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  • He Photographed Crops Before Storms - How an Adjuster Stole $840K

    He Photographed Crops Before Storms - How an Adjuster Stole $840K
    2026/07/26
    He Photographed Crops Before Storms - How an Adjuster Stole $840K

    A rural betrayal: a licensed crop-insurance adjuster photographed healthy soybean fields weeks before storms, then used those pre-loss photos to inflate claims that paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars. How did forty-three sealed photos in a culvert, a cash envelope on a kitchen table, and years of habit expose a scheme that siphoned away federal crop-insurance money?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events and the concrete evidence recovered from a trail-side envelope to show how the fraud operated and who it affected, ending with the question that drove the investigation: how many other claims were built on Barrett’s pre-storm photographs?

    Person: Norman Barrett
    Person: Crystal Sharp
    Date: October 4, 2019
    Location: Monica Cooper Trail, Calloway County
    Case: pre-loss photographs used to inflate crop-insurance claims

    - Barrett had been a licensed adjuster covering Calloway County and three adjoining counties for eleven years.
    - The sealed envelope found on October 4, 2019 contained forty-three photographs labeled "FIELD 7, OCT 2017, BARRETT ADJ."
    - Crystal Sharp’s Field Seven claim settled for $62,000 after a genuine hail event in October 2017.
    - Barrett reportedly left cash payments to farmers between $8,000 and $14,000 in envelopes after claims paid.
    - Starting in 2014 Barrett routinely photographed fields in late August, taking forty to sixty images per field as a pre-loss baseline.

    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
  • The Treasurer's Secret: How $192,000 Vanished From Small-Town Raffles

    The Treasurer's Secret: How $192,000 Vanished From Small-Town Raffles
    2026/07/25
    The Treasurer's Secret: How $192,000 Vanished From Small-Town Raffles

    A small-town raffle turned into a nine-year puzzle when $192,000 in cash disappeared from an account managed by the booster club treasurer, and a red spiral notebook mysteriously appeared clipped to a fishing line four miles outside Fenwick - why would someone leave a ledger in the creek? Who benefited from five hundred and forty-one entries marked "pending transfer" with no follow-through?

    In this episode, we follow how a student’s class assignment, a fisherman's early-morning find, and a sheriff’s forwarded complaint came together to expose inconsistencies in the booster club’s records, asking whether trust and routine had masked deliberate theft.

    Person: Kenneth Miller
    Person: Rachel Roberts
    Date: September 11, 2019
    Location: four miles outside Fenwick
    Account: 4417 at Cassen County Savings

    - The notebook cover read "ML Booster - Deposits FY 2010 through FY 2018."
    - Kenneth Miller became treasurer in 2010 and served through 2019.
    - Nan Roberts donated $1,000 each year from 2011 through 2019, nine consecutive years.
    - The phrase "pending transfer" appears 541 times in the treasurer's ledger with no corresponding transfers.
    - Millhaven Lakes Regional serves roughly 1,400 students from Fenwick and three surrounding communities.

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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 分
  • The Lot That Never Existed: How a Trusted Neighbor Stole $11,000

    The Lot That Never Existed: How a Trusted Neighbor Stole $11,000
    2026/07/24
    The Lot That Never Existed: How a Trusted Neighbor Stole $11,000

    A trusted volunteer treasurer lost $11,000 to a scheme built around a parcel that county records show was never platted-no lot, no deed, no title. How did a community figure who ran a charitable raffle turn three years of careful savings into nothing, and who else was left holding the papers that proved nothing existed?

    In this episode, we tell the episode's narrative from the moment the surveyor noticed an iron stake in August 2019 through the steps that led investigators to financial records and missing funds, asking whether the trust placed in local civic ties masked a deliberate fraud.

