Quadro Tracker
Encyclopedia
The Quadro Tracker, also known as the Positive Molecular Locator, was a "detection device" sold by Quadro Corp. of Harleyville, South Carolina
between 1993 and 1996. Around 1,000 were sold to police departments and school districts around the United States
on the basis that it could detect hidden drugs, explosives, weapons and lost golf balls. In 1996, the FBI declared it to be a fake and obtained a permanent injunction barring the device from being manufactured or sold. Three principals of Quadro Corp. were charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, but were acquitted in a trial held in January 1997.
The device consisted of three principal components. A "locator card" purportedly containing a "signature" of the object to be detected was inserted into a plastic "card reader" about the size of a tape cassette that could be attached to the user's belt. This was connected to a hand-held unit about 4 inches (10.2 cm) long to which a horizontally swivelling metal antenna was attached. The antenna would point to the item being sought when a suitable locator card was inserted into the "card reader".
According to the manufacturers, the Quadro Tracker could be used to detect items as varied as drugs, weapons, explosives, specific people, golf balls, alcohol, precious metal, dead pets or wild game animals. In the most expensive version of the device, costing $8,000, the user could insert Polaroid
photographs of the item or person to be detected. According to Quadro Corp., "Quadro units have been designed to locate people from a photograph, as well as from a fingerprint. Thus missing prisoners, or escaped prisoners can be located with ease. The machine will identify an individual, no matter what disguise or surgery is undertaken. It has been tested over a distance of 500 miles, and will track, we believe, at any distance."
The device could supposedly even detect drugs after they had been ingested by a person. A marketing brochure stated: "The tracker will also locate specific drugs in solution. This means that even a person who had been using drugs will have traces in their bodily fluids, blood, etc. Thus the Tracker will indicate people who are using drugs, as well as those who are merely carrying it. Therefore extreme caution should be taken if searching a person, or making accusations, as they may, indeed, not be carrying drugs on them!"
Quadro Corp. claimed the device worked by oscillating "static electricity produced by the body inhaling and exhaling gases into and out of the lung cavity" to "charge the free-floating neutral electrons of the signature card with the major strength of the signal". The device's mechanism supposedly contained conductors, inductors and oscillators. It was claimed to be able to detect drugs hidden in air-tight containers, a bomb inside a building from outside or a criminal suspect 15 miles away.
and Shawnee Mission School District
in Kansas
bought Quadro Trackers for $955 per unit to detect drugs and ammunition in local schools. Polk County Public Schools
in Florida
bought several Quadro Trackers to share between its schools. Houston School District
paid $2,000 for two of the devices but never used them. School officials in the McKinney Independent School District
declined to discontinue using the device even after it was banned, saying that they hoped it would be a deterrent: "We're not looking to nail a particular kid. We're looking to send a message." A similar justification was offered by the principal of Carencro High School
in Louisiana
: "I heard that there had been some trouble with it, but I tell you what. I'm impressed with it. And this is not necessarily going to be used to catch kids with drugs. If my having this thing keeps kids from bringing drugs on campus, it's worth its weight in gold."
The Texas Department of Public Safety
used a Quadro Tracker in a failed attempt to find the body of the murdered 7-year-old Carlin Smith. Police departments in a number of counties, including Jefferson County, Florida
and Madison County, Florida
also bought the device. The Jefferson County, Texas
narcotics task force spent $3,250 on a Quadro Tracker. The task force's commander later said: "We played with it in the office and got mixed results. Sometimes we'd find something, sometimes not. Our rate of success was about half. I think it was either blind luck or a ouija board
effect. It's not near as consistent as (drug-sniffing) dogs, but there are no vet bills."
, learned about the device from a contact on the Narcotics Task Force of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
in 1995. He was suspicious of the claims made for the Quadro Tracker and obtained one of the devices, which he examined using the local courthouse's X-ray machine. It was immediately apparent that the Quadro Tracker was hollow; as Kelly later recalled, "It didn't take a lot of effort on our part to determine it was phony."
