Judge throws out all charges against PI investigating Harvard murder

Judge throws out all charges against PI investigating Harvard murder Arlington, Mass., July 30, 2009:
In the other closely-watched case involving questionable arrests by police working in Cambridge, a judge dismissed all charges against a private investigator and his wife charged with breaking and entering and criminal trespass at Harvard University. Joseph Cadillic and Elissa Cadillic were arrested May 30. At the time of the arrest, Mr. Cadillic were taking photographs of a Harvard University residence-hall common area where a drug dealer had been shot to death two weeks before. Mr. Cadillic is employed with Nardizzi & Associates Inc., which was assisting the Simmons Agency, Inc. with research on how the murder intersected with drug dealing at Harvard University. After reviewing a motion to dismiss filed by defense attorney William Crowe and an objection filed by District Attorney Gerard Leone, District Court Judge Roanne Sragow allowed the defendants' motion on Tuesday morning, July 28. The Commonwealth has declined to appeal. One apparent implication is that investigators may take photographs in residential common areas at universities without being subject to immediate arrest. Permission can be granted by an occupant of the residence-hall floor; investigators need not obtain the permission of the owner. A graduating Harvard College senior admitted the Cadillics to the Kirkland House J -Entry and given them information about bullet holes and bloodstains the student saw there after Justin "J Cos" Cosby was shot to death May16. Principals for Simmons Agency Inc. and Nardizzi & Assocs. Inc. expressed surprise that police arrested a licensed investigator under the circumstances. "The release of the photographs and narrative will help keep next years' students from becoming targets of predatory crime,"according to Simmons Agency Inc. principal Robert Simmons. "Harvard University has attempted to restrict access to witnesses before, but lost in court," noted John Nardizzi. The landmark Massachusetts case Messing, Rudavsky & Weliky, P.C. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College held that, despite Harvard's demand to control access, investigators may interview most employees -- and former employees--of corporate defendants. Simmons Agency Inc. was established in 1935 and has worked on behalf of clients in the financial, industrial, and legal sectors. Robert Simmons has also been active as a pro bono consultant, lending his expertise to the Boston Center for Adult Education, the Massachusetts Housing Assistance Corporation and the Cape Cod Legal Assistance Program. Nardizzi & Associates, Inc. was founded by John Nardizzi, a lawyer admitted to the California Bar. The firm focuses on complex business litigation, criminal defense and medical malpractice. Most recently, the firm has worked on behalf of people wrongfully convicted of crimes, including a case against the Ayer police that settled this month for $3.4million.


Nardizz & Associates, Inc.
investigations - business intelligence
350 Massachusetts Avenue, No. 135
Arlington, MA 02474
Phone #781-596 -8200
Fax #781-596 - 8202
http://www.nardizzi.com/

Simmons Agency, Inc.
190 High Street, 2nd FloorBoston,
MA 02110T.
Phone #800-237-8230
Fax #617 -695-1815
http://www.simmonsagency.com/about.html

Tenant Tweets and is sued for libel by landlord

An apartment management company in Illinois has sued a tenant for libel over a "malicious and defamatory" tweet about the state of her apartment to her 20 followers on Twitter.
Chicago Bar-Tender has the complaint (PDF) filed by Horizon Group Management against Amanda Bonnen, who was a tenant in one of its Chicago buildings. The complaint notes that the @abonnen account named in the complaint had only 20 followers (the account appears to no longer be live). The blog also has a screen shot of @abonnen's May 12 tweet reply:
"You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's OK."


Link: http://www.abajournal.com/news/tenant_sued_by_landlord_for_50k_over_tweet/

Bloggers, beware AP to monitor use of all it's online content.

The Associated Press has taken the first move to protect its content online, with plans to create a news registry to tag and track all AP online content "to assure compliance with terms of use," according to an announcement following a board decision."The system will register key identifying information about each piece of content that AP distributes as well as the terms of use of that content, and employ a built-in beacon to notify AP about how the content is used," it adds."What we are building here is a way for good journalism to survive and thrive," Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP Board of Directors and vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group Inc, said in a statement. "The AP news registry will allow our industry to protect its content online, and will assure that we can continue to provide original, independent and authoritative journalism at a time when the world needs it more than ever."AP added that the registry would initially cover all AP text content online, and be extended to AP members in early 2010: "Eventually, it will be expanded to cover photos and video as well. AP will fund development and operation of the registry through 2010, until it becomes self-sustaining."


Link: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/broadband/e3ide42830a4943f36c23da727d6da5bc4c

Can anyone get unlisted cell phone records?

