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Over the course of 30 years, “Father” Ryan Scott was accused of quietly swindling millions of dollars from a devout group of Catholics throughout the Midwest, mainly senior citizens, by posing as an eccentric, llama-owning priest.
He lured followers to his church – which he called the Holy Rosary Abbey – by promising them a kind of old-school Catholicism, complete with Latin masses, strict hours devoted to prayer and contemplation. What they got instead was far darker: he stole their money, their property, and their faith.
Who is Ryan Scott? And how was he able to run such an outrageous con for so long without getting caught?
In_ Smoke Screen: Fake Priest,_ the new weekly podcast from Neon Hum Media, investigative journalist and native Iowan Alex Schuman retraces Father Ryan’s path of sex, lies and deceit through upended small towns. Listeners will join Schuman ashe unravels layers of betrayal andexplores the stories of misplaced faith that the victims—members of a little-known subculture of fervent Catholic traditionalists—placed in a grifter who brazenly stole much more than their money.
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Comments:
Judy -
So sad that Traditional (“Traddie”) Catholicism, or the illusion thereof, has become the perfect bait to ensnare elderly and other religious devout, as financial victims. I understand that this is this investigative journalist’s first podcast, and I commend him for exposing this method of how sociopaths take advantage of unsuspecting persons.