Opinion: The L.A. Times’ ‘Dirty John’ series is an important cautionary tale for women

To the editor: I imagine you will get many letters chastising you for putting the “Dirty John” series — about an Orange County family’s attempt to wrest itself from a dangerous serial manipulator who conned his way into multiple marriages — on the front page when there is so much more important news to report.

But I want to thank you for possibly saving many more women from these kinds of predators. We have all been lied to at some point in our lives, and usually it does nothing more than break our hearts. Sociopaths abound in today’s world, and so many women fall for these guys.

I hope with all my heart that this story will be a wake-up call to many women and save much anguish, heartbreak and, more important, lives.

Barbara Busch, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: When I first saw the huge “Dirty John” headline in Sunday’s print edition, I assumed it was one of those faux front-page ads for a new movie. I was shocked, dismayed and honestly disgusted when I realized that you had actually used this on the front page of what this lifelong resident of Los Angeles had pretty much always considered a responsible, serious, dignified publication.

Are you now putting our newspaper in the league with the National Enquirer? It is an attention-getting story, but it belongs inside the paper.

With all the heartbreaking, unsettling, challenging news stories that might warrant the front page, this certainly isn’t one of them.

Leslie Geffen, Encino

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To the editor: In Chapter 3 of the series, we learn that “Dirty John” Meehan picked up the nickname from his law school classmates because of his cunning, manipulative, deceptive nature.

Had he graduated from that law school, those devious qualities would have earned him the more commonly accepted appellation for this type of person: “lawyer.”

John Farley, San Juan Capistrano

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