PI Newswire

Victorea Florea alleged in a civil complaint in Puerto Rico that two private investigators illegally obtained offshore bank records. As reported on Fred L. Abrams’ Asset Search Blog, private investigator Nicole Bocra and Terry L. Gilbeau, a Certified Fraud Examiner and California attorney, allegedly conspired to access offshore bank records in Puerto Rico.

According to the complaint, the bank accounts that Bocra and Gilbeau reportedly found could not be substantiated by the banks. The “evidence” that Bocra and Gilbeau provided allegedly did “not exist and was ‘created’ to tum a profit.” See the case summary below for additional information.

Gilbeau Linked to Convicted Fraudster

This is not the first time it has been alleged that Terry Gilbeau has obtained bank records illegally. According to a recent Forbes article, two-time fraudster Barry Minkow used Gilbeau’s services to obtain confidential information about alleged bank accounts in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland. Minkow used this information when he accused two officers of Lennar Corp. of illegally diverting funds into these “secret bank accounts.” Gilbeau reportedly testified that he got the information orally from another investigator, whose name he (conveniently) could not recall.

Minkow is now serving a five-year jail term after pleading guilty to spreading false allegations about Lennar.

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Police in upstate New York are in hot water with the local NAACP.

A newly surfaced video raises the possibility that Utica, N.Y., police officers planted narcotic evidence on a Black couple at the beginning of 2011.

The silent video, taken on a police surveillance camera during the traffic stop on Feb. 11, 2011, shows a police officer reaching into his back pocket, pulling out what appears to be a small plastic bag and placing the bag into the back seat of the car.

Less than 30 seconds later, the same police officer then reaches into the car and removes what appears to be the same bag and walks away from the vehicle. The video does not show what happens next, but according to the Utica Phoenix, the woman and man were both frisked by the officers, handcuffed and removed from the view of the car, prior to the planting.

The video was brought to the attention of police authorities by the Utica NAACP, which had obtained the footage. The department indicated it would follow up.

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The hunt is on for a dirty cop, somebody has stolen drugs from inside the evidence closet at the Attleboro Police Department. Investigators say it was likely an inside job. The drugs turned up missing during a routine audit back in August, and ever since, the department’s top brass has been trying to weed out the bad seed responsible for the stolen drugs. Whoever did it could still be working inside the police department building.

Chief Kyle Heagney was just sworn in in October, after serving as interim chief for nearly a year. Among his new duties, an investigation he calls disgusting. Finding the person in uniform responsible for taking drugs from their evidence closet.

“We have a dirty cop and were going to find him. The evidence room is the inner sanctum of this police department and to have that violated is just absolutely disgusting,” said Heagney.

During the audit in August, officials found cocaine and other illegal drugs missing from the closet. Chief Heagney says the investigation has been kept quiet for months, so the culprit wouldn’t know anyone was on their trail.

“I simply will not tolerate police corruption, and I will weed and I will seed this police department there will be no unethical behavior tolerated,” said Heagney.

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Robots are replacing humans on the battlefield–but could they also be used to interrogate and torture suspects? This would avoid a serious ethical conflict between physicians’ duty to do no harm, or nonmaleficence, and their questionable role in monitoring vital signs and health of the interrogated. A robot, on the other hand, wouldn’t be bound by the Hippocratic oath, though its very existence creates new dilemmas of its own.

The ethics of military robots is quickly marching ahead, judging by news coverage and academic research. Yet there’s little discussion about robots in the service of national intelligence and espionage, which are omnipresent activities in the background. This is surprising, because most military robots are used for surveillance and reconnaissance, and their most controversial uses are traced back to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in targeted strikes against suspected terrorists. Just this month, a CIA drone –a RQ-170 Sentinel–crash-landed intact into the hands of the Iranians, exposing the secret US spy program in the volatile region.

The US intelligence community, to be sure, is very much interested in robot ethics. At the least, they don’t want to be ambushed by public criticism or worse, since that could derail programs, waste resources, and erode international support. Many in government and policy also have a genuine concern about “doing the right thing” and the impact of war technologies on society. To those ends, In-Q-Tel–the CIA’s technology venture-capital arm (the “Q” is a nod to the technology-gadget genius in the James Bond spy movies)–had invited me to give a briefing to the intelligence community on ethical surprises in their line of work, beyond familiar concerns over possible privacy violations and illegal assassinations. This article is based on that briefing, and while I refer mainly to the US intelligence community, this discussion could apply just as well to intelligence programs abroad.

