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- [00:00]
Tiffany Reese
Wondery subscribers can listen to Something Was Wrong early and ad free right now. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Audible's best of 2024 picks are here. Discover the year's top audiobooks and originals in all your favorite genres, from memories and sci fi to mysteries and thrillers. Audible's curated list in every category is the best way to hear 2024's best in audio. Enter Like a stunning new full cast production of George Orwell's 1984 heartfelt memoirs like Supreme Court Justice Conti Brown Jackson's lovely one, or the year's best fiction like the Woman by Kristin Hannah Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Go to audible.comsww and discover all the years best waiting for you. Hill House Home invented the viral nap dress, which has the most flattering and comfortable fit with their signature smocking and my personal favorite part. Mine came with pockets. Celebs like Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Anne Hathaway and Mindy Kaling have been spotted in Hill House Home. One of my favorite things about Hill House dresses is how easy and versatile they are. You can wear the same dress you'd wear running errands during the day to a dinner party that night. Their commitment to comfort and style applies to all categories. They also also sell amazing bedding, robes and pajamas. The brand also has baby and kids if you want to have a matching moment this holiday season or you're in need of a baby gift, they have the cutest little tiny robes, onesies and PJs that you can even monogram. Get 15% off your order of 100 or more at hillhousehome.com with code SWW15. Again, that's code SWW15 for 15% off your order at hillhousehome.com this podcast is intended for mature audiences and discusses topics that may be upsetting. For a full content warning, sources and resources, please visit the episode Notes. Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of myself, Broken Cycle Media, or Wondery. The podcast and any linked materials should not be misconstrued as a substitution for legal or medical advice. Megan Stoner's responses to these allegations are addressed within this season. I'm Tiffany Reese and this is Something was wrong.
- [02:43]
Tom
You.
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Alyssa
They can know me. You don't know me well.
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Tom
At all.
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Alyssa
At all, at all, at all.
- [03:03]
Tiffany Reese
You.
- [03:07]
Alyssa
Think you know me. You don't know me well.
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Tom
At all.
- [03:27]
Tiffany Reese
In the second half of episode five we met tomorrow Tom Met Stoner through a disability advocacy group that he founded.
- [03:35]
Tom
I founded a club in 2019. It was called the Neurodiversity Coalition. It was to help people with autism, Asperger's disorder, which I have, pdd, nos, ocd, invisible disabilities, and beyond.
- [03:52]
Tiffany Reese
They became closer friends when Tom moved to Indiana during the COVID 19 pandemic through teach for America.
- [03:59]
Tom
And, you know, we went to hockey games together, we would grab meals together. We were purely platonic, by the way.
- [04:07]
Tiffany Reese
Their friendship drifted apart a bit when Tom moved again, and he didn't keep up with her as much, online or otherwise.
- [04:13]
Tom
She would message me from time to time. Texts soliciting money for teaching or for walking in a suicide prevention walk.
- [04:26]
Tiffany Reese
But after Stoner had been arrested and released on bond for both the OWI and the rental scams, Stoner resurfaced in Tom's life and began spinning her lies and manipulation all over again, trying to get money out of Tom for her Teslas and Yonis. To be clear, Tom had no idea at this point that Megan had gone to jail twice already. He had no idea she was a scam artist, and Stoner had never given him personally any reason to doubt her credibility. Then In May of 2023, Stoner began reaching out to Tom, asking for money.
- [05:02]
Tom
May 6th, I got a number of random texts throughout the day saying, I'm in a crisis, I need help. It's not mental health. I said, oh, what's up? She says, oh, I'm at a low point in my life. I need money for bail. Yeah, I wish I was lying. So me being very surprised, considering this is a former government employee and now whom I presume to be a teacher, I say, okay, explain what is going on. She says, they're charges from three years ago, 2021.
- [05:36]
Tiffany Reese
Tom was hesitant to loan Stoner any money to begin with because as he had shared with us, he's been taken advantage of in the past by friends when it comes to money. But being the kind and empathetic person Tom is, he eventually agreed to help Stone her out by trying to pay a bail bondsman on her behalf. Stoner. And later someone claiming to be Stoner's mom, Gail kept claiming the card wouldn't go through. And eventually Tom learned that his card kept getting canceled due to strange charges.
- [06:07]
Tom
It's one in the morning when I took the picture initially on June 16th of the card and sent it later that afternoon, Megan's mom says, oh, sorry, it's not working right now. We tried again around six, and it still didn't work. So it's nine now on the same Friday, June 16th. So it's already happened three times in the span of two days. It hasn't worked. So on the 17th of June, I say, all right, I'll call the bank and figure it out. And as it turns out, because of strange charges starting to pour in around that time, I said I had to get a new card. Now, up to this point, I'm just assuming, oh, it's just a classic case of identity theft. It must have happened at the gas station or something.
