Episode 5: The Warren Family

2024-04-25 00:40:59

<p>A mysterious drug overdose at a posh Pasadena hotel leads our host and LA Times investigative reporter, Paul Pringle, into Los Angeles’ darkest corridors of power and wealth. Pringle discovers that the dean of the University of Southern California's medical school is leading a secret double life. As Pringle and his team at the LA Times untangle a sordid web of lies, drugs, and greed, they encounter obstacles and resistance at every turn—from USC, law enforcement and even within their own organization. <em>Fallen Angels </em>explores how money and privilege can corrupt our most important institutions and destroy people's lives.</p> <p><em>Fallen Angels: A Story of California Corruption is based on Pringle’s book, Bad City: Peril &amp; Power in the City of Angels.</em></p>

1
Speaker 1
[00:00.62 - 00:26.92]

Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, the host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2
Speaker 2
[00:31.60 - 00:45.30]

I'm John Walczak, host of the new podcast, Missing in Arizona. And I'm Robert Fisher, one of the most wanted men in the world. We cloned his voice using AI. In 2001,. police say I killed my family and rigged my house to explode.

[00:45.44 - 00:46.72]

Before escaping into the wilderness.

4
Speaker 4
[00:46.96 - 00:49.68]

Police believe he is alive and hiding somewhere.

2
Speaker 2
[00:50.10 - 00:54.00]

Join me. I'm going down in the cave. As I track down clues. I'm going to call the police and have you removed.

3
Speaker 3
[00:54.10 - 00:56.44]

Hunting. One of the most dangerous fugitives in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[00:56.62 - 01:05.82]

Robert Fisher. Do you recognize my voice? Listen to Missing in Arizona every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

3
Speaker 3
[01:07.46 - 01:26.94]

In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends.

[01:26.94 - 01:39.46]

And I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events. Hear the story on Where's Dia. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

1
Speaker 1
[01:40.16 - 01:48.94]

In the early morning hours of September 6th, 2016,, St. Louis rapper and activist Darren Seals was found murdered.

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Speaker 2
[01:49.18 - 01:58.40]

That's what they gonna learn. I went for death, I went for nothing. Every day, Darren would tell her, alright, ma, be prepared, they are going to try to kill me.

1
Speaker 1
[01:58.56 - 02:09.86]

All episodes available now. Listen to After the Uprising, The Murder of Darren Seals on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 4
[02:12.84 - 02:18.56]

It's been a while since you've seen a good old fashioned doing drugs video,

?
Unknown Speaker
[02:18.94 - 02:20.52]

so we thought we'd make one for you.

4
Speaker 4
[02:22.20 - 02:39.78]

That video was recorded at Sarah Warren's apartment. It shows Sarah, a 21-year-old, doing meth and other drugs with a much older man. Considering what he's into, you might be surprised to learn what this man does for a living. He's the dean of the medical school at USC.

[02:47.64 - 03:02.52]

For months, I've been fighting to get into the paper, my story about the dean of the USC medical school, Carmen Poliofito. Then I get my hands on some of the videos he and Sarah Warren had been making. They come from a source I didn't expect.

[03:05.12 - 03:11.52]

My name is Paul Pringle, I'm an investigative reporter for the LA Times, and this is my story. And this is Fallen Angels.

[03:21.66 - 03:24.88]

I first went to see the Warrens in March of 2017.

[03:26.02 - 03:48.18]

. Matt Hamilton, another Times reporter, came with me to their house in Orange County. Matt's part of the secret reporting team I put together with my editor. But when we get to their place in Huntington Beach, the only person home is Sarah's teenage brother, Charles. We ask about Poliofito and his sister, and the kid pulls up his shirt sleeve to show us a tattoo.

[03:48.98 - 03:50.86]

It says, no snitches.

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Speaker 2
[03:52.08 - 03:56.24]

This is like the punk younger brother who's trying to act tough.

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Speaker 4
[03:56.46 - 03:57.66]

Reporter Matt Hamilton.

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Speaker 2
[03:57.98 - 04:22.88]

It's another door closed on us. I think that is when Paul made the decision. He drove down to Paul Warren's office in Long Beach and made the introduction, which was risky, because if you're doorknocking someone, to go to their workplace is like extremely low chances of success.

4
Speaker 4
[04:25.38 - 04:42.68]

I don't like the idea of showing up at Paul Warren's work, but Sarah's in rehab and Charles isn't talking, so at this point, Paul's all we got. He works at a logistics company in downtown Long Beach. There's a guard in the lobby. I don't tell him who I am. I just ask him if he can direct me to Paul's office.

[04:43.58 - 04:55.68]

He won't, but he phones Paul to say I'm there. A couple minutes later, Sarah Warren's father appears. He's in his 50s, medium build, brown hair. I tell him I'm a reporter for the L.A. Times.

[04:55.68 - 05:04.10]

And immediately, his face falls like he knew this day would come. He leads me to a private area where we can talk.

