Famed Private Investigator Hired by Bishop Eddie Long

DULUTH, GA -- He's investigated some of the highest profile missing persons cases in the country. The disappearance of Natalee Holloway made private investigator T.J. Ward a superstar on cable news. Now he's been hired by Bishop Eddie Long.

11Alive News spoke to Ward in his Duluth home.

"I was called by attorney Dwight Thomas," Ward said. "They said they needed somebody that was experienced in doing investigations to look into these allegations that have been brought against Bishop Eddie Long and the church."

Dwight Thomas stood behind Long as he held a press conference inside New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia on Sunday. Ward has been been hired by the Bishop's team to investigate each of the allegations made against Long and to investigate the four young men making the claims.

"Each of these charges is frivolous and we plan to address them accordingly," Ward said.

This is a time when the tables will be turned.

The four accusers have made shockingly intimate sexual allegations against their church leader. Now it's Ward's turn to delve deep into their lives, their pasts, to defend his client.

Whatever he finds will be used to help Eddie Long.

Meantime, Long got some support from his peers. Approximately 30 area pastors met with Long for a prayer service Tuesday night at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Private Investigators Offering HD Surveillance Footage For Clients Online

Davis Investigators, Inc. are among the first in the country to offer High Definition (HD) surveillance footage that their clients can access online at any time. Davis Investigations has always been at the forefront of technology, using the latest equipment to obtain surveillance footage for their clients.

There’s both a science and an art to video surveillance. After 21 years of video surveillance in medical malpractice, personal injury and matrimonial cases, Davis Investigations has the practical experience and the equipment to obtain the best footage.

In maintaining Davis’ commitment to professionalism in both conduct and evidence produced, delivering our videos via our personalized “Client Home Page” presents a user experience that is straightforward, fast, and easy to navigate. Additionally, our highly praised photos extracted from the video are available next to the video on the surveillance case page.

Delivering High Definition (HD) video online increases our client’s day to day efficiency, allowing them access to their videos from any computer, anytime. By viewing the video on a computer screen the client will be able to enjoy the benefits of our HD videos - crystal clear and sharp; exposing the subject’s true abilities and / or intentions like never before.

“Delivering our surveillance videos to our clients online via our secure website revolutionizes the way we present our videos to our clients,” said Adam Frasca LPI/Vice President Davis Investigations, Inc. “Viewable from any computer, clients receive their videos faster and no longer need to secure a DVD player to view them.”

This means clients aren’t dependent on technology to view their footage, but can be strategizing or conferring about the content footage immediately.

About Davis Investigations, Inc.:
Davis Investigations, Inc. is a family owned and operated private investigations firm whose three principal owners have over 40 combined years experience in the specific discipline of video surveillance. Davis Investigations, Inc. are licensed Private Investigators in the states of New York and Connecticut.

Our private detectives are experts in executing the most sophisticated surveillance techniques and the use of the latest high technology equipment including: High Definition (HD) video cameras, hidden video cameras, GPS tracking devices and other surveillance equipment.

Davis’ investigators are not just highly skilled at understanding human behavior to maximize surveillance success, but they are highly reliable and credible expert witnesses when testifying about our videos and observations; a critical point often overlooked when hiring a Private Investigator.

Our surveillance videos project a professional image - whether exchanged with plaintiff’s counsel to initiate settlement negotiations or offered in to evidence to influence juries. If the case goes to trial, our surveillance videos ultimately win defense verdicts.

Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Boynton Beach Commissioners Oust CRA Director After Investigation into Relationship with Vendor

BOYNTON BEACH -After months of back-and-forth allegations, the city commissioners, acting as the Community Redevelopment Board, voted 4-1 not to renew the contract of Lisa Bright, the CRA executive director.

Commissioner Woodrow Hay cast the dissenting vote.

The decision came just days after commissioners were hand-delivered the final report from a private investigator hired in August to look into the ties between Bright and one of the CRA's vendors. The investigation concluded Bright did not disclose the connections to the board.

Bright's contract would have automatically renewed for another year at the end of September. The board voted at last week's CRA meeting to put Bright on administrative leave with pay, but the commissioners were split 2-2 on not renewing Bright's contract, with Commissioner Bill Orlove undecided.

