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Oct. 8, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:17
Fake Foods Exposed & Real Victims Speak Out! | Dr. Oz | S10 | Ep 40 | Full Episode
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Time Text
We're taking on fakers.
Frauds.
And foes.
I'm burning this.
It's smoking, but there's no melting.
So you don't get duped.
Julie gating gluten.
We ordered item marked gluten-free.
And investigating how one man faked a disability.
Changing his diaper, it's just gross.
For his own twisted pleasure.
You're doing your job to help someone and you're taking advantage of.
Feel violated.
Coming up next.
Oh, oh, oh.
You all ready for season 10?
Yeah!
I love you, Dutta.
Thank you.
Today, fakers, frauds, and foes.
Recalling the mouse so you don't get duped.
Then we start with the food investigation you don't want to miss.
Asking, are you eating fake cheese?
Viral videos like the one you're about to see claim cheese slices don't melt like you would expect so-called real cheese to.
Take a look.
We're gonna go with the orange cheese.
I'm burning this, and it's not melting.
So it's sizzling, so it won't burn.
This is ridiculous.
So I've cultivated my very own cheese squad to help get to the bottom of this.
Author of real food fake food, Larry Almstead, and food investigator Allie Rosen will help set the record straight about the cheese in our supermarket once and for all.
Right.
So let's recreate that experiment that you saw in the video.
I'm gonna light this up and we'll see what happens.
Now, if you interestingly notice that it's not melting away, it's not falling into my hand down here, right?
It's uh not doing much of anything except turning a little dark.
So Larry, what does this mean?
I mean it's smoking, but there's no melting.
Well, American cheese is uh actually designed to melt at a lower temperature.
I mean, anybody who doesn't think American cheese melts has never had a grilled cheese sandwich.
Uh it's actually famous for melting.
It's it's made to melt, but it's made to melt low and slow, not at a high temperature like a direct flame.
And that's why when you make uh cheeseburger, American cheese melts perfect.
It's the gooey topping everyone loves on a burger.
Now, Ali, why is American cheese a bad wrap, so much heat lately?
Yeah, American cheese is starting to really be known as a fake cheese compared with a real cheese like a gouda or a brie, and that's because real cheese should only have about four ingredients, whereas American cheese has upwards of 15 ingredients with a lot of unpronounceable things like protein concentrating, calcium phosphate, and artificial coloring, it's often paprika.
Um, so it's not real cheese, it's a product.
But in fairness, this is a lot of ingredients for something that's supposed to be a whole food.
Oh, yeah.
Wasn't expected that.
Let's come over here.
There, you've you've called this out a little bit.
You made it you make your living identifying food frogs.
Let's get right into this.
I want to understand what's really going on with cheese.
Why why is this considered fake cheese?
Okay, well, American cheese by definition is uh combination of real cheese is usually Colby, Monterey Jack, and cheddar mixed together with a few other ingredients, and American cheese uh is usually 90% or more actual cheese.
But what you have to be careful is called pasteurized processed cheese.
Yes, that's what we call American cheese.
That's the the the and the key here is that the word cheese, and also this is normally what you'd find in uh the deli case sliced to order, not individually wrapped.
And if it says pasteurized processed cheese.
90%.
90% cheese.
That sounds pretty good to me.
Yeah, and uh one uh food expert we talked to call this the Cadillac of processed cheese.
Okay, perfect.
All right, so they keep going.
Okay, and then uh, but there's other definitions, and one of them is uh pasteurized processed cheese food.
So if you want to circle food, that's the key word.
Adding food to cheese immediately means that this uh now has more additives and can be as little as 51% cheese.
And then the next category down is pasteurized cheese product, um, which you don't even know what the percentage of real cheese is.
There's no uh minimum, and it can also be made directly from milk rather than from other cheeses.
All right, so we don't know anything about that, frankly.
No.
So was there a reason for us to buy cheese product?
Uh no, but it gets even worse.
It does.
Yeah, there are uh what they call singles.
American singles or sandwich slices, you'll notice the word cheese is not in here at all.
That's right.
And I say, so the big tip is if there's no cheese on the label, there's no cheese in the package.
You're talking 0% cheese, slices made out of fats and oils and chemicals to resemble synthetic cheese.
Did you guys ever notice that when you buy American slices?
I I didn't think about that.
The word cheese isn't there.
There's a reason.
So what are these reports that there's interest in American cheese has just plummeted?
Why is it literally melting away?
Uh it's mostly a matter of taste.
