Ep. 78: Secret Agent Man - R.T. Stewart (Part 1)

On this episode of the Bear Grease Podcast, we’re going deep undercover in the rough country of Southeast Ohio to learn about the secret lives of wildlife poachers AND the life of an undercover wildlife agent by the name of RT Stewart. He worked 18 years for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and in the 1990s, was one of the lead agents on the largest turkey poaching sting in US history. He’s a decorated law enforcement officer, known for going deep undercover – even years at a time -- and was willing to do whatever it took to bust outlaws. In his career, he never had a single one of his target suspects not be convicted of crimes. If the bad guys had known him, they’d have feared him, but they didn’t, because he was a ghost. We’ll hear from author Chip Gross, who wrote the book “Poachers Were My Prey” about Mr. Stewart and we’ll interview Dr. Mathew Sharps of California State University, author of “Processing Under Pressure: Stress, Memory, and Decision Making in Law Enforcement” about the psychology of undercover agents, and the personal cost that comes with living a lie. In this first episode of the series, we’ll meet RT and he’ll show the life of undercover agent – on part 2 – you’ll hear about his biggest undercover job. You’ll laugh, you’ll be intrigued, and you’ll cry on this one boys. We really doubt you’re going to want to miss this one…

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