Something Was Wrong - S22 E4: Apparently All I Do Is Lie

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

*Content Warning: sexual assault, false reporting, suicidal ideation, mature themes, religious abuse, cultic abuse, harassment, gun violence, parental alienation, breaking and entering, driving under the influence, upsetting themes. Sources: Elwood woman faces multiple felonies in connection with ongoing rental scheme [Video] Gay, L. (2023, May 3) for WTHR 13: https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/elwood-woman-arrested-for-ongoing-rental-scheme-megan-Fishers woman charged with fraud against multiple people in rental scam, By: Katie Cox for WRTV Indianapolis (Apr 26, 2023): https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/fishers-woman-charged-with-fraud-against-multiple-people-in-rental-scam  Life After MLM by Roberta Blevins, Episode 230: Sandy Rusk: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/episode-230-sandy-rusk/id1553784236?i=1000650980806&l=nb The Truth About ITOWN Church Groups:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1308102203363481/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sandyrusk2022 Chloe Anagnos on X: @ChloeAnagnos https://x.com/ChloeAnagnos/status/1651260809362784261 The Sinking Arc by Megan Stoner, 2022: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-sinking-arc-megan-stoner-_OQ75y1JmbA/ iTown Indianapolis: https://itownchurch.com/ Lawsuit Accuses Church Planting Group of Allowing Florida Pastor to ‘Sexually Prey’ on Employee By Julie Roys, October 18, 2021: https://julieroys.com/lawsuit-accuses-church-planting-group-florida-pastor-sexually-prey/ Julie Roys on X: https://x.com/reachjulieroys Megan Stoner Chronicles on X:  @ChroniclesMegan: https://x.com/ChroniclesMegan Resources:Free + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources   Theme Song & Artwork: Thank you to NeonHoney and GIBBANEZ for covering our theme song, Glad Rags’s original song U Think U this season. NeonHoney’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/neonhoneymusic/ NeonHoney’s Website: https://neonhoneymusic.comGibbanez IG: https://www.instagram.com/@gibbanezmusic/ Gibbanez Linktree: https://linktr.ee/gibbanezmusicGlad Rags: https://www.gladragsmusic.com/ The S22 cover art is by the Amazing Sara StewartFollow Something Was Wrong:Website: somethingwaswrong.com IG: instagram.com/somethingwaswrongpodcastTikTok: tiktok.com/@somethingwaswrongpodcast Follow Tiffany Reese:Website: tiffanyreese.me IG: instagram.com/lookieboo See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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assassination attempts, follow Redacted on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. You think you know me, you don't know me well At all, at all, at all, at all I think you know me, you don't know me well

At all, at all, at all She wasn't really around politics much for the 2018 cycle. After the 2016 cycle, she was very much sort of phased out and nobody really saw her much in 2018. That's Justin, whom we heard from in previous episodes this season. He's a former political acquaintance of Stoner's who has followed her crimes and social media drama over the years. But she did have a very big social media presence because that was the year of Me Too. And she was constantly tweeting about how she was a sexual assault victim and how she had been assaulted by a very powerful man in the state of Indiana. And she made that very clear and she would often interact with women on social media as like a sister survivor and made that a very big part of

her personality. That had already happened by the time I met her. But again, after Me Too sort of cycled out of the news, Megan very quickly kind of dropped that. I did not know at the time who she was referring to. Just knowing of her and knowing about her, I always suspected it was not true. I couldn't imagine anyone would have done that to her just because frankly she was never important enough to have been alone in the room with a powerful man. Like she was a very grassroots level volunteer who would come in and out, but I didn't think that was plausible, but she did make a very big deal of it on social media. Then she got very into her religion and churches, specifically the Eye Town Mega Church, which is a very large network of mega churches.

They have a couple of campuses around the Indianapolis area. And she went to, I think, their main campus, which is in Fishers, which is close to where she lived. And she very quickly gets in this big pissing match with the church. And it sort of triggered this year-long feud that she had online. Fast forward, so now we're into 2019, she gets involved with iTown and very quickly, I think what happened was she sort of found the church hurt community online, people who have had trauma relating to the churches they grew up in and people that have had bad interactions with pastors, people who had Me Too issues in the church that weren't dealt with the right way. There's a big community and space for that

online. And I think she sort of came across that. And so she needed to sort of find a reason to hate her own church. And so she got into this really deep feud, or I always say it was a pissing match with iTown, which is a very big church. I mean, we're talking tens of thousands of members. I never fully understood. It was very unclear just from her social media posts what she was mad about. It almost sort of seemed like she found the church hurt community. So now I have church hurt and my church is terrible. And she started a podcast of her own called The Sinking Ark. The most bizarre story was Megan has a DUI on her record. And she posted on Facebook that night that she got run off the road by somebody who went to iTunes churches. And that's why she got

a DUI. She posted the sex toys online and said she thought someone from iTown had sent them to her because they thought it would be funny to send that to somebody with sexual trauma. I believe the summer of 2018, she's posting nonstop about her dad was dying. There's some pictures of her dad around that time, and he looks very unwell. I would not be posting pictures of a family member that was in that condition. This was also in the middle of her pissing match with iTown. She claimed on social media that somebody from iTown had come and shot her mom, so she was in the middle of planning two funerals

and contemplating the unthinkable that she was about to lose both parents. Obviously nobody came and shot her mom. Megan had been talking so much about her dying father. I think she was getting some sympathy and support for that. And knowing Megan, I think it's like, well, if one dead parent's good, like why not have two? That's kind of like her thinking. It's like, oh, look, I can get even more attention.

And so she made up this story about how her mom had been shot. Gail had not been shot. Very bizarre. Hi, my name is Sandy Rusk and I created the private Facebook group, The Truth About Eye Town Church and also the TikTok page of that same name. And I met and became involved with Megan Stoner at the end of 2021 and was in communication with her all the way through the end of April of 2022. So for about five months, I was in communication with her. She shared a lot of things with me and she's quite a piece of work. She's quite a piece of work and we will link to in the episode notes for the listeners

an interview that you gave to a friend of mine, Roberta Belvins at Life After MLM where you speak more in depth about your experience with iTown and what led to you creating those platforms. Today's interview will focus more on your relationship with Megan Stoner. But certainly if you are interested in learning more about iTown, you'll definitely want to check out the interview that we will link in the episode notes. Well, my whole situation with iTown has been something very devastating. I'm a single mom and I was raising my daughter alone and 13 years ago she was 14 years old.

She's 27 now. I didn't grow up in church while I was raising her and for younger years. We attended church some but we were not really entrenched in a church environment and so when she was 14 she just came to me and said, hey mom do you mind if I go to church with my friend Sunday? And I'm a realtor, so I work a lot on the weekends. So I thought, church? Yeah, that sounds great. What's the church? I allowed her to go that first Sunday, and from the minute she walked in to iTown's doors,

she was hooked. She was hook, line, and sinker. I thought, wow, how great is this? I've got this teenage daughter and she wants to be in church all the time. She's not out getting into trouble and she's not trying to drink or have sex or, you know, any of those things that you worry about as a mom. Soon after she attended for the first time, I went and attended services and I thought, wow, this all looks pretty cool.

I didn't see anything that I was too worried about. For seven years I was attending. Now keep in mind being a realtor, I worked a lot on the weekends so I at the time I worked in new home sales so I had a model home that I had to go and open up on Sunday afternoon and so she would go to church and I would maybe pop in watch the service Didn't feel like anything was wrong and then I'd go to work and she would end up Volunteering she went from volunteering almost immediately to then be hired part-time to work After she turned 18 she went on staff there full-time In the last several years, I've been able to discover what I was going on behind the scenes. Five years ago, in the first part of the year, it'll be five years, they totally

separated her from me. And I've not been able to even see or speak to my daughter since February 28th of 2020. So it's very difficult to say the least. Is it like evangelical style of church or is it more modern like... It's more modern, yes. Well, here's how I describe it because I've had to figure all this out in the last four years. If you took the old style Pentecostal teachings but wrapped it in a very cool trendy exterior, that's what you've got there. Okay, that sounds a lot like Bethel in California. And Julie Roy's mentioned Arc, the Association of Related Churches. That's what Ikeman is a part of

and there has been numerous scandals and Julie's reported on almost all of them. And is that how you met Megan? Well, yes. Yes. And I even looked back because I was friends with her on Facebook. It was about five months that I had an association with her. So it started in December of 21, so almost two years after they totally separated me from my daughter. At that time, there was a lot of people from iTown who had had bad experiences or were hurt there, but nobody would talk about it. And even today, they still have control of my daughter, a hundred percent. And so I was trying to find, are there other people who have been hurt?

Did they do this just to me? I'm trying to figure it out but not having very much in the way of information because no one wanted to share what they experienced there. And so all of a sudden it popped up on one of our local groups. I found where I had originally reached out to Megan. Now this was on November 30th of 21. I wrote, Hi Megan, I saw your post about iTown in the Noble Seal Chatter Uncensored group. I also had a horrendous experience there. I was curious what happened to you and what happened when they asked you to remove your post. I was thinking of

coming out publicly with my story. As soon as I sent her that, she sent me back, I am actually starting a podcast about iTown. And she said, would it be possible to talk to you on the phone today? I thought, wow, finally someone who is maybe taking notice of what's happening at iTown. I thought maybe this is someone who might have some information with me about my daughter. So that started her communicating with me. She seemed very odd but I was just looking for information about my daughter. How do I find out what's going on behind those walls? How do I get to my daughter? So I had a different kind of motivation meeting her, especially when she said that she was basically getting ready to come out about ITEM. And I'm thinking,

oh, maybe there are other people who have had bad experiences that will now start telling their stories. Very quickly, she just kind of latched on to me because I think that she liked the fact that I needed something that she wanted me to feel like she might be able to provide it. She was constantly creating drama to draw you into her story to either gain attention or to, for you to view her as a victim so that you would support her in some way. And like most people have said, in the beginning you feel like she's a little bit different but you don't feel like she's a malicious type of person. And nobody said this on your podcast yet but actually she could be very funny.

Like sometimes she would come up with something that was just hilarious. So she's very entertaining at times and very engaging at times too. I'm quite a bit older than her obviously and she seemed to almost need someone to kind of guide her a little bit, maybe be a little bit of a mentor to her. I never gave her money or anything like that. I never let her come and stay at my home. Nothing like that. But emotionally, she seemed to just, I don't know, attached to me for some reason. I've been struggling with it for two years. She used that as an opportunity to make me think that she could help me, almost like dangling a carrot in front of me. You know, she made it seem

like, oh well I have contacts with certain people that are still there and I can find out stuff and she was just making it all up. Basically exploiting your pain for your attention. Yes, oh my gosh, yes. That's the best way to put it. You hit the nail right on the head. The more that you would get to know her, the more of these things that she would share with you, like the people from EyeTown were showing up at her house and threatening her and running her off the road. As those kind of things started coming out, I'm like,

now wait a minute, this doesn't make sense. She just had such a way of like, I'm gonna fucking you in. The whole thing about when she started saying that she received these sex toys in the mail and these really big designer cookies that are quite expensive. She would send me a picture of boxes of these cookies that she said that someone just randomly sent her.

And she felt that maybe there was something in the cookies. I mean, just all of these crazy stories. And then it just kept escalating into more craziness. Did you know that after World War II, the U.S. government quietly brought former Nazi scientists to America in a covert operation to advance military technology? Or that in the 1950s the US Army conducted a secret experiment by releasing bacteria over San Francisco to test how a biological attack might spread without alerting the public? These might sound like conspiracy theories but they're not.

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Follow Kill List on the Wanderer app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C True Crime shows like Morbid early and ad free right now by joining Wondry+. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondry app for all your True Crime listening. At one point she claimed that her mother got shot by someone from Eye Town. Is there anything else you recall during that time allegations that she was making? Yes, several. I went back and I looked at these messages that we had through Facebook Messenger back

then and I realized that she was messaging me constantly. I think maybe I was hoping for tidbits of truth about things that were happening with my daughter. Maybe that was part of it. I kind of let her go on so long with these things that you just knew couldn't be true. Like I remember once she told me that she was asleep in bed and all of a sudden she woke up and this guy was in her bedroom with her. And I'm like, what, what did you do?

You know? And she made it sound like the police came and took him away and that was it. And I'm like, that could not have happened. There's no way. I mean, she didn't say he was in bed with her but that he was just in her room. She had a ring camera on the door of the house. Now keep in mind this is that house that she was renting but she was trying to rent it to other people and took money from them to rent it to them and she didn't even own the

house. That's the house that I went to when I first met her. And I mean, it looked normal. She had a nice little furniture in there. She had a dog, you know, it's a little 1200 square foot ranch and a cute area and fissures and everything looked and seemed normal. She had the ring camera on her door and she would take videos of people that came up to the door.

I don't know what these people were coming up to the door, but then she would take these videos and she would claim that these people were all from iTown, all these people coming up to the door to harass her about iTown. Did she call you or text you directly to tell you about her mom being allegedly shot by someone from iTown or did you see it online? Oh no, she was, she was in conversation with me during that time. She told me that. What else did she tell me?

Oh my gosh, it was just craziness after craziness. She got arrested once during that time. This was something about when she wrecked that car, she drove that car through a sump or something. And I get a call from the Madison County jail or somewhere and it was, you have a call from an inmate, blah, blah, blah. And it was her. She was in jail and she wanted me to try to help her. And I'm like, girl, I can't help you. At this point, things had already gotten crazy enough that I didn't believe anything that she said.

So it sounds like that arrest you're talking about was when she got the, it was originally a DUI. It eventually got converted, I believe, to an OWI for what Megan claims is because she had cough syrup in the front seat. Yes. I'm sure you probably know this, but it turned out that that Tesla was not her. And I'm sure that people have already talked to you about this, but she claimed that she worked for the governor. The night I met her, when I pulled up in the driveway, the Tesla was in front of me. And truthfully, I just noticed it was a dark blue car. I didn't really pay attention that it was a Tesla. When I was inside and her and I were talking. And I was kind of, Asherim was like,

so what do you do? And she goes, oh, I work for the governor. I work for Eric Holcomb. And we're like real buddies. And she made it sound like him and his wife kind of like took her under their wing. I don't understand how she could have gotten away with so long telling people that she worked for the governor and the governor not coming forward and saying, I don't know this chick, but she told me that he bought her that car. I did just remember something else that she did one day. Again, I'm a realtor. I know a lot of realtors in my community.

I've been doing this a long time. And so she called me one day and she goes, oh, guess what? And I said what? And she goes, I'm dating a realtor now. And I go, what do you mean? And she goes, yes, I was at this event and he bought me a drink and you know, and I'm thinking, and I said, so what's his name? And she told me and I pulled him up on Facebook

and he was this young, cute guy. And I'm looking at his Facebook page and he's married, like with a cute young wife. And I go, Megan, the guy you're talking about, he's married. And she goes, I can't believe that, oh well. And then she just changed the subject. But I'm like, how do you get, I'm dating a realtor

out of running into someone that was maybe pleasant to you at a networking event? I think it highlights her delusion. What she would do to keep me engaged is she would, it was almost like she was catfishing us because she would contact me and she would say, oh, I found out something about my daughter. And I would be like, okay, what? What did you find out? She makes it sound like she's got the end with certain people that are upset there, but they don't want to leave because they're afraid that they talked to her. That's what she made me think.

And then the final one, the final thing that she did, this was it. This was when I was done. So this would have been some time around the end of April of 21. So her and I were talking on the phone and she probably called me like really late, maybe around midnight. So I'm talking to her and she's telling me that my daughter had trouble with her car and she's like stranded and that this other person that she had talked to had talked to my daughter, but she couldn't go and help her for whatever reason. So she made it sound like this other person was talking to my daughter who was then talking to Megan and then Megan

was talking to me about it. And she'd be like, oh, wait a minute, I think so-and-so is going to go help her. Let me hear, let me look and see what she just said." Oh, she said that she can't go yet and she created this whole situation. And I go, you know what? I'm going to go. I thought if my daughter is stranded on the side of the road somewhere, I'm going to go save my daughter. I said, okay, where exactly is she? And she tells me the street and it's like a half an hour drive from where I live. I get up and I get dressed and I'm like, I'm just going to go and I'm just going to pull up and to my daughter I'm just going to say, get in. You're stranded, get in and just go and get her.

