Everyone from babies to FBI agents can suffer at the hands of addicts.
Alcoholic victims of the month:
A 6-month-old baby, whose parents, Patrick Fousek, 38 and Samantha Tomasini, 20, tried to sell for $25 outside a Wal-Mart in Salinas, CA. What drug could possibly impel not just one parent but both to try to sell their child at a Wal-Mart? There’s really only one. When officers later arrested the couple at their home, they appeared to be high on methamphetamine and the house was in disarray (and for this to be mentioned by police we can’t imagine how great the disarray must have been). They were charged with child endangerment and being under the influence of narcotics. Fousek was also charged with—are you ready?—violating probation. I’m shocked, just shocked.
Some 300 current and retired FBI, DEA and ICE agents, who collectively invested tens of millions of dollars of retirement money in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, run by Florida “retirement investment adviser” Kenneth Wayne McLeod, 48, who was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. McLeod used one of the classic lines: “I know …. (this federal agent, that federal agent)” when soliciting business. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller was among those he told everyone he not only “knew”; he was his “friend.” One retired agent told reporters, “The guy was a real charmer. He would say that he and Bob were the best of friends and that Bob and his wife used to stay at his place all the time.” An FBI spokesman said that Mueller “had no personal or professional relationship with Mr. McLeod.” McLeod offered some investments that appeared to be safe, while others—government bonds reportedly paying 8 to 10 percent—were obviously fraudulent. Oh, and he paid himself well, which included lavish entertainment such as annual trips to wherever the Super Bowl was each year “for himself and 40 friends.” Note to federal agents: all you had to do to rouse your suspicions and save yourselves millions was to read pages 44-45 of “How to Spot Hidden Alcoholics: Using Behavioral Clues to Recognize Addiction in Its Early Stages” to find “extraordinary charm” as an indication of alcoholism and, therefore, a clue that you shouldn’t have trusted him past your noses. Unfortunately, none of you did so and, instead of uncovering the sort of scam you are paid to uncover, you became victim to one.