Relationship Cheating Stories

The Basket on County Road Twelve: How Love Became $50,000 Theft

Fear that the person you trust online is a perfect lie: a wicker Easter basket on a frozen meter box led to a fourteen-month fraud that stole more than $50,000 from cancer survivors in a Facebook support group-how did a scraped LinkedIn photo and careful messages turn into interstate theft? Who was really behind the man they called Dennis Wells?

In this episode, we tell what happened from the first message to the moment the basket was found and the totals added up, describing the people, the timeline of requests, and the small records that became crucial evidence. What did a spiral notebook, a scraped profile picture, and an empty rural property reveal about the scam?

Person: Connie Bowers
Person: Beverly Crane
Person: Robert Paine
Location: County Road Twelve, Harlan County, Iowa
Group: "Midwest Women After Treatment"

- The fraud ran for fourteen months before the wicker basket was discovered.
- Connie made transfers of $4,000 in May, $6,200 in July, and $11,000 by September.
- The wicker basket was found on a Tuesday morning in November at nine degrees Fahrenheit.
- The Facebook group was founded and moderated by Beverly Crane in Des Moines.
- The stolen total exceeded fifty thousand dollars from two women.

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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: [email protected].

The Green Mailbox: How a Love Scam Left $4,500 Missing

A $4,300 cash envelope, a raised flag on a green mailbox by a river, and a handwritten note that said "For the shipment. Do not go to the apartment. I will find you." How did a cautious 23-year-old social work student end up driving to a lonely trail before sunrise to leave that money? Who was the man she thought she trusted?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first handwritten letter to the mailbox drop and the discoveries that followed. You will hear how the correspondence began, the steps investigators took, and the unanswered question about the method that persuaded Janet Lawson to act.

Person: Janet Lawson
Date: October 9, 2019 at 7:41 AM
Amount: $4,300 in cash
Location: Keswick River Trail, six feet from the river bank
Correspondence: 41 handwritten letters postmarked from Accra found in a shoebox under her bed

- Janet Lawson was 23 years old and lived alone in a studio apartment on Delaney Street.
- Janet kept a 3.4 grade point average while finishing social work studies at Clover State University.
- The first letter arrived nine days after the NGO email that initiated the pen-pal match in September 2017.
- Keith Price opened a cash-paid mail drop box in Accra in August 2017, nine days before the fake NGO email was sent.
- Investigators found 41 handwritten letters, each postmarked from Accra, among Janet’s belongings.

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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: [email protected].

The Laminated Card: How "Alan" Bought Jean's Trust-and $9,000

A laminated index card with a handwritten code stuck to an electrical panel became the last visible trace of a year-long online romance that cost a teacher $9,000. The card read “For Alan - the code is 1-9-8-4, same as always. I trust you completely. - J.” Who wrote it, and why was it left on a house in Draper Falls?

In this episode, we tell how a thirty-eight-year-old fifth grade teacher named Jean Brooks met someone calling himself Alan Moore online, how their messages unfolded over thirteen months, and how small, specific money requests led to transfers totalling $9,000-so what exactly broke the pattern and left that card as evidence?

Person: Jean Brooks
Age: 38
Location: Norwood Terrace, Draper Falls, Ohio
Amount: $9,000
Timeline: August 2017 to November 2017 (first requests), correspondence continued thirteen months

- Jean bought a house in cash on Norwood Terrace and moved in with her cat, Biscuit.
- Jean created an online profile in August 2017; eleven days later she received a message from “Alan Moore.”
- Alan’s profile claimed he was an architect based in Portland, Oregon, deaf since birth, working on a long-term contract in West Africa.
- Between October and November 2017 Jean sent irregular transfers that totalled $9,000 after four financial requests.
- A laminated index card reading the code 1-9-8-4 with the signature “- J.” was found pressed to an electrical panel and later placed into an evidence bag.

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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: [email protected].

He Loved Woodworking - Then He Lost $74,000 to a Stranger

A retired woodworker vanished from his own kitchen while a fresh pot of coffee dripped - and he had already sent $74,000 to a man who did not exist. How did four months of online trust, a fake profile built from three strangers, and one voicemail lead Roger Callahan out the door and into disappearance?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a Facebook friend request to the morning Roger’s truck was gone and his wallet left on the dresser, tracing the clues investigators used to link a fabricated identity to a man in Louisville and the financial trail that followed. What convinced a cautious, routine-minded 62-year-old to walk out with a voicemail and never return?

