1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,040
Speaker 1: Last summer, I was on vacation in New England when

2
00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,640
Speaker 1: I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize.

3
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,959
Speaker 1: I figured it was spam. I checked the message a

4
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,319
Speaker 1: little while later, expecting to hear something about my car warranty. Laura,

5
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:21,920
Speaker 1: less call over your letter about Sarah. It was Sarah's dad.

6
00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,239
Speaker 1: I called him back and we spoke for about half

7
00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 1: an hour. He didn't want to be recorded, but he

8
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,640
Speaker 1: was okay to talk. I was finally on the phone

9
00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,680
Speaker 1: with someone who could tell me about Sarah's past because

10
00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:41,599
Speaker 1: he had been a part of it. He told me

11
00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,760
Speaker 1: he was seventy two years old and a Vietnam Vette.

12
00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: He and Sarah's mom were married in May of three.

13
00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,400
Speaker 1: They divorced less than two years later, when Sarah was

14
00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,120
Speaker 1: just a few months old. It seemed like a messy breakup.

15
00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,120
Speaker 1: The more we talked, the more I got the feeling

16
00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,240
Speaker 1: that I had opened up a wound that had been

17
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,600
Speaker 1: festering for decades. He told me something I'd heard before,

18
00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,559
Speaker 1: that he wasn't around much and Sarah's childhood. He worked

19
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: as a long haul trucker, so he was gone a lot,

20
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,160
Speaker 1: but he said he didn't feel much like anyone wanted

21
00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 1: him around either. As our conversation went on, he toggled

22
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:25,080
Speaker 1: between anger and tears. I asked him to describe good

23
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,240
Speaker 1: memories of Sarah as a young girl, like birthday parties

24
00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:32,000
Speaker 1: or trips to the zoo. He didn't offer any. I

25
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,240
Speaker 1: asked if it had gotten together with his daughter much

26
00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,440
Speaker 1: as an adult. No. Again, he did help her buy

27
00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 1: a car, the one Christine told me about. Sarah got

28
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,840
Speaker 1: it when she was dating her son Zach. Sarah had

29
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:52,400
Speaker 1: even shown her father the engagement ring. Later, he texted

30
00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,960
Speaker 1: me a few pictures. In one Sarah is five years old,

31
00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,520
Speaker 1: a red and white bow clipped to her short hair,

32
00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,680
Speaker 1: and another she looks like she's in her late teens

33
00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,400
Speaker 1: or early twenties. She's leaning in toward her dad. They're

34
00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,040
Speaker 1: both smiling. Sarah's dad called me one other time. A

35
00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,400
Speaker 1: few months later. I had texted him an easy question,

36
00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,280
Speaker 1: how do you say de Lashman? He called to pronounce

37
00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,200
Speaker 1: it for me. This time I sensed more of a

38
00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,440
Speaker 1: smoldering pain than anything else. His voice cracked as he

39
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,040
Speaker 1: told me that Sarah was his daughter and he loved her,

40
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,840
Speaker 1: and he thought she needed psychiatric care. He knew she

41
00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,640
Speaker 1: had gone on television. He told me he'd like to

42
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:38,320
Speaker 1: sit down for a private talk with Dr Phil. Just

43
00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,520
Speaker 1: before we hung up, he said he wanted to ask

44
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,640
Speaker 1: me something a buddy of his had mentioned seeing a

45
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,960
Speaker 1: magazine article on Sarah. She's just a girl from the Midwest.

46
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,960
Speaker 1: He said, why does anyone care about what she did?

47
00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:55,520
Speaker 1: Why is her story worth national attention? It was a

48
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,800
Speaker 1: fair question to ask, what is it about Sarah's story

49
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,840
Speaker 1: that speaks to anyone other than the people who once

50
00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,680
Speaker 1: trusted her? Why does it matter? I told him for

51
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,200
Speaker 1: the sake of her family, her victims, and even Sarah herself.

52
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,280
Speaker 1: It was a question I would try to answer. I'm

53
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:22,800
Speaker 1: Laura Beale. You're listening to Sympathy Pains. This is the

54
00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:30,320
Speaker 1: sixth and final episode Justice. January one, two thousand twenty

55
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,760
Speaker 1: was a chilly, windy Tuesday in Highland, Illinois. It was

56
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 1: early in the morning. An officer, David Brynes of the

57
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:40,839
Speaker 1: Highland Police Department, was keeping warm in his squad car.

