DECEPTION: Superthief: The Outlaw Who Wouldn’t Stay Locked Up

Hi everyone, before today's episode, we want to tell you about What the Fact. It's a new show from Conor Tomlinson, who you know from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum, and Carter Roy from Murder, True Crime Stories. Every week they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Conor's infectious energy will make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on Earth. Follow What the Fact, wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact On. This is Crime House. They thought it was the perfect crime. A plan so clever, it could never possibly fail. Until it did spectacularly. Welcome to Crimes of Deception. I'm Sabrina Deanna Rogga. I'm Corinne Deanna. I said a bit like a question, but who are we? Who are we? People we're talking about. This season, we are diving into stories where ambition, ego, and a little bit of delusion, or a lot a bit of delusion, turn everyday schemes into headline making crimes and also some of the most ridiculous crimes ever committed. Subscribe now and step inside the world of Crimes of. The case of the East Texas Super Thief starts right now. Welcome to Crimes of Deception, a crime house original powered by Pave Studios. We are your hosts, Sabrina Deanna Rogga, and Corinne Vienn. Every Tuesday, we're exploring a different corner of the True Crime universe, examining cases that left a permanent impact on society. This season, we're stepping into some of the boldest and most unbelievable crimes ever committed. The kinds of crimes where reality is certainly stranger than fiction. If you're loving Crimes of, please follow right in review us wherever you listen. It helps us build this community and we love hearing from you. To get early access and ad-free listening, subscribe to the Crimes house plus community on Apple Podcasts. And you can also catch us on YouTube where we include visuals that bring every case to life. Today we're talking about the case of Joshua Paul Calhoun, the Texas Super Thief. Calhoun had a rough start in life, shoved to the side by his parents and left a friend for himself in a small town, with very little to-do and even fewer opportunities. While many of his peers turned to drugs and violence, Josh found a different face, stealing. Anything he could get his hands on, that meant trucks, trailers, planes, even cattle. For Calhoun, it didn't seem to be about what he was stealing so much as how it made him feel. Joshua Paul Calhoun has been out of jail for 30 days. That means 30 days without handcuffs, without concrete floors, without guards telling him when to eat, when to sleep, when to move. And for most people, that's freedom. For Calhoun though, it is boredom, nauseating, painful boredom. He feels it so deep in his bones and itch, up craving, he needs something. Not money, not food, he needs a rush. And on March 4th, 2009, he just has to feed it. So he pulls his pickup truck into a tiny, rural airport outside of Brownsboro, Texas. And when I say airport, that's pretty generous. It is a one runway, a couple hangers, and a barbed wire fence, that does the absolute bare minimum in terms of security. There are no cameras, no alarms, really, no one paying attention. Calhoun's eyes lock onto a single prop beach craft bonanza. It's security is pretty laughable, just a few ropes barely tethering it into place, and the key is already in the ignition. Perfect. Calhoun climbs into the cockpit and turns the key. Nothing. Dead battery. Calhoun wipes the sweat from his brow. Though it's March, the adrenaline already has him tripping as he trudges back to his truck. Not to give up, but to grab his jumper cables and hook them up to the plane and hopefully get it working. He hooks it up, but still nothing. As he tinkers with the cables, a silhouette appears against the rising sun. It resolves into a large white haired man. "Oh, the man says, "Do you know the Para family? Josh doesn't miss a beat." Yes sir, good friends with Mr. Para asked me to check on the ranch in South Texas. Of course, Calhoun doesn't know Mr. Para from a pair, but this guy doesn't need to know that. He nods slowly, sizing Calhoun up and then bends down to show him how to jump start the plane. Moments later, the engine roars to life and Calhoun's eyes light up with excitement with thrill. He pushes the throttle forward, the plane jolts forward, moving down the runway. But here's the thing, Calhoun has never flown a plane. Not trained, never taken a lesson, not one day in his life, but what he lacks in experience he makes up for in confidence. The plane surges down the runway, wind screaming past the windows, the nose lifts, the ground falls away. But then, the cockpit door flaps wildly in the air because Calhoun did not secure it prior to take off. It slaps against the metal frame with every gust of wind. But Calhoun, he doesn't care, he's already flying in the air. How big of a problem can the cockpit door being open be? He's flying and he has taken something that wasn't his and that itch is finally scratched. Damn. Yeah. What a way to start off the episode. It's wild. I also feel like my dad would totally be the one that just like eager to make someone happy and help out. He would also help some random guy who's like, oh, yeah, I know him, start to jump the plane. He still looks unknowingly. Unknowingly. That's so wild. Yeah. But like that guy's nice. He's nice. He didn't know what he's doing. Very polite man. Yeah. But yeah, this is pretty wild and Calhoun kind of makes me want to say that he's a mastermind in a way because of everything he was able to do and get away with and how little just so I'm he would spend. This is definitely an example where his confidence crossed the line into delusion. 100%. We're going to see that pretty much the entire time. The entire episode. I think it's important to address up front that while these episodes the season do have a bit of fun and we can have some fun and banter in them, the things that happen here are dangerous. Like this is very. This is like, you know, the TikTok warning like performed by a professional, but there's no professionals here. Yeah. Fortunately, there are no reports that Calhoun's crimes resulted in any deaths and that's why we can be a little bit more playful in this episode. Like, truly, thank God. Yeah. Yeah, because his crimes were not petty. They were not small. They were extremely dangerous and they could have put so many lives, including his own, which was pretty much always at stake in danger. Yeah. And it's a case that we'll have all of us, the jury included, wondering how the justice system could get it so wrong and keep letting this guy back out into the world. I feel like and we're going to do this for the rest of the episode is have a tally count of Calhoun, the super thief versus the justice system and accountability, because his crimes go on and on and on and on and on. Yeah. Let's do it. Let's tally. We'll keep track. Make it happen. So we'll do the tally throughout the episode. But let's start by talking about Calhoun and his upbringing because like all of us, he was very deeply shaped by his childhood. Joshua Paul Calhoun was born on August 23rd, 1980. And at the first 10 years of his life are considered to be pretty unremarkable like he grew up with his parents. He lived with his mom and dad in Dallas, Texas, but then at 10 years old, his life was truly turned upside down and kind of a really heartbreaking manner. His parents got divorced, which a lot of people's parents get divorced. But what really breaks my heart in this case is instead of his parents having like a custody battle or figuring out like 50 50 split, both of his parents basically abandoned him. They just both. Nope. They ditched him. A 10 year old child. His dad stayed in Dallas. His mom moved to Colorado and Calhoun was shipped off to Brownsboro, Texas to live with his grandparents. And by all accounts, his grandparents did the best that they could. They even took him to a psychologist to help him adjust. But the abandonment had really done its damage. Calhoun felt pushed aside, forgotten, and abandoned because he was. He was an afterthought in the lives of people who were really supposed to take care of him. So sad. But unfortunately, he's not the only one to have gone through that. Research shows that being abandoned by one or especially both parents can seriously disrupt a child's emotional, psychological, and social development, which I feel like I didn't have to say that sentence. I think it's pretty clear. It's well done. Yeah, it happens. When those parent child bonds are broken, children often struggle to trust others to manage their emotions and form healthy relationships, all of which are known risk factors for future criminal behavior. And being abused or neglected has been linked to a 59% higher