On Q Professional Investigations

When HR or supervisors investigate claims of employee misconduct or harassment, it’s common for them to ask employees to “keep this information confidential.”

But an important ruling from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) says that such a blanket confidentiality rule barring workers from discussing ongoing investigations could violate federal labor law. The NLRB says such confidentiality requests can’t be made unless “legitimate and substantial justification exists” for the ban.

The case: The HR director for Banner Heath Systems typically asks workers involved in in-house investigations to not talk about the investigation with co-workers. She made that request of James, who was interviewed as part of an insubordination charge.

James filed a charge with the NLRB, saying this policy was an unfair labor practice that violates Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. Section 7 gives employees—in both union and nonunion shops—the right to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment with other employees.

The NLRB sided with James, saying that for a company to justify such a confidentiality request, it must show the existence of a substantial business justification.

How to respond? Avoid blanket requests for employees to keep investigations confidential. And don’t discipline employees for failing to maintain confidentiality.

The Fisher & Phillips law firm says a better approaching woudl be “to limit such requests to situations where there is a legitimate and demonstrable safety concern, a concern about witness tampering, or a risk of lost evidence. Even in such instances, the request should ideally be limited to time (i.e. the duration of the investigation) and scope (i.e. during work time and on company property).”

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Rules to implement legislation mandating that canine handlers be licensed by the State have taken effect. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation began accepting applications from qualified canine handlers today.

To qualify for a canine handler authorization card or canine trainer authorization card, an applicant must be at least 18 years old, posses a valid private detective license, private security contractor license or a permanent employee registration card (PERC) and work for a licensed private detective agency or private security contractor agency.

The Department has also begun the approval process for all canine handler training courses and canine instructor training courses training and instruction programs. Once a program has been authorized by the State, graduates of those programs will be able to apply for a handler authorization card.

The new regulations and applications are posted on the Department’s website at www.idfpr.com. Questions regarding licensing of canine handlers may be directed to the Division’s Technical Assistance Unit at 217-782-8556 in the Springfield office.

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As a parade of slovenly dressed 20-somethings passed through the entrance of a downtown Manhattan apartment building on a weekday afternoon, these seemingly savvy New Yorkers did not seem to notice they were the subjects of a photo shoot.

That is because this shoot was covertly orchestrated by their landlord, who had hired a private investigator to root out illegal tenants.

Masked by lunchtime crowds and afternoon rain, the private eye, Joseph Mullen, who has run a sleuthing firm for more than 40 years, parked his car in front of the building, flipped through papers showing that several residents of the seven-story building were “dead or living somewhere else,” and waited.

Shane Williams, a vice president of the firm, J.T. Mullen Inc., slouched strategically in his seat and photographed people as they entered and left. The affable pair looked like observers at an antifashion show as food deliverymen paraded through, an older portly renter stepped out to buy cheese biscuits and renters dressed in gym clothing shuffled outside to smoke.

“We don’t know half the people who live in this building,” Mr. Mullen said. He released a gravelly chuckle, rustled through papers and glanced through the tinted window. “The landlords say, ‘I got to get these illegal tenants out and make some money.’ ”

In a high-rent borough like Manhattan with plenty of rent-regulated apartments ripe for exploitation, real estate investigation has long been a big business. Private detectives say it has picked up in the past year as some New Yorkers have tried to find extra money by moving out of their apartments and subletting to other renters for more than they are paying, which is not allowed.

And, of course, there are landlords pressed for cash, trying to root out people who are using rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartments illegally. This would allow the landlords to find new tenants and raise the rent by 20 percent or more under state housing law. During the speculation boom of the last decade, some large landlords were accused of using private investigators to harass legal tenants out of their apartments in order to raise rents to cover large mortgages and increase their profits.

Landlords who root out illegal sublets and absentee renters — a rent-regulated tenant must occupy the unit for at least 183 days a year — crow about how profitable these investigations can be.

Craig Charie, a lawyer and landlord who has hired private investigators for such cases since 1994, described a tenant at one Chelsea building who held onto her $433-a-month apartment while living primarily in New Jersey. An investigator tracked her commuting patterns, and Mr. Charie kicked her out, combined the apartment with another to make a duplex and raised the rent.

“It’s exceptionally useful,” Mr. Charie said. “We pieced together a lifestyle and recaptured the unit.”

