ABOUT ESA INVESTIGATIONS & SECURITY, INC.
PROTECTING PEOPLE, PROPERTY & INFO
info@esainvestigations.com
(912) 312-9510
From day one, we have lived by our motto: Protecting People, Property & Info.
At ESA, we offer full-service security and investigation solutions nationwide, as well as consultation for those seeking both immediate and precautionary security plans. Our team has over 30 combined years of experience and formal training in both law enforcement and security.
ESA INVESTIGATIONS & SECURITY, INC.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Law Enforcement
- State Trooper
- Criminal Investigator
- Foreign (Overseas) Law Enforcement Instructor
- Federal Police Officer/Supervisory Federal Police Officer
- Federal Law Enforcement Instructor
- Positions within the U.S. Department of Justice
- DEA Task Force Agent
Private Sector Security/Loss Prevention
- Direction of Loss Prevention for the Ritz-Carlton
- Loss Prevention Investigator for Neiman Marcus
- U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security, Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA) — Staff Instructor
- ASIS International Anti-Terrorism Instructor
OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE
- Tunis, Tunisia (Northern Africa)
- Nairobi, Kenya (Eastern Africa)
- Bhopal, India
- Malé, Maldives
We offer a wide range of services for those looking for investigation, whether corporate, general, or attorney, as well as a robust selection of armed security and security staffing for both high—and low-risk situations.
ESA INVESTIGATIONS & SECURITY, INC.
OUR LICENSES & AFFILIATIONS
licenses
- State-licensed Armed Security Guards
- State-licensed Armed Private Investigators
- Firearms Instructors (Firing Range & classroom)
- Classroom Instructor Security Guards (24 Hours)
- Classroom Instructor For Private Investigators (70 hours)
Affiliations
As a state-licensed security company, we are able to take advantage of the Georgia Board of Private Detectives & Security Agencies’ limited reciprocity agreements with other states. If our investigation is initiated in Georgia, we can work for thirty days in Florida, California, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and Alabama. Through limited license agreements and partnerships with national and international private investigative companies, we offer our services nationwide. We have ongoing partnerships with the following agencies:
- International Intelligence Network (Intellent)
- ASIS International
- Georgia Association of Professional Private Investigators (GAPPI)
- Florida Association of Licensed Investigators (FALI)
- Florida Association of Private Investigators (FAPI)
- Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL)
- Texas Association of Licensed Investigators (TALI)
- California Association of Licensed Investigators (CALI)
- Georgia Board of Private Detectives and Security Agencies
- Member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Chamber of Commerce member for:
- Liberty County
- Metter-Candler County
- Statesboro-Bulloch County
- Richmond Hill
- Bryan County
- Savannah Metro Hispanic
PROTECTING PEOPLE, PROPERTY & INFO
THE ESA DIFFERENCE
When it comes to trusting a security & investigation agency with your confidential matters and safety, you need to know that you have the best in the business. We promise to uphold our three core values: ethics, transparency and commitment, everytime.
ETHICS
Every case that ESA handles must be treated with diligence and care at every step of the process. For evidence to stand up in court, it must be obtained through legal avenues to be admissible. At ESA, we guarantee that all information obtained in pursuit of your case is acquired using ethical and legal methods throughout each phase of the investigation.
Our security offers, both armed and unarmed, are thoroughly trained to ensure they provide you with peace of mind no matter the circumstances.
TRANSPARENCY
Results or specific outcomes are not guaranteed nor implied in any investigative or security matter.
- International Intelligence Network (Intellenet)
- ASIS International
- International Association of Special Investigative Units (IASIU)
- Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL)
COMMITMENT
As licensed security officers and investigators, we are committed to our clients first and foremost, whether that’s protecting them or searching for the answers they need. Our combined 30 years within law enforcement and private-sector security have armed our staff with the expertise necessary to provide the highest level of professional investigative and security services nationwide. We are dedicated to protecting and assisting the citizens of Georgia and beyond for years to come, using both our experience and connections to highly accredited private investigative companies.
