PRETEND

From cult leaders to con artists and undercover FBI agents, PRETEND exposes those pretending to be someone they're not.

True Crime
Technology
Society & Culture
226
S301: The Prophet - Word of Faith Fellowship Cu...
Season 3: The Prophet - Word of Faith Fellowship Revisited I’m back with a whole new season of Pretend Radio. But this time it’s going to be a little different. Instead of telling you a different story each episode, I decided to do a serialize...
58 min
227
S213: The Hijacker, Part 2 - Martin McNally
Martin McNally needed some cash, so what did he do? He hijacked an American Airlines flight with 90 passengers on board. If you haven’t listened to part one, check that out first. Today’s episode, picks up where we last left off. It’s 1972, and...
43 min
228
S212: The Hijacker, Part 1 - Martin McNally
Martin McNally is going to hijack this plane and nobody, not even the FBI, is going to stop him.   In today’s episode, Martin McNally recounts his 1972 hijacking of an American Airlines flight heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma. His plan was...
42 min
229
S211: The Jolly Roger Social Club
You may remember Sharon McConnell-Dickerson from episode 8 titled “The Sculptor.” You know, the blind artist who casts the faces of dying blues musicians. When we first recorded that episode, she told me a story that quite frankly was hard to...
37 min
230
Pretend Radio Anniversary Bonus Episode
Guess what? Pretend Radio turns one year old this month. So I thought it would be cool to replay some old guest interviews I've done on other shows.    (01:00) Generation Why Podcast Interview - I talk about Vester Flanagan, the reporter who...
37 min
231
S210: The Babalawo - Secrets of Santeria
Today's episode "The Babalawo" is about Santeria… the faith, not the song. Unlike the pop tune, not a lot of people know about this mysterious religion. Santería, also known as Regla de Ochá, La Regla de Ifá, or Lucumí, is an Afro-Cuban religion...
45 min
232
S209: The Good Cop, Bad Cop
How does a good cop turn bad? For Ruben Palomares, a former corrupt LAPD Rampart division officer, the process was slow. He went from receiving LAPD’s highest honor to becoming one of the most corrupt cops in US history.   Officer Palomares’...
38 min
233
S208: The Stranger
A lie is only powerful if you choose to believe it. So why do we fall for it every time? In this episode, we’ll hear four different stories. Each describes a tall tale, so persistent, that it’s hard to imagine someone keeping all the lies straight...
33 min
234
S207: The Gambler Part 2 - Art Schlichter
Previously on Pretend Radio, we learned how Art Schlichter’s gambling habits destroyed Anita Barney life. She went from being the wealthy widow of a Wendy’s CEO to becoming broke and struggling to pay her light bill.   It started out with a...
20 min
235
S206: The Gambler Part 1 - Art Schlichter
This is the story of disgraced Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter. In order to understand Art Schlichter’s crimes, you first have to understand how his story ends. Anita Barney, heiress and widow of a former Wendy’s CEO, lost every single penny...
20 min
236
S205: The Reporter - Vester Flanagan
Warning, this episode may be disturbing for some listeners. It describes a shooting that resulted in the death of two people. While this story is not technically about a mass shooting, it has every characteristic of one.   I began working on this...
27 min
237
S204: The Taker
Karl comes from a long line of con men. He says both his grandfather and father were swindlers. It's only natural that Karl slipped into the family business. In today's episode, Karl talks about bribing corrupt company building managers. He says he...
25 min
238
S203: The Boy and the Girl
Candis Cox and her husband Adam live in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is their love story. How did I find them? I’m glad you asked. I told my friend Wendy I was looking for a couple profile. She said, “Hang tight. I have the perfect couple for...
19 min
239
S202: The Snake Oil Salesman Part 2 - Curing Au...
Last time on Pretend Radio, I spoke with a group of women who drink a bleach-type chemical that they claim cures everything from cancer to depression.  I soon found out that parents are forcefully giving bleach enemas to kids with autism. As a...
26 min
240
S201: The Snake Oil Salesman Part 1 - Curing ca...
I stumbled upon a group of people who self-medicate with chlorine dioxide, a bleach-like substance. They claim it cures everything from  headaches, lyme disease, malaria, HIV, hepatitis, and cancer.  When I first discovered this trend, I...
24 min
241
S111: The Bigamist
Mary Turner Thomas says she married a bigamist.…
32 min
242
S110: The Pretender Part 2 - Undercover FBI Age...
The Pretender - Marc Ruskin FBI undercover agent…
25 min
243
S109: The Pretender Part 1 - Undercover FBI Age...
Before Marc Ruskin was an undercover FBI agent, h…
18 min
244
S108: The Sculptor
Sharon McConnell-Dickerson is preserving the Miss…
22 min
245
S107: The Real Estate Agent - Part 2 - Todd Koh...
South Carolina serial killer Todd Kohlhepp confes…
22 min
246
S106: The Real Estate Agent Part 1 - Todd Kohlhepp
This week’s story is about self-professed serial …
26 min
247
S105: Birth of a Con Man Part 2 - Opioid epidemic
Previously on Pretend Radio we witnessed the birth of a con man. Erik Torres started his criminal career as a street thug and worked his way up to car insurance scam artist. Here’s how how it works. Erik stages car accidents then the driver...
18 min
248
S104: Birth of a Con Man Part 1
Imagine, you’re driving on the road when suddenly…
22 min
249
S103: The Prophet Part 3 - Word of Faith Fellow...
In the Prophet part 3, we’ll look at the Word of …
21 min
250
S102: The Prophet Part 2 - Word of Faith Fellow...
John Cooper remembers one of the Word of Faith Fe…
22 min