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If you want to sell the real real makes it easy to consign, with their White Glove service, for free in home, pickup shop, in's or online or download the app and get twenty percent off select items with the promo code, real. That's the real real dot com, promo code, real for twenty percent off select items. What are you most often diving for looking, for weapons or bodies or our basic church. For bombs, bodies, narcotics in evidence, Dave Mascarene, Icesa, a sergeant with the LAPD he's all the supervisor for their underwater dive unit or he's been diving for the last eighteen years or I mean aspect is not like what most people think that you go down recreationally and you can see a hundred feet in the water is warm and all that good stuff are at purge dive, the waters are cold off coast wearing you know

seven millimeter quarter, inch wet, suits and most of the time our visibility is less than a foot. He started school driving in high school, performed, waterborne operations in the military and then join the LAPD. Where he's worked in a lot of different units, the crash JANET Anti Gang Unit Bike patrol in Hollywood, but no matter what apartment he was working with, he could be called away any time to go on a dive I have been in underground water sheds that are about one hundred feet wide by two hundred feet: law song by almost a hundred feet deep that are completely enclosed in cement and had to be lowered in by a rope to get in Aaron do investigations, that's kind troubling when you know that there is no escape. If you have an issue have been in damn in top of mountains. Have been in the LA river searching for bodies. I've had to be deployed by helicopter

Do you know into the ocean and to giant strides off of peers, who pretty much do everything and in our department because we try not to say no to an investigation if at all possible, because then re sending a message that hey. This is a good idea to dump evidence here, but in the summer of two thousand thirteen the LAPD Dive unit got a call that sounded so unreasonable. It had to be a joke. Detectives had gotten into on a high profile, murder case a case. They still aren't releasing many details about them It happened in two thousand eleven and the investor, Shin and gone cold until they got word that evidence may have been thrown in the La Brea tar pits. It was like being asked to scuba dive in a pit of toxic cold molasses. How could you even be in it, let alone breathe, and at first you know we were joking about us like yeah. That's you know, that's not really going to happen

there's no way we could pull that off, but once we were, Steve, a request from a detective to do and investigate in my job is to see, if that's something that we can do, I would feel like. That would be something you just say. I'm sorry, that is absolutely nothing. We can do well keep in mind that, yes with the underwater diving it but there's a lot of things that we can do that? Might. Necessarily mean we have to do a dive investigation. We have remote operated vehicles, we accessories equipment that we can deploy sometimes and nobody knew, if anything would function or not, everybody's best guess was no, nothing will work when he says I've. Buddy's best guess was no. He means everybody. This all hands on deck analysis. The only fire department, port police, beach police geologists, archaeologists, diving experts and even the people who

design, the underwater search equipment. Their concern was that those remote operated vehicles emit small electric sparks. Even when they're supposed to be airtight to go underwater water, no one could be certain they wouldn't. Let off sparks that might cause an explosion and set the whole tarp it on fire. They tried other options, hooks and grabbers magnets. Nothing worked, But they were able to use a sonar system to confirm that the pieces of evidence were in fact down there the tar. So now we were in a situation where we have identified items that need to be looked at And we can't retrieve them via equipment. So We decided that maybe we would try to put a diver into the into that are.

He did you, please sit center and pick straws, or did you think in you know this My call how? How did you get chosen to do this well that time I was the oh, I see the officer in charge of the investigation. This is a scenario where I could be asked. Somebody to go in harm's way and most likely they're not going to come back from it. How would I see so being the person that makes a phone call and says I told my officer to do that and he did it and knowing he's most you're going to get hurt and he does and then I have to deal with the family. So So I decided if anybody was going to do it was going to be me. That way in nothing could possibly come back. If some, if I get injured or I don't come back well, it was my decision. Did you stop and we are you married? I am married twenty nine years, twenty nine and you-

kids. I have two sons, thirty one and twenty five. So did you call your wife and say? Listen. I have to do this kind of crazy thing, do you think we're excited better, not to tell her. No. That was one of those scenarios where you, you know, beg for forgiveness later and not say anything. I looked at like this. I've had a good life. I've had a great crew, here, I've done a lot of things. My kids are older. If something. What happened? My wife can be taken care of an when Talk to my lieutenant at the time who is now retired. He basically said Dave Do we want to send the message that you know we can't do this there somewhere a bad guy can go and get away with something she'd. His colleagues to read, leaning in preparing for the dye moves, leaning, went straight out, the window

as soon as he got underwater. I'm Phoebe Judge this is criminal. There is actually three pits the main pit that most people see. It looks just like a big small lake of black tar to the consistency of like pudding. It looks like to me tens of thousands of years ago. Tectonic pressure started forcing oil up to the surface of the earth and it pulled in the small lakes, now LOS Angeles and the reason there's something of a tourist attraction is because prehistoric animals would wait in and get stuck. They couldn't ask and would eventually die and their bones were perfectly preserved by the oil they're. Still there today, there's a saber tooth tiger. That's thought to be forty four thousand years old and a coyote, that's forty! Six thousand years old

