4. What’s almost as bad as child molestation? That depraved relative Elder Abuse. A Berkeley couple Silvia and George Yonko ripped off at least a dozen elderly Oakland men for an estimated $5 million. I did some work for the District Attorney and one of the victim’s families. The Yonkos did about five or six years in prison but my sources indicate they are still pulling the same old scams. They are evil.
5. I had a woman client who hired me to find her boyfriend, whom she had not seen since about the time she learned she was pregnant. The story itself is not that unusual but the chase for how I found him rates me as on par with Nascar. I managed to follow him in his new Porsche from his venture capital firm in Palo Alto to San Francisco and to his new love nest. I tailed him at speeds up to 100 mph, in my old Honda Civic DX.
6. A valet for a major hotel chain argued with a guest while on duty at a Peninsula hotel. The valet shot and killed the man. Why? He didn’t move his car fast enough. I learned that the same valet had a history of on the job confrontations in San Francisco but the employer decided to transfer him instead of firing him.
7. Pot fans won’t like this next one. A father in the marijuana trade more or less kidnapped his son from Oregon before winding up in a quiet Oakland hills neighborhood. I confirmed that the father and son were living at the house, and then Oakland police swooped in to rescue the boy.
8. A client in Alameda swore that her husband was smuggling dames into their house while she slept. I told her that this was highly unlikely. She laid some Benjamins on me. I can tell you that few places are quieter than Alameda from 11 p.m to 6 a.m., two nights in a row. With hindsight, she was a member of the tinfoil hat brigade.
9. An Australian businessman came to San Francisco. All fine and well until his Mrs. back in Oz counted some of his boner pills and realized he took a few for his travels. We got some footage of the old guy walking arm and arm through Union Square with his young Asian “business colleague,” bedecked in leopard print dress.
10. My old associate Cornelius and I tailed a guy cheating on his wife. The highlight of our case came when we got video footage of them coming out of a van together near the Emeryville Marina and tucking in various items of clothing. The “low” arrived when our target realized he was being followed and chases me through Piedmont Avenue at about 60 mph before I escaped.