S306: The Prophet - Meet Cult Leader Jane Whaley Part 1

Javier: It's Friday night and it's getting dark. I'm laying on my back, zipped up in a sleeping bag, in a tent outside of my front yard. The kids are finally asleep. They were wiped out after going to the pool, eating pizza, and roasting marshmallows over a fire pit. It's been a long day, but I couldn't go to sleep. So what does a bored podcaster do when he can't sleep? He starts researching ideas for Pretend Radio. I'm on my phone digging through some documents related to the Word of Faith Fellowship, and there must have been something I was missing, something I was overlooking. While scanning through the documents, I stumbled upon an email I had never seen before. It was from a Democratic North Carolina State Senate candidate named David Wheeler, and the email was addressed to Jane Whaley. In that email, David Wheeler, the Senate candidate, tells Jane Whaley that he would like to meet her, and oddly enough, she responds. She writes, "Can you meet between three thirty and four this afternoon?" The State Senate candidate, David Wheeler, confirms a meeting with Jane, but what he does next is kind of messed up. Instead of showing up alone, David Wheeler shows up at the Word of Faith compound with several news reporters and a cameraman. He also brought John Huddle, who is basically Jane Whaley's arch enemy, and the former sheriff candidate, Wayne Guffey, who is Jane Whaley's distant cousin and a big critic of the church. The political stunt was broadcast on Facebook Live.

Linda Rape: So we're here to hopefully meet with, uh, Ms. Whaley and, and we've got a couple, couple questions, uh, that we've written up, and we're hoping to get some response. Um, and Ms. Whaley invited us here. We're, we are a little bit early, so I don't think she's, uh-

Archival: I'm sorry ...

Linda Rape: signing up for this. This is private property, and we're asking you to leave. Ms. Whaley asked me-

Archival: This is private property, and we're asking you to leave. Where is Ms. Whaley? Sir, this is private property.

Linda Rape: Is Jane here? She invited us to attend.

Archival: This is private property.

Linda Rape: Where is Ms. Whaley?

Archival: I am asking you to leave.

Linda Rape: Well, we're not gonna leave until Ms. Whaley tells us. Excuse me We're happy to talk to Ms. Whaley. She invited me here. I came all the way down from Mitchell County and she invited me. Uh,

Archival: uh, Ken, uh, we have a notice on the door-

Linda Rape: That says anybody's

Archival: welcome ... that says we welcome those who come to worship, but those who come with curiosity to criticize, take pictures, or record by video or audio taping are not welcome.

