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00:00In the early 2010s, Sarma Magalis had it all.
00:14She was beautiful, talented, successful,
00:18the owner of one of the hottest restaurants in New York City.
00:21Then everything turned upside down
00:24when she met a man online named Anthony Strangis.
00:27Listen up, you old
00:30Together, they built her investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:34They were caught, but there's a lot more to their story.
00:40And one of them seems to be at it again.
00:43Dearest Anthony, you stole from my family.
00:45Allegedly, Anthony is leaving a string of victims in his wake
00:49and he's doing it in the sickest way possible.
00:51My brother ruined a lot of people's lives.
00:53I think he's probably got his metaphorical claws into somebody.
01:00In this special two-part episode of Toxic,
01:03we go in search of notorious con man Anthony Strangis.
01:06It could be him. That definitely could be him.
01:09Will we find him or will he slip through the cracks and disappear?
01:13Anthony.
01:17When it comes to love,
01:18betrayal is the death of a thousand dreams.
01:20And the unraveling of countless lies.
01:28You can spend years picking up the pieces, examining them, rearranging them.
01:35Digging through the past to make sense of it all.
01:38Navigating through my personal heartbreak took me back to my roots as an investigative journalist.
01:43Hi, I'm Elizabeth Chambers.
01:44Elizabeth Chambers.
01:45Elizabeth Chambers, outside the Los Angeles Police Department.
01:49It ignited a curiosity inside of me about love that fractured.
01:52Oh my god.
01:54Inflicts lasting trauma.
01:55Hi, I wanted to see if I could ask you some questions.
01:57Absolutely not.
01:59And can lead to tragedy.
02:00And that's when my world ended.
02:02I feel that it's part of my calling to meet with the victims, the survivors,
02:07to listen to their stories, show how it can happen to anyone, and expose the truth.
02:16I'm Elizabeth Chambers, and this is Toxic.
02:19In 2016, a real-life Bonnie and Clyde story broke nationwide.
02:32Detectives say Sarma Melangelis was wanted in New York.
02:36She was the owner of a popular vegan restaurant in Manhattan before disappearing last year without
02:40paying her staff.
02:42She's facing several lawsuits from them and many felony charges.
02:46Detectives tracked her and another wanted man down after they ordered a pizza from a Sevierville
02:50Domino's.
02:51Police confirmed the two were staying at a nearby hotel and arrested them Tuesday afternoon.
02:56How Sarma went from plant food queen to vegan Bernie Madoff.
03:01In 2016, this was the story.
03:05And then, in the spring of 2022, we got what we thought was the full story.
03:11When the documentary series Bad Vegan was released,
03:14and Sarma revealed to the world that Anthony was a con man,
03:17who carefully manipulated her into believing and doing truly outlandish things.
03:22Sarma claimed that through gaslighting techniques,
03:25Strangis had her believing that if she endured a series of humiliating tests,
03:28including sending him money, she would pass into a new reality,
03:32where she and her beloved pit bull Leon would be immortal.
03:36The docu-series focused heavily on the fantastical elements of the story,
03:40rather than dissecting how Anthony Strangis was able to manipulate Sarma into marrying him,
03:46making what was hers now also his,
03:49convincing Sarma to drain her bank account for him,
03:51and then defrauding her investors to cover those debts,
03:54ultimately bankrupting her restaurant.
03:59Bad Vegan left the viewer questioning Sarma's true intent and involvement in the fraud,
04:03instead of showcasing her as a victim of Anthony's manipulation and coercion.
04:10Sarma was charged as a co-conspirator and pled guilty to three felonies.
04:14She spent four months in Rikers Island prison and agreed to pay one million dollars in restitution.
04:20Anthony got a year in prison and five years probation.
04:24While Sarma has very publicly returned to New York to pay restitution to their victims,
04:30Anthony seems to have disappeared.
04:33As someone who defends victims of love cons, I can read between the lines here.
04:38I am sure people think she's responsible, but that's what's so insidious about being manipulated by a loved one.
04:46I so badly wanted to speak with Sarma about her experience with Anthony,
04:50so I reached out to Sarma, and she agreed to speak with me.
