So I got friends and family involved in a situation that I regret. I'll regret to the day I die. But I really believed her. She was extremely convincing. Other people believed a Covington woman says she lost millions of dollars in a swindle that stretched over a decade. And now she's hoping federal authorities will step in. She estimates at least 10 others also lost money in the scheme. Some of them because she dragged them into it. Here's part one of my investigation that got more wild as we pulled back. The layers. Come on, let's go. Come on. 73 year old Rhonda Barons admits she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. I've been wealthy and I've been broke and I've been wealthy again and now I'm broke. She had started building a successful real estate company around the time hurricane Katrina hit and the market blew up on the North shore. Baron's real estate used to be housed here in downtown Covington. So you went from a multi million dollar business to not being able to buy food, to feed yourself. That's correct. That's correct. We almost lost the house if they hadn't allowed me to put it in forbearance. We would have lost the house. Hurricane Ida ripped it apart three years ago. But the extensive damage still isn't fully repaired because she doesn't have the money to fix it. If you're wondering what happened to all her money barons didn't lose it. Living a lavish lifestyle. It was a decade long downward spiral that she says started with a kind gesture. I had money. I, I had a lot of money and I'm a believer in what goes around comes around. I have all the io us. More than 10 years ago. Barons first started loaning money to her hairdresser's daughter, Melissa Ficara Kagel or Missy, they sealed each loan with a handwrit iou over the years, one turned into a stack as the IO us piled up. This one is when it started 18 1000 by April of $815,000. Yes. She signed all these in front of me. We're almost in a million here, here's 2011. 1.4 million. Baron said Cagle told her she needed the money to help pay the court and attorneys fees. For these two fra family lawsuits. Cagle claimed they would be settled for millions of dollars and that she was getting a significant of the money in return for helping her pay the legal fees. Cagle promised to pay Barons millions. How did she get money out of you? She, she'd say I need $10,000 for this. I need $750 for document uh copies. I need, you know, there was always always something, these bank statements show tens of thousands of dollars in wire transfer from Barons to cable and text conversations. Dating back to 2020. That Baron says she exchanged with cable. Connect the dots. I reviewed 1600 pages of messages. They all followed a similar pattern on September 8th 2022. C tells parents she needs $10,000 that day to pay invoices or the suit will be dismissed and they would lose all money. They invested. Rhonda replies that she's asking friends and applying for credit, but she can only get 1600 cagle fires back. Quote, it's no sweat off my back anymore. Rhonda, I'm sick of trying to protect a $12 million investment was $10,000 here and 5000 here and it just kept going and going and going. So every time I had a sale, she took my whole commission. Barons borrowed money from a handful of friends and family getting in so deep, she couldn't pay it back doing things. She's not proud of. Barons has since been sued at least six times for over $50,000. She says she was desperate for Missy to get the lawsuit settled, to get her money back and their money back. Baron's close relatives stepped in to help. He asked not to be identified by name because I had and Rhonda was, um, according to her getting ready to lose everything, I just kept feeding the pig in all. How much money did she take from you? Over the years? Over $3 million over $3 million. Yes. Yes. A lot of people might watch this and say, how did you let it get that far? You know, she, she was plausible. She had an answer for years. Cagle claimed to be paying to New Orleans attorneys named Mark mcnair and Jeffrey Smith. She sent Barons these invoices as proof that mcnair and Smith needed more money to keep the lawsuit going. Barons text show on February 26th of last year C center. This invoice allegedly from vai for $16,160 when Barons questions it cle text her quote, his daughter has cancer. He needs his money. Cable even sent these supposed screenshots of her text with the to back it up. But here's the thing. So I called attorney Mark mcnair. He's never heard of Melissa Cagle and he does not have a daughter with cancer. I also called attorney Jeffrey Smith. He's never heard of her either. Do you know this one? No, only practices criminal law and says he's never really handled civil cases and he has never called his law firm, the Smith law firm as it's written here on these fake invoices. If you look at this invoice that actually has your address on it your law firm here. It has our phone number. Mhm. Have you ever invoiced someone? No, in a way that looks like that. Never cagle also sent fake court documents to Barons like this settlement agreement claiming it was pending for one of the lawsuits. It says Blue Cross was going to pay Kel's father Sal Fra $28 million looking at it. Now there are many red flags about the document including the fact that Fra's lawsuit was never filed in Jefferson Parish as this fake document claims. But Barons and her relatives say they didn't know the ins and outs of the legal system to tell the difference. Reproducing invoices from attorneys even documents from the court suggesting that a multimillion dollar settlement was pending. I mean, the depth of the fraud is and theft is extraordinary. Her attorney declined to comment and she didn't return my phone calls in 2023. Cagle turned up the heat asking for more money. She claimed someone was beating her because she couldn't come up with the cash and straighten it all out. She sent Barons this photo of what appears to be a scrape on her forehead. Did she tell you that too? That she was being beaten? She sent me the same picture and on May 30 of 2023 cle claimed she was desperate for money again this time because the Jefferson Parish was threatening to arrest her if she didn't pay for some bounce checks. She sent Barons this alleged screenshot of her voicemails with the JP D A number on it. And this recording she claimed was a voicemail left by the day. And the JP D A spokesman had this to say when we asked him about it. Quote, the Jefferson Parish DS office has no record of a criminal case or investigation involving a person named Melissa Christine FC. Here's the real kicker. The lawsuits were both dismissed or settled more than 10 years ago. Shortly after Barons first started loaning Cagle the money. This one settled in 2009, not for 28 million but 100 and $75,000. The other suit was thrown out in 2011 for more than 10 years. Cagle kept the ruse going but it was all a lie. What did this do to your life aside from losing your business? What did this do to your life? It ruined my reputation. Um It caused me incredible physical problems as a result, Cagle has since been indicted on a charge of exploitation of the infirmed because Barons is over 65. Let's go. Baron's relative also reported Cagle to police in Sandy Springs, Georgia because he says she got a half a million dollars out of him both directly and by helping Baron stay afloat right now, there is a warrant out for cables arrest from Sandy Springs and Barons and her relative both say Cagle has confessed to them over the past year or so. And next Thursday night at 10, we have part two of this story. Find out why Kel told them she did it.