Javier: The church filed trespassing charges for everyone involved except the Daily Courier reporter, McKenzie Wicker. The moment the church officials told them to go away, you can see in the video McKenzie just quietly exits the building. In all fairness, if you read the email, Wheeler never explains to Jane that he intends to bring in the local media to visit. This was kind of a dick move, if you ask me I'm telling you this because the last people to, quote-unquote, "get an invitation to the church" might be spending some time in jail. So I'm laying inside this tent thinking to myself, "Hmm, I have Jane Whaley's email. I should totally ask Jane if I could go visit her at church." I wrote, "Hi Jane, I'm an independent reporter working on a story about Word of Faith Fellowship. It makes me sad that the national media is so one-sided. No one has ever given you an honest opportunity to tell your story. I realize you have a YouTube channel stating your point of view, but, but no third party has ever had the chance to speak with you. I promise, no tricks. My offer is for you to speak to my listeners directly." Honestly, I didn't expect a reply, but boy, was I wrong. I'm Javier Leva, and this is Pretend Radio, season three, The Prophet. I woke up the next morning stiff and wet from the morning dew. I grabbed my phone so that the light could help open my eyes. The first thing I see is a notification with a reply from Jane Whaley. I flapped inside my sleeping bag trying to get out, and I unzip the tent and run inside the house. I tell my wife, "You'll never believe who just sent me an email. It was Jane Whaley." She wrote, "I'm checking with my attorneys. I encourage you to listen to the testimonies on the radio. No children have ever been abused in our church. It is just the opposite. Everyone is greatly loved." She wrote this at 2:20 AM Saturday morning, and I quickly responded, "Hi, Jane. I have listened to many of the radio shows. I love that you're reaching out to the community. By the way, I'm the only reporter who has put the Coopers family's claims into question I wanted her to know that I was genuinely trying to balance out the story. The Coopers, if you remember, is the family Jane says is campaigning to destroy the church. John Cooper is who you heard from back in season one Jane writes back, "The Coopers did not like when I did not allow them to bring their worldly lifestyle into the church. They proposed to close our doors with their lies. God so blessed us. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake." Jesus said, "If you are who you say you are, I would like to meet you before I make any commitment. I would like for you to come to one of our church services. That way you can see the truth." I quickly responded, "I can be there tomorrow. What time is the service? Who should I ask for when I get there?" She writes back, "Our church starts at 9:30 if you want to come and find the truth. They will know who you are. Someone will take you in and show you where your saved seat is. You can sit right up front behind me and my family." Holy smokes. Jane Whaley invited me to her church. Never in a million years did I ever expect to speak to Jane Whaley directly. I mean, nobody, nobody has ever interviewed Jane. She doesn't ever talk to the media, so why me? I'm definitely going. So what if the last people who were invited were charged with trespassing? I mean, I have to take my chances. All this is happening very, very fast. Spindale is about three and a half hours away from where I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. So who am I gonna go with? I can't go alone, right? I mean, if no one wanted to come with me before, they're definitely not gonna wanna come with me now. So I called my new friend Nolan. He wants to start his own podcast and learn the ropes. Nolan is a pretty cool guy, and we have very similar backgrounds. I've only met him twice before this, but I knew we would hit it off. He told me that next time I go to Spindale to let him know. He would go with me. But asking him to go inside the church? I mean, come on. That's a little extreme, right? So I call him up. Hey, Nolan. You there? Yeah. So, dude, you're never gonna believe who, uh, emailed me back. Who? Jane Whaley. I was, like, I was camping out last night with my girls in the front yard, and I woke up and, like, I checked my email, and there, there was, like, an email from her. It was insane. Okay. I, I wrote to her yesterday. I found, like, her email in, like, some court document, like her personal email. And I was like, "What the hell? My- I'm just gonna send her an email. Let's see what happens." And she freaking wrote me back, man.

Nolan Ether: What'd she say?

Javier: She said, um... Actually, let me, let me read it to you, actually. I said, "I have listened-" I read Nolan the emails. Jesus said, "If you are who you say you are, I would like to meet you before I make any commitment. I would like for you to come to one of our church services that, that way you can see the truth." And so, So

Nolan Ether: you have a direct invitation from Jesus himself.

Javier: Yeah. "So Nolan, would you like to go to church tomorrow?"

Nolan Ether: Wow.

Javier: You have to understand that that's a lot to ask of somebody. Yeah.

Nolan Ether: Um- That's what's happening. Yeah, we gotta figure... So she wants you to go to a service.

Javier: She wants what?

Nolan Ether: She wants you to go to a service.

Javier: Yeah, and, uh, meet her, and I guess she wants me to check things out.

Nolan Ether: Hmm.

Javier: Yeah. You wanna go to Spindale? After thinking through a couple minutes, Nolan says he's in. Yeah, let's go. This is so crazy, dude. I know that this is a lot more than you bargained for, man. Like, I know- Nolan and I work up a plan ... you, you didn't sign up for this. You just wanted to, like, you know, ride along with me. You had

Nolan Ether: no idea. No, it's, uh, you know what? Like I said, is, you know, I think, uh, the, the safety thing we gotta figure out, and I, I don't wanna go straight in. And I haven't done the research you've done, so it feels-

Javier: Well, what do we do though? Yeah. I mean, like, like safety, like let's talk about that.

