U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Strategic Information and Operations Center

at FBI Headquarters is the 24/7 command post

that monitors FBI operations and law enforcement

activities around the globe.

2012
2012 The FBI Story I

An FBI agent examines a potentially contaminated letter during a white powder training exercise.
2012 The FBI Story III

A Message from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III

For the FBI and its partners, 2012 was a year that reminded us once again of the seriousness of the security threats facing 

our nation.

During the year, extremists plotted to attack—unsuccessfully, thanks to the work of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces—the 

U.S. Capitol, the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and other landmarks on U.S. soil. Tragically, on the 11th anniversary of 

9/11, a hateful attack in Benghazi took the lives of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. In the cyber 

realm, a rising tide of hackers took electronic aim at global cyber infrastructure, causing untold damages. High-dollar 

white-collar crimes of all kinds also continued to siphon significant sums from the pocketbooks of consumers. And in 

Newtown, Connecticut, 20 young children and six adults lost their lives in one of the worst mass shootings in American 

history, ending a year of violence that saw similar tragedies around the country.

Working with its colleagues around the globe, the FBI is committed to taking a leadership role in protecting the nation. 

As you can see from this book—an annual compilation of stories from the FBI’s public website that provides a snapshot of 

Bureau milestones, activities, and accomplishments—we used the full range of our intelligence, investigative, and operational skills to address major threats during the year. We helped avert terrorist attacks and derail terrorist supporters, put 

cyber criminals and fraudsters behind bars, and dismantled violent gangs and organized crime groups.

Today, as these pages make clear, protecting our country and our communities is truly a team effort. National security 

and law enforcement organizations are working together more closely than ever. At the same time, Americans from all 

walks of life can and do make a difference in solving and preventing crime and terrorism. Businesses can become aware of 

the warning signs of insider economic espionage (page 39). Community leaders can learn about such scourges as human 

trafficking (page 6). Consumers can get wise to online scams like the Reveton virus (page 66). Teachers can educate their 

students about cyber safety through our new Safe Online Surfing website (page 85). And citizens can contact us with tips 

and leads in our investigations, such as our search for a college student’s killer (page 50). 

I want to thank all of you for your support and leadership, which is so vital to the success of the FBI. And I wish you all 

the best in the months and years ahead.

Director Mueller at the U.S. Embassy in Estonia during a trip in early 2012 to strengthen partnerships in Northern Europe. 

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy.
2012 The FBI Story 1

Overcoming the 

Language Barrier

Translation Center at the

Ready to Assist U.S. Intelligence

January 3, 2012

At the National Virtual Translation Center’s offices 

near FBI Headquarters in Washington, it feels like a 

mini United Nations, with linguists working in Chinese, 

Arabic, and other languages. The real global reach of 

the organization, however, is not its brick and mortar 

presence but rather the virtual capability reflected in its 

name.

Language specialists around the country—some 

working in secure government locations and others 

working from their homes—translate a variety of 

foreign-language material that aids the U.S. intelligence community and helps protect national security.

Established by Congress in 2003 with the FBI as its 

executive agency, the center—known by its NVTC 

acronym—is a collaborative government organization in 

the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, but it 

functions more like a nimble private-sector company that 

can staff up to respond to its customers’ immediate needs.

Linguists working part time and full time on a 

contract basis may be called on to translate a variety of 

material—such as a 500-page technical document, an 

audio cassette, or a propaganda pamphlet—in any of 100 

different languages or dialects.

All NVTC linguists are U.S. citizens who have passed 

a thorough background investigation conducted by the 

FBI, and they come from all walks of life. They include 

students, business professionals, and even stay-at-home 

moms. Often, English is not their first language.

“We are an elastic workforce,” said NVTC Director Mary 

Ellen Okurowski, explaining that the center operates on a 

fee-for-service business model. “We support our customers 

in the U.S. intelligence community on their terms,” she 

said. “So we have to provide quality work on time or they 

will simply not come to us.”

Like many members of the intelligence community, 

the FBI relies on its own linguists for much of the 

organization’s translation needs. But when the Bureau 

or another agency is faced with too much raw material 

and too little time to translate it—or it needs language 

expertise it does not possess—NVTC gets the call.

The center’s linguists rarely know the agency they are 

translating for or the reason for the translation request. 

Doug Kouril, the center’s director of operations, noted 

that although NVTC language specialists may offer 

cultural perspectives with their translations—which 

can have a bearing on meaning—they do not collect or 

provide analysis.

During the past several years, the demand for NVTC’s 

expertise has increased significantly, according to the 

FBI’s Pamela Hobson, the center’s director of administration. In fiscal year 2010, for example, NVTC linguists 

translated nearly 209,000 pages and more than 1,000 

hours of audio material, doubling output from the 

previous year.

Customers can efficiently request work directly from 

NVTC’s website, and the center’s sophisticated quality 

control program monitors the work at every step of the 

way. “Our potential for growth is strong,” Hobson added, 

“because we are always there when our customers need 

us.”

“NVTC is a living model of inter-agency collaboration,” 

Okurowski said. “We look forward to continuing to 

provide a high level of service to our customers. Our goal 

is to make NVTC an indispensable resource for the intelligence community.”
2 2012 The FBI Story

After the perpetrators access your account, they conduct 

what’s called a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, 

attack using a botnet, which involves multiple computers 

flooding the financial institution’s server with traffic in 

an effort to deny legitimate users access to the site—

probably in an attempt to deflect attention from what the 

bad guys are doing.

But that’s not the end of the scheme: Recent investigations have shown that some of the funds stolen from bank 

accounts go towards the purchase of precious stones and 

expensive watches from high-end jewelry stores. The 

criminals contact these jewelry stores, tell them what 

they’d like to buy, and promise they will wire the money 

the next day. So the next day, a person involved in the 

money laundering aspect of the crime—called a “money 

mule”—comes into the store to pick up the merchandise. 

After verifying that the money is in the store’s account, 

the jewelry is turned over to the mule, who then gives the 

items to the organizers of the scheme or converts them 

to cash and uses money transfer services to launder the 

funds.

In many cases, these money mules are willing participants 

in the criminal scheme. But increasingly, as part of this 

scheme, we see a rising number of unsuspecting mules 

hired via “work-at-home” advertisements who end up 

laundering some of the funds stolen from bank accounts. 

The criminals e-mail prospective candidates claiming to 

have seen their résumés on job websites and offer them a 

job. The hired employees are provided long and seemingly 

legitimate work contracts and actual websites to log into. 

They’re instructed to either open a bank account or use 

their own bank account in order to receive funds via wire 

and ACH transactions from numerous banks...and then 

use money remitting services to send the money overseas.

If you think you’ve been victimized by this type of 

scheme, contact your financial institution to report it, and 

file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint 

Center at www.ic3.gov.

Cyber criminals have found yet another way to steal 

your hard-earned money: a recent phishing scheme 

involves spam e-mails—purportedly from the National 

Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), the 

Federal Reserve Bank, or the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (FDIC)—that can infect recipients’ computers with malware and allow access to their bank accounts.

The malware is appropriately called “Gameover” because 

once it’s on your computer, it can steal usernames and 

passwords and defeat common methods of user authentication employed by financial institutions. And once the 

crooks get into your bank account, it’s definitely “game 

over.”

Gameover is a newer variant of the Zeus malware, which 

was created several years ago and specifically targeted 

banking information.

How the scheme works: Typically, you receive an unsolicited e-mail from NACHA, the Federal Reserve, or the 

FDIC telling you that there’s a problem with your bank 

account or a recent ACH transaction. (ACH stands for 

Automated Clearing House, a network for a wide variety 

of financial transactions in the United States.) The 

sender includes a link in the e-mail that will supposedly 

help you resolve whatever the issue is. Unfortunately, the 

link goes to a phony website, and once you’re there, you 

inadvertently download the Gameover malware, which 

promptly infects your computer and steals your banking 

information.

Malware Targets 

Bank Accounts

‘Gameover’ Delivered via

Phishing E-Mails

January 6, 2012
2012 The FBI Story 3

teams made up the fourth group, fraudulently inflating 

credit scores to help open the bank and credit accounts.

The buildup teams would take one of the stolen Social 

Security numbers—and the Chinese identity attached 

to it—and add that person’s name as an authorized user 

to other co-conspirators’ credit card accounts. These coconspirators, who knew their accounts were being used to 

commit fraud, received a fee for their service.

After the credit buildup was completed, the Park criminal 

enterprise conspired with its customers to use the fraudulent identities to apply for checking accounts, bank and 

retail credit cards, debit cards, lines of credit, and loans. 

Members of the criminal conspiracy used their sizeable 

proceeds to live large, buying such luxury items as fancy 

cars, expensive liquor, and designer shoes.

The multi-agency investigation made use of cooperating witnesses and an undercover federal agent, as well 

as court-authorized wiretaps, to record incriminating 

conversations among members of the crime ring and 

others. The FBI partnered with several federal agencies 

and local police departments in New Jersey, among 

others. We also worked cooperatively with the major 

banks, credit card companies, and department stores 

targeted by this criminal organization.

They hijacked identities on the other side of the globe...

faked drivers’ licenses and other documents...built bogus 

credit histories and boosted the scores in clever ways...

then used it all to open bank accounts and credit lines 

they could loot at will.

In the end, they created what our Newark Special Agent 

in Charge Mike Ward called a “crime superstore”—a 

sophisticated way to rob financial institutions, retailers, 

car leasing companies, and even the IRS out of millions 

of dollars.

Following an undercover investigation led by the 

FBI and its partners, it all came crashing down in 

September 2010, when 43 members of the criminal 

ring were charged in this complex scheme. Another 10 

individuals were charged for various related offenses at 

the same time during a coordinated takedown. And on 

Monday, the leader of the band of thieves—San-Hyun 

Park, known to his criminal colleagues as “Jimmy”—pled 

guilty in federal court in Newark.

The Park criminal enterprise started by stealing Social 

Security numbers from unsuspecting individuals—usually 

from China—who were employed in American territories 

in Asia like Saipan, Guam, and the Philippines. These 

identities were then sold to customers in the U.S. for 

$5,000 to $7,000. Although the stolen identities were 

Chinese, the vast majority of Park’s customers were 

Korean-Americans. The ring would use the phony Social 

Security numbers to obtain authentic driver’s licenses, 

identification cards, and other identity documents from 

various states...or manufacture counterfeit licenses and 

other documentation.

Based in Bergen County, New Jersey, Park’s organization was subdivided into different cells, each with a 

unique role. First, there were the customers who paid 

Park and his co-conspirators for fake identity documents. 

Then, there were the brokers, suppliers, and manufacturers of the phony identity documents—like Social Security 

cards, immigration documents, and driver’s licenses. A 

third group included merchants who colluded with the 

organization by knowingly swiping phony credit cards in 

return for a fee called a kkang. The credit card buildup 

Closing a ‘Crime 

Superstore’

Not-So Garden Variety

Fraud in the Garden State

January 10, 2012
4 2012 The FBI Story

Left: On January 17, 2011, as hundreds of people gathered in downtown Spokane to participate in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Unity 

March, Kevin Harpham placed a backpack bomb (inset) along the 

parade route on Main Avenue. The graphic shows the likely direction 

of the blast had the bomb detonated.

January 13, 2012

MLK Parade Bomber

Horrific Hate Crime 

Prevented; Case Solved

Had his homemade bomb gone off—one he had diabolically constructed using shrapnel coated with a substance 

meant to keep blood from clotting in wounds—Kevin 

Harpham would have undoubtedly caused the death and 

injury of many people at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 

Unity March in Spokane, Washington in 2011.

Instead, Harpham was eventually caught and recently 

sentenced to 32 years in prison for a hate crime and other 

offenses related to the attempted bombing. The case 

illustrates how a quick response by citizens and local law 

enforcement averted a tragedy and how teamwork and 

time-tested investigative techniques led to the apprehension of an individual who has shown no remorse for his 

actions.

“Clearly he intended to detonate the device, cause 

mass carnage, and then survey the devastation,” said 

Special Agent Frank Harrill, who supervised the 

investigation. “Harpham was acting out against what 

he termed multiculturalism, but his hatred was firmly 

rooted in violent white supremacy. This was a prototypical hate crime.”

On January 17, 2011, as hundreds of people gathered 

in downtown Spokane to participate in the march, 

Harpham placed his backpack bomb along the parade 

route at Washington Street and Main Avenue. Alert city 

workers discovered the suspicious backpack before the 

march started, and Spokane Police Department officials 

changed the route as a precaution. The Spokane Police 

and Sheriff’s Office bomb squad was called in, and their 

precision in disarming the device enabled evidence to be 

preserved that would help lead FBI agents to Harpham.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Spokane 

immediately began an investigation, and JTTF members 

canvassed the region for batteries and other components 

similar to those used in the bomb. Within a month, in a 

small town about 60 miles north of Spokane, they discovered that a local outlet of a large retail chain was selling 

the same kind of fishing weights Harpham had used as 

shrapnel.

Store records showed there had been three large purchases of the weights in recent months—two were paid 

for in cash, but a debit card was used in one transaction, 

and it belonged to Harpham. At the same time, the FBI 

Laboratory had been working to extract a DNA sample 

from the backpack that was later matched to Harpham 

through his military records.

Investigators also learned of Harpham’s white supremacy postings on the Internet and his affiliation with a 

neo-Nazi group called the National Alliance.

Because he lived in a remote, relatively inaccessible area 

and was likely heavily armed, our Hostage Rescue Team 

devised a ruse to lure Harpham out of his house. He was 

arrested March 9, 2011 without incident—but as agents 

suspected, he was armed when taken into custody.

“Kevin Harpham was the lone wolf that all of us in law 

enforcement dread,” Harrill said. “He lived alone, he 

worked alone, and he didn’t foreshadow the bombing 

plot in any meaningful way. He targeted those who were 

attempting to celebrate an event meant to unite society,” 

Harrill added, “and he was prepared to indiscriminately 

kill men, women, and children.”

Harrill credited teamwork and strong partnerships for 

stopping Harpham and bringing him to justice. “From 

the workers who noticed the device to the police 

response, the JTTF investigation, the expertise of the 

FBI Laboratory, and the prosecuting skill of the U.S. 

Attorney’s office—everything worked just as it should 

have.”
2012 The FBI Story 5

January 17, 2012

Surveillance video from a store visited by the victim revealed a grainy 

Indiana license plate, which fusion center and FBI analysts ultimately 

linked to a vehicle rented by the suspect.

A Mother’s Worst 

Nightmare

Fusion Center Key in Rescue of

Abducted Infant

On a September evening in 2009, a woman answered a 

knock at her Nashville, Tennessee door from someone 

claiming to be an immigration agent. A short time later, 

when police responded to a 911 call from the residence, 

they found the woman beaten and stabbed—and her 

4-day-old son abducted.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) 

requested assistance from the FBI and the Tennessee 

Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and a command post was 

established at TBI’s Tennessee Fusion Center, where

investigators from all three agencies began working 

around the clock to locate the missing infant.

“There was a tremendous sense of urgency about 

the case,” said Special Agent Eric Brown, who works 

in the FBI’s Nashville Resident Agency out of the 

Memphis Field Office. “Everyone feared for the life of 

the child.”

Initially, all that investigators had to go on was the 

mother’s description of the kidnapper, who had seriously 

injured her during the attack and abduction. While 

fusion center personnel began responding to AMBER 

Alert tips coming in from around the country, Brown 

and others learned from the victim that she had visited a 

food assistance center and stopped at a local big-box store 

before returning home on the day of the kidnapping.

MNPD detectives immediately requested and received 

surveillance video from the store. “In the parking lot 

video, we could see that a car appeared to be mimicking 

the movements of the car the victim was in,” Brown said. 

“When her car pulled in, the other car pulled in. When 

she pulled out, the other car pulled out and followed.”

The video also revealed a partial, grainy license plate 

image that was sent to a lab for enhancement. Because 

of the urgency of the case, the lab work that might have 

taken days to complete took only hours—and it showed a 

more complete tag number as well as a state: Indiana.

Fusion center and FBI analysts worked to narrow the 

possibilities and eventually came up with a vehicle 

owned by a rental car company. At the company’s 

airport rental counter, surveillance video showed that the 

woman who rented the car in question fit the description 

of the kidnapper. The car company also provided credit 

card and contact information for the renter, Tammy Silas, 

who lived just across the Tennessee line in Alabama.

Silas’ credit card transactions put her close to the victim’s 

house at the time of the abduction. Investigators also 

obtained bank surveillance video showing her withdrawing money from a nearby ATM—and a baby car seat 

could clearly be seen next to her in the passenger seat.

The kidnapping took place on a Tuesday evening, 

when Silas knocked on the victim’s door pretending to be an immigration official. That Friday night, 

investigators knocked on Silas’ door in Alabama, 

arrested her, and recovered the baby—now 6 days 

old—unharmed.

“Tammy Silas had a desire to have a baby,” Brown said, 

“and she went to great lengths to obtain one, even if it 

meant kidnapping and assaulting the mother.” Silas pled 

guilty to kidnapping last February and is currently serving 

a 20-year prison sentence.

“We were able to solve this case so quickly because all 

the agencies involved worked together and brought their 

own expertise to the investigation,” said Sgt. Daniel 

Postiglione, a veteran MNPD investigator. “We were all 

very thankful to get the baby back to his mother in so 

short a period of time.”
6 2012 The FBI Story

January 20, 2012

Human Trafficking 

Prevention

Help Us Identify Potential Victims

For the young Ukrainians, it was a dream come true—the 

promise of well-paying jobs and free room and board in 

the United States. Once they arrived, however, it quickly 

turned into a nightmare. They were forced to endure 

16-plus hour workdays, usually with no pay. Their living 

conditions were wretched, with up to 10 workers in oftenunfurnished apartments or row houses. And they faced 

intimidation, threats of physical harm, or actual violence 

to keep them in line.

Members of the criminal enterprise responsible for these 

workers’ misery were ultimately identified and charged in 

a conspiracy to operate a human trafficking scheme. But, 

as we observe National Slavery and Human Trafficking 

Prevention Month, we’re reminded that there are still 

thousands of victims in the U.S.—and millions worldwide—being forced into both legal and illegal activities.

Human trafficking generates billions of dollars of 

profit each year, making it one of the world’s fastest 

growing criminal activities. The FBI investigates it as a 

priority under our civil rights program, but we see human 

trafficking activities in other areas as well, including 

organized crime, crimes against children, and gangs.

