エピソード

  • She Built a Fake Fortune - Found With Hotel Letterheads and Lies

    She Built a Fake Fortune - Found With Hotel Letterheads and Lies
    2026/09/10
    She Built a Fake Fortune - Found With Hotel Letterheads and Lies

    The idea that a demolished hotel's stationery could seed a small-town scam feels like a near miss with danger - eleven crisp pages on the Aldermere Grand Hotel letterhead, notarized and dated, turned up three miles into a run and pointed straight at a life that never existed. How did papers from a hotel torn down eight years earlier become the linchpin of a four-point-three million dollar estate claim, and who was Rebecca Keller really?

    In this episode, we trace the discovery and the local threads that followed, from a manila folder under a bench to the apartment that held the tools of fabrication, and ask what the documents reveal about identity, craft, and deception.

    Date: February 11, 2019
    Person: William Weber
    Location: Mercer Lake
    Person: Rebecca Keller Keller
    Event: Eleven-page estate summary on Aldermere Grand Hotel letterhead

    - The Aldermere Grand Hotel had been demolished in 2011, yet the found documents bore its letterhead in 2019.
    - The estate summary reported a value of $4.3 million in the name of Rebecca Keller Keller of Coleville, Ohio.
    - Rebecca moved to Coleville in December 2017 at age 61, paid three months' rent in advance, and lived in the Carston Building on Mill Street.
    - Investigators found 46 sheets of specialized paper, partial letterhead designs, and a portable heat press in a flat-file cabinet in Rebecca's apartment.
    - Rebecca had worked 11 years at Reston Forms & Graphics in Dayton, leaving in summer 2017 two weeks' notice before moving to Coleville.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    20 分
  • She Hung Doctor Diplomas-But the Residency Dates Couldn't Lie

    She Hung Doctor Diplomas-But the Residency Dates Couldn't Lie
    2026/09/09
    She Hung Doctor Diplomas-But the Residency Dates Couldn't Lie

    A small-town clinic displayed three mahogany-framed diplomas so perfectly level that a meter reader’s eye caught a date that didn’t add up: a residency certificate claiming completion in 13 months for a program that requires 36. What began as a paused arithmetic problem on January 9, 2019, unraveled nearly four years of an identity fraud that left an entire medically underserved community relying on someone with no clinical license - so how did she pass as a doctor for 3 years and 10 months?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the day Gail Marie Weber walked into the Millhaven Community Health Clinic with polished documents and a state license number that queried clean, to the moment a longtime utility reader noticed the discrepancy that triggered the unraveling. How could a 24-year-old with no clinical experience become the only doctor most patients ever saw, and what did the community lose in the process?

    Person: Gail Marie Weber
    Date: January 9, 2019
    Location: Millhaven Community Health Clinic
    Period: April 2015 - February 2019
    Case: Identity fraud as practicing physician

    - The residency certificate on the wall was dated December 2018 but listed a completion period of 13 months versus the standard 36 months.
    - Kimberly Parker had been reading utility meters on the same county routes for 11 years and noticed the diplomas on January 9, 2019.
    - Gail Weber was born around 1991 and left Trenton City in spring 2015 with $9,000 in savings at age 24.
    - The clinic board that hired her voted 4-0 in April 2015 after a 45-minute interview conducted by Robert Price.
    - Gail saw 12 patients on her first day at the clinic and remained the primary physician for the practice for 3 years and 10 months.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    20 分
  • The Woman Who Gripped Grief - And Never Had a Seminary Degree

    The Woman Who Gripped Grief - And Never Had a Seminary Degree
    2026/09/08
    The Woman Who Gripped Grief - And Never Had a Seminary Degree

    Fear and pity collide: a laminated ID in a parking lot revealed a Reverend who comforted the dying for years - but the seminary on her card did not exist. How did a fabricated M.Div. become the key that opened hospice doors, and what happened when the truth surfaced?

    In this episode, we follow the concrete events that led Jean Zeller from volunteer to paid chaplain and the specific discoveries that exposed her credentials as false. We trace the parking-lot photograph, the UPS Store credential, the voicemail registrar trick, and the unanswered verification calls - and ask how systems meant to protect families failed.

