Executive Team
Seth Markham
President
As President, Markham oversees Command Investigations and Discovery Investigations, a subsidiary of Command. Markham leads the company in a time of growth through strategic planning and implementation, internal collaboration and efficiency, and development of new partnerships, while continuing Command’s long-established history of excellence in customer service and satisfaction. Markham believes in a meaningful employment experience, where a culture of community, collaboration and innovation is developed and fostered.
Markham's prior role was Chief Revenue Officer at Command and Division President of Discovery Investigations before that. With roots in New Mexico and Texas, he has 24 years of experience in risk management and in the insurance defense investigative industry on both the operations and sales sides. From his early success as a “National Investigator of the Year," to founding Candid Investigation Services, to his current position, Markham has developed a unique knowledge of the insurance services industry.
Markham is a certified continuing education instructor and has taught numerous courses to the workers’ compensation and insurance claims community.
A private pilot and avid outdoorsman, Markham enjoys spending time in the mountains and wide open spaces of the Southwest with his family and friends.
Jason Chofooklun
Chief Operating Officer
Jason Chofooklun has held numerous positions at Command Investigations, including SIU Investigator, Surveillance Investigator, Operations Manager, Regional Vice President of Operations and now Chief Operating Officer.
Chofooklun oversees the execution of all operating functions, marketing initiatives, and national growth, while keeping the culture and premier service Command has come to be known for at the forefront.
Chofooklun previously served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Operations where he directed our corporate operations and strategic planning, our national development and expansion, licensing and
our corporate compliance.
Before joining Command, Chofooklun spent over six years in the safety and security field working for a large privately held company.
In 2009, Chofooklun graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice.
Chofooklun served over four years in the United States Marine Corps and was honorably discharged in 2003. He completed boot camp at the top of his class and was meritoriously promoted twice, reaching the rank of Sergeant within two years.
Rich Perri
Founder
Rich Perri, one of our Founders, has worked in the private investigative industry for over 26 years.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Pittsburgh, Perri decided to pursue a career as a private investigator.
Perri co-founded Command Investigations, LLC in 2012.
Prior to Command, Perri helped facilitate the opening of RSight Investigations, Inc. He served multiple roles throughout his tenure, including Investigator Trainer, Senior Investigator, Field Supervisor, Operations Manager, Senior Operations Manager, Sales Executive, Senior Sales Executive and Vice President of Marketing.
Perri began his career at a national investigative company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He worked as an investigator for five years, where he conducted investigative assignments throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States.
Steve Cassell
Founder and Senior Strategic Advisor
Steve Cassell is one of our Founders and Senior Strategic Advisor. He founded Command Investigations in 2012, and has more than 29 years of successful work in the investigative and insurance claims communities.
He holds his private investigator license in 10 states, and is an accredited continuing education instructor in more than five states.
Cassell was the first private investigator elected to the Florida Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force Board. The Board provides critical industry data, legislative recommendations and insight to the Florida Legislature.
In addition to Command, Cassell founded the National Investigative Training Academy, Inc. (NITA).
NITA offers students the convenience of achieving their investigative and security training goals through their comprehensive online platform that includes the required training needed to begin and maintain their professional careers.
Before founding Command, Cassell owned RSight Investigations (RSight), which employed hundreds of investigators and staff.
RSight and Command were both recapitalized to support strategic expansion and service offerings to large self-insured employers, insurance carriers, Third Party Administrators (TPAs) and the legal defense community.
A graduate of Temple University, Cassell is married with two children.
Vice Presidents
Chuck King
Executive Vice President - Client Relations
King has worked in the investigative field for over 30 years and serves as our Executive Vice President - Client Relations.
In this role, he fosters the strong relationships he has built over the years while also developing new partnerships nationwide.
King began his career in the private investigation field and worked his way up to Vice President/Director of Operations for one of the largest Pittsburgh-based investigation companies. He then ventured into the law enforcement field, where he was a Deputy Sheriff in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
In 1996, King began his own private investigation firm, along with his wife Gerri, and built an impressive record providing best-in-class investigative services to nationally recognized employers and carriers. His claim resolution strategies have been requested by numerous law firms and carriers, and he works closely with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies on fraudulent claims.
King has been a featured guest speaker at numerous workers’ compensation industry events and has testified in over 100 workers’ compensation cases. He has also conducted investigations all over the world, including Peru, China, London and France.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and has completed the Reid Technique of Interviewing and Interrogation, as well as several U.S. Department of Justice, state and county training programs.
