The Binge Cases: Denise Didn't Come Home - Puppy Kingpin | 5. Small Town Secrets

Episode Date: July 7, 2022

Alex heads to Britt, Iowa where Jolyn Noethe grew up and her for-profit enterprise, J.A.K.’s Puppies, is headquartered. He discovers that a family dispute is part of the reason she started her own brokering business. A Neon Hum Media and Sony Music Entertainment production. Unlock all episodes of Smoke Screen, ad-free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month — that’s all episodes, all at once, all ad-free. Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. I want to start by telling you a popular legend.

It's not about dogs. It's about something else a lot of Americans love, Disney. Apparently, one day, Walt Disney was at his amusement park in California when he saw a cowboy walking through Tomorrowland. It was jarring. Tomorrowland was supposed to be about the future, and here was this old-fashioned cowboy with a big hat and checkered shirt. Seeing the past stroll through the future ruined the immersive storytelling Walt was trying to achieve. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past. And here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.

He wanted to figure out a way to avoid letting visitors see the realities of running a magic kingdom. That's one of the reasons, the story goes, things were done differently when he built his second park, Walt Disney World. There are a series of tunnels underneath the park to let cast members move between worlds, let janitors remove trash, and keep the magic magical. In a way, JoLynn's business is about managing the tunnels of the puppy world. She helps maintain a fantasy. If customers saw how a puppy got to them, then the story might be ruined, and they could decide to spend their money elsewhere.

By now, I'd realized secrecy is part of what keeps Jolin in business. Think about it. She claims to be a breeder online, but isn't. She rarely gives interviews. And almost none of her business associates would talk about their work. You've reached Jack's Puppies Incorporated. I'd call Jack's offices, JoLynn, her family, and close friends who were also accused in the lawsuits. For greater relations or to list puppies, press 2.

Every single person I reached over the phone was polite, but didn't want to be interviewed. I expected at least some of them would want to defend their work. If you don't want people to be suspicious, just explain what you do and how you get the puppies. Instead, no one wanted to do and how you get the puppies. Instead, no one wanted to talk about how the tunnels worked. So we decided to head to Iowa. Oh, here we are. Yep, we're approaching Britt. My producer Natalie Wren and I are driving to the small town of Britt. Britt is JoLynn Nothie's hometown and the place she chose to headquarter Jack's puppies.

During the months I'd been reporting this podcast, I'd reached out to see if JoLynn would talk to me, but hadn't heard back. And then right before Natalie and I came to Brit, I got an email from JoLynn herself. She told me that she thought I'd give her a fair interview, but feared animal rights advocates would twist her words. So she said no. But that didn't stop us from coming to Brit. The sky was bright blue with perfect little popcorn-like clouds. I decided that if we were going to visit the headquarters of Jack's Puppies,

there was no better time than the National Hobo Convention. It happens in August. The convention was the inspiration for Jolin's first rescue, Hobo Canine. Britt has hosted the National Hobo Convention for more than a century. Most of Main Street was blocked off for the town's annual celebration, Hobo Days, scheduled to start later that day. Carnival rides were being set up in the middle of the street. There is a National Hobo Museum in what looks like an old movie theater. Right across the street from the museum is an unassuming single-story building with white siding.

The paint was chipped. Nothing said Jack's Puppies or noted any kind of business inside. It doesn't look like anything at all. All the signage is off, yeah. Yeah. Someone had taped a sign that read, closed on the door. But these were their usual hours, and it looked like there could still be someone working. So, we knocked.

But the lights are on inside. Well, yeah. From Neon Hub Media and Sony Music Entertainment, I'm Alex Schumann, and this is Smokescreen, Puppy Kingpin, an investigation into the mastermind trafficking puppies nationwide and the scheme to know about it. They want flattering profiles in the press and people to talk about their origin story. Like everyone knows that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were dropouts with a humble dream that everyone would have a computer.

That's how Apple started. But what was JoLynn's origin story? She started Jax in 2009, just after she quit working at another dog brokering business. The company was called Oleo Acres Kennels. I called up the owner to see what JoLynn was like to have as an employee. Good morning. That's Patty Nothi, JoLynn's mom. Turns out, JoLynn got her start working for her parents.

