Social media investigations are a critical part of every case. When it comes to investigating steroid trafficking, it’s no exception.
Market: Intelligence
Client: Licensed Investigator
Service: Social Media Investigation, Preservation
Challenge
A Florida-based private investigation firm had hit a wall. After exhausting their surveillance budget, they suspected social media might hold the missing link in a high-profile case. The case involved a famous sports figure accused of trafficking performance-enhancing drugs.
The investigators believed a courier was moving steroids between the athlete and a doctor. While they had identified the courier as a known associate of the athlete, they lacked evidence tying the courier to the doctor. To make matters worse, the subjects were aware they were under watch. Consequently, they ramped up their caution and scrubbed incriminating content from their social media accounts.
The firm turned to SMI Aware for help finding social media evidence that could connect the dots and support their case.
Solution
SMI Aware’s analysts quickly located multiple social media profiles for each subject. Despite the deliberate deletion of content, our proprietary search technology enabled us to broaden the investigation by looking into their extended networks.
Key findings included:
Connection through family networks — The doctor’s son was connected on social media to the suspected courier.
Crucial photographic evidence — By expanding the search to the son’s girlfriend’s Facebook profile, our team discovered a photo showing the courier and the doctor together at a family event inside the doctor’s home. This photo provided critical proof of their relationship.
Because much of the original content had been deleted, our analysts moved quickly to preserve the photograph and all publicly available data on the girlfriend’s Facebook account, ensuring the evidence was secured.
Outcome
In the end, the photo uncovered by SMI Aware accomplished what two months of traditional surveillance could not: it definitively proved a personal connection between the doctor and the courier.
Armed with this conclusive evidence, the investigators were able to confront the subjects and shift their investigative strategy — saving their client both time and money and delivering results that went far beyond speculation.
Ready to add social media evidence to your investigations? Contact us or call (888) 299-9921 and one of our representatives will gladly assist you.
Featured image taken by Boris Stefanik via Unsplash
