PSYCHO SUZI

    The names in this case really are made up as I don’t need Psycho Suzi looking for me in retaliation, as she is one pissed off babe, as you’ll see.

    This was the summer 2011, on the golf course, skipping work as usual, just made a par and my cell phone rings. Hopefully this phone call was not going to interfere with my game; I didn’t want to leave the course right away with only two holes to go.

    I say, ”Hello” and wait with anticipation of what this could be at 6 PM at night.

    “Yes, my name is Brad Thomas. I was referred to you by a law firm in Sacramento and I kind of have an emergency”.

    I think to myself, Oh God, it’s a restraining order, usually is, especially when they say they have an emergency and there is anguish in their voice. Here we gooooooo ---

    Brad has an ex-girlfriend that is harassing him, calling all hours of the day and night, driving by his place throwing rocks through his windows and driving her car up on his lawn, ruining the landscaping. She won’t leave him alone. AND to top it off, he doesn’t know where she is, or where she is living.

    A Restraining Order is the worst kind of legal paper you can serve. Restraining Orders are all about stopping someone else from doing something you don’t like such as “I am going to burn your house down”, or “I am going to continue to throw rocks at your windows”, “I am going to keep slandering you on the internet”, “I am going to take our kids out of the state even if you don’t like it” etc. A person who wants a Restraining Order has to visit the courthouse, fill out the court forms stating their problem, in triplicate probably, then a judge has to sign it, then a court clerk has to file it, then the person has to find someone like me to serve it. A judge will not sign a restraining order unless you can show actual physical abuse of yourself or your property; you can’t say “I think my boyfriend is going to beat me up”. You have to say, “My boyfriend beat me up and I have 20 stitches in my face”. You cannot exaggerate or tell lies when applying for a Restraining Order. The action against you has to have already been done in most cases. Whatever you are trying to get another person to stop doing, he or she has to have already done it.

    Sorry but the law is not in your favor. You have some wacko hurting you or your property and you have to pay the fees and submit all the paperwork, then get a judge’s signature, only then can you serve the person. Only after service of this Restraining Order is given to the psycho, and if the psycho then violated the “cease and desist” order, the police will then get involved, usually not until then. I am only telling you this from my personal experience, maybe the police can get involved prior to the restraining order but even then, a Restraining Order has to be served on the psycho to get any permanent law enforcement or legal conviction on this.

    It is not uncommon to walk into a courthouse anytime on a Friday or Monday morning, and see long lines of people filling out forms, writing checks for court fees, feeling frustrated, and then waiting all day for a judge to sign the paperwork. Usually, if a person is there on a Friday, they feel something bad is going to happen over the weekend and they want to head it off at the pass, and convince the judge it is serious enough for his signature. Mondays are for people wanting a Restraining Order against someone who actually DID something over the weekend. You spend hours at the court, then usually around 4 PM, the clerk calls your name, then you see if the judge agreed with you, if so, he signed the order, if not, you have to wait until you get beat up. I am not an advocate of this kind of judicial thinking or policy, I think it’s ridiculous. But you hear about it on TV all the time, such as a woman warning the police that something is going to happen but they tell her there is nothing they can do until something DID happen.

    Remember, it’s not our (process servers) fault people cannot get along. It’s a job to be done if you accept it and want to work for this individual. Before I take on a case like this, I get a lot of information from the person about what his situation is, who really is the crazy one, him or his girlfriend? Is he going to call me day and night or is he going to leave me alone and let me do my job. If they pass the test on the cell phone, cool, if they don’t I tell them I am actually on vacation and give them someone else to call.

    You have to charge the client triple fees because you are going to eat up the first third of your fee in emotional distress, yours and the clients. Taking on this kind of case means: the client calls you ALL the time on your cell phone even when you tell them your plan and the exact time you will call them with an update. It’s a lot of hand holding. If you don’t control them to the inch of their lives, you will receive a call at 11 PM waking you up. “Sorry to bother you, I just need to know what’s happening”. It’s all emotion for these clients; this restraining order consumes their whole lives. Don’t get me wrong, I have empathy for them (not at 11:00 PM at night though), but just be in this frame of mind when you accept the job.

    Back to Brad, he is a general contractor, has his own business, just built a house he really likes in a new and upcoming suburb near Sacramento. He dated this psycho Suzi for a few weeks, couldn’t take it anymore, broke it off and Suzi obviously doesn’t want closure on this.

    Brad’s Restraining Order was signed by a judge, no problem. Brad has already been harassed, has suffered property damage and monetary damage as well replacing the house windows and shrubs..

    After discussing the “triple” fee with Brad, he said no problem. Ok, I am in. Psycho Suzi here I come.

    One thing about cases that have a lot of agitation, upset or and disturbance, you need to stay focused. Do not get involved in the person’s emotional state, stay focused and the most important thing: The more difficult the situation is, the lighter approach you take. An example:

    I needed to serve a Restraining Order on a guy who had a lot of guns and threatened to kill his wife. She got the Restraining approved because he recently pointed one of his guns at her. This was enough for a judge to hear.

    I did not knock on his door, duh. I waited for him to leave his house in the early morning to go to work. I wait until he is approaching his car and then I approached him instantly saying Good Morning. He stops and I raise my arms saying “don’t shoot”. He starts laughing. That broke the ice, I explained the Restraining Order to him, and he stated he would attend the hearing and explain to the judge that it was all a misunderstanding. My job is not to listen to their side, or get involved in what is true or false about cases, my job is to effect service by sizing people up, predicting their reaction, and using the right approach to get the job done.

    Knowing what approach to take with people you are serving comes from experience, knowing how to predict their behavior comes from experience, but when you have this down, your work is easy, you get quick results and you have no stress to manage.