Her dad's gone now, but when JoLene was a kid, her parents raised dogs. It was a hobby business, something they did on the side. But by the time Jolene worked there, it had become their full-time business. They both bred puppies and acted as middlemen for pet stores with other breeders. Essentially, Jolene would have learned firsthand how to run her own brokerage by watching her parents. Both JoLynn and one of her sisters worked for them. It was a family enterprise. Patty, JoLynn's mom, asked me if JoLynn had agreed to talk. Did you ask her to talk to you? Yes. Yes, I have.

And what did she say? She said no. Well, then you have my answer, don't you? Patty had worked as a reporter for the local paper, so she got that I had to call and at least ask if she wanted to comment. She didn't want to say anything about JoLynn's business on the record until she talked to her daughter. But she would talk about her old company. One of the animal rights groups we've

talked about, CAPS, accused Patty of selling puppies from puppy mills too. I asked her about the allegation. Patty didn't even accept the term, let alone the allegations. She sounded almost like she was referencing an actual mill. Patty ended the call shortly after that. I didn't have a chance to ask about why JoLynn ended up quitting the family business. There had been some drama. I'd only learned the details because JoLynn tried to get unemployment after she quit. She left because of constant conflicts with her sister Pamela. She explained

to a judge that she and her sister meddled in each other's business. Pamela went through her desk and would tattle to their mom about their fights. This might seem like regular sibling rivalry, but one document said JoLynn and her sister had a major personality conflict. And JoLynn didn't just butt heads with Pamela. She didn't like being told how to do her job. In fact, she resigned a week after a group reprimand that upset her. She wasn't the only employee to leave. Kimberly Dolphin left too. And together, JoLynn and Kimberly started their own puppy brokering business, one that would grow a lot bigger than the business JoLynn's parents started, and would end up delivering thousands of Americans the puppy of their dreams, JoLynn and Kimberly's puppies, Jacks.

As successful businesswomen, they become important figures in Brit. They're members of the local chamber of commerce, and even sponsor an event at a county racetrack. JoLynn once said in a deposition that Jack's puppies generated between 10 and 15 million a year. That's incredible. But neither of them talk about what they do. I couldn't find a trace of either of them ever doing an interview. Well, except for the one local news clip I played in the first episode. JoLynn and her family donated gifts to a charity at Christmas. The things we go through are nothing compared to what these families go through. And the fact that we were able to put ourselves aside and help other people so that they didn't have to worry about things just humbles you. At the time this aired,

she was under investigation by the Iowa Attorney General's office. But JoLynn has never done an interview about the accusations against her. I thought maybe by introducing myself and telling her that we'd be in Brit, she would see that I actually wanted to hear what she had to say. That's why I still thought it was worth knocking on the door at Jack's Puppies. But no one answered. Here was someone who had claimed she has nothing to hide. But she told me she wouldn't do an interview

because animal rights activists would twist her words. I asked the same person who's read for JoLynn to read a little bit of what she said to me in her email. The activists will twist, soundbite, and manipulate anything that is said and use it against the industry, my affiliates, and myself. As much as I want to pour my heart out and make others understand the passion, love, and work one must do to partake of lawmakers that now, more than ever, dog breeders and brokers need to speak up for themselves.

But she doesn't. She never publicly takes questions or risks being recorded. One of the places Natalie and I stopped after knocking on the door of Jack's Puppies was right across the street at the National Hobo Museum. We asked the people inside if they knew JoLynn or her employees. Here's what someone inside the museum told Natalie. We very rarely see them in there during the day.

Oh, I see it. Yeah, got it. If you missed it, she said, "'We very rarely see them in there during the day. If they're not there during the day, are they then working there under the cover of darkness? Natalie and I noticed that at times people would physically lean away when we brought up Jolynn or Jack's puppies. There was an immediate reaction. Immediate.

