The UN badge in the frozen pasture: how a ledger of eleven victims broke open

The UN badge in the frozen pasture: how a ledger of eleven victims broke open In this episode, we trace how a carefully timed romance scam unraveled through four certificates of deposit, a grain elevator camera recording an eighty-nine-minute window on choir night, and a storage unit containing a handwritten ledger naming eleven victims across four years. We examine how Vincent Pruett synchronized fake deployment extensions to Sarah Reed's financial maturity dates, moved money through rotating domestic accounts disguised as international transfers, and why the badge-the one piece of physical evidence he left behind-was never fully explained in his confession. Person: Sarah Reed, age 26 Perpetrator: Vincent Pruett, age 44 Location: Vance, Nebraska; Kearney, Nebraska rental Amount stolen: $94,000 (Sarah Reed); eleven victims over four years Event: UN badge discovery, January 9, 2023 Platform: Christian singles dating service - Sarah Reed's husband Cody died in a rollover accident in March 2021, leaving her four laddered certificates of deposit totaling roughly $214,000. - Howard Underwood's profile appeared in late February 2022 using a stolen photograph of Stephen Farrell, a logistics coordinator in Cheyenne, Wyoming. - The first wire transfer of $2,000 cleared eleven days after Sarah's first CD matured in May 2022; a $38,000 transfer went out nine days after the second CD matured in August. - A grain elevator camera two miles south recorded a dark blue Ford F-150 with obscured plates passing the Reed property at 6:12 p.m. and returning at 7:41 p.m. on January 7, 2023-Thursday choir night. - Deputies recovered a laminating machine, a printer with UN-logotype cartridges, and a handwritten ledger with eleven names spanning 2018 to 2023 from a storage unit in Minden, Nebraska on February 8, 2023. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com. © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].