’s my son, no matter what, but I know that it’s going to be really hard to get him here now. And how do I break the news to him? He goes, “Nicole’s approved. When am I coming?” And I go, “There’s some problems with yours.” And he goes, “What do you mean?” I go, “You know how Filipinos are. They fuck everything up. They made mistakes and we’re getting it figured out,” and he’s going, “Okay.” By this time, he’s about 14 now at that time. So I filed another petition and I petitioned him as my stepson.

 

Scott J

The DNA test showed that you were not his biological father, but you didn’t even know that ahead of time.

 

Scott M

I had no idea. None.

 

Scott J

But you were married to a different woman at that time, right?

 

Scott M

Right. That’s why Marnelli and I could never get married because there’s no divorce there. Her and I split up six months after he was born.

 

Scott J

Your first wife. Okay.

 

Scott M

Yeah. Then, I never had any contact with her, hardly at all. I mean, I did for a couple of years after that, but then nothing. The attorney says, “If this gets approved, you’re going to be breaking another record.” I said, “Well, why is that?” She goes, “Because there hasn’t been a petition approved for a stepchild to come to America without the biological mother. In the research I’ve done, there was one approved that was, like, 40 years ago. So we have to prove that you’re the only father he has ever known.” Luckily, I had all my Western Union receipts when I would be sending the money and pictures and everything and we made our best case for it and sent it in. She calls me back and goes, “You’re a lucky man because he’s been approved.” I’m like, “No shit.” She goes, “Yeah.” And that was about three years ago and he still hasn’t had his interview and his visa stamped yet because I’ll submit the documents they want and then they’ll say, “Oh, you need to resubmit this and resubmit this.” And I’m like, “I just submitted it to you. It’s already there.”

 

“Well, we can’t see it. It’s not legible.” It’s perfectly legible.

 

We’re at the point now where I’d have my mom be a joint sponsor for the financial obligations. They said, “Send in her W2.”

 

“I sent it in.”

 

They said, “Oh, we never received it.”

 

I said, “It’s right there. Open up my case account and look. It’s right there.”

 

“Well, you need to send it again. And then, oh, you need to send it again.”

 

This has been going on for a month and a half now. So I finally sent him an email and I said, “Listen, man. I’ve sent it to you three times. Someone in your office is stupid because it’s right there. So, for the third time, I’m going to send it again.”

 

Then they called me and left me a voicemail, “We’ve noticed there’s no action on your petition for your son and we’re going to call you back one more time and that’s it.” And they never called me back. Then, they sent me an email and said, “We tried to call you.” No you didn’t, because I have them all saved, and there’s only one of them.

 

So now we’re still waiting. Now they want her to submit a transcript of her tax record, which I thought was your W2, but apparently you go to the IRS website and you get it. So that’s where we’re at now.

 

Scott J

This is unbelievable. I mean, this is the part of the story where we hear your son comes over and it’s a happy ending, but this story has not ended yet because he’s still there. When was the last time you saw Scott Jr.?

 

Scott M

 

Scott J

9 years ago.

 

Scott M

Yeah. We haven’t lived together as a family since 2011.

 

Scott J

How old is Scott Jr. now?

 

Scott M

He’s going to be 21. He’ll be 21 in August.

 

Scott J

Oh man.

 

Scott M

Poor kid. He’s just put through the fucking ringer. Always getting the short end of the stick. Breaks my heart.

 

Scott J

What are his living arrangements now?

 

Scott M

He lives with Marnelli’s parents, and they’re just absolutely wonderful people.

 

Scott J

At least, he’s in good hands, right?

 

Scott M

Yeah. And it’s their grandson. All of her family, that’s his family. There’s no discrimination at all. I mean, he’s a star basketball player at his college and MVP in his league, and he’s a really good basketball player, but he just wants to come here. Now with everything that’s going on with Homeboy as president, everything’s in disarray. So who knows what’s going to happen because, right now, nothing surprises me. If they say, “Oh, he’s denied, we can’t do it,” it’s not going to surprise me. If they say, “he’s approved and he’s ready to go,” I guess I’ll be surprised.

