Shortly after John fired me
the police came to me to say,
"Your old boss is accusing you of stealing a bunch of bugs."
It was absolutely shocking.
I didn't really understand any of that.
I told them what the deal was.
There was no crime committed.
There was no theft.
There was no heist.
Most of these insects didn't even exist.
This was all fabricated.
If John could have lied about those insects,
what else could he lie about?
I'm just gonna hand you these
if you could take a look please?
What do those documents say?
This document appears
to be a United States Department of Agriculture
report of investigation regarding the theft
at the Insectarium & Butterfly Pavilion or IBP.
The synopsis indicates
"approximately six employees
brought their personally owned arthropod/reptile collections
to IBP for display."
And when the employees removed them,
John contacted the Philadelphia Police Department
and reported them stolen.
To put all this report in a nutshell,
the narrative presented
by Mr. Cambridge doesn't make sense.
The investigators found John
to be inconsistent,
causing him to lose credibility
as a victim in this matter.
It was really scary, 'cause some of these
are very dangerous creatures.
The way that this story snowballed,
it started out so small,
and then just took on a life of its own.
And this whole circus
really never happened.
We're getting a look at new surveillance video
in the theft of insects and small reptiles
in Northeast Philadelphia.
Now, the CEO believes a former employee
and a group of other people
are behind this.
It was heartbreaking to see
the camera footage of us doing our jobs
and to see it spun in a way that...
That we're thieves.
He believes this was an inside job.
It's... it's just not the truth.
They're looking at some people
who used to work there.
All eyes were on us,
and it was scary.
After initially the FBI
and the police got involved,
I was absolutely worried
that I was going to prison.
We all started having the police
show up at our house.
When we went to Chris's home,
we started going over what the accusations were,
what they claimed was taken,
and what was there at the Insectarium.
I realized that stuff
that was taken from the Insectarium
didn't belong to the Insectarium.
We understood that this was not a theft.
This was not a robbery.
This was a dispute over property.
Detective Zanetich
had a premonition that maybe Mr. Cambridge
might have led us down a wrong path on this case.
The Philadelphia Police
came to the conclusion
that there was no crime
when it came to the missing bugs.
Was there a bug heist?
No. There wasn't a bug heist.
There was...
there were no bugs to steal.
There were never 7,000 insects
at the Philadelphia Insectarium.
At most, we maybe had a couple hundred,
and they weren't his.
He knows that.
I know that.
They were ours.
John claims that there was a policy
in the employee handbook that said
any books that were brought to the museum
became the museum's property.
I have that employee handbook.
It is not in there.
And what about John's kind of like fallback position
that this was an oral policy?
I don't think there was a policy
saying your property now
becomes my property,
that anything brought into the museum
belongs to the museum.
I spoke to all these kids involved
in the incident,
and none of them were aware of any of that.
These employees were bringing their property
into the Insectarium to display it.
These items that were reported stolen
actually belonged to these kids.
Some of these kids
had better collections than the Insectarium.
We put them on display
because we had no budget.
We were left with no choice
but to use our own pets
in display for his museum.
I did it out of love for my job
and to educate young people about insects.
I had all of my personal like favorite pets
in the Insectarium on display.
I wasn't going to let him have them,
so I brought them home.
So I started taking things home
because there was a good chance we would never see
those animals again otherwise.
That is when John reported everything stolen,
It doesn't make any sense
that we would have stolen
from the Insectarium because we work there.
We know that there are cameras all over that building.
I remember seeing Alison
leaving with topes out the front door,
like taking stuff.
No one stopped her.
No one said anything.
Why are you on the news
telling people we're getting robbed,
but like we're all pretty much
watching them walk out the door.
It didn't make sense to me.
But he loved to be on the news.
The media heard one story
and then just stuck with it,
which was John's story.
We know exactly who did it.
We have them on camera doing it.
We know where the critters were taken.
They just went with it.
And they made headlines over...
All over the place.
Orkin gave him, I believe,
a $10,000 donation
because of the supposed the theft.
And then the GoFundMe
made tens of thousands.