58
00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,240
Speaker 1: He was parked around the corner from where Sarah lived

59
00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,120
Speaker 1: with her mom. By then she was thirty five years old.

60
00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:55,040
Speaker 1: It was a single story house. I believe it was

61
00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,920
Speaker 1: a two or three bedroom with a basement and then

62
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,120
Speaker 1: finished basement. I went down there air with it was

63
00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,840
Speaker 1: at least ten FBI agents. He was waiting for the

64
00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,360
Speaker 1: signal from the FBI agents to go in. We've been

65
00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,000
Speaker 1: preparing for this for about a week. Had been driving

66
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,600
Speaker 1: by her residence. We knew that she worked at an

67
00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,000
Speaker 1: Amazon distribution plant nearby, and we believe she also had

68
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,080
Speaker 1: a separate job here at our Walmart, so we were

69
00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:24,799
Speaker 1: trying to establish when she would be home. Her mother

70
00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,479
Speaker 1: was home too. I've heard all kinds of descriptions of

71
00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:34,120
Speaker 1: Sarah's relationship with her mom, from loving to codependent. I see,

72
00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,920
Speaker 1: and I can't say which of them is true. Maybe

73
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:42,200
Speaker 1: each of them contains elements that are. Sarah's aunt told

74
00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,400
Speaker 1: me in a text that their mother had been killed

75
00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,920
Speaker 1: in a car crash when they were teenagers, and they

76
00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,760
Speaker 1: were pretty much on their own after that. She said

77
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,480
Speaker 1: Sarah's mom wasn't the kind to ask for help. Once,

78
00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,520
Speaker 1: when her car was broadsided, she searched through an auto

79
00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,560
Speaker 1: salvage yard, found a door that would fit and replaced

80
00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,680
Speaker 1: it herself. Off. She thought her sister had a baby

81
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 1: for companionship, as a kind of escape from her joyless marriage.

82
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,640
Speaker 1: On the Dr Phil show. Sarah's mother had been in

83
00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 1: the audience. When the cameras turned to her, she said

84
00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,240
Speaker 1: she wasn't aware of what Sarah had been up to

85
00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:18,920
Speaker 1: all these years, that she didn't even know that her

86
00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,360
Speaker 1: daughter had. Her nursing license were evoked in multiple states.

87
00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,600
Speaker 1: That January morning, an FBI agent knocked on the door

88
00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:31,080
Speaker 1: and showed the search warrant to both of them. Officer

89
00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,400
Speaker 1: Brian's got the all clear to go inside. When he

90
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: walked in the door, he saw boxes and clutter everywhere.

91
00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,520
Speaker 1: A lot of the boxes were just an open boxes,

92
00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:48,120
Speaker 1: like they had ordered something from Amazon and retrieved it

93
00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,080
Speaker 1: and just set it in there and never opened it.

94
00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,960
Speaker 1: They had at least four small dogs. What I remember

95
00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,919
Speaker 1: most was the smell, overwhelming inch of pet urine. He

96
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,240
Speaker 1: went into the kitchen, the counters were just it was

97
00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:10,360
Speaker 1: just filled with clutter and junk, old food. I mean,

98
00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:12,159
Speaker 1: you couldn't really see the kitchen table because it was

99
00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:17,480
Speaker 1: buried under stuff. Just it seemed like anything that had

100
00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:23,920
Speaker 1: ever came into that house stayed in that house. Officers

101
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,159
Speaker 1: spent the next few hours searching the house for evidence.

102
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,320
Speaker 1: The triathlon bikes were in the garage in the basement.

103
00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,560
Speaker 1: Officer Brian's found the racing bibs should save from the

104
00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:40,560
Speaker 1: charity events, fourteen items of evidence were collected and seized

105
00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,400
Speaker 1: from the residents. I know at some point during our search,

106
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,040
Speaker 1: Sarah was taken from the residents up to the Highland

107
00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,680
Speaker 1: Police Department and she was interviewed. I tried for months

108
00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,680
Speaker 1: to obtain a tape of this interview. I wanted to

109
00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,760
Speaker 1: hear Sarah telling her own story in her own voice,

110
00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:05,080
Speaker 1: but the US Justice Department said no. On March third, twenty,

111
00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:09,120
Speaker 1: Sarah was officially charged with eight felony counts, including wire

112
00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,600
Speaker 1: fraud and mail fraud. She was also charged with aggravated

113
00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,800
Speaker 1: identity theft from using her mother's credit card to order

114
00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,200
Speaker 1: one of the bikes. The other bike had been donated

115
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,880
Speaker 1: to her by y s C, the Young Survival Coalition

116
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,880
Speaker 1: for Women with Breast cancer. Prosecutors said she had fraudulently

117
00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,080
Speaker 1: received financial aid from Camp Summit. I found out about

118
00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:36,960
Speaker 1: the charges from a phone call. Hi, Laura is this calling? Wow? Okay,

119
00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:41,120
Speaker 1: So I just heard that Sarah was invited. I'm just

120
00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:44,480
Speaker 1: shaking time, just waiting here from Bethany. She's in the meeting,

121
00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,960
Speaker 1: but I just cannot wait to share this with her.

122
00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:52,240
Speaker 1: It's been just about a year to the day that

123
00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:54,640
Speaker 1: she was living at our house with my parents and

124
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:59,520
Speaker 1: we discovered this, and I just I on without words.

125
00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,320
Speaker 1: A year earlier, Liz had wanted to help Sarah, feeling

126
00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:08,080
Speaker 1: an overwhelming sympathy for a dying young woman. Now Liz

127
00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,520
Speaker 1: was in a very different place. You know, after twenty years,

128
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,960
Speaker 1: this woman who has defrauded countless hundreds of people, her

129
00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,760
Speaker 1: own family, to see it come to an end of

130
00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:27,960
Speaker 1: justice is just such a good feeling. Three months later, Lukewisler,

131
00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:32,120
Speaker 1: the federal prosecutor, arrived early in a brightly lit a St.

132
00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:39,160
Speaker 1: Louis courtroom. A short time later, Sarah entered with her attorney.

133
00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,320
Speaker 1: She was in a mass like all of us. I

134
00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,199
Speaker 1: think that she had her hair pulled back. I mean,

135
00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,360
Speaker 1: she was dressed for court son a in a pretty

136
00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,640
Speaker 1: conservative way. The judge came in and spoke to her.

137
00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:55,040
Speaker 1: She is advised of different rights. She is also advised

138
00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,360
Speaker 1: of the charges against her. She responded that she was

139
00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,960
Speaker 1: aware of the charges. I think that she she was

140
00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,400
Speaker 1: soft spoken and and her voice was a little bit shaky,

141
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,480
Speaker 1: which you know, kind of made it seem like she

142
00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:09,880
Speaker 1: might be nervous, or or just kind of the gravity

143
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 1: of what was happening, might be sinking in. The public

144
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,640
Speaker 1: couldn't be there because of COVID, but could listen in

145
00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,560
Speaker 1: on a phone line. Liz and Bethany dialed in. When

146
00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:21,679
Speaker 1: it was over, I gave them a call and asked

147
00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,120
Speaker 1: them what they were doing while all this was going on.

148
00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,840
Speaker 1: Bethany listened at home. I was sitting here on my

149
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 1: couch with my eyes closed, trying to imagine her facial expression.

150
00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,680
Speaker 1: She didn't feel any sense of finality. She thought Sarah

151
00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:38,360
Speaker 1: would just revel in the attention. She thinks she's going

152
00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,000
Speaker 1: to show up at this courthouse today, she's gonna get

153
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,280
Speaker 1: her fifteen minutes of fame again. And she's already onto

154
00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,000
Speaker 1: the next thing. At the beginning, when they're talking about,

155
00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,320
Speaker 1: you know, if you've been under psychic evaluation, if you

156
00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 1: are you on drugs, I'm just waiting for that Sarah

157
00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:53,360
Speaker 1: moment where she just slipped away again. She's going to

158
00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,400
Speaker 1: say something, She's going to manipulate this to benefit her.

159
00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,400
Speaker 1: And then at the very end, I was just hearing

160
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,360
Speaker 1: this monotone voice that you notice when he said, well,

161
00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,679
Speaker 1: we'll need to confiscate your passport. She said, okay as

162
00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,520
Speaker 1: she was exhaling, and I thought that was really weird. Interesting.

