'Sizzle' lost from Old Settlers

Delphi Chamber of Commerce lost a valuable item after last year's Carroll County Old Settler's celebration. Members need to find the item because it provides one of the most needed services to vendors and exhibitors at the event.

The missing item is the electric wire used to supply power from the downtown junction boxes to the rides and booths. One local private investigator, a Carroll County native, has offered to find the missing item free of charge.

Going to Google Before Going Out With Your Date

Friday night in South Tampa is always a big night. On this night, happy hour always seems to be a bit happier at watering holes like MacDinton's. The thirty yard line outside the patio that stretches to Howard Avenue proves it. Inside guys like Anthony Salotto are dropping their best lines, “I am dead sexy” says the 26-year-old transplant from New Jersey.

Amidst the spirits there is plenty of technology and women are using it. Nearly every woman we spoke with has either heard of someone or they themselves have “Googled” a person that they are interested in. The reason? There is a whole mix of them. “Combination, married, record, just nuts” says Ayana Gibson.

Hollywood Investigator to Be His Own Lawyer

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Anthony Pellicano, the Hollywood private investigator facing trial on wiretapping and conspiracy charges, can represent himself at trial next month. Judge Dale S. Fischer of United States District Court said she was bound by Supreme Court case law to let Mr. Pellicano do so, but urged him to reconsider. The ruling raises the prospect that Mr. Pellicano, who often grabbed the limelight in his career as an investigator to the stars, would again take center stage at his trial, set to begin Feb. 27.

PI Life No TV Show

Life as a private investigator is like a slice out of TV’s Magnum PI but without the car chases, prowling dogs, sprawling mansions and loud shirts on sunbaked beaches.

"Okay," says Clinton Bowerman, "being a private investigator isn’t at all like it is portrayed by Hollywood. There’s a lot more paperwork.

Exclusive: Private Investigator Speaks Out About Szostak Case

"We strongly believe that somebody out there knows something, saw something, heard something or was told something about what happened to Josh," said Private Investigator Patrick Anastasi.

On December 22nd, Josh Szostak went out to hit the Albany bars with some friends. He parked outside the Elbo Room on Delaware and Morton. The group later went to the Bayou café downtown. After midnight, he separated from his friends - and vanished.

Wrong Man on Death Row?

Who left the male DNA? And how did it get there?

C.J. Ford, an Anaheim private investigator hired by Clair, now 48, called Friday for prosecutors to aggressively seek answers.

"Now they can find out who did it," Ford said.

Clair, a transient with an armed robbery conviction in Louisiana, has argued for his innocence, but has lost in appeal after appeal.

Computer Forensics Faces Private Eye Competition

The Internet is boundless and cybercrime scenes stretch from personal desktops across the fiber networks that circle the globe. Digital forensic investigators like Harold Phipps, vice president of industry relations at Norcross Group in Norcross, Ga., routinely slip across conventional geographic jurisdictions in pursuit of digital evidence and wrongdoers.

Lawmakers across the Savannah River in Columbia, S.C., have different ideas, however. Under pending legislation in South Carolina, digital forensic evidence gathered for use in a court in that state must be collected by a person with a PI license or through a PI licensed agency.

Private Investigator to Speak

The Manitowoc County chapter of Women In Management Inc. will hold its monthly meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, at the Best Western Lakefront Hotel, 101 Maritime Drive.

Women who are managers or business owners, and those who aspire to be, are welcome to attend.

Jamie Schnell, a Wisconsin licensed private detective and entrepreneur of Confidentially Yours Investigative Agency, will present “Looking Through Private Eyes: The Everyday Adventures and Challenges of a Female Private Investigator.”

Belfair Investigators, Who Illegally Posed as Others, Lacked License

A Belfair couple charged by the federal government this month for a practice known as "pretexting" had earlier piqued the interest of the state's Department of Licensing.

The department had received a complaint that Emilio and Brandy Torrella were operating a private investigations firm out of a Belfair strip mall without a state-mandated investigators' license, a gross misdemeanor in the state.

Private investigator says Maddie is still alive | Herald Sun

Private investigator says Maddie is still alive | Herald Sun: "Director-general of Metodo 3, Francisco Marco, told Britain’s Daily Mail the missing four-year-old was kidnapped by a pedophile ring but she was still alive.

