What are you feeling today?
Mixed mixed emotions,
as you might imagine. Um.
Tough to leave, obviously my fay
and my staff and breakfast*.
I feel.
A lot of remorse. Um.
And it's really finally hit me .
You know your past really never leaves you.
The person that.
Has been depicted and the person
that maybe I was at one time is
definitely not who I am today, .
At the same time,
I feel like I'm ready to go andt
this started and get through it.
Um. Kind of make the most of the
situation if that's possible.
How do you intend to do that?
Um. I've already looked into a t
of different programs. Um. And.
Started to try to sign up for t,
or at least have them recommendo
that when I. Enter the system t.
I'll be able to deal with some things,
you know, psychologically
and just get myself together.
Um. Make sure that.
The behavioral patterns that maybe have.
You know, prompted me to make te
wrong decisions in life at time,
kind of try to go through
some programs to combat that.
Um, I really feel like
I've learned a lot about.
This system and how it you knows
meant to be that when you come t
from from making those choices d
from paying your debt to societ.
Come out and and you feel like
you're ready to to go and it's
never going to happen again andu
would never put yourself in that
position or the ones that you l.
And it's not as easy as as you think it is.
So my plan and I've put
together a release plan. Um.
And a plan for when I'm in ther.
My plan is really to try to
help other women as well.
It's kind of what I love to do.
It's what I've loved to do with
this restaurant and kind of
what our mission always was.
So yeah, my plan is to go in and
work with other women and maybe
empower all of us if I can.
Contribute to that.
You know you've been in this spot before.
What are you afraid of? Anythin.
About to head into a sentence,
yeah. I'm I'm trying to look at it and take
the most positive approaches that I can.
I mean, obviously I'm. I'm.
I'm more afraid for what's
happening outside than I am
about what's gonna happen to me.
I feel like I'm pretty tough
and with the right mindset that
I'll get through it all right.
I have a great support system.
My husband has been by my side.
Completely and unwavering so of my staff.
And family, my daughter came out
to Phoenix and stepped in and hs
been really spending a lot of te
at the restaurant and helping kd
of take the reins with my husba.
Umm. So. Yeah, it's. I think it it's.
It's a strange feeling, but.
I was more afraid.
Now I feel like they've got thi,
you know, I'll talk to him
every day and we're gonna try to
just keep this train rolling.
You know the sentence the judge imposed was.
Longer than even what the prosecutors had
recommended after the sentencing review.
Hmm. How does that sit with you?
Well. It didn't sit well right .
I am appealing the sentence.
And.
The way that that happened
was was interesting.
It wasn't just left to the judicial system.
Like you said, the prosecutor was fine.
He actually stood in court and d
to the judge that he stood by h.
His agreement but.
The victim in this case hired her own
attorneys that are ex prosecutors and.
Really went hard to try to.
You know, contacted people likey
ex-husband or anybody that might have
had a grudge against me and my d
sister who I haven't talked to n
almost 25 years or has she talko
anyone else in my family, you k,
and just tried to get as much?
Negative light on this as they could and.
That's. What did it?
Do you think the sentence is fa?
You know, I'm. I'm not.
I'm not the one that had to impe
the sentence, and if it's if
the judge felt like that was the
best thing for the interest of.
Justice then? I I don't know.
I can't really say.
I mean it's, I'll tell you,
I don't think that it's fair for the actual.
What I actually applied to.
What I applied to has been
sensationalized greatly.
Not to take away from the fact t
I am remorseful for my part, bu.
There's definitely been some ex.
Stuff in there
when you talk about remorse we'.
Talked with one of Germanna's attorneys,
he said. You didn't seem remors.
You don't seem like you regret .
What do you say to that?
I am absolutely remorseful.
Again, it's what they may be perceiving is.
Because it has been sensationalized and
there were some added things in there.
And then I've kind of been dragd
through the mud and the media
and my family and my staff have
been dragged through this and.
It can seem like it takes away from that
remorse a little bit when I'm angered by.
By the parts of this that are not true.
But I've decided to just focus .
You know I am remorseful
for what I did do and. Just.
I can't take, I can't go backwa,
you know, I can't,
I can't take it back and all I can do is.
Deal with it head on and um.
You know, I did apologize.
And I am remorseful I don't.
I I think again. I'm sure.
The attorneys who said that the.
They have a picture that they painted
and they're sticking with it.
I can't focus on that anymore
or keep my energy, you know?
Angry because it's not going to help anyone.
