PI Newswire

A close look at city spending shows over the years the city of Albuquerque has paid millions of dollars for private investigators who spend much of their time tracking city employees suspected of wrongdoing.

City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry calls it a necessary expense.

“There’s a whole slew of different investigative jobs and responsibility that they do,” Perry told KRQE News 13.

Because the city is self-insured, more than half of the work for private investigators involves handling tort claims–lawsuits claiming damage or injury by the city–and workers-compensation investigations for the city’s Risk Management Division and the City Attorney’s Office.

Another part of their job includes investigating internal allegations of employee misconduct.

PIs contract for City Hall sleuthing: krqe.com

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Once upon a time a person could vanish without a trace. They could erase their history, move on to a new place, and forget their debt and crimes. No longer. With enough time and skill, anyone can be tracked down. They can’t hide anymore.

Skip tracing is the art of tracking those who don’t want to be tracked. At its core is a proficiency for collecting and sorting information. Finding sources, whether they be family members who might know where the person has gone, friends who have a phone number, or even a website that lists their new address, is important.

But often, the hardest part of a skip trace is finding that first crucial clue. Even the most powerful skip tracing technique is useless if your search is directionless.

That is where an investigative database comes in. These databases provide a crucial service: digging through hundreds of thousands of digitized records looking for related information. A good investigative database can provide you information on any family the skip might have, their email addresses, their full SSN, unpublished phone numbers, etc. Basically, an investigative database gives your skip trace a solid base to work off of.

Databases often give you valuable information on known associates, including roommates or significant others. Another great tool for tracking someone down is by a phone number. If you can find a phone number, that’s great, most databases have what is known as a “reverse lookup” that can provide information including account holder, phone carrier and address. Most databases can give you information on published and non-published landlines as well as information on cell phone numbers. Email addresses can work well also, although they are usually used as a last resort. If you can get a copy of an email from that address, you’ll likely have the IP address that person is using. Reversing that will give you the region it came from.

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A private detective famous for once having his own TV series in Poland has taken up the search for those who caused two giraffes to have heart attacks, as their zoo was being vandalized.

Private detective Krzysztof Rutkowski says animal rights activists have contacted him in the wake of the deaths of the animals on Saturday night, Sunday morning, at the zoo in Lodz, central Poland.

The small zoo cannot afford CCTV cameras, so the identity and number of vandals who literally frightened the giraffes to death is unknown.

“We hope for a quick resolution of this case,” says Rutkowski, who starred in the Detektyw TV documentary series, which followed his exploits in tracking down missing persons and other cases.

“We have taken steps to apprehend the perpetrators of this vandalism,” Rutkowski, who runs the Rutkowski Patrol company, told the TVN 24 news station.

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Rachel Uchitel, the woman who found herself at the center of the Tiger Woods’ infidelity scandal, gave birth on Tuesday (May 15, 2012), reports Fox News. In a statement, her representative said, “Both Rachel and baby are resting comfortably”.

The New York club promoter rose to media prominence in 2010 after it was alleged that she was the mistress of Tiger Woods – the professional golfer who has since divorced from his wife Elin Nordegren. She later appeared on the reality series ‘Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew’ during which she dealt with her self-described addiction to “love”. She has since begun working towards getting her forensic investigation license from Dga Detectives and is now married to Matt Hahn, a “non-celebrity”. Uchitel was a couple of days late with the birth of her child, tweeting on Saturday (May 12, 2012), “Today is my due date.Spent it swimming laps, taking dogs do the beach and catching up with friends. Now what?!” (sic)

According to Tmz.com, the little girl’s name is Wyatt Lilly, who weighed in at an average 7lbs and 1oz.

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Whenever a client tells me that her husband has said, “We don’t need lawyers,” I become wary. When he is self-employed, I become downright suspicious. If his career is in high finance, my suspicion grows twofold.

My reaction is based on years of seeing this same pattern play out. I’m not a financial divorce specialist, but I am an experienced divorce therapist and one of the main reasons I began working with people (primarily women) in this realm is that I saw the less financially savvy spouse or the “outspouse” (the term used by the court for the spouse who does not own the business from which income may be hidden) fall victim to the spouse in charge of the finances.

All too often, the reason the knowledgeable spouse doesn’t want attorneys or accountants involved is that they don’t want their schemes to be uncovered.

