Something Was Wrong - S16 E10: Tikkun Olam

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

*Content Warning: murder, police brutality, interpersonal violence, alcohol and substance use disorder, fraud, securities fraud, financial elderly abuse, childhood abuse, gun violence, death.*Sources: PEOPLE v. HENNING (2009), Court of Appeal, Third District, California: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal/1499956.html Case Law Access Project Harvard Law School: https://cite.case.law/cal-app-4th/173/632/#b542-6 by CANTIL-SAKAUYE, J. Spilling the Beans: Local Coffee Roasters Indulge the Community One Micro Batch at a Time Mountain Democrat: https://www.mtdemocrat.com/prospecting/spilling-the-beans-local-coffee-roasters-indulge-the-community-one-micro-batch-at-a-time/Cameron Park coffee roaster R.C. Henning celebrates 50 Years in Business: https://www.sacbee.com/food-drink/restaurants/article272907740.html Free and confidential resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources Artwork by the amazing Sara Stewart:@GreaterThanOkay - Instagram.com/greaterthanokaySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You're listening, add free, on Wondering Plus. Something was wrong is intended for mature audiences, as it discusses topics that can be upsetting, such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence. Content warnings for each episode, and confidential and free resources for survivors, can be found in the episode notes. Some survivor names have been changed for anonymity purposes.

pseudonyms are given to minors in these stories for their privacy and protection. Testimony shared by guests on this show is their own and does not necessarily reflect the views of myself, broken cycle media, or wondering. The podcast or any linked materials should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional expertise or treatment. All persons are considered innocent and less proven guilty in a court of law. Thank you so much for listening. And when, head on, head on It comes on, on, on, on We don't turn around.

It was just interesting timing. That's when I started feeling hadas, starting to feel that feeling of people making things happen for us because the timing just kept coming together and I'm so thankful to have a friend like you, a true best friend. We have made the best of the hands we were dealt and we have made community and family for ourselves and for our own children in so many ways and I'm so proud of us for that,

are coming together and now working together to coon alum, just having somebody who you know has your back and can honor your experience is truly a blessing. I feel like the podcast has given me so much, but the people that I have in my life are truly the most valuable things that I've gained from the experience. It's really powerful and amazing. All of us, we're so strong together,

and that's what makes the show successful as all of us together. So Amy, we work together and then season eight, Oridian, honestly, I was starting to come out of my depression after season seven and after season eight. My health was getting better and the show was doing well and it was very exciting.

Things were starting to seem less desperate for the first time in like 20 years of being on my own and working. You never wanna get your hopes up and that's something that Michael and I still struggle with when you've been broke for so long and you've struggled paycheck to paycheck for that many decades.

You have these strange mental things that you have to kind of get over. I don't know how to explain it. It's just like, you don't even realize how stressed out you are until some of that stress starts to be relieved. Michael is very similar to me. Like, God is first job when he was very young has worked as ast off, survival mode.

So it was like almost getting a taste of, we might make it out of here. We might make it in this thing. It just started to feel like maybe there's some hope on the other side of these years of Investment into this project and into the show even before the podcast I was building that community since honestly 2009 some of the people who listened to the podcast have been following me from before and thank you to those people. It's incredible During season eight is when I signed the contract with AudioChuck.

It was incredible to see how much the show grew through season nine being on the network and having for the first time audio support and people to help me make the show was really life-changing. I started to think about, maybe I can tell my own story, which is so weird. I was like going through the footage and one of them was me saying it's May 4th 2021, which the first

episode is released May 4th of this year, which is so weird. What are the odds of that? Today is It is May 4th, 2021, and yesterday I got a certified copy of my father's appeal filed in April, April 29th of 2009, Court of Appeal, State of California. So this is after he was already convicted, but I was able to get a copy of it online, searching through the case numbers and such, and it covers a bunch of information of his crimes that I did not know about. I've never really looked into any of this. I finally feel like maybe I'm ready. Okay. Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Placer County, defendant Robert Chester Henning, my dad, financially abused five elderly victims who came to him to purchase products to assist

their mobility. The jury convicted him of five counts of financial elder abuse in violation of penal code section 368 subdivision and five counts of grand theft by false pre-tenses in violation of section 484 and section 487. We refer to this case as financial elder abuse based on the evidence presented to the jury. The trial court found defendant in violation of his probation in an earlier case. In that case, defendant pled guilty to four counts of violating corporations code sections. The trial court sentenced defendant on the financial elder abuse case to state prison for the upper term of four years on count one and to a consecutive one year term on each of the other counts. I remember him being sentenced. I feel like I was like nine to ten years. His convictions of

grand theft by false pretenses and stayed execution of the term. After finding defendant had violated his probation on his securities violation case, the trial court sentenced defendant to consecutive eight-month terms for each of his four convictions. He never told me that. The reason why his sentence was longer was because he was never supposed to have this business to begin with. On appeal, defendant, my dad, raises 11 claims regarding the financial elder abuse, he contends the trial court aired in the admission of evidence and made instructional errors that insufficient evidence supports his 10 convictions that counts. Three and four are based on the same conduct, requiring the sentence of one of the counts to be stayed pursuant of section 654 and that his convictions for grand theft

must be stricken as lesser, included in offenses for his financial elder abused convictions. We shall affirm the judgment so they denied his appeal. Ooh, summary of facts. It says the 83-year-old victim lived in a trailer at a mobile home park, living on social security and small pension. She's housebound and sleeps in a lift chair. On March of 2007, her daughter took her to the defendant's store, National Medical Services,

to purchase a new lift chair. When the chair did not arrive, she called National Medical Services to talk to defendant. Defendant told her the chair was still in the shop, or there was trouble with it after a series of further phone calls from the victim and her daughter over a couple of months. The victim and her daughter returned to the store. The defendant told them the chair had been destroyed. When the truck transporting it was in an accident and caught

fire. So foolish, shit. Defendant told victim he could get another one in 10 or 11 days. She agreed to wait, but if the chair did not arrive in that time, she would want her money back. Defendant told the victim he could not write her a refund check as he was not the owner, but only the manager of the store. She never received the chair or her money back. The next victim is an 83 year old man and his wife 81 year old. They wanted a trailer to carry the male victims motorized scooter when they went to national medical services where the defendant offered to sell them $2,200

trailer for a discounted price of 1,800. He offered that if they paid with a cashier's check. They later called the defendant to order a hitch for the trailer and gave defendant their credit card number to pay the extra $316 for the hitch. Two days later, there was a $3,900 and $1 charge on their credit card. Account to the defendant's store, although they had not bought anything in that amount and had not authorized the charge. They tried to contact defendant, but he did not answer the store phone, and he was not in store when the victim went by to discuss the matter. They contacted the credit card company, fraud department, and eventually the charge got reversed.

