This case of the week was a very gratifying one.

A female client called our Newport Beach corporate office and requested an appointment.

Jennifer was a diminutive woman who appeared to be beat down (physically, mentally, spiritually and professionally) by her husband Jack. Her claim was that her husband was not only watching porn but child porn, placing her three children in a very precarious and obviously unhealthy environment. All this activity was taking place in Jack’s private office in their residence.

Jennifer knew of Jack’s obsession with adult porn, as he often asked her to watch it with him. It was not until late one night that things changed when she returned home from parent/teacher conferences at her children’s school. As she approached her home, she could see Jack through the front window in his office on the computer. A closer look through the front window revealed he had small, naked children on his monitor. They were engaged in acts that reviled Jennifer.

Jennifer did not know how to access the sites at that time to obtain evidence. She claimed to have been given a gift from God a few weeks later, saw what she really didn’t want to see, and turned to us for assistance.

Was she being truthful? If so, what would be our investigative plan?

Every year we perform hundreds of marital surveillances. 80% of our clients are women. When they visit the office for the initial no-fee consultation, they often bring with them some narrative of bad behavior on the part of their husbands. Some of these stories are absolutely true, and others are fabricated – designed to get the upper hand in the balance of power relative to child custody.

The most common narratives we hear include that the husband is a drinker, a drug addict, physically or verbally abusive, or that spends his days watching porn and carousing with prostitutes. Wherein does the truth lie?

When the alleged bad behavior involves child porn, it’s a very serious allegation.

I met with Jennifer and another investigator to evaluate her and her claims. We always us two investigators in these evaluations. The reason is that we are fully cognizant of the fact that while either one of us might be fooled individually, the odds that both that two trained investigators could be fooled on the same day with the subject matter is highly unlikely.

Our evaluation was that she was being truthful – and that she had no other agenda other than the safety and well-being of her 14-, 12- and 8-year-old boys.

This case had two avenues we could pursue. First, since our agency does not install cameras, we could direct Jennifer to a company that does. Some of you might invoke the fact that installation would be illegal, as Jack has the expectation of privacy in his own home. This is possible, but not probable. Given that a crime is being committed by watching and/or distributing child porn, that would trump any “free pass” card for Jack. Placing minor children in harm’s way is also a crime. The second avenue would be to contact the law enforcement agency of record and let them coordinate the investigation.

The latter option was chosen after consultation with our agency’s corporate attorney, Jennifer and her soon-to-be family law attorney. Cameras were secreted in two separate locations in Jack’s home office. A few days later, enough evidence had been gathered and Jack was arrested. His case is now pending in the criminal courts.

Getting this pervert arrested brought great relief to everyone in our company. Jennifer and her family can now begin a healing process on their own.

Next week:
An announcement from Thomas G. Martin