Episodi

  • They Hired a Genius - Her Diploma Was Fake, Her Designs Saved Millions

    They Hired a Genius - Her Diploma Was Fake, Her Designs Saved Millions
    Aug 20 2026
    They Hired a Genius - Her Diploma Was Fake, Her Designs Saved Millions

    A fake diploma hung on a concrete wall for years while the engineer it claimed to certify saved her company an estimated $400,000-so how do you reckon with work that clearly works but rests on fraud? This episode starts with a maintenance photo taken on May 14, 2019 and asks whether results can ever excuse deception.

    In this episode, we follow the emergence of Lauren A. Berry's career at Cortland Systems, how she taught herself advanced hardware integration after leaving community college, and the credential audit that eventually tore the paper foundation from under her achievements-what happens next?

    Person: Lauren A. Berry
    Company: Cortland Systems
    Location: Fenwick, Ohio
    Date found: May 14, 2019
    Savings estimated: $400,000

    - A framed diploma was photographed by technician Stanley Pruitt on May 14, 2019 in a service corridor behind a server room.
    - Berry redesigned a sensor array integration protocol that reduced signal loss by 22%.
    - She led a team of nine people and was being considered for a director-level position by autumn 2018.
    - Berry enrolled at a community college in Atlanta in fall 2013 and withdrew in March 2014; there is no record of re-enrollment.
    - Pennfield University reported no record of a Lauren A. Berry in their enrollment database in a letter received by HR in early March 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.
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    19 min
  • The Fake Pastor Who Married a Town - Then Her Lies Unraveled

    The Fake Pastor Who Married a Town - Then Her Lies Unraveled
    Aug 19 2026
    The Fake Pastor Who Married a Town - Then Her Lies Unraveled

    A town trusted a pastor with funerals, weddings, and counseling for seven months - and her ordination came from an institution that never existed. The discovery began with a leather portfolio on a church doorstep at 6:14 AM and ended with a detective at Connie's unlocked door; why she stayed is the question that won't let this story rest.

    In this episode, you will hear how a small-town search committee, a paralegal's Google search, and a morning runner's Facebook post converged to expose a carefully constructed life, and why the people she served remained convinced she was real.

    Person: Constance M. Fitzgerald
    Location: Harwick, Ohio
    Date: April 9, 2019
    Organization: Calvary Lutheran
    Investigator: Detective Ann Weller

    - Connie had led Calvary Lutheran for seven months before the portfolio was found.
    - The leather portfolio was found on a concrete church doorstep at 6:14 AM on April 9, 2019.
    - The parsonage had been empty for 14 months before Connie moved in.
    - Ed Paulson made three reference calls; all three returned positive responses.
    - Barbara Wynn searched accreditation and nonprofit registries in November 2018 and found no record for Crestwood Theological Seminary.

    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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    20 min
  • A meter reader saw a certificate for a military unit that has never existed

    A meter reader saw a certificate for a military unit that has never existed
    Aug 18 2026
    A meter reader saw a certificate for a military unit that has never existed

    Fear of being deceived by someone who wears valor like a costume starts at a fogged storm door: a meter reader noted a framed certificate naming the "914th Special Operations Detachment" - a unit that appears in no official Army record - and that single detail would unravel six years of a life built on meticulously forged papers. How did Carol Powell sustain a false military identity so convincing that veterans trusted her, and what finally exposed the one wrong number on her seemingly perfect DD-214?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the fogged glass to the veteran support group where Carol Powell volunteered, tracing the paperwork, the small verifications, and the people who trusted and later questioned her - what happened that made the discrepancy matter?

    Person: Gary Barrett
    Person: Carol Powell
    Person: Wes Caldwell
    Organization: veterans' support group
    Document: DD-214

    - The visible unit designation on the framed certificate read "914th Special Operations Detachment."
    - Carol Powell arrived at the veterans' support group on a Tuesday in the spring at age 41.
    - Carol produced her DD-214 at the third meeting when paperwork was formally requested.
    - The veterans' support group had a paid staff of three and operated on municipal grants and private donations.
    - Investigators found the DD-214 technically accurate in almost every dimension except for the unit designation.

