WEBVTT - The Girlfriends S5/E3: The Sting 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:02.719 Novel. 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.200 Hey girlfriends, Anna here just quick heads off on what 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:11.840 to expect in this episode of the Girlfriends. We'll be 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.400 exploring themes of coercive control, and there'll be a reference 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.640 to non consensual drug use. But it's also a story, 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.079 as always, of true friendship, and there's going to be 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.120 some cool as hell nurses. If any of the themes 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.840 feel difficult, you'll find links to mental health and support 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:33.000 organizations in the episode description, Last time on the Girlfriends, 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:35.560 Trust me, babe? 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.040 Are you dearck Aldridge and he goes yes. 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.920 Lisa is walking through baggage plane when two cops on 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:49.120 Segways arrest the man she thought was named Steel And I. 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.080 Looked at him like, what the hell? 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:52.200 One? 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:54.760 You're good to go about barticking him? I'm like, what 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:55.640 the hell's going on? 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.280 Lisa and Derek formerly known as Steele, have just turn 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.160 from what should have been a romantic holiday in Hawaii. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.120 Now they're standing face to face with two airport cops. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.640 Time for mister steel Fins to start explaining himself. 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.640 Steele goes, Oh, it's probably my brother. He impersonates me 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.320 alad gets me in a lot of trouble, So there's 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.040 probably some warrant dead or something for him now. 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.960 Steele had told Lisa he had a good for nothing 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.360 twin brother, but that doesn't explain why he just answered 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.160 to the name Derek. 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.319 He hands me his suit kiss He's like, here, just 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.240 take this. You know, everything's okay, babe, don't worry. I'll 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:36.880 see you soon. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:42.360 After a week of increasingly irritating assurances, the power of 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:47.360 Derek's patented don't worry babe has really begun to wane, 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:52.400 especially now as he's parted away by an airport cop and. 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:53.520 The other cap goes your feet to go. 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.440 Lisa's left standing alone in a state of shock. She 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:08.240 doesn't know what to do with herself. When suddenly, rays 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:12.639 of light beamed down, a choir of cherubs sing. A 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:19.280 phone vibrates in her pocket. Stephanie texts me, her guardian 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.919 angel from the past week, who has stopped at nothing 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:24.320 to get her girl home. 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.080 She goes, did you n edited? Yes, she says good. 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.600 It strikes Lisa in that moment. All holiday, her friends 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:39.000 had been calling and texting. They've been unusually persistent about 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.880 her whereabouts, her flight details, the license plate of her 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:47.799 jeep rental, even her boss's very chill attitude over Lisa 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.320 missing her morning shift seemed. 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:50.960 A little unusual. 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:56.400 Suddenly, looking down at that text from Steph, it all 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:57.040 makes sense. 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.200 Steph knows something. 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:04.360 She says, let me know when you get home. I 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.760 need to talk to you. And they said, oh, hell no, 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.000 I'm not waiting, Like, what the hell is going on? 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.720 Lisa calls Steph as soon as she can. 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.920 Okay, a man on the shutter bus, what is going on? 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.280 And so she then says, well, I'll tell you. 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.040 Sitting on the bus with her luggage and steals carry 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:34.960 on briefcase. Lisa learns the truth. One, there is no 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:36.520 Steel Aldridge. 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:38.640 No, that is not his name. 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:46.440 The guy Lisa thought was her boyfriend is actually Derek Aldred. Two, 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.560 She's not the only woman who screwed over. Steph tells 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:52.760 her he also dated a colleague's friend. 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.720 He had swindled her out of money. She dated him 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:56.320 before you. 0:03:57.400 --> 0:03:57.680 Three. 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.720 The reason he was arrested in baggage claim has absolutely 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.400 nothing to do with a dastardly twin brother. There is 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:06.800 actually no twin brother. 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.880 By the way, he wasn't supposed to be the stick 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:11.080 because he's a falon. 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.000 And four, oh, that's just a casual one. Turns out, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.320 almost ten months before their first date, Steele had been 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:23.120 the target of a multi agency undercover sting operation. 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:25.440 I want to get this Jabe because he was just 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.200 a parasite. 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:33.360 But that sting operation didn't quite go to plan trap. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:40.599 I'm Anna Sinfield and from the teams at Novel and 0:04:40.720 --> 0:05:09.479 iHeart Podcasts. You're listening to the Girlfriends Trust Me Babe, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:26.080 episode three, The Sting You. It's the fall of twenty fourteen, 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.919 about a year before Lisa witnessed that dramatic airport arrest. 