Ross Investigators PC, Inc.

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!
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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

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By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

Colorado bucks the national salary disparity trend when it comes to salary discrepancy based on gender. Data USA, a Deloitte, Datawheel and Macro Connections collaboration publicly posted data compiled by the census bureau and the American Community Survey (ACS) revealing that salary averages of the 78,239 person workforce making up the United States private investigator and detective industries reflect a disparity between genders that is already greater than the national disparity average. 

See also: the 2016 World Investigator Conference has thirty-three speakers and only one of them is female. 

The Pew Research Center's latest report (created using the same US Census Bureau data that Data USA used) concluded women employed full-time earned 80% of what their male counterparts earned in 2015 (when the latest census was taken) and when comparisons were made of part-time employees in the field, the average women earned 83% of what their male counterparts earned.

Using Data USA's database to isolate salaries by industry and gender I could see that the average female private investigator in the United States earns 75 cents on every dollar that her equally qualified male counterpart earn doing the same same job.

The public database, however, fell short when it came to isolating by states. This prevented me from the viewing Colorado-specific data I needed to see how the disparity impacted  this blog's primary audience. 

To find out how, specifically, Colorado private investigator disparity averages compared to  national averages, I contacted Data USA and asked them to isolate the Colorado private investigator salary data, separating the salary averages for males and females, so that I could inform my readers how their male and female private investigator's salaries compared to the national averages. 

Johnathan Speiser responded with a spreadsheet in which he had isolated all the private eye salaries in the country by gender as well as by state. Consequently I was able to calculate how the salary disparity between men and women impacts private investigators in the State of Colorado. 

While female private investigators in Colorado earn an annual average of $52,489 their male Colorado counterparts --with the same qualifications and working in the same job-- average $55,321 annually.

Female private investigators in Colorado still earn less than their male counterparts for doing the same work, however the disparity isn't as dichotomous as it is in other states.  

The United States equal pay equal opportunity commission, the "Equal Pay Act" requires that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work. "The jobs need not be identical but they must be substantially equal. It is job content, not job titles, that determines whether jobs are substantially equal. Specifically, the EPA provides that employers may not pay unequal wages to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, and that are performed under similar working conditions within the same establishment." The 2015 US Government Census data, however, tells a different story. 

​If you are a female private investigator living in Denver, Colorado, you can expect to earn 95 cents on every dollar your equally qualified male counterpart earns doing the same job. That is a full 20 cents on the dollar over the national average income disparity that female PIs in can expect to experience nationwide.

Conclusively this means if you are an average female private investigator working in the State of Colorado, chances are you are about 20% better off, salary wise, than the female PIs in other parts of the country. You are still going to be earning 5% less than your equally qualified male counterparts for the same job, though. 

By Susanna Speier
​Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

Jessica Jones (which --in case you're not already looped-- just dropped season 2) may run a solo practice The Defenders she need to collaborate in order to save Hell's Kitchen. But what about a place like Colorado with a smaller and more regionally spread out population? 

Castle Rock investigator, Andrea Orozco's upcoming Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) training workshop on Wednesday, April 4th at CB & Pott's 6575 Greenwood Plaza Blvd in Greenwood Village, CO will focus on subcontracting for other investigators. It's a great opportunity to learn more about how and when to collaborate with investigators who specialize in areas of expertise that may compliment yours. 

A recent article Pursuit Mag article by legal investigator and former Durango police detective, Sam Petitto also discusses the solo versus collaboration dynamic.

​Many of the questions on Rachele' Davis list of questions to ask before hiring a private investigator are relevant to questions you might ask a prospective sub contractor or collaborator. 

Collaborations don't have to be limited to current cases. Earlier this month a New York Post article detailed a  Suffolk County cold case and the circumstances behind a grisly crime was finally resolved thanks to DNA forensics. 

To check out the team of associates our own Denver based firm, Ross Investigators, subcontracts with, check out our about page or call (720) 458-1497 for a free consultation. 

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger
 
If your spouse or significant other is a private investigator they're going to love anything with a detective theme. Not like we're biased or anything but with all the Detective stories and detective inspired iconography out there, how can you not get a detective themed Valentine's Day gift for someone you care about? 

But where do you find unique Valentine's Day gifts for private investigators? We did some investigating ourselves and here's what we came up with:

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​Handmade wooden clip board If you missed our last post or didn't read to the end please note the featured photo of Colorado process server Tom Mills demonstrating how to hold a phone with a clipboard when severing papers.

If your partner is spending a lot of time serving papers then get them a nice, handmade wooden clipboard they're going to love like an Everlasting furniture or Estatoe Woodworks. 

​Wooden phone holder to carry with the wooden clip board since it's Colorado where you can all out with mountain, pine tree themes round we thought we'd also recommend a phone case to match your clip board. This WOODgraw shop phone case has a mountain range actually etched into the wood and this Mandallion has one with "The Mountains are Calling and I must go," engraved.

If you're doing serves in Estes Park, Aspen, Vail, Leadville, Basalt, Carbondale, Evergreen, Winter Park, Avon, Glenwood Springs, Dillon, Manitou Springs or Nederland you'll blend right into mountain dweller culture. 

If you'd rather go the safe and subtle route by calling as little attention as possible to your phone there are plenty of plain wood phone cases on Etsy and you can always ask makers for a custom clipboard and phone set so the fact that the serve is being recorded is all the more discreet.

​Detective mug  coffee mugs are always great gifts for the hard boiled sleuth and we found some nice ones like Themuglyfe's "Only the Strongest Women Become Detectives" mug. 

Agatha Christie Charm Bracelet - if the investigator in your life is an Agatha Christie fan they're going to love this Hercule Poiro charm bracelet. The maker, Murder She Tote, also sells an Agatha Christie Bracelet a Miss Marple Bracelet and a Nancy Drew bracelet! 

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger

In a story that hopefully shed's more light on the challenges Colorado private investigators face, 9News' Kyle Clark and Anastasiya Bolton reported that Denver Sheriff's deputy Bret Martin Carbone, has been charged with felony menacing after a Nov. 6 incident that occurred when Carbone pulled a gun on licensed private investigator, Tom Mills at Carbone’s Commerce City home in Adams County.

The incident, which was also reported by The Denver Post's Tom McGhee, occurred when Mills knocked on Carbone's door. The earbud wearing, NASA t-shirt clad man who opened the door said his name was "John" and he was just at the house to look after the dogs. That was a lie. 

​Sensing he smelled a rat, Mills returned to his car and used Facebook to verify that the earbud wearing, NASA t-shirt clad guy at the door was not a guy named "John" and that he was, indeed, Bret Carbone.

Mills then returned to Carbone's house --which is located on the 11800 block of Granby Street, according to a17th Judicial District Attorney's Office news release--- to, once again try and serve the papers, which, by the way, were for a debt of only $150.

This time, the earbud wearing, NASA t-shirt clad man opened the door with a black handgun pointed directly at Mills. "Get off my property," growled the Denver Sheriff's Deputy!

Although Mills later described the experience to 9News as scary one ---and he is now considering quitting the industry as a result of it-- Mills nevertheless managed to serve those papers to Carbone who is now scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 19, 2017. Meanwhile, the Denver sheriff's department has put their Denver deputy on investigatory leave. 

The take home? What --besides the obvious, good thing he was wearing a video cam-- do you think? Have you had a similar experience on the job? What measures do you take to protect yourself when serving papers?  

​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. 

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

The viral social media phenomenon referred to as "Black and White Challenge" or "7 Day 7 Photo Challenge" is not for everybody.

If you're inclined to avoid social media except for an investigation research took, this is probably not the project for you, however if you're one of those gumshoe/ amateur photogs, this could be a great way to share what the world of a PI looks like while shaking up your aesthetic sensibilities and maybe flexing your social media engagement abilities, too. 

