Client is a 50 year old female.
This by far is the most bazaar case I have ever been involved in. It was very hard not to laugh at her, but I never did out loud. Ask yourself, what does it mean to be CRAZY?
Summary
Three years ago she lost her life partner to cancer. They lived together for thirty years, and purchased several properties. Two of them were on the coast at the ocean edge, in Halfmoon Bay, valued at six million dollars. Though the stress of losing her partner, she became depressed and started seeing things that weren't there. She thought aliens were after her and people were aiming microwave beams at her brain. She imagined people were following her everywhere she went. Because of this, she would never stay in the same place more than thirty minutes, except at night. Night was a whole different issue. People found out about her illness and started to take advantage of her, promising her that they could make the aliens go away and the microwave beams to stop. She sold one of her properties in Halfmoon Bay, to pay for the services of these con artists. She paid people to drive for her 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, and to sleep in the same motel room with her, on the floor, or in the hallway for protection against everything. These activities of hers have been going on for three years.
She contacted me to obtain proof that aliens, microwaves and people were constantly following her. When she told me her story, I felt so sad for her, that she lived her life in fear and that people were making a good living off her fears. I told her that I would investigate her issues, but she must listen to my findings. These cons were going to meet a pissed off private investigator and expose them as frauds and report them to local authorities, that was my goal. I told her that I would ride with her for three days.
Day 1
She wanted to meet me in a secured location were the microwaves wouldn't penetrate the walls. In Menlo Park, on El Camino Real was a under ground parking structure under an old Safeway store. She said we would be save here, but couldn't stay very long, because they would find her and fry here brains. She said everywhere she went, people were following her, and were waiting for her to arrive wherever she went, as if they could read her mind and knew where to be waiting with there lazer guns to zap her. She had a driver who drove for her. She also had a person sitting in the back seat, his job was to take pictures of license plates of all vehicles around her vehicle. She would write down the license plate numbers on a pad of paper. She had video cameras on her windshield and rear window, with a monitor and VCR taping 24/7 on the back seat next to the person taking pictures. She would rent a vehicle every three days, any longer, they would catch on to her. She ate fast food all three meals in the drive-thru, fear of getting out of her vehicle. The only time she would leave her vehicle was to go to the restroom.
There is a person who lives in North Hollywood she pays to come up to the bay area every month and gives him $10,000.00 to build her a foil hat to wear at night to fight off any microwaves beaming at her head. He also makes her lead tubes that she lye's in while she sleeps.
She has 2 shifts of two people she pays everyday to drove and ride with her, and this guy from North Hollywood. These people are bleeding her dry.
She wanted me to drive so I could see for myself that people were following her. As I started to drive she started to make these sounds, "buzz buzz shuzz shuzz", she said that is the sound of the microwaves in my head, someone is following her very close and firing a lazer at her head, I can feel it. She then would read every plate on every vehicle out loud, saying that, I've seen that car before, there they are, there following us. She said we need to drive to New Mexico, they won't follow us there. Eight long hours went by and I told her that I needed to end the day,I couldn't take any more, we can start up tomorrow.
She asked me to purchase a microwave detector, sound spike, and cell phone jammer. She buys throw away cell phones, she says they can't listen in to my conversation with these phones. I agreed and told her I would see her tomorrow.
She's nuts!!!
Day 2
We met on top of a hill in the Santa Cruz mountains. She had a different vehicle, she only rents SUV's. She told me that in the middle of the night, aliens rented rooms on both sides of me. I could her them talking in their language and felt my brain frying. At 2am we left the motel very quietly and quickly so they wouldn't know that we left. We slept in the car on top of this mountain, they couldn't find us here.
I told her three days but I wasn't sure I could go though it any longer.
I was getting feed up with this guy in the back seat, wasting her money. When I arrived to a safe location, I kicked the guy out of the car. I told her that I wanted to be with her today without any distractions. After driving to Monterey, to San Francisco, to Sacramento and back, it was time to end this. I couldn't waste any more of her money.
My findings
I told her the plain truth, your nuts. Have you ever been seen by a doctor, she laughed and said they all say I am crazy, I said ya you are. There are no aliens following you. There is no one trying to microwave your brains. There is no one following you. These people you pay to be with you are taking advantage of you and sucking you dry. How much money do you have left, she said $700,000.00 out of $3,000,000.00. I told her to fire the drivers, and the North Hollywood con artist. Buy a motor home and travel the country, you never have to be in one place longer than you want to. You can buy all the jammers you want as you travel so you can feel safe. I feel you have become dependent on other people as companions, and this is why you hired these people to be with you 24/7, since the death of your companion. The foil hat and the lead tubes that you sleep in, loose them, they don't do anything. She said I'll have to think about it. When I took this case from you, I told you that you will have to listen to my findings. Don't waste your money on these people. I asked her about the North Hollywood guy, she said he's coming up next week, do you want to meet him, I said I would love too.
The following week
I had contacted the local authorities about this individual and told them about his scam. The local Police were more than happy to help me on this.
The client called me and told me that he was meeting her at a motel. I called the police and they set up a sting. I was with the client in her motel room, when there was a knock at the door. She opened the door and there he stood with 3 large cases. As far has he was concerned I was the new driver. He opened the cases and pulled out a very poorly made foil gun with antennas with a cord attached to headphones. He walked around the room and made some sounds. Adjusted her lead tubes with pliers, and pulled out of his case some aluminum foil to make her a new sleeping hat. This all took thirty minutes at which time he asked for payment of $10,000.00. She wrote him a check, at which time I called the authorities who were next door waiting for my call. I said buddy, I am a private investigator and there are some people who want to talk with you, they will be coming though the door now.
After this case was over I felt okay, I told her the truth, not what she wanted to hear. I told her that these people were not her friends and that they were taking advantage of her. I told her to seek out help with the issues she has, she isn't taking any medications.
She is a nice lady with a few loose screws. She just needed someone to help her that didn't have hidden motives.
The last thing she said to me was, thank you for being honest with me and calling me crazy, I guess people were afraid to tell me the truth.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Case of the "bed and breakfast"
Subject: 50 year female, 5'5, 150lbs, brown hair
Injury: Right wrist and knee. She is claiming 100% disabled. She worked as an county employee walking from the parking lot to her office when she slipped and fell on the wet sidewalk. She had surgery on her wrist and knee and was released back to work one year later. She claims she's in too much pain to walk and can't type, unemployable. Insurance company wants to settle the claim, they need to be completely sure she's still injured as she claims. Settlement is $300,000.00.
Day 1
6:00 am, I arrived at the subjects residence, somewhere in the Bay Area. Residence is set on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, upper middle class neighborhood. Residence is a two story single family dwelling, brown with dark brown trim. Garage is located to the left with the front door just right of the garage. There were no vehicles parked in the driveway or parked on the street. Curtains are closed and no lights were on, no activity to report.
6:10 am I called local PD to my whereabouts.
7:00 am I was parked directly across the street where I observed some strange activity. Many times neighbors entertain me as I watch there activity. I observed neighbor 1, front door opened, male and female observed at the door. Female kissed male and female exited in her vehicle. Neighbor 2, front door opened moments later, male and female were observed standing in the doorway. Male kissed female and male entered his vehicle and drove off. How what happen next? Female of neighbor 2 walked over to neighbor 1 front door and entered residence without knocking. Neighbor 1&2 are observed in the doorway kissing, door closes. This could have been a case in its self.
10:00 am No activity at the subjects residence. I prepared for a door knock by putting on a disguise. I approached the front door and knocked, there was no answer. I walked around by the garage when subjects neighbor to her left came outside to ask what I was doing. I told him I represent a insurance company, do you know if ***** was at home. He said no, they are hardly ever home now since they opened up a bed and breakfast. I asked him where it was located, he said ******, up in the gold country. I thanked him and entered my vehicle and drove off. I have been sitting on a empty house, but a solid clue as to where to find the subject.
I arrived at my residence and called information to bed and breakfasts in ******, CA. I obtained a list of around thirty places. One by one I call the list until I found the subject. I said, is this **** *********. She said it is, I said, I would like to book two nights/three days at your bed and breakfast in two weeks. Room was booked, now the hardest part was about to happen, convincing Terri, my wife to go with me to place the subject under surveillance. I mean how would it look if I went by myself! Terri said she would, only because we were staying at a bed and breakfast and that it was up in gold country.
Now this case was booked before completing the case of "follow that boat" was over. I drove from that case to this one, which meant Terri would have to drive there by herself.
Day 2
I left Bass Lake around 1:00 pm, and arrived at the subjects bed and breakfast around 4:30 pm. I was late, I told Terri I would meet her there around 4:00 pm. I entered the bed and breakfast and observed Terri talking with the subject, I thought great, what were they talking about. Terri told me that she would be freaked out if she had to have a conversation with her knowing that I was putting her under surveillance.
The bed and breakfast is a three story old Victorian style home that was converted. There were six rooms, with three shared full bathrooms. The living room and den were shared rooms that the guests shared. There are stairs leading up to the front door, and stairs down to the back yard. The back yard has a flower garden and a large tree.
I entered the bed and breakfast, I observed the subject sitting in a chair with her right knee in a brace, raised up and resting on a Ottoman. She said hello, just having a nice conversation with your lovely wife, I thought great. She told me all about her bed and breakfast, how long she had it, living in the Bay Area, and the difference living here in gold country. She told me breakfast will be served in the garden at 8:00 am, lunch and dinner are on you. She got up out of the chair with difficulty. I asked about her knee with her brace, she said she fell last week and injured her knee again. There were crutches next to her chair, she picked them up and used them as she walked. She took us to our room, which was on the main floor, I though rats, I needed her to walk up the two flights of stairs inside the residence. She said I will wash your sheets and make your bed around 10:00 am. She excused herself as other guests were about to arrive.
My job is to observe her movements of her right wrist and knee. Several issues I have already about her injury as to how she can operate this business with stairs entering and exiting both entrances. The stairs inside, and serving the guests breakfast in the garden area. There are six steep stairs going down into the back yard without hand rails.
The rest of the evening I observed the subject walk around the house without the use of her crutches. She appeared to use her right wrist without any difficulty.
8:00 pm Subject retired for the evening. Discontinued surveillance.
That night sores were forming on my neck and face. I think I was bitten by a bug at Bass Lake.
Day 3
6:00 am Surveillance starts
7:00 am I walked outside to the backyard area. I observed the structure of the steps leading into the backyard, they were solid. There was a large twelve foot across round table with benches that we were going to have breakfast on. Ten feet to the right was a bench with direct view of the door leading down to the backyard. The subject will be walking down these steps as she brings food to the table, unless it is buffet style which would suck for me, means no video of subject walking down these steep steps. I placed a large duffel bag on the bench and placed my video camera inside the bag with just the lens exposed. Just before 8:00 am I will start recording and let the camera record the entire breakfast meal, I am hoping for the best.
7:45 am I walk over to my camera and start recording video.
7:55 am Ten people including myself and Terry were sitting at the table. I glanced over at my bag to make sure nothing was in the way of the lens.
