Spencer had met Bob Lozano the night he had come back to Virginia after taking Owen Savage into custody in West Bune, Texas in April 2008. He didn't know how Hotch had known he had been to an AA meeting before they left on the case, but he knew Hotch was great at his job and wasn't surprised. He had made the friendly suggestion he go back when they got home. Spencer had already decided to go, but was not offended at Hotch's suggestion. He could have fired him after the Owen case, but he thought Reid was good enough at his job to give him another chance. Spencer didn't want to disappoint him.
Reid didn't know it then, but Bob had been coming to every meeting looking for him since he left the meeting early last week for the case. Bob had been in the room for Spencer's first meeting and had been impressed with him. He was amazed that he had kicked a Dilaudid habit on his own and was very curious how he had started using such a strong and dangerous drug. Spencer had told the group he had stopped 10 months before, but now was having a hard time with a 20-year-old murder suspect being killed in front of him. Bob again was impressed, this time by the boy's empathy. So many in law enforcement would not care at all if someone accused of murder was killed, even if it was in front of them or a young person.
Bob did not sponsor many people, he personally was a recovering alcoholic, and the few he did sponsored were also alcoholics. He felt he was only a help to an individual that had a strong desire to stay clean and Spencer really sounded like he would do anything to not start using again. There were many cops that came through these meetings as part of a court mandated rehabilitation program, but Bob didn't think he was equipped to help them. They needed more expertise than Bob felt he had.
He was very intrigued by Spencer. He didn't seem like a typical law enforcement agent in looks or in presence. He wanted to talk to Spencer and started attending every Beltway Clean Cops meeting in hope of seeing him again. His persistence finally paid off, he was at a 9:00 pm meeting five days later and Spencer was there. It was a smaller group this night and the leader had everyone pull their chairs into a circle. Spencer said he had just come back from a difficult case and wasn't ready to talk about it yet. The meeting was over by 10:00 and Bob approached Spencer, told him he had seen him last week and asked if he would like to go get a cup of coffee.