South Carolina Sextortion | A Perfect Scam | Forensic Files

[audio logo] Jacob Johns: He would always tell me what was going on. [phone beeps]
But I didn't know. He didn't tell me. [phone chiming] - When I got to that part where she
said $1,189 and it's got to be in by noon, I just went, oh my God. How did he not get this?
Gary Sessions: They made him believe that he was the scum of the earth, that he was doing something that criminals do.
Jacob Johns: When I turned that corner, I looked at the board, and I saw a suicide note, I went into a panic.
They just took a life, not money. They took a life. Kevin Johns: He didn't need all this money he extorted.
I believe he was doing it for fun. Jacob Johns: Anybody who gets on a dating app is a target.
Kathy Johns: You expect to bury your parents. You're not supposed to bury your kids.
Kevin Johns: He was such a great guy. It was a tragedy. [theme music] ♪ ♪ [foreboding music]
♪ ♪ Kathy Johns: On September the 11th, so everybody knows and remembers where they were,
I got them home from school. Of course, they were all scared. The whole day, right, the footage was just being ran.
Both of the twins were sitting on their knees right in front of the TV. And then they both turned to me and said,
Mommy, we're going to go fight those bad guys one day. ♪ ♪ Kevin Johns: From there on, it was army
of costumes for Halloween. It was started getting in shape. I've never seen somebody so determined
in my life to do what they wanted to do. Jacob Johns: Having a twin is both a headache and a blessing.
The blessing part of it was you were born with your best friend. Nobody was closer to me than Jared.
Still, no one's closer to me than Jared was. He always wanted to be a soldier. Like, since we were kids, that's what he wanted to be.
Like, he was dead set on it. And I told him, well, if you I go. I did it at first as an attempt to talk him out of it.
That didn't work. So we both went up there, and we both signed up. But my daughter had just turned one.
I looked at Jared and said, I can't leave this baby behind. I said, if I didn't have her, I'd be with you.
And he said, I'll be fine. You stay with her, because he treated my daughter Maddie like a princess.
Kathy Johns: Oh my God, when he left for Afghanistan, I mean, I literally physically had to start seeing a therapist
because I thought I'm going to lose my mind. - Once he got deployed, we would go through three weeks
without hearing a word. And that was very hard, knowing that he was over there in a war zone.
And, you know, every now and then, he would Skype us, and he couldn't answer any questions.
We would ask them, hey, where are you at? Dad, I cannot tell you that. And are you seeing any action?
He said, I cannot confirm or deny that. I mean, it was just like, you know, talking to a robot or something.
- He said you'd be on a normal patrol, and it'd be a quiet day. And he was in a big military vehicle called a Buffalo.
It's like a semi truck but super armored. And his-- their job is to scan for IEDs.
He said, that wasn't the problem. You'd run over him, and he'd shake it. He said, if I was gunner, which he was a good bit on top,
you just have bullets, [imitates whoosh] like, almost go right past your head or right across your face,
and then you have to-- you can't duck. You have to turn and shoot. - You know, he got hurt while he was in the army.
He was climbing down from a big Buffalo vehicle, and somebody above them had dropped the gun.
And it hit Jared in the head, and Jared fell off of it and landed on some rocks.
They started giving him opioids and everything for the pain. And it just-- it changed him, you know?
He got in a little bit of trouble over there, and it just-- everything sort of snowballed.
And the Army and him decided they were going to part ways. Jared went into the army thinking, OK,
I'm going to be here for until I retire. So when he came out, you know, he was upset.
Kathy Johns: Jared! Jacob Johns: He was half and half when he got back home. Half of him felt like he had unfinished business.
Half of him felt like he was happy to be home. - Oh, yeah. woman: Just hold it for me.
Kathy Johns: The PTSD was so obvious. And of course, he started seeing the therapist right away.
woman: Hi. man: Hey, buddy. What you doing? Hi, buddy. What you doing? Kathy Johns: You know, when you do get diagnosed with PTSD,
you have to-- I guess they worry about the mental, and they should worry about their mental
health, absolutely. But he-- he was never satisfied. He wanted to make a life out of the Army.
