WEBVTT 00:00.471 --> 00:06.654 [SPEAKER_07]: This series deals with troubling topics, including suicide, drug overdosing, and dependent adult abuse. 00:07.394 --> 00:17.058 [SPEAKER_07]: If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 right now and speak with a counselor for free. 00:18.498 --> 00:20.719 [SPEAKER_07]: Previously, I'm a quarterback in the con artist. 00:21.499 --> 00:27.662 [SPEAKER_02]: She apparently forced a doctor's prescription to get drugs or prescription drugs. 00:28.691 --> 00:31.913 [SPEAKER_02]: that she pled down it was felony, that she pled down to a misdemeanor. 00:32.394 --> 00:34.776 [SPEAKER_02]: She was arrested in November 2015. 00:34.816 --> 00:49.627 [SPEAKER_07]: And while Eric Kramer is recovering from that gunshot wound to the head, Courtney Beard, the woman who moves into Eric's house, posing as a due gooder to take care of him, his not only are recently convicted criminal, 00:51.503 --> 01:01.330 [SPEAKER_07]: but according to a veteran fraud detective, now investigating the air creamer case, Courtney Beard is unequivocally robbing him blind. 01:02.210 --> 01:07.594 [SPEAKER_03]: The evidence suggests that his finances would have been compromised. 01:08.515 --> 01:11.256 [SPEAKER_02]: That's when I noticed all of these ATM transactions. 01:11.337 --> 01:13.318 [SPEAKER_02]: Like we're talking every day, sometimes, 01:14.790 --> 01:16.251 [SPEAKER_02]: $400 or $500 a day. 01:16.371 --> 01:17.071 [SPEAKER_07]: She knew his pen. 01:17.491 --> 01:18.592 [SPEAKER_02]: Everything she knew. 01:18.612 --> 01:19.212 [SPEAKER_02]: Wow. 01:19.633 --> 01:27.137 [SPEAKER_07]: And apparently Courtney Scott's some big time future purchases planned too, that she discusses with her young daughter. 01:28.457 --> 01:34.681 [SPEAKER_02]: Moreover, for a visit, and then for daughter goes, yeah, Eric's gonna buy my mom. 01:35.241 --> 01:37.442 [SPEAKER_02]: Me and my mom, my house with the pool on it. 01:39.223 --> 01:40.444 [SPEAKER_07]: Oh my god. 01:41.456 --> 01:49.161 [SPEAKER_07]: But as soon as authorities start closing in on Courtney Beard, she quickly marries Eric in a top secret ceremony. 01:50.481 --> 01:54.544 [SPEAKER_07]: What do you think she was thinking that this marriage would do for her? 01:56.465 --> 01:59.927 [SPEAKER_08]: It would give her immunity from any type of criminal prosecution. 02:01.268 --> 02:02.328 [SPEAKER_08]: Because they're married. 02:03.149 --> 02:03.949 [SPEAKER_08]: What's his and hers? 02:03.969 --> 02:04.490 [SPEAKER_08]: What's hers is? 02:08.473 --> 02:12.223 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm Jonathan Walton, and this is the quarterback and the con artist. 02:13.748 --> 02:17.017 [SPEAKER_07]: Episode 7, a little chess game. 02:28.284 --> 02:32.227 [SPEAKER_04]: The chill in the air and the arrival of Santa Claus made it pretty official. 02:32.287 --> 02:33.848 [SPEAKER_04]: The holiday season has begun. 02:33.908 --> 02:38.352 [SPEAKER_04]: Thousands showed up to experience the celebrity-studded holiday Christmas parade in Hollywood. 02:39.252 --> 02:42.115 [SPEAKER_07]: It's December 2016 in Los Angeles. 02:42.715 --> 02:47.599 [SPEAKER_07]: The holidays are well underway, and as families are getting together to celebrate, 02:49.324 --> 02:58.433 [SPEAKER_07]: The Christmas gathering at Eric Kramer's house on December 24th, 2016 is about to send shock waves throughout his entire family. 02:59.094 --> 03:07.222 [SPEAKER_07]: When Eric invites his son Dylan over on Christmas Eve, Dylan doesn't want to go alone, so he gets his godfather on the phone. 03:08.638 --> 03:12.401 [SPEAKER_07]: It was close to Christmas, and Dylan had called me. 03:13.161 --> 03:17.484 [SPEAKER_07]: Robert Espinoza, who Dylan and everyone else calls Espo. 03:18.284 --> 03:21.446 [SPEAKER_08]: He didn't really care for Courtney, which nobody did. 03:22.307 --> 03:28.871 [SPEAKER_08]: But he said, hey Espo, my dad invited me to his house for Christmas, but I know Courtney's ain't either. 03:31.082 --> 03:35.446 [SPEAKER_08]: And I said, sure, I mean, I had people at my house, so my wife wasn't very happy with me. 03:35.606 --> 03:38.789 [SPEAKER_08]: We had guests over, and I said, I gotta go, I'll be back on a couple hours. 03:40.010 --> 03:45.915 [SPEAKER_08]: So I left, and I met Dylan there, we walked in the house, and we sat down on the couch. 03:48.377 --> 03:57.785 [SPEAKER_07]: Between Sips of Eggnog, the sounds of the season pervade the air, and as a crackling fireplace, punctulates the pauses in conversation, 03:59.753 --> 04:03.534 [SPEAKER_07]: Espo and Dylan make a troubling discovery. 04:04.234 --> 04:13.837 [SPEAKER_05]: Me and Espo get in there and we sit down and we know what's like there's a ring on his finger, her finger. 