04:53So I flew to New York to meet with her.
04:56Sarma was understandably cautious because she felt misrepresented in Bad Vegan.
05:01It's very understandable that she doesn't trust anyone, right?
05:04Her words have been twisted, so she's not open to doing a sit-down interview.
05:08She's not open to doing anything formal.
05:12In terms of just connecting with her, we'll take whatever we can get.
05:15She asked that we not record the conversation for fear that her story would again be manipulated,
05:20which I fully respected.
05:22How are you?
05:25We discussed facts of the case, her experience with Anthony,
05:29and how he was able to take millions from her and her business.
05:34Ultimately, I don't think that the documentary did Sarma any favors.
05:37It almost sensationalized everything, and I personally believe that it re-victimized her in a way.
05:44After I left New York, Sarma and I stayed in touch.
05:47I didn't expect we'd ever speak in an official on-camera capacity.
05:51But to my surprise...
05:57Hi, Sarma.
05:57Hi.
05:58Hi.
06:00Sarma did agree to let me record a conversation we had on a video call.
06:05Talk to me about what is the actuality of your story, and how is it misrepresented in that docu-series?
06:14They perverted my story.
06:16You know, they made this series, they titled it Bad Vegan, implying I'm the bad one.
06:21The stories are like, oh, they ran off together.
06:24Well, no, we didn't run off together.
06:26That series didn't explain how this happened.
06:31If all they do is show the sort of fantastical, crazy elements of it,
06:35that person and people like him, they're just going to keep doing what they do and hurting more people.
06:41Mm-hmm.
06:42How do you think you got to that place?
06:45You know, he sort of got to me at a time where I was heartbroken and incredibly overwhelmed in my business.
06:53I was just sort of very ripe for him to be able to come in and target me.
06:58How long were you guys together before he asked you for money?
07:01It was at least four or five months.
07:04And, you know, when he asked me for it, it was in this way as if it was like this huge emergency.
07:10And, you know, again, I'm like a pretty trusting, nice person.
07:13It's like, if you think somebody's having like this emergency and it's this temporary thing,
07:18you're going to want to help.
07:19Well, now he owes me money and I want it, so I'm going to keep that door open.
07:23And that's how they get in and ultimately stay in, is that door being open.
07:29What kind of abuse did you endure in the hands of Anthony?
07:33Overall, it was, you know, psychological and financial.
07:38Later on, grotesquely, it was sexual.
07:41You know, I was asked about the sexual abuse part of it in my interview for Bad Negan.
07:46And it was really hard to talk about because that was that much sooner from when it happened.
07:53And I was shocked when they cut that out of the series.
07:56You know, as much as it was embarrassing and hard, it's like they just invalidated it by completely
08:02leaving it out as if it never happened.
08:04I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been.
08:07You feel you're more of a victim of his crimes.
08:09And people don't understand when you plead guilty to something, that doesn't mean that you actually
08:14are guilty. It just means that that was like the only option you had at that time.
08:19And on top of all the financial debt, I also carry the shame that comes along with that.
08:24Because even if I know it wasn't my fault in my heart, I feel responsible.
08:29And shame just comes along with that.
08:32And he doesn't feel shame. So he gets to go off clean slate.
08:36I feel very, very strongly about the fact that so often perpetrators are not held accountable.
08:42He got out with really, for all intents and purposes, very little repercussions in comparison
08:50to what you're facing.
08:51I've lost my whole business, lost everything I cared about, and then also had my reputation destroyed.
08:57You would think that there would have been an effort to charge him, not just for the damage that had
09:02been caused, but for specifically for what he did to me psychologically. And because I still have
09:08that fear. And sometimes like I'll see somebody from really far away that has the same like build, you
09:14know, and I'll get this jolt of kind of fear that like, you know, like, what if I, what if he appeared on
09:21the street or something like that?
09:24Do you think he's on to other victims?
09:27Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure he's on to other victims. And I think he's probably
09:32sadly got his metaphorical claws into somebody. You know, if there's something I could do to help,
09:39I would. That's kind of why I'm, why I'm doing this.
