Specialized Investigations in South Dakota, Matched to the Problem

01Why it matters

Why Narrow Service Lines Produce Better South Dakota Evidence

A general request to look into someone tends to produce a general report. A narrow question, such as whether a claimant is lifting hay bales or whether a debtor draws a paycheck in Watertown, produces evidence a judge or adjuster can actually use. That is why Delator Group breaks its South Dakota work into focused lines. Each one carries its own method, legal limits and pricing basis, and each sits under the statewide South Dakota investigations overview for clients who want the full picture.

Narrow lines also keep a file inside the law. South Dakota has no state PI license, so the state does not screen how investigators work; the statutes on eavesdropping, stalking, trespass and identity theft still apply to everyone. Building each line around those statutes keeps the method lawful from the first hour. We confirm the line, the hours and any case minimum in writing, and the rate schedule for South Dakota work shows the figures in advance.

Most files touch more than one line. A divorce can involve infidelity surveillance, a hidden-asset search and a custody concern at once, and a business loss can move from a theft inquiry to a fraud risk audit. Delator leadership decides which lines a matter needs and keeps them under one scope, one investigator team and one report, so the facts fit together instead of arriving in pieces from different vendors.

• One question per line, answered with evidence
• Methods built around South Dakota statutes
• Several lines can run under one scope

02Personal matters

Infidelity, Dating and Personal Safety Matters

Relationship work is the most personal file we take. Because adultery is still listed as a divorce ground in South Dakota, a spouse's conduct can matter to counsel even when the case is filed on irreconcilable differences. Our infidelity surveillance for married clients documents meetings, overnight stays and travel from public places. Unmarried couples, partners who travel for work and spouses who cross into Iowa or Minnesota each have a dedicated line, because each situation calls for different planning.

Personal safety work starts before a relationship goes wrong. A background check on someone you are dating confirms identity, marriages, court records and protection orders for $102 as remote work. When contact has already turned into repeated following or harassing messages, our stalking investigations document the pattern described in SDCL 22-19A-1 so a victim can petition for a protection order or report to police with organized, dated evidence.

03Business and employment

Corporate, Employment and Audit Investigations

South Dakota employers range from Sioux Falls hospital systems and card banks to Black Hills hospitality, food processing plants and family farms. Corporate lines address the problems those businesses report most often: staff theft, vendor kickbacks, leaked customer lists, executive self-dealing and undisclosed risk in an acquisition. Our employee theft investigations build a record that can support termination, a civil claim or a police referral, with findings stated plainly and sourced.

Employment lines serve both sides of a dispute. In an at-will state, a wrongful termination fact investigation focuses on what the record actually shows about timing, comparators and stated reasons, while harassment inquiries gather statements before the 180-day Human Relations Act charge window closes. Audit lines start at $1,200, and a fraud risk audit for South Dakota businesses maps where billing, payroll and inventory are exposed before losses grow.

04Courts and locates

Criminal Defense Support and Locate Work

Defense lines are organized by charge level because the court and stakes change. Misdemeanors and many traffic matters run through magistrate court, felonies through circuit court, and drunk-driving cases turn on the details of the stop under SDCL 32-23-1. Our DUI defense investigations rebuild the timeline, and support for appointed defense counsel reflects that each county funds indigent defense, so funding requests go through the court and county process.

Locate lines each answer a different question. An evasive defendant locate builds the attempt record counsel may need if service by publication becomes necessary, while a debtor trace looks for an employer and assets. When a family is searching for someone, missing person search support works beside law enforcement and the state Missing Persons Clearinghouse at missingpersons.sd.gov, and never replaces an official report.

05Sensitive matters

Deaths, Abuse and Theft Cases Handled With Care

Some lines involve grief, vulnerable people or institutions with their own reporting rules. Abuse investigations start at $1,500. Our nursing home abuse investigations coordinate with counsel and with the Department of Health complaint process, and they respect the 24-hour reporting duty SDCL 22-46-9 places on health professionals. Correctional facility abuse investigations address claims arising in county jails and state prisons, including the Sioux Falls penitentiary.

Theft lines reflect the state's economy. Under SDCL 22-30A-17, taking livestock or a firearm is a felony even at modest values, and machinery theft from farms and job sites can be hard to trace once equipment crosses a state line. Our stolen equipment recovery work checks resale channels, serial numbers and witnesses. Sensitive death reviews, overdose cases and cyberbullying files are handled by senior staff with the family's privacy as the first rule.

