Appearance alert: with Richard Luthmann

Richard Luthmann and I did a special broadcast because of breaking news in stories we’ve been covering. Charity Watch Richard first updated on his jihad with Charity Watch, a charity watchdog group which he argued has a left-wing bias. The two are mainly at odds over an article Charity Watch did regarding Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals (D.E.L.T.A. Rescue) Frank Parlato had taken up DELTA’s cause, but Charity Watch noted that he was paid handsomely for his services. When animal lovers and other donors gave generously to Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals (D.E.L.T.A. Rescue) to support the care and well-being of the animals on its sanctuary, they were likely unaware that their donations might be used to try to silence the charity’s critics instead. CharityWatch has recently uncovered information in D.E.L.T.A. Rescue’s bankruptcy filings showing that it paid blogger Frank Parlato, publisher of the online blogs, The Frank Report and Artvoice, a total of $80,000 for “contract services” and “consulting” between June and August of 2025. Those payments coincided with a series of articles attacking CharityWatch, its CEO Laurie Styron, and Adriana Duarte, a former employee of D.E.L.T.A. Rescue who had recently won a discrimination lawsuit against the charity resulting in a $6.7 million legal judgment. Even more shockingly, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue’s founder and president, Leo Grillo, was recently arrested after an FBI investigation revealed that he allegedly plotted to kidnap the same former employee rather than pay the court-ordered judgment, according to a March 4th, 2026 press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (U.S. AG CA). Federal prosecutors allege that after a jury awarded Duarte millions in damages, later reduced to $2.9 million, Grillo sought to have her abducted and transported to Mexico where, “While in confinement, she would be forced to cooperate with Grillo to settle the litigation,” according to the press release. Charity Watch did not take issue with any of Frank’s reporting, only that he was paid from DELTA. Frank continues to report on the situation. Leo Grillo, 77, had run DELTA Rescue, the world’s largest no-kill, care-for-life animal sanctuary in Acton, California, for 47 years. He stopped when the FBI arrested him on March 3. There are 1,500 animals on the ridge—cats, horses, and dogs rescued from the wild. DELTA is now being run by relatives and its employees, without its leader and sole fundraiser. Grillo, the pioneer of the no-kill movement, has no criminal record. He is in federal detention at the Los Angeles Detention Center, held without bail. The US Attorney for the Central District of California says Grillo agreed to have a former DELTA employee taken and flown to Mexico, an attempted kidnapping. He faces up to 20 years. Charity Watch reported on malfeasance in DELTA, along with a plot by its founder, Loe Grillo, to kill a rival. Rich said the plot was largely an entrapment campaign using a suspect informant. Meanwhile, he argued that Charity Watch doesn’t like Grillo because he’s an outspoken conservative; he noted that Charity Watch gave the Clinton Global Initiative its highest marks even as that charity was beset with scandal. He was especially upset that he was included in Charity Watch’s article. On September 9th, 2025, CharityWatch received an email in its contact inbox addressed to the attention of its CEO, Laurie Styron. It was from an associate of Parlato’s, Richard Luthmann, another convicted felon, who copied Parlato on the communication. In the email he referred to himself and Parlato as “journalists.” The email questioned CharityWatch’s legitimacy and Styron’s credentials, falsely accused CharityWatch of not publishing its charity rating methodology, and included leading questions such as, “How do you address accusations that CharityWatch manufactures scandals to solicit donations for itself?” (CharityWatch is aware of no such accusations other than those of Parlato and his associate Luthmann). Styron responded to Luthmann via email the same day, saying, “We are currently unable to comment as we are in the process of consulting with our attorneys about the best ways to address libel, copyright infringement, and other claims against a convicted felon [Parlato] who operates several websites on which he has published factually incorrect information. However, once we are in a place in this process where we are able to comment I am happy to follow up with you. The vast majority of your questions can be answered by a very simple review of our website which clearly reflects all of our board members as well as our methodology. I hope this is helpful in the meantime.” Richard sent numerous emails to their executives arguing that he was being defamed, except he was not being defamed. The post never stated nor implied that he was being paid; he is a convicted felon, and I’m sure with Frank’s legal troubles they saw an opportunity to lump the two in. Despite making legal threats, Rich said his goal is to win in the court of public opinion, not court of law. We’ll see. David Suarez We also updated a story I broke last week from central Illinois. David Suarez got sole custody, despite acknowledging to watching porn while caring for his kids and having his daughter disclose to multiple mandated reporters he was molesting her. Here is my interview with him. David was upset with being exposed so he went after his ex-wife, Bridget, who didn’t even participate in the story. I released a paragraph from the GAL report, which is marked confidential. His attorney, Mike Nichols, quickly filed a dubious motion demanding that Bridget be held in civil contempt. I didn’t receive the GAL report from Bridget or her father, Tim, but I doubt any of that will make any difference. Because the court is desperate to continue their cover-up, swift punishment is forthcoming. What the Hales We also updated on my recent article showing how unscrupulous attorney, Randall Shochet, teamed up with a clerk and judge to threaten Bruce Matzkin’s career. Part of that discussion is below. Richard also recently filed a response from Shochet, who argued that Richard was avoiding service and wanted financial sanctions. The back and forth wouldn’t matter to anyone outside the case in other situations, however, the Hales case is marked with a cacophony of YouTubers who use all court filings for YouTube content. Hales leads this technique. Quickly two YouTubers sprung into action to “analyze” the response. Their response has little insight but that’s not the point, only to attract enough viewership for an income. One of the YouTubers, Squid Pro Quo, argued that Richard falsely claimed to not be “learned in the law.” Given his prior career as a lawyer, this seems like a cogent argument, however, courts have held that learned in the law requires a current and active law license: see my story on Michelle MacDonald. Richard asked Squid to come on to explain his legal reasoning, but she declined. Her shtick on this case is that she doesn’t speak to anyone. Apparently knowing as little as possible is credibility in some YouTube quarters. This is a public episode. 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