October 26, 2023 • 36 mins
Steven Lorenzo comes to the forefront of Tampa PD's investigation into the disappearance of Jason Galehouse and the death of Michael Wachholtz. Lorenzo's criminal history leads to a sting operation that ends in a very haunting search of his home, and lists of some very important names.
This episode was written, researched, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
With additional research by: Kaz
Featuring: Jason Leroy (The Binge Movie Podcast)
This is a Studio BOTH/AND production: bothand.fyi
For an ad-free experience: patreon.com/studiobothand
Resources include:
• The Charlie Project
• NAMUS
• Uncovered
• The Tampa Bay Times
• Newspapers.com
• The Albuquerque Journal
• Amnesty International
Music by: Yehezkel Rez, Yotam Agam, Theatre of Delays, Grisly Bill, and Benjamin Esterlis
Featured music by: Jacob Fossum
This episode was written, researched, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark
With additional research by: Kaz
Featuring: Jason Leroy (The Binge Movie Podcast)
This is a Studio BOTH/AND production: bothand.fyi
For an ad-free experience: patreon.com/studiobothand
Resources include:
• The Charlie Project
• NAMUS
• Uncovered
• The Tampa Bay Times
• Newspapers.com
• The Albuquerque Journal
• Amnesty International
Music by: Yehezkel Rez, Yotam Agam, Theatre of Delays, Grisly Bill, and Benjamin Esterlis
Featured music by: Jacob Fossum
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
This is a studio both and production. By the time forty five year old
Stephen Lorenzo came onto Tampa peede's radarfor the disappearance of Jason Galehouse in the
(00:31):
investigation into the death of Michael Walcholets, he had already developed a bad reputation
for himself amongst both the Tampa gaycommunity and local and federal law enforcement.
On January thirtieth of two thousand andfour, Tampa PEDE investigators to Bloc in
Colombia met with agent Scott Albrecht fromthe DEA and learned that the DEA had
(00:56):
arrested Stephen Lorenzo in September two afterthey intercepted a package for him from a
company called Pelchit Labs based out ofCanada. According to a September twentieth,
two thousand two article in the AlbuquerqueJournal, one hundred fifteen people were arrested
as part of an international crackdown onInternet sales of date rape drugs. Operation
(01:25):
Webslinger targeted customers of Pelchet Labs,which sold chemicals used to make GHB,
as well as GHB kits, whichincluded both the instructions and ingredients to make
GHB now As a point of clarification, GHB was and continues to be used
(01:47):
as a party drug, although itsmost commonly known as the date rape drug,
and as I'm sure you can imagine, that can muddy the lines of
investigations and consent, particularly for lawenforcement outside of the gay community looking into
allegations of drug induced rape. UponLorenzo's arrest during Operation Webslinger in September of
(02:13):
two thousand two, he told authoritiesthat the package he received contained a solvent
for cleaning glue, which he usedas part of his home inspection business that
he operated out of his home onWest Powaton Avenue. When the DA asked
if he was going to use thesolvent for any other purposes, he told
them that he'd actually purchased it fora friend, and that he purchased the
(02:38):
same product from Pelchit Labs in earlytwo thousand one for the same reason.
He then inexplicably admitted that he hadused GHB before, but that he didn't
know that the product he ordered containedGHB. Throughout his interview, he repeatedly
(02:58):
muttered to himself, I'm gay,I'm fucked, and notwithstanding what you now
know and will learn about Stephen Lorenzo, he was right. According to a
report by Amnesty International titled Stonewald,police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay,
(03:22):
bisexual, and transgender people in theUS, I quote, the vagueness
of morals regulations led to arbitrary arrestand detention of gay men because of discretion
granted to officers in determining what isconsidered offensive, rendering the enforcement of such
regulations prone to homophobia, racism,and sexism. Reports indicate a pattern of
(03:47):
officers engaging in unlawful entrapment techniques,soliciting and inviting prohibited conduct as part of
undercover operations. Amnesty International received reportof verbal and physical abuse by officers.
Advocates in some cities have also raisedconcerns that police enforce moral statutes based on
(04:09):
complaints from the public that are keptopen indefinitely. Amnesty International received reports of
targeted enforcement of morals regulations disproportionately againstgay men in all four cities studied,
as well as in several other citiesacross the US, including Detroit, Michigan,
Columbus, Ohio, and Denver,Colorado. In San Antonio, it
(04:31):
is reported that over nine hundred gaymen were arrested in targeted sting operations from
nineteen ninety nine to two thousand one. The same report cited testimony from a
San Antonio park ranger wherein he openlytold the court that he had arrested at
least five hundred gay men and nowomen or straight men, and that he
(04:56):
wanted to rid the park of gays. Many of these arrests led to prolonged
investigations and generally the outing of thesegay men if they were in the closet.
Now, obviously, Lorenzo's dea arrestwas much clearer than morals regulations.
(05:16):
He broke a clear and enforceable law, but his concern was valid and highlighted
in the Amnesty International Reports overview thatin the late nineties and early oughts,
police stings were a means to targetand arrest specifically gay men, largely due
to homophobia within law enforcement and politicsand nimbiism within the general populace. Hello,
(05:46):
this is Jason Leroy with the BenjoMovie podcast. This is my friend
Jason. We're both in our earlyto mid forties, depending on who was
asking and who you ask, werearound the same age as Jason go Alehouse
and Michael Wacholtz would be. Now, Jason and I have been friends for
more than a decade, and we'venever extensively talked about being gay or our
(06:08):
gay experiences growing up and coming out. I wanted to chat with him about
his and about how moral regulations andhomophobia can shape gay men in the pivotal
ages of their late teens and earlytwenties. Tell me about growing up gay
and like seeing the perception of homosexuality, the response to homosexuality, and how
(06:34):
that impacted your I guess identity andreconciling that you were gay well growing up,
you know, sort of coming ofage as a teenager in the nineties
was such a mixed bag in termsof that sort of trajectory for gay visibility
(06:54):
because on the one hand, itwas I mean, clearly a much much,
much, much much better time tocome of age than like any age
before it. But it was alsosort of like the last decade or so,
where like rampant, open, unapologiichomophobia was like fully pardoned. So
on the one hand, like yes, I could be like, yes,
(07:15):
did I get to be a child, well not a child, but a
teenager watching Ellen coming out on TV? Like yes, yes I did.