And so I drive up there and where she told me she was supposed to be, there was no car there. I went from that location and drove to where my daughter's house is. While I'm driving there I'm still on the phone with Megan and I drive there and guess what? My daughter's car is sitting safely in her driveway at the back of her house and all of her lights are off in her house so she's obviously home and safe not stranded on a road somewhere. I said Megan her car is at her house She's safely at home. I just hung up on her

Because at that point I'm like furious knowing that this whole evening of Me being worried about my daughter was all just fake Well for two days, I think it was I didn't talk to her at all and then she finally got me on the phone and I just said Megan it's not true. My daughter was at home safely and I don't even remember what her comment was but I just basically got off the phone and that was really the last interaction that I had with her. That had to be so upsetting when you went and looked for her and then you make that discovery. Did you already suspect that it could have been a lie

given your experience of making by that point? Yes, I did. It was so believable what she was telling me. As a mom, you're gonna be like, oh my gosh, my child is stranded in the middle of the night out in the middle of nowhere in the dark. Go help your child. Then of course I'm sure Megan was figuring out that she was getting ready to be caught because she was on the phone with me the whole time. Her lies have very real consequences. Yeah and I think that she latcheses onto one person and takes it as far as they will let her take it. And then whenever they realize that they have to get this person away from

them, then she will latch onto the next person. Please note, iTownChurch has not responded to our request for comment. So I, at some point, deleted her as a friend off of Facebook because I just was like, she's weird. I don't want her seeing my stuff. That's Chloe. Like Justin, she's a political acquaintance of Stoner's. We heard from her at the top of episode two when she shared about Stoner falsifying political

data. I kept her on, I want to say Twitter and I think Instagram, I think this was 2021, she got mad at me and blocked me because we, and when I say we, I mean, my husband and I and a small group of Indiana young Republicans caught her trying to sign up to volunteer to work the Young Republican National Convention that was going to be in Indianapolis that summer. And my husband was one of the folks on the YR board who was running this convention in the fall. I was pregnant at the time and so I was like, nope, not volunteering, sitting on my couch, watching TV. So I said, hey, you go to the convention, you have fun, say hi to everybody, but I can't

work the registration table. I just can't do it. And Kyle, my husband said, Hey, we've got someone that's emailing the young Republican email, I think by the name of Maggie Stone or another fake name. So it was super obvious who it was. And I said, Oh, that's gotta be Megan Stoner. She just wants to get in for free. These types of conventions and conferences, you normally have to pay like 250 bucks, maybe 200, something like that to get in,

but it includes the programming, your meals, and some swag. So it's well worth it to network and meet like-minded people and see friends and have fun. And so I'm like, gosh, you know, she's coming downtown all the time. Why doesn't she just want to fork over the money? That's ridiculous. So she started subtweeting my husband and everybody else that was on the planning committee. And she was like, man, they're not going to let me volunteer. This is ridiculous. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She starts tagging my husband on Twitter because

she knew that he was the one that was saying, no, we're good. Thanks. And he responded and said, hey, we knew because you have a history of doing this, that if you were to attend and work the registration table, you would skip it and then just go into the event for free. We can only let people who actually volunteer do that. That's not fair to the other ticket holders. That's what happens most of the time. You know, at these events, it's like, hey, to thank everybody for helping set up and putting out the t-shirts, doing the grunt work, we'll let you go into the programming

for free and go and have a good drink and have fun. But Megan had a history of skipping out on that and going in and getting the perks without any of the actual work. So she threatened to call the media or something and then she went on some talk show that has since been deleted. It was called like erupt news. It was some independent news thing and they gave her a platform. But the Twitter backlash that I have faced in the last 24 hours has absolutely been out

of just, I never thought I would face this backlash. Being told that I'm not a royal Republican, being told that I'm taking advantage of the party, these things I have never been called my entire life and all of a sudden I'm being called these things, what a shame. But I will continue to be a voice, I will continue to move and shake and I think a lot of it comes down to jealousy. I think a lot of them are jealous that they've not had the monumental impact that I've had and that's fine. Jealousy is

really hard. There is one parody account that has absolutely trolled me for the last 18 hours. They have questioned everything in my life. Apparently I don't own the car that I'm sitting out at the Starbucks looking at right now. Everything in my life. Apparently, I don't own the car that I'm seeing out at the Starbucks looking at right now. Everything in my life, they have questioned. They've wanted me to meet them at a parking garage, to show them the car that I own, that apparently all I do is lie. When I'm sitting here looking at my car that I drove to this location, I've been open about the car I own.

I do own a Tesla. I've been pretty open and transparent on Twitter. And I like to brag, to be quite honest, because I've worked very hard and, you know, I like to have nice things. And that's, you know, never a bad thing. Capitalism works. I think a lot of it is just jealousy that I've gotten a piece of legislation through and that I've made a name for myself, like it or not. I kind of make the joke that Megan Stoner was one of my favorite things to watch on the internet. So I just paid attention to her Twitter because that's where she would put a lot of her ridiculous

thoughts and she would complain about stuff. And then I got a text message, I think the morning of her arrest, I don't remember who it was. I think it was somebody in Indiana politics and said, hey, Megan Stoner has been arrested for this and I said no way. A Hamilton County woman is facing serious charges accused of scamming

several people out of rental homes. For a year and a half, Victoria Hampton has been waiting for justice. She says in 2021 she was scammed out of $1,800 by 25-year-old Megan Stoner, after accepting an offer to sublet Stoner's apartment. But Hampton never got the keys or her money back. The only thing she got were excuses,

including blaming sick relatives for the reason Stoner didn't move. And I said, Megan, I'm sorry you have a sick relative, but I'm going to be homeless. You don't seem to care about that. Hampton now 70 years old says she never expected a thing. I was just so excited to get an apartment that I didn't even think about anybody doing anything like that.

