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Rory Scovel
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Rory Scovel
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Rory Scovel
Is this the first time I've gotten something right? And I don't mean just this show.
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Campsite media.
Lane Rose
Smart.
Rory Scovel
Less media.
Josh Dean
Rory, if you are arrested for a serious crime, let's say armed robbery. Okay, what's the best alibi you could.
Rory Scovel
Possibly come up with for armed robbery? Yeah, well, I probably couldn't say. I needed the money. Oh, wait, is the alibi is where I was?
Josh Dean
Yeah, exactly.
Rory Scovel
I guess the motive would be I needed the money, which is probably everyone's motive. Oh, I thought you said motive.
Josh Dean
I believe you've confessed. We got you.
Rory Scovel
Got him? My alibi? I don't know. I guess my alibi could be I was. I was in another country. I was in Europe, so it couldn't have been me. I have the hardest thing to prove.
Josh Dean
What were you doing in Europe?
Rory Scovel
What people do there. Cigarettes, wine, bread, cheese.
Josh Dean
Fall in love with psychics.
Rory Scovel
I fell in love. Yes. Falling in love with psychics, it's like, who cares? It's like, whatever.
Josh Dean
I mean, it's not bad, but it's not as good as the one a guy in Texas gave after he went through a trial, was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison.
Rory Scovel
It's already Texas, so it's already going to be bigger. It's already gonna be bigger and better.
Josh Dean
So that whole time, the poor guy insisted on his innocence, he was not the masked figure in the video footage prosecutors used, not the guy an eyewitness swore was the suspect. But this dude never once played his trump card that he couldn't possibly have done this very serious crime that risked sending him to prison for the rest of his life because he was already in police custody. He was in jail when it happened.
Rory Scovel
Oh. Oh, interesting. That would be the best alibi. I'm already. I'm already in jail.
Josh Dean
Feels pretty ironclad, right?
Rory Scovel
Yeah, literally and figuratively.
Josh Dean
This incredible story of the Texas man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison because he flat out forgot that he had the best possible alibi available. After the break this week on Crimeless, ironclad alibis and the people who just won't believe them. Where was the Dun, dun, dun.
Rory Scovel
Oh, sorry. You don't have to do it. Do I do it every time?
Josh Dean
No, not every time. Hello, and welcome back to Crimeless, the podcast that celebrates the amazing creativity of the world's dumbest criminals and teaches us valuable lessons about remembering where we were at all times in case that information should later become important, like when you're wrongfully accused of a crime. I'm Josh Dean.
Rory Scovel
And I am Rory Scovel.
Josh Dean
So, Rory, this is a story that follows an unusual path for a Crime narrative. It starts out sad, it's a tragedy of sorts, but has a happy ending.
Rory Scovel
Oh, okay.
Josh Dean
I just need to say all that here at the top because we are not a show that aspires to tug heartstrings or to inspire emotional campaigns to free the wrongfully convicted, but we are.
Rory Scovel
A show that aspires to give happy endings.
Josh Dean
Hey, now.
Rory Scovel
I mean, it was right there.
Josh Dean
So we are here to talk about weird crime stuff you almost couldn't make up. And this one certainly qualifies. Let me set the stage for you. Okay. Back on December 13, 2009, a young man enters a T mobile store in Houston, Texas, armed with a gun, and he robs the place. In the process, he struck a clerk. So you got armed robbery and assault. Cops pretty quickly centered their investigation on a 34 year old dude named Ledondrell Montgomery. And there was good reason to look at Ledondrell. He had a long record and was a suspect in several other armed robberies. Less than a year after his arrest in November 2010, Ladondrell is put on trial and convicted, largely because of the testimony of the shop clerk who ID'd him. The judge gives him a life sentence because of the violent nature of the robbery and because of his record. Then, while preparing his appeal, because he's been convicted, Ledondrel's attorney, Ronald Ray, discovers something amazing, something that proves his client was innocent. He literally could not have committed the crime because he was in jail.
Rory Scovel
Oh, man.
Josh Dean
He'd been arrested on a domestic violence charge on December 11, 2009, two days before the robbery, and was still in Harris county jail on December 13. The problem is he forgot. The release, was apparently so close to the date of the crime that he simply couldn't remember that he couldn't possibly have done it. And neither could his attorney nor the prosecutor, neither of whom bothered to do the simplest fucking research possible. Check the police record.
Rory Scovel
I was about to say, isn't that kind of where you start with your client? Like, where were you? If your client's like, I didn't do it, you're like, okay, well then where were you? Like, isn't that kind of the next question? Did you do it? And if the answer is no, then where were you?
Josh Dean
And if he's like, I don't know, then it's your job to go figure out where.
Rory Scovel
To figure out where. Where they were. Yeah.
Josh Dean
Which in this case, all you had to do was look at his prison criminal record. He was in jail.
Rory Scovel
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Josh Dean
Oh, my God. So Ronald Ray files for a New trial. And on December 8, 2011, Judge Mark Kent Ellis overturned his conviction and had some pretty stern words for pretty much everyone else. The judge said, it boggles the mind, frankly, that it took this long. Both sides are spectacularly incompetent. Wow. Not wrong.
Rory Scovel
I mean, yeah, he was ready to roast that day, honestly.
Josh Dean
The prosecutor, Alison Bainbridge, blamed ladondrell, saying that he testified in court in his own defense and proclaimed his innocence, but never once provided the alibi. Ronald Reyes said this. He just couldn't remember.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
Which I have to say, seems like some terrible lawyering. Like, when you sit down and set up a defense, isn't this the very first thing you look for?
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
A viable alibi.
Rory Scovel
I don't blame this guy, because if he did have an extensive rap sheet, he maybe would be like, you know, I don't know when I've been in and out of custody. You know what I mean? He might not even have thought. He might have even thought, oh, I can't even. I won't even be able to proclaim my innocence anyways. I mean, he could have an extensive rap sheet for other things he didn't even do. And he's just like, yeah, I tried to prove that I didn't do it, and it doesn't get you anywhere. Yeah, we do know the system's not great for everybody. There's a world where he was just like, ah, fuck it. Yeah, maybe I did do it. I don't even know.
Josh Dean
It feels like kind of what happened? He doesn't even care.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
I mean, thankfully, in this case, they finally realized it. But here's the asterisk. Rather than free Ledondrell, once they realized he literally could not have committed the crime they convicted him of, prosecutors refiled five other robbery charges and said that Ledondrel still could get life if any of those stuck.
Rory Scovel
Yeah. So they just were like, let's get this guy. Right? Which kind of defends his point. He's just like, you know what. What am I gonna do? You keep bringing me in here whether I did or didn't do something.
Josh Dean
And most stories about the case make one point that's sort of hard to deny. If you can't remember you were in jail because you've been in jail so much, maybe you should use this freakish circumstance where you got your life sentence tossed to turn over a new leaf. Yeah. Yes.
Rory Scovel
Yes.
Josh Dean
Well, we don't know. We'll have to check back in on a future episode to see if Ledondrel has managed to stay out of jail. I'm rooting for him.
Rory Scovel
Oh, I thought that was going to be the crazy, intense happy ending that he, like, started a foundation.
Josh Dean
Not yet, but maybe he'll be inspired by this episode of Crimeless.
Rory Scovel
Yeah, guys, don't forget, even at Crimeless, we're assuming happy endings as well. So.
Josh Dean
Yeah, you go into the wrong massage parlor and assume that, you'll get yourself in jail. Rory. All right, on the subject of incredible alibi stories, I want to tell you about a different guy with a wild tale. This one is a man from Chicago who was exposed for his incredibly effective lying after an investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune. And it's a banger, man.
Rory Scovel
Oh, nice.
Josh Dean
It's about a guy named Jeffrey Krieve who got a whole mess of moving violations, speeding, running red lights, you name it. And starting around 2013, according to ProPublica and the Tribune, he began to beat those tickets by using one very effective alibi. The Tribune story opens with three anecdotes from three different traffic court appearances at which Creeve was sworn in under oath and then stood before a judge. The first One is from January 2021. For running a red light. Well, that morning, I broke up with my girlfriend and she stole my car. Creeve told a judge in August 2021. It was a speeding ticket. Yeah, I broke up with my girlfriend earlier that morning. Had a knockdown, drag out, fight, verbally, of course. She took my car without my knowledge. And then in May 2022, another speeding ticket. I broke up with my girlfriend that day, and she took the car without my knowledge. I didn't get my car back for three days, but it was her driving the car. Crave didn't just make that claim that his girlfriend did it in every case. He also produced police reports signed by real cops. The judge each time dropped the ticket in crime. How did he pull it off?
Rory Scovel
I have. I'm dazzled by this.
Josh Dean
What do you think he had to do?
Rory Scovel
The red flag that's popping up for me already is, wouldn't the arresting or the ticketing officer be like, well, no, I know that. I gave it to him. I pulled him over. I gave him a speeding ticket.
Josh Dean
So right there, you're close to the truth, Rory.
Rory Scovel
Right there, I'm kind of like, wouldn't they be in court to go, no, that's not true. Or, unless they were bribed and these cops are bad in on it. In on it?
Josh Dean
That is correct. He was a cop himself.
