Private Investigator Who Says He Was Stiffed By Association Leader Says He Still Hasn’t Been Paid

By Ryan Ross

DENVER – A Colorado Springs private investigator who says he was stiffed four years ago by the current chair of the state’s largest association of private investigators says the chair is lying when he says he has since paid up.

Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) Chair Chris Bray “has never paid these two outstanding invoices,” Tom Pitts wrote Feb. 3 in an email to a critic of plans to require private investigators to get licenses in Colorado. “If he had, it should be a simple matter for Mr. Bray to produce … proof that the invoices were (paid), (by producing)  …  a cancelled check or remittance. I suggest that no such proofs exists or is forthcoming.”

Pitts’ email is part of a tit-for-tat series of emails during the past few days between PPIAC leaders, Pitts and a Bob Oblock, a critic of the association’s push for legislation requiring private investigators to obtain licenses in Colorado. It occurs as legislators are about to focus on the legislation that its backers say is needed in part to promote ethical conduct by private investigators.

Pitts was reacting to a statement by Bray to the Private Investigator Blog that he did eventually pay two invoices totaling $140 that Pitts had cited in a complaint he’d filed in 2009 with a national association of process servers. Bray didn’t respond to the complaint, and the association revoked his membership.

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Licensing Critic Cites A Whopper: Private Investigators Association Chair Had Membership in Server Association Revoked After Failing to Pay for Services Rendered

DENVER – The chair of the largest association of private investigators in Colorado and the point person behind legislation to require investigators to obtain a license from the state was kicked out of a professional association in 2009 for failing to pay for services he’d contracted for, something a critic says makes a mockery of his and the association’s professed interest in cleaning up the profession with the licensing legislation.

Private Professional Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) Chair Chris Bray had his membership in the National Association of Professional Process Servers revoked in 2009 when he failed to respond to a complaint alleging he’d failed to pay for services rendered by a Colorado Springs process server he’d retained.

“This is the guy that thinks every private investigator should be licensed, to protect the public from unethical investigators,” Colorado Independent Investigators Assn. Chair Bob Oblock notes. “Hahaha!”

Oblock is one of several former PPIAC board members who left that organization, formed their own group and oppose licensing private investigators. They contend it’s unnecessary and imposes a financial burden on investigators, many of whom work part-time and others of whom are retired. The PPIAC is a driving force behind licensure.
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