[05:07.74 - 05:26.66]

I ask him if he'll answer a few questions confidentially. With some reluctance, he agrees. Paul tells me that he and his wife have been trying to get poliofeto out of Sarah's life for two years. He says Carmen thinks Sarah's, his girlfriend and the Warrens are desperate for her rehab to work.

[05:28.74 - 05:36.66]

That's all he'll say for now. I give him my card and ask if we can speak again. He says he'll think about it.

[05:40.84 - 05:57.08]

Even if we can't get Sarah or her parents, the reporting team has enough for a story. So it's time to poke USC President Max Nikias again, give him one last chance to comment. We decide to send Matt Hamilton and Sarah Parvini to follow up in person.

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Speaker 2
[05:57.52 - 06:05.14]

Paul had basically tasked us with one of the most difficult parts, which is confronting an administrator at USC who doesn't want to be confronted.

1
Speaker 1
[06:06.68 - 06:23.32]

Matt and I are both USC alums, both products of the Journalism School of USC. And it seemed fitting for the two of us to be the people to go back on campus and to sit in that office and hope for an interview with Nikias.

2
Speaker 2
[06:24.20 - 06:40.70]

We knock on the president's door and go in, and we had not realized that the USC president's office was really a series of offices. There was clearly an inner sanctum and then an outer sanctum and then an even further outer sanctum.

1
Speaker 1
[06:41.48 - 06:52.28]

There was a person at the front desk. We told them who we were. There were two reporters from the LA Times who were working on a story. We'd like to speak with President Nikias.

[06:54.30 - 07:00.22]

And we sat there and waited. But, of course, we were turned away.

2
Speaker 2
[07:03.86 - 07:21.74]

We were both a little crestfallen that we didn't get to lay eyes on the president. Really, that was the height of Max Nikias' power, because USC was just raking in over a billion a year. The money was arriving so fast and he didn't have time for two LA Times reporters.

4
Speaker 4
[07:25.46 - 07:42.72]

I also emailed Nikias' office for a response. And I attached a 911 recording from the Hotel Constance. Remembering what his office said in that letter. to Davon, I add a PS. Quote, I have never followed you on Instagram and I have no interest in your travel schedule.

[07:46.38 - 07:59.30]

I know going to Nikias could easily mean another complaint from his office. And the top editors at the Times, Davon and Mark, are not going to like it. And on Monday, the reporting team hears from one of our editors, Shelby Grad.

2
Speaker 2
[07:59.92 - 08:14.62]

We got an email saying to the effect of, OK, the team's done good work. Carry on with your other assignments and stories. I do remember a sense of Shelby being leaned on to have the team do other things.

4
Speaker 4
[08:15.50 - 08:27.86]

Matt Late, our editor on the story, tells me Davon has apparently found out about the reporting team. And now he's pressuring Shelby to take everyone off the project. It seems maybe Nikias did complain again.

2
Speaker 2
[08:28.40 - 08:43.02]

I remember calling Paul and other team members after receiving that email. And it was like, disregard the email. Just keep doing what you're doing. I know it says that in writing, but the real mandate is to keep going.

[08:45.06 - 09:08.60]

The five of us were able to do significant headway. And Jel was a team. And it made it almost impossible for it to be disbanded by that point. It was kind of a brilliant tactical move by mid-level editors to put five people of varied abilities, skill, experience, age onto a team. It's like a broad constituency.

[09:09.36 - 09:12.61]

It kind of gave it an impossible-to-kill arrangement.

3
Speaker 3
[09:14.58 - 09:17.34]

There was a lot of contempt for the leadership of the paper.

2
Speaker 2
[09:17.86 - 09:18.84]

We found them ridiculous.

4
Speaker 4
[09:19.38 - 09:27.88]

Harriet Ryan had been through this kind of thing with her investigation into Purdue Pharma. And she isn't about to let this story suffer the same fate.

2
Speaker 2
[09:28.46 - 09:32.18]

It was about journalism. There was something about the purity of the journalism,

3
Speaker 3
[09:33.08 - 09:35.26]

afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.

2
Speaker 2
[09:35.48 - 09:45.78]

It was why we were all in this field. It was why we got up every morning and went to this building and made less money than we could have and dealt with the fact that we could be laid off at any minute.

1
Speaker 1
[09:45.94 - 09:47.94]

We all did it for this belief in this thing.

4
Speaker 4
[09:49.80 - 10:01.52]

Shelby sends another email to the team, saying again that we need to stand down. We ignore it. So we're not a secret reporting team anymore, just an insubordinate one.

1
Speaker 1
[10:04.92 - 10:32.90]

Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week, you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Stories about regaining a sense of safety, a handle on reality after your entire world is flipped upside down.

[10:33.82 - 10:36.50]

From unbelievable romantic betrayals.

[10:37.36 - 10:51.18]

. The love that was so real for me was always just a game for him. ...to betrayals in your own family... When I think about my dad, oh, well, he is a sociopath. ...financial betrayal...

[10:51.18 - 10:57.46]

This is not even the part where he steals millions of dollars. ...and life-or-death deceptions.

4
Speaker 4
[10:58.30 - 11:00.86]

She's practicing how she's going to cry.

2
Speaker 2
[11:00.86 - 11:03.88]

when the police calls her after they kill me.

1
Speaker 1
[11:05.56 - 11:10.94]

Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2
Speaker 2
[11:11.66 - 11:15.40]

I'm John Walczak, host of the new podcast, Missing in Arizona.

4
Speaker 4
[11:15.64 - 11:18.24]

And I'm, Robert Fisher, one of the most wanted men in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[11:18.34 - 11:26.84]

We cloned his voice using AI. In 2001,. police say I killed my family. First mom, then the kids. And rigged my house to explode.

[11:27.04 - 11:31.86]

In a quiet suburb. This is the Beverly Hills of the Valley. Before escaping into the wilderness.

4
Speaker 4
[11:32.14 - 11:34.54]

There was sleet and hail and snow coming down.

2
Speaker 2
[11:34.66 - 11:36.22]

They found my wife's SUV.

4
Speaker 4
[11:36.42 - 11:38.00]

Right on the reservation boundary.

2
Speaker 2
[11:38.26 - 11:39.16]

And my dog flew.

1
Speaker 1
[11:39.16 - 11:41.92]

All I could think of is he's going to sniper me out of some tree.

2
Speaker 2
[11:42.08 - 11:49.54]

But not me. Police believe he is alive and hiding somewhere. For two years. They won't tell you anything. I've traveled the nation.

[11:49.62 - 11:51.66]

I'm going down in the cave. Tracking down clues.

4
Speaker 4
[11:51.72 - 11:54.52]

They were thinking that I picked him up and took him somewhere.

1
Speaker 1
[11:54.64 - 11:57.30]

If you keep asking me this, I'm going to call the police and have you removed.

2
Speaker 2
[11:57.56 - 11:58.78]

Searching for Robert Fisher.

3
Speaker 3
[11:58.84 - 12:00.88]

One of the most dangerous fugitives in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[12:01.02 - 12:05.60]

Do you recognize my voice? Join... An exploding house. The hunt. Family annihilation.

[12:05.72 - 12:14.06]

Today. And a disappearing act. Listen to Missing in Arizona every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

3
Speaker 3
[12:16.54 - 12:38.20]

In the summer of 2020, in the small mountain town of Idlewild, California, five women disappeared in the span of just a few months. Eventually, I found out what happened to the women. All except one. A woman named Lydia Abrams. Known as Dia.

[12:38.64 - 12:47.70]

Her friends and family ran through endless theories. Was she hurt, hiking? Did she run away? Had she been kidnapped? I'm Lucy Sheriff.

[12:48.44 - 13:10.34]

I've been reporting this story for four years. And I've uncovered a tangled web of manipulation, estranged families, and greed. Everyone, it seems, has a different version of events. Hear the story on Where's Dia? My new podcast from Pushkin Industries, an iHeart podcast.

[13:10.94 - 13:16.50]

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

1
Speaker 1
[13:17.54 - 13:42.78]

On September 17, 2009,, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson was released from the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff's Station. She had no money, no phone, and no ride. She walked out of the station and into the night. And she never made it home. Nearly a year later, Mitrice's naked, skeletonized remains were discovered in a canyon six miles from the station.

[13:43.82 - 13:59.56]

I'm Dana Goodyear. Five years ago, I started reporting on the Mitrice Richardson case. Everyone knows something horrible happened to Mitrice. Nothing about her case makes sense. And for 15 years, the Sheriff's Department has failed to solve it.

[14:00.34 - 14:13.76]

In Lost Hills, Dark Canyon, we're investigating what happened to Mitrice Richardson. Listen to Lost Hills, Dark Canyon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

4
Speaker 4
[14:20.68 - 14:41.46]

I give Paul Warren a few days to get in touch, but he doesn't. Then, one morning, I get a call from his wife, Mary Ann Warren, Sarah's mother. She won't go on the record, at least not yet, but she agrees to talk. I don't tell Mary Ann that I've already spoken to her husband. And since she doesn't bring it up, I assume he hasn't told her either.

[14:42.08 - 14:48.94]

I have to maintain Paul's confidence in Sarah. Paul has a lot of confidentiality, even from his wife. We arrange to meet at the Hilton in Huntington Beach.

[14:54.62 - 15:11.66]

I first see Mary Ann in the hotel lounge. She's tan, blonde, and looks a lot like her daughter. She says her husband doesn't know that she's meeting with me, and neither does Sarah. We find a quiet table at the back, and she starts to tell me what Carmen Poliofito has done to her family.

[15:16.74 - 15:32.44]

The Warrens first learned about Poliofito when Sarah ran away from home. She had always been impulsive and had run away before, but this time was different. They didn't hear from her for months. So Mary Ann was relieved when she got a Facebook message from one of Sarah's friends.

1
Speaker 1
[15:33.76 - 15:37.52]

He called and said, your daughter is mixed up with these madmen.