Rory Scovel
Is this the first time I've gotten something right and I Don't mean just this show.
Josh Dean
I feel like you often get inside the mind of the criminal. Once we're in the.
Rory Scovel
Once we're in the ground, the throes of it. So he was a cop himself?
Josh Dean
Yes.
Rory Scovel
God, I wish I would have said that. That's the ultimate, like, put me on at any escape room. We're getting out.
Josh Dean
So the first occurrence reporters could find of this was December 2013. That's nine years before the last one, when a judge asked Kreeve why he was contesting a ticket. Here's the first one they could find on record. My ex girlfriend, well, I love this. Took my car two days prior after I broke up with her. I filed a police report that it was stolen, and they recovered it approximately a week after the fact. He said, here's the police report that was done. I did have her arrested approximately three weeks ago, and I got a court date coming up in January.
Rory Scovel
And is any of that slightly true? Like, wouldn't they look into that?
Josh Dean
I think his buddies were just, like. He was making up fake reports and people were signing off on him because it's. Isn't Chicago corrupt to the core? Lane lives there, so that tells you.
Lane Rose
All you need to know. Yeah. The police especially.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
Corrupt place.
Rory Scovel
Great restaurants.
Josh Dean
Good.
Rory Scovel
Great comedy scene.
Josh Dean
Love the lake, love the lake. Soldier Field is beautiful.
Rory Scovel
Soldier Field. Come on. Jazz.
Lane Rose
Thank you. This is very kind of you.
Rory Scovel
See a show.
Josh Dean
Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. We've got.
Rory Scovel
If there's one thing we can tell you to avoid in Chicago, it's don't get caught up with an ex girlfriend. They're gonna steal your car every time.
Josh Dean
And break a lot of laws.
Rory Scovel
Yes. In your honor.
Josh Dean
So the ProPublica investigation revealed that between 2015 and 2022, Creeve got 51 traffic tickets and paid only two of them. Not every one of those dismissals was thanks to the my girlfriend did it excuse. But reporters found that this particular excuse worked 44 times in front of 23 judges.
Lane Rose
Wow.
Josh Dean
And it's even more astounding when you hear that just 4% of tickets in Chicago are contested, and only 1 in 10 of those who opts to fight a ticket actually wins. So he was totally busting the curve. This guy's, like, winning at a rate.
Rory Scovel
That no one wants to do some insider trading. You know what I mean?
Josh Dean
He did.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
He's a Martha. Well, no, Martha's not.
Rory Scovel
He's a Martha.
Josh Dean
She's not.
Rory Scovel
She's not, though. But he was lying, and that's what Martha did.
Josh Dean
He did so, finally, in 2023, after the ProPublica Chicago Tribune story, prosecutors announced perjury and forgery charges against Creeve. He had his badge taken, and he was pushed into retirement. And investigators announced that any cases that hinged on his testimony over his 26 years on the Chicago PD could be in jeopardy. Some were immediately tossed.
Rory Scovel
Oh, it's such a classic Dark Knight situation. Also filmed in Chicago.
Josh Dean
Was it?
Rory Scovel
It was.
Lane Rose
My mother in law was in that movie.
Rory Scovel
Okay. Braggy in the background.
Josh Dean
Which scene?
Lane Rose
A big one with a lot of people.
Rory Scovel
Oh, good.
Lane Rose
Yeah. She was so good, it might have gotten cut. Who knows?
Rory Scovel
Yeah. At some point. Why couldn't this guy just obey the speed limit? I know.
Josh Dean
That's the thing he needed. He was so bad at just violating not just any rules of the road.
Rory Scovel
Yeah. Are all these minor infractions. Was there one that you would say, I couldn't remember. If you had given one, where you're like, whoa, that was pretty severe.
Josh Dean
No, it was like blowing a stop sign. That's what I mean.
Rory Scovel
Like, you couldn't just. Maybe he just. He knew he'd get forced into retirement, and that was the ultimate goal.
Josh Dean
I mean, this is, I think, pathological behavior, so I feel like it's. It must have been a game to him. Yeah, like that.
Rory Scovel
I think you're right. He enjoyed the getting out of it.
Josh Dean
Yep.
Rory Scovel
Yeah. And I think he also wanted everyone to think he had a lot of girlfriends.
Josh Dean
Crazy girlfriends are fun.
Rory Scovel
He was pretty insecure, this guy.
Josh Dean
He liked a crazy lady because they're more fun. Anyway, so he left the force. But you know what they say about leopards, Rory?
Rory Scovel
Oh, no, I don't.
Josh Dean
They. They never change their spots.
Rory Scovel
Okay. All right. Yeah. I didn't know that people ever reference leopards to such a degree, but okay.