Commissioner Marlene Ross, who spoke in support of Bright last week, said that her decision was made based on the findings of the investigation.

"Based on all of these reports, I can see that according to this information, some procedures were not followed and some disclosures were not made," she said.

Orlove said that he found some information revealed in the report to be "troubling."

"In my opinion, Lisa Bright, as a government employee, should have disclosed her relationship regarding Joseph Ferrer to the CRA Board and let it determine the outcome of the contracts," he said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, prior to the discussion about the investigation, Bright's attorney, Isidro Garcia, spoke on behalf on his client, calling the investigation a "witch hunt."

The report states that evidence shows that Bright has known the vendor, Joseph Ferrer, for at least 10 years, and that she lived at and leased a cottage on Ferrer's property prior to her employment with the Boynton CRA.

It also says that Bright was "untruthful or misleading" at a July 20 CRA Board meeting when she publicly said that she never lived at Ferrer's home and only used that address to get her daughter into a different school.

Hay, who voiced his support for Bright last week, said tonight that Bright should be given back her job.

"The problem is not the CRA," he said. "The problem is the CRA Board. I've lost confidence in many of us who are sitting up here with me tonight."

Bright, who sat calmly composed in the audience during the discussion, declined to comment after the vote was made. She will get a severance package of 150 days paid, according to her contract. The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office also is investigating Bright, according to Bright's attorney, but the reason is not known.

Due to time constraints, the commissioners voted to table the appointment of a seven-member independent CRA Board until the Oct. 5 commission meeting.



Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

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.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Indictment of Private Investigators Hired by Oleg Deripaska's Aide to Spy on Michael Cherney

TEL AVIV, Israel, September 20, 2010 / -- On Sunday, Tel Aviv Magistrates Court charged two private investigators, Rafael Pridan and Maxim Gurevich, with the illegal wiretapping of Businessman Michael Cherney. The two had been hired by an aide to Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, Cherney's ex-partner.

According to the indictment, in April 2007 Alexei Drobashenko (Director of the "Eurasian Group", one of Deripaska's companies) turned to a previously convicted Israeli radical activist Avigdor Eskin, with an offer to conduct a smear campaign to discredit Michael Cherney. Eskin has introduced Drobashenko to PIs Aviv Mor and Rafael Pridan who had been earlier stripped of his Private investigator license. From May to October 2007 Eskin, Mor, and Pridan met several times in Moscow with Drobashenko, who wanted to dig for any compromising information on Mr Cherney. The detectives conducted surveillance of Mr Cherney and illegal wiretaps of his line for about 6 months.

After being arrested in November 2007 Rafi Pridan was charged yesterday with illegal actions in private investigation, illegal wiretapping, and illegal use of obtained materials. Avi Mor, another private investigator involved, cut a deal with the Prosecution last January. For the illegal surveillance of Mr Cherney, he was sentenced to six months of communal service and eight months of suspended jail time.

Michael Cherney claims that a smear campaign against him was launched by his ex-partner in aluminum trading Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. In early 2007 Mr Cherney filed a suit in UK against Deripaska for $3 billion for violating their contract; Mr Cherney believes that this caused Deripaska to launch a smear campaign, including illegal wiretapping.

In February 2008 Mr Cherney filed a suit in Tel Aviv's District Court against Deripaska and eight other people, demanding a compensation of 10 million shekels (about $3 million) for moral damages suffered in the smear campaign. Among the respondents are also Eurasian Group's


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Cops: Phony DEA agent tried to pull over a Suffolk Police detective

Detective William Zambito was driving home from work Monday afternoon in his private vehicle when he was stopped by an unmarked car with flashing lights and sirens, police said.

Victor Alfaro-Marquez, 35, approached the vehicle and identified himself as a Drug Enforcement Agency agent, police said.

Mr. Zambito, of 43 Ruland Rd., identified himself as a detective and Mr. Alfaro-Marquez quickly returned to his black 1999 Mercedes Benz SUV and left the scene, police said.

But the detective was suspicious of Mr. Alfaro-Marquez's behavior and conducted an investigation, which led to the arrest of Mr. Alfaro-Marquez at his home, police said.

