Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Video Shows 'Predator' Posing at 14-Year-Old Girl To Have Sex With Teens: Prosecutor
Episode Date: November 18, 2024Alyssa Zinger, 23, is accused of posing as a 14-year-old girl so she could have sex with teenage boys. Zinger has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges including lewd or lascivious batter...y. Body camera footage from 2023 and early 2024 shows Zinger telling police she is 14 and documents two searches of her parents' home. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the video and uncovers new details about the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crimePLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now.
Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
This new year, why not let Audible expand your life by listening?
Audible CA contains over 890,000 total titles within its current library,
including audiobooks, podcasts, and exclusive Audible Originals that'll inspire
and motivate you. Tap into your well-being with advice and insight from leading professionals
and experts on better health, relationships, career, finance, investing, and more.
Maybe you want to kick a bad habit or start a good one. If you're looking to encourage
positive change in your life, one day and challenge at a time, look no further than Tabitha Brown's I Did a New Thing,
30 Days to Living Free. In the audiobook, Tab shares her own stories and those of others,
alongside gentle guidance and encouragement to create these incredible changes for yourself
and see what good can come from them. Trust me, listening on
Audible can help you reach the goals you set for yourself. Start listening today when you sign up
for a free 30-day trial at audible.com slash wonderyca. That's audible.com slash wonderyca.
So this is girlfriend, not your daughter? Okay. Have you contacted your parents?
That's Alyssa Zinger, a former grocery store bakery worker sitting in a holding area with
her teenage boyfriend. The problem? She was 21 and the boy was 13.
They have to do their job. It's their job to do.
We'll explain everything that's going on in a minute.
I know what they want. They want pictures of her room to see the walls and see you say,
this is the room she did it in. Do you have anything on you? Zinger faces a number of
sex crimes charges. I have the body camera videos not seen until now. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm
Anjanette Levy. I've told you about Alyssa Zinger a couple of times. She faces serious charges in
Tampa, Florida. She's accused of posing as a homeschooled 14-year-old
girl so she could have sex with five boys who were either 13 or 14 years old. The investigation
started more than a year ago in October of 2023. Tampa police said they got a tip that Zinger was
having an inappropriate relationship with a boy. A police report said Zinger sent two videos of two teens,
a 14-year-old and a 13-year-old,
having sex to other people on Snapchat.
The 13-year-old boy told police
that he met Zinger on Snapchat.
His name is redacted from the document.
He said he was on Snapchat when he was 13 years old.
He stated the defendant engaged him in a conversation
on the social media
platform, which was how they primarily communicated through their relationship. He stated they met at
the end of May 2023 and dated through the middle of September 2023. The boy stated he believed she
was approximately 14 years old and homeschooled. However, he stated she physically seemed older
than her age. The boy mentioned an
incident back in July where he and the defendant were detained in a store at International Plaza
for theft. During that incident, they couldn't locate her information, but did for a 21-year-old
female. He disclosed that he and the defendant had been physically intimate, alluding to a sexual
relationship. So the boy mentioned that incident
in July where he and Alyssa Zinger had been detained at a Nordstrom store for shoplifting.
The boy described how he took things from the store. Then the officer spoke to Alyssa Zinger.
So this is a girlfriend, not your daughter? Okay. Have you contacted your parents?
Yeah, but I can't get a hold of their word.
Okay. Well, I've got to try to contact them.
Because how old are you?
Fourteen.
Yeah, so unless they tell me that I could release him, which I'm sure they will, but... Yeah, he read my text.
For legality purposes, I mean, if you want to reach out to him just so I could speak with him,
just obviously, you know, it's going to come with liability to me if anything was to happen.
I understand that.
For my job and my purposes, I need to confirm that because you're a juvenile.
So once your parents tell me that they're OK with you going with them, perfectly fine.
OK.
Straight to voicemail.
Straight to voicemail. Straight to voicemail?
I want to tell you about Upside.
