Perhaps the U.S. Marshals of hit TV show “In Plain Sight” should start relocating their witnesses to Dublin. According to a New York-based privacy consultant, Ireland is one of the best places to flee to for a brand new life.
Frank M. Ahearn, who specializes in “disappearing people,” spoke to Ireland’s Sunday Tribune, explaining that he sends many of his clients looking to escape criminal threats and abusive partners to Ireland.
"Ireland and Dublin particularly is a great place to disappear. I always recommend it,” he said. “It's a real melting pot of cultures so it's easy to blend in. It's not too difficult for people to acclimatize and it's not too expensive. Also, it's quite a safe place on the scale of things. We can't guarantee anything. But no one I've helped disappear has ever been found.”
Ahearn is a former “skip tracer,” or someone who’s hired to seek out people who have fled the country to escape debt or someone they have wronged.
"I used to be a skip tracer but now my partner handles that while I help people to disappear,” he said. “It's just doing what I used to do in reverse. I help people disappear without a trace.”
Like a character straight out of the movie “Witness Protection,” Ahearn recently helped two people “disappear” and begin new lives in Ireland. One was a British woman who was looking to flee from her violent partner. Ahearn moved her to Dublin, and fooled the man into believing his ex was living at a different address, correctly predicting he would break into the apartment. Ahearn had a private investigator keep watch of the fake address, who caught the man, called gardaí (Irish police) and had the violent man arrested and imprisoned.
"Women generally want to disappear for emotional reasons. Often from a particularly dangerous ex-boyfriend or husband who they believe will try to kill them,” said Ahearn. “For men, it's generally financial reasons that make them disappear.”
Whatever the reason, if the escapee is not a criminal, Ahearn will help him start a new life, charging a client up to $20,000 for the service.
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