Josh Dean
You thought I was going to bring back the wet owl. You know what they say about wet owl.
Rory Scovel
You know what they say.
Josh Dean
So, shortly after retirement, according to the Chicago Tribune now, Creve got three more speeding tickets, and he paid them all.
Rory Scovel
What? Just drive like a normal.
Josh Dean
Then he got three more tickets. He's probably out there somewhere speeding right now.
Rory Scovel
I can't believe you can't just make one adjustment. Take the. Take your foot off the pedal just slightly.
Josh Dean
Nope.
Rory Scovel
I hope these are all minor, too. I hope it's like going 60 in a 55 where you. Where you're kind of on his side about it.
Josh Dean
After the break. The one where Larry David saved a guy by taking a hooker to a Dodgers game.
Rory Scovel
Oh, yeah.
Josh Dean
Stay tuned.
Rory Scovel
Well, the holidays have come and gone once again. But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose? Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch limited time.
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Rory Scovel
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Lane Rose
This is crimeless.
Rory Scovel
Larry David what was that? I've worked with Larry David. I did a scene in the very last episode of Curb that was cut.
Josh Dean
Oh man, it Was cut out. What were you gonna do? What were you?
Rory Scovel
I was the manager of a hotel and Susie was. For some reason, I don't actually know the full story because you don't really get a script, but she was like, dressed like a prostitute, like a sex worker. And I was kicking her out of the hotel because that's what I thought was going on. And Larry's like, no, she's my friend. And I go, client. You're one of her clients. And we improvised the whole scene and then it got cut.
Josh Dean
Damn.
Rory Scovel
But I saw the scene with me in it, and it's trimmed down so much, I was like, oh, even if you left it in, it's kind of like I got cut. So either way.
Josh Dean
Well, this is a story about hookers too.
Rory Scovel
Oh, good.
Josh Dean
You know, you've been covering crime stories for too long when you have a favorite alibi story. But that's where I am. Have you heard the one about Larry David?
Rory Scovel
I have heard this, yeah.
Josh Dean
All right, good. So this one is so good that it became a Netflix documentary called Long Shot. So maybe you saw that.
Rory Scovel
I did not see that, but I have known about this, which almost feels like an urban myth, but I do know. I know it's true.
Josh Dean
It is indeed. So the nutshell, and I will trigger warning you here, Rory, because the crime that precipitated it all is a bad one. Back in 2003, a 16 year old named Martha Pueblo was shot and killed outside her LA area home just a few days after she appeared at a preliminary hearing about two other murders allegedly committed by her ex boyfriend, a local gang member named Jose Ledesma. Cops soon arrested a suspect in Martha's murder, his name is Juan Cattelon, and charged him with her murder under the theory that he was acting on Ledesma's orders. To keep Martha quiet, an LA county prosecutor charged Cattelan with first degree murder and planned to pursue the death penalty if she can convict him. Which seemed likely because this lawyer had literally never lost a murder case.
Rory Scovel
Oh, I like that even more. A little bit of. Yeah, little bit of juice to it.
Josh Dean
Stakes razor, I think they say.
Rory Scovel
Yeah, that's the phrase I was looking for.
Josh Dean
Cards are stacked against her.
Rory Scovel
Yeah, I went with juice added. But you're right, your phrase is better.
Josh Dean
I know this feels like we've probably wandered pretty far from the friendly pastors of Larry David, but hang in there. Because Juan Cattellon had an alibi. He couldn't have murdered Martha because he was at a Dodgers game with his six year Old daughter when it happened. His attorney, Todd Melnick, did find some footage that seemed to show Catelyn, but it wasn't clear enough to be definitive. Not even in combination with a ticket stub from the game, which he had. Catelyn was crestfallen. He'd been in jail for months. Then the unlikeliest white knight arrived.
Rory Scovel
Larry David, ld.
Josh Dean
You see, Rory, Larry's show, Curb youb Enthusiasm, was also shooting at Dodger Stadium that night. It was the sixth episode from season four, which aired in 2017. The episode is titled the Carpool Lane. Do you remember it?
Rory Scovel
No, I don't.
Josh Dean
All right, basically, the plot. Larry's supposed to go to a Dodgers game, but the traffic is at a standstill except for the carpool lane, which is wide open. He calls Cheryl, who suggests he take the carpool lane and. But Larry doesn't want to get a ticket.
Rory Scovel
Okay, I like this setup.
Josh Dean
Lane, you got a clip for us?
Rory Scovel
Oh, my God. You should see the traffic.
Josh Dean
The only thing moving is the carpooling. I'll never make it. I'm just going to go home.
Rory Scovel
I'm not going to use the carpooling.