chance of being arrested as a juvenile and a 28% higher chance of arrest as an adult and a 30% higher chance of being involved in a. violent crime. Dang. Yeah. Of course, it doesn't mean that children who have unstable homes or absent parents are going to grow up in, in, uh, some of them grow up and start podcasts. But, you know, plenty of people have this and have successful lives, but for Calhoun, it was not how things went. Being a man-advised parents could have been now knowing everything. It's not that being a man-advised parents could have been the spark for his later struggles with authority and control and belonging. And these statistics kind of are helpful to keep in the back of your mind when hearing about some of the wild, wild things that Josh Calhoun would do before he was even a teenager. Calhoun was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder. And he likely struggled a lot in school. We know, obviously, his home life wasn't that great. So he just had kind of a lot of battles to fight. Yes. So as we mentioned, Calhoun was raised in Bronzeboro, Texas by his grandparents. And this is a tiny town that has today less than 1500 people in the population. Not exactly a hotspot for a rambunctious preteen who was in desperate need of direction. So we wanted to give you some context of this area because it does shape Calhoun. Early 2000s in East Texas was shaped by oil and water. So Bronzeboro is close to the East Texas oil field, the largest oil field in the country. And at one point in time, it promised high-paying jobs, brought a lot of skilled workers or families to the area. But by the early 2000s, oil production dropped dramatically. And the local economy took a nose dive. So a lot of the people who had moved there for jobs were now struggling to pay the bills and to feed their families. And then there was this lake called the Cedar Creek Lake, a man-made lake that was built in 1965. The idea was to like, oh, look at this beautiful place for you to bring your families and stuff. Make it feel like a better place to bring your family and move to. The only problem was it wasn't zoned for residential use. So instead, many people would bring their mobile homes and simply set up camp wherever they could find space. But by the early 2000s, with the combination of like this downfall of the oil production, most of these original owners either passed away and let the trailers fall into disrepair. And it left the town of Bronzeboro pretty dilapidated and abandoned. So the point where young Calhoun is growing up in Bronzeboro, the town was struggling a lot. There's a lot of drug use, especially methamphetamines. And there was a lot of theft. People were particularly stealing from abandoned oil sites. And then they saw a surge in violent crimes. Homicide, sexual assault, armed robbery. And this is a small town. So it's not really the ideal environment to be raising kids, let alone Calhoun. So he's thrown into this environment where he's abandoned by his parents, living with well-meaning but kind of clueless grandparents of how to help direct him. He's struggling with mental health challenges, learning difficulties, and in a town that was breeding crime. Right. It's not an excuse for the things that he would do, but it certainly provides context. Agreed. So in other words, understanding his background can give us insight into his future. And Calhoun's future was in crime. Yes. By the time he was 16, he was already on cops radar. He had a reputation around town for getting in a lot of fights with other kids across town. But what people noticed even more than Calhoun himself was his truck. And this is a common theme. He loves his truck. He has a massive Ford pickup. And he would speed along the back roads, splashing mud, revving his engine, and just like disturbing the otherwise peaceful-ish quiet environment around him. He was pissing off neighbors, for sure. Yeah, he was super obnoxious about it. So much so that the townspeople complained constantly. And local police would try to pull him over and reprimand him to the point that they would actually set up a sting operation, which is actually hilarious to me, like picturing this small town and the police were like, we're going to catch that 16-year-old boy. Oh, yeah. In his truck. I mean, now I know where I grew up. It has more going on because there's definitely a big drug problem and a lot of people experiencing homelessness now, but growing up, that was definitely something that they like would have put all their resources. They would have called the neighboring police. Yeah, we got something to do with my boys. All right, we got to get ready for this tie board because it's starting right here. So they were committed to the sting, but it never worked in their favor. Officers tried to catch him in the act, setting up sting operations on the small road outside of the high school, waiting for him to peel out in the parking lot, but somehow he always got away. Calhoun, one authorities zero. I have so many questions about that. You can't catch someone who you know where they are, where their car is parked, and that they're going to come out of a parking lot. They have to also catch him doing something, right? Yeah, I don't know. So anyway, I just 16 years old, he is already outsmarting the cops. And while the townspeople and police didn't love his antics, apparently the ladies did. Oh, I, yeah, he's a bad boy. Yeah, 16. Yeah, gotta loves his truck. It's just like the fun, like the teenage fun and excitement of like getting away with things. In fact, I was smarting the cops. I bet was talk of the high school for sure. By the time he's 18, Calhoun was pretty desperate. I feel like this is common. Like he had a broken family that he came from. I think he was really desperate to create his own family. And so at 18, he got married. He was still in high school. But just five months into the marriage at just 18 years old, Joshua Calhoun tried to strangle his wife. Fortunately, he did not succeed and Calhoun was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury. He pleaded guilty and right away, this is where things are really mind boggling. Under Texas law at the time, he should have been thrown into prison for a year for this crime. He confessed, he admitted guilt. Instead, he served a single weekend in the county jail and paid a $100 fine. And let's just pause here because this isn't funny. This isn't quirky. This is domestic violence. And he should have served at least a year. Yeah, he served a weekend. And one question that does come out a lot throughout this story is how does he continue to pay his bail and continue to like run from accountability? So while his dad did abandon him, I guess they still had some type of relationship, his dad would act as his personal traveling bondsman. He would drive from Dallas to whatever county or counties that had warrants for his son would pay the bail basically and leave before saying hello to Calhoun. And this became a pattern throughout the years. So yeah, he pays little to no consequences for this crime of trying to strangle his wife. And so what lesson do you think he learned from this? You can cross the line. You can commit a heinous crime and face little to no consequences. Yeah. So I think our tally now is Calhoun the super thief to accountability and authorities are still buffering. I think they have any will welcome up. Right. Zero. I guess like maybe one like smallest and he did learn here was that maybe not to fuck around with violent crimes because after this, he didn't commit any more violent crimes. That's true. That we know of. Yeah. Just months after his weekend in jail, he was divorced and already married again to a lucky lady number two. And there isn't much that we know about his second wife. I pray to God she was safe. Yeah. We don't know much about any of his wives. Yeah. True. Yeah. But during his second marriage is when Calhoun's criminal career really seemed to take off. And this is where we tell everyone to really pay attention to the tally count because what are we at? What two or three right now? Two to zero. But we need two to zero. It's it's going to start ticking more. On June 29th, 2000 Calhoun celebrated his 20th birthday a little early by stealing an ex-coveter. Just 16 days later, he followed that up by stealing a trailer from a local defense attorney. He managed to pull off both of those thefts very easily again. But he made several rookie mistakes, which is kind of his ML like doing something impressive. But then it's just like how did you miss that other piece? Yeah. For one, he decided to register the stolen trailer with the county under his name. So this was marked as stolen, obviously. So immediately it was on police's radar. And they know exactly who took it because he purchased her under his name. But then he was