163
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,200
Speaker 1: I did pick up on that, Bethany. That's what I

164
00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,800
Speaker 1: was thinking was she's already coached this in her head,

165
00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,040
Speaker 1: that all she's going to say is yes, I do, Yes,

166
00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,040
Speaker 1: I do, Yes, I do. Because she's trying so hard

167
00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,280
Speaker 1: to stay in that whatever that personality, that mindset, or

168
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,080
Speaker 1: whatever it is. I would have loved to see her

169
00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,800
Speaker 1: face to face, just for her to know that me

170
00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,400
Speaker 1: and Liz aren't giving this up. I asked how they

171
00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,240
Speaker 1: would feel if the case settles and there's no trial.

172
00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,680
Speaker 1: Bethany thinks for a second and then isn't even sure

173
00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,120
Speaker 1: she wants Sarah to go in front of a jury.

174
00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:42,520
Speaker 1: It doesn't get to be told by her sitting on

175
00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,600
Speaker 1: a stand and crying and trying to win people over.

176
00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:48,520
Speaker 1: So honestly, at this moment, I don't even know that

177
00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:56,439
Speaker 1: I would care. A few months later, Sarah was back

178
00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:01,120
Speaker 1: at the federal courthouse. She entered her plea, her guilty plea.

179
00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:06,080
Speaker 1: On October two thousand twenty. She pled guilty to four

180
00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,280
Speaker 1: counts of wire fraud and one kind of mail frond

181
00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,560
Speaker 1: Sarah appeared in court for the last time on January nine,

182
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,760
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty one. The nation was deeply mired in

183
00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:21,040
Speaker 1: the pandemic, so everyone participated virtually on a checkerboard of

184
00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,560
Speaker 1: screens that we've all gotten used to. She was at

185
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:27,720
Speaker 1: a table, just kind of a standard conference table, and

186
00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,040
Speaker 1: she was a little bit further back from the screen.

187
00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:33,960
Speaker 1: Luke Wiseler worked at a deal with Sarah's attorney. He

188
00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:37,000
Speaker 1: asked for a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty

189
00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,400
Speaker 1: plea on five of the eight charges. This is a

190
00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,160
Speaker 1: case where on paper, the dollars at stake are very minimal,

191
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,719
Speaker 1: so minimal in fact that in another situation everyone might

192
00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:53,000
Speaker 1: have settled for probation. But this was hardly an ordinary case.

193
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,679
Speaker 1: From our perspective, some amount of prison time was important.

194
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,880
Speaker 1: The judge asked the victims to read their statements. I

195
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,079
Speaker 1: wanted the judge to to know that you know, these

196
00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,600
Speaker 1: are organizations that are in the world to do such good,

197
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:14,360
Speaker 1: and that the defendant in this case violated almost every

198
00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,880
Speaker 1: aspect of them. Bethany went first. In a halting voice,

199
00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:23,160
Speaker 1: she said she wanted to represent the disability community. Sacred

200
00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,959
Speaker 1: communities like Camp Summit. I wasn't allowed to take the

201
00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,760
Speaker 1: statement as she read it in court, but asked her

202
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,080
Speaker 1: to read what she had written later that day over

203
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:37,559
Speaker 1: the phone. She started by talking about Sarah at Camp

204
00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,480
Speaker 1: Summit when Bethany was a counselor. Sarah that I knew

205
00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,320
Speaker 1: at camp was very kind. She was thoughtful, giggly, friendly

206
00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,320
Speaker 1: and intelligent. Sarah told me that she had zero mobility.

207
00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:52,800
Speaker 1: The typical wheelchair transfer or assistance only requires one, maybe

208
00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,680
Speaker 1: two caregivers. Sarah was unique and that she was difficult

209
00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:59,280
Speaker 1: to lift because of her stature and her lack of movement.

210
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,079
Speaker 1: It took three of us for the transfers. She told

211
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,440
Speaker 1: the court how their friendship blossomed after camp was over.