Person: Roger Callahan
Date: August 8, 2019
Age: 62
Amount: $74,000
Location: Birchdale Avenue, Kemper

- Roger’s coffee pot was brewing and a full pot was hot when Michelle Smith arrived at 9:14 a.m.
- Roger had accepted a Facebook friend request from “Daniel Harwick” in April 2019 and spoke with him daily for four months.
- The profile photo used Steve Nowak’s images, which Nowak had complained were used without authorization about eight months earlier.
- The fake biography combined details from Alan Morse’s biography and emotional language from Tom Biel’s widower blog.
- Neil Bell, age 44, renting in Louisville, was identified as the man who built the false identity.

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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: [email protected].

The Beagle, the Waterproof Phone, and the $940 Grief Scam

Grief made him predictable: two daily feedings for a beagle, a half-mile loop, a warehouse shift at 5:45 a.m. That routine let a fake profile on a grief network extract $940 in staged crises, and a waterproof phone hidden in a sycamore root-powered on and registered to a man who did not exist-became the key to exposing a scripted fraud. Who built the operation and why no one expected the phone to be found?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a new Heartline Grief Network message to the discovery in Beller Creek, detailing how conversations, payment records, and a recovered phone connected to an organized scheme that targeted a recent bereavement. What investigators uncovered about the profiles, scripts, and timing explains how $940 was sent in pieces.

Person: Duane Fleming
Location: Crestline, Ohio
Dog: Hatch, ten-year-old beagle
Platform: Heartline Grief Network
Amount: $940 (sent over six weeks)

- Duane fed Hatch at 6:15 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. twice daily and walked the same half-mile loop every day.
- Duane joined Heartline Grief Network in February 2022, roughly three months after his mother Pauline died in November 2021.
- Messages from the profile "Eric Murphy" became daily by late February and continued for nearly four months before the first money request.
- Duane sent a total of $940 through a payment app in multiple transfers over six weeks, each following staged crises timed to his paycheck cycle.
- Investigators found in a storage unit three prepaid laptops, a laminated list of eight active grief profiles, and a spiral notebook with scripted emotional responses and interview questions.

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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: [email protected].

cream leather portfolio of withdrawal slips deliberately placed in Cutter Creek

The creek yielded a sodden cream leather portfolio weighted with a river stone and inside were bundled withdrawal slips, the largest reading $14,000-altogether $41,000 vanished and no one has been held fully accountable. Who carried the portfolio down to a roadless bend in Cutter Creek and why was Nicole Vogel waiting two hours and forty minutes at an airport the same week she wired thousands to a woman she met online?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from a June 11 discovery back through the months of messages, calls, and transfers that connected Nicole Vogel to a woman named Victoria Callahan. We map what Nicole did, what she trusted, and the unanswered moments that link a creek, an airport, and twelve financial transfers.

Person: Nicole Vogel
Date: June 11, 2019
Location: Cutter Creek
Amount: $41,000 total across 12 transactions
Person: Victoria Callahan (Vicki)

- A cream leather portfolio was found in Cutter Creek on the morning of June 11, 2019, weighted with a smooth river stone.
- Inside the portfolio were bundled bank withdrawal slips still banded in paper rings; the outer slip of each bundle remained legible.
- The largest legible withdrawal slip read $14,000.
- Nicole Vogel waited in the Indianapolis International Airport baggage claim for two hours and forty minutes and the person she was waiting for never arrived.
- Between late February and early June 2019 Nicole sent twelve transactions totaling $41,000 after requests presented as customs holds and official-looking documentation.

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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: [email protected].

The Planter, the Caregiver, and the Lie That Took Everything

A county surveyor found a ceramic planter with the name "Debra" fired into the glaze sitting exactly on a property boundary - a photograph later retrieved by a state investigator sparked a chain that began with a woman who sent nearly $11,000 to an online suitor. How did garden markers, payment apps, and borrowed identities become the evidence that something much larger had been lost?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a routine survey walk to the messages and money transfers that tied a home health aide to an online persona, and we lay out the concrete threads investigators followed to ask: where did the planter fit into the pattern that led to this financial and emotional unraveling?

Person: Debra Donnelly
Person: Franklin Oakes
Date: October 2016 (first message from Grant Young)
Amount: nearly $11,000 sent by Debra
Location: Millrace Road farmhouse, eastern boundary

- Shannon Stewart photographed the ceramic planter with "Debra" on it while walking the eastern boundary of the Millrace Road parcel on a Tuesday in May.
- State investigator Dean Thompson found Shannon's photograph in the county records three weeks after the survey.
- Debra Donnelly had been a home health aide for six years when assigned to Franklin Oakes in June 2016.
- In October 2016, a man using the name Grant Young contacted Debra through a private Facebook group for regional home health workers.
- The first monetary request arrived January 2017 for $1,400; three weeks later $1,200 was returned, leaving a $200 pattern-establishing difference.