like, okay, I need to offload this thing. So he sells it for $500. He tried to or tried to sell it for $500. But this trailer was worth like $5,000. So he's massively short-changing himself and basically gave the cops a free pass to arrest him, which they did exactly that. On September 18th, 2000, Josh was charged with felony theft and eventually sentenced to five years in prison. And yet somehow, despite this being a felony conviction in his second series running with a law, Josh did not serve a single day in jail. Or repeat that. Not a single day. Josh go. I guess he's allergic to jail. Instead, his sentence was reduced to four years of community supervision. And for a while, the community supervision and actually seemed to keep Josh in check, which gave him plenty of time to divorce with number two, and move on to dating another girl. - So now I feel like we're at Super The Four, - Hmm, otherwise still zero. (dramatic music) - According to statistics, the average person walks past 36 murders in their lifetime. - Oh my God, she was murdered, it was a murder. - Unlike in Hollywood movies, they're not easy to spot. - Where is she, buddy? Where is she? - The devil made me turn her to ashes. - They seamlessly blend into our everyday lives, assuming rules, a friendly neighbors, helpful colleagues, or even the person lying beside you each night. - I wanted to be out of jail. I couldn't wait 'til I got out. I was in there with someone who was clearly psychopathic. - Using a basket of research and primary audio, morbidology is an award-winning, true crime podcast that shines a light on the darkest corners of humanity. - Through our investigation, we have attained evidence, which we are not releasing at this time, which leads us to believe Joeline is not alive. - June into morbidology, each week, across all podcast platforms. - Okay, so now his next brush with the law was in August of 2003 when he was arrested for violating the terms of his probation from that trailer theft case. He spent more time in jail for that than the initial crime. But how much time did he spend? He spent another weekend in jail. - I have so many questions about the justice system. This is the case for everyone. - I don't think so. - We're just supposed to go to Texas, this area of Texas in the early 2000s, if you wanted to commit a crime. - I don't know. It is absurd and it's a much larger conversation that we are not experts in. Okay, so he spends his weekend in jail. And while he is in jail, he had left his prized possession, which can you guess what it was, his drum drum, his truck, beep, beep, have a good time. (laughing) - He left his truck, getting girls for going shopping. - He loved his truck, a beloved Dodge Ram in the care of his girlfriend. But within hours, she managed to slam the truck into the rear end of a Volkswagen on the highway and sent the other driver straight to the ER. And when officers arrived to document the crash because someone was sent to the hospital with this, it's like something you pull over on the side and exchange your information. No, police came and they noticed something strange. The Vin number, the vehicle identification number on the truck had been pried off, like scratched off. - Hmm. - Where the children are like, "That's weird. "Why would someone do that?" - Because it was stolen. - Then they find the original registration receipt underneath the driver's seat. And this is not in Calhoun's name at all. So another like rookie mistake. - But remove it. - Yes. Like he took the time to remove the Vin number but left the original registration. So anyways, it makes it very easy for officers to realize and confirm that the truck was stolen. Somehow between the major car accident, the stolen truck and the fact that Calhoun was already literally in jail. No charges were ever filed against him or his girlfriend. - Okay, so what's the ticker at? - Five, six. - I don't even know. - Well, no, 'cause this is now two more crimes, right? - So we're at six. Calhoun's six, authority zero. - Yeah. In fact, the only real consequences he faced during this time came a couple of months later in 2004 when he served 241 days in jail after testing positive for marijuana. This just also just talks about the justice system 'cause like given the crimes. - So he can strangle his wife, steal multiple things, not go to jail. And not just like, it's not like he's stealing someone's iPhone. - No, he's stealing like a trailer and excavator. - Probably machinery that could like seriously, seriously harm someone. But apparently smoking weed is what really pisses. - The authority's off. - So he does spend 241 days in jail after testing positive. - Do we consider that a win for authorities, we know. - I guess we can give them like half a point. - Okay. - Calhoun, six. - Authorities. - Authorities. - 0.5. - And then accountability for like the other crimes and consequences didn't come from police or authorities, but more in the manner of his girlfriend dumping his ass. But then you know, no problem for him. He gets another wife. - Wife number three in 2006. - This is a lot of marriages in a short period of time. - Yes. - My gosh. - Just a few weeks after his wedding, Calhoun was arrested for driving under the influence and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Now, a DUI is a serious offense. And one that we personally do not take lightly. - No. - And either should authorities, I feel extra sensitive to it, 'cause I did lose a friend when I was in middle school to a joint driver. - Terrible. - So I feel like he should have gone to jail forever. At least the 90 days. - More than that. For about five years, please. - But he should have. - Should have. - 'Cause that was the legal, like what he was sentenced to. He should have. - He should have been sentenced to five years plus in my opinion. Anyway, sentenced to 90 days, but at this point, he had been convicted of strangling his wife, stealing an excavator and a trailer, drug possession, violating probation, and now drunk driving. So you would think maybe they'd say, okay, that's enough. Make him serve a full sentence. But nope, he sweet talked his way down to any guesses. We'll give you a second to yell. The three days in jail. - Long weekend. - Basically. - Yeah, three days in jail. - Oh, president's day weekend. What are you doing? I'm just going to jail. - I'll be back on. - This is Tuesday. - Actually insane. And I think this is the one part of the case that when it comes to drunk driving, I am furious that it's not taken seriously. And the stats on this, like I just think it's important to talk about. One person in the US dies every 42 minutes in an alcohol-related crash. Every 42 minutes, one person dies. Let that sink in. Again, this is not a story from the 1800s where people didn't really know better or that was just like, you know, before we're kind of like running wild. And there's also no reform either. Like he's not forced to go to alcoholics and non-immiss or do any type of reform. They just let him go after three days. - I'm going to take away the point from the authorities. They're back to zero. - Yeah, they only had half a point. - Yeah, we're subtracting it. - Yeah. - Sorry, so what? - Calhoun six. - Calhoun six authorities back to zero. - Yeah. - So again, he's released after three days of serving jail time. And once he's released, he's like, I gotta do what I care most about. I gotta go get another truck. So he goes and he gets a dodge pick up. And this is actually one that he will own this time. So he doesn't steal the dodge pick up. He actually somehow acquires the dodge pick up legally. He hitchhiked 20 miles to retrieve it from the impound lot. - So I think he bought it from the impound to have a pretty cheap worth. - Yeah. - His second stop after picking up his new car was stopping at a bar on his way home. He got completely intoxicated. And once again, got into his car, his truck and drove under the influence and drove his truck right into a light pole, totaling the car. No innocent people were harmed, thank God. Seriously. Calvin comes to post crash and he cuts all over his face from the windshield because it shattered in the crash, knowing that he would be in trouble if he was found out to have been drunk driving literally hours after being released for serving time for drunk driving. He gets out of the car, runs into the parking lot of a nearby Walmart, blood pouring down his face too, 'cause he's got all of the cuts from the glass. And he yells for help from someone to please give him a ride out of town. Someone in the parking lot, rightfully worried, calls the cops. But by the time officers arrive, Calhoun had already sprinted three miles down the highway and had waved down cars until someone finally stopped and picked him up. And around 3 a.m., Calhoun either had a change of heart or maybe he was really