Ross Investigators PC, Inc.

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

The recovery can take months and even years. Some victims of slip and fall injuries never recover. In circumstances where investigations are vital to the outcome of legal claims, the atmospheric conditions surrounding accidents and injuries require expert witness testimony.  

​Of course, if you look out the window or step outside you already know that snow is falling. You can follow @MikeNelson247 on Twitter for a personable rundown on what the storm is doing using satellite radar analysis, get bird feeder tips and see cute dog photos. Broadcaster and Denver 7 chief meteorologist, Mike Nelson also does something he describes as, "forecasting in reverse."

Forensic meteorology was not what Nelson aspired to do as a child. “I liked watching storms and anticipating what would happen next with the sky,” explains Nelson. “You get more experience and realize how weather effects everybody.” 

Looking back now, thirty of the forty years he has spent reporting on weather have also included providing forensic meteorology consultations and expert witness testimony. 

I met Mike last week at a Denver Press Club event. He was guest bartending to benefit the Colorado nonprofit animal adoption, 501(c)3, Pawsco.  We chatted about how he assists personal injury law firms with everything from slip and fall cases to fire investigations. Elucidating how atmospheric conditions lead to lighting strike cases and falls is such a niche industry that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn't even provide it's own listing but instead includes it in under their Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)'s "Atmospheric Scientist, Including Meteorologist" category, defining it as, "use historical weather data to reconstruct the weather conditions for a specific location and time. They investigate what role weather played in unusual events such as traffic accidents and fires. Forensic meteorologists may be called as experts to testify in court." 

For Nelson, testifying in court isn't always necessary. “I’m willing to go and testify” he says but “sometimes it doesn’t get to that level.”

​“Weather effects everything we do. If you are analyzing a case it may be important to know the atmospheric conditions” he says when asked what advice he has for private investigators.It can also be applicable when thinking about a crime and what the weather conditions were that could have a huge impact on the evidence. "There are people out there that can help you with that,” he says when asked what advice he'd give Colorado private investigators.

"Doing forensic work we can try to help people recover something they lost" he says, reiterating that the difference between forecasting and reconstructing the past is that "one is moving forward in time and one is figuring out weather conditions months or years earlier." 

This is more nuanced than simply looking up a report detailing what the weather was the day of the accident.  Slip and falls, for example, have many hidden complexities. You can say, “well the sun was out how can there be ice. If a drainpipe was melting you could have an icy patch there."

If it was a sunny day then the person who fell may have been less concerned about ice at the time of the injury. If, by contrast, it is a snowy day, they would have been more careful. "But if it’s a sunny day you’re looking around you're not looking down at the ground" Nelson says.  

​By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

If you visit Trustify’s LinkedIn listing you’ll see an announcement that reads: "Trustify has 34 job openings - find the one for you." Positions titled “Marketing Content Copywriter” and “Content Producer” include great benefits. The listings, posted a month ago, also boast of a new and presumably improved mission dedicated to, “democratizing access to private investigation and intelligences services.” Does this mean the Arlington, Virginia based multi-million venture capital backed tech startup once poised to disrupt the private investigator industry is rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the dumpster fire of law suits that’s been following its demise?
 

Click on “apply” and get directed to a “This job is not available anymore” notification that was presumably posted and managed by a LinkedIn admin. Perhaps the position was filled? Scroll down to a heartfelt statement by Trustify founders, Danny Boice and Jennifer Mellon. After basking in the rays of their “God given mission” and reiterating several times that they regard employees as “family,” the couple concludes by praying for the opportunity to demonstrate their transparency to prospective employees. 

Boice and Mellon's prayers evidently do not apply to former Trustify employees, Matthew Scott, Elisabeth Nugent, Kevin Wiggins, Stacy Blackburn, Bey Wesley, Matthew Blanchard, Bernadette Vielhaber and Andrew Little who just won a $260,000 judgement against the company for several weeks backpay, lost wages, damages and labor law violations. In addition to the most current coverage, Glen Helman’s Driven Forward blog posts includes a tally of all six of Trustify’s litigants complete with type, status, amount and an outstanding tab of $1,627,206.99.