09:45If Anthony was capable of what Starmer was alleging then, then he still could be capable of them now.
09:51I know that a tiger doesn't change their stripes. I want to know what Anthony's up to. Where is he?
09:57What is he doing? Who is he doing it to? I can't find an email address for him. I can't find a phone
10:02number.
10:04With Anthony all but non-existent, I decided to reach out to the author of the original Bad
10:09Vegan article, Alan Sulkin, who's been covering the story for nearly a decade and still regularly
10:15communicates with Sarmer.
10:16Hi.
10:16Hello, how are you? I'm Elizabeth.
10:18I'm glad you're here. Come on in. Have a seat.
10:21Thank you so much.
10:23So the story that hasn't really been told is after Anthony went to jail, after conning people out of
10:30millions of dollars and allegedly sexually assaulting Sarmer, where did he go and what did he do?
10:36Well, first, when he got out of Rikers, basically he went to live in his mom's house up in Massachusetts.
10:45He was just sort of trolling around on Twitter for hours and hours and changing his Twitter
10:51handles all the time, but it was the same account. And he was probably searching for his next mark.
10:57Now, this is all the research I did, and I got all these tweets, and then I also got some of the
11:01text messages that were going back and forth between Anthony and Sarmer.
11:06They're still in touch.
11:07They have been in touch on and off since Anthony has gotten out of jail.
11:12I start to see him mention things about politics.
11:18You know, Anthony says, saw your tweets.
11:20Katie Hill had to be removed.
11:22Katie Hill was a Democratic U.S. representative who won a very close election in a typically
11:30conservative district. Her downfall came when a reporter named Jennifer Van Laar published
11:36photos of her basically naked, having a threesome on this thing called Red State, this right-wing publication.
11:47Her seat will prove to be important down the line. Powerful people decide things like that.
11:52She was a corrupt mess, as are most politicians, but she has a seat that was important to someone
11:57for something, as if he knows. Right.
12:00I remember when the story broke. It was a huge story. Every single major news organization was
12:06covering it. The fall from grace for a California congresswoman once seen as a rising star in the
12:11Democratic Party. Congresswoman Katie Hill is stepping down. A conservative blog posted an explicit photo of
12:18her. All these years later, it's wild to hear these texts from Anthony to Sarmer implying that he had intel
12:26or insider knowledge about this huge scandal. It does make you wonder, was he involved in that?
12:34Somebody gave me a tip. He had his probation transferred to California, and then he had gotten married.
12:44And I found that he had gotten married in Nevada, in Las Vegas.
12:47I see that the bride is, you know, Jennifer Louise. And I'm like, okay. I look it up in a database,
12:57and I see, you know, AKA Jennifer Van Laar. And who the hell is Jennifer? That's a familiar name.
13:03She's the journalist who published the Katie Hill photos. Once I knew that he had married Jennifer Van Laar,
13:12then everything else starts to click into place. That he had been texting with Sarmer about politics.
13:20And then it's easy for me to go back on Twitter and search, like, what interactions was he having
13:24with her? Yep, turns out, connected with her the same way he's connected with Sarmer. Like, oh my god,
13:32here we go again. I am now armed with all this. And I keep calling Jennifer Van Laar,
13:37looking for a comment about, you know, Anthony Strangis. Do you know him? What? No. I have no
13:44idea who that is. I don't know what you're talking about. Then she gives me this statement.
13:49So she says, I met Anthony Strangis in 2019, and since 2020, he has performed bodyguard services for me.
13:56As an investigative journalist, I sometimes receive death threats or other threats to minor my family's safety.
14:03In August 2021, when we were both in Las Vegas with friends, on a lark, we decided to get married.
14:10We talked for a few weeks about whether it could actually work, but eventually decided that we
14:14worked best as just friends. He has never asked me or my friends for money.
14:18I have filed for divorce, but we remain on good terms.
14:21However, I realized when I look at the marriage record that he goes into that marriage, Anthony Strangis.
14:38But he comes out Anthony Knight.
14:40Anthony Patrick Strangis, he wishes to use the name Anthony Patrick Knight after marriage.
