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Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, it's Jake. I hope you enjoyed our season

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Speaker 1: The Truth about Sarah. We'll be having a live event

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Speaker 1: later this year. It's going to be a conversation between

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Speaker 1: me and my co host Jess McHugh, and we want

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Speaker 1: to hear from you too. What questions do you have

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Speaker 1: for us about this season? Send your questions to deep

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Speaker 1: Cover at pushkin dot fm. That's deep Cover All one

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Speaker 1: word at pushkin dot fm and stay tuned for more

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Speaker 1: details on this event.

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Speaker 2: Previously on deep Cover.

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Speaker 3: I remember sitting on her couch and like me like

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Speaker 3: telling her, asking her is this real? Is this real?

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Speaker 3: Is this real? Is this real?

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Speaker 4: You know?

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Speaker 3: She was like no, no, no, no no.

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Speaker 5: What immediately occurred to me was that as soon as

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Speaker 5: I told her I cancer, even though she was telling

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Speaker 5: me it was okay, in the back of her mind

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Speaker 5: she was thinking, I can take advantage of this.

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Speaker 4: Laying in bed in the dark, kind of like pillow talk,

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Speaker 4: I asked her one more time, do you have cancer?

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Speaker 4: When you lived two separate lives for so long, it

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Speaker 4: feels normal, right. I had to be someone else in

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Speaker 4: front of other people when I was a child, and

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Speaker 4: that was normal.

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Speaker 2: As the Feds built their case against Sarah. They collected

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Speaker 2: all kinds of evidence, texts, emails, forged paperwork, witness interviews,

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Speaker 2: and even a country ballad, I Kid you not.

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Speaker 6: The sun was warm and Edinburgh boots on the ground

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Speaker 6: covered in Afghander.

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Speaker 1: This song, it's called Let's Go Back. It's all about

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Speaker 1: this tragic war hero who's still reliving the pain of

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Speaker 1: what happened in Afghanistan.

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Speaker 7: Na smell the song at the sub life and now

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Speaker 7: the ever again, how heavy the silence buzz Let's gold back.

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Speaker 1: The inspiration for this song, the hero that it's all about. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you guessed it, Sarah Kavanaugh. She's not the one singing.

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Speaker 1: That's a country music artist. Sarah collaborated with some songwriters

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Speaker 1: down in Nashville to create this song as part of

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Speaker 1: a program called Creative Vets.

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Speaker 2: This is a coveted program with limited spots. It gives

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Speaker 2: veterans an opportunity to work through their feelings and try

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Speaker 2: through music. So when Sarah faked her way in, she

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Speaker 2: took away the chance for some healing for actual veterans.

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Speaker 1: The only reason that we even know about this song

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Speaker 1: is because of federal investigators. After they searched Sarah's house.

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Speaker 1: They began picking through Sarah's entire life. This is when

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Speaker 1: everything began to really unravel for her. After the search,

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Speaker 1: she admitted to her wife, Nicole that she'd been lying

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Speaker 1: about having cancer. Nicole was like, I'm out of here.

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Speaker 1: She left the next morning, and eventually she filed for divorce.

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Speaker 2: Sarah's story was all over the local news. Sarah says

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Speaker 2: she got death threats. She left her position at the VA,

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Speaker 2: and she took a string of low wage jobs. None

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Speaker 2: of them lasted very long. Once her employers caught wind

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Speaker 2: of her story, Sarah says she was.

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Speaker 1: Fired while she was facing a host of criminal charges,

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Speaker 1: including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and fraudulent use of

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Speaker 1: military medals. It seemed as though everything was finally catching

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Speaker 1: up to Sarah Cavanaugh. So many questions swirled. Would her

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Speaker 1: victims confront her, would she expressed remorse, and would she

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Speaker 1: be held accountable. I'm Jake Colburn and I'm Jess McHugh

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Speaker 1: And this is Deep Cover Season six, The Truth About Sarah,

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Speaker 1: Episode six, The Defendant. To fight the charges against her,

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Speaker 1: Sarah needed a lawyer, and a good one. Enter Kensley

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Speaker 1: Barrett Esquire a veteran who'd served eleven years in the

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Speaker 1: Coastguard before becoming a lawyer. He goes by Ken, and

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Speaker 1: one of the first things I asked Ken was whether

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Speaker 1: as a veteran he had any misgivings about representing Sarah.

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Speaker 1: Ken said, a lot of people were bewildered they took

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Speaker 1: this case.

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Speaker 8: My perspective was that I represent people who are accused

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Speaker 8: of heinous crimes. You name it, murder, sex, assault, everything

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Speaker 8: in between.

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Speaker 1: Ken says that if he started declar lining cases due

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Speaker 1: to some kind of moral aversion, as he put it, well,

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Speaker 1: then what kind of criminal defense lawyer would he be.

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Speaker 8: I didn't necessarily have any second thoughts about representing miss

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Speaker 8: Galana and anything. It is more of intrigue as to

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Speaker 8: how she ended up in the situation that she was in.

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Speaker 1: When Sarah walked into his office, Ken's first question was

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Speaker 1: about the financial impact of her fraud. He wanted to

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Speaker 1: know how many victims were involved and what was the

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Speaker 1: dollar amount. Ken says, initially Sarah downplayed the whole thing.

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Speaker 1: It would take Ken some time to get a clearer picture,

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Speaker 1: but eventually, as he reviewed the evidence, he understood it

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Speaker 1: was not a small dollar amount. The prosecution claimed Sarah

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Speaker 1: had stolen over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth

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Speaker 1: of money and services. Ken needed to know if the

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Speaker 1: allegations were true, and after reviewing the evidence, he was

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Speaker 1: pretty concerned. The evidence against Sarah, he says, was strong,

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Speaker 1: and he worried about the impact that it would have

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Speaker 1: on a jury.

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Speaker 8: This case was really like hitting the third rail, and

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Speaker 8: I guess anything that involves dogs or animals and the military.

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Speaker 1: Simply put, you mess with certain types of people or

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Speaker 1: certain types of four legged animals, and you've instantly turned

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Speaker 1: the jury against you.

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Speaker 8: Those two crimes in particular, always elicit a very strong

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Speaker 8: viseral reaction.

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Speaker 1: All of this led Ken to believe that a trial

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Speaker 1: it'd be a disaster because if she lost, she could

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Speaker 1: be hit with a sentence of up to twenty four years.

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Speaker 1: Seemed like the best strategy. The only strategy really was

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Speaker 1: for Sarah to take a plea.

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Speaker 4: It became very clear to me from my lawyer that

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Speaker 4: if I wanted to kind of survive this, I was

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Speaker 4: going to have to take whatever they were going to give.

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Speaker 1: Ken told Sarah that even with a plea best case scenario,

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Speaker 1: she was looking at a minimum two years in.

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Speaker 8: Prison, and Sarah expressed concern that she couldn't do two

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Speaker 8: years in prison or any jail time. And when I

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Speaker 8: tried to convey to her that two years would be

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Speaker 8: like a gift, her reaction was kind of like why me,

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Speaker 8: Like why should I go to person for two years?

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Speaker 8: And I was kind of taken aback. That was the

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Speaker 8: one time in our entire time together where I was

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Speaker 8: truly like, she doesn't get it.

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Speaker 1: We asked Sarah about this, and she agreed with Ken's assessment.

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Speaker 4: I didn't get it. No, Like I remember him saying

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Speaker 4: to me once, the only thing where she could have

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Speaker 4: done is kill puppies, right, And I remember him saying

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Speaker 4: that and being like what and not? But now I see, yes,

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Speaker 4: I can see the gravity of it and all of that.

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Speaker 1: But at the time she didn't see it. And this

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Speaker 1: made Ken wonder about Sarah's mindset because in that moment,

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Speaker 1: he says, her thinking seemed quote detached from reality. Ken

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Speaker 1: believes that Sarah was motivated by a deeply misguided need

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Speaker 1: to find comfort and belonging because to him, simple greed

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Speaker 1: didn't explain.

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Speaker 8: Everything, although to mar believe in that it was not

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Speaker 8: all financially motivated. I actually believe that maybe I'm wrong.

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Speaker 2: Sarah eventually agreed to forego a trial and plead guilty.

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Speaker 2: At this point, Ken says they had to pivot now

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Speaker 2: it was all about minimizing jail time. To do this,

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Speaker 2: they needed to establish mitigating factors, basically things that might

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Speaker 2: help a judge understand why Sarah did what she did

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Speaker 2: and then maybe show some mercy. Sarah told Ken that

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Speaker 2: during her childhood a man had sexually abused her. This

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Speaker 2: trauma had apparently fueled her drinking and depression. To Ken,

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Speaker 2: these were mitigating factors that he could present to a judge.

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Speaker 2: The problem, of course, was Sarah. Her credibility was well

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Speaker 2: pretty much nonexistent at this point, but on this claim

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Speaker 2: she had some backup. In official documents submitted to the court,

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Speaker 2: Sarah's mother attested that the claims of sexual abuse were true.

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Speaker 2: Ken also asked Sarah to gather letters from friends that

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Speaker 2: might humanize her or speak to the good things that

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Speaker 2: she had done. Sarah provided several such letters to Ken,

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Speaker 2: and he submitted them to the court.

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Speaker 1: Sarah's sentencing hearing took place at the US District Court

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Speaker 1: in Providence, Rhode Island picture, dark wood paneling and heavy

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Speaker 1: green drapes which led in just enough light to glint

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Speaker 1: off the polished floors and faded brass handrails. Very nineteen thirties.

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Speaker 1: You'd half expect to see some old timey gangster played

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Speaker 1: by James Cagney dragged in in handcuffs.

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Speaker 2: The place was packed. The gallery was filled with spectators,

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Speaker 2: many of them veterans. So many people were in attendance

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Speaker 2: that they actually had to set up an overflow room.

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Speaker 1: The prosecution had arranged to have several of Sarah's victims

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Speaker 1: be there in person so that they could read their

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Speaker 1: victim impact statements, including some of the people you've heard

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Speaker 1: from in this series. Dave Ainslie, the commander of the VFW,

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Speaker 1: Michelle the Jim Buddy who was Sarah's primary shoe tire,

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Speaker 1: and of course Justin was there too. Justin told me

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Speaker 1: he was nervous about the whole thing. He'd never made

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Speaker 1: a statement in court before, and he hadn't actually seen

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Speaker 1: Sarah since he'd learned about her lies.

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Speaker 5: Honestly, it was kind of disconcerting because when we went

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Speaker 5: into the courtroom, when we went to the lobby, she

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Speaker 5: came in like behind me, Like, I turned around and

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Speaker 5: she was there, and that was kind of it was

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Speaker 5: almost like getting hit by lightning, kind of like just

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Speaker 5: kind of like this fight or flight response.

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Speaker 1: Justin slowly made his way into the gallery and he

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Speaker 1: found some company, some other people who were also there

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Speaker 1: to speak.

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Speaker 5: When I got there and found all these you know,

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Speaker 5: started meeting these other people that are making statements, and

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Speaker 5: they were telling me what she had done to them.

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Speaker 5: And I hate to say it, but it made me

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Speaker 5: feel a little better. Though I wasn't the I wasn't

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Speaker 5: the only one that she had victimized so many people

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Speaker 5: that that we were all in this together.

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Speaker 2: The prosecutor in this case was a guy named Ron Jendron.

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Speaker 2: He's an old hand for thirty years, he's been prosecuting criminals, murderers,

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Speaker 2: gang members, white collar embezzlers. He's seen everything. And when

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Speaker 2: he walked in, looked around and sized up the crowd,

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Speaker 2: he took it as a good sign.

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Speaker 9: I was quite frankly exhilarated to see that turnout. Because

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Speaker 9: you toil away in your office and you don't really

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Speaker 9: have any contact with people during that process. You have

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Speaker 9: an idea of how it impacted people, but you don't

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Speaker 9: know until you walk into a court room and you

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Speaker 9: see those people there.

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Speaker 2: In some ways, this case was a perfect fit for

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Speaker 2: this courthouse. Providence, Rhode Island. It's actually infamous for its

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Speaker 2: history of mobsters, scam artists, and corrupt public officials. Courtrooms

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Speaker 2: like this one have long fed themselves on a steady

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Speaker 2: diet of fraud cases. All of that being said, Ron says,

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Speaker 2: this case involving Sarah it was special.

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Speaker 9: I've seen a lot of stuff over thirty years, you know,

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Speaker 9: some very despicable crime and things that are kind of

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Speaker 9: tough to wrap your head around, and this ranks right

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Speaker 9: up there in the pantheon of Rhode Island fraudsters.

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Speaker 1: For Ron, the argument that Sarah should receive a lighter

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Speaker 1: sentence due to her trauma just didn't hold weight.

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Speaker 9: The argument that you know, my trauma caused me to

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Speaker 9: do this, it doesn't fly with me. I mean, I've

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Speaker 9: been doing this for an excess of thirty years, and

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Speaker 9: you know, trauma and facing adversity or part of the

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Speaker 9: human condition. Every defendant comes before a court having had

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Speaker 9: some sort of loss or trauma in their life. Every

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Speaker 9: human has such things, but not every human goes out

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Speaker 9: and commits crime.

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Speaker 1: Sarah's fraud was so extensive, but for Ron, the worst

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Speaker 1: of it, the gut punch was what she had done

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Speaker 1: to Justin. When the time came, Justin rose to his

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Speaker 1: feet and faced the judge. Then he read his victim

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Speaker 1: impact statement. When I interviewed Justin, I asked if he'd

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Speaker 1: read it to me.

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Speaker 5: My name is Justin. I'm a member of VFW Post

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Speaker 5: one five two, the post were Sarah conderway into becoming

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Speaker 5: the commander. I'm also the victim referred to in the

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Speaker 5: charges as JH. I'm a twenty year Navy veteran. I

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Speaker 5: have stage four lung cancer from exposure to the burn

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Speaker 5: pits wall in combat, and Sarah Kavanaugh legally accessed and

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Speaker 5: copied my medical records for her own personal gain.

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Speaker 1: He went on to describe how we believe that Sarah

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Speaker 1: had cancer and how he couldn't stand by and let

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Speaker 1: another veteran suffer if he had the power to help,

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Speaker 1: so he gave her over five thousand dollars, believing he

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Speaker 1: was helping her secure private insurance to get treated at

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Speaker 1: Dana Farber just like he had.

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Speaker 5: She knew the suffering My family and I were going

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Speaker 5: through Yet she took money from us anyway, money that

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Speaker 5: could have been used to pay for my own treatment

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Speaker 5: or take care of my family in our time of need.

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Speaker 5: I don't know what kind of person can do that

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Speaker 5: to someone with a terminal illness. I know that at

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Speaker 5: some point my cancer will catch up with me. When

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Speaker 5: that happens, I hope my consolation will be that she

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Speaker 5: is paying to the maximum extent possible for what she

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Speaker 5: did to me, my family, and countless others. The mental

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Speaker 5: anguish she has caused me and my family cannot be

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Speaker 5: measured in money or time in prison, but I guess

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Speaker 5: it will.

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Speaker 8: Have to do.

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Speaker 1: When Justin was done speaking, Sarah's lawyer, Ken Barrett, gathered himself.

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Speaker 10: I knew after hearing Justin speak that no matter what

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Speaker 10: I said, that wasn't going to make an ounce difference

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Speaker 10: to the judge why my client was deservative of mercy.

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Speaker 1: Ken told me that it was more than just that.

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Speaker 1: He says it wasn't until this moment that he truly

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Speaker 1: understood the nature of Sarah's crime. The feeling was so acute,

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Speaker 1: he says, it was almost like an out of body experience.

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Speaker 1: That's how he put it. As if for a moment,

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Speaker 1: he was no longer himself, no longer Sarah's lawyer. He

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Speaker 1: was just an observer of another man's pain.

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Speaker 2: The judge in this case was a man named John J. McConnell, JOR,

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Speaker 2: and when it came time to render his sentence, Judge

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Speaker 2: McConnell remarked that he too was deeply moved by Justin's story.

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Speaker 2: Addressing Justin directly, he said, you just gave of what

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Speaker 2: you had, and to know that that love was destroyed,

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Speaker 2: and that that love was obtained through fraud, It's the

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Speaker 2: worst kind of victimization. It's really awful when somebody betrays

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Speaker 2: the human love that you showed. I hope in your

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Speaker 2: healing you don't lose what is that compassion? With those

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Speaker 2: words hanging in the air, he delivered his sentence seventy

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Speaker 2: months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

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Speaker 2: Sarah was also ordered to pay restitution totaling over two

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty thousand dollars. She was taken directly from

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Speaker 2: the courtroom into custody.

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Speaker 1: It says her one mile away on a perfect but

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Speaker 1: of every day.

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Speaker 2: The first time we met Sarah, she was a year

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Speaker 2: and a half into her sentence that she was serving

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Speaker 2: out at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut.

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Speaker 1: That is crazy. So it's two fences of circular barbed wire.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, on the bottom, middle, and top.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't look so I obsecurity.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I know this place, by the way, it has something

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Speaker 2: of a reputation as a prison for the stars, kind

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Speaker 2: of like Club Fed. This is the facility that inspired

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Speaker 2: the TV show Orange is the New Black. This is

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Speaker 2: where Leona Helmsley, Lauren Hill, and Real housewife Teresa Judice

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Speaker 2: all serve their time. The first time we came here,

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Speaker 2: a prison official walked us up this hill to a

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Speaker 2: small building for visitors, and then they just left us

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Speaker 2: on our own in this windowless room with a crayon

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Speaker 2: marked table. The visiting room was for family visits. There

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Speaker 2: was a mural of mermaids on one wall and doll

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Speaker 2: parts scattered in the corner.

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Speaker 1: On that first visit, we waited for a while until

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Speaker 1: finally a woman strolled in on her own. She was

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Speaker 1: dressed in a gray sweatshirt and olive green pants. Her

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Speaker 1: blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail. Her entrance

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Speaker 1: was so casual I thought maybe she was a prison employee,

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Speaker 1: a groundskeeper perhaps, but no, this was Sarah.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so yeah, maybe we always just kind of start

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Speaker 2: with can you introduce yourself?

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Speaker 4: Okay, I'm Sarah Kavanaugh. I currently am in prison, so

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Speaker 4: i don't have a real job before this. I was

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Speaker 4: a social worker for the VA in Providence, and I'm

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Speaker 4: originally from Rhode Island.