'Maddie was kidnapped.

'We know who kidnapped her. We believe she is in an area not very far from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. And we have a fairly certain idea of who she is with,” Mr Marco said."

Technology Helps Locate Suspects In Construction Site Theft

Technology Helps Locate Suspects In Construction Site Theft - Money News Story - WISC Madison: "Police said thieves swiped five boxes of aluminum siding from a Veridian home construction site in the Heather Glen neighborhood Saturday.

But along with the metal, police said the thieves also picked up a tracking device hidden inside the boxes.Veridian has had so much trouble with aluminum thefts that the company hired a private investigator, WISC-TV reported."

C. J. Ford Believes that Orange County Authorities Covered Up the Real Reason that DNA was Recently Run to Solve an Unsolved Case - EWORLDWIRE

C. J. Ford Believes that Orange County Authorities Covered Up the Real Reason that DNA was Recently Run to Solve an Unsolved Case - EWORLDWIRE: "Articles that have appeared on the AP and local newspapers in October of this year have reported that Orange County Authorities had interests in solving unsolved crimes. They took credit for solving the Hoffschneider murder of 1984, under this assumption.

However, according to C. J. Ford, independent criminal investigator and consultant, facts support that authorities didn't have the implied interest that they reported. The real reason that this crime was solved was because authorities were trying to keep death row inmate Kenneth Clair from being acquitted of a crime that they accused and convicted him of in 1984."

Stamford Private Eye Reveals Case Secrets

Vito Colucci likes to call the days leading up to Feb. 14 Valenslyne Day. Those are the days this Stamford private eye's phone rings incessantly.

On the other end of the phone, usually, is a suspicious spouse looking for someone to spy on their cheating mate.

So when Colucci saw the Mercedes pull into his driveway and a well-dressed, good-looking man of 38 step out, he expected much of the same.

"He comes in, sits down and tells me he wants me to follow his wife," Colucci recalls. "He shows me a photograph of a beautiful blonde woman. So I start asking him the usual hundred questions — her name, the type of car she drives, where he thinks she's going. Then he tells me he wants me to start following her at 2 p.m. and asks if I can go past midnight to 2 a.m. I say sure. Then he says he wants me to call in a report every 15 to 20 minutes."

Investigator Vows to Pursue Case

Private investigator Ray Michalko has made an early New Year's resolution to continue his sleuthing on the Highway of Tears mysteries.

The former Mountie has been working almost for free since January 2006 at the request of some families of Highway of Tears victims. A women's advocacy group based in the Lower Mainland agreed to pay some of Michalko's expenses although his time is largely donated and slotted in around his paying work.

He stated from the outset that he would probe the murders and disappearances for a couple of years then reassess. This is the end of those two initial years and he told The Citizen this weekend that he is self-extending his mission for at least another year.

Doctor in Lipo Controversy Hired Spy

The Toronto family doctor whose patient died after undergoing liposuction in September hired a private investigator to pose as a patient and spy on a competitor she alleges in a lawsuit is responsible for her drop in business.

Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar, a family physician without a surgical specialty or hospital privileges, performed the liposuction.

Fake Pradas and Guccis to be Burned

Lee County sheriff's investigators confiscated 55 garbage bags full of fake purses, wallets, belts and jewelry - more than $1 Million worth in all. An expensive price tag, but if the products had been real, that would've been the going price. One problem though, the Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Rolex, Coach, Kate Spade, Oakley and Ray Ban's were all counterfeit.

We spoke with a private investigator working the case. He says one of the trademark companies was tipped off about the illegal activity in Southwest Florida. During a six week investigation, he was able to determine the items sold at Lee's Watches and Handbags were fake. The private investigator then contacted the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Drew Peterson Asks Public to Help With his Legal Defense

Drew Peterson says a Web site established to raise money for his legal defense will be a test of the American people’s generosity.

“I’m not asking them to decide guilt or innocence,” Peterson said today of defenddrew.com. “Everyone has the right for a legal defense.”

Peterson said his attorney, Joel Brodsky, is the brainchild behind the Web site, which accepts donations via PayPal.

The site says “for the cost of a few cups of your morning coffee” donors can help fund the legal defense so a private investigator can be hired to help find Peterson’s missing wife Stacy. Any remaining funds will be diverted into a trust fund for Peterson’s four dependent children, who range in age from 14 to 2 years old.