14:52He took a real last name.
14:53Why would he do that? You know, he's infamous now. And so now he's got a new name. That is an extreme
15:00use to somebody like him. And so now you go back to the statement Jennifer Van Laar gave me, which you can
15:06tell is very carefully crafted. And then you think, is what she's covering up this, that he was involved
15:16somehow in that? Because we don't know how Jennifer Van Laar got those naked drug-using photos of Katie
15:24Hill. All it takes is people talking on Reddit or talking on Twitter.
15:28He had been flirting with Jennifer Van Laar. He knew, oh, she's a journalist. And so he put two and two together and said,
15:34oh, I can connect these two. And then maybe he says to her, hey, I want one thing from you.
15:40Let's go to Vegas. I need your last name.
15:43And do you think that was a pivotal moment in Jennifer's career when she released the photos?
15:47It made her on the map.
15:48It made Jennifer Van Laar. She would definitely feel beholden to somebody who would help her that way.
15:53Learning this information about Jennifer Van Laar made Sarma's words echo in my head.
15:58It's part of Anthony's MO to find women with ambition and resources that he can use for his own personal gain.
16:05People like Anthony Strangers find people who are a good target.
16:09They find people who are public about their goals and ambitions. So he didn't even have to take the time that
16:14they usually have to take to study somebody and learn all their insecurities and what their goals are.
16:20And that stuff was all out there for him to know and read about. And then they weaponize it.
16:25Unfortunately, I made a very good target.
16:28This is not him starting his life over and finding his happily ever after.
16:31Is it a working theory? Is there anything for sure to knock it down? No.
16:36Is there anyone else whose story hasn't been told or anyone you think we should focus on?
16:40Her. Michaela Coulter. Anthony's half-sister. She's never given an interview.
16:45I wanted to know how Anthony became this way. What drives him to do these things?
16:53His own sister Michaela agreed to fill me in.
16:58Growing up, I would say I looked up to Anthony. Me and Anthony, we have a 13-year age difference.
17:03We do have two separate fathers, which I think that context is important.
17:07My dad was not around. So growing up, Anthony was one of my main caregivers along with my mom.
17:13So he was the one putting me to bed. He was the one taking care of me. He was like normal and caring.
17:20And he wouldn't hurt a fly.
17:23Tell me about Anthony's dad. What was he like?
17:26His dad was always very nice to me. But I know he's done a lot of terrible things.
17:32He was a cop. His dad was not nice. His dad was not a good person. He's a compulsive liar and gambler.
17:38He taught Anthony how to lie. He taught Anthony how to gamble. Lavish trips and cruises. Disney World.
17:45His father created a world that Anthony wanted to live in that wasn't realistic.
17:51I was seven or eight. I was still pretty young when he moved out. He was like 18, 19.
17:59He moved to Florida with his father. I sat on the road crying and like watched him drive away because
18:04I was so upset. Like I did not want him to go. And that was to me like the last time I ever like had
18:10my brother. Like that was him. And then that's kind of where it all started to change. Anthony spent the
18:16next few years in Florida getting in some trouble with the law and was charged with impersonating a
18:22police officer and grand larceny. He eventually made his way up to New York where he spent the year
18:28scamming Sarma and her employees. Going on the run and eventually getting caught.
18:35People don't understand how bad gambling addictions are.
18:39It should be spoken about more his gambling problem because I think that's the root of it.
18:50His addiction is what feeds all of it. I will say when he got arrested, me and my mother were relieved.
18:59We were happy, which sounds terrible, but we wanted him to get help for so long. So when he was in jail,
19:05I didn't talk to him at all. And then when he got out is when he came to live with us because he
19:10really didn't have anywhere else to go. Anthony lived at my mom's house for a couple years.
19:15He was there until he got almost off probation. He got permission from his parole officer and
19:20everything to move to California. And he told us he got a job working for the Republican Party.
19:27Did he specify to you what kind of job he was taking for the Republican Party?
19:31No. We were like 50-50. Could be a lie, could be fake. He had paperwork to give to
19:38the judge and the parole officer to prove what he was going to go do. So we had to believe it.
