Susan_madson
Laura Goldman.

If you have no clue what I’m talking about, here are the details: Yesterday, there was a post on nakedphiladelphian.blogspot.com that spread around Twitter and found its way to Deadspin. The hook in the story is that at a charity event last week for Manna, an organization that provides aid to people with life-threatening illnesses, Ryan Madson’s wife, Sarah, apparently declared Philly fans the worst people on earth:

Just back from spring training, she complaining that “her house (a mansion on the mainline) looked like a bomb had hit it.” Maybe that is why she decided to unload on the fans. 

Sarah Madson declared, “I hate the fans. It is bad enough that they bother us during the season, but they will not leave us alone in December when we go out to eat. We stayed here during the off season last year, but we will be going to California this year. There must be something particularly bad about Phillies fans because all the players leave in the off season.”

 

Bitch.

Or is she?

Seems like harsh words from the person who appeared on Action News in December to talk about her new "green home" in Delaware County, and who celebrated the Christmas window decoration at Macy’s this year. 

The post about Madson was written by Laura Goldman, a freelance reporter for the Metro and other local papers. Sounds legit, no? 

Goldman is also on probation. She was extradited from Israel in 2009, after nine years on the run.

I’ll spare you the gory details, but back in 1995, Goldman, who was working in Philadelphia as a stockbroker, accused Boston billionaire Thomas Lee of sexual harassment. She then stalked him for five years and threatened his son.

Eleven months later, when he missed a dinner date with her, she turned into a "Fatal Attraction" type who went from hang-up calls to demands for money, to death threats, and even a false charge of rape.

But the 15-year nightmare is finally over. Goldman, who fled to Israel in 2000 to avoid prosecution, was extradited to the US eight months ago to face an 18-count indictment, the Boston Globe reports.

 

Goldman pled guilty to two counts of extortion and was sentenced to five years probation. She is not allowed in certain parts of New York, Florida, and Massachusetts. These are all facts.

During her time in Israel, she took on jobs as a freelance writer, and apparently hid her past.

Friday, October 22, 2004 — A successful business woman with a huge circle of friends and a vast array of interests, Laura Goldman, came here from Philadelphia three years ago. And she loves this country to distraction.

 

Huge circle of friends. The FBI, perhaps?

Since returning to the states, she has worked as a freelancer with the Metro, The Jewish Exponent, and other papers, writing mostly pro-Jewish and feminist articles. All of this is in addition to her fairly new blog, which seems to have garnered some attention with recent quotes about Jeffrey Lurie being snubbed at the Oscars- a story that was picked up by CSN Philly and Philly.com.

She also has quite a bit of inside sources, including some in the Huckabee campaign, Senator Toomey, and an Eagles front-office person. You can hear from all of them on her blog. But that’s a lot of high-powered connections for someone on probation for being a liar. A quick Google search on Goldman turns up some interesting results. Like this one. And her story on Madson's wife is now being linked to by a number of blogs, including Deadspin, which is the largest sports blog on the interwebs. That's good for business, notoriety, relevance.

Look, I have no idea if Ryan Madson’s wife said those things about Philly fans. I wasn’t there. But before we figuratively (and literally?) throw stones at her, let’s consider the source. You can make up your own mind from there.

Knowledge is power.