OPEN ON A STAKEOUT SCENE. INPECTOR ALAN GODDARD My partner and I are Postal Inspectors, which means we investigate any crime that involves the mail. Today that means doing a stakeout on a lowlife accountant. He works for an investment firm that's really just a front for a complicated fraud scam. They've been ripping people off to the tune of thousands of dollars. He's got no clue what that kind of financial loss means to his victims. He never gets to see that side of the story. But I do. INSPECTOR MICHELE NIECE Did you have any luck flipping this guy? GODDARD No, he dummied up on me. Said they kept him in the dark about how business operated. Certainly living the high life for a CPA. NIECE Not anymore. (Cell phone RINGS) GODDARD Goddard. ANDREA BESHEARS Inspector Goddard, this is Andrea Beshears with News 12. Did I catch you at a bad time? GODDARD Actually, Andrea, I got nothing but time. What's up? ANDREA BESHEARS Well, we are doing a special on fraud for sweeps, and we need some first-person perspective on the crimes. You know, talk to victims and hear their stories. Do you think you could help us out? GODDARD Yeah, it sounds good to me. We could stop a lot of this stuff if more people were aware of it. Hey, you know Karla Horan, our Victim Witness Coordinator? She might have some leads for us. Let me run this past her, and I'll get back with you later this week. INT. TV STUDIO. KARLA HORAN, VWC (V.O.) Financial crime attacks its victims at their core. Whenever someone loses control of their money or their identity, they often also lose their critical sense of security. They doubt their own judgment, and many suffer depressive episodes after the crime. My job is to help people rebuild not only their financial security, but their lives. (Turns to young couple.) KARLA HORAN Mr. and Mrs. Patterson? Hi. Thanks so much for coming in. Listen, please don't be nervous. If you stumble or you're not happy with what you say, we can always shoot it again, okay? You ready to get started? MATT PATTERSON Sure thing. KARLA HORAN Have a seat. STUDIO DIRECTOR Standby studio. Open us up in five-four-three-two-one. We're hot. KARLA HORAN Tonight on News 12 we continue our special series on mail fraud, “Return To Sender.” (GRAPHIC: "Return To Sender.") KARLA HORAN Three years ago Matt and Lisa Patterson were the victims of identity theft. Along with hundreds of other victims in the area, they had their lives turned upside down by two young criminals. Lisa, how did you find out that there was a problem? LISA PATTERSON We were trying to buy a new house, and our real estate agent called and said that our loan would not be approved, that we had outstanding bills on our credit cards, and we even had a loan that we had defaulted on. KARLA HORAN Matt, do you remember how you felt that morning? MATT PATTERSON Oh, it was awful. Your first response is that it's a mistake, it's just an error. Then it sinks in, and you feel angry, powerless. LISA PATTERSON We didn't get the house. MATT PATTERSON But we were actually lucky. The Postal Inspectors had a specialist to work with the victims, and she explained what steps we needed to take to repair our credit report. She helped us with letters and affidavits and really walked us through the whole process. She called my boss to explain why I'd have to miss work, to appear at the trial. She even helped us with the victim impact statement for the judge to read before sentencing those two men. (From CONTROL ROOM) GODDARD Think you could handle things for a while? KARLA HORAN Sure. What's up? GODDARD I think I know someone who needs to hear these stories. I do not want to wait for him to catch the news. I won't be long, okay? INT. UPSCALE APARTMENT. MARK HARRISON Who is it? GODDARD It's Postal Inspector Alan Goddard. Open up, Harrison. MARK HARRISON Hello, Inspector. What can I do for you? GODDARD Well, you could ask me in for starters. I thought we would have a little chat. MARK HARRISON I told you I don't know anything about this case. I don't know what good it can do to keep talking to me about it. GODDARD Can I come in, or do I need to get a warrant? MARK HARRISON Hold on. (They go inside) MARK HARRISON Pardon the mess. GODDARD She asked you to leave, didn't she? What did you expect, after she found out what kind of man you really are? MARK HARRISON It didn't have anything to do with these allegations against the company. GODDARD Right. Okay if I sit? MARK HARRISON Can I offer you a shot, Inspector? I guess not, on duty and all. You didn't come here to talk to me about my marriage, did you? GODDARD I came here to ask you a question, Mark. Do you believe in fairy tales? MARK HARRISON What kind of talk is that, man? Fairy tales? GODDARD Yeah, you know, Little Red Riding Hood, Humpty Dumpty, fairy tales. Do you believe in them? MARK HARRISON No, of course not. GODDARD Me either. That's why I'm not believing any of this crap about you not knowing anything about the scams that your company is pulling. See what I'm saying? MARK HARRISON Buy what you want. Believe what you want. I told you already. I mean, what do you want me to do? GODDARD I want you to take a ride with me. MARK HARRISON Are you arresting me? GODDARD No, you are not under arrest. There are some people I want you to meet. I just want you to listen to what they have to say. Can you do that for me? INT. TV STUDIO GEORGE TAURUS I lost 30,000 dollars in that investment fraud. The worst part about it was that I thought it was a good investment. I really thought it was good, and I encouraged my family and friends to invest also. And because my background is in banking, my friends, they listened to me. When I found out, though, that I had been conned, I felt personally responsible for the money that they had lost. You know, I felt like I lost my credibility. Can you imagine having to go home to your wife and tell her that you've lost a large chunk of your savings, or calling my best friend to let him know that: "Hey, the stocks that I told you were good were actually a scam?" You know, I felt responsible for that, you know, and it made me look like a fool. TV ANCHOR ANDREA BESHEARS