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Speaker 4
[15:38.82 - 15:51.10]

Now, the Warrens would end up signing a nondisclosure agreement with USC, and we'll get to that. They can't tell their whole story, but Mary Ann did go on the record. These excerpts are from a transcript read by an actor.

1
Speaker 1
[15:51.78 - 16:05.02]

Through Facebook, when Sarah went missing and Carmen had the first apartment for her, I said, bring her to me. I didn't care who he was. To me, he was like a guardian angel because I hadn't seen my daughter in a couple of months.

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Speaker 4
[16:06.10 - 16:21.82]

Sarah came home, but she wasn't the same. She had struggled with her drinking and dabbled with drugs before, but now she was addicted to meth. And she claimed that this 64-year-old doctor was her boyfriend. It was the start of a terrible cycle.

1
Speaker 1
[16:22.16 - 16:36.62]

She OD'd with this guy like four or five times. Pasadena sheriffs had to have a suicide squad at her apartment. Of course, no trace of any police reports.

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Speaker 4
[16:37.30 - 16:50.70]

No police reports, just like after the Hotel Constance. The Warrens got Sarah into rehab again and leaned on pull-your-feet-to-help-pay-for-it. But even though he's willing to spend money on her treatment, he's still part of the problem.

1
Speaker 1
[16:51.72 - 16:59.30]

Sarah says that he snuck drugs in. All the candy that he would send her in rehab, and that's why she never got better.

2
Speaker 2
[17:00.64 - 17:09.02]

She was in three rehab facilities. She was kicked out of one of them because, pull-your-feet-oh, smuggled Xanax bars to her.

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Speaker 4
[17:09.50 - 17:10.58]

Reporter Matt Hamilton.

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Speaker 2
[17:11.60 - 17:46.42]

The first day of her rehab, she went out to the car and he would give her Xanax, hand her the bag, and on the second day, pull-your-feet-oh brought her meth by putting it in a sunglass case on the road outside the facility. And so she was kicked out. after they found out she was high. At the second rehab facility, she was discharged, but relapsed on the ride home with pull-your-feet-oh because he gave her meth and alcohol on the ride home. Monarch Shores, I believe, was the third.

[17:46.62 - 17:51.62]

He would mail her Xanax in Skittles bags, and he called it Skittles surgery.

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Speaker 4
[17:53.82 - 18:04.92]

Now, knowing what pull-your-feet-oh was capable of, the Warrens have put Sarah into a rehab where he can't get to her. Where she is now, they don't let any men in, you know. So it drove him wild.

1
Speaker 1
[18:06.10 - 18:16.02]

I had to kind of keep him at bay so he wouldn't go there searching for her saying, Oh no, this rehab's like a convent. They don't let anyone in, Carmen. I hardly get to speak to her myself.

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Speaker 4
[18:16.60 - 18:22.68]

They consulted a private investigator who told them not to shut out pull-your-feet-oh, since they don't know what he might do.

1
Speaker 1
[18:23.18 - 18:35.44]

I have kept in contact with Carmen while Sarah's been in rehab. When we first found out all this was going on, who he was, I was advised that we keep our enemy close to us, my husband and I.

[18:37.00 - 18:41.68]

So we've been in constant contact with Carmen, like, every two or three weeks.

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Speaker 4
[18:42.02 - 18:52.60]

And Marianne tells me something else. Sarah's not the only one in her family who's fallen under his spell. Pull-your-feet-oh also has his hooks into her teenage son, Charles.

2
Speaker 2
[18:53.86 - 18:58.08]

Pull-your-feet-oh had given him meth, 25 to 50 bars of Xanax.

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Speaker 4
[18:58.44 - 19:01.38]

By the way, bars is just another term for pills.

2
Speaker 2
[19:01.38 - 19:19.70]

Charles, Pull-your-feet-oh, and his sister, they were both smoking meth. This was in her Pasadena apartment. They offered it to him, and he accepted. And he was only 17 years old at the time. He's someone who was going over to his sister's apartment and invited to partake.

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Speaker 4
[19:21.32 - 19:48.58]

But Charles has been trying to get free of Pull-your-feet-oh. He hates how the dean controls Sarah with drugs, keeps her away from her friends and family. Marianne also tells me that Sarah had once called Charles, afraid for her life. Pull-your-feet-oh had seen her with another man, and had burst into her apartment in a jealous rage. When Charles rushed over, he found his sister screaming because Pull-your-feet-oh had been using a steam iron on her clothes while she was wearing them.

2
Speaker 2
[19:48.76 - 19:57.40]

He fought with Pull-your-feet-oh to defend his sister. He beat Pull-your-feet-oh, hurt his knee.

4
Speaker 4
[19:57.96 - 20:04.74]

Charles warned Pull-your-feet-oh to stay away from Sarah, and he threatened to kill him. But Pull-your-feet-oh wouldn't leave her alone.