Even if you have an unlisted number, chances are that all your personal data -- your cell phone number, who you called, where you live, and the number of your private sex therapist -- are all up for sale somewhere on the Internet. Who's to blame for this? According to this Washington Post article, it's largely the carriers themselves, who do not have adequate security measures in place; one of their employees may even be selling your cell phone records to one of these outside companies. The only good news is that no one's data is private. I recently signed up for a "free cell phone records" site to see if I could find the unlisted numbers and home addresses of the big three telco CEOs: Randall Stephenson of AT&T, Dan Hesse of Sprint Nextel, and Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon. Unfortunately, Stephenson and Hesse had common names, so I couldn't find them in the huge pile of unlisted numbers that came back.


Links: http://www.zug.com/pranks/verizon/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/07/AR2005070701862.html
http://consumerist.com/5320389/customer-visits-verizon-ceos-home-gives-him-a-taste-of-no-privacy

Free Google 411 cell phone business search will connect you for free.

Call your favorite local business. Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411), then name the business you’re looking for and where it’s located. GOOG-411 will find it and connect you to it for free.
Local business information through SMS. Say “text message” after you hear the exact location of the business you’re looking for, and GOOG-411 will send you a text message with the business’s address and phone number.
No more 411 charges. GOOG-411 is a free service – even the call connecting you to the business you're looking for is free. (Carrier charges for the use of your mobile device may apply.)

The google phone number to add to your cell: 1-800-466-4411


Link:http://www.google.com/mobile/products/goog411.html#p=default

Two police officers in Philadelphia tell one story but a video provides a clearer picture.

When AGNES LAWLESS and three friends were inside a Lukoil convenience store in the Northeast at 3 a.m. last August, they'd all but forgotten the fender-bender in which they'd been involved moments earlier.
There was little damage, and the other driver had left the scene, near Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
What they didn't know was that they'd been rear-ended by the son of a police officer who was on duty, and dad was about to get involved.
Lawless was standing at the counter of the store, at Comly Road and Roosevelt Boulevard, smiling and chatting with the clerk, when she was grabbed from behind and violently pushed back with a police officer's gun in her face. After a chaotic struggle, Lawless was arrested and charged with assaulting the officer.
Lawless and her three friends, all in their early 20s, filed complaints with the Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau. But in cases in which it's a defendant's word against a police officer's, the benefit of doubt often falls to the cop.
Except when there's video.
Once surveillance video from the store's four security cameras was released, the case against Lawless collapsed, and disciplinary action commenced against the officer, Alberto Lopez Sr. A lawsuit against the city is likely.


Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090720_Store_video_catches_cop_bullying_woman.html?viewAll=y

The Privacy Academy is coming to Boston Sept. 16th-18th

The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) was founded in 2000 with a mission to define, promote and improve the privacy profession globally. We are committed to providing a forum for privacy professionals to share best practices, track trends, advance privacy management issues, standardize the designations for privacy professionals, and provide education and guidance on opportunities in the field of information privacy. The IAPP is responsible for developing and launching the first broad-based credentialing program in information privacy, the Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP). The CIPP remains the leading privacy certification for many thousands of professionals around the world who serve the data protection, information auditing, information security, legal compliance and/or risk management needs of their organizations.

Private investigators may be interested in this event Sept. 16-18 at The Boston Marriott Hotel at Copley Place.
The New Massachusetts PrivacyLaw: What Does It Mean for You?
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will kick off this special preconference workshop. Learn how to comply with the new law and get your questions answered by the regulators who wrote and are enforcing the law.

http://www.privacyacademy.org/
http://www.privacyacademy.org/images/stories/A09_Program_Mailer_v14_presented.pdf



Link:https://www.privacyassociation.org/index.php

Will a private investigator be needed for a man who calls the police on himself?

WAYNESVILLE , North Carolina— A 52-year-old Waynesville man called 911 on Wednesday to tell police he was about to rob a bank.
Terrence Joseph Germani, who investigators believe walked to the Wachovia on Russ Avenue from his house on Parsley Street, was on the line with a dispatcher as he opened the bank's front door.
He calmly told the dispatcher he was wearing a black shirt and white shoes and was not armed. He also said he had been mentally unstable all of his life.
“I've got a note, I am going to rob the bank,” he said. “I need to go to prison. I can't live like this anymore.”
Germani, police say, handed a teller a note saying he was there to rob the bank.


Link: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090716/NEWS01/907160330

Frank Hatley in Atlanta is freed from jail for non-payment of child support, for a kid that isn't his.