feeling his injuries from the crash because he did end up going and checking himself into East Texas Medical Center to get stitches and then called the police to confess. But it's not the confession you think. No, no, no, he had had time to create a story and this is the story he tells a police. It's not a confession of drunk driving. It is a story of being abducted and robbed. He explains to the police in probably a very charming manner. I imagine still cuts very fresh on his face that indicate an accident. He claims that he had just sat at the bar and enjoyed one singular beer in a very responsible manner. And afterwards, he got into his truck and waited for the alcohol to wear off before driving it. When, oh no, something wild happened. His noble plans were ruined because two guys pulled up next to him in a Chevy and they shoved a revolver in his face and they forced him into their car. He claims that these two men drove him to the next town over, knocked him unconscious and left him on the side of the road. And when Calhoun came to a couple hours later, his wallet was gone and wouldn't you know what his truck had been stolen? The kidnappers he claimed had crashed his truck into the light pole themselves to frame him. Of course, the whole story was a farce and the cops weren't buying it. As if a bunch of people hadn't seen him just getting black out drunk at the bar and then him in the Walmart parking lot. Scream me for a ride. Do we really think he didn't get his blood tested for alcohol or anything like when he was getting stitched up? They were just like, oh, you wreak of alcohol but we're gonna ignore this. So anyway, cops don't buy it. And Calhoun is arrested and sentenced to 180 days in county jail for driving under the influence and lying to investigators. But can we guess how much time he served? The jury, what do you think? We'll give you a clue. It's less than three days. It's less than two days. It's less than one day. He didn't serve a single day. day is crazy. Even though this was now a second DUI, his sentence was reduced to just 15 months of probation and no jail time and no like reform either. To yeah, Kelhoon's butt at like eight or nine or something at this point. Authorities had to have a point we took it away, so they're at zero. The one good thing about his probation did mean that Kelhoon would have to stay in Brownsboro Texas where his probation officer could keep a close eye on him and make sure that he was following the rules. But as we've learned by now Joshua Paul Kelhoon does not lay by the rules because no one's making him. No. By late 2006, 26 year old Joshua Paul Kelhoon goes on the run. He's officially on the run. He broke the terms of his probation and skipped town. He ditched Brownsboro. He ditched Texas altogether actually and headed to Maryland and landed a job at a cement plant. But of course, it's Kelhoon. He can't stay out of trouble for very long and officers in Carroll County in Maryland quickly become familiar with Kelhoon and his brand of antics or chaos, I should say. Things started off small, at least by his standards, a month in jail for a misdemeanor drug possession in early 2007. Again, like the only time he's really spending is for drug possession. In a way, I guess if the laws are like easier to prosecute someone for that, I understand like if that's like a tactic of theirs, don't go to get him in jail somehow. I think you're being generous. Yeah. But exactly. Yeah. Like I'd like to think that that was what they're doing, but like for sure they weren't. No. So I feel like we can give the Maryland authorities a point here because they did give him a month in jail. So, okay. Maryland, you get a point. Texas is still have your verdict on negative. We're adding in subtracting. Right. Right. Less than a month later, he was charged with driving an uninsured vehicle and he got off of the warning, even though the judge was less than thrilled because Kelhoon skipped his scheduled arrangement. So he's on the run from Brown for Texas to and now he's like skipping on on a rating. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So now it's 2007. Almost a year since his felony charge, but clearly reform was not in his personal plan or I guess the authorities. So what did he do? He raised the stakes. On September 7th, 2007, Kelhoon was flying down a back road and yet another pickup truck when a cop tried to pull him over. Instead, Kelhoon decides to outrun him. A car chase. Very exciting. Mm-hmm. He took off veering down the dirt road and the dirt road turned out to be a dead end. Yeah. He bailed out of the truck. He tried to run, but something was off. He was unsteady. He was struggling to stay upright. His vision was all blurry because he was drunk. He had been drinking. Once again, Joshua Kelhoon was arrested for driving under the influence. Now his third dy. But of course, he didn't stay behind bars for long because why would this story have a change? Just 22 days later, the same cop arrested Kelhoon for the exact same crime. Strike number four. And yet he posted bail and was out on the streets the very next day. Maddening. I feel like Kelhoon now is like in the 15s, 20s almost. Yeah, it's just seems so wild. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about this real quick because I was very curious about DUIs and how is this possible? If you have four DUIs, how are you spending zero time behind bars? Yeah. And it is common or I guess it's not unusual for people to get probation or a lesser sentencing after a single DUI. One, but when it keeps happening and there's no accountability, I think very clearly that's the system. That's a problem with the system. It's proof that the system is not designed for rehabilitation or for someone to take accountability for their actions. Yeah. And this is not to say that it happens to every single person who's charged with DUIs, but for it to keep happening with Kelhoon is absolutely shocking. Yeah, the same cop like twice. Not even on one later. It's a wrestling room for the same thing. Right. That is so wild. And he doesn't stop just a couple months after his fourth DUI, Kelhoon spent the night drinking at a local bar. He once again gets into his Ford truck and drove off and almost immediately slammed into a guardrail. Again, thank goodness no one was injured. But Kelhoon, he figures, oh, well, like the truck's still drivable. No one saw this accident happen. Yeah, the guardrail is pretty messed up. Like, if I drive off, no one will know anything. So he drives off. As Kelhoon does, he is not as smart as criminal. And while he drove off, he had dropped his wallet right next to the damage rail and to turn off because there's this massive damage, the police do see it. They do find it. And what do they find in the wallet? An identification that says Joshua Paul Kelhoon. And he was arrested and charged with his fifth DUI that same morning. Do we know what his job was at this point? He was working on a cement plant. But did he have to operate any heavy machinery? I don't know. Because that just crossed my mind because I used to work at a company where there were people driving and unloading and loading like very heavy things on like big vehicles. And we had to do all the background checks. And like, unfortunately, wasn't uncommon for things to come up with background checks. But it was like, there are rules. It was like, you know, you have to be a clean, rough sheet or 10 years or whatever. And then you have to go get regular drug testing. And we would do random drug testing like stuff like that. Not the job. But apparently not. So yeah, it just feels like absurd tones, estimates here. But the reality is, he was incredibly lucky that this behavior never had any devastating consequences. And we say the public was freaking lucky, too, that no one was injured and killed here. The truth is, Kelhoon could have seriously injured and killed people many, many times, which is why it's even more upsetting that there weren't like more serious consequences. And jail time served. And the DUIs, like the five DUIs, are the times that he got into accidents and got caught. That's when he got caught. Right. Like he was probably trying to do it all the time. Yeah. So after the three DUIs, he had in Maryland, Kelhoon decided that he was over Maryland. And he goes back to Brownsboro, Texas, which was not the wisest choice because he violated his probation there, right? So he left the county without permission. Again, it's like one of those things where it's just like, why go back? If why go back, but also he has had so few consequences that it's like, he's not even thinking about. I don't know. There's something going on. So finally, Kelhoon returned to Brownsboro. He's arrested for violating his probation and sentenced to 90 days in prison, 90 days that he actually served. Okay. So we're going