    Person: Jean Zeller
    Date: December 3, 2019
    Location: Meridian Pines care facility, Dunmore, Indiana
    Status: Hired chaplain, paid $31,000 per year
    Event: Laminated ID card stating M.Div., Southeastern Theological Seminary (institution not found)

    - Jean photographed a laminated ID behind a sun visor on December 3, 2019.
    - The laminated card read REVEREND JEAN ZELLER, INTERFAITH CHAPLAIN with M.Div., Southeastern Theological Seminary, Class of 1998.
    - A cousin searched accreditation databases and found no record of Southeastern Theological Seminary.
    - Jean paid cash at the UPS Store on Madison Avenue in Dunmore to produce the professional credential card.
    - Her salary at Meridian Pines was $31,000 per year after Phil Oberg hired her without verifying the nonexistent seminary beyond one voicemail.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    18 分
  • The Laminated Card That Blew Open a Fake Fire Expert's Life

    The Laminated Card That Blew Open a Fake Fire Expert's Life
    2026/09/07
    The Laminated Card That Blew Open a Fake Fire Expert's Life

    A discarded laminated card in a drainage ditch started a chain reaction that toppled four years of testimony and insurance contracts - a pristine card that read "Tammy Burns, Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator" and contained a self-constructed certification number taken from a fire report she should not have seen. Who was Tammy Burns, how did she turn self-taught mechanical skill into paid expert work for eleven insurers, and what exactly did that number reveal?

    In this episode, we trace the sequence of small accidents and deliberate choices that created a fake credential and a consulting career called Clearline Fire Analysis, from a storage fire in Rankin Township to contracts worth $90-$140 per hour - and we follow the laminated card to the moment everything unraveled. How did one plastic card become the detonator for uncovering a constructed identity?

    Person: Tammy Burns
    Event: Storage facility fire in Rankin Township on March 3, 2003
    Date: Card found November 14, 2011
    Status: Eleven insurance companies hired her as an expert
    Rate: $90 to $140 per hour

    - The laminated card was found half-buried under wet oak leaves on November 14, 2011.
    - Tammy admitted in a 2011 interview that she had set the Rankin Township storage facility fire from March 3, 2003.
    - By 2009, she had twelve clients and eleven insurance companies paying for her reports.
    - She printed fabricated letterhead for a non-existent Linden Risk Services and registered Clearline Fire Analysis as her employer.
    - Eleven insurers received reports bearing her claimed CFEI certification number on every contract and court filing.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    19 分
  • A Fisherman Pulls a Dead Man's Badge From a River: The Vanished Podcast Fraud

    A Fisherman Pulls a Dead Man's Badge From a River: The Vanished Podcast Fraud
    2026/09/06
    A Fisherman Pulls a Dead Man's Badge From a River: The Vanished Podcast Fraud

    A laminated badge pulled from a Wisconsin river named a Senior Investigative Producer who never existed, and a podcast that drew 600,000 listeners turned out to be built on invented towns, forged documents, and false witnesses-so how did a fake world make six hundred thousand people believe a murder that never happened? What does a plastic rectangle in the water reveal about the limits of trust in storytelling?

    In this episode, we tell how a man with a cracked Subaru and a stack of forgeries created a podcast that reached hundreds of thousands, what he fabricated to convince listeners, and the moment a retired schoolteacher discovered his own made-up identity-how did the scheme come apart when reality found its badge?

    Person: Jerry Foster
    Date: June 14, 2022
    Location: Cassidy River, three miles south of Maren, Wisconsin
    Topic: Vanished: The Cassidy County Files podcast
    Person: John Kowalski

    - 600,000 people had listened to the podcast claimed to be about a 1991 disappearance.
    - The badge found bore the name Gerald Mott, Senior Investigative Producer, dated October 11, 2019.
    - The podcast’s Facebook community grew to 40,000 members using seeded fake listener accounts.
    - John Kowalski registered Northfield Audio Partners in Delaware before launching the show.
    - Kowalski fabricated newspaper clippings, sheriff’s reports, and a county that does not appear in any Wisconsin municipal register.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    21 分
  • The Man with the Badge: How a Fake Psychologist Fooled a Town

    The Man with the Badge: How a Fake Psychologist Fooled a Town
    2026/09/05
    The Man with the Badge: How a Fake Psychologist Fooled a Town

    Fear that the person everyone trusted might be an elaborate fiction: the badge was the size of a business card with a holographic seal and a seven-digit ID, found in September 2019 hidden in a Gareth County crawl space - but the institution named on it did not exist. How did a man who never completed a doctoral program gain consulting privileges at three schools and a private practice serving about twenty families, and why did a three-sentence handwritten note explain everything without ever naming him?