Frank Hatley had sat in a Cook County jail since June 25, 2008, even though a special assistant state attorney general and the judge knew Hatley was not the child’s biological father.
After showing a judge during a hearing Wednesday that he was indigent, Hatley was ordered released from confinement, his lawyer, Sarah Geraghty of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said.
The judge, however, postponed deciding whether Hatley must still repay the more than $10,000 in child support the state says he owes. But Hatley does not have to make any monthly payments until that issue is resolved, Geraghty said.
“I’m certainly glad Mr. Hatley has been released but the underlying issue has still yet to be resolved,” Geraghty said.



Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/man-jailed-for-child-91830.html

Supreme Court requires scientists to testify, regarding their findings.

Legal experts and prosecutors are concerned about the results of last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires lab analysts to be in court to testify about their tests. Lab sheets that identify a substance as a narcotic or breath-test printouts describing a suspect's blood-alcohol level are no longer sufficient evidence, the court ruled. A person must be in court to talk about the test results. "This is the biggest case for the defense since Miranda," said Fairfax defense lawyer Paul L. McGlone, referring to the Supreme Court ruling that required police to inform defendants of their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He said judges "are no longer going to assume certain facts are true without requiring the prosecution to actually put on their evidence." Last month's Supreme Court ruling emerged from a case in which Luis E. Melendez-Diaz allegedly stashed cocaine in a Boston police car while he was under arrest. The certificate of analysis, determining that the white powder found in the car was cocaine, was entered without a technician's testimony and with only minor objection.
Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that Melendez-Diaz "was entitled to 'be confronted with' the [lab] analysts at trial."



Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/14/AR2009071403565.html?hpid=topnews

Atlanta man jailed for failure to pay child support even when DNA tests prove he isn't the biological father.

Frank Hatley has languished in a South Georgia jail for more than a year.
The reason? He failed to reimburse the state for all the public assistance his “son” received over the past two decades.
The problem? Hatley is not the biological father -- and a special assistant state attorney general and a judge knew it but jailed Hatley anyway.
“I feel bad for the man,” Cook County Sheriff Johnny Daughtrey said Tuesday. “Put yourself in that man’s shoes: If it wasn’t your child, would you want to be paying child support for him?”
Daughtrey said he hopes a hearing Wednesday will resolve the matter. Hatley has been held at the county jail in Adel since June 25, 2008, costing the county an estimated $35 to $40 a day.
Even after learning he was not the father, Hatley paid thousands of dollars the state said he owed for support. After losing his job and becoming homeless, he still made payments out of his unemployment benefits.
Hatley’s lawyer, Sarah Geraghty of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, said two independent DNA tests -- one nine years ago and one just a few days ago -- prove he is not the biological father.


Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/court-knew-man-jailed-91036.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

"Crime checkpoints in Washington ruled unconstitutional.

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that checkpoints set up by District police in neighborhoods beset by violence are unconstitutional, effectively ending a crime-fighting tactic that officials say was used in only the most dire circumstances to protect residents.
In a strongly worded opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit condemned the roadblocks, which police used last summer in the city's Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast Washington. The checkpoints, which have not been used in about a year, were a response to a spate of shootings, including a triple homicide.
"It cannot be said that citizens have a right to drive upon the public streets of the District of Columbia or any other city absent a constitutionally sound reason for limiting their access," Chief Judge David B. Sentelle wrote for a three-judge panel. "It is apparent that appellants' constitutional rights are violated."
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney for the Partnership for Civil Justice, which sued the District on behalf of four residents, hailed the ruling as a victory for law-abiding drivers who were questioned at checkpoints. In an effort to quell a series of shootings, drivers were forced to stop at roadblocks and were asked whether they had a "legitimate" reason to be there. Some were denied passage. "We have always asserted that this program was blatantly unconstitutional, and the mayor and the attorney general should not be running roughshod over the basic fundamental rights of the citizens of the District," Verheyden-Hilliard said.


Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/10/AR2009071002750.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Private investigator in MA assists in aprehending a thief living in New Hampshire.

SALEM, N.H. — Even though the painting was worth up to $20,000 by some estimates, John McCulloch was offering the one-of-a-kind Douglas Van Howd work for $1,000 on the Web site Craigslist, police said.
But the 25-year-old Salem resident didn't realize the buyer he was negotiating with by phone on Friday had tricked him. The so-called buyer was actually a private investigator from Massachusetts, hired by the painting's real owner to track down who had the stolen art, police said. McCulloch's negotiations led to his arrest late Friday night, after he presented the rolled-up painting to Salem Detective Mike Rogers for the negotiated price of $700.
"Once we confirmed the painting was stolen, we started talking to the private investigator. We were going to keep him as the buyer. They agreed on $700," Rogers said. "(McCulloch) insisted they did the deal at his home on 6 Dexter Road."
The investigator was instructed to tell McCulloch that Rogers was his brother and would pick up the painting. Rogers went to the house in plain clothes, talked to McCulloch briefly about the sale, and then signaled a group of police officers waiting down the street to assist with the arrest. Detective Juan Valerio was sitting in a nearby car in case anything went wrong.