To address the threat, we work cases with our local, 

state, federal, and international partners and participate 

in approximately 70 multi-agency human trafficking 

task forces. We also offer our counterparts—as well as 

non-governmental organizations, including non-profits—

human trafficking awareness training. And to help get 

a better handle on the issue within the U.S., the FBI’s 

Uniform Crime Reporting program plans to start collecting human trafficking data from law enforcement in 2013.

Many of our human trafficking cases are based on information from our partners and from criminal sources, but 

we also can and do receive tips from the public.

That’s where you come in. Please keep your eyes out 

for the following indicators that suggest the possibility of 

human trafficking:

▪ Individuals who have no contact with friends or 

family and no access to identification documents, 

bank accounts, or cash;

▪ Workplaces where psychological manipulation and 

control are used;

▪ Homes or apartments with inhumane living conditions;

▪ People whose communications and movements are 

always monitored or who have moved or rotated 

through multiple locations in a short amount of time;

▪ Places where locks and fences are positioned to 

confine occupants; and

▪ Workers who have excessively long and unusual 

hours, are unpaid or paid very little, are unable take 

breaks or days off and have unusual work restrictions, 

and/or have unexplained work injuries or signs of 

untreated illness or disease.

Bear in mind: human trafficking victims can be found in 

many job locations and industries—including factories, 

restaurants, elder care facilities, hotels, housekeeping, 

child-rearing, agriculture, construction and landscaping, 

food processing, meat-packing, cleaning services...as well 

as the commercial sex industry.

Here’s one more thing to consider: while the majority 

of human trafficking victims in our cases are from other 

countries and may speak little or no English, approximately 33 percent of victims are Americans. They come 

from a variety of groups that are vulnerable to coercive 

tactics—like minors, certain immigrant populations, the 

homeless, substance abusers, the mentally challenged 

and/or minimally educated, and those who come from 

cultures that historically distrust law enforcement or who 

have little or no experience with the legal system.

If you suspect human trafficking activities, do us and the 

victims a big favor: call the National Human Trafficking 

Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or submit a tip at 

https://tips.fbi.gov.
2012 The FBI Story 7

January 24, 2012

A Byte Out of History

Closing in on the

Barker/Karpis Gang

The Barkers were heavily armed at a cottage near Lake Weir, Florida, 

where they engaged in a shootout with Bureau agents in 1935. The 

weapons above were seized following the gunfight.

In January 1935—77 years ago this month—more than 

a dozen Bureau agents surrounded a quaint two-story 

home on Lake Weir, Florida. Within moments, a fierce 

shoot-out erupted. It didn’t go well for the heavily armed 

criminals inside.

For the Bureau of Investigation—just six months away 

from being renamed the FBI—the firefight was a continuation of a busy year of battling gangsters. In 1934, 

notorious public enemies like John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” 

Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson had fallen at the hands 

of Bureau agents. Heading into 1935, the top priority was 

to put a dangerous gang—led by the wily Alvin “Creepy” 

Karpis and a pair of Barker brothers—out of business.

The gang got the Bureau’s attention through two highprofile kidnappings. The second targeted a wealthy 

banker named Edward George Bremer, Jr., who was 

snatched in St. Paul, Minnesota on January 17, 1934. 

Bremer was released three weeks later after his family 

paid $200,000 in ransom. Although he couldn’t identify 

the culprits, Bremer provided many clues. A key break 

came when the fingerprint of Arthur “Doc” or “Dock” 

Barker, a known criminal, turned up on an empty gas 

can found by a local police officer along the kidnapping 

route. Soon, a number of Barker’s confederates—including his brother Fred, Karpis, Harry Campbell, Fred Goetz, 

Russell Gibson, Volney Davis, and others—were linked to 

the crime.

The hunt was on, but the gang had a head start. They 

had split up and begun crisscrossing the country—with 

some even fleeing to Cuba. Three went as far as to 

undergo back-room plastic surgeries to conceal their 

fingerprints and identities. Others passed the ransom loot 

back and forth and looked for ways to launder the bills.

In late September, Fred Barker and Campbell registered 

under fake names at the El Commodore Hotel in Miami. 

Joining them was Fred’s mother—Kate “Ma” Barker, who 

was known to help her criminal sons. When Fred asked 

for a quiet place to live, the hotel manager told him of a 

friend’s cottage for rent on the nearby Lake Weir. The 

Barkers moved there in November.

In December, Doc Barker was tracked by Bureau 

investigators to a home in Chicago. On January 8, Doc 

was arrested without incident. Later that night, several

associates of Russell Gibson were also apprehended. 

Heavily armed and wearing a bullet-proof vest, Gibson 

tried to fight it out but was mortally wounded. Searching 

the apartment, agents found powerful firearms and loads 

of ammunition. And, tellingly, a map of Florida—with 

Lake Weir circled. Agents soon located the cottage 

hideout.

Shortly after 5 a.m. on January 16, 1935, a group of agents 

led by Earl Connelly surrounded the house and demanded 

the Barkers’ surrender. No response. They waited 15 

minutes and called again. Again, no answer. Following 

another call for surrender and more silence, agents shot 

some tear gas grenades at the windows of the house. 

Someone in the house shouted, “All right, go ahead,” 

then machine-gun fire blasted from the upstairs window.

The agents responded with volleys of their own; more 

gunfire erupted from the house. Over the next hour, 

intermittent shots came from the home, and agents 

returned fire. By 10:30 a.m., all firing had stopped. Both 

Ma and Fred, it was soon learned, were dead.

The Barkers were history, but the cunning Karpis was 

still on the loose. How we caught up with him is another 

story that we’ll tell in the coming months.
8 2012 The FBI Story

January 27, 2012

Cargo Theft

How a Memphis Task Force 

Combats a Costly Problem

own specialty, from the break-in artist who can steal a rig 

in seconds to professional drivers, surveillance experts, 

and the guys who know how to defeat the specialized 

devices that lock trailers carrying extremely valuable 

loads. “This is their business,” Clark said. “And they are 

good at it.”

Crew leaders know where to find willing buyers, too—

from small mom and pop stores who don’t ask questions 

when they buy at prices below wholesale to online 

merchants who may or may not know they are purchasing 

stolen goods.

Although many crews target specific cargo such as electronics and pharmaceuticals—always in demand and easy 

to sell—other thieves steal whatever they can get their 

hands on. Straube and his team have recovered stolen 

trailers full of dog food, hair dryers, lawn mower engines, 

and even Popsicles.

“When you talk about the victims of cargo theft,” 

Straube explained, “beyond the trucking companies 

and manufacturers, you have to include all consumers. Because when these items are stolen, it eventually 

drives up the cost of merchandise for everybody.”

Cargo theft is also a “gateway” crime, said Special 

Agent Eric Ives, a program manager in our Criminal 

Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters who coordinates major theft investigations from a national perspective. “Groups that do these crimes are often funding 

other illegal activities, like buying drugs or weapons. And 

compared to many crimes,” Ives added, “cargo theft is 

highly profitable and not particularly dangerous.”

Conrad agreed, adding that thieves often rob warehouses 

on a Friday night, and by the time the crime is discovered 

and reported Monday morning, the stolen merchandise 

may already be on a store shelf or auctioned online.

That’s why our task forces—comprised of local, state, 

and federal law enforcement—and our partnerships with 

private industry are critical in the fight against these 

costly crimes, Ives said. “Cargo theft is a sophisticated 

and organized enterprise,” he added, “and we take this 

threat very seriously.”

After many hours on the road, the long-haul driver pulled 

his tractor-trailer into a Tennessee truck stop for a break 

and a hot meal. But by the time he looked over the menu, 

a crew of professional thieves had made off with his rig 

and all its contents.

Cargo theft is a multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise 

in the U.S., and the FBI has seven task forces located 

around the country to combat the problem. In the 

Memphis region, according to Special Agent Conrad 

Straube, coordinator of the Memphis Cargo Theft Task 

Force, “there is an average of one cargo theft every day of 

the year.”

Memphis—located along major interstate highways and 

home to a variety of product distribution centers—is a 

hot spot for cargo theft. The thieves steal trucks with 

trailers or just the trailers and their contents. Often, 

goods are stolen from distribution center warehouses or 

even from moving rail cars.

On a recent day, Straube and his task force partners from 

the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County 

Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals Service were on 

the road, following up on leads at truck stops and other 

locations in and around Memphis. The task force is 

busy—and successful. From January 2011 to the end of 

September, it recovered more than $1.5 million in stolen 

cargo and vehicles.

Task force member Barry Clark, a detective with the 

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, explained that some of 

the theft crews are so organized that each member has his 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
2012 The FBI Story 9

January 31, 2012

Investigating 

Insurance Fraud

A $30-Billion-a-Year Racket

▪ Premium and asset diversion, which happens when 

insurance agents, brokers, and even insurance 

company executives steal insurance premiums 

submitted by policyholders and sometimes plunder 

company financial assets for their own personal use;

▪ Viatical fraud (a “viatical” settlement is one where 

an investor buys the right to receive the benefit of a 

terminally ill or elderly person’s life insurance policy);

▪ Staged auto accidents;

▪ Bodily injury fraud; and

▪ Property insurance fraud.

Who commits insurance fraud? In most cases it’s 

dishonest policyholders, insurance industry insiders (i.e., 

agents, brokers, company execs), and loosely organized 

networks of crooked medical professionals and attorneys 

who use their knowledge to bypass anti-fraud measures 

put in place by insurance companies.

How we investigate it. Like many other white-collar 

crime investigations, insurance fraud is mostly about following the money trail—which often involves questioning 

victims and victim companies, reviewing financial documents, and using sensitive techniques like sources and 

cooperating witnesses.

We also use our intelligence capabilities to keep our 

finger on the pulse of emerging trends—for example, as 

more insurance companies conduct business online, we 

fully expect to see a rise in the theft of policyholders’ 

identities and in cyber-based insurance scams. We will 

keep you posted.

Putting the brakes on major white-collar frauds of all 

kinds is one of our most important responsibilities, and 

there is no shortage of work these days for the FBI and its 

partners.

Our corporate and securities fraud cases, for example, 

resulted in more than 600 convictions last year—including a number of high-level executives—and more than 

$23 billion in recoveries, fines, and restitutions over the 

past three years. Our mortgage fraud efforts continue to 

pinpoint the most egregious offenders; approximately 70 

percent of our 3,000 pending mortgage fraud investigations involve losses of more than $1 million. There are 

also plenty of cases involving health care fraud, bankruptcy fraud, credit card fraud, mass marketing fraud, and 

various wire and mail fraud schemes.

Insurance fraud—non-health care-related fraud 

involving casualty, property, disability, and life insurance—is another financial crime that falls under 

FBI jurisdiction. The U.S. insurance industry consists 

of thousands of companies that collect more than 

$1.1 trillion in premiums each year, according to the 

Insurance Information Institute, and the estimated cost 

of fraud is approximately $30 billion a year. Most of this 

expense is passed on to consumers in the form of higher 

insurance premiums, to the tune of about $200 to $300 

a year per family, according to the National Insurance 

Crime Bureau. Not to mention the number of insurance 

companies that go under because of excessive claims and/

or the looting of company assets.

There are many capable private and government investigative and regulatory entities at the national and state 

level that look into insurance fraud, so the FBI directs its 

resources toward identifying the most prevalent schemes 

and the top-echelon criminals and criminal organizations 

who commit the fraud. But even when conducting our 

own investigations, we often work closely with private 

fraud associations, state fraud bureaus, state insurance 

regulators, and other federal agencies.

The FBI currently focuses on the following schemes:

▪ Disaster-related fraud, which became such a problem 

after Hurricane Katrina that a special task force 

was created to address it (and evolved into today’s 

National Center for Disaster Fraud);
10 2012 The FBI Story

February 3, 2012

Protecting Civil Rights

Part 1: Memphis Agent 

Seeks Justice for Victims

“I don’t think it’s by happenstance or coincidence that 

our district often leads the nation in civil rights prosecutions,” Stanton said. “We couldn’t do that without our 

partners from the FBI. At the end of the day, pursuing 

justice remains the bottom-line goal for both agencies. 

Our prosecutors and their FBI colleagues have a special 

bond and a dedication to these cases.”

That special bond is due in part to the unique nature 

of civil rights cases, said Assistant United States 

Attorney Steve Parker, who heads the civil rights unit 

in Memphis.

In many federal criminal investigations, agents bring a 

fully investigated case to a prosecutor for trial. Civil rights 

cases are different, Parker said, because they rely more 

on grand juries to gather information. “Witnesses in civil 

rights cases don’t come forward on their own because 

they are usually close associates or friends of the defendants,” he explained. “It takes the leverage of the grand 

jury and the expertise of the investigators and prosecutors 

working together to successfully deal with these cases.”

Parker added, “I work 90 percent cases of my cases with 

the FBI’s civil rights squad. We do interviews together 

and go to grand juries together—we work together very 

closely just about every day.”

Agent Harris acknowledged that civil rights cases can be 

emotionally difficult and can take years to resolve. “You 

deal with that by taking them one case at a time and one 

prosecution at a time,” she said. “And you are gratified 

when the bad guys go to jail and the victims and their 

families get some measure of justice.”

One such difficult case that Harris and prosecutors are 

especially proud of involved the murder of a 46-year-old 

Memphis code enforcement officer and father of five 

named Mickey Wright. His killer, Harris said, “took 

Mickey’s life just because he was black.”

Part 2: Bringing Mickey Wright’s murderer to justice

(page 11)

Special Agent Tracey Harris is a 13-year veteran of the 

FBI who specializes in civil rights cases such as hate 

crimes and human trafficking. But it’s not just her job—

it’s her passion.

When she transferred back to her native Memphis, 

Tennessee in 2003 and landed on the civil rights squad, it 

was not her top choice—that is, until her first case, which 

involved a police officer who raped a 12-year-old girl in 

his squad car while he was on duty.

“That’s when I realized that somebody has to do these 

cases,” Harris said. “Many civil rights victims represent 

the social ills of the world,” she explained. “They may be 

prostitutes, victims of human trafficking, or individuals 

abused by police. These are not generally people who 

have strong family ties or come from stable homes. They 

often have no voice. It’s our job,” Harris said, “to give 

them a voice. Somebody has to speak for these victims.”

Harris works closely with the agents on her squad and 

with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District 

of Tennessee, which is one of the nation’s leading prosecutors of federal civil rights cases.

“This community has a legacy of being on the front 

lines of civil rights issues,” said Edward Stanton, III, 

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.

In February 2011, Stanton established a dedicated civil 

rights unit and announced the initiative at the National 

Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, located on the site 

where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was slain.
2012 The FBI Story 11

February 7, 2012

Protecting Civil Rights

Part 2: Closing a Memphis 

Murder Case

Two days after Mickey Wright went missing in 2001, his work identification badge and other personal items were found in a ditch about 

20 miles outside of Memphis.

During the FBI investigation, Harris said, a witness also 

implicated Mardis in another murder, to which he also 

pled guilty. Last July, 10 years after Mickey Wright’s 

murder, Mardis was sentenced to life in prison without 

the possibility of parole—and he finally admitted publicly 

to the hate crime he committed.

“It really meant a lot when we were able to get that guilty 

plea and life sentence,” said Assistant United States 

Attorney Jonathan Skrmetti, who prosecuted the case. 

“Mickey Wright’s family was there with us in the courtroom, and we were able to explain to them that this man 

would never again be out on the streets.”

“This case was personally very rewarding,” Harris added, 

“but more importantly, it was good for the community. 

People were angered by this case, and—together with the 

U.S. Attorney’s Office—we helped restore the public’s 

faith in the criminal justice system. That’s a very good 

feeling.”

Mickey Wright, a 46-year-old devoted father of five, 

was a code enforcement officer for the city of Memphis, 

Tennessee. “One day he went to work,” said Special 

Agent Tracey Harris, “and he never came home.”

During a routine stop at an auto repair business in 

2001, Wright was murdered—“just because he was 

black,” Harris said.

The Mickey Wright case outraged the Memphis community and illustrates not only how emotionally charged civil 

rights cases can be, said Harris, but how difficult they are 

to investigate and prosecute.

Wright went missing on April 17, 2001. Two days later, 

his work identification badge and other personal items 

were found in a ditch about 20 miles outside of Memphis. 

Ten days after his disappearance, Wright’s burned code 

enforcement truck was discovered in a Mississippi field.

Suspicion fell on Dale Mardis, a gun dealer who owned 

the property where the auto repair shop was located. But 

it would be three years after the killing before Mardis was 

charged by the state of Tennessee with second-degree 

murder. In 2007, he was allowed to plead no contest—

acknowledging that the state had enough evidence to 

convict him but not having to admit guilt in the murder. 

He began serving a 15-year sentence.

“This was a very public case,” Harris said, “and there was 

a public outcry when Mardis entered his plea and only 

got 15 years. Mickey Wright’s body was still missing, and 

many believed this was a hate crime—a far more serious 

offense than the second-degree murder charge.”

On behalf of Wright’s family, a local official asked the 

FBI to investigate the case as a civil rights matter. With 

Mardis in jail, some of the witnesses who had earlier 

perjured themselves during the state proceedings felt 

more comfortable telling the truth, Harris said. “And we 

located new witnesses whom Mardis had told about the 

crime.” 

In 2008, federal prosecutors charged Mardis with the 

racially motivated killing of Wright. That April day 

when Wright stopped at the auto repair shop, Mardis 

became incensed and shot him. Federal prosecutors said 

Mardis often fought with code enforcement inspectors, 

especially if they were black. Mardis later admitted to 

burning the body with diesel fuel in a 55-gallon drum.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
12 2012 The FBI Story

February 10, 2012

Cyber Alerts for 

Parents & Kids

Tip #2: Beware of ‘Sextortion’

software because the e-mails and messages appeared to 

come from trusted sources.

Connolly and Dickerson, both in prison now, victimized more than 3,800 kids through this “sextortion” 

technique that preyed on kids’ innocence about the 

Internet and their fear of being exposed to their 

friends and family.

“Oftentimes children are embarrassed, especially thinking 

they have somehow contributed to their victimization,” 

said Savage, who now helps lead the Strategic Outreach 

and Initiative Section in the Cyber Division. “So fearing 

they will get in trouble if they report it, they will continue 

with the victimization and send individuals what they are 

requesting. What often happens is the victimization never 

stops.”

In this case, some girls were terrorized over a span 

of as many as seven years. Some attempted suicide. 

One dropped out of high school because she was always 

looking over her shoulder.

To uncover the scheme, the FBI cloned one of the 

victim’s computers and carried on a two-year undercover 

correspondence with the hacker, who turned out to be 

Connolly—a British citizen who was at times in Saudi 

Arabia and Iraq, where he worked as a military contractor 

and evidently carried out parts of his extortion scheme. 

