The Russian Sleeper Agent Next Door

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the night of his 20th birthday, Tim Foley's world was turned upside down when the FBI stormed his home and arrested his parents. At first, it seemed like a terrible mistake. But soon, he learned the truth—his parents were not an ordinary suburban couple. They were Russian spies living a decades-long lie. Their arrest exposed a vast network of ""sleeper agents"" - spies who had spent years building fake American lives, raising families, and living in plain sight. This is the story of how a perfectly ordinary family was revealed to be part of Russia's greatest deception.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Redacted, Declassified Mysteries early, and ad-free right now.
0:07.0	Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.0	On June 27, 2010, Tim Foley was relaxing in his bedroom in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he heard a knock at the door.
0:28.6	It was his 20th birthday, and he wasn't expecting company.
0:32.3	Earlier that day, Tim had gone out to lunch with his 16-year-old brother Alex and their parents to celebrate.
0:38.2	When they got home, his parents cracked open a bottle of champagne.
0:41.7	Tim wasn't 21 yet, but his parents were from Canada, where the drinking age was lower,
0:46.4	so it seemed fine to them.
0:48.3	The champagne made Tim sleepy, so he'd gone upstairs to rest for a while before his evening plans.
0:54.1	Now Tim heard his mom yelling that some of his friends must have come by to surprise him.
0:58.8	But before Tim could head downstairs to see who was there, he heard the door swing open,
1:03.2	followed by a swarm of voices and footsteps. They screamed FBI and ordered everyone inside to put
1:09.6	their hands up. Tim jumped out of bed. He'd had a
1:13.0	party the night before, and none of the guests were over 21. He thought he was about to get
1:17.4	busted for underage drinking. Sending in the FBI seemed like an extreme response, but the local
1:23.0	police had a reputation for being strict about things like that. As Tim peeked down the stairs, he saw
1:28.6	half a dozen FBI agents with guns. Some were carrying a battering ram, even though Tim's mom
1:34.0	had opened the door willingly. Soon Tim's brother Alex came out of his room and joined him at
1:38.8	the top of the stairs. Alex shot Tim a terrified look, but Tim didn't know what to say.
1:45.2	An FBI officer appeared on the landing and led the brothers downstairs.
1:49.5	Tim watched in a state of shock as the agent slapped handcuffs on his parents.
1:54.0	He searched their faces, which seemed oddly blank as they were led out of the front door.
	...

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