Click through to Trustify’s derelict website and explore the catacombs of the former landing page. The skeletal remains of a footer note the celebrated and ostracized, “$99/hour” private investigator service with no retainer fee. Boice, his wife (the couple is separated now) and their staff sold PI services to people who wouldn’t ordinarily hire a private detective because the expense was prohibitive. Then private investigators with whom Trustify subcontracted took home $30 of what could be as much as a $99 hourly pay. In the era of the venture capital backed app, why not use the Uber model to make ridesharing more affordable for everyone? (As a freelance writer who lives paycheck to paycheck, I can totally understand the appeal.)
 
 The Occupational Employment Statistics put out by the US Department of Labor put median 2018 hourly rate for private investigators in the United States at $27.50. While the PIs that I know, personally, tend to earn more, this was the average reported by the BLS in 2018. 
 
Many independently employed private detectives can charge higher than the national average of $27 for their services because they have more experience than most of their competitors. Some have journalism degrees and others are former police and military. Some even have law degrees and all this is reflected in the price point.
 
It would be challenging, though not impossible, for a Colorado PI to sustain him or herself if they charged the median hourly wage in a state where even the small town residents pay big bucks for food and shelter. A recent Lending Tree study reported on CBS that Breckinridge, Colorado and Steamboat Springs, Colorado both made the top ten for most expensive towns in the country list. Boulder is the most expensive city in Colorado and with a median income there of $71,540 and with Denver skyrocketing it is not surprising people living and working in these regions need to be charging more and working more hours.

Several Colorado private investigators who were willing to give Trustify a go during their lean times informed me that because the service hadn’t properly vetted clients and provided no reimbursements for travel or database subscriptions, it wasn’t a viable investment of their time and energy. Consequently they stopped using the service to try and find work.
(Part 2 of 2 coming soon) 

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

To get a second opinion on the stalking suspects safely issue discussed in the previous post, I asked Boulder based Computer and Cell Phone Forensic Examiner, Chris Wells about using​

See also: Digital 101 forensics workshops for Denver attorneys and private investigators 

Facebook to research suspects and/or persons of interest. Wells concurred with Jones' stipulation adding, "Facebook does not provide a 'who viewed my profile' capability." 

See also: Storyful's News Intelligence and Investigative Journalist Kelly Jones talks Stalk Scan for private investigators 

Facebook's terms of service explicitly prohibits the creation of a bogus profile. This means, using that fake name, photo and online identity, as private investigators sometimes do, is an ethical violation that could get a firm in hot water during testimony. It could also cost individual investigators their membership to a professional organization. Organizations like World Association of Detectives (WAD), National Association of Legal Investigators Professional Private Investigators (NALI) and the Association of Colorado (PPIAC) [Disclosure: the author of this article is an associate member of the PPIAC] all have ethical codes to help maintain the integrity of a profession that is frequently misrepresented in Hollywood. Section 2 of the PPIAC's code of ethics states, "We will not advertise our work, skill or merit in an unprofessional or misleading fashion and will avoid all conduct or practice likely to discredit or do injury to the dignity and honor of our profession." 

"It's easy (though against Facebook policy)" Wells points out as an example, "to create a bogus Facebook profile, and use it to do things anonymously on Facebook. For example, I download a picture of you from the Web, create a 'Susanna Speier' Facebook account using that picture, then start friend'ing people with it." 

In addition to violating Facebook policy it would violate Section 2 of the PPIAC code of ethics but not all of Colorado's licensed private investigators have trade organization memberships. To throw yet another monkey wrench into the ethical works, a 2017 regulation protecting Colorado attorneys' authority to "direct advise or supervise others" to, in essence, behave deceitfully. Rule 9.4 section C of the Colorado Bar is, in essence, a sock puppet prerogative.

See also: ​Colorado's new misconduct rule: what will the consequences be? 

