Scammin' Shoplifters w/ Danny Pudi

Summary

Scammin' Shoplifters with Danny Pudi: A Deep Dive into Modern Retail Crimes

Podcast Information:

• Title: Scam Goddess
• Host: Laci Mosley (the Scam Goddess)
• Guest: Danny Pudi
• Episode: Scammin' Shoplifters w/ Danny Pudi
• Release Date: January 28, 2025
• Description: An award-winning comedy podcast dedicated to fraud and those who practice it, blending true crime with humor and celebrity guests.

---

1. Welcome and Setting the Stage (00:00 - 02:10)

Laci Mosley reopens the show after a brief hiatus, expressing excitement about the new "Scam Goddess" TV show premiering on Freeform and Hulu. She emphasizes the podcast's focus on scams, robberies, and fraudsters, hinting at the entertaining yet insightful discussions ahead.

Notable Quote:

“Scam Goddess, the television show is out now on Hulu. ... We're here to talk about the podcast. It's all about scams, robbery and fraud and those who practice them.” (00:00)

---

2. Acknowledging Current Events and Community Support (02:11 - 04:20)

Laci and Danny Pudi kick off the episode by addressing the recent wildfires in California and unexpected blizzards in Southern states like Louisiana and Florida. They commend first responders and encourage listeners to donate directly to local communities rather than large organizations, which Laci critiques as ineffective.

Notable Quote:

“If you want to help California, donate locally. Do not give your money to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. It's just going to go to paying people salaries.” (04:20)

---

3. Introducing Danny Pudi and His Connection to Scams (04:21 - 07:18)

Laci welcomes actor and director Danny Pudi, highlighting their shared experience working on the TV show "Going Dutch" in Ireland with notable figures like Dennis Leary. Their camaraderie sets a friendly tone for the discussion on scams.

Notable Quote:

“I'm overjoyed to welcome Danny Pudi to the show.” (04:21)

---

4. Exploring Personal Relationships with Scams (05:46 - 11:56)

Laci probes Danny about his personal experiences with scams, prompting him to share childhood anecdotes. Danny recounts a playful scam he and his brother orchestrated as altar boys to collect free tokens from church bulletins, illustrating how even innocent intentions can blur into fraudulent behavior.

Notable Quotes:

“The word scam makes me feel uncomfortable. The idea of being scammed, being involved in a scam, the idea of tricking people...” (05:46)

“We get home and my mom's like, wow, you guys are really Loving church.” (10:54)

---

5. Historic Hoodwinks: Focus on Modern Shoplifting Rings (13:40 - 27:22)

The segment titled "Historic Hoodwinks" delves into contemporary shoplifting schemes, spotlighting the infamous "Lulu Looters"—a Connecticut couple who allegedly stole $1 million worth of Lululemon apparel across multiple states. Laci details their sophisticated technique of attaching security tags to purchased items to bypass alarms.

Notable Quotes:

“Jay would show his bag to Lululemon workers and say, oops, the T shirt I paid for still has a security tag on it.” (22:03)

“In three months, J& Princess made off with about a million in Lululemon apparel.” (27:22)

Danny expresses discomfort and sadness over the meticulous planning behind such heists, comparing them to cinematic portrayals like "Ocean's Eleven."

Notable Quote:

“It just makes me really nervous thinking about all the things that could potentially go wrong in that scenario.” (23:43)

---

6. Retail Scamming Techniques and Corporate Greed (16:49 - 28:24)

Laci shares insights from a friend in retail, explaining how companies like Aeropostale manipulate sales to create the illusion of discounts. They discuss how rampant corporate greed and inflated prices contribute to the prevalence of retail scams, making stores like Lululemon and Target targets for sophisticated thefts.

Notable Quotes:

“Aeropostale is the scam of Abercrombie. They always have a sale because the price is actually the sale price.” (16:49)

“Lululemon hosting a workshop to resist capitalism while selling up to $180 yoga pants is peak 2020.” (26:23)

---

7. Personal Anecdotes: Shoplifting Memories (28:25 - 57:00)

Both host and guest share personal stories of their first encounters with shoplifting. Danny recalls stealing baseball cards as a child and the devastating moment of getting caught by his mother, highlighting the emotional toll of being involved in scams. Laci recounts her own childhood theft at a sleepaway camp, emphasizing the thrill and subsequent consequences of stealing.

Notable Quotes:

“I stole baseball cards when I was younger. It was terrifying... my mom had to pick me up.” (29:29)

“I started stealing in there like a motherfucker. Just put everything in my pockets.” (53:23)

---

8. Marlena Velez: The TikTok Shoplifter (47:47 - 50:59)

The discussion shifts to Marlena Velez, a Florida mother who was arrested for shoplifting $500 worth of items from Target. Laci criticizes the role of social media in modern scams, pointing out how Marlena’s TikTok video inadvertently led to her identification and arrest. The hosts debate the ethics of sharing crime-related content online and the societal pressures to go viral.

Notable Quotes:

“An anonymous tipster recognized Marlene Velez from her TikTok video, leading to her arrest.” (50:59)

“You don't need to go viral. I don't understand why people can't just have normal jobs.” (49:36)

---

9. Listener Letter: The "Pastor Car Salesman" Scam (62:55 - 66:44)

In response to a listener's distressing letter, Laci and Danny explore a complex scam involving a pastor who also works as a car salesman. The scammer purportedly manipulated both religious trust and business transactions to defraud victims of $190,000. The episode underscores the dangerous intersection of faith and financial deceit, urging listeners to be vigilant.

Notable Quotes:

“He continues to scam people out of their money, take cars from them after they have paid for them. He puts vehicles in other people's names and changes the VIN numbers.” (63:21)

“He was charged with grand theft and issued trespass warnings to stay away from Kmart.” (63:55)

---

10. Wrapping Up and Upcoming Shows (66:44 - 70:47)

As the episode concludes, Laci and Danny reflect on the discussed scams, reiterate their commitment to exposing fraud, and promote their respective projects. They emphasize the importance of community awareness and encourage listeners to stay informed and cautious.

Notable Quotes:

“Scam Goddess TV show on Freeform on Wednesdays, next day on Hulu on Thursdays.” (68:24)

“Congregation, stay scheming.” (70:47)

---

Key Takeaways:

• Sophisticated Shoplifting: Modern theft rings employ intricate methods to bypass security, often leading large retailers like Lululemon and Target into significant losses.

• Personal Impact: Scams deeply affect individuals, both perpetrators and victims, highlighting the emotional and societal ramifications of fraud.

• Role of Social Media: Platforms like TikTok can inadvertently aid in the identification and capture of scammers, raising ethical questions about content sharing and privacy.

• Intersecting Scams: Combining trusted roles (e.g., pastors) with business activities can create complex and harmful fraud schemes, emphasizing the need for vigilance in all areas of life.

---

Conclusion:

"Scam Goddess" expertly blends humor with serious discussions about fraud and scams, providing listeners with both entertainment and valuable insights into the world of deception. With guests like Danny Pudi, the podcast offers a unique perspective, making complex criminal activities accessible and engaging. Whether through personal stories or detailed analyses of recent scams, Laci Mosley ensures that the audience remains informed and entertained.

---

Stay Connected:

• Instagram: @scamgoddesspod
• Twitter: @ScamGoddessPod
• Email: [e-mail]

Tune In:

• New Episodes: Every Tuesday
• Classic Episodes: Re-released every Friday
• TV Show Premiere: January 15th on Freeform and Hulu

---

Subscribe to Scam Goddess on [Your Preferred Podcast Platform] to never miss an episode!

