About Us
The Ullemeyer Group was formed by Michael Ullemeyer and Joey Ortega in 2010. Both met at the Santa Barbara City College where they taught courses in forensic science. They both began to see a growing niche in the private sector for forensic science training and services. They also began to see an increasing need in the government sectors as well. Deciding to pool together each other’s experience, background and training, Michael and Joey teamed up to form The Ullemeyer Group. Their goal is to meet the needs for expertise in this continually evolving field. In 2012, The Ullemeyer Group expanded their knowledge and expertise by recruiting Dr. Eric Hickey who is Dean of the California School of Forensic Studies.
Michael Ullemeyer
Co-founder
Michael Ullemeyer has 24 years of law enforcement experience. He began his career in Forensics in 1987 working in the Criminalistics Bureau at the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department. Michael was originally employed by the Sheriff's department as a photographer and to run the department's photo lab. Michael has a Bachelor's of Art degree from Brooks Institute of Photography where he majored in Scientific/Industrial photography. Michael soon developed an interest in forensics and began his formal training by successfully completing numerous forensic related courses from the State of California Department of Justice, FBI and the California Criminalistics Institute. Michael's duties soon switched from the photo lab to crime scene investigations, evidence processing, fingerprint analysis and comparisons.
In 1995 Michael was hired on as Senior Identification Technician for the Santa Barbara Police Department and placed in charge of the department's Crime Lab. In 2007 Michael integrated the department's crime lab and computer forensic lab. Michael continues to work for the Santa Barbara Police Department and teaches forensic science at the Santa Barbara CIty College and at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Michael is recognized as an expert witness and has lectured on numerous occasions for specialty groups on the topic of forensics.
Joey Ortega
Co-founder
Joey Ortega started his investigative career early at the age of 18 working as an apprentice investigator for local detectives. He started out doing insurance fraud investigations and background investigations. Proving adept in the areas surveillance and information gathering, Joey continued to seek further investigative challenges.
From there he went on to do internal investigations for a number of companies that include; Sears, Roebuck Co., Saks Fifth Avenue, and K-mart. He was largely responsible for investigating issues of internal theft, embezzlement, workers comp fraud, and crime ring investigations. His success eventually earned him a position as a national investigator for a cellular chain, investigating crime rings on a national level.
Trained in the Reid technique (interviewing/interrogation), Joey was able to gain confessions consistently without a single prosecution ever being challenged in court. Throughout his career as an internal investigator Joey continued to work for various private investigative agencies. Moving away from insurance fraud, Joey began developing his skills in the areas of defense investigation, fidelity investigation, missing person’s investigations, and stalker investigations. It was the area of stalker investigations that Joey began to discover his passion for computer crime investigations. Having to learn quickly how to trace harassing and threatening emails, Joey began see that this is where the future of crime and justice was heading and decided to throw himself deeply into the subject. As a result, Joey’s clientele began to include those who were victims of internet fraud and cyber attacks. One of Joey’s methods of tracking down E-bay fraudsters was featured in PI Magazine In June of 2005.
Joey also hosts a weekly radio show Behind The Yellow Tape on Blogtalkradio. The show investigates cold cases, serial crime and discusses forensic and investigative issues and innovations.
Eric Hickey, Ph.D.
Training Coordinator
Dr. Hickey is the Dean of the California School of Forensic Studies at Alliant International University where he oversees the growth and development of the largest clinical forensics studies program in the United States. At Alliant he teaches seminars in homicide, workplace violence, profiling psychopaths, stalking, sex offenders and sexual predators. He has considerable field experience working with the criminally insane, psychopaths, sex offenders and other habitual criminals.
Dr. Hickey has published several books and scholarly articles on the etiology of violence and serial crime. His book, Serial Murderers and Their Victims, 2012, 6th ed., (Thompson-Wadsworth-Cengage Publishers), is used as a teaching tool in universities and by law enforcement in studying the nature of violence, criminal personalities and victim-offender relationships. His current research focuses upon the development of his theory of relational paraphilic attachment (RPA) and sexual predators. His expertise is regularly sought by the media including appearances on CNN, History Channel, NPR, Larry King Live, 20/20, A&E Biography, Good Morning America, CBC, True TV, Discovery and TLC.
He consults with private agencies and testifies as an expert witness in both criminal and civil cases including pedophilia, child molestation, fetishes; stalking; adult rape and sexual assault, robbery, burglary and homicide. A former consultant to the FBI's UNABOM Task Force, Dr. Hickey assists local, state, and federal law enforcement in training and investigations. He is a member of an FBI Threat Assessment Regional Evaluation Team that addresses campus violence and potential threats. He is internationally recognized for his research on multiple homicide offenders and has conducted seminars in countries throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