06Fraud and vehicles

Scam, Crypto and Vehicle Dispute Investigations

Scam lines start at $2,000 and focus on tracing money and preserving evidence. South Dakota passed a crypto kiosk law in 2026 that caps daily deposits at $1,000 per user and allows a refund for fraud-induced transactions in certain conditions, effective July 1, 2026. Our crypto scam investigations document the transaction trail for counsel and the bank. Elder scam investigations in South Dakota focus on exploitation by people trusted with an older person's money.

Vehicle lines cover the disputes the Attorney General's Division of Consumer Protection lists among its common complaint topics. A car dealer scam investigation looks at title history, prior damage, mileage and financing terms, and repair-shop lines document padded invoices or damage done in the bay. Each report is organized so it can support a consumer complaint, a demand letter or a small claims case up to $12,000.

07Getting started

Choosing a Service Line and Getting Started

You do not need to know the right line before calling. Describe what happened and what you need to prove, and Delator leadership will match it to one or more lines, explain what each can and cannot show, and say candidly if an investigation is unlikely to help. Attorneys who want a second view on strategy can start with case-planning consultation for South Dakota counsel before committing field hours.

Once the line is chosen, you receive the scope, the expected hours, any case minimum and the travel assumptions in writing. West River files may need a separate field trip from East River work, and winter can move dates, so the quote says how weather changes are handled. To understand how those numbers come together, read what an investigator costs in South Dakota, then send us a confidential request.

All 63 services

Every specialized investigation offered in South Dakota

Each card opens a page describing how that line runs under South Dakota statutes, before South Dakota courts and across South Dakota distances. The same pricing rules apply to all of them: $100 per hour for field work, a stated case minimum where one applies, and a written quote before anyone is assigned.

Infidelity

• Married infidelity investigationsDocuments a suspected affair from public places so a family law attorney can weigh it against adultery, one of the fault grounds in SDCL 25-4-2.
• Unmarried partner infidelityAnswers questions about a partner's conduct for unmarried couples who share a home, children or property in South Dakota and need facts before deciding.
• Out-of-state infidelityKeeps watching a spouse who leaves South Dakota for Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska or another neighbor, with one scope and one continuous log.
• Workplace infidelityLooks at a relationship tied to a shared shift, a sales territory or company travel between Sioux Falls, Rapid City and smaller towns.

Surveillance

• Workplace surveillanceObserves plants, shops, warehouses and equipment yards from lawful vantage points when an employer suspects misuse of time, tools or inventory.
• Out-of-state surveillanceFollows a subject from South Dakota into North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming or Montana without handing the file to a second firm.
• Hotel surveillanceCovers public areas of hotels and motels, including Black Hills resort towns that fill during the Sturgis rally and summer travel.
• Employee surveillanceDocuments moonlighting, time theft and company vehicle misuse so a South Dakota employer acts on verified facts rather than workplace rumor.
• Workers' comp surveillanceChecks a claimant's activity in public view; SDCL 62-4-51 makes a knowingly false workers' compensation claim a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• Insurance claim surveillanceObserves injury and disability claimants for carriers and defense firms, preserving original video for depositions, mediation and trial in circuit court.

Background checks

• Employee background checksScreens South Dakota applicants through public records, with remote checks at $102 and hiring decisions left to employers mindful of SDCL 20-13-10.
• Dating background checksConfirms that someone you met online is who they claim to be, checking names, marriages, court records and protection orders.
• Business partner background checksReviews litigation, judgments, liens and prior ventures before you sign an operating agreement or put money into a South Dakota company.
• Executive hire screeningA deep-dive check at $300 on senior candidates, covering prior employers, board seats, lawsuits and public statements before an offer goes out.
• Jury pool researchPublic-source research on prospective jurors who meet SDCL 16-13-10, with no contact of any kind, to help counsel prepare for voir dire.
• Witness background checksBuilds a profile of a witness's history, prior statements and potential bias so counsel can prepare examination in circuit or federal court.
• Tenant screeningScreens rental applicants before a lease is signed, which is easier than a forcible entry and detainer action under SDCL ch. 21-16.

Privacy

• Personal information OSINT wipeFinds where your personal information is exposed online and works to remove it, priced at $900 as a remote service.