They denied they purchased a bed from defendant that accounted for the charge to their credit card amount. So I'm assuming he made up some shit. It says the victims received a trailer about a month after it was ordered. The defendant promised to register the trailer title for them, but actually registered the trailer in the name of independent mobility products,

a business owned by Elizabeth Henning, defendant's ex-wife. What the fuck? What fucking independent mobility products business? She had a whole ass company in her name, and as I'm going through this, she knew exactly what Bob was doing to Tony's credit, and that he was doing shady shit. And I'm the one who had the fucking balls to tell Tony about it. 74-year-old victim lives by herself in a mobile home trailer. She uses a wheelchair to get around. She called National Medical Services and spoke with Defendant, my dad. After purchasing a lift for the back of her car to transport her power chair. Defendant came to her trailer to discuss her purchase.

As an aside, you really have to be a sick fuck to spend your entire life taking advantage of seniors, especially disabled seniors. They agreed on a purchase price of $800 for a lift. Defendant told the victim she had to pay in cash. She borrowed the money from her sister-in-law and gave him $800 in cash. Defended gave her a receipt and told her it would take approximately two months for the lift to arrive, as it was coming from Florida. When the lift did not arrive as promised, the victim called the defendant the defendant told the victim that there had been a hurricane

in Florida, and the lift was held up or destroyed. So foolish. The victim believed him and waited another period of time for the lift to arrive. When she did not receive it, she called again. This time defendant told her of the business in Florida was behind and it would take longer for the lift to arrive when she was still waiting. The defendant was in jail. She called and made a report of defendant's actions

regarding the list. It was 10 charges, five charges of fraud, and five charges of abuse, I believe. It's really interesting to highlight that what I found was actually an opinion paper from Harvard Law on his appeals case. And that's another interesting thing that you asked because your husband asked the same thing, and when I found out who wrote it, it was really eye-opening. This woman wrote a paper for Harvard Law. It was really interesting.

I didn't find it by looking up your dad's name. The only way I found it, finally, was looking up the special agent's name. And this led me to this paper work. Special agent James Becker or something like that? Becker or Hudson that I looked up. And it actually included both. But what I'm looking at is part of the Kaisla Access Project

with Harvard Law School. And it's basically an opinion paper written about your dad's appeal on April 29, 2009, in terms of his 10 charges for fraud and elder abuse. Michael was like, wow, it'd be really interesting to talk to the author. So I reached out, I tried. However, I just To give you some insight. This woman went on to become a chief justice in the Supreme Court. So I don't know if I'll be able to

Access her. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? Stop. I wonder if she worked on the case. She's a chief justice from the state of California. She was sworn into office in 2011. She has retired since. I tried to reach out to her just to get information on why she would write about it. What was her affinity towards the case? What were her thoughts? The DA that was on your dad's second case, she went on to be a member of the House of Representatives, by the way. And then also the other woman, the judge,

she went on to be a chief justice. So yeah, if you do enough bad shit and you get on enough radars, they're all gonna come after you. That's a fact. Listen to this Hudson found, but did not seize about 10 bags of coffee at the store. Michael talked about that in one of his interviews

and how Bob tells him how old the coffee was and Michael's worked at coffee shops before for many years leading up to this and so Bob was trying to like bullshit him like oh no it's because of the way it's freeze-dried or whatever. He's still to this day we think I'm still trying to sell that fucking coffee which we'll get too late. Speaking of that, I did look up the DA Eden. She's the one who emailed me. A long time ago, I reached out to her and I basically wrote to her to thank her for prosecuting my dad and asked her if she would be willing to speak with me. Oh my god, okay, so I just pulled up the email that I wrote June 2nd, 2021, 115 PM, to Eden.

Hello Eden, my name is Tiffany Reese and I'm a journalist and podcaster. and 2021, 1.15 PM, to Eden. Hello, Eden. My name is Tiffany Reese, and I'm a journalist and podcaster. My work's purpose is to educate and validate on the topics of all forms of abuse in a true crime documentary style, and then I link to the website. The reason I'm reaching out to you

is because I'm currently working on my memoir season of my own lived experiences growing up with my abusive parents. And through my research, I have learned that you were the DA in Placer County, who in parentheses, thankfully, with two exclamation points, convicted my biological father, Robert Henning, a financial and elder abuse, and then I link to a gold country media article. The reason I'm reaching out to you is to ask if you might be willing to be interviewed either on or off the record to speak to what you recall of the case.

I'm very thankful to you for working on behalf of victims to get justice. My father needed to be stopped and I'm thankful you did. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this in gratitude to Fneerees and then I gave her my phone number. And she wrote back two days later, June 4th, 2021. She says, hi, Tiffany, apologies for the delay. First, warm thanks for taking the time to write and your kind words about my work. I'd recommend talking to the investigating officer Jim Hudson

at Placer County Sheriff's Office. He was back then affectionately known as the H-BOM, partly due to his superb skills in investigating white collar crimes, known as paper cases in the profession. He now appears to be an assistant chief, and then she links me to an article about him winning investigator of the year. He investigated the case extensively,

talked to Mr. Henning, the victims, and witnesses, and took the stand at trial. For my own part, I don't believe I had a single exchange with Mr. Henning other than what's contained in the trial transcripts, as prosecution is prohibited from speaking to defendants without council present. I do remember that the case from start to verdict was fairly fast as none of the usual waivers were given by Mr. Henning.

