California's public school enrollment decline was SEVEN times higher than projected

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And we continue at two five in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show, Mister Randy Wings in Culver City.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: Well, the poll just dropped. This is the third poll that was commissioned by the California Democratic Party in an effort to get the lower polling candidates to exit the race. So unlike all the other polls, this is tracking the same amount of people from March seventeenth to the last one was April fifth, to now we have April seventeenth. And here is what's really interesting. The bakerya bump is now in two poles. No oh, so this poll shows, of course Steve Hilton in first place with sixteen percent of the vote. He was at fourteen percent in the last one. Bianco is flat fourteen now fourteen two weeks ago. But Sarah on April fifth was in four percent. Now he is at thirteen percent, tied with Tom Steyer.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: Well, I guess there is such a thing as a Backerria bump.

00:01:07
Speaker 2: In fifth place is Kat Porter, who started this poll on March seventeenth at ten then dipped down to seven. Now she's back to ten.

00:01:21
Speaker 1: You know what Lewis told me? Uh oh, he said the Bakerria bump is something that goes on in the bathroom of a disco in Acapulco.

00:01:33
Speaker 2: Okay, that's not too bad. Mayheon saw a much smaller bump. He was at four percent last time. Now he's at five percent. Vira Gosa has gotten what can only be described as the John Phillips Show anti bump. He was at four percent on May fifth, then he did this show, and now he's at two percent. Don't blame me, it's right. You could also blame John coblt. They made that a whole live event. Betty Yee, who just dropped out, was at one percent. Tony Thurmond had a little tiny bump because he was at less than one percent, and now he's back at a solid one. But here's what's the best part about this poll. This poll did not take Swalwell's name off the ballot, so they asked respondents. After everything that happened about Swalwell, Swallow, who started this survey on March seventeenth at ten, got up to twelve, is now at one.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: He will generate thousands of votes when the votes are actually tallied.

00:02:37
Speaker 2: One percent of people who responded to this poll, who they've been tracking for the last month said yep, Swawell still my guy.

00:02:47
Speaker 1: Now that's commitment.

00:02:49
Speaker 2: But of course, the big takeaway here is that now we have multiple polls showing that the Swalwell vote is almost exclusively going to Javier Bisera.

00:03:02
Speaker 1: Why nobody knows, okay, but this is the problem for Democrats. If the small Well vote goes to someone who was in single digits and not someone who is already at the top, you still have the same problem, which is you could get locked out of the November ballot.

00:03:21
Speaker 2: Well, unless all the things that Michael Trhio says are about to come out come out in the next week or so, scrub it well.

00:03:30
Speaker 1: The rumors are that Katie Porter is going to be the next one to have her time in the barrel?

00:03:36
Speaker 2: And how many times a day are you clicking refreshed to see if it today's the day?

00:03:42
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, though, who out there is voting for Katie Porter? The only people I can think of who that presentation would appeal to are really angry Karen's.

00:03:56
Speaker 2: Sorry for the noise, I'm cutting carrots.

00:03:59
Speaker 1: And what percentage of the overall population do angry karens make? You should type that into groc you want me to, I'd be surprised. You know what the thing is.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: AI will try to give you an answer, even when it's nonsensical. Go ahead and see what it says. Go ahead and type into your little grock bought the percentage of California voters that would be described as Karens.

00:04:27
Speaker 1: Okay, I typed in, what percent of California's population do angry Karens make? Now?

00:04:34
Speaker 2: Is GROC going to just find you the amount of Californians that have the name Karen?

00:04:39
Speaker 1: Okay, it says zero porn zero because angry Kearns isn't a measurable population. It's just internet slang. No, okay, let me rephrase that.

00:04:54
Speaker 2: All right, We're gonna try it again.

00:04:56
Speaker 1: What percent of California's population is made up by angry, violent, unhinged, profane slovenly women. Let's see what grodcasts to say about that one. You see, you gotta rephrase it sometimes, Randy, to make it more accurate.

00:05:33
Speaker 2: You have to be really specific right here.

00:05:37
Speaker 1: Okay, there is no measurable demographic category called angry, violent, unhinged, profraying, slovenly women in California or anywhere else. The vast majority of women in California are normal, law abiding and functional.

