<![CDATA[Private I Headquarters - PI Stories]]>Tue, 07 Apr 2020 12:54:48 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[PI Story: Reviewing the Surveillance Video]]>Sat, 28 Jul 2018 13:47:53 GMThttp://www.privateiheadquarters.com/pi-stories/pi-story-reviewing-the-surveillance-videoThe target in an infidelity case traveled out of town often for business. The private detective had a contract with an out-0f-state colleague to conduct surveillance on the target while he was out-of-town, (in the private investigators home town). After four nights of surveillance, the private detective had nothing showing infidelity, but something didn't feel quite right, you know that gut feeling. 

The target left town and the private detective decided to review his surveillance video he had taken over the past few days. There were hours of video as he would follow the target from his business visits back to his hotel then sit and wait to see if he would re-emerge. 

After reviewing the video completely through, something still did not seem quite right. He decided to watch the video's once more when he began to see a pattern. Target would arrive at the hotel, use the valet to park his rental car then go into the hotel. Over the four days of surveillance, the private detective noticed another man would exit the motel after his target arrived at the motel. He timed the appearances of the second man noted that were all within one hour of the the target's arrival. He also compared the height, weight, and build of the target to the second man. Primary difference? The second man had a beard. 

You guessed it, being suspicious he was being surveilled, the target donned a disguise when he left the hotel. A few weeks later when the target returned, the private detective observed the "second man" emerge from the hotel an hour after the target arrived. He followed the second man and within a few blocks he emerged at another hotel with no beard. It was his target. He got great video of the man meeting a woman in the lobby of the second hotel. 

Upon further investigation he found the man was renting two hotel rooms, changing in the first, putting on his disguise then traveling to the second hotel to meet. 

Case solved. 
]]><![CDATA[Ghosts????]]>Sat, 20 Feb 2016 14:22:29 GMThttp://www.privateiheadquarters.com/pi-stories/ghostsPicture
A retail client called and wanted an investigation into a ghost they were seeing on a surveillance camera at about the same time early each morning. Yep, a ghost!

I was intrigued to say the least, not being a ghost hunter, but being very curious, I agreed to have a look at the footage. Taking a look at the footage there was clearly a white blob that would move across the video from right to left, pause, then move backwards disappearing from view. Footage was from overnight when no one was there. So I set up one of my cameras and let it run overnight. Store footage showed the white blob. My camera footage showed nothing. 

After a few nights I decided to locate my camera to the same location as the business surveillance camera. When reviewing the footage the next day I saw the same blob. I noticed that the image appeared at roughly the same time, early in the morning between 5:30 and 6:15 am. My curiosity was peaked even further. I decided, with the approval of my client, because they were as curious as I was, to conduct surveillance. I set myself up at 4:45 am just to be ready. With a thermos of coffee I settled in and waited. Using my remote viewer I kept watch looking for the ghost. 

At 5:45am it appeared. I quickly looked to the area where the cameras were pointed but could see anything. I did hear a trash truck at the neighboring business emptying a dumpster.

Yep, you guessed it. The headlights on the trash truck were creating a reflection on the lenses. 

Guess I can add ghost hunter to my resume'? No, probably not:-) 
]]><![CDATA[Divorce Case? ]]>Sat, 21 Nov 2015 15:40:18 GMThttp://www.privateiheadquarters.com/pi-stories/divorce-caseAn attorney handling a divorce case called me to conduct surveillance on the husband. Suspicions were he was having an affair.

Here is some background on the case: Wife had contacted the attorney about her suspicions about her husband having an affair. She had not told her husband that she was working on a divorce. The attorney said she was not convinced she would file for a divorce unless he was cheating on her. Financial difficulties had plagued the couple recently as they both had been laid off and had taken much lower paying jobs to keep paying the bills. Attorney said they were barely making it.

Surveillance begins: I received the information about the husband in an email from the attorney that included his place of employment, list of absences from the home at night over the last few weeks, and a few pictures of the husband and his vehicle. I researched the home and work locations, did a few drive-by’s to get a feel for possible travel routes, etc. Your normal surveillance prep.
I sat on his vehicle while he was at work on a Friday afternoon. He seemed to come up missing on Friday and Saturday nights according to the list the attorney provided from the wife. About 6:30 pm I saw him walk to his car and get in. He was about 25 years old, handsome guy and physically fit. I followed as he drove out of the parking lot. It was clear right away that he was not heading home. While I was following him I could see he was talking on his cell phone. I made a note to see if he was calling his wife. I followed for about an hour when he pulled into the [name witheld] bar. He got out of the car and grabbed a backpack from the back seat and walked in the bar. I made a note as that was a little strange.

I waited outside for a little while as there were not a lot of cars in the parking lot. A little early for most Friday night bar hoppers. Over the next thirty minutes or so I noticed other cars pull in, young men getting out and carrying bags in like the husband. It seemed strange. I tried googling the bar to learn more about it but it appeared it was new. There was a bar website that only said under construction.

Another hour passed then more cars began pulling in the parking lot. I thought it was ladies night because most the people going in were females. I waited a little longer for more people to go in the bar before I decided to go in.

