Glessner, 46, of Hanover, and Fedorenko, 31, are brother and sister. Glessner saw his baby sister once when she was 4 months old. She was adopted shortly after that, and they’ve been looking for each other for most of their lives.

The brother and sister were finally reunited Saturday.

Life without a family:

Life got complicated for Glessner when he was still just a boy. Because of family problems, he was placed in the Paradise School for Boys. When Mary was born Glessner got to meet his 4-month-old sister when his family visited him at Paradise. He held her, and that was the last time he saw her for more than 30 years.

He left the boys’ home when he was 17, and moved back to Hanover. He got a room, he got a job, and moved on with his life. All the while, he wondered about that little baby. She must be what, 7, by now?

The years drifted by, and somewhere out there, he knew his sister was growing up. But where? What were her parents like? What kind of life was she living?

When he got his job with Hanover Shoe Co., met his wife, and they had their first child, his sister must have been in elementary school - probably first grade, or maybe kindergarten.

“The not knowing, I think, was the worst of it,” Glessner said.

Over the years, Glessner and his wife, June, had three more children. His sister would have been about 20 when his second child was born. He heard once, maybe from his parents, that she lived with a family of doctors. She could have been driving a Beamer, he speculated, and may be spoiled rotten. But, that’s OK. His baby sister deserved that kind of life, he said.

“I wondered every day about her,” he said. “She was always in my heart.”

Adoption information can be difficult to find, he said. The laws are strict. Depending on the arrangement with adoption agencies or children’s services groups, it’s often difficult to find someone who has been adopted - even for siblings.

That changed for Glessner several weeks ago.

A voice on the phone:

The brother and sister’s first conversation on the phone was nothing but tears of joy and relief for the first few minutes. It came about unexpectedly, and with the help of a private investigator.

June Glessner was surfing the Web one day, and had found a man who wanted to organize a reunion for boys who attended Paradise. She told her husband Ralph, who contacted the man and found out he was a private investigator, and knew the strings to pull to find people.

June Glessner later suggested maybe he could help find her mysterious sister-in-law.

The investigator is from Hanover, and helped as a personal favor. Because he investigates insurance fraud and the like, Glessner didn’t think he would want to be identified for this story.

Glessner had one possible link that could help the investigator find his sister. When his father died, he left behind a strongbox containing important documents. One was his sister’s Social Security card. He gave the investigator the number.

“He said, ‘Can you accept it if she thinks you’re part of her past, and wants nothing to do with you?’” Glessner said about his conversation with the investigator. “I said I just want to let her know she has a brother who loves her, and he’s here if she ever needs anything.”

The investigator called Glessner a few days later and said he had urgent news, and asked him to come over to his house. He handed him the phone, saying his sister is on the other end.

After all those years, Glessner always thought he’d know what to say. But, all he could do was cry.

“When I got on the phone, I said, ‘Is this Mary?’” he recalled. “I went to tears. She said as soon as she heard my voice, her heart told her it was me.”

And the kicker. All these years, they have been less than three hours apart. She lives near Philadelphia in Upper Darby.

Reunited:

“A lot of questions have been answered,” Glessner said.

He found out that Fedorenko had been looking for him, too. She didn’t know what to expect. She imagined many things. Her brother was possibly living the high life somewhere like California. But, he’s just a day’s trip away.

They talked every day after that first conversation, and met for the first time Saturday at a family cookout at Glessner’s home on High Street.

“We had an instant connection,” she said. They stood in his yard, arms around each other, and tears in their eyes. “I feel like I’m home.”

“It makes me so happy to hear that,” her big brother said.

She was adopted, and grew up in a big family with three brothers and two sisters - like “The Brady Bunch,” she said. Her adopted mother is a nurse, and her adopted father is a pool guy, she said. It was a normal, middle-class childhood.

But Fedorenko was the only one with red hair and green eyes. Her parents were open about her being adopted, and she knew all that time she had a brother. Through children’s services, her birth parents sent Christmas cards every year early in her life. They signed it “Love Mom, Dad and Ralphie.” She had just as many questions about her brother as he had about her, and she was looking for him ever since she turned 16.

She found a new family, and brought along a family of her own. Fedorenko has been married for eight years, and has a son and a daughter.

This day completely changed future family holidays, both said. New brothers and sisters and in-laws and cousins. Christmases, Thanksgiving - Glessner said it’s changed forever. More people to love, Fedorenko said. Memorial Day, Labor Day - there will likely be a bunch of extra dogs and burgers on the barbecue.

The Fedorenkos were thinking about moving to Michigan. But now they have something to keep them here. Family.

“This is just the beginning of a new chapter,” Glessner said.

