https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-imposter-trap--7191752
Each episode dissects real impostors and the patterns behind their lies, mixing forensic storytelling with clear lessons you can use to spot deception. Expect concise case breakdowns, behavioral clues, red flags in resumes and social media, and conversations about why smart people fall for confidence dressed as competence. This is not true crime melodrama — it's an evidence-forward look at how imposture works and how to protect yourself from it.

New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 9:00 AM. Episodes are short, focused and actionable so you can listen on the commute, before a meeting, or when you want a quick dose of skeptical thinking.

For listeners who worry about being fooled, who hire or date online, or who want to recognize manipulation before it costs them time or money, The Imposter Trap gives the tools and vocabulary to see through a confident act.

Subscribe now and train your instincts — new insights arrive daily at 9:00 AM.

keywords SEO: impostor, fraud, deception, red flags, social engineering]]>enTrue CrimeCopyright OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENThttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/7e3a7c018a1d7cbaa0cc714f6325347d.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-imposter-trap--7191752Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:15:05 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTOBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTcreators@obomedia.comHow convincing could you be if no one checked the script? The Imposter Trap pulls back the curtain on frauds, fabricators and the psychology that lets them succeed. Each episode dissects real impostors and the patterns behind their lies, mixing...
Each episode dissects real impostors and the patterns behind their lies, mixing forensic storytelling with clear lessons you can use to spot deception. Expect concise case breakdowns, behavioral clues, red flags in resumes and social media, and conversations about why smart people fall for confidence dressed as competence. This is not true crime melodrama — it's an evidence-forward look at how imposture works and how to protect yourself from it.

New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 9:00 AM. Episodes are short, focused and actionable so you can listen on the commute, before a meeting, or when you want a quick dose of skeptical thinking.

For listeners who worry about being fooled, who hire or date online, or who want to recognize manipulation before it costs them time or money, The Imposter Trap gives the tools and vocabulary to see through a confident act.

Subscribe now and train your instincts — new insights arrive daily at 9:00 AM.

keywords SEO: impostor, fraud, deception, red flags, social engineering]]>falseepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-built-a-life-from-nothing-the-peggy-rice-identity-fraud--73057446
Fear and fascination: a woman built trust, influence and the promise of $400,000 out of paper, a bus ticket and an attaché case left upright in the snow-so how did no one in a small Ohio city see through her performance? What exactly was in those forty-three pages, and why did a developer, a bank manager and civic leaders all believe her?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a Greyhound arrival to a vanished “private wealth advisor” and the cold evidence left behind, asking how social networks and introductions can replace documents and why reputation mattered more than verification in Crestfield.

Person: Margaret Eleanor Rice
Date: December 2009 (arrival); February 2011 (attaché found)
Location: Crestfield, Ohio
Case: Rice Identity Capital Group shelf corporation
Event: Attaché case with forty-three pages of invented account numbers found at 5:47 AM

- She arrived in Crestfield by Greyhound in December 2009 at age 22 carrying two suitcases.
- By March 2010 she was introduced to developer Tom Briggs at a Chamber mixer and presented as representing Rice Identity Capital Group.
- The attaché case discovered at 5:47 AM contained forty-three sheets of cream stationery filled with handwritten numbers and wire confirmation-style codes.
- Briggs awaited $400,000 in anticipated capital from Rice Identity Capital Group to reach escrow by January 2011; the money never existed.
- Rice Identity Capital Group had been incorporated in Delaware eleven months before a paralegal later located it as a shelf corporation with no assets.

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/73057446Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Built a Life From Nothing: The Peggy Rice Identity Fraud Fear and fascination: a woman built trust, influence and the promise of $400,000 out of paper, a bus ticket and an attaché case left upright in the snow-so how did no one in a small Ohio...
Fear and fascination: a woman built trust, influence and the promise of $400,000 out of paper, a bus ticket and an attaché case left upright in the snow-so how did no one in a small Ohio city see through her performance? What exactly was in those forty-three pages, and why did a developer, a bank manager and civic leaders all believe her?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a Greyhound arrival to a vanished “private wealth advisor” and the cold evidence left behind, asking how social networks and introductions can replace documents and why reputation mattered more than verification in Crestfield.

Person: Margaret Eleanor Rice
Date: December 2009 (arrival); February 2011 (attaché found)
Location: Crestfield, Ohio
Case: Rice Identity Capital Group shelf corporation
Event: Attaché case with forty-three pages of invented account numbers found at 5:47 AM

- She arrived in Crestfield by Greyhound in December 2009 at age 22 carrying two suitcases.
- By March 2010 she was introduced to developer Tom Briggs at a Chamber mixer and presented as representing Rice Identity Capital Group.
- The attaché case discovered at 5:47 AM contained forty-three sheets of cream stationery filled with handwritten numbers and wire confirmation-style codes.
- Briggs awaited $400,000 in anticipated capital from Rice Identity Capital Group to reach escrow by January 2011; the money never existed.
- Rice Identity Capital Group had been incorporated in Delaware eleven months before a paralegal later located it as a shelf corporation with no assets.

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.]]>1334falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-doctor-who-wasn-t-inside-an-eight-year-medical-deception--73057445
Fear and fascination collide in a town where a forged diploma and eight years of trusted care hid a life nobody could quite explain - how did a woman convince a rural community she was a physician for nearly a decade? What happened the morning a utility lineman found a perfect-looking diploma and a note that read “this is not real”?

In this episode, we tell the events that unfolded in Pineridge, Missouri, from the arrival of Darlene Cook and the opening of Pineridge Family Health to the moment the deception began to unravel, and we follow the key moments that raised doubt and the choices made when suspicion surfaced. Why did dozens of patients trust Cook, and what did one patient with 22 years of credentialing experience do when she discovered the truth?

Person: Darlene Cook
Location: Pineridge, Missouri
Date: January 9, 2011
Period: Eight years of practice ending in 2011
Case: Forged medical diploma discovered on reception desk

- Population of Pineridge roughly 4,000 and the town had no resident physician for 11 years before October 2002.
- Cook arrived at age 30 and opened Pineridge Family Health after working as a medical assistant, clinical coordinator, and intake specialist.
- A utility lineman named Sarah Underwood found a diploma and a handwritten note saying “this is not real” on January 9, 2011.
- Patient Kimberly Stevens had 22 years of hospital administration experience in physician credentialing and was a patient for six years before discovering irregularities in December 2010.
- A pharmaceutical rep, Dennis Kraft, noted a “half-second of nothing” in March 2007 when Cook failed to recognize a deceased pharmacology professor’s name.

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/73057445Tue, 21 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Doctor Who Wasn't: Inside an Eight‑Year Medical Deception Fear and fascination collide in a town where a forged diploma and eight years of trusted care hid a life nobody could quite explain - how did a woman convince a rural community she was a...
Fear and fascination collide in a town where a forged diploma and eight years of trusted care hid a life nobody could quite explain - how did a woman convince a rural community she was a physician for nearly a decade? What happened the morning a utility lineman found a perfect-looking diploma and a note that read “this is not real”?

In this episode, we tell the events that unfolded in Pineridge, Missouri, from the arrival of Darlene Cook and the opening of Pineridge Family Health to the moment the deception began to unravel, and we follow the key moments that raised doubt and the choices made when suspicion surfaced. Why did dozens of patients trust Cook, and what did one patient with 22 years of credentialing experience do when she discovered the truth?

Person: Darlene Cook
Location: Pineridge, Missouri
Date: January 9, 2011
Period: Eight years of practice ending in 2011
Case: Forged medical diploma discovered on reception desk

- Population of Pineridge roughly 4,000 and the town had no resident physician for 11 years before October 2002.
- Cook arrived at age 30 and opened Pineridge Family Health after working as a medical assistant, clinical coordinator, and intake specialist.
- A utility lineman named Sarah Underwood found a diploma and a handwritten note saying “this is not real” on January 9, 2011.
- Patient Kimberly Stevens had 22 years of hospital administration experience in physician credentialing and was a patient for six years before discovering irregularities in December 2010.
- A pharmaceutical rep, Dennis Kraft, noted a “half-second of nothing” in March 2007 when Cook failed to recognize a deceased pharmacology professor’s name.

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.]]>1243falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-man-with-the-laminated-cross-who-sat-by-your-dying--73057444
A quiet fraud hid in plain sight: a laminated card, a gold cross, and a fake pastoral network that let a man work eleven years inside a hospital. More than 300 families who trusted him are left to wonder what parts of his life were real and who exactly sat with their dying - how did no one catch the fakes for over a decade?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from December 11, 2019, when a maintenance worker found the card, backward through Ryan Armstrong’s eleven years at Calvary Ridge Medical Center, to the small clues nurses and coworkers missed; can a single laminated ID and a phony reference explain a decade of unchecked access?

Person: Ryan Armstrong
Date: December 11, 2019
Location: Calvary Ridge Medical Center
Duration: Eleven years (December 2008-2019)
Families affected: More than 300

- A laminated card with a gold cross and barcode bore the name "Reverend Ryan T. Armstrong."
- The issuing organization printed on the card, Tri-County Interfaith Pastoral Network, never existed and was not registered.
- Armstrong applied in December 2008 claiming a divinity degree and submitted a reference letter signed by a Reverend Ryan Cord, who does not exist.
- Hiring coordinator Jean Shattuck called the phone number on the reference and received confirmation, and did not verify seminary records.
- A nurse, Connie Marsh, noted in spring 2017 that a certification number returned an error and filed the note without follow-up.

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/73057444Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:00:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man With the Laminated Cross: Who Sat By Your Dying? A quiet fraud hid in plain sight: a laminated card, a gold cross, and a fake pastoral network that let a man work eleven years inside a hospital. More than 300 families who trusted him are...
A quiet fraud hid in plain sight: a laminated card, a gold cross, and a fake pastoral network that let a man work eleven years inside a hospital. More than 300 families who trusted him are left to wonder what parts of his life were real and who exactly sat with their dying - how did no one catch the fakes for over a decade?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from December 11, 2019, when a maintenance worker found the card, backward through Ryan Armstrong’s eleven years at Calvary Ridge Medical Center, to the small clues nurses and coworkers missed; can a single laminated ID and a phony reference explain a decade of unchecked access?

Person: Ryan Armstrong
Date: December 11, 2019
Location: Calvary Ridge Medical Center
Duration: Eleven years (December 2008-2019)
Families affected: More than 300

- A laminated card with a gold cross and barcode bore the name "Reverend Ryan T. Armstrong."
- The issuing organization printed on the card, Tri-County Interfaith Pastoral Network, never existed and was not registered.
- Armstrong applied in December 2008 claiming a divinity degree and submitted a reference letter signed by a Reverend Ryan Cord, who does not exist.
- Hiring coordinator Jean Shattuck called the phone number on the reference and received confirmation, and did not verify seminary records.
- A nurse, Connie Marsh, noted in spring 2017 that a certification number returned an error and filed the note without follow-up.

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.]]>1356falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-laminated-lie-how-a-fake-cfei-toppled-an-insurance-scheme--73057443
A glossy laminated certificate in a storefront window unravelled three years of work, eleven insurance contracts, and an identity crafted in a single afternoon - and it all started when winter light hit the frame the wrong way. The certificate claimed a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator credential that was created the same afternoon the owner signed his first referral contract; why did nobody check the issuing registry for more than two years?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that connected a street-facing framed certificate to suspended contracts, corporate compliance checks, and state complaints, and we ask how a single document in plain sight became the decisive clue.

Person: Jeffrey M. Jones
Company: Verified Origin LLC
Contract count: Eleven insurance contracts and one municipal fire marshal contract
Case: Photo taken by Rebecca Sheridan led to discovery in November 2019
Status: All eleven contracts suspended; three complaints filed with the state attorney general

- The laminated certificate was created in a desktop design program the same afternoon Jones signed his first referral contract with public adjuster Howard Kimball.
- By the end of 2017 Verified Origin LLC had reviewed forty-six fires and billed between $8,000 and $14,000 per month.
- The certificate displayed a printed date that claimed it was eighteen months old although the laminate and metadata showed it was newly created.
- Rebecca Sheridan photographed the certificate on the fourth Tuesday of November 2019; the photo reached Pelham Mutual’s compliance officer within ten days.
- Pelham Mutual checked the NAFI credential database and found zero record for the name on the certificate, triggering suspensions and three complaints in the second week of November 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.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73057443Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:18 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Laminated Lie: How a Fake CFEI Toppled an Insurance Scheme A glossy laminated certificate in a storefront window unravelled three years of work, eleven insurance contracts, and an identity crafted in a single afternoon - and it all started when...
A glossy laminated certificate in a storefront window unravelled three years of work, eleven insurance contracts, and an identity crafted in a single afternoon - and it all started when winter light hit the frame the wrong way. The certificate claimed a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator credential that was created the same afternoon the owner signed his first referral contract; why did nobody check the issuing registry for more than two years?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that connected a street-facing framed certificate to suspended contracts, corporate compliance checks, and state complaints, and we ask how a single document in plain sight became the decisive clue.

Person: Jeffrey M. Jones
Company: Verified Origin LLC
Contract count: Eleven insurance contracts and one municipal fire marshal contract
Case: Photo taken by Rebecca Sheridan led to discovery in November 2019
Status: All eleven contracts suspended; three complaints filed with the state attorney general

- The laminated certificate was created in a desktop design program the same afternoon Jones signed his first referral contract with public adjuster Howard Kimball.
- By the end of 2017 Verified Origin LLC had reviewed forty-six fires and billed between $8,000 and $14,000 per month.
- The certificate displayed a printed date that claimed it was eighteen months old although the laminate and metadata showed it was newly created.
- Rebecca Sheridan photographed the certificate on the fourth Tuesday of November 2019; the photo reached Pelham Mutual’s compliance officer within ten days.
- Pelham Mutual checked the NAFI credential database and found zero record for the name on the certificate, triggering suspensions and three complaints in the second week of November 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.]]>1137falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-fake-murder-that-made-him-millions-and-the-box-that-betrayed-him--73057442
The smell of fresh toner in a thirty-year-old archive tipped a retired volunteer into a conspiracy that fooled 400,000 regular listeners and generated $940,000 in revenue. How did a fabricated murder, a nonexistent Indiana town, and a $12,000-$15,000 prop box create one of the most elaborate deceptions in podcast history-and who finally broke the silence?

In this episode, we follow the discovery in a church storage annex and the tangled web of people connected to the show. You will hear how a librarian, an audio engineer, and a graduate student each noticed different impossible details, and ask whether money, career fear, or something else kept them from speaking up.

Person: Edward Larsen
Person: Ross Becker
Person: Person: Patricia Riley
Person: Robert Fenn
Person: Kevin Aldrich

- 400,000 people listened regularly to Dark Current by its second season.
- The show generated close to $940,000 in total revenue over three seasons.
- Ross Becker paid himself $60,000 per year through the production LLC.
- The prop-filled box cost between $12,000 and $15,000 to create.
- Robert Fenn kept copies of all audio and left a labeled box at a church on Poplar Road.

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/73057442Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:15 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Fake Murder That Made Him Millions-and the Box That Betrayed Him The smell of fresh toner in a thirty-year-old archive tipped a retired volunteer into a conspiracy that fooled 400,000 regular listeners and generated $940,000 in revenue. How did...
The smell of fresh toner in a thirty-year-old archive tipped a retired volunteer into a conspiracy that fooled 400,000 regular listeners and generated $940,000 in revenue. How did a fabricated murder, a nonexistent Indiana town, and a $12,000-$15,000 prop box create one of the most elaborate deceptions in podcast history-and who finally broke the silence?

