00:00:03
this program is about unsolved mysteries
00:00:07
whenever possible the actual family
00:00:09
members and police officials have
00:00:10
participated in recreating the events
00:00:12
what you are about to see is not a news
00:00:14
broadcast tonight on unsolved mysteries
00:00:22
residents of a Florida nudist camp were
00:00:24
stunned to discover that one of their
00:00:26
most popular members was allegedly a
00:00:27
fraud a cheat and a child molester in
00:00:31
Ypsilanti Michigan a small-town realtor
00:00:34
was callously gunned down in his office
00:00:36
by two unknown killers is this regular
00:00:39
family man the victim of a professional
00:00:41
hit in a tiny Church in Ambridge
00:00:44
Pennsylvania the congregation are
00:00:46
certain they have witnessed a miracle
00:00:47
the eyes of Jesus and the carved wooden
00:00:50
statue over their altar or once open now
00:00:53
they say the eyes are closed
00:00:56
join me these fascinating stories
00:00:59
perhaps someone somewhere has at one
00:01:02
vital clue that can help solve a mystery
00:01:04
perhaps that someone is watching perhaps
00:01:07
it's you
00:01:08
[Music]
00:02:01
epsilon T Michigan a suburb of Detroit
00:02:03
January 11th 1984 the real estate office
00:02:07
of Jack Brown
00:02:09
[Music]
00:02:10
at approximately 11:10 a.m. two men and
00:02:14
as one stood guard the other headed
00:02:17
toward Jack's office we have trouble
00:02:21
here it appeared that the men were
00:02:23
familiar the layout of the building
00:02:24
think you're pretty smart don't you well
00:02:44
leaving the three employees locked in
00:02:46
the bathroom the two men walked away
00:02:49
Jack Brown died 12 hours later from a
00:02:52
single bullet wound to the neck
00:02:53
he never regained consciousness Jack
00:02:59
Brown had lived in Ypsilanti for most of
00:03:00
his life and was a member of the local
00:03:02
Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club at
00:03:05
the time of his death he was 47 years
00:03:07
old the murder of Jack Brown was no
00:03:10
random act of violence nor was robbery
00:03:13
the motive it appeared to be a
00:03:15
cold-blooded contract killing planned
00:03:17
and executed by professionals but Brown
00:03:19
was no Mafia Don he was a small-town
00:03:21
realtor who ordered him killed and why a
00:03:25
five year investigation has not been
00:03:27
able to answer these questions
00:03:32
Annie hi Jax real estate broker in
00:03:36
business put him in contact with many
00:03:37
members of the community they could not
00:03:40
imagine why he would have been targeted
00:03:42
by a killer to find you a classic
00:03:45
Victorian it was absolutely nothing in
00:03:48
Jack's background that I was a letter
00:03:50
town that would warrant any kind of
00:03:53
problem whatsoever and surely not the
00:03:57
tragedy that happened here
00:04:00
my opinion of the gunman is that they
00:04:04
came here to challenge Jack in some way
00:04:07
we got trouble here
00:04:09
I heard the gunman say you think this
00:04:11
might work don't you and I heard Jack
00:04:15
say in kind of a halting voice well well
00:04:19
maybe at that point the gun went off and
00:04:22
I guess I really figured that we had
00:04:25
bought the farm that they were then
00:04:28
going to get rid of three eyewitnesses
00:04:31
to her murder I guess looking back on it
00:04:34
it would seem to me to be a case where
00:04:36
whatever problem I had was with Jack and
00:04:39
not the rest of us that happened to be
00:04:42
in the office that fateful morning no
00:04:45
one seems to know anything shady about
00:04:49
Jack or anything that he might have been
00:04:50
involved in that could be termed Shady
00:04:55
which leads us to believe that maybe he
00:04:58
was living a double life was involved in
00:05:01
something that no one knew about his
00:05:03
family friends or anyone in this area
00:05:06
the night before Jack's murder his
00:05:08
brother saw him on the phone on a state
00:05:10
of extreme agitation and I arrived
00:05:15
Jack was on the phone I could tell you
00:05:20
whether or not just conversation
00:05:22
he was getting upset so when he finally
00:05:26
you know hung the phone up I asked him
00:05:29
if there's a problem
00:05:31
Oh oh that's that's nothing I just got a
00:05:34
few problems I got a workout you guys
00:05:36
have a good time at the poker game I'll
00:05:38
see you tomorrow
00:05:38
okay okay I honestly feel you know in my
00:05:43
own heart that something about that
00:05:45
phone call you know was involved with
00:05:48
what happened to following day
00:05:50
it's really strange when someone is
00:05:53
murdered are taken from you suddenly
00:05:55
like this that you look back and you
00:05:57
search your mind you search everywhere
00:05:59
for clues
00:06:01
you remember things that someone said
00:06:03
that didn't fit it was a fun party
00:06:07
wasn't it yeah Jack and I had been to a
00:06:10
Christmas party and I was just a little
00:06:12
irritated with him because he had a bit
00:06:14
much to drink and he was kind of
00:06:15
rambling what would you do if you knew
00:06:20
some very important people some very
