Reflections 2014

Being a private investigator is one of the professions where what you do or don't do matters. This year Morrow Detective Agency has reunited four families, kept one person from going to jail for a crime that they did not commit, exposed multiple insurance fraudsters, and caught some cheating spouses. The hundreds of cases that we have worked this year have largely been successful. But it is the cases that we have not been able to resolve that stick in our minds. 

For instance a man was adopted out as a baby, he is now in his fifties,  has some information about his mother, this man does not have the means to pay for our services, so our company wanting to give back to the community at large, decided to take on this case at no charge (we accept three cases a year that we do not charge for). We search for this man's Mother, call hundreds of women sharing his mothers first and middle name. We contact attorneys, we search public records, we bang on the wall, bang some more, and unfortunately find that we do not have the tools to take the wall down-at least not right now. We never truly stop working on these cases, right now as we speak, it sits on my desk positioned in a way that it stares at me and lets me know that we haven't looked everywhere because if we had we would have found her.  In addition to this case for this individual we do find a family member, but that family member unfortunately does not want to have anything to do with the client. The case is not hopeless, it just needs time and some more work. 

However if you only dwell on your failings, you can go crazy. On Christmas day a client that we reunited with her father sent me photos of herself and her father, she also sent photos of her Uncles, and her Aunts. The smile on her face makes the whole year a success for us. The emails that we received from clients thanking us for our extra efforts and stating that because of what we did they were able to get a successful conclusion on their end, reminds us that what we do matters. The young man that is walking free after being accused for a crime that he did not commit embracing his freedom and the opportunity to be able to spend time with his family a and friends reminds us that our families are important, they are the ones that will stick with you when every one else turns around and runs. The wife who got what she needed from our agency in order to proceed forward and divorce her husband that was cheating on her, reminds us that even in the darkest of situations there is still hope and good things can come from the bad. 

So here is hoping that 2015 will be bigger, better, and more challenging than 2014, that all of us are reminded of the things that matter most to us. That we all have the tools needed in order to break down whatever walls are holding us back. We at Morrow Detective Agency would like to say thank you to our clients, to our friends that have been following us on Facebook, on Twitter, and reading our blog. Thank you to everyone that has referred us over to someone that did not think that they could get the answers they needed. You all's esteem in us is what has helped us help others. Thank you all and may 2015 be healthy and prosperous for you! 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

If at first you don't succeed.

Detective work is full of trial and error. I once spoke with an investigator by the name of Josiah Tink Thompson, he told me that detective work is also full of luck, his parting statement to me was I hope that you are lucky. My experience has shown that it definitely is a blend of the two. Case and point. Our agency was hired to conduct surveillance on a particular subject in an effort to prove that this subject was utilizing a vehicle they were not supposed to be using, and also working when they stated that they are not. The first day of surveillance we get there at an appropriate time and we sit and wait. About an hour after our arrival our subject departs, we give the subject some time to move into traffic and then join into the flow of the morning transportation. The first fifteen minutes of the surveillance went as planned, but suddenly our subject gets off of the freeway, travels onto the surface streets and makes a crazy U turn, in our experience the subject is getting hinky. We let the subject go not wanting to add onto the subjects paranoia. We call our client and advise of what happened. Our client later reports to us that the subject called and stated that someone in the family was attempting to follow the subject. Apparently the person in the family drove the same type of vehicle as our subject and our subject knows that this person is watching them. Our client laughed as the they knew that the investigator and the relative did not resemble each other in the slightest way. We advised a cooling down period and we would attempt at a different time. 

Two weeks later our investigation continues. We get at the surveillance location in the early morning, we wait, and wait, and wait, but no movement from the subject. We decide to go out again, and we wait, and wait, and finally there is some movement by the subject. The subject gets onto the freeway and our investigator followed. Anyone that lives in California is familiar with the 405 and the horrible traffic that it has. Our subject was on the 405 and now the words I hope your lucky took a definitive meaning. Our subject drove like a person on a mission, weaving in and out of lanes with only minimal space to merge, the subject caused cars to slam on brakes, horns to blare, and hand gestures of all kinds to come out of windows. Our investigator followed the subject for approximately thirty minutes before exiting the freeway. The subject travels at a decent pace on the surface streets and finally lands at a building, the subject parks in the lot. Our investigator gives the subject a moment to get together, our investigator was able to take some photos of the subject exiting the vehicle, and we were also able to show that the vehicle the subject was using was not the one that they were supposed to be using. The subject entered into their work place without giving our investigator a second look. 

We have said it in the past and we will say it again here, persistence and patience will win out nine out of ten times. Trying to make things happen in case can cause the case to fall apart instead of working the case in its own pace. Now our client will be able to utilize the evidence to prove that this person is lying and is doing things that they should not be doing. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

There is no traffic on the extra mile

A lot people want the quick result. They want the no effort win. But to truly succeed and do something well, you have to be willing to put in the extra effort. Your going to have to go the extra mile. 

Our offices were contacted in order to serve papers on a subject that had seemed elusive. The other party that attempted service stated that they were unsuccessful after numerous attempts. They tried the subjects residence but found it to be vacated, they tried the subjects office but found that it was never open. They gave up after that. Our offices often get the services that other's have given up on. When I first started working on the file, I started at the beginning. Day one  I verified that the house had been vacated, I spoke with neighbors and they sad that the family may have moved to Glendale. Day two I went to the subjects place of business and I found that it was not open. There was no one around but since I had started early I figured that I could get some lunch and come back. I went to Shakey's pizza ( I love mojo potatoes) ate and went back to the office. The office was still closed but there were other offices surrounding the subjects. One person was exiting his office, I approached him and asked for the subject by name. The man advised that the subject had moved his office upstairs, he gave me the unit number. I go to the office and note that a man is sitting at his desk, I ask for my subject by name, the man confirms that he is my subject I give him the paperwork. Case closed. This situation could have been resolved had the previous servers asked the neighbors, asked the fellow business owners. But more often than not, some don't. 

