Private Eye Flat Out as Recession Bites

As many local companies face downturns, business is booming for Queenstown’s Michael Erwin – Central Otago’s only private eye and debt chaser.

The number of people targeted by Erwin is set to increase even further as the recession bites deeper.

Erwin took over Southern Lakes Investigations last September – a part-time business owned by Kathryn Omond – but he’s already seen business triple since then.

Read more at Scene.co.nz.

Private Investigator Featured on Dateline

Private investigator Philip Klein, founder of Nederland-based Klein Investigations and Consulting, was featured Sunday in an hour-long Dateline special on NBC detailing his efforts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of Patrick Kim McDermott.

McDermott, a former boyfriend of singer Olivia Newton-John, vanished in 2005 after leaving San Pedro, Calif., for a fishing trip.

Dateline producers first came into contact with Klein, whose company routinely investigates cases where children are taken by their non-custodial parents, after interviewing him for another story.

"Phillip's an interesting guy and it seemed like a waste to just interview this guy once," Dateline producer Joe Delmonico told The Enterprise by phone. "We asked him to take a fresh look at the case and followed him from his office, to Los Angeles, and all the way to Mexico."

Read more at the Beaumont Enterprise.

"The Office" Star Sets Sights on Texas PI

San Antonio private investigator Charlie Parker has discovered he's become the subject of a different kind of investigation, one out of Hollywood.

The person looking into his life is none other than TV star Jenna Fischer, known best as Pam in “The Office” on NBC.

Fischer's interest in PI Parker is so keen, in fact, she's developing an NBC drama-comedy series based on his life.

Parker, who's thrilled by all this interest, said he already has received a sizable check from NBC for his life rights.

“It was more money than I've ever had,” he said of the option fee.

Read more at MySanAntonio.com.

Private Investigator Uses Intuition to Help Crack Cases

When Bickell Lund works on a missing person case, she checks the facts, talks to loved ones and follows leads.

But there’s often one tool of the trade that helps her piece everything together — her intuition.

“There was a case where we looked at the missing person and their habits, and I kept coming back to their love of wilderness and the outdoors,” says Lund, of Peace of Mind Investigations in Eudora. “Sure enough, we ended up finding that person in the woods.”

Read more at The Lawrence Journal.

More Companies Turning to PIs Before Police

Growing numbers of UK firms are turning to private investigators to help solve IT security problems as the police struggle to provide adequate resources.

The lack of law enforcement staff trained to tackle e-crime is a well-documented problem in the UK, as it is in many countries around the world. And concerned companies are increasingly looking to alternative routes for help.

Find the rest of the story here.

Video Released of Anthonys' PI Searching Remains Scene

Eyewitness News and WFTV.com were the first to obtain video showing George and Cindy Anthonys' private investigator knifing, poking, prodding and digging in areas where he possibly believed he would find Caylee Anthony's remains.

Sheriff's investigators and only a few others had seen the video until Eyewitness News obtained it. The video could prove the Anthonys' private eye got inside information at the scene a month before Caylee's remains were found by detectives. The videotape and the Anthonys' private investigator's phone records could be the keys that link Casey Anthony to the wooded area.

Read the rest at WFTV.com.

Family Frustrated with Police Hire PI

An east London family is accusing the police of gross incompetence for failing to arrest a suspect for the brutal attack and murder of local businessman Harry Henman.

His widow, Charlotte Henman, and her son Llewellyn told the Daily Dispatch that police had shown a lack of interest in trying to solve the murder, which took place in December 2006.

A local private investigator had even tracked down a suspect and got a confession from him, she claimed.

“The police are completely useless,” said Llewellyn. “They have been given all the information they need but keep coming up with different excuses of why they cannot arrest the man.”

Read the rest of the story at The Dispatch Online.

PIs Offering Tips to Prevent Employee Theft

At first glance, it didn’t seem like a case of employee theft.

But the employee had apparently visited unauthorized websites. A lot of websites. The investigation finally showed that the employee had spent literally hundreds of hours in front of the computer not working.