00:06:23
powerful people did something very wrong
00:06:28
would you write their names
00:06:31
you know list and put it in a
00:06:34
safe-deposit box
00:06:36
what are you talking about probably
00:06:39
safer for you not to know you know when
00:06:42
I talk to you and tell you these things
00:06:45
that my husband said to me I'm almost
00:06:47
embarrassed it just sounds so unreal
00:06:50
politically powerful people doing
00:06:53
something really wrong and then you just
00:06:56
let it drop I mean I'm an intelligent
00:06:58
person and you say well why didn't she
00:07:00
find out more about it I mean and I
00:07:03
looked back and I really wished I had
00:07:05
but he told me that it was not something
00:07:09
I should know and it may sound silly but
00:07:11
I believed him after I recovered from
00:07:16
the initial shock I was deaf Ben these
00:07:19
little comments that he dropped in
00:07:20
conversations started coming back to me
00:07:22
and I searched for that safety deposit
00:07:25
key it was nowhere in my house I mean I
00:07:30
have just searched I'd like this
00:07:32
resolved I want to know I want to know
00:07:35
who those powerful people were I want to
00:07:38
know what their names are I want the
00:07:40
killers the people that actually did it
00:07:42
but I want to know the people that hired
00:07:43
him the same day that Jack was murdered
00:07:46
a major drug bust occurred in the area
00:07:48
triggered by an anonymous informant
00:07:50
could there have been a connection I
00:07:53
think it's very possible there are
00:07:56
people in the community that know more
00:07:59
about what happened that for some reason
00:08:03
either they're afraid to say or maybe
00:08:06
for instance if he knew something about
00:08:09
someone else that person is obviously
00:08:12
not going to
00:08:13
tell us what they know
00:08:17
it really seems unfair because Jake
00:08:20
didn't deserve to die if he did do
00:08:23
something wrong he did something bad you
00:08:26
know I've thought in my mind that maybe
00:08:28
I didn't want to know that if he did
00:08:30
something bad I don't want to know about
00:08:32
it but it's not true I can think of
00:08:35
anything he could have done they would
00:08:37
give those people the right to come in
00:08:40
and take his life the man who shot Jack
00:08:44
was 35 to 40 years old approximately six
00:08:47
feet in height and wore a beige jacket
00:08:49
light-colored pants he was armed with a
00:08:52
thirty-eight caliber revolver his
00:08:55
accomplice was approximately fifty years
00:08:57
in age was about five feet ten in height
00:08:59
he was wearing coveralls and a blue knit
00:09:02
stocking cap he was also armed with an
00:09:04
automatic handgun
00:09:09
next the story of an extraordinary
00:09:11
occurs in a tiny Pennsylvania Church the
00:09:14
parishioners of holy Tripp believe they
00:09:16
witnessed a genuine miracle
00:09:21
[Music]
00:09:26
too many Catholics miracles are an
00:09:29
accepted part of their religious beliefs
00:09:31
these miracles can take many forms but
00:09:33
usually involve phenomena occurring
00:09:35
before witnesses that cannot be
00:09:37
explained by any known science but the
00:09:39
church is extremely conservative when it
00:09:41
comes to officially recognizing a
00:09:43
miracle to date only a handful have been
00:09:45
seriously investigated and only three in
00:09:48
this century have been authenticated in
00:09:53
1917 Fatima Portugal was a site of the
00:09:56
most famous 20th century miracle that
00:10:00
year three young children said that God
00:10:03
had promised to show a sign of his
00:10:04
existence and on the day specified time
00:10:08
middle of a rainstorm and in front of a
00:10:10
huge crowd a clouds parted and according
00:10:13
to witnesses and reporters the Sun
00:10:15
apparently touched the earth
00:10:20
today thousands annually make the
00:10:22
pilgrimage to Fatima to celebrate this
00:10:24
divine occurrence more recently another
00:10:29
miracle is said to be taking place in
00:10:31
small Yugoslavian village called mega
00:10:33
goryeo since 1981
00:10:37
four girls and two boys claim that they
00:10:39
are being regularly visited by the
00:10:40
Virgin Mary she still appears to floor
00:10:43
them daily in a local church and has
00:10:45
told them that this will be the last
00:10:46
time she will appear until the second
00:10:48
coming of Christ a visit that will
00:10:50
signal the end of the world this miracle
00:10:53
has been dismissed by the bishop in meju
00:10:55
gorya but at the request of the Pope it
00:10:57
is currently being reinvestigated right
00:11:03
now in a small town in Pennsylvania
00:11:05
another miracle is said to have occurred
00:11:07
this time in front of a number of
00:11:09
witnesses some skeptics believe that
00:11:11
this is nothing more than a
00:11:12
hallucination others suspect a hoax but
00:11:16
many eyewitnesses are positive that they
00:11:18
experience something that has no
00:11:19
physical or scientific explanation a
00:11:22
phenomenon they insist was divinely
00:11:24
inspired twenty miles north of
00:11:30
Pittsburgh the area surrounding Ambridge