04:14.877 --> 04:16.518 [SPEAKER_07]: Dylan is stunned. 04:17.198 --> 04:23.280 [SPEAKER_07]: So he quickly whips his phone out and texts on a Durgan about what he sees. 04:25.222 --> 04:29.940 [SPEAKER_02]: Don't text me, I see a ring on a finger, I go ask him what that ring is for. 04:31.309 --> 04:36.553 [SPEAKER_07]: So Dylan looks his dad square in the eye and asks, is that a ring on your fingers? 04:37.214 --> 04:40.917 [SPEAKER_07]: And Eric answers and Courtney chimes in too. 04:41.577 --> 04:44.139 [SPEAKER_05]: Pretty much all they said was like, yep, that's what people do when they loop. 04:45.460 --> 04:57.310 [SPEAKER_05]: That's pretty much what the explanation we got back from your dad said that, or Courtney said that, or yeah, my dad said it, and then Courtney said it, and my dad was just repeating what Courtney said, and my dad obviously wasn't at with it. 05:01.270 --> 05:02.090 [SPEAKER_08]: Again, you got Mary. 05:02.130 --> 05:05.292 [SPEAKER_08]: Why would you tell me her espo, Robert Espinoza? 05:06.212 --> 05:09.073 [SPEAKER_08]: Get your best friend and your son and you're gonna get married and not tell us. 05:09.113 --> 05:11.655 [SPEAKER_08]: He goes, you know, according to just wanted to do it right away. 05:11.695 --> 05:13.575 [SPEAKER_08]: So we just did it, you know, last weekend. 05:16.597 --> 05:20.098 [SPEAKER_08]: So, Dylan was obviously very just silent for back that. 05:20.638 --> 05:22.439 [SPEAKER_08]: And I went off on her, really. 05:22.939 --> 05:25.220 [SPEAKER_08]: When I said, you guys got married. 05:25.380 --> 05:27.101 [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, yeah, well, you know, I'd love him. 05:27.181 --> 05:29.722 [SPEAKER_08]: And I was like, um, I don't know. 05:31.860 --> 05:37.645 [SPEAKER_08]: So my idea is that you've been taking money from them, and now you've ran out of ways to take money from him. 05:38.606 --> 05:41.488 [SPEAKER_08]: So you're gonna try to marry him, so you can take everything else. 05:42.189 --> 05:48.153 [SPEAKER_08]: I wasn't ever do that, and she was crying, but I knew that's what she was doing. 05:48.294 --> 05:50.395 [SPEAKER_08]: She'd already withdrew everything that she could. 05:50.435 --> 05:52.617 [SPEAKER_08]: Now she wanted to marry him, so she could take everything else. 05:53.058 --> 05:54.719 [SPEAKER_08]: You said that out loud to her face. 05:54.979 --> 05:55.860 [SPEAKER_07]: Yes, yep. 05:58.158 --> 06:02.039 [SPEAKER_07]: That heated confrontation pretty much puts an end to the evening. 06:02.559 --> 06:04.440 [SPEAKER_07]: An Espoan Dillon storm out. 06:06.040 --> 06:23.724 [SPEAKER_07]: It's the crescendo of months of suspicions and concerns, culminating in a bona fide fraud investigation by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office, and as soon as Courtney realizes the walls are closing in on her, that's when under a shroud of secrecy. 06:24.224 --> 06:26.665 [SPEAKER_07]: Two days before Christmas Eve, 06:29.727 --> 06:33.469 [SPEAKER_07]: She drives Eric to the Santa Barbara Courthouse. 06:34.510 --> 06:36.791 [SPEAKER_01]: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today. 06:37.291 --> 06:46.996 [SPEAKER_07]: And Mary's him, in a civil ceremony, that not a single solitary friend or family member of Eric's was invited to attend. 06:47.676 --> 06:51.798 [SPEAKER_01]: Eric Cramer, do you take Courtney Beard as you're a lovely, weighted wife? 06:52.899 --> 06:56.961 [SPEAKER_02]: So just think about this two days after this blissful marriage for us to be? 06:58.942 --> 07:00.423 [SPEAKER_02]: what you say to your son? 07:00.743 --> 07:04.024 [SPEAKER_02]: First off, he would invited your son, but what you say, and by the way, I got married. 07:04.604 --> 07:11.267 [SPEAKER_02]: No, he was just sitting on the couch, so it was so easy for Courtney to steal from him, because Eric would be sitting on the couch. 07:11.727 --> 07:13.527 [SPEAKER_02]: He wouldn't get up to do anything. 07:14.428 --> 07:19.910 [SPEAKER_07]: The actual memory of being married to Courtney is really hazy for Eric now. 07:20.690 --> 07:25.812 [SPEAKER_07]: For him, it's like looking back at his life through a blurry and distorted lens. 07:27.110 --> 07:29.571 [SPEAKER_07]: What do you remember about that wedding day? 07:30.952 --> 07:32.793 [SPEAKER_06]: Not a whole bunch, actually. 07:34.514 --> 07:40.196 [SPEAKER_06]: I remember it took place in Santa Barbara, and I think we went up the gate before. 07:42.698 --> 07:50.682 [SPEAKER_06]: The day of, I remember standing outside of the courthouse on a step. 07:55.285 --> 07:57.567 [SPEAKER_06]: That's about it, that's about what I remember. 