Case Study

Case Study

Private Investigator Locates Runaway Child

We are licensed California Private Investigators who assist clients find their runaway children for the past twenty-six years. We enjoy a favorable success rate and are familiar with various reasons that cause children to runaway. This is a short case study of one of our investigations where we found a young runaway boy. It is heartbreaking to receive a call from a frantic parent saying that they want us to find their child who ran away. The following is a true story about an eleven-year-old boy in California who became upset at his parents and ran away. The parents heard about our success in locating runaways from friends. The parents told us their son made friends with an adult male who lived close to their home. They said their son casually mentioned that he occasionally hung out with a new friend regularly who was an adult, though it was unclear how they had met. Upon the parents discovering their child ran away, they were suspect that the same adult male was harboring him. They did not suspect the man abducted their boy, but they were fairly certain their son might be staying in the man’s town-home and that he had gone there on his own accord. Of course, they went to the man’s home, who told the parents their son was not there. After that, they called the police explaining their suspicion about the adult male. The police told them that even if their son was staying with the man and had gone there voluntarily, the police could not legally force the man to let them search his home because they had no legal authority to search his home just because he may have allowed the boy to stay with him. The police said the man would have to grant the police permission to enter his residence. The only exception would be if there were a reasonable suspicion that the child was in imminent danger, as an example if the man was on a sex offender’s registry then the police could obtain a search warrant.    Be it as it may, the police asked permission to enter the man’s home to search it. The man granted them permission and the boy was not there. On a second occasion, the parents told us that one of their neighbors saw their son go into that man’s home one evening shortly after the police searched it. We assigned one of our investigators to this case  who was a former Police Detective with extensive investigative experience tracking down missing and runaway children. Our investigator interviewed several neighbors who claimed they saw the boy on a couple of occasions near the man’s residence but they had not seen him enter or leave the man’s home. That was enough information for us to initiate surveillance on the man’s town-home. During the surveillance our investigator told us that he was 75% certain he saw the child come out the back door of the town-home, though he did not have a perfect view of the back door. Acting on this, we asked the boy’s parents to call the police again to search the residence. Officers arrived, and they were again given permission to enter the town-home a second time with our investigator . When the police were about to leave without finding the boy, our investigator noticed there was an attic door in the ceiling of the second floor. He asked the officers to please look up in the attic. There was the boy curled up into a corner of the attic. By law, the police could not arrest the man for harboring the child and they had checked to see whether the man had a prior criminal record. He did not. The child was returned to his parents, who were thrilled to have their son home. We suggested that the family seek counseling to learn why the child ran away in the first place and we asked them to try to work together toward a happy resolution. Runaways can be found, and parents with children who appear seriously despondent or depressed should seek counseling.

Case Study

Identify Thieves Caught And Imprisoned

A gentleman we’ll name John (not his real name) called us to explain that he had made his weekly visit to his local Post Office Box to pick up his mail. Upon his arrival in the Post Office, he noticed his and several other PO Boxes had been broken into. THE VICTIM John reported the break- in to the Post Office manager, and the local Sheriff. John was understandably upset due to the fact that the Sheriff had not made much of an attempt to find who broke into the Post Office Boxes for about two months. The theft occurred in January when he and his wife’s year-end 1099 Tax forms were due to arrive that contained their Social Security numbers. A short time later, credit card statements arrived with thousands of dollars of unauthorized charges. John retained us to find the thieves who committed the crime and to try to reclaim his creditworthiness. He meticulously organized all of fraudulent charges made, the amount of each charge, and the establishments where the stolen credit cards were used. One of the fraudulent charges was at a Wal-Mart like store in Coachella Valley. THE INVESTIGATION INTO IDENTITY THEFT We proceeded to that store, hoping they had surveillance cameras. When we approached the manager we were delighted that he willingly volunteered to run the credit card number, the amount of the sale, and the date of purchase in the store’s computer. In less than five minutes he pulled up a video of the people who made those fraudulent charges. We observed four people, two men, and two women. SUSPECTED THIEVES CAUGHT ON CAMERA We asked the manager to please check the cameras in the parking lot and he obliged. We saw the foursome getting into a vehicle, and we were able to acquire the license plate number. Ordinarily, we would have had to get law enforcement to serve the store with a search warrant in order to see those videos, but we were extremely fortunate that the manager heard from other customers that they too had been ripped off by someone using their credit cards. TRACKING DOWN THE THIEVES We ran the license plate number, knowing we would not obtain the owner’s address because California state law prohibits addresses from being shown unless a warrant is issued. However, our proprietary database does run names and delivers us all of the possible addresses for the named person. We obtained an address in Fontana. We initiated surveillance on that address but unfortunately no luck. We never saw the suspects’ car, nor did we see the suspects go in or come out of the house. MEETING WITH LOCAL POLICE We decided to check with the Fontana Police Department, hoping they might have something on the suspect. We met with a detective, explained what we knew, and asked if he had any idea how to find out where the suspect lives. He ran the license plate, and saw that the vehicle had been stopped recently for a traffic violation. The officer who made the stop routinely ran the suspect’s license number and read he had been recently paroled at which time he asked the suspect for his current address, which is mandatory for parolees to reveal. The detective confirmed there was a current address written on the citation. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT JOINS THE INVESTIGATION Next, it was time to share what we learned with the area United States Postal Inspector (USPI) in neighboring San Bernardino County, who was very attentive while listening to our findings. The USPI searched her database and found the arrest and conviction report on the suspect who had been found guilty of identity theft. The USPI then checked her open case file database for any US Post Office Box break-ins around Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. She found that there was a string of robberies all along Interstate 10 Freeway. The break-ins started the week the suspect was paroled. The USPI then called the Fontana detective and acquired the address for the of the suspect. THIEVES BUSTED BY THE FBI The USPI contacted the FBI, who secured a warrant for the arrest of the suspect and any evidence related to US Post Office Box credit card thefts. A raid followed, and the suspect, his wife, adult daughter, and boyfriend, who we learned was a heroin addict, were all arrested. A mountain of evidence was secured consisting of purchases made with stolen credit cards found all over their house, along with illicit drugs. The suspects applied for new credit cards in the names of their victims but used their own post office boxes for delivery of those credit cards. All four suspects were convicted and off they went to Federal Prisons. INVESTIGATIVE TIMELINE Within three weeks of commencing this investigation, we identified the suspects, met with the Fontana Police Department conferred with the USPI, and had all four suspects convicted. Needless to say John was delighted with the outcome of our investigation, and he was reimbursed by his credit card companies for all of the fraudulent charges.

Case Study

Case Study: ATM Robbery

This was a challenging investigation of an ATM robbery located in a grocery store was broken into on Father’s Day 2013. Occurring in the early morning hours just before the store opened for business, the police were called to investigate but though they took a report, they hadn’t made any progress in recovering the money or the thieves. The owner of the ATM machine called us to determine who may have broken into the ATM. There were no signs of forced entry, such as broken windows or doors, so it had to be someone who had access to the grocery store. One theory the employees proposed was that the thieves had gotten access via the roof, opening an air vent that was attached to a ceiling vent of a coffee shop located inside the store. That vent was very narrow and ended inside an aluminum hood that was positioned directly over a grill. However, the grill remained hot all night due to its pilot lights remaining on, even though the grill burners were turned off. So, if someone did access the store through the vent, they would have had to slide down a greasy aluminum vent shaft and then step on a hot grill, then walk over to the ATM on the other side of the grocery store without leaving any greasy footprints on the floor. On escape, they would have to do all of that in reverse. It wasn’t an impossible scenario (for Spiderman), but it was highly unlikely. So we discounted this theory and focused on the owner of the grocery store and his employees as possible suspects. Our investigators asked all the employees and two vendors who rented space if they were willing to speak with us voluntarily, as well as be willing to take a polygraph if asked to do so. After two days of conducting interviews, we had a four possible suspects in mind for a polygraph examination. Our investigations had found what the police hadn’t: one of the vendors, who sold and repaired computers, was just a few feet away from the ATM. The police had checked out all the CCTV cameras in the store but they missed one of the most important ones, which was the one that sat on a shelf pointing directly at the ATM in the computer vendor’s kiosk. When we asked the vendor to play back the video on the day of the burglary he told us that he had viewed the video and there was nothing that could be seen so he erased it — very suspicious behavior! Surveillance Video Detects Thief We then asked the computer vendor to show us any of his surveillance video that was taken around the same time the burglary took place so we could see for ourselves how obscure the video would be. The vendor showed us footage taken the exact same time as the burglary. We could have made out who the thief was in a heartbeat because the camera had infrared capability! Of course, we asked the vendor if he would be willing to take a polygraph. He consented. However, when the polygraph examiner showed up, the only one who refused to take the polygraph was the computer vendor (who, by the way, hadn’t lost a single computer or accessory from his kiosk when the burglary occurred, despite the fact that his kiosk was just a few feet from the ATM). So, guess who the thief was? We accomplished our robbery investigation and identified the thief. However, the police couldn’t arrest him because they had no evidence that the District Attorney would accept. Even though the client (the grocery store owner) was very pleased as they wanted to set an example of being a pro-active company, the end result was a disappointment to us because no criminal charges were laid.