00:05:56
Speaker 2: Did you see that Katie Porter and Bianco got into it on Twitter over the weekend. When is she not fighting with someone?

00:06:06
Speaker 1: What do you think she's like in traffic?

00:06:09
Speaker 2: Oh? Probably louder than most of us. Get out of my shot. But let me give you the back and forth here and then we can move on. So Katie Porter puts a post trying to outdo Styres, saying the day I'd take office, we abolish state cooperation with ICE. Bianco says, what a dangerous take. Gavin Newsom's refusal to allow and law enforcement to work with ICE puts all Californians in danger. At Katie Porter, happy to walk you through this. Katie Porter then says, I'd rather you walk me through what kind of industrial strength mouthwash you used to get the taste of Trump's boots out of your mouth now that he's dumped you for Steve Hilton, to which Bianca replies, bless your heart. I guess they should thank you for sparing me from the mashed potatoes.

00:06:58
Speaker 3: I'm pulling in to the bakery.

00:07:02
Speaker 1: Speaking of industrial strength mouthwash, We're not going to play that interview with that listener whose buddy took her home from the bar.

00:07:10
Speaker 2: We've played it times. You can search for it on the podcast and listen to it whenever you'd like.

00:07:18
Speaker 1: It's interesting that the phrase industrial strength mouthwash made me think of that.

00:07:24
Speaker 2: Here's a fun one. Did you see that? Over the same weekend, Robert Garcia makes a big post that California should ban the top two primary system, and then Robert Garcia endorses Katie Porter.

00:07:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, what is with that relationship?

00:07:41
Speaker 2: He was her only friend.

00:07:44
Speaker 1: Can you imagine the two of them together, Robert Garcia and Katie Porter. It's got to be like Whalen and Madam. All right, So California's school population is in free fall. We knew that, but the population is actually decreasing by a lot more than we originally thought.

00:08:10
Speaker 2: The State of California projected a certain amount of enrollment decline, and then you have to budget accordingly, realizing that while you're going to be getting much less funding. The real number turned out to be seven times higher than they expected. Of enrollment decline, kids not going to school in California seven times. For more on this, we got a KTVU Fox two in the Bay.

00:08:46
Speaker 4: There are difference that we're seeing happening in public education. There are fewer children attending California schools right now, and the drop in enrollment this year is seven times greater than what the state originally predicted the California Department of.

00:08:58
Speaker 2: And of course this news comes out just days after pretty much every single teachers union, including UTLA, got a big fat raise that money.

00:09:08
Speaker 1: Well, why does this surprise anyone? Because families need affordable single family homes. If you're having a bunch of kids and you have I don't know five six people in your family, you don't want to live in a mixed use building above a pfchains. You want to live in a house with a backyard and a car and a garage and those sorts of things. And the state of California doesn't want people to have those things. Well, that's what families with young kids want. So if you make it impossible for them to get that, they're going to move to Texas because you can get it there.

00:09:48
Speaker 2: Well, and the families that can afford to live here, they can all. If you can afford a house in San Jose, you can also afford private school, and you're probably putting your kids.

00:09:58
Speaker 1: In that one hundred percent.

00:10:01
Speaker 4: The California Department of Education released a new enrollment data set this week and the education nonprofit ed source crunched those numbers. Will turn to our Ali Rasmus's life to explain what ed source found.

00:10:12
Speaker 5: Ali, Well, they found that the problem of declining enrollment in California's schools is a real problem, and it appears to be accelerating.

00:10:22
Speaker 2: You know, the What does it tell you that the people that put together our budget can't do math?

00:10:28
Speaker 1: Everything you need to know.

00:10:29
Speaker 5: California Department of Education released new raw data just yesterday about enrollment, and the nonprofit education news site ed source did an analysis of it. And here's what they found. For the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six school years. So this academic year, the number of students TK through twelfth grade enrolled in California public schools dropped one point three percent. Now, that may not sound like a lot, but it amounts to seventy four thousand, nine hundred and sixty fewer students across the state.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: Okay, so nearly seventy five thousand fewer kids in this state than they thought would be when they already projected for enrollment decline. And if you want to do some fun math, here seventy five thousand kids by let's just round down and say we spend twenty five thousand per student. That is a loss to the budget of one point eight billion dollars.