Did I have a bully come tomy house that exact same night with a
letter threatening to violently attack me,Yes, yes I did. So.
I feel like that night kind ofcaptures the duality of what it meant to
(07:38):
be like growing up gay in thenineties. You know, I didn't really
have a lot of representation to lookto in terms of gay men. What's
funny is that in the nineties therewas a lot more gay women who were
coming out, like Katie Lang andMelissa Ethridge and Ellen you know, all
of whom were at the top oftheir fame when they came out, and
then coming out seemed to, forthe singers at least, really help make
(08:03):
them even more famous. I don'tknow that I had enough knowledge to have
a vision of what it would meanto be gay. I certainly tirelessly sought
out like any movies I could rentthat would reflect any idea of the gay
life to me. But you know, this was also the era of movies
like Philadelphia. But in terms ofin person especially, I had so little
(08:26):
to go off of. I nevermet like there was just no one who
was just out and gay anywhere inin my sphere. I'll never forget one
time I went to a concert withmy mom and it was this sort of
like seventies grayst Hits type show,and I believe, I think the Village
People were playing hilariously enough, andI remember there was like some some group
(08:48):
of gay men next to us thatwere like kind of like dancing and being
kind of queenie and because I mean, admittedly a village People's show, if
not there, then where, AndI remember they kind of bumped into my
mom, and I remember she gavethem like the just nastiest, most murderous
look, and they kind of likewere like, oh good, and they
(09:09):
kind of like backed away, andI just internalized that moment so much.
I was like, Wow, hereI am with actual gay men next to
me, and my mom is likeabout to murder them because she's so like
disgusted with them that like their meretouch, you know, made her recoil
so and then Matthew Shepherd. MatthewShepherd's murder happened when I was I want
to say, a junior in highschool and so so to have to have
(09:33):
the only gay male names that mostpeople know in the country be like Pedro's
and Mora because he was in thereal world and then died of AIDS,
and then Matthew Shepherd because he wasbrutally beaten to death. You know,
it's not like, oh, thisis like things are looking bright, looking
forward to this adult life ahead ofme. How does that shape how you
feel about yourself? Yeah, Imean I feel like, you know,
(09:58):
it's a great question. I thinkthat that's where it's so important that you
have those kinds of hormones are pumpingaway because you know, hormones know no
fear, so so at least youknow, you definitely still have that sense
of your own attraction that is verystrong and very clear, and you're like,
well, I gotta do something aboutthis. So there is that component
(10:22):
of it. But you know,my vision of myself, Yeah, it's
hard to say because this is somethingthat I know that you know, but
when I was right after I cameup to my mother, I actually became
a born again Christian and then youknow, I spent the next four to
(10:43):
five years of my life very muchbelieving that like being gay was wrong and
that I couldn't act on it,and that it was just like just you
know, wrong from a God levelperspective. So some might say that I
internalize those cultural messages about you know, the horror of being a gay man,
(11:03):
and you know, and took themand bundled them up into a religious
conversion. And they might not betotally wrong about that. You know,
later in life, I was ableto find a way to balance my faith
with my sexuality in a way thatdidn't make me feel like I was being
torn apart straight down the middle.But it took some time. So I
(11:24):
guess that is one way that Iresponded to you know, those messages and
what they meant about who I am. Well, it's almost like, you
know, we didn't even for relationships, have any guidance, and so our
I guess libidos were guiding us becausethere was no other example for how to
be in a gay relationship. Absolutelyabsolutely, all you're left with this is
(11:45):
the sort of most like primal basekind of instinct or impulse, because yeah,
to your point, we're not socializedto imagine what the arc of romantic
or romantic relationship would look like.So I was going through a super super
delayed adolescence in that sense I cameinto the gay dating world. I mean
(12:07):
I went straight from a small townin Ohio or I went to college to
San Francisco, and I was like, Oh, they're gonna love this.
I'm just like, I'm so like, I'm fresh off the boat from Ohio.
I'm like a lapsed Christian. I'ma good boy. I don't know
what anything is. But yeah,no, absolutely, it's all this just
delayed adolescence, which is also whygame in their twenties act like high school
girls. It's interesting the way thatyou phrase that. It's almost as though
(12:33):
there was an expectation that Game inWe're going to be predatory. Mmm.
Well yeah, I mean because Ithink I was projecting my own sense of
sexual predation onto them. I waslike, if I was you, I
would take advantage of this, becauseagain, you know, my my sexuality
had been boiled down to just thatkind of like basist, sort of sexual
(12:56):
primal element for all those years,because it was not allowed to kind of
flourish or connect holistically to any otherpart of my sort of emotional intellectual being.
So it was just like gredation thatwas that was it. Correct me
if I'm wrong, but I dofeel like the first like actually famous man
who came out was George Michael,and he was outed for having sex in
(13:20):
a bathroom or trying to. Soeven they're like our first gay role model.
