Dateline: Dateline: The Perfect Guy—5 harrowing details about Derek Alldred's serial scam, revealed

NBC’s Dateline episode titled ‘The Perfect Guy’ follows the shocking story of Derek Alldred from Minnesota, who conned numerous women and businesses across the country. From impersonating a doctor to a lawyer to even a Navy SEAL, Alldred concocted fake identities online to meet women and steal their money.

For almost 20 years, Derek Mylan Alldred travelled across the country with his series of schemes to defraud unsuspecting victims in his elaborate plan to get rich quick. He would pretend that he was financially supporting them while taking their trust to wipe out their accounts. The Dateline episode digs deep into the case with interviews from investigators and some of the women with whom he had pretended to be ‘the perfect guy.'

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Here are 5 harrowing details about Derek Alldred's serial scam

1) Alldred created fake identities

He was able to get away with his crimes because he was a good actor and equipped himself with all the props necessary. Alldred would work on his fake identities extensively. He would create websites, social media accounts, and costumes so his fake identity would appear credible. From pretending to be a US Navy pilot, a firefighter, or a lawyer to a professor at Southern Methodist University, Alldred came prepared. He went by different names, such as Richard Tailor, Ritchie Peterson, etc.

After he made the women believe in his new identity and started a fake relationship with them, he would steal their money without their knowledge. He would disappear without a trace, leaving the women helpless and with no clue on how to track him.

2) Alldred would volunteer to help the women financially, only to steal

Alldred would appear caring and empathetic to these women. He would volunteer to help with their finances to get access to their accounts. He would end up taking their money or even applying for credit cards in their names without their knowledge.

A Minnesota resident, Linda, had moved in with Alldred, whom she initially knew as Rich Peterson, a retired Navy SEAL. While sharing about her experience with KARE 11, she showed the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and gears from his supposed military stint. Alldred had taken out all of her life savings during their time together. Linda said dejectedly,

“He’s destroying lives.”

She approached the police, and he was arrested temporarily, but Alldred was released during the investigations. He escaped the state without a trace immediately.

3) Women band together against Alldred’s crimes

After the story was aired on television in 2016, numerous women started coming forward. From California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and even Hawaii, women who were cheated by Alldred started reaching out. They had lost houses, businesses, and more.

All the women realized that it was the same man, but they all knew him under different identities. Many of the times, he would have defrauded multiple women at the same time. The police were desperately looking for him, but with his different identities, it was difficult to pin him down.

4) Alldred is arrested in Texas while posing as a Navy Pilot

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While in Texas, Alldred posed as a Navy pilot to con a woman called Dorie. She caught wind of his fraudulent ways and reported him. She said,

“Don’t mess with Texas. Don’t mess with Dorie.”

In 2017, a case was built against him. Special Agent Mike Elkheir said,

“It’s all an act. And he’s really good at it and I think that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,”

Alldred could not run anymore. At his trial and sentencing, more than a dozen women spoke up about how his manipulations resulted in ruining their lives. They demanded justice for being victims of his exploitation.

In 2018, he was given the maximum federal prison sentence of 24 years. He had conned about 25 women throughout the country. As per Entertainment Now, U.S. attorney Joseph D. Brown said in a statement,

“This defendant left a trail of tears, emotional devastation, and financial ruin behind him…It is clear that he will never change, and we expect his sentence to reflect that.”

5) Alldred states that it is an exaggeration to state that he destroyed lives

Allred would share that after being on the run for several years, he was unable to continue his criminal ventures. He told Dateline,

“It's impossible to keep straight, particularly when I was running from the courts or, you know, running from the United States Marshals…It was tough to keep track of who I was saying, you know, where I was and what I was doing and who I was. It's overwhelming.”

About having affected the lives of the numerous women he conned, he said,

“I'm not trying to justify my behavior...My behavior was…I was a horrible boyfriend, absolutely horrible. Destroying someone's life I think is a bit exaggerated.”

Currently, Alldred is serving his sentence in the Federal Detention Center in Sheridan, Oregon.

Watch Dateline on NBC.