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Speaker 1: We talked for hours. We kept saying, you want to stop,

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Speaker 1: you need a break. No, she was tireless, and through

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00:22:03,796 --> 00:22:12,716
Speaker 1: it all there was really just one question on our minds. Why.

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Speaker 2: Sarah's version basically is that it all started with a

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Speaker 2: big misunderstanding.

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Speaker 4: I was invited to an event, and when I walked in,

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Speaker 4: I realized it was only veterans, and I realized, right

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Speaker 4: then and there, Okay, they think I'm a they think

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Speaker 4: I'm a veteran. But I didn't deny it, right. I

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Speaker 4: didn't stand up me say yes, here's where I served

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Speaker 4: in all of these things that hadn't started at that

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Speaker 4: point that dramatically yet. But I definitely didn't say, oh no,

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Speaker 4: there's a misunderstanding.

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Speaker 8: Why not.

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Speaker 4: I was enjoying being around them.

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Speaker 2: Sarah says that she never intended to become a celebrated

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Speaker 2: war hero. But that explanation just doesn't make sense to me.

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Speaker 2: You said you don't want to be the public face,

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Speaker 2: but there are these photos of you, you know, in

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Speaker 2: uniform next to the governor. How does that happen?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like spirals out of control, right. It just

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Speaker 4: became this monster that I had lost control of, and

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Speaker 4: I didn't know how to stop it, because I think

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Speaker 4: I was always just like, get through the moment, be there,

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Speaker 4: be what people want you to be, Get through it,

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Speaker 4: you know, take the pictures, move on.

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Speaker 2: So surely she wouldn't have done this for six years

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Speaker 2: if she was just getting through it. Why do it

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Speaker 2: in the first place?

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Speaker 4: Did feel good to be noticed, It felt good to

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Speaker 4: be the center of attention. It those aren't really great

337
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Speaker 4: things to say about myself, But I know now that

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Speaker 4: those are true, that I did enjoy those moments, not

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Speaker 4: just push through them.

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Speaker 2: As she tells it, the main benefit of these lies

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Speaker 2: was the love and admiration she received, and the services

342
00:24:06,436 --> 00:24:10,716
Speaker 2: and money were just a fringe benefit. But just for

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Speaker 2: the record, Sarah started defrauding the Wounded Warrior Project in

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Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, the same year she joined the VFW. If

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Speaker 2: There's one part of this story that seems to really

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Speaker 2: weigh on Sarah. It's her relationship with Justin. She brought

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Speaker 2: him up again and again. Justin is particularly.

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Speaker 4: There are like a few people who I really feel,

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Speaker 4: who I really feel, were hurt more than most, and

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Speaker 4: he is he is he is one of those people

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Speaker 4: because he really cared for me. He really really cared

352
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Speaker 4: for me.

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Speaker 2: You can hear the emotion in her voice, the sadness.

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Speaker 2: It felt really convincing. So we asked, Okay, if that's

355
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Speaker 2: the case, why steal Justin's money and his private medical paperwork.

356
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Speaker 4: I knew he had that diagnosis, right, he was a patient,

357
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Speaker 4: I knew his last name. I knew he was enrolled

358
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Speaker 4: in care. There. Those aren't excuses, that's not right, but

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Speaker 4: those are facts that I knew, which made it reliable

360
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Speaker 4: to go to that document.

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Speaker 2: You say it like it sounds obvious.

362
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Speaker 8: I think it was just.

363
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Speaker 4: A way to make the lie more convincing. It was

364
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Speaker 4: merely to use the correct language, right. It was so

365
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Speaker 4: like this impersonal, detached decision that I made.

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Speaker 2: We were baffled. She had been crying, visibly, upset over

367
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Speaker 2: hurting Justin, and now she seemed really cold, annoyed.

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Speaker 1: Even sitting there, I still didn't feel like she'd answered

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Speaker 1: the question why did she take Justin's money in the

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Speaker 1: first place? Over five thousand dollars. This part of me

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Speaker 1: that feels like you accepting that money from Justin is

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Speaker 1: almost like proof to yourself. The money is proof to

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Speaker 1: yourself that he cares about you.

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Speaker 8: No.

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Speaker 4: No, him giving me that money was not proof that

376
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Speaker 4: he cared about me. I knew he cared about me

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Speaker 4: long before that money.

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Speaker 8: No.

379
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Speaker 1: Honestly, I was kind of taken aback by this. I

380
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Speaker 1: was searching for a more heartfelt explanation. I was kind

381
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Speaker 1: of offering it up to her, and she was just like, no.

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Speaker 1: There are still moments when Sarah Voice's uncertainty about herself

383
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Speaker 1: almost doubts her own ability to see things clearly. She'll

384
00:27:02,196 --> 00:27:06,196
Speaker 1: say things like, am I seeing that correctly? And at

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Speaker 1: one point I just pressed her on this.

386
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Speaker 4: I mean, am I seeing that in a skewed way?

387
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Speaker 1: That's interesting? Why do you ask me that?

388
00:27:17,916 --> 00:27:22,036
Speaker 4: Because I think sometimes I'm not. I didn't see what

389
00:27:22,076 --> 00:27:26,036
Speaker 4: I was doing wrong at the time as wrong, and

390
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Speaker 4: I certainly did not have the insight I had now,

391
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Speaker 4: And is my insights still not correct? Is it still

392
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Speaker 4: not accurate?

393
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Speaker 1: It's as though she's seeking reassurance, still wrestling with the

394
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Speaker 1: challenge of seeing things as they truly are, which seems

395
00:27:44,716 --> 00:27:50,836
Speaker 1: credible and sympathetic and also really convenient, because you can't

396
00:27:50,876 --> 00:27:54,556
Speaker 1: fully hold someone accountable if they're still lost in a fog.

397
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Speaker 1: And this raises a really thorny question, one that I've

398
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Speaker 1: been grappling with throughout this story. How do you think

399
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Speaker 1: about someone who's done something really terrible and seems to

400
00:28:08,996 --> 00:28:12,836
Speaker 1: be struggling with their mental health. I bounced around on

401
00:28:12,876 --> 00:28:17,796
Speaker 1: this a lot, and I do feel empathy for Sarah,

402
00:28:19,276 --> 00:28:23,596
Speaker 1: but I also know she's honed the art of weaponizing

403
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Speaker 1: such empathy.

404
00:28:30,156 --> 00:28:34,196
Speaker 2: Even after her deception was revealed, Sarah still drew empathy

405
00:28:34,236 --> 00:28:38,996
Speaker 2: from some people, including Sam, the physical therapist she'd been

406
00:28:39,076 --> 00:28:44,436
Speaker 2: romantically involved with. If you recall, at her sentencing, there

407
00:28:44,436 --> 00:28:47,996
Speaker 2: were letters submitted to the court. One of those came

408
00:28:47,996 --> 00:28:52,756
Speaker 2: from Sam. Sam's letters seemed to reflect a deep belief that,

409
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Speaker 2: beneath all the lies, Sarah was still worthy of sympathy. Honestly,

410
00:28:59,236 --> 00:29:03,756
Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting this, but what really surprised me was

411
00:29:03,796 --> 00:29:07,636
Speaker 2: that Sam's mother also wrote a letter of support. She's

412
00:29:07,676 --> 00:29:11,836
Speaker 2: in her eighties and is battling ovarian cancer. And if

413
00:29:11,836 --> 00:29:15,956
Speaker 2: you recall, Sarah had used her medical bills and passed

414
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Speaker 2: them off as her own.

415
00:29:18,316 --> 00:29:21,996
Speaker 1: We want to read you one line from that letter quote,

416
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Speaker 1: though Sarah hurt me with her lies, I have forgiven

417
00:29:25,796 --> 00:29:28,876
Speaker 1: her and will continue to support her, regardless of her

418
00:29:28,916 --> 00:29:37,276
Speaker 1: legal outcome, for the remainder of my life.

419
00:29:38,156 --> 00:29:40,756
Speaker 2: I still remember the first time I read this letter,

420
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Speaker 2: it struck me that, despite it all, Sam's mother seemed

421
00:29:45,956 --> 00:29:51,756
Speaker 2: capable of seeing something deeply kind and redeeming in Sarah.

422
00:29:52,196 --> 00:30:01,116
Speaker 2: This really moved me. But when we visited Sam, we

423
00:30:01,236 --> 00:30:04,276
Speaker 2: learned that there was more to this story. She dropped

424
00:30:04,276 --> 00:30:07,836
Speaker 2: a bomb on us. How did you and your mother

425
00:30:07,996 --> 00:30:11,516
Speaker 2: decide to write these letters in support of Sarah leading

426
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Speaker 2: up to her sentencing?

427
00:30:12,596 --> 00:30:13,876
Speaker 3: Sarah wrote those letters?

428
00:30:14,356 --> 00:30:14,636
Speaker 8: What?

429
00:30:23,916 --> 00:30:24,196
Speaker 9: Yep?

430
00:30:25,516 --> 00:30:26,316
Speaker 8: Wow?

431
00:30:29,076 --> 00:30:29,556
Speaker 9: Did you know?

432
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Speaker 3: I knew that she wrote one for me. I didn't

433
00:30:35,436 --> 00:30:36,876
Speaker 3: know that she wrote one for my mother.

434
00:30:39,116 --> 00:30:43,596
Speaker 2: Okay, so two bombs really. Sam told us that she

435
00:30:43,676 --> 00:30:47,316
Speaker 2: gave Sarah her blessing to basically ghost write her letter.

436
00:30:48,316 --> 00:30:51,276
Speaker 2: She explained that at the time she was still on

437
00:30:51,316 --> 00:30:54,916
Speaker 2: good terms with Sarah and wanted to help her. It's

438
00:30:55,036 --> 00:30:57,836
Speaker 2: a little hard to imagine why Sam would agree to this,

439
00:30:58,556 --> 00:31:01,716
Speaker 2: and our producer Amy gently nudged Sam on this.

440
00:31:03,196 --> 00:31:06,596
Speaker 3: I think it's hard if I'm I'm praying for myself

441
00:31:06,596 --> 00:31:08,876
Speaker 3: in her shoes, very hard.

442
00:31:11,556 --> 00:31:13,996
Speaker 1: That I feel comfortable enough with her.

443
00:31:15,396 --> 00:31:17,956
Speaker 3: Trying to channel what I'm feeling after there's been so

444
00:31:18,076 --> 00:31:18,636
Speaker 3: much trail.

445
00:31:19,036 --> 00:31:19,236
Speaker 6: Right.

446
00:31:22,116 --> 00:31:27,316
Speaker 3: Uh, yeah, I don't know. I think I was still

447
00:31:27,396 --> 00:31:29,516
Speaker 3: kind of under her spell. Does that make sense? I

448
00:31:29,596 --> 00:31:33,676
Speaker 3: know that sounds really weird, but that's how I feel

449
00:31:33,716 --> 00:31:40,996
Speaker 3: like like she had this power over me. I don't

450
00:31:41,036 --> 00:31:43,716
Speaker 3: know how to say it. And I'm a really really

451
00:31:43,756 --> 00:31:48,196
Speaker 3: strong person, really strong person mentally, physically, all of it.

452
00:31:48,276 --> 00:31:51,436
Speaker 3: And it's really weird that this happened.

453
00:31:57,156 --> 00:32:01,276
Speaker 1: And yet I see it. It's one thing to spot

454
00:32:01,396 --> 00:32:06,796
Speaker 1: a lie, but untangling yourself from the liar that's something

455
00:32:06,836 --> 00:32:12,316
Speaker 1: else entirely, especially when their web of deception has nodded

456
00:32:12,356 --> 00:32:13,396
Speaker 1: your lives together.

457
00:32:16,116 --> 00:32:19,116
Speaker 2: The part of this that was really shocking was a

458
00:32:19,196 --> 00:32:22,316
Speaker 2: letter from Sam's mom. We got in touch with her

459
00:32:22,476 --> 00:32:26,356
Speaker 2: and she told us, no, I didn't send any letter.

