In 2008, the chaplain of a Roman Catholic high school in Reading, Pa., befriended a female student. Well, the relationship was much more than friendship, and the girl's parents have filed a lawsuit against him and the Diocese of Allentown, claiming that the priest impregnated their daughter. Read Suit says priest impregnated teenager, on Philly.com. The teenager had a baby, and apparently is now living with the priest, who has been relieved of his duties. Read Teen found at apartment of priest her parents sued on ReadingEagle.com. …
All I wanted was a date
Back in the summer of 1996, when I logged onto the America Online Love section, I had no idea that it would be the beginning of a journey that would change my life. I was single, had never been married and was about to turn 40—yes, I heard that biological clock ticking very loudly. I ran my own copywriting business and finally, after 13 years of struggle, I was making good money. Maybe, I hoped, it was finally time for me. When I logged on to AOL and looked at the personal ads, all I wanted was a date. Enter the sociopath What I found was James Montgomery, who turned out to be a con artist—a sociopath. Like many Lovefraud readers, when this man crossed my path, I had no idea what a soci …
Freedom to lie: Stolen Valor Act ruled unconstitutional
The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 makes it illegal for anyone to claim military decorations that he or she did not earn. It's a straightforward law that states: Whoever falsely represents himself or herself, verbally or in writing, to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States, any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration, or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than six months, or both. On August 17, 2010, the law was found to be unconstitutional by the United States Court of …
Freedom to lie: Stolen Valor Act ruled unconstitutionalRead More
Games our minds play
After the sociopath, when the fog starts to lift, many of us ask ourselves, "Why didn't I see what was going on?" According to a new book, we should probably cut ourselves some slack. Read Book Review: The Invisible Gorilla on Scienceblogs.com. Link supplied by a Lovefraud reader. …
Donna Andersen interview on Marieclaire.com
The public relations folks for the Investigation Discovery TV show, Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?, arranged for me to be interviewed by a blogger at Marieclaire.com. She asked me how people get deceived by con artists, which gave me an opportunity to talk about sociopaths. Read Are you dating a cheater?, at Marieclaire.com. …
The “productive sociopath”
Yesterday, Dr. Liane Leedom wrote that “false beliefs about sociopaths are very dangerous.” She quoted a judge who said: “Well I tell you, the world is full of productive sociopaths. Some of them hold high public office. Some of them are lawyers. It could be that a couple of them are judges, and sociopathy by itself is not necessarily a dangerous condition. It can be productive. I think it was Clarence Darrow who commented on that”¦” Today I'd like to present a case to prove her point. Over the last 10 days, the Philadelphia Inquirer has been reporting about Carl Greene, the executive director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). The agency Green heads is the c …
Bureaucrats say victim is too upset for counseling
A woman in England is brutally raped. She is diagnosed with PTSD. When she goes for counseling, she cries. And amazingly, because she cried, she is denied further counseling. Read Rape victim is denied NHS counseling after officials rule 'it might make her upset' in DailyMail.co.uk. Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader. …
Love Fraud books mail today!
To everyone who ordered my new book, Love Fraud—How marriage to a sociopath fulfilled my spiritual plan: Your books are mailing out today! You should receive them soon! I am so excited to see my book finally in print. It is gorgeous. The hardback cover is deep red, with the title embossed on the spine in gold foil. The dust jacket design is striking, with the bold and powerful words, “LOVE FRAUD,” above our heart-in-a-target logo. Waiting for the shipment to arrive, I was actually nervous. But when I saw the book, encapsulating the story that took me four years to write, I was thrilled. I have to admit that this process of publishing a book has taken longer than I thought it would, but …
Facebook, bigamy and kidnapping
Lynn France typed the name of the woman she suspected was having an affair with her husband into Facebook. Not only did she find her, but she found that the woman and her husband had gotten married at Walt Disney World—a wedding photo album was posted right there on Facebook. John France—the husband—doesn't deny that he is remarried. But he insists that he was never married to Lynn in the first place, even though they had a wedding ceremony in Italy, lived together and had two children. Then three months ago, John France kidnapped the couple's two children and took them to Florida, where he lives with his new wife. Read On Facebook, wife learns of husband's second wedding on Yahoo Ne …
Fake profile fools security pros
In less than a month, an attractive, somewhat flirty cybergeek named "Robin Sage" accumulated hundreds of connections through social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Her friends included people at military intelligence groups, the Department of Defense, and Global 500 companies. Robin, however, was a fake. Read The Robin Sage Experiment: Fake profile fooled military intelligence, IT security pros. Link submitted by a Lovefraud reader. …