Speaker: Tanya and Rick: this guy put a threat out to our home and he said, I'm in your neighborhood and I'm going to kill your family. I'm going to kill you.

Rick: I'm tired of being silenced. Yeah. I want this, I want this story, Alan, about how, what can happen to the average family, and how, how people can get, get away with it Because because law enforcement does not want to want to tackle it,

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: and also what, what it can do to your mental health. I mean, it's affected me in a detrimental way and, uh, I really don't want anyone else to have to go through what I personally have gone through and what I've been accused of. Meet Claudia and David Rodriguez. That's not really their names, by the way. I'm witholding their identies because they say they've been the target of a sadistic cyber stalker for more than three years now. And unfortunately, the stalking is still happening even today. I've also changed the location, and profession of some of the people in the story to protect everyone involved.

Javier: I started working on this story a year and a half ago and have been witnessing the stalking in real time. It's terrifying, even for me. And I'm not even the one being tormented. I think the only way that this will make sense to me and to my listeners is to really start from the beginning, this is a recording of my first conversation with Claudia and David. One of the many dozens of calls we recorded for the last year and a half.

Speaker: I have a lot of questions about the Instagram accounts. A lot of the ones that you listed in that timeline are no longer active, but then I did just find one that is, and, and then I found, the person that the people that he was following, it's all porn. So really wow. Yeah. And I was just like, that was just like a quick search. This goes without saying that this is the longest I've ever worked on a story. Remember, these harassing calls are still happening today. I have no idea how many episodes this will be or how this series will end. But my plan is to identify the stalker. Just know that there are some crazy twists and turns in this story. And things are not what they seem. Claudia and David are at a loss for what to do. They say, no one seems to want to help them. They've tried involving the police but the police appears to be on the side of the stalker. Listen to this recording of a recent call with the detective on the case.

Det Hardina: This has been a freaking nightmare. Detectives are convinced Claudia and DAvid are making this whole thing up.

Speaker: it's,

Tanya: it's ridiculous. When I, I get death threats about him wanting to go and blow my husband's head off, quite often and it rattles my nerves. I can't take it. I can't take this anymore. This is not right. and then I get accused of having a split personality and maybe you're doing it and you don't realize it.

Speaker: That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. I do not have a split personality.

Javier: I promised Claudia and David that I would do everything in my power to help them solve this case.

Speaker: I'm Javier Leiva and this is PRETEND, stories of real people pretending to be someone else. Where should we begin? Maybe the best place to start is by describing the characters. Claudia and David are a middle age couple who live out west. Let's just say Albaquerque, New Mexico. I've grown very close to them over the course of this reporting. We talk and text all the time. Claudia is a stay at home mom and David is a postal worker. They're church going people and are very active in their Jehovah's witness church. They're the kind of people who don't cuss. Although, you will hear them repeat the stalkers foul language throughout this series. It's really filthy stuff so you've been warned. I'm warning you, this is not a podcast is not for kids. The bottom line is that they seem like very normal people. Now let's talk about the stalker. Claudia and David believe they know who's sending the sadistic messages. The suspect they say is someone they know. we know that he was on our property because he took a picture. This was like a year and a half ago. He took a picture of what you would see from our front yard, the day that he said it was the night before and there was clothes and it doesn't rain here much. this is, this

Javier: has been a nightmare. Stalker is sending messages as their daughter's pediatric neurologist's husband. Let me repeat, they believe their daughter's doctor's husband is stalking them. I know, it doesn't make sense. Why would a doctor's husband want to stalk his wife's patients?