Another example of this, in my earlier P.I. days I had to track some witnesses down for a case, the case regarded a man that was being accused of molesting some children. One potential witness in particular was extremely difficult to locate. I started calling, no answer, I sent emails, no answer, I went to his home, no response. Now here is the brick wall, it is reasonable and probably rational to give it up here. But that is not what I do, I did not get into this work to do something easy. So the answer was the obvious one, though not the most exciting. I waited outside the witnesses house for 7 hours before he came home. The witness was surprised to see me but did give me a statement, a statement that changed the pace and setting of the case. 

So there you have it, perseverance, not giving up, being persistent. Doing the extra will get you results. You may not win all of the time, but don't let the reason why you lose be because you did not put in all of the necessary  and sometimes the unnecessary efforts. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

A father that never forgot and a daughter that never quit

When I was a kid, I wanted to become a private investigator. I read the mystery stories of Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlow, and Easy Rawlins. I liked how the protagonists in these stories were able to affect the world around them. As I grew up and started doing this work in real life, I learned that even though the stories I read sensationalized  the world of the Private Investigator, I too could help to change the world around me, even if it is just a small part of it.  

Morrow Detective Agency got a call from a client, a young lady that was interested in locating her father. The young lady through unfortunate circumstances was placed in the foster care system as a young girl and though she grew up healthy, seemingly happy, and loved, she felt that a piece of her was missing.  The client through her own intelligence and diligence was able to find her mother, but she was unable to locate her father.  The client needed the help of Morrow Detective Agency to become closer to being whole again. The client's mother was young and unfortunately did not have that much information about the clients father. She only had a name and a time frame of certain events, and of course the rumors that you hear over the years. I started this search by going through the traditional databases that investigators have access to but had no luck. I called every phone number for every potential subject but none of these men turned out to be my clients father. 

So after hitting this brick wall I did what every investigator has to do, I started again from the beginning. I searched court documents and finally found one  this one contained an alias for my clients father. I plugged in the alias but found nothing in the databases...feeling undeterred I continued. The clients mother had heard something about the clients father moving to Washington state.  I searched social media sites and bingo I found a man that resembled my client. He had the same nose, eyes, and mouth. This gentleman had not been on his sites since 2012 but fortunately had left his friends list open. After searching through the list we were able to locate some relatives. The traditional databases allowed for us to contact these relatives by telephone. An associate Gabby Kelpe was able to translate and effectively get through to the clients family that we were not trying to trick them. Also it helped that one family member relayed a story to us. Back in the mid 2000's the clients father tried to find his little girl, he through his own search was able to locate a foster parent but my client had already been adopted. The foster family was able to later get in touch with my client and tell  her this story.  Now all of the pieces of the puzzle connected. We provided our clients phone number to the family who said that they will do everything they can to get in touch with the clients father, he moved out of the country. 

Three days later our offices receive a call from our client, she has spoken to her father who is residing out of the country. The clients father told her that he was pleased that she was able to locate him, that he thought about her often, never forgot her, and always loved her. The client and her father exchanged messages of joys, intentions of getting together and hopefully building a bond that will never break again.  

I guess some of the stories I read as a kid did have it right, sometimes we can be called to do something that changes a persons world. We now can see a branch of the family tree grow more leaves as it becomes reconnected. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

Do you know who you married?

Wednesday afternoon our offices get a call asking for an investigator to go to an attorney clients office and speak with their client. We go out to the office and are met by an attorney and a young lady. The young lady starts telling a story, she has been married for approximately 7 years to a man that we will call John Smith. Through time she and John Smith have accumulated property and have also had children. Well in recent years my client and John Gonzales have had a falling out. He all of a sudden has become distant and extremely secretive. While cleaning she happens to find some documentation that indicates that her husband John Smith may be a different person name John Brown. She sees other documents that are property records and they show the name John Brown on them as well, they also have her name attached as his wife. The client confronts her husband who gets mad and an argument takes place, the client leaves her residence with her child. The husband changes the locks, closes up bank accounts and now has completely shut my client out. The husband does call to see the children, he sees them and takes them and refuses to give them back. The police are called, and the children are taken back home. The client's attorney advises that they need proof that the husband has falsely documented himself and acquired property through fraudulent means. The client happens to get a copy of the social security number that her husband was using and also the recorded property documents. A quick search of the social security number through our databases shows the clients husbands fake name with their shared real address, as well as some other properties, but it also shows someone else with a completely different name, this person who we will call Steve White also lives in the state where the social security number was issued from and from his residence history has resided there for the majority of his life, my clients husband resides in California several states away and is from a different country. After conferring with the client and the attorney it was decided that contact should be made to number one verify our findings and number two see if Mr. White would be willing to swear an affidavit and possibly pursue our client's husband for fraud. A telephone call was placed and as it turned out Mr. Steve White was an attorney, he was shocked at our findings and after verifying some things on his own, was more than willing to swear out an affidavit. The clients husband also probably will be having some problems with immigration at the next court date. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

Digging for gold

Trash digs, they aren't the most attractive part of this work, but they can be fruitful. We normally get this type of request for child custody related investigations. Lets say a person is trying to prove that the other parent likes to party, drinks a lot, or is not feeding their kids balanced meals. A trash dig can help validate that information. 

One particular case comes to mind that can be used as an example. We get a call from a client who is going through a custody issue, the Father of the children has a big drinking/drug problem, when he has custody of the kids he only feeds them fast food and junk food. After hearing the clients concerns we set a plan. First thing that needs to be determined is what day does the trash man come to pick up. It is illegal for anyone to walk onto a persons property and go through their trash, but once the trash is parked at the curb it is no longer on private property and therefor no longer considered property. A call to the local trash company and we are able to determine what day the trash is going to be curved, we also plan our efforts around the end of the visitation that the father has so that it will paint a more accurate picture of what goes on in the house. 

So the following Wednesday, we set our clocks for o dark thirty (it is easier to pick up trash at a time when everyone is sleeping) and made the necessary preparations. The following morning we get to the residence, a quick scan of the neighborhood is done to make sure that the closest neighbors are not up and about. We quickly photograph the residence, the vehicles parked in the driveway, the cans on the curb, all of this is done to establish that we are at the right residence and also that we are obtaining this information in a legal manner. As we are taking bags out of the trash cans, one happens to burst. Luckily we were prepared for this and placed the bags and its contents into a bigger, more secure bag. We go into the recycle can and see so many bottles that it would be almost impossible to grab them all without making a lot of noise, so we grab as many as we can and photograph the rest in the bin to help reaffirm our point. 

