Every Homeowner’s Dream: Renovation as if by Magic

An employee of a larger company from Ingolstadt, Mr Gerzen, who lived in a nearby suburb, had repeatedly drawn attention in recent months due to sick notes from various doctors across multiple specialties. Since his previously dilapidated home had made remarkable structural progress despite these alleged illnesses, and Mr Gerzen repeatedly claimed within his colleagues that he carried out all the work alone, without the involvement of construction or renovation companies, the HR department wondered how he managed this given his supposedly so limited health condition. To clarify this open question in connection with the suspicion of payroll and sick leave fraud, the company commissioned our Detective Agency in Ingolstadt* to monitor the frequently absent employee.

Complex Surveillance Environment for Ingolstadt Detectives

Our clients were so confident in their suspicion that they did not begin the surveillance at Mr Gerzen’s apartment, but directly at his still-uninhabited home. To secure the success of the investigation, our detectives in Ingolstadt conducted a preliminary reconnaissance at the site. At the beginning of the year, it had still been more or less a barn with surrounding land; meanwhile, a residential house could be seen, with a façade in need of renovation but featuring new windows, a stylish new front door, and a freshly tiled roof. The condition of the interior could not be assessed from the outside, as all windows were blocked with makeshift shutters. The property appeared untidy and was clearly used for construction purposes, as alongside a large amount of waste (furniture, a rusty washing machine, and other items), various tools were stored, including a concrete mixer.

 

Since it was a narrow street with single-family homes and small farms in a neighbourhood where everyone surely knows everyone, the positioning options for our private detectives in Ingolstadt were very limited. From the outset, it was feared that the parked surveillance vehicles might annoy the residents. At least, due to the types of vehicles, no one could see inside, so curious onlookers could not ascertain the presence of people inside the vehicles.

Laying Floors During “Sick Time”

At the start of the first day of surveillance, the morning after the preliminary reconnaissance described above, the property still appeared uninhabited. Neither on the property nor in the immediate vicinity could either of the target person’s two known vehicles be seen. Shortly before noon, however, one of these cars turned the corner and parked in front of the house. Mr Gerzen got out, retrieved two toolboxes from the boot, rummaged briefly through the waste without removing or placing anything, and then went into the house. Due to the sensitive nature of the neighbourhood, the investigators could not discreetly leave their vehicles to approach the property within earshot and determine whether construction noises were audible. Mr Gerzen did, however, briefly appear on the street while returning two apparently emptied bins to his property – wearing work clothes. Shortly thereafter, the second target vehicle arrived. An unknown woman got out and entered the building – presumably Mr Gerzen’s wife.

 

With nightfall, our Ingolstadt corporate detectives could now carry out inspection rounds with relative discretion; however, no noises indicating renovation work could be detected. At one of the windows, however, a rather makeshift wooden shutter had slipped, allowing a view into a room illuminated by construction spotlights from the street. Apparently, the target person was laying wooden floorboards, as roughly three-quarters of the visible floor was covered, while the final section had a gap. This assumption was confirmed when Mr Gerzen immediately afterwards carried a floorboard in his arms to the gap and placed it. The timing of our Ingolstadt detective’s inspection was a real stroke of luck, as only a few minutes later all visible lights in the house were switched off and the suspected wife’s vehicle departed, without it being possible to identify who was inside in the darkness. In consultation with the commissioning company, the investigators then ceased their work for that day.

Purchase of Materials and Further Work

As the legal usability of evidence and indications in employment law cases is often measured decisively by the factor of regularity, our Ingolstadt client commissioned a further day of surveillance, starting the following morning at 07:00. Although the target person of our detective team for Ingolstadt had only appeared at the property around midday the previous day, both target vehicles were already parked on the premises at the start of surveillance today – had the employee on sick leave perhaps spent the night at the renovation property? Shortly before 09:00, Mr Gerzen, once again wearing work clothing, drove to a nearby DIY store, purchased various building materials and some consumables, then bought bread rolls from a bakery and returned to the renovation property. At midday, the target person, now wearing heavily soiled work clothes, and the presumed wife left the house together. They said goodbye with a kiss and departed simultaneously in separate vehicles. At an intersection, the woman turned in the direction of the target person’s rented apartment, while Mr Gerzen once again drove to the DIY store and purchased further materials, primarily gardening tools such as a leaf rake and a pitchfork. Back at the property, the target person provided our detectives in Ingolstadt with excellent photographic opportunities while carrying out tidying work in the clearly visible outer area of the property, which was presumably intended to become a garden. This included rearranging bulky waste, in some cases involving visibly heavy lifting, and moving various tools into a dilapidated shed.

 

The only problem for the investigators was that the parking situation had deteriorated significantly since the target person’s last outing, making it even more difficult to find surveillance positions that would not upset any of the neighbours. As a result, a resident pinned an angry note under the windscreen wiper of one of the two surveillance vehicles, without noticing the presence of the driver. As a precaution, the observers from our Detective Agency in Ingolstadt subsequently positioned themselves within a wider perimeter without direct visual contact with the target property and compensated for the lack of direct observation through regular patrols and drive-bys. In the afternoon, the target person disappeared back into the house. During one of the inspection rounds, clearly audible sawing noises could be heard coming from the property. In the early evening, Mr Gerzen finally drove to his rented apartment.

Legal Assessment: Sufficient Evidence for Summary Dismissal

As mentioned above, regularity is decisive for most courts when assessing proof of many offences, particularly in the area of employee misconduct. For this reason, our private detective agency for Ingolstadt recommended securing the findings with a third day of surveillance. Taking detective costs into account, however, the company’s legal department considered the documented observations sufficient to issue a summary dismissal to the malingerer. Thus, this case of sick leave fraud concluded after just two days of surveillance to the satisfaction of the client. Incidentally, feigned incapacity for work for the purpose of carrying out private construction projects is by no means a rarity in the “case book” of our detective agency.

All names and locations have, of course, been completely anonymised in the interests of protecting the client and the target person.

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Munich

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D-80687 Munich | München

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