A background check of Kenton Drew Astin, 39, might have given University of Colorado officials pause before hiring him to work at the University Memorial Center. A check would have shown that he was accused of stabbing a 21-year-old man in Longmont before some 20 onlookers in 2001 and that he was later found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of first-degree attempted murder, assault and felony menacing.
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Dan Larsen thwarted a pedophile.

It’s one of the private investigator’s most satisfying cases.

Larsen, a former undercover officer with the Council Bluffs, IA Police Department, took his skills to the private sector in 1987 and opened his own investigation firm, Evidence, Inc., two years later. Most of his work involves child custody cases, where he and his partner Cindy Sorensen search for evidence of parental incompetence.

In one such case, a father hired the detectives because he was concerned his young son was allowed to spend unsupervised time with his mother, who had a pedophilic stepson.
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The private investigator whose work triggered the indictment of a retired FBI agent took the stand yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court as defense attorneys again tried to impugn the information that formed the basis of the former G-man’s murder charges.

Angela Clemente, along with her now-deceased partner Dr. Stephen Dresch, had been looking into government corruption within the FBI when she discovered information suggesting a possible corrupt relationship between former FBI agent R. Lindley DeVecchio and his informant Gregory “The Grim Reaper” Scarpa Sr. — a Colombo crime family capo.

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Remember in Scream when the killer kept calling Neve Campbell and threatening her with a deep gurgly voice? Well now you can do that to your friends!

In what seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen, a company has released a new calling card, SpoofCard, that lets you fake a Caller ID, change your voice, and record your crank calls. To cover their asses, the company has made it impossible to dial 911 or toll free numbers using the calling card.
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Illegal city brothels will proliferate in Melbourne’s city centre, according to the owners of legal brothels, unless the State Government cracks down on their operators.

The warning came after the Melbourne City Council last night decided against resuming its former policy of paying private investigators to have sex in illegal brothels, to gather evidence of a breach of planning rules.

Instead, Lord Mayor John So will join with the Municipal Association of Victoria to put pressure on the State Government’s Consumer Affairs Department to do more about illegal brothels.
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The North Carolina-based private investigation firm hired by city officials to investigate police Chief Ervin Portis is getting licensed in Michigan.

Jackson City Manager William Ross said he expects Risk Management Association Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., to have a Michigan license within a few days.

Last month, the Michigan Council of Private Investigators questioned whether Risk Management could conduct the probe without being licensed in Michigan, as the law says it must.

Newly retired city police Sgt. Scott Rogers in April met with City Council members to discuss what was called a “hostile work environment” and “abuse of power” by Portis.
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Texan woman accuses trade body of ‘extortion’

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is being sued by a grandmother from Texas after the organisation claimed that the woman was sharing files illegally.

Rhonda Crain, from Beaumont, East Texas, was accused of downloading over 500 files and threatened with a fine of $150,000 for each file.

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Britney Spears and mom continue to battle and it appears it Brit may be in for the long haul. Star Magazine has a report set for this week’s publication that details that for months, Britney has been not-so-secretly seething at her mom, Lynne Spears. Lynne has forged a tight bond with the ex-hubby, Kevin Federline, and had insisted that Brit enter rehab earlier this year.

The magazine reports that now Britney is so furious that the singer has taken the feud to the next level with an extensive revenge plot that includes hiring a private investigator to dig up dirt on her mom, drawing up legal papers to prevent Lynne from seeing her two young grandsons - and even waging a fierce battle for the loyalty of her 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn!

Brit wrote and delivered a poem to Lynne called, “Dear Momma” in which, says a source, “she told Lynne that she didn’t have a mom anymore and she couldn’t imagine a mother doing what she did to her child.”

The showdown officially began on June 28 when Brit arrived on the Valencia, California, on the set of Jamie Lynn’s TV show, Zoey 101.  She quickly found the startled Lynne, and coldly gave her a package filled with legal documents and a CD.  “Britney said, ‘Here Momma, I just wanted to see your face,’” says a source.  “Then she got into her car and drove off.  Lynne went into the trailer and broke down in tears.”

The CD in the package was of recordings of phone conversations Lynne had with Kevin and others regarding Brit’s well-being - which she obtained with the help of a private investigator, says a source!

A source claims in one conversation, Lynne made arrangements to meet up with Kevin and the kids, and is then heard saying, “I have to be careful that Britney doesn’t find out!” In another call, referring to the couple’s ongoing custody and financial battles, “Kevin told Lynne that he had everything under control,” adds the source.  “He was just going to let Britney hang herself in court.”

Britney also presented Lynne with a copy of a legal motion to keep her away from grandson, Sean Preston, and Jayden James.  The papers contain allegations that at Lynne abuses prescription drugs and abuses her grandsons when she is with them!” says the source, noting that the charge of “child abuse” in the motion refers specifically to Lynne speaking negatively about Britney in front of the tykes.

As a final blow, Brit cut Lynne out of her will - covering an estimated $100 million fortune and now “is leaving all of her property and personal belongings to Jamie Lynn until her boys are of age,” says a source.  “Britney is using her money to win over her sister, but Jamie loves her mom and her sister, and doesn’t know what to do!”

Britney, the Star Magazine source adds, “thinks that everyone sits at Kevin’s house and has one big laugh at her expense.  She wants to put an end to this by humiliating her mother publicly.  Lynne loves both Brit and Kevin, and is afraid if she doesn’t agree to Britney’s demands, she may never have a relationship with her grandsons or her daughter.”

The National Ledger

In a back office of the Social Services Department in Gate City sits one of the commonwealth’s best fraud investigators.

Carolyn Elliott is no police officer, but she catches criminals part time at a rate that would make a beat cop blush with envy.

Elliott is a full-time employee of Scott County Social Services, but due to budget cuts she only works part time as the department’s fraud investigator.

New rules require banks to put their content management efforts into high gear. We ask the experts how they’re doing.

New e-discovery rules that went into effect Dec. 1 pose a range of challenges for banks. And what the bankers are learning from complying with amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure can be extended to other companies grappling with e-discovery. InformationWeek’s sister publication, Bank Systems & Technology, had freelance writer Peggy Bresnick Kendler discuss banks’ compliance efforts with four experts.

• Group for Private Investigators
• Group for Process Servers