to give authorities a second point. Kelhoon is now at maybe 20 plus. Yeah. He's definitely double digits. Yeah. Yeah. We've lost count. Okay. So he completes his 90 day sentence, which is a tiny fraction of what he probably should have been serving. He decides it is time for a fresh start, a new chapter, a chance to expand his horizons deeper into crime. In March 2009, just a month after his release, Kelhoon decided to enjoy some fresh air at Stase Smith Ranch. And now Stase Smith runs one of the largest rodeos in the country. And it is here that Kelhoon sees a truck. And I'm not totally clear, but I don't think he's like living in the ranch. I think he's like going to the ranch for theft. He sees a truck. And you know how he gets around trucks. He hot-wired the truck, hooked up a trailer to the truck, and starts to make a run for it. But as he's leaving, he sees something else and he's like, hmm, what's a rodeo without a couple of bowls? So he approaches two young ranch hands and explained that Stase had sent him to transport a few bowls to a rodeo in Oklahoma. Again, because he's got a truck and a trailer and he talks with confidence. These ranch hands are like, oh yeah, okay, sure, sure, and they start to help him. And so, of course, they believe him because he's got all the things he's talking with confidence. And so they start to help him. For a moment, his plan is working flawlessly. His plan that he also came up with in like two seconds. Yeah. These aren't like well thought out. Except for as they're helping him, the ranch notices that the truck that Kelhoon was driving belonged to Stase. So they're like, wait a second. Something's not adding up. And then they start asking him questions because they're not sure, but they're like, something's weird and they start asking Kelhoon questions and Kelhoon starts to get and feel the heat that he just makes a run for it. Oh my gosh. And then the ranch hands are chasing him down. They let it hold him in the dirt and the manure until the sheriff arrived. But despite all of the ranch hands efforts, which like good for them for like taking matters into their own hands to do something. And despite a full face of manure, nothing happened because Stase Smith actually didn't press any charges. And by this point, Kelhoon wasn't just stealing property. He was stealing the town's time, energy, collective sanity. He was just, everyone's nightmare. The local sheriff had started calling him super thief. A nickname inspired by Kelhoon's ability to land himself in jail and then get out with something akin to super speed. But isn't that like their fault? Yes. I think that's embarrassing for you. Yeah. And also, I feel like you shouldn't give someone such like a catchy, you know, fun, comic book nickname. Yeah. It makes it seem fun. Yeah. Just three days after the rodeo fiasco Kalhun fully embraced his super thief persona and attempted his most daring heist yet. The one that Sabrina shared at the top of the episode. Steel a plane. Steel a plane. Just after sunrise on March 4th, 2009, he pulled into a small airport outside of Brownsboro. And despite housing close to a million dollars worth of aircrafts, the place did not have a single security camera or alarm. That's wild. So wild. Surprisingly, this apparently was not unusual at the time. Airplane theft was so rare because who in their right mind would steal a plane? Exactly. Even major airports had minimal security around planes themselves. In 2009, there were fewer than a dozen stolen planes in the entire country. And most of those thefts involved drug cartels using planes to move contraband. Not just someone who's never been in a plane before deciding to fly it. Yeah. Thieves like Kalhun with no flight experience and no real motive were basically unheard of in terms of airplane theft. And Kalhun took full advantage of that. He slept past the barbed wire fence. He made a b-line for a single prop beach craft bananza. And again, the battery was dead. So it took Kalhun about a half hour to walk back to his truck and drive it closer to the plane. And then he hooked up his truck's battery. But then the plane still wouldn't start. And that is men and terror. This poor guy who thought it was being helpful. Carol Dyson, a 65-year-old retired pilot who'd been quietly watching this entire ordeal unfold. Carol knew the plane's owner, Todd Perra. And in an odd twist of luck, Josh Kalhun happened to resemble Todd just enough at first glance. And so Carol assumed that it was Todd's son or nephew. And then happily helped him show him how to jumpstart the plane. I mean, this is a small town. And like you said, this is so uncommon. Like what are the chances that someone's stealing a plane? Right. And he's also not like slinking around like like he's out in public in daylight. Daylight doing this and then taking the time we were going to his truck and then bring his truck over and like attempting to get it to start. So like, yeah, this guy's watching and it's like, oh my god, this poor guy. I got to go help him. Yeah. Yeah. So Carol's a bit in shock when the guy that he just helped is in the plane. The plane takes flight a few minutes later. But the door is still open and now swinging violently in the wind. And this is when Carol realizes that he maybe didn't help someone he should have helped. This is serious. And he immediately called the police. Calhoun, meanwhile, who'd never so much has stepped foot in a plane before, let alone received any pilot training was miraculously flying this thing on his. That's wild. Yeah. I can't even know what the press. I do not know. Me neither. He flew two miles east, then turned around and headed three miles west before crashing into a strand of trees and walking away uninjured. Again, another thank god moment that no one was injured. No, it is it like that he didn't crash on a roadway or into a house like he is putting so many people's lives at risk. When if you think about just like playing crashes and stuff and I feel like these small personal aircrafts are often the ones that are, you know, like piloted crashes. The deadly crashes and their piloted by experienced people. Right. He has never been in a plane before, pilots it, crashes it and gets to walk away. Scratch free. But this is like the part of the story that really just like it does make me laugh and makes me feel like we're watching a slapstick comedy. Yeah. Like it feels impossible that he can continue to commit such absurd crimes. How do you have this time? And also what was his plan? Right. Like what is going on in your mind? What was he going to do with this plane? Where was he going to take it? It really does make me think he was just doing it for fun in his mind or a thrill in some way. You know if this kind of reminds me a little bit of and I can't remember the character's name, but from the bad place who loves from like Jacksonville, Florida. Oh, I know exactly you're talking about that. I can't remember. It's just like hooligan behavior that like can be so dangerous and you're like allow think through it for a second. And there's no thinking through it. Yeah. But okay. So he crashed the plane and now he's like what do I do? And his first thought, which also shows the illusion of it is well, I want to get back to my truck. The truck that he had left on the runway, the scene of the crime, by the way. So he walks back to his truck, but when he's walking back, he sees Carol, the guy who had helped him talking to the police. And so he has to make another plan because he's like, I need to buy myself time like the police are now on to me. And I actually give him credit for this one. This is smart. He starts the truck and he instead of getting into it and driving away in it, he lets the car roll towards the planes. So now the cop has no option but to race after the truck. So that Calhoun can like, on foot run, the police are busy trying to stop the truck from running into the planes. That was smart. Also, I feel like this guy's got a decent sense of direction because for him to just like crash into a bunch of trees and then be like, oh, I'll just walk on to it back to the hanger. That's a very good point. He's clever in some ways. Yeah, it's like literally what is going on inside that right? So despite this being like a, you know, a good somewhat good plan, it's only a temporary distraction and quickly the cops are able to wrangle him into custody. And that meant time for Plan B, which is the cover story. Calhoun told investigators that he had purchased the plane for $52,000 with money that he earned working in the oil fields, which also keep in mind he had like just told Carol a completely different story on the tarmac. Yeah, and Carol's there. Right. It's just so awkward. He said he'd successfully landed it at his grandparents property in Echo Creek and then handed the keys to a friend who