Tens of thousands.
It's great publicity.
Look at how much money he made.
His business
was international news,
and that was the happiest he's ever been.
If they piecemeal sell it,
they'll get about 40,000.
Valued at 41,000...
Over 40,000...
Forty thousand dollars.
Up to $50,000.
I had an independent expert
evaluate the list of bugs,
and it came to
a fraction of the $50,000.
And it seemed like John
wasn't a hundred percent sure
what he actually had in the museum
which was a serious problem.
I think that those numbers were off.
I think those numbers were inflated.
There was also a lot
of talk of the federal evidence.
Was the Insectarium housing federal evidence?
No.
John had alluded
that some of the items in the Insectarium
were part of evidence of a bigger case
on a federal level,
so we did inquire with the FBI
to look into that,
and they couldn't find any cases
where he would have been holding items
for the federal government.
I had no idea what he was capable of
as far as my future career,
my collection, anything, my life.
A month after the "heist"
had taken place
three police officers,
an FBI agent, and
expert witness
came to my house with a no-knock warrant.
They went into my animal room
and I showed them what I had.
I was absolutely hysterical.
I was being told that
the potential jail time
could be up to 10 years in federal prison,
that I could be seeing some serious
life-altering problems with this.
And what about Chrissy in all this?
Chrissy was always presenting herself
to be completely on our side.
However, she lied too.
This is a screenshot of a text message conversation
that I had with Chrissy
about acquiring giant African land snails.
So Chrissy had assured me that, um
we did in fact,
have all the correct permits needed
to own giant African land snails,
which after speaking to the USDA,
um, nobody in the United States
owns permits to own giant African land snails.
Doesn't exist.
That permit does not exist.
Chrissy knew about that giant African land snail.
We had meetings about it.
So do you think Chrissy
was just kind of under John's thumb?
I think that Chrissy
had a lot invested in the Insectarium.
Chrissy is the permit holder for the bugs.
So, I think that
she was under a tremendous amount of pressure
with John's influence.
She was a pretty good manager,
but she made mistakes.
You're gonna sit like right there.
Woosah.
Well, you can have a seat.
This one is a difficult one for me,
I'm not gonna lie.
What's difficult about it?
I'm not perfect.
I make many, many mistakes.
Um, but I will not continue
to take the weight
of somebody else
and what they've done.
No more.
I'm done.
Done lying for John.
Ever since the heist,
John does whatever the heck he wants to do.
I found out in this last, like, couple of weeks
that John has taken a ton of money
from the museum.
I've covered for him for a long time,
and...
I can't do it anymore.
During this pandemic,
he has made me lie
to employees every single week,
like informing Kinzler
that you're gonna get paid.
We were cheating the system for people
that were going to be collecting
for unemployment.
John always justifies
everything with,
"Chrissy, you and I,
we're gonna rock this place.
"We're gonna kick ...
"And if this is what
we have to do at this point,
this is what we have to do."
I have responsibility right now,
and I cannot walk away
because my name is on all the permits.
My name is on one of the loans,
so it's not easy for me to just walk away.
But the fact is that John himself
has destroyed the business.
Just look at the sandcastle.
What are you building?
It's an amphitheater,
a coliseum.
He bought the containers
because he just has that extreme attitude of,
"I'm powerful,
and this is how I'm gonna run the place."
There was no plan,
there was nothing that went through
the city to process or make it legal.
What permit would John need for this job?
Uh, he would need blueprints,
he would need engineers, structural.
He would need a lot of shit.
It was not safe
and it made me very scared as a parent.
There was a lot of stuff there that would never ever,
ever, ever, ever, ever pay us.
Ever, like, just no, it's wrong.
The total price John spent
on the sandcastle
was a hundred and forty thousand dollars,
so the financial state of the museum
is horrific.
It is horrible.
We have maybe $200
in the bank account.
The sandcastle is not open now,
and it's not gonna be open.
On top of the sandcastle,
the Insectarium has a significant amount of money
that is leaving the Insectarium account.
I'm really curious as to
where all of the money is going.