Divorce is hard enough, especially if an affair is involved, but add to it an additional layer of deception and betrayal and it can make the trusting spouse wonder if the entire marriage had been a sham. It’s nothing short of devastating.

People hide income to avoid paying taxes — a federal crime — and, during a divorce, people hide income and assets to avoid paying higher child and spousal support.

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Here’s a question for those of you who are fans of 1990s pop culture: Do you remember that episode of Beverly Hills 90210 in which authorities discover that Gabrielle Carteris’ character, Andrea Zuckerman, has been secretly living outside of the school district? So, she gets kicked out of school and they lock up her family for illegal enrollment, larceny, theft by deception, and records tampering.

Oh – that’s right. Sorry. My mistake. Andrea actually goes on to receive an acceptance letter to Yale, and gives the commencement address as the valedictorian of her high school class.

I confused the fates of fictional, non-affluent characters on television, with the real-life nightmares of Americans who barely get by. They have found it’s nearly impossible to provide their children with the best educational opportunity available.

Kelley Williams-Bolar, 41-year-old, single mother from Akron, Ohio, was charged last year with both felony larceny and records tempering, for using her father’s address to enroll her two children in a neighboring school district. The Copley-Fairlawn School District hired a private investigator to shoot video of Ms. Williams-Bolar driving her children to school, and then ordered her to pay $30,000 in back tuition under threat of felony charges. A felony conviction would have prevented Ms. Williams-Bolar, a teacher’s aide and student pursuing a degree in family child development, from obtaining the very license to teach. But she didn’t have $30,000. Ms. Williams-Bolar was sentenced to jail and probation, until public outrage led Governor John Kasich to intervene and reduce her convictions to misdemeanors.

Marie Menard of Stratford, Connecticut, and Ana Wade of Milford, were arrested on October 20, 2010 and charged with first-degree larceny, and conspiracy, for allegedly enrolling Ms. Wade’s children in Stratford schools using Ms. Menard’s address.

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Two bounty hunters bust their way through an elderly woman’s home in Tulsa looking for a fugitive.

They soon found out they were at the wrong house.

Police said two of the three bounty hunters had warrants for their own arrests.

Now, professional bounty hunters are calling for regulation.

Oklahoma law only requires bounty men to be 18 years old.

There is no gun or weapons instruction or even training on how to arrest the fugitives they are hunting.

Bounty Hunter David Dunn has been a licensed private investigator for 16 years.

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Since July 2011, ISPLA and our investigative and security professional colleagues have expressed concern about the ongoing British investigation of private investigators’ actions in reference to the Murdoch scandal of phone hacking and other questionable activities delving into the medical and financial records of subjects at the request of UK media outlets.

ISPLA’s Nicole Bocra and private investigator and investigative reporter Pat Clawson have provided us with links to current UK coverage including a TV expose that will eventually be replicated by others here in the U.S.

The Senate Commerce Committee last week announced that they too plan on holding hearings on the same subject matter. Last year, the House Homeland Security and Commerce Committees also called for hearings.

Mr. Clawson wrote in an email:

“In the United Kingdom, the Channel 4 (London) “Dispatches” TV
investigative reporting team is broadcasting the results of a
year-long undercover probe of illegal private investigation practices.
Extensive hidden camera video documenting misdeeds is featured in the
show, titled “Watching the Detectives.”

The Channel 4 promo states:

“How safe are your secrets? Channel 4 Dispatches reveals how easy it
is to buy our most personal and confidential information. In a
year-long undercover investigation, private detectives sell us access
to health and criminal records, mobile phone bills and bank accounts.
The programme discovers the extent of the black market in personal
data and reveals how supposedly secure databases are open to exploitation.”

Clawson further pointed out that “this is certain to cause an uproar, and it is likely to attract
attention from American journalists and legislators…It would be a smart move for private investigator trade associations in the USA to point out that our PIs (unlike those in the UK) are carefully regulated by the government and many of the practices described in the British broadcast were long ago outlawed in America.”

News reports – and previews of the TV documentary – are available at the following links.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2012/may/13/private-investigators-personal-data-video?newsfeed=true

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/12/private-investigators-financial-criminal-records?newsfeed=true

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/12/trade-personal-data-secret-investigation?intcmp=239

Stay tuned as further developments emerge from the UK hearings being held by Lord Justice Brian Leveson continue into the phone hacking cover-up and extent of involvement of Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.