I mean, millennials are very interested in food, where their food comes from, how it's made, the ingredients in it, and they're uh buying more and more artisanal natural cheeses.
So American cheese sales have declined sharply, still popular for grilled cheese and uh cheeseburgers, but even some of the fast food chains have started to back away and offer alternative cheeses now on burgers, which they never did before.
So Allie Rosen tracked down a cheese expert to help us understand what goes into making a real cheese.
Take a look.
So Adam, where are we?
We're in my cheese warehouse in Long Island City, where we handle the import for about 40 importers around the United States, and we handle about a half a million pounds of cheese a week.
You want to see some cheese?
Yeah.
All right.
Here we go.
Real cheese more than you've ever seen before.
Third generation cheesemonger Adam Moskowitz regularly belts out cheesy wraps inside his cheese warehouse.
Real cheese!
Where he stores his real, not fake cheese at 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is actually the difference between real cheese and fake cheese?
What does that even mean?
And it's court.
Let's just talk ingredients.
Yeah.
Real cheese, four ingredients.
Milk, starter culture, rennet, salt, that's it.
Real cheese.
And how does that break down?
Like when you're making cheese, what do we see there?
Basically, heat milk, and you add starter culture, which begins the process of separating milk into its liquid and solid.
Then you add rennet, which continues to facilitate that separation, leaving you with basically little Miss Muffet sat in her tough, eating her curds and whey.
So curds is the solid, whey is the liquid.
Then we throw some salt in, boom, there's cheese.
Whereas fake cheese, this little thing, it has about 15 ingredients.
Most we can't name, and a lot of it is just simply milk.
So this is basically an inflammable piece of milk.
So is there actually a flavor difference between real cheese and fake cheese?
Holy cow!
Is there a difference?
I don't even know where to begin in words.
Can I show you with cheese?
Definitely.
Awesome, let's go.
Yeah.
Fake cheese is one note, and it usually tastes like plastic.
Real cheese is full flavor.
It's taste, texture, and aroma.
You want to try some?
Absolutely.
Alright, cool.
Let's try this.
This is OG Crystal.
It's a farmstead raw milk, uh, Belgian cheese made in the style of douda.
What do you think?
It's creamy with just a little bit of bite.
It's perfect.
I think it's a little crunchy, and I actually get reminded of Hawaiian punch when I taste it.
I don't get that, but I'll believe you.
Sweet.
Hawaiian punch, I'm not sure if that's good.
Next possible cheese frog we're investigating is that's making headlines is crumbled salad topper.
Could your feta cheese be fake?
So authentic feta ought to be made from sheep or goat milk.
But you and my medical unit took a big dive into this.
What did you find?
Your investigation.
Well, uh, what's really popular is this crumbled feta cheese because it's easy to put on salads and feta cheese has that strong distinctive taste that makes Greek salad, Greek salad.
But um authentic feta cheese is always made from sheep and goat's milk or sheep or goat's milk.
And all seven of the crumble brands we looked at that are readily available in supermarkets here were made from cow's milk.
No sheep, no goat.
Seven out of seven.
Seven out of seven.
So if you want the real sheep or goat, you gotta get the whole block.
Yeah, uh the uh it's usually imported and it comes in slabs or blocks like this.
Uh and uh don't worry, it's real crumbly, so it's still very easy to put on your salad.
It tastes better.
Also, um the uh feta made from goat or sheep's milk lasts longer than the cow's milk.
It doesn't become uh fetid and slimy as fast, so even though it costs a little bit more, it can be a better value.
When I when my family always bought it like this, I didn't even know they had the pre-crumbled, it doesn't take much, you know, you can break it from your substance cheese anyway.
I use it all the time.
Thanks, Larry.
Next possible food fraud is uh in cheese is the wood pulp issue.
Is it hiding in your shredded cheese?
Donica from our audience is here.
She says she uses shredded cheese a couple of times a week to prepare meals for her family.
So Donica, why'd you go towards shredded cheese rather than the blocks that you used to get probably when you were a kid?
Because convenience.
You know I'm I'm a really busy woman and whatnot.
I have a career I have a family.
So I just when I'm charging through the supermarket grab grab grab shredded shredded shredded uh it's great for breakfast, omelets, it's great for lunch, quesadillas, soups, and chilies, you name it cheese, shredded cheese is my go-to.
Ali, is all this convenience coming at a cost.
Well you'll find in shredded cheese there's always a few additives like cellulose or potato starch and that's really just about reducing mold.
So when you look at a big block of cheese here, obviously there's only so much mold that can grow on the outside.