19:43Right.
19:44We had a real person saying he was going to go and work for the Republican Party.
19:47So Anthony went from being in a relationship with Sarma, a liberal vegan, to allegedly working for the
19:53GOP. How do you think that happened?
19:55So Anthony's relationship with politics, my personal opinion, is all about the game. And I think he sees
20:07an opportunity to take advantage and manipulate. And I think that's where his political belief is,
20:15the power. It's just, where can he get more power at that point?
20:18For him, it's not just money. It's like, it's power. The whole thing is a game to him. So it's not
20:24just, it's not just money. Because once he got all the money he could from me, he would have like
20:30left and got on a plane to Mexico and he wouldn't have just sort of spent it. It's like, he doesn't
20:33really care about it. It's the whole weird power trip. But I think it's, it's dangerous to underestimate
20:39these people because they are very, very, very smart.
20:43As I'm starting to understand Anthony more, what makes him tick and how he pulls off these cons,
20:50it's eerie how those who know him best have encounters that mirror each other.
20:55It seems his gambling addiction drives his compulsion to steal money from people.
21:00But it's the notoriety, the illusion of importance that Anthony is really chasing.
21:05And what's bigger than embedding yourself in American politics?
21:14Some of this is just really weird, right? We're all in this together.
21:21There was a video that somebody sent me from this new Twitter handle.
21:26The videos were made early in the COVID pandemic. They're these dark, weird, black and white like rants.
21:35So I went to stop and shop. I asked the manager, where's all the toilet paper and the paper towels?
21:41Why don't you get that in? Oh, we've been getting it in, he says. Usually sells out between
21:466 and 7 30 in the morning, the senior hours. So listen up, you old who apparently we're shutting
21:53everything down for, stop buying all the toilet paper and the paper towels.
21:58Anthony has clearly figured out that now he's in this sort of conservative or right-wing world and this
22:07is the world that he's going to now operate in.
22:10And you're probably buying it for your ass 40 something year old kids. Stop being a greedy prick.
22:18You're supposed to know better. You're older.
22:19It's almost to me like he's testing out a new persona.
22:23Roll this together. Drink this Kool-Aid. Here, don't you want this Kool-Aid?
22:31What am I going to catch with this voice? And I think what he caught was Jennifer Van
22:36Lahr and all these other people in Southern California. When I spoke to Alan, he suggested
22:43that I reach out to Eddie McClintock, an actor in Los Angeles who met Anthony on, you guessed it.
22:49Uh, well, he slid in my DMs on Twitter. Eddie was part of this group of conservative guys online
22:56that consisted of former and current active military members, as well as some secret service agents.
23:02Eddie describes Anthony as funny and irreverent. He really won a lot of these guys over by sharing
23:08videos during the pandemic about his disdain for the shutdowns.
23:11You know, what's really creepy is everybody saying we're all in this together.
23:16It was politically tinged. He says he's a conservative.
23:20What? I just want some paper towels. I don't want to join a cult.
23:25One day, Anthony invited Eddie and the group to Las Vegas for a hot ticket event.
23:30A Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier fight.
23:34Anthony told them he'd handle everything from the hotel suite to the tickets to their food and all
23:39their drinks. I flew into Vegas and I was at the hotel and he was like, I'm in the Rolex shop. Come
23:45to the Rolex shop. I'm looking down in the hall and I can see into the Rolex shop and there's one other
23:51person. And that person was not in good shape. Immediately, I thought I've been catfished because
24:02on Twitter, he kind of came off as being in like really good shape, saying perhaps he worked for
24:09like Blackwater.
24:10You're getting some steps in if you work for Blackwater.
24:12Yeah.
24:13But Eddie's friends had been with Anthony for a day at this point and they vouched
24:18for him for being legit.
24:19When we get back to LA, that's when Anthony and I really became closer, you know, because
24:26my dad was dying. Anthony and I would talk pretty much every night on the phone. He asked about my dad
24:33and my dad, you know, my dad passed in March of 2022. And it was the hardest day of my life, you know?
