WEBVTT - Justice 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.040 Last summer, I was on vacation in New England when 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.640 I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:08.959 I figured it was spam. I checked the message a 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:13.319 little while later, expecting to hear something about my car warranty. Laura, 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:21.920 less call over your letter about Sarah. It was Sarah's dad. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.239 I called him back and we spoke for about half 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.960 an hour. He didn't want to be recorded, but he 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.640 was okay to talk. I was finally on the phone 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.680 with someone who could tell me about Sarah's past because 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:41.599 he had been a part of it. He told me 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:44.760 he was seventy two years old and a Vietnam Vette. 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.040 He and Sarah's mom were married in May of three. 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:53.400 They divorced less than two years later, when Sarah was 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.120 just a few months old. It seemed like a messy breakup. 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.120 The more we talked, the more I got the feeling 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.240 that I had opened up a wound that had been 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.600 festering for decades. He told me something I'd heard before, 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.559 that he wasn't around much and Sarah's childhood. He worked 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.920 as a long haul trucker, so he was gone a lot, 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.160 but he said he didn't feel much like anyone wanted 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.679 him around either. As our conversation went on, he toggled 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.080 between anger and tears. I asked him to describe good 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:28.240 memories of Sarah as a young girl, like birthday parties 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.000 or trips to the zoo. He didn't offer any. I 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.240 asked if it had gotten together with his daughter much 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.440 as an adult. No. Again, he did help her buy 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.000 a car, the one Christine told me about. Sarah got 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.840 it when she was dating her son Zach. Sarah had 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:52.400 even shown her father the engagement ring. Later, he texted 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.960 me a few pictures. In one Sarah is five years old, 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.520 a red and white bow clipped to her short hair, 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.680 and another she looks like she's in her late teens 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.400 or early twenties. She's leaning in toward her dad. They're 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.040 both smiling. Sarah's dad called me one other time. A 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.400 few months later. I had texted him an easy question, 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.280 how do you say de Lashman? He called to pronounce 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.200 it for me. This time I sensed more of a 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.440 smoldering pain than anything else. His voice cracked as he 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.040 told me that Sarah was his daughter and he loved her, 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.840 and he thought she needed psychiatric care. He knew she 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.640 had gone on television. He told me he'd like to 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:38.320 sit down for a private talk with Dr Phil. Just 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.520 before we hung up, he said he wanted to ask 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.640 me something a buddy of his had mentioned seeing a 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.960 magazine article on Sarah. She's just a girl from the Midwest. 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.960 He said, why does anyone care about what she did? 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.520 Why is her story worth national attention? It was a 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.800 fair question to ask, what is it about Sarah's story 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.840 that speaks to anyone other than the people who once 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.680 trusted her? Why does it matter? I told him for 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.200 the sake of her family, her victims, and even Sarah herself. 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.280 It was a question I would try to answer. I'm 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:22.800 Laura Beale. You're listening to Sympathy Pains. This is the 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:30.320 sixth and final episode Justice. January one, two thousand twenty 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.760 was a chilly, windy Tuesday in Highland, Illinois. It was 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.640 early in the morning. An officer, David Brynes of the 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.839 Highland Police Department, was keeping warm in his squad car. 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.240 He was parked around the corner from where Sarah lived 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.120 with her mom. By then she was thirty five years old. 