SUMMARY
John Q. Claimant
resides with his wife and son in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. During the
surveillance we followed the claimant to a residence in Worthington, MN. The
claimant worked strenuously pulling out fence posts with his hands there. We
later observed and filmed him as he picked up furniture at a local furniture
warehouse in Sioux Falls, SD. The claimant also went to the orthopedic
clinic near downtown Sioux Falls. We also followed him to a Car Expo at the
local fair grounds where he looked at SUV’s with his wife and son. The
claimant did not appear to display any outward indication of a disability
during our surveillance.
On Tuesday,
04/26/05, Investigator Jason Sturm conducted the surveillance from
6:30 AM until 5:27 PM. At 8:35 AM, Mr. Claimant walked out of his residence
and retrieved his newspaper and then he walked back inside. At 10:20 AM, he
left residence and drove to Worthington, MN which is 65 miles away. He
picked up a hitchhiker just outside of Benson, SD and drove him all the way
to a gas station in Worthington. The claimant then went to a residence in
Worthington and dug, pried and pulled five fence posts out of the ground. He
also used an electric chainsaw on the posts. He worked for nearly an hour,
then broke for lunch at Hardee=s. He returned to the project and carried
five gallon pails of dirt to fill the holes. The claimant remained inside
the residence when we broke off our surveillance.
We obtained 1 hour
and 12 minutes of videotape.
On Wednesday, 04/27/05, Investigator Jason Sturm continued the
surveillance from 6:32 AM until 3:34 PM. Investigator John Parker, while
working on another case in the area, made a spot check at the Worthington,
MN address at 6:47 AM. Mr. Claimant’s vehicle was not here. The claimant
came out of his residence in Sioux Falls at 7:58 AM to retrieve his
newspaper. At this same time a woman dropped off a small girl at the
claimant’s residence and then left. At 8:25 AM Mr. Claimant drove to an
orthopedic clinic located near downtown Sioux Falls. He was there for 45
minutes. While there, he could not get his driver=s door open so he entered
his truck through the passenger side door.
The claimant went home
and was inside for a half hour and then he, his wife and the child who had
been dropped off that morning went shopping. They stopped at a Starbucks
Coffee and then continued to a furniture warehouse on the north side of town
where they purchased some furniture. The claimant lifted the child into the
box of his pickup while he waited for the furniture at the loading dock.
They returned home and the claimant walked over to a neighbor’s house where
he remained inside as we broke off our surveillance.
We conducted spot checks at the claimant’s residence at 8:55 PM and again at
10:11 PM. On both occasions we could see lights on inside the residence.
We obtained 13 minutes and 33 seconds of videotape.
On Thursday,
04/28/05, Investigator Jason Sturm continued the surveillance from
6:45 AM until 2:30 PM. At 7:08 AM, the claimant walked out for his
newspaper. At 11:02 AM, the claimant, his wife and his son drove two
vehicles to the Sioux Falls fair grounds and attended a Car Expo. They
looked at Chevrolet Suburbans in the huge lot which had approximately
several thousand new vehicles in it. The claimant did not exit the lot where
he entered and he did not return home by the time we broke off our
surveillance. We were able to get some film of him inside the lot.
We obtained approximately 14 minutes of videotape.
RECORDS-SOUTH
DAKOTA DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES
THURSDAY
4/26/05 |
6:30 AM |
Investigator Jason Sturm arrives in the area of the claimant's
residence. His residence is a two-story multilevel home with a three-car
attached garage. He has a large deck on the back side of the house.
There are no vehicles parked outside here. We set up in a surveillance
position on Steeple Street just west of the claimant=s residence.
|
| |
8:35 AM |
The claimant
exits his residence through the front door and walks to the mailbox to
retrieve a newspaper. He is wearing a dark bluish green sweatshirt and
the same color sweat pants and tennis shoes. He carries the newspaper
in his right hand as he easily walks towards the entrance of his
residence. The claimant then switches the newspaper to his left hand as
he opens the door with his right hand and he walks into the residence
and out of view. The claimant did not show any sign of having a
disability while walking to and from his residence. |
| |
10:30 AM |
The claimant
backs his red Chevrolet pickup with South Dakota license plate number
AA11-111 out of the third stall of the three-car garage. He then
departs the area and we pursue him.
|
| |
10:39 AM |
We are just
on the north side of Benson, SD where the claimant turns on to the
on-ramp of Interstate 90 heading east. He stops there and picks up a
hitchhiker. He then continues driving east on Interstate 90 towards the
MN border.
|
| |
11:25 AM |
The claimant pulls
into a Casey=s gas station in Worthington, MN and he drops of the
hitchhiker. The claimant then gets out of his vehicle and walks into the
gas station. He is now wearing a pair of black jeans, white tennis
shoes, and a blue sweatshirt with CSI written across the back of it.
|
| |
11:29 AM |
The
claimant exits the convenience store, walks to his pickup and drives out
of the area.
|
| |
11:31 AM |
He pulls up to a residence at 1111 Somewhere Avenue in
Worthington, MN. We later find out that this residence is registered to
a Mr. Someone, an older man. The residence is a yellow rambler with a
wooden deck in front and a wooden fence around the yard. There is a
two-car garage located just behind the residence.
|
| |
12:06 PM |
The claimant exits the residence with the older man. The
claimant gets into his pickup, drives it around the corner and parks it
halfway on to the boulevard at the residence across a street from the
older man’s residence. The claimant gets of his vehicle, opens up the
back cover and pulls out a shovel and starts digging white fence
posts out of the ground.
 |
|
|
|
| |
12:11 PM |
The claimant then
walks across the street and out of view
|
|
12:13 PM |
He walks back over
to the fence posts with a pair of gloves on and continues trying to
wiggle the fence posts back and forth and also dig around it to try to
get them out of the ground. The claimant is moving fluidly and he does
not show any sign of having any type of disability.
|
|
12:22 PM |
The claimant then
walks over to his pickup truck, takes out an electric chain saw and
begins cutting into the fence posts.
|
| |
12:34 PM |
He continues
digging around the fence posts and pulling them out by wrapping both of
his arms around the fence posts, squatting down and lifting them out of
the ground. He is also trying to pry them out with a piece of iron of
some type and also his father is hooking a chain to them and trying to
loosen them up so the claimant can pull them out of the ground.
|
|
12:47 |
The claimant
is now down on his knees trying to get the bottom half of a stump out
that they cut in half with the chain saw. He pulls it out of the ground
with both of his hands.
|
| |
12:49 PM |
The
claimant continues digging around one of the posts while his father
backs up with the lawn mower tractor and chain and tries to loosen the
posts so the claimant can pull it out of the ground.
|
|
12:52 PM |
The claimant and the older man pull the stump out of the
ground using both hands. He then throws the stump approximately five
feet away from his body.
|
|
12: 55 PM |
A
vehicle pulls in front of us and blocks our view. We have to depart the
area for a few minutes and then return. As we are about to turn down the
street we observe the claimant and his father leaving the area and we
follow them.
|
|
1:08 PM |
The claimant and his father pull into a Hardy's
near downtown Worthington. We return to the claimant's
father's
residence and watch for them to return.
|
|
1:58 PM |
The
claimant and his father return back to the residence. The claimant is
filling the holes up with five gallon pails of black dirt.
|
|
2:00 PM |
The
claimant continues to fill the holes up with black dirt by dumping it
into the hole and then using a hoe to flatten out the dirt and the
grass.
|
|
2:03 PM |
The
claimant then picks up the remaining fence posts and carries them over
to the boulevard for disposal.
|
|
2:10 PM |
The
claimant is now done digging out the posts and filling the holes up with
dirt. He now begins to coil up one of the extension cords. He grabs the
five gallon empty pails and puts them in the back of the truck along
with the extension cords and the other tools that he used.
|
|
2:13 PM |
The
woman who lives at the residence arrives back home with her child and
talks to the claimant and his father. The claimant then walks over to
the front of the house and appears to be looking at the roof like
possibly in the future he might replace the roof.
|
|
2:16 PM |
The
claimant then walks out of view.
|
|
2:17 PM |
He
walks back in view carrying what appears to be a soda pop in his right
hand as he opens up the passenger door of his pickup.
|
|
2:18 PM |
The
claimant then walks into the older man's residence.
|
|
2:51 PM |
He
walks out of the residence carrying some objects in his left hand as he
walks towards his vehicle. They then walk around the corner and out of
view.
|
|
4:07 PM |
The
claimant then comes back in the view and walks back into the residence.
|
|
4:54 PM |
The
claimant walks to his vehicle, gets in, backs it up, pulls it in front
of the residence and picks up the older man and a woman and drives away.
|
|
5:27 PM |
The
claimant has not returned with his father or mother and we break off the
surveillance for the day.
|
WEDNESDAY
4/27/05 |
6:32 AM |
Investigator Jason Sturm arrives in the area of the claimant=s
residence. None of the claimant's vehicles are parked outside. The
shades on the front of the residence are closed. The ones on the back
are open as they were yesterday. We set up in our surveillance position.
|
|
7:58 AM |
The
claimant exits his residence wearing black pants, tennis shoes and a
black long sleeved shirt. He walks to his mailbox, picks up the
newspaper and then walks back into his residence. The claimant continues
to move showing no sign of having a disability.
|
|
7:58 AM |
A woman in a
white GMC pickup with SD license plate number 4AA-444 pulls into the
driveway and drops off a small young girl. It appears that Mr. Claimant
is going to baby sit for this woman.
|
|
8:02 AM |
The woman
leaves the claimant's residence without the child.
|
|
8:25 AM |
The claimant backs
his red Chevrolet pickup out of the garage and drives away.
|
|
8:37 AM |
He arrives at the
orthopedic clinic located near downtown Sioux Falls. The claimant walks
into the orthopedic clinic without any sign of a disability. The
orthopedic clinic is located on 23rd Street and 10th Avenue in Sioux
Falls, SD.
|
|
9:32 AM |
The claimant
exits the orthopedic clinic and he walks to his vehicle. It appears
that the claimant cannot get his driver=s
side door unlocked as he tries to get into his vehicle. He then walks
around to the passenger=s
side, opens that door and then gets in through the passenger=s
side and he drives away.