- [06:57]
Tiffany Reese
Tom trusted Stoner and he wanted to be a good friend to her. He shared personal card info with her, which he now regrets. But when you live your life with integrity, you assume others do as well, especially those you call friends. You've given her $1,000 via Venmo, and she was trying to get you to run this card or different cards over and over again to allegedly pay this bail bondsman on top of the other money, right?
- [07:26]
Tom
That's right.
- [07:27]
Tiffany Reese
When Megan has created this fake alibi for herself that she's in some sort of hospital.
- [07:32]
Tom
Yeah. So all of this is going down all through June. I would say There were between 10 or 20 charges that my bank reversed in that month alone, and I was able to get that money back. Thank goodness for that. And on June 29, with a cash app, it is charged for $10 to a Meg Stoner. Then there's another cash app charge, and this name appears frequently. Brooklyn. I never figured out who Brooklyn was. I never figured out who Penny was. I never figured out where the Amazon account was coming from. The Amazon bill. I also never figured out who Jasmine was. There are several personalities or accounts that I'm presuming Megan has opened up. Now, at the time, I'm not thinking this. I'm just assuming, oh, these are friends who are helping to try to pay her bond. So I get back from Kansas City. This is mid to late June. About the next time that I hear from her, it was on the 4th of July, no less, on Independence Day, like the movie. So, you know, perfect tie into the plotline. Right. It's 5:42 in the morning. Now, I'm up early that day because like any patriotic American or person who loves the 4th of July, I tend to wake up on the 4th of July so that I can see the band setting up, see if there are any parades that are going on in the morning. I get a message about 12 minutes after I wake up. It's 5:42. She says, hey, it's Megan, I know we still owe you a thousand. I just got out of the hospital and I'm homeless. Now, if I could borrow another thousand to get back on my feet, I can pay back 2,000 for that when I get my student aid in a few weeks. That's the first time she even mentioned student aid. Now I'm thinking I knew she was a student at Ball State, and I'm wondering, student aid? Don't you pay for classes with that? How do you still have student aid left over? It wasn't until I was informed by Justin and Alyssa and Mike that she had been planning to pursue a degree at Liberty University. She had that student aid. I'm assuming she still had student aid left over from her graduate program at Ball State. So I say, oh, perfect. I'm so sorry, Megan, this is all happening to you. So throughout the day, I send her my Venmo, and she says, oh, do you have your new card so I can refund it? And so if you can spot me 2k, I can pay you back 4k this weekend. 4000. Is there any way you can help me? I'm without a car. I'm homeless. Can you help me? Can you please send it? It's really urgent. You can make easy cashier. Please help me. I can show up in person. If you loan me the 2k, I can send you the notarized agreement. The moving company took my car. At this point, I stopped responding on July 4th. I just gave her my Venmo so she could request it. It's the next day, at this point, the next evening, July 5th, and she is saying, oh, can you spot me 2,000? I can give you 4,000 back this weekend. I'm homeless and I'm without the car. And this is the first time where she proposes a notarized agreement. That was her idea, not mine. I said, issue is I'm kind of low at the moment on funds. That's why I need the payback. All right? I've been waiting nearly a month at this point, and I stopped charging you interest, and I'm still agreeing to have you pay a lesser amount. She says, oh, I understand, and I know I haven't been around, but I can send you a notarized agreement. I'm literally homeless and without a car. Can you help me? And I said, listen, I'm running low. And she again repeats, I will send you a notarized agreement. And she says, can you do a thousand or fifteen hundred, please? It's urgent. I can show you my eviction Order. So she's really harping on this. And I even say, well, what about asking other people? Why me? I'm assuming she's got Curtis, she's got Harry. Why aren't you asking them? Those are your friends. She says, apparently, nobody has it either. I've tried asking around, and because you actually care about me, you've taken a chance on me. I'm not going to jail or the hospital. I just need my car back. Please. I can't even go to work without my job. What does that even mean? I'm thinking, problem is, how can I possibly trust you at this point? You've been gone damn near two months now. And she says, I hear you. That's why I'm offering a notarized agreement. And I say, well, I do care, but seriously, I could take this to court at this point because you have not paid. She says, listen, I can write up an agreement for us to sign. I know, and I appreciate that you haven't taken it to court, but without my car, I can't do anything. So then I agree to it. And I say, all right, if you get an agreement notarized, I want proof, genuine proof, that you are going to pay me. And that means getting a signed contract. She's up the total amount that she owes me to $8,000. It went from 4,000 to 8,000 in three days. At this point, I say, okay, deal. She says, oh, I'm writing the agreement. If you're willing to try, just hang tight with me. So she puts it in her notes. I agree to pay $8,000 back. I agreed to about 