212
00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,360
Speaker 1: At one point, Sarah told me she'd consider moving in

213
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,160
Speaker 1: with me so we could be roommates and she could

214
00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,600
Speaker 1: help me with the child and vice first I could

215
00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,760
Speaker 1: help her. For a moment, I truly considered it. I

216
00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:19,520
Speaker 1: considered her a very good friend at the time, and

217
00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:22,680
Speaker 1: I thought she understood that life is it's perfect. And

218
00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:26,120
Speaker 1: the day she learned the truth, she got up out

219
00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,040
Speaker 1: of the wheelchair and walked away into a van, never

220
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:34,320
Speaker 1: to be seen again. The grief that I felt in

221
00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,199
Speaker 1: that moment from the grief that we have victims continue

222
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:42,640
Speaker 1: to speak it as if someone's died, the fields, as

223
00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:44,840
Speaker 1: though we're watching a car crash. We know it's about

224
00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:48,280
Speaker 1: to happen, but we can't stop it. We also know

225
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:49,920
Speaker 1: that we have to stick around and pick up there

226
00:13:50,000 --> 00:14:01,720
Speaker 1: is pieces. Victim Anthony asked the judge if she could

227
00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,719
Speaker 1: read a statement written by Aaron Johnson, who wasn't in

228
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,920
Speaker 1: court that day. My parents cared for her, for Sarah

229
00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,280
Speaker 1: as a disabled person more than once. The second time

230
00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,200
Speaker 1: that had happened, she was supposedly paralyzed from a cancerous

231
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:19,280
Speaker 1: tumor in her spine. No, but I realized almost eleven

232
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,480
Speaker 1: years later, there was so much that was fake. She

233
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,160
Speaker 1: was full of fake diseases, births, deaths, friendships, family members

234
00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,400
Speaker 1: who weren't real. When I first found out that was real,

235
00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:37,720
Speaker 1: I questioned everyone in my life. I was devastated someone

236
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,760
Speaker 1: who was supposed to be my best friend I had

237
00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,360
Speaker 1: taken my life, wasted my time, and made me feel

238
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:49,200
Speaker 1: so dumb for eleven, almost twelve years, She wrote about

239
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:54,840
Speaker 1: her lingering pain. I feel pains for those who gave

240
00:14:56,120 --> 00:15:01,360
Speaker 1: time and money too, gives her things she didn't need

241
00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,280
Speaker 1: making their struggles seem easy, as if they did not run.

242
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,440
Speaker 1: Bethany ended by telling the judge that even with all

243
00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,160
Speaker 1: that Aaron had been through, Aaron was still everything that

244
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,440
Speaker 1: Sarah was not. Every time that I've approached her with

245
00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,040
Speaker 1: my pain, She's welcomed it with open arms and absorbed

246
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:26,359
Speaker 1: it with unconditional love. We're asking today, but these communities

247
00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:29,960
Speaker 1: find justice so that people like me can go back

248
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,360
Speaker 1: out into the world and love people back the same

249
00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:36,840
Speaker 1: way that Aaron does. Then it was Liz's turn. Here.

250
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:41,640
Speaker 1: She is recounting her statement to me later that day. Sarah,

251
00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:44,480
Speaker 1: you are here today facing sentencing to pay for stealing

252
00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,200
Speaker 1: a bike, a helmet, and camps reserved for adults with

253
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,600
Speaker 1: real disabilities and illnesses. While these are hantous acts that

254
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,840
Speaker 1: are fall under the current definition of a crime, the

255
00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:01,040
Speaker 1: irreparable pain and a measurable damage you have paused so

256
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:06,080
Speaker 1: much more. With Liz and Bethany finished, Luke Wiseler asked

257
00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,080
Speaker 1: the judge for a punishment of eight months in prison.

258
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:13,280
Speaker 1: Sarah's defense attorney told the court that his client regretted

259
00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,840
Speaker 1: what she had done and that admitting to it on

260
00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,880
Speaker 1: television meant that there were YouTube links and news stories

261
00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,000
Speaker 1: that would follow her for the rest of her life.