It's a free app that gets you cash back on things like gas, groceries, and restaurants.
This is real cash back, money that appears in your Upside app that you can transfer straight
into your bank account.
I used Upside when I went to Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of tea.
I claimed an offer for Dunkin' on the app, paid as usual using a
card and followed the steps and got cash back. It's very easy. You can also use Upside at places
like Shell, Exxon, 7-Eleven, Taco Bell, and that's just to name a few. To find out how much you could
earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on your screen and use
the promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every
gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CrimeFix for extra cash back. The officer
then takes Alyssa Zinger's name, date of birth, address, and her parents' name, but he can't reach
Alyssa Zinger's parents. But the officer asks Alyssa Zinger an interesting question about whether she has a half sister. You have a sister named Alyssa?
Yeah, a half sister.
A half sister?
Yeah.
Okay, but you don't have the same middle name, I'm assuming?
I don't have anyone else.
I'm going to document that you're going home with them.
I tried to get in contact with your parents and made efforts.
Like I said, it's just for liability reasons.
So you're Alyssa. What's your middle name?
Just Alyssa Singer.
Just Alyssa Singer. Okay. All right.
Like my mom is already going to come pick me up at his house later anyway. My stuff's there. So a 21-year-old named Alyssa Zinger came up in the system when the officer looked up the name
and Alyssa Zinger told the officer, that's my half-sister, same name. And the officer believed
her. Eventually, the officer allowed Zinger to go home with the teenage boy and his dad.
All right. So Alyssa, you're going to go home with...
Do you have any questions?
No? We're not going to do this again?
Sure? Dad told me you make money.
And you could have spent the hundred bucks.
Alright? Alright man, this is one shot.
You get one shot through this program. After this, there's's no more. So let's just make smart choices, okay? All right. Take care.
So back to the investigation about Alyssa Zinger. In October 2023, as I mentioned,
Tampa police received the tip about Zinger allegedly circulating the video of the boy
having sex with a teenage girl. On November 24th of last year, Tampa police went
to Alyssa Zinger's parents' home to seize her cell phone. Yes, the detective said nobody can go in
the house. So I would, that's weird because I talked to my lawyer and he says, you guys aren't
under arrest. You guys aren't. There's a search warrant for that. She told me she got a search
warrant and nobody's allowed in the house. For the me she got a search warrant nobody's allowed in the house for the phone or for my hub nobody's allowed in the house who is in the house so that's right
right so if i was came over because yeah i know it's your house but we can't let you go we want
we've been like he knows completely 100 cooperative in every way shape or form
but we want to make sure that you guys are doing the right thing too no absolutely
first off and we have body cameras so and first off your lawyer can request anything perfect and
first off we like i said we've from the get-go have been doing nothing but being 100 percent
right but the detective call me say they're on the way to you they're gonna they cannot go in
the house fair enough. Police wouldn't allow
Zinger's parents
to enter the home
until a detective
arrived with a warrant.
We're not in the chase.
We're not running, so.
So,
but that's where we're at.
I know it sucks.
This situation sucks.
Me not going in my home
right now,
that's the least of my worries.
I got a beautiful young daughter that's in a, you know, this is going to be happening.
She's got a lot of problems and mental issues and stuff, and it just sucks.
I don't know if you have kids, but.
Yeah, we have two kids.
I have two kids, yeah.
You can imagine.
I'm sorry to hear that, by the way.
Well, I mean, she got messed up with the wrong kid.
Even though he's a lot younger, he is, put it this way,
my daughter, my wife, we're sort of federal government, 38 years,
never been in trouble in her life, not a single thing.
My daughter, the same thing.
Me, stupid little shit when I was a kid.
But we're good, honest people, hardworking people.
And she just got met.
She never got in trouble in her life or nothing.
She met a kid.
And even though he's young, that's why we're in this situation.
She never got in trouble in her life until she was 30.
And this kid's like insane.
