All language subtitles for Scamanda.S01E04.en

Amanda, at this stage
is cornered, really.

They raided her house.

My mom sent me videos
of them hiding out

in the back of the car.

Wow! Going in.

And I remember my mom
being so happy.

- There's so many
of them.
- I'm shaking.

Now, looking back,
I-- I get it.

They put my mom through hell.

- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.

But you don't ever want to know
people are living in the world

faking cancer and stuff.
So, for me, it was kind of, um,

not something to be celebrated.

I was like, "Okay, this is done.
They're caught. This is over."

But it wasn't over.
Not even close.

She's not under arrest
at the moment.

It just takes time
for-- for stuff to happen.

At the time,
Jessa was back in my custody.

I got her back abruptly

because Amanda's family
went on a cruise

for Amanda's 30th birthday.
And apparently,

there was some heavy drinking
on board,

and some behaviors
that made Jessa uncomfortable.

And I got full
physical legal custody back.

After the raid, it was important
for me to be completely,

100% truthful with Jessa.

And so, I told her that
there's suspicion

that Amanda
does not have cancer.

And at that point, she did know
something was off

because she had found
a portion of an IV

in her little brother's
playroom.

And so, Jessa texted Amanda
about the raid

and was asking questions.

Aletta felt it was necessary
to explain to Jessa

what had happened.

Amanda couldn't even tell Jessa
the truth at that point.

It was very much like,

"You don't know
what you're talking about.

"You're being fed lies.
This is all your mom's doing."

And Jessa knew
that wasn't the case.

And so, she pressed,
you know, Amanda.

Amanda had got upset because
I had discussed it with Jessa.

But, you know,
of course I have to.

I was very sad by the situation,

and I wish
it had never come to that.

The emotional distress
that Jessa had to go under,

thinking that her stepmom
was gonna die,

saying that she might
have to go into surgery

to save Amanda's life,
that's abuse.

Amanda told Jessa
that... she and her brothers

were gonna have to get
some of their bone marrow

to possibly save Amanda's life.

Now, not only are you lying,
you're terrifying your children.

Imagine the two little ones...

thinking that
their mom's gonna die.

Wow. The--
How can a mother do that?

Then Cory,

supposedly he went
to the hospitals with her.

He did treatments with her.

She has an IV pole
and IV items in the house.

How could he not know?

He stood next to her
crying to me.

He backed her up.

I think at some point,
Cory believed her.

And I think at some point,
he knew it was a lie.

Proving where that line is,
is a harder go,

because then you can say,

"She fooled
this entire congregation.

"She fooled her mom.

"Why is it far-fetched
to fool a husband

"who sees her with a shaved head
and shivering in the bed

"and oxygen tubes?"

Literally hours after
federal agents left her home...

...Amanda posted on Facebook.

It was lymphoma
cancer awareness month,

and she's posting an old picture
of her bald.

I just couldn't believe
what I was seeing.

Nothing stopped her.

She told me that what she was

getting in trouble for
was the tax evasion.

Amanda told everyone
that it's just all a mix-up

to do with tax
'cause she didn't realize

she had to pay tax on the money
that people had gifted her.

So, Amanda actually didn't hide
away from it.

But the police
and the IRS investigating her

weren't gonna go away.

My father-in-law,

the senior pastor
of Family Community Church,

came to me privately
and said, "Hey,

"there's an investigation
going on. I need to know.

"Does Amanda have cancer?"

And I said, I...
"She says she does."

And that's when he said,
"I just caution you,

"uh, to not give any more
to Cory and Amanda."

Uh, he said, "We're not gonna be
donating anything any further."

And that

made the hair on the back
of my neck stand up.

Um, so many people read my blog
and hear my story,

and ask about my faith.
Um, that's all God.

We would see less and less
of her at the church.

She stopped coming,
really, to the main service.

My father-in-law loves
his congregation.

And anytime
anyone's giving their testimony

or sharing their faith,
especially from the pulpit,

he expects that it's genuine
and authentic.

Don't ignore Jesus
because he is always there,

and it would be unfortunate
if he brought you your miracle,

and you weren't watching.

It was very painful

to look at these videos
and pictures

and see somebody that claimed
to be a person of faith

give false testimony
to a room full of believers.

She had thousands
of people duped.

I don't think, in that church,
that there was one person

standing in the background
going,

"Something doesn't add up."

She doesn't care.

She doesn't care that
people are looking into her.

She was now away
from the FCC church,

and she wasn't gonna stop.

And sure enough,
someone said to me,

"Well, you know,
Amanda's now gonna be principal

"at a elementary school
in Gilroy."

She moved 40 minutes away,

and I just knew this school
was gonna be her next target.

When the police
went after Amanda,

she pulled away from the church.

But she was very, very charming,

and Amanda used it
to her advantage.

Amanda was teaching,

and then, she was hired
as a principal

at a school
called Pacific Point.

Interview Natalie,
take one, A, B, C, common mark.

I am a parent at Pacific Point
Christian School.

My daughter attended
Pacific Point

when Amanda was principal.

When she was first hired,
everybody loved her.

The kids loved her.
My daughter adored her.

She was charming,
charismatic, seemed very caring.

There were no red flags.

No one at that school
would have had any idea

that she was being investigated.

Hi.

My son, James,
was going into kindergarten.

So, we went to Pac Point
to take a tour.

When we got there,
we met Amanda Riley.

My husband and myself thought
she was so amazing.

And we wanted to find a school
that would accommodate us

in our situation.

Because of James' older brother,
Jonathan,

having Niemann-Pick's
type C disease,

we refer to it
as childhood Alzheimer's,

I had told her
how we are in a clinical trial

and have to go
to all these different places.

And because James is so young,
he needs to come with us.

And she understood.

And then she had told us

she was in remission
from cancer.

And at the end of our tour,

she prayed with me
and my husband, and Jonathan,

and told him,
"I understand how you feel."

"I went through treatment
as well."

I knew it was only a matter
of time till she started,

you know, "I'm so sick.

"My cancer's back,
I need money, my family."

And that's exactly
what happened fairly quickly.

There was a fundraiser
for another staff member

at Pac Point that had
her cancer come back.

And soon after that,

Amanda announced
to the community at the school

that her cancer was also back,

and that she was going to

be going through more chemo
and more treatments.

Miss Cindy was sick,
and you could see it.

But she worked as long
as she could

because she loved our kids
so much.

We learned about Amanda's health
pretty quickly on,

and the kids at our school
prayed for her.

They made her little gifts.

It was her first year,
but everybody supported her,

and wanted to help.

So, the school sent out
the emails

that they were doing
this fundraiser

for Miss Cindy and Miss Riley.

Gilroy
is an amazing community.

The people are generous.

People would write checks.
They would give cash.

Teachers went to go visit Amanda
at the hospital.

The school... did what I think
Amanda expected,

which was to fundraise
for her as well.

And all the money
that they raised

over the next months and year,

um, was split between Miss Cindy
and-- and Amanda.

I noticed one of the families
she was involved with was,

uh, Rebecca Spencer's family,
and Rebecca's son, Jonathan,

who was a young man
that had a terminal illness.

And I reached out.

I got a phone call from Nancy.

And honestly,
when she first called me,

I thought, "This lady's crazy."

But then as I talked to her,
then I got angry because...

my son is only alive
because of people's donations.

And for somebody to lie and say
that they have a disease,

and they don't have it,
this is beyond disgusting.

She prayed with Jonathan,

and said,
"I understand how it is

"to have a terminal illness,
a disease."

And, no, she didn't.

She didn't go through
what Jonathan goes through.

Um, Miss Cindy
was a wonderful person.

She had a tragic story.

I was there, uh, with her
the day before she died,

my husband and I.
And she is so missed.

So, when we all found out
Amanda was being investigated,

we were heartbroken for her kids
and for all of the victims,

but we were also angry
that Miss Cindy died...

...and that those kids
grieved for her,

and that she put our kids
through torture.

It was at that point

some of my colleagues
at my office

made the decision to reach out
at the school.

"Hey, I wanna know more
about your principal.

"I may be
sending my child there."

Amanda, I think,
quickly figured out it was, uh,

somehow related to me.

And she filed the restraining
order against me.

It was a Friday night
on a holiday weekend,

and I came home,

went to get the mail
out of the mailbox,

and there was just all
these papers stuffed in there.

I thought it was junk mail,
and I'm pulling through,

pulling all these papers out,
and I see Amanda Riley,

and I see my name, and I'm like,
"What the hell is this?"

And I-- I start to realize
it was court papers.

Amanda had filed
a restraining order against me.

In the paperwork to the courts,

she claimed I was calling
her workplace hundreds of times.

She was claiming that I got
her fired at her past jobs,

that I got Cory fired.

She claimed I was taking on
these pseudonyms

and reaching out
to random people

accusing her of things

and harassing her
on every level.

It took months
and thousands of dollars

to get to the point
where we could finally

have our day in court.

I testified. Amanda testified.
Cory testified.

Cory testified
that he was by his wife's side

at appointments
for the last five years.

But as a member of the press
and doing, uh,

this for a news organization,

this was
a First Amendment issue.