Here's how it works: someone tags you on social media telling you it's your turn to do the #BlackAndWhiteChallenge. (Some refer to it as the 7 day 7 photo challenge). One tagged you will be expected to post a black and white photo a day for the next seven days with no explanations. At least that is how the official rules work. 
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I happened to be right around the corner from the Ross Investigators office, located at 1665 Grant Street, ste 304, Denver, CO 80204, when I noticed a Jelly Cafe employee was wearing a "Trust Nobody" t-shirt. Since it seemed like a great aphorism for a private investigator, I decided to turn it into a black and white challenge photo. When I asked the two woman in the photo if I could use the black and white toned photo in the Denver Private Investigator Blog the woman wearing the t-shirt (whose name is Shannon) responded, "Heck yah" before adding "and I stand behind it!"

If you'd like to try your hand at black and white iphoneography / photography through the black and white challenge then give one of your black and whites's a private investigator slant and share with us on Twitter or Facebook so we can compile a collection of black and white glimpses of the private investigator world! 

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger

There is a spotted llama, anxiously wandering around Mahoney Park and the Bobcat Ridge Natural Area northwest of Loveland. It is believed to have wandered off a nearby ranch then gotten lost in the open space where it is now spooking horses and alienating any hikers who attempt to approach it. The Loveland Reporter-Herald's Sam Lounsberry characterized the llama as a "bad tempered" but sanguine and mild mannered are rarely traits of an animal that has spent three months wandering the open plains, trying to find its way home. 

If you or any of your private investigator colleagues manage to uncover any leads on who the llama's owner might be, contact 970-416-2147 so the park service can try to reunite them and then let us know so we can feature you in next month's post. 

New York's Prospect Park, by contrast, responds quickly to displaced animal reports. When a baby cow --believed to have escaped the Fourth Ave. and 16th street slaughterhouse -- was running around it was captured within days by the New York Police who shot it with a tranquilizer gun. The bull will be taken to Skylands Animal Sanctuary in Wantage, NJ, an official said."

A live video showed the creature standing in a soccer field, looking confused — as at least six officials closed in on him and four helicopters hovered overhead according to The New York Post.'The poor thing, he don’t know what to do — and neither do the cops! We need a cowboy, said neighbor Yvonne Felix, 42." 

If you want to continue following the adventures of this baby cow, fans have created a Prospect Park Cow Twitter account. 

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Not all those who wander are lost. The Japanese city of Nara is famous for it's Buddhist shrines and for its deer population. According to Washington Post reporter, Anna Fifield deer in Nara are recognized as the messenger of gods, so they walk everywhere at the Kasuga Grand shrine in Nara.

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger 

​This summer, the Denver Private Investigator's Blog made the PI Now list of top private investigator blogs!! It ranked 4th place after Brian Willingham's Diligentia blog (which ranked #1), Pursuit Magazine (which ranked #2 and with whom the Denver Private Investigator Blog has a content partnership) and Guns, Gams & Gumshoes (which ranked 3rd). We are honored to have The Denver Private Investigator Blog: Mile Hi PI featured among so many other informative and well renowned online publications. 

PI Now's rating system was based on the premise that the private investigation blogs most worth your time contain the following criteria: they are readable and interesting. The website is accessible and easy to navigate and the content is relevant and regularly updated. 

Meanwhile, as summer winds down and we all dust off our nonexistent fedoras and shake out our trench coats, plans for the Rocky Mountain region private investigator conference are currently underway.

The Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) conference starts tomorrow, Thursday, September 14th and runs through Saturday, September 16th at Denver Marriott in Westminster and you can still get tickets.

The conference will include an optional class 8:00 - 5:00 pm class with certified forensic interviewer, Brandon Perron which begins on the 14th. There will be also be a fraud investigation workshop with Richard Brooks a Russia investigation workshop with Anastasiya Bolton and an ethics workshop with JP Moore. Andy Kindred, Joe H. Dickerson, Brandon Perron, Jeff Boxer, Kitty Hailey.