This meant we went from investigation to preliminary examination to trial in a very short period of time relative to other cases. Please do stay in touch, and I'm looking forward to your podcast and the memoir. All the best. Eat in two years ago almost exactly. I also looked up the detective Hudson. Yeah, I believe he's retired at this point. So it's proving a lot harder to find him. Can we get him? We just got to find him. When I looked him up, I reached out to both women that were on the case, but Detective Jim Hudson, I searched him deeply, and there was a phone number for tips to call, to give to Detective Jim Hudson. I called the number, and it was a different detective, was at the

number. I put a call into him, asking if he was retired and trying to track down a way to get to him besides LinkedIn. But at this point, he is, I believe, retired. The other agent that was on the case, he is absolutely retired. That has been confirmed. I wonder if we contact Placer County. It's such a good old boys' town. Like, I'm sure they all play golf together. But he is proving to be a little bit harder, because, again, I think he is retired. And I guess, for a detective, if he's put away that many people, he doesn't really want to be found either. It is Friday. and I guess for a detective, if he's put away that many people, he doesn't really want to be found either. to the scene when my brother was murdered.

I guess I don't know what I expected to feel here, but I think I just feel more confused why they weren't able to just stop and help him. Why did they choose to shoot him? A 22 year old young man who had his whole life ahead of him. I just don't... I'm never understanding. I can't believe you talked to him. Is it okay that I'm recording this?

Of course. Okay, okay. I can't believe I spoke to him either. Don't look at me. Yeah, everything. Search for this. I've been looking for him for a while. Remember?

Since you a screenshot, I found some R in with his name in Paramount. So I was like, oh, it has to be him. I didn't have a phone number. So I was hunting down that guy's number. I finally got it called him and it wasn't him. I was like, okay, start over. I did a little bit more homework. And I found a YouTube channel that had a video

of Rubin talking at a memorial event. I just uploaded it into the box actually. He's talking about the event, the actual event and how he saw. There was a memorial after he was murdered. Oh yeah, I remember that. They were at the site. So I went with that and I was like, oh, okay, I have an idea of how old he is now. So I kept googling the name. And I was like, okay, we'll probably not paramount because there was only one proven paramount I could find. So I went with Long Beach, then I found a bunch and then I was like, okay, let's narrow down with the age. I could turn and narrow down like maybe a 10 year span.

And then the second person I called was him. Oh my god. What did he say? Was he like weirded out? What was he like? So interesting. Definitely. Yes, he was weirded out. He was like, wait, who are you affiliated with? And I was like, well, Bobby's sister. And he was like, I didn't even know he had a sister. He said that. Yeah, I'm sorry if that's triggering. Oh my god. I started, I was like, I am calling because I'm looking for a Ruben Astrada who was a witness to an incident in 2012. I could tell by his initial reaction. I could tell it wasn't like the

first guy who was like, yeah, nope, not me. He said, I always assumed his daughter would find me. So, and he was like, well, I'm kind of heads in to talk because I had lunch with his dad, and the last day I saw him, he literally was sitting there with me, got a phone call from the attorneys, and then just left, and that was the last time

he saw him and talked to him and never heard from him again. And he hasn't been in contact with Liz? No. Yeah, if he's meant for my parents, and then just laughed and that was the last time he saw him and talked to him and never heard from him again. And he hasn't been in contact with Liz? No. Yeah, if he's meant for my parents, he's probably like, if she's anything like those two. No, which is funny because I'm absolutely fucking nothing like those two. I explained Tiffany and I worked together. We're both victims in essence.

Shua's Bobby. I lost my mom. And we have this mission to change. She has worked so hard to help other victims tell their stories. She's finally in this space. She's healing further in this process. He was a little skeptical at first, but we talked for like 40 minutes. He actually studied like the police showed up on my neighbor's house last night

and the officer was wearing a beanie and the officer the night of Bobby's murder was wearing a beanie and it just sent me immediately back there. So he was like, it was just so weird that that happened last night and here we are talking today. I wasn't super clear but I think he said beanie one was the one that was like, good job dude. Rubin is more than willing to tell you. I don't know if he's willing to do it on record. You know, talk about them, high-fiving. He said, the officer turned home and said, good job dude.

And he said, how could anybody say that after killing him? I'm sorry. You said the fuck? I know. That's my person. Rubin wants to advocate. I think he thinks that Bobby has not seen true advocacy either. They don't give a fuck about him.

It's so fucked up. Sorry, I'm not expecting that. There's so much I don't know. There's so much I've never looked at. My goal is telling me about the cases about my dad and like fuck dude. He was very skeptical at first because again, he mentioned having lunch with your dad. Literally that day, he was like, he was sitting with me

and he got a call with the lawyers. He just left and that was that. The gist of it was, it was just like, okay, you serve me no purpose on him, MarkaBuy. Once I really like kind of cracked open his exterior, he let it out. He was very much open to talking to you. He said, at one point, mentioned,

flippantly, you could text him. He said, basically, he's been waiting for this. Watch what happened to your brother, changed him. He also said, he did a position, a couple of deposition. And then he said that the government was supposed to pay him for his gas money, and he didn't even pursue that, because he's like, I'm not in this for anything, but I did feel her parents were in it for something to a certain degree.

It's actually so validating to hear this. Which is insane considering Bob was literally in fucking prison when this took place and like had no relationship with Bobby at all, but I digress. He got out of prison eventually and he actually was staying in facilities for unhoused persons or persons who have just gotten out of prison and had been spotted by somebody I knew. And that's how I found out. He was staying a block away from me at the time. After he got out of prison, my phone number had been the same and he did call me and tried to play the victim,

tried to convince me to have a relationship with him and kept saying things like, you can't do this to me, please don't do this to me. Please Tiffany, I love you Tiffany, why would you do this to me? I've never done anything to hurt you. I've been accused falsely and I've lost everything and you're gonna do this to me?

