Épisodes

  • The Woman Who Kept a Refugee Card - And Everything It Hid

    The Woman Who Kept a Refugee Card - And Everything It Hid
    Oct 11 2026
    The Woman Who Kept a Refugee Card - And Everything It Hid

    Fear and fascination collide when a genuine UNHCR refugee registration card with the face of Marcia Whitaker and the name Amara Osei-Bonsu is found in frozen mud at a resettlement director's outbuilding - why had she kept another woman's identity for nearly fifteen years, and what did it conceal?

    In this episode, we walk through the discovery, the inconsistencies in a résumé, the growth of a rural resettlement program, and the unanswered questions that followed the photograph taken on November 9, 2019 - what did investigators find when they followed the trail from that laminated card?

    Person: Marcia Whitaker
    Date: November 9, 2019
    Location: Beech Fork Road
    Organization: Calloway County Resettlement Alliance
    Event: discovery of UNHCR refugee registration card

    - At 11:47 a.m. on November 9, 2019, county surveyor Amy Mills photographed a laminated UNHCR refugee registration card found in frozen mud.
    - The card bore the face of Marcia Whitaker but the printed name Amara Osei-Bonsu and was determined to be an authentic, non-forged UNHCR document.
    - Marcia Whitaker was the founding director of the Calloway County Resettlement Alliance for nearly 17 years and built resettlement infrastructure in Calloway County beginning in 2004.
    - Grant applications from the Alliance between 2005 and 2007 described the director as a survivor of conflict from the Horn of Africa who arrived in the U.S, under humanitarian parole in 2004.
    - Investigators found Marcia’s résumé contained fabricated credentials, including three years at a Cincinnati program that had closed in 2000 and a reference to Thomas Eddy, who had died the year before.

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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.
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    22 min
  • and found a framed diploma leaning against a concrete pipe

    and found a framed diploma leaning against a concrete pipe
    Oct 10 2026
    and found a framed diploma leaning against a concrete pipe

    A small-town superintendent resigned at 6:47 a.m. the same morning a contractor found a framed Master of Science diploma leaning against a concrete pipe under the district office - intact glass, square frame, eleven years on the wall. How did a forged Hartwell University degree survive in Dellard Unified for more than a decade, and what does that survival mean for the students whose reading scores rose under the woman who held it?

    In this episode, we tell the timeline of Cheryl Anne Parker’s rise from uncertified classroom aide to superintendent, the construction of a fake diploma and supporting letters, and the two separate opportunities the system had to catch the fraud - one of which was closed inside a filing cabinet. Which decision, and whose choice, allowed the forgery to persist?

    Person: Cheryl Anne Parker
    Institution: Hartwell University
    Person: Christine Henderson
    Date: October 2022
    Location: Dellard Unified School District administration building

    - The framed diploma certified a Master of Science in Educational Leadership and hung above a crawlspace for eleven years.
    - Parker arrived in Dellard County in spring 2011 at approximately 23 years old and was hired as assistant principal that spring.
    - By 2016, at approximately 30 years old, Parker was superintendent of Dellard Unified overseeing four schools and roughly 1,100 students.
    - Reading proficiency in the district rose from the 38th percentile to the 62nd percentile during Parker’s tenure.
    - In 2014, enrollment coordinator Christine Henderson wrote “No record found” on a credential verification form and then placed that form inside a filing cabinet.

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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.
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    17 min
  • He Faked a Food Career for Eight Years: The Frank Larsen Fraud

    He Faked a Food Career for Eight Years: The Frank Larsen Fraud
    Oct 9 2026
    He Faked a Food Career for Eight Years: The Frank Larsen Fraud

    A laminated press credential was found six inches above the waterline on September 4, 2019, and it belonged to a real Continental Table journalist - but the name it revealed did not match the man posing as a critic in Crestfield for nearly a decade. How did a stolen badge, a homemade press pass and carefully practiced language let one man quietly build a fabricated career in a town hungry for recognition?

    In this episode, you will hear how Frank Larsen arrived in Crestfield in autumn 2013 with two suitcases, a laptop and a signed lease, presented himself as a contributing critic for Continental Table and The Meridian Review, and wrote a monthly column for Carron Quarterly - so what finally exposed the fabrication and who noticed the inconsistencies?

