They were the no nonsense soccer moms busting crimes from insurance scams to cheating husbands - and the stars of a popular reality TV show.
But now the women behind Lifetime's P. I. Moms have spoken out about the man at their firm's helm - a former cop who forced his employees to kiss men to prove they were cheaters, and who was later accused of peddling drugs and running a brothel.
Chris Butler, who was a police officer for ten years before becoming an investigator in San Fransisco, California, employed the women because of their ability to multitask and listen, he claimed.
According to his acquaintances who spoke to 48 Hours Mystery, Butler revelled in the recognition his idea received, including nationwide media coverage, a reality TV show and interviews on Dr. Phil.
But in 2010, local reporter Peter Crooks received numerous tip offs that Butler had staged many of the 'crimes'.
The informer also revealed Butler was working with the county's top narcotics officer to push drugs back onto the streets and was running a brothel, claiming it was to bust the men who visited it.
It also emerged he had commandeered questionable stings branded 'dirty DUIs' where women lured men to drink alcohol before calling 911 to arrest them as they drove home.
Yet speaking to 48 Hours Mystery, the women said they were unaware of the illegal activities carried out by their boss.
'It was humiliating to find out he was doing these things right under our noses,' one investigator Ami Wiltz said. 'I guess I just wish he would have fired me or told me go, instead of dragging me into this.'
Another employee, Meagan Bernabe, added: 'By manipulating us, and by breaking us down, emotionally and psychologically, Chris was able to push us to do things, little by little, that crossed that moral boundary, until suddenly, we were doing things that we said we would never do.
'He knew how to pinpoint a weakness in a person to get that person to do what he wanted. The entire business... was immoral, it was seedy, it was illicit.'
Ryan Romano was one of many attractive 'operatives' employed to lure men into illegal activities by plying them with alcohol. Other women were told to kiss the targets so it could be caught on camera.
Romano told CBS: 'I was hired to be a decoy to attend a party in hopes to get the target to do something illegal, including drugs, and just to be a pretty face. Who's gonna say no to a pretty girl?
'Chris was really good at making everyone else look bad. [He] abused the power that he had, the people that he knew. He took to to the extreme and ran with it.
'There was something not right in the fact that he probably got high off of doing all this. Like, he found a thrill.'
TV personality Dr. Phil, who featured Butler and four of the female investigators on his daytime show, added that he had been uncomfortable with the way Butler ran his business.
He said: 'One of the P.I. Mom operatives was in a very romantic situation with the target. And I kept saying, "Wow, are there boundaries to your scope of employment? Because things are getting pretty rich up on the balcony here."
'[Situations] that to me seemed to go beyond the pale. It's like, "is this OK with you? Is it OK with your husband?" This wouldn't be OK with me. And it's, "Well, you know, you do what you gotta do."'
As he researched the P.I moms, reporter Crooks started receiving tips that Butler was selling drugs supplied by his former colleague and top narcotics cop Norman Wielsch.
It emerged that the source was Carl Marino, a former cop hired by Butler when business at the company began to escalate.
Using the name Rutherford, Marino had appealed to the reporter for help as he wanted to bring his boss to justice - but knew he could not turn to narcotics officers due to Wielsch's involvement.
After putting Crooks in touch with the California Department of Justice, Marino wore a wire for police and took photographs of the activities, such as stashes of marijuana.
'I'd like to say it was the good person in me. It definitely had a lot to do with the cop in me,' Marino told CBS's 48 Hours Mystery.
'It was that day when I first saw those drugs that I knew I was gonna do something about it. I had no idea what it was, how I was gonna do it, when I was gonna do it.'
He added: 'If those guys had found out what I was doing, there was no doubt in my mind that they would have killed me.'
Butler was arrested with Wielsch, and both men maintain the other pressurised them into the crimes. Marino has expressed his disgust at the offenses.
He said of Wielsch: 'This is the guy that would go into schools and tell children, "You have to stay off marijuana 'cause it leads to crystal meth".
'And this is the guy that's taking those same drugs and putting them back on the street. He's the ultimate hypocrite. He's the dirtiest of dirty cops there are.'
As well as drug offenses, the men have been charged with running an illicit massage parlor.
P.I mom Meagan Bernabe told CBS that Butler showed her the operation and claimed he was gathering evidence for Wielsch for a police sting. She called it 'very convoluted and not believable'.
Wielsch came up with the idea for the brothel after learning the business from years of shutting them down, Butler's attorney, William Gagen, told the San Fransisco Chronicle.
'When Wielsch busted those places, he saw firsthand all the cash they took in,' Gagen said. 'So he came up with the plan - he knew how to run the business and he knew he could keep the competitors away.'
Wielsch spoke to CBS for the first time about his involvement in the alleged drug and prostitution crimes.
'I feel horrible that I did this,' he said. 'Anybody that knows me would know that it's not me and I want to admit to what I've done and I just want people to know that I'm very truly sorry.
'Putting drugs back on the street, that's really, really hard to swallow. It's really difficult for me to look at that shame every day.'
Wielsch's attorney Michael Cardoza added: '[Butler] did manipulate everyone from the get go. Chris Butler's a very intelligent man. He understands how to use people. He understands how to groom people and to bring them along slowly.'
No trial date has been set.