Part 2 | The Three Sides of Every Scandal: The Interview of Ivana Williams

0:00 Hey one, Welcome back to another episode of Exposed, Scandalous Files of the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and we've got kind of a treat, a treat for y'all. Today. We have an in studio guest and it was someone who we did a podcast regarding what's going on with her. I guess you could say a couple of episodes ago. I think it was the eighth that we dropped that podcast, and she's here today to kind of discuss her side of the story. And these people are actually human beings, they're not just stories, and they have you know, they have a lot to say, and so we're gonna sit down and talk to her today and I'm talking about miss Evanna Williams. So, first of all, welcome to Exposed. Well, thank you, thank you for having me.

0:52 You're no stranger to podcasting. No, you've been behind a microphone once or twice, once or twice. Very good. And of course we covered your your I don't know if i'd say your case, but what's been going on with you recently? And I reached out to you and I thought it would be a good idea to have you on and just maybe expand on some of that and also tell people a little bit about you who you are. Obviously, you were a law enforcement officer in the state of Mississippi. Yes, I was for quite some time, and we had a conversation that it's Mississippi Highway Patrol there. Probably a couple times during that podcast I referred to it as state police because I'm from Louisiana and that's what we have. We have the Louisiana State Police, but they're a little bit different but similar in that, you know, you patrol the interstates. I guess you could say a lot of it. You offer executive protection. Do you do that as well?

1:53 You know, I have done classes or I've done a class but for executive protection, and I've done a few details. But we have an actual division with the Highway Patrol that was executive protection, and they do. They guard the governor, lieutenant governor, you know, and a few other coaches, the college coach, they do, the garden coaches, and if any dignitaries come into the state and they need somebody to escort them around, then a trooper will be assigned to that detail. You were born in Pearl City, Mississippi. Well, that's where I'm from. Okay, So there's actually no hospital in Pearla. I was born in Jackson, right next door to Pearl, Mississippi. Okay, but yes, I grew up in Pearl and now I live in Brandon. I have a store in Pearl. I know you had mentioned that last podcast. It said in Brandon. It's actually in Pearl. Oh, I got you, okay. And how far are those from each other? Not far, they're neighboring cities. Yeah, kind of like Baton Region and Denim Springs, right, I got you. Okay, very good, you're smart girl. Well, thank you. Criminal justin what the masters? What was it about law enforcement? And let me say this before you answer. You're female law enforcement still to this day. And I think it's gotten a lot better, obviously, but still to this day probably more of a male dominated field. Oh. Absolutely, do you agree with that? Absolutely? And you know you say it's gotten better, it probably has. But in the highway Patrol and smaller areas in Mississippi, you just

3:28 don't see any women. Yeah. You know, it worked Ranking and Simpson County whenever I was with the Highway Patrol, and they had maybe one female in Ranking County and that was not when I first started out. That was only recently and I was with the High Patrol for six years. I never saw a female on the road. They within the last year, maybe two years, they have had a female on the road and only one. Really, Yes, same thing with Simpson County. Why do you think that is? Is it they're not apply or do you think it's it's still you know, kind of stuck back in the older generation. I guess definitely the mentality of a female can't handle themselves, especially when it comes to counties, because you're out by yourself, you know, it's almost like being a state trooper.

4:19 You're not with you know, other city officers, where you guys are within a few hundred feet almost you know of each other. And so I think a lot of sheriffs are a little bit worried about it. But I don't want to say it's by no means what I have done with the Higher Patrol, But as far as me going into the Higher Patrol and seeing, hey, there's a female that works in ranking and Simpson County by herself, and she's you know, she's a female, she can do it. Why are we not hiring females? For our county. Yeah, so I don't want to say it was me, but it was just after I became a trooper. Then a few years later, that's when I started seeing females in the counties. I was working very interesting And so why did you specifically get at what was it about law enforce? Well, I actually I never would have expected me to be in law enforcement. I always wanted to go into marketing, sports marketing. I always grew up playing sports and trying to compete with my brothers, and I wanted to end up going to the New York Yankees. I didn't work for them because I have family in New York, New Jersey, and it just didn't really work out that way. So I ended up getting my bachelor's from Missisipi College in Business BSBA, with it marketing emphasis. And I had my first son when I was twenty one, right before I graduated and got married, and my dad had a heart attack, and so I grew up having to travel back and forth to New Jersey see

5:53 my grandmother only like once or twice a year. And I didn't want my son if I were to move up to New York, I didn't want him only seeing his grandfather, my father, you know, once or twice a year. So I started looking at other options and started looking into sports marketing. In Jackson area. Well, as you can imagine, there's not very many sports marketing jobs. So I was working at Misspeake College as a dispatcher and for their public safety department. And the guys in there, they're like, well, you're into sports. You know, you're real athletic. Why don't you apply for the highway patrol? And I was twenty one. I was like, what's the highway patrol? And they're like, oh, it's like it's really hard. It's not many women get in. Not many men can even make it. You know, Marines have gone in and not made it through. It's a fifty percent dropout rate. They yell and scream at you all the time. I was like, I think I can do that.

6:50 Sounded like a challenge. Sound me like a challenge. So I couldn't find any other jobs. So I was married at the time, and I remember going up to my husband and I already had application filled out and everything, and I said we were at Arby's. I remember everything, and I said, hey, what do you think about me applying for the highway patrol and he sat back and he thought for a second. He said, that's fine, you won't make it. And so ever since then it was like, well, watch and see, because you got to remember, I had brothers growing up, and I always competed with them. And so now I'm married to a guy that, like, I feel like I have to prove, you know, my worth to you know, prove that I can do stuff just like the boys can. And I mean I was still interested in the first place. He was a police officer for Pearl, and I was around him, you know, from eighteen to you know whatever. I thirty one, thirty two when we got divorced, finally, but I so I saw what he did. I thought it was interesting. I thought it looked fun. I started going to classes at MSISI College. My first let me back up a little bit. My first year was at Morehead, which is missby Delta Community College my freshman year, and they have a police academy on campus, and so I played soccer at Morehead and I would see all these recruits for the police academy going around and you know, running and doing the push ups and all that. I was like, Okay, that's looks interesting.

