King-Reed has been involved in a wide sundry of cases; many of which have yielded local and even national media attention. We have investigated in excess of 50,000 cases since our inception in 1984. Although there are many to report upon, we have chosen a few to demonstrate our diversity:

DNA TESTING RESULTS IN SUCCESSFUL INVESTIGATION:

King-Reed was asked to assist a large national chain that had received an anonymous tip that a contest prize worth several thousand dollars that was being claimed had not been won legitimately by the alleged winner. Information was received that an employee had stolen the prize winning coupon and had passed it on to his co-conspirators, who were claiming the prize. King-Reed conducted a detailed audit of the client's incentive program and conducted a number of interviews with employees. As a result, a prime suspect was identified and DNA evidence was gathered surreptitiously on this individual and compared to that of the DNA material found on the prize winning item. The DNA matched. Since there was no logical explanation as to why the particular employee's DNA would be present on the prize winning coupon, it was conclusive evidence that he had been a party to this fraud. When confronted with this, the employee confessed. The consequences were that this 15 year employee lost his senior position as well as his pension and he was charged by police. The credibility of the client's prize incentive program remained intact.

DNA CLEARS SUSPECTED DOCTOR:

We were contacted by lawyers representing the family of a young child who had been born to a mentally incompetent woman who was institutionalized and died around the time of childbirth. Since she had been impregnated while she was institutionalized, there was concern as to who fathered this child. The family suspected that it might have been her psychiatrist and an investigation was commenced to confirm or rule out this possibility. Through diligent surveillance efforts, a voluntary DNA discard was obtained from the physician in the form of a cigarette butt. The DNA on this item was compared to that of the child's and the doctor was conclusively eliminated as being the donor of the child's DNA. This resulted in a considerable cost saving to our client as it eliminated the need to initiate court proceeding against the psychiatrist and his governing body which certainly would have resulted in significant embarrassment if there was a judicial finding that the allegation was without merit.

DISABLED PERSON GETS BETTER QUICKLY!:

While on surveillance, one of our investigators was watching a claimant who was alleging to be disabled as a result of an automobile accident. This individual was followed leaving his home wearing a cervical collar, using a cane and displaying a limp while moving quite slowly. After entering his vehicle, he drove to a neighbourhood variety store where he entered and was purchasing a package of cigarettes. He had left his automobile running just outside of the store. While inside, a person was observed and videotaped by our investigator as he entered the claimant's vehicle and drove off. The claimant appeared seconds later and saw his car travelling down the road. He quickly removed the collar and began running after his vehicle and while doing so attempted to flag down a public transit bus to assist in the pursuit. Needless to say, when this evidence was introduced, his credibility was essentially destroyed.

LONG TERM EMPLOYEE GETS BUSTED FOR THEFT:

A national telecommunication company retained King-Reed to investigate an internal theft problem at one of their large warehouses. Although they suspected who was responsible for the thefts prior to our involvement, all efforts to gather evidence against the individual failed. He had been with the company for over 20 years and developed relationships with those in upper management. Each time their internal security team would get close to making an arrest, somehow the suspect would receive prior knowledge and ditch the stolen product.

King-Reed launched an investigation by placing an undercover operative in the plant to gather intelligence. We found that although the suspect had some friends in upper management, he was not well liked by others in the plant. His lack of social friendliness did pose a challenge to our undercover agent. However, within a few weeks our operative was invited by the suspect to his home where he had dinner with his family, swam in his pool and helped the suspect build his patio. It was not long after that when we were able to get close enough to him to gather evidence leading to his arrest and to that of three others who were also exposed by our investigation. It turned out that the thefts were more sophisticated than what was first thought, involving others including one in a senior management position. The investigation revealed that the stolen items were held in a trailer and then fenced to flea markets, including those that were located in a different province. The employee lost his job and went to jail.

LODGE OWNER EXAGGERATES INJURIES:

King-Reed was retained by an insurance company to investigate a personal injury claim submitted by one of their insured that operated a hunting and fishing lodge in a remote part of Northern Ontario. The claimant was alleging that he had received serious enough injuries from a motor vehicle accident that he could no longer run the lodge as he did before and had to hire someone to run it for him.