    Person: Frank Larsen
    Date: September 4, 2019
    Location: Crestfield, Michigan
    Event: Discovery of Continental Table credential
    Publication: Carron Quarterly

    - Frank arrived in Crestfield in autumn 2013 at age 40 with two suitcases, a laptop, and a signed lease on Coulter Street.
    - He handed business cards listing Continental Table and The Meridian Review to local restaurants and introduced himself to chefs at Vessel and Maison Creutz.
    - Denise Edwards of Carron Quarterly began running his monthly column in 2015 after receiving his letter about fermentation.
    - The press credential was found stuck to the inside face of a concrete pier at the old cannery waterfront, six inches above the waterline.
    - Frank had originally found Craig Pullman’s Continental Table badge on a Manhattan sidewalk in 2011 and later produced a homemade replica using a color printer and laminator.

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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.
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    19 min
  • The Dead Teacher Who Lived: How Julie Green Fooled a Town for 13 Years

    The Dead Teacher Who Lived: How Julie Green Fooled a Town for 13 Years
    Oct 8 2026
    The Dead Teacher Who Lived: How Julie Green Fooled a Town for 13 Years

    A dry newspaper in a rainstorm exposed a thirteen-year lie: a woman living at 42 Wicker Lane had been waving from porches, running a board game club, and teaching fifth graders - but the name she used belonged to a man who died in 1997. How did Judith Elaine Elaine spend years living and working as Julie Green without being stopped, and who came closest to catching her before a paper carrier noticed one morning?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of documents, small audits, and routine procedures that allowed an identity to be borrowed and a teaching career to be built on a dead man’s credential. We trace Elaine’s discovery of James Walter Green’s death record and certificate, her step-by-step identity requests, years of low-stakes testing in schools, and the near-misses that almost revealed her - then ask how such gaps in systems and human attention stayed open for so long.

    Person: Judith Elaine Elaine
    Alias used: Julie Green
    Deceased person: James Walter Green
    Death period: spring 1997
    Discovery date: August 14, 2011

    - A newspaper left dry inside a plastic delivery sleeve on Wicker Lane had sat for three days after an overnight rainstorm.
    - James Walter Green was born in 1966 and died in spring 1997; his Indiana elementary teaching certificate remained active in the system.
    - Judith Elaine was born in 1949 and was about 49 years old when she found Green’s records in summer 1998.
    - Elaine submitted a replacement Social Security card request by mail posing as a family member, then spent three years testing the identity in substitute roles and seminars before applying in September 2001.
    - By the time Amy Mills found the dry newspaper in August 2011, Elaine had taught across seven district schools, ran a weekly board game club from 3:15 to 4:30 with a waitlist, and had accumulated over $22,000 in cash in a fireproof lockbox.

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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.
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    22 min
  • Una consejera de duelo que lloró hijos muertos frente a cada cliente nunca tuvo ninguno

    Una consejera de duelo que lloró hijos muertos frente a cada cliente nunca tuvo ninguno
    Oct 7 2026
    Una consejera de duelo que lloró hijos muertos frente a cada cliente nunca tuvo ninguno

    A folder left upright in a storm drain, a single clean black canvas shoe beside it, and thirty-one pages of forged grief-counseling documents - what begins like a small, eerie puzzle quickly points to a long con that let a woman grieve other people's dead without ever having lost a child herself. How did forged certificates, a dead supervisor, and a precise rabbit logbook keep her secret intact until someone dropped evidence in public?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from a storm drain discovery to the unmasking of Amanda R. Berry, describing the papers found, the people who trusted her, and the small inconsistencies that pulled the case apart. What did the folder actually contain, and why did it take a rubber-band-and-shoe to force the truth into daylight?

    Person: Amanda R. Berry
    Location: Portsmith; Cutter Street (practice), Dekker Street (neighbor), Creel County (Department of Human Services)
    Event: Folder with thirty-one pages of alleged grief counseling certification found in storm drain
    Date: Third week of July (found early morning on a Tuesday)
    Document detail: Forged signature of Douglas Hoff; practicum and transcripts bearing University of Madison letterhead

    - A black canvas shoe was found standing clean and undisturbed beside the folder in the storm drain.
    - The folder contained thirty-one pages, including transcripts, a practicum evaluation, and a clinical endorsement letter.
    - The signature on the paperwork matched Douglas Hoff, who had died fourteen months before Amanda opened her practice.
    - Amanda graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in communications, not in counseling or social work.
    - The last rabbit logbook entry was dated the morning Curtis Fahey confronted Amanda about credentials.

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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.
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    19 min
  • He Had Three Fiancées: The Dawn Price Identity Fraud

    He Had Three Fiancées: The Dawn Price Identity Fraud
    Oct 6 2026
    He Had Three Fiancées: The Dawn Price Identity Fraud

    The crawlspace at 14 Garrison Court hid three plastic totes, each labeled with a different name and each containing a complete fabricated identity anchored by a Social Security card, a driver’s license from a different state, financial documents, and an engagement ring-how did one woman make three men believe they were about to marry her? What did investigators learn about the weeks, the phone calls, and the false credentials that kept those lives separate?

    In this episode, we follow the facts of the discovery and the records to show how one person moved between three adjacent counties, created multiple professional biographies, and kept each relationship compartmentalized with a single recurring phone call-what finally tied the cases together?

    Person: Dawn Pellerin
    Age: 48
    Location: Crestfield, Orton, and Vance counties
    Event: Crawlspace discovery in June 2019
    Item recovered: Three engagement rings in jeweler’s boxes

    - The discovery occurred in the second week of June 2019 when lineman Lloyd Underwood lifted the crawlspace access panel at 14 Garrison Court.
    - Inside were three neatly stacked plastic storage totes labeled Nora, Christine, and Dawn, each with a Social Security card and a driver’s license from a different state.
    - Dawn Pellerin was 48 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with dark auburn shoulder-length hair and had been briefly married to Craig Price.
    - In Crestfield County she posed as Nora Fitch, a Tennessee-credentialed nurse (the nursing credential was a forgery) engaged to 55-year-old Phil Sauter.
    - Every Wednesday at 2:00 a.m. Dawn placed an approximately eleven-minute call to a prepaid secondary phone, a pattern that persisted through the period investigators reviewed.

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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.
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    20 min
  • She Faked a Degree - Built Skyscrapers Nobody Knew She Couldn't Sign

    She Faked a Degree - Built Skyscrapers Nobody Knew She Couldn't Sign
    Oct 5 2026
    She Faked a Degree - Built Skyscrapers Nobody Knew She Couldn't Sign

    A single laminated badge in gravel unmasked a thirteen-year-old fiction that let one woman design entire buildings and earn a directorship - while the university on her papers had closed before her claimed degree was conferred. How did someone with an associate's degree and a fabricated Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering pass national exams, lead a department, and sign off on work that held up under independent review?

    In this episode, we trace the timeline from a lost employee badge to the discovery that the named institution had ceased operations in 2006, and we outline how career milestones, test scores, and hiring decisions unfolded around that false credential. What made her deception so convincing, and what finally revealed the truth?

    Person: Jennifer A. Bennett
    Location: Crestline Business Park, Crestline, Ohio
    Date: May 2019 (badge found); degree claimed conferred May 2009
    Event: Claimed Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Carver Technical University
    Status: Carver Technical University closed in 2006 and did not offer engineering; Jennifer's name not on final student roster

    - Badge found face-up in gravel roughly forty feet past the Vantage Systems Group security gate by Roger Bell on a Tuesday morning in early May 2019.
    - Jennifer completed an associate's degree in civil engineering technology from Portsmith Community College in spring 2007 with $23,000 in debt.
    - She fabricated a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, claiming GPA 3.7, conferred May 2009 from Carver Technical University, a school that closed in 2006.
    - She scored at the 91st percentile on the Fundamentals of Engineering exam in 2013 after declaring the fabricated Carver Technical degree.
    - At Vantage Systems Group starting salary was $62,000 in spring 2015; within two years she built the structural engineering department, hired three junior engineers, and wrote protocols still in use.

    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.
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    22 min
  • The Photograph on His Doorstep That Cost Him $217,000 and His Trust

    The Photograph on His Doorstep That Cost Him $217,000 and His Trust
    Oct 4 2026
    The Photograph on His Doorstep That Cost Him $217,000 and His Trust

    A damp 8x10 photo on a welcome mat set off a chain that erased $217,000 and a curator’s certainty - and it began with a LinkedIn request about a textile. How did a single image and a carefully cultivated online connection turn decades of professional trust into thirty-one transfers across fourteen months?

    In this episode, we walk through the steps that followed that October morning: the messages from a supposed consultant, the two-hour video call, and the detail that tied the stranger to the museum. What small detail made Ronald Rice accept a relationship that would cost him everything?

    Person: Ronald Rice
    Date: second Thursday of October 2019
    Location: Whitmore Street, Crestfield
    Amount: $217,000
    Duration: fourteen months

    - The photograph was an eight-by-ten, still damp, found at 5:40 AM.
    - Ronald Rice was 48 years old and had been chief curator for 19 years.
    - His investment account sat at approximately $230,000 in autumn 2019.
    - The compromise unfolded in thirty-one transfers over fourteen months.
    - The initial contact was a professional network request in the last week of September 2019.

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