A demanding client can direct a Colorado private investigator to create an online decoy profile and use that profile to to obtain information on Facebook that he or she may not otherwise have access to, despite the precarious situation it would put their client and associates in if discovered.
​
It will be interesting to see whether or not Rule 8.4 section 3 is addressed by Colorado's new Attorney General, Phil Weiser now that the Attorney General responsible for putting it there in 2017, Cynthia Coffman, is out of office.
​

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger

What better way to hone your aerial navigation skills than borrowing the company drone to shoot wildfires over the Fourth of July holiday, right? 

Actually, according to Colorado Public Radio, some of Colorado's 1st responder, firefighting drones were grounded due to interference from recreational drones and the situation's become so dire that Colorado Senators Cory Gardner (Republican) and Michael Bennet (Democrat) are now pushing for federal legislation to make drone flying over wildfires a federal felony. They're calling it the SAFER Act (Securing Airspace for Emergency Responders).

Ever the outlier, Aspen, Colorado, by contrast, plans to light up the Fourth of July sky with a fifty drone show! You can't beat that --- or can you? 

Boulder's drone company Black Swift, according to The Daily Camera, has won a NASA contract to develop a drone to study the atmosphere of Venus. So there's that. 

It is being funded through the federal government's Small Business Innovation Research program and is expected to complete phase one in six months for --get this--  $125,000!! 

The Daily Camera article, written by Lucas High, also points out that last year Black Swift developed another NASA funded drone for $875,000 that will be studying the inside of a Hawaiian volcano later this year.

By Susanna Speier 
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

In case you didn't know, May 1st is Law Day and if you're not sure how to plan the day holiday that's been on the radar since Dwight D. Eisenhower's time, check out the Colorado Bar for events being hosted at libraries, court houses schools, television stations, community centers and press clubs throughout the country.  

​The 2018 Law Day theme is "Separation of Powers" and while it may be too late to order Separation of Powers swag from the American Bar there is still time to reflect on the role private investigators play in the legal process and geek out on the holiday's kooky history. 
​
"The desire to suppress the celebration of May 1, or May Day, as International Workers’ Day aided in Law Day’s creation" according to History.com May Day had communist overtones in the minds of many Americans, because of its celebration of working people as a governing class in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.May Day had communist overtones in the minds of many Americans, because of its celebration of working people as a governing class in the Soviet Union and elsewhere." So in addition to the Jackson Pollack and Apollo Program, we can thank the Cold War for creating Law Day. 

On Wednesday, May 02, 2018 you can stop by CB & Pott's in Greenwood Village, located at 6575 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Greenwood Village, CO 80111 at 6:30 P.M. for a Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado training session and drone flying refresher with Jason Downing. (Please note the fang toothed, multi propellor drone pictured below --taken right before I almost crashed into the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Boettcher Concert hall-- will not be the one used in Wednesday's training and demo.)

Want to learn some FBI history over Old Fashioned? Stop by the oldest press club in the country on Thursday, May 10 at 6 PM for a Fireside Chat featuring Sandra Windsor whose memoir, “FBI Wife” explores what it’s like to live next to big moments in history.

She will be talking about what it's like to hold a family together with a partner engaging in headline events starting with the JFK assassination and continuing on through to her husband's untimely death as he headed north to investigate a white supremacist group in Laramie.

Then on Saturday, May 19th at the Parker Public Library in Parker, Colorado there will be a 9:30 a.m.- 3:00 p.m. Detecting Deception workshop with private security professionals John Bocker and John Clark. Workshop will focus on interview techniques and PPIAC members can attend for $99. Learn how to be better prepared and pick up non-verbal queues. Training will include food, beverages and workbook materials. Library is located at 20105 East Mainstreet, Parker, CO 80138.

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

Thanks to a conscientious ranger, a spotted llama's harrowing sojourn, which began the summer of 2017 when she presumably wandered off a local llama farm and into Bobcat Ridge Natural Areas Open Space, is over. Dottie was recently relocated to a New Mexico animal sanctuary where she can live out the rest of her llama life, drama-free.

