by admin_lauth | Jul 8, 2016 | Success Story
A few years ago, a local insurance company asked their special investigations unit to locate a primary witness on an accident case. Their attempts included accessing several databases with the social security number and date of birth. Upon hiring Lauth Investigations International, private investigators found that the subject had been using the nickname “Little Man” and his true name was an alias. Investigators then traveled to the accident scene and interviewed several individuals that commonly loiter at the corner. Using the description of the primary witness using the nickname Little Man when questioning the individuals at the accident location, they provided Lauth investigators with an approximate location of the primary witness. Traveling to the location and physically knocking on several doors, a neighbor pointed investigators to a home determined to be the mother of the witness who was only 17 years-old. With the mother’s cooperation, a telephone statement was obtained by the teen.
by admin_lauth | Jul 8, 2016 | Success Story
A local law firm retained Lauth Investigations skilled private investigators to assist in a child endangerment case. The clients were the grandparents of two children that were living with their mother and her boyfriend. The objective of the investigation was to impeach the credibility of the mother because of suspicions of drug use and high traffic at the mother’s residence. Short-term human surveillance video documented extremely high traffic frequency at the apartment. In addition, surveillance uncovered that the mother and boyfriend had been leaving the children with neighbors and strangers who were unknown to the grandparents. Lauth’s private investigators also conducted a background check of the live-in boyfriend and discovered numerous disturbance reports, altercations with neighbors, and police incident reports of domestic violence witnessed by the children.
by admin_lauth | Jul 8, 2016 | Success Story
Lauth Investigations International was retained by the Fortune 500 Company Pepsi-Co Inc. to uncover suspicions of a driver who for several months was allegedly stocking too much inventory in his truck. For nearly two weeks, Lauth Investigations conducted vehicular surveillance of the subject using two vehicles to determine what days and times the increased inventory was being dropped. As a result, investigators obtained over one hour of video surveillance of the suspected employee meeting with a few locals unloading and transferring nearly 2 tons of Pepsi from an immobile standby and daily truck to a large Ryder semi-trailer. Later, three employees were prosecuted for theft and receiving stolen goods, including some of the locals that assisted the employees in transportation of the stolen property.
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by admin_lauth | Jul 8, 2016 | Private Investigations News
The demand for background checks is on the rise.
According to Time Magazine, the FBI completed more than 2.1 million background checks for gun purchases in June 2016. This is an increase of 40 percent over 2015, and experts are pointing to the June 12 shooting in Orlando, where 49 people were killed, as the cause of this spike.
These FBI background checks are initiated anytime someone tries to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed gun dealer.
“Mass shootings and acts of terrorism tend to spark increased gun sales because Americans fear for their safety and also because gun advocates worry that the mass shooting will initiate stricter gun control,” writes Time Magazine’s Rosalie Chan.
Mass shooting and acts of terrorism also tend to spark an increase in background checks more broadly.
As employers and HR specialists are becoming increasingly worried about workplace violence, as landlords become increasingly concerned about the backgrounds of their tenants, and as those in the dating world are becoming increasingly anxious about whether or not a would-be-lover is indeed who they say they are.
Consider out these statistics compiled by HireRight:
False Information
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53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information.
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In a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 49% of the 3,100 hiring managers surveyed had caught a job applicant fabricating some part of his/her resume.
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34% of all application forms contain outright lies about experience, education, and ability to perform essential functions on the job.
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9% of job applicants falsely claimed they had a college degree, listed false employers, or identified jobs that didn’t exist.
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11% of job applicants misrepresented why they left a former employer.
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Nearly one-third of job applications listed dates of employment that were inaccurate by more than three months.
On-The-Job Violence
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Up to 5% of American workplaces experience a workplace violence episode annually.
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FBI Studies estimate nearly 355,000 businesses will experience a workplace violence episode in any given year.
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13% of the 5,840 workplace fatalities that happened in 2006 were the result of assaults and violent acts.
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There were 11,613 workplace homicide victims between 1992 and 2006, averaging just under 800 homicides per year.
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Of those establishments reporting an incident of workplace violence in the previous 12 months, 21% reported that the incident affected the fear level of their employees and employee morale.
Employee Theft
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In 2008, the majority of retail shrinkage was due to employee theft at $15.9 billion, which represented almost half of losses (44%).
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In 2008, the average employee theft case was $2,672.
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30% of all business failures are caused by employee theft.
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In 2007, one in every 28.2 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer.
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The FBI calls employee theft the fastest growing crime in America. 55% of perpetrators of employee theft are managers.
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75% of all employees steal at least once.
Drugs
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More than 75% of substance abusers are employed.
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In 2007, 8.4% of those employed full-time were current illicit drug users, and 8.8% reported heavy alcohol use.
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Substance abusers change jobs as frequently as 3 times a year.
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Substance abusers are at least 33% less productive.
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Substance abusers are 2.5 times more likely to be absent 8+ days a year.
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Drug abusers cost twice as much in medical and worker comp claims as drug-free workers.
Bad Hires
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Negligent hiring cases have had verdicts of up to $40 million.
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The average settlement of a negligent hiring lawsuit is nearly $1 million.
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Employers have lost more than 79% of negligent hiring cases.*Source: Fortune, 2/00
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It costs $7,000 to replace a salaried employee, $10,000 to replace a mid-level employee and $40,000 to replace a senior executive.
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The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the first year’s potential earnings.
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Replacing supervisory, technical and management personnel can cost from 50 to several hundred percent of the person’s salary.
Hiring an experienced investigations firm that is adept in conducting complete and thorough background checks from the ground up is the best first step in safeguarding against false information, workplace violence, employee theft, drugs in the workplace, and bad hires.
Be sure to visit our website for more information.
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by admin_lauth | Jul 7, 2016 | Private Investigations News
Here are 8 Signs of a Potential Dangerous Person In the Workplace. This is in no way an exhaustive list, merely a few common red flags to watch out for:
1. A Controlling Nature
This person is not the industrious take-charge type, but a true threat when it comes to controlling others. Change unravels this type of person.
2. Violent Opinions
These people tend to blame victims and are particularly interested in news about the latest school or workplace shooting, bombing, etc. It could be a red-flag if the individual often talks about, or expresses interest in, violent and odd topics.
3. Obsession With Power
This point has some overlap with number one, but this type of individual may have a gun collection, subscriptions to ammo or paramilitary magazines, or be active on online communities for firearms. He or she might also be obsessed with law enforcement.
4. Assume Others are Out to Get Them
Employees who seem hyper-vigilant, or even paranoid, may be under the impression that others are out to get them. A signal could be something as simple as a comment saying, “somebody is poisoning this coffee.” Paranoid thoughts, and expressions of those thoughts, are a red-flag for potential violent behavior in the future.
5. Frequent use of malicious references
These people are likely to say things like: “She had it coming,” or, “Karma is a great thing and will come back to bite him.”
6. A Generally Weird Personality
They generally are the oddballs, the ones who stand out. They don’t get invited to parties coworkers throw. Although there are tons of harmless people with odd personalities, this is a potential red-flag.
7. Lifestyle is Not Health-Conscious
Not very many of us have the discipline to live a completely health-conscious lifestyle. That is not uncommon. However, at the extreme end of the spectrum: people often smoke and/or drink, rely on pain pills all the time, are hooked on sleeping pills, eat junk-food constantly, and are the last people you’ll see at the gym performing lifts or taking a high-impact aerobics class.
8. Ongoing Anger
These types of people are frequently irate, and they often blame others for this anger. These are the people, that at some point, will reach boiling point.
