Original subtitles

[tense music plays]

-[Brianne] Hey. Hey. -Hi.

[Brianne] So, I wanna go over some photos from last night.

-[Cecilie] Okay. -[Brianne] He's with another woman.

The question is who?

We don't know if she's a relative, a friend.

-Or his next victim at this point, so… -[Cecilie] Yeah.

[Brianne] Why don't you send this to Jill and see if she knows who she is?

So that we could potentially help her.

Hi, Jill. We have some pictures

of Todd with a woman.

Have you seen her before?

-Is that an okay way? -Yeah. Do you know her?

Do you know her? Yeah.

[Cecilie] Oh, she's typing already. I hope she knows.

[music ends abruptly]

-"I do." -What'd she say? [gasps]

-Can you come in? -[Brianne] Yeah.

-Oh, hi. -[Jill] Hello.

-[Brianne] Hi, beautiful. -[Cecilie] Hi, Jill.

[Cecilie] We would love to know if-- What you know about her.

Her name is Kitt.

[Brianne] Okay. How'd you come to meet her?

Todd actually introduced us at poker one night.

[Brianne] Okay.

From what I know, she's given him a substantial amount of money.

[Brianne] She is involved with him then.

-Yes. She definitely is. -[Brianne] Oh, goodness.

[Cecilie] Have you tried to warn her?

-Have you-- -Yes.

We had several conversations about what I thought was going on,

and she believes that everything he's doing is really to benefit others.

[intriguing music plays]

Cecilie, maybe if you could speak to her, then maybe you could make a difference.

Yeah. I'll do my best.

[suspenseful music plays]

I am on my way to Kitt's house.

I've written Kitt just a short letter.

I have put that I'm a victim of romance fraud,

and I believe that she's the victim of the same crime.

If she wants to reach out, she can do that.

I want to help her,

but also if we can prove that a crime is actively taking place,

the police are just far more likely to prioritize Jill's case.

[suspenseful music continues]

[doorbell chimes]

[Cecilie] I looked inside, and it's just totally black.

[foreboding music plays]

[Cecilie] It's a long shot. She might be in too deep.

When you're in the middle of this, like,

you don't want to believe that you're being scammed.

You don't trust your own instincts anymore,

so you rely on your abuser because that's what feels safe.

But you know deep down something is wrong.

You can… You can feel it.

In the end, you have to deal with the truth.

You have to confront your nightmare.

[music fades]

[quirky music plays]

[chimes]

[Brianne] Hey, Cecilie. Okay, so I've been talking to a woman called Terra,

who Todd approached, apparently, about remortgaging Sanjara.

She has this secret recording of Todd.

Now, I don't know what's on it,

but hopefully she'll have some information that would be valuable to us.

I need you to go and talk to her.

[music fades]

Hi. Is it Terra?

-Yes. Hi Cecilie. -Yeah, hi. Cecilie. Hi.

-Very nice to meet you. -Thank you for meeting up with me.

I believe that you might have, um, some information about Todd Dean.

Yes.

At the time, I was in the banking industry,

and he came to us looking to refinance his property.

And this is Sanjara?

-This is Sanjara Wellness. -Yeah.

-And there was just a lot of delays. -Yeah.

He would send endless, endless text messages and selfies.

I've never had another customer ever send me a selfie.

And so we scheduled a time to actually meet with him,

and I thought we were about to start talking facts, the figures, the numbers.

And he said, "Hey, Terra, would it matter, uh, in getting the refi

if, um, somebody's filing a suit against me?"

And he just starts talking about all these women and the…

the "Todd-hater group" and all these things that he's done.

I'm literally just sitting there in absolute disbelief.

Yeah.

And so, while he's getting a drink of water,

I just reached in to grab my phone, and I have a recording.

[Terra] Oh no, I already poured mine in here.

Yeah, I poured mine in here.

So let me see if I can remember names.

[intriguing music plays]

[Todd] So.

So I'll give you the short story. I met a gal by the name of Karen Alpert.

Karen is… is just… Karen is just mentally deranged.

[Todd inhales] And then Sheena, who was working for me as my assistant,

wanted things to go her way, and I said, "I'm the CEO."

