Surry Investigations

I've been suffering some from the effects of Hurricane Ike, but nothing like my friends and others in Galveston and surrounding areas. I worked security in the wake of Katrina and I found it difficult avoiding trying to do something for those whose lives were destroyed by Ike.

For those of you who are headed to the affected area be sure to follow some advice provided by the American Red Cross:

Tips for post-hurricane safety:

* Listen to the authorities – A battery-operated radio will help you stay on top of the local situation. Broadcasts will carry important news from public officials and utilities.
* Take basic supplies – You are likely to need a flashlight (no candles!), trash bags, gloves and cleaning supplies. Don’t expect to find stores stocked with these essentials, so bring them with you. You may need cash for unexpected expenses, so be prepared.
* Perimeter check – Check the home by walking around outside before entering. Look for loose power lines or gas leaks from the outside first and report them. If there are cracks around the foundation, contact a home construction professional to inspect the home.
* As you enter a home, check for sagging ceilings, weak floors and other structural damage.
* Air out – Open windows and doors to air out a home for at least 30 minutes before entering. Mold, which grows quickly after flooding, often smells musty or has a stench. If inhaled, mold can cause an asthma attack, stuffy nose, irritated eyes, wheezing or skin irritation. Flood waters can also carry contaminants which decay and release odors.
* Check for gas – Use a flashlight. Do not use an open flame, candles or lighter. If you smell gas, leave the building immediately and call the fire department or utility company.
* Electricity – Turn off the power or circuit breaker with a dry stick to prevent shock while inspecting for damage. Wait until appliances are thoroughly dry before turning them on.
* Sewer and water – If sewers have overflowed or water supplies have been contaminated, do not run water faucets or flush toilets. Assume that anything touched by floodwaters is contaminated. Wear gloves and wash hands or use antiseptic gel frequently. Disinfect everything floodwaters have touched.

For those directly affected by the disaster, registering on the Safe and Well Web site allows them to let loved ones to know that they are safe. The site is accessible at www.redcross.org . If internet access is not possible, they can call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) to register and follow the prompts for disaster information.

I often find myself reminiscing days of old. Looking at the world through a child's eyes can be a satisfying experience. You don't judge people for the color of their skin, sure you may notice it but you don't have any prejudices towards them. You don't judge anyone based on some preconceived notion about who they might be, you take them for who they are.

I have searched my soul from end to glorious end examining this notion. How do I as a middle aged man eliminate these prejudices of people? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a racist or elitist or any of those things. I just look at people and have some expectations for who they are based on what they are.

Does anyone out there have some answers for what I can do to immediately look for who someone is based on who they are and not what they are?

Anybody else out there who desires to go back to the child hood days of tea parties and blissfulness?

I've recently been contacted by an individual who was seeking help finding some children he believed may have been abducted by child predators. I cannot discuss many of the details of the case, but I have decided to put some of my current cases on the shelves for now.

I spent the past weekend with my son. It was a special time for me as I don't get to spend very much time with him these days. I've made my mistakes and I'm paying for my sins. When this client contacted me about these children I couldn't help but wonder how I would feel if my son was abducted. It would devestate me beyond belief. What if he had turned up missing when I took him to see the battleship this weekend?

Protecting children is more important to me than tailing a cheating spouse or any of my other case loads. I will be contacting those clients whose cases I am working on and inform them of my inability to continue working for them at this time. If I can even find one of the children for this client, it'll be more than worth it.

Whenever I complete an investigation that involves child predation I sit down with the family and point out the vulnerabilities. One of the most common vulnerabilities I've found is with youth describing or pointing out places they often frequent or plan on visiting soon.

Many of today's youth don't understand how vulnerable they are when they start surfing the internet. They join up at these various social networking sites and create profiles. In these profiles they blog about their life, friends, and as I mentioned earlier the various places they enjoy visiting.

Even a simple picture as seen below can be used to help a predator determine the location a potential victim may frequent. It's difficult to stress how vulnerable this situation makes a potential victim without showing them with a real life experience. This is where my child protection services comes into play. I take real life situations that your son or daughter are facing and show them how it could effect them. Next time you're thinking about showing your child how much you care for them, contact me and together we'll not only show them how much you care, but how to protect themselves.

I've returned back to work. I apologize for any of my clients who may have had their cases delayed over the past few weeks, and to those expecting me to post a video. I'm having a little difficulty with this software. My friend, who I know is reading this, normally helps me with this stuff but he's decided he's going to be hands off with this.

I took my first case since my incident over the past weekend. I was tasked with finding out if Snowball was cheating on Miss Bliss. I did as I normally do with these investigations, I check their phone records and the spouse invites me to perform computer checks. There were no e-mails, no phone messages, no logs showing any connection to anybody outside of his family.

My initial impression was Miss Bliss was a bit paranoid. That's something I've often found in these cases, but I still have to put my best foot forward. After having spent Thursday and Friday doing the initial investigations, I was called by Miss Bliss who informed me that Snowball had gone into work to do some spontaneous overtime. This peaked my interest so I tried to find him at work, he wasn't there. I drove around a bit, through various hotel parking lots looking for his car. I didn't find it in any of the usual places, but I did find it in one of the strangest places - the parking lot of the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

My curiosity was peaked, if he was cheating on his wife why would he meet his mistress here of all places? Then I had to question why he would lie to his wife about work to come to the museum. I entered the museum and searched a while to find him, when I did I barely caught a glimpse of him setting a letter behind the statue of the "Sun God."

Obviously I found this to be quite peculiar, so I waited until he left and removed the letter:

Snowbelle, I wasn't able to leave you a message yesterday. I hope you check this Sunday. I've purchased us two tickets flying out of Houston Hobby Wednesday, meet me at our usual spot at 4am. I've really got to get away with you. I can't stand waking up next to her, I can't wait until the day your brother does what he's got to do so that we can be together.

Love,
Snowball

This letter really concerned me, the tone he used when discussing this "brother's" task. I informed the police about my findings and they are currently questioning Snowball, Snowbelle, and Snowbrother. Remember that all individuals are innocent until proven guilty and all identities have been concealed to protect the innocent.

I will have to remember this experience as I would never have thought that someone would have hidden a secret message behind a statue of the "Sun God."

As always remember to SURF SAFE!

I am literally amazed that there are so many people helping me with my current situation. I am beyond grateful. Reality has been slipping for me; I see things that aren't there, people that are dead; I think I'm in places I couldn't possibly be.

I have "met" some wonderful people this past week who have gone out of their way to help a stranger. I've got everything that I was told I needed for this "ritual" that supposedly will clear up this affliction. I've got my video camera set-up to record the ritual, in case it might be my last living act. I tried to call Novak to come help me set-up the camera for live streaming but he's being a jerk about the fact he doesn't believe in any of this "ritual" stuff and thinks I should just go visit doctors and get medicated. I know it is beyond that, I can feel it; I felt it as I watched the video I was sent by Nathan. Nathan thank you so much for helping gather this stuff and I hope that I do not turn into a rabbit, mushroom, or something worse like dead.

If I survive I'll post the video when I can, which may not be until this coming weekend, and I will let everyone know how it went as soon as I can. If the ritual doesn't work and I don't survive, I want my son to know I love him very much. I may not be the best father and I've made unforgivable mistakes in my past. I wish your mother would let me see you, but please don't blame her for my mistakes. I changed - I'm a better man now, the man I wish I would have been before so I could be the father I wanted to be. I love you.

Everybody who has helped me, thank you again. I'll update you soon if all goes well.

So I have learned that there is some sort of ritual that may help make these nightmares go away. It sounds a little out there to think that stuff like this might actually work, but if it will stop the hallucinations and dreams like I had last night I will do whatever I can.

I need to collect some items and I’m not sure how to go about getting many of them. I assume that the Nicholas who e-mailed me is one of Michael's friends. I think we can try your approach of using video or pictures for the items. Just send me the link if you post it on any of the social video sites.

Here is the list of items I will need:

A candle lit once and then snuffed out by a woman
A black feather held by a man
A pebble held by a boy
A vial of sand or a shell gathered from a body of water by a girl
A red string knotted nine times by a mother in the morning
A clipping from a sapling tree gathered at noon
A rose in bloom plucked at twilight
A piece of bark from an oak, gathered at night
A spray of pine (what is a spray of pine?)

If we do this with video I’ll need someone in the south to have the candle, and I will try to arrange a time with you to light it as I do the ritual. Somebody will need to have the feather in the east and have it pointing east. Another person will have to have a pebble which I assume was once held by a boy somewhere to the west, I wish my ex-wife would let me see my son for this. In the north I will need someone to have the sand or a shell. I'll try to arrange with all of these individuals when to have the items ready.

I’m going to have to have a chant as well, but it says I need some other people to chant with me. I don’t know how I can best do this, any suggestions?

Psyche, guardian of souls, hear me.
These offerings of life are laid before you.
Life paired with death;
youth to age;
child to mother;
male to female;
light to dark.
Fire, water, earth, and air, consecrated to you.
Bless me. Bless me. Bless me.
I am my self. I am my self. I am my self.
Restore my soul, my wholeness, my oneness.
I am my self. I am my self. I am my self.
Restore my balance. Heal my mind.
I am my self. I am my self. I am my self.

I’ll print off pictures of the items, taken from the videos, which will be on the altar and crush them together. I hope this works, I can’t take many more nights of death and torture… and autopsies?

Nicholas, Michael, and everyone else thank you for your suggestions and all the help you are offering me.

Got to Boston and couldn't remember why I was there. My head feels fuzzy, like it’s stuffed with cotton, and it’s hard to think straight.

I don't remember much about Boston. The hotel staff told me a room had already been reserved for me, but someone else had already been given the room. They apologized and found me another room.

I do remember having a conversation with a big guy in the elevator who was wearing a blue speedo and had drawings all over him. That hallucination was almost as strange as the one I had that convinced me to go to Boston in the first place. Was he the person that I was supposed to talk to? But he seemed in a hurry to be somewhere else – I don’t think he had anything to do with this. I think I will let somebody else figure out his mystery.

Like I said, I don't remember much. I slept a lot, I think. I waited in
the hotel room for something to happen. I thought I might get another
phone call, but then I noticed that my cell phone battery was dead. I
dreamed of a place I think in Egypt. There was a bunch of hieroglyphics
on the walls, it was dark, and a man was trying to claw his way through
a stone wall. It seemed as if he could see me watching him as he sat
down next to a pillar. He reached out with something in his hand, I
couldn't grab it or see what it was. I felt helpless as the man took
his last breath. Before I woke up, I heard a crowd of people, some with
British accents. Sometimes, they would laugh. A bright light flashed a
couple of times, splitting the darkness..

I went back to the airport and tried to get on my flight home. There were so many flight delays – it took forever to get back to Houston. I think I am going to crash now and check my e-mails when I wake up. I’m not sure what to do next.

I don’t know what else to do. I’m in trouble. I’m still not crazy, but I saw a giant mushroom walking in the middle of the street this morning. I know how that sounds, but I also know it was a hallucination, probably brought on by lack of sleep and these headaches.

At the time, I didn’t know it was a hallucination, because… well, because. So I stopped my car, I got out, and I yelled at the mushroom, because it was in my way. Normally, I wouldn’t talk to fungus, because they don’t talk back, but this mushroom just looked at me with its spots, and it pissed me off because I knew it could hear me honking, and I know it heard me yelling.

And the next thing I know, two cops are talking to me. I asked them to get the mushroom out of my way so I could get to the doctor’s office. They said ok, just pull the car over to the side of the road, and then they’d ask me some questions about it, but that stupid mushroom was still just sitting there, laughing with its spots. I pulled over, and the cops wanted my ID. Of course, my wallet is still missing, and I haven’t had time to get new ID. My PI badge was missing, too, of course. They said they were going to have to write me citations for obstructing traffic flow, not carrying identification, and public disturbance. I’m standing there, and I hear one guy mutter to the other that they should probably take me to the hospital for evaluation.

