The Criminal Files.......(Greg Berin)...........Phase 2 of the Investigation

11-11-2013 at 12:32 PM 

I realized it has been a month since my last entry. I apologize for leaving you hanging for this long, but, what better time to continue with my story than now. The subject of this story, Greg Berin, was recently interviewed by reporter Bill McClellan of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and claims to be "a changed man" and "had all of the right rehabilitative courses in prison." I am waiting to speak with Mr. McClellan to respond to this article. Here is the link.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...76d6a9255.html

INVESTIGATION
PHASE 2

Here is where we left off: "The next morning I woke up and got out of bed before Greg was awake. I went to the laundry room to get the pendant and brought it into the bedroom. I was curious as to how he would react to the fact that I found my pendant in his pant pocket. I approached him as he was waking up and stood over him while he lay in bed. I said, “good morning. I was going through your pant pocket this morning as I was about to do laundry and found this”, as I held up my stolen gold pendant. I continued, “do you care to explain to me why my gold pendant is in your pant pocket?” I did not get the response I was expecting."

His response was without hesitation as his words flowed from his lips "that belonged to my grandmother and she gave it to me. She also gave me some jewelry that belonged to my grandfather. It's up there on the dresser" as he pointed to the top of the dresser by the bedroom door. I went over to the dresser to examine a small pile of jewelry that consisted of a few rings, a bracelet, and a gold necklace. "Why is she now suddenly giving you jewelry?" I asked. "She is not in the best of health and wanted to make sure I had it." I thought to myself, 'whatever'. I knew the pendant was mine but decided at the last minute to go with the flow since I didn't want to completely blow my 'cover' so I played dumb. I absolutely needed him in order to recover my grandmothers' jewelry. To Greg this excuse made sense because his grandparent’s once owned a jewelry store and he was "claiming his inheritance". This was not the reaction I expected from a thief. A thief may act as if he was a deer caught in the headlights but Greg reacted as if he believed his own excuse. Perhaps it was rehearsed but unlikely since he was not expecting me to be hovering over him first thing in the morning between sleep and awareness.

The events that led up to the discovery of my gold pendant and my confidence that Greg was a thief took place only days before. Here is how it all came together.

After the first piece of jewelry went missing from my grandparent’s home we assumed it had been misplaced and several of us including my parents, my aunt and myself and Greg searched my grandparent’s condo in the hopes we would find it. Unfortunately, we did not. At this point I was as perplexed as everyone else in my family. I was taking it all in as was my mother and her siblings who didn't suspect foul play. Why would we? There had been nobody but family, friends, the cleaning staff and nurses in and out of their home. We were a tight knit family who kept in touch with one another and frankly knew of the comings and goings at the condo. The condo was in a secured building and one would have to be "buzzed in" in order to gain access. My grandparents were always in good company and had become comfortable with their routine. Nothing with their routine had changed so it was puzzling to all of us. I was mystified and decided to use my resources to at least eliminate the cleaning and nursing staff that worked in my grandparent's home. I went to my office and started the criminal background process.

My findings were surprising to all especially after we learned that prior to placing the professional in my grandparent’s home the health care agency did not prescreen their employees. As a result of this I found one of the nurses had a criminal background of stealing. Her services were immediately terminated. Now that the problem has been eliminated, so we thought, we went on with our lives. Even Greg expressed concern for their well being and became somewhat protective stating, "Your grandparent’s remind me of my own and if someone hurt them it would be like hurting my grandparents." I knew he was close to his grandmother. He took me to meet her shortly after we began dating. I also met his father who, like his grandmother, also had a history with my mother who also knew his mother.

A few days later my grandmother called me and told me more jewelry was missing. This time the police were brought in. Officer Robert Tabers requested our presence at the scene of the alleged crime. Greg's reaction to this request was nothing out of the ordinary and agreed to cooperate which was to be expected considering he was going to be a member of the family. We were engaged and planning our wedding. While at my grandparent's condo the Officer asked a few questions such as "when was your last visit?" and "do you think your grandparent's are starting to become forgetful?" We had visited them recently and we knew my grandfathers' memory was bad because he suffered from the beginning stages of Alzheimer's but my grandmother showed no signs of forgetfulness. And, we had already searched the apartment for the ring my grandmother said was missing. She seemed to be sure that she did not misplace her jewelry and put it where she always put it including a diamond ring she always put on her ring stand that sat on her jewelry chest and bracelets she always placed in her jewelry chest drawer. She was as perplexed as we and couldn't make sense of any of it. Officer Tabers suggested we search the condo under the assumption it was misplaced. He said, "we find this sort of thing happening all too often with the elderly." My grandmother also entertained her poker group in her home recently and some of the ladies that were there and had been friends with my grandmother for many years may have been forgetful and it was suggested that maybe one of the them accidentally walked off with her ring.

This was when my first thought of Greg’s involvement came to me that I tried to ignore but couldn’t. We had been to my grandparent’s home several times since the initial jewelry went missing. He had opportunity but what is the motive? He was financially secure, he led me to believe, and didn’t want for anything. He appeared to care for my family and besides our families had a history going back to the 60’s. One would only think nobody in their right mind would do something like this under these circumstances. I was confused between the facts and reality. In the 13 years as a PI prior to dating Greg I had never worked with criminals nor did I know of any that I could recall at the time. I was in for a big lesson in life. So was Greg.

If you read my blog please share it with your friends and family. I hope that any of the techniques or activities used in my investigation will help another person. Please like my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/diaryofapi. Thank you for your continued support!