[20:07.32 - 20:31.84]

At the end of our meeting, Marianne confirms what we've heard from the drug dealer, Kyle Voigt. Marianne had looked through Sarah's laptop and found hundreds of photos and videos of Pull-your-feet-oh and Sarah doing drugs and having sex. I know that if we can get our hands on this evidence, David and Mark will have to publish the story. So I ask Marianne if she'll share the files with me. She tells me she'll think about it.

[20:33.42 - 20:41.64]

Back in the newsroom, I update the team. Every one of them is struck by some different, terrible detail. Adam Ilmarek.

2
Speaker 2
[20:42.02 - 20:50.48]

He was providing drugs to people, Sarah's brother included, who was a minor. And, you know, this is a really damning, critical detail.

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Speaker 4
[20:51.08 - 20:52.04]

Sarah Parvini.

1
Speaker 1
[20:52.04 - 21:09.00]

Here's a young woman who, you know, is struggling not only with substance issues, but also this imbalance of power. She wasn't too far in age for me. It's hard to turn away from something like that.

4
Speaker 4
[21:09.78 - 21:10.48]

Matt Hamilton.

2
Speaker 2
[21:10.80 - 21:34.08]

What she was describing was multiple, deliberate efforts to, even when she is at a facility, to try to break her addiction. She is enabling it. That, to me, was outrageous. This is just someone who's simultaneously entrusted with shepherding the education of people of the same age. And it's just, he's a doctor.

4
Speaker 4
[21:39.26 - 21:56.32]

Marianne Warren is worried that if she hands over the photos and videos of Poliofido and her daughter, Sarah will feel betrayed. And Poliofido might come after the family. So I suggest a compromise. The Times can describe the images in the article, but not publish them. She's reassured to some extent.

[21:56.60 - 22:06.10]

She says she'll look for a good example to send me. I wait. I follow up. I wait some more. And finally, I get a text from her with a screenshot from one of the videos.

[22:06.88 - 22:08.96]

It's an image I'm not likely to forget.

2
Speaker 2
[22:09.64 - 22:31.14]

It was like a photo of Poliofido with a pipe. You just see him hovering over this pipe. And there was like white smoke. I remember thinking, okay, that's not a medical school, dean. It just was so different from this man that you saw on the USC website or images of some charity function.

[22:31.90 - 22:33.72]

It was just like, okay, wow.

4
Speaker 4
[22:37.00 - 22:48.44]

Marianne sends six more photos, all showing Poliofido smoking meth. We have more than enough. It's time to write the story and get it out there. Harriet Ryan tackles the first draft.

1
Speaker 1
[22:48.62 - 22:51.52]

Carmen Poliofido, the dean of USC's Keck Medical School,

2
Speaker 2
[22:51.82 - 23:27.14]

arrived at the gala fundraiser at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel a year and a half ago with the confidence of a man totally in his element. He moved to the crowd of celebrities like Pierce Brosnan and Don Henley and wealthy school donors like Dana and David Dornsife, shaking hands and posing for photos and delivering the message that had become a refrain. in his eight years in office. USC was climbing into the ranks of the country's most elite research institutions. In the less refined setting of the Van Nuys Courthouse, a few days earlier, a convicted methamphetamine and heroin dealer named Kyle Voigt was told to write his contact information on court form.

[23:27.82 - 23:35.00]

The address he scrawled was a sprawling $5 million mansion in one of Pasadena's toniest neighborhoods, Poliofido's residence.

4
Speaker 4
[23:37.24 - 23:44.44]

The next day, Marianne calls to tell me that she's just heard from Poliofido. He's invited her to lunch.

1
Speaker 1
[23:47.04 - 24:15.16]

Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week, you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Stories about regaining a sense of safety, a handle on reality after your entire world is flipped upside down.

[24:15.56 - 24:32.92]

From unbelievable romantic betrayals. The love that was so real for me was always just a game for him. To betrayals in your own family. When I think about my dad, oh, well, he is a sociopath. Financial betrayal.

2
Speaker 2
[24:33.88 - 24:36.58]

This is not even the part where he steals millions of dollars.

1
Speaker 1
[24:37.00 - 24:39.58]

And life or death deceptions.

4
Speaker 4
[24:40.34 - 24:45.98]

She's practicing how she's going to cry when the police calls her after they kill me.

1
Speaker 1
[24:47.62 - 24:52.96]

Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2
Speaker 2
[24:53.70 - 24:57.44]

I'm John Walczak, host of the new podcast, Missing in Arizona.

4
Speaker 4
[24:57.68 - 25:00.28]

And I'm, Robert Fisher, one of the most wanted men in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[25:00.28 - 25:10.00]

We cloned his voice using AI. In 2001,. police say I killed my family. First mom, then the kids. And rigged my house to explode in a quiet suburb.

[25:10.04 - 25:13.94]

This is the Beverly Hills of the valley. Before escaping into the wilderness.

4
Speaker 4
[25:14.08 - 25:16.60]

There was sleet and hail and snow coming down.

2
Speaker 2
[25:16.70 - 25:18.26]

They found my wife's SUV.

4
Speaker 4
[25:18.48 - 25:21.26]

Right on the reservation boundary. And my dog flew.

