But doctors found that Josh suffered from a variety of mental illnesses and disorders, so prosecutors dropped those charges and Josh was released into his mother's care and ordered to get mental health treatment. Josh was initially charged with impersonating a government official and three counts of attempted bank robbery. And the third was that Josh was totally convinced that he was working for them. He was 26 and living with his mother and grandmother. The second was that Josh was not working for the CIA. The first was that Theo and Josh were the same person. The police drove down there, and in an instant, three things became clear. The day came, but Theo never showed.Įventually, the encryption on Theo's phone number was broken and police traced the phone to a man called Josh Brady, who lived in a ranch house 100 miles south of Washington, D.C. Theo would be wearing an American flag pin on his black suit. It would be at the courthouse during Herson's arraignment hearing. Theo also called Washington area criminal defense lawyers, saying he was with the CIA and he needed to hire civilian counsel to defend Herson.
Theo demanded a face-to-face meeting with the detective's superiors.
But it seemed such a strange covert operation. Vickery did deal with CIA people from time to time. After all, this was Virginia, CIA country. He sounded authoritative and exasperated and explained that he was with the CIA.ĭetective Vickery was truly confused. He demanded to know what the police had done with Herson. And then, six hours after Herson was arrested, Detective Vickery got a call from a number he didn't recognize. The officer in charge, a veteran detective named John Vickery, was skeptical. It asks police that, upon receipt of the letter, to assist in the operation. Theo had emailed Herson a letter on Defense Intelligence Agency letterhead, describing the bank operation, titled "Operation Down Strike," an operation involving civilian volunteers who would be immune from civil and criminal action. So there was Herson at the police station, facing 25 years in prison and crying. He gave them Herson's name and address, which is how the spree ended. So even if they had waited for the money, they'd have had to run out with it in their arms.Īt the last bank, the cousin just stood there while the others ran away. They were all as hopeless as Herson, running out of the banks before anyone could give them any money. Herson made four more attempts over the next two days, co-opting his cousin, his brother-in-law, and a friend. Theo was on Carolina's cell phone throughout it all, telling Herson which bank to go to next and to not worry. Within minutes, the area was filled with police cars and a police helicopter. The teller asked Herson to wait for a few moments. My family is being held hostage and a bomb will go off at 4:30 if you don't help.
#My secret identity my old flame plus#
Plus Herson was going to be well paid- $25,000 if he managed to get money out of the banks, $2,500 if not.Īt the first bank, Herson handed them a note which read, "I need your help.
#My secret identity my old flame full#
He said he may be able to get Herson a full time government job. He seemed to know all about Herson's past. Herson had plenty of reasons to go along with it. Tom Schoenberg is a legal affairs reporter and he covered the story for Bloomberg Businessweek. But things took a strange turn when they sat him down for questioning. He was a 21-year-old guy named Herson Torres. The entire spree lasted four days, five attempted robberies in all. He'd stand there, demand money, suddenly look panicky, then run out the door. The man who carried them out was a terrible bank robber. Keep that in mind as you hear this story, which starts with a spate of attempted bank robberies in northern Virginia in June 2012. These kinds of covert operations happen quite a lot. But the operation fell apart when they lost track of them and two turned up at the murder scene of a US Border Patrol agent. The idea was to track the guns into the Mexican cartels. Just a few years ago, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was telling gun shops to sell weapons to drug smugglers. The prostitutes would spike the unsuspecting johns' drinks with acid while CIA agents sat behind a one-way mirror to see if they would blurt out secrets. Sometimes the government stages crimes, like in the 1950s when the CIA was experimenting with LSD as a truth serum and they set up a fake brothel in New York City.