460
00:32:27,436 --> 00:32:31,356
Speaker 2: She went on to say at that time, I didn't

461
00:32:31,356 --> 00:32:36,196
Speaker 2: want to think about her. She created havoc. We talked

462
00:32:36,196 --> 00:32:39,476
Speaker 2: to Sarah about all of this. She said she helped

463
00:32:39,516 --> 00:32:43,276
Speaker 2: Sam with her letter, but categorically denied writing one for

464
00:32:43,356 --> 00:32:48,316
Speaker 2: Sam's mother. She was insistent about this. This was a

465
00:32:48,316 --> 00:32:52,916
Speaker 2: tricky bit to report. It was an uncomfortable conversation with Sarah,

466
00:32:53,396 --> 00:32:56,276
Speaker 2: and I told her it's really hard to give her

467
00:32:56,276 --> 00:33:00,476
Speaker 2: the benefit of the doubt here. As far as we

468
00:33:00,516 --> 00:33:05,076
Speaker 2: can tell, at the very moment, Sarah faced culpability. It's sentencing.

469
00:33:05,996 --> 00:33:09,556
Speaker 2: This letter seems like proof that Sarah was still lying,

470
00:33:10,716 --> 00:33:14,876
Speaker 2: and not just lying, but yet again pretending to be

471
00:33:14,996 --> 00:33:22,436
Speaker 2: someone else, this time a woman she victimized, a cancer

472
00:33:22,476 --> 00:33:28,636
Speaker 2: patient whose builds she used, pleading in someone else's voice

473
00:33:29,756 --> 00:33:55,436
Speaker 2: for mercy. According to Sarah, she's in a much better

474
00:33:55,436 --> 00:33:59,596
Speaker 2: place than she once was. She's been in therapy and

475
00:33:59,636 --> 00:34:01,236
Speaker 2: she says she's done a lot of reflection.

476
00:34:02,836 --> 00:34:05,436
Speaker 1: In fact, she talked about how she thinks of herself

477
00:34:05,516 --> 00:34:08,476
Speaker 1: compared to some of the other people she's met in prison.

478
00:34:09,236 --> 00:34:12,396
Speaker 1: She says her crime stands out from the others.

479
00:34:13,756 --> 00:34:18,556
Speaker 4: It might be worse, right than like insurance fraud or

480
00:34:18,596 --> 00:34:21,276
Speaker 4: mortgage fraud, Like you don't know those people. They don't

481
00:34:21,316 --> 00:34:23,876
Speaker 4: come to your house, and they don't have holidays with you.

482
00:34:24,036 --> 00:34:28,076
Speaker 4: Or come to your wedding. But these people did, and

483
00:34:28,116 --> 00:34:33,436
Speaker 4: they shared their lives with me, and that's I mean,

484
00:34:33,436 --> 00:34:34,516
Speaker 4: that's the worst part.

485
00:34:35,916 --> 00:34:39,636
Speaker 2: Sarah seems to have this awareness that what made her

486
00:34:39,676 --> 00:34:43,796
Speaker 2: crime so heinous to many people was not just the

487
00:34:43,876 --> 00:34:48,316
Speaker 2: dollar amount. It was the intimacy of it all, how

488
00:34:48,396 --> 00:34:51,676
Speaker 2: wrapped up it was in her life and the lives

489
00:34:51,716 --> 00:34:52,956
Speaker 2: of so many other people.

490
00:34:54,036 --> 00:34:57,116
Speaker 4: It's really hard to think about people like Justin or

491
00:34:58,196 --> 00:35:05,036
Speaker 4: Samantha or Nicole, people who who are inherently good and

492
00:35:05,076 --> 00:35:09,996
Speaker 4: who our relationship was so signific again and so deep,

493
00:35:10,236 --> 00:35:15,756
Speaker 4: and yet like I did this to them.

494
00:35:17,116 --> 00:35:20,116
Speaker 2: When she talks like this, you see the social worker

495
00:35:20,236 --> 00:35:24,196
Speaker 2: side of her, someone capable of deep analysis of herself,

496
00:35:24,796 --> 00:35:26,076
Speaker 2: including her own needs.

497
00:35:27,076 --> 00:35:29,516
Speaker 4: When I think about greed and wanting more for me,

498
00:35:29,796 --> 00:35:34,516
Speaker 4: that feeling was like being important to these people. When

499
00:35:34,516 --> 00:35:37,876
Speaker 4: I reflect now and think of the greed, like that

500
00:35:38,036 --> 00:35:42,476
Speaker 4: was what it was to me. And I understand that

501
00:35:42,476 --> 00:35:45,036
Speaker 4: the money is not inconsequential to the people that it

502
00:35:45,076 --> 00:35:54,116
Speaker 4: came from, but the emotional loss is much more significant

503
00:35:54,116 --> 00:35:59,796
Speaker 4: than the financial loss. And I cause that emotional loss.

504
00:35:59,836 --> 00:36:02,236
Speaker 4: I took those things. I wanted them, or I yearned

505
00:36:02,236 --> 00:36:06,116
Speaker 4: from them, I wanted more of you know, to feel important,

506
00:36:06,156 --> 00:36:09,716
Speaker 4: to feel love, to feel all those things. And that's right,

507
00:36:11,436 --> 00:36:11,996
Speaker 4: that's greed.

508
00:36:14,316 --> 00:36:17,196
Speaker 2: As she said these last words, she had tears in

509
00:36:17,236 --> 00:36:21,916
Speaker 2: her eyes. There was no plexiglass separating us from Sarah,

510
00:36:22,036 --> 00:36:26,356
Speaker 2: no handcuffs. We all leaned in close together, Jake and

511
00:36:26,396 --> 00:36:29,556
Speaker 2: I sharing a mic. We were close enough to reach

512
00:36:29,596 --> 00:36:33,036
Speaker 2: out and pass her tissue. And in the silence after

513
00:36:33,076 --> 00:36:36,356
Speaker 2: she said this, the only sounds we heard were her

514
00:36:36,396 --> 00:36:41,036
Speaker 2: sniffling and the clanging radiator. It was in moments like

515
00:36:41,076 --> 00:36:45,276
Speaker 2: this one that I felt acutely aware that Sarah is

516
00:36:45,316 --> 00:36:50,516
Speaker 2: an exceptional storyteller, That she's telling us a story, one

517
00:36:50,556 --> 00:36:54,916
Speaker 2: in which she's more than the worst thing she's ever done.