Alyssa Zinger's father claims the teenage boy he's referring to fired a gun at people near a river.
And he suggests that despite his daughter being older, the teen boy was a bad influence on her.
Like I said, my daughter's never been in trouble in her life.
This kid is 14 years old.
He's got girls at his house videotaping them making porn at 14 and shitting.
And my daughter's 21 or 22
she was a virgin until she was 21 we got this kid being a freaking you know
i don't i don't know the details or anything
you know what what's the gist of it
absolutely i'm sure it's a terrible situation The detective went into the home to seize the phone.
The video is blurred once inside and the phone appeared to be out of battery.
The thing has airplane mode on it.
Go up that thing again.
No. Yeah.
That red light. What is that?
Oh, is that the portrait thing?
Oh, never mind.
So, I don't...
I don't know all right well
and i'll be i'll look you both dead in the eye i do not know her
pasco yeah that's right i'm not trying to get into it yeah i'm not trying to you know we we
give you every we give you every right and want
you to you know do what you have to do but we're nervous and then i was trying to see like what
because oh because if wi-fi calling isn't enabled like if wi-fi calling is enabled then i could call
it while it's on the wi-fi but i was trying to get that screen and I couldn't.
So when I went to like set, like there should be like a, I don't know how to get to her settings.
And if she would have been able to bail it out a little quicker,
we would have been, she would have been one of us.
But you're pretty sure this is hers?
Or you know this is hers?
That's her phone.
Because you both have your phones?
Yes.
So this is hers.
Yes, and I'll tell you what.
We are, whatever you need
from the beginning
you have a word
we're not
you know from the beginning
from Mike to now
we've been nothing but
honest, truthful and helpful
in every situation
you can do wifi callings
but it's like a certain settings in your phones
but I couldn't figure out how to get that setting.
She's never, ever in her life let us have any.
Yeah, that's fine.
Again, we're not trying to,
like our mom is a connected phone,
but we're not trying to come through with anything.
It sucks that this is happening,
but I hope she was smart enough
to not have anything to say.
Well, I appreciate you letting us come in here.
Well, following us in here.
We let you in here.
Did you want my lawyer to really say, I don't know if he is right?
Do you know who Daniel Fernandez is?
I don't know.
He said, they don't, you guys aren't in trouble.
So why are they trying to hold, you can leave and do whatever you want.
You could go freaking
to Tallahassee right now. So, but I said, Mr. Fernandez, we want to help these people. We don't
want to fight with them. We want to work with them. We want you, I told you, in a car. You're good.
Now, police said at the time that they initially charged Alyssa Zinger with having sex with one
teenage boy, that they believe there were more victims. The state attorney filed additional charges against her earlier this year,
bringing the total number of alleged victims in the case to five.
In January of this year, Tampa police returned to the Zinger home with another search warrant,
this time to take photos of Alyssa Zinger's bedroom.
Zinger was there with her parents and said very little.
They have to do their job.
It's their job to do. Well, let's plan everything that's going on in a minute.
I know what they want. They want pictures of her room to see the walls and see you say,
oh, this is the room she did again. Do you have anything on you? Phones, tablets, anything?
I have no weapons or anything like that. okay perfect i appreciate it we're not going to do
something um you know once again this is you know something procedural if there were you know like
any additional charges or anything like that we would have communicated that with your attorney
and your attorney would get in contact with you guys you know to to make those kind of arrangements
we want everything to be as civil as possible whatever it comes to executing residential
search warrants that's something that they're not privy to with that information. That's something that we have to execute in a capacity of maintaining the integrity
of the investigation. So we're not trying to scare you or anything like that. And this morning,
like I said, we were talking a moment ago, that is all procedural. Trust me. It's a hint for us
to put all that together too. Whenever we know that it's nothing that's probably going to be needed.
But because historically...
It's just a simple call when we said, hey.
I know, but they won't let us do that.
You guys might do that.
Other people, not so much.