As Mr. Mullen and Mr. Williams watched for residents and rain pattered on the car, they explained how these real estate cases, which make up a small fraction of their business, reach them. New Yorkers settle into rent-regulated apartments in their 20s. But as their incomes and families grow and they move out, they try to hold onto these apartments by renting them out to family and friends. When landlords bought buildings in recent years, often the only information they were given about their tenants was scribbled on rumpled papers and included names of residents who had not lived there in 30 years. Mr. Williams estimates that landlords do not know 20 percent of their tenants.

That is when they hire Mr. Mullen’s firm. He investigated a Baxter Street building where all of the residents had the same Social Security number. Mr. Williams chimed in about a building where the illegal tenant listed his apartment under the name O. B. Juan KNobi.

They allowed this reporter on a recent stakeout on the condition that the address not be published, because it was still under surveillance. They were hired to investigate 10 of the 25 apartments in the building; they usually earn $300 to $500 per apartment, or more if it involves extensive research. The most widely available public records may not always help. They said some tenants who lived elsewhere most of the year would vote in the city (itself a crime) to leave a paper trail or would receive their mail at their rent-controlled apartment and bribe the superintendent to forward it once a week.

This building had several advantages for the two men, including proximity to good coffeehouses, to keep them alert, and a superintendent who puts out the trash early enough to give them time to dig for Consolidated Edison or phone bills or other clues to who actually lives in an apartment. E-ZPass records and auto insurance bills are also useful. At some buildings, the superintendent can be talked into wedging a match into a locked apartment door to see how many days or weeks it takes to fall out.

When a smoker emerged from the building, they cheered; smokers linger and make it easy to photograph. Eventually, they will give all their photos to the landlord, who can show them to the superintendent to identify who is living where and whether a 25-year-old is living alone in a 95-year-old’s apartment.

If so, the eviction process can begin. It’s a messy business that has left Mr. Mullen with little envy for his clients.

“I wouldn’t want to be a landlord,” he said.

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Charles W. Huffman, 45, of Salisbury, is being held on $100,000 bond after allegedly attempting to run an insurance investigator off the road by ramming him from behind.

A deputy from the Wicomico County Sheriff’s office charged Huffman with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment after Huffman allegedly realized the private investigator from an insurance company was conducting surveillance, according to police documents.

Huffman then allegedly began chasing the investigator and reportedly rammed him 20 times. The incident allegedly began on Johnson Road before continuing onto Wango, Wastegate and Mt. Hermon Roads.

The deputy reportedly saw damage on the investigator’s vehicle consistent with his story. Police charged Huffman once they found him.

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They’re not Al-Qaeda, but they are a type of home-grown terror group. The FBI describes the Black Bloc as individuals intent on using violence to their express their extreme ideological views.

The Black Bloc tactics include street fighting, vandalism and rioting. Private investigator Bill Warner, who researches organized violence, says Black Bloc members are self-proclaimed anarchists.

He says they use the Occupy Movement as a front, but have their own violent agenda. They dress in black from head to toe, carry a black flag, and create chaos when ever they can.

Members conceal their identity, but they don’t hide their disdain for capitalism and law enforcement.

“Tampa RNC is the biggest stage this year. These radicals, that’s what they like, that’s what they need, they like the publicity. But they are going to do bad things to get the publicity,” Warner said.

Just a few weeks ago, five Black Bloc anarchists were arrested for trying to blow up a bridge in Cleveland. The FBI foiled the plot by embedding under cover agents in the group.

Investigators say the men also planned to target the NATO Summit in Chicago and the RNC in Tampa.

On Saturday, during the NATO Summit, Chicago police arrested three more Black Bloc members.

Officers infiltrated the group and say they discovered plans to burn down buildings with Molotov cocktails.

Tampa Assistant Police Chief John Bennett, who was at the NATO Summit said to expect the same covert stings during the RNC.

“That’s part of our responsibility, and we will be taking the same measures of prevention on our end,” Bennett said.

Now with the RNC just months away, what could we expect from this dangerous, radical group?

Warner says nothing good.

“Tampa RNC is going to be a big problem, you’re forewarned. They already did it in Chicago, they already did it in Cleveland. They’re coming here for the bigger stage,” Warner said.

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

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

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

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

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

While your trace should start at an investigative database, you usually won’t find all that you need there. You’ll still need to employ your favorite skip tracing techniques to nail down the address.

