Clean Search mugshots scam and online extortion and fraud.

[NormanHaga]

On April 24, 2012 a new website came online (normanhaga . com) that is libelous. I looked through the html page of the website and found a Google adsense certificate number that belonged to cleansee . com Cleansee is the URL of Clean Search, a Boca Raton, Florida online reputation management agency.

I then sent a DMCA claim to the webhost of the offending material. CleanSearch in Florida answered the complaint. Kelly Ellis who also goes by the names Kelly Peter Ellis, Peter Kelly Ellis, and Joe Ellis told me over the telephone that he would make all my problems go away. When I declined his offer, Mr. Kelly then threatened my life, the life of my wife, and the lives of my pets.

A search of Rip off reports revealed that Mr. Kelly has a history of starting websites to libel others in an attempt to extort them, as well as threatening them on the telephone.

Mr. Kelly informed me that he would stop his campaign against me if I would take my website offline and pay his going extortion rate.

The material that Mr. Kelly is so passionate about is the material hosted at normanhaga.nl/blog/ . http://normanhaga.nl/blog/ellis-kelly-v ... ictimizer/ there is a page devoted to his actions in this matter.

The scam and extortion comes down to “Play our game by paying us, or we will libel you,” thereby decreasing your opportunity for reasonable housing, credit, and employment. The fraud of the enterprise is that the online mugshots industry generates the material so that they can extort you to remove it. CleanSearch increases this extortion and scam by opening websites using a the persons name they wish to extort.

As a final word, I stand by my words. I will produce the email, the takedown complaint, and the responses to that complaint to any person that asks. I am unable to produce the recordings of the threats against me because those have been turned over to the police.

[wserra]

I'd never heard of mugshots.com before the Norman Haga thread. Since then, I've done some poking, and don't like what I've poked.

Mugshots.com bills itself as "Google for Mugshots". It collects mugshots from LE by various means, doubtless legal (many LEAs have their own websites containing mugshots). It then publishes them in a large searchable online database. They wrap themselves in public interest rhetoric at every opportunity:

Mugshots.com is fully committed to public safety. The purpose of our site is to bring you the latest and most accurate Official Records for free, and to assist law enforcement worldwide with the capture of some of the most violent and dangerous criminals in our society.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Sheriff, on public display of mugshots on the web: "I think it's a great law enforcement technique." We agree.
...
let's not forget this is a serious matter and as far as we know a predator is still on the loose. If the mugshot of this predator was available and recognized by the victim, today this predator would have likely been off the streets, behind bars.

And on and on. Note to Arpaio: it may not be long before your mugshot is in their database.

So what's wrong with this? Maybe nothing in theory, but in practice something smells. You can, you see, have your mugshot removed - for a fee. And you can't do it directly; you must make a deal with one of the "Authorized Mugshots.com Mugshot Removal Vendor List". Wonder why that is? Well, wired.com checked out one of mugshots.com's local counterparts in Florida. Perhaps public safety matters; money matters more.

These things appear to be springing up all over the place. Say you pay mugshots.com to remove your photo. What's to prevent shugmots.com - perhaps owned by the same folks - from publishing it the next week, and demanding more money to remove it? I had a few such questions for mugshots.com. They insist that all communications be through a lawyer - they even demand a bar number - so I used all of my actual information in writing this polite note, submitted through their site:

A couple of questions:
(1) I wanted to discuss with someone the removal of a mugshot. However, this site was registered anonymously, and there is no name at all on the site. Who is in charge here?
(2) I see your list of approved vendors for removal. However, they were all registered anonymously as well, and there are no names on their sites either. I'm sure you'll agree that it makes little sense to do business with anonymous people.
(3) All of those removal vendors charge just short of $400 to remove a mugshot. That seems like a lot. How much would you charge? How much do they actually pay you?
Thanks.

It's been about 30 hours. Raise your hands if you think I received a response.

And they better make sure they get everything right. One photo that's not a real mugshot and they could find themselves having to choose between bankruptcy and working for the guy in the photo for the rest of their lives. Maybe that's why a whois shows that they registered the domain through International Whois Privacy Services Limited, in Belize. And why the last four hops on a traceroute yield "[Unknown - Firewall did not respond]". And why their entire site doesn't have a single name, either individual or company.

"Public interest", indeed.

