Katie Price Hires Private Detective To Track Down Lost Mobile Phone…

As her book signing tour continued, Katie Price arrived at Waterstones in Northampton yesterday where she showcased a variety of odd facial expressions obviously to demonstrate the fact that she’s definitely not having Botox anymore – and boy do we believe her.

Meanwhile Jords is said to be mad, MAD with fear over Andrew Gould’s lost mobile phone. Apparently her horse-trainer’s phone contains a variety of intimate message sent from Gould to his wife, and the glamour model is for some reason worried that it’ll fall into the wrong hands therefore she’s allegedly hired a private investigator to track it down. A source close to Jords tells the Mirror today:

“As soon as Katie found the phone had been lost she went ballistic. People were wondering why she was so worried. There were some risqué text messages on the phone.

“Kate said she was worried that, no matter how harmless or innocent they may have been, the phone would fall into the wrong hands.”

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Testimony: Private Firm Hired for Booker Investigation

ROCKFORD — Winnebago County Sheriff Deputy Chief Kurt Ditzler told a disciplinary panel today that the department hired a private investigator to look into allegations against Sgt. Aaron Booker because department staff couldn’t give the probe the time it deserved.

Ditzler, who holds the department’s No. 2 position, testified this morning in a Sheriff Department’s Merit Commission disciplinary hearing regarding Booker. The hearing has recessed until this afternoon.


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Newspapers Used me as Fall Guy, Says Convicted Private Eye

A private investigator paid by journalists to illegally obtain information about celebrities and public figures has said he was a fall guy for the powerful newspaper groups he worked for. Steve Whittamore told Radio 4's PM programme that he had played "Oliver to the press's Fagin".

He said it seemed unfair that newspaper executives and journalists who commissioned him had not been convicted of any wrongdoing. "It would appear unfair," he told the programme. "It would appear they should have stood and be counted but quite frankly I wasn't expecting any support from them.

"[Journalists] actually asked me to do it on their behalf. I suppose you could view it as my Oliver Twist to the press's Fagin. Something along those lines. Requests were asked of me by people who I viewed as really being above reproach. They were huge corporations. I assumed they knew what they were asking for."

Whittamore was found guilty of obtaining and disclosing information under the Data Protection Act in 2005 after passing information obtained from the police national database to newspapers. He was given a two-year conditional discharge.

His office in Hampshire was raided by the Office of the Information Commissioner two years earlier as part of Operation Motorman, an investigation designed to crack down on the growing trade in information obtained illegally.

Newspapers who used Whittamore included the News of the World and many other titles. A report by the information commissioner said more than 50 Daily Mail journalists bought material from Whittamore on 952 occasions. Other customers included the Daily Mirror (681 transactions), News of the World (228), Sunday Times (4) and Observer (103). The Observer is owned by the Guardian's parent company Guardian Media Group.

Whittamore was speaking for the first time since the Guardian revealed last year that the News of the World's owner News Group Newspapers, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News International, had paid three people whose voicemails were hacked more than £1m out of court.

The revelation cast light on the extent of phone hacking at the paper and led to several investigations into how much Andy Coulson, the paper's former editor, knew about it. Coulson is now David Cameron's director of communications.


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VideoGate Cop Andrew Cohen Now Private Investigator

The five-year-old VideoGate scandal is back in the news, as Officer Wendy Hurley released some of the offending videos to the public for the first time at her disciplinary hearing last week. Meanwhile, the ringmaster of the entire video scandal, Andrew Cohen, officially said sayonara to the department on July 1 and has found a new line of work: hunting down child predators.

Goodbye, department blues. Hello, fedora hat. Cohen nabbed his private investigator license and started a Berkeley-based practice, Theia Investigations, last month focusing on child predators and educating kids and parents about the potential perils of the Internet.

"It's one of my pet peeves as a cop," says Cohen, who has two teenage daughters. "That kids were so easily groomed online as easy prey and parents were so easily ignoring the signs."

Cohen never worked in the SFPD Juvenile Division, the department that handles child sex crimes, yet things would often come up while he was working as an officer at Francisco Middle School. He says so far, the bulk of his work has been on adultery cases -- one case involves a woman worried that her husband may be a pedophile - and live-scan fingerprinting.


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Mel Gibson Had P.I. Grilling Witnesses in Oksana Grigorieva Case; Actor's Ex Alleges More Abuse

Mel Gibson hired private investigators to visit key witnesses in an attempt to discredit former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva's abuse claims, reports say.

Radar Online says PIs visited at least two witnesses poised to provide evidence against Mel, who stands accused of battering Oksana on January 6.

Oksana has told police, who are investigating Gibson, that he punched her twice in the face, leaving her with two broken teeth and a concussion.

One of the witnesses visited by Mel’s private eyes was her dentist, Dr. Ross Sheldon, whose accounts of the injuries Oksana suffered have varied.

“This calculated ploy explains the conflicting stories the dentist supposedly made about injuries Oksana suffered at the hands of Mel,” said a source.

Despite his apparent conflicting stories, Dr. Sheldon says willing to go on record stating that Oksana did indeed suffer a major blow to her mouth.


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Estranged dad missing for three decades, so Queens woman becomes private investigator to find him

After three failed attempts to find her estranged father, Eliza Perez decided to get some professional training to aid her search - she became a private investigator.

It paid off.

She met her father, Louis Perez, for the first time in 29 years on May 17 and had the added satisfaction of introducing him to her newborn daughter, Valeria.

They are now living in South Richmond Hill, catching up on decades of being a family.