    Person: Sharon Rogers
    Person: Warren Hunt
    Event: Survey discovery of orange stake, August 2019
    Case: Harvest Drawing / Harvest Drawing LLC
    Amount: $11,000

    - Sharon Rogers saved $11,000 over three years using a handwritten paper ledger with one column for deposits and one for running balance.
    - Sharon paid Warren Hunt $5,000 in November 2017 and $6,000 a few months later, totaling $11,000.
    - The county plat index showed Lot Fourteen, Calhoun Pines Phase Two, did not exist and the county had never platted a Phase Two.
    - The Harvest Drawing annual report for 2018 declared ticket sales of $46,000 while bank deposits for ticket sales totaled $19,000, a $27,000 discrepancy.
    - Between 2017 and 2018, $31,000 moved from accounts connected to the Harvest Drawing into Warren Hunt's personal accounts according to the forensic auditor.

    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
  • He Took Their Funeral Money - 430 Contracts, One Livestock Trough

    He Took Their Funeral Money - 430 Contracts, One Livestock Trough
    2026/07/23
    He Took Their Funeral Money - 430 Contracts, One Livestock Trough

    A septic tech found 430 typewritten preneed funeral contracts locked inside a galvanized livestock trough under a sheet of corrugated tin - and the trust accounts they referenced held about $212,000 at peak but only just over $9,000 by July 2019. Who built a paper trail that looked official enough to erase decades of community trust, and why were the papers left to burn under a county burn ban?

    In this episode, we tell how a local funeral home employee and longtime county resident sold preneed contracts that referenced a trust fund that largely never existed, how families like Edna Evans’s paid thousands that disappeared into mortgages and truck payments, and how Kenneth Evans’s two unanswered concerns became the hinge for the investigation that followed - what happened between the receipts and the trough?

    Person: Neil Donnelly
    Date: July 9, 2019
    Location: County Road 7, four miles east of Grover Falls
    Case: Donnelly Peaceful Passage LLC preneed contracts
    Amount: $4,200 (Edna Evans payment)

    - 430 manila folders found inside a galvanized livestock trough on July 9, 2019
    - Peak trust balance across clients was approximately $212,000, reduced to just over $9,000 by July 2019
    - Edna Evans paid $4,200 in September 2017 for a preneed funeral contract
    - Deputy Aaron Cole arrived at the scene at 9:15 a.m. after the septic technician called at 8:02 a.m.
    - By July 24, 2019, the named suspect was in handcuffs and unable to make bond

    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
  • The Truck-Bed Note That Exposed a $1.1M Small-Town Scam

    The Truck-Bed Note That Exposed a $1.1M Small-Town Scam
    2026/07/22
    The Truck-Bed Note That Exposed a $1.1M Small-Town Scam

    A single yellow legal note found in the unlocked bed of a plateless pickup sparked the unravelling of a $1.1 million scheme in a small Indiana town. How did a blue ballpoint scrawl - “move Gail's account before Thursday or we're done” - point detectives to a deadline, a person, and a fraud that had been dead for sixteen months?

    In this episode, you will hear how a photographer’s morning birdwatching led to an email to the Holt County Sheriff’s Department, the discovery of forged financial statements, and the quiet collapse of trust in a tightly knit community. What exactly did the note reveal about who knew, when they knew it, and why the theft continued so long?

    Person: Ronald Larsen
    Date: June 11, 2009
    Location: Cedarbrook, Holt County, Indiana
    Amount: $1,100,000 passed through the account
    Deficit: Investors were owed $1,300,000 while the account held $47,000

    - At 6:45 AM on June 11, 2009, Dennis Hensley photographed a pharmacy bag and a handwritten note in a pickup truck bed.
    - By noon the Holt County Sheriff’s Department had called Hensley; within nine days Ronald Larsen was arrested.
    - Larsen incorporated Holt County Growth Partnership as an LLC in February 2003 without required securities registration.
    - Thirty-one people invested; Gail Sanders invested $68,000, her entire liquid savings outside her pension.
    - Forensic accountant William O’Connor subpoenaed records on June 10 revealing the checking account balance was $47,000 while $1.1M had passed through 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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    19 分
  • The Treasurer's Tiny Rounding Scam That Stole Millions from Neighbors

    The Treasurer's Tiny Rounding Scam That Stole Millions from Neighbors
    2026/07/21
    The Treasurer's Tiny Rounding Scam That Stole Millions from Neighbors

    A quiet pattern of tiny rounding differences-just fractions of a percent-turned into a $1,840,000 loss for sixty-three local investors and it took a 16-year-old paper carrier to start the unraveling; how did a routine-looking treasurer hide this for nearly two decades? Listen to learn how small, repeated gaps in quarterly statements became the forensic trail that exposed the scheme.