Arrest Could Come in 1967 Double Murder

The investigation into a 40-year-old double murder in Staunton has taken another turn.

Staunton Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Robertson says police are close to making an arrest in the case, a major step in an investigation that one private investigator says has had its share of problems since the 1967 killings.

Roy Hartless, a private investigator and retired Staunton police officer, has been looking into the double murders of Constance Hevener, 19, and 20-year-old Carolyn Perry for a decade.

Aussie Police Hire PIs to Snoop Online

The internet communications and websites of anti-war campaigners, environmentalists, animal rights activists and other protest groups are being secretly monitored by state and federal agencies.

A Melbourne private intelligence firm specialising in "open-source intelligence" has been engaged by Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the federal Attorney-General's Department to monitor and report on the protest movements' use of the internet.

Life Can Look "Funny" Through a Private Eye's Eye

WRAL News spent time recently with a Raleigh private eye, who says her job is dangerous, emotional and sometimes humorous.

Jet skiing can be a risky activity no matter what condition you are in. But imagine how surprised an insurance company was to see a man they insure out on the open water when he is supposed to have a back problem so severe he cannot make it up a flight of stairs.

PI Worked to Discover Voter Fraud

Audio recordings between a private investigator hired by former Jeffersonville Mayor Rob Waiz and several voters who used absentee ballots during the 2007 Democratic Party primary detail allegations of voter fraud that would have benefited Mayor Tom Galligan.

Galligan defeated Waiz during the race and then won the office that November.

Shoe Print Evidence Gets the Google Treatment

A shoeprint etched in blood or dust can make a crucial difference in a criminal case, but it all depends on the ability of human examiners to identify a matching shoeprint pattern from thousands in their databases.

It's a laborious, inefficient task.

That's why University at Buffalo computer scientists are developing tools to make the search-and-match process more like a Google search and less like hunting for a needle in a haystack.

PI Uses Metro Card as Witness

When Jason Jones was arrested in a fatal shooting in the Bronx in May, he told the police that he had been nowhere near the scene. He said he had left work, ridden the bus with some co-workers and cashed his paycheck, and later had taken a subway to see his girlfriend.

Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Jones and his older brother, Corey, in the shooting, saying they had killed the victim because he had been a government witness in drug and gun cases. Both men could face the death penalty if the government decides to seek it.

But in recent weeks, the case has taken an extraordinary turn — because of Jason Jones’s MetroCard.

PIs Keep It in the Family

“Five years ago, it was mostly women hiring us to investigate their husbands for infidelity. Now it’s reversed...I don’t know what’s happened,” said Josh Livermon with a smirk.

Bob Livermon, Josh’s father, bought Central Virginia Investigations from Cecil Glunt in 2002. At the time, Josh, a Powhatan High School graduate, was working in Florida as a licensed private investigator, having completed that state’s mandatory two year internship program that Josh only half jokingly describes as a “legal slave trade.”

Casey Anthony's PI Speaks

Over the weekend, Equusearch spearheaded a massive effort in the Orlando, Florida area to locate the remains of missing toddler Caylee Marie Anthony. Over a thousand volunteers combed the terrain for two days -- but found no signs of the child.

There is one man who is not in the least surprised by the outcome.

Dominic Casey, head of D & A Investigations, Inc., the agency working with the Anthony family to find Casey Anthony's missing daughter, spoke exclusively with momlogic. And he vehemently believes the three-year-old is alive

Puppy Mill Owner Faces Charges Thanks to Investigator

Team 5 Investigates exposed a Minnesota puppy mill that has sent thousands of dogs to pet shops all over the country, including Massachusetts.

NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported Sunday that because of the undercover video shot by an investigator for the Companion Animal Protection Society, the owner of the puppy mill is now facing charges.

 

Fifteen hundred miles northwest of Massachusetts the relentless sound of barking can be heard from Pick of the Litter. There's no mistaking who's in charge. Kathy Bauck handles the leash for roughly 800 dogs at her Minnesota farm.