On top of everything that I've suffered and went through, what I recall is just repeating, do not ever contact me again, do not ever contact me again. I am blocking your number now. Your contact is very much unwanted. And that was after he had already gone to Michael's work and walked into the kitchen and tried to hand something to Michael. He tried to hand him like toys our us gift cards to give to our kids as a manipulation tactic. And Michael told him basically go fuck himself and to never contact us. And then after that was when he called me and we had that final conversation. I have not spoken to him since and it has been great. I actually found your dad's name on it.

It does say it's a recommendation to settle for the lawsuit filed by Elizabeth and Robert Chester Henning. And it does say they filed it on February 15th, 2013. So within one year, two, 15, 13, and then the settlement was reached May 27th, 2015. That's so telling. Also, this is just supporting my theory that part of the reason that Liz went off and was so fucking rude to me and treated me so horribly at the end was like her clear attempt to push me away. I think she thought that if she got the money, I don't think she thought that I would be like, give me money because that's just not how I am. I'm completely independent. And as soon as I got my first job,

I was like, fuck you. You were her conscience that she didn't have. Especially when she would do things around Bobby or involving other people that I loved. It's way easier for me to stand up for others than for myself. It always has been. I feel like even just being her conscience,

she'd wanna ostracize herself from that. And the only way she would do that effectively is doing something that would make you sever those ties. That is absolutely mind blowing. On LinkedIn, there's no, you know, it's more general information. I knew that the lawyer was in Los Angeles, right? But yesterday when you mentioned it,

I was like, why the hell have I not dug it deeper on this lawyer? I wanted to see where I had contacted him. At originally, I thought he had sent an email and LinkedIn, but it was only a long LinkedIn. So finally, I just like Googled him. He is literally in my community. His business is literally down the street and get this.

He and I go to the same Starbucks and chat quite often. You're fucking winning me, Amy. I swear to God, the Starbucks that you attend is the number one source of your celebrity sightings. What is happening? I have talked to this man several times. Isn't that fucking weird? I'm gonna cry.

That's like, I sent you that text last night about him being in an area and then when I hit images, it blew my mind. I cannot believe this. So it's a Starbucks where everybody goes so often there's so many regulars. It's a community hub, to be honest, we've

never talked about his work. But when I dug into that, he's a lawyer who represents and combats police brutality in general. He's worked on massive cases and in Los Angeles County, you say very busy in that work.

It says he's one of the most recognized, well-respected and successful civil rights attorney in the state of California and the country. He takes on the police when no one else is willing to fight for the rights of those victimized by law enforcement. He is a tough and aggressive advocate on behalf of his clients. He started his own law firm in 1991 and began specializing in personal injury cases. He also handled numerous criminal cases, apparently. When I went to his website, they have his press kit. They have interviews with him and they have judgements on huge cases that he's won a couple years ago when I first started looking into all of that.

I never reached out to him though. Maybe this was the right way. I did want to tell you. I just called him right before I spoke to. To be clear, I didn't speak to him. He's in depositions all day. I did speak to his office manager. I didn't tell her much, but I was very transparent in the sense of what I did tell her. I didn't want to side swipe him.

I said, I was actually looking for a lawyer who represented a case in the past. It turns out he and I go to the same Starbucks, like mentioned that at the top. Just to say, like, I'm not a random stranger. I am also a part member of the media, and I am working on a podcast about a young woman's journey that ultimately also includes her brother's murder at the hands of the I.L.A.P.D. and I did say that he represented the case. I didn't want to give her too much, but I also wanted to give her enough where she felt comfortable passing on my information.

She kept saying to me like, so okay, so what's the point of the conversation? What do you need from him? Because he is busy. I do wanna talk to him about whatever he can about that case. It's public knowledge enough that he represented the family, so whatever he can share,

I do have a couple questions, and I said I also have a couple questions just about his work in general. It would be really interesting just to hear about his journey in do have a couple questions, and I said I also have a couple questions just about his work in general. It would be really interesting just to hear about his journey in that space a tiny bit, even if it's a sentence or two. They did ask me what was the cue number, and I was like, well, the victim's name was Bobby Henning,

and she said, oh, that was a really long time ago. I said, look, I understand he is busy, but whenever he can get back to me, I would love to talk to him. He does actually know me, we go to the same Starbucks, and she was like, that's just so funny. I'll absolutely pass it on. She'll give him the message today. She'll try to have him call back today, but it might not happen. I absolutely believe in civil judgments to hold people accountable, especially with the police,

because it's the only way that we can hold them accountable, and these people aren't getting fired. because it's the only way that we can hold them accountable and these people aren't getting fired. The money that is paid to these victims' families, these police, who are legally not responsible in the law, they are taught to shoot to kill. And then, even if you'd kick it to a federal civil court and you sue the police department or whoever is negligent, even if they find them negligent, that officer isn't paying a dollar to the family. They literally serve zero consequences most of the time, and our tax dollars are what goes to the family. Make it make sense. They should be paying the whole settlement, and then they should be excused from service, and also imprisoned, because hello, they're murderers.

I ran the deputies name in a database I found based on to police gangs in LA. Just because he wasn't in it doesn't mean he wasn't in the gang. I filed something today. I called the Paramount Police Department and they are in LA jurisdiction. I'm pretty sure he got fucking promoted. The last time I looked two years ago when I started trying to find him, I found another officer that sort of looked like him, named Stewart, and he was in Colorado, and he was on like a special team.

And the photo, I couldn't tell 100% but it did look like him, and that shit fucked me up. Yeah, there's one in Oakland. Same name, but it might not be him. Maybe the attorney will know that worked the case. I felt on a rabbit hole about that because there's currently an officer in Oakland up for domestic violence charges with his name. So I did like this deep dive on Facebook. I couldn't 100% confirm it wasn't him, but I'm like 90% sure it wasn't him. That's when I put out the email to the LAPD. I just filed for everything. Every option,

checked every box, I don't know what will happen, but we'll find out. Also, just another interesting thing that I can remember. Rubin said he went to the mayor after everything happened. And I think maybe like a month later, perhaps, he went to the mayor of Paramount and he said that he requested the police officer be taken off service. Just to confirm what you just said, he basically said, I wanted to to get him to get it off the street But and the mayor still was like we don't care. No the mayor went to the officer And that's when the officer bucked up a little bit and then got put on leave But when he came back Rubin said he tried to follow him his career or whatever to know I'm pretty sure he said he got a promotion of some sort get a certain point and he confirmed that statement that you just said Yeah, it was fucking crazy.

