and he could have dropped out at this point and let police handle it from here. but karl pushed ahead, feeling he had to do this himself, convinced that only he could find standefer. and an investor told me that dennis will tell you he s going up north if he s going south. it s always misinformation. reporter: ryll called harold karaka, who began working the phones and e-mail. and seemed to hit paydirt. we tracked him through malaysia, through the hotels he ripped off there by not paying his hotel bills or phone bills. reporter: the bills and other documents like this were clear evidence that standefer had been there. but the trail was cold once again and was going nowhere. until one more victim heard about karl s hunt. and called him from jakarta, indonesia. like the philippines and malaysia, a nation in the south asia sea. he called me and said, he s over here. he said, i didn t see him. but i missed him by about two hours but i got a business card. it says dennis austin. t
but then, through a tip from the growing network of ex-investors, karl met a man named harold karaka. harold said he knew all about dennis. he could sell that same piece of ice cube to the eskimo more than once, which is evident by the number of victims that were victimized more than one time. reporter: karaka says standefer took him for over $12,000, promising valuable asian artifacts. he never delivered. and now, karaka was angry. i told karl i made a promise to dennis that he decided not bring back my money that i would do whatever was necessary to go after that money and collect it. reporter: and he knew how to do it because this man, allegedly conned by dennis standefer like the rest, is a private investigator in los angeles. and in his business, karaka couldn t afford to let standefer get away. i didn t want my reputation to be soiled by an individual
if anyone was elusive, it was standefer. but then, through a tip from the growing network of ex-investors, karl met a man named harold karaka. harold said he knew all about dennis. he could sell that same piece of ice cube to the eskimo more than once, which is evident by the number of victims that were victimized more than one time. reporter: karaka says standefer took him for over $12,000, promising valuable asian artifacts. he never delivered. and now, karaka was angry. i told karl i made a promise to dennis that he decided not bring back my money that i would do whatever was necessary to go after that money and collect it. reporter: and he knew how to do it because this man, allegedly conned by dennis standefer like the rest, is a private investigator in los angeles. and in his business, karaka couldn t afford to let standefer get away. i didn t want my reputation to be soiled by an individual like this. and it wasn t the money. on my part, the loss of the money was less
but karl pushed ahead, feeling he had to do this himself, convinced that only he could find standefer. and an investor told me that dennis will tell you he s going up north if he s going south. it s always misinformation. reporter: ryll called harold karaka, who began working the phones and e-mail. and seemed to hit paydirt. we tracked him through malaysia, through the hotels he ripped off there by not paying his hotel bills or phone bills. reporter: the bills and other documents like this were clear evidence that standefer had been there. but the trail was cold once again and was going nowhere. until one more victim heard about karl s hunt. and called him from jakarta, indonesia. like the philippines and malaysia, a nation in the south asia sea. he called me and said, he s over here. he said, i didn t see him. but i missed him by about two hours but i got a business card. it says dennis austin.
it is just ready for the taking. and i said, well, what do you? documentation you can show me, maybe we can work something out because i wanted to see how far he would go with this. he looks at me very serious and points, it s all up here. and i said, okay, dennis, it is probably going to stay there because that s as far as we re going to go with this. harold karaka walked out. i didn t feel better when i left. but at least i knew that he was there and hopefully he wasn t going to get out. after spending nearly two years in a jakarta jail, standefer was extradited to the philippines to stand trial on the rape charge. we got this written statement from standefer and had a phone conversation with him from his jail cell in manila. standefer says, he s no con man. but a legitimate treasure hunter. and he s never phonied up or salted sites, he said. he said karl and his friends tried to kill him and paid off police in three countries and interpol, all to get at his platinum bars which