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Caleb Diehl Part 2: The Burden He Bore · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

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The Gone Cold podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter. Listener discretion is
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advised. When Caleb Deal first went missing from the small town of Nakona,
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Texas, no one knew the eighteen year old had left his mother's house to
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head back to his home in Bedford, a suburb city about ninety miles to
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the southeast of Nakona. Caleb was ready for high school to be over,
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so he was known to skip a day here and there. But when he
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didn't show up for classes the next day, his older sister, Courtney,
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with whom he lived was a little worried. His mother, Tammy, was
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too, although neither woman was letting their minds drift to the darkest of possible
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scenarios. Not yet, still, it felt like something wasn't right. After
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finding out absolutely no one Caleb knew, neither relatives nor friends had seen him
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since about five pm on March thirtieth, twenty fifteen, panic began to set
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in. Fifty four year old Ricky Dale Howard, perhaps the closest friend to
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the Deal family and for whom Caleb had worked since he was in middle school,
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soon offered an explanation. He said the missing teenager had met a girl
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the previous weekend and decided to head up to Oklahoma for a few weeks to
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do some work for her uncle. Oddly, however, Caleb had said nothing
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about this to his mother or anyone else, and he had an upcoming job
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interview closer to home. Upon speaking with the friends he'd been running around with
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the previous weekend, Tammy found out they hadn't met or hung around any girls
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at all. This and the fact that Howard had dropped off a two hundred
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dollars check for weekend work that Caleb hadn't even performed was strange. Having to
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taken no changes of clothing or other possessions added to the bizarre claims. The
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only things missing besides Caleb himself or his phone, the Chevy truck he'd borrowed
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from Ricky Dale Howard while his vehicle was in the shop, and the clothes
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on his back. Caleb's mother, Tammy, thought this whole thing was unusual,
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but the encounters with Howard were put on the back burner as the family
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tried to locate Caleb. Soon enough, the circumstances Howard himself brought on began
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to look nothing short of suspicious. And when his dark, depraved secrets came
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to the Deal family's attention, an unthinkable picture of what happened to Caleb began
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to develop. On Wednesday, April first, twenty fifteen, just two days
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after eighteen year old Caleb Deal was last seen, and as Nakona Police Department
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investigators began looking for him, they of course spoke first with those who reported
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him missing and saw him last. Tammy Deal described her son to detectives.
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He's blonde headed with blue eyes, stands about six feet two inches tall,
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and weighs approximately one hundred and sixty pounds. She also told them what he'd
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been driving, the champagne colored Chevy twenty five hundred that belonged to family friend
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and Caleb's boss, Ricky Dale Howard. After Tammy phoned Howard to let him
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know that detectives were going to be calling to get a thorough description of the
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truck and the license plate number. This call rang but ultimately went to voicemail.
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Tammy left a message. A short time later, Howard returned the call
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with some important news. The truck had mysteriously shown up in his work garage,
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where it generally when not in use. It had been about two days
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since Caleb was last seen. Tammy and a couple of Caleb's siblings immediately rushed
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to the place of business of Ricky Dale Howard. The cops were close behind.
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When Tammy and the kids arrived, they accompanied Howard to the garage.
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The truck was certainly there, the keys of which were hanging on the hook
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where they usually hung. Then the situation turned downright bizarre. Police arrived shortly
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after the deals. The scene was one the likes of which they'd never experienced
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before. In the pickup truck, three one hundred dollars bills were rolled around
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the steering wheel and fastened with a zip tie. Oh my goodness, Ricky
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Dale Howard said, those are just like my zip ties. He must have
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used mine. Shock in the form of silence followed that statement, if only
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momentarily. Since Howard wasn't quite through, He continued saying that he knew Caleb
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owed his sister Courtney money for rent, and he must have left the three
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hundred dollars for her. The missing teenager was late on rent, but the
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situation didn't make sense. Besides, Courtney thought to herself, Caleb didn't owe
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that much and he'd never have paid more than he owed. That was completely
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out of character, at least as much as disappearing of his own free will
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without telling anyone in the family. In the seat of the truck, laid
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the key to the garage shop. It usually sat above the entry doorcasing outside,
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but of interest to investigators, the shop had been locked up and the
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only person with another key was the owner, Ricky Dale Howard. The man's
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statements were peculiar, to say the least, and the higher situation surreal.
