El Dorado Hills Tech Startup Tracks Down Elusive Fugitive

EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — Investigators had a hard time locating Brandi Thomas, so they turned to a local startup company to track her down.

Thomas was accused of driving drunk and hitting two bicyclists in 2008. She was convicted and a seven-year sentence that became five years of probation. From there she allegedly committed a series of felonies and left town.

"It became difficult because she kept moving from state to state," said Dave Stevenson, an investigator with the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office.

Out of leads, the district attorney hired an El Dorado Hills startup called Intellaegis. It's Masterqueue technology sniffed out Thomas' data footprints from California to Florida, to Tennessee to Michigan.

"We found that we were only a few days behind her in Tennessee, and we were able to locate her in Michigan," Stevenson said.

She was finally captured and is back in jail with bail set at $425,000. A three-year search by investigators took the company only minutes.

"We've known for awhile that our software platform would work well in law enforcement," said John Lewis, president of Intellaegis.

The company wouldn't go into details about the software, but pointed out its not a consumer product, and their only clients are law enforcement agencies and major financial institutions.

The fees are a secret, but the D.A.'s office said it was paid for by grants the office obtained.