Where you take the bags is important, taking them to the office is not going to make your co-workers or bosses happy. We prefer to take them to a public park. We spread out a tarp, grab some sticks and start sifting through the findings. This particular dig shows that there is no produce, just a gallon of milk, and a ton of fast food bags. It also shows that there are quite a lot of prescription pill bottles with names that do not belong to the subject. The subject lives alone and these names are males names. We counted approximately 50 different bottles, everything from hard liquor to wine. Now this is the first dig, about three more in addition to this one, with basically the same type of findings and we were able to determine that there may be a lot of drinking going on and no cooking. The children who have told stories about witnessing their father in an alternate state of mind, have substantiated the suspicions of drinking and possible drug use.  Our client took this evidence to the court house, the father was mandated to get into a treatment program and to be tested before he has visitation with the children. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

You need to know before you say I do.

A client calls and asks for us to conduct a background investigation, their daughter has gotten herself involved with a particular individual and she is now engaged to him. They want to know if he is a person of good character, has he been married before, if so what happened, can he support their daughter? The client provides us with the information that they know about the guy and we start our inquiries. We find out that the person is involved in his profession and appears to be growing in it. We find that he owns a house and has an audi that is paid off. So far this is the report that the client wants to hear. More information is discovered, the type of stuff that the client may have some concerns with. The man was married up until January of this year, he is rushing to get back on the saddle it seems, he has no children but his ex wife claims that he was not physically abusive but was mentally abusive and controlling, she alleges that he controlled all of the money and the finances and did not allow for her to make any decisions. We learn that the ex wife who was a nurse and making more then decent money had to run to her parents residence because she had no access to the accounts. Of course the male subject responds and he states that all of her allegations are in fact fabricated. The disposition of the case indicates that the Judge has awarded the man the property but he has to pay his ex wife 90k, the male subject also has to provide her an additional 100k from his retirement. He does not have to pay her alimony and she is not responsible for any of the accrued debt that they shared. A further inquiry with the ex wife is made and she stated that the male subject was unfaithful during their marriage and that she had caught him cheating and that was the final straw. Now I personally am not against people falling in love or moving forward with their lives, however in this situation one does wonder why would this person be so eager to get back in the drivers seat when he just finished a trip? Now the parents ( my clients) are going to approach their daughter with this information, they are flying out of state to see her and meet her new fiance, they know all of this about him, maybe she knows this information as well, or maybe she doesn't, but at least now it is out there and an informed decision can be made. 

Another client called because they are going through a heated child custody issue, his ex is alleging all of these nasty things about him while she is painting herself to be the perfect person. The client after living with her for so long knows that she is not clean but he lacks the proof to show it. We are tasked with shaking the bushes to see what comes out. Well we start shaking and at first all we find are the normal traffic incidents, but as we keep going we find some drug possession charges, charges that she has neglected to inform everyone, charges that she plead guilty to and served some time for. Could she be clean now? Yes. Could she be an excellent mother now?  Yes absolutely. Does the client and the decision makers deserve to have all of the information before making a determination that is going to affect the lives of others? Absolutely! 

These are some exceptions to the rule. Most backgrounds come up uneventful and with no issues. But anytime that you are making a life changing decision that is going to involve yourself and your family, you should always exercise due diligence, and we at Morrow Detective Agency can help you do just that. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

GivenTime

It's Friday late afternoon, the phone rings and a client is on the line stating that they need someone found and they need them found immediately. They have tried different companies, have spent a lot of money and have had no success. They are in a spot of desperation. Now given time anyone can be found, but time is not on this person's side. They have two weeks to locate and serve this person. So after hearing their plea and explaining that given the time constraint we cannot guarantee that the person will be located in time, they`understood and we accepted the task. A database inquiry was ran, but the information was outdated, still if possible sometimes going to the old neighborhood can be of some help. We do that and meet an individual that knew the person we were looking for, he advised that the person moved to the high desert area, he was certain of the town but could not provide any further information than that. The area where this individual moved to is one where people go to get away, its rural, loosely populated, and small. Well we like small, small can be of big help. The following day a trip is made to the local post office in town. The postal service was willing to help once the right forms were filled out. A good address was obtained, we attempted service but no one was home. The alarm was set for o dark thirty the following morning. The following morning we arrived at the residence, we noted that rottweiler on property sign and approached with extreme caution. A door knock was conducted and our subject answers, we explain to him why we are at his residence and also that our client has been searching for him. The subject expressed his surprise that he was located, but was extremely cordial and accepted the documents with no problems. Given the time, anyone can be found. And just because the information is outdated does not mean that it has no use, you just have to get out there and make it work for you. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

The Money Shot

Three days of surveillance, three days of dealing with the hot California summer, of hiding in the backseat of a car dealing with cramps, thirst, and the need to urinate...all of it is about to be worth it. We got contacted to conduct a surveillance on an individual who claimed that they were injured at work after their wages started getting garnished. This individual claimed that an injury to their hand and arm was keeping them from doing their work duties on a regular basis. The employer smelled a fraud and hired our client to find out. 

Day one of surveillance, we get there early in the morning. We sit for approximately four hours, we check in with the client and they request that we wait a little longer, about twenty more minutes into our wait the subject departs. We give the subject a little distance and begin our tail. Everything is going smoothly for the first ten minutes, but behind us we hear emergency sirens and see flashing lights, of course we are supposed to pull over to the right hand side like everyone else, but our subject is moving, I would be lying if I stated that I did not consider continuing with the tail. But civic duty and knowing that someone's life may be on the line took over that natural hunters instinct and it prevailed. My subject made a left turn at the light, by the time the emergency vehicles had passed by my subject was gone. We call the client and advised what happened, it is one of those tough breaks that they don't show on t.v. The client requests that we come back out and we do. 