Whereas if you look here you'll see on the shredded cheese there's a lot of surface area.
So you want to have those ingredients to make sure it doesn't mold really quickly.
Okay so we either have this option or we have this option right is there a problem with cellulose so cellulose is really just a plant fiber.
You find it kind of in anything that you eat if you're eating green beans if you're eating strawberries there's cellulose in there.
The issue that you can have with shredded cheese is that they're not required to tell you how much cellulose is actually in the cheese.
So you can buy a packet of shredded cheese and you're paying for cheese and you're actually getting quite a high quantity of cellulose and additives.
So that's where the issue is there's an important reason I think many of you actually choose shredded cheese is because it's very effective when you start making these kinds of foods right grilled cheese.
Yes so when you're looking at a grilled cheese this is pre-sredded this is from the block that we've just graded here and I'm gonna give you the honor of the pre-shredded because it's well it's the better one here.
It is yeah so when you pull this apart you see there's none of that oey gooey and the right I knew I loved wood pulp I knew cellulose has been very very good to me.
Right you wanted that cellulose so you don't have to worry if you're buying a high quality shredded cheese the cellulose should be fine just be careful about it because of those additives and the reasons I love the sick of this I know I know you want a little bit you want half my sandwich Donica you don't want mine?
No make me a big fan of cellulose we reached out to the International Dairy Foods Association to see what they had to say about the fetish cheese we just discussed and the cellose and shredded cheese head over to DrOz dot com to see their statement and check out the ultimate cheese guide at Dr Oz dot com so you prepare it before buying it in the grocery store.
Up next, go fat cheeses are popping up everywhere.
Are they worth it?
Find out when we come back.
Where do we go when we die?
We're unraveling this medical mystery and examining the last moments of life.
And I remember feeling so at peace and so free of all the burdens in life.
the ladies of the real ask your birdie health questions.
Not one that I'm almost too embarrassed to ask all new Oz that's coming up tomorrow we're investigating cheese today now food investor Ali Rosen is back to help us investigate low fat spreadable cheese it is a diet hack a lot of you use but is it worth it and could it sabotage your food plan.
So why do dieters love these low calorie spreadable cheeses?
Well they give you the feeling of cheese without all the calories it has a lot of protein but you know it's something that everybody enjoys and you can eat cheese while sort of cutting back a little bit.
So let me ask Lisa from audience to come join us.
She loves low fat cheese describe to everybody your obsession with these products.
Oh these are easy items to grab when you're in a supermarket and I'm always on a run and they seem like they could pair with wine as well.
Oh is that right?
Yep oh my goodness so how often do you eat these cheeses a week?
I use I eat them daily daily daily oh my goodness now what's in a tub of one of these low calorie cheeses?
Well, sorry, but there's a lot of gums in here because one of the issues when you have a spreadable cheese and you're taking the fat out, you need to keep the texture.
So you'll find things like Xanthem gum and guar gum, which allows it to have the texture of cheese without having all the fat.
What do you think about that?
Sorry.
Well, here's the thing.
Healthier.
If someone wants to eat cheese, there are low-calorie versions.
Come on over here.
Let me show you the these are real cheeses too, right?
These are a waistline helping cheese would include.
All right, so I'm gonna hopefully convert you over here.
We have Swiss cheese, which is a great option.
It has a lot of protein.
When you think about that American cheese we saw earlier, it has five grams.
There's eight grams of protein here.
It also has a lot of B12.
It's much healthier for you.
We also have those mozzarella shredded six.
Yeah, and these are great.
All right, so these are low fat, they're made with skim milk, but they also have a lot of calcium, and they're much lower in fat.
And they also, to the melting point we were talking about earlier, these melt a lot easier.
Um so this is a great option rather than those spreadables.
So would you replace one of those spreadable cheeses that you are currently buying and eating daily with one of these naturally low-calorie cheeses?
Yes, because I love all of these items.
If you know, now you know.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
Nice to duck.
We'll be right back.
Give me that real cheese, please.
I want that real cheese and you smell in the breeze.
I want that real cheese that brings you to your knees.
I don't want none of that fake cheese.
That fake fees, nah.
I ordered this gluten-free pizza, but our testing shows gluten.
The shocking new report about gluten-free meals at restaurants that you need to know about for your next trip out to eat.
Today we're exposing fakers, frauds, and foes.
And now one that may be on your plate.
When you order a meal at a restaurant or a takeout, you trust you're getting what you pay for.