2,500. And I'm like, wait, wait, what? We did not agree to that. We agreed originally to 2000. What's all this about? You know, you kind of bumped it up a bit. And she said, if you can do it, I will increase my paycheck to $10,000. So now, all right, we're already up to double digits in the thousands. I'm thinking, well, it's. It's her hole, and she's going to have to dig her way out of it. And I say, make the official due date this weekend, this Saturday, or I'm going to file a court motion. And I meant it, because $10,000 is the limit in Indiana to file for small claims court. So if I were to go beyond that, and which she eventually did, I'd have to actually sue her. We might have to have a trial. If she goes over 10,000, I'm thinking, listen, I need to know that you can pay it or else I can't lend it. Official due date is Sunday. End of story. Or we go to court. I mean it. And she says, I get it. I said, all right, let's see the agreement. And she's kind of dawdling at this point. She says, I'm going to get it notarized. I'll be in touch around 8. Sure enough, she writes out the agreement. She prints it out from her notes page. She signs this typewritten note, her name twice, and gets a notary seal of approval stamped right in the center from an official notary. So I'm thinking, at this point, this is a legal contract. She's saying, all right, I need my car back tonight. I had to sign it twice. Once in front of her. Do you want anything else in the agreement? I said, it's fine. I asked for a Venmo. The transaction is declined. And I say, I'm at the end of my ropes with this thing. She says, oh, please don't quit on me. I said, I don't have a debit card. I have to go. She proposes that I just give her my bank information. I'm like, absolutely not. I'm not about to do that. She says, oh, I'll pay through quickbook. I paid money to get that notarized. Please let me rebuild trust. And I'm like, okay. And she's like, I'm shaking. Please help me. Geez, I don't want her to collapse or something. So foolish me, I give it up. I give them both up. By the way, I'm in a law fellowship at this point, and we're doing a legal simulation. So while this class is going on, she continues to text. And I know I could have put the phone off to the side, but you're so locked in, and, you know, you're worried about your friend and you're not thinking rationally. So I just hand it over and I say, delete those when you're done with it, or I swear I will not hesitate to press charges if fraud is detected. Well, obviously, we know where that fraud started before, but at this point, I'm just thinking, must have been somebody stole something at the gas station. And I said, listen, I'm just being strict with you because my money is not something to be trifled with, okay? And she's like, yes, sir. So I'm like, okay. I'm just. I'm trying to be fair here, but it's really upsetting to me that you're in trouble right now. And she says, look, I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused. Do you think you could do Zelle? I said, sorry, I can't do that because that's how I got fraud on my card in June. I told her this right after. She said, I'm uncomfortable with this account and routing number thing. I'll take you out for an adult beverage when all this is over, okay? First and foremost, who calls it an adult beverage, Right? She's like, okay, can you log in and maybe do a transfer to another person's account? And I said, no, not other people's. Either go with the numbers or the deal is off. I'm not dealing with more people again. This is her responsibility. I don't want to bother her friends anymore because for all I know, they could already be angry at her. And I tell her my info is already risking compromise and this has gone far enough. She says, chase isn't letting the payment go through. Could you see if you can do a wire? So I finally acquiesce, and I say, yeah, I can do Zelle. Where do you want me to send it to? She sends me a number that's 801. I look up the number, I trace it, and it's a guy named Stephen. First mention of Stephen, and I say, who the hell is Stephen? All right. Why are you bringing all these people in? She said, they have my car. They're a moving company. I'm thinking Stephen is with the moving company at this point. I say, there's a limit. I have to go now. And she says, I can't be stranded. Please help. I say, Look, 500. And she says, can you do that for tonight, please? I say, ridiculous. And she says, if you can send something tonight, I'm going to see if they would let me drive down tomorrow to get the rest. Can you get cash out or do you have paper checks? I said, no, I don't have paper checks. I'm not going to risk the compromising of my information at this point. It's late. The Chase office is closed. I'm still in class. So I say, you've literally made me lose track of my law class, all right? This is important to my profession. Development. And you're really screwing me over right here. I don't have time for this. I should have put my phone off to the side. That's my fault. I'm nervous for my friend here. You get worried because she says, leaving me to sleep outside is not cool. Please, if I pay an extra two grand, can you ask Chase if they'll do a wire over the phone. I don't think the other person gets your details. You'd get theirs. Theirs referring to Stephen. And she then bumps it up. We're now at 13 grand. An extra three grand. She says, so we're at $13,000. Alarm bells are starting to go off, but I'm still thinking this is somebody who's in trouble, and I want her