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Still, Howard was calm and acted as though everything made sense. Let's check
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the motor to see if it's warm, Howard suggested to detectives. Upon feeling
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it, he added, absolutely it is. See I told you he just
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arrived. He seemed to be attempting to direct or steer the investigation, one
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detective later said, trying to create a scenario by his odd statements that suggested
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eighteen year old Caleb Ray Deal had disappeared by choice and perhaps didn't want to
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be found. Police, of course, began suspecting that Ricky Dale Howard knew
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much more than he was letting on, but he still wasn't finished. He'd
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found a smashed cell phone on the floor of his garage the day Caleb went
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missing, Howard told police, and because it was broken, he threw it
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away without thinking a hell of a lot about it. Later, or at
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some point when he was away from investigators Ricky Dale, Howard removed the simcard
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from his own phone, cut it into pieces, and got rid of the
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cell phone. It isn't clear when the cops found out about that. The
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next step in the investigation, in contrast, was crystal clear. Authorities wanted
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to search Howard's vehicles and properties. Whether he agreed to try and prove he
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had nothing to hide or because he knew they'd just come back with a warrant
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is anyone's guess. Tracking dogs were brought in to assist Nakona police officers and
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Monteigue County Sheriff's deputies. As the searches were under way, Howard continued to
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bring suspicion upon himself with his statements. I used to have a clock radio
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that had a covert camera in it, he told Nacona Police Chief Kent Holcomb,
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describing a device he said was located in a camping trailer on one of
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his properties. I kept it out there to cage anybody that might want to
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break in. And it's missing, I'll just bet you that Caleb Dial stole
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it. No sign of the missing eighteen year old was found in the searches
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of Howard's properties, which lasted a few days, but in a sheet metal
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shop on one of the properties. On April fourth, twenty fifteen, Howard
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opened a large safe at the request of Chief Holcombe. When he did,
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Holcombe saw several guns inside, a violation of the law, more specifically the
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unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. Howard had been convicted of bank
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fraud charges back in two thousand and seven and served two years in prison for
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the federal crime. The guns were of great interest, and the Chief certainly
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took note, but as of that moment, his job was to find something
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that might lead him to the whereabouts of Caleb Deal. Even though the case
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was technically a missing person's case, police considered Howard a suspect in Caleb's disappearance,
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and so did the Deal family. Ricky Dale. Howard told the police
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that the last time he saw Caleb Deal was the weekend before his disappearance,
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when the two tried to fix the teenager's broken down truck. His behavior and
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the things he was saying were appallingly suspicious, and it wasn't just law enforcement
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that thought so. Howard had been a close friend of the Deal family,
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and he was like a brother to Chad Deal, Caleb's father. Chad was
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living in Grapevine, Texas, about eighty eight miles southeast of Nakona, and
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deceived what he called a strangely cold and short phone call from Howard about his
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son's disappearance. After all the bizarre behavior Howard had exhibited, including this callous
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call, Chad addressed him face to face, Well Ricky, Chad said,
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and what he'd later describe as the most intense moment of his life, I
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want you to know and I want you to hear it. So it's not
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a rumor that I believe with every fiber of my heart, my soul,
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and my mind that you murdered my son. As Chad felt the strenuous beating
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of his heart, Howard showed no emotion, no empathy, no sadness for
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what this man with whom he'd been so close was accusing him of, and
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no anger. I'm sorry that you believe that Chad reiterated that that was what
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he believed, turned around and left. Just a week after allowing them to
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search his properties and vehicle. Police returned with warrants to search inside Ricky Dale
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Howard's home and businesses. While searching Howard's properties, police found no computers that
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were currently being used at that time, something that was wildly unusual. On
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April eleventh, twenty fifteen, police discovered a fire pit with the melted and
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charred remains of two computer towers and a cell phone. Howard claimed they'd belonged
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to his parents, who were now deceased, and he destroyed them because they
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were just taking up room. The cops also returned to the safe where Chief
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Holcombe had seen the guns and confiscated them. Meanwhile, police were keeping tabs
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on Caleb Deal's social media and cell phone use. There'd still been no activity,
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and in fact, there never would be again. The National Center for
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Missing and Exploited Children came in and searched with trained canines, visiting all the
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areas Caleb was known to frequent. They searched for four days and found nothing.