24:49And when I got home after my dad died and Anthony called me, he was showing up for me as a friend.
25:00And then at one point, we started talking about Rolex watches.
25:06Eddie had been eyeing a rare Rolex, a James Cameron deep sea dweller.
25:11I told Anthony, I'd really like to get that watch. And he was like, bro, bro, I can get you that watch.
25:19No problem because it'll take a couple of months because there's a waiting list for like a year and
25:24a half. And Anthony was like, yeah, I'll get you this watch. So I gave him $13,000 in cash.
25:31And I started getting excuses. And then one day, my buddy sent me this trailer for Netflix on my phone.
25:39He was like, watch this right now. And then it was him.
25:48After Matt Began came out, we called him and said, what, what's going on with this? And Anthony said that
25:55his wife used the liberal media to, you know, make him out to look like a bad guy.
26:04Months and months passed. And Anthony is giving Eddie excuse after excuse as to why he can't get him the
26:10watch or return his money. The last correspondence that I had from him, he said, you know, hey man,
26:16I'm not ghosting you. The watch is fine. I just was like, Anthony, come on. What watch?
26:23And ultimately you never saw the watches. You never saw the money.
26:27And it was really the ultimate form of betrayal by somebody you considered a really good friend.
26:34Yeah. And now that, you know, Anthony's gone and my dad's gone and he should have to,
26:40you know, pay for it like everybody else does.
26:45Eddie's story shares so many similarities with Sarma's.
26:49As Anthony's first publicly known victim and probably the person he spent the most time conning,
26:54every conversation I had with Sarma gave incredible insight into how Anthony operates.
26:59And it seems as though his tactics have remained the same.
27:03Anthony Stranges was incredibly intuitive about people's behavior and feelings and how to weaponize
27:12that. And it's so slow that by the time you even realize that like something's wrong and off,
27:17it's like, it's too late. They've already got you. They know what they're doing.
27:20They anticipate what's coming. And so they know how to, you know, find the out because it's like
27:26part of a plan all along. And again, that's why it's so important, I think, to get to know people
27:31and meet them in person versus, you know, getting to know somebody online.
27:35Eddie never pressed charges, knowing that it would be costly and an uphill battle,
27:39especially considering that Anthony technically never stole money from him.
27:43He just convinced Eddie to give it to him.
27:46It seems like he found a loophole to get what he wanted.
27:49Some more money to fund his gambling habit.
27:55Where do you think he went after he left Orange County?
28:01I just know he's in Texas somewhere. And I would assume he's probably
28:04with another girl and doing some other scheme.
28:07At this point, based on my conversations, it seems like Anthony conned his way through California.
28:19He's got a new identity. He's built this year-long friendship with Eddie, only to steal from him and
28:24disappear. All of this after he allegedly coerced Sarma and left her in New York to pay back all of his
28:32victims. So I decided that Anthony doesn't get to hide anymore because right now he could have a new
28:41unsuspecting victim in his grasp. If there's a way to prevent it, I will not sit here and let one more
28:48person fall victim to Anthony.
28:54Michaela suspects that Anthony is in Texas, although he was very careful not to tell her which city.
28:59He has no recent photos of him, but their last correspondence included photos of some dogs.
29:05Unfortunately, he turned off the metadata. So again, no real way to figure out exactly where he is.
29:10So I brought on a private investigator in Texas, Catherine Meyer. Catherine immediately found an
29:18address in Austin that matched Anthony Knight, his new identity. There's 65 pages here.
29:26And she also found his name registered to an Audi SUV.
29:30We have another name linked to the one we believe he's driving now.
29:34So I sent a crew to Texas to go stake out the apartment with Catherine.
29:38Can you hear us? Hello, hello. We're on our way to location number one right now.
29:45You guys know what you're looking for? A mountain of a man. This is a location confirmation. We do not
29:51want to approach him. We do not want to give him any indication that he is being watched.