    In this episode, we walk through the tangible facts uncovered by investigators and the moments that let a false credential pass unnoticed for nearly seventeen years, asking whether systems or communities failed first. What exactly did the sealed note say, and how did a laminated badge outlast a professional record?

    Date: September 2019
    Location: Gareth County, Kentucky
    Person: Harvey Patterson
    Institution: Pelham Graduate Institute (enrollment documented, attendance ~1 week)
    Status: Badge issued for non-existent Crestwood Developmental Institute

    - The badge measured the size of a business card, included a holographic seal, and displayed a seven-digit identification number.
    - The badge was found tucked behind a floor joist in the crawl space of a house owned by Donna Elrick, who bought the house in 2014.
    - Harvey Patterson held consulting privileges at two elementary schools and one middle school and maintained a private client list of approximately twenty families.
    - Investigators confirmed Pelham Graduate Institute enrollment in autumn 2002 with attendance at orientation and about one week of classes before Patterson stopped attending.
    - The manila envelope attached to the back of the badge contained a handwritten note of exactly three sentences, addressed only to the author.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    16 分
  • She Built a Lawyer's Life Using Her Twin's Name: The Marcia Mueller Case

    She Built a Lawyer's Life Using Her Twin's Name: The Marcia Mueller Case
    2026/09/04
    She Built a Lawyer's Life Using Her Twin's Name: The Marcia Mueller Case

    A labor arbitrator who wrote solid rulings, drove every Sunday to visit a dementia patient, and kept a toiletry bag of another person's credentials hidden in a government building basement - how do you explain a life built on her twin brother's bar admission and a forged law-school transcript? What pushed a woman to copy a 1979 bar certificate and work for twenty years under her twin's professional identity?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries and routines that made Marcia Mueller's double life possible, from the moment a septic worker found a bag of documents to the small citation that finally raised suspicion. How did a retired citation style and a misplaced toiletry bag expose decades of assumed identity?

    Person: Marcia Mueller
    Person: Douglas Mueller
    Date: August 14, 2011
    Event: discovery of toiletry bag in Halverson Building basement
    Location: Halverson Building, fourth-floor senior arbitrator's office

    - The toiletry bag contained a laminated ID card, a folded Creighton State certificate, two prescription bottles, a man's wristwatch, and a spiral notebook.
    - Douglas Mueller completed his law degree at Creighton State and was admitted to the bar in 1979.
    - Marcia was born in Grover Falls eleven minutes after her twin brother Douglas.
    - Marcia applied for a Walcott County position in 1989 using a forged law school transcript and a fabricated reference letter.
    - A clerk named Henry Pogue logged Marcia's renewed credentials in 2007 without further scrutiny.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    19 分
  • The Master Sommelier That Never Existed: The Portfolio by the Lake

    The Master Sommelier That Never Existed: The Portfolio by the Lake
    2026/09/03
    The Master Sommelier That Never Existed: The Portfolio by the Lake

    A counterfeit credential sealed with gold, a leather portfolio left deliberately on a park trash bin, and a small Wisconsin town that never asked hard questions until a dinner conversation unraveled seven years of deception-what was Erin Dempsey really doing with a fake Master Sommelier certificate in Millhaven? How did a single line in a wine atlas expose a lie that lasted nearly a decade?

    In this episode, you’ll hear how a found portfolio at Lake Carver led to the discovery of a falsified Court of Master Sommeliers certificate, the rise of a restaurant wine program credited for national praise, and the precise detail that began to fracture Erin Dempsey’s identity-could a corrected line in a later edition of a wine atlas be the smoking gun?

    Person: Susan Thorpe
    Date: July 14, 2011
    Location: Lake Carver, Millhaven, Wisconsin
    Event: Found leather portfolio with name Erin Dempsey, MS
    Topic: Discrepancy in Hargrove Wine Atlas editions regarding a 1989 Pomerol hail event

    - The portfolio was found at 6:30 AM on July 14, 2011 balanced open on the rim of a green metal trash barrel.
    - The name inside read "Erin Dempsey, MS - Master Sommelier" and carried the gold seal of the Court of Master Sommeliers.
    - Fewer than 300 people worldwide held the Master Sommelier credential at the time.
    - Erin Dempsey was hired after a 90-minute interview in spring 2004 at age 54 and helped Carver House earn three stars by 2008.
    - The Hargrove Wine Atlas third edition (1996) contained the hail date Erin cited; the fourth edition (2002) corrected that significant error.

    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.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    19 分