00:11:22
Speaker 1: And think about this. Enrollment is up in certain parts of the state. The Central Valley, it's up, the Inland Empire, it's up, Orange County, it's up. So these numbers mean there is a free fall and enrollment in places like Oakland and Los Angeles and San Francisco.

00:11:40
Speaker 5: Fewer students across the state.

00:11:43
Speaker 2: San Jose saying a huge decline in enrollment, but they're actually doing what most school districts won't do, and they're closing schools. San Jose, the Land of the Dinks.

00:11:55
Speaker 5: Fewer students across the state. And it's not just in public schools, according to that ED source andallis enrollment at California's K through twelve. Private schools also saw a decline of six point six percent in enrollment, and the number of kids registered as homeschooled also dropped three point seven percent.

00:12:13
Speaker 2: Every single category of a student is leaving.

00:12:17
Speaker 1: And don't forget it, wasn't long ago, Randy, we did the story. We're enrollment at California State University and University of California is down.

00:12:26
Speaker 2: The only one that's really up is California Community Colleges. But that's because ai chatbots are getting student loans and going there.

00:12:35
Speaker 1: That's true.

00:12:36
Speaker 6: The big serve surprise to us was the State Department of Finance thought predicted ten thousand students. The state would see a ten thousand student drop. And just so you know, there's the state has more than the FUS.

00:12:49
Speaker 2: Just LAUSD was sixteen thousand.

00:12:52
Speaker 1: That's one. That's huge.

00:12:54
Speaker 6: The state has more than five million public school students, So ten thousand drop, it was seventy five thousand drop that and that was more than double the decline last year.

00:13:07
Speaker 2: What does that tell you about what the twenty thirty census is going to show for the state of California.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: It's going to be brutal because we're expected to lose between three and five congressional districts. If enrollment is down by this much, we're probably looking at five, maybe even six from the prior year.

00:13:27
Speaker 6: So what we're seeing is an acceleration of the decline.

00:13:35
Speaker 5: Now some of the reasons for that decline include demographic trends. Families have been having fewer children overall in the past decade, not just in California, but across the country.

00:13:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you've ever seen the opening of that movie Idiocracy, where only the dumb people are having ten kids, we're there. Well, the people with kids just aren't sticking around. If you look at the people I went to high school with. If we were to have a high school reunion, we might as well do it in Texas because that's where they are.

00:14:05
Speaker 5: California, but across the country, but also part of the equation, according to analysts, increased immigration enforcement this year. The number of people migrating to California has dropped in the past year of the Trump administration, and many immigrant families still here are afraid to send their kids to school.

00:14:21
Speaker 1: Now this overall, Yeah, that's the other factor about this is that well, LAUSD saw a huge decline because a big portion of the population at LAUSD are kids in the country illegally. Well, we shouldn't be paying for them anyway.

00:14:36
Speaker 5: Now, this overall decline and enrollment is a trend that's expected to continue in the years ahead. Parents we spoke to this morning. We're concerned about it.

00:14:45
Speaker 7: It's a big deal because actually our class, the major issue here was class sized, So our class is actually too big, and I see, like, I don't know, I'm just worried that if we get fewer school, fewer kids, it's it's just less funding all around.

00:14:59
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, wouldn't that mean then the class size is smaller because there's no kids in it.

00:15:05
Speaker 1: You want it to be smaller, you don't want it to be non existent. And right now it's headed there.

00:15:10
Speaker 2: These trends are only going to go in one direction. There's going to be some really hard conversations that had to be had about closing schools, about merging schools, and then hey, take that land and turn that into housing.

00:15:21
Speaker 1: Well just think about this. You don't have any kids. I don't have any kids. If you had kids, would you allow them to go to the public schools in your neighborhood?

00:15:31
Speaker 2: No, I'm lausd.

00:15:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, under no circumstances would you allow that to happen. So you'd either put them in private school or you'd move.

00:15:41
Speaker 7: So then there's even gonna be less resources, I mean.

00:15:44
Speaker 8: Or taxes aren't dropping either though, right, So bond measures and things like that. So I would say the.