29:56I have done some OSINT, open source intelligence searches, and haven't found much more than the
30:04articles that have already been written on him. So that obviously tells me that he is trying to
30:10keep a low profile. So that's all I really have to go on right now. I'm hoping that we have a lot
30:16more by the end of the day. I just cannot stress enough how high the stakes are because if he even
30:22senses anything, he's gone. And I don't want him to run before I get an opportunity to speak with him
30:27and find out if he has a new victim in his grasp. You got it. We're doing everything we can. We'll
30:32keep you posted.
30:37In my interview with Alan, he mentioned a tip he got about the fact that Anthony had somehow
30:42wormed his way into this family called the Johnsons in Southern California.
30:46I want to talk to them. I want to see what he did to them and also if they have any idea about his
30:52whereabouts now. I've tried writing. I've tried calling. I've received no response. So now I'm going
30:58to go knock on their door. Anthony, to no surprise, picked this very small, insular, and affluent
31:07coastal town in Orange County.
31:08So here is the Johnson's house and it definitely looks like someone is home.
31:32Hi, Mrs. Johnson.
31:38My name is Elizabeth Chambers. We're doing a documentary on Anthony Strangus and I wanted to
31:59see if I could possibly have a few minutes of your time to ask you some questions.
32:02No, I'm not interested in talking about this.
32:05Just, it would just take a couple minutes.
32:06Absolutely not, no.
32:08All right, do you know him? Do you know Anthony?
32:10No, sorry, sorry.
32:18Mrs. Johnson was home and answered the door, but her reaction when I asked her about Anthony was
32:24very unusual.
32:24That was weird.
32:26Turned completely white, so freaked out.
32:28Yeah.
32:28Um, like, I'm shaking. There's just so much history there, you can tell. She completely froze.
32:35She knew exactly who he was. Her face completely fell. She turned white.
32:39Do you think they're just embarrassed?
32:41I think that for people in general, when people are conned, there's always an element of shame.
32:47If it were me, I'd say, what do you know about him? There's clearly a lot more to this story. A lot.
32:53According to Allen, they had a neighbor named Glenn, who saw Anthony coming and going and,
33:02rightfully so, thought that was very, very strange. So, I think we got to try him,
33:07and maybe he'll be more open to talking.
33:09As I was on the trail in Southern California, Catherine and my team were looking deeper into
33:20this vehicle that was registered to Anthony, and they found another person attached to it as well,
33:25a woman.
33:26She's listed as the part, as the co-owner of this car this year. Owners, Anthony Nyan.
33:39So, not only had we potentially located Anthony, but as Kayla suspected, he may be living there
33:55with a new girlfriend, who could potentially be his next victim.
34:07Hello.
34:12Hey, so we actually got in touch with Glenn.
34:14Amazing. Amazing news.
34:16Is he still in this town?
34:18He is. So, he's got an office. We found the office, and we called him there,
34:22and he said he could come talk to him.
34:24Today? Right now?
34:25Yeah.
34:27Let's go.
34:30After seeing Mrs. Johnson's reaction, it seemed emotional, very, very emotional for her.
34:35So, I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing what Glenn noticed, what he witnessed.
34:40Hey, dude.
34:55You see this guy?
34:57Which guy?
34:58This guy just pulled up in a Honda.
35:03Dog in the car.
35:07That could be him.
35:09That definitely could be him.
35:10Yeah.
35:11And I am now as well.
35:12He's right on the other side of that track.
35:14No, yeah, we see him.
35:15Oh, it's a little corgi.
35:16Okay.
35:21Let's just see where he's doing.
35:22Yeah.
35:23My team in Texas spotted someone who perfectly matched the physical description I had for Anthony Strangis.
35:35Nope.
35:38But he went into the wrong apartment.
35:40Damn it.
35:42With no sign of Anthony, the team decided to get a closer look.
35:45This little ribbon cam.
35:47Wired with a button cam, Catherine, posing as a leasing agent, went to knock on the door.
35:54All right.
35:54Wish me luck.
36:07Thank you so much for taking this time.
36:10We have a lot of questions about Anthony and the Johnson family.
36:13Tell me a little bit about your first impression.
36:16He was introduced to us through, uh, Lindsay.
36:21Hi, Mrs. Johnson.