The trail also led to North Carolina, where Dickerson 

was amassing a huge portfolio of pictures and videos and 

secretly recording the webcams of compromised computers. Dickerson was found to have about 230 gigabytes of 

material; Connolly had four times that. Dickerson was 

sentenced in 2007 to 110 years in prison. Three years 

later, Connolly was sentenced to 30 years.

Savage says locking up the hackers was one of the most 

rewarding moments in his career. But he knows there are 

more victims, some who may not know their tormentors 

are off the streets.

“The thing was, a lot of these kids are just some folder 

somewhere,” Savage said, illustrating the cold nature of 

the crimes and punctuating that once material is posted 

online, it’s out there for all to see. “No name. Just pictures 

and videos in a folder. I know that there are so many 

more victims out there that are wondering, ‘What ever 

happened to those guys?’ or, ‘Do I still need to be afraid?’”

This story is the second in an occasional series aimed at

providing practical web advice and tips for parents and 

their kids. For tip #1, visit www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/

december/cyber_122211.

At the beginning of her summer break in June 2005, a 

15-year-old Florida girl logged onto her computer and 

received a startling instant message. The sender, whom 

the girl didn’t know, said he had seen her photo online 

and that he wanted her to send him pictures—of her 

in the shower. When the girl didn’t comply, the sender 

showed he knew where she lived and threatened to hurt 

the girl’s sister if she didn’t agree to his demands.

Worried and hoping to avoid alarming her parents, the 

girl sent 10 black-and-white images. When her harasser 

said they weren’t good enough, she sent 10 more, nude 

and in color. Then he wanted more.

“Once these individuals have pictures, they want 

more,” said Special Agent Nickolas B. Savage, who 

interviewed the girl after she and her mother contacted 

authorities. “They are then able to say, ‘I want you to 

do x, y, and z. And if you don’t, I’m going to take these 

photographs and I’m going to send them to people in your 

school. I’ll send them to your family.’”

Savage, who at the time managed the Innocent Images 

National Initiative Task Force in the FBI’s Orlando office, 

spent the better part of the next four years chasing the 

phantoms that had hacked the 15-year-old’s computer. 

The winding path eventually led to two assailants—

Patrick Connolly and Ivory Dickerson—who jointly terrorized adolescent girls by compromising their computers, 

demanding sexual photos or videos, and scouring their 

social networks. The pair also reached out to the girls’ 

friends—who were duped into downloading malicious 
2012 The FBI Story 13

February 14, 2012

Looking for Love?

Beware of Online Dating Scams

So you send money...but rest assured the requests won’t 

stop there. There will be more hardships that only you 

can help alleviate with your financial gifts. He may also 

send you checks to cash since he’s out of the country and 

can’t cash them himself, or he may ask you to forward 

him a package.

Millions of Americans visit online dating websites every 

year hoping to find a companion or even a soul mate.

But today, on Valentine’s Day, we want to warn you that 

criminals use these sites, too, looking to turn the lonely 

and vulnerable into fast money through a variety of 

scams.

These criminals—who also troll social media sites and 

chat rooms in search of romantic victims—usually claim 

to be Americans traveling or working abroad. In reality, 

they often live overseas. Their most common targets 

are women over 40 who are divorced, widowed, and/or 

disabled, but every age group and demographic is at risk.

Here’s how the scam usually works. You’re contacted 

online by someone who appears interested in you. He or 

she may have a profile you can read or a picture that is 

e-mailed to you. For weeks, even months, you may chat 

back and forth with one another, forming a connection. 

You may even be sent flowers or other gifts. But ultimately, it’s going to happen—your new-found “friend” is going 

to ask you for money.

Recognizing an Online Dating Scam Artist

Your online “date” may only be interested in your money if he or she:

- Presses you to leave the dating website you met through and to 

communicate using personal e-mail or instant messaging;

- Professes instant feelings of love;

- Sends you a photograph of himself or herself that looks like something from a glamour magazine;

- Claims to be from the U.S. and is traveling or working overseas;

- Makes plans to visit you but is then unable to do so because of a 

tragic event; or

- Asks for money for a variety of reasons (travel, medical emergencies, 

hotel bills, hospitals bills for a child or other relative, visas or other 

official documents, losses from a financial setback or crime victimization).

One way to steer clear of these criminals all together is to stick to 

online dating websites with nationally known reputations.

So what really happened? You were targeted by 

criminals, probably based on personal information you 

uploaded on dating or social media sites. The pictures 

you were sent were most likely phony, lifted from other 

websites. The profiles were fake as well, carefully crafted 

to match your interests.

In addition to losing your money to someone who had no 

intention of ever visiting you, you may also have unknowingly taken part in a money laundering scheme by cashing 

phony checks and sending the money overseas and by 

shipping stolen merchandise (the forwarded package).

While the FBI and other federal partners work some of 

these cases—in particular those with a large number of 

victims or large dollar losses and/or those involving organized criminal groups—many are investigated by local 

and state authorities.

We strongly recommend, however, that if you think 

you’ve been victimized by a dating scam or any other 

online scam, file a complaint with our Internet Crime 

Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. Before forwarding 

the complaints to the appropriate agencies, IC3 collates 

and analyzes the data—looking for common threads 

that could link complaints together and help identify the 

culprits. Which helps keep everyone safer on the Internet.

For specific tips on how to keep from being lured into an 

online dating scam, see the sidebar (left). Awareness is 

the best tool for preventing crime...and in this case, even 

for preventing a broken heart.
14 2012 The FBI Story

February 17, 2012

Trying to Sell That 

Timeshare?

Beware of Fraudsters

websites. These company representatives promised a quick 

sale, often within 60-90 days. Some victims reported 

that sales reps pressured them into a quick decision by 

claiming there was a buyer waiting in the wings, either 

on the other line or in the office. Timeshare owners 

who agreed to sell had to pay an upfront fee—anywhere 

from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars—to cover 

various costs such as advertising or closing fees. Many 

victims provided credit card numbers to cover the fees.

And then, as time went on and no sales were made, 

victims tried reaching back out to the companies, but 

their phone calls and e-mails went unanswered.

And to add insult to injury, some of the complainants 

reported being contacted by a timeshare fraud recovery 

company that promised assistance in recovering money 

lost in the sales scam...for a fee. IC3 has identified 

some instances where people involved with the recovery 

company have a connection to the resale company, 

raising the possibility that victims were being scammed 

twice by the same people.

What’s the FBI’s role in these kinds of cases? Many 

of these types of complaints are handled by each state’s 

attorney general’s office and local law enforcement. As in 

the above-mentioned Miami case, the FBI can become 

involved when there’s evidence that the fraud extends 

across state lines (usually wire or mail fraud on the part 

of the perpetrators) and/or involves a large number of 

victims, large dollar losses, and an organized criminal 

enterprise.

If you suspect you’ve been scammed, file a complaint 

with your state attorney general’s office and the IC3 

(www.ic3.gov). The IC3 not only collects complaints but 

also analyzes them, links similar complaints, and discerns 

patterns in order to help law enforcement identify the 

scammers.

Last October, after a joint FBI-Ft. Lauderdale Police 

Department investigation, 13 individuals from a Florida 

timeshare resale company were charged in federal court 

in Miami for their roles in a massive telemarketing 

scheme to defraud timeshare owners who were trying to 

sell. The Federal Trade Commission then filed a complaint against the defendants’ company—Timeshare Mega 

Media—to shut down its operations, which had allegedly 

bilked millions from owners across the country.

Fraudulent timeshare schemes are becoming a very 

real problem...especially in these economically challenging times as more timeshare owners decide they can no 

longer afford them. A timeshare involves joint ownership 

of a property—usually located within resorts in vacation 

hotspots (i.e., Florida, Colorado, Mexico). A property can 

have up to 52 owners—one for each week of the year—

although some timeshare owners purchase larger blocks 

of time. The property is usually managed by the resort in 

which it is located.

Earlier this year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint 

Center (IC3) issued an alert on timeshare telemarketing scams after seeing a significant increase in 

the number of complaints about these scams. The 

victims—mostly owners trying to sell—were scammed 

by criminals posing as representatives of timeshare resale 

companies or by actual employees of companies that were 

committing fraud.

In the IC3 complaints, perpetrators telephoned or 

e-mailed timeshare owners who, in many instances, had 

advertised their desire to sell in industry newsletters and 
2012 The FBI Story 15

On Guard Against WMD

Inside the Biological 

Countermeasures Unit, Part 1

February 21, 2012

Mr. You: They are essential. We have a joint criminalepidemiological investigation model, which is how law 

enforcement works together with public health entities to 

quickly assess an unusual disease outbreak to determine 

if it is naturally occurring or was started intentionally. 

The partnership is critical to ensure rapid sharing of 

information to guide the appropriate investigative steps 

and responses. All these efforts address the shared goal 

of protecting public health and safety—again, without 

hindering scientific progress.

Q: What is your primary means of conducting 

outreach?

Mr. You: We provide opportunities for the scientific community to meet directly with our law enforcement representatives—our WMD coordinators. These are the FBI’s 

subject matter experts, local points of contact, and really 

the keystone of the entire program. Each of our 56 field 

offices nationwide has at least one of these special agent 

coordinators trained in the various WMD modalities. 

They are the focal point for state and local law enforcement and public health officials. Coordinators conduct 

outreach and liaison development with academia, institutions, industry contacts, and other organizations. Our 

unit at FBI Headquarters manages the outreach program 

at the national level. We facilitate meetings between our 

coordinators and members of the biological sciences community, provide a mutual understanding of bio-security 

from a law enforcement perspective, and foster partnerships nationwide. We are also branching out internationally, with WMD personnel in Eastern Europe, Singapore, 

and at INTERPOL in France.

Part 2: Training, tripwires, and more (page 16)

In 2006, to counter the threat posed by weapons of mass 

destruction (WMD), the FBI established the WMD 

Directorate. The directorate combines law enforcement 

investigative authorities, intelligence analysis capabilities, 

and technical subject matter expertise in a coordinated 

approach to deal with incidents involving nuclear, radiological, biological, or chemical weapons. The organization 

places substantial emphasis on preventing such incidents.

FBI.gov recently spoke with Special Agent Edward You in 

the directorate’s Biological Countermeasures Unit (BCU).

Q: What is your unit’s primary mission?

Mr. You: Just like our partner units who also work in 

countermeasures dealing with chemicals, radiological and 

nuclear material, and infrastructure protection, our goal 

is to prevent acts of terrorism. In our case, that means 

bio-terrorism. But we must do that in a way that strikes a 

balance between security and supporting advances in scientific research and protecting public safety. Bio-security, 

from our standpoint, is preventing the illicit acquisition 

or misuse of the technologies, practices, and materials 

associated with biological sciences. We are also charged 

with protecting scientists and the institutions where they 

work.

Q: What are the primary biological WMD risks?

Mr. You: Laboratory techniques for biological materials 

are publicly available in scientific journals and elsewhere, 

which represent a ready source of knowledge for creating 

and manipulating these materials. Biological agents such 

as viruses, bacteria, and toxins are also widely available 

and used in companies, universities, and other institutions. These include materials that could have devastating effects on the public if released, such as avian influenza or Bacillus anthracis spores (anthrax). These things 

are also naturally occurring in the environment. Both 

the methods and the materials are critical for scientific 

research and the development of beneficial products. But 

we also recognize that the materials could be exploited 

or subverted for terrorist or criminal acts. We conduct 

outreach to try to make people aware of these risks.

Q: How important are partnerships between law enforcement and the medical and scientific community?
16 2012 The FBI Story

February 24, 2012

On Guard Against WMD

Inside the Biological 

Countermeasures Unit, Part 2

organisms, such as yeast and bacteria, and “reprogram” 

them to impart novel functions not normally found in 

nature. For example, synthetic biology allows you to 

program bacteria to efficiently produce bio-diesel fuel, 

medicines, and building materials.

Q: Why is synthetic biology important in terms of 

WMD?

Mr. You: Consider a company that produces synthetic 

DNA. They have the ability to generate the necessary 

genetic information to potentially produce bacteria and 

viruses, even high-consequence biological agents—such 

as Ebola or Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)—that are regulated by the U.S. government. Companies have adopted 

screening measures to prevent uncertified individuals 

from purchasing genetic information for these highconsequence agents.

Through our outreach efforts and subsequent federal 

guidance, companies now know to contact our WMD 

coordinators when they encounter suspicious orders. The 

FBI can conduct further assessments, provide information back to the companies, and initiate investigations if 

warranted. As a result, industry was very happy to have a 

vehicle for reporting and vetting suspicious activity. We 

really filled a need with this program, and it has been 

very successful.

Q: How will you continue to be successful going 

forward?

Mr. You: We will continue working with industry and 

the scientific community. Because we provide a service 

and act as a resource for our partners, our outreach has 

grown at a rapid pace—we can’t keep up with demand 

in terms of speaking engagements we are invited to or 

contributions to biosecurity policymaking. When we 

started our outreach program five years ago, we were out 

knocking on doors in the scientific community, trying to 

spread our message. Now they are inviting us in. They obviously they see the value of what we’re doing to protect 

the public and the scientific process.

Part 2 of an interview with Special Agent Edward You of the 

Biological Countermeasures Unit in the Weapons of Mass 

Destruction (WMD) Directorate.

Q: What other responsibilities do WMD coordinators 

have?

Mr. You: At the local level, WMD coordinators act 

as resources for our partners and they also engage in 

threat assessments and investigations. Coordinators are 

dedicated professionals who have their own career path 

within the FBI and they go through an extensive training 

and certification program. With regard to training, we 

have partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention to provide training locally, regionally, and 

internationally. We are able to educate the scientific community about threats and provide situational awareness 

about security issues that may not have been considered. 

In turn, the scientific community advises law enforcement about the current state of the field and assists us in 

identifying over-the-horizon risks. The life sciences field 

is advancing so rapidly that it is difficult to stay current. 

We rely on the expertise of our business and academic 

partners to ensure that our agency is addressing issues 

appropriately and effectively. Synthetic biology is a case in 

point.

Q: What is synthetic biology?

Mr. You: It is the application of engineering and 

computer science principles to the life sciences. It is an 

evolutionary step in techniques in DNA sequencing and 

synthesis that are used to modify naturally occurring 
2012 The FBI Story 17

February 27, 2012

The State of 

Financial Crime

Our Latest Accounting

In a public service announcement for the FBI, actor Michael Douglas, 

who played a financial executive in the movie Wall Street, says that 

while the 1987 movie was fiction, the problem is all too real.

Mortgage fraud: During 2011, mortgage origination 

loans were at their lowest levels since 2001, partially due 

to tighter underwriting standards, while foreclosures and 

delinquencies have skyrocketed over the past few years. 

So, distressed homeowner fraud has replaced loan origination fraud as the number one mortgage fraud threat in 

many FBI offices. Other schemes include illegal property 

flipping, equity skimming, loan modification schemes, 

and builder bailout/condo conversion. During FY 2011, 

we had 2,691 pending mortgage fraud cases.

Financial institution fraud: Investigations in this area 

focused on insider fraud (embezzlement and misapplication), check fraud, counterfeit negotiable instruments, 

check kiting, and fraud contributing to the failure of 

financial institutions. The FBI has been especially busy 

with that last one—in FY 2010, 157 banks failed, the 

highest number since 181 financial institutions closed in 

1992 at the height of the savings and loan crisis.

Also mentioned in the report are two recent initiatives that support our efforts against financial crime: 

the forensic accountant program, which ensures that 

financial investigative matters are conducted with the 

high-level expertise needed in an increasingly complex 

global financial system; and our Financial Intelligence 

Center, which provides tactical analysis of financial intelligence data, identifies potential criminal enterprises, and 

enhances investigations. More on these initiatives in the 

future.

The founder of a $7 billion hedge fund is convicted of 

insider trading. A drug company pleads guilty to making 

and selling unsafe prescription drugs to Americans. The 

head of a financial company admits scamming distressed 

homeowners who were trying to avoid foreclosure.

These recent crimes and many more like them—investigated by the FBI, in some instances along with our 

partner agencies—can cause great harm to the U.S. 

economy and American consumers. That’s why financial 

crimes are such an investigative priority at the Bureau.

Today, we’re releasing an overview of the problem and 

our response to it in our latest Financial Crimes Report 

to the Public. The report—which covers the period from 

October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2011—explains dozens 

of fraud schemes, outlines emerging trends, details FBI 

accomplishments in combating financial crimes (including major cases), and offers tips on protecting yourself 

from these crimes.

Here’s a brief snapshot of key sections of the report:

Corporate fraud: One of the Bureau’s highest criminal 

priorities, our corporate fraud cases resulted in 242 indictments/informations and 241 convictions of corporate 

criminals during fiscal year (FY) 2011. While most of our 

cases involve accounting schemes designed to conceal the 

true condition of a corporation or business, we’ve seen an 

increase in the number of insider trading cases.

Securities/commodities fraud: In FY 2011, our cases 

resulted in 520 indictments/informations and 394 convictions. As a result of an often volatile market, we’ve seen a 

rise in this type of fraud as investors look for alternative 

investment opportunities. There have been increases 

in new scams—like securities market manipulation via 

cyber intrusion—as well as the tried-and-true—like Ponzi 

schemes.

Health care fraud: In FY 2011, 2,690 cases investigated 

by the FBI resulted in 1,676 informations/indictments and 

736 convictions. Some of the more prevalent schemes 

included billing for services not provided, duplicate 

claims, medically unnecessary services, upcoding of 

services or equipment, and kickbacks for referring 

patients for services paid for by Medicare/Medicaid. 

We’ve seen increasing involvement of organized criminal 

groups in many of these schemes.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch the public service announcement

featuring Michael Douglas, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
18 2012 The FBI Story

March 1, 2012

Operation Atlantic

Taking International Aim at

Child Predators

offer an example of outstanding achievement through 

international law enforcement cooperation,” said Audrey 

McNeill, IIOU chief.

Europol works with law enforcement agencies in the 27 

EU countries, along with non-EU members such as the 

U.S. and Australia. Europol personnel do not have direct 

powers of arrest, but instead support law enforcement in 

member countries through coordination and intelligence 

gathering and sharing.

“Collaboration and cooperation between Europol and 

our international law enforcement partners such as 

the FBI are essential if we are to bring members of 

these child sex abuse networks to justice and prevent 

the distribution of child exploitation material across 

the Internet,” said Rob Wainwright, Europol’s director.

