22 Royal York Employees Fired Over Alleged Theft, Drug Use

The Fairmont Royal York isn’t just Toronto’s classiest hotel. It’s a temporary abode for visiting kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers – not to mention diplomats, movie stars and music legends from around the world.

When the RCMP needs to lodge a “protected person” in the city for a night, the Royal York is often the place they choose. Winston Churchill, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ted Kennedy and Henry Kissinger – all have walked its halls, dined in its ballrooms or slept in its guest chambers.

With so many high profile patrons – and the hotel about to house some of them for the G20 Summit in June – security at the hotel is every bit as important as the housekeeping.

But a recent case of internal housekeeping had more to do with the hotel’s security than its laundry. Earlier this month the Royal York hired a private investigator to monitor the movements of some of its staff and then fired 22 employees.

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Pensacola private investigator to run against Rep. Miller in primary

A Pensacola private investigator has paid the qualifying fee to run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller in his own primary.

John Krause, 53, paid $10,440 on April 12 to run against Miller, who lives in Chumuckla.

The primary election is Aug. 24.

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Social-Media Mining Opens Door to Privacy Issues

Cynthia Hetherington is a dangerous librarian.

With just a few keystrokes, Hetherington tracked down a government employee who has access to sensitive intelligence information and then — using social networking sites he frequented, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter — found his telephone number, home address and pictures of his newborn twins.

Then she mused on the hypothetical of how she might kidnap his children and exchange them for access to the critical database.

The presentation on Friday was the capstone of a three-day meeting of the International Association for Asset Recovery on Miami Beach.

While much of the conference focused on the nuts and bolts of working with financial companies and national and foreign courts to track down hidden and illicit assets, it also veered into the burgeoning field of social-network mining.

Hetherington, who was trained as a librarian and is now using those skills as a private investigator, asked a reporter not to name the man whom she raked over the digital coals during her presentation before some 300 people.

But we can say he works at a government agency that starts with a C, ends with an A and may have an I in the middle.

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Private investigator looking into possible Cesar Chavez football violations

A private investigator is helping the Arizona Interscholastic Association determine if Laveen Cesar Chavez's football program recruited players, the AIA confirmed on Monday.

The AIA relies on schools to self-report violations, but this is the first time the association has hired an investigator to look into one of its 274 schools. The AIA is trying to verify if Cesar Chavez coach Jim Rattay and the parent of a former Cesar Chavez player recruited players to go to that school.

Chuck Schmidt, the AIA Chief Operations Officer, declined to say who or what the investigator was looking into.

"That's not our decision," said Schmidt when asked if the AIA wants Rattay to step down. "The (AIA executive) board is trying to gather the facts as best as it can. Staffing decisions are strictly up to the schools and district. The board's concern is to uphold the AIA bylaws."

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Stevens Point private detective suspended by state

William Stack, a Stevens Point-based private detective, was reprimanded today by the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing for having concealed weapons while on duty.

DRL Secretary Celia Jackson suspended Stack's private detective and private detective agency licenses for six months. His firearm permits were also revoked, and he will not be able to reapply for three years, according to a release from the DRL.

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Whodunnit? Haleigh Cummings' Homicide Suspects Winnowing Away

With the Haleigh Cummings search turned homicide investigation, public attention is turned to the question "Whodunnit?" Simon Barrett of Blogtalkradio, who has been following the case since Haleigh first disappeared a year ago February, reported Sunday that Steve Brown, a private investigator hired by Haleigh Cummings' mother Crystal Sheffield, says he knows the answer to the "Whodunnit?" question. According to Barrett, Brown indicated that the suspect would surprise those familiar with the case.

In a April 13 report, Barrett talked of a male tipster whose information led to the Shell Harbour Boat Ramp search on the St. John's river, saying his identity "leads to a very intriguing possible chain of events that does tie directly to one of the folks currently experiencing the hospitality of the Florida jail system."