Transcript

[Lacey Mosley]

Scam, Robbery and fraud. Scam. Cause robbery and fraud. What's poppin, Congregation? It's your girl, Lacey Mosley. I'm back. Okay. Your girl had to get some rest. Y'all know I've been dropping 52 weeks a year for almost six years. Your girl needed a nap. Okay? And Scam Goddess, the television show is out now on Hulu. And it is on free form on Wednesdays at 10pm if you have free form. But you can also watch it on Hulu. And we've been trending in the top 15 on Hulu all week, every week. Top six, top 10. Like, come on, y'all. I appreciate y'all so much, but watch the show, stream it in another room and let your dog watch it as well. Let's scam. Okay, let's keep it up there. I love y'all so much, but we're not here to talk about me and my show. You know, we're here to talk about the podcast. It's all about scams, robbery and fraud and those who practice them. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. We will see along the way. And y'all already know I'm very. What? First time in 2025. I'm very. What? Yes. Excited. I know it's hard to get excited about things in 2025, but we gonna have to get excited. OK. Guest today is an actor and director who you may know from his work on hilarious TV shows like Community and Mythic Quest. And I had the pleasure of shooting a television show with him last year. The reason I was in Ireland last year, y'all know, with Dennis Leary and Taylor Mashak, was for the new TV show Going Dutch. Right. Okay. So this is my Going Dutch cousin. He is my cousin. Don't look it up. Congregation, I'm overjoyed to welcome Danny Pudi to the show. Danny, what's up? Hello.

[Danny Pudi]

Hello, cousin Lacey.

[Lacey Mosley]

How are you doing? You said that like comrade. Hello, comrade.

[Danny Pudi]

Hello, my cousin Lacey. How are you?

[Lacey Mosley]

We probably will be there in a moment, but right now, greetings, greetings, greetings.

[Danny Pudi]

So good to see and hear you.

[Lacey Mosley]

Salutations, cousin Lacey.

[Danny Pudi]

What's going down?

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, my goodness. It's so good to see you. It's so good to see you. Well, we both live in California, so you know, our is on fire.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, Crazy.

[Lacey Mosley]

Crazy. But I do want to say a huge shout out to the first responders, to the firefighters, to the people who have pulled up from all Canada from everywhere. Also to the imprisoned firefighters who have been leaving the prison to fight Fires and put their lives on the lines for us. Thank you so much. It's a huge gratitude. And, you know, California, we're the baddest bitch in the States. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna build back, and we're gonna build back better, and we're always gonna support our communities and we're gonna continue to do so, so we'll be okay. We had snow on palm trees last year, and now we got fire. Like, what? You know, what? What can't we do? And also, I do want to say a shout out to everybody who got a blizzard in the south, because Louisiana got a blizzard, Florida got a little bit of blizzard. Houston, Texas. Yeah, Houston, Texas, got a little bit of blizzard. And y'all acted a goddamn fool. Why are y'all sprinkling Zatarans on the snow? Instead of what is happening? Why are y'all skiing down Bourbon Street? Can y'all be serious for one moment? No. Okay. All the world events are happening to us, and, you know, it's our fault. So what are we gonna do?

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, it's my heart. My heart goes out to. You know, I'm here in la, so just our community here. My heart goes out to all the people who are experiencing so much loss. It's. It is crazy. And like you said, shout out to all the firefighters, first responders, Pasadena Humane Society, everybody who's stepping up and just helping out in any way they can. That's been beautiful to see everyone rallying together here for sure.

[Lacey Mosley]

And if you want to help California, donate locally. Do not give your money to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. It's just going to go to paying people salaries. I told y'all, those organizations are a scam. Like, give your money locally. Go on some Instagrams and. And find out where people are donating locally and do that, because that is helping the actual communities, especially Altadena, very big black community. Like, help where you can in specific ways. I know it's easy to just go donate to a big organization, but that coin ain't gonna come to these people. So let's try to be specific. But moving on. Danny, I have to ask you, cousin, what is your relationship with scams? Do you love them? Do you hate them? Have you ever been scammed? Have you run any scams that are past the statute of limitations? The F, the B, and the I won't be knocking on your door. Like, what's good?

[Danny Pudi]

Well, cousin, that brings up an uncomfortable feeling in my body. The word scam makes me feel, you Know me, I. It's. It does make me feel uncomfortable. Just the idea of being scammed, being involved in a scam, the idea of tricking people, manipulating.

[Lacey Mosley]

You do get uncomfortable with scams. I showed you a video.

[Danny Pudi]

I get so uncomfortable.

[Lacey Mosley]

When we were shooting the Corf Ball episode of going Dutch with that woman who was doing the fake sign language.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, that made me. So I think about that and I.

[Lacey Mosley]

Was cackling and you were like, this is horrible.

[Danny Pudi]

It's. Those are just really difficult for me to watch because I see what's happening and I know that in the moment that person is still doing the thing. And I don't know, it's just really hard for me to watch. So in terms of scams, my first relationship to scams is just being generally uncomfortable in my body. That being said. Yeah. Statute of limitations up. I thought of one which I thought was like a fun, kind of playful scam that my brother and I were involved in years ago when we were children. Church scam. We were altar boys. Not the best altar boys. And we grew up in this area and we grew up Catholic, and we went to this church. And being altar boys, you always kind of hope for the weddings or funerals and things. You don't hope for funerals, but you do hope for more weddings than funerals.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's our moment to shine. Somebody gotta get married. Wait, can I just say that at my grandfather's funeral, it wasn't Catholic, but it was such a small town in Texas. I don't even remember the name. We're next to Beaumont. It's like very small. It's a family business, the funeral home. So when we're, like walking our, like, distraught relatives up to watch, like to see my grandfather's body and stuff, you know, they do the procession.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

The person standing next to the casket was an 8 year old in a suit. He was the one who opened the casket up. And I was like, why are you here? And he was like, I'm so sorry. He was the most professional 8 year old I've ever seen.

[Danny Pudi]

Family business. What was going on there?

[Lacey Mosley]

Because it's a small town, so the funeral home is a family business. So like you're saying as an altar boy, like an altar boy, he was standing up there in his little suit and he was like, I'm so sorry for your loss. He was so professional, like, get this baby out of here.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, my goodness.

[Lacey Mosley]

So you were. You were waiting on your moment, but.

[Danny Pudi]

Also that baby is like, maybe I need to talk to that baby. About how to handle my grief, because I feel like that baby was, you know, had some, had some gravity.

[Lacey Mosley]

That was a professional, baby.

[Danny Pudi]

That was a professional. Oh, my goodness.

[Lacey Mosley]

And people are falling apart, screaming and crying, and he's like, I'm so sorry. And he's in a clean cut suit, just. He opened the casket, passing out Kleenex.

[Danny Pudi]

Whoever needs Kleenex?

[Lacey Mosley]

I was like, why is this baby here? This is so unserious. But so you were an altar boy. So the biggest moments are the funerals and the.

[Danny Pudi]

Well, in certain ways, yeah, those are the moments because you get tipped as an altar boy, you get a little bit of extra cash.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, we should have tipped the baby.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, I think you're supposed to tip the baby. But. But that was always nice. But one of the things too that we had to do is after, after church, we had to clean sometimes to clean the church, and we collect the bulletins. And there was this one specific time that I remember that we had these bulletins. They were also evidence. So there's this kind of thing with, with, with bulletins where you had to bring a bulletin home to your parents to prove that you went to mass. That's way, that's how they knew that you went to church. So.

[Lacey Mosley]

And I know your mama wanted the bulletin.

[Danny Pudi]

She wanted proof, you know, that's it. And so you bring home the, you know, the bulletin from Five Holy Martyrs and boom, you're. You're good for the day. That's. That's good. And so, but on the back of the bulletin, there was a moment in time where they have all these advertisements. Local businesses, right? And my brother and I discovered at one point that there was this place called Play Ball in Brighton Park. I don't think it's around anymore, but it was batting cages and arcade, and we loved it. And they started offering free tokens or like free gameplay, free batting cage time, like these little coupons on the back of the bulletin. So my brother and I were like, oh, this is great. So we took home our bulletins, we showed them to our mom, and then we realized, like, wait a minute, we have two of these. We cut these out. That's two. We're also involved as altar boys in cleaning up the church. Let's go back. So we go back to church, we start scooping up all the leftover bulletins. And then after every mass, we're going, we're collecting. We got like stacks of bulletins. My brother and I, we get home and my mom's like, wow, you guys are really Loving church.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah.