Noting that Operation Atlantic is the first joint operation 

conducted by the FBI and Europol in the area of child 

sexual exploitation, Wainwright added, “Europol is ready 

and willing to support ongoing and future operations to 

infiltrate these networks.”

The leads and intelligence gathered by the FBI that 

formed the basis of Operation Atlantic helped link 

suspects in five countries to pedophile groups, including the notorious “Boylover” network—the focus of 

a previous Europol action called Operation Rescue. 

Subjects arrested in Operation Atlantic included a web 

of offenders that were producing and distributing images 

depicting the severe abuse of children—in some cases 

toddlers and infants.

“These individuals were not just possessors of child pornography,” McNeill said. “Some were previously convicted 

child sex offenders and were actively engaged in child 

sexual abuse.” In addition to providing leads to Europol, 

the IIOU detailed an agent to Europol headquarters in 

The Hague, Netherlands last summer to help facilitate 

the investigation.

“Europol is a key and valued strategic partner for the 

IIOU, and we look forward to a long and productive 

relationship with them,” McNeill said. “I hope that 

Operation Atlantic is the first of many future successes. 

We are working hard to increase our international 

footprint and to stop child predators wherever they are in 

the world.”

On Wednesday, Europol released the results of its first 

joint operation with the FBI against international child 

predators, announcing the identification of eight child 

victims and the arrest of 17 individuals for child sexual 

molestation and production of pornography.

Operation Atlantic has led to the identification of 37 

child sex offenders in France, Italy, the Netherlands, 

Spain, and the United Kingdom. The investigation, 

which began in December 2010, continues as individuals 

overseas are still being sought.

“Online child predators and child exploitation are not 

just an American problem,” said FBI Director Robert S. 

Mueller. “The FBI is committed to working with our law 

enforcement partners around the world, such as Europol, 

to combat these horrendous crimes. We share actionable 

intelligence and resources to keep children safe and bring 

those who do them harm to justice.”

Sharing intelligence was our primary role in Operation 

Atlantic, and it was facilitated by our Innocent Images 

Operations Unit (IIOU) at FBI Headquarters. Agents 

working covertly set up an electronic dragnet on a peerto-peer network targeting pedophiles located in European 

Union (EU) countries and forwarded investigative results 

to our partners at Europol.

Previously, IIOU staff worked with our legal attachés 

overseas to formalize a cooperative agreement with 

Europol regarding several criminal investigative programs, 

including online child sexual exploitation. “The results 

of Operation Atlantic validate this new relationship and 
2012 The FBI Story 19

March 6, 2012

Help Us Bring Bob 

Levinson Home

$1 Million Reward Offered for 

Missing Retired FBI Agent

Christine Levinson said. “He was in middle school when 

his father disappeared.”

In March 2011, the U.S. secretary of state issued a 

statement that the U.S. government had received indications that Levinson was being held by a group in 

southwest Asia. That region includes the border areas of 

Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. A publicity campaign is 

being launched this week in southwest Asia to heighten 

awareness of Levinson’s abduction, announce the 

$1,000,000 reward, and solicit information. Billboards, 

radio messages, and flyers will be used to publicize the 

reward and the investigation. A telephone tip line will be 

provided to listeners and viewers in that region so that 

they can confidentially provide information.

“We’re never going to give up,” Christine Levinson said. 

“Our goal is to get Bob home. We miss him every single 

day.”

We need your help. If you have information about 

the Levinson case, contact your nearest FBI office or 

American Embassy, or submit a tip to https://tips.fbi.gov.

This week marks the fifth anniversary of Robert 

Levinson’s disappearance, and the FBI today announced 

a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the 

safe recovery and return of the retired special agent.

Levinson, who retired from the FBI in 1998 after 22 years 

of service, was working as a private investigator when he 

traveled to Kish Island, Iran on March 8, 2007. He has 

not been seen or heard from publicly since he disappeared 

the following day. In 2010, a video showing him in captivity was sent to the Levinson family by his captors.

The FBI is responsible for investigating crimes committed against U.S. citizens abroad. We have been 

working since 2007 to obtain information about 

Levinson’s whereabouts and well-being.

“On the fifth anniversary of Bob’s disappearance, the 

FBI continues to follow every lead into his abduction and 

captivity,” said James W. McJunkin, assistant director in 

charge of our Washington Field Office. “We are committed to bringing Bob home safely to his family. We hope 

this reward will encourage anyone with information—no 

matter how insignificant they may think it is—to come 

forward. It may be the clue that we need to locate Bob.”

“Though he is retired from the FBI, Bob remains a 

member of the FBI family to this day,” said Director 

Robert S. Mueller, “and his family is our family. Like all 

families, we stand together in good times and in times of 

adversity. Today, we stand together to reaffirm our commitment to Bob Levinson.”

“I am very grateful that the FBI has offered this reward,” 

said Levinson’s wife Christine. “Our family believes the 

only way of resolving this issue successfully is with the 

FBI’s help. It has been an extremely difficult time for my 

family,” she said. “We all thought Bob would be home by 

now. But five years have passed, and we still don’t know 

why he’s being held, who has him, or where he is.”

Levinson will celebrate his 64th birthday on March 

10. In addition to his wife of 37 years, Levinson has seven 

children and two grandchildren. The family has been 

working tirelessly to bring Levinson home safely. “Our 

youngest son is about to graduate from high school,” 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a video released by the

Levinson family, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.

Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent, went missing from Kish Island, 

Iran on March 8, 2007.
20 2012 The FBI Story

March 9, 2012

FBI Forensic 

Accountants

Following the Money

Responsibilities of FBI forensic accountants include:

▪ Conducting thorough forensic financial analysis of 

business and personal records and developing financial profiles of individuals or groups identified as 

participating in suspicious or illegal activity;

▪ Participating in gathering evidence and preparing 

search warrants/affidavits associated with financial 

analysis;

▪ Accompanying case agents on interviews of subjects 

and key witnesses in secure and non-confrontational 

settings;

▪ Identifying and tracing funding sources and interrelated transactions;

▪ Compiling findings and conclusions into financial 

investigative reports; and

▪ Meeting with prosecuting attorneys to discuss 

strategies and other litigation support functions and 

testifying when needed as fact or expert witnesses in 

judicial proceedings.

FBI-centric training. On top of the extensive accounting qualifications they bring to the job, FBI forensic 

accountants take a six-week training course that focuses 

on Bureau programs and systems, available investigative 

resources, financial investigative topics and techniques, 

legal training, and expert witness testifying techniques.

Forensic accountants are located in every FBI field 

office. Larger offices might have one or more forensic 

accountant squads composed of both forensic accountants and financial analysts, while smaller offices might 

just have one or two forensic accountants. Then there’s 

our Forensic Accountant Support Team (think SWAT 

for accountants), based out of our Washington, D.C. 

Headquarters, that responds quickly—either in person or 

often electronically—to significant, high-profile investigations anywhere in the country involving large amounts of 

financial data.

FBI forensic accountants have been involved in a number 

of major cases over the past couple of years, including a 

$200 million Medicare fraud case involving two Florida 

corporations, the largest hedge fund insider trading 

scheme in history, and a $200 million fraud by executives 

of an Indiana financial company.

If you’re interested in a career as an FBI forensic accountant, check the www.fbijobs.gov website periodically for 

open positions.

Accountants have been woven into the fabric of the FBI 

since its creation in the summer of 1908, when a dozen 

bank examiners were included among the original force 

of 34 investigators. Today, around 15 percent of agents 

employed by the Bureau qualify as special agent accountants.

Non-agent accounting positions at the FBI date back to 

the early 1970s, when we created a cadre of accounting 

technicians to help agents working increasingly complex 

financial cases. During the savings and loan crisis of the 

1980s and 1990s, the FBI’s ability to address complex, 

sophisticated financial investigations was elevated further 

with the addition of financial analysts to our ranks.

Post-9/11, the criminal landscape changed again with 

large-scale corporate frauds and a multitude of other 

complex financial schemes. And once again, we adapted 

by adding new resources and skills. One key element was 

the 2009 creation of a standardized, professional investigative support position known as a forensic accountant.

At the FBI, our forensic accountants conduct the 

financial investigative portion of complex cases across 

a wide variety of Bureau programs—investigating 

terrorists, spies, and criminals of all kinds who are 

involved in financial wrongdoing. Through their work, 

forensic accountants contribute to the FBI’s intelligence 

cycle. They testify to their findings in court. And they 

keep up to date with FBI policies and procedures, federal 

rules of evidence, grand jury procedures, and national 

security protocols.
2012 The FBI Story 21

March 13, 2012

Investigating 

Financial Crime

A Retrospective

In the 1970s, financial fraud cases began to rise, as shown in this 

excerpt from the 1975 annual report.

fraud probe. By the end of the decade, hundreds of 

FBI agents were investigating more than 530 banks to 

determine if fraud or embezzlement were involved in 

their failures.

▪ Health care fraud exploded in the early 1990s, 

leading to more than 100 arrests in our first major 

case—Operation Gold Pill—in 1992.

▪ Telemarketing fraud also took off in the 1990s, resulting in significant cases like Operation Disconnect 

and Operation Senior Sentinel.

▪ Insider trading scandals made national news in the 

1980s with the probes of Ivan Boesky and Michael 

Milken. The FBI joined its first major investigation of 

a Wall Street executive soon after, helping to convict 

powerful municipal finance banker Mark Ferber in 

1996.

▪ The collapse of Enron in 2001 and the ensuing 

investigation led to a series of major corporate fraud 

investigations in the following decade.

The threat remains...and our work goes on. As evidenced in our latest Financial Crimes Report—buttressed 

by last week’s conviction of Robert Allen Stanford, who 

misappropriated $7 billion from his own company—we 

continue to address the threat of financial fraud...everything from insider trading to insurance fraud, from 

mortgage fraud to bank failures, from mass marketing 

scams to health care and corporate fraud.

Charles Bonaparte was clearly onto something.

When he created a “special agent force” in 1908—the 

forerunner of the FBI—the progressive attorney general 

made sure that a dozen of his first 34 investigators were 

bank examiners specializing in financial crimes. No doubt 

to the satisfaction of the muckrakers of the day and his 

own trust-busting boss, President Teddy Roosevelt.

These experienced financial agents hit the ground 

running, investigating antitrust activities (now part of our 

public corruption program) in the meat processing and 

sardine canning industries. They also tackled a variety of 

financial frauds—from bankruptcy scams to accounting 

frauds in federal prisons and courts. The Bureau was also 

responsible for investigating several national banking law 

violations.

Over our first six or seven decades, the financial 

crimes we investigated were fairly small potatoes by 

today’s standards. There were plenty of them, to be sure. 

Like the “Lady with the Big Heart” who embezzled some 

$150,000 from her bank in Trenton, New Jersey in the 

1940s and used the stolen loot to pick up dinner tabs and 

buy expensive gifts for herself and her friends. Like the 

New York City music producer who convinced an investor 

to give him $35,000 in 1942 to finance a Nutcracker ballet 

movie, only to pocket the money and file for bankruptcy. 

And like Frank Abagnale of Catch Me If You Can fame, 

who as a teenager began passing bad checks across the 

nation and eventually around the world before being 

arrested in France in 1969 and landing in a U.S. federal 

prison in 1971.

Financial crime became a pressing priority in the

mid-1970s, when Director Clarence Kelley made 

white-collar crime—which in the fallout of Watergate 

included public corruption—a top focus of the FBI. By 

1976, Director Kelley noted that 15 percent of our agents 

were working white-collar crime cases, and the next 

decade saw the beginning of a wave of agent-intensive, 

high-dollar, and high-impact financial fraud investigations with our partners that continues to this day. A few 

examples:

▪ The savings and loan crisis that arose in the early 

1980s became our first massive national financial 
22 2012 The FBI Story

March 16, 2012

Community Leaders 

Recognized

Their Actions Improve Lives

▪ Anchorage: Covenant House Alaska offers services 

to homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth and has been 

an essential partner of the FBI on our Innocence Lost 

Task Force and human trafficking cases.

▪ Boston: Ted Woo is a member of BRIDGES 

(Building Respect in Diverse Groups to Enhance 

Sensitivity), a group of law enforcement and community leaders who work together on community 

concerns. Among other activities, Woo has coordinated several community events held in mosques and 

gurdwaras.

▪ Chicago: Brent King, whose daughter was kidnapped 

and murdered by a convicted sex offender, established 

a non-profit foundation dedicated to working with 

state legislatures to toughen restrictions on violent 

sexual predators.

▪ Jackson: Federal Judge James Graves, Jr. is deeply 

committed to teaching, motivating, and inspiring 

Mississippi youth. He also mentors young people 

about the legal system.

▪ Kansas City: Marvin Szneler is the executive director 

of a Jewish organization that works to build relationships among various religious and community groups, 

government officials, law enforcement, educators, and 

the media.

▪ Miami: Essie Reed is the founder of Team of Life, 

Inc., an organization that serves at-risk children by 

providing meals, clothing, and transportation and 

encourages young people to help law enforcement 

reduce crime, drug abuse, and violence in their communities.

▪ Portland: Musse Olol, head of the Somali American 

Council of Oregon, assists Somali refugees by 

serving as an interpreter, facilitator, counselor, and 

co-sponsor and helps establish positive relationships 

between the Somali community and state and federal 

law enforcement.

▪ Tampa: Rose Ferlita established Bully Busters, a 

national anti-bullying program involving partnerships 

among young people, parents, local law enforcement, 

and community groups.

Congratulations to all the winners. It’s our hope that 

their selfless actions to enhance the lives of neighbors and 

protect communities will inspire others to offer their time 

and talents to their own communities.

An Albuquerque man who devotes his time to educating his community about cyber threats. A Jacksonville 

woman whose child protection group assists law enforcement with crimes against children cases. An Arizona 

organization dedicated to meeting the needs of murder 

victims’ families. A man who established a volunteer 

organization in Delaware to serve at-risk youth.

Since 1990—through the Director’s Community 

Leadership Awards (DCLA)—the FBI has publicly 

recognized the achievements of individuals and organizations like these who have gone above and beyond the call 

to service by making extraordinary contributions to their 

communities in the areas of terrorism, cyber, drug, gang, 

or violence prevention and education. And this year is no 

exception: today, nearly 60 individuals and organizational 

representatives—all 2011 DCLA recipients—gathered 

for a ceremony in their honor at FBI Headquarters in 

Washington, D.C.

Director Mueller, who presented a specially designed 

plaque to each recipient, called the honorees “catalysts 

for change” in their communities and said that each one 

shared “a willingness to lead...a commitment to improving 

your neighborhoods...and a desire to make this country 

safer for your fellow citizens.”

Each of our field offices is given the chance to present the 

award at the local level during the year, and the honorees 

are then recognized at the annual national ceremony the 

following spring. FBI Headquarters selects at least one 

winner as well. A snapshot of this year’s DCLA recipients 

shows the range of good work done across the nation:
2012 The FBI Story 23

March 20, 2012

Eco-Terrorist Sentenced

Help Us Find Remaining 

Operation Backfire Fugitives

The 1998 arson of a Colorado ski resort drew international attention 

to eco-terrorists—those who break the law in misguided and malicious attempts to protect the environment and animal rights.

Investigators identified Solondz as a member of The 

Family in the spring of 2006, said Special Agent Ted 

Halla in our Seattle office. “He was traveling overseas, 

and we started tracking him through Europe to Russia, 

Mongolia, and then China. He realized we were after 

him,” Halla said. “He liquidated his bank accounts and 

tried to hide his tracks online. By the summer of 2006, he 

disappeared in China.”

Working through our legal attaché office in Beijing, we 

learned that Solondz had been arrested in China for 

manufacturing drugs and sentenced to prison. He served 

nearly three years before the Chinese released him to our 

custody.

As part of his plea, Solondz admitted building the 

firebomb that was planted in the office of a University 

of Washington horticultural researcher. He and The 

Family mistakenly believed the researcher was genetically 

altering trees. The fire ruined the researcher’s work along 

with the work of dozens of other students and researchers.

“The Solondz case has been a long process,” Halla said. 

“When you are after someone for that many years, it’s a 

big relief to see the individual finally brought to justice.”

After he was indicted in 2006 for firebombing a 

University of Washington research facility, Justin Solondz 

became an international fugitive, beginning an odyssey 

that would land him in a Chinese jail—and finally before 

a federal judge in Seattle, who sentenced him last week to 

seven years in prison.

Solondz, 32, was a member of an eco-terrorist cell known 

as “The Family,” which committed an estimated $48 

million worth of arson and vandalism across the Pacific 

Northwest and western U.S. between 1996 and 2001 

under the names of the Animal Liberation Front and the 

Earth Liberation Front.

Three members of The Family are still on the run, 

and there is a reward for information leading to their 

arrest.

The cell’s most notorious crime was the 1998 arson of 

a Vail, Colorado ski resort that caused $26 million in 

damages and drew international attention to eco-terrorists—those who break the law in misguided and malicious 

attempts to protect the environment and animal rights. 

We took the lead in the Vail investigation, working 

closely with our local, state, and federal law enforcement 

counterparts. In 2004, multiple eco-terror investigations 

were condensed into Operation Backfire.

We need your help to bring the three remaining fugitives 

from The Family to justice. A reward of up to $50,000 

each is being offered for information leading to the arrest 

of Joseph Dibee, Josephine Overaker, and Rebecca Rubin, 

all believed to be living abroad.

Here is what we know about the trio:

▪ Dibee was indicted in 2006 on charges of arson, 

conspiracy, and animal enterprise terrorism. He is 

believed to be living in Syria with family members.

▪ Overaker was indicted in 2004 and 2006 for her involvement with the 1998 Vail arson and other crimes. 

She is believed to have spent time in Germany and 

may have settled in Spain. She speaks fluent Spanish.

▪ Rubin was indicted in 2006 for the Vail arson and 

other acts of domestic terrorism. A Canadian citizen, 

she has strong family ties to Canada and may be 

living there.
24 2012 The FBI Story

March 23, 2012

FBI Financial 

Intelligence Center

Getting Ahead of Crime

During fiscal year 2011, FBI offices opened dozens of 

investigations based on the center’s intelligence packages.

Current initiatives. In response to some of the most 

serious financial crimes, the Financial Intelligence Center 

is working on a number of specific initiatives, such as:

▪ Foreclosure rescue fraud, where analysts collect and 

evaluate deceptive practices complaint data from 

the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is then 

cross-referenced with suspicious activity reports filed 

by financial institutions;

▪ Securities and corporate fraud, in which the 

center partners with the Commodities and Futures 

Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC) to review civil referrals for 

possible criminal violations;

▪ Health care fraud, which involves us working with 

the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) 

and the Department of Justice on a new predictive 

modeling system that uses algorithms to generate 

lists of medical professionals potentially engaging in 

health care fraud; and

▪ Money laundering, in which analysts review incoming 

intelligence from the FBI’s Southwest Border 

Initiative to determine if subjects are laundering 

proceeds from criminal activities.

Although the center’s primary mission is to identify those 

who may have thus far escaped the law enforcement lens, 

it also uses its tools and expertise to enhance current 

investigations that feature large numbers of subjects and 

multiple FBI offices.

Of course, we don’t do this alone—we work closely 

with our partners. As a matter of fact, our analysts are 

currently or will soon be embedded in the Office of the 

Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief 

Program, the SEC, the Internal Revenue Service, the 

FTC, and the CMS....to expand even further the pool of 

data that can be used by all to uncover financial crime.

The bottom line of the FBI’s Financial Intelligence 

Center: to work proactively to help identify the nation’s 

most egregious criminal enterprises.

Investigating financial crime is like working a puzzle—

you have to fit all of the pieces of information together 

in order to see the entire picture. The FBI’s Financial 

Intelligence Center in Washington, D.C. does just that, 

linking disparate pieces of data to give our field investigators a clearer picture of possible criminal activity in their 

regions.

The center was established in the fall of 2009 in response 

to the financial crisis at that time—its mission was 

to identify potential investigative targets engaged in 

mortgage fraud. Because of its success, the center’s focus 

expanded to include other types of financial crimes, 

like securities/commodities fraud, health care fraud, 

money laundering, fraud against the government, and 

even public corruption (which usually involves financial 

wrongdoing of some sort).

The center is staffed primarily by intelligence analysts 

and staff operations specialists. Their first order of 

business is to review large datasets that come from the 

FBI, other law enforcement and regulatory agencies, 

consumer complaint websites, etc. Computer programs 

cull out data with common themes (i.e., similar scams, 

similar names). That data is researched and analyzed to 

help further identify potential subjects and/or activity, 

and the results are organized using spreadsheets and link 

analysis to draw connections among all the key players. 

If there is good reason to believe that criminal activity 

exists, the results are summarized in an intelligence 

package and sent to the appropriate field office.
2012 The FBI Story 25

Shawn Henry, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, 

Cyber, Response, and Services Branch.

March 27, 2012

The Cyber Threat

Part 1: On the Front Lines with

Shawn Henry

country the same way they did on 9/11 by flying planes 

into buildings. They are seeking to use the network to 

challenge the United States by looking at critical infrastructure to disrupt or harm the viability of our way of 

life.

Q: How has the FBI adapted to address the threat?

Mr. Henry: We have grown substantially, particularly in 

the last four or five years, where we have hired more

technically proficient agents, many of whom have 

advanced degrees in computer science or information 

technology. We bring them onboard and teach them to 

be FBI agents rather than trying to teach FBI agents how 

the technology works. That has given us a leg up and put 

our capabilities on par with anybody in the world. We 

have also worked proactively to mitigate the threat by 

using some of the same investigative techniques we use in 

the physical world—undercover operations, cooperating 

witnesses, and authorized surveillance techniques. We 

have taken those same time-tested tactics and applied 

them to the cyber threat. So we are now able to breach 

networks of criminal actors by putting somebody into 

their group. The other critical area we have been successful in is developing partnerships.

Part 2: Why partnerships are so important (page 26)

Note: Shawn Henry retired from the FBI on March 31, 2012.

Shawn Henry realized a lifelong dream when he became 

a special agent in 1989. Since then, he has traveled the 

world for investigations and become one of the FBI’s most 

senior executives and its top official on cyber crime.

FBI.gov recently sat down with Henry—who is about to 

retire from the Bureau—to talk about the cyber threat 

and his FBI career.

Q: You were involved with cyber investigations long 

before the public had an awareness of how serious the 

threat is. How did you become interested in the cyber 

realm?

Mr. Henry: I was always interested in technology, and in 

the late 1990s I started to take courses at the FBI related 

to cyber intrusion investigations. When I had an opportunity to move over to that side of the house, I seized it. I 

saw right away that the challenges we were going to face 

in the future were tremendous, and I wanted to be on the 

front lines of that.

Q: How has the cyber threat changed over time?

Mr. Henry: Early on, cyber intrusions such as website 

defacements and denial of service attacks were generally 

perceived to be pranks by teenagers. But even then, in the 

late 1990s, there were state actors sponsored by governments who were attacking networks. What received 

media attention was the teenage hacker and the defacements, but there were more significant types of attacks 

and a more substantial threat that was in the background. 

Also, those early attacks were much more intermittent. 

Now we are seeing literally thousands of attacks a day. 

The ones people hear about are often because victims are 

coming forward. And there are more substantial attacks 

that people don’t ever see or hear about.

Q: Where are the cyber threats coming from today?

Mr. Henry: We see three primary actors: organized 

crime groups that are primarily threatening the financial 

services sector, and they are expanding the scope of their 

attacks; state sponsors—foreign governments that are 

interested in pilfering data, including intellectual property 

and research and development data from major manufacturers, government agencies, and defense contractors; 

and increasingly terrorist groups who want to impact this 
26 2012 The FBI Story

March 30, 2012

The Cyber Threat

Part 2: Shawn Henry on 

Partnerships, Challenges

real for the victims—the money is actually gone—the 

pool of suspects is limited to the number of people on the 

face of the earth that have a laptop and an Internet connection, because anybody with an Internet connection 

can potentially attack any other computer that is tied to 

the network. You don’t have to be a computer scientist to 

launch these types of attacks.

Q: Going forward, what are the challenges regarding 

the cyber threat?

Mr. Henry: What I call the expansion of the network is 

going to create challenges. As technology increases, the 

threat becomes greater. All our wireless networks and 

smart devices are network-based, and anything touching 

the network is potentially susceptible. As more and more 

information transitions across the network, more adversaries will move to get their hands on it, because that 

information is extraordinarily valuable.

Q: You have responsibilities beyond the cyber area. 

What are some of the challenges you see with other 

criminal matters?

Mr. Henry: As an organization, fighting terrorism is 

rightfully the FBI’s number one priority, but criminal 

threats are substantial. There is white-collar crime, where 

we’ve seen people lose their entire life savings because of 

criminals taking advantage of them. There’s something 

very rewarding about seeing our agents and analysts aggressively working to take those criminals off the streets. 

We’ve seen public corruption cases where people have 

abused their position for personal gain. I see those types 

of cases continuing. There’s a percentage of people in 

society that are always going to be bad actors.

Q: What are you going to miss when you leave the 

Bureau?

Mr. Henry: The people and the mission. There is 

nothing else I wanted to do more in my professional life 

than to be an FBI agent. The quality and caliber of the 

people I have worked with are second to none. Working 

day to day to carry out our mission to help protect the 

country is an experience that can never be replaced. I 

leave with a tremendous sense of pride.

Note: Shawn Henry retired from the FBI on March 31, 2012.

Part 2 of an interview with Shawn Henry, executive assistant 

director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services 

Branch.

Q: Why are partnerships so important?

Mr. Henry: The threat we face is not solely within the 

FBI’s area of responsibility. So we work very closely with 

other law enforcement agencies and the intelligence 

community domestically. We share tactics and intelligence. We also partner with the private sector, because 

they often are the victims and see attacks before anybody 

else. The final piece—and one of the most significant—is 

international law enforcement partnerships. The ability to 

reach across the ocean once we identify criminals and put 

our hands on them is something that is relatively new. For 

many years, the adversaries believed they were immune to 

prosecution because they were thousands of miles away. 

That’s not the case anymore. Through our partnerships, 

we have arrested hundreds of bad actors who targeted 

U.S. and foreign infrastructure and institutions. Just in 

the last two years we have worked with dozens of countries, and we have actually stationed FBI agents overseas 

into the police agencies in countries including Ukraine, 

Romania, The Netherlands, and Estonia.

Q: So the cyber threat is truly global in scope?

Mr. Henry: Absolutely. In the physical world when 

somebody robs a bank, the pool of suspects is limited to 

the number of people in the general vicinity of that bank. 

When a bank is robbed virtually, even though it is very 
2012 The FBI Story 27

April 2, 2012

The Grandparent Scam

Don’t Let It Happen to You

▪ While it’s commonly called the grandparent scam, 

criminals may also claim to be a family friend, a niece 

or nephew, or another family member.

What to do if you have been scammed. The financial 

losses in these cases—while they can be substantial for an 

individual, usually several thousand dollars per victim—

typically don’t meet the FBI’s financial thresholds for 

opening an investigation. We recommend contacting your 

local authorities or state consumer protection agency if 

you think you’ve been victimized. We also suggest you 

file a complaint with IC3 (www.ic3.gov), which not only 

forwards complaints to the appropriate agencies, but also 

collates and analyzes the data—looking for common 

threads that link complaints and help identify the 

culprits.

And, our advice to avoid being victimized in the first 

place:

▪ Resist the pressure to act quickly.

▪ Try to contact your grandchild or another family 

member to determine whether or not the call is 

legitimate.

▪ Never wire money based on a request made over the 

phone or in an e-mail...especially overseas. Wiring 

money is like giving cash—once you send it, you can’t 

get it back.

You’re a grandparent, and you get a phone call or an 

e-mail from someone who identifies himself as your 

grandson. “I’ve been arrested in another country,” he says, 

“and need money wired quickly to pay my bail. And oh by 

the way, don’t tell my mom or dad because they’ll only get 

upset!”

This is an example of what’s come to be known as “the 

grandparent scam”—yet another fraud that preys on the 

elderly, this time by taking advantage of their love and 

concern for their grandchildren.

The grandparent scam has been around for a few 

years—our Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 

has been receiving reports about it since 2008. But the 

scam and scam artists have become more sophisticated. 

Thanks to the Internet and social networking sites, a 

criminal can sometimes uncover personal information 

about their targets, which makes the impersonations 

more believable. For example, the actual grandson may 

mention on his social networking site that he’s a photographer who often travels to Mexico. When contacting 

the grandparents, the phony grandson will say he’s calling 

from Mexico, where someone stole his camera equipment 

and passport.

Common scenarios include:

▪ A grandparent receives a phone call (or sometimes 

an e-mail) from a “grandchild.” If it is a phone call, 

it’s often late at night or early in the morning when 

most people aren’t thinking that clearly. Usually, the 

person claims to be traveling in a foreign country and 

has gotten into a bad situation, like being arrested for 

drugs, getting in a car accident, or being mugged...

and needs money wired ASAP. And the caller doesn’t 

want his or her parents told.

▪ Sometimes, instead of the “grandchild” making the 

phone call, the criminal pretends to be an arresting 

police officer, a lawyer, a doctor at a hospital, or some 

other person. And we’ve also received complaints 

about the phony grandchild talking first and then 

handing the phone over to an accomplice...to further 

spin the fake tale.

▪ We’ve also seen military families victimized: after 

perusing a soldier’s social networking site, a con artist 

will contact the soldier’s grandparents, sometimes 

claiming that a problem came up during military 

leave that requires money to address.
28 2012 The FBI Story

April 4, 2012

Left: FBI Director Robert S. Mueller addresses the Miami Chamber

of Commerce.

Major Financial Crime

Using Intelligence and 

Partnerships to Fight 

Fraud Smarter

▪ Three years ago, we established the Financial 

Intelligence Center to strengthen our financial 

intelligence collection and analysis. “This center 

helps us to see the entire picture of financial crimes. 

It provides tactical analysis of financial intelligence 

data, identifies potential criminal enterprises, and 

enhances investigations. It also coordinates with FBI 

field offices to complement their resources and to 

identify emerging economic threats.”

▪ Today, we have more than 500 agents and analysts 

using intelligence to identify emerging health care 

fraud schemes, and field offices target fraud through 

coordinated initiatives, task forces and strike teams, 

and undercover operations.

▪ The Miami office has led the way by creating the 

first Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which is now 

a national initiative. Through the strike force, the 

Bureau works closely with federal, state, local, and 

private sector partners to uncover fraud and recover 

taxpayer funds. “Last year, our combined efforts 

returned $4.1 billion dollars to the U.S. Treasury, to 

Medicare, and to other victims of fraud.”

▪ As the result of a new forensic accountant program, 

we now have 250 forensic accountants “trained to 

catch financial criminals” and “ready to respond 

quickly to high-profile financial investigations across 

the country.”

▪ In the last four years, we have nearly tripled the 

number of special agents investigating mortgage 

fraud. “Our agents and analysts are using intelligence, 

surveillance, computer analysis, and undercover 

operations to identify emerging trends and to find the 

key players behind large-scale mortgage fraud.”

▪ In 2010, the FBI began embedding agents at the 

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “This 

allows us to see tips about securities fraud as they 

come into the SEC’s complaint center...to identify 

fraud trends more quickly and to push intelligence to 

our field offices.”

Everyone has a role in fighting fraud, including 

business and community leaders. “You can learn to 

recognize financial fraud and unscrupulous business 

practices, to better protect yourself and your companies,” 

Mueller said. “And you can alert us when you see these 

activities take place.”

Homeowners tricked into signing away the deeds to their 

own homes. The elderly and vulnerable used to make a 

fast and illegal buck, even by the very people who take 

care of them. Billions in hard-earned investor dollars 

vanishing in a seeming flash, sometimes through a single 

scam.

Financial crime is a real and insidious threat—one 

that takes a significant toll on the economy and its 

many victims. Today, Director Robert S. Mueller talked 

about the impact of financial crime and the Bureau’s 

longstanding role in combating it in a keynote speech 

before the Miami Chamber of Commerce.

The Director explained that even in the post-9/11 

world—with its needed focus on terrorism and other 

national security threats—the FBI continues to take its 

criminal responsibilities seriously. “What has changed,” 

he said, “is that we make greater use of intelligence and 

partnerships to better focus our limited resources where 

we can have the greatest impact—for example, on combating large-scale financial fraud.”

It’s all about working smarter—using new informationsharing efforts, intelligence-driven investigations, and 

task force-based approaches to leverage the talents and 

resources within and among agencies to get a bigger bang 

for the buck, so to speak, in fighting financial fraud.

Among the innovations and initiatives outlined by the 

Director:
2012 The FBI Story 29

April 10, 2012

New Top Ten Fugitive

Child Pornographer 

Added to the List

Eric Justin Toth, a former private-school teacher and camp counselor, 

has been on the run since warrants for his arrest were issued in

Maryland and the District of Columbia in 2008.

widget is an interactive application featuring information 

on all Top Ten fugitives, along with continuous feeds of 

FBI news and stories that are automatically updated. It’s 

easy to add to almost any website, including Facebook 

and other social networking sites, and it currently appears 

on hundreds of websites around the world.

In addition, more than 60,000 people subscribe to our 

Ten Most Wanted Fugitives category through e-mail 

updates and listen to our Wanted by the FBI podcasts. 

The Wanted by the FBI section on our website is viewed 

by over a million people every month. Also, our National 

Digital Billboard Initiative partners, who currently have 

3,200 billboards in 42 states, are donating space to help 

publicize the newest Top Ten fugitive.

Our modern electronic methods allow us to reach 

more people than ever, but we still need your help.

If you have any information about Eric Justin Toth—or 

any of the fugitives on our Top Ten list—please contact 

your local FBI office or submit a tip electronically on our 

website at https://tips.fbi.gov.

Eric Justin Toth, a former private-school teacher and 

camp counselor accused of possessing and producing 

child pornography, is the newest addition to the FBI’s Ten 

Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Toth, who also goes by the name David Bussone, has 

been on the run since warrants for his arrest were 

issued in Maryland and the District of Columbia in 

2008. There is a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to Toth’s arrest, and we need your 

help to locate him.

“We have always counted on the public’s support to help 

capture fugitives and solve cases,” said Michael Kortan, 

assistant director of our Office of Public Affairs. “The 

addition of Eric Toth to the Top Ten list illustrates how 

important it is to get this individual off the streets and 

into custody.”

Our investigation began in June 2008, after pornographic 

images were found on a camera that had been in Toth’s 

possession at the private school where he worked. Since 

becoming a fugitive, he is believed to have traveled to 

Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Investigators 

believe he lived in Arizona as recently as 2009.

Toth turned 30 on February 13. He is 6’3” tall and 

weighs about 155 pounds. He has brown hair, green 

eyes, and a medium complexion. He has a mole under his 

left eye.

Toth is well educated—he attended Cornell University 

for a year and then transferred to Purdue University, 

where he earned an education degree. He is described 

as a computer expert and is believed to regularly use the 

Internet and social networking websites. He may advertise 

online as a tutor or male nanny.

Since its creation in 1950, the Top Ten list has been 

invaluable to the FBI, helping us capture some of the 

nation’s most dangerous criminals. Of the 495 fugitives 

named to the list, 465 have been apprehended or located. 

That level of success would not be possible without the 

strong support of the public, whose help has led to the 

capture of 153 of the Top Ten fugitives.

Over the years, we have created several digital tools to 

spread the word about our fugitives program, including a 

widget that can be added to anyone’s website or blog. The 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
30 2012 The FBI Story

April 13, 2012

Bankruptcy Fraud

Creditors and Consumers 

Pay the Price

The culprits. They typically include private citizens, 

small business owners, corporate CEOs, real estate agents, 

politicians, and loan officers. We’ve even seen cases where 

bankruptcy attorneys and bankruptcy petition preparers have engaged in criminal behavior at the expense of 

debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.

The most common types of bankruptcy fraud. The 

majority of our casework involves people who have lied 

under oath or provided false documentation during their 

bankruptcy proceedings, concealed or transferred their 

financial assets, or committed tax fraud. Other schemes 

include using false identities to file for bankruptcy 

multiple times in multiple locations, bribing a bankruptcy 

trustee, and intentionally running up credit card bills 

with no intention of paying them off (also known as 

“credit card bust-outs”).

Our investigations have shown that many times bankruptcy fraud is committed in conjunction with crimes 

such as credit card fraud, identity theft, mortgage fraud, 

money laundering, mail and wire fraud, etc.

The FBI often partners with other federal agencies—

like the Internal Revenue Service—to investigate 

bankruptcy fraud. We also participate in many of the 

70-plus bankruptcy fraud/mortgage fraud working groups 

and specialized task forces around the country...with 

U.S. Trustee Program representatives, U.S. attorneys, and 

other federal partners.

Bankruptcy fraud not only affects creditors like businesses 

and financial institutions who lose money from fraud, it 

also results in higher credit card and loan fees and often 

higher taxes...for everyone. So if you suspect bankruptcy 

fraud, please contact the U.S. Trustees Program at USTP.

