J.D. Method
Real Name: Jerome David Method
Aliases: J.D. Method, Jerry
Wanted For: Fraud, Theft, Forgery
Missing Since: August 1991
Case[]
Details: Forty-five-year-old J.D. Method is a smooth-talking swindler who has been bilking victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars since the late 1970s. Most con artists play on a basic human instinct – the desire of their victims to make a quick, easy buck. However, the more cunning practitioners of fraud, like Method, prey not on greed, but on emotion. Three women who fell in love with Method discovered the hard way that when it comes to the confidence game, he is a master.
Peggy Peterson, a single mother and businesswoman from the Golden, Colorado, area, met Method in 1990. She had innocently responded to his ad in the personal columns of a local newspaper. During their first date, he told her that he had served in Vietnam. She says that he was a very charming, nice, and fun person. He also had professional credentials.
Linda Weaver, a divorced mother of three, got to know Method in 1987 through a telephone dating service. After two weeks of phone calls, they began to see each other. She says that he is witty and extremely well-versed in everything. He knows the answer to just about everything. He is intelligent and could talk about any subject. She enjoyed his company for a while.
Brian Terrett, Public Information Director for the Jefferson County D.A.’s Office, says that Method basically interviewed the women he met. He would talk to them, find out what they were about, their idiosyncrasies, what they liked, what they did not like, and what their style of life was. Terrett says that during their investigation, they found out about Method’s ability to get his victims to extend their credit through the use of credit cards. He convinced them to get not just one, but several cards. He even convinced them to get a lot of the same kind of cards. He then bought them gifts, which he paid for with their cards.
In Peggy’s case, Method spent several weeks carefully baiting his trap until she trusted him implicitly. During a visit to a car lot, he asked the owner about a used Camaro. The owner told him that the car was $1,500, and that he would “hold it down” for him for $500 down. Method told Peggy that if he had $500 cash, he could buy the car that day, sell it the next day for $1,000 profit, and have $1,000 in his pocket.
Method executed the scam so well that Peggy decided to invest without prompting. She says that she had already “survived” him doing several car deals over the weeks that they had been dating. So, she wrote him a check for $500 and told him that they should get the car. Method tore the check up and said, “I wouldn’t take money from you.” He then said, “It’s not a matter of the money; it’s playing the game.” She did not think anything else about it at the time.
The next day, Method called Peggy, saying that he needed her help that afternoon. He told her that his uncle was seriously ill and required immediate surgery. He explained that his funds were tied up with investors and feigned great embarrassment at having to ask her for a loan. She says she had already made it clear the day before that she could let him have $500. She felt she had to help him out.
Another victim, “Amelia,” met Method in August 1990. One month later, her son decided to sell his Mustang and buy a pickup truck. Method saw his opening and quickly talked his way into the deal. He told Amelia that he could sell the car and, for an additional $4,000, make a great buy on a new pickup. Amelia and her son signed the car’s title over to Method. They also gave him $4,000 in cash.
Amelia told Method that she had some questions about the car and was feeling anxious about the whole situation since she did not know him very well. He said to her, “How could you possibly doubt me?” He claimed that he was an honest, caring, and wonderful person. At some point during the conversation, she said something to the effect of, “For all I know, you could be a con artist.” His immediate response was, “Amelia, you could be a con artist for all I know.”
Unfortunately, the end result for Amelia and her son was that they had no truck, no money, and no Mustang. Terrett says that Method starts with asking for a little amount. Then, the amount would get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Eventually, it would get into the tens of thousands of dollars.
In Linda’s case, it was two months before Method began to ask for large sums of money. Specifically, he asked for a “small” loan of $15,000 to help with his business. She told him that she did not have that much money. He asked her to do it “for you and me.” She reluctantly agreed to give him the money. She says it happened so fast that she did not realize what he did to her until later. She says he “hit and ran” and was very good at it. She believes that he does this to all of his victims.
Three months after Method met Peggy, he played out the same scene with her. He said he needed to borrow about $9,600 from her for a trip. She told him that that seemed like a lot of money. He said that it was “chili beans” compared to what his assets were. She says his rationale was always that he was going to pay her back “next week,” that he would have his money “next week.” She says that night, she was just sleeping soundly when, at about 2:30am, she woke up, sat up in bed, and realized that she had been scammed.
Amelia says that she knew Method for eleven months. During that time, he extorted over $70,000 from her. In her case, he also waited three months before he went for the “big money.” He asked her to take an equity loan out on her home. He told her it would only be a short-term one. He said that if it would make her feel more comfortable, he had a promissory note. He told her it was a legally binding contract that ensured her that he would pay her back the exact sum.
Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Sasak says the problem with Method’s promissory notes was that he would fill them out backwards. He would make himself the payee and the victim the maker. As a result, when one read the note, it said that the victim owed him the amount listed, instead of the other way around.
Terrett says that by looking at the timeline of the cases, he realized that as Method was starting a relationship, he would either be in the middle of or at the end of another one. Peggy says that Method has built his life on lies for so long that he does not even know the difference between the truth and his lies anymore. She thinks he probably believes all the “glop” that he shovels off on women.
In August 1991, Method fled Colorado before charges were filed against him. He is wanted for two counts of second-degree forgery and four counts of felony theft.
Extra Notes:
- This case first aired on the October 21, 1992 episode.
- It was also featured on A Current Affair.
- “Amelia” was filmed in silhouette and asked that her real name not be used.
Method after his 1992 arrest
Results: Captured - In summer 1992, Sue Stewart of Lebanon, Oregon, met “Shawn Pelton” through a personal ad in the newspaper. He told her he was a business consultant specializing in refurbishing old or historical houses. He said that he could get her a new mobile home for less than the wholesale cost if she would let him handle the paperwork. She agreed and gave him $1,875 in cash as a partial down payment.
Pelton told Sue that he was going to order the mobile home later that day. She later learned that no mobile home had been ordered under either of their names. Suspicious, she called the police on August 25. The detectives learned that he was living in Beaverton, Oregon, under another name. They staked out his home and arrested him when he returned on September 1. He gave them yet another name, “Shawn Dorfmeier,” and had identification to go along with it.
Police searched the Cadillac that “Dorfmeier” was driving and found six briefcases and a large footlocker. In the footlocker, they found information that confirmed he was actually Method. Checking his name, they realized he was wanted in Colorado. Inside his house, authorities seized several more briefcases containing papers and documents that may have been used by him to perpetrate his scams.
Police believe that dozens of others were victimized by Method in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. It is not known if any other victims came forward. Method was returned to Colorado and convicted on three counts of theft. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison and has since been released.
Links:
- Suspect arrested in theft from a Lebanon woman - September 3, 1992
- Oregon police pick up fugitive Colorado gigolo - September 4, 1992
- Lebanon woman stops suspected con man - September 9, 1992
- “Current Affair” to air Lebanon swindle - September 15, 1992
- Stewart relives experience for “A Current Affair” - September 16, 1992
- Former Owensboro woman to play part of victim on TV's “Unsolved Mysteries” - September 17, 1992
- People v. Method - July 31, 1995