On Q Professional Investigations

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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It has become evermore common that employers check whether an applicant for a job has a criminal record.

The number of enquires made to the Criminal Records Registry in 2010 was 34 times higher than it had been in the middle of the 1990s.

This is the conclusion of a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, which analyses also the causes of this increase.

“One reason is that several new laws make checking the Registry compulsory for certain employers, such as schools.

But another reason is that employers who are not covered by these laws have started to request that an applicant present an extract from the Registry,” says Christel Backman.

Her thesis presents studies of how employers use criminal background checks when taking on new personnel.

A criminal background check has been compulsory when employing personnel within childcare and the school system since 2001, in order to exclude people who have been convicted of sexual crime or certain violent crimes.

Christel Backman’s thesis presents a historical analysis of the growth of the Register and the changes in legislation that have taken place.

The thesis includes also a study of interviews with employers who request extracts from the Register even though this is not required by law, and an analysis of the discussion in the media, from 1997 until today, concerning such criminal background checks.

The study shows that employers who require that applicants present an extract from the Register despite this not being founded in law do so because the employees deal with theft-attractive goods, that it will give a competitive advantage, or that they have customers who require it.

“It is easy to understand individual employers who believe that they must do everything possible to prevent the employees committing crime”, says Christel Backman. “But we should be more critical to this development from a societal perspective.”

Debate in the media during the past ten years has swung from criticism of the use of criminal background checks to criticism of the fact that they are not used more frequently. The focus previously was on rehabilitation of a convicted person. Today, it has become preventing crime by excluding convicted persons. Christel Backman believes that there is a risk that increased use of criminal background checks will lead to convicted people being excluded during recruitment, and thus finding it more difficult to become reintegrated in society. This is occurring at the same time that research shows that having somewhere to live and having a job are the most important factors in preventing a convicted person reoffending.

Christel Backman interprets the fact that employers who are not covered by the legal requirement to request an extract from the Criminal Records Registry do so as a sign that measures that previously would have been considered a violation of privacy are now being more readily accepted.

“I call this ‘function creep’,” says Christel Backman, and continues: “It’s a common effect in various forms of surveillance. We can see the same thing happening in CCTV monitoring and in the use of DNA registers. We become accustomed to measures that violate our privacy, and start to ask why they are not more widely used. Finally, we demand that such measures be introduced, and ignore the negative consequences that this has.”

Background: Just over 184,000 compulsory criminal background checks of job applicants were carried out in 2010. More than 160,000 people requested an extract from the Registry in the same year. Most of these were people who had applied for a job with an employer who required such an extract.

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ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)– Goldia Coldon continues to hold out hope in the search for her daughter Phoenix.

It was on December 18, 2011 when the 23 year old UMSL student went missing. Her 1998 Chevy blazer was found in East St. Louis with the engine running. Her glasses, purse, driver`s license and shoes were found inside. Phoenix’s phone and bank activity stopped.

The family has been working with private detectives and police to follow up on leads and one tip from Texas ended up costing them their life savings, health and now their home.

“They called in a tip saying that they thought that their relative might have our daughter.” said Goldia Coldon.

According to the family’s private investigator a man claiming to be Phoenix’s father created a fake Facebook page using her picture. The unnamed man also said he knew where the 23 year old was. The family invested money in pursuit of what appeared to be a good lead, but it all turned out to be a lie.

“It’s a scary thing because we thought that he might have Phoenix with him. The person he was presenting as his long lost daughter was a picture of Phoenix,” said Coldon.

The family continues to work with the Black and Missing Foundation and others in the search. They’ve also started a fund to help find Phoenix.

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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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TAMPA – Tonight, there are missing children out on the streets who may never be found. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children lists 285 Florida children as currently missing and endangered.

The I-Team has been able to locate 16 missing children as part of an ongoing investigation. It didn’t take private investigators, hours of combing through public records, or interviews with friends and family.

We found them when we discovered that many missing children have active Facebook pages. Many post where they are living, who they are with, photos, and even phone numbers. All of that information provides clues that could help bring the child to safety.

By reaching out to them on Facebook, I-Team investigator Michael George has been able to interview several missing children on the phone, online, and in person. The stories they told us raise questions about how much is being done to find them, and why they are still considered missing even after we found them so easily.

Alisha Lollis is one of Florida’s missing runaways. She was reported missing in July of 2010 after she ran from a group home. St. Petersburg Police say they had contact with her earlier this year, but she is still considered missing and endangered by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

We found her hiding in plain sight, living with a friend in Pinellas Park.

“What did you think when you heard from us?” asked investigator Michael George.

“I was like, wow. They found me after all this time? It was amazing,” Lollis said.

Lollis recently turned 18. Because her whereabouts and safety are unknown to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, she is still considered an endangered runaway.

She told us she was safe and doing well. She bounced from house to house, never staying in one place for too long. She says she’s overcome drug abuse, and she’s working to get her GED. But the road has been difficult.

“Let’s put it this way. I’ve been to like 13 different schools,” Lollis said.

A 15-year old runaway from Clearwater spoke with us online.

“Are you ok? Not in any danger?” George asked.

“yes im fine not in any danger i got the street smarts to keep myself safe,” she wrote back. She also told us she’s not in school and doesn’t have a job.

The children we located have been missing for months, and in some cases, years. We found them in just minutes by searching for them on Facebook. Some of the missing children wouldn’t speak with us, but the ones who did all told us no one had tried to locate them through Facebook before.

