The trouble with Investigators

Source: Oakland Tribune (Original Article)

The fallout from Sheriff Greg Munks’ trip to a Las Vegas brothel last year is starting to shape the race for the 19th District state Assembly seat as political opponents of Supervisor Jerry Hill blasted the legislative candidate for essentially giving the sheriff a pass. Catherine Brinkman, a Republican candidate for the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon lambasting Hill for failing to follow up on a charter change he suggested two weeks ago that would give supervisors the power to investigate and discipline other elected officials for misconduct. Noting that with the exception of the county counsel’s request for more time to investigate the charter change there was no discussion at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting about Hill’s suggestion, Brinkman said the “promised reform proposals have not emerged, and it is clear that Jerry Hill is attempting to sweep the malfeasance of the sheriff and Hill’s own support of the sheriff back under the rug.” Hill’s campaign manager, Ed McGovern, called Brinkman’s comments “stupid,” pointing out any charter amendment must go before the voters before it can be approved. “She’s obviously ill-informed and ignorant in her comments,” McGovern said. “She’s trying to make this into a political issue, when she really doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Hill could not be reached after several calls for comment Wednesday evening. AdvertisementHill’s call for a charter change came after a MediaNews story two weeks ago quoted U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, and Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, calling for an investigation into the April 27, 2007, incident, in which Munks was found at the brothel with Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos during a police raid. In the article, they criticized the supervisors for not demanding that the sheriff account for himself. Hill and his fellow supervisors have said they had no power to look into the matter because the Recent Domains 0 sheriff is an elected official acting …continue reading

Source: CBC.ca (Original Article)

The RCMP didn’t seek an outside legal opinion before gathering crucial documents without a search warrant in building a case against former privacy commissioner George Radwanski, says a key investigator.

Staff Sgt. Luc Sauve told an Ontario Court hearing Wednesday that the force believed it didn’t need a warrant because it had permission from Radwanski’s interim successor, Robert Marleau, to collect the documents.

Sauve said the decision was made in consultation with his superior, Supt. Al Mathews, who had greater experience in such cases and holds a law degree.

“We also looked at past cases in which the situation had occurred,” Sauve told Judge Paul Belanger.

The Mounties followed a similar course, for example, in cases arising from the federal sponsorship scandal that erupted under former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien.

In those cases, as in the Radwanski probe, the first allegations of wrongdoing came in reports by Auditor General Sheila Fraser, whose findings were then referred to the Mounties.

At issue in the Radwanski case were records of travel, hospitality and other expenses run up by the former privacy czar —- material described by defence lawyer Michael Crystal as the “knockout documents” in the case against his client.

Radwanski, who quit his post under pressure in 2003, now faces charges of fraud and breach of trust arising from a $15,000 travel advance he received while in office.

He has pleaded not guilty, as has his former chief of staff Arthur Lamarche, who faces similar charges for approving the expenses.

Mathews has testified he considered the expense records obtained without warrant to be the organizational property of the privacy commissioner’s office, not personal items belonging to Radwanski. He felt that, as the ostensible “victim” in a fraud case, the office had the authority to share the material voluntarily with Free Credit Cards police.

Sauve acknowledged, however, that the force …continue reading

Source: Houston Chronicle (Original Article)

ALGOA — Galveston authorities are determining whether an Alvin couple violated the law after four children were reported abducted from an Algoa foster home in defiance of a court order.

Officials were unsure whether to charge Gary Alan Loeffler, 36, and Rhonda Kaye Loeffler, 42, with interfering with child custody, said Galveston County sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Barry, lead investigator in the case.

“There’s a little confusion if this is a civil or criminal matter,” Barry said.

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office issued an Amber Alert, which enlists the media in searches for missing children, late Monday, sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said.

Rhonda Loeffler learned that she and her husband were being sought by investigators and phoned the sheriff’s office, Barry said.