00:11:32
Pennsylvania has been slowly dying
00:11:37
abandoned steel mills find the banks of
00:11:39
the Ohio River a grim reminder of the
00:11:42
region's lost prosperity but the many
00:11:46
residents of Ambridge refused to move
00:11:48
out of town some of these people
00:11:51
gathered together in the Holy Trinity
00:11:52
Church to gain strength from their
00:11:54
religious beliefs and one another
00:11:58
[Music]
00:12:02
the Holy Trinity Church is a simple
00:12:05
house of worship a reflection of the
00:12:07
people that gather under its steeple but
00:12:10
the church is justifiably proud of his
00:12:12
beautiful suspended crucifix this wooden
00:12:15
plaster icon has been at the church
00:12:17
since 1931
00:12:18
it was refurbished last January by local
00:12:22
artist Dominick Leo III became really
00:12:27
deeply involved for two weeks with the
00:12:30
crucifix it was a crucifix that that had
00:12:34
been here at this church for possibly
00:12:36
over 60 years so now it was time to
00:12:39
restored and when I completed everything
00:12:43
and finally got to the face I actually
00:12:46
worked on all of the face and the eyes
00:12:48
last of all and when I got to the eyes
00:12:52
and I just painted them and put the
00:12:54
color of the blue-gray into the retina
00:12:57
and then I started to put some accents
00:13:01
into the sockets of the eye to show the
00:13:03
the the the color of death on March 24th
00:13:09
1989 a special three-hour Mass was held
00:13:12
to celebrate Good Friday
00:13:15
worshipping together was a devoted Clare
00:13:17
group 300 men and women take their
00:13:19
Catholic beliefs very seriously
00:13:22
[Music]
00:13:25
Jim svet Kovac is a nephew of the parish
00:13:27
priest and that night he was serving as
00:13:29
an altar boy dressed everything was
00:13:32
normal you know we had our readings and
00:13:34
sang the songs and veneration of the
00:13:36
cross
00:13:37
I got Communion and I went down on the
00:13:39
side of the altar just waiting for
00:13:42
everyone else to get done that's when my
00:13:44
brother Tom came up next to me
00:13:46
and I was you know looking up and I was
00:13:49
praying as Jim looked heaven into the
00:13:53
face of Christ he had a stunning
00:13:55
surprise the eyes of our once open now
00:14:00
appear to be closed when I first noticed
00:14:05
that the eyes were closed I was shocked
00:14:07
I didn't know what to believe at first I
00:14:11
was happy but I was scared at the same
00:14:14
time because you know you figure that
00:14:17
God you know he did this right there
00:14:19
while I was kneeling right there and I
00:14:24
turned to tell my brother Tom just look
00:14:27
and he looked up and verified what I saw
00:14:31
[Music]
00:14:34
go to the other side check but then we
00:14:36
thought maybe it was just the lights or
00:14:38
something just to make sure that you
00:14:40
know we just weren't seeing things I had
00:14:42
to go to the other side I looked up and
00:14:45
noticed that the eyes were still closed
00:14:48
it didn't hit me until we went into the
00:14:51
back and I had time to think about it
00:14:53
for a few minutes and that's when I I
00:14:56
started crying because you know you
00:14:58
don't expect something like to have to
00:14:59
happen and it was something I was a part
00:15:01
of they were crying and I asked him what
00:15:05
happened and he says the eyes on the
00:15:06
Cross are closed so I went back out with
00:15:10
another priest who was help me that
00:15:12
evening and we looked and there was a
00:15:16
change and I started looking around in
00:15:19
church at the people and I happened to
00:15:22
look in the back to lay open out the
00:15:24
doors
00:15:25
it was the artist who had refurbished
00:15:28
across the night call his name two or
00:15:30
three times and asked him to cut the
00:15:33
altar area and I just simply said to him
00:15:35
look at the cross attempt what you see
00:15:39
first when he told you that's one of us
00:15:41
this what could possibly be wrong you
00:15:43
know Isis said falling now and the
00:15:47
second thing I says this don't look like
00:15:49
it's falling town Isis is it a defect
00:15:52
some of the plasters falling down or
00:15:54
something you know and it wasn't that
00:15:57
and then my attention and everything was
00:16:00
just grabbed and my neck just flipped
00:16:02
back my eyes just went straight up to
00:16:04
the crucifix and when I looked up there
00:16:07
I couldn't believe what I saw because
00:16:09
not only were the eyes closed but but
00:16:12
they were there was like all kinds of
00:16:14
tears underneath it were fleshy like
00:16:16
whatever's the the eyelids were moving
00:16:21
and moving like this and all the tears
00:16:23
were in there was just like I said
00:16:28
crucifixion was was just started again
00:16:32
from 2,000 years it looked just like
00:16:34
that they were all on her knees and
00:16:35
everything goes just I could never
00:16:37
forget that never never
00:16:39
[Music]
00:16:53
since the crucifix was suspended 22 feet
00:16:56
in the air a ladder was brought in to
00:16:58
allow for a closer look
