Anthony Pellicano, private investigator whose clients included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, is charged in case related to former Times reporter Anita Busch’s research.

By Richard Winton, Times Staff Writer

Anthony Pellicano, the high-profile private investigator whose clients included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, was charged today with conspiracy and making threats against a Los Angeles Times reporter.

Anita Busch was researching a story in 2002 about the relationship between actor Steven Seagal and a reputed Mafia figure when someone fired a bullet through the windshield of her unoccupied car.

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Left on top of the vehicle was a dead fish with a rose in its mouth and a sign reading: “Stop.”

The charges today were filed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley after a lengthy investigation by state and federal authorities.

Pellicano is now serving a sentence of 30 months in federal prison after he was convicted of possessing two illegal hand grenades and a quantity of plastic explosives. The contraband was discovered during a search of his office related to the investigation into the Busch threats.

The explosive devices that resulted in his conviction were discovered in a locked safe during an FBI raid on his Sunset Boulevard offices in November 2002.

Alexander Proctor, a drug-dealing ex-convict, was subsequently charged with carrying out the threat. Proctor was charged today with conspiring with Pellicano.

In secretly recorded conversations with an FBI informant, Proctor allegedly said he had been hired by Pellicano to scare Busch.

Pellicano, whose clients have included a who’s who of Hollywood stars from Elizabeth Taylor to Michael Jackson, pleaded guilty to the weapons charges two years ago. Earlier this year, a federal appellate court ruled against Pellicano, who had challenged the legality of the search of his residence and office.

Both men, each age 61, are serving federal prison sentences.

According to the complaint, Pellicano, owner of Pellicano Investigative Agency Ltd. in West Hollywood, hired Proctor on April 9, 2002, “to threaten Anita Busch, a reporter working for the Los Angeles Times, to cause her to fear for her life.”

“Between the late evening hours of June 10, 2002, and the early hours of June 20, 2002, Alexander Proctor went to Anita Busch’s residence in Los Angeles County and threatened her by placing a dead fish with a rose in its mouth on the windshield of her car,” according to the complaint.

“He (Proctor) made a hole in the windshield with the intent to make it appear like a bullet hole. He also placed a sign with the word ’stop’ on the windshield,” according to the charges.

Pellicano is in prison in Taft, Calif., for the firearms violations. Proctor is serving a 10-year term at a federal prison in Illinois on a drug conviction

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald Goudy of the Organized Crime Division will prosecute the case.

TV shows and movies glorify the occupation, but the reality is that private investigators are hard-working stiffs who prosper via persistence and perseverance

By Kevin Cox

Let’s get a few things straight.

Straight as a shot of whiskey.

Straight as a right to the jaw.

Straight as the hemline on a short skirt.

Some people think that’s what private investigators do —drink, fight and … well, you know. After all, it works like that in Hollywood. From Mannix to Magnum, private investigators, or P.I.s, do more living in 60 minutes (minus commercials) than the rest of us mopes will manage in our lifetimes.

Some guys have all the luck. Too bad they live on a sound stage.

“People have this stereotyped perception of what private investigators do,” says Anthony Perrin, a P.I. based in Rancho Bernardo. “All the stuff they see on TV … we’re getting shot at, or in barroom fights. In reality, a professional private investigator is one of those guys who generally has a specialty of one sort or another.

“They’re looking for repeat business, not the beautiful girl walking in, saying, ‘You gotta find the guy who killed my boyfriend,’ or some big intrigue.”

But sometimes, P.I.s do get the girls, creating local legends in the process. Perrin says all reputable investigators are obligated to keep quiet about their cases, for obvious ethical reasons. Translation: If they tell us, they’ll have to kill us.

Yet some stories eventually do get out. And while San Diego’s P.I.s may not be 60-minute wonders, some of them do get their 15 minutes of fame. Or infamy.

In the following account, the names are being withheld —to protect the licentious. Several years ago, a husband contacted a local P.I., because he was suspicious of his wife. “A lot of guys avoid the follow-my-wife assignments, but this guy doesn’t mind,” says a San Diego attorney who’s heard the story. “So he goes out and follows the wife. He catches her in a bar. She has a few drinks with him, and she flirts with him. He takes her up to a hotel.

“He goes back to the husband and says, ‘Yeah, your wife’s unfaithful.’”

When life imitates art, it figures Austin Powers would show up. It also happened that way with another local private investigator named Rick Post (“A Case of Foul Play,” San Diego Magazine, April 2002). By most accounts, Post had been shagging women in San Diego for years—physically and financially. When he shagged the wrong one, he disappeared in Tijuana five years ago. Kimberly Bailey, Post’s former girlfriend and business partner, was convicted of conspiracy to kidnap Post and other charges. It all adds up to life in prison, says a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego. Bailey was scheduled to be sentenced in federal court late last month. John Krueger, another business associate, got 12 years for his involvement in the kidnapping. Post’s body has never been found.

Other P.I.s are openly critical of Post and those like him. “Post wasn’t even a licensed private investigator,” says Perrin, who adds it’s easy enough to check on anybody claiming to be a P.I. The Bureau of Security & Investigative Services regulates P.I.s in California, and operates a Web site. Go to www.dca.ca.gov/bsis and plug in a name. The Web site gives details about the license, if any.

The site also lists the requirements for becoming a licensed P.I., which include 6,000 hours of paid experience as an investigator. If you have a college degree, the state will reduce the number by up to 2,000 hours. Throw in $279 in processing fees, a two-hour test, a background check by the state Department of Justice and the FBI, and you get a license in California.

About 4,000 P.I.s also belong to the California Association of Licensed Investigators (CALI). “What we’re trying to do is promote the business of being a private investigator,” says Perrin, who was CALI’s president in 2001. “We’re trying to professionalize our industry.”

That includes training and education programs, even legislative committees to lobby in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Perrin says privacy laws designed to protect personal information of law-abiding citizens are also shielding criminals and other lowlifes. At the same time, lost relatives and elusive witnesses are harder to find for clients. And a federal law protecting bank records makes it impossible for fraud victims to find the assets of the perpetrators and freeze them, according to Perrin.

While privacy laws conceal some information, the Internet provides instant access to other databases, revolutionizing the business of background checks. But technology will never replace good private investigators and their instincts.

“I find the psychology of sitting down and interviewing people the most fascinating part of the job,” says Dave Kitchen, president of Proficient Investigations. With his dark suit and friendly smile, he appears to be just another business professional in a North County business park.

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