Bruce Hulme
ISPLA Director of Government Affairs
www.ISPLA.org

Resource to Government, the Media, and to Investigative and Security Professionals

Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho billionaire and one of Romney’s donors, appears to be under attack by a Democrat who is doing opposition research against him. VanderSloot appeared very publicly on a list cited by the Barack Obama campaign website, describing him and others as wealthy individuals with less than reputable record. Now, this Idaho CEO has discovered that a private investigator is digging for more dirt on him, specifically looking for his divorce papers.

Is it fair to target private citizens when they make donations to public politicians? Chris Hahn and Chris Plante joined America Live today to discuss this matter.

Hahn said this disturbs him a little, but went on to say, “When you put yourself out there in such a big way, you’ve got to expect some scrutiny.”

Plante doesn’t see it that way. He said that just because Vandersloot donated money for a political cause, doesn’t mean he and his family need to be demonized. He said, “This president has a long list of enemies; if you’re not on President Obama’s enemy list, I don’t know what you’re doing wrong.”

Megyn asked Hahn how he’d feel if someone was investigating his own personal records. While Hahn agrees it should be off limits to look into donors’ personal lives, he said that when someone gives $1 million you can’t be that surprised.

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Two Hialeah employees are off the job, accused of shopping and running errands while on the clock.

“This is simply people failing to do their job and stealing from citizens,” said Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez.

The mayor said he hired a private investigator to follow Carlos Rodriguez and Maritza Martinez around town. He said he would have had a Hialeah police officer investigate the case but he feared the two employees would recognize the officer.

Rodriguez and Martinez are accused of going shopping, taking long breaks and even going home. According to the mayor, all of that personal business happened while they were supposed to be working at the city’s water and sewer department.

Rodriguez and Martinez both say politics are behind their firing. Rodriguez told NBC 6 that any city employee who supported Raul Martinez’s run for mayor has been fired.

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The country’s top prosecutor is now in the mix of the failed Sacramento arena fallout.

A letter was sent to U.S. Attorney Eric Holder after CBS13′s exclusive report that the Maloofs hired a former FBI investigator to question Sacramento business leaders.

“Bottom line is going to the place we thought could make the best decision regarding if there were laws broken,” said Jeremiah Jackson, Think BIG Spokesperson.

The letter from downtown arena political campaign leader Chris Lehane reads,

“I am writing to ask the justice department to determine whether any federal criminal laws have been broken by the Maloof family.”

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A Canadian tech activist has been acquitted of all five charges against him, according to Jesse Brown, a Toronto-based journalist, who has been following the case for months and attended the verdict hearing on Tuesday. The full legal decision has not yet been published.

The case dates back to 2010 when the City of Toronto hosted a two-day meeting of the G20 heads of government. As security preparations were underway, a 37-year-old Canadian geek named Byron Sonne made a point of examining, testing, analyzing, and pointing out holes in the entire security apparatus. He posted photos of police perimeters and deployments online and eventually was arrested and kept in jail for almost a year.

Sonne’s interest in security has always been public; he was a prominent member of the Toronto Area Security Klatch and the city’s Hacklab. Since 2001, he has taken action to provoke law enforcement and to point out flaws in the Canadian government’s “security theater” by uploading and downloading various controversial texts on BitTorrent, including Mein Kampf, Das Kapital, books by various conspiracy-bent authors, and a book called the Guide to Home and Recreational Use of High Explosives. Sonne also acquired a restricted firearms licence and a private investigator’s licence.

As Toronto Life put it in a profile last year: “[Sonne’s] plan: engage in borderline illegal activities, attract the attention of law enforcement and establish proof of the limits of Canadian freedom.”

But by fall 2009, when provoking law enforcement and intelligence agencies to take notice of him didn’t yield an adequate response, Sonne decided to up his game by publicly teaching others how to listen in on unencrypted emergency channel communications. He also stored fertilizer that could be used to construct bombs (but wasn’t), and owned rocket fuel, among other actions. Sonne’s obsession has come with a personal price; he and his wife divorced during the two-year ordeal.

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