262
00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 1: He mentioned mitigating factors in her childhood. He didn't specify

263
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:31,360
Speaker 1: what they were though. Finally came Sarah's turn. She started

264
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,120
Speaker 1: by apologizing for all she had done. She said she changed,

265
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,760
Speaker 1: telling the judge I no longer need to seek unhealthy

266
00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,920
Speaker 1: behaviors to seek the approval of others. I could only

267
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,400
Speaker 1: listen on a dial in line, but all the participants

268
00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:50,440
Speaker 1: of the hearing were on zoom watching Sarah's face. The

269
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,360
Speaker 1: victims who were on the screen were still emotional. They

270
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:58,400
Speaker 1: were emotional throughout really the whole hearing. As Sarah spoke,

271
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,480
Speaker 1: there didn't see to be a lot of emotion behind

272
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:08,440
Speaker 1: her words, and so especially after the victims had spoken

273
00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,440
Speaker 1: and had so much emotion what they were saying, you know,

274
00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,119
Speaker 1: there was just a very clear difference in what was

275
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:18,080
Speaker 1: being said, or at least how it was being said,

276
00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:21,800
Speaker 1: and they were just shaking their head kind of almost

277
00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,280
Speaker 1: denying the sincerity of what was being said. As as

278
00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,639
Speaker 1: it was being said, they just weren't buying it. The

279
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:32,880
Speaker 1: court went into recess so the judge could consider all

280
00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:41,320
Speaker 1: she had heard. Everyone waited when court resumed. Judge Stacy

281
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,080
Speaker 1: Yandal started by acknowledging the unusual nous of the case

282
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,359
Speaker 1: and how the damage Sarah inflicted on the hearts and

283
00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,119
Speaker 1: souls of those who befriended her was not technically a

284
00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,760
Speaker 1: matter for a court of law. It didn't take long

285
00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:01,280
Speaker 1: in listening to to what the judge was saying to

286
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:06,200
Speaker 1: to see that she really did recognize the emotional impact.

287
00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:10,040
Speaker 1: She pointed out that the goal of sentencing is not

288
00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:14,160
Speaker 1: just punishment, but deterrence. In a time when the Internet

289
00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,280
Speaker 1: makes it easy for people to pray on the generosity

290
00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:21,320
Speaker 1: of others, just like Sarah did. The judge pointed out

291
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 1: that Sarah had been scamming people for a long long time,

292
00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:28,320
Speaker 1: back to two thousand and six. There was documentation of it.

293
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,000
Speaker 1: I think she meant the quilt. I couldn't record the

294
00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,760
Speaker 1: judge because of federal rules. But here's another journalist reading

295
00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,920
Speaker 1: from the court transcript. Mr Lashmidt began her fraudulent s

296
00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,000
Speaker 1: free many many years ago, and she has yet to

297
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,720
Speaker 1: be deterred. As the government pointed out in its sentencing memorandum,

298
00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,000
Speaker 1: this defendant has gone from one fraudulent charade to the

299
00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:57,680
Speaker 1: next for years. The loss of her Illinois nursing license

300
00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:02,760
Speaker 1: in two thousand fourteen for faking pregnancies and miscarriages. Did

301
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,840
Speaker 1: not deter her from pretending to have muscular dystrophy at

302
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,480
Speaker 1: Camp Summit in two thousand fifteen and two thousand sixteen,

303
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,480
Speaker 1: and being confronted by her pastor and family and having

304
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,200
Speaker 1: to rise up from her wheelchair and walk out of

305
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:22,920
Speaker 1: Camp Summit in two thousand sixteen did not deter her

306
00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:26,840
Speaker 1: from attending ysc events as a breast cancer survivor in

307
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen and two thousand eighteen. So the question

308
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:34,800
Speaker 1: is what will deter her. I listened closely, Mr de

309
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,480
Speaker 1: lashmant to your statement, and I paid attention, and I'm

310
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 1: frankly not persuaded that there is genuine remorse here or

311
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,040
Speaker 1: that there is genuine shame. Judge Yandal acknowledged that Sarah's

312
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,920
Speaker 1: behavior could be the result of untreated mental illness, but said,

313
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,280
Speaker 1: I will point out that this court has been presented

314
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,399
Speaker 1: with no evidence of that. I have no records, there

315
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,399
Speaker 1: has been no diagnosis. Finally, the judge pointed out the

316
00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,240
Speaker 1: limits of the law in this case and said that

317
00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:09,520
Speaker 1: standard sentencing guidelines just don't capture or reflect the nature

318
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:14,359
Speaker 1: or the range of Miss de Laschmidt's conduct, or her crime,

319
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,960
Speaker 1: or the impact of her crimes on the victims. And

320
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,760
Speaker 1: with that, Judge Stacy Yandell more than doubled the sentence

321
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,840
Speaker 1: the prosecution had requested. And so where is she today?