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:55.040 It was a single story house. I believe it was 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.920 a two or three bedroom with a basement and then 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.120 finished basement. I went down there air with it was 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.840 at least ten FBI agents. He was waiting for the 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.360 signal from the FBI agents to go in. We've been 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.000 preparing for this for about a week. Had been driving 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.600 by her residence. We knew that she worked at an 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:19.000 Amazon distribution plant nearby, and we believe she also had 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.080 a separate job here at our Walmart, so we were 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.799 trying to establish when she would be home. Her mother 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.479 was home too. I've heard all kinds of descriptions of 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:34.120 Sarah's relationship with her mom, from loving to codependent. I see, 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.920 and I can't say which of them is true. Maybe 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:42.200 each of them contains elements that are. Sarah's aunt told 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:44.400 me in a text that their mother had been killed 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:46.920 in a car crash when they were teenagers, and they 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.760 were pretty much on their own after that. She said 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.480 Sarah's mom wasn't the kind to ask for help. Once, 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.520 when her car was broadsided, she searched through an auto 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.560 salvage yard, found a door that would fit and replaced 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.680 it herself. Off. She thought her sister had a baby 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.839 for companionship, as a kind of escape from her joyless marriage. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.640 On the Dr Phil show. Sarah's mother had been in 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.040 the audience. When the cameras turned to her, she said 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.240 she wasn't aware of what Sarah had been up to 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.920 all these years, that she didn't even know that her 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.360 daughter had. Her nursing license were evoked in multiple states. 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.600 That January morning, an FBI agent knocked on the door 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.080 and showed the search warrant to both of them. Officer 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.400 Brian's got the all clear to go inside. When he 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:39.000 walked in the door, he saw boxes and clutter everywhere. 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.520 A lot of the boxes were just an open boxes, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:48.120 like they had ordered something from Amazon and retrieved it 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.080 and just set it in there and never opened it. 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.960 They had at least four small dogs. What I remember 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.919 most was the smell, overwhelming inch of pet urine. He 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.240 went into the kitchen, the counters were just it was 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:10.360 just filled with clutter and junk, old food. I mean, 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.159 you couldn't really see the kitchen table because it was 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:17.480 buried under stuff. Just it seemed like anything that had 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:23.920 ever came into that house stayed in that house. Officers 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.159 spent the next few hours searching the house for evidence. 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.320 The triathlon bikes were in the garage in the basement. 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.560 Officer Brian's found the racing bibs should save from the 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:40.560 charity events, fourteen items of evidence were collected and seized 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:44.400 from the residents. I know at some point during our search, 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.040 Sarah was taken from the residents up to the Highland 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.680 Police Department and she was interviewed. I tried for months 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.680 to obtain a tape of this interview. I wanted to 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.760 hear Sarah telling her own story in her own voice, 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:05.080 but the US Justice Department said no. On March third, twenty, 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.120 Sarah was officially charged with eight felony counts, including wire 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.600 fraud and mail fraud. She was also charged with aggravated 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.800 identity theft from using her mother's credit card to order 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.200 one of the bikes. The other bike had been donated 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.880 to her by y s C, the Young Survival Coalition 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.880 for Women with Breast cancer. Prosecutors said she had fraudulently 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.080 received financial aid from Camp Summit. I found out about 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:36.960 the charges from a phone call. Hi, Laura is this calling? Wow? Okay, 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.120 So I just heard that Sarah was invited. I'm just 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.480 shaking time, just waiting here from Bethany. She's in the meeting, 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.960 but I just cannot wait to share this with her. 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.240 It's been just about a year to the day that 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.640 she was living at our house with my parents and 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:59.520 we discovered this, and I just I on without words. 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:03.320 A year earlier, Liz had wanted to help Sarah, feeling 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:08.080 an overwhelming sympathy for a dying young woman. Now Liz 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.520 was in a very different place. You know, after twenty years, 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.960 this woman who has defrauded countless hundreds of people, her 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:21.760 own family, to see it come to an end of 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:27.960 justice is just such a good feeling. Three months later, Lukewisler, 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.120 the federal prosecutor, arrived early in a brightly lit a St. 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:39.160 Louis courtroom. A short time later, Sarah entered with her attorney. 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.320 She was in a mass like all of us. I 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.199 think that she had her hair pulled back. I mean, 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.360 she was dressed for court son a in a pretty 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.640 conservative way. The judge came in and spoke to her. 