GERARD EASLEY
CEO and FOUNDER
READ BIO
CARLA EASLEY
Private Investigations, Security Operations and Administration
READ BIO
NEVA DRANE
Investigative Assistant/Intern
READ BIO
Gerard Easley, originally from Buffalo, New York, always aspired to help people as a public servant. While in high school, Gerard’s dad received a promotion where the family moved from Buffalo, New York to Marietta, GA.
Early on, at 21 years old, Gerard graduated from the 57th Georgia State Patrol Trooper school in Atlanta as a “State Trooper”. Gerard was assigned to the former trooper office known as Post #9 in Marietta and the Metro Traffic Enforcement Unit at Charlie Brown Airport off I-20 in Fulton County.
Five years later, Gerard was recruited by a prosecutor at the Fulton County Solicitor’s Office to be a criminal investigator in the Fulton County government. He spent his first year as an undercover operative for the former Metro Drug and Vice Squad which was a multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement task force that was led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Shortly thereafter, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Atlanta heard about Gerard’s investigative work and decided to recruit him. He worked as a task force agent for six years. Gerard wrote historical crime cases, operated in an undercover capacity to infiltrate criminal organizations that were involved in major drug trafficking operations and was assigned a collateral duty as a Narcotic’s Canine (K-9) Handler (drug dog handler).
The DEA sent Gerard to train with the City of Miami Police department’s K-9 unit in Miami, Florida for more than a month to learn how to train drug dogs. Two years were spent with the Fulton County Police department as a Uniform County police officer, patrolling South Fulton County and assigned to the Community Oriented Policing Program also known as “COPS”.
After ten years with Fulton County, Gerard was recruited by the U.S. Federal Protective Service while they were conducting operations in Atlanta and preparing for the subsequent Olympic event activities that were scheduled to occur in Atlanta.
After graduating from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, Gerard was selected as a Federal Police Officer. Thirteen months later, Gerard was promoted to Supervisory Federal Police Officer in Atlanta and supervised investigations for the Federal Protective Service for multiple states in the southern United States.
Gerard is one of 35,000 world-wide members of “ASIS International” (formerly known as the American Society for Industrial Security), the largest security educational organization in the world. As a part of ASIS International, Gerard has held various leadership roles, most recently as an Assistant Regional Vice President for Savannah, G.A., Bluffton, S.C., Brunswick G.A. and Charleston, S.C. He is currently serving as a member of the ASIS National Security Steering Committee.
Gerard spent five years in the private sector, working as a private investigator while owning and operating a luxury 24-hour limousine business in Fulton County, GA.
Gerard received a telephone call from the White House inquiring if he wanted to return to the U.S. Government service at the White House in Washington, D.C. After pondering the idea, Gerard relocated to Washington, D.C. and was assigned to the New Executive Officer Building located on the White House complex while President George W. Bush and Barack Obama were serving in office. Gerard served as a Security Specialist/Facility Security Officer where he facilitated full field background investigations and allowed facility access for those seeking access to work on the White House complex.
Gerard was selected by the U.S. Department of Justice, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) in Washington D.C. as a GS-13. He held three primary roles with ATF; Operations Security Specialist (Threat Assessment Branch), Personnel Security Specialist (Adjudicator) and Intelligence Research Specialist within a Crime Gun Intelligence Center and Field Operations. He cross-trained in investigations, criminal intelligence, physical security, personnel security, Federal Law Enforcement instruction, emergency management and threat/risk assessment.
Introduced by colleagues from ASIS International, Gerard applied and was accepted into the U.S. State Department’s, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Antiterrorism Assistance Program (ATA) as a “Staff Instructor”. The ATA program helps its partner nations deal with security challenges within their borders to defend against national and regional stability to deter terrorist recruiting and terrorist operations.
As a part of the ATA program, he was vetted as an expert to deliver select antiterrorism courses of instruction to foreign law enforcement agencies around the world for the U.S. Department of State. Gerard is an Anti-Terrorism Assistance program as a Government Contractor for the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security, Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA) to delver instruction to foreign law enforcement partners of the U.S. Government in northern Africa, Tunisia, eastern Africa, Nairobi Kenya and southeast Asia nations such as Bhopal, India and the country of Maldives.