But a new study is raising questions that you may be getting gluten when you order an item marked gluten-free on the menu.
Can I have a bacon and cheese on a gluten-free bangle, please?
That's cool, it's coming right up.
These days, there are more gluten-free options at restaurants than ever before.
Gluten-free pancakes, chicken tenders, pastries, even meatballs with focaccia bread.
That's faux kaccia.
Spelled F-A-G-S.
If you have the creative chops, you can make anything gluten-free and delicious.
And it's not just upscale restaurants.
Many popular fast food chains also now offer gluten-free items.
It just makes good business sense, says Jordan Brown, owner of Hugh Kitchen restaurant that serves nothing but gluten-free foods.
So when we launched Hue Kitchen in late 2012, gluten-free was very fringy.
But it turned out obviously to be not a trend, but a sustainable way of eating and businesses booming.
But guess what?
A recent analysis across the US found a third of restaurant foods labeled gluten-free that they tested had detectable levels of gluten.
Today we're investigating.
What did this study find?
What does it mean for people who have gluten problems?
What if they have celiac disease?
So they're super sensitive to gluten.
Yeah, the findings of this study were really surprising.
So what they did was they tested almost 5,000 restaurant items that were labeled as gluten-free on the menu.
And they wanted to see if they had gluten levels exceeding 20 parts per million.
That's the FDA standard for foods being labeled gluten-free.
Now, anything above that threshold could cause a reaction for someone with celiac disease or even just gluten sensitivity.
And here's what they found.
And when it comes to pasta and pizza, the number was even higher.
Half of those items contained gluten.
So if you are someone who has celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, that could lead to symptoms ranging from vomiting to diarrhea to even intestinal damage.
You know, the thing about this, it's not if one in three is contaminated, it's not just a rare issue here and there.
It's a systematic problem in how we're processing, but also looking and enforcing these rules.
So let me show you something.
We decided to test some of these foods ourselves.
There's a company called Nima.
They said this is portable handheld gluten sensor.
It can detect, and I'll show this to you real quickly, it can detect tiny amounts of gluten in with any food, just with a touch of a button.
So you the little kit comes out, you unscrew it, you put about a P amount of material in here.
So you guys could do it too if you wanted to, but We did it for you.
You close it up, put it in here, and you are good to go.
You press the button, you wait a few minutes, and it gives you numbers back.
So you ordered a sampling of foods from chain restaurants from Oakal local places, you know, all of them labeled gluten-free.
That was the only thing we insisted on, it had to be gluten-free.
And it was ordered by our staff.
And when we, you know, okay, actually, take a look at these.
Come on out here, if you don't mind.
Lisa, my producer, who does all the heavy lifting to make these savings come alive.
Actually, with the team and the medical unit.
Thank you, Lisa, was able to get us some of these samples.
And these are all the foods that you're ordering all the time, right?
And these are foods, I'll tell you right now, that we found had gluten in them, even though they were labeled gluten-free.
So we have a gluten-free pizza, right?
We have gluten-free rice, but it's the chicken and the veggies that had the gluten, not the rice.
We had gluten-free, supposedly macaroons, which I happen to adore, but these weren't gluten-free macaroons.
Same things for pastries.
The hamburger actually had a problem because the burger, right?
It's supposed to be gluten-free, but the bun wasn't.
Had gluten in it.
And even the salad, I mean, a salad had gluten in it.
I mean, how does this even happen?
And getting back to the big issue of one in three in this study of the products tested, but and there are a lot of them tested, have gluten, who's enforced it?
What are the rules here?
Yeah, well, in terms of labeling, you know, the FDA does have standards for labeling, but that's for processed foods.
It's packaged.
The FDA does not have oversight over restaurants.
So they do request that restaurant standards meet the FDA standards, but clearly that's not happening.
Now you talk to some pros, talk to some restauranters, right?
And restaurant owners know.
They should probably help us because we think they're buying products that were gluten-free.
So, what happened to the gluten-free labeled foods in our favorite takeouts?
Yeah, it's about the preparation process.
So let's take a look here.
So let's say the chef buys gluten-free bread, it's labeled properly, it is gluten-free.
But when they start preparing the food, if they grill this sandwich on the same grill as a sandwich with regular bread, they're then coating the gluten-free bread in these trace amounts of gluten.
Let's take a look at another example, a salad, right?
Let's say the salad has no croutons, nothing containing gluten.
But if the pastry chef is then on the counter next to it, making cookies, you could get airborne particles of flour that then get tossed into your salad.
You all get this, guys, how simple this is.
