1704: Hockey Dad Poses as Delta Force Agent to Scam Parents part 1

Speaker: I thought he was a federal agent, basically said, your life is in danger. There's been a hit taken out on you by the drug cartels, and your son's life is in danger that they plan on potentially kidnapping him. The Delta Force agent told Eric Pierotti that in order for this to go away, he has to pay the ransom or else they're going to kill you. The federal agent went by the name of St. Jovite Youngblood. I'm thinking, why would he come and say this to me if it's not true? The better question is, why would these drug lords want anything to do with Eric Perardy? After all, Eric Perardy has never once had a run in with the Mexican cartel. He's just an Austin, Texas real estate developer. The answer is that St. Jovite Youngblood was just a con man working an elaborate ruse to try to steal Eric Perardy's money. He asked me for 70, 000. He's like, look, I'm going to hire these guys to protect your child, protect you. I'm going to have this money back to you in a couple of weeks, but you got to trust me. And it's like today it has to happen because you're in danger. The last thing he says to me as he walks out the door is, I was like, are you sure? He goes, if I'm not a hundred percent, then your son's dead. Are you willing to take that chance? This interview with Eric Parardi is from the Austin American Statesman newspaper out of Texas. People are going to listen to this and say it's crazy, but it, you're in the middle of this. The phone calls are coming every day. They're every day you're in danger. They're calling you at midnight. They're calling you at two in the morning. They put you in a state where you're so hypersensitive and so unaware of what's real and what's not real that you don't know how to react to it. So I'm just borrowing money, selling assets, anything it can do. And it just adds up over a period of time. I wrote or found almost 780, 000. And he took it all. He spent some serious time creating his character, which was all a lie. Never been in the military. Never been an agent. I mean, this guy has destroyed people's lives. That's right. St. Jovite Youngblood wasn't a federal agent. He never served as part of the U. S. Army Delta Force Unit. And he His original name is not even Saint Jovith Youngblood. Today's episode is a little hard to believe, but as ridiculous as Erik Perardi's story sounds, Youngblood was able to fool dozens of people into handing him their life savings. I'm Javier Leyva and this is Pretend. Stories about real people pretending to be someone else. So I know him as Youngblood. Jovi Kota Jaden Youngblood from Austin, Texas, went by many names. But for Rebecca Kamar and her husband Ricky, he was simply Koda. And our kids played travel hockey. So I got to know Gloria and her two sons before I even met her husband Koda. You know, the parents wait in the little warm room and we watch the kids on the ice and play. We just struck up a conversation, started seeing each other a couple of times a week, and then kind of became friends. For many of you who have kids who play club sports, you're constantly around other parents and like them or not. You have to talk to these parents more than you even talk to your friends or your family. So we're always hanging out during these travel weekends and eating dinners together and just talking about everything and raising our kids and building this relationship. And I don't remember exactly when I met Coda, but it was at the ice rink. And he's huge, huge, but he's, he's very imposing. Like he seems to come in with authority. And He also seems quite into knowing who you are. He wants to be your best friend. He gives tips and guidance to your children. And you feel that he, you know, out to give you the, the best he can of himself to you, and you begin to build a little bit of a trust. It was probably the following year. Cause we went to have New Year's Eve dinner with them at a steakhouse. And we kind of just got to know each other a little bit better. And that was when we first heard about Delta Force. Like, we knew the hand to hand combat kind of really early on training and we knew the top secret clearance that he worked for the government. And then we'd have conversations and he's like, yeah, you know, I was up in Alaska and I was doing the black ops training. And we're like, Oh wow, you do that? Wow. Okay, cool. And, uh, but he's so convincing. I mean, it was fairly early on in the relationship where he, but he would like throw out tidbits. He would tell us he was top secret clearance. He works for the government. He couldn't tell us much about his job because of his security. He was a trainer. For people who are flying black ops, he's extremely intelligent, and he's very knowledgeable about current events. He's very knowledgeable about history, the things