Link: http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_188035632.html?keyword=topstory

Charges dropped against two men in a 20-year-old murder case.

California: They stood before a Cook County judge Tuesday morning in bright yellow jumpsuits, convicted quintuple murderers in a heinous arson- related slaying more than two decades ago.
Hours later, Ronald Kitchen, 43, and Marvin Reeves, 50, strolled out of the 26th and California courthouse free men in business suits befitting Wall Street's best.
"It hasn't really hit me yet. It's surreal," Kitchen said after the Illinois attorney general's office dismissed charges in the allegedly drug-related 1988 murders of two women and their three children on the Southwest Side.
Kitchen, who said he was forced to confess by an underling of disgraced former Chicago Police Detective Cmdr. Jon Burge, was originally sentenced to death, and Reeves had been been serving five life terms without parole. The two were originally convicted based on evidence gathered by detectives under the supervision of Jon Burge. Burge has recently gained notoriety for allegedly torturing more than 200 criminal suspects between 1972 and 1991 in order to force confessions. Their case was based largely on Kitchen's confession, but he's long maintained that he was tortured into the admission. Reeves, too, had long proclaimed his innocence. Kitchen says that Burge's detectives coerced him into confessing by beating him in the head with a telephone. He also says that he was punched in the face and kicked in the groin.

Links: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1654837,kitchen-reeves-charges-dropped-070709.article
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/08/crimesider/entry5144256.shtml

Employers use LinkedIn over Facebook and Twitter in the hiring process.

Kingston, NJ (June 9, 2009) – Three-quarters of hiring managers check LinkedIn to research the credentials of job candidates, according to a Jump Start Social Media poll on how social media is being used in the hiring process. Of the hiring managers surveyed, 75% use LinkedIn, 48% use Facebook, and 26% use Twitter to research candidates before making a job offer. “Social media is not only a great networking tool, it’s also a way for employers to perform reference checks on job candidates,” said Veronica Fielding, president of Digital Brand Expressions and its social media service for consumers, Jump Start Social Media. “Because LinkedIn is the most professionally oriented of the three, it tends to attract hiring managers who are doing due diligence.” When it comes to sourcing job candidates, more hiring managers again prefer LinkedIn to Twitter and Facebook. Of the hiring managers surveyed, 66% of hiring managers visit LinkedIn, 23% visit Facebook and 16% use Twitter to find job candidates to fill openings.
“While social media sites are ideal ways of gaining more information on job candidates, hiring managers generally use job boards and more traditional methods of finding suitable resumes,” says Ms. Fielding. “Whether or not you are job hunting, you should be aware that your public profile is easily accessible so be sure to maintain a professional personal brand."


Link: http://www.jumpstartsocialmedia.com/pressrelease02.htm

Boston police and other police departments use Twitter to aid in the capture of suspects.

Twitter communities also have to be convinced that police are fully transparent. When a suspect bit a police officer’s arm in south Boston in late May, the news was out on Twitter within minutes. Tweets followed the progress of the incident, from the arrest of the attacker to the hospital where the uniformed victim was being treated. Some in the cyber-audience wondered whether cops would be as open if the victim had not been one of their own.
“If that was a zombie bite, would you tell us?” one Tweeted.
“Yes, absolutely,” police posted back, not missing a beat.
The playful reply struck a chord across the Boston blogosphere—and appeared to convince the skeptics. The Boston police Twitter service signed up an additional 1,500 followers soon after the “zombie” call-and-response—bringing the total number of subscribers to more than 4,000, according to Sgt. James Meredith, who oversees the Twitter account for the Boston police.
Meredith, an 18-year veteran of the Boston force, concedes that most people who signed up may have been attracted by the entertainment value, but “that’s fine with me.” Whatever gets the public through the door will help police provide a better service to their communities, Meredith said. Now, if Boston PD needs the public’s help to locate a suspect, for example, they can count on a large number of potential helpers from their built-in Twitter audience. “[The zombie bite exchange] showed that there’s a different side to the police department.” Boston PD also doesn’t send out a huge number of messages with suspect descriptions, which other police departments are increasingly doing. The Boston Twitter service is not intended to solve crimes, cautions Meredith, although he adds that the force may consider using the network for Amber Alerts.
“Cops are pretty secretive with their personal lives,” said Shipley. “Most in law enforcement have caller ID block, an unlisted phone number and try to get their home address and information removed from search engines. So opening up online puts you in a precarious situation.”
Police management isn’t helping matters. According to Shipley, law enforcement higher-ups are increasingly tracking officers’ personal sites and blogs and punishing them for the content. “The more agencies, during their hiring practices and post employment, look at the Internet as a source of information about officers’ lives outside of work, the more officers will fear posting,” he said. “Those officers who can post or Tweet about non-work related things will be fine with the technology.”

