https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bankrupt-love--7190047
Dive deep into the world of romance scams, catfishing, and financial exploitation. We explore the tactics these predators use, from elaborate love bombing to sophisticated phishing schemes, leaving a trail of broken hearts and empty bank accounts. Bankrup Love offers a raw, unfiltered look at the psychological toll and financial ruin caused by online dating scams and other deceptive relationships.

New episodes drop every single day, Monday through Sunday, at 7:00 AM. Each installment provides gripping narratives, expert insights, and crucial warning signs to help you identify and avoid these devastating traps. We dissect real-life experiences, offering a vital resource for understanding the complexities of emotional fraud.

This podcast is for anyone who has ever questioned a suspicious online connection, fallen victim to a romantic fraud, or wants to protect themselves and their loved ones from predatory schemes. Learn how to spot the red flags and empower yourself with knowledge.

Subscribe to Bankrup Love today and arm yourself against deception.]]>enTrue CrimeCopyright OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENThttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/6816134d4d6f504409f4d6d1869e94f0.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bankrupt-love--7190047Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:00:23 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTOBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTcreators@obomedia.comAre you ready to expose the dark side of romance? Bankrup Love uncovers the shocking true stories of victims who lost everything to manipulative con artists. Dive deep into the world of romance scams, catfishing, and financial exploitation. We...
Dive deep into the world of romance scams, catfishing, and financial exploitation. We explore the tactics these predators use, from elaborate love bombing to sophisticated phishing schemes, leaving a trail of broken hearts and empty bank accounts. Bankrup Love offers a raw, unfiltered look at the psychological toll and financial ruin caused by online dating scams and other deceptive relationships.

New episodes drop every single day, Monday through Sunday, at 7:00 AM. Each installment provides gripping narratives, expert insights, and crucial warning signs to help you identify and avoid these devastating traps. We dissect real-life experiences, offering a vital resource for understanding the complexities of emotional fraud.

This podcast is for anyone who has ever questioned a suspicious online connection, fallen victim to a romantic fraud, or wants to protect themselves and their loved ones from predatory schemes. Learn how to spot the red flags and empower yourself with knowledge.

Subscribe to Bankrup Love today and arm yourself against deception.]]>falseepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-wired-him-34-000-the-kent-york-romance-scam--73098065
Fear that someone you trust online is lying to you - a cattle rancher in New Mexico wired $34,000 after six weeks of messages from a woman who claimed UN logistics work, and a cardboard banker’s box with 112 pages later turned the case over to the FBI. How did a quiet ranch life, a newly created social account, and a rooster-topped box lead to federal investigators asking more questions than answers?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a meter reader finding a box on January 9, 2022 to the discovery that the box was placed at 3:40 a.m. by the homeowner himself, and how that paper trail connected a rural New Mexico ranch to transfer destinations and a victim in Colorado. What did the 112 pages of bank statements, wire confirmations, screenshots and one handwritten note actually reveal about the money and the messages?

Person: Kent York
Date: January 9, 2022
Location: Cibola Flats, New Mexico
Event: 112 printed pages found in a cardboard box
Case: Referred to the FBI Albuquerque field office within 48 hours

- Kent York turned 31 in spring 2021 and inherited the family ranch after his father Bobby’s cardiac event in 2019.
- The ranch covered 240 acres and included cattle, a dog named Coop, and his father’s canvas gloves on the workbench.
- Kent joined social media in March 2021; the account was three weeks old when the first message from “Heather Roberts” arrived.
- Over six weeks of messaging, “Heather Roberts” claimed to work in nonprofit logistics and said she accepted a 90-day UN deployment in West Africa.
- The first wire request in July was for $11,000 wired to a Cyprus logistics firm account; the total wired reached $34,000.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098065Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:00:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Wired Him $34,000: The Kent York Romance Scam Fear that someone you trust online is lying to you - a cattle rancher in New Mexico wired $34,000 after six weeks of messages from a woman who claimed UN logistics work, and a cardboard banker’s box...
Fear that someone you trust online is lying to you - a cattle rancher in New Mexico wired $34,000 after six weeks of messages from a woman who claimed UN logistics work, and a cardboard banker’s box with 112 pages later turned the case over to the FBI. How did a quiet ranch life, a newly created social account, and a rooster-topped box lead to federal investigators asking more questions than answers?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a meter reader finding a box on January 9, 2022 to the discovery that the box was placed at 3:40 a.m. by the homeowner himself, and how that paper trail connected a rural New Mexico ranch to transfer destinations and a victim in Colorado. What did the 112 pages of bank statements, wire confirmations, screenshots and one handwritten note actually reveal about the money and the messages?

Person: Kent York
Date: January 9, 2022
Location: Cibola Flats, New Mexico
Event: 112 printed pages found in a cardboard box
Case: Referred to the FBI Albuquerque field office within 48 hours

- Kent York turned 31 in spring 2021 and inherited the family ranch after his father Bobby’s cardiac event in 2019.
- The ranch covered 240 acres and included cattle, a dog named Coop, and his father’s canvas gloves on the workbench.
- Kent joined social media in March 2021; the account was three weeks old when the first message from “Heather Roberts” arrived.
- Over six weeks of messaging, “Heather Roberts” claimed to work in nonprofit logistics and said she accepted a 90-day UN deployment in West Africa.
- The first wire request in July was for $11,000 wired to a Cyprus logistics firm account; the total wired reached $34,000.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1165falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-man-who-built-a-life-to-steal-his-heart--73098061
Curiosity turned into catastrophe: a tournament chess set left mid-game on a church pew was the last visible piece of an elaborate romance fraud that used a man's routines as its blueprint. How did a fabricated online persona, a scraped photograph, and eighteen months of observation lead to a theft that touched family, work, and a care facility?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning a stranger found the chess set through the months of contact that followed, tracing the online account, the daily games, the transferred messages, and the gradual shift into real-life manipulation to ask: when does being known become being owned?

Person: Stanley Keller
Date: December 9, 2019
Location: Holloway Presbyterian Church
Account: Andrei_Volkov_Chess
Alias Photo Source: professional directory

- Stanley Keller was 52 years old in winter 2019 and had lived alone on Ember Ridge Road for 11 years.
- Bob Keller was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia in 2017 and received weekly two-hour visits from Stanley every Wednesday.
- Stanley logged into Regent Chess almost every Tuesday and Thursday evening and used the handle StanK-Oregon.
- The account Andrei_Volkov_Chess was registered 14 months before March 12, 2019 and observed Stanley's activity for about one month before sending a game request.
- Pieter Van Horn’s photograph, scraped from a professional directory, was used to create the Andrei persona though he had never played online chess or known Stanley.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098061Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:44:45 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man Who Built a Life to Steal His Heart Curiosity turned into catastrophe: a tournament chess set left mid-game on a church pew was the last visible piece of an elaborate romance fraud that used a man's routines as its blueprint. How did a...
Curiosity turned into catastrophe: a tournament chess set left mid-game on a church pew was the last visible piece of an elaborate romance fraud that used a man's routines as its blueprint. How did a fabricated online persona, a scraped photograph, and eighteen months of observation lead to a theft that touched family, work, and a care facility?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning a stranger found the chess set through the months of contact that followed, tracing the online account, the daily games, the transferred messages, and the gradual shift into real-life manipulation to ask: when does being known become being owned?

Person: Stanley Keller
Date: December 9, 2019
Location: Holloway Presbyterian Church
Account: Andrei_Volkov_Chess
Alias Photo Source: professional directory

- Stanley Keller was 52 years old in winter 2019 and had lived alone on Ember Ridge Road for 11 years.
- Bob Keller was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia in 2017 and received weekly two-hour visits from Stanley every Wednesday.
- Stanley logged into Regent Chess almost every Tuesday and Thursday evening and used the handle StanK-Oregon.
- The account Andrei_Volkov_Chess was registered 14 months before March 12, 2019 and observed Stanley's activity for about one month before sending a game request.
- Pieter Van Horn’s photograph, scraped from a professional directory, was used to create the Andrei persona though he had never played online chess or known Stanley.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1215falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-loved-me-into-debt-the-moderator-who-stole-our-survivors-hearts--73098058
Fear that the person who says "I love you" online is actually constructing a life-sized lie: a greeting card sealed in a bag on a mudflat, a stolen profile photo, and twelve separate transfers that emptied a survivor's savings - who was Howard, and how did he engineer trust so thoroughly that Cheryl wired him thousands?

In this episode, we tell the story of Cheryl Vogel and the online support group Survivors in Step, laying out how a group moderator using a stolen photo became intimately involved in Cheryl's life and finances, and what was discovered after a card washed ashore by Perritt Reservoir. What happened between the first four-hour call and the last wire transfer?

Person: Cheryl Vogel
Age: 46
Location: Belford, Ohio
Group: Survivors in Step (closed Facebook group, ~300 members)
Imposter: Howard Dale Mitchell, 54, suburban Columbus, Ohio

- A greeting card sealed in a zip-lock bag was found at Perritt Reservoir on November 14, 2019.
- Cheryl walked a 2.5-mile route each morning at 7:15 that she had missed only twice in the prior year.
- Cheryl began private messages with "Howard" in March 2018 and had daily evening calls by April 2018.
- Cheryl wired money 12 times over 13 months, starting with $4,000 in October 2018.
- The profile photo used by "Howard" belonged to Dennis Pruitt, posted publicly in 2016, who had no connection to the group.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098058Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:44:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Loved Me Into Debt: The Moderator Who Stole Our Survivors' Hearts Fear that the person who says "I love you" online is actually constructing a life-sized lie: a greeting card sealed in a bag on a mudflat, a stolen profile photo, and twelve...
Fear that the person who says "I love you" online is actually constructing a life-sized lie: a greeting card sealed in a bag on a mudflat, a stolen profile photo, and twelve separate transfers that emptied a survivor's savings - who was Howard, and how did he engineer trust so thoroughly that Cheryl wired him thousands?

In this episode, we tell the story of Cheryl Vogel and the online support group Survivors in Step, laying out how a group moderator using a stolen photo became intimately involved in Cheryl's life and finances, and what was discovered after a card washed ashore by Perritt Reservoir. What happened between the first four-hour call and the last wire transfer?

Person: Cheryl Vogel
Age: 46
Location: Belford, Ohio
Group: Survivors in Step (closed Facebook group, ~300 members)
Imposter: Howard Dale Mitchell, 54, suburban Columbus, Ohio

- A greeting card sealed in a zip-lock bag was found at Perritt Reservoir on November 14, 2019.
- Cheryl walked a 2.5-mile route each morning at 7:15 that she had missed only twice in the prior year.
- Cheryl began private messages with "Howard" in March 2018 and had daily evening calls by April 2018.
- Cheryl wired money 12 times over 13 months, starting with $4,000 in October 2018.
- The profile photo used by "Howard" belonged to Dennis Pruitt, posted publicly in 2016, who had no connection to the group.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1156falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-buried-her-letters-in-a-river-then-she-read-the-fine-print--73098057
Fear that a private life can be weaponized hits first: forty handwritten letters, double-sealed and found dry inside ziplock bags in a river, broke open a seventeen-month pen‑pal story that led to unexpected fraud. How did mail that should have crossed oceans in four days end up staged in a Vermillion Fork trotline, and who drove to Prattsburg at night to hide someone else’s correspondence?

In this episode, we follow the timeline laid out in the letters and the paperwork that changed everything, from Rotterdam postmarks to American paper sizes, and ask what it means when trust built over months is repurposed into a scheme. Can transit times, paper dimensions, and a single photograph reveal where the deception began?

Person: Kent Vogel
Age: 28
Location: Prattsburg, Indiana
Letters found: 40 (double-sealed in ziplock bags, bound in red kitchen twine)
Correspondence span: 17 months (41 letters received, 37 sent)

- Letters recovered from Vermillion Fork were dry inside ziplock bags despite appearing to have been underwater for days.
- Kent joined Letters Across Borders in September 2020 and never missed weekly Thursday volunteer sessions for three years.
- Forty-one letters arrived from the correspondent “Gary,” and Kent sent thirty-seven replies over the 17-month period.
- Multiple letters bore Rotterdam postmarks and typically took four days to reach Prattsburg, except one that arrived in three days.
- Fourteen later letters examined by a paralegal showed they were printed on US letter-size (8.5 x 11 inches), not European A4.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098057Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:44:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Buried Her Letters in a River - Then She Read the Fine Print Fear that a private life can be weaponized hits first: forty handwritten letters, double-sealed and found dry inside ziplock bags in a river, broke open a seventeen-month pen‑pal story...
Fear that a private life can be weaponized hits first: forty handwritten letters, double-sealed and found dry inside ziplock bags in a river, broke open a seventeen-month pen‑pal story that led to unexpected fraud. How did mail that should have crossed oceans in four days end up staged in a Vermillion Fork trotline, and who drove to Prattsburg at night to hide someone else’s correspondence?

In this episode, we follow the timeline laid out in the letters and the paperwork that changed everything, from Rotterdam postmarks to American paper sizes, and ask what it means when trust built over months is repurposed into a scheme. Can transit times, paper dimensions, and a single photograph reveal where the deception began?

Person: Kent Vogel
Age: 28
Location: Prattsburg, Indiana
Letters found: 40 (double-sealed in ziplock bags, bound in red kitchen twine)
Correspondence span: 17 months (41 letters received, 37 sent)

- Letters recovered from Vermillion Fork were dry inside ziplock bags despite appearing to have been underwater for days.
- Kent joined Letters Across Borders in September 2020 and never missed weekly Thursday volunteer sessions for three years.
- Forty-one letters arrived from the correspondent “Gary,” and Kent sent thirty-seven replies over the 17-month period.
- Multiple letters bore Rotterdam postmarks and typically took four days to reach Prattsburg, except one that arrived in three days.
- Fourteen later letters examined by a paralegal showed they were printed on US letter-size (8.5 x 11 inches), not European A4.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1075falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-postcard-in-her-wall-how-gregory-bought-a-teacher-s-trust--73098055
There's a postcard tucked into the insulation of a house - a color photo of Venice and a note signed "G." It set off a chain that led a careful, retired fourth-grade teacher to wire $5,000 to a man she had never met; how did a single cardboard postcard become the hinge of a financial deception?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning Melissa Zeller found the postcard on September 12, 2019, through the online relationship that began on July 5, 2019, and the three-week timeline of requests that ended with Linda Young sending money; how did a profile named Gregory Schmidt, a fabricated backstory about deafness, and perfectly forged invoices persuade a disciplined educator to pay?

Person: Linda Young
Date: September 12, 2019
Event: ConnectUs profile created on July 5, 2019
Amount: $5,000
Investigator: Dennis Reynolds

- Linda Young was 54 years old and had taught fourth grade for 26 years at Dorset Elementary.
- The postcard discovered on insulation batting was a color photograph of Venice with "For when we finally get there together. - G." written on the back.
- A ConnectUs profile for "Gregory Schmidt" appeared on July 5, 2019, claiming he was a 58-year-old architect from Portland who had been deaf since age seven.
- Linda wired $1,800 for alleged ransomware recovery and $3,200 for a fabricated cochlear implant invoice, totaling $5,000.
- The profile photo used images belonging to Robert Norby, a 49-year-old architect in Minneapolis whose photos were harvested without his knowledge.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098055Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:44:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Postcard in Her Wall: How "Gregory" Bought a Teacher's Trust There's a postcard tucked into the insulation of a house - a color photo of Venice and a note signed "G." It set off a chain that led a careful, retired fourth-grade teacher to wire...
There's a postcard tucked into the insulation of a house - a color photo of Venice and a note signed "G." It set off a chain that led a careful, retired fourth-grade teacher to wire $5,000 to a man she had never met; how did a single cardboard postcard become the hinge of a financial deception?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning Melissa Zeller found the postcard on September 12, 2019, through the online relationship that began on July 5, 2019, and the three-week timeline of requests that ended with Linda Young sending money; how did a profile named Gregory Schmidt, a fabricated backstory about deafness, and perfectly forged invoices persuade a disciplined educator to pay?