Bankruptcy.Fraud@usdoj.gov or your local FBI office.

If you are considering filing for bankruptcy for legitimate 

reasons, contact an attorney who specializes in bankruptcies—and do your due diligence before hiring a lawyer 

by getting referrals from someone you know who has 

declared bankruptcy, checking with your local bankruptcy 

court, contacting your state bar association, etc.

Federal bankruptcy proceedings can be a lifesaver for 

honest individuals overwhelmed by debt as a result of 

unemployment, a medical crisis, divorce, disability, or any 

number of other legitimate reasons.

Unfortunately, bankruptcy can also be used by the unscrupulous to get out of paying their debts...even though 

they may have the financial assets to do so. And often, 

financial fraudsters use bankruptcy filings to prolong 

their illegal white-collar schemes—buying time before the 

game is up for good.

The FBI is the primary investigative agency responsible for addressing bankruptcy fraud. And while there 

are other financial crimes that require larger investments 

of our resources—like mortgage, financial institution, and 

health care fraud—we take our responsibility to pursue 

allegations of bankruptcy fraud very seriously. We focus 

on cases with large dollar amounts, the possible involvement of organized crime, and suspects who file in multiple 

states. Currently, we have nearly 300 pending bankruptcy 

fraud cases open around the country.

How the process begins. The U.S. Trustees Program, 

part of the Department of Justice, oversees the bankruptcy system. When it uncovers suspected fraud, it refers the 

information to the appropriate U.S. attorney and to the 

FBI. Working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, our 

investigators open a case if warranted and begin conducting interviews and reviewing financial documents. Based 

on the complexity of the case, we can also use techniques 

like undercover operations and court-authorized electronic surveillance to gather more evidence.
2012 The FBI Story 31

April 17, 2012

‘Booster’ Behind Bars

Professional Shoplifter 

Gets Prison Term

During a seven-month stretch of shoplifting, John Patrick Weismiller 

earned $43,200, which represented more than $73,000 in retail 

losses. He re-sold merchandise through online auctions.

Working with Safeway’s loss prevention personnel and 

local law enforcement, FBI agents were able to tie the 

stolen goods and online sales to Weismiller. He pled 

guilty to the thefts and, after his prison sentence, must 

serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution 

of nearly $21,000.

“Law-abiding citizens bear the cost of organized retail 

theft every time they make a purchase, paying a higher 

cost for goods than they would otherwise,” said Greg 

Fowler, special agent in charge of our Portland office.

“The FBI and its retail partners work to disrupt these 

groups by identifying and investigating the most egregious 

offenders and insuring they are held accountable.”

“This guy was incredibly brazen,” Special Agent Boyer 

said. “He was making his living doing this. This was his 

full-time job. He lived in a nice house in the suburbs with 

his wife and kids. If you lived next door,” he said, “you 

would have no idea he was a thief.”

Boyer added, “The fact that Weismiller is now in prison 

should send a message to other boosters who think they 

are flying under the legal radar: the FBI is serious about 

these crimes, and professional shoplifters will end up 

behind bars.”

An Oregon man described by prosecutors as a professional shoplifter was recently sentenced to a year and a day in 

federal prison in a case that illustrates the serious problem 

of retail theft at the hands of so-called “boosters.”

John Patrick Weismiller was sentenced in March for 

shoplifting from Portland-area retail stores and then 

selling the stolen merchandise on eBay for a handsome 

profit. In the seven-month period between January and 

July 2011, he repeatedly visited Oregon stores such as 

Safeway, Target, and Best Buy and boosted health and 

beauty products, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, and 

other items—usually by stuffing the products under his 

clothing.

Weismiller then sold the stolen merchandise online, often 

at half the price of its retail value. During that sevenmonth period, he earned $43,200, which represented 

more than $73,000 in retail losses.

Our organized retail theft program at FBI Headquarters 

focuses on the most significant retail theft cases involving 

the interstate transportation of stolen property. In most 

instances, these investigations involve organized theft 

groups, but Weismiller’s case was different because he was 

a lone operator.

“Normally, a single booster like this is handled by local 

law enforcement,” said Special Agent Joe Boyer, who 

works out of our Portland Field Office. “But when we 

have this kind of prolific thief and the U.S. Attorney 

is willing to prosecute the case, the FBI is happy to get 

involved.”

Boyer noted that most professional boosters have little 

fear of going to jail for retail theft, because their crimes 

are non-violent. Often when a booster is caught shoplifting from a retail store, he or she is cited with a fine and 

released.

Safeway’s loss prevention team documented Weismiller 

stealing merchandise from its stores 105 times in early 

2011. Despite being stopped and forbidden to return 

to Safeway outlets in July 2011, he was observed just 

two days later shoplifting at a different Safeway store. 

Prosecutors noted that between May 2006 and May 

2011, the 41-year-old Weismiller listed 6,681 items for 

sale on eBay, including hundreds of packages of Crest 

Whitestrips.
32 2012 The FBI Story

April 20, 2012

Left: A child forensic interviewer watches on closed-circuit television 

as a police officer talks to a victim during a mock interview. In addition to supporting investigations, the interviewers provide specialized training to FBI agents and law enforcement partners around the 

world. 

Child Forensic 

Interviewers

Part 1: Providing Critical Skills on

Sensitive Investigations

of victims and witnesses,” she said. “There is a delicate 

balance between doing what’s best for victims and what’s 

best for cases.”

The actual interview techniques are built on a set of 

research-based protocols. “Our techniques are very effective,” said interviewer Karen Blackwell. “We often get 

case-breaking information after traditional methods have 

failed.”

The team conducts hundreds of interviews nationwide 

every year, and it also trains others—an important part of 

the mission. “We can’t possibly handle all the interview 

requests we get,” Knapp said. “So we train law enforcement officers domestically and internationally on our 

techniques.”

Although they follow time-tested protocols, interviewers acknowledge that working with children is an art 

as well as a science, requiring experience and intuition. “You have to understand and follow the protocols,” 

Blackwell said, “but it’s also essential that you connect 

with the kids so that they trust you.”

Often, interviewers don’t have much time to establish 

that trust, and it may have to happen through an interpreter. Sometimes—because they are afraid or have 

learned not to trust adults—“the kids just aren’t ready to 

talk,” Blackwell said. “You have to deal with that.”

“We often see the worst of humanity,” Knapp explained. 

“But we also have the opportunity to have a positive 

impact on the life of a traumatized child by simply listening to them talk about their trauma. This can be amazingly powerful and helpful to the healing process.”

“We know kids don’t always tell us everything during interviews,” she added. “But disclosure is a process, and part 

of our job is to help investigators understand why a victim 

may or may not be disclosing information. On some level, 

many of these children are struggling to survive.”

Success isn’t always defined by a positive prosecution, 

Knapp noted. “Success must also include helping children 

understand that they do not have to define themselves as 

victims for the rest of their lives because of the trauma or 

abuse they may have suffered.”

Part 2: Training is essential to the mission (page 33)

An 11-year-old who witnessed a murder. A terrified 

teenager who watched her parent beat and lock her sister 

in a closet over a period of weeks. A 12-year-old lured by 

two men on the Internet to a rendezvous where she was 

raped.

In all these tragic cases, children were either witnesses 

to or victims of crimes. The ability to get them to talk 

about what they saw and experienced is the job of 

our child forensic interviewers, whose expertise is in 

constant demand across the country.

“Traditional law enforcement interviewing methods 

used in typical adult cases are counterproductive when 

it comes to child victims or witnesses to crimes,” said 

Stephanie Knapp, one of the Bureau’s four child forensic 

interviewers. “Sometimes you see unsuccessful outcomes 

in cases because of poor interview techniques. In many 

cases of child abuse, for example, where the victim is the 

only witness, the interview may be a critical element of 

the investigation.”

Part of our Office for Victim Assistance, based at FBI 

Headquarters, child forensic interviewers specialize in 

crimes involving human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, and violent crimes, including those on Indian reservations. Like her colleagues—two more members will 

soon be added to the team—Knapp is a licensed clinical 

social worker and a highly trained interviewer. While her 

goal is to support criminal investigations, “we must also 

consider the unique developmental and emotional needs 
2012 The FBI Story 33

April 24, 2012

Child Forensic 

Interviewers

Part 2: Training Our Law 

Enforcement Partners

An actress portraying a young crime victim is interviewed during an 

FBI workshop on human trafficking. The exercise was designed to

instruct law enforcement officers visiting from Central America on 

how we conduct forensic interviews with children and adolescents.

paired off with actors trained to exhibit specific victim 

behaviors, which included being less than cooperative. These officers spend their days facing down gang 

members and dangerous criminals, but quite often 

children are around when crimes occur. “So being able to 

talk to kids who are present in so many different situations is really a great skill to have,” Turman said.

In a room adjoining the interviews, classmates watched 

on closed-circuit television as their colleagues took turns 

trying to apply the protocol they just learned to a realistic interview. The underage girl who was solicited to 

send nude pictures was stoic and evasive, compelling her 

interviewer to modify his line of questioning until finally 

he made a connection. Each officer got to conduct two 

separate interviews, and each showed a marked improvement.

The FBI child forensic interviewers conduct scores of 

interviews each year and provide training and technical assistance to thousands of local, state, and federal 

partners. Finnegan said she hopes the officers will 

apply and share the FBI’s approach back home and keep 

evolving their skills.

“We’re hoping that they’re able to take some parts of our 

protocol and some understanding about the dynamics of 

exploitation away from this training,” she said.

In a makeshift interview room in Northern Virginia, a 

girl was asked to describe how she became a crime victim. 

An older man she met on the Internet lured her into 

sending him nude pictures. And now an investigator was 

trying to build a case against the man.

In this scenario, the girl was an actress playing an 

underage teen and the investigator was an international 

police officer attending a two-week human trafficking 

course at the FBI Academy in Quantico. A key piece of 

the curriculum was learning how to properly interview 

child victims using techniques practiced by the child 

forensic interviewers in the FBI’s Office for Victim 

Assistance (OVA), where a forensic interviewer’s primary 

role is to further an investigation.

“The forensic interview is to gather statements that 

can be used in court,” said Martha Finnegan, one of 

four FBI child forensic interviewers who have developed a proven approach to questioning kids following crimes and traumatic events. “We actually have a 

research-based protocol that we follow that consists of 

multiple stages. And following the protocol makes the 

interview legally defensible in a court of law.”

Knowing what to ask—and what not to ask—is essential, 

as is knowing how to get young crime victims to open up. 

The recent training was for 17 law enforcement officers 

from four Central American countries. They were led 

through scenarios covering everything from where to 

conduct interviews and who should attend to how to open 

conversations and put young victims at ease.

The officers learned different techniques for building 

rapport with young children and older adolescents, all 

the while being reminded to balance investigative efforts 

against the conditions of the victims.

“One of the most important things, besides getting the 

information and the evidence, is also to do it in a way 

that doesn’t additionally traumatize that child,” said 

Kathryn Turman, program director for OVA. “We’ve 

actually found that it can be empowering to a child to be 

able to tell what happened and to be able to tell it soon.”

Mock interviews follow the two days of lectures. The 

officers, assisted by Spanish-speaking FBI interpreters, 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
34 2012 The FBI Story

April 27, 2012

Helping Victims of Crime

Therapy Dog Program a 

First for the Bureau

washing machine, and even retrieve drinks from the 

refrigerator. “He is a very good service dog,” said Pierce, 

who is based in our Nashville Resident Agency. “But 

service dogs are not supposed to interact with the public.”

That was a problem, because Dolce loves people. 

Pierce soon realized that Dolce’s intelligence and 

temperament would make him a terrific therapy dog.

She knew from her military experience that the Army 

has a successful therapy dog program, and she set out to 

introduce a something similar at the FBI.

On her own, Pierce undertook an extensive training 

regimen with Dolce, and he passed registration exams 

given by Pet Partners and other organizations. In 2009, 

after spending many volunteer hours taking Dolce to 

nursing homes, camps for grieving children, and other 

places that use therapy dogs, Pierce’s proposal for the K-9 

Assisted Victim Assistance Program was approved by the 

FBI and adopted as a pilot program.

Since then, she and Dolce have had a very positive 

impact, comforting victims and their families in murder 

cases, kidnappings, and bank robberies, where Dolce’s 

presence is a calming influence on tellers who minutes 

before may have had a gun pointed in their faces.

Studies have shown that the presence of an animal in a 

stressful situation can produce a calming effect, Pierce 

said. “It can lower blood pressure and make you feel more 

relaxed.” In the immediate aftermath of a bank robbery, 

for example, a calm witness can better relay information 

about the crime to investigators.

“We have worked a lot of cases together,” Pierce said, 

“helping victims of child pornography and even whitecollar crime, where senior citizens lost their life savings to 

investment scam artists. Dolce has helped a lot of people,” 

she added. “I am so proud of him for all the lives he has 

touched in a positive way.”

Rachel Pierce is a victim specialist in our Office for 

Victim Assistance. Her partner is an 8-year-old German 

Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix, and together they form a 

unique and remarkable team.

The FBI uses a variety of working dogs—highly 

capable canines that can sniff out drugs and bombs, 

bolster security, and alert their handlers when they 

pick up the scent of blood. But Dolce, with his shimmering yellow coat and steel blue eyes, is the Bureau’s 

one and only therapy dog.

The job of a victim specialist, or VS, is to ensure that 

victims receive the rights they are entitled to under 

federal law and the assistance they need to cope with 

crime. With his lovable personality, Dolce excels at comforting crime victims and their families. The story of how 

he became a VS—of the K-9 variety—is a story in itself.

Pierce, a psychologist who worked for the Department of 

Defense and law enforcement before joining the Bureau 

about five years ago, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, a 

chronic inflammatory disease whose symptoms can be 

debilitating when they strike. In 2004, she went to a local 

shelter looking for a puppy she could train to be a service 

dog. That’s where she found Dolce.

“I thought it would be nice to have a dog that did some 

things around the house for me when my symptoms flared 

up,” she said. “There are days I can’t move or even lift a 

sheet.”

After extensive service dog training, Dolce learned how 

to turn light switches on and off, load laundry in the 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a video about Dolce, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.

Left: Dolce, the FBI’s first and only therapy dog.
2012 The FBI Story 35

May 1, 2012

A Byte Out of History

The Alvin Karpis Capture

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, left, after the arrest of Alvin Karpis.

waiting raid team, which had staked out the criminals’ 

apartment on Canal Street. The next day, shortly after 5 

p.m., Karpis and two others left the apartment and got in 

a Plymouth coupe. Hoover signaled his men, who closed 

in. The Director ordered Karpis to be cuffed. Ironically, 

no one had brought handcuffs, so one agent removed his 

tie and secured the hands of Alvin Karpis. The fish had 

been caught.

Within hours, Hoover was escorting Karpis back to St. 

Paul, where he eventually pled guilty to the Hamm kidnapping and was sentenced to life in prison. After stays in 

Alcatraz and other prisons, Karpis was paroled in the late 

1960s.

Hoover’s first arrest marked the end of an era, putting 

behind bars the last of the major gangsters of the 

1930s and helping to cement the reputation of the 

FBI and his own standing. He would go on to lead the 

Bureau for exactly 36 more years, dying in his sleep on 

May 2, 1972.

Mr. O’Hara certainly liked to fish. He had gone out 

almost every day, according to the superintendent of his 

apartment building in New Orleans. O’Hara had shown 

up in the Big Easy with some friends about a month 

earlier—in April 1936—but often traveled out of town to 

visit prime fishing haunts until his cash dwindled.

O’Hara was no ordinary angler. His real name was 

Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, and he was a big fish himself—

the most wanted man in America, one of the smartest 

of the Depression-era gangsters and one of the few still 

on the run. That was about to end. On May 1, 1936—76 

years ago today—Director J. Edgar Hoover and his 

increasingly capable group of agents were poised to reel 

him in.

Karpis had long led a life a crime. He was born in 

Montreal in 1907 under the name Karpavicz; his 

parents—immigrants from Lithuania—later settled down 

in Kansas. In 1926, he found himself serving 10 years in 

prison for burglary. Following a jail-break in 1930, Karpis 

began his criminal career in earnest, often working with 

members of the Barker family, all of whom were habitual 

criminals. A string of bank robberies, auto thefts, and 

even murder followed.

In 1933, Karpis, his Barker colleagues, and the rest of 

their gang turned to kidnapping, perhaps seeing the 

ransom demands as a route to easier and less dangerous money. On June 15, 1933, they snatched Minnesota 

brewer William Hamm and quickly made $100,000. Six 

months later, they abducted St. Paul banker Edward 

Bremer and demanded $200,000.

By early 1935, the ensuing investigation led to the 

arrest or deaths of most key members of the Barker/

Karpis gang. But not Karpis himself, who managed to 

elude the FBI and even went to the lengths of having 

an underworld surgeon alter his fingertips so his prints 

wouldn’t be recognized.

In April 1936, Tennessee Senator Kenneth McKellar 

called Director Hoover on the carpet during an appropriations hearing, complaining about his request for more 

funds. When the senator challenged Hoover on how 

many arrests he had made personally, the Director vowed 

to himself that he would be involved in the next big one.

So when word came that Karpis had been located, 

Hoover flew that night to New Orleans and joined the 
36 2012 The FBI Story

May 4, 2012

Left: J. Edgar Hoover’s body lies in state in the U.S. Capitol in 

1972—an honor afforded to no other civil servant before or since. 

Hoover died 40 years ago this week. AP photo

The Hoover Legacy, 

40 Years After

Part 1: The End of an Era

profound influence—and during a stretch of time when 

America was undergoing great social change—was bound 

to be marked by some mistakes and controversy. Fairly 

or unfairly, Hoover was criticized for his aggressive use of 

surveillance, his perceived reluctance to tackle civil rights 

crimes, his reputation for collecting and using information about U.S. leaders, and his seeming obsession with 

the threat of communism.

Both feared and beloved 

within his own organization, Hoover was clearly 

a complex and often 

confounding character.

He joined the Department 

of Justice in 1917 at the 

tender age of 22 and 

quickly became a rising 

star. Hoover was tapped 

by the attorney general to 

head the Bureau in 1924, 

when it was a relatively 

unknown organization 

mired in political scandal. Hard-working, smart, and a 

superb bureaucrat, Hoover took a fledgling organization 

and molded it into an international leader in law enforcement and national security, one solidly grounded in 

professionalism and the techniques of modern science. As 

the Bureau put the trigger-happy gangsters of the 1930s 

out of business and outsmarted the spies and saboteurs 

of World War II, the FBI—and its newly christened 

“G-Men”—became a household name. Hoover rode that 

wave of fame, earning widespread acclaim as the nation’s 

top lawman.