Remember that the best skip tracing techniques are specific. For example, a worker in a unionized industry probably joined the union at his new address. By checking in with the local union representative, you could quickly wrap up the case. It’s these tricks of the trade that make an investigator, a good one.

No matter whether you prefer psychological manipulation or digital forensics, the best place to start a skip trace is at an investigative database. You might be surprised how much information is available in the system.

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Relax and rejoice PI’s and Security Officers! The private security industry is one sector of the economy that is projected to benefit from both perception and reality. Private security is projected to grow more than 6 percent in 2012 – the largest increase in nine years, according to a 2010 IBIS World Industry Report on Security Services in the U.S. The same report shows that businesses are reevaluating where their recovered dollars should be spent and investing in better security. Although the overall mood in the United States is still sour due to the perceived state of the economy, at least according to 55 percent of responders to a recent Pew Research Center study, another source shows that businesses are actually beginning to rebound from the 2007-2009 recession.

According to the IBIS research, between the years 2010 and 2015, companies will increase their security budgets as business sentiment improves and more funds become available. Many businesses will increase the number of contracted security staff, as well as the number of hours that guards are on duty. The rise in demand is projected to cause industry revenue to increase by 4.9 percent per year to $32.85 billion at the end of 2015.

Although we have this projected estimation, like we said before, it depends on both perception and reality of the economy. The Pew study shows that Americans consider the economy in an even worse position than in 2008, when the nation was in the middle of the recession. At that time, only 34 percent of Americans saw the country’s economic future as bleak. Today, that number is up to 55 percent. This negative perception also drives the security business, causing Americans to take extra precautions against crimes of opportunity – those that are committed when people grow desperate as a result of their jobless, financial situation.

Another factor driving the security industry’s projected growth is the reduction of government jobs. According to the February jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one-fifth of the industries with the largest projected wage and salary employment declines are government agencies or municipalities. Existing public safety personnel, including local law enforcement, will go on the chopping block – leading to outsourcing.

In late February 2012, a government-owned and operated electricity company in Tennessee laid off61 percent of its uniformed police officers and replaced them with enhanced security technology and more contract security guards at its critical non-nuclear energy sites. This is just one example of public budgets feeling the squeeze and opening the door for private security, which generally provides more affordable protection than traditional law enforcement – with the added benefit of keeping the reduced number of traditional law enforcement officers on the streets, patrolling areas that are more impacted by serious crime.

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Greensboro, N.C. – Many parents have debated with their children about getting a cell phone. Children want a cell phone, but parents aren’t sure if the kids are mature enough to handle the responsibility.

News 2 spoke to a private investigator who said you can actually use a cell phone to track and locate your child. All three major cell phone companies offer this service.

It works by using GPS technology and cell phone towers within a few minutes you can get a good idea of where your child is at.

“I think the technology piece is very critical because now you’re able to pinpoint the exact location most of the time,” Kerry Graves, founder of Graves Investigations, said.

If you have an iPhone, you can simply turn on the “Find my iPhone” setting and that works just as well. Private investigators also have access to other technology that can locate a phone even without those services turned on.

Graves said adults are often easier to find than children because adults tend to leave more evidence behind — like credit card payments.

Social media is another tool investigators rely on to find missing people. Younger generations tend to post a lot of information about themselves, what they’re doing and whom they’re talking to.

Oftentimes, investigators find a clue on Facebook or Twitter and that help them solve the case.

“Family Locator” options:

Verizon
AT&T
Sprint
Find my iPhone

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FARGO, N.D. — “He came to us as Donald Douglas.”

That’s how Anni Adkins begins the story of how her two-person background checks firm in the Desert Southwest helped bring down what authorities call one of the largest high-tech bank robberies and one of the most complicated fraud investigations in U.S. history.

Donald Douglas, in reality, is Adekunle Adetiloye. Federal investigators said the 40-year-old Nigerian native living in Toronto helped organize a scheme that stole the identities of 38,000 people and bilked 600 credit card and bank accounts out of about $1.5 million.

Adetiloye is sitting in a Fargo jail, waiting to serve an 18-year prison term after pleading guilty to mail fraud.

Adkins and Joe Hoover are the owners and operators of Investigative Professionals LLC, based in New Mexico. They do background checks for individuals and companies, with about 450 members. Adkins told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she knows most of her clients.