[Danny Pudi]

We also have this stack of free tokens to play ball, which was great. So I thought that was kind of our nice, you know, moderate scam that we were involved in. I don't know what happened, how it ended. I don't know if we're the ones who put play ball out of business. I hope not. My apologies. But I do know. I do know, like, in my mind for at least a week or two. We got to play. We got to. We got to play a lot of play ball, and we got a lot of bad engage time thanks to those. Thanks to that scam. I think it was a healthy or a good natured fun kid scam.

[Lacey Mosley]

I think that's a good scam. You were cleaning the church for free. You were working for free for the Lord. So I think that's a good scam. Like, that's not. I don't even consider that a scam. Y'all were just coming up, like, if they're advertising, they give it coupons. Y'all use the coupons. Like, I don't see a problem if it was just you two. You two brothers showing up. I'm sure at some point they were like, the Pooty brothers keep coming here with these coupons.

[Danny Pudi]

You know what? Thank you, Lisa. You've healed me now from that childhood trauma.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's one great.

[Danny Pudi]

Appreciate that.

[Lacey Mosley]

I love it. I think that's great.

[Danny Pudi]

I got that church guilt. I got that church guilt. You know what I mean? Where.

[Lacey Mosley]

Well, it's the Catholic Church. It's built in guilt. That's what you're supposed to do.

[Danny Pudi]

Those are the memories, these core memories that just, like, stick with you. And you're like, oh, yeah, we did.

[Lacey Mosley]

Do that, you know, and they pop out sometimes. I just did a podcast, and it was the big flop with Misha that I love. And it was about Tyra Banks and all these, like, flop businesses she had. And then every business that he named for some reason, I. It was like a extraction of memories that I knew all about all the businesses. Like, he thought he talked about her book, Model Land. Someone had that when I was in middle school and we read some of it. Like, I knew the. Like, we did a little question answer portion where it was like, oh, what is this superpower of this model? And I knew all the superpowers. I knew everything. And I was like, oh, no. I learned how to put on my makeup from Tyra Banks. I learned how to.

[Danny Pudi]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

Like, if I had an audition in New York and it was last minute, I Would go into a Sephora and use all the samples because I learned that on top Model. Like, I was like, oh, no. I. I was one of the children. They were like, oh, she had this flop single, shake your body. And I was like, shake your body, body. Move your body body dance. I was like, oh, no. I know all the lyrics. I know everything. Yeah. I was like, she got me and I didn't even know. So sometimes there's like childhood memories that are unlocked and you're like, what the hell? Like.

[Danny Pudi]

Yes, definitely.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's not that far in the past scams, but let's get into my favorite portion of the show, Historic hoodwinks. So this is where we will regale our audience with famous cons caper schemes. And I want to make this special for you, cousin. So we are doing a historic hoodwink. So it's going to be like three different parts. It's all about shoplifting.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh.

[Lacey Mosley]

Which I think we need to talk about right now because y'all know that orange man is not going to bring those prices down for you. He already said it's not his number one priority. He was like the border. But. But inflation. That's corporate greed. Later, later, later, later, later. Like, he's not gonna do it. So let's talk about shoplifting. Holiday shopping may be over, but one sale, that's always happening no matter the season, is the five finger discount. Do you know what the five finger discount is, Danny?

[Danny Pudi]

It's stealing. It's taking things in your hand, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yes. I feel like you're such a goody two shoes. You might not. Oh, no.

[Danny Pudi]

Like, yeah, it's theft.

[Lacey Mosley]

You have both of your shoes. You're such a goodie. Two shoes. I have one shoe and I just put it on each foot, depending on who looking at me like, but. So today we'll review some recent highlights from the world of shoplifting. So let's start with the Lulu looters. So this is a Connecticut couple. They stole $1 million in Lululemon clothing in multiple state crime sprees this past fall. Can we zoom in on them? So we're looking at two members of the alleged shop lifting ring arrested. And they look very arrested.

[Danny Pudi]

They look like they don't look happy. They do not look happy.

[Lacey Mosley]

They were not expected to be caught today. And, and, and I love that the woman one, the woman in the orange, she already. They gave her her jumpsuit. They photographed the man in the black in his clothes. They already done put the woman in her jumpsuit. Like, she going to Prison. Prison. She, like, damn.

[Danny Pudi]

So alleged. Alleged. Correct. But that's two members. Do they know how many members there were in this ring?

[Lacey Mosley]

There's more for sure. And one thing that I've learned from one of my best friends who works in retail, she's an executive now. She, like, shot up. She, like, went from working in a store to, like, being an executive. She's very smart. And when she did work in retail on. On the ground, and I have also worked on the ground. I worked at Aeropostale, which is the scam of Amber Crombie. Abercrombie.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, Abercrombie.

[Lacey Mosley]

I said Amber Crombie. That don't mean shit to me. But I remember working at Aeropostale and their pricing model is we always have a sale. So it's a scam because the price is actually the sale price, but they put the 30% off or 40% off on the price tag so that you feel like you're getting a better deal than Abercrombie. Right. But it's still like Aeropostale. And I had a manager. She put me on the register because I was at first on the floor, like, folding stuff. I'm not good at folding.

[Danny Pudi]

Folding is a talent.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's a talent. I'm not Marie Kondo.

[Danny Pudi]

Folding and wrapping Christmas presents is such a talent and a skill that I wish I would have taken, like, a speed course on that.

[Lacey Mosley]

I wish. Where's the TED Talk on folding? Because I need. I think I need one of them boards that they be selling or something. I. I was so bad at it. All my shirts would be, like, wrinkly on the side. You would think I was folding fitted sheets. But it was a shirt, and I was just bad. I was so bad. But I had. I had the Riz, though. So they were like, okay, well, she's not good at this. Let's stupid. Let's put her somewhere else. So they put me behind the register and that I thrived at. But I remember my manager there, she was, like, scrappy, and she was nice, but she was like, yeah. You know, if you see people stealing, like, one time I chased these girls out of the store because I saw they were stealing.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

And she, at the time, was the manager of Rainbow. And if you don't know what Rainbow is, it was when Temu had a brick and mortar, what rainbow is. Listen, I've shot the rainbow, so this ain't no shade. It's ratchet as hell. Like, it's okay. Like if. If Teemu had a brick and mortar. Not Even fashion Nova, that's a step up. It's. It's. It's like at the range of what. What's the next thing that. Teemu. It's like teemu. And there's another bad store that's online. Jessica, what is it? She in now? She spelled it like she in. She. She. Those are the, like, that's the range of Rainbow, but they're marking it up more than rainbow. But she was shot, like, working there, and she chased these people out of the store. And I said, baby girl, I would never chase nobody out of no dams. If I worked at Cartier, I wouldn't chase nobody out the store. But I damn sure ain't chasing nobody out of the store at Rainbow. What? They got some two dollar T shirts. I don't care. But a lot of times what I learned from my friend is that these shoplifting rings, they kind of feed into the drug cartel, allegedly. I'm not saying that here, but you're stealing goods, you sell them because they're. You didn't pay anything for them. You sell them, it makes money. I don't know how it works, but I just know that somehow drugs get involved at some. And I was like, okay, I didn't know that. That's wild. But. So these are the Lululers, JD On Richards and Aquila. Laws Richards. Okay. They married a union. So these people married with their wife. JD on is married with his wife, Aquila. They were Jamaican dance hall influencers.

[Danny Pudi]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

Look. Influencing. Yeah, influencing with his fit. Like, look at that shirt. It says dance hall.

[Danny Pudi]

I like that shirt.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's. It's colorful.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

I could see you in that shirt.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, I actually would rock that shirt. It's a nice shirt. It's a good look.

[Lacey Mosley]

You kill it.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

So J Icon, that's jdion, and paparazzi Princess Apple, that's Aquila, were each charged with one felony count of organized retail theft for stealing luxury athleisure in five different states. And they were charged for going state to state robbing them. We're gonna call them by their influencer names from this point, so you can follow along. They hit Lululemon stores in Connecticut, Colorado, New York, Utah, and Minnesota, where they were finally arrested after walking out of a store with 45 items worth nearly $5,000. Because Lululemon ain't cheap. Wow. Police searched their hotel room and found a dozen suitcases with $50,000 worth of Lululemon clothes, price tags still attached. They were caught by an investigator for Lululemon who is Identified in court documents as the initials R.P. r.I.P. the couple had a signature shoplifting technique.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, okay.