The FBI commissioned the FBI Laboratory
's technicians and Sandia National Laboratories
to examine the device. They found that the Quadro Tracker contained no electronics whatsoever. It was merely an empty plastic box in which the only metal parts were a couple of wires and the antenna, which were not connected to each other. The antenna was merely a transistor radio aerial. Attorneys for Quadro Corp. later contended that the inductors and oscillators supposed to be inside the device "aren't the type usually thought of by electronics experts". The "locator chip" was shown to be equally fake; one example put on display by the FBI contained dead ants that had been frozen and stuck onto paper with epoxy glue.
Kelly's office brought it to the attention of US Attorney Mike Bradford, who went to US District Judge Thad Heartfield
to initiate action against Quadro Corp. In January 1996, Judge Heartfield issued an injunction against Quadro Corp. from "using the United States mails or private commercial interstate carriers, or causing others acting on their behalf to use the United States mails or private interstate carriers, to solicit customers or entities, promote, sell, transfer, or demonstrate the Quadro Tracker...and devices of a similar design marketed under a different name."
At the same time, the FBI sent a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies: "A device marketed to law enforcement agencies nationwide, the Quadro Tracker . . . is a fraud. All agencies should immediately cease using the device if used as a basis for probable cause
."
Bradford stated: "The company's claims about the capabilities and operations of the Quadro Tracker are fraudulent and false. There is no scientific basis whatsoever for the operation of the device." He said that Quadro Corp. had also falsely claimed in its promotional materials that the device had been tested or endorsed by the FBI, the US Drug Enforcement Administration
and the National Institute of Justice
, which had helped to persuade customers that the device was legitimate. Ron Kelly told the Dallas Morning News: "The only thing this accurately detects is your checkbook."
in the 2003-04 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, and John Wagner – were implicated in the affair as licensed distributors for the Quadro Tracker in Alabama
, Arkansas
, New Mexico
and Wyoming
. A court was told in April 1996 that Womack could be a target of an investigation of possible conflicts of interest, false statements to investigators about his involvement with the Quadro Tracker and possible use of federal office equipment for private business. During the hearing, Womack pleaded the Fifth Amendment on 42 occasions, asserting his right not to incriminate himself. Womack was not charged, but he eventually resigned his post and paid a $5,000 settlement while denying any wrongdoing.
On August 22, 1996, a federal grand jury
returned indictments on mail fraud charges against Quadro Corp.; Wade L. Quattlebaum, the company's president; Raymond L. Fisk, the vice-president; Malcolm S. Roe, the company secretary; and William J. Long, a distributor. The case came to trial in January 1997. On January 29, 1997 the three men were acquitted of all charges by a federal jury.
, Mexico
and Thailand
. A UK-based company, Global Technical, produced a device called the "MOLE programmable detection system" which Sandia National Laboratories described in a 2001 evaluation as "physically nearly identical" to the Quadro Tracker. Sandia reported that "the visible physical differences between the two products appear to be the product labels and the handle-programming chip – interchangeable on the Quadro Tracker, permanently fixed on the MOLE." It was found to perform no better than random chance. Global Technical subsequently produced a very similar device, the GT200
, which was sold in large numbers to a number of countries as an explosives and drugs detector. This too was found to be perform no better than random chance, sparking a major controversy in Thailand in 2009-2010 over its effectiveness in connection with its high-profile use in combating the South Thailand insurgency
and drug smuggling. A similar device produced by a different British company, the Alpha 6
, is also in widespread use in Thailand but is due to undergo double blind testing to ascertain its effectiveness.
Another British company, ATSC, produced a very similar device called the ADE 651
which was sold to Iraq as a bomb detector. After a series of devastating bomb attacks in Baghdad
and elsewhere which killed hundreds of people, its export to Iraq and Afghanistan was banned by the British government in January 2010 and the company director was arrested on suspicion of fraud.