Day two we arrive in the morning, the subject has called out sick from work. We wait for approximately three hours before he departs. We follow him again things are going smoothly, I check the rear view mirror and there are no emergency vehicles...so this looks like it is going to be a great day! The subject is followed to a job career training facility, the subjects vehicle is a smaller one and where it is parked our view is slightly obstructed, the subject exits the vehicle and enters into the building, the subject remains in the building for quite some time. The subject exits the building, departs, and heads back to their residence. A few hours of waiting and the subject departs, they are followed to a neighboring city. The subject appears to be lost ( this is a surveillance investigators nightmare) the subject drives around in circles and we are forced to give the subject a lot of rope or get caught. The subject makes it to a building, the exit the vehicle dressed business casually and enter into the building out of view. We wait again and the subject comes out approximately thirty minutes later. We follow the subject back to their residence and quit for the day. This is a productive day, we even see that the subject is seeking other employment opportunities...this is something that the client needs to know. But this will not help with the injury claim. 

Day three we arrive in the morning the subject has called out sick again. The subject departs in the mid morning. The subject is followed to a residence, the subject enters the residence and is out of view for a couple of hours. The subject emerges from the residence accompanied by an unidentified woman that we believe to be the subjects mother. They depart and are followed around the city, they go to a check cashing facility where the subject is observed utilizing the proposed injured hand/arm to open the door for their Mom. The subject is followed to the grocery store but they wait in the car while their mother does the shopping. The mother comes out of the store with a few bags, she places them in the back seat of the vehicle and they depart. When they arrive at the mother's residence, the subject exits out of the vehicle and is observed using their injured hand/arm to carry the bulk of the groceries. The subject even uses this arm to push the passenger door closed. Three days of surveillance, three days of dealing with the hot California summer, of hiding in the backseat of a car dealing with cramps, thirst, and the need to urinate...all of it is worth it because we just got the money shot, the shot that shows and contradicts everything that the subject stated that they are unable to do. The client can now defend the employer in the future should this subject come back and try to lie even more, also the client can now show the subject what they have and the subject may throw out the bogus claim. 

Not all claims are bogus, we have sat on some pretty legitimate surveillance's in the past. What makes the surveillance worth it is when you finally get that breakthrough, that time when the subject lets their guard down and does what they should not be doing in a setting where they feel safe to do it in. The money shots are what makes all of that worth it. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

Sometimes they outsmart themselves

This case involves fraud. A client was referred to Morrow Detective Agency by an attorney client of ours.  This client placed a down payment to purchase a mobile home from a private party. The private party advised that she would give our client the deed to the property the following week when my client would be able to come up with the rest of the money. The following week my client comes back to the residence to find a for sale sign out in front of the property. My client also finds out that the person had moved out and left no further contact information. We are employed a couple months later by the client to locate the woman so that a service of process can be done on her. We run a search through our databases and come up with nothing new. We contact old neighbors and come up with minimal information. The woman's social networking indicates that she works for the county. A further inquiry finds that she is no longer employed at a certain county facility. We go to the post office and learn that there is no forwarding address information on file. In the meantime my client is attempting to call the woman but is either taunted or ignored. We decide to attempt a pretext but the woman is unresponsive. After many attempts we decide to attempt a phone trap. The woman responds but from a different phone..after hearing the message she hangs up. Fortunately the phone trap documented the phone information. A reverse look up was done on the phone number and it lead to a different county facility. We also learn from one the neighbors who we had spoken with earlier that the woman may have recently purchased a home in a different city. The city that she may have purchased a home in happens to share the same area code as the new place of employment. So now what we have this information it is time to put it to use.  We try to serve her at her residence but have no success, our next hope is her place of employment and we are successful on that attempt. Later on we get a phone call from the same number that called our phone trap. The female subject is furious and states that we have no right to serve papers on her at her job, and she feels that we had harassed her by doing so. After hearing the subject out we advised the woman that we had to serve her the best way we could, we also sneak in the opinion that had she called back our client in the first place, she would have never been tracked down in order to be served. 

This is a case where the subject played it to smart. If the woman had called us from her cell phone instead of her work line we probably would not have been able to get to her in time. But since she had to be sneaky and call us from her work line, we she in turn gave us the lead we needed to close the case. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

The Team

Having a great team can mean the difference. My wife has helped on several cases here at Morrow Detective Agency. After getting some exposure to investigative work I asked her about what she experienced, how she felt about it, and what she was able to accomplish personally.

Q: How did you feel about your first surveillance experience? 
Surveillance was ehhh. I liked the fact that I got some time to sit and relax, and get paid for it at the same time. What I got surprised about was after a couple of hours I started to get hungry and needed to use the restroom. Unfortunately there was nothing that I could do until the surveillance was over. 

Q: Was it a successful surveillance?
Yes, but not necessarily what the client wanted. 

Q. How did you feel about your first time conducting a process service?
Very nervous, I wasn't sure what to expect on the other side of the door. When I pulled up, I saw 3 cars which made me a little nervous. I always heard stories from you about people getting crazy and sometimes wanting to fight. It was a relief to have it end so smoothly. 

Q: Do you feel that the real life private investigating experience is the same as what is portrayed on t.v.?
No, what you see on t.v. is the exciting cases, you see a lot of cheating spouses, you see the following, but you don't see the waiting around and everything that it takes to get to that point. The waiting part is not challenging, its the following the people around, if they are very fast driver's or slow ones. 

Q: Do you find this type of work fun?
I personally would not say that the work is fun, I will however say that it is rewarding. Helping people, helping them find someone, returning a child to a parent that they have not seen in years, helping to keep bad people off the street and busting people that take advantage of the system, these are the things that make it rewarding. 

Q: Do you think just anyone can be a private investigator?
No, it takes a special person. It takes a person that has patience, the ability to deal with demanding people who want what they want when they want it. I personally think that the best investigators have the gift of gab and can converse with anyone, they have to be strategic thinkers and also self-disciplined. The work as an owner of a company can be demanding. 

Q: What kind of cases do you like working so far?
Criminal defense cases and locating people.

Q: What kind of investigative work do you like the least?
Surveillance. 

This line of work draws from all walks of life. Investigators can easily find themselves in a upscale neighborhood one minute and in a low income area the next. Being able to adjust and also having great members on your team can determine whether you will be successful or whether you will fail. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

We can only guarantee efforts, not results!

An investigator is called when something has gone wrong, a client needs someone found quickly, papers need to be served asap, a cheating spouse needs to be watched because they are about to leave the house in ten minutes. As an investigator you learn to adapt to these changes, you try your best to do what you can, but sometimes no matter what you do, things don't work out. 