It looks. It looks like something that you would walk into and just disappear forever. Yes, You see bubbles coming up, that's the methane gas from coming through and some are big. During smaller, so you're always hearing popping noises, but it basically yeah. Looks like you know, once you step in you're, not you're, not coming back. In fact, they even have a couple of prehistoric dinosaur creatures. You know put that fake ones that they have on the side had some avamar halfway in the pitch depicting him. What happened in the past on June Sixth, two thousand and thirteen d, even his team arrived at. The tar pits very early in the morning. Dave were had this material suit, the suit men. Factures said they thought it should hold up in that are, but also the

too much time passed. The suit could dissolve and eventually burn itself up, so Dave took extra precautions. He put duct tape on all the seals for his breathing air was pumped down from the surface and they set up a radio system. So Dave could hear instructions from p. Lan and I asked him if he was nervous. I don't know about being nervous. My or thought was. I got to pull this off we're probably only going to get one shot at this, and now everybody is there in the median everywhere else an I have. You know all my peers there I want to do. Best job that we can, and I want to do it as safely as possible and at the end of the hey, I kind of wanted to be able to go back home. The first step was to bring in a fire truck to use the high powered hoses to clear away the top layer of talk

until the surface was something more as Dave says: liquidy, then they read safety lines in two different directions: going across the pit and lowered a rowboat into the tar and then Dave, weighted n. As soon as I got in as soon as my my face pass through the first layer, want this second layer in third layer. All you see is like a eh all green like avocado covered hue. Some parts of the tar were like pudding where you could basically kind of pad it and and feel it and you would be ok in other parts you touched, and you immediately got stuck in. It was like, like a cartoon commercial. Where am I your gloves would stretch like a foot till it? Finally away. The plan was that people on Land would monitor the sonar. They would then Guy Dave

who is radio on where to look or in this case, were to put out his hands and try to grab it something. However, it was very difficult. You can't like swim. Normally in tar, you can't really kick so we came up with is made a thirty or forty foot pole that the The guys from the boat put in that are an once. I submerged I grabbed on to that poll. An I would use that to pull myself down and to pull myself and then keep moving it for sort of time into the directions that the radio man was given me? We did a new move, three feature to your right to to your left. That kind of thing 'cause, my gauges and equipment. I could see him. Nothing was working so so you get

the B radio, in to you and saying it's there. It's there put your hand out, you put your hand and you'd feel the object. Whatever this evidence were not to is and and you grab it and then he'd put it somewhere in a pocket or well it's not. I wish it was as easy as that. Now you have a you, have a ' I sit it on. You have a glove on. Have you ever put on by two or three layers of gloves when it's real cold in the winter time for the snow, and you can't really grab very well that's kind of the same situation, so you had say: okay, that's not! Basically shape or size of what I'm looking for? This is basically shape or size will looking for and there was no way of putting it in an evidence, bag or container. So what I basically did is one I found that item. I brought it up to the guys in the boat, and they put it in evidence container container. You could have had your hand on like million year old crocodile jaw I could have,

yeah. This there was some weird things down there, so it was supposed to be a nine minute dive, that's what they planned. It wasn't safe to be down there longer. First off it was very hot, but also because the longer his hazardous material suit was exposed to that are the more likely it was to dissolve but then they've got stuck. I got my whole arm and hand and shoulder stock into all of it. Came up to my face. Mask and I started grabbing on the All employers are as I could and let them know that I'm stuck in a start pulling with the ropes and then my left leg got stuck in my fin got stuck. And I I thought well, I give it a good shot? I can feel like you know the pressure on my a more harness system, so I could literally feel it pulling on my chest and ribs and,

finally, I got out. He got unstuck and pulled himself to the surface to hand the recovered object to the men in the rowboat. He could have called today, but he knew that there was more evidence down there that job wasn't done and in spite of that close call, Dave, went back down and immediately got stuck again and that time time I don't even know how I didn't lose my fin. I felt it like coming off but I want to reach down with my hand and when my hand got stuck the glove felt like it stretched about a foot to two feet. You know my My fingers and Arian finally snapped out it, and you know I thought, ok. Well, I'm not going to make it this time. Someone is going to have to make that phone call Ann. I got out so this is. This is a good. This is a good commercial for duct tape.

