Episodi

  • Fisherman Pulls a Confession from the Water: The Mueller Cooperative Fraud

    Fisherman Pulls a Confession from the Water: The Mueller Cooperative Fraud
    Aug 27 2026
    Fisherman Pulls a Confession from the Water: The Mueller Cooperative Fraud

    A morning fisherman found a zip‑lock bagged file washed up against a cottonwood root, its blue‑ink label reading "SPREAD RECONCILIATION - DO NOT COPY - D. MUELLER," and inside were forty‑one pages that would reveal nearly $148,000 in four years of overbilling for road salt-so how did a trusted township trustee turn cooperative savings into a private windfall?

    In this episode, we follow the chain of events from a June 14, 2017 river find to the ledger that exposed systematic overcharges, showing how a county cooperative designed to cut costs became the vehicle for long‑running theft and why built‑in audits never happened; how did a reputation replace reconciliation?

    Person: Donald Mueller
    Date: June 14, 2017
    Location: Hollen County
    Topic: Cooperative overbilling for road salt
    Case: Hollen County Road Maintenance Cooperative

    - File recovered contained forty-one pages of handwritten accounting entries sealed in a zip‑lock bag.
    - Cooperative purchased roughly 1,800 tons of road salt per winter.
    - Mueller negotiated a supplier price of $61.40 per ton and invoiced townships at $82.00 per ton.
    - The per‑ton difference produced nearly $37,000 in one season.
    - Across four winters, overbilling plus inflated fees totaled approximately $148,000.

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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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    18 min
  • The Padlock That Proved a Seven‑Year Fraudulent Empire

    The Padlock That Proved a Seven‑Year Fraudulent Empire
    Aug 26 2026
    The Padlock That Proved a Seven‑Year Fraudulent Empire

    A single unopened Master No. 3 padlock in its factory plastic, with a price tag of $8.49 from a hardware chain that left Indiana in 2014, sat on a storage-unit floor in May 2019 and later became Exhibit Seven in a federal fraud case - how could one padlock reveal a seven-year scheme? What other ordinary detail would unravel a web of falsified auctions and missing investor funds?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries and documents that linked local storage auctions to investor losses and federal charges, tracing the path from a casual photograph to the question at the heart of the case: who was profiting from fake auction proceeds?

    Person: Laura Long
    Location: Clearview Self-Storage, Millhaven, Indiana
    Date: May 2019
    Amount: $22,000
    Case: Exhibit Seven (federal fraud case)

    - The padlock was a Master No. 3 in original plastic with a price sticker reading $8.49 from a hardware chain that closed Indiana stores in 2014.
    - Rachel Jenkins invested $22,000 in March 2018 after receiving that amount as inheritance in autumn 2017.
    - Grover Auction Partners' performance summary listed Clearview unit 114 sold May 18, 2018 for $2,700 with a $405 commission.
    - Clearview owner Phil Deaton's notebook recorded a private sale of unit 114 on October 6, 2018 to Marcus Freed for $600 cash and a $90 commission to Grover Auction Partners.
    - Todd Watson's bank records show a deposit of $4,100 on October 12, 2018 labeled "auction commission, Clearview lot, October twelfth," forty-five times the $90 recorded commission.

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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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    18 min
  • The Treasurer Who Emptied a Town's Memorial Fund: Betrayal in Harwick

    The Treasurer Who Emptied a Town's Memorial Fund: Betrayal in Harwick
    Aug 25 2026
    The Treasurer Who Emptied a Town's Memorial Fund: Betrayal in Harwick

    Fear and anger collide when a town’s memorial fund-built from small donations like $800 and $300-vanishes while official reports still show $61,400; how did its treasurer hide an empty account for more than three years without anyone noticing? What did Roy Jensen see on a Thursday morning in April 2022 that forced him to drive straight to the sheriff?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the April 2022 discovery to the decade-long pattern that allowed the fund to be emptied. You’ll hear how account balances, redirected donations, and trusted roles combined into one central question: how did a structure designed to look like the real thing replace the real fund?