8:20 So the next year, my sophomore year, when I went to Missispi College, I started taking electives in criminal justice. So not only was it really easy for me to pass those classes because they were interesting and fun, but it's just I actually enjoyed doing it, Like I enjoyed learning about different narcotics and about behavior, police behavior and you know, all the criminal mind and all of this stuff. So my minor, even though it wasn't official, it was criminal justice. And when I graduated and I went to my husband and asked him and he's like, oh, you can't. You're not gonna make it, it was, you know, game on at that point, because not only was already interested in it, it was I'm going to prove you wrong. Yeah, that's right. I can relate to that one hundred percent. Tell me I can't do something and that and watch. I used to tell people hold my beer because I'm about to make it happen.

9:13 Those type of things are motivators to people, especially people that are athletic that are used to competing. You know, you want to motivate them, tell them they can't do something right watch and you know, so you were an athletic person, you played sports growing up, competed things like that. Okay, and you're pretty tall. Yeah, I didn't realize you were. You can't tell someone's tall, you know, online, unless they're standing next to somebody I tall, are you? I'm six feet six feet yeah, And it's funny because people on social media don't believe me, and I've already said it, you know, yes, you're six feet y'all, and they're like, oh yeah, six feet with your boots on. I'm like, no, really, like I'm six feet tall, like my family's tall, you know, just good genetics. I guess. Well, I saw, and I'll shout out your TikTok right now. And incidentally, we're gonna linker social and stuff like that in the description of this podcast, so you can go straight to it and check it out. But I saw you were shooting basketball in one of them, so yeah, I know you had some sort of athletic ability for sure. Oh yeah, So I've played basketball, soccer, softball, swimming. I was on a swim team. Wow. Not very good at that one. Great at swimming, just not great at competing in swimming. Yeah, because I do everything very gracefully, is what my coach said. And I remember him saying, you're a graceful swimmer, but you're not fast. Yeah, And I was like, well, maybe this is not the sport for me. But I did track, cross country, high

10:43 jumping, track. I've pretty much done everything. If you tell me let's go play something, I can probably play. That's pretty awesome, very good. So you do, you get interested in the highway patrol, and you join the highway Patrol. You make It wasn't as hard as everybody was saying it was. Well, it took a while to get there. It took me seven years to get in. Oh wow. So back in the day it was usually about every three years they would have a class because they just didn't get the funding for it right. And so I applied for class sixty and then three years later, so class sixty one, three years later a class sixty two. So it was like six seven years to actually finally get in. Yeah, you were very persissive. Oh yeah. And in between that time, I worked for different law enforcement agencies and between having kids, so I would work somewhere, get pregnant, get out, go back, get pregnant, get you know. And one of the times I actually ended up having three boys at home. And I stayed out for about two years, two three years because it was cheaper just staying at home with the three babies than it was to go to work for law enforcement because you're not gonna make any money. So by the time you paid for daycare, you you're actually paying to go to work, you know. So I just stayed home and during that time, I ended up getting my masters because I'm not the type of person that just sits home and just sits still, even though raising three boys is a lot of work, I still was like, I want

12:15 to do something, and I always wanted to get my masters in business, but I barely made it through accounting. So I was like, I'm not going to go take a master's level in accounting. So I was like, I'll get my minor and go with that. And so I ended up Homeland Security just opened up as actual program instead of a certificate like a lot of people believe it is. And so my dad was working at Msby College at the time. He's like, you should go do this. I was like, okay, and it gave me my masters that I always wanted. It was not that business degree, but it was something that I was very interested in and so I actually studied a lot about parchment, which is the prison system in Mississippi. And a lot of people think if you have masters, you're very educated, which you are, but you're only really educated in that one particular field. Yeah, you're an expert in that, yeah, whatever it is. Yeah. So I sat out for a while and then worked at Brandon Police Department, where I live, right before I applied to the high Wor Patrol, and so I was with Brandon for a year, a little over a year when I started with the Higher Patrol in October. But you can't claim you work for the Highway Patrol until you graduate. So I went to the academy October twenty ninth of twenty seventeen, and then I graduated March six of twenty eighteen. But that's the official start day. That's the official day you became a trooper and you can start your retirement all that.

13:43 Beforehand, you're just kind of like a contract worker, gotcha. But for six months I was in the academy. Yeah, yeah, awesome and high priority. When you were able to accomplish that and you're official, yeah, proud day for you. It was huge. Like I had already gone through basic Academy for police department. And I was at Meloda, which is missedb BE Law Enforcement Officer Training Academy. And I don't want to say I enjoyed it by any means, but it was one of those like taught me a lot. And I remember people saying, well, what do you think the higher patrol academy is going to be? Like, you know, it's called patrol school. I was like, was probably gonna be the worst day at Meloda, but every day for patrol school. And I was right. The worst day at Meloda was every day at patrol school. So it was very difficult. It was one of those you know, what did I get myself into type of situations. However, I had wanted it for so long seven years. Yeah, I had wanted it for so long. I didn't care what they did, what I had to do. I was going to finish.

14:54 I didn't care. And everybody says, oh, I'm not leaving unless they carry me out in a body bag. That's like the typical thing people say. Right. No, I didn't say that, of course, but it was I hid that I was hurt, so I didn't go on light duty type of situation. I'm trying to think of what the actual word is. But I wasn't restricted by anything. I already came in and I wasn't just one hundred percent in shape, you know. I was in shape for me, Yeah, but in shape for what they want. Yeah, that's a whole different shape. Yeah. I was non in shape. I was working out in the morning. I would get up in the morning, go run two or three miles, go to work, come back and that's a twelve hour shift, come back home, you know, take care of the kids, and then go run, you know, eight nine o'clock at night again another two or three miles, and you just you just set a mouthful before we gloss over that. And that was take care of the kids.