2
Speaker 2
[25:21.40 - 25:30.38]

All I could think of is, are you going to sniper me out of some tree? But not me. Police believe he is alive and hiding somewhere. For two years. They won't tell you anything.

[25:30.52 - 25:33.70]

I've traveled the nation. I'm going down in the cave. Tracking down clues.

4
Speaker 4
[25:33.80 - 25:36.58]

They were thinking that I picked him up and took him somewhere.

2
Speaker 2
[25:36.74 - 25:40.80]

If you keep asking me this, I'm going to call the police and have you removed. Searching for Robert Fisher.

3
Speaker 3
[25:40.90 - 25:42.92]

One of the most dangerous fugitives in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[25:43.08 - 25:47.98]

Do you recognize my voice? Join an exploding house. The hunt. Family annihilation. Today.

[25:48.20 - 25:56.06]

And a disappearing act. Listen to Missing in Arizona every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

3
Speaker 3
[25:58.96 - 26:00.94]

In the summer of 2020.

[26:01.34 - 26:15.80]

. In the small mountain town of Idlewild, California. Five women disappeared in the span of just a few months. Eventually, I found out what happened to the women. All except one.

[26:16.24 - 26:26.40]

A woman named Lydia Abrams. Known as Dia. Her friends and family ran through endless theories. Was she hurt, hiking? Did she run away?

[26:26.40 - 26:44.28]

Had she been kidnapped? I'm Lucy Sheriff. I've been reporting this story for four years. And I've uncovered a tangled web of manipulation, estranged families, and greed. Everyone, it seems, has a different version of events.

[26:45.10 - 26:56.16]

Hear the story on Where's Dia? My new podcast from Pushkin Industries. An iHeart podcast. Listen on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts.

[26:56.84 - 26:58.44]

Or wherever you listen to podcasts.

1
Speaker 1
[26:59.26 - 27:24.86]

On September 17, 2009,, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson was released from the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff's Station. She had no money, no phone, and no ride. She walked out of the station and into the night. And she never made it home. Nearly a year later, Mitrice's naked, skeletonized remains were discovered in a canyon six miles from the station.

[27:25.94 - 27:41.56]

I'm Dana Goodyear. Five years ago, I started reporting on the Mitrice Richardson case. Everyone knows something horrible happened to Mitrice. Nothing about her case makes sense. And for 15 years, the Sheriff's Department has failed to solve it.

[27:41.56 - 27:55.82]

In Lost Hills, Dark Canyon, we're investigating what happened to Mitrice Richardson. Listen to Lost Hills, Dark Canyon on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts. Or wherever you listen to podcasts.

4
Speaker 4
[28:04.28 - 28:09.46]

Mary Ann Warren tells me, Napolio Fito says he wants to talk to her about Sarah and the L.

[28:09.46 - 28:15.44]

A. Times. And though it doesn't make a lot of sense, he's worried. Polio Fito somehow knows he's been talking to me.

[28:18.24 - 28:40.54]

But this lunch with Polio Fito is a chance to get him to talk about his relationship with Sarah and what he knows about our investigation. In a perfect world, should we record the whole thing. But in the state of California, you need permission to record a private conversation. So that's out. But a reporter might be able to overhear them, eavesdrop, and take notes.

[28:41.32 - 28:57.36]

We wouldn't be able to quote the conversation because Mary Ann wants to remain anonymous. But it would be a major help for our reporting and give us the backup we need. So we decide someone needs to go undercover. But who would it be? Clearly not me.

[28:58.22 - 29:09.80]

We decide on Sarah Parvini and Adam Milmarek. Paul had tried to reach Polio Fito numerous times by then. And so that would have just been too obvious.

2
Speaker 2
[29:10.70 - 29:15.68]

And so we figured he's not going to recognize us and we could pull this off.

1
Speaker 1
[29:16.18 - 29:27.42]

Kind of felt like this good old fashioned kind of journalism of, you know, following the quote unquote bad guy and getting the information that you need.

4
Speaker 4
[29:28.16 - 29:42.24]

We look for a restaurant that's big enough for multiple tables to be available. And a time, 1130 a.m., when a nearby table might be empty. We land on a place called the Blue Gold, a cavernous steak and seafood restaurant in Huntington Beach.

1
Speaker 1
[29:43.34 - 29:54.86]

I remember, you know, driving down to this mall where the restaurant was. And meeting up with Adam, meeting up with Paul, having a huddle before walking in.

4
Speaker 4
[29:55.52 - 30:10.46]

Mary Ann will go in first. After Polio Fito arrives, Sarah and Adam will try to sit at the next table. They'll look like any California couple. But if Polio Fito senses something's off and confronts them, they'll have to admit they're journalists for the L.A. Times.

[30:10.90 - 30:14.46]

Those are the rules. I'll be waiting in the car as they text me updates.

[30:17.56 - 30:20.76]

Fifteen minutes go by, then finally he shows up.

2
Speaker 2
[30:25.48 - 30:29.16]

We actually waited outside for him to walk in.