Once I went inside I noticed right away that this was not your regular watering hole. It was a fancy place, decorated really nice. That explained the expensive cover charge to get in. As always, I found a location near the back of the bar where I could watch the room and exits. I didn’t see the husband.  I did notice I was one of the few males in the room.

Within a few minutes the music stopped and a man came out on the stage. “Alright ladies and gentlemen. It’s time for what you have been waiting for.” he said as the women began to yell and clap, “It’s time for the Clippendales!” (Obviously a play on words) The music started and five men came out on stage. I had to look closely but the husband was on stage. You have guessed it by now -- they were strippers.

I continued my surveillance until the husband left that night and drove home alone. I called the attorney the next day and asked him if knew about the stripping job. He did not. I continued surveilling the husband through the weekend. He went back to the bar and danced on Saturday night. Stayed home on Sunday.

A few days later the attorney called. The wife confronted the husband who admitted to dancing. He was trying to earn extra money as his job didn’t pay much. He had been a male stripper while in college a few years earlier before he met his wife. I don’t if they are still together or not. The attorney told me to stop the surveillance.
]]><![CDATA["Its not always as it appears"]]>Sat, 07 Nov 2015 20:55:57 GMThttp://www.privateiheadquarters.com/pi-stories/its-not-always-as-it-appearsPicture
A big box retail store hired me to catch a thief. They’d determined that somewhere between the goods being off loaded at the dock and where the products hit the store shelves someone was helping themselves. In my experience it was going to be an employee.

My job wasn’t made any easier as the typical store manager response when they believe they have an employee stealing is to tell all the employees, “We know someone has been stealing and we are going to be keeping a close eye on the inventory.” Of course the manager is hoping that whoever is stealing will stop. It didn’t work. I like stupid criminals that don't get the message.


Security personnel recently rotated stores.  A normal business practice for this retailer so I felt safe talking to the security supervisor responsible for the cameras. I had my IDENT list of all the employees working the dock areas. (IDENT - A list of employee names with their picture so I can identify them easily). 

The security supervisor met me at the store one morning before they opened and we began the arduous task of viewing old videos of the dock. We had been at it for an hour. There was employee that kept moving on and off the dock out of view of the camera in a few of the videos. I was pretty sure I found the thief. 

The supervisor pulled another video and we began to watch it. To save some time we were scrolling at 1.5 times the normal speed. On the screen there was a flash of red moving into view then quickly out of view. “Rewind it and let’s watch it at normal speed.” I noted the time on the video as 11:50am. The workers left the dock about that time. They all went to lunch together. 

An older woman wearing a large red jacket walked up to the dock, looked around and took a box from the stack on the dock, put it under her jacket and walked away. We replayed it a few times. Then pulled up tapes from the same date and time of the back parking lot. The store backed up to an apartment complex. We could see her walking from an apartment building near the store toward the dock. 

We found her on several other videos doing the same thing on different days. When I interviewed her, showed her the videos she confessed, admitted to taking items off and on over a period of a few months. What about the employee that kept disappearing? He was a smoker and would walk into the back parking lot to catch a smoke. 

Lesson learned, with all my experience it’s not always how it appears. 
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]]><![CDATA["Sometimes your investigation results in a Suggestion"]]>Sat, 07 Nov 2015 14:50:37 GMThttp://www.privateiheadquarters.com/pi-stories/sometimes-your-investigation-results-in-a-suggestionPicture
It was a typical workers compensation investigation where the target, a factory worker, had been a back injury from a work related incident. The doctor’s report stated he could not lift over 20lbs. My client, the insurance company, wanted to see if the target might be faking the injury or working other jobs while away from work.

I gathered the typical information; home address, internet research on target, and I scoped out his neighborhood to identify potential driving routes and surveillance locations. Then I set up a surveillance schedule and went to work.


After several days of surveilling the target I did not have any evidence that he had miraculously recovered from his injury or he was working another job. My surveillance log showed that the target was adhering to the doctor’s orders. From my research I found the target helped the high school football team where his son attended with moving equipment. I surveilled him at the games and saw that he was seated in the stands. In fact, my surveillance log showed the target appeared to be in distress at various times and no indications he was performing for an audience. My client was not happy with my results and wanted more information. 

Under the guise of investigating safety practices where the target worked, the insurance company set up meetings for me with supervisors and employees to review safety practices. It was clear that the target, a long term employee was a hard worker. While I was conducting interviews I had the opportunity to observe some workers with clipboards. They appeared to be counting boxes, conducting inventories of the packages being unloaded from the trucks. 

After my meetings with factory workers it was evident to me that the target was a hard worker. Several of the employees and supervisors really missed having him working in the warehouse. 

I met with the client to review the results of my investigation. I shared with them my observations of the workers conducting inventories and suggested they work with the employer to reassign the target into a position that would meet the doctors requirements. Many companies have a return to work policy where they try to place an injured worker in a position that allows them to continue working in a position that meets their physical restrictions. 

A few weeks later I got a call from the insurance company. They let me know they were successful in placing the employee in one of the positions. Both the target and warehouse staff were happy he was back. And, the insurance company had another investigation for me!
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