She thought she knew Donald Douglas.

“He’s a very presentable young man,” Adkins said of Adetiloye. “I’m sure if he had taken his talents and developed a real business, he would have done real well.”

Instead, a federal judge is trying to figure out the amount of money that should be paid back to victims of the scheme.

Prosecutors said Adetiloye used the stolen identity of Donald Douglas to obtain corporate status and a business license from the state of Delaware for Syspac Financial Services, Inc., supposedly a debt collection company. Court documents show that Adetiloye had a Donald Douglas credit card in his wallet when he was arrested in Toronto on Dec., 1, 2007, kicking off the investigation in this case.

Adetiloye was able to access personal information of others through his membership with Investigative Professionals.

This image provided by Investigative Professionals on Sunday, March 4, 2012 was used for fingerprints and other evidence in the case of federal credit card fraud case that was tried in North Dakota. (AP Photo/Investigative Professionals) “We were like a middleman, basically,” Adkins said. “This guy is really smart, and he’s as much a con man as he is an identity thief.”

Adkins and Hoover said they were angered by the scam and worked with the feds for about six weeks at the end of 2008 and start of 2009. The company in a cat-and-mouse game was able to coax Adetiloye into mailing a money order that allowed investigators to obtain his fingerprints, among other evidence.

Adetiloye also left a voice mail message saying he was sending a check to Investigative Professionals for an account. Investigators told the company that the recording “was the nail in the guy’s coffin,” Adkins said.

The voice message ends with Donald Douglas wishing Adkins a merry Christmas.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon, who released a statement following Adetiloye’s sentencing on Jan. 23, said earlier this week that prosecutors would no longer talk about the case. He would not give a reason.

However, U.S. Postal Service investigators said in emails to Adkins and Hoover that they provided “outstanding assistance to the investigation” and said their cooperation was invaluable.

The investigation picked up steam after it was discovered that Adetiloye was unemployed and receiving limited welfare, yet ponied up for a Range Rover vehicle, extended trips to England and an expensive condominium. Greg Krier, lead credit card fraud investigator for U.S. Bank, testified during the sentencing phase that it was the most complex case he had ever seen.

The case wound up in North Dakota after a U.S. Bank call center in Fargo intercepted calls from Adetiloye and others. Defense attorneys have claimed that Adetiloye’s participation in the scheme was minimal compared to others who were involved and he wasn’t a leader of the operation. Only Adetiloye has been charged.

“I didn’t realize their operation was so big. I was just happy to get one of them out of there,” Adkins said.

“We’re small potatoes in this whole thing, but we played a part,” Hoover said. “This falls into the category of civilians helping the government.”

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In this business we often see checklists–catalogs of clues that a spouse might be cheating.

A quick Google search for “signs of infidelity” returns no fewer than 200,000 hits for “how to spot a cheating spouse,” how to tell if he’s stepping out, ways to tell if he’s got a new lover. These lists are almost always the same: new perfume, new interest in physical appearance, secretive phone calls, mysterious expenditures, etc.

If you’ve ever had reason to perform that particular Google search, you know the feeling: it’s that little kernel of doubt that sneaks into a marriage and destroys confidence, trust, and peace. Maybe it presents itself in small doses, meting out insecurity in infinitesimal portions. Maybe it walks into the room and screams.

Either way, those lurking unknowns and suspicions fuel a growing unease that can rapidly escalate to anxiety, stress, even a sort of mental paralysis. And the cheater experiences a form of anxiety as well—the stress that accompanies the need to lie to maintain a façade of normalcy.

Anxiety – The cuckold/cuckquean’s perspective
Anxiety is a byproduct of fear, and fear of the unknown is, perhaps, the most distressing variety. Anxiety closes down the thinking brain and activates the body-protecting lizard brain, the reacting brain. As Gregory Hartley puts it in his book, How to Spot a Liar, philanderers are, “…brokers of anxiety.” When a person thinks his spouse is cheating on him, he receives a jolt to his idea of self and his frame of reference.

We organize our idea of self by assembling input from others and various situations. Our frame of reference, our view of the outside world, is prejudiced by experience. When one suspects infidelity, both self and frame of reference are questioned. Confusion and emotion take charge…anxiety rents space in the brain.

Anxiety – The cheater’s perspective
When people have affairs, they lie to maintain their cover. Big and small non-truths leak out in a sludge of constant mendacity. From hiding credit card receipts to sneaking off to the back porch for late-night small talk via cell phone, every aspect of a deceptive person’s life is caught up in half-truths, fabrication, and deceit. And when someone tells a lie, he places himself under stress. He lives in constant fear of discovery.

Stress and the Sympathetic Nervous System
When the mammalian body perceives a threat, the sympathetic nervous system takes over and kick-starts the body’s “fight-or-flight” response. Blood is routed away from the face and skin to the muscles. Blood is diverted away from the digestive tract. The bladder no longer has the ability to contract and expel waste. The liver floods the blood stream with glucose, preparing for physical activity. Heart rate and respiration increase and nostrils flare, offering the lizard brain a heavy dose of oxygenated blood. Metabolism is heightened, sweating intensifies. Pupils dilate to collect as much data about the threat as possible. Gregory Hartley calls this, “your mind at war.”

The outward signs are always visible, if sometimes only in very minute forms. The stressed person’s hands may shake. His complexion may appear pallid. His mouth and lips dry out, a result of dramatically reduced blood flow. Mucosa shrink, leading to pale thin lips and drooping lower eyelids. The brow clinches and draws downward. Shoulders draw tight in preparation for defense. Elbows are in, close to the ribcage in a defensive posture.

Inside, the stressed person feels jittery, hypersensitive. Thanks to a lack of blood in the digestive system, the person feels a sensation of butterflies in the stomach; he may even feel nausea. With the heart racing blood away from the skin, the anxious person feels a high core temperature and cool skin, that clammy feeling. His focus becomes narrow and sense of hearing is directed at the source of the threat. He hears his own heartbeat. His mind recedes to a primitive state, and emotions work their way involuntarily to the fore. The person under stress often becomes defensive, argumentative, and emotional.

These systems turn on at the cost of rational thought, leading to what Seth Godin calls “lizard brain.” Irrationality is the rule at this point.

How to stop the cycle: The Simple (well…maybe not so simple) Fix for Stress

The cheater
Simple answer – Do not cheat. Alternative answer – stop telling lies.

In one case last year, we were hired by a woman’s attorney to document a philandering husband’s activities. We placed him under heavy surveillance–three cars and four investigators. We documented the man’s every move, dates, picnics, overnight visits, etc. Confronted with his lies, the man took an unusual tack, opting to eliminate his ongoing stress and simply carry on the affair in the open. He even brought his new girlfriend to a meeting at the attorney’s office. He thereby removed the burden of a lie, and his stress level seemed to drop. From a purely practical perspective, this wasn’t a bad call.

Ending the affair is always the best solution. But coming clean about an affair can at least remove the deceit variable from the equation and, along with it, some of the accompanying stress. And it might even allow the dallier to regain access to rational thought, which just might lead to more productive discourse.

The Cuckold/Cuckquean
Simple answer – remove the unknown.
Again, anxiety is a byproduct of fear, often fear of the unknown. Do not guess. Do not assume. Know. Anxiety leads to “lizard brain,” and in that state, irrationality is the rule.

Shakespeare didn’t need to understand the sympathetic nervous system to recognize it at work on the human rational mind. He sketched this lizard-brain descent from suspicion to anxiety to madness (to brilliant effect) in his 1603 play “Othello” in which a man desperately in love with his wife allows his unwarranted suspicions to prompt a series of escalating irrational acts, ending in tragedy—the old one-two punch of murder-suicide, always, unfortunately, performed in that order.

Though potentially painful, it is always best to eliminate the unknown. Once a person has the facts…once he eliminates the unknown, he can remove anxiety, and (potentially) act rationally.

Conclusion.
For the cheating spouse: Gregory Hartley says, “You will simplify your life enormously if you eliminate complete fabrication from your repertoire.” Simply put, stop lying and placing yourself under needless stress.

For the spouse who fears a partner is having an affair: get the facts. Consider hiring a competent and qualified investigator to learn the facts on your behalf. Find out what’s really happening, then act rationally from a place of knowledge and power.

Here at ONQPI Investigations, we believe that our role is to help our clients contain the unknown. By gathering documented and verifiable information, we hope to help people move from a state of fear and helplessness to higher cognitive function…and rational action.