 

Scott J

You’ll believe it when you see him on US soil.

 

Scott M

Exactly. That’s exactly it, yes. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Yep.

 

Scott J

Well we are going to follow this very closely.

 

Scott M

Yeah.

 

Scott J

What’s your message to people who are traveling outside the US?

 

Scott M

If something happens to you, don’t expect your government to help you out because they ain’t going to. I just checked the state department’s policies the other day on being in a foreign country getting arrested, and it’s still the same as it was when I was there. State Department policy hasn’t changed a bit. It’s a real eye opener because you would think that your country will help you if you’re innocent. If you’re not, then do the crime, do the time. But you would think being innocent that your country would come, the mighty USA would come to your rescue and they won’t. It’s a big eyeopener. I just hope nobody else has to go through what I went through. I know there’s somebody out there that is right now, and I wish I could help them.

 

Scott J

And I know you’ve written a book. It’s in the process of trying to be published. Once that’s available, certainly we’ll put that in the episode notes.

 

Scott M

Oh, that’d be great, man. I think that’s what my purpose was through all this, is that I made it, and so can you. I’m no better than you are.

 

Scott J

Give people hope.

 

Scott M

Yeah, exactly. Because we need it. We need it now, especially these days.

 

Scott J

We’re going to have your email address in the episode notes for this episode. So, if anyone wants to contact you, they can look there and get that.

 

Scott M

Yeah, please do. Don’t hesitate to. Even if you just want to talk, man, that would be great. I’d really appreciate that. Thank you for taking the time and bringing out awareness because it’s really important.

 

Scott J

As I mentioned, I’ll be staying in touch with Scott, so when there’s news about Scott Jr. coming over to the US and their family being reunited again, you’ll definitely hear it here.

 

Also, I was wonderfully surprised to actually be able to meet Scott recently, as well as his wife Marnelli and their daughter Nicole. I was in Seattle for a podcaster meetup just a few days after we recorded our conversation,  and when Scott found out I was going to be in town, he said, “Hey, you gotta come over to our house!” So that was a wonderful time, and I also got to meet their two dogs, Rocky and Nova.

 

You can see pictures of Scott and his family while this ordeal was happening, as well as pictures of my recent visit with them, in the episode notes at WhatWasThatLike.com/222.

 

And you heard Scott mention that he’s a musician. Right after today’s Listener Story, I’m gonna play one of his recent songs and we’ll close out the episode with that.

 

Got a voice mail recently, with some good information about being safe with toddlers around a swimming pool –

 

Voice mail

Hi, my name is Kim Mace and I thought this might be a helpful little story for other people regarding what happens when a toddler falls in a swimming pool because I think, all too often, the result is tragic and nobody saw it happen. But for me, my nephew fell in the pool when there were seven of us standing around seven adults, and we had not started to swim yet for the day. The boys had been told to stay away from the side of the pool but, unfortunately, didn’t really listen. In my head, I always assumed that, when someone fell in the pool, there would be splashing and screaming and some attempts made to stay on the surface, and that is simply not true. This is a 2-year-old and there was one single splash. He went face first into the pool and sank straight to the bottom. There was no flailing, there was no noise, no yelling, no nothing.

 

I just thought that was helpful for people to recognize that if you think you can step away from the pool for a minute or even look away from the pool for a few minutes while you have little ones and you think you’ll hear them when they fall in, you won’t. There’s no noise. There’s no nothing. And at least, in this case, there was no attempt to swim. It was really very scary. We obviously dove in and pulled them out right away because we were standing right there. But it just made me think of what happens when kids wander away and fall in a pool. Nobody hears it, and that’s why

 

Scott J

Our Facebook question this past Tuesday was a little different – we asked, what are you looking forward to this week? If you have something you’re excited about and you want to share it, come on over to the Facebook group and tell us! WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook

 

Graphics for this episode were created by Bob Bretz. Full episode transcription was created by James Lai.