After a long career in law enforcement, Gerard made the natural shift to the private sector by opening a security and investigative company. His background in law enforcement operations and, in turn, his experience in intelligence operations, report writing, interviewing, conducting surveillance and identifying deceptive and truthful individuals gives him an advantage in the field of private investigations.
In the fall of 2020, Gerard opened ESA Investigations & Security, LLC, an armed security, armed private investigator and security consulting company. ESA Investigations trains new staff internally and does not have to outsource any aspect of the state licensing process. Gerard is State licensed as an instructor to deliver the courses of instruction needed for State licensing for new hires in the following areas: firearms instructor, private investigator instructor and security officer/guard instructor.
Gerard’s background in law enforcement and security makes him a critical thinker and innovator where he recognizes how to adjust and adapt to changing conditions.
“With investigations there’s not a playbook for everything we do”, Gerard said. “We have to be able to think quick on our feet. We have to be able to be innovative, creative and make results happen for our clients.”
To keep up with the exponential growth of ESA Investigations, Gerard’s long-term goals for the company include recruiting/training qualified security personnel and investigators and expanding state licensing into South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Alabama.
Aspects of ESA Investigations that are different from competitors include: delivering results, mentoring and developing young security professionals, leveraging the latest technology for efficiency, training team members to a very high level and selecting the brightest and best employees. We inspect what we expect.
Before her involvement in the career of private investigations, Carla Easley moved to Atlanta, Georgia from Chicago, Illinois with her son in 1992. After spending eight years working in childcare, Carla worked at Delta Airlines for 16 ½ years. She considered this her dream job and she enjoyed the freedom to travel wherever she wanted to go.
In 2006, Carla first met Gerard by being assigned as his mentor while working at Delta Airlines. Gerard spent several of his late-night shifts chatting to Carla and the other Delta employees about his work as a private investigator and what the industry entailed. After a few months as coworkers, Gerard eventually left to work in law enforcement and lost contact with Carla.
During 2013, while still in Atlanta, Carla lost her son to gang violence. To find her son’s murderer, Carla sought to hire a private investigator and eventually decided to hire Gerard.
“He always said, you know, we may not find out who did this within the next five months,” Carla said. “It may take two years, it may take 10 years, but said he was going to find out who did this. And he did.”
While working together on the investigation, Gerard and Carla began to become enamored with one another over the next year and a half. Carla and Gerard eventually got married on September 26th, 2015.
When Gerard was positioned in Savannah, Georgia with Air Tobacco & Firearms Intelligence, Carla retired from her Delta job in Atlanta and moved down to Savannah, landing a job at Gulfstream. In 2018, Gerard began talking to Carla about wanting to reopen his investigating company and Carla put her support and efforts behind this idea. She is now working alongside him as a licensed investigator.
“That’s what brought me in,” Carla said. “I learned everything just through the training that I went through and his expertise. He taught me a lot of stuff. So this is how we got together in this process. It was not my idea. It would never probably have been my idea. But when we got married, when I made my vows, I was like, wherever my husband is going or wherever his job takes him, I will support and be with him 100%.”
Carla is looking to leave Gulfstream as she believes their ever-growing business requires her full attention.
She intends to have a career as an investigative journalist as she is curious in nature and has a passion for justice. She is interning at ESA Investigations in order to obtain investigative experience, covert and otherwise. She takes issue with the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation in today’s media and seeks to combat it in her journalism career. She values truth and understands the media’s responsibility as a governmental “watch-dog”.
As she is curious about both the past and the future, Neva is pursuing a degree in anthropology with a focus on archaeology as she understands that history continues to affect current events. Aside from her ability to write, Neva has photography and interviewing experience that aids in her ability to tell stories.
