You were going to open up a game room.
I withdrew the money
and gave it to her at the bar.
So where did her money go?
What do you want me to-- what do you want me to say?
What's your position?
We're too stupid to have a defense?
I spent more money than she did.
But yet I've gotten no receipts.
I haven't seen the equipment.
People don't question my word and my word's good.
I question your word.
They scammed you.
[announcer] Now, on Tribunal Justice.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]
[announcer] Today's case was filed in Houston, Texas.
Your Honor, this is case number 2045 on the calendar,
in the matter of Steel versus Bowling.
Parties have been sworn in.
You may be seated.
- [Judge Acker] Thank you, Byrd. - [Byrd] You're welcome, Judge.
Ms. Steel and Ms. Bowling,
once upon a time the two of you were very good friends.
In fact, you were gonna go into business together.
You were going to open up a game room.
Ms. Steel, according to your complaint,
you gave the defendant $9,000
to purchase slot machines for this game room.
The game room did not open.
You have not seen the slot machines.
You have not received any money from this venture
and you are now suing your former friend
for that $9,000 back.
Ms. Bowling, you maintained that this was simply a business deal
where everyone lost.
According to your answer,
the landlord of the property shut it down,
seized the property.
Your witness Dan was able to recover the slot machines.
She can get them if she wants them from Dan.
You're no longer in it
- and you owe her no money? - Yes, ma'am.
How long did the two of you know each other
before you went into this venture, ma'am?
Um, we met at the, um, bar where Molly's bar...
- [Judge Acker] Your friend's bar? - [Sandra] Uh-huh.
Well, I used to work at the bar
and I used to pick up supplies and things.
And, uh, at one time,
she had someone that requested some banana nut bread
and she asked me to bake it.
I said okay. I baked it.
And the next day, uh, the lady picked it up
and wanted to know could she get more?
- [laughs] - [Sandra] And so she asked me
why didn't I start doing some baking,
little things that--so she can offer like desserts after lunch.
- Very nice. Banana bread and beer. - [Sandra] Yeah.
- That sounds like a combination. - [Sandra] Beer and biscuits.
- Do you work at the bar? - Yes, ma'am.
And so you got to know the plaintiff
because she's the cookie lady.
She's bringing her baked goods into the bar.
So I wanna understand
what this game room was going to be.
Now, there was a meeting between you,
- the plaintiff, and witness Dan, correct? - Yes, ma'am.
And that is where the money
- was transferred? - [Molly] Right.
To whom did the plaintiff give the money?
- She gave it to Dan. - [Judge Acker] That's not what you say.
You say you gave it to her.
I only knew Dan
because he ordered baked goods from me.
That's my only, uh, association with Dan.
And I would never give anybody money--
that amount of money that I knew
- that ordered baked goods. - It was $9,000.
- Yes. - [Judge Acker] In fact, can we put up
Exhibit 1?
Because we see, ma'am,
that you did in fact take out this money.
It was a couple of years ago, wasn't it?
[Sandra] It was.
Uh, I withdrew the money and I took it back to the bar
and gave it to her at the bar.
[Judge Acker] According to you,
you handed $9,000 in cash to the defendant.
- According to the defendant... - Yeah.
... you handed $9,000 in cash to Dan.
Let's talk to Dan.
Sir, could you take the stand, please?
You received $9,000 in cash?
Yes, ma'am. But I got it--
I got it from Molly.
- Okay. She... - [Judge Acker] So you just kind of...
It was passed over from Sandy to Molly,
and then, I picked it up from [indistinct].
Yeah, you just threw Molly-- you just threw Molly
- under the bus a little bit? - We were all in the table together.
- [Judge Acker] Because... - There was four of us
- in the room together. - [Judge Acker] Hold on. Hold on.
Because who got the money
seems to be a big point of contention,
because the plaintiff said she gave it to you.
But the money ends up
- in your hands Dan, correct? - Yes, ma'am.