And so we tried
to get his parents to understand
and see the impacts that
he is having on the building.
I am trying to pay the bills,
make ends meet, pay payroll.
And the numbers aren't matching up,
and we're just... the money is not there
to make it happen.
I don't understand some of the withdrawals,
some of the money
that is leaving the account.
When I was looking through all the accounts,
I discovered that
he's addicted to buying stuff.
The 1938 Jag kit car.
I'm not sure how payroll will be taken care off,
but he bought eight different vehicles.
It's a Mr. Bean car,
1955 DeSoto.
John is a psychopathic narcissist.
Like, you Google those words,
that is him to a T.
He is a self-consumed human being
that will only look after himself.
Everything in the Insectarium
revolved around John Cambridge,
and the heist was just one more thing that he,
I guess, thought that
he could be the star of.
Anything to get that publicity.
John tends to, you know, use people
and like push people so hard.
He doesn't appreciate people
that do help him.
If you're not appreciated,
if you're not taken seriously,
those kinds of things do bubble over.
Does everybody understand
that we're all working towards the same mission?
Well...
Does everybody like...
- Does everybody... - I don't feel like
we're on the same mission right now.
We've lost all control and all, like, say
in what's going on,
and the mission has changed
and the building has been destroyed.
The education department is the department that's making money
the only thing other than government money
that is money coming in to the Insectarium.
Hi, ladies and gentleman.
My name is Trisha,
and she is a rose hair tarantula.
I love what I do and I love teaching,
and so seeing this money
coming in from teaching
and then leaving
for mysterious items and things,
that doesn't make you feel good at all.
When are you gonna pay me for prior to today?
It's an absurd amount of money.
What do I owe you money for?
Last year?
Just... I'm just...
All of my time.
You haven't given me anything
relative to what I've done here.
I'm not gonna have the ability
to pay you lots of money right now.
John has absolutely
destroyed not only myself,
but he's destroyed every other employee there.
Enjoy.
Nobody there
wants to work for him.
Yo, today, okay?
Because I literally
can't... I'm walking
here, and everything is against me.
Don't say everything is against you.
Take ownership and responsibility for it.
He has ... me
of what I believe in.
You take care of the people
that take care of you.
First of all, thank you very much
for coming if you are not scheduled.
When I first started at the Insectarium,
like, John wasn't the John he is now
the manipulator,
and that's probably because of his parents.
His mother is like fire
and his father is like water,
and they continued to save him
from everything
instead of letting him hit the reality
of making a mistake in his life.
In this past year, to help the company
continue to function,
$65,000 has come
in as a loan.
How much have you loaned
the company in the past year?
When I was hired,
or I'm sure when Trisha was hired,
it was not under the assumption then that
we were going to be part of funding it.
His private income to this company,
it is... it is not owed to this.
It is his prerogative.
- My private, personal. - Yeah.
My stocks is not owed to this place either.
But I'm doing it to help this place.
I'm simply saying...
No, I don't want your money.
There's no expectation for your money.
- Great, great. - Okay, great.
Okay. What did you gain by that?
See how you just made a bunch of enemies?
John, be patient.
You can stop. Step outside, okay?
- No. - Or...
Or...
Or I will just go file a police report,
and it can be known that way.
I don't understand where this line of question is going.
Okay, come on.
Please stay.
Okay.
Don't take that tone with me again.
- Listen... - Absolutely,
do not take that tone with me again.
Mom, I need you to calm down
and conduct yourself
with a level of professionalism.
Okay, now you're talking...
- Whoa, whoa, whoa. - You're accusing me.
You're accusing me
and that's not right.
Well, I'll let you talk to the police.
Jesus Christ.
I think he had that silver spoon his entire life.
This isn't the first time he ... up.
This isn't the first time
he has done somebody wrong.
Do you regret testifying on his behalf at the trial?
Yes. I 100% regret testifying.
Now, with everything that's happened,
do you think John has been lying about
how he got the Insectarium?
It's black and white.
John had a plan and took this
all from Steve.
