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  • She Faked a Whole Ministry: The Linda Patterson Case

    She Faked a Whole Ministry: The Linda Patterson Case
    2026/09/10
    She Faked a Whole Ministry: The Linda Patterson Case

    A pristine, laminated ordination certificate was found half-buried in mud on Thomas Bell Trail in April 2019 - yet the paper showed no water damage, no creases, and no bubbling around the lamination. How did a 22-year-old from Millhaven invent a seminary, fabricate reference letters signed by people who never existed, and still get hired by a real congregation for nearly three years - and why would she bury a document she apparently needed?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a dog walker’s discovery to the courtroom, tracing the documents, websites, and printed letters that composed a false ministerial identity and asking the investigative question that drove the case: why bury a crucial certificate? Press play to hear how the evidence unraveled and what remained unanswered.

    Person: Linda Andrea Patterson
    Location: Belton, Ohio
    Victim: Gracewood Community Church congregation
    Date: 2016-2019
    Case Status: Resolved - guilty plea, September 2019

    - The ordination certificate was found in April 2019 on Thomas Bell Trail by Doug Ellison and showed no water damage despite being half-buried in damp mud.
    - Linda Patterson created Calverton Theological Seminary’s entire website in about three weeks using a $40 template and listed courses copied from a real seminary catalog.
    - The seminary had no accreditation, no IRS records, and no state registration in Virginia.
    - A replacement ordination certificate was ordered from a Millhaven print shop weeks before her arrest and later found on the trail.
    - At the preliminary hearing, Patterson paused for eleven seconds when asked to describe her fabricated mentor, Dr. Arthur Hensley, before saying she could not remember clearly.

    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 Uniform That Floated Upright: The Woman Who Wasn't a Veteran

    The Uniform That Floated Upright: The Woman Who Wasn't a Veteran
    2026/09/09
    The Uniform That Floated Upright: The Woman Who Wasn't a Veteran

    A spotless Army Class A uniform, still in its dry paper bag, floated upright in Dry Fork Creek the last weekend of March 2014 - eleven ribbons, two unit citations, and a black-stenciled collar reading "COLLINS, G." How did a woman with no military record build a life in a tight-knit town by claiming two deployments to Afghanistan, and why did nobody demand her DD-214 until it was nearly too late?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the uniform found on the creek bank through Gina Collins's arrival in Mableton around 2008, her volunteer work with the American Legion and the Veterans Services Advisory Council, and the small clues that eventually drew suspicion. What finally breaks the story wide open?

    Date: late March 2014
    Location: Dry Fork Creek, Mableton
    Person: Gina Collins
    Claimed Unit: Forty-First Forward Support Battalion
    Verified Military Record: none

    - The uniform found was an Army Class A, dark blue, hanging from a submerged branch still inside a dry paper garment bag.
    - The inside collar of the uniform was stenciled "COLLINS, G."
    - The uniform bore eleven service ribbons and two unit citations.
    - Collins arrived in Mableton around 2008 at age thirty-one and claimed two deployments to Afghanistan in 2004 and 2007.
    - A library volunteer noted the claimed unit, the Forty-First Forward Support Battalion, had been deactivated before 2004 and had not deployed to Afghanistan in Collins's claimed 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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    20 分
  • The Tuesday Volunteer Who Stole a Town's $112,000 Trust

    The Tuesday Volunteer Who Stole a Town's $112,000 Trust
    2026/09/08
    The Tuesday Volunteer Who Stole a Town's $112,000 Trust

    A small town trusted a woman who showed up every Tuesday morning for eleven months - and yet the leather folio buried in snow contained handwritten balance statements, wire confirmations, and a notarized letter claiming a $14,000,000 capital fund that were all fabricated. How did someone so present and trusted assemble an entirely invented financial life, and what did the town lose with that trust?

    In this episode, we tell the story of Sandra Meyer’s arrival in Dellwood, her steady Tuesday volunteer shifts at the food bank, the friendships that rooted her in the community, and the discovery that exposed the $112,000 trust theft - a story that asks whether consistent kindness can hide long-term deception.