Case Study

Case Study: Lindsay Protects Herself From a Stalker

How Lindsay protects herself from a stalker. We received a call from Janet (not her real name) about her daughter, Lindsay (not her real name). Lindsay was a young adult who had been receiving very graphic, violent and disturbing text messages and emails from an anonymous person. Lindsay lived with her significant other (a female). They were both terrified by the verbiage in the texts and emails. Feeling extremely threatened and in fear for their lives, they both eventually resigned from their soccer team and never returned to the practice field. The reason they discontinued playing on the team was because they believed that the messages were being sent from one of their teammates. It was unfortunate, because soccer was the one thing they enjoyed doing. Our take on this private investigation was that the clues were simply too obvious and we thought we should look elsewhere other than at the teammates. Commencing our stalking investigation, we learned that the text messages and emails on Lindsay’s cell phone would suspiciously disappear, even though she did not delete them. This was a clue that it had to be someone very close to Lindsay, since they would have access to her phone to delete the messages. The one person who would have constant access to the victim’s phone was her significant other. With her permission, we interviewed Lindsay’s significant other. During the interview, she revealed certain aspects of her life, including a Court Ordered Restraining Order and a host of other women she lived with prior to the victim. After conducting a Superior Court record search and background check, we found the Court Ordered Restraining Order and set out to find the person who filed it. We found her, and after interviewing that person, we began to see a frightening parallel between the actions of the significant other and Lindsay. The actions of the significant other were identical to those both victims. All of our evidence lead us to the significant other as the perpetrator, who was clearly mentally disturbed. When given all the evidence we gathered, Lindsay packed up all of her belongings and immediately severed ties to her significant other. This was a case that was very difficult to handle because the victim was in love with her significant other, who was also her stalker. Lindsay had a very difficult time trying to understand how a person who professed to loving her could be so hateful and vicious. This is far from a typical stalker investigation but it is one that should be told for the benefit of others. Stop your stalker and free yourself from the fear.

man taking wedding ring off finger
Case Study

Case Study: Elizabeth’s Experience With A Cheating Husband

Elizabeth‘s experience with a cheating husband story goes like this. We recently conducted an infidelity investigation for Elizabeth (not her real name). Elizabeth told us that her husband was very cruel and verbally abusive, constantly telling her that she was old and ugly. Her husband eventually moved out of the family home and left her and his three children. Elizabeth was devastated when she met us.  She asked us to help her identify who the other woman was. The doorman at her husband’s apartment building gave her a license plate number of the alleged other woman’s car. We ran a check on the license plate to identify the other woman and showed Elizabeth a photo of her. A few weeks later Elizabeth called to say that she gave us an incorrect license plate number and now she had another license plate number from the same doorman on a second woman’s car. Elizabeth asked us to check out the registered owner of the car and to find out her identity. When we met with Elizabeth this second time to present her with the identity of the second woman she looked like an entirely new woman. She had gotten a facelift and she looked fantastic, all because she finally learned the truth about her cheating husband! She met with a wonderful matrimonial therapist to help her through her ordeal. The good news is that Elizabeth was able to move on and realize that she deserved so much better. And the happy ending—Elizabeth just met a new man who is crazy about her! The message here is that you don’t have to live your life at the mercy of someone else.