322
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:38,880
Speaker 1: She is imprisoned. When the judge handed down Sarah's prison sentence,

323
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,119
Speaker 1: citing her history going back to the time of the quilt,

324
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:47,560
Speaker 1: Andrea Smith, who was listening in, was elated. It was

325
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,520
Speaker 1: absolute vindication. It felt like she was getting sentenced for

326
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,879
Speaker 1: what she did to us, even though we were unable

327
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,199
Speaker 1: to press charges at the time. Andrea had been chasing

328
00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,679
Speaker 1: Sarah across the Internet for years, hoping to warn her

329
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 1: next potential mark. So as we sat at her computer

330
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:09,080
Speaker 1: in South Carolina, I wanted to know, now, what do

331
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 1: you think she'll stop? No, I don't. I don't think

332
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:14,480
Speaker 1: that she will stop. I think this is a compulsion.

333
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 1: I think that she has mentally ill. I'm not a

334
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 1: psychiatric professional, but there's something missing from her life. I

335
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm not I'm not well versed enough, but

336
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 1: there's something wrong that she needs to seek satisfaction through

337
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:38,720
Speaker 1: feigning illness. Sarah never answered any letters I wrote to

338
00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,720
Speaker 1: her in prison, but in a text message, Sarah's aunt

339
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,040
Speaker 1: told me that she's doing well. She wrote that Sarah

340
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: started attending a Bible study group and one of the

341
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:52,640
Speaker 1: inmates is teaching her to crochet. Sarah's mom is having

342
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,879
Speaker 1: a hard time with her being gone. We're just praying

343
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,359
Speaker 1: that she can get through this. Sarah will be fine.

344
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: Her aunt wrapped up the message by texting in ending,

345
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 1: I just want to say we all miss her and

346
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,919
Speaker 1: pray for peace for the people who made it their

347
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,000
Speaker 1: life's purpose to punish her. Sarah's prison sentence was supposed

348
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 1: to end in July, but she got out early on

349
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: March four, something that Luke Wisler says isn't all that

350
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:30,400
Speaker 1: unusual for federal sentences. In late January, only weeks before

351
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:34,520
Speaker 1: her full release, she changed her Facebook profile picture. In

352
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:38,920
Speaker 1: the photo, her brunette hair has blonde highlights. She's holding

353
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:45,240
Speaker 1: a chocolate chip cookie and smiling. Wherever Sarah went, she

354
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:50,040
Speaker 1: left people shaken. Sympathy was both her great need and

355
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:54,120
Speaker 1: her powerful weapon. The victims I talked to are still

356
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,360
Speaker 1: not the same. This is a story where justice was served,

357
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,879
Speaker 1: but a tidy ending is not possible. Do you feel

358
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,920
Speaker 1: like you have been able to have the closure that

359
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: you need? In a way, yes, but in a wing

360
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:19,399
Speaker 1: this is Aaron again. I kind of feel closer in

361
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 1: a way, but I don't because I don't feel like

362
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: she's really being punished for what she did to so

363
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 1: many other people, because there are people that she did

364
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,280
Speaker 1: money and equipment from, and then there's people like me

365
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 1: and Bethani and so many other people who she didn't

366
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: really take money from, but mess of our hearts and

367
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 1: our motion, our families and everything that money can't buy.

368
00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 1: And I'm still left thinking about the question her dad

369
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: asked me. If you didn't know Sarah, if you were

370
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,800
Speaker 1: never caught in her net, why does any of this matter?

371
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,640
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I've heard that question myself.

372
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: I've even had people come to me and say, why

373
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: are you putting this much energy towards something that was

374
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 1: so traumatic for Bethany. The answer comes back to something

375
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: that Dr Phil said that Sarah was able to do

376
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,920
Speaker 1: what she did because she had no empathy. Empathy is

377
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: at the core of why all this matters, because it's

378
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,960
Speaker 1: at the core of humanity. For the world to function,

379
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 1: we must be able to see ourselves in others. Without that,

380
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 1: we can't comprehend their pain, their motivation, the drivers behind

381
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,920
Speaker 1: the decisions they make every day. Sarah was able to

382
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,119
Speaker 1: wall herself off from the damage she was causing people

383
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 1: like Bethany or Aaron or Liz or anyone she conned.