Nolan Ether: Yeah. Like- So I mean, we should... I mean, if you go in, do you feel comfortable being in there on your own? And then I can, you know, 'cause we've got other stuff to do, you know, be down there for the day, and then whenever you have to go to that, I can be on the outside that way. You know, we could let local law enforcement know or whatever, that way if something goes bad-

Javier: So you, you're gonna be

Nolan Ether: like my- ... you're not there by yourself.

Javier: So you're gonna be like my outside man, like share my location and-

Nolan Ether: Yeah. I mean- How we can- ... we can talk about other things, but it, you wanna, I mean, both of us going in there doesn't seem

Javier: to make a lot of sense. I mean, it would, it would make me feel better, but you know. We decide that he would just drop me off and just hang out outside in case something goes south. I pick up Nolan at 5:30 in the morning. It takes us three and a half hours to get there, and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time before the service. So we got up at what time, Nolan?

Nolan Ether: We woke up at, like, I don't know, 4:30.

Javier: Yeah. We woke up at 4:30 because, you know, Jane Whaley invited us to church service, and so when, you know, we weren't gonna miss out on that opportunity. So I asked her, I said, "What do we do when we get there?" And she responded and she said that, uh, that they know I'm coming, and they will show me to our parking space, and that they have a seat for me, uh, y- you know, up front behind the, the Whaley family, Jane's family. And so, yeah. But I don't know. I mean, I don't know if I'm gonna talk to her. I mean, I'm assuming I will be, and I don't know if she'll allow me to record. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to talk to other church members. I mean...

Nolan Ether: You're not even getting a chance to really speak to her directly beforehand, so you don't even know if you can, like, record the service. You'll probably have to ask.

Javier: Yeah. I don't know. A- I mean, as far as I know, I don't think she's ever given the media this type of access before. I mean, I don't think she's ever even done an interview, so this is big We're getting close, so- Looking good, buddy. You ready? Yeah. We stop at a gas station to change clothes. I got my, uh, Sunday best on. Let's do this thing. I hand Nolan the keys, and he starts driving towards the church. Oh, we're getting really close to the church, by the way, so- It's

Nolan Ether: the Glendale sign.

Javier: Yeah, I know. But the actual church is on the side of this highway. See, we're gonna be making a- We're, like,

Nolan Ether: right here.

Javier: Yeah, so we're, we're technically passing right by it Um, there's a big giant Jesus saves sign approximately where the church is. I wonder if that's theirs. It's 9:00 AM, and church service doesn't start for another 30 minutes. What do I do if they say, "Sorry, you can't record"?

Nolan Ether: Uh, you probably have to turn it off, but against all-

Javier: What if they say, "Excuse me, all that n- audio you recorded, I need that memory card"? I mean, that's a possibility.

Nolan Ether: Uh, I wouldn't give that to them. I mean, they invited you. It's your personal property. Yeah, I think you start recording, and if they tell you to stop recording, that's gonna be... That's the chance you're taking is they could take the memory card bec- if you start recording without asking permission.

Javier: I'm just gonna assume that I'm being invited as a journalist Yeah, I'm a little freaked out, but I mean, I think once I get in there I'm gonna rock it

Nolan Ether: It'll just be another weird church service

Javier: Just another weird Pretend Radio episode

Nolan Ether: Exactly. Nothing new for you. Well, you look nervous, but you're gonna be

Javier: fine And then

Nolan Ether: You'll never guess what happened next

Javier: Yeah, so I hear that you- I hear that you and Lou did a good impression of me

Nolan Ether: Yeah, and his daughter

Javier: Uh, let's hear it

Nolan Ether: When you thought that was everything, there's more

Javier: It's, it's- Noise ... it's kinda like a scary infomercial. It's like OxiClean, but- ... but twisted Exactly. Exactly All right. Wow. Wow. That's pretty It's still 30 minutes. Yeah.

Nolan Ether: Yeah Well, 30 minutes for you to get more nervous, I guess

Javier: Poor guy. I'm leaving him alone in a town with no Starbucks

Nolan Ether: Church

Javier: starts at 9:30 He's gonna

Nolan Ether: be so bored

Javier: A block away.