36:24She brought him over for a game of cards.
36:27Anthony was very bright, very articulate.
36:31I would say he's a very commanding sort of person.
36:34But he was kind of elusive and said, well, what do you do, Anthony?
36:38And, well, you know, work for the government, kind of in special operations and black ops.
36:44Immediately, my wife thought, hmm, I don't know about this guy.
36:50She never sort of gave him the benefit of the doubt.
36:54But I did.
36:57So I'll give an example.
36:59He knew I was very interested in politics at the time.
37:02It was the 2020 election.
37:04I was actually very interested in running for some sort of seat.
37:08And then all of a sudden, he was an expert in super PACs.
37:11A super PAC is a political action committee.
37:15Essentially, it's a recognized group used to raise funds for campaigns or political figures.
37:20There is no limit to the funds raised.
37:22And they've gotten the reputation for being fertile ground for scams.
37:25We actually got to the point where we started a super PAC.
37:30His motivation was, if you raise money as a super PAC, you're entitled to take 20% of the money you raise for expenses and overhead.
37:39And so he could see a super PAC providing him cash.
37:43Anthony is a compulsive gambler.
37:47And I think all his motivation for money and everything else is to feed that habit.
37:52To ask myself and Lindsay combined, I'll give him $150,000.
37:59And my wife said, are you nuts?
38:01So I just did as I was told and told him to get lost.
38:04Honestly, based on how he's treated people in the past, I think you would have never seen that money again.
38:09We know his patterns. We know what he does.
38:11Yeah. He steals from people and nobody ever, ever, ever sees that money.
38:16But I think Lindsay might have given him the money.
38:21Now, Mr. Johnson had a medical condition.
38:25He is 80.
38:27Mrs. Johnson is quite significantly younger.
38:30About 20 years younger, yeah.
38:32And what do you think Mrs. Johnson's relationship with Anthony was?
38:36How would you describe it?
38:37They obviously were very close.
38:39He was very embedded into the family life.
38:42I surmised there was a relationship going on there.
38:47And I know Mr. Johnson's older son, Mark, was concerned about what was going on here.
38:53Mark decided it was time to end it and force the issue, especially after Bad Vegan came out.
39:00We saw the show and we were just gobsmacked.
39:06I mean, we just couldn't believe it.
39:07Everyone was numb, really, because he'd been into our lives.
39:12He was part of the culture of our friendship, right?
39:15Did you and your wife reach out to Lindsay after Bad Vegan came out?
39:19I know my wife reached out to her and said, listen, stuff happens in life.
39:24You know, we've always been friends.
39:26Can we sit down and talk about it?
39:28And Lindsay never responded, never has.
39:32Maybe she feels like she loves him.
39:35And, you know, he's convinced her that it's just a story.
39:39It's all a pack of lies.
39:41I believe he'd have that ability over her.
39:44I mean, but that is a testament to how manipulative and controlling he is.
39:48Exactly.
39:53If you could say one thing to Anthony, what would that be?
39:57Why?
39:59I understand you've got a gambling habit, but why would you just rip people off?
40:06And he's just a bad guy.
40:09And that's really what it comes down to.
40:10Allegedly, Anthony is leaving a string of victims in his wake,
40:14and he's doing it in the sickest way possible.
40:17By leveraging people's love and trust in him as family and friends and otherwise, and
40:23he needs to be exposed.
40:26Hey!
40:27Next time on Toxic.
40:38He has obviously eluded us, and I want to know how he did it.
40:44This is interesting.
40:46She has phone numbers that come back to defense contractors.
40:50This is major.
40:52Holy .
40:53This is like the girl that we believe Anthony's with.
40:56Everything matches.
40:57Everything lines up.
40:58She's an outspoken Republican.
41:00This is on her social media.
41:02She may have no idea who she's dealing with.
41:05His current alias, Anthony Knight, was listed in the directory.
41:10That's huge.
41:12That's huge.
41:13Everyone in Anthony's life is a potential victim.
41:17I knew I had to act fast.
41:22Anthony.
41:22We gotta go.
41:24We gotta go.
41:24We gotta go.