All we knew about him was sex, right right? Yeah, I
mean George Michael being outed was certainlyone of the you know, one of
the first major male celebrities to sortof be you know, to be known
as being gay publicly and openly.I think, like I think Elton John
(13:43):
came as bisexual maybe in the eighties, but it's like, okay, ol
bisexual. You know, I don'tknow by that not the bisexuality is not
valid, to be clear. Butyeah, George Michael, you know that's
actually you know, I live inLa now, and the park where he
got busted is here, and Ikeep wanting to go and just like pay
my respects, uh, because youknow like that and he and he of
(14:09):
course like famously sent it up inhis music video for his next album for
the song like was it called fastLove? Hilariously fast Love? But yeah,
no, it's true. He wassort of forced out, I mean
somewhat on a somewhat similar note,Paul Rubins pee Wee Herman. You know,
he was busted for being in ayou know, an adult movie theater,
(14:30):
that was I think we all knowby now was like a gay theater
and uh and just like that,it was like, oh, pervert,
pervert, pervert, you know.I mean, like we could debate the
morality and ethics of these like stingoperations where they target you know, these
sort of cruising spots for hours,but frequently like that is. Yeah,
(14:50):
that's a great point. That ishow these these men tend to get outed
is because there's some sort of scandal, some storylet letter that brands them as
a pervert because they've been caught inillegally compromised situation. Fortunately for Stephen Lorenzo,
(15:15):
he avoided the long and harassing postarrest tactics many gay men at the
time could not. The DEA interviewedhim and then released him. Our records
indicate that following his initial arrest,they didn't look into Lorenzo's GHB use,
despite his arrest being part of asting focused on date rape drug sales and
(15:39):
purchases. Perhaps if they had,they would have found the men who had
already accused Lorenzo of drugging them andraping them, and then could have prevented
what followed. Lorenzo would eventually goon to testify in the grand jury for
(16:00):
Operation Webslinger. Following their meeting withthe d e A, de Bloc and
Columbia started looking further into Lorenzo's druguse and criminal history, which led them
first to two business partners in Tampawho we'll call j L and t R.
(16:22):
The pair had filed a stalking complaintagainst Lorenzo and a friend of his.
J L reported that Stephen Lorenzo anda man named Jason Snelling, Lorenzo's
former roommate, had been stalking himand harassing him at his place of work.
J L told investigators that he andSnelling were ex boyfriends and former business
(16:45):
partners, and that Snelling left himin October of two thousand three in pursuit
of a romantic relationship with Stephen Lorenzo. He described Lorenzo and Snelling as dangerous
to the gay community. He toldthem that Lorenzo enjoyed torturing and physically and
sexually abusing men, especially unknowing men. He went on to say that Lorenzo
(17:12):
also liked to pay street hustlers toengage in violent activities with him, and
that Lorenzo supplied these street hustlers withparty drugs including GHB, ecstasy, cocaine,
and ketamine. And most importantly,he told Debloc and Colombia that Lorenzo
(17:33):
often used GHB to incapacitate men,and so de Bloc and Columbia met with
the DEA agent again and one ofhis criminal informants to set up a new
sting operation targeting Stephen Lorenzo. Ontwelve of two thousand and four, the
(18:02):
DEA's criminal informant was wired and thensent to Stephen Lorenzo's house. The CI
spent just eight minutes inside the house, and in that time he watched both
Lorenzo and Snelling snort an eight ballof crystal meth. Then, Lorenzo gave
the CI the phone number for hishome inspection company, Cobblestone Home Inspection,
(18:26):
and told him to use that numberif he ever needed drugs. An hour
later, the deeagent Columbia and aBloc gave the CI money and instructed him
to initiate a crystal methamphetamine purchase fromLorenzo, but Lorenzo would not engage in
any financial transactions. However, Lorenzodid give the CI a sample of ketamine
(18:53):
to take home. And told himhe could get more from his source and
that he himself used, distributed,and manufactured ketamine often. Six days later,
the CI returned to Lorenzo's once againin an attempt to buy crystal meth,
(19:17):
and again Lorenzo wouldn't engage in anyfinancial transaction, and thereafter Lorenzo never
communicated with the CI again. OnJune second, the DEA and Tampa ped
executed a federal search warrant at Lorenzo'shouse on West Powaton Avenue using forced entry.
(19:45):
Lorenzo was inside and arrested on spotfor possession and intent to sell.
During the search, Tampa PDE recoveredthe following a ring baggie containing a white
powdery substance which was later determined tobe GHB and MDMA. A black bag
(20:07):
containing an assortment of adult sex toys, restraints, ropes, duct tape torture
devices, serial killer information sheets,a printed instant message conversation which was hidden
under Lorenzo's mattress, other printed instantmessage conversations, numerous photographs, home videos
(20:32):
recorded on eight millimeter vhs and digitalcassettes. A computer CPU which contained thousands
of digital images on two separate harddrives, many of which were of a
violent or bondage type nature, andan envelope labeled missing Guy articles. Lorenzo
(21:00):
I had downloaded and or printed morethan eight hundred AOL instant message chats,
where he used multiple different AOL screennames. The chats included talk of bondage,
humiliation, restraining, foot fetishes,gangbangs, caging, slavery, kidnapping,
disappearances, and murder. Included inthe case files were twenty four pages
(21:26):
of the AOL chats recovered from Lorenzo'shouse. I'm going to read several snippets
of those conversations as a content warning. These are incredibly detailed accounts, some
fantasy, some allegedly real, involvingrape, kidnapping, HIV contraction through rape,
(21:47):
torture, and drugging men against theirwill. They also include the suggestion
of murder. Listen with care orforward the episode exactly three minutes. In
(22:07):
a conversation dated March sixteenth, twothousand and one, Stephen Lorenzo, using
the screen name Construction Man, saidthe following, maybe you can help me
bring a boy down sometime. Wecan meet him out, bring him back
and drop him. We will beup all night working him over. When
(22:30):
asked how they would drug the boy, Stephen said they would slip GHB into
his drink. He then said hewill drop. We take him back,
strip him, tie him, anduse him as we please. Another conversation
with the same person included the followinghim, would really like to put guys
(22:55):
under with you would be awesome.Could do whatever the hell we want with
them after we get them down.Lorenzo. Yep, that is why I
love it so much. Can evenkill them and they would never know it
or even fight you him. Cantie them up, rape them, torture
(23:15):
them. Would be hot to snuffthem out with you and party with him
for a day or two. First, Lorenzo, he has no idea.