00:15:50
Speaker 2: Sorry, we're paying more and more and more. We're paying pretty damn high compared to other states. We're not getting any kind of results. In shocker, people are taking their families and going somewhere else.

00:16:02
Speaker 1: People vote with their feet before they vote at the ballot box.

00:16:05
Speaker 8: Expenditures are going up, less resources. That's probably the thing that's the most concerning.

00:16:15
Speaker 4: Now.

00:16:15
Speaker 5: California public schools are funded based on average daily attendance of students, so fewer students means less money for schools in school districts, and of course that has a big impact not just on the districts themselves, but on local jobs, local economies, and surrounding communities.

00:16:31
Speaker 2: You know what this means. This means that we're going to go into the next fiscal year with nearly every major school district having fewer kids than they thought they were going to have at the same time that they all signed the sweetheart deals with all the unions to give everybody raises.

00:16:47
Speaker 1: Think about that for a second. The product that they offer is awful. The test scores are awful. We know that many of these schools are not in fact safe places. The teachers union want to defund the school police, and they're getting raised after rais after rais after raise. So the cost to taxpayers, even though there are fewer students, isn't going down, it's continuing to go up. This model is unsustainable.

00:17:16
Speaker 5: Live in Dublin, Ali Rasmus KTVU Fox two moves.

00:17:19
Speaker 2: There you go the headline and something you should think about on the way home.

00:17:24
Speaker 1: Today.

00:17:25
Speaker 2: California anticipated a enrollment decline of about ten thousand students. It was actually seventy five thousand.

00:17:35
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two. Is the telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com and Randy Ear monitoring the mail bag. Brad writes in at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com with the subject line at school enrollment my mystery decline explained. Lower enrollment is caused by the score of billionaires leaving the state along with their average three thousand, six hundred and ninety eight point four children. How many kids does Elon have now? Like fifteen he's right up there with Sean Camp.

00:18:19
Speaker 2: Oh boy, that whole generation, by the way, is going to be insane.

00:18:26
Speaker 1: Of Elon's kids.

00:18:28
Speaker 2: Yes, the children of billionaires are even crazier than the billionaires themselves.

00:18:33
Speaker 1: Oh My and Randy. With the end of the show about a half hour away, if you want to continue listening to us after we sign off at three, that's easy to do.

00:18:42
Speaker 2: All you got to do is search for the John Phillips Show wherever you get your podcast. That could be the Apple podcast app, iHeart Spotify, search for the John Phillip Show, hit subscribe. You could download all the episodes. You could do a Google on the YouTube. You could get the FREEKABC app or the FREEKSFO app, or how about the KMJ now app because we're on the big KMJ in the Central Valley Saturdays at noon. So many different ways to listen live to this show, either on this AM signal that you're listening to or with the apps. You can listen wherever you want, and with podcasting you can listen whenever you want.

00:19:16
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number. What eight hundred two two two five two two two and right now it's time to open up the California crime Blodder.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: It's happened yet again.

00:19:31
Speaker 1: Nice see, time for the California crime Blodder, and this edition involves Justin Bieber.

00:19:42
Speaker 2: All right, this is something that I'm surprised hasn't happened before. But this last weekend was Coachella Weekend two. Before that was Coachella Weekend one. And Coachella is a massive undertaking a huge festival. So if you are somebody that provides different kinds of products and services in the area, you're probably used to getting calls, Like if you own a vehicle company and someone needs to rent four of your dune buggies to go back and forth from the venue to their private villa, you're like, well, that sounds great. Here's the problem. Somebody called one of those vehicle rental companies just pretending that he worked for Justin Bieber. Uh oh, and then the guy dropped off the dune buggies before the deposit check cleared.

00:20:33
Speaker 1: Because you figure Justin Bieber he's good for it.

00:20:36
Speaker 2: And then he's tracking because he's got tracking devices on the dune buggies. And instead of going to the polo grounds where Coachella is they're flying down the ten Freeway in the other direction. That's the setup for the most Coachella crime story you've ever heard of. Here is KTLA.

00:21:02
Speaker 4: Therer difference that we're seeing happening in public education. There are fewer.

00:21:06
Speaker 1: All a scam and the business owner says a person posing as Bieber's staff requested four of those electric buggy rentals.