Ruben never texted back. That's fine. I sent the most heartfelt text possible with the most humility and gratitude possible. I have to know my limits, even just going to the site. Also, the last time when I found Bob and what he was currently doing two years ago, and I found out that he was running a new scheme. I had just started at AudioChuck and I had planned to tell my story for season 10 and started working on it. What I discovered in May of 2021 was that Bob had leveraged what I assume was the money that he gained from the civil case surrounding my

brother's murder to start his latest scam which was telling people that he's been in the coffee business since the 70s and he's this special important coffee roaster and he's selling a whole new lie. He's up in Eldrotto Hills running a coffee shop. One of his cons that he's done is he's told people that he used to have a coffee shop in Santa Cruz in like the 70s before, quote, coffee was cool. At certain points when he'd be really struggling

to find a hustle, he would go back to that lie for whatever reason. And I found this article by some local newspaper in El Dorado and it was about his coffee shop that he opened and how he had been doing coffee since the 70s all about how he knows so much and I think there was video or photos of him like showing his process and all this shit. It's just another way for him to like move money around and for him to use those 23 businesses that that one associate recalled from one year of working together, that's what people like Bob

do. He created all these different businesses, LLCs. They're always moving money around. I know about his history and him leaving out a huge part in the article, which was that he's spent the majority of the last decade not working in coffee but sitting in prison for fraud and abuse crimes and is a very scary person. And I remember I reached out to the editor of the magazine and I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, are you serious? So now a media outlet has offered validity to his statement. He shouldn't be recommended by anybody. Did you not look up his prison record for cons? But like, of course, not like they're just highlighting local businesses.

Of course, it's not that deep to them, but it was just shocking to see that. Of course, you're just lying, acting like you've just been making coffee and roasting coffee since the 70s. They've put this out there saying, this is who this guy is. So I contact them and I contact the editor and she was so defensive right out the gate. And I'm telling her this is my dad. I found this article and I'm just wanting to know if I could speak to the writer who wrote the article. So he could tell me if there was anything else that didn't go into the article that he knows about what he's doing and stuff. One sort of curiosity and two mostly protection of myself and two mostly,

protection of myself and wanting to know. And that's the thing about when your abusers are still alive and out there. So she was rude, but then she was like, I contacted the writer and he was nice. He was like, oh, that's wild. He was a character. We really only talked about this.

He said he would be willing to speak with me for the podcast at the time. He's like, I don't really know what I would have to offer you, but I don't know. Amy, that might be somebody we're reaching out to just to see. I actually reached out to Andrew of the mountain Democrat who wrote the original article about Bob and his coffee company. We played a little phone tag and then I actually got him. Our conversation was quick but holy shit Tiffany. I didn't tell him too much but in essence I gave him enough to educate him that Bob was not quite who he said he was. I didn't do that until after I asked him a few questions and he was

really willing to answer. He was in the middle of something and so he wasn't able to record, but he did say that everything he was saying was on record. So on May 18th, 2023, I talked to Andrew. I was like, how did you stumble on this assignment? He said that the editor of his paper that he like freelances for, ended up giving him the assignment of speaking to three or four coffee companies or roasters in the area.

They were going to highlight people that roasted their own beans or like brewed their own coffee in house or whatever. He said that when he went, he actually went to Bob's coffee shop for the interview and it was around the tail end of the pandemic. interview and it was around the tail end of the pandemic. He said it was not open for business at that time to the public because of parameters in COVID. He took a tour of the business, Bob showed him around the place, Andrew interviewed Bob and that was it. And I was like, okay, so can you speak to what type of person Bob was? What did you gain from that experience? Like how would you explain Bob? He was like, I don't wanna use the word braggadocious, but he was very confident in his coffee roasting skills and or knowledge.

He was very, very confident about what he brought to fresh roasted coffee in El Dorado County. But he also said that everybody else he interviewed pretty much was doing the same thing Bob was. So that was just really funny. It's kind of interesting to take note because the term con man actually comes from the word confidence man.

Just interesting he used that word. Andrew said that he like literally at a direct quote, he said he would not have trusted Bob. If he had said, hey, I got a deal for you. That was specifically a feeling he got from Bob. Bob told him in the interview, he was doing home deliveries to lots of people in the county. And that was really what was keeping him in business, especially through COVID. You're going to laugh so hard, but he specifically would not let Andrew take pictures of his roaster. He said it was proprietary. Legally, he couldn't take photos, he didn't

want it in the newspaper. And so at that point, I was like, wait, was it on? Was it like working? And he said no, it was not on. He didn't ask him to turn it on or anything like that. So, he didn't actually see his roaster functioning, but he had one and he wouldn't allow photos being taken of it. That was interesting. He said that after doing the interview, because he lives in the neighborhood, he said he drove by and he said he thought he was in business, but he can't really be too sure about its current status. But he also was like, hey, I had no reason to look up Bob's background. After he explained, he was like, look, I was given this assignment, I was supposed to cover a bunch of coffee shops, so Bob was just one of many and I was like, yeah, but there's this whole other article

all dedicated to Bob and how he's been a coffee maker for like 50 years. It's just crazy. How the media can lend credibility falsely. That's what these articles have done. But yeah, Andrew was a really interesting guy. Oh my fucking god, what is this? Thursday, May 18th, 457 PM, Amy just sent me the Sacramento B. No! Fuck!

This article is from March 10th, 2023. Sacramento B, let the brew come to you. Local Roaster celebrates 50 years delivering coffee to your doorstep. RC Henning Coffee Company. In Cameron Park is about to celebrate 50 years in business. Focusing on roasting five varieties and delivering coffee to coffee lovers in the area. Wait a second there's a listen option. Hold on. Let the brew come to you. Local Roaster celebrates 50 years delivering coffee to your doorstep.