In this episode, we follow the discovery in a church storage annex and the tangled web of people connected to the show. You will hear how a librarian, an audio engineer, and a graduate student each noticed different impossible details, and ask whether money, career fear, or something else kept them from speaking up.

Person: Edward Larsen
Person: Ross Becker
Person: Person: Patricia Riley
Person: Robert Fenn
Person: Kevin Aldrich

- 400,000 people listened regularly to Dark Current by its second season.
- The show generated close to $940,000 in total revenue over three seasons.
- Ross Becker paid himself $60,000 per year through the production LLC.
- The prop-filled box cost between $12,000 and $15,000 to create.
- Robert Fenn kept copies of all audio and left a labeled box at a church on Poplar Road.

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.]]>1369falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-dog-digs-up-a-secret-the-charles-mason-fraud-case--73057441
A retriever named Biscuit dug up a laminated psychologist license on September 11, 2019, on a trail that had been open only six days - the card was intact and seemingly new, yet it would unravel a fabricated career that reached a university, a county advisory board, and families with children. How did a one-week trainee become a trusted clinician for years, and what stopped the deception at last?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the moment the license was found through the discovery of Charles Mason’s false credentials, showing how his self-taught construction of a professional identity enabled him to gain appointments and patient trust - and what concrete evidence finally exposed him.

Person: Charles Mason
Date: September 11, 2019
Location: Harvey Lane, Dunmore Falls, Indiana
Institution: Caldwell University
Case: Fabricated psychologist license

- Biscuit the retriever found the laminated psychologist license on a trail that had been open to the public for six days.
- Officer Ray Kowalski logged the card as found property at Dunmore Falls Police Department and it sat in evidence for eleven days.
- Charles Mason graduated from Penbrook College in 2009 with a 3.4 GPA and enrolled in a master’s program in spring 2010 but attended for only one week.
- By 2013 Mason had fabricated a Psy.D. diploma, invented a dissertation title, produced four versions of a license with adjusted expiration cycles, and stored them in a fireproof box.
- Mason was hired as an adjunct at Caldwell University by September 2014 and obtained a full clinical appointment within two years despite having only one week of supervised training.

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/73057441Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:12 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Dog Digs Up a Secret: The Charles Mason Fraud Case A retriever named Biscuit dug up a laminated psychologist license on September 11, 2019, on a trail that had been open only six days - the card was intact and seemingly new, yet it would unravel...
A retriever named Biscuit dug up a laminated psychologist license on September 11, 2019, on a trail that had been open only six days - the card was intact and seemingly new, yet it would unravel a fabricated career that reached a university, a county advisory board, and families with children. How did a one-week trainee become a trusted clinician for years, and what stopped the deception at last?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the moment the license was found through the discovery of Charles Mason’s false credentials, showing how his self-taught construction of a professional identity enabled him to gain appointments and patient trust - and what concrete evidence finally exposed him.

Person: Charles Mason
Date: September 11, 2019
Location: Harvey Lane, Dunmore Falls, Indiana
Institution: Caldwell University
Case: Fabricated psychologist license

- Biscuit the retriever found the laminated psychologist license on a trail that had been open to the public for six days.
- Officer Ray Kowalski logged the card as found property at Dunmore Falls Police Department and it sat in evidence for eleven days.
- Charles Mason graduated from Penbrook College in 2009 with a 3.4 GPA and enrolled in a master’s program in spring 2010 but attended for only one week.
- By 2013 Mason had fabricated a Psy.D. diploma, invented a dissertation title, produced four versions of a license with adjusted expiration cycles, and stored them in a fireproof box.
- Mason was hired as an adjunct at Caldwell University by September 2014 and obtained a full clinical appointment within two years despite having only one week of supervised training.

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.]]>1116falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-twin-who-stole-a-law-how-nancy-ruled-for-26-years--73057438
Suspense sits in the ordinary: a fisherman finds a waterlogged badge holder with laminated cards and a photocopy that launched a 26-year legal fraud in Indiana-how did no one catch that photocopy for over two decades? Who benefits when institutions stop looking closely?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that began with that find and follow how Nancy Vickers used her twin brother's identity to act as a labor arbitrator for 26 years, the near-misses that almost exposed her, and the daily routines that kept the deception hidden. How did routine paperwork and weekly visits to a care facility let a woman without a law degree decide workers' fates for decades?

Person: Nancy Vickers
Person: Thomas A. Vickers
Date: 1981 (bar certificate) / 1985 (Nancy arrives in Braden Crossing) / 2011 (badge found)
Location: Kessler County, Indiana / Braden Crossing / Bloomington
Event: Discovery of badge holder on a trotline by Jerry Ward

- Jerry Ward found a waterlogged badge holder 14 feet from the bank of Coulee Fork in August 2011.
- Nancy used a laminated photocopy of Thomas's 1981 bar certificate shown once to a notary in 1985 to establish a professional identity.
- The Caterpillar plant in Kessler County used Nancy as an arbitrator 11 times between 1987 and 2009.
- A memo noting a signature discrepancy between Thomas's looping cursive and Nancy's block print was created by paralegal Bev Corrigan in spring 2004.
- The memo was filed by Robert Schilling and remained in closed storage for seven years while he continued approving Nancy's fees.

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/73057438Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:09 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Twin Who Stole a Law: How Nancy Ruled for 26 Years Suspense sits in the ordinary: a fisherman finds a waterlogged badge holder with laminated cards and a photocopy that launched a 26-year legal fraud in Indiana-how did no one catch that...
Suspense sits in the ordinary: a fisherman finds a waterlogged badge holder with laminated cards and a photocopy that launched a 26-year legal fraud in Indiana-how did no one catch that photocopy for over two decades? Who benefits when institutions stop looking closely?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that began with that find and follow how Nancy Vickers used her twin brother's identity to act as a labor arbitrator for 26 years, the near-misses that almost exposed her, and the daily routines that kept the deception hidden. How did routine paperwork and weekly visits to a care facility let a woman without a law degree decide workers' fates for decades?

Person: Nancy Vickers
Person: Thomas A. Vickers
Date: 1981 (bar certificate) / 1985 (Nancy arrives in Braden Crossing) / 2011 (badge found)
Location: Kessler County, Indiana / Braden Crossing / Bloomington
Event: Discovery of badge holder on a trotline by Jerry Ward

- Jerry Ward found a waterlogged badge holder 14 feet from the bank of Coulee Fork in August 2011.
- Nancy used a laminated photocopy of Thomas's 1981 bar certificate shown once to a notary in 1985 to establish a professional identity.
- The Caterpillar plant in Kessler County used Nancy as an arbitrator 11 times between 1987 and 2009.
- A memo noting a signature discrepancy between Thomas's looping cursive and Nancy's block print was created by paralegal Bev Corrigan in spring 2004.
- The memo was filed by Robert Schilling and remained in closed storage for seven years while he continued approving Nancy's fees.

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.]]>1242falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/surveyor-opens-a-door-that-shouldn-t-exist-the-darlene-barnes-case--73057437
A county surveyor opened a steel door that wasn't on any drawing and found 240 wine bottles labeled as expensive Grand cru Burgundy - but stripped labels revealed cheap green bottles the kind a bistro would buy for about $6 wholesale. How did a woman from Racine build a Master Sommelier persona around a 912-page wine atlas and seven years in wine logistics, and what finally collapsed the illusion?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from a boundary survey to a ten-year performance of identity, describing how photographs, invoices, and a single tipped case set a fraud in motion. What did investigators confirm about Darlene Barnes's background, training claims, and the bottles behind that door?

Person: Darlene Barnes
Location: Racine, Wisconsin; later Chicago; Hargrove House in Sutter Falls
Event: Discovery of 240 wine bottles in an annex room
Item: 912-page British wine reference atlas memorized by Barnes
Period: Seven years at a wholesale wine distributor in Kenosha

- 240 wine bottles lined the walls of a brick room the size of a walk-in closet behind an unpermitted steel door.
- One bottle lost its label from impact, revealing a plain green bottle worth about $6 wholesale.
- Barnes worked ages 22-29 as a sales associate in logistics, invoicing, and inventory at a Kenosha wholesale wine distributor for seven years.
- The atlas Barnes acquired contained 912 pages of appellations, producers, soil, microclimate data, and vintage assessments.
- The restaurant owner credited Barnes as "the reason Hargrove House earned its third star" while being unaware of any substitution 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/73057437Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:06 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTSurveyor Opens a Door That Shouldn't Exist: The Darlene Barnes Case A county surveyor opened a steel door that wasn't on any drawing and found 240 wine bottles labeled as expensive Grand cru Burgundy - but stripped labels revealed cheap green...
A county surveyor opened a steel door that wasn't on any drawing and found 240 wine bottles labeled as expensive Grand cru Burgundy - but stripped labels revealed cheap green bottles the kind a bistro would buy for about $6 wholesale. How did a woman from Racine build a Master Sommelier persona around a 912-page wine atlas and seven years in wine logistics, and what finally collapsed the illusion?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from a boundary survey to a ten-year performance of identity, describing how photographs, invoices, and a single tipped case set a fraud in motion. What did investigators confirm about Darlene Barnes's background, training claims, and the bottles behind that door?

Person: Darlene Barnes
Location: Racine, Wisconsin; later Chicago; Hargrove House in Sutter Falls
Event: Discovery of 240 wine bottles in an annex room
Item: 912-page British wine reference atlas memorized by Barnes
Period: Seven years at a wholesale wine distributor in Kenosha

- 240 wine bottles lined the walls of a brick room the size of a walk-in closet behind an unpermitted steel door.
- One bottle lost its label from impact, revealing a plain green bottle worth about $6 wholesale.
- Barnes worked ages 22-29 as a sales associate in logistics, invoicing, and inventory at a Kenosha wholesale wine distributor for seven years.
- The atlas Barnes acquired contained 912 pages of appellations, producers, soil, microclimate data, and vintage assessments.
- The restaurant owner credited Barnes as "the reason Hargrove House earned its third star" while being unaware of any substitution 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.]]>1150falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-obituary-that-stole-a-town-how-a-fake-death-raised-19-000--73057435
Grief turned into a loophole: a small-town obituary column was used to solicit donations for funerals that never happened, and $19,000 vanished into a nonprofit run by the person writing the fake notices-so who was collecting the money and why did two hundred and fourteen neighbors give?

In this episode, you will hear how a local reporter discovered a death certificate that led back to eighteen months of false obituaries, a volunteer who doubled as the nonprofit’s executive, and the mechanism that made ordinary donations feel like sacred duty-could a community’s trust be weaponized from inside its own paper?

Person: Leon Russo
Person: Dolores Anne Fremont
Person: Organization: Millhaven Community Remembrance Fund
Person: Lisa Tate
Amount: $19,000

- A laminated death certificate for Dolores Anne Fremont was found in a backyard on Alder Creek Road after three days in June heat.
- Lisa Tate, 27, wrote false obituaries while living in an apartment above the hardware store on Clement Street.
- The Millhaven Courier ran these fake obituaries roughly once every six to eight weeks over eighteen months.
- Two hundred and fourteen Millhaven residents donated between $20 and $50 each after appeals linked to the fake notices.
- The fund’s total receipts from those donations reached just over $19,000.

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/73057435Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Obituary That Stole a Town: How a Fake Death Raised $19,000 Grief turned into a loophole: a small-town obituary column was used to solicit donations for funerals that never happened, and $19,000 vanished into a nonprofit run by the person...
Grief turned into a loophole: a small-town obituary column was used to solicit donations for funerals that never happened, and $19,000 vanished into a nonprofit run by the person writing the fake notices-so who was collecting the money and why did two hundred and fourteen neighbors give?

In this episode, you will hear how a local reporter discovered a death certificate that led back to eighteen months of false obituaries, a volunteer who doubled as the nonprofit’s executive, and the mechanism that made ordinary donations feel like sacred duty-could a community’s trust be weaponized from inside its own paper?

Person: Leon Russo
Person: Dolores Anne Fremont
Person: Organization: Millhaven Community Remembrance Fund
Person: Lisa Tate
Amount: $19,000

- A laminated death certificate for Dolores Anne Fremont was found in a backyard on Alder Creek Road after three days in June heat.
- Lisa Tate, 27, wrote false obituaries while living in an apartment above the hardware store on Clement Street.
- The Millhaven Courier ran these fake obituaries roughly once every six to eight weeks over eighteen months.
- Two hundred and fourteen Millhaven residents donated between $20 and $50 each after appeals linked to the fake notices.
- The fund’s total receipts from those donations reached just over $19,000.

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.]]>1201falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-man-who-wore-a-fake-relief-vest-and-saved-strangers--73057434
Fear and fascination collide: a laminated badge, a three-dollar khaki vest, and a man who spent four years moving through disaster zones under a fake name-saving strangers while his organization existed only on a four-page website. How did a former dispatcher from Gadsden convince credentialed humanitarian professionals from three continents to let him coordinate relief in floods, tornadoes, and a cholera outbreak?

In this episode, we tell the timeline of Grant Taylor from his upbringing in Anniston to the moment a birdwatcher in Harwich County found the last physical trace of Meridian Relief International. The story covers his methods, the sites he entered, and the question that drove him: did he want to help, or did he want to be seen doing the work?

Person: Grant Taylor
Date: May 2019
Location: Harwich County, Georgia
Event: Discovery of laminated badge
Period: 2015-2019

- Born in 1957 in Anniston, Alabama, and later lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment in Gadsden.
- Bought a khaki vest with a MERIDIAN RELIEF - AID WORKER patch for $3 at a church rummage sale in April 2015.
- Created a four-page Meridian Relief International website and a laminated PVC badge with the title Coordinating Director.
- First used the fabricated credential at a Greenville, Mississippi flood staging area in September 2015 and was admitted after answering a logistics question.
- Operated for four years responding to floods, tornadoes, and a cholera outbreak while paying his own expenses and taking no salary.

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/73057434Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:34:00 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man Who Wore a Fake Relief Vest and Saved Strangers Fear and fascination collide: a laminated badge, a three-dollar khaki vest, and a man who spent four years moving through disaster zones under a fake name-saving strangers while his...
Fear and fascination collide: a laminated badge, a three-dollar khaki vest, and a man who spent four years moving through disaster zones under a fake name-saving strangers while his organization existed only on a four-page website. How did a former dispatcher from Gadsden convince credentialed humanitarian professionals from three continents to let him coordinate relief in floods, tornadoes, and a cholera outbreak?

In this episode, we tell the timeline of Grant Taylor from his upbringing in Anniston to the moment a birdwatcher in Harwich County found the last physical trace of Meridian Relief International. The story covers his methods, the sites he entered, and the question that drove him: did he want to help, or did he want to be seen doing the work?

Person: Grant Taylor
Date: May 2019
Location: Harwich County, Georgia
Event: Discovery of laminated badge
Period: 2015-2019

- Born in 1957 in Anniston, Alabama, and later lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment in Gadsden.
- Bought a khaki vest with a MERIDIAN RELIEF - AID WORKER patch for $3 at a church rummage sale in April 2015.
- Created a four-page Meridian Relief International website and a laminated PVC badge with the title Coordinating Director.
- First used the fabricated credential at a Greenville, Mississippi flood staging area in September 2015 and was admitted after answering a logistics question.
- Operated for four years responding to floods, tornadoes, and a cholera outbreak while paying his own expenses and taking no salary.