Josh Dean
By myself, because I don't. I don't want to Just then, a prostitute approaches his car. Her name is Monina.
Rory Scovel
Hey, Daddy, you want a date with Mama? Get in the car.
Josh Dean
Love it. All right, so anyway, at some point in his quest to prove his innocence and literally save himself from a life in prison, Juan Catlin remembers there was something being filmed at the stadium that night. And his lawyer, Todd Melnick, calls the Dodgers and finds out it was Curb youb Enthusiasm. He contacts the producers, gets all the raw footage, and dives in, combing every second of every shot in a stadium filled with 56,000 fans, until he finds some frames of Larry walking through the stands. And there's Juan Catelyn with his daughter.
Rory Scovel
Oh, my gosh.
Josh Dean
From the snack bar. Ugh.
Rory Scovel
That's incredible.
Josh Dean
And that footage is all he needs. He's cleared of charges, and Martha's real killer is later caught and convicted.
Rory Scovel
Oh, man.
Josh Dean
Larry, bless his heart, appears in the dock and delivers as you would expect him to. I think we have that clip, too. I met him in the office a couple of weeks ago, and he's a delightful, delightful man.
Rory Scovel
And I.
Josh Dean
He'll actually do anything for me right now.
Rory Scovel
Anything I want.
Josh Dean
Let me tell you, to have somebody that obligated to you for the rest.
Rory Scovel
Of their lives gives me a good feeling.
Josh Dean
That's the whole reason to want to save somebody's life.
Rory Scovel
To have someone obligated to you. That's great.
Josh Dean
I'm not sure what the lesson of this is, Rory. What's the lesson?
Rory Scovel
The lesson is try to see as many Dodger schemes as possible, because you never have any clue when someone out there is going to accuse you of murder. And you want to be like, no, I was at Dodger. Dodger Dog night. Free Dodger dog.
Josh Dean
There's always going to be a celebrity nearby, too. Jason Bateman's always there.
Rory Scovel
You always have an alibi. You always have someone to say, hey, look, I. Jason Bateman saw him at the game.
Josh Dean
I mean, pretty incredible. Of all the people. Because it just feels like that would be a curb episode. Right?
Rory Scovel
Right.
Josh Dean
Like Larry accidentally saves a man's life by happening to run into him at a Dodger game.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
It's amazing how often I. There's some circumstance that I'm like, that was a curb your enthusiasm.
Rory Scovel
That was a curb your enthusiasm. This one specifically was art imitating life. Life imitating art. A convergence.
Josh Dean
And Larry's right. That man owes him forever.
Rory Scovel
Forever. I would love to find out what Larry made him pay up on.
Josh Dean
They're probably best pals now. Yeah, well, that's. We end on a happy ending this week. Oh, no, sorry, not that kind of happy ending.
Rory Scovel
Oh, okay, Great, great.
Josh Dean
After the break, our world famous final segment now in Dolby Technicolor. Don't know what that means.
Lane Rose
Okay, you wrote it.
Rory Scovel
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Josh Dean
Hello and welcome back to Crimeless, your one stop shop for ridiculous. Al, I just want to say for the record, Rory, that it would be an honor to provide an alibi for you should you ever need one.
Rory Scovel
And I, it would be an honor for you to provide one double honor.
Josh Dean
Like if one of these episodes inspires you to go big, just call and I will tell the cops you were at a Nickelback show. Is that a dated joke? Is Nickelback too old of a. What's today's Nickelback?
Rory Scovel
Oh, good question.
Lane Rose
Benson Boone.
Josh Dean
Benson Boone. Yes, good one. Oh, he does backflips. He does Lane. Good choice.
Lane Rose
Thank you.
Josh Dean
Rory, do you know. Are you familiar with the oeuvre of Benson Boone?
Rory Scovel
I'm not.
Lane Rose
He had a pretty big moment. He was pretty big at the beginning of the summer.
Josh Dean
I think he's Mormon.
Lane Rose
He will. Yeah.
Rory Scovel
Well, he checks all the boxes for me so far.
Josh Dean
He wears, like, silver one piece, like, jumpsuits.
Rory Scovel
I think I've seen clips of him doing a backflip.
Josh Dean
You have? Yeah.
Lane Rose
You for sure have.
Rory Scovel
Yep.
Josh Dean
His. His jumpsuits are a little tight for my liking, and they're usually, like, shiny.
Rory Scovel
Yep. Some people like them kind of what I have on underneath what I'm currently wearing.
Josh Dean
What if we start wearing silver one piece tapings?
Rory Scovel
This show can go anywhere. It can only grow from here. It has to grow.
Josh Dean
All right, Lane, what do you have for us this week?
Lane Rose
Today? So we've heard some good alibis, some of the best ones, and I want to do a roundup of some of the worst ones, the flimsiest ones, today on Lane's game. Thank you. I was waiting for that. So I'm just going to read you some setups, and you have to tell me what their excuses or alibis were for, why they didn't do it.
Rory Scovel
Okay.
Lane Rose
And they did do it as a. As a clue, so.
Rory Scovel
Oh, so they did do it.
Josh Dean
We are making up alibis or we are.
Lane Rose
You're trying to guess what bad alibi.
Rory Scovel
They gave, which ones they provided.
Lane Rose
Yeah.
Rory Scovel
Okay.
Lane Rose
All right, first one. An Indiana woman was caught embezzling $15,000 worth of benefits from the state department of education. What was her explanation? What was her excuse?
Josh Dean
How do you embezzle benefits? I'm confused already.
Rory Scovel
Do we each get one question? It's not fair if Josh is allowed a question and I don't get to ask a question.
Lane Rose
She stole money.
Rory Scovel
So she did agree that she did do it. We're answering. She said. This is why she said she did it, or she's saying, I couldn't have done it because she said she couldn't.
Lane Rose
Have done it because.
Rory Scovel
Okay. She couldn't have done it because she has religious. For religious reasons. She doesn't acknowledge money, the existence of money.
Josh Dean
My guess is because she forgot her password and couldn't log into her computer.
Lane Rose
Oh, interesting. Both those are wrong. She said it was her evil twin.
Rory Scovel
Oh, so much better.
Josh Dean
Classic. Great one.
Lane Rose
Yeah. And Josh, it's because somebody at the Department of education noticed that there was $15,000 missing from the child care development fund. So she just straight up stole it?
Josh Dean
Well, from the kids fund.
Lane Rose
Yeah.
Josh Dean
Yeah.
Rory Scovel
That's always what gets you when you steal from kids.
Lane Rose
Next up, in 2011, the police were called on Thomas Stroop, a 20 year old who had been reportedly drinking too much and Picking fights. They found him pass out in his trailer. When he woke, he slurred his alibi in a fake Russian accent. What was it?
Josh Dean
So he's being accused of getting in fights.
Lane Rose
He was just. Yeah, he was. He was picking fights, being disorderly conduct.
Josh Dean
He couldn't do it because he can't walk. He's handicapped. Disabled.
Rory Scovel
Interesting, Josh. Always taking it to places no one expected. He couldn't have done it because he doesn't speak the language of combat. Take that, Josh.
Josh Dean
That's very interesting.
Rory Scovel
Eloquent. You can use the word eloquent if you want.
Josh Dean
Okay, it was eloquent. Well done, Roark.
Lane Rose
He told cops he was a werewolf. He was scratched by a wolf on a trip to Germany and he was changing in the moon.
Josh Dean
Oh, so he did do it, but he was a werewolf.
Lane Rose
His werewolf version.
Rory Scovel
His werewolf did it.
Lane Rose
Yeah.
Josh Dean
Is that a. I need to see some legal precedent. Is that a.
Lane Rose
Is it an alibi or is it.
Josh Dean
Will that work?
Rory Scovel
My werewolf other self did it.
Lane Rose
Yeah, I guess this could. This is just like. Excuses. I don't know. What would you call. What's the legal term for saying like.
Rory Scovel
Lies. These are lies.
Lane Rose
This is a lie. What lie did they tell?
Rory Scovel
These are called alib lies.
Lane Rose
All right, another one. A 28 year old man in Sweden who's known as the llama man because of his signature move. Spitting in folks faces like a llama. During one of his outbursts at a hospital, he strangled one guard and dislocated the leg of another. What did he blame on this outburst?
Josh Dean
Holy shit.
Lane Rose
It wouldn't be an alibi. I guess this is one of his.
Rory Scovel
Excuses of why these are all aliblies.
Lane Rose
Alibi.
Josh Dean
Dislocated a leg.
Rory Scovel
Improper medication he was given. He was given the wrong pills in its broadest terms. I don't.
Josh Dean
I'm in the past. I don't. Yeah, Rory's a good one. Well, I like your answer. I was gonna. I was gonna say he was drunk or something.
Lane Rose
Close. I mean, he. It was a nutmeg induced frenzy. He said nutmeg contains a psychoactive drug. Llama man blamed for his rage. He was eventually sentenced for a multitude of charges.
Rory Scovel
Hard to not believe him, you know.
Lane Rose
It wasn't him, it was the nutmeg that did it.
Rory Scovel
Yeah, I mean, think about the holidays. That's when you're ingesting the most nutmeg and that's when you get the most furious at your family.
Josh Dean
True. That's when I dislocate the most legs.