I ran away from them. I jumped over the hood of my car, and I ran. About two blocks away, I ran into one of those ordinary people. She didn’t say anything – she just handed me a card with a weird symbol and a phone number on it. I called and got the same guy who wanted me to come to Boston. Either these folks work for him and he’s legit, or this is all some kind of game.

Either way, the cops are going to be knocking on my door once they run my car’s plates. I’ve got to get out of town. I don’t know what else to do.

My doctor gave me sleeping pills and prescription pain killers. He says he doesn’t see anything wrong with me, but he scheduled a CAT scan, just in case. The pills don’t work. I can’t sleep (not that I want to – god, the nightmares), and I can hardly see. Everything is just a little blurry and fuzzy around the edges.

Those people are still watching me. I can feel their eyes on me, even when I’m in my house with the doors and windows covered. They know I’m here, and they can see me through the walls. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true, I swear.

And I got a phone call. Some guy who knows about my headaches (he must read this blog – yeah, dude, I got your beat – don’t play me) called to tell me to meet him in Boston – that he knows what happened to me, and he can help me. Right.

I’m screening my calls now, so you can just stop it right now, buddy.

Still not crazy, and I’m not paranoid. There are people following me. They look completely ordinary, but they’re hanging around outside my house and my office. When I try to go up and talk to them, something always gets in my way – a car, a trashcan, a damned pigeon – and then they’re gone before I can reach them. Why? Why are they following me? I know what they’re doing – I’m a PI, for cripes’ sake. I can spot a stake-out when I see it.

My head hurts so bad, and I can’t sleep anymore. I’m going to the doctor this afternoon.

My client – the one I was supposed to be working for the day that I had my accident – called yesterday and is understandably upset at the case of mistaken identity. I sincerely apologize for botching the job. I should have been more prepared for the situation.

I discovered when I went to the pharmacy that my wallet is missing. Are you there, God? It’s me, Mikey. Cut it out. Please.

I had more nightmares last night. Two were so vivid that when I woke up, I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t still dreaming – or that the dream wasn’t the reality.

First nightmare: I’m in a forest – a gorgeous, lush forest. I hear music, so I walk toward it and find a campsite in a clearing, beside a road. There are several campfires, and around them are what I think were Vardo wagons – brightly painted in reds, blues, greens, yellows. I can hear laughter and music, but there’s no one there – just the fires with cooking pots over them, the wagons, the smell of food… No horses to pull the wagons.

You know how in dreams, you know when a nightmare is about to start? I got that chest-constricting, mind-numbing feeling, and I tried to run, but I was standing on a platform, tied to a post, and a girl in a black dress trimmed with white lace was standing below me.

She held a torch that smoked. Her hair was black and wild and ragged, but she had gloves that were pure white. She looked like a normal child, but she frightened me – beyond the fright you get when you’re standing on a pile of wood that someone’s about to light. She smiled, and her face blurred, and all I could see were teeth, sharp teeth. She tossed the torch into the woodpile, and there’s fire all around me, and I’m burning…

Second nightmare: I finally drifted off again towards morning. I swear, my skin felt singed, or sunburnt. In this next dream, I saw my son playing on the beach. It was near sunset, and the tide was coming in, and the wind felt cold and wet, like it was autumn. He looked so small at the edge of the water, but he’d built a sandcastle taller than himself. It was sculpted into these amazing towers, flying buttresses, everything. There were flags at the top of the castle, but one of them blew off in the wind.

I was going to go get it for him, but I saw a woman in a black dress bend down to pick it up. She walked toward my son. I started to run toward them, but they were so far away, so small, and my legs felt rubbery, and I couldn’t run very fast. I couldn’t speak above a whisper, couldn’t call to him. The tide was lapping at his heels now, washing some of the castle out from the bottom, and I was afraid it would fall on him.

The woman in black put the flag back on top of the castle. I heard my son say, “That’s not the right flag.” She picked him up, and they suddenly got smaller and smaller, until I could see that they were going into the sand castle. I heard sea birds calling overhead, and the sun went down, and the light was twilight. And I’m still running toward the castle when a huge wave comes up and crashes over the top of it and washes it away.

