West Virginia Private Investigator Arrested for Illegal Wiretapping!

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Apr 262013

Private Investigator Stevens arrested

The Williamson Daily News
by Rachel Dove-Baldwin
August 22, 2012

Staff Photo/RACHEL DOVE-BALDWIN Pictured on the left is West Virginia licensed Private Investigator Donald Stevens, during his arraignment hearing in Mingo County Magistrate Court on charges of two felony counts of conspiracy to disclose intercept, which carries a possible sentence of 1-5 years in prison if convicted. The charges stemmed from information regarding an alleged illegal wiretapping that was uncovered during a recent drug raid at a residence on Vinson Street in Williamson. Also pictured with Stevens is Mingo County Special Investigator Eugene Crum and Chief Magistrate Dallas Toler.

WILLIAMSON –

A West Virginia licensed Private Investigator and 2012 candidate for sheriff in May’s primary election appeared in Mingo Magistrate Court Tuesday afternoon, escorted there by West Virginia State Police Captain D.M. Nelson, where he was then served with an arrest warrant by Williamson City Police Chief C.D. Rockel that charged him with two felony counts of conspiracy to disclose intercept.

According to information provided by Chief Rockel, the charges against Donald Roy Stevens, who resides at Lenore and operates a private investigator business on Logan Street in Williamson, stemmed from a recent drug arrest that yielded information and proof of an illegal wire-tapping of an official police investigation.

The criminal complaint filed against Stevens reads as follows:

“On or about August 3, 2012, a co-defendant Christina Tidwell along with Christopher Cline, did by way of phone and computer device, record a private and privileged conversation and/or interview stemming from a criminal investigation between Mingo County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Sherrill, Mingo County Special Investigator Eugene Crum and James Cline.

Tidwell knowingly taped the conversation between the victims while at the residence of James Cline on Logan Street, at the direction of Christopher Cline. Cline, knowing that he was not privileged to the communication, then instructed Tidwell to use her computer to tape the conversation and to not hang up. Cline then places the phone down, unbeknown to the victims and without their permission, and furthermore, leaves the room while Tidwell records and captures communication from her residence located at 1181 Vinson Street.

Tidwell later attempted to copy the ill-gotten recordings for disclosure after Don Stevens approached her in an attempt to obtain the recordings content, and furthermore provided Tidwell with electronic device to do so.”

This report was based on information Chief Rockel’s investigation revealed, along with that provided by Special Investigator Eugene Crum.

“To break all of this down, Don Stevens tried to obtain information from an illegal wiretap and was attempting to disclose it to another,” stated Rockel.

Rockel told the Daily News that Stevens had contacted him on Monday, inquiring about the investigation and the alleged warrant against him.

“I told him I could not confirm or deny any information or speak with him about the case at all until he was arrested and read his rights,” said the chief. “I encouraged him to go ahead and come to the office and turn himself in and he refused, saying that if he was going to turn himself in to anyone, it would be to a federal agent.”

“Today, I got a call telling me that WVSP Captain Dave Nelson and another individual were walking up the steps of the Municipal Building with Don Stevens.”

“I was never contacted that they were bringing him in, and I was the one with the original arrest warrant for Stevens,” commented Rockel. “I came over to magistrate court and was informed that the defendant had gone to the WVSP Detachment and had been brought in by Nelson, but he had not been arrested or read his rights.”

WVSP Captain Dave Nelson said that he did escort Stevens to magistrate court after he came to the Williamson office, but stated that the arrest would be conducted by Chief Rockel, that it was not his warrant or his investigation.

Stevens was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Dallas Toler who set bail at $6,000, and was released from custody after bond requirements were met.

The investigation into the alleged wiretapping incident remains open at this time, and is under the direction of Rockel and Special Investigator Crum.