Corporate

• M&A due diligenceA $300 written due diligence report on a target company's filings, litigation, liens and principals before a South Dakota deal closes.
• Corporate espionageInvestigates suspected leaks of customer lists, pricing or designs, often tied to a departing employee or a competitor's new hire.
• Employee theftBuilds the evidence on suspected theft by staff; under SDCL 22-30A-17, grand theft classes rise with the value taken.
• Workplace theftTraces missing fuel, tools, parts and stock at farm supply stores, plants and distribution sites where losses recur without an explanation.
• Corporate malfeasanceExamines suspected misconduct by officers, managers or directors, from self-dealing to falsified records, and reports the findings to the board or counsel.
• Malfeasance damage mitigationHelps contain the damage after misconduct is confirmed, documenting what happened, who knew and which controls must change.
• Malfeasance press releasesPrepares a factual public statement, reviewed by counsel, when misconduct at a South Dakota organization has to be disclosed.
• Corporate collusionLooks for bid rigging, vendor kickbacks and hidden relationships between employees and suppliers in purchasing and contracting.
• Acquisition riskTests what a seller has not disclosed, from pending suits to key-customer losses, before a South Dakota acquisition is priced.
• Real estate riskResearches ownership history, liens, easements and the people behind a deal before you buy land, buildings or farm ground in the state.
• General risk managementOngoing review of the people, vendors and sites a business depends on, so problems surface before they become litigation.

Criminal defense

• DUI defenseRe-examines the stop, the scene and the timeline in a case under SDCL 32-23-1, which covers alcohol, marijuana and other substances.
• Misdemeanor defenseIndependent investigation for misdemeanor charges heard in magistrate or circuit court, starting at $750 and scoped to the charge.
• Felony defenseTests the State's felony case in circuit court with witness interviews, scene work and records review, starting at $1,000 for a single charge.
• Appointed counsel defense supportInvestigative support for appointed lawyers in a state where each of the 66 counties funds trial-level indigent defense.

Employment

• Wrongful terminationDevelops facts for employment claims in an at-will state, where SDCL 60-4-4 sets the baseline and statutes and contracts can limit it.
• Workplace sexual harassmentIndependent fact-finding on harassment complaints; charges under the Human Relations Act are generally due within 180 days.
• Wrongful deathInvestigation for families and counsel in wrongful death actions, which SDCL 21-5-3 generally requires to begin within three years of the death.

Audits

• Compliance auditChecks whether written policies match actual practice at a South Dakota site, starting at $1,200 with findings in a written report.
• Risk auditWalks a property and its procedures to find weak points in access, cash handling and supervision before someone else exploits them.
• Emergency preparedness auditReviews plans for blizzards, interstate closures, fire and evacuation at sites where outside help may be hours away in winter.
• Active shooter risk auditAssesses entrances, lockdown procedures, communication and staff training at offices, clinics, schools and plants, with practical recommendations.
• Fraud risk auditIdentifies where a business is exposed to internal and vendor fraud, from billing to inventory, starting at $1,200.

Locates

• Missing person searchesSupports, never replaces, law enforcement and the state Missing Persons Clearinghouse when a family needs more work done on a case.
• Evasive person locatesFinds people avoiding service and records each attempt, which helps if counsel later needs a due diligence affidavit for publication under SDCL 15-9-7.
• Missing child supportSupports parents and counsel when a child is withheld in violation of a custody order, a matter SDCL 22-19-9 treats as custodial interference.
• Missing family memberSearches for adult relatives who have lost touch, working alongside law enforcement and, where relevant, the state's MMIP reporting process.
• Debtor skip tracingLocates judgment debtors and their employers so a creditor's attorney can move on collection, starting with a $102 remote trace.
• Lost contact searchesReconnects people with heirs, birth relatives, old friends and former colleagues, using records and discreet confirmation before any contact.
• Hit-and-run driver locatesIdentifies drivers who left a crash; leaving an injury or fatal accident is a Class 6 felony under SDCL 32-34-5.

Sensitive matters

• Drug overdose death investigationsHelps families and counsel understand the circumstances of an overdose death, including who supplied the drugs and who was present.
• StalkingDocuments repeated following or harassing contact covered by SDCL 22-19A-1, supporting a protection order petition or a report to police.
• CyberbullyingPreserves and attributes harassing messages and posts that may fall under SDCL 49-31-31 or the electronic-communication part of the stalking law.
• Independent death investigationsAn independent, respectful review of the circumstances of a death when a family has unanswered questions after the official findings.