Harleyville, South Carolina
Harleyville is a town in Dorchester County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 594 at the 2000 census. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S...
between 1993 and 1996. Around 1,000 were sold to police departments and school districts around the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on the basis that it could detect hidden drugs, explosives, weapons and lost golf balls. In 1996, the FBI declared it to be a fake and obtained a permanent injunction barring the device from being manufactured or sold. Three principals of Quadro Corp. were charged with mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, but were acquitted in a trial held in January 1997.
Description and claims
The Quadro Tracker was invented by Wade L. Quattlebaum, a former used car salesman from Harleyville, South Carolina. He was said to have devised the Quadro Tracker after he was trying to invent something to find lost golf balls. It was sold through his company, the Quadro Corporation, between 1993 and 1996. Around 1,000 Quadro Trackers were sold at prices of between $400 and $8,000 per unit.The device consisted of three principal components. A "locator card" purportedly containing a "signature" of the object to be detected was inserted into a plastic "card reader" about the size of a tape cassette that could be attached to the user's belt. This was connected to a hand-held unit about 4 inches (10.2 cm) long to which a horizontally swivelling metal antenna was attached. The antenna would point to the item being sought when a suitable locator card was inserted into the "card reader".
According to the manufacturers, the Quadro Tracker could be used to detect items as varied as drugs, weapons, explosives, specific people, golf balls, alcohol, precious metal, dead pets or wild game animals. In the most expensive version of the device, costing $8,000, the user could insert Polaroid
Instant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...
photographs of the item or person to be detected. According to Quadro Corp., "Quadro units have been designed to locate people from a photograph, as well as from a fingerprint. Thus missing prisoners, or escaped prisoners can be located with ease. The machine will identify an individual, no matter what disguise or surgery is undertaken. It has been tested over a distance of 500 miles, and will track, we believe, at any distance."
The device could supposedly even detect drugs after they had been ingested by a person. A marketing brochure stated: "The tracker will also locate specific drugs in solution. This means that even a person who had been using drugs will have traces in their bodily fluids, blood, etc. Thus the Tracker will indicate people who are using drugs, as well as those who are merely carrying it. Therefore extreme caution should be taken if searching a person, or making accusations, as they may, indeed, not be carrying drugs on them!"
Quadro Corp. claimed the device worked by oscillating "static electricity produced by the body inhaling and exhaling gases into and out of the lung cavity" to "charge the free-floating neutral electrons of the signature card with the major strength of the signal". The device's mechanism supposedly contained conductors, inductors and oscillators. It was claimed to be able to detect drugs hidden in air-tight containers, a bomb inside a building from outside or a criminal suspect 15 miles away.
Users
Numerous US school boards, airports and police departments purchased the Quadro Tracker before it was banned. The Blue Valley Unified School DistrictBlue Valley Unified School District
The Blue Valley Unified School District is one of the major school districts in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. Located in east central and southeast Johnson County, Kansas, covering of Overland Park including parts of Leawood and Stilwell...
and Shawnee Mission School District
Shawnee Mission School District
The Shawnee Mission School District is one of the major school districts in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. Located in northeast Johnson County, Kansas, the school district enrolled approximately 40,000 students in the 2009-2010 school year...
in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
bought Quadro Trackers for $955 per unit to detect drugs and ammunition in local schools. Polk County Public Schools
Polk County Public Schools
Polk County Public Schools is a school district headquartered in Bartow, Florida, United States. The district serves Polk County.-Intelligent Design Controversy:...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
bought several Quadro Trackers to share between its schools. Houston School District
Houston School District
* For the school district in Texas see Houston Independent School District. For the school district in Minnesota see Houston Public Schools------The Houston School District is a public school district based in Houston, Mississippi ....
paid $2,000 for two of the devices but never used them. School officials in the McKinney Independent School District
McKinney Independent School District
McKinney Independent School District is a public school district in McKinney, Texas .In addition to McKinney, the district serves the town of New Hope and parts of Allen, Fairview, Lovejoy, Weston, Princeton, and Lowry Crossing....
declined to discontinue using the device even after it was banned, saying that they hoped it would be a deterrent: "We're not looking to nail a particular kid. We're looking to send a message." A similar justification was offered by the principal of Carencro High School
Carencro High School
Carencro High School is a Lafayette Parish high school located in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. Carencro High School is one of six Lafayette Parish Public Schools. Geographically, the school is located approximately 3.5 miles north of Interstate 10 and approximately one mile west of...
in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
: "I heard that there had been some trouble with it, but I tell you what. I'm impressed with it. And this is not necessarily going to be used to catch kids with drugs. If my having this thing keeps kids from bringing drugs on campus, it's worth its weight in gold."
