Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Episode 11.23 Wannabe

Cragen orders a manhunt to track down a rapist whose ammo is attacking teenage girls in Central Park. During a stakeout, a rookie cop attacks the suspect and later on, the man's birthmark is the same one detectives have on surveillance photo, identifying Wayne Hanket as their rapist. The rookie officer responsible for the arrest, Fletcher, receives praise from Cragen for going over and above to make sure Wayne was caught.

As Benson and Stabler continue interrogating their suspect, Fin and Munch alert Marlowe that there may already be a glitch in the case. The potential victim whom Wayne was seen talking to has told the detectives he never posed a threat to her, and Fletcher attacked him for no reason. Marlowe confronts the rookie about the girl's statement.

Marlowe lays into Fletcher for possibly ruining her entire case. He keeps telling her he got confused during all the mayhem, but Marlowe shows no sympathy. Later on, Fletcher disappears from the SVU and nobody saw him leave. Meanwhile, Cragen informs Marlowe that his boss just called to tell him that NYPD records show nobody by the name of Officer Fletcher in the system.

Even though Fletcher is not really a cop, he still had the uniform and knew the police lingo. Marlowe has only eight hours to find Fletcher and then her case can be saved as a citizen's arrest. The SVU goes digging in past recruits' records, hoping that Fletcher will pop up as a police academy dropout.

Benson and Stabler find Marlowe in the hallway, where she's nervous about going to trial and losing the case because of Fletcher's disappearance. The detectives assure Marlowe they are doing all they can to find Fletcher. Marlowe is forced to put her teenage rape victims through a lineup to identify Wayne; now she just needs to win her case.

Fin tracks down a cop who runs an after-school program for aspiring members of the NYPD. He tells Fin that he knows Fletcher; he's a 16-year-old in the program. Stabler and Benson confront the high school student as he's leaving class and tell him to sign the citizen's arrest forms so Marlowe can still have a case against Wayne.

Fletcher is arrested for impersonating a cop. Meanwhile, Wayne's attorney wants the case thrown out due to faulty arrest. In family court, Fletcher pleads guilty and is forced to give up all police paraphernalia, as well as agree to not log on to any police websites. If Fletcher agrees to all terms, his record will be cleared by his 21st birthday.

Fletcher is excited to help out Marlowe in her case. Back in her office, they go over his testimony but he cannot help but be mesmerized by all of Marlowe's awards from when she was a cop. Marlowe is called back into court and tells Fletcher to stay put and not touch anything. The judge says Fletcher's evidence was not collected by a cop; therefore, it cannot be submitted to trial. The judge then agrees with the defense and throws out Marlowe's case against Wayne.

Fletcher is angry about the judge throwing out the case. He only agreed to his plea offer if it meant helping out Marlowe's for a conviction. Marlowe suggests that Stabler and Benson stage a stakeout outside Wayne's house to see if he tries to find another victim. Before any action takes place, the detectives hear gunshots.

Police find Fletcher wounded and Wayne's father holding the gun. He claims Fletcher broke into his house and he was protecting himself. Back at the hospital, Fletcher awakes to find Marlowe by his side and can't recall what happened. Marlowe tells Fletcher that new charges will be pressed against him.

Marlowe still can't believe Fletcher gave up his last chance to apply to the academy just to bring down Wayne. Fletcher tells Marlowe that when he broke into the house, Wayne was asleep but his father was watching a video of Wayne raping one of the teenage victims who came forward. Marlowe tells Fletcher if his story pans out, he may still have a way into the academy.

Stabler suspects the camera that Wayne was carrying when he raped his victims must have been hidden in his baseball hat. Stabler and Benson question Wayne's father, who defends all of his actions and tells them his son is out for a walk. Fin and Munch find Wayne at a peep show, wearing the baseball hat in question. Fin finds the hidden camera.

Stabler and Benson find more videos that Wayne recorded of his attacks. In the videos, he makes the victims look at him during the rape. Marlowe now has a case against Wayne, but she also wants to go after his father.

Benson interrogates Wayne and makes him believe his father is the victim of the crimes Wayne's committed. Wayne cracks and says that filming the attacks was all his father's idea. He says he didn't want to rape those girls and his father made him do it. Furthermore, his father was emotionally abusive, even blaming Wayne for the cancer that ended up killing his mother.

Benson listens as Wayne tearfully tells her his father would bring prostitutes home and make Wayne watch as he had sex with them. Wayne says he was only 12 at the time. Benson apologizes that nobody helped him when he was younger, but now he's 38 and must take responsibility for his actions. Meanwhile, Wayne's father tells Stabler he was trying to help his son, but Wayne was always a loser.

As Wayne is leaving the SVU to be booked on rape charges, he sees his father exiting an interrogation room. His father tells Wayne that he despises him, but Wayne shouts out how much he loves his father. Marlowe tearfully watches Wayne plea for his father's acceptance and orders the detectives to take both men away.