to get better so that we can work together on something. Stephen apparently gets a Chase account during all this, and he says, megan says that I can go in when I have a moment and transfer the funds. Or in the morning, can you go to Chase, take the cash out and deposit in his account at Chase? Around this point, I changed my bank account because of all the charges. I'm not thinking that this is Megan. I'm thinking that this is somebody who stole my identity while I was on the road trip in Kansas City. So I foolishly give up the new account information, the bank account info, and she says, you name the price to get it done, and I'll pay you back. She then claims that she asked Chase for me, and she gives me Stephen's address. I transfer the 2,500, and I tell her, all right, get the money ready. Now. You got to carry it back. That was the last text for July 5th. On July 6th, I said, you have four days. She said, felt like you were sending me a death reminder. I said, ha. No, just hold up your end of the bargain, please. Seriously, no more waiting. Now, are you off the street? She is off the street at this point. I said, why can't you go home? Where's family? And she says, she got evicted. I said, what? Your mom? She said, she went bankrupt and lives with my aunt. My aunt dislikes me strongly. I'm not interested in caring about family drama. That's not my business. So I'm not even planning to ask her about that. All I know is that her aunt hates her. I'm saying bankrupt. Your mom was trying to pay me when you were in the hospital. She says, yeah. Oh, she has more money now that she's moved in with my aunt, but it was just too much to maintain the house when my dad died. But, yeah, my aunt avoids me like the plague. So I said, all right, well, how in the world are you going to get the money when you said you had none? Financial aid. I get a refund from school. So she convinces me again that she has money left over from Ball State. And I said, wait, how did you not spend all that? She says, she's still in grad school when my loans hit, I get a refund because there's extra money. And I said, well, then why in the world do you need me? Did you lie to me? And she said, because I don't get that until Friday. It's July 6th. That Friday. She said she was going to get it. And she said, did you want me to sleep on a sidewalk until then? I said, look, stay sane and safe, but just remember, I'm not going anywhere. I waited this long and I can wait a little longer. At 9 on July 6, I say, all right, money tomorrow. And she says, yeah, I'm driving. Deals a deal. And you said you'd wire me extra. Or was that out of desperation? And I don't hear from her again on July 6th. So you get a lot of empty space from Megan July 7th. Hardly any texts. I say today. Have you taken care of it? Please let me know. Here's my Venmo. And no response. Around five, I say, I won't belabor the point anymore. I know things are rough, but I am dead serious about suing you in court. I don't want to have to do it. But you are not following up on your promises here. I was kind of bluffing when this happened, but I was just. I was so frustrated at that point because I hadn't gotten a dime. I said, at midnight on July 8, this is to inform you I've spoken to legal counsel to write out a demand letter. I just feel this is really impacting our friendship. I've held back, and this is two months at this point. I'm fed up. July 9th, I'm saying, hey, you still with me? This is just causing a lot of anxiety. And on that day, I looked up her name to see what was going on, to see if she was out of jail, the arrest records, because you can do that in my case, Indiana. And I see the article, fisher's Woman Arrested in Rental Scam, and I see a Twitter Megan Stoner Scam Awareness. Now, Megan's already told me that she's had haters. And I knew she was deeply unpopular when she was in the state government office, or as she told me she was. So I'm thinking at this point, oh, my God, she what? That's impossible. This is my first accusation. I said, you're a scammer. I looked you up. How could you, Megan? So I'm automatically thinking, you lied to me. I'm calling the cops on you. I'm going to put you back in jail.
- [23:22]
Tiffany Reese
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- [25:44]
Tom
I got introduced to the Megan Stoner awareness group on July 9th. This was the Twitter. Yeah, this was on Twitter. The Facebook group was private. I didn't know anything about a Facebook group, so up to that point I'm not thinking that this is a legitimate page. She would say when we're at hockey games, for example, oh yeah, there are a bunch of haters out there out to get me. Everybody's attacking me for my political points of view and all this. I'm at that point where nothing is making sense. I have no idea where all this is coming from. I just messaged them and said, hey, hands off her. Is she really a scammer? Prove it. I'm a friend of hers. Leave her alone. And I don't get a response from anybody until around August or so. And that's nobody's fault. I mean, there were people who were impacted even before me. I don't blame anybody for what happened. No one felt worse about it than I did when I found out what had happened, that she was stealing money.
- [26:51]
Tiffany Reese
It's important to note that even though Tom had seen the Twitter page about Stoner's alleged crimes, he was still questioning whether or not these people had legitimate claims. But having not been paid back by Stoner, Tom began to feel, at minimum, like he was being lied to.