The country’s honeymoon with Hoover would ultimately 

come to an end, to some degree in the years before his 

passing and even more so after his death in the wake of 

greater scrutiny of the FBI and the growing distrust of 

government leaders that followed Watergate. Over the 

next several months, FBI.gov will explore various aspects 

of the directorship of J. Edgar Hoover through a series 

of stories and other materials, with the goal of shedding 

light on lesser-known or even caricatured areas of his 

actions and broadening the discussion on his complex 

and enduring legacy.

Part 2: Hoover’s first job and the FBI files (page 54)

He had led the FBI for nearly a half-century and worked 

for eight different presidents, becoming practically an 

institution in his own right.

So when J. Edgar Hoover’s body was found by his 

housekeeper on the morning of May 2, 1972—40 

years ago this week—the reaction was swift and farreaching.

Later that day, President Richard Nixon called a press 

conference to announce the Director’s death, saying, 

“Every American, in my opinion, owes J. Edgar Hoover a 

great debt for building the FBI into the finest law enforcement organization in the entire world.” Nixon ordered 

that all flags at government buildings be flown at halfstaff and spoke at Hoover’s funeral two days later.

Congress responded quickly as well, ordering Hoover’s 

body to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol—an honor 

afforded to no other civil servant before or since. The 

next day, as rain fell on Washington, thousands processed 

by his casket in the rotunda to pay their respects, and 

Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger eulogized the 

departed Director. Allies and admirers took to the floor 

of Congress to offer often effusive praise, and a new FBI 

building on Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the 

Capitol and the White House, was soon named in his 

honor.

At the same time, as the inevitable obituaries were 

written and TV specials aired, there was an undercurrent of reservation and some outright criticism.

Hoover’s historic 48-year tenure in such a position of 

J. Edgar Hoover
2012 The FBI Story 37

May 8, 2012

Nursing Home Abuse

Owner Cheats Government and

Neglects Residents

One of the dilapidated nursing homes owned and operated by a

Georgia man recently convicted of Medicare/Medicaid fraud.

health insurance premiums from his employees but let 

insurance lapse for non-payment, leaving many with 

large unpaid medical bills.

▪ Failure to pay vendors: Houser didn’t pay food suppliers or providers of pharmacy and clinical laboratory services, medical waste disposal, trash disposal, 

and nursing supplies. Kind-hearted employees often 

used their own money to buy milk, bread, and other 

groceries so residents would not starve. They also 

brought in their own nursing and cleaning supplies 

and washed residents’ laundry in commercial laundromats or even in their own homes.

And while his residents and employees were suffering, 

what were Houser and his wife doing? Spending their 

ill-gotten Medicare and Medicaid payments on hotel real 

estate investments, new homes, vacations, luxury cars, 

new furniture, and nannies for their child. Houser even 

gave money to an ex-wife...paying her a nursing home 

salary (even though she never worked there) and buying 

her a million-dollar home in Atlanta.

Said Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Brian Lamkin, 

“The level of greed and lack of compassion for others that 

was seen in this case reflect the very reason why the FBI, 

in working with its many and varied law enforcement 

partners, dedicates vast investigative resources to combating health care fraud.”

And in this case, we were especially happy to see that all 

three nursing homes were eventually shut down by the 

state, and residents were moved into better living quarters 

to receive the care and compassion they deserve.

Not enough food. Little air conditioning or heat. Roofs 

leaking to the point that barrels and plastic sheets were 

used to catch rain water. Trash piled up in dumpsters. 

Flies and rodents everywhere, along with rampant mold 

and mildew.

These were just some of the horrible conditions that 

elderly residents of three Georgia nursing homes lived 

under for several years.

The primary culprit? The owner of these homes who, 

despite having received more than $32.9 million in 

payments from Medicare and Medicaid for residents’ care, 

elected to pocket much of the money instead.

But he didn’t get away with it. Earlier this month, 

George Dayln Houser was convicted in Atlanta of 

defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. Houser’s accomplice 

and wife, Rhonda Washington Houser, pled guilty last 

December.

To receive Medicare and Medicaid payments, Houser 

agreed to provide his residents with a safe and clean 

physical environment, nutritional meals, medical care, 

and other assistance. But as complaints began to roll in 

from residents, family members, nursing home staffers, 

and vendors hired to provide services, it became clear he 

had no intention of doing so.

These complaints led to an investigation by the FBI’s 

Atlanta office—in concert with the Department 

of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector 

General and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal 

Investigation. Evidence gathered by investigators and 

later introduced at trial showed that the services Houser 

provided to residents were so deficient that the judge 

determined them “worthless.” It was a precedent-setting 

case...the first time ever that a defendant was federally convicted at trial for submitting payment claims for 

worthless services.

There were other deficiencies in the homes as well, 

including:

▪ Inadequate staffing: Houser failed to maintain a 

nursing staff sufficient to take proper care of the 

residents. Staffing shortages started plaguing the 

homes after Houser began writing bad checks to his 

employees, causing many to resign. He also withheld 
38 2012 The FBI Story

May 9, 2012

New Top Ten Fugitive

Help Us Find Adam Mayes

Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 

Florida. He is considered armed and dangerous.

During a press conference today in Mississippi to 

announce Mayes’ addition to the Top Ten list, Ford 

praised the “tireless efforts” of the local and state law 

enforcement officers and prosecutors from Tennessee and 

Mississippi who have worked around the clock on the 

case. “We are enlisting every available resource we have 

to locate the missing girls and to arrest Adam Mayes,” he 

said.

Mayes is the 496th person to be named to the Ten Most 

Wanted Fugitives list. Since its creation in 1950, 465 fugitives on the list have been apprehended or located—153 

of them as a result of citizen cooperation.

By adding Mayes to the list, Ford noted, “We are enlisting 

one of our most powerful weapons against crime—you, 

the citizens we serve. So as we continue our relentless 

search, we’re asking for your assistance, too.”

“It is law enforcement’s responsibility to protect those 

who cannot protect themselves, and in this situation 

that is Alexandria and Kyliyah Bain,” said Mark Gwyn, 

director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. “These 

two children have lost their mother and older sister and 

deserve to be safely returned to their father. We believe 

someone out there knows where Adam Mayes and the 

girls are and will do the right thing and contact authorities with that information. It only takes one phone call.”

05/10/12 Update: Adam Mayes has died. The two sisters he 

allegedly kidnapped were found alive.

Adam Mayes, wanted in connection with the recent 

kidnapping of a mother and her three daughters in 

Tennessee, has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted 

Fugitives list. Bodies of two of the kidnap victims were 

found last week, but two girls—ages 8 and 12—remain 

missing and are considered to be in extreme danger.

We need your help. The FBI is offering a reward of up 

to $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest 

of the 35-year-old Mayes, who has been charged with 

murder, kidnapping, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

On April 27, Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her three children 

were reported missing from Whiteville, Tennessee, 

and their vehicle was later found abandoned. Last 

week, authorities found the bodies of Bain and her 

oldest daughter, 14-year-old Adrienne, buried behind a 

mobile home where the Mayes family lived in Guntown, 

Mississippi.

“We believe Mayes could be anywhere in the United 

States, and we are extremely concerned for the safety 

of the girls,” said Aaron Ford, special agent in charge of 

our Memphis office. “Anyone who has any information 

about this case, or if you’ve seen Mayes or the girls, please 

contact your nearest FBI office or the local police immediately.”

Mayes was last seen on May 1 in Guntown. He has 

brown hair and blue eyes, is 6’3” tall, and weighs between 

175 and 235 pounds. He may have changed his appearance by growing a beard or cutting his hair, and he may 

have changed the appearances of Alexandria and Kyliyah 

Bain as well. Mayes has connections in Mississippi, 

Left: Adam Mayes, our newest Top Ten fugitive, has been charged 

with murder, kidnapping, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
2012 The FBI Story 39

May 11, 2012

Economic Espionage

How to Spot a Possible 

Insider Threat

behaviors that co-workers could have picked up on ahead 

of time, possibly preventing the information breaches 

in the first place. Many co-workers came forward only 

after the criminal was arrested. Had they reported those 

suspicions earlier, the company’s secrets may have been 

kept safe.

Here are some warning signs that could indicate that 

employees are spying and/or stealing secrets from their 

company:

▪ They work odd hours without authorization.

▪ Without need or authorization, they take proprietary 

or other information home in hard copy form and/or 

on thumb drives, computer disks, or e-mail.

▪ They unnecessarily copy material, especially if it’s 

proprietary or classified.

▪ They disregard company policies about installing 

personal software or hardware, accessing restricted 

websites, conducting unauthorized searches, or downloading confidential material.

▪ They take short trips to foreign countries for unexplained reasons.

▪ They engage in suspicious personal contacts with 

competitors, business partners, or other unauthorized 

individuals.

▪ They buy things they can’t afford.

▪ They are overwhelmed by life crises or career disappointments.

▪ They are concerned about being investigated, leaving 

traps to detect searches of their home or office or 

looking for listening devices or cameras.

If you suspect someone in your office may be committing 

economic espionage, report it to your corporate security 

officer and to your local FBI office, or submit a tip online 

at https://tips.fbi.gov/.

This past February, five individuals and five companies 

were charged with economic espionage and theft of trade 

secrets in connection with their roles in a long-running 

effort to obtain information for the benefit of companies 

controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of 

China.

According to the superseding indictment, the PRC 

government was after information on chloride-route 

titanium dioxide (TiO2) production capabilities. TiO2 

is a commercially valuable white pigment used to color 

paints, plastics, and paper. DuPont, a company based 

in Wilmington, Delaware, invented the chloride-route 

process for manufacturing TiO2 and invested heavily in 

research and development to improve the process over the 

years. In 2011, the company reported that its TiO2 trade 

secrets had been stolen.

Among the individuals charged in the case? Two longtime DuPont employees...one of whom pled guilty in 

fairly short order.

Foreign economic espionage against the U.S. is a significant and growing threat to our country’s economic 

health and security...and so is the threat from corporate insiders willing to carry it out.

And because we’re now in the digital age, insiders—who 

not so many years ago had to photocopy and smuggle 

mountains of documents out of their offices—can now 

share documents via e-mail or download them electronically on easy-to-hide portable devices.

Why do insiders do it? Lots of reasons, including greed 

or financial need, unhappiness at work, allegiance to 

another company or another country, vulnerability to 

blackmail, the promise of a better job, and/or drug or 

alcohol abuse.

How to stop them? Obviously, a strong organizational 

emphasis on personnel and computer security is key, 

and the FBI conducts outreach efforts with industry 

partners—like InfraGard—that offer a variety of security 

and counterintelligence training sessions, awareness 

seminars, and information.

You can help as well. In our experience, those who 

purloin trade secrets and other sensitive information from 

their own companies to sell overseas often exhibit certain

This digital billboard is being displayed in several regions of the country to raise awareness of the high cost of economic espionage.
40 2012 The FBI Story

May 14, 2012

Left: FBI Director Robert S. Mueller holds a candle during the dedication of names of fallen officers May 13 at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. With him were (from left) Rep. Steny Hoyer; 

Linda Moon, national president of Concerns for Police Survivors; and 

Attorney General Eric Holder. 

Police Week

FBI Honors Law 

Enforcement’s Sacrifices

continue our work together to protect our families and 

our communities,” he said.

Also today, Director Mueller presided over a memorial 

service at FBI Headquarters to honor those lost from the 

FBI family, including two agents who passed away last 

year. Among the attendees were former FBI Directors 

Louis Freeh, William Sessions, and William Webster. 

Mueller said fallen officers and agents leave behind an 

enduring legacy and through their sacrifice set a standard 

for which we are forever grateful.

“Though their stories are different, they shared much 

in common,” Mueller said. “They shared a devotion to 

service—service to the FBI, service to their communities, 

and service to our country. They shared a commitment to 

justice and to the rule of law. And they shared remarkable 

bravery.”

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy designated May 15 

as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which 

it falls as National Police Week. This year, as thousands 

of law enforcement officers from around the world gather 

in Washington, D.C. to honor colleagues who have made 

the ultimate sacrifice, the FBI joins with the rest of the 

country in paying tribute as well.

The week’s events began Sunday evening with a candlelight vigil held at the National Law Enforcement Officers 

Memorial. The names of 362 fallen officers were read 

aloud, to be added to the nearly 20,000 other names 

permanently etched into the memorial’s walls. The event 

was underscored by a preliminary report issued today 

that showed 72 law enforcement officers in the U.S. and 

Puerto Rico were feloniously killed in the line of duty in 

2011; 50 were killed accidentally. The FBI will release 

final statistics this fall in the Uniform Crime Reporting 

(UCR) program’s publication Law Enforcement Officers 

Killed and Assaulted, 2011.

“These men and women place the safety and security of 

others above their own,” Attorney General Eric Holder 

said in remarks delivered at Sunday’s ceremony. “When 

facing uncertain dangers and confronting unpredictable 

threats, they consistently respond with courage, selflessness, and strength. And every day—in communities 

nationwide—their contributions are felt and deeply 

appreciated.”

Today, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller issued a video 

message recognizing officers for putting their lives on 

the line every day. “The FBI is proud to stand shoulder 

to shoulder with our law enforcement colleagues as we 

Officers from around the country participate in the Police Unity Tour, 

a multi-day bike ride to raise awareness of the sacrifices made by 

law enforcement. The event also raises funds for the National Law 

Enforcement Officers Memorial.
2012 The FBI Story 41

May 16, 2012

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 1: May 12, 1972—A 

New Chapter is Opened

The FBI Academy in 1972, when the first women in the modern era 

were sworn in as special agents.

In 1992, Special Agent Julianne Slifco became our first 

woman legal attaché, heading our overseas office in 

Vienna. And Birdie Pasenelli became our first female 

special agent in charge, overseeing the Anchorage 

Field Office. She later became the first woman assistant director at Headquarters, in charge of the Finance 

Division.

In 2001, Special Agent Kathleen McChesney became 

the first woman to attain the rank of executive assistant 

director, further chipping away at the glass ceiling.

Today, we have 2,675 women special agents, serving on 

and leading counterterrorism squads, cyber squads, counterintelligence squads, and criminal squads. They head 

field offices, including the largest in the Bureau—New 

York. They work as firearm instructors and in all other 

specialty fields. They lead Headquarters divisions and 

overseas offices. They are superb agents who just happen 

to be women.

Wait a minute—weren’t there women agents in the 

1920s?

Yes! When J. Edgar Hoover took over the Bureau in 

1924, he inherited two female agents: Jessie B. Duckstein 

and Alaska P. Davidson, who both resigned within a few 

months as part of the Bureau’s reduction of force. But on 

November 6, 1924, Hoover himself changed the employment status of Lenore Houston from “special employee” in 

the New York office to “special agent.” She served in two 

other offices before resigning at the end of 1928. The next 

women agents weren’t hired until 1972.

Part 2: Two women blaze a trail (page 59)

On a beautiful spring day in May—40 years ago this past 

weekend—FBI Acting Director L. Patrick Gray

announced that “women applicants will now be

considered for the FBI special agent position.” He noted 

that all other...

“...existing requirements for the special agent 

position will remain unchanged...the intensive 

14-week special agent training course would remain 

unchanged [including] the use of .38 caliber 

revolver, shotgun, and rifle and a comprehensive 

physical fitness program.”

The FBI had long held that women couldn’t handle 

the physical rigors of the special agent position, which 

includes making arrests, taking part in raids, and 

engaging in self-defense. In those days, the Bureau 

operated under certain exemptions to federal regulations concerning equal employment. But times were 

changing—women were taking on more and more 

demanding positions, physically and otherwise.

With Hoover’s death on May 2, there was an opportunity 

to put into place changes that had been brewing for some 

time. So with the stroke of a pen, L. Patrick Gray opened 

a new chapter in FBI history.

40 Years of Firsts

On July 17, 1972, Joanne Pierce (Misko) and Susan Roley 

(Malone) were sworn in as FBI special agents and began 

that arduous training outlined in Gray’s press release, 

graduating in October. By the end of that year, 11 women 

would be sworn in.

In 1978, Special Agent Christine Karpoch (Jung) would 

become the first female firearms instructor—and she 

would shoot the coveted “possible,” a perfect score on the 

FBI’s Practical Pistol Range.

In 1985, Robin Ahrens became, tragically, the first female 

agent killed in the line of duty.

In 1990, Special Agents Susan Sprengel and Helen 

Bachor were sent to London and Montevideo, Uruguay to 

serve as the FBI’s first female assistant legal attachés.
42 2012 The FBI Story

May 18, 2012

Left: FBI Director Robert S. Mueller speaks during a ceremony honoring Giovanni Falcone at FBI Headquarters. 

Remembering 

Giovanni Falcone

Italian Judge Assassinated by the

Mafia 20 Years Ago

Freeh and Falcone’s personal and professional relationships. At the same time in Italy, Falcone was prosecuting his own Mafia trial—the Maxi Trial—which put 

hundreds of mafiosi behind bars.

Although the Mafia for years threatened Falcone and his 

family and assassinated his Italian colleagues, “he carried 

on,” said Michael Kortan, assistant director of the FBI’s 

Office of Public Affairs. “He was a champion of the rule 

of law.”

Freeh remembered that although Falcone’s life was under 

constant threat, he always felt safe in the U.S. surrounded 

by his American law enforcement colleagues. “He loved 

the FBI,” Freeh said, adding that the Mafia made a 

“serious miscalculation” by killing Falcone. Instead of intimidating the Italian police, they—and the FBI—“rallied 

to the investigation of his murder.”

After Falcone’s assassination, then-FBI Director 

William Sessions introduced the idea of a Falcone 

Memorial Garden at the FBI Academy in Quantico, 

Virginia. Two years later, then-Director Freeh saw 

the plan through and dedicated a bronze memorial to 

Falcone at Quantico.

Prosecutor Liliana Ferraro, a friend and colleague of 

Falcone who took his seat after his assassination, said, 

“The Italian police and the FBI continue to work closely 

together against common enemies. As they fight organized crime together, they still use many lessons from 

Falcone, such as the importance of international cooperation and the protection of key witnesses.”

She added that Falcone “believed in friendship, loyalty, 

justice, and cooperation. On those shared values, we 

have developed a strong partnership that has enabled our 

countries to fight with success against organized crime 

and terrorism.”

“Judge Falcone always understood that there was strength 

in numbers,” Mueller said, “and that defeating the Mafia 

would require true solidarity. Due to his foresight, we 

have dealt a devastating blow to organized criminal 

syndicates.”