8:03 am Subject opens the backyard door and walks down the stairs with a large round tray with food. I am yelling inside my head, YES, gotcha. The subject moved in a normal manner without any restrictions, and wearing no knee brace or any wrist supports as she carried this large tray down the steps and into the backyard.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the subject walked up and down the steps carrying trays of food.
8:18 am Subject walked down the steps and sat down at the table, facing the camera with full view of the camera as video was recording her movements of her right wrist as she ate.
9:00 am Breakfast was over and the subject removed the plates, glasses, and empty containers of food back into the house.
9:14 am Subject cleaned the table and walked into the house and out of view from the camera.
9:16 am I entered the backyard and picked up my duffel bag and walked into the house and into my room. An hour and a half of video was taken of the subject as she served and ate breakfast.
9:50 am I placed the duffel bag on a stuffed chair that was inside our room. I placed the video camera inside the duffel bag and started recording and left the room. Hopefully it will record the subject changing the sheets, with the movements of her right wrist.
Walked downtown with Terri and shopped the local stores, a total tourist trap.
11:55 am I arrived back inside my room and stopped the recording. I viewed the video and was surprisingly happy with the results. Showed subject moving her right wrist, bending at the waist with pressure on her right knee. So far this day, the subject performed the duties of running a bed and breakfast without the use of any form of a brace.
Two hours of video was taken of the subject. Discontinue surveillance for the day. Time to be a tourist and have some fun.
7:30 pm I arrived back at the bed and breakfast and observed the subject in the back den sitting at a desk. She was observed without any braces, and the crutches she was using yesterday were not seen.
Discontinued surveillance.
Day 4
6:00 am Surveillance starts
I performed the same activities with my video camera as yesterday. Video taping the subject serve breakfast and changing my sheets on my bed. A total of three hours of video was taken of the subject run and operate a bed and Breakfast, but most important, doing this without the use of any braces.
9:40 am I observed the subject in the den and engaged her in conversation. I asked her what she had planed for the day. She said she had a medical appointment in the Bay Area regarding an old injury at 3:00pm.
Check out was 11:00 am
9:55 am, The bug bites were getting serious so I went to a local medical center. I have staff infections on my neck and face. They were at this point oozing liquid from the sores. I had around twelve in total, and I looked a mess, people were staring at me as if I were a leper.
10:45 am I checked out and set up surveillance and Terri drove home.
11:30 am Subject exited the bed and breakfast and entered her vehicle without any braces, but she placed the crutches inside of her vehicle.
2:30 pm Subject drove to a medical office somewhere in the Bay Area. Subject opened the door and pulled out her crutches and used them as she walked very slowly. She walked as if she was in pain. She also wore a right wrist brace.
3:45 pm Subject exited the medical office with the use of her crutches, she moved very slowly as she entered her vehicle, subject drove off.
4:15 pm Subject drove to her Bay Area residence. Subject opened her door and exited her vehicle without the use of any crutches or braces of any kind. She walked in a normal manner without restrictions.
Video was being taken from the moment she exited her bed and breakfast until she drove to her residence in the Bay Area.
5:00 pm Discontinued surveillance.
The attorney was very happy with my investigation on this case, he said good job. Let me tell you, that means more to me than anything else.
Trail
This case went to court and I was called to testify against the subject. I entered the court and observed the subject with crutches and wearing a wrist brace. The subject nor her attorney knew about me and the video I had. When the subject saw me walking into court carrying a TV and my video camera in my hand, she RAN, I mean she RAN over to her attorney and had a conference, leaving her crutches behind at the bench she was sitting on, oops she forgot something!!!
Our attorney said I could go home, you scared the crap out of her. As I was walking out of court, I walked past her and she said, tell Terri I said hello. She was a nice lady, last time I will ever get close to anyone I am investigating.
The case never went to trail. The subject received no money and had to pay back thousands of dollars.
Case solved
Injury: Right wrist and knee. She is claiming 100% disabled. She worked as an county employee walking from the parking lot to her office when she slipped and fell on the wet sidewalk. She had surgery on her wrist and knee and was released back to work one year later. She claims she's in too much pain to walk and can't type, unemployable. Insurance company wants to settle the claim, they need to be completely sure she's still injured as she claims. Settlement is $300,000.00.
Day 1
6:00 am, I arrived at the subjects residence, somewhere in the Bay Area. Residence is set on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Bay, upper middle class neighborhood. Residence is a two story single family dwelling, brown with dark brown trim. Garage is located to the left with the front door just right of the garage. There were no vehicles parked in the driveway or parked on the street. Curtains are closed and no lights were on, no activity to report.
6:10 am I called local PD to my whereabouts.
7:00 am I was parked directly across the street where I observed some strange activity. Many times neighbors entertain me as I watch there activity. I observed neighbor 1, front door opened, male and female observed at the door. Female kissed male and female exited in her vehicle. Neighbor 2, front door opened moments later, male and female were observed standing in the doorway. Male kissed female and male entered his vehicle and drove off. How what happen next? Female of neighbor 2 walked over to neighbor 1 front door and entered residence without knocking. Neighbor 1&2 are observed in the doorway kissing, door closes. This could have been a case in its self.
10:00 am No activity at the subjects residence. I prepared for a door knock by putting on a disguise. I approached the front door and knocked, there was no answer. I walked around by the garage when subjects neighbor to her left came outside to ask what I was doing. I told him I represent a insurance company, do you know if ***** was at home. He said no, they are hardly ever home now since they opened up a bed and breakfast. I asked him where it was located, he said ******, up in the gold country. I thanked him and entered my vehicle and drove off. I have been sitting on a empty house, but a solid clue as to where to find the subject.
I arrived at my residence and called information to bed and breakfasts in ******, CA. I obtained a list of around thirty places. One by one I call the list until I found the subject. I said, is this **** *********. She said it is, I said, I would like to book two nights/three days at your bed and breakfast in two weeks. Room was booked, now the hardest part was about to happen, convincing Terri, my wife to go with me to place the subject under surveillance. I mean how would it look if I went by myself! Terri said she would, only because we were staying at a bed and breakfast and that it was up in gold country.
Now this case was booked before completing the case of "follow that boat" was over. I drove from that case to this one, which meant Terri would have to drive there by herself.
Day 2
I left Bass Lake around 1:00 pm, and arrived at the subjects bed and breakfast around 4:30 pm. I was late, I told Terri I would meet her there around 4:00 pm. I entered the bed and breakfast and observed Terri talking with the subject, I thought great, what were they talking about. Terri told me that she would be freaked out if she had to have a conversation with her knowing that I was putting her under surveillance.
The bed and breakfast is a three story old Victorian style home that was converted. There were six rooms, with three shared full bathrooms. The living room and den were shared rooms that the guests shared. There are stairs leading up to the front door, and stairs down to the back yard. The back yard has a flower garden and a large tree.
I entered the bed and breakfast, I observed the subject sitting in a chair with her right knee in a brace, raised up and resting on a Ottoman. She said hello, just having a nice conversation with your lovely wife, I thought great. She told me all about her bed and breakfast, how long she had it, living in the Bay Area, and the difference living here in gold country. She told me breakfast will be served in the garden at 8:00 am, lunch and dinner are on you. She got up out of the chair with difficulty. I asked about her knee with her brace, she said she fell last week and injured her knee again. There were crutches next to her chair, she picked them up and used them as she walked. She took us to our room, which was on the main floor, I though rats, I needed her to walk up the two flights of stairs inside the residence. She said I will wash your sheets and make your bed around 10:00 am. She excused herself as other guests were about to arrive.
My job is to observe her movements of her right wrist and knee. Several issues I have already about her injury as to how she can operate this business with stairs entering and exiting both entrances. The stairs inside, and serving the guests breakfast in the garden area. There are six steep stairs going down into the back yard without hand rails.
The rest of the evening I observed the subject walk around the house without the use of her crutches. She appeared to use her right wrist without any difficulty.
8:00 pm Subject retired for the evening. Discontinued surveillance.
That night sores were forming on my neck and face. I think I was bitten by a bug at Bass Lake.
Day 3
6:00 am Surveillance starts
7:00 am I walked outside to the backyard area. I observed the structure of the steps leading into the backyard, they were solid. There was a large twelve foot across round table with benches that we were going to have breakfast on. Ten feet to the right was a bench with direct view of the door leading down to the backyard. The subject will be walking down these steps as she brings food to the table, unless it is buffet style which would suck for me, means no video of subject walking down these steep steps. I placed a large duffel bag on the bench and placed my video camera inside the bag with just the lens exposed. Just before 8:00 am I will start recording and let the camera record the entire breakfast meal, I am hoping for the best.
7:45 am I walk over to my camera and start recording video.
7:55 am Ten people including myself and Terry were sitting at the table. I glanced over at my bag to make sure nothing was in the way of the lens.
8:03 am Subject opens the backyard door and walks down the stairs with a large round tray with food. I am yelling inside my head, YES, gotcha. The subject moved in a normal manner without any restrictions, and wearing no knee brace or any wrist supports as she carried this large tray down the steps and into the backyard.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the subject walked up and down the steps carrying trays of food.
8:18 am Subject walked down the steps and sat down at the table, facing the camera with full view of the camera as video was recording her movements of her right wrist as she ate.
9:00 am Breakfast was over and the subject removed the plates, glasses, and empty containers of food back into the house.
9:14 am Subject cleaned the table and walked into the house and out of view from the camera.
9:16 am I entered the backyard and picked up my duffel bag and walked into the house and into my room. An hour and a half of video was taken of the subject as she served and ate breakfast.
9:50 am I placed the duffel bag on a stuffed chair that was inside our room. I placed the video camera inside the duffel bag and started recording and left the room. Hopefully it will record the subject changing the sheets, with the movements of her right wrist.
Walked downtown with Terri and shopped the local stores, a total tourist trap.
11:55 am I arrived back inside my room and stopped the recording. I viewed the video and was surprisingly happy with the results. Showed subject moving her right wrist, bending at the waist with pressure on her right knee. So far this day, the subject performed the duties of running a bed and breakfast without the use of any form of a brace.
Two hours of video was taken of the subject. Discontinue surveillance for the day. Time to be a tourist and have some fun.
7:30 pm I arrived back at the bed and breakfast and observed the subject in the back den sitting at a desk. She was observed without any braces, and the crutches she was using yesterday were not seen.
Discontinued surveillance.
Day 4
6:00 am Surveillance starts
I performed the same activities with my video camera as yesterday. Video taping the subject serve breakfast and changing my sheets on my bed. A total of three hours of video was taken of the subject run and operate a bed and Breakfast, but most important, doing this without the use of any braces.
9:40 am I observed the subject in the den and engaged her in conversation. I asked her what she had planed for the day. She said she had a medical appointment in the Bay Area regarding an old injury at 3:00pm.
Check out was 11:00 am
9:55 am, The bug bites were getting serious so I went to a local medical center. I have staff infections on my neck and face. They were at this point oozing liquid from the sores. I had around twelve in total, and I looked a mess, people were staring at me as if I were a leper.
10:45 am I checked out and set up surveillance and Terri drove home.
11:30 am Subject exited the bed and breakfast and entered her vehicle without any braces, but she placed the crutches inside of her vehicle.