that have happened in the past, so he can kind of support his story, and you believe him. And anytime he talked to Coda, he completely controlled the conversation. He did most of the talking. He would have a, if you were to question anything, he immediately had a response for it. And he was very generous with stuff, like he would buy dinners and treat our kids to stuff and pass out 100 bills for everyone's birthday, adult or child. I had a very strong intuition. And there was something about him that just threw me off. Like, his wife was precious, his kids were precious. There was something about him that just was like, oh. That's kind of like he was off and I couldn't figure out what it was. First, there was the little things, you know, Coda wasn't like the other parents. He was much more paranoid. He was showing up at our house. Like he doesn't carry a phone or he didn't believe in phones. He would even have us put like one time he asked me to put my phone in like a jar in the pantry and I said, no. Something in her gut told Rebecca not to trust this guy. But when Koda Youngblood came knocking on her door, it was hard to say no. I think where I questioned him was when we loaned him the first loan. And it was a loan with a promise of a payback and it was kind of a quick turnaround. Hey, I just need this money just to get my friend through this dire situation and I'll do anything for you, but I don't have the cash right now. Can you guys help me out with just, you know, cause he goes, I'm good for it. You know, I never lie. I would always say that I never lie. You can give me a polygraph. I'll never, you know, I'll pass it every time. So it was, it was to help this son who just lost his dad purchase these. Antiquities or whatever that they were from this uncle who was being a jerk about the whole it was my brother This is I'm keeping the stuff and the son's like, but it was my dad you know, it was family drama kind of glaze over because it's just too much for my brain to process and Ricky looks at me. He's like, hey, I want to help him out. He's in a tight spot Let's go, you know, I trust him. Let's do this. And then I was like, okay, that's a lot of money. So Rebecca and her husband, Ricky loan him 90, 000. Koda Youngblood promised he was good for the money. This is where Koda is, you know, Youngblood's a mastermind. He didn't have any control of us through fear. He controlled us through being your best friend. And when you think somebody's your best friend and they get in a bad situation and you can afford to help them out. No matter where my husband pulled the money from, I mean, it doesn't matter if it was savings or whatever, but he had access to it and he wanted to help his friend who he trusted with all of us and we gave him money and there's all these promises on returns and all these promises on like, I'll even, you know, I've got this, this, and this, and we're going to sell it and we're going to split the profits and you get a portion of the profit. So it's almost like you're going to get your money back, maybe plus a bonus. But he got this money and he was showing up and he would show up with like 5, 000 cash, 3, 000 cash, 7, 000 cash. You just shows up, you didn't call. He just shows up, bangs on the door. It can be 7am. It can be 7pm. He leaves his car running in the, in the driveway. He doesn't turn his car off. Cause he's got to make a quick getaway if the government calls him to work. I started just having suspicions cause I'm like, I don't understand these dollar amounts he's paying us back and it had gone on at this point for a while and I'm like, Ricky, I don't believe him. There's something telling me this isn't right. I think you've been conned. And he's like, no, no, no, no, no. Code is good for it. And I was like, I don't know. Because several months had gone by, we hadn't been paid back, just in chunks, and it was always cash, and um, every time you go to the bank and you withdraw or deposit large sums of money, it's a record. And I told Ricky, I feel like we were laundering money for this guy. I said, because cash is, like, that's, can we get a check? Like, we have a different type of record where we don't look like we're laundering money. You know, moving cash back and forth. And, uh, Ricky's like, well, but you said something with this bank. And I said, we'll get a cashier check. I need something. You need to take something. No more cash, please. No more cash. It makes me uncomfortable going to the bank with five, eight, 12, 000, whatever it is, having a teller, put it in, write my information down. Like I'm not comfortable, you know, he either pays his back or he doesn't. I don't want these sums anymore. And so Ricky was like, okay, I got it. I got it. Don't worry about it. I got it. So I'm like, okay. And my husband's amazing. He is the most generous and kind