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Adam Graham (1:38)

Welcome to the great detectives of Old Time Radio. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But first, I do want to encourage you, if you enjoy the podcast, to follow us using your favorite podcast software. Today's program is brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners. You can support the show on a one time basis by mailing a check to Adam Graham, POX 1591313 Boise, ID 83715 and you can become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month at patreon.greatdetectives.net now from October 19, 1950, here's the big Grandma.

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Adam Graham (2:47)

Where it comes from, and why it's important.

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They've got every base covered, from their clinically backed women's 18 plus multivitamin to groundbreaking options like stress relief and Sleep melatonin which both use first of its kind bioseries technology designed to optimize formula delivery. And right now, for a limited time, get up to 40% off your first month@ritual.com podcast. The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant. They're assigned a forgery detail. An accomplished check forger resumes operations in your city. The suspect's described as a middle aged woman. She's written more than $20,000 in bad checks. Your job. Get her. In a moment. An authentic case from official files. Dragnet. The documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law to an actual case from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It was Monday, April 17. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working a day watch out of forgery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Elliot. My name's Friday. I was on the way back into work and it was 7:53am when I got to room 29. Forgery detail. Morning, Joe. Hi. How'd the weekend go? Oh, pretty slow. Stayed home, did some gardening. How about that new lawn you put in? How's it doing? If we want a lawn, we're gonna have to move. What's the matter now? Damn old thing. Gophers. Must be hundreds of them. So many holes. The top of the lawn looks like an old punch board. No. That's too bad. Can't you try some kind of poison on them? How about those new things they got out? What do they call them? Gopher bombs. I use them, but it doesn't. They eat anything. Joe. Ben. Yeah, Ferguson. Good morning, Cap. Monster. Okay. What's up, Fergie? You ain't gonna like it. Hmm. Skipper will brief you. Morning, Skipper. Hi. Have a seat. Yeah, thanks. You two finished up with the Benson case yesterday, is that right? Yeah. It's all washed up. We're clear. Good. And you can start on this one right away. You work with Frank Besser and Ferguson here. What is it, Grandma? I had a hunch. Jill. What have we done to deserve this? It's nothing any of us have done. It's what we haven't done. I want her stopped once and for all. Are we any closer to her than we have been, Ferguson? Just about same, Joe. That's why I'm putting two more of you on it? How well do you know the case? Just what we've heard around the office. Same here. I could stand some briefing. Ferguson. Well, you must have heard how she operates three months out of the year. April, October and December. That's all. She never been known to change that schedule? Not as far as I know. She's been doing it the same for nine years. All the funny checks she cashes. Her personal checks? That's right. She never writes them less than $2 and never more than 100. Nine years. She been going that long? Nine and a half. It'll be an even 10 this October. You want to check them out on the totals. Ferguson. Up to and including the first of this month, she's cashed 1273 checks. Totals a little over $22,000. Mm. Anything special about the way she writes the check? Nothing but the signatures. There's an alias list down there that'll knock your eye out. More than 200 different names. Her description's still the same. About 50 years old, kind of plump, nice face. A few minor changes. Last year she had gray hair, dressed very plain. This year, she dyed her hair black, dresses a little more expensively. Nine years. That's a long streak of luck for any paper hanger. That's just it. This old gal's not just an ordinary paper hanger. She's no amateur, don't get me wrong. But she doesn't operate like any check forger I've ever known. She contradicts part of her ammo, part of it she doesn't. She takes chances. An ordinary paper hanger, it'd never take. And she gets away with them. Take a look at just one of these exhibits. Yeah, this one here. 28 checks passed on the same chain of grocery stores, same company. She passed them all in one month? No, that's just the point. Two years ago, she passed 14 of them, spread them out over a period of a month. Last year, she passed another batch of 14, all within three days. One year, she used a different name on each check. On this batch, she used the same name. Well, does she have any identification when she passes these checks? Always. Phony Driver's license, Social Security cards, or works. And she's got that sweet grandmother smile of hers. Clerks rarely turn her down when she shows up with a check. You can get used to different descriptions of her, too. Give the file a look. Hardly. Three of the check victims can get together on what she looks like. Exactly. Well, where are they getting stung most? Downtown or out in the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods? Anywhere from the beach area to the valley. This whole file, Skipper, that's