Would it surprise you to learn
that Chrissy has told us that
she regrets testifying on John's behalf?
No, I wouldn't be surprised.
Can I give you this actually? Even better.
He uses people.
He does what he wants to do.
Looking back,
it was very obvious.
Now, it wasn't obvious at the time
because I believe in people.
This is my business for 46 years.
John's game plan was to get me out
and to take the museum from me,
and that's what he ended up doing.
I just remember,
before Steve was even gone,
John absolutely bragged
that he was going to be running the Insectarium
and it... would do
anything to do it.
It's safe to assume that
this was an orchestrated effort.
John had recruited his parents
as confederates
to take over the Insectarium.
May of I think 2016,
when I was trying to open up a butterfly pavilion,
I had to come up with the financing.
He came to me and said, "Look, Steve",
"I can get the building refinanced,
but they don't want it in your name."
And at that time,
I had a little trouble with my credit,
so he had a better score.
And I said, "Okay, fine."
He was taking my shares
for the sole purpose
of refinancing the building.
As soon as we get the financing,
I get my shares and stock back.
At least that's what I believed.
Okay, things were going okay
and, you know, no problems
until I got two phone calls
from two suppliers.
And, "Hey, Steve,
I'm sure you're just overworked,
but we haven't been paid for on this invoice."
And then I looked at the deposits,
and I was missing $19,000.
So then I found out
that they were making deposits
over at Wells Fargo.
And I said, "I want printouts."
And they said, "Mr. Kanya,
you're not an authorized signature on it."
I go back to the office.
John comes in, and I said,
"What's going on?
I'm missing 18... $19,000."
He says, well, F you, you know,
and that's when things started getting bad.
I come back the next day,
and my office is empty.
John told if anybody talks to Steve,
they're fired.
He is the new owner,
and if I come in,
I'm trespassing,
and to call the police.
I would come in the next day,
the following day, and everything else
because it's my building.
And he said, "Get the F out."
He said, "Keep showing
up, I'm gonna... I'm gonna kill you."
He said, "I'm gonna kill you."
Then I went,
contacted attorneys and stuff,
and found out that he Photoshopped
my name on different documents
with my signature,
which of course was Photoshopped.
Did that come up in the trial?
Absolutely.
It turns out he was taking my shares
to take my company.
And with that, John went to court
and won everything.
Chrissy followed John.
She testified that she's the one that seen me steal money.
He had them convinced that
I was involved in the Kennedy assassination.
I started the Vietnam War.
That's what happened.
He took it all.
Everybody, every attorney,
everybody that's read it said
this thing has been planned
for a long, long time.
At this point in time,
I do feel really bad for Steve.
Uh, he had something that he worked
his whole life on taken from him.
Uh, just because somebody else wanted it
and thought they could do it better.
You are being removed from this facility
and from any administrative duties.
He ruined my wife,
me, and our children's lives.
Call the police again.
He deserves to be arrested.
He deserves a lot worse than that.
So I gotta fill in some holes
from the first interview.
We just got to get
- the frigging facts straight. - Yeah.
Steve claims that
you made like $18,000 to $19,000
of unauthorized deposits
into a Wells Fargo account
that was your account.
Like that's like a factual thing, right?
I mean, it's one or the other.
Is he mistaken
or is he lying to try
and get you in trouble? Like...
Yes, he's definitely lying.
But also how often,
when someone tells you something
and they seem confident
and they seem knowledgeable,
do you actually check their facts?
Did you threaten to kill him
if he kept showing up here?
No, I did not... what?
No, I didn't threaten to kill him.
I wanna... I wanna move on
to some other stuff.
So, several employees have told us
that money is being taken out
of IBP accounts,
going into your other businesses
as well as paying for personal items.
That's a ridiculous accusation.
I'm not sure how any employees
would have access to that information.
Do we have coffee?
Um, sure. Um, okay...
Let's switch gears for a second.
Thank you.
So in this FOIA dump,
there's a bunch of different affidavits
from people,
and one of them is from Detective Zanetich.