2:30 pm Subject drove to a medical office somewhere in the Bay Area. Subject opened the door and pulled out her crutches and used them as she walked very slowly. She walked as if she was in pain. She also wore a right wrist brace.
3:45 pm Subject exited the medical office with the use of her crutches, she moved very slowly as she entered her vehicle, subject drove off.
4:15 pm Subject drove to her Bay Area residence. Subject opened her door and exited her vehicle without the use of any crutches or braces of any kind. She walked in a normal manner without restrictions.
Video was being taken from the moment she exited her bed and breakfast until she drove to her residence in the Bay Area.
5:00 pm Discontinued surveillance.
The attorney was very happy with my investigation on this case, he said good job. Let me tell you, that means more to me than anything else.
Trail
This case went to court and I was called to testify against the subject. I entered the court and observed the subject with crutches and wearing a wrist brace. The subject nor her attorney knew about me and the video I had. When the subject saw me walking into court carrying a TV and my video camera in my hand, she RAN, I mean she RAN over to her attorney and had a conference, leaving her crutches behind at the bench she was sitting on, oops she forgot something!!!
Our attorney said I could go home, you scared the crap out of her. As I was walking out of court, I walked past her and she said, tell Terri I said hello. She was a nice lady, last time I will ever get close to anyone I am investigating.
The case never went to trail. The subject received no money and had to pay back thousands of dollars.
Case solved
Friday, August 20, 2010
Case of "jumping from one bed into another"
Client (wife) with 3 children, ages 5,7,and 9
Subject: male, age 34, 5'10, 200lbs, blond hair
Out of all the cases I've worked, this case still bothers me to my core. Wife told me this story that was difficult for me to believe. She said, I think my husband is having an affair with another women. Monday thru Friday and sometimes on Saturday, he leaves at 4:00 am and goes to work, but he doesn't start work until 9:00 am and doesn't return home until 9:00 pm at night. He never see's his children, our marriage is falling a part. He doesn't have a gym membership, so I need to know, where he is going before work and after work.
Day 1
3:30 am, I arrived at the client and subjects residence. Very nice two story single family dwelling, in a upper middle class neighborhood somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. No lights are on, Subject's 740i BMW is parked in the driveway next to the client's Chevy Tahoo.
4:06 am, subject exits the residence and walks over to his vehicle and drives off. The subject is driving without headlights on. As he turned the corner his lights went on in his BMW.
4:16 am, subject drove to a private residence not far a way. He pulled into the driveway next to a Chevy Tahoo. He exited the vehicle and walked to the front door when he was greeted by a female who was standing in the doorway. They embraced, kissing while closing the door. No lights were on inside of the residence.
8:34 am, The front door of the residence opens and the subject is seen standing in the doorway kissing a female. The female is described as a white female adult, age 30, 5'3, 125lbs, blond hair. He exits the residence waving goodbye to the female blowing a kiss at which time, two small children are seen standing by the female, ages 4 and 8 years of age. They wave to the subject as he gets into his vehicle and drives off.
8:55 am, subject drives to his place of employment.
He jumped out of his wife's bed into his girlfriends bed within thirty minutes.
4:00 pm, the subject gets off work at 5:00 pm, I need to know if he comes here first after work.
5:10 pm, the subjects vehicle just arrived at the residence. He exits his vehicle when the front door opens and the two children exit and run into his arms. They play outside for about forty five minutes playing ball.
5:55 pm, subject and boys enter the residence and are out of my view.
6:30 pm, the front door opens and the subject with his new family enter his vehicle and they drive off.
6:45 pm, they drive to a local restaurant, they exit the vehicle and enter into the restaurant. They are seen sitting at a table inside the restaurant. I enter on foot and sit myself down night next to there table. I pull out my fake cell phone that has a video camera inside with audio and start recording there conversation.
I almost, I was inches from walking over to the restroom area, pull out my cell phone, call the restaurant and ask for the subject. Have them page the subject over the intercom saying, ******** your wife is on the phone. That would have been so cool to do.
8:00 pm, the subject and family exit the restaurant and drive back to her residence. At the front door, he kisses her and the boys and he drives off.
8:15 pm, subject drives to a local bar. I didn't follow
8:40 pm, subject exits the bar and drives off.
9:00 pm Subject arrives back to his residence. Discontinue surveillance.
Day 2 thru 5, subject had the same activities as day one, leaving his residence at 4:00 am, arriving at the girlfriends house. After work was the same also, except for going out to dinner.
This is the hard part:
Time to confront the wife, who I kept in the dark as to her husbands activities of the week. I collected two hours of video of the subject entering a females residence after leaving there home in the morning. Then returning after work to the females residence with her two boys. Video showed her husband embracing and kissing the female. Playing with the boys and showing affection toward them.
I almost started to tear up as I watched this women come completely unglued and bust into tears. She started to rub her arms and face as to wipe away any trace of her lying, cheating husband. She said; the thought of him leaving my bed and jumping into another woman's bed moments later makes me want to throw up. She froze in her sentance, stood up and ran into the bathroom where she threw up. Her children walked into the room as to wonder why there mother was crying and why I was sitting in there living room.
The mother walked into the room and gathered what was left to her family and held them in her arms. She began to tell them that daddy won't be living here anymore, he has a new family. The children started to sob and bust into tears along with there mother.
She said thank you for finding out the truth, now I can start to rebuild my family. I exited the residence with a horrible feeling in my soul. I just witnessed a family being torn apart.
Subject: male, age 34, 5'10, 200lbs, blond hair
Out of all the cases I've worked, this case still bothers me to my core. Wife told me this story that was difficult for me to believe. She said, I think my husband is having an affair with another women. Monday thru Friday and sometimes on Saturday, he leaves at 4:00 am and goes to work, but he doesn't start work until 9:00 am and doesn't return home until 9:00 pm at night. He never see's his children, our marriage is falling a part. He doesn't have a gym membership, so I need to know, where he is going before work and after work.
Day 1
3:30 am, I arrived at the client and subjects residence. Very nice two story single family dwelling, in a upper middle class neighborhood somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. No lights are on, Subject's 740i BMW is parked in the driveway next to the client's Chevy Tahoo.
4:06 am, subject exits the residence and walks over to his vehicle and drives off. The subject is driving without headlights on. As he turned the corner his lights went on in his BMW.
4:16 am, subject drove to a private residence not far a way. He pulled into the driveway next to a Chevy Tahoo. He exited the vehicle and walked to the front door when he was greeted by a female who was standing in the doorway. They embraced, kissing while closing the door. No lights were on inside of the residence.
8:34 am, The front door of the residence opens and the subject is seen standing in the doorway kissing a female. The female is described as a white female adult, age 30, 5'3, 125lbs, blond hair. He exits the residence waving goodbye to the female blowing a kiss at which time, two small children are seen standing by the female, ages 4 and 8 years of age. They wave to the subject as he gets into his vehicle and drives off.
8:55 am, subject drives to his place of employment.
He jumped out of his wife's bed into his girlfriends bed within thirty minutes.
4:00 pm, the subject gets off work at 5:00 pm, I need to know if he comes here first after work.
5:10 pm, the subjects vehicle just arrived at the residence. He exits his vehicle when the front door opens and the two children exit and run into his arms. They play outside for about forty five minutes playing ball.
5:55 pm, subject and boys enter the residence and are out of my view.
6:30 pm, the front door opens and the subject with his new family enter his vehicle and they drive off.
6:45 pm, they drive to a local restaurant, they exit the vehicle and enter into the restaurant. They are seen sitting at a table inside the restaurant. I enter on foot and sit myself down night next to there table. I pull out my fake cell phone that has a video camera inside with audio and start recording there conversation.
I almost, I was inches from walking over to the restroom area, pull out my cell phone, call the restaurant and ask for the subject. Have them page the subject over the intercom saying, ******** your wife is on the phone. That would have been so cool to do.
8:00 pm, the subject and family exit the restaurant and drive back to her residence. At the front door, he kisses her and the boys and he drives off.
8:15 pm, subject drives to a local bar. I didn't follow
8:40 pm, subject exits the bar and drives off.
9:00 pm Subject arrives back to his residence. Discontinue surveillance.
Day 2 thru 5, subject had the same activities as day one, leaving his residence at 4:00 am, arriving at the girlfriends house. After work was the same also, except for going out to dinner.
This is the hard part:
Time to confront the wife, who I kept in the dark as to her husbands activities of the week. I collected two hours of video of the subject entering a females residence after leaving there home in the morning. Then returning after work to the females residence with her two boys. Video showed her husband embracing and kissing the female. Playing with the boys and showing affection toward them.
I almost started to tear up as I watched this women come completely unglued and bust into tears. She started to rub her arms and face as to wipe away any trace of her lying, cheating husband. She said; the thought of him leaving my bed and jumping into another woman's bed moments later makes me want to throw up. She froze in her sentance, stood up and ran into the bathroom where she threw up. Her children walked into the room as to wonder why there mother was crying and why I was sitting in there living room.
The mother walked into the room and gathered what was left to her family and held them in her arms. She began to tell them that daddy won't be living here anymore, he has a new family. The children started to sob and bust into tears along with there mother.
She said thank you for finding out the truth, now I can start to rebuild my family. I exited the residence with a horrible feeling in my soul. I just witnessed a family being torn apart.
Case of the "severed arm in a industrial machine"
Victim:
30 year old female factory worker
Employee for 10 years, 2nd shift
Family: husband, 3 small children
Equipment:
I was called in to investigate an industrial accident. The accident happened three days before I opened the case. I was briefed by the company attorney as to what happened. I was there for damage control. If it was the companies fault, they needed to know. Regardless they would work with her though her healing and grieving process.
Summary
Apparently, a female worker reached into a narrow opening with her right arm to pull off a sticker that was on a can. The cans were on a pallet with 100 cans on each row, 10 rows high. They were on a hydraulic lift, which was on its way up to a platform 10 feet off the ground. She squatted down to the floor, with her right arm reached down below her feet, though railing to grab the sticker to save time. She misjudged how fast the pallets were rising and didn't pull her arm out fast enough. The hydraulic lift severed off her right arm above her elbow as it caught between the lift and the frame of the machine. She fell to the ground and yelled for help. A co-worked picked up the severed arm and placed it on ice. Havoc was the scene as the floor supervisors didn't know how to handle this emergency. Paramedics were called, and all machines were shut down. This took place at 11:00 pm as the shifts were changing. The 3rd shift was shut down until a complete internal investigation took place as to how this happened.
There are three shifts that run seven days a week, with no shut down time. Each shift has thirty five employee's including management. I need to interview each employee on the second and third shift's as to what they saw the night of the accident. Management is being questioned as to why a break down happen during an emergency. I also need to find out what safety course's are being held and how often
Day 1
I arrived at 6:00 pm unannounced as to catch everyone off guard. No one knew I was coming to investigate the accident on line number 1.
Line number 1 has four stations.