The family is reunited.

In addition, Redflex has also filed a lawsuit against the LSBPIE alleging that its ruling was made in a closed executive session, in violation of the state’s open meetings law. The suit alleges three violations of the sunshine law, stating that the board never held a public vote, went into executive session for the purpose of deliberations, and conducted a secret ballot. Redflex attorney Charles Patin says that when he inquired as to the purpose of the executive session at the meeting, board member and hearing officer Paula Clayton, an attorney, stated that it was for deliberations. Patin also says he has an unofficial transcript from the meeting’s court reporter confirming this. Reached this morning, the board’s executive director Pat Englade says that no official transcripts or minutes are available yet from the meeting. “The board went into executive session toward the end of the hearing to discuss some legal issues,” he says. “But the meeting was all held as a public hearing.” Englade qualified his answer by noting he is not a board member and was not present throughout the entire meeting. He could not recall whether the board held a public vote. In its suit, Redflex is seeking the max $100 penalty for each of the three alleged open meetings violations – a $300 fine for each the five board members present at the meeting.
The P.I. board first took up the Redflex issue last year, after a complaint from Lafayette resident Denise Skinner. Redflex then obtained a Temporary Restraining Order from the 19th District Court that prevented the P.I. board from holding a hearing over whether it could issue a Cease and Desist order to Redflex. That restraining order was then modified to allow the P.I. board to hold a hearing solely on whether it had jurisdiction over Redflex. Attorney Kees says the board went beyond that legal authority at its recent hearing. “The temporary restraining order allowed them to have a meeting for one purpose only,” he says, “to determine jurisdiction. They went beyond that one purpose. They said, ‘yes we have jurisdiction and so therefore you have to be licensed as a P.I.’”

He says, “If I had to hire an investigator or investigators to provide me with the intelligence about what’s going on, where they are, how are they doing, it would be north of half a million to a million dollars … as opposed to buying People magazine for $3.95 on Thursday morning or going on (website) tmz.

“Everyone who had a big toe in this case at every level followed what was going on by looking at the web sites.”

And Kaplan is delighted to have landed such a big case - because the long-running legal wranglings will go down in history.

He adds, “No other case has had the media addiction and frenzy that surrounded this case and these people 24-seven. There’s never been anything like this, and there probably won’t be for a while.”

21-year-old Thomas Argentieri of Horseheads died after a fight outside a house on North Main Street in Alfred back on December Ninth.

Police say at least 2 private investigators have contacted them about the case.

They say autopsy reports, which were released last month but not made public, are still under review.

Eighteen girls and women have gone missing or been found murdered along the so-called Highway of Tears — Highway 16 in northern B.C. — in the past 30 years.

Michalko, a retired RCMP officer who became a private investigator eight years ago, said yesterday the letter came from RCMP Staff-Sgt. Bruce Hulan.

“If the RCMP can do this on any open investigation, they at any time could say to me: ‘Stop what you’re doing there,’” Michalko said.

“This is Canada. When you’re doing something legal to help somebody, you don’t expect such opposition. They’re pretty territorial. I was probably like that when I was a cop, too.”

He has consulted a lawyer to determine whether to go on.

“I’m licensed under the provincial statutes to investigate crime,” he said. “I think it’s a stretch what [Hulan] is suggesting, but I don’t want to go to jail for one day.”

RCMP Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre said the Mounties felt they had to rein in their former cohort after a story ran in a northern B.C. newspaper.

“Mr. Michalko had made a statement . . . that an arrest was imminent or he was expecting some major development,” said Lemaitre, spokesman for the RCMP in B.C.

“What concerned the head of [the investigation] is they have been extremely careful to always keep the family members informed . . . to always talk to the families first.

“With that announcement [by Michalko], of course, our phones did ring. Unfortunately, that’s not factual.”

Michalko said although money from private citizens for his services ran out last year, he still gets leads on a weekly basis and his conscience won’t let him quit the case.

“The RCMP has not been all that happy with me from the beginning,” he said. “I have no desire to obstruct justice or screw up their investigation.”

Lemaitre said the Highway of Tears investigation, officially dubbed Project E-Pana, is “very active with specialized, experienced investigators [who] are seconded to this full-time and that’s all they do.”

Prince George lumber and mining supplier Tony Romeyn has created a website — highwayoftears.ca — to try to help solve the puzzling murders.

“I have respect for Mr. Michalko because he’s doing this out of his own pocket,” said Romeyn. “I think he’s doing great work, just stepping over the boundaries a little bit.

“The police keep things pretty close to their chest. It’s probably a good idea. I do feel they are working very diligently.”