00:17:01
Dominic was the first to make the climb
00:17:04
I went up to the tip top of the a ladder
00:17:10
I straddled the ladder at the top of it
00:17:12
and I had a very close look at the eyes
00:17:19
[Music]
00:17:21
it was just some believable when I saw
00:17:24
this I hear this I hear was closed
00:17:27
completely except for a little sliver of
00:17:30
gray but this I hear was open slightly
00:17:34
and you could just see the bottom the
00:17:36
bottom of the retina and this is what
00:17:38
really did it because when I seen that
00:17:40
eye it looked like it was burned that
00:17:42
had been burned
00:17:43
you know from energy of some sort
00:17:46
another parishioner who had to see for
00:17:49
himself was Pennsylvania state trooper
00:17:50
Chris Marion I wanted to make sure
00:17:54
nobody had tampered with it and I got
00:17:57
real close like a three-year-old would
00:17:59
look into its father's face and as I
00:18:01
looked at it I realized there's no way
00:18:03
it was too high I knew no one could have
00:18:05
tampered with and it was fine and I felt
00:18:07
good about it I'm sort of glad that this
00:18:10
happened to me because as a state
00:18:12
trooper and I've been one for 28 years
00:18:14
I've been trained to look at things a
00:18:16
little differently than normal the
00:18:18
normal eye just like I knew the crucifix
00:18:20
a lot better than everybody well I knew
00:18:22
that everything that happened here this
00:18:24
wasn't some hoax this wasn't a bunch of
00:18:26
people just making this up
00:18:27
these are the type of people you drink
00:18:28
beer with every day and everything
00:18:30
happened here was for for a reason and
00:18:32
was definitely the most religious
00:18:34
experience that I've ever heard of in my
00:18:36
lifetime
00:18:40
suit Olfa was another member of the
00:18:42
prayer group familiar with a cross the
00:18:46
cross used to be in an alcove area where
00:18:51
anyone could come and light the big
00:18:53
candles and I've done that lots of times
00:18:56
and anybody that has ever lit a candle
00:18:59
when you look up Jesus is looking at you
00:19:02
I remember the eyes were open very
00:19:06
clearly the eyeballs the white the
00:19:09
bluish gray he was alive Christ dying on
00:19:16
the cross and his eyes were still opened
00:19:19
and that on Good Friday
00:19:22
they closed that night as he stood
00:19:29
beneath the cross a parishioner claimed
00:19:31
to have received a divine message he
00:19:33
wrote it down and shared it with his
00:19:35
fellow believers
00:19:37
it read in part I have given this sign
00:19:41
for all those who have faithfully come
00:19:44
truly my presence is within this church
00:19:47
but in the months to come
00:19:49
many will flock to see what I have done
00:19:52
welcome them just as the people of
00:19:55
Medjugorje
00:19:56
welcomed lows and flocked to see my
00:19:57
mother Medjugorje has more than a
00:20:03
spiritual connection with Ambridge many
00:20:07
of the holy trinity parishioners in
00:20:08
Yugoslavia sent and for former Ambridge
00:20:13
priests were born in this small town
00:20:15
[Music]
00:20:18
today some members of the prayer group
00:20:20
regularly make pilgrimages to Meiji
00:20:22
gorya Susanne Rini is a Catholic scholar
00:20:27
she feels at the parishioners
00:20:29
impassioned faith led them it has seen
00:20:31
something that did not exist there's a
00:20:33
very very great possibility that it
00:20:36
could be a subjective reality that's
00:20:38
born of the desire to share in the same
00:20:42
kind of thing that has happened in
00:20:44
Maggiore ax terrific hunger to have it
00:20:47
happen here and also as the kind of
00:20:50
affirmation that their prayer group is a
00:20:54
successful prayer group that it's
00:20:56
pleasing to God and therefore he sends
00:20:58
them this sign the Catholic Church
00:21:01
shares in the skepticism for this event
00:21:04
cannot be authenticated by the church as
00:21:06
a miracle until it undergoes a rigorous
00:21:08
investigation in this case by a
00:21:11
commission headed by the local bishop of
00:21:13
Pittsburgh
00:21:14
there is always value when people return
00:21:18
to their faith but you would want them
00:21:20
to return for the right reasons for what
00:21:23
if they found out later that there was
00:21:25
some deception here or some defraud that
00:21:28
could be very harmful to their faith and
00:21:32
that's what the church is always
00:21:33
concerned about and in an invest in
00:21:35
investigation like this that we are very
00:21:38
objective but we are very careful
00:21:40
because of the harm that can come to
00:21:42
faith
00:21:45
since that Good Friday Ambridge has been
00:21:47
visited by thousands of people who went
00:21:49
to see the crucifix for themselves but
00:21:53
what really happened in the Holy Trinity
00:21:55
Church miracle or hallucination
00:22:00
[Music]
00:22:03
even if the eyes of Christ didn't close
00:22:05
one can readily admit that some kind of
00:22:07
a miracle has taken place Ambridge has
00:22:10
retreated from this inexorable slide
00:22:11
into depression and many of his
00:22:13