And you went to buy these slot machines?
I bought the slot machines.
[Judge Acker] From where did you purchase them?
From slot machine vendor
on--right down the road from the shop.
May we put up Exhibit Number 7, please?
Are these the slot machines that you purchased?
Yes, ma'am.
[Judge Acker] How much did they cost?
Forty--uh, close to five grand altogether and...
Close to five grand altogether.
Well then that's a surprise
because that seems like we've got $4,000
- that vanished in the ether somewhere. - No.
Where's the receipt for the machines, sir?
- There's no receipt. - There's no receipt?
- But that's... - No--hang on. Hang on.
I find it curious, my friend,
that there's no receipt.
The second curious fact is that you've just testified
that these machines cost $5,000.
And we established that the plaintiff
gave the two of you $9,000.
That's where the error is.
- She didn't give... - [Judge Acker] Where is the error?
... the $9,000 to buy machine.
She gave $9,000 for twelve and a half percent
of the gross of the games.
She wanted to be a partner.
She did not buy the games.
[Judge Acker] So your testimony is that
- she was gonna get a 12% return? - [Daniel] Twelve and a half. Yes, ma'am.
[Judge Acker] So where's the contract that says for your $9,000
you're getting 12% of the business? Where is that?
We didn't--we didn't have one.
So no documentation that verifies
- your version of this deal? - [Daniel] Right.
[Judge Acker] And Ms. Steel,
- have you ever seen these machines? - No.
[Judge Acker] Did you ever see a receipt
- for them? - No.
- Ever get any proof of purchase of them? - [Sandra] No.
Uh, Houston, Texas is in Harris County.
Harris County requires a permit
in order to open a game room.
In fact, I think it's $1,000
to apply for such a permit.
Show me the permit application.
We never--we never filled it out
- because we're... - Never had a permit application?
- [Daniel] It was within 25,000 foot... - So wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
You got--you gotta stick with me.
You're going into a business
that by its very nature is heavily regulated.
I know that in Texas,
some counties require licenses.
Some counties don't even permit game rooms.
So where did her money go?
So we also had a third person that couldn't be here and so that's...
[Judge Acker] I'm not interested in the third person.
Well, she has a lot of the documentation
- that we couldn't get. - [Judge Acker] I don't--
I also find it curious
that we are now mentioning a third person
who I don't recall ever being mentioned
in any of these documents.
Isn't that interesting that that third person isn't here?
I never had a meeting with three other people.
[Judge Acker] Curiouser and curiouser.
Talk to me, Ms. Steel,
- about the defendant's witness... - Uh-hmm.
... says that you paid the $9,000
not solely for the machines
but for a 12% interest in the business.
Was that your understanding of this deal?
That's the first time I've heard
any specific numbers about anything.
The understanding was that I would buy the machines
and they would lease the machines from me
because they couldn't own them.
So I said that I would give the money to Molly and I said,
"So that you get the machines that you specifically want,
get me the receipts. I'll be the owner."
And they said they would lease them from me.
In fact, I asked Molly repeatedly
to please, let's sit down and document all of this
because my father used to always tell me,
"You need it in black and white.
Six months from now,
everybody's memory will be different."
- Deals change. - [Sandra] It does.
It changes from here's $9,000 for four machines
to $9,000 for 12% interest in a business
that's based on machines of which we have no proof
that anyone ever bought.
Let's just keep it real.
- There's pictures of them. - You mean the pictures
- that we put up earlier? - [Daniel] Yes, ma'am.
Those are just pictures of some random machines.
I don't know where they came from.
[Daniel] What do you want me to-- what do you want me to say?
I mean, there's the pictures of them.
People don't question my word and my word's good.
- I question your word. - Okay. I understand that.
- And she questions your word. - [Daniel] Okay.
[Judge Acker] You have no evidence of what you did with her money
and she has never seen them one time.
Judge DiMango.
You know what doesn't require a license or a permit?
A scam.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You and Dan here were like two dopes
in this whole thing it seems.
So, I mean, what's your position?
We're too stupid to have a defense?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Sandra Steel is suing Molly Bowling for $9,000.
Sandra claim she gave her friend money to buy slot machines
for a business venture that never existed.
But Molly says the business simply failed
and everyone lost money.
To me, what I see here is a scam
being run on a woman who's got a head stuck
- in the cookie dough. - No.
[Judge DiMango] Yeah, I know you say no
that's why you're here defending your case.
But let me ask you a question.
Can you just describe to me briefly
what your storage room looks like?
The storage room is--it's just a ten by--
whatever the measurements are.
- It's just a ten building. - And these are the ones.
- They're in storage, right? - [Daniel] Right.
And you took these while they were in storage?
- Right. - [Judge DiMango] Correct?
So what is this door doing back there
that looks like it's in a room,
if it's a storage?
- This isn't a storage room. - [Daniel] No, I didn't say I took those--
I didn't say I took those pictures
- in a storage room. - [Judge DiMango] Yeah, you did.
- I said I took the pictures... - [Judge DiMango] You said you took it
- in the storage... - ... down in a storage room.
Oh. So you moved them from one storage place...
[Daniel] No, those pictures are before.
This isn't even a storage room.
They are in a storage room.
That's in my house before we moved them there.
I spent more money than she did.
- And have I cried about it? - Oh, I'm so sorry for you.
[Daniel] No, I didn't. No, I'm not.
- [Judge DiMango] I'm so sorry for you. - [Daniel] So there's no scam here.
[Judge DiMango] There is a scam
and that's too bad if you think you lost more money.
I have no proof you lost any money.
All I have proof of based on the testimony in here.
Your testimony is that
you have extra $4,000 in your pocket to go around
and try to get five cherries on someone else's machine.
Now, they were opening a business basically.
And you were gonna be a partner in this business to some extent
'cause you were gonna get lease money back, correct?
Yes. And I was negligent in not having all of this in writing...
- [Judge DiMango] Yes. I know... - ... before I did it.
[Judge DiMango] ...'cause your father said the same thing.
My father said and probably everyone in the room's father said.
See I don't know why your head was in the cookie dough.
- Why? - [Sandra] I--Molly--
- I talked... - Is it greed?
Well, I talked with Molly repeatedly
throughout 2022.
She had quite a hectic year that year.
She had the loss of a son.
- A tragic loss. - Okay. Well, that's very--
that's difficult. That's sad.
So the bottom line is, was it a gift?
Did you decide to give her a gift of $9,000?
No. And I said that to her
when I asked her about the money.
I said this was not a gift.
But yet I've gotten no receipts.
I haven't seen the equipment.
- This is not working out. - [Judge DiMango] How--two years.
How could you go two years?
What would make you give over the money?
And this guy here has got no personality,
I mean he's nasty.
So you knew both of them?
[Sandra] I knew him to bake for him.
- I did not originally... - [Judge DiMango] But you did?
... know he was involved in it.
[Judge DiMango] I think you did personally.
I think you knew everybody was involved.
But that doesn't mean that you don't get your money back.
- So you tell me, Molly. - [Molly] Yes, ma'am.
[Judge DiMango] What did you do towards all of this?
Well, so I was like the least of involved in the whole thing
from the very beginning, and Sandy also knew that.
I wasn't there for any of the rentals, any of that.
- I put the money in his... - So was it all him?
- No. It was not all him. - Ah.
Who was it? The person that's not here?
Yes, ma'am. That was her--
it was her idea to start, of course,
- and then, we all went [indistinct]. - What were your efforts to get her to--
what were your efforts to get her here?
How come you didn't bring her in as a third party in this lawsuit?
Well, we asked her certainly to be here and she wouldn't come.
- So, I mean that's... - Yeah. I don't believe you
- less than I believe him. - [Molly] Okay.