    Back to Brad, I met up with him at Starbucks and got the papers (Restraining Orders) from him and he gave me a picture of psycho Suzi. The only thing he knew about her was that she might be a subcontractor for a local Interior Design business. Brad seemed like a won’t-rip-me-off kind of guy, so I told him he could pay me when I was done, then he handed me a partial payment of $80.00 for the hell of it. Awesome.

    I never tell clients what my exact plan is, because to be honest, I don’t always know right then and there. People you need to serve come in different forms, shapes, sizes and emotional states needing different approaches. To serve psycho Suzi I had to find her, so this was the first step.

    Seems complicated? Well, this is where you take the light approach not to mention the simplest approach. You trap her.

    The next day, I called the Interior Design business and wanted to make an appointment with them to redesign the window treatments in my office (I wish). Suzi would not have answered the phone because she is a sub-contractor so I was free to say whatever I wanted. I made an time and date over the phone telling the appointment setter I was referred by so and so and asked if Suzi was still working there? The designer who answered the phone said yes, then I immediately said that’s great but any designer will do. (We don’t want Suzi to know we specifically asked for her and tip her off, we want to do this right, even if it takes a few appointments to nail this broad). She said she didn’t know who was available to come Friday at 3:00 PM but someone would be there. I gave her an address of a commercial building with several offices (not my address or Suite #). I only had to give her my first name and gave her a phony work number. When I give a phony number, I only change one number from my real number, that way if I need to be in touch again, it would appear they wrote it down wrong.

    On a sunny Friday afternoon @ 3:00 PM, I was waiting at the designated commercial building in the parking lot. Since I had a picture of her and a description of the car she drives, I would know it’s her when she pulled in. There was only one driveway in the complex. If it wasn’t her, but another designer, we would go through the motion of pretending that we had an work emergency and needed to reschedule.

    At 2:57 PM, as luck would have it, Suzi pulls up in her nice blue Honda. I wave at her and she pulls into a parking space. She rolls down the window and says “Hello”. I say hello back, and then tell her, with a nice but straight face, that she is actually being served with a Restraining Order from Brad Thomas. I show her on the papers the section about the court hearing date, time and what court address she is to go to. She instantly goes into bitch mode and tries to roll the window up on my arm almost catching it. I throw the papers through the window and they fall on her lap. I then start walking towards the front door of one of the buildings and while walking I hear her gun the engine and peel out of the parking lot.

    I don’t take Restraining Orders lightly, I figure out the safest and fastest way to serve them, then get it done.

    A permanent restraining order was granted against Psycho Suzi, and our client never heard from her again. And, if she ever wanted to find me, she couldn’t.

    Sorry, wrong number.

SWOOP AND SQUAT

    Its fall, such a beautiful day as I’m driving to the office. My phone rings, it's an Attorney who sounds a little frantic and starts telling me he is on a break from a trial in Sacramento County Superior Court. Must be serious if he is calling during any trial, so I pull the car over and grab paper and pencil.

    Mr. Roberts, an Attorney, is a big-time litigator from out of town and the lead attorney on a case along with two other associate attorneys from California. They are one week into this trial involving a staged motor vehicle accident, a scam which caused one death and serious injuries. This scam involves perpetrators who purposely cause motor vehicle accidents and target unsuspecting drivers. These perpetrators use one or more vehicles, strictly done for financial gain bilking insurance companies for false injuries.

    According to my law enforcement buddies, the two most common vehicle scams used in staged collisions are known as the “swoop and squat” and the “drive down”.

     “Swoop and Squat” involves two or three scammers, each driving a separate vehicle. These scammers target vehicles with a single driver. This way there are no witnesses to the accident that is about to occur. The “squat” vehicle usually contains two scammers, who position themselves in front of the victim’s vehicle, slowing to close the distance between the vehicles. Then the “swoop” vehicle changes lanes in front of the “squat” vehicle and suddenly stops while the “squat vehicle” slams on his breaks causing the innocent victim to rear-end the “squat” vehicle. The “swoop” vehicle then leaves the scene in a hurry, never to be seen again.

    In the “Drive Down” version of this scam, the perpetrators stage an accident at any street location where there is a yielding of right-of-way. The innocent driver thinking the perpetrators are being nice by waving the driver ahead, and as he proceeds through the intersection, the perpetrator purposely accelerates broad siding the victim’s vehicle.

    Roberts goes on to explain the trial he is working on is a “Drive Down” case where he believes their clients were scammed. The Plaintiffs’ (perpetrators) screwed up the driving logistics of the scam involving several cars and one of the scammers died (guess no one heard or saw the fire truck with its sirens coming through the intersection). The Plaintiffs’ (perpetrators) are suing our clients for wrongful death. It is also common for these Plaintiffs’ to stage witnesses at the scene, giving false eyewitness statements and lying again at their trial testimonies.

    Just before lunch, this attorney had Jose Hernandez on the stand (a hostile witness and one of the scam drivers.) During his cross-examination of Hernandez, this guy denied any connection to one of the witnesses at the scene, Miguel Menendez, whose statement stated our client ran a red light causing the accident. This attorney believes Menendez and Hernandez are connected, both giving false testimony, but he can’t prove it. He needs to find a way to prove it.    

    This attorney wants to put Hernandez back on the stand the next morning at 10:00 AM, and wants me somehow, if I can, to get the phone records of Hernandez, who is from Reno but staying in a hotel here in Sacramento. The attorney wants evidence showing Hernandez has been calling his buddy, Miguel Menendez, in Reno, giving him updates of the trial.

    By this time, it's 3:30 PM - I have only one night to figure out what to do. I arrive at the courtroom by 4:30 PM, and meet the attorneys. They give me $500 in cash as a retainer for any costs I incur in the next few hours and the phone number for Miguel Menendez. I told them I’d see what I could do, then while I was leaving one of the attorneys interjected that I came highly recommended, which is nice but I could feel their desperation bearing down on me.

    I really need a miracle here.

    The attorneys know this is a long shot as you cannot obtain someone’s phone bill or a list of phone calls a person makes without a court order, which this legal team does not have.  