not just her work, is it? Every last bit of it. We can't fit it in a six foot shelf. In nine years, I've had five teams of men work this thing. None of them reached her. You and Friday make the 6th. It's April 17th. How's she doing so far this month? Ferdinand cashed $624 in checks we know of since the first of the month. Same general description, same general M.O. no fresh leads. She's been operating nine years, Joe. Yeah, just as good as ever. To the working detective. There's no tougher job than tracking a lawbreaker who's half professional and half amateur. You can expect a criminal who's entirely professional to react generally the same in a given set of circumstances. And the same with the amateur. But take the two, the professional and the amateur, and intermingle their possible and probable reactions. You'll likely have a sound reason why and how an elderly woman could victimize merchants with $20,000 in bad checks over a period of nine years without being caught. Grandma, as she'd come to be known, worked only three months out of each year. April, October and December. Her apparent fine sense of timing and her knowledge of psychology was far and away superior to that of the ordinary paper hanger. If the file on Grandma was any indication, she apparently had been born to be a successful check forger. After Ben and I spent three days on the case with Sergeants Ferguson and Besser, we were almost convinced that there was only one way we could reach the suspect. She had to make a mistake. Berging. How'd you do? Pretty. Sorry. Four checks in two days. What'd you fellows get? Two. Don Meyer checked the signatures. They're all hers. Here's our list if you're interested. Meat market, Autumn Pico, $25. Grocery in West Hollywood, $48. Two department stores downtown, 100 bucks apiece. How do they describe the woman? Same old yarn. She was a nice, charming little lady, about 55 or 60. Small, dark hair, graying dark eyes, nice smile. Clerk told me she reminded him of his mother. Yes. Now, how'd you make out on those two of yours? All about the same. Even a story about her looking like somebody's mother. One thing's sure. Her timing is just as good as it was nine years ago. Downtown Merchants association screaming again. They're looking for action. So are we. Did you talk to Captain today? Yeah. He's looking for action, too. I don't know what we can do unless we get Some kind of cooperation from the merchants. Every time the old gal pushes a bump check, it's three or four days before it gets to the bank and we hear about it. The trail's pretty cold by then. Yeah. Joe and I were talking just before you came in, Fergie. We can't expect too much to happen the way we're going. Any ideas? More men and more stakeouts. The captain says he'll buy that about all we can do. Another 10 days in April will be over, Graham. I'll be through pushing checks till October again. I don't know, Jill. Her formula's too perfect for me. There's gotta be a flaw in it someplace. Yeah. You got out a bulletin of that revised description of her, Fergie. Yeah, it's all taken care of. Special notices were mailed out to merchants too. Again, boys, we were mail. That's it. Is that. That's all right away. Thank you. Supermarket on Temple Street. Grandma hit him with two checks. Any lead clerk says he reminded him of his money. A week passed, the number of stakeouts on business places throughout the city was doubled. The MO and description of the suspect was circulated among the merchants in the downtown and suburban shopping centers. Clerks were especially warned to be on the lookout for the precautions went for nothing. Grandma's checks kept showing up at the rate of two and three a day. On April 27, she passed a check for $50 at the delicatessen on Hollywood Boulevard. We drove out to interview the owner. Mr. Hammerstein, do you have one of those circulars we sent out on this woman? Well, I'm ashamed to say it, Sergeant, but I have hanging right back there in the storeroom. The thing of it is, I never connected the two. The woman and the notice. It's the way she looks at you, you know, like you'd be a healed, even questioner. How was she dressed the last time she was in? Do you remember that? Well, she had kind of a plain black coat on. Say, would you excuse me a minute? I don't like to keep customers waiting. Oh, sure, go ahead. How are you, Mrs. Lyons? Need some cold meat for kids lunches. What do you got? Nice and fresh. See right there in the case? That cheese is very fresh. Good for the kidd. Pimento loaf's nice too. Oh, kids don't like either one. Busy. Better give me 35 cents for that small baloney, would you? Yes, ma'am. Wow. Kids are so fussy nowadays. Ought to be in Europe. That's what I tell them. They know what it is to go hungry. Oh, he better give me a couple of those large kosher pickles, too. Husband's crazy for him. Yes, ma'am. And a loaf of the rye too. Would you know seeds? Yes, ma'am. How the kitty's doing in school, Mrs. Lyon? Mother's fine, fine. Marilyn's in the school pageant next month. She's gonna be the queen. Oh, that's nice. Well, I don't know how nice it is. More work, that's all. I have to make her costume. There you are, Mrs. Lyons. Put it on the bill. Yeah, would you do that? I'll see you the 15th of the month. Yes, ma'am. Goodbye. Well, goodbye. Sorry to keep you waiting, officer. I see. Now, where was I when we asked you how the woman was dressed? Oh, yeah. Had a black coat on. I told you that. Yes, sir. Very plain looking clothes, like any other housewife. Print dress, some kind of a scarf around the neck. That's about all I