Person: Linda Young
Date: September 12, 2019
Event: ConnectUs profile created on July 5, 2019
Amount: $5,000
Investigator: Dennis Reynolds

- Linda Young was 54 years old and had taught fourth grade for 26 years at Dorset Elementary.
- The postcard discovered on insulation batting was a color photograph of Venice with "For when we finally get there together. - G." written on the back.
- A ConnectUs profile for "Gregory Schmidt" appeared on July 5, 2019, claiming he was a 58-year-old architect from Portland who had been deaf since age seven.
- Linda wired $1,800 for alleged ransomware recovery and $3,200 for a fabricated cochlear implant invoice, totaling $5,000.
- The profile photo used images belonging to Robert Norby, a 49-year-old architect in Minneapolis whose photos were harvested without his knowledge.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1185falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-kept-her-photo-how-a-spreadsheet-exposed-a-romance-scammer--73098052
The photo on a concrete lip and the handwritten note "I kept this one" were the first strange pieces in a scheme that quietly extracted more than $9,000 over months - all without a single in-person meeting. How did a Tuesday night board-game spreadsheet become the single document that unraveled a romance scam?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the framed photograph found on August 14 to the slow, calibrated conversations that led to repeated transfers, and we trace how a pattern in a game-night attendance and scoring spreadsheet raised the single question that connected everything.

Person: Dawn Mitchell
Location: Tallow Creek
Date found: August 14
Amount sent: more than $9,000
Profile name used: Charles Lewis

- The framed photograph was five by seven inches, cardboard-backed with an acrylic strip, found on a concrete access-cover lip.
- The back of the photo had four words written in blue ballpoint pen: "I kept this one."
- Dawn was 22 years old, commuted 31 miles each way to Waverly Community College, and drove a 2009 hatchback with a cracked windshield.
- The false profile contacted Dawn in late May of the first year and became a steady contact by September of that year.
- Dawn noticed six consecutive Tuesdays with missing game scores and logged a second spreadsheet tab after discovering the pattern.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098052Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:43:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Kept Her Photo: How a Spreadsheet Exposed a Romance Scammer The photo on a concrete lip and the handwritten note "I kept this one" were the first strange pieces in a scheme that quietly extracted more than $9,000 over months - all without a...
The photo on a concrete lip and the handwritten note "I kept this one" were the first strange pieces in a scheme that quietly extracted more than $9,000 over months - all without a single in-person meeting. How did a Tuesday night board-game spreadsheet become the single document that unraveled a romance scam?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the framed photograph found on August 14 to the slow, calibrated conversations that led to repeated transfers, and we trace how a pattern in a game-night attendance and scoring spreadsheet raised the single question that connected everything.

Person: Dawn Mitchell
Location: Tallow Creek
Date found: August 14
Amount sent: more than $9,000
Profile name used: Charles Lewis

- The framed photograph was five by seven inches, cardboard-backed with an acrylic strip, found on a concrete access-cover lip.
- The back of the photo had four words written in blue ballpoint pen: "I kept this one."
- Dawn was 22 years old, commuted 31 miles each way to Waverly Community College, and drove a 2009 hatchback with a cracked windshield.
- The false profile contacted Dawn in late May of the first year and became a steady contact by September of that year.
- Dawn noticed six consecutive Tuesdays with missing game scores and logged a second spreadsheet tab after discovering the pattern.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>972falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-laminated-lie-how-my-daniel-always-built-a-26k-romance-scam--73098051
Grief turned into a vulnerability that cost one woman $26,400-and the smallest object, a perfectly dry photograph stamped "My Daniel. Always.", became the only physical clue. How did a laminated pet-care card, a Facebook grief group, and a stranger called Steven Sanders lead to a two-year scam that used a living man's image without his knowledge?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from a dried photograph found at Pickett Reservoir to the online messages that began in a closed Facebook group, detailing who was involved and how the deception grew-what exactly connected the laminated card, the diner handoff, and the losses Heather suffered?

Person: Heather O'Connor
Location: Dunmore, Ohio
Date found: July 2019
Amount lost: $26,400
Group: Mourning Bridge (≈300 members)

- The photograph with the words "My Daniel. Always." was found face-up in wet grass at Pickett Reservoir in the second week of July 2019 and was completely dry.
- Heather O'Connor was 38 years old in spring 2017 and worked as a senior billing coordinator in Dunmore, Ohio.
- Heather's mother, Pauline, died in April 2017 after a 14-month decline from ovarian cancer.
- Clyde, Heather's cat, was 18 years old in spring 2017 and required two insulin injections daily at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., with a laminated care card left for neighbor Donna Pryce.
- A new Facebook member using the name Steven Sanders joined Mourning Bridge in January 2018, listed as a 51-year-old retired military engineer located in the Gulf region, and moved private messages with Heather within three weeks.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098051Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:43:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Laminated Lie: How "My Daniel. Always." Built a $26K Romance Scam Grief turned into a vulnerability that cost one woman $26,400-and the smallest object, a perfectly dry photograph stamped "My Daniel. Always.", became the only physical clue. How...
Grief turned into a vulnerability that cost one woman $26,400-and the smallest object, a perfectly dry photograph stamped "My Daniel. Always.", became the only physical clue. How did a laminated pet-care card, a Facebook grief group, and a stranger called Steven Sanders lead to a two-year scam that used a living man's image without his knowledge?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from a dried photograph found at Pickett Reservoir to the online messages that began in a closed Facebook group, detailing who was involved and how the deception grew-what exactly connected the laminated card, the diner handoff, and the losses Heather suffered?

Person: Heather O'Connor
Location: Dunmore, Ohio
Date found: July 2019
Amount lost: $26,400
Group: Mourning Bridge (≈300 members)

- The photograph with the words "My Daniel. Always." was found face-up in wet grass at Pickett Reservoir in the second week of July 2019 and was completely dry.
- Heather O'Connor was 38 years old in spring 2017 and worked as a senior billing coordinator in Dunmore, Ohio.
- Heather's mother, Pauline, died in April 2017 after a 14-month decline from ovarian cancer.
- Clyde, Heather's cat, was 18 years old in spring 2017 and required two insulin injections daily at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., with a laminated care card left for neighbor Donna Pryce.
- A new Facebook member using the name Steven Sanders joined Mourning Bridge in January 2018, listed as a 51-year-old retired military engineer located in the Gulf region, and moved private messages with Heather within three weeks.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1236falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-widow-who-didn-t-exist-how-they-stole-114-000-from-her-without-entering-her-house--73098050
Grief made him vulnerable and a fraudster turned public records and a tagged photograph into a weapon: $114,000 vanished without a forced entry. How did one carefully crafted online persona convince a retired man to send money again and again, and what broke the pattern that finally exposed the scheme?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a tagged library photo to the first $412 transfer and the fourteen-month romance that preceded a massive financial loss. We explain who built the fake profile, how public data was used, and the single omitted call that became crucial - who was behind the Sandra account and why did Curtis stop telling Monica?

Person: Curtis Richardson
Event: Sandra Richardson's death, September 2017
Case: Romance fraud using a fake "Sandra" profile
Perpetrator: Alan Campbell, age 38
Amount stolen: $114,000

- Curtis retired after 31 years at Deerlake, last 16 years as shift supervisor.
- Sandra Richardson died at age 59 in September 2017.
- Curtis joined a grief support group meeting first and third Tuesdays in January 2018.
- A library volunteer posted a grief group photo in March 2018; Curtis was tagged and located within 72 hours.
- The first fraudulent payment Curtis made was $412 with a 48-hour processing window.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098050Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:43:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe widow who didn't exist: how they stole $114,000 from her without entering her house Grief made him vulnerable and a fraudster turned public records and a tagged photograph into a weapon: $114,000 vanished without a forced entry. How did one...
Grief made him vulnerable and a fraudster turned public records and a tagged photograph into a weapon: $114,000 vanished without a forced entry. How did one carefully crafted online persona convince a retired man to send money again and again, and what broke the pattern that finally exposed the scheme?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a tagged library photo to the first $412 transfer and the fourteen-month romance that preceded a massive financial loss. We explain who built the fake profile, how public data was used, and the single omitted call that became crucial - who was behind the Sandra account and why did Curtis stop telling Monica?

Person: Curtis Richardson
Event: Sandra Richardson's death, September 2017
Case: Romance fraud using a fake "Sandra" profile
Perpetrator: Alan Campbell, age 38
Amount stolen: $114,000

- Curtis retired after 31 years at Deerlake, last 16 years as shift supervisor.
- Sandra Richardson died at age 59 in September 2017.
- Curtis joined a grief support group meeting first and third Tuesdays in January 2018.
- A library volunteer posted a grief group photo in March 2018; Curtis was tagged and located within 72 hours.
- The first fraudulent payment Curtis made was $412 with a 48-hour processing window.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1178falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-rose-the-will-and-the-woman-who-stole-his-last-63-000--73098049
A single artificial rose with a handwritten card from "Kathleen" became a photograph entered into court seven months after it was found - and it marked the start of $63,000 disappearing from an eighty-one-year-old man's life. How did routine kindness, handwritten notes, and routine home visits turn into a rewritten will and a woman gone four counties away?

In this episode, we tell what unfolded around Walter Grimes over twelve months: the flyers, the visits, the small paid jobs, the change in his will, and how his family and neighbors noticed the differences that eventually led to evidence. What did the people who loved him uncover about Kathleen Patterson and the paper trail she left behind?

Person: Walter Grimes
Person: Kathleen Patterson
Age: 81
Amount: $63,000
Event: Photograph of a rose entered into evidence seven months after it was found

- The rose was artificial, candy-apple red, found in the concrete drainage channel at Pinebrook Estates.
- The card on the rose was handwritten in block capitals by Walter Grimes saying "From your Kathleen, always."
- Patterson distributed printed flyers for Kline Home Services in March 2018 and knocked on Walter's door about six weeks later.
- By June 2018, Patterson was visiting Walter twice a week and performing small jobs for cash.
- Patterson presented herself as thirty-eight but was actually forty-four and had a prior fraud conviction in Indiana from 2012.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098049Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:43:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Rose, the Will, and the Woman Who Stole His Last $63,000 A single artificial rose with a handwritten card from "Kathleen" became a photograph entered into court seven months after it was found - and it marked the start of $63,000 disappearing...
A single artificial rose with a handwritten card from "Kathleen" became a photograph entered into court seven months after it was found - and it marked the start of $63,000 disappearing from an eighty-one-year-old man's life. How did routine kindness, handwritten notes, and routine home visits turn into a rewritten will and a woman gone four counties away?

In this episode, we tell what unfolded around Walter Grimes over twelve months: the flyers, the visits, the small paid jobs, the change in his will, and how his family and neighbors noticed the differences that eventually led to evidence. What did the people who loved him uncover about Kathleen Patterson and the paper trail she left behind?

Person: Walter Grimes
Person: Kathleen Patterson
Age: 81
Amount: $63,000
Event: Photograph of a rose entered into evidence seven months after it was found

- The rose was artificial, candy-apple red, found in the concrete drainage channel at Pinebrook Estates.
- The card on the rose was handwritten in block capitals by Walter Grimes saying "From your Kathleen, always."
- Patterson distributed printed flyers for Kline Home Services in March 2018 and knocked on Walter's door about six weeks later.
- By June 2018, Patterson was visiting Walter twice a week and performing small jobs for cash.
- Patterson presented herself as thirty-eight but was actually forty-four and had a prior fraud conviction in Indiana from 2012.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1131falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-said-she-didn-t-trust-then-sent-31-000-and-vanished--73098048
Fear of betrayal: a 48-year-old medical coder who said four times she "did not trust easily" wired $31,000 in nine transfers after matching with a man whose profile claimed he was an offshore civil and structural engineer - then stopped leaving her house and left seven unopened wire-transfer receipts in her mailbox. What was happening inside her home between October and March?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the match on a dating app in October through Erin Campbell’s disappearance from public life in early March, the seven unopened envelopes found in April, and the police response that led detectives to speak with her; what happened between October and March is the central question.

Person: Erin Campbell
Age: 48
Location: Orchard Trace Road, Harperville
Amount: $31,000
Transfers: 9 separate wire transfers

- Erin lived on Orchard Trace Road for eleven years and worked from home as a medical coder.
- She stopped visiting her aunt Vera at the Clement Street care facility in early March after visiting every Thursday without exception.
- Norman Powell, a meter reader, found the mailbox jammed with seven unopened envelopes postmarked February or March.
- The seven envelopes were receipts from wire-transfer services for transactions already completed.
- Detective Gary Wagner met Erin at her house and sat in her kitchen for three hours after she returned from Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of March 5.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098048Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:43:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Said She Didn't Trust-Then Sent $31,000 and Vanished Fear of betrayal: a 48-year-old medical coder who said four times she "did not trust easily" wired $31,000 in nine transfers after matching with a man whose profile claimed he was an offshore...
Fear of betrayal: a 48-year-old medical coder who said four times she "did not trust easily" wired $31,000 in nine transfers after matching with a man whose profile claimed he was an offshore civil and structural engineer - then stopped leaving her house and left seven unopened wire-transfer receipts in her mailbox. What was happening inside her home between October and March?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the match on a dating app in October through Erin Campbell’s disappearance from public life in early March, the seven unopened envelopes found in April, and the police response that led detectives to speak with her; what happened between October and March is the central question.

Person: Erin Campbell
Age: 48
Location: Orchard Trace Road, Harperville
Amount: $31,000
Transfers: 9 separate wire transfers

- Erin lived on Orchard Trace Road for eleven years and worked from home as a medical coder.
- She stopped visiting her aunt Vera at the Clement Street care facility in early March after visiting every Thursday without exception.
- Norman Powell, a meter reader, found the mailbox jammed with seven unopened envelopes postmarked February or March.
- The seven envelopes were receipts from wire-transfer services for transactions already completed.
- Detective Gary Wagner met Erin at her house and sat in her kitchen for three hours after she returned from Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of March 5.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1041falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-dry-envelope-on-the-bench-how-a-ring-box-became-a-lie--73098047
A dry, sealed envelope with a gold-foil heart was found on a soaked concrete bench after two inches of rain - yet someone had placed it there deliberately as a prop in a calculated romance con. Who staged the envelope, why was it timed to April Bailey’s routine, and what else was part of the deception?

In this episode, we present the sequence of events that connected a volunteer at Millstone Road Community Church to a man who claimed to be a civil engineer, the discovery of repeated fake photographs, and the unraveling that began with a reverse-image search. How did the staged moments and rehearsed kindness lead to multiple women being solicited for money?

Person: April Bailey
Person: Gary Graham
Person: Rachel Sullivan
Location: Holt Street culvert bench, Sycamore Flats
Event: Reverse-image search revealing stolen photos

- Two inches of rain had fallen overnight before Douglas Cole found the dry, sealed envelope on the bench.
- The envelope bore one word on the front in careful handwriting: "April."
- April Bailey was 31 years old and worked as a paralegal at a Clover Street estate firm in Dunmore.
- Gary Graham was introduced to volunteers in early January as a 54-year-old who said he was a civil engineer and primary caregiver for his mother.
- Of six photos Graham sent over seven weeks, four matched a LinkedIn profile for Steven Ault, one was unidentifiable, and one was a stock photograph.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098047Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:42:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Dry Envelope on the Bench: How a Ring Box Became a Lie A dry, sealed envelope with a gold-foil heart was found on a soaked concrete bench after two inches of rain - yet someone had placed it there deliberately as a prop in a calculated romance...
A dry, sealed envelope with a gold-foil heart was found on a soaked concrete bench after two inches of rain - yet someone had placed it there deliberately as a prop in a calculated romance con. Who staged the envelope, why was it timed to April Bailey’s routine, and what else was part of the deception?

In this episode, we present the sequence of events that connected a volunteer at Millstone Road Community Church to a man who claimed to be a civil engineer, the discovery of repeated fake photographs, and the unraveling that began with a reverse-image search. How did the staged moments and rehearsed kindness lead to multiple women being solicited for money?

Person: April Bailey
Person: Gary Graham
Person: Rachel Sullivan
Location: Holt Street culvert bench, Sycamore Flats
Event: Reverse-image search revealing stolen photos

- Two inches of rain had fallen overnight before Douglas Cole found the dry, sealed envelope on the bench.
- The envelope bore one word on the front in careful handwriting: "April."
- April Bailey was 31 years old and worked as a paralegal at a Clover Street estate firm in Dunmore.
- Gary Graham was introduced to volunteers in early January as a 54-year-old who said he was a civil engineer and primary caregiver for his mother.
- Of six photos Graham sent over seven weeks, four matched a LinkedIn profile for Steven Ault, one was unidentifiable, and one was a stock photograph.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1076falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-photo-on-the-step-how-a-portrait-exposed-a-romance-scam-kingpin--73098046
Fear and betrayal: a portrait mailed from Knoxville to a doorstep in Claremont Heights forced a confrontation between a stolen identity and the man who paid the price-what does one photograph do to a six-year scheme? Who mailed the photo and did the fraudster ever look at it?

