Why is that 4-year-old girl in a stroller in the mall when the kid looks perfectly capable of walking? I had reason for my suspicion as I pretended to look at Movados at a jewelry store while keeping one eye on mommy as she fed her two girls corn-dogs and Cokes. I had followed them […]
Spencer Investigations of Oakland named 2009 best investigator/skip tracer, according to annual poll of Bay Area attorneys who read The Recorder legal newspaper. It’s nice to be recognized. Not exactly sure of voting numbers, but I swear that I did not stuff the ballot box. You are only as good as your last case or […]
How many times have I heard this coming from a law office or other potential client, “I’m pretty good with the internet?” More than a few times, and I’m sure you are quite adept. I have also seen the Craigslist ad telling people “the 7 things private investigators don’t want you to know” and the […]
Every now and then, regardless of your job, you need a jab in the ribs to remind you why you like your work and what you are supposed to be doing. It’s no different for private investigators. If the self-employed are headstrong and independent, multiply the trait a few times more for private dicks. We […]
I make it a point to not envy too many people. I make an exception for Lee Lamothe. Lamothe, 60, leads a life that I aspire to: successful reporter, “investigative researcher,” nonfiction author and best-selling novelist. I had lunch with Lamothe today in San Francisco’s Richmond district. The Elmore Leonard-ish dude was in town to […]
I am not sure what to do. She is not my client but she is about to lose her home after forking over at least $100,000 over the years to the con artists ripping her off over the internet for the last couple years. I have told her friend that she needs to go straight […]
Goin’ dinosaur on y’all with a case that shows why the demise of newspapers is bad for local news and residents. The San Francisco Chronicle has now run its second “murder haiku,” my name for its three paragraph blurbs about non-sexy murders in Oakland, about the Dimond District slaying of Antoine Crossland, a 23-year-old Castro […]
Orwell said, “Insincerity is the great enemy of language.” His sentiment should also apply to legislation. Did you know that California already has some of the strictest requirements for becoming a licensed private investigator? I sense that behind this legislation is a half-baked effort to remake the image of private investigators. This just in: We […]
It used to be that foot tapping just meant keeping time to a catchy tune. But former Senator Craig of Idaho changed the connotation in his infamous 2007 arrest in the airport bathroom and subsequent guilty plea. It was as if the whole world awoke to bathroom subculture and “cruising” rituals. The senator earned the […]
It was only yesterday that I learned of the unexpected death of friend and client James Perley, East Bay criminal defense and civil attorney who died in his sleep at home. He was only 46 and leaves behind four young children and his wife. I, like most in his orbit, had a heck of a […]