15:48 And that was for k So, but you had that added responsibility onto h or in reverse of most guys who are They're waking up and they're just going to train. Yeah, all these sorts of things. I mean, that's a big deal. That's a full time job by itself. Yeah. And I mean back then, so we would either have my mom come watch the kids, you know, so we didn't really have them in daycare or anything, or we'd pay for a babysitter if both me and my husband at the time was working, but we usually had like opposite shifts and stuff because he was a police officer. I was a police officer. But I did everything I could to get ready for patrol school, and it was still not enough, you know. And so I just remember in there that I had done so much research and saw all the videos of the prior patrol schools, and I had heard all the stories of how if you get hurt, they kick you out, and so whenever I got hurt, I didn't tell anyway, you know, because I was worried that they would kick me out. And I also didn't want to be on any type of restriction because I was already not in enough shape for what I needed to be. So I didn't want to. I know myself, and I know if I'm like off and I don't run for two or three days, I'm worse off than if I were to just continue to go, because I guess my metabolism goes so quickly, or I don't know how I build muscle. I have no idea, but I wanted to continue to do everything they did, and there was one time

17:19 I did remember, I just I had to tell them and I use it to my I guess, strategic advantage because it was almost Thanksgiving and we were going to be off for like three days, so we only had like two days there for that week, two or three days. And so Monday morning I get up because we have to report Sunday and we're already doing pete Sunday Monday morning, doing pet stuff like that. So Monday morning, I remember getting up and I couldn't walk, and I was like having to like hold on to, you know, the bunks and stuff like that to try to walk. And I just told the ladies that I was with, I had two other females with me. I was like, I can't, I can't do it, And so I ended up having to kind of just wake up because in the morning it's a little bit harder, you know. Sure, so I got kind of going a little bit and I could actually walk, but I couldn't couldn't go more than probably like a foot ahead of me because it was my groin area that was messed up, and so any like stretching of my leg was extruciating pain. And so I had to walk across the place. But I told the ladies, I was like, please just go ahead. And tell them what's going on, so that weather or not yelling at me the whole time while I'm walking across to get to the mail barracks.

18:33 And so they did that, and I had to go see the doctor and all that. I was terrified that I was gonna get you know, kicked out all that. And he's like, no, I know you want to be here. We're gonna we're gonna take this and use it to our advantage. We're gonna put you on restriction for two days, and two days you're here. That way, you have another three days, so you have a whole week to rest. So I did that, and I remember, like the Tuesday, I'm over here doing like arm rotations. Do you know what that is? Oh? Yeah, okay, So I was doing arm rotations because I was on restriction and stuff like that, and all the guys were out at the flagpole and anybody from Mississippi is going to know what that means. So everybody I was out at the flagpole and they were doing pushups and you know, any type of mountain climbers, any running drills they could think of. Whatever. They were being tortured, right, and I'm over here just doing arm rotations, and I had the lieutenant that was overtraining come up, and I mean he said this all the time, but he's like, Williams, You're pathetic, you know, like constantly, and that was I mean, it wasn't the first time, but I felt pathetic because here I am, like, all these guys out here are getting it, you know, and I'm not with them. And so yes, I still use that because it was the last day before Thanksgiving, so I still used it to my strategic advantage to survive. But after that, whenever I came back, I had to go to doctor and you know, make sure everything was clear all that. I was still hurting, right, and he's like,

20:03 how are you feeling? I was like, oh, I'm fine, you go because I much rather be out there doing what I can do with my guys than doing arm rotation. Yeah. You know how many how many females were in there with you? There? Started? It started out with about five and very quickly two of them left. How many men five or six actually to them, so it actually was one hundred and twenty all together, and so there was about five females. Wow, yeah, one hundred and twenty. And then we ended up graduating fifty six fifty six fifty six men women and so three women and a fifty six. Wow. Yeah, that's a big difference. Yeah, in interesting and it was. It was a lot of hard times. You know, you're just thinking, like, how in the world can you make it? Like I remember one time we were doing a three hour and I'm not exaggerating that we were doing a three hour like PT session because they were trying to get people to leave, you know, like they were. They even said it, They're like, we're not stopping until we have five more people quit. I'm like looking around. I know it's not me. So I know, like, I mean, how much longer can we be here? You know, because I'm not I'm not quitting, So I'm looking I'm hoping somebody else quits because I want to get done with this. But you know, at the same time, it's not gonna be me quit sure, So love that. Yeah, it's just a It taught you a lot. You know a lot of people think, well,

21:36 why go through such a hard academy? And that's been the big controversy over in Mississippi is whis patrol school so difficult compared to you know, regular law Enforcement Academy, especially whenever they say, oh, state troopers only write tickets and work RECs, right, and state troopers do a lot more than that, but that is their primary, you know job that day or in their ship. If you're a roadman, you go write tickets, you work ricks. Sure, you're called anything else with you know, down the road. As far as if a hurricane happens, a tornado, if there's a domestic case that's going on on the road or off you know, on the side of the road, you're you're dealing with that, You're dealing with murders that happened on the road. Yeah, things like that. And then later on in your career you become an investigator, you're dealing with a lot more issues and investigations and stuff like that. But a regular trooper you work tickets, I mean, you work corrects and write tickets. Yeah, but you're experts at it. Unbelievably impressive that you were able to get through that, and one of a very few females, but one of very few people forget female, male, half the people quit. Yeah, yep, that's a drop out, right, Yeah. Yeah, So that's what I was saying.