[The Observer]

It smacks of a scandal a few years ago where an law firm took advantage of a loophole in a consumer protection law that allowed them to bring lawsuits against businesses for infractions of code or other local laws. An example would have been a car mechanic shop that failed to dispose of used oil properly. The law firm would send a threatening letter, and promising to file suit under the consumer code section. Then when the panicked owner contacted the firm, there was the typical response offering the owner to "settle" the matter, typically several thousand dollars.

Once this scheme got some publicizing, the state attorney general's office got involved and the firm was shut down with the individual attorneys getting disbarred.

[LaVidaRoja]

I can understand the "public interest" in publicizing the mug shots. However, what is their claimed "public interest" in removing them? That smacks far more of private interest. And their operating methods smack even more strongly of their own, financial interests.

[webhick]

I can understand the "public interest" in publicizing the mug shots. However, what is their claimed "public interest" in removing them? That smacks far more of private interest. And their operating methods smack even more strongly of their own, financial interests.

I can see removing mug shots for people who were acquitted of the crimes for which they were arrested. But there shouldn't be a fee for that (or a tiny one, like $30 admin fee or something).

[wserra]

I can see removing mug shots for people who were acquitted of the crimes for which they were arrested. But there shouldn't be a fee for that (or a tiny one, like $30 admin fee or something).

Here's what they say:

Expunged Records: Limited service provided only to licensed U.S attorneys and court officials servicing their clients: Contact us for courtesy removal from the Mugshots.com website, documentation required. This service only applies to arrest records which were legally Expunged or Sealed by the court, or Juvenile Records (under eighteen at time of arrest). Administrative fee may apply.

A few points: (1) I'm a "licensed U.S attorney". I gave them all the info they asked for. No one answered me. (2) There are plenty of jurisdictions that neither seal nor expunge records upon an acquittal. Federal courts don't. Guess those folks have to pay $400. Likely more than once. (3) An unspecified "administrative fee", huh? How much "administration" is required to remove an entry from a database?

[NormanHaga]

There are about three items here that may add value to this discussion. The first is a redacted DMCA Complaint response:
1)“DMCA Counter-Claim Form
February 28, 2012
From: Marc Epstein, Esq.
Counsel for F and F Global
To: Copyright Agent
Amazon.com Legal Department
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108
phone: (206) 266-4064
fax: (206) 266-7010
e-mail: copyright@amazon.com
Subject: DMCA Counter Claim List the materials and location(s) claimed
to infringe copyright:
…
Marc G. Epstein, Esq.
PO Box 530241
Lake Park, FL 33403-8904
(561) 299-0310
Signed,
Marc G. Epstein /s/”
(From personal records)

2. Go to http://www.sunbiz.org, the Florida Division of Corporations and look up F and F Global. The company is defunct, and has been (from memory) since 2009 - apparently they did not pay their taxes. So the name given in response to a takedown notice is also a blind avenue.

3. A very recent and well known matter of the Terrill Swift exoneration. This link is a response by mugshots about that ... agencies ... refusal to take down the mugshots of Terrill Swift, even though the agency asserts on their removal page that exoneration is grounds for picture removal: http://criminalmugshotsonline.com/terri ... blication/ Somewhere in my 8 terabyte of storage I have the entire chain of emails back and forth between mugshots and Terrill Swifts attorney. If you look at the mugshot page for Terrill Swift, there is no commentary other than something to the effect of "What you think we could just forget this."

[wserra]

A very recent and well known matter of the Terrill Swift exoneration.

A Chicago Tribune story on how mugshots.com refused to remove Swift's photo.

[NormanHaga]

There is another issue that sheds some light on these mugshot extortion scams. This matter is Nicola Irene Riley. The link is to a Google search page for her.

A brief recap on the matter: Nicola Riley is a gynecologist in Maryland and Utah. It is alleged that several corpses from abortions that she and another doctor performed were found in a medical freezer in the other doctors office in Maryland. The pro-life groups used her for a political witch hunt in Utah and Maryland by charging her with murder. The cases were dismissed with prejudice in both states. Utah reinstated her license on the condition that she performs no abortions. What the state of her medical license is in Maryland, I don't know and have not followed up on.

