1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:09,719 Speaker 1: Coo Zone Media. In June of twenty twenty four, Michael 2 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: Schuyer had a disagreement with a coworker. It isn't clear 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: from the court records, so I couldn't tell you exactly 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: what was said. He says there was a difference of 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: opinion over a workplace matter. But he's in federal prison 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: and two of his coworkers now have restraining orders against him, 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: So I'm inclined to believe there may be more to 8 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: the story than that. But that's all we know. That 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: minor workplace disagreement ruined Michael Schuer's life. Losing his job 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: was not only financially devastating, it was the death of 11 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: his lifelong dream of working for the Walt Disney Corporation. 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: And losing a job is never easy. It's a crushing blow. 13 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: You have to figure out how you're going to pay 14 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: the rent, how you're going to get healthcare, how you're 15 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: going to find new job. I can't speak for everybody, 16 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: but I think I'm not alone in saying that it's 17 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: also embarrassing. It hurts your feelings, your ego takes a 18 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: real hit, and for some people that just isn't something 19 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: they can move on from I'm Molly Conger, and this 20 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: is weird, little guys, This is kind of a silly one. 21 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: Nobody gets hurt, nobody dies, nothing really bad actually happened. 22 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: I know. I said last week that I ended up 23 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: with the episode that came out because I was reaching 24 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: around for something quick, because the story I was trying 25 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: trying to write just felt unwieldy and I was having 26 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: trouble forcing it into the right shape. Well that's where 27 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: we still are this week. I'm still really fighting with 28 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:13,079 Speaker 1: something I think is going to take a few more 29 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: weeks to hammer out into any kind of actual narrative. 30 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: So here we are again at the eleventh hour, and 31 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: I have nothing but a few dozen pages of odds 32 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: and ends about a story that spans fifty years, and 33 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: so I'm scrounging around for something else. I'm not asking 34 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: for your sympathy for anything. You probably have a real 35 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: job where you make something or help people, and my 36 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: job is just telling you a horrible little story. But 37 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: all I can tell you is the truth, and the 38 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,359 Speaker 1: truth is sometimes I have no idea how I'm going 39 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: to force any more words out of my brain and 40 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: into this microphone. So all I've got this week is 41 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 1: Michael Schueer, And like I said, he didn't really hurt anybody. 42 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: He wasn't a member of any hate groups. As far 43 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: as I can tell, until last summer, he had no 44 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: history of any criminal conduct. I couldn't find so much 45 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: as a speeding ticket. He was squeaky clean. He was 46 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: a family man, married for nearly ten years, and the 47 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: father of three young children. But the course of action 48 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: he decided on after he got fired last summer is 49 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: what makes him a weird little guy. And I think 50 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: he's actually a tiny example of one of the emerging 51 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: weird little guy archetypes. I don't have a name for 52 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,839 Speaker 1: it yet. I don't really have the weird little guy 53 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: taxonomy mapped out, but patterns are starting to appear in 54 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: these stories. There are distinct types of weird little guy, 55 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 1: and one of them is a kind of guy who 56 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:57,119 Speaker 1: can't accept when he's wrong. More importantly, he can't accept 57 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,119 Speaker 1: being wronged. And God help you if you have even 58 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: a passing encounter with this kind of guy. For some 59 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,839 Speaker 1: of them, the perceived slight is so minor that it's 60 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: not something I think I would ever think about again, 61 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: let alone devote the rest of my life to getting 62 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: revenge over it. If you've listened to the whole catalog 63 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 1: of this show, you've heard about some of these guys 64 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: I'm thinking about, people like Frank Sweeney from the pair 65 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: of episodes back in September. Frank was a lifelong neo Nazi, sure, 66 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: but mostly he was a con man. He ended up 67 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: in prison a couple of times for little frauds and cons, 68 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: things like putting ads in gun magazines for fancy guns 69 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: that he didn't actually own, and then accepting numerous buyers 70 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: money for these imaginary collector's items. Later in his life, 71 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: he cut the tails off of stray cats and sold 72 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,279 Speaker 1: them to gullible people who thought they were buying fancy, 73 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: purebread hale as cats. He conned the FBI, the CIA, 74 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: the DOJ, and the