Quartzsite says investigation legit, vows to bring illegal voters to justice

The Town of Quartzsite’s procurement of private investigators to find evidence of voter fraud in the last election is authorized by state statute, according to a statement sent Friday to Parker Live by Town Manager Alex Taft.

The statement says the Town investigation is working on finding evidence that voter fraud occurred in the May election, which elected Ed Foster, Mark Orgeron and Pat Workman.

Workman recently filed a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office regarding checks written to the investigators, which she says total more than $30,000 so far. Workman’s complaint alleges that the Town Council did not authorize the payments.

While the Town did not confirm the amount paid to the investigators, its statement says the payments are valid under the authority given to Town Attorney Martin Brannan by state statute, citing ARS § 16-1021, which says that the “town attorney may enforce the provisions of this title [governing lawful elections] through civil and criminal actions.”

It adds that the investigators were hired pursuant to section 3-409 of the Town Code, which “permits contracts with professional service providers apart from the standard bidding requirements of Quartzsite Revised Town Code Article 3-4. The procurement of these professional services is substantially related to the authority granted to the Town Attorney by the Arizona Legislature and the services were lawfully procured.”

The Town says its investigation into the voters in the May election is “ongoing”:

“…the information obtained at this point will remain confidential to prevent the destruction of evidence and to protect those whose activities, while apparently suspicious, may yet prove to be lawful. The Town is working diligently toward acquiring prima facie evidence of voter fraud and hopes to gain the assistance of the Arizona Attorney General, the Arizona Secretary of State and/or the United States Department of Justice in bringing those individuals who voted illegally to justice.”

Speaking to KLPZ radio on June 14th, La Paz County Recorder Shelly Baker said she had been co-operating fully with the investigators, but said they had not found voting irregularities. Baker has not been on the record about the results of the investigation since June, but said Friday that the investigators were “very professional” and “went through everything with a fine tooth comb.”

She added that the work of the investigators was wrapping up and the Town of Quartzsite should have a report from them soon.

Ontario private eyes nabbed in Turks

Published on Wednesday September 05, 2012
Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporter

DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR Elaine White once worked for forensic accountants in Toronto. She is in a Turks and Caicos jail awaiting a hearing Friday.
Two Canadian private eyes accused of defrauding divorce and business clients have been nabbed by police in the Caribbean where they have been island hopping for three years.

Cullen Johnson is a former aide to a Toronto police chief. Elaine White, his wife and partner in alleged crime, once worked for forensic accountants in Toronto. They are in a Turks and Caicos jail awaiting a hearing Friday.

A Toronto Star investigation in 2009 exposed an unusual scheme: Both were accused by former clients (and later the police) of forging and selling bank records that made clients believe an ex-spouse, friend or employee had millions of dollars stashed offshore. One case involved a group of lottery winning friends led to believe one of their group swindled the others.

Shortly after the pair pleaded not guilty to fraud charges in Newmarket court in late December 2009, they flew south and set up shop in the Bahamas, calling their new private-eye company Internal Affairs Global, boasting a crack investigation squad that could pierce any banking veil.

On Wednesday, immigration agents in the Turks and Caicos arrested Johnson, 64, and White, 69. Police in Ontario say the pair had overstayed their Turks’ visa. A routine check turned up warrants for their arrest filed internationally by the Ontario Provincial Police, stories in the Toronto Star and their Panamanian-based website.

“Our folks are in touch with the authorities in the Turks,” said OPP spokesman Sgt. Peter Leon.

He said the OPP is exploring options to get them back in Ontario. Extradition is one option, but there may be an easier route. “The (Turks government) may deport them. If we know they are coming, we will be waiting for them.”

The Star’s probe of Johnson and White turned up a series of authentic looking bank statements sent to numerous clients for a fee.

In one case, well-respected former Ontario Liberal MPP Eric Cunningham was a target. Cunningham and his wife were in court on divorce proceedings in 2005. In a case that took years, his ex-wife presented banking documents obtained from the detectives that made it look like the former MPP was a wealthy man with assets offshore, an incredible $2.3 million in accounts flung as far as the Cook Islands, Panama, the Bahamas, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands.

