Johnathan Walton

Not to be confused with Jonathan Walton.
Johnathan Walton
OccupationsJournalist and podcaster
Websitehttps://johnathanwalton.com/

Johnathan Walton is a public speaker[1] and author of the book 'Anatomy of a Con Artist: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Scammers, Grifters and Thieves.'[2] He also writes, produces and hosts the podcasts: Queen of the Con, Cocaine Air, The Quarterback and The Con Artist and The Handyman of West Texas.[3]

In his free time Walton is a vigilante who hunts con artists.[4] The first con artist Walton put in jail was Marianne Smyth aka Mair Smyth aka Marianne Clark,[5] who scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars from 43 victims, including Walton himself,[6] in the United States and Europe, using an elaborate series of confidence tricks.[7][8] She was convicted of stealing money from him and spent about two years in jail.[9] After Smyth's Los Angeles conviction in 2019, Walton worked with authorities in the UK to get Smyth extradited and convicted in Northern Ireland in Sept 2025. [10]

Walton also works as a television producer on reality television shows like American Ninja Warrior for NBC, Shark Tank for ABC and Savage Builds for the Discovery Channel.[11] His career in unscripted television was preceded by a 10-year stint as an Emmy Award-winning TV news reporter and producer at local stations KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas, KABB-TV in San Antonio, Texas and WSVN-TV in Miami, Florida.[12][13]

Awards

  • Has won four Regional Emmys for his primetime television specials for CBS Houston (KHOU-TV).
    • 2006 Emmy for Walton's World Gone Wild aired Dec. 2005. KHOU-TV Houston Johnathan Walton, Reporter[14]
    • 2005 Emmy for The Best of Walton's World Strikes Back aired Dec. 2004.
    • 2004 Emmy for The Best of Walton's World Gone Wild[15]
    • 2003 Emmy for Christmas in Walton's World show.[16][17]
  • 2004 Texas Associated Press Broadcasters First Place Light Feature.[18]
  • Numerous Houston Press Club Lone Star Awards
  • 2003 Houston Chronicle Award for "Baffoon". Described as "A pudgy, puckish clown for the 21st century,"[19]
  • 2006 Houston Chronicle Award for Funny Person on Local TV. Described as "tickles us best"[20]

References

  1. ^ Walton, Johnathan. "Johnathan Walton". Johnathan Walton. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  2. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (2025-08-22). "Producer Turned Podcaster Johnathan Walton Pens 'Anatomy of a Con Artist' Guide to Spotting Scams". Variety. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  3. ^ "Johnathan Walton Media". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  4. ^ Waugh, Danielle (2021-07-09). "'Con Artist Vigilante' helping Boynton Beach woman pursue justice". WPEC. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  5. ^ "Suspected con artist heads to DTLA court over grand theft charges". ABC7 Los Angeles. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  6. ^ Walton, Johnathan. "Official website". Johnathan Walton. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  7. ^ Cunningham, Waylon (2019-01-11). "Maryville-raised con artist convicted in Los Angeles". The Daily Times. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  8. ^ Kilkenney, Katie (13 February 2020). "The Hollywood Producer, the "Heiress" and a Very Personal Quest for Justice". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  9. ^ Whittle, Patrick (2024-05-09). "Scammer who claimed to be an Irish heiress should be extradited to UK, judge rules". AP News. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  10. ^ Vargas, Ramon Antonio (2025-10-18). "US podcaster who helped convict 'Queen of the Con' disappointed at short sentence". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
  11. ^ "Johnathan Walton | Producer, Writer, Director". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  12. ^ "The best gig on TV - Houston Chronicle". Archived from the original on 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  13. ^ "Houston stations snag several Lone Star Emmy Awards". Houston Chronicle. 23 October 2006.
  14. ^ "Lone Star Chapter of NATAS - Emmy Awards". Archived from the original on 2007-01-10. Retrieved 2006-10-25.2006 Lone Star Emmy
  15. ^ [1] Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine2005 Lone Star Emmy
  16. ^ "Archives". The Emmy Awards. Archived from the original on 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2007-06-18.2004 Lone Star Emmy
  17. ^ [2]Belo Press Release
  18. ^ "Belo Corp. | Press Releases". Archived from the original on 2006-09-05. Retrieved 2006-09-12.Walton wins First Place Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Award for Light Feature
  19. ^ [3] 2003 Houston Chronicle calls Walton "Funny and smart"
  20. ^ [4]2006 Houston Chronicle says that Walton "tickles us best"
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.