4
Speaker 4
[30:29.62 - 30:42.70]

And then we kind of followed in a couple minutes later and sat at the table next to them. It was, you know, a nice, kind of, a bit upscale, kind of a restaurant, kind of a Mediterranean menu.

1
Speaker 1
[30:43.22 - 30:52.92]

Adam and I ordered shakshuka, which was funny for us, because we're both Middle Eastern. And we just sat there and we listened.

4
Speaker 4
[30:53.82 - 31:11.56]

He seemed kind of disheveled. This is a superstar medical school, dean, you know, and he did not come across that way. We started to hear, you know, Mary Ann just kind of really peppering him with questions and really trying to nail him down on certain things.

2
Speaker 2
[31:12.34 - 31:15.72]

Like the fact that he was providing Sarah with drugs.

4
Speaker 4
[31:16.58 - 31:31.42]

I think he paused for a second and he said, I gave her the money for it. But he didn't actually admit to furnishing the drugs themselves. You know, he gave his story of how he believed he was the hero in all of this. He was trying to rescue Sarah.

1
Speaker 1
[31:31.60 - 31:41.32]

We were texting the team in like a group text. Updates about what we were hearing and then also simultaneously taking notes.

4
Speaker 4
[31:41.64 - 31:48.86]

He was giving her money for drugs. at the very least. They had a long term kind of arrangement.

1
Speaker 1
[31:48.86 - 32:12.56]

Picking up on tone, picking up on sort of intention. You get the vibe of this person, of this relationship, of the sort of trying to cover his tracks, try to sort of smooth things over. Even that in and of itself, if we couldn't quote from any of the conversation, it told us so much.

4
Speaker 4
[32:18.26 - 32:36.08]

Mary Ann presses Pugliafido about the incident at the Hotel Constance. She says, when you see someone passed out, you call 911.. Pugliafido responds, I'm glad I did what I did. I didn't try to make a big deal out of it. When Mary Ann confronts him about delivering drugs to Sarah in rehab, he doesn't deny it.

[32:36.70 - 32:41.40]

He even admits that at least two other people have been kicked out of rehab because of his drug deliveries.

1
Speaker 1
[32:42.04 - 33:00.98]

There was this almost boastful quality to when Pugliafido was speaking with Mary Ann about the things that he had done. When she would kind of try to pull it out of him, like, oh, and do you remember when this happened? And he would just sort of step right into it and almost be proud.

4
Speaker 4
[33:01.76 - 33:13.44]

Pugliafido tells Mary Ann that the LA Times is after him. Never talk to them, he warns her. And then he asks, are you sure you aren't talking to them? Cool as can be, Mary Ann says, why would I throw my daughter under the bus?

[33:20.52 - 33:34.84]

The day after her lunch with Pugliafido, Mary Ann calls me. She's decided to show me the rest of the photos and videos on Sarah's laptop and phone. And she's finally told her husband, Paul, that she's been talking to me. Only to find out that he's talked to me, too.

[33:38.02 - 33:43.66]

Late the next day, Sarah Parvini and I head down to Huntington Beach to meet the Warrens, both of them, together.

1
Speaker 1
[33:44.18 - 33:47.46]

It was late when we drove down together, Paul and I, in the same car.

4
Speaker 4
[33:48.54 - 34:01.88]

Mary Ann has booked a conference room at the Hyatt for us to meet in, along with a family therapist. We just want to do what's right, she says. The meeting is off the record. On the conference table, there's a laptop and a hard drive.

1
Speaker 1
[34:01.88 - 34:09.92]

It was like this long table where we basically got these little drives with the information on them.

4
Speaker 4
[34:10.20 - 34:14.30]

The Warrens agree that we can take the laptop, but we can't publish what's on it.

[34:20.66 - 34:33.36]

Back in the newsroom, Sarah, Adam and Matt begin scrolling through dozens of videos and photos. There's a video, date-stamped the night before Sarah's overdose, of her and Poliofido in the room at the Hotel Constance.

1
Speaker 1
[34:39.00 - 34:57.40]

I remember just having to literally Google, like, what is a hot rail? What does this mean? It's a method of taking a methamphetamine where you heat it up and then you inhale it through your nose. It's like one of the most dangerous ways that you can do meth.

4
Speaker 4
[34:58.18 - 35:03.74]

In another video, Poliofido and Sarah shotgun some meth. She calls him Tony.

[35:09.76 - 35:17.60]

In another, Poliofido tells Sarah he's working on getting more ecstasy. And Sarah tells him she had been arrested just the night before.

2
Speaker 2
[35:18.32 - 35:19.44]

I'm working on the X.

4
Speaker 4
[35:19.44 - 35:29.58]

Yeah, no, we think Tony's in jail. Oh, by the way, I went to jail last night. Told you about that story. And then, there's the ecstasy video.

1
Speaker 1
[35:30.00 - 35:46.60]

He is, like, in a tux, dressed very nicely, and it's in this vertically kind of shot, like, selfie-style video. And, you know, he sticks his tongue out and there's a tab on there and he says, you know,

2
Speaker 2
[35:46.60 - 35:48.18]

Sit before the ball.

1
Speaker 1
[35:49.36 - 36:16.38]

Gonna do some ecstasy before the ball. In the other footage that we had, we could tell that he was doing various drugs, but, you know, he's not sitting there talking about doing the drugs. There is something particularly striking about someone of their own admission saying, This is what I'm doing. It essentially wraps it up in a bow for you.

4
Speaker 4
[36:19.70 - 36:22.48]

Needless to say, we're stunned by what we see.

[36:24.64 - 36:30.50]

And then, two days later, I get another phone call. Sarah Warren is ready to talk.

[36:35.28 - 36:44.74]

Devon Maharaj and Mark Duvison deny that they did anything wrong in their handling of the USC investigation, and they maintain that any negative portrayal of their actions is false.

[36:46.76 - 36:48.52]

Next time on Fallen Angels.

1
Speaker 1
[36:48.90 - 36:52.80]

He was late to seeing a patient because he was getting high.

4
Speaker 4
[36:53.10 - 36:55.92]

I finally speak to the young woman at the center of the story.

1
Speaker 1
[36:56.32 - 37:12.78]

I think the police found the drugs. Well, they just found the meth because Carmen, I guess, was able to hide the heroin. And right before I overdosed, he was, like, trying to have sex with me, and then I think I just, like, passed out. I knew he had to get out of my life.

4
Speaker 4
[37:13.42 - 37:21.58]

But even with our main witness on the record, we face a battle to get the story out there. I think cutting the whistleblowers is unethical, and I can't stand by it.

2
Speaker 2
[37:21.58 - 37:24.74]

When I think about the glass on Mark's walls,

1
Speaker 1
[37:24.86 - 37:29.00]

I just picture it just pulsating with, like, the rage and frustration in that room.

4
Speaker 4
[37:30.36 - 37:32.66]

That's next time on Fallen Angels.

[37:40.98 - 38:02.14]

Fallen Angels, the story of California corruption, is a production of iHeart Podcast in partnership with Best Case Studios. I'm Paul Pringle. This show is based on my book, Bad City, Peril and Power in the City of Angels. Fallen Angels was written by Isabel Evans, Adam Pincus, and Brent Katz. Isabel Evans is our producer.

[38:02.58 - 38:23.30]

Brent Katz is co-producer. Associate producers are Hanna Leibovitz-Lockard and Anpaho Locke. Executive producers are me, Paul Pringle, Joe Piccarello, and Adam Pincus for Best Case Studios. Original music is by James Newberry. This episode was edited by Max Michael Miller with assistance from Nisha Venkat.

[38:24.00 - 38:43.86]

Additional editing, sound design, and additional music by Dean White. Mary Ann Warren's transcript is read by Jennifer Morris. Harriet Ryan, Matt Hamilton, Sarah Parvini, and Adam Elmarek are consulting producers. Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Carl Kadle. Follow and rate Fallen Angels wherever you get your podcasts.

1
Speaker 1
[38:49.14 - 39:15.44]

Hi, it's Andrea Gunning, the host of Betrayal. I'm excited to announce that the Betrayal podcast is expanding. We are going to be releasing episodes weekly, every Thursday. Each week, you'll hear brand new stories, firsthand accounts of shocking deception, broken trust, and the trail of destruction left behind. Listen to Betrayal Weekly on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2
Speaker 2
[39:20.18 - 39:23.82]

I'm John Walczak, host of the new podcast, Missing in Arizona.

4
Speaker 4
[39:24.12 - 39:26.66]

And I'm, Robert Fisher, one of the most wanted men in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[39:26.78 - 39:35.26]

We cloned his voice using AI. In 2001,, police say I killed my family and rigged my house to explode. Before escaping into the wilderness.

4
Speaker 4
[39:35.58 - 39:38.20]

Police believe he is alive and hiding somewhere.

2
Speaker 2
[39:38.62 - 39:42.54]

Join me. I'm going down in the cave. As I track down clues. I'm going to call the police and have you removed.

3
Speaker 3
[39:42.66 - 39:44.96]

Hunting. One of the most dangerous fugitives in the world.

2
Speaker 2
[39:44.96 - 39:54.34]

Robert Fisher. Do you recognize my voice? Listen to Missing in Arizona every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

3
Speaker 3
[39:55.98 - 40:15.48]

In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends.

[40:15.80 - 40:28.00]

And I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events. Hear the story on Where's Dia. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

1
Speaker 1
[40:28.66 - 40:37.46]

In the early morning hours of September 6th, 2016,, St. Louis rapper and activist Darren Seals was found murdered.

2
Speaker 2
[40:37.46 - 40:46.90]

That's what they're going to learn. I'm for death, I'm for nothing. Every day, Darren will tell her, all right, ma, be prepared. They are going to try to kill me.

1
Speaker 1
[40:47.08 - 40:58.38]

All episodes available now. Listen to After the Uprising, The Murder of Darren Seals on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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