00:21:14
Speaker 2: But apparently if you want anything, just call and say you work for the Bebes.

00:21:20
Speaker 1: Works like a charm. But soon those buggies were on their way to the southern border, leaving the company out hundreds of thousands of dollars. KTLA's Jillian Smuckler is live in Hollywood with details.

00:21:32
Speaker 9: Hi you guys, Yeah, I do want to make no there is no confirmation that Justin Bieber or his team had anything to do with this, but the owner now.

00:21:39
Speaker 2: They pretended to be the Bebe.

00:21:43
Speaker 1: A case of mistaken identity, as they say.

00:21:45
Speaker 9: The owner tells us that scammer used his name to make his last minute request seem legitimate, and that's ultimately what led to four of his vehicles being stolen.

00:21:56
Speaker 2: He was in Bieber's riter that he needed green Eminem's and he needed four dune buggies.

00:22:08
Speaker 10: For one Newport Beach business. It's definitely too late for.

00:22:12
Speaker 1: Sorry, oh boy, not acceptable in a market as big as Lachella weekend. These little babies are going to.

00:22:28
Speaker 10: Work four electric Moke's gone after a scam tied to someone claiming to work for Justin Bieber at Coachella.

00:22:36
Speaker 3: The night before, we get a phone call for a last manor request for four cars to go to Coachella for the headline nerves, which is not a out of the ordinary request at all, that we've done it.

00:22:50
Speaker 2: And it's got to be so so frustrating to be like an on site PA for these events the day of when talent asks for stuff like that the day of.

00:22:59
Speaker 1: Oh and they're all ridiculous. There's a handful of them that are nice people who are well adjusted, and the rest of them they want the dune buggies with twenty minutes notice.

00:23:14
Speaker 3: Out of the ordinary request at all, that we've done it.

00:23:17
Speaker 10: In a lot of times, the collar claims the cars were to shuttle the pop Star between a private villa in the festival grounds.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: And I didn't want to leave the beavers high and dry, and never.

00:23:30
Speaker 2: He was just looking to help out the beab.

00:23:34
Speaker 3: It's admirable, and I didn't want to leave the Beavers high and dry and never thought this would happen.

00:23:40
Speaker 10: But there were warning signs, including a twenty thousand dollars deposit that never came through.

00:23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's your first and probably only red flag that you need to know that this isn't legit, that when you're renting vehicles from a private supplier, they don't have the deposit.

00:23:59
Speaker 1: Okay, here's something else though, that frequently happens in this world. Frequently, many of these stars will stiff vendors because they feel like they can. They feel like, okay, you can go out and you can say that you rented your dune buggies to pop Star sell and so so therefore, since you're gonna use my name to increase your business, I shouldn't have to bay you for the use of those dune buggies.

00:24:27
Speaker 3: I didn't think anything of it because he was scatterbrained and he that's normal, and he.

00:24:32
Speaker 2: Said, yeah, see, the guy pretending to be the PA that's putting all this together is like, yeah, I don't know what happened. They supposed to send you the check, and I just I'm gonna need them or Beaver's gonna kill me.

00:24:44
Speaker 3: Said his wire got out a little late. We should have it in the morning.

00:24:48
Speaker 10: The cars were delivered a Palm Desert, but just hours later something wasn't right that.

00:24:52
Speaker 3: We have a moving vehicle and you know, going down the tent the tent freeway west, they.

00:25:00
Speaker 1: Are not Wait, the festival's east, Yeah, but La County is where all the criminals live.

00:25:07
Speaker 3: Moving vehicle and you know, going down the tent to the ten Freeway west, I realized they're not going thirty miles an hour. They're on a flatbed.

00:25:15
Speaker 10: When Marta called the renter, the man this was.

00:25:18
Speaker 2: Well planned and well organized.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, this thief knew what he was doing.

00:25:23
Speaker 10: When Marta called the renter, the man, claiming to be with Bieber, insisted everything was fine.

00:25:29
Speaker 3: What are you talking about? I go What am I talking about? Is my car is going down the ten freeway.

00:25:33
Speaker 7: What do you Oh?