Some of the more common red flags in cases of fraudulent workers comp claims include:

• Multiple claims – has the claimant filed more than one worker’s comp claim in the past or a number of claims within a short period of time?
• Longer absences than anticipated for minor injuries; an unwillingness to come back to work on partial duty or other jobs within the company.
• The claimant was experiencing financial difficulties and/or domestic problems prior to submission of claim.
• The alleged injury occurs prior to or just after a strike, layoff, plant closure, job termination, completion of temporary work or notice of employer relocation.
• Lawyer’s letter of representation or letter from medical clinic is first notice of claim.
• The claimant reports an alleged injury immediately following disciplinary action, notice of probation, demotion or being passed over for promotion.
• There are no witnesses to the accident, or witnesses to the accident conflict with the claimant’s version or with one another.
• The accident or type of injury is unusual for the claimant’s line of work.
• The claimant frequently changes physician or does so after being released to return to work.

While identifying these red flags can help companies sniff out a lot of potential fraudulent claims, reports from fellow employees—anonymous and otherwise—unveil just as many. In fact, many larger companies offer toll-free number for employees to report suspected fraudulent claims.

“Insurance fraud and the expenses associated with it total more than $8 billion per year. That’s not only paying fraudulent claims that go undetected but how much it costs to catch the abusers. A lot of times, that’s after weeks, months or even years of abuse. By knowing what to look for and detecting it early, companies can reduce that figure dramatically,” said Lyons.

L&W Investigations works with a variety of organizations– insurance companies, third-party administrators, self-insured companies, law firms and municipalities—on fraudulent workers compensation, disability, liability, auto and property claims. L&W’s offerings include: surveillance; statements; activity/disability checks; asset/background investigations; and medical audits/clinic inspections.

With 35 locations nationwide in 23 states, the L&W typically employs three to eight investigators at each office. While many traditional “mom and pop” investigative firms are typically a haven for retired law enforcement officers who treat the job more like a hobby, L&W employs seasoned investigators who specialize in investigating insurance fraud cases. All L&W investigators go through extensive training and have access to the most state-of-the-art surveillance equipment.

John Caldwell, 30, Indianapolis, told police he had just walked out of Gonzalez’s office when Hinds and an acquaintance, Jeremy Carver confronted him and chased him down Washington Street.

“(Hinds) said he was going to kill me,” said Caldwell, who was armed with a handgun.

Police arrived and took a statement from Caldwell and others as Hinds and Carver allegedly fled the scene.

Gonzalez said Caldwell, her client, was licensed to carry a handgun and was talking to her about an intimidation charge he faces in Adams County when the confrontation happened outside.

Patrol officer Chris Kesler filed a report on Caldwell’s intimidation complaint. Hinds later gave a statement to police detectives. No immediate arrests were made.

Hinds, 41, was charged in February with bribery after he was accused of facilitating payments to three Muncie men in exchange for their willingness to change their testimony in a criminal case. That case is pending in Delaware Circuit Court 3.

Carver, 30, was arrested in September after authorities reportedly found more than 20 pounds of marijuana in his car. Charges have yet to be filed in that case, according to court records.

The Trojan, written and marketed by London-based couple Michael and Ruth Haephrati, was reportedly used to spy on a variety of organisations including the HOT cable television group and a PR agency whose clients include Israel’s second biggest mobile operator, Partner Communications.

Asaf Zlotovsky, a manager at the Modi’in Ezrahi detective firm, was jailed for 19 months. Two other employees, Haim Zissman and Ron Barhoum, were sent to prison for 18 and nine months respectively. The firm’s former chief exec, Yitzhak Rett, the victim of an apparent accident when he fell down a stairwell during a break in police questioning back in 2005, escaped a jail sentence under a plea bargaining agreement. Rett was fined 250,000 Israeli Shekels (£36,500) and ordered to serve ten months’ probation over his involvement in the scam.

Three other defendants were heavily fined and their licences as private investigators were revoked by a Tel Aviv court, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Michael Haephrati, who honed his computer skills during three years’ military service in the Israeli army, and his wife Ruth were fined and sentenced to jail by an Israeli court for their involvement in the case back in 2006. Michael was jailed for two years and his wife for four years after pleading guilty to the scam, and following their extradition from the UK in January 2006.

Modi’in Ezrahi is the largest of three private investigation firms implicated in the case. The case against Modi’in Ezrahi is the first to reach its conclusion. It’s unclear whether or not further prosecutions against the two other detective agencies, Krochmal Special Investigations and Pelosoff-Balali, are likely to follow.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said that social engineering tactics specific to individual victims were used to infect PCs. Infected CDs were sent through the post to prospective marks, he added.