My ex-wife was less than thrilled that I called her so early in the morning, but I had to check, you know?

There were other nightmares, but I don’t remember those. My head still hurts.

Entry: I’m tempted to delete yesterday’s entry, but I think I’ll leave it because it clearly shows my state of mind when I got home. I must have gone straight to my computer, but I barely remember anything from yesterday afternoon.

That was one of the strangest experiences of my life.

I had a job to do for a client, a parent (can’t go into detail obviously – case files are confidential). I thought I had the right person, but… I don’t know, now. I ended up following two teenage girls. I didn’t mean to scare them. They attacked me, somehow.

I’m not crazy – I know I’m not crazy. I swear, I saw one of them turn into… something. All I remember seeing now is a flash of black. My face is scratched. I thought she was attacking me with her fingernails, maybe, but… I can’t remember, I just can’t remember.

The next thing I remember is that whatever the girl did, she knocked me down, and I heard the other one chanting… My video camera was still rolling, but I dropped it. I think I may have broken it. I’ll try to get the video off of it later, see if it recorded any of this. When she started chanting, I felt… pulled to pieces from the inside. I actually felt myself leaving my body, like I was floating up over the alley. Something else happened… I snapped back into my body, and I got up, grabbed my camera, and ran. I didn’t stop running until my head felt like it was going to explode.

I’m not crazy.

I had nightmares last night, something that hasn’t happened since… for years. I saw war. And disease. Bodies everywhere. Bodies… not human. Fire, bright light. Screams, horrible screams, and the stench of blood and decay. Past, present, future… hell? So vivid. What did they do to me?

Going to the pharmacy to get more painkillers.

I don’t rember getting home. What happened? Haad ajob tody and saw some girls and they attacked Or maybe I had an accident? Need to write a report. Head hurst.

I’ve thrown myself back into my work with some amount of success. Within the next two weeks, I’m going to be giving two presentations on child protection. I’ve also begun taking on a few more cases than usual.

I think I'm going to take a few months off from blogging. Whenever I sit down to write a post, I end up getting off-topic and writing about my own issues. I’m not sure this blog is really serving its purpose of helping others anymore. I’ve been too selfish: I’ve been using this blog to help myself.

I'm sorry about my post yesterday. I let my emotions take hold of me, and I lost any sense of dignity or professionalism. For that, I apologize. I thought about deleting the post, but I've decided to leave it there as a reminder of what emotions can do to a person.

Moving on: I’m going to talk about one of my favorite shows, To Catch a Predator. I’m sure most of you have heard of it, so I’m going to spare you the standard description and just cut to a discussion of the program.

Some people criticize the program for baiting predators. Some people believe that this may qualify as entrapment, while others believe that it is perfectly ethical. However, a discussion of the program’s faults is not why I bring it up.

2CAP demonstrates techniques that online predators use. One such technique is known as grooming. Grooming is when a predator makes a potential victim comfortable with the predator. Offline, this might be done with gifts or favors. However, it’s a little trickier online, where a predator has limited opportunity to give physical gifts to a victim. Generally, a predator will offer much information about him or herself to make the victim feel comfortable offering the same private information. This is a definite warning sign for a predator.

I encourage all parents to watch at least one episode of this program with their children. By seeing what lengths some predators go through to snare innocent children, they make take greater caution with their personal information online.

Please visit the show's official site here

In a past life I would’ve celebrated by drinking myself into a coma, but I don’t do that anymore.

Happy May 1st, Patricia. Kiss my son good night for me.

Most of the readers of my blog and many of my clients know how passionate I am about helping children avoid becoming a victim to child predation. Many parents don't realize how vulnerable their children are, but maybe some of the information in the Polly Klaas poll from 2005 will help open some eyes.

