Joan Hall and her daughter, Lisa Hall, are convicted thieves who were found guilty for more than 15 years worth of schemes that netted millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains that were hidden in offshore accounts and or masked through real-estate transactions. The two are back at it again and currently running more scams out of Joan’s Westlake home. Joan, who likes to change her name from one day to the next is now in her 70’s, obese, with white hair and wears adult diapers. She also has a vanity mirror where every day she puts on her ‘game face’ – thick makeup, black eyeliner, orange lipstick and plots her newest scam.
I replied to an ad in Craigslist for help wanted and that’s when I first met Joan. Over the phone when I asked her why she needed help, she had said that she had rheumatoid arthritis. That later changed to osteoporosis and that’s when I realized that perhaps she doesn’t have a true ailment of any kind. She had said that she was in need of help with chores, anyway, the house is covered and cluttered with boxes upon boxes. After talking to her and getting to know her a little bit she divulged certain information to me – one being that her partner in crime Lisa Hall (her daughter), now known as Lisa Graham was a law student but decided to quit because of how corrupt lawyers are. I found out that that was a lie and that Lisa was potentially hiding somewhere, perhaps even somewhere at the Westlake home. The reality is neither the daughter nor her never worked a day in their lives. They live from scam to scam…
I believe that Joan was a hooker back in the day and this is where she met her husband a naive Amish farmer. She suckered him into marriage and than she stole his money and he filed for divorce and she then started enlisting street people to scam stores by stealing things and returning them, also known as “runners”. This is the kind of thing a crackhead does for money. They just did it on a grander scale, driving from state to state she continued the pattern of criminal activity with her daughter.
The daughter now in her 60’s is still going from state to state while Joan is holding the stolen property at 1965 Radcliffe in Westlake Ohio. They are back at the scams again and it’s only a matter of time before they go back to prison.
HAWK Says: Some people never learn…
The Bottom Line
SCUMBAGGED Tip: You would think that after serving years in prison and getting older in age that you would have learned your lesson, retired and lived out the rest of your years happily. Such apparently is not the case for this mother and daughter duo who seem to be at it once again. If you run a local department store, keep an eye out, there’s a good chance that they could have been at it since they were released more than 5 years ago, which means that they could well be on their way to defrauding your local area company or corporate conglomerate by millions of dollars once again.
Did she tell you that she lost her entire life savings to Bernie Madoff?
That’s what she had me believing right off the rip.
I bought it hook, line and sinker. I felt absolutely terrible for her.
She further went on to tell me that she had been a single, struggling mom whom of which was trying to work, go to school and feed her children. And that her millionaire ex-husband never paid her a dime of child support.
Then to further gain my sympathy, she told me she was stuck for 18 hours due to her mechanical lift chair tipping backwards.
What really kills me is she totally had me in “protection mode” over her. This woman made sure that she preyed upon me, and then played it up really well when she noticed how compassionate and empathetic I was.
Annnnd! Just to really hammer it all in psychologically, she told me her last caretaker tried to steal her dog. And that this woman stole her grocery money.
I was actually getting visibly upset about it! Asking her “Joanie you should have called the cops! At least so they have it on file! What if she comes back and tries to rob you or something!
I thought to myself , “How do people sleep at night taking advantage of such a sweet old lady”.
From there she told me that she had some returns around town she needed to make.
So we hopped into someone’s car that was I’m the driveway. (I’m still unsure of who’s car that really is) ..and off we went.
With me in full blown “granny protection” mode…
One of the first stores she had me go into,
the woman I spoke with immediately informed me that I need to tell Joanie that they can’t return her empty containers anymore..
And that Joanie has all her care takers do this.
The girl was clearly aggervated about it. Outwardly mad, actually.
I was like ” look it’s my first day, I’m just trying to do my job..she told me she spoke with someone here and that you guy’s, from what I understand, are supposed to give her a gift card. That’s all I know. ”
Again, I had just been psychological prepped by her to feel like she was the sweetest, most innocent, nicest old lady, that’s been extremely taken advantage of, AND her whole life savings lost in a ponzy scheme.
I walked out of that store feeling like I had actually done a good thing!
I informed her immediately that the woman seemed to have an attitude about the situation. And I mentioned that the woman has also told me to inform her to stop having all her caretakers come in there with empty containers.
Of course she seemed genuinely and competely shocked and appalled by this! “Really!!? What!?? ..Really!?…Who did you speak with!? ”
Then we went to the next store in the same shopping center. I had to go in twice because she was insistent on cash..
And then the next store, and the next, then a drive thru, then another store, then another drive thru, then another store.
By the time we got to the last store, I was starting to become really nervous and uncomfortable.
By the time I got out of that last store with her refund of cash, for the kombucha and cosmetics..I was almost full blown panic attack.
I mentioned how uncomfortable I was.
I straight up told her ” this doesn’t feel right “.
“That got really weird and intense in there Joanie”
She assured me that she had just spoken with the manager up there. And that she would NEVER do anything illegal, let alone let me get in trouble for it…
The second time I worked for her. I spent alot of time organizing a basement full of incontinence pads, briefs, etc.
“Joanie, Please tell me your not continuing to order these right? (Assuming she was buying them) You have enough to last you for a looonnnnggg, LONG time.
She then informed me that she gets them for free thru medicade.
I even suggested that she had so many packs of them down there, that she could donate a bunch of them to senior centers, or a homeless shelter, or a women’s shelter etc.
She didn’t seem to like that idea.
I thought …” Well? If there’s ever a flood you could make one heck of a life raft out of all that”
I did some weeding, a lite load of laundry, picked up some doggie waste, layed down aunt traps, shuffled blue bags, took some trash out…
Normal stuff.
She offered me a bunch of canned food that was downstairs in the basement before I left for the evening.
I started crying..she had known that I was really struggling.
I literally started crying and I gave her a huge hug and thanked her to the moon and back ( I had just been thinking that I was hungry )
And legitametly, it really did mean the world to me. It actually still means the world to me…
But now I know what her intentions were with that gesture of kindness.
She was preying on my soft spots.
My vulenerabilities.
She had won me back over, with canned ravioli.
Then the 3rd and (last) time. It was more returns.
After certain things happened that final day.
And some weird txt exchanges and phone calls.
I couldn’t quit fast enough.
I literally JUST found out exactly who these people are. I’m competely upset. I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m genuinely just competely at a loss for words on how taken advantage of I feel.
I WAS TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF!
I don’t know how many have come before me. I don’t know how many will come after me.
But I sure as hell NEVER walked into ANY stores as some crack head “runner” to steal items from shelves, and walk out with stolen items from those shelves.
You got cameras. Utilize them
And Joanie? You’re a little too old to be begging to see the devil
Will the person or editor of this article please contact me. I’d love to fill you in on Lisa and MY FATHER.
How do you reach someone private
I originally investigated her and her daughter along with two others. You can’t imagine the depth and scope of this duo.
I can imagine the dept and scope of this duo. Only because I fell victim to it. It’s been almost 2.5/3 years since my brief (yet indefinitely traumatizing) introduction to Joan Hall…and I still have an extremely difficult time wrapping my mind around that whole situation.
I work for hernaily now, can you share any info?
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Believe%
Did you interview them personally?
Does this lady live in Lorain now?
I worked for this lady for 3 days & unfortunately this is all too familiar. I found an article online called “Mother’s Keeper” & my jaw was in the floor buy the time I finished reading it!!! It’s the same old story…almost every place we went to knew it was Joanie sending in different girls for returns. And I couldn’t return something & therefore did not have any cash to give her her head just about exploded every time this happened. I pulled weeds, did some other yard work all the while Joanie was screaming at me & telling me I was doing it right. She gave me food & about 30 ALDI’s gift cards as “payment.” I quit after 3 days, filed a police report & turned in the gift cards. The Westlake PD detective talked to me & just told me this is what Joan (& her daughter Lisa) does & will probably never stop. The detective called me back a week later & said she sent her probation officer to her house to talk to her (she couldn’t provide any further details). She told me I could come back to the station & pick up the ALDI gift cards. I told her I didn’t want them & she said “we you might as well since you didn’t actually get paid.” I reluctantly went & picked them up. I used them very sparingly at ALDI because I felt like I was up to no good just like dear old Joanie every time I bought something with them. This woman must either have bipolar or schizophrenia & is very mentally ill. It’s sad. I have depression & anxiety that I take medicine for so I’m not judging her, I’m just saying it’s very sad that she seems to enjoy doing this. It’s an addiction. And it’s sad to think that other young girls are getting taken advantage of. She asked for a copy of my driver’s license & social security number!!! She STILL has an add on Craigslist (“senior helper”). I sent them a long detailed message & reported the ad.
How do I get in touch with the first person who responded to this article? I recently “interviewed” with this sociopath. This woman really has a set on her! You would think after doing prison time & pushing 80 something she would be exhausted by now. What a nightmare this lady is. I contacted Westlake police (who are very familiar with her) I was informed she’s still on probation/parole from her last stint in prison. I was informed of not only what I divulged- but that Joan herself & daughter (Lisa) a few new schemes up their sleeves. She goes by the name Joanie Barth as of now. My only hope is that the old bag of bricks goes back to prison, where she rightfully belongs. Scumbag is an understatement as far as I’m concerned.
Your can’t get ahold of me. I’m still deeply disturbed by what this woman tried to rope me into.
I kinda figured she had quite a thing for me due to the continual voicemails she left me after I quit. The vile, disgusting, insulting things she would say to me in these voicemails….I shudder in fear. Her whole voice . The anger. She’s evil.
The only reason why I’m revisiting this post is because a friend of mine just told me about a situation she went through with someone she was doing caretaking work for. And I expressed to her that I understand completely. And that I understand more than she could ever imagine. And I shared several articles with her, including this one. And I spoke with her about my experiences with Joanie Hall.
Hopefully she’s dead and gone now.
But, If you absolutely need to reach me, you can do so via the Westlake Police department.