Witness Protection Program into thinking that 75 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: he was helping them to apprehend an escaped Soviet spy 76 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: that he'd befriended in prison. He once tricked a mob 77 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: lawyer into flying him across the country and putting him 78 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: up in a nice hotel in exchange for testimony about 79 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: a Chicago mob boss he'd once shared a cell with. 80 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: He loved to lie, but more than that, I think 81 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: the defining characteristic of a guy like Frank Sweeney is 82 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:38,479 Speaker 1: his sense of self righteous indignation. When he felt like 83 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,239 Speaker 1: someone had wronged him, he made it his life's work 84 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: to get back at them, to hurt them back the 85 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: way they'd hurt him, and he did it in some 86 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: really bizarre ways. In the early nineties, when he was 87 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: living in an apartment in New Jersey, a family with 88 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: children moved into a neighboring apartment, and once he decided 89 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: that the neighbors were intentionally disregarding his request to keep 90 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: their children quiet, he made it his life's mission to 91 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: destroy the entire family. He spread rumors that the father 92 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: had HIV and that he'd given it to his children. 93 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: He shut off their power at random. He filled the 94 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: lock on their front door with staples so they couldn't 95 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: get into their home. He had their mail routed to 96 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: a random address in Iowa. And he subscribed to their 97 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: nine year old son to pornographic magazines. And that's unhinged behavior. 98 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: That is an unnecessary escalation to the problem of a 99 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: noisy fourth grader. And it was all because he felt 100 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:49,359 Speaker 1: entitled to complete silence in his apartment and total obedience 101 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: from his neighbors, and two decades after that, when he 102 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: was already a very old man, the stranger made a 103 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: passing comment about how he'd parked his car at the 104 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: post parking lot, and instead of just letting it go, 105 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: like almost anyone else on earth would, he spent three 106 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: years stalking that woman and her entire family, sending them 107 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: threatening postcards, spreading rumors that they'd engaged in sexually deviant behavior, 108 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: that they were drug addicts and criminals, and they were 109 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: doing tax fraud. Three years because she commented on how 110 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: he had parked his car. And then there was Walter 111 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick from those episodes back in November. He was the 112 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: sovereign citizen who tried to citizens arrest an entire courthouse 113 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: in rural Tennessee because they wouldn't help him indict President 114 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 1: Barack Obama for treason. And Walter Fitzpatrick had a long 115 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: history of this kind of grievance motivated behavior. He'd been 116 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: banned from his congressman's office after the receptionist had to 117 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: get a restraining order against him because he refused to 118 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: accept that they just couldn't help him get a new trial. 119 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: In his Navy court martial. And then there are the 120 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: weird little guys who try to use the courts to 121 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: get their revenge, becoming vexatious litigants, filing lawsuit after lawsuit 122 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: against anyone who says no to them. Guys like Robert 123 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,239 Speaker 1: Moller from a few weeks ago, the one time arms 124 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: dealer who shipped hundreds of guns to Neo Nazis in 125 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: South Africa. In his quieter older years, he seems to 126 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: work out his anger by filing a constant stream of 127 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: nuisance lawsuits. He filed a lawsuit against the hospital that 128 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: didn't perform his elective surgery at the exact time they'd 129 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,440 Speaker 1: scheduled it. For lawsuits against the guys from the table 130 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,679 Speaker 1: tennis club who asked him to stop coming around because 131 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: his behavior was frightening. A lawsuit against the state because 132 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: he didn't think it was fair that he got a 133 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: traffic ticket. A lawsuit against a restaurant for asking him 134 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:56,720 Speaker 1: not to let his dog touch the food on the buffet. 135 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:01,959 Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm still working on the taxonomy here, 136 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: but I think these are all, to some degree, the 137 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: same kind of guy. The common denominator is that they 138 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: can't handle discomfort. They can't handle someone telling them no. 139 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: They can't handle being wrong, they can't handle not being 140 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 1: the protagonist of reality. This is their story and we're 141 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: just the characters in it. We're supposed to behave the 142 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: way he wants us to, and if we don't, his 143 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: reaction is not going to be normal. And that's the 144 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: mold that I think Michael Schuer fits into. He isn't, 145 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: all things considered, really