See also: The lost llama of Loveland: an update and Lost llama running around Loveland area

After surviving six months of solitude on the 2,607 acre natural area ---llamas are herd animals and very social, by nature-- Dottie entered the corral adjacent to the ranger's home on her own initiative. This was not an arbitrary turn of events.

"We were trying to get her to get used to coming to a specific location, with the intent to try and capture her there," explains Fort Collins Natural Areas & Trails Ranger, Karl Manderbach. Although the parking lot area has a webcam for visitors to monitor parking conditions, he set up a separate wildlife camera overlooking hay bales that he placed, hoping she would start feeding off of them. 

Eventually Dottie was not only feeding off the bales but she was eating hay out of Manderbach's hand. Still skittish, she would run off before he had a chance to coax her into the nearby corral. 

Undeterred, he continued to monitor her activities and build trust by feeding her. Then one morning he entered his office and saw she was down in the parking lot. "I shook the grains so she could hear me and she walked right into the corral," explains Manderbach. 

The corral was part of the working cattle ranch before the area became open space but the history of the land's inhabitants go further back. There is evidence that the Ute and Arapahoe wintered on the land and lived off Bison. Then the pioneers and homesteaders came and farmed cattle. The natural area opened to the public in fall of 2006, however, as far as anyone knows, this is the first llama it has hosted.

Native to the South American Andes, llamas are relative newcomers to North America, after the presumed migration of the original camelid to Asia across the Bering Strait. In the 1900s William Randolph Hearst imported Llamas to populate San Simeon in California because they were "exotic." According to the New York Times "Ambassador llamas" are sometimes used as therapy animals to visit sick, elderly and disabled.  In Colorado they are used as trail animals and sometimes their fleeces are sheared and used as wool for clothing. ​

The original owner never came forward, however neighboring llama owners recognized and confirmed that her name was Dottie and that prior to her Bobcat Ridge Open Space sojourn she had been the property of a person that no one was willing to identify. This leaves one to infer that, most likely, Dottie had been deliberately abandoned by that person.

After securing Dottie in the corral, local llama farmers and animal sanctuary owners who initially expressed interest in adopting her had lost interest in the prospect. Buckhorn Llama Company owner, Stan Eble, however, "graciously took her for a couple days. State Parks and Wildlife then took her until she ultimately found her new home" explained Manderbach. That is how she finally ended up at an animal sanctuary in New Mexico.

When The Denver Private Investigator Blog initially covered the story, we offered to feature any Colorado private investigator who could figure out who Dottie belonged to. This never occurred, however, thanks to the dedicated Bobcat Ridge Natural Area team Dottie was rescued, regardless.

Private investigators are frequently called upon to solve missing person cases or help adoptees reunite with their birth parents. PIs can also provide surveillance services that involve placing stationary cameras in locations that a person of interest is likely to go.

​Although Karl Manderbach is not a private investigator and Dottie is not a "person" we feel it is appropriate to feature the City of Fort Collins' Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, regardless. You can learn more about Bobcat Ridge on the video we've embedded at the end of the article along with driving directions so you can plan your visit! 

Bobcat Ridge's address is 10184 West County Road 32C, Loveland. From Fort Collins, take Harmony Road west, it turns into CR 38 E. Follow CR 38 E to Masonville. Go left (south) at the Masonville Mercantile onto CR 27. Follow CR 27 about 1 mile to CR 32 C, head west about 1 mile to the Bobcat Ridge parking lot.

From Loveland, go west on Highway 34 about 4.5 miles west of Wilson Avenue. Turn north on CR 27 by Big Thompson Elementary and drive 4.5 miles. Turn left on CR 32C and go 1 mile west to the Bobcat Ridge parking lot.
Note: The parking lot often fills to capacity on weekends and holidays. If the lot is full, please come back another time (no parking on the road). Horse trailer parking is limited to 8 spots. Check the camera below before you go!
​
Additional Bobcat Ridge references used: 

www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/pdf/bobcat-historical-record.pdf?1229709981

​https://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/pdf/bobcat-history-booklet.pdf?1244573528

​

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

Some of the highest skilled investigators in the industry will converge with some of the best technical minds June 21 - 22nd at the 2018 National Association of Legal Investigators (NALI) conference in West Chester, Ohio.

