Please proceed to the new address for Inter-Agency Investigations:
(Click blue type below which is our new URL)
Thank you!
keywords private investigators, private investigator, Private Investigator, Part 6: Attack the Attacker A Lawyer Learns What It's Like to Fight the Church Los Angeles attorney Joseph was driving through rural Ohio in the pre-dawn hours in 1988 when he was pulled over by police, who had received a tip that he was carrying a cache of cocaine and guns in his rental car. A telephone caller had supplied authorities in Ohio with name, the car's description and license number, and the route he would be traveling to his sister's house after a rock concert by one of his clients, the was frisked and the vehicle was searched. No drugs or firearms were found, and he was released. Police later concluded that the tipster had given a false name, leading them to speculate that Yanny had been set up for harassment. A though he can't prove it, is certain he knows by whom: his former client, the Church of "I am," he said with some pride, "probably Public Enemy No. 1 as far as they are concerned." Today, are locked in bitter litigation. Their dispute illustrates how battles with the Churcften degenerate into nasty, costly wars of retribution and endurance. * - * - * rked for the church from 1983 to 1987, earning, by his estimate, $1.8 million in legal fees. His chief job was to repres in a suit it brought against a former top church executive accused of conspiring to steal the church's secret teachings. In 1986 scored a major victory for the church during a pretrial hearing. But thenhad a falling out. He says he severed ties because he disagreed with the tactics the group uses against its criticswas dismissed because his performance was "inadequate." They call him an "anti-church demagogue." lawyers sueccusing him of switching allegiances and of violating the canons of his profession. They say he fed confidential church information to former members locked in legal battles withHe denies the accusation. They further accused him of submitting "extremely inflated" bills and of working while intoxicated, an allegation that was subsequently dropped. Since the litigation began,says, he and his friends have been the target of harassment. He says that his Century City law firm was burglarized four times and thatdocuments turned up missing; that he has been spied upon by a church "plant" working as a secretary in his office; and that private investigators have camped outside his Hermosa Beach residence and shadowed him when he left. a Riverside-area private investigator who has handled a number of elated probes in recent years, said in a deposition that he used as many as "seven or eight" investigators to conduct surveillance ofbetween June, 1988 and March, 1989. Two of his operatives took up residence on a nearby street, Gaw said, and tailed whenever he ventured outside. Gaw said he later learned that private detectives for another agency hired by Scientology lawyers had been spying on Yanny at the same time. That agency employed a woman to live next door to him. The woman, said in a deposition that she was hired by Al Bei, a former Los Angeles police officer who has worked as a private investigator onelated cases. Shructed her to take notes o"comings and goings." She also sat by her window photographing everyone who visited him. She said she regularly gave Bei the film and her notesd to comment. In Bellaire, Ohio, police who searchrental car for drugs and guns later discovered that a team of out-of-state private investigators in four vehicles had been tailing the attorney. Police Capsaid one of the private detectives he questioned initially tried to mislead officers, claiming the detectives were there to subpoena someone in a neighboring town. Wasaid the private detective then said he had been hired to by Williams & a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm that represen tax issues. An attorney who handles matters at the firm declined comment when questioned by The Times recently. In a published report in late 1988, however, he said he had no knowledge of the episode. * - * - * for his part, is pursuing a strategy that is reminiscent of the take-no-prisoners tactics of the church. He and hisllies have submitted sworn court declarations designed to discredit the church. Earlier this year, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury agreed thhad not submitted inflated bills to the church and awarded him $154,000 in damages. The judge who presided over the case is now weighing whethshould be allowed to assist individuals in litigation against his former client, the church. said he initially agreed to be one awyers because he thought the controversial church was being denied its day in court. "There came a point where I was rudely awakened thatnted their day i PHOTO: Los Angeles Attorney and, at left, his Hermosa Beach residence. An apartment in building at right was rented by a woman hired by private investigators to monitor church critic Yanny' activities. Photo at right was taken by private investigtors seeking to link a formurch oppo Los Angeles, Los Angeles Private Investigators, investigator, Investigator, pRIVATE iNVESTIGATOR, detective, agency, surveillance, sub rosa, background investigations, checks, financial investigation, investigator, asset, fraud, insurance claim, worker's compensation, workers, identity fraud theft, stalking, threat assessment, Robert Scott, black book, The Investigator's Little Black Book, information, background checks, lawsuit investigation, legal, civil, criminal, sexual harrassment, wrongful termination, death, suicide, homicide, insurance, insurance claim, surveillance, sub rosa, internet, Internet, website tracing, e-mail tracing, information, Information, INFORMATION, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, locate missing persons person, California, Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Westwood, West Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Malibu, Bel Air, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Catalina, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Culver City, El Segundo, downtown, Downtown, Glendale, source, Sources, Pasadena, Burbank, Van Nuys, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Universal City, Chatsworth, Canoga Park, Woodland Hills, Calabassas, Thousand Oaks, Tarzana, Southern California, Northern California, San Francsico, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Canyon Country, Palmdale, Lancaster, Hollywood, North Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticutt, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michaigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, United States, nationwide, directory, guide to, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, TEXAS, Austin, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Atlanta, Nashiville, Boston, Concord, C Tucson, Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Clemente, Newport Beach, Eugene, Boise, Spokane, St. Louis,Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Kansas City, Siouz