Direct Link: http://www.williamsondailynews.com/view/full_story/19886980/article-Private-Investigator-Stevens-arrested?instance=search_results

F.B.I.: Louisiana Private Investigator Indicted for Offering Bribes in Exchange for Favorable OWI Case Resolution

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Mar 062013

Louisiana Private Investigator Indicted for Offering Bribes in Exchange for Favorable OWI Case Resolution

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
New Orleans (La) Division
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Louisiana (318) 676-3641

February 28, 2013

FBI

LAFAYETTE, LA—

United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a federal grand jury indicted private investigator Robert Williamson, 64, of Lafayette, on one count of conspiracy, six counts of bribery for operating a pay-for-plea scheme that garnered favorable treatment for defendants charged with state violations of operating while intoxicated (OWI), and one count of Social Security fraud for claiming Social Security payments while not reporting income from the bribery scheme. Additionally, Williamson was charged with one count of making false statements to a federal agent.

According to the indictment, Williamson, who is not licensed to practice law, was part of a conspiracy from March 2008 to February 2012 to solicit thousands of dollars from individuals with pending criminal charges in the 15th Judicial District by promising favorable resolutions to their pending felony and misdemeanor cases, the majority of which were OWI cases. The favorable resolution of OWI cases included having the cases placed in “immediate 894 sessions.”

The Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894 provides a procedure by which a person can initially plead guilty to a crime with the understanding that the conviction will be set aside if the person successfully completes certain requirements imposed during a probationary period, including community service.

The indictment states that Williamson paid bribes in cash and other things of value to personnel within the District Attorney’s office and employees with other organizations associated with the OWI program, including Acadiana Outreach.

Williamson is also alleged to have obtained false and fraudulent certifications from Acadiana Outreach, which certified that his clients completed court-ordered community service, when in fact the individuals had not. The indictment outlines that Williamson would obtain fraudulent driver safety training certificates showing that Williamson’s “clients” completed court-mandated driver improvement programs when they had not. Williamson would then take these certificates and provide them to District Attorney’s office staff members who would file them in the court record during the clients’ “immediate 894 session.”

If convicted, Williamson faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, with up to three years of supervised release for the conspiracy count. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, with three years of supervised release for each count of bribery; five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, with three years of supervised release for the Social Security Fraud count; and five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both, with three years of supervised release for the false statements to a federal agent count. A trial will be scheduled at a later date.

“This case should serve as a reminder that private citizen facilitators who participate in corruption conspiracies will be held as accountable as public officials,” said Mike Anderson, Special Agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New Orleans Division.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Luke Walker and Richard Willis are prosecuting the case.

Direct Link: http://www.fbi.gov/neworleans/press-releases/2013/private-investigator-indicted-for-offering-bribes-in-exchange-for-favorable-owi-case-resolution/view#disablemobile

P.I. Anthony Pellicano’s bid for freedom rejected by judge

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Aug 162012

P.I. Anthony Pellicano’s bid for freedom rejected by judge

Los Angeles Times
by Victoria Kim
August 13, 2012

Private investigator Anthony Pellicano is shown in Los Angeles in 2003.

Credit: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

A federal judge on Monday shot down Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano’s bid to be released from custody during an appeal of his 2008 convictions for racketeering and wiretapping.

Judge Dale Fischer, who presided over the private investigator’s six-week trial, said she was not convinced the 68-year-old was no longer a threat to society despite his attorney’s pleas that Pellicano suffered from a serious eye condition and had neither the resources nor the motivations to engage in the intimidation and sleuthing that earned him his notoriety.

The attorney, Steven Gruel, contended some of the most serious counts Pellicano was convicted of were likely to be overturned given recent Supreme Court decisions. The former investigator is serving a 15-year sentence at a federal lockup in Big Spring, Texas.

“Having spent a number of years with Mr. Pellicano … I have a great deal of confidence in his abilities,” Fischer said, denying the request for release without elaborating on her decision. She said she would issue a written ruling later Monday.

The judge heard briefly from former Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch, who was threatened by Pellicano. Busch said she continued to be afraid of the man.

Pellicano’s attorneys had contended in court papers that prosecutors’ contention that the investigator remained a threat was “illustration of the prosecution’s frustration with Mr. Pellicano’s steadfast decision to stand tall [and silent]; all the while unwilling to cooperate.” They wrote that family members were willing to put up surety bonds and that he could remain on electronic monitoring while living with a cousin.