07:58.188 --> 08:05.376 [SPEAKER_06]: I can't tell you what I wore, I can't tell you what Courtney wore, I can't tell you what we did beforehand or even afterward. 08:06.617 --> 08:07.978 [SPEAKER_07]: Do you remember saying I do? 08:09.220 --> 08:09.360 [SPEAKER_06]: No. 08:13.330 --> 08:23.677 [SPEAKER_07]: I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like to be looking back at what should be a momentous event in your life and not really remember it at all. 08:24.417 --> 08:29.160 [SPEAKER_07]: At one point Eric told me it almost felt like it was happening to someone else. 08:30.000 --> 08:37.565 [SPEAKER_06]: At that time when Courtney was living in my house, married or not married, she was just a person that was there. 08:39.987 --> 08:40.327 [SPEAKER_06]: That was it. 08:41.288 --> 08:41.928 [SPEAKER_07]: Did you love her? 08:43.026 --> 08:48.271 [SPEAKER_06]: No, no, she just literally, like, she was as much there as this cup is. 08:49.452 --> 08:51.133 [SPEAKER_06]: That's as much attention as I gave it. 08:51.714 --> 08:54.837 [SPEAKER_07]: But before that clandestine wedding event takes place, 08:56.712 --> 09:19.928 [SPEAKER_07]: Anna Durgen is keeping tabs on all of Eric's bank accounts and sending the evidence she's finding of Courtney's theft to that Los Angeles Sheriff's Fraud Detective, Dave Linkshite, who's investigating the case, and based on what she's finding on Eric's bank and credit card statements, Anna is actually the first person in Eric's life to figure out something 09:26.461 --> 09:31.884 [SPEAKER_02]: I saw a charge for $204 to the SB recorder. 09:34.265 --> 09:47.633 [SPEAKER_02]: So I remember seeing SB recorder about a week and a half earlier, and I went back and researched that charge, Googled the phone number that came up on the credit card statement, and then I 09:49.076 --> 09:49.457 [SPEAKER_02]: Bingo. 09:49.657 --> 09:51.559 [SPEAKER_02]: It showed it was a Santa Barbara courthouse. 09:52.100 --> 09:55.545 [SPEAKER_02]: So those two charges, one was $23, which was done on December 13th, 2016. 09:56.226 --> 09:58.188 [SPEAKER_02]: That was for the marriage ceremony reservation. 10:04.128 --> 10:15.796 [SPEAKER_02]: And then on the day of the fraudulent wedding, December 22nd, I see a charge for $204, which was the marriage license and the marriage ceremony. 10:16.176 --> 10:20.939 [SPEAKER_02]: The day before the wedding, there was a charge at a jewelry store. 10:22.056 --> 10:24.418 [SPEAKER_02]: for $2,289. 10:25.319 --> 10:34.747 [SPEAKER_07]: Which was for two wedding rings, one for Eric and one for Courtney, those same wedding rings that Dylan and Esposite with their own eyes on Christmas Eve. 10:35.727 --> 10:41.172 [SPEAKER_08]: We walked in the house and we sat down on the couch and we can see a ring on Eric's finger. 10:46.256 --> 10:49.119 [SPEAKER_07]: And keep in mind, that night on December 24th, 2016, 10:52.115 --> 11:03.002 [SPEAKER_07]: Courtney is actually breathing a sigh of relief because she's been dealing with the stress and turmoil of a criminal investigation into her theft for months. 11:03.683 --> 11:08.866 [SPEAKER_07]: And for the first time, she feels like she finally might be getting away with everything. 11:09.306 --> 11:09.987 [SPEAKER_07]: Scott Free 11:11.503 --> 11:23.055 [SPEAKER_07]: After all, she's now Eric's wife, so Perk getting charged with stealing from him by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office is suddenly very unlikely. 11:24.116 --> 11:35.067 [SPEAKER_03]: They were basically going to quit the case on hold and see how the other part of this was going to play up, like the marriage and things like that. 11:36.367 --> 11:54.818 [SPEAKER_07]: Detective Dave Link's site is investigating Courtney for a couple months at this point and criminal charges seem imminent, but these surprise nobshuals throw a big bucket of cold water on the case, and the deputy district attorney assigned seems somewhat reluctant to charge Courtney with a crime. 11:55.578 --> 12:03.523 [SPEAKER_07]: I guess in that DA's mind, charging a wife with stealing from her husband is a stretch from a legal standpoint. 12:04.203 --> 12:08.509 [SPEAKER_07]: The marriage had an impact on how they viewed that, it seems like. 12:08.709 --> 12:16.800 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, yeah, then also the fact of the United Kingdom consideration, too, even though she was stealing as money, 12:17.869 --> 12:20.850 [SPEAKER_03]: She was also acting as a caretaker. 12:21.270 --> 12:35.115 [SPEAKER_03]: That was an issue of, is she reimburseing herself for her services in that capacity, or is this a straight, you know, theft? 12:35.935 --> 12:41.317 [SPEAKER_03]: These kinds of cases are very unique. 