I mean, this girl was driving a Tesla. Living in a house in fishers. The scam left her financially devastated and she was forced to move to Arizona and live with a friend until she got back on her feet. She's a predator. She has no conscience. On April 26, 2023, Katie Cox for WRTV Indianapolis reported on Stoner's rental scheme, stating, a Fisher's woman has been charged after investigators say she tried to lease a home, which she did not own, to multiple people. According to probable cause documents filed against Stoner,

police and Fishers began receiving calls about a rental scam in December of 2021. Each of the three victims told police that they had been in contact with Stoner through Facebook about the rental property. In two incidents, the victims claimed they had made a post about needing to find a rental and Stoner had contacted them individually. The third person said they reached out to Stoner after seeing her post about the same home on Morgan Street. Each of the victims told investigators

they had toured the home, signed a rental agreement via DocuSign, and paid Stoner between $600 and $1,700 to secure the home for rental. They were each given varying move-in dates and said that as the date of their move-in drew near, Stoner would contact them and move the date back. Sometimes she claimed to have been in

an accident, other times she claimed she was taking care of a sick relative. During the course of the investigation, police made contact with the actual owner of the home, who stated that Stoner was leasing it from him. He provided police with a copy of Stoner's lease, prohibiting her from subleasing the property, court documents say. The owner told police he was in the process of evicting Stoner for attempting to sublease his rental property to several different people. Stoner has been charged with three separate felony counts of fraud and three separate felony counts of theft, as well as a felony count of corrupt business influence." End quote.

Shortly after Stoner was arrested, April 28th, 2023, she quickly posted bond and was released while awaiting trial. Shortly after, a local Facebook group was started by concerned community members in an effort to warn the public about Stoner's alleged scams. Here's Chloe again.

I went on mycase.in.gov and you can look up any Hoosier in the back end of my case and you can find any traffic tickets, arrest records, divorce records, anything. We've got a very open public records system and it said that it was an OWI. And she put this thing on Facebook about how I got pulled over because someone from Itown Church was trying to run me off the road because I started this podcast that's trying to uncover the corruption in the Itown Church. And they caught me with cough medicine and that's why I got arrested.

And I had to spend a night in jail. And this is just ridiculous. And it's like, wow, this is classic Megan not wanting to take accountability for her actions. And to this day, I still don't know what it was that she was pulled over with. I'm actually the one who started the stuff on Twitter, most of it at least. I don't know what overcame me, but I had been keeping in my head track of most of her ridiculousness and I started a Twitter thread, maybe it was seen a hundred thousand times. It went semi-viral in Indiana and I basically said, hey, she's been arrested, it's long overdue, here's a bunch of the stuff that she has done. I think my Twitter thread is partially what prompted some of the group and the Twitter spaces.

It was the morning of the arrest for the rental scams because I had access to the probable cause affidavit and included some of that in there. I believe that's what prompted the Twitter thread. And what's crazy is that while this was going like semi-viral and a lot of people had seen it and they were like, oh my gosh, I know this girl because she would DM me for money or she would DM me for this or she would DM me for that.

They would say, she added me on Facebook and asked for money for her classroom too. This is ridiculous. And I kid you not, I probably had between 150 to 200 people over that week who reached out to me on social media that I either knew from Republican circles, who I'd never met in real life, but I knew them via the internet. And they said, hey, I gave her $10 when she asked me for 10 bucks for this prevent suicide walk that she was doing. And that's when I realized that her wild and craziness

expanded far beyond Indiana and went throughout the whole US. When she had been arrested, I got on a phone call with her and recorded that phone call. How are you Megan? Hi Chloe. So what's the purpose of you wanting to chit chat? I mean we don't have to, obviously.

I understand that I've done some things wrong in the past. And I'm trying to correct those to go up and forward. And I just wanted to reach out because I know you're one of the people that have been attacking me right along. I wouldn't call it attacking. I would call it sharing facts. Okay, if that's okay.

I mean, what have I said that's not truthful? I guess maybe we can start there. I mean, Chloe, I'm not's not truthful? I guess maybe we can start there. I mean, Chloe, I'm not going to sit here and go through every little thing. If you want to ask me questions, I will try to answer them the best of my ability. I'm not going to entertain questions on the legal front. But if you have any questions, I will try my best. I'm happy to try to shed new light on things that I can. So what have I said that's not truthful? Well, you've claimed I wasn't an intern on Todd Young's campaign. Megan, don't try to get me on technicalities.

You never were paid, you were never an intern. You were a volunteer, you forged data, that's why you were removed from the campaign. I have three different sources telling me that. So let's cut it, cut it. Be honest. It feels so much better to be honest. It feels so much better to be honest.

And I know that you have this political reputation that you want to keep going forward, but you know that everybody in Indiana knows that you're lying. Everybody knows. Everybody. So cut it. Okay, so what do you want to know? You lied about the Todd Young's campaign. Yes or no? No, I was an intern, Chloe. You were not an intern. Okay, I guess it would, okay, well that's what called it in the text message. Are you saying I'm not an intern because I was fired is that what it is? Well so you were asked to leave then. Yeah but are you saying are you I guess then is the difference that you're saying I was fired so I can't call it an internship? I mean I mean get it on get it on a technicality but resigned, but really you were fired and asked to leave.