Link:http://thecrimereport.org/2009/07/06/twitter-this/

Private investigators may want to check Ebay for stolen merchandise after reading this story.

Paso Robles police discovered that items swiped from neighborhood cars were being sold online after a victim of the burglaries found her stolen goods for sale on eBay while looking to replace them, the Paso Robles Police Department told The Tribune this afternoon.
"She noticed about five of her kid's same video games were bundled together and the seller was in Paso Robles," Detective Dan Hackett said.
Video games, iPods and cameras were among the approximately 12 sales of the stolen goods posted on the online auction Web site­ - with others also bundled together in one sale ­- from a string of April burglaries from unlocked cars, police said.


Link: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/breaking_news/story/776295.html

How is society affected by the "incarceration generation"?

“Parental imprisonment has emerged as a novel, and distinctly American, childhood risk that is concentrated among black children and children of low-education parents,” said Christopher Wildeman, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who is studying what some now call the “incarceration generation.”
Incarceration rates in the United States have multiplied over the last three decades, in part because of stiffer sentencing rules. At any given moment, more than 1.5 million children have a parent, usually their father, in prison, according to federal data. But many more are affected over the course of childhood, especially if they are black, new studies show.
Among those born in 1990, one in four black children, compared with one in 25 white children, had a father in prison by age 14. Risk is concentrated among black children whose parents are high-school dropouts; half of those children had a father in prison, compared with one in 14 white children with dropout parents, according to a report by Dr. Wildeman recently published in the journal Demography.
With financial woes now forcing many states to rethink the relentless expansion of prisons, “this intergenerational transfer of problems should be included as an additional cost of incarceration to society,” said Sarah S. McLanahan, a sociologist at Princeton University and director of a national survey of families that is providing data for many of the new studies.


Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/us/05prison.html?_r=2&ref=us

Barrage of subpoenas spreads throughout Capitol in Harrisburg, PA

HARRISBURG — State lawmakers and legislative staffers on Thursday were subpoenaed by former House Democratic Whip Mike Veon and other defendants in a legislative corruption scandal, an attorney involved in the case said.
At least 39 subpoenas were served at the Capitol offices of lawmakers of both parties. Some said as many as 100 were served. Those served are required to appear at a hearing next week on the defendants' pretrial motions.
Receiving a subpoena from defense lawyers does not mean the recipient is suspected of wrongdoing by authorities.
"It's our understanding that over 100 members and staff received subpoenas," said Brett Marcy, a spokesman for House Democrats. "It is also our understanding that both Democrats and Republicans were served."


Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_632151.html

Police in Michigan purchase a doughnut store

CLARE, Mich. -- A few Mid-Michigan police officers are creating the ultimate cliché.
When the Clare Police Department got word that their beloved bakery and doughnut shop was shutting down, the department decided to buy it.
The guys ribbed for spending too much time at doughnut shops outright bought one and they’re getting a lot of smirks and raised eyebrows from customers.
It turns out the previous owners were running low on dough and were just weeks away from folding up the 113-year-old bakery.

Link: http://www.wnem.com/news/19939252/detail.html

Are scent dogs unreliable, is it junk forensics?

Two federal lawsuits are casting a harsh spotlight on an investigative tool long beloved by American law enforcement: a bloodhound's nose.
Lawsuits filed in Victoria, Texas, allege that Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett and his team of hounds — James Bond, Quincy and Clue — failed controversial sniff tests known as "scent lineups."
Much like in traditional lineups, the dogs link human scents left at crime scenes to samples from suspects.
In each case, the suits allege, Pikett's dogs called attention to the wrong person. Both former suspects have been cleared.
Defense lawyers say the technique smacks of forensic voodoo and casts further suspicion on the broader use of scent dog evidence.
"It's a fraud on so many levels," says Jeffrey Weiner, former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Since 2004, two men in Florida and one in California have been freed after DNA evidence exonerated them. They had been convicted, in part, on the use of scent evidence, according to the Innocence Project, which uses DNA to exonerate the wrongly convicted. Pikett's dogs weren't involved in those cases.

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-29-scent-lineups_N.htm?csp=34