Station number 1 was the injured employee's platform. It is ten feet off the ground. There is a latter that you must climb up in order to reach the platform. The duties of station 1 is very simple. Off to the left on the ground, a fork lift places a pallet with 100 cans on each row, 10 rows high on a hydraulic lift, which rises to the level of the platform ten feet up. Once the hydraulic stops, the operator then reaches in to the very first can on the corner closest to the operator and removes a sticker. This sticker tells station 2 what labels are placed on the cans. The operator with her hand, moves the cans down a conveyor belt, they move single file on metal rollers until they reach station 2. That's the job for station 1.
Station number 2
This is the label machine that places labels on cans. In one motion, glue and the label are placed and pressed onto the can, then continues down the conveyor belt to station 3
Station number 3
This station place cans into a box and continues it down the conveyor belt to station 4
Station number 4
This is the final station in the line. With cans labeled in a box, this machine, tapes the boxes up, and places a shipping label on the outside. Then boxes and placed on a pallet and the fork lift operator moves the platted into the warehouse for delivery.
There are 4 lines in this warehouse. I need to compare station 1, Line 1 with the other machines. Find out if there different in any way.
This is what I think happen, after looking at the machines. Standing where the employee was and reenacting what she may have did. The employee didn't wait for the hydraulic to come level to the platform and a complete stop. She squatted down to the floor, with her right arm reached down below her feet, though railing to grab the sticker to save time. She misjudged the speed of the hydraulic, couldn't pull her arm back fast enough, with the result of her arm being severed above her right elbow. There are safety rails in place so no body part can come into contact with the hydraulics. There is a four by four inch gap where she squeezed her arm though.
Rail
I started with the second shift, this was the shift the employee worked. I immediately interviewed the manager down to middle management to the line leads. No one was very happy to see me. I was a threat to there job. They thought that if I found problems in there leadership, they would be fired, they were right in thinking that. Each interview took 45 minutes. I laid down my digital voice recorder on the desk in the room I was interviewing in. You should have seen there faces when they discovered that everything they say would be used in court, priceless. There are 10 in management down to the line leads in each shift, and 25 workers. I only interviewed the general manager, warehouse manager, assistant manager, line manager and the shipping manager, I ran out of time and will continue tomorrow. It looks like I will be here for several days, maybe even a week. There are many workers that do not speak English and will have to have an interpreter, these interviews may take up to an hour and a half each.
Called it a night and stayed at a local Hotel.
Day 2
3:00 pm, the beginning of the second shift. The managers were still pissed at me and word spread very fast about the recordings. I finished the interviews with the managers, the safety programs that are supposed to be held monthly aren't. They are supposed to have a safety support person and they don't, along with other issues. I was assured that by the end of my interviews, they will have the safety support staff in place.
I asked for a list of names for the twenty five workers and had them lined up to interview back to back. Several of them didn't show up to work in fear of being deported.
More to follow soon........
30 year old female factory worker
Employee for 10 years, 2nd shift
Family: husband, 3 small children
Equipment:
I was called in to investigate an industrial accident. The accident happened three days before I opened the case. I was briefed by the company attorney as to what happened. I was there for damage control. If it was the companies fault, they needed to know. Regardless they would work with her though her healing and grieving process.
Summary
Apparently, a female worker reached into a narrow opening with her right arm to pull off a sticker that was on a can. The cans were on a pallet with 100 cans on each row, 10 rows high. They were on a hydraulic lift, which was on its way up to a platform 10 feet off the ground. She squatted down to the floor, with her right arm reached down below her feet, though railing to grab the sticker to save time. She misjudged how fast the pallets were rising and didn't pull her arm out fast enough. The hydraulic lift severed off her right arm above her elbow as it caught between the lift and the frame of the machine. She fell to the ground and yelled for help. A co-worked picked up the severed arm and placed it on ice. Havoc was the scene as the floor supervisors didn't know how to handle this emergency. Paramedics were called, and all machines were shut down. This took place at 11:00 pm as the shifts were changing. The 3rd shift was shut down until a complete internal investigation took place as to how this happened.
There are three shifts that run seven days a week, with no shut down time. Each shift has thirty five employee's including management. I need to interview each employee on the second and third shift's as to what they saw the night of the accident. Management is being questioned as to why a break down happen during an emergency. I also need to find out what safety course's are being held and how often
Day 1
I arrived at 6:00 pm unannounced as to catch everyone off guard. No one knew I was coming to investigate the accident on line number 1.
Line number 1 has four stations.
Station number 1 was the injured employee's platform. It is ten feet off the ground. There is a latter that you must climb up in order to reach the platform. The duties of station 1 is very simple. Off to the left on the ground, a fork lift places a pallet with 100 cans on each row, 10 rows high on a hydraulic lift, which rises to the level of the platform ten feet up. Once the hydraulic stops, the operator then reaches in to the very first can on the corner closest to the operator and removes a sticker. This sticker tells station 2 what labels are placed on the cans. The operator with her hand, moves the cans down a conveyor belt, they move single file on metal rollers until they reach station 2. That's the job for station 1.
Station number 2
This is the label machine that places labels on cans. In one motion, glue and the label are placed and pressed onto the can, then continues down the conveyor belt to station 3
Station number 3
This station place cans into a box and continues it down the conveyor belt to station 4
Station number 4
This is the final station in the line. With cans labeled in a box, this machine, tapes the boxes up, and places a shipping label on the outside. Then boxes and placed on a pallet and the fork lift operator moves the platted into the warehouse for delivery.
There are 4 lines in this warehouse. I need to compare station 1, Line 1 with the other machines. Find out if there different in any way.
This is what I think happen, after looking at the machines. Standing where the employee was and reenacting what she may have did. The employee didn't wait for the hydraulic to come level to the platform and a complete stop. She squatted down to the floor, with her right arm reached down below her feet, though railing to grab the sticker to save time. She misjudged the speed of the hydraulic, couldn't pull her arm back fast enough, with the result of her arm being severed above her right elbow. There are safety rails in place so no body part can come into contact with the hydraulics. There is a four by four inch gap where she squeezed her arm though.
Rail
I started with the second shift, this was the shift the employee worked. I immediately interviewed the manager down to middle management to the line leads. No one was very happy to see me. I was a threat to there job. They thought that if I found problems in there leadership, they would be fired, they were right in thinking that. Each interview took 45 minutes. I laid down my digital voice recorder on the desk in the room I was interviewing in. You should have seen there faces when they discovered that everything they say would be used in court, priceless. There are 10 in management down to the line leads in each shift, and 25 workers. I only interviewed the general manager, warehouse manager, assistant manager, line manager and the shipping manager, I ran out of time and will continue tomorrow. It looks like I will be here for several days, maybe even a week. There are many workers that do not speak English and will have to have an interpreter, these interviews may take up to an hour and a half each.
Called it a night and stayed at a local Hotel.
Day 2
3:00 pm, the beginning of the second shift. The managers were still pissed at me and word spread very fast about the recordings. I finished the interviews with the managers, the safety programs that are supposed to be held monthly aren't. They are supposed to have a safety support person and they don't, along with other issues. I was assured that by the end of my interviews, they will have the safety support staff in place.
I asked for a list of names for the twenty five workers and had them lined up to interview back to back. Several of them didn't show up to work in fear of being deported.
More to follow soon........
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Case of the "Bad back at the driving range"
Subject is a male, age 40, 5'10, 170lbs, brown hair, green eyes.
Injury: injured neck and lower back
Claiming: he can't work because of the pain in his back. He stays home with ice on his back.
Somewhere in the Monterey Area
6:00 am I arrived at the subjects residence, single family ranch style dwelling, tan with brown trim. Yard is nest, in a middle class neighborhood. Subject's vehicle is parked in the driveway. Curtains are closed, no lights are on, no sign of any activity.
9:50 am Subject exits the front door and walks over to his vehicle. Subject appears to walk in a normal manner without any visible difficulty. Then he walks over to his garage door, bending at the waist, with one shift motion he opens the garage door lifting the garage door above his head with both arms high above his head. He walks into the garage and picks up what looks like golf clubs. He carries the golf clubs in his right hand as he walks in back of his vehicle. Subject opens the trunk and places the golf clubs inside, closing the trunk, then walks over to the drivers side door, he enters the vehicle and drives off out of the area.
10:15 am Subject drove to a golf driving range located somewhere in the Monterey Bay Area. Subject exits and walks to the rear of his vehicle. He unlocks the trunk, opens the lid and bends at the waist as he reaches inside to pick up what I believe to be the golf clubs, the same clubs he placed in his trunk at his residence. Subject walked inside the office area of the driving range with his golf clubs in his right hand. I exit my vehicle and take my video camera and a large duffel bag. I pursue on foot and observe the subject at the desk and over hear the subject purchasing a bucket of golf balls. Subject exits the office and walks upstairs where there are open stalls. This coarse has a upper and lower deck for driving. I walk into the office and purchase a bucket of balls myself and a driver and walk upstairs with camera in my hand, then placing the camera in my bag. I position myself right next to the subject. I put my bucket of balls on the ground, then open my bag and turn on the camera to record, aiming the lens at the subject. Everything the subject does will be recorded. As I start to drive my balls, the subject started talking to me, now I have to be very careful here and not to bait the subject in any way, as long as I keep the conversation to nice day, how long have you been golfing, NOT, hey let me see you hit the 350 mark out there or I dropped may ball can you throw it to me, that's baiting.
Over the next hour, video was taken of the subject, bending to the ground, extreme motions of twisting right to left, using his neck and twisting it. Subject did everything he said he couldn't do.
11:30 am Subject exited the driving range and drove off out of the area.
11:45 am Subject drove back to his residence.
12:00 pm I discontinued surveillance due to the fact that I had gathered enough evidence to disprove his case.
CASE CLOSED
Injury: injured neck and lower back
Claiming: he can't work because of the pain in his back. He stays home with ice on his back.
Somewhere in the Monterey Area
6:00 am I arrived at the subjects residence, single family ranch style dwelling, tan with brown trim. Yard is nest, in a middle class neighborhood. Subject's vehicle is parked in the driveway. Curtains are closed, no lights are on, no sign of any activity.
9:50 am Subject exits the front door and walks over to his vehicle. Subject appears to walk in a normal manner without any visible difficulty. Then he walks over to his garage door, bending at the waist, with one shift motion he opens the garage door lifting the garage door above his head with both arms high above his head. He walks into the garage and picks up what looks like golf clubs. He carries the golf clubs in his right hand as he walks in back of his vehicle. Subject opens the trunk and places the golf clubs inside, closing the trunk, then walks over to the drivers side door, he enters the vehicle and drives off out of the area.
10:15 am Subject drove to a golf driving range located somewhere in the Monterey Bay Area. Subject exits and walks to the rear of his vehicle. He unlocks the trunk, opens the lid and bends at the waist as he reaches inside to pick up what I believe to be the golf clubs, the same clubs he placed in his trunk at his residence. Subject walked inside the office area of the driving range with his golf clubs in his right hand. I exit my vehicle and take my video camera and a large duffel bag. I pursue on foot and observe the subject at the desk and over hear the subject purchasing a bucket of golf balls. Subject exits the office and walks upstairs where there are open stalls. This coarse has a upper and lower deck for driving. I walk into the office and purchase a bucket of balls myself and a driver and walk upstairs with camera in my hand, then placing the camera in my bag. I position myself right next to the subject. I put my bucket of balls on the ground, then open my bag and turn on the camera to record, aiming the lens at the subject. Everything the subject does will be recorded. As I start to drive my balls, the subject started talking to me, now I have to be very careful here and not to bait the subject in any way, as long as I keep the conversation to nice day, how long have you been golfing, NOT, hey let me see you hit the 350 mark out there or I dropped may ball can you throw it to me, that's baiting.