518
00:36:55,076 --> 00:36:59,076
Speaker 2: And for some people, the more forgiving types, she is

519
00:36:59,116 --> 00:37:02,556
Speaker 2: more than that. But to so many of the people

520
00:37:02,636 --> 00:37:08,316
Speaker 2: she's harmed, she's precisely that, no more and no less.

521
00:37:09,316 --> 00:37:15,236
Speaker 2: And the reasons why she did those things there just reasons, words,

522
00:37:16,356 --> 00:37:23,476
Speaker 2: more stories. When Sarah's released, she'll be in her mid thirties.

523
00:37:24,156 --> 00:37:26,036
Speaker 2: She still has her whole life in front of her.

524
00:37:27,196 --> 00:37:28,636
Speaker 2: What will that life look like?

525
00:37:29,796 --> 00:37:32,276
Speaker 4: I know I'll never lie on this scale. No, I'll

526
00:37:32,276 --> 00:37:35,436
Speaker 4: never create a fake life or pretend I'm someone I'm not,

527
00:37:35,556 --> 00:37:39,996
Speaker 4: But that doesn't mean that I'm not gonna not ever

528
00:37:40,076 --> 00:37:42,356
Speaker 4: hurt someone again, right like, and I don't want to

529
00:37:42,396 --> 00:37:43,156
Speaker 4: do that anymore.

530
00:37:44,276 --> 00:37:47,036
Speaker 2: Soon after this, a prison guard knocked on the door

531
00:37:47,196 --> 00:37:49,916
Speaker 2: to tell us it was time to go. Sarah had

532
00:37:49,916 --> 00:37:53,556
Speaker 2: to check into her prison block, the one overlooking the mountains.

533
00:37:54,756 --> 00:37:58,316
Speaker 2: The next day she would wake up here again and

534
00:37:58,356 --> 00:38:02,756
Speaker 2: watch the sunrise. But we understood that one morning, soon

535
00:38:03,636 --> 00:38:08,076
Speaker 2: she would wake up somewhere else on the outside. Once again,

536
00:38:08,796 --> 00:38:13,076
Speaker 2: Sarah Kavanaugh would start a new life, one where she's

537
00:38:13,116 --> 00:38:17,156
Speaker 2: not Sarah the social worker, not Sarah the war hero.

538
00:38:18,396 --> 00:38:20,276
Speaker 2: She will be something else entirely.

539
00:38:27,236 --> 00:38:30,876
Speaker 1: It's tempting to look at Sarah's story as a unicorn,

540
00:38:31,396 --> 00:38:35,836
Speaker 1: as a freak occurrence involving a very skilled buyer, but

541
00:38:36,276 --> 00:38:40,676
Speaker 1: in fact, her scams revealed a much deeper problem. The

542
00:38:40,796 --> 00:38:45,396
Speaker 1: VIA is bogged down by bureaucracy and limited resources. As

543
00:38:45,396 --> 00:38:48,916
Speaker 1: a result, a network of charities has emerged to jump

544
00:38:48,916 --> 00:38:53,236
Speaker 1: in and help vets right away. They operate on trust,

545
00:38:53,796 --> 00:38:58,236
Speaker 1: good faith, and speed, and Sarah exploited this.

546
00:39:01,156 --> 00:39:05,996
Speaker 2: In common stories, the victims or marks are often depicted

547
00:39:06,036 --> 00:39:12,676
Speaker 2: as naive, greedy, or just, but this story it shows

548
00:39:12,876 --> 00:39:17,556
Speaker 2: how wrong that is. People fell for Sarah's scam because

549
00:39:17,596 --> 00:39:22,436
Speaker 2: they were open hearted, generous, hopeful, ready to help a

550
00:39:22,476 --> 00:39:27,916
Speaker 2: near stranger. That's a rare and beautiful thing in contemporary America.

551
00:39:29,076 --> 00:39:31,516
Speaker 2: But what are you supposed to do when all of

552
00:39:31,556 --> 00:39:38,436
Speaker 2: your goodwill just blows up in your face. Many of

553
00:39:38,476 --> 00:39:41,516
Speaker 2: the people we spoke with for this story expressed a

554
00:39:41,556 --> 00:39:46,196
Speaker 2: sense of shame that they'd been tricked and said they'd

555
00:39:46,196 --> 00:39:50,156
Speaker 2: be slow to trust strangers again. But they all also

556
00:39:50,316 --> 00:39:54,156
Speaker 2: said they didn't want this whole nasty business to change

557
00:39:54,156 --> 00:39:57,796
Speaker 2: their outlook on life. They didn't want the lesson here

558
00:39:57,836 --> 00:40:01,236
Speaker 2: to be don't trust someone claiming to be a vet,

559
00:40:01,796 --> 00:40:07,676
Speaker 2: or don't help a cancer patient. Dex, one of the

560
00:40:07,716 --> 00:40:11,276
Speaker 2: female Marines who met Sarah and Montana, shared her take

561
00:40:11,316 --> 00:40:12,036
Speaker 2: on this with me.

562
00:40:13,156 --> 00:40:16,316
Speaker 11: I think we struggle with forgiveness because you have to

563
00:40:16,356 --> 00:40:20,276
Speaker 11: eat the cost. There's no closure before you get to

564
00:40:20,276 --> 00:40:24,116
Speaker 11: forgive somebody. If something requires you to forgive another person,

565
00:40:24,396 --> 00:40:28,316
Speaker 11: you have to you have to fully eat the cost.

566
00:40:28,796 --> 00:40:31,636
Speaker 11: Whatever wrong they did, you have to expect no repayment.

567
00:40:32,196 --> 00:40:34,556
Speaker 11: You can't expect it to.

568
00:40:34,516 --> 00:40:35,236
Speaker 1: Be made whole.

569
00:40:35,796 --> 00:40:37,476
Speaker 11: You have to be okay with it not being whole.

570
00:40:38,436 --> 00:40:40,916
Speaker 11: People wrong you and you you know, if you're really

571
00:40:40,956 --> 00:40:42,436
Speaker 11: going to forgive somebody, if you have to be okay

572
00:40:42,436 --> 00:40:43,316
Speaker 11: with fixing it yourself.

