India Uses PIs to Stop Terrorism

When you go out dancing this Navratri, the woman swirling next to you in a backless choli could well be a private eye looking for suspicious elements wanting to unleash terror.

With Navratri this year being held in the backdrop of serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and terror attacks elsewhere, many garba venues will be monitored closely, with policemen, private security personnel and desi James Bonds mingling with dancers dressed in all the finery to keep vigil.

“Undercover agents, both male and female, will be dressed in traditional kediya-dhoti and ghaghra-choli,” says M M Khan of Blackcat Secret Services. In Gujarat, private eyes have been hired over years, but mainly by worried parents to trail teenage children, NRIs to keep an eye on would-be brides and spouses suspecting their partners of infidelity.

However, the shadow of terror over the festivities this year has changed their brief, with most detectives being asked to keep their eyes open for a potential bomber rather than a cheating wife or a teenager out to have fun.

News Crew and PI Check Out Hotel Security

Jennifer Hampton’s co-workers last saw the Alabama woman as she entered her room at the Days Inn Motel on Lovell Road. Ten days later, the medical examiner confirmed that a body found floating in Melton Hill Lake was hers.

That same day, we decided to inspect the rooms on the same side of the Days Inn that Hampton was staying in, to find out if they could be easily broken in to. Helping with the inspection was Kendall Shull, a former FBI agent who runs a private investigation firm in Knoxville.

"There doesn't appear to be some of the things I would want if my daughter, for example, was going to stay here," said Shull.

We quickly spotted our first problem, the security door guard which functions like a chain lock. It appeared to have been re-drilled at some point.

"It's obviously been broken off or repaired,” said Shull. “I don't know how secure it is and I don't know what it would take. I can guarantee that if I go out there and push or kick on the door hard enough, then I bet I can break it off of here."

We asked the Days Inn manager about the door guard and he said, “Safety is our number one priority. We try to prevent breaks before they happen through weekly checks. Anytime a lock is loose, we replace it immediately."

Since the door is the last barrier between you and a criminal, Shull continued inspecting the one in our room, right down the hall from where Hampton was saying. He said the deadbolt worked fine, but the “hard key override,” was something to be worried about.

"It just bothers me that there is a key there,” he said. “The key can be duplicated and if someone wants in they will duplicate the key."

Management at the Days Inn confirmed that maintenance and housekeeping employees have access to the key.

After inspecting the room, we drove across town to the Four Points by Sheraton’s Knoxville Cumberland House Hotel across from World’s Fair Park. Shull noted that the doors to each room had the same number and type of locks as the doors at the Days Inn. The difference was the overall construction.

PI Discovers Major Town Council Gaffe

Bungling town hall officials were condemned today after the locations of domestic violence safe houses were made publicly available on an official council website - for eight years.

Full addresses, complete with street numbers and postcodes were listed under the helpful heading 'safe houses'.

Safe house locations are supposed to be a kept a strict secret to protect victims from their abusive partners, as well as to safeguard police witnesses from reprisals during trials.

But today it emerged that the whereabouts of five shelters were accidentally published on the website of Northamptonshire's Corby Borough Council, alongside the addresses of sports venues, lock-ups and community centres.

The bungle meant the list of addresses has been easily accessible for eight years - and even came out top of a simple search using Google.

They were discovered within seconds by private investigators who were tracking a single mother and her children. Investigators also found proposed safe house locations in council minutes posted online - marked 'not for publication'.

PI's Cases Range From Mundane to High-Profile

Many people view his line of work with awe or disdain, but Ron Lax says being a private investigator isn't as glamorous, exciting or unsavory as often perceived.

"I enjoy what I do. It's rewarding. It's fun. It's just nothing like portrayed on TV and in the movies," said Lax, president and owner of Inquisitor Inc.

Marking its 30th anniversary recently, Inquisitor offers a full range of investigative services in such areas as insurance fraud and corporate theft but handles few domestic cases.

Lax is personally drawn to criminal defense work, especially death-penalty cases. Before working on a murder-conviction appeal in the late 1980s, Lax said he didn't give much thought to capital punishment.

"If you would have asked me back then, I would have said, 'Sure, I'm for the death penalty,'" he said. "But then I started looking at the death penalty, and I realized how unfair it was.

"Law enforcement and (district attorneys) usually do have the right person, but sometimes they don't. Innocent people are convicted, and guilty people go free. It's definitely lopsided. If someone has a good attorney, they can buy a very good defense."

Lax has investigated -- sometimes on a volunteer basis -- numerous high-profile capital murder cases, including the West Memphis Three.

In 2006, Lax was honored by the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for his "extraordinary work in the arena of capital defense investigations." He has worked cases as far away as California, Montana and Hawaii.

Florida Eye Institue Founder Felt Threatened

Florida Eye Institute founder Dr. Paul Minotty says he had a security system installed in the three-story building because he believed there was a conspiracy against him, threatening his well-being.

Minotty told jurors on Tuesday he wanted protection fearing that he was going to set up for an arrest for drunken driving following a Christmas party in 2007.

He also told jurors he heard a clinic employee bought a 50-caliber military rifle.

Circuit Judge Robert Hawley cautioned jurors that Minotty's testimony should only be used in judging the defendant's state of mind rather the truth of the assertions.

Minotty is on trial in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by three of the institute's six doctor-owners. The three contend Minotty financially mismanaged the firm, over their objections, and allegedly resorted to having electronic surveillance equipment secretly installed in their private offices in violation of state law.

The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount of damages and want the institute put in a business receivership.

Private Eye Tracks Down Missing Dog

Members of a Derbyshire family have been reunited with their missing dog after hiring a private investigator to track it down.

