Sad News: Frank Meza Found Dead In LA River

Sprintgeezer wrote:

I posted because speculation and opinion concerning both his mental fitness and the motivation for his apparent suicide, seem to be mistaken for fact in this thread. I am interested in a reasonable discussion of the facts of his passing (of which there appear to be precious few), not in the facts of his alleged cheating.

Well, if you took the time to read and understand before posting:

His cheating is proven 'fact', not 'alleged'.

His cheating was used by himself to enhance his reputation (proven).

Instead of admitting and allowing it to blow over, he was more interested in maintaining his reputation to his close circle and chose to commit suicide

Why else do you think he committed suicide? Even his family and friends are claiming that his embarrassment caused it, just as he intended it to play out.

Scott Dominguez' Dog, Ralph wrote:

Chunk Norris wrote:

I think that the Frank on Bike photo sealed the deal for Frank. He knew he could no longer deny it and couldn't live with the shame he was facing.

Ah-ha!! Everybody, let's go after the guy who found the bike photo! He's responsible for all of this!

I mean, that's the MO here, right? Sheesh.

Not at all my mo. Im saying until the bike photo he could always use the looking for a bathroom excuse. Unlikely but not impossible. The bike photo is impossible to explain.

I am Sam wrote:

Sprintgeezer wrote:

I posted because speculation and opinion concerning both his mental fitness and the motivation for his apparent suicide, seem to be mistaken for fact in this thread. I am interested in a reasonable discussion of the facts of his passing (of which there appear to be precious few), not in the facts of his alleged cheating.

Well, if you took the time to read and understand before posting:

His cheating is proven 'fact', not 'alleged'.

His cheating was used by himself to enhance his reputation (proven).

Instead of admitting and allowing it to blow over, he was more interested in maintaining his reputation to his close circle and chose to commit suicide

Why else do you think he committed suicide? Even his family and friends are claiming that his embarrassment caused it, just as he intended it to play out.

Oh, I understand. His alleged cheating, whether proved or not to anybody’s satisfaction, does not interest me.

I don’t know why he apparently committed suicide, and neither do you. His family might know facts of which you are unaware, and it will be up to them if they wish to make such facts, if any exist, public.

I am not posting under any other names. My only wish is for a better thread, with posters who understand what it is that they are saying.

I was torn on this for a while. Pretty mad at first that people to drive him to this point, but then eventually realized that it was ultimately his decision. And as mentioned before, had he come clean early on, we probably wouldn't even be talking about it.

What would be fascinating is an interview with him, had he come clean. Meza and Kip Litton especially have always left me perplexed as to how, or why they cheated. It would be pretty amazing to have an honest interview to learn why, the logistics etc.

If a guy who won the Tour de France seven times, lied to the world for two decades, could get caught, come clean and make somewhat of a comeback, I'm sure Meza could have moved on from this as well. Regardless, I'm sure this is a terrible experience for his family.

Been a lifelong runner and always thought other runners were cool. Really doubt that now. This man killed himself because of the online bullying her received for allegedly cheating.

Let’s examine the two scenarios

1) he cheated and then killed himself because of the bullying — fine, he likely had some type of mental disorder and should’ve received compassion and treatment.

2) he didn’t chat after all — and none of this was deserved

So pick your option. I’m really a little sick to my stomach at half the people in here.

Toobs wrote:

Okay, Mr. Freeely, if this actually is true, then why did he jump off a bridge when the WR cheating was exposed? He should have scoffed it off and said " this is just a tiny, minuscule thing -- petty at best." But he didn't -- because he knew that cheaters cheat -- not just at running, but at taxes, and on their wife, and in other aspects of their life. All I have is my character and word at the end of the day. And if we are such as fragile, watered-down society, where lying is okay, and the truth doesn't matter -- well then, we are totally screwed. I hate liars. I hate cheaters. I do not lie. I do not cheat. I don't have to jump off bridges. The cyber-bullying BS is after the fact.

I'm not claiming "cyber bullying" occured. I didn't see anything that I would consider cyber bullying.

I'm also not necessarily claiming mental illness is involved, but, I am curious what would drive someone to excessively cheat at endurancing racing over a 10 year span. It's not normal behavior.

...it's also not normal to take a poison pill in open court and die an excessively and painful death like Mike Marin did...

kmaclam wrote:

And this just in from Inside Edition..........and the meta narrative, for those whose attention spans aren't long enough to follow this whole story is Frank's daughter claiming her Dad was cyberbullied by "comments that were mean and distrustful"...

https://www.insideedition.com/media/videos/family-accused-los-angeles-marathon-cheater-says-he-was-cyberbullied-54277

Wasn’t it Inside Edition that was ringing his doorbell with a camera crew waiting to pounce?!

LaneFax wrote:

Been a lifelong runner and always thought other runners were cool. Really doubt that now. This man killed himself because of the online bullying her received for allegedly cheating.

Let’s examine the two scenarios

1) he cheated and then killed himself because of the bullying — fine, he likely had some type of mental disorder and should’ve received compassion and treatment.

2) he didn’t chat after all — and none of this was deserved

So pick your option. I’m really a little sick to my stomach at half the people in here.