Mr. Alfaro-Marquez's vehicle was impounded and police recovered two badges, handcuffs, a pellet pistol in a holster and a DEA baseball hat and shirt. Mr. Alfaro-Marquez was charged with criminal impersonation second-degree and released on bail, police said.



Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Cops: Phony DEA Agent Tried to Pull Over a Suffolk Police Detective

A Selden man was arrested Monday and charged with impersonating a federal officer after he pulled over an off-duty Suffolk Police detective in Centereach, authorities said.

Detective William Zambito was driving home from work Monday afternoon in his private vehicle when he was stopped by an unmarked car with flashing lights and sirens, police said.

Victor Alfaro-Marquez, 35, approached the vehicle and identified himself as a Drug Enforcement Agency agent, police said.

Mr. Zambito, of 43 Ruland Rd., identified himself as a detective and Mr. Alfaro-Marquez quickly returned to his black 1999 Mercedes Benz SUV and left the scene, police said.

But the detective was suspicious of Mr. Alfaro-Marquez's behavior and conducted an investigation, which led to the arrest of Mr. Alfaro-Marquez at his home, police said.

Mr. Alfaro-Marquez's vehicle was impounded and police recovered two badges, handcuffs, a pellet pistol in a holster and a DEA baseball hat and shirt. Mr. Alfaro-Marquez was charged with criminal impersonation second-degree and released on bail, police said.



Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Nevada settles Able Services suit over Private Investigators Licensing Board investigation for $580,000

Nevada has agreed to pay $580,000 to the owners of a former credit screening firm who said their business was ruined by comments from an investigator with the Private Investigators Licensing Board.

The Board of Examiners approved the settlement Thursday with Hugh, Bret and Janice Lantz of Able Services in Reno.

Able Services provided credit screenings for landlords and employers. The state attorney general's office said an investigation was launched in 2003 after a citizen complained the firm also was conducting background checks, which requires licensing.

A federal court jury in Reno awarded the owners $670,000 in March. A settlement was later reached on appeal for $580,000.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Minister Hired Private Detectives to Spy on Aides

LONDON — A justice minister on Friday admitted hiring private investigators to spy on colleagues, after publication of their findings revealed they thought he was dishonest, lazy and a "disaster" who needed to be removed.

Conservative Jonathan Djanogly admitted he might have "overreacted" by using the investigators to unearth their private criticisms of him following allegations about his parliamentary expenses.

But he insisted they had not acted illegally and said he had not used public money to pay for the probe, which he said was sparked by a series of "very malicious, anonymous attacks on my family."

An aide to Cameron said he agreed Djanogly had gone over the top but said: "He will be judged as a minister on the work he does for the government."

Djanogly, MP for Huntingdon -- a constituency once held by former Conservative prime minister John Major -- spoke out after the results of the private probe were published in The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The paper revealed that investigators had been instructed by Djanogly to conduct "discreet inquiries under the pretext of writing a newspaper article."

They questioned Peter Brown, the minister's election agent who reportedly described Djanogly as "lazy", as well as another senior colleague who said the minister was "dishonest" over his expenses.

Yet another colleague told an investigator: "He has been a disaster and we need to de-select him (remove him as a lawmaker), but it will take time."

The junior minister at the Ministry of Justice ordered the probe by Morris Chase International, which reportedly cost more than 5,000 pounds (7,700 dollars, 6,000 euros), after the Telegraph alleged last July that he had claimed 13,000 pounds in expenses to pay a Polish student who was working for his family as an au pair.

In a statement Friday, Djanogly said: "Following a series of malicious allegations made against me in newspapers last year, I felt I had to act to find out who was spreading these untrue stories."

He said he was "very disappointed" that the investigators' report had been published, adding: "I am sorry if some people judge that I made a mistake.

"With hindsight I can see that I may have overreacted, but I was being subjected to very malicious, anonymous attacks on my family."



Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Kerry Katona tells detective: Find me a decent man

Having clawed her way back from the brink of bankruptcy after her ex-husband Mark Croft wasted all her cash, Kerry Katona, 30, could be forgiven for being a little wary of the next guy who comes sniffing around.

Now can reveal that Kerry has hired a private investigator to complete background checks on all potential suitors.

‘Kerry was very hurt by Mark and he took her for everything she had,' a friend tells Now.

‘She was totally destroyed, emotionally and financially.'

Kerry, who now lives in Surrey, split with Mark, 38, seven months ago.

But instead of being able to make a clean break, she was left with nearly £500,000 of debt after discovering he'd spent all her money on fast cars and fruitless business ventures.

Kerry has since dated painter and decorator Adam Waldron, 33.

But that soon ended in tears after she dumped him, citing his drinking as a reason.

Adam's family have denied the accusation.

Now she's dating kick boxer Scott Gibson, who she met on the dating website Match.com.

And it seems her investigator - who's helped Kerry with various situations in the past - has put her mind at rest as she happily arranged to meet Scott for a drink two weeks ago at a bar in Brighton.

‘The private eye finds out where they live, what their financial situation is and if they have children, ex-wives, a criminal record or any other skeletons to hide,' says the friend.

‘Although Kerry loves a bad boy, Mark lost a lot of her money and she doesn't want to end up high and dry again.

‘Her management fully support her decision to safeguard her finances.'


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

San Bernardino Argues Private Investigator's Claim Lacks Merit

San Bernardino contends that a private investigator has failed to provide clear-cut evidence to support claims in a lawsuit that the city owes him nearly $39,000 for investigating allegations of police misconduct.

Private investigator William Schneid filed the four-page lawsuit July 6, alleging the city breached its oral contract and still owes him $38,815.38 for his services.

The city argued in its three-page response to the lawsuit Aug. 5 that the city entered into a written contract with Schneid that called for a payment of $22,000.

"The parties agreed orally and confirmed in writing that any obligation of the city to plaintiff (Schneid) would be satisfied in full by the city's payment of approximately $22,000 to plaintiff," according to the city's response to Schneid's lawsuit.

Schneid, however, alleges that he investigated allegations of police misconduct for two years, including a police sergeant accused of illegally detaining suspects and stealing department funds. When he submitted billing statements to the city totaling more than $38,0000, the city refused to pay him.

City Attorney James F. Penman said he is unaware of any oral agreement between Schneid and the city that stipulated for more money.

"No one had authority to enter into that kind of agreement anyway. The Mayor and (City) Council would have to approve that, and they did not," Penman said.

The city believes that the allegations in Schneid's complaint are vague and fail to state specific facts and details.



Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Retired Santa Clara DA's Investigator Wins Honor from International Organization

The International High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA), a consortium of law enforcement, private investigators and corporate security professionals, has awarded its annual Lifetime Achievement honor to retired Lieutenant John McMullen, formerly of the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Bureau of Investigation.

A founding member of HTCIA and a pioneer in the investigation of high technology crime cases, McMullen played a key role in the successful prosecution of several high-profile Silicon Valley criminal cases. He served as supervisor of the Silicon Valley Computer Forensic Lab, Project Director for Silicon Valley’s regional high tech crime task force (REACT), and as HTCIA’s representative on the California Governor’s High Technology Crime Advisory Committee.

Also a highly respected and sought-after instructor, McMullen helped develop the computer crime investigation and computer forensic training curriculum for the California Department of Justice Advanced Training Center.

“John McMullen has been one of the best HTCIA has to offer,” said Todd Shipley, HTCIA International President. “His dedication not only to investigating his cases, but also to bringing his knowledge and expertise to his colleagues and the next generation of investigators, is something we want every member to strive to emulate. His kind of example is the reason why we have an annual Lifetime Achievement Award.”

McMullen added: “I am deeply honored to be this year's recipient of the HTCIA Lifetime Achievement Award. There is no greater honor then to be singled out and recognized by your peers for your achievements. My membership in HTCIA over the last 25 years truly enhanced my career and the many opportunities that were presented to me.”

McMullen will formally accept his award at the HTCIA International Conference being held this year in Atlanta, GA. The conference, which runs from September 20-22, will also honor the association's Case of the Year and Chapter of the Year Awards.





Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Prescott May Seek Judicial Review of Phone Hack Claims

Lord Prescott has said he is prepared to take legal action to find out whether News of The World journalists hacked into his phone messages.