Nancy was in the right of,

basically, the freedom of press.

But it became
so personal for Nancy.

And then, you've got Amanda

with the same tenacity
and determination,

to then quiet Nancy down.

Subjects
in criminal investigations

will often say that it's
a mistake or a misunderstanding.

I just keep going on
with my case

and get the proper evidence

for her to eventually
get charged.

It took a long time,

but the good thing was that
it's still happening.

It's just gonna show, you know,
how brazen this person is,

even after they know
it's at this level.

I remember when
that press release went out,

that Amanda Riley
had been indicted.

These were the charges,
and here's what she did.

And places picked up
on the story

because it's not every day
you get a headline

that someone was faking cancer
for eight years,

taking tens
of thousands of dollars.

At that point I knew also
that all the victims,

if they donated through
the Support Amanda site,

were receiving a letter saying,
"You are the victim of a fraud."

I had a little email thing flash

and it just said,
"Department of Justice."

And I read through it.

I just remember going cold.

I started Googling it.

I was like, "Wait, what?"

I've given,
on the low side, 20,000,

on the high side, 30,000.

And that's in actual cash.
That does not include gifts.

I felt like I w--
was owed an explanation.

So, I reached out to her mom.

I asked Peggy, I was like,
"Peggy, like, what do you know?"

And she says, "Rebecca,
you know Amanda has cancer.

"You know Amanda's innocent.

"I was at
those doctor's appointments."

And that was all I had to hear.

Rebecca couldn't get
her head around

that Amanda was capable
of something like this.

Amanda,
within the next couple of days,

reached out to me,
and she's like,

"I'm so sorry that, like,

"you're even being brought up
in this.

"It's... This is,
like, my nightmare."

And so I said, like,
"Amanda, listen, I believe you."

"I am trying to answer
a lot of people right now

"in my life that
are challenging me with this.

"Like,
can you give me anything?"

And she said, "Well,
I have an appointment.

"Y-- You can come with me."

And I was like,
"That's amazing."

And she texted me
the day before.

And she's like, "Unfortunately,
because of all the protocols

"right now with COVID,
you're not gonna be able

"to come in with me,
but I can FaceTime you."

And I was like,
"Totally understandable.

"That totally makes sense."
Um, and so, she FaceTimed me.

And she had on
one of the little medical hats,

and was wearing a mask.
And I could see a nurse

in the background
kind of moving around.

And I could see the...
the metal from the IV.

And you could see
the IV in her arm.

And I'm like,
"Okay, she's...

"...she's having treatment."

I even took a picture
when she FaceTimed me,

and I sent it
to my friends and family.

And I was like, "Look,
she is in treatment right now."

Like, "This is all
going to get blown over."

I had no doubt about it at all.
I mean, to a fault.

At what point in the process

did you call [bleep]?

When she pled guilty.

After I got the notice
from the Department of Justice,

I let Amanda know, "Hey,

"I was just given this notice
that you faked cancer."

It was all so surreal.

But, looking back...

there are things that...

...I wish I would have
paid attention to.

I knew she was getting a port.
There were posts with pictures.

I knew it was infected.
I saw the bandage on her chest.

And then, there was never
any scar tissue.

And looking back, I just think,

"How could I have
dismissed that?"

But the narrative
that she was dying,

and a miracle
was just so much stronger

than any doubt could have been.

So, once a criminal complaint
was filed on Amanda...

she was charged with wire fraud.

And she was charged
with a bankruptcy fraud charge.

And it was basically, you know,

false information
on a bankruptcy filing.

And it was the fact that

they submitted this filing
saying she had cancer,

and the medical records
proved that she did not.

Cory may not have been charged,

but it doesn't change the fact
that I think he knew all along.

When you have
a husband and wife,

there's a-- a privilege.

And so, how could we prove
that Cory was part of it?

The only person
who'd be able to show us

would-- would have been Amanda.

Initially,
Amanda said she's not guilty.

What I was told was that
Amanda didn't wanna plead

to the bankruptcy fraud charge.

But it's not uncommon,
uh, that when you plead,

that if there are other charges,
some of them could be dropped.

I attended
every single Zoom hearing.

And it was on my calendar
as "Cancer Scam Zoom Party."

There was
a lot of back-and-forth

that prolonged
her pleading guilty.

She pled guilty...

and it was a relief
because the truth came out.

So, I just felt
this satisfaction.

The sentencing hearing,
it was really, uh,

a wonderful day,
really, for justice.

It was crowded.

Amanda was there with Cory,
with her parents.

There was a lot of people there
that had been scammed by Amanda.