“We spoke by cell phone, and it was arranged for her and her husband … to bring them to the Santa Fe Police Department,” Barry said.

Barry interviewed the Loefflers, the children, foster parents and Child Protective Services workers at the police department, he said.

Whether the couple violated the law was unclear, Barry said.

He said the Loefflers, who are living in Alvin, sought advice from the Alvin Police Department before they took the children.

Barry declined to say what the Loefflers were told by Alvin police, but said it was possible that they misinterpreted the advice.

The Loefflers retained visiting rights and visited the children Monday, he said. They left, then returned and called the children, who ran to waiting vehicles.

The children were taken to the Loefflers’ home in Alvin, he said.

Tuttoilmondo said information from the interviews will be given to District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk, who will determine whether the couple will be charged.

A Brazoria County judge ordered the children removed from the parents four years ago because of physical My Name Is Earl dvd abuse, said Gwen Carter, CPS spokeswoman.

Carter …continue reading

Source: Belleville News Democrat (Original Article)

The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department will host its 26th Annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Clair County Jail.

The service will begin with a motorcade at 8:30 a.m. from Grace Church, 5151 N. Illinois St. in Fairview Heights, and proceed to the jail. The St. Louis County Police helicopter will lead the procession from the air.

Officers of the year Sgt. Dan Stockett, Investigator Michael Hundelt and correctional officer Karl Pannier will read the names of fallen soldiers.

The keynote speaker for the event will be Col. Al Hunt, Commander, 375th Air Wing, Scott Air Force Base. Special readings will be made by: Belleville Police Chief William Clay; the daughter of a deputy who died in the line of duty, Brandi Brown-Harris; and Senior Airman Gregory Sweet.

The memorial will include a bald eagle, a bankwest lite mastercard rifle salute and performances of “Taps” and “Amazing Grace.”

Source: USA Today (Original Article)

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WASHINGTON — Christopher Bell has padded his resume — one that already includes writer, director and selling gym memberships — as he’s traveled the country in recent weeks to promote his steroid documentary, “Bigger, Stronger, Faster.”

“I’ve become the steroid priest, basically,” Bell said. “People have come up to me and said, ‘Hey, I have to tell you I took them.’ People have come up to me and said ‘I’ve always wanted to take them, but I didn’t know much about them.’”

Bell certainly informs, although he said hopes the film doesn’t come off as a pro-steroid movie. He admits to using steroids as did both his brothers, Mike and Mark, who are featured prominently in the movie to tout the benefits more than the drawbacks of steroid use.

“There was really no agenda,” Bell said. “I hope it comes off as a movie that explores hypocrisy.”

Bell does that with the same tact used by Michael Moore of “Roger and Me” and “Fahrenheit 9/11″ fame. In the room of Don Hooton’s deceased son, Taylor, Bell questions whether the cause of his son’s suicide was in fact steroid use. Later in the 106-minue-long film, he uses day laborers to create a sports supplement to show the lax guidelines for such products.

“I think there was a lot of ambivalence in the film,” said former Olympic 800-meter runner Meredith Rainey-Valmon after the screening. “It’s cheating. That’s the difference between the alcohol and tobacco, and performance-enhancing drugs.”

Bell joins steroid proponent John Romano, senior editor of Muscular Development magazine and a consultant on “Bigger,” BALCO founder Victor Conte and narcotics investigator Mark Haskins on a panel Saturday at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival.

The THATS SO RAVEN dvd film begins a limited rollout May 30.