person. All of this was out of the goodness of his heart, helping a friend. Rebecca was curious, who is this Coda Youngblood guy anyway, aka St. Jovite Youngblood? So she did a simple Google search of his name and, oh boy. The first thing that came up was his LinkedIn. St. Jovite Youngblood is the president of Youngblood Metals Mining. His profile claims that St. Jovite Youngblood is an expert in jewelry, coin, and vintage toys. Then Rebecca finds out that he also is a tattoo artist. The artist's bio reads, Saint Gervais Youngblood has been working out of his own studio in Milwaukee for many years and is the go to guy for people wanting to decorate their bodies in the hottest styles. The bio says, St. Jovide Youngblood has been married for almost a decade and is planning on having children with his wife's son. That post led to his wedding registry page. According to this page, Koda Youngblood was engaged to a woman named Jennifer, not his current wife Gloria. According to this page, they met each other at the airport and they were both carrying the same luggage and accidentally took each other's bags. Then St. Jovide tracked her down to her apartment. And they found out that they shared the love of cold diet coke. I don't know if that's true or not, but it's a good story. The wedding was supposed to take place in Honolulu, Hawaii in November of 2011. Funny enough, nothing in this initial Google search turned up anything about his military or government work. He's a musician, an LA Dodgers fan, a tattoo artist, a coin collector. But the Delta Force narrative was nowhere to be found. When I did the background check, I presented my husband with what I found and I said, look, he's from Ohio, parents are, you know, this name and this name, not what he's told us, his name is Dennis Shuler, he did change it legally, he has this, this, and this, that he's lied about, I think he's a con man, I don't know if I trust him, and Ricky was like, oh, but he's got a story to support it, and I was like, okay, at this point, I said, I'm out, I don't want to deal with him, but something's making me extremely uncomfortable, This is on you, husband. You're now gonna be the point of contact. I don't, I don't, I'll see him. I'll be kind to him, cordial, at the ice rink. But I don't want him knocking on my door. I don't want him in my house. Something feels very wrong. And this went on for a while. The next year, Gloria called me and told me some sob story about a house burning down. She needed some cash. And she wanted 10, 000 and I said no. I said, Gloria? Gloria? You and I have been friends for a long time. I don't know if you know about what's going on with, between your husband and our family. He owes us a large sum of money and I'm not giving you a dime until I get that back. I'm sorry you're in this situation, but I can't help you. I didn't know how to approach my husband and ask for more money. With the same story, Koda went to Ricky and said something about this, this, you know, Oh my God, I need this money. I have to pay the lawyer. We're paying them off. Like we're paying off these bad people. Because they, they want this dollar amount. I need a hundred thousand dollars. And Ricky's like, ah, Coda, like you owe me money already. And, you know, Ricky, oh my God, me and my wife and my kids, what am I going to do? And, you know, very, very scary, sad, emotional. And, um, Ricky gave him the money. So now we're down. 190. Rebecca has a hard time finishing that sentence, maybe because it makes it more real when she says it out loud. A hundred and ninety thousand dollars. That's how much money Ricky and Rebecca Kumar loaned Coda Youngblood. I mean, you're both, I'm guessing pretty successful, but did that hurt or was that money you could part with? No, nobody, no. We, we did not, I mean, he sold some stocks. My husband invest well, he's he's smart with his money. He saves he's always saying, God, I have him because I'm, you know, he's a saver. I'm a spender. So he keeps me in check, but no, I mean, he's prepped for our retirement and she's very successful in his career and he works great jobs. He supports our family. I would stay at home mom for a while. So we have that, that kind of American dream lifestyle. You know, we've got decent cars. We each have our own car. We've, they're not all high end. I mean, but I have a nice car. I can have my son and travel hockey and go to Dallas every weekend and spend a thousand dollars on a travel weekend. Rebecca told me that that 200, 000 was supposed to be their kid's college fund. But then Rebecca found this article from the San Bernardino Sun. The headline read, Alleged Coin Con Man Charged. That's when she learned that her friend Koda Youngblood was a suspected con artist with 13 known aliases. According to the Sun article published in 2011, Youngblood paid a coin dealer 94, 000 for gold coins, but the check bounced. And by the time the dealer figured it all out, Youngblood allegedly traveled to Australia, sold the coins, and gambled the money away. Police identified four other victims with similar accusations. The victims told investigators that Youngblood claimed that he had a purple heart medal for his service in the war and that he served as a U. S. Navy SEAL and that his wife and children had all been killed by a drunk driver. So then I just paid for an, I don't remember what background check company I used. It was something I paid 30 for like a month membership. And in that month I could have run as many background checks as I wanted. So I was like, well, I'll run his name. And that's literally when I found out his real name is Dennis Shuler. So I had already cut him off. I had already told my husband, he's a con artist. I have the proof. You believe me or not. You want to read these articles or not? This is on you. Honey, I'm done. Remember Eric Perardi, who you heard from at the top of the show? Well, Eric's son also played on Coda's son's hockey team. So I coach his kid and I take a real special interest in his son. As far as we all knew, Coda was an heir of mystery. He had tattoos, he was in special services. He, you know, worked for the government. He was always gone, traveling. I thought he was a federal agent. The whole time Kota Youngblood was scamming Rebecca and Ricky Kumar, he was also working Eric Perardi. But Eric's story is much more dramatic. Basically said your life is in danger. There's been a hit taken out on you by the drug cartels and your son's life is in danger that they plan on potentially kidnapping him. Eric and I are friends. Uh, he coached my kid. We've done travel with him and his children. So once again, it's a hockey community brought us together. But his story is very different. With his interactions with Coda and his was definitely more fear, immediate, large sums of money. Rebecca says that Eric Perardy truly believed that his family was in danger. And if he didn't hand over the money, the Mexican cartel was going to kidnap his son. Here's Eric talking with the Austin statesman again. I mean, I lost everything. So I lost my medical office businesses. I had to walk away from my, the crossover, the project I worked on. I disappeared for six, seven months. I couldn't be at the place that I built. I had no income coming in. I had no money. Remember, Koda Youngblood is siphoning large sums of money out of some of the parents from his son's hockey team. He targeted the wealthier families, not all of them, but none of the parents targeted were comparing notes. They thought they were the only ones helping Coda out. Coda and another fella showed up at our house once again, never let us know they were coming. They went to Ricky and they were like, I need you to understand. I don't know if you know about Eric, but he's a terrible person and he's done all these horrid things and he's not to be trusted. Don't talk to him. Don't interact with him. Like, very fearful. And they leave. Ricky comes into the house and he goes, Beck, do not talk to Eric. And he, and Ricky's like almost yelling at me. I think he's so stressed about whatever he heard. That Eric's done. He was like, don't talk to him. Don't interact with him. Don't answer his phone calls. Don't, don't, don't. And I was like, okay, well, the next week I get a phone call from Eric or text and I completely spaced, I was not supposed to interact with him. And the text was, Hey, hope you're doing well. I don't know, um, you know, have you ever like, and it was kind of a weird text, but have you basically ever given Cody Youngblood money? And I, my response was, yes. And then Eric goes, can I call you? And I said, sure. So we had a phone conversation, Eric tells me to call the FBI, he gives me a number. And I just hung up the phone and I was like, I don't trust a single person. Right now. I don't trust my husband. I don't trust Eric. I don't believe Coda. And I definitely don't believe that this might be a real FBI agent. I don't know what's going on. So I called, I called the FBI. When I went into the FBI office for my interview about everything. And I said, but his name is Dennis Shuler. And the agent looks at me and I was like, are you telling me I have more information than you do for my 30 background check? Oh my God. Are you serious? They didn't know that. They hadn't, they hadn't gone that far yet. 51 year old St. Jovite, a. k. a. Coda Youngblood, was arrested at the airport on his way to Las Vegas on July 31st, 2023. Authorities believed that he would take the victim's money and gamble it away at the casinos. The U. S. Attorney's Office press release stated that Youngblood faced wire fraud and money laundering charges with 40 years in prison for each of the charges. All in all, there