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<channel>
	<title>Investigative Guy John Mattes - Reports &#38; Scams</title>
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	<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com</link>
	<description>Investigations &#38; Stories - Public Option, Big Company Scams, Corporate Theives &#38; More!</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:09:09 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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			<item>
		<title>MAN WHO ATTACKED TV REPORTER ON CAMERA BUSTED. AGAIN</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/man-who-attacked-tv-reporter-on-camera-busted-again/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/man-who-attacked-tv-reporter-on-camera-busted-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:56:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Clown Car]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=540</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It was as wild as it gets when in 2006 Sam Suleiman, an alleged mortgage fraud kingpin, attacked TV reporter John Mattes (me) on camera. Suleiman served 10 months for the attack. 
Now Suleiman, along with his wife Rosa, has been charged with yet another crime, this time with swindling the elderly.  A 4-count [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/man-who-attacked-tv-reporter-on-camera-busted-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Computer Generated Lawsuits Target Consumers</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/computer-generated-lawsuits-target-consumers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/computer-generated-lawsuits-target-consumers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:49:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Don't Be a Sucker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[computer generated lawsuits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credit card companies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[debt collectors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[http://www.investigativeguy.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigativeguy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zombie debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zombie debt collection industry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=532</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[COMPUTER GENERATED LAWSUITS TARGET CONSUMERS
It&#8217;s bad enough that debt collectors often harass consumers for debts they don’t owe. But now, tens of thousands of computer-generated debt collection lawsuits are being filed against often-innocent consumers.  
Here is what is happening.
The New York Times reports that debt collection law firms are now using software to create [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/computer-generated-lawsuits-target-consumers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Calling Out Mortgage Modification Schemes</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/calling-out-mortgage-modification-schemes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/calling-out-mortgage-modification-schemes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:36:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Don't Be a Sucker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1st American law center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fbi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foreclosure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homeowners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[housing crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[http://www.investigativeguy.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investigate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage modification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage scams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[safehouse 911]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=517</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[9 months ago we exposed a mortgage modification scheme that was preying on consumers nationwide .Consumers were angry that after paying  the firm thousands of dollars to save their homes,the firm had done nothing.Consumers lost money and often their homes. The company claimed they were helping homeowners get mortgage modifications ,but all we found [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/calling-out-mortgage-modification-schemes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>FREE BIG SCREEN TVS, COURTESY OF CONGRESS</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/free-big-screen-tvs-courtesy-of-congress/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/free-big-screen-tvs-courtesy-of-congress/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:37:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Don't Be a Sucker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free big screen tvs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free tvs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigative guy reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigativeguy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stimulus plan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=502</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[    FREE BIG SCREEN TVS, COURTESY OF CONGRESS
If this sounds like just another Congressional stimulus program that never really helps anyone, it&#8217;s not. This is a direct cash program that could help homeowners buy a big screen TV. We call it the Free Big Screen TV Earmark Program for Homeowners. 
Here&#8217;s how [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/free-big-screen-tvs-courtesy-of-congress/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Congress Stands Up For Something&#8230;. Crooked Car Dealers</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/congress-stands-up-for-something-crooked-car-dealers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/congress-stands-up-for-something-crooked-car-dealers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Don't Be a Sucker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=476</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Did you hear the PA announcements blaring all over the U.S? Attention, attention&#8230;. pickpockets have been seen in the area, please hold on to your wallets. 
Congress is busy crafting legislation designed to rob you. Our representatives say that the new financial regulation bill includes important consumer protections. Here is the clue: anytime a politician [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/congress-stands-up-for-something-crooked-car-dealers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama  Mortgage Mod Program Fails Con Men Get Rich</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/obama-mortgage-mod-program-fails-con-men-get-rich/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/obama-mortgage-mod-program-fails-con-men-get-rich/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 May 2010 22:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crime Does Pay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1st American law center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dean chandler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foreclosure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ftc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gray bobel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homeowners underwater]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[housing crisis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[http://www.investigativeguy.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigativeguy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage modification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage scams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sam Suleiman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scandal real estate scandal.homeowners]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=462</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes it&#8217;s true. Here are the stats.
OVER 20% OF ALL MORTGAGE HOLDERS  UNDERWATER. They owe more than the house is worth.
OVER 70% UNDERWATER IN NEVADA.
OVER 4 MILLION HOMES FACING FORECLOSURE.
OBAMA MORTGAGE MODIFICATION PROGRAM:  Only 300,000 loans permanently modified.
Meanwhile,  2,600,000 GOOGLES CLICKS FOR MORTGAGE MODIFICATION FIRMS.
It&#8217;s Christmas for con men. Take a look.
I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/obama-mortgage-mod-program-fails-con-men-get-rich/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Mattresses Prove Safer Than Stocks</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/mattresses-prove-safer-than-stocks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/mattresses-prove-safer-than-stocks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 May 2010 03:08:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Don't Be a Sucker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Clown Car]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial scandal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investigate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigative guy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[market crash]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[securities and exchange commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stock exchange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stocks fall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall street.]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the millions of Americans sucked into the cesspool of the stock market, last Thursday was one of those Holy Jesus what happened moments. In less than an hour the market lost 1 trillion dollars, only to regain almost 2/3 of the losses late in the day.
So what about the 1/3 of a trillion lost? [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/mattresses-prove-safer-than-stocks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Airline Bumps and How to Fight Back</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/airline-bumps-and-how-to-fight-back/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/airline-bumps-and-how-to-fight-back/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 May 2010 22:54:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Don't Be a Sucker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Fine Print]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=425</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[    Are you ready to pocket up to  $800  after an airline  abuses you with a bump? Well listen up. Last  week the headlines screamed that Southwest Airlines was screwing passengers with bumping passengers and then not compensating them. The Department of Transportation fined Southwest a whopping $200,0000 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.investigativeguy.com/airline-bumps-and-how-to-fight-back/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>InvestigativeGuy.. Just  Another Day on the Beat</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/investigativeguy-just-another-day-on-the-beat/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/investigativeguy-just-another-day-on-the-beat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:15:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crime Does Pay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fraud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investigate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigativeguy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[modification]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage fraud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mortgage scam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scams reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scandal real estate scandal.homeowners]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/194/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[BACKGROUND ON THE ATTACK
TV reporter beaten, but not broken 
San Diego Union Tribune &#124; 16 SEPT 2006 &#124; 