In this episode, we tell how a careful routine life and a simple volunteer schedule intersected with an online romance that turned into an $800 loss and a federal case, and why a mailed CVS print became the pivotal object in the investigation. What the photograph meant, and whether the intended recipient ever saw it, is the question that outlived the arrest and sentence.

Person: Jessica Roberts
Person: Dennis Campbell
Person: Aaron Voss
Amount: $800
Sentence: six-year federal sentence

- Kenneth White found a framed photograph with a sticky note reading "For Dennis. So you know who you pretended to be." on a front step while twelve minutes behind schedule.
- Jessica Roberts received an account in late October under the name Sergeant First Class Aaron Voss and moved conversations to a private messaging app by early December.
- The first money request arrived mid-January for $800 described as a daughter's school enrollment fee.
- Investigators recovered a spiral-bound notebook used across rentals in three mid-Missouri cities over four years containing scripted contact language and a full page of phrases to deflect live video calls.
- The photographs used in the scam matched a real person, Aaron Voss, a U.S. Army veteran living in Knoxville, Tennessee, employed as a building inspector with a wife and two children.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098046Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:42:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Photo on the Step: How a Portrait Exposed a Romance Scam kingpin Fear and betrayal: a portrait mailed from Knoxville to a doorstep in Claremont Heights forced a confrontation between a stolen identity and the man who paid the price-what does...
Fear and betrayal: a portrait mailed from Knoxville to a doorstep in Claremont Heights forced a confrontation between a stolen identity and the man who paid the price-what does one photograph do to a six-year scheme? Who mailed the photo and did the fraudster ever look at it?

In this episode, we tell how a careful routine life and a simple volunteer schedule intersected with an online romance that turned into an $800 loss and a federal case, and why a mailed CVS print became the pivotal object in the investigation. What the photograph meant, and whether the intended recipient ever saw it, is the question that outlived the arrest and sentence.

Person: Jessica Roberts
Person: Dennis Campbell
Person: Aaron Voss
Amount: $800
Sentence: six-year federal sentence

- Kenneth White found a framed photograph with a sticky note reading "For Dennis. So you know who you pretended to be." on a front step while twelve minutes behind schedule.
- Jessica Roberts received an account in late October under the name Sergeant First Class Aaron Voss and moved conversations to a private messaging app by early December.
- The first money request arrived mid-January for $800 described as a daughter's school enrollment fee.
- Investigators recovered a spiral-bound notebook used across rentals in three mid-Missouri cities over four years containing scripted contact language and a full page of phrases to deflect live video calls.
- The photographs used in the scam matched a real person, Aaron Voss, a U.S. Army veteran living in Knoxville, Tennessee, employed as a building inspector with a wife and two children.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1011falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-golden-card-how-it-won-over-and-drained-jeffrey-s-savings--73098044
The pull of a stranger who seemed to know him was the hook: a gold card, forty or fifty organized bank statements, and $41,200 missing from four years of careful savings - all left like a silent clue on Jeffrey's kitchen table. Who was "Gregory," why did the money move through a prepaid account and a logistics address in Atlanta to a mailbox in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and how did a man Jeffrey believed he loved erase his future plans?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of Jeffrey Reynolds from the first message on a dating platform to the discovery in his kitchen, tracing the money flow, the online exchanges, and the people who noticed when he stopped answering. What exactly did the records and contacts reveal about the path of the funds and the identity tied to that gold card?

Person: Jeffrey Reynolds
Age: 44
Amount: $41,200
Platform: ConnectTrue (first message March 2018)
Location of mailbox receiving funds: Clarksburg, West Virginia

- The gold card was propped against the kitchen window above forty or fifty chronological bank statements.
- Jeffrey had saved $41,200 over four years after a divorce to buy a house with a yard.
- He joined ConnectTrue in March 2018 and received a message within one week from "Gregory Sharp."
- Money moved through a prepaid account and a logistics address in the suburbs of Atlanta before reaching a mailbox in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
- The real Gregory Sharp, a 46-year-old HVAC subcontractor in Lexington, had his cell number written on an internal vendor contact sheet at Ashworth Regional.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098044Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:42:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Golden Card: How It Won Over and Drained Jeffrey's Savings The pull of a stranger who seemed to know him was the hook: a gold card, forty or fifty organized bank statements, and $41,200 missing from four years of careful savings - all left like...
The pull of a stranger who seemed to know him was the hook: a gold card, forty or fifty organized bank statements, and $41,200 missing from four years of careful savings - all left like a silent clue on Jeffrey's kitchen table. Who was "Gregory," why did the money move through a prepaid account and a logistics address in Atlanta to a mailbox in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and how did a man Jeffrey believed he loved erase his future plans?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of Jeffrey Reynolds from the first message on a dating platform to the discovery in his kitchen, tracing the money flow, the online exchanges, and the people who noticed when he stopped answering. What exactly did the records and contacts reveal about the path of the funds and the identity tied to that gold card?

Person: Jeffrey Reynolds
Age: 44
Amount: $41,200
Platform: ConnectTrue (first message March 2018)
Location of mailbox receiving funds: Clarksburg, West Virginia

- The gold card was propped against the kitchen window above forty or fifty chronological bank statements.
- Jeffrey had saved $41,200 over four years after a divorce to buy a house with a yard.
- He joined ConnectTrue in March 2018 and received a message within one week from "Gregory Sharp."
- Money moved through a prepaid account and a logistics address in the suburbs of Atlanta before reaching a mailbox in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
- The real Gregory Sharp, a 46-year-old HVAC subcontractor in Lexington, had his cell number written on an internal vendor contact sheet at Ashworth Regional.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1117falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-thought-he-was-real-6-240-a-photo-a-lie--73098043
Fear that the person you loved was never who they seemed-Brenda sent $6,240 over ten months to someone she believed was a 34-year-old logistics consultant in Singapore, but the voice she trusted was partly synthetic and the photograph that proved nothing was placed by the woman in it; who was really behind the messages and the workshop spreadsheet?

In this episode, we trace how a language-exchange match became a ten-month relationship of 341 exchanges, $6,240 in transfers, and a staged discovery at a park that raised bigger questions about identity, voice synthesis, and deliberate deception - who used Brenda's image and why?

Person: Brenda Stroud
Amount: $6,240
Exchanges: 341 logged exchanges
Saved voice messages: 43 files
Location found: Carl Ward Trail root hollow

- Brenda was 28 years old and taught English as a second language from her apartment on Ashford Lane.
- Over ten and a half months she sent a total of $6,240 to the TandemBridge user Vincent Lim SG.
- The relationship produced 341 logged exchanges and 43 voice messages that Brenda saved.
- Biscuit the three-year-old golden retriever found a ziplock bag on the Carl Ward Trail containing a printed photo, handwritten note, and printed chat logs.
- Investigators found a rural workshop in Adair County with three TandemBridge accounts, a commercial text-to-speech rig, and source recordings on an external drive.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098043Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:42:21 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Thought He Was Real - $6,240, A Photo, A Lie Fear that the person you loved was never who they seemed-Brenda sent $6,240 over ten months to someone she believed was a 34-year-old logistics consultant in Singapore, but the voice she trusted was...
Fear that the person you loved was never who they seemed-Brenda sent $6,240 over ten months to someone she believed was a 34-year-old logistics consultant in Singapore, but the voice she trusted was partly synthetic and the photograph that proved nothing was placed by the woman in it; who was really behind the messages and the workshop spreadsheet?

In this episode, we trace how a language-exchange match became a ten-month relationship of 341 exchanges, $6,240 in transfers, and a staged discovery at a park that raised bigger questions about identity, voice synthesis, and deliberate deception - who used Brenda's image and why?

Person: Brenda Stroud
Amount: $6,240
Exchanges: 341 logged exchanges
Saved voice messages: 43 files
Location found: Carl Ward Trail root hollow

- Brenda was 28 years old and taught English as a second language from her apartment on Ashford Lane.
- Over ten and a half months she sent a total of $6,240 to the TandemBridge user Vincent Lim SG.
- The relationship produced 341 logged exchanges and 43 voice messages that Brenda saved.
- Biscuit the three-year-old golden retriever found a ziplock bag on the Carl Ward Trail containing a printed photo, handwritten note, and printed chat logs.
- Investigators found a rural workshop in Adair County with three TandemBridge accounts, a commercial text-to-speech rig, and source recordings on an external drive.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1183falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/hooked-by-a-soldier-who-never-existed-the-darlene-scam--73098042
Grief turned into a lure: a locked pink phone, hooked on a trotline, held the last tender message of a woman who had been carefully targeted by someone who spent four years studying how loss works. How did a fake Army sergeant turn a Facebook grief group into a ledger of victims, and why was Darlene entry number thirty-one?

In this episode, we tell how Darlene Zeller joined an online group called Valor and After, met a man using the name Norman Erickson, and gradually came to trust him - but what she trusted was a constructed identity that hid a deliberate and patient manipulation. How did the scammer build credibility and what signs were missed until that pink phone appeared on Cutter Fork?

Person: Darlene Zeller
Group: Valor and After
Fake account name: Norman Erickson
Real photo owner: Dennis Okafor
Entry number: 31

- The account was created in January 2019 and its Gmail routed through a server cluster in Lagos.
- The initial message arrived on March 14, 2019, after Darlene had been reading the group’s threads for months.
- Darlene was widowed in 2015 and joined the Facebook group in early 2019, which had roughly 1,200 members.
- Darlene gave thyroid medication to her four-year-old border collie mix, Pepper, at exactly 6:45 a.m. twice daily.
- The pink phone was found hooked onto a steel trotline on Cutter Fork and was the device holding Darlene’s final outbox message.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098042Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:42:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHooked by a Soldier Who Never Existed: The Darlene Scam Grief turned into a lure: a locked pink phone, hooked on a trotline, held the last tender message of a woman who had been carefully targeted by someone who spent four years studying how loss...
Grief turned into a lure: a locked pink phone, hooked on a trotline, held the last tender message of a woman who had been carefully targeted by someone who spent four years studying how loss works. How did a fake Army sergeant turn a Facebook grief group into a ledger of victims, and why was Darlene entry number thirty-one?

In this episode, we tell how Darlene Zeller joined an online group called Valor and After, met a man using the name Norman Erickson, and gradually came to trust him - but what she trusted was a constructed identity that hid a deliberate and patient manipulation. How did the scammer build credibility and what signs were missed until that pink phone appeared on Cutter Fork?

Person: Darlene Zeller
Group: Valor and After
Fake account name: Norman Erickson
Real photo owner: Dennis Okafor
Entry number: 31

- The account was created in January 2019 and its Gmail routed through a server cluster in Lagos.
- The initial message arrived on March 14, 2019, after Darlene had been reading the group’s threads for months.
- Darlene was widowed in 2015 and joined the Facebook group in early 2019, which had roughly 1,200 members.
- Darlene gave thyroid medication to her four-year-old border collie mix, Pepper, at exactly 6:45 a.m. twice daily.
- The pink phone was found hooked onto a steel trotline on Cutter Fork and was the device holding Darlene’s final outbox message.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1125falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-man-who-stole-her-trust-the-framed-photo-that-kept-her-quiet--73098041
A framed photograph left in an empty garage on Larkin Road became a small, impossible clue in a yearlong betrayal that hollowed out Debra Thompson's life; the garage had been vacant for eleven months when county surveyor Heather Young spotted the picture on the third weekend of October, 2019. Who built a fake identity and used it to dismantle a museum professional piece by piece - and why did a single image keep Debra silent?

In this episode, we tell the story of Debra Thompson and the online account registered as Dennis Moore that drew her in, the professional context that made her vulnerable, and the sequence of messages and calls that shifted from technical curiosity to personal entanglement; how did a profile assembled from stolen credentials and a stock photo become the instrument of manipulation?

Person: Debra Thompson
Date: third weekend of October, 2019
Location: empty garage on Larkin Road
Occupation: junior collections coordinator at Arlowe Regional Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Impersonated person: Brian Kessler

- The garage had been vacant for eleven months when Heather Young saw the framed photograph.
- Debra sent her first message to the account registered under the name Dennis Moore at age twenty-two.
- Debra had applied three times to the Arlowe; her third application resulted in hiring as a junior collections coordinator.
- The fake profile’s photograph and professional history belonged to a real consultant named Brian Kessler, who learned of the impersonation only after investigators contacted him.
- By September 2018, Debra and the Dennis Moore account were speaking twice a week by phone, escalating to more personal calls by October 2018.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098041Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:41:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man Who Stole Her Trust: The Framed Photo That Kept Her Quiet A framed photograph left in an empty garage on Larkin Road became a small, impossible clue in a yearlong betrayal that hollowed out Debra Thompson's life; the garage had been vacant...
A framed photograph left in an empty garage on Larkin Road became a small, impossible clue in a yearlong betrayal that hollowed out Debra Thompson's life; the garage had been vacant for eleven months when county surveyor Heather Young spotted the picture on the third weekend of October, 2019. Who built a fake identity and used it to dismantle a museum professional piece by piece - and why did a single image keep Debra silent?

In this episode, we tell the story of Debra Thompson and the online account registered as Dennis Moore that drew her in, the professional context that made her vulnerable, and the sequence of messages and calls that shifted from technical curiosity to personal entanglement; how did a profile assembled from stolen credentials and a stock photo become the instrument of manipulation?

Person: Debra Thompson
Date: third weekend of October, 2019
Location: empty garage on Larkin Road
Occupation: junior collections coordinator at Arlowe Regional Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Impersonated person: Brian Kessler

- The garage had been vacant for eleven months when Heather Young saw the framed photograph.
- Debra sent her first message to the account registered under the name Dennis Moore at age twenty-two.
- Debra had applied three times to the Arlowe; her third application resulted in hiring as a junior collections coordinator.
- The fake profile’s photograph and professional history belonged to a real consultant named Brian Kessler, who learned of the impersonation only after investigators contacted him.
- By September 2018, Debra and the Dennis Moore account were speaking twice a week by phone, escalating to more personal calls by October 2018.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1081falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-rabbit-on-her-fence-how-a-staged-child-saved-a-con-artist--73098039
The quiet of a rural Tennessee morning hid a calculated signal: a twelve-inch pink rabbit with one missing button eye, a laminated card listing a child's name, a blood type, and a fake pediatric network phone number - left on a cedar post at 6:47 a.m. That staged prop became Exhibit Forty-One and a lynchpin in a scheme that stole $22,400; who staged the rabbit and why would anyone plant proof at a stranger’s fence?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of events from the first online match to the final courtroom outcome, laying out how a careful woman was drawn into a months-long romance scam and what the rabbit ultimately revealed about the fraud mechanics. Could a stuffed toy be the single piece that unraveled a network of fake profiles and false emergencies?

Person: Donna Edwards
Date: February-August 2019
Location: Calder Ridge Road, rural Tennessee
Case: Exhibit Forty-One in spring 2021 trial
Status: Perpetrator received fourteen years

- The rabbit was found at 6:47 a.m. against a cedar post fence with a laminated card tied to its left ear.
- Donna transferred a total of $22,400 by August 2019 after repeated requests over several months.
- The first money request was $800, sent nine weeks after the HeartlandMatch match on February 9, 2019.
- The fake profile “Travis Cole” claimed to be 41, a long-haul trucker based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with a 9-year-old daughter named Lily.
- The woman managing the scam, Frances White, 44, operated 17 active profiles across multiple dating platforms from Bowling Green.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098039Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:41:45 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Rabbit on Her Fence: How a Staged Child Saved a Con Artist The quiet of a rural Tennessee morning hid a calculated signal: a twelve-inch pink rabbit with one missing button eye, a laminated card listing a child's name, a blood type, and a fake...
The quiet of a rural Tennessee morning hid a calculated signal: a twelve-inch pink rabbit with one missing button eye, a laminated card listing a child's name, a blood type, and a fake pediatric network phone number - left on a cedar post at 6:47 a.m. That staged prop became Exhibit Forty-One and a lynchpin in a scheme that stole $22,400; who staged the rabbit and why would anyone plant proof at a stranger’s fence?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of events from the first online match to the final courtroom outcome, laying out how a careful woman was drawn into a months-long romance scam and what the rabbit ultimately revealed about the fraud mechanics. Could a stuffed toy be the single piece that unraveled a network of fake profiles and false emergencies?