Speaker: Let's call the doctor Grace and her husband, the alleged stalker John Gressman. How, how did this start? I mean, how did you become a victim of a stalker? well, first of all, the, the, uh, the healthcare professional, I'll put it that way. Tanya and Rick: That that helped my daughter. She has a. The last name is unique. It's not common. And so I was, I had a, Instagram page, cause I'm interested in photography. And anyway, we, my, my daughter, really likes to look at, look at the InstagramAnd anyway, she was looking at my page and she noticed that one, a person that liked it had, it was a man profile, but had the same last name. As her doctor as her medical medical provider. And she said, I wonder if that's the husband, And so I said, I don't know. she goes to, what, why don't you ask him? You know? So I, I messaged and said, would you happen to be her husband? And he said, I am. He, express interest in my photography, the express interest in maybe me teaching him how to use his camera. he goes, I would like a family portrait. We don't have any pictures of me and my wife. He wants a family portrait. Let's recap, David is surfing instagram with his daughter and she noticed that her doctor's husband, John Gressman, liked their photography page. This family has never interacted with the doctor's husband. Not in real life, and definately not online. This person claiming to be John Gressman, the doctor's husband, loved David's photopgrahy so much, that he asked David if he was willing to take the Gressman family's portrait. He wanted to surprise his wife, the doctor. it was supposed to be a big secret. David of course said yes. Keep in mind, this all started out very friendly. John Gressman, the doctor's husband, was so excited about the family portraits that suddenly members from the Gressman family were messaging David directly. And then soon enough, he brought his brother in to a profile, a profile supposedly of his brother. And then he brought in his mother and then the fourth profile was the brother's wife. I always take about if, if my husband was going to surprise me with. Family photos. I, I would want to make sure that a female in my wife's life was involved to pick out the right clothing and the right look. So, I contacted him and said, I'm kind of his helper. And he even specified an area of the state that we live in for the photos. So we went on a scouting trip to scout out the right area for these photos. And we took a lot of time and energy doing that. And, everything was going well and, and he acted kind of odd. was he there with, you Tanya and Rick: know, this was all done through Instagram, it was all done through messaging. So you were

Javier: scouting this area and just sending him pictures of the surrounding area.

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: Yeah, he, he, he had a specific area in mind. So anyway, he just started acting a little bit bizarre. he told me that he has like ADHD and he can't control himself and he just kept saying, I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I And we both thought that was really weird. Yeah. He was at really strange and I'm not he would text me and I would, I got to the point where I just ignored him. Cause I, I couldn't catch up with the law.

Javier: Yeah. And so let me get this straight.

Speaker: So you're a photographer. Is it a more of a hobby or is it a profession? Tanya and Rick: It's a, it's, it's a hobby right now.

Javier: This is a very rare gig for you right now.

Speaker: It Tanya and Rick: was very new with photography at that time. So to have. A potential job already. It brought a level of assignment to our lives. We're excited because,I really had a high level of respect for this medical professional and to be able to do something for her as a surprise, like I just thought that was going to be the coolest thing ever. my daughter has had ha has a extensive medical history. So she has developed a distrust for most doctors. after the whole excitement of, him constantly texting us saying how excited he was, he kind of got. Kind of friendly with me, And he started asking me things like, his wife's relationship with his brother that they spent time together and it bothered him. And he asked me that if that would bother me, if, if my husband did that. I don't know why you're asking me this, he was just giving us a lot of personal information about their relationship and it was just very, very strange. Very strange indeed. Then even more Gressman family members started messaging Claudia and David. And then the sister-in-law, started communicating with me because ironically, the brother, and sister-in-law had a handicap child that had a lot of the same disabilities that our own daughter. I'm all about advocacy. So if, uh, if a mother needs help with, finding a doctor, finding a therapist, anything, um, I'm all about advocacy because I struggled too that when our daughter was younger, it was hard. Claudia says she formed an online friendship with the doctor's sister in law. So we became really good friends, even though it was two Instagram texting, we became really good. Like mom, friends, we, we never ever spoke physically with any of these profiles. It was all through, through texting. she told me that, This medical professional and her spouse had a lot of serious relationship issues. And, it was just really weird.

Javier: let me interrupt you, because you said you almost implied that there was inappropriate conversations happening. What was it that she was saying? That was inappropriate.

Speaker: She told me that the doctor or the medical professional had an alcohol problem and that she was doing medical procedures on. Tanya and Rick: patients while she was intoxicated and that shewas having flings and this, that, and the other. And, and

Javier: it's about your daughter's doctor? Yes.

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: Yes. And I just told her, I go, listen. I said, that's her personal life? And I have a different relationship with her. She's my daughter's favorite doctor.

Javier: So just imagine. Suddenly all these family members are messaging Claudia and David. They're getting bombarded with instagram direct messages. Espcially from John Gressman, the doctor's husband. he got kind of bizarre, after a couple of weeks. saying things like, he was talking about his wife. She never came home and when she comes home, I'm going to beat her up, stuff like that.