If you are a Colorado attorney, please note that the Colorado Supreme Court has just authorized 12 general credits and three ethics credits for attendance. Go here to register.  

By Susanna Speier
Denver Private Investigator Blogger

The bad news is that the most viewed eclipse in history resulted in permanent eye injuries for people who purchased counterfeit or defective eclipse glasses on Amazon. The good news? If your eyes were fried by last month's eclipse, there is now a class action personal injury lawsuit pending and one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs is the Hannon Law Firm, LLC which is conveniently located on Downing Street in Denver, Colorado. 

The class action lawsuit against Amazon was filed on August 29th by a Charleston, South Carolina couple who sustained eye injuries after viewing the August 21st eclipse. The compensation is an undisclosed amount that will exceed $75,000 according to the Class Action Complaint on file.  "Corey Payne and Kayla Harris said they experienced headaches and vision impairment after using the glasses to watch the US eclipse on 21 August," reported the BBC last week.

Amazon issued a recall on August 10th, however the South Carolina couple says they were not notified in time and ended up viewing the eclipse through defective glasses. The couple experienced headaches, watery eyes and dizziness in the hours following the eclipse and reported experiencing distorted vision during the days that followed. 

According to PBS digital science producer, Nsikan Akpan, Amazon had been offering to reimburse customers who purchased defective glasses before the eclipse however Amazon refused to list names of the vendors carrying the faulty products.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provided information to the public on how to obtain ISO and ISO 12312-2 compliant glasses. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) also issued a list specifying credible eclipse glasses retailers vendors along with credible sources for camera lens solar filters. 

According to ABC, "Paper Optics" was one of the manufacturers responsible for selling products that resulted in eye damage however, the name of the manufacturer is not specified on the Class Action Complaint and Amazon currently carries a number of American Paper Optics product listings with no mention of the lawsuit. An Amazon sellers forum, however, is discussing the lawsuit. 

On their website, American Paper Optics claims to be ISO certified and tested. The company is also first on the AAS list of safe manufacturers. A safety notification on American Paper Optics' website however illustrates the visual characteristics that distinguish real from counterfeit eclipse glasses. 

"American Paper Optics" is a Tennessee based company who, according to TopClassActionsDOTcom "projected it would make and sell 100 million pairs of eclipse glasses, about 10 million of which were sold to Amazon. 

"Amazon attempted to recall these Amazon eclipse glasses in an email announcement sent out Aug. 19, two days before the eclipse. The email stated that the supplier of Amazon eclipse glasses could not confirm that they were produced by a recommended manufacturer. Amazon recommended that people not use the glasses to view the eclipse.

The plaintiffs say this recall announcement was “tragically too little, too late.” Despite the allegedly inadequate email announcement, plaintiffs and their proposed Class Members still used these Amazon eclipse glasses to view the eclipse, exposing themselves to eye damage.

Payne says he bought a three-pack of eclipse glasses from Amazon on Aug. 1. He and Harris, his fiancée, say they never got notice of the Amazon eclipse glasses recall before they used these glasses to watch the eclipse."

"The safety of solar eclipse glasses was a major concern of astronomy experts in the weeks leading up to the much-watched event," according to MarketWatch, "Third-party online vendors, such as Amazon and eBay, EBAY...  monitored their sites for counterfeit solar eclipse glasses, removing posts and refunding customers for glasses that were not compliant with safety standards, both companies told MarketWatch," when interviewed for the story. 

​The United States district court document excerpt is attached below. The complete document was obtained through Geekwire and you can click through to view that document in full. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the case.

A screenshot of American Paper Optics' warning is also included along with a link to their website. It is still unclear whether the glasses the plaintiffs purchased through Amazon were counterfeit or defective, however we expect to be learning more shortly.