Lane Rose
Yeah.
Rory Scovel
There you Go.
Lane Rose
Same relatable.
Rory Scovel
I believe him. I, for one, believe all these people.
Josh Dean
What a. There's so many specific weirdos out there. Like someone has spit so many times that he's been named the Llama man.
Rory Scovel
Yeah, and, like, kind of proud of it seems.
Lane Rose
Yeah. All right. Got a couple more. Railroad air. Say that 10 times fast. Harry K. Thaw shot famed architect Stanford White in 1906. He pleaded not guilty on account of what?
Josh Dean
He thought the gun was a. Was a blank, was a stage gun.
Rory Scovel
He got actually really like that. Like he just came from a production.
Josh Dean
Of Something Rust produced by Alec Baldwin.
Rory Scovel
Okay, Josh. Always taking it to places no one wanted it to go.
Josh Dean
Can we edit that part out, Lane?
Lane Rose
No, I have to keep it in legally.
Rory Scovel
I regret that we legally have to leave it in. No cuts, no edits or gamers.
Lane Rose
Yeah, we're pivoting to video, Josh. This is the future.
Rory Scovel
You're listening to Lane's Raw edition. I don't know what he did. Maybe he was possessed. He was possessed by the ghost of a murderer, and it wasn't his fault.
Lane Rose
Technically, both of those are wrong, but Rory is a little closer. His lawyer said that he had dementia Americana, which is the species of insanity which makes every American man believe the honor of his wife is sacred.
Josh Dean
Wow.
Lane Rose
That's because Stanford White was cheating with.
Rory Scovel
Harry K. Okay, we could have used that information.
Lane Rose
Yeah, now that I'm reading that, I probably should include that in there.
Rory Scovel
You also could have said Americana Dementia, my favorite punk rock group. You could have said they're going to be referenced.
Lane Rose
Yeah, sorry. But, yeah, he just loves his wife so much she killed somebody else. Yeah, it's true love. All right, last one. And I think, you guys, this could. You could get one of these. It's kind of a popular. Popular crime. Infamous Lizzie Borden. She was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892. What was her story? I'd accept many, many alibis.
Josh Dean
Wow.
Rory Scovel
Okay, I want to go. I want to reuse my possessed card because I feel like something's going to add up here.
Josh Dean
She. She had a psychotic episode, and she thought they were trees because she was also a butcher.
Lane Rose
A butcher of trees?
Josh Dean
Yeah, let's call it a lumberjack.
Rory Scovel
Well, call it what you want. I'm old fashioned.
Lane Rose
Final answer. Locking it in.
Rory Scovel
Lock in possession.
Lane Rose
Okay. I would have accepted she was looking for sinkers for a fishing trip in the barn. Not a fishing trip in the barn, but a fishing trip. The sinkers were in the barn. She wandered off and ate four pears. She had gone to look for iron to fix the window in their house. And she was actually in the house when it happened, but she just didn't hear anything. She couldn't have been there. She couldn't have murdered them because she was, like, looking for fishing.
Josh Dean
Fishing wars.
Rory Scovel
Right.
Josh Dean
Okay. Except for the one where she was there, but she didn't hear it.
Lane Rose
Yeah.
Rory Scovel
Okay, so that one was an alibi. Not an alibi.
Lane Rose
Yeah. Zero thinker of a game.
Rory Scovel
You're right. You're right about that.
Josh Dean
I was confused throughout.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Lane Rose
Mission accomplished.
Rory Scovel
We do more confusing things.
Josh Dean
Generally how I feel throughout the day. I feel generally confused.
Rory Scovel
So, yeah.
Josh Dean
All right. I think it's clear that I won the truth. Want truth lost.
Lane Rose
The truth will set you free.
Rory Scovel
Yeah.
Josh Dean
Yeah, the truth will set you free.
Rory Scovel
Although not in this case. They were acquitted and they lied.
Josh Dean
Yeah. Like. Wait, no, I was gonna say, like, we're not lawyers.
Lane Rose
That's what I'm learning.
Josh Dean
Yeah. We will be soon. You get a degree at the end of season one.
Rory Scovel
Yeah. If you listen to every episode.
Lane Rose
Thank God.
Josh Dean
All right, well, until next week, Crimeless is a production of Smartless Media, Campside Media and Big Money Players in partnership with iHeart podcasts. It's hosted by Rory Scoville and me, Josh Dean. Our senior producer is Lane Rose. Emma Stiminoff is our associate producer. We're sound, designed and engineered by Blake Brook with support from Ewan lytram. Ewan. Mark McAdam composed our theme song. The executive producers at Campside Media are Vanessa Gregoriadis, Matt Sher and me, Josh Dean. The executive producers for iHeart Podcast and Big Money Players are Jack O', Brien, Lindsey Hoffman and Matt Apodaca. For Smartlands Media, the executive producers are Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Richard Corson. Bernie Kaminski is head of production. The associate producer is Matty McCann. A special thanks to our operations team, Ashley Warren and Sabina Mara. Do you have a question, comment, or confession for the Crimless team? Email us@crimlessampsidemedia.com and if you enjoyed Crimeless, please rate and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. It helps people find the show and also makes us feel validated. Unless you're mean, in which case, keep it to yourself. We'll see you next week. Crimeless Nation.
Rory Scovel
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Josh Dean
Series stars Tessa Thompson as Anna, a journalist in Atlanta, and John Bernthal as Detective Jack Harper. When Anna catches wind of a murder in Delonica, the sleepy town where she grew up, she pounces on the case and searches for answers. Detective Jack Harper is strangely suspicious of her involvement, chasing her into the crosshairs of his own investigation. It's a show that reminds you that small towns are often filled with the most secrets and no one is who they seem. Seriously, with every twist, you're left wondering.
Rory Scovel
Can you trust anyone in this town?
Josh Dean
Can Anna and Jack trust each other? Or is one of them hiding something? The closer they get to each other, the closer they get to the truth and we cannot wait to see how it unfolds. Don't miss the suspense and the drama. Watch his and hers now only on Netflix.
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Original Air Date: January 7, 2026
Hosts: Rory Scovel & Josh Dean
Producer: Lane Rose
Podcast Description:
Comedian Rory Scovel and veteran crime podcaster Josh Dean hilariously dissect some of the wildest alibi cases in crime history—from forgotten "get out of jail free" cards, to a ticket-beating cop with a flair for the dramatic, to a real-life "Curb Your Enthusiasm" exoneration.
This episode, titled "Ironclad Alibis", focuses on cases where suspects either had the perfect alibi, forgot about it, manufactured it creatively (or criminally), or had their fate accidentally intertwined with pop culture. The hosts take listeners through remarkable stories that show just how strange, flawed, or fortuitous alibis can be in the justice system. As always, there’s plenty of humor, wit, and a final segment featuring the worst (and weirdest) alibis known to law.
"It boggles the mind, frankly, that it took this long. Both sides are spectacularly incompetent." — Judge Mark Kent Ellis [07:39]
"Isn't that kind of where you start with your client? Like, where were you? If your client's like, 'I didn't do it', you're like, 'okay, well then where were you?'" — Rory Scovel [07:02]
"He did so, finally, in 2023, after the ProPublica Chicago Tribune story, prosecutors announced perjury and forgery charges against Creeve. He had his badge taken, and he was pushed into retirement." — Josh Dean [14:11]
"If there's one thing we can tell you to avoid in Chicago, it's don't get caught up with an ex girlfriend. They're gonna steal your car every time." — Josh Dean [13:15]
"At some point in his quest to prove his innocence and literally save himself from a life in prison, Juan Catlin remembers there was something being filmed at the stadium that night. And his lawyer, Todd Melnick, calls the Dodgers and finds out it was Curb Your Enthusiasm. He contacts the producers, gets all the raw footage, and dives in, combing every second … until he finds some frames of Larry walking through the stands. And there's Juan Catalan with his daughter." — Josh Dean [22:44–23:13]
"Let me tell you, to have somebody that obligated to you for the rest of their lives gives me a good feeling." — Larry David (in doc clip, recounted by Josh) [23:44]
"The lesson is try to see as many Dodgers games as possible, because you never have any clue when someone out there is going to accuse you of murder." — Rory Scovel [24:01]
A rapid-fire quiz segment, "Lane's Game," in which Lane Rose presents the most absurd real-life alibis or “aliblies”—with Rory and Josh guessing the excuses.
"These are called alib-lies." — Rory Scovel [32:41]
"I, for one, believe all these people." — Rory Scovel [33:53]
"When you sit down and set up a defense, isn't this the very first thing you look for? A viable alibi." — Josh Dean [08:03]
"Isn't Chicago corrupt to the core? Lane lives there, so that tells you all you need to know." — Josh Dean [12:44]
"If your client's like, 'I didn't do it', you're like, 'okay, well then where were you?'" — Rory Scovel [07:02]
The episode deftly mixes sharp-witted commentary, jaw-dropping real-life crime stories, and lighthearted banter to reveal how the art of the alibi can often be as absurd or arbitrary as the crimes themselves. The tales range from tragic legal misfires to hilarious incompetence, showing that sometimes, the difference between life and prison hinges on remembering (or inventing) just the right story—and occasionally, on being filmed by a sitcom star at a ballgame.