"We've gotta do things this way." She didn't like that.

And Jill and I went on a couple dates, had sex.

So I'm struggling to pay bills every month, you know.

If I need $25, she sent me $25.

She needed $100, I'd send her $100 if I had it.

So Jill said she gave me $25,000. She never gave me $25,000.

-Everything added up… -[Terra] That's a lot of money.

[Todd] Hold on.

They're portraying me like Todd's this douchebag who's skint.

It's not true. It's so far from the truth.

Tinder Swindler.

-You ever seen that show? -[Terra] Yeah, Netflix.

[Todd] I watch the movie, and I go, "God, I can relate to this shit."

[Terra] But if I recall correctly, the Tinder Swindler,

these guys duped them out of a lot of money.

[Todd] Because, well, I'm the… I'm the opposite.

Okay, so I'm not the swindler.

I'm just a guy doing the best I can. I've been supported by wonderful people.

I pay the bills every month.

Somehow, someway, I have been so blessed with so many friends that have stepped up.

-[Terra] Mm-hmm. -[Todd] I'm talking $10,000 every month.

-[Terra] These friends give you $10,000? -[Todd] Every month.

There's no swindling. There's ze-- There's been zero swindling.

And to hear that he said that he's blessed, it makes me sick.

He admits that for years,

he's been receiving tens of thousands of dollars a month from these "friends."

It felt really horrible for these women that have been so impacted.

Mm. Yeah.

It was very eye-opening. Very eye-opening.

Yeah. Thank you so much for meeting up with me,

and I think this will make a real impact.

[tense music plays]

[phone dialing]

[Cecilie] Bri, you won't believe this.

Todd admits getting money from multiple women,

and he has no shame about it.

Do you think this will help Jill's case?

[Brianne] Look, I absolutely think it's gonna help the police investigation.

It's time to expose Todd

and make sure he can't use Sanjara as a tool to scam people any longer.

If you look at the second page, it was a specific bank statement.

-You have $50,000 here. -Do you see the large deposits?

-Yeah, those are important. -Yeah, 50.

We have the statements from these women.

We can show that he's been doing this for, you know, how many years?

Our job is to say, "Look, she's not a woman scorned."

"She's not the first. We found others. Listen to all of them."

[Cecilie] The checking account.

[music intensifies]

[inaudible]

Do you feel that we have enough?

Yeah, I think we do have enough to move forward.

-Wanna get out the sun? -Yes.

'Cause…

If we do this right, the perpetrators could face jail time,

and they could be required to pay the victims back the money they're owed.

[music fades]

-[Brianne] How are you feeling, Jill? -[Jill] I feel good.

[Brianne] Okay. Glad to hear that.

I'm excited to hear what, um, what you all have discovered.

Yeah, yeah. Well, we think we're ready.

Let's see if we can move forward with potentially prosecuting this guy.

We have statements from multiple women

who are willing to talk about, um, the pattern of behavior that he has.

So we have Karen, $46,000.

Bridget, $12,000.

Kristi, $8,000.

Theresa, $2,500.

[Jill] Wow.

[Brianne] It's not just you.

And this is significant

because it's gonna show the police that she's not alone.

This is a serial scammer.

Also, and what I think is kind of the smoking gun a little bit with this.

We have tangible evidence that clearly shows

the investor's deposits being deposited

and transactions that show he's moving them to his personal account.

So do you feel ready now to go and talk to the police?

I do. I'm a bit anxious,

but with your all's help, I feel good about it.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Jill] The last time that I reached out to the police,

they said that, no, there was nothing they could do,

that it was a civil matter.

I was shocked. I was hurt.

I was humiliated.

I'm a little nervous because

I still have the feeling of,

"Are they gonna look at me like the scorned woman?"

[Brianne] We can change that perspective.

Be okay with the worst-case scenario, and then you'll be fine.

-Yeah. Thank you. -[Brianne] Do you know what I mean?

So don't let them do that.

[Cecilie] What has struck me the most is how difficult it is to get justice.

The police don't know enough about the crime.

They don't know which laws are applicable.

And they don't have enough resources to actually go and prosecute the cases.

So, all too often, they just turn people away.

[Brianne] Y'all ready?

