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A car console said Ellie Gold
The Spring Valley doorstep
Eliezer Gold and his companies had bought more than 500 of the Baltimore homes, and weeks of calls, emails, and letters to him and his attorneys drew no reply. So Jack Bologna and Hallie Miller of the Baltimore Banner drove to an address that appeared on hundreds of pieces of his paperwork, a multifamily house in Spring Valley, about an hour north of Manhattan. At 9:30 in the morning, Jack knocked on the door while Hallie stood a few steps behind.
Inside, they heard movement and blinds being shuffled and pulled down. A side door opened, and a big black SUV started backing out, its driver resembling the one picture they had of Gold. Jack ran down the driveway and stepped in front of the moving car to ask whether the driver was Eliezer Gold. The driver swerved around him and drove off.
The call from Gold
Another name on their list was Benjamin Idles, who had bought a batch of Baltimore homes and sold more than 100 of them to Gold. The doorbell at Idles' house connected them to his phone, and an hour later he pulled into the parking lot outside his office. He declined to talk on the record, and while they stood talking through the open window of his car, the console lit up with an incoming call from Ellie Gold.
That told them the two men were connected. They later found several more links, including one document in which Gold listed his address as the same as Idles' home address.
Why do reporters show up at doors?
Journalism ethics codes call for giving the subject of a story a chance to respond. The Society of Professional Journalists' code tells reporters to diligently seek out the subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing. When calls, emails, and letters go unanswered, an in-person visit is the remaining way to ask. The practice is sometimes called doorstepping.
How do repeated addresses reveal hidden connections?
Deeds, mortgages, court filings, and company registrations all ask for addresses. When the same address appears across many filings, it ties separate names and companies to one place. Limited liability companies register with a state and list a mailing address or a registered agent's address, which makes address matching a standard step in tracing ownership. Investigative reporters commonly cross-check those addresses against property and court databases.
How does a car show who's calling?
A phone paired over Bluetooth can use the Hands-Free Profile, a standard that lets a car's system handle calls. When a call arrives, the phone sends the caller's number to the car. If the phone has shared its phonebook, the console matches the number to a saved contact name and displays it. Contact names appear only if the phone has shared its phonebook with the car's system.
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