22:52 The controversy is there. And you know, patrol school teaches you a lot more than just write tickets. Yeah, correct. It teaches teaches you about life, teaches you how to survive and how to make it. And when you think you can't make it and you can't go on anymore, you remember where you're taught in patrol school and it helps you. Yeah, throughout, it's a life lesson. Oh yeah, well, if you can get through that, you can get through anything. It's you know, and people in the military same way. A lot of times, especially with like special Forces duty and stuff like that. You get through a good seal training and pretty much nothing else you get thrown at in life is going to equal that, and so you can you never that is it everything you thought it would be? Was it? Oh? I loved it. So when I was in patrol school, a lot of the troopers would say that, you guys that have been at counties or cities, you think you got attention before, You're going to get ten times more attention. Now you're the boss on these scenes. You are the one in charge and the one everybody will come and run to, right, And I was like, what an egotistical you know, tack officer right, you know, because I was a police officer before, and I was like that, there's no way, you know, it's law enforcements, law enforcement. Right when I put on that uniform and I started working, I saw the difference. And a lot of people were like, Oh, that's just because you're a brainwashed No. When I have been

24:22 on both sides, you know, local law enforcement and the state agency, and I've seen what it's like how you're treated on both sides. Now, I was treated always good every time, but it is a completely different environment and you have to be your own boss. You don't have a supervisor you can call every time it's going to be right around the corner. You've got to figure it out and make a decision and stick with that decision. And so it was very different. I definitely enjoyed it because I wasn't stuck to a city, right. I got to go to the state games, you know, the Miss Sippy State games, the Old Miss games. They I got to be on the field. You know who can say that they got to be on the field during a game, And it's just an incredible experience.

25:14 There were so many things I was had opportunity to do, you know, escort details, being able to travel the state, being able to be that first responder anywhere in the state. You know, my husband at the time or ex husband now, so he still works for Pearl Police Department. And it was one of those like, Okay, the storms passed, yeah, maybe for you, maybe for Pearl, and nothing happened in Pearl, but the storm hasn't passed out of Mississippi, so I'm still on call, you know. So it was one of those huge difference and you just have to be there and experience it to really understand it. I can tell you all day long. It was a difference, but it just like like I once thought of that egotistical trooper who thought they were better than everybody. No, it's it really is the truth, you know, and you won't know it until you see it. Right, very interesting, So let me ask you this. You were you're going through and your road what do you call it? A road deputy, I guess, or a road trooper? Roadman?

26:26 Okay, so you're a roadman. You're out there and you know, look, y'all, that's dangerous work because you don't know if you're pulling someone over if they don't have you know, five hundred pounds of cocaine in the back of their car, or you may just be pulling them over for speeding, right, and that person may not want to go to jail that day. And so to me, mad respect to you and and all the people that do that, that you'll approach your vehicle and you you know, you're doing what you're trained to do, and driver's lots of rostration. You're going nine hundred and two or whatever. What was it, November of twenty twenty two. Yeah, you and a firm go out. Yeah. Well, I guess everybody you know has heard that your previous podcast and all that, and so yeah. I've been on the news and social media and podcast and all over and so yeah. For for six years, I never got in trouble, never was rowed up. I was on a billboard for the Highway Patrol. I was on their recruiting team, mount of Patrol SOG team, which is Special Operations Group. I did everything I could for them. If they needed me to change a shift, guess what I changed a shift?

27:42 I took care of it didn't matter if I already had plans. I figured out how to help the Highway Patrol and so I did everything I could and was there a little hiccups, you know, missing court something like that. Yeah, every single trooper will miss court you're in there, and it's not on purpose or anything. You just have so many different counties you go to, especially coming from a city department to a state agency. You know. I was used to one city, you know, and they had it on the board of when you go to court. Most time you're working anyway, they scheduled it where you're working with a higher patrol. You have multiple counties you work, and multiple courts you got to go to, and some are on Tuesday and some are on Wednesday somewhere on Thursday, some are at nine somewhere at one. And so whenever I first started, yeah, I mean I was like learning everything. And so I say that to say that, yes, you know, I have hiccups, but I never was rode up for anything. Sure, never have been disciplined nothing, and always was in Troops C which is Jackson District, and never had any issues, never had any complaints. I actually had accommodation letters for how nice I was on traffic stops and that's been pressive and no complaints. Look, everybody's pist when they get a traffic ticket, even if on it would be pissidents. You've got a traffic ticket. But for people not to complain about that ever, and that amount of time is pretty impressive in my book. Yeah. I remember going up to the clerk one day at justice court, you know, to

29:15 maybe sign off on some citations or something, and she said, we get phone calls about you all the time. I was like, Oh, why they complaining. They're like, no, they want to say how nice you were on your traffic stide. That's pretty awesome. Yeah. So I just I remember her saying that to me. I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah, it is, Uh, that was just me. That's me as how I was in law enforcement is because I treat you just as good as you treat me. Even if you are having a crappy day and you're mean to me, I'm not going to let my ego stoop to your level. I'm going to keep that level head. I'm going to continue to be me. Because you were just pulled over and I don't know what's going on in your life. You know, I don't know if you're running late to work because you have a sick parent at home that you have to take care by yourself, Like I don't know what's going on, and honestly, you going ten miles or my limit was fifteen to twenty, but you know, at first it was probably ten. I'm not gonna lie. It's probably that typical trooper, you not gonna speed on my highway. But I was still nice about it, you know, And although I still gave about citations, I was always very you know, courteous and kind because I don't know what that person's dealing with in their life, and my job is not to make them pay something. My job is to protect them. And that's why I got in law enforcement, is to protect Yeah. I never had anything going on, and then, like you said, November of twenty twenty two, supposedly an incident happened. So the reason why I say that is because how all

30:45 of this started, how I was fired everything, and yes, once again I can't say everything. But I was brought out in the news in last November, and a lot of people think this is a new story. It's not. I've been with us for a long time. Yeah. So last November, November twenty twenty three, I had an article brought out about me in a gossip colum in Jackson area, and the Highway Control of course found out about it. You know, I go through internal affairs, you know, and even prior to this, I actually was at the Attorney General's office. So this woman accuse me of some very heinous stuff, and I go to the AG's office and they're ask me, you know, what's the story, what's this about? And I tell them, you know, they even mirandized me. Now when they called you in there, did you know any of this was coming out? Did you Did they just call you out of the clear blue one day and say, hey, we need to talk to you about something or were you already aware that what? Yeah? Girl ahead, Oh, I was here in rumors. I mean everybody here's right, okay, but yeah, so only thing I had to talk to them about.