Person: Donna Edwards
Date: February-August 2019
Location: Calder Ridge Road, rural Tennessee
Case: Exhibit Forty-One in spring 2021 trial
Status: Perpetrator received fourteen years

- The rabbit was found at 6:47 a.m. against a cedar post fence with a laminated card tied to its left ear.
- Donna transferred a total of $22,400 by August 2019 after repeated requests over several months.
- The first money request was $800, sent nine weeks after the HeartlandMatch match on February 9, 2019.
- The fake profile “Travis Cole” claimed to be 41, a long-haul trucker based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with a 9-year-old daughter named Lily.
- The woman managing the scam, Frances White, 44, operated 17 active profiles across multiple dating platforms from Bowling Green.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1215falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-posed-as-a-roman-food-writer-she-lost-her-life-s-work--73098037
There is a quiet, precise danger in charm: a stranger posing as a Roman food writer spun months of daily messages that led to the destruction of a food blogger’s life's work - but why did the fraud depend on beautiful, exact prose? Who was the man actually posing as Roy Green, and what did he do with the papers burned in a park storm drain?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first comment on a Rome post to the photograph that revealed a man destroying papers in Elmhurst Park, following the relationships and small choices that let the scheme unfold. What was in those papers, and how did everyday trust in good writing become the instrument of loss?

Person: Megan Casey
Person: James York
Person: Gordon Sullivan
Date: August 11, 2019
Location: Elmhurst Park, Roanoke, Virginia

- Megan Casey had written the food blog Salted & Found for twenty years and reached 150,000 readers a month.
- On January 2019 a commenter identifying as Roy Green began daily correspondence with Megan, sometimes twice daily through February 2019.
- James York photographed a man in a blue-gray utility vest feeding rubber-banded papers into a storm drain at 7:40 AM on August 11, 2019.
- Megan’s Rome anniversary post that drew the comment included a passage Megan later called “the best thing she had read about ragù in years.”
- Gordon Sullivan, a 58-year-old retired software auditor who lived three houses away, noticed irregularities in how original writing had been assembled.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098037Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:41:33 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Posed as a Roman Food Writer - She Lost Her Life's Work There is a quiet, precise danger in charm: a stranger posing as a Roman food writer spun months of daily messages that led to the destruction of a food blogger’s life's work - but why did...
There is a quiet, precise danger in charm: a stranger posing as a Roman food writer spun months of daily messages that led to the destruction of a food blogger’s life's work - but why did the fraud depend on beautiful, exact prose? Who was the man actually posing as Roy Green, and what did he do with the papers burned in a park storm drain?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first comment on a Rome post to the photograph that revealed a man destroying papers in Elmhurst Park, following the relationships and small choices that let the scheme unfold. What was in those papers, and how did everyday trust in good writing become the instrument of loss?

Person: Megan Casey
Person: James York
Person: Gordon Sullivan
Date: August 11, 2019
Location: Elmhurst Park, Roanoke, Virginia

- Megan Casey had written the food blog Salted & Found for twenty years and reached 150,000 readers a month.
- On January 2019 a commenter identifying as Roy Green began daily correspondence with Megan, sometimes twice daily through February 2019.
- James York photographed a man in a blue-gray utility vest feeding rubber-banded papers into a storm drain at 7:40 AM on August 11, 2019.
- Megan’s Rome anniversary post that drew the comment included a passage Megan later called “the best thing she had read about ragù in years.”
- Gordon Sullivan, a 58-year-old retired software auditor who lived three houses away, noticed irregularities in how original writing had been assembled.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1221falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-told-her-he-was-coast-guard-she-lost-everything-then-found-proof--73098036
Fear and cold discovery: a film photograph with a handwritten note and a set of coordinates was taped to a condominium wall, and it led to proof that someone had been watching a woman’s every morning for months-how did a stranger know the private gesture she never told anyone? What else did the printed photo and those coordinates reveal about the man who claimed to be a Coast Guard officer?

In this episode, we trace the timeline from the first online message about a sea turtle to the voice calls, the film photograph discovered in July, and the phone timestamps that documented months of surveillance; how did a fabricated profile, stolen image, and recorded details convince her it was real?

Person: Karen Underwood
Location: Waverly Lighthouse, Pelican Shoals, Georgia
Date: Photograph found on a Tuesday morning in July
Case: Profile claimed name Douglas Hunter, used photo of Brian Colwell
Event: Photographs of Karen’s boardwalk route began in November

- The photograph was a film print with a bright white border, taped at eye level beside the service entrance to unit four-C of Waverly Point condominiums.
- Gary Hansen was fourteen and three weeks into his paper route when he found the photograph.
- The back of the photo had geographic coordinates and the message: "she needs to know it wasn't real."
- The fake profile claimed nine years of U.S. Coast Guard service and a daughter named Lily; the profile photo was actually of Brian Colwell from Pensacola.
- Timestamps recovered later show photographs of the Waverly boardwalk path beginning in November, two months after Karen had established her routine.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098036Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:41:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Told Her He Was Coast Guard - She Lost Everything, Then Found Proof Fear and cold discovery: a film photograph with a handwritten note and a set of coordinates was taped to a condominium wall, and it led to proof that someone had been watching a...
Fear and cold discovery: a film photograph with a handwritten note and a set of coordinates was taped to a condominium wall, and it led to proof that someone had been watching a woman’s every morning for months-how did a stranger know the private gesture she never told anyone? What else did the printed photo and those coordinates reveal about the man who claimed to be a Coast Guard officer?

In this episode, we trace the timeline from the first online message about a sea turtle to the voice calls, the film photograph discovered in July, and the phone timestamps that documented months of surveillance; how did a fabricated profile, stolen image, and recorded details convince her it was real?

Person: Karen Underwood
Location: Waverly Lighthouse, Pelican Shoals, Georgia
Date: Photograph found on a Tuesday morning in July
Case: Profile claimed name Douglas Hunter, used photo of Brian Colwell
Event: Photographs of Karen’s boardwalk route began in November

- The photograph was a film print with a bright white border, taped at eye level beside the service entrance to unit four-C of Waverly Point condominiums.
- Gary Hansen was fourteen and three weeks into his paper route when he found the photograph.
- The back of the photo had geographic coordinates and the message: "she needs to know it wasn't real."
- The fake profile claimed nine years of U.S. Coast Guard service and a daughter named Lily; the profile photo was actually of Brian Colwell from Pensacola.
- Timestamps recovered later show photographs of the Waverly boardwalk path beginning in November, two months after Karen had established her routine.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1171falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-stood-in-her-backyard-the-therapist-who-wasn-t-real--73098034
A woman found a laptop in a ditch with a single Post-it: "He's not who he says he is." That photograph became page one of a 430-page file about a fake therapist who had messaged, befriended, and actually watched his target - but who was he really and how did he get so close?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the June 14, 2022 discovery of the laptop back to the first online messages in March and the earlier in-person work on the house, tracing how a fabricated profile built intimacy and access. How did a series of ordinary details-gutter work, profile photos, friendly messages-become enough to convince Michelle Barnes he was real?

Person: Michelle Barnes
Date: June 14, 2022
Location: Ridgecrest Drive, Delvane
Case: 430-page file
Event: Laptop with Post-it found in drainage ditch

- The laptop was found upright in the gravel of a drainage ditch on June 14, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
- The single Post-it inside the laptop lid read: "He's not who he says he is." written in blue ballpoint.
- Michelle Barnes joined the New Chapter Forward support group in March 2022 and received private messages from "Todd Anderson" three weeks later.
- Todd Anderson's profile included four photographs featuring the same man's face and claimed details: mid-fifties, divorced eight years, a daughter, therapist in Columbus, Ohio.
- Dennis Pryor had worked at Michelle's house in fall 2020 doing gutter work and exterior painting over three days.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098034Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:41:09 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Stood in Her Backyard: The Therapist Who Wasn't Real A woman found a laptop in a ditch with a single Post-it: "He's not who he says he is." That photograph became page one of a 430-page file about a fake therapist who had messaged, befriended,...
A woman found a laptop in a ditch with a single Post-it: "He's not who he says he is." That photograph became page one of a 430-page file about a fake therapist who had messaged, befriended, and actually watched his target - but who was he really and how did he get so close?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the June 14, 2022 discovery of the laptop back to the first online messages in March and the earlier in-person work on the house, tracing how a fabricated profile built intimacy and access. How did a series of ordinary details-gutter work, profile photos, friendly messages-become enough to convince Michelle Barnes he was real?

Person: Michelle Barnes
Date: June 14, 2022
Location: Ridgecrest Drive, Delvane
Case: 430-page file
Event: Laptop with Post-it found in drainage ditch

- The laptop was found upright in the gravel of a drainage ditch on June 14, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
- The single Post-it inside the laptop lid read: "He's not who he says he is." written in blue ballpoint.
- Michelle Barnes joined the New Chapter Forward support group in March 2022 and received private messages from "Todd Anderson" three weeks later.
- Todd Anderson's profile included four photographs featuring the same man's face and claimed details: mid-fifties, divorced eight years, a daughter, therapist in Columbus, Ohio.
- Dennis Pryor had worked at Michelle's house in fall 2020 doing gutter work and exterior painting over three days.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1216falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-man-who-loved-her-books-then-took-22-000-and-vanished--73098032
Heart-sinking and intimate: a twelve-page, blue-ink letter signed only "Kenneth" arrives on a porch, and a woman loses $22,000 to a man she never met. Who was Kenneth, how did a closed farm stand on Route 250 help unravel the scheme, and what made Julie Myers believe a stranger enough to send him thousands?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from May 2019 back through Julie's first contacts with an online rare-book account, the development of an emotional bond, the money transfers and the small detail that cracked the story open. What connection between a library, a storage unit and a roadside farm stand finally led investigators to a man in Augusta County?

Person: Julie Myers
Date: May 14, 2019
Amount: $22,000
Location: Sycamore Trace, Dunmore, Virginia
Case: Kenneth Hughes / KHughes_Rare

- The letter left on Julie's porch was twelve pages, both sides, written in blue ink and sealed in a plastic sleeve.
- Julie began corresponding with the account KHughes_Rare in February 2018 and moved from forum posts to direct messages, email, then phone calls by August 2018.
- Julie was 32 years old in spring 2018 when she inherited her mother's house and library and started cataloging the collection.
- In late March 2019 Kenneth reported being stranded on Route 250 east of Charlottesville and mentioned a farm stand opposite the road.
- Investigators eventually located a man sitting in a storage unit in Augusta County connected to the scheme.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098032Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:40:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man Who Loved Her Books - Then Took $22,000 and Vanished Heart-sinking and intimate: a twelve-page, blue-ink letter signed only "Kenneth" arrives on a porch, and a woman loses $22,000 to a man she never met. Who was Kenneth, how did a closed...
Heart-sinking and intimate: a twelve-page, blue-ink letter signed only "Kenneth" arrives on a porch, and a woman loses $22,000 to a man she never met. Who was Kenneth, how did a closed farm stand on Route 250 help unravel the scheme, and what made Julie Myers believe a stranger enough to send him thousands?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from May 2019 back through Julie's first contacts with an online rare-book account, the development of an emotional bond, the money transfers and the small detail that cracked the story open. What connection between a library, a storage unit and a roadside farm stand finally led investigators to a man in Augusta County?

Person: Julie Myers
Date: May 14, 2019
Amount: $22,000
Location: Sycamore Trace, Dunmore, Virginia
Case: Kenneth Hughes / KHughes_Rare

- The letter left on Julie's porch was twelve pages, both sides, written in blue ink and sealed in a plastic sleeve.
- Julie began corresponding with the account KHughes_Rare in February 2018 and moved from forum posts to direct messages, email, then phone calls by August 2018.
- Julie was 32 years old in spring 2018 when she inherited her mother's house and library and started cataloging the collection.
- In late March 2019 Kenneth reported being stranded on Route 250 east of Charlottesville and mentioned a farm stand opposite the road.
- Investigators eventually located a man sitting in a storage unit in Augusta County connected to the scheme.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1003falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/god-loves-earl-how-a-fake-missionary-emptied-his-life-savings--73098028
Fear that your good faith could be weaponized: a photo in a plastic bag led investigators to uncover a faith-based romance that turned into a meticulous financial scam, and one man lost everything to carefully dated requests. How did a stranger on a faith platform convince a diligent 53-year-old to send steady donations for fourteen months?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the day a photo was found on Sycamore Trail through the months Earl Price sent money to a supposed mission in Honduras. We recount the messages, the spreadsheet of donations, and the moment friends realized something was wrong - and ask how identity and grief were used to build trust.

Person: Earl Price
Date: April 9, 2019
Location: Sycamore Trail, Bredenton, Ohio
Occupation: Calibration technician at Halloran Precision Components
Platform: PurposeMatch

- Earl Price was 53 years old and had lived in the same duplex on Comstock Lane for eleven years.
- The first requested donation was $400 in February 2018 for roof materials.
- Earl kept a manila folder spreadsheet recording each donation beginning February 2018, with dates, amounts, and notes.
- Earl regularly attended Millbrook Community Fellowship and sat three rows from the back on the left.
- Friends noticed his distraction at trivia in March 2019, after fourteen months of sending money.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098028Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:40:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTGod Loves Earl: How a Fake Missionary Emptied His Life Savings Fear that your good faith could be weaponized: a photo in a plastic bag led investigators to uncover a faith-based romance that turned into a meticulous financial scam, and one man lost...
Fear that your good faith could be weaponized: a photo in a plastic bag led investigators to uncover a faith-based romance that turned into a meticulous financial scam, and one man lost everything to carefully dated requests. How did a stranger on a faith platform convince a diligent 53-year-old to send steady donations for fourteen months?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the day a photo was found on Sycamore Trail through the months Earl Price sent money to a supposed mission in Honduras. We recount the messages, the spreadsheet of donations, and the moment friends realized something was wrong - and ask how identity and grief were used to build trust.

Person: Earl Price
Date: April 9, 2019
Location: Sycamore Trail, Bredenton, Ohio
Occupation: Calibration technician at Halloran Precision Components
Platform: PurposeMatch

- Earl Price was 53 years old and had lived in the same duplex on Comstock Lane for eleven years.
- The first requested donation was $400 in February 2018 for roof materials.
- Earl kept a manila folder spreadsheet recording each donation beginning February 2018, with dates, amounts, and notes.
- Earl regularly attended Millbrook Community Fellowship and sat three rows from the back on the left.
- Friends noticed his distraction at trivia in March 2019, after fourteen months of sending money.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1213falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-roses-on-whitmore-lane-how-they-stole-my-heart-and-8-000--73098027
Cold roses left against a gas meter on a thirty-one degree March morning were the first clue that something engineered and intimate was unfolding on Whitmore Lane; why did freshly cut long-stemmed red roses appear at an empty rental and who arranged the trust that followed? The suspicion: a romance built to extract $8,000 - but who constructed the face and voice that convinced a careful man to send it?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led Gordon Reynolds from casual coffees to transfers totaling thousands, and how a borrowed identity and staged intimacy moved him to act; what part did the recorded voice memo, the river walk, and the roses play in persuading him?

Person: Gordon Reynolds
Date: March 9, 2019
Location: Whitmore Lane, Columbus, Ohio
Amount: $8,000
Introducer: Dave Henning

- The roses were found pressed against the gas meter of a rental property that had been empty for six weeks.
- The morning temperature was thirty-one degrees Fahrenheit and the roses' water had not frozen, indicating they were placed recently.
- Gordon Reynolds transferred an initial $6,000 after a Sunday walk and a phone call about a stalled real estate deal.
- Ten days after the first transfer, a second request arrived asking for $4,500.
- The man Gordon met used the name Gregory Sanders but the photograph belonged to Wade Purcell taken from a 2016 travel blogger's Instagram.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098027Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:40:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Roses on Whitmore Lane: How They Stole My Heart and $8,000 Cold roses left against a gas meter on a thirty-one degree March morning were the first clue that something engineered and intimate was unfolding on Whitmore Lane; why did freshly cut...
Cold roses left against a gas meter on a thirty-one degree March morning were the first clue that something engineered and intimate was unfolding on Whitmore Lane; why did freshly cut long-stemmed red roses appear at an empty rental and who arranged the trust that followed? The suspicion: a romance built to extract $8,000 - but who constructed the face and voice that convinced a careful man to send it?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led Gordon Reynolds from casual coffees to transfers totaling thousands, and how a borrowed identity and staged intimacy moved him to act; what part did the recorded voice memo, the river walk, and the roses play in persuading him?