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.120 Paul Meskin is sitting in the office of the US 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:40.919 Marshal Services Fugitive Task Force in Minneapolis. His job is 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.800 to catch people on the run from the law. 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:49.320 Murderers, rapists, guncases, bad people that really need to get 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:50.040 off the street. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:54.400 He's printing out a few documents when an assistant grabs 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:55.000 his attention. 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.039 Hey, can you take this call from this lady who 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.839 has concerns about and information on a guy that's wanted. Okay, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:03.640 I had no problem. 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:06.640 It's a concerned mum. 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:08.719 She was almost in tears. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.960 Her adult daughter, Joanne, has recently been the victim of fraud. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.760 Her daughter was a teacher met this guy named Derek 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.919 that claimed all this stuff and built her for a 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.400 lot of money, thousands of dollars. 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.799 Our least favorite man, Derek Aldred reportedly racks up twenty 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.080 K on her credit cards before she discovers the truth 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.520 and reports him to the police. And in a story 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:37.920 that's becoming depressingly familiar, she's told taking her case any 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:39.559 further would be a waste of time. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.599 Any court in the country is going to say, well, 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:44.880 you know you did that willingly because you were in 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.720 a relationship. Yeah, well it was a relationship. It was 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.120 all a fraud. But there's no prosecutor that would ever 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:52.240 charge her to it's like that. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.400 But John's mum, Scott Hutzpur So she does some of 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:58.839 her own research. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:06:58.920 On the guy. 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.479 She found out that in June of twenty fourteen, Derek 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.200 stayed at the swanky Saint Paul Hotel, racking up a 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:11.360 significant bill while pretending to be a doctor, drinks room 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.440 service the whole hog, and then when it came time 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.120 to pay the bill, he disappeared. By the time of 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:22.120 sentencing hearing came around, yet again, he was nowhere to 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.920 be found. Authorities had issued a warrant for Derek's arrest, 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:31.160 but was anyone actually looking for him? And that's where 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.440 Paul comes in. Juanne's mom thinks if the cops won't 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.960 catch him for defrauding her daughter, they can at least 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.080 put him in jail for a hotel scam, and she's 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.040 come armed with info. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:48.600 Receipts, credit card bills, here's a business card, and what's 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:50.360 this business card to? Hey on don't address. 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:52.960 It's not the kind of case that Paul's unit would 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:57.480 normally prioritize, but something about this call gets to him, 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.880 so it gets to work. First, he heads to Derek's office, 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:04.679 the one on that business card. 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.520 I went to the address and showed pictures, never heard him, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.360 met the law firm that who's listed as working forward 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.760 never existed there. In fact, the suite number that they 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:17.400 had never existed in this building. 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.480 Paul now even more perplex It is the help of 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.840 a financial investigator on the team who. 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:25.640 Comes up with an idea. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.880 They know that Derek still has one of Joanne's credit cards. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.560 She blocks it once she learned the truth, but the 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:39.320 investigator reckons if she unblocks it and Derek uses it someplace, 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.240 they'll know where he is and so. 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.960 I reactivated and that's when we learned of the Amtrak ticket. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:53.439 Derek had used Joanne's card to buy a train ticket I. 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:57.160 Of Saint Paul to go to Portland. 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.480 The six forty am train on November seventh, twenty fourteen. 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:07.040 The cops have a time and a location. Now all 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:16.560 they need to do is wait. It's stakeout time. Saint 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:21.640 Paul Union Depot is a big, ostentatious station, grand columns, 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:26.520 large vaulted ceilings, people everywhere, and dotted around the station. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.960 Oh so casually are about a dozen undercover officers. 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.560 We had three guys on the train platform, other guys 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.880 that were up in the train station itself, a couple 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.760 of parking lots, couple parking ramps on the streets around. 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:49.560 They've been in place since four thirty five am, scanning faces, 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:54.679 waiting for the appearance of one balding, middle aged. 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.080 White guy about ya tall. 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:01.920 Pall's in charge of the whole operation, so he's waiting 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.360 in his truck outside the station, listening in over the radio. 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:11.000 Any updates, any updates, any updates here anymore. 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.840 They could be waiting for some time, but no worry. 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.559 Paul is guaranteed to bring supplies. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:23.280 Honey rolls, to peanuts, dry roast, liquorice, gum drops, crackers, skittles. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.400 The guys on my team always called me snacks. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.200 Then something interrupts the picnic. 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.280 As the train approaches, Paul decides he has to see 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.520 this guy taken down with his own eyes. 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.600 I came inside kind of like I was coming to 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:48.880 pick somebody up, and Jenda watched the train. 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:50.160 Derek is due to catch. 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:56.960 Pulls in at the platform. Undercover officers board, searching faces 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:02.520 among the passengers. No sign of him. As the clock 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.200 ticks down, the train prepares to leave. 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.480 The train pulls off. Let's just give a couple of minutes. 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.920 Maybe he'll come tearing down the station lobby, running late. 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.200 Maybe he noticed suspicious police like activity and didn't board. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.040 Everybody, just hold your position. 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:32.280 And then it's gone, trundling into the distance, headed for 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:33.640 the West Coast. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.640 The only people that left the train station were those 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:40.800 that had gotten off the train. 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:46.040 The message from surveillance is unanimous. There's no Derek in 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.600 a nearby car watching. He's not scanned his ticket at all. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:56.000 There's no way we missed him. It's like, damn that 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.120 was about his cut and dried and perfect as we 0:11:58.200 --> 0:11:59.040 thought it was going to be. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.920 Next day, Paul gets a call from the financial investigator. 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:08.960 Paul's still not sure how it happened. 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:12.040 He's on the train, which confirmed he's on the train. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.920 Maybe Derek missed a local service, had to board the 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:17.160 train at a later station. 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:19.880 Maybe he got tipped off. 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.760 Somehow, whatever the reason, they're sure of his location. 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.400 Now he's an hour and a half out of Portland Orion. 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.160 On the literal other side of the country from where 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:37.840 Paul's team is trap. But no matter, because Paul snacks 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.800 Meskan has won some friends over the years. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.480 Paul sevin, here's my situation. 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.640 And those friends have some of their own friends. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.559 And he reached out to his contact in Portland. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.520 And they assembled a team and arrived just in time 0:12:57.800 --> 0:12:59.440 to see the train pulling in. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.160 Derek came walking off and they took him into custody 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:10.960 without incident, got shipped back to Minnesota and went to 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.319 court and got sentenced to the county workhouse. 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.480 Derek is finally sentenced for theft by swindle of the 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.520 Saint Paul Hotel on top of his sentence for skipping court. 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.240 Derek is released back into the community after a grand 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.960 total of nine months a reformed man. 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.520 He would literally had just gotten out of prison like 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.400 a week or two before I met him, so he 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:45.480 wasted no time. 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:51.960 So no, Derek is not a reformed man, but he's 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:57.280 fast becoming a man with dangerous enemies. Derek's victims are 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:02.199 about to find each other, and with him, I'd be very, 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:25.880 very nervous. Lisa spent the whole journey home from the airport, 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.480 all two hours of it, on the phone to her friends. 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.440 She now knows all about the Saint Paul hotel scam, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:38.960 Derek's probation violation, his total and utter betrayal of her. 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:40.920 And I'm grateful there wasn't a lot to keep on 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:42.640 us because I'm barring my eyes out. 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.680 Lisa finally gets back to her car. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.840 By the time she makes it home, her friend's Steph 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.840 is already there waiting with open arms. 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.200 We just embraced each other. I do think there are 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.280 some tears. She goes, I have just been a nervous 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:01.320 wreck since you've been gun in Hawaii. I was just 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.640 relieved that she was home safe. 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:06.160 And the two of them waste no time. They start 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.160 the search immediately for anything and everything they could find 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.960 which might help them build a case against Derek. 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.080 I'm going through all his stuff, seeing his real name, 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:18.920 like thinking, holy crap. 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.920 Searching the luggage he handed off to Lisa. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.840 I'm finding his phone. He had this app fort people calling, 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:28.320 like you could hit it and they could call you, 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.160 pretending to be somebody where if you hit him, they 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:32.760 would call him. 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.920 It's all starting to click into place. None of those 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:40.240 calls were real. None of the text she got from 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:42.000 his friends and family. 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:45.280 He had his roommate saying there, his sister's name there, 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:46.360 his mom's name there. 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.560 So he'd be talking to no one. 