How did Josh Brady convince Hurston Torres to rob banks, as reported by Jon Ronson?

In June 2012 Josh Brady, calling himself Theo of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Hurston Torres through a high school friend named Carolina that the government was paying civilians to test bank security. Theo knew about a sealed juvenile theft charge, promised $25,000 for success and $2,500 for trying, gave strict rules about fleeing and staying silent, and emailed an immunity letter for an 'Operation Downstrike'. Police later traced the phone to Brady, a 26-year-old living with his mother and grandmother who believed he really worked for the CIA.

• Torres made five attempts in four days across Northern Virginia and never got any money.
• Brady even called the detective, Vickery, demanding to know what had happened to his recruit.
• Charges against Brady were dropped on mental health grounds, and he was later rearrested for impersonating a Homeland Security agent.

▸In their words

“hey, I got a job for you. We're going to get paid 25K.” Tom Schoenberg · at 11:45 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on This American Life (2026-10-25). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode