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Private eyes see big business in catching cheaters on Valentine's Day
By Leon Fooksman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 14 2007
Valentine's Day: a sweet time for florists, chocolate makers, card sellers, restaurateurs -- and private investigators.
On a day when romance is on the minds of many, some are filled with suspicion: Are their love interests of interest to anyone else?
Exposing trysts is good business for private investigators, especially around Valentine's Day, when, marital experts say, infidelity and extramarital affairs reach a crescendo.
Some of South Florida's 2,686 licensed sleuths may be spending the holiday hunched in their cars, blending in at restaurants, hurrying through hotel lobbies, legally bugging living rooms and ducking on the beaches to record their targets in the act of cheating.
"We've got everyone working," said Brad Robinson, a former CIA agent whose Millennium Group in West Palm Beach employs six investigators.
Cheating is the side of Valentine's Day that no one likes to talk about, even though millions of Americans are the victims of infidelity each year, said Ruth Houston, founder of infidelityadvice.com and author of Is He Cheating on You? 829 Telltale Signs.
"This is the day cheaters have to make contact," Houston said. "It's a special time. Anyone who doesn't do something for his or her lover is in big trouble."
From coast to coast, the day two-timers run amok traditionally is one of the busiest times for private eyes, said Kelly Riddle, a San Antonio, Texas, investigator who has written 10 books on private investigation work and founded an investigator training school.
And for good reason: It's a period when many couples get engaged and may want to check up on their lovers' stories before they get married, said Paul Dank, a principal of Advanced Surveillance Group, a Michigan firm with an office in Boca Raton.
The holiday also is one of the easiest days to catch cheaters since they must juggle giving attention to their loved ones and their significant others, Riddle said.
Sometimes, Robinson said, catching an adulterer just takes showing up the next morning at the lover's home and letting the camera roll as they say goodbye.
"It's unbelievable," he said, "how someone doing something he shouldn't be isn't hiding it."
Take the case of a wealthy Palm Beach resident who suspected his wife was unfaithful to him -- in their home.
He hired Robinson's investigators to film his home two years ago. Nothing happened for days, but on Valentine's Day, investigators hiding in cars scoped out the back of the house.
With the camera rolling, they captured a neighbor slipping through the bushes and into the house. He walked out an hour later.
"If he was getting sugar, he wouldn't have been lurking in the hedges and been in the house for an hour," Robinson said. "He turned out to be a 10-year neighbor, a married guy and a good friend of our client."
Then there was the Miami businessman who showed no interest in his wife. When he dropped their Valentine's Day plans last year, she suspected something was going on and hired private investigators.
On that day, he told her he was going to the gym. Hours later, a private eye's camera caught him in the arms of a woman outside her home.
"His wife had a sixth sense and knew something was up," said German Rodriguez, a private investigator whose Miramar-based PI Detectives of South Florida delivered the video to the brokenhearted wife. "She wanted peace of mind and she got it."
Three weeks later, she filed for divorce.
By Leon Fooksman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 14 2007
Valentine's Day: a sweet time for florists, chocolate makers, card sellers, restaurateurs -- and private investigators.
On a day when romance is on the minds of many, some are filled with suspicion: Are their love interests of interest to anyone else?
Exposing trysts is good business for private investigators, especially around Valentine's Day, when, marital experts say, infidelity and extramarital affairs reach a crescendo.
Some of South Florida's 2,686 licensed sleuths may be spending the holiday hunched in their cars, blending in at restaurants, hurrying through hotel lobbies, legally bugging living rooms and ducking on the beaches to record their targets in the act of cheating.
"We've got everyone working," said Brad Robinson, a former CIA agent whose Millennium Group in West Palm Beach employs six investigators.
Cheating is the side of Valentine's Day that no one likes to talk about, even though millions of Americans are the victims of infidelity each year, said Ruth Houston, founder of infidelityadvice.com and author of Is He Cheating on You? 829 Telltale Signs.
"This is the day cheaters have to make contact," Houston said. "It's a special time. Anyone who doesn't do something for his or her lover is in big trouble."
From coast to coast, the day two-timers run amok traditionally is one of the busiest times for private eyes, said Kelly Riddle, a San Antonio, Texas, investigator who has written 10 books on private investigation work and founded an investigator training school.
And for good reason: It's a period when many couples get engaged and may want to check up on their lovers' stories before they get married, said Paul Dank, a principal of Advanced Surveillance Group, a Michigan firm with an office in Boca Raton.
The holiday also is one of the easiest days to catch cheaters since they must juggle giving attention to their loved ones and their significant others, Riddle said.
Sometimes, Robinson said, catching an adulterer just takes showing up the next morning at the lover's home and letting the camera roll as they say goodbye.
"It's unbelievable," he said, "how someone doing something he shouldn't be isn't hiding it."
Take the case of a wealthy Palm Beach resident who suspected his wife was unfaithful to him -- in their home.
He hired Robinson's investigators to film his home two years ago. Nothing happened for days, but on Valentine's Day, investigators hiding in cars scoped out the back of the house.
With the camera rolling, they captured a neighbor slipping through the bushes and into the house. He walked out an hour later.
"If he was getting sugar, he wouldn't have been lurking in the hedges and been in the house for an hour," Robinson said. "He turned out to be a 10-year neighbor, a married guy and a good friend of our client."
Then there was the Miami businessman who showed no interest in his wife. When he dropped their Valentine's Day plans last year, she suspected something was going on and hired private investigators.
On that day, he told her he was going to the gym. Hours later, a private eye's camera caught him in the arms of a woman outside her home.
"His wife had a sixth sense and knew something was up," said German Rodriguez, a private investigator whose Miramar-based PI Detectives of South Florida delivered the video to the brokenhearted wife. "She wanted peace of mind and she got it."
Three weeks later, she filed for divorce.