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Thread: Private Investigator arrested for stalking for surveillance using GPS.charged with stalking in unique case - The

  1. #1
    John Calderon is offline Lifetime Professional Management Member

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    Re: State Laws GPS Needed

    I just read an article about a PI in Colorado who was arrested for "Stalking" because he used a GPS in the case he was working on.

    According to the article, the PI was arrested because the woman in question stated she suffered emotional distress, which is a sub section of the stalking statue and doesnt need to be proved.

    I havent read any updates, so if someone knows anything about this maybe this would help our union brothers and sisters out.

    here is the article http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_15764175

    Weld County private eye charged
    with stalking in unique case

    By Kirk Mitchell

    The Denver Post
    POSTED: 08/13/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
    UPDATED: 08/13/2010 05:57:04 AM MDT

    A private investigator was arrested and charged with felony stalking recently in Weld County for doing what colleagues say is the backbone of their profession: surveillance.

    Timothy Allan Stitt, 42, was charged in Weld County District Court for putting a tracking device on the car of Shantele Sherman in LaSalle last month.

    Stitt admitted he was following Sherman at the behest of her estranged husband, Jeff Schudel.

    The two are in a child-custody dispute.

    "I don't know if that's ever happened before," said Denver private investigator Ryan Ross, who writes a blog about private-investigator issues in Colorado. "The charges weren't specific to him using a GPS. The ramifications are much broader."

    A prosecutor at the Weld County district attorney's office filed a stalking charge against Stitt after Sherman claimed she suffered severe emotional distress. Schudel, too, has been charged with stalking.

    Assistant District Attorney Michael Rourke said he couldn't comment on Stitt's case out of fairness to him. Rourke said he was not aware of any private investigators ever being charged with stalking before.

    A subsection of statute

    Stitt was charged under a subsection of the stalking statute. People violate the law if they repeatedly follow, approach, contact, place under surveillance or make any form of communication with another person — or a member of that person's family — and cause him or her "serious emotional distress."

    The statute does not require the complainant to receive professional counseling in order to prove the criteria are met.

    Rourke said he believes private investigators should be concerned about the statute if they are causing people serious emotional distress.

    But Ross said police also follow possible criminals, and that distresses them. Just like police, private investigators perform a legitimate service, he said.

    "A lot of private investigators have cases that obligate them to follow somebody," Ross said. "When we get hired, it's not for prurient interests. It's to protect the life and safety of children."

    In some cases, people hire private investigators to try to gather evidence that their spouse has a drinking problem or other habits that jeopardize their kids.

    In Stitt's case, Schudel allegedly called his estranged wife and told her he had paid a lot of money to track her whereabouts, an arrest warrant affidavit says.

    "Shantele stated that (her husband) knew exactly when she was out at night and when she was at work," the document says. "So if it takes three months or three years, these people will be watching how you care for our son."

    GPS device under car

    Sherman found a black metal GPS device with two green lights attached under her car. She said she was shaking.

    There was no indication in the arrest affidavit that Sherman knew Stitt was following her until her husband called her.

    Colorado lawmakers defined stalking as involving "highly inappropriate intensity, persistence and possessiveness, it entails great unpredictability and creates great stress and fear for the victim."

    "It involves severe intrusions on the victim's personal privacy . . . as well as risks to security and safety of the victim."

    When the detective interviewed Stitt, who has a business called Civil Task Force Investigations, Stitt acknowledged working for Schudel. He said Schudel paid him $300 to put the GPS device under Sherman's car. He had been following Sherman for about two weeks.

    Stitt declined to comment to The Denver Post.

    Ross said there are as many as 500 private investigators in Colorado, which does not license them.

    "PIs and clients don't want to have to guess what a police officer will do," Ross said. "If we know where the line is, we won't cross it."

  2. #2
    Michael Newman's Avatar
    Michael Newman is offline Licensed Private Investigator
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    PERSONAL Opinion Only

    The PI messed up by not having a signed affidavit contract from the client that he should not mention surveillance or GPS. Both the PI and the client put themselves in jeopardy with the stalking law by willfully blowing their own cover by telling the woman she is being tracked.

    Secondly, there are better places to place the GPS unit on a target's car than where she ultimately found it. It should have been more carefully concealed.

    If I were charged with this item in Denver, I would hire a civil-rights attorney, plus petition the ACLU to offer aid.
    Michael Newman
    Licensed Private Investigator

  3. #3
    John Calderon is offline Lifetime Professional Management Member

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    Re: PERSONAL Opinion Only

    I also wondered why the PI told anyone he was tracking Mrs. Sherman.

  4. #4
    Donna Reagan's Avatar
    Donna Reagan is offline Administrator
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    Re: PERSONAL Opinion Only

    Quote Originally Posted by John Calderon View Post
    I also wondered why the PI told anyone he was tracking Mrs. Sherman.
    He didn't.

    He only told the client (the husband), who asked for the GPS. It was the client who was not informed nor required by the PI to refrain from revealing the technique or gps surveillance, who bragged to his ex that he had hired a PI with GPS.

  5. #5
    Luis Jimenez--'s Avatar
    Luis Jimenez-- is offline Private Investigator Forum Member

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    Re: Private Investigator arrested for stalking for surveillance using GPS.charged with stalking in unique case - The

    he make a mistake in said that he was a PI

  6. #6
    Rogaciano Garcia is offline *** Certified SPI
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    Re: Private Investigator arrested for stalking for surveillance using GPS.charged with stalking in unique case - The

    You right Luis, he never had to accept to place a gps or other device under the car. An said that he was a PI.

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