could be possibly 22 victims, maybe even more. But I wanted to learn more, so I requested the criminal complaint against him. I was hoping that the criminal complaint would provide answers, but instead, it actually left me with more questions. Let me read some of it to you. It starts out describing Eric Perardi's story when he reached out to the FBI. Eric Perardi, an Austin real estate developer, told the FBI that he loaned Youngblood almost a million dollars. He told investigators that not all of that money was his. Some of the money was from his romantic partner and a professional associate. These victims names were redacted. Youngblood told Eric Perardi that Eric's ex wife was dealing drugs and had become involved with the cartel. Say what? I have so many questions. Why would Perardi think that his ex wife had connections with the Mexican cartel? Youngblood also told Eric Perardi that his son was in danger of being kidnapped and killed by the cartel. How could he prove this? Which, well, because Youngblood listened to audio recordings that his buddy at the NSA had made. In the secret recording, Youngblood heard Eric's wife talking to a cartel hitman. By the way, I've been in touch with Eric Priority, but after multiple requests, he has yet to agree on a date for an interview. Possibly because he didn't want to say anything while the trial was going on. But again, I have so many questions. I couldn't get Eric to answer my questions, so I did a little digging. Maybe his divorce papers filed in court could shed more light into his ex wife and her cartel ties. Surely, if she was involved with something like that, it would be mentioned here, right? But nope. The divorce papers turned out to be, meh, run of the mill divorce. They split custody. They settled on alimony and child support. No cartel. No hitmen. But somehow, Erik Priority believed Youngblood's story. Koda told Erik that he needed 70, 000 to protect his family. Erik wrote a check. But not to Youngblood. Get this, Coda Youngblood instructed Perardi to write a check to an antique clock dealer. Huh? Youngblood assured Perardi that he would receive a 30 percent return on investment. A 30 percent return on investment for paying the cartel with a check made out to an antique clock dealer. This is the wackiest court document I've ever read. Not only that, but Youngblood gave Eric Priority a confederate flag worth 2. 5 million as collateral. The complaint states that eventually, after almost a million dollars lost, Eric Priority started to suspect that the story was a farce. So he recorded his next interactions with the antique clock dealer. Eric Priority said, I mean, are my children's life in danger? What am I dealing with? The clock dealer said, everybody's life is in danger here. This guy, he's a spinoff of Los Zetas. Los Zetas, by the way, is Mexico's most dangerous drug cartel. Anyways, he said, even worse than they are. I'll just put it this way. They don't like him. They know he is dangerous. Eric Priority asked, well, how is Coda Youngblood going to stop them? The Clock Dealer said, well, once we pay this off, We'll be able to shut down the person, is my understanding, said the clock dealer. On May 1st, 2023, the FBI conducted an undercover operation to observe and record Youngblood's attempt to extort and defraud Eric Perardy. Youngblood explained to the undercover agent that only half of the 12. 2 million debt to the cartel has been paid, and that paying off this debt would help keep Perardy's family safe. Youngblood then told the undercover agent that if he helped to pay off the debt, let's say 76, 000, that the undercover agent would double his returns, plus 25%. The scheme involved selling 2, 000 ounces of gold bars, which Youngblood claimed to have access to. 2, 000 ounces of gold, by the way, is about the size of a large loaf of bread. Confused yet? I have so many questions. I mean, you have so many questions. Despite how ridiculous this whole thing sounds, a lot of people lost a lot of money because of Koda Youngblood. Here's Rebecca Kumar again. My family's not ruined. My husband's still able to recoup some of that. He's still young enough. He's not retired. We didn't lose our house, we didn't lose our cars, unlike other families that have been in the path of CODA's destruction, and they've lost everything. They've lost their homes, they've lost their savings, their cars, they're living with their kids or in a motel because they don't even have a house. Next time on Pretend, we're going to get more details about CODA Youngblood's scheme. We're going to take you inside the courtroom. Based on the evidence that I've heard, Mr. Youngblood You have an elaborate history of not telling the truth. After hearing the testimony, all I can say is, wow. Um, the number of lies, the depth of those lies, is beyond anything I've ever heard. And