    So how to get Hernandez recent phone records…um…and most importantly – LEGALLY!

    Assignments like this will take creativity. Don’t get desperate, just think about it, drive home, see your kids, make dinner, and hire a babysitter for the night, then go to Starbucks. Now you are ready, having no pressure on the domestic end, you can really plan. 

    Then after thinking about it…an idea comes to me but can I really pull it off? I sit at Starbucks while playing devil’s advocate, side checking all angles and scenarios of what could happen. I knew the attorneys would bail me out of jail if somehow this did not go right, or someone went ballistic on me. 

    It's 8:00 PM, I am sitting in my vehicle at the hotel where Jose Hernandez is staying purposely waiting until dark. This hotel has three huge buildings, two stories of rooms, all separated from the main building where the check-in counter is, as well as the restaurant and gym which overlooks the spacious glimmering pool. I drive around all the buildings, locate Hernandez’s room, and then watch the main entrance for a while to see what kind of activity is going on. I decide not much is happening so I put my plan into play.

    I parked my vehicle out of sight, but close enough to get to for a quick get-a-way if needed. I walked to Hernandez’s room and knock. If he was there, I would pretend I had the wrong room, ask for my sister or something, apologize to him then leave. For my plan to work, he could not be in his room. I waited on the stairwell for a while in case Hernandez was in the shower and 20 minutes later, no response again so I was good to go.

    I watched the parking lot in case Hernandez or any male pulled up to the rooms while I walked to the main office. No one pulled in so I entered the lobby.

    As I walk in, the first thing I do is observe the night attendant in the hotel lobby while scanning quickly for any Hispanics or Hernandez himself, who might be sitting around. Then I check out the night staff. If you are trying to pull off a situation like this one, you want to work with as few employees as possible. It must be the right environment, you must always have the feeling you can pull the plan off. It will only backfire if you do not have good intuition or vibes about a person, place or thing.

    I figured I only had a few minutes to pull this off because Hernandez could possibly visit the front desk for some reason. 

    I say to the clerk, “Hello, how’s your night going?”

    Adrenalin starting to pump.

    “Fine, how can I help you?”

    “Could you call Room 209 and see if the guys are in their room? I was supposed to meet them here.”  

    Notice I don’t mention any names(s).

    If Hernandez did answer the phone in his room, then I would ask the night clerk to ask him if he was Steve Miller, saying I actually “forgot” the correct room number for Miller thinking it was Room 209. If Hernandez did answer the phone, then I know he is there and could not pull off my plan.

    The clerk rings the room – no answer so I say, “I am dropping off some money for the guys in Room 209, our company pays their expenses, and to make matters worse one of them lost their wallet. Luckily I live local or they’d be up a creek. How much do they owe you for their hotel room? “ He looks on the computer and says, “$160.00.” I then counted out the cash asking for a  receipt. He does not ask my name or anything.  

    But I had to wait for him to go in the other room where the DOT MATRIX printer was. I could hear the damn receipt slowly and agonizingly creeping through the printer. I mean real SLOW, painfully SLOW. Finally, he hands me the hotel receipt. 

    My heart is racing now.

    I then say, “Thanks for the receipt, but while I’m here I might as well pay their phone bill too, how much is it?”

    “That bill is $67.00”, he says.

    “Ok, let me pay that too and get a receipt.” (I knew any phone bill receipt from hotels list all incoming and outgoing calls). I plunked down $67.00 and waited for another receipt. It is SLOWLY grinding its way through the DOT MATRIX printer.

  He hands me the receipt. I then thanked him and told him to have a good night. I wanted to run but instead slowly walked out the front door, then when I was out of view, I ran like hell to my car of course.

    My adrenaline was out of control.

    Not one time did I say Hernandez’s name or my name and paying cash makes me untraceable.

 

    I concluded that when Hernandez found out his bills were paid, I'm sure he thought he lucked out and someone paid his bills by mistake. This is why I never mentioned his name; he cannot prove he was targeted. And if this happens to drive him "bonkers" - SNAP!

 

    I drove directly to my office. Made no stops. This is a chain of custody thing you don’t want to screw up. The chain of custody requires from the moment evidence is collected, that every transfer of this evidence from person to person is to be documented; every stop you make has to be logged. This proves there was no way anyone unauthorized had access to this evidence to alter or change its contents.

    In the courtroom, if the witness questions the chain of custody of the evidence, it can be proven by the log and my own testimony, that the phone bill is the same phone bill gotten from the hotel. However, if there are discrepancies and it cannot be proven who had the phone bill at a particular point in time, then the chain of custody is broken and the witness can ask to have the resulting evidence declared inadmissible.

    At my desk, I was anxious to know if the phone numbers belonging to Menendez were on Hernandez’s phone bill. Yes!

    I then put the phone bill in an envelope, sealing it with red tape, and then locked it in the office safe. I then called the Attorney's, letting them know what I found, and handed these documents to them the next morning in the courtroom at 8:30 AM. 

    Later that day, the Attorney called thanking me profusely. He was thrilled in being able to submit the evidence to the court, and not only that, but the phone bill had matched another number to another false witness which resulted in them winning the case a week later.

    The attorneys let me keep the remainder of the $500.00 and they could not have been any more grateful.

    It took a couple of days for my adrenalin to return to normal and I kept thinking about that damn MATRIX PRINTER!  

SERVING INMATES

SERVING INMATES AT PRISONS

 

 

 

A few notes about serving inmates -

 

You can find out if a person is incarcerated by visiting the website of the particular prison you think he is in, most prisons have an on-line database, BUT you will need their full name, date of birth and/or their prison ID number. Most of the time, a prison ID number is needed if you don't have a date of birth. This number can be found in the inmates criminal file at the courthouse where that person was convicted. Some prisons require all three criteria or just one, depends.