If you look at the mugshots page of her, you will see that mugshots has her charges listed as "Fugitive from justice." This is a deception. Nicola Riley was extradited twice; from Maryland to Utah, and from Utah to Maryland. In both extraditions, Nicola Riley was already in custody, being held without bail. You will find no commentary on the mugshot page about the events, or notification of the dismissal of all charges. If you click on the "Click to view official records of Nicola Irene Riley link, you will find all of the personal information that a person needs to make her a victim of identity fraud.

[Edit:] I did notify Nicola Riley's attorney, Edwin Wall, of this event, and attempted to notify Dr. Riley via telephone. I do not know if any follow up action was taken, or if Dr. Riley thinks this is just another humiliation by the pro-life groups.

[NormanHaga]

I am editing this post to remove the images. My board targets a different audience and the use of images is appropriate. On this forum, images are just tacky. I will still link to the images, but not show them in the post.

I need to correct some information given above. While F and F Global, LLC is defunct in Florida for failure to pay taxes, the agency reincorporated in Delaware on July 7, 2011. This is also the same date that mugshots.com incorporated in Delaware. The registered agent is also the same for both. The following images are screenshots taken after "Entity searches" in the Delaware Division of Corporations.

Mugshots.com and F and F Global, LLC incorporated in the state of Delaware on July 7, 2011. The registered agent of both F and F Global, LLC is Harvard Business Service, Inc.

Snapshot of supporting images of the "Entity search" of the Delaware Division of Corporations:
Entity Search for F and F Global.
Business information and registered agent for F and F Global.
Entitiy search for mugshots.com
Business information and registered agent for mugshots.com

[Denson Hudgens]

Sahar Sarid - mugshots.com
http://blackmail-extortion.com/

I linked the blog to the website

[NormanHaga]

Why hello, Mr. Denson Hudgens. You are another victim of Mr. Kelly's and of Mugshots. Kelly Ellis posted his smut about you all over the place.

Do you have any idea of how Kelly Ellis is bypassing Google page rank to pin links to his libel sites under a name query? Do you mind if I create back links to your link on my websites?

Do join me on my website when it is fully functional and secure (currently about a month out).

[Cathulhu]

Looks like Quatloos is ahead of the curve--CNN just picked up on this.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/29/us/mug-sh ... index.html

[wserra]

Posted on mugshots.com home page two days ago:

May 31st, 2012: MUGSHOTS.COM MUGSHOT REMOVAL SERVICE TO BE DISCONTINUED JUNE 15, 2012 OR EARLIER. ANY REMOVAL REQUESTS SENT TO MUGSHOTS.COM AFTER THE DATE HEREIN WILL BE DECLINED. WE HAVE EXTENDED THE DEADLINE TO THE HIGH DEMAND OF UNPUBLISHING REQUESTS WE ARE RECEIVING.

Interesting, right? Someone appears to be getting uncomfortable with the business model, even from Belize.

Since they started the scam, they have required a payoff to remove even the mugshots of the wrongfully convicted. If you believe that overnight they will turn away someone offering a few thousand to remove a mugshot, I have a bridge to sell you.

[NormanHaga]

That mugshots . com is ending their removal service is mugsnots being untruthful. If you look at any picture on their site now you will see a remove image button at the lower right of the image. If you click on that button a window opens to their "Authorized" removal services.

Another point in support is that I recently had the operators of mugsnots attempted to blackmail me into taking my site down. The link leads to a blog in which I disclosed the contents of the chain of email in this extortion attempt.

For some reason, my site is bothering them.

[dcg1259]

We, Class Action Against Mugshot Websites.com, as an organization are working to change state laws that allow mugshot and the removal service websites to operate. It is our goal to get states to change their Commercial Purpose laws to read that “no person or business entity shall use information obtained from public records” to “solicit for commercial purposes and financial gain. Most states at this time have such broad laws allowing for mugshot and removal service websites to operate.

Mugshot websites refuse to remove pictures and information unless the person who is affected pays a high fee for removal, usually starting at 399.99 to remove from one site. And if you email the site and request the remove it out of the goodness of their heart you usually will get an awful surprise. Yes, they will remove the post showing. Then replace it with a post that is much worst. I have received countless emails regarding this happening. Although the sites are legal, it is by a very slim margin. This is extortion. Many sites abuse the person posted by name calling, racial profiling and worse.

There are many people who have their mugshots posted with very personal information that have never been charged with a crime. The actions of these websites have damaged the reputations, relationships and employment of many people who have found their information posted.

We have a great deal of information available online to view. If you have questions, are a victim of online posting please feel free to join us by using the contact form.
Visit us at: http://classactionagainstmugshotwebsites.com/

[wserra]

There are many people who have their mugshots posted with very personal information that have never been charged with a crime.

Then are the posted photos truly mugshots? Or are you speaking of people who have been arrested, but then never formally charged?

[dcg1259]

That is exactly what I am saying. People who were arrested, booked mugshot taken, all charges dropped. If you have ever had your mugshot taken you will find it on these sites. They are not just interested in current events either I am finding mugshots from as far back as 1989. What is the point in bringing up history on someone who has been living life clean all the years?

I will tell you. They want them to pay to have it removed. Extortion plain and simple.

[NormanHaga]

Mugshots . com operates a second website Bonnies Blog of Crime : mylifeofcrime .wordpress .com/. here you can find a repeat of mugshots data and some times some stories, but usually just a fancier repeat of the information on mugsnots.

I myself do not advocate a class action suite. The reason is that a loss would be devastating to any attempt to restrict these type of sites. I do advocate individual actions though. The reason I advocate individual actions are: 1. maximize costs to defend against actions by the mugsnots industry; 2. a loss would not devastate other actions; 3. if control of the domain name were sought as one of the remedies, then the defendant must defend or risk losing the domain.

I also advocate changes in state laws that would prohibit the commercialization of mugshots.

I also advocate going after the link farms these agencies build and reporting them to paid links at Google. This reduces their page rank, the visibility of the webpage, and makes the operation less profitable and more expensive to operate.

You can check who they get their links from through opensiteexplorer.org. When there are over 2,000,000 links from a single URL, you can put money down that you have a link farm. Google doesn't like link farms much and demotes the page and everyone it links to.

Dealing with Bing, report them as extortion to Bing.com feedback if their handiwork appears under a name search for you.

There are many other methods to address them, but it is not the purpose of this board to address those methods.

[Edit] There are currently 17 states that have encoded the "Right to Publicity," if you live in one of those states, you have a cause of action. Incidentally, Florida, the state many of the extortion rackets operate out of, though they serve their smut from the Amazon EC2 server in Seatle, Washington, has encoded the right to publicity.

[smedleybutlerlives]

One of the top persons (if not the top) behind the extortion internet racket known as “MUGSHOTS.COM” is attorney Marc Gary Epstein, (a.k.a Marc G. Epstein, a.k.a Marc Epstein). Born [Moderator redacts personal information], Marc G. Epstein is a member of the Florida Bar (Fla. Bar # 344192) He is also a member of the New York Bar, Third District. Marc graduated a Fourth Tier law school, Nova Southeastern University – Shepard Broad Law Center, which is known for producing such fine scumbag attorney’s as Scott Rothstein file://localhost/(http/::articles.sun-sentinel.com:2009-12-05:news:fl-rothstein-history-20091205_1_scott-rothstein-ponzi-scheme-jail-cell) and Paul Bergrin (http://nymag.com/news/features/paul-ber ... ndex1.html).

While Marc G. Epstein awaits to join Paul and Scott, who will be getting acupuncture up their dirt-shoots for years to come, he is playing his last role as counsel for MUGSHOTS.COM. The reason I say that this is his “last role,” is because, unbeknownst to Marc, there has been an investigation of him and the other so-called “removal vendors.” There are various recordings of Marc G. Epstein and the “vendors” admitting that they work together and pay each other off and also recordings in which Marc admits that it is his decision which mug shots stay up and that it is “his business.”

The entire compilation of evidence against Marc G. Epstein and his extortion ring will be sent to the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and the New York Board of Law Examiners, as well as the U.S. Attorney, I.R.S. (I hope they’re paying taxes) and major news stations throughout Florida and New York (news stations love audio files). Hence, the esteemed Mr. Epstein’s law license will be “no longer,” or as lawyers say- “the privilege will be REVOKED!” These audio files will be uploaded to our mugshots.com extortion facebook page (coming soon) so that you can hear Marc. G Epstein and the other vendors in all their glory. If anyone else wishes to file an additional complaint with the Florida Bar against Marc G. Epstein for extorting your money, the link to the instructions is at the end of this article. There will be more on Marc G. Epstein and his family below.





