136: Sarah's arrest photo went viral

Explicit content warning

04/21/23 • 101 min

1 Listener

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Content warning – this episode includes discussion of drug use and suicide.

For anyone who creates online content, the big goal is to have your content go viral.

Whether it’s a Tiktok or YouTube video, an Instagram reel, or a Facebook photo – when something goes viral, the person who posted it is kind of quasi-famous for a few days or a week.

This happened to me once, several years ago. I posted a video on Facebook, and it just took off like crazy. It wasn’t even a video that I created personally. But people saw it and shared it, so it was seen by millions of people – right on my Facebook profile page. So I was getting hundreds of friends requests every day from people I didn’t know (and I declined all of them, of course). It was kind of fun, but also a little weird that suddenly my Facebook page was being viewed by so many people, all over the world.

But for some people, having their photo go viral is not a good thing. That’s what happened with my guest today, Sarah. She got in trouble for selling drugs. This was her first time ever being arrested, and she made the mistake of smiling for her booking photo. That’s when things got crazy, and she was nicknamed in the press as the “Adorable Drug Kingpin”.

The other reason this story went viral was because of where Sarah’s dad worked. His employer was the Drug Enforcement Agency. Sarah’s dad was a DEA agent.

If you’d like to contact Sarah, her email is [email protected]

Show notes for this episode:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/136

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Content warning – this episode includes discussion of drug use and suicide.

For anyone who creates online content, the big goal is to have your content go viral.

Whether it’s a Tiktok or YouTube video, an Instagram reel, or a Facebook photo – when something goes viral, the person who posted it is kind of quasi-famous for a few days or a week.

The other reason this story went viral was because of where Sarah’s dad worked. His employer was the Drug Enforcement Agency. Sarah’s dad was a DEA agent.

If you’d like to contact Sarah, her email is [email protected]

Show notes for this episode:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/136

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

135: Bonus - the James Bigby murders

This is Scott, and this podcast is What Was That Like.

This is the show where I usually have a guest come on and talk about something they experienced, that was extremely unusual. Like crashing a skydive, or getting shot in a mass shooting, or finding a baby in the New York City subway, or winning a showcase on The Price Is Right. The guest comes on the podcast, and tells the details of what happened, first hand.

This episode is different.

In this one, I’m going to talk about a man who lived in Texas, whose name was James Bigby. You’ll learn about his horrific crimes, his bizarre behavior in court, and what eventually happened to him.

This is not a case that you’ve ever heard about on any other podcast.

But after you’ve heard his story, stick around and I’ll tell you exactly why I’m bringing it to you today.

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/135

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Voiceover work for this episode by Kiyana Morgan. Graphics by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

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Next Episode

137: Alex secretly climbed the Great Pyramid

The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about seven great architectural structures. That list became known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Of those seven achievements, four were destroyed by earthquake. Two were destroyed by fire. Only one is still standing – the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt.

This pyramid today has a height of 450 feet, or 137 meters. It was the tallest structure in the world for over 3800 years.

And now, it’s a popular tourist destination. People from all over the world will travel to Cairo, and stand next to this enormous structure, and just wonder about all the manpower and materials and work that went into creating it.

And there are others, like today’s guest, Alex, who look at the Great Pyramid and think “I’d like to climb to the top of that pyramid”. And Alex came up with a plan to do just that.

What he didn’t plan on was getting caught.

If you’d like to contact Alex:

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ABrockstar32

Pyramid map:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giza_pyramid_complex_(map).svg

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/137

Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well)

Go to HelloFresh.com/wwtl50 and use code wwtl50 for 50% off, plus your first box ships free!

Save $10 on your first purchase when you go to StoryWorth.com/what

Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code WHAT and receive UP TO 39% off or UP TO $300 off!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices