My investigations have revealed wrongdoing, exposed hidden dangers and prompted changes in local, state and federal laws. Here are a few examples.
“Mission Critical”
KARE 11 Investigates – aired 2019
KARE 11’s ongoing investigation of the Department of Veterans Affairs exposed internal records documenting a series improper actions. Our reporting prompted $400-million in refunds secrectly withheld from disabled veterans nationwide in the VA’s Home Loan program, reforms in the way the agency handles emergency medical claims and prompted a life-saving transplant for a Minnesota veteran who had previously been denied because of racially biased testing.
“Double Billing the Badge” and “Double Billing the Badge: The Patrol Car Payback”
KARE 11 Investigates – aired 2017-2018
In a series of reports spanning two years, KARE 11 exposed a million-dollar multi-year scheme to overcharge more than 200 Minnesota law enforcement agencies on squad cars. Our reports prompted a criminal conviction, an official state audit, and reforms in state procurement procedures. Not only did KARE 11’s initial reports uncover the fraud and prompt the state audit, our follow-ups revealed overcharges the audit had missed – prompting the state to re-open its investigation and seek hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional refunds. In all, KARE 11’s investigation has prompted refunds totaling $1.4 million dollars.
“Invisible Wounds” and “Invisible Wounds: Treatment and Reform”
KARE 11 Investigates – aired 2015-2016
Unqualified doctors. Inadequate tests. Veterans improperly denied benefits and access to promised medical care. Those were the findings of KARE 11’s groundbreaking multi-year investigation of care at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals.
KARE 11 documented: • How hundreds of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) exams at the Minneapolis VA were being conducted by unqualified doctors. • How the VA was using an inadequate screening test nationwide which, experts say, misses potentially life-altering brain injuries. • How veterans – including a man suffering from terminal brain cancer – continued to be denied specialized care in spite of highly publicized improvements the VA claimed to make through the ‘Veteran’s Choice’ program. • How false and misleading information was being posted on the VA’s own websites about their doctors’ board certifications and medical licenses. • How flaws in the VA system delayed requests for items as basic as hearing aids for elderly veterans. KARE 11’s reports prompted official federal investigations – and helped spur reforms nationwide. As a result, 25,000 veterans nationwide were offered new TBI exams by qualified experts.
“It was a Hell-hole” – Child Protection
KARE 11 Investigates – aired 2015
KARE 11 revealed how eight special needs children spent years living in filthy conditions – at taxpayers expense – despite state mandated visits from a nurse and warnings reported to child protection officials. Although a nurse’s inspection report called it a “neat, clean” home, KARE found animal feces, rotting floors, black mold, bare urine-stained mattresses, and bedrooms filled chest-high with bags of old clothing. KARE also documented years of questionable billing practices by the children’s care providers. In the wake of KARE’s report, both the Minnesota Attorney General and the state’s Medicaid Fraud Division launched their own investigations and filed criminal charges.
“I Did My Part” – Long Term Care Insurance
KARE 11 Investigates – aired 2014
Our investigation documented how a large insurance company improperly denied long term care benefits to a decorated veteran. After repeated denials, the veteran’s family contacted KARE 11. Our investigation revealed lawsuits nationwide claiming the company used a “widespread scheme” to “delay and deny…benefits to thousands of elderly policy holders.” Days after KARE 11 sought an explanation for the denial from CNA, the insurance company reversed its decision – and allowed the war hero’s claim.
“Dietary Supplements” – Health Risks
Dateline NBC – aired 2012
My 10-month investigation exposed how unsafe practices – and lax government regulation – in the booming dietary supplements industry allow poisonous products to reach consumers nationwide. I revealed how an American supplement maker employed primitive techniques (including using 5-gallon buckets to pour a liquid vitamin through women’s pantyhose to filter out contaminants) before shipping the vitamin drink to national nutrition stores. In addition to interviewing sickened customers, I documented so-called “dry-labbing”: the practice of rubber-stamping supplement contents without actually testing them. In a hidden camera sting, we deliberately spiked sample products with four different poisons. Then we took them to a lab that specialized in testing supplements. Amazingly, the lab rubber-stamped the samples – saying our poisoned products were safe to sell.