residents had found a new reason to
00:22:15
believe in their church and each other
00:22:20
at times I sit here I wonder if you know
00:22:23
is this of God is this of something evil
00:22:27
you know that's taking place but I know
00:22:29
that people are coming here praying I
00:22:31
know people are coming here you know
00:22:33
they had they have dreams they come from
00:22:37
all over the place and when they leave
00:22:38
they have peace so there's good to me
00:22:41
this is all positive I think my little
00:22:44
nephew summed it up best for me yeah he
00:22:46
said to me uncle Chris I know what
00:22:48
happened he's five years old and I said
00:22:49
what happened he said well God closed
00:22:51
his eyes for everybody else would open
00:22:53
theirs we all need signs of affection
00:22:57
signs of love at time we need to be
00:23:00
reassured and I think maybe miracles are
00:23:03
a way of God's reassuring us of his love
00:23:09
several weeks actually completed filming
00:23:12
the story the Bishop of Pittsburgh's
00:23:14
Commission announced his decision on the
00:23:15
events that took place in Ambridge the
00:23:19
bishops Commission reviewed videotape
00:23:21
and photographs as showed the crucifix
00:23:22
before and after the alleged miracle of
00:23:25
Good Friday and stated that there was no
00:23:27
convincing evidence that a miracle
00:23:28
properly defined occurred at Holy
00:23:31
Trinity Church this decision means that
00:23:34
the Vatican will take no further action
00:23:36
on this case however the bishops
00:23:39
Commission did go on to say that the
00:23:41
witnesses were sincere and many of the
00:23:43
people we interviewed for this story are
00:23:45
still convinced that what they saw
00:23:46
really happened
00:23:47
they are unshaken in their belief that a
00:23:49
miracle did in fact occur whatever the
00:23:52
truth the events of this Good Friday did
00:23:55
serve to bring a troubled community
00:23:56
together under one roof under one
00:23:59
too many people on average this is one
00:24:02
miracle that cannot be dismissed in a
00:24:06
moment
00:24:07
we'll review how our viewers help put an
00:24:09
embezzler who built the Medicare system
00:24:11
out of sixteen million dollars behind
00:24:13
bars
00:24:13
[Music]
00:24:21
last May we examine the shocking case of
00:24:24
Sheldon Weinberg the New York
00:24:25
businessman who along with his two sons
00:24:27
Ronald and Jay stole an estimated 16
00:24:30
million dollars of taxpayers money that
00:24:32
was earmarked for medical care for the
00:24:33
poor the solicit father and son
00:24:36
operation became the largest medicaid
00:24:37
fraud case ever prosecuted in the United
00:24:40
States in 1979 sheldon Weinberg and his
00:24:45
sons opened the bed-stuy healthcare
00:24:47
clinic and want to book the New York's
00:24:49
most impoverished neighborhood a
00:24:51
facility empowered over 25 physicians
00:24:53
and catered primarily to Medicaid
00:24:55
recipients the Weinberg's immediately
00:24:58
began to frauding his system by
00:25:00
submitting up to 30,000 dollars per week
00:25:02
and false Billings to the government
00:25:04
they began small manually writing up
00:25:09
phony records and phony bills but once
00:25:12
they started getting away with it
00:25:14
they realized this scam was working on
00:25:17
the Weinberg started using a computer to
00:25:20
create bills and medical records for
00:25:22
non-existent visits and services that
00:25:24
profits soared from thousands to
00:25:26
millions of dollars jack we bring these
00:25:28
numbers up
00:25:32
they used Medicaid like it was a private
00:25:34
bank account for them and from that bank
00:25:37
account the Weinberg's led the high life
00:25:39
on the backs of poor people I think
00:25:43
their appetite for conspicuous living
00:25:46
for fancy clothes and especially shoes
00:25:48
was only outdone by Imelda Marcos for
00:25:55
seven years the money rolled in but in
00:25:58
April of 1986 the Weinberg's elaborate
00:26:01
scheme started to unravel when
00:26:03
authorities began to investigate the
00:26:04
clinic's billing practices for over four
00:26:10
weeks auditors painstakingly search
00:26:12
through the clinic's records and trace
00:26:14
the phony Medicaid billing you look at
00:26:17
the medical charts you'll see that a
00:26:19
four year old boy was shown as having
00:26:22
smoke four packs of cigarettes a day and
00:26:24
haven't drank a quarter of booze a day
00:26:26
you found men with gynecological
00:26:29
problems and that's the type of things
00:26:32
that jumped out off the paper at you on
00:26:36
November 30th 1988 Sheldon Weinberg and
00:26:39
his two sons Ronald and Jay were
00:26:41
convicted of grand larceny conspiracy
00:26:43
and 63 other counts relating to their
00:26:46
Medicaid fraud scheme Ronald Weinberg
00:26:50
was sentenced to spend five to 15 years
00:26:53
in prison
00:26:53
Jay Weinberg received an 8 to 25 year
00:26:57
sentence plus additional prison terms
00:26:59
for tax evasion
00:27:01
three days before Sheldon Weinberg was
00:27:03
to be sentenced he disappeared along
00:27:05
with his wife Roslyn he was sentenced in