Here are some numbers (remember this is from 2005 and the numbers are sure to have skyrocketed by now):

• 87 % of 12-17 year olds use the internet
• more than half of those create web pages and blogs with personal information
• 42% post information for others to contact them
  
• 33% of girls say they've been asked about sexual topics
• more than half have been asked personal information, 10% at least once a day
• 27% have talked about sex online with strangers
• 8-12 year olds report risky behavior too, but in smaller numbers
• A alarming 12% learned they were talking to an adult pretending to be younger

Internet use has steadily risen since 2005 for youth and adults. Electronic gadgets come more and more internet ready while social networking sites increase in popularity.

Note: Be sure to see how you can help with the Polly Klaas Foundation.

This is just a quick update to announce that I’m going to be sending out mailings to various schools in the area regarding safe Internet use. I hope to obtain lists of students from these schools so that I can send their families this information, also. The purpose of this mailing is not to advertise my services, but rather to alert families to the importance of safe Internet use.

I tell you this to make you aware that I won’t be posting much this month. I’m going to be working hard on these mailings, so I hope to talk to you again in May!

Looking at my blog, I realize that I have drifted away from my original intentions: to share information, warnings, and anecdotes from my experience as an investigator. With that in mind, I’ve decided to share with you a case I took a few years back.

Novak is a close friend of mine, and I share this story only with his permission. The only change to the story has been the use of his preferred nickname, Novak, instead of his real name. The reason for this change is not only to protect his identity from the public: it also protects him from potential prosecution. He is what some might call an “underground hacker,” and his methods can sometimes be legally gray. That said, he is a good person and generally uses his powers for good. (For example, he helped me perform data recovery after Eyegasm-Design messed up my first website; look for the new site to launch sometime in June.)

I first met Novak when I was hired by his wife, Mrs. Novak, to tail him. The Mrs. believed that Novak was cheating on her with another woman. Recently, Novak had begun leaving the house with some frequency (more than the usual once-a-week, anyway), and the Mrs. believed that he was seeing a mistress.

Technologically speaking, Novak was very secure. Physically, though, he was not particularly hard to follow. I used simple tailing techniques to watch him for two weeks, during which he made seven visits to a small house about three blocks from his own. The visits ranged in length from thirty-five minutes to three hours. I spotted a woman lingering outside the house with Novak three times during the two-week period. After taking pictures and gathering my observations into a detailed report, I presented the information to Novak's wife.

The Mrs. was furious and promptly divorced Novak. I testified in court regarding the visits, and it was after the divorce hearing that I first spoke to Novak. I remember his words exactly: “Thanks, dude. That bitch couldn’t take the hint that I hated her, and it took her forever to catch onto the whore thing. But thanks to you, she’s outta my life for good! I owe ya one, man.”

We’ve been friends ever since.

I didn’t drink last night, and that’s a fact I’m rather proud of. I suppose that the folks at AA would tell me that I shouldn’t have put myself in such a tempting situation, but staying sober doesn’t require that I be antisocial.

I’ve been sober and alone for 1888 days now: I took my last drink on May 1st, the same day Patricia and I signed the papers. Maybe someday, I’ll meet someone new.

Maybe.

Writing these last few blog posts has gotten me thinking a lot about my situation. I usually spend most of my spare time preparing presentations or working on current assignments. I mean, I watch TV and read—I’m not weird—but I don’t really have any hobbies unrelated to my work.

With that in mind, I’m going to take the night off of work tonight and go out to the bar—the one I used to go to back when I still drank. I’m not going to have any alcohol, but I think that the night out might do me some good… To show myself how far I’ve come.

I've been thinking recently about the intersection of my work life and personal life. You might say that I'm a workaholic. It definitely wasn't something that happened overnight, but it's made me the private investigator I am today.

There was an instance, back when I used to work as an officer, where we received an anonymous tip alerting us to a potential predator working out of an apartment building in the slums. We were assigned in shifts to watch the building. I drew the short straw and got stuck watching the building from midnight to six AM.

After three days of watching, we were almost certain that the tip was a fake. However, we decided to continue observing the house for another 24 hours to be certain. It was on that fourth night, at three in the morning, that I spotted a man entering the house with a twelve-year-old boy.

