Boom Time for Job Site Thieves

Sue Wentz and her husband, Eugene, saved for five years, living in a modest home in a low-income neighborhood of Houston, before they broke ground in January on a 4,300-square-foot house on 12 acres in Magnolia, Tex., a woodsy suburb about 40 miles northwest of the city. They are overseeing the construction themselves to control costs. So it was with dismay that they arrived at the job site one morning in July to find that all the copper wiring and air-conditioning tubing had been ripped out of the rough frame of the house.

Besides the financial hit — $11,000 — the theft took a psychological toll. “I felt so violated, and now I don’t trust anyone,” said Ms. Wentz, who teaches English at a community college.

The couple, along with Ryan, their 7-month-old son, spent nine nights in a tent on the property to guard the place until workers could put Sheetrock over replacement wiring. Moreover, Mr. Wentz, an airline pilot, boarded up all of the entrances, limiting access to a single security door with two deadbolts and no handle. “Now we lock it up every night, and when the contractors arrive the next morning, they call us and we tell them where we hid the key,” he said.

According to professional homebuilders, law enforcement officials and insurers, the Wentzes’ experience is not unique. Larceny at residential construction sites across the country has increased significantly in the last two years because of soaring prices of building materials like copper, lumber and cement, they said. The National Association of Home Builders, a trade group, estimates that the annual cost of theft to the industry has reached $5 billion. The problem has meant higher material and insurance costs for builders, who pass them along to buyers, sometimes to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. In the end, that can add as much as 10 percent to the cost of a home, builders and developers said.

PI Witnessed Kidnapping

As the fame-seeking phony who calls himself Clark Rockefeller appeared on TV to plead his case, the adorable daughter he snatched was out of hiding and with her mother in London yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Herald has learned that Sandra Lynne Boss had hired a private investigator to tail her former husband prior to the alleged kidnapping.

According to a law enforcement source, Boss, 41, used the detective to keep an eye on Rockefeller - who authorities have identified as Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter - during his first supervised visit with 7-year-old Reigh “Snooks” Storrow Mills Boss on July 27.

The mother’s fears were realized when he snatched Snooks off a Back Bay street, touching off a five-day international manhunt.

PI Witnessed Kidnapping

As the fame-seeking phony who calls himself Clark Rockefeller appeared on TV to plead his case, the adorable daughter he snatched was out of hiding and with her mother in London yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Herald has learned that Sandra Lynne Boss had hired a private investigator to tail her former husband prior to the alleged kidnapping.

According to a law enforcement source, Boss, 41, used the detective to keep an eye on Rockefeller - who authorities have identified as Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter - during his first supervised visit with 7-year-old Reigh “Snooks” Storrow Mills Boss on July 27.

The mother’s fears were realized when he snatched Snooks off a Back Bay street, touching off a five-day international manhunt.

Do Computer Snoops Need PI Licenses?

By now, we all know how the Recording Industry Association of America nabs alleged file sharers, more than 20,000 lawsuits and counting: Hired snoops from MediaSentry -- aka SafeNet -- log onto Kazaa, Limewire or other file sharing programs, peer into open share folders, take screen shots, download a few files and obtain the offending IP addresses.

But in a few states – Michigan, Texas, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Oregon and Arizona -- the RIAA's investigators have come under attack by state governments or RIAA defendants. Reason: they are not licensed private investigators in their respective states. Michigan recently told (.pdf) MediaSentry it needed a license to continue practicing.

But demanding a private investigator's license doesn't make such sense for computer forensic work, according to the American Bar Association. In a recent report, the country's largest legal lobbying group urges the states to jettison the idea of, or licensing requirement for computer forensic specialists, especially since most state licensing boards don't demand education in such work

PIs Bust Drug Dealer

A drug dealer who was brazenly trading from his own front door was jailed for three years seven months today as a result of a secret spy camera being trained on his home by a private detective.

The camera recorded about 20 people a day calling at Francis Nisbet's home to buy heroin.

The surveillance operation had set up by a private investigator working for Nisbet's landlords, the Knightstone Housing Association, after neighbours complained about his drug dealing.

Police were later told of what the hidden CCTV footage was revealing and moved in to arrest Nisbet after 20 further days of observation showed officers that he was indeed selling drugs every day from his home.

At Gloucester crown court Nisbet, 32, of Buddleia court, Wisteria Way, Churchdown, Gloucester, was jailed for three years seven months after he admitted having heroin with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of the drug and possessing cannabis.

Dad Trying to Raise Funds to Hire PI to Find Daughter

The father of missing Dublin teenager Amy Fitzpatrick is campaigning to raise funds to hire a private investigator to help in the search for his daughter in Spain.

Christopher Fitzpatrick wants to bring in an independent investigator to help find the 16-year-old, who has not been seen since she failed to return to her Spanish home on January 1.

She had been living in the tourist resort of Riviera del Sol on the Costa del Sol for the past few years with her mother but went missing after she left a friend's house to walk the 10-minute journey home.

Her father, who lives in Ireland, wants to hire a private investigator, and has also called for CCTV footage from the track along which she apparently walked home to be examined.

