24: Frauded $100,000 to Catching his Thief & Serving Justice // The Story of Johnathan Walton

Background:

Johnathan Walton is a driven and enterprising vigilante who has dedicated his life to hunting down con artists and bringing them to justice.

Johnathan is a reality TV producer. He has worked on shows like American Ninja Warrior for NBC and Shark Tank for ABC. But the most spectacular reality show he’s ever been a part of had no cameras shooting it and no network airing it. Just a devious con artist secretly plying her craft in the shadows and dozens of unsuspecting victims like himself, quietly falling prey.

You can visit Johnathan’s website, JohnathanWalton.com to learn more about the complete story of how he and several other victims were conned by Marianne Elizabeth Smyth and how he was able to finally get justice and put the con artist behind bars.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

3:08 Johnathan Walton is a victim of an international con artist. He was scammed of up to $100,000. He tells the story of how he met this person who he considers a close friend.
7:12 After 14 months into their friendship, the con artist Irish heiress started the process of conning him.
9:37 Johnathan received a call that his best friend Irish heiress, was in jail. He paid $4,200 to bail her out, which started the actual con game.
12:30 One day, his so-called best friend posing as an Irish heiress asked him for $50,000 to make the case go away.
15:15 Johnathan finally found out that this woman was lying to him.
19:15 She got out of jail and Johnathan confronted her.
19:45 Eric shares a story of how his bookkeeper stole over $32,000 from him.
23:15 Johnathan went to the police to report her but nothing really happened.
24:49 When the police investigation did not work out, Johnathan started to do his own investigation.
26:37 After doing his investigation, he finally got a district attorney to file charges and have her arrested.
31:53 Being gay made a huge difference when Johnathan decided that he would have to go all the way and bring this woman to jail.
33:56 His article in Huffington Post inspired other people, who are also victims of scam artists, to seek justice.
36:30 Eric talks about having the power to stop someone from committing a crime and hurting others.
49:57 According to Johnathan, publicity kills con artists. He encourages victims to start telling people what happened to them.
53:17 The entire experience has taken a toll on Johnathan and it has scarred him.

This Episode Brought to You By:

17:36 Please support the Kerby Center in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This wonderful organization helps to reconnect seniors back into the community and engages them in many different ways. They also focus on helping seniors with several helpful programs such as grocery delivery program, information resources by phone, volunteer department, elder abuse resource line, and many more. You can check out their website and make a simple donation at KerbyCenter.com
43:42 If you’ve seen a white-collared crime or you know someone who’s going through it, share with them this story so that they know they’re not alone and they see that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. You can also check out Johnathan Walton’s website JohnathanWalton.com for more details of his story that we can’t really cover with time that we have here for the show.

Key Points from the Interview:

“Evil only triumphs when good people do nothing.”
“I would encourage anyone to start a website or a blog if they were scammed. Start telling people about it.”

Resources Mentioned:

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