Episode 1: Steve Wrong Number Boy

Jana G. Pruden (0:06)

Well let's go back to the beginning. How does this start?

Sherry Duncan (0:13)

With him?

Honestly? Wrong number. And it was Darcy. He was like, oh, this isn't Darcy? And that's how it started.

Give me a second. I'll tell you exactly how it started. Although I will tell you. Steve, wrong number, boy.

There's a lot to scroll back to.

It just came up saying, hey bud, how's it going? And I said, oops, no name to this text. Not sure who it is. It's Steve. Then he said, sorry, maybe I mixed up some numbers. And I said, not to be rude. But I know two Steve's. It's no problem. Is this Darcy? And I said, no, it's not. Who is this then? And I said, this is Sherry. Mistake number. Well, by now already, two.

And then he said, okay, sorry for the mix up. At least I accidentally texted a female. I said, laughing my ass off. Yes, Regina girl, you're looking for? And he said, I assume you're an adult since you go to Mavado's. And I said, God, yes. How young are you? And he said, I was looking for a guy at work, haha, couldn't read my own writing. I'm in Regina too. And I'm 50 I said, okay, not under 19, laughing my ass off. You made me think teenager, not sure why. He says, oh, weird. And I said, well, hopefully you find the right number. I'm not a teen either. He says, I have sons that are just past teenagers. I probably text like them.

Tina Foote (1:54)

I just received a text message, and it was something along the lines of, hey, are you still doing drywall?

John. I'm not sure the name, but something along that. And I just said, I'm sorry you have the wrong number.

Patricia Nicol (2:15)

It was a wrong number. It was something like, hey, Rick, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, this is not Rick, so you're not getting the person that you're looking for. And he says, oh, okay.

I'm sorry about that. And I said, that's quite all right. Have a great day. And that would be the way I'd answer any wrong number. You know, have a great day. That's just the way you are polite.

SPEAKER_6 (2:37)

It's a random fucking text message. The thing of playing it out, that he was looking for a drywaller.

And because of how long I was, I decided to respond.

Tina Foote (2:50)

And it just snowballed from there, where, oh, I hope I didn't message a child.

SPEAKER_6 (2:58)

I hope I didn't accidentally text a kid.

Bridget Sear (3:00)

And I was like, yeah, you got the wrong number.

And then he started talking to me, well, who is this? And, oh, you're not a kid, are you? And I was like, no, I'm not a kid.

Tina Foote (3:10)

He said, oh, no, I'm a mature woman.

Bridget Sear (3:13)

He was being friendly.

And then he was like, I'm in Regina. Where are you? Weird, because I'm in Regina, too. He could have been from anywhere.

Patricia Nicol (3:23)

And so then, a few days later, we just kept on texting back and forth. And he says, hey, would you like to get together? And I said, I said, sure.

Jana G. Pruden (3:42)

A few years back, one of my friends sent me a message on Facebook. She said she'd been keeping a low profile. She said, if I told you why, you wouldn't believe it. But if you want to hear a sordid story about the Regina Police Service, let me know and I will fill you in.

I spent seven years in Regina covering court and crime for the local newspaper. I wrote a lot of stories about the Regina Police. So I obviously did want to hear this sordid story. I said I was all ears. And she said, buckle in. The story my friend told me was shocking. It was disturbing. Honestly, it was almost unbelievable. The kind of story that sounds more like a movie plot. Or maybe the subject of a true crime podcast.

This is the story of what happened to my friend.

You'll get to hear from some of them.

Bridget Sear (4:51)

Someone needs to do something about it.

SPEAKER_8 (4:55)

Because they need to hear this.

Jana G. Pruden (4:57)

And Patricia.

Patricia Nicol (4:58)

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to swear, but it's a mindfuck.

Jana G. Pruden (5:02)

And Sherry.

Sherry Duncan (5:03)

Because it was like Dateline, but it was me.

Jana G. Pruden (5:07)

And Megan.

SPEAKER_3 (5:08)

And I hate him so much.

Jana G. Pruden (5:12)