You could be making this music at home, by the way, as well.
But in this situation, you don't actually know unless you do a little homework.
So when we come back, how to make sure your next gluten-free meal really is gluten-free and it's doable.
Stay with us.
Thank you.
Beep, beep.
Where do we go when we die?
We're unraveling this medical mystery and examining the last moments of life.
Plus, the ladies of the real, ask your birdie health questions.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Thank you.
All right, we just uncovered the gluten-free food you're ordering at your favorite restaurants and takeout places, and finding out that they might actually contain gluten.
So, first off, just so everyone's not so overalarmed.
What does it mean to have trace amounts of gluten found in the foods that you're trusting to be gluten-free?
Yeah, well, Dr. Oz, as you know, when someone with celiac disease eats food containing gluten, it could lead to like a full body flu.
You know, their doctors have them on a gluten-free diet for very good reason.
A lot of other people just describe themselves as gluten sensitive.
So that just leads to a lot of discomfort.
So ultimately, is eating these trace amounts of gluten gonna kill anyone?
No, it's not.
But this is a consumer trust issue.
You should be able to trust that what you're being told is true and that you get what you pay for.
And then there's rare cases when it's really a problem, you don't want to get caught.
So Mara has some tips to make sure you can get exactly what you're ordering when you ask for gluten-free stuff.
The first is you have to ask yourself, uh rather your server some questions.
It's not just any questions.
Yeah.
So it's not just is this gluten-free, right?
Because that's printed on the menu.
You want to ask them if the food is being prepared separately, or is gluten food being prepared with the gluten-free food.
You also want to ask about things you may not have thought of.
Marinade, brines, is gluten involved in any step of the process.
Don't be shy.
All right.
That's something that we should all get comfortable with.
Number two is you say order your meal last.
Yeah, this one is actually a great tip.
I love this one.
You want the special request to be fresh in your server's mind so that they don't forget it.
So just remind them you have a gluten sensitivity.
Your food needs to be gluten-free and it needs to be prepared separately.
And this third issue is super important because these days you can actually make it happen.
They're actually crowdsourcing allergy apps out there.
Yeah, it's kind of like Yelp for people with allergies.
And there are a lot of resources out there to help.
So NEMA, the maker of the gluten testing device we just saw, lets people upload their results.
So then you can see what different allergy-friendly eateries where they rate.
There's also a site called Allergy Eat that lets people rate restaurants according to their allergy friendliness.
So there are a lot of resources.
This is important because you see all these guys over here.
These are all either good players or bad players, depending on how they they rate.
Support the good people.
It's not easy to make sure that you don't have people flipping their cheeseburgers next to each other or their salads are getting mixed up with contaminated pastries next door.
It's not easy.
So reward people who take the effort to make sure they're treating you right.
I think consumer safety is part of it, but consumer trust is also, and we know it works.
Listen, for 10 years, we've made the show come alive in the homes of restaurants and takeout places and folks making package goods because they know that you care.
So vote with your pocketbook and reward the good guys.
Well, I'll love having you on.
Thank you guys.
We'll be right back.
Up next in our investigation of fakers, frauds, and foes.
Why would someone fake having Down syndrome?
Even wearing diapers to keep up the ruse.
an exclusive interview two women who say they were duped for months speak out for the first time Today, an exclusive investigation into fakers, frauds, and foes.
Faking disabilities for attention, sympathy, and even sexual gratification.
One man is suspected of faking down syndrome for years, even wearing diapers to get his caretakers to bathe him for his alleged pleasure.
We have two of the alleged victims who have made these claims, speaking out for the first time.
We're investigating why someone would prey on the trust and care of others.
Why would they do it?
Could you be the target of such an outrageous and hurtful scam?
In the past, we've seen cases of cancer cons lying about illnesses to scam people out of money.
And others have used a fake sickness to gain attention and sympathy.
But recently, a startling new level of deception has been uncovered.
An Arizona man has been accused of pretending to have down syndrome for years in order to live out his sexual fantasies.
Police say Paul Manchaka posed as a woman named Amy on a caregiver website, saying she needed care for her adult son.
A total of three caregivers would end up falling to the trip.
According to police, Paul also wore diapers as part of his con, asking his caregivers to change them when they got dirty.
One of the caregivers gave him baths where he would request to be cleaned more thoroughly in certain areas and appeared to be aroused by the baths.
Paul now faces 10 counts of sexual abuse, among other charges today.
What drives people to fake a disability?
And how are they getting away with it?