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.320 Literally no one. I think he had the one friend 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.880 that was pretending to be a sister, because I would 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.000 actually hear a female voice when he was talking to 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:57.320 his sister, but no one else. 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:02.000 Looking back, his calls had seen strangely well timed. 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:04.720 We'd be talking about his dad and then like two 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:06.120 minutes later, oh, she would. 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.480 Car Even though Derek talked to various women he dated 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.520 about sisters, brothers, a daughter. I want to make it 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.760 really clear, none of Derek's family members have ever been 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.720 implicated in any of his crimes or accused of any wrongdoing. 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.880 When Lisa goes through her credit card statements, she finds 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:26.800 that she isn't just out of pocket for the stuff 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.000 Derek or Steele had asked her to pay for. It 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:37.240 was everything, all their flights, their hotel stays, their meals, 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.320 all of it, unbeknownst to Lisa, had been charged to 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:42.280 her own card. 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:46.440 Howard did, I don't know because I always had my 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.680 credit card and me and my Boddy. It was in 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.520 my purse attached to me. Then I start going through 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.479 a brief kiss and I'm finding these usb poort. 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:58.520 She opens one on her laptop. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.400 It's just her my bank account, my AMEX stuff, my 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.800 Wells far Ago account, anything that I had used on 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.480 my computer, and then my social Security number. 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:15.359 Going through his phone, Lisa realizes that steal okay, Derek 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.080 wasn't volunteering at the homeless shelter. 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:23.640 I found like he lived there, the hotels, the resort, 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.960 the jeep and the er, visit this vision, that visit, 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.800 the dinner cruise. I think it was close to almost 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:31.320 ten grand. 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:39.919 Bombarded by all this new information, Lisa thinks back on 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:45.880 her relationship, casting memories into a new light. She remembers 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.119 the time she blacked out in Hawaii. 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.960 I really think he drugged me and brought me upstairs 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.359 because I don't remember any of that. It just makes 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.879 you feel so it's just I don't know, just used 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:04.920 and just upset that someone can do that to a 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:05.520 human being. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:11.080 Derek says this allegation is completely untrue, but it's a 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:12.879 suspicion as Starckward Lisa. 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.400 For years, I was just furious at him and furio 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.399 set myself for trusting him all these times. 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.240 Lisa feels angry, but also like she's somehow to blame, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.719 which of course she isn't. It's a sort of moment 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.600 when you want to regain some control, but Lisa doesn't 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.800 get that. Normally, when you go through a breakup, you 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.280 have a bit of time to process it on your own. 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.600 But in a way, Lisa is the last to know. 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.800 I just felt like the most stupidest person in the world, Like, 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.560 how could I let this human do this to me 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:55.040 when I'm not a stupid woman. I'm all educated. I thought, 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.760 you know, I thought I knew him, but then looking 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.840 back at like, oh, here's the spread flake, here's that 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.480 red flake, here's that one, and here's that one, but 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:09.240 I didn't listen. My heart was just broken, Like, how 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.560 can I ever trust anybody again? Like he just got 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.600 into my heart. I trusted everything you said and he 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:15.480 just ripped it out. 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:20.160 But it's more than just heartbreak and angry ban worries. 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:28.720 It's time for Derek to be held accountable. It's like 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.960 November and it's cold out in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It's 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:36.000 been just one day since Lisa learned the truth about Derek, 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.960 and two officers are pulling into her driveway. The cops 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.240 want Lisa to provide a statement. She tells them everything, 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.840 the first date, the Hawaii trip, the credit card stuff. 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:53.320 They confiscate Derek's belongings, a black smartphone, three USB sticks, 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:58.439 one gray, one white, one black, a phone charger, but 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.760 really they don't seem hopeful. 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:03.600 He's kind of like, WHOA, I'm sorry this happened to you. 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:06.240 But if he doesn't admit to it, we really can't 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.119 do anything, and more or less, we have more important 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:09.560 things to do. 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:14.320 The investigators explained to Lisa that the county's attorneys won't 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.280 prosecute a case like this of all the theft that 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.800 took place over the holiday. It's only really the initial 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:25.680 flight purchases that land within their jurisdiction, and Derek brought 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.119 those on her laptop, so he can just claim that 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.440 she was well aware of the charges. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.160 With me Henley Love on my laptop and saying sure 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.000 you can use it. You know, I smari or less 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.840 my help that I allowed him to do that, so. 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.080 Worth mentioning she gave steel Aldridge permission to use her 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:46.879 laptop a man who does not actually exist. It's not 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:48.240 exactly informed consent. 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:51.640 It's not like he broke in and took this information 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.000 from me. I let him in my house. So I 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.160 just feel like they think, oh, another super woman get 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.360 swindled by a guy. I wasn't killed. I wasn't and beat. 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:02.679 It was just money taken by somebody I dated. 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:08.000 The investigators tell Lisa she could try contacting local police 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.000 in Hawaii, but otherwise he. 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.520 Mar or last just said, you know, I'm sorry. You know, 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:16.560 if we don't have any more evidence against him, we 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:17.320 can't do anything. 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:21.520 Then she says they offered her some off the record advice. 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:24.159 You can call him in prison and try to get 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.520 him to confess, and the phone. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.720 It's November twenty fifteen, Lisa is back from Hawaii, grappling 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:52.359 with the news that her boyfriend is a con man 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.360 and it doesn't seem like the cops can or will 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.439 do much about it. And Derek he's back in prison 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:03.800 over his robation violation, serving out the remainder of his sentence. 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.560 Lisa has been informed that in just a few weeks time, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.520 Derek is due to be back out on the street. 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.000 So if Lisa can find some evidence that Derek didn't 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:17.720 actually have her permission to buy those flights, maybe the 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:20.560 prosecutors can actually do something about it. 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.439 So I bought a little recorder and I would, you know, 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.640 call him and I would try to, you know, make 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:28.360 him confess. 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.960 Lisa speaks to Derek over the phone from prison. It's 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:35.840 the first time she's spoken to him as Derek, not 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:38.439 a steal the man she thought she'd been building a 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:40.680 life with, and. 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:42.960 Like, well, you bought these tickets. He's like, no, I 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:44.840 told you I was putting him on your card and 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.479 I'd pay you back. He would never confess to anything 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:49.800 he did. I honestly believe he knew I was trying 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:52.320 to record him, but he just he would not. I 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:53.760 would fight with him on the phone and like you 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:55.960 were lying to me, like you took my card. You 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:58.000 said you pay me back, and he'd be like, Lisa, 0:22:58.160 --> 0:22:59.680 I didn't that, and he kind of would get angry 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:02.119 in the phone. You misheard me. I never said that. 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:04.720 He even sent me a handwritten letter saying how much 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:06.960 he'd loved me and how much he forgave me for 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:07.840 accusing him. 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:10.399 And you do the same on phone calls. 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:12.719 You know, I still love you. This is just a 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:14.960 mistake and not this person that you think I am. 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:17.720 He was getting out Christmas Day. He wanted me to 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:19.440 go out to the prison and pick him up and 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:20.600 you know, start over again. 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:24.840 Needless to say, Lisa doesn't pause the present unwrapping to 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:28.480 pick Derek up from prison, but she does continue to 0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:31.320 call and text trying to get him to admit what 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:31.760 he did. 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:37.680 I was so upset and so help better on getting him. 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:40.640 A couple of weeks after Derek's release, Lisa is at 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:44.760 work when someone approaches her, asks her name, and hands 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:46.479 her an envelope. 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:49.719 I remember opening an up point. Are you freaking kidding me? 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:56.199 It's a restraining order? Derek has taken one out against. 0:23:55.560 --> 0:24:01.360 Her, and I start and I think I went home. 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:04.119 How on earth did this happen? 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:09.080 Having already had ten grands stolen from her, Lisa now 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:13.280 needs to hire a lawyer. She challenges the restraining order, 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:20.160 and by February she is sitting in court. The park 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.280 bench where Lisa and Steele had their first date just 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:26.359 six months ago, is a five minute walk down the 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:32.399 street from the courthouse. Lisa anxiously watches the door for 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:34.399 a familiar face to appear. 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:36.680 And their attend The door opened, my heir, Just like Stab, 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:38.600 he never shows up. 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:44.920 The judge dismisses the case cancels the restraining order. 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:48.119 I spent more money on him and this lawyer. You 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:50.240 know I'd get this restraining order he had sold and 0:24:50.280 --> 0:24:52.080 then he doesn't shop up. 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:57.000