The ex-deputy prime minister said he would seek a judicial review if the police did not say whether claims his phone had been tapped were true.

The paper's royal editor was jailed for conspiracy to access messages in 2007.

The paper said that was an isolated case, but suspended a reporter earlier this year pending an investigation.

It has also confirmed it was looking into the conduct of a unnamed journalist regarding alleged attempts to hack into the phone of a public figure. The paper said it would take "swift and decisive action" if there was proof of wrongdoing

Last year, the Metropolitan Police chose not to launch an investigation into claims, made by the Guardian newspaper, that a host of public figures - including Lord Prescott - had had their messages hacked by journalists.

'Clearly available'

At the time, it said the evidence did not warrant it and suggested Lord Prescott's phone had not been tapped.

But Lord Prescott told the BBC this had never been confirmed and he now wanted to "find the truth".

He said he expected to hear from the police next week and, if he did not, he would take further action.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Weld County Man Jailed for Hiring PI to Track Estranged Wife

GREELEY, Colo. - A local private investigator is under arrest, for what some say is simply doing his job. And a Weld County father is in jail, simply for hiring the investigator.

Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck is charging both with felony stalking.

Jeff Schudel says he hired the investigator because he was concerned about his 17-month-old son's safety. The investigator was hired to track Schudel's estranged wife's movements.

"We needed to create an accurate picture for the courts to determine custody," Schudel told us.

He says he never questioned the investigators methods.

According to police reports, the investigator did routine surveillance on the estranged wife and placed a GPS tracking device on her car. She found it and called La Salle Police, who arrested Schudel and the investigator for felony stalking.

Schudel maintains they did not do anything illegal.

"This was a legal endeavor. We hired professionals to conduct this investigation," he says.

Schudel says while he sits in jail, he remains concerned about his son's safety.

We talked with other private investigators who expressed concern that routine surveillance was being considered a felony. They say the GPS devices fall into a gray area. Some private investigators use them, but many do not.

Schudel is due back in court in late September.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Using Private Eyes to Keep Track of Tenants

As a parade of slovenly dressed 20-somethings passed through the entrance of a downtown Manhattan apartment building on a weekday afternoon, these seemingly savvy New Yorkers did not seem to notice they were the subjects of a photo shoot.

That is because this shoot was covertly orchestrated by their landlord, who had hired a private investigator to root out illegal tenants.

Masked by lunchtime crowds and afternoon rain, the private eye, Joseph Mullen, who has run a sleuthing firm for more than 40 years, parked his car in front of the building, flipped through papers showing that several residents of the seven-story building were “dead or living somewhere else,” and waited.

Shane Williams, a vice president of the firm, J.T. Mullen Inc., slouched strategically in his seat and photographed people as they entered and left. The affable pair looked like observers at an antifashion show as food deliverymen paraded through, an older portly renter stepped out to buy cheese biscuits and renters dressed in gym clothing shuffled outside to smoke.

“We don’t know half the people who live in this building,” Mr. Mullen said. He released a gravelly chuckle, rustled through papers and glanced through the tinted window. “The landlords say, ‘I got to get these illegal tenants out and make some money.’ ”

In a high-rent borough like Manhattan with plenty of rent-regulated apartments ripe for exploitation, real estate investigation has long been a big business. Private detectives say it has picked up in the past year as some New Yorkers have tried to find extra money by moving out of their apartments and subletting to other renters for more than they are paying, which is not allowed.

And, of course, there are landlords pressed for cash, trying to root out people who are using rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartments illegally. This would allow the landlords to find new tenants and raise the rent by 20 percent or more under state housing law. During the speculation boom of the last decade, some large landlords were accused of using private investigators to harass legal tenants out of their apartments in order to raise rents to cover large mortgages and increase their profits.

Landlords who root out illegal sublets and absentee renters — a rent-regulated tenant must occupy the unit for at least 183 days a year — crow about how profitable these investigations can be.

Craig Charie, a lawyer and landlord who has hired private investigators for such cases since 1994, described a tenant at one Chelsea building who held onto her $433-a-month apartment while living primarily in New Jersey. An investigator tracked her commuting patterns, and Mr. Charie kicked her out, combined the apartment with another to make a duplex and raised the rent.

Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Judge Appointed to Hear Case of Tonya Craft’s Private Investigator

A Cobb County judge was appointed for the trial of Tonya Craft’s private investigator, who is charge with interfering with a witness.

After all the Catoosa County Superior Court judges recused themselves from Eric Echols’ case, a new judge had to be appointed to hear the case, Echols said.

Echols trial is scheduled for Sept. 13.

Echols, who worked as an investigator in Craft’s child custody and molestation cases, was charged with three counts of tampering with a witness last August. He was arrested after the father of an alleged victim in the molestation case said Echols threatened him.

Craft was acquitted May 11 on all 22 counts of child molestation, aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery.

Echols filed the written transcript of the taped conversation he had with the father in August 2009. The conversations show Echols having a cordial conversation with the man.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Chevron's Private Investigation Firm Attempts to Recruit Independent Journalist To Spy in The Amazon

An exposé in the Atlantic magazine reveals how one of the world’s largest private investigation firms, Kroll, hired by oil giant Chevron, tried to recruit an American journalist to undermine a massive $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron brought by the residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We speak with the journalist, Mary Cuddehe, and with Han Shan, the coordinator for Amazon Watch’s Clean Up Ecuador campaign.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today with a new twist in the 17-year legal battle between oil giant Chevron and the residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon, who say decades of reckless oil drilling have taken a deadly toll on their health and their environment. They accuse Texaco, now Chevron, of dumping over 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest. Chevron now faces a $27.3 billion lawsuit.

An article in the latest issue of the Atlantic magazine reveals how a private investigation firm, hired by Chevron, tried to recruit an American journalist to undermine the high-profile lawsuit. According to the first-person account of Mary Cuddehe, the investigative firm Kroll flew her to Colombia and offered her $20,000 to spend six weeks in Lago Agrio, the jungle town in Ecuador where the trial is being held. They wanted her to say she was an independent journalist, while spying for Chevron, and find out if the plaintiffs in the lawsuit had "rigged" a health study that found the community suffered abnormally high cancer rates. But Mary Cuddehe said no. She refused the offer to become a corporate spy.

The article is called "A Spy in the Jungle," and Cuddehe writes: "There was a reason they wanted me. With one Google search, anyone could see that I was, in fact, a journalist. If I went to Lago Agrio as myself and pretended to write a story, no one would suspect that the starry-eyed young American poking around was actually shilling for Chevron."

We invited Chevron to come on the program, but they declined. Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson did, however, not directly address Mary Cuddehe’s claims, but acknowledged hiring Kroll. Robertson said in a statement to Democracy Now! that "It should come as no surprise that we have hired an outside investigative firm to help document the fraud being perpetrated by the plaintiffs’ lawyers and their associates in this case. There are now numerous documented examples of falsified expert reports, fraudulent evidence, unsubstantiated health claims and collusion with court experts," he wrote.

Mary Cuddehe is based in Mexico City. She joins me now via Democracy Now! video stream. We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Mary Cuddehe.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

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.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Widow Says Man’s Eyes Were Stolen; Body Exhumed

HENDERSON, N.C. -- A woman who says her husband's eyes were removed from his body without permission is having his body exhumed for a private autopsy.

A private investigator who is working for widower Linda McMichael said the body of Elven Alston will be exhumed from the Alston family cemetery in Warrenton.

The body is expected to be taken to Pitt County Memorial Hospital.

McMichael filed a police complaint last month because she claims parts of her husband's eyes were removed after the 61-year-old man died in February at a Henderson hospital.

Police Lt. Chris Ball said Wednesday an investigation found no criminal wrongdoing but wouldn't say what led to that conclusion.

McMichael has said her husband wasn't an organ donor.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

N.J. Appeals Court Denies Handgun Permit for Warren County Private Detective

A state appeals court today upheld a denial of a handgun permit for a private detective in Warren County because he “lied” about whether he previously had such a permit rejected, according to the ruling.

Scott Churchill, former treasurer of the county’s SPCA and former trustee at the county’s community college, had a permit to carry a handgun since 1994, but in July 2008 was denied a renewal by New Jersey State Police, according to the Appellate Division decision.

One of the questions on the renewal application asked whether he had any prior gun-permit applications denied, and Churchill answered “No.”