Cameron Park Micro Roastery RC Henning Coffee Company is about to celebrate its 50th year in business. You've probably never heard of it. Sacramento area wineries that have lasted 50 years, bobble and booger, namely, our household names at this point. But RC Henning Coffee Company is still something of a secret around the region, partially because it originated in Santa Cruz and only reopened in Cameron Park about four years ago, after RC Henning himself moved to El Dorado County. The other reason is that Henning has little interest in operating a real cafe. Customers can grab an espresso drink from RC heading coffee company between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays while staff are roasting ST

the 2500 58 green wood lane location, but with no Wi-Fi, people don't bring their laptops to work there. No, RC heading coffee company drives most of its coffee directly to consumers' door stops. For free, if you live in Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, Shingle Springs or Rescue, 2-pound minimum. Customers anywhere else in the U.S. can get it for a $10 flat shipping rate. Hending selects a rabbit of beans from a warehouse in Oakland, then roasts and packages them at a shop on weekday mornings before delivering them in the afternoon. Each of the five varieties, dark, light, espresso, and decaf, run a reasonable dollar 12-slash pound. Santa Cruz had only one other roastery when Henning, 71, opened his eponymous shop in 1973,

and he soon began selling wholesale to restaurants and cafes. A capitolah location was successful as well, and Henning retired to El Dorado Hills to spend his golden years closer to Sierra Nevada ski resorts. Retirement proves somewhat boring, and Henning reopened his business in Cameron Park. He has four employees, and knows almost everyone who comes into the shop by name. I just like roasting coffee. I do. I put my earbuds in, and I'm just dancing. Henning said, I'm in this mostly as a hobby. Holy fucking sh**. This motherfucker. The Sack Bee article, they never wrote me back.

What the fuck? These people are just writing articles about bobbing a coffee connoisseur like the fuck? Originally, I had hoped to share my story for season 10, but what I realized is I wasn't ready yet. I was still in survival mode. I emotionally just wasn't ready yet. The digging sort of triggered a lot of emotions and made it hard to want to continue to do that from a production standpoint. I'm usually working on two or three seasons out all at once. Our team is still very small, but before when it was just me, you know, it's very time-intensive. And being able to get a little bit of time back, I started working on this.

There was just a lot going on in my life, personally and professionally, trying to add this on top of it. It just wasn't the right time for me. I needed to get through some other things first, but I continued working on it slowly, but surely, I dove into it for a good month or two and then I started to need a break throughout the years and through transitioning from audio chuck to Wondry towards May of 2022 ironically again and May that really gave me the ability to have enough support where I could actually think about being able to tell my own story. After the show started doing well and I got an agent and more people on my team, a lot of the times in meetings that I would have, it would be like, when are

you going to tell your story? Or you could tell your story this way, we could do it this way or this way and I just wasn't ready yet. There was a few ideas that came across where I was like, yeah, I would consider that or I think that could be interesting. I just don't think I was at a place. I also knew that I could kind of slowly work on it and keep it as almost like a backup. And heaven forbid, if something were to happen during a season that I was working on, I could then basically have enough built up to where I could pivot. I was working on seasons 14, 15 and 16. The story I was working

on originally for 16. I actually invested the most time I've ever invested in any story and resources and traveled and all this stuff happened. And for reasons I'm not going to get into, we literally the week the trailer was supposed to come out had to pivot. I could have honestly figured something else out. I want to be clear about that. I chose to tell my story. It finally felt like the right time and because I had been working with Amy and Lily and Becca and Stephen and my supportive partners at Wondery and UTA, my agency and my family support. And finally, this cushion of support around me and finally not being in survival mode anymore,

I finally felt like, okay, we can do this. I'm so, so thankful that I did, because I've now figured out a lot of the reasons why I was making certain decisions over the last few years that I couldn't make sense of and was kind of just head down in the work. And through this reflection and this process, I'm able to see things a lot more clearly as I spoke about before, not only in my personal life and my creative process, but also in

just who I am as a person and a creator. I think another piece is that season 15 was one of the more difficult seasons to work on behind the scenes and there was a lot going on. I think I thought for a long time that by not sharing I could keep people from knowing me or kind of keep people at a distance but as the show grew it just felt like the right time, and I think with having Amy and working on what came next and having a partner and somebody in the creative process and somebody who I knew would validate me because she validates me as a human,

just knowing how similar we were and how well we worked together, it was like finally, okay, maybe I can actually do this because I have a really good support team right now. I'm so so thankful that I listened to that because there is so much joy and freedom of releasing it and letting people know you and choosing to move forward. I sincerely hope that it will help people feel even more connected to the community and the show and myself and hopefully maybe I make more sense to people now if that makes sense. The thing that I realized as I wrap us up here when I was going through the footage that I recorded throughout the years but specifically in May of 2021 when I started digging in for the first time since 2012. There's this situation that took place where I was looking at obituaries that were on

Some website or article or something of Bobby's and it led me to this teachers profile from the school where his best friend drowned She had written a memory. I went to the teachers profile and then Liz's profile popped up and because I was in like research mode I clicked on Liz's profile and then looked at Everett's profile which led me to some posts. One of them was a post of Everett posting a Mother's Day card that Michael and I had written on saying something nice about Liz that we appreciated her more. Now that we're parents we appreciate her as a mom more. Not surprisingly Karen had reposted this hot take. This is after the podcast and my books had come out.

I can't remember the exact verbage, but the vibe was like, this is proof that I'm a liar and Liz was never abusive or something. Again, they're trying to like silence me and or accuse me of lying. Talking to Michael about it and him validating me and him being like, no, because that's how you are, you always tried to like encourage her and lift her up when she didn't necessarily deserve it because you were trying to keep her sober. You were taking on too much responsibility when he speaks to like him also doing the same thing with her.