-Where's our paperwork? -[Cecilie] Here.

[Brianne] Is that everything?

[Cecilie] Everything depends on if they will take you seriously.

[Jill] I'd like to report a fraud.

I'm not the only victim.

[Brianne] We have a ton of evidence to support what she's saying.

-[officer] Let me call my sergeant. -[Jill] Okay.

[officer] Figure out what we're gonna do on our side.

-[Jill] Okay. -[officer 2] Are you gonna wait inside?

-Or would you like to wait outside? -[Jill] We'll wait outside in the vehicle.

[Brianne] So we just have to wait.

Could be five minutes, could be five hours.

[tense music plays]

[Jill] My nerves are coming back now that we're sitting here waiting.

[Cecilie] We need to be confident.

-[Jill] Someone's pulling up. -[Cecilie] I saw someone.

-[Brianne] Yes, he's coming out. Come on. -Okay.

-[Cecilie] Hi. -[officer 3] Jill?

[Cecilie] I'm not Jill. Jill is coming out,

so say hi to her. [chuckles]

We're just here to support.

-Are you Jill? -[Jill] I am. Are you Officer Davis?

-I am. It's nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you.

[Davis] I was looking at the total you had.

That alone is breaching into felony territory.

It's gone past a civil matter into a criminal matter.

There's a likelihood it could be taken out of our hands and into federal hands.

What we're gonna have to do is…

[sighs] This is basically gonna go in as a domestic fraud just on your side.

Right.

[Davis] We'll document your side. A detective will get assigned.

I'm gonna give you a card.

-That'll be your report number. -[Jill] Okay.

Within a couple of days, expect a call from a detective.

Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much.

-[Cecilie] You never give up -[Jill] Thank you. No.

Thank you for supporting me and helping and being here.

[Cecilie squeals] Oh God. God.

-[sobs] -[Brianne] We love you, Jill.

[soft music plays]

[male newsreader] Women call him the selfie scammer.

[uplifting music plays]

They say he love-bombed them, sending selfies of himself,

all while he was asking them for money.

[Jill] Seeing the news clips of Todd going to court

and publicly being outed as a fraudster

does feel like justice is finally being served.

Going public on television has been empowering.

You know, it's getting easier and easier every day,

I think because of the amount of women that I feel like we have saved.

With the help and support of Cecilie and Brianne,

it feels like we're taking him down.

[Cecilie] Getting justice through the police can be a long process.

And it's not guaranteed.

Cheers to teamwork.

-Yeah. -Yes.

[Brianne] He has gone on for so long unchecked.

-Yep. Yeah. -[Brianne] Until now.

You're gonna help so many women by doing this.

I hope so. I hope so.

[Cecilie] What's been a success in this case

is that Todd will no longer be able to use Sanjara to scam people.

And Jill has exposed him, stopping him in his tracks.

[music fades]

[foreboding music plays]

[Bridget] Hi, Cecilie. My name is Bridget Phillips.

I've been dating this guy, Ricky Morrisey, for the past two years.

-[Bridget] Ain't nobody afraid of you. -[chuckles]

[Bridget] When I met Ricky, I fell for him immediately.

He was in the military for ten years.

But war had scarred him, and he had a vulnerability.

-Hey, Zeusie. -[Bridget] So, like, I wanted to help him.

I had no idea that he was gonna try to steal everything that I had.

-Bridget, let me in, please. -[Bridget] No, what are you talking about?

You robbed me!

So I called the police.

But now he's run off, and I don't know where he is.

I really need your help.

[music ends]

[funky music plays]

When I met Ricky, I had just been divorced.

I had been single for two years, and I was ready to start dating again.

We met on Facebook Dating.

I was in my early 30s,

and I just wanted somebody that was genuine, loyal.

Like, I wanted that person to, you know, grow old with.

His dating profile had that he was in the military.

And the picture with him and his dog, Zeus.

So, I thought he was a really attractive guy.

And we had a connection where we both loved dogs.

He said he wanted a long-term relationship.

He wasn't looking for, like, a quick fling.

He came off very normal.

Which, in retrospect, he wasn't.

[curious music plays]

[Bridget] We chatted for a little bit, sending messages back and forth.