I agree, I was fired. I went back and I was fired two days later. I agree, I was fired. Okay, so you admit you faked the data and that's why you were fired. Some of it, yeah. Why? I mean, I don't like door knocking.

Like, I hate it. So I get it. I guess at the time I didn't realize the consequences. Yeah, I mean. So the campaign. Yeah, and you faked my data too. So Curtis? Yeah, you faked that too. Honestly, I don't remember, but I probably did.

Yeah. What other campaigns have you been lying about? I mean, we'll keep it to political stuff because that's my wheelhouse, but what other campaigns have you been lying about? I mean, we'll keep it to political stuff because that's my wheelhouse, but what other campaigns have you been lying about? You never worked at State Party. Never said I did. I got that taken back from me. Yes, yes, yes, yes, you did.

Mark Warner, Mike Neal, they have all said that you went around Brian's Mansky I can't pronounce his last name the guy on my pence's Staff in 2016 they have they have all said that you would go around and say you're either working at State Party Or you were working at pence's campaign They were constantly feeling phone calls of oh my gosh, you know that Megan Stoner is saying that you're working on this campaign? You're working in this office? And they had to put that rumor to rest. So you lied about that. Yes or no? Honestly, I can't remember. I know that You've never worked on Mike Pence's campaign. Have you ever has let me rephrase this. Have you ever gotten a paycheck from any campaign? An actual paycheck?

Does a non does a 501 C3 count? That's a 501 C3 is a nonprofit organization. That's not a political campaign. Political campaigns cannot be 501 C3s. Have you ever gotten a paycheck from a political campaign? I know what the answer is. It's no. No. You've volunteered on campaigns. So you can say that you volunteered on campaigns. Sure. Yeah. So you have never actually worked as an employee, as a contractor, as a 1099, as a W-2. Okay. worked as an employee, as a contractor, as a 1099, as a W-2. Okay. Doesn't it feel good to be honest? Yeah. Yeah, it should. It should feel really good to be honest. When did you work in the governor's office?

You didn't. You didn't. So why did you tell a therapist or someone, some other trusted person? Do you know what story I'm going to tell you? During COVID, what did you tell a therapist that was happening in the governor's office? That launched during COVID. Didn't you tell somebody that you were working in Eric Holcomb's administration? Who did I tell? I'm asking you. Because it launched a Indiana State Police investigation caused a lot of problems. Oh, okay. Yeah, Benjamin. Yeah, okay. Why did

you do that? You didn't work there and during COVID, you caused all of these problems. All of these problems during a public health emergency and had all of those resources going instead of going from the governor's office, they went to some BS investigation. Why would you do that? And like as a Republican, as a conservative, we need young people to be involved. But do you realize how you, you're never gonna actually work in Indiana politics, ever. I mean, you realize that.

I'm aware. I mean, so did you also, you wrote bad checks to the Carly Fiorina event, yes? No, I paid with a credit card. I don't think they took credit cards. I don't think they took credit cards. I don't think they took checks. I have heard many, many people who were working in and around that saying that you wrote a bad check.

I do know you still owe $100 to the Madison County GOP for, what's it called? State Convention from 2018. So I mean, add that to your tab. But you know the other thing that also really pisses me off is the number of and I do not doubt and this is incredibly sensitive I do not doubt that you've had terrible things happen to you and for that I'm sorry but to actively go around and make accusations against good people horrifying so what's true Bosma Pence Holcomb nicely who I've never said nicely I've never seen

anything against most of those men that you've talked about I don't know you got that info but you can confirm nicely I've never said anything against most of those men that you've talked about. I don't know if you got that info, but you can confirm it nicely. I've never said anything about him. Okay, so Bosma, true or not true? Not true. So why would you make the accusation? I don't know, Chloe. I mean, attention?

Yeah. Holcomb? I've never said anything. Holcomb? I've never said anything as Holcomb. Well, I can't, you know, you read things, so you know. Oh, shit. Bosma, Holcomb, Knisley. There were some- Pence.

Pence, so Pence, true or not true? Not true, and I've never claimed that. I really have it Chloe. So it's only Bosma? Yeah. And that turns out to be not true? Yeah. Do you understand why people would not want to have you at events? I mean do you understand why, okay let's say that you know you did pay restitution or you did do something good, how people would not want to believe you because of your track record? Yeah, that's fine. So here's my question then.

Why will you not admit publicly that you have been... Rental scam stuff, that's a totally different ballpark. And for that, I think you need to probably talk to a certified counselor or a priest, rabbi, whatever your religious affiliation is, right? But for the political stuff, why, why can you not just come out and say, Hey, I have heard so and so, so and so, so and so and so and so and so and I'm ready to make amends? Is it, is it a pride thing? Is it fear? Like what, what is it? I mean, honestly, I've considered that, but I didn't know that it would matter anyway. So that's why I've not done it because I

figured that nobody cares about my opinion or what I say. So I figured it wouldn't matter. But you do realize that everybody is redeemable and you can be redeemed if you start telling the truth. That's where the story turns around is when you start telling the truth. It feels good to telling the truth. That's where the story turns around, is when you start telling the truth. It feels good to tell the truth. When you start telling the truth, you start to gain back that trust over and over and over and over again.