"I found multiple inconsistencies
in the statements
of all parties involved
"which led me to believe that
the reported theft
was exaggerated
"either for the purpose of insurance claims
or for the benefit of cash donations
given to IBP."
I disagree with Zanetich.
So, I mean, Zanetich obviously didn't really...
Yeah.
Find you credible, um,
but there's a lot of other stuff.
I mean, here's another affidavit.
This person's an animal care person.
"I was aware
of the giant African land snail
"that was kept in the rearing room at IBP,
everyone knew it was there."
I... no, I can only
say this is false.
It's tough... it's tough...
Like it's hard to believe
that all these people are making this up.
Either it's all of these people
who aren't being truthful
or it's you who's not being truthful.
I'm gonna take a break.
We don't... we don't have much left if you wanna just...
That's unfortunate.
Go ahead, John, and sit down.
How do you feel that like
you call the cops
on Chris and Alison?
Cops and FBI
show up their house,
threatened them years in jail.
Things certainly
got a lot more escalated
than we ever anticipated,
but I would not want to see
Chris or Alison go to jail at all.
It is what it is.
But holy shit,
did it spiral into something big.
How did all this impact your life?
How did it affect you?
Did it affect professional careers?
So, my dream has always been
to be a zookeeper,
um, especially with invertebrates,
and that was all taken from me.
It literally... it ruined me.
It's like we... we have
this huge black spot on our lives,
and it just made me feel constantly unsafe.
And here's Life Magazine.
Do I pray that I get it back?
Yes.
Do I hope that I get it back?
Absolutely.
If I had a really good lawyer,
I'd probably have it back,
but I can't afford a lawyer.
All my income stopped.
My son, who has a very good job,
and my daughter,
they help me out financially.
How embarrassing is that?
My house is approximately 12 minutes away
from the Insectarium,
so I drive by there all the time.
And what I see there,
it actually makes me sick.
That used to be our back parking lot.
I'm 67 years old.
In 67 years,
I personally have never hated anybody.
I hate John.
The case is inactive.
If I got further evidence of a crime,
I would reopen it in a second.
We could open it up for fraud
or false statements to police.
False reporting is a crime.
It's very difficult to prove,
but it is a crime.
I reached out to the USDA,
and they told me the investigation is still active
and it's just moving up the federal chain of command.
So they might also
still be pursuing this case?
They may be.
I know the truth,
but taking the truth
to the judge is different.
I know what happened.
There's a difference between
what I know and what I can prove.
What's a happy ending to this story?
I hope that all of the people
who, uh, have been involved in this place
will somehow take that experience
and use it to their benefit in the future.
It's, um... it's been
quite a journey for sure.
What's going on today?
Um, today is my last day.
Yep, yep, yep.
So, realized how much the place
was like taking from me,
and I realized like I need to find a place
that I have the ability to grow and expand.
I've been going back and forth about it
because of the amount of stress and stuff,
and it's one of the reasons
why I can't be a part of it anymore.
All right.
Am I really leaving?
Is this happening?
Okay.
I love you again. Here.
I love you guys.
Love you again.
It's for real.
- You know that, okay? - Yeah.
I got your back with everything.
IBP can be
one of the most amazing museums.
My most favorite experience
is they would walk through those doors,
and they would walk into this Butterfly Pavilion,
and these butterflies
would just be flying around,
and they could see the beauty of nature.
To be able to offer that to any child
or even adult,
the place was magical.
We've done make a wish things for people
that are on their last dying day
to have that butterfly fly around them,
and that is real.
That's why I fight for that place.
John is not going to destroy this place,
and I am not done fighting.
At this point,
I've kind of made my choices,
and I hope to not make
the same mistakes that I did
which led me to the end of this story.
I wanna see this thing through,
and I've worked hard to try
and find a way to adapt.
Insects are fascinating.
They're able to adapt to their environment.
Yeah, there's tons up here.
Whoa!
Do you see them just like coming off the tree?
Is that trait of adaptability
one that you revere?
Absolutely.
They're good role models.
And I'm still here.
So, yeah, I'm gonna keep fighting.