A client calls, they are about to go to court, they need a person to testify that the defendant is lying. They have court in 18 days, the witness needs to be served at least 15 days before the date. They aren't sure where the witness is living at.  This is the assignment. We explain to the client that we are great at locating individuals, that we are also great at serving papers on them, but we cannot guarantee that it will be done in the time that they need it done. The client states that they understand and they need us to try our best. First thing we do is locate the person, we verify that the person is residing at the address. The area is out of our range of investigation, we advise the client that we have found the defendant, but due to where the defendant resides there will be an extra charge as service of processes can take time and multiple efforts. The client states that they are low on income and they cannot afford for us to do it. We explain to the client that we understand and that we will get a server in the area to help them out. We make the arrangements, but we also find out that the defendant lives in a guarded gated community, we explain to the client that this in itself will present another challenge and that time is not on our side. The client again says that they understand. A few days go by, the server advises that they have attempted to serve the defendants but have been unable to serve them. They state that the client is going to have to file a continuance and that they will redo the service at no additional charge. We relay this information to the client. Of course the client is not happy. The client states that for the amount of money that they paid, they thought that we would do the service ourselves. Again we remind the client what our companies fee would have been had we taken the service, and we also remind the client how much they paid for the service. Our company's goal is to do everything within the law and reason to assist a client in getting the information and results they need, but we can never guarantee that we are going to get those results. We cannot know whether the person a client believes is cheating is in fact going to cheat. We cannot guarantee that a claimant is faking their injury, or that a person is going to be home at 7:00 p.m., all we can do is be there when we say that we will and do what we say we are going to do. No matter how good you are, no one in this business can guarantee results, if they do they are lying to you. Things happen that are out of our control. With this particular client, we had to apologize, we reminded them that they were informed of the time issue as well as the challenges. We wanted to accommodate the client, though we knew that there was a margin for not being successful the first time around. It reminded us that we are dealing with peoples lives, and that they depend on us to do. Sometimes though, we can only do what we can. 

 Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

So you think your spouse is cheating

Cheating spouses cases are not the primary cases that our agency works. We do get them and we do work them. The cases themselves need to be handled delicately from the beginning when the client that is calling through the conclusion of the investigation. Often times you will receive a call from a client who is hesitant to explain that they need help to access whether their significant other is stepping out of the relationship. They talk about the emotional pain and mental anguish that is involved, the feeling of guilt for having these suspicions, the feeling like they may be going crazy also. They have noticed that the work hours have become later, that the phones are turned off or the person is not as easily accessible as they had been in the past. They notice that the cellphone is underneath the pillow,or always face down. Be it male or female the emotion in these phone calls is the same. Some people have been married for decades only to have this happen to them now, while some people have only been dating for weeks. In my experience womens suspicions have been more validated, their intuition a little more in tune with the difference. 

We had a client that believed that her husband was having an affair with a neighbor of theirs. Our client was not able to prove it and her husband would tell her that she was crazy and even seem insulted that she would insinuate such a thing. However our client noticed that when she got home from work certain things would be in disarray, also her husband now started going to the gym (after years of not going) and after leaving she would notice the neighbor leaving about ten minutes later. His phone which used to sit on the nightstand would now be underneath his pillow on silent. Our client had enough and wanted to know if her suspicions were valid or was she just being overly sensitive. After hearing her story we determined what would be the best approach on her case. We found that obviously the gym time would be the best time. So we established our surveillance and waited for the subject. As luck would have it, the first night of surveillance the subject did not go to the gym, neither did he the second night or third. However on the fourth night the subject entered into his vehicle and off to the supposed gym he went, we followed him at length where he eventually arrived at a park on the other side of town. He waited in his vehicle and we observed him talking on his phone for a brief moment. Shortly after another vehicle shows up and sure enough it was the neighbor that our client suspected was being to friendly with her husband. They both exit the vehicle, embrace and kiss, and start walking through the park hand in hand. We observed them walking and sitting in the grass, at times embracing and kissing. About an hour later they walk back to their vehicles, give one last long kiss and the husband departs. We of course followed him back to his residence. Approximately ten minutes later the neighbor arrived at her residence. Now comes the hardest part, at least for us, the part were you tell the client that she is not crazy, that her husband is cheating on her, and that it is with the person that she suspected. The clients response goes from being happy that they are not losing it, to the rage that this is actually happening, and to the sadness and realization that things are going to be forever changed, and of course the big question of what to do with the information that you have? Do you get a divorce, do you seek counseling, do you confront the neighbor?  What happens next?

Another case that comes to mind again has to do with a wife suspecting that her husband was cheating. She suspected that he may have been cheating with a co-worker but she was not absolutely sure. The first night we conducted surveillance at his work place. After he exited work he went into his vehicle and we observed him speaking with an unknown women in her vehicle. We of course took the license plate down for future reference. The subject then departed the area and was followed to a gas station where he sat and waited for a long period of time. After sitting at the gas station for thirty minutes he departed and went to a restaurant. He went in and we noted that there were several of his co-workers there including the girl that he was speaking with in the parking lot. After about an hour or so he takes off from the restaurant and departs the area, we try to follow him but he manages to get through a light and we were not able to do so. We break off for the night, in the morning time we find out from our client that the subject did not come back home. We go back out the following day, this time we canvass the parking lot and find the vehicle that the woman our subject was speaking to. We note that there are two parking permits, one for a local junior college, and another for what appeared to be a condo or apartment complex with the name of the complex branded on the sticker. The woman gets off work first, we note the direction that she is departing in. An hour passes and our subject gets out of work. He enters into his vehicle and does not head in the direction of his residence, he instead heads in the same direction as the woman. We follow him and eventually he comes to an apartment complex we will call Centerstone, the same name that we observed on the parking permit sticker in the woman's window. He parks in the parking lot right next to the woman that we observed him speaking to's vehicle. He gets out and runs into the apartment building.  He enters into an apartment out of view. He stays overnight. We of course have to relay the news to our client, that her suspicions have been affirmed and her husband is in fact staying over at this woman's apartment. Our client calls us the next day and states that her husband stated he was only staying over there in the guest room and that nothing was going on. Our client of course did not believe him. We later confirmed with the apartment manager that the unit that the woman lived in was only one bedroom, no guest room to sleep in at all. 