So I don't know, like again, I'm not a lawyer, I don't play one on TV, but if you were to talk to, you know, a lawyer about what are, you know, the nine felonies that you're currently facing and say, I did it. Give me parole, give me whatever. You probably would avoid jail time. Obviously, you would need to talk to a lawyer. Again, I'm not a lawyer. I don't play one on TV. But I've noticed

that when you tend to tell the truth and ask for forgiveness, it works better for you in the long run, right? You probably can start building back your reputation if you come out and say, I lied about this, this, this, this, every single thing, I lied about it, I have a problem, I know I do, I'm working on it, and there you go. You are then free. But you have to want to do it. You have to be willing to do the work. I don't know if you're willing to do that. And that's my question to you. I don't know that you're willing to do that. So what other, what other political stuff? I mean, writing bad checks to events, yes? Well, maybe one to the John Kasich campaign. Okay, so some indie fundraiser was a bad check. Yeah. Why? Honestly, at the time it was my parents check and didn't know it was bad.

Oh, that happens. And it wasn't my check. I couldn't have checks at that age. At what? How old were you? I had checks when I was 17. You can have checks when you're 17. Why the... Have you realized that it just kind of started small and then it just snowballed and snowballed and snowballed to the point where now you're just facing what? Nine felonies?

Yeah. Where did you get the campaign donations for your race in 2018? Honestly, off of social media. Were any of them more than $100? No. Did you, did you report those donations? Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did. I mean, my filing, I don't think there was anything to really report other than expenditures.

I kind of went overboard on the website. Well, that's tech. You know, I'm worried that you are going to get in ten times more trouble for the unaccounted income. Do you file taxes? No. I mean, again... Not under my LLC. I don't have an LLC.

So you probably should remove political consultant out of your bio then. Okay. So you probably should remove political consultant out of your bio then. Hey, it's your life. You do what you want to do, but I mean, start small, right? Like start small. I mean, talk to your lawyer, but you will get caught for income, especially with, I mean, you're gonna get caught. That's the next thing you should probably talk about with your legal team. Say I have all this unreported income, what am I gonna do? Because here's the other problem.

Money that you have or even that you took illegally, you have to pay taxes on it. Correct. Yeah, I know. Yeah. What else, what else do you want to get off your chest? I really don't know. I mean, happy to answer any questions. I mean- I don't know what else to own. I don't know what else

you have interest on, interest in. I mean, unfortunately, I, you know, don't really believe much of what you say. I think there's a lot more than four to five victims that are named in the probable cause affidavit. A lot. My count from Facebook groups was 20 to 50. I don't think it's that high, but I mean, I know it's higher than three or four. I, of the people who said that they either had given you

money like travel nurses, I mean, I assume it's a lot higher than that, but again. Justin and I are working on putting a public call out and trying to figure out who all was wronged and if they've been wronged, I'm happy to try to make that right. And I've started that tonight with another victim. That's good. But are you going to continue that though?

Are you, are you going to put in the work? Yeah. I mean, what's here's my question. Have you ever had a job? Yeah. Where, where have you worked? Where, where have you received a 1099 W-2? Where have you had a job? Yeah. Where? Where have you worked? Where have you received a 1099W2? Where have you received a paycheck?

Online tutoring. You think you should be working with kids? Not working with kids online. It's like proofreading like essays and stuff for college adults, like resumes and stuff. It's nothing to do with kids. Are you really a teacher? Yes, I have a teaching license. I didn't ask if you had a teaching license.

Where have you taught? I've taught under Kelly Education as a substitute teacher. For how long? Just since August. One second. Just since August. And you're still actively employed there? Not as of today, no. What do you mean not as of today? You got fired, you...

They put me on temporary leave until after the trial, I guess. I don't know. I'm still fighting that. I don't know. Do you honestly think you should be teaching kids, though? With your... This is a serious question. Should you be teaching people under the age of 18 with your track record? I'm not teaching, I'm putting out plans, that's all I'm doing. Were you ever in a classroom? Yes, I was. I was hired at Mount Vernon.

For how long? I don't know, I was. I was hired at Mount Vernon. For how long? I don't know, a week. Yeah, options, charter school, Mount Vernon. Do you think it was right of you to be teaching kids with your track record? No. Yeah. So, are you at 40 hours a week, like actively employed right now with the tutoring thing? Or is it like more part-time? It's part-time.

What are you going to do to pay restitution? I'm figuring it out Chloe. I'm applying at places. I'm thinking about like maybe Starbucks or Hobby Lobby, like just stocking shelves, like something that it doesn't really matter about pride, it's just something to make money. Goodwill hires people with track records, but you know I think that's that's a big part of making amends is paying restitution and starting probably going all the way back. What's the deal with your Aunt Linda? I mean, it doesn't matter.

I know you're not gonna believe it, so I don't know what the... I mean, hey, try me. Checkbook, did you take a checkbook? Did you take a credit card? What was it? Credit card. And when, how long did it take before she found out

or before she noticed? Close to a year, I think. Damn! Aunt Linda wasn't watching the statements? I guess not. Shoot! My dad was always on my ass. And how's that relation, I mean, are you two, I mean, that's your aunt. That's a blood relative. Have there been made amends there?

A little bit, yeah. I'm sure she trusts you or no? Don't really discuss that. I mean, she came and got me when I was in jail with the DUI. I don't really know what to say to that. I mean, she was gonna help me out with bail money this last time, but I ended up not going that route because I didn't wanna owe her even more money. Yeah, I mean, as far as trust goes, I don't really know what to say.