[Judge DiMango] Where is the lease for the premises?
- She has it. - [Judge DiMango] Oh.
And she leased the building
- when we showed up and saw that it was... - [Judge DiMango] She leased everything.
[indistinct] I couldn't believe it.
But she--it was-- this is her idea to begin with
- and we supported our friend. - Her idea. Her lease.
- Her $9,000. - [Molly] Uh-hmm.
You and Dan here were like two dopes
in this whole thing, it seems.
- Okay. - [Judge DiMango] Imagine that.
So, I mean, what's your position?
We're too stupid to have a defense?
She's suing the wrong person is the thing.
- [Judge DiMango] So I tell you what. - I mean, she knows that.
If you lose and it's not you,
sue the other lady.
Come on. You can do that.
You're a smart woman.
Judge Levy?
[Judge Levy] When was the last time you spoke to her?
This person, this mastermind who's behind all this?
I spoke to her within the last few days.
- And you, sir? - [Daniel] Man, not since taxes.
She does my taxes.
- She's an accountant? - [Daniel] Yes.
Where does she live?
- I don't know where she lives. - [indistinct].
[Daniel] She's not actually an accountant.
She does the accounting for an--
she does the paperwork for an accountant.
She's an accountant.
She's not an accountant.
I haven't spoken to her. I did speak to her.
Why didn't you go to the police?
- [Sandra] Why didn't I go to the police? - [Judge Levy] Yeah.
[Sandra] I didn't know all of this was occurring.
Well, no. No, no. Hold on. Hold on.
Judge DiMango already made it pretty clear.
They scammed you.
That's [bleep].
You know that that's what this looks like, right?
From the way you're putting it-- y'all are putting it, yes, sir.
- It could look like that. - [Judge Levy] Okay.
You took $9,000 in cash.
You never got any document whatsoever from this place
that corroborates your claim that you bought them.
- You understand that? - [Daniel] Yes.
[Judge Levy] You knew that she filed a lawsuit against you,
that in essence you took her money
and you gave her absolutely nothing for it.
And the way it appears
is that you both committed with each other grand larceny.
- [bleep]. - [Judge Levy] That's just--hold on, sir,
look at me. I'm not saying it's true.
I'm saying you know that's the way it looks.
So why didn't you then go back
to the slot machine company and get a receipt?
These are the most--as Judge Acker said,
the most heavily-regulated commodities
in Texas.
Slot machines.
The records that are kept on who buys them,
who sells them are mandated by the state.
So explain to me how you think it looks
when you come in here
without any evidence whatsoever
to corroborate your claim
that you bought slot machines consistent with what the agreement was
as opposed to taking that nine grand,
whacking it up amongst yourselves,
and calling it a day.
Why didn't you do it?
Because that's what the police are gonna be asking you.
The statute of limitations in Texas, ma'am,
for this type of a felony crime is three years.
You better hurry.
Because you as a senior--
and I don't mean to say that
- with any disrespect. - [chuckles] No.
[Judge Levy] I saw--I saw your age on that paperwork.
They're gonna treat this case
a little differently because of your age.
- Do you work or are you retired? - [Sandra] Retired.
What kind of savings do you have?
- Not a lot now. - [Judge Levy] Uh-hmm.
I'm disabled and I--and I can't work now.
If you, ma'am, don't do something,
they're gonna do it to somebody else.
That's gonna be on you,
if you don't file a criminal charge.
How about that?
I don't want that on my conscience.
Well, how about if you don't want something on your conscience,
why don't you tell them that I offered to give you that money back?
Did he do that? Did he offer you to give the money back?
Molly told me that he was--
pay some of my mortgage
or pay some of my bills.
I don't have a mortgage.
Uh, and I didn't wanna accept any money
- that wasn't the full amount because... - [Judge Levy] Is that right?
Did you offer to give her all the money back?
[Daniel] I offered to give her the money back
and then she said that she was gonna lose her house.