The Kecks suspected their dog, a basset hound, had been stolen from their home in August last year.

A website appeal, a call to police and a search by the RSPCA failed to find the animal.

A chance encounter with another basset owner gave daughter Alicia, 22, the potential lead they were looking for. Someone had "found" a dog fitting the description at about the same time the pet went missing.

The Kecks hired a private investigator to look into the possible link and the pet, now a two-year-old, was traced to another family in Long Eaton, about 30 miles away.

Father and Son Reunited After 30 Long Years

An east London man’s burning desire to meet his long lost father and a local private investigator’s Sherlock Holmes skills recently brought closure to a seven-year search.

Dreams turned into reality for Beacon Bay businessman Richard Terwin, 30, when he f inally came face to face with his estranged father two weeks ago.

The heartwarming union between Terwin and his father, Charalampos Vorreas, 69, happened in Cuba after persistent and determined investigations by private eye Christian Botha.

“Once I start something, I want to finish it ,” said Botha, relating how it took him almost seven years to solve the case.

Equipped with only a nickname (Babis), and the name of the ship on which Vorreas had worked, Botha began his epic investigation, which involved global connections with other investigators.

“All Richard could provide me with was that his father was a marine engineer who worked on a vessel that had been docked in East London for some time to undergo repairs. There was also a letter from the ship’s captain written to Richard’s mother allowing her entry on board the ship. That was all,” said Botha.

Shrine Bowl Chairman Charged with Embezzlement

The chairman of the annual East/West Shrine Bowl football game in Great Falls has been arrested on charges that he embezzled $55,000 from the charity event.

Prosecutors allege that Jerrold Evans, 78, wrote checks to himself from the organization's bank account during the past three years.

Evans, who has no previous criminal record, according to court documents, made his initial appearance in Cascade County District Court on Wednesday. He was released after posting bond.

According to the charging document filed by prosecutors, Evans told a private investigator that a problem with alcohol and gambling led him to steal money from ticket sales for the game and donations, both of which were meant for a children's hospital.

The Great Falls chapter of the Shrine Club oversees the Shrine Bowl, an annual all-star game for the previous year's top high-school seniors. Since its inception in 1947, the game has raised more than $1 million for the Shriners' pediatric hospital in Spokane. The game is played at Memorial Stadium.

PI Helps Locate Missing Children

A former lieutenant with the Waldo County Sheriff's Department, who now works as a private investigator, assisted authorities in finding two girls who went missing Monday, Aug. 24, from Maine.

Jodie Perfect of Carroll Plantation hired Gary Boynton, who operates World Wide Investigations in Belfast, to help find her two daughters, Aleah Perfect, 6, and Amara Perfect, 2.

Jodie Perfect reported the girls missing Monday, Aug. 25, after their father and her estranged husband, Peter Perfect, 44, did not bring the girls home Sunday.

Jodie Perfect hired Boynton, a 26-year veteran of the Waldo County Sheriff's Department, soon after reporting her daughters missing to the Maine State Police.

Jodie Perfect had reportedly recently served her husband with divorce papers.

Friday afternoon, Boynton returned from Ohio with Jodie Perfect and her daughters after retrieving them from the home of Peter Perfect's brother in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

PI in Rockefeller Case Talks About His Profession

Marshfield private detective G. Robert Warren has been named as a witness in the case of Clark Rockefeller, who is charged with abducting his 7-year-old daughter in Boston last month.

The incident sparked an international manhunt for Rockefeller and his daughter, Reigh Boss. Rockefeller was arrested outside Baltimore earlier this month.

Warren, of Diverse Investigative Services in Webster Square in Marshfield, confirmed that Boston police have named him as a witness, but would not comment on the investigation.

But he did say most of a private eye’s work isn’t so exciting.

“Most of the time, it’s slow, mundane, boring,” he said. “You sit for hours and hours and hours on surveillance. If you blink, you might miss what you’re waiting to see.”

"Investigator to the Stars" Convicted in Wiretapping

Anthony Pellicano, a private investigator who once worked for Hollywood stars, and a prominent lawyer, Terry N. Christensen, were convicted Friday in the wiretapping of the ex-wife of the investor Kirk Kerkorian in a child-support case.

Both Mr. Christensen and Mr. Pellicano, 65, were convicted of conspiracy to commit wiretapping in Federal District Court here. Mr. Christensen was also convicted of aiding and abetting a wiretap; Mr. Pellicano was also convicted of wiretapping.

The conclusion of the six-week trial before Federal District Judge Dale S. Fischer opens the door for a number of civil suits against the two men as well as several others in the case. The suits, which were delayed during the criminal proceedings, largely involve victims of wiretapping seeking damages for incidents in which private conversations were recorded.

Republican VP Nominee in Ethics Probe

A state ethics probe that was launched just a few weeks ago is already drawing attention in the opening moments of her debut as the Republican vice presidential pick is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

An independent investigator appointed by a panel of state legislators earlier this month is looking into whether Ms. Palin dismissed a top law enforcement official in her administration because he failed to fire a state trooper, Mike Wooten, who went through a messy divorce with Ms. Palin’s sister.

The investigation follows on the heels of Ms. Palin’s abrupt decision in mid-July to dismiss Walt Monegan, her Public Safety Commissioner. Ms. Palin said she wanted to take the department in a different direction, but questions emerged after Mr. Monegan said he felt pressured to fire Mr. Wooten.

Mr. Monegan said members of Ms. Palin’s administration, as well Ms. Palin’s husband, Todd, and the governor herself talked to him about Mr. Wooten.

Mr. Monegan told the Anchorage Daily News that Mr. Palin showed him some of the findings of a private investigator the family had hired and accused him of variety of misdeeds, including drunk driving and child abuse.

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.