noticed. How about that description of her in the bulletin we sent you? That fit her pretty well. Yeah, I guess so. She didn't exactly seem plump to me, though. Kind of a nice figure for a woman of her age. Do you know if any of your customers were acquainted with her? I wouldn't know that. She acted as though she knew some of them. But now that this has happened, I can see she was just putting on. She was a great disappointment to me. She is to a lot of people. I used to josh with her all the time. I'm a widower, you know. Thought once or twice I might even date her up. That's all. Yeah, she seemed like a real good sport, joshing all the time. Fine personality, just as homey as you please. Well, that fits in with the other descriptions. Are you ever going to catch somebody like that? Two days later, on April 30, right on schedule, the flow of bogus checks in Grandma's handwriting suddenly stopped. If she continued to work by the same timetable she'd been using for the last nine years, she wouldn't start operations again until the first of October. During the next five months that followed, from May to the end of September, Vesser, Ferguson, Ben and I handled the usual run of check cases at the same time. We used up every spare hour we had making preparations for the suspect's next appearance. Every businessman throughout the city who might be a possible victim was alerted. A revised description of the suspect together with her MO Was printed up and given wide distribution. Every possible precaution was taken. October came. Grandma started on the 10th year of her forgery career. Without a hitch. On October 1, she cast a check for $75 at a large downtown women's shop. As soon as we got the report, we went to the department where the check had been received. A fashion show was in progress. She's wearing a deep, wide velvet dinner suit, the newest shade for evening wear. You will notice the pencil slip skirt and the dollman three quarter sleeves. Excuse me. Are you Mr. Montrose? Yes. What is it? Police officer, sir. Forgery detail. Oh, yes, that check. I wonder if you could hold on for just a moment. Yes, sir. Ms. Janice Morgan. Next. She wears a gown of striking originality with rich but simple lines. A black dinner dress, the satin skirt with pannier points. A sculptured silk and lactic sweater top with an oval neckline punctuated with bald fringe. Hey, Joe, what kind of outfit is that that the model's wearing? I don't know how much to it. All right, Officers, would you like to step this way, please? Okay. This is my office here. Well, I don't know what I can do for you gentlemen. Check was passed. Very unfortunate occurrence. You okayed the check for cashing, is that correct? Yes. The salesgirl handled the transaction. She showed me the check, I KN the signature, so I okayed it. Mary Walker. Yes, that's how this check was signed. What kind of identification did the woman have? Her charge account plate. You know, the small metal card. Charger plates, we call them. I recognize that in the signature immediately. You know this Mary Walker pretty well. She's one of our best customers. You are listening to Dragnet authentic stories of your police force in action. Friday, October 4, 2pm before we left the store, we found that another worthless check bearing the signature Mary Walker had been cashed in a different department of the store the same day. The woman had used the same means of identification. A metal charge account plate stamped with the name Mary Walker. We took the two checks back to the office and had Don Meyer in handwriting compare the signatures. There wasn't any doubt in his mind. The writing on both checks was Grandma's. Well, it was only a hunch, but it was beginning to look as though the suspect had finally done what we'd been waiting nine years for to do. She'd made a mistake. Ben and I drove out to an address in the Wilshire district to interview Mrs. Mary Walker. She fit the same general description of the suspect, but she denied writing either one of the checks, which bore her signature. Out of the question. Sergeant, I couldn't have written the checks. I haven't even been in the city for the past five days. Then the signatures on these two checks here, Mrs. Walker, they're not yours. It looks like my handwriting, but it's not. I didn't write those checks. They're forgeries. Yes, ma'am. You do have a charge account at the store, don't you, ma'am? Oh, yes. I've had an account there for years. Nothing like this has ever happened, though. You have one of those charge account plates? Well, yes, I did have one. You lent it to someone in your family? No. As a matter of fact, I lost it. I meant to report it to the store, but it slipped my mind. Do you have any idea where and when you might have lost it? Well, I think it was last Sunday night. I'm not sure. Oh, well, just a minute. I know who would remember. And there's Lambert. She was there. I'm sure she'll remember. Who's she meant? Girlfriend's mine. She lives in the neighborhood. Hello, Inez. Mary Walker. Inez? Oh, just fine. And you? Oh, good. Say, I may ask, which night was it we went to the Boosters Club meeting? Sunday? Yes. I thought that it was. Oh, nothing. Just some silly misunderstanding. Well, all right, Inez. Thanks for remembering for me. Yes, Goodbye. It was Sunday night, Sergeant. Inez. Lambert and I went to the neighborhood Boosters Club meeting. I'm sure that's where I must have lost it. Well, you think the charge account plate fell out of your purse, isn't it? Neither that or it was taken. Why do you say that, ma'am? Well, it's a serious thing. I didn't want to mention it. What's that? I left my purse on the chair next to me a part of the evening. When I got home, I thought I was missing a five dollar bill for my change purse. I didn't notice at the time my charger plate was gone. Do you remember who was at that meeting, Ms. Walker? Oh, 40 or 50 people at least. How many women would you say? Dozen or so, I suppose. I am not accusing anybody of robbery, Sergeant. I know it's a serious charge to make. Do you know if one of the club officers might have taken a list of those present? Oh, they didn't have to. We do the same thing at every meeting. What's that mean? We all sign the attendance book when we leave. 