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-man-who-found-a-dead-man-s-tape-then-became-him--73057433
Fear and fascination collide: a found cassette labeled "DIALECTS - MASTER" taught a twenty-one-year-old from Millhaven eight near-perfect regional accents after three months of nightly listening - and he used a forged credential to build a nearly decade-long career nobody checked. How did one tape and a laminated card let him become the voice he heard, unnoticed for years?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a Tuesday morning hotel room discovery to the creation and use of a fake American Association of Voice and Dialect Coaches card, charting the choices that led a man to remake himself around a dead man's recorded voice and the moment someone finally looked twice at his credentials.

Person: Clifford Tate
Location: Millhaven, Ohio; Columbus; New York City (Astoria, Queens)
Date: Spring of 2001 (Goodwill discovery), Spring of 2002 (moved to New York), a Tuesday morning in April (hotel discovery)
Item: Cassette tape labeled "DIALECTS - MASTER" and a laminated credential card
Occupation: Voice and dialect coach (unverified credential), worked in warehousing, food service, copy shop

- He found the cassette at a Goodwill processing center in Columbus in spring 2001 and listened to it every night for three months.
- After three months he could produce eight distinct regional American accents with strong fidelity.
- At age 21 he bought a one-way bus ticket to New York using his federal tax return in spring 2002.
- He created a fake membership card for the American Association of Voice and Dialect Coaches, printed on a home inkjet with a font one point too large and laminated with too-thick laminate.
- He emailed the scanned fake card to Brenda Marsh, who ran a ninety-nine-seat theater in Astoria, Queens, to secure coaching work.

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/73057433Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:57 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man Who Found a Dead Man's Tape - Then Became Him Fear and fascination collide: a found cassette labeled "DIALECTS - MASTER" taught a twenty-one-year-old from Millhaven eight near-perfect regional accents after three months of nightly listening...
Fear and fascination collide: a found cassette labeled "DIALECTS - MASTER" taught a twenty-one-year-old from Millhaven eight near-perfect regional accents after three months of nightly listening - and he used a forged credential to build a nearly decade-long career nobody checked. How did one tape and a laminated card let him become the voice he heard, unnoticed for years?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a Tuesday morning hotel room discovery to the creation and use of a fake American Association of Voice and Dialect Coaches card, charting the choices that led a man to remake himself around a dead man's recorded voice and the moment someone finally looked twice at his credentials.

Person: Clifford Tate
Location: Millhaven, Ohio; Columbus; New York City (Astoria, Queens)
Date: Spring of 2001 (Goodwill discovery), Spring of 2002 (moved to New York), a Tuesday morning in April (hotel discovery)
Item: Cassette tape labeled "DIALECTS - MASTER" and a laminated credential card
Occupation: Voice and dialect coach (unverified credential), worked in warehousing, food service, copy shop

- He found the cassette at a Goodwill processing center in Columbus in spring 2001 and listened to it every night for three months.
- After three months he could produce eight distinct regional American accents with strong fidelity.
- At age 21 he bought a one-way bus ticket to New York using his federal tax return in spring 2002.
- He created a fake membership card for the American Association of Voice and Dialect Coaches, printed on a home inkjet with a font one point too large and laminated with too-thick laminate.
- He emailed the scanned fake card to Brenda Marsh, who ran a ninety-nine-seat theater in Astoria, Queens, to secure coaching work.

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.]]>1151falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-laminated-lie-how-a-gravel-buried-id-toppled-an-attorney--73057432
A gravel-strewn service road hid a laminated ID that exposed three impossible facts: an embossed seal with a May 19, 1993 expiration, a photograph of a woman born around 1970, and a law school-Hartfield College of Law-closed in 1987. Eleven days after the card was found, investigators connected that photograph to an immigration lawyer practicing in the county administrative complex; how did a fake credential go unnoticed for nearly fifteen years?

In this episode, we follow the chain of events from a dog-walk discovery to an official investigation, showing how small details triggered institutional scrutiny and what evidence tied the practitioner to deception. Could a single discarded card unravel a decade and a half of professional practice-and what did the surveillance footage and forensic comparison reveal?

Person: Jessica Ann Ann
Location: Mercer County administrative complex, Dellwood, Ohio
Event: Laminated identification card found in third week of March
Date: Hartfield College of Law closure - spring 1987
Status: Investigation opened January 2017

- The laminated card carried an expiration date of May 19, 1993.
- Hartfield College of Law closed permanently in the spring of 1987, 15 years before the card's expiry.
- The photograph on the card showed a woman appearing to be in her mid-twenties, implying a birth year around 1970.
- Jessica Ann arrived in Dellwood in winter 2008 and by 2012 had moved into the Mercer County administrative complex office.
- Security footage shows a figure using a key card entering at 9:47 PM and exiting 4 hours and 11 minutes later carrying a cardboard box.

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/73057432Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:54 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Laminated Lie: How a Gravel-Buried ID Toppled an Attorney A gravel-strewn service road hid a laminated ID that exposed three impossible facts: an embossed seal with a May 19, 1993 expiration, a photograph of a woman born around 1970, and a law...
A gravel-strewn service road hid a laminated ID that exposed three impossible facts: an embossed seal with a May 19, 1993 expiration, a photograph of a woman born around 1970, and a law school-Hartfield College of Law-closed in 1987. Eleven days after the card was found, investigators connected that photograph to an immigration lawyer practicing in the county administrative complex; how did a fake credential go unnoticed for nearly fifteen years?

In this episode, we follow the chain of events from a dog-walk discovery to an official investigation, showing how small details triggered institutional scrutiny and what evidence tied the practitioner to deception. Could a single discarded card unravel a decade and a half of professional practice-and what did the surveillance footage and forensic comparison reveal?

Person: Jessica Ann Ann
Location: Mercer County administrative complex, Dellwood, Ohio
Event: Laminated identification card found in third week of March
Date: Hartfield College of Law closure - spring 1987
Status: Investigation opened January 2017

- The laminated card carried an expiration date of May 19, 1993.
- Hartfield College of Law closed permanently in the spring of 1987, 15 years before the card's expiry.
- The photograph on the card showed a woman appearing to be in her mid-twenties, implying a birth year around 1970.
- Jessica Ann arrived in Dellwood in winter 2008 and by 2012 had moved into the Mercer County administrative complex office.
- Security footage shows a figure using a key card entering at 9:47 PM and exiting 4 hours and 11 minutes later carrying a cardboard box.

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/credentials-left-on-a-pole-the-neil-mueller-fraud-case--73057431
Fear that the expert in front of your board is a fraud: a laminated forensic accounting license was found zip-tied eleven feet high to a utility pole in Harwick, Ohio, and four minutes after a photo reached regulators the number was confirmed never issued. How did a man use twelve years of bank-operations experience to build a consulting firm on a credential that did not exist - and what did investigators uncover next?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning the fake license was found through the arrest that followed, tracing Meridian Consulting Group’s rise, the verification gaps that let it grow, and the underlying pattern that produced hidden losses. How did small, technically plausible accounting entries add up to large-scale fraud?

Person: Neil H. Mueller
Age: 62
Location: Harwick, Ohio
Event: Arrest at 11:14 AM on February 7, 2019
Organization: Meridian Consulting Group

- A laminated forensic accounting license with Ohio Board number 0041872 was zip-tied to a utility pole eleven feet off the ground.
- The Ohio Board of Forensic Accountancy confirmed in four minutes that license number 0041872 had never been issued.
- Neil Mueller was presenting on the third floor of Meridian Consulting Group when he was arrested at 11:14 AM and was denied requests to finish his presentation.
- Mueller spent twelve years as a bank operations coordinator and later founded Meridian, where he hired two analysts, Brianna Cole and Tom Kershaw.
- Over eight years, numerous entries each below $11,000 were embedded across client ledgers and together totaled $1,100,000.

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/73057431Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:51 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTCredentials Left on a Pole: The Neil Mueller Fraud Case Fear that the expert in front of your board is a fraud: a laminated forensic accounting license was found zip-tied eleven feet high to a utility pole in Harwick, Ohio, and four minutes after a...
Fear that the expert in front of your board is a fraud: a laminated forensic accounting license was found zip-tied eleven feet high to a utility pole in Harwick, Ohio, and four minutes after a photo reached regulators the number was confirmed never issued. How did a man use twelve years of bank-operations experience to build a consulting firm on a credential that did not exist - and what did investigators uncover next?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the morning the fake license was found through the arrest that followed, tracing Meridian Consulting Group’s rise, the verification gaps that let it grow, and the underlying pattern that produced hidden losses. How did small, technically plausible accounting entries add up to large-scale fraud?

Person: Neil H. Mueller
Age: 62
Location: Harwick, Ohio
Event: Arrest at 11:14 AM on February 7, 2019
Organization: Meridian Consulting Group

- A laminated forensic accounting license with Ohio Board number 0041872 was zip-tied to a utility pole eleven feet off the ground.
- The Ohio Board of Forensic Accountancy confirmed in four minutes that license number 0041872 had never been issued.
- Neil Mueller was presenting on the third floor of Meridian Consulting Group when he was arrested at 11:14 AM and was denied requests to finish his presentation.
- Mueller spent twelve years as a bank operations coordinator and later founded Meridian, where he hired two analysts, Brianna Cole and Tom Kershaw.
- Over eight years, numerous entries each below $11,000 were embedded across client ledgers and together totaled $1,100,000.

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.]]>1225falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-stole-her-grief-the-sympathy-card-that-exposed-a-romance-scam--73057429
Grief made him vulnerable, and one dry sympathy card in a willow exposed how meticulously someone exploited that vulnerability. A photo inside the card matched an image the victim never sent - so why was it left to be found, and who was watching the marsh?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a widow's private mourning to the online messages that led to six transfers and a drained life savings, and we ask how a methodical scammer used stolen photos, precise requests, and physical surveillance to build trust and extract $31,000.

Person: Dean Erickson
Date: July 14, 2022
Location: Teller Flats marsh, Renville, Ohio
Event: Six transfers totaling $31,000 over eleven weeks
Person: Gregory (alias GregP_Ohio) / real name Peterson

- Dean found a sealed sympathy card wedged fifteen feet from the water inside a dead willow on July 14, 2022.
- Dean's wife Cheryl died in October 2020 at age thirty-seven from ovarian cancer.
- The scam began with messages in February 2022 on the Continuing Bonds grief forum and moved to private messages within three weeks.
- Dean made six transfers over eleven weeks, totaling $31,000, including amounts like $1,100, $2,200, and $4,500.
- A blue sedan linked to a rental paid with a prepaid card was observed parked near the Teller Flats service entrance in late June 2022 for two to three hours on multiple afternoons.

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/73057429Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:48 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Stole Her Grief: The Sympathy Card That Exposed a Romance Scam Grief made him vulnerable, and one dry sympathy card in a willow exposed how meticulously someone exploited that vulnerability. A photo inside the card matched an image the victim...
Grief made him vulnerable, and one dry sympathy card in a willow exposed how meticulously someone exploited that vulnerability. A photo inside the card matched an image the victim never sent - so why was it left to be found, and who was watching the marsh?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a widow's private mourning to the online messages that led to six transfers and a drained life savings, and we ask how a methodical scammer used stolen photos, precise requests, and physical surveillance to build trust and extract $31,000.

Person: Dean Erickson
Date: July 14, 2022
Location: Teller Flats marsh, Renville, Ohio
Event: Six transfers totaling $31,000 over eleven weeks
Person: Gregory (alias GregP_Ohio) / real name Peterson

- Dean found a sealed sympathy card wedged fifteen feet from the water inside a dead willow on July 14, 2022.
- Dean's wife Cheryl died in October 2020 at age thirty-seven from ovarian cancer.
- The scam began with messages in February 2022 on the Continuing Bonds grief forum and moved to private messages within three weeks.
- Dean made six transfers over eleven weeks, totaling $31,000, including amounts like $1,100, $2,200, and $4,500.
- A blue sedan linked to a rental paid with a prepaid card was observed parked near the Teller Flats service entrance in late June 2022 for two to three hours on multiple afternoons.

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.]]>1279falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-key-in-her-kitchen-how-a-stranger-bought-her-trust-and-231-000--73057428
Fear that the person you trust most could be a carefully built lie starts with a key in your kitchen and ends with $231,000 gone - and it all began with a padded envelope and a note saying “for when you finally arrive, my love.” How did a man who never met her, using stolen photos and invented backstories, methodically win Teresa Tucker’s confidence and siphon her savings?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of Teresa Tucker’s online relationship and the slow financial erosion that followed, tracing how small, plausible requests escalated into a seven-figure pattern of deception and a final breach of her home. What were the exact steps the scammer used to turn a friendship into a seven-year-running machine of fraud?

Person: Teresa Tucker
Location: 44 Orchard Slope Road, Millhaven, Ohio
Age: 62 (turned sixty-two in summer 2019)
Perpetrator real name: Erick Poole
Amount taken: $231,000

- A padded envelope with a real house key and a handwritten note arrived on a Thursday before the house was later found open.
- Teresa created a social media account in February 2018 at her daughter Renee’s suggestion; six weeks later she received the first message from “Eric Powell.”
- The profile photos were stolen from Bob Finch, a retired structural engineer in Tempe, Arizona.
- By May 2018 they spoke by voice twice a week, with a fixed Thursday 10:15 PM call that fit Teresa’s routine.
- Between September and December 2018 Teresa transferred $43,000 after a sequence of escalating, specifically justified requests (first was $4,200 for customs fees in Singapore).

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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/73057428Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:45 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Key in Her Kitchen: How a Stranger Bought Her Trust-and $231,000 Fear that the person you trust most could be a carefully built lie starts with a key in your kitchen and ends with $231,000 gone - and it all began with a padded envelope and a...
Fear that the person you trust most could be a carefully built lie starts with a key in your kitchen and ends with $231,000 gone - and it all began with a padded envelope and a note saying “for when you finally arrive, my love.” How did a man who never met her, using stolen photos and invented backstories, methodically win Teresa Tucker’s confidence and siphon her savings?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of Teresa Tucker’s online relationship and the slow financial erosion that followed, tracing how small, plausible requests escalated into a seven-figure pattern of deception and a final breach of her home. What were the exact steps the scammer used to turn a friendship into a seven-year-running machine of fraud?

Person: Teresa Tucker
Location: 44 Orchard Slope Road, Millhaven, Ohio
Age: 62 (turned sixty-two in summer 2019)
Perpetrator real name: Erick Poole
Amount taken: $231,000

- A padded envelope with a real house key and a handwritten note arrived on a Thursday before the house was later found open.
- Teresa created a social media account in February 2018 at her daughter Renee’s suggestion; six weeks later she received the first message from “Eric Powell.”
- The profile photos were stolen from Bob Finch, a retired structural engineer in Tempe, Arizona.
- By May 2018 they spoke by voice twice a week, with a fixed Thursday 10:15 PM call that fit Teresa’s routine.
- Between September and December 2018 Teresa transferred $43,000 after a sequence of escalating, specifically justified requests (first was $4,200 for customs fees in Singapore).

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.]]>1058falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/dry-letters-wet-ditch-the-eleven-month-romance-scam--73057427
Loneliness, patience and deception collided in a wet roadside ditch-eleven perfectly dry love letters in a wooden box that should have soaked through during an overnight storm. The letters, addressed to "My Elton" and signed "Your Ruth," were the residue of an eleven-month scheme that targeted an 81-year-old widower; who orchestrated it, and how did a dry box end up in a drenched ditch?

In this episode, we follow the discovery, the people involved, and the timeline that unfolded after Pamela Bishop found the box on the morning of May 14, 2019. As detectives traced messages, meetings, and movements, one persistent question remained: was the box planted earlier or tossed in a hurry that same night?