And then, I was at work,

and he was like, "Oh, you wanna go out to dinner tonight?"

I was like, "You know what? Sure, let's go out to dinner."

I drove an hour to go see him.

He was super attractive.

He wore, like, a nice collared shirt.

He took me to a Brazilian steakhouse. I had never been to one before.

I was nervous, and he made me feel comfortable.

He recommended, like, what wine we drank at first.

He took charge.

It was nice.

It was nice to not have to make those decisions because I'm very indecisive.

Right after the first restaurant, we were walking outside, and he kissed me.

Like, just stopped in the parking lot.

But we had a lot of fun. We went to a couple of different bars.

And by, like, the second bar, third bar, we were deleting the apps.

I think it was, like, a mutual suggestion 'cause we were a few drinks in.

[laughs quietly]

It felt, like, I don't need to date anymore.

Like, this is feeling good.

He was, like, the perfect man.

[Cecilie] Hi.

-Is it Bridget? Hi, Cecilie. -Hi.

-Nice to meet you. Yes, -Can I give you a hug?

-[Bridget] This is Ricky's dog. -[Cecilie] Oh wow.

So, Ricky had him. It was his military dog, actually.

-He was in the army with Zeus. -[Cecilie] He's gorgeous.

I'm so grateful that you reached out.

So, yeah, tell me, like, what happened?

[Bridget] It felt like we clicked right away. Like, it was instant.

He was charming.

-[Cecilie] Yeah. -He was very charming.

I've never dated anyone from the m-- in the military before,

and I felt like I trusted him.

He just… He gave off that vibe of, like, you can trust me.

[romantic music plays]

[Bridget] It definitely moved fast after the first date.

The very next day, he sent me a text, like, in the morning.

He was saying, "I never connected with somebody like I am right now"

and "I've never had these types of feelings before and…"

And then on that third date, he was, like, "I love you."

I didn't say it back, because I didn't… I didn't want to yet.

But I was f-- I was feeling it.

[gentle music plays]

[Ricky] Easy.

She's drooling.

[Bridget] She's nervous.

He was in the army for, like, ten years, then he had gotten out.

Easy.

[Bridget] He was a military dog handler.

And Zeus served overseas with him,

and they had gone on multiple tours together.

He had PTSD.

He said he did have his struggles, but he was working on them.

I felt really bad for him, and I wanted to support him

in any way that I could to make him feel better.

[dog barking]

[Bridget] We were dating three months when he moved in.

-[dog barking] -[Ricky] Go. Go play.

[Bridget] He was looking to rent, and then he was, like, it's expensive,

and so he suggested that he move in with me.

[dog barking]

It definitely felt like a-- a step forward in the relationship.

[laughs]

[Ricky] Are you videoing?

It was, like, perfect couple-type relationship.

Like…

His parents had drug problems.

I had family that had drug issues.

And we kind of bonded over the fact that we both kind of had broken family issues.

[Cecilie] Scammers will often find ways to bond with their victims.

And this is usually over difficult life experiences.

For a victim, it will feel like, "Wow, they really get me."

But it is strategic.

[Bridget] I felt like he understood me, and I understood him.

He was struggling to find a job

because of what he's been through and his PTSD.

So at the time, like, I was the one paying for everything.

But he would help me out around the house,

like taking care of the dogs,

or he'd, like, mow the lawn, and he always cooked.

He would try different recipes.

And we'd get, like, little separate plates for the dogs,

and the dogs would have a little snack with us.

It was definitely what I was looking for.

He knew how to make me feel like I was the only person in the world.

It felt like we were gonna be together forever.

[music fades]

But then one day, we had a couple drinks,

and we're sharing, you know, life stories, and he started crying.

-[Cecilie] Did he? -He, like, tears…

And he was, like, "I wanna explain."

So his best friend died saving his life.

They were, like, clearing a building,

and his friend Clarence took bullets for him

and ended up passing away.

[somber music plays]

[Bridget] He told me that him and Clarence grew up together,

had been best friends forever.

He would tell me how guilty he felt.

It was his fault that Clarence had passed away.

His tattoo on his arm, he used it as, like, a memorial.

It stands for rest in peace, Clarence Williams III.