But that was “inaccurate,” as Churchill “failed to disclose that New York had previously denied his application for a gun permit because he had lied about his business and obtained a private-investigator license under false pretenses,” the ruling states. It also says the permit was denied by police because Churchill “failed to demonstrate a justifiable need for a handgun.”

Churchill appealed to state Superior Court, claiming he believed the application was inquiring only about being denied a permit in New Jersey. But last year an appellate judge upheld the ruling, finding “Churchill was not a person of good moral character because he ‘purposely falsified his renewal application and attempted to mislead the investigating officers and the court as to his reasons for doing so.”

Churchill then appealed further, claiming he is a person of good moral character, there was no evidence he “knowingly falsified his New Jersey application” and he has a justifiable need to carry a handgun.



Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Lou Smit, Detective in JonBenet Ramsey Case, Is Dead at 75

Lou Smit, a longtime police detective who was called out of retirement to help investigate the 1996 slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old beauty pageant winner, but resigned after concluding that the police had wrongly focused on her parents, died Wednesday in Colorado Springs. He was 75.

The cause was colon cancer, a spokeswoman for Pikes Peak Hospice said.

Detective Smit helped solve several cases that gained national attention, including the killing of Karen Grammer, the sister of the actor Kelsey Grammer, in 1975.

He is also credited with identifying the killer of 13-year-old Heather Dawn Church. She was killed in 1991, and her father was among more than 40 suspects, but in 1995 Detective Smit arrested Robert C. Browne, who confessed to the crime and has since admitted to 47 other murders.

Detective Smit was proud to assert that of the more than 200 murder cases he had investigated and turned over to prosecutors in his 30-year career, all led to convictions. “I’ve never lost a homicide case,” he told The Denver Post.

But he was unable to solve the Ramsey case.

JonBenet Ramsey was found strangled and bound in the basement of her upscale home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996. The case, which attracted enormous attention, remains unsolved.

Three months after the killing, the district attorney asked Detective Smith to join the investigation. He initially explored the Boulder Police Department’s theory, that JonBenet’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, was the killer and had written the ransom note she said she had found in her home. The department also believed that JonBenet’s father, John, was protecting Mrs. Ramsey.

Eighteen months after joining the investigation, Detective Smit resigned, accusing the police of pursuing the Ramseys as suspects despite substantial evidence to the contrary.

“The Ramseys did not do it,” he wrote in his resignation letter, dated Sept. 20, 1998. “There is substantial, credible evidence of an intruder and a lack of evidence that the parents are involved.”

For years after his official involvement in the case ended, Detective Smit continued to work to identify the killer, both independently and with a private investigator hired by the Ramseys. He carried a photo of JonBenet in his wallet.

He also teamed up with a former F.B.I. agent, Charlie Hess, and a former publisher of The Colorado Springs Gazette, Scott Fischer, to investigate local cold cases.

In 2008 the Boulder County district attorney, Mary T. Lacy, said in a letter to John Ramsey that DNA evidence, unobtainable by earlier methods, had “vindicated your family.” The evidence pointed to an intruder, as Detective Smit had concluded.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Christina Milian Served Divorce Papers While Pregnant

Christina Milian and The-Dream confirmed their separation to UsMagazine.com earlier this month -- but according to documents obtained by TMZ, the singer's husband had already filed for divorce in February.

In the papers, the 32-year-old producer (real name: Terius Nash) claims his marriage to the 28-year-old "Dip It Low" singer is "irretrievably broken." Despite being parents to 5-month-old Violet, he also says "there is no hope for reconciliation" between him and Milian.

Earlier this month, Nash blogged that he attempted suicide in the wake of his "failing" marriage.

"I've cried about this for months, after interviews, after prayer and I've tried to take my own life at a point because of the failure that was looming," Nash wrote. "This is not to justify anything, it's true emotion! It's a real thing that involves real people!"

The couple first wed in a quickie ceremony in September 2009; they had a second, more traditional ceremony in Rome in December. But earlier this month -- after photos surfaced of Nash frolicking in the Caribbean with his assistant of one year, Melissa Santiago -- the couple announced their separation.

