posted 11-01-2008 06:49 AM            

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Ex scientia veritas

posted 11-01-2008 08:23 AM            

AntiPolygraph.org Message Board › Recent Posts
1 Polygraph and CVSA Forums / Polygraph Policy / Polygrapher John Grogan Sues Polygraphers Joseph Paolella, Jack Trimarco, and Ralph Hilliard
on: Today at 7:27am
Started by George W. Maschke | Post by George W. Maschke

On 30 May 2008, polygrapher John L. Grogan of Woodland Hills, California filed a lawsuit against fellow Los Angeles area polygraphers Joseph Paolella and Jack Trimarco as well as PolygraphPlace.com and TruthAboutGrogan.org proprietor Ralph Hilliard of Canton, Georgia. Twenty "Does" are also included among the defendants.

Grogan seeks damages in excess of one million dollars from each of the defendants for defamation. Grogan claims that Joseph Paolella defamed him in a letter to Jack Trimarco:

Quote:
On or about February 12, 2008, PAOLLELA wrote a letter to TRIMARCO that contained the following false, malicious, and libelous statements:

a. "After approximately 6-weeks of training, I gave Mr. Grogan an 'honorary completion' certificate. I had no idea that he wanted to be an examiner and go into the business as an examiner";

b. "I had to let Mr. Grogan go because of his 'unauthorized advances' towards female students"; and

c. "Even though Mr. Grogan has lost his P.I. & P.P.O. license, he is using an associate Lisa Javoric . . . to front for him on her website to do private investigations . . ."

Grogan's complaint against Jack Trimarco is that:

Quote:
On or about March 7, 2008, TRIMARCO telephoned the Tom Leykis Radio Talk Show which airs on 97.1 FM (the "SHOW"). When TRIMARCO telephoned the show as a listener, the appearing guest of Mr. Leykis was Plaintiff. Plaintiff was invited to appear on the radio and perform a polygraph examination on a television producer. During this telephone call on a national broadcast to potentially millions of listeners TRIMARCO made several false, malicious, and slanderous statements about Plaintiff including but not limited to:

a. "John Grogan is a fake";

b. "He is not a polygraph examiner";

c. "He's been convicted of 26 counts of fraud;

d. "He's never graduated from a polygraph school";

e. "You're nothing more than a fraud and you're about to get burned";

f. "I'm going to get you convicted";

g. "I'll bring in my proof to the DA in Ventura County"; and

h. "You perjured yourself."

A podcast of the radio show in question, which has been the topic of previous discussion on this message board, can be downloaded here:
http://podcast.971freefm.com/klsx1/956464.mp3
http://podcast.971freefm.com/klsx1/956500.mp3

With regard to Ralph Hilliard, Grogan alleges:

Quote:
Shortly after the SHOW aired, HILLIARD posted an article on POLYGRAPH PLACE entitled: "Issue #142 – 4/18/2008, John Grogan – Part II – Imposter? YES – Swindler? Definitely – Polygraph Examiner? Not by any Stretch of the Imagination." In that article, HILLIARD republished each of the defamatory statements made by TRIMARCO during the SHOW. In addition, HILLIARD wrote that Plaintiff is a "swindler," "imposter," and has "a history of threats, harassment and violence." Then on [TruthAboutGrogan.org], HILLIARD posted the following false, malicious, and libelous statements regarding Plaintiff:

a. "John snares the unsuspecting public into his web of deceipt"; and

b. "[f]raud being perpetrated on the public by John in California and now across the nation."

Furthermore, HILLIARD provides two hyperlinks to the false and defamatory articles on POLYGRAPH PLACE. The above articles and statements on both websites are tremendously damaging to Plaintiff's reputation professionally and personally.

John Grogan's statement of "complaint for damages," including copies of Joseph Paolella's letter to Jack Trimarco and the "Polygraph Examiner" diploma that Paolella bestowed upon Grogan, is available for download here:

https://antipolygraph.org/litigation/grogan/grogan-complaint.pdf

posted 11-04-2008 03:14 PM            

In regard to the lawsuit, we sometimes forget the obvious:
1. John Grogan enjoys no actual polygraph peer support, and that based on his own prior conduct of fraud as determined by Judge Paul M. Hogan in 10/02 all of his licenses were revoked-------- which equates to his pobably NOT being then accepted to most APA approved polygraph schools, and certainly NOT the APA itself, or APA recognized State organizations. Grogan therefore began PEOA as a cover organization and web based fraud plus a mail order Sally Stuthers-esque certificate by mail to be a supposed Examiner / instant Examiner. He further used PEOA membership as pseudo credential for these 45 lb. box boys and girls in what is no less than a pyramid scheme by the which Grogan gets a referal fee of $95.00 from his controlled $395.00 set specific issue test price. NOTE: In most STates it takes $400.00 or more the prosecute felony fraud.

2. By ANY actual PDD school's standards; Grogan has not performed actual polygraph tests. Merely owning polygraph equipment and knowing the MGQT format does not make one an Examiner. Neither Grogan's charts or test questions would meet the minimum standards, nor would you the reader or any other examiner be able to perform numeric chart evaluation on them. Therefore, Grogan is nothing more than a Chameleon / imposter who can not stand up to being the long term real deal. The result is that the PEOA and Grogan leave the consumer with fraudulent tests performed, and we all pay for it in the end.

3. In regard to Ralph H.; it is clear that he is historically a journalist and webmaster covering polygraph issues long before he ever became an Examiner. Further, as a journalist, Grogan is nothing less than a controversial figure and a known documented fraud in the P.I. community. Ralph's Attorney should place Ralph solidly behind the 1st Amendment as Ralph is clearly NOT a competitor of Grogan's.

4. Trimarco has a very good faith basis for making the comments he did, and as the head of the Ethics committee of CAPE; he had the right to speak for both our organization, as well as the legitimate polygraph community. Whether Grogan's findings of fraud were civil vs. criminal; his statements were made in good faith. There does exist Better Business Bureau complaints about Grogan, as well as a growing list of consumers who have been ripped off by his cronies in PEOA.

5. To date, the APA, NPA, nor any State organization representing the legitimate polygraph profession has taken ANY known measure to fight these Malignant Tumors, Parasites, and Frauds as represented by PEOA and John Grogan. WHY ????????????
Jack Trimarco, Ralph Hilliard, and Joe Paolella, and others; have stood up and need to be supported in the protection of this profession both financially and morally. I am proud to call them my friends and peers, and will and have stood behind that with my wallet. Are there any others as motivated to do the right thing, or will they just sit back and Hope someone else deals with it ???

TheNoLieGuy4u

posted 11-04-2008 04:23 PM            

IMHO there is at least 1 other place you need to say it. You may have to re-write it down to 4th or 5th grade level though.

But, be careful you don't insult, smear, asperse, diminish, denigrate, minimize, besmirch, disparage, slander, pick at, sully, minimise, downplay, smirch, defame, belittle or, derogate George and his band of bushy-tailed arboreal rodents.

They take umbrage like it was laying in the free penny tray at a 7-11.

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Ex scientia veritas