The intrepid investigators tracked the man to an address in Medford, N.J. Boldly they banged on the door, suspecting their quarry was inside. There was no answer.

But there, on the front lawn, was a basketball and a basket. So an impromptu display of shooting hoops ensued. That was the first indication that it was not to be your ordinary hard-boiled detective story.

The second would be the identities of the two men on this would-be Woodward-Bernstein reporting team: Ron Harper Jr., publisher of the 5thEstate.com, and Christiaan Hart-Nibbrig, news editor of NewsLanc.com Web site.

Both Harper and Hart-Nibbrig have been vehement opponents of the proposed hotel and convention center in downtown Lancaster; their target was Dan Logan, a marketing consultant for the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority.

Harper is known for his ubiquitous video camera and his in-your-face style that's irked many a public official.

Hart-Nibbrig works for Robert Edwin Field, the owner of the Web site and a leader of project opponents.

Like many movies, this one would feature a car chase, and even a “get out of town’’ order from police.

The duo said they were merely trying to find out why Logan's company, Growth Business Development Inc., has been paid more than $600,000 by the Convention Center Authority; and what Logan has done to earn the money.

Logan tells a story of strange people trespassing on his property and intimidating his wife by questioning her while a video camera was aimed at her.

As the credits roll, questions about Logan’s record have been answered by business associates. But NewsLanc.com vows to “continue its investigation into the propriety of how $17 million of taxpayers' money has been spent to date by the Convention Center Authority.”

100-mile ride

It was Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, when Harper and Hart-Nibbrig made the 100-mile trip from Lancaster to Medford, hoping for a face-to-face meeting with Logan, consultant for the $170 million convention center/hotel planned for Penn Square.

With Harper behind the wheel of his Ford Taurus, they arrived at Logan's home a little before 3 p.m. that Thursday.

"We just wanted to visit the guy at his office," Harper said.

Harper, a self-employed political consultant, has made a mark locally with his investigations of former state representative John Barley, who resigned in 2002, and Ricardo Curry Burns, former superintendent of the School District of Lancaster, who served time in prison for mail fraud after hiring family members as consultants and receiving financial kickbacks.

Hart-Nibbrig said after reading a stack of invoices Growth Business Development submitted to the Convention Center Authority, he left several phone messages with Logan, who did not return the calls. Hart-Nibbrig said he also asked the Convention Center Authority secretary and an administrative assistant to let Logan know he wanted to talk to him.

"I have some very real concerns about the viability of the project, and the administration of it," Hart-Nibbrig said. He and Harper found an address for Growth Business Development Inc., Logan's consulting business, on an invoice paid by the Convention Center Authority in April 2004. Instead of an office building, however, they found a house in a suburban neighborhood. Logan works from his home.

Hart-Nibbrig knocked on the front door of the two-story brick home while Harper filmed the scene.

No one answered. Harper filmed through a narrow window in the vestibule.

He saw that a TV was on and a beagle sat obediently inside near the door. Harper said he suspected Logan was inside, refusing to come to the door.

Harper and Hart-Nibbrig left the front porch.

In front of the house was a basketball hoop, and the men spotted a basketball nearby.

"We shot hoops in front of Logan's house," Harper said.

The idea, he said, was to annoy Logan.

On the video, Hart-Nibbrig is shown spinning the ball on his index finger.

Wife arrives home

While they shot baskets, a sport utility vehicle driven by Lorraine Logan pulled into the driveway in front of the closed garage door.

The men introduced themselves as reporters from Lancaster, according to Logan, and asked Mrs. Logan if they might speak to her husband.

Mrs. Logan told them her husband was not home and wouldn’t be until the next day.

Hart-Nibbrig gave her his business card as Harper filmed the encounter.

Harper and Hart-Nibbrig then got into Harper’s car and drove away. Harper said the duo ate dinner at a nearby TGIFriday’s restaurant, returning to the Logan home at about 5 p.m.

Harper said they had planned to talk to neighbors, but they doubted many people were home from work at that time of day.

They left again and shopped at a Target store, returning at about 6:45 p.m. to give Mrs. Logan Harper's business card, Harper said. It was dark, and as Harper drove into Logan’s development, he said, he noticed a car following him.

Harper drove around the block, past Logan’s house. The car continued to follow him, he said.

Harper said he and Hart-Nibbrig were frightened. "We didn't know who was in the car or why it was following us," he said.

Harper pulled into a turn lane and the car, a red Jeep Cherokee, continued ahead.

