After news broke that Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered sons with both his housekeeper, Mildred Baena, AND his wife, Maria Shriver, thirteen years ago, many folks may be wondering how the scandal leaked after so many years. It was good old-fashioned investigative journalism that kicked off from a lead that the L.A. Times had, very similar to the work a private investigator would do. Read the rest of this article
Over the weekend I caught a segment on the Today show on how social networking has enabled more and more people to have affairs with their exes. It was interesting to hear statistics for what I’ve witnessed firsthand in many of the infidelity cases I investigate.
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I recently read a story on CNN.com about location-related information hidden in digital photos which probably freaked many people out. To stalkers and burglars, this revelation was probably something like a digital version of the 1849 gold rush. But instead of finding the digital gold in “them thar hills”, they would pan for it in places like Facebook and Twitter. And since every day more people are taking photos with mobile devices and posting them someplace on the internet, the supply of digital gold seems ever increasing.
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If I had a nickel for every time I’ve debated with clients the crime at the center of this story, I could retire from the private investigation business. The gist is that a gentleman, Leon Walker, was arrested for reading his now ex-wife’s email. He’s being prosecuted based on a law that’s historically been used for identity theft and corporate espionage. If Walker is convicted, a huge can of worms could be opened for both the court system and citizens in general.
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A recent news article caught my attention as it highlights a few important lessons for private investigators. Apparently, a young Arab American student named Yasir Afifi learned that the FBI had placed a GPS tracking device on his car after he took his car in for an oil change. When the oil change tech raised the car on the hydraulic lift, he spotted an unusual wire sticking out somewhere near the rear wheel and exhaust system. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the wire connected to a battery pack and transmitter, which were both secured to the car magnetically. The tech then alerted Afifi to his finding.
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Ladies, if your fiancé reminds you of Mel Gibson, you may want to call off the wedding. But unfortunately, since people are usually on their best behavior during the courtship period, unless you’re a soothsayer, you may at some point find yourself telling your best friend, therapist, and/or private investigator, “I never saw that side of him/her before”. People do sometimes change over time, and in that case the previously unseen side may in fact be new. But often times that side was always there, as were the warning signs; they were simply ignored. There is hope though, because like taking a test drive or reviewing a Carfax report before buying a used car, women can take steps to help ensure they don’t marry a “Mad Max” (I don’t mean to pick on guys, but unfortunately the theme of this post pertains mostly to men).
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While companies tightening the belts on travel and expense budgets may have put a hamper on infidelity in the corporate workplace, cheating in the rental housing market is going strong. For those not familiar with the world of rent control, or its kissing cousin rent stabilization, they are in essence control limits on how much landlords in big cities like New York can charge rental apartment tenants. As you can imagine, rent control has long been the bane of landlords’ existence, as those programs can result in a NYC tenant paying $400 for a rent-controlled apartment which might otherwise fetch landlords two, three, or sometimes more than four times as much in rental income.
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Just as it seems to have permeated every other aspect of life, social networking is now fully entrenched in the world of divorce. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers said that over the last 5 years, 81% of its members have either used or had used against them evidence gathered from social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. It’s not hard to believe since a LOT of people post some of the most intimate details of their life on it. And it’s those comments, photos, status updates and insults posted for the world to see that are being used against them in divorce court.
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The more things change, the more they stay the same, and the number one question of parents 50 years ago is probably still the number one question of parents today: Just where exactly is our kid right now? The good news is that 50 years ago every kid (and human being for that matter) didn’t have a cell phone, and consequently it wasn’t possible to track their movement, location, etc.
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Unless you’ve been living in a cave or stuck in solitary confinement, the dangers the internet poses to children won’t come as a surprise. Statistics have demonstrated that at any given time, there are upwards of 50,000 sexual predators online, and parents don’t need to have seen NBC’s TV show “To Catch a Predator” to figure out why these predators are trolling the internet.
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