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.


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Loose laws for Alabama private investigators

People who hire private investigators are sometimes at their most vulnerable. They're often in a situation where they might wish they weren't, and they want answers to sensitive questions.

One man in the business wants state lawmakers to pass a bill that would eliminate con artists in his trade who prey on clients' weaknesses.

Bill Posey is CEO of Posey Investigations. He said television and movies sometimes give his industry a bad name, but he hopes new legislation will clean up that image in a state that doesn't regulate who has the right to secretly get you information.

Auto accidents, extramarital affairs, missing persons and dogs, and custody battles are at the center of many PI investigations. Since 1996, Posey's career has revolved around secrecy.

But the private investigator isn't keeping quiet about a bill making its way to the state legislature. It would regulate and license the practice of private investigation, create a board to oversee such practices, and would make it a crime for a private investigator to work without a license.

"In Alabama, it is harder to get a fishing license or a hunting license," Posey said.

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Gun permit lies trigger probe of Syracuse private eye

Noah Felice regularly dangled his private investigator license on a chain around his Courtesy of Onondaga County Sheriff's OfficePrivate investigator Noah Feliceneck for all to see, his former business partner said.

Felice had two antennae attached to the top of his trunk to make the vehicle look like an undercover police car — but they were wired to nothing, said Leigh Hunt, Syracuse’s former police chief who owned a PI business with Felice until they had a falling out in 2006.

Felice claimed in a History Channel broadcast last year that, in 1980, extraterrestrials used a beam of light to crash the plane he was piloting. The show’s producers said his credibility made the case seminal in the history of UFO sightings.

But for years, Felice has been working under false pretenses, according to police in two jurisdictions.

Felice, 58, of 5421 Springview Drive, Fayetteville, was charged in recent months in Syracuse and Pennsylvania with using deceit to obtain pistol permits and his PI licenses.

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Arizona Legislative Memo: Traffic Camera Companies Need PI Licenses

Legislative branch lawyers believe traffic camera companies should have a private investigator license.

Traffic camera companies operating in Arizona may be committing a crime by operating without a private investigator's license, a newly released memorandum to the state legislature explained. The non-partisan Arizona Legislative Council, the legislature's official source for drafting and reviewing legislation, looked at the licensing question on behalf of state Representative Sam Crump (R-Anthem).

Under Arizona law, an individual who is not a police officer or insurance adjuster may not "secure evidence to be used... in the trial of civil or criminal cases and the preparation therefor" without a private investigator's license. Violating this statute is a class 1 misdemeanor, and the legislative branch lawyers believe Arizona's automated ticketing contractors could be guilty of this crime.

"Applying liberal construction of the definition of private investigator under the statute, the activities conducted by a photo enforcement company such as Redflex arguably fit within that definition," the memo stated. "Mainly, Redflex gathers data and processes it for the purpose of identifying violators of the state's traffic regulations.... In addition, ARS 32-2409 provides an extensive list of exceptions to the requirement of obtaining a license. It does not appear that Redflex would fall within any of these exemptions. Arguably, if the legislature wanted to exempt photo enforcement agencies from licensure, it could have done so by adding such agencies to the list of exemptions."

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