12:41.357 --> 12:46.379 [SPEAKER_03]: And anytime a deputy DA or prosecutor's review 12:48.399 --> 12:52.460 [SPEAKER_03]: They're immediately thinking of, well, what are the defenses to this? 12:53.380 --> 12:57.521 [SPEAKER_03]: What's defense counsel going to bring out that we're going to be able to counteract? 12:58.241 --> 13:00.241 [SPEAKER_03]: If this goes to trial, they want to win. 13:00.441 --> 13:01.002 [SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely. 13:01.422 --> 13:06.583 [SPEAKER_03]: What's a jury going to think of what the defense says, the reason is behind this money, phaging hats. 13:06.783 --> 13:08.183 [SPEAKER_03]: Sure. 13:08.203 --> 13:14.384 [SPEAKER_03]: And that's a big consideration in their decision-making process, 13:19.010 --> 13:24.475 [SPEAKER_03]: beyond a reasonable doubt that she violated these criminal codes. 13:24.495 --> 13:34.205 [SPEAKER_03]: And when you take in the consideration, the fact of, you know, she's living in the house, she's providing some kind of care, you know, those are issues. 13:35.393 --> 13:38.496 [SPEAKER_07]: Sadly, that's just how the criminal justice system works. 13:39.337 --> 13:49.769 [SPEAKER_07]: Every district attorney's office only wants to charge criminals based on a prosecutor's confidence and certainty that they can get a conviction at trial. 13:50.979 --> 13:56.282 [SPEAKER_07]: that they can convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has taken place. 13:57.122 --> 14:03.925 [SPEAKER_07]: But detective Linkshite has no doubt a crime has taken place, surprise, wedding, or not. 14:04.726 --> 14:11.089 [SPEAKER_03]: The whole issue with the marriage really didn't play into my case as far as a criminal investigation. 14:11.769 --> 14:14.971 [SPEAKER_03]: You're dealing with an individual has diminished capacity. 14:16.051 --> 14:17.892 [SPEAKER_03]: So anything that person does 14:20.911 --> 14:28.496 [SPEAKER_03]: It didn't surprise me based on his condition that he fell for this. 14:29.136 --> 14:40.103 [SPEAKER_03]: When I say fell for this, I mean, getting married because of his lack of ability basically to protect himself. 14:40.644 --> 14:45.047 [SPEAKER_03]: He couldn't take her room, so if he wasn't, couldn't make good sound decisions. 14:45.587 --> 14:47.348 [SPEAKER_03]: She was essentially stealing from it 14:51.223 --> 14:55.446 [SPEAKER_03]: give authorization or permission from the actions that she was doing. 14:56.547 --> 15:09.336 [SPEAKER_07]: When Detective Linkshite starts his investigation into Courtney Paird, in October of 2016, it was going to be a dependent adult, finishedry abuse case, and very soon after digging in. 15:09.716 --> 15:14.959 [SPEAKER_07]: Detective Linkshite meets with Eric to get a handle on exactly what he's dealing with. 15:19.542 --> 15:25.628 [SPEAKER_03]: was he looked perfectly normal and sounded perfectly normal in talking to him. 15:26.128 --> 15:29.271 [SPEAKER_03]: There was no problems with the speech range like that. 15:30.633 --> 15:42.564 [SPEAKER_03]: The only thing that I became very apparent early on in the interview is that she displayed no emotions about anything. 15:43.845 --> 16:10.330 [SPEAKER_03]: Normally when I conduct an interview like that, and I start showing a victim of how they've been victimized and things like that in the loss of money, do you get some kind of a response, whether it be anger or frustration or sadness or depression or, I mean there is a whole gamut of emotions that victims go through. 16:11.677 --> 16:14.278 [SPEAKER_03]: and with Eric, there was none of that. 16:14.538 --> 16:21.659 [SPEAKER_03]: And you were pointing out to him, hey, you're missing all this money, and he was to had no reaction. 16:22.440 --> 16:23.100 [SPEAKER_08]: That's correct. 16:23.400 --> 16:36.123 [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, first him in, it's my interview was like, oh boy, you know, this guy, I mean, I basically felt that I could have put a check and far away and he would have signed it, if I told him to do it. 16:37.393 --> 16:43.538 [SPEAKER_03]: So it became very apparent to me very quickly in this investigation that he was easily manipulated. 16:44.339 --> 16:58.730 [SPEAKER_07]: And just so you know, most con artists are brash and balzy, headstrong and manipulative and oh, so confident and Courtney Beard is no different as she's about to demonstrate. 17:00.051 --> 17:03.754 [SPEAKER_02]: So October 21st is when Linkshy went and interviewed Eric. 17:05.885 --> 17:11.766 [SPEAKER_02]: that was a Friday night, and then Eric had of told Courtney at that time. 17:12.046 --> 17:13.186 [SPEAKER_07]: A detective came to talk to me. 17:13.386 --> 17:13.606 [SPEAKER_07]: Right. 