That was his plan. Kevin Johns: It was a little shaky at first, but once he got his feet on the ground and started doing well,
he got a girlfriend. And before too long, they had a child. And it was just-- that was one of the best things,
I think, that happened to him as far as his PTSD, is having that child. Because you know what?
The world changed for him then. He wasn't worried about the world. He was worried about that little baby he had in his hands
that became his world. - You could tell he was trying to be happy. I'm still going to make everyone smile.
He's trying to make that still his thing. But in the back of his mind was what he had to do in the Army and the room
in the back of his mind still hurt him. And then loud noises, big booms, stuff like that would always put him in a panic.
- We went to see watch fireworks downtown on July 4, and just the boom of the fireworks
was way too much for him. Jacob Johns: It was like our second week of our apartment.
We just moved in our apartment. And I don't know what it was. It was just this loud boom.
And Jared just got into a cold sweat and freaking out. And he was in his closet and, like, rocking himself.
And I just held him and said, hey, man, you're home. We're here. [somber music] Kathy Johns: He called me at 11:04 AM and was talking to me.
He was on his way to take Jackson to his other grandmother's. The fact that he called me twice that hour
was different for me, but-- and I worried, just because, like I said, just something don't sound right.
OK, what are you thinking? All right, make sure you call me. And I just had no idea.
- He never not told me anything. Like, he would always tell me what was going on.
He never hid it. And he did, and I don't know why. And I was supposed to go home that
next day for lunch at 11:00, and he died at 12:00. It's a regret I have. I feel like I might've stopped him, but I didn't know.
He didn't tell me. ♪ ♪ This is where we lived, which was a nice spot, because it was, like, 20 minutes
up the road from downtown. Jared would always park right here. That's where he would park.
And I'd always park right next to the street, because I had a big truck like this.
And that's where I pulled up that day. [foreboding music] When I got home, his car was still there, and I was like,
I thought he was at work. That's weird. So I parked my truck, and I get my stepdaughter out.
And we go up the stairs. When we get to the top of the stairs, my door is slightly ajar, and I'm like, OK.
And the dogs are freaking out. And Tex was Jared's like unofficial service dog. Like, that dog loved Jared.
I couldn't get that dog to calm down. And I walked in the house, and I said, Jared, hey, man, I'm home.
I didn't get any answer. When I turned that corner, I looked at the board, and I saw a suicide note.
♪ ♪ It said, I'm sorry. I love you. Please tell my sons I was a good man. I went into a panic.
I started kicking the door, kicking it. And when I opened the door, I started seeing blood.
And I was on the phone with my wife. I said, Paige, I gotta go call my mom. I gotta call 911.
And she goes, what do you mean? I said, he's dead. [phone ringing] Kathy Johns: I was like, hey, Paige,
I'm just getting out of the shower. And she stopped me. I mean, just, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy!
Have you talked to Jared? I'm on the phone with Jacob. He just got home. There's a suicide note on the--
he had written on the whiteboard, and he can't get the door open. And I was calling Jacob's phone.
I had to call it, like, twice. Jacob, Jacob, please tell me! Jacob, tell me! - Here my mother's still in a towel, still with the hair
up in a towel, talking to someone on the phone. And I can't really make out what's going on.
And then she says, which I've heard so many times in my own head, what are you telling me?
He's dead? And then she wailed. - And he's like, Mom, he's-- Mom, he's gone. He's gone.
I said, what-- and I just dropped. - I got on the phone with 911. When I went around the bed, they said, I
need you to check for a pulse. And when I checked for a pulse, when I went to pull myself
on the bed, I felt the gun. And then I put two and two together. I looked at the gun.
I looked at him, and I had saw the bullet hole through the bottom of his chin. And I said, sir-- they're like, you need to check for pulse.
I said, sir, he's cold. Like, the first thing I did after I grabbed the gun was grab his leg, and it was ice.
I mean, ice cold. I've never felt a body so cold. And there's blood in his mouth just sitting there.
And you had seen where it run down onto his shirt. And I said, sir, there's no point.
He said, just check for a pulse. So I had to put my hand on his neck and-- ♪ ♪ They said, somebody will be there.
I need you to stay on the phone. [siren blaring] - Jacob called, and I don't know, he just kept saying,
Jared's dead. Jared's dead. And I mean, I just pulled over the side of the road.
I just remember sitting on the side of the truck, and I can't tell you how long I was there.
- After that is when the girl he was seeing approached me. So they had collected all of our family
in the clubhouse of this apartment building. I hadn't had a chance to even process what I had seen.
And she said, I need to tell you something. And I said, OK. She goes, Jared was texting this girl.
Apparently, she was underage, and the parents were threatening to send him to jail.
[eerie music] [foreboding music] ♪ ♪ Gary Sessions: He was a army veteran that had went when fought for our country,
and he was dealing with some PTSD from the things that he saw. And he was looking for compassion.
He was looking for somebody to spend some time with. He got on a dating site, and he was talking to women
that he thought were attractive and that he may have had something in common with.
♪ ♪ - The next morning, it was still the same. Everybody was over. My dad had finally showed up.
After a few hours went on, I said, we need to tell you something. And the girl Jared was seeing was with us the whole time.
And so me, her, and my wife had pulled them aside and told them what she told us.
Well, mom wanted Jared's phone, and they wouldn't release it. So it wasn't until two weeks later
that we finally saw the text messages. ♪ ♪ He was being accused of sending unsolicited pictures
to a minor. Kimi-Lee Johns: It's crazy to think about it. It flipped everything upside down.
♪ ♪ - He never ever sent a pic to a minor, nor asked for a pic. It was a picture of a girl in a bra,
and he had just sent back a normal picture of him. And he said, I'm a dad of three-- or dad of two,
three if you include my dog Tex. Gary Sessions: When you looked at Jared's profile,
it was what you would expect an American veteran to be. Some of the portraits that he sent to her
were nothing obscene. They were pictures, again, you know, of his life, of his dog, of him enjoying himself.
And these guys took that, and they ran with it. And then they contacted him and told him that they
were an underage female. [dramatic music] - That is when the parents messaged him.
You're going to go to jail. You'll never see your son again. And then they even spoofed the number
to make it look like Greenville County was calling. I'm a detective so and so. Because that's another thing that girl
told us, was that detective had called him while they were at the grocery store, saying to do what these parents told him
or telling him, or they'll arrest him. - That was a red flag right there, you know?
If you're in trouble for having underage pictures or sending pictures, they're not going to tell you,
hey, just pay that person. They're-- Cops don't do that. Kimi-Lee Johns: He thought the people
were going to see him as like a pedophile or something. And then that is what in his head, I think,
is the main thing that made him do what he did. ♪ ♪ - The detective gave him Mr. Harris's phone number to call.
And so my son, instead of running the other way and never wanting to talk to anybody, because he was taught
honor and he always was that way, anyway, calls up the father and says, hey, let's get
this straightened out. At that time, I knew that-- we didn't know what had happened.
I just knew something was wrong. - They made him believe that he was the scum of the earth.
They made him believe that he was doing something that criminals do, that people with no morals do,
that people who have no backbone do. And Jared was the exact opposite of that. - Mom was able to put two and two together,
and that's when things started to change. - He died September 11. We buried him on the 18th.
We didn't get the phone back until September 27. [somber music] We got the phone back.
We all agreed that we were going to meet at my house. Nobody felt like I did about it.
I just kept saying, nah, something's not right. - My mom is. a firecracker, and if it weren't for her,
we wouldn't be here today. [phone chimes] Kathy Johns: I started reading all the texts.
[phone chiming] - That is when the "parents" messaged him, the dad saying, hey, look, we can overlook this.
Her mom wants to send you to jail. - When I came to the part when the mom said, well,
the only way I'm going to accept it is if you'll pay to have her phone contract ended
and get her a new phone, he said, OK, OK, OK. If I do this, then that means that phone is mine.
