Shortly before Dade Medical College sued the Miami Herald over critical articles, a private investigator was hired to “follow” a reporter who authored the articles.

The contract for the surveillance includes a handwritten line: “Target: Michael Vasquez.”

The deal was aimed at digging up information on Vasquez, who in 2013 began chronicling questionable business practices at the for-profit college founded by Ernesto Perez.

The effort became public only because Hialeah private investigator Carlos de Varona, in August, filed a lawsuit against Perez, the majority owner of Dade Medical, in Miami-Dade small-claims court. He alleged that Perez failed to pay $4,971.87 owed on the contract to “follow a Miami Herald reporter and document his activity.”

The lawsuit was brought to the Herald’s attention on Thursday.