[Lacey Mosley]

Do you want to guess what their technique was, Danny?

[Danny Pudi]

So there's two of them. So one, it seems like they're pretty, I guess, the performers. Right. So they're comfortable with, like, performing. And so I'm assuming that one did some distraction while the other did the theft. Is that kind of the idea?

[Lacey Mosley]

Let's see. Jay would go to a Lulu store and buy one cheapish thing, like a $78t shirt. @ the same time, Princess and an unnamed accomplice would take a security tag off an item in the store using a special tool and attach it to the T shirt Jay had paid for. Then Princess and the friends stuffed lots more expensive things under their clothes and walked out the doors just in front of Jay, setting off the security alarm. Jay would show his bag to Lululemon workers and say, oops, the T shirt I paid for still has a security tag on it. Security would apologize, remove the tag, and turn off the alarm, leaving Princess and the accomplice to get away unnoticed.

[Danny Pudi]

Wow. Okay. So I just read this book called the Art Thief. This is. Sorry for pivoting here, but it was an incredible, like, story about these. This couple that did these big art heists together. And, yeah, the. It just makes me so nervous. It just makes me so nervous thinking about all the things that could potentially go wrong in that scenario. Right. You're relying on the timing and nobody else looking. Yeah. Just makes me really nervous. It's very. It feels very cinematic to me, watching this all play out.

[Lacey Mosley]

I don't feel like, in this economy, though, like, jobs don't care about you, so it's like they're gonna do their job so they can keep their job, but they're only gonna do that much. So they're not like Benson and Stabler. They're not gonna really look into the case. The alarm went off. He was there. He has a receipt for his shirt. And they're like, okay, case closed. Wrap it up.

[Danny Pudi]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

The couple would take the stolen items to another store to exchange them without a receipt for different items worth more than what they had stolen. Right. And the couple would pay the difference, prompting the store to issue them an actual receipt. Then they would take the new items and the newly obtained receipt to a third store to return everything for a full refund. This is a job. Like, this is employment. In three months, J& Princess made off with about a million in Lululemon apparel with this technique, according to the RP investigator. On November 13 alone, RP documented thefts at five different stores in the Minneapolis area. He was just following them. They didn't notice.

[Danny Pudi]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

After their arrest, Jay was released on a hundred thousand dollars bail. Princess was released on $30,000 bail. So women. Okay, we still got some rights. They each face up to 15 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. That's not too bad. And they scam Lululemon, a company that has a number of public scandals as well. The founder of Lululemon has a history of anti Asian rhetoric, sexist and fat phobic comments, and last year slammed the company's diversity and inclusion thing, which I know people who are influencers for Lululemon who are diverse and inclusive and Asian, so not great. In 2020, critics pointed out the hypocrisy in the billion dollar valued company encouraging consumers to take a stand against capitalism while the company itself profits off capitalism. Lululemon hosting a workshop to resist capitalism while selling up to $180 yoga pants is peak 2020, they said George Floyd, but also $120 leggings for freedom. How do you feel about that?

[Danny Pudi]

Uncomfortable, I think, you know, it's. It's. It's sad. I think all of this is. It's. It's really, really sad. It's. I feel sad for the couple who.

[Lacey Mosley]

Was they and Princess.

[Danny Pudi]

Yes. For going through whatever they. It's just felt like what they were going through to, I guess, feel desperate enough to be going through all this. And it's also like one of those things where I'm always like, I think that I. I always think that you just like, people don't really have a plan. And it's wild to me to see things that are just so thought out as well, you know, that are just like, yeah, this is just like a detailed heist. You know, it's like Ocean's Eleven that they have actual, like, plans that are so detailed that, yeah, they're. They're very good at what they did, you know, But I don't know, all the other stuff just makes me really sad and uncomfortable.

[Lacey Mosley]

It feels like a profession to me. Going to three different stores to get the grift off.

[Danny Pudi]

Y'all are working hard also cross country, going across country.

[Lacey Mosley]

I mean, yes, they were in five different states. Like, that is a job. I'm not going to five different states to scam Lululemon. That's. That's exhausting to me.

[Danny Pudi]

What I always think about with. With heists like this that keep going and get progressively bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger is. What is that end game? You know, what's the end game? Do people have an end game? And I. That. That, to me, is just an interesting thing to think about.

[Lacey Mosley]

You know, I don't know if they do have an end game. I mean, you look at retail stores today, I mean, even just look at Walgreens cvs. I went to a Walgreens the other day to pick up a prescription, and the orange juice was locked. Oh, yeah, the orange juice.

[Danny Pudi]

I know my razor blades are locked.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, we know we can't get Gillette.

[Danny Pudi]

We can't get Mach 3.

[Lacey Mosley]

Getting the best man we can get to come unlock it.

[Danny Pudi]

But orange juice, was it, like, in the fridge? So the refrigerator was locked, or was it on, like, shelf stable oranges? Oh, wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

It was in the fridge. It was a tiny Tropicana. Just. Just said eye contact solution. Everything is locked up. And it's like, if you find an employee, they mad at you to come unlock it. It's like, y'all locked everything up.

[Danny Pudi]

We.

[Lacey Mosley]

Why aren't y'all just standing by the aisle with the key? Because, you know, we gonna come like, what. What is going on? And you have insurance against theft, so this is just ridiculous.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, man. I don't know. I have empathy for. For all people. I. I stole baseball cards when I was. When I was younger. And I remember that whole experience being terrifying. And then my mom. I got caught, and my mom had to come and pick me up, and it was, like, devastating. Just devastating.

[Lacey Mosley]

Just to be, like, your end game with the baseball card.

[Danny Pudi]

There was no end game. There was no end game. There was none. It was just like, get the cards, get home. Maybe you'll make it.

[Lacey Mosley]

It was just a fun time. You're like, it's just a fun time.

[Danny Pudi]

It was really scary, though. I got caught in the grocery store and, you know. You know, but just seeing the look at my mom's face, I was like, oh, man, this is rough. This is rough. There's really. There's really not much storytelling you can do. You know, your Riz doesn't really come in handy when your mom is, like, standing next to a security guard in a store and you're like, yeah, I did it, Danny.

[Lacey Mosley]

You could have ran. You went with the guy. I'm sure he tapped you on the shoulder and was like, hey, buddy, we see what you're doing. I'd be like, I haven't left the store yet. I still could pay. Get out of my face.

[Danny Pudi]

I probably should have like, improvised my way out of there a little bit.

[Lacey Mosley]

But no, no, you're such a great improviser.

[Danny Pudi]

Not in that moment. The guilt, all of it, everything. Everything just fell apart immediately.

[Lacey Mosley]

You gave yourself up too fast immediately. You could have scammed harder. You could have been like, I haven't left the store, so how do you know I'm not gonna pay? Just cause they in my pants. Yeah, they in my Lululemon underwear. But you don't know if I'm gonna pay for them. That's where I like to keep my stuff when I shop.

[Danny Pudi]

They held them really well. That's where I put my upper deck baseball cards. Right there.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm shopping. I gotta get bananas and other stuff. My hands gotta be free.

[Danny Pudi]

Right? I'm. I'm anti pocket. What?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, they in my butt crack. What about it? That's why I keep stuff while I'm shopping. Now get out of my face.

[Danny Pudi]

Lacy, Cousin Lacy, where were you when I needed you back in. Back in the 90s and I was a delinquent, Danny.

[Lacey Mosley]

I wasn't born.

[Danny Pudi]

Thank you. Thanks so much. Lacy. Cousin Lacy.

[Lacey Mosley]

I was. I was born in the very early 90s. I was there, but I was a baby. I couldn't do nothing. I thought about you, though.

[Danny Pudi]

Think about that 8 year old that was helping people grieve.

[Lacey Mosley]

You could have helped me. You're right. I should have toddled my baby ass over there and told you what to do.

[Danny Pudi]

Should have told me. You saw my future. You should have. I mean, right away.