Her sentencing
was the very first time

I had been in a courtroom.

And I decided
to take the opportunity

to give a impact statement.

"Amanda,
I first met you in a church.

"You were the poor,
young Christian woman,

"fighting a battle undeserved.

"I couldn't do much,

"but I could
pour my blood out for you.

"As a lifelong atheist,

"the first time I prayed to God,
it was for you."

And...

she gave me a look,
as I read this to her.

We were wearing masks,
but her eyes said...

"I'm so sorry."

And isn't it so true
of a narcissist that she wasn't?

I wanted to make sure
the judge knew

that she had done this before,

and that she would
absolutely do this again,

given the chance.

"Your Honor,

"two years before
she publicly claimed

"to first be diagnosed,

"she told me and my husband
that she had cancer.

"They manipulated our emotions
to get what they wanted,

"attention and money.

"Years later, I learned that

"Amanda and Cory
were at it again,

"scamming on
an even larger scale."

When I was up there,
I was shaking so bad

that my husband
was literally holding me tight

to stop me from shaking
so I could read the paper.

"My daughter believed
that her stepmom was dying."

"How Amanda Riley could do this

"to a young girl
is beyond disgusting.

"It's abusive."

"This was truly a nightmare.

"And it has never stopped."

I couldn't find the strength

to get up in that moment,
but I did write something.

"Do you remember me, Amanda?

"I was the little girl
with barely any hair.

"You came over
and taught me how to dance.

"I was dying.
You were my friend.

"Do you remember me, Amanda?

"I was the young woman.

"A group of us cancer survivors

"and yourself
stood out on the field.

"You looked over to me,
and you smiled.

"I can't help but wonder

"what was going through
your mind.

"While you have taken so much
from so many people,

"you cannot take my strength.

"I have been through a lot

"and continue to heal
to this day,

"but I am
a proud cancer survivor."

She likely won't ever hear it.

But putting everything down
on paper, um,

felt very freeing.

And then,
Amanda gave her statement.

This is
the worst thing I've ever done

and the worst mistake
I could have made.

She didn't have any remorse.

I have been dealing with...

I remember her saying,

"I'm so sorry
that this happened."

You should be sorry
you did this,

that you hurt these people.

She didn't care.

She... She was sorry
that she got caught.

I'm here
to accept responsibility...

She never admitted
to faking cancer

in her statement.

She was more worried

about herself and how much time
she was gonna do.

Eighteen months
was the recommended sentence,

and I certainly didn't think
that was enough.

And neither did the judge.

When the judge spoke...

the whole courtroom gasped.

The judge really...

really understood
what this case was about.

And how dangerous
someone like Amanda could be.

This is part of the statement
that the judge gave

during Amanda's sentencing.

"In considering the seriousness
of the crime,

"there is no doubt
this is a very serious crime.

"I have to further consider
public safety

"and the need for deterrence.

"I do find the public to be at
a significant risk from you.

"I do believe
that this will happen again.

"I will impose
an upward variance

"of the guideline sentence,

"and I will sentence you
to 60 months in prison."

We were stunned.

And you're quickly
calculating...

...what that meant.
That meant five years.

The judge also ordered Amanda
to pay restitution,

which I think is fantastic.

One of the things
that really struck me

that the judge said was...

that she was giving her
a stiff sentence

because she was gonna
do it again.

If she didn't have
a stiff sentence,

she would do it again.

After Amanda was sentenced,

I really wanted to try
and approach her.

And I waited
for everybody to leave.

And then Amanda did come out
with her lawyer.

So, I followed them...

around the side
of the courtroom.

Amanda, sorry to disturb you.
Um, I'm Charlie.

I just wanted
to give you my card.

And she took my card, and then,

I didn't give her a chance
to speak.

She kind of like went,
"Oh, thank you."

And then, I walked off.

Later that night,

I got a text message
from Amanda.

"Hi, Charlie, thank you
for reaching out to me

"in the way that you did.

"You were kind,
polite and courteous."

And then she said to me,

"Let me know
if you want to talk."

So, I replied.

And then, that's when we started
to build a relationship.

This went on
from September 2022,

right through to the day
that I released the podcast,

which was May 2023.

Hey, Scamanda listeners,
it's Charlie here.

Amanda couldn't listen
to the podcast in prison,

but Cory and her mum listened

and told her
that I was objective

in the way
that I told the story.

I was happy to hear that.

And I've been building
that trust,

hoping that she'll decide to put
more of her story out there.

All right.

I'm just waiting
to do a video call

with Amanda in prison.

And I've got
three minutes to go.

She's agreed to speak to me,
but for it not to be recorded.