All false, two judges said, vindicating Cunningham. But the case took a financial toll on him as he had to pay lawyers for years to defend his case. His ex-wife’s father funded most of the investigation of Cunningham, but private eyes cooked up the false documents.

In Cunningham’s case and others, the detectives are accused of doing a sort of financial striptease for clients, showing clients (his ex-wife in this case) more and more documents depending on how much they paid in fees. The Holy Grail which clients would finally get (all forged) was the signature card “proving” who had opened the offshore account.

Cunningham said Wednesday he is cautiously pleased. “The wheels of justice grind, but they grind slowly,” said Cunningham, a communications consultant who said he would be happily retired were it not for Internal Affairs.

The Star stories revealed how the Ontario government has little control over the private investigators it licenses. Not much has changed since then, though a top official lost his job.

In another case, four Toronto Catholic School Board employees who were good friends routinely played the same lottery numbers, hoping to make a big score and retire early. One day, one of the four did a random check of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. website and learned the group’s ticket had won $5.7 million six months earlier.

Suspicious of the friend who had checked the number at a convenience store, the group hired Internal Affairs. A “banking sweep” turned up records that appeared to show the friend had won, and sent the money offshore to Barbados and Switzerland. The group confronted their friend who said the convenience store owner had told her they did not win.

An investigation turned out that the store owner was the thief, and he had closed his shop, bought a mansion, a Tim Hortons franchise for his son and several cars. The lottery corporation reimbursed the four friends and the store owner pleaded guilty to fraud.

Johnson and White are also believed by investigators to be behind a series of forged documents that suggest federal minister Julian Fantino, Cunningham, other politicians and a “yellow” journalist at the Star are involved in a bizarre, fictitious financial conspiracy called “Superstar Corruption.”

In a previous interview by email in 2010, Johnson both attacked the Star’s credibility and protested his innocence. In other correspondence, Johnson has mused about his predicament, unable to come home to see family.

“I’ve always liked the Kenny Rogers ballad, ‘The Gambler.’ Good advice. Know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em,” Johnson wrote to the Star at one point. He ended on a cheery note. “As they say at McDonald’s, “Have a nice day!”

Do not try this on your own!

I’ve had the opportunity of working with a client that had already attempted his own investigative work. He thought he knew the man that was living with his former wife and small son. I took this mans case because he told me his attorney, let’s call him Mr. Good, after chastising him for his actions, had referred him to me to conduct a background on this man. I knew this attorney very well as I have done business with him for many years. He has even written about some of my cases conducted for him on his website, not mentioning any names in order to maintain confidentially.
This case was only 3 days in progress when the client started to show his true colors. During the background process I found out he had given me the wrong name, age, address and arrest for subject, etc. I also found out he had only spoken with Mr. Good and had not retained him. This was not the statement the client gave to me earlier when we spoke about his case.
I uncovered some information that I had to rule out involving a possible sex offender since the welfare of a little 4 yr old boy could be at stake. It became necessary I speak with local law enforcement. Once I spoke with the sheriff’s department regarding this unknown man, things became pretty sticky in a short amount of time.
To make a long story short, the client was the one that was almost arrested for stalking and still may be if he continues on the same path.
The moral of this story is simply this: Do not attempt your own investigation and do not ever give your private investigator and or attorney the wrong information. It is always best to just say you don’t know. It always best to be willing to pay for an investigation by a state licensed investigator and leave the investigating to us.
Remember the saying, “Only a fool lies to his attorney and investigator.”
Ok, the last part about the investigator might be my saying, but nevertheless, still true.

EXCLUSIVE: How a Private Investigator Elicited the Confession That Helped Exonerate Brian Banks

Long Beach High School football standout Brian Banks called a private investigator after his accuser contacted him for the first time in years

By Joel Grover and Chris Henao

 

A hidden camera confession helped exonerate Brian Banks, a former Long Beach high school football star, after he served five years in prison for a rape he did not commit.

