Laura Lanfield is the pseudonym for a well known South Florida Private Investigator, Bail Bondsman, true crime author, columnist and proud grandmother.
After College and some advanced television and communication courses Laura worked in local television as a director, sound technician and cameraman before joining her family's business as a bailbondsman in the late 70s. Prior to that, while still married she was employed for a brief period as a legal secretary for some prominent judges and attorneys which awakened in her the love for working in some phase of the legal professions
One of the first licensed female bondsmen in Miami, as was her mother, she eventually co-owned and operated her own Agency, writing bonds and chasing fugitives for a short period of time in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Okeechobee areas of Florida during the incredibly violent "Cocaine Cowboy" era.
In 1980 she became a Licensed Private Investigator and interned with a well-known International detective Agency before eventually opening her own Agency in 1984. She worked with many famous detectives, P.I's and attorneys of great repute as well in order to perfect her craft. At the time Laura became involved in some top criminal investigations in South Florida and eventually worked all over the US and internationally.
Her case files, very confidential for the most part because of the low profile she must maintain, indicate that her undercover work, which she is most proud of, took place in the four corners of the world. So much of her work was deep undercover for major commercial and other types of organizations in the US and abroad that her television appearances are done in disguise and she does not publicly reveal her identity Many of her professional affiliates do not know of her other identity as a writer of true crime books and articles. A look at her files indicate that she has an incredibly varied portfolio of cases, from Probate, locating missing heirs to murder, insurance fraud, kidnapping, product liability and medical malpractice.
She has taught courses and seminars on video surveillance, investigative procedures for women and has bonded with many of her female clients because of the element of protection that she always achieved on their behalf. She worked for a time teaching with, amongst others, members of prestigious crime-fighting groups like the Israeli Mossad, British SAS and pro-defense civilian forces from the US. Laura has delivered numerous lectures to Civic and Professional groups in the US and abroad on security measures and up-to-date investigative information.
Laura Lanfield has been a regular contributor of articles to American Chronicles advising many senior citizens on how to protect themselves from various crimes especially undue influence of the elderly and how to keep from being victims of identity theft and fraud.
Her first book BAIL BONDS BABYLON is being revised and will be reissued and available on-line and in bookstores in May, 2010. The true crime book is a fairly accurate accounting of her start in the bail bonds business. Suddenly, because of circumstances beyond her control, she found herself a single mother of two and after leaving an abusive marriage entered into the all-male world of bail bondsmen in the late 1970's- a time when, because of the drug trafficking, Miami was one of the most violent areas in the USA. Protected by family she was able to move forward in her new career as a bondsman and eventually earn the Private Detective status that after nearly thirty successful years is still proud to employ.
Her second book, SOUTH BEACH: LADY P.I. is under review and will be published late in 2011. It is another true crime, non-fictionalized tropical-noir accounting of some of her most interesting and dangerous cases as a Private Investigator, many of them in the current hottest spot on earth: South Beach