    Person: Sandra Meyer
    Location: Dellwood, Wisconsin
    Date: February 11, 2019
    Amount: $112,000
    Organization: Vanterre Capital Partners

    - Discovered folio date and recovery: February 11, 2019, found half-buried against a hotel foundation.
    - Volunteer routine: Sandra attended food bank shifts every Tuesday at 7:45 AM for eleven months without missing a shift.
    - Claimed capital fund size: handwritten statements claimed a capital fund valued at $14,000,000.
    - Hotel evidence: documents were written on stationery from hotels in nine states, including Marriott Denver, Westin Atlanta, and a Hyatt in Charlotte.
    - Community ties: Sandra arrived late 2017, paid hotel cash, and within eight weeks was a familiar face at the food bank and Heritage Society events.

    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
  • She Wasn't a Doctor: The Lauren Zimmerman Case

    She Wasn't a Doctor: The Lauren Zimmerman Case
    2026/09/07
    She Wasn't a Doctor: The Lauren Zimmerman Case

    Cold trust can feel like safety until it isn't: a 26-year-old posed as Dr. Lauren Zimmerman, used a Vanderbilt diploma dated May 2008, and wrote 112 controlled-prescription scripts while the town's only clinic depended on her - so how did no one spot the math or the missing credentials until it was too late?

    In this episode, you will hear how a small Tennessee clinic hired a woman whose paperwork matched real licenses and registrations in fragments, how patients praised diagnoses that sometimes saved lives, and how colleagues noticed oddities yet stayed silent - what does that choice cost a community and its patients?

    Person: Lauren Zimmerman
    Location: Duvall, Tennessee
    Age: 26
    Event: Hired as clinic physician in March 2016
    Controlled prescriptions: 112

    - Envelope with Vanderbilt return address and "Dr. Lauren Zimmerman" was found wedged between a door frame and dryer vent.
    - Framed Vanderbilt University diploma in her files was dated May 2008 while she was actually 26 years old.
    - Tennessee medical license on file matched "Laura Zimmer," a license surrendered in 2014 after relocation to Canada.
    - DEA registration number used by Lauren belonged to a Louisville physician whose registration had been suspended the previous year.
    - The clinic's founding physician retired in autumn 2015 and the clinic hired Lauren in March 2016 after months without applicants.

    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 分
  • The Chaplain Who Never Existed: Portfolios, Lies, and Quiet Betrayal

    The Chaplain Who Never Existed: Portfolios, Lies, and Quiet Betrayal
    2026/09/06
    The Chaplain Who Never Existed: Portfolios, Lies, and Quiet Betrayal

    A leather portfolio left in a garden at 6:45 a.m. on December 14, 2019 contained ordination papers and continuing education records that looked real but pointed to organizations with no existence; how does a professional identity get manufactured and then sustain itself for years inside a hospice? Who benefits from that silence, and what breaks the trust when the truth surfaces?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that led from a planter discovery to a three-week investigation and the unresolved legal question in Ohio, mapping how forged credentials entered and persisted in an institutional record - and asking whether paperwork or presence defines professional legitimacy.

    Person: Marcia Ann Ann
    Date: December 14, 2019
    Location: Cresthollow garden
    Position: Primary chaplain at Cresthollow Hospice Care
    Salary: $41,000 per year

    - Portfolio discovered at 6:45 a.m. contained ordination certificate, continuing education records, and a laminated corner lifting.
    - Marcia Ann hired in March 2016 after submitting a fabricated credential packet produced over roughly six weeks using design software and a secondhand color laser printer.
    - Two reference letters submitted with her application came from colleagues Patricia Helm and Terry Nguyen who had observed her hospice work.
    - Four years (2016-2019) of annual continuing education certificates were filed by compliance officer Robert Egan, two of which named accrediting bodies that do not exist in any registry.
    - Prior work history includes roughly five years as a home health aide coordinator in the mid-2000s and volunteering at St. Agatha's bereavement program beginning in 2013.

    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 分
  • She Sold Fire - The Forger Who Burned a Man Alive

    She Sold Fire - The Forger Who Burned a Man Alive
    2026/09/05
    She Sold Fire - The Forger Who Burned a Man Alive

    The idea that a trusted fire investigator could be a calculated arsonist is terrifying: a forged transcript, seven years of fabricated credentials, and one subcontractor dead in a warehouse blaze. How did a folder found on wet asphalt and a neat embossed seal hide a trail of fraud and a murder charge that only investigators would eventually piece together?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a newspaperboy finding a soaked folder to the arrival of a forty-three page fire report that names the investigator at the center of the case. You'll hear how small-town reputations, forged documents, and technical jargon let a false expert operate for years - and what finally unraveled her story.

