Trudy Malko is a woman who led a group of other mothers to forge their children's medical records so their kids would not be vaccinated. This resulted in an outbreak of measles in New York City.
History[]
Malko hears that her son Gabriel Dole and other students from his school Tribeca Academy were being questioned by the SVU detectives about a sex party he and the other students had. As a result, she comes to New York and she explains to the detectives that Gabriel is her son and Colleen Dole's stepson. The detectives start taking the children's phones and Olivia Benson tells them it is because the phone has child porn. She later has a meeting with three of the other mothers, and when Detectives Amanda Rollins and Dominick Carisi, Jr. arrive, they claim to each other that the police are invading their children's privacy. Eventually, it is discovered that Malko helped the other mothers get Dr. Eric Setrakian to be their doctor so he can help them get around the vaccination laws.
Benson and A.D.A. Rafael Barba go to her and she admits what she did but claims that she and the other mothers were doing the right thing. When Benson tells her that what she and the other mothers were doing is endangering other children, Malko accuses Benson of only arresting her for what happened to her foster son Noah Porter-Benson. In court, while the other parents have arrived to support her, Malko pleads not guilty and repeats her defense claim that she and the other mothers were doing the right thing. Dr. Carl Rudnick takes the stand to explain how not vaccinating a child can be harmful; Malko's attorney explains all of the harmful side-effects brought by vaccinations, but Rudnick reminds the court that such occurrences are very rare.
Benson takes the stand and tells the courtroom about how ill her son is due to being infected. During cross-examination, Malko's attorney tries to claim that the reason the SVU department pursued the case is because Benson has a vendetta against Malko for Noah being infected. While Benson is leaving the courthouse, Malko tries to talk to her and say that Noah's immune system will be stronger and that the antibiotics the doctors are putting him on are probably hurting him. However, Benson silences her.
Later, when Malko takes the stand, she claims that the benefits of not vaccinating children outweigh the risks. She then tells the story of her autistic nephew, and her belief that the vaccinations he got caused it. Barba reminds Malko that the Centers for Disease Control and the education system say that vaccinations do not cause autism and that the harmful effects are very rare. She counters with the claim that the government is lying, but Barba reminds her that what she did indeed cause a number of children to become sick with dangerous diseases. Malko is acquitted of reckless endangerment in the first degree, but is convicted reckless endangerment in the second degree. Afterwards, she is sentenced to three months in prison and nine months of probation. (SVU: "Granting Immunity")