00:25:33
Speaker 2: He left his cigarettes in La We have to go pick him up.

00:25:39
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be cigarettes that they were going to get the ten freeway.

00:25:43
Speaker 3: What are you talking about?

00:25:44
Speaker 10: Marta says. He immediately called Siegpe, trying to stop the vehicles before they reached the border.

00:25:49
Speaker 3: I was tracking him down the two fifteen to the fifteen Escandido.

00:25:53
Speaker 2: This is like the only time there's no traffic on any of these roads is when someone's trying to smuggle dune buggies out of the country.

00:26:00
Speaker 1: You should have seen what the traffic looked like this morning. Oh boy, I was tracking.

00:26:04
Speaker 3: Him down the two fifteen to the fifteen Escandido. I go, they're headed towards the border. Stop these cars.

00:26:09
Speaker 10: Stop this train, but it was too late.

00:26:11
Speaker 3: I watched those cars go across the border into Tijuana.

00:26:15
Speaker 1: The GPS You're never see in those dune buggies again, buddy, Oh no, they're already stripped. They're already stripped for parts, and the hall are probably sitting in the river.

00:26:29
Speaker 10: The GPS signals went dark.

00:26:31
Speaker 1: I sure hope he had insurance, although well, he's not a jewelry store operator, so maybe he did.

00:26:37
Speaker 10: The GPS signals went dark and the cars were nowhere to be found.

00:26:41
Speaker 3: They probably were taken out at whatever they were found. They were taken out and just tossed.

00:26:46
Speaker 10: The loss more than two hundred thousand dollars worth.

00:26:50
Speaker 2: Those some pricey dune buggies.

00:26:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, no kidding, I would assume that they have to be insured just because it's a vehicle and any vehicle in California needs insurance.

00:27:04
Speaker 10: Is now hitting a major portion of his business.

00:27:06
Speaker 3: It takes away a third of the business.

00:27:08
Speaker 2: Basically, he had twelve of these things and four of them are in TJ.

00:27:14
Speaker 1: That's gonna hurt. Get Ready more Bieber time.

00:27:17
Speaker 3: It's a big hit.

00:27:18
Speaker 10: And while the scammers may owe him a sorry.

00:27:21
Speaker 1: No, we're doing it twice.

00:27:25
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no no. I know it's a silly Coachella story, and I know Bieber's involved, but you do not make two sorry jokes in the same wrap. That is unacceptable. Next Star Media do better.

00:27:44
Speaker 3: It's a big hit.

00:27:45
Speaker 10: And while the scammers may owe him a sorry, Marta says what he really wants.

00:27:50
Speaker 3: Maybe they're coming back for a week and two. They can only hate and pray, pray and hope.

00:27:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're gone, buddy, they're in Mexico.

00:28:00
Speaker 1: Think they're coming back.

00:28:01
Speaker 2: Maybe looking back for stage coach.

00:28:03
Speaker 10: We'll have to wait and see on that one.

00:28:05
Speaker 9: The Riverside County Sheriff's office says they are investigating the case, but the owner tells me he's hopeful that someone watching this story tonight may have some information that leads to an arrest.

00:28:15
Speaker 2: You know what, I really don't understand. He was tracking this all the way from the Palm Desert area. You got to imagine he called the CHP pretty early on, was actively tracking the flatbed, and the CHP lets this thing get all the way to Mexico.

00:28:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, that seems like someone dropped the ball.

00:28:37
Speaker 9: Reporting live in Hollywood. I'm Juline Smuckler KETLA five News.

00:28:41
Speaker 2: Like, even if there's no traffic whatsoever, you're talking about three hours.

00:28:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, they just didn't seem to care, did they.

00:28:52
Speaker 2: They did not. And there you go the saga of the fake justin Bieber, Pa stealing a bunch of dune By buggies for Coachella.

00:29:01
Speaker 1: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny, don't like show at gmail dot com. All right, it's time to reopen the California crime blodder.

00:29:21
Speaker 2: Is Cash's dummy.

00:29:25
Speaker 1: We shouldn't make this stuff up. If we tried, I the hell no very boy, Let me get up one out of here. It's the California Crime Blodder and Randy. This edition takes us to the ie in Sheo.