Person: Elton Marsh
Age: 81
Person: Ruth Adams
Age: 26
Person: Richard Weaver
Age: 34
Date: May 14, 2019

- The box was found by Pamela Bishop with a road grader on Route 9 on May 14, 2019.
- Eleven handwritten letters inside were addressed to "Elton" and signed "Your Ruth."
- Elton Marsh had lived in the same house for 43 years and had been widowed since 2014.
- Ruth Adams had lived in Kellerton for eight months and worked part-time at a veterinary clinic.
- Richard Weaver lived in Columbus, Ohio, roughly three hours from Kellerton and had run similar schemes in Ohio and southern Michigan.

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/73057427Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTDry Letters, Wet Ditch: The Eleven-Month Romance Scam Loneliness, patience and deception collided in a wet roadside ditch-eleven perfectly dry love letters in a wooden box that should have soaked through during an overnight storm. The letters,...
Loneliness, patience and deception collided in a wet roadside ditch-eleven perfectly dry love letters in a wooden box that should have soaked through during an overnight storm. The letters, addressed to "My Elton" and signed "Your Ruth," were the residue of an eleven-month scheme that targeted an 81-year-old widower; who orchestrated it, and how did a dry box end up in a drenched ditch?

In this episode, we follow the discovery, the people involved, and the timeline that unfolded after Pamela Bishop found the box on the morning of May 14, 2019. As detectives traced messages, meetings, and movements, one persistent question remained: was the box planted earlier or tossed in a hurry that same night?

Person: Elton Marsh
Age: 81
Person: Ruth Adams
Age: 26
Person: Richard Weaver
Age: 34
Date: May 14, 2019

- The box was found by Pamela Bishop with a road grader on Route 9 on May 14, 2019.
- Eleven handwritten letters inside were addressed to "Elton" and signed "Your Ruth."
- Elton Marsh had lived in the same house for 43 years and had been widowed since 2014.
- Ruth Adams had lived in Kellerton for eight months and worked part-time at a veterinary clinic.
- Richard Weaver lived in Columbus, Ohio, roughly three hours from Kellerton and had run similar schemes in Ohio and southern Michigan.

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.]]>1267falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-said-he-loved-her-then-disappeared-with-her-6-200-and-photos--73057426
The mix of tenderness and betrayal is immediate: a woman bought a red shoe for a first meeting that never happened, and $6,200 vanished into a profile built from stolen contractor photos. How did a few morning texts and a single broken shoe unravel a nearly four-year fraud scheme?

In this episode, we tell what happened after a utility worker followed an odd smell and a lone red shoe, leading to a welfare check that exposed a romance scam. You’ll hear how messages, lifted images, and a scripted backstory led a billing coordinator to send money-and what paper trail finally connected the dots.

Person: Marcia Simmons
Age: 48
Person: Jerome Raymond Thorpe
Age: 53
Location: apartment two-C, Decker Street, Branton, Ohio

- Marcia uploaded two photographs to ConnectTrue in late February 2017.
- Within four days she matched with a profile named Jerry Thorpe using photos stolen from David Ferris.
- By the third week of March Thorpe told Marcia he was falling in love after less than a month of messaging.
- In the second week of April Thorpe requested a $6,000 bridge loan, later specified as $6,200 in the case summary.
- A utility worker named Richard O'Connor discovered a broken red shoe on the second-floor sill on a Tuesday at 7:51 AM in April 2017.

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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/73057426Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:40 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Said He Loved Her-Then Disappeared With Her $6,200 and Photos The mix of tenderness and betrayal is immediate: a woman bought a red shoe for a first meeting that never happened, and $6,200 vanished into a profile built from stolen contractor...
The mix of tenderness and betrayal is immediate: a woman bought a red shoe for a first meeting that never happened, and $6,200 vanished into a profile built from stolen contractor photos. How did a few morning texts and a single broken shoe unravel a nearly four-year fraud scheme?

In this episode, we tell what happened after a utility worker followed an odd smell and a lone red shoe, leading to a welfare check that exposed a romance scam. You’ll hear how messages, lifted images, and a scripted backstory led a billing coordinator to send money-and what paper trail finally connected the dots.

Person: Marcia Simmons
Age: 48
Person: Jerome Raymond Thorpe
Age: 53
Location: apartment two-C, Decker Street, Branton, Ohio

- Marcia uploaded two photographs to ConnectTrue in late February 2017.
- Within four days she matched with a profile named Jerry Thorpe using photos stolen from David Ferris.
- By the third week of March Thorpe told Marcia he was falling in love after less than a month of messaging.
- In the second week of April Thorpe requested a $6,000 bridge loan, later specified as $6,200 in the case summary.
- A utility worker named Richard O'Connor discovered a broken red shoe on the second-floor sill on a Tuesday at 7:51 AM in April 2017.

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.]]>1085falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-bench-the-bible-and-the-ring-that-broke-a-quiet-life--73057425
An unmarked ring left on a green bench at 6:15 a.m., no frost on it though the concrete had a light frost - someone placed it there after nightfall. Four women in three zip codes would later recognize the Bible beneath it by noon; why would one ring connect so many lives and unravel a routine life so quickly?

In this episode, we tell how a man known at church as Douglas Bailey moved into a small community, built trust, and used a ring bought in January to propose to four different women in ten days - and how one morning’s discovery raised the question that changes everything.

Person: Jerry Patterson
Person: Douglas Bailey
Date: ring found at 6:15 a.m.
Location: green bench beside the Dellbrook Reservoir path
Event: four proposals in ten days

- Ring purchase: bought in January at a pawnshop in the county seat with one receipt kept
- First transfer: Jerry Patterson sent $800 in January
- Meetings timeline: Bailey met Jerry in October, texting by November, coffee by December
- Proposals: Douglas Bailey proposed four times to four women in three different zip codes in the last ten days of February
- Discovery timeline: Warren Collins photographed ring at 6:15 a.m., called non-emergency line at 9 a.m., by noon four women recognized the Bible beneath it

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/73057425Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:37 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Bench, The Bible, and the Ring That Broke a Quiet Life An unmarked ring left on a green bench at 6:15 a.m., no frost on it though the concrete had a light frost - someone placed it there after nightfall. Four women in three zip codes would...
An unmarked ring left on a green bench at 6:15 a.m., no frost on it though the concrete had a light frost - someone placed it there after nightfall. Four women in three zip codes would later recognize the Bible beneath it by noon; why would one ring connect so many lives and unravel a routine life so quickly?

In this episode, we tell how a man known at church as Douglas Bailey moved into a small community, built trust, and used a ring bought in January to propose to four different women in ten days - and how one morning’s discovery raised the question that changes everything.

Person: Jerry Patterson
Person: Douglas Bailey
Date: ring found at 6:15 a.m.
Location: green bench beside the Dellbrook Reservoir path
Event: four proposals in ten days

- Ring purchase: bought in January at a pawnshop in the county seat with one receipt kept
- First transfer: Jerry Patterson sent $800 in January
- Meetings timeline: Bailey met Jerry in October, texting by November, coffee by December
- Proposals: Douglas Bailey proposed four times to four women in three different zip codes in the last ten days of February
- Discovery timeline: Warren Collins photographed ring at 6:15 a.m., called non-emergency line at 9 a.m., by noon four women recognized the Bible beneath it

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.]]>1258falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-photo-in-her-mailbox-how-a-widowed-volunteer-lost-11-400--73057424
The quiet trust of a 52-year-old volunteer was built one message at a time - and erased by a single wire transfer totaling $11,400. A laminated photo left on top of a month of uncollected mail became the clue that unspooled weeks of deception; how did a steady rhythm of texts and calls turn into an impossible bank balance and an empty name? Who was the man in the Army uniform, and what did that photograph hide?

In this episode, we tell how ordinary details - a dating profile, steady phone calls, and a single bank transaction - combined into a fraud against Patricia Lawson, a long-time Dunmore resident who had spent seven years rebuilding her life after her husband's death. We follow the timeline from first contact in November through the last transfer in February to ask: at what point does kindness become vulnerability?

Person: Patricia Lawson
Age: 52
Location: Dunmore, central Ohio
Amount lost: $11,400
Date mail discovered: February 14

- Patricia lived at four Sallow Creek Road for 19 years and was widowed seven years earlier.
- The dating profile appeared in early November under the name Daniel Mercer, claiming to be a retired Army logistics officer based in Akron.
- Patricia wired $2,000 in the second week of January to a prepaid account in Louisville after being told the son was in a car accident.
- By early February she had sent a total of $11,400 to an account tied to a shell registration in Louisville and a prepaid, unregistered phone number.
- On February 14 meter reader Paula Dixon found a month of uncollected mail in the Lawson mailbox with a laminated photograph of a man in Army dress uniform placed face-up on top.

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/73057424Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:34 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Photo in Her Mailbox: How a Widowed Volunteer Lost $11,400 The quiet trust of a 52-year-old volunteer was built one message at a time - and erased by a single wire transfer totaling $11,400. A laminated photo left on top of a month of...
The quiet trust of a 52-year-old volunteer was built one message at a time - and erased by a single wire transfer totaling $11,400. A laminated photo left on top of a month of uncollected mail became the clue that unspooled weeks of deception; how did a steady rhythm of texts and calls turn into an impossible bank balance and an empty name? Who was the man in the Army uniform, and what did that photograph hide?

In this episode, we tell how ordinary details - a dating profile, steady phone calls, and a single bank transaction - combined into a fraud against Patricia Lawson, a long-time Dunmore resident who had spent seven years rebuilding her life after her husband's death. We follow the timeline from first contact in November through the last transfer in February to ask: at what point does kindness become vulnerability?

Person: Patricia Lawson
Age: 52
Location: Dunmore, central Ohio
Amount lost: $11,400
Date mail discovered: February 14

- Patricia lived at four Sallow Creek Road for 19 years and was widowed seven years earlier.
- The dating profile appeared in early November under the name Daniel Mercer, claiming to be a retired Army logistics officer based in Akron.
- Patricia wired $2,000 in the second week of January to a prepaid account in Louisville after being told the son was in a car accident.
- By early February she had sent a total of $11,400 to an account tied to a shell registration in Louisville and a prepaid, unregistered phone number.
- On February 14 meter reader Paula Dixon found a month of uncollected mail in the Lawson mailbox with a laminated photograph of a man in Army dress uniform placed face-up on top.

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.]]>1112falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-was-never-real-how-denise-sent-61-400-to-a-phantom-sailor--73057422
Fear that the person you love might be a carefully constructed lie - Denise printed a four-dollar ninety-nine photo, wrote "My person" on the back, and over sixteen months sent $61,400 to a man who never existed. Investigators found an authentic offshore vest, a real company logo, and seventeen recordings with a mechanical hum that changed everything - who engineered the deception, and why?

In this episode, we tell the story of Denise Weber and the months-long contact that moved from a single connection request to daily messages, calls, and nine bank transfers totaling every dollar she had saved. What did a forensic audio analyst hear in seventeen recordings that broke the case open?

Person: Denise Weber
Location: Maplewood, Ohio
Amount: $61,400
Transactions: 9 transfers
Recordings analyzed: 17

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/73057422Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Was Never Real: How Denise Sent $61,400 to a Phantom Sailor Fear that the person you love might be a carefully constructed lie - Denise printed a four-dollar ninety-nine photo, wrote "My person" on the back, and over sixteen months sent $61,400...
Fear that the person you love might be a carefully constructed lie - Denise printed a four-dollar ninety-nine photo, wrote "My person" on the back, and over sixteen months sent $61,400 to a man who never existed. Investigators found an authentic offshore vest, a real company logo, and seventeen recordings with a mechanical hum that changed everything - who engineered the deception, and why?

In this episode, we tell the story of Denise Weber and the months-long contact that moved from a single connection request to daily messages, calls, and nine bank transfers totaling every dollar she had saved. What did a forensic audio analyst hear in seventeen recordings that broke the case open?

Person: Denise Weber
Location: Maplewood, Ohio
Amount: $61,400
Transactions: 9 transfers
Recordings analyzed: 17

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.]]>1309falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-told-me-he-was-real-the-ai-voice-that-stole-my-heart--73057421
Cold, precise, and intimate: a laminated flash card found by a dog on a frozen trail would unravel thirteen months of deception built on a synthetic voice that sounded unmistakably human. The scam linked a linguistics instructor in rural Ohio to a Decatur, Georgia server farm running three fake lives in real time-so how did a voice trained on public audio convince someone to fall in love?

In this episode, we follow the trail from a Pinewood Spur flash card to the online lessons that turned into daily calls, and we trace how a voice model, human operator, and remailing service kept the illusion alive-what broke the illusion, and what questions remain about harm and responsibility?

Person: Jeffrey Hensley
Date found: December 9, 2022
Location found: Pinewood Spur trail, 0.7 miles from rented storage unit
Platform: ClearTone
Country linked to remailing service: United States (California to Decatur, Georgia)

- Jeffrey was 28 years old and a linguistics instructor teaching 22 active students on ClearTone.
- The initial student account, Marcus Lim, began sessions on November 14, 2021, and within three weeks was booking daily.
- Jeffrey mailed physical flash cards to a PO box in Singapore that were rerouted through a remailing service in California then to Decatur, Georgia.
- The laminated flash card found had a Chinese character on one side and a phone number, name, and small ballpoint mark on the other.
- The fraudulent voice setup ran three simultaneous fake lives in real time from a server farm in Decatur, Georgia, with a human operator guiding the model.

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/73057421Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:28 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Told Me He Was Real-The AI Voice That Stole My Heart Cold, precise, and intimate: a laminated flash card found by a dog on a frozen trail would unravel thirteen months of deception built on a synthetic voice that sounded unmistakably human. The...
Cold, precise, and intimate: a laminated flash card found by a dog on a frozen trail would unravel thirteen months of deception built on a synthetic voice that sounded unmistakably human. The scam linked a linguistics instructor in rural Ohio to a Decatur, Georgia server farm running three fake lives in real time-so how did a voice trained on public audio convince someone to fall in love?

In this episode, we follow the trail from a Pinewood Spur flash card to the online lessons that turned into daily calls, and we trace how a voice model, human operator, and remailing service kept the illusion alive-what broke the illusion, and what questions remain about harm and responsibility?

Person: Jeffrey Hensley
Date found: December 9, 2022
Location found: Pinewood Spur trail, 0.7 miles from rented storage unit
Platform: ClearTone
Country linked to remailing service: United States (California to Decatur, Georgia)

- Jeffrey was 28 years old and a linguistics instructor teaching 22 active students on ClearTone.
- The initial student account, Marcus Lim, began sessions on November 14, 2021, and within three weeks was booking daily.
- Jeffrey mailed physical flash cards to a PO box in Singapore that were rerouted through a remailing service in California then to Decatur, Georgia.
- The laminated flash card found had a Chinese character on one side and a phone number, name, and small ballpoint mark on the other.
- The fraudulent voice setup ran three simultaneous fake lives in real time from a server farm in Decatur, Georgia, with a human operator guiding the model.

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.]]>1127falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-bolt-the-bag-and-the-goodbye-how-a-cat-exposed-a-con-man--73057419
Fear that someone you trust is lying while a life depends on it - a weighted phone in a freezer bag, a handwritten note that schedules a cat's insulin at six, and a string of sympathetic late-night calls that hid an elaborate romance scam. Who was the man on the phone, and how did a bolt and a note become the clues that changed everything?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a river recovery to the people connected to the missing phone and the woman who owned it. We outline Melissa Anderson's life, her relationship with a man who called himself Jason Coleman, and the unanswered question of why the farewell note prioritized a cat's insulin schedule.