 

Also, each prison has different policies on their inmates being served. You should call them first BUT they are extremely hard to get though to on the phone, not so much the County jails but the State jails are rough. You might not have any choice but to drive there and talk to the guard at the gate.

 

Sometimes on the prisons website there are administrative/legal office email addresses, then I email them asking how I can go about serving one of their inmates. Sometimes I get a response and sometimes I don't. It's a crap shoot.

 

When you arrive at any jail or prison, remove all metal including staples from the legal papers. Nothing sharp is allowed on prison grounds, not even a staple.

 

You can also visit http://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/ and find out what prison your subject is at.

 

Beware, you CANNOT wear any blue jeans or any blue jean material when visiting a prison. The tower guards will see you coming and over the loud speaker they will tell you to go back to your vehicle, also telling you blue jeans are not allowed on prison grounds.

 

Hint: If you are trying to find a defendant to serve them and you can't locate them, go ahead and check the inmate locator. I have found my share of defendants in prison and would not have known this if I didn't check for the heck of it.

 

Here's a quick story: A family was referred to me a year ago, seems their son was traveling by car with a friend to New York and the last they heard from him, he was in Ada, Oklahoma or some Midwestern state, I forget which one. He had not been in touch for 3 days. I found out from his parents he did have a little history of being a flake, so I checked the websites for Ada county jails, checking for recent arrests, and his name was listed. He was arrested for being in a vehicle with his buddy who was drunk. Originally, when he was allowed to make that one phone call, he didn't call his family, he called another friend in New York, but his family eventually got through to him at the jail. He was eventually released.

 

Checking resources like this is valuable so use it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



NUT JOB MOTHER OF ALL NUT-JOB MOTHERS

 

    July, 2008, a beautiful day sitting in my office contemplating if I should go play 18 holes of golf and as soon as I thought about playing hooky during a work day, the phone rings. I answer the phone and the response is: “My name is Joseph Kennedy, Attorney with a law firm in Lake Tahoe, CA. I was referred to you by another law firm who said you are the best person for our case. Do you have a moment to talk about this?” I said, “Sure”.

    This case involves Shelby Ford, living in Lake Tahoe, who has custody visitation of her son (6) and daughter (9), two times a year, at the end of summer and Christmas time. Twice a year for several years now, the father has flown the children from Atlanta to Sacramento, CA., so that the children can visit their mother. As court mandated, at the end of the two week visitation/vacation period the children are driven to the Sacramento airport by their mother. Shelby is suppose to purchase one-way tickets for the children making sure they get on their returning home flight to Atlanta, GA. These children live with their father and step-mother for the rest of the year as he has full custody.

    The problem is each time the mother, Shelby, returns the children to the Sacramento airport, various insane actions occur.  Such as the father never knows what airline the children are flying on, or what flight number or arrival time. Shelby never tells the father, Steve or step-mother, Karen, when or how the children are returning home. She sometimes doesn’t buy them a ticket, just drops them off at the front door of Southwest, then leaves and drives back to Lake Tahoe. One time she put the children on a one way flight to Dallas and another time Shelby bought one way tickets to St. Louis. But in these two instances the children are stuck at the airports while the father is frantic calling airlines searching for his children. Once Steve and Karen locate the children, he buys high premium tickets from wherever to Atlanta. These scenarios have been going on for a few years now, and since repeated court documents (to knock off this behavior) have gone unanswered by Shelby Ford, new legal documents are now calling for contempt citations against her.

    Here’s the real kicker: The father of these children, Steve Ford, having to worry about his children and wondering where they are, is an Army Captain on the front lines in IRAQ, dealing with this while fighting a war.

    So here we are, end of summer, the children are suppose to be at the Sacramento airport, Southwest airlines, @ 2 PM, with tickets in hand and on a flight to Atlanta. On this particular trip, Shelby told the father she will buy the tickets, one–way direct flight to Atlanta agreeing that the children will be there on time, will check them in and actually see them off at the gate.

    Also, Shelby Ford now needs to be served with these contempt papers and an order to show cause (court hearing that is mandatory she appear to determine why she is being an idiot). The main court documents states:  “At the end of the mother’s summer visit, the children shall be returned to the Atlanta Airport for their return trip. The Atlanta Airport is designated the return trip destination for the conclusion of the mothers visits”. These orders also include the mother buying one way plane tickets for her children and accompany them to the departing gate.

    My assignment was to enforce this court order by meeting Shelby Ford and her minor children, @ 12 noon, July 31, 2008, Southwest Airlines, Sacramento International Airport, ensuring the minor children have tickets, boarding passes and are scheduled to be put on a plane to Atlanta, Georgia.            

    Upon arriving at the airport @ 9:00 AM, the first stop was at the airport Sheriff’s Division, to meet with them explaining the entire nature of the legal papers, what my purpose was and informing them that civil standbys will be needed. We spoke about who has jurisdiction, where the state laws start regarding state vs. federal laws on airport property. It was determine the airport Sheriff’s Division have jurisdiction up to the security checkpoints governed by the Federal Transportation Security Administration. Once the children are pass the checkpoint, then Homeland Security is the governing agency.

    After the Sheriff’s Division meeting, I needed to find a Southwest Airlines executive who was going to back me up, more importantly find out if the children were reserved on any Southwest flights and if the tickets were paid for in advance. Since this information is extremely confidential I contacted an inside source I have in the airline industry.

    I arrived at the office of my inside source, @ 10 AM, and was informed that Southwest Airlines is the only airline not part of the flight network so she could not check their flights for the children names or reservations, however, I had her check all the other airlines anyway, and found no reservations were made and no tickets were bought for Stacie and Jimmy Ford.  My contact called the supervisor at Southwest Airlines, and explained the situation. I was then informed Southwest would help and to meet them at the Operations Dept. of Southwest.

    Around 11:00 AM, I met with the supervisor’s assistant, who checked all their Southwest flights finding out the children had no reservations and no tickets had even been purchased. I informed her that tickets will be purchased today and asked her to check her flights going to Atlanta and to reserve seats for the children. I gave her the names and birthdates of Stacie and Jimmy.  