Pretexting Indictment Names Belfair Private Investigator

The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle says ten people across the country have been indicted for illegally obtaining confidential information by "pretexting."

That's the practice of pretending to be someone else to obtain confidential information.

Officials say the hub of the pretexting activity was at a private investigation firm owned by Emilio and Brandy Torrello in Belfair. The couple and their office manager are scheduled to make their first court appearance Thursday (at 2:30) in federal court in Tacoma.

If You Suspect Your Lover of Infidelity, Tank Rolls into Action

The instant you lay eyes on the guy, you know exactly how Sherman "Tank" Jones got the nickname. The resemblance is remarkable.

With the body of a bulldozer and head like a wrecking ball -- let's just say you'd be ill advised to diss his mama.

Yet a big part of his job requires being invisible. Him and his size-15 alligator shoes.

As a private investigator, Tank Jones sees what isn't meant to be seen, hears what isn't meant to be heard, knows what is supposed to be secret. He's pretty sure, for example, that a client's boyfriend who ducked out the door at 5:30 for an early-morning run didn't mean to be videotaped indulging in a little side-dish activity on top of a picnic table in Elderberry Park.

Coin Company Hires Investigator to Prove Consumer Fraud

Austin-based U.S Money Reserve, Inc. is pursuing a permanent injunction against a band of former employees, who formed their own coin company by allegedly stealing the company's consumer accounts.

U.S Money Reserve, doing business as United States Rare Coin & Bullion Reserve (USRCB), filed its suit, USRCB vs. United States Money Exchange et al, earlier this month.

PI Who Broke Fay Case Publishes Book

He’s been on Larry King and many other news programs. He’s covered major national crime cases. He’s handled murders and vicious divorces.

But no case dumbfounded private investigator Vito Colucci like his investigation of former St. John Roman Catholic Parish pastor, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay, in the spring of 2006.

Fay, who pled guilty to stealing millions from parishioners in September, was initially investigated by Colucci, who was hired by former priest Michael Madden and former parish bookkeeper Bethany D’Erario.

“It was so amazing, so off the charts. It made my jaw drop,” he said.

Death Crash Bike Was 'Removed and Burned'

An investigation into a crash that claimed a teenager's life was "seriously hampered" when the illegal scramble bike he had been riding was deliberately removed from the scene, dumped and set on fire before police arrived.

An inquest in Bradford into the death of Anthony Pearson, 19, today heard how a man told police he had been pressured into driving the bike away from Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, by four other men who had picked it up from the road and loaded it on to his van.

An accident investigator estimated Mr Pearson could have been traveling at about 40mph in a 30mph zone on the off-road moto-cross style bike at the time of the crash.

Fake “PIs” Are Actually Scammers Passing on Malware

It looks like Veronica Mars and Magnum, PI are getting into the malware business.

Commtouch, an Israeli security firm that specializes in protecting e-mail integrity, says that it has detected a new malware outbreak that is spread through e-mails claiming to be from private investigators. According to Commtouch, the e-mails tell recipients that a private investigator has been recording the recipients’ phone calls and that an audio file of one of the calls is attached to the message. When unwitting recipients download the “call” to their hard drives, their computers become infected with malware.

Boeing Investigates Employees

Within its bowels, The Boeing Co. holds volumes of proprietary information deemed so valuable that the company has entire teams dedicated to making sure that private information stays private.

One such team, dubbed "enterprise" investigators, has permission to read the private e-mails of employees, follow them and collect video footage or photos of them. Investigators can also secretly watch employee computer screens in real time and reproduce every keystroke a worker makes, the Seattle P-I has learned.

PIs Search For Missing Man Gone For Seven Years

Luther Boyt loved life.

Luther Boyt loved his family and friends.

Luther Boyt loved his money.

So when the midtown Kansas City man went missing the morning of Nov. 26, 2000, his friends knew the party-throwing, piano-playing, antique-collecting man hadn’t just skipped town.

They knew something bad must have happened.

But they have never found his body.

So the mystery of what happened to Boyt still swirls today, seven years after the 59-year-old failed to show up one morning to help his friends finish moving his stuff from his Janssen Place mansion into an apartment.