A lot of times people work through the infidelity. As a rule I personally do not advise whether a couple should stay together or not. I believe that only God and the people involved should make that determination. I have found that a lot of different reasons are utilized to justify the behavior, again I do not judge, sometimes things just fall apart, sometimes people want to feel like they are still appealing, sometimes they just want to feel loved. Or they could just want their cake and to eat it too. Whatever the reason may be, I do know that cheating can have repercussions, and before you decide to cross the line you need to evaluate the possibilities and what will happen if you get caught, and believe me, no matter how tricky you are, you eventually will get caught. If you have a family is it going to be worth potentially splitting them up, or God forbid catching something from a person and having to deal with that for life? Are you mentally prepared for having to essentially live two different lives and deal with when the affair turns into another relationship? If the person you are out philandering with has a family, are you willing to jeopardize that family in order to get what you want? Again I do not judge, we each have to make our own decisions and deal with the fall out or rewards from them. Just make sure that whatever decision you make, you are prepared for it. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

About a dog

People love their pets, that goes without saying. They raise them up and treat them like members of the family. When the pet dies, people feel like they have lost their family members. When the pet is lost they will post pictures, knock on doors, some will even purchase billboards, all in the effort to get their pet back. But what do you do when your pet is stolen, and stolen from someone that you knew, who is holding the pet for a sense of vengeance.  Morrow Detective Agency received a call from a client who advised that the family pet had been stolen by someone that lived near to them who had recently moved away. We met with the client who advised that the pet was purchased for a family member who was suffering for a severe illness, the pet brought this family member comfort and helped them through the pain that they were suffering through. The neighbor who was suspected of taking the family dog had done so because they were disputing with the clients for years, they disliked the dog, but more they disliked the client. Through interviewing the client we were able to find out that one of the ex neighbors worked as a dental hygienist out in the valley. Surveillance was conducted on this individual, but the individual only rented a room from the ex neighbors and did not care for them. The individual did provide some leading information. Utilizing that information the ex neighbors were found...but the dog was nowhere in sight. Just about this time our client gets a phone call from one of the ex-neighbors, they heard that they were suspected of taking the dog and they also knew that Morrow Detective Agency was literally on their doorstep. They offered to "find" the dog for our client. Two days letter the dog was found in the clients backyard. What a coincidence. The pain that this mishap caused this family was indescribable.  But the joy that they had, and the elation in their voices was great. To some folks this would have just been a dog, but to these people this was a member of the family. 

I have seen many things working in this occupation, unfortunately I am not surprised anymore at the things people will do to each other just to cause some discomfort or pain. Our agency by no means specializes in searching for animals, this has been our second case in this regard. But dognapping from what I understand is more common then people think. In this case the authorities were unable to help the clients because there was not proof that the ex neighbors stole the dog. They did not even confirm that they had brought the dog back. They did ask that Morrow Detective Agency stop watching them though. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com  or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

Fraudsters

Insurance fraud is rampant especially when the economy is tanking and people are about to lose their jobs. After the financial melt down in 2008 we started noting that the number of fake injuries jumped up a lot. In 2009 I was doing investigations in Northern California area. On one particular July day we had to do surveillance on a woman who found out that she was going to be layed off and ended up coincidentally getting injured on the job the day before the layoff was to happen. About 6 hours into surveillance the woman and her husband depart in a purple Mitsibushi Eclipse, I give her a moment to gain a little distance and off we go. We arrive at a medical facility, the lady who will be called the claimant, exited her vehicle with the assistance of her husband and was observed leaning and favorably using a cane. She walked at a very slow pace and at times leaned on her husband for support as she walked the 50 feet into the doctors office and out of view. Approximately an hour later the claimant and her husband exited the facility and again walked at a slow pace stopping every few steps for a break. At this point I am feeling badly for this lady and am thinking that this is not looking good for my client. The husband helps the claimant get into the drivers side of the vehicle and they depart the area. A few minutes later we arrive at a mall. The claimant exits the vehicle, by herself and no cane. Her husband remains in the car and the claimant all of a sudden runs across the parking lot. I follow her into the mall and observe her walking into a particular store, she speaks with the clerk and is next walking around the store, no cane, no limp, and no breaks. The clerk gets her attention and the claimant carries a couple of bags back to her car, she again runs at a full clip across the parking lot. She places the bags into the trunk of her Eclipse, entered into the drivers side and departed the area. I followed her back home where she entered into her gated community out of view. I guess the doctors office must have given her the ultimate healing pill because obviously she was as spry as can be after she left the office. 

Another case that comes to mind is one that started at a medical facility back in 2009. We did not know where the male claimant was residing and needed to follow him from the doctors office to determine where he was living at. I got to the appointment an hour before he got there, waited around and identified him when he got to the appointment. After about forty-five minutes he exited the facility and entered into a black Honda Civic. I followed him through the valley to a commercial building in Woodland Hills. The claimant exits his vehicle, goes to his trunk area and pulls out a chainsaw and puts on a harness. He is assisted with putting the harness on and before you know it he is being raised up in a tree. The claimant begins cutting off branches from the tree and does this for hours. Around five o clock the claimant calls it quits and heads home to Chatsworth. The next day he is followed to a residence out in Bel Air and is observed performing the same activity. I guess his right shoulder and lower back weren't hurting him as bad as he said it was. 

Fraud happens, you need to do the best you can to protect your business by being insured and keeping your eyes and ears open for people that are trying to take advantage of the system. There are people that of course are legitimately hurt and definitely should be compensated and taken care of. Its not them that we should be concerned about, its the person who says that they cant socialize with anyone but goes to the club or bar every night. The person who says that their back is injuring them and they cant work because of it but goes bowling every Friday night with their bowling team. These are true stories...check our website www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com or our facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Morrow-Detective-Agency-CA-PI-27276/109483012474711?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark to take a look at some of the people we have caught doing things that they say they cannot do. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com  or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

1 Peter 4:10
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:"

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean your not being watched

Working in this business you often get calls from individuals who are afraid that they are being watched or that their conversations are being monitored. Some of these people have mental health issues and some of these people are genuine.