Over the next hour, video was taken of the subject, bending to the ground, extreme motions of twisting right to left, using his neck and twisting it. Subject did everything he said he couldn't do.
11:30 am Subject exited the driving range and drove off out of the area.
11:45 am Subject drove back to his residence.
12:00 pm I discontinued surveillance due to the fact that I had gathered enough evidence to disprove his case.
CASE CLOSED
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Case of the "cheating wife that received a second chance"
Client is the husband
Subject is the wife, age 30 years old, 5'5, 135lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes.
They have three children:
Baby girl, 6 months old
Son, age 2
Girl, age 3
This case has three parts to it,
Client (husband) point of view
Me the private investigator
Subject (wife) point of view
If there was ever a case that needed my help it was this one. The client told me his story and it tugged on my heart strings, I had to take this case, I'll start from the beginning.
Husbands point of view:
One day his wife who worked for a large company somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, who had worked for this company for five years was one of many female clerical office support personnel. The dynamics of the office, there were three groups of people; the in crowd (twenty somethings), Nerds, and the wallflowers. The wallflowers were the people who work day in and day out, do their job, and go home, unnoticed. She was a wallflower, she didn't care because she had her family to go home to every day and they needed her.
One day the subject didn't have anything to where because she didn't do the laundry. She went to her closet and couldn't find anything to where. The clothes she wore are normal office wear, plain skirt and top, the usual clothes that she has worn for the past five years. On this day she found a piece of clothing she forgot about and had worn to a special occasion years ago. She thought it's not really the clothing I should wear to the office, but that's all she had to wear. She felt uncomfortable driving to work with this on and wondered how she would be received as wearing something like this. This is something you would see on one of the in crowd ladies, not me. She arrived at work as usual, but she noticed something was different, people were staring at her. She knew that would happen and didn't think twice about it again. A few hours later, several of the in crowd people approached her and introduced themselves to her. They invited her to go drinking with them after work, she said thank you but I have a family and I don't go anywhere but home. The rest of the day went very fast for her, wearing her new clothing and a new outlook on her job. On her way home, she really enjoyed the new found attention she received by wearing new clothing, this really boosted her self esteem. When she arrived home she told her husband all about the events of the day, she said it was a great day today.
The next morning, she wanted that feeling again at work so she found more of the same type of clothing she wore yesterday. She received the same response at work and again she was approached by the in crowd to join them for drinks at a nearby bar. She turned them down, on her way home she really liked the new me and decided this was the way she was going to dress from this day forward.
Over the next ten days, everyday she was asked to join the in crowd for some drinks and she always said no, until today. Toward the end of the day she was asked again to join the in crowd at a local bar for some drinks and she told them, only for an hour, then I must go home. This was the beginning of her downward spin into destruction. Over the next month she was now coming home 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. Her husband the client was now raising there small children by himself. She changed and it wasn't for the good.
He had a feeling something was going to happen, I think she is having an affair with another man. On this one Friday, she told him on her way to work that she was going to spend the night with a girl friend in the city and not to waite up for her, he knew. He asked me to help him and follow her. I agreed to take the case and to follow her into San Francisco after she gets off work.
Case begins:
4:00 pm I arrived at the subjects work and sat on her vehicle. She gets off work at 5:00 pm, he said she is a slow driver. The subject exited her office building and walked over to her vehicle. She entered and drove off out of the area alone. She drove onto HWY880 north toward Oakland. She crossed the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco. San Francisco is the worst city to tail someone in because of all the short blocks and one way streets.
6:30 pm the subject drove to a intersection off Geary Blvd, parked her vehicle. I had to ditch my vehicle, I needed to find out where she was going to. The subject walked to a restaurant/bar type of restaurant. The subject walked in and I followed on foot. The subject was seen at the podium and confirmed her reservation. The subject then exited the restaurant and stood outside as if she was waiting for someone. I stayed inside, I needed to know the layout of the restaurant. The exit doors, the kitchen area, the table setting, pictures on the wall if they had glass or plastic. If you sit in the right position you can use the reflection off the glass to see the subject. 7:15 pm a male approached her, they embraced and walked into the restaurant and sat down on the chairs in the waiting area.
8:00 pm, the subjects name was called and they were seated next to a window, which is good for me, I can observe from the outside if I needed to. Once I saw where the subject was seated, I seated myself several tables away. First rule in a surveillance, NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE SUBJECT. Use reflections off pictures, the glass on your table, even silverware, anything that will give you a reflection you can use to watch the subject. I positioned myself at a table at the bar and had line of sight on the subject. The covert device I used was a video camera inside of a cell phone. Tiny hole on the edge of the phone, so you can lay it flat on the table and capture video without holding it up like most cell phone cameras. Subject is observed sitting very close to her friend, at times very intimate.
9:00 pm I was watching the subject in my glass on my table when for what ever reason I didn't know, I looked at the subject and at that exact moment, she looked directly at me. We made eye contact, breaking the number one rule of surveillance. I knew at that time I had compromised the surveillance, so I got up and exited the restaurant. I could not believe I did what I did, I NEVER do that. I didn't know what got into me. I went to my vehicle which I ditched and was lucky it wasn't towed. I positioned my vehicle across the street, but something told me to position myself on the opposite corner and I have direct eye sight of the front door, The only bad thing is that I am directly under a street light which is lighting me up, like I am glowing, but it was the best position to have at that time. I can't see the subject but that's okay, it's where they go after dinner is more important than watching them eat.
1:00 am, the lights go off inside the restaurant and the subject and male friend exited and stand on the corner just outside the front door. I was looking down at my floor trying to grab my video camera, as I brought my camera up, I looked at the subject, and again we made direct eye contract. I couldn't believe it, two times in one night. What happen next I can't explain, I observed the subject flipping out, waving her hands in the air and yelling at her male friend. She then runs to her vehicle and lays rubber as she speeds away. I turn my car on and pursue the subject, she is running red lights and stop signs with speed up to 60 MPH in the city of San Francisco at 1:00 am. Shes running red lights, I am right behind her running red lights. The next thing I know the male friend is on my tail chasing me. The three of us are now all running red lights and stop signs. At Van Ness and Market, the subject and myself run a red light but the male friend was stopped by other vehicles so we lost him. I followed the subject onto HWY101 south bound and she was traveling close to 90 MPH. I pulled back and decided not to peruse at that speed. I didn't want to be responsible if she would have crashed her vehicle. She was heading in the direction of her home anyway. On the drive home I reflected on the events of the evening. I needed to call the client in the morning, but really didn't know what to tell him.
Next morning I woke up at 6:00 am and started to write my report of last night when my phone rang. It was the client, I didn't know what to tell him when I heard crying on the phone, I didn't say a word. He said subbing as he spoke, I don't know what happen last night, but thank you. I didn't say anything, sometimes the best thing to say is nothing. The wife got on the phone and she began to cry.
Wife's point of view:
She said, let me tell you my story. We heard the first part about work and the in crowd and the bars. What she said next I didn't expect. She said, she had no intention of going home last night. She saw me at the bar last night and thought it was weird that someone was staring at me. At 1:00 am I exited the restaurant with my new boy friend and stood on the corner. As I stood on that corner I looked across the street and saw you sitting in your car and you were all light up. At that time my life flashed before my eyes, why it happen I can't explain it. I saw the birth of my children, my wedding, my home, and I thought you were an angel sent from heaven. I saw all the wrong choices I've made in the past few months and I felt I was getting a second chance. At that time I started waving my arms yelling at my male friend and said goodbye, I told him I can't do this. I love my babies. I love my husband and I am going home. At that time she said she couldn't remember much of anything past that point, all she wanted to do is get home as fast as she could. Red lights, stop signs, nothing was going to get in my way of coming home. She said all she wanted to do was to kiss her babies and hold them tightly in her arms and asked for there forgiveness. The hardest was asking forgiveness of my husband. Thank you for being the angel I needed at that time.
I said your welcome, I'll send you my bill. It was the first time I helped bring back together a broken family, It felt really good.
Case Closed.
Subject is the wife, age 30 years old, 5'5, 135lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes.
They have three children:
Baby girl, 6 months old
Son, age 2
Girl, age 3
This case has three parts to it,
Client (husband) point of view
Me the private investigator
Subject (wife) point of view
If there was ever a case that needed my help it was this one. The client told me his story and it tugged on my heart strings, I had to take this case, I'll start from the beginning.
Husbands point of view:
One day his wife who worked for a large company somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, who had worked for this company for five years was one of many female clerical office support personnel. The dynamics of the office, there were three groups of people; the in crowd (twenty somethings), Nerds, and the wallflowers. The wallflowers were the people who work day in and day out, do their job, and go home, unnoticed. She was a wallflower, she didn't care because she had her family to go home to every day and they needed her.
One day the subject didn't have anything to where because she didn't do the laundry. She went to her closet and couldn't find anything to where. The clothes she wore are normal office wear, plain skirt and top, the usual clothes that she has worn for the past five years. On this day she found a piece of clothing she forgot about and had worn to a special occasion years ago. She thought it's not really the clothing I should wear to the office, but that's all she had to wear. She felt uncomfortable driving to work with this on and wondered how she would be received as wearing something like this. This is something you would see on one of the in crowd ladies, not me. She arrived at work as usual, but she noticed something was different, people were staring at her. She knew that would happen and didn't think twice about it again. A few hours later, several of the in crowd people approached her and introduced themselves to her. They invited her to go drinking with them after work, she said thank you but I have a family and I don't go anywhere but home. The rest of the day went very fast for her, wearing her new clothing and a new outlook on her job. On her way home, she really enjoyed the new found attention she received by wearing new clothing, this really boosted her self esteem. When she arrived home she told her husband all about the events of the day, she said it was a great day today.
The next morning, she wanted that feeling again at work so she found more of the same type of clothing she wore yesterday. She received the same response at work and again she was approached by the in crowd to join them for drinks at a nearby bar. She turned them down, on her way home she really liked the new me and decided this was the way she was going to dress from this day forward.
Over the next ten days, everyday she was asked to join the in crowd for some drinks and she always said no, until today. Toward the end of the day she was asked again to join the in crowd at a local bar for some drinks and she told them, only for an hour, then I must go home. This was the beginning of her downward spin into destruction. Over the next month she was now coming home 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. Her husband the client was now raising there small children by himself. She changed and it wasn't for the good.
He had a feeling something was going to happen, I think she is having an affair with another man. On this one Friday, she told him on her way to work that she was going to spend the night with a girl friend in the city and not to waite up for her, he knew. He asked me to help him and follow her. I agreed to take the case and to follow her into San Francisco after she gets off work.