I was shocked.

It's insane to go through something like that.

So I felt like I could, like, definitely help him in a way.

He said, you know, because Clarence saved his life in war,

that he felt compelled to give Clarence's wife and children money

because he doesn't have that income anymore.

He emphasized that he always does this because of his guilt

that Clarence died and he didn't.

He struggled to keep a job since the military,

so he would ask for money to give to Clarence's family.

I didn't wanna say no.

"I understand that this is, like, a traumatic event you went through, and…

this is a man that saved your life."

I was like, "Well, let's figure it out."

[Cecilie] So, if you think back,

like, how much do you think that you, you know, spent then on Clarence's family?

[Bridget] Altogether…

probably had to go up to, like, 10,000-ish.

-It could be, like… -Wow. Yeah.

Between the whole two years we were together.

[Cecilie] How did the relationship end?

I was checking my bank statements, and when I was going through it,

I saw all these ATM transactions and money missing.

[intriguing music plays]

[Bridget] We had been together about 18 months.

I'm paying for everything. I was losing a lot of money.

I was getting into, like, a lot of debt.

Subconsciously, like, I was like, something… something doesn't add up.

I started just questioning everything.

And then one day, I was at home, I was working.

And I looked at my account, and I just saw

tons of ATM withdrawals, $500 at a time.

And I was like, "Oh my God."

[chimes]

Then I'm texting Ricky, and he's like, "How do you think it happened?"

Like, "How much is gone?"

It was over $13,000 that was missing from the account,

and he's telling me he didn't do it.

But deep down, I knew it was him. I knew he was taking the money out.

I didn't have any, like, solid proof.

I confronted him. He was at my house. I was like, "You stole from me."

[Bridget] You need to leave or turn yourself in to the police.

This is insane.

-Bridget, let me in. Please. -[Bridget] No. No.

[Ricky] For God's sake. I'm begging you.

That's why you're ignoring me. You don't fucking care.

[Bridget] I don't care. What are you talking about? You robbed me!

[Ricky sobbing] Jesus.

Please.

God.

[Bridget] You literally stole from me.

[melancholy music plays]

Fuck, like, you stole everything!

[Bridget] He just… He took off running.

And it was freezing out, and it was, like, raining out.

I was, like, in a state of shock.

[bawling]

[Bridget] I never imagined that he was capable of doing this to me.

[Cecilie] He ran off.

He left.

-That's why you're not in contact anymore. -Yeah.

Right now, I'm $50,000 in debt, and now I'm questioning everything.

[gentle music plays]

[Bridget] Come here, Zeus.

I was devastated.

My whole world just blew up on me.

I mean, there was definitely times where I was just ready to give up,

where I couldn't get out of debt.

[sniffles]

I definitely thought about, like, ending things.

[sniffles]

[Bridget] I had no idea that he would destroy my life.

So we'll do everything in our power…

-[Bridget] Thank you. -…you know, to help you, Bridget.

-Hey, come on in. -Hi, Bri. Hi.

So how much are we talking, like, about how much did he take from her?

In the end, she said, like, $50,000.

So much money had been taken out from the ATM,

but she has no proof it was him.

[Brianne] You need to speak to the banks about the withdrawals.

[Cecilie] Yeah.

[Brianne] They may have evidence that he stole directly from her ATM.

We need to examine everything Ricky said to Bridget

to get money out of her.

Because if we can expose all of those things as lies,

we're halfway there.

[tense music plays]

[Brianne] Can you start by looking through his social media profiles?

[music fades]

[Cecilie] He has a LinkedIn profile.

It's a very short profile. It's not a lot.

I found his Twitter too.

But he hasn't tweeted anything.

There's no workplaces,

like, no schools, no relationship info.

And if you go more in-depth, there's still nothing here.

[curious music plays]

[Cecilie] But a big part of his personality,

a big part of Ricky, is his military career.

And it might have some information there that I can go after

and see if I can do more of a deep dive.

It looks like there's something here.

I found the Facebook page of his infantry.

And they have pictures, actually,

all the way back to when Ricky was supposed to be in the army.

It's a long shot, but I'm just going through the pictures

just seeing if any of these men resembles Ricky.