    Person: Roy Jensen
    Date: April 2022
    Location: Harwick volunteer fire station annex, Calloway County
    Topic: Calloway Memorial Fund disappearance
    Status: Fund empty for more than three years

    - Initial reported balance seen by Jensen on the treasurer's computer: $11.43
    - Most recent report balance prior to discovery: $61,400
    - Original fund established in the late 1990s with roughly $63,000
    - Treasurer Marvin Tate took the role in 2014 and opened a second account within three months
    - By the end of 2018 the Bridger Savings account held less than $3,000

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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
  • The Tractor That Promised Four Loans and Stole $4.3M

    The Tractor That Promised Four Loans and Stole $4.3M
    Aug 24 2026
    The Tractor That Promised Four Loans and Stole $4.3M

    Fear that a single, ordinary piece of farm equipment could be the keystone of a $4.3 million fraud - a publicly parked John Deere was touted as collateral to four different lenders while its true market value was about $55,000. How did forged paperwork and cordial lending relationships let a $68,000 tractor anchor a multi-year scam that only ended when a birdwatcher took a photo?

    In this episode, we tell how a tractor photographed on a country road exposed overlapping liens, multiple investors and a company that appeared legitimate on paper; we follow the timeline from the first Bellridge loan in 2015 through private investors in 2017 and ask how that web of trust unraveled into fraud.

    Person: Kevin Russo
    Company: Meridian Equipment Solutions
    Date discovered: March 4, 2019 at 7:15 AM
    Item: John Deere 6155M serial L06155MXXXXX
    Loss amount: $4,300,000

    - The tractor was purchased for $68,000 at an estate sale in summer 2016.
    - Its approximate market value at discovery was $55,000.
    - Bellridge extended Meridian a $430,000 loan in fall 2015 secured by eleven pieces of equipment.
    - Two private investors contributed $214,000 (Frank and Doris Abner) and $90,000 (Janet Sully) in 2017.
    - The scheme had been technically insolvent for nearly two years before discovery.

    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 Man Who Sold County Fair Spaces - And Stole Everyone's Season

    The Man Who Sold County Fair Spaces - And Stole Everyone's Season
    Aug 23 2026
    The Man Who Sold County Fair Spaces - And Stole Everyone's Season

    Fear that a single handshake can erase a year's income: forty-one forged contracts, thirty-one spaces, and a vendor envelope found by a paperboy on an icy February morning. How did one man turn an eighty-dollar promise into a decade-long scheme that left bakers, carvers and smoked-meat sellers trusting a name that didn't legally exist - and who finally discovered the ledger of who had been duped?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events that led from a cooperative letter to missing booth spots, and follow the paper trail found in a fairgrounds envelope to the twelve-page spiral notebook that listed every vendor and their fate. What did the notebook’s markings mean, and why did so many vendors never verify their own spots?

    Person: Michael Dempsey
    Event: Envelope found with forty-one contracts
    Location: Calvert County fairgrounds
    Case: Calvert Vendor Cooperative / Hendrick Vendor Alliance
    Period: 2002-2017

    - Forty-one contracts bearing the Calvert County Fair seal were inside the envelope found on a fence post.
    - The envelope was discovered by a sixteen-year-old paperboy in February after his front tire skidded on ice.
    - The cooperative initially charged members eighty dollars a year; later regional operations charged up to three hundred and fifty dollars.
    - The cooperative carried as many as ninety members at its peak.
    - Dempsey tracked vendors and verification status in a twelve-page spiral notebook with a right-column marking system (checkmark or dash).