- [27:07]
Tom
I messaged her on July 9, and I said, you're a scammer. How could you? And she said, oh, my car was towed, and I haven't had my phone. And I'm like, oh, okay, got it. But listen, do you have the money? And she said, did you call the cops? And I said, I know about the previous charges, so don't screw with me. I'm planning to tomorrow if the deadline passes tonight. She says, if you're going to threaten the cops and all this, then do whatever. And I tell her, you need to pay me. It's a civil matter, not a criminal matter. Anyway, I'm low on funds, and I trusted you. What is going on? You're in trouble again. Your car's getting towed. How did you sink so low so quickly? That's impossible. We had a deal. Megan, you promised. And she says, I can't speak on the phone right now. I'm not in a private area. And I said, please pay by tonight. Why would you make a promise that you couldn't keep? She says, I don't appreciate the threats. I'm planning on paying you. And I said, I thought you were better than that, though. I literally got freaked because somebody said when I was discussing what happened that you had a history. I saw. And somebody referring to the scam awareness page. When I looked, somebody posted this. It's just that concerns me greatly. That's not normal. She said, look, it's an ongoing legal situation. And my attorney said, I can't talk about it. And I said, I'm really upset because I didn't mean to threaten you with jail, but how can I keep you at your word when you keep getting in trouble? There's a history of things. And I said, look, it'd be really helpful if you could follow up, take the responsibility. Did you get the financial aid or are you just ordering doordash or something? Because my card keeps getting charged. So this is the first time I started to suspect maybe Megan is charging stuff. Did she lie to me? She said, I've literally been in jail and you're accusing me of ordering doordash? I said, look, I'd like to know a Fisher's address came up and seeing that you live in Fishers, I had to ask, can you at least keep to our agreement? And she said, no, I haven't lived in Fisher's for a while. She again repeats that she was evicted. And I said, I don't want to be a burden, but I have a history of trusting people and not hearing from you has really been frustrating for me. We had a deal. The debt was supposed to be paid tonight. What day should I check in to make sure? I send her the notarized agreement picture and she says she's checking on her financial aid. And I said, can you call the office? What can you do at this point? And I tell her, no more delays. Stop it. It's time to get to business here and pay up. Two months I've waited. Pay the piper. She said, I'm trying to follow along here. I said, I have your word on that? I don't want to make life harder than it has to be for you, but make it easy on yourself. Tell me what is going on. Stop going away for lengthy periods of time. I don't know how she found out that I messaged the scam awareness group, but she says, hey, you apparently started it on Twitter about me. My attorney wants me to cease all contact. You're way out of line for going on social media. You just put yourself in a lot of drama. I said, I didn't start the page, but I did comment because you are not listening to me. What am I supposed to do when you've got an entire page of people who for some reason have a vendetta against you? I wanted to know what was going on. Do you expect me to just refer to you for everything? I mean, surely they must have their reason. She then plays the victim and says, oh, you've made me majorly upset. I'm in tears now. Great way to make me feel like a piece of you know what, when I'm already at my lowest. I said, but you promised to pay me. I helped you through stuff. I was out of line for asking, but I'm really angry because you're breaking promises and stop ripping people off. And she says, because I didn't respond for a day. You went on social media about me. Jesus. I was trying to find your mom's info so I could call her and make sure you were all right. But then I noticed the stories on Twitter and she says, I was pulled over Friday night. I had called her the previous night to say, you need to pay up. You really need to. All right, enough's enough. And she breaks down in tears at some point. And then I hear the police sirens and she says, oh, crap, I'm getting pulled over. And she hangs up the phone. I called her right back and I said, what went on? Why'd you get pulled over? Did you not have a hands free device or something? She continues to cry and says, oh, I promise I'll pay you back. And I'm like, okay, but you've just made a really bad situation much worse by getting pulled over. July 9th, she sends me this image of an email to her lawyer saying, my mom and I are very upset. I have a court appearance for a suspended license in Elwood this month. I also went to jail last night because of the cop. Can you please handle this? According to the police, I can't drive until something is signed off by a judge. Apparently the cops dragged her into court for getting pulled over and then she applied for a hardship license. I don't. That makes no sense reading it now. And she said, oh, I sent this to my attorney yesterday. That'd be July 8th. I'm just going through a lot and I'm not saying that excuses it, but I hope it explains it. And I said, so you literally can't pay anybody and you asked for money? And she says, oh, I can. I'll pay you. The minute my aid hits, I say, well, why take out a loan you can't pay? You didn't tell me you were out of money. The letter said, you can't make money. You know, the hardship license. And she said, oh, I'm still able to get my financial aid. I said, it never mentioned aid at all, so I have no idea how you're going to pay. She said, I'm highlighting I can't drive to my job. In my letter to attorney, I said nothing about my aid. I need my attorney to take my request seriously. I can't live off my aid forever. I messaged you the moment I got my phone. It's just I said, as a friend, I care about you, but when you've made a deal with a friend, you got to follow through. And she says, oh, I'm promising. And I said, I've been lied to about money before. And she said, oh, I'm so sorry. That sounds horrific. I'm taking this seriously. I get that. We all work hard for the money we have. I said, I literally reported the darn page so they could take it down. So you're welcome. You know, I thought this was a haters page originally. I didn't know that they were trying to help people. And I said, it's upsetting when someone offers to help and the person who is helped continues to evade responsibility. No more silences, no more pleading. Just get it done, please. And she says, threatening me and tweeting about me are great ways to ensure I'll go quiet, too. You can call the police. They're going to say it's civil. Didn't I have a week before you took it to court? I said, this is the demand letter. I pushed it back a week again. I said, I'm going to give you a letter reminding you, then I'm going to take it to court. And again, by the way, this is just a bluff. Like, I can't afford lawyers for crud, and I'm not going to go to my parents for that because they've supported me through a lot. I'm blessed to have them in my life. I don't want them to know about all this stuff. They've already got enough to deal with. I really wouldn't want to know that their son was foolish enough to get himself in a situation like this. They'd be too disappointed in me. Normally, I consider myself someone of common sense, and I'm already upset that it led to this. So I'm thinking of my family at the time. I'm thinking of trying to get Megan to help me out. So I push it back. And I said, I've had problems with finances in the past and people not paying me. So I'm quite paranoid after these two months. So, yeah, I'm really angry about this. So text me when you get the news. After this big stream, she goes absolutely silent again. The thing is, with her, she has no concept of boundaries. You know, that's the thing that agitates me the most. When she starts texting, she sends a barrage. I mean, it's a stampede. If text messaging were an Olympic event, she would be a repeat champion every damn year. She exploits people's weaknesses in order to gain an advantage. You know, I think of it as she uses people's trust as a bridge to walk on. Trust is easy to lose. It's only a matter of time before a weak bridge collapses. And in the case of her getting caught, certainly that bridge collapsed. Her most common excuses were that she was either in jail, on the cusp of going to jail, was in Michigan babysitting a kid, was in the hospital for mental health treatment.