    With no tickets or even reservations made by Shelby Ford, I now knew it was safe to assume Shelby Ford was going to bring the children to Southwest Airlines or any one of the Sacramento airport airlines and dump them - again.  

    I then contacted the airport Sheriff’s asking them to come to the Southwest Airlines terminal, explaining we have a possible parental abandonment issue and I wanted Shelby Ford arrested or detained until these court orders are met.

    By 11:30 AM, there were at least two Sheriff’s at the terminal reading all of the legal papers and orders, making phone calls to their supervisors, then other Sheriff’s would come by, they would have short meetings, (I gave them their privacy), then they would leave except for the original two Sheriff’s. An associate of mine stayed near the inside the terminal with the Sheriff’s while I stayed outside to watch Shelby Ford and the children pull up to the curb, ensuring the children were not just dropped off and abandoned outside the terminal.

    By 12:15 PM, while watching the entrance to Southwest airlines, I saw Stacie and Jimmy Ford walking from the parking structure near the terminal, not with their mother but instead, with their feeble grandmother. The two children were helping the grandmother walk. With two airport Sheriff’s at my side, I introduced myself to the children, had them take a seat nearby, and then when the children were out of ear shot, explained to the grandmother the specifics of the court orders. It did not take long to realize that she was incoherent, combative and a bit senile. She then tried to leave the airport with the children and was stopped by the Sheriff’s who told her that she and the children are officially being detained.

    This is where the trouble started - the grandmother would not turn the children over to me and continually argued with the sheriff’s, also refusing to tell us specifically where Shelby Ford was parked. We knew she was hiding in her blue SUV in one of several airport parking lots. The grandmother immediately wanted to know where Karen Ford (step-mother) was, that she was supposed to be here and fly back with the children. Crazy.  She was informed that Karen was never suppose to be here, that Shelby needs to come in, buy the tickets and see the children off. The Grandmother then yelled she was leaving with the children and the Sheriff’s stopped her again. The Grandmother immediately called Shelby from her cell phone and spoke to her, but would not let us overhear the conversation.  

    From 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM, an additional four Sheriff’s came on the scene including the Lt. Commander and additional Sergeant’s. They were all reading the legal papers together, having meetings with each other, making a lot of phone calls on their cell phones (to whom is unknown but assuming by the conversations these calls were to Commanders at the Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security). Officers also made phone calls to the attorney for Steve Ford.

    One of the Sergeant’s, Jody, was the main officer in charge who kept talking to the Grandmother and trying several times to get her to call Shelby Ford on her cell phone and have her come into the terminal. Finally, the Sergeant told the Grandmother the children will be taken away from her and sent to the children’s receiving home if she does not co-operate. I immediately told the Sergeant that Karen Ford gave me temporary custody of the children until this sorted out. I then called Karen and arranged for her to buy the children their tickets via Southwest airlines.

    The Grandmother continued to spew out statements such as “make Steve’s lawyer come here”, “Shelby’s lawyer says she doesn’t have to comply”, and “make Karen come here”, on and on which caused the children to be upset. One of the Sergeants’ finally got the Grandmother to call Shelby and confirm she would come into the terminal. We waited an hour and Shelby never showed. The Grandmother also kept calling an “attorney” speaking to her but not letting us hear the conversation. Finally, the Grandmother got through to Shelby’s attorney and one of the Sergeant’s spoke to this attorney. After explaining the court orders, the Sergeant asked this attorney when she was hired. After some discussion, Jody basically stated to the Attorney she had no authority to intervene as she never filed an Attorney of Record document until after the court orders were signed by the Judge. That was the end of this.

    During this wait period, we bought the children some food and drinks while the Grandmother kept spewing different statements to the Sheriff’s driving these guys crazy, like saying the children might get stolen off the plane etc. Again, one of the Sheriff’s told her to be quiet while they sort this out. At one point Jimmy was crying and we comforted him.  

    According to the acting-in-charge Sergeant, Jody, the Grandmother was making statements in front of or to the children about them being molested back home by their father, that they will not be properly fed or they will be left along and scared at their father’s home. I saw Jody go over to the Grandmother telling her to knock it off, shut up and sit.

    Still during this time, other Sheriff’s were making phone calls; even one Sheriff faxed all our legal documents to the District Attorney’s office. I think they were waiting for word from their superiors on what action they can take. One of the Sheriff’s then informed me after speaking to the DA’s office, that they can only hold the Grandmother and children for 4 hours, and then they have to let them go.

    Previously around 2:00 PM, I confirmed with a Southwest supervisor the tickets were bought for the children by Karen Ford.  He was getting all their ticket information, itinerary and boarding passes ready, as well as security passes for me so I could go through the checkpoint with the children and up to Gate 15. 

    It was apparent Shelby was never going to appear. Sheriff’s spent time going through parking lots looking for her and her vehicle with no result. We believe she left the airport until the Grandmother told her it was safe to come to the terminal and pick her up.

    The Lt. Commander, a Sergeant and another Sheriff received a phone call, and then had a meeting. The next thing I know is the Sergeant is screaming at Shelby Ford on her cell phone, telling her this was disgusting behavior for a mother, and is deplorable. Shelby Ford continued refusing to come into the terminal and speak with the Sheriff’s.

    A little while later and after more discussion, @ 2:45 PM, it was time for the children to go through TSA and to the gate. The grandmother insisted she come to the gate too, to “make sure the children are not stolen by anyone”. One of the Southwest supervisors gave the grandmother a security pass and a wheelchair. The Sheriff’s stayed behind the security line watching us. Their jurisdiction ends at the security point and Homeland Security takes over. 

    The grandmother was still behind us at the security checkpoint, I didn’t care.