    Person: Cynthia Moore
    Event: Greer warehouse fire
    Date: October 2011
    Location: Hartwell / Larkin Park
    Case: Seven years of arson and credential fraud

    - A fourteen-year-old boy named Philip Marshall found a folder on wet asphalt around 2:00 AM on November 4, 2011.
    - The folder contained fourteen fire investigation reports, each bearing an embossed professional seal and one with handwriting across a photograph.
    - Cynthia Moore forged a transcript from Dunbar Community College using access to college document templates from property management work.
    - Moore scored in the 83rd percentile on the Midwestern Institute of Fire Investigation entrance exam after submitting the fabricated transcript.
    - The Greer warehouse fire resulted in one death (subcontractor Patrick Greer) and a forty-three page official report authored by Cynthia Moore.

    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
  • She Built a Murder Case From Nothing: The Sandra Simmons Fraud

    She Built a Murder Case From Nothing: The Sandra Simmons Fraud
    2026/09/04
    She Built a Murder Case From Nothing: The Sandra Simmons Fraud

    Belief felt like danger: a forty-thousand-person audience and more than $61,000 on Patreon were convinced a decades-old disappearance had occurred - but the case, the victim, and the detective were all fabrications. How did a former paralegal with no journalism training turn meticulous legal know-how and household props into national press attention and a devoted community that protected the lie?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events that created The Dellmoor Files, tracing Sandra Simmons’s path from paralegal to podcaster and showing how small contradictions and public-record checks began to unravel the story. What happens when a fiction accumulates real-world consequences, and who notices first when the light finally hits?

    Person: Sandra Simmons
    Event: Launch of The Dellmoor Files Season 1 in January 2016
    Subscribers: 40,000
    Patreon revenue: more than $61,000
    Found object: banker's box with 112 printed transcripts and a USB drive containing 41 audio episodes

    - On February 9, 2019, a road-grader operator found a banker's box in a ditch containing a press credential, 112 transcripts, and a USB with 41 episodes.
    - The Dellmoor Files claimed a disappearance of Patty Osgood last seen October 4, 2003, but searches of 14 sheriff's departments found no record.
    - Sandra worked as a paralegal for a decade, then self-published local history pamphlets for three years before starting the podcast.
    - By season three the show had launched a Patreon (season two) and cultivated an active fan wiki with listeners contributing theories and archives.
    - Listener Marcus Fell sent public records requests in October 2017; 13 of 14 departments reported no such case, and Deputy Al Pruitt confirmed no record.

    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 分
  • She Built a Career on Fake Degrees: The Kathleen Webb Case

    She Built a Career on Fake Degrees: The Kathleen Webb Case
    2026/09/03
    She Built a Career on Fake Degrees: The Kathleen Webb Case

    A basement wall of thirty-one framed credentials hid a two-decade deception in Bellard, Indiana - diplomas, licenses and board certificates all made from scratch to mimic legitimacy. How did a woman with no degree build a thriving child psychology practice that helped real children while depending entirely on fabricated documents?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the methods and the conflicts that define the Kathleen Webb case, from her departure from Harwick University to the discovery on Mercer Street, and we ask whether outcomes can ever excuse foundational fraud.

    Person: Kathleen Webb Webb
    Location: Mercer Street, Bellard, Indiana
    Date: Second Tuesday of September 2019
    Education: Enrolled at Harwick University in 1993; left without a degree
    Practice: Webb Case and Family Psychology Services, opened circa 2001

    - Thirty-one framed credentials mounted floor to ceiling on black drywall in the practice basement.
    - Webb left Harwick University in 1993 and took a one-week practicum at the Olander Center in summer 1996.
    - She worked as an administrative coordinator at a pediatric dental clinic from 1996 to 1998.
    - Miles Ochoa testified his son began speaking in complete sentences after four months of sessions with Webb.
    - Carver State University and the relevant American Board had no record of Webb holding the claimed doctorate or certifications.

    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 分