17:13.706 --> 17:14.967 [SPEAKER_07]: She must have been freaking out. 17:15.547 --> 17:32.730 [SPEAKER_02]: And Eric called the detective at Courtney's urging, and told the detective that it was Courtney, that Courtney admitted to taking the money from Eric's, and then that she was going to be paying him back, and just not to pursue any charges against her. 17:33.800 --> 17:41.923 [SPEAKER_07]: because normally for any criminal case to proceed, the victim, in this case it would be Eric, has to want to file charges. 17:42.263 --> 17:45.164 [SPEAKER_07]: If a victim doesn't want to file charges, there is no case and they let it go. 17:45.804 --> 17:55.528 [SPEAKER_07]: And the most glaring example of this process is something we all witnessed when Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars back in 2022. 17:59.965 --> 18:12.695 [SPEAKER_07]: Even though millions of people see this assault happen on live television, Will Smith is never charged with a crime, because Chris Rock doesn't want to press charges. 18:13.455 --> 18:17.459 [SPEAKER_07]: Police need a willing victim to pursue a criminal case. 18:18.099 --> 18:23.123 [SPEAKER_07]: So, when Eric calls Detective Linkshite that day, Can you stop investigating? 18:23.820 --> 18:26.623 [SPEAKER_07]: and tells him Courtney did nothing wrong. 18:27.223 --> 18:31.328 [SPEAKER_07]: She was just borrowing money and she's gonna pay it back in full. 18:32.168 --> 18:34.110 [SPEAKER_07]: Normally, that would be the end of it. 18:34.571 --> 18:41.077 [SPEAKER_07]: The criminal case against Courtney Beard would get dropped, but in this particular case. 18:41.758 --> 18:43.760 [SPEAKER_07]: Not gonna have any effect online investigation. 18:47.329 --> 18:56.172 [SPEAKER_07]: I mean, this saint detective linkshights first rascal round up, and these types of shenanigans are just par for the con artist course. 18:57.472 --> 19:07.895 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure she cried on a shoulder and did her best song and dance and convinced him here again, manipulating him to make that fungal. 19:09.595 --> 19:12.596 [SPEAKER_03]: Which is consistent with my read on the whole case. 19:12.896 --> 19:15.277 [SPEAKER_03]: He's cognitively impaired. 19:16.167 --> 19:18.669 [SPEAKER_03]: So it's not unusual at something like that would happen. 19:19.130 --> 19:33.162 [SPEAKER_03]: Essentially, the just of the call was, is that he had spoken to Courtney, she admitted to doing everything, and that he just he understood and wanted the criminal investigations to stop. 19:33.762 --> 19:36.264 [SPEAKER_03]: And immediately, you hear that, and you're thinking, what? 19:36.885 --> 19:39.067 [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I'm still gonna move forward with the investigation. 19:40.042 --> 19:42.143 [SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't surprise me that this call happened. 19:42.623 --> 19:44.585 [SPEAKER_03]: He's she's obviously manipulating him. 19:45.485 --> 19:47.706 [SPEAKER_03]: It's evidence that she's manipulating him. 19:48.507 --> 19:51.468 [SPEAKER_03]: And this is more information that Stranclin's my case. 19:52.009 --> 20:03.475 [SPEAKER_03]: There was strong evidence to suggest that he, in fact, had been victimized that money had been stolen, and that Courtney was responsible for doing. 20:12.245 --> 20:14.006 [SPEAKER_02]: So, Link's shit calls it right after. 20:14.806 --> 20:15.326 [SPEAKER_07]: On a Durkin. 20:16.167 --> 20:19.508 [SPEAKER_07]: Because Link's shit told me it was obvious to him that he's been told. 20:19.528 --> 20:20.689 [SPEAKER_02]: It's obvious to anybody. 20:20.889 --> 20:22.069 [SPEAKER_02]: It's obvious to anybody. 20:22.369 --> 20:23.030 [SPEAKER_02]: That's what I'm saying. 20:23.050 --> 20:24.130 [SPEAKER_07]: So he never took it seriously. 20:24.390 --> 20:26.171 [SPEAKER_07]: But at that point, Courtney thinks, oh, it's over. 20:26.331 --> 20:28.412 [SPEAKER_07]: I got Eric to cancel the investigation. 20:29.172 --> 20:29.613 [SPEAKER_07]: I'm free. 20:29.973 --> 20:36.376 [SPEAKER_07]: But Courtney is unaware that Detective Link's shit is still full steam ahead with his investigation. 20:36.976 --> 20:40.157 [SPEAKER_07]: A fact that is about to become as obvious to her 20:44.332 --> 20:53.020 [SPEAKER_07]: when she walks out to Eric's mailbox one morning a few weeks later and steals an official looking letter addressed to Eric. 20:57.846 --> 21:11.359 [SPEAKER_02]: Wells Fargo sends a letter to Eric's house to which she, you know, circumstances and gets it and opens it and says, the Wells Fargo letter says, we are still, we've received a search warrant from Los Angeles County detectives. 