Duck tape actually worked. What was supposed to be a nine minute, dive ended up being said, twenty seven minutes? Because none of his dive equipment functioned? No one knows how deep Dave went, but the estimate is anywhere from seven to seventeen feet. What did Look like when you emerged, you must have just been. You must win quite a sight. I was mostly full of tar. My my suit. Could be trashed. The mask was full of harm. My gloves were full attar trashed the fish. Things actually, whatever the material where they they were partly melted into formed, and we took off the gloves my hands were full of tar. And then somehow my hood had to have moved 'cause when they took off the map

this one side of my face and my ears and my neck were full attar. He was pause eated in light, headed but after being checked out by the Emts and MA ordered for a couple of hours. They gave him an all clear, so What did you say when you got home that night, your wife, I actually didn't get a chance to say anything like normal. I don't like to come home and talk about my my work because the different so I've been I've, been a law specialize units, I've. I've had some very bad experiences, I mean, the stuff you've seen on tv I've been involved in kind of thing, so I would just come home, and normally I have my clothes in a plastic bag. I can say or take this to the cleaners and don't touch it 'cause. It's got you how hazard on it or something and this this day yeah I was coming in. I walk in the door and my wife was standing there and she had a mean, interface and I said, hi honey,

The first thing she did is punch me Anne. She pushed me hard, I mean she she works out. So she hit me pretty hard. And then she burst out in tears and then she hugged me and she said I almost died and you didn't even tell me like well. What are you talking about, she said was all over the news were watching it at work. I wasn't happy Dave's, wife, Leslie Mascarenhas. I walked to the door her and I walked up to him and I punched him in the chest not hard, and then I had done, and I said don't ever do that again and he said okay, you just kind of. I think U S stocks, because I've never had them like that. I just I was just so angry, but then just so happy that you know he was still standing there and he wasn't. You know dad or you know, in the hospital seriously injured or something

nothing gas, though list kind of mad and happy at the same time and and scared. You said that you didn't punch him hard, but he says that you did and he said you punched him hard because you workout well for a girl. I guess it was hard, but I do try to take care of myself. So What is it like to live with someone who is actually doing the job and has this mentality and mindset of you know I care about my job. I love my job so much that yeah, hours of my life and that's funny, because people ask me that all the time like aren't you nervous for Turkey get nervous every time he goes to work, and I said no, he is he's one of those people that you know you just you know he can take care of himself

You know that's just who he is well. I knew that marrying him, so you just have to take it Instru, if I worried about it every day I would, I would probably have all for or something the evidence they've recovered in the tar pits did help the detective, bring suspects into custody, we checked in with him one more time last week to see if he could give us any update on the case and he wrote in an email that the investigation is still open and at least one individual is outstanding, He says his fellow officers have a nickname for him now the Brea Dave, and why you think this would give him a free pass on the next weird job. It hasn't.

Now people know what he produced by Vince Poor and me audio engineering, help from Rob buyers and Russ Henry. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of criminal. You can see them at this is criminal dot com. You can also find a link to the new criminal, two thousand sixteen calendar and sort of postcards with our favorite illustrations. Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina public Radio, w you and see we're proud member of radio topia from the IRS elective, but the thirteen best podcasts around shows, like the illusionist made by our power, one zaltzman in it. She explores the back story behind language and the ends and outs of words. We use every day in her episode, Toki Pona. She teams up with fellow radiotopia, Nate Demayo,

in the memory palace to learn a language in thirty hours. There's a language which is said to be the smallest language in the world It has around one hundred and twenty three words fourteen letters of the alphabet and apparently you can become fluent in it. In around thirty hours of study, it's called Toki Pona, Jan right, John, the the the mail so well leave Moute's. So when we The fact is is well. We leave the pony, go, listen! Well! The radio topia from Prx is supported by the Knight Foundation and Mailchimp, celebrating creativity, chaos and Timor Will be back in the new year with a whole new batch of stories thanks very much. Listening this year and for all your support, it means an awful lot happy holidays to you all, I'm Phoebe Judge, and until next, This is criminal

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