And in Oz exclusive, two of Paul's accusers are here speaking out for the first time.
So let's see this let's start with you.
You're a caretaker.
What got you interested in in the field?
I really enjoy helping people.
Uh I've always wanted to go into like the medical field, something and just been, I've been passionate about helping people.
Um starting caregiving job, you're helping someone that's in need and helping them kind of fill that void that they need.
So, what was your career like?
What was the typical experience you might have taking care of other people with disabilities before you met Paul and how did he change it?
So I used to work at the school.
Um, at my high school, we used to we used to uh help kids with special needs, help in the special needs classroom.
They would basically guide me in different things, what would help with kids, um outbreaks and stuff like that.
Stuff if they have like tantrums, they kind of help out with that.
And Sarah?
Um, I worked with a lot of like Parkinson disease, and I worked at Facilities a lot, and then meeting Paul, it was kind of different because it was a home environment.
You were the first of the two of you to start working with him.
I was.
You worked with him for about six months if I understand correctly.
Yes.
And you say his behavior was pretty typical to others with special needs that you may have worked with in the past.
Can you describe it what that was like?
Um he would throw tantrums, he would uh flap his arms, he would cry, he would scream, he would get very angry sometimes.
A lot of times he'd talk with like his tongue in his mouth, kind of like he was stuttering.
Um the way he walked, he would kind of like do handshakes and like bang on windows and doors and stuff.
You think that was an act now?
In the beginning we thought it was all real.
Um and he kind of had us fooled because with kids with special needs when they can't voice their opinion, especially with like um kids with like autism, they can't when they're non-verbal, they can't explain how they feel.
And so that's kind of how we were thinking it's maybe part of the Down syndrome, because he can't express how he feels.
So he kind of just shakes and um Okay, so that was it was believable.
Yeah.
What kind of care, Sarah would you give him in the beginning?
Um I would be changing his diaper.
I would feed him, I would bathe him, I would get him dressed and ready for the day to go out.
Unless you worked for Paul for a lot less time.
I did.
I only worked with him for a month.
What was your impressions of him?
Um he would be very jumpy.
Uh he didn't talk very well, he didn't have very full sentences.
Um his actions just kind of acted like a child.
He was very childlike.
I know this is uncomfortable, it's painful even, but if I can ask you about the first time when he crossed the line, in your opinion.
I think that the first thing that I feel like he crossed the line is when he would say we were cleaning him and we weren't cleaning him well enough.
I would wipe him and he wouldn't it would it wasn't clean enough for him.
So you'd have us make make us do it more fur thoroughly.
Um it just it wasn't good enough for him.
And when when did he ask you to do that?
Uh it was still about the second or third time I started watching him because the first day we did change his diaper, he'd walk around in his diaper.
And his reaction when you were wiping him, do you remember?
He always had like a smirk on his face, so it was kind of like the um the innocent kind of like smirk.
Um so we kind of it made me feel uncomfortable, but because that's the job I'm doing, I didn't think much of it.
Monsieur, did he have any unusual reactions when you were cleaning him?
It would just be a smirk on his face, or he would be clapping, or he would try and talk to me while I was changing him mostly.
Have you had to bathe other clients the way you bathed him?
Yes.
So would they ever smirk?
No.
And how does it make the two of you feel looking back, realizing that a man took advantage of you?
But taking advantage, actually, your goodwill towards other humans.
I feel violated.
I feel like it's immorally wrong, and it makes me feel just disgusted and vulnerable.
Sarah?
I felt violated.
I felt vulnerable, I felt like I took I got taken advantage of, and it wasn't okay.
Did you think he was sexually aroused by this?
Yes.
With kids that have special needs, they a lot of times don't notice that they have it.
So we kind of try to disregard it and made me feel weird doing it because changing his diaper just makes me uncomfortable, but they don't notice it.
So I tried to disregard it, and it just it's just gross how somebody could do that to someone.
Up next in our Oz exclusive, the shocking moment these women say they learned that Paul did not have Down syndrome.
Stay with us.
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We go undercover, and what we found will shock you.
Whoa!
I think I got a positive here.
All noise.
That's coming up next week.
Paul Menchak is suspected of pretending to suffer from Down syndrome, even wearing a diaper to allegedly get sexual pleasure.
Two of his alleged victims, Lexi and Sarah are back speaking out in an exclusive interview.
Both say they were receiving instructions for care via text from a phone number alleging to be Paul's mom.
Are you okay, Alexi?
Yeah, I'm okay.
