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  • A Badge in the Snow: The Dennis Pruitt Murder Case

    A Badge in the Snow: The Dennis Pruitt Murder Case
    2026/09/03
    A Badge in the Snow: The Dennis Pruitt Murder Case

    A dry, laminated city employee badge was found above the waterline of a storm drain nine days after Dennis Pruitt went missing - a badge that should have been wet or washed away. What began as a missing-person report unraveled into evidence of a quiet, four-year scheme that siphoned between $640,000 and $710,000 from the city's parking-meter system; who stepped on the wrong seam of that machine, and what happened to Pruitt?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning Tammy Hayes found the badge to the clues in Pruitt’s private notebook and the surveillance footage that placed a white panel van near the drain. We follow the gaps in canister counts and the counting-room paperwork to ask whether noticing numbers that “don’t match” was enough to make someone a target.

    Person: Dennis Pruitt
    Date: February 11 (badge found); phone stopped pinging February 3; route on February 2
    Location: Dellmore Avenue corridor
    Event: Missing person and discovery of badge linked to parking-meter thefts
    Amount: $640,000-$710,000 stolen over four years

    - Badge was found face-up on a concrete ledge inside a storm drain, dry after nine days of melt.
    - Pruitt’s phone stopped pinging at approximately 4:00 AM on February 3, about four blocks from the storm drain.
    - On February 2, Pruitt serviced 14 meters between 1:00 and 3:00 PM; 11 canisters were logged and 3 were missing.
    - Dellmore Avenue corridor generated an estimated $9,000 per week in coin revenue.
    - Surveillance showed a white panel van registered to Dellmore Holdings on the corridor at 11:40 PM on February 2, stopped near the storm drain for about four minutes.

    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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    25 分
  • The $41,000 Restaurant Card That Exposed a Cold-Chain Conspiracy

    The $41,000 Restaurant Card That Exposed a Cold-Chain Conspiracy
    2026/09/02
    The $41,000 Restaurant Card That Exposed a Cold-Chain Conspiracy

    A laminated restaurant reservation card bearing the name Castello's Grille and "41,000" written in red ink was found face-up on frozen gravel behind a cold-storage building in Callender, Ohio - a card linked not to a dining room but to a freight rail line and a mystery that would take investigators fourteen months to unravel. What did a $41,000 notation on a restaurant card have to do with a cold-storage annex, a majority-owned logistics company, and an unreported lockbox holding $814,000 and twenty-two names?

    In this episode, we follow how a utility lineman's photograph and a Financial Crimes detective's persistence turned a discarded document into a federal-sized question about market control, hidden ledgers, and unexplained late-night freight deliveries. Who was responsible for the money trail that began with a simple reservation card and ended behind a false panel in a back office?

    Person: Lauren Rice
    Date: January 9, 2011
    Location: Garfield Street annex, Callender, Ohio
    Company: Callender Freight and Distribution (CFD)
    Amount found later in lockbox: $814,000

    - The card was discovered at 7:15 AM on a Tuesday morning in January, lying on frozen gravel at eleven degrees.
    - The card front displayed "Castello's Grille" with a dark green fork-and-knife logo; the back had "forty-one thousand dollars" written in red ink and underlined once.
    - CFD was acquired in 2004 by majority owner Harvey Doyle and grew from roughly 18% to over 70% of Callender's commercial cold-chain market by 2010.
    - Fleet logs showed CFD refrigerated trucks arriving at the Garfield Street annex as late as 11:00 PM, despite no recorded staff on site past 5:00 PM.
    - The lockbox behind a false panel was not opened until fourteen months after the card was found and accounted for $814,000 and twenty-two names.

    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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    26 分
  • The Creek Ledger: How a Runner Drowned a County's Secret Scheme

    The Creek Ledger: How a Runner Drowned a County's Secret Scheme
    2026/09/01
    The Creek Ledger: How a Runner Drowned a County's Secret Scheme

    A dark green hardcover ledger stood upright in eight inches of clear water on the eastern bank of Cresset Creek on the morning of December 11, 2009 - its pages dry, closed, and cinched with a rubber band. Sixty-one coded entries across three years would link routine permit delays to weekly payoffs between $400 and $2,200; how did a jogger’s call set off the end of a fourteen-year racket?