Person: Gordon Reynolds
Date: March 9, 2019
Location: Whitmore Lane, Columbus, Ohio
Amount: $8,000
Introducer: Dave Henning

- The roses were found pressed against the gas meter of a rental property that had been empty for six weeks.
- The morning temperature was thirty-one degrees Fahrenheit and the roses' water had not frozen, indicating they were placed recently.
- Gordon Reynolds transferred an initial $6,000 after a Sunday walk and a phone call about a stalled real estate deal.
- Ten days after the first transfer, a second request arrived asking for $4,500.
- The man Gordon met used the name Gregory Sanders but the photograph belonged to Wade Purcell taken from a 2016 travel blogger's Instagram.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1223falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ring-from-lagos-how-a-stolen-face-cost-her-forty-one-thousand-dollars--73098026
A padded envelope arrived at a church in Denton, Ohio on February ninth, postmarked from Lagos with a return address on a Houston street that did not exist. Inside was a ring in a velvet pouch, sent by a man Janet Lane had never met but believed she was about to marry. How did a photograph stolen from a Brazilian fitness influencer become the face of a romance that would drain her savings, her personal loan, and six weeks of silence from her mother?

In this episode, we trace Janet Lane's descent from a wellness app questionnaire to forty-one thousand dollars sent across three continents, examining the padded envelope that arrived before the financial crisis began, the recorded confession from a cellmate that broke the case open, and the DNA match that connected Dale Osei to an unsolved attack four years earlier.

Person: Janet Lane
Location: Denton, Ohio
Perpetrator: Dale Osei, age 31, originally from Ghana
Amount stolen: $41,000
Event: Romance fraud via Cornerstone Health app, February to March 2019
Conviction: Four counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, October 2019

- Janet downloaded Cornerstone Health in November 2018 and was matched with a wellness coach named Dale Wells, whose profile used a stolen photograph of Marco Alves, a Brazilian fitness influencer.
- The first crisis call came on February 14, 2019, when Dale Wells claimed his passport and laptop were stolen in Lisbon and requested eighteen hundred dollars.
- A padded envelope from Lagos arrived on February 9, 2019, containing a ring and a return address on a Houston street that does not exist; Wade Riley, the retired church volunteer who received it, noticed the address was wrong but said nothing.
- Between mid-February and late March 2019, Janet transferred forty-one thousand dollars across four separate bank accounts spanning three continents while ignoring her mother Beverly's calls for six weeks.
- Dale Osei was arrested in April 2019 over a rent dispute, spent six days in a shared cell with Henry Pryor, confessed the details of his operation, and received a seven-year sentence in October 2019 with no restitution order recorded.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098026Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:40:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe ring from Lagos: how a stolen face cost her forty-one thousand dollars A padded envelope arrived at a church in Denton, Ohio on February ninth, postmarked from Lagos with a return address on a Houston street that did not exist. Inside was a...
A padded envelope arrived at a church in Denton, Ohio on February ninth, postmarked from Lagos with a return address on a Houston street that did not exist. Inside was a ring in a velvet pouch, sent by a man Janet Lane had never met but believed she was about to marry. How did a photograph stolen from a Brazilian fitness influencer become the face of a romance that would drain her savings, her personal loan, and six weeks of silence from her mother?

In this episode, we trace Janet Lane's descent from a wellness app questionnaire to forty-one thousand dollars sent across three continents, examining the padded envelope that arrived before the financial crisis began, the recorded confession from a cellmate that broke the case open, and the DNA match that connected Dale Osei to an unsolved attack four years earlier.

Person: Janet Lane
Location: Denton, Ohio
Perpetrator: Dale Osei, age 31, originally from Ghana
Amount stolen: $41,000
Event: Romance fraud via Cornerstone Health app, February to March 2019
Conviction: Four counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, October 2019

- Janet downloaded Cornerstone Health in November 2018 and was matched with a wellness coach named Dale Wells, whose profile used a stolen photograph of Marco Alves, a Brazilian fitness influencer.
- The first crisis call came on February 14, 2019, when Dale Wells claimed his passport and laptop were stolen in Lisbon and requested eighteen hundred dollars.
- A padded envelope from Lagos arrived on February 9, 2019, containing a ring and a return address on a Houston street that does not exist; Wade Riley, the retired church volunteer who received it, noticed the address was wrong but said nothing.
- Between mid-February and late March 2019, Janet transferred forty-one thousand dollars across four separate bank accounts spanning three continents while ignoring her mother Beverly's calls for six weeks.
- Dale Osei was arrested in April 2019 over a rent dispute, spent six days in a shared cell with Henry Pryor, confessed the details of his operation, and received a seven-year sentence in October 2019 with no restitution order recorded.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1178falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/her-owner-angela-casey-looked-where-the-dog-was-looking--73098024
Fear and fascination collide: a sealed Valentine’s card wedged four feet up in a dead juniper led to a theft of $263,000 and a fabricated lover - but how did a man track certificate of deposit dates to steal from a grieving widow? What was hidden in that stamped envelope addressed to “Amy”?

In this episode, we follow the discovery that started everything and the steps investigators took to connect a single physical card to a pattern of timed withdrawals and identity theft, asking how someone engineered trust from a distance and targeted financial milestones to take everything.

Date: January 9, 2019
Person: Angela Casey
Person: Amy Sawyer
Person: Kimberly Baker
Amount: $263,000

- The sealed, stamped envelope was wedged four feet up in a dead juniper on the Pinebluff Nature Loop.
- The card inside was addressed to “Amy” and signed “- R.” with the message “I will be with you soon, my love.”
- Amy’s first wire transfer of $41,000 left eleven days after a certificate of deposit matured in July 2017.
- The transfers continued with amounts including $38,000 in October and repeated timing within eleven days of CD maturity through 2018.
- The profile photo used by “Russell O’Brien” belonged to Howard Lind, a 61-year-old retired engineer who had not met Amy.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098024Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:40:09 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHer owner, Angela Casey, looked where the dog was looking Fear and fascination collide: a sealed Valentine’s card wedged four feet up in a dead juniper led to a theft of $263,000 and a fabricated lover - but how did a man track certificate of...
Fear and fascination collide: a sealed Valentine’s card wedged four feet up in a dead juniper led to a theft of $263,000 and a fabricated lover - but how did a man track certificate of deposit dates to steal from a grieving widow? What was hidden in that stamped envelope addressed to “Amy”?

In this episode, we follow the discovery that started everything and the steps investigators took to connect a single physical card to a pattern of timed withdrawals and identity theft, asking how someone engineered trust from a distance and targeted financial milestones to take everything.

Date: January 9, 2019
Person: Angela Casey
Person: Amy Sawyer
Person: Kimberly Baker
Amount: $263,000

- The sealed, stamped envelope was wedged four feet up in a dead juniper on the Pinebluff Nature Loop.
- The card inside was addressed to “Amy” and signed “- R.” with the message “I will be with you soon, my love.”
- Amy’s first wire transfer of $41,000 left eleven days after a certificate of deposit matured in July 2017.
- The transfers continued with amounts including $38,000 in October and repeated timing within eleven days of CD maturity through 2018.
- The profile photo used by “Russell O’Brien” belonged to Howard Lind, a 61-year-old retired engineer who had not met Amy.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1234falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-laptop-at-packer-creek-what-jennifer-lewis-meant-to-say--73098022
A sealed freezer bag loops to a trotline in gray December light, a Dell laptop dry inside, an index card folded against the keys: She was real to me. That is not nothing. Jennifer Lewis had just been arrested for defrauding a twenty-two-year-old chess player out of eighteen hundred dollars using a stolen face and a fabricated crisis. So why did she return to the creek where her victim had once sent a photograph, seal her equipment in plastic, and leave it where a fisherman would certainly find it?

In this episode, we trace the six-week hunt that built Miriam Voss from stolen research, the carefully structured financial asks that arrived after warmth rather than before, and the single detail in small talk-a regional cable broadcast mentioned by someone claiming to live eight hundred miles away-that unraveled everything. We follow Detective Roy Vance's evidence laid on a table, Lewis's deflection and silence, and the inexplicable decision to preserve rather than destroy. But the question that survives the guilty plea is whether the note represents a final manipulation or the only honest moment in four months of contact.

Person: Kelly Pruitt
Perpetrator: Jennifer Lewis
Location: Brackett, Indiana; Carmel, Indiana; Packer Creek
Amount: Eighteen hundred dollars
Event: Laptop discovery at Packer Creek, December eleventh
Date: September to December, same year

- Kelly Pruitt, age twenty-two, worked as a claims processor at an insurance adjuster's office in Brackett, Indiana.
- Jennifer Lewis studied Kelly's public game history on Boardroom for six weeks before sending a message as Miriam Voss on a harvested LinkedIn photo of Amber Coles, a dental hygienist in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- Kelly sent four hundred dollars on November nineteenth for a fake rental car deposit and fourteen hundred dollars on December first for a fake eviction notice.
- Detective Roy Vance identified Lewis using Zelle account metadata, Signal phone records, and a regional cable broadcast mention in an Indiana-Purdue game message that revealed Cleveland residence was false.
- Lewis was arrested December ninth, drove to Packer Creek the night of December eighth, sealed a Dell laptop in a freezer bag with copper wire and an index card reading She was real to me. That is not nothing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098022Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:39:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe laptop at Packer Creek: what Jennifer Lewis meant to say A sealed freezer bag loops to a trotline in gray December light, a Dell laptop dry inside, an index card folded against the keys: She was real to me. That is not nothing. Jennifer Lewis...
A sealed freezer bag loops to a trotline in gray December light, a Dell laptop dry inside, an index card folded against the keys: She was real to me. That is not nothing. Jennifer Lewis had just been arrested for defrauding a twenty-two-year-old chess player out of eighteen hundred dollars using a stolen face and a fabricated crisis. So why did she return to the creek where her victim had once sent a photograph, seal her equipment in plastic, and leave it where a fisherman would certainly find it?

In this episode, we trace the six-week hunt that built Miriam Voss from stolen research, the carefully structured financial asks that arrived after warmth rather than before, and the single detail in small talk-a regional cable broadcast mentioned by someone claiming to live eight hundred miles away-that unraveled everything. We follow Detective Roy Vance's evidence laid on a table, Lewis's deflection and silence, and the inexplicable decision to preserve rather than destroy. But the question that survives the guilty plea is whether the note represents a final manipulation or the only honest moment in four months of contact.

Person: Kelly Pruitt
Perpetrator: Jennifer Lewis
Location: Brackett, Indiana; Carmel, Indiana; Packer Creek
Amount: Eighteen hundred dollars
Event: Laptop discovery at Packer Creek, December eleventh
Date: September to December, same year

- Kelly Pruitt, age twenty-two, worked as a claims processor at an insurance adjuster's office in Brackett, Indiana.
- Jennifer Lewis studied Kelly's public game history on Boardroom for six weeks before sending a message as Miriam Voss on a harvested LinkedIn photo of Amber Coles, a dental hygienist in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- Kelly sent four hundred dollars on November nineteenth for a fake rental car deposit and fourteen hundred dollars on December first for a fake eviction notice.
- Detective Roy Vance identified Lewis using Zelle account metadata, Signal phone records, and a regional cable broadcast mention in an Indiana-Purdue game message that revealed Cleveland residence was false.
- Lewis was arrested December ninth, drove to Packer Creek the night of December eighth, sealed a Dell laptop in a freezer bag with copper wire and an index card reading She was real to me. That is not nothing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1076falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-envelope-under-the-oak-how-jean-documented-her-own-deception--73098021
In this episode, we follow Jean's journey from a cancer support group on Facebook to 112 thousand dollars sent to UK bank accounts, through Henry Brock's reverse image search revealing the stolen identity of Craig Decker, and into the six-week period when Jean built her case on a kitchen table in Pennsylvania. We trace the moment when a retired mail carrier's four printed pages, a co-administrator's metadata report, and an insurance examiner's complaint converged-all while an oak tree held the most consequential evidence none of them knew existed.

Person: Jean Keller
Perpetrator: Ronald Simmons (constructed identity)
Actual identity: Craig Decker (Portland engineer, photo stolen)
Amount stolen: $112,000
Location: Elderton, Pennsylvania
Event: Romance fraud through fake cancer support group

- Jean Keller was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer two years before joining the Beyond the Bell Facebook group in January.
- The perpetrator used Craig Decker's photograph from a LinkedIn profile; Decker was a licensed civil engineer in Portland, Oregon, entirely unaware his image was being used.
- The Beyond the Bell group was created twenty-two months before Jean joined, not four years as "Ronald Simmons" claimed.
- Between April and October, Jean wired eight thousand dollars, six thousand dollars, four thousand dollars, and nine thousand dollars across multiple transfers to UK bank accounts.
- Thomas Stein, an Armstrong County surveyor walking a disputed property line on Alderton Pike in November, found the sealed envelope containing Jean's forty-three-page dossier buried under an oak tree's roots.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098021Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:39:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe envelope under the oak: how Jean documented her own deception In this episode, we follow Jean's journey from a cancer support group on Facebook to 112 thousand dollars sent to UK bank accounts, through Henry Brock's reverse image search...
In this episode, we follow Jean's journey from a cancer support group on Facebook to 112 thousand dollars sent to UK bank accounts, through Henry Brock's reverse image search revealing the stolen identity of Craig Decker, and into the six-week period when Jean built her case on a kitchen table in Pennsylvania. We trace the moment when a retired mail carrier's four printed pages, a co-administrator's metadata report, and an insurance examiner's complaint converged-all while an oak tree held the most consequential evidence none of them knew existed.

Person: Jean Keller
Perpetrator: Ronald Simmons (constructed identity)
Actual identity: Craig Decker (Portland engineer, photo stolen)
Amount stolen: $112,000
Location: Elderton, Pennsylvania
Event: Romance fraud through fake cancer support group

- Jean Keller was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer two years before joining the Beyond the Bell Facebook group in January.
- The perpetrator used Craig Decker's photograph from a LinkedIn profile; Decker was a licensed civil engineer in Portland, Oregon, entirely unaware his image was being used.
- The Beyond the Bell group was created twenty-two months before Jean joined, not four years as "Ronald Simmons" claimed.
- Between April and October, Jean wired eight thousand dollars, six thousand dollars, four thousand dollars, and nine thousand dollars across multiple transfers to UK bank accounts.
- Thomas Stein, an Armstrong County surveyor walking a disputed property line on Alderton Pike in November, found the sealed envelope containing Jean's forty-three-page dossier buried under an oak tree's roots.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1053falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-patient-interval-how-forty-one-letters-built-a-six-year-fraud--73098019
A septic inspector found forty-one envelopes under a house in Portsmith, Ohio in October 2022, each one postmarked from Greece and addressed in careful handwriting. But the woman who hid them couldn't throw them away-and investigators discovered she had been sending wire transfers to a man who didn't exist. How did Derek Osei maintain the same letter-writing rhythm for twenty-seven months without breaking pattern, and what did the acoustic signature in two voice recordings reveal about where he really was?

In this episode, we trace how a system built on perfectly timed letters and fabricated customs documents extracted sixty-three thousand dollars from Marcia Bell, a widow who volunteered at a food pantry and believed she was helping a civil engineer in a Greek refugee camp. We examine the HVAC hum embedded in voice recordings, the IP address that traced back to Atlanta, and the plagiarized grief copied from a published essay and mailed as personal memory.

Person: Marcia Bell
Perpetrator: Derek Osei, age 39
Location: Portsmith, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Thessaloniki, Greece
Amount stolen: $63,000
Event: Letters discovered October 2022; arrest March 2023; trial January 2024
Program: Open Letter Exchange

- Marcia Bell, age 62, lived alone in Portsmith after her husband Dennis died in spring 2016; she worked part-time in accounting and volunteered at the food pantry every Tuesday and Friday for nearly five years without missing a shift.
- Scott Crawford's first letter arrived in February 2020, postmarked from a transit camp near Thessaloniki; correspondence continued every fourteen to twenty-two days for twenty-seven months until September 2022.
- Derek Osei, a thirty-nine-year-old dual Ghanaian-American citizen with a prior fraud conviction in Florida from 2015, applied for a rental property in Marcia's name from an Atlanta IP address while she paid monthly rent on a house she never entered.
- Two of seven voice recordings contained a low-frequency HVAC hum matching southeastern United States commercial air conditioning systems, appearing in call four and call six separated by several months, proving Osei was in Atlanta not Greece.
- Osei's notebook contained forty-two entries documenting at least eleven victims across six years; he received a nine-year federal prison sentence in January 2024 on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, with appeal denied in spring 2027.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098019Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:39:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe patient interval: how forty-one letters built a six-year fraud A septic inspector found forty-one envelopes under a house in Portsmith, Ohio in October 2022, each one postmarked from Greece and addressed in careful handwriting. But the woman...
A septic inspector found forty-one envelopes under a house in Portsmith, Ohio in October 2022, each one postmarked from Greece and addressed in careful handwriting. But the woman who hid them couldn't throw them away-and investigators discovered she had been sending wire transfers to a man who didn't exist. How did Derek Osei maintain the same letter-writing rhythm for twenty-seven months without breaking pattern, and what did the acoustic signature in two voice recordings reveal about where he really was?