Like what are you going to write in your mother's day card? Like yeah, you really fucked that up. Your abusive relationship and then holding up a love letter that you wrote to them at one point in your relationship and being like, see, they're a liar. It's just her trying to like, gaslight rewrite history, silence me, and Liz is the type of person who cares so much, as Michael said in the early episodes, about what people think. So she had written that and then I saw on her page after the first season that come out. The only thing I really said about Liz in the first season is that my mom's a textbook narcissist is what I said. As a refresher season one is about Sarah's story. There are pieces that I left in where her and I connected over certain things, given my relationship, and I did talk about certain things, but I wasn't as weird as it sounds like

it was shared with her. It made it into the show and I chose to like share it I don't think I recognized how big the show is gonna become and all the things and how that would spark even more curiosity or whatever Also, it's my podcast So if I want to talk about myself a little bit in a whole season of a show of course that's acceptable to do I had spoken very briefly about her in season one and I don't know if she listened or somebody told her or whatever, but there was a post on Liz's page that I found in 2021 that she had posted, obviously, after hearing of this in some way.

And it said, narcissist. It was like a definition, like her writing the definition, it's a narcissist, colon, making everything about yourself or something along those lines. She had reshared Everett's post or something. It was very clear to me that it was aimed at me. It was so upsetting to me. It's so weird to say that I was surprised when the behavior is so predictable when you look

at the full picture, but even after working on the show for multiple years, when I went and saw that stuff, I still was shocked like how can she put this out there? How can she literally post a picture of a card I wrote and act like that discredits all of my abuse and like I'm a liar? How can she seriously be accusing me of making the whole season one about myself by saying that she's a narcissist and like speaking that tiny bit of truth the other night I was thinking about this final episode and putting things together and I was getting upset again and I was starting to feel like am I a narcissist? I'm starting to request myself because I haven't listened to

season one and so long you know. I still will have these moments where I'm so deep in my trying to understand her that I completely discredit myself and I had to like almost shake myself a bit mentally and be like, no, let's review here. Her saying that you made it all about yourself, first of all, is completely not true. I purposefully and very thoughtfully try to center the survivor that I'm working with always. And people actually frequently comment that one of the things they like about my approach is that I don't center myself and I really work to center the survivor as much as possible

and allow their episodes to be told in the way that they want and to be about them and their experience. So I'm kind of almost gaslighting myself and then I'm like reminding myself, I'm like, no Tiffany, this is something that all these other people have given you feedback that that's something they actually loved about season one I let it be about Sarah and then I brought in some elements and tried to tell the story within the story Which is also I'm not only a creator, but I'm also a survivor of some shit and like give people a little peek into that However brief it was even if it was just for a brief moment in the final episodes. I'm like reminding myself of that, and then I thought about it more,

and I realized yesterday when I was thinking about it, she was just trying to intimidate me, and silence me still. That's what she was trying to do. She fucking has to know, my whole life she's joked about how self-centered she is and everybody made jokes about it, violence me still. That's what she was trying to do. She fucking has to know. My whole life, she's joked about how self-centered she is and everybody made jokes about it like it was so funny. She's really out here on this whole ass internet, accusing me of making things about myself, when that's all she's ever done. And now I'm finally about to like speak some truth. And this is her response. I started thinking about to like speak some truth and this is her response. I started thinking about that

and then thinking about the actual reality and the facts at hand, just knowing of myself and the empathy that I have and the ethics that I have and the care that I put into it and knowing that she's just always been wrong. But you know what's unfortunate is I realized that when I read that and I wasn't in the place I am now when I read that in 2021 and unfortunately I think that that had a big reason of why I put this off

Was her saying that attempted silencing? I think that even if you know something's wrong, it can still be effective I'm already somebody who questions myself and has imposter syndrome. Sometimes and over things things to a detrimental place sometimes and can be perfectionist. She's also just not informed at all and she doesn't know what the word really means and to be honest a person who is truly narcissistic personality disorder would use gaslighting and just the reversal of like no you. And so basically she was saying no you to you. What she was doing was not only trying to discredit you and disvalue you, but she was literally gaslighting you and pointing a finger back at you. Because she probably knew to a certain degree what was impending. There's obviously a reason you're here and there's a reason you're sharing. But in your defense to be honest, when you grow up with such abuse

You're always wondering what you did wrong to create the current problem And you're using it to be a better person. You're trying to gauge and learn and evolve as a human Of course, we have triggers and they send us back into that child mode and seeing your mom doing something like that Would send you right back there, but I'm so glad you didn't hold that too long. I'm proud of you for putting it down is what I mean to say it. Thank you. It just, it hurt so bad,

even though it's like, why can she still hurt me? How can somebody who has nothing you want hurt you? At the end of the day, it's still your parent and there's so much past pain that gets brought up. It really upset me and that's clear when I hear the audio back when I listen to it. She's also honed her skills to her you for years. Well, she also has Everett and Karen. She hasn't even been enabling her. I'm sure she's struggling in her mental health and her choices based on the information I have and you

have to take it with a grain of salt, but it's still hurt. And then when I reflect on not only the pausing of working on this season after that, but how I've removed myself after that from episodes and content throughout the years that followed and not being able to like really place how that started to happen and why that started to happen and how I got to that place. Yesterday it hit me that that was a massive piece of it of what changed.