BACKGROUND

Robotics is a game-changer in national security. We now find military robots in just about every environment: land, sea, air, and even outer space. They have a full range of form-factors from tiny robots that look like insects to aerial drones with wingspans greater than a Boeing 737 airliner. Some are fixed onto battleships, while others patrol borders in Israel and South Korea; these have fully-auto modes and can make their own targeting and attack decisions. There’s interesting work going on now with micro robots, swarm robots, humanoids, chemical bots, and biological-machine integrations. As you’d expect, military robots have fierce names like: TALON SWORDS, Crusher, BEAR, Big Dog, Predator, Reaper, Harpy, Raven, Global Hawk, Vulture, Switchblade, and so on. But not all are weapons–for instance, BEAR is designed to retrieve wounded soldiers on an active battlefield.

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The Biometrics Institute will launch its Biometrics Privacy Charter on the November 30, 2011, during its 7th Biometrics Institute Technology Showcase and Exhibition in Canberra, Australia. The Charter will then be made available to all members.

“This Biometrics Privacy Charter has been designed by the Biometrics Institute to provide a universal guide for suppliers, end users, managers and purchasers of biometric systems,” says Isabelle Moeller, General Manager of the Biometrics Institute, “it is the public’s assurance that the biometric managers have followed best practice privacy principles when designing, implementing and managing biometric based projects.”

The Charter is intended to be a guide across many different countries and jurisdictions. It takes into account the legislative and administrative frameworks of different countries but recognizes that biometrics and information technologies do connect beyond national boundaries and across different fields as diverse as health records, border controls, consumer based applications in the telecommunications industry, banking, and drivers licenses.

The Biometrics Privacy Charter is based on the principle that citizens, when providing their biometric, have a right to expect that those who design, implement, and manage that biometric understand its unique value and are committed to a Charter that ensures best privacy practice in biometric design, policy, and management.

The Biometrics Privacy Charter contains sixteen principles addressing issues such as Respect for Client Privacy, Proportionality, Informed Consent, Protection of Biometric Data Collected, Purpose, Accountability, Sharing of biometric data, Transmission of Biometric Data Beyond National Boundaries, and Employee Biometric Data Must be Protected amongst others. It also provides a checklist on how to Implement and Manage the Principles of this Privacy Charter.

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The RCMP is widening a probe into whether Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) officials took private sector bribes in exchange for favourable tax treatment in Quebec.

The investigation, which began in 2008, originally focused on Montreal, but the probe has been widened to include other Quebec CRA offices after allegations emerged that tax officials asked for kickbacks for services such as ignoring unreported income and giving special treatment on an audit, The Globe And Mail reports.

Some of the alleged bribed mentioned in RCMP search warrants include free home renovations, trips abroad and Montreal Canadiens tickets.

News that the RCMP probe is expanding comes amid increasing scrutiny of corruption in Quebec, particularly in the province’s construction industry.

Last month, Premier Jean Charest was forced to call an inquiry into corruption in the province, a move he had long resisted. And after critics argued vehemently that the probe would not go far enough, Charest expanded the mandate of the investigation to give the judges in charge more power.

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The Richland County Sheriff’s Department has released surveillance video of a former Columbia police officer and an alleged teen prostitute after what investigators say was a tryst at a Columbia area motel.

Deputies arrested Mark A. Cornish, 32, last Friday after receiving a tip that a uniformed officer entered a room at the Econo Lodge off Two Notch Rd. with a known prostitute, identified as a 17-year-old.

When deputies arrived at the scene, Sheriff Leon Lott said Cornish fled in his patrol car. He was found later in the afternoon just a few blocks from the scene.

Deputies said Cornish had met the woman on more than one occasion.

In the video, you can see a girl coming out of one of the rooms and, seconds later, a police officer in full uniform walks out of the same room and heads in the other direction. Investigators say that police officer was Mark Cornish.

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A South Carolina attorney who slapped a defendant in the face during a deposition was suspended for 30 days by the state Supreme Court.

Richard M. Lovelace Jr. had completed a deposition of a client he was representing in a civil lawsuit. Before he deposed the defendant, Lovelace asked if anyone wanted to take a break.

According to the Supreme Court opinion, the defendant “said something to the effect of ‘No, let’s get this crap over with.’”

Lovelace stood up and pointed at the defendant’s face, warning him not to speak to Lovelace in that way.

The defendant then stood up and told Lovelace not to point at him. Lovelace responded by slapping him in the face.

The defendant pressed criminal charges, and Lovelace pleaded no contest to assault and battery. He was ordered to pay a fine.

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At least 93 Milwaukee police officers – ranking from street cop to captain – have been disciplined for violating the laws and ordinances they were sworn to uphold, a Journal Sentinel investigation found.

Their offenses range from sexual assault and domestic violence to drunken driving and shoplifting, according to internal affairs records. All still work for the Police Department, where they have the authority to make arrests, testify in court and patrol neighborhoods.

Officers who run afoul of the law often aren’t fired or prosecuted, the newspaper found. Consider:

At least six officers disciplined by the department for illegal behavior suffered no legal consequences whatsoever. One was Reginald Hampton, accused of sexually assaulting two women he met on duty. Another was Mark Kapusta, suspended after a woman said he pointed a gun at her head during a drunken road-rage incident. Neither officer was charged or ticketed.