I know you're very upset about this, and I just want you to tell us what it is specifically bothered you the most about this.
I just feel gross.
I don't see how someone could do that.
You're doing a job to help someone and you're taking advantage of.
For someone's pleasure.
For someone's pleasure.
Is it okay if I talk a little bit more about what you found out about him?
Yeah, it's fine.
What made you suspect that everything wasn't what it seemed?
That it was actually texting, pretending to be his mom.
So with me, um he would Amy would only text me when he wasn't around.
Amy was his mother.
Amy was his mother.
Okay.
Um so Amy would text me only when Paul wasn't around, and a lot of times she would ask us to punish him or take his phone away, so that's what we were doing.
We were taking his phone away.
But then I was driving, and there was a light in the back of my car, so it looked like he had another phone.
And I kind of just disregarded it because you don't really want to like overthink it.
So but the light came on, and then I looked at my phone and I received a text from Amy.
And so that kind of didn't add up to me.
So one more time.
You get a text from Amy telling you to take away his phone.
So you take away the phone you think is his, and he has a second phone, a backup phone that he's using to text you as though he's aiming.
Correct.
So what did you feel as you're driving along and see that light in the back seat?
It just kind of like it st like things started adding up.
It felt like, well, what if Amy Paul's really Amy?
Because we've never met Amy, we've never been to Paul's home.
Like this just not adding up.
We've never watched him in public places or in in like his home or anything.
It was all public.
So what did you do when you started to suspect that this man wasn't actually a Down syndrome patient?
To me, I didn't really I tried not to question it because you don't want to question somebody's disability.
You don't want to say he doesn't really have a disability.
So I to me I just kind of put it in the back of my head that I'm overthinking, just do my job and continue.
And then that's where she found out that everything kind of fell together at that point.
Did you tell Sarah about your concerns?
I didn't.
I talked to my boyfriend about it.
And he and he agreed, he said that things weren't adding up, but I said I just need to put it behind me.
It's overwhelming, it's not, it doesn't make sense.
I'm probably just overthinking it.
So Sarah, what happened to you?
I found out because things weren't adding up.
He was playing me and the other caregiver against each other, and I followed him home, and that's when I found his real parents, and that's when everything like came out.
What happened when you followed him home?
Um I knocked on the door and his real mom answered, and it I kind of started breaking out, and I started crying, and I got really really angry, and I told her what was going on, and she's like, I'm Amy, I'm Angelica, I'm Paul's mom, and he doesn't have anything wrong with him.
Like what are you talking about?
Like she was she she seemed very like unaware of everything.
But she didn't seem so shocked at all.
She didn't seem shocked.
No.
She didn't seem angry, she didn't seem mad, she didn't seem sad, she was just like content.
Does that strike you as uh abnormal, Lexi?
Wouldn't you be upset if your son was doing this?
I think that you would want better for your son, and I think that it would be you'd be like, well, why is he doing that?
And you try to confront him right there.
At that point, I wasn't there at the initial confrontation, but what she was telling me is basically they told him to get out.
They didn't want anything to do with us.
So they wouldn't give us any answers.
And that's all we came there for is to figure out why he would do this to someone.
So you go to the house separately, but eventually you both go to the house, you speak to the family, they don't want to talk to you.
This man doesn't say anything back to you, doesn't defend himself.
No.
All he could say was he was bullied.
He thought he needed caregivers.
He was told he needed them.
When me and her and the other caregiver went and confronted him, we walked in and we brought our support systems, but they wouldn't allow us in there.
It would only have to be us three.
So we walked in the house and it tried to figure out like trying to get our answers, trying to figure out why you would do this to someone or like trying to understand maybe, and all he could say is that he was bullied and he was picked on and that people would say he he needs a caregiver.
So Paul Benchaka was then arrested and charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse and three counts of fraudulent schemes.
He has not been found guilty.
He's cause he's still awaiting trial for these crimes.
So the big question is why?
I mean, Lexi, you've thought about this a lot.
Why would he go to that extreme?
I think that it was for his fetish.
I think that he has a fetish for it.
I think that that's something that he wants in life is someone to take care of for him.
And if if he would have given us the option, if he would have said that that's what he wanted, it would have given us a chance to say no, but he didn't give us that option.
Alright, so we reached out to Paul Manchaka.
He did not get back to us in time for this taping, but based on the lack of insight he offered you, I'm not sure we would have learned that much from this.
Sarah, you work with him the longest.
I mean, what's it like watching him out there?
What would you like to say to him if he's out there?