3pm Ben and I contacted the secretary of the neighborhood Boosters Club and gave us a list of those at the Sunday night meeting of the club. As Mary Walker had told us, each person present had signed his or her name and address in the attendance Book. We took the record downtown with us and had Don Meyer compare each signature on the list with samples of Grandma's handwriting. Number 32 on the list, fellas. That's it. Positive. Me. No doubt in my mind that's Grandma's handwriting. How'd she sign it? Mrs. Inez Lambert. We went down the hall to R. And had him check the name Inez Lambert through the files. She had no criminal record. Together with Besser and Ferguson, Ben and I spent the next day and a half trailing Inez Lambert wherever she went. She fitted the description of the suspect perfectly. We questioned her friends and her neighbors. We dug back into every corner of her life for the past 10 years. The results were pretty amazing. We found that she was highly respected by everybody she knew. She was active in a dozen civic and church organizations. Her reputation was spotless. There was only one hitch. Mrs. Lambert's hobby was charities. By checking back, we found that during the past 10 years, she donated an average of $3,000 annually to various charitable organizations. Her husband's total annual income was $7,000. From her bank, we obtained specimens of Inez Lambert's handwriting. That matched almost perfectly with every signature in the Grandma file. Monday, October 7th. Ben and I called on Mrs. Lambert. Oh, yes, officers. Won't you come in? Mary Walker was telling me about you. Come in, please. Thank you, Mary. Q. Mary told me about the things missing from her purse at the meeting. Is that what you're inquiring about? Yes, ma'am. We've got a few other questions to ask you besides that. Well, you sort of caught me at a bad time. Just getting ready to put some baking in the oven for dinner tonight. Would you mind very much if we talked back in the kitchen? I've got to get this done. No, not at all, ma'am. It's back this way. Oh, there goes my cream sauce again. Boiled over. Just take a chair there, officers. I'll be right with you. Thank you. This cream sauce is so temperamental. Can't take your eye off it for a minute. There. Shouldn't boil over. Now, would either of you officers care for a cup of cocoa? Chilly out today? Well, no, thank you, ma'am. We only have a few questions for you. It won't take long. Yes, all right. Would you mind holding this bowl? Just a minute, Sergeant. Oh. Oh, yeah. I just have to get this in the oven for dinner. My husband's favorite dessert. It's called pinch pie. It's kind of meringue tart. Let me see. Take two eggs. I guess there we are. Get these egg whites beaten up nice and light that cup of sugar on the sink. Sergeant, would you be so kind? Yeah, all right. Taste your sugar, ma'am. Thank you. Now, what is it you wanted to know? Mrs. Walker had her charge account plate stolen that night at the Boosters Club meeting. Somebody's been using it to cash bad checks in her name. Is that so? Mary didn't tell me that. The same person who's using that charger place has been cashing bad checks all over the city. Been doing it for some time. Oh, my. Well, I don't think I can help you, Sergeant. I went to that meeting with Mary. She says somebody must have been in her purse, but I didn't see them. Do you have that charge account plate, Mrs. Lambert? Me? Oh, no. I have my own. Now, let me see. Teaspoon vanilla, teaspoon vinegar, teaspoon waffles. Combine in a small pitcher or we've got good reason to believe you have that charge account plate, ma'am. Did you take it from Mrs. Walker? That's a silly thing for you to say, Sergeant. I told you I have my own charge plate and never borrow anyone else's. No reason to add a few drops of combined liquid constantly. Did you cash two checks last week and sign them with Mrs. Walker's name? Why, of course not. Why should I do such a thing? Mary Walker's one of my best friends. I wouldn't do that to her. Even as a joke. Our handwriting man compared the signatures on those two checks, Mrs. Lambert. Both of them match your handwriting, and all the ingredients have been added. Continue to beat the meringue for several minutes. Oh, I'm sorry. I hope. Is that you said, Sergeant? I said that the signatures on those two forged checks. Our handwriting man compared them with specimens of your signature. They both match. Well, then your handwriting man certainly made a mistake. There's a large white platter up in that cupboard there. Would you reach it for me, please? All right. There you are, man. Well, thank you. Now, you deny that you wrote those two forge checks last week. You deny that you've written in cashed about 1500 worthless checks in the last nine years? Of course I deny it. You're sure you haven't made a mistake? We're sure, ma'am. I'm sorry. You'll have to come downtown with us for questioning.