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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: [email protected].

He Asked About Tomatoes - I Lost $11,000 to a Fake Lover

Fear that the person you trust might be entirely manufactured-this episode starts with a padded mailer found on a vacant porch and a romance that began with a question about tomato varieties. How did a conversation about grow lights turn into more than $11,000 sent to a man who did not exist?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a dating app message about tomatoes to months of calls, texts, staged repayments, and escalating requests for money, and we trace the single thread that exposed the scam: a question that felt intimate but was scripted. What revealed the operation and who was really behind the profile?

Person: Debra Erickson
Date: third Thursday of April 2022
Location: Millbrook Road, Tanner County, Ohio
Amount: $11,000
Profile name: Bruce Mitchell

- At 7:40 AM on the third Thursday of April 2022, Judith Barnes found an unsealed padded mailer on the porch of a vacant ranch house containing nine $200 gift cards (Google Play and Amazon) totaling $1,800.
- Debra Erickson was 53 years old, had lived in her Colonial house in Kellerton, Ohio for 19 years, and worked as a licensed practical nurse.
- Debra created a dating app profile in January 2022 and first received a message from the profile listed as Bruce Mitchell asking specifically about which tomato variety she preferred and whether she used grow lights.
- The profile photos for Bruce Mitchell were taken without consent from a public LinkedIn profile belonging to Stephen Hollis, a structural engineer in Portland, Oregon.
- The scam began with a $400 transfer in mid-March that was repaid nine days later as a credibility move; by early April Debra had sent over $11,000 via transfer apps, wire transfers, and gift card codes.

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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: [email protected].

He Wrote "All My Love": Four Church Fiancées, One False Identity

A small-town congregation’s trust was turned into a blueprint for deception: four identical pale-pink cards signed “All my love, Curtis” were found in a Ziploc bag wedged on a willow root, and within days four women in the same church had said yes to the same man. Who was Curtis, why had he prepared the cards before any proposal, and how did a routine morning walk and a reverse image search unravel the lie?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from the morning a neighbor found the bag to the moment a reverse image search exposed a stolen photograph, piecing together how one man used intimate knowledge of routines and personal details to create multiple engagements. What does the chain of events reveal about the man calling himself Curtis Snyder and the lives he touched?

Date: March 7
Location: Holloway Reservoir east path
Person: Curtis Snyder (claimed)
Person: Paul Gentry (photo owner)
Officer: Patrolman Ray Solis

- At 6:14 a.m. on March 7 a Ziploc freezer bag with four greeting cards was found wedged against a willow root at the waterline.
- Patrolman Ray Solis logged the bag into Pelham Police Department property room on March 7; it remained there for eleven days before its significance was understood.
- Each card was pale pink with watercolor roses, identical in every way, signed “All my love, Curtis” but addressed to four different women from the same congregation.
- Curtis Snyder, who presented himself as a 51-year-old civil engineer with a daughter, had proposed by phone to Angela Reed, Sylvia Morse, and Terri Anson within a 72-hour window in early March.
- A reverse image search on March 8 showed the photo Snyder sent to Angela belonged to Paul Gentry, a civil engineer in Akron, Ohio, who had no connection to Pelham.

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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: [email protected].

The Jacket on the Porch: How a Soldier's Face Stole Her Savings

Fear of being betrayed by someone you trusted crept in with an olive-green jacket left on a frozen porch and six wire transfers totaling thousands - how does a dry jacket in eleven-degree air lead back to a ledger and a stolen soldier's face? What was the moment Shannon realized the man she loved was a construction of stolen photos and old grief?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a September hiking photo to a February morning on a Drale porch, tracing messages, cedar-scented letters, and escalating money requests to ask how trust was rebuilt and then dismantled. Will the jacket on the porch close the loop on who profited and why?

Person: Shannon Berry
Location: Drale, Ohio
Person: Martin Foss
Person: Christopher Alder
Date: February (morning), September (photo), late October (first transfer)

- The jacket was left at 6:19 AM on a February morning on the porch at 2214 Sutter Mill Road.
- The jacket was a United States Army dress uniform, olive green with Staff Sergeant insignia, found dry in eleven-degree air with no footprints or vehicle tracks.
- The first wire transfer arrived in late October for $420 described as a military banking freeze fee.
- Martin Foss, age fifty-three, rented month-to-month in Edna, Ohio, and had two prior fraud convictions under separate aliases.
- Photos used in the fake profile belonged to Staff Sergeant Christopher Alder, killed in Afghanistan seven years earlier at age thirty-four.

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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: [email protected].