And the way that they're saying no is a, I don't want trouble. Yes. Nobody wanted to get involved. That's one of the benefits of a small Midwest community. Everybody knows everybody's business, but everybody pretends to know nothing at all. A community like this gives JoLynn something she clearly prizes. Privacy. I thought there was a chance some people would say they went to high school with her,

or knew her when she was just a kid. I didn't come across any of those people. I'd called, emailed, we'd traveled thousands of miles, and no one would talk. I tried for more than eight months until finally, one day, the head of a group Jolin belongs to said yes. She's not doing anything illegal, immoral. There is a demand for puppies out there. That's next. Jolin is not doing anything wrong. She is a lawful operation. And she's the perfect example of a target, an animal rights

target. I've already introduced you to one Mindy, Mindy Callison. I have binders on binders, and so people laugh at me because I always come prepared with a binder. But now I want you to meet a different one, Mindy Patterson. She co-founded an organization called the Cavalry Group, which has members from different parts of the animal industry. Dog breeders, cattle ranchers, sheep farmers, circus professionals, fair exhibitors, exotic animal owners, you name it. As long as they are abiding by the laws, we welcome them into membership.

Her organization will handle media, lobby, and even provide legal assistance. One of her members is JoLynn Nothi. I know JoLynn. I've known JoLynn for a long time. She and I are talking on Zoom. Mindy is based in a rural part of Oklahoma. She's got on a hot pink shirt with a popped collar. Her hair is dark and short. She reserved a conference room at a hotel in a town not far from her home because they were still waiting for fiber internet to be installed in her area. Mindy told me she might not go into a ton of detail because of the lawsuits against JoLynn, but unlike so many others, she would go on the record. You know, she's been beat up pretty bad, but JoLynn is a very kind person. She's very

conscientious about her business. She'd gotten to see JoLynn's a very kind person. She's very conscientious about her business. She'd gotten to see JoLynn's operation for herself. She cracks the whip on her business, and she's hardest on herself. Mindy told me that JoLynn loves her work, and that she created the dog rescues so that she could keep doing what she loves. And she is just doing everything she can to stay in business, because she does a good job. She does a great job selling puppies to people who are looking for puppies.

In the past, JoLynn had denied that she ever even created the rescues. But Mindy didn't deny it. Instead, she argued there wasn't anything wrong with JoLynn starting Hobo Canine. And she said closing pet stores leads to higher prices for consumers. What we've seen in the last decade is the increase in price from breeders. Mindy told me she believes a major reason the price of dogs keeps going up is because the supply can't meet demand. Because the formula is simple.

When you put people out of business and there's fewer people breeding dogs, the demand is greater and the price goes up. It's just like any other thing. that as of spring 2022, there were more than 500 ordinances banning the retail sale of pets across the U.S. And that, of course, puts JoLynn's business at risk. She knows full well that it comes with attacks, just like we do. At times, it puts us in the crosshairs doing what we do, but that comes with the territory. Mindy sees rescues the way many animal rights activists see commercial breeders. To her, they are not to be trusted. They don't have to tell you where the dog came from. So she thinks people are being naive if they don't think a dog in a shelter can come from a commercial operation. They could be imported from another country or dropped off by a breeder who no longer wants them. That's why Mindy is unapologetic that people could be

getting a purebred puppy from a breeder when they think they're getting a rescue. You know, is that deceptive? I'll be honest, if I bought a dog from JoLynn and was told that they came from a rescue, you know, okay. But I had this purebred Frenchie in my arms. I would be like, hmm, you know. I think when people get a rescue puppy, they still don't think that the puppy was bred specifically to then come to that store. So I think that's fundamentally the difference when it came to the Iowa lawsuit. You know, I really don't have an answer because honestly, I don't think people, when they go to a rescue shelter, know that they're getting a dog from China either, necessarily, or Turkey.

Mindy never acknowledges that Joe Lynn selling puppies through Hobo Canine was misleading. At the end of the day, what's happening here is that one group through Hobo Canine was misleading. At the end of the day, what's happening here is that one group thinks Hobo Canine selling fake rescue dogs is a big deal, and another group thinks this is politics. That this is all part of this larger divide in America, where we look at the same set of facts and come to different conclusions. Even when JoLynn is under fire, she doesn't seem like she's sweating. In fact, she kind of seems like she's having fun. And she's not the only one. That's next. You end up learning about Jolin's family and personal life if you dig into her business.