00:27:08
absentia to a 7 to 21 year prison term
00:27:14
update within three hours of our
00:27:17
broadcast
00:27:18
Sheldon Weinberg was arrested by FBI
00:27:20
agents in Scottsdale Arizona where he
00:27:22
and his wife were living under assumed
00:27:24
names right after the show aired we got
00:27:29
specific information from callers who
00:27:32
had seen them all over the Scottsdale
00:27:34
area and one of the caller's told us
00:27:37
that the Weinberg's were using the alias
00:27:39
de vida and this correspondent with
00:27:42
information we previously had back here
00:27:44
in New York that they were traveling
00:27:45
under that name so when the caller told
00:27:47
us that he had seen people that looked
00:27:50
like the Weinberg's using the name de
00:27:51
vita in scottsdale we knew we had our
00:27:54
man on May 19th
00:27:57
Weinberg was extradited back to New York
00:27:59
three days later appeared before New
00:28:01
York State Supreme Court Justice Ruth
00:28:03
Moskowitz reimpose the 7 to 21 year
00:28:06
sentence I do not regard this as a
00:28:10
white-collar crime this is a crime of
00:28:14
violence to all of the people of New
00:28:16
York City this is a crime of violence to
00:28:20
the Medicaid recipients Medicaid state
00:28:25
funds should not go so that people could
00:28:28
live in Trump Towers so that people
00:28:31
could live in luxury on Florida estates
00:28:35
hopefully the message will go out loud
00:28:39
and clear to other people that the court
00:28:44
system will not tolerate this type of
00:28:48
crime execute sentence
00:28:54
to date authorities have recovered less
00:28:56
than six million dollars of the
00:28:57
estimated 16 million that Weinberg and
00:29:00
his son stole from taxpayers Sheldon
00:29:05
Weinberg is currently serving sentence
00:29:07
at the Attica Correctional Facility in
00:29:09
upstate New York
00:29:10
[Music]
00:29:22
next the story of economy who allegedly
00:29:25
fleeced thousands of dollars out of his
00:29:27
friends and neighbors in a florida
00:29:28
nudists for forty thousand Americans
00:29:41
nudity is a way of life
00:29:43
sunny sands resort in Northeast Florida
00:29:45
is one of the two hundred nudists clubs
00:29:47
in the American sunbathing Association
00:29:49
clothes aren't outlawed here just
00:29:52
avoided many outsiders consider public
00:29:55
nudity stranger sexually exploited but
00:29:58
to the sixty six families of sunny sands
00:30:00
being nude is only being natural there's
00:30:04
a real unfortunate misconception that
00:30:07
being in a nudists club means sexual
00:30:11
behavior means a lot of drinking a lot
00:30:13
of party atmosphere that kind of thing
00:30:16
and here you don't find that kind of
00:30:18
atmosphere here you find families in a
00:30:21
nudists Club you'll find that things are
00:30:24
a lot more wholesome than at Daytona
00:30:27
Beach or downtown Orlando or a lot of
00:30:29
places
00:30:31
while many of us consider nudity offbeat
00:30:34
his devotees feel that lifestyle without
00:30:36
clothes is healthier and more open
00:30:39
however from time at time the clubs
00:30:41
attract single men whose only purpose is
00:30:43
to exploit this environment so they must
00:30:46
carefully screen their applicants they
00:30:48
don't always succeed as we'll see in our
00:30:50
next story
00:31:01
good morning may I help you hi my name
00:31:04
is rocky in February 1988 a clever con
00:31:07
man calling himself Garland Houston
00:31:09
Russell rusty for short arrived at the
00:31:11
sunny sands resort and asked to join the
00:31:13
camp rusty was immediately likeable he
00:31:20
was not i pressure he explained us that
00:31:23
he was looking for a place to live but
00:31:24
he understood when we told him that he
00:31:25
couldn't he couldn't move in right away
00:31:28
that we needed time to have him get to
00:31:30
know us and us to get to know him being
00:31:32
a single guy we're a little careful and
00:31:35
as far as I think probably the easiest
00:31:40
way to say is he seemed he was very
00:31:42
friendly and very comfortable but he was
00:31:45
also very lonely and he was looking he
00:31:47
gave you the feeling like he was looking
00:31:49
for a family and he was looking for
00:31:52
someone to share his life with rusty
00:31:57
told the camp's owners that he had been
00:31:59
discharged from the Air Force after the
00:32:01
tragic sudden death of his parents and a
00:32:03
car crash he claimed their estate was in
00:32:06
probate he'd be wealthy when it was
00:32:08
settled I traveled around a bit and
00:32:10
wound up here and when I came here I
00:32:12
felt like it should be homes and we're
00:32:14
glad you feel that way we've had a
00:32:15
chance to talk to some of the people
00:32:16
that have met you since you've been here
00:32:18
y'all seem to like you and it seems to
00:32:19
us that you fit in really well and we'd
00:32:21
like to have you stay
00:32:22
the rentals available and if you'd like
00:32:24
it get yours appreciate it welcome
00:32:28
aboard everybody seemed to like rusty he
00:32:29
did everything for everybody the part
00:32:32