Cluley notes that the case illustrates the importance of firms hiring private investigators to seek assurances that they will refrain from behaving unethically or illegally.

“Most detective agencies would probably balk at the thought of breaking into a company’s offices to spy on them, but maybe some feel it is more acceptable to do the spying through malware? A strong message needs to be sent that using spyware to gain competitive advantage over competitors is not only unacceptable, it’s against the law,” Cluley told El Reg.

The identity of the spyware used in the case is unknown, but earlier reports suggest the Trojan was originally used to spy on Israeli thriller writer Amnon Jackont, the husband of Michael Haephrati’s ex-partner, radio show hostess Varda Raziel-Jackont. Jackont’s discovery of a Trojan on his PC led to a police investigation that eventually led back to the Haephratis and a much larger plot.

“Tires get slashed, computers get hacked, houses get broken into,” Saunders said. “And of course, people’s phones get wiretapped.”

He said Pellicano’s detective agency was “nothing more than a criminal organization operated by a well-connected, well-paid thug.” Pellicano’s nonrefundable retainer fee started at $25,000, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorneys were scheduled to begin making their closing arguments on Wednesday.

Pellicano, 64, and four co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to a variety of charges. Pellicano, who is acting as his own attorney, is accused of leading a criminal enterprise that raked in more than $2 million by spying on Hollywood’s rich and famous then supplying the dirt to their rivals.

Saunders said the government had proven its case by presenting documents, testimony from clients and alleged victims, and perhaps most importantly recordings made by the private investigator.

“When you get recordings of defendants engaging in criminal activity, there’s not a whole lot they can do to get away from it,” Saunders said.

Some of the recordings involved discussions between Pellicano and clients. Others included conversations between the private eye and two of his co-defendants, former Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson and ex-telephone company worker Rayford Earl Turner.

Only one suspected wiretapped call was played during the trial.

Saunders explained that computers weren’t seized during the first of several searches of Pellicano’s office because the warrant did not target the alleged wiretapping.

When authorities returned later with another warrant, “Mr. Pellicano had cleaned house,” Saunders said.

Saunders called Arneson a “dirty cop” who sold his badge for the $2,500 a month Pellicano is accused of paying him to run names through law enforcement databases.

Saunders showed jurors copies of checks to Pellicano from clients or law firms. He then compared the dates of the payments to a police audit showing when names were run through databases by Arneson. In some cases, names were processed on the same day a payment was given to Pellicano.

He added that family members, friends and business partners of Pellicano’s targets also had their names run illegally.

The end result, prosecutors said, was a ruthless campaign by Pellicano to discredit his clients’ adversaries and ruin their credibility when it was addressed in child custody, divorce and other legal battles.

Thanks to the wiretapping, Pellicano’s “side knew everything the other side did,” Saunders told jurors.

U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer expects closing arguments to take about two days, with the jury likely to get the case later this week.

Comedian Chris Rock and one-time power agent Michael Ovitz testified during the trial about using the services of Pellicano. Both said they knew nothing about his tactics.

Comedian Garry Shandling, an alleged victim, also took the witness stand.

Pellicano was accused of wiretapping the phone of Sylvester Stallone, but the “Rocky” star did not testify.

Radio New Zealand reporter Geoff Robinson asked Gavin Clark, of private investigators Thompson Clark, to confirm reports that he had asked his prospective mole “whether he had security codes, computer codes to get into their [the Coalition’s] systems”.

Clark replied “absolutely” and confirmed that fact later when questioned by Computerworld.

Robinson envisaged using those codes to enter private forums on the SHVC site as though he or his staff were members, or alternatively to ask the mole to enter the computer systems on their behalf, he told Computerworld.

“But we never got any codes,” so the question of how to use them was academic, Clark says.

Informed that the former strategy might fall foul of Section 252 of the Crimes Act, which prohibits accessing a computer system “without authorization”, Clark said “good point” and thanked Computerworld for the information.

If he had asked the mole to access the confidential parts of the system, he would have been on more secure ground, since the section includes an exemption (Subsection 2) which says the prohibition: “does not apply if a person who is authorised to access a computer system accesses that computer system for a purpose other than the one for which that person was given access.”

The mole, as a member, would have been allowed to access private areas of the system but the investigators would not qualify. However, in the event, “that situation did not arise”, Clark says.

Breaches of s252 carry a penalty of jail for up to two years.

Steve McHugh, a spokesman for the Registrar of Private Investigators and Security Guards, a branch of the Ministry of Justice, says applicants for registration as private investigators “need to have a couple of years experience in the industry” and be generally of good character. There is no professional association that helps enforce standards of knowledge and competence, he says.

“It boils down to the competence of the individual and there’s no way of legislating for that,” he says.