There is nothing alleged about it. He was disqualified from LA Marathon for cheating in 2019 plus he was disqualified from CIM in 2014 and 2016 for cheating there! Plus not only did they DQ him, they banned him!

You do not know why he killed himself, I think it is much more likely he killed himself because he did not see any way out of the web of lies he had built. No one here built that web of lies, that was all Frank Meza.

I kind of skimmed sprint geezers longer post and it also turned me off. However, most the time a misunderstanding is a big part of things. I think that may be at play.

The point he is sticking with is good. Nobody knows why Frank jumped . The possibilities and combinations of possibilities are endless. Some of them shouldn't be brought up and some of them should.

There is a third scenario:

3. He was going to prove himself at the 2020 LA Marathon, but the heart condition that he was found to have prevented him from doing so. He couldn't handle the end of his marathon running and then committed suicide.

UA Runner wrote:

I was torn on this for a while. Pretty mad at first that people to drive him to this point, but then eventually realized that it was ultimately his decision. And as mentioned before, had he come clean early on, we probably wouldn't even be talking about it.

What would be fascinating is an interview with him, had he come clean. Meza and Kip Litton especially have always left me perplexed as to how, or why they cheated. It would be pretty amazing to have an honest interview to learn why, the logistics etc.

If a guy who won the Tour de France seven times, lied to the world for two decades, could get caught, come clean and make somewhat of a comeback, I'm sure Meza could have moved on from this as well. Regardless, I'm sure this is a terrible experience for his family.

I agree that he could have easily recovered from this, and actually be respected. How many hackers get respect for their skills, or the ‘wolf of Wall Street’ guy. Heck, he would be sought out for his opinion on any future race cheating issues. Yes, there would still be the haters, but watching the Tour de France today guess what, they had Lance Armstrong doing a podcast commentating on the race. Looks like he is no longer radio active. Frank’s passing is a terrible tragedy, there were so many other better outcomes available for him to choose.

Part Time Runner wrote:

There is a third scenario:

3. He was going to prove himself at the 2020 LA Marathon, but the heart condition that he was found to have prevented him from doing so. He couldn't handle the end of his marathon running and then committed suicide.

Wrong, another idiotic scenario. He was not going to prove himself. When it is a fact that someone has cheated, there is no way to later "prove" that he didn't.

The fact that LA Marathon actually put that as an option, to run in 2020 with an observer quite likely gave Frank Meza the opportunity to later kill himself. Had the LA Marathon actually had the courage to say "Frank Meza cheated in 2019, as well as 2018, 2017, and 2015 and he is banned from running our race again", then Frank would have been exposed to everyone including his family. There would have been an immediate collapse of his lies, he would have been stripped bare, but they would have been there for him. His family would still have loved him and they could have gotten him the help he needed. Instead, with the weak DQ they issued, Frank was able to continue to deceive those closest to him long enough to take the easy way out.

Part Time Runner wrote:

There is a third scenario:

3. He was going to prove himself at the 2020 LA Marathon, but the heart condition that he was found to have prevented him from doing so. He couldn't handle the end of his marathon running and then committed suicide.

So he could of already had this heart condition during the 2019 LA Marathon?

Stop saying it was 'alleged'. LAM DQ-ed him because they found CCTV footage of him cheating. It was shown on LRC and MI that his splits are impossibly fast, given the observed (not alleged) time off the course.

He is seen cycling during one of the marathons, later walking over mats wearing same clothes.

He knew he was exposed.

As for whether that caused him to commit suicide, his family seems to think and believe so.

Idiot, that is a possible scenario. Even a moron like you can't deny that.

I didn't say that WAS the reason why Meza committed suicide, but it is possible.

Part Time Runner wrote:

Idiot, that is a possible scenario. Even a moron like you can't deny that.

I didn't say that WAS the reason why Meza committed suicide, but it is possible.

There was no way he was going to run LA Marathon 2020 with an observer. Past experience tells you he will likely skip it and find another marathon to cheat at.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

You are assuming everything, while knowing essentially nothing.

I am not rationalizing anything, I am just humbled by the enormity of his action, and recognize that I am in no position to sit in judgment.

I extend that status to pretty much everyone.

His apparent suicide is something to contemplate, and not something to judge.

I agree with this ^

The cheating was clear-cut, obvious and indisputable. The suicide is something that only FM really understood (if even he did). Anyone on these boards making judgements about the suicide is simply in no position to judge.

derek is a dbag wrote:

Derek: "be respectful and keep his loved ones in mind."

Also Derek: "I need to catch this 70 year old guy for cheating in a marathon and ruin his life."

Catch guy for cheating at marathon is what he does. Ruin Frank Meza's life is all on Frank himself.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

I am Sam wrote:

Why do you keep posting if you are not interested in the facts?

I posted because speculation and opinion concerning both his mental fitness and the motivation for his apparent suicide, seem to be mistaken for fact in this thread. I am interested in a reasonable discussion of the facts of his passing (of which there appear to be precious few), not in the facts of his alleged cheating.

Why do you keep saying "apparent suicide" when it has been confirmed he committed suicide? Why do you keep saying alleged cheating when it has been proven beyond a doubt that he cheated?