21:11.600 --> 21:16.585 [SPEAKER_02]: This is the name the detective, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah that there we have to turn over all the records. 21:17.427 --> 21:20.508 [SPEAKER_07]: that letter hits Courtney like a ton of bricks. 21:21.248 --> 21:23.149 [SPEAKER_07]: She's now a cutely aware. 21:23.349 --> 21:28.611 [SPEAKER_07]: She's being investigated for theft and fraud and a host of other felonies. 21:29.431 --> 21:37.994 [SPEAKER_07]: Any normal person at that point would stop stealing and start calling lawyers, but Courtney just continues her theft. 21:38.814 --> 21:39.714 [SPEAKER_07]: And when Detective Lynch 21:45.320 --> 22:02.685 [SPEAKER_07]: I had reached out to her to schedule a meeting and give her a date and time and shockingly she walks right into the sheriff's office without a lawyer and sits down and sings like a canary. 22:03.865 --> 22:08.987 [SPEAKER_03]: I was kind of surprised she showed up, but it's not unusual for people like her or people 22:14.144 --> 22:26.533 [SPEAKER_03]: She showed up, so in that, that was a liking interview, as with most of my energy of this, because I have a tendency to go over everything. 22:28.334 --> 22:40.742 [SPEAKER_03]: And we did, you know, onto every transaction to, you know, every transfer to talking about how she met her and the time that they were dating 22:42.255 --> 23:05.927 [SPEAKER_03]: her description and what Eric was like and the end of their relationship and what caused that and then rekindling their relationship after what she had reached out to him and it was you know basically their whole history of their interaction which was 23:11.883 --> 23:21.971 [SPEAKER_03]: of what going back again before the incident and then after the incident and the contrast between the two. 23:23.573 --> 23:28.657 [SPEAKER_03]: So she was very aware of the fact that how easily he was manipulated and admitted to that. 23:29.077 --> 23:35.102 [SPEAKER_03]: She dug herself a deep role and ultimately she wanted to be admitting everything that we were a legend. 23:35.963 --> 23:37.784 [SPEAKER_03]: And why do you think she did that? 23:37.924 --> 23:39.446 [SPEAKER_03]: That seems crazy today. 23:40.331 --> 23:45.213 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, she was obviously her financially, she was not good. 23:46.294 --> 23:47.074 [SPEAKER_03]: The sale leaves. 23:47.454 --> 23:49.935 [SPEAKER_03]: I think she had just lost her jaw in the fiery memory, right? 23:50.295 --> 23:53.857 [SPEAKER_03]: You know, obviously she was in financial distress. 23:55.417 --> 23:56.358 [SPEAKER_03]: The money was there. 23:56.878 --> 23:57.998 [SPEAKER_03]: You know, she's with her. 23:58.118 --> 23:59.619 [SPEAKER_03]: She's living in the house with her. 24:00.259 --> 24:05.902 [SPEAKER_03]: She knows, you know, passwords and pass codes and things like that for accounts. 24:06.720 --> 24:10.503 [SPEAKER_03]: She has access to credit cards and debit cards. 24:11.304 --> 24:12.524 [SPEAKER_03]: So she took advantage of it. 24:13.145 --> 24:17.408 [SPEAKER_03]: All knowing, here again, his diminished capacity. 24:18.149 --> 24:21.311 [SPEAKER_03]: And what were your parting words to her at the end of that interview? 24:21.831 --> 24:22.852 [SPEAKER_03]: How did you leave things? 24:23.293 --> 24:30.158 [SPEAKER_03]: I will prepare all my words and evidence in all of this information will be submitted to L.A. County deez office. 24:30.918 --> 24:34.241 [SPEAKER_03]: And then ultimately it's going to be up to the L.A. County deez office. 24:35.236 --> 24:40.559 [SPEAKER_03]: to decide whether they're going to either file a criminal complaint or reject the case. 24:45.401 --> 24:48.763 [SPEAKER_02]: Detective Lingshite told her move out on a Durkin. 24:49.563 --> 24:53.645 [SPEAKER_02]: Let the family worry about, you know, the caregiving services and go back to your job. 24:54.305 --> 24:57.387 [SPEAKER_07]: But as Courtney is walking out of the sheriff's office that day, 25:00.022 --> 25:05.246 [SPEAKER_07]: Detective Linkshite has no idea that checkmate moves she's got up or sleeve. 25:07.988 --> 25:11.030 [SPEAKER_07]: That top secret wedding the very next month. 25:12.010 --> 25:12.711 [SPEAKER_07]: It was insane. 25:13.151 --> 25:22.978 [SPEAKER_07]: But weeks before that secret wedding, on a Durgan, along with Eric Sister Kelly, managed to build a powerful coalition of Eric's friends and family. 25:24.555 --> 25:26.876 [SPEAKER_02]: This was on November 7th, 2016. 25:27.056 --> 25:32.337 [SPEAKER_02]: We met up at the Los Hill Sheriff's Department, Kelly and I both gathered everybody, Eric's closest friends. 25:33.037 --> 25:36.719 [SPEAKER_02]: Because I didn't want them to think it was just coming from me or Kelly. 