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: And it would upset me and I'm like, don't do that. And at one point he kept me up all night on like, it was like. The weekend or the week of 4th of July of 2019. he said, guess where I am? And I said, I don't know. And he said, I'm in the parking lot of the hospital where his wife worked. And he said, I'm going to sit here all night and wait for her to show up and I'm going to kill her. And he kept me up all night and I'm like hysterical. he said things like, I'm going to stab her in the neck and I'm going to, I'm in McDonald's and I'm going to buy her favorite food and shove it down her throat and tape her mouth. So she chokes on it and I'm going to take her out into the, the desert and burn her body. Tanya and Rick: What should Caludia and David do? This man is making death threats towards his own wife. Should Claudia and David tell the doctor about these strange messages? At one of my, my daughter's appointments shortly, shortly after we contacted this individual asking if that's her husband. I told her during this appointment, I said, so your husband, your husband liked one of my pictures on Instagram. She had a look on her face. Like she saw a ghost. It wasn't happy. It was just like, she was nervous. She had like a nervous look on her face. And I found that to be really weird,

Javier: Yeah, because it seems to me that, uh, her two worlds, like George Costanza says we're colliding. I

Speaker: Cause he, he also said things like, well, the profile that you mentioned, the sister-in-law they both told me, never tell her that you're communicating with her family because she will get very upset. timeout, because that's what I wanted to ask you guys.

Javier: At what point do you say, Hey, we're not going to this photo shoot is we're calling it off. This is crazy. He's threatening to kill his wife and all that stuff. I mean, at what point, because this sells,

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: when it got to the point where he was making death threats and like that that's when Tanya and I spoke and we said, you know what? If there is a shoot, it's not going to be happy. No. So this is off. And I, I, I think I was the one that actually told Tanya, I'm not doing it. It's crazy. Right. And he would taunt us like, well, you're still going to do it. Cause you said you would, and we're still doing it. I'm like, we're not doing it. We are not going to do it.

Javier: just thinking it was weird that this guy, the husband, all these other people in his life, his sister-in-law has, his brother, all of these people are messaging.

Speaker: You do, they have like actual mature Instagram accounts, like in terms of, do they have lots of pictures and, or were they kind of Tanya and Rick: very bare bones? all of the accounts they would have very, they would have the name and then a number like, maybe they're a. Like so-and-so and then they would have like a certain amount of, of, of people that they follow and a certain amount of followers. And they were all the same. Yeah. It was all about the same amount. They were all private accounts Claudia and David were done playing games. Something about all these people was not adding up here. So they decided to do a little research. we finally had enough and I said, you know what? I told my best friend. I said, I'm getting creeped out. I'm going to do a Ben verified on the doctor and find out if any of these people actually exist in her life. BeenVerified is a public records database. Anyone can look up basic information about another person for a small fee. It turns out that some of these people they were interacting with, didn't even exist. So this was mid August and I threatened to call the police and they all shut down and stopped talking. So I thought, okay, fine. You know, they're going to leave us alone now. (2019 August 12-14) And just like that, the messages stopped. The doctor's husband, the brother, the mother, the sister-in-law, everyone stopped messaging. About two weeks later, Claudia and David's daughter, was scheduled to have a medical procure with doctor Gressman. And, we were in a private room. she was just giving us an update about the surgery. the door was shut. And then I said, I need, I need to tell you something that's really uncomfortable. And I said, we, my husband and I have been harassed by someone and claiming to be your family members. And, they've threatened to kill you. They've told us some not so nice things about you. And, it really bothers me and I'm worried for your safety. And I know that you're a victim and that we're victims too. And I wouldn't feel right about not telling you. She got flushed. And she said, this happened to me one other time and maybe you'll be my guardian angel and figure it out, figure out who it is.

Javier: who it is

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: and figure it out. That's what she

Javier: says. She does. She not admit that that was her husband.