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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
  • The Quilters' Missing $61,400: How a Treasurer Stole Christmas Pool

    The Quilters' Missing $61,400: How a Treasurer Stole Christmas Pool
    Aug 22 2026
    The Quilters' Missing $61,400: How a Treasurer Stole Christmas Pool

    A winter morning discovery of a plastic bin in a frozen ditch revealed 143 checks, 11 undeclared deposit slips, and a yellow legal pad that accounted for $61,400 the Nativity Quilting Guild never received - so where did the money go? Who could turn a small-town savings pool into a paper trail that led from a ditch to a lockbox and a sequence of bank transfers that read like a confession?

    In this episode, you’ll hear how a community savings system worked, what went missing, and how a lone investigator followed the records from a nonexistent credit union account to the person entrusted with the funds. Could routine trust and a few manipulated documents hide a theft for years?

    Person: Patricia Holt
    Person: Roger Walsh
    Date: January 9, 2019
    Amount: $61,400
    Case: Nativity Quilting Guild Christmas Pool

    - 143 personal checks were found sealed in a freezer bag inside a lidded plastic bin.
    - 11 deposit slips recovered had never been presented at a bank teller’s window.
    - 47 members had enrolled in the pool by 2018, totaling $61,400 in the pool.
    - Patricia Holt increased her contribution to $800 in 2018 aiming for a house down payment.
    - Tammy Mitchell opened the sheriff’s financial crimes case on January 7, 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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    17 min
  • He Sold Them Water - Drilling Rig That Was Never There

    He Sold Them Water - Drilling Rig That Was Never There
    Aug 21 2026
    He Sold Them Water - Drilling Rig That Was Never There

    Fear of losing everything is quiet until someone profits from that fear: 47 farm households sent money for six years believing a shared well was coming, yet not one inch of earth was drilled. A padded work order hung on a chained, rusted rig bought for $300 - so why did dozens keep paying for a well that never existed?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline from the first April meeting in 2013 to the arrest in December 2019, following the people, payments, and paper trail that built the scheme. How did a man with real geological data convince a rural community to fund a well that was never drilled?

    Person: Thomas Chambers
    Person: Erin Marshall
    Date: April 2013
    Date: December 11, 2019
    Case: Clearwater Rural Water Cooperative

    - 47 farm households sent money to Chambers over six years for a shared water well.
    - Chambers registered Clearwater Rural Services LLC on October 14, 2013 at 4:47 PM and received the first membership check the next morning at 9:02 AM.
    - Chambers bought a drilling rig in 2015 for $300 at a farm liquidation sale and chained it to an easement on County Road 7.
    - Members paid $1,200 to join and $85 monthly thereafter starting in autumn 2013.
    - Erin Marshall paid roughly $6,000 to the Clearwater Rural Water Cooperative.

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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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    18 min
  • The Dentist Who Sold the Same Practice Twice - and Lost $420K

    The Dentist Who Sold the Same Practice Twice - and Lost $420K
    Aug 20 2026
    The Dentist Who Sold the Same Practice Twice - and Lost $420K

    The morning a runner spotted a cardboard banker's box on a car roof, the top page showed a loan for $420,000-and thirteen minutes later the car was gone. How did a trusted dentist sell the same practice twice and leave one buyer on the hook for $420,000?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first sale on August 9, 2018 through the second loan on September 14, 2018, and the small clerical details that let two lenders secure the same collateral. What one indexing error allowed a clean-looking second loan to slip through?

    Person: Keith Weaver
    Person: Gary Cook
    Date: August 9, 2018
    Date: September 14, 2018
    Amount: $420,000

    - Weaver opened Weaver Family Dental in 2001 and retired at age 50.
    - Gary Cook wired $420,000 to Keith Weaver on August 9, 2018 and took possession eleven days later.
    - Cook began repaying a loan to Crestfield Savings and Loan at $3,112 per month.
    - On September 14, 2018 Weaver presented Pinnacle Regional Bank with a loan package securing $420,000 against the same dental practice assets.
    - Crestfield’s lien was filed under Gary Cook’s personal name while Pinnacle searched the practice name, creating an indexing mismatch.

    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