A listener note. This story contained adult content and language.

John Jollow can't be sure how John Mehan found him, and he was apprehensive about taking him on as

a client. His paralegal had done some research on Mehan and was so spooked that she told her boss

she wanted no part of the case. Mehan had done prison time for stalking and terrorizing a Laguna

Beach woman, and now on April 8, 2015, Mehan was sitting in Jollow's Santa Ana Law office. Mehan

wanted Jollow to sue the Laguna Beach woman, claiming she'd cheated him of a quarter million dollars.

Mehan had other ideas for lawsuits too. There was yet another woman who had supposedly cheated him.

He also accused police who had arrested him of stealing his cash.

The Blizzard of Law suits was part of John Mehan's plan to win back the trust of his wife,

Deborah, who was sitting beside him. He wanted Jollow to prove he'd been the victim in case

after case, not at all the dangerous swindler portrayed in mountains of court papers.

Jollow told me that he planned to turn down the case, even though he would be getting a $25,000

retainer. But meeting Deborah, listening to Deborah, gave him second thoughts. She seemed naive

and helplessly in her husband's grip. She struck me right off the bat as a very genuine,

very sweet, very vulnerable lady. And she was obviously in love with him. Although I really only

met him face to face once, and that was in about a two-hour interview.

He was the scariest man I had ever met in my life. I'm 70 years old. I practiced law for 42 years

before I retired last year in September. John Mehan was scary.

From the Los Angeles Times and Wondery, this is Dirty John. I'm Christopher Gofford.

Part 5. Escape.

So I've got this lady that sitting there who just strikes me as

wonderful woman and this scary, scary guy that I just, I could hardly look at him sometimes,

...