'Love Fraud': Karla robs her husband of 37 years to run away with Richard Scott Smith, will he forgive her?
After being married for well over 37 years, Karla began feeling miserable in her marriage. She craved for more love and affection from her husband, Jim, but when he wasn't ready to give her that, she soon turned to karaoke to keep herself occupied and happy. She began participating in karaoke nights at the local bar and having a good time.
One fine day, while she was enjoying her usual karaoke night, a man walked up to her and told her that in the midst of his performance, he would walk down the stage and extend his hand to her and she would have to take it and follow him back onstage. Karla readily agreed to his request, and by the end of the performance, that man declared to the world that he wanted to date and be with Karla. Sounds like a fairy tale romance, right?
Unfortunately, it is far from the happily-ever-after we read in our favorite fairy tales. For that man turned out to be none other than conman Richard Scott Smith. Smith's modus operandi involves charming lonely middle-aged women and getting them to trust him. He then declares his love for them and slowly gains access into their life and finances, and then takes away all the money, only to disappear from their life. The same thing happened with Karla.
Smith managed to charm Karla enough to get her to leave her husband of 39 years and run away with him. But since Karla was already married to Jim, instead of doling out his usual marriage proposal to his unsuspecting victim, Smith tweaked it a bit by proposing to Karla that they should open a seafood restaurant together. Karla was so blind in love and glad to see an escape from her mundane life that she readily agreed to it. She called her husband Jim and declared that she wanted to divorce him. Before Jim could process what Karla was asking of him, she cleaned out his $401,000 account and ran away with Smith.
Interestingly enough, unlike his other victims, Karla was already aware of the fact that several people were after Smith. But he managed to reassure her that he was innocent and people were engaging in a witch-hunt against him. He pointed out that if he were guilty, he would have been arrested already. Karla happily bought his theory and proceeded to working with him to open their seafood diner called Krab Kingz. Things were going very smoothly. Just as things were beginning to pick up in their business, Smith stole all of Karla's money and left her.
Later, in her green room interview, Karla explains how on the day of their big business opening he got a bunch of flowers. Karla assumed that they were for her, but turned out it was for one of their employees called Tammy, who Smith had begun to woo. While Karla was visibly upset with everything that happened, she described the whole experience with Smith as "bittersweet". She pointed out how he uses other people to fund his dreams and lifestyle, while also fulfilling their fantasies.
We later see Karla at a karaoke event. She gets on stage and begins singing, while her husband Jim watches her. At the end of her performance, the two begin dancing, as the scene fades out, suggesting that they both might have gotten back together.
'Love Fraud' airs every Sunday at 9/8c only on Showtime.