"Sometimes now I sit here, and I look at her, and I'm shocked. It took a little while to sink in," Louis, 57, said of being reunited with his daughter.

The family saga may have found its happy ending in Queens, but it started in North Carolina and took a long detour in Puerto Rico.

When Louis was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1975, he moved to Manhattan. He was struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder from his three years working in an armory in North Carolina during the Vietnam War.

It was during one of his flashbacks that he stabbed his wife, Rosa, he said.

"I just woke up in the middle of a bad nightmare," he recalled. "I didn't really wake up until I heard her screaming and saw the kitchen knife and all the blood."

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Former Police Officer Facing Fraud, Intimidation Charges

SANTA ANA – A former police officer and unlicensed private investigator was charged Friday with defrauding clients, threatening another investigator and attempting to commit sexual assault by posting Craigslist ads seeking women to engage in bestiality with his dog.

The Orange County District Attorney's office charged Kevin Michael Sianez, 53, with a 63-count criminal complaint tied to what prosecutors describe as an illegal private investigation service and his online activities seeking women willing to engage in sexual acts with his Labrador retriever.

Prosecutors say Sianez, who worked for the Santa Ana and former Stanton police departments from 1979 to 1986, owned and operated his private investigation service from November 2005 to June 2010. He reportedly ran the business under several names, including KMS Investigations, Fore-Front Investigations and 4Front Investigations.

Prosecutors say Sianez falsely identified himself to clients as a licensed private investigator, posted false online reviews to increase his web presence and mislead people into thinking he operated a nationwide network of offices and investigators rather than a small suite office in Fountain Valley with less than five employees, primarily family members.

Sianez allegedly did little or no work on his cases, and defrauded properly licensed investigation firms by subcontracting work to them without paying.

Deputy District Attorney Israel Claustro said that on some cases Sianez would simply reiterate details his clients had given him or provide no proof that he had conducted surveillance activities.

"Other times, he didn't do any work and dictated reports off the top of his head to employees," Claustro said.

When two of his former employees alerted authorities, prosecutors say Sianez intimidated them by threatening to use his police contacts to file reports against them. Once another private investigator began posting Internet comments warning people about Sianez, prosecutors say he called the woman's business and threatened to burn down her house.

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Private investigator: Joran Van der Sloot is a 'homicidal maniac' Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/06/10/2010-06-10_private_investigator_joran_van_der_sloot_is_a_homicidal_maniac.html#ixzz0qYmDbKhX

He has looked into the eyes of alleged murderer Joran Van der Sloot, and what he saw gave him chills.
"This is a homicidal maniac," said private investigator Bo Dietl on CBS' "The Early Show" on Thursday. "I've met him. I looked in his eyes... We should be checking Interpol and the FBI should be checking where he's gone all over this world. You've got a serial killer here."

Brought in by the Holloway family, Dietl worked with the FBI during its sting to snare Van der Sloot for extortion, as well as attempt to gain evidence to prove he killed their 18-year-old daughter Natalee in 2005.

The private detective previously claimed the 22-year-old admitted to him he killed the Alabama high school student.

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Private Eye Guilty of Land Scam

Albert Topasna was charged with theft by deception as a second-degree felony after investigators discovered Topasna received $12,500 for piece of land the defendant sold by executing a "warranty deed."

That buyer later found out from the Department of Land Management that he couldn't register the title to the property in his name because it didn't belong to Topasna, the press release stated.

Closing arguments in Topasna's trial were held Thursday. A jury returned a verdict that same afternoon.

Assistant Attorney General David Rivera, who prosecuted the case, thanked investigator Juan Salas and other staff members at the AG's office for the successful prosecution.

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Kidnapped Boy May Owe His Life to Private Investigator After Rescue

Samuel Amoes, the five-year-old son of an Angolan mining magnate who was kidnapped in Troyville on Sunday, has been ransomed and returned to his family.

According to reports Declan Condon, a private investigator, attended at a a supermarket in Troyeville which was the place designated by the kidnappers to exchange Samuel for a substantial ransom.

While he was there one kidnapper met him to take the ransom - after Condon had first been given proof of life - and thereafter another delivered the child to him.

Both of Samuel's parents were out of the country at the time of the kidnapping but his mother flew home immediately after hearing about the incident which took place at a church play school in Johannesburg.

Condon confirmed that he had allowed the kidnappers to escape but had put the child's safety first.

Police have confirmed they are investigating.

Samuel is very fortunate to have survived his ordeal as far too often the victims of kidnappings do not make it back. The cool head shown by the private investigator might well have played a big part in that.

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SB Billing Feud With Private Investigator Intensifies

A private investigator's report on possible police corruption has been deemed "suspect" by the City Attorney's Office and a lawsuit likely looms as the investigator tries to recover roughly $40,000 the city has refused to pay him.

No written contract exists and officials declined to say whether billing guidelines were given to Dr. William Schneid when he was hired in June by Police Chief Keith Kilmer.

The city has paid about $22,000 of a $60,662 bill Schneid submitted months ago after completing a report that included reviewing internal probes on whether a sergeant was illegally detaining suspects.

"We had problems with the quality of his work and we didn't believe it warranted an additional $40,000," said Senior Assistant City Attorney Diane Roth. "We thought his report was suspect based on a number of factors."

Schneid declined to comment, referring all questions to attorney Robert Weinberg, whom he recently retained.

Weinberg also declined to comment and said he will file a claim against the city "as soon as the appropriate time comes."

A claim usually precedes a lawsuit.

Among other things, Roth said city officials are concerned about Schneid's associations with the paranormal.

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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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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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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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