MARC G. EPSTEIN AND FAMILY
Marc G. Epstein is from Ardsley, New York. In order to stay hidden, Marc no longer has a physical address listed. He uses a post-office box- P.O. BOX 530241, WEST PALM BEACH FL 33403-8904, PALM BEACH COUNTY, Florida. The number on his bar website is also not his (Both the New York and Florida Bar examiners are going to love the fact that this guy became a ghost). His last known address was [Moderator redacts personal information]. We’ll let you know if he’s still there. He was last known to drive a 2007 Ford Edge (we already knew was a big Yankee fan, but I guess it's clear he really is a Derek Jeter fan) - 4 Dr Wagon Sport Utility VIN: [Moderator redacts personal information]. As soon as our P.I. gets a physical address on Marc G. Epstein, we’ll post it for all of you. In the mean time, you can reach Marc G. Epstein at [Moderator redacts personal information]. I recommend calling him; he’d love to hear from you (Marc, please don’t be upset at me for giving your number out. Remember, it is public record). Marc G. Epstein also has the following liens and judgments: (1) $15,865.00 owed to the IRS; (2) $218.00 owed to the State of Florida; (3) $13,558.00 owed to Barnett Bank; and (4) two other liens and judgments for amounts unknown at this time owed to the State of Florida.

The following is a link to Marc Epstein’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1247513686. In the picture with Marc is his idiot, drug-dealing, drug-using, extortionist son Ari Brant Epstein (a.k.a. Ari Epstein, a.k.a. Ari. B. Epstein). Ari B. Epstein, born [Moderator redacts personal information] was arrested in Dade County on felony charges of Dealing Drugs in or around a school (Case #13-2005-CF-008520-0001-XX), Possession of Cannabis (Case # 13-2005-MM-016789-0001-XX) and in Palm Beach county (Case # 50-2004-CT-033622-AXXX-MB). You can punch the case number or Ari's name into the following sites to see the case: (http://www.mypalmbeachclerk.com/courtrecords.aspx) and (http://www.miami-dadeclerk.com). Ari currently helps his father extort people out of money by posing as a reputation restorer (see Marc Epstein’s Facebook info page where he states “I have a son Ari who is in working in reputation management.”)
Ari B. Epstein lives at [Moderator redacts personal information]. If he has extorted any of your money by making you pay to take your mug shot off his site I suggest you pay him a visit and portray your dismay. For all of you who are unable to physically reach Ari B. Epstein, his phone numbers are [Moderator redacts personal information] (the number his father, Marc G. Epstein, has listed with the Florida bar). Also, keep in mind, mailing is good too.
Ari. B. Epstein lives with his mother, Lesli Epstein Angel, born [Moderator redacts personal information]. Lesli is Marc G. Epstein’s ex-wife. They live with the guy she married after she divorced Marc in September 1999, Albert Justin Angel, Esq. (Albert used to be married to Judge Jeri Beth Cohen D.O.B. [Moderator redacts personal information]). Marc G. Epstein then married Randi Sue Seligman, born [Moderator redacts personal information], on October 26, 2003. Unfortunately, because he’s a piece a shit, this did not work out either and they divorced just last June. Randi lives at [Moderator redacts personal information]. She can be reached at [Moderator redacts personal information]. This is also Marc G. Epstein’s last known address. Randi Sue Seligman can also be reached at her place of work- [Moderator redacts personal information], Phone # [Moderator redacts personal information].
Marc G. Epstein was not the only one that was married three times in his family. His sister Michelle L. Silver (a.k.a. Michele Bobrow), born [Moderator redacts personal information], is a “quick-one” too. She was married 3 times, and the last was to Paul Sonny Silver on [Moderator redacts personal information] (BTW- Paul was married 3 times too). Michele supposedly owns “Eyeglass Wearhouse,” located at [Moderator redacts personal information]. The phone number is [Moderator redacts personal information], but the company is not registered. This may be a front for her brother Marc G. Epstein’s extortion business. Marc’s parents, Daniel and Beatrice, recently dropped dead. Our guess is that they died of shame of having a son that was such a scumbag, lowlife, extortionist, bum. With some luck, he’ll be joining them soon.
There is much more in our possession that I cannot divulge right now. This includes undesirable facts about Marc G. Epstein’s family as well as himself, and the extortion racket known as MUGSHOTS.COM. I promise we will supply more information on the racket and Marc. G. Epstein as we get it. After all, as Marc G. Epstein would be the first to tell you, IT IS PUBLIC RECORD!