The two were intertwined, and on paper at least, pretty publicly. Since no one would talk, court records were the way I found out more about her entourage. You see, JoLynn's family and close friends end up in all kinds of legal disputes, many times against each other. JoLynn tried to get unemployment from her mom after quitting, but she wasn't the only person connected to the rescues to get into a legal fight with a parent. There was also the guy she'd been dating, Richard Kirk. One of the biggest sources of information about JoLynn actually came from a lawsuit involving Richard. The suit was from 2016. Mindy Callison, the preschool teacher

who started the non-profit Bailey Now Benji, has read the same documents. We talked about what's in this set of depositions where JoLynn and Richard answer questions under oath. JoLynn first met Richard Kirk when he was attempting to sell her the dog on web type of pedigree program that they thought her business needed. In the depositions, JoLynn and Richard lay out their relationship and eventually talk about what connects Richard to the puppy laundering scheme. They met at a breeder seminar. This was about 2010. Richard would eventually try to sell her on this new software he had called Dog on Web. So Richard Kirk was allegedly trying to sell her on this program and saying how it

would make her business a lot easier when it comes to selling puppies, ordering puppies, and all of the documentation behind the scenes. And so she finally signed on, they started dating, and then the timeline starts getting murky right around 2016. Based on the depositions, Jolynn agreed to use Dog on Web to manage her business when the company was owned 50-50 between Richard and his dad. Dog on Web offered a place

for breeders and pet stores to buy and sell puppies. So if a pet store knows that they want, you know, 20 dogs, five huskies, five corgis, five labs, and five Yorkies, they can just go on this website and say they want five of each. And then JoLynn finds those breeds of dogs as the broker and then she gets those breeds of dogs to the pet store. Richard agreed to sign over his half of the company to his dad because he was going through a divorce and he wanted to keep his second wife from going after their business. He claimed that his dad agreed to let him back into the business once the divorce was final.

But his dad didn't remember ever making that deal. Richard never got his half back. He decided to start a rival website called The Pet Exchange. As in pet, the letter X, change. Jolin then left his dad's business and signed up to use her boyfriend's website instead. The Pet Exchange offered many of the same services as Dog on Web. The site is so similar, Richard's dad accused him of stealing. The reason we're talking about the Pet Exchange, though, isn't about all this infighting.

It's because, yet again, court evidence showed JoLynn was using this site to source puppies for Jax and for her rescues. A puppy ordered online hadn't been rescued. Mindy Callison connected the dots. And so it's not like it was easily connected, but at the bottom of the CVI was JoLynn Nowitz's signature. And I believe that all of this goes back to that online program, the Pet Exchange, because that's where the information for all of these CVIs can be filled out.

Richard formed a different company to oversee the Pet Exchange. On the legal documents, it was called TBHF. Richard Kirk and his brother Russell Kirk decide to start Two Brothers Having Fun LLC, or as we've seen in lots of court documents, TBHF LLC. There are court documents that show two brothers having fun LLC may have played a key role in making it possible for puppies to be sold to stores in California. We believe that's actually how Russell Kirk was getting paid and also how his brother was getting paid through this scheme.

That's Danny Waltz with the Animal Legal Defense Fund. He says TBHF was being paid per dog. So there was really just yet another example of the incentives being for the broker or for the scheme to just really pump out as many dogs or pump as many dogs into California as consumers would buy. Russell Kirk was also, of course, connected to the scheme in an even bigger way than his brother. He'd been named in at least two lawsuits, one alleging fraud and the other accused him of brokering puppies from puppy mills. I talked to Russell over the phone in the summer of 2021. He was personable and nice like you'd expect from someone who'd been in sales. He told me he couldn't comment because of the lawsuits, but he didn't comment when getting questioned under oath much either. Russell Kirk was subpoenaed as part of the lawsuit Mindy Callison and Danny Waltz's legal teams

filed against Rescue Pets Iowa. They flew him out to California to sit in a law office and take questions. But here's a taste of how it went. We asked someone to read Russell's answers from a transcript of that deposition and have someone read as the attorney asking the questions. First up, you'll hear the attorney. Do you have any pets? Yes. Tell me about them. I plead the fifth. Did you grow up with pets? Yes. Can you tell me about those pets? I plead the fifth. Russell had already made it clear he was going to plead the fifth to not risk incriminating himself. But he wasn't even willing to talk about his dogs, even though he's the president of a pet rescue.

He wouldn't share many details about his life either. What we do know is that Russell is in his early 40s. He went to high school in Nebraska, but didn't get his GED until he was older. He sold cars for a bit before moving to Ottumwa, Iowa. In the last census, the median household in Ottumwa reported making about $42,000 a year. Russell's older brother Richard had said their website, the Pet Exchange, made them each about $160,000 in a year. He didn't bring up the website at all, though, in his deposition.

