FBI chasing homemade hot-air balloon maker leads to drug bust
True Crime News: The Podcast
True Crime News
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2021
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Retired police lieutenant and campus safety expert Eric Rosoff joins host Ana Garcia to discuss the strange case of a person releasing homemade hot-air balloons over the Burbank airport flight path. The FBI was tasked with figuring out who was behind this potentially dangerous crime. After the FBI’s progress stalled, Rosoff and his partner’s investigation led to something they did not expect: a drug bust.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Award of Warning. This podcast explores graphic and disturbing stories and includes some strong language. |
| 0:06.4 | It, therefore, may not be suitable for our young listeners or other folks who may find it disturbing. |
| 0:16.4 | Hello and welcome to True Crime Daily's My Favorite Case. Everyone in the world of True Crime has |
| 0:22.4 | a story to tell about a case that they worked. Some are high-profile, some you've never heard of, |
| 0:27.4 | but they are all fascinating. Today's guest is former Burbank Police Lieutenant Eric Rossoff. |
| 0:33.8 | Eric, I'm so glad you're here because you've always got a story that you weave in when we do |
| 0:39.2 | our regular podcast, so I can't wait to hear what's the story that's sticking in your memory. |
| 0:45.6 | Thank you very much for having me and I imagine, because I know you know a lot of police officers |
| 0:52.4 | and this is such a exciting idea and I think what you're going to find out is many of the folks |
| 0:57.9 | that you reach out to, they're going to have a favorite case that maybe might be a little bit |
| 1:05.5 | off the beaten path, you know, and not one of those things like your stay on TV or that you, |
| 1:09.9 | you know, make the big headlines, but they were incredibly satisfying for the officers that will |
| 1:16.6 | involve. Right, and we know, you know, in some of these episodes we are using names and details |
| 1:23.3 | and others, it's more of the kind of story you would tell over dinner kind of thing, so |
| 1:30.9 | and that's what I like about this. This is very free flow and it's just a conversation |
| 1:34.8 | and it's storytelling at its best. Okay, so you're going to tell us about a case from the 90s, |
| 1:41.8 | the early 90s where you were chasing someone making balloons? What, what was going on there, Eric? |
| 1:50.0 | Yeah, it's not exactly one of those ones that made the nightly news, but you know, I work for |
| 1:54.8 | the Burbank Police Department and as many people know, Burbank has a regional airport, that's |
| 1:59.7 | pretty busy. And what happened was we were contacted by the FAA and the airport police department |
| 2:07.5 | that someone was making these like homemade hot air balloons and was sending them up and they're |
| 2:13.2 | probably a little bit bigger than three feet, you know, in circumference and there was a pretty good |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.