In this episode, we trace how a system built on perfectly timed letters and fabricated customs documents extracted sixty-three thousand dollars from Marcia Bell, a widow who volunteered at a food pantry and believed she was helping a civil engineer in a Greek refugee camp. We examine the HVAC hum embedded in voice recordings, the IP address that traced back to Atlanta, and the plagiarized grief copied from a published essay and mailed as personal memory.

Person: Marcia Bell
Perpetrator: Derek Osei, age 39
Location: Portsmith, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Thessaloniki, Greece
Amount stolen: $63,000
Event: Letters discovered October 2022; arrest March 2023; trial January 2024
Program: Open Letter Exchange

- Marcia Bell, age 62, lived alone in Portsmith after her husband Dennis died in spring 2016; she worked part-time in accounting and volunteered at the food pantry every Tuesday and Friday for nearly five years without missing a shift.
- Scott Crawford's first letter arrived in February 2020, postmarked from a transit camp near Thessaloniki; correspondence continued every fourteen to twenty-two days for twenty-seven months until September 2022.
- Derek Osei, a thirty-nine-year-old dual Ghanaian-American citizen with a prior fraud conviction in Florida from 2015, applied for a rental property in Marcia's name from an Atlanta IP address while she paid monthly rent on a house she never entered.
- Two of seven voice recordings contained a low-frequency HVAC hum matching southeastern United States commercial air conditioning systems, appearing in call four and call six separated by several months, proving Osei was in Atlanta not Greece.
- Osei's notebook contained forty-two entries documenting at least eleven victims across six years; he received a nine-year federal prison sentence in January 2024 on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, with appeal denied in spring 2027.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1096falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-postcard-from-a-man-who-never-existed--73098016
In this episode, we follow Marilyn Duncan from her consistent life in Orviston, Indiana, through four months of carefully engineered emotional manipulation by a man named Carl White, to the moment a reverse image search took less than three minutes to collapse the entire fiction. We explore the whiteboards that tracked relationship timelines, the co-signer variant designed specifically for her financial caution, and the mystery of how a postcard with her own words printed on it arrived eleven days after Carl Gould's arrest.

Person: Marilyn Duncan
Perpetrator: Carl Gould, age 39
Location: Haskett Avenue, Bridgeport, Ohio; Orviston, Indiana
Amount stolen: $42,000 (from Evelyn Marsh)
Event: Postcard arrival, eleven days after Gould's arrest
Platform: ReachBoard professional networking site

- Marilyn joined ReachBoard in June and was contacted within one week by a user named Carl White claiming to be a 44-year-old deaf architect from Portland, Oregon.
- Carl White's photograph belonged to Owen Pressley, a licensed architect from Asheville, North Carolina, who had been dead for approximately two years.
- The operation at Haskett Avenue maintained detailed relationship timelines on whiteboards tracking the pace of emotional development and optimal windows for financial requests.
- A postcard arrived at the Hendricks County Sheriff's Office addressed to Marilyn at her apartment with four lines from a Pablo Neruda poem she had quoted privately to Carl White in July.
- Evelyn Marsh, a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher from Akron, wired $42,000 in six installments over seven months after being managed by the same operation using an identical profile architecture.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098016Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:39:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe postcard from a man who never existed In this episode, we follow Marilyn Duncan from her consistent life in Orviston, Indiana, through four months of carefully engineered emotional manipulation by a man named Carl White, to the moment a reverse...
In this episode, we follow Marilyn Duncan from her consistent life in Orviston, Indiana, through four months of carefully engineered emotional manipulation by a man named Carl White, to the moment a reverse image search took less than three minutes to collapse the entire fiction. We explore the whiteboards that tracked relationship timelines, the co-signer variant designed specifically for her financial caution, and the mystery of how a postcard with her own words printed on it arrived eleven days after Carl Gould's arrest.

Person: Marilyn Duncan
Perpetrator: Carl Gould, age 39
Location: Haskett Avenue, Bridgeport, Ohio; Orviston, Indiana
Amount stolen: $42,000 (from Evelyn Marsh)
Event: Postcard arrival, eleven days after Gould's arrest
Platform: ReachBoard professional networking site

- Marilyn joined ReachBoard in June and was contacted within one week by a user named Carl White claiming to be a 44-year-old deaf architect from Portland, Oregon.
- Carl White's photograph belonged to Owen Pressley, a licensed architect from Asheville, North Carolina, who had been dead for approximately two years.
- The operation at Haskett Avenue maintained detailed relationship timelines on whiteboards tracking the pace of emotional development and optimal windows for financial requests.
- A postcard arrived at the Hendricks County Sheriff's Office addressed to Marilyn at her apartment with four lines from a Pablo Neruda poem she had quoted privately to Carl White in July.
- Evelyn Marsh, a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher from Akron, wired $42,000 in six installments over seven months after being managed by the same operation using an identical profile architecture.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1171falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-dry-newspaper-what-troy-porter-couldn-t-stop-himself-from-doing--73098015
Four uncollected papers lay on Pamela Taylor's porch on August 7, 2022, but one placed there after 2 a.m. was bone dry while the others held the weight of dew. That pristine newspaper, dated August 4th, was left by the man who had just stolen $22,000 from her across six carefully orchestrated wire transfers-a man who drove 210 miles in the dark to place it there, then drove back, leaving behind the one piece of evidence that would eventually lead detectives to his door.

In this episode, we trace how Troy Porter assembled a fictional civil engineer named Daniel Mercer from the faces, professional history, and published words of three real strangers who never knew each other, then used that fabricated identity to extract $22,000 from a divorced dental hygienist over four months. We follow Detective David Becker's investigation from the uncollected newspapers to the encrypted chat logs, the fake bank screenshots, and the printed spreadsheet with twelve names-each one marked with notes like "recently divorced, lonely, trusts fast"-and we confront the mystery the verdict never resolved: why did Porter drive to her house at 2 a.m., and what was he actually standing in the dark to do?

Person: Pamela Taylor
Person: Troy Porter
Perpetrator: Troy Porter, age 36
Location: Moline, Illinois; Roseland, Chicago
Amount stolen: $22,000
Event: Romance fraud scheme, April-August 2022

- Pamela Taylor downloaded a dating app in April 2022, three years after her divorce was finalized in 2019.
- Troy Porter's fake profile, Daniel Mercer, claimed to be a civil engineer working on a bridge project near Chicago, originally from Portland.
- Daniel's photographs were the face of Philip Moran, a real civil engineer in Bend, Oregon who had no knowledge of the fraud.
- Between July 19 and August 3, 2022, Pamela sent $22,000 across six transactions in response to fabricated emergencies involving contractor disputes and frozen funds.
- On August 4, 2022 at 2 a.m., Troy Porter drove 210 miles from Chicago to Pamela's house and left a newspaper on her porch before driving back.
- Porter was arrested September 14, 2022 and sentenced to seven years federal prison on charges of wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098015Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:39:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe dry newspaper: what Troy Porter couldn't stop himself from doing Four uncollected papers lay on Pamela Taylor's porch on August 7, 2022, but one placed there after 2 a.m. was bone dry while the others held the weight of dew. That pristine...
Four uncollected papers lay on Pamela Taylor's porch on August 7, 2022, but one placed there after 2 a.m. was bone dry while the others held the weight of dew. That pristine newspaper, dated August 4th, was left by the man who had just stolen $22,000 from her across six carefully orchestrated wire transfers-a man who drove 210 miles in the dark to place it there, then drove back, leaving behind the one piece of evidence that would eventually lead detectives to his door.

In this episode, we trace how Troy Porter assembled a fictional civil engineer named Daniel Mercer from the faces, professional history, and published words of three real strangers who never knew each other, then used that fabricated identity to extract $22,000 from a divorced dental hygienist over four months. We follow Detective David Becker's investigation from the uncollected newspapers to the encrypted chat logs, the fake bank screenshots, and the printed spreadsheet with twelve names-each one marked with notes like "recently divorced, lonely, trusts fast"-and we confront the mystery the verdict never resolved: why did Porter drive to her house at 2 a.m., and what was he actually standing in the dark to do?

Person: Pamela Taylor
Person: Troy Porter
Perpetrator: Troy Porter, age 36
Location: Moline, Illinois; Roseland, Chicago
Amount stolen: $22,000
Event: Romance fraud scheme, April-August 2022

- Pamela Taylor downloaded a dating app in April 2022, three years after her divorce was finalized in 2019.
- Troy Porter's fake profile, Daniel Mercer, claimed to be a civil engineer working on a bridge project near Chicago, originally from Portland.
- Daniel's photographs were the face of Philip Moran, a real civil engineer in Bend, Oregon who had no knowledge of the fraud.
- Between July 19 and August 3, 2022, Pamela sent $22,000 across six transactions in response to fabricated emergencies involving contractor disputes and frozen funds.
- On August 4, 2022 at 2 a.m., Troy Porter drove 210 miles from Chicago to Pamela's house and left a newspaper on her porch before driving back.
- Porter was arrested September 14, 2022 and sentenced to seven years federal prison on charges of wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1197falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-badge-in-the-gravel-how-a-volunteer-became-a-predator--73098012
In this episode, we follow Debra Marshall through November's darkest mornings after her brother's overdose death, to the Wednesday in January when she walked into Steady Ground and met a man with silver temples who said he understood loss. We trace the photographs with no gravity, Susan Wells' reverse image search that revealed a face stolen from a physical therapist in North Carolina, and the escalating requests-forty dollars, eighty dollars, then four thousand dollars for a daughter hospitalized in Oregon who had no name, no hospital, no city.

Person: Debra Marshall
Perpetrator: Craig Pell, alias Charles Watson
Location: Dunmore, Iowa; Millhaven, Nebraska
Amount stolen: Eleven thousand two hundred dollars
Event: Pell's arrest in August in the Quad Cities area of Illinois
Date: January through June, six-week volunteer period beginning October prior

- Debra's brother Mitchell died in November of an accidental overdose; she had been his primary support for years.
- Debra worked as a dispatch operator at Precision Climate Solutions and cared for a twelve-year-old diabetic basset hound named Pepper on a strict twice-daily insulin schedule.
- Craig Pell completed a volunteer orientation at Dunmore General in October under a false name, received a hospital badge, and cleared a background check using an alias.
- The photographs Charles sent to Debra were reverse-image searched and identified as belonging to Douglas Merritt, a physical therapist in Raleigh, North Carolina, whom Pell had never met.
- Debra drove to Millhaven, Nebraska in June to meet Charles and find his broken-down truck, but found nothing; Pell was arrested in August and sentenced to seven years for three counts of wire fraud and one count of identity fraud.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098012Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:38:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe badge in the gravel: how a volunteer became a predator In this episode, we follow Debra Marshall through November's darkest mornings after her brother's overdose death, to the Wednesday in January when she walked into Steady Ground and met a...
In this episode, we follow Debra Marshall through November's darkest mornings after her brother's overdose death, to the Wednesday in January when she walked into Steady Ground and met a man with silver temples who said he understood loss. We trace the photographs with no gravity, Susan Wells' reverse image search that revealed a face stolen from a physical therapist in North Carolina, and the escalating requests-forty dollars, eighty dollars, then four thousand dollars for a daughter hospitalized in Oregon who had no name, no hospital, no city.

Person: Debra Marshall
Perpetrator: Craig Pell, alias Charles Watson
Location: Dunmore, Iowa; Millhaven, Nebraska
Amount stolen: Eleven thousand two hundred dollars
Event: Pell's arrest in August in the Quad Cities area of Illinois
Date: January through June, six-week volunteer period beginning October prior

- Debra's brother Mitchell died in November of an accidental overdose; she had been his primary support for years.
- Debra worked as a dispatch operator at Precision Climate Solutions and cared for a twelve-year-old diabetic basset hound named Pepper on a strict twice-daily insulin schedule.
- Craig Pell completed a volunteer orientation at Dunmore General in October under a false name, received a hospital badge, and cleared a background check using an alias.
- The photographs Charles sent to Debra were reverse-image searched and identified as belonging to Douglas Merritt, a physical therapist in Raleigh, North Carolina, whom Pell had never met.
- Debra drove to Millhaven, Nebraska in June to meet Charles and find his broken-down truck, but found nothing; Pell was arrested in August and sentenced to seven years for three counts of wire fraud and one count of identity fraud.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1161falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-portrait-in-the-service-channel-how-loneliness-became-currency--73098011
A utility lineman discovers a framed wedding photo placed carefully in a stranger's yard on a June morning in 2019-clean glass, unoxidized frame, resting on a folded blue moving blanket. How did a man using stolen photographs and a fabricated identity convince Pamela Marshall, a meticulous office manager who caught billing errors for a living, to wire sixty-two thousand dollars to someone she had never met?

In this episode, we trace the architecture of Roy Minter's operation through a handwritten ledger naming at least four women across three states, forensic evidence placing a prepaid phone at Pamela's house during work hours, and a circled property listing in Tema, Ghana priced at exactly sixty-one thousand, eight hundred dollars. We examine how a man posing as Norman White, a widower structural consultant in Accra, exploited not naivety but the specific silence that had filled Pamela's house since her daughter left for college in 2015.

Victim: Pamela Marshall
Perpetrator: Roy Minter (aka Dennis Colby, Norman White)
Location: Cutter Falls, Ohio; Millhaven Road
Amount stolen: $62,000
Event: Wire fraud operation across three states, 2016-2019
Date of discovery: June 11, 2019

- Pamela Marshall, age 52, had caught $40,000 in vendor billing errors over five years at Ridgecrest Partners civil engineering firm.
- Roy Minter, age 31 at arrest, had prior wire fraud conviction in Columbus in 2012 and worked in roles providing access to women's personal data.
- The prepaid phone and wedding portrait were discovered by utility lineman Dale Taylor at 7:15 a.m. on June 11, 2019, in the service channel behind Pamela's cedar fence.
- Device metadata placed the prepaid phone at Pamela's GPS coordinates on two weekday afternoons when she was at work; motion sensor recorded two entries in the prior 30 days.
- Minter's handwritten ledger recorded at least four women victims, with crisis code abbreviations (C.P.O. for corrupt port official, K.S. for kidney stones, B.F. for bank freeze) and seven wire transfers totaling $62,000 sent between January and April 2019.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098011Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:38:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe portrait in the service channel: how loneliness became currency A utility lineman discovers a framed wedding photo placed carefully in a stranger's yard on a June morning in 2019-clean glass, unoxidized frame, resting on a folded blue moving...
A utility lineman discovers a framed wedding photo placed carefully in a stranger's yard on a June morning in 2019-clean glass, unoxidized frame, resting on a folded blue moving blanket. How did a man using stolen photographs and a fabricated identity convince Pamela Marshall, a meticulous office manager who caught billing errors for a living, to wire sixty-two thousand dollars to someone she had never met?

In this episode, we trace the architecture of Roy Minter's operation through a handwritten ledger naming at least four women across three states, forensic evidence placing a prepaid phone at Pamela's house during work hours, and a circled property listing in Tema, Ghana priced at exactly sixty-one thousand, eight hundred dollars. We examine how a man posing as Norman White, a widower structural consultant in Accra, exploited not naivety but the specific silence that had filled Pamela's house since her daughter left for college in 2015.

Victim: Pamela Marshall
Perpetrator: Roy Minter (aka Dennis Colby, Norman White)
Location: Cutter Falls, Ohio; Millhaven Road
Amount stolen: $62,000
Event: Wire fraud operation across three states, 2016-2019
Date of discovery: June 11, 2019

- Pamela Marshall, age 52, had caught $40,000 in vendor billing errors over five years at Ridgecrest Partners civil engineering firm.
- Roy Minter, age 31 at arrest, had prior wire fraud conviction in Columbus in 2012 and worked in roles providing access to women's personal data.
- The prepaid phone and wedding portrait were discovered by utility lineman Dale Taylor at 7:15 a.m. on June 11, 2019, in the service channel behind Pamela's cedar fence.
- Device metadata placed the prepaid phone at Pamela's GPS coordinates on two weekday afternoons when she was at work; motion sensor recorded two entries in the prior 30 days.
- Minter's handwritten ledger recorded at least four women victims, with crisis code abbreviations (C.P.O. for corrupt port official, K.S. for kidney stones, B.F. for bank freeze) and seven wire transfers totaling $62,000 sent between January and April 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1176falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-scissors-on-the-drain-how-a-con-man-learned-to-steal-with-grief--73098009
A pair of red-handled garden scissors sits on a storm drain with a handwritten tag: FOR RACHEL. THESE WERE HIS. But the man who owned them is dead, and the will that named them has been rewritten by someone who never should have had access to Martin Sheridan's language, his loneliness, or his love.