Once tied and submitted, he willbe used for a couple of days than
disappear forever. In a conversation witha different user dated February fifteen, two
(23:36):
thousand two, Lorenzo stated the following, I have kept guys over weekends in
the past. I've lost track overthe years of how many I have done,
probably well over sixty to seventy.The long term ones were the ones
not missed right away and nothing totrace them to me. Like young hustlers
(23:59):
or young homeless, watching their eyesas they come in and out of conscious
me looking right into theirs. It'samazing the energy you feel from it.
At this point, the guy he'schatting with says that he's used clear plastic
bags pulled tight over guy's faces.Lorenzo responds, I have a gas mask
(24:23):
that also allows me to control theirbreathing. Oh man, you got me
going on that one. The lookon their faces as they are gasping for
air and still seeing you. Inanother conversation, Lorenzo discusses drugging men inviting
other men over to gang rape them, including intentionally transmitting HIV to their victims.
(24:53):
In addition to the chats were photos, and some of the photos recovered
included unknown men in various stages ofundress, bound seemingly unconscious, wearing gas
masks, and engaged in varying typesof sadomasochism. And then there were the
(25:15):
videos home videos which included bondage sexacts, including with some men who appeared
to be in comatose like states.And finally was the envelope labeled Missing Guy
Articles, which contained newspaper articles coveringthe disappearances of Jason Galehouse, Michael Wachol's
(25:41):
and other missing or dead men.Following the search and seizure done at Lorenzo's
house Tampa, Pede began going throughthe chat logs and trying to identify people
(26:03):
who had been communicating with Stephen Lorenzoon AOL. Through analysis of these chats,
detectives found that Stephen was using morethan five different screen names to communicate
with dozens of men. They wereable to identify additional assault victims and possible
(26:27):
co conspirators. Detectives determined that morethan twenty of Lorenzo's chats and emails between
October fifteen, two thousand and threeand May tewond, two thousand and four
were with someone using the screen nameMaster Scott. In those chats, Lorenzo
(26:53):
was using the screen name dom Dudefor sub In all, according to court
documents, he and Master Scott discusseda variety of torture and bondage related topics
and further discussed using drugs to makevictims submissive and making victims disappear. Throughout
(27:22):
the chats, both Lorenzo and MasterScott refer to themselves as doms or dominance
within the gay BDSM community. Theyspecifically referred to themselves as being doms within
an underground sadomasochistic sex and drug useculture. The chats also reveal that Master
(27:45):
Scott moved from the Chicago area toOrlando, Florida, in October of two
thousand and three, just two monthsbefore Jason Galehouse and Michael Wackolts disappeared ninety
miles away in Tampa. Detectives werequickly able to retrieve information from AOL which
(28:07):
identified Master Scott as Scott Paul Schweikert, with a billing address of five twenty
five West Aldan Avenue in Chicago,Illinois, which is just four blocks from
where a gay man was found stabbedto death in his own apartment in March
of two thousand and four, whichis shortly after Scott Schweiker abruptly left Orlando
(28:33):
and moved back to the Chicago area. And upon further investigation into Scott Schweikert,
Tampa Pedee found that he too hada violent criminal history. On February
fourteenth, Valentine's Day of nineteen ninetyeight, a then twenty two year old
(28:56):
Scott Schweikert hired an Illinois State Universitystudent to come to his apartment in Bloomington,
Illinois, to repair his broken computer, and, according to the Tampa
Bay Times, as the man workedon his computer, Schweikert confronted him with
a pair of black handcuffs and anine millimeter Smith and Wesson handgun. The
(29:22):
man tried to flee, and schwekertpistol whipped him in the back of the
head. The student was fortunately ableto escape that day, and Scott was
charged with and pleaded guilty to felonyaggravated battery. Scott served just six months
in jail and thirty months of probation. He was, also, however,
(29:47):
ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. We don't have access to its results,
but according to the Tampa Bay Times, the evaluator strongly recommended that's Scott
seek out psychotherapy, and their recordshow that Scott saw no need for counseling.
(30:11):
Following his release from jail, Scottmoved to South Carolina and then bounced
around a lot, racking up atleast fifteen violations while living in multiple cities
in South Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, and possibly Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, before
(30:36):
finally meeting Stephen Lorenzo online in Octoberof two thousand and three and then promptly
moving to Florida. And in thetwo months following Scott's arrival in Florida,
Jason Galehouse disappeared, Michael Walcoltz wasfound dead, and a man was brutally
(30:59):
raped by two men he met online, and then a third man disappeared.
Mm hmmm, the girl to badbocome, the girl to badble come,
(31:30):
don't wnly, don't honestly the girlto bad I got mind and spy I
(31:55):
got mind? This spa too lateterm back sticky sign. This episode was
(32:20):
written, researched, edited and producedby Me Your Host Josh Hallmark. Resources
included The Charlie Project, NamUs Newspapers, dot Com, The Albuquerque Journal,
Amnesty International, and The Tampa BayTimes. This episode featured Jason Leroy and
it was made possible by the followingPatreon producers Adrian I Yello, Amelia Hancock,
(32:42):
Amy Basel and Nette El, BenjaminChoppa, Fong, Casey, Jensen
Richardson, Dana Keith, doctor JillCooper, Drew Vipond, Hallie Reed,
Jessica Alahodsig, Gillian Natale, JohnO'Leary, Kendall C, Kimberly K,
Lauren f Linley, tuscoff Manolas Bullacus, Megan cap c, L, Mike
Sherman, Nicole and Dennis Henry,Sarah King, SC, Shannon Foster,
Shelley Brewer, Tuesday Woodworth, ZachIgnottowitz, Warren, Beth McNally, John
(33:07):
Comery, Jordan Taylor, Carly Mcnuttlna, Sarah See and Lydia Fiedler. Thank
you to True Crime Bullshit's newest Patreonsupporters, ash F, Michael G,
Vicky v M, s Striter,H Summer, l R, Alyssa L,
Lori, s JD, Melanie Gand Maureen C. To support the
investigation, go to Patreon dot comslash Studio both And. This episode included
(33:34):
music by jeheskel Res Theater of Delays, Benjamin as Steriless, Grizzly Bill and
Yotama gomb with featured music by JacobFossom. Come the Count. The Bad
(34:24):
Ball has called the Count. Thebad Ball has called a water Love,
Everybody Just wants a Drug The Count, the bad Ball has called a feeling
(34:55):
Ride on Bonus Pale hers with All, with All the Rayvensy Brains, a
film as Small and Secles with clawswith pas, that same Gady he's gonna
(35:27):
make us. Please look out,the badball has gone. Who by h
This is a studio both and production. By the time forty five year old
Stephen Lorenzo came onto Tampa peede's radarfor the disappearance of Jason Galehouse in the
(00:31):
investigation into the death of Michael Walcholets, he had already developed a bad reputation
for himself amongst both the Tampa gaycommunity and local and federal law enforcement.