That is him!

This is great,

because especially the people around him here,

they would have spent time with Ricky.

And it looks like, yeah, we would have some names here too.

[ominous music plays]

[chimes]

[chimes]

[chimes]

[music fades]

-Hi, Tommy. -Oh, there we go.

Here we are. [chuckles]

Hi, Brad.

-Hi. How are you? -[Cecilie] Hi. I'm good.

I'm doing an investigation into Ricky.

What were you doing in the service with Ricky?

[Tommy] I was a combat medic deployed to Al-Asad, Iraq.

[Brad] I served in the 3rd platoon.

Ricky was in the same platoon.

What was your impression of Ricky?

Very athletic, good-looking guy.

Smooth talker.

People gravitated to him.

[Cecilie] Was he a good soldier?

[Brad] Ricky had all the potential to be a great soldier.

He just squandered one opportunity, and then he squandered the second.

He was always a party guy, you know.

You said that he liked to party. What did you mean by that?

Going to clubs downtown, getting hammered in the barracks.

I don't wanna say he was a womanizer, but, uh.

He hit on anything that would give him attention.

You know, I'll put it that way.

He's been saying that he's had a military career of ten-plus years.

Um, no, that's a lie.

I'm gonna be completely blunt. That shit makes me angry.

[Brad] He ended up getting kicked out for drugs after three years or so.

Yeah.

Wow.

That is a revelation that is really interesting to hear.

-[Brad] Yeah. -Okay.

And, like, do you remember him having a military working dog?

No, I don't see why he would.

Uh, that's a lie.

That is a lie.

People that are in our infantry regiment, you wouldn't have a military working dog.

I mean, I'm trying not to laugh because that is garbage.

[curious music plays]

[Cecilie] And do you remember a guy called Clarence Williams III?

[Tommy] Yeah.

He's from my hometown.

Did you ever see Clarence and Ricky together, you know?

-[Tommy] I don't know, uh… -Okay.

Maybe, possibly, um,

but I can't say for sure if he knew Clarence that way.

Would you be able to put me in contact with anyone in Clarence's family?

Let me see what I can do.

Thank you for, you know, taking the time. Have a good day.

-You too. -Okay, bye.

-[Tommy] Bye. -Bye.

[tense music plays]

[chimes]

[chimes]

[chimes]

[line ringing]

[woman] Hello?

Hi, Abrill. My name is Brianne Joseph.

I'm investigating a guy who served in the military with your brother,

and I would love an opportunity

to speak with you about some claims that he's made.

[Abrill] Yes, ma'am. I-- I'm willing to meet.

[curious music plays]

[Bridget] A lot of our relationship revolved around Clarence.

He would talk about Clarence all the time.

Anytime it came up to be, um,

like, Memorial Day, Clarence's birthday, he would get really emotional.

It was always like, you know, "I wanna help out his family."

"I always gave Clarence's wife and kids money."

You know, he's like, "If we wanna spend time together, I need you to help me out."

"As, like, a team we need to do this, and, you know, I'll pay you back."

I looked up everything.

I would google, like, the story behind Clarence,

and I could tell he was a real person and that he had died in battle.

[Brianne] Ricky clearly has exaggerated a lot about his military experience,

but that doesn't make him a criminal.

We have to prove that he had an intention to, uh, defraud her.

-[Brianne] Hi. -Hi.

I'm Brianne Joseph. We spoke over the phone.

Oh yes. How are you?

-[Brianne] I'm good. -My name's Abrill.

This is the keepsake trunk that we received from Afghanistan.

This is the uniform that he had left behind.

And this is the day we brought him

to Tampa Air Force Base.

[melancholy music plays]

[Talisa] That's all of us standing out waiting

to welcome him back.

[Brianne] So, how long did he serve?

[Talisa] He was only in for two years.

That was his first tour to go overseas.

-To Afghanistan. -[Brianne] Okay.

Was he in contact with you guys often?

He and I talked a lot, um, sometimes two and three times a day.

He told me from day one he was getting shot at

and bombed at from day one.

[Bridget] Ricky explained to me that

they were going in and clearing a building.

And that he went right, but he should have went left.

And he made the mistake and the…

like, the terrorists came and were shooting at them

and that Clarence stepped in front of him and saved his life.

He took several bullets for him.

And then he died right in front of Ricky.

So, you know, when he lost Clarence, it was devastating for him.

[Brianne] So, if you don't mind me asking,

what were the circumstances of him passing away?

[Abrill] It was him and five other soldiers.

-[Talisa] Got killed, one that survived. -[Abrill] One survived.

In the vehicle that they were in.

And, um…

[gentle music plays]

Clarence's vehicle was the one that did get hit.

[Brianne] Mmm. I'm so sorry to hear that.

The reason that I'm here

is because I'm trying to get a little insight

on one of Clarence's really close friends, Ricky Morrisey.

He claimed that Clarence took a bullet for him.

-No, ma'am. That's not… That's incorrect. -[Abrill] No. Clarence passed by…

Passed away due to an IED, improvised explosive device.

[tense music plays]

He also claimed

that he was sending money to Clarence's family.

-No. -[Talisa] No.

If I'm not mistaken, it was to Clarence's kids?

-Clarence doesn't have any kids. -No kids at all.

Do you know Ricky?

You know, we… we've pretty much met all of Clarence's friends.

The soldiers would call me Mama Williams.

-That's the type of relationship we have. -[Brianne] Wow.

And, um, I've never heard of a Ricky.

[music fades]

Anytime, like, we had a disagreement or argument,

it was, "I swear on Clarence's life."

Ricky was always crying and he was breaking down in front of me.

It was awkward.

But it felt genuine.

It felt like he was sharing, like, a part of him.

His tattoo on his arm takes up, like, the whole bottom part of his forearm.

It was just so crazy for me to think that somebody could lie about

a tattoo on your arm of somebody's name that you don't know.

[Talisa] Clarence's name does not deserve this.

I feel if he gets away with it, he's gonna continue to do it.

[melancholy music plays]

[Brianne] I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day as well.

-[Abrill] You too. -Thanks again for everything.

[Talisa] Thank you.

[line ringing]

[sighs]

-[Cecilie] Hi, Bri. -Hey, Cecilie.

-Ricky made it all up. -[Cecilie] Hold on.

-[gasps] No, he didn't. -[Brianne] He lied.

Clarence's family has never heard of him.

It's all a scam.

It was all intentional to deceive Bridget to get her money.

I have to say, it's evil. He knows so well what he's doing too.

You know, he's dragging an innocent family into this.

[music fades]

[birds chirping]

[somber music playing]

[Cecilie] There are so many levels to Ricky's deceit.

His military career,

the army dog that never existed,

the best friend who never saved him.

But I still get surprised to see the lengths that fraudsters will go.

And for them, nothing is off limits.

[Bridget] Any time I would question something,

he'd either get angry and be like,

"How dare you ask me these types of questions?"

Or he would turn it around so that I was, like, the bad person.

One time, I had, like, a $10 random charge on my debit card.

I think I had texted him during the day, like, "Hey, did you do this?"

And he was like, "No, I didn't do it."

And then I got home from work,

and, like, on the kitchen table was a suicide note.

[suspenseful music plays]

He had, like, set up this whole thing in the basement.

And he had a gun to his head.

He made sure I knew it was loaded.

And he was crying, and he was, like, upset.

And I was just trying to, like, get that gun out of his hand.

I was terrified. I didn't know what he was gonna do.

And he finally put it down.

But he had been to war and I didn't want to traumatize him more.

I… I didn't wanna push him over the edge.

I was shocked, scared.

I did not know what to do.

I didn't know how to get away from him at that point in time.

I felt like I was stuck.

[curious music plays]

[line ringing]

-[Cecilie] Hello? -Cecilie.

-[Cecilie] Hi. -You won't believe what I have.

I have been sent some evidence from the bank's CCTV.

This is Ricky…

at their ATM machine…

stealing her money, plain as day.

[Cecilie] Wow.

I mean, we know that he lied about sending money to Clarence

and his experience in the military.

And now we have him

literally looking into the camera as he steals her money.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Brianne] We have all the evidence we need,

but the police are far more likely to act quickly

if we can show exactly where he is.

We need to find Ricky.