must be the one to have crashed landed it. And much like his kidnapping story three years earlier, his tail was just all of holes, right? For starters, the plane is worth five times what he claimed to have paid for it. Then there was a fact that Calhoun had worked as a cement plant worker and a service repair truck driver. So the oil field worker was just an unnecessary lie. Yeah, just that wasn't his job. Not to mention the friend he mentioned that friend had been dead for over a year. Needless to say, the cops did not buy a story. And Josh Calhoun was arrested for felony theft in excess of $100,000. The arrest of a rural plane thief made headlines across the state and the county's chief deputy who was painfully familiar with Josh's antics over the years because why wouldn't he be said he wasn't the least bit surprised to learn who the thief was. Again, that's embarrassing. Like, yeah, you should be surprised. You're telling on yourself. Yeah. Do something. Yeah. This left Josh stuck in jail with a $50,000 bond, which was much higher than he'd ever been faced with before. And yes, his absent father had come through in the past and paid these bails, but this time it was too much even for Calhoun's dad. So he refused to go cosine for Calhoun, but Calhoun had another trick up his sleeve and convinced a small bail company to post the bond. And witnesses said he literally ran down the street and pure joy the moment he was free. This is a slapstick comedy. This is what is going on here. Okay, so he commences this company to pay his bail. And he is scheduled to appear for his arrangement in this plain theft case on July 23, 2009. The judge took the bench. The bailiff led the prosecutor to the podium. But where was Calhoun? No, where to be found, which I mean, how are they surprised? How in the world? I surprised because this is a pattern. This is a man who runs. He runs every time. Every time he's about to get caught in the actual act of the crime. He runs every time he's supposed to be held accountable. He runs. This shouldn't be a surprise like authorities. I feel like our way in the negative. No, Calhoun wasn't even in the courthouse. He was not even in Brownsboro, Texas. He wasn't even in Texas at all. Actually, he wasn't even in the country. No, Calhoun was now in Mexico. On the day of his arrangement, Calhoun was on the Mexican side of the Falcon Dam behind the wheel of a Ford F-250. He loves Ford's. He loves Fords. It's here that Calhoun was stopped by an officer in Mexico and they ask the reason of his travel. And this time, he claimed that he was a doctor scouting locations for a new office south of the border. Now, this story immediately seems suspicious to the officer. And so in the way that like Calhoun also presents himself there, just like there's like, yeah, they're little by this. The officer ran Calhoun's license and quickly got the alert that he was on bond for airplane theft and not legally allowed to leave Brownsboro. Calhoun must have known something came up in the search because as the officer returned to the car, he went to ask Calhoun to step out, but Calhoun revved the engine and drove off. And then the officer tried to stop Calhoun, but the man was on foot and Calhoun was in his truck. Yeah. So obviously, he didn't get caught. Yeah. So now here's Calhoun on the run again. By this point, in 2009, he has been wreaking havoc for years. People in Texas, specifically, were calling him the super thief. And a lot of people were struggling at the antics because if you're just like a layperson living in this area and you haven't been impacted by his crimes, like, I'm kind of laughing at the authorities too, but I can't believe that the super thief gets away again. Yeah. Yeah. But the police are furious and embarrassed as they should be. At this point, the damage totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars and lives were constantly being put at risk along the way. So the the police were like, "We have to catch him." Even though multiple times they did literally have him and they let him go. They were now really nervous that it was only a matter of time before someone did get hurt. Like this is now very serious. We need to get this man into custody and have him face his charges. A Brownsboro Lieutenant named Bodie Hill House was particularly fed up with Calhoun. You know, he's ready to put an end to all the chaos. All he had to do was wait for Calhoun to be back in the US. So when he got word that Calhoun was back and back in Texas, he finds Calhoun's personal cell phone number. And he calls Calhoun up and he does a little bit of a sting operation. He pretends to be a long-lost friend of Calhoun's. And he claims that he needs help. Can you help an old pal out? Fortunately, Calhoun was very empathetic to his old friend, especially wanting to help him out with what he said, which was he wanted some drugs. So Calhoun agreed to meet up and passes old buddy some drugs at a liquor store in a nearby town named Gun Barrel City. But the moment Calhoun pulled into the parking lot, he could tell something was off and very quickly peeled away. But Bodie was like, he's right here. I'm not gonna let him get away. So they take off into a chase. Bodie in like very old like Wild West, Texas standoff, shoots out the tires of Calhoun's truck. And now Calhoun's tires are blown out, which you think, oh, great, easy to arrest him. But what does Calhoun do? No, he jumps out of the car, sprints through a ditch, ran across the highway, got into a getaway car, which I'm like, is it a getaway car or did he steal another car? Any vehicle? How quickly can he hotwire a car? Probably pretty fast. And time went unlocked. I don't even know what our tally is, but I feel like we can just say, super thief Calhoun wins. Until he doesn't. What finally brought him down was a moment of cosmically bad timing and a good Samaritan. Yes. Just one day after a failed drug bust, an oil well worker named David Beats, was driving one of his two well-drilling trucks down the highway when he glanced up and saw his other truck cruising towards him on the opposite lane. And behind the wheel was none other than super thief. So he's flabbergasted. He's literally witnessing someone stealing his own truck. So he turns around as fast as he could. He chased his own truck off of the road and immediately called the sheriff. And this time Calhoun had no clever escape plan. I'm not sure I could call them clever in the past. I think it was just like run somehow always worked out. Yeah. After more than six months on the run, Joshua Calhoun, the infamous Texas super thief was finally arrested. And by this point, his rap sheet is like a mile long. And you call it a CVS receipt in the beginning. And that is so true for this. He had all of his prior convictions, which you probably forgot half of them, but attempted to strangle his wife. He stole an excavator, a trailer, a drug possession, probation violations, five DUIs. He still got a damn plane. And there's a whole lot of just trying to escape authorities. Yeah. Now his most recent theft, he stole an oil well truck. This wasn't a good word for what purpose? Right, like what are you doing? He also had a federal warrant out for his arrest after fleeing officers in Mexico. And that's not to mention all the times that Josh Calhoun was clearly guilty, but no charges were filed like the rodeo theft, the stolen truck, the his girlfriend racked, like all of that. Yeah. But after all of this, somehow the longest Calhoun had ever spent in jail was eight months for a marijuana possession back in 2004. His only other extended jail stay was at 90-day sentence after coming home from Maryland. And so in total, that means that Texas super thief had spent less than a year behind bars. Which is wild. Did you know penicillin, the drug that has saved more lives than any other in history, was discovered because a scientist forgot to clean a petri dish before going on vacation? I'm Connor Tomlinson, and history is my thing, has been my whole life. And I'm Carter Roy, and this is what the fact, the history lesson you actually wished you had in high school with everything they cut for being too interesting put back in. Every week we take the wildest true things that ever happened and tell you the whole story behind them. I bring the history, I bring the facts, the tangents, and the occasional British accent. The wildest stuff is real. And the real stuff is wilder than you think. New episodes every Wednesday. Follow what the fact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or subscribe on YouTube at what the fact pod. A woman once survived a fall for more than two miles up because she crashed landed on a nest of furious fire ants. A 13th century pope once condemned black cats as these servants of Satan. A lumberjack once revived near decapitation by his own chainsaw. These