How Lawyers Work with Private Eyes

In one of their first phone calls, the lawyer and his private investigator outlined in no uncertain terms one ground rule: Their discussions were to be strictly confidential.

"The conversations are just between you and I," the private eye tells the attorney.

"Right," the attorney says.

"Period," the private eye adds.

In the end, however, their conversations were anything but confidential. That phone call and dozens of other recordings were played in federal court in Los Angeles this month, where the attorney, Terry Christensen, and the private detective, Anthony Pellicano, are on trial for allegedly conspiring to wiretap the former wife of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

Because Pellicano was a well-known sleuth-to-the-stars, with clients such as comedian Chris Rock and actor Tom Cruise, his legal troubles have generated interest in Hollywood circles. But his current trial is also being closely followed by Los Angeles' legal community because it thrusts into the limelight a type of relationship the public rarely sees: that of a lawyer and his private investigator.

Thieves Target Pricey Boats on Florida's Coasts

A criminal ring thought to be working its way up Florida's west coast is suspected in the recent thefts of five high-priced Pinellas County boats, the type often used to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country.

"These are not random acts," said Charlie Meacham, a Jacksonville-based private investigator working for several insurance companies to try to recover the stolen boats. "These guys are professionals. They are in and out, and before you know it, the boat is in Mexico."

Meacham, who is investigating several of the Pinellas County thefts, just returned from Cancun, where he says he found 44 boats reported stolen in Florida.

"They all had fraudulent registration numbers," he said. "We are currently working with the Mexican government to see if we can get these boats returned to their owners."

Smugglers of both illegal immigrants and drugs favor multiengine "go-fast boats" with large fuel capacities, the same features that make the vessels appealing to tournament fishermen.

"These multiengine, go-fast boats … are often targeted by smugglers of both narcotics and human cargo," said Zach Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Immigration in Miami. "Vessels of this kind are routinely intercepted on the water by our officers."

PI Discuess Iolani Palace Security

The state has beefed up security at Iolani Palace after a Hawaiian sovereignty group took it over briefly a week ago.

KITV sought the advice of a security expert who found some simple and relatively inexpensive measures that could have slowed or prevented the recent palace takeover.

Sovereignty activists chained Iolani Palace's gates on Aug. 15, sealing off the grounds. A week later, the gates are still vulnerable, private investigator Steve Goodenow said.

"Anyone can manipulate them," he said.

Goodenow has spent 40 years working in the security and private investigation industry.

He said a low-tech and relatively cheap solution would be to chain or lock them open. A more expensive option would be to modify the gates so they are electronically controlled.

Trial Collapses After Juror Turns Investigator

A manslaughter trial collapsed after a juror decided to investigate the case himself.

Dale Paterson, 18, was being tried over the death of 71-year-old taxi driver Raymond Quigley, who suffered a fatal heart attack during a struggle about a fare.

As the proceedings entered their sixth day yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge David Hodson received a three-page list containing 37 questions about the case - and a map from Google Earth of the scene.

It then emerged one of the jurors had been carrying out his own investigations. The court heard the man had:

* been to the death scene and photographed it;
* measured a fence which is at the centre of evidence;
* carried out research into his own theories about what might have happened on the night.

Among the varied questions he passed to the judge included demands for more information on Patterson's baggy skateboard-style clothing.

The middle-aged juror also wanted to know whether there were any clues from his mobile telephone and bank statements.

He also asked whether the jury could hear the audiotape of the police interview of a prosecution witness.

The questions indicated the juror must have visited the scene of the incident, and contained information which neither the prosecution nor the defence had put before the panel to consider.

PI Undercovers Link Between UM and Ponzi Scheme

It was a way to make a lot of money with big returns promised. But it's now confirmed the FBI is investigating an international investment scheme that allegedly scammed more than $30-million. That investigation has led to an unlikely place – the University of Miami, one of the nations leading research schools.

Investigators and alleged victims say the computers, employees and offices on the campus were used in a massive fraud scheme that lost investors tens of millions of dollars.

"Accountants, lawyers, retired law enforcement officers, business people, it's a shame," said Wayne Black, a private investigator. "Some dipped into their 401K for the quick turn around."

Those investors say the scheme, complete with detailed flow charts and fake invoices, was masterminded by Andres Pimstein, a UM business school graduate. Court papers from lawsuits against Pimstein outline how the scheme allegedly worked.

PI Jailed for Posing as Australian Federal Police

A corrupt Sydney private eye was sentenced to a year-long jail term after using the guise of an Australian Federal Police agent to taunt a 77-year-old woman.

The intimidating hoax began when the woman challenged Brett Sutcliffe, 28, for parking in a disabled parking zone outside her North Bondi residence.

Sutcliffe, the then director of a private investigation firm named Spousebusters, recorded the incident from a surveillance device in his parked car. The woman had requested Sutcliffe move so she could unload her shopping but the Spousebuster told her he couldn’t because he was an investigator.

