The Devil in the Deal

At 18, Sheryle worked in a massage parlor on the outskirts of Wichita, Kansas. At 20, she traveled the Midwest and graduated to a job as a stripper shortly before marrying into the notorious Martin family. While working a family-owned placer goldmine in Montana, her husband, Jake, found a nugget the size of his fist!

But with mining debts of more than $40,000, the family high-tailed it out of Montana to engage in a more profitable endeavor. Sheryle helped build a multi-million-dollar company called Shaperite Concepts. During the company’s most vulnerable beginnings, the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated her father-in-law, Carl, for fraud. During the investigation, Carl’s partner turned up dead. A prime suspect, Carl ended up behind bars--but not for murder! Instead, the SEC found him guilty of stock and securities trading violations. Soon after his release from prison, he was kidnapped by a disgruntled investor and held for a $3.5 million ransom. An unexpected turn of events led to Carl’s escape while the kidnappers were apprehended.

Based on a true story, The Devil in the Deal portrays how a toxic mix of Mafia, money, murder, and scandal were just what Sheryle needed to make sense of an upside-down childhood. Her dubious introduction to adulthood comprised the threads so necessary to sew a patchwork of strength in the midst of one of the most scandalous white-collar crime sprees in America.