Case begins:
4:00 pm I arrived at the subjects work and sat on her vehicle. She gets off work at 5:00 pm, he said she is a slow driver. The subject exited her office building and walked over to her vehicle. She entered and drove off out of the area alone. She drove onto HWY880 north toward Oakland. She crossed the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco. San Francisco is the worst city to tail someone in because of all the short blocks and one way streets.
6:30 pm the subject drove to a intersection off Geary Blvd, parked her vehicle. I had to ditch my vehicle, I needed to find out where she was going to. The subject walked to a restaurant/bar type of restaurant. The subject walked in and I followed on foot. The subject was seen at the podium and confirmed her reservation. The subject then exited the restaurant and stood outside as if she was waiting for someone. I stayed inside, I needed to know the layout of the restaurant. The exit doors, the kitchen area, the table setting, pictures on the wall if they had glass or plastic. If you sit in the right position you can use the reflection off the glass to see the subject. 7:15 pm a male approached her, they embraced and walked into the restaurant and sat down on the chairs in the waiting area.
8:00 pm, the subjects name was called and they were seated next to a window, which is good for me, I can observe from the outside if I needed to. Once I saw where the subject was seated, I seated myself several tables away. First rule in a surveillance, NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE SUBJECT. Use reflections off pictures, the glass on your table, even silverware, anything that will give you a reflection you can use to watch the subject. I positioned myself at a table at the bar and had line of sight on the subject. The covert device I used was a video camera inside of a cell phone. Tiny hole on the edge of the phone, so you can lay it flat on the table and capture video without holding it up like most cell phone cameras. Subject is observed sitting very close to her friend, at times very intimate.
9:00 pm I was watching the subject in my glass on my table when for what ever reason I didn't know, I looked at the subject and at that exact moment, she looked directly at me. We made eye contact, breaking the number one rule of surveillance. I knew at that time I had compromised the surveillance, so I got up and exited the restaurant. I could not believe I did what I did, I NEVER do that. I didn't know what got into me. I went to my vehicle which I ditched and was lucky it wasn't towed. I positioned my vehicle across the street, but something told me to position myself on the opposite corner and I have direct eye sight of the front door, The only bad thing is that I am directly under a street light which is lighting me up, like I am glowing, but it was the best position to have at that time. I can't see the subject but that's okay, it's where they go after dinner is more important than watching them eat.
1:00 am, the lights go off inside the restaurant and the subject and male friend exited and stand on the corner just outside the front door. I was looking down at my floor trying to grab my video camera, as I brought my camera up, I looked at the subject, and again we made direct eye contract. I couldn't believe it, two times in one night. What happen next I can't explain, I observed the subject flipping out, waving her hands in the air and yelling at her male friend. She then runs to her vehicle and lays rubber as she speeds away. I turn my car on and pursue the subject, she is running red lights and stop signs with speed up to 60 MPH in the city of San Francisco at 1:00 am. Shes running red lights, I am right behind her running red lights. The next thing I know the male friend is on my tail chasing me. The three of us are now all running red lights and stop signs. At Van Ness and Market, the subject and myself run a red light but the male friend was stopped by other vehicles so we lost him. I followed the subject onto HWY101 south bound and she was traveling close to 90 MPH. I pulled back and decided not to peruse at that speed. I didn't want to be responsible if she would have crashed her vehicle. She was heading in the direction of her home anyway. On the drive home I reflected on the events of the evening. I needed to call the client in the morning, but really didn't know what to tell him.
Next morning I woke up at 6:00 am and started to write my report of last night when my phone rang. It was the client, I didn't know what to tell him when I heard crying on the phone, I didn't say a word. He said subbing as he spoke, I don't know what happen last night, but thank you. I didn't say anything, sometimes the best thing to say is nothing. The wife got on the phone and she began to cry.
Wife's point of view:
She said, let me tell you my story. We heard the first part about work and the in crowd and the bars. What she said next I didn't expect. She said, she had no intention of going home last night. She saw me at the bar last night and thought it was weird that someone was staring at me. At 1:00 am I exited the restaurant with my new boy friend and stood on the corner. As I stood on that corner I looked across the street and saw you sitting in your car and you were all light up. At that time my life flashed before my eyes, why it happen I can't explain it. I saw the birth of my children, my wedding, my home, and I thought you were an angel sent from heaven. I saw all the wrong choices I've made in the past few months and I felt I was getting a second chance. At that time I started waving my arms yelling at my male friend and said goodbye, I told him I can't do this. I love my babies. I love my husband and I am going home. At that time she said she couldn't remember much of anything past that point, all she wanted to do is get home as fast as she could. Red lights, stop signs, nothing was going to get in my way of coming home. She said all she wanted to do was to kiss her babies and hold them tightly in her arms and asked for there forgiveness. The hardest was asking forgiveness of my husband. Thank you for being the angel I needed at that time.
I said your welcome, I'll send you my bill. It was the first time I helped bring back together a broken family, It felt really good.
Case Closed.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Case of the "follow that boat"
Monday
This case started in Livermore, CA. Subject is a 40 year old male adult who was injured on the job. He injured his back, neck, left arm and pelvis and claims he is 100% disabled and can't hold a job. The insurance company is ready to settle this case in court. The insurance company hired me to observe his activities before they settle, settlement is $750,000.00, they have to be sure he is as he claims, 100% disabled.
I arrived at the subject's residence at 5:00 am. The residence is described as a ranch style single family dwelling, tan with brown trim, the garage is off to the left and the front door is in the center of the residence, curtains are closed and no lights are on. This being the first day on this case, not knowing his patterns yet, I drove the area to see where his possible routes of travel would be. Subject's residence is directly on a corner leading into a court, I picked the best position for surveillance possible, I can see the entire residence, garage and side gate. There were no vehicles parked at the residence, which means he doesn't own a vehicle or it's parked in the garage. I needed to know if there was a vehicle parked in the garage. I approached the residence on foot and found the garage door was slightly open. I bent and got on my knees and observed a yellow older model Ford Bronco, CAL lic. plate ###### parked inside the garage. I arrived back to my surveillance vehicle and set up my interior blinds so I wouldn't be detected.
If no activity is observed after the four hour mark which would be 9:00 am, I need to knock on his door to make sure the subject is home, don't want to be sitting on a empty house. Four hours had passed, the subject hasn't moved, I need to find out if the subject is home. As I was arriving this morning I saw a shopping plaza not to far a way, I observed a pizza restaurant as one of the businesses. I made a call into the pizza place and arranged for a delivery around 10:00 am to the subjects residence. Pizza dude arrived and knocked on the subjects door. The door opened and I observed a white male adult, 5'10, 170lbs, short blonde hair standing in the door way. It worked out well, I didn't have to show myself to confirm that the subject was home. The subject turned the pizza dude a way, as he drove off and started to pass me I flagged him down and bought the pizza, lunch. The subject didn't leave his residence and at 5:oo pm I discontinued surveillance due to the fact of lack of activity.
Wednesday
I arrived at the subject's residence at 6:00 am. Upon arrival I observed a boat on a trailer parked curbside directly in front of the subjects residence. It was an open inboard/outboard vessel, there was a ski pole on the back of the boat. This type of boat can be used as a ski boat or can be used to fish out of. I copied down the CAL lic. plate and the vessel I.D. number on the side of the boat.I needed to know if this boat belonged to the subject or not. After no movement for four hours, I needed to knock on the subjects door and have a conversation with the subject regarding the boat. I put on a removable beard, hat, sunglasses, Hawaiian shirt, short pants and sandals. When ever you knock on the subject door, you MUST put on a disguise to hide your normal appearance, you never know when you actually will come into contact with the subject and you don't want the subject to connect you with there residence, that's how you will burn a case. I walk up to the front door and I knock, the subject opens the door. Now all at the same time I must, take a mental picture of the subjects facial markings, age, height, weight, hair color, eye color. How he stands at the door, is he using any artificial devices (body worn devices), cane, walker, anything like that. I am looking beyond the subject observing the interior layout of the living room, other people, is the T.V. on or is he a reader. Any information you gather will help in the investigation further down the road, I only have one shot at this so I need to get it right. I said, hi, I was walking by and saw your boat, I have been looking for a boat like this myself. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your boat, ask any guy about his guns, cars, or boat, they will spill there guts to you. I said, where is there a good fishing hole around here, he said well I am going up to Bass Lake this weekend for some fishing and water skiing. We talked for a few more minutes about his boat, but I with drew the information I needed, I said thanks and walked a way. Now once you leave the subjects front door, you can't walk back to your vehicle, they will be watching you to see where you are going. You must walk around the block to your vehicle and reposition yourself, you can't have any of the neighbors connecting you to the subject. The information I discovered was solid, I found out where Bass Lake was, It is between Fresno and Yosemite up in the mountains. This coming weekend is the 4th of July weekend, today was Wednesday, June 29th, I had a few days to prepare for a nice day of fishing and relaxation.
Friday
July 1st, I arrived very early 5:00 am at the subjects residence, I had to be there to follow him to Bass Lake. To my surprise the boat was gone, I looked in the garage and it was empty, he had already left. This was before GPS and the internet was available to everyone. I had to pull out my maps and started off to Bass Lake. On the way I imagined a nice small lake, camping next to the water, relaxing for the weekend, and taking lots of video. At 1:00 pm I arrived at Bass Lake and it wasn't as I expected it to be like. Instead of a few boats on the lake, It was a huge resort, on one side of the lake was Hotels, Restaurants, private docks, private camping resort parks, and on the other side was National Forest camping. You could hardly see the other end of the lake it was so huge. My game plan just changed, this was going to be a very challenging surveillance. The first thing I had to do was set up my camp, since I came prepared with a tent, sleeping bag, stove, ice chest, food, It took me about an hour.
I know two important pieces of information, his vehicle and plate number and his vessel ID number that's on the side of the bow, and what the boat looks like. I decided I needed to find the subjects boat, that's the most important part of this surveillance is the boat, without it, I have nothing. I drove around the lake to get a feel of the layout of the Lake, I needed to know where all the roads lead to, all the possible exits, the public docks what time are they open and close, the restaurants and there hours of operation, I needed to know everything there was about this resort Lake. The lake was really quite with maybe 4 boats on the water. It was now 6:00 pm, I headed back to my camp for some dinner, after dinner I decided to drive the roads to see where they all went to, after 3 hours of driving, I have a good feel of the Resort. There are 12 private camping resorts up in the hills, 3 Hotels, 4 private docks and 2 public docks, one grocery store and one gas station. I am tried and it was time to turn in for the evening. I arrived back at my camp, it was so beautiful with the moon high in the sky and the reflection of the moon shinning off the water. I can hear crickets and frogs croaking, bats flying in the air, the night life of the lake was very cool. As I reflected of the events of the day, I decided to rent a small 12" boat with a outboard motor and try to find the subject's boat first thing in the morning. I need to get an early start around 6:00 am.