I've been around a long time. Absolutely, uh, incredible. That's the judge, by the way. Hopefully we'll get some answers to some of the strangest questions, like, Was Perardi's wife really working with the cartel? Who was the antique clock dealer and how is he associated with young blood? That's next time on Pretend. If you can't wait and you want to listen to part two right now, go to patreon. com or Pretend Plus on the Apple Podcast. My subscribers not only get early and ad free episodes, but Occasionally, I add bonus interviews, extra content that you won't hear on this feed. I also plan on doing a lot more bonus content. In fact, I hired two producers to help me. With my workload, it's nuts. So now pretend I can finally say we, because we are a staff of three, two producers and one editor. So any support that you give the show is greatly appreciated. This stuff isn't free. I do this because I love telling stories and you love listening to them, obviously, but in order to really make this thing go, I mean, we are an independent podcast. Working on fumes, really, so any support you give the show would be greatly appreciated. So check out those links to Patreon and PretendPlus on Apple Podcasts. They're in the show notes. This episode was written by me and produced by Brianna Brady and edited by the talented Puneet Shonoy with the podcast pundits. And also a little note, I've actually, don't listen to podcasts. I, I don't know if you know that, but podcasters, Tend to not listen to podcasts, but I have been listening to this one podcast and it was really good. It was a murder investigation and I binged right through it. And then I realized because I listened to all the episodes that have been released so far, that that podcast just disappeared from my podcast app. And it's because I didn't subscribe. I finally found it by the way. It's called beyond all repair season two. If you haven't listened to it, it's really good. This is not an ad. It's actually a very good podcast. But it reminded me to tell you that if you are now just listening to pretend for the first time, this might be the last time you'll hear my voice, because these apps, if you don't subscribe, it, it, it's almost like it disappeared. And if you forget the name of the show, you'll never find it again. So right now, while you're listening, if you haven't already follow or subscribe to pretend wherever you're listening to right now, so you don't miss. A new episode. And we got some crazy stuff happening this season. I mean, some really, really big cases. Probably, dare I say, the biggest cases I've worked on to date. And I feel like I've worked on some pretty crazy cases. I don't want to say that we're going to top the Stalker series, but We might top the Stalker series. I kid you not. I don't even know how I find these stories, but stay tuned That's all I could tell you for now. We're that's why I hired two producers. We are buried in content right now. So Subscribe to pretend wherever you can because you will be the first to listen to these stories and there is going to be so much bonus material. I mean, there's no way I could possibly fit it into any of these episodes. So, all right. Well, I've rambled enough. Take care. We'll talk next week. Pop Comforts is a podcast series that dives deep into the unexpected corners of popular culture that bring us comfort. Join me, David Peterkofsky, as I journey through the quirky, nostalgic, and most unlikely aspects of pop culture that people seek out for solace. On Pop Comforts, you'll hear the story behind the birth of New Age Music's most famous record company. The name Wyndham Hill became So synonymous with, obviously, us, but people would call what became New Age, sort of, oh, like Wyndham Hill, kind of thing. And you'll meet the man whose surprisingly soothing videos of crackling fireplaces mesmerize viewers. It can't be just that. Three minutes. It can't be two minutes in a loop or a one minute loop. It's got to be a real fire from start to finish. And it needs to be framed right and work on focus and use the right wood. Each episode uncovers tales of unexpected sources of comfort, such as how mourners are using disconnected telephones. It's really not terribly different than visiting a gravestone, visiting a gravesite, and having a conversation. So I wouldn't say there's one strong type of demographic. It's kind of more like, you know, people who resonate with collectivism, community. And, like, the specific ways of doing things kind of draws that type of people. From Japanese watering holes, where chatter takes a backseat to vintage jazz records, to the use of AI to bring back the voices of lost loved ones, Pop Comforts is a revelation in the practices, old and new, that bring us relief. To hear the entire series, subscribe to Pop Comforts now, wherever you get your podcasts.