His Southern charm, ambition andlavish lifestylewin over Whitney, her friends and her family.
He boasted about having so much money, living this lavish lifestyle.
He has a Texas-sized personality and, it seems, a bank account to boost.
Even Whitney’s parents like Greg.
His ambition is so strong he throws himself a birthday party that’s a mock presidential inauguration!
They started dating one week after we broke up?
Or maybe it gives you a glimmer of hope.
He’s single again?
But nothing can compare to the feeling Whitney Kirkpatrick had recently when she heard about an old flame.
Her ex-boyfriend was recently accused of a gruesome murder.
And I said, “No, I, I haven’t, what’s going on?”
And they said, “Well he’s been arrested.”
And they sent me a link.
And the link showed that he’d been arrested for murder.
Well, as you might imagine, that’s quite a story.
Whitney and her mom, Claudia, remember the whole thing like it was yesterday.
Claudia is also a nurse.
[00:03:26] Claudia Kirkpatrick: I grew up in Miami, Florida.
So I did move to Texas.
That was 1983, and I’ve been here every since.
And she said, “Oh, it’s just my brother’s phone number.”
So I called her brother.
Six months later we were married, and now we’ve been married 38 years.
Two kids and…
[00:04:30] Bob: That is quite the Christmas gift, wow.
[00:04:32] Claudia Kirkpatrick: It’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
So we’ve been very blessed.
[00:04:54] Bob: Well, Whitney is a very, very impressive woman.
That must make you feel good.
[00:05:16] Whitney Kirkpatrick: So, oh gosh, I had just graduated college.
We’ve dedicated our lives to school, and we’re like, oh yeah, we date.
So we all got, just for fun, you know, online dating profiles.
[00:05:53] Bob: But Gregory is persistent.
He has amazing ambition and amazing stories to tell and the stories he tells check out.
I own horses, I, I own a ranch.
And it didn’t make sense.
I was like, this can’t be.
[00:06:40] Bob: Even Whitney’s friends are entranced by Greg’s resume.
[00:07:07] Bob: So her friends say, go for it.
You should go for it.
[00:07:21] Bob: Still, Whitney is cautious.
She takes things pretty slowly.
You start off texting back and forth.
It’s just, you know, “Hey, how’s your day going?”
so on and so forth.
Could I have your phone number?"
How long did that take?
And we would just chitchat for hours actually.
I remember one time we stayed up talking till about 3 o’clock in the morning.
[00:08:16] Bob: And then, something fantastic happens during the phone call.
There’s been an accident.
I’m going to go check it out."
I need to call the police."
And I said, “Okay, no problem.”
So, eventually, supposedly he keeps the woman awake and until the authorities get there.
So of course I’m like wow, amazing, you know.
But eventually…
[00:09:32] Bob: Did it work?
[00:09:33] Whitney Kirkpatrick: I guess, yes.
It worked, and um, we did, we did eventually go out on a date.
[00:09:37] Bob: So, she finally agrees to meet Greg in person.
And he, well, he lays on the charm really thick.
[00:09:45] Whitney Kirkpatrick: I remember it was to a fancy Italian restaurant.
I can’t remember the name, but he actually had the waiter bring me this like ginormous bouquet.
I don’t even know how many roses were in it.
It was more than a dozen.
Um, he wanted to take me on a ride.
He kept talking about his car.
And um, so I did not go with him that evening in his personal vehicle.
I went, I went back home.
He makes sure no one forgets he’s a cowboy.
You wouldn’t expect him to um, sound like that.
He portrayed himself as this huge Republican and how he loved being one of few Black Republicans.
The more time went on, the more he grew on me al–, also so to speak.
That’s what eventually I think won me over was hey, he’s not so bad.
He’s really, really nice, and we do really fun things.
So everybody liked him, um, and the more he was around the more they liked him.
So even my parents, by the time he met my parents… so my parents even liked him.
[00:12:31] Bob: Claudia, Whitney’s mom, definitely finds him charming.
You know, that was the way he came across.
He came across as a people person.
Someone that you wouldn’t have any suspicions of.
Um, he basically sold himself to us.
Very friendly, very engaging, just a charming young man who could talk to people.
You know, he seemed to be more experienced in the world than Whitney.
This could really turn into something.
[00:14:32] Whitney Kirkpatrick: Hmm, that’s a very good question.
Um, he’s like, “Hey, let’s just, let’s just go.”
So the trip was great actually.
It was like some backdoor entrance like on a movie.
You know this is, this is nice.
This punch in of lifestyle is great.
I was getting gifts all along the way.
And he was sharing the experiences with my family too.
[00:16:25] Bob: Had you been to New York before?
[00:16:26] Whitney Kirkpatrick: No, I hadn’t been to New York before.