NANCEE E. LEWIS /  TV reporter John Mattes still showed the signs of his on-camera beating. A widely viewed video of the attack has made him an accidental celebrity.

San Diego TV reporter John Mattes was hard at work this week, calling sources and chasing stories, even while convalescing from the bloody on-camera beating that turned him into an accidental celebrity. His body still aches pretty much everywhere. He has scratches on his face, human bite marks on his hands and arms, several cracked ribs and whiplashlike symptoms in his back. His gouged left eye socket remains tender and swollen.

“They had to remove particles of things that didn't come from me,” he said Thursday night, sitting in his cubicle at the Fox 6 News studio in Kearny Mesa. “Human hairs. Not mine. You don't want to think about that.”

His sudden fame has left him a bit mentally drained. In the past 10 days he has been interviewed by everyone from Larry King to a Costa Rican radio talk-show host. He turned down an offer to appear on David Letterman.

He's also received several hundred e-mails from people around the world who have seen the video of him being pummeled by a husband-and-wife couple upset about his investigative reporting. The footage is wildly popular on the Internet. On some Web sites, Mattes's beat-down is offered up as a kind of cyberspace sight gag.

“This video has it all!” one Web site declares. “Bloody reporter, bleeped profanity, cops with guns drawn, you name it! I thought I had seen the exciting part until about halfway through . . . then it gets AT LEAST eight times more exciting!”

Mattes, , said he still hasn't seen the footage in its entirety.

“I'm not a voyeur of the violence on my own body,” he said. “That would not entertain me.”