Theft

• Stolen carTraces a missing vehicle and the people around it, distinguishing theft from unauthorized use under SDCL 22-30A-12.
• Stolen assetsTracks taken property, from jewelry to business equipment, through pawn, resale and online markets, and builds the record for recovery.
• Stolen equipmentRecovers tractors, trailers, tools and other machinery taken from farms, ranches and job sites across East River and West River.

Abuse

• Correctional facility abuseInvestigates mistreatment and neglect claims involving jails and state prisons, including the State Penitentiary and Mike Durfee State Prison.
• Nursing home abuseInvestigates suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation in nursing and assisted-living facilities licensed by the South Dakota Department of Health.

Vehicles

• Auto shop damageDocuments damage done while a vehicle was in a repair shop, with photographs, records and independent assessments for a claim.
• Auto repair scamsExamines padded invoices, unneeded repairs and parts never installed, and prepares the record for counsel or a consumer complaint.
• Car dealer scamsInvestigates title problems, undisclosed damage, rolled-back mileage and financing tricks connected to a used or new vehicle sale.

Scams

• Crypto scamsTraces losses from crypto investment and kiosk scams, including deposits made under the kiosk rules that took effect July 1, 2026.
• Elder scamsDocuments scams and exploitation of older residents; SDCL 22-46-3 punishes theft by exploitation as theft graded by value.
• Scam investigationsRomance, rental, investment and online purchase scams against South Dakota residents and businesses, starting at $2,000.

Services

Most Requested Specialized Services in South Dakota

• Married infidelityDated photographs and a neutral written narrative documenting a suspected affair, prepared for a South Dakota family law attorney to evaluate.Learn more
• Workers' comp surveillancePublic-view activity checks on disputed injury claims for South Dakota employers, carriers and administrators, timed against the claimant's stated restrictions.Learn more
• Tenant screeningRemote checks at $102 on rental applicants, covering identity, evictions, judgments and court records before a South Dakota lease is signed.Learn more
• Evasive person locatesFinding defendants and witnesses who avoid service, with a dated attempt record that counsel can use if service by publication becomes necessary.Learn more
• Felony defenseIndependent review of the State's evidence for defense counsel in South Dakota circuit court, starting at $1,000 for a single felony charge.Learn more
• Nursing home abuseInvestigation of suspected neglect or exploitation in South Dakota care facilities, coordinated with counsel and with the state's reporting rules.Learn more
• Wrongful deathWitness, scene and records work for families and counsel in wrongful death actions, which generally must be filed within three years.Learn more
• Hit-and-run driver locatesIdentifying the driver and vehicle that left a South Dakota crash, using witnesses, video canvasses, repair shops and vehicle records.Learn more
• Emergency preparedness auditA review of blizzard, closure, fire and evacuation plans at South Dakota sites that can be cut off when interstates close in winter.Learn more

How it works

How a Specialized South Dakota Engagement Runs

1. 01

   Name the question

   We agree on the single question the work must answer, such as where a debtor works or whether a claimant is lifting, so the scope stays tight.

2. 02

   Match the line

   Delator leadership picks the specialized line, or combination of lines, explains its method and legal limits, and tells you what it can and cannot show.

3. 03

   Quote in writing

   You receive the hours, any case minimum, travel between East River and West River, and the total price in writing before an investigator is assigned.

4. 04

   Deliver the evidence

   The investigator works the line, Delator leadership reviews the results, and you receive a written report with dated photographs, sources and a timeline built for court.

Compare

Specialized Categories and Their South Dakota Pricing Basis

Statewide coverage

Specialized Work Across South Dakota's Cities

These specialized investigations in South Dakota run wherever a case leads. Card-bank, hospital and plant matters usually begin with an investigator based around Sioux Falls work, while hotel and rally-season files start with our Sturgis investigation page. Capital-city and agency matters go through Pierre investigative coverage, and Missouri River towns in the southeast are handled by our Yankton investigators. Matters in Dewey, Todd or Oglala Lakota County can involve tribal jurisdiction, which we review with counsel before any investigator is assigned.

• Sioux Falls
• Sturgis
• Pierre
• Yankton
• Rapid City
• Watertown
• All of South Dakota

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Every service

Investigations available in South Dakota

Every service below is available in South Dakota and across South Dakota, run by the same Delator Group leadership that manages our Tennessee casework. Choose a service to read how it works in South Dakota.

Service areas

Private investigators across South Dakota