Neva will be assisting ESA Investigations by producing reports and articles about the work being done at the corporation, shadowing investigations, obtaining information through interviews, observation, and data mining, photographing and producing advertisements for recruitment and for attracting potential clients.
GERARD EASLEY
CEO and FOUNDER
READ BIO
CARLA EASLEY
Private Investigations, Security Operations and Administration
READ BIO
NEVA DRANE
Investigative Assistant/Intern
READ BIO
Early on, at 21 years old, Gerard graduated from the 57th Georgia State Patrol Trooper school in Atlanta as a “State Trooper”. Gerard was assigned to the former trooper office known as Post #9 in Marietta and the Metro Traffic Enforcement Unit at Charlie Brown Airport off I-20 in Fulton County.
Five years later, Gerard was recruited by a prosecutor at the Fulton County Solicitor’s Office to be a criminal investigator in the Fulton County government. He spent his first year as an undercover operative for the former Metro Drug and Vice Squad which was a multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement task force that was led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Shortly thereafter, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Atlanta heard about Gerard’s investigative work and decided to recruit him. He worked as a task force agent for six years. Gerard wrote historical crime cases, operated in an undercover capacity to infiltrate criminal organizations that were involved in major drug trafficking operations and was assigned a collateral duty as a Narcotic’s Canine (K-9) Handler (drug dog handler).
The DEA sent Gerard to train with the City of Miami Police department’s K-9 unit in Miami, Florida for more than a month to learn how to train drug dogs. Two years were spent with the Fulton County Police department as a Uniform County police officer, patrolling South Fulton County and assigned to the Community Oriented Policing Program also known as “COPS”.
After ten years with Fulton County, Gerard was recruited by the U.S. Federal Protective Service while they were conducting operations in Atlanta and preparing for the subsequent Olympic event activities that were scheduled to occur in Atlanta.
After graduating from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, Gerard was selected as a Federal Police Officer. Thirteen months later, Gerard was promoted to Supervisory Federal Police Officer in Atlanta and supervised investigations for the Federal Protective Service for multiple states in the southern United States.
Gerard is one of 35,000 world-wide members of “ASIS International” (formerly known as the American Society for Industrial Security), the largest security educational organization in the world. As a part of ASIS International, Gerard has held various leadership roles, most recently as an Assistant Regional Vice President for Savannah, G.A., Bluffton, S.C., Brunswick G.A. and Charleston, S.C. He is currently serving as a member of the ASIS National Security Steering Committee.
Gerard spent five years in the private sector, working as a private investigator while owning and operating a luxury 24-hour limousine business in Fulton County, GA.
Gerard received a telephone call from the White House inquiring if he wanted to return to the U.S. Government service at the White House in Washington, D.C. After pondering the idea, Gerard relocated to Washington, D.C. and was assigned to the New Executive Officer Building located on the White House complex while President George W. Bush and Barack Obama were serving in office. Gerard served as a Security Specialist/Facility Security Officer where he facilitated full field background investigations and allowed facility access for those seeking access to work on the White House complex.
Gerard was selected by the U.S. Department of Justice, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) in Washington D.C. as a GS-13. He Held three primary roles with ATF; Operations Security Specialist (Threat Assessment Branch), Personnel Security Specialist (Adjudicator) and Intelligence Research Specialist within a Crime Gun Intelligence Center and Field Operations. He cross-trained in investigations, criminal intelligence, physical security, personnel security, Federal Law Enforcement instruction, emergency management and threat/risk assessment.
Introduced by colleagues from ASIS International, Gerard applied and was accepted into the U.S. State Department’s, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Antiterrorism Assistance Program (ATA) as a “Staff Instructor”. The ATA program helps its partner nations deal with security challenges within their borders to defend against national and regional stability to deter terrorist recruiting and terrorist operations.
As a part of the ATA program, he was vetted as an expert to deliver select antiterrorism courses of instruction to foreign law enforcement agencies around the world for the U.S. Department of State. Gerard is an Anti-Terrorism Assistance program as a Government Contractor for the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security, Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program (ATA) to delver instruction to foreign law enforcement partners of the U.S. Government in northern Africa, Tunisia, eastern Africa, Nairobi Kenya and southeast Asia nations such as Bhopal, India and the country of Maldives.
After a long career in law enforcement, Gerard made the natural shift to the private sector by opening a security and investigative company. His background in law enforcement operations and, in turn, his experience in intelligence operations, report writing, interviewing, conducting surveillance and identifying deceptive and truthful individuals gives him an advantage in the field of private investigations.
In the fall of 2020, Gerard opened ESA Investigations & Security, LLC, an armed security, armed private investigator and security consulting company. ESA Investigations trains new staff internally and does not have to outsource any aspect of the state licensing process. Gerard is State licensed as an instructor to deliver the courses of instruction needed for State licensing for new hires in the following areas: firearms instructor, private investigator instructor and security officer/guard instructor.
Gerard’s background in law enforcement and security makes him a critical thinker and innovator where he recognizes how to adjust and adapt to changing conditions.
“With investigations there’s not a playbook for everything we do”, Gerard said. “We have to be able to think quick on our feet. We have to be able to be innovative, creative and make results happen for our clients.”
To keep up with the exponential growth of ESA Investigations, Gerard’s long-term goals for the company include recruiting/training qualified security personnel and investigators and expanding state licensing into South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Alabama.
Aspects of ESA Investigations that are different from competitors include: delivering results, mentoring and developing young security professionals, leveraging the latest technology for efficiency, training team members to a very high level and selecting the brightest and best employees. We inspect what we expect.
In 2006, Carla first met Gerard by being assigned as his mentor while working at Delta Airlines. Gerard spent several of his late-night shifts chatting to Carla and the other Delta employees about his work as a private investigator and what the industry entailed. After a few months as coworkers, Gerard eventually left to work in law enforcement and lost contact with Carla.
During 2013, while still in Atlanta, Carla lost her son to gang violence. To find her son’s murderer, Carla sought to hire a private investigator and eventually decided to hire Gerard.
“He always said, you know, we may not find out who did this within the next five months,” Carla said. “It may take two years, it may take 10 years, but said he was going to find out who did this. And he did.
While working together on the investigation, Gerard and Carla began to become enamored with one another over the next year and a half. Carla and Gerard eventually got married on September 26th, 2015.
When he got positioned in Savannah, Georgia with Air Tobacco & Firearms Intelligence, Carla retired from her Delta job in Atlanta and moved down to Savannah, landing a job at Gulfstream to be with him. In 2018, Gerard began talking to Carla about wanting to reopen his investigating company and Carla put her support and efforts behind this idea. She is now working alongside him as a licensed investigator.
“That’s what brought me in,” Carla said. “I learned everything just through the training that I went through and his expertise. He taught me a lot of stuff. So this is how we got together in this process. It was not my idea. It would never probably have been my idea. But when we got married, when I made my vows, I was like, wherever my husband is going or wherever his job takes him, I will support and be with him 100%.”
Carla is looking to leave Gulfstream as she believes their ever-growing business requires her full attention.
Neva Drane is an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia, pursuing Bachelor’s Degrees in both journalism and anthropology. Neva is currently contributing for the Red & Black Newspaper in Athens, Georgia.
She intends to have a career as an investigative journalist as she is curious in nature and has a passion for justice. She is interning at ESA Investigations in order to obtain investigative experience, covert and otherwise. She takes issue with the prevalence of misinformation and disinformation in today’s media and seeks to combat it in her journalism career. She values truth and understands the media’s responsibility as a governmental “watch-dog”.
As she is curious about both the past and the future, Neva is pursuing a degree in anthropology with a focus on archaeology as she understands that history continues to affect current events. Aside from her ability to write, Neva has photography and interviewing experience that aids in her ability to tell stories.
Neva will be assisting ESA Investigations by producing reports and articles about the work being done at the corporation, shadowing investigations, obtaining information through interviews, observation, and data mining, photographing and producing advertisements for recruitment and for attracting potential clients.