Person: Melissa Anderson
Age: 54
Location: Grantsville
Pet: Wren, a 15-year-old diabetic tortoiseshell cat
Amount first requested: $400

- A cell phone sealed in a zip-lock freezer bag and weighted with a single bolt was pulled from the Henner River at 6:15 AM on November 9.
- The handwritten note inside the bag instructed: "Feed her at six, not seven. She cries."
- Melissa Anderson, a licensed practical nurse, missed her overnight shift at Breckenridge Manor and last spoke at 2:00 AM saying she needed someone to know where she was.
- Melissa had been speaking nightly, for two to three hours, with a man who identified himself as Jason Coleman since February after a post on Veterans' Compass.
- The first monetary request from that man came in May for $400, framed as an apology about a gap in his VA coverage.

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/73057419Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:26 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Bolt, the Bag, and the Goodbye: How a Cat Exposed a Con Man Fear that someone you trust is lying while a life depends on it - a weighted phone in a freezer bag, a handwritten note that schedules a cat's insulin at six, and a string of...
Fear that someone you trust is lying while a life depends on it - a weighted phone in a freezer bag, a handwritten note that schedules a cat's insulin at six, and a string of sympathetic late-night calls that hid an elaborate romance scam. Who was the man on the phone, and how did a bolt and a note become the clues that changed everything?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a river recovery to the people connected to the missing phone and the woman who owned it. We outline Melissa Anderson's life, her relationship with a man who called himself Jason Coleman, and the unanswered question of why the farewell note prioritized a cat's insulin schedule.

Person: Melissa Anderson
Age: 54
Location: Grantsville
Pet: Wren, a 15-year-old diabetic tortoiseshell cat
Amount first requested: $400

- A cell phone sealed in a zip-lock freezer bag and weighted with a single bolt was pulled from the Henner River at 6:15 AM on November 9.
- The handwritten note inside the bag instructed: "Feed her at six, not seven. She cries."
- Melissa Anderson, a licensed practical nurse, missed her overnight shift at Breckenridge Manor and last spoke at 2:00 AM saying she needed someone to know where she was.
- Melissa had been speaking nightly, for two to three hours, with a man who identified himself as Jason Coleman since February after a post on Veterans' Compass.
- The first monetary request from that man came in May for $400, framed as an apology about a gap in his VA coverage.

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.]]>1157falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/locked-gate-pressed-lavender-how-lori-loved-kent-and-lost-47-000--73057417
Fear that someone you trust online is quietly reshaping your life-Lori found a weatherproofed envelope with a pressed lavender and a note signed "L" on a locked, vacant parcel twelve miles from town, and six weeks later an investigation named Lori Hughes. How did a museum assistant's careful life and $62,000 inheritance lead to a $47,000 loss?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a professional networking exchange to secretive late-night calls and a dropped set of Wednesday confessions, tracing what happened between Lori Hughes and a man named Kent Williams. What changed in Lori's routines, and how did her cautious habits fail to stop a costly deception?

Person: Lori Hughes
Person: Kent Williams
Occupation: Assistant curator (Lori)
Occupation: Independent repatriation consultant (Kent)
Amount: $47,000

- Lori found a sealed clear plastic sleeve containing a white envelope addressed to "Kent" in a drainage ditch on the Hessler parcel, which had been vacant for eleven months.
- The envelope interior included a museum gift shop greeting card with pressed lavender taped inside and a handwritten note: "I'm so glad you found me. I've been waiting for something real my whole life. - L."
- Lori was 23 years old and had inherited $62,000 from her paternal grandfather, kept untouched in a credit union account.
- Lori and Kent's online interaction began with a comment on a professional networking post about provenance documentation and moved to direct messages within three weeks, then weekly video calls by August lasting two to three hours each on Thursdays.
- Lori's Wednesday 11:15 p.m. phone calls to her mother, Dottie Hughes, were a standing appointment that continued even after she stopped telling her mother about Kent.

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/73057417Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:23 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTLocked Gate, Pressed Lavender: How Lori Loved Kent-and Lost $47,000 Fear that someone you trust online is quietly reshaping your life-Lori found a weatherproofed envelope with a pressed lavender and a note signed "L" on a locked, vacant parcel...
Fear that someone you trust online is quietly reshaping your life-Lori found a weatherproofed envelope with a pressed lavender and a note signed "L" on a locked, vacant parcel twelve miles from town, and six weeks later an investigation named Lori Hughes. How did a museum assistant's careful life and $62,000 inheritance lead to a $47,000 loss?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a professional networking exchange to secretive late-night calls and a dropped set of Wednesday confessions, tracing what happened between Lori Hughes and a man named Kent Williams. What changed in Lori's routines, and how did her cautious habits fail to stop a costly deception?

Person: Lori Hughes
Person: Kent Williams
Occupation: Assistant curator (Lori)
Occupation: Independent repatriation consultant (Kent)
Amount: $47,000

- Lori found a sealed clear plastic sleeve containing a white envelope addressed to "Kent" in a drainage ditch on the Hessler parcel, which had been vacant for eleven months.
- The envelope interior included a museum gift shop greeting card with pressed lavender taped inside and a handwritten note: "I'm so glad you found me. I've been waiting for something real my whole life. - L."
- Lori was 23 years old and had inherited $62,000 from her paternal grandfather, kept untouched in a credit union account.
- Lori and Kent's online interaction began with a comment on a professional networking post about provenance documentation and moved to direct messages within three weeks, then weekly video calls by August lasting two to three hours each on Thursdays.
- Lori's Wednesday 11:15 p.m. phone calls to her mother, Dottie Hughes, were a standing appointment that continued even after she stopped telling her mother about Kent.

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.]]>1175falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-had-been-there-long-enough-to-pick-up-the-dew--73057415
Fear of being fooled meets the quiet of rural life: a white envelope tucked under a wellhead cap contained a hand-wrapped quartz and a note about a Wyoming meteor shower, but the woman who found it had already sent $4,200 to a man she believed was a grieving long-haul driver - so who really asked for that money?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first online profile to the envelope on the concrete pad, following payment requests, visits, and the discovery that the face she trusted was being used by someone else - how did the deception build so convincingly and what stopped it?

Person: Judith Stewart
Location: Marvell Ridge, outside Hatchett, Missouri
Age: 38
Initial payment request: $300
Total sent by second week of September: $4,200

- Envelope found under PVC cap of a wellhead on the east side of Judith Stewart's property on a concrete pad not visible from road or windows.
- First found by a contractor on a Tuesday morning in the second week of September and had picked up dew.
- Judith created an online connection in late April 2019 on CountryMile with a profile named Eugene Wagner, age 51, claiming to be a refrigerated long-haul driver.
- Five payment requests arrived between August and second week of September: $300, $200, $450, $300, and $600, each with specific medical-related reasons.
- The larger request of $1,800 in September brought the total to $4,200; the man who visited Judith’s property was actually Marcus Dewell, age 53, a married facilities manager whose photo was used 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/73057415Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTIt had been there long enough to pick up the dew Fear of being fooled meets the quiet of rural life: a white envelope tucked under a wellhead cap contained a hand-wrapped quartz and a note about a Wyoming meteor shower, but the woman who found it...
Fear of being fooled meets the quiet of rural life: a white envelope tucked under a wellhead cap contained a hand-wrapped quartz and a note about a Wyoming meteor shower, but the woman who found it had already sent $4,200 to a man she believed was a grieving long-haul driver - so who really asked for that money?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first online profile to the envelope on the concrete pad, following payment requests, visits, and the discovery that the face she trusted was being used by someone else - how did the deception build so convincingly and what stopped it?

Person: Judith Stewart
Location: Marvell Ridge, outside Hatchett, Missouri
Age: 38
Initial payment request: $300
Total sent by second week of September: $4,200

- Envelope found under PVC cap of a wellhead on the east side of Judith Stewart's property on a concrete pad not visible from road or windows.
- First found by a contractor on a Tuesday morning in the second week of September and had picked up dew.
- Judith created an online connection in late April 2019 on CountryMile with a profile named Eugene Wagner, age 51, claiming to be a refrigerated long-haul driver.
- Five payment requests arrived between August and second week of September: $300, $200, $450, $300, and $600, each with specific medical-related reasons.
- The larger request of $1,800 in September brought the total to $4,200; the man who visited Judith’s property was actually Marcus Dewell, age 53, a married facilities manager whose photo was used 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.]]>1067falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-was-already-wiring-the-money-the-lisa-cook-case--73057414
Fear that someone you trust online could be a carefully assembled lie: a man used the archives of dead Italian food writers to build a persona and convinced a 62-year-old blogger to send $5,700 - then a photo of a car in a library lot exposed the scheme. How did a decade of honest writing become a map for deception, and what stopped the next transfer?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events as they unfolded from a morning bird photograph to the discovery that led Lisa Cook to recognize the fraud. You’ll hear how the contact began, the pattern of transfers, and the strange digital trail that pointed back to a man in Macon - and the question remains: what happened next?

Person: Lisa Cook
Location: Haverfield, Ohio
Age: 62
Perpetrator: Randy Rice, 46, Macon, Georgia
Amount: $5,700 total transferred

- First photo taken at 7:15 AM on August 14 showing a green Subaru Forester with a laminated sheet visible on the dashboard.
- Lisa Cook had been writing The Honest Table for 11 years with roughly 60,000 readers.
- Randy Rice discovered Lisa through a food writing forum in January and began daily contact within two weeks.
- The persona used was Marco Vieri, a real Italian critic who died at age 61; Rice used digitized archives from a 2019 Umbrian magazine profile.
- Lisa sent three transfers totaling $5,700 (first $1,500 in April; second $4,200 in June; a third was being calculated on the morning of August 14).

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/73057414Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:17 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Was Already Wiring the Money: The Lisa Cook Case Fear that someone you trust online could be a carefully assembled lie: a man used the archives of dead Italian food writers to build a persona and convinced a 62-year-old blogger to send $5,700 -...
Fear that someone you trust online could be a carefully assembled lie: a man used the archives of dead Italian food writers to build a persona and convinced a 62-year-old blogger to send $5,700 - then a photo of a car in a library lot exposed the scheme. How did a decade of honest writing become a map for deception, and what stopped the next transfer?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events as they unfolded from a morning bird photograph to the discovery that led Lisa Cook to recognize the fraud. You’ll hear how the contact began, the pattern of transfers, and the strange digital trail that pointed back to a man in Macon - and the question remains: what happened next?

Person: Lisa Cook
Location: Haverfield, Ohio
Age: 62
Perpetrator: Randy Rice, 46, Macon, Georgia
Amount: $5,700 total transferred

- First photo taken at 7:15 AM on August 14 showing a green Subaru Forester with a laminated sheet visible on the dashboard.
- Lisa Cook had been writing The Honest Table for 11 years with roughly 60,000 readers.
- Randy Rice discovered Lisa through a food writing forum in January and began daily contact within two weeks.
- The persona used was Marco Vieri, a real Italian critic who died at age 61; Rice used digitized archives from a 2019 Umbrian magazine profile.
- Lisa sent three transfers totaling $5,700 (first $1,500 in April; second $4,200 in June; a third was being calculated on the morning of August 14).

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.]]>1207falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-voice-on-the-porch-how-a-fake-coast-guard-broke-sarah--73057413
A small wireless speaker played the same recorded voice for forty-eight hours through rain on a Maine porch, looping nineteen hours of messages that led a 25-year-old marine technician to send $2,100; who was really behind the account that used a real Coast Guard officer's photo, and why did the voice feel more intimate than the facts?

In this episode, we trace the online thread from a technical forum question about tidal variance to private messages, a four-minute video call, and a series of voice memos and wire transfers - asking how specificity, patience, and a borrowed identity convinced someone who described herself as "settled" to doubt what had been real.

Person: Sarah Whitaker
Age: 25
Location: Pelham Cove area, Maine
Duration of voice memos: 19 hours (117 voice memos)
Total money sent: $2,100 across 3 transfers

- The speaker looped on a porch for 48 hours, kept powered by a cable through rain.
- Sarah received 117 voice memos totaling 19 hours over about four months.
- The fake account used a photo of real Coast Guard officer Brian Callahan from Kodiak, Alaska.
- Financial requests escalated from $300 to $1,100, totaling $2,100 sent by wire on three transactions.
- A video call lasted 4 minutes and 20 seconds; after 90 seconds the image cut and only the voice remained.

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/73057413Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:14 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Voice on the Porch: How a Fake Coast Guard Broke Sarah A small wireless speaker played the same recorded voice for forty-eight hours through rain on a Maine porch, looping nineteen hours of messages that led a 25-year-old marine technician to...
A small wireless speaker played the same recorded voice for forty-eight hours through rain on a Maine porch, looping nineteen hours of messages that led a 25-year-old marine technician to send $2,100; who was really behind the account that used a real Coast Guard officer's photo, and why did the voice feel more intimate than the facts?

In this episode, we trace the online thread from a technical forum question about tidal variance to private messages, a four-minute video call, and a series of voice memos and wire transfers - asking how specificity, patience, and a borrowed identity convinced someone who described herself as "settled" to doubt what had been real.

Person: Sarah Whitaker
Age: 25
Location: Pelham Cove area, Maine
Duration of voice memos: 19 hours (117 voice memos)
Total money sent: $2,100 across 3 transfers

- The speaker looped on a porch for 48 hours, kept powered by a cable through rain.
- Sarah received 117 voice memos totaling 19 hours over about four months.
- The fake account used a photo of real Coast Guard officer Brian Callahan from Kodiak, Alaska.
- Financial requests escalated from $300 to $1,100, totaling $2,100 sent by wire on three transactions.
- A video call lasted 4 minutes and 20 seconds; after 90 seconds the image cut and only the voice remained.

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.]]>1157falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-laptop-in-the-ditch-how-a-counselor-stole-40-000--73057411
Trust turned to a glowing laptop in a ditch: a thirty-one percent battery, an unsent plea - "I trusted you with everything. Please just tell me it was real." How did a careful, reliable volunteer end up sending $40,000 to a fake counselor and leaving her laptop beside Sycamore Flats Road?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Nancy Sullivan's fresh start in spring 2022 through two wire transfers and a deserted roadside laptop, asking how a system of therapists, online communities, and institutional referrals was weaponized by a repeat fraudster. What moments of trust made the transfers possible, and who was behind the stolen identity?

Person: Nancy Sullivan
Date: June 3, 2022
Amount: $18,000
Amount: $22,000
Location: Sycamore Flats Road, two miles outside Caldwell Crossing

- Nancy Sullivan turned forty-four in winter 2022 and finalized her divorce in February 2022.
- Nancy joined the Renewal Forum in early April 2022 and was contacted by "Carl Christensen" within ten days.
- The first wire transfer of $18,000 was authorized on June 3, 2022 citing urgent medical bills for "Sophie."
- A second wire transfer of $22,000 was sent on June 10, 2022, eight days after the first transfer.
- The profile photo used by "Carl Christensen" belonged to Dennis Albright, a fifty-one-year-old physical therapist from Spokane, whose image had circulated since 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.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73057411Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:11 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Laptop in the Ditch: How a "Counselor" Stole $40,000 Trust turned to a glowing laptop in a ditch: a thirty-one percent battery, an unsent plea - "I trusted you with everything. Please just tell me it was real." How did a careful, reliable...
Trust turned to a glowing laptop in a ditch: a thirty-one percent battery, an unsent plea - "I trusted you with everything. Please just tell me it was real." How did a careful, reliable volunteer end up sending $40,000 to a fake counselor and leaving her laptop beside Sycamore Flats Road?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Nancy Sullivan's fresh start in spring 2022 through two wire transfers and a deserted roadside laptop, asking how a system of therapists, online communities, and institutional referrals was weaponized by a repeat fraudster. What moments of trust made the transfers possible, and who was behind the stolen identity?