    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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    21 min
  • She Built a Charity From a Storage Unit: The Kimberly Reynolds Fraud

    She Built a Charity From a Storage Unit: The Kimberly Reynolds Fraud
    Aug 17 2026
    She Built a Charity From a Storage Unit: The Kimberly Reynolds Fraud

    Trust in a small town was weaponized: a woman who volunteered three mornings a week built a foundation with $12,000 in cash, a storage-unit mailing address, and repeated Wednesday deposits - until a loan officer found no trace of the trucking company she claimed. How does a meticulously kept identity collapse in two hours when one question is finally asked?

    In this episode, you’ll hear how routine reliability, fragmentary stories, and small, perfectly timed donations created a convincing charity in Alderton - and what happened when a single skeptic started checking details that nobody else did. Will the mystery of the missing inheritance and the empty storage unit ever be resolved?

    Person: Kimberly Reynolds
    Location: Alderton, western Ohio
    Date: February 22, 2019
    Event: Storage unit discovered with blank stationery and no donated linens
    Amount: $12,000 initial deposit to foundation bank account

    - Reynolds volunteered three mornings a week for twenty-two months without missing a shift.
    - The Reynolds Family Charitable Foundation opened a bank account at Lakeview Community Bank with $12,000 in cash in fall 2017.
    - The foundation’s account was replenished four times, always with cash, always at the Millard Avenue branch, and always on a Wednesday.
    - Donations to Alderton Community Outreach included $3,000 for furnace repair, a cargo van, and boxes for a Thanksgiving food drive.
    - On February 22, 2019, Detective Wes Ibanez found a briefcase with 400 sheets of blank hotel stationery, a portable inkjet printer, a laminating sleeve, pre-cut card stock, and three uncapped pens - but no donated linens.

    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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    20 min
  • The Doctor in the Ditch: How a Forged Diploma Hid in Plain Sight

    The Doctor in the Ditch: How a Forged Diploma Hid in Plain Sight
    Aug 16 2026
    The Doctor in the Ditch: How a Forged Diploma Hid in Plain Sight

    A small-town routine hid a precise, patient deception: a University of Nebraska medical diploma in a Ziploc bag wedged by a fence, while the man it named was already seeing patients thirty feet away. How did a forged degree, a borrowed DEA number, and a Kinko's-printed reference letter let a non-physician treat an entire community for six and a half years?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the January 9, 2011 discovery behind the Millhaven County fairgrounds to the patterns that let the fraud continue, and we ask how three separate warnings failed to stop him before that dog found the folder.

    Person: Donald R. Hughes, M.D. (name on diploma)
    Date: January 9, 2011 (discovery of folder)
    Location: Millhaven, Indiana (Prentiss Valley Medical Clinic area)
    Period: Six and a half years (length of practice in town)
    Event: Diploma found in gallon Ziploc bag wedged between chain-link post and railroad tie

    - The folder containing the University of Nebraska diploma was found at 8:10 AM on January 9, 2011, thirty feet from the clinic.
    - Donald Hughes was 42 years old when he applied and presented forged credentials in summer 2004.
    - The nearest hospital with a full emergency department was 31 miles east of Millhaven.
    - A DEA number Hughes used matched a real physician in Portland, Oregon who retired in 1998.
    - A pharmacist first flagged a dosing concern in October 2007 after Hughes gave a specific laboratory value over the phone.

    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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    18 min
  • She Faked a Chaplain's Life for Four Years: The Sarah Owens Case

    She Faked a Chaplain's Life for Four Years: The Sarah Owens Case
    Aug 15 2026
    She Faked a Chaplain's Life for Four Years: The Sarah Owens Case

    A woman who had never been ordained, never completed required clinical internships, and who fabricated a Master of Divinity, spent four years holding hands and guiding the dying at a hospice - while her fake Saint Augustine Regional Hospice ID floated down a river into the light of a headlamp. How did she learn the language of faith well enough to be trusted by families, colleagues, and an institution for nearly half a decade, and what happened when the fiction unraveled?

    In this episode, we tell what unfolded from a riverbank discovery to the revelation inside a converted Victorian hospice house, following the paper trail, the friendships, and the moments at bedsides that blurred truth and care. Did competence and apparent compassion change the nature of the deception, or only deepen the betrayal?

