(9/13) “Tripp never came home after that night. He admitted to the prostitution, but he blamed
(9/13) “Tripp never came home after that night. He admitted to the prostitution, but he blamed it on a sex addiction. He checked himself into a rehab facility in Mississippi. It was during this time that the full truth came out. One of my daughters came to me, and told me a story about her father. It was the worst thing it could possibly be. It wasn’t just prostitutes. It was inside the home. Of course Tripp denied everything. I hired the best polygraph technician in Atlanta. And I guess Tripp thought he was smarter than the machine, because he volunteered to take the test. Afterward the technician called me. He said: ‘You’d be an unfit mother if you let him come home.’ The police got involved, and Tripp drove himself to the station without a lawyer. He volunteered to be interviewed. And it was his own words that put him away. He didn’t confess to everything. But he confessed to enough. When they played the recording in court, I couldn’t even listen to it. I was called to testify against him. The whole time I was on the stand, Tripp kept trying to get my attention. The judge tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t stop. He kept tapping the face of his wristwatch, mouthing three words: ‘It’s. Our. Anniversary.’ I hadn’t even realized what day it was. Tripp was charged with two counts of aggravated child molestation and sentenced to 45 years in prison. On the night of his sentencing I gathered my kids around the kitchen table. I told them: ‘Your father did some very bad things. But those things had nothing to do with us. I’m scared right now. But I’m your mother, and I’m not going to let this bring us down.’ That night I laid in bed and felt like I wanted to die. We were hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. And I had six kids to feed. The next morning I woke up at 5 AM and ran 5 miles. I started doing it every morning. I’d always been a runner, but this time I felt like I was running for my life. After a week I got a call from one of my friends. She said: ‘Venus, I think you should know what everyone is saying. They see you running down Walton Way in the morning. And they say you don’t act like a woman whose husband just got put away for child molestation.’” -- source link