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:55.040 She is advised of different rights. She is also advised 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.360 of the charges against her. She responded that she was 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.960 aware of the charges. I think that she she was 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.400 soft spoken and and her voice was a little bit shaky, 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:07.480 which you know, kind of made it seem like she 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:09.880 might be nervous, or or just kind of the gravity 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.760 of what was happening, might be sinking in. The public 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.640 couldn't be there because of COVID, but could listen in 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.560 on a phone line. Liz and Bethany dialed in. When 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:21.679 it was over, I gave them a call and asked 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.120 them what they were doing while all this was going on. 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.840 Bethany listened at home. I was sitting here on my 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.760 couch with my eyes closed, trying to imagine her facial expression. 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.680 She didn't feel any sense of finality. She thought Sarah 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.360 would just revel in the attention. She thinks she's going 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.000 to show up at this courthouse today, she's gonna get 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.280 her fifteen minutes of fame again. And she's already onto 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.000 the next thing. At the beginning, when they're talking about, 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.320 you know, if you've been under psychic evaluation, if you 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.120 are you on drugs, I'm just waiting for that Sarah 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.360 moment where she just slipped away again. She's going to 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.400 say something, She's going to manipulate this to benefit her. 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.400 And then at the very end, I was just hearing 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.360 this monotone voice that you notice when he said, well, 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.679 we'll need to confiscate your passport. She said, okay as 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:09.520 she was exhaling, and I thought that was really weird. Interesting. 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.200 I did pick up on that, Bethany. That's what I 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.800 was thinking was she's already coached this in her head, 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.040 that all she's going to say is yes, I do, Yes, 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.040 I do, Yes, I do. Because she's trying so hard 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.280 to stay in that whatever that personality, that mindset, or 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.080 whatever it is. I would have loved to see her 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.800 face to face, just for her to know that me 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.400 and Liz aren't giving this up. I asked how they 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.240 would feel if the case settles and there's no trial. 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.680 Bethany thinks for a second and then isn't even sure 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.120 she wants Sarah to go in front of a jury. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.520 It doesn't get to be told by her sitting on 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.600 a stand and crying and trying to win people over. 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.520 So honestly, at this moment, I don't even know that 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:56.439 I would care. A few months later, Sarah was back 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:01.120 at the federal courthouse. She entered her plea, her guilty plea. 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:06.080 On October two thousand twenty. She pled guilty to four 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.280 counts of wire fraud and one kind of mail frond 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.560 Sarah appeared in court for the last time on January nine, 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.760 two thousand twenty one. The nation was deeply mired in 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:21.040 the pandemic, so everyone participated virtually on a checkerboard of 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.560 screens that we've all gotten used to. She was at 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.720 a table, just kind of a standard conference table, and 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.040 she was a little bit further back from the screen. 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.960 Luke Wiseler worked at a deal with Sarah's attorney. He 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.000 asked for a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.400 plea on five of the eight charges. This is a 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.160 case where on paper, the dollars at stake are very minimal, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.719 so minimal in fact that in another situation everyone might 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:53.000 have settled for probation. But this was hardly an ordinary case. 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:57.679 From our perspective, some amount of prison time was important. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:01.880 The judge asked the victims to read their statements. I 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.079 wanted the judge to to know that you know, these 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.600 are organizations that are in the world to do such good, 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:14.360 and that the defendant in this case violated almost every 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.880 aspect of them. Bethany went first. In a halting voice, 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:23.160 she said she wanted to represent the disability community. Sacred 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.959 communities like Camp Summit. I wasn't allowed to take the 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.760 statement as she read it in court, but asked her 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.080 to read what she had written later that day over 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:37.559 the phone. She started by talking about Sarah at Camp 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.480 Summit when Bethany was a counselor. Sarah that I knew 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:45.320 at camp was very kind. She was thoughtful, giggly, friendly 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.320 and intelligent. Sarah told me that she had zero mobility. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:52.800 The typical wheelchair transfer or assistance only requires one, maybe 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.680 two caregivers. Sarah was unique and that she was difficult 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:59.280 to lift because of her stature and her lack of movement. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.079 It took three of us for the transfers. She told 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.440 the court how their friendship blossomed after camp was over. 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.360 At one point, Sarah told me she'd consider moving in 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.160 with me so we could be roommates and she could 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.600 help me with the child and vice first I could 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.760 help her. For a moment, I truly considered it. I 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:19.520 considered her a very good friend at the time, and 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.680 I thought she understood that life is it's perfect. And 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.120 the day she learned the truth, she got up out 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.040 of the wheelchair and walked away into a van, never 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:34.320 to be seen again. The grief that I felt in 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.199 that moment from the grief that we have victims continue 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:42.640 to speak it as if someone's died, the fields, as 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.840 though we're watching a car crash. We know it's about 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.280 to happen, but we can't stop it. We also know 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:49.920 that we have to stick around and pick up there 0:13:50.000 --> 0:14:01.720 is pieces. Victim Anthony asked the judge if she could 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.719 read a statement written by Aaron Johnson, who wasn't in 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:08.920 court that day. My parents cared for her, for Sarah 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.280 as a disabled person more than once. The second time 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.200 that had happened, she was supposedly paralyzed from a cancerous 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.280 tumor in her spine. No, but I realized almost eleven 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:23.480 years later, there was so much that was fake. She 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:28.160 was full of fake diseases, births, deaths, friendships, family members 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.400 who weren't real. When I first found out that was real, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:37.720 I questioned everyone in my life. I was devastated someone 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.760 who was supposed to be my best friend I had 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:44.360 taken my life, wasted my time, and made me feel 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:49.200 so dumb for eleven, almost twelve years, She wrote about 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:54.840 her lingering pain. I feel pains for those who gave 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:01.360 time and money too, gives her things she didn't need 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.280 making their struggles seem easy, as if they did not run. 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:09.440 Bethany ended by telling the judge that even with all 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.160 that Aaron had been through, Aaron was still everything that 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.440 Sarah was not. Every time that I've approached her with 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.040 my pain, She's welcomed it with open arms and absorbed 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:26.359 it with unconditional love. We're asking today, but these communities 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.960 find justice so that people like me can go back 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:32.360 out into the world and love people back the same 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.840 way that Aaron does. Then it was Liz's turn. Here. 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:41.640 She is recounting her statement to me later that day. Sarah, 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.480 you are here today facing sentencing to pay for stealing 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:49.200 a bike, a helmet, and camps reserved for adults with 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:53.600 real disabilities and illnesses. While these are hantous acts that 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.840 are fall under the current definition of a crime, the 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.040 irreparable pain and a measurable damage you have paused so 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:06.080 much more. With Liz and Bethany finished, Luke Wiseler asked 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:09.080 the judge for a punishment of eight months in prison. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.280 Sarah's defense attorney told the court that his client regretted 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.840 what she had done and that admitting to it on 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.880 television meant that there were YouTube links and news stories 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:21.000 that would follow her for the rest of her life. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.640 He mentioned mitigating factors in her childhood. He didn't specify 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:31.360 what they were though. Finally came Sarah's turn. She started 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.120 by apologizing for all she had done. She said she changed, 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.760 telling the judge I no longer need to seek unhealthy 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.920 behaviors to seek the approval of others. I could only 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:46.400 listen on a dial in line, but all the participants 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:50.440 of the hearing were on zoom watching Sarah's face. The 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.360 victims who were on the screen were still emotional. They 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:58.400 were emotional throughout really the whole hearing. As Sarah spoke, 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.480 there didn't see to be a lot of emotion behind 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:08.440 her words, and so especially after the victims had spoken 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.440 and had so much emotion what they were saying, you know, 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.119 there was just a very clear difference in what was 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:18.080 being said, or at least how it was being said, 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.800 and they were just shaking their head kind of almost 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:26.280 denying the sincerity of what was being said. As as 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.639 it was being said, they just weren't buying it. The 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.880 court went into recess so the judge could consider all 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:41.320 she had heard. Everyone waited when court resumed. Judge Stacy 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:45.080 Yandal started by acknowledging the unusual nous of the case 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.359 and how the damage Sarah inflicted on the hearts and 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:53.119 souls of those who befriended her was not technically a 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.760 matter for a court of law. It didn't take long 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.280 in listening to to what the judge was saying to 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.200 to see that she really did recognize the emotional impact. 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.040 She pointed out that the goal of sentencing is not 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:14.160 just punishment, but deterrence. In a time when the Internet 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.280 makes it easy for people to pray on the generosity 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:21.320 of others, just like Sarah did. The judge pointed out 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.760 that Sarah had been scamming people for a long long time, 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.320 back to two thousand and six. There was documentation of it. 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:33.000 I think she meant the quilt. I couldn't record the 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.760 judge because of federal rules. But here's another journalist reading 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:40.920 from the court transcript. Mr Lashmidt began her fraudulent s 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.000 free many many years ago, and she has yet to 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:48.720 be deterred. As the government pointed out in its sentencing memorandum, 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:53.000 this defendant has gone from one fraudulent charade to the 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:57.680 next for years. The loss of her Illinois nursing license 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.760 in two thousand fourteen for faking pregnancies and miscarriages. Did 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.840 not deter her from pretending to have muscular dystrophy at 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.480 Camp Summit in two thousand fifteen and two thousand sixteen, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:15.480 and being confronted by her pastor and family and having 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.200 to rise up from her wheelchair and walk out of 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.920 Camp Summit in two thousand sixteen did not deter her 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.840 from attending ysc events as a breast cancer survivor in 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.520 two thousand seventeen and two thousand eighteen. So the question 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:34.800 is what will deter her. I listened closely, Mr de 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.480 lashmant to your statement, and I paid attention, and I'm 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:42.760 frankly not persuaded that there is genuine remorse here or 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.040 that there is genuine shame. Judge Yandal acknowledged that Sarah's 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.920 behavior could be the result of untreated mental illness, but said, 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:54.280 I will point out that this court has been presented 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.399 with no evidence of that. I have no records, there 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:01.399 has been no diagnosis. Finally, the judge pointed out the 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:04.240 limits of the law in this case and said that 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:09.520 standard sentencing guidelines just don't capture or reflect the nature 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:14.359 or the range of Miss de Laschmidt's conduct, or her crime, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.960 or the impact of her crimes on the victims. And 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.760 with that, Judge Stacy Yandell more than doubled the sentence 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.840 the prosecution had requested. And so where is she today? 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:38.880 She is imprisoned. When the judge handed down Sarah's prison sentence, 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.119 citing her history going back to the time of the quilt, 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:47.560 Andrea Smith, who was listening in, was elated. It was 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:51.520 absolute vindication. It felt like she was getting sentenced for 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:53.879 what she did to us, even though we were unable 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.199 to press charges at the time. Andrea had been chasing 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.679 Sarah across the Internet for years, hoping to warn her 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.520 next potential mark. So as we sat at her computer 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:09.080 in South Carolina, I wanted to know, now, what do 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.800 you think she'll stop? No, I don't. I don't think 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:14.480 that she will stop. I think this is a compulsion. 