- [35:35]
Tiffany Reese
A member of the Megan Stoner Awareness group, Mike Neal, contacted Tom at the beginning of August 2023 to inform him about Stoner's known crimes.
- [35:46]
Tom
On August 2, Mike Neal messaged me for the first time and said, do you know Justin Sexton? And I said, yes, I do. And you know Megan Stoner? Yes. Have you been giving her money? And I was reluctant to tell him how much I'd given because it was shockingly large, Embarrassingly large, insanely large. And so I thought, okay, well, I'd like to see a badge number or something, because, you know, Indiana state treasury officials or agents don't just message you like that out of the blue. And so he sent me his personal profile on the Indiana state treasury page. So I said, okay, wow, this guy's top brass. And I messaged Justin after and said, is this guy really top brass, like, for the state? Justin verified it, and he said, all right, how much have you. And I told him everything. I spilled my guts. And he said, all right, do you have any information on her? And I said, am I in trouble? And he says, absolutely not. If anything, you're more in trouble in that you got screwed by someone you thought was your friend. And I thought, oh, God, I'm such an idiot. And I didn't even know what I was an idiot for yet. I just knew. Wow, I'm an idiot. It's a miserable feeling when that happens. Then Justin texted me a few hours later. I looked down on the message, and I couldn't believe where it all went. She just wasn't the person I thought. First time I heard that came from Justin. And then he said the word scammer, just as Mike had. And instantly my mind said, she's a liar. I couldn't speak. Four years of friendship in a minute. Completely gone. It took us years to build up what I considered a friendship, or even an acquaintanceship. Trust who your friends are and can't be too careful. But Justin and Mike said, do you want to join the support group? And I said, oh, okay. And that's how I got in the Megan Scam Awareness Facebook group. I had actually just joined the group when Alyssa made the first botched attempt to catch her.
- [37:54]
Alyssa
Hi, my name is Alyssa and I was introduced to Megan through a Facebook group that was created to bring awareness to her scams that she had been committing over the last few years. Once I got into the group and realized like what was going on and that I had actually encountered this person in the past, I kind of became enthralled with the idea that this small but large group of people on Facebook that were local and non local would be able to bring justice to some of these victims. Victims that I knew, victims that I didn't know, but that I became friends with along the way. I'm so thankful that I met all the people I did on this journey, but also that we were able to stop her crimes along the way, prevent her from doing more crimes in the future. And now being able to come on here and share my voice and tell people that there really are evil people out in the world, then it is possible to stop them the legal way. So I'm super thankful to be here and share my voice on such an evil, evil person.
- [39:00]
Tiffany Reese
I remember in the pre interview you told me that you actually originally sort of met Megan in a buy nothing Facebook group. What can you tell us about that?