“The court witnessed the same trial we all did,” Assistant U.S. Atty Kevin Lally said after the hearing. “The evidence is overwhelming that he’s a danger and a flight risk.”

Direct Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/08/pi-anthony-pellicanos-bid-for-freedom-rejected-by-judge.html

“Barack Hussein Obama” Strikes again: ‘Obama Truth Team’ Orders GoDaddy To Shut Down Website

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Jun 272012

‘Obama Truth Team’ Orders GoDaddy To Shut Down Website

Information deemed “maliciously harmful to government”

Info wars

Paul Joseph Watson
Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A political website that contained stinging criticism of the Obama administration and its handling of the Fast and Furious scandal was ordered to be shut down by the Obama campaign’s ‘Truth Team’, according to private investigator Douglas Hagmann, who was told by ISP GoDaddy his site contained information that was “maliciously harmful to individuals in the government.”

Hagmann, CEO of Hagmann Investigative Services, Inc., a private investigative agency serving a roster of Fortune 500 clients, was given 48 hours by GoDaddy to find a new home for his website before it was deleted.

Hagmann was told the reason for the shut down was because the website featured “morally objectionable” material. After GoDaddy refused to identify the complainant, only saying that it was not “any official government agency,” further investigation by Hagmann revealed that the order came from a group tied to Obama campaign headquarters.

Speaking with the chief investigator in the GoDaddy Abuse division, Hagmann discovered, “Ultimately it was found that the complaint originated ostensibly with a group associated with the campaign to re-elect Barack Hussein Obama.”

Turning to his contacts within government, Hagmann then spoke with another source who confirmed that the ‘Obama Truth Team’ was responsible for the shut down order.

“I’m laying this right on the doorstep of the Obama Truth Team,” said Hagmann.

The ‘Obama Truth Team’ is an outreach of the Obama 2012 re-election campaign that urges supporters to “help fight back against the attacks on President Obama and his record” by reporting supposed misrepresentations and lies. However, as ABC News reported, the ‘Truth Team’ has mischaracterized legitimate criticism as smears in an effort to chill dissent against Obama. It has also been caught fibbing on a number of other occasions.

The same methods of intimidation were also very much in force during the 2008 campaign season. Under the guise of the ‘Obama Truth Squad’, influential public figures in Missouri including St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, and Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, promised to “respond quickly, forcefully, and aggressively” to “lies” about Obama.

As ABC News highlighted, this helped to create a chilling atmosphere in which “Missourians might be afraid of being prosecuted for criticizing Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.”

This is by no means the first time political websites have been shut down on a whim with no due process after official pressure is brought to bear on ISPs.

In December 2010 Amazon responded to pressure by Sen. Joe Lieberman and the Department of Homeland Security by axing the Wikileaks website from its servers.

GoDaddy itself is not renowned for its support for free speech. The company lost 37,000 accounts last year over its initial failure to oppose the controversial Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA).

Despite the fact that his son was getting married on the same weekend, Hagmann was eventually able to move his website - HomelandSecurityus.com - to another server before it was deleted by GoDaddy.

“It took an incredible number of man hours and it was a tedious (and costly) process, but I have successfully moved my site out of reach,” Hagmann told us.

Hagmann noted that his story from last month about a DHS inside source warning of coming mass civil unrest, which went viral on the Internet, was one of the primary reasons behind the effort to shut down his website.

Hagmann is now warning that any independent website which forcefully dissents against the Obama administration could be targeted next.

“I respectfully ask that you spread the word – that the Obama “Truth Team” is out in full force, scouring any U.S. based web sites of any size or influence (yet small enough to be pushed around) that contains any information deemed “objectionable” to the Obama re-election campaign. Perhaps it’s already too late. Regardless, people need to wake up now and listen to what we’ve been saying. There might not be a tomorrow,” Hagmann told us in an email.

Watch a video about the Obama Truth Squads below.

See one of the GoDaddy emails sent to Hagmann below (click for enlargement).