 

And at last we’re here at the Listener Story. I always love this segment of the show. It’s just a 5-10 minute story, sent in by a listener. And we still want to hear YOUR story! Just record it on your phone and email it to me – Scott@WhatWasThatLike.com.

 

This week’s story is from a listener who met a couple of her favorite celebrities. And remember to stick around after, to hear Scott’s music. This song is titled I’m Breaking Down.

 

Stay safe, and we’ll see you next time.

 

(Listener Story)

My story takes place on September 3rd, 1993. I know the exact date because I still have the ticket for this event. I had just turned 14. In the last two years prior, I had become very into acting. My obsession was to become a TV actress. I wanted to be on TV shows. I had found out that you could go see live TV tapings by writing to this company for tickets, so I had been to a few. I’d been able to talk my mom into driving us out to all these TV tapings, so I was kind of obsessed with doing that.

 

My cousin had heard about me going to some TV shows and she wanted to go see her favorite show, “Mad About You”. Mad About You had a very successful first season. It was about to start the second season. So she wrote for tickets and she got six tickets. She got it for her best friend, Julie, and for me, and then her parents and our grandma, who also loved the show. We drove out there. We were all from Orange County and the Inland Empire of Southern California, so it wasn’t a long drive. It’s less than an hour drive.

 

We got there and we parked in what I believe was the wrong parking lot because we were parked next to some very fancy cars and we were in a minivan. I said to my uncle at the time, “I don’t think this is the right parking lot,” but he just waved it off and said, “Well, we’re just going to park here.” I’m like, okay. So we parked there and we proceeded to try and find the sound stage.

 

Now, my cousin Erin – her name was Erin – she had fractured her leg, maybe two weeks prior, jumping on a trampoline. So she was in a cast and with crutches and she was hobbling along and she was so excited. She’s looking for this building where we’re supposed to go, and she sees the number of this building. Only I know it’s not a sound stage. It’s an office building. It’s got a metal staircase going up, but she’s insisting that’s where we’re going. So she led us to this middle staircase and she started climbing up the metal staircase with her crutches, and it made a loud noise. It’s kind of banging. We got to the top of the stairs and I said, “Erin, this is not a sound stage. I know this.” I see, on the door, a sign that says something about a table read. I know, because I’m an actress, that a table read is something that the actors and crew do on a show. When it’s a new script, they get together and they have a table read. And I said, “Erin, this is not where we need to be.”

 

As we’re arguing about it, a man comes out of one of the offices in the building, and he’s looking at us, three young girls, and he’s very confused. We said, “Well, we’re here for Mad About You. We’re here to see Mad About You.” And he’s like, “Oh, okay.” So he very graciously directs us to where we’re supposed to go. So we go down the stairs again and we find the grownups and we find our way to the sound stage and we enter with the rest of the audience.

 

Now, if you’ve never been to a TV taping, a sound stage– it’s a humongous building. Inside, you walk in at stage level, and that’s where the floor is, where all the sets are set up. Like the Mad About You apartment, the rifts restaurant, their bedroom set and any other set that they need is built right there on the floor. Then the audience sits up the stairs on this higher level, and the seats are set up in kind of, like, bleacher type sets where every set of chairs is up another level. So you can go up to the highest part and be further away from the sound stage, or you could be at the front row and be right above about five feet above the sound stage.

 

So we are sitting kind of in the middle and we’re watching and we’re looking at all the people down on the floor. There’s the camera people and the tech people and makeup artists. There might be writers down there, there might be producers, and of course the actors are there, maybe special guests. There’s just a lot of people down there. I’m looking and I’m so excited. I kind of want to get this covered because I want to be on a TV show.