We passed along the information we found to FDLE, police departments and sheriff’s offices across Florida.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) say they do use Facebook to try and locate missing teens, as do local law enforcement agencies. But they add that teens who run away over and over again aren’t always a top priority for overworked police departments.

“That’s reality. You have agencies that have homicides, they have shootings, they have armed robberies, lots of priorities in the community,” said Robert Lowery, executive director of the missing child division of NCMEC.

Every law enforcement agency we spoke with insisted finding runaways is a priority and they use Facebook to find them. But they don’t contact them through their page, knowing that many runaways would simply block the page if they didn’t want to be found.

The Clearwater Police Department says they put a greater focus on locating runaways than most police departments. They say they often monitor and communicate with missing children on Facebook.

Authorities also argue that just because we found their Facebook pages doesn’t mean they’ll find the child.

“What we’ve found is a lot of times, the information kids post is not always current, or, they’re smart about it. If it’s a case where they don’t want to be found, maybe they’re not posting exactly the correct information,” said Clearwater Police Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Watts.

So why haven’t police made contact with the children we found? The answer may come from why they ran in the first place.

Many of the missing teens who spoke with Michael George said they’re running away from abuse, even rape. They said in no uncertain terms that they didn’t want to be found. They believed they were better off on their own.

Alisha Lollis said she’s been in hiding since facing physical abuse in her group home. A 16-year old runaway agreed to talk with us online, in the hopes that it would help us locate other missing kids.

But she also told us, “I know you’re a reporter, but if you get the cops involved you’re going to do a story on a 16-year old who died because you told the cops.”

She wouldn’t reveal her exact location. Lollis says she knows what the teen is going through.

“Is there any advice that you would have for them?” asked George.

“Go public. Don’t be scared about what people could say about you or what you’re going to go through,” Lollis said.

Lollis believes law enforcement could do more to locate repeat runaways.

“I know that when I ran away, I wanted someone to find me. I wanted someone to care enough to go looking for me. But that never happened,” Lollis said.

The I-Team is working to contact the parents of the children we located. But in some cases, the parents are harder to find than their missing children. Law enforcement tells us in at least some of the cases we uncovered, the parents lost custody of their children.

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SALT LAKE CITY — A private investigator says he has tracked down a homeless Utah man and delivered some good news: He’s inherited a lot of money.

David Lundberg said he found Max Melitzer pushing a shopping cart filled with personal possessions in a Salt Lake City park Saturday afternoon.

Lundberg declined to disclose how much money Melitzer will be receiving, but said the man’s brother who died of cancer last year left him a “significant” amount in his will.

“He’ll no longer be living on the street or in abandoned storage sheds,” he told The Associated Press. “He’ll be able to have a normal life, and be able to have a home, provide for himself, and purchase clothing, food and health care.”

The story about Lundberg’s two-month search for Lundberg has been reported by the Deseret News and KSL of Salt Lake City.

Lundberg said he was hired by the family’s New York law firm to locate Melitzer, and some family members plan to meet Melitzer next week in Salt Lake City. He declined to identify them.

Melitzer’s family wishes to remain private, and lawyers are deferring questions to Lundberg.

The investigator said he broke the news to Melitzer while they were sitting on a bench at Pioneer Park. While Lundberg said he didn’t tell Melitzer how much money he was inheriting, the man was excited.

“He’s still in shock. This came out of nowhere,” Lundberg said. “He’s a really mellow guy in his 60s, very sweet and more articulate than I thought for a man in his position.”

Melitzer has been homeless for years and last had mail correspondence with his family in September. But when family members gave him a number to phone, he never called.

Don Hill, house manager at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, told Lundberg on Friday that he had seen Melitzer near the facility two days earlier.

Hill said he has known the homeless man for four years, and Melitzer stayed at places like the Rescue Mission when he’s not roaming between Salt Lake City and Ogden.

“During the summer, I’d imagine, once in a while he’ll stay out nights — outside,” Hill told the Deseret News.

Earlier this month, a police officer found Melitzer sleeping in a car in an Ogden salvage yard.

Lundberg said Melitzer was taken Saturday to an undisclosed location in Salt Lake City and doesn’t want to talk to the media right now. But Lundberg said he would talk to family members about possibly holding a news conference next week.

The investigator said he found Melitzer with the help of a tip. He received about 60 or 70 such calls after news about his search went out Friday.

“Someone called today (Saturday) and said they saw him at Pioneer Park. I thought it was another crazy tip, but sure enough, there he was,” Lundberg said.

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Authorities in western Oklahoma said Tuesday they were responding to a prison riot at the North Fork Correctional Facility, where multiple injuries were reported.

A morgue had been set up in a tent outside the prison, according to a witness, though there had been no reports of deaths.

More than 20 people, all inmates, were injured in the riot and at least five were flown to area hospitals, according to Julie Heavrin of Air Evac Lifeteam. She said she had no information regarding their conditions.

However, Beckham County sheriff spokeswoman Amy Brewer said that just eight inmates were injured.

Aerial video of the scene from CNN affiliate KOCO showed armed officials holding prisoners at gunpoint.
Inmates riot at Oklahoma prison

The riot started shortly before noon and it was not clear what motivated it, said Brewer. She said the Oklahoma Highway Patrol had six crews on the scene and Beckham County sheriff’s deputies were assisting.

The prison is located in Sayre, about halfway between Oklahoma City and Amarillo, Texas.

Ronnie Harold, Sayre’s police chief, said his department was providing security for the prison, which can house up to 2,400 inmates.

“We are still at a standstill. The prison guards are doing their job inside and we still have the perimeter secured,” he said.

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