In every professional capacity, staff gathers the truth. But quite often, the general public assumes that the majority of our time is spent finding hidden divorce assets and proving workers compensation fraud.
Because of our stellar reputation with lawyers, a defense attorney and his client appeared in our office, desperate for our assistance. The client, Jon (name changed), was a well-known professional athlete who had been arrested and charged with rape. To make the matter even worse, the victim was a minor female, age 17. As you can probably guess, the media was in a frenzy.
Jon and his defense attorney requested assistance from our office, to prove Jon’s innocence. Jon admitted that yes, he briefly attended a party where he met and spoke with the minor female. He admitted that he was intoxicated. However, Jon vehemently denied any sexual contact. He also insisted that he soon left the party with friends and stopped at a roadside café for a 3 a.m. breakfast. The female was not with him or his group after they left the party.
Just like in marital infidelity investigations or workers comp fraud investigations, every detail is important and we have to utilize long-time and proven investigative skills as well as modern technology.
To begin work on the case, one of our investigators sallied up to the computer for some social media engineering to dig into the background of the female and look for other leads regarding the case. Another investigator interviewed cafe employees who were working that night.
Establishing the timeline was our next focus. In the female’s interview with police, she stated that Jon attacked her at the party, sometime after midnight. When pressed for a timeframe, the young woman stated to police investigators that she believed the time was between 1:30 and 2:20 am.
documented the drive time, from the party to the café, to be approximately 40 minutes. Video surveillance from the café was professionally obtained to use as evidence in court, showing that Jon and his friends actually arrived there earlier than he thought. Parking lot surveillance equipment showed Jon exiting his friend’s car at 2:15 a.m. The men left the restaurant at 4:10 a.m. The video evidence, although not conclusive because the alleged victim was not exactly sure of the time in her statement, conflicted with her statement.
For further evidence, Jon submitted his phone for cellular phone forensics, particularly having to do with his movements that night. Through cell tower triangulation, his movements could be mapped as well as the timing of his movements, which added validity to his story.
In addition to the timeline evidence, the online digital forensics concluded that the young woman bragged in several Facebook posts, regarding what she would purchase after she sued Jon. With no physical evidence of rape, coupled with the social media posts, the surveillance video from the café and the cell phone forensics, the young woman’s story was looking rather sketchy.
With the evidence and facts in the report provided by , Jon’s attorney had what he needed to present to the authorities. The charges against Jon were dropped. The team at again felt proud of our skill set, which leads to truth in any situation you face.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations
