John Allman - Investigator
From Florida to California, whether investigating or infiltrating a questionable religious movement, or doggedly tracking a state official’s involvement in a barely-legal adult website, John W. Allman has spent his career digging into issues that affect everyday people.
His tireless perseverance in gathering information was honed over 17 years working for newspapers in Florida, Arizona, Nebraska, Alabama and North Carolina. Disillusioned with the decline in media quality and a noticeable shift away from important public interest stories, he left journalism in 2009 and began using his skills to assist individuals seeking help in the legal community.
John joined the James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich Tampa office in July 2010 as an in-house investigator. He is a licensed State of Florida private investigator, and most recently, served for more than a year as the chief investigator for a notable Tampa criminal defense law firm.
But he got his start as a reporter, writing obituaries and covering the stories that no one else wanted, whether reporting on a horse festival in northern Alabama or writing about life on-board a cross-country Greyhound bus. He quickly moved from general assignment to City Hall. He was given a weekly column. He tried to expose readers to people and issues they otherwise might never consider. In 1997, John was tapped to join a small team of reporters investigating the Pensacola Brownsville Revival, which had grown from a hometown congregation to millions of worshippers from around the world. John was assigned to background the three men in charge of the revival and determine if the personal stories they told congregants were true. He traveled the country, often blending in with revival followers at church events in large cities, interviewed relatives and picked through thousands of pages of public records. The newspaper’s coverage won four prestigious national awards: The George Polk, the Roy Howard, the National Headliners and the Society of Professional Journalists.
From 2002 to 2009, John was a senior investigative reporter for The Tampa Tribune. His work prompted multiple state and federal investigations, resulted in the resignations of top law enforcement and government officials and cast a light on various churches, charities and government agencies that did not appear to have the public’s best interest at heart.
John has been a guest speaker at the Investigative Reporters and Editors national convention in Atlanta, the Florida Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials convention in Tampa and the Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale.
John received his undergraduate degree in Mass Communications and English from Emory & Henry College. He lives in Tampa with his wife and five cats and a DVD collection that threatens to overtake the family room.