And he's like, I just I just want justice.
I want an apology and I want to know why he did this.
Alexi, what would justice mean to you?
That he's not gonna be able to do it to someone else.
And make someone feel the way that we feel.
I think you make a very good point.
And you shouldn't feel in any way compromised because you took advantage of your goodwill.
And God bless you for being caregivers.
And I mean that.
Thank you for being with us.
Can I help you in any way?
Have you said everything you want to say?
Yeah.
Let me bring in behavioral psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Joseph, uh, who knows a lot about this.
So, what would motivate someone to fake a disability?
And obviously, we've heard the emotional uh concerns of these two wonderful young women, but as a psychiatrist, what are your thoughts?
Well, something about this just does not add up.
Someone with the level of disabilities that this person was faking is just not capable of a complex scheme that fools not one, not two, but upwards of three people.
It doesn't make sense.
This tells me that this person derives some sadistic pleasure from fooling these people and having them do favors that we now believe may be sexual.
So you've educated me that victims of this kind of fraud to be taken advantage of for a lot.
I mean, anyone can become a victim, but they take advantage of us because they take advantage of the way our brains are wired for sympathy.
And if you guys you come on over with me, because you're you you're in the medical field now.
All right.
So stand over here.
This is the brain, right?
And I want you to show these young women why Paul is able to take advantage of them and potentially all the rest of us as well, because we're hardwired to care, as you deeply do.
Our brains are built to literally trust, to form attachments, to care.
And the part of the brain that houses emotions and decision making lie right next to each other.
So it makes sense that you can let your emotions influence your decisions.
Right in here.
And sometimes when you make emotional decisions, you can end up in a lot of trouble or even dangerous situations.
And just to point out, you know, this is where trust lives.
It's interestingly where our emotion meets our judgment, our executive function.
So you're trying to do what's best for everybody else, but your emotions are deeply ingrained there as well, which is why we care so much for each other.
Yeah.
So what's the gut check?
What can folks do to make sure they don't get duped?
Because I know there are lots of well-meaning people out there who can be taken advantage of going forward.
And thank you for sharing your stories because you're helping so many people.
We wake up, we go to work every day.
The last thing we think is that something bad will happen to us at work, especially with patients.
And this is actually the topic of my recent research and upcoming book.
How do you protect yourself from harmful situations at work?
The gut check is there to protect you.
Listen to your gut, especially in dangerous situations, even at work.
So you specifically want us to look for inconsistent information.
Yeah.
Inconsistencies.
Really, when you get that prickly feeling and you feel that something's off, listen to it.
Your body is screaming at you, telling you this is not right.
So trust your gut.
And what are the resources that we can check?
Well, you know, fortunately, we're in the day and age of a lot of information.
And so you can actually go to your local providers.
Go to people who are experts in the field.
Find out, you know, use them as a sounding board.
Find out if your gut is really telling you something that is valid.
So that you have nothing to lose there.
Is it helpful at all?
It is.
And I should have listened to my gut, because I knew something wasn't adding up.
You're human, you're caring, and that's what makes you special.
And people like this take advantage of that.
See, I think you're beating yourself up for being who you are.
You're supposed to be who you Are you didn't do anything wrong here?
And I don't think most people sitting here watching right now would have ever thought this was possible.
So I don't want you beating yourself up.
Thankfully you got a friend with you.
We'll be right back.
I can feel so thank you very much.
*Pewds*
Where do we go when we die?
We're unraveling this medical mystery and examining the last moments of life.
Plus, the ladies of the real ask your birdie health questions.
All new Oz.
that's coming up tomorrow.
On the next shoe crime Tuesday, a Dr. Oz show exclusive you don't want to miss.
Y'all remember Drew Peterson, a police officer from the Midwest.
One wife murdered, one wife missing.
And this Tuesday, his two sons are speaking out for the first time.
So when you're sitting opposite or when he was hugging you in prison, did you feel safe with him?
I did.
Yeah.
It was the same, it was the same feeling I've always felt.
So at that moment, do you feel like he's innocent?
At that moment, I don't know what to think.
I I want to believe that he's innocent.
I really, I really do.
Because I I feel deep down that you know, maybe this might be a case of of uh how do you say like uh like a Salem witch trial almost.
Like when one person, a couple people get an idea that he's a bad guy.
A lot of other people get an idea that he's a bad guy.
This Tuesday, the exclusive interviews with Tom and Steven Peterson that you don't want to miss.
Their revelations about their father's guilt may change everything you thought you knew about Drew Peterson.
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