aren't tall tales, they aren't urban legends, they're real events. I want to take a quick moment to tell you about the unbelievable, a new podcast from the history channel and rewind studios. Adapted from the hit TV show, every episode opens a cabinet of curiosities to uncover the strangest but true stories in human history, then digs into the historical record to show you exactly how and why they happened. Strange people, odd places, peculiar events. When it comes to history, the truth is always more unbelievable than you think. To follow the unbelievable on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or ever you listen to podcasts. But now that he was finally caught, prosecutors were ready to change that. Calhoun pleaded guilty to high-speed flight from a resting officer in Mexico. And when it came to the plane theft, Calhoun was held on charges of felony theft of property exceeding $100,000 of vading arrest with a motor vehicle evading a rest on foot and failure to appear in court. He was also convicted of all those traffic-related offenses in Maryland, including multiple DUIs, speeding, and failing to stop after an accident. So for all of that, Josh is finally now in federal custody. And you want to know how long he spends in custody? Four years. At least it's multiple years. Yeah, there's something. There's something right. That also meant that Calhoun was released in July of 2013 when he was 32 years old. And he was released under-- Can you believe he did all of that before he was 32? Who is the time? Well, Calhoun is-- Are we 32? We're 32. Yeah. I know. I've never stolen a plane. No. Nor do I think that I could have the energy to find me to do any of this now. It's a lot of work. So he was released under the condition that he attend anger management classes, which I'm like, finally, some rehabilitation, right? But no, Calhoun has asking too much. And he filed an appeal arguing that the anger management requirement should be removed because the instructions on how it would be assigned weren't clear, like a technicality. Unbelievably, the appeals court agreed. So that meant that after just four years, the super thief was walking free without even an anger management class to hold him accountable. Although I too argue, is anger management the right thing? No, deep therapy would be the correction. I think there were a couple cases of him getting angry. And you know, he definitely needs alcoholics, anonymous, and therapy. And then like a leash. Predictably, Calhoun couldn't stay out of trouble for long. In December of 2013, just five months after his release, he was back in familiar territory, state prison. Now I feel like we need to tally for jail time. It's like finally coming around to him. This time, it was a six-month stay for felony theft of a property valued at $20,000, which is crazy because previously, his theft was $100,000 or whatever. And then he don't install so many cars before that. Yeah. So whatever, like psychological or societal force is driving Calhoun to steal, clearly, that is still in him. Yes. It's an overdrive. Because once again, within days of his release, in June of 2014, he was right back at it. He stole a dodge pick up from his own boss. And instead of laying low, like a normal person with a shred of self-preservation, he sped all over town driving this car. It does really make me think he is still that 16-year-old kid in high school. Yeah. Who was doing those same antics, driving around town, splashing in mud, pissing off the cops. Yeah. Like he is stunted in growth in someone. There's something. It doesn't make sense. Unless he's actively trying to get himself punished for life, I don't think he is. Oh, I think he's just enjoying the thrill of it. And because he is continuing to get away with it, he thinks he can. I wish we could take all of that energy and just introduce him to free-sellowing. Something else that gives you an adrenaline. No. No, like a high-risk adrenaline-inducing. Flat-lining thing. Yeah, that shouldn't maybe harm you. arm, others. Yeah, but others in danger. Yes. By the time police arrived because they were certainly called by witnesses, watching him drive around town, Calhoun was already flying down the highway, highway 155 in his new ride, stolen. And when he noticed the flashing lights of the police, he turned onto a side road, pushed the truck to 90 miles per hour, running two bystander cars straight off the road. So dangerous. And as officers closed in, Calhoun cut through someone's front yard and barrelled into the hay pasture. Oh my God, you know what? This just reminded me of what a memory just came like flooding back to me. The time that you were on the run. Yeah. No. My dad, the joke is any time me and my dad are like alone together outside of the house, something crazy happens. Because he witnesses, he's always witness. Like we, I've long told my dad, like you should be EMT certified because he's always happening upon like the wildest scenarios and like jumping into help people and like pulling people out of cars like with EMTs. I don't know how it happens. But and there were plenty of other things that happened, similar to this. But one time, it was only a few years ago, my dad and I were in the car. And there was like a high speed car chase. But like the car had lost the police already. We were on the highway and it zoomed past us on the right hand side and like went against the guard rail. And the only reason it didn't hit us was because my dad saw in the rear view. Oh my God. And like swirved to get out of the way. And part of the car, like that person's car like broke off. And he still kept speeding. So I called the cops and they were like, where did he go? We lost him? Where did he go? And I was like, I don't know because he went so fast and it was right. We were just out of view to see if he went like northbound or southbound on the cheese. I was like, I think no, but I had no idea. But the authorities were like, Oh my God. They're the witness. So what's up? Where did he go? I was like, I don't know. Sorry. I can't help her. Actually, I did see a TikTok recently where it was a car chase. And I don't know if the guy was ever caught, but basically it was a massive car chase. We're chasing this guy for a long time. And he had gone under an overpass. Oh, I saw that one too. That was clever. He got out of the car under the overpass. Yeah. Stop the car. No, he didn't stop the car. He let the car keep going. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And because of that, police thought he was still in the car. And the car like hit a pole, but it was empty. Yeah. And he had gone away. Yeah. I still am not entirely sure how he got away because he was on foot. And there were helicopters above because he disappeared under the overpass like he could have gotten into another car. He could have they never saw his face like they didn't know who he was. Yeah. That was an interesting escape. Calhoun did not do that. No, no, no. Officers were closing in on him. He cut through someone's front yard and barreled into a hay pasture. And unfortunately for him, the freshly cut hay tore up his trucks undercarried so badly that it actually became undrivable. So he had a ditch, the stolen vehicle. He sprinted through the pasture until he found a lone steel building and huddled near it, hoping that his gray sweatshirt went into the building, his own camo. Yep. The cops were determined to catch him. So there were on the scene, there were 25 officers and canines from all over the city called in to hunt down the super thief. They are they're not going to let the super thief get away. No, he's not going to win this one. The authorities are stepping up their game. Yeah. So his attempt at his gray hoodie blending into the gray building as camouflage wasn't particularly effective. And officers very quickly zeroed in on him. And when they did this made Calhoun make a mad dash towards a nearby house. So he banged on the door, but no one came to his rescue. He then bolted towards a patch of trees, but officers closed in the distance and drew their weapons. Then he kind of ran out of options. There wasn't really much left for him to do. The chase in total lasted two hours. The long time it is. And finally, Joshua Calhoun was arrested again. The most absurd part about the story though was not the brazen boasting of stolen truck or like the hilarity of bad hiding places and trying to camouflage himself in a gray hoodie. It was what investigators found crumpled on the truck's dashboard. A water burger receipt showing that just minutes before the chase of his life, he had stopped to buy some cheeseburgers. He had a protein field up. So yeah, he was charged with evading arrest with a motor vehicle and using a vehicle as a deadly weapon. And Calhoun's usual strategy was to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence, which