How beating happened Mattes has worked as an investigative reporter in Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego, doing the kind of in-your-face-with-a-microphone journalism that tends to irritate his subjects. Still, the Sept. 5 encounter with Assad Suleiman and Suleiman's wife, Rosa Amelia Barraza, was the first time Mattes has been physically attacked for his reporting. He had been investigating the La Jolla couple as part of a series of stories on mortgage fraud in San Diego. He was interviewing someone outside a private residence in La Jolla near a commercial building owned by Suleiman. Suddenly, Suleiman's wife arrived on the scene, yelling at Mattes, squirting him with water and at one point slapping the reporter in the face with a plastic bottle.

Suleiman drove up a few minutes later, got out of his car and started swinging at Mattes. Then Suleiman body-slammed the reporter to the ground and wrestled with him in the grass as bystanders tried to break up the fight. By the end of the melee – all of it captured on video by Mattes' cameraman – the left side of Mattes' face was covered with blood.

Suleiman and his wife now face various criminal charges, including assault. Both are free on bail. Suleiman's attorney, Kerry Steigerwalt, said his client was simply protecting his wife from a harassing reporter.

Mattes, meanwhile, has gone about his job as usual without missing a single day of work. In fact, he was back on Fox 6 answering questions about the ordeal that same night, after being treated for his injuries at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

“You can rip my face off, but I'm still here, and I'm still going to report on the larger issues,” he said.

He is somewhat amazed, he said, at the number of people who seem fascinated by the sight of his pummeling. During his interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, he received a call from someone at CourtTV asking about how to obtain rights to the footage.

“The great thing is, this is America,” he said after hanging up the phone. “People can make money off a beating.”

Vows not to back down Mattes has worked at Fox 6 News for more than three years, and his cubicle is filled with statues and plaques he has won for his reporting on consumer fraud and other topics. This year he did a series of exposes on a used-car dealer accused of ripping off military families. Followed by a cameraman, Mattes stalked the salesman through a parking lot, asking, “How many scams are you running? How many victims do you have?”

The man tried to flee the camera while muttering, “I don't know anything about it.”

Before becoming a reporter, Mattes worked as a lawyer in Miami, earning a measure of fame for suing the U.S. government on behalf of several hundred South Vietnamese commandos who secretly worked for the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Based on Mattes' legal work, the U.S. government admitted the commandos' existence and agreed to compensate them for the years they were held as prisoners of war.

None of those accomplishments, however, has afforded Mattes quite the level of public recognition that comes with getting punched and bitten on videotape.

Mattes considers himself lucky to be alive. At one point during the brawl, he said, Suleiman's wife went searching for a gun in her car but apparently was unable to find it.

“I can joke about it, but the reality is someone tried to kill me,” Mattes said.

He also defended the actions of his cameraman, who continued to film instead of putting down the camera and trying to break up the fight.

“My job is to report, his job is to record it,” Mattes said. “Had this not been on videotape, we wouldn't be having this discussion.”

In the months ahead, Mattes intends to continue reporting on mortgage fraud in San Diego. Last night, however, he was scheduled to depart for a much-needed vacation to Europe with his wife, a nurse practitioner.

Given the type of work he's done over the years, he's surprised it took this long for someone to throw a punch at him.

“My luck ran out on the tony streets of La Jolla,” he said.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Feds Fail to Publicize Free Gas Card Program</title>
		<link>http://www.investigativeguy.com/feds-fail-to-publicize-free-gas-card-program/</link>
		<comments>http://www.investigativeguy.com/feds-fail-to-publicize-free-gas-card-program/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:01:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jmattes</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Clown Car]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free gas cards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gas card program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government program]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[http://www.investigativeguy.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigative guy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigative guy reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john mattes reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reporter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scams.John Mattes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unemployed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unemployment benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.investigativeguy.com/?p=385</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[3 months ago Investigativeguy John Mattes uncovered a federal program that provides free gas cards for the unemployed,but the problem was the government never publicized that the program existed .The unemployed were left in the dark .Now months later the program is still unknown to the many who need it.To help make the program known [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
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