King is a member of the Pennsylvania Sheriff’s Association as well as an instructor and second-degree black belt in martial arts.
David Martinez
Executive Vice President- Discovery
Martinez possesses over 28 years of experience in the investigative field and serves as the Executive Vice President of Discovery Surveillance.
In this role, he oversees the development and maintenance of local accounts in the Central and Southwest regions of the United States, as well as national accounts.
Martinez began his investigative career in the field as a manager/investigator and rapidly moved into a sales role.
Later, Martinez joined a firm out of New Mexico where he held the role of Owner/Regional Sales Representative and built an impressive book of business of insurance carriers, TPA’s and employers. That company was ultimately sold to a large, national firm, where Martinez served as Regional Sales Director.
Martinez’s career culminated in the formation of Discovery Surveillance, now part of the Command family of brands. He continues to foster the strong relationships he has built over the years while also
developing new partnerships nationwide.
Martinez served in the United States Marnie Corps for eight years as a Sergeant and E-5 Radio Operator and was also a reserve police officer with the Magnolia Police Department in Texas for three years.
He holds a degree in criminal justice from San Jacinto College and attended the police academy at the University of Houston.
Larry Dodd
Vice President of Client Relations
Larry Dodd has worked in the private investigative and law-enforcement fields for over 29 years.
He currently holds the position of Vice President of SIU & Key Account Sales.
His duties include managing our national SIU compliance program, national regulatory reporting, on-site customer consultation, fraud assessment analysis and oversight of our Restitution Management Program™.
Dodd maintains strong relationships with various state enforcement bureaus throughout the country, including state attorney’s offices, attorney general’s offices, state anti-fraud departments, and federal and local law enforcement offices.
He began working in the private investigative field for RSight Investigations, Inc. He was promoted throughout his time there, beginning as Senior Investigator, transitioning to Operations Manager and ultimately becoming the SIU Manager.
He started his career with the Somers Point Police Department in New Jersey, where he was a patrol officer for two years before being promoted to the detective bureau.
Dodd investigated various criminal matters including homicides, robberies, assaults, sex crimes, and white-collar crimes during his time with the detective bureau. He also conducted crime scene and employment background investigations.
He was then assigned to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office’s Narcotics Task Force, where he conducted undercover narcotics investigations.
Management
Lori Vilece
Controller
As Command's Controller, Vilece plans, directs and coordinates all accounting operational functions from our Corporate Headquarters in Lake Mary, FL.
Vilece brings almost 30 years of experience in analytical and management skills to the Command team.
Prior to joining Command, Vilece held the role of Manager, Worldwide Financial Reporting, for a large global brand of consumer products. During that time, she was instrumental in the implementation of new technology, onboarding of users and management of senior level staff.
Vilece holds a Master of Accounting degree and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Molly Grace
Assistant Controller
Molly Grace has over 20 years experience working in the investigative field.
As the assistant of our Treasury Management department, Grace manages daily financial operations, including invoicing, account reconciliation, accounts payable, accounts receivable and financial compliance.
Prior to her work with us, Grace was a member of the RSight Investigations team. She was part of more than a thousand investigations and oversaw investigative results, compliance and client reporting.
She holds a bachelor's degree from Niagara University.
Nelson Dolo
IT Manager
As Commands IT Manager, Nelson is responsible for planning, coordinating, and delivering all business intelligence efforts through the Customer Relationship Management system. He manages all electronic media, computer and technological business solutions and oversees IT service providers relationship and productivity, driven towards the company’s needs and strategic goals.
Nelson began his career as an IT Support Technician two decades ago and quickly navigated to implementing and supporting large enterprise network infrastructures for major establishments with global presence in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the United States.
Before joining Command Investigations, Nelson recently worked for a global education organization as the head of IT for a technology driven frontline education project, which supported over 10,000 education centers with footprints in at least six countries, including in China, West Africa, and India.
In 2015 Nelson earned a Master of Science in Information Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) with concentration in Information Security. With the desire to diversify and focus more on direct business systems support and data management, he embarked upon the pursuit and earned his second Master of Science in Management Information System with concentration in Business Intelligence & Analytics from the Nova Southeastern University.
