Oct 8
NBC’s ‘Dateline’ to air ‘gay grifters’ episode Friday
Ed Walsh READ TIME: 3 MIN.
NBC announced Wednesday that this week’s episode of “Dateline” will tell the story of the infamous “gay grifters” murder of gay retiree Clifford Lambert in Palm Springs in 2008. The two-hour show is scheduled to run Friday, October 10, from 9 to 11 p.m. and will be seen locally on KNTV/NBC Bay Area.
The episode is titled “The Prince, The Whiz Kid & The Millionaire” and will be reported by NBC News “Dateline” veteran Josh Mankiewicz.
San Francisco resident Tyson Wrensch co-wrote a book on the case with Sherrie Lueder in 2013 titled “Until Someone Gets Hurt.” He was interviewed by “Dateline” for the show and praised NBC for taking on the case.
“I couldn't be more excited that ‘Dateline’ not only chose to do this story, but after five years of production roadblocks thrown at NBC News by these con men and the justice system itself, the cautionary tale can finally be told to the world,” Wrensch told the Bay Area Reporter by text.
Wrensch hopes the program, as well as his book and articles on the case, will serve as a warning for any would-be con artist victims.
“While these guys are in prison, there are thousands more of them out there. Educate yourself on the signs of the scams, especially if you're looking online for dates,” he wrote. “Never send anyone money no matter how long you have been communicating. Never let your first meeting with anyone you’ve never met start at your home, and never tell or show anyone how much you may be worth financially.”
His book title refers to something a police officer said to him about not being able to do anything about financial crimes “until someone gets hurt.”
Lambert’s remains were found in northern Los Angeles County in 2016 and 2017 but weren’t identified until 2020.
The story has been dubbed the gay grifters case because three of the four gay or bisexual men convicted of the murder were accused of being involved in several other cons. One of those convicted, Kaushal Niroula, was called the “Dark Prince.” He had falsely claimed to be Nepalese royalty. He was murdered by a jail cellmate in 2022.
The others convicted in the case were gay man Daniel Garcia; Garcia’s now-disbarred San Francisco lawyer David Replogle, a gay man; and former Daly City resident Miguel Bustamante, who identifies as bisexual. All three were sentenced to life without parole.
Craig McCarthy, Bustamante’s former roommate, testified against the others and will be eligible for parole next year. In separate interviews with the B.A.R., Garcia, Replogle, and Bustamante have all maintained their innocence.
The case has garnered new attention this year with the dropping of the 12-part podcast “American Hustlers” and with the sentencing of Replogle and Garcia. Wrensch was also interviewed for the podcast and he recounted in detail his story of being victimized by Garcia.
Garcia slammed the podcast in an exclusive interview with the B.A.R. earlier this year.
"It's basically just a classic hit piece designed to get as much publicity as possible for Tyson Wrensch and paint us in the worst picture as possible," Garcia said.
One of the two podcast hosts, Kim Kantner, told the B.A.R. earlier this year, "I wouldn't expect Danny to be happy with the podcast," she said. "It's putting the story out there again. The story has been out there before and has never shown him in a favorable light, and neither does this. He is a convicted murderer, and he's in prison, and he was a con man, and con men lie."
As the B.A.R. previously reported, Bustamante filed a defamation lawsuit against McCarthy in San Francisco Superior Court last month. McCarthy has since recanted his testimony and he told the podcast that he was never at Lambert’s home when the murder was alleged to have occurred.
