The Big Sophomore

The Big Sophomore

Originally Aired: July 19, 1951 Dragnet #110, "The Big Sophomore," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero assigned to Juvenile Bureau, investigating a puzzling series of petty thefts plaguing neighborhood merchants near a local high school. Grocery store owner Henry Loomis reports that for nearly two weeks, merchandise has been disappearing during the lunch hour rush when high school students crowd his store. The thefts follow a strange pattern: always small amounts, never more than a few dollars worth of canned goods, bread, and butter, and curiously, the cash register is never touched. Loomis suspects a red-haired boy named Harry who hangs around with the other students, though he admits he has no proof. As Friday and Romero expand their investigation, they discover the problem extends throughout a twelve-square block area. Two dozen similar cases have been reported involving two grocery stores, a drug store, newsstands, and a variety store. Newspaper distributor George Brophy, whose coin boxes have been broken into for small change, believes underprivileged neighborhood kids are responsible. The detectives face the challenge of determining who's behind this peculiar crime spree and, more importantly, understanding why anyone would risk getting caught for such meager gains.

The Big Set-Up

Originally Aired: July 12, 1951 Dragnet #109, "The Big Set-Up," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero face mounting pressure as a sophisticated burglary ring continues to terrorize wealthy Los Angeles homeowners. In just three months, the gang has stolen over $100,000 in furs and jewelry from fashionable residences, and despite working every angle—stakeouts, informants, and stolen property alerts—the detectives have virtually nothing to show for their efforts. The latest hit netted the thieves nearly $12,000, and Captain Wisdom makes it clear that city hall, the victims, and their insurance companies are demanding results. The three masked thieves leave behind the same modus operandi at every scene but remain frustratingly unidentifiable. Over coffee at city hall, Friday and Romero present their boss with a breakthrough theory. After carefully comparing victim statements, they've discovered a pattern: every victim appeared at upscale public venues wearing expensive furs and jewelry just days before being burglarized. The detectives believe a finger man is staking out these restaurants and nightclubs, identifying wealthy marks and tipping off the gang about when to strike. With a list of six establishments in hand, Friday and Romero prepare to set their trap for the elusive criminals.

The Big Love

Originally Aired: July 5, 1951 Dragnet #108, "The Big Love," begins when Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the mysterious disappearance of Barbara Gorman and her two-year-old daughter Nancy. The woman and child vanished from their Westlake district home five days earlier without explanation, leaving behind only a few missing clothes and no note. When her husband Philip Gorman filed the missing report, he claimed to know no reason for their departure and denied any marital problems. The case goes cold until a neighborhood watchdog named John Pearson calls in with troubling information: Mrs. Gorman had been carrying on a six-month affair with a man named Ralph Kane who lives in Pearson's neighborhood. The investigation takes a darker turn when Friday and Romero discover that Kane disappeared the night after Mrs. Gorman vanished, seen loading suitcases into his car late Friday evening. Kane hasn't been seen since and failed to show up for his job as a printer with no explanation. As the detectives dig deeper, they begin to suspect that Philip Gorman may have known more about his wife's affair than he initially let on, raising questions about what really happened to the missing mother and child.

The Big Cliff

Originally Aired: June 28, 1951 Dragnet #107, "The Big Cliff," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the mysterious death of Gertrude Turner, an elderly woman found dead on the floor of her shabby hotel room. Her husband, Mr. Turner, discovered her body when he woke up one morning and reached across the bed to find her gone. He found her lying on the floor beside the bed, ice cold, with a slight bruise on her forehead. With no apparent cause of death and no doctor in attendance, Friday and Romero must wait for the coroner's autopsy results while they question the grieving widower. As Friday gently interviews the devastated Mr. Turner, a portrait emerges of a seemingly happy couple who had only been married less than a year. The elderly newlyweds had moved to Los Angeles from Indiana just months earlier and were looking forward to celebrating Gertrude's upcoming name day. Turner insists his wife had no enemies, no health problems beyond occasional headaches, and no reason to take her own life. The investigation hinges on discovering what really happened in that hotel room during the night.

The Big Run

Originally Aired: June 21, 1951 Dragnet #106, "The Big Run," Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called away from a quiet Saturday evening to investigate a brutal hit-and-run accident at Los Feliz Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue. Two elderly women have been struck down in a well-lit crosswalk by a driver traveling at high speed. The victims are thrown dozens of feet from the point of impact and rushed to Georgia Street Hospital in critical condition. When Friday and Romero arrive at the scene, uniformed officers have already begun collecting evidence—fragments of headlight glass and chrome—but there are no skid marks, indicating the driver never even attempted to stop. The detectives interview witness Richard Mortigan, who operates a nearby nursery and saw the entire incident unfold. Mortigan describes a dark-colored Ford sedan, possibly driven by a young blonde man around eighteen or nineteen years old, racing through the intersection without slowing down. With only these meager clues and the physical evidence from the scene, Friday and Romero must track down the callous driver who left two women fighting for their lives on a Los Angeles street.