…continue reading

Source: PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) (Original Article)

AMSTETTEN, Austria (AP) - Nearly a week after news of a 73-year-old Austrian’s alleged incest and rape rattled this Alpine nation, friends of the family still grapple with how Josef Fritzl’s crime could have happened in their midst _ and gone unnoticed.
Fritzl’s confession that he kept his daughter locked in a windowless lair for

24 years, fathering seven of her children, while posing as the head of a happy family has bewildered, angered and estranged former friends.
One of them, a 45-year-old woman from Munich, who would give her name only as Andrea S., said she felt duped and betrayed by Fritzl.
«If I would see him now, I would ask … ‘How can you do such a thing to your children?»’ she told AP Television News in an interview Saturday.
That question was also on the minds of classmates of three of the children whom Fritzl fathered with Elisabeth _ then allegedly smuggled out of the basement and dropped on the doorstep with notes police say he forced his daughter to write saying she couldn’t raise them.
«How could the father do such a thing?» asked Jelena Krsic, 12, who goes to school with Elisabeth’s 12-year-old son, one of the three being raised by his grandparents.
Jelena, in an interview alongisde her parents, described the boy as a top student who always helped the others when they struggled in mathematics, English or German. She said he once cried in front of the other children when he failed in a jumping exercise, but was otherwise among the best athletes.
When the children returned to school after the scandal broke, «the teachers cried,» Jelena said.
«He has a lot of feelings for the others and whenever someone cried, he helped them,» Jelena said. «Without him recess is really boring.
Investigators have said that Fritzl was an «absolute ruler» in his household whose tyranny caused most of the seven children he had with his wife to flee the home as soon as they were old local court interest rates enough.
«He forbade anyone to ask …continue reading

Source: Sacramento Bee (Original Article)

A man who police say posed as a licensed contractor to bilk an elderly couple out of about $200,000 is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon on felony charges.

Keith McGowan was arrested Wednesday on charges of felony financial elder abuse, posing as a licensed contractor and using the license number of a contractor, authorities say.

He was arrested in connection with an alleged scam in which authorities say he appeared at the door of a Del Paso Heights couple one morning and said someone had recommended him to work on their vacant property across the street — a single-story stucco home that had fallen into disrepair.

Patsy Davis, 69, and her husband, Oliver Davis, 88, said McGowan promised to restore their Del Paso Heights home and to turn it into their dream home with amenities like a Jacuzzi.

The home on Nogales Street eventually ended up gutted after two years of work, and authorities say McGowan collected about $253,000 worth of checks but performed only $72,000 worth of construction.

The Davises said McGowan went to great lengths to endear himself to the couple.

“He appeared to be a very good person,” Patsy Davis said earlier this week, sitting in the living room of the second home she owns on Nogales Street.

From where she sat, a tree obscured a view of the single-story home that is now boarded up since McGowan began work there in July 2006.

The Davises have owned the house on Nogales Street since 1971 and lived in it until 1995, when they moved across the street into a two-story home. Shortly after, their only daughter moved into the home with her family, but she died in 2001 of diabetes.

Subsequent tenants did not treat the residence kindly, causing significant damage to the property, the Davises said.

In 2006, city officials who inspected the home found numerous violations on the property, condemned it as “substandard” and ordered ANZ Frequent Flyer Card the Davises to comply with regulations.

“That’s …continue reading

Source: Blogcritics.org (Original Article)

I suppose most of you are familiar with the term “hard boiled” detective? It’s usually used to describe some tough as nails Private Investigator from the mean streets of a big American city. He can take a punch and a kiss with equal aplomb, and no matter how many injuries he sustains, from either the kiss or the punch, he never seems to show any wear or tear. Over the years Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and legions of other tough guy actors have brought people like Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlow or Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade to life on the movie screen to give us all a clear image in our heads of what one of these characters should look like.

Ever since I read my first Howard Engel detective story featuring his character Benny Cooperman from the fictional small town of Grantham, Ontario, Canada, If I imagined him looking like anyone at all it was Saul Rubinek. It turns out, I wasn’t alone in that, as Rubinek played Benny both times he was brought to life on celluloid by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in television adaptations of two of Engel’s books. Small, sort of round, rumpled, and obviously Jewish, neither Rubinek or by extension Benny are what one would call hard boiled.