It wasn't just the environment and the people I was working with changed and structure changes and things like that. There was a moment where I started seeing myself as anything I was putting into the content was me making it about myself or even by including my voice was making it about myself. Not wanting to make their stories about myself is already the intention I entered the space with which is obvious when you actually look at the facts, but yes, it's like somebody who's ghastly forever. It's like the moment when she tried to be like, I've never hit you, even though you can see it for what it is, it's still painful and you have to like grieve it

and it's just a very strange and complicated dynamic reflecting on that and then seeing when I look at it now, she was trying to silence me. And she used a technique that she knew would work because she knows me. And she knew that is so the opposite of who I am, that she knew that if she used it, she could hurt me. Otherwise, she wouldn't have used it. And it's also very telling of who she is as a person, that you're still after years, after everything you've done,

after everything that your family has been through and what has transpired and where you're at now and everything. You're still seriously trying to blame me or silence me instead of apologize to me and be accountable and try to repair or go to counseling or do anything that's constructive. This is your response. It's very telling. It makes me sad that her comments or other people's negative comments throughout the years led to me holding myself back. I felt like the last few years as much as I have loved working with all the survivors and all the privilege that I've had to work with the people I have. Two things can be true at once. I also have really struggled to like even hear myself in the episodes even a little bit. And right before we were pivoting to the new content of this season, the team had told me about a post on the

nice Facebook group. I don't know what the whole thing about it was, but it had been explained to me there was a post that had been made and it was basically like Tiffany, she's not in the episodes anymore. How do we get her back? Essentially, am I understanding that correctly, Amy? Yeah, people were wondering where your voice went and they wanted to hear more of it. I am no longer in that group, but when I was, I saw that post several times, to be honest. I saw several people asking, why has Tiffany just been generally missing from the episodes? Sometimes it's because the voice of the survivor is just entirely way more important

and the parameters of episodes and how we produce the content. But a lot of times it was me second-guessing myself and I think also gaslighting myself a bit like well you're not strong enough to share your story so what do you really have to offer? These survivors that I was working with were braver and stronger than I was so I didn't feel like my voice was very important. I felt like they're able to do something far beyond what I'm able to do so maybe what I have to say about their lived experience is less important. Now, as I'm reflecting and hearing that really moved me, it made me feel really bad. Of course, right away I was like, I've failed everyone. Everyone's upset with me.

And then I was just like, no, no, it's very sweet and people care about what you have to say. That's what it is. They miss hearing what you have to say, that's what it is. They miss hearing what you have to say. Holy fuck, people actually wanna hear what you have to say. That's what I've been hoping for my whole life. And now I have the opportunity to do it. Just feeling the support that I had around me. I was like, okay, I can do this now. And now that we're at the end of this season, as it is now, I just want to say that I'm so thankful

Amy to you and to Michael, all my friends behind the scenes and our family who have supported us and to those who have listened, I know it's really hard and a lot of it's really dark and heavy, but I really appreciate people holding space and listening to what I have to say. And I also feel really excited about starting another chapter now. The next chapter, which is Tiffany lives her full truth in her life and continues to do the work. I think that it will only benefit the work and the show and hopefully it'll lead to even more compelling content and connection for the survivors because now when people talk to me and share with me they'll have a better idea of who I am and where I've been

and that's pretty fucking cool. I don't know what else to say. You're just amazing. Thank you for sharing yourself with me privately and for this purpose and with the whole world because it's scary to do that. People just do not understand how scary it is. How do you feel? I really want to smoke like two really big blunts right now and And I feel really free. I'm a little scared about having conversations with people after this, because sometimes people confuse you sharing things with them

and you wanting their opinion on it. Yeah, it's a lot of vulnerability. And a lot of it is about the most sensitive parts of me. So there's a little bit of scaryness there, right? When Bobby passed away and people would say, the gnarly is shit and you're just like, whew, that felt like a ton of bricks. That's where my hesitancy comes from, but then I remind myself of what the response

actually has been like, and it has been life-changingly supportive, and I can't even tell you how many messages that I've gotten that are like, do we have the same mom? Are we sharing the same life? People being so validated and already sharing with me that my sharing helps them. That's such a great feeling. It's human connection in such a deep way, the softest part of ourselves, the scariest part of ourselves, and being able to, again, light

in the load by holding it together and sharing it together. It's incredible. I also am like excited to be done, and to move on to something else, and to get back. Don't want to remove myself, and I still want to continue to center survivors, but hopefully I'll be a little bit less freaked out when I hear my voices in the episodes, given that I've had to listen to myself so much over the last few months here.

But I'm also really excited to like, move on to other things too, and just get back to work. Get back to like work as usual. I have a bunch of really exciting, I just actually inked a couple of really exciting deals, future projects that I'm going to be working on in new content that's coming out, so I'm already thinking about that. And still trying to remind myself, this is your time, hold space for you.

While wrapping things up, I am looking forward to the future and the joy and the peace and the continued healing. I'm just really, really thankful. Thank you again to everybody who helped work on the show. Everybody who listened to the show, it means more than I could ever tell you. If you had told Little Tiffany that she was gonna survive and overcome all of this and wind up where I'm sitting right now, there's no plan on which I would have thought that was the truth. It sounds so cheesy and so cliche, but okay now what are you gonna do next? sitting right now. There's no plan on which I would have thought that was the truth.

It sounds so cheesy and so cleatay, but okay now what are you gonna do next? What's the next story? What's the next purpose? What's the next moment? There's always something next. We talked about survival mode. You managed to survive, but also to thrive. That is the ultimate. That's where you're at right now. Thank you again for sharing with me. Thank you so much. Today is Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023. I'm leaving LA. I'm driving through the grapevine. My brother and I, Bobby and I, loved, loved. Deathcap for QD. It was like our favorite band together. And one of the last few times I saw him,

he had just come through LA. And he was like, I drove through the grapevine and I listened to grapevine fires and I thought about you and ever since then every time I drive through the grapevine, every time I drive through the grapevine, when I go in and out of LA, When I go in and out of LA, I listen to this song and I think about him and I can feel him here with me. It's very strange. It's also interesting because it's like the entry to LA where he ended up being murdered. The wind picked up the fire's breath and the grapevine scene left for death. The northern sky could like the end of day, the end of day You wake up cold, two runs in room

Sounded like an alarm of an bendy doom To warn us it's only matter of time Before we are here Before we are here Before we are here Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, stay safe friends. Something was wrong is a broken cycle media production, created and hosted by me, Tiffany Ries. If you'd like to support the show further, you can share episodes with your loved ones, and cycle media production, created and hosted by me, Tiffany Rees.

If you'd like to support the show further, you can share episodes with your loved ones, leave a positive review, or follow something was wrong on Instagram. At something was wrong podcast. Our theme song was composed by Glad Rags. Check out their album, Wonder Under. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank on Amazon music. Download the app today. Or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.