by David Snow
About The Author
David Snow has been working in the private security and financial investigation arena since 1989. He was one of the first graduates and members of the Institute of Irish Investigators. He obtained the "youngest student award" from the Institute in 1989. In 2013 he was awarded Investigator of the Year by the Europe Middle East and African chapter of the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators. He was also presented with the International Investigator of the Year Award in Denver Colorado by IAFCI – North America and donated his winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project, which supports American troops injured at war.
He was initially employed by Sleator Carroll Investigators and then Pinkerton Security & Investigations. Pinkerton is the world’s oldest and largest Private Detective and Security agency with operations on every continent. He joined Pinkerton in 1993 and became the General Manager of the Irish operation in 1996, leaving in 2001 to pursue a career within insurance fraud investigation.
Today he is employed as the Head of Special Investigations for the Irish operation of a multi-national insurance company. He is a member of the International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU), the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators (IAFCI), the Association of Irish Risk Management (AIRM) and was one of the first Europeans to obtain the Certified Insurance Fraud Investigator (CIFI) from North America. He has lectured on identity theft and financial crime in Ireland, North America and Europe. He is also a member of the Irish charity A Little Lifetime Foundation, formally known as ISANDS, obtaining an award in 2012 for his efforts in the prevention of the identity theft of dead Irish baby’s.
He lives in Dublin, Ireland with his wife and two children Olivia and Sarah.
About The Book
Genre - True Crime (Based on a true Story)
A Financial Thriller / Fraud and Identity theft – International Investigation
Publisher – Createspace
Release Date – March 2013
Buy - Amazon
Book Description:
Praise for Someone Has Taken My Place:
Ireland, The Late Late Show "A thinking man's thriller, crime in the modern era.” Amazon Review
“Extremely interesting book that shines a bright light on identity theft." Amazon Review "Brilliantly
written by David Snow! I could not put this book down. Gripping and well worth the read! Very well
done, and a highly recommended book!” Former FBI Agent
"This book is an excellent mystery ...non-stop ride through the ruthless world of identity theft ...smart and emotional novel." Irish Police Detective
Excerpt:
What's Underneath the
Water....
One of the names that Cochran had
used to make claims against Irish insurance companies was John
Martin. Snow checked with the Births/Deaths and Marriages office in
Dublin for this name, and was told that John Martin was born in 1976
and had died shortly after. Snow immediately referred the case to the
Irish Police speciality fraud unit, the Garda Bureau of Fraud
Investigation, and was able to present the police authorities with a
comprehensive file.
Further investigation revealed
that Cochran had obtained multiple Irish passports using the
identities of deceased infants. Insurance policies had been issued to
these names, followed by personal injury insurance claims. Cochran
also had opened bank accounts, set up email addresses, and was using
mobile phones in the names of these various stolen identities.
A Happy Ending
As a result of the investigation,
Cochran was arrested at the Dublin airport in January 2011 while
attempting to board a flight to Poland. When arrested, he was in
possession of a child's death certificate and a completed official
Irish passport application form. Cochran was convicted of these
offences and is serving a prison sentence of four years.
Snow expressed his thanks to all
involved. "Following his arrest and conviction, Jeremy Cochran
is currently serving his sentence in an Irish prison. This was thanks
to the efforts and cooperation of the SIU teams, the Garda Bureau of
Fraud Investigation, the Irish Passport Office, International
Association of Special Investigation Units, the district attorney's
office in Durant, Okla., the sheriff 's department in Texas, the
Durango Police Department and others."
Snow also gave a special thanks
to the Irish charity "A Little Lifetime"
(www.alittlelifetime.ie), which provided support to the bereaved
parents of the infants, whose identities were misused by Cochran.
Epilogue
In May 2012, the charity "A
Little Lifetime," took the opportunity of providing Snow and two
detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation with an award
for their efforts in the "detection and prevention of past Irish
babies being used for identity theft and insurance fraud."
In April 2013 David Snow, will be
presented with the Financial Investigator of the Year Award 2013 in
Cyprus, by the International Association of Financial Crime
Investigators EMEA (www.iafci.org)
David
has since written a book, “Someone has taken my place” which is a
novel based on the case and is available at www.davidsnow.ie
or Amazon. A percentage of the sale of the book is being passed to
the Irish charity A Little Lifetime.