    From 2:45 PM to 4:15 PM, we watched the children along with a Southwest supervisor at the departing gate. The supervisor continually had to intervene as the Grandmother was upsetting them with statements about molestation from their father, and Stacie was crying. The supervisor and I took the children near the actual gate ramp, and stayed there with them. A few minutes later we got Stacie to stop crying, and then flight attendant opened the door, introduced herself to the children taking them down the ramp onto the plane.

    I left the Grandmother sitting in her wheelchair and left the security area.

To recap - after several hours, Stacie and Jimmy Ford received their tickets and boarding passes, then escorted by us, along with four Sheriff’s and two Southwest supervisors up to homeland security. We then went to Gate 15 for departure @ 4:35 pm to Oklahoma City, with a layover in Phoenix, AZ. I arranged for a Southwest Airline supervisor in Phoenix to meet the children ensuring they were fed and to assist them in making their connecting flight home, which they did landing at 12:05 AM in Atlanta, GA.

    The next day, I received a phone call from IRAQ. I could hear the bone-chilling sounds of tanks and soldiers talking,  and feeling like I was right there on the battlefield. It was Captain Ford expressing his gratitude and thanking me for getting his children home safely. He kept calling me “Ma’am”. I always hate it when people call me Ma’am but coming from this Captain, it had a whole different feel.

    In Lake Tahoe, two days later, the mother was served by the Sheriff’s and arrested charging her with abandonment and obstruction of justice. A few months later, through the courts, Shelby Ford lost her parental rights permanently.

    As Captain Ford would say, BOORAH!!!

DOGS CAN BE PROCESS SERVERS TOO!

Here's a great tip:

When you need to wait to serve someone in a neighborhood where it is going to be very obvious to the suspicious neighbors that you are out-of-place - walk a dog!

I inherited Mozart, a little Shih Zu, and had him for two years. He loved riding with me, the best dog to travel with.

Mozart and I served many people while taking a walk around the neighborhood. We just "take a walk" and when the person we wanted to serve came home, we served them. (I kept the legal papers inside my jacket)

CUSTODY

     It’s the summer of 2008. I just birdied the 13th hole on my favorite golf course, the sun is shining and while fishing around for my sunglasses, my cell phone starts ringing, a call from an area code somewhere from the Midwest. Turns out it’s an attorney from Missouri, referred to by a Sacramento law firm. Their client is a father who lives and works in St. Louis, who has a missing child, a three year old daughter. The daughter lived in St. Louis until she was taken in the middle of the night by her mother, who then fled. The attorney and his client think she fled to Sacramento where her family last lived, and they want to find her.      

    The father, Steve, while in Sacramento on a business trip a few years ago, met Sabina, a beautiful young woman who recently came to the US. Steve met Sabina in a local Sacramento bar. They "fell in love", marrying a few months later, and Sabina agreed to move back to St. Louis, where they subsequently had a daughter.

    Sabina fled with their daughter - just disappeared from home. Steve had “no idea” his wife would desert him, taking their daughter and cutting all communication. The mother is not “breaking” any laws yet since they are still married. There are no legal or custody issues pending before any Missouri or California court. Law enforcement is not going to get involved until the mother is served with court documents ordering her back to St. Louis for hearings.

    Maybe I am getting twisted but I see this more and more. Some foreign women come to the US with their families; find some rich American to marry while their families continue to get public assistance from us. I have never found one family member in situations like this that had a job. They drive new SUV’s, live in really nice rental housing provided to them by  government assistance. They use their first names for their last names, middle names for their first names, last names for their middle names. They use each others names and use each other’s Social Security numbers. You can’t tell who is who. I am only talking about a small minority here I hope, but it seems in cases like this, when I work on them, an additional burden is added in finding them, because with all the scamming, it's hard to use confidential database resources to find them. 

    For the last three months, Steve sent thousands of dollars to the Sacramento address of his wife’s family with notes to give the money to his child and wife so they are not destitute. He continues to pay her cell phone bills, although she doesn’t respond to his phone messages. Steve continues to make the payments on her brand new Escalade that she supposedly drove to California. I really can’t make this stuff up.

    This Pakistani princess, (mother) would receive the checks from Steve, then cash them at check cashing businesses or third party vendors so you can’t trace the cashing transactions. The mother did not use banks. She wouldn't pass the scrutiny.

    Before taking this case on, I asked the attorney questions about his client as well as Sabina and I also spoke to the client myself. I need to know if there is any earlier instances of anti-social behavior (abuse, attempted suicide etc.) resulting in the possibility the mother would take her own life and that of the daughter.  

    After discussing this with the attorney and talking to his client, we then arranged a mail package be sent to me containing pictures, descriptions, cell phone bills (so I can see who she is calling), her parents address, vehicle descriptions and legal papers to be served.  The father petitioned the court for a divorce and a hearing to establish child custody issues. Steve doesn’t want any reconciliation, no second chances, he just wants her served and child custody orders issued.

    Where to start? The most crucial thing in cases like these is predicting human behavior. Assessing the stress level of the ex-spouse or kidnapper is vital and adjusting the way you perform is crucial so it does not get out of control. This kind of thing is in the papers everyday, where the signals were there all along, but no one predicted a kidnappers behavior correctly or use the right amount of control, which results in a tragedy.

    Opinion: I believe overdosing by some psychiatrists and psychologists are the cause of crime. In most domestic violence cases, murder-suicides, kidnapping and in most crime, the person(s) had been under the influence of psychiatric care and medications. The list of side effects (that pharmaceutical companies have to list in every TV commercial) takes more air time than talking about the unprovable benefits.  

    The first stop is the parent’s house in West Sacramento. I check out the complex, and see what the stakeout options are. I need to verify that her parents actually live there along with looking for the princess' vehicle. I find the address in an upscale complex, nice three story townhouse, with security gates. I punch in the gate code (I have gate codes to access all gated communities), or I could just jump the damn fence like I used to, but heck, I’m too old now. 

