What if, one day, you suddenly became the target of an “internet terrorist”? Someone who can find you, no matter where you are, and make your life hell. Logging off? Is not an option. That’s what happened to Esther, Natasha and Ava. They all fell into the crosshairs of a dangerous online predator who had one mission; to control, harass and bully women and girls like them out of online gaming. A skilled hacker, he’d extort his victims. But his weapon of choice was swatting – calling in fake emergencies to get armed police to raid innocent people’s homes, terrifying them. He seemed unstoppable, until the young female streamers he targeted joined forces and fought back… and a determined country cop took up the case. Journalist Leigh Alexander investigates a story where digital danger bursts through the screen and into real life, that will leave you wondering if any of us are really safe… From serial killer nurses to psychic scammers – The Binge is your home for true crime stories that pull you in and never let go. Follow The Binge Crimes and The Binge Cases to get new stories on the first of the month, every month. Hit ‘Subscribe’ at the top of The Binge Crimes show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com. Join The Binge’s free newsletter – Patreon.com/TheBinge The Binge – feed your true crime obsession.
179 episodes transcribedAlex 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 dis...
Multiple lawsuits now accuse Jolyn Noethe of creating rescues to sell commercially-bred puppies where they’ve been outlawed. Alex learns how the schem...
Authorities learn of unusual “rescue puppies” starting to turn up in Chicago and begin an investigation. Soon, they are on the trail of the secretive...
Alex sets out to learn more about Jolyn Noethe, but ends up getting an inside look at a puppy mill and how they operate legally. We’ll hear audio of t...
When Mindi Callison finds out a local pet shop might be selling puppies from a puppy mill, she takes action. Soon, she’s tracking dogs being transport...
Americans are used to being on the lookout for a scam, but authorities are warning of a new kind of fraud. Puppy Kingpin shines a spotlight on Jolyn N...
Last year, as the final episodes of The Sellout aired, LA TACO got a tip from a listener: for years, Jose Huizar had been awarding flashy scholarships...
Mariah talks to the Boyle Heights residents who watched as FBI agents raided Huizar’s home and offices. Three months into the pandemic, he’s arrested...
Huizar’s carelessness starts to catch up with him. After more than a dozen all-expenses paid trips to Vegas with plenty of perks, Huizar gets played b...
Huizar’s downfall started with a sexual harassment lawsuit. He didn’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle the suit on his own... so th...
Gentrification comes in waves. Over years, a piece of downtown LA transformed from Skid Row, to a bastion for young artists, to a hipster neighborhood...
No man is an island. Huizar couldn’t have pulled off the alleged corruption scheme without help. Host Mariah Castañeda tells the story of how Huizar a...
When fancy new developments like The Gold Line expansion get proposed, residents of Boyle Heights wonder if it’s actually for them, or if these new ne...
Alvin Parra worked for Huizar when he first got elected. He saw early warning signs that Huizar wasn’t the man of the people he made himself out to be...
A militant organization called Defend Boyle Heights protests encroaching gentrification, by any means necessary. We dig into two origin stories: how H...
As a working-class Latinx neighborhood in Los Angeles faces gentrification, residents are ready to fight to defend their turf. Mariachis lead a rent s...
Jonathan Hirsch, Neon Hum CEO and host of I Am Rama, introduces this season of Smoke Screen (it's called The Sellout!) and our new paid subscription s...
Jose Huizar grew up in Boyle Heights – a working-class Latinx neighborhood in L.A. Eventually, he became their councilperson. And, for the most par...
In this episode, we explore all that Rama left behind: students, a charitable foundation, music, books, and a complicated legacy. A Neon Hum Media...
Power trips to paradise and never-before shared knowledge -- were these golden times, or Rama’s way of saying goodbye? This episode explores the final...