Mental Health:

About two years ago our offices received a call from an attorney client who stated that he had a client that believed that her apartment manager was monitoring her inside of her residence. When we asked why the client would believe that someone was watching them we were told that there was no specific reason. We called the client directly and set an appointment up to come to her residence .  Upon arriving to her residence I started checking her residence, all of her light fixtures were either covered with newspaper or aluminum foil, her windows were covered with foil and so were her electric outlets that she was not using. I quickly started searching her place for electronic monitoring devices. While searching for the devices the client engaged me in conversation, I asked her questions as to why she would believe that she is being monitored, the client advised that she was from a different country and believed that the USA had bribed her manager to bug her place. My client continued to say that the president was spying on her ( this was before the NSA scandal) and that her husband and daughter moved out because they were tired of being followed and watched. Now by this time I had checked every place possible for monitoring devices and found none. I noticed that the client had photos of her daughter hanging all around the house, I asked the client if she would not mind calling her daughter, the client quickly obliged me. I spoke with the daughter who stated that her mother has been suffering from extreme paranoia and it is getting worse, after explaining why I was there the daughter told me to everything I could to prove that her mother wasn't being watched, but she did not believe that her mother would stop having her paranoia. Now it is not in my benefit to give away trade secrets, however I generally as a rule of thumb want to make sure that my clients get value from my service to them. Knowing that this client is suffering from paranoia and knowing that someone out there will take advantage of her disposition I spent the next hour teaching her how to search for the things she was afraid of. The client thanked me and I thought that would be the last time I heard from her, I was wrong. A few weeks ago I get a call from the client, she stated that she wanted me to trace a phone number back to the owner and address. Of course knowing the clients mental disposition I asked her why? She advised that her husband had taken off again and she is getting called from this number and she needs to know who it belongs to. At this time I told her that I would be willing to assist her but she would have to know that I would contact the owner of the phone and ask for their permission to give their personal information out. Knowing this clients background and what she believed to be a reality, the last thing I wanted to see in the news is my client arrested for some assault or God forbid some murder on her husband and whomever he is now staying with. My client of course got furious and hung up on me. She probably feels that I betrayed her in some way and not that I am helping her by preventing her from doing something that will hurt her.

Genuine:

I follow people, look into their lives, document their activity, and do it for my clients. As good as I would like to think I am, I have gotten caught, the best of us have gotten caught. I know of an investigator that was hired because his client thought that his soon to be ex-wife was having him followed. My fellow investigator was hired to identify if possible the person following him and let him the client know when he was being watched. My colleague followed his client from sun up to sun down the first day, the second day he did the same thing, and on third day he noticed the same two cars. When the client moved these cars moved, when the client got out to have lunch so did one of the people. The investigator had his client run some chores and make it seem like he was going home for the day. The investigator followed one of the vehicles back to their residence. He ran the license through and found the name of the person to the vehicle. A subsequent search of his states licensing bureau and he was able to gain information as to which other investigation company was following his client around. Now his client knew who was following him, he was able to keep what he wanted out of the public eye private.

The point of all of this is you never know, its not safe to assume that since the person calling you is mentally ill that their fears and paranoia's are not valid. The same goes for someone who is sane and believes that their significant other may be having an adulterous affair only to find out that the person is hiding an addiction.  Just because your paranoid does not mean that your not being watched.

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com  or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

The waiting game

Patience is a key ingredient needed for success in any investigation, whether it be conducting surveillance, taking a statement, or locating an individual, you often times are going to have to wait. 

We were tasked with locating someone so that a service of process could be done.  I arrived at the persons residence at 4:00 a.m., I learned that their job was one that they would probably leave in the early morning hours. After waiting for several hours I learned that the subject was no longer residing at the residence. I searched our databases but came up with nothing, I searched social media and again came up with nothing, what to do, what to do? I eventually rationalized that a lot of people my subjects age are moving back in with their parents, I go out to Mom and Dads house but don't see my subjects vehicle. I don't want to ask questions as I don't want the subject to be aware that they are being searched for so again what to do? I come back out at late night but still no subject. I come out in the early morning and bingo there the subjects vehicle is. Now it is time to play the waiting game, I wait, and wait, and wait, and finally my subject exits the residence and enter's into the vehicle. My subject departs and I start following, I still have to be careful as I do not want to spook the subject and also finding out exactly where the subject is working is a bonus. A few minutes later we arrive at the subjects place of employment a few pictures later and now my client has all the information they will need to get the subject served. 

Another case that comes to mind has to deal with a subject who had extreme financial means and several layers of people protecting them. The subject had eluded the sheriff department as well as a process server so our agency was tasked with finding the subject and serving the subject. I try the place of employment and make it up to the floor where the subjects place of business is. The subjects secretary quickly turns me away, strike one. I try to make an appointment as one professional to another and she advised that she will give the information to the subject. The subject out of curiosity calls me, as soon as I announce my intentions the subject hangs up the phone. The following day I try the subject at their residence, I sit for a few hours and around 11:30 a.m., the subject leaves in a brand new Mercedes and drives to work. I once again get held up but this time by security and the subject is able to enter into the building. When you have a situation like this sometimes you need to give the person time to cool off, time for them to shake the feeling that someone is after them. So that is what I suggested to the client and that is what we did. After giving the subject cooling off time and knowing that most of us are creatures of habit I managed to get to the subjects place of employment approximately and hour before they would be there. I noted the underground elevator that they assuredly would take and positioned myself accordingly. At 11:53 a.m. my subject arrived, I stepped out and served them with the paperwork, my subject laughed at how they were caught and even expressed that we are good at what we do.  Patience is what won this case over. Had I persisted the subject would have stepped up their security and their barriers and that would have made the task that much more difficult to resolve. 

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com  or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!

Sometimes you get them, and sometimes you don't

Being a private investigator is challenging, the profession can really show you what you are made of. When you do well, its a feeling of euphoria that is almost unexplainable.  When you do poorly, it is a cold smack in the face that will stay with you. Like anything else, you learn from your winnings and your losses.

