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| “ | There's nothing more natural and more beautiful than loving a child. | „ |
| ~ Billy rationalizing his pedophilia. |
William J. "Billy" Tripley is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Sick". He is a rich toy mogul whom the Special Victims Unit team believes to be a child molester. However, they are unable to convict him after the case against him falls apart.
He was portrayed by Will Keenan.
Biography[]
During an investigation into Jeremy "J.J." Ostilow Jr., an adolescent boy accused of threatening to kill a five-year old girl on an Internet chatroom, the NYPD's Special Victims Unit discovers that J.J. repeatedly shouted "Rape!" during a fight with a school bully, causing them to suspect that he may have been molested. When interviewed by forensic psychiatrist Dr. George Huang, J.J. claims to have been molested by billionaire toy mogul Billy Tripley during a slumber party in his "Treasure Room". According to J.J., Billy paid his parents Jeremy Ostilow Sr. and Ann Ostilow hush money and enforced a non-disclosure agreement after they confronted him.
Billy is arrested on suspicion of child molestation. In order to ascertain his guilt, Billy is asked to provide a pubic hair sample, but he conveniently had his pubic hair removed. Despite this, the SVU detectives are able to get enough evidence to pursue a trial on the strength of J.J.'s allegations, as he is able to identify a birthmark on Billy's penis, among other details.
However, on the day of Billy's first appearance in court, a video is submitted of J.J. recanting the allegations, and soon after J.J. disappears. His father Jeremy is ordered to produce his son as a witness, but he refuses, and the judge holds him in contempt. Eventually, the SVU detectives locate J.J. in Maine at an uncle's house, but the two flee to Canada, forcing the court to acquit Billy. Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak theorizes that Billy threatened to enforce the NDA with J.J.'s family unless they made him recant the allegations.
Despite this, SVU's investigation of Billy continues after Nora Hodges comes forward and claims that Billy also abused her granddaughter April, a cancer patient. This leads to Billy being taken into custody again, only for the SVU to discover that April does not have cancer; Nora is intentionally poisoning her so people will believe she has cancer and give them money. This leads them to realize that she lied about April's abuse as part of a second scam to try and blackmail Billy. Nora admits as much, as Novak tells her because of her that Tripley can always claim he is being framed if a real victim comes forward.
With the second allegation thoroughly discredited, Billy is released once again, and holds a "victory party" with the media. Frustrated and disgusted that Nora's actions have discredited any further accusations against Billy, Detective Elliot Stabler vows that they will get him sooner or later. However, he has never appeared again.
Trivia[]
- Billy's story is based on the real-life accusations of child molestation against the late Michael Jackson. Specifically, J.J. knowing that Billy had a birthmark on his penis was taken from the Jackson case
- Billy is the second of two Law & Order villains to be based on Jackson, the first being Monty Bender from the original series.
- Billy appears to suffer from Peter Pan syndrome, a psychological condition in which adults are emotionally stunted and cannot form genuine adult relationships.
External Links[]
- Billy Tripley at the Law & Order Wiki
