need to add title here

Stolen Dreams

July 13, 2009 2:26 PM

In Full: A Wall Street trader lives a secret life as a serial bank robber. Richard Schlesinger reports.

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by Timmyc20 December 14, 2009 11:11 PM EST
Convinced the wife knew the whole time. Seize all her assets and throw her and her family out on the street where they belong. Everything they own including her wedding ring should be considered stolen property and taken.
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by zmqznczspu November 28, 2009 1:16 AM EST
What an annoying episode of pedantic and melodramamatic pabulum filled with painfully banal observations. Schlesinger seems to only want to 'shock' the viewer over and over again with the cliched notion that such a 'great guy' a 'happily married Wall Street trader, who lived in one of the finest McMansion neighborhoods in the area' could do such a thing. He gives Trantel a pass for being a coke-snorting machismo ****** who was too much of a proud moron to consider asking his wife go to work; a person who would rather commit armed robberies than taking responsibility and trimming the fat from his cocaine laden life of gluttonous excess.
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by dmhendry September 30, 2009 4:44 PM EDT
I dont get it. Move into a smaller house, drive an older car, who cares. The kids are the most imporant thing and now he doesnt have them.
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by frelnc September 19, 2009 3:53 PM EDT
I'm with feastofreason. What is there about this woman that makes so many of you descend into such nastiness? According to the documentary she used to work. HE started the "the little woman doesn't have to concern herself with the money" stuff. Not her. Shame on all of you for labeling her as the cause. He's the criminal - not her.
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by DulceFabi August 18, 2009 1:52 PM EDT
Superwawi. AM with you



and feel sorry? yea right I feel sorry well not sorry cause people who get jailed for so many years actually steal for a reason cause they don't even have a bread or beans to eat!!! but this nasty rich people have everything and they want more!!!
And yea only because 1st He's white and rich seriously everyone deserves the same treatment!
and about the hoe,
a women who loves her man first when they get marry it says they would be together in rich and poor times.. when u got no money, a marriage can work it out, and that women probably didn't even have a communication with that thief, every relationship is base on communication not on sex or money, but now this days is base on that! I think is the women fault thou cause am a women and I know we like good stuff but when u don't have the money to have then that means NO we cant have everything we want! and when we actually love the person we HELP to make a better living on working not stealing! this story is.................DONE....


hehe
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by feastofreason August 14, 2009 10:43 PM EDT
I have read all the comments written about this story and most make me sick. How people can blame the wife is unbelieveable to me. You might as well blame the children for going to private school and all those family vacations. As a child of a convicted embezeller I know how Jeannie and her children most feel. In her case she was only in the dark for a couple of years. My family was in the dark for over 10 years. Did my mother know what was going on...NO NOT AT ALL. Like Jeanie my mother was a stay at home mom and my father was the bread winner and paid all the bills. My mom was totally in the dark as were my sister, brother and I. I was sent to a prestigious boarding school, my parent's built their dream home, and we went on many family vacations. Like the Trantell's we lived a good life, but not one that was overly fancy. Mom saw Dad's stress and frustration as did I, but Daddy always said things were going just fine. Of course they weren't and Dad was swarming in unpaid bills, no money, and the fear that telling the truth would lead to him losing his family. The weekend before my 17th birthday I came home from boarding school to celebrate my birthday only to learn that Daddy ad to turn himself in that Monday because he had been caught for embezzlement. Talk about a shock. Mom had to go to work, I had to beg for a full scholarshipy to finish boarding school, my parent's had to file bankruptcy, Dad lost his business, the cars, the house and the life we had been living. Everything as we had known it had turned upside down. Both of my parent's were faced with rumors and horrible gossip. My mom had to walk around town with people questioning how she didn't know..was she that blind? If Dad said things were fine why question them. Looking back before he was caught of course there are many signs that things weren't going well, but who lives their life questioning everything that happens in their life? Just like Jeannie my family members can look back and see some signs, but of course now it is way to late. Yes my mother left my dad. Her reason for leaving wasn't because she was a princess or a bad wife. It was because she felt as though if there is NO TRUST in a marriage then there's NO marriage! She stood by my father as he went through his trial, but after it was all over she needed to move on with her life as well as the lives of her children. Dad received home detention work release because at the time my parent's were still together and my mom wasn'tworking yet so he was the sole provider. He went from owning his own accounting firm to selling vaccum cleaners door to door. Everythign we knew was now gone. Including the father we thought we knew. Daddy was wrong, but like Steve's story, the reasons my father did what he did were to keep the family that he loved in the life we were used to living. I don't condone it, but I do understand it. I was upset with my mother for leaving my dad, but after watching this story I realize that everything she told us as to why she left made perfect sense. Jeannie and my mom's story could be one in the same. This story has many lessons in it...the first being always tell your partner the truth no matter what, money isn't everything, never allow one partner over the other to control the money coming in and coming out, and that love for a family can make people do unbelieveable things. Like the old saying goes..money is the root of all EVIL. I was glad to read that the boys still see their father all the time. My heart goes out to Steve, Jeannie and especially their boys.
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by sun4mj August 5, 2009 8:22 PM EDT
The episode ,"Stolen Dreams" is such a very sad story. This is not an uncommon story. Perhaps the Bank Robbing is what makes it seem to be the horrible part, but people will do the unthinkable to the people they love the most in the name of money. Steven just happened to get caught. I have read the 13 or so comments that have been made and shame on the people that are calling his wife a princess. If she is a princess for dedicating herself and her life to her children and husband, Than the word princess applies to every stay at home mom since the beginning of time. I watched my grandmothers and aunts and many other women including myself live there lives in the exact manner in which Jeannie, the wife lived. The husband goes to work and is the provider and handles the finances and the wife takes care of the home and the chidren. That is not called a princess. Its called being a MOM and WIFE.. and it should be respected by everyone. She has done nothing wrong and as far as her divorcing her husband shame on the people that judge her for that too. She rose to the occasion, got a degree, worked 2 jobs and took care of her children. She could have filed bankruptcy gone on welfare and sat home and cried for the rest of her life, but she not only is a good mother, good person and victim, She is an example to many woman and men. And that includes her ex husband. When he is let out of prison perhaps she will be able to teach him what to do when you are faced with financial difficulties.
I applaud her and so should every other woman.
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by Bandm96 July 31, 2009 9:02 PM EDT
How can anyone blame his actions on His wife, Had she forced him to Rob a Bank, Even though she did not work outside of the home, I don't beleive she's responsible for His Crimes
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by lg2353 July 29, 2009 3:17 PM EDT
Unfortunately, this story is not so different then a lot of other people's story in life. Though, I can understand Steven's feelings of frustration and overwhelming anxiety, robbing banks, of course, was not the resolution. However, when you have led a life of priviledge, it is not easy to admit that financial changes have now taken control. And that, you are no longer in control of your finances. A circumstance such as this, will make you "feel" your choices are limited. Your "pride and arrogance" will also take a major part in making wrong choices. I don't condone his resolution, when he felt this was his only way to rectify his problem. However, in marriage I am sure the "vows" state "for better or worse". His wife took the BETTER, but when the worse came, she was a COWARD, who left her husband standing alone when he needed her the most.
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by davidperi July 26, 2009 11:19 AM EDT
What do you do when there is evil in the heart who are in a mess like this? Blame it on your own created problems? The wife or husband? People who are in power or authority always think they can get away with it. Religion did not work for him because many think it will just drop down from heaven.

At the end she talks about money. Ahhh..come on...men and women do not know where there money goes that is really stupid.
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