The Texas Department of Public Safety
Department of Public Safety
The Department of Public Safety , also called an Office of Public Safety, is a state or local government umbrella agency in the United States which serves to assist the certain agencies in their services by providing administrative, financial, and technical services and support for core public...
used a Quadro Tracker in a failed attempt to find the body of the murdered 7-year-old Carlin Smith. Police departments in a number of counties, including Jefferson County, Florida
Jefferson County, Florida
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population is 12,902. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 14,490 . Its county seat is Monticello, Florida....
and Madison County, Florida
Madison County, Florida
Madison County is a county located in the state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 18,733. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 19,902. Its county seat is Madison, Florida. Madison County is one of Florida's five dry counties....
also bought the device. The Jefferson County, Texas
Jefferson County, Texas
Jefferson County is a county located in the state of Texas, United States. As of 2000, the population was 252,051. Its county seat is Beaumont, and it is named for the former U.S...
narcotics task force spent $3,250 on a Quadro Tracker. The task force's commander later said: "We played with it in the office and got mixed results. Sometimes we'd find something, sometimes not. Our rate of success was about half. I think it was either blind luck or a ouija board
Ouija Board
Ouija Board is a Thoroughbred mare racehorse owned by Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby and trained by Ed Dunlop. In a career spanning four seasons, she won 10 of her 22 races, 7 of them Group 1s, including the Epsom Oaks in 2004 and the Hong Kong Vase in 2005...
effect. It's not near as consistent as (drug-sniffing) dogs, but there are no vet bills."
Exposure
The Quadro Tracker enjoyed considerable commercial success before FBI agent Ron Kelly, stationed in Beaumont, TexasBeaumont, Texas
Beaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
, learned about the device from a contact on the Narcotics Task Force of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna....
in 1995. He was suspicious of the claims made for the Quadro Tracker and obtained one of the devices, which he examined using the local courthouse's X-ray machine. It was immediately apparent that the Quadro Tracker was hollow; as Kelly later recalled, "It didn't take a lot of effort on our part to determine it was phony."
The FBI commissioned the FBI Laboratory
FBI Laboratory
The FBI Laboratory is a division within the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation that provides forensic analysis support services to the FBI, as well as to state and local law enforcement agencies free of charge. The lab is currently located at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico,...
's technicians and Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories
The Sandia National Laboratories, managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation , are two major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratories....
to examine the device. They found that the Quadro Tracker contained no electronics whatsoever. It was merely an empty plastic box in which the only metal parts were a couple of wires and the antenna, which were not connected to each other. The antenna was merely a transistor radio aerial. Attorneys for Quadro Corp. later contended that the inductors and oscillators supposed to be inside the device "aren't the type usually thought of by electronics experts". The "locator chip" was shown to be equally fake; one example put on display by the FBI contained dead ants that had been frozen and stuck onto paper with epoxy glue.
Kelly's office brought it to the attention of US Attorney Mike Bradford, who went to US District Judge Thad Heartfield
Thad Heartfield
Thad Heartfield is a district judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Beaumont, Texas. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on January 11, 1995, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 17, 1995 and received his commission on March 17, 1995. He served...
to initiate action against Quadro Corp. In January 1996, Judge Heartfield issued an injunction against Quadro Corp. from "using the United States mails or private commercial interstate carriers, or causing others acting on their behalf to use the United States mails or private interstate carriers, to solicit customers or entities, promote, sell, transfer, or demonstrate the Quadro Tracker...and devices of a similar design marketed under a different name."