    This preliminary visit resulted in the parent’s vehicle being there, a brand new Chrysler van parked near the townhouse. This was during the day which tells me they probably do not work, as I figured. The Escalade was not around at this time.

    To cut your losses quickly which helps to determine best course of action, always do your activity checks during the day time. You can see better, scope out the environment and talk to the apartment managers before they close for the day. Before going to a lot of trouble, verify that the person(s) you are looking for actually live there. 

    Apartment managers are very fickle, you can get a mean one sometimes, and they will not tell you anything.  Figure out a weak point of theirs so they will assist you. Make up a story that gets them motivated to tell you what you need to know. Here’s one that works every time: walk in the manager’s office all cheery and pleasant. Sometimes carry the legal papers with you (not in this case) or just a notebook so you look official. Hand the manager a business card and start your story. Tell them the law firm you are working for lost track of a "witness" for a legal trial, involving two children in a car accident, and you have not been able to get any response from townhouse "#444", then state the name of the person you are looking for. Tell the manager you want to make sure the witness was still alive and well. Seriously. This statement puts the manager’s attention on the “poor children” 9 out of 10 times and you will have gained sympathy.

    The manager states the parents have lived there for two years and do not work, receiving assistance from the government to pay their rent. I showed the manager a picture of the mother and her daughter, stating she has never seen them or the Escalade around the complex. The manager states she walks the complex several times a day and has never seen them, but does see the parents.

    So this tells me Sabina and her daughter are not staying with the parents even though she uses this address to receive her checks from our client. To sit on the parent’s address and wait for her to show up is time consuming, expensive so my solution is to make this woman come to me. How? Read on.

    This calls for rattling the parents’ cage a bit and see what bites. Now when you do this, keep in mind they know where their daughter is, so always assume the parents are helping them hide and will be very hostile to you.   

    After knocking on the door, step back and to the side of the door so they cannot see through the peephole. Do not make yourself vulnerable for any physical contact. Some people, when they can’t see through the peephole, sometimes assume a child is knocking and they would have to open the door to see the “child.” Have the legal papers ready, if the person you want answers the door, explaining quickly you have legal papers and hand them to the person. If the person refuses them, just set them on the entrance door, and if the person starts to slam the door on you, throw the papers inside the door. If the person says they are not the person I am looking for, I ask for identification. Beware, if this is the person you are looking for and they do not want to show you their identification/drivers license, they WILL slam the door so be ready to throw the papers inside. 

    In this case: A 60’ish Pakistani man opened the door dressed in the turban garb and immediately was upset wishing he had not opened the door. I asked for his daughter, and he replied he had no idea where she was. I told him I did not believe him and told him to give Sabina these legal papers to attend a court hearing in Missouri. He wouldn’t take them so I threw them in the door while he was slamming it. I am calling a bluff here because you have to actually serve the person you are after, you can’t leave any legal papers with relatives on the first try. You can leave them with relatives or roommates on the third try but the person you are after has to actually live there. The daughter doesn’t live there so I am just creating a little harassment because I know he will give his daughter these papers – wherever she is. As I was walking back to my truck, I heard him open the door yelling in some language waving legal papers is his hand. He followed me to the end of his breezeway, stood there, still yelling while I drove away.

    I still continue to work on finding Sabina.

    Process Servers and Private Investigators are licensed by government agencies, therefore entitled access to certain confidential database resources. These database resources consist of names, addresses, property owned, vehicles, relatives, social security numbers, dates of birth, lawsuits, liens, judgments, bankruptcies, cell phone numbers, home and business phone numbers, spouses, sex offenses, airplane and boat ownership, just about anything on anyone, for each person who has applied for any kind of credit. These databases are extremely confidential and must never be used for things like finding celebrities. I make it a rule to only use these databases when there is a lawsuit involved. I do not help the average Joe find his ex-wife, or find out what vehicle is following him. You never know what some individuals will do with the information you give to them. This opens a whole world of insanity, domestic violence and your liability policy will be eaten alive. It can ruin your business and your reputation. Simple, don’t run anything information for individuals unless they have an attorney and this attorney knows you are doing it.

    These databases found Sabina's parents listed along with two other relatives who are younger than Sabina. They each list four different addresses around the Sacramento area with the dates they supposedly lived at these places, using different names with the same social security numbers, but that’s ok, I am just interested in first names and any address.

    So let’s do another activities check driving to the most recent address, looking around, scoping it out, see if the Escalade is anywhere around. One place I went to was a house on a corner lot which was empty. At the second place, there were three little Asian children playing out front, so I knew this was no help. The third address resulted in finding out this particular sister moved to Southern California, so no help here either. The last address was a rundown apartment complex in a high crime ridden area. This I liked a lot. You ask why??? Listen up.

    In high-crime areas, you get cooperation from apartment managers. They do not want any trouble whatsoever so when they see you coming, they want to assist you in any way so you don’t come back. This kind of environment is usually Section 8 housing, having its share of visits from the police, from the fire department, or domestic violence issues and robberies. They want to assist you, getting the problem taken care of and resolved quickly. Managers don’t want the apartment complex owners on their backs about renting to lowlifes nor do they like having to read police reports involving their property. These kinds of complexes have a 24 hour full-time management staff. They can’t leave these properties for a second and most managers live on site.  

    I always drive around the entire apartment complex first. You want to know where all the exits are, where the apartment managers office is and a spot where you can park your vehicle so you are as inconspicuous as possible. I locate the apartment I am interested in, and then park and watch the apartment for a while.

    It’s a good idea to just sit and observe sometimes. Also, this is where I do most of my thinking about how to proceed. All cases are not the same, and no two people are alike. Determine the right plan for the right person/case so you get the end result you want. Knowing the right plan comes from years of experience, but in the meantime never assume each situation will have the same reaction each time. They never do.

    When watching the apartment, an upstairs unit, I noticed a female of Pakistani descent, leaning on the banister smoking a cigarette. This woman was the same weight and build as the sister I am looking for. Now, step one. 