573
00:40:46,876 --> 00:40:50,076
Speaker 2: This is a definition of forgiveness I'd never heard before,

574
00:40:50,796 --> 00:40:55,036
Speaker 2: and it's one I really like. The idea being all

575
00:40:55,076 --> 00:40:59,236
Speaker 2: the things that people gave to Sarah, their money, their time,

576
00:40:59,716 --> 00:41:04,916
Speaker 2: their friendship, their love, those things are lost. Those things

577
00:41:04,956 --> 00:41:09,996
Speaker 2: are gone. Yeah, sure some people may get some money back,

578
00:41:10,476 --> 00:41:13,836
Speaker 2: but the rest of it is not coming back. And

579
00:41:13,916 --> 00:41:16,316
Speaker 2: when Deck says you have to be okay with fixing

580
00:41:16,316 --> 00:41:19,116
Speaker 2: it yourself, I like to think of all the ways

581
00:41:19,116 --> 00:41:21,396
Speaker 2: in which all the people we met in this story

582
00:41:21,956 --> 00:41:26,716
Speaker 2: continue to fix it themselves. Many of our interviewees continue

583
00:41:26,716 --> 00:41:30,196
Speaker 2: to help others, to give of themselves, to make small

584
00:41:30,236 --> 00:41:35,636
Speaker 2: fixes to broken systems. Dex became staff at Pibia Batte Retreats.

585
00:41:36,156 --> 00:41:40,076
Speaker 2: Tom Schumann hasn't stopped running those retreats in Montana. We're

586
00:41:40,116 --> 00:41:44,156
Speaker 2: trying to help people, and Michelle is still teaching boot

587
00:41:44,156 --> 00:41:45,916
Speaker 2: camps at a gym in Rhode Island.

588
00:41:47,156 --> 00:41:51,916
Speaker 1: As for Justin, even though he's retired now and still

589
00:41:51,956 --> 00:41:56,676
Speaker 1: battling cancer. In his spare time, he coaches veterans, trying

590
00:41:56,716 --> 00:42:00,476
Speaker 1: to help them as they look for jobs. When I

591
00:42:00,516 --> 00:42:03,516
Speaker 1: sat down with Justin for our interview this past winter,

592
00:42:04,036 --> 00:42:06,996
Speaker 1: we talked about this, about how he'd found his way

593
00:42:07,036 --> 00:42:08,956
Speaker 1: back to giving of himself.

594
00:42:10,116 --> 00:42:13,036
Speaker 5: I did a lot of introspection and said, well, what

595
00:42:13,396 --> 00:42:16,476
Speaker 5: gives me energy, and that's what gives me energy is

596
00:42:16,516 --> 00:42:20,876
Speaker 5: to help help people, especially fellow veterans, and so you know,

597
00:42:20,996 --> 00:42:23,636
Speaker 5: if I lose that, you know what do I have.

598
00:42:26,316 --> 00:42:31,436
Speaker 1: Justin's words made me think again about the meaning of empathy.

599
00:42:32,196 --> 00:42:36,796
Speaker 1: It's more than just a feeling. It's a mysterious human magic,

600
00:42:37,596 --> 00:42:43,396
Speaker 1: a synergy that crackles between friends and strangers alike. It

601
00:42:43,516 --> 00:42:47,796
Speaker 1: always seems to conjure a flicker of pain and a

602
00:42:47,876 --> 00:43:30,356
Speaker 1: breath and a choice. Deep Cover The Truth About Sarah

603
00:43:30,556 --> 00:43:35,196
Speaker 1: was produced by Amy Gaines McQuaid and Tolly Emlin, additional

604
00:43:35,196 --> 00:43:37,276
Speaker 1: production support by Sonya Gurwood.

605
00:43:37,796 --> 00:43:41,676
Speaker 2: Our show is edited by Karen Chakergee. Our executive producer

606
00:43:41,756 --> 00:43:44,996
Speaker 2: is Jacob Smith, mastering by Jake Gorsky.

607
00:43:45,756 --> 00:43:49,236
Speaker 1: Original scoring in our theme were composed by Luis Gara.

608
00:43:49,876 --> 00:43:53,676
Speaker 1: Our show art was designed by Sean Carney, fact checking

609
00:43:53,796 --> 00:43:55,036
Speaker 1: by Anica Robbins.

610
00:43:56,316 --> 00:44:01,876
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Izzie Carter, Daphne Chen, Lucy Sullivan, Eric Sandler,

611
00:44:02,236 --> 00:44:08,516
Speaker 2: Morgan Ratner, Kira Posey, Amy Hagadorn, Owen Miller, Jordan McMillan,

612
00:44:09,116 --> 00:44:15,796
Speaker 2: Barah Bragaire, Jake Flanagan, Christina Sullivan, Sarah Nix, and Greta Cohen.

613
00:44:16,716 --> 00:44:23,356
Speaker 1: Additional thanks to Jim Rosenberg, Amanda Simmons, Katie Lee, Jonathan Nellermoe,

614
00:44:23,876 --> 00:44:30,316
Speaker 1: Daniel Potter, Darwin Lamb, Sabrina Moore, The Fun for Investigative Journalism,

615
00:44:30,476 --> 00:44:38,196
Speaker 1: Evan Krask, Anna Sproll, Latimer, Travis Dunlap, Charlotte Simms, Hillary Sites, Michael,

616
00:44:38,836 --> 00:44:44,836
Speaker 1: Jackie and Joe Gilleran, Jason McQuaid, The McHugh Family, Lyon,

617
00:44:45,436 --> 00:44:54,556
Speaker 1: Marie Heatherington, Matt Brown, Kasha Sebastian Lucian and Milo. I'm

618
00:44:54,636 --> 00:45:12,076
Speaker 1: Jess McHugh and I'm Jake Halpern. Hey, it's Jake, And look,

619
00:45:12,076 --> 00:45:14,596
Speaker 1: I got a little favor to ask. If you like

620
00:45:14,716 --> 00:45:18,476
Speaker 1: the show, please just take one minute and review us

621
00:45:18,476 --> 00:45:22,836
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Honestly, it really helps new

622
00:45:22,876 --> 00:45:26,476
Speaker 1: listeners find the show, which in turn helps us continue

623
00:45:26,476 --> 00:45:30,036
Speaker 1: making these stories for you. Thanks a lot,