On January thirtieth of two thousand andfour, Tampa PEDE investigators to Bloc in
Colombia met with agent Scott Albrecht fromthe DEA and learned that the DEA had
(00:56):
arrested Stephen Lorenzo in September two afterthey intercepted a package for him from a
company called Pelchit Labs based out ofCanada. According to a September twentieth,
two thousand two article in the AlbuquerqueJournal, one hundred fifteen people were arrested
as part of an international crackdown onInternet sales of date rape drugs. Operation
(01:25):
Webslinger targeted customers of Pelchet Labs,which sold chemicals used to make GHB,
as well as GHB kits, whichincluded both the instructions and ingredients to make
GHB now As a point of clarification, GHB was and continues to be used
(01:47):
as a party drug, although itsmost commonly known as the date rape drug,
and as I'm sure you can imagine, that can muddy the lines of
investigations and consent, particularly for lawenforcement outside of the gay community looking into
allegations of drug induced rape. UponLorenzo's arrest during Operation Webslinger in September of
(02:13):
two thousand two, he told authoritiesthat the package he received contained a solvent
for cleaning glue, which he usedas part of his home inspection business that
he operated out of his home onWest Powaton Avenue. When the DA asked
if he was going to use thesolvent for any other purposes, he told
them that he'd actually purchased it fora friend, and that he purchased the
(02:38):
same product from Pelchit Labs in earlytwo thousand one for the same reason.
He then inexplicably admitted that he hadused GHB before, but that he didn't
know that the product he ordered containedGHB. Throughout his interview, he repeatedly
(02:58):
muttered to himself, I'm gay,I'm fucked, and notwithstanding what you now
know and will learn about Stephen Lorenzo, he was right. According to a
report by Amnesty International titled Stonewald,police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay,
(03:22):
bisexual, and transgender people in theUS, I quote, the vagueness
of morals regulations led to arbitrary arrestand detention of gay men because of discretion
granted to officers in determining what isconsidered offensive, rendering the enforcement of such
regulations prone to homophobia, racism,and sexism. Reports indicate a pattern of
(03:47):
officers engaging in unlawful entrapment techniques,soliciting and inviting prohibited conduct as part of
undercover operations. Amnesty International received reportof verbal and physical abuse by officers.
Advocates in some cities have also raisedconcerns that police enforce moral statutes based on
(04:09):
complaints from the public that are keptopen indefinitely. Amnesty International received reports of
targeted enforcement of morals regulations disproportionately againstgay men in all four cities studied,
as well as in several other citiesacross the US, including Detroit, Michigan,
Columbus, Ohio, and Denver,Colorado. In San Antonio, it
(04:31):
is reported that over nine hundred gaymen were arrested in targeted sting operations from
nineteen ninety nine to two thousand one. The same report cited testimony from a
San Antonio park ranger wherein he openlytold the court that he had arrested at
least five hundred gay men and nowomen or straight men, and that he
(04:56):
wanted to rid the park of gays. Many of these arrests led to prolonged
investigations and generally the outing of thesegay men if they were in the closet.
Now, obviously, Lorenzo's dea arrestwas much clearer than morals regulations.
(05:16):
He broke a clear and enforceable law, but his concern was valid and highlighted
in the Amnesty International Reports overview thatin the late nineties and early oughts,
police stings were a means to targetand arrest specifically gay men, largely due
to homophobia within law enforcement and politicsand nimbiism within the general populace. Hello,
(05:46):
this is Jason Leroy with the BenjoMovie podcast. This is my friend
Jason. We're both in our earlyto mid forties, depending on who was
asking and who you ask, werearound the same age as Jason go Alehouse
and Michael Wacholtz would be. Now, Jason and I have been friends for
more than a decade, and we'venever extensively talked about being gay or our
(06:08):
gay experiences growing up and coming out. I wanted to chat with him about
his and about how moral regulations andhomophobia can shape gay men in the pivotal
ages of their late teens and earlytwenties. Tell me about growing up gay
and like seeing the perception of homosexuality, the response to homosexuality, and how
(06:34):
that impacted your I guess identity andreconciling that you were gay well growing up,
you know, sort of coming ofage as a teenager in the nineties
was such a mixed bag in termsof that sort of trajectory for gay visibility
(06:54):
because on the one hand, itwas I mean, clearly a much much,
much, much much better time tocome of age than like any age
before it. But it was alsosort of like the last decade or so,
where like rampant, open, unapologiichomophobia was like fully pardoned. So
on the one hand, like yes, I could be like, yes,
(07:15):
did I get to be a child, well not a child, but a
teenager watching Ellen coming out on TV? Like yes, yes I did.
Did I have a bully come tomy house that exact same night with a
letter threatening to violently attack me,Yes, yes I did. So.
I feel like that night kind ofcaptures the duality of what it meant to
(07:38):
be like growing up gay in thenineties. You know, I didn't really
have a lot of representation to lookto in terms of gay men. What's
funny is that in the nineties therewas a lot more gay women who were
coming out, like Katie Lang andMelissa Ethridge and Ellen you know, all
of whom were at the top oftheir fame when they came out, and
then coming out seemed to, forthe singers at least, really help make
(08:03):
them even more famous. I don'tknow that I had enough knowledge to have
a vision of what it would meanto be gay. I certainly tirelessly sought
out like any movies I could rentthat would reflect any idea of the gay
life to me. But you know, this was also the era of movies
like Philadelphia. But in terms ofin person especially, I had so little
(08:26):
to go off of. I nevermet like there was just no one who
was just out and gay anywhere inin my sphere. I'll never forget one
time I went to a concert withmy mom and it was this sort of
like seventies grayst Hits type show,and I believe, I think the Village
People were playing hilariously enough, andI remember there was like some some group
(08:48):
of gay men next to us thatwere like kind of like dancing and being
kind of queenie and because I mean, admittedly a village People's show, if
not there, then where, AndI remember they kind of bumped into my
mom, and I remember she gavethem like the just nastiest, most murderous
look, and they kind of likewere like, oh good, and they
(09:09):
kind of like backed away, andI just internalized that moment so much.
I was like, Wow, hereI am with actual gay men next to
me, and my mom is likeabout to murder them because she's so like
disgusted with them that like their meretouch, you know, made her recoil
so and then Matthew Shepherd. MatthewShepherd's murder happened when I was I want
to say, a junior in highschool and so so to have to have
(09:33):
the only gay male names that mostpeople know in the country be like Pedro's
and Mora because he was in thereal world and then died of AIDS,
and then Matthew Shepherd because he wasbrutally beaten to death. You know,
it's not like, oh, thisis like things are looking bright, looking
forward to this adult life ahead ofme. How does that shape how you
feel about yourself? Yeah, Imean I feel like, you know,
(09:58):
it's a great question. I thinkthat that's where it's so important that you
have those kinds of hormones are pumpingaway because you know, hormones know no
fear, so so at least youknow, you definitely still have that sense
of your own attraction that is verystrong and very clear, and you're like,
well, I gotta do something aboutthis. So there is that component
(10:22):
of it. But you know,my vision of myself, Yeah, it's
hard to say because this is somethingthat I know that you know, but
when I was right after I cameup to my mother, I actually became
a born again Christian and then youknow, I spent the next four to
(10:43):
five years of my life very muchbelieving that like being gay was wrong and
that I couldn't act on it,and that it was just like just you
know, wrong from a God levelperspective. So some might say that I
internalize those cultural messages about you know, the horror of being a gay man,
(11:03):
and you know, and took themand bundled them up into a religious
conversion. And they might not betotally wrong about that. You know,
later in life, I was ableto find a way to balance my faith
with my sexuality in a way thatdidn't make me feel like I was being
torn apart straight down the middle.But it took some time. So I
(11:24):
guess that is one way that Iresponded to you know, those messages and
what they meant about who I am. Well, it's almost like, you
know, we didn't even for relationships, have any guidance, and so our
I guess libidos were guiding us becausethere was no other example for how to
be in a gay relationship. Absolutelyabsolutely, all you're left with this is
(11:45):
the sort of most like primal basekind of instinct or impulse, because yeah,
to your point, we're not socializedto imagine what the arc of romantic
or romantic relationship would look like.So I was going through a super super
delayed adolescence in that sense I cameinto the gay dating world. I mean
(12:07):
I went straight from a small townin Ohio or I went to college to
San Francisco, and I was like, Oh, they're gonna love this.
I'm just like, I'm so like, I'm fresh off the boat from Ohio.
I'm like a lapsed Christian. I'ma good boy. I don't know
what anything is. But yeah,no, absolutely, it's all this just
delayed adolescence, which is also whygame in their twenties act like high school
girls. It's interesting the way thatyou phrase that. It's almost as though
(12:33):
there was an expectation that Game inWe're going to be predatory. Mmm.
Well yeah, I mean because Ithink I was projecting my own sense of
sexual predation onto them. I waslike, if I was you, I
would take advantage of this, becauseagain, you know, my my sexuality
had been boiled down to just thatkind of like basist, sort of sexual
(12:56):
primal element for all those years,because it was not allowed to kind of
flourish or connect holistically to any otherpart of my sort of emotional intellectual being.
So it was just like gredation thatwas that was it. Correct me
if I'm wrong, but I dofeel like the first like actually famous man
who came out was George Michael,and he was outed for having sex in
(13:20):
a bathroom or trying to. Soeven they're like our first gay role model.
All we knew about him was sex, right right? Yeah, I
mean George Michael being outed was certainlyone of the you know, one of
the first major male celebrities to sortof be you know, to be known
as being gay publicly and openly.I think, like I think Elton John
(13:43):
came as bisexual maybe in the eighties, but it's like, okay, ol
bisexual. You know, I don'tknow by that not the bisexuality is not
valid, to be clear. Butyeah, George Michael, you know that's
actually you know, I live inLa now, and the park where he
got busted is here, and Ikeep wanting to go and just like pay
my respects, uh, because youknow like that and he and he of
(14:09):
course like famously sent it up inhis music video for his next album for
the song like was it called fastLove? Hilariously fast Love? But yeah,
no, it's true. He wassort of forced out, I mean
somewhat on a somewhat similar note,Paul Rubins pee Wee Herman. You know,
he was busted for being in ayou know, an adult movie theater,
(14:30):
that was I think we all knowby now was like a gay theater
and uh and just like that,it was like, oh, pervert,
pervert, pervert, you know.I mean, like we could debate the
morality and ethics of these like stingoperations where they target you know, these
sort of cruising spots for hours,but frequently like that is. Yeah,
(14:50):
that's a great point. That ishow these these men tend to get outed
is because there's some sort of scandal, some storylet letter that brands them as
a pervert because they've been caught inillegally compromised situation. Fortunately for Stephen Lorenzo,
(15:15):
he avoided the long and harassing postarrest tactics many gay men at the
time could not. The DEA interviewedhim and then released him. Our records
indicate that following his initial arrest,they didn't look into Lorenzo's GHB use,
despite his arrest being part of asting focused on date rape drug sales and
(15:39):
purchases. Perhaps if they had,they would have found the men who had
already accused Lorenzo of drugging them andraping them, and then could have prevented
what followed. Lorenzo would eventually goon to testify in the grand jury for
(16:00):
Operation Webslinger. Following their meeting withthe d e A, de Bloc and
Columbia started looking further into Lorenzo's druguse and criminal history, which led them
first to two business partners in Tampawho we'll call j L and t R.
