if anyone was elusive, it was standefer. but then, through a tip from the growing network of ex-investors, karl met a man named harold karaka. harold said he knew all about dennis. he could sell that same piece of ice cube to the eskimo more than once, which is evident by the number of victims that were victimized more than one time. reporter: karaka says standefer took him for over $12,000, promising valuable asian artifacts. he never delivered. and now, karaka was angry. i told karl i made a promise to dennis that he decided not bring back my money that i would do whatever was necessary to go after that money and collect it. reporter: and he knew how to do it because this man, allegedly conned by dennis standefer like the rest, is a private investigator in los angeles. and in his business, karaka couldn t afford to let standefer get away. i didn t want my reputation to be soiled by an individual like this. and it wasn t the money. on my part, the loss of the money was less
started out investing small amounts of money, just for the fun of it. but they insist standefer kept them on the hook. kirk shaffer says dennis knew just how. it is alluring to think that you can go and you can find some treasure. and people do do it on a rare occasion. reporter: they want to believe. they want to believe, exactly. reporter: karl tracked down more investors and spread the word about what he says standefer did. he was determined to shut dennis down. so, you wanted to make sure everybody knew he was a crook. yes. i wanted to cut off his money supply. and it is like, okay. then what is he going to do? reporter: in the meantime, you went back to teaching and getting your life in order. yes, i went back to teaching. reporter: he quietly went back to his quiet pasadena life. and that would have been the end of the story of dennis standefer and karl ryll. the teacher was through with the treasure hunter and never thought he would see or hear from him again. th
but this time, he was not alone. with kirk s help, he reached out to other investors. among them, george rombach, accountant and lawyer, who says he invested $30,000 for himself and clients with standefer. he s absolutely a danger to civilized society. no question in my mind about that. reporter: rombach says, that like karl, he was taken in by a smooth operator. he told tall tales very well. your impressions of the man the first time you saw him? first time i saw him they were not favorable. he s very affable. and very shortly, i almost felt guilty for my first reaction. reporter: and there was gene hasenbeck, computer engineer. he tells us he gave dennis $127,000, all of his and his parents savings. i lost my everything. i m living in a small, ten-by-ten room now to this day, just renting a small room. reporter: all these men
joked with and charmed detectives and played to the camera. but when police refused to let him go, standefer finally got angry. he strongly denied the charges, blaming fellow americans out to take his treasure and his life. i had some trouble with some americans, they tried to kill me, they hired local people. police allege standefer s visa papers were not in order. and used that to lock him up on the spot. and then two days later as standefer was led from his police station holding cell to the jail, karl ryll finally got his chance to go face to face with dennis. i hope you enjoyed it. standefer repeated allegations from the infamous fax, the one that started karl ryll on his hunt in the first place. i reported him to the fbi. reported him to the fbi for selling drugs.
foolish? i was so angry that i couldn t even speak. to think what this guy had done to me. reporter: eager to find answers, karl tracked down kirk shaffer, a california diver who worked for standefer and had also given him some money. shaffer says he never got paid back. and when he heard karl s story, the diver was ready to talk about dennis standefer. i never saw him find anything. even gold. look, most of the time it was running around, looking for things that he could tantalize investors with. reporter: shaffer told karl that standefer was a con man who had fooled newspapers and tv. the key, kirk says, was that the cons always had a kernel of truth. the japanese did hide gold on some hospital ships. and there were dragon jars. but, shaffer claims, standefer never had any intention of going after them. he seemed to be much more interested in just keeping the game going.