- [39:09]
Alyssa
So I lived in Fishers at the time. It's one of the nicer areas in Hamilton county where we live and where most of her crimes were committed over the time. So I joined this group. It's basically like where you give your stuff away for free. People will come and grab it and then like people will post things and be like, hey, I have such and such items. And people will comment and they'll just pick a person at random usually out of the comments to come and pick stuff up. So I had posted a baby gate and some other stuff. Megan commented on the baby gate and was like, hey, I have a dog, I would really love to come and pick this up from you. And I was like, sure, great, we can coordinate that. I had seen some of her other posts on there as well and I was just kind of like she's an oddball. So I didn't really think too much of it, but she had told me that she would be there. She's like, I'll be there at like 9 o'clock at night. And I was like, okay, cool. Well, I had set other stuff out on my porch, like some baby clothes and some other stuff, separate bags of people's names on them because they were going to come the next day and I didn't want to forget we had a doorbell camera and the first thing I remember about this was that she didn't show up until like 1:00 in the morning to grab the baby gate off my porch. When I saw it that morning, my notification that it was like 1:00 and I was like, okay, whatever, at least she grabbed it and she left. Well, I didn't actually like watch the video. I just saw that it said person detected. And then later that morning I had a lady message me and was like, hey, I came to pick up the baby clothes and they're not on the porch. And I'm like, that's weird. Where would they have gone? So I go back and look at my doorbell camera and there this girl was taking the baby gate and taking the other bags of items off of my porch. I just remember being so baffled, like who would do that? It just seems so fucking shady to me. I had never had an issue before that and I've picked up so many things from people over the years. So I messaged the group admins and I told them and I sent them my doorbell camera footage and I'm pretty sure after that she was removed from the group. I don't think I ever saw her post or comment again.
- [41:04]
Tiffany Reese
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- [43:16]
Alyssa
It was posted in Noblesville Chatter, which is a pretty big group in Noblesville. I don't know the population of Noblesville, but I do know that that's where I grew up at and that it is at least quadrupled, if not more in size. And so the Noblesville Chatter page is like really, really popular. And people that don't even live in Noblesville and just live in the surrounding areas are in this group because it is just pure chaos. And I remember someone posting in there and being like, there's a Facebook group about Megan. And I was like, holy shit. I was like, that's a girl that like stole the stuff off my porch. Wait a second, I just saw this girl on the news. That is that moment for me where I was like, oh my God, I know who this girl is. Come to find out that some of the people that she had scammed I actually knew growing up. That's the moment where I was like, oh my God, I have to get in this group. But it was only open for a couple days. You could only ask to join for, I don't know, maybe a week, maybe two weeks. And then the group immediately was closed down, locked tight. You had to be invited to the group or message and admin to get someone into the group because they quickly realized that Megan was in the group under some like stupid dummy accounts that she had. And I remember like the admins slowly picking through every profile, like if you didn't have a profile picture, if you weren't like posting regularly, if you weren't from the area, they were kicking people out left and right. And there were even people accused of like being Megan in the group. I want to say it was April of last year after Those rental scams came to light, and she was arrested on the rental scam. She went and turned herself in within days of that, the group was made. When I first joined in, it was like a lot of memes. They were pretty terrible. Looking back at it now, I like, it was probably out of pocket in so many ways, but then it was like people just coming out of the woodwork. Like, I knew Megan in high school. I was a teacher, and I saw Megan slap her teacher in high school. All of these stories came out, and people did their research. These accusations that were coming to light were true. And I think some people were a little worried about, like, a defamation issue. So they were careful about what they posted. But at the same time, like, it was a free for all in there for a while. And if you scroll, I mean, the Facebook groups, you know, it's only a little over a year old, but it would take two days to scroll through it and read everything. It is just so much. But the memes, I remember that being my favorite thing when I joined the group. I was like, it's truly unfortunate that people are, like, going to this level to make fun of this girl, but at the same time, she deserved it. She was just an evil human being. It would be like her in a jail cell with a orange jumpsuit on and a Jack's donuts bag next to her on the cell floor. She was not in jail for very long. And that's really when the Twitter begging started. The thousands of messages she was sending a day asking people, hey, can you spare $10? I need it. And it was always, obviously, never, like, a legitimate excuse. But my jail calls with Megan didn't really start until I got her arrested the second time. Yeah, when she had the warrant, once the group was made, people had been sitting on this information for good amounts of time. And it was, like, shared in the political world because those were the people that were really informed on those things that Megan was saying. This just provided a platform for them to come out and be like, this happened and this happened and this happened. No one really knew until it was all compiled in one place. And you could really sit and look at it and read it and, like, truly understand the gravity of how much this girl was capable of doing in such a short amount of time. It's not like this girl is 40. She's still young to be able to manipulate and lie. And the sexual assault accusations, the murder for hires, the dragging dead bodies out of the state house during COVID they definitely weren't things that Your average Joe would have known. When I started seeing those things, I was like, maybe this is a lot more than what I thought. It was like the rental scams alone, it was just sad to see these people. Like one woman. It was around Christmas time, and she ended up homeless after Megan had taken the last of her money for a deposit and a first month's rent. I remember thinking in my head, like, how evil do you have to be to do that to someone? And then when everything else started coming out, I was like, okay, I get it. This girl, there's truly something diabolical and manipulative and will stop at nothing. I truly think she doesn't have remorse. I truly think that she doesn't understand how evil she is. When I had my phone calls with her, there was never a point in time where I was like, I said something. I was like, oh, she understood what I was saying, or she felt bad. There's always an excuse. So when you start hearing all these other stories about the stuff that she's done, it becomes such a serious conversation to have, and you can't really explain it to someone in 10 minutes. There would not be enough time in 10 days. There was a lovely woman in the group who came up with these bingo boards, and she was like, if you want a bingo card, let me know. And so there were like 50 of us in the group that were actively viewing or commenting or liking, you know, I mean, there were 1500 people in the group, but there weren't 1500 people interacting in the group. A lot of them were just looky loos that were just, like, really interested in the drama. So I remember the bingo group was made. It was a good chat, and we all had bingo cards. Some of the things on the bingo cards were like, megan goes back to jail. The bingo group was really where the chase started. She had all these court dates coming up, and she had caught new charges. And I remember that being huge in the group. Like, she had caught her OWI charge. She got out and continued to scam driving for Uber under a false name. All of these things happened after she had been bailed out of jail. So she was out on bond. It took almost a year for her to get charged for the original rental scams. And in that year, that was when her crimes really kind of went crazy. Like the scamming of Tom. Like, all of that happened after her first arrest when she was out on bond. There were two different sets of movers that she scammed during that time because she kept getting kicked out of the places that she was living. The Teslas happened after her first arrest. So, like, the bingo group was guessing what crime she was going to commit next. And we would all be in this chat and, like, talking about it, closely monitoring what she was doing. That's when we really started to unravel that something was way worse than what we could have ever imagined. I had sent her a text and I said, I'm a reporter and I want to pay you for your life story.