Two of our investigators were sent up to the lodge where they posed as guests. We discovered that the claimant did run the lodge as well as perform tasks that were not consistent with a right arm and shoulder injury as he claimed to have. Our video cameras captured the claimant over the course of several days performing a range of activities. They included jacking up a truck to change a flat tire, playing games of horse shoes, shooting a cross bow, carrying a boat motor and later pulling the cord to start it and other activities all of which he performed using his allegedly injured right arm and shoulder. We also found that he would start his day by getting up at 6:00 am or sooner and would do chores related to the running of the lodge until very late into the evening. The demonstrative evidence that we obtained helped the insurance company significantly. When the videotape and photographs were shown to the claimant, the claim was dropped.

CORPORATION'S EX-PARTNER ENGAGED IN CONTRACTUAL BREACH CONSPIRACY:

A corporate client was engaged in a partnership dispute with one of their principals. After considerable negotiation, the corporation purchased this individual's shares. The partnership agreement, which remained in force, included a non-compete clause, which prohibited this individual from starting a competing business or for that matter, working for a competitor for a prescribed period of time. Shortly after his departure, our client received information that this former partner was involved in a competing business. It was suspected that drastic reductions in orders received for some of our client's product lines might somehow be attributed to this. It was furthermore learned that the subject was actually working for a direct competitor under an assumed name in an obvious attempt to avoid detection. King-Reed was retained and it was agreed that the best course of action would entail using an undercover investigator to initiate contact with the subject while posing as a prospective purchaser of the types of products his company distributed. We met with the subject and had considerable discussion with respect to this individual's involvement in his business. The meeting was covertly audio and videotaped. The subject admitted that not only was he working actively in a sales capacity for this business, he also was a partner. We were able to obtain considerable documentation including pricing information which confirmed suspicions that knowledge gained by this individual through his association with our client was used by him to enhance his new company's ability to compete in an unfair manner. As a result of the investigation, our client and their legal representative had the information necessary to successfully litigate against the subject, his partner, and other involved parties.

FOREIGN PILOT RESUMES FLYING CONTRARY TO PERMANENT DISABILITY ALLEGATIONS:

King-Reed was retained by a Canadian based insurer to investigate a claim being presented by a commercial jet pilot from a foreign country's national airline. The pilot was on a layover in Canada and was injured when a pane of glass fell from a building striking him on the head. The allegation was that he would never again be able to pilot aircraft. His employer also commenced an action to attempt to sue for the loss of his services. Investigation was conducted by sending an investigator to South America where it was learned that he had recently returned to piloting aircraft for the same airline. However, this was not disclosed by the pilot or his employer to their own legal representatives in Canada who were attempting to negotiate and if necessary litigate on the premise that their client would never be able to fly again. They were shocked to hear that their own clients were apparently conspiring to obtain a sizeable award for damages by alleging that the pilot would never pilot aircraft again by not disclosing that he had resumed full duties. The investigative information developed diminished the plaintiffs' credibility and this matter was settled shortly thereafter.

LIFE LONG DISABILITY CLAIM DISPROVED - BENEFITS TERMINATED:

A claimant involved in a motor vehicle accident in Canada in 1979 was deemed totally disabled for an indefinite period. He moved to his native Portugal a few years after the accident and continued to receive his weekly benefit cheques. As the disability allegation continued, the insurer flew the claimant back to Canada for a medical examination several years later. The doctor's findings were that this individual had a well developed physique which suggested he was physically active, although he did continue to complain about ongoing difficulties with pain in his neck and back. A Portuguese speaking investigator from King-Reed travelled to Portugal and conducted several days of surveillance and obtained extensive videotape and still photographs of the subject engaged in strenuous activity, which was inconsistent with the disability being alleged. This included working on a casual basis as a maintenance man, fishing from a windswept beach utilizing a 9 ft. fishing rod that he vigorously cast into the ocean on multiple occasions, carrying 5 litre containers of water, grocery shopping, operating a motor vehicle in an aggressive manner, and other activity that was inconsistent with his allegations of disability. As a result, our client was able to terminate this claimant's benefits which were being paid unjustly.