[Lacey Mosley]

I mean, your future is quite bright. It's been very bright. So, you know. Yeah, I love that you're slowly divulging these little scam stories throughout. Like, Diddy obviously might be a little bit of. Because he. He was like, I don't know. Let me try to reach for something. Now he's like, I got caught in the store stealing baseball cards. My mom had to pick me up. Like, where was that in the beginning? Robbery and fraud. So let's move on to our next scam story. We're talking about Marlena Velez. Tick tock. Target haul. I love Target. I had to stop shopping there. And I think everyone stopped collectively at the same time. And Target was doing so much corporate greed that they came out and basically were like, okay, y'all, we gonna lower the prices because of the economy and we want to help y'all. And it's like, no, we know that y'all were marking this up. And we stopped going over there because you couldn't buy Apple from target. It was 500. Like, I would go into Target trying to get a toothpaste. And Target does so many strategic things to scam your brain. First of all, next time you walk into a Target, Target sponsor the show. I love Target. You walk in there. Next time you walk into a Target, have a sensory experience and listen to how quiet it is in there. They don't let the employees talk. It's quiet. It's very bright. There are lots of things that are colorful that you'll see right when you walk in on the, like, kind of grab and go aisles. Like, it's almost like a Ross. You know when you go into a Ross and they have, like, the oldest candy you've ever seen. You've never seen this brand in your life. But it's in the aisle when you're going up to the Necco Wafers. Some type of, like. What's that candy that's, like, buttery, but it's got, like, nuts in it?

[Danny Pudi]

Werther's right. Butterscotch.

[Lacey Mosley]

No, no, but you're close. It's buttery and it's got nuts in it. And it's like. Is. Sometimes it's covered in chocolate and nuts and then in the inside, it's like a hard, buttery, like, thing that you eat. I. I can't think. 100 grand bar. No, 100 grand. Just not 100 grand bar is. It's hard and buttery in the inside. I know exactly what I'm talking about. I can see the wrapper, but I can't tell you what it is. Basically, it's like a praline. Okay, but like a hard praline. I don't know how to just. Y'all are gonna yell at the microphone, your headphones or your computer. Butterfinger.

[Danny Pudi]

Is it Butterfinger? Hell, yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's not Butterfinger. It's harder than that. It's crunchy, hard. It's. It's like bite into the shell of a candy apple. And it's what? Google it. It's it. Anyways, they have those types of things there, right? Like, Target has those, like, bright plates and stuffed animals and shit. You don't need just right there when you get there. And then it's quiet. You came in there for some Sensodyne toothpaste. That's all you needed. Maybe a few rolls of toilet paper. Maybe a four pack. You're single. A four pack. You got a family. You go ahead and get the 16. That's all you came for. You will leave with so much stuff. Because it's quiet. You're like, I did need a nutriblender. I did need an air fryer. I did need.

[Danny Pudi]

I could use all that. I've walked out of that store with the strangest combination of items, including a Sensodyne toothbrush, dryer, sheets, a lamp, and, like, an air filter that home goods.

[Lacey Mosley]

Section will get you. It looks so cute. I'm like this. I want to live here.

[Danny Pudi]

It's. And you think you're just gonna go. Yeah, it's the same. You think you're gonna go there for just a couple of daily goods. Daily items. And you walk out with it with a whole new aesthetic.

[Lacey Mosley]

Target has a good thing going, but they up them prices too much. And I once went grocery shopping in Target because it was just the closest thing to my house, and I was tired. If I had gone to any regular grocery store, I probably would have paid 180 bucks for what I got. I paid, like 500. Everything was marked up so high. And so now they're like, hey, girls, we're not gonna scam y'all no more. Target sponsored the show, but they were scamming. The prices were so inflated for things that you could get at a regular grocery store. What is happening? So Marlena Velez, let's get back to her. Also in November last year, a Florida mom. Florida, y'all know how to do crime the best. You get caught, which I enjoy, but you know how to do it the best. Also, Florida, like, releases all their, like, criminal information more readily than any other state. Like, you can find names, faces, what they did, where they did it. Like, Florida's like, look, we know y'all ratchet. We will air you out, but we also will let you cook, so just don't get caught. So in November, this Florida mom, Marlena, she got caught shoplifting 500 worth of items from Target. Honestly, not that much for how much Target was charging. Not that much. But she wasn't brought down by Target, Secret Service or anything. She just posted a video of the hall on TikTok and the Internet did its thing. First of all, Internet, y'all a bunch of haters. She shouldn't have posted her crimes to TikTok. I don't understand this new age where everyone needs to go viral. I don't understand why people can't just have normal jobs. I don't understand why y'all want to be in entertainment. It's a bad job. Dani and I did not choose it. It chose us.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

And we're here and we're doing the best we can. I was telling my therapist yesterday, Dani, that I look up to you so much because you go do brilliant work in this entertainment industry, and then you go home to your family and you live a normal ass life. One day you might be at, you know, whatever famous event with a bunch of other famous people, and then I remember you went to some famous fucking. I'm not gonna say too much about it, because I don't want to give it away, but, like, you went to some famous event, the sporting event. And I remember you got into the car with me, and you was just talking about the grass. And I'm like, nigga, I saw you on tmz, and you were like, you know, you will never believe how green this grass was. And it was real grass.

[Danny Pudi]

And I'm like, it was very green grass. They used LED lamps to help grow. I was fascinated. Places.

[Lacey Mosley]

And you didn't say anything about that. You were just like. But you would never believe this grass. The grass, like, what they did to it. I was like, what?

[Danny Pudi]

I. I still need to know, because we have patches in my yard, and we've. We fought. We've added some. Some rye. We've. We've. I fought this grass, and I've been trying to get this St. Augustine to do something better, you know, to be better, you know, and it's. It's just not. It's just not. And I don't know if it's because of the dog peeing on it all the time. I don't know if it's just the. The ammonia from the dog, the lack of, like. Yeah, it could be that. It could be the.

[Lacey Mosley]

You got crack.

[Danny Pudi]

The lack of shade. I don't. I don't know. No, it's just. No, just patches of just, like, dirt where just the grass stopped growing. It just stopped. It was just like.

[Lacey Mosley]

You see how passionate he got about the grass?

[Danny Pudi]

See what I mean? So this. This all tracks. But, yes, Lacy, perhaps talk to your therapist, if you can, next time about me and my grass thing. Yeah, let's find out about that.

[Lacey Mosley]

I will bring that up and be like, do you know a botanist? Like, this is like, I'm shooting in a favor. Like, we gotta. We gotta figure this out.

[Danny Pudi]

Help me out.

[Lacey Mosley]

This will help me and my piece if we figure out Danny's grass. But, like, so, you know, like, normalcy, balance.

[Danny Pudi]

I like normalcy. And I try. I fight for balance because I know freak. I mean, I used to frequently, but I don't like the feeling of being Unbalanced. I don't like that feeling in my body, and I don't like putting too much into something because I feel like it just kind of gets my anxiety going. And so I feel like balance helps me feel calmer and kind of feel like, okay. It gives me perspective. It's good.

[Lacey Mosley]

I want balance so bad. I'm so bad at it.

[Danny Pudi]

I mean, I gotta fight for it.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm trying to get better.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm fighting for it. It's good. I'm fighting for it.

[Danny Pudi]

It's fighting. It's. Yeah, it's fighting and, like, finding, like, for me, I know I have to have a routine. Otherwise, you know, that. That routine helps me find that balance.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. And in. In an industry where routine is hard because then people throw things at you, and it's like, oh, well.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

I had to figure out that routine, for me isn't regimented like everyone else. Like, I get up at this time. I do this. It's like I just have to make sure I do these three things each day. I don't know when they're gonna get done, but they're gonna get done because they have to. That's all I can do. That's my balance. Everyone. Like, people who get up early in the morning, it's a scam. They. They ruin a society. I don't know why we let them run early risers. People who can function on four hours of sleep. Nah, them. Like, find.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, I love.