32:00 It's just rumors. But anyway, I talked to them about what was going on. And that was in August, and then November comes around and this article comes out and it is extremely embarrassing. You know, we didn't have my name at first, but it everybody knew who it was because, like I said, there's only there's only one female in ranking in Simpson County honestly, there's only one white female in the entire state. And it didn't I mean, it didn't say that it was white female, but it talked about living in Brandon and all that. And yeah, it wasn't hard to put. It wasn't too difficult. So it was extremely embarrassing. And it's just one of those I had to deal with it. And I couldn't say anything because I was working for the highway Patrol and they speak for me, you know, So I just had to be quiet. And I had oh I wanted to like scream to the rooftop like I didn't do this, you know, Like, but I had an attorney buddy of mine. He told me, He's like, Ivanna, it doesn't matter how much evidence you present to the general public. Half of them are never going to believe you.

33:09 It doesn't matter what you tell them. They're going to think something's like there's some type of cover up, there's something and who really cares. You know what you did and you know what you didn't do, so don't worry about it. Just be calm, be still, you know. And so that's what I did. I didn't, you know, say anything on social media and all that, and then December comes around and she ends up putting a filing and temporary restraining order on me in chance recurt And that was December of twenty twenty three, and so that's when I actually finally saw what she is claiming is going on, like actually a document, because I have not been able to see a document this entire time. And so I finally saw this document and she claims that, you know, I hurt her in November of twenty twenty two, and this is now December of twenty twenty three that she decides to do a temporary restraining order. Now I don't get served these papers, oh yeah. And so it's another month or so until I get served these papers for the temporary training order. But in the meantime, I get transferred with a work December twenty ninth, and I had until January second to go to Troop D, which is two and a half hours away from my home. I only brought home twenty four hundred dollars a month. Okay, so you have to pay mortgage, utility bills, gas, you know,

34:40 car insurance, all of this stuff on twenty four hundred dollars a month. And now I'm being transferred two and a half hours away from my kids, from my house, from my business that I was. I just moved locations I hadn't opened up yet. And and now I got to pay for more gas because I don't want to miss out on my kids' lives. And I got to pay rent up there, got to get more furniture, all of this because I had furniture at home, of course, but that wouldn't make any sense for me to move that furniture to the Delta. And then whenever I am home with my kids, my kids have nothing to sit on, you know, or no dining room table to eat at. And so I had to go buy new stuff. And I only had seven days to file agreements. And I sent an email first. I did not want to have to file agrievance. I didn't want to have to go through all of this.

35:37 I do not You know a lot of people are like, oh, keep fighting, you're a fighter. I really don't want to fight anyway, you know, I don't want I don't want any of this. I'm not an aggressive person at all, Like I would not hurt a fly. The reason why I've done so well in law enforcement is because I communicate and I talk to somebody with dignity and respect, you know, and that's got to me a lot further than trying to be aggressive and have my ego like, oh, you're going to do what I say because I say, do it right. So they never responded to an email and I had to file agrievance and thirty two days after I was transferred in twenty six days after I filed agreements, that's when they came up with, well, you violated these policies.

36:22 So you know, a lot of people have sent me the stelle Cracker. Is that his name, the Louisiana. Yeah, yeah, I actually know him pretty well. So they have sent me a podcast that he did and it sounds so familiar. Because I did not violate any law. I have not been charged criminally with anything. They said I violated policy. And the reason why I continue to fight is because, just like I've been telling people on social media that I'm innocent and I will prove I'm innocent, it's not going to be a me versus them, It's gonna be court will determine, and I'm gonna let court proceeding show my innocence. Right. So that's another reason why I don't just get into everything is yes, I have court, but also everybody doesn't need to know every single detail because guess what, they're not going to believe it anyway. Yeah, you know, but if I have court that backs me up, well then that's saying something. Indeed, no, I agree with that one hundred percent. And so get called in you're in the age, tells you you know, here's what's going on.

37:32 Then the state police or not the state Police, but the Mississippi Highway Patrol in your case. You know, these are your people, right, these are your your brothers and sisters in law enforcement, and also the people that you work for, and uh, you would think they're gonna have your back one hundred percent, and it just seemed like, uh maybe, oh it was more of in my opinion, it was an embarrassment and they were hoping it would just go away. They would either the ship me off and I stay there and I stay quiet, I don't say anything, or I just quit. And I'm not a quitter. Quarter So if I did something wrong, I would own up to it and be like, you know what, I'm gonna take my punishment. I'm going to roll on out, you know. And but I didn't. I didn't do anything, and that would have been the easiest thing. Oh yeah, if I would have gone, if I would have been, I mean this would probably be ever. Oh absolutely, I would have still been in the delta and I would have been doing my thing and nobody would have nothing would have happened, you know.