See also: Digital forensics for Denver attorneys and private investigators 

Senior Digital Forensic Engineer, Pete Myers will be walking participants through video forensics/Image processing, vehicle system forensics, household appliance extraction and a social media extraction that includes what you can do if a cellphone has been destroyed or lost.

Food and beverages are rolled into the conference fee which means after Kane County Public Defender, Kelli M. Childress' “Seeing is Believing. Or is it? Understanding and Mitigating False Confidence in Witnesses" presentation you'll get to enjoy food and beverages at no additional cost. 
Toonari CEO, Karhrman Ziegenbein will also give a dark web demo highlighting how criminal defense investigators can conduct safe and effective online research using anonymity tools. 

​Why the tech savvy surplus? Technology is the focus of NALI's 2018 conference and you have until 5/21 to secure the early bird registration for non-members at $299. The membership rate is $245.

Besides the lower conference fee what are the advantages of membership? According to Executive Director, Val Vail-Shirey the daily job opportunities posted on an internal list server is a huge draw for members looking to grow their clientele by collaborating with other members. As an example, Vail-Shirey's says "a member in Phoenix may post for a member in Boston to assist with a court record search."

​Yes, there are public job postings on Indeed.com and Linkedin however these specific job opportunities are only shared with with NALI's 340 person network and are vetted for relevance and therefore more likely to have a better outcome. Another benefit the organization offers is their relatively new Certified Legal Investigators (CLI) accreditation and license management program. 

Ohio may seem far but think of it this way: Coloradans flying out of DIA will reach Cincinnati in less than three hours and the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester (where the conference rate for a Single/Double is only $119) is just half an hour from the airport.

Here's yet another way to think of it: if you're based in Lakewood, Broomfield, Englewood, Fort Collins or somewhere on the Eastern Plains then traveling as the bird flies will get you to the convergence of the best minds in the private investigator industry in about the time it would take you to drive from Denver to Trinidad or Grand Junction and driving to  Mesa Verde would take longer than flying to Ohio would take. Because that's how the west rolls. 

By Susanna Speier
​Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

If you've been following Denver's Amazon bid, you already know Denver one of a twenty of mid-sized cities being considered for Amazon's new headquarters (HQ2). If selected, the online commerce giant would bring 50,000 new high paying jobs to the city of Denver along with some notoriety.

In October, Amazon Studios chief Roy Price resigned over sexual harassment allegations. In 2015 The New York Times called Amazon a "bruising workplace" where "workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered) and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.”"

Recent race discrimination, gender identification discrimination and pregnancy discrimination charges indicate the juggernaut's local presence would mean ample opportunities for Colorado employment lawyers, should the mile high city make the final cut.

With or without Amazon's HQ2, Colorado's robust tech industry will continue to expand and abuses of power will continue to create new opportunities for private investigators who are employment litigation literate.

Given the landscape, next week's Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) training seminar, How PI's can Assist Employment Attorneys, looks like a worthwhile way to spend a Wednesday evening in early February. Disclosure: I am a PIAC service member and gave a training seminar last fall.

David Miller, Esq will give the free training seminar on Wednesday, February 7th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 at CB & Pott's, located at 6575 Greenwood Plaza Blvd in Greenwood Village, CO 80111 Networking begins at 6:00.

Additional Amazon references: 

1. ​https://news.wgbh.org/2016/10/12/local-news/amazon-accused-discrimination-firing-boston-area-drivers
2. http://gothamist.com/2015/08/26/amazon_backlash.php
3. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-lawsuit/amazon-sued-by-transgender-woman-husband-for-workplace-harassment-idUSKBN1AP2FI

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger

DENVER - I'm sipping coffee in a beryl-blue-gray vinyl restaurant booth in Capitol Hill's Jelly cafe as Tom Mills steps through the door. Mills' story was brought to my attention by 9News' Kyle Clark and Anastasiya Bolton. Colorado process servers and private investigators are reassessing safety practices and deliberating on how best to minimize risk, following the coverage, which I summarized  in a November 27, 2017 blog post.