In this episode, we follow the eleven transfers totaling sixty-three thousand dollars, the incorporation of a fake company seven months before contact, and the crafted will that used Martin's own grief against him-language so constructed it broke under scrutiny. We trace how a man named Alan Foss, operating under the alias Paul Harris, methodically built trust along a morning walking route, then ask why the scissors themselves became the one piece of evidence that his confession could never account for.

Person: Martin Sheridan
Age: 78
Location: Dunmore, Ohio
Date of death: March 9
Perpetrator: Alan Foss (alias Paul Harris)
Amount stolen: $63,000

- Martin Sheridan died of congestive heart failure compounded by sustained psychological stress on March 9 in Dunmore, Ohio.
- Alan Foss incorporated Cedarfield Garden Consulting LLC in Delaware seven months before meeting Martin, with a mailbox at a UPS store in a Columbus suburb.
- Foss made eleven transfers between August and February totaling $63,000, each modest enough to avoid automatic fraud review thresholds.
- On September 19, Martin signed a new will naming Paul Harris as sole trustee of the Connie Sheridan Memorial Garden Trust, reducing Rachel's inheritance by 60 percent.
- Alan Foss was arrested mid-May in a furnished apartment and convicted on six counts: four counts of wire fraud, one count of financial exploitation of an elderly person, and one count of identity fraud, receiving a nine-year sentence.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098009Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:38:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe scissors on the drain: how a con man learned to steal with grief A pair of red-handled garden scissors sits on a storm drain with a handwritten tag: FOR RACHEL. THESE WERE HIS. But the man who owned them is dead, and the will that named them...
A pair of red-handled garden scissors sits on a storm drain with a handwritten tag: FOR RACHEL. THESE WERE HIS. But the man who owned them is dead, and the will that named them has been rewritten by someone who never should have had access to Martin Sheridan's language, his loneliness, or his love.

In this episode, we follow the eleven transfers totaling sixty-three thousand dollars, the incorporation of a fake company seven months before contact, and the crafted will that used Martin's own grief against him-language so constructed it broke under scrutiny. We trace how a man named Alan Foss, operating under the alias Paul Harris, methodically built trust along a morning walking route, then ask why the scissors themselves became the one piece of evidence that his confession could never account for.

Person: Martin Sheridan
Age: 78
Location: Dunmore, Ohio
Date of death: March 9
Perpetrator: Alan Foss (alias Paul Harris)
Amount stolen: $63,000

- Martin Sheridan died of congestive heart failure compounded by sustained psychological stress on March 9 in Dunmore, Ohio.
- Alan Foss incorporated Cedarfield Garden Consulting LLC in Delaware seven months before meeting Martin, with a mailbox at a UPS store in a Columbus suburb.
- Foss made eleven transfers between August and February totaling $63,000, each modest enough to avoid automatic fraud review thresholds.
- On September 19, Martin signed a new will naming Paul Harris as sole trustee of the Connie Sheridan Memorial Garden Trust, reducing Rachel's inheritance by 60 percent.
- Alan Foss was arrested mid-May in a furnished apartment and convicted on six counts: four counts of wire fraud, one count of financial exploitation of an elderly person, and one count of identity fraud, receiving a nine-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1173falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-notebooks-below-how-he-lived-where-she-called--73098007
Pink and white carnations sat on a porch in Fenton, Ohio, with a notecard apologizing to a person who no longer existed. Peggy Vaughn, a careful 29-year-old billing coordinator, had sent $4,000 to a man named Charles O'Brien after six weeks of nightly phone calls at 8 p.m. sharp. But when she ran a reverse image search, she discovered the man she trusted was stolen from a structural engineer in Denver-and investigators would soon find him living one floor below her the entire time.

In this episode, we trace the operation from Valentine's Day 2019 through spiral notebooks that read like a training manual, complete with annotated scripts for crisis calls, timing variants, and margin notes on what works. We explore how Peggy's college friend discovered an identical pattern in a consumer fraud forum, how a storage unit warrant revealed six stolen identities and at least four other victims, and why O'Brien's confession was delivered using the same script structure documented in those notebooks.

Person: Peggy Vaughn
Perpetrator: Charles O'Brien (arrested six weeks after storage unit warrant)
Location: Fenton, Ohio (Colwell Street duplex)
Amount: $4,000 wired from car-repair savings account
Date: February 14 - March 22, 2019
Event: Storage unit warrant; notebooks and laminated sheet recovered

- Peggy matched with profile "Charles O'Brien" on February 14, 2019, who noticed a book title visible in her profile photo that she had never mentioned.
- O'Brien called at exactly 8 p.m. almost every night, running calls close to two hours, never suggesting video calls and citing travel and unreliable internet.
- On March 22, 2019, O'Brien called at 6:30 p.m. instead of 8 p.m., 90 minutes early, claiming his father needed a medical procedure and insurance had denied the claim.
- Peggy discovered via reverse image search that the photos belonged to Scott Navarro, a structural engineer in Denver whose LinkedIn profile dated to 2017.
- Storage unit held three spiral notebooks organized by stage (early rapport, crisis introduction, repayment delay, secondary crisis) with annotated language variants and margin notes on effective phrases, plus a laminated sheet listing six stolen identities.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098007Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:38:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe notebooks below: how he lived where she called Pink and white carnations sat on a porch in Fenton, Ohio, with a notecard apologizing to a person who no longer existed. Peggy Vaughn, a careful 29-year-old billing coordinator, had sent $4,000 to...
Pink and white carnations sat on a porch in Fenton, Ohio, with a notecard apologizing to a person who no longer existed. Peggy Vaughn, a careful 29-year-old billing coordinator, had sent $4,000 to a man named Charles O'Brien after six weeks of nightly phone calls at 8 p.m. sharp. But when she ran a reverse image search, she discovered the man she trusted was stolen from a structural engineer in Denver-and investigators would soon find him living one floor below her the entire time.

In this episode, we trace the operation from Valentine's Day 2019 through spiral notebooks that read like a training manual, complete with annotated scripts for crisis calls, timing variants, and margin notes on what works. We explore how Peggy's college friend discovered an identical pattern in a consumer fraud forum, how a storage unit warrant revealed six stolen identities and at least four other victims, and why O'Brien's confession was delivered using the same script structure documented in those notebooks.

Person: Peggy Vaughn
Perpetrator: Charles O'Brien (arrested six weeks after storage unit warrant)
Location: Fenton, Ohio (Colwell Street duplex)
Amount: $4,000 wired from car-repair savings account
Date: February 14 - March 22, 2019
Event: Storage unit warrant; notebooks and laminated sheet recovered

- Peggy matched with profile "Charles O'Brien" on February 14, 2019, who noticed a book title visible in her profile photo that she had never mentioned.
- O'Brien called at exactly 8 p.m. almost every night, running calls close to two hours, never suggesting video calls and citing travel and unreliable internet.
- On March 22, 2019, O'Brien called at 6:30 p.m. instead of 8 p.m., 90 minutes early, claiming his father needed a medical procedure and insurance had denied the claim.
- Peggy discovered via reverse image search that the photos belonged to Scott Navarro, a structural engineer in Denver whose LinkedIn profile dated to 2017.
- Storage unit held three spiral notebooks organized by stage (early rapport, crisis introduction, repayment delay, secondary crisis) with annotated language variants and margin notes on effective phrases, plus a laminated sheet listing six stolen identities.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1055falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-brass-plate-on-the-wrong-altar-how-a-con-man-weaponized-church-loneliness--73098004
In this episode, we follow Dennis York's routine along the Hatchett River Greenway, the candid photograph stolen from a Charlotte civil engineer's LinkedIn profile, and the moment when four isolated people learned they were never the only ones. We examine the sign-in sheets that showed no Sunday appearances, the prior complaint from Murfreesboro that went nowhere, and the clinical statement Dalton gave six months after conviction when he described his targets not as people but as a method.

Person: Dennis York
Victim: Ralph Dalton targeted at least four people
Location: Calloway, Tennessee; Calvary Ridge Community Church
Amount stolen: Forty-one thousand two hundred dollars total
Perpetrator: Ralph Dalton, age fifty-seven at time of recorded statement

- Dennis York was a fifty-four-year-old widower and commercial roofing estimator whose wife Sandra died of a stroke six years before the fraud began.
- Ralph Dalton attended six or seven Friday fellowship sessions and two Thursday prayer breakfasts but never once appeared for a Sunday service in four months.
- The photograph Dalton sent to Dennis showing a man in a hard hat and ID badge was lifted from civil engineer Paul Elgin's LinkedIn profile, five years old at the time.
- Four love letters written on cream-colored monogrammed stationery embossed with R.D. in navy blue were left on the brass offering plate at the side chapel.
- Dennis York's wire transfer of nine thousand four hundred dollars was the largest single amount among the four victims.
- Dalton had defrauded Agnes Tilford of twenty-two thousand dollars in Murfreesboro three years earlier, but that complaint went nowhere because he had already left the state.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098004Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:38:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe brass plate on the wrong altar: how a con man weaponized church loneliness In this episode, we follow Dennis York's routine along the Hatchett River Greenway, the candid photograph stolen from a Charlotte civil engineer's LinkedIn profile, and...
In this episode, we follow Dennis York's routine along the Hatchett River Greenway, the candid photograph stolen from a Charlotte civil engineer's LinkedIn profile, and the moment when four isolated people learned they were never the only ones. We examine the sign-in sheets that showed no Sunday appearances, the prior complaint from Murfreesboro that went nowhere, and the clinical statement Dalton gave six months after conviction when he described his targets not as people but as a method.

Person: Dennis York
Victim: Ralph Dalton targeted at least four people
Location: Calloway, Tennessee; Calvary Ridge Community Church
Amount stolen: Forty-one thousand two hundred dollars total
Perpetrator: Ralph Dalton, age fifty-seven at time of recorded statement

- Dennis York was a fifty-four-year-old widower and commercial roofing estimator whose wife Sandra died of a stroke six years before the fraud began.
- Ralph Dalton attended six or seven Friday fellowship sessions and two Thursday prayer breakfasts but never once appeared for a Sunday service in four months.
- The photograph Dalton sent to Dennis showing a man in a hard hat and ID badge was lifted from civil engineer Paul Elgin's LinkedIn profile, five years old at the time.
- Four love letters written on cream-colored monogrammed stationery embossed with R.D. in navy blue were left on the brass offering plate at the side chapel.
- Dennis York's wire transfer of nine thousand four hundred dollars was the largest single amount among the four victims.
- Dalton had defrauded Agnes Tilford of twenty-two thousand dollars in Murfreesboro three years earlier, but that complaint went nowhere because he had already left the state.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>999falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-frame-at-the-pond-how-a-dead-soldier-s-face-became-a-weapon--73098003
A retired postal worker finds a brass-framed photograph half-pressed into mud beside a pond on Valentine's Day, the inscription pristine: All my love, always - Thomas. But the man in the dress uniform has been dead for five years, and no one reported the frame missing. How did a photograph stolen from a memorial page become the centerpiece of a calculated romance fraud, and what made a nursing student's single note about a wrong stamp the detail that finally broke the case?

In this episode, we trace how Dean Simmons built an identical operational script across two counties using a stolen military portrait, the specific architectural details of his deception-from the non-round dollar amount to the domestic stamp on overseas mail-and the moment a beagle named Biscuit walked a muddy path that the perpetrator never knew existed. We follow the evidence chain from a forum profile created in October to a framed photograph thrown into brush on February thirteenth, and how Marcia Bishop's quiet return to her Tuesday shift answered a question no one had asked aloud.

Person: Marcia Bishop
Victim: Marcia Bishop, age 22
Perpetrator: Dean Simmons, age 39
Location: Millhaven, Tennessee and Weller County, Tennessee
Amount stolen: $2,140 (partial recovery: $1,400)
Date: November 2019 to February 2020

- Marcia joined a community forum in early November 2019 for a hiking thread, where a profile named Thomas Greer messaged her claiming to be a 28-year-old Army staff sergeant stationed abroad.
- Thomas Greer's forum profile was created in October 2019, six weeks before sending Marcia his first message.
- The photograph used in Thomas Greer's profile belonged to Brandon Wick, a soldier from Cookeville, Tennessee who died in 2014; his family maintained a memorial page where the dress uniform portrait was visible.
- The first money transfer was $480 in early February for a staged vehicle accident and stolen wallet; by the end of February, Marcia had sent $2,140 across three separate transactions.
- Frances Coleman, Marcia's neighbor and a nursing student, noticed a domestic first-class stamp on a card from Thomas despite the APO address, and discovered the photograph belonged to a deceased soldier by running a reverse image search.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098003Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:37:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe frame at the pond: how a dead soldier's face became a weapon A retired postal worker finds a brass-framed photograph half-pressed into mud beside a pond on Valentine's Day, the inscription pristine: All my love, always - Thomas. But the man in...
A retired postal worker finds a brass-framed photograph half-pressed into mud beside a pond on Valentine's Day, the inscription pristine: All my love, always - Thomas. But the man in the dress uniform has been dead for five years, and no one reported the frame missing. How did a photograph stolen from a memorial page become the centerpiece of a calculated romance fraud, and what made a nursing student's single note about a wrong stamp the detail that finally broke the case?

In this episode, we trace how Dean Simmons built an identical operational script across two counties using a stolen military portrait, the specific architectural details of his deception-from the non-round dollar amount to the domestic stamp on overseas mail-and the moment a beagle named Biscuit walked a muddy path that the perpetrator never knew existed. We follow the evidence chain from a forum profile created in October to a framed photograph thrown into brush on February thirteenth, and how Marcia Bishop's quiet return to her Tuesday shift answered a question no one had asked aloud.

Person: Marcia Bishop
Victim: Marcia Bishop, age 22
Perpetrator: Dean Simmons, age 39
Location: Millhaven, Tennessee and Weller County, Tennessee
Amount stolen: $2,140 (partial recovery: $1,400)
Date: November 2019 to February 2020

- Marcia joined a community forum in early November 2019 for a hiking thread, where a profile named Thomas Greer messaged her claiming to be a 28-year-old Army staff sergeant stationed abroad.
- Thomas Greer's forum profile was created in October 2019, six weeks before sending Marcia his first message.
- The photograph used in Thomas Greer's profile belonged to Brandon Wick, a soldier from Cookeville, Tennessee who died in 2014; his family maintained a memorial page where the dress uniform portrait was visible.
- The first money transfer was $480 in early February for a staged vehicle accident and stolen wallet; by the end of February, Marcia had sent $2,140 across three separate transactions.
- Frances Coleman, Marcia's neighbor and a nursing student, noticed a domestic first-class stamp on a card from Thomas despite the APO address, and discovered the photograph belonged to a deceased soldier by running a reverse image search.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1036falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-box-that-didn-t-disappear-how-a-creek-exposed-eleven-victims--73098001
In this episode, we trace how a cardboard box's miscalculation of creek geometry unraveled Roy Mebane's operation: the notebook with a partial fingerprint on its back cover, the size eleven boot print in the mud, and the surveillance footage of a pickup truck at 11:40 p.m. We follow Leon Lane from his first message from "Kevin Harris"-a fabricated petroleum engineer using a stolen photograph-through eleven transfers across nine months, the isolation that made him vulnerable, and the coworker's reverse image search that finally exposed the lie.