38:38 But I have been trampled on throughout my life a lot, and you would think that I would have such a bad attitude, but I don't. I just know that you got to pick your battles. And I was actually talking to the trooper the other day that you know, we've been good colleagues for an number of years and throughout this whole time when the higher Patrol anytime they would be like, oh, well you're doing you didn't go to court. What about the other twenty troopers that didn't go to court? Either you know, why are you looking at me more than anybody else? Or oh you posted on social media? Yeah, so did this trooper in his speedo's Yeah that's you know, getting ready for a competition. You did you say anything to him? No, you didn't. And let me let me just fill people in on that, because I saw that post that you had put uh TikTok that you had put and the so Evana was approached by someone in her job, I guess you would say higher up, And this higher up said, you know, you can't really be posting a picture BECAMEI on the on the internet and Evanna's like, it's a bathing suit and I was at a pool, yeah, you know. And so this guy's like, yeah, but I mean, you can't really be And she's like, well, let me ask you some then. What if I'm a guy like a lot of state troopers out there, and I'm at the beach with my family and I'm posting a picture and I'm in swim trunks or speedo or I don't roll with

40:09 the speed a's But if you are, same thing, right, And the guy didn't really have a whole lot to say to that, because it is a good point. And look, that is a big proof of the double standard in law and not in law enforcement as much as in life. I mean, but law enforcement it directly relates to. In this case, you're at it. You're at a pool and you're in a bathing suit, which is absolutely normal, and everybody is there is in bathing suits, and you're getting criticized for it. I'm as told you can't do it. It's crazy.

40:52 There's a lot of cases like that, and said, though it really is. I had a female trooper who retired and she told me that being a female in law enforcement, especially with the highway Patrol, it is like being a female on the football team. Okay, you don't really hear of it, right, there are females out there on football teams now, right, but she said, it's like being a female on the football team. Nobody really wants you there. But not only are you on the team, you are getting the attention of the quarterback, like you are getting you are the quarterback. You are getting the attention as the quarterback. So you're all the eyes are on you. Yeah, they're waiting for you to do something right. And so I have come to realize that is the best quote.

41:39 That is the best like analogy that's actually I have ever heard. And then I had another female that retired with the Higher Patrol and she told me, She's like, there's a lot of beautiful women in the world. There are not a lot of beautiful women that are state troopers, and so you will get a lot of attention, a lot of eyes on you, and that has been definitely true. Some good, some bad, and it's just things that I have to deal with and I'm trying to deal with it as best as I can. You know, I think you're doing a good job of it. It's I can't imagine that. Look, that's a lot of pressure.

42:21 You're under a lot of pressure, I mean, quite frankly, and you roll through it. It's amazing how how you deal with it. Most people fold under pressure. Strong people, very strong people almost thrive under it. I put myself against corners sometimes and back myself against walls, and I really do because I am best under pressure, There's no doubt about it. And sometimes that's to my detriment. But you are. You seem very calm for someone that is under such a microscope right now. And look, not only from a the process of your job, but also from the process of your reputation. I mean, you've got people out there and they're they're doing everything they can to try to ruin your reputation, to try to to you know, you get horrible text messages for example, and yeah, these are horrible and I'm not even going to go into what they are. But you're handling them with grace, there's no doubt about it. Well it's uh, it hasn't always been the best. So you know, we going back to the whole storyline. So I got fired in February and so now we're here in July. I still have yet to find a job. Yeah, you know. And when I first got fired, it was you know, off

43:51 and on crime. It was like, oh, I'm like, you know, pissed, mad, happy, sad, like you know, everything that you can think of for at least, you know, at least two weeks. I would say I didn't want to be alone. You know, I have my kids once a week. I'm divorced now and I have my kids once a week. Uh, you know, once every other week makes sense. So I get them a Sunday to Sunday every other week, so the Sunday, right, So when I didn't have them, I wanted to make sure I was around people, you know, I just I didn't want to be alone. Sure, So it was what am I going to do? And I was actually offered a job at the day after I got fired.

44:31 I was offered a job to go and sell hunts. And I'm still talking to that guy, but he had told me at the time. He's like, I'm not gonna be able to hire you until April because that's when we'll start really doing everything we need to do. I was like, okay, I can. I looked at my bank account, I'm like, all right, I can manage. I could be offered, you know, two months or whatever it might be. I was like, but anytime after that, it's gonna be come of getting it close. So he's like, okay, yeah, I understand. Well, I'm going through the whole process. It's you know, the middle of everyone and get fired. And so I only got a month and a half. I'm gonna be off and then I'm gonna start working again, and this great salary is actually gonna be like twenty five thousand dollars more than I make all of it. Wow. Well, you know, I'm not really doing much on social media at the time because I really I was embarrassed. I didn't want anybody know because I know I didn't do anything wrong, but I didn't want How do you use your private life?

45:28 Yeah, Rona, let me tell you something. I don't want no one going through all my personal business. I mean, quite frankly, there's nothing to be your private life is your private life, period, and this woman has had it everything opened up in her life and it's not fair to me. To me, I don't think it's fair. I do not think it's fair. And so I get it. I get what you're saying, and it's a pretty judge people pretty pre judging it a lot of times. I mean I've had people like basically just ghost me, run for me, people who called all the time, Hey can I get help on this ticket? Hey can you go help my kid with a flat tire? Can you like all this stuff? And now I don't get any phone calls. Wow.

46:17 I you know, I was actually told by somebody that I really admired and I was like, hey, can you hire me? You know, I'm very good at marketing. I can go back to you know that aspect. And he's like, well, Ivanna, it would be political suicide if I hired you, And it just kind of like threw me back, because like I have come to realize who my real friends are, you know, and the ones that are actually my friends now are the ones who actually reached out to me ever since this happened and said I know you didn't do that. I know it's you know bs, and I'm here for you, you know, anything you need. And I've like come to be really good friends with new people that when everybody else left, these people are like, hey, I got your back. I don't know you, but I got your back well, And that's when that's how you know who your friends are.

