Ladies and gentlemen, it's open season on no-good cheating lowlifes, at least over the river in Jersey, where a man caught cheating on his wife because of a GPS tracker she stashed in the car has lost a lawsuit against the private investigator who caught him. The cheater in question was Gloucester County sheriff Kenneth Villanova, whose wife at the time began to suspect him of infidelity in 2007.
The wife hired a private investigator, who recommended that she hide a GPS device in the vehicle Villanova drove. This she did, and Villanova was soon caught pulling out of a driveway with a woman who was not his wife. The New Jersey Star-Ledger doesn't elaborate on what happened next, but the couple later divorced, even though Villanova was probably just taking the young lady to go bird watching.
Villanova eventually sued the investigator, Richard Leonard, arguing that the invasion of his privacy caused him ”substantial and permanent emotional distress." But the appellate judges didn't buy it, noting that he sought no medical treatment or advice. They also ruled that since the vehicle was in public the entire time, there was no privacy to invade. "There is no direct evidence in this record to establish that during the approximately 40 days the GPS was in the ... glove compartment the device captured a movement of plaintiff into a secluded location that was not in public view, and, if so, that such information was passed along by Mrs. Villanova to (Leonard)," the court ruled.
Private dicks applauded the decision, with Lisa Reed, owner of LSR Investigations, telling the Star-Ledger, "For the appellate division to say that it’s not an invasion of privacy is a wonderful thing for the private investigation business."