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.720 I think that she has mentally ill. I'm not a 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:21.840 psychiatric professional, but there's something missing from her life. I 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.280 don't know. I'm not I'm not well versed enough, but 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:32.520 there's something wrong that she needs to seek satisfaction through 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:38.720 feigning illness. Sarah never answered any letters I wrote to 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:41.720 her in prison, but in a text message, Sarah's aunt 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.040 told me that she's doing well. She wrote that Sarah 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.280 started attending a Bible study group and one of the 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:52.640 inmates is teaching her to crochet. Sarah's mom is having 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:55.879 a hard time with her being gone. We're just praying 0:21:55.960 --> 0:21:59.359 that she can get through this. Sarah will be fine. 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:09.920 Her aunt wrapped up the message by texting in ending, 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:12.240 I just want to say we all miss her and 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.919 pray for peace for the people who made it their 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:20.000 life's purpose to punish her. Sarah's prison sentence was supposed 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:22.320 to end in July, but she got out early on 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:25.560 March four, something that Luke Wisler says isn't all that 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:30.400 unusual for federal sentences. In late January, only weeks before 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:34.520 her full release, she changed her Facebook profile picture. In 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.920 the photo, her brunette hair has blonde highlights. She's holding 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:45.240 a chocolate chip cookie and smiling. Wherever Sarah went, she 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:50.040 left people shaken. Sympathy was both her great need and 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:54.120 her powerful weapon. The victims I talked to are still 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:58.360 not the same. This is a story where justice was served, 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:02.879 but a tidy ending is not possible. Do you feel 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:07.920 like you have been able to have the closure that 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:12.080 you need? In a way, yes, but in a wing 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:19.399 this is Aaron again. I kind of feel closer in 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:27.960 a way, but I don't because I don't feel like 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:33.720 she's really being punished for what she did to so 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:36.840 many other people, because there are people that she did 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:40.280 money and equipment from, and then there's people like me 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:43.480 and Bethani and so many other people who she didn't 0:23:43.480 --> 0:23:47.800 really take money from, but mess of our hearts and 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:55.320 our motion, our families and everything that money can't buy. 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:00.320 And I'm still left thinking about the question her dad 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:03.600 asked me. If you didn't know Sarah, if you were 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:06.800 never caught in her net, why does any of this matter? 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:09.640 To be honest with you, I've heard that question myself. 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:11.399 I've even had people come to me and say, why 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:13.480 are you putting this much energy towards something that was 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:17.679 so traumatic for Bethany. The answer comes back to something 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:21.280 that Dr Phil said that Sarah was able to do 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:25.920 what she did because she had no empathy. Empathy is 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.280 at the core of why all this matters, because it's 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:32.960 at the core of humanity. For the world to function, 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:37.040 we must be able to see ourselves in others. Without that, 0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:41.040 we can't comprehend their pain, their motivation, the drivers behind 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:44.920 the decisions they make every day. Sarah was able to 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:48.119 wall herself off from the damage she was causing people 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:51.639 like Bethany or Aaron or Liz or anyone she conned. 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:56.320 Either Sarah in her mind couldn't comprehend how she was 0:24:56.440 --> 0:24:59.880 hurting them, or she did comprehend it and just didn't care. 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:04.040 Are And here's the reason Bethany and other people Sarah 0:25:04.080 --> 0:25:07.000 knew wanted to tell this story. They look around and 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:10.360 see plenty of people who destroy the trust and spirit 0:25:10.520 --> 0:25:13.520 of those around them, too many people who are either 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:18.320 passively or willfully numb to the suffering of others. I 0:25:18.359 --> 0:25:20.439 can open up any of my social media's right now 0:25:20.880 --> 0:25:25.600 and pull up videos of adults screaming and fighting, like, 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:29.040 how am I supposed to teach my child? We're supposed 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:31.840 to be kind when those are the things that she's 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:37.840 going to experience. And that's it's it's deep. It's troubling. 0:25:39.760 --> 0:25:43.720 Every day we see people hide behind online personas to 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:48.000 demean other people. We see people dismissing the basic human 0:25:48.119 --> 0:25:50.520 nous of others because they have a different set of 0:25:50.600 --> 0:25:53.920 problems than we do. Maybe they assure themselves that their 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:58.280 actions can't be cruel because they're not cruel people. Psychologists 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:02.080