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: She said she claimed that they didn't have social media, which isn't true She just said that someone had harassed her before on social media. And, and she didn't give us a lot of details, but she said, maybe you'll be my guardian, an angel and help figure it out. So then she went and got the security guard from this facility And he asked me why I didn't call the police. Claudia told him that the sister-in-law who was messaging her mentioned that she had already called the police. And so I figured that the police had already been called and then, um, Th the doctor came by and whispered something to the security guard.the second security guard told us that he had called the police and that they were on their way. Well, we sat there two and a half hours and they never showed up. So my daughter was discharged and we went home a day and a half later, I get a message on Instagram from the supposedly real husband. John Gressman, the doctor's husband. And he said, I'm really, really sorry that this happened to you. And my wife told me what had happened, and we're both very, very, sorry. It happened one other time. And I want to talk to you. And I said, no, I don't trust you. I don't trust anybody on social media. And I'm only going to deal with her. He, he knew information that we, that we exchange in confidence with the doctor. Yes.

Javier: For instance, like what?

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: Well, he knew that we w we, that she had talked to the security guy. And he also used the term that she used. She, she, she told us, she says, would you like, would you talk to my go-to person? When she went to her go-to person, she went to get was the cheapest captain of security of the hospital. He used that term. He said, go-to person on the iron, her go-to person. He got super aggressive because I kept saying, no, we're not going to meet, you know, we're not going to talk to you. And I said, I'm only going to deal with her. Go-to person. That's a very specific term. The same term Dr. Gressman used for the security captain. And at that time we, when he said, I'm her go-to person, we actually. We're thinking that it was the security captain. That that is the one that's doing all this because he said I'm her go-to person. I got a message about an hour after we left the hospital. And he said, I saw you on campus today,with your retarded daughter at the appointment. if you ever come back, I'll, I'll make sure. Tanya and Rick: Who ever is making these threatening message is very close to Dr. Gressman. How else would they know the details they know? On spetember 2019, Police contacted Ryan Fremstad, the captian with the security team at the hospital. The security captain informed officers that he's aware that someone been creating fake instagram accounts under Dr. Gressan's name since March. Funny enough, Claudia and David says they didn't start getting messages until late June . The security captain mentioned that early on, before the Rodriguez family were involved, there was a woman claiming to be a former patient of Dr. Gressman accusing the doctor of botching her child's surgery. The security captain said he checked and there's no record of this person child getting a surgery at the hospital. Remember, I'm getting this information directly from the police report. In the message exchange, Dr. Gressman was threatening to kill herself. And the mystery patient was encouraging it. The mystery patient also made threats to blow up the hospital. (DR#2019-435389) Tanya and Rick: Fremsted, the security captain said that when he questioned Dr. Gressman about these messages, she told him neither she nor her husband have an instagram account. According to the security captain, he was able to contact instagram and get the accounts taken down. And that seemed to work for a while. After he reported the accounts, the mesaages seemed to stop. That is until Claudia and David alerted Dr. Gressman of the new handles using the doctor's name. When the security captain contacted the Rodriguez family asking for the screenshots of the messages, he told police that the couple refused. They made excuses saying that the messages were too large and there were too many of them. We know one thing for sure, someone is sending these messages. If it's not coming from Dr. Gressman and her husband, then who else is doing this? Claudia and David started wondering, what if the perpretrator is someone else close to this case? What if these messages are coming from the hospital security captain? On september 30th, 2019, Claudia filed a police report alleging that Ryan Fremstad, the hospital security gaurd was the person responsible for sending these posts. Yeah. We thought it was the security guard because we felt like we w we actually, you know, how you get that feeling like you're being watched, like there's eyes on you. That's, that's how we felt when we went, when we'd done, when we went there and then to get that message. Wow. He was watching us. Police retuned to the hospital to talk with the security captain Ryan Fremstad. Fremstad told police that he has nothing to do with these fake accounts. He believe the Rodriguez family were the ones who created it.

Javier: Meanwhile, Claudia and David continue gettin harassing messages from a person claiming to be the doctor's husband.

Speaker: The text messages read "still in your neighborhood, i see two cars on your lot that i feel like haha." Another text message said "i have a handgun with me since you all are ignoring me. don't worry itll probably hurt, but it wont kill anyone." Claudia typed back and said...I'm only going to talk to her. Her being his wife, Doctor Gressman. He says, you want to talk to her? Here's her cell phone number. So he sends me a number. I went on Ben verified. Sure enough, it was one of their numbers. I decided to call it because I have a, well, I had a good relationship with this medical professional and I left a mess. A message.It was hi.I think I know who, who this is. Please call me back. She never called me back. So then the next day I had their email. So I emailed it. Same message. I I'm pretty sure I know who this is. Could you please call me? And then the next day, which was Monday on a Monday, I texted her, I texted her the same message. I mean, it wasn't anything inappropriate, I think I know who it is. would you please get ahold of me? Tanya and Rick: Police contacted Dr. Gressman who was vacationing outside of the country. Dr. Gressman told police that she was disturbed by the fact that her patient's mother, claudia, found her personal phone and address on the internet and contacted her. She said, she just wants who ever is doing this to stop.

Javier: And, she told the police that I was harassing her and that I was like stalking her because I called her, I emailed her and I texted.

Speaker: the police told me that it wasn't normal for me to look up my child's doctor on Ben verified. And that it creeped her out, that I knew where her address was. And it bothers her that, that anybody would know where she lives. And she doesn't want me bothering her anymore. Tanya and Rick: Suddenly, Claudia and David went from being the victims of a stalker, to being accused of being stalkers themselves. she's the one that said she wanted us be her guardian angel. And then she's telling them that I'm I'm harassing her. So I left her alone. Claudia says she left Dr. Gressman alone... but eventually Claudia was bound to see the doctor again during her daughter's next medical visit. my daughter had an appointment to see. for a post-op appointment and her office called and said that this doctor was no longer available to do my daughter's post-op appointment. And she pushed her off to a different provider, I'm thinking this is ridiculous. All I did was warn her, that her life could possibly be in danger and someone's impersonating her family. Tanya and Rick: And, and now my daughter is being punished, We had gone to the hospital a couple of times and asked him for help.Claudia and David say they reached out to the hospital administrator. They said the hospital administrator didn't take them seriusly. They spoke to the head of security. Same thing. The guy in charge didn't even bother taking notes. one time security guards circled us and escorted us off the property. And so eventually we got a certified letter from this place that basically says. there was a breach of doctor, patient confidentiality, and do not come back, do not use any of our providers The next day, after being told they were no longer patients of dr. Gressman, the stalker redirected his rage towards Claudia and David. Claudia began receiving follow requests from Instagram profiles with the handle iwannalickdocGressmancrotch40, lovemesomegraceg, fetishformygrace, gracegressmanvaginalover, gracegressmangotoguy. Every single one of these handles contained the doctor's name with some sort of vulgarity. Except for that last handle that included the phrase "go to guy". The same phrase Dr. Grace Gressman used to describe the hospital security captain. Since being kicked out of Dr. Gressman's practice, Claudia took her daughter to go see a new gastro enterologist. After her appointment, Claudia received a text mocking the fact that Dr. Gressman dropped them from her practice. No one other than the Rodriguez family knew about the appointment with the new doctor. Then, the next message was a picture of the Rodriguez's house. It said that they were being watched. this guy put a threat out to our home and he said, I'm in your neighborhood and I'm going to kill your family. I'm going to kill you.

Javier: when did it go from, this is weird, right? Instagram to stocking is like, what'd you just tell me that that was a big jump.

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: we're using Instagram, probably mid September any, he switched over to burner phone numbers It's in my daughter's medical records. Oh, that's true. Okay. He claimed that he had access to his wife's laptop that he hacked it. And so, he started, using different phone numbers and texting us. When we come back, there's another threat on Claudia and David. And this time, the police plan to catch the perpritrator in the act. on September 29th, 30th of 2019, he put a thread out that he was in the neighborhood. Tanya and Rick: He was going to do damage to our property, our kids, our vehicles, We called the police. They thought it was funny, you know, not, they didn't take it seriously. They just said, you know, what, if he keeps bothering you, just call us back. We'll come back when we thought we knew something, you know, we, we felt a danger. We would call the police. (9-28-19) David says one night he received 5 telephone calls in the span of one hours. And you might be asking yourself, why don't they just block this guys number? Well, the problem is that all 5 calls camer from different numbers. when the police came out, they would say the same thing. if something happens, if you feel threatened, call us, and then he sent a text saying, I see the cops were at your house. Why'd you call? Why did you get the cops involved? Some of the messages said, "DECIDED TO DRIVE AWAY FROM YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SINCE THE WANT TO BE TOUGH ASSES ARE THERE." He's referring the cops being at the Rodriguez' house. And then he threatened the cops through the tech. He said, um, I, I, don't not scared of cops. I'll do all beat their faces in. The stalker said, "NEAR YOUR HOUSE. IM NOT SCARED OF THOSE TOUGH ASS COPS, ILL BLOW THEIR FACES OFF BEFORE THEY CAN PULL A TASER ON ME." "IF YOU KEEP IGNORING ME ILL TAKE MY GUN TO YOUR FACE." So I, I emailed the police, that message. And six of them came back and they did surveillance on our home all night long from midnight to 6:00 AM. Right. And he's texting me this whole time. And