47:13 When when things are good, anybody will be have your back and be on your side. When things are bad and you're struggling, the ones that are still there are the ones that are real, right, you know, I believe that it's been definitely a roller coaster. And I'm not saying I still don't cry sometimes because I do. So I started getting on social media because I didn't have anything that was really hitting off. So the whole job that I was telling you about, and April comes around, he's like, oh, well, we're just not ready. And like I said, I'm still talking to that guy. He still says, you know, it's still going to happen, but we're in July. And so at once April hit and I wouldn't have a job, I started like what do I do now?

47:58 So I went to social media and I started trying to show people who I really am. You know, and I would put on social media like how I didn't necessarily believe in citations. Oh my gosh, you don't even realize how many people want to argue that, and they're like, well, you weren't a real trooper, you didn't do your job. I never said I didn't write citations. I said I didn't agree with it because I knew where to go and get five real quick tickets. Go to the you know, the poor areas. They can't afford a license, insurance, you know, tag all of that, right, they're just trying to make it to the co op to go to work, make something right. And so I could go over there, pull one person over and get five tickets. And so at the higher control and most of the time it's five tickets a day.

48:44 Keeps the mass sergeant away, right, and so hey, you get two stops and you get five tickets each, your ten tickets, you're done for the day. Yeah, okay, I didn't agree with that because my job or my personality is going back to protecting somebody, serving them right. That is not serving the general public. Especially whenever if I were to write somebody in a more urban area, more wealthier section of Mississippi, and you give them a ticket for speeding because they were speeding, but they had all their other stuff in order. They would call somebody and you would get a phone call and say, hey, do you mind helping me on that ticket?

49:24 Well, of course you're gonna help them on a ticket, right. So the ones who can afford it, they never had to pay for it, and the ones who can't pay for it, they're in the endless cycle of having to figure out how to either pay for food that week or pay off a ticket. And so I didn't feel like it was just to do that. Did I do citations, Yes, absolutely, but I stuck to primarily speeding, and it was primarily in Ranking County, And it was only so if I wrote ten tickets a day, it was ten stops, you know. And I mean I would do no proof injure or stuff like that, but I would always tell the people like, look, if you go get insurance, if you go get a tag, if you go get your license, as long as the judge is okay with it, I'll remand all these tickets because all I do is want you to be road ready, right, I want you not to get a ticket by other troopers that are not going to give you that courtesy. So let me give you this these tickets.

50:21 You go get your stuff together, and the ball is in your court, you know. And that's what I did, and so I try to put on social media that's who I really am. And then I slowly started getting into well, I'm no longer with the highway Patrol. I am a former state trooper because I didn't want anybody to assume I was still in law enforcement. And then I get in trouble for you know. Yeah. Yeah, So I have been on social media really since April, and that has been the only thing that has paid me. Yeah, and you've garnt it. I have to shout out to you, how many how many TikTok people you got, like one hundred and twenty seven thousand? I do. I have one hundred and twenty seven thousand, and I think the projection is I should have two hundred thousand by October after this podcast. You hit that girl because we can link yours TikTok to this video. And so that's been really sustaining you. Yes, that's the only thing wonderful. I have been hustling basically to get anything I can to survive. So I have cut all costs, like as much as possible, all costs, you know, if I was paying an extra you know, Apple bill or something, you know, something like that, or any type of subscription or something like that. I have cut everything so that way, I got the cost of living really low, so it doesn't cost it's not so much I have to have to survive, right, So got that as low as I can. And I mean technically,

51:52 yeah, I could go lower. I could try to sell my house and move in with my mom and sell my car and only keep one car because I have two cars once paid off ones not so I mean I could do all those. I mean I could still go lower and not have any bills and still like to you know, keep going. But I also have four kids, you know, I don't want them being uprooted or change anything. I'm trying to keep everything as normal as possible because all I have to do is in my mind is to survive until October, you know, and I actually look for October is the employee appeal board, gotcha. So I have had all of this that I've been thinking about, like if I don't have a job, I even looked at going to law school, went took my l SAT. I've got to do the writing portion in order to get the score for the l SAT. But I and I was trying to just survive until August so I can get in law school and get a student loan and that would pay for the mortgage. Like I've this is all the stuff I've been thinking about. And still I had always wanted to be in AE And with all of this, I ended up really having a passion for employment law, and I wanted to get my law degree and then eventually get my Masters in employment law, you know, uh. And I wanted to help other people that were wrongfully terminated like me. You So it goes back to that whole personality and I just always want to help, always want to protect.

53:23 And I felt like maybe this is what God was leading me to in a crazy way. But right now, I I don't. Like I said, I got to do my writing portion of LSAT and I still got to do a few things to see if I can get into law school in August. But I'm still focused on October two because I have had a couple of courts or why I've had one, But throughout this whole process, I will end up having to go through a couple you know, court dates. Sure, so I put on social media that May thirtieth is whenever I had that temporary restraining order court date. And so May thirtieth comes and she doesn't show up, so and I will never say her name. And with that court we actually agreed that we won't say her name even though her name is public record. What we decided in court on May thirtieth, we said, you know what, for this federal lawsuit, which I guess we'll get into in just a second, she wanted to remain anonymous, right, So we're like, okay, we'll go with you wanting to remain anonymous, even though you've already put your name out there and stuff like that. And honestly, I think, in my opinion, I think the reason why that was initially done is because she wanted to put my name out there because before it wasn't being reported who I was on these like you know, gossip columns and the news story and stuff like that. But when she put my name on a public document, it's public record, so then they started reporting who I actually was.

