PI Michele Yontef to share telecom suboena 'secrets' at upcoming PI event

PI Michele Yontef to share telecom suboena 'secrets' at upcoming PI event:

Yontef, a well-known and repected Arizona private investigator, will be the guest speaker at an upcoming California PI training day. As an AZ PI, she serves her Phoenix and Tucson clients as a full-service private investigator, with a unique specialty: phenomenal knowledge of the telecommunications industry. Details to be posted here soon.

Speaker's contact data:
www.GoMaxo.com

Pass the California PPO (Private Patrol Operator) license exam test the first time!

Pass the PPO (Private Patrol Operator) license exam test the first time!

Click onwww.PPOlicenseTest.comto learn the quickest way to get a PPO license. They also have study material to prepare you for all parts of the written PPO license examination. The state has 5 different 100-question PPO license tests-- you need to know how to pass all of them.

In most cases, a PI offering bodyguard services without a PPO license is guilty of a misdemeanor!

How to pass the California Private Investigator license examination the first time!

How to pass the California Private Investigator license examination the first time!

1. Apply for the license.

2. Obtain the exhaustive study material sample-questions-and-more preparation and PI business set-up package from www.CertifiedMasterInvestigator.com and follow its study guidelines. Also take advantage of the included PI business consultation now-- certain critical steps you take now will be invaluable the day your PI license is later issued.

3. Two weeks after applying, you will be invited to attempt to pass the licensing exam test. It is offered at 13 California locations, 6 days a week, and at several out-of-state testing locations. You will get the results before leaving the test location.

4. A week or two after passing, you will receive an invoice to pay for your license.

5. A while after BSIS receives your payment, you can obtain your license number from their website, and soon after that the actual license will appear in your mailbox. If you followed the business set-up ideas in the prep package, you should be ready to jump right into business.

Elder Abuse

The year was 1994 and I had just begun working for The Rat Dog Dick Detective Agency. The owner, Fay Faron, had been investigating, for the past year, an alleged murder-for-profit scheme involving several elderly men in San Francisco. The main suspects were all part of a Gypsy family. As word of this unusual type of crime spread through the media, our agency became inundated with cases of financial elder abuse. I was thrown into this an area of investigation, learning everything and anything I could about crimes being perpetrated against the elderly.

Late that year, I got a call from private conservator Jean Malbrough about a case of alleged financial elder abuse. I obtained the facts of the case which lead me on the trail of yet another Gypsy female who had befriended an elderly man. The victim was Jimmy C, a trusting man in his 80’s, who had lost his beloved wife several years prior. While waiting at the bus stop one day, a woman stepped on Jimmy’s foot and quickly apologized. She asked him out for coffee and immediately gained his trust and friendship. Jimmy was lonely, vulnerable, and isolated. A perfect victim.

Soon the woman told Jimmy that her daughter needed an operation and he jumped at the chance to help, handing over $5,000. Then came other requests; money needed for a beauty shop, her brother needed roofing equipment, her house needed redecorating. And the list went on.

Jimmy gave to his friend over $185,000 and he truly believed that he was helping her and her family. He helped them all right - he helped them take trips to Las Vegas, eat in fancy restaurants and buy expensive cars. These stories were all a deception, all intended to rid Jimmy of his money.

When Jimmy no longer had any more money to give, was near blind and unable to walk, his "friend" dropped him off at a hospital, never to see him again.

When I first met Jimmy I was struck at how blue his eyes were. More importantly, they evoked a trust and a gentleness that made me want to cry. This kind man gave all that he had to a woman who he thought loved him. The woman was never charged for her crimes and moved on to another elderly man. This one, she actually married...

In 1997, Fay Faron and myself co-founded ElderAngels, Inc., (www.elderangels.com) a non profit organization that investigates financial crimes against the elderly. It is through my work at ElderAngels that I have come to know this very specialized arena of investigation. I now know the civil and criminal statues used to prosecute these abusers. I have come to know the psychological aspects of financial elder abuse and how to spot the warning signs. I know what Adult Protective Services is, what an Ombudsman does and how to prepare a case for criminal prosecution. What my training doesn’t tell me is how to stop these crimes from happening across the country. In case after case, the stores are similar, if not identical. Though the laws have changed to protect the elderly, they have not sufficiently stopped these predators from taking advantage of the elderly.