that amazed me he really loved children
00:32:34
and my children loved him they thought
00:32:37
of him as like a big brother or an uncle
00:32:40
rusty renovated an empty store in
00:32:43
Crescent City 15 miles away and stocked
00:32:46
it with video tapes he said he'd
00:32:48
acquired while in the service police now
00:32:51
suspect he stalked the entire store the
00:32:54
inventory stolen in Texas so put that
00:32:57
down there okay
00:32:59
four members of sunny sands he had a
00:33:01
special day he sold the tapes to his
00:33:06
friends and bought them back at a
00:33:07
slightly higher price a tax dodge she
00:33:10
told him here's the deal you're gonna
00:33:13
give me a check for $500 I'm gonna give
00:33:16
you a check for $600
00:33:17
you hold that check for 90 days you pick
00:33:20
up 20% on your money you cash the check
00:33:22
after 90 days you pick up 20% on your
00:33:23
money you get to watch the tape she
00:33:25
gives the tapes back to me and then I'll
00:33:28
rip these tapes out as use tapes you say
00:33:30
okay and then I get over on the
00:33:32
government right sounds beautiful right
00:33:33
you make the money I'd rather give it to
00:33:35
you than a government the people we
00:33:39
spoke to who had invested was
00:33:40
investigated early on everybody had
00:33:43
seemed to have made their money back
00:33:44
their principal plus their 20% interest
00:33:46
they had at a maximum people had
00:33:49
invested maybe a thousand dollars with
00:33:51
rusty and had made a thousand plus of
00:33:54
$200 interest after four months rusty
00:34:02
wanted to expand the store he approached
00:34:06
the neighbor for a twenty thousand
00:34:08
dollar loan we agree opportunity to
00:34:14
share some wealth with you just six
00:34:16
weeks later rusty asked a second couple
00:34:18
for twenty thousand dollars Lord say
00:34:21
what I want to do is to take some money
00:34:23
on he didn't tell this couple about the
00:34:25
first investor needed money to buy more
00:34:31
tapes more equipment and so forth and we
00:34:35
wanted to make a little interest on the
00:34:37
money so it was just an investment as
00:34:40
far as we were concerned and helping out
00:34:42
somebody at the same time
00:34:46
Robert don't you fill up on that because
00:34:49
rusty flourished at sunny sands
00:34:51
surrounded by happy page he supported
00:34:54
his business this lonely man seemed to
00:34:56
have found his place in the Sun on
00:35:05
August 28th 1988
00:35:07
Rusty's careful setup began to unwrap
00:35:09
the 11 year old daughter of his closest
00:35:12
friends fled in tears from his trailer
00:35:15
she said that he threw her against the
00:35:18
wall and then he threw her on the bed
00:35:20
and that he was touching her all over
00:35:22
the rest is a little personal and in
00:35:26
trying to do that that's when she hit
00:35:28
him and she hit him three times before
00:35:31
she'd get away from him State Attorney's
00:35:35
issued a warrant for Rusty's arrest a
00:35:37
sexual battery against a child under 12
00:35:39
charge for which she would be held
00:35:41
without bond
00:35:47
lĂşcia County Sheriff's Department come
00:35:51
on
00:35:56
investigators of Busch County Sheriff's
00:35:58
Department we have a want for your
00:35:59
arrest give a warm from my arrest
00:36:01
where's your County warden number 88 Oh
00:36:03
907 44 officer mr. Ellen a warrant we
00:36:07
handcuffed him put him back in the back
00:36:09
of the mark car and took him over to
00:36:11
operations to be processed and to try to
00:36:14
interview he verified the little girl's
00:36:18
story except he put a different slant on
00:36:20
it he put a different light on he did
00:36:22
say that yeah they were nude and they
00:36:24
were in the trailer of course that's not
00:36:26
so unusual there in nudist camp and yeah
00:36:30
he admitted to touching her touching the
00:36:33
little girl pretty much all over her
00:36:37
body and the way he explained it was he
00:36:39
said we were having fun we were
00:36:41
wrestling that didn't ring true it just
00:36:43
wasn't right but he held fast to his
00:36:46
story that there was that he had no
00:36:48
intent to assault when rusty was
00:36:52
arrested nobody believed it the people
00:36:55
in the camp were all shocked you know
00:36:57
here we were taking this man who
00:36:58
everybody liked he was everybody's
00:37:01
friend everybody's big brother and turn
00:37:03
around and say well he did something so
00:37:05
despicable and they turned against us it
00:37:08
was a lot easier to say oh no that
00:37:09
child's lying you know it's easier to
00:37:12
blame the child than it is to say well
00:37:14
this guy who's so nice isn't you know as
00:37:17
nice as we thought I would have believed
00:37:20
that rusty would have stolen our entire
00:37:24
50 acres and walked away with it before
00:37:26
I would have believed that he heard a
00:37:27
little girl only because that's that's
00:37:31
the way he presented himself
00:37:34
Rusty's loyal friends convinced the
00:37:36
judge to grant rusty release on $25,000
00:37:40
bail rusty asked Bob Pickens his
00:37:43
landlord at the video store to post his