binoculars
Case Study

Case Study: Finding Peter

We recently received a call from the father of a teenage son, Peter (not his real name). Peter hadn’t been heard from in over 48 hours, and his father was anxious so he called us to help find him. Peter was 18 years old and lived alone in Santa Monica, California. He had no relatives, girlfriend or friends the father could call upon to find his whereabouts. The young man’s father told us that he had tried calling Peter’s cell phone but it constantly went to voicemail. He was missing. Within 48 hours, we found Peter through the use of our exclusive proprietary and sophisticated technology. Peter was located just on the outskirts of San Diego, California, almost a two and a half hours drive from Santa Monica. San Diego is very close to the Mexican border and we were concerned that if he went into Mexico he might be kidnapped. There was no way our investigators could make it to San Diego by plane or car in time to secure his location and start surveillance. We reached out to our associates in San Diego and explained the situation. We asked them to assign someone they trusted to commence an immediate surveillance of Peter. One of their private investigators was sent on site within the hour and as we drove to San Diego, we were in constant contact with the private investigator. He maintained the surveillance for us until one of our investigators arrived. By the time we pulled into the parking lot of the motel where Peter was staying, he had just pulled into a space in front of one the guest rooms. The only way to handle this situation smoothly was to simply walk up to Peter and identify ourselves. Since he was over eighteen years old, he was considered an adult so we could not force him to come with us. He had to want us to help him and he had to want to return home to his parents. We explained to Peter that we were retained to find him by his father and that we were not going to force him to go back to him. We further explained that he had the option to speak with us or not. Peter was clearly shocked that we had found him. He was very depressed and lonely. We consoled him and explained to him how frightened his family was and how much they loved him and wanted to speak with him. He agreed to speak only with his sister at first, and then later on with his mother and father. While we maintained a twenty-four hour surveillance of him outside of his room, his mother flew out from Ft. Lee, Florida, the following day. When we asked Peter what he would like to do while we waited for his mother to arrive, he replied that he had planned on going to the San Diego Zoo. We accompanied him there and he had a wonderful time. We established a rapport with Peter and in time, he revealed the reason why he had chosen to disappear. He had dropped out of college due to unsatisfactory grades and had not told his parents, who were supporting him thinking he was still enrolled in college. Peter felt guilty and unworthy, but he certainly was not. He was a fine young man who really needed then to be with his family back home. He departed San Diego with his mother in a far happier state than when we had located him. You can reunite with your missing family member.