25:36.959 --> 25:39.759 [SPEAKER_07]: I actually hope that the data against Courtney, right? 25:39.879 --> 25:44.541 [SPEAKER_02]: I wanted them to hear it from Linkshite. 25:45.181 --> 25:46.561 [SPEAKER_02]: There's about 15, 20 of us. 25:47.382 --> 25:49.302 [SPEAKER_02]: And he just laid it out to everybody. 25:49.482 --> 25:51.383 [SPEAKER_02]: And everybody was so pissed. 25:52.341 --> 26:09.347 [SPEAKER_02]: he was telling her she's she that's how I knew that she was on probation and that she was stealing for all these months and he's up until that point they all think she's an angel helping arrogant from what I read she would have these dinners at his house and invite everyone even Martian and Dylan came over. 26:09.905 --> 26:11.406 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric's ex-wife and son. 26:12.046 --> 26:19.309 [SPEAKER_07]: And she pretends like, oh, I'm taking good care of Eric and see I just want, you know, so she's painting this picture like she's a caretaker and she loves him. 26:20.029 --> 26:22.350 [SPEAKER_07]: And now they find out from Linkshide, no, no, no. 26:22.991 --> 26:24.871 [SPEAKER_07]: She's stealing from her property. 26:25.632 --> 26:26.292 [SPEAKER_07]: And get this. 26:26.792 --> 26:32.535 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric's ex-wife Martian is actually friends with Courtney, like they hang out and do stuff. 26:33.235 --> 26:39.220 [SPEAKER_07]: But when Marshawn finds out that Courtney is stealing from Eric, she's livid. 26:39.721 --> 26:42.623 [SPEAKER_07]: She wants to end the friendship immediately. 26:43.204 --> 26:46.387 [SPEAKER_07]: She wants to go off on Courtney and give her a piece of her mind. 26:47.067 --> 26:48.949 [SPEAKER_07]: She wants Courtney arrested. 26:50.530 --> 26:57.697 [SPEAKER_07]: But Anna has a heart to heart with Marshawn and implores her to play along as if everything's fine. 26:58.356 --> 27:04.742 [SPEAKER_02]: I go, Marshawn, whatever you do, try to get remains friends with her. 27:04.822 --> 27:12.209 [SPEAKER_02]: I know it's going to be hard, but try to get her to put things in writing, right? 27:13.830 --> 27:15.512 [SPEAKER_02]: And get it on text message and stuff. 27:15.572 --> 27:17.694 [SPEAKER_02]: And I got to say, Marshawn was great in doing that. 27:17.874 --> 27:19.796 [SPEAKER_07]: So Marshawn became like a double agent? 27:20.076 --> 27:20.877 [SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely. 27:23.125 --> 27:30.247 [SPEAKER_07]: And from that point on, Eric's ex-wife Martian starts sharing with Anna, every text exchange she has with Courtney. 27:30.867 --> 27:35.689 [SPEAKER_07]: And Anna then shares all those exchanges with Detective Linkshite. 27:36.429 --> 27:51.133 [SPEAKER_07]: And some of those texts are really, really incriminating, proving Courtney knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew Eric was not in his right mind and could easily be manipulated. 27:52.126 --> 28:04.450 [SPEAKER_07]: On November 8th, 2016, Marshan texts Courtney asking how she's doing, and Courtney confesses her frustration with Eric not being able to comprehend things. 28:04.790 --> 28:12.232 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not in a good place with him right now, he doesn't know it, and even if I told him it wouldn't make a difference, he is so one-dimensional. 28:12.912 --> 28:18.094 [SPEAKER_07]: Then Marshan asks what she means by that, and Courtney responds, 28:19.080 --> 28:26.427 [SPEAKER_00]: just hit one of those platos where everything is frustrating to me and I don't have an able being in him to actually hear me. 28:27.188 --> 28:28.669 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like arguing with myself. 28:30.031 --> 28:36.117 [SPEAKER_07]: Then on November 16th, 2016, the day Courtney Rips opened that letter from Eric Spank, 28:37.733 --> 28:45.079 [SPEAKER_07]: Alerting him that they've been subpoena to turn over records to the Sheriff's Office, Courtney texts Martian in a panic. 28:45.960 --> 28:47.622 [SPEAKER_00]: I really need someone to talk to. 28:48.322 --> 28:50.424 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm freaking out and Eric just doesn't get it. 28:50.784 --> 28:52.146 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to jail. 28:53.207 --> 28:56.730 [SPEAKER_07]: When Martian asks what Courtney means by that, she responds, 28:58.108 --> 29:02.974 [SPEAKER_00]: for fraudulently using his card and for writing the check without his knowledge. 29:03.674 --> 29:08.540 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though Eric has called them again and told them that what I did without his knowledge was okay with him. 29:09.521 --> 29:13.246 [SPEAKER_00]: They are continuing with their investigation, so I'm fucked, Martian. 