I said, "I'll pay your house note,"
because I didn't want her in a bind
because I felt bad the way things happened.
But I didn't scam nobody and I offered to give her money back.
So--and I get that, and I believe him.
I believe that he offered that to you.
- That's what scammers do. - No.
If you would've said, "Yeah, I want the money back,"
some excuse would've come up, didn't have it,
"I promise it to you tomorrow or Tuesday."
That's what they do, they're real smart.
My suspicion is that it's not their first time.
Because if it was their first time,
the last thing they would wanna do
is come here and expose all this.
The reason that they feel so emboldened
is because they're good at it.
They've been doing it for a while.
- [Sandra] Yes. - [Judge Levy] I got nothing further.
[Judge Acker] I have a few more.
Can we please put up Exhibit Four?
It's the affidavit.
Now, you signed this affidavit, ma'am.
And in this affidavit,
you indicate that the plaintiff's $9,000
went to purchase not four machines
and a 12% interest in the business,
but that her $9,000 went to you
to purchase two machines
- with the value of nine grand. - [Molly] Those are...
Now, now, now, before we dig into these statements,
I just wanna revisit the earlier testimony
that there were four machines.
- They were about $5,000. - [Molly] Right. But we...
Plus there was a 12% interest
in this imaginary business
that the plaintiff was supposed to receive.
How do I square the testimony
that the two of you gave in court today
with this affidavit that completely contradicts
- everything that you said this morning? - [Molly] That's because...
Tell me how I square that.
- ... Sandy wrote this. - [Judge Acker] And you signed it?
And she brought it to my work while I was working,
followed me around with it until I finally just signed it.
I mean--and that's my bad for doing that.
- [Judge Acker] Was this at the bar? - [Molly] Yes, ma'am.
Why was it important for you, ma'am,
to have her sign this affidavit?
Because we had had a meeting
but it was a lunch meeting,
and it was at a barbecue place
the end of 2022.
And they had told me that they had a place
to put the machines,
but it didn't happen,
and I asked Molly every month
about where they were putting them,
and then Dan was gonna have some modifications made to them.
- I went to her... - At this point, by the way,
you still haven't seen the machines, correct?
- [Sandra] No. No. I... - You still haven't see them,
saw no receipt,
but you're hearing about the location
and the modifications and all of that.
So, according to the defendant,
you were kind of stalking her at the bar
trying to force her to sign a document,
is that what happened?
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You were gonna buy the machines,
they were gonna lease them from you.
Why was that?
They had legal problems in their past.
Right. And what legal problems did they have?
[dramatic musical sting]
[theme music plays]
[announcer] Sandra Steel claims former friend Molly Bowling
convinced her to invest in slot machines
for a new business venture that never existed.
But Molly says everyone involved lost money,
so she owes Sandra nothing.
According to the defendant,
you were kind of stalking her at the bar
trying to force her to sign a document.
Is that what happened?
I went into the bar
because that's where I usually I could see her
when she was at work.
What I said to her was if anything,
God forbid, should happen to you,
I have no record of ever having
even given you this money.
And if you do this,
I'll at least have some sort of record.
And she said, "No, I don't mind signing it."
And she later told me that Dan was furious
that she signed it.
Did she, at any point, say,
"What do you mean $9,000 for two machines?"
- No. - "It was $9,000 for a 12% interest
and four machines."
- Did she say that? - No.
[Judge Acker] I think I have heard quite enough. Judge?
- I don't have any other questions. - [Judge Levy] Just two.
So again, Ms. Steel,
on your testimony a few moments ago,
you said that the deal was that
you were gonna buy the machines,
they were gonna lease them from you
because they could not buy them.
Why was that?
Um, they had some, um, legal problems in their past.
[Judge Levy] Right. And what legal problems did they have?
That they had felonies.
[Judge Levy] Who told you that?
I knew Molly had a felony
because, uh, when she went to work,
and I got to know her,
that was not a secret.