The relationships that Falcone forged years ago between 

the Italian National Police and the FBI “have borne 

tremendous fruit in this age of international crime and 

terrorism,” Mueller added. “Those friendships have set 

the standard for global cooperation among law enforcement.”

On May 23, 1992, Mafia hit men detonated a roadside 

bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, his wife, and three 

bodyguards as they drove near Palermo, Italy. The assassination was payback for all the organized criminals 

Falcone had put behind bars as a prosecutor and judge.

To mark the 20th anniversary of his murder, a tribute 

was held at FBI Headquarters to remember Falcone as 

a courageous opponent of the Mafia—and one of the 

earliest advocates of international cooperation in the 

fight against organized crime.

Director Robert S. Mueller, who was joined by two former 

FBI Directors and several Italian dignitaries in paying 

tribute to Falcone, noted, “Long before ‘globalization’ 

became part of our vernacular, Judge Falcone recognized 

that no one department or country could fight crime 

alone. He went to great lengths to cultivate strong relationships—friendships—with partners here in the United 

States and around the world.”

The FBI’s special relationship with Falcone was forged 

decades ago through two major cases in the U.S. and 

Italy at a time when the Mafia was powerful in both 

places. Louis Freeh, a federal prosecutor in New York 

City who would later become Director of the FBI, was 

cracking down on the Mafia. In a case known as the Pizza 

Connection, the FBI, the NYPD, and federal prosecutors 

teamed with Falcone and Italian authorities to bust an 

international heroin smuggling ring that laundered drug 

money through pizza parlors. The 1985 trial cemented 
2012 The FBI Story 43

May 22, 2012

Domestic Threat

White Supremacy Extremism

▪ In January 2012, the last of four Arkansas defendants 

charged with firebombing the home of an interracial 

couple was sentenced to federal prison. 

▪ In December 2011, a Washington man was sentenced 

to 32 years in prison for attempting to bomb a Martin 

Luther King, Jr. Unity Day march in Spokane. 

▪ In May 2010, an Oregon man pled guilty to mailing 

a hangman’s noose to the home of the president of a 

local NAACP chapter in Ohio. 

Moving forward, we see three keys to turning back the 

ongoing scourge of white supremacy extremism:

▪ Our increased emphasis on the lawful gathering, 

analyzing, and sharing of intelligence on current and 

emerging trends, tactics, and threats.

▪ Continued collaboration with our local, state, tribal, 

and federal partners, especially on our Joint Terrorism 

Task Forces around the nation.

▪ And most importantly, the support of Americans who 

find these types of crimes abhorrent and antithetical 

to our way of life.

If you have information on domestic terror threats of any 

kind, submit a tip at https://tips.fbi.gov or contact your 

local FBI field office.

It was a gruesome and hateful crime—three men with 

white supremacist tattoos punching and kicking the face 

and body of an African-American man at a bus stop in 

Houston last summer simply because of the color of his 

skin. All three were recently convicted of the attack, following an investigation by the FBI and its partners.

It’s not an isolated case. It seems like a throwback to a 

different era, but white supremacy—which sees whites as 

inherently superior to those of other races—still exists 

in America today. Having those kinds of beliefs is not 

against the law...as a matter of fact, it’s protected by 

the First Amendment. But white supremacy becomes a 

crime—and for the FBI, a form of what we call extremism—when it is furthered through threatened or actual 

use of force or violence or other illegal activity.

The Bureau has been investigating the criminal activities of white supremacy extremists like Ku Klux Klan 

members since as early as 1918. Today’s extremists are 

more challenging than ever. They’re affiliated with a 

variety of white supremacy groups, and they can be motivated by any number of religious or political ideologies. 

We’re also seeing more lone offenders and small, violent 

factions of larger groups at work, which makes detection 

of these crimes tougher.

White supremacy extremists specifically target racial, 

ethnic, and religious minorities; the federal government; 

and in some instances, even each other. Their tactics 

include assault, murder, threats and intimidation, and 

bombings. They also commit other kinds of crimes—like 

drug trafficking, bank and armored car robberies, and 

counterfeiting—to fund their hate-filled activities.

Over the years, the federal government has successfully 

charged white supremacy extremists using a number 

of federal statutes, including civil rights violations, 

racketeering, solicitation to commit crimes of violence, 

firearms violations, explosives violations, counterfeiting 

and forgery, and witness tampering.

In recent months, the FBI has led or participated in 

several significant investigations involving violence or 

attempted violence by self-admitted white supremacists. A few examples:

▪ In February 2012, an Arizona man was sentenced to 

federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing and 

transporting improvised explosive devices near the 

U.S.-Mexico border. 
44 2012 The FBI Story

May 25, 2012

Looking for Our Children

National Missing Children’s Day 2012

can be for our kids...and our Resources for Parents page 

to learn how to protect them in today’s world.

To further help keep kids safe, we are also launching 

a new version of our Child ID app for Android mobile 

phones today.

Note: The children pictured here may have been located since 

the above information was posted on our website. Please 

check our Wanted by the FBI webpage for up-to-date information.

These are just a very few of the children who are far from 

home today.

Please take a minute to look at all the faces on our 

Kidnapping and Missing Persons webpage and see if you 

can identify Asha, Daniel, Sierra, or any of the other 

children listed there with their stories. 

Also take a look at the faces of the children who have 

been kidnapped by a parent—Melissa Hinako Braden and 

the many other kids.

And we hope you’ll visit our Crimes Against Children 

page to learn all you can about what a dangerous world it 
2012 The FBI Story 45

May 29, 2012

The Case of the 

Misbranded Drug

Leads to Massive

Fine and Penalties

Health care fraud cases are typically labor intensive, and 

this one was no exception, involving the review of thousands of Merck documents and interviews of numerous 

Merck employees, field sales representatives, doctors, 

consultants, researchers, and others. The case was truly 

a team effort with partners including the Department 

of Health and Human Services, FDA, Veterans 

Administration, Office of Personnel Management, and 

the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control 

Units.

The multi-year investigation paid off in a massive way:

Last month, Merck was ordered to pay a criminal fine 

of $321 million for introducing a misbranded drug into 

interstate commerce after pleading guilty late last year. In 

November 2011, Merck also entered into a civil agreement to pay $628 million to resolve additional allegations 

regarding off-label marketing of Vioxx and false statements about the drug’s cardiovascular safety.

Together, that’s nearly $950 million in penalties 

that will be returned to federal and state health care 

programs, a significant windfall to taxpayers.

Another significant outcome: Merck agreed to enter 

into a corporate integrity agreement with the Department 

of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector 

General that will strengthen the system of reviews and 

oversight procedures imposed on the company.

It all goes to show that crime doesn’t pay...or as Boston 

FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers says, 

“No corporation is immune from being held accountable 

for criminal and civil violations of the law.”

Fake treatments and bogus billings are all too common 

in the mega-billion-dollar business of health care fraud. 

But there’s another serious dimension to the problem, 

especially when it comes to the health and safety of the 

American people.

It’s called misbranding, and it involves hawking the 

benefits of a prescription drug without government 

approval or even claiming the drug can do something it 

can’t.

A good case in point: the prescription pain killer 

Vioxx, which first hit the shelves in May 1999 after 

approval by the Food and Drug Administration 

(FDA). The drug—manufactured by Merck, (now known 

as Merck, Sharpe, & Dohme)—was designed to treat 

osteoarthritis, acute pain, and dysmenorrhrea (painful 

menstrual cramps).

The trouble began when Merck sales reps began claiming 

the drug could also treat rheumatoid arthritis. Under 

federal law, in order to change or add a new usage for an 

already-approved drug, companies must either amend 

their original applications or submit a new one...complete 

with information about clinical trials and proposed 

labeling. Merck did submit an amended application, but 

not until 2001, almost two years after the company had 

been marketing Vioxx as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. FDA did not approve that application until April 

2002. So that meant that from May 1999 to April 2002, 

Merck was promoting and selling a misbranded drug—

despite an FDA letter of warning issued in September 

2001.

At the same time, Merck representatives were making 

inaccurate, unsupported, or misleading statements 

about Vioxx’s cardiovascular safety in order to boost 

the sales of the drug. But in September 2004, Merck 

voluntarily pulled Vioxx from the market when a study 

was halted because of an increased risk of heart attacks 

and strokes in study patients taking Vioxx.

Our investigation began in late 2004, when our Boston 

office and the local U.S. Attorney’s Office learned about 

possible illegal activity surrounding the promotion and 

marketing of Vioxx before it was taken off the market.
46 2012 The FBI Story

June 1, 2012

Left: A special agent overlooks the Shiprock land formation on the 

Navajo Nation in New Mexico.

Journey Through 

Indian Country

Part 1: Fighting Crime on

Tribal Lands

Investigators must also deal with the emotional strain of 

the work—the brutality and frequency of the crimes can 

take a toll.

“The work our people are doing on the reservations is 

truly front-line,” said Carol K.O. Lee, special agent in 

charge of our Albuquerque office. “Agents have to be 

independent and adaptable to get the job done, because 

even with the excellent help of our law enforcement 

partners like the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the territory is 

so vast you rarely have the resources you need.”

Nationwide, the FBI has investigative responsibilities 

for about 200 federally recognized Indian reservations. More than 100 agents in 19 of the Bureau’s 

56 field offices work Indian Country matters full 

time—and we’ve represented federal law enforcement 

on tribal lands since the 1920s. In New Mexico, home 

to a portion of the Navajo Nation—the largest reservation in the country, occupying an area bigger than the 

state of West Virginia—agents investigate cases against a 

backdrop of majestic mesas and stark beauty.

The murdered man mentioned above was found eight 

miles from the nearest paved road, not far from the 

landmark Shiprock formation sacred to the Navajo 

people. “The victim went out drinking with a bunch 

of guys and ended up dead,” said Special Agent Mike 

Harrigan, who supervises an Indian Country squad. The 

body has been identified and the death has been ruled 

a homicide, Harrigan explained, and investigators are 

tracking down leads. He noted that if the rancher hadn’t 

happened by, or the body had been dumped a few feet 

further from the road, “there is a good chance the victim 

never would have been discovered. Unfortunately, killings 

like this are all too common in Indian Country.”

Despite the difficulties they face, the dedication and commitment of FBI personnel in Indian Country has helped 

make Native American communities safer, said Special 

Agent in Charge Lee. “We have a long way to go, but we 

are definitely making a difference.”

Part 2: Making an impact on the reservation (page 48)

Driving along a dirt road on the Navajo Reservation 

in New Mexico recently, a rancher crested a ridge and 

noticed two animals intent on something in a nearby 

ditch. As he approached, one of the scavengers loped 

away—the other looked up, its mouth glistening with 

blood. The rancher guessed one of his sheep had been 

attacked, but he soon discovered something much different: the discarded body of a murder victim. It was going 

to be another busy day for our agents in Indian Country.

By law, the FBI is responsible for investigating 

the most serious crimes within Indian Country—

homicide, child sexual assault, and violence against 

women among them. The numbers of such offenses 

are striking: approximately one out of every four 

violent crimes prosecuted federally by the Department 

of Justice occurs on Indian reservations.

Investigating crimes on native lands poses a unique 

challenge for FBI personnel and their law enforcement 

partners. Working in Indian Country, as we call it, often 

means operating in isolated, forbidding terrain where 

cultural differences abound. Some older Native American 

people, for example, do not speak English. Dwellings may 

lack electricity or running water. On many reservations 

there are few paved roads or marked streets. Agents might 

be called to a crime scene in the middle of the night 120 

miles away and given these directions: “Go 10 miles off 

the main road, turn right at the pile of tires, and go up 

the hill.” In some areas, crime scenes are so remote that 

cell phones and police radios don’t work.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch one in a series of related videos,

or visit http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
2012 The FBI Story 47

June 5, 2012

New Top Ten Fugitive

Help Us Find a

Rapist and Murderer

Fidel Urbina is wanted for allegedly beating and raping a woman in 

March 1998. Seven months later, while out on bond, he allegedly 

beat, raped, and killed a second woman.

We need your help. If you have any information about 

Fidel Urbina, please call the Chicago FBI at (312) 

421-6700 or your nearest law enforcement agency or U.S. 

Embassy or Consulate. You can also submit a tip online at 

https://tips.fbi.gov.

“He’s been on the run for over 10 years,” Araya said. “He 

may be hiding in Mexico thinking that he is safe, but our 

hope is that because of the Top Ten publicity, someone 

who knows him or who recognizes his picture will think 

about that $100,000 reward and give us a call.”

Urbina is the 497th person to be placed on the FBI’s 

Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Since its creation in 

1950, 466 fugitives on the list have been apprehended or 

located—154 of them as a result of citizen cooperation.

Fidel Urbina, the subject of a nationwide manhunt since 

1999 in connection with two sexual assaults and murder, 

has been named to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

The former Chicago resident is wanted for allegedly 

beating and raping a woman in March 1998 and—seven 

months later, while free on bond—for beating, raping, 

and strangling a second Chicago woman to death. That 

woman’s body was found in the trunk of a burned-out car.

“Fidel Urbina is wanted for his role in two brutal attacks 

directed against innocent victims,” said Robert Grant, 

special agent in charge of our Chicago office. “These 

crimes have demonstrated his violent nature and the 

need to locate and apprehend him before he can strike 

again. We are hoping that the publicity associated with 

this case, along with the significant reward being offered, 

will lead to his arrest.”

We are offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to Urbina’s arrest. The fugitive, 

who is now 37 years old, is a Mexican national who is 6 

feet tall and weighs approximately 170 pounds. He has 

black hair, brown eyes, and a noticeably pockmarked 

right cheek. He has been known to use numerous aliases, 

including the names Lorenzo Maes, Fernando Ramos, 

and Fidel Urbina Aquirre. Given the nature of the 

charges against him, Urbina should be considered armed 

and dangerous.

The search for Urbina is being coordinated by our 

Violent Crimes Task Force (VCTF) in Chicago, which 

includes FBI agents, detectives from the Chicago Police 

Department, and Cook County Sheriff’s Office investigators.

Special Agent Pablo Araya, fugitive coordinator for the 

VCTF, believes Urbina is hiding somewhere in Mexico. 

“Wherever he is,” Araya said, “my guess is that women 

are in danger there, because this guy has shown no 

remorse and isn’t likely to change his ways. That’s why we 

need to catch him.”

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Urbina in 1999, 

and in 2006 a provisional arrest warrant was signed by 

a federal magistrate in Mexico. But despite law enforcement’s best efforts—which have included the case being 

profiled nationally on America’s Most Wanted and locally 

on Chicago’s Most Wanted television shows—the fugitive 

remains at large.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
48 2012 The FBI Story

June 7, 2012

Left: Special Agent Mac McCaskill visits a home on the Tohajiilee 

Reservation, a satellite reservation of the Navajo Nation where many 

homes lack electricity and running water.

Journey Through 

Indian Country

Part 2: Making an Impact on the

Reservation

reservations and the kinds of crime we see here,” he 

explained. “People are living in really difficult circumstances.”

In Tohajiilee, a satellite reservation that is part of the 

Navajo Nation, many homes lack electricity and running 

water, and social ills such as alcoholism are rampant. 

These issues, along with the fact that there are only 

a handful of tribal police officers assigned to patrol a 

sprawling area of more than 120 square miles, contribute 

to a serious crime problem.

“There are terrible crimes that happen on the reservations that go virtually unnoticed by the world outside,” 

McCaskill said. “If they happened anywhere else, in 

Denver or in Dallas, it would be front-page news for a 

week.”

As a result, he said, “we are serving a community that 

isn’t used to getting much service.” Perhaps it’s not surprising then that women beaten by boyfriends or spouses 

or children sexually assaulted by family members may 

believe a call to authorities will do little to help them.

McCaskill works hard to change that perception. He 

patiently explained to the young mother the importance 

of serving the subpoena—so that the witness will testify, 

which could help make sure the violent offender stays in 

jail and no longer poses a threat to the community.

“Our caseloads may be 75 percent sexual assaults against 

children,” McCaskill said later. “People ask me if it’s 

difficult emotionally to work these cases, and my answer 

is always, ‘How can you not work them?’ These are cases 

where on a very fundamental level you are able to make a 

difference in a victim’s life by taking an abuser out of the 

family. When I help a victim and get to know the family,” 

he added, “I may be one of the few positive influences 

that they’ve ever seen from outside the reservation.”

Stopping that cycle of violence on the reservation is 

“extremely rewarding,” McCaskill said. “We are helping 

people here.”

Part 3: Murder on the Zuni Reservation (page 51)

Snow swirled in New Mexico’s high plains as Special 

Agent Mac McCaskill slowed his vehicle at the bottom 

of a hill on the Tohajiilee Reservation. He engaged the 

four-wheel drive before continuing slowly up the steep, 

bumpy track on his way to deliver a subpoena in a violent 

assault case.

McCaskill had driven an hour from Albuquerque on this 

20-degree morning—typical of the distances that often 

separate agents from their cases in Indian Country—and 

now he was knocking on the door of a small wooden 

structure with one boarded-up window. On the hillside 

just beyond the dwelling sat a rusted trailer and an 

outhouse. A young woman holding an infant opened 

the door and told McCaskill the man he was looking for 

would be back later.

“On the reservation you can’t just call someone 

because many people don’t have a phone,” McCaskill 

said, explaining the challenges of investigating crimes 

in Indian Country. “Sometimes the best way to get 

anything done is to knock on doors.”

In the process of knocking on doors and talking to 

people, McCaskill and other agents working in Indian 

Country become not just law enforcement officers but 

advocates for justice and sometimes even role models. 

A New Mexico native, McCaskill said his eyes were “wide 

open” when he took an assignment in Indian Country. 

“Still, it’s difficult to comprehend the conditions on the 
2012 The FBI Story 49

June 11, 2012

Crimes Rates are Down

According to 2011 Preliminary

Report

This preliminary report includes four data tables. The 

first two tables show the percent change in offenses 

known to law enforcement for 2011 compared with those 

for 2010 by population group and region of the country, 

respectively. The third table reflects the percent change 

in offenses reported nationwide for consecutive years back 

to 2007. The fourth table presents the actual number 

of offenses known to law enforcement for agencies who 

provided 12 months of complete data and who serve a 

resident population of 100,000 or more.

All of the final figures will be published this fall in Crime 

in the United States, 2011.

Submitting Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data to 

the FBI is a collective effort on the part of city, county, 

state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies 

to present a nationwide view of crime. Participating 

agencies voluntarily provide reports on crimes known to 

them, using uniform offense definitions. For the most 

part, agencies submit monthly crime reports to a centralized