The Case of Ben Bowlin with Sonny Bharadia

📻 Episode #526
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 May 22, 2025

⬥ STILL IMPRISONED

About This Episode

Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.

The Case

On November 18, 2001, a woman returned home from church to a man burglarizing her apartment in Thunderbolt, GA. While wearing a pair of batting gloves, the man proceeded to sexually assault her and steal various items. In the days following, police found those items in the residence of a man named Sterling Flint. When the victim identified Flint as a possible perpetrator, Flint blamed a man named Sonny Bharadia, who had pressed charges against Flint days prior for stealing his car and threatening to kill Sonny and his family. A new photo array was presented to the victim, and she identified Sonny, however that photo array disappeared prior to trial. Nevertheless, Sonny was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts

Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.

00:05:17
“Speaker 4: five o'clock I stopped by Ray Shawn's dropped a soakka Speaker 1: So Sonny's whereabouts were accounted for in the Metro Atlanta area, Speaker 1: over two hundred and fifty miles away from the scene Speaker 1: of the crime, which was in a Savannah suburb called Thunderbolt, Georgia. Now,”

00:20:14
“Speaker 3: Sunny's cell phone records would have placed him in Atlanta. Speaker 3: The Wendy's security cam at eleven am would have left Speaker 3: Sonny with insufficient time to make the four hour one Speaker 3: way trip to Thunderbolt in order to commit the crime Speaker 3: before two forty pm. And it would have been helpful”

00:34:06
“Speaker 5: That morning, I was like, look, the paperwork's not done. Speaker 5: I don't know when you're getting out. We didn't think Speaker 5: he was getting out. Speaker 2: That day I was in a county jail. Speaker 4: But remember I go up to intake and she told”

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← #525 Willie "Pete" Williams #527 The Wrongful Conviction of Leonard Peltier - Part 1 →

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