I didn't know about Dan
until much, much later.
[Judge Levy] What felonies did they tell you
that they had been convicted of?
[Sandra] Um, I don't know what Dan was convicted of.
Um, Molly was in, I believe,
for, uh, drug abuse.
- [Judge Levy] Was that right? - Yes.
And is that right, sir?
[Daniel] What?
[Judge Levy] What? About the history.
- About what she just testified. - I ran over a cop.
- [Judge Levy] I'm sorry? - I ran over a cop.
The police will take your charge and the DA will prosecute it.
And a jury will convict them.
And you will protect the next person from being victimized.
- You understand? - Yes.
[Judge Levy] I got nothing further.
We're gonna retire to deliberate. Thank you both.
You can take your seat, please.
[Byrd] Court now stands in recess.
Parties are excused.
She gives them $9,000 to open a game room--
to buy slot machines to open a game room,
there's no evidence that they purchased the slot machines.
They did nothing that
- was necessary in order to... - Do you believe those pictures?
- Uh, you know, for some reason... - [Judge DiMango laughs]
... they just--they just didn't grab me, Patricia.
They just didn't grab me.
You know, if you wanna open a game room
in this jurisdiction, at a minimum,
you pay $1,000 to the sheriff, you get a permit.
According to them,
they're all proceeding with this opening,
they found a space, no lease, by the way,
and the landlord just shuts them down
and the mysterious slot machines
are in storage somewhere.
I mean, what a load of nonsense.
I think she trusted them and they scammed her.
I mean, to me, it couldn't be more clear.
Oh, no. I totally agree with you.
- Nothing that they said rang true. - [Judge Levy] Reasonable.
You know, I think that your position here about the prosecution
is that they would look into this as elder abuse,
which they do take very seriously,
especially now in Texas involving these machines and all--
which are also an issue of sensitivity.
Bottom line is, she's entitled to her $9,000 back
and they found somebody they could scam.
That's the sad part.
[Judge Levy] I agree. I would just ask though,
when you give the verdict,
make sure that she understands
just because there's a verdict in her favor
does not lessen her social responsibility
of doing what she said that she was gonna do,
which is go and file that charge.
- I think that's a very good point. - I appreciate that.
Okay, we've got a verdict.
Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
- Thank you, Byrd. - Uh-hmm.
We have deliberated
and we've reached a unanimous verdict.
Here we are.
We've got a witness
who talks about running over a cop
without missing a beat.
The mild note of menace in it--
I don't know if that was intended to be threatening.
We have a defendant
who signs an affidavit and says,
"Oh, but she was so scared of you in that bar."
You just stalked her and stalked her
into giving a version of events
that's completely at odds
with what she's testified to today.
And that picture is why because you trusted her,
and you thought you had a friendship.
You were taken advantage of.
You were in fact scammed.
And I wanna point something out to you, Ms. Steel,
when we were in deliberations,
Judge Levy asked me to remind you
that you will do what you said you would do
in order to ensure that others aren't also victimized
by this sort of scandalous conduct.
Judgment in this case is in your favor for $9,000.
- Good luck to you, ma'am. - [gavel bangs]
Thank you.
[Byrd] This case is now concluded.
Parties are excused.
You may step out.
We didn't scam her or anybody else for that matter.
The truth prevailed.
She wanted to be a part of it and we wanted her to be.
Uh, I'm sorry that I was taken advantage of.
The judges worded the situation
to where it played in her favor
like she's an innocent old lady. She's not.
No. I never saw anything,
even any proof that the machines existed.
As far as scamming somebody,
I lost way more money than she did.
I'm sorry that the friendship
I thought we had wasn't real.
I mean, it breaks my heart that we're not friends anymore,
but obviously we weren't friends to begin with.
Makes me sad.
Business and friends don't mix.
[announcer] Have you been scammed?
Let the majority rule in your favor
on Tribunal Justice.
Find us on social media.
["Ride of the Valkyries" plays]