The pressure is incredible on Tim Hubbs -- his dental practice is suffering and his children are struggling with what their mother did. But, he faces a serious question -- did he know what was happening a full seven months before her arrest?
From the outside, Tim and Christine Hubbs appeared to have the perfect life. They met at Brigham Young University, got married at the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, had three kids, a thriving dental practice in Livermore, a 4,600-square foot home, a cabin in Tahoe and fancy cars.
"Out of 22 years of marriage, we've had 20 years that were good, we've had a couple years of rough times," Tim Hubbs said.
The rough times started when Christine, who was 40, got involved with two 14-year-olds -- her daughter's boyfriend in middle school and later with his best friend.
Dan Noyes: "You had this secret now..."
Christine Hubbs: "Yeah, and it was horrible."
Dan Noyes: "A secret to keep from your family, from everyone."
Christine Hubbs: "Yeah."
Even though she knew the consequences, Christine spent tens of thousands of dollars on gifts for the boys and had sex with them in hotels, a spare bedroom at the Hubbs' house and in the back of her Hummer with the "HUMDNGA" license plate. The frame reads, "You can't handle the truth."
But, it was her texting that finally got her arrested and her husband played a key role.
"I found out that there was some communication going on," Tim Hubbs said.
Tim caught Christine texting Boy No. 1 late one night and warned the boy's mother to check his phone. She found a photo of a woman's naked breasts and called Tim to come see it.
Tim Hubbs: "Well, I was first of all shocked, but..."
Dan Noyes: "Was there any doubt that it was Christine?"
Tim Hubbs: "No, I knew it was my wife."
Det. Steve Goard: "Tim says, 'That's my wife, I think the only way she will stop is if you go to the police.' And she goes to the police."
Tim says when he told Christine police were on the way, she finally admitted what she had done.
"After she told me, I just couldn't believe it and yeah, I think for about three days I cried and it still is hard to think about it," Tim Hubbs said.
Dan Noyes: "Tell me about that moment when you found out, 'I'm in trouble.'"
Christine Hubbs: "I was relieved, I was relieved. I was relieved, I thought, 'OK, I'm completely done, I don't have to worry about it, I don't have to think about it, I can go pay my dues.' I never thought I'd be in jail this long, but that's the way it is, so I'm paying for it."
Last month, Christine received a five-year prison sentence. With time served, she could get out in two years. She chose state prison over county jail so she can have contact visits with her kids so she won't have to meet them through the glass of a visiting room window.
"The worst time is dinner time, because that's when I should be home making dinner, getting the kids' homework together, you know, getting them all ready for the next day, that's when it hits me the most and I'm in here," Christine Hubbs said.
What about Christine's two victims? She says not to worry.
"They're good kids, they're going to be fine, they're going to go on and be successful," Christine Hubbs said. "It doesn't have to be this-- I mean it, nobody was ever pushed into, I never pushed them into anything."
And that leads the I-Team to comments we found again and again on blogs about "Hummer Mom": "Where the heck was this chick when I was 14?" Another writes, "It's hard to think of these boys as true 'victims.'"
The mother of Boy No. 1 sent the I-Team a statement saying, "I'm sure people would feel differently if this were to happen to their son. I only hope going forward that people will change their 'double standard' thinking and realize male or female a pedophile is a pedophile."
"It's frustrating because if it was a man, there'd be no question that this man was evil, the scum of the earth, the dirty pits of society," Livermore Police Det. Steve Goard said.
Goard has worked more than 150 sex crime cases and he says the effect on a young victim is the same -- boy or girl.
"And it's baggage that they'll carry emotionally and I don't think they'll [sic] ever be a proper connection between love, intimacy and sex and Christine stole that from both boys," Goard said.
Tim Hubbs says his family is all starting therapy. He also has to start working to revitalize his dental practice; he says he has lost 10 percent of his patients because of the scandal. Despite the damage Christine has caused, Tim wants to stay married.
"I still love her and I know she still loves me and we have our children; when I got married to her it was for eternity through our religion and that's what I want to make sure that I, I'd like to stay together if we can work everything out," Tim Hubbs said.
There are so many issues to address. Among them, how long was this controversy brewing in their marriage?
Dan Noyes: "Before this finally blew up, did you see any inclination that something this bad was going on?"
Tim Hubbs: "No, I didn't actually."
Detectives question whether that is true.
"I found some communication between Tim and Christine where he was telling her that he knew that she was having sex with Boy No. 1," Goard said.
The Livermore police gave the I-Team a series of text messages from November 2009 -- a full seven months before Christine's arrest and a month before she started having sex with Boy No. 2.
Tim writes to Christine: "So what up with ur lover?" He gives the boy's name.
Christine answers: "are you drunk again?"
Tim writes to the boy: "U touch or text or talk to my wife again = HX" -- shorthand for "history."
Tim texts Christine: "Proof says it all. Private detectives r cheap. I have everything. Its over."
"Is this the lady I married 20 years ago. She sure looks like it on the video. GROSS. Now what. Oh well. After everything, I still love you. I think I will just end it now. Can't live another day."
"Being that I didn't have a detective, nor was there a video, I was trying to get any information out of her due to the rumors that I could," Tim Hubbs said. "She would laugh at me, acting like it was silly."
Tim Hubbs is left to pick up the pieces. The Tahoe cabin's gone, so is the Hummer and he is packing up the house to move out.
"I just think that's part of the rebuilding, yeah, there's too many memories in this house and stuff like that so, I'm ready to start anew," Tim Hubbs said.
I-Team Blog: Dan Noyes shares more insight into Christine Hubbs, including several more of the text messages she sent the boys. He also writes about why she is not technically a pedophile. >> Read the blog here
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