Person: Nancy Sullivan
Date: June 3, 2022
Amount: $18,000
Amount: $22,000
Location: Sycamore Flats Road, two miles outside Caldwell Crossing

- Nancy Sullivan turned forty-four in winter 2022 and finalized her divorce in February 2022.
- Nancy joined the Renewal Forum in early April 2022 and was contacted by "Carl Christensen" within ten days.
- The first wire transfer of $18,000 was authorized on June 3, 2022 citing urgent medical bills for "Sophie."
- A second wire transfer of $22,000 was sent on June 10, 2022, eight days after the first transfer.
- The profile photo used by "Carl Christensen" belonged to Dennis Albright, a fifty-one-year-old physical therapist from Spokane, whose image had circulated since 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.]]>1287falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-warm-box-on-the-porch-how-love-turned-into-conspiracy--73057410
Warmth from a cardboard box on a deserted porch led investigators to a vanished woman and a web of invented identities; a private-book photograph, a cropped auction watermark, and a $9,400 transfer became the first cold clues. Who created the fiction that pulled a careful collector out of her life - and where did Gloria Richardson go?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that began with a lineman finding an unlabeled warm package and trace the online courtship that preceded a financial transfer and then Gloria's disappearance; what started as shared literary references and annotated margins became a chain of falsified evidence and deception that raises one central question: who was Stanley Bennett?

Person: Gloria Richardson
Date: May 9, 2019
Location: Sycamore Bend Road, Halverton, Tennessee
Amount: $9,400
Event: Discovery of an unlabeled warm box containing a 1922 annotated book

- A lineman named Terry Morgan found the warm, unlabeled box on the back porch while checking a meter on May 9, 2019.
- Gloria Richardson, age 32, had a four-year routine of Wednesdays at 7:45 AM at the Millstone Diner, booth four, black coffee and pancakes without butter.
- The online correspondent used the username BennettRarebooks and claimed to be a private dealer in Edinburgh; Gloria messaged him in February 2019 and they corresponded daily by March.
- On May 3, 2019, Gloria received an offer for a purported 47-volume Garnett translation collection for $9,400 and transferred the money five days before she disappeared.
- A fraud investigator found the photograph of the collection was copied from a 2016 Portland auction catalog and the customs document’s warehouse did not match the claimed Newark origin.

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/73057410Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Warm Box on the Porch: How Love Turned Into Conspiracy Warmth from a cardboard box on a deserted porch led investigators to a vanished woman and a web of invented identities; a private-book photograph, a cropped auction watermark, and a $9,400...
Warmth from a cardboard box on a deserted porch led investigators to a vanished woman and a web of invented identities; a private-book photograph, a cropped auction watermark, and a $9,400 transfer became the first cold clues. Who created the fiction that pulled a careful collector out of her life - and where did Gloria Richardson go?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that began with a lineman finding an unlabeled warm package and trace the online courtship that preceded a financial transfer and then Gloria's disappearance; what started as shared literary references and annotated margins became a chain of falsified evidence and deception that raises one central question: who was Stanley Bennett?

Person: Gloria Richardson
Date: May 9, 2019
Location: Sycamore Bend Road, Halverton, Tennessee
Amount: $9,400
Event: Discovery of an unlabeled warm box containing a 1922 annotated book

- A lineman named Terry Morgan found the warm, unlabeled box on the back porch while checking a meter on May 9, 2019.
- Gloria Richardson, age 32, had a four-year routine of Wednesdays at 7:45 AM at the Millstone Diner, booth four, black coffee and pancakes without butter.
- The online correspondent used the username BennettRarebooks and claimed to be a private dealer in Edinburgh; Gloria messaged him in February 2019 and they corresponded daily by March.
- On May 3, 2019, Gloria received an offer for a purported 47-volume Garnett translation collection for $9,400 and transferred the money five days before she disappeared.
- A fraud investigator found the photograph of the collection was copied from a 2016 Portland auction catalog and the customs document’s warehouse did not match the claimed Newark origin.

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.]]>1229falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-sent-67-000-to-a-man-who-never-existed-the-marilyn-hensley-case--73057409
Fear that a stranger you trust could be a fabrication - Marilyn Hensley sent a total later calculated as $67,000 across 51 wire transfers to a man who never existed, and his final plea ended with a tablet found in mud six hundred meters from the nearest road. How did months of careful, small requests add up to such a precise and devastating theft?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first message on a faith-based platform to the discovery on the Talcott River trail, laying out how a relationship built online turned into repeated financial transfers and a staged photographic narrative - and ask how engineered trust can be detected before it destroys a life.

Person: Marilyn Hensley
Date: April 14, 2019
Platform: GraceConnect
Transfers: 51 wire transfers over 18 months
Largest single transfer: $3,100

- Marilyn joined GraceConnect in January 2018 and received a message from "Duane Farrell" within ten days.
- The first money request came in August 2018 for $420 to clear vaccines held at customs in Accra.
- By March 2018 they were messaging every day; by July 2018 "Duane" had said he loved her.
- The tablet found by Lloyd Rafferty had a cracked screen, pink case, and was located six hundred meters from the nearest road on April 14, 2019.
- Investigators later calculated the total Marilyn sent as $67,000 across 51 transfers, with most individual amounts between $200 and $800.

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/73057409Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:05 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Sent $67,000 to a Man Who Never Existed: The Marilyn Hensley Case Fear that a stranger you trust could be a fabrication - Marilyn Hensley sent a total later calculated as $67,000 across 51 wire transfers to a man who never existed, and his...
Fear that a stranger you trust could be a fabrication - Marilyn Hensley sent a total later calculated as $67,000 across 51 wire transfers to a man who never existed, and his final plea ended with a tablet found in mud six hundred meters from the nearest road. How did months of careful, small requests add up to such a precise and devastating theft?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first message on a faith-based platform to the discovery on the Talcott River trail, laying out how a relationship built online turned into repeated financial transfers and a staged photographic narrative - and ask how engineered trust can be detected before it destroys a life.

Person: Marilyn Hensley
Date: April 14, 2019
Platform: GraceConnect
Transfers: 51 wire transfers over 18 months
Largest single transfer: $3,100

- Marilyn joined GraceConnect in January 2018 and received a message from "Duane Farrell" within ten days.
- The first money request came in August 2018 for $420 to clear vaccines held at customs in Accra.
- By March 2018 they were messaging every day; by July 2018 "Duane" had said he loved her.
- The tablet found by Lloyd Rafferty had a cracked screen, pink case, and was located six hundred meters from the nearest road on April 14, 2019.
- Investigators later calculated the total Marilyn sent as $67,000 across 51 transfers, with most individual amounts between $200 and $800.

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.]]>1206falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-reads-the-goodnight-texts-twice-the-gregory-johnson-case--73057407
The discovery of a laminated Army colonel badge and wire-transfer slips totaling $62,041 hidden in a gas meter housing began as a quiet, precise betrayal that drained a man’s life savings. How did a man who logged his dog’s IV fluids every morning come to trust a fabricated Army colonel and lose everything to a romance scam?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of facts from the first contact to the transfers, tracking the people, the lies, and the ledger of losses to ask how someone as meticulous as Gregory Johnson was deceived by a constructed identity and coordinated perpetrators.

Person: Gregory Johnson
Age: 44 in spring 2018
Location: duplex on Calloway Road, Harwick, Ohio
Amount: $62,041 total in wire-transfer confirmation numbers
Other Person: Derek Calloway (fabricated identity)

- Badge found by meter reader Dale Fisher in March 2019: laminated Army colonel ID and folded sheet with transfer numbers.
- Total of wire-transfer confirmation numbers found: $62,041.
- Gregory kept two handwritten logbooks: one for his dog Hatch’s IV fluids and one of forty pages recording Derek’s words.
- Initial money request in August 2018: $4,000 to "unfreeze a bank account."
- Forensic analysis identified at least two distinct speakers on recorded calls and photos actually belonged to Thomas Gruber, a retired insurance adjuster from Indiana.

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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/73057407Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Reads the Goodnight Texts Twice: The Gregory Johnson Case The discovery of a laminated Army colonel badge and wire-transfer slips totaling $62,041 hidden in a gas meter housing began as a quiet, precise betrayal that drained a man’s life...
The discovery of a laminated Army colonel badge and wire-transfer slips totaling $62,041 hidden in a gas meter housing began as a quiet, precise betrayal that drained a man’s life savings. How did a man who logged his dog’s IV fluids every morning come to trust a fabricated Army colonel and lose everything to a romance scam?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of facts from the first contact to the transfers, tracking the people, the lies, and the ledger of losses to ask how someone as meticulous as Gregory Johnson was deceived by a constructed identity and coordinated perpetrators.

Person: Gregory Johnson
Age: 44 in spring 2018
Location: duplex on Calloway Road, Harwick, Ohio
Amount: $62,041 total in wire-transfer confirmation numbers
Other Person: Derek Calloway (fabricated identity)

- Badge found by meter reader Dale Fisher in March 2019: laminated Army colonel ID and folded sheet with transfer numbers.
- Total of wire-transfer confirmation numbers found: $62,041.
- Gregory kept two handwritten logbooks: one for his dog Hatch’s IV fluids and one of forty pages recording Derek’s words.
- Initial money request in August 2018: $4,000 to "unfreeze a bank account."
- Forensic analysis identified at least two distinct speakers on recorded calls and photos actually belonged to Thomas Gruber, a retired insurance adjuster from Indiana.

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.]]>1035falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-valentine-that-never-arrived-how-a-fake-lover-killed-hope--73057406
Fear and hope braided together: a sealed Valentine's card addressed to São Paulo sat on a doormat while the man who wrote it had been dead for eleven days, and the recipient never existed - so how did a fabricated romance end with a real death? This episode follows the slow, targeted construction of a decades-old loneliness into a lethal con, and asks what finally broke the life of a steady twenty-nine-year-old.

In this episode, we trace Dennis Rogers's weeknight calls, the fabricated identity of "Cheryl Draper," the November visit with a clipboard, and the chain of wire transfers that tied them together to ask whether deliberate deception can be punished when the law won’t call it murder. How did small, precise choices - a profile photo, scheduled calls, a prepaid card - become the evidence that sent one man to prison?

Person: Dennis Rogers
Age: twenty-nine
Person: Terry Boone
Location: Harlan, Ohio
Item: sealed Valentine addressed to São Paulo

- Dennis had been dead for eleven days when a neighbor read "my husband" on the sealed envelope through a half-inch door gap.
- Dennis sent forty-seven messages in the first week after contacting the LiveWell listing in late March.
- The Wednesday calls began almost always at 11:15 p.m. and continued weekly.
- Six wire transfers preceded the transfer that prompted concern; one small, specific payment was sent for Lily's medical bills.
- A jury deliberated less than four hours before sentencing Terry Boone to eleven years.

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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/73057406Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:33:00 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Valentine That Never Arrived: How a Fake Lover Killed Hope Fear and hope braided together: a sealed Valentine's card addressed to São Paulo sat on a doormat while the man who wrote it had been dead for eleven days, and the recipient never...
Fear and hope braided together: a sealed Valentine's card addressed to São Paulo sat on a doormat while the man who wrote it had been dead for eleven days, and the recipient never existed - so how did a fabricated romance end with a real death? This episode follows the slow, targeted construction of a decades-old loneliness into a lethal con, and asks what finally broke the life of a steady twenty-nine-year-old.

In this episode, we trace Dennis Rogers's weeknight calls, the fabricated identity of "Cheryl Draper," the November visit with a clipboard, and the chain of wire transfers that tied them together to ask whether deliberate deception can be punished when the law won’t call it murder. How did small, precise choices - a profile photo, scheduled calls, a prepaid card - become the evidence that sent one man to prison?

Person: Dennis Rogers
Age: twenty-nine
Person: Terry Boone
Location: Harlan, Ohio
Item: sealed Valentine addressed to São Paulo

- Dennis had been dead for eleven days when a neighbor read "my husband" on the sealed envelope through a half-inch door gap.
- Dennis sent forty-seven messages in the first week after contacting the LiveWell listing in late March.
- The Wednesday calls began almost always at 11:15 p.m. and continued weekly.
- Six wire transfers preceded the transfer that prompted concern; one small, specific payment was sent for Lily's medical bills.
- A jury deliberated less than four hours before sentencing Terry Boone to eleven years.

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/she-reads-the-letter-and-realizes-it-was-never-him--73057405
A drowned tote bag washed up holding eleven cashed cashier's checks totaling just over $214,000 and a lavender-scented letter to "Wendy" that wasn't written by the man she loved-how did a cautious rancher lose every certificate of deposit to a stranger she trusted? Who engineered that trust, and where did the money actually go?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from a found bag at Calhoun Reservoir to the months-long romance that cost Wendy Nelson her savings, and we follow the financial trail across banks, states, and a borrowed identity to ask: who staged the perfect con and why did it take so long to unravel?

Person: Wendy Nelson
Location: Calhoun Reservoir
Date: December 2018 (bag found), January 2019 (discovered by dog Scout)
Amount: $214,000 (eleven cashier's checks)
Loss timeline: money wired between November 2017 and September 2018

- Eleven cashier's checks totaling just over $214,000 were found in a tote bag wrapped in a plastic sleeve.
- Wendy Nelson had five laddered certificates of deposit across three banks, the largest worth $81,000.
- The online relationship lasted seven months before the first financial request; the first payment requested was $400 in November 2017.
- Wendy wired $400 to an account in Singapore; four weeks later a $400 MoneyGram repayment arrived at the Erling pharmacy.
- Over the next fourteen months Wendy sent amounts timed to CD maturities, including $38,000 in January 2018, $55,000 in May 2018, and $41,000 in September 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/73057405Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:57 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Reads the Letter and Realizes It Was Never Him A drowned tote bag washed up holding eleven cashed cashier's checks totaling just over $214,000 and a lavender-scented letter to "Wendy" that wasn't written by the man she loved-how did a cautious...
A drowned tote bag washed up holding eleven cashed cashier's checks totaling just over $214,000 and a lavender-scented letter to "Wendy" that wasn't written by the man she loved-how did a cautious rancher lose every certificate of deposit to a stranger she trusted? Who engineered that trust, and where did the money actually go?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from a found bag at Calhoun Reservoir to the months-long romance that cost Wendy Nelson her savings, and we follow the financial trail across banks, states, and a borrowed identity to ask: who staged the perfect con and why did it take so long to unravel?

Person: Wendy Nelson
Location: Calhoun Reservoir
Date: December 2018 (bag found), January 2019 (discovered by dog Scout)
Amount: $214,000 (eleven cashier's checks)
Loss timeline: money wired between November 2017 and September 2018

- Eleven cashier's checks totaling just over $214,000 were found in a tote bag wrapped in a plastic sleeve.
- Wendy Nelson had five laddered certificates of deposit across three banks, the largest worth $81,000.
- The online relationship lasted seven months before the first financial request; the first payment requested was $400 in November 2017.
- Wendy wired $400 to an account in Singapore; four weeks later a $400 MoneyGram repayment arrived at the Erling pharmacy.
- Over the next fourteen months Wendy sent amounts timed to CD maturities, including $38,000 in January 2018, $55,000 in May 2018, and $41,000 in September 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.]]>1167falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-man-who-loved-her-ledger-how-clifford-drained-11-200--73057404
Fear of being expertly fooled: a meticulous 24-year-old who tracked every dollar still lost $11,200 after six weeks of online romance and careful trust - how did four transfers vanish into a profile that wasn't real? Who was the person behind "Clifford," and why was a dry, handwritten letter found with a laptop at the Route 7 bridge?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the first MatchBoard message to the discovery that changed everything, laying out the timeline of transfers, the preserved ledger, and the clues that led coworkers and investigators to question the man she thought she knew. What did the laptop and the three-pages addressed to Erin reveal?