- [49:33]
Tiffany Reese
Coming up this season on something was wrong.
- [49:37]
Alyssa
Then when I realized what she had done, I think that's when I, like, hit it into high gear. And I was like, no one deserves to be treated like this. No one deserves to put trust in someone and then have someone completely ruin that trust. She's posting on social media every day. Somebody needs to give me money so I have a place to stay. My lawyers are telling me not to turn myself in. And we know she's taking the money from Tom. How many more of him are there that we don't know about?
- [50:02]
Tiffany Reese
Because how is she affording all of that?
- [50:05]
Tom
Amanda and I are on the phone one day and we're connecting like friends, just laughing, and we're like, how has.
- [50:10]
Tiffany Reese
No one caught her yet? Amanda says those Yoni massages are the one thing she would risk it all for. That's the thing she's obsessed with.
- [50:18]
Alyssa
Could we maybe come up with a.
- [50:20]
Tiffany Reese
Fake business that does that?
- [50:22]
Alyssa
We just need one of these fake Yanni people. I was like, I swear to you, if somebody approached her pretending to be a fake Yanni person, she would bite in a heartbeat.
- [50:32]
Tom
Once we started messaging, it didn't take.
- [50:35]
Alyssa
Long for her to just start trauma.
- [50:37]
Tom
Dumping in a way that, like, you would not believe.
- [50:41]
Tiffany Reese
They thought it was hilarious and they were like, okay, this is a great opportunity to get her. And then we all had a group chat together. We added Alyssa in as well because she had had that experience, that first attempt to try to get Megan. Thank you so much for listening. Something was Wrong is a broken cycle. Media production created and produced by me, Tiffany Reese. Thank you so much to our associate producers, Amy B. Chesler and Lily Rowe. Thank you to our audio engineer, Becca High, and our social media marketing manager, Lauren Barkman of Luxury Media. Additional thanks to our partners, Grant at Wondery, Marissa Travis, and our team at wme, Jason and Jennifer at ksco, our cybersecurity team, Darkbox Security, and my lawyer, Alan. And to all of you who make our show possible with your support and listenership, special shout out to Neon Honey. And Gabanez for covering our theme song gladrag's original song youg Think youk this season. For more music from them, check out the Episode Notes or your favorite streaming app. In the Episode Notes, you'll always find content, warnings, sources and resources with links to our websites and social media as well. Thank you so much to every survivor and ally who has trusted us to help share their stories. We are forever grateful. Until next time, stay safe, friends. If you like something was wrong, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey@wondery.com survey.
- [52:39]
Tom
In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother.
- [52:44]
Tiffany Reese
But this tragic loss of life quickly.
- [52:46]
Tom
Turns into something even darker.
- [52:49]
Tiffany Reese
Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her, and she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the.
- [52:58]
Tom
Internet is the Kill List, a cache.
- [53:01]
Tiffany Reese
Of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses and specific instructions for people's murders.
- [53:09]
Tom
This podcast is the true story of.
- [53:11]
Tiffany Reese
How I ended up in a race.
- [53:13]
Tom
Against time to warn those who lives were in danger. And it turns out convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy.
- [53:22]
Tiffany Reese
Follow Kill List on the Wandery app.
- [53:23]
Tom
Or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [53:25]
Tiffany Reese
You can listen to Kill List and more. Exhibit C True Crime shows like Morbid, early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery.
- [53:34]
Alyssa
App for all your true crime listening.