The undercover video which has been turned over to police, shows Bauck is cautious about people determined to shut down her family operation that has shipped hundreds of dogs to Massachusetts pet shops for years.

"I've never met so many liars, cheats and thieves in my life as I have in the dog business," said Bauck.

Private Eye Outlines Work for Indicted PA Senator

A private investigator says he did personal investigative work while under contract with the Pennsylvania Senate for veteran Democratic Sen. Vincent Fumo.

Frank Wallace testified Monday in Fumo's trial on charges of defrauding the state Senate, now nearing the two-week mark in federal court in Philadelphia.

Wallace says he was hired for personal, political, and senate work. He says most assignments from Fumo were personal or political.

PI Turned Novelist has Great Stories from Being on the Job

Born in California, Castle came to Massachusetts in the summer of 1983 to visit her grandmother while her parents were going through a divorce. She decided to stay and finish high school in New England. At the age of 15, Castle joined an after-school police explorer group for teens and was hooked.

"I learned a lot about what police officers do," said Castle. "I wanted to be a cop."

After high school she earned her associate's degree in criminal justice at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, juggling numerous jobs during the two years.

Castle worked for a retired police officer as a private investigator, primarily following married men to confirm their infidelity, while she held down an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at Worcester City Hospital as a security guard, where she did everything from moving bodies in the morgue to restraining belligerent patients.

"When I finished at 7 a.m. I would go home, change my clothes, and go to class," said Castle. "On a good day, I'd get four hours of sleep."

After college, in the late 1980s, Castle joined another private investigation firm, where one of her assignments took her to a local manufacturer, where she was asked to investigate complaints about the human resources director and suspicions that assembly line employees were involved with drugs.

"When I would go into these companies, I would have to get a [legitimate] job," said Castle. She spent six months working a wave solder machine, making circuit boards, and socializing with employees after work at a local pub. Castle said one employee would smuggle a flask of liquor to work and another sold cocaine.

"Understand that I have never done drugs, so not only did I have to befriend [the dealers] and buy drugs, I had to act like I knew what I was talking about," said Castle.

Two O.J. Dream Team Members Address Private Investigators

Two members of the O.J. Simpson defense team from 1994 were reunited yesterday, as famed trial lawyer F. Lee Bailey and forensic scientist Henry C. Lee addressed a conference of private investigators.

The two men have participated in some of the country’s most sensational trials and cases, from Mr. Bailey’s work in the Boston Strangler and heiress Patricia Hearst cases to Mr. Lee’s investigations into the murders of JonBenet Ramsey and Chandra Levy, the suicide of White House Counsel Vincent Foster, and the reinvestigation of the Kennedy assassination.

For anyone who has heard or read the views of Mr. Bailey, it should come as no surprise that he was critical of law enforcement and the continued use of the death penalty during his 50-minute talk.

“The biggest flaw in the judicial system in the United States has been and continues to be the reliability of the fact-finding process,” he said. The majority of facts in criminal cases are collected by law enforcement officers.

Reporter Moonlights as PI

Private investigator

Fear factor: 0. I laugh in the face of danger.

Cool factor: 10. If private eyes weren't cool, there wouldn't be so many TV shows about them.

Coulda been worse: I could've spent eight hours in a car. Midnight till dawn. In January. In a blizzard. With a full bladder. Or worse.

It was dark. Really dark. The kind of dark you only see when it's not light. Somewhere off in the black-velvet night, a shot rang out and a woman screamed.

Either that or a car backfired and a cat yowled. I get 'em confused.

My name is Yarborough. Chuck Yarborough. I'm a gumshoe. A shamus. A sherlock. A private eye. Magnum with a beard and not just that woolly bear on his upper lip. Sam Spade without the Maltese Falcon.

For today's story, I am a private investigator for Demopoulos & Associates, the firm run by Pete D. and his wife, Bonnie.

Here's how it went down: The other day, I'm sitting in my office, minding my own beeswax, checking out the racing form for Thistledown and reminiscing about the days when newsroom desk drawers came with Scotch bottles, typewriters clattered a staccato symphony and stale smoke hung in the air like yesterday's sauerkraut. And then, this dame walks in like she runs the place.