Person: Erin Carter
Age: 24
Location: Dunhill (Whitmore Street apartment)
Amount: $11,200
Transfers: 4

- First contact on MatchBoard occurred in early October and moved to video calls by November.
- Four separate wire transfers occurred between mid-November and early December totaling $11,200.
- Erin updated a paper ledger every Sunday night without exception, recording each transaction.
- The neoprene sleeve with a laptop and three handwritten pages addressed to "My dearest Erin" was pulled from the shallows at the Route 7 bridge sandbar on December 9.
- The profile photo for "Clifford Osterfeld" of Tacoma returned matches under different names and cities in 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/73057404Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:54 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Man Who Loved Her Ledger: How "Clifford" Drained $11,200 Fear of being expertly fooled: a meticulous 24-year-old who tracked every dollar still lost $11,200 after six weeks of online romance and careful trust - how did four transfers vanish...
Fear of being expertly fooled: a meticulous 24-year-old who tracked every dollar still lost $11,200 after six weeks of online romance and careful trust - how did four transfers vanish into a profile that wasn't real? Who was the person behind "Clifford," and why was a dry, handwritten letter found with a laptop at the Route 7 bridge?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the first MatchBoard message to the discovery that changed everything, laying out the timeline of transfers, the preserved ledger, and the clues that led coworkers and investigators to question the man she thought she knew. What did the laptop and the three-pages addressed to Erin reveal?

Person: Erin Carter
Age: 24
Location: Dunhill (Whitmore Street apartment)
Amount: $11,200
Transfers: 4

- First contact on MatchBoard occurred in early October and moved to video calls by November.
- Four separate wire transfers occurred between mid-November and early December totaling $11,200.
- Erin updated a paper ledger every Sunday night without exception, recording each transaction.
- The neoprene sleeve with a laptop and three handwritten pages addressed to "My dearest Erin" was pulled from the shallows at the Route 7 bridge sandbar on December 9.
- The profile photo for "Clifford Osterfeld" of Tacoma returned matches under different names and cities in 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.]]>1107falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-pretended-to-survive-how-connie-stole-angela-s-trust-and-life-savings--73057403
Fear that someone who shared your scars could be the person who quietly takes everything - Angela found a sealed envelope with a note she already kept, a private Facebook group founded by "Connie Webb" used photos stolen from a real man, and over 19 months Angela sent $61,400 in transfers; who built that friendship and why did the real-life trail end at a taillight stop?

In this episode, we present the timeline and key discoveries from Angela Stroud’s case: how an online support group evolved into a long con, the moment physical mail connected to the deception, and the question investigators followed from a roadside encounter to missing savings.

Person: Angela Stroud
Event: Found sealed envelope in box elder tree on November 12, 2019
Group: "After the Storm - Breast Cancer Survivors Network" (about 400 members)
Total: $61,400 sent over nineteen months
Stop: Man stopped with Tennessee plates on Route 9 approximately three miles from Angela’s house (about fourteen months before the mailed book)

- Angela was 34 when she found the lump and underwent surgery and two rounds of chemotherapy.
- The Facebook group was joined by Angela in early 2017 and had roughly 400 members.
- Photos on "Connie Webb"’s account were uploaded in a single session from a prepaid device in February 2014.
- Angela made seven transfers totaling $61,400 into three accounts over nineteen months starting March 2018.
- A man using the name Mark Pruitt with Tennessee-plated car was stopped by a Greer County deputy on Route 9 about three miles from Angela’s house about fourteen months before a book was mailed to her.

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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/73057403Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:51 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Pretended to Survive: How "Connie" Stole Angela's Trust and Life Savings Fear that someone who shared your scars could be the person who quietly takes everything - Angela found a sealed envelope with a note she already kept, a private Facebook...
Fear that someone who shared your scars could be the person who quietly takes everything - Angela found a sealed envelope with a note she already kept, a private Facebook group founded by "Connie Webb" used photos stolen from a real man, and over 19 months Angela sent $61,400 in transfers; who built that friendship and why did the real-life trail end at a taillight stop?

In this episode, we present the timeline and key discoveries from Angela Stroud’s case: how an online support group evolved into a long con, the moment physical mail connected to the deception, and the question investigators followed from a roadside encounter to missing savings.

Person: Angela Stroud
Event: Found sealed envelope in box elder tree on November 12, 2019
Group: "After the Storm - Breast Cancer Survivors Network" (about 400 members)
Total: $61,400 sent over nineteen months
Stop: Man stopped with Tennessee plates on Route 9 approximately three miles from Angela’s house (about fourteen months before the mailed book)

- Angela was 34 when she found the lump and underwent surgery and two rounds of chemotherapy.
- The Facebook group was joined by Angela in early 2017 and had roughly 400 members.
- Photos on "Connie Webb"’s account were uploaded in a single session from a prepaid device in February 2014.
- Angela made seven transfers totaling $61,400 into three accounts over nineteen months starting March 2018.
- A man using the name Mark Pruitt with Tennessee-plated car was stopped by a Greer County deputy on Route 9 about three miles from Angela’s house about fourteen months before a book was mailed to her.

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.]]>989falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/forty-one-envelopes-how-a-caretaker-s-letters-became-11-340-scam--73057402
There is a slow, intimate violence in how trust can be built letter by letter: forty-one handwritten envelopes, two years and five months of correspondence, and $11,340 sent in nine small transfers - all tied to a man who did not exist. Who watched her life closely enough to exploit a volunteer program and turn private routine into a carefully timed con?

In this episode, we follow the chain of events from the gravel-stacked envelopes to the financial trails investigators traced, outlining how a legitimate pen pal program and routine clinic visits became the entry points for fraud. What detail, visible for years in plain sight, finally unraveled the scheme?

Person: Megan Watson
Person: Roy Wright (alias)
Person: Victor Nance
Date: March 2020 (first assignment); September 2022 (last transfer)
Amount: $11,340

- 41 envelopes containing two years and five months of letters were found stacked and bound under a mailbox.
- Megan Watson turned 61 in August 2022 and had worked 14 years as a patient-intake coordinator at Bellridge orthopedic clinic.
- The first financial request occurred in March 2021 for $80 to cover a nephew’s medical co-payment.
- Nine payments totaling $11,340 were made between March 2021 and September 2022.
- A reverse image search matched a photo in Roy’s third letter to Marcus Webb, a 43-year-old logistics coordinator in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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/73057402Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:49 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTForty-One Envelopes: How a Caretaker's Letters Became $11,340 Scam There is a slow, intimate violence in how trust can be built letter by letter: forty-one handwritten envelopes, two years and five months of correspondence, and $11,340 sent in nine...
There is a slow, intimate violence in how trust can be built letter by letter: forty-one handwritten envelopes, two years and five months of correspondence, and $11,340 sent in nine small transfers - all tied to a man who did not exist. Who watched her life closely enough to exploit a volunteer program and turn private routine into a carefully timed con?

In this episode, we follow the chain of events from the gravel-stacked envelopes to the financial trails investigators traced, outlining how a legitimate pen pal program and routine clinic visits became the entry points for fraud. What detail, visible for years in plain sight, finally unraveled the scheme?

Person: Megan Watson
Person: Roy Wright (alias)
Person: Victor Nance
Date: March 2020 (first assignment); September 2022 (last transfer)
Amount: $11,340

- 41 envelopes containing two years and five months of letters were found stacked and bound under a mailbox.
- Megan Watson turned 61 in August 2022 and had worked 14 years as a patient-intake coordinator at Bellridge orthopedic clinic.
- The first financial request occurred in March 2021 for $80 to cover a nephew’s medical co-payment.
- Nine payments totaling $11,340 were made between March 2021 and September 2022.
- A reverse image search matched a photo in Roy’s third letter to Marcus Webb, a 43-year-old logistics coordinator in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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.]]>995falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-river-laptop-that-unmasked-a-fake-lover-and-11-300-in-lies--73057401
Loneliness turned to betrayal: a retired postal worker found a powered laptop on a river rock after a flood, and that device led investigators to unravel eight months of manufactured romance and $11,300 lost to wire fraud. How did a glowing screen on the Allegheny become the first clue that exposed a fraud ring operating within two miles of its victims?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a morning walk to subpoenas and bank flags, describing the people, places, and digital traces that connected eleven victims across two zip codes to transfers ending in Lagos - and asking how a single laptop pointed straight at a third-floor office and a name that turned out to be real.

Person: Kevin Simmons
Location: Allegheny River, south of Millhaven, Pennsylvania
Date: September 9, 2017
Case: Eleven victims across two zip codes
Event: Nine wire transfers totaling $11,300 by June 2017

- The laptop was found dry and still on a flat rock three days after the Allegheny River flooded.
- Ronald Slater sent nine wire transfers totaling $11,300 between January and June 2017.
- The laptop's partial serial number matched equipment tied to a commercial sublease on Garfield Avenue, third floor.
- Investigator John Hall received the laptop photos by 9:40 AM and had subpoenaed a flagged bank account on September 6.
- Ronald had a scheduled additional wire of $1,400 for September 12 that would not be sent after the investigation.

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/73057401Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:46 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe River Laptop That Unmasked a Fake Lover and $11,300 in Lies Loneliness turned to betrayal: a retired postal worker found a powered laptop on a river rock after a flood, and that device led investigators to unravel eight months of manufactured...
Loneliness turned to betrayal: a retired postal worker found a powered laptop on a river rock after a flood, and that device led investigators to unravel eight months of manufactured romance and $11,300 lost to wire fraud. How did a glowing screen on the Allegheny become the first clue that exposed a fraud ring operating within two miles of its victims?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a morning walk to subpoenas and bank flags, describing the people, places, and digital traces that connected eleven victims across two zip codes to transfers ending in Lagos - and asking how a single laptop pointed straight at a third-floor office and a name that turned out to be real.

Person: Kevin Simmons
Location: Allegheny River, south of Millhaven, Pennsylvania
Date: September 9, 2017
Case: Eleven victims across two zip codes
Event: Nine wire transfers totaling $11,300 by June 2017

- The laptop was found dry and still on a flat rock three days after the Allegheny River flooded.
- Ronald Slater sent nine wire transfers totaling $11,300 between January and June 2017.
- The laptop's partial serial number matched equipment tied to a commercial sublease on Garfield Avenue, third floor.
- Investigator John Hall received the laptop photos by 9:40 AM and had subpoenaed a flagged bank account on September 6.
- Ronald had a scheduled additional wire of $1,400 for September 12 that would not be sent after the investigation.

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.]]>1312falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-recognizes-his-face-not-from-the-photos-the-megan-petersen-case--73057400
Cold certainty turned into a slow-burning doubt: a silver-framed photograph signed "Daniel" appears on the porch of a 48-year-old occupational therapist in Dellbrook, Ohio, and the man in the picture had never been there. Three stolen identities, at least two women who loved a man who did not exist, and a photo lifted from a private Facebook post-how did that frame become the first piece of physical evidence in a fraud that crossed county lines?

In this episode, we tell how a paper route discovery and a ceramics-class tip led a paralegal to notice inconsistencies in the frame and ink, and how those details opened a case about online romance, stolen images, and wire transfers. What sequence of small, plausible deceptions turned nightly calls and emails into financial loss and a fabricated life?

Person: Megan Petersen
Location: 4112 Whitmore Avenue, Dellbrook, Ohio
Date: August 2019 (photograph found), January-June 2019 (online contact)
Event: Photograph left on porch signed "Daniel"
Case: Fraud involving stolen identities and wire transfers

- A sixteen-year-old paper carrier, Melissa Myers, found the silver-framed photograph at 6:00 a.m. while running her route.
- Megan Petersen was 48 years old and had lived at the Whitmore Avenue address for eleven years.
- The first message from the profile "Daniel Whitfield" arrived on January 19, 2019.
- Megan wired $1,800 in April after "Daniel" described a subcontractor payment dispute; a second transfer occurred in May (amount not disclosed).
- The man in the photo was identified as Brian Hendricks of Traverse City, Michigan, whose image was taken from a private Facebook account 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/73057400Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Recognizes His Face - Not From the Photos: The Megan Petersen Case Cold certainty turned into a slow-burning doubt: a silver-framed photograph signed "Daniel" appears on the porch of a 48-year-old occupational therapist in Dellbrook, Ohio, and...
Cold certainty turned into a slow-burning doubt: a silver-framed photograph signed "Daniel" appears on the porch of a 48-year-old occupational therapist in Dellbrook, Ohio, and the man in the picture had never been there. Three stolen identities, at least two women who loved a man who did not exist, and a photo lifted from a private Facebook post-how did that frame become the first piece of physical evidence in a fraud that crossed county lines?

In this episode, we tell how a paper route discovery and a ceramics-class tip led a paralegal to notice inconsistencies in the frame and ink, and how those details opened a case about online romance, stolen images, and wire transfers. What sequence of small, plausible deceptions turned nightly calls and emails into financial loss and a fabricated life?

Person: Megan Petersen
Location: 4112 Whitmore Avenue, Dellbrook, Ohio
Date: August 2019 (photograph found), January-June 2019 (online contact)
Event: Photograph left on porch signed "Daniel"
Case: Fraud involving stolen identities and wire transfers

- A sixteen-year-old paper carrier, Melissa Myers, found the silver-framed photograph at 6:00 a.m. while running her route.
- Megan Petersen was 48 years old and had lived at the Whitmore Avenue address for eleven years.
- The first message from the profile "Daniel Whitfield" arrived on January 19, 2019.
- Megan wired $1,800 in April after "Daniel" described a subcontractor payment dispute; a second transfer occurred in May (amount not disclosed).
- The man in the photo was identified as Brian Hendricks of Traverse City, Michigan, whose image was taken from a private Facebook account without his knowledge.

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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.]]>1241falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-knew-her-sandal-how-a-grief-scam-led-to-a-deadly-lie--73057398
Fear of being betrayed while grieving - a coral pink size seven sandal found alone on County Road 14 starts a trail from a funeral to a $4,200 wire and a fabricated sick child; who built the lie and why did that shoe end up at 4:40 a.m.?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that connect a sudden death, an online grief forum, and a series of phone calls and money transfers that changed a widow's life; what does the sandal reveal about the person who watched her small attempts to move on?

Person: Gina Jones
Date: Paul Jones death in December (Tuesday)
Location: County Road 14, Harlan County, Missouri
Amount: $4,200 wired over three weeks
Platform: Steady Ground grief forum

- Road-grader operator Raymond Bowers found a coral pink size seven sandal on the shoulder at 4:40 a.m, on a Tuesday in late July.
- Paul Jones died suddenly of cardiac causes at age thirty-four on a Tuesday in December; he and Gina had been married eleven years.
- Gina joined Steady Ground seven weeks after Paul’s funeral and posted about daily details such as making one cup of coffee and Clyde the diabetic cat needing insulin at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- “Kent Moore” contacted Gina in late spring claiming to be a widower and civil engineer on a bridge-inspection project, refusing video calls but speaking by phone.
- Gina wired $1,200 in late June and $3,000 three weeks later after being told Kent’s daughter Sophie needed out-of-network care, totaling $4,200.