Nolan Ether: I'll let us

Javier: drive. Thank you for joining us, man. Yeah, absolutely. Do you know where to turn? Yeah, it's on, uh, Flynn Road. Old Flynn Road So Nolan starts driving towards the church. I have the recorder and microphone set up in my bag, but I turned on my phone voice recording app to capture everything as we go in. We start driving towards Old Flynn Road. Old Flynn Road is a private road that leads directly inside the church property. We slow down as we approach the guard Hey, y'all. Hey. How are you, sir? Pretty good. Yep. Y'all go on down. There'll be somebody down at the stone column down there to meet y'all and get you a parking spot Okay. Thank you. You're welcome It's almost like he knew who we were Knew exactly who we were. We didn't have to say anything We pull forward, and to our right we see a parking lot with church members getting out of their cars, and to our left is the main building with a sign made out of stone that reads Word of Faith Fellowship All right, so by noon. Yeah, if you don't hear from me by noon- Uh-oh ... you gotta check in with me, even if you're in the middle of something. Advise me I will. As soon as I get an opportunity I will check with you, but if you don't hear from me- Is that your son that's gonna drop you off? Yeah, just drop right here. I think we gotta talk to this guy As we drive towards the building, another man with a walkie-talkie motions us to follow him How are you, sir? I'm just dropping off. I'm just dropping him off Drop him off. Yeah Yeah. Um, I'm here to speak with Jean Whaley. She invited me to a service today. Okay. Yeah. Well, um, yeah, just wanna go under that overhang then. Great Everyone is entering the left side of the building Great. Thank you But the guy with the walkie-talkie, he wants us to turn right Yeah. Well, we're changing the game. This is like a side entrance. Everybody's going in through the main entrance.

Nolan Ether: What do you think? I,

Javier: I would say just pull up right here and let, let me get out. You

Nolan Ether: wanna just get out, and then I'll-

Javier: Yeah ...

Nolan Ether: drive this and go out?

Javier: Yeah. I wanna make sure that I see you get out and everything, you know? Just, um, pull up a little bit more. I see something under the overhang. We'll see, like, there. We pull under a covered driveway. A man reaches through the driver's side window to shake our hands. How are you? Good. Josh Farmer? Nolan. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet... Just dropping off Javier. I'm Javier. You're Javier. Yeah. Nice to meet you, Josh. Nice to meet you. Yeah. So my friend Nolan here is just gonna drop me off. Is that okay? That's fine. No problem. All right. I mean, you're welcome to come in as well, but. I appreciate it. Okay. Uh, it's up to you, Nolan. I'm... I didn't bring my stuff. All right. All right. Yeah. I'll be around. His name is Josh Farmer. He's one of Jane's attorney, the same attorney I've tried to reach over and over again for over a year. I get out of the car and let out a big sigh and watch as my new friend Nolan just drives away. This, this is really happening. I'm walking into the Word of Faith Fellowship Church alone. The moment I walk in through the door, I'm greeted with big hugs by several women. The only way I could describe this moment is like if I was a soldier returning home from war. As the women release me from their warm embrace, I see Sam Whaley waiting his turn to say hello. He looks at me and says, "Javier, it's so great to see you." Can I pause this moment for a second? I know this man and his church are accused of doing horrible things, but I couldn't help but instantly connect with him. He was awesome. His personality quickly put me at ease. Whatever tension I was feeling 30 seconds ago, boom, it was gone. Let me describe Sam Whaley for you. He's a jolly old guy. He reminds me of my grandfather. He has pink plump skin and a great booming laugh. Sam takes me by the shoulder and directs me into Jane's office. We walk in and I'm greeted by several women who each give me a hug. Jane's office was rather large. It was like the size of your doctor's waiting room, maybe even bigger. In the center of the room, there was a giant artificial floral arrangement. On one wall, there's an oil portrait of Jane and Sam holding their dogs. On the opposite end of the room, with golden embellishment around the top, that's Louie the dog's crib. Louie, by the way, has a keeper. I forget her name, but that lady sat in the corner of the room the entire time Louis runs up and says hi. I pet his head. And when I look up, Jane walks around the corner, and she has a single teardrop running down her left cheek. I was trying to see if maybe she was crying or maybe had allergies, but I couldn't tell. I'm like, "Ruh-roh, this warm, friendly welcoming may be coming to an end."

Jane Whaley: Where's Mommy? Have they started the church service yet? She's in the back. Not quite yet. Okay.

Javier: But I was wrong. Jane extended her arm towards me and gave me a big hug. Stay a friend. Nice to meet you.

Jane Whaley: You got all these attorneys astoundin' you. Yeah. Yeah, man, I,

Javier: I recognize you from, uh- A big hug. I mean, she didn't let go for a couple seconds. I have to say, she smells really nice. Kinda minty. Jane, for those of you who have never seen a picture of her, is about five foot six, immaculately shaped golden hair that flares over her ears, and she was wearing a bright pink cotton dress that went all the way down to her feet. She had a matching pink jacket to cover her arms. I gotta tell you, she was so nice. I felt right at home. She told me about her dogs, who had recently passed away, and how Louis, her new dog, came into her life. You can tell she really, really loves this dog. She immediately asked, "Are you a Christian?" And I said, "Yes, I'm Catholic." She seemed really disappointed. I explained to her that, uh, my buddy Nolan dropped me off.

Jane Whaley: Did, um, you come in this morning, or drive in?

Javier: Yeah, we just drove in this

Jane Whaley: morning. Who came with you?

Javier: My friend Nolan. He's-

Jane Whaley: Was he gonna come? I know.

Javier: Then Robin, Jane's only biological daughter, walks in the room. Hi,

Jane Whaley: Mommy. There she is. There she is. Robin, come in. This is, uh-

Javier: So this is your daughter, Robin? Yeah. Hi, Robin. Nice to meet you. Robin, you're not a hugger? Oh, sure I am. Why I'm not... I am a hugger. You're the first person who hasn't given me a hug, yeah. I'm

Jane Whaley: sorry. I'm sorry. Robin, will you get that camera? Come along with us. He's from Cuba. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, we're

Javier: huggers. You might be asking yourself, "What the heck is going on here? Why is everyone so happy?" Well, there's a reason for this. Former members tell me that this is called love bombing. It's exactly the welcoming I was hoping for. You know, whether it was fake or genuine, I really appreciated it because the alternative scenario sounded pretty scary. Then I met Frank Webster, Robin's husband. If you recall from the earlier episodes, Frank Webster is the same Frank Webster who was the assistant DA at a nearby county. Yeah, that Frank Webster. I met him along with his son Brock, who's Jane's beloved grandson. Then walked in Brooke Covington. How's it going? Hello. Hey, how's it going? I'm Aaron. This is Brooke. Oh, by the way, she doesn't know it, I'm a hugger. I didn't know it damn. I'm just gonna hug everybody today. Why not? He

Jane Whaley: wasn't hugging on me. I was like, "

Javier: Ah." Jane introduces her as her adopted daughter.

Jane Whaley: Our adopted daughter. Yes, yes. That took in all the re- rebel Cooper children. She and her husband gave their life, and they abused her, abused her, and then they, they made them who they are today. Yeah. And now they're gone. Now they're gonna put

Brooke Covington: her in jail.

Jane Whaley: Now they're gonna put her in jail.

Javier: It took me a second to process this. Basically, what Jane was trying to say was that Brooke tried to tame John Cooper and his family, but they were so ungrateful and are hell-bent on destroying the church.

Brooke Covington: Wow. And I, I'm probably stupid enough to probably do it again.

Javier: Yeah. Brooke then said that she's stupid enough to do it again. I guess she meant allow the Coopers to live with her again?