What exactly the tipster statement means is uncertain. Almost any chain of events would tie to Misty Croslin Cummings, jailed on drug charges, simply because she was the babysitter responsible for watching Haleigh Cummings on the night the 5 year old vanished. And tying the case to one of the parties in jail does not necessarily mean that the jailed person is the killer.

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PInow.com Interviews Private Investigators at WIC 2010

PInowTV — April 14, 2010 — Around 600 investigators gathered
in Dallas, Texas, for the second World Investigators Conference (WIC).The team from PInow.com was on hand to interview the attendees and find out what they were up to during the conference.

Pre-Employment Screening Overview for Private Investigators

PInowTV — April 15, 2010 — PInow.com - Barry Nixon is interviewed
to learn more about pre-employment screening and what private
investigators should consider when adding the service to their business.

Da Vinci Accused Private Eye 'Was Conned'

A private detective accused of plotting to hold a stolen Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece to ransom was conned, a jury heard on Thursday.

Robert Graham, 57, was told a contract had been signed which protected him from prosecution if he helped return the art treasure to its rightful home in Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfreisshire.

But a Lancashire-based lawyer he turned to for help lied to him, claimed solicitor advocate John Keenan, defending in his closing speech at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Graham is one of five men accused of demanding a ransom of more than £4million for the safe return of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder painting.

The art treasure had been missing for more than four years after armed raiders stole it from the Duke of Buccleuch's stately home in August 2003.

Mr Keenan, asking jurors to acquit Graham, said he had been confronted by "a thorny problem" after a tip-off that he could get his hands on the painting.

He needed expert advice and went to solicitor Marshall Ronald to see how the picture could be returned to its rightful owner without breaking the law.

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Private Investigator Was Source Of Allegations Against Guergis

While the Prime Minister refuses to divulge the details of “third party” allegations against former cabinet minister Helena Guergis that prompted him to kick her out of caucus and request an RCMP investigation, a recent report suggests it was the work of a private investigator that spurred the move.

A licenced P.I. reportedly came across some information on drugs and the potential threat of blackmail, but it’s not known exactly who that material is linked to. The investigator was apparently following two men, Nazim Gilliani and former CFL player Mike Mihelic.

The Toronto Star ran an investigative report featuring Gilliani last week, suggesting he’d told his associates that Jaffer would open the doors of the Prime Minister’s Office to them. Gilliani and Mihelic are facing fraud charges on unrelated matters.

Jaffer’s company, Green Power Generation, counsels companies offering sustainable technologies on what they must do to meet government regulations, according to Patrick Glemaud, Jaffer’s business partner.

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Nearly 2 Decades Later, Man Wants Case for Freedom Heard

Did a scared teenage boy confess to a double murder he did not commit 17 years ago?

Daniel Villegas has been locked away in a Texas prison since being convicted of capital murder in the shooting of teenagers Armando "Mando" Lazo and Bobby England.

Police and prosecutors said Villegas, 16 at the time of the killings, was a member of a street gang that shot at four teens, fatally striking two on April 10, 1993.

Villegas, now 33, maintains that he is innocent, the victim of a detective who elicited a false confession during an unrelenting interrogation.

El Paso building contractor John Mimbela Sr. and other supporters of Villegas are seeking a new hearing following a two-year inquiry by a private investigator and a lawyer hired by Mimbela. Villegas' supporters point out that the confession he gave detectives differed from what witnesses said.

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Family Plans Search For Missing St. George Man

The family of a missing St. George man plans a search in southern Nevada tomorrow in response to an anonymous tip received by a private investigator connected to the case, and local volunteers are joining the effort.

Steven Koecher, 30, disappeared Dec. 13 after a trip to Henderson, Nev.'s Sun City Anthem neighborhood. Video surveillance from a home in the neighborhood showed Koecher parking his car and walking up the street, the last time he was sighted.

Koecher's abandoned car was found by police in the neighborhood four days later, and the Koecher family has issued a $10,000 reward for information leading to a resolution of the case, as well as launching a milk carton publicity campaign.

"There were a number of calls to police based on our reward poster," Koecher's father, Rolf, said this morning.