I now know that the only way to stop these crimes is by educating the public. Letting people know what to do if they suspect abuse and asking them to watch out for their elderly friends and family. It is the responsibility of all of us to protect those who are the most vulnerable. No elderly person should suffer the same fate as Jimmy C.

If you suspect abuse, make the call. You can call your county Adult Protective Services, your local police or sheriffs department, or ElderAngels. We need to put a stop to this type of crime. It starts with a simple phone call.

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Ann Flaherty is the owner of the R.D.D. Detective Agency and is a noted authority on missing persons, fraud, scams, and elder abuse. A licensed private investigator in the state of California with over 30 years' experience in the investigative field, Ms. Flaherty possesses a degree in Criminology, and has collaborated on many TV projects including Oprah, 20/20, Dateline, Hard Copy, and several cable shows.

Her website is http://www.ratdogdick.com.

Direct correspondence to Ann Flaherty, The R.D.D. Detective Agency, P.O. Box 981171, West Sacramento, CA 95798. (916) 372-8556

On The Case

I have investigated thousands of cases over the course of my career; however there are always a few cases that stand out. For me, the case that still haunts me is the disappearance of Steven B. You see, this is one of those cases I couldn’t solve. And because of this, I couldn’t help a mom find her son.

It all started on December 28, 1985 when Steven B left his home in Covington, KY. Steven headed to a local nightclub in neighboring Cincinnati. Steven had a few beers at the club, where he stayed until 2:00 AM. He headed to his rented vehicle (his own car had been stolen) only to return to the club momentarily because his battery was dead. Steven caught a ride home with a female friend who described his demeanor as “not being himself.” Steven kept looking behind, while seated in the vehicle, only to find that that there was police car following them. Steven appeared visibly upset, however he calmed down once the police cruiser turned off.

Steven was dropped off at home where he lived with his parents. Steven ran inside and went up to his room where he stayed for about five minutes. Steven came downstairs and told his mom that he was going out for a while and that someone was picking him up. That was last she saw of her 26 year old son.

The case came into our agency in 1996 after we had appeared on Oprah. We took the case thinking that some information could be unearthed and that maybe we could provide Steven’s mom with some closure. This meant finding him either dead or alive. The usual database searches were conducted and all leads led nowhere. Flyers were sent to the medical examiners in the neighboring states, asking that they check their “John Doe files” for a possible match. Only one response came in and the remains did not match Steven's. Interviews with friends, family, police, etc. provided few leads, and the case languished for years.

What stands out in this case is what we don’t know. We don’t know who picked Steven up that night. We don’t know why his scarf was found down by the river. We don’t know how his rented vehicle ended up blocks from the nightclub. We also don’t know why someone, by the name of Randall S, called three years after his disappearance. Randall S claimed he was calling from Knoxville, Tennessee, and that he had just seen Steven that morning. That collect call was not made from Tennessee but rather from Covington, Kentucky. The information that Randall S provided led nowhere, and there was no sign of Steven in Knoxville. Did Randall S really know where Steven was or was he just trying to get a piece of the reward?

Somebody out there knows what happened to Steven and the end of this story needs to be told. A detective is only as good as the clues available, and the clues don’t add up here. This is now considered a “cold case,” however I will always work any leads that come my way. I owe it to Steven but, more that that, I owe it to his mom, Vivian, who has kept searching for him throughout the years.

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Ann Flaherty is the owner of the R.D.D. Detective Agency and is a noted authority on missing persons, fraud, scams, and elder abuse. A licensed private investigator in the state of California with over 30 years' experience in the investigative field, Ms. Flaherty possesses a degree in Criminology, and has collaborated on many TV projects including Oprah, 20/20, Dateline, Hard Copy, and several cable shows.

Her website is http://www.ratdogdick.com.

Direct correspondence to Ann Flaherty, The R.D.D. Detective Agency, P.O. Box 981171, West Sacramento, CA 95798. (916) 372-8556

Real stories from real PIs!

Real stories from real PIs around the world. At the end of each story, meet the PI! Stories are to be submitted to thePIgroup@aol.com; if used, will include a paragraph or two about its author at the end. No set length, but shorter seem to be more read. Most will come from the 4000 members of www.thePIgroup.com, and submissions from non-members are also welcome.