Angela Leason
Senior Manager - Background & SIU Services
Angela Leason is the senior manager of our Cyber & Background Investigations department, and oversees a team of licensed, in-house background investigators.
Her duties include, but are not limited to complex case management, technology administration and development, training, department quality assurance, client communication and client strategy.
Prior to her promotion, Leason worked in our SIU and Background departments.
In that dual-role, she conducted hundreds of complex investigations, working very closely with many different state fraud and law-enforcement agencies while pursuing matters related to insurance fraud.
In her time in the field, she conducted hundreds of recorded statements, asset searches and detailed jury research dossiers as a member of a litigation support team.
Leason also worked as a Field Investigator/Field Training Officer for a federal government entity. She managed a large portfolio of background cases and provided complete and detailed reports.
She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida.
Otto Cruz
Senior Field Investigations Manager & Compliance
Otto Cruz has worked in the healthcare and insurance investigation industries for over 14 years.
As our Senior Field Investigations Manager & Compliance, Cruz is responsible for supervising a team of field investigators nationwide.
He oversees training pertaining to interviewing tactics and techniques for his team, and his other duties include case management, case scheduling, quality review, recorded statements and working complex cases.
Cruz began his career with Mercy Hospital. During that time, he developed interviewing and assessment techniques that were utilized to screen the public. These tools were used as counter fraud measures for people trying to obtain benefits.
In 2011, Cruz joined Zenith Insurance as a Field Investigator. He conducted face to face and over the phone recorded statements, as well as scene investigations, subrogation investigations and AOE/COE investigations. He also directly interacted with employers, insureds and SIU managers as he worked on behalf of Zenith to negotiate claim settlements.
Jim Maez
Director of Operations
Maez has been in the private investigative field for over 16 years and serves as the Director of Operations of Discovery Surveillance.
In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of daily operations in the Central and Southwest regions of the United States, as well as national vendor services.
Maez began his investigative career in the field as a surveillance, field and SIU investigator. He consistently ranked as a top investigator and received many accolades for his outstanding performance.
Maez conducted thousands of investigations across the country and quickly moved into a management role for a large national firm, overseeing the daily operations of multiple states and teams of investigators.
Later, Maez joined Discovery Surveillance, now part of the Command family of brands. He continues to manage, train and develop a strong team of investigators and provide best-in-class service to local, regional and national clients.
Maez holds a private investigator license in both New Mexico and Texas.
He studied Liberal Arts and Criminal Justice at T.V.I. in New Mexico and has completed numerous courses in private investigation skills and techniques.
Kevin Lederer
Senior Key Account Manager
As Senior Key Account Manager, Kevin Lederer’s responsibilities include account management and development, new client sales, customer expansion and the planning and managing of the relationship between Command and some of our most important clients. Additionally, Lederer will be creating and teaching state accredited continuing education courses, hiring and training new sales team members and assisting executives on sales team initiatives.
Prior to his promotion to Senior Key Account Manager, Lederer served as a Regional Account Manager where his daily responsibilities included account management and development, new client sales and customer expansion.
Lederer also served as an Operations Manager and oversaw a full-time staff of investigators in the states of Florida, Georgia and California.
Before his advancement to Operations Manager, Lederer worked as a Senior Field Investigator in central and south Florida and was successful in conducting thousands of hours in surveillance operations.
Additionally, Lederer worked a variety of scene investigations, claimant interviews and other field investigations.
He began his career in private investigations with us in 2013 as an in-house investigator for our Special Investigations Unit (SIU). He completed a variety of tasks including suspect claims investigations, claims data fraud investigations and background checks.
He graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.
Melanie Gomez
Regional Account Manager
Melanie Gomez holds the position of Regional Account Manager and services clients across California and the Western United States.
In this role, she is responsible for sales, account management, building customer relationships, and account development.
Before joining Command, Melanie worked as a Marketing Manager in California and has been working in the workers’ compensation industry since 2018. She has a background in insurance, case management, and law services sales.
Melanie is based out of Colorado and holds a bachelor’s degree in communication, as well as a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Marci Reading
Key Account Manager
As Key Account Manager, Marci Reading draws on over 15 years of experience across insurance and investigation industries to provide our clients with expert account management and unmatched customer service. Marci brings a unique blend of industry expertise, a keen awareness of customer needs and strong communication and planning skills to her position.