[line ringing]

[Cecilie] Hi, Brianne.

Bridget gave some names of bars that he used to hang out at.

[Brianne] Good. I'm gonna start with the bars.

Talk to the patrons, talk to the owner,

figure out if he's been there, have they seen him,

and more importantly, do they know where he is now?

[indistinct chatter]

Have you seen this guy here? His family's looking for him.

Do you guys recognize him?

Anybody? No?

-[man] He looks like someone I'd know. -[man 2] I don't.

-You can't put-- -[man 3] I can't honestly say I have.

[funky music plays]

[Brianne] A lot of the real investigative work

comes when you're pounding the pavement,

when you're going door-to-door getting information from people.

Do you mind if I showed you guys his photo?

I don't know who that is.

[Brianne] I'm looking for him. His family's looking for him. Yeah.

[man 4] He looks familiar, but like…

I, like, see so many people come in and out of here all the time.

[Brianne] Yeah. Yeah, I get it.

Sometimes they don't wanna talk to me,

but to be a good P.I., you have to be relentless.

Mind if I ask you a real quick question? Um, does this guy look familiar to you?

-You said-- What was his name? -[Brianne] His name is Ricky.

-Ricky? -[Brianne] Ricky Morrisey, yeah.

[ominous music plays]

Maybe? You know, show me his picture again.

[Brianne] Yeah.

[woman] My friend Tammy was talking to somebody.

His name was Ricky.

-[Brianne] Really? Is that her boyfriend? -Yeah.

They might be… I don't know if they're boyfriend-girlfriend.

-They might be dating. -[Brianne] Okay. How do I reach Tammy?

-That's her number there? Perfect. -Yes.

[music fades]

[line ringing]

[woman] Hello?

Hi, Tammy?

[Tammy] Hi.

My name is Brianne. I'm a private investigator.

I am trying to locate any information on a guy named Ricky Morrisey.

I think you might know him.

[Tammy] I met him on a dating app.

We just went on a couple of dates to be honest with you, and that was it.

[Brianne] I'm gonna level with you. He has left a woman with a lot of debt.

-[Tammy] Wow. What a scumbag. -[Brianne] Yeah.

So if you could help me with tracking him down

and point us in his direction, I would really appreciate it.

[Tammy] Yes, absolutely.

[Brianne] That's perfect. Thank you so much, Tammy.

[Tammy] You're welcome.

[cell phone chimes]

Tammy just sent me some messages that she's been having with Ricky.

She asked him where he was at,

and he said he was in South Boston working as a chef.

I have an address. Now we know where he is.

We need to call Bridget and let her know what we found.

[soft music plays]

[line ringing]

Hi, Bridget, it's Cecilie.

-[Bridget] Hi, Cecilie, how are you? -Hi, I'm good. How are you?

-[Bridget] I'm hanging in there. -Good.

I have some good news, actually. We know so much more.

We know the truth now of what he's done.

Ricky lied about Clarence,

and we have the evidence he stole from you.

[Bridget] I'm just shocked, um. Like, who'd-- who would ever do that?

It's not an easy thing to have gone through.

At least we have some more answers now.

[Bridget] It makes me angry.

It hurts to know that somebody can do that.

Um, Brianne has managed to find out where Ricky is.

We have a very good lead.

[Bridget] I want to confront him.

At this point, I need to see him face-to-face.

I wanna get some sort of closure or explanation on what happened.

I can't be afraid for the rest of my life. I can't let Ricky ruin me.

[Cecilie] Okay, if that's what you want, we can make that happen.

I want you to know that, of course, you're not alone in this.

So, Brianne said that we have to act quick

'cause we don't know if he's gonna move again.

[funky pop music plays]

[Bridget] I don't think he would expect that I would stand up to him, honestly.

I needed to heal myself

just to take back that control and that power

that he took from me for two years.

[music ends]

Brianne is gonna let us know when, um, they have a sighting of him,

and that's when we need then to get as quickly as possible out of this car.

[ominous music plays]

[Brianne] That's him in the green.

We gotta go now.

Let's go. Yes, now. Now, now, now. Go, go, go.

[Cecilie] We need to go.

Go, go.

[upbeat music plays]

[music ends]