HIV activist silenced for fear of surveillance

Newsday story about a 35-year-old woman named Jennifer Flynn, an activist who works for getting funding and treatment for HIV/AIDS patients. She noticed that cars were tailing her over long distances as she drove around visiting her family. She wrote down the license plate of one of the cars, and it's registered to a phantom company at a non-existent address.

The license plate number traces back to a company – Pequot Inc. – and a post office box at an address far from the five boroughs. Registering unmarked cars to post office boxes outside the city or to shell companies is a common practice of law enforcement agencies to shield undercover investigators.

…..

The street named on the license-plate printout exists, though the address doesn't. An auto-shop worker on the block suggests checking with the post office. When Postmaster Bonnie Colgan and an assistant are shown the printout, they stop dead in their tracks.

There's a Pequot Capital Management in midtown and a Pequot Construction in the Bronx. But no Pequot Inc. in Amenia.

"That's not a real company," the assistant says. "The people who used that box, they're from New York. They used to come here and get the mail, but not anymore."

Colgan is tempted to elaborate, but doesn't.

"I can't because of the sensitive nature of the issue," she says.

Link (Thanks, Jeff!)