Corporate Investigations

Our client owned a recently purchased laundromat, that was experiencing vending machine break-ins and vandalism.  We installed a covert camera system with remote access, and were able to solve 8 of 9 burglaries within the first six months.  

The first of several cases was a subject that went into the laundry late at night using bolt cutters to cut the locks off vending machines.  We were able to catch him within a week when he returned.  What was unknown at the time, was he also had a homemade key to open the locks on all the washing machines coin boxes, and would empty several every few days.  The profit levels increased immediately.   

The second of many notable cases was a suspect that walked into the laundry early morning with a large hammer and screwdriver to break the coin box locks on around 30 washing machines.  Fortunately, the suspect wore his work shirt when committing the crime.  

We followed up with surveillance at the suspect's presumed place of business and located him.  Local law enforcement arrested him that same day based on our report and surveillance video used to identify the suspect.  

Our client, a large trucking company paid a mobile wash vendor to was all the tractor trailer rigs at three separate facilities.  The vendor employees would wash the rigs, then place a dated sticker on them indicating they were washed. At the end of the day, the vendor employees would turn in a work sheet listing all the vehicles washed by their fleet number.  The worksheets cited an average of 160 vehicles washed every day.   

The fleet manager became suspicious when he noticed some of the vehicles were not washed and the ground underneath them were dry.

We were given access to a company truck and provided a company logo shirt worn by drivers so we could move around freely on the parking ramp. Once in the tractor rig, we mounted cameras to document the work habits of the vending crew and the vehicle fleet numbers of vehicles that were actually washed.  

It was routinely documented, that after 3 to 4 hours, the employees would drive their mobile washing truck & trailer to the back of the facility and sleep for several hours.  Near the end of the day, the vendor employees would walk down long rows of rigs and place dated stickers on them, even though they had not been washed. 

Review of several days of surveillance video and the investigator log sheet revealed the wash crew was only cleaning approximately 50 vehicles a day, yet turning in worksheets for around 160 vehicles cleaned.  

The vendor company was billing roughly $200,000 per year for their contract service, yet were only performing about 32% of the service they were billing for.  A loss of around $140,000 per year.    

Our client, a major new car dealership had customers complaining about items missing from their vehicles after being serviced at the dealership.  The service center manager anticipated it may be the service driver who was responsible for taking the vehicles after check-in, and bringing them back out to the customers once the service was complete.   

We installed hidden cameras within the front passenger headrest with a view of the driver's compartment.  Once the cameras were installed, we placed electronics , digital camera, CD's, DVD's, etc. in the vehicle.  Additionally, we placed bait money in the ashtray (a $20, $10, $5, and three $1s) with a small tip of one bill sticking slightly out.   

We had our answer within minutes of dropping the bait vehicle off for an oil change.  The service driver did rummage through our glove box and center console, and examined several electronic items ... all strictly against company policy.  But a surprise to the manager was his most trusted mechanic took all the cash within 15 seconds of getting inside the vehicle.  

Both employees were immediately terminated and the customers compensated.