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What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

136: Sarah's arrest photo went viral

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.61.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2023

⏱️ 103 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at https://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! If you’re looking for a simpler and cost-effective supplement routine, Athletic Greens is giving you a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com/WWTL 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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is a Glassbox Media Podcast.

0:07.0

Content Warning. This episode includes discussion of drug use and suicide.

0:16.0

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

0:23.0

Whether it's TikTok or YouTube video and Instagram reel or a Facebook photo,

0:30.0

when something goes viral, the person who posted it is kind of quasi-famous for a few days or a week.

0:38.0

This happened to me once several years ago.

0:41.0

I posted a video on Facebook and it just took off like crazy.

0:46.0

It wasn't even a video that I created personally,

0:49.0

but people saw it and shared it, so it was seen by millions of people right on my Facebook profile page.

0:57.0

So I was getting hundreds of friend requests every day from people I didn't know and I declined all of them, of course.

1:05.0

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.

1:16.0

For some people, having their photo go viral is not a good thing.

1:21.0

That's what happened with my guest today, Sarah.

1:24.0

She got in trouble for selling drugs.

1:27.0

This was her first time ever being arrested and she made the mistake of smiling for her booking photo.

1:35.0

That's when things got crazy and she was nicknamed in the press as the adorable drug kingpin.

1:44.0

The other reason this story went viral was because of where Sarah's dad worked.

1:49.0

His employer was the drug enforcement agency.

1:53.0

Sarah's dad was a DEA agent.

1:59.0

Real people in unreal situations.

2:04.0

There is a girl hanging by her broken legs from the telephone wire.

2:10.0

And I called 911 and I said, I found a baby.

...

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