[Lacey Mosley]

Find your balance. Find what works for you and your own routine. And even if that has to change day to day depending on what you're doing, like, find it. Whatever it is for you. And if you're one of those regimented people, that's fine, too. Okay. Make your coffee. Put your water in your gallon, and it's like, by 3pm I gotta drink this much. Whatever it takes, we'll do it. I'm not. I know I sounded judgy because I. I'm hating on y'all a little bit, because I wish I could do that, but I'm happy for y'all. So let's get back into Marlena's story here. The reason I was saying that this tangent was because the point of it, too many of y'all out here are trying to go viral, and you think that 15 minutes of fame is going to change your life and your bank account and your income, and in some cases, it does. In a lot of cases, you just lose your job or your license. So don't. If you're a nurse, you don't need to be dancing next to the bed. You don't. Like, just be a nurse. If you're a dentist, you don't need to be on a hoverboard. Just fix the teeth. Y'all wearing me out.

[Danny Pudi]

I. I kind of want to see my dentist on a hoverboard.

[Lacey Mosley]

You don't. You don't want to see him on a hoverboard.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, maybe. I don't. I don't.

[Lacey Mosley]

No, you don't. I. I've had scammed ass dentists. I had one who put his foot up on the table to pull my tooth out, and I was like, in Beverly Hills? Well, I didn't know what was going on, but it was. He already had the pliers in my mouth. What was I gonna do?

[Danny Pudi]

Like, sometimes with medical procedures, they are way more primitive than you think.

[Lacey Mosley]

It wasn't supposed to be like that. Because the next time I had to have a tooth pulled because I had all my wisdom teeth, I went. And it was like. One was, like, corrupt. And I went. And it was a better dentist. And I was like, oh, are you. I was like, oh, is it time for you to put your foot on the table.

[Danny Pudi]

And rip it out, Cousin Lacey. No. Cousin Lacey. No.

[Lacey Mosley]

Cousin Daddy.

[Danny Pudi]

He looked at me, so I got Cousin Lacey. I got a dentist for you, Cousin Lacey. I got you.

[Lacey Mosley]

He looked at me so horrified. He was like, what?

[Danny Pudi]

What have you been through?

[Lacey Mosley]

To you? What? And I was like, he had Balenciaga pillows. I thought he was a good dentist.

[Danny Pudi]

You should never see your dentist shoes or feet. Like, no.

[Lacey Mosley]

If you see a dentist showing feet, you got run.

[Danny Pudi]

No. Yeah, get out. Yeah, take whatever. Take the bib off and get out.

[Lacey Mosley]

Of that chair now. I talked about that on the podcast. He did. And then they told us he was dead by saying, like, y'all keep y'all cleaning appointments. That's what he would have wanted.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, my goodness. I had a great dentist once that would give me a cookie every time I was waiting your teeth up again. I know. And I was like, this is interesting. I'm like. I'm literally about, like. Because you know how you do that speed clean before you go to the dentist?

[Lacey Mosley]

Cleaner.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, like, same thing. You do that. So I floss, like, twice, you know, get the blood out, swish it around, and then I get to the dentist's office, and then he was giving me cookies, and he's like, you know, we had cookies here if you want. And I'm like, I can't. And, you know, and they Were fresh baked. So I was like, all right, I'll have a cookie. Because I was like, if he's cool with it, then it's fine. I can't. He can't blame my. My eating habits.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's not repeat customers.

[Danny Pudi]

I was like. But then I was like, yeah. Then I was like, wait, is this. I don't know if that was a good. Good idea, but, man, the cookie tasted really good. It also made it kind of alleviated any of my own sort. Are my teeth gonna be okay? Did I brush enough right before this? Because I was like, whatever.

[Lacey Mosley]

Now you said, I hate going to the dentist. I'm so sorry. Every time I go, it's. It's. I don't know if I'm a magnet for just chaos, but the last time I went to get a cleaning, the little, like, spewy brush thing that shoots the water was broken.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

And so it was. She was cleaning my. Shooting all over my face, and she was cleaning my teeth, and she was like, we gonna get it fixed tomorrow. I'm like, I'm here today. What? How is that gonna help me?

[Danny Pudi]

I never know. Like, you know how they put that thing in there?

[Lacey Mosley]

It'll suck the water out.

[Danny Pudi]

And I'm just, like, collecting water because I drink so much.

[Lacey Mosley]

You do?

[Danny Pudi]

So I'm just like. There's just, like, so much water.

[Lacey Mosley]

He drinks a lot of water.

[Danny Pudi]

I love water. I drink so much water, and I'm just, like, collecting a gallon of water there. And I'm like, do I just, like, swish it on there? But I like, how much do you put in there? I'm, like, ready to break their. Their pipes there with all that water. And sometimes, you know, they don't get in there enough. Yeah. Anyways, that's my. My own dentist thing. I just. I don't know the rules.

[Lacey Mosley]

I don't either. But the point is, y'all just do your job like God called you to do to be a plumber. They make great money, you know, Sanitation engineers make great money. If you're a hater, get out there and get in the parking enforcement and do your job. You don't have to film it. Like, I don't know what's happened to us, but you do not have to film it. So we're getting back to Marlene at Target. Target employees noticed that a woman in a tan shirt and tan pants and glasses was picking up 16 items throughout the store, then would scan fake barcodes with cheaper prices at the self checkout. I'm not mad at that.

[Danny Pudi]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

So Cape Coral police posted the security camera footage to their social media accounts to seek the public's help. And an anonymous tipster recognized Marlene Velez. That's a hater. I'm sorry. If the police are us, find this person. Don't help them. Let that person be like, why are you helping the police do their jobs? And nowadays with social Media, that's how January 6th happened. That's how everybody got in jail. It was like the FBI was like, can y'all tag them? Who is this? Like, who in this video? Like, what in that case, do help them, but they're getting out anyway. But the same day of the theft, Marleene had posted a video day in the life of his like as a mom to her 350,000 TikTok followers. The video did not explicitly show shoplifting itself, but police were able to piece together the clues by using the date the video was posted, the items purchased in the video, and her tan shirt and tan pants as glasses. She didn't change clothes. God damn it, Marlene. She was arrested and charged with petty theft. Marlene's TikTok video has been taken down, but the Cape Coral police department reposted part of it on their own. Own Facebook reel. The Internet wins again. Sleuthing schemers. I don't like this. Y'all could have left that lady alone. She honestly has influenced me not to steal from Target. I never sold from Target, but I do get tempted when I'm in self checkout because I'm like, I work here now, so I need wages. So I should be able to steal this salmon filet. I. I should be able to steal these flanks. Like, I should be able to steal something because I work here. It's not stealing. These are my wages. You're making me. I'm like, dud. I don't work here.

[Danny Pudi]

You don't like self checkout? You don't like the noise? You know, it doesn't give you that. Any of that ASMR of being able to scan.

[Lacey Mosley]

It makes me feel like a kid when you used to pretend to be at a grocery store. Yeah, it does. And I think they know that. But I don't like that because I don't work there. I'm supposed to put my shit on the conveyor belt. Somebody's supposed to ask me paper or plastic, and that's it. I'm not supposed to be working there. And if I work there, I should be able to steal. It's not stealing if I work there because it's my job now. That's that's employee. Wait, so we saw her picture. Let me get her picture up again. She's cute. She's cute.

[Danny Pudi]

The initial picture that you showed too. I'm pretty positive my grandfather had those glasses and so that's. And I loved that them like I love them. He was. They were just so. They're. Oh they're. They're great.

[Lacey Mosley]

So tell your grandfather those glasses are back. Let's see this tick tock video of her in the beige. I want to see. She got some video. Oh, this is the police that posted this. Arrested for theft. Oh, oh, some words. Whatever. Boo. Not entertaining. The police should have danced. Boring.

[C]

Sometimes they'll ask us to put out an attempt to identify because the community knows a lot more people than we do.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right.

[C]

They're your neighbors. Maybe you went to high school or something with them. And so we actually had one person reach out on Instagram and say hey, I want to remain anonymous. But here's their name and date of birth.

[Lacey Mosley]

Date of birth and date of birth.

[C]

Look up her social media and even find on TikTok. She posted a video that that day of herself going to target buying these items and then taking them home with her. Everything was documented, even the outfit that she wore. It shows like her getting ready with the outfit and even her glasses. And all of that matches in the tik tok with the attempt to identify photo that we put out. We really want to thank the community for all information.