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Flyers, banners, and billboards were all over Nakona and Monteigue. County.
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They read bring Caleb Home and described the known facts about his disappearance.
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It kills you to see it, Caleb's mother, Tammy, who had to
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see them every day, commented. As the investigation continued, several folks were
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questioned, but all roads seemed to lead back to Rickey Dale Howard, who
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showed deception regarding involvement in Caleb's disappearance during an FBI conducted polygraph examination. For
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what that's worth, not much as far as evidence, which was lacking.
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At first, Nakona Police detectives, with the permission of the Montegue County Sheriff's
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Office and the ninety seventh District Attorney, tried to use the firearms possession charges
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as leverage, meaning they were willing to negotiate if Howard was willing to return
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the favor and tell them where caleb deal was. They knew it was a
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long shot and the man didn't bite. By mid May twenty fifteen, as
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detectives ran out of leads in the department out of places to search, the
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sheriff's office and district attorney decided they needed to move forward with the firearms charges.
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Ricky Dale Howard was arrested on May eighteenth, twenty fifteen, and subsequently
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charged, arraigned, and released on bail. Several months later, Howard was
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again arrested, but this time over allegations that made the deal family tremble with
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anguish over the dark and depraved possibility it opened up concerning Caleb's potential fate.
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In December of twenty fifteen, Howard was arrested in Cook County during a traffic
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stop on four charges of the aggravated sexual assault of a child. The warrant
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was out of Montegue County, where he was transferred shortly after the arrest.
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After the arraignment, he was released on a four hundred thousand dollars bond.
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The victim was one discovered during the FBI's investigation into Howard's bank fraud case,
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in which much of the area's residents were completely unaware, even as rumors had
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been whispered by many in the community. Either local authorities were not informed during
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the bank fraud investigation, could not have acted because of statutes of limitations that
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had since been eliminated, or they let the discoveries go without investigation. Another
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young man came forward with allegations of sexual assault as a boy against Howard.
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On January twelfth, twenty sixteen, Howard posted bond once again, and he
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pleaded guilty to the eleven possession of a firearm by a felon charges. The
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following June, he was sentenced to five years in prison and the child sexual
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abuse charges stalled. At this point, the disappearance of Caleb Ray Deal had
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essentially gone cold. After Marshall Thomas took the reins of Monteig County Sheriff in
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January of twenty seventeen, he appointed seasoned lawman Chris Hughes as chief Deputy.
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Several months later, in September of that year, Hughes wanted a fresh set
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of eyes on the Caleb Deal case. He was given permission from Sheriff Thomas
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to commission the help of Kevin Benton, an experienced investigator that was in high
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demand. Benton had the official title as a retired but licensed officer of the
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State and worked as such as a ch chief deputy at wise County Sheriff's Office,
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where he'd retired after fourteen years of service. He'd also previously worked for
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Montegue County, both at the Sheriff's office and as an investigator for the District
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Attorney's office. With Ricky Dale Howard serving time at the Texas Department of Criminal
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Justice Hamilton Unit in Brian, the cops were given ample time for meticulousness in
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their ongoing investigations of the man. Not only were they able to be just
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that in the long run, but also Benton came into the case at exactly
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the right time. In October of twenty seventeen, Tammy Deal was deep cleaning.
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As she stretched her arm out in a hard to reach cabinet above the
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bathtub, one that no one ever used, she felt a plastic bag.
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She pulled it down, and what was inside were things she'd never seen before,
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things that were shocking. A small alarm clock radio with a covert camera
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like the one Ricky Dale Howard had strangely spoken about Caleb possibly stealing while police
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searched his property two and a half years earlier. The SD card, unfortunately
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was missing. Also when the bag was a manuscript called how to Beat a
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Polygraph. Alongside that was a series of hand written questions a polygraph operator might
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ask a sex offender. Perhaps the most unsettling item in the plastic sack was
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a cassette recorder, or specifically the tape inside. On that tape was a
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recording of Ricky Dale Howard conducting a mock polygraph exam, both asking and answering
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questions about having inappropriate contact with boys. There seems to be no one other
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than Caleb who could have put these items where Amy Deal found them. Police
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have no doubt speculated on why he might have hidden these items. The family
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didn't know it yet, not for a fact anyway. But Caleb Deal had
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been bearing a burden for a long time. Perhaps he had empowered himself to
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lighten the burden by holding what was done to him over the head of the
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monster that did it. Maybe Caleb could stop future abuse by blackmailing Howard with
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the evidence he was collecting, saving other boys from bearing the burden. Maybe
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he was even silenced as the result of the heroic act. But Caleb couldn't
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be silenced. On October twenty fifth, twenty seventeen, investigator Kevin Benton and
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Montaigue Sheriff Chief Deputy Chris Hughes met with a woman will call Becky Howard,
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the ex wife of Ricky Dale Howard. Becky gave Benton and Hughes the details
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she knew about Caleb's missing person's case, and the detectives learned of a Gateway
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desktop computer that was used by Howard when they were married during the period Caleb
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went missing. She, they learned, was in possession of it. It
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was in storage, and Becky, having no idea what might be on it,
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gave written consent for the lawmen to take possession of it and to search
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the hard drives elsewhere. Chief Deputy Hughes and Investigator Benton had also learned of
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Ricky Dale Howard's federally required sex offender counseling. By order of grand jury,
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they subpoenaed the records from the company that supplied the services. When they traveled
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to Fort Worth to pick up the records, they interviewed a counselor there who
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happened to remember Howard. He detailed to them Ricky Dale Howard's admissions to sexually
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molesting boys, being aroused by his fourteen year old nephew, and his attempts
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at manipulating the pallethysmograph tests. All of this and more was detailed in Chief
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Deputy Hughes's Search Warrant AFFIDAEPHIT, which would lead them to exactly what they needed
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to get Ricky Dale Howard out of society for a long time. Upon taking
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control of a gateway computer that Ricky Dale Howard once used, Monte County Sheriff
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Chief Deputy Chris Hughes filed a search warrant AFFIDAEPHIT to forensically analyze the data within.
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Filed on behalf of himself and investigator Kevin Benton, and although Ricky Dale
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Howard's ex wife had given them permission to search the computer's contents, a search
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warrant would a safety net should a defense lawyer later argue for the evidence to
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be thrown out. Ninety seventh District Court Judge Jack mcgahe quickly signed off.
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The North Texas Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory, an FBI run facility staffed with some
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of the bureau's finest, discovered hundreds of images of underaged boys involved in sexual
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acts in late January early February twenty eighteen. Illegal acts, of course.
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Multiple photos of missing eighteen year old Caleb Deal as an adolescent were also found
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from ages thirteen to fifteen, approximately, though these particular images couldn't be classified
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as child pornography. A later arrest warrant Affetaphit states some were taken when Caleb
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was only partially dressed, others were taken while he was asleep. The photos
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almost certainly showed Howard had an obsession with Caleb. As chief Deputy, Hughes
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states, although they were hoping to find out what happened to Caleb, the
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child pornography discoveries were particularly important since Ricky Dale Howard was coming up for parole
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consideration in the summer. A grand jury indicted him in April twenty eighteen on
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thirty four counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of indecency with a
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child. His bond was set at eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but
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that was just a fail safe. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The
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charges resulted in the denial of parole the following July. The Gateway computer images
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were heartily the end of the investigation. Hughes and investigator Benton also learned of
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a computer Howard sent to his daughter at the beginning of November twenty fifteen,
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a lapt he told her was for keeping family business records. She said the
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daughter was in Tennessee. The computer sent over state lines. They finally got
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their hands on the Acer brand laptop on September eighteenth, twenty eighteen. Again,
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after FBI forensic analysis, pornographic images of underaged boys were found. Pictures
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of Caleb Deal as a boy, too, were located on the device.
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This time they showed far more than Howard's obsession with him. The images of
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the missing teenager on this computer were pornographic. The adult performing sexual acts on
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an approximately thirteen to fifteen year old Caleb was later identified by witnesses as Ricky
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Dale Howard. Montaigue County Sheriff Chief Deputy Chris Hughes moved fast. He filed
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charges against Howard, who was indicted by a special grand jury session on Tuesday,
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October sixteenth, twenty eighteen. The charges included twelve counts of possession of
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child pornography, one count of first degree felony in decency with a child bisexual
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contact, and two counts of second degree felony in decency with a child by
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exposure. The last three counts specifically involved Caleb dial and are thought to have
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occurred around March fifteenth, twenty twelve, which was the boy's fifteenth birthday.
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Benton and Hughes finally got a hold of several other storage cards and devices after
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doing a little dance with Howard's son, daughter in law, and their attorney.
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As the impressively thorough investigation continued, plenty more items were confiscated for evidence,
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including an HP laptop, two more ACER laptops, I, a Samsung
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tablet, an external drive, three SD cards, six thumb drives, and
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a Verizon Wireless air card seventeen different devices in all. Since the investigation by
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Chief Deputy Hughes and Investigator Benton began, they'd collected multiple call logs between Ricky
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Dale Howard and Caleb Ray Deal. Many were on the weekend before his Monday,
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March thirtieth disappearance, and several were on that very day, including the
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last call Caleb's phone would ever send or receive, which originated at a repair
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shop owned by Howard. Then Caleb's phone goes dead, followed closely behind by
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Howard's after last being tracked to his ranch. Now the case was in the
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hands of the ninety seventh District Attorney's office. Ricky Dale Howard was granted parole
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in early twenty twenty one and released on February tenth. As he was released,
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Howard was almost immediately arrested, placed in jail, and began awaiting trial
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for various charges, including the sexual assault of a child. When the trial
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finally came, it ended as soon as it began. On Monday, July
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nineteenth, twenty twenty one. After opening arguments from the defense and prosecution,
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jurors heard testimony from Caleb Deal's mother, Tammy, who explained the family's close
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relationship with Howard. The trial against Howard was decided to be a federal one
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as he'd transported child pornography across state lines by sending it to his daughter in
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Tennessee, and because some of the images of the sexual abuse against Caleb were
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said to be manufactured at least partly outside of Texas. Caleb, Tammy Deal
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told us, began working for the defendant as a middle schooler. Officers who
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had investigated the case also testified that Ricky Dale Howard told them the last time
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he saw Caleb was the weekend before he went missing, when the two attempted
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to repair the eighteen year old's broken down truck. Images of child pornography,
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including those of Caleb Deal were found after search warrants to forensically analyze the hard
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drives of Howard's computers. The investigators told the court the trial was off to
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a damning start even before much of the evidence was presented. But after jurors
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returned from a break, one of them fell on a short flight of stairs,
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spraining one ankle and breaking another. No alternate jurors had been chosen because
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the injured juror couldn't continue service. US Judge Reid O'Connor was forced to declare
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a mistrial. A new trial needn't have been scheduled. Howard pleaded guilty to
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the sexual exploitation of a child hours after a mistrial was declared, charges meaning
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that he admitted to enticing Caleb Deal into engaging in sexually explicit conduct to create
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a visual depiction. This plea deal meant the other charges would be dropped against
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Howard sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child pornography, and accessing child
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pornography. Sixty year old Ricky Dale Howard was finally sentenced on Wednesday, October
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twenty seventh, twenty twenty one. He was given the maximum sentence of thirty
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years in a federal penitentiary, and Howard waived all appeals by taking the plea
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deal. I am so thankful to the investigators and prosecutors for not giving up
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and at least making sure that Ricky Howard can hurt no one else. Tammy
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Deal testified at sentencing for her son's abuser. Years of searching, waiting and
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praying for answers to get to this day and still to not truly have the
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answer our hearts require. My family is broken. I know we will never
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have a gathering where there isn't a sense of wrongness and a huge important part
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being missing. Caleb Ray Deal is still missing. If Ricky Dale Howard murdered
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him, he has still not been brought to justice for that. The case
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remains active for the first time in thirty years. The passage of Texas Senate
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Bill one twenty nine, or Caleb's Law, in August of twenty twenty three
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updated and strengthened the state's child pornography laws. Now, first time offenders can
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be charged based upon the number of images they possess, and penalties for the
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material in general became tougher. If you have any information about Caleb Ray,
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deal's disappearance. Call montege County Crime Stoppers at nine four zero eight nine four
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two eight seven to one, the Nacona Police Department at nine four zero eight
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two five three two eight one, or the ninety seventh District Attorney's Office at
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nine four zero eight ninety four six' two one pint one. If you
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