About Sterling Investigative Services
Mr. Kelly brings nearly thirty (30) years of investigative experience to Sterling Investigative Services. He is a graduate of Providence College and has studied Security Management at New York University. He began his career with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice. In 1972 he joined his father, and former Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, the late Colonel David B. Kelly in the private security business. There he helped his father build what became the largest locally based security firm in New Jersey.
After merging the core of their business, DB Kelly Associates, with a national firm, Mr. Kelly moved to the position of President of DBK Protection LLC T/A Sterling Investigative Services, a former DB Kelly subsidiary. He is also President of Sterling Investigative Services, Rhode Island and between the two companies his firms are licensed and operate from New England through the Mid Atlantic States.
Mr. Kelly's expertise includes technical and counter-measures support and program development, undercover techniques, special operations, programs to identify and control aggressive behavior in the work place and emergency management planning. He has performed security consultation services for scores of New Jersey based Fortune 500 companies over the years and his firms count as their clients virtually all of the national insurance companies with significant New Jersey ties.
Mr. Kelly is a member of the State Department Overseas Security Advisory Council the National Association of Fraud Investigators and the Society of Investigators of Greater Newark.
Mr. Murphy is a member of the Maryland Bar and a seasoned executive and business professional with over 30 years of government and corporate experience.
He graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law and was admitted to the Bar in 1969. He is also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was a Special Agent of the FBI for over 20 years and served in a number of management and executive capacities including as a supervisor of Civil Litigation in the Bureau’s Office of Legal Counsel; Special Assistant to the Assistant Director for the Criminal Division in Washington D.C. and for his last 5 years of service as the #2 field executive in the FBI’s 7th largest office in Newark, New Jersey. He was responsible for all field organized crime, drug and white-collar crime investigations as well as the Newark office undercover, technical and special operations programs.
In 1991 Mr. Murphy retired from the FBI to accept the position of Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of Bally Manufacturing Corporation. He served at the same time as Senior Vice President of Governmental Relations for Bally’s Health & Tennis (now Bally’s Total Fitness) and Vice President of Corporate Compliance for the parent company, Bally Manufacturing Corporation.
After merging with Hilton Hotels in 1996 Mr. Murphy was elected Senior Vice President of Corporate Compliance for the Beverly Hills Casino/Hotel Company. In 1998 he was appointed Special Counsel for International Affairs and resigned from Park Place Entertainment after its spin off from Hilton Hotels in early 1999.
Since March of 1999 Mr. Murphy has been a partner and now a managing partner of DBK Protection LLC, New Jersey’s largest Insurance Fraud/Origin and Cause Investigative Company. He also owns and is a managing partner of Winchester Bay Properties and Conover’s Management Company, which owns and manages properties on the New Jersey Shore, north of Atlantic City.
He is a member of the State Department of Overseas Security Advisory Committee and a Trustee of the Colonel David B. Kelly Foundation.
Mr. Vitty is the Vice President of the Auto & Technical Forensic Division of Sterling Investigative Services. He is a court qualified and recognized Auto Theft, Auto Arson and Forensic Auto Lock Specialist. Mr. Vitty specializes in automotive forensic locksmithing and is a Certified GM steering column, ignition VATS pass key specialist. Mr. Vitty is also a Certified Fire Investigator and a Certified Forensic Locksmith. Mr. Vitty has been certified as a Key Pathway Technician I by the North Eastern Technical Services. Mr. Vitty has been Certified in both basic and advanced Master Key systems and is a member of the following associations:
- The National Locksmith Automobile Association
- International Association of Auto Theft Investigators
- Past President and Chairman of the Board, NJ Vehicle Theft Investigators Assoc.
- NJ Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators
- International Association of Arson Investigators
- National Fire Protection Association
- NJ Locksmiths Association
- International Association of Investigative Locksmith
- Associated Locksmiths of America
Mr. Vitty's responsibilities include the management of our Auto & Technical Division which conducts forensic examinations of recovered stolen and burned vehicles. We provide training and instruction to the law enforcement and insurance industry in the fields of auto theft, auto arson and forensic automotive locksmithing and our examiners are qualified as expert witnesses in courts of all venues providing testimony on auto theft, auto arson and forensic automotive locksmithing matters.
Prior to Mr. Vitty's employment with Sterling Investigative Services, he worked for HCM Investigations of Park Ridge, NJ, examining stolen and recovered vehicles as a third party administrator. Prior to that, Mr. Vitty was a detective with the Port Authority of NY and NJ Police Department and was last assigned to, and was one of the founders of the Essex County Auto Theft Task Force. He has been a featured speaker at many national and regional symposiums on auto theft, auto arson and forensic locksmithing.
He has expanded his field of expertise to include the new transponder based and resistance value high tech anti-theft systems and also the forensic examination of keys and locks for wear pattern and key pathway analysis and the analysis of Master Key Systems.
Matthew X. Holleran has over 10 years of Professional Law Enforcement and Private Investigative experience. After graduating St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, Mr. Holleran studied forensic science before going on to receive his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from New Jersey City University.
Mr. Holleran began his investigative career with D.B. Kelly Associates, Inc. in 1989, moving in 1994 to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office. He was subsequently promoted to Detective 1st Class and for 3 years served on the Essex and Union County Auto Task Force. He attended several specialized courses including the FBI’s Advanced Criminal Investigative School and the Tactical Emergency Vehicle Operators Course/Anti-Terrorist Driving Techniques School in Quantico, Virginia.
Mr. Holleran’s experience includes undercover operations, both as an operative and administrator, technical installations and the analysis and coordination of investigations targeting property theft rings in the Greater Newark Metropolitan Region. He has designed and implemented programs to penetrate “web” based fraud and participated in numerous multi-jurisdictional investigations.
After leaving the Essex County Sheriff’s Office Mr. Holleran joined the staff of a large real estate firm in New York City coordinating its mid-range property portfolio. In mid 2001, he accepted a position with DBK Protection T/A Sterling Investigative Services and currently serves as its Vice President of Operations overseeing Sterling’s General Investigations, Special Services and Technical Support.
Mr. Lenehan began his investigative career as an intelligence officer for the U.S. Army over thirty (30) years ago. A Vietnam veteran, in 1972 he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain having also served in Army Intelligence Command Headquarters and on a U.S. Advisory Team for Southeast Asia.
In 1973 he joined the FBI and served in the Pittsburgh and Newark offices. His experience includes the identification and location of forfeitable assets, review and analysis of financial and business records and coordination of some of the most sophisticated political corruption, International money laundering and organized crime investigations in the Northeast over the last 20 years. He represented the FBI at the International Organized Crime Conference in Budapest and is recognized as one of the Bureau’s most experienced and knowledgeable international drug/money laundering and organized crime investigators.
For the last eighteen (18) years of Mr. Lenehan’s FBI career he supervised and/or was the program manager for the FBI’s field organized crime investigative efforts in New Jersey. In that capacity he oversaw what was the Bureau’s front line offensive against organized crime in the New York/ New Jersey metropolitan area. He has extensive experience in the investigation and prosecution of Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and is qualified in the Federal Court System as an expert witness on organized crime matters.
Mr. Lenehan is currently Vice President of Special Investigations and Litigation Support for Sterling Investigative Services.