Veracity IIR

The true cost of not hiring professional researchers.

Rain didn’t dampen our spirits as Veracity was a proud hole sponser for the annual Cody Lisby golf outing. The event raises funds for families of children fighting cancer.

A respectable 10 under par only got our team a tie for 11th place.

On this day in 2001, I was having coffee with several fellow FBI Agents at a cafe near our office in Sioux Falls.

The first plane had already hit, and we were watching the news, trying to understand how it could have happened.

Then the second plane hit.

We knew immediately it wasn’t an accident.

We still carried pagers back then, and within moments they all started chirping as we got up and headed out.

Soon the tips started pouring in. If someone looked Middle Eastern—or sometimes even Mexican—there was a good chance somebody would call the FBI to report something “suspicious.” Most went nowhere, but every tip had to be evaluated when nobody knew what might happen next.

That day changed the FBI. Our priorities, our investigations, and the way we shared intelligence all changed dramatically in the months and years that followed.

Twenty-five years later, what stays with me isn’t a briefing, a case, or an investigation.

It’s a table full of agents drinking coffee, staring at a television in disbelief—and then, almost all at once, the sound of our pagers going off.

We left our coffee on the table and got to work.

A quick warning for everyone dealing with flood and storm damage around Indianapolis:

Unfortunately, disasters bring out scammers just as quickly as they bring out people trying to help.

Be especially cautious of people who show up at your door offering immediate roof, water, mold, tree-removal, or other repair work.

A few things to remember:

• Don’t let anyone pressure you into signing a contract on the spot.
• Get estimates and the scope of work in writing.
• Verify the contractor’s identity, insurance, references and any required licensing or registration.
• Be extremely cautious about large upfront payments—especially demands for cash.
• Don’t give strangers banking information, Social Security numbers or insurance information simply because they claim to be helping with disaster relief.
• FEMA does not charge for disaster assistance or inspections, and FEMA personnel carry official identification.
• Be skeptical of unsolicited calls, texts or door-to-door offers promising government money, expedited assistance or guaranteed insurance payments.

And be careful with donation requests. A disaster is an easy opportunity for someone to create a fake charity or impersonate a legitimate one.

Most contractors and relief workers are legitimate people trying to help. But after major storms, scammers rely on urgency.

Slow down. Verify who you’re dealing with. Get it in writing. And if something doesn’t feel right, don’t hand over money or personal information.

Please share this with anyone dealing with storm damage.

Veracity CEO Doug Kouns discusses a particularly heinous murder of a pregnant woman and her 3yo child in Greenwood. It occurred a year ago and remains unsolved.

Police are still searching for the person who killed a Greenwood mother and son. Karon Clay, 33, and her 3-year-old son, Karter Clay, were found dead in their home in Greenwood one year ago.
https://fox59.com/news/killer-still-at-large-1-year-after-mother-and-son-were-slain-in-their-greenwood-home/

Most of us at Veracity are retired or former FBI employees. It’s sickening to see our colleagues fired for simply investigating the cases they were assigned to investigate.

FBI agents fired over Trump investigation get broad backing in lawsuit against administration An association of thousands of FBI agents is backing a lawsuit filed by three bureau employees who were fired last year for their roles in an investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.

CEO Doug Kouns speaks with Fox59 about fi****ms training in light of the recent officer involved shooting in Indianapolis.

FOX59/CBS4 spoke with a law enforcement expert who discussed the training officers undergo to prevent accidental shootings from happening. This comes after IMPD confirmed that one of the injured officers in a recent police action shooting was struck by a fellow officer. https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/law-enforcement-expert-says-officers-train-to-prevent-accidental-shootings/

Veracity CEO Doug Kouns was on Fox59 today to discuss an interesting and alarming case. A person created a fake TikTok profile, then posted disturbing content in order to cause the real person to be fired from their job.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1LojEHurQK/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The victim found out he was being impersonated online when his company told him he was going to be fired for making inappropriate sexual comments on TikTok. https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/michigan-man-charged-in-marion-county-with-impersonating-former-boss-on-tiktok-to-get-revenge-for-being-fired/