This was reasonable suspicion, and the force quickly assembled to break into the apartment. As it turns out, the apartment was being used by pedophiles to manufacture child pornography; they had been doing this for almost three months before being shut down by the law.

It was after that case that I realized the importance of applying myself to a case at all hours, even those inconvenient or uncomfortable. As an officer, you're never really off-the-clock.

The same goes for a PI.

I love working as a private investigator and I have been doing it for nearly six years. Before that, I worked as a police officer. My experience in the force has led me to approach my investigations with a different set of expectations and experiences than many of the other people in my field. Most importantly, I try to approach each investigation with a strong sense of ethics which help to guide my actions.

Continuing in the vein of my last blog entry, I’d like to share with you a story of a time I was hired by a middle-aged couple to evaluate their daughter’s online vulnerability. Their daughter, “Suzanna,” had recently created profiles on the social networking sites MySpace and Facebook.

Suzanna had made her Facebook profile private, making it inaccessible to non-friends. Her MySpace profile, however, was public. It listed such details as her cell phone number and her ‘top friends,’ a list of eight of her best friends.

I noted that one of Suzanna’s top friends, “Jenny,” had left a comment on Suzanna’s page saying that she would soon be changing her cell phone number upon switching to a new provider. I decided to take advantage of this information by sending a text message to Suzanna’s phone and pretending that I was Jenny.

By mimicking Jenny’s style of writing, I successfully convinced Suzanna that I was Jenny. We agreed to meet at the local mall to hang out and have ice cream that evening. I compiled the information I had gathered and presented it to Suzanna’s parents, who joined me when I went to meet Suzanna.

I, along with her parents, talked to Suzanna about the importance of protecting her personal information online. I demonstrated how easy it was for a potential predator to find her, and Suzanna promptly deleted her MySpace account.

This is just one of many situations in which I have been hired by parents to evaluate the security of their children online. More times than not, the child is easy to track down, meaning that he or she is open to potential predation.

Please, parents, remind your children that when creating profiles on social networking websites, less personal information is better.

1. Your address: This the easiest way for an online predator to find you. Never, ever put your street address in a public profile: it makes you an easy target for a predator.

2. Your home phone number: I've never understood posting your personal phone number for the world to see. Not only will you start getting phone calls from telemarketers at all hours of the day, but it is another easy way for an online predator to find your location. Most home phone numbers in North America can be reverse-traced with a simple search on a website such as Google.com. From there, your street address is just a click away.

3. Your full name: For somebody like John Smith, there's enough similar names in the world that the individual would be hard to find. For the majority of us, this is another way that predators can track you online. Used in combination with seemingly innocuous information on your profile, your name can be used in web searches to determine your school or workplace. Once you’re traced to your hometown, it’s not hard to determine your exact location.

4. Including pictures of yourself on a social networking site may seem okay at first, but they make you easy to identify in person. If a predator has traced you to your hometown, it wouldn’t be hard to find you using your picture as a guide.

5. While your daily schedule may seem to be harmless, it actually allows a predator to find you when you are alone. Including your daily schedule may not give away your location, but used in combination with other information, it can prove to be the difference between being attacked and staying safe.

Hello and welcome to the personal and professional blog for Michael Surry. That's me, a private investigator who has a passion for his job and the protection of the children of the world. This first blog is an introduction into who I am, what I do, and why I'm blogging.

You know my name is Michael Surry and that I am a Private Investigator. Most people call me Mikey and anyone who is reading this is more than welcome to do the same. I have been a private investigator for 6 years now with no intention of ever focusing on another career path. This is my main love and passion, the other is working to help youth become more proactive against internet-based predators.

I work on a number of projects for my clients who range from individuals to corporations. I've been rather fortunate over the past six years in building my clientel, but I am coming to the realization that making myself and my services available on the internet would be in my best interests. Look for surryinvestigations.com sometime in the near future!

This blog will focus on my professional work and my personal life. I intend to give my readers a glimpse into the life of a PI. Hopefully I can use this blog to reach out to potential clients but more importantly to the youth who make themselves vulnerable to predation through their careless social networking habits.

This is me in a nutshell, like it or not.