    Person: Sarah Owens
    Location: Saint Augustine Regional Hospice, Dellwood, Indiana
    Date: December 2014 (ID found); January 2011 (hiring)
    Event: Four-year fraudulent chaplaincy at an 18-bed hospice
    Organization: Whitmore Theological Seminary (degree attributed but not attended)

    - Temperature at discovery: 28 degrees when the ID badge was found on a trotline.
    - Hospice size: 18 beds and 43 employees at the converted Victorian house.
    - Age at hiring: Sarah was 26 years old when hired in January 2011.
    - Time spent forging credentials: approximately 18 months creating false degree and certification documents.
    - Ordaining body listed: Interfaith Community Covenant of Central Indiana, which had dissolved in 2008.

    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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    20 min
  • The Fake Investigator Who Burned Dozens - Found by a Surveyor

    The Fake Investigator Who Burned Dozens - Found by a Surveyor
    Aug 14 2026
    The Fake Investigator Who Burned Dozens - Found by a Surveyor

    Fear that someone trusted to reveal the truth might be the very person who creates the lie: Nancy Evans found a laminated certificate upright in a drainage canal in a burned field in Teller County, Indiana, the only copy anyone could find. A man named on that certificate, Michael Farrell, built a credentialed investigator identity for nine years that he sold to fourteen insurance companies - so how did he keep getting hired while his file was quietly filed away?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery and the paperwork trail that tied a fabricated credential to decades-old arson convictions and to at least one case where the same man was both the arsonist and the investigator. Listen to how a certificate pulled from mud, a spiral notebook of koi feedings, and a memo filed away for six years raise a single impossible question: how close did he come to getting away with it?

    Date: November 2011
    Person: Michael Farrell
    Location: Dellwood, Pratt Mill Road, Teller County, Indiana
    Case: Forged investigator credential and arson investigations
    Event: Certificate found in a drainage canal after a field fire

    - The certificate in a brushed aluminum frame was found standing upright, undamaged, in a drainage canal in a burned field in November 2011.
    - Michael Farrell was 53 years old when Nancy Evans discovered the certificate.
    - Farrell purchased a laser printer in Cincinnati in August 2001 and fabricated the credential in September 2001 for $11.40 and about four hours of work.
    - Between 1993 and 1996 Farrell set eleven fires across three states under two different names before his first documented arrest.
    - Fourteen reports bearing Farrell’s name showed a statistical pattern noticed by forensic accountant Vivian Chu, who wrote a memo in 2006 that was filed and left untouched for six 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.
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    21 min
  • She Faked a Press Badge - 2 Million Listeners Deceived

    She Faked a Press Badge - 2 Million Listeners Deceived
    Aug 13 2026
    She Faked a Press Badge - 2 Million Listeners Deceived

    Fear that the person you trust to tell the truth is a fabrication: a two-million-listener podcast, a laminated Northwestern press badge bought for $42, and a bungalow in Colton Falls where the only evidence left was a fake credential - how did a twenty-year-old turn notes from her mother into a multimillion-listening fraud, and who finally pulled the thread?

    In this episode, we follow the documented unraveling of Dark Meridian: how a show that reached two million listeners, earned a Webby nomination, and generated between $80,000 and $110,000 in merchandise revenue was built on invented towns, fabricated detectives, and sources who never knew they were being used. Who exposed the deception, and what broke the illusion?

    Person: Heather Crawford
    Age: 20 when she launched Dark Meridian
    Location: Colton Falls, Missouri
    Event: Dark Meridian reached two million listeners and received a Webby nomination
    Cost: Northwestern press credential ordered for $42

    - Dark Meridian produced 41 episodes across three seasons.
    - Season one achieved 100,000 downloads within its first season.
    - Heather called her mother Pauline every Wednesday at 11:45 PM and used her answers as source material.
    - The Meridian Summit in Kansas City sold 53 tickets at $85 each for a live event.
    - A paralegal, Patricia Dunning, traced the fraud starting from a parking ticket showing a Colton Falls address and an archived Northwestern subdomain page with a single-character altered URL.

    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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    19 min