In an exclusive interview with the NBC4 I-Team, Private Investigator Freddie Parish divulged how he pulled off the stunning confession that freed the 6-foot-2, 239-pound linebacker who was being courted by top schools, including the University of Southern California, when accusations were brought against him 10 years ago.

Do you have a tip for Joel Grover? Click here to send him an email

Last year, Banks called Parish, who runs Vantage Point Investigations, asking for his help. The former football star had received a friend request on Facebook from his accuser Wanetta Gibson, who told Banks she wanted to “let bygones be bygones.”

Parish devised a plan to see if Gibson would admit she fabricated her 2002 accusation that Banks raped her in a stairwell at school.

“There was no doubt in my mind that this young man was innocent,” said Parish, who has known Banks since his son, Freddie Parish IV, played football with Banks at Long Beach Polytechnic High in 2002.

Gibson’s family received a $1.5 million settlement from the school district, and Banks took a plea bargain that sent him to prison for five years, and then faced another five years on parole, shackled with a GPS tracking device on his ankle.

In an attempt to elicit a confession, Parish wired his office with hidden cameras and microphones and suggested that Banks invite Gibson to the office to talk about their past.

“There’s only one chance to get the goods,” Parish said. “I mean, you gotta make it right the first time.”

Wanetta Gibson accepted Banks’ invitation, and showed up, by bus, at the private investigator’s Signal Hill office for a chat with her old high school crush.

“It just wasn’t true at all,” Gibson said about her rape accusation while hidden cameras were rolling.

Banks then asked Gibson for help in clearing his name, so he could move on with his life.

Gibson said she was willing to help, but didn’t want to lose the $1.5 million settlement her family received from the Long Beach School District.

“I will go through with helping you, but all that money they gave us, I don’t want to have to pay it back, because that would take a long time,” she said on the video.

With Gibson on board, Parish was ready to execute the second part of his plan: he had Banks ask Gibson to return the next day to meet with the investigator.
“I needed to get her basically to recant everything she said Brian did ten years ago,” Parish told the NBC4 I-Team. “If I let this man down, I would have to live with that the rest of my life.”

The next day Gibson returned to Parish’s office, hidden cameras were rolling. Parish then asked the critical questions about the 2002 incident between Banks and Gibson.

Parish: “Did he rape you?”
Gibson: “No, he did not rape me.”
Parish: “Did he kidnap you?”
Gibson: “No.”

When Gibson made the stunning confession that she’d fabricated her rape accusation, Parish thought to himself: “Wow. I got it.”

That confession was evidence that lawyers from the California Innocence Project needed to go back to court on Banks’ behalf.

Armed with the video confessions, lawyers Justin Brooks got Brian Banks rape conviction overturned on May 24.

“The videotape is a slam dunk, in the sense that she’s recanting her testimony,” said Brooks, head of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law.

Now, Banks is able to finally pursue his dream of a career in pro football, thanks in large part to the work of a private investigator.

“I had a chance to make a difference in a man’s life,” Parish said.

On Thursday, Banks participated in a tryout with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.

Grandparents have rights

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the most wonderful people on the planet- grandparents. It’s not always the mom or dad that comes to me when lives of young children are at risk. A while back I had the grandparents of 3 minor children come to see me because the parents were both allegedly using drugs and neglecting the kids. The grandparents had retained a very prominent Atlanta attorney with a specialization in domestic cases to represent them as they sought custody of the children. The parents were separated and both had joint custody. This attorney, whom I had worked with on numerous occasions, suggested they talk with me regarding obtaining some relevant evidence for court.

When the mother had them in July, she absconded with the children and refused to bring them home. She stopped communicating with the family members and all were worried sick about the kids.

Over several days of conducting an extensive investigation by utilizing numerous investigative procedures, I was able to locate the runaway parent and the 3 children. I worked with law enforcement to go pick up the kids and bring them back to the sheriff’s department where I stayed with them until my clients, the grandparents came to pick them up.

The clients were awarded custody of their grandchildren and they were raised in a safe, loving environment. As far as the attorney and my clients were concerned, this case ended very well.