Javier: would you text back? Well,

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: here's the thing, normally I wouldn't, but the policemen that was standing in my kitchen, he said, start communicating and see what kind of information you can get out of him. So I did, and I said, I want to know why you're bothering us. And he said, okay, fine. I'll tell you the truth. My wife doesn't like you, she thinks that you're doing harmful things to your kid. you made your daughter cry in clinic. it made her mad. She was going to call,protective services on you and then changed your mind. So we decided to go this route and make your life a living. Hell and I'm really sorry. This whole time, Claudia and David believe that it's the security captain from the hospital sending these messages. They're hoping that this police stakeout leads to new evidence. Maybe they can catch the stalker in a lie. I said, there's, there's numerous profiles. How could it just be you? And he said, it's not just me. It's her too. She being Dr. Grace Gressman and John Gressman the alleged stalker. She's doing it. And I'm really sorry. And we won't do, I won't do it again. just nonsense like

Javier: that. Is this happening, this exchange happening with the cop there, he was seeing the other cop was seeing the message.

Speaker: Let me interupt for a second and explain something. I left out a very important detail. This whole time, you may have assumed that Claudia and David daughter is a child because was seeing Dr. Grace Gressman, a pediatric gastro enterologist. But she's not a minor. In fact, she was 23 years old at the time this was all happening. Tanya and Rick: Now, our daughter who has the mentality of about a 12 year old, she's really into like YouTube videos. Like, like I was saying before about my pictures and she she's always on her, on her tablet. That's what she does. Yeah. So she was scared. She was scared because the cops told us to get away from the windows. It's midnight, the cops are observing Claudia is sitting around the kitchen table responding to text messages from the stalker. Meanwhile, while all this is going on, police observed her daughter, Chelsea sitting on the sofa with her tablet. The police report states that shortly after chelsea finished typing, Claudia, her mom, would recieve a message. And when Claudia would read the text aloud to the officers, Chelsea would silently laugh. The officer wrote in his report, quote, "based on my observations, it appears that Chelsea was sending the text messages to her mother." she was on her tablet, laughing. She was watching silly. Videos. And she likes the dancing with the stars and she was watching, funny, hilarious bloopers and stuff. the police claim that every time I got a message, my kid would laugh. Tanya and Rick: So they thought there was a correlation between me getting a message and her laughing. So I tried to explain this to the cops. I said she doesn't have the mentality. To do what has been done here. They even did a test with her tablet. Yeah. They take her device away, took her device, checked it out. And then they had Tonya sent her a message or sent, send the number.