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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/73057398Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:40 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Knew Her Sandal: How a Grief Scam Led to a Deadly Lie Fear of being betrayed while grieving - a coral pink size seven sandal found alone on County Road 14 starts a trail from a funeral to a $4,200 wire and a fabricated sick child; who built the...
Fear of being betrayed while grieving - a coral pink size seven sandal found alone on County Road 14 starts a trail from a funeral to a $4,200 wire and a fabricated sick child; who built the lie and why did that shoe end up at 4:40 a.m.?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that connect a sudden death, an online grief forum, and a series of phone calls and money transfers that changed a widow's life; what does the sandal reveal about the person who watched her small attempts to move on?

Person: Gina Jones
Date: Paul Jones death in December (Tuesday)
Location: County Road 14, Harlan County, Missouri
Amount: $4,200 wired over three weeks
Platform: Steady Ground grief forum

- Road-grader operator Raymond Bowers found a coral pink size seven sandal on the shoulder at 4:40 a.m, on a Tuesday in late July.
- Paul Jones died suddenly of cardiac causes at age thirty-four on a Tuesday in December; he and Gina had been married eleven years.
- Gina joined Steady Ground seven weeks after Paul’s funeral and posted about daily details such as making one cup of coffee and Clyde the diabetic cat needing insulin at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
- “Kent Moore” contacted Gina in late spring claiming to be a widower and civil engineer on a bridge-inspection project, refusing video calls but speaking by phone.
- Gina wired $1,200 in late June and $3,000 three weeks later after being told Kent’s daughter Sophie needed out-of-network care, totaling $4,200.

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.]]>1158falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-wednesday-call-he-never-missed-the-wedding-dress-and-the-ledger--73057397
Fear that the person you trust most is disappearing right in front of you - and the proof is a damp wedding dress on your porch and a spiral notebook full of transfers. A woman who never existed convinced a man to wire at least $60,000 and a life of small, steady sacrifices; what broke the scheme was a property bought overseas. How did a ledger and a dress become the trail to a vanished son?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from a missed Wednesday call to a missing man, following the physical clues at Kellerman Road and the financial paper trail that Detective Bev Marchand found. Listen to how routine rituals, a dry-cleaning bag, and a handwritten ledger raised the question: who was Angela Mercer, and where did Steven go?

Person: Steven Tillman
Age: 52
Location: Kellerman Road, northern Georgia
Date last seen: approximately June 1
Investigator: Detective Bev Marchand

- Steven called his mother every Wednesday at 11:15 p.m, for three years without missing a single call.
- The wedding dress was found on the front porch in a dry-cleaning bag with condensation and red clay mud on the hem.
- A padlock like those used on storage units secured the front door while Steven’s cell rang unanswered inside the house.
- Steven kept a spiral-bound ledger with nine months of wire transfers, listing dates, amounts to the cent, and account numbers.
- The largest single transfer recorded was $60,000 withdrawn from his home equity line and sent to a Malaysian account in May.

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/73057397Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:37 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Wednesday Call He Never Missed - The Wedding Dress and the Ledger Fear that the person you trust most is disappearing right in front of you - and the proof is a damp wedding dress on your porch and a spiral notebook full of transfers. A woman...
Fear that the person you trust most is disappearing right in front of you - and the proof is a damp wedding dress on your porch and a spiral notebook full of transfers. A woman who never existed convinced a man to wire at least $60,000 and a life of small, steady sacrifices; what broke the scheme was a property bought overseas. How did a ledger and a dress become the trail to a vanished son?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from a missed Wednesday call to a missing man, following the physical clues at Kellerman Road and the financial paper trail that Detective Bev Marchand found. Listen to how routine rituals, a dry-cleaning bag, and a handwritten ledger raised the question: who was Angela Mercer, and where did Steven go?

Person: Steven Tillman
Age: 52
Location: Kellerman Road, northern Georgia
Date last seen: approximately June 1
Investigator: Detective Bev Marchand

- Steven called his mother every Wednesday at 11:15 p.m, for three years without missing a single call.
- The wedding dress was found on the front porch in a dry-cleaning bag with condensation and red clay mud on the hem.
- A padlock like those used on storage units secured the front door while Steven’s cell rang unanswered inside the house.
- Steven kept a spiral-bound ledger with nine months of wire transfers, listing dates, amounts to the cent, and account numbers.
- The largest single transfer recorded was $60,000 withdrawn from his home equity line and sent to a Malaysian account in May.

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.]]>1206falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-card-in-the-weeds-how-todd-walker-stole-her-father-s-home--73057396
A sealed greeting card found in the weeds beside a retention pond - dry after two days of rain and bearing only the line "Don't let them take this from us. - T." - became the single piece of paper that led to a shocked discovery about how carefully a scam was built one ordinary conversation at a time. How did a man who used someone else's photo and the language of crisis extract more than $20,500 from a trusted nurse and leave her family vulnerable?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline of messages, wires, and small domestic changes that reveal how trust was manufactured and money moved. We trace the online forum contact, the escalating wire transfers, and the neighborhood clues that turned a private grief into evidence - could a few texts and a borrowed identity really cost someone their home?

Person: Christine Powell
Person: Todd Walker (alias)
Person: Paul Beaumont
Amount: $21,500
Location: Dellwood Court, Calverton, Indiana

- Christine wired $8,000 from her savings on February 19th.
- In March she wired another $4,500 for legal fees.
- By late April she borrowed $6,000 against her 401(k).
- The total documented amount wired reached $21,500 across multiple months.
- A neighbor's reverse image search linked the profile photos to Paul Beaumont in Roanoke.

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/73057396Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:34 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Card in the Weeds: How "Todd Walker" Stole Her Father's Home A sealed greeting card found in the weeds beside a retention pond - dry after two days of rain and bearing only the line "Don't let them take this from us. - T." - became the single...
A sealed greeting card found in the weeds beside a retention pond - dry after two days of rain and bearing only the line "Don't let them take this from us. - T." - became the single piece of paper that led to a shocked discovery about how carefully a scam was built one ordinary conversation at a time. How did a man who used someone else's photo and the language of crisis extract more than $20,500 from a trusted nurse and leave her family vulnerable?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline of messages, wires, and small domestic changes that reveal how trust was manufactured and money moved. We trace the online forum contact, the escalating wire transfers, and the neighborhood clues that turned a private grief into evidence - could a few texts and a borrowed identity really cost someone their home?

Person: Christine Powell
Person: Todd Walker (alias)
Person: Paul Beaumont
Amount: $21,500
Location: Dellwood Court, Calverton, Indiana

- Christine wired $8,000 from her savings on February 19th.
- In March she wired another $4,500 for legal fees.
- By late April she borrowed $6,000 against her 401(k).
- The total documented amount wired reached $21,500 across multiple months.
- A neighbor's reverse image search linked the profile photos to Paul Beaumont in Roanoke.

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.]]>1159falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-left-a-flower-at-her-door-the-sherry-allen-romance-scam--73057395
Fear that the person you trust online is a fabrication - and that a few patient lies can empty the savings you built for a fresh start. A pink carnation in a plastic sleeve hid a Western Union slip for $2,350 and the beginning of a three-year savings fund gone in a single wire; who was the man on the calls, and how did he make a real woman's money vanish?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that followed a dating-app match and a video-call romance, from the first messages to the moment law enforcement uncovered a man watching a service entrance. How did fabricated identities, edited video clips, and a staged emergency persuade Sherry to send money from the exit fund she had saved for 37 months?

Person: Sherry Allen
Location: 412 Dennard Court, Calloway, Indiana
Amount: $2,350
Duration of savings: 37 months
Impostor source: clips taken from Derek Holm's social media

- The carnation was in a grocery-store plastic sleeve re-sealed with packing tape and contained a Western Union confirmation slip dated three days earlier.
- Sherry had built her exit fund with small deposits over three years before Wiring $2,350 on a Thursday in late March.
- The dating profile "Ryan Carlson" claimed to be a 34-year-old civil engineer on contract in Aberdeen, Scotland and moved conversations to WhatsApp within four days.
- Video calls occurred nightly between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m., lasting 20-30 minutes, using clips taken from Derek Holm’s social media and edited into calls.
- A man had been watching Sherry's service entrance from a parked car for three weeks before law enforcement intervened.

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/73057395Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHe Left a Flower at Her Door: The Sherry Allen Romance Scam Fear that the person you trust online is a fabrication - and that a few patient lies can empty the savings you built for a fresh start. A pink carnation in a plastic sleeve hid a Western...
Fear that the person you trust online is a fabrication - and that a few patient lies can empty the savings you built for a fresh start. A pink carnation in a plastic sleeve hid a Western Union slip for $2,350 and the beginning of a three-year savings fund gone in a single wire; who was the man on the calls, and how did he make a real woman's money vanish?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that followed a dating-app match and a video-call romance, from the first messages to the moment law enforcement uncovered a man watching a service entrance. How did fabricated identities, edited video clips, and a staged emergency persuade Sherry to send money from the exit fund she had saved for 37 months?

Person: Sherry Allen
Location: 412 Dennard Court, Calloway, Indiana
Amount: $2,350
Duration of savings: 37 months
Impostor source: clips taken from Derek Holm's social media

- The carnation was in a grocery-store plastic sleeve re-sealed with packing tape and contained a Western Union confirmation slip dated three days earlier.
- Sherry had built her exit fund with small deposits over three years before Wiring $2,350 on a Thursday in late March.
- The dating profile "Ryan Carlson" claimed to be a 34-year-old civil engineer on contract in Aberdeen, Scotland and moved conversations to WhatsApp within four days.
- Video calls occurred nightly between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m., lasting 20-30 minutes, using clips taken from Derek Holm’s social media and edited into calls.
- A man had been watching Sherry's service entrance from a parked car for three weeks before law enforcement intervened.

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.]]>1127falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-velvet-case-how-a-church-romance-stole-14-200-and-a-life--73057394
Fear and betrayal live in the small, familiar routines of Harker's Bluff: a navy velvet box in a church storage room, a man who knew your dog's name, and $14,200 gone from a woman's accounts. How did six months of careful observation and repeated acts of generosity turn into a consummate romance scam that left one life dismantled?

In this episode, we tell how a church acquaintance became a trusted presence in Kimberly Lewis's life and how a sequence of precise lies, loan requests, and staged repayments convinced her to send thousands. How did one man create enough trust to extract multiple transfers and what unraveled when a velvet box revealed the truth?

Person: Kimberly Lewis
Age: 54
Location: Harker's Bluff, western piedmont of North Carolina
Amount stolen: $14,200
Impostor alias: Scott Fitzgerald (real name Thomas Alan Pryor)

- First wired loan: $1,200 sent in January 2019 and returned three weeks later via Venmo.
- Second transfer: $4,800 sent after a late-February phone call about a legal retainer.
- Relationship duration before discovery: approximately six months (introduced in September 2018; discovery in early March 2019).
- Impostor's real identity and history: Thomas Alan Pryor, age 58, with fraud history in at least two other states.
- Photographs used by impostor came from Robert Caudle, a civil engineer living in Greensboro who had never been to Harker's Bluff.

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/73057394Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:28 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Velvet Case: How a Church Romance Stole $14,200 and a Life Fear and betrayal live in the small, familiar routines of Harker's Bluff: a navy velvet box in a church storage room, a man who knew your dog's name, and $14,200 gone from a woman's...
Fear and betrayal live in the small, familiar routines of Harker's Bluff: a navy velvet box in a church storage room, a man who knew your dog's name, and $14,200 gone from a woman's accounts. How did six months of careful observation and repeated acts of generosity turn into a consummate romance scam that left one life dismantled?

In this episode, we tell how a church acquaintance became a trusted presence in Kimberly Lewis's life and how a sequence of precise lies, loan requests, and staged repayments convinced her to send thousands. How did one man create enough trust to extract multiple transfers and what unraveled when a velvet box revealed the truth?

Person: Kimberly Lewis
Age: 54
Location: Harker's Bluff, western piedmont of North Carolina
Amount stolen: $14,200
Impostor alias: Scott Fitzgerald (real name Thomas Alan Pryor)

- First wired loan: $1,200 sent in January 2019 and returned three weeks later via Venmo.
- Second transfer: $4,800 sent after a late-February phone call about a legal retainer.
- Relationship duration before discovery: approximately six months (introduced in September 2018; discovery in early March 2019).
- Impostor's real identity and history: Thomas Alan Pryor, age 58, with fraud history in at least two other states.
- Photographs used by impostor came from Robert Caudle, a civil engineer living in Greensboro who had never been to Harker's Bluff.

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.]]>1127falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/tucked-photo-fake-soldier-how-a-stranger-lived-in-her-inbox--73057392
Fear that someone living inside your messages knows more about your life than you do: a photograph of a dead soldier was tucked into a sycamore three-quarters of a mile down a trail, and the man who sent it had been messaging a 22-year-old volunteer for months. How did a profile stolen from a memorial become the voice on Shannon's phone, and what trail of evidence did he leave from a rental house sixty miles away?

In this episode, we tell what happened after a message in a Facebook group led to daily calls, a routed number, and small moments that were collected into a pattern of intrusion - from an inside-the-car photograph to a license plate on a traffic camera - and ask how those fragments point back to the man in the rental house.

Person: Shannon Lewis
Age: 22
Location: Sutter Falls, Missouri
Impostor name: Derek Hollis (real soldier deceased)
Perpetrator: Grant Cook

- The photograph was placed tucked between the roots of a sycamore tree three-quarters of a mile into a trail.
- Shannon turned twenty-two in February 2020 and lived on Birchwood Lane six blocks from her mother.
- The real Derek Hollis died in a training accident at Fort Leonard Wood in 2017.
- Grant Cook, age 38 from Branson, Missouri, had prior convictions: check fraud in 2014 and theft by deception in 2017 involving $5,700.
- Cook made calls from a rental house in Polk County about sixty miles southeast of Sutter Falls using a routing app that masked his number.

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/73057392Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:32:25 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTTucked Photo, Fake Soldier: How a Stranger Lived in Her Inbox Fear that someone living inside your messages knows more about your life than you do: a photograph of a dead soldier was tucked into a sycamore three-quarters of a mile down a trail, and...
Fear that someone living inside your messages knows more about your life than you do: a photograph of a dead soldier was tucked into a sycamore three-quarters of a mile down a trail, and the man who sent it had been messaging a 22-year-old volunteer for months. How did a profile stolen from a memorial become the voice on Shannon's phone, and what trail of evidence did he leave from a rental house sixty miles away?

In this episode, we tell what happened after a message in a Facebook group led to daily calls, a routed number, and small moments that were collected into a pattern of intrusion - from an inside-the-car photograph to a license plate on a traffic camera - and ask how those fragments point back to the man in the rental house.

Person: Shannon Lewis
Age: 22
Location: Sutter Falls, Missouri
Impostor name: Derek Hollis (real soldier deceased)
Perpetrator: Grant Cook

- The photograph was placed tucked between the roots of a sycamore tree three-quarters of a mile into a trail.
- Shannon turned twenty-two in February 2020 and lived on Birchwood Lane six blocks from her mother.
- The real Derek Hollis died in a training accident at Fort Leonard Wood in 2017.
- Grant Cook, age 38 from Branson, Missouri, had prior convictions: check fraud in 2014 and theft by deception in 2017 involving $5,700.
- Cook made calls from a rental house in Polk County about sixty miles southeast of Sutter Falls using a routing app that masked his number.

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.]]>1019falsefull