“Tricks of the Trade” – Annuity Sales Misrepresentations
Dateline NBC – aired 2008
My groundbreaking hour-long hidden camera investigation exposed abusive and misleading practices in the sale of equity indexed annuities. With the help of elderly volunteers, we invited insurance agents into private homes to capture the false claims they made – and the critical disclosures they glossed over – when they thought they were alone with seniors. Insurance regulators praised our investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission cited it in adopting tough new federal rules to crack down on fraudulent annuity sales.
“Bitter Pills” – Counterfeit Medicine
Dateline NBC – aired 2006
My 18-month investigation documented how counterfeit prescription drugs – including top-selling medicines for cancer, cholesterol and blood pressure – are invading America’s mainstream medicine supply, even reaching major drug store chains. I went undercover in China to infiltrate the illegal pharmaceutical underworld. Our hidden cameras captured counterfeiters in face-to-face negotiations detailing how they routinely ship fake medicines to America. Within days of the powerful one-hour broadcast, the FDA suddenly broke an 18-year regulatory deadlock, announcing new rules to require better tracking of prescription medicines – from factories all the way to pharmacies.
“Shell Game” – Food Safety
Dateline NBC – aired 1996
My pioneering investigation revealed how unsafe industry practices – and loopholes in government regulations – were allowing a new strain of salmonella in shell eggs to sicken and kill more Americans than much-publicized E. coli in hamburger. Our hidden cameras documented how workers in the nation’s largest egg packing plant were mixing unsold eggs (already past their expiration dates) with fresh eggs and repacking them with new dates. It was like rolling back odometers on cars. Except in this case experts at CDC said old eggs increased the health risk of salmonella poisoning exponentially. Within days of our broadcast, the federal government issued emergency rules banning egg repacking.
“Abuse for Sale” – Child Pornography
WCCO Television I-Team – aired 1992
My undercover investigation documented how an employee at a large Minneapolis law firm was recruiting underage girls to appear in sexually explicit videos – some of them shot in the law office itself – then selling the videos to a network of porn shops nationwide. The scheme included manufacturing fake identifications to make it appear the girls were adults. Following our investigation, the FBI launched its own probe, ultimately indicting and convicting the pornographer in federal court. U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger publicly praised the “excellent” investigation.
“Child Protection” – Child Deaths
WCCO Television I-Team – aired 1987
Using confidential sources and internal records, my investigation documented multiple cases in which young children died after shoddy investigations by Minnesota Child Protection officials. I documented cases that had been closed – even after abuse reports from doctors – without case workers ever setting foot in the abusive homes. The report, which aired in multi-night segments and then in a special documentary, sparked immediate calls for reform – and ultimately led to the creation of a statewide panel to improve child protection.
“Northwest Airlines” – Airline Safety
WCCO Television I-Team – aired 1987
In a landmark investigation of airline safety, my team documented how a major U.S. airline routinely flew passengers on planes with broken parts – in violation of the government’s “Minimum Equipment List” safety regulations. In the wake of the broadcast, the FAA launched its own investigation, confirmed our findings, and ordered what was the largest fine in airline history.
“Home Health Care” – Patient Care & Abuse
WCCO Television I-Team – aired 1985
In a painstaking investigation launched just as the home health care services were beginning to expand across the country, my team documented cases in which patients had been neglected, robbed, and even physically abused by the people hired to help them. My hidden camera sting revealed how a home health agency hired an unqualified aide – without a background check and with absolutely no training – and assigned him to care for a bedridden patient. The report prompted first-in-the-nation legislation to regulate home health care agencies.
“Shell Game” – Loan Fraud
WSMV Television Unit 4 – aired 1984
My complex financial records investigation documented how the president of a farm loan company systematically shifted his own exposure in a failing business onto the backs of unsuspecting farmers, ultimately sending dozens of small family farmers into bankruptcy. Following my investigation, the FBI launched its own probe. The farm loan president was indicted and convicted of federal loan fraud.
“Choice Cuts” – Food Safety
WSMV Television Unit 4 – aired 1984
This investigation took on one of my own station’s biggest advertisers. It resulted in a criminal indictment, a prominent place in an NBC News “White Paper” about journalism, and a special citation from the jurors of the duPont-Columbia Awards. My investigation disclosed that a large local meat packing plant had appeared repeatedly on a confidential USDA “Dirty Dozen” list of the most unsanitary meat plants in the country. I reported how, in spite of ongoing violations that threatened public health, government officials had allowed the plant to continue operations. Following my investigation, the meat packer was indicted on federal charges and USDA acted to permanently ban the company’s president from the meat industry.