(16:22):
The pair had filed a stalking complaintagainst Lorenzo and a friend of his.
J L reported that Stephen Lorenzo anda man named Jason Snelling, Lorenzo's
former roommate, had been stalking himand harassing him at his place of work.
J L told investigators that he andSnelling were ex boyfriends and former business
(16:45):
partners, and that Snelling left himin October of two thousand three in pursuit
of a romantic relationship with Stephen Lorenzo. He described Lorenzo and Snelling as dangerous
to the gay community. He toldthem that Lorenzo enjoyed torturing and physically and
sexually abusing men, especially unknowing men. He went on to say that Lorenzo
(17:12):
also liked to pay street hustlers toengage in violent activities with him, and
that Lorenzo supplied these street hustlers withparty drugs including GHB, ecstasy, cocaine,
and ketamine. And most importantly,he told Debloc and Colombia that Lorenzo
(17:33):
often used GHB to incapacitate men,and so de Bloc and Columbia met with
the DEA agent again and one ofhis criminal informants to set up a new
sting operation targeting Stephen Lorenzo. Ontwelve of two thousand and four, the
(18:02):
DEA's criminal informant was wired and thensent to Stephen Lorenzo's house. The CI
spent just eight minutes inside the house, and in that time he watched both
Lorenzo and Snelling snort an eight ballof crystal meth. Then, Lorenzo gave
the CI the phone number for hishome inspection company, Cobblestone Home Inspection,
(18:26):
and told him to use that numberif he ever needed drugs. An hour
later, the deeagent Columbia and aBloc gave the CI money and instructed him
to initiate a crystal methamphetamine purchase fromLorenzo, but Lorenzo would not engage in
any financial transactions. However, Lorenzodid give the CI a sample of ketamine
(18:53):
to take home. And told himhe could get more from his source and
that he himself used, distributed,and manufactured ketamine often. Six days later,
the CI returned to Lorenzo's once againin an attempt to buy crystal meth,
(19:17):
and again Lorenzo wouldn't engage in anyfinancial transaction, and thereafter Lorenzo never
communicated with the CI again. OnJune second, the DEA and Tampa ped
executed a federal search warrant at Lorenzo'shouse on West Powaton Avenue using forced entry.
(19:45):
Lorenzo was inside and arrested on spotfor possession and intent to sell.
During the search, Tampa PDE recoveredthe following a ring baggie containing a white
powdery substance which was later determined tobe GHB and MDMA. A black bag
(20:07):
containing an assortment of adult sex toys, restraints, ropes, duct tape torture
devices, serial killer information sheets,a printed instant message conversation which was hidden
under Lorenzo's mattress, other printed instantmessage conversations, numerous photographs, home videos
(20:32):
recorded on eight millimeter vhs and digitalcassettes. A computer CPU which contained thousands
of digital images on two separate harddrives, many of which were of a
violent or bondage type nature, andan envelope labeled missing Guy articles. Lorenzo
(21:00):
I had downloaded and or printed morethan eight hundred AOL instant message chats,
where he used multiple different AOL screennames. The chats included talk of bondage,
humiliation, restraining, foot fetishes,gangbangs, caging, slavery, kidnapping,
disappearances, and murder. Included inthe case files were twenty four pages
(21:26):
of the AOL chats recovered from Lorenzo'shouse. I'm going to read several snippets
of those conversations as a content warning. These are incredibly detailed accounts, some
fantasy, some allegedly real, involvingrape, kidnapping, HIV contraction through rape,
(21:47):
torture, and drugging men against theirwill. They also include the suggestion
of murder. Listen with care orforward the episode exactly three minutes. In
(22:07):
a conversation dated March sixteenth, twothousand and one, Stephen Lorenzo, using
the screen name Construction Man, saidthe following, maybe you can help me
bring a boy down sometime. Wecan meet him out, bring him back
and drop him. We will beup all night working him over. When
(22:30):
asked how they would drug the boy, Stephen said they would slip GHB into
his drink. He then said hewill drop. We take him back,
strip him, tie him, anduse him as we please. Another conversation
with the same person included the followinghim, would really like to put guys
(22:55):
under with you would be awesome.Could do whatever the hell we want with
them after we get them down.Lorenzo. Yep, that is why I
love it so much. Can evenkill them and they would never know it
or even fight you him. Cantie them up, rape them, torture
(23:15):
them. Would be hot to snuffthem out with you and party with him
for a day or two. First, Lorenzo, he has no idea.
Once tied and submitted, he willbe used for a couple of days than
disappear forever. In a conversation witha different user dated February fifteen, two
(23:36):
thousand two, Lorenzo stated the following, I have kept guys over weekends in
the past. I've lost track overthe years of how many I have done,
probably well over sixty to seventy.The long term ones were the ones
not missed right away and nothing totrace them to me. Like young hustlers
(23:59):
or young homeless, watching their eyesas they come in and out of conscious
me looking right into theirs. It'samazing the energy you feel from it.
At this point, the guy he'schatting with says that he's used clear plastic
bags pulled tight over guy's faces.Lorenzo responds, I have a gas mask
(24:23):
that also allows me to control theirbreathing. Oh man, you got me
going on that one. The lookon their faces as they are gasping for
air and still seeing you. Inanother conversation, Lorenzo discusses drugging men inviting
other men over to gang rape them, including intentionally transmitting HIV to their victims.