We, of course, had table service, our own VIP table.
So you know there was plenty of food, drinks.
I mean it was, I felt like I was in a music video.
It was a really, really great time.
I still have the pictures, um, from, from us from that evening.
So it was wonderful.
It was really, really wonderful.
[00:17:21] Bob: As winter turns to spring, things seem great with Greg.
And Whitney’s living a fun-loving life of a young professional.
But then there’s this strange problem with her checking account.
And I’m like, I’m at work!
How am I withdrawing $500 right now, you know, and I worked nights.
So $1500 overnight was gone.
[00:18:18] Bob: $1500 is a lot of money to a young nurse.
How would this happen?
Because Whitney’s schedule is difficult, it’s not easy working with the bank to solve this mystery.
Greg helps with the investigation.
He helps a lot.
And I was like, who took this money?
And he was like, “Ah, we need to go to the bank.
it’s crucial that you file for… you know what, I’ll handle that for you.
I’ll file this police report and help you go to the bank.”
Um, we need to see the video footage of, of this, this happening.
I know the ATMs have cameras.
He’s handling this.
So here you go."
[00:20:13] Bob: The bank ends up coming back to Whitney with bad news.
You’re saying your card wasn’t lost.
I was upset with the bank that they wouldn’t let me see the video footage.
So she is out $1500.
And then there’s another surprise annoyance, her car gets in a fender bender.
Greg is there when she finds it.
And there’s this huge dent in it.
And I’m like, “Someone must have hit me.”
And it’s in the exact same parking spot I had left it.
So I’m sitting here thinking someone hit it in the parking garage.
So is the family.
Mom gets to see Greg every week or so.
He’s always charming and ambitious.
And then there’s this strange conversation about that.
[00:22:15] Bob: Greg is shocked, angry.
He even starts to cry, Whitney says.
A house, wow!
Whitney isn’t quite ready for that.
But she is there for Greg.
I wasn’t, I wasn’t there yet.
And he eventually purchased a house.
[00:23:52] Bob: And he wants to become more imbedded in the community.
So he tries to join a country club with Whitney.
He said, you know, “Hey, this is men’s talk,” you know.
Whitney starts getting calls from creditors.
And they would call me at night, and this is like the weirdest thing.
I’m like, first, how do you get my, my work phone number?
You know I; I hadn’t been out of college that long.
I had one personal credit card.
I dont know about this."
And he’s like, “You’ve been purchasing tickets to Mavs games.
You’ve been purchasing plane tickets.
You’ve been purchasing mattresses and TVs.
Where’s all this going?
When are you going to pay your bill?”
I said, “I haven’t, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I did not buy those things.”
[00:26:32] Bob: Almost as quickly as the calls from credit card companies begin, they stop.
So Whitney breathes a sigh of relief as the workplace interruptions are over.
Meanwhile, Greg suddenly becomes more interested in going to the private club than almost anything, including her.
She starts to wonder about that.
He was just the, the life of the party, they just, they loved him.
They, they loved him.
He went far more than I ever cared to go.
I can do what I want.
I’m sorry, you don’t like the country club, but I do.
Why do you care what I do all day?"
[00:27:21] Bob: That got on her nerves a bit.
But there is one incident that nags at Whitney even more.
The one time she sees Greg get mad and the strange thing that happens to his southern accent.
I’m talking like if he had had a daughter, that that would be him.
Carbon copy, and I said, “Oh my gosh, who is this little girl?”
Uh, and I just looked like, huh?
So that right there was very odd.
[00:28:13] Bob: And there is one thing that bothers Mom too.
Not only is Greg always ambitious, always on the go, he seems to never sleep.
I said, “What do you mean, he doesn’t sleep?”
She said, “He, he never sleeps.
He may lay down, but his eyes are open.”
And I said, “Well, that sounds like fear to me.”
[00:28:43] Bob: What is Greg afraid of?
And what happened to his accent?
As Whitney starts thinking more about these things, Greg’s birthday arrives.
His ambition fully unleashed, Greg actually throw himself a large birthday party.
Well it was more than a large birthday party.
It was an inauguration, and yes, that is what it sounds like.
And so he had a podium and everything.
They had a presidential seal on the podium.
He stood up and gave this birthday speech.
[00:30:02] Bob: He pretended to be inaugurated as President?
[00:30:06] Whitney Kirkpatrick: Right.
[00:30:09] Bob: The home, the girl, the country club, the fake inauguration.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And I immediately turn off the water, wrap up in a towel.
I peak my head out the door and say, “Oh my gosh!
What is going on?”
And I was like, “What’s going to be okay?”
[00:30:43] Bob: What’s going to be okay?
Well, that’s next week on The Perfect Scam.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch web link Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org.
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.