My losses and lessons:

Morrow Detective Agency was retained to locate an individual for the purpose of serving papers on them. We were told that other agencies had been unable to find the subject and in doing so had quit and given the assignment back. We were provided two weeks to locate the subject and get him served. We went out to the last known address of the subject and were stopped by security, after advising security about our right to enter into a residential area for the purpose of performing a service of process security allowed our us to enter the property with a guard as an escort ( as if this was not challenging already). We attempted a door knock and received no response, upon departing the residence we noted that the residence did not appear to have any lights on. The security guard checked his database for us and advised that he did not see our subject on there list of residents. We went back to our offices and found no new addresses, we sent a letter to the post offices and they had no forwarding address on file.....what is a investigator to do now. Through investigative means, we were able to get a good address on the subject, now three days out of the fourteen have lapsed. In the interim we were able to monitor the subjects social networking and had found that he has been abroad and frequently leaves the country. On Easter morning we attempted to serve the subject at his residence but received no response, we came back the following Monday evening and again attempted the service, we noted that there were dogs within the residence, and the mail that was observed in the mailbox on Sunday had been retrieved. So obviously someone has been coming and going to take care of the dogs and make sure that the junk-mail/bills were being taken care of. We attempted to come back to the subjects residence multiple times and days, we learned from a neighbor that the subject sometimes came home late at night, we stayed late into the evening and came back early in the morning, no success. We ended up having to the let the assignment go due to the fact that we were not able to find the right time to get this guy. Fast forward weeks later and we found out that the subject has a new girlfriend and had been staying at her residence for the most part. The lesson learned from this case is you can do everything right and you still cannot predict the outcome, anything short of pitching a tent on the lawn of the apartment complex would not have made a difference in this case...the client certainly did not want to pay that much money for us to do that.

Another case that was a loss took place in Corona, California early on in my career, I was working for a nationwide investigation company who will remain nameless. The assignment was to conduct surveillance on a certain individual for the purpose of observing whether he was conducting workers compensation fraud. This company had a policy of making door contact to confirm the person was home ( I found out later that it is illegal to make direct contact with any claimant that is represented) an hour and a half into the surveillance I knock on the door and though I hear sounds of life in the house I don't get a response, on the way out I stop at a neighbors house and ask questions. The neighbor eyes me suspiciously and answers. I walk back to my surveillance vehicle and go back to doing what needs to be done, waiting. The neighbor leaves her house for work and drives by where I am set up, she drives very slowly and I notice that she is looking at my vehicle, I knew she could not see me due to the limo tint on my vehicle but that did not mean that she did not see where I had went to after leaving her house. The neighbor drives off. About five minutes later my claimant exits his residence, he jumps into a black Honda and leaves his residence, I give him some space and follow, while following him we pass his neighbor coming back, next thing I know my claimant is on his phone. He makes a u-turn and me being inexperienced at the time, I follow. He goes back home and I park further away but still in an area where I can observe him. A few minutes pass by and my claimant emerges on foot, he walks towards my vehicle and behind him comes his neighbor. My doors are locked but he try's to open my driver's side door, he grabs a screwdriver and continues to try to get in my vehicle, the whole time he is screaming get out mother f&^ker I know you are in there, I am tired of you people following me this is the third time this month and I am going to make sure it is the last. As a rule you don't break off of a surveillance unless your claimant is in for the day, you definitely do not do it if the case is getting heated, but this situation is definitely past heated, I am burned. I hit the panic button on my alarm pad to make the car go off, at this time other neighbors are coming out of their houses, I don't respond, I don't even move. Luckily I had already called in a code 5 to local law enforcement, a neighbor called the police and the police were nice enough to call me, I answered whispering that I was still in the area but my claimant was on to me and now was trying to get into my vehicle. The police send a cruiser out and I advise the operator that I am going to depart as soon as the cruiser comes. A unit shows up and I depart the area, I called my supervisor and he asked if I could rent a car and go back the same day. I declined. It is stupid to work a case that fired up again on the same day especially when the claimant/subject knows that you are watching them.  Lessons learned from this incident: know the assignment beforehand, know if it has been worked, if the case has ever been heated or burned. I later learned that this claimant had burned two other investigators a couple of weeks before I worked the case. This case should have been allowed to cool down, I also learned that the vantage points where I parked were where the other investigators had parked, had I of known I would not have parked anywhere near there. I also learned to give a loose tail on subjects that are wary, it is better to lose a subject then heat up or burn a case. Once someone has been followed and knows about it, their head is constantly going to be on a swivel.

Winnings:

I once had to conduct surveillance on someone that had burned other investigators and was extremely wary. The client just needed to know where this guy was working. On cases like these you either use other investigators so you can play leap frog on the guy, but most clients don't have the budget for a lot of investigators on a surveillance so then it is time to become creative. I set up on day one far away from the subjects residence and not to long after his vehicle is observed departing the area. I follow the subject for a short while and break off surveillance. The following day instead of setting up surveillance at his residence, I picked it up where I left off. Sure enough my subject shows up and I follow him again for a short while. The next day I picked up right where I left off and this day I follow him all the way to his job. It took more time than usual, but in the end the job got done.

I had another case where it was a workers compensation fraud case. The claimant was wary and had been investigated for years and had burned other investigators. My first day of surveillance the claimant departed his residence and he drove and drove, I noticed that he did not seem to be driving anywhere in particular, I immediately broke off surveillance for the day before the case got heated. The next day I came back out and noted that the claimant departed at the same time and guess what he drove what appeared to be the same route, I took a chance and headed back to his residence, ten minutes later the claimant showed up, he went into his residence and came out in work clothes. The claimant departed the area and I followed him to a work site where he used a jackhammer on concrete sidewalks. The video obtained for that day caused the claimant to lose his workers compensation case. This also was the first time that I had ever seen a claimant or subject do a burn run.

Obviously we want more wins then losses but the value in losses can prove to be more valuable than in winning. Through trial and error we have been able to come up with some creative approaches to our cases. Some approaches give set backs while others thrust you into success. In order to do well as an investigator you have to adjust to what the case needs and work with whatever changes come your way.

Morrow Detective Agency is a licensed private investigation firm located on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles, Ca in Simi Valley, CA. Morrow Detective Agency is capable of performing surveillance, process service, locates, background investigations, asset investigations, and more. Please feel free to visit our website at www.MorrowDetectiveAgency.com  or give us a call at (805) 823-3540 and allow us to make your problem our solution!