Twenty-three officers got breaks from prosecutors that allowed them to avoid being convicted of serious charges – or any charges at all – as long as they didn’t commit more crimes and followed prosecutors’ instructions. One was Patrick Fuhrman, originally charged with a felony for a beating that sent his wife to the hospital and, according to a witness, left blood in every room of their house. A conviction on that charge could have gotten him fired from the department, banned from carrying a gun for life and imprisoned for 3½ years. Instead, he ended up with two tickets for disorderly conduct.

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Although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to remind us that “The TSA holds its security officers to the highest professional and ethical standards and aggressively investigates allegations of misconduct,” allegations of individual misconduct continue to be reported.

Yesterday’s local coverage of the son of a former Los Angeles fire chief being charged with bribing a federal Transportation officer at Los Angeles International Airport made front page news. Millage Peaks IV admitted to the FBI that a TSA employee helped him smuggle marijuana past security on nine separate trips he made from LAX. The TSA officer, Diane Perez, allegedly was paid between $5000 to $6000 to assist Peaks in getting the drugs on the plane without being detected. Perez was arrested by the FBI and charged with accepting bribes.

Peaks and Perez devised a system for avoiding detection that centered on Peaks meeting Perez outside the terminal, checking luggage, and then giving TSA officer Perez two pieces of checked luggage containing drugs. Perez would take the checked bags to the TSA screening room, and shortly thereafter would indicate that the luggage was “good to go.”

Diane Perez has been a TSA officer for seven years. Her job description as reported in the press included “running bags through an X-ray machine and search for explosives, dangerous items or dense items.”

TSA officer Perez and Mr. Peaks IV will be arraigned on November 14. If convicted, they each face up to 15 years in federal prison. (Rick Rojas and Richard Winton,www.latimes.com, 10/18/2011 ) The TSA stated that they are involved in the investigation and “appropriate action will be taken.

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A former police officer turned private detective has been accused of setting up divorcing men for drunken driving arrests with the help of alluring women who pretended to have a romantic interest in their targets.

The private detective, Christopher Butler, has also been accused in a federal indictment of selling drugs for police and helping cops open and operate a brothel, the Los Angeles Times reports. His alleged crimes involved California police departments in San Ramon and Danville and a state narcotics task force.

The newspaper profiles one of the men who was set up. David Dutcher, a rocket engineer, met a woman known as Sharon on Match.com a few months after he separated from his wife. Sharon was blonde and beautiful, Dutcher recalled, and appeared eager for an eventual sexual encounter. On their second date, Sharon asked Dutcher to meet a friend celebrating a real estate deal at a restaurant. The friend was downing tequila shots and asked Dutcher to help finish them. Next the women asked Dutcher to join them at a home with a hot tub. On the way there, Dutcher was arrested for drunken driving.

The allegations of DUI set-ups came to light after a former Butler employee said the stings were engineered for divorcing wives and their lawyers. Sharon, it turns out, was a former Las Vegas showgirl employed by Butler’s detective agency.

Dutcher’s estranged wife, Susan Dutcher, said in a sworn declaration that her lawyer’s paralegal suggested she hire Butler to obtain evidence that her husband drove while drinking. She said she did not authorize his arrest, however. Susan Dutcher’s lawyer at the time, Mary Nolan, denied having anything to do with the hiring of Butler.

David Dutcher has since had his DUI conviction expunged with the help of prosecutors.

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A former NYPD narcotics officer has blown a festering police misconduct scandal sky-high with testimony this week that police regularly planted drugs on innocent people to meet arrest quotas. The former narc, Stephen Anderson, was testifying as a cooperating witness in the trial of another officer after he was arrested for planting cocaine on four men in a bar in Queens.

In two days of testimony at the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, Anderson described how rules were routinely broken or ignored so that narcs could make their monthly arrest quotas. His testimony shone new and unflattering light on the department in a scandal that was originally cast as police not turning in all their drug evidence so they could give it to their snitches as rewards for services rendered. One police official at the time characterized it as “noble corruption,” done for a worthy cause.

But Anderson’s testimony painted a picture of much baser motivations than bending rules in order to get information on drug deals. Anderson alleged that police routinely used drugs they seized but failed to turn in to plant on totally innocent people, without regard to the consequences.

In one case, Anderson described buying three bags of cocaine at a Queens nightclub, then giving two of the bags to a fellow officer, who planted them on and arrested four innocent people.

In court, Justice Gustin Reichblach, who is hearing the case without a jury, pressed Anderson on what he and his comrades had done to innocent people. “What was your thought in terms of saving his career at the cost of those four people who had seemingly no involvement in the transaction?” he asked.

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