Because I need to see that-- you're telling me I asked for lewd pictures. That's not something I would do even
if I was talking to a girl. He's like, and by the way, I'm a manager at AT&T. I know
it doesn't cost that much. So he kind of gave them a little bit of pushback there, but the rest of the time he's begging.
When I got to that part where she said $1,189 and it's got to be in by noon tomorrow or whatever, I just went, oh
my God, this was a total scam. How did he not get-- how did he not get this, you know?
James Leewood: In this particular scam, there's several different variations. They go on to a dating website and
pretend to be a young female, or in some cases, a young male, and they'll start interacting with different people
through the dating website. Once they have some dialogue, what they'll do is they'll reach back out pretending
to be the young person's parent and saying that, you know, because of the interaction
with this victim from the dating site, that young person now is suffering some kind of mental issue or is underage.
They may have said something inappropriate. And therefore, they did start saying, well, you know,
we can deal with this. My wife's mad. But you can talk to me. And I'll try and calm her down, and we can work around this.
Other scams, especially in this one, an officer will reach out first. And I say officer loosely because it's not an officer.
It's someone pretending to be an officer. In Jared's case, they reached out first, saying, hey, you
know, this is what's going on. This is what the accusation is. I'm going to put you in contact with the parents,
and you guys can it out, so as law enforcement don't have to get involved in that.
Obviously, that's not the way law enforcement works. But people get stressed out at the time,
and they don't think to reach out to us and ask for help. Because they might be embarrassed,
or they have-- they're worried that they'll get in trouble. Gary Sessions: Dealing with some
of the things he was dealing with put him in a state to where when you told him that enough, he began to think like,
did I do something wrong? I must have done something wrong. Kathy Johns: So I got on the phone
the next day with the detective and I said, look, I think he was scammed. - Ms. Kathy, she called me, and she's like, look, I need help.
I can bring you the phone. I can show you what I found. She starts to kind of describing the text
messages and just how they were weird, and she told me about them requesting. And I don't want to say the number because I
can't remember exactly what it was, but it was an oddball number. And when she showed me, that kind of spiked some interest,
because we had had several cases in the past where it wasn't necessarily the cause of their death.
But you started looking at that, and you saw some of the same traits in other cases.
And then the world was talking about these schemes that were going on and people basically extorting others,
you know, for money on sex trades. So when she said that, it's kind of like, oh,
we might have something in our backyard. They came in. They brought the phone with them and some of the printouts
that they'd had. And that's when I was able to reach out to the city police. [phone ringing]
James Leewood: So when I received the case in the end of January, the case itself was very time intensive.
Phone records, obviously, especially now-- 20 years ago, a couple phone calls for a couple of minutes
just to the expense of a cell phone call. You know, nowadays with unlimited plans,
you can make unlimited phone calls and unlimited text. So I had to sort through a lot of information
via texts and phone calls. [eerie music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - I sent texts from my phone.
And I said, hey, I said, this is Kathy Bowling. I'm Jared's mom. He can't talk to you anymore because he's dead.
Did you know that you were bullying and you shamed a veteran who fought for this country
and was very much dealing with PTSD? I said, you targeted him. I sent them pictures of him dead in the casket,
all of us looking over him. I mean, I was-- I was brutal. I'm going to find out whether or
not there's an actual daughter, because I don't believe it. A week later, I get the message on messenger
that somebody wants to send you a message, right? Because she didn't let it be who she was.
She just made one, and she entitled it Angels Among Us. First thing she said was, ma'am, you who don't know me,
but I know what happened to your son. And my brother knows who's responsible for this a scam,
and he wants to give you their names. But he's going to need protection. And I messaged back, and I said,
what do you mean he needs protection? What do you mean? Where is he? [dramatic music]
She told me he's at-- he's at Lee Correctional. ♪ ♪ And I said, are you telling me that my son
got scammed by prisoners? Jacob Johns: It went from "he's being scammed" to "are
you [bleep] kidding me?" Kathy Johns: Are you telling me that my son got scammed by prisoners, behind bars with cell phones?