We have those 0.01% times where we think everything is going to go swimmingly,
and unfortunately somebody comes out with something violent.
So that's why they have us do things a certain way.
The police officer explained to Zinger and her family what they were going to do.
Our crime detection, whenever she gets here, we're going to go through the house
and we'll take pictures and document and stuff like that. And she'll also get a copy of, or
she'll be, you know, she'll get a copy of the search warrant to take pictures and document
up too, which I'll go ahead and just kind of review this with you now, okay?
So, you know, just so you know that it is something that is valid and signed by a judge, okay?
So it says, whereas, complaint on oath and in writing supported by affidavit
has been made before me, Judge Thomas Palermo, in Ann Ford Hillsborough County, Florida,
by Amanda Baranowski, that would be me, be a client of the Tampa Police Department, who states, okay, it says that
your client has reason to believe and does believe certain residents of Alyssa Ann Zinger,
which would be you, located in Hillsborough County, Florida, described as follows to it,
the residents of Alyssa Ann Zinger at 1714 West Ford Drive, okay, which is, you know, well, the color, I guess,
could be debatable as far as what you exactly would want to describe it as, but, you know,
olive green with brown trim or brown with brown trim. The residence is located on the south side
of West 4 Drive and is facing north. Theendant's parents identified in the address in the residence is the premise
where the defendant occupies, lives, and has
access to. And there is
now being kept in on said residence
certain evidence to
wit, okay, and the scope of the search
in this is for device.
Singer's father did most of
the talking and once inside the home,
the video is blurred again. Singer's
father had a question for the officers about how they were documenting their work.
The last time you guys did this, we were able to at least have one person come with you.
Why is that difficult? It's technically, this house is ours now.
We have a search warrant. It's ours. So if they do this, she signed.
If she wants to allow that, it's up to her.
This is her case.
It's the case.
The main thing is, as long as you're all together with the camera, you know, I'm.
I can tell you what I can be carrying a house of art.
No, what I'm saying is I just want it on camera what you're doing.
Sure.
You know what I'm saying?
Just for our, like, not three in this room, two in that room, five, you know, doing this
and that.
You go together.
You do whatever you got to do,
and you're going to do it anyway, but you have our...
I can't guarantee that that's the way it's going to be.
We don't normally record every single motion.
We have the body camera here, obviously, so we're going to record what we can,
but we're also not going to be here until 3 in the morning
because we have to let one person record everything we're doing.
You know what I mean?
So there's going to be a compromise there.
But, I mean, next time I ask that you guys maybe tidy up a little bit more
and maybe get rid of some of the clutter.
I'm joking.
This house is the most uncluttered house I've ever seen in my life.
There's nothing in this house.
There's not a picture up on the wall.
There's not like a set of keys on it.
I mean, there's nothing. I know. We try a picture up on the wall? Is that like a set of keys on it? Like, I mean, there's nothing.
I know, we try to keep it.
We don't model home.
At one point, Alyssa Zinger's father becomes emotional.
He tells the officers that what's happened with his daughter's arrest
has actually brought her closer to them.
And I can say one good thing that's come out of this,
we've got our family back, you know?
We finally got our daughter back.
She plays with us and watches tv she hangs up
with us now but she won't have a phone ever again um when they came in to look for that phone there
was an ipad and a phone on the table i looked at it and she was at? I said, I do believe so. I say, this is her phone here.
Ha, ha, ha.
No.
I handed her the phone and said, I do believe it.
And I even said, if you rewatch the product, I said, what model is this?
I'm not sure.
I got like a freaking eight.
You know?
So she took the phone.
And that's that.
Now, I wasn't trying to be manipulative.
In fact, I'll tell you this.
If someone's trying to hide something, the phone was dead.
I said, do you want to take your phone and leave?
And so I could have said if I was not trying to work with you people.
But what did I say?
I bet you watched the cam.
I said, ma'am, there's a charger right there.
Go ahead and charge the phone.
