Someone Has Taken My Place by David Snow

Someone Has Taken My Place

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.

Website - www.davidsnow.ie  

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:

Inspired by a true story and written by the real Irish Investigator who won the acclaimed award of Financial Investigator of the Year EMEA 2013 and International Investigator of the Year – IAFCI North America “for the true case, in which the book is based.” Someone has taken my place is an epic account of the identity theft of Irish babies who died in the 1970’s. Irish Fraud Investigator Andrew Stone is on the trail of the serial fraudster known in Ireland as the Texan. The fraudster is inventive and elusive as he evilly masquerades in the identities of dead babies for fraudulent gain. Stone is obsessed with obtaining justice for the vulnerable Irish parents whose babies identities have been taken by the American professional conman. Follow his personal international chase across Ireland, Europe and the United States of America as, with the help of the FBI, former KGB Agents, the United States Secret Service, Interpol and the Irish police, Stone pieces together the international conman’s tortuous spider’s web of illegal aliases and criminal intent.    

Praise for Someone Has Taken My Place:

  It reads, when you think of it like something out of a Hollywood Movie” Ryan Tubrity, RTE

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
                                                

                                                      My Review

Based on the true story of an insurance investigator, Someone Has Taken My Place was an enthralling read. Snow did minor investigative work for an insurance company until he started investigating a case of a man that got hit on a sidewalk, or claimed to be hit. The further he dug into the case, the more and more he found that just didn't fit.

It turns out this man had several aliases, and even though Mr. Snow went beyond what his company wanted him to, he actually became a hero in the end.

It was exciting to see how Snow worked the case, uncovering each crime piece by piece, country by country, until he had a full case to go after this guy. This book was well written, full of on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense as you continually turn the pages trying to see what happened next.

I love true crime, and this book fit the bill to a tee. I loved it.

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. 

     

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