She said, that's exactly what I'm telling you. And my brother was in the cell when you were texting them.
Oh my God, I flipped out. [foreboding music] ♪ ♪ James Leewood: So when I received the case at the end
of January, I was told by my sergeant that I needed to go to Lee Correctional Facility, which is in Bishopville,
South Carolina, which is about 3, 3 and 1/2 hour drive from Greenville, to talk to two inmates whose names
have come up in the investigation as possibly being involved. So I and another detective, we drove
to Lee Correctional, where we met with the two inmates. Gut feeling, based on their short responses,
was indicative of someone trying to avoid answering truthfully. So I felt like we were leaning in the right direction
with those two. Both of the individuals had extensive criminal backgrounds from my research through their criminal history.
We get geolocation data on some of the phone calls, and our intelligence analyst, Officer Harrison,
utilized a plotting program to plot those lat-long coordinates into the system. And majority of the phone calls on
that phone number during the time frame of the search warrant I requested pinged at a tower
directly near Lee Correctional. And when you look at Lee Correctional on a map, it's in a very rural area, which a lot of prisons are.
So it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense that somebody would stay close to the tower near a prison
just to make phone calls. And nowadays, with unlimited plans, you can make unlimited phone calls and unlimited text.
So I had to sort through a lot of information via text and phone calls to whose numbers belong to who.
And through those numbers, I was able to find numbers that related back to the suspect's
family members and friends, information about the communities they came from, and other scams they were actually
running during the time they were speaking to Jared. Jacob Johns: Prisoners, they're in jail.
How are they getting access to these phones? They just took a life, not money. They took a life.
And my mom had sent them a picture of Jared in a casket, too, just to kind of say, this is what y'all have done.
♪ ♪ Bryan Stirling: These scams, the inmates can't help themselves, and they start
telling other people about it. So either they can make money, get the gangs involved for protection.
Once someone comes up with a good idea, it generally spreads like wildfire. Folks that come to prisons, they're not dumb.
They're smart folks. They've run, you know, drug rings. They've scammed people. They've done things of that nature.
And I mean, that takes a lot, a lot of smarts. It's just a criminal mind and a criminal way of thinking.
The inmates were not known to me already. I became familiar with them through the Johns' call.
But, I mean, I knew that if they were at Lee, that they were problematic inmates
and they were here for serious offenses. ♪ ♪ Kathy Johns: It took till May 10 of 2019.
And that morning, I got a call at work, and they said, we want you guys to be at a live news conference.
Can you guys get down here? We're charging these prisoners with-- we're going to formally charge them.
And they did a live press conference. Jacob Johns: Then we found out exactly who it was
and exactly who did it, names, two names and two faces. - They said, well, the reason we're charging them with
blackmail is because in the state, manslaughter only carries like a five-year sentence.
I can't even believe. I can't even wrap my head around that. But blackmail, it will give them 10 more years.
John Williams Dobbins Jr., his rap sheet literally was 12 pages long when I printed everything.
He has so-- he's a bad dude. He had no conscience. None, none. Karl Smith Jr., he pled guilty.
- These are the guys that killed my brother. These are the guys that we're going to take down.
And then after we take down these two, we're going to take down everybody else. Jared was the first veteran they targeted.
It was normal active military members that had turned into veterans. And now they target everyone.
I got targeted two years ago, and it was the exact same text they sent Jared, almost to the same word.
Like, there was two words that may have been off. - Had I not been the mama bear that I am and boldly told them
what I thought and got a response back from them to my phone and had I not sent those pictures, that guy wouldn't
have saw them laughing. But when I finally got everything, too, they gave me a new detective-- they
gave me two new detectives. And boy, they ran with everything I had. [somber music]
The informant, he didn't want to be moved, but they ended up moving him before they even
talked to him to a different prison, because he said that he couldn't even be seen talking to a guard.
If I get called to come into the infirmary for something, they'll know I'm talking, you know?