29:13.786 --> 29:16.930 [SPEAKER_00]: I gave up my job to care for him, how am I supposed to survive? 29:19.029 --> 29:33.494 [SPEAKER_02]: Marsha was great, she got a lot of things and text messages that very clearly admitted, Courtney admitting that they're going to arrest her, and then she said, in the same text message, please bail me out. 29:33.574 --> 29:38.976 [SPEAKER_02]: I promise I'll pay you back every penny and pick up my daughter when they arrest me. 29:39.728 --> 30:01.062 [SPEAKER_07]: The other interesting thing that happens is after Anna and Martian start comparing stories they were told by Courtney, they realized she's been playing them both against each other for the past six months exhibiting another major red flag that all con artists like to wave isolation. 30:01.603 --> 30:02.643 [SPEAKER_02]: It's a little chess game. 30:02.663 --> 30:05.065 [SPEAKER_02]: So we're all little pieces on a chess board. 30:05.505 --> 30:09.288 [SPEAKER_02]: So she's telling us negative things about Martian, 30:10.562 --> 30:15.187 [SPEAKER_02]: At the same time, she's telling Martian negative things about me and Kelly. 30:15.888 --> 30:16.669 [SPEAKER_07]: Eric's sister. 30:17.599 --> 30:28.662 [SPEAKER_02]: So, does it want us to, are Sean and Anna and more Sean and Kelly to talk at all, because she's telling different stories to different people. 30:28.682 --> 30:30.622 [SPEAKER_02]: The stories to make us not like each other. 30:30.742 --> 30:33.463 [SPEAKER_07]: And I'm glad you brought that up, because that is, you know, and this is in my book. 30:33.703 --> 30:34.883 [SPEAKER_07]: I write a whole chapter on this. 30:35.023 --> 30:36.464 [SPEAKER_07]: It's the red flag of isolation. 30:36.584 --> 30:36.744 [SPEAKER_07]: Yep. 30:37.044 --> 30:38.324 [SPEAKER_07]: My con artist did it to me. 30:38.684 --> 30:39.424 [SPEAKER_07]: This is what they do. 30:39.464 --> 30:44.125 [SPEAKER_07]: They turn you against someone and they're scamming that person in that person or they're telling two different stories. 30:44.425 --> 30:46.386 [SPEAKER_07]: And you're never gonna compare notes or you're never gonna know. 30:47.166 --> 31:05.406 [SPEAKER_07]: At this point, Detective Linkshide recommends and everyone in Eric's life is in agreement that regardless of the criminal investigation into Courtney Beard, what Eric needs now more than anything is a legal conservatorship to protect him and to get Courtney evicted from his home. 31:06.027 --> 31:12.070 [SPEAKER_07]: But what no one sees coming, and to be completely honest, it shocked the living hell out of me too. 31:12.571 --> 31:25.618 [SPEAKER_07]: Is that the lawyer appointed by the court to protect Eric from further financial death from Courtney seems to end up getting taken in by her too, and appears to be siding with her. 31:26.239 --> 31:32.002 [SPEAKER_07]: Yeah, this lawyer appears to be making the case that Anna and Eric's entire family. 31:32.302 --> 31:35.724 [SPEAKER_07]: are the ones trying to take advantage of him, not Courtney. 31:36.184 --> 31:43.407 [SPEAKER_07]: And remember, Eric is still very highly suggestible doing exactly what anyone around him tells him to do. 31:44.448 --> 31:47.389 [SPEAKER_02]: Eric actually went to an attorney to sue me. 31:47.689 --> 31:48.470 [SPEAKER_02]: To sue you. 31:48.490 --> 31:49.690 [SPEAKER_02]: To sue me. 31:49.891 --> 31:50.411 [SPEAKER_02]: For what? 31:51.731 --> 31:52.872 [SPEAKER_02]: Accessing is a case. 31:52.972 --> 31:54.893 [SPEAKER_07]: Oh, so making you look like the criminal. 32:00.624 --> 32:10.233 [SPEAKER_07]: If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 right now and speak with a counselor for free. 32:16.987 --> 32:23.032 [SPEAKER_07]: If you're enjoying the quarterback in the con artist, click that share button right now and text it to your friends and family. 32:23.573 --> 32:25.955 [SPEAKER_07]: And if you can, leave us a five-star review. 32:26.655 --> 32:33.061 [SPEAKER_07]: The quarterback in the con artist is produced, written and hosted by me, Jonathan Walton, for Jonathan Walton Media. 32:34.021 --> 32:37.084 [SPEAKER_07]: Executive producers, Eric Kramer and Anna Durgen. 32:38.225 --> 32:40.487 [SPEAKER_07]: Audio Engineering by Justin Longerbeam. 32:41.508 --> 32:44.010 [SPEAKER_07]: Editing and Sound Design by Hansdale Sheet. 32:45.323 --> 32:48.867 [SPEAKER_07]: Legal Council provided by Ken Sterling from Sterling Media Law. 32:49.708 --> 32:56.215 [SPEAKER_07]: We've got a lot of incredible stories in the works that Jonathan Walt Media so make sure you subscribe and keep an ear out.