    In this episode, we follow how a runner found a ledger, a bookkeeper photographed a second set of suspicious records, and a two-person financial crimes unit used watermark and code patterns to map corruption through the county permit database - could sixty-one codes reveal who profited?

    Person: Kelly Long
    Person: April Mason
    Person: David Davis
    Person: Wayne Stewart
    Date: December 11, 2009

    - The ledger was found standing upright in eight inches of water at the eastern bank of Cresset Creek.
    - The ledger contained sixty-one coded entries covering three years of records.
    - Each coded entry corresponded to a business paying between $400 and $2,200 per week.
    - Vincent Greer had run the Bureau of Permits and Licensing for eleven years as of 2009.
    - April Mason had been David Davis’s bookkeeper and office manager for twenty-one years and was sixty-two in 2009.

    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 分
  • The $94,000 in the Alley: How a Marina Man Bought Silence

    The $94,000 in the Alley: How a Marina Man Bought Silence
    2026/08/31
    The $94,000 in the Alley: How a Marina Man Bought Silence

    Salt, diesel and the copper smell of cash - $94,000 in neatly banded stacks left in a marina service alley on November 4, 2014, exposed a seven-year scheme that monetized desperate boaters. Who organized the deposits, why the bills were banded and how a community maintained its silence until the boxes were found?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery, the people connected to the marina and the paper trail that linked facilitation payments to accounts and a ledger on a laptop. How did routine paperwork, waiting lists and small weekly bets become a system that funneled cash and protected itself?

    Date: November 4, 2014
    Location: Westbrook Marina service alley
    Amount: $94,000
    Person: Earl Padgett
    Case: facilitation premiums tracked on a personal laptop

    - $94,000 in mostly $20 and $50 bills were found in three intact cardboard boxes in a service alley.
    - Detective George Carlson arrived on scene at 8:15 a.m. after Padgett called at 8:00 a.m.
    - The marina has 212 permanent slips and a long waiting list for slip allocation.
    - Alleged facilitation payments ranged between $800 and $2,500 to move names up the waiting list.
    - Kathleen Dalton’s bank account showed $17,000 more than her two-year salary could explain.

    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 分
  • The Dry-Cleaner's Ledger: How Garment Bags Hid a City's Racket

    The Dry-Cleaner's Ledger: How Garment Bags Hid a City's Racket
    2026/08/30
    The Dry-Cleaner's Ledger: How Garment Bags Hid a City's Racket

    A routine Tuesday in October 2011 hid a six-year cash racket inside an ordinary dry-cleaning business: Apex Garment Care ran six storefronts, four vans, and a depot while 45 small enterprises paid weekly cash amounts from $200 to $1,200 into a ledger that used garment ticket numbers as codes. How did garment bags, mileage logs and a city inspector’s sign-offs keep this scheme invisible for so long?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the October morning when Leon Ward noticed the garment bags to the March 2012 financial review that flagged mileage discrepancies, tracing what the episode covers and asking: who in the city was keeping the operation sheltered?

    Person: Leon Ward
    Person: Curtis Parker
    Person: Todd Campbell
    Person: Tracy Wright
    Location: Renner Street depot

    - On a Tuesday morning in October 2011, a driver from Apex Garment Care loaded four zippered garment bags and a brown paper sack at the Halverson Arms service entrance.
    - Apex Garment Care operated six storefronts across Kellerton, a central depot on Renner Street, and four vans running daily routes.
    - Forty-five small enterprises paid weekly cash into the operation, with payments ranging from $200 to $1,200 per week.
    - The ledger at the Renner Street depot logged each account using garment ticket numbers as codes and was stored in a locked drawer alongside real tickets.
    - A senior city building inspector, Todd Campbell, had been part of the operation since 2005 and held final sign-off authority over certificates of occupancy.

    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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    25 分
  • The Cooler That Shouldn't Exist: $412K, A Destroyed Serial, and Secrets

    The Cooler That Shouldn't Exist: $412K, A Destroyed Serial, and Secrets
    2026/08/29
    The Cooler That Shouldn't Exist: $412K, A Destroyed Serial, and Secrets

    A cooler destroyed on paper turned up in a drainage culvert with $412,000 in non-sequential bills and dry ice still present - and its serial matched a unit listed as destroyed eight months earlier. How did a cooler signed off as disposed of reappear full of vacuum-sealed cash, and who built the network that relied on it?

    In this episode, we walk through the discovery on September 11, 2019, the operations of Pallerton MedLink, and the decisions that kept a parallel cash system running for years - culminating in the unresolved question of why the destroyed cooler existed when the records said it should not.

    Person: Frances Cox
    Date: September 11, 2019
    Location: Pallerton (county service road drainage culvert)
    Company: Pallerton MedLink
    Amount: $412,000

    - The cooler contained thirty-seven vacuum-sealed envelopes with dry ice still present.
    - The cooler's serial matched a batch of twelve units listed as destroyed in January 2019.
    - Pallerton MedLink operated fourteen vehicles and had been in business for eleven years by fall 2019.
    - MedLink ran two simultaneous operations for roughly seven years: a logged daytime service and off-log nighttime cash runs.
    - Cash was consolidated at a warehouse registered to an LLC in West Virginia and some funds were placed in an account in Linda O'Brien's name four counties north.

    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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    26 分
  • The River Sign That Hid a Nine‑Year Scam and Stole Kids' Money

    The River Sign That Hid a Nine‑Year Scam and Stole Kids' Money
    2026/08/28
    The River Sign That Hid a Nine‑Year Scam and Stole Kids' Money

    A bright metal sign in eight feet of cold river water looked like it had been installed that week - not submerged for weeks - and it belonged to a youth sports vendor whose invoices were 30-60% over actual cost. How did a piece of signage expose a scheme that ran through two towns, involved coaches and a bank vice president, and diverted money meant for nearly 3,000 children?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery and the chain of roles and documents that tied together Lakefield Youth Athletics, its longtime executive director, and a favored vendor, leading to the question: could a single misplaced sign really be the loose thread that unraveled nine years of organized overbilling?

    Person: Donald Romano
    Person: Laura Evans
    Person: Person: Todd Williams
    Organization: Lakefield Youth Athletics
    Number of children: 3,000

    - The sign was found upright in eight feet of water on a Thursday morning in August 2011 at 5:45 a.m.
    - Lakefield Youth Athletics served nearly three thousand children across north and south districts with a budget of roughly $400,000 annually.
    - Laura Evans ran the organization from 2006 and was fifty-one years old when Romano found the sign.
    - Todd Williams, fifty-eight, owned Williams Plumbing Supply and appeared on the approved vendor list; his invoices were 30-60% above actual cost.
    - The sign had been submerged for roughly two weeks before Donald Romano photographed 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.
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    26 分
  • inside door. Not paid; simply looked away

    inside door. Not paid; simply looked away
    2026/08/27
    inside door. Not paid; simply looked away

    A sealed plastic bag hidden in a cinder-block gap contained four years of handwritten ledgers tying local businesses to a linen service that quietly redirected city inspections and permits - how did a routine delivery route become a protection racket inside ordinary commerce? Who hid the records two weeks before they were discovered, and why did a mid-level city official and a family bookkeeping retainer keep the scheme invisible for years?

    In this episode, you will hear the sequence of events starting with the discovery on July 11, 2009, and follow the documented payments, route schedules, and the people whose records exposed the racket, asking whether everyday municipal processes were weaponized to extract payments.

    Person: Shannon Owens
    Date: July 11, 2009
    Company: Pellmore Textile Services
    Person: Alan Keller
    Person: Brian Tuck

    - The bag contained handwritten documents with dates running back four years.
    - Pellmore had 14 restaurant accounts, 3 hotel accounts, 1 catering account by 2003.
    - Drivers followed a fixed route: hotels on Mondays and Thursdays, restaurants on Tuesdays and Fridays, clubs on Wednesdays.
    - Monica Tuck received $800 per month from Pellmore starting in 2004 as a retainer for bookkeeping services.
    - Patricia Voss’s catering business was flagged for a seven-month review and closed by 2003 after declining Keller’s approach.

    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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    24 分