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Life has its' ups and downs

Former TV weatherman drugged and scammed at Miami hotelBy Nancy Trejos, USA TODAY

A former Philadelphia TV weatherman has opened up about how he lived out the Hangover movie when two Eastern European beauties he met at a luxury South Beach hotel allegedly drugged him and charged more than $40,000 on his credit card.
In an interview with ABC's 20/20 last week, John Bolaris described meeting the two women at the hotel bar in March 2010 during a vacation to Florida.
The two women approached him and asked him if he wanted a shot. He declined, but they insisted, he told ABC. They had a few drinks then all piled into a taxi to go to another bar. But on the way, the women asked if they could make a detour to see a painting that a friend was selling for charity. Bolaris said he agreed to. His memory became hazy after that.
"I remember standing up ... signing something, vaguely," he told ABC. "Next thing I know, I'm in a cab with a big painting [of a woman's head]."
He did not regain full consciousness until the next morning in his hotel suite, with the painting nearby. Soon after, he got a call from the women offering to return his sunglasses.
"How bad can they be?" he recalled thinking at the time. Plus, he wanted to return the painting.
He met the women at the hotel that evening and once again got into a cab with them. On the way, they once again insisted on a detour, this time to an unmarked storefront. "And next thing I know, I'm passed out," Bolaris said.
Again he woke up the next day feeling sick. Even more so when he got a call from his credit card company asking about $43,712.25 worth of charges, including one of $2,480 for the painting.
Turns out he was allegedly the victim of an elaborate ring. ABC News studied hours of FBI surveillance videos and photos showing how the group of bar girls, known as "b-girls," targeted wealthy male tourists in South Beach and stole thousands of dollars from each one.
The FBI said Bolaris was one of 88 men targeted by the women from Eastern Europe at such Miami hotspots as Hotel Delano, Clevelander and Fontainebleau.
The FBI spent 13 months and more than $1 million investigating the case. The ring allegedly involved a complicated scheme taking advantage of Florida's "innkeeper law," which forces customers disputing a charge to challenge the bill with their credit card company rather than the bar owner.
In this case, the girls allegedly took their victims to an illegitimate club, where they were charged exorbitant amounts of money for liquor they didn't order and forced to pay by dirty cops.
After an undercover investigation, the FBI raided the club and arrested 16 suspects, including Stan Pavlenko, who has pleaded not guilty.
Bolaris lost his job, but won his court battle with American Express to have the $43,000 reimbursed. He plans to testify when the case against the ring goes to federal court in October