00:29:41
Speaker 2: Somebody who is trying to stay in shape at twenty four hour Fitness realized after a workout then his wallet was no longer in the locker.

00:29:54
Speaker 1: You know, they say that exercise never killed anyone, but they didn't say anything about still a your identity.

00:30:01
Speaker 2: For more on the twenty four Hour Fitness wallet thief, here is KTLA.

00:30:08
Speaker 11: Now it sets a mystery at a Chino fitness center. Investigators on be hunt for a thief who is stealing wallets out of lockers. The stolen wallet's discover.

00:30:17
Speaker 2: Okay, so already you know this has to be an inside job.

00:30:23
Speaker 1: I would assume.

00:30:24
Speaker 2: So unless you just have the person who can pick every lock possible, chances are this is someone that has a key.

00:30:34
Speaker 11: The stolen wallet's discovered in the very gym where they were stolen.

00:30:38
Speaker 4: That's thanks to a vigilant victim.

00:30:40
Speaker 1: KTLA. Shelby Nelson joins us lide from Chino where she spoke with that victim and has the story you'll see only on five.

00:30:46
Speaker 12: Shelby Sure Micah This really led to a bizarre discovery. Chris Mesa tells us that when he discovered that his wallet was missing, he tried using this wallet tracker app, but it didn't work.

00:30:58
Speaker 2: The fat wait, now have apps to track your wallet?

00:31:05
Speaker 1: What will they think of next?

00:31:06
Speaker 12: But it didn't work the first time. He almost accepted his fate, started canceling his credit cards, went home that day, but he realized, maybe I should try this again, so he came back to the gym and used that tracker app and it led him to a very unlikely place where his wallet was.

00:31:24
Speaker 13: It was sad of the fact that even happened, but it was more sad of the fact like how they responded to it.

00:31:28
Speaker 12: Chris Mesa is talking about a bizarre experience he had at twenty four hour Fitness that resulted in someone stealing his wallet. Last Wednesday, he got off work and hit the gym on Central Avenue in Chino, like he's done time and time again. He brought his gym bag and a lock to stash it in a locker.

00:31:46
Speaker 13: Talk on a few times, make sure that's closed. I I'll do my workout.

00:31:51
Speaker 12: But when he comes back, the lock is gone, and so is his bag.

00:31:55
Speaker 1: They stole the lock. You know, when it's time to go exercise. You wake up early in the morning. You're so comfortable in bed. It's nice and warm there, and you know that if you get in the shower and put on your workout clothes and head down to the gym, it's going to be good for you. But you're not going to like it. You would prefer to be in bed, and you're looking for any excuse possible to not get up out of bed and go exercise. I have to write those emails. I've got to take care of my business accounts, whatever the case may be. Now, when you don't want to get out of bed and go to the gym, you go, I need my wallet. I can't go through life without a wallet. If I go to the gym, they're going to steal my wallet, I'm saying.

00:32:53
Speaker 12: But he reported it to gym staff, who told him theft has been an ongoing problem at the location.

00:33:01
Speaker 2: That doesn't really instill a lot of confidence when you're plopping down one hundred and fifty dollars a month.

00:33:06
Speaker 12: Nope, Meza searched various lockers for his belongings.

00:33:10
Speaker 13: My first initial fear was of they stole my car because my keys are in there.

00:33:13
Speaker 12: He eventually found his bag in another locker. All was there but his wallet. That didn't sit well with him that night. He returned the next day, attempting again to use what's called the tile slim tracker.

00:33:25
Speaker 2: So when they stole the bag and they stole the wallet, but they didn't steal the car keys, was this guy driving a car that was rejected by the criminal.

00:33:35
Speaker 1: They took one look at that and they go, you know what, we don't need another Kia, sorry, buddy.

00:33:40
Speaker 13: So it'll show you that I'm close to it. If I got farther away, the circle will get bigger. As I'm walking, I'm starting to hear why.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: Does the tracker app sound like an old atari?

00:33:51
Speaker 13: You know, I'm starting to hear a louder In the next all over, there's like a compartment next to the toilet sea cover holder and it's in there.

00:33:58
Speaker 2: They got stashed in the bathroom.

00:34:05
Speaker 13: And it's in there. So now I'm thinking, Okay, this doesn't make sense because someone needs a key to open that compartment. So an only unemployee wull have that.

00:34:13
Speaker 12: This mysterious case of theft taking an unusual turn Chris's wallet was here behind the wall inside the bathroom stall. He snapped this picture and called Chino Police, who tell KTLA the wallet had been dropped down an access panel. They say gym staff had to cut it open. That's where numerous wallets were uncovered.

00:34:32
Speaker 2: There's a whole stash of wallets at the Chino Hill's twenty four hour Fitness.

00:34:39
Speaker 12: It's a racket, including Chris's fifty bucks inside of his wallet was also taken. Aside from this notice put up Chris's datus as a longtime gym member doesn't seem to have helped one bit.

00:34:50
Speaker 1: When oh they don't care. No, no, they could care less. It's a big corporation.

00:34:56
Speaker 12: When seeking answers or even just an apology, one.

00:35:00
Speaker 13: Rose into care. They kind of just you know, it took it as like, oh, sorry, it's happening again. We can't really do anything about it.

00:35:06
Speaker 2: Sorry, you all got stolen. Maybe a better luck next time.

00:35:10
Speaker 1: And we're sorry to all the other people who's wallet got stolen too.

00:35:14
Speaker 2: Not surprised at all. This is how the employees at the twenty four hour Fitness operate, not only the one that stall, but the ones that don't seem to care at all about that.

00:35:24
Speaker 4: Now.

00:35:24
Speaker 12: Chris was eventually offered fifty dollars toward next year's membership. He also reached out to corporate as did. We were still waiting for a response. Police tell me that they're investigating, but they have not arrested anybody. They also say that they can't disclose how many wallets they were able to recover.

00:35:41
Speaker 10: Chris, however, says that it.

00:35:42
Speaker 2: Must have been a whole lot.

00:35:45
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this is awful customer service. If it's an inside job where everyone's getting their wallet stolen and you give them fifty bucks off his membership next year, you think that's an acceptable way to handle this.

00:36:00
Speaker 12: Chris, however, says that there were twenty to thirty based on what he saw reporting live in Gino. I'm Shelby Nelson KTLA five news.

00:36:07
Speaker 2: Did I ever tell you the scam that twenty four Hour Fitness tried to pull on me when I was thinking about joining about ten years ago.

00:36:14
Speaker 1: No?

00:36:15
Speaker 2: Okay. So I was getting ready to get back in shape, and I thought, all right, I'm going to check out twenty four hour Fitness. So I go to the twenty four Hour Fitness I believe this is when we were living in Burbank, So let's say it was the one in Burbank. And this guy gives me a tour after I get to have my initial workout for free day before they give you the hard sell, and he starts telling me, dude, your gonna life is going to improve so much. The chicks they're going to be all over you. You're gonna love it. And then as we're touring the facility and he's showing me all of the different things that you can do, the equipment, the pool, what have you, a very obvious plant situation happens. Where as he's giving me this tour, a woman who totally he doesn't work there, comes up to him and says, hey, I saw you working out here the other day. Here's my phone number. And then he looks at me and says, that kind of stuff just happens here all the time.

00:37:10
Speaker 1: Bro, Oh, you gotta be kidding me.

00:37:13
Speaker 2: I swear on my life that happened, and I did not fall for it.

00:37:21
Speaker 1: I wonder what percent of people do fall for it?

00:37:26
Speaker 2: Well, considering how many people have those memberships and never go quite a bit.

00:37:34
Speaker 1: I'll tell you there is a problem in this country with customer service just in general, particularly with the foreign call centers. Have you noticed whenever you call the eight hundred number you have a beef with some company, and you get a foreign call center, the problem is impossible to fix.

00:37:52
Speaker 2: Oh, I have one that's even worse than that. We in a situation where we needed to call a plumber and the plumber's answer service is now AI, and you have to figure out how to navigate talking to an AI. And it's very very rudimentary phase where it doesn't really even understand the question that you are asking, even when you're saying, I need to talk to a human.

00:38:16
Speaker 1: My local dermatologist here in California has a foreign call center. If you call to change an appointment or make an appointment, whatever, you get sent to the Philippines.