So, I'm gonna go and have
a conversation with her,

and then I will report back,
see what she says.

Let's just wait.

Hi, Amanda.

Gosh, I don't even know
where to start.

So, we had
a 25-minute conversation.

She told me that, um,
Cory and her are divorcing.

We talked about Cory.

Amanda said that
a lot of the money that she, um,

raised through
saying she had cancer

actually was spent
on Cory's divorce to Aletta

and child custody,
and child support for Jessa.

Amanda got really upset
at one point in the conversation

about her children.

It seemed very genuine.

She was really crying
and very, very upset, sobbing.

She said she is sorry

and she does wanna
take accountability, and...

But she...
It-- You know, she looked well.

That was one thing
that surprised me.

She looks well. And she is st--

still saying that
she's got health problems.

I honestly don't know...

...um, what I think about that.

I don't know. I d-- I don't...

I honestly don't know
whether that's true or not.

When you're the victim
of a con or a scam,

or someone lying to you, like,

you feel like
you should have seen it.

You should have recognized it,

and it makes you feel
less terribly, um,

when there were other people
that went through it as well.

What you are about to hear

is a true story.

Doing the podcast,
it was a great experience.

I knew that the story
was going to resonate

with a lot of people.

But I was really shocked
at the response that we got.

- Scamanda.
- Scamanda.

-Scamanda.
- Scamanda.

People were talking about it
all over the news,

over social media,
posting about it.

Amanda has a huge problem.
She's a liar.

Who would do something
like this?

The story
is completely unhinged.

And it was
such a great feeling to know,

"Okay,
this is resonating with people."

And it was great to give a voice

to so many of the people
I had been in contact with,

over the years.

Hearing all of these
other pieces,

it made me not feel alone,

because other people
had been affected as well.

But I went through, like,

more than a decade of history
with this family.

I don't want to say
I always felt "Special,"

but I felt like
I was owed an explanation.

And I tried to go down
this rabbit hole.

Okay.

"May 4th, 2022."

Which was after the sentencing.

I just sent the text,
"Amanda, I'm so sorry

"for what you and your family
are going through."

Then she said,
"This really means a lot.

"I do want to talk to you,
now that I can and explain."

And, um,
she wrote this one to me

a couple of days before
she was... Went to jail.

"Hi, Rebecca,
how are you doing?

"I'm really sorry it took me
so long to get back to you.

"I'm struggling
and I honestly don't know

"where to start
or even what to say."

I still don't believe her.

At this point,

there's no possibility
of her recovering my trust.

Because how can you,

when you've been lied to
for years and years?

At this point,
I can't believe anything

that comes out of either Peggy
or Amanda's mouth.

Because Peggy emailed me
as well.

"She finally came clean

"with the family last September,

"and I've never felt
so betrayed and stupid

"that I didn't
recognize it sooner."

She had made all these claims
that she'd been

to doctor's appointments
for years.

And that did not add up
with the fact that she said

that she just found out
in September.

I felt so targeted
by both Peggy and Amanda.

And I don't know
that we'll ever know the truth.

I don't know
if something happened

in that household,
that created it.

I don't know
if Amanda naturally...

was looking for attention.
I don't know.

I don't think
that Amanda sat down

and masterminded this plan,

but I did wonder
where she got the idea

of lying about cancer from.

Was it from Lisa,

who had a friend
who fundraised for cancer?

Or was it Jaymie?

Amanda got very close to Jaymie
at the time

that she was being treated
for cancer.

I'm going on almost 20 years
cancer-free.

I don't know
that she got the idea

to fake cancer
from my experience.

I don't know what goes on
in that woman's head.

I think Amanda and Cory
just wanted things

to go their way.

And they would do

whatever they felt
they needed to do,

wanted to do, to get their way.

You have highly aggressive
blood cancer.

It's metastasized to your lungs.

My kids
weren't the only ones

that went through this.
She hurt tons of people.

And I don't think
she's gonna come out reformed.

I really don't.

She's full of crap.

And she'll always be
full of crap.

She's smart enough
to be devious,

and to another level.

And she knows
that it has effect on people,

how she looks,
how she carries herself.

Because she's an actor,

she's in that character 24/7.
She's still a victim.

Somebody's done her wrong.

I don't think
that's gonna change.

I highly doubt

she's gonna step out
of the prison gates and be like,

"What good can I, you know,
bring into the world?"

I'm sure she's got
something else lined up already.

So, like,
what's the next level for her?

I've always lived
this battle so publicly.

I was like, "God," like,

"I don't wanna have
such a sad end to the story

"for everybody," you know?
But-- But it is.