[Lacey Mosley]

We don't want to thank the community. I hate the community. This is date of birth. This is why you have to be nice to people in high school. If you're in high school listening to this, which you shouldn't, we have an explicit rating. But be nice to people. If she was beloved and kind, nobody would have snitched. This was a hater. This was somebody she did something mean to. She snubbed him. One day they asked her to borrow a pencil. She had three pencils sitting on her desk. And she said no. And then they turned her into the police. Like you gotta, you gotta be kind.

[Danny Pudi]

I. I'm also like realizing like I don't know, most of my friends birthdays.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's what I'm saying. Like this person looked up her birthday.

[Danny Pudi]

And like that's had to be that.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, that's like peak hater. You wanted this person to get caught so bad that you looked up their birthday. You were like, here's her name. That wasn't enough for you. You were like, let me go get some information, some forensics on the bitch. Here's her birthday. This her blood type. This her zodiac sign. Like. Like what? That. That's a hater. So our last thief in this episode we're talking about Andrew Lippy. Private island owner and Kmart shoplifter. Put those together. Private island owner owns a private island, also shoplifts from Kmart. It's giving Renon a Ryder. It's giving that episode of Family Guy where Lois was stealing and smoking hella cigarettes in her car. Like, yeah, like, you were just doing this for the thrill. That's what it's giving me.

[Danny Pudi]

We are large. We contain multitudes. Right? Is that the Whitman quote? Yeah, the thrill. There's a. There's a thrill in us. Deep in us. A primal thrill. Right? Has to be activated.

[Lacey Mosley]

Sometimes we're animals, and we need to shoplift. Listen, the time that I stole my. I was on punishment for not cleaning my room, which my parents were very strict, so it was, like, a huge deal. And we had nannies and housekeepers, and they. My mom would never let them clean my room. Like, I had to do that myself. Like, I had to, and I didn't do it. And she also had found. Like, I had gotten a TV and a VCR. Yeah, VCRs. Guys, I was a kid. VCRs.

[Danny Pudi]

Blockbuster Video. Let's go.

[Lacey Mosley]

And there was a box of tapes in the laundry room, so I just took them all upstairs. And there was this one that looked like snl. Like, so I was like, oh, I'm a comedian. Like, I already knew I was a comedian. So I was like, oh, I want to watch this. I put it in. And the guy was like, hey, y'all, I'm Arsenio Balls. And then it just went down to his pelvic area and his balls and his penis.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, no.

[Lacey Mosley]

Arsenio Balls. And I was like, what?

[Danny Pudi]

No, no, cousin, I know.

[Lacey Mosley]

So I took the. I. I watched a little bit of it because I was curious. But then I took the tape out and I put it under my bed. So then my mom came in my room. It was already messy, so she's mad. And then she sees the tape under the bed, and she's like, you've been watching porn. And I was like, y'all, this. This not my fault. Like, I. I didn't go seek this out.

[Danny Pudi]

No.

[Lacey Mosley]

The next day, I had to go to camp. Like, sleep away camp. So my parents let me go to sleepaway camp because they already paid for it. But they didn't give me any spending money because they were mad at me. So I Had to go to sleepaway camp, like, with no money, and I was mad about it. And we went to this shop that had, like, ice creams and Sodi Pops, and that was all paid for. So we had ice creams and Sodi Pops, but they had all these kind of gifts and trinkets. I started stealing in there like a motherfucker. Just put everything in my pockets. I was still it so bad, and I was good at it. It felt good. It felt so good. And on the walk home, I was wearing glasses at the time. I wear contacts, but I was wearing glasses at the time. And there were all these birds that kept flying over, and I was, like, feeling like a badass. And I was with my kid friends, and I was like, you birds? And one of them pooped right on my glasses.

[Danny Pudi]

And then nature being like, don't get too confident.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yep. And then when I washed them, they broke. And I was like, what the hell? And then I got home, and I was still on punishment after the sleepaway camp. So my mom took away everything I stole. She didn't know I stole it, but she took it away. And I was like, that's karmic retribution.

[Danny Pudi]

Like, yeah, karma. That's karma.

[Lacey Mosley]

So if you get picked up in the store like you did, Danny, or if you get picked up by your mom like you did, Danny, I got picked up by my mom, too. She took everything I stole. She didn't even know I stole it. She probably did know I stole it. Cause she was like, I ain't give you no money. She knew. How did you come home?

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah. She's like, where did. Yeah, where did this collection come from?

[Lacey Mosley]

But it felt good. It was a high. It was high.

[Danny Pudi]

Do you think your mom sent that bird?

[Lacey Mosley]

She probably did send that bird. My mom's a witch. She probably did send that bird. I'm not even lying. Like.

[Danny Pudi]

Or is she into falconry?

[Lacey Mosley]

We don't know, right? We know about falconry. Like, what are the odds that a bird poops on my glasses? Like, on that day, while I'm trying to show off to my friends. And I didn't tell nobody I was a thief because you can't snitch on yourself. I don't know why y'all get on tick tock. I don't know. I didn't have tick tock at that time. And I knew not to tell nobody I stole all that stuff. Like, I just kept it in my pockets and was just cocky and cussing at the birds. I ain't tell nobody I stole all that stuff from the Sodi Pop Store. What is wrong with you all? Don't tell nobody. So we're talking about the private island owner and shoplifter a few years earlier, another Florida resident, because Florida. So this Florida resident made headlines for pocketing $300 worth of goods from a Kmart days after buying a private island for $8 million. Proving that just because you're a big spender doesn't mean you can't be a little shoplifter. Two Thrifty. He said, look, I gotta save some money. I already spent 8 million on this island. I gotta steal from Kmart. A hilarious place to steal from. Oh, my God. He looks so Florida. He got a Florida jawline. He's like, everybody at the country club gonna see this.

[Danny Pudi]

What did he steal? Do we know?

[Lacey Mosley]

So let's see what he stole. He bought Thompson island off of key west in 2019 and also owned the Real World house on Key Haven. So when they were Real World Key west, he owned that house. And it's just north of Key west where the MTV show shot, right. In 2006. And he charged them $3,000 a night to shoot there. Right. A week after buying Thompson island, which includes 8,700 square feet of a state and a helicopter landing pad, Andrew purchased an assortment of items, including LED light bulbs, a multiple. Like, multiple coffee makers from a Key West. Kmart then returned them for a full refund. But the $55 Hamilton Beach Coffee machine had been replaced with a much older model in the new box. And the box for the $150 Keurig machine was returned containing just a basketball. So he bought these things at Kmart, and then he came back and put other things in the box and then returned them and was like, I don't want this.

[Danny Pudi]

So he, like, tore his ACL and was like, all right, well, we're done with that now, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

Wow. But my thing is, like, he put a real coffee machine in one box, and then the other one he just gave up and put a basketball in it. Like, sir, be serious.

[Danny Pudi]

It's kind of like the. Yeah, that's. It's sort of like the Indiana Jones thing, right? So if you just put the same. The same weight of an item in a thing, no one will notice, he thought.

[Lacey Mosley]

And Andrew denied switching anything in the boxes, right. When arresting police officers asked Andrew about the Keurig basketball, he blamed Kmart return clerks for not noticing the Keurig box was way too light to contain a coffee machine. He was like, that's on y'all. Y'all should known that it was a basketball. I don't know why y'all arrested me and not arresting them for not doing their job at Kmart.

[Danny Pudi]

This guy. Yes. Yeah. We humans are amazing. I'm just gonna say that our ability to. To just do things that you can't predict is unlike any animal. Right.

[Lacey Mosley]

And rationalize it.