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Disabled Man Sues Claiming The Hartford Unfairly Cut Off Benefits

Insurance companies say conducting video surveillance on claimants is often necessary to prevent insurance fraud, but some disabled people say their insurance company has gone too far. They are claiming the Hartford wrongfully terminated their disability benefits on the basis of innocuous surveillance video- which their doctors say isn't convincing evidence they can return to work.


We heard from these claimants after "Good Morning America" aired a story about Jack "Rocky" Whitten, who says hisdisability insurance benefits were unfairly cut off after a private investigator hired by The Hartford filmed him getting into a van, reading a magazine and dipping a taco chip into salsa.


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Da Vinci Painting 'Handed Over in Pub Car Park'

A stolen Leonardo Da Vinci painting was handed over to a private investigator in a pub car park, a court has heard.

The Madonna of the Yarnwinder began its journey back to Scotland in 2007, four years after it was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire.

Robert Graham, 57, of Lancashire, told Edinburgh High Court that he met an underworld figure in a Liverpool car park and paid £350,000 for the canvas.

Mr Graham is one of five men who deny trying to extort £4.25m for the canvas.

The private eye was giving evidence as the trial moved into its sixth week.

He insisted that everything he did was "legal and lawful" and denied that anyone had ever threatened the safety of the painting.

He described how his partner in Crown Private Investigations, John Doyle, had been the first to hear about the possibility of being involved in the return of the artwork.

The pair went to solicitor Marshall Ronald for advice and learned there was supposed to be a reward or finder's fee of £1m.

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Sarasota Detective Arrested in 'Doctor Shopping' Case

A veteran Sarasota County Sheriff's detective surrendered to authorities this morning on charges that he lied to doctors and obtained nearly 400 painkillers illegally earlier this year.

Sgt. Chris Hallisey, a longtime homicide investigator and one of the lead detectives in the Carlie Brucia murder case, was booked about 11:30 a.m. on three felony counts of withholding information from a practitioner. He was released on a $360 bond.

His supervisors started an investigation March 17, speaking with four local doctors who reportedly provided him with oxycodone.

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Police Face Secret Surveillance Challenge

DEVON and Cornwall police could face court action over its network of secret surveillance cameras which read and store millions of vehicle number plates every year.

The Western Morning News revealed last summer that 63.99 million images were taken in 2008 by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in the region – the equivalent of two every second and almost a 10-fold increase on the 6.7 million records created in 2007.

Records – even for innocent motorists – are kept on a police database for a minimum of two years. Westcountry MPs complained the network had been expanded "by stealth".

Now it has emerged civil rights group Liberty is planning to launch the first legal challenge to forces' uses of the surveillance system.

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Olivia Newton-John's Former Boyfriend 'Found'

Patrick McDermott, 48, disappeared five years ago during a night fishing trip in California, having broken up with the Australian singer and actress after a nine-year relationship.

He was initially believed to have fallen overboard but his body was never recovered.

In January last year, investigators said he was alive and well, and living off the coast of Mexico.

The detectives claimed they trapped him after he regularly logged on to a website they set up to track his whereabouts.

While indicating that Mr McDermott is still in the Mexico area, the detectives claimed to have suspended their search after making a deal with their quarry.

Philip Klein, a Texas-based private investigator leading the hunt, said they had "concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr McDermott is alive".

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Two Face Charges in Illegal DVD Scheme

KRONENWETTER -- Two women accused of selling illegal DVD copies of movies and television shows from their Kronenwetter home face charges rarely filed in Marathon County.


Kim Maciaz, 38, and Megan Chenier, 22, were arrested Sunday after police searched their home at 1800 Seville Road and found thousands of DVDs, computers and other equipment that could be used for copying movies, according to a criminal complaint. Police obtained a warrant to search the home at the request of a private investigator who was working for the Motion Picture Association of America, based in California.


The two women were charged with failure to disclose the manufacturer of recordings -- a charge that Marathon County District Attorney Ken Heimerman said he can't recall seeing in more than 20 years working as a prosecutor here. If convicted of the felony charge, the women face six-year prison sentences and $10,000 fines.


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