celebrity protection
Case Study

Case Study: Protecting the Safety of a Female Celebrity

A day protecting the safety of a female celebrity. Oh how glamorous it appears, watching all the beautiful people parading down the red carpet, dressed to the nines. They all look deliriously happy to be on the red carpet because that is a symbol of artistic success. However, what might have transpired prior to their arrival might paint an entirely different picture as to how they really feel. Celebrities, in spite of their outward appearance, have more than their share of anxiety about the safety of themselves and their family. Such was one case we handled for a hugely successful, underage actress in this case study of female celebrity protection. Worldwide Intelligence Network Call To Action We received a call from the actress’s lawyer who told us that she had received several heinous letters mailed to her home address. There was also a blog on the internet that had her face pasted on nude bodies. We were tasked with identifying the person who mailed the letters and the creator of the blog. Celebrity Protection Step 1: Removing The Celebrity’s Home Address From Easy Public View Our first objective was to learn how the perpetrator obtained the residence address of the actress. Our investigation revealed that her address was available on several online public databases (along with the addresses of her parents and her nanny/personal assistant’s), including all three major credit bureaus. Although the actress was a minor and was not legally able to obtain credit, further investigation revealed that many notable retail establishments allowed her to open charge accounts in her name despite this. Since the law was clearly on our side, we contacted all three bureaus and explained the situation. They immediately removed her from their databases. Following that, we asked the parents and assistant to change their mailing address and the actress’s to either her business manager’s office or a PO Box. Everyone complied, effectively replacing their home addresses with their new mailing addresses. Step 2: Identifying The Anonymous Blogger Besides the nude photos, the blogger had also written that he planned on kidnapping the actress when she turned eighteen years old and taking her to his mountain cabin to rape her repeatedly. After our IT Cyber Specialists traced the IP address of the blogger, we found out his personal information and contacted him. He was given an option; either remove the blog and never post another thing about the actress again, or have criminal charges filed against him and be sued for multiple civil causes. The blog was taken down and it never resurfaced. Step 3: Identifying the Letter Writer Identifying the letter writer proved to be a more difficult task. It was not possible to trace him. We tried to extract fingerprints off the envelope and letter but the perpetrator most likely used gloves and he was never located. We had to accelerate our efforts to protect the actress, her parents and the nanny/assistant. The contents of the letters clearly indicated that the perpetrator had been by the house and had observed certain events taking place at the house. Assessing The Risk Our team conducted a risk assessment of the family home, the actress’s school and the residence of the nanny/assistant. With the consent of her parents, we had a highly secure but very attractive security fence installed around their home. Motion detection lights and a state of the art closed circuit television system were installed. The CCTV system was viewable by the family on their televisions, their computers and by us remotely. A new and improved security alarm system replaced their old one. Personal Protection Specialists were assigned to provide residential and personal security around the clock. A Personal Protection Specialist was assigned to the actress wherever she went. Having just received a new car for turning sixteen, our technicians designed a special device that went under the driver’s seat to alert her Bodyguards if an unauthorized person was attempting to get into her car. The actress asked that her Bodyguard not ride in her car, so we surveiled her instead in what is commonly known as a chase car. After all she was a young lady who had a right to her privacy and we respected her request. Just prior to our involvement, we learned that the nanny/assistant was the victim of an attempted home invasion robbery. Fortunately, she was able to keep the perpetrator out of her apartment and he subsequently ran away. Learning this, we immediately had a state of the art alarm system installed in her apartment. The Best Result Is No Negative Incident The moment we initiated the security, not a single incident occurred to place her or her family and her assistant in harm’s way no matter where she went, including multiple film locations in Rome, Mexico and Australia. Protect yourself and your family from overzealous fans and stalkers.

close up of dictionary definition of evidence
Case Study

Case Study: The “Injured Foot”

Insurance companies retain private investigators to conduct surveillance investigations when they suspect a claimant might have filed a fraudulent claim. This is considered worker’s compensation fraud. Worldwide Intelligence Network was assigned a case to surveil a claimant who alleged a severe injury to his foot that made him incapable of work. Having had an accepted claim, he had been off from work for over a year. When we started the investigation for the insurance examiner, he was still off from work. The insurance examiner suspected fraud due to a report issued by an independent medical doctor. The report stated that nothing wrong could be found with the claimant’s foot. It appeared that this claimant was cautioned by his attorney that he might be placed under surveillance and to be careful when he was out in public. While we surveiled the claimant exiting his home, he was videotaped limping—but on the wrong foot! And then, just before he walked into his chiropractor’s clinic, video was taken of him putting on a foot brace and taking out a pair of crutches from the trunk of his car. When he exited the clinic, he took off the brace, put his crutches in the trunk of his car, then drove over to a soccer field where he participated in a soccer game. Fortunately, all of this was videotaped, including the entire soccer game! However, the claimant’s attorney asserted that his client took pain killers that day in order to participate in the soccer game. So, we simply continued our surveillance. Once again, the claimant was caught running, this time from a grocery store during a snow storm while pushing a shopping cart. The claimant ceased receiving payments from the insurance company when a copy of the videotape was shown to his attorney. The attorney resigned from representing the claimant.