I mean, she talked to me the night I got out of jail and we've talked since I mean, I mean, she seems to care about me. I can say that much trust. I don't know. No, it's family. But still, but still. So your Amazon list was that were those items for you or were those for students? Actually for students. I don't know. It just seems pretty fishy that, I mean you only worked, how long did you actually work in a classroom though? Mount Vernon you said a week, Options was what? Around that same time? Yeah, but I mean you can, I have another friend that you can ask, I mean I move shit in.

I mean, I took my stuff that I had. Books, stickers, supplies, pencils, notebooks, erasers. I took all that stuff in the classroom with me. So, so why, why keep sharing the list if you're not teaching? If you're not actively in the classroom? Do you see where the dots don't connect? Yeah. So, it was for you?

Yeah. Yeah. So, it started as students and then it was just for you? Doesn't it feel good to be honest? Yeah. Let me ask you, I'll probably end with this. The DUI. Drinking, weed, what was it? Honestly, I have the paperwork if you want to see it. I don't care. It was cough medicine. I don't believe that. I don't believe, I do not believe that it was cough medicine. Were you

breathalyzed on the scene? I was. Cough medicine's not gonna get you above the legal limit. Chloe, it was 0.0. That's why it's an OWI now. I don't know. Come to the trial. It's June something. Are you going to push it back and say that you're sick? Or are you actually going to, are you going to go? Well, I'm out of continuances. The last time you stay, ask for the continuance. Ah. What's with the Julie Roy's murder for hire plot?

Was that all fabricated too? Yeah. Why? Yeah. Why? Attention. Say that again? For attention. For attention. I seem to be not a counselor. I'm just a journalism major. It seems that you need attention. And you thrive off of it. And I think that moving forward in trying to right the wrongs that you have done, I

think you need to keep that in the back of your head and say, am I really doing this for Megan, am I doing this for good reasons or am I doing it for Megan reasons? Because it seems as if every single step where there has been some type of wrong, it has been for attention. And that's not, no jury's gonna fix that for you. That's gotta be done on the inside, right? Yeah.

I mean, I know everybody, and that's the other thing I wanna address. I know everybody keeps talking about like a jury trial and all this. I hope everyone realizes that like, if I do go a jury trial and I don't take a plea bargain, which I don't know what I'm gonna do yet, all I've done is consult with attorneys.

I've not repaid one. First of all, the jury trial would be dragged out. It's not going to, I highly, highly, highly, highly, highly doubt it would be this year. And I'm sure your husband can agree. A jury trial probably would not happen in this calendar year. Even though it's scheduled to, I still doubt that it would actually happen.

Second of all, if I take a plea bargain, which I actually asked this question this weekend to an attorney, if I take a plea bargain, I'm still looking at a six to nine month turnaround time. It's not going to be quick. So, I mean, there's that. I mean, it's just nothing's gonna be quick. I doubt I'm gonna do a jury trial. Yeah, so, I mean, there's that. I mean, I know everybody is thriving off the idea of coming to my jury trial. Well, first of all, I doubt we're gonna go that route.

Second of all, I've already been thinking about what a plea bargain would look like from the prosecutor's office. Most cases don't go to trial, but I don't really have anything else. And I would not, I would highly recommend you not put anything on Twitter that says that you and I had any kind of productive conversation because at the end of the day, it was me basically telling you what I already know to be true and that's that you've been lying and have been.

So I would highly suggest maybe not doing that. But I don't control, I'm that Facebook group that's out there. I'm not an admin. I don't know anything about it. I didn't make it. The only thing I have been sharing is facts that I can prove. Facts that I've gotten either from my case or where I've gotten at least two to three sources to confirm that, well, yeah, you actually did mess up the data on Young's campaign. The big thing that was definitely very frustrating for a lot of YRs, you did not

have credentials to the 2021 national convention here in Indianapolis. You kept saying that you did, but you didn't. Why did you contact Jeff and Kyle with a fake email address asking to volunteer? Because nobody would ever get back to me and nobody would be honest with me. Is it maybe because do you think you were never honest with them?

Yeah, now I do. Yeah. Now that's how that tends to work. I'm warned. Yeah, and unfortunately the hard way. I guess my big thing is what's really frustrated me is in the last 10 years noticing and realizing that your lies went from super, super tiny to snowballed

and, oh, so-and-so was left homeless, so-and-so couldn't buy their kids Christmas presents, so-and-so couldn't do this, so and so was left homeless, so and so couldn't buy their kids Christmas presents, so and so couldn't do this, so and so couldn't do that. I mean, that's pretty messed up. So I guess thank you for, you know, being as honest as you possibly can be, but I would implore you to actually do the work, right your wrongs, pay restitution. And I do know that telling the truth, one, it feels good, two, usually people will say,

okay, well, since you were forthright, then we're not gonna punish you as much. So take that with what you will. Best of luck to you, Megan. Coming up this season on Something Was Wrong. Some of the young parents who weren't able to give their kids Christmas, that's what really bothered me and that's what kind of lit the fire under my butt to air out her dirty laundry because I don't want anybody else to ever be taken advantage of again like that. I had sent her a text and I said, you know, I'm a reporter and I want to pay you for your life story.

This was my way in with her. I had sent her a text and I said, you know, I'm a reporter and I want to pay you for your life story. This was my way in with her. And we start having these conversations. At this point, her rearrest warrant had been out for a while. She hadn't been turned in. She was running from the police. The admin group was running a couple different schemes to catch her that we were not all aware of at the time. Megan agreed to meet me.

And she's like, I'll come pick you up. Tell me where, tell me when. We can do it tonight. 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 Wondry, 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 Gibanes for covering our theme song, Gladrag's original

song You Think You, 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.

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