*********************

Similar/Related Articles

Direct Link: http://www.infowars.com/obama-truth-team-orders-godaddy-to-shut-down-website/

Convicted Felon, P.I. & Wesley Hills N.Y. ‘bounty hunter’ accused of menacing people with unlicensed gun!

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Jan 302012

Wesley Hills ‘bounty hunter’ accused of menacing people with unlicensed gun

LoHud.com

Rockland County, New York
Wesley Hills

by Steve Lieberman

Original: Jan. 30, 2012

Updated: May 21, 2012

RAMAPO —

A self-proclaimed bounty hunter with a history of arrests has been charged with possessing an unlicensed gun and menacing people he was supposedly interviewing as potential interns at his Wesley Hills office, police said Monday.

Scott Bernstein, 53, a private investigator who posed as a cop in the Laci Peterson murder case in California and was featured on CBS’ “60 Minutes” report on bounty hunters, was accused of brandishing a pistol in a menacing manner at two people at his office on Jan. 5, police said.

The two people became scared by his actions and reported the incident to the police, Ramapo Detective Sgt. John Lynch said today. Bernstein was interviewing people at his home-office at 87 Spook Rock Road , Lynch said.

Based on his felony conviction in California and misdemeanor convictions in New York, Bernstein doesn’t have a permit to possess firearms, Lynch said.

“There’s no record of him having a pistol permit,” Lynch said. “We went and obtained an arrest warrant for him and search warrant for his home-office.”

Police charged Bernstein with one count of third-degree criminal possession of a a weapon and two counts of second-degree menacing.

Bernstein’s lawyer, William Reddy, said the charges would be challenged in court. Reddy said the complaintants were slow to call the police and the charges fabricated, which would mean the warrants were obtained without legal cause.

“As per documents drafted by the police, it appears that the persons who accused him of menacing waited more than a week before reporting it to the police,” Reddy said. “If they really were threatened with a weapon, they would have reported it immediately. This matter will be defended in court, and the truth will prevail.”

Ramapo officers arrested Bernstein with the assistance of the Rockland Rescue Entry and Counter Terrorism team, the county’s SWAT team.

Lynch said the officers found two semiautomatic pistols and Chuka sticks, a martial arts weapon, during the search.

Bernstein has been arrested before in Ramapo and served community service for pulling over a driver and causing $936 worth of damage to her car in 2005.

In 2005, Bernstein, in a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal mischief and two counts of second-degree criminal impersonation, misdemeanors.

Bernstein admitted to pulling over cars – including an off-duty South Nyack-Grand View police officer – while using his black Dodge Intrepid, which was equipped with emergency lights and sirens. The incidents occurred in January and February.

In California, Bernstein had been convicted of posing as a police officer and flashing a badge to get information related to the disappearance of Laci Peterson, whose husband, Scott, was eventually convicted of murder.

** Below are some more illuminating articles & sites:

Original Link: http://www.lohud.com/article/20120130/NEWS03/301300085?fb_ref=artsharebottom&fb_source=home_oneline

Archived Link 1: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/lohud/access/1788573921.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+12%2C+2005&author=Steve+Lieberman&pub=The+Journal+News&edition=&startpage=B.8&desc=RAMAPO

Archived Link 2: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/lohud/access/1773011351.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+30%2C+2005&author=Steve+Lieberman&pub=The+Journal+News&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=Cop-posing+P.I.+gets+service+time

Scam Checker: http://www.scamchecker.com/content/scott-h-bernstein-scott-h-bernstein-falcon-investigations-na-ny-beware-con-artist-scott-bern

Pursuit Magazine: http://pursuitwire.com/2012/01/scott-bernstein-accused-of-menacing-people-with-unlicensed-gun/

Complaint Board: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/scott-bernstein-the-bounty-hunter-on-fb-new-york-c379230.html

News 12 Long Island: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aEpH5yt6CgAJ:www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp%3FarticleId%3D305898%26news_type%3Dnews%26position%3D1+scott+bernstein+bounty+hunter+arrested&cd=23&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a