the kind of guy I'm interested in. 146 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: This isn't the kind of story I would normally choose 147 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: for an episode of this show, because, like I said, 148 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 1: he wasn't in any kind of hate group and he 149 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 1: didn't hurt any But I am interested in this kind 150 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: of guy, the kind of guy whose reaction to a 151 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: pretty normal life event is decidedly not normal at all. 152 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: The kind of guy who showed no other outward signs 153 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: of being violent or hateful, but when confronted with an obstacle, 154 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: suddenly reveals a previously hidden and very peculiar interest in 155 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: mass shootings and swastikas. But I guess we should start 156 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: at the beginning. Michael Scheuer loved Disney. It had always 157 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,239 Speaker 1: been his dream to work for the company after graduating 158 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: from Kent State in Ohio. He moved to Orlando to 159 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,680 Speaker 1: try to get us foot in the door. He started 160 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: as a janitor and worked his way up, and on 161 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: this front, I guess you do have to hand it 162 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: to him, it looks like he did the work. He 163 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: had a dream and he did the work to try 164 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: to make it come true. He had a college degree, 165 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: but he was willing to take an entry level job 166 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: making up trash at a theme park if that's what 167 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: it took to be close to Mickey Mouse. He continued 168 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: working at Disney while he earned his business degree, and 169 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: slowly but surely, he worked his way up from groundskeeper 170 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: to cast member and eventually got an office job at Disney. 171 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: By twenty eighteen, he was working as a financial systems 172 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,439 Speaker 1: analyst when COVID hit. His job was one of many 173 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:37,199 Speaker 1: that were cut by the company, and he spent the 174 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: year that he was laid off trying anything he could 175 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 1: to get back in and he was eventually rehired as 176 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: part of the team doing technical support for computers installed 177 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: on Disney cruise ships, and in twenty twenty four he 178 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,319 Speaker 1: was working on the team tasked with designing and updating 179 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: the menus and menu signs used at Disney theme parks 180 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: and resorts. In twenty twenty four, Michael Schuer's wife gave 181 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: birth to their third child. I don't know if Michael 182 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: Scheuer took advantage of the full eight weeks of paternity 183 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: leave that Disney claims to offer, but I do know 184 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: that he took paternity leave because it was just a 185 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: few days after returning from that leave in June of 186 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four that the incident took place. What exactly 187 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: happened is in dispute. According to his defense attorney, his 188 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: version of events is this quote. Shortly after returning to work, 189 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,080 Speaker 1: mister Schuyer voiced a difference of opinion to his supervisor 190 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: about a new process of menu creation. He believed his 191 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: team agreed with him, but his supervisor did not. He 192 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 1: met with his supervisor and a disagreement occurred. Mister Schuyer 193 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:56,000 Speaker 1: had a panic attack during the meeting. The next supervisor 194 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: up the chain of command stated to mister Schuyer that 195 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: he did not threaten his supervisor, but that mister Scheuer 196 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 1: was going to be suspended. A sworn statement from the 197 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: supervisor in question, though, reads in June twenty twenty four, 198 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 1: Michael Scheuer was terminated from employment due to misconduct against 199 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: me in which he threatened me at work, and the 200 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: government was prepared to present to witness who would testify 201 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: that his behavior had been aggressive and threatening in the 202 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: meeting that led to his termination. And maybe that comes 203 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: down to semantics. Maybe she perceived his conduct as threatening 204 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:41,079 Speaker 1: without him actually making a direct threat. That is technically 205 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: different in the eyes of the law. But I think 206 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: any reasonable person can understand that if you make your 207 00:13:47,720 --> 00:14:06,079 Speaker 1: supervisor feel like she is in danger, you might get fired. 208 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: He was initially just sent home and suspended, but after 209 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: he sent an email to human resources described only as 210 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: quote twenty four questions pertaining to the suspension, which I'm 211 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: sure had a very normal tone, the decision was made 212 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: to terminate his employment with Disney. And this is the 213 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 1: point at which he crossed the weird little guy rubicon. 214 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: He was upset. It wasn't fair. This was his dream. 215 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: He loved Disney, he loved working for Disney, and he 216 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: needed that job. He needed the health insurance, he had 217 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: a family to take care of. For God's sake, they 218 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: just didn't understand. If they would have heard him out, 219 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: they would understand that they were wrong to fire him, 220 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: but they wouldn't take his calls. He claims that he 221 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: was unable to find an employment lawyer willing to take 222 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: his case. He says he quote filed a complaint with 223 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,160 Speaker 1: the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission but did not get 224 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: a quick response. He felt isolated and depressed. He did 225 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: not understand why nobody would speak with him. And this 226 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: is the explanation his attorney offered for what happened next quote, 227 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 1: he turned to what he thought would get Disney to 228 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: respond to him. I'm not an expert in employment law, 229 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: but I did look up how long it usually takes 230 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: to get a response from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 231 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: if you file a complaint online, The law says they 232 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: have ten days to send notice of the complaint to 233 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: your former employer, and then once they do that, the 234 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: employer has thirty days from that date to respond to it. 235 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: The average complaint takes about ten months to resolve start 236 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: to finish. But he didn't even wait thirty days before 237 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: he decided to change tactics. He started trying to get 238 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 1: Disney's attention his own way less than three weeks after 239 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 1: he was fired, and so you might be thinking, oh, 240 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: he probably sent some weird emails to his former coworkers, right, 241 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: Maybe he started showing up outside the office or making 242 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: a lot of phone calls. And those are all reasonable guesses. 243 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: Those are things you might do if your stated goal 244 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: was to get someone's attention. No, what he decided to 245 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: do is much weirder, and honestly, I don't understand why 246 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: he thinks we would believe his claim that this was 247 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: the only thing he could think of that would get 248 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: them to call him again. From his lawyer quote, he 249 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: started altering Disney's menus to try to get their attention 250 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: and respond to him. Now, remember that was his job 251 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: before he was fired. He worked on the team responsible 252 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: for designing, editing, and updating the files used to print 253 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,400 Speaker 1: the menus at restaurants and cafes at Disney parks and hotels. 254 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 1: Once the files were approved by the team at Disney, 255 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: the physical menus were printed by a Minnesota based print 256 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: and marketing company called Tailor Corporation. Just a few weeks 257 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: after being fired, Scheyer logged into the online application used 258 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: by the print company to manage the menu files. A 259 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,879 Speaker 1: lot of the news coverage about this case refers to 260 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: what he did as hacking, in which I didn't realize 261 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,159 Speaker 1: is technically the correct word for what happened. Hacking doesn't 262 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: necessarily require any particular set of skills or you know, 263 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,680 Speaker 1: it's not like a nineties movie where they're tippy tapping 264 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: on the keyboard as all the numbers flash on the screen. No, 265 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:54,880 Speaker 1: it just means any unauthorized access to a computer device 266 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 1: or network. And he definitely was not authorized to be 267 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: logging in. But the company had actually just forgotten to 268 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: change the password to the administrative account, and once he 269 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: logged into that administrator's account, he created a new employee 270 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: profile for himself using a fake name, and then using 271 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: that account with a fake name, he logged in and 272 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,919 Speaker 1: he went to town. He replaced all of the font 273 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: files for all of the menus in the system, and 274 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: this sounds like hell. He didn't just change the fonts 275 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: that were used in the text of the menus. He 276 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: changed the source files for all of the fonts in 277 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:44,880 Speaker 1: every menu, so all of the names of the fonts 278 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,119 Speaker 1: still appeared to be correct, but those names were now 279 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: connected to a corresponding file for a different font, and 280 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 1: he changed most of those fonts to wing dings the 281 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: font that's just weird little symbols. And because he'd altered 282 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: the files themselves, the system then started pushing out this 283 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: change to every single one of the thousands of files 284 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: ever uploaded to this system, and this rendered the entire 285 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: application completely useless for at least a week. And so 286 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 1: because this took the entire system offline and rendered every 287 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: single file useless, obviously they noticed this immediately. Disney pretty 288 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: quickly tracked down the source of the problem and they 289 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: changed all the passwords so this couldn't happen again. But 290 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: that didn't really stop him. So now that one avenue 291 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: had been closed off, he just moved to a different strategy. 292 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: If he couldn't log in, he would make sure no 293 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:52,360 Speaker 1: one else could either. He started small targeting those immediate supervisors, 294 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,639 Speaker 1: the ones who'd fired him, and he used their log 295 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: in names and entered random, incorrect passwords. These repeated bad 296 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: attempts to access the system, which would then trigger the 297 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: accounts to be locked out. At first, he was just 298 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: doing this manually, so you have to imagine him sitting 299 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,080 Speaker 1: alone at his computer while his chronically ill wife is 300 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: trying to take care of their three young children, one 301 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: of whom is a newborn baby, and he's just sitting 302 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: there at his computer again and again and again, typing 303 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: in a random keyboard smash password and hitting enter over 304 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 1: it over and over again so that his old boss 305 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: can't access her email. Throughout August and September of twenty 306 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: twenty four, these attacks escalated, and he eventually wrote a 307 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: script to automate the process of making these thousands and 308 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:49,400 Speaker 1: thousands of login attempts. On one day alone, he made 309 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: eight thousand login attempts across accounts belonging to the four 310 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: people that he thought were responsible for firing him, and 311 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: he eventually branched out to fourteen day for An accounts, 312 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: all of which belonged to members of the team he'd 313 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 1: worked on before he was fired. Over the course of 314 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:11,440 Speaker 1: about a month, he made one hundred thousand log in attempts, 315 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: locking these employees out of their accounts for days at 316 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,159 Speaker 1: a time. And around the same time he's ramping up 317 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: these attacks on his former coworkers accounts, he found a 318 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: new way to mess with the menus Disney had changed 319 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,760 Speaker 1: all of the passwords, so he couldn't access the application 320 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: that was used by the Disney production team anymore. But 321 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: the company that actually prints the finished menu files had 322 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: their own system. All finished menu files had to be 323 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:44,159 Speaker 1: uploaded to the print company through a secure file transfer protocol. 324 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: So he made his own menu files and uploaded them 325 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: directly to the printer. His initial attempt to get Disney's 326 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: attention had made the menus unusable. They had nonsense fonts, 327 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: they would load the image files, or they just came 328 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: up as blank pages, so everyone noticed this. This was 329 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: a very obvious attempt, But this time around he was 330 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,639 Speaker 1: a lot more subtle. If you're just looking quickly at 331 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,920 Speaker 1: these files, you wouldn't notice there was anything wrong. Honestly, 332 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: they might have even made it all the way through 333 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: a proofreading process if you weren't being really meticulous. Because 334 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: he's just changing individual words. He's changing the prices by 335 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: a dollar or two. He removed an asterisk, he changed 336 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: the QR codes. They're just little changes, almost like maybe 337 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:43,680 Speaker 1: he didn't want them to notice this time, And honestly, 338 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,399 Speaker 1: some of them are kind of funny. I mean, overall, yes, 339 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: this is a bad situation. He should not have done 340 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: any of this, But if he'd just stuck with immature 341 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 1: little jokes, the whole story would have a really different tone, 342 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: because it's hard to be mad about stuff like changing 343 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,399 Speaker 1: cheesy grits to cheesy shits on the menu for a 344 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,880 Speaker 1: cafe at Disney's old Key West resort, or changing shellfish 345 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: to hellfish, or changing the description of an English breakfast 346 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: tea from a psalm tea to just ass tea. Is 347 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: a little bit funny. I'm not mad imagining an old 348 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: couple in Key West seeing cheesy shits on their menu. 349 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,800 Speaker 1: It's whatever. But unfortunately, most of the changes were not 350 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: funny swear words. Most of the changes were modifications to 351 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: the allergen information on menu items across multiple dining locations, 352 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: removing alerts on menu items that contained potentially fatal food 353 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: allergens like peanuts. On other menus, he altered the region 354 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: listed for wine selections. That one sounds mostly harmless to me. 355 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:58,160 Speaker 1: Not a wine snob, so I don't really care where 356 00:23:58,160 --> 00:23:59,879 Speaker 1: the grapes were grown. I'm not going to pretend I 357 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: can taste the difference. But he swapped out the actual 358 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,120 Speaker 1: locations for places where well known mass shootings have occurred. 359 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: In one case, the shooting had been painfully recent. He 360 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: swapped out Willamette Valley. On one wine for Appalachi High 361 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,560 Speaker 1: an unmistakable reference to a school shooting in Georgia that 362 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,879 Speaker 1: it only just happened the week that he did that. 363 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:41,360 Speaker 1: On another menu, he uploaded a small image of a swastika. 364 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: He would later claim that he never actually intended for 365 00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: any of these altered files to get printed. He said 366 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: that he knew Disney employees reviewed every file and that 367 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: they would catch the alterations before they went to the printer. 368 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 1: He wasn't actually trying to poison any children with peanut allergies. 369 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 1: He just wanted Disney to call him. He didn't want 370 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: these menus to end up in anyone's hands. He just 371 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: wanted attention. But that claim falls apart. By the time 372 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: he switched to a new mode of attack, he uploaded 373 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,439 Speaker 1: altered files directly into the server that functioned as the 374 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: print queue for the company that printed the menus. So 375 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: by that point in the process, the printer is receiving 376 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: what they believe to be a file that has been 377 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,920 Speaker 1: proofed and approved and is ready to print. And they did, 378 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,200 Speaker 1: in fact print thousands of these altered menus and signs. 379 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: Although by the time they did print these the investigation 380 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: was coming to an end, and the affected items were 381 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: destroyed before they were shipped out, and he wasn't hard 382 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: to catch. Immediately after the initial unauthorized access was detected, 383 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: Disney launched an internal investigation. Multiple employees interviewed during this 384 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: process brought up the fact that Michael Scheuer had just 385 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: been fired. Further investigation showed the attacks had all been 386 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: made by someone using a VPN to mask their IP address, 387 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: but when they looked further back into company logs, they 388 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: found that before he was fired, Michael Scheuer had accessed 389 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: his work email from home, and when he did that, 390 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: he had his VPN on, so he managed to mask 391 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: the true IP address of his home computer, but because 392 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: he used the same VPN throughout, he was still using 393 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: an IP address that was provably connected to him. On 394 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 1: September twenty third, twenty twenty four, multiple members of the 395 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,719 Speaker 1: menu production team were locked out of their accounts again. 396 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 1: Someone was making hundreds and hundreds of attempts to access 397 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:01,920 Speaker 1: their accounts using incorrect passwords. At twelve forty one pm 398 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: that afternoon, FBI agents knocked on Michael Schuer's front door. 399 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: They had a warrant to search his home and seize 400 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: his computers. At twelve forty six pm, the wave of 401 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: login attempts suddenly stopped and it never started again. Two 402 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 1: minutes after that, Michael Schuyer answered his front door. He 403 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,879 Speaker 1: claimed he was surprised to see the FBI there, but 404 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: he made a strange comment that he wouldn't have been 405 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: surprised if it was the local sheriff there to tell 406 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: him to stop sending emails that might be interpreted as threatening. 407 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: I have no idea what that means. That never comes 408 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: up again. He told the FBI agents that sure, he 409 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:52,439 Speaker 1: definitely used his home computer to access systems related to 410 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,439 Speaker 1: his job when he still worked there, and maybe he 411 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,440 Speaker 1: logged into some work related stuff after he was fired, 412 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,199 Speaker 1: just to get his old pays st ubs, things like that, 413 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: but he couldn't think of any reason why they'd be 414 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: there asking him questions like that, And when they explained 415 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,640 Speaker 1: to him why they were there and what they were investigating, 416 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 1: the outright denied having done anything of the sort. And 417 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: then he speculated that maybe Disney was framing him because 418 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: they were worried about him. The FBI took his computers 419 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,040 Speaker 1: with him that day, but they didn't make an arrest. 420 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: A few days later, Michael Scheuer hired an attorney and 421 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,719 Speaker 1: checked himself into an impatient mental health facility. Meanwhile, the 422 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: FBI was still building their case against him, including getting 423 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: a search warrant for his Google account. Then, on October 424 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: twenty second, twenty twenty four, a month after they searched 425 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,280 Speaker 1: his house, Michael Schuer received an automated notice from Google 426 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: that they'd been served with a warrant for his account 427 00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: and they would be complying with the order to turn 428 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: over him account information. Now, I imagine that's a really 429 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: scary email to get. I'm not sure what my initial 430 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 1: reaction would be in that situation. The right answer if 431 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: this happens to you is to call a lawyer. The 432 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:21,719 Speaker 1: extremely wrong answer is to then type please explain this 433 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: to me at the top of the email, and then 434 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: forward that email to the FBI agent who was just 435 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,960 Speaker 1: at your house, and then follow that up with another 436 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: email the next day demanding that the agent loop in 437 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: the victim of the crime on the conversation so you 438 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: can get some answers about what's going on here. Perhaps 439 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,120 Speaker 1: an even worse course of action in this situation would 440 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: be to then drive to your former boss's house in 441 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: the middle of the night and stand on his front 442 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 1: porch making a thumbs up at his security camera, and 443 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: then just walking away. It's hard to say what you 444 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: would do in a stressful situation that you have never 445 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 1: experienced before. I don't want a Monday morning quarterback here. 446 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: I like to think that I would just call a lawyer. 447 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 1: I don't think that I would do all that other stuff. 448 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: But that is what Michael Scheyer did. The day after 449 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: he paid that ominous visit to his former supervisor, the 450 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: FBI rode up and filed the criminal complaint. Whatever timeline 451 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 1: they'd had in mind was irrelevant. Now this guy was 452 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: behaving unpredictably and they needed to go ahead and make 453 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: the arrest, probably in large part because he made that 454 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: strange nighttime visit to his former boss's house and then 455 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: the subsequent restraining orders granted to two of his former supervisors. 456 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,400 Speaker 1: He was held without bond. After two months in jail, 457 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,479 Speaker 1: he entered a plea agreement. He pled guilty to computer 458 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: hacking and identity theft, and was sentenced to thirty six 459 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: months in prison during the three year period of supervised release. 460 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: After he gets out. He's not allowed to have any 461 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: contact with any of his victims. So that's those fourteen 462 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: co workers and the Disney Corporation in the grand scheme 463 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: of weird little guys. This is all pretty minor. Nobody 464 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 1: really got hurt. It cost about one hundred and fifty 465 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,880 Speaker 1: thousand dollars to reprint the affected materials, and Disney estimates 466 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: that the ordeal cost them about six hundred thousand dollars 467 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: in total. I have to admit I don't particularly care 468 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: if the Walt Disney Corporation lost half a million dollars. 469 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: If the alterations hadn't been caught and those menus had 470 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:38,360 Speaker 1: been sent out to the restaurants, someone could have gotten 471 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:44,200 Speaker 1: seriously hurt. But they didn't, and according to Michael Schouer, 472 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: he knew they wouldn't. I don't know that that's true. 473 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,760 Speaker 1: It's impossible to say at this point. But again, in 474 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: the end, nothing really happened, did it. I initially came 475 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,000 Speaker 1: across this case during my regular search for newly filed 476 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 1: cases containing certain keywords I like to look for. I 477 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: think in this case it was the word swastika. But 478 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: I don't actually really think that this guy's a Nazi. 479 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: I don't have any other evidence that points to that 480 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,440 Speaker 1: swastika being a larger part of his life. When the 481 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: FBI came and took his computer away, there was a 482 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: file on his desktop called swastika dot png. He must 483 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: have googled the word swastika and then saved the image 484 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: that he wanted to use on the menu. It kind 485 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: of reminds me of early four chan culture. I don't 486 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: mean the four Chan of today. I mean way back 487 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: in the day before those guys were genuinely sincere neo 488 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: Nazis and mass murder enthusiasts. A lot of them were 489 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: just shit talking. They wanted to be extreme, they wanted 490 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: to be edgy. They wanted to post the most shocking, 491 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 1: fucked up stuff they could think of because that was 492 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,959 Speaker 1: funny or thrilling or interesting. I guess so, I'm inclined 493 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 1: to believe he put the swastika on the menu because 494 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: it was the worst thing he could think of, not 495 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: because he actually liked it. I mean, I hope that's 496 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:18,960 Speaker 1: the case. I'm a little less generous when it comes 497 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 1: to the mass shooting thing, though. That's odd to me. 498 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 1: That feels like a manifestation of some nascent interest. I 499 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: don't know that that's something that would come immediately to 500 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: mind if you're just trolling and you have no existing 501 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: preoccupation with mass shootings. You know. But that's just my gut. 502 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: There's no evidence of anything at all about his motivations. 