[Danny Pudi]

We're more unpredictable than anybody. We couldn't. We can convince. We can convince others. We can convince ourselves of anything. Right? It's. It's. It really is incredible. I love people, man. I love people.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, y'all should have caught me in the Kmart. I don't know why y'all arrested me. Now. This. Too late. Like, what? I. I love this for him. And also, like, why, sir? Like, you had $8 million. Now you. You don't have 300. What's going on? Andrew never admitted to the shoplifting, but called the incident a commercial dispute, saying, it's very complicated and I'd rather not get into it. Ooh, that's rich man talk. I like that. He was charged with grand theft and issued trespass warnings to stay away from Kmart. Being banned from Kmart is very embarrassing. Like Kmart. We don't know too much more about Andrew after his charges and even if he still lives on Thompson Island. But we do know that when he originally bought this private island, he was reported to say, I'm a pretty private guy. I try not to dangle out there. It seems like you're dangling, bro. It seems like you're dangling a little bit. And to wrap this up, I'm gonna give you guys a listener letter, because I know it's been a long time since you've heard me. It's a very short one, and I just want Danny's opinions on it. That's it. So snitch on your friends, family, and your enemies@scamgoddesspod Gmail.com. y'all have been sending me the letters. I'm gonna get through them. But this one was, like, short and sweet, and we're already over time, so I'm gonna do this one. But I love you guys so much. Thank you for sticking with me. Y'all know I needed a break. It's been six years of dropping constantly, so mama needed a break, but. So this is called pastor and car salesman. And as an altar boy cousin, you. You know about. About priests and. And pastoring, but car sales, anything?

[Danny Pudi]

Not really. Not so much, but. So I'm willing to learn. Let's. Let's See what we got.

[Lacey Mosley]

So Pastor car salesman. Give me a fake name for this person. Danny, we don't care about gender.

[Danny Pudi]

Pastor car salesman.

[Lacey Mosley]

They're talking about the pastor car salesman. They're not the pastor car salesman.

[Danny Pudi]

Oh, this is a fake name for the person talking about the pastor salesman.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah.

[Danny Pudi]

Okay. Anonymous. Anonymous. Anonymous generosity.

[Lacey Mosley]

Anonymous generosity. That is the most neutral name we've ever had on the show. What does that mean? I don't know. Ask Danny. Anonymous generosity says Lacy Mosley, not my full government and spelled right. What you looking at me? Says, I ran across your show and all I could think about is what my husband and I have endured for the past few years from a so called pastor car salesman and my cousin. Not the cousins being involved. We cousins. What do we.

[Danny Pudi]

What did we do? We're wrapped into this now, all right?

[Lacey Mosley]

We're in it. So this guy, his wife and his mom plays a role in this. He continues to scam people out of their money, take cars from them after they have paid for them. He puts vehicles in other people's names and changes the VIN numbers. He. He scammed us out of $190,000. This needs to stop. Please reach out to me. Please. Because this whole ordeal has been stressful. So. Anonymous. Yeah, I don't know what I can do. I will email you back, but being a pastor and then using that, that's tough.

[Danny Pudi]

That's. Yeah, I'm sorry.

[Lacey Mosley]

AG scam.

[Danny Pudi]

Yeah, that's tough.

[Lacey Mosley]

Honestly, that's a. A wicked combination. Car salesman are already like thieves who can suss you up. And then you got God on your side. You got the. You got the good book, you waving around.

[Danny Pudi]

Beyond me, scratching out VIN numbers. I. I don't know what to say, but I'm sorry. That's.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's awful. I'm so sorry. Anonymous. Danny, did you ever trust your priest? Would you let him buy a car off of you?

[Danny Pudi]

So, you know, when I was an altar boy, I was. I mean, that was a long time ago.

[Lacey Mosley]

You weren't car owning age?

[Danny Pudi]

I wasn't at a car. I was pre car. I guess it would depend. I like, my categories of like priests at the time were like, you know, Father Bill was great because he had the fastest mass. He did it in under 45 minutes. You know what I mean? So it's like.

[Lacey Mosley]

Everybody'S like, oh, Father Bill in the building. We gonna make the game. We gonna see the football game.

[Danny Pudi]

Father Bill, this is gonna be go, go, go, go. Like clip, clop. This is gonna be great. Under an Hour we're home. Just make sure you grab that bulletin. So that's how I categorize priests. Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

With the coupons.

[Danny Pudi]

So I don't know. I wouldn't say. I was thinking about whether or not I would let them, you know, sell me a car. It was more just about like, do I like this guy? And are they fast? And do they want to get us out of here with. With a message?

[Lacey Mosley]

Are they fast? Speed.

[Danny Pudi]

Speed priests.

[Lacey Mosley]

You weren't like, oh, the servants were good. You were like, are they fast?

[Danny Pudi]

For a while, I'd be like, oh, that's. That sermon snuck up on me, you know?

[Lacey Mosley]

Are they tossing the Eucharist out like Frisbees? Because we have to go like. Like, everybody pass the chalice around real quick. We have to.

[Danny Pudi]

We gotta get it going. Come on, let's go.

[Lacey Mosley]

People have stuff, you know, we got football. We gotta.

[Danny Pudi]

The Bears are playing. I know. Let's.

[Lacey Mosley]

Come on, let's go. Yeah. I like Anonymous. This is a lethal combination, and I'm sorry about this. I will email you back. I don't know what I can do, but it's a lethal combination to have people preying on your faith and your livelihood at the same time. Like, that's absolute. And. And in this week of Scam Goddess, a television show on Freeform and Hulu, we will discuss a scamming pastor. So I have very deep roots in the church as well, Danny, and we're gonna get into it. I wasn't an altar boy, but I'm Baptist, so I sang in the choir, and my grandfather was a deacon, and, you know, stayed behind to count the money and do all the. And I. I was in the church three times a week, like, as a kid. So very familiar with the church. And I don't like things like this. I, I, I. The shoplifting stuff. I'm sorry, y'all. Y'all got insurance. Kmart will be fine. Target is more than fine. Y'all will be good. Target sponsor the show. But, Danny, that brings us to the end. Thank you so much for being here, cousin. We always ask at the end, where would you like to be found? What would you like to. To plug anything like that?

[Danny Pudi]

Cousin Lacy, this has been a pleasure. I had so much fun working with you on Going Dutch. Check us out. We have new episodes coming out every Thursday, Fridays on Hulu. Look for me at Daniel Pooty on Instagram and Mythic Quest. New season comes out at the end of the month, too.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yes. Come on. Two shows.

[Danny Pudi]

I know, like, this is It. It's a wonderful, wonderful time.

[Lacey Mosley]

It is. And I'm gonna drop my two shows, too, y'all. Scam Goddess Freeform on Wednesdays, Next day on Hulu on Thursdays. It is more buttoned up than this show. I can't be as explicit, y'all. It's still a part of the division of ABC News, y'all. I would get sued. Okay, We. We trying to fight the lawsuits. Y'all haven't donated enough to my Abugado fund for me to be cussing on national television. So y'all need to understand. But that comes out Wednesdays on Freeform, next day on Hulu, and like Danny said, going Dutch. Thursdays, Fox, and next day, Friday on Hulu. We're both on that show together. And I went to Danny Pudi school of acting. It is a Ponzi scheme. I'm still paying. I need you guys to join and sell the product. The product is just Danny's vibe, which is very, very good. You can sell it. It's. It's a very easy sell door to door, like Cutco knives. So can you believe people used to go door to door with knives and be like, hey, I got a bunch of knives. Can I come in your house? And that was, like, a thing that people allowed. Anyway, my book is also still out. Y'all get that?

[Danny Pudi]

The.

[Lacey Mosley]

The signed copies are gone. I'm so sorry. If you got one, maybe see if they selling them on ebay, because I know they'd be scamming me too, but I. My hand hurts. I will not sign personally write letters in 200 books ever again. That was a scam that I did to myself. But the books are still out here. There's so much knowledge in them and so many scams and keep getting it. I appreciate all of the support and the love. You can find me at Diva L A C I, Diva Lacey. If you want to see my shenanigans, if you want to see the folks photos from this episode, Scam Goddess Pod on Instagram. If you want to talk to me. Twitter Scam Goddess Pod. As long as it's gonna be there, I'm never gonna call it X because I'm gonna call it what his mama named it. Congregation, stay scheming. Thank you so much for staying with me. And thank you so much, cousin, for being here. I really appreciate it.

[Danny Pudi]

Thank you very much, cousin, and sorry, mom, for stealing love you.

[Lacey Mosley]

Scam Goddess. This has been an earwolf production in association with Team Coco. Scam Goddess stars and is hosted by me Lacey Moseley, AKA Scam Goddess. Our producer is Scott Sonny, and our audio engineer is Rich Garcia. Research for the show is done by Kate Doyle. Stay.