And so they literally had to move him, and it took a couple of weeks to get all that done.
It really sucks that he went and he fought for this country. He served in literally active war in Afghanistan,
put his life on the line, got injured, made it back, though alive. 2 and 1/2 years later, he's dealing with his PTSD.
He's working through. He's got his dog. He's got a son. He's happy. And just out of nowhere, they target him.
And he doesn't pay with money. He pays with his life. - I don't think I'm in. woman: Yeah, Jacob--
- The news conference was on May 10, 2019. 10 days later, John, he was paroled. - That was the worst part, was that we
found out that John Dobbins got out a few days after. Right? Got the photos, everything of Jared and the casket
and was walking as a free man 45 minutes down the road from me. A whole lot of me and my dad felt the same, wanted to take
justice into our own hands. But of course, we didn't. The fact that it took so long, it took so long to get him back
where he belonged was the infuriating part, that I could go run into this guy in Walmart right now.
Kathy Johns: He had been paroled for three years, walking around, living his life,
living it up, spending the money, denying it. He even talked about it on Facebook.
And I could see him on his Facebook page. He bought a brand-new motorcycle the week he got out.
Within two weeks, he had gotten a brand-new race car. I mean, living it up on the money
that literally my son died for. They had already targeted and gotten money over $500,000 from
military, active military. Jared was the first veteran that they targeted, had scammed over half a million out of them already,
because their rank means everything to them. They pay. They pay. [dramatic music]
Kathy Johns: So we went into this knowing we were going to have to fight, right?
I didn't know if I could handle myself, because I wanted to kill him. The first guy, Ricky Smith, he agreed
to testify against John, who was still denying it, if his sentence can run concurrent.
Our judge allowed every single thing that the solicitor found out. And he found out so much more than John
ever knew that he knew. More than 10, 12 times, that $1,189 was a number for John that he was scamming left and right,
even after Jared died. ♪ ♪ Bryan Stirling: Mobile phones in prisons, contraband phones
as we call them, because they're illegal for inmates to have in South Carolina, cause a myriad of problems.
They allow the inmates to corrupt officers by moving money around. It destabilizes the prisons.
It makes it unsafe for the staff. It makes it unsafe for the inmate population, and it makes it unsafe for the public.
Some of these scams, they get on and say we're with the X-Greenville Police Department.
We're going to come arrest you because of what you did. You need to send this money in.
And why are they able to do that? Contraband cell phones. They would not do this on the wall phones.
How are they able to receive payment? Contraband cell phones. Everybody can bank on their cell phones.
They can Green Dot. They can wire money. They can do all that stuff from their contraband cell phones.
So technology has led to this. There's just no good reason that I've been given by the industry, by anybody
as to why these phones are not being jammed. [somber music] ♪ ♪ - I remember doing the impact statement for the family.
I tried to write it down, but after doing it, I just decided it needs to come from her heart.
And, you know, I told the judge and John Dobbins, you know, what a great future Jared had and
how he was such a great guy. He was always happy. He was always singing. [singing]
It was a tragedy that this man that was standing 6 feet away from me was able to take that away, not only from Jared, but from us,
you know? Because he's a lowlife that's in prison. He didn't need all this money he extorted.
I believe he was doing it for fun. You know, and I asked the judge to consider his parole that he was on and to give
him the maximum sentence. In court, we were told that his girlfriend and even his mother
were money mules. They were the ones going to get the money. And so they were all involved in it.
- The judge was like, do you have anything to say to the Johns family? And he's like, I mean, I apologize.
I'm sorry. My family, I'm-- guys, I'm so sorry for what I'm putting you through.
Mom, he went on and on and on to them, and I thought, you [bleep]. You literally barely even turned
and said I'm sorry to us, the people that you-- we got a life sentence out of this.
Moment he took his last breath, my life changed immediately. Jacob's, every everybody's life, we got a life--
you get a life sentence when something like this happens. - Five years, we weren't happy with it,
but we knew he was going back to jail. In fact, he asked the judge to let him spend some more
time with his family before they took him, and the judge denied him. He'd been there all day spending time with his family.