(24:53):
In addition to the chats were photos, and some of the photos recovered
included unknown men in various stages ofundress, bound seemingly unconscious, wearing gas
masks, and engaged in varying typesof sadomasochism. And then there were the
(25:15):
videos home videos which included bondage sexacts, including with some men who appeared
to be in comatose like states.And finally was the envelope labeled Missing Guy
Articles, which contained newspaper articles coveringthe disappearances of Jason Galehouse, Michael Wachol's
(25:41):
and other missing or dead men.Following the search and seizure done at Lorenzo's
house Tampa, Pede began going throughthe chat logs and trying to identify people
(26:03):
who had been communicating with Stephen Lorenzoon AOL. Through analysis of these chats,
detectives found that Stephen was using morethan five different screen names to communicate
with dozens of men. They wereable to identify additional assault victims and possible
(26:27):
co conspirators. Detectives determined that morethan twenty of Lorenzo's chats and emails between
October fifteen, two thousand and threeand May tewond, two thousand and four
were with someone using the screen nameMaster Scott. In those chats, Lorenzo
(26:53):
was using the screen name dom Dudefor sub In all, according to court
documents, he and Master Scott discusseda variety of torture and bondage related topics
and further discussed using drugs to makevictims submissive and making victims disappear. Throughout
(27:22):
the chats, both Lorenzo and MasterScott refer to themselves as doms or dominance
within the gay BDSM community. Theyspecifically referred to themselves as being doms within
an underground sadomasochistic sex and drug useculture. The chats also reveal that Master
(27:45):
Scott moved from the Chicago area toOrlando, Florida, in October of two
thousand and three, just two monthsbefore Jason Galehouse and Michael Wackolts disappeared ninety
miles away in Tampa. Detectives werequickly able to retrieve information from AOL which
(28:07):
identified Master Scott as Scott Paul Schweikert, with a billing address of five twenty
five West Aldan Avenue in Chicago,Illinois, which is just four blocks from
where a gay man was found stabbedto death in his own apartment in March
of two thousand and four, whichis shortly after Scott Schweiker abruptly left Orlando
(28:33):
and moved back to the Chicago area. And upon further investigation into Scott Schweikert,
Tampa Pedee found that he too hada violent criminal history. On February
fourteenth, Valentine's Day of nineteen ninetyeight, a then twenty two year old
(28:56):
Scott Schweikert hired an Illinois State Universitystudent to come to his apartment in Bloomington,
Illinois, to repair his broken computer, and, according to the Tampa
Bay Times, as the man workedon his computer, Schweikert confronted him with
a pair of black handcuffs and anine millimeter Smith and Wesson handgun. The
(29:22):
man tried to flee, and schwekertpistol whipped him in the back of the
head. The student was fortunately ableto escape that day, and Scott was
charged with and pleaded guilty to felonyaggravated battery. Scott served just six months
in jail and thirty months of probation. He was, also, however,
(29:47):
ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. We don't have access to its results,
but according to the Tampa Bay Times, the evaluator strongly recommended that's Scott
seek out psychotherapy, and their recordshow that Scott saw no need for counseling.
(30:11):
Following his release from jail, Scottmoved to South Carolina and then bounced
around a lot, racking up atleast fifteen violations while living in multiple cities
in South Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, and possibly Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, before
(30:36):
finally meeting Stephen Lorenzo online in Octoberof two thousand and three and then promptly
moving to Florida. And in thetwo months following Scott's arrival in Florida,
Jason Galehouse disappeared, Michael Walcoltz wasfound dead, and a man was brutally
(30:59):
raped by two men he met online, and then a third man disappeared.
Mm hmmm, the girl to badbocome, the girl to badble come,
(31:30):
don't wnly, don't honestly the girlto bad I got mind and spy I
(31:55):
got mind? This spa too lateterm back sticky sign. This episode was
(32:20):
written, researched, edited and producedby Me Your Host Josh Hallmark. Resources
included The Charlie Project, NamUs Newspapers, dot Com, The Albuquerque Journal,
Amnesty International, and The Tampa BayTimes. This episode featured Jason Leroy and
it was made possible by the followingPatreon producers Adrian I Yello, Amelia Hancock,
(32:42):
Amy Basel and Nette El, BenjaminChoppa, Fong, Casey, Jensen
Richardson, Dana Keith, doctor JillCooper, Drew Vipond, Hallie Reed,
Jessica Alahodsig, Gillian Natale, JohnO'Leary, Kendall C, Kimberly K,
Lauren f Linley, tuscoff Manolas Bullacus, Megan cap c, L, Mike
Sherman, Nicole and Dennis Henry,Sarah King, SC, Shannon Foster,
Shelley Brewer, Tuesday Woodworth, ZachIgnottowitz, Warren, Beth McNally, John
(33:07):
Comery, Jordan Taylor, Carly Mcnuttlna, Sarah See and Lydia Fiedler. Thank
you to True Crime Bullshit's newest Patreonsupporters, ash F, Michael G,
Vicky v M, s Striter,H Summer, l R, Alyssa L,
Lori, s JD, Melanie Gand Maureen C. To support the
investigation, go to Patreon dot comslash Studio both And. This episode included
(33:34):
music by jeheskel Res Theater of Delays, Benjamin as Steriless, Grizzly Bill and
Yotama gomb with featured music by JacobFossom. Come the Count. The Bad
(34:24):
Ball has called the Count. Thebad Ball has called a water Love,
Everybody Just wants a Drug The Count, the bad Ball has called a feeling
(34:55):
Ride on Bonus Pale hers with All, with All the Rayvensy Brains, a
film as Small and Secles with clawswith pas, that same Gady he's gonna
(35:27):
make us. Please look out,the badball has gone. Who by h
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