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He's watching you

Okay, maybe not you. But this private eye is seeking out insurance fraud. And he's prepared to wait - and wait - for the gotcha shot.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published January 5, 2007

Thinking of pulling an insurance scam? Just remember to keep up the charade all day every day. Marc Winkeljohn is one of more than 100 private investigators who might be checking you out for First Advantage Investigative Services.
	[Times photo: Bob Croslin]

It's a dark morning in a city that knows how to keep its secrets.

But from behind tinted car windows, one man watches and waits.

Winkeljohn. Marc Winkeljohn.

Green cargo shorts. Striped polo shirt. Baseball cap. White socks. He prefers merlot to martinis. He's no James Bond.

But he is one of more than 100 private detectives working for First Advantage Investigative Services, a national company based in St. Petersburg that helps sniff out insurance fraud. And right now, he's busy.

Many people lie about injuries to receive disability or workmen's compensation checks from insurance companies, he says, and the holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year to catch them.

They hang lights, lift heavy Christmas trees and shoot off fireworks to ring in the new year.

Winkeljohn's weapons? A Sony digital video camera, tinted car windows and "the patience of Job."

His worst enemy? Two-lane roads. They make tailing cars difficult.

His best friend? Big trees. (They provide shade during lengthy stakeouts.)

His mission? Catching the perfect gotcha shot on tape.

***

Like a hunter homing in on his prey, Winkeljohn aims his videocamera at a house several blocks down the street.

It's just after 7 a.m. For more than an hour, he has been looking for today's target: a middle-aged man who fell months ago and hasn't returned to work.

No luck. The street is quiet and empty. The staccato beeping of Winkeljohn's camera blends in with the sound of birds chirping.

He records for a few minutes anyway, to prove he was there, watching.

He puts down the camera, takes a swig from a gallon jug of distilled water and scribbles a quick note: "No activity."

***

It can take hours of observation to catch even the slightest sign of wrongdoing.

But during holidays, Winkeljohn says, people often forget to stay out of sight.

There was the guy with a bad back who went surfing on July 4. The supposedly bedridden woman who spent five hours trekking through the mall with her family the day after Thanksgiving. The man with a back injury who stood on a ladder to hang Christmas lights on his front porch.

"It's a big selling point for us. People are more active," he said. "They get out of their normal everyday patterns."

And so Winkeljohn, camera in hand, waits.

***

As the afternoon sun beats down on Winkeljohn's car, beads of sweat form on his forehead.

He starts the engine and turns on the air conditioning for about 10 minutes every hour. In between, it's sweltering.

A few feet away, two teenagers embrace on the sidewalk.

While he waits, Winkeljohn usually sees more details of everyday neighborhood life than evidence of insurance fraud.

People fighting in their yards. Parents teaching their children to ride bicycles.

He loves people-watching. And he enjoys the challenge of good, old-fashioned detective work.

"Did you see that?" He points to a black-and-white dog running through a nearby yard. "That dog just took a crap."

***

Winkeljohn never expected being a private eye to be as glamorous as it looks on TV.

That was clear from the moment he started training as a private investigator after graduating from Florida State in 1995. "They pretty much drilled it into our heads: You're going to have to pee in a bottle. Bring food with you. No lunch breaks. No coffee breaks."

Hours and hours of waiting. Shifting in his seat. Flipping through pages of background information. Turning on the air conditioning. Munching on trail mix and bananas. Imagining what neighborhoods used to be like, before the chain link fences rusted and everybody started parking on their lawns.

Staring at his dashboard clock.

He follows a few cars whenever he thinks his target might be on the move. To a corner stop sign. To a nearby strip mall.

False alarms, both.

A phone call reveals that Winkeljohn's surveillance subject isn't home. He is at a doctor's appointment. Winkeljohn drives to the office. He parks in a lot across the street, picks up his camera and waits.

***

It looks like his target is heading home. But Winkeljohn doesn't want to lose him in traffic. As the traffic light turns yellow, he sinks his foot on the accelerator.

For 10 minutes, Winkeljohn weaves in and out of lanes, trying to stay out of sight.

The vehicle he's tailing pulls back into the neighborhood. Winkeljohn drives a few more blocks and parks in the same spot where he sat all morning.

Again, he waits, leaning back and staring intently at the house a few blocks away.

He casually picks up his camera to record another street shot. But as a figure moves in the distance, he sits up straight and zooms in.

It's the biggest payoff of the day. His subject is carrying empty trash cans from the curb to his home. He's not limping.

"Now we have a couple of leads," Winkeljohn says as he jots notes on the back of the insurance company's case report. "We know it's trash day now."

Winkeljohn waits for a few more hours. His target doesn't come out again.

He turns off the videocamera, circles the block and heads out of the neighborhood.

After eight hours of old-fashioned observation, Winkeljohn has one last step in today's surveillance plan, a favorite tool of every 21st century gumshoe.

"I'm going to go home and Google him again."

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or (352) 860-7309.

Tips from a waiter

After more than 10 years as a private investigator, Marc Winkeljohn has learned a few tricks. We'll share them, with a reminder that all private investigators must be licensed with the state. Don't try this at home.

- Don't try any new foods the night before a stakeout. You never know when you'll get a bathroom break.

- Call the local police department when you arrive on scene and let them know you'll be working in the area. That way they won't blow your cover if anyone calls to complain.

- During the school year, don't park too close to groups of kids waiting for the bus. "Nothing will stir up a neighborhood like a strange car with a guy sitting in it just down the street from kids," he says.

- Try to park near large trees that will provide shade, since you can't keep your car running all day.

- Bring a book, but not a page-turner that will distract you too much. Think Stephen Ambrose, not Stephen King. "Read a line. Look up. Read a line. Look up."

[Last modified January 4, 2007, 18:31:06]