[00:00:03] Jill Alper: I decided that I was going to go to the FBI.
[00:00:18] Jill Alper: It’s nerve-wracking.
It had to work.
Holly emailed this new research to Jill, but it was too late.
She had just sent $10,000 to Dr. Dan thinking she was buying one of his fat freezing machines.
I mean he’s taken money from lawyers.
He was like a, stole money from an escrow account trying to do land deals.
He lived in a hotel in New York, never paid a bill.
You know, stole from this woman.
I mean it was one thing after another.
I just, it just, I was devastated.
So I ended up going home, I just, I was just crying.
I’m like, how can this happen to me?
I mean smart, businesswoman, street smart, I just, I shut down.
And I did not, I wasn’t even answering my phone.
And Holly kept calling me and I just, I was so embarrassed.
Plenty of other would be victims have reached out to the reporter through the years.
So when people googled him, he would say, “Oh no, no.
That’s not me.”
And that’s how he encountered Jill and Holly.
[00:04:22] Bob: You must have been a nemesis to him.
And one woman told me, “Well he told me you were an FBI agent’s sister.”
And I said, “Well why did you believe that?”
And they just really didn’t have an answer.
Determined to stop Dr. Dan.
I was just, I was beside myself.
But I decided that I was going to go to the FBI.
I mean it, it’s going on everywhere.
You’re probably never going to see your money.
This happens all the time.
You just have to say, move on.”
I said, “Let me give you his name.
So he said, “I’ll get back to you.”
[00:06:36] Bob: So Jill walks home thinking she might never hear from the FBI again.
But…
[00:06:41] Jill Alper: Well within a couple of hours he calls me.
[00:07:03] Bob: Do something like… go undercover.
While Jill had paid Dr. Dan for her machine, Holly was still a potential client.
So with the police, they come up with a plan.
They agree to help the police lay a trap for Dr. Dan.
Holly will buy that second machine after all.
And so he jumped on it.
[00:08:06] Bob: So the pair of friends keep up the charade carefully following police instructions.
Remember, in theory, Jill is still waiting for her machine.
But it’s not easy, and it’s a little scary.
I mean I’m still playing that role like, oh, it’s on its way.
[00:08:37] Jill Alper: Oh, it, it was like my stomach hurt.
I didn’t know if he was, you know, he’s a white collar.
He, he doesn’t, he’s never hurt anybody.
He’s just, this is his thing.
As the meeting approaches, Holly works hard to see to it Dr. Dan will show.
[00:09:08] Holly Saunders: And I said, “So are we meeting Tuesday?
Does 11 still work for you?
I have a couple of paintings you’ve got the option to look at.”
So he said, “Great for me.”
Holly will be inside the restaurant.
Jill be hiding outside so she can watch the whole thing.
Go park at the drugstore.”
I said, “Okay.”
[00:10:06] Bob: And then it’s time.
And I said, “Okay.”
[00:10:36] Jill Alpers: The police were amazing.
There must have been 30 people.
They wanted Holly to be inside with all the undercover cops.
And I’m like, I gotta be there.
So I was with my friend, and I was in his car kinda watching it from afar.
And no one, I mean no one in Greenville knew about this.
We had, we kept it very quiet.
[00:10:57] Bob: And so 11 a.m. comes and goes.
The minutes start to fly by.
Maybe he’s not showing up after all.
Maybe he’s figured out it’s a trap.
A cop quizzes Holly about what’s going on.
[00:11:12] Holly Saunders: He said, “Have you talked to him?”
And I said, “Yeah, earlier, he’s coming.”
And he said, “Are you sure?”
And I said, “Pretty sure.”
It’s Dr. Dan and he was hysterical.
He said, “Holly, you’re not here!”
And I said, “Are you over there near the hospital on…?”
Just come on over, it’s okay, it’s close."
And so “Okay, okay.”
[00:11:51] Jill Alper: Yeah.
[00:11:52] Bob: Like what does that feel like?
[00:11:54] Jill Alper: Um, it’s, it’s, it’s nerve-wracking.
It had to work.
[00:12:24] Bob: It had to work.
The cops give Holly instructions one more time.
And I said, “I will.”
And he said, “All right.”
And I said, “He’s here.”
And he said, “Are you sure?”
I said, “I’m positive.”
And, I mean they came out of the woodwork.
I mean there must have been 10 people.
He has taken so much money from so many people.
[00:13:41] Bob: Holly doesn’t have much of advantage points on the arrest.
But she does get to celebrate with Jill, maybe a little too much.
Do not come out.
We got him!"
But the reality is like, no.
[00:14:45] Holly Saunders: I had a lot of adrenaline that day.
But I loved the fact that we were outsmarting that crook.
He was in there.
And it was Dr. Dan.
So…
[00:15:21] Bob: Are you sure that he recognized you?
[00:15:23] Holly Saunders: Oh, yeah.
Oh gosh, yeah.
Did you get a read from him?
[00:15:32] Holly Saunders: No.
I, I, the read I got from him was he’s, he’s just flat.
He was just flat.
He was very, it wasn’t like blind fury.
It wasn’t, he, of course, didn’t smile.
There was no emotion, none.
[00:15:49] Bob: Hmm.
And Stephanie, well, she makes sure the crime gets the attention it needs.
We got this guy."
And so I said, “Bravo!”
It’s, you know, my stories kind of stand for themselves.
He’s still doing this."
[00:17:14] Bob: And when they called you, did you think these women are heroes.
[00:17:19] Stephanie Barry: Yes.
So they’re unequivocally my heroes.
So their horror over this man eclipsed whatever embarrassment they had been feeling.
So that was a real turning point.
And you know…
[00:18:17] Bob: That makes sense.
Yeah, we talk about that a lot here at The Perfect Scam.
People have to be okay with coming forward or else this stuff just keeps going on.
But there’s little hope Jill will ever see her money again.
We don’t know where it is.
I mean he, he wore the same thing all the time.
A lot of times it was that golf shirt with the horse emblem on it.
It’s just very interesting where all that went to.
[00:19:42] Bob: We do know where Dana Dray McCann went, however.
During COVID, he was let out of prison on probation.
He was arrested for that in May 2022 and transferred back to a federal prison in New York.
Like Judge Ponsor who almost 20 years ago predicted there would be trouble when McCann got out of jail.
Ponsor is retired now.
I got another reach out from a victim or an intended victim of Dana McCann."
[00:20:56] Bob: You are all in a club together.
[00:20:59] Stephanie Barry: Hmm, yeah, we stay in touch, we stay in touch.
[00:21:01] Bob: It’s like a very exclusive club, isn’t it?
It’s just, I mean, who else would understand, right?
[00:21:05] Stephanie Barry: Yeah, we stay in touch.
And we all shake our heads, but not really.
[00:21:38] Stephanie Barry: If something seems too good to be true, it is.
And I know that that’s very trite and not very profound, but trust your instincts.
After all, it was the internet which led Jill and Holly to her stories.
It sure would be good if they did that sooner.
So it wasn’t months or years, it was weeks after he was released from, from prison.
Geez, I just met this guy on Friday.
I, I don’t really think I buy it, but I googled him.
People do it almost immediately these days, and that’s not a bad thing.
[00:23:40] Bob: For Jill, talking to The Perfect Scam was also a public service.
That’s one of the themes of the podcast so I really thank you for sharing that.
[00:25:03] Jill Alper: It can happen to anyone.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch internet Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
But the other begins to have doubts.
The Perfect Scam Presents: A Special Report on the Texas Elder Murders