What is the plan for the restau?
Of the restaurants, I should say
the plans right now are to just they're.
The status quo, I mean,
they're going to keep going and.
You know, like I said,
we have the best staff I could ever ask for.
They're like family to me.
They they're like my babies.
I mean, so. And they've all,
everyone of them, just been so.
So supportive and you know theye
dedicated to making sure that.
They keep this.
Keep us strong.
You know, thinking back to prio,
you know, the arrest and
the indictment in this case,
did you think this would?
Never come to the surface.
Yes and no, I mean.
I knew that in the back of
my mind this was out there,
you know? I knew that and.
I absolutely didn't think that
it would play out like this.
Yeah, I think I'll stop with th.
Do you ever think about why?
You did what you did. That's
what I'm really looking
forward to the most about.
Going in, I feel like there
are so many new programs.
I'm going to the woman's camp
and they have a lot of different
programs there that I feel
like I really want to make the
most of and and find out why.
So you know where you'll be goi?
I know what's been recommended.
OK. Yeah. So you won't know until you go.
Designation is going up. And what is?
Yeah. What is tomorrow look like? I guess
so tomorrow I will surrender
to the US Marshals. And um.
I don't know what it's going
to look like from there.
I guess they would. They'll.
I'll wait until they.
Designate me hopefully to the
Phoenix camp, which is where.
The judge recommended I go
what does it mean to have your
husband and family members and staff?
Being supportive of you in this time.
It means everything.
If I didn't have them,
I don't know that I would be as
strong as I have been able to b.
You know from the outside looking in.
You know, there's there's
two sides to it, right?
There's the supporters and
there's the naysayers. So.
From the outside looking in,
I can see why. You know, maybe.
The gentleman you spoke with sad
that I didn't seem remorseful or
the person that you spoke with.
I'm just really trying to make t
through every day and be resilit
and stay strong, mostly for the,
for my team and for my family.
What do you want people to know about you?
I'm not a con artist.
I've never. Targeted anyone? Um.
And that's not how that worked out. Mean it?
I don't know, I guess it's
just more important for them.
To know that I'm. Dedicated to.
My my staff. I'm dedicated to my family.
I'm dedicated to the community.
And.
Things aren't always the way they look,
or they come out to be sensationalized.
But at the same time I know.
I know where. I went wrong and.
I'm just ready to write my wron.
You know, when you say
you didn't target anyone,
I think there's another side in
this that would say you did rig?
They felt it, that there was
money taken, trust was broken.
Yeah, with that said,
I will stand by saying that I
did not target anyone it the way
things unfolded in this situati.
Yeah, I'm just, I'm hesitant to
get into like all of the detail.
I don't want to risk anything
else by coming from a different
place other than remorse.
And what? How are you spending r
today, the day before you surre?
With my staff here for a while and then um.
I'll go home and have some quality time.
What's going to be the
hardest part? Saying goodbye.
What's going to keep you going?
Support from the outside and also I think
just my my release plan that I've made and.
Um shared with my family and asd
them to hold me accountable to .
Yeah, I really think that that's going
to be a huge part of this for m.
Is there anything else you want
to share or say? Not really.
I mean, I'll be back,*.
Hopefully stronger than ever, ts
why. Take the opportunity to speak out.
Umm. Yeah, I haven't and it's bn
over two years that I've. Decli.
Quite a few. Request and. Um.
I just felt like, OK, it's time.
I'm going in and.
You know, whatever you want to .
At the time that I planned on talking to you,
I kind of had a different mindst
where I was still coming from a
from a place of anger about the.
The untruths and.
From just in just a few days,
I've really just come to a different.
Place and I don't want to focus on that.
I want to focus on.
What I did wrong and?
And take the steps that I
need to take to correct that.
And something that stood out
to me too is that you know,
and looking through the court docket when
before the sentencing you had a lot of
people write in on your behalf and say.
You know, we see a different woman that's
being portrayed in the media. How do you?
What was that like to see or re?
I don't know if you read them a.
I don't know if I read them all either,
but I read a lot and.
To be honest with you, that kinf
kept me going because I was like ohh,
I'm not really a piece of crap.
Because everything else that
you see if I saw what you saw.
I would say lock her up
and throw away the key.
You know, I didn't like the person that
I was hearing all of this media about.
It was, you know? Horrible.
So. To know that my supporters.
That the people that did write in with
support saw me for who I feel like I am.
Made a huge difference.
Well, Tracy, thank you.