Prior to joining Command, Marci has filled the roles of Assistant Case Manager, Vendor Program Manager, Strategic Accounts Manager and Director of Client Relationships. Throughout her career, Marci has managed top tier client accounts, investigative programs and she has worked closely with SIU to ensure regulatory compliance, including state fraud referral recommendations and fraud training. She remains a true client advocate with a focus on long term relationships and growth.
Marci began her career in life insurance with Navy Mutual Aid Association, where she spent five years before transition to investigations.
In her role as Director, Marci was successful in onboarding new clients and implementing investigative programs in addition to managing a team of investigative consultants.
Marci is a Licensed CEU Instructor with the Florida Department of Finance and will be presenting state accredited continuing education courses for Command.
She holds memberships with the Women’s Alliance in Workers Compensation, ACFE and CLM.
Chris Ruane
Hiring Manager
Chris Ruane oversees all hiring for our Operations, Background, and Administration Teams across the country.
In this role, he is responsible for the selection process, interviewing, orientation, and other employee relation duties for new team members.
Prior to his promotion to Hiring Manager, Ruane worked as a Surveillance Investigator with Command in the state of Florida, where he was awarded the 'Rookie of the Year' award for his efforts. His duties included conducting surveillance for insurance cases and field investigations.
Before Command, Ruane conducted surveillance for domestic cases, skip tracing, and undercover surveillance. Ruane also gained over a decade of experience with hiring actions and employee relations as a manager with a top ranked Fortune 500 company.
Kyle Temples
Operations Manager
As one of our Operations Managers, Kyle Temples is responsible for the daily management of a dedicated investigative team, including complex case management, scheduling, quality assurance, and all client-related communications.
Prior to becoming an Operations Manager, Temples worked as an SIU Analyst in our SIU department.
In that role, he conducted claim investigations where he identified, investigated and reported persons or organizations potentially violating established state anti-fraud laws.
As part of this investigative process, time-sensitive reporting was prepared for both client and statutory reporting.
Before joining our team, Temples conducted hundreds of claims and surveillance investigations, oversaw a team of surveillance investigators and conducted recorded statements.
Temples received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology from Florida State University.
Abram Popham
California Operations Manager
As the California Operations Manager, Abram Popham is responsible for the day-to-day management of a full-time investigative team. This includes complex case management, scheduling, quality assurance and all client related communications.
Prior to his promotion, Popham worked as a surveillance investigator in California where his duties included surveillance, human intelligence development and report writing.
Before Command, Popham served as a Police Officer for the Pasadena Police Department for two years and has served over five years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as an Aircraft Recovery Specialist. As a Police Officer, he conducted preliminary investigations at the scenes of major crimes, apprehended offenders and conducted interviews and interrogations, and actively patrolled assigned areas to prevent and detect crimes.
Louis Heckroth
Operations Manager
Louis Heckroth is one of our Operations Managers, and he currently oversees a team of investigators in Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Louisiana, and Idaho.
His daily tasks include case management, scheduling, quality assurance, and all client-related communication for assignments in the region. In addition, Heckroth conducts the logistics of the remote surveillance systems.
Prior to his promotion to Operations Manager, Heckroth served as a Senior Investigator in New Mexico, where his duties included surveillance, field investigations, AOE/COE, and report writing.
Heckroth attended New Mexico Highlands University. He served with the Albuquerque Police Department for 21 years, before retiring in 2015. Following that, Heckroth began working in the investigation industry.
Matt Sandoval
Operations Manager
Prior to his promotion to Ops manager, Sandoval served as an investigator with Discovery/Command in New Mexico where duties included surveillance, AOE/ COE investigations and report writing.
Sandoval retired from the Albuquerque Police Department after 20 years of service. During that time, Sandoval was a Detective for 9 years before being promoted to Sergeant. As a Sergeant, he supervised a team of over 20 investigators and managed all aspects of the case from start to finish. In addition, he planned and led dignitary escorts for the President of the United States and other high ranking officials.
Julio Rivera
Operations Manager
As Operations Manager, Julio Rivera oversees a team of investigators the Orlando/Jacksonville region.
His daily tasks include case management, scheduling, quality assurance, and all client related communication for the assignments in the region.
Prior to his promotion to Operations Manager, Rivera worked as a surveillance investigator in the NJ, PA, NY region.
Rivera has worked in the industry for 18 years as a surveillance investigator, field investigator, assistant manager, and SIU investigator.