City Hires PI to Look Into Campaign Allegations

A private investigator has been hired by the City of Dahlonega to look into allegations made by a city council candidate.

Robert Bridges, who is running for Seat 1, has accused city employees of fraudulent handling of the zoning map, obtaining free city water and embezzling funds. Most of these accusations have been made through campaign signs, ads in The Dahlonega Nugget and, most recently, a campaign letter that was mailed to every city resident in Dahlonega.

Private investigator Tim Huhn stated that Bridges declined to participate in the resulting investigation until after the elections.

As a result, city manager Bill Lewis said Monday that this would bring the current investigation to a close.

“Any time allegations of this nature are made, there is a responsibility to the citizens and to the employees named to take the claims seriously and determine whether there is any basis for them,” stated Lewis in a prepare release. “Mr. Bridges' failure to present anything to the investigator that would support his claims led the council to agree no further action on the matter is warranted.”

Chercover's Sophomore Novel "Trigger City" Gets Rave Review

Chicago private investigator Ray Dudgeon is having a bad night. Rolling over onto his right side, where a beating by two crooked cops had dislocated his shoulder, he triggered a nightmare and woke up with the taste of his own blood in his mouth. "The taste of blood, sudden sweats and flashback images sometimes happened when I was wide awake," he says. "... The episodes had diminished during the months I'd spent with my grandfather down in Georgia but when I came back to Chicago they were right here waiting for me. Chicago was full of triggers. Chicago was Trigger City."

This has been an unusually rich year for crime fiction. But Sean Chercover's second Dudgeon book, after 2007's terrific "Big City, Bad Blood," manages to rise to a unique height. He seems on his way to becoming the Ross Macdonald of his time, close to rubbing shoulders with Dashiell Hammett in the Crime Writers' Hall of Fame.

Business has been bad for Dudgeon since the aftermath of his mauling, and he and his part-time trainee, Vince, now mostly try to pay the rent and buy the occasional beef sandwich at Al's #1 Italian on Taylor by doing divorce work—snooping on errant lovers and spouses for a few dirty dollars. He's even trying to find a buyer for his beloved 1968 Shelby: "It easily constituted over 80 percent of my net worth. I could barely afford the insurance on it."

So when Isaac Richmond, a retired U.S. Army Intelligence officer, hands Ray a check for $50,000 for two months' exclusive work, looking into the murder of his daughter, Dudgeon is sorely tempted. "All I had to do is take a case that had zero chance of success," he says as he tries to convince Richmond that it's hopeless.

Private Investigator Catches Sunglass Counterfeitter

A 35-year-old Davenport man was arrested Tuesday after being accused of selling counterfeit sunglasses.

Kenneth Jason Watkins, of 2617 W. 49th St., is charged with one count of second-degree intellectual property counterfeiting.

According to the arrest affidavit, Watkins had been advertising on a Web site that he was selling Oakley “M” Frame sunglasses for $25. The “M” Frame sunglasses are a registered trademark product for Oakley.

A private investigator allegedly met Watkins on Aug. 24 and bought a pair of the sunglasses for $20.

The private investigator then sent the sunglasses to an employee of Oakley, who filed an affidavit Aug. 28 in which he said the sunglasses Watkins was selling were counterfeits of “M” Frame sunglasses that normally sell for $165.

Private Eyes Meet in Michigan

The Michigan and Ontario Councils of Private Investigators are holding their first joint conference this week with events scheduled on both sides of the border.

During the 2-day conference, Ontario Council President Debbra MacDonald of C3 Investigations is giving participants a look at a case that required her to work undercover for months in order to get the information she needed.

"I went undercover for 4 months to find out that the alleged victim was lying," MacDonald told WWJ Newsradio 950's Pat Sweeting.

"So, it was a very interesting file on a very interesting case. We have ADWC [Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted] coming out and they defend a lot of wrongly-convicted," she said.