It was-- it was-- it was a bittersweet day. I wanted him off the streets, but it
still didn't bring back Jared. woman: She right there with the big ones. - Ow! woman: It's Colson drooling.
He's teething real bad. Jacob Johns: And now it's just the fight to put cell phone jammers in prisons.
They have this other tech where they could tell where text and calls are coming from in the prison,
but it's not 100% effective. There's dead spots. The only way to truly stop it is
to have a signal jammer that covers the span of the prison to keep any calls in and out come from it.
Bryan Stirling: The reason we need to be allowed to jam cell phones and prisons is simple.
It's public safety. It's prison safety. Mr. Johns is a prime example of the public safety
aspect of this. This is costing millions and millions of dollars. It's costing people's lives.
It needs to stop. The federal government needs to have a hearing, and they need to change the law.
[somber music] [phone ringing] Kevin Johns: Since all this happened, we have become aware of even more scams in South Carolina.
And, you know, the big word that came of all this is sextortion. My understanding of this scam is that it started small,
and over the span of six years, it's nationwide. It started here in South Carolina, really.
It was first military and veterans. Now it's anybody who gets on a dating app is a target.
It's a relentless nationwide scam. And the fact that it's so big and yet nothing's--
they yet to stop it is sickening. I can promise you, 9 out of 10 men in the upstate,
where I live alone, has probably gotten the same text message of "you've done this wrong.
You've talked to my daughter wrong." I mean, it's a lot. You could get on a dating app right now,
swipe for a few days, and you'll get that text. - We've proven that we can't keep the cell phones out,
but damn it, I can keep that signal from them being able to get the signal. Virtually, they're out here walking amongst us, even
though they're behind bars. Kevin Johns: The law needs to be changed to separate telephones from cell phones
so that they can be jammed. - I know 30, 40 guys have been saved because of my son's death.
- And the amount of people that have messaged us or posted on the Justice for Jared group
of how Jared's story saved them, that's enough for us to be happy. not that Jared's gone, but that Jared is saving lives
like he wanted to in the Army. It feels good. It feels good to hear these stories of "you saved my son.
You saved my life." I didn't do nothing. Jared saved you. Jared saved all these people just by us sharing his story.
[somber music] ♪ ♪ Life without Jared is like part of you is always missing. To blowout two sets of candles is hard.
My parents, at one point, said we won't make Jared's cake anymore. And I said, don't ever do that because I've never had
a birthday without two cakes. Every day is a reminder he's gone. - For families and friends of veterans or active military
that have PTSD and are going through problems, just talk to them as much as you can.
Be there for them. When something like this happens to them, be there for them. [somber music]
♪ ♪ [somber music] ♪ ♪

In the quiet town of Greenville, South Carolina, the Johns family is struck by an unimaginable tragedy.

This true crime series unmasks the sinister world of scams, examining how perpetrators exploit trust.

For More FilmRise Check Out Our Other Channels: FilmRise Television: https://www.youtube.com/⁨@FilmRiseTelevision⁩ FilmRise Movies: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseMovies Highway to Heaven - Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@HighwaytoHeavenFullEpisodes

Brief Summary

Jared Johns, a veteran, died by suicide after falling victim to a sextortion scam, prompting his family to seek justice.

Key points

The Day Everything Changed. On September 11th, Kathy recalls a moment that would shape her family's future.
The Unimaginable Loss. Jacob Johns discovers a suicide note, leading to a panic that changes everything.
The Shocking Revelation. Kathy learns that her son was scammed by prisoners, a twist that leaves her reeling.
The Call to Action. Kathy Johns receives a call about a live news conference regarding the charges against the prisoners.
The Shocking Reveal. Jacob Johns discovers the identities of the murderers, leading to a quest for justice.
The Pain of Parole. Kathy learns that one of her brother's killers was paroled shortly after the charges were announced.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You expect to bury your parents.

Kathy Johns reflects on the unnatural order of loss.

1:07WatchJul 3, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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