384
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 1: Either Sarah in her mind couldn't comprehend how she was

385
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,880
Speaker 1: hurting them, or she did comprehend it and just didn't care.

386
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 1: Are And here's the reason Bethany and other people Sarah

387
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: knew wanted to tell this story. They look around and

388
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:10,360
Speaker 1: see plenty of people who destroy the trust and spirit

389
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,520
Speaker 1: of those around them, too many people who are either

390
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: passively or willfully numb to the suffering of others. I

391
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 1: can open up any of my social media's right now

392
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 1: and pull up videos of adults screaming and fighting, like,

393
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: how am I supposed to teach my child? We're supposed

394
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: to be kind when those are the things that she's

395
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 1: going to experience. And that's it's it's deep. It's troubling.

396
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 1: Every day we see people hide behind online personas to

397
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 1: demean other people. We see people dismissing the basic human

398
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 1: nous of others because they have a different set of

399
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 1: problems than we do. Maybe they assure themselves that their

400
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 1: actions can't be cruel because they're not cruel people. Psychologists

401
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 1: have called it America's crisis of empathy, and the societal

402
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 1: fractures caused by the pandemic have only made things worse.

403
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: Bethany knows how destructive that can be. I know what

404
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,520
Speaker 1: it feels like to feel degraded. I know what it

405
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: feels like to feel like to feel worthless. Sarah's behavior

406
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 1: was an outlier, but when Bethany distills her actions down

407
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 1: to their core, she sees a lack of empathy from

408
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 1: other kinds of Sarah's that leave hidden wounds everywhere. The

409
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,359
Speaker 1: reason why the story is so important for me to

410
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: get out there is what are we all doing with

411
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 1: our trauma? You know, Sarah can go to prison, someone

412
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,399
Speaker 1: can lock her up for a crime, but where is

413
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: the law? She was technically locked up because she stole

414
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 1: goods and services from these organizations, but the law doesn't

415
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 1: account for the trauma. And there's one other question, how

416
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 1: do you have empathy for someone who has none for you?

417
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: How do we have empathy for someone like Sarah? She

418
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,720
Speaker 1: left others broken because she was broken herself, and in

419
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 1: that case, I don't know what justice really looks like.

420
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: I can understand that she needed to be punished for

421
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 1: the hurt she caused, but she needs more than that.

422
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 1: Dr Phil told her that people who don't have empathy

423
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: can't fake it. Maybe one day, with how she'll find it,

424
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: maybe the rest of us will too. Sympathy Pains is

425
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,960
Speaker 1: a production of Neon Hum Media and I Heart Radio.

426
00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: I'm Your Host Laura Beale I wrote and reported the episodes.

427
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:59,119
Speaker 1: Natalie Wrinn is lead producer. Our editor is Katherine st. Louis.

428
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: Associate producer is Rufaro Mazzarua. Our executive producer is Jonathan Hirsch.

429
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: Samantha Allison is our production manager. Fact checker is Jacqueline Colletti.

430
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: Jesse Perlstein composed the theme song and music heard throughout

431
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,359
Speaker 1: the series. Additional tracks are by Blue Dot Sessions and

432
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,880
Speaker 1: Epidemic Sound. Scott Somerville is our engineer and sound designer.

433
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: Reporting consultants are Liz Hiccocks and Bethany Turner. Special thanks

434
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:33,159
Speaker 1: to Stephanie Serrano, Renee, Michael Pruitt, and Aaron Brown from

435
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Special thanks to Carrie Lieberman and Bethan Macaluso.

436
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: Executive producer at I Heart Radio is Dylan Fagan. If

437
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,800
Speaker 1: you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness,

438
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: you can call the National Alliance on Mental Illness at

439
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 1: eight hundred nine five oh six two six four. That's

440
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: eight hundred nine five oh n a m I. If

441
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: you like our podcast, would love for you to leave

442
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: a review. It helps people find our show and thank

443
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: you for listening. H