503 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,880 Speaker 1: This is the only thing he ever did. He crashed 504 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: out at work, and it sent him into a tailspin 505 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: that ended in federal prison. The only glimpse into Michael 506 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,960 Speaker 1: Schuer's motivation that I can offer you is this Reddit 507 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 1: post he made just a few days before the FBI 508 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 1: showed up at his house for the first time. On 509 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: a subreddit for people with social anxiety. He made a 510 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:12,200 Speaker 1: post with the title reaching the end question mark. It's long, 511 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: but it reads in part, the people involved in firing 512 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,880 Speaker 1: me treated me like a criminal, me who is afraid 513 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 1: of everyone and just wants to blend into the background. 514 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: I was blown away how absolutely nobody cared about me. 515 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: Not one person from work reached out to check on me. 516 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: I'm sure part of the reason is because I'm a 517 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: man and everyone just assumed I don't need anyone. Maybe 518 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: the other part is because I'm an awkward asshole. I 519 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: have no friends, no work connections, nothing I've already determined 520 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: I will never work again. Nobody cares about me. He 521 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: goes on to say that he started therapy earlier that year, 522 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: but when he got fired, he realized it was too late, 523 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,720 Speaker 1: too late for what is unclear, too late to change, 524 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,879 Speaker 1: too late to make anything of his life. It has 525 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,640 Speaker 1: a vaguely suicidal tone, but he doesn't actually express a 526 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: desire to harm himself. On the contrary, he seems fixated 527 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:19,920 Speaker 1: on harming others, writing quote, every day since I was fired, 528 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:24,760 Speaker 1: I sit around fuming, planning revenge because I feel so wronged. 529 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: But then I remember, maybe they aren't the problem. Maybe 530 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,879 Speaker 1: it's me. I've always been afraid of everybody, but it's 531 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,920 Speaker 1: everybody that's been afraid of me. And there it is, 532 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:45,320 Speaker 1: isn't it. He said it himself because I feel so wronged. 533 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:51,279 Speaker 1: It's remarkably self aware. It reminds me a lot of 534 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: what Frank Sweeney said when the cops finally searched his 535 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:56,760 Speaker 1: house and discovered he'd been the one sending those threatening 536 00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:02,120 Speaker 1: postcards all those years. He just didmitted it. He said 537 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: that woman in the parking lot had made him feel embarrassed, 538 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,279 Speaker 1: and it made him feel better to know that he 539 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: was causing her distress and return. Being a weird little 540 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 1: guy is something that exists on a spectrum. I think 541 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: some of them are truly monsters. They kill, name, torture, 542 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: and terrorize. They carry out mass shootings and blow up 543 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,399 Speaker 1: synagogues and daycares. They're trying to start a race war, 544 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 1: they want to barricade themselves on a compound and shoot 545 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,800 Speaker 1: it out with the police, or they just want to 546 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: gain enough political power to punish their enemies. Those are 547 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,279 Speaker 1: the guys I was thinking about when I started the show. 548 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,000 Speaker 1: But there are weird little guys out there who are 549 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 1: much much littler, guys whose behavior fits the archetype but 550 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:55,960 Speaker 1: only registers a little blit on the radar. And those 551 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: are the kinds of guys you're most likely to meet 552 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,680 Speaker 1: one day, God willing, most of us will never meet 553 00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:06,239 Speaker 1: a mass shooter, but you probably will eventually encounter the 554 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,600 Speaker 1: kind of guy who just can't take no for an answer, 555 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: so he puts a swastika on the menu at the 556 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: Mickey Mouse Cafe. Weird Little Guys is a production of 557 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,240 Speaker 1: cools On Media and iHeartRadio. It's research, written and recorded 558 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,720 Speaker 1: by me Molly Conger Our Executive producers are Sophie Linterman 559 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: and Mabert Evans. The show is edited by the wildly 560 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,800 Speaker 1: talented Mary Gagan. The theme music was composed by Brad Dickert. 561 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: You can email me a Weird Little Guys podcast at 562 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,640 Speaker 1: gmail dot com. I will definitely read it, but I 563 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: probably won't answer it. It's nothing personal. You can exchange 564 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 1: conspiracy theories about the show with other listeners on the 565 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 1: Weird Little Guy subreddit. Just don't boast anything that's going 566 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:06,279 Speaker 1: to make you one of my weird Little Guys.