"Terius 'The-Dream' Nash is saddened to announce that his marriage to Christina Milian was unsuccessful," his rep told Us. "The couple reached this decision in late 2009, but decided to keep the news private in efforts to protect their baby daughter Violet. They ask for consideration and respect for their family moving forward."

Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

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.


Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Spotting a Troubled Employee Before Mass Murder is Almost Impossible, Law Experts Say

It has become a disturbingly familiar workplace scenario, statistically rare, but occurring often enough to have a ritualistic feel.

A head-case employee, after a series of run-ins with managers, decides to even the score. He - and it almost always is a he - storms the factory floor, guns ablaze, leaving a string of bodies in his wake.

Such was the case last week near Hartford, Conn., when an employee at a beer distributor, caught on videotape by a private investigator stealing beer from his delivery truck, reached into his lunch pail for two 9mm handguns, and shot 10 of his coworkers, killing eight, before taking his own life.

The killer, it was learned afterward, had been viewed by some of his acquaintances as a terrific guy.

And that underscores a central reality for employers and the labor and employment lawyers who advise them on how to handle workplace conflicts: Identifying the one-in-a-million person on the verge of committing mass murder is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

"It scares the heck out of me every time I advise the employer to go ahead and fire the guy," says Michael Ossip, a partner in the labor and employment practice at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. "I always counsel people: Make sure you know exactly what you are doing, because once you let someone go, you lose control over them."

Fred D'Angelo, a labor and employment lawyer at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney P.C. and based in Philadelphia, said one tragic error made in the Connecticut case was that the employer permitted the dismissed employee to go unescorted to an adjacent room, where he retrieved two handguns concealed in a lunch box.

Even so, D'Angelo, who happens to represent many of this region's beer distributors, says he doubts employers can change much.

That's because horrific workplace killings, though they rivet national attention, are so unlikely that it wouldn't make sense for employers to dramatically reconfigure their workplaces.

Employers seem to recognize this. D'Angelo, who counsels employers on how to deal with workers who are about to be disciplined or dismissed, says he has never been asked by a client about what to do if an employee shows up with a gun.

The worst case of workplace violence he ever dealt with, and he has been at this for 35 years, involved a shop steward who threw a punch at his supervisor and was dismissed on the spot.

So does that mean society must simply accept a certain level of workplace carnage as the cost of doing business?

Read more here and follow us on Twitter!

Hero Cop and Private Eye John McNally is 'Longtime Associate' of Gotti Hired Gun, Fed Files Reveal

He was a hero cop, an ace detective and a private eye extraordinaire - but now prosecutors say John McNally is an unindicted co-conspirator to one of the mob's most vicious hit men.

McNally, 76, is the "longtime associate" of John Gotti's hired gun, Joseph Watts, and has worked with him on extortion and money laundering for years, documents filed in Manhattan Federal Court say.

"At this point, he's really old and really sick," said a friend of McNally, who assisted in the recovery of the Star of India sapphire as a detective and helped win the O.J. Simpson case as private eye.

"They are just trying to besmirch his career, to embarrass him."

McNally has been eyed by the FBI before, most notably when he was working with F. Lee Bailey on the Simpson defense team in the 1990s, and when he did "security" in the 1980s for Gene Gotti, the Teflon Don's brother.

But now McNally's name is all over government papers filed against Watts, who is charged with racketeering in connection with a slew of homicides during the mob's go-go 1980s.

One hit is among the most notorious of all - the murder of Gambino godfather Paul Castellano that paved the way for Gotti to take over the New York mob.

McNally isn't tied to any of those homicides, or with any of the crimes committed by Watts' co-defendant John D'Amico - who is expected to take a plea today in exchange for a three-year sentence.

But McNally's name is linked to more recent extortion and money-laundering allegations against Watts.

"In January 2007, Watts longtime associate John McNally, a retired NYPD detective who has performed various services for Watts, traveled from Florida to New York to try to collect at least $30,000 that [Wail] Al-Khalib owed Watts," according to a court paper filed last week.

Prosecutors also allege that Watts once transferred approximately $200,000 from a Swiss bank account to a Staten Island bank where McNally then paid off debts.

Calls to the ex-cop's phone were not answered.

Read more here.