|
|
9:40 AM |
He stops at
a Centex gas station
|
|
9:42 AM |
The claimant exits
the Centex gas station. He is still having trouble opening up his
driver=s side door as he is carrying what appears to be a couple of
bottles of cola in his right hand. He walks around, unlocks his doors,
closes the passenger=s door and then walks around and gets into the
driver=s side door and drives out of the area.
|
|
10:02 AM |
The claimant is now
back at his residence.
|
|
10:40 AM |
The claimant
departs the area in his Chevrolet pickup along with his wife and the
young girl.
|
|
10:47 AM |
The
claimant then pulls into the parking lot of a Hy-Vee grocery
store/Starbucks Coffee. He goes inside and out of view.
|
|
11:17 AM |
The
claimant walks out of the Starbucks Coffee shop carrying a cup of coffee
in his left hand and holding the little girl=s hand as they walk through
the parking lot and towards his truck.
|
|
11:18 AM |
He
gets into his truck and deports the area.
|
|
11:36 AM |
The
claimant pulls into a furniture outlet USA on the north side of town and
goes inside of the furniture store.
|
|
12:14 PM |
He
exits the store through the front door, gets into his truck and drives
around to the back to a loading dock.
|
|
12:17 PM |
The
claimant then gets out of his truck, walks around to the back of his
pickup truck, puts both hands on the hardcover and lifts it up over his
head and lowers the tail gate. He grabs the child, picks her up and puts
her into the box of the pickup truck.
|
|
12:19 PM |
One of
the workers at the furniture store comes out with a flat piece of
cardboard and lays it down in the box of the pickup truck.
|
|
12:21 PM |
We have to
move our van since we are blocking traffic and we decide to depart the
area and return to the claimant=s
home so we can possibly videotape him carry the furniture from the
pickup and into his residence.
|
|
12:40 PM |
We arrive back at
the claimant=s residence and take up our surveillance position.
|
|
1:32 PM |
The mail is
delivered to the claimant's residence.
|
|
12:57 PM |
The claimant
arrives back at his residence and he pulls directly into the garage and
out of view. His wife then comes out of the garage, walks to the
mailbox, retrieves the mail and then she walks back in through the
garage and out of view.
|
|
2:45 PM |
The claimant walks
out of the garage and he goes over and enters the neighbor's side garage
door.
|
|
3:34 PM |
The claimant
remains inside the neighbor=s residence and we break off the
surveillance for the day.
|
|
8:55 PM |
We conducted a spot
check at the claimant’s residence and observe lights on inside the
residence.
|
|
10:11 PM |
We conduct a second
spot check. Again, there are lights on inside the residence.
|
THURSDAY
4/28/05 |
6:45 AM |
Investigator Jason
Sturm arrives in the area of the claimant's residence. There are no
vehicles parked outside. The shades are still pulled in the front and on
the west side of the residence. We set up in our surveillance position.
|
|
7:08 AM |
The
claimant exits wearing a black sweatshirt and black sweat pants. He
walks to his mailbox to retrieve his newspaper and then he walks back
inside. He continues to walk in a normal gait and he does not show any
sign of having a disability.
|
|
10:16 AM |
The
garage door opens and the claimant=s son walks out. He is approximately
5'09-5'10 tall and about 250 pounds with a shaved head. His son and his
wife then get into a white Acura with South Dakota license plate number
2AA-222 and they depart the area. The claimant remains inside of his
residence.
|
|
10:55 AM |
The
claimant's wife and son return in the white Acura and pull the vehicle
into the garage.
|
|
11:02 AM |
The
claimant and his wife leave their residence with the claimant driving
the white Acura. His son backs a green Pontiac Grand Prix with South
Dakota license plate number 3AA-333 out of the garage. They depart the
area and we follow them.
|
|
11:21 AM |
The
claimant, his wife and his son arrive at the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux
Falls, SD. Behind the grandstands they are having a very large Car Expo
in a parking lot. It is filled up with thousands of brand new vehicles,
anything from BMW's to Hyundai's.
|
|
11:26 AM |
We drive by
the claimant and his son as they are parked in one of the isles where
the GMC Yukons, Yukon XLs and Chevrolet Suburbans are parked. It appears
that the claimant or his son is interested in buying one of these. This
is a very difficult place to try to get in a surveillance position with
a view of the claimant. Every time we try driving down an isle, he
would either switch over to another isle or we would have to drive by
him. We tried sitting in a position nearby but we kept getting bothered
by salesmen driving around in Golf Carts trying to sell vehicles. We
depart the area and take up a surveillance position near the entrance
into the fair grounds.
|
|
1:10 PM |
The claimant has
not driven by our position so we enter the parking lot and look for the
claimant=s vehicle. We do not find the claimant's vehicle and it appears
that they went out a different exit. We depart the area and go back to
the claimant's residence.
|
|
1:51 PM |
We call the
claimant's
residence and he is not home. There is no answer or answering machine.
|
|
2:30 PM |
The claimant has
not returned home and we break off the surveillance and leave the area.
|