At the same time, the FBI sent a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies: "A device marketed to law enforcement agencies nationwide, the Quadro Tracker . . . is a fraud. All agencies should immediately cease using the device if used as a basis for probable cause
Probable cause
In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the...
."
Bradford stated: "The company's claims about the capabilities and operations of the Quadro Tracker are fraudulent and false. There is no scientific basis whatsoever for the operation of the device." He said that Quadro Corp. had also falsely claimed in its promotional materials that the device had been tested or endorsed by the FBI, the US Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
and the National Institute of Justice
National Institute of Justice
The National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice. NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics , Bureau of Justice Assistance , Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention , Office for Victims of Crime ,...
, which had helped to persuade customers that the device was legitimate. Ron Kelly told the Dallas Morning News: "The only thing this accurately detects is your checkbook."
Fraud investigation and trial
Following the injunction against Quadro Corp., the FBI pursued a criminal investigation against the company's principals and distributors. Two Houston-based Assistant US Attorneys who had acted as distributors – Guy Womack, who later represented US Army Specialist Charles GranerCharles Graner
Charles A. Graner, Jr., is a former U.S. Army reservist who was convicted of prisoner abuse in connection with the 2003–2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal...
in the 2003-04 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, and John Wagner – were implicated in the affair as licensed distributors for the Quadro Tracker in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
. A court was told in April 1996 that Womack could be a target of an investigation of possible conflicts of interest, false statements to investigators about his involvement with the Quadro Tracker and possible use of federal office equipment for private business. During the hearing, Womack pleaded the Fifth Amendment on 42 occasions, asserting his right not to incriminate himself. Womack was not charged, but he eventually resigned his post and paid a $5,000 settlement while denying any wrongdoing.
On August 22, 1996, a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
returned indictments on mail fraud charges against Quadro Corp.; Wade L. Quattlebaum, the company's president; Raymond L. Fisk, the vice-president; Malcolm S. Roe, the company secretary; and William J. Long, a distributor. The case came to trial in January 1997. On January 29, 1997 the three men were acquitted of all charges by a federal jury.
Successors
Despite the demise of the Quadro Tracker, a succession of similar devices has appeared in widespread use in a number of countries including IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. A UK-based company, Global Technical, produced a device called the "MOLE programmable detection system" which Sandia National Laboratories described in a 2001 evaluation as "physically nearly identical" to the Quadro Tracker. Sandia reported that "the visible physical differences between the two products appear to be the product labels and the handle-programming chip – interchangeable on the Quadro Tracker, permanently fixed on the MOLE." It was found to perform no better than random chance. Global Technical subsequently produced a very similar device, the GT200
GT200
The GT200 is a fraudulent "remote substance detector" that is claimed by its manufacturer, UK-based Global Technical Ltd, to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs...
, which was sold in large numbers to a number of countries as an explosives and drugs detector. This too was found to be perform no better than random chance, sparking a major controversy in Thailand in 2009-2010 over its effectiveness in connection with its high-profile use in combating the South Thailand insurgency
South Thailand insurgency
An ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...
and drug smuggling. A similar device produced by a different British company, the Alpha 6
Alpha 6
The Alpha 6 is a controversial "molecular detector" that is claimed to be able to detect from a distance various substances including explosives and drugs...
, is also in widespread use in Thailand but is due to undergo double blind testing to ascertain its effectiveness.
Another British company, ATSC, produced a very similar device called the ADE 651
ADE 651
The ADE 651 is a hand-held device produced by ATSC , which claims the device can detect from a distance the presence and location of various types of explosives, drugs, and other substances. The device has been sold to a number of countries in the Middle and Far East, including Iraq, for as much as...
which was sold to Iraq as a bomb detector. After a series of devastating bomb attacks in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
and elsewhere which killed hundreds of people, its export to Iraq and Afghanistan was banned by the British government in January 2010 and the company director was arrested on suspicion of fraud.