Brooke Covington: Everybody deserves a chance, don't

Javier: they? It was a little awkward. Brooke, who you will soon learn, is one of the five ministers charged with beating and kidnapping a 16-year-old boy. We'll talk more about that in a future episode. I gotta say, I was really surprised by Jane's warmth and friendliness. But Brooke, I didn't get a great vibe from her. She has a reputation for being a bulldog, and you could tell it's pretty hard for her to love bomb me. Jane continues to tell me how much she despises the Cooper family. You know? Like, you, you, you-

Jane Whaley: Well, they... If you knew the Coopers, and all of this is who they brought in, it's really a conspiracy. They were troublemakers. And again, I loved them, and still love them. Yes. I love them dearly, and laid down my life for them constantly, anything.

Javier: Mm-hmm.

Jane Whaley: But when Benjamin found out he could bring his drinking and his nakedness and his party and his ungodly music... Now, you may believe in all that, so I'm not condemning you or anything.

Javier: Oh, yeah. I'm a party animal.

Jane Whaley: But that's against the word of God here. Sure, yeah.

Javier: Josh Farmer, the attorney, jumps in.

Jane Whaley: She said, "

Linda Rape: You're not gonna do that here."

Jane Whaley: You can do it wherever- Do it anywhere but Linda Point ... go wherever you want to do it- Yeah and do it, but not here. Right, right. Because we're not phonies. Sure. We're, w- if the Bible says it, we're gon- that's how we'll live. Sure, and that's your right.

Javier: All of a sudden, the music starts playing. It's the most jubilant song I've ever heard And Jane tells me that service is about to begin. She grabs me by the hand, and we start walking down the hallway towards the sanctuary. The music gets louder and louder the closer we get to the room. What have I gotten myself into? Praise Jesus. Yeah. Let the love of God abide Next time on Pretend Radio, I'll tell you what happens during the service, and I'll tell you about the private hour-and-a-half meeting I had with Jane and her husband, Sam. I still can't believe I'm the first reporter to get this kind of access. That's next time on Pretend Radio There's been some significant news since last week's episode. Jane Whaley has been named in federal court documents for being involved in an unemployment fraud scheme. Does this ring a bell? Earlier this season, I reported that two church members pled guilty for laying off employees so they could collect their unemployment benefits. Now, two more people have been charged with the same crime, a woman named Diane Mary McKinney and Kent Covington. Who is Kent Covington? Well, he's the husband of Brooke Covington, Jane's so-called adopted daughter. The fact that Jane Whaley's name was mentioned in these court documents is huge. Prosecutors say that Jane Whaley encouraged Covington to carry out unemployment schemes for at least five businesses with ties to the church, but Covington denies that Jane was involved, and she has not been charged with any crime. This is not Kent Covington's first brush up with the law. In 1974, Covington spent eight months in a North Carolina prison for breaking and entering and larceny. For his most recent charges, he could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and a million dollar fine. Just yesterday, as of this recording, Kent Covington pled guilty Guys, this story is just unfolding. I will keep you updated through Facebook or Twitter or this feed as the story develops, so stay tuned. I really hope you guys are enjoying this season. This is the hardest project I've ever worked on, and the podcast is growing like crazy, but it's still a baby compared to some other shows out there. If you wanna support the show, the best thing and the easiest thing you can do is just tell your friends and your family about it. Seriously, everybody asks me, "Why isn't Pretend Radio bigger?" Well, because people haven't heard it, so go out there and tell somebody. I also wanna give a huge shout-out to Nolan Ether for jumping in and helping me. A lot of you don't realize this, but Nolan has actually helped on more than half of the episodes this season. And he's gonna start his own podcast soon, and trust me, you'll be the first to know about it. And I also wanna say hello to a very special listener. She's a middle schooler, and her name is Sophie. And she's a big fan of this show, so hi, Sophie. And I hear you have a killer impersonation of me. I can't wait to hear it. Also, I really do wanna take the time to thank the Word of Faith Fellowship for welcoming me into their church. Despite everything, they were very welcoming, and I met some really nice people. All I'm trying to do here is learn the truth, and I thank them for opening up their doors to me. Okay, everyone, see you next week for part two of Meet Jane Whaley. But if you can't wait, the next episodes are available right now on Patreon. Just visit pretendradio.org and hit the donate button.