infidelity surveillance
Case Study

Infidelity Surveillance: A Case Study

Sometimes a cheating spouse case improves a marriage and here is a case study of infidelity surveillance that saved a marriage. Her husband was caught cheating by our surveillance team and if you expect to hear what a disaster their marriage turned out to be hold on tight because you may not believe how this case study worked out. A very calm and intelligent sounding woman called our office to ask about our infidelity surveillance services. She explained that she had recently seen her husband’s American Express bill listing charges from all of the cities he traveled to for business, including Los Angeles, but in reviewing his American Express bill she noticed that her husband had not rented a car when he was in Los Angeles. That discovery was a red flag that caught her attention, since her husband always rented a car whenever he traveled to another city. She wondered how he got around in the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles. She knew he was not the kind of person who took limousines, taxis or Uber. She found herself speculating that someone had picked up her husband, but who was it? Her husband told his wife he was going to Los Angeles to meet with prospective clients and would be running from one meeting to another for a couple of days. Upon his return home from Los Angeles, prior to the American Express bill arriving, he told his wife he had arranged another set of meetings in Los Angeles two weeks from the day he returned home to Boston. Another Red Flag emerged as that was unusual behavior for her husband. How Infidelity Surveillance Begins The wife, now our client, asked us to commence surveillance upon her husband’s arrival at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. She told us that her husband booked a bungalow at the hotel, which many people referred to as a small villa. We explained to the client that to cover her husband’s bungalow with a clear view of his activities we would require she reserve a bungalow for our surveillance team and we would make certain that our bungalow was near his. We have maintained an excellent relationship with the management staff at the Beverly Hills Hotel over the years and it was not a problem for us to ask for and be provided with our preferred bungalow. Our assignment covered several days, and during our surveillance we immediately observed her husband with another woman who stayed with him overnight and into the following days. We captured video of the woman with him and as promised to our client we called her with updates and to what we observed. Normally we would not engage in updating a client while surveillance was ongoing but we felt comfortable after having numerous conversations with this client that she was in total control of her emotions throughout our surveillance period and our level of confidence was high enough to trust her not to reveal to her husband what she was doing. We were correct. She never violated our agreement and on the last day of surveillance and after unequivocal confirmation of her husband’s infidelity, she confided in us that she had been to see every renowned family law attorney in Boston to discuss her pending divorce. By meeting with those attorneys her husband would not be able to retain any of them because she had already created an attorney-client relationship with each attorney she met with. I, as the director in charge of this particular assignment, found this client’s behavior psychologically sound and intelligent. She absolutely earned my respect. When a husband, wife or significant other eventually hear from us that their life partner has cheated on them, they usually go ballistic, crying, screaming or hanging up the phone on us being unable to cope. Not this client. She was composed throughout while listening to all of the disturbing details we revealed to her. On or about the time when the information was revealed I was with our lead female investigator and director of Infidelity Surveillance, Desi Riley. We were just about to leave the Beverly Hills Hotel. Something told me that Desi should get on the phone with this client and offer her some emotional support because at this moment in time no matter how composed the client appeared what we disclosed to her had to be devastating. I thought it would be the ideal time to introduce Desi to the client and I asked the client if she would like to speak with our female investigator. Desi handles nearly all our infidelity cases but was assigned elsewhere when this case first came in. Desi is extremely bright and very sensitive to the emotional turmoil a client can go through when they hear what they really don’t want to hear, whether male or female. The client agreed to talk with Desi and they seemed to hit it off immediately. Their conversation went on for quite some time that evening and then continued over several weeks. Desi and the client talked about whether the client wanted to or could stay married to her husband which she admitted she truly loved. They also talked about what happens down the road should the client seek to divorce her husband or if she wanted to try and make her marriage of 25 years continue with assurances from her husband that he would promise to maintain a magnanimous relationship. A Happy Ending Well, it’s been nearly eight years since that surveillance. The client and her husband are still together and their marriage is flourishing! The client and Desi are very best friends to this day and the client is admittedly indebted to Desi for without Desi’s friendship and encouragement to try and make her friend’s marriage work, this might have turned out to be just another infidelity-cheater story.

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