Harper decided he would follow the car. It turned into a chase, up to 85 mph, said Harper.

Harper said he stopped the pursuit, which had gone on for about 30 minutes, and drove back to Logan's neighborhood, where he said he spotted the same Jeep, parked with the engine running in a cul-de-sac up the street from Logan's home.

The Jeep pulled away, and Harper decided again to give chase.

The pair said they did not know it at the time, but Logan was driving the Jeep.

About 15 minutes later, they followed the vehicle right to the Medford Township police department.

Camera on

Harper said he saw Logan get out of the car and go into the police station. Harper turned on his video camera and followed.

Inside the station, he confronted Logan. Harper's video records this exchange.

Logan: "Hello, Ron."

Harper: "Why were you running away?"

Logan: "I'm not running from anybody."

Harper: "You told your wife to lie to me."

Logan (clearly irritated): "Excuse me?"

Harper repeated the statement.

Logan: "I've been told not to talk to you."

Harper: "Did you pay for Hixson's vacation? (David Hixson is executive director of the Convention Center Authority.)

Logan: "No. "I'm not supposed to talk to you."

At that point, police entered the station, and Harper turned off his camera.

Police escorted Logan into a room, and an officer stayed with Harper. Harper said the officer told him that Logan had reason to fear him.

"I asked, 'What about me?' said Harper. "Really, what credible individual does something like that?" Harper said he was referring to Logan following his car.

Other side of chase

Logan would like to know the same thing.

Logan said he got a call from his wife that afternoon after Harper and Hart-Nibbrig had talked to her in the driveway. He was at the Convention Center Authority office in the Griest Building. He had broken away from the meeting to take a phone call from a Sunday News reporter; immediately after that call, Logan got a call from his wife, who was "upset because something was going on at his home."

His wife told him two reporters with the "Lancaster news" were at the house and had insisted on talking to him. "I told her that I just got off the phone with a Lancaster reporter," he said.

Logan returned to the meeting. "Dan was as white as a sheet," Hixson said.

Logan told Hixson, “You’re not going to believe this ...”

Hixson adjourned the meeting and told Logan, "Go home to your wife."

Before leaving, Logan called Medford Township police. "They told me to come to the station before going home to fill out a complaint," he said.

Logan said it took more than three hours to drive to Medford. He had planned to go to the police station, but then decided first to stop and check on his family.

As he approached his home, he pulled in behind a car that carried Pennsylvania license plates.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "Why were they watching my house?"

When Harper pulled away, Logan followed. His description of the pursuit is similar to Harper's, minus the high speed.

After Harper stopped following him, Logan said he decided to go home and check on his family.

That's when the two and Logan met a second time in the neighborhood.

When Harper started to follow him again, Logan called the police on his cell phone, and talked to the same officer he’d spoken with before.

"I said, 'You are not going to believe this, but this guy I told you about is following me,' " he said.

The officer told Logan to drive to the station.

Harper went into the station carrying his camera. Hart-Nibbrig said he followed about 10 minutes later. "The police were OK, straight up," he said, adding he identified himself as a reporter. "The police said we need a state-issued press permit to be officially recognized as the press," Hart-Nibbrig said.

"They told us Logan was filing a report," he said, "and that meant we could not go back to his house."

Logan said an officer told him the police had warned the pair to leave and never come back to Medford.

Lt. Michael Devlin of the Medford Township Police confirmed that a "verbal warning of harassment" was issued to a "man with a camera" on Dec. 7. He said no citations were written and names were not recorded.

Online posting

The day after the road trip to Medford, NewsLanc.Com posted an article about its effort to verify Logan's credentials. It read, in part: "NewsLanc.Com has made repeated attempts to confirm the claims in the news release, but so far no one from the organizations named in the release has confirmed work done by Mr. Logan, and none has said they have any knowledge at all of Mr. Logan, including people who have been working for these organizations for more than 20 years."

The site briefly mentions the car pursuit, calling it "a truly bizarre development" and said "a NewsLanc.Com reporter and a reporter from 5thEstate.com were followed for some time by a car driven by Mr. Logan." The report does not mention the two following Logan's car.

A few days later, NewsLanc.Com reported that it was able to confirm Logan's background.

"He seems to check out," wrote Hart-Nibbrig in an e-mail to the Sunday News. "Our goal is to get the story right, not to 'get' someone."

As for the Hixson vacation inquiry:

Logan said he has a friend who rents a vacation house to Hixson and his family.

"It's North Wildwood, N.J.," Logan said. "Have you ever been there? It's not like it's Tahiti."