Robert Hessee is a Licensed Private Investigator (license #25411) specializing in criminal defense and civil cases. As an investigator, he has worked cases from homicide, DUI, and personal injury, to workplace violence and class actions. He has been appointed by Governor Swarzenegger and reappointed by Governor Brown to the State of California’s Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, Disciplinary Review Board, as well as having served four terms as the Sacramento District Governor for the California Association of Licensed Investigators.
40+ Years of Experience
Robert has worked in law enforcement and related fields since 1978, several of which were spent in investigations. He retired as a Sergeant from the Placer County Sheriff's Department and presently works part-time for the State of California as a Sworn Police Officer for the California Exposition and State Fair Police Department (Cal Expo PD).
As a Defense Investigator, he has worked several homicide cases with and without special circumstances. His role in the homicide investigations has been both a factual and a mitigation investigator and has worked with M.E. Greenberg on death penalty homicide cases since 2010.
While with the Placer County Sheriff’s Department, he was assigned to the Special Operations Unit, investigating or assisting in the investigation with hundreds of marijuana sales and cultivation cases.
With the Placer County Special Investigations Unit (SIU), he was an interagency task force supervised by the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE). While assigned to SIU, he continued to investigate major narcotic cases of all kinds.
As the Sergeant in charge of the Street Gang Unit, he was responsible for identifying and implementing direct enforcement on identified gang members. In addition to enforcement measures, positive alternatives were often created for young gang members as a preventative.
Qualifications & Certifications
Robert has qualified and testified as an expert witness numerous times in drug cases regarding possession, sales, and transportation of methamphetamine and marijuana, and cultivation of marijuana, and medical marijuana. He has also qualified and testified as an expert witness regarding outlaw motorcycle gangs, and white supremacist gangs.
He has been certified by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Nation Traffic Safety Administration as a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and a DRE Instructor. He was the department’s DRE coordinator for several years and has conducted well over 1,000 drug influence evaluations.
Robert has instructed for the California Department of Justice, the California Highway Patrol Academy, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Academy, and the Sacramento County Sheriff Department Academy. He has also taught classes at several colleges and national conferences.