Person: Leon Lane
Perpetrator: Roy Mebane, age 44
Event: Box discovered in Cutler Creek, January 9, 2019
Location: Pryor Bluff, Missouri
Amount stolen: $94,400
Sentence: 14 years, convicted September 2019

- Leon Lane, age 38, worked as an HVAC technician in Pryor Bluff, Missouri, where he had lived his entire life.
- Roy Mebane's operation had been running since at least 2012 across four states with eight prior confirmed victims before Leon.
- The fake "Kevin Harris" profile used a stolen photograph from Alan Pruitt, a real petroleum engineer in Houston, Texas, without his knowledge.
- Leon made eleven transfers totaling $94,400 over nine months, with amounts climbing from $2,000 in June to $12,000 in November 2018.
- Detective Brent Sousa matched the size eleven boot print from the limestone shelf to boots found at Mebane's Aster Grove, Arkansas rental property when he was arrested in late January 2019.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098001Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:37:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe box that didn't disappear: how a creek exposed eleven victims In this episode, we trace how a cardboard box's miscalculation of creek geometry unraveled Roy Mebane's operation: the notebook with a partial fingerprint on its back cover, the size...
In this episode, we trace how a cardboard box's miscalculation of creek geometry unraveled Roy Mebane's operation: the notebook with a partial fingerprint on its back cover, the size eleven boot print in the mud, and the surveillance footage of a pickup truck at 11:40 p.m. We follow Leon Lane from his first message from "Kevin Harris"-a fabricated petroleum engineer using a stolen photograph-through eleven transfers across nine months, the isolation that made him vulnerable, and the coworker's reverse image search that finally exposed the lie.

Person: Leon Lane
Perpetrator: Roy Mebane, age 44
Event: Box discovered in Cutler Creek, January 9, 2019
Location: Pryor Bluff, Missouri
Amount stolen: $94,400
Sentence: 14 years, convicted September 2019

- Leon Lane, age 38, worked as an HVAC technician in Pryor Bluff, Missouri, where he had lived his entire life.
- Roy Mebane's operation had been running since at least 2012 across four states with eight prior confirmed victims before Leon.
- The fake "Kevin Harris" profile used a stolen photograph from Alan Pruitt, a real petroleum engineer in Houston, Texas, without his knowledge.
- Leon made eleven transfers totaling $94,400 over nine months, with amounts climbing from $2,000 in June to $12,000 in November 2018.
- Detective Brent Sousa matched the size eleven boot print from the limestone shelf to boots found at Mebane's Aster Grove, Arkansas rental property when he was arrested in late January 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1021falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-voice-that-was-never-there-how-a-fake-mandarin-teacher-stole-63-000--73098000
In this episode, we trace the architecture of an emotional fraud that extracted money by building real competence first. We follow William's year of genuine language instruction, the compliance-call layer designed to measure his remaining trust, and the moment a Mandarin teacher in Tucson, Arizona, recognized his own voice speaking words he never said to a man he had never met. We examine why a printout left on a kitchen table for six weeks, a bank manager who listened to the whole story, and a neighbor who made the call anyway became the only threads that could stop a machine designed to run indefinitely.

Person: William Reynolds
Perpetrator: Marcus Lane, age 44
Location: Columbus, Ohio; suburban Indiana warehouse
Amount stolen: $63,000
Event: Romance fraud using synthetic voice and harvested audio
Victims of identity theft: Brian Cho, Douglas Hecht

- William Reynolds, 62, retired Spanish teacher after 31 years teaching in Columbus, Ohio, received his first message from Ryan Webb on a Tuesday evening in January.
- Ryan Webb's photograph was lifted from a hiking forum post by retired software engineer Douglas Hecht in 2018; the fake profile claimed to be a 41-year-old Singaporean project manager and widower.
- Brian Cho, a Mandarin instructor in Tucson, Arizona, had posted five years of instructional videos to YouTube; his voice was harvested and synthesized to create the "Ryan Webb" voice without his knowledge.
- William sent nine transfers totaling $63,000 across three different services through a shell structure spanning four jurisdictions, beginning with $800 in June for a document certification fee.
- Marcus Lane, 44, with prior fraud convictions in two states, ran the domestic operation from a warehouse unit in suburban Indiana and was arrested in August; he received a 14-year sentence on 11 counts of wire fraud and 2 counts of identity theft.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73098000Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:37:33 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe voice that was never there: how a fake Mandarin teacher stole $63,000 In this episode, we trace the architecture of an emotional fraud that extracted money by building real competence first. We follow William's year of genuine language...
In this episode, we trace the architecture of an emotional fraud that extracted money by building real competence first. We follow William's year of genuine language instruction, the compliance-call layer designed to measure his remaining trust, and the moment a Mandarin teacher in Tucson, Arizona, recognized his own voice speaking words he never said to a man he had never met. We examine why a printout left on a kitchen table for six weeks, a bank manager who listened to the whole story, and a neighbor who made the call anyway became the only threads that could stop a machine designed to run indefinitely.

Person: William Reynolds
Perpetrator: Marcus Lane, age 44
Location: Columbus, Ohio; suburban Indiana warehouse
Amount stolen: $63,000
Event: Romance fraud using synthetic voice and harvested audio
Victims of identity theft: Brian Cho, Douglas Hecht

- William Reynolds, 62, retired Spanish teacher after 31 years teaching in Columbus, Ohio, received his first message from Ryan Webb on a Tuesday evening in January.
- Ryan Webb's photograph was lifted from a hiking forum post by retired software engineer Douglas Hecht in 2018; the fake profile claimed to be a 41-year-old Singaporean project manager and widower.
- Brian Cho, a Mandarin instructor in Tucson, Arizona, had posted five years of instructional videos to YouTube; his voice was harvested and synthesized to create the "Ryan Webb" voice without his knowledge.
- William sent nine transfers totaling $63,000 across three different services through a shell structure spanning four jurisdictions, beginning with $800 in June for a document certification fee.
- Marcus Lane, 44, with prior fraud convictions in two states, ran the domestic operation from a warehouse unit in suburban Indiana and was arrested in August; he received a 14-year sentence on 11 counts of wire fraud and 2 counts of identity theft.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1263falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-envelope-under-the-septic-lid-how-a-fraudster-left-his-own-trail--73097997
In this episode, we trace how Monica's vulnerability as a veteran's sister and patient advocate made her a target, follow the three escalating money transfers calibrated to dissolve her hesitation at exactly the right moments, and examine the metadata embedded in that printed photograph-a printer serial number, a Roanoke address, and a laptop containing victim folders labeled with operational notes about how to manipulate each person. The question that haunts this case: why did Rafferty return to plant evidence against himself after the scheme was already complete?

Person: Monica Casey
Perpetrator: Alan Rafferty (born 1981, Akron, Ohio)
Event: Romance fraud scheme, March-November 2016
Platform: Veterans and Their Families: Moving Forward Together Facebook group
Amount stolen: Just under seven thousand dollars
Location: Roanoke, Virginia; Fort Hayes, Ohio (impersonated)

- Monica worked as a patient intake coordinator at a veterans' rehabilitation clinic and had a brother, Dennis, who completed two tours in Afghanistan.
- Alan Rafferty's profile appeared in the Facebook group in early March 2016, using photographs harvested from Staff Sergeant Raymond Pell's private Facebook account.
- Monica sent three transfers: four hundred dollars in September, eighteen hundred dollars in October, and four thousand dollars in early November to accounts in Nigeria, Ontario, and falsely described as Germany.
- The photograph printed on Rafferty's personal printer and hidden under the septic lid contained metadata identifying the specific device, its serial number, and a timestamp proving when it was printed.
- Rafferty's seized laptop contained organized folders for each victim, including Monica's, labeled with her workplace and a note to use "secondary trauma language" referencing her brother Dennis.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73097997Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:37:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe envelope under the septic lid: how a fraudster left his own trail In this episode, we trace how Monica's vulnerability as a veteran's sister and patient advocate made her a target, follow the three escalating money transfers calibrated to...
In this episode, we trace how Monica's vulnerability as a veteran's sister and patient advocate made her a target, follow the three escalating money transfers calibrated to dissolve her hesitation at exactly the right moments, and examine the metadata embedded in that printed photograph-a printer serial number, a Roanoke address, and a laptop containing victim folders labeled with operational notes about how to manipulate each person. The question that haunts this case: why did Rafferty return to plant evidence against himself after the scheme was already complete?

Person: Monica Casey
Perpetrator: Alan Rafferty (born 1981, Akron, Ohio)
Event: Romance fraud scheme, March-November 2016
Platform: Veterans and Their Families: Moving Forward Together Facebook group
Amount stolen: Just under seven thousand dollars
Location: Roanoke, Virginia; Fort Hayes, Ohio (impersonated)

- Monica worked as a patient intake coordinator at a veterans' rehabilitation clinic and had a brother, Dennis, who completed two tours in Afghanistan.
- Alan Rafferty's profile appeared in the Facebook group in early March 2016, using photographs harvested from Staff Sergeant Raymond Pell's private Facebook account.
- Monica sent three transfers: four hundred dollars in September, eighteen hundred dollars in October, and four thousand dollars in early November to accounts in Nigeria, Ontario, and falsely described as Germany.
- The photograph printed on Rafferty's personal printer and hidden under the septic lid contained metadata identifying the specific device, its serial number, and a timestamp proving when it was printed.
- Rafferty's seized laptop contained organized folders for each victim, including Monica's, labeled with her workplace and a note to use "secondary trauma language" referencing her brother Dennis.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1117falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-photograph-nailed-to-a-tree-how-a-face-became-a-weapon--73097995
A retired bird watcher found a four-by-six print tucked into the bark of a silver maple in the Renwick Preserve-two men in linen shirts smiling in front of a stone building, inscribed "For Vernon - proof of life on the other side of the world. Always, R." But the man Vernon Snyder believed was Russell Wells was not Russell Wells at all. Who was he, and how did his stolen identity move seventy-two thousand dollars across fourteen months?

In this episode, we trace how Dennis Pryor harvested real photographs from an engineer's professional profile, built a voice and a calendar around a stolen face, and constructed seven escalating crises-Turkish export permits, port clearances, customs bonds-each framed as a procedural requirement that only someone like Russell Wells could resolve. We follow Paula Nelson's discovery, the moment investigators identified Steven Ault of Portland as the man whose face had been borrowed without consent, and the second victim-Roberta Hensley of Wheeling, West Virginia-who lost sixty-three thousand dollars to the same photograph but never reported it, waiting instead to feel less ashamed.

Person: Vernon Snyder
Perpetrator: Dennis Pryor, age 36
Location: Crestfield, Ohio; Akron, Ohio; Wheeling, West Virginia; Portland, Oregon
Amount stolen: Seventy-two thousand dollars (Vernon); sixty-three thousand dollars (Roberta Hensley)
Event: Wire fraud scheme spanning fourteen months
Sentence: Six years in federal prison

- Dennis Pryor obtained a digitization contract at a legal office in the Crestfield area, giving him access to professional mailing lists where Vernon's name appeared.
- Vernon Snyder received an inheritance of approximately one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars from his uncle in the spring before the scheme began.
- Seven wire transfers totaling ninety-one thousand dollars moved through layered accounts traced to a month-to-month rental in Akron, Ohio, sixty miles from Crestfield.
- Steven Ault, an engineer from Portland, Oregon, had published photographs to a professional networking profile between 2014 and 2018 that Pryor harvested and used to build Russell Wells's identity.
- Roberta Hensley, a retired schoolteacher in Wheeling, West Virginia, lost sixty-three thousand dollars over nine months to the same photograph and warehouse documentation but did not report it to police.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73097995Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:37:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe photograph nailed to a tree: how a face became a weapon A retired bird watcher found a four-by-six print tucked into the bark of a silver maple in the Renwick Preserve-two men in linen shirts smiling in front of a stone building, inscribed "For...
A retired bird watcher found a four-by-six print tucked into the bark of a silver maple in the Renwick Preserve-two men in linen shirts smiling in front of a stone building, inscribed "For Vernon - proof of life on the other side of the world. Always, R." But the man Vernon Snyder believed was Russell Wells was not Russell Wells at all. Who was he, and how did his stolen identity move seventy-two thousand dollars across fourteen months?

In this episode, we trace how Dennis Pryor harvested real photographs from an engineer's professional profile, built a voice and a calendar around a stolen face, and constructed seven escalating crises-Turkish export permits, port clearances, customs bonds-each framed as a procedural requirement that only someone like Russell Wells could resolve. We follow Paula Nelson's discovery, the moment investigators identified Steven Ault of Portland as the man whose face had been borrowed without consent, and the second victim-Roberta Hensley of Wheeling, West Virginia-who lost sixty-three thousand dollars to the same photograph but never reported it, waiting instead to feel less ashamed.

Person: Vernon Snyder
Perpetrator: Dennis Pryor, age 36
Location: Crestfield, Ohio; Akron, Ohio; Wheeling, West Virginia; Portland, Oregon
Amount stolen: Seventy-two thousand dollars (Vernon); sixty-three thousand dollars (Roberta Hensley)
Event: Wire fraud scheme spanning fourteen months
Sentence: Six years in federal prison

- Dennis Pryor obtained a digitization contract at a legal office in the Crestfield area, giving him access to professional mailing lists where Vernon's name appeared.
- Vernon Snyder received an inheritance of approximately one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars from his uncle in the spring before the scheme began.
- Seven wire transfers totaling ninety-one thousand dollars moved through layered accounts traced to a month-to-month rental in Akron, Ohio, sixty miles from Crestfield.
- Steven Ault, an engineer from Portland, Oregon, had published photographs to a professional networking profile between 2014 and 2018 that Pryor harvested and used to build Russell Wells's identity.
- Roberta Hensley, a retired schoolteacher in Wheeling, West Virginia, lost sixty-three thousand dollars over nine months to the same photograph and warehouse documentation but did not report it to police.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>909falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ledger-column-how-a-garage-workshop-targeted-solitude--73097994
In this episode, we follow the evidence from a handmade badge to a handwritten ledger with a column heading that read "distance from family." We examine how Mitchell Crane built profiles around a stolen face, how he tracked emotional isolation as a targeting metric, and why the Ohio case-with the same method, the same face, eighteen months earlier-had gone nowhere until Vernon Donnelly and a teenage newspaper carrier interrupted the sequence.

Person: Karen Vogel
Perpetrator: Mitchell Crane, age 38
Location: Cassidy Lane, Grover County, Tennessee; Bradley County workshop
Amount stolen: $3,000
Event: Romance scam using fake "Carl Stroud" profile, June-September 2019
Date discovered: September 2019

- Karen Vogel, 32, moved to Cassidy Lane in spring 2019 after ending a seven-year relationship and her mother's death the year before.
- She joined RuralMeet in late June and messaged a profile claiming to be Carl Stroud, a widowed long-haul trucker with a nine-year-old daughter named Abby who had hereditary spherocytosis.
- Wire transfers totaled just over $3,000 across five transfers from mid-August to mid-September, each preceded by medical invoices with mismatched billing addresses.
- Laura O'Brien, 14, found a handmade hospital badge at Karen's mailbox post at 7:15 a.m. and photographed it; the badge bore Carl Stroud's name and the wrong encoding.
- Investigators found Mitchell Crane's detached garage workshop contained a laminator, hospital badge templates, printed photographs of the real Carl Stroud, and a handwritten ledger with columns tracking initials, dates, amounts, and "distance from family."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73097994Wed, 22 Jul 2026 02:36:56 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe ledger column: how a garage workshop targeted solitude In this episode, we follow the evidence from a handmade badge to a handwritten ledger with a column heading that read "distance from family." We examine how Mitchell Crane built profiles...
In this episode, we follow the evidence from a handmade badge to a handwritten ledger with a column heading that read "distance from family." We examine how Mitchell Crane built profiles around a stolen face, how he tracked emotional isolation as a targeting metric, and why the Ohio case-with the same method, the same face, eighteen months earlier-had gone nowhere until Vernon Donnelly and a teenage newspaper carrier interrupted the sequence.

Person: Karen Vogel
Perpetrator: Mitchell Crane, age 38
Location: Cassidy Lane, Grover County, Tennessee; Bradley County workshop
Amount stolen: $3,000
Event: Romance scam using fake "Carl Stroud" profile, June-September 2019
Date discovered: September 2019

- Karen Vogel, 32, moved to Cassidy Lane in spring 2019 after ending a seven-year relationship and her mother's death the year before.
- She joined RuralMeet in late June and messaged a profile claiming to be Carl Stroud, a widowed long-haul trucker with a nine-year-old daughter named Abby who had hereditary spherocytosis.
- Wire transfers totaled just over $3,000 across five transfers from mid-August to mid-September, each preceded by medical invoices with mismatched billing addresses.
- Laura O'Brien, 14, found a handmade hospital badge at Karen's mailbox post at 7:15 a.m. and photographed it; the badge bore Carl Stroud's name and the wrong encoding.
- Investigators found Mitchell Crane's detached garage workshop contained a laminator, hospital badge templates, printed photographs of the real Carl Stroud, and a handwritten ledger with columns tracking initials, dates, amounts, and "distance from family."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1075falsefull