00:37:45
bust before this has happened before her
00:37:47
our grandparents are coming down to
00:37:49
testify in my behalf probably gotta get
00:37:53
me out of this place
00:37:57
rusty I'll do what I can I was surprised
00:38:00
when rusty was arrested and very frankly
00:38:03
he confessed me that he had that he was
00:38:07
innocent that supposed to indicate some
00:38:13
naivety on my part but he was very
00:38:17
convincing
00:38:18
Bob Pickens arranged to have the money
00:38:20
available in 24 hours in those same 24
00:38:24
hours the noonan's were also trying to
00:38:27
raise Rusty's bail as they looked into
00:38:29
Rusty's business hard to see he was
00:38:32
seriously overdrawn at the bank and had
00:38:35
lied to them about what are your
00:38:36
property he ends up being overdrawn by
00:38:38
over $1,000 thousand sixty eight dollars
00:38:41
facade that rusty had billed about being
00:38:43
the honest businessman that he was is
00:38:45
now is now coming apart like a like a
00:38:47
bad brick wall and in fact if he was a
00:38:49
bad guy financially the chances are he
00:38:52
was a bad guy with the child molestation
00:38:54
charges we tried to get a hold of the
00:38:58
bonding agent he spoke to her and
00:39:01
explained what was going on but she
00:39:03
wouldn't tell us who was posting the
00:39:05
collateral he tried to find out but
00:39:08
before we could he was out we missed him
00:39:15
by minutes I was really shocked you know
00:39:20
he got out on bail and he shouldn't have
00:39:25
I was told by the investigator he was
00:39:27
not gonna be granted bail but then he
00:39:30
managed to con his way into it in the
00:39:33
next 48 hours
00:39:35
rusty persuaded Bob Pickens to buy his
00:39:37
business telling him that his reputation
00:39:39
as a businessman had been ruined
00:39:43
Bob learned later he was the third
00:39:45
person whom rusty had sold his inventory
00:39:49
as soon as I found out there were other
00:39:52
individuals I made every effort to have
00:39:55
Rusty apprehended and the bail removed
00:39:59
but I was unsuccessful
00:40:03
rusty raised more cash by selling his
00:40:05
car to two different unsuspecting
00:40:07
parties then he rented another car and
00:40:10
disappeared he never showed up for his
00:40:13
court and rusty took off I felt sick
00:40:20
disappointed surprised and somewhat of a
00:40:25
fool this guy took us all for a ride no
00:40:32
matter what happens we know we'll never
00:40:33
get our money back but right at this
00:40:37
point the money is immaterial right now
00:40:41
the big thing I want rusty Cotts what he
00:40:43
did to that child that child will never
00:40:46
be the same for the rest of our life I
00:40:48
want him caught I want him punished and
00:40:52
I want him stopped I want him to go to
00:40:55
jail where he can't get his hands on
00:40:57
other children police have since learned
00:41:00
that Godin houston Russell is not
00:41:02
Rusty's real name it is one of the 42
00:41:05
aliases used by William Eugene Hilliard
00:41:08
the real God and Russell a man from
00:41:10
Tennessee is another innocent victim of
00:41:13
Hilliard scoggs
00:41:14
Hilliard has been arrested in 14 states
00:41:17
and his father for fraud in Florida and
00:41:18
Texas his swindles total at least half a
00:41:21
million dollars Hilliard has green eyes
00:41:24
and is nearly bald he disguises his
00:41:26
appearance with a toupee of straight
00:41:28
brown hair often one with a headband he
00:41:31
is 44 years old weighs 200 pounds and a
00:41:34
6 feet tall
00:41:39
within minutes of our broadcast several
00:41:41
viewers from a South Carolina called our
00:41:43
telecenter to report that they
00:41:45
recognized William Eugene Hilliard
00:41:50
the morning after our broadcast Hilliard
00:41:53
was arrested by Georgetown County
00:41:54
sheriff's deputies at a convenience
00:41:56
store in Murrells Inlet South Carolina a
00:41:58
small town just south of Myrtle Beach he
00:42:01
is living under the assumed name Ronald
00:42:02
Edward Kent on October 20th Hilliard was
00:42:07
returned to Florida to face charges of
00:42:09
fraud and sexual battery against a child
00:42:11
under 12 if convicted of the sexual
00:42:14
battery charge
00:42:15
Hilliard could receive the death penalty
00:42:21
[Music]
00:42:33
a final note on tonight's broadcast last
00:42:41
week we presented the poignant story of
00:42:42
Jim me helicopter pilot who was injured
00:42:45
in Vietnam eventually he made a
00:42:47
startling recovery and for 15 years
00:42:49
searched for the nurse who taught him
00:42:50
how to walk and talk again the morning
00:42:53
after our broadcast Jim search came to
00:42:55
an end they received a surprise phone
00:42:57
call from Karen Stevens who identified
00:43:00
herself as the army lieutenant who nurse
00:43:02
Jim she lives only 30 miles from Genesis
00:43:06
touted to see her own story on national
00:43:07
television
00:43:09
Jimin can are planning to get together
00:43:11
soon and we will bring her their
00:43:13
heartwarming reunion from one of our
00:43:14
next projects
00:43:20
[Music]
00:43:42
[Applause]
00:43:45
[Music]