Mandy Richards served a six-month sentence in Alderson Federal Prison for Women for her part in helping provide lists of potential victims that were used in an identity theft scam by her boyfriend. She joins us by satellite now. (To Mandy) Mandy, I know you have been through a lot over the past year. How did your boyfriend get you involved in all of this? MANDY RICHARDS Well, he fooled me. He told me that he really needed some help to meet a quota at work, and he said, you know: "How about giving me some of those applications that people turn in, the people that you guys don't hire?" ANDREA BESHEARS What was he doing with those applications? MANDY RICHARDS He was stealing people's identity. I didn't know that. He told me he was trying to do a good job at work, so, naturally, I wanted to help him out, but – that's not what he was doing. ANDREA BESHEARS How did you find out what he was using the applications for? MANDY RICHARDS Well, when they came to my job and interrogated me, and then eventually I was arrested, and they took my little girl away. ANDREA BESHEARS Well, that's one person who has suffered a lot is your daughter. MANDY RICHARDS Yes, she has. ANDREA BESHEARS Tell us about that. MANDY RICHARDS Well, I mean, like I said, they put her in foster care. I went to jail. They supervised my visits with her. She would cry when I would leave. (FROM STUDIO CONTROL ROOM) GODDARD You have kids, don't you? MARK HARRISON Yeah, two girls. (BACK TO INTERVIEW) KARLA HORAN People never think about the kids that get left behind when their parents go to jail. ANDREA BESHEARS I know that your boyfriend has threatened to kill you in the past. What happens when he gets out of jail? MANDY RICHARDS Well, I don't know, but there's a way I can find out when he gets out. It's a website, and it's called VNS, and everybody should know about it. It's a Victim Notification System, and it lets me know when he gets out of prison so I don't have to be afraid all the time. (Back to CONTROL ROOM) TV CREW FLOOR DIRECTOR Miss Horan, you're up next, so we need to get you into makeup. KARLA HORAN, VWC Great, thanks. GODDARD Do you think your girls would be proud of what you're doing? DENNIS MASTON I lost everything. My wife wouldn't forgive me for—well, I had borrowed money from our son's college fund. I wanted to send him to a better school. I thought I could double my money, but I can barely afford the community college tuition that he goes to now. And a few months after the trial, my wife left me. These crooks got eight years for mail fraud, and the cells they live in, they are bigger than my apartment. My ex-wife has to take a second job, so do I. It seems like my family went to prison too, except they didn't do anything wrong. I did. KARLA HORAN, VWC That reaction isn't uncommon. People often blame themselves for things that happen to them even though they're really no fault of their own. Often times they're so embarrassed that they won't even tell their own family. We see all kinds of very intelligent, educated people who fall into these scams. TV ANCHOR ANDREA BESHEARS Well, is Mr. Matson's story unusual? KARLA HORAN, VWC I wish that it were. I've seen victims lose their homes, suffer job losses, have problems in relationships, even divorce. TV CREW FLOOR DIRECTOR Ready two, take two. TV ANCHOR ANDREA BESHEARS Well the good news is that you're there to help them rebuild their lives. TV CREW FLOOR DIRECTOR We're out. Fade to black. GODDARD All right, let's get out of here. MARK HARRISON Inspector. I would like to talk to you about the company now. I think maybe I can help put some of the pieces in place. GODDARD All right. Do you want to bring your lawyer in? MARK HARRISON That would be best, wouldn't it? Do you think maybe the U.S. Attorney would make me a deal? GODDARD Well, I can't speak for him, Mark, but I'm sure he'll take your cooperation into consideration. MARK HARRISON Were any of those people we were watching today ones that lost from our company? GODDARD No, no, no. Those were all from older cases. MARK HARRISON I always thought the banks or the credit cards companies would cover their losses. GODDARD Well, it's just like the fairy tale. All the king's horses and all the king's men just couldn't put things back together again. Let's go take that statement. INT - EMPTY COURT ROOM. INSPECTOR IN CHARGE BILL DAVIS I need that paperwork by Tuesday. GODDARD You got it, boss. BILL DAVIS All right, thanks. (To camera) BILL DAVIS Mark Harrison's remorse about his crime proved to be short lived. After agreeing to testify against the leaders of the fraud ring, he was arrested again less than a year later for helping to operate an Internet auction scam. These types of criminals rarely have any regard for their victims or the damage that they've done to their lives. If you or someone you know has been a crime victim, it's important that you know about victim's rights and the services available to you. In 2004, the Justice For All Act was passed, strengthening rights for federal crime victims. Most states have similar protections for cases handled in the local criminal justice system. All of these victims' Bills of Rights were created to give victims a proper place in the criminal justice system. They provide an opportunity to participate and be heard, and offer practical assistance to minimize the inconveniences and frustrations that crime victims suffer. You can find out more about your rights as a federal crime victim by visiting this website: WWW.CRIMEVICTIMS.GOV. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigates many different types of financial crimes. Most are handled in the federal justice system. In addition to providing educational material about crime victims' rights and services, the Inspection Service continually strives to inform the public about current fraud scams and how to avoid becoming a victim. Education is your best defense. Keep up to date on the latest scams by visiting our websites: WWW.POSTALINSPECTORS.COM and WWW.LOOKSTOGOODTOBETRUE.COM Remember, being a victim of a crime is nothing to be ashamed of. Neither is seeking help to recover from it.