    I put my Process Servers ID on my belt and walk into the Manager’s office where three women are working. Immediately these woman have the “uh oh” look and one of them gets up and speaks to me. I introduce myself and mentioned what law firm I am working for, along with the fact that we are looking for a lost child (show the child’s picture), and we believe the child’s relatives live in this complex, Apt. 103.

    The apartment manager stated she has seen the child, not less than two days ago. The child comes over with her mother, driving the Escalade, visits for a while, then leaves. I verified  the sister does live in Apt. 103, and as it turns out, with her abusive husband and young daughter. The police have been called to this apartment once a month and the manager is getting ready to evict them. Lucky me, this puts the apartment manager on my side. I ascertain the sister’s name, what vehicles she and her husband drive and which parking spaces are assigned to them. I obtain the sisters phone number, and since neither her and her husband work, they would be home.

    Step two: I go back to my vehicle, take off my badge and put all the pictures and legal papers out of view. I then approach the woman on the banister not appearing threatening or official – yet.

     As I go up the stairs; she is comfortably sitting on the porch not giving me the time of day when I say hello. Luckily, she didn’t dart into the apartment and lock the door. This would be a real bitch because then I’d have to get all mad, bang on the door, get all sweaty, call the police, not to mention sitting on her balcony 24/7, generally being a pain in her ass. Plus, I’ll miss my tee time and that would really make me mad.

    The fact that she did not run tells me I might not get any information but she will at least be attentive. I immediately sensed she felt threatened, probably thought I was from social services inquiring about her daughter. You can bet your life that Sabina has told her sister to be on the lookout for anyone inquiring about her or her daughter so tread lightly, you don’t want to piss her off. If she is pissed that you showed up, you still have to “talk her down” to get any information. 

    Your objective is to find her sister and niece, getting them served which forces them to get on a plane, showing up for a court hearing in Missouri in five days. Do not make this woman an enemy. Sometimes it happens, if you use excellent communication along with some verbal tricks, you can get valuable information. Also, in a situation like this, you are vulnerable standing on stairs so be sure to stay on guard as her abusive husband could be in the apartment. 

    I didn’t look at this woman directly, just kind of relaxed against the banister, talking in a low boring monotone voice. I tell her my name, and then tell her it is such a nice day sitting on the porch, that I wish I didn’t have to work and could be out playing golf. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see her look at me. I just stand there in a non-threatening way until she says “yea”. Be patient and wait, they will eventually say something. I keep the slow monotone voice telling her that I am sorry she is in the middle of my problem but I need to speak to Sabina. 

    Then watch for a reaction, stay alert, will she run? Will she call her husband outside to kick your ass? Will she throw you down the stairs? Remember, her sister and niece are on the lam. Don’t take anything for granted just because she is “calm” at the moment. I know she won’t call the police, she has an eviction pending.  

    She states Sabina and her are estranged from each other (lie) and she hasn’t seen her sister in months (lie). I ask how Sabina’s daughter Isabel is and she replies ok as far as she knows (lie). Because of the lying, I raised the bar a bit telling her the whole legal situation, giving her the date and time of the court hearing in Missouri, that I already gave the legal papers to her father and that I need to speak to Sabina. I continue to just level with her telling her I spoke to the apartment manager, that I know Sabina and Isabel were here just two days ago. I even told her law enforcement will be contacted, and that four or five investigators will be camped out at this complex for the next few days watching her and looking for Sabina. 

    The sister didn’t like this. She calls Sabina leaving a message in another language. I have no idea what she was saying on Sabina’s voicemail but it doesn’t matter again because I got my message across. I told this woman I’ll give Sabina only twenty-four hours to contact me, and if not then I’ll be back with the police. I wish it was that easy.

    Twenty-four hours go by and no messages. From experience I know the father is talking to the mother, the mother is talking to Sabina, the sister is talking to Sabina, the sister is talking to her husband, the sister is talking to her other sister, and on and on. I have definitely rattled their cages. 

    To help avoid Sabina from running again, you have to keep the pressure on. The sister didn’t make sure Sabina called me so now it’s Step three:

    In situations like this, if you make a threat, carry it out. On day three, I took the pictures I had of Sabina and her daughter and made MISSING PERSON posters, taping them to apartment doors and vehicles around the sister’s building.

    To really keep the pressure up, I made a phony call to Sabina’s sister’s cell phone leaving a message, “Hey, I live at your apartments and I saw the posters today. I didn’t know your sister and niece are missing, I just saw them a few days ago at your place. Let me know if you want to organize a search party, call me, this is Gloria, Apt. 36.” Of course Sabrina’s sister is not going to call Gloria but she is going to call Sabrina and the entire family will really start freaking out. 

    In actions like this all you can do now is have patience and wait for the family to make a move. You have done everything possible within the guidelines of the law. The attorneys know this and respect any advice you give them about the next course of action. 

    The court hearing is now two days away in St. Louis and we never heard from Sabrina. The attorney was going to attend the hearing anyway asking for a new hearing date which gives us more time to locate and serve Sabrina.

    On the third day, in the afternoon after the hearing, when I was getting ready to hear the attorney tell me the new hearing date, I realized he was very upbeat – HUH? Well guess what? Sabrina and her daughter, Isabel got on a plane two days after I posted the Missing Child Posters, hired an attorney in St. Louis and showed up for the court hearing!

    Sabrina was found in contempt and was not allowed to leave the state until legal papers were drawn up outlining the agreements for custody. The attorney told me Sabrina would never have shown up in court if it wasn’t for all my efforts, that if I didn’t do what I did, this would never gotten resolved and Sabrina would continue to be on the lam.

    The father and daughter are now re-united and there is a custody agreement. If Sabrina were to ever try to take their daughter and run again, then this would be considered a state and federal inter-state amber alert, out of my hands and the FBI takes over.

                                                 
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