What is your current occupation? I have investment properties. What sorts of investments are those? Rental houses. Three houses currently come up on the county assessor's website under Russell's name and his area. For how much money they all talk about making, none of the three main people accused of running the rescues, Russell, Jolynn, or Kimberly,

look like they're living lavish lifestyles. Russell never mentioned that he made any money from Rescue Pets Iowa or the pet exchange, just the part about the rental houses. The attorney in the room asked Russell if the real purpose of Rescue Pets Iowa was to benefit Jolin. Was it the intent in creating Rescue Pets Iowa to conspire to circumvent the California law which requires that all puppies sold in pet stores come from animal shelters or rescue groups?

I plead the fifth. You can guess how he's going to answer the rest of these. Does Iowa Pets acquire animals from Jolin Nothi? I plead the fifth. Does Rescue Pets Iowa acquire pets from Jack's puppies? I plead the fifth. The family might fight amongst themselves, but they protect each other. One of the few who'd speak about the accusations directly was Mindy Patterson. She's the Mindy who is Jolin's spokeswoman. At one point in our conversation, she told me that she doesn't think the USDA should provide any information to the public about a breeder's business. This is being used against people like JoLynn and other breeders and other pet stores.

She's talking about people like the other Mindy here. It's a tactical attack, if you will, that they're using to threaten them and use their information to vilify them and say, look, these guys bred X number of litters last year. That's horrific. It's none of their business. None of their business? Mindy told me that she doesn't believe consumers use that information. It's not the consumers. It's all animal rights groups. They're going to use that information with nefarious intentions. What Mindy is saying here is that she thinks the average pet owner doesn't prioritize where a puppy comes from. Mindy's focus is on activists. And she counsels people like JoLynn to keep their business dealings as private as

possible. We advise our members to never allow anybody onto their property to pick up a puppy, meet them at a mutual public place, vet all of your incoming calls, make sure that you have an airtight contract. We have a lot of instances where activists pose as puppy buyers to entrap, you know, dog breeders. This was part of the reason why JoLynn doesn't have a sign for Jack's puppies at her office back in Brit. And why she blamed activists for not doing an interview with me. Aspects of the paranoia are understandable. Mindy Callison did pretend to be a puppy buyer. We've played you a bunch of undercover videos from the group Caps, but the question remains, why hide from

consumers? For me, at least part of the answer for that question went back to the larger part of this debate I mentioned earlier. Richard and Russell Kirk had called their company Two Brothers Having Fun. JoLynn's brazen decision to open a second nonprofit while being investigated for the first. Were they being bold, or did they just not think what was happening was that big of a deal? Was it just animal rights advocates overreacting? We know that the mistreatment of animals at certain facilities is real. There are people, whatever you want to call them, who put profit over the welfare of animals. But in Mindy Patterson's mind, this wasn't about crime.

This was politics. A word game. And what was happening to JoLynn was part of a much bigger political agenda planned out by animal rights advocates. This is an incremental battle. These organizations are patient. They say it's about animal welfare. It's about destroying agriculture. They're vegans. If you don't like meat, don't eat it. What is going on in our country? Mindy told me that JoLynn wasn't doing anything wrong. But of course, there are multiple lawsuits claiming otherwise, one of them from the Iowa AG's office. JoLynn

could lose not just the rescues, but her whole business and potentially face millions in fines. That's next time on Puppy King Pin. Smokescreen Puppy King Pin is a production of Neon Hum Media. It is reported, hosted, and written by me, Alex Schumann. Lead producer is Natalie Wren. Our editor is Catherine St. Louis. Chloe Chobol is our associate producer. Managing producer is Samantha Allison.

Executive producer at Neon Hum is Jonathan Hirsch. Fact-checking by Sarah Ivry. Asha Ivanovich composed the theme song and music heard throughout this series. Additional tracks by Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions. Sound design and mixing by Hans Dale Shee Special thanks to Ted Enoji, Spencer Gray, Amy Jensen, Eric Jensen, Odelia Rubin, Kate Mishkin, Crystal Genesis, Muna Danish, and Joanna Clay