PIs, Social Networking Sites Help Vet Jurors

In last year's federal terrorism case against once-suspected "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla, a team of defense lawyers were sitting at a back table in the Miami federal courtroom with their laptops searching online all the jurors when they discovered one had lied on her jury questionnaire.

The woman, a Miami-area government employee who has not been identified, said she had no personal experience in the criminal system.

It turned out she was currently under investigation for malfeasance, according to Linda Moreno, a Tampa, Fla., solo trial lawyer who served as a jury consultant for one of Padilla's co-defendants. After the judge was informed, she dismissed the juror.

The Miami case was not unusual. As more and more information on people becomes available on the Internet, through posting on personal blogs, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking Web sites, the Internet has, in the last few years, become an important tool for jury consultants and trial lawyers.

Jury consultants say such sites are a treasure trove of information about potential and seated jurors that can be used in picking the right jurors, bouncing potential jurors and even influencing jurors through the trial and in closing arguments.

To mine the gold, jury consultants have begun turning to private investigators, some of whom have started niche businesses offering Internet jury research and "personality profiling" of jurors.

PIs Catch Counterfeitters

Four men were arrested on charges that they sold counterfeit merchandise at Traders World.

Police were contacted by a pair of private investigators Saturday who have contracts with various trademark holders, such as Nike, Coach, and Tiffany & Co.

The investigators purchased a $60 watch advertised by a Traders World vendor as a Rolex, which they later determined was phony, and police on Saturday arrested vendors Mamadou Abderrahmane and Abou Morou Keita.

New Zealand Police to Work with PIs

Detective Inspector Paul Berry, who heads the National Bureau of Investigation Support, has been appointed by deputy commissioner Rob Pope to "reinvigorate" the relationship between police and the security industry.

He aims to have all parties working together in a common bid to reduce crime and increase community safety.

Berry told the Sunday Star-Times that police already benefited from the work private investigators did, especially in investigating dishonesty in the workplace.

Trevor Morley, president of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Investigators (NZIPI), said for many private investigators, up to 70% of their cases involved dishonest employees.

Private Spies

Think private detective and what springs to mind? The worldweary, chain-smoking Philip Marlowe? Sherlock Holmes solving another crime with his sidekick Watson? Even Magnum P.I. and his impressive moustache jaunting around Hawaii in a flashy sports car? And really, who could blame you?

Over the last century, few professions have been infused with as much daring, glamour and intrigue as that of the private detective. As a trip to the crime section of any book shop will reveal, authors have always been fascinated with private investigators, while Hollywood and television annually churn out yet more films and shows on detectives, the vast majority of which only add further mystique to the sleuth. Still, one thing holds true: as you might expect, private detectives are a suspicious bunch and none of those I spoke to would allow me to use their full names or have their photographs taken.

"Sad to report, but for the most part, the reality of being a private detective is not like it has been depicted in television, films or books," says Ron, a private detective with Dublin firm Eye Spy. "No two days are the same but it's not international espionage or fortunes-at-stake stuff. I've yet to see a private investigator driving a Ferrari, although there are a couple who wear sunglasses day and night -- but that wouldn't be my idea of blending in."

Private Investigator Alerts Man of Lottery Win

A Castle Rock man turned a losing lottery ticket into a record-setting winner thanks to Colorado’s Second Chance drawing.

Calvin Beamon won $1 million with a $20 Colorado Millionaire lottery scratch ticket when his number was pulled from more than 200,000 entries, said Erika Gonzalez, media specialist for the Colorado Lottery.

It took lottery officials several days to reach Beamon, who works in Rifle and could not be reached for comment for this report.

He did not respond to phone messages and officials were unsure if he received a certified letter. A visit from a private investigator finally triggered a response. When the investigator left a business card on Beamon’s door, his son — who was checking on the house — alerted him to the mysterious visit.

Barack Obama Birthday Gate: Obama Birth Certificate Dispute

Today is Senator Barack Obama's birthday, which at the age 47 makes him a youngin' in the presidential campaign. Yet, four presidents took office at a younger age: Theodore Roosevelt 42, John F. Kennedy 43, William J Clinton 46 and Ulysses S. Grant 46. For some voters, however, it is not Barack Obama's birthday that is relevant but whether or not Obama's birth certificate is authentic.

Jail Inmate Attempts Escape, Harms Private Investigator

Police say a Douglas County Jail inmate tried to escape Thursday by assaulting a defense attorney’s private investigator and climbing into the crawl space in the ceiling.

The investigator was meeting with Karl Paul Volosin, 28, in an interview room at the jail when Volosin climbed up the Plexiglas barrier between himself and the interviewer around 3 p.m., according to a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office press release.

Volosin then allegedly assaulted the investigator and climbed up the window and into the crawl space above the ceiling tiles.

Donaghy to NBA investigator: Drop Dead

Tim Donaghy may not have his dignity or his freedom but the ex-NBA referee still can decide who he' will talk to.

The NBA is not on that list.

And stop calling him names.

According to this story in the New York Times, Donaghy has decided not to meet with Lawrence Pedowitz, a former federal prosecutor who is leading the league's examination of their anti-gambling policies and the NBA officiating system.