54:52 They want to report her because she's the supposed victim, right, so I have had to bear the burden of this on my shoulders because nobody nobody says her name, and that's fine. Well daily Mail Saturday, Yeah, but nobody else will, and that's fine. You know, I honestly think that she just wanted to be rich and famous from all of this, and or just that's who she is, and she just wanted to be mean to me. And you know, I don't ever you never know, like you were talking about criminal mind and stuff like that, I don't want to say she has a criminal mind, but you never know what somebody's thinking, what is actually going on in their head, And so I will never know why she actually did this. But it doesn't make any sense that if I really did something criminally to her and I really heard her, why did she not go follow a charge? You know? And that's priminal charges here. These are several cases, yeah, these are just civil and she doesn't even show up for the temporary restraining order, but yet she still is going to continue the eleven million dollar lawsuit. You know, it kind of makes you wonder, like, oh, that looks like that was your whole intention, is trying to get money. So I had that court and that's been done and

56:23 I put on social media. I don't hide about anything. And and it's all because not only is it good content, you know, like it's one of those I just have to deal with it, but it's also I want people to see the other side. You know. I'm not going to go into detail, like I've already stated, because nobody's going to believe everything, but to put it out there saying, hey, I'm a former state trooper. I'm not going to hide it, you know. And I know a lot of people are like, you know, you are crazy. Why are you on social media talking about this. Most people would like, you know, running high, they would stay low, lay low, going to Yeah, I got mad respect for that actually, because yeah, most people would.

57:09 And that's why those things happen, because people just assume that you're going to be intimidated, that you're going to go away, that you're just gonna do you know, the the the juice wouldn't be worth the squeeze for you to fight that out. You ain't like that, Well, I think they thought I was. I think they did too, and I surprise them, you know, But yeah, I'm just I'm doing stuff on social media. I've done a modeling gig. I did a photoshoot for General Lee Replica. Yes, I saw that I did. I enjoyed that. And then I do a defensive driving class I have already. I did one Saturday, and I got another one coming up and all that. But that's not Those things are not every week, they're not every month. You have a store I do. I have a store that has been very slow, and unfortunately, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to keep that, to be honest, and it's just one of those, Oh I know, and it's just one of those. Like I had all of this going on, I just move locations to that store in January. I was transferred out in January. I had to depend on my manager to kind of help with getting the remodel done at the place and get our federal firearms license back, and we were hindered from getting our license back. And I won't go into too much detail on that one either, but that's something down the road I'll be able to talk about when the time is right. And it took us

58:44 all the way until April, the middle of April to get our license, so we were dead in the water. Yeah, that's any business. I mean, you got to wait that long to say your main product, so to speak. And then it's been a lot of ups and downs trying to find a good gunsmith to stay and be reliable, dependable and gun sells. A lot of people think, oh, you know, guns are six hundred dollars plus, you're making a lot of money. No margin there. You might a store owner might get one hundred dollars off of a pistol. Yeah, you know, it's very low margin. It's all volume or you sell. The more money you're to make. You don't make it per gun really, unless it's collectible gun or something like that. So and I did everything at that store is on me, Like I bought it with my own money.

59:36 I didn't get a loan, so if I had to pack up, it's not I guess the end of the world. I don't owe anybody or anything. So I just don't know where I put all this stuff. And I know it can be successful. It's just I was about to start looking for a loan, you know, so that way I could get more inventory and not have to be so like tight with everything. And all of this hit basically and definitely not going to get along when you don't have a job, you know. So it has been very slow, and summertimes slow too, So I've been trying to see if I can't just make it to August. But to be honest, like with me having to really struggle with finding a job or really expand with social media, which social media has been doing really great, but it's and I feel like it's going to get even better, but right now it's not guaranteed. And yes I did great last month, but this month might not be so well, you know, and I've got to figure everything out. And I just I can't afford to keep a store going. And the reason why I was trying to keep the store going and I'm not working there, I have somebody that I pay. The reason I do that is because he is He was prior military, and I know what it's like obviously to not have a job and to lose something that you enjoy doing, and he enjoys being up there. I don't want to make him go through what I have been through, so I much rather pay him

1:01:09 to stay up there and let me just find something else, you know. And but it's one of those where eventually it's going to come down to, I can't take bread off my own table, it give to somebody else. You know. That's and that's the unfortunate fact or the truth behind being a business owner. You got to make hard decisions of Unfortunately. Yes, I want to keep him there because he enjoys being there, but at the end of the day, I have to watch out for me and my kids, That's right. So it's I'm hoping we don't have to do that. I'm hoping something pops off, you know, and we can continue to grow the business, and I can continue to grow social media. So I'm just kind of like doing anything I can to survive right now. Yeah, and you know you're you've done a great job with your social for sure. I mean, you built that channel on TikTok. No easy feat. People think the stuff is easy. Let me tell you building a podcast, building a TikTok, things like that, they are not easy. They're not easy. In podcasts, for example, it's a ninety four percent failuarate now ninety four percent never make a dime, you know, to stay strong. I mean, the horizon is coming, it's you know, and a lot of questions will be answered at that time. But You're an inspiration to a lot of people out there with your strength through all of this, and I respect that and I think you're pretty awesome person. Well, thank you. You're welcome, and so thank all of you for listening. And just quickly before we get

1:02:42 out of here. I know it's crazy, but I got nominated for a People's Choice Podcast Award for Best Storyteller in a Drama Series. All you have to do is go to Podcast Awards dot com and you sign up and you'll go. It'll bring you to another page. You'll click a drop down arrow in that category and you will see exposed scandalous files of the elite. Be totally honored to get your vote on that. It's the oldest podcast awards in the world, and it is also the only podcast awards ceremony that goes off of the vote of the people. It is not a panel that selects the winners. And that's what matters to me, is that y'all are actually voting for me and choosing me to win that award, and I just love that, love all of you. Check out Patreon if you haven't had the opportunity.

1:03:39 We have a lot of stuff on their bonus episodes, we have early commercial free releases and all kinds of all sorts of things that you can get, and it supports the show. And look, without those Patreon members, I wouldn't be here, there's no doubt about it. Shows just too expensive to run. So thank you very much for that, and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, your host of Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. Much love,