Saturday
I was woken up by jet engine sounds on the lake. I looked at my watch and it was 8:00 am, I over slept. I got dressed and exited my tent, looked toward the lake and froze in my tracks. I couldn't believe my eyes, the lake had around fifty boats on the water, I turned and looked at the road leading toward the lake. There were cars, trucks, vans, backed up for miles heading toward the lake. I had a panic attack, I didn't know how I was going to resolve this investigation by myself, this was a job for three to four investigators, I felt an overwhelming feeling that I should ask for help, I knelled down in my tent and offered up a prayer to my heavenly father for help, as soon as I said those words an overwhelming feeling overcame me, telling me, everything will be alright. My peaceful weekend suddenly changed. I quickly fixed breakfast and headed toward the rental shack, where I could rent a small boat. Yesterday this was a good idea with a few boats on the lake, now I couldn't cut across the lake fear of being run over by power boats, so I cruised the shoreline around the lake until I reached the private docks. It was now 12:15 pm, I reached my first private dock out of four. The next three hours I searched for the subjects boat without success, his boat wasn't berthed at any of the private docks. I headed back to the rental shack to return the boat, it was now 5:00 pm. Haven't had a chance to eat so I headed back to my camp and prepared dinner. There was only a few hours of light left so I decided to drive up toward the private resorts in the hills. There were twelve resorts to search though, one by one I gained access to the resorts by taking a free tour of the resort by a salesman, the whole time he's trying to sell me a time share while I am scanning the trailers and cabins for the subjects vehicle and boat. Nine o'clock and I have gone though ten resorts, I am exhausted and ready to call it a day, when I had this feeling deep down inside of me that I had to do one more resort, ever had that feeling that someone is guiding you in a direction, that's the feeling I had, so I went though the sales presentation and got into a golf cart and as he was telling everything about the resort, I had another feeling, something told me to turn my head and I looked and there was the subjects vehicle and boat. I felt relief, now the surveillance can begin. I exited the resort and positioned myself with full view of the exit gate. It was now 9:45 pm, 10:00 pm the subject exited the the resort and drove down the hill toward the lake. The subject drove to a restaurant at the lake. Subject exited his vehicle with 4 young females, they entered the restaurant and out of my view. I enter on foot and find a booth close enough to hear the subject. The subject moved without any restrictions, braces or canes. 11:30 pm the subject exits the restaurant and drives up the hill toward the private resort and out of my view, I am calling it a day. Time to go to sleep.
Sunday
I woke up at 6:00 am, felt really good now that I know where the subject is located. Prepared breakfast and got ready for the day. I have my video camera, 600mm lens, 35mm camera, digital recorder, hat sunglasses, fishing pole and tackle, swim suit, towel, and I am ready for anything the subject does. I drive over to the public docks, there are two of them, I picked the public dock closest to the road the subject drove down last night, the other dock can't be seen from the first dock, just hope the subject drives to the dock I am at. This is all about the subject and the boat, nothing else. I set up surveillance at the end of a pier next to the public dock. I can see all boats coming and going, there are benches and tables to sit, great cover. There is a parking lot off to the right of the dock where the trucks with trailers can park. Left of the public dock is a gas island where the boats can get gas, it has street access so people can walk onto the gas island. After two hours, there is no sign of the subject. At 10:30 am, I have to make a land line phone call in and give an update to the client. To do this I have to break off my surveillance and walk over to the restaurant to use a pay phone. The phone call took longer than I thought, forty five minutes went by. I arrived back at the pier and set up surveillance. At 11:32 am, I noticed a boat coming into the public dock from the lake, it looked familiar. It was the subject, he was wearing a wet suit and was dripping wet. He was with four females in the boat. The subject backed the boat to the waters edge of the dock, at which time the subject jumped out of the boat and ran toward the parking lot where other trucks and trailers were parked. He entered his vehicle and backed the trailer into the water. He then jumped out of his bronco and entered the boat, he backed it onto the trailer, latched the boat onto the trailer, secured the boat to the trailer, jump out of the boat and entered his vehicle and drove off up the hill and out of view. The entire time the subject was doing this, I was filming the subject, driving the boat, jumping, running and driving a vehicle. This alone can disprove his claim of being 100% disabled. I was happy with the video, but I needed proof that he was in fact water skiing, this would disprove his claim of being 100% disabled. I let the subject go and set up a surveillance at the intersection that he must take in order to come down to the lake. It was lunch time, there was a fast food type of cafe close where I could watch the intersection from the cafe. 2:00 pm there is no sign of the subject from the dinner, I exited and set up surveillance from my vehicle. After sitting in my vehicle for five hours, there was no sign of the subject. 9:00 pm I discontinued surveillance and drove back to my camp. Reviewing the events that took place today, it was a good day, twenty five minutes of video was taken. The noise from the lake has stopped of jet engines and were replaced by the frogs and crickets singing. The moon is really bright and the reflection of it in the water was breath taking. I am calling it a night.
Monday, July 4th
Today is the day I must disprove the subjects claim. I broke camp very early, packed up my vehicle and drove over to the cafe so I could watch the intersection that the subject must pass to get to the lake. I ordered breakfast which was a nice change from eating cold cereal, it was 6:15 am. After watching the intersection from the cafe, it was now 8:00 am, I exited the cafe and set up surveillance from my vehicle. 10:00 am, no sign of the subject, I was beginning to worry that he had already left for home and I missed my one and only shot to get the subject on video water skiing. Most people leave around noon and return home before the traffic gets to heavy. 11:00 am I exited my vehicle and walked on foot to the end of the pier where I observed the subject coming in from the water yesterday. I reflected on Saturday morning when I felt the warm feeling that everything would be alright, at that very moment, I felt impressed to turn to my head to the right and look, I did and I observed the subject backing his boat and trailer into the water. I quickly picked up my video camera and started to roll the video. Subject jumped out of his vehicle and unlatched the boat from the trailer. He then started up the boat and backed it out of the trailer. He jumped into the water and walked up to his vehicle and drove it to the parking area. Subject is seen running with four females toward the boat. Subject starts up the boat and drives off toward the middle of the lake. There is one thing I didn't count on, the subject driving off and his image and size was starting to get smaller and smaller. Any video I take, he could disprove, saying that's not me, prove it, and he is right. As I watched the subject drive off toward the middle of the lake, I had that feeling again, like someone was in my head giving me step by step directions on what to do. I was prompted to run over to the gas station island dock, I listened to the instructions and ran over to the dock, now what. I felt another impression, but this time I paused and I said no, as if I was talking with someone, I felt the impression again, this time more forceful. So far these prompting have lead me in the right direction. I was prompted to run down to the end of the gas station island where there were six boats docked getting gas, and jump into the first boat on the left, so I did it. I ran and jumped into this guys boat and the surprise look on his face. His eyes were as big as silver dollars, he said, "you jumped in my boat", you know that dead air uncomfortable feeling when you meet new people and have nothing to say, well that was the feeling in that boat. I yelled "follow that boat", now I had a video camera in my hand and he looked at it and me and said, "hot dang, get in and hold on, I've waited my whole life for someone to say that to me", off we went speeding away toward the middle of the lake and I mean speeding. Now I've questioned the prompting as to why I was lead to this boat, it was a flat bottom speed boat, not a nice gliding V boat that cuts though the water. The boat I had entered into bounced so hard on the water I almost was thrown out of the boat several times. Finally we were close enough that the boat slowed down I could start shooting video. The guy had some fishing poles in the boat, so we put the lines in the water for cover. We were around twenty feet from the subject, he was stopped in the water, we were stopped and I turned on the video camera and placed it on the seat next to me. Just as I turned on the camera to record, the subject put on a wet suit and jumped into the water. One of the females threw him a ski, he put his foot inside of the ski, then I heard him say HIT IT, the boat took off the subject was up on water ski's. We followed him around the lake and video taped him for about thirty minutes. I pulled off the surveillance as to save the case from being burned, we did get very close a few time. I thanked the dude and told him that I couldn't have solved this case without his help. He said, no thank you, no one will ever believe me when I tell them that a private investigator jumped in my boat and I got to follow a boat on a high speed chase.
My job was completed, I did what the attorney's wanted me to do. I saved the Insurance Company $750,000.00.
What happen to the subject, he received no money, the District Attorney wanted to talk to him of possible criminal charges.
CASE CLOSED
This case started in Livermore, CA. Subject is a 40 year old male adult who was injured on the job. He injured his back, neck, left arm and pelvis and claims he is 100% disabled and can't hold a job. The insurance company is ready to settle this case in court. The insurance company hired me to observe his activities before they settle, settlement is $750,000.00, they have to be sure he is as he claims, 100% disabled.
I arrived at the subject's residence at 5:00 am. The residence is described as a ranch style single family dwelling, tan with brown trim, the garage is off to the left and the front door is in the center of the residence, curtains are closed and no lights are on. This being the first day on this case, not knowing his patterns yet, I drove the area to see where his possible routes of travel would be. Subject's residence is directly on a corner leading into a court, I picked the best position for surveillance possible, I can see the entire residence, garage and side gate. There were no vehicles parked at the residence, which means he doesn't own a vehicle or it's parked in the garage. I needed to know if there was a vehicle parked in the garage. I approached the residence on foot and found the garage door was slightly open. I bent and got on my knees and observed a yellow older model Ford Bronco, CAL lic. plate ###### parked inside the garage. I arrived back to my surveillance vehicle and set up my interior blinds so I wouldn't be detected.
If no activity is observed after the four hour mark which would be 9:00 am, I need to knock on his door to make sure the subject is home, don't want to be sitting on a empty house. Four hours had passed, the subject hasn't moved, I need to find out if the subject is home. As I was arriving this morning I saw a shopping plaza not to far a way, I observed a pizza restaurant as one of the businesses. I made a call into the pizza place and arranged for a delivery around 10:00 am to the subjects residence. Pizza dude arrived and knocked on the subjects door. The door opened and I observed a white male adult, 5'10, 170lbs, short blonde hair standing in the door way. It worked out well, I didn't have to show myself to confirm that the subject was home. The subject turned the pizza dude a way, as he drove off and started to pass me I flagged him down and bought the pizza, lunch. The subject didn't leave his residence and at 5:oo pm I discontinued surveillance due to the fact of lack of activity.
Wednesday
I arrived at the subject's residence at 6:00 am. Upon arrival I observed a boat on a trailer parked curbside directly in front of the subjects residence. It was an open inboard/outboard vessel, there was a ski pole on the back of the boat. This type of boat can be used as a ski boat or can be used to fish out of. I copied down the CAL lic. plate and the vessel I.D. number on the side of the boat.I needed to know if this boat belonged to the subject or not. After no movement for four hours, I needed to knock on the subjects door and have a conversation with the subject regarding the boat. I put on a removable beard, hat, sunglasses, Hawaiian shirt, short pants and sandals. When ever you knock on the subject door, you MUST put on a disguise to hide your normal appearance, you never know when you actually will come into contact with the subject and you don't want the subject to connect you with there residence, that's how you will burn a case. I walk up to the front door and I knock, the subject opens the door. Now all at the same time I must, take a mental picture of the subjects facial markings, age, height, weight, hair color, eye color. How he stands at the door, is he using any artificial devices (body worn devices), cane, walker, anything like that. I am looking beyond the subject observing the interior layout of the living room, other people, is the T.V. on or is he a reader. Any information you gather will help in the investigation further down the road, I only have one shot at this so I need to get it right. I said, hi, I was walking by and saw your boat, I have been looking for a boat like this myself. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your boat, ask any guy about his guns, cars, or boat, they will spill there guts to you. I said, where is there a good fishing hole around here, he said well I am going up to Bass Lake this weekend for some fishing and water skiing. We talked for a few more minutes about his boat, but I with drew the information I needed, I said thanks and walked a way. Now once you leave the subjects front door, you can't walk back to your vehicle, they will be watching you to see where you are going. You must walk around the block to your vehicle and reposition yourself, you can't have any of the neighbors connecting you to the subject. The information I discovered was solid, I found out where Bass Lake was, It is between Fresno and Yosemite up in the mountains. This coming weekend is the 4th of July weekend, today was Wednesday, June 29th, I had a few days to prepare for a nice day of fishing and relaxation.