for the most part did historically get him out of jail time. Yeah. This time though, he decided to take the case to trial. So jury get ready. And he decided to represent himself as we know works in no one's favor, really. But yeah, so the prosecution painted a picture of a career criminal with dozens of convictions who had somehow managed to dodge any real accountability over and over. And that this time they argued he had crossed a line, which I would argue he crossed the line the first time he ever committed a crime back in 2004 when he tried to strangle his wife. But you know, hey, thankfully the jury didn't buy Calhoun's antics either. They deliberated for a total of eight minutes. It is the quickest time ever recorded in the county's history. Yeah. And on December 10, 2014, they the jury found Joshua Calhoun guilty. We love the jury in this case. Good job, jury. You did good. During the sentencing, the prosecution put out an open call for a victim impact statements and so many people showed up. Law enforcement officers from other counties came down like they drove down for their chance to explain how the super thief had terrorized their own communities. And now taking all of that into account. And especially how many times Calhoun had escaped accountability and justice before the judge imposed the maximum sentence of 15 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Crazy. And we would love to say that this is where the story of the super thief ends. Nope, but it's not. Joshua Calhoun, the Texas super thief, appealed his sentence. And in 2016, the Court of Appeals ruled in his favor. During his original trial, the prosecution had argued for a harsher sentence based on Calhoun's long history of prior convictions. And this is called the sentence enhancement. So basically, like a legal strike against the defendant that allows for a stiffer punishment. The appeal score agreed with Calhoun that the enhancement shouldn't have been applied, ruling that the prosecution didn't prove that Calhoun was the same person who committed those prior crimes, which is wild, even though a single Google search could prove that to be true. But apparently, it wasn't proof if it wasn't presented in the right way legally, so it didn't stand because technicality is matter and court, unfortunately. So his sentence was overturned. He was released after serving less than two years of what was supposed to be a 15 years sentence. And then his story continues to play out like a very bleak rinse and repeat. I honestly can't believe he hasn't died yet. You know, like, I know that he hasn't killed himself in one of these things because he's constantly putting himself in others. Yes. Yeah. If anything, his antics did seem to get worse. And as anyone in his position who had never been offered proper rehabilitation or been forced to pay the consequences, what? I mean, he would continue these crimes because he can. Shortly after his release, Calhoun was again arrested. This time for assault, causing bodily injury to a family member, he served less than 90 days in jail. A few months later, in 2018, he was charged with felony unauthorized use of a stolen vehicle and sentenced to 14 months behind bars. And this sentence ended up being his longest, but not because the justice system finally found its footing, but because of his own inability to control his impulses. Before his release hearing, he punched another inmate in the face and got extra time. Over a year later, in October of 2022, he threatened staff members, which tacked on more time. And he was next eligible for a release in September of 2023, but was flat out denied because of his long criminal history and his ongoing propensity for violence behind bars and the pattern kept repeating. Every time Calhoun has come close to being released, he would self-sabotage and do something drastic that would keep him locked up, which I'm kind of grateful for. Yeah. And as recently as November of 2025, Calhoun was once again denied release and remained incarcerated at the Alfred Hughes Detention Center in Texas as of this recording. And as we come to the end of this case, or as it stands today, it really does make us curious about Joshua Calhoun himself, because how or why does someone do this? Is it like being a kleptomaniac or what is it? Like psychologically, what's happening? Yeah, what is going on with this guy? Yeah. Under the hijinks and absurdity of the Texas super thief was a real person and abandoned 10 year old, a directionless teenager, a young man who longed for a family he never had. We did look into the psychology a little bit here, and again, we're not professionals, but there are a lot of studies and resources online. Psychologists have identified 16 different profiles of habitual thieves and kleptomaniac is just one of them. In fact, it accounts for only 5% of habitual theft cases. It also is the only profile that qualifies as a legitimate mental Health Disorder, it's an impulse control disorder and involves an overwhelming urge to steal items that aren't needed, aren't valuable, and often make absolutely no sense to take. And based on the value of the items that Joshua Kelhoon stole, we can pretty confidently rule out true kleptomania, but Kelhoon does fit several of the other psychological profiles of habitual thieves. One involves people who feel totally out of control in their own lives, and so they use stealing as a way to regain a sense of order, power, and agency. Then there's people who steal just for the adrenaline rush of it all. And for them, stealing provides excitement, autonomy, and even a warped sense of purpose. And weirdly, he is very good at it. Like, he keeps getting away with it, he keeps doing it, and he's getting so much attention. Like, the community is almost, yes, they're annoyed by him, but they're idolizing him in a way, calling him the Texas super thief, and as a deeply wounded inner child who was abandoned by his parents, is that the recognition he so craves? Yeah. It's even paying attention to it though. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Another group is the chip on the shoulder brand of thieves. This is people who feel like life has taken too much from them already, so they feel justified in taking something back. And this group often has a history of instability in their home lives. In fact, one study found that children who have little parental involvement in poor supervision at home are at a significantly higher risk of stealing later in life. And given Calhoun's history, being abandoned as a child, growing up without much direction, in a struggling small town, and being diagnosed with serious mental health conditions is easy to see how many of these profiles could overlap and fuse into him becoming the super thief. Well, it's also interesting because it's not like this was the type of community he ran with. It's not like he's stealing things with a bunch of other people. He's doing it by himself. Right. Like, everyone else was kind of going into drugs in his town. And he's like, there was a little bit of adrenaline he's seeking in this. Yeah. I also think the other large massive part of this story is that whatever the justice system was supposed to accomplish, punishment, rehabilitation, or deterring future crime, it very much failed in Calhoun's case. And if we want to talk about the tally, like we said in the beginning, we thought we would lose count. I have absolutely lost count. Yeah. No idea. I would say the justice system failed over and over and over and over and over again. And it left us with someone who couldn't or wouldn't learn a lesson. Someone who took his own pain and then made it everyone else's problem. It does make me wonder if or what could have helped Calhoun. And it does make me hope that he's getting some help behind bars. But I feel like based on his attitude that we've seen, right, every chance of getting out there's something big that happens and would indicate maybe not. I don't have confidence there in that. No. But ultimately we are very, very glad that no one got hurt and died from his terrible antics. And that is the case with the Texas super thief Joshua Paul Calhoun. Thank you so much for listening. We are your host Sabrina Deanna Roga and Corinne Vien. Join us next Tuesday for another peek inside another crimes of deception. And if there are any cases you would like us to cover, let us know in the comments. And here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at Crime House. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow crimes of wherever you get your podcasts because your feedback truly makes a difference. Thanks for joining us and we love you all. The jury. See you next week. Tudors. Happy Halloween, Crime House listeners. I'm Vanessa Richardson. 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