Javier: It pops up and it

Speaker: Tanya and Rick: didn't nothing, Police could not locate any messages on her tablet. Then the police asked Claudia to send a message to the stalker. If Chelsea is the stalker then Claudia's message would appear on her tablet. But the message never came through. But get this... the whole time the cops were observing Chelesea, the stalker never replied. So if Chelsea isn't sending the message. Then maybe someone else in the house is. The police asked to look at Logan's phone and tablet. Logan is the Rodriguez's other adult daughter. But the officers weren't able to find any messages. Despite their lack of evidence, the police concluded that the messages were coming from inside her residence because who else would know the medical details regarding this case. you all are wrong. And they said, well, we'll bet money that someone in your house. And I said, it's not anyone in my house. After the stake out at the Fernandez's house, the police paid a visit to Dr. Gressman and her husband John. Let's hear what the Gressman's think of all this. That's after the break. the day after the six hour surveillance of our house, the day after face police visited their house, that the perpetrator's house and the police report has the doctor's words on there. You know what she told the police and they mirrored what he was saying to my wife. During the six hours that she thought I had a mental problem and was doing our family's weird. The detective went to their house, went to their house and it's all documented in a police report that we've refused access to for months. I have the report. The police spoke with Dr. Grace Gressman. Dr. Gressman said she was concerned about the fake social media attacks. She also doesn't believe the messages are coming from her former former patient Chelsea Rodriguez, Claudia and Rick's daughter. Dr. Gressman told police that Chelsea has the mentality of a four year old and couldn't put full sentences together. Dr. Gressman believes that Caludia and David are the ones sending these messages because they're upset Chelsea no longer requires pediatric care and would be better be served at an adult facility. I'm guessing the doctor believes this is just retaliation for getting kicked out of her practice. The officer noted that Dr. Gressman found it disturbing Claudia looked her up on Been Verified now has her personal phone number and her husband's email address. She told police that whoever is going this needs to stop because it's not normal behavior. And the stalking stopped. After the police stake out in September, Claudia and Rick stopped recieving messages. October rolled around and nothing. November, December came and went and no message from the stalker. It's not January of 2021 and things are still quiet. Claudia and Rick believe the worst is behind them. The police must have spooked the stalker away. so we didn't know what was going on with the investigation for three months. So we just tried to, you know, lay low, let them do their job, stay out of their way. So January 9th of last year, I get a bang bang bang on our front door. So I'm already paranoid as it is. I don't, I was scared, you know, especially after what we've been through. Tanya and Rick: So I didn't answer. I just waited for the gentleman to walk away. And I pulled the business card out of our screen door and it was the detective. So I called Rick at work and I said, the detectives showed up and maybe he has an answer for us. So I called him from, from my, my route, my mail route. And I, I, I told him, I said, yeah, my wife said that you were above the house. And he said, yes, I did the, uh, subpoenas of Instagram and it turns out everything came from your house. And I said, that's impossible. And he says, Nope, everything, everything came from your house. Next time on PRETEND, the police got a warrant and was able to identify the where the messages were coming. They said, it's not coming from Dr. Gressman or her husband John. The messages orginiated from inside the Rodriguez's house. What the hell is going on? (SOT) Tanya and Rick: That's next time on PRETEND. This is going to be a wild ride. I've spent a year and a half talking with Caudia and David on the phone. Following closely as this cyber stalker torments their family. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions. I record all of our calls. Every single one. But honestly, I never intended for any of this to actually air. I felt that my involvment in this situation can only make matters worse. If there is truly a stalker after them, then airing this will only aggrevate the situation. I've told Claudia and Rick multiple times that I don't want to turn this into a podcast series. And each time they insist that their story needs to be told. They say that the police has let them down, time and time again and they're out of options. I explained that even if I decide to do this story, I won't reveal their real names. But honestly, I think they would have been fine having their names out there. That doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't want my name out there. Also, I'm doing this to protect the doctor and her husband. After all, they are private citizens who have never been charged with a crime. For all we know, they may have nothing to do with this. In fact, let me make this clear, there is absolutely no evidence they're part of this. Nothing. So why air these episodes? Well, I finally decided to move forward with this project after almost 2 years of saying no. But I'm in it now. I can't look away. And honestly, it's important for you, the listener, to realize how little defense you have when facing an online stalker. There are very few laws with actual teeth to prevent and prosecute these types of case. That alone is worth telling the story. So if you or someone you know is involved in a cyber stalker situation, I want to help you get the resources you need. First thingsfirst, call the police if you feel you're in danger. Tell your friends, your neighbors, and coworkers so they can look out for suspicious activity. But also be aware that most stalkers tend to be close to you. Find an advocate who can help you file for a protective order and connect you with the right resources. Adn this is critical. Document every incident and create a timeline. And try to end all contact with the stalker. Don't respond. Don't answer their calls. Any interaction encourages the behavior. And if you have little ones, prepare them for what to do if there's an emergency. Always have a plan. For more information for victims of a cyber stalker go to stalkingawareness.org.