Friday
July 1st, I arrived very early 5:00 am at the subjects residence, I had to be there to follow him to Bass Lake. To my surprise the boat was gone, I looked in the garage and it was empty, he had already left. This was before GPS and the internet was available to everyone. I had to pull out my maps and started off to Bass Lake. On the way I imagined a nice small lake, camping next to the water, relaxing for the weekend, and taking lots of video. At 1:00 pm I arrived at Bass Lake and it wasn't as I expected it to be like. Instead of a few boats on the lake, It was a huge resort, on one side of the lake was Hotels, Restaurants, private docks, private camping resort parks, and on the other side was National Forest camping. You could hardly see the other end of the lake it was so huge. My game plan just changed, this was going to be a very challenging surveillance. The first thing I had to do was set up my camp, since I came prepared with a tent, sleeping bag, stove, ice chest, food, It took me about an hour.
I know two important pieces of information, his vehicle and plate number and his vessel ID number that's on the side of the bow, and what the boat looks like. I decided I needed to find the subjects boat, that's the most important part of this surveillance is the boat, without it, I have nothing. I drove around the lake to get a feel of the layout of the Lake, I needed to know where all the roads lead to, all the possible exits, the public docks what time are they open and close, the restaurants and there hours of operation, I needed to know everything there was about this resort Lake. The lake was really quite with maybe 4 boats on the water. It was now 6:00 pm, I headed back to my camp for some dinner, after dinner I decided to drive the roads to see where they all went to, after 3 hours of driving, I have a good feel of the Resort. There are 12 private camping resorts up in the hills, 3 Hotels, 4 private docks and 2 public docks, one grocery store and one gas station. I am tried and it was time to turn in for the evening. I arrived back at my camp, it was so beautiful with the moon high in the sky and the reflection of the moon shinning off the water. I can hear crickets and frogs croaking, bats flying in the air, the night life of the lake was very cool. As I reflected of the events of the day, I decided to rent a small 12" boat with a outboard motor and try to find the subject's boat first thing in the morning. I need to get an early start around 6:00 am.
Saturday
I was woken up by jet engine sounds on the lake. I looked at my watch and it was 8:00 am, I over slept. I got dressed and exited my tent, looked toward the lake and froze in my tracks. I couldn't believe my eyes, the lake had around fifty boats on the water, I turned and looked at the road leading toward the lake. There were cars, trucks, vans, backed up for miles heading toward the lake. I had a panic attack, I didn't know how I was going to resolve this investigation by myself, this was a job for three to four investigators, I felt an overwhelming feeling that I should ask for help, I knelled down in my tent and offered up a prayer to my heavenly father for help, as soon as I said those words an overwhelming feeling overcame me, telling me, everything will be alright. My peaceful weekend suddenly changed. I quickly fixed breakfast and headed toward the rental shack, where I could rent a small boat. Yesterday this was a good idea with a few boats on the lake, now I couldn't cut across the lake fear of being run over by power boats, so I cruised the shoreline around the lake until I reached the private docks. It was now 12:15 pm, I reached my first private dock out of four. The next three hours I searched for the subjects boat without success, his boat wasn't berthed at any of the private docks. I headed back to the rental shack to return the boat, it was now 5:00 pm. Haven't had a chance to eat so I headed back to my camp and prepared dinner. There was only a few hours of light left so I decided to drive up toward the private resorts in the hills. There were twelve resorts to search though, one by one I gained access to the resorts by taking a free tour of the resort by a salesman, the whole time he's trying to sell me a time share while I am scanning the trailers and cabins for the subjects vehicle and boat. Nine o'clock and I have gone though ten resorts, I am exhausted and ready to call it a day, when I had this feeling deep down inside of me that I had to do one more resort, ever had that feeling that someone is guiding you in a direction, that's the feeling I had, so I went though the sales presentation and got into a golf cart and as he was telling everything about the resort, I had another feeling, something told me to turn my head and I looked and there was the subjects vehicle and boat. I felt relief, now the surveillance can begin. I exited the resort and positioned myself with full view of the exit gate. It was now 9:45 pm, 10:00 pm the subject exited the the resort and drove down the hill toward the lake. The subject drove to a restaurant at the lake. Subject exited his vehicle with 4 young females, they entered the restaurant and out of my view. I enter on foot and find a booth close enough to hear the subject. The subject moved without any restrictions, braces or canes. 11:30 pm the subject exits the restaurant and drives up the hill toward the private resort and out of my view, I am calling it a day. Time to go to sleep.
Sunday
I woke up at 6:00 am, felt really good now that I know where the subject is located. Prepared breakfast and got ready for the day. I have my video camera, 600mm lens, 35mm camera, digital recorder, hat sunglasses, fishing pole and tackle, swim suit, towel, and I am ready for anything the subject does. I drive over to the public docks, there are two of them, I picked the public dock closest to the road the subject drove down last night, the other dock can't be seen from the first dock, just hope the subject drives to the dock I am at. This is all about the subject and the boat, nothing else. I set up surveillance at the end of a pier next to the public dock. I can see all boats coming and going, there are benches and tables to sit, great cover. There is a parking lot off to the right of the dock where the trucks with trailers can park. Left of the public dock is a gas island where the boats can get gas, it has street access so people can walk onto the gas island. After two hours, there is no sign of the subject. At 10:30 am, I have to make a land line phone call in and give an update to the client. To do this I have to break off my surveillance and walk over to the restaurant to use a pay phone. The phone call took longer than I thought, forty five minutes went by. I arrived back at the pier and set up surveillance. At 11:32 am, I noticed a boat coming into the public dock from the lake, it looked familiar. It was the subject, he was wearing a wet suit and was dripping wet. He was with four females in the boat. The subject backed the boat to the waters edge of the dock, at which time the subject jumped out of the boat and ran toward the parking lot where other trucks and trailers were parked. He entered his vehicle and backed the trailer into the water. He then jumped out of his bronco and entered the boat, he backed it onto the trailer, latched the boat onto the trailer, secured the boat to the trailer, jump out of the boat and entered his vehicle and drove off up the hill and out of view. The entire time the subject was doing this, I was filming the subject, driving the boat, jumping, running and driving a vehicle. This alone can disprove his claim of being 100% disabled. I was happy with the video, but I needed proof that he was in fact water skiing, this would disprove his claim of being 100% disabled. I let the subject go and set up a surveillance at the intersection that he must take in order to come down to the lake. It was lunch time, there was a fast food type of cafe close where I could watch the intersection from the cafe. 2:00 pm there is no sign of the subject from the dinner, I exited and set up surveillance from my vehicle. After sitting in my vehicle for five hours, there was no sign of the subject. 9:00 pm I discontinued surveillance and drove back to my camp. Reviewing the events that took place today, it was a good day, twenty five minutes of video was taken. The noise from the lake has stopped of jet engines and were replaced by the frogs and crickets singing. The moon is really bright and the reflection of it in the water was breath taking. I am calling it a night.
Monday, July 4th
Today is the day I must disprove the subjects claim. I broke camp very early, packed up my vehicle and drove over to the cafe so I could watch the intersection that the subject must pass to get to the lake. I ordered breakfast which was a nice change from eating cold cereal, it was 6:15 am. After watching the intersection from the cafe, it was now 8:00 am, I exited the cafe and set up surveillance from my vehicle. 10:00 am, no sign of the subject, I was beginning to worry that he had already left for home and I missed my one and only shot to get the subject on video water skiing. Most people leave around noon and return home before the traffic gets to heavy. 11:00 am I exited my vehicle and walked on foot to the end of the pier where I observed the subject coming in from the water yesterday. I reflected on Saturday morning when I felt the warm feeling that everything would be alright, at that very moment, I felt impressed to turn to my head to the right and look, I did and I observed the subject backing his boat and trailer into the water. I quickly picked up my video camera and started to roll the video. Subject jumped out of his vehicle and unlatched the boat from the trailer. He then started up the boat and backed it out of the trailer. He jumped into the water and walked up to his vehicle and drove it to the parking area. Subject is seen running with four females toward the boat. Subject starts up the boat and drives off toward the middle of the lake. There is one thing I didn't count on, the subject driving off and his image and size was starting to get smaller and smaller. Any video I take, he could disprove, saying that's not me, prove it, and he is right. As I watched the subject drive off toward the middle of the lake, I had that feeling again, like someone was in my head giving me step by step directions on what to do. I was prompted to run over to the gas station island dock, I listened to the instructions and ran over to the dock, now what. I felt another impression, but this time I paused and I said no, as if I was talking with someone, I felt the impression again, this time more forceful. So far these prompting have lead me in the right direction. I was prompted to run down to the end of the gas station island where there were six boats docked getting gas, and jump into the first boat on the left, so I did it. I ran and jumped into this guys boat and the surprise look on his face. His eyes were as big as silver dollars, he said, "you jumped in my boat", you know that dead air uncomfortable feeling when you meet new people and have nothing to say, well that was the feeling in that boat. I yelled "follow that boat", now I had a video camera in my hand and he looked at it and me and said, "hot dang, get in and hold on, I've waited my whole life for someone to say that to me", off we went speeding away toward the middle of the lake and I mean speeding. Now I've questioned the prompting as to why I was lead to this boat, it was a flat bottom speed boat, not a nice gliding V boat that cuts though the water. The boat I had entered into bounced so hard on the water I almost was thrown out of the boat several times. Finally we were close enough that the boat slowed down I could start shooting video. The guy had some fishing poles in the boat, so we put the lines in the water for cover. We were around twenty feet from the subject, he was stopped in the water, we were stopped and I turned on the video camera and placed it on the seat next to me. Just as I turned on the camera to record, the subject put on a wet suit and jumped into the water. One of the females threw him a ski, he put his foot inside of the ski, then I heard him say HIT IT, the boat took off the subject was up on water ski's. We followed him around the lake and video taped him for about thirty minutes. I pulled off the surveillance as to save the case from being burned, we did get very close a few time. I thanked the dude and told him that I couldn't have solved this case without his help. He said, no thank you, no one will ever believe me when I tell them that a private investigator jumped in my boat and I got to follow a boat on a high speed chase.
My job was completed, I did what the attorney's wanted me to do. I saved the Insurance Company $750,000.00.
What happen to the subject, he received no money, the District Attorney wanted to talk to him of possible criminal charges.
CASE CLOSED
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