    In this episode, we tell the episode’s events from discovery to forensic accounting, explaining who found the inconsistencies, what the statements showed, and how the trail led to a lifetime of public trust being betrayed. How did routine quarterly statements and a legal pad reveal a long-running scheme?

    Person: Craig Burke
    Person: Bruce Snyder
    Person: Scott Anderson
    Date: May 9, 2011
    Amount: $1,840,000

    - A sixteen-year-old paper carrier named Cheryl Watson found a partially open manila envelope at 414 Dellwood Avenue on the morning of May 9, 2011.
    - Craig Burke had served as Grover County Treasurer since 1993 and was fifty-one years old in 2011.
    - Sixty-three people handed Burke a combined $1,840,000, with most recovering only about $0.12 per dollar.
    - Bruce Snyder received thirty-two quarterly statements over eight years showing steady compounding to $68,412 before spotting two identical consecutive statement balances.
    - Forensic accountant Scott Anderson requested a subpoena, reviewed deposits and transfers at Pennfield Savings, and identified clustered deposits and withdrawals labeled "mgmt," "adv svc," and "fee."

    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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    16 分
  • The Fireproof Box in the Ditch: How 41 Families Were Betrayed

    The Fireproof Box in the Ditch: How 41 Families Were Betrayed
    2026/07/20
    The Fireproof Box in the Ditch: How 41 Families Were Betrayed

    Fear that the person you trust could be the one stealing your life savings begins this episode with a fireproof, Ziploc-sealed box found in a ditch holding $1,268,000 meant for 41 families - but left unlatched. Who wanted that box preserved and who wanted it destroyed, and what does the unlatched seal reveal about intent?

    In this episode, we tell the story of Meadowfield Estates Development, LLC and the people who paid deposits for lots and homes that never existed, following the discovery of the box and the questions that led investigators to a local contractor. How did community trust and paper documents hide a fraud, and what did the records in that box eventually show?

    Person: George Johnson
    Event: Box found in ditch on Timber Spur Road
    Date: April 9, 2019
    Amount: $1,268,000
    Victims: 41 families

    - The metal box was fireproof, Ziploc-sealed, muddy outside and completely dry inside when found on April 9, 2019.
    - Meadowfield Estates Development, LLC was filed in 2015 for $45 and had no operating account or legal land interest.
    - Jeffrey Phillips gave a $26,000 deposit in January 2019 as the 41st buyer.
    - A forensic auditor found a handwritten ledger short by $412,000.
    - A forged signature on a property option was dated, by ink and paper analysis, two years after it was supposedly signed.

    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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    17 分
  • The Retirement Circle: How a Small Town Lost $1.4M to One Woman

    The Retirement Circle: How a Small Town Lost $1.4M to One Woman
    2026/07/20
    The Retirement Circle: How a Small Town Lost $1.4M to One Woman

    Fear that a neighbor you trusted quietly emptied your nest egg - 31 members, $1.4 million passed through a scheme promising 6.2% returns, and a soggy banker’s box on a back step that started the unravelling; who was Peggy Lawson really and how did she keep her town convinced for nine years?

    In this episode, we tell what was found in the cardboard box on Birchfield Street and how the Varden Retirement Circle operated, showing the documents, the quarterly statements, and the moment a withdrawal request triggered an investigation; can the damp papers answer how funds moved between members?

    Person: Peggy Lawson
    Location: Callum, Varden County
    Event: Discovery of documents on March 11, 2009
    Case: Varden Retirement Circle
    Total amount: $1,400,000

    - The Circle had 31 members and ran for nine years.
    - The scheme reported a 6.2% annual compound return, paid quarterly.
    - Vera Stanton joined in 2003 with $22,000 and was paid back from other members’ funds in 2005.
    - Shannon Foster joined in 2007 with $31,000 and requested an $8,000 partial withdrawal in February 2009.
    - Carol Richardson found the damp banker’s box of documents on March 11, 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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    20 分