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Dr. Derek Tanner is an antagonist in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Hooked". He is an STD doctor who has an affair with an underage girl.
He was portrayed by Alex Cranmer.
Biography[]
Tanner originally lived in Rhode Island with his wife and child, but his job as a medical practitioner often required him to move across the country for medical conferences. During one such conference in New York City he stayed at the Barrington Hotel and hired a prostitute from the concierge. The prostitute who serviced him was a 15-year-old girl named Lisa Downey who Tanner soon became obsessed with, regularly visiting the hotel so he could have sex with her. He eventually decided to move to New York permanently and got a job at a local HIV clinic so that he could continue seeing Lisa.
At some point Tanner was contacted by pornographic filmmaker Max Long, who Lisa had starred in several films for, who threatened to reveal his affair with an underage girl unless Tanner secretly provided his stars with STD tests. Tanner had no choice but to agree and began performing tests on the stars, providing falsified medical records to cover up the statuses of those who tested positive so that Max could continue filming. On one occasion Tanner had a threesome with Lisa and her best friend Angela Agnelli which was filmed by Max for Tanner's own personal viewing.
Tanner later discovered during testing that Lisa had contracted HIV and defied Max to warn her about it, prescribing her anti-HIV medication. He then began making plans to move back to Rhode Island and reconcile with his wife, having maxed out his credit card paying Lisa for sex. Before he could do so, Lisa was murdered by Max in order to conceal her HIV status.
In "Hooked"[]
The NYPD's Special Victims Unit begin investigating Lisa's murder and briefly question Tanner after finding that he had prescribed her anti-HIV medication. Tanner refuses to break doctor-patient confidentiality by telling the SVU how she was infected without a release from Lisa's father. The SVU later discover from Angela that she and Lisa often prostituted themselves to older men, and that Lisa had begun doing sex work at the Barrington Hotel. The concierge is interrogated by the SVU and reveals that Tanner was a regular customer and always specifically asked for Lisa.
Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson go to the clinic to interrogate Tanner and find him being beaten up by Lisa's father, who demands to know why he didn't tell him she had HIV. After Stabler separates the two men, Benson arrests Tanner for statutory rape. Tanner is interrogated by Stabler and tells him that he loved Lisa, who he denies knowing was underage. The SVU soon confirm that Tanner could not have killed Lisa, as he was working the night shift when she was murdered, and release him, unable to prove that he knew she was underage.
Later that night, Angela comes to see Tanner and demands that he give her the sex tape of the two of them with Lisa so she can make sure the police don't see it. Tanner refuses, afraid that she will hand it over to the SVU, so Angela tries to threaten him with her father's gun and ends up shooting him dead before stealing the tape. Tanner's body is soon found by Benson and Stabler when they come round to interview him again after discovering his plans to return to Rhode Island.
External links[]
- Derek Tanner on the Law & Order Wiki
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