Like I said, I'm just making a statement that the phone is not.
I just want to let you know we're being transparent.
As police continue their search of the house,
Alyssa Zinger becomes concerned that photos might be posted online.
Are they going to, like, post these pictures there?
They don't post your pictures.
This is for their investigation.
There's nothing to be anybody's business.
It's nobody's business.
They just got to do their job.
They got to take pictures of what they need to do.
I think you guys should leave.
I can't.
Well, I mean, they've surrounded the whole car.
I don't think they meant it like that.
There's five cars. How do I get out?
I can't even go to the hot tub.
My back hurts.
I feel like I'm in a closet.
Did they hear it collapse?
What, in her bedroom they do that?
They do that?
They're all broken, Jimmy, and it's heavy.
I think their main focus is her room.
It's going to collapse.
Yeah, they hear about my room, not that.
That's what they're worried about.
Hey, they're doing their job.
They're going to do their job. So, they're going to do their job.
Bless you.
So,
Alyssa Zinger's father told her and her mother
they should leave,
but they didn't think
they could because
they were blocked in
by cruisers.
At one point,
Alyssa Zinger seems annoyed
that police didn't call
before showing up
and that so many officers showed up to execute the warrant. they've got issues, there's men probably out there that would do something stupid, you know what I mean?
They gotta protect themselves, you know what I mean?
There's a lot of crazy people out there.
So, and a lot of people don't like police.
But that's not us.
Like I said, we back you guys 100%, that's for sure.
We have friends and-
Yeah, your friends have a lot of police.
I have a lot of friends that are police,
and firefighters.
That's, we need you.
About 10 minutes later, the Zingers discussed again how they wished they had had a heads up about the warrant being executed.
I'm playing a game. I just got a dollar. Ripping your house apart, destroy your home, smash all your windows,
and flashbangs. I just wish they would have called us and said, hey, or called our attorney and said,
hey, would you like to book it? Come on. At times, Alyssa Zinger and her mom appeared frustrated by
how long the search was taking. Alyssa Zinger would look inside the house,
but eventually she leaves. Zinger has actually been in the Hillsborough County Jail since April
after additional charges were filed and a judge said she will stay in jail until her trial.
The 13-year-old boy told police last year,
Through their relationship, they engaged each other sexually approximately 30 times.
Sexual activity was the most apparent thing for her. It was known by everyone that that Through their relationship, they engaged each other sexually approximately 30 times.
Sexual activity was the most apparent thing for her.
It was known by everyone that that was what she wanted.
The first time they had sex, he wasn't expecting it to happen so quickly, but after it was a pretty normal occurrence.
The 13-year-old boy also described how Zinger behaved at times.
She gets aggressive when she is upset and has tried to get physical with him in the past.
She will throw things, try to fight him, et cetera.
She doesn't really think before she does something.
She also has a crazy ego when she is mad.
She talks like she is invincible and no one can stop her.
The defendant thinks she has all of the power in the world and threatened to have him jumped by high schoolers.
When he threatened to break up with her, there will be instant texting, crying, screaming that she hates him,
etc. After she will be apologizing to him, she is all over the place and never in control.
The relationship was stressful. It was ruining his grades, making his life hard, etc. He couldn't
escape it. She was always trying to talk to someone and has dated four kids at his
school to try and make him mad. She always tries to be in everyone's business, especially his.
The teenage boy also told police about Zinger possibly having mental health issues.
Regarding the mental health stuff mentioned with her family, he stated that when the defendant
leaked the video of him, he learned that immediately after they took her to a mental hospital to have an exam.
He feels she definitely has something going on.
The defendant and her parents told him this.
She told him that it was his fault that she was there.
He and the defendant got physical when he saw her take the video of his phone.
Zinger has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Her trial date has not yet been set, but she'll be back in court next month.
And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix.
I'm Anjanette Levy.
Thanks so much for being with me.
I'll see you back here next time.