This constitutes the factual basis for my complaint against David Edward Martinez doing business as Edwards Detective Agency. I am an attorney and retained the agency on December 24 by payment of $800 paid to Martinez for the service of conducting surveillance at a certain property location from December 25 at 2 pm to December 26 at 4 pm. I inquired about the status at approximately 4 pm on December 25. Martinez claimed he had "an associate" at the property conducting the surveillance. He asked me where I was, which seemed irrelevant to me, and I told him truthfully that I was in San Francisco. Later I realized that this question was asked so that I could not verify that he was not actually at the property.
I asked him to take a photograph of the scene. An hour and a half later, he told me could not, that it was too dark. He is supposed to be a private detective. He should have been taking photographs periodically all day and any time any movement occurred. I did not get a single photograph, did not get a chronological log of events occurring at the property, and I did not get any reliable information as to what was happening during the surveillance. What I believe is that Mr. Martinez took my money, went by the property at most once, and that was the sum total of everything he did. Attached as Exhibit A is his ad highlighting his skills in surveillance.
That amounts to fraud.
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