Dyan Neary

I got phone calls from people there, too.

One person said, essentially, if you think that last story you wrote was bad, you won't believe what's happening in the Lehigh Valley.

So I started looking into it, which is how I ended up at this public meeting, hearing about a baby who choked on milk and was taken away from his parents for most of his infancy.

And now, after two years of talking to families and medical personnel and caseworkers, I can tell you, that caller was right.

Whatever was happening in the Lehigh Valley, it was not normal.

I'm Diane Neary, and from Serial Productions and The New York Times, this is The Preventionist.

I want to explain how this extraordinary situation in the Lehigh Valley came to light in the first place.

Because it almost didn't.

except that this one guy would not let it go.

His name is Mark Pinsley, and he's not an activist or a medical expert or an aggrieved parent.

He's a controller, a money guy.

I barely knew what a controller was until I met Mark.

Mark barely knew what that was before he became one.

He'd run for state senate on the Democratic ticket in Pennsylvania and lost.

Mark learned a controller is in charge of auditing the county's finances, making sure there's no fraud, no waste of taxpayer money.

Mark had studied finance, and he'd managed budgets for both big and small companies.

He still owns a small skincare business.

It seemed like a good fit.

Mark's an ambitious guy.

He wanted to use his skills to do more than just audit the county's payroll.