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September 23, 2011

The Incredible Case of the P.I. Moms

What do you get when you take a private investigation firm, toss in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, then add official sponsorship from Glock firearms, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur? This week's show. That's what you get.

Pete Crooks' original article and book about the P.I. Moms.

Prologue

Ira explains how a man named Chris Butler created a private detective agency where the investigators were good-looking soccer moms. Their publicist invited a reporter named Pete Crooks from Diablo magazine to do a ride-along with the P.I. Moms on a case. Pete thinks it'll be a simple, fun assignment. Turns out he was wrong. (4 mins)

Act One

A Pretty Dame Walks In

Joshuah Bearman tells the story of Pete's ridealong with the PI Moms, and how strange things started to happen. As he dug deeper into their operations, he learned about cases like the Candyman, where everything gets oddly and unnecessarily complicated. And he learns about the involvement of Norm Wielsch, the top drug enforcement officer in Contra Costa County. He starts to get mysterious emails from an anonymous source who calls himself "Rutherford." (29 minutes)