After ordering a glass of water --diabetes symptoms were prohibiting coffee-- Mills thoughtfully reviews the printout of questions I’ve handed him. Before starting the interview, I want to know how he’s been doing since the November 6, 2017 Commerce City, Colorado serve that turned into a life threatening situation.

The day of the serve, Mills drove to Adams county to serve papers to Bret Martin Carbone --who also happens to be a Denver Sheriff's deputy. Carbone lied, telling Mills he was just there to take care of the dogs, however, Mills didn't buy it. After returning to his car to verify Carbone's identity on Facebook, Mills returned to Carbone's house to complete the serve. As anyone who has seen the widely posted and shared video knows, Carbone opened the door, pointing a gun at Mills and telling him to get off of his property.

See also: Felony menacing charge issued to the Denver Deputy who pulled a gun on a Colorado private investigator

Despite the threat to his life, Mills actually did manage to complete the serve. "Got in my car shaking like crazy. I already have high blood pressure," he explained. He called the police who arrived just as Carbone was trying to drive away. The police had to order Carbone out of his vehicle and disarm him in order to make the surprise discovery that the perpetrator of the felony menacing charge also happened to be a sheriff's deputy. 

Mills is now being treated for post traumatic stress disorder. He is no longer doing evening and night serves. Although Mills is a military vet who served overseas, he did not have PTSD prior to the November 6, 2017 serve. 

Carbone is now being charged with felony menacing. The case was moved from a local to a district court because of the seriousness of the charge and the next hearing will take place in a district court on January 29th. Two of the female process servers who worked for Mills quit immediately following the incident citing safety concerns. As he now only serves papers during the daytime, when it’s safer, Mills' income has also taken a hit.

Mills is not the first Colorado process server to have a gun pointed in him. Process Servers Association of America President, Steve Glenn had found himself in an almost identical situation when serving papers, however because Glenn had no video evidence and "it was all he said, she said," Mills explained, there were no grounds for pressing legal charges in Glenn's situation because he did not video record his serve. 

For the benefit of every process server reading this, I ask Mills to demonstrate how he records his serves discreetly. Mills holds his phone in front of the clipboard he carries with him when he does his serves. For purposes of a photo demo (below) he holds his phone in front of the paper I handed him with the interview questions printed out.

If you are a process server reading this and you do not video record your serves, please begin doing so immediately. No need to invest in special equipment. All you need is a phone, a clip board and/or piece paper, as shown in the photo below. 
​
(end of part 1)

​By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

The day was overcast and unseasonably warm. The staff of Colorado's Judicial Center was professional and friendly. "That's actually a job?" the front desk receptionist asked when I handed the business card listing my title as the "Denver Private Investigator Blogger," over the round, dark wood receptionist table.

Indeed it is, I explained and could I schedule a meeting with Attorney General, Cynthia Coffman  or one of her media representatives to discuss Rule 8.4 C? 

Following its September 28, 2017 announcement, I've only heard shocked and horrified responses from the private investigator community. Jesse Paul's Denver Post article stated "lawyers can now engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation when advising law enforcement officers, investigators or clients during lawful investigative activities. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office says they can’t personally conduct such subterfuge, but can supervise those actions." 

Let that sink in. Attorneys ---the ones who hire private investigators to interview witnesses, obtain evidence and investigate cases--- can now outsource the sordid and insidious tasks of committing fraud and acting deceitfully to the private investigators who depend on those attorney's assignments in order to make payroll!! 

​Future posts will explore the question of how much pressure a client can put on a private investigator to push legal boundaries. I'll be interviewing a wide range of Colorado legal industry professionals. I shall also continue trying to get through to Coffman's office or get referred to another Colorado government official who can help clarify why this rule seemed necessary to ensure safety and justice in Colorado.

Is there is someone you think I should speak with or interview? Please leave a message in the comments below or notify us via Facebook or Twitter.