| How A Mini Camera
Roped Reverend Ripoff - Surveillance Article
Christina had been tracking
Reverend Ripoff for years. In her job as an investigative
journalist, she had encountered some slimy people, but she always
thought this guy beat them all.
A few years ago, a viewer had told her about a shady charity run by
Reverend Rip that was taking donations and government grants for
inner city education programs. Instead of providing state of the art
computer systems for students to use at the community center,
Reverend Rip's stooges some decrepit boxes of transistors that could
barely add.
Christina had chased the money trail back to Reverend Rip, and it
looked like his innocent followers were footing the bill for a
string of four-star hotel stays and a garage full of fancy cars. But
he was careful. He chose destinations far from his flock, where
nobody knew his name. He tipped generously, so he could hustle out
the back entrance at the first sign of a camera crew or a private
detective.
Reverend Rip was slick, and he used accounting loopholes to uphold
the letter of the law, so the feds couldn't do anything. Christina
knew that the only way to help his deceived donors understand his
true nature was to capture him on tape.
Christina's cameraman, Bill, jumped at the chance to test out a new
gadget. "It looks like a
regular purse," he said. " He hooked it up so that it could send
a strong video signal back to their news van, or even a nearby hotel
room.
That week, Christina trailed the Rev to a luxury golf resort. All
she had to do was stay close by to capture footage of her target in
compromising acts.
Because she stayed in public places, she wasn't violating anyone's
privacy. And she got more than she bargained for when she caught the
married Rev sucking face with one of the bar staff.
Whether or not it was enough evidence to convict him of fraud, the
footage did make a big splash on Christina's newscast.
The Rev abandoned his constant public lecturing in favor of a more
practical, "no comment."
A few months after he packed up and left town.
Christina's station helped raise funds for a nice set of computers
for those kids -- who also learned a lesson in integrity.
You demand the best - and we deliver. |