So what is the opposite of the hard boiled detective - soft boiled? It just doesn’t have the same ring to it as hard boiled, does it? Yet what do you call a guy whose mother keeps wondering why he can’t be more like his older brother, the successful surgeon who lives in Toronto, and whose father was in the ready to wear business for fifty years before retiring to become the gin rummy champ at the club? Instead of whisky for breakfast at some down at the heels bar in a grimy part of the city, Benny lives for egg salad sandwiches and a glass of milk.

The other thing about Benny is that if he gets hit, either in the head or the heart, it hurts. In his newest adventure, East Of Suez, being published by Penguin Canada on credit card au May 8, 2008, he’s still recovering …continue reading

Source: Daily Mail (Original Article)

How Patricia Cornwell’s lesbian affair with a female FBI agent ended in savage revenge
By ZOE BRENNAN - More by this author »
Last updated at 21:38pm on 25th April 2008

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Patricia Cornwall’s affair with FBI agent Margo Bennett ended in savage revenge

The telephone call came in the dead of the night. Told that a battered wife needed her help, Margo Bennett rushed to the Prince Of Peace United Methodist Church. Bursting through the door, she stopped dead in her tracks.

In the corner of the church vestry sat the minister, the Reverend Edwin Clever, a bag over his head, his hands cuffed and ankles shackled, and with explosives tied around his waist.

A man dressed in black and with a stocking obscuring his face pointed a gun at Margo’s head. Recognising his voice, an ominous chill ran down her spine.

She knew it was her estranged husband Gene, a former FBI agent - just like her.

Enraged by his wife’s lesbian affair with millionaire crime writer Patricia Cornwell, Gene had determined to murder Margo, the mother of his two young daughters. Now he had sprung his trap.

Margo shouted at the Reverend: “Edwin, are you praying? Pray for me, too. I’m a little busy right now.”

Then, as the bulky frame of her husband moved towards her, Margo’s grip tightened on a can of pepper spray hidden in her handbag.

She sprayed him directly in the face before getting out her own gun and telling him: “You’re not going to kill me, Gene. I am not going to let this happen.”

Then she pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into the door next to Gene, and as he tried to escape - the effects of the pepper spray still blinding him temporarily - she grabbed a phone and called the police.

They arrived within minutes, arrested Gene Bennett and released the Reverend from his explosives belt - which turned out to be a clever fake.

It was the final chapter in a most extraordinary story of greed, lust and violent revenge. Indeed, Best Credit Card Rate it had all the ingredients of …continue reading

Source: The Dominion Post (Original Article)

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State-owned coal company Solid Energy will not distance itself from a controversial investigator, despite a Government expectation, after another spy scandal.
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Trevor Mallard said yesterday he was awaiting Solid Energy's "appropriate decision" about its future with Auckland firm Thompson and Clark Investigations.
He was referring to the company's attempt to employ a paid informant. Private investigator Gavin Clark met Christchurch man Rob Gilchrist several times this year, offering cash for information on several organisations, including Save Happy Valley Coalition. The protest group, of which Mr Gilchrist is a supporter, opposes Solid Energy's plans for a coalmine on the West Coast.
TCIL is forbidden from using paid informants in its work as Solid Energy's security provider, after the prime minister and Mr Mallard admonished the practice last year.
Both Solid Energy's chief executive, Don Elder, and Mr Clark said its dealings with Mr Gilchrist did not involve the coal company.
Therefore, Dr Elder said, it would be inappropriate for Solid Energy to end its association with the investigations firm.
"It would appear that we're still dealing with a company that does all things properly and when working for us has a still higher standard which they have absolutely been adhering to," he said. "So it's not even up for discussion."
Mr Clark would not disclose who he was working for when he approached Mr Gilchrist but said he thought Save Happy Valley members were also part of other extremist groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. "Just the fact that they might be in Save Happy Valley doesn't mean that that's all we're focusing on. You can't tell me that all they're doing is focusing pumpkin carving pattern on some kiwis and snails.
"The …continue reading