 

But as we’re looking down there, I noticed a familiar face and I pointed, I looked at this face and I said, “Erin, it’s him. It’s the guy who had pointed us toward the sound stage. It’s the guy from the office building.” He sees us and his eyes kind of go wide and he comes over to the audience seating and he asks to talk on the microphone. There’s a warm up guy, a comedian, who usually talks to the audience in between and tells jokes or gives trivia or things like that. So he asks if he could use the microphone, and he comes up and he proceeds to tell the story about three young girls who interrupted his work just a few minutes ago – turns out he is one the writer of the episode and one of the main writers of Mad About You – and we were kind of embarrassed, but kind of laughing because he was being jokey with us. He was not upset, he was just teasing us.

 

But he came up and wanted to get our story, like, “What was going on?” And my cousin, being as bold and outspoken as she is, the first thing she said into the mic was, “Can Helen Hunt sign my cast?” Because that was her main goal. It was her goal to get Helen Hunt to sign her cast. Not 10 minutes later, word had gotten to Ms. Helen Hunt and she came up – I don’t know – where the pen came from. She proceeded to sign Erin’s cast.

 

I was standing next to her and I said, “I’m her cousin. Can you please sign my ticket?” And she did. She was very gracious. So I had the autograph of one of the most popular actresses on television. I was so excited. We were thrilled because Erin had her goal and she succeeded. So flash forward about an hour or so, these tapings can take anywhere from, like, two and a half to sometimes six hours. I was at one that was six hours long. It can take a long time. But we were able to move to the front row because a lot of people had left already and we were in the front row. And not five feet from us down on the floor in the director’s chair was Paul Reiser, the other star of Mad About You. He’s sitting there and he’s wearing a baseball cap. We wave at him and he waves at us.

 

Then, my cousin, Erin, of course, never to miss an opportunity, yells to him, “Will you sign my cast?” And he said, and I’ll never forget the words. “Sure. Hobble on over here.” So she hobbles. Me and her friend, Julie, follow behind and we go over to him where he comes up to the seating area and he signs her cast and then he signs my ticket. And we were in absolute heaven because we got both the stars’ autographs and we had just had so much fun and just a little adventure. It’s kind of like a teenager adventure.

 

I never did become a professional actor. I did some background work and I do theater in my spare time. I still think maybe, someday, when I’m older and retired, I could go back to doing it. But ironically, 10 years after we saw this taping, I would go to work for the company that provided the tickets and I would become an audience page or an usher, and I worked on shows such as “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Will & Grace”. Those were my two main shows and I was one of the ushers that helped the audience to their seats, took them to the restroom and stuff like that. So I kind of came full circle after seeing all the TV tapings. Then I ended up working for the company for a little while, and that was exciting. So thank you for letting me share this. I always love thinking of the story. It’s one of my favorite memories, and I really love your podcast. I love hearing everyone’s stories. So keep it up. Can’t wait to hear more.

 

I’m Breaking Down

 

Hey, how are you? Oh my name is sympathy. 

Hey Nicole, can I call you?

I see you run so fast looking for me 

and I’m standing right beside you, 

but you don’t even see that I’m here for you 

and I don’t know what to do…..

 

Chorus:

And then they hold you down down on your knees, 

fucking crying on the floor 

please hold me in your arms 

because I’m breaking down 

and I don’t know what to do. 

Hold me in your arms because I’m breaking down.

 

Can you feel it too? 

I’m crawling behind you 

and now you run so fast looking for me 

and you’re crying on the floor and you don’t even see 

that I’m here for you. 

Still trying to find you.

 

And then they hold you down down on your knees, 

fucking crying on the floor please hold me in your arms 

because I’m breaking down and I don’t know what to do 

and now you run so fast looking for me fucking crying on the floor. 

Please hold me in your arms because I’m breaking down 

and I’m still trying to find you hold me in your arm 

because I’m breaking down

 

Solo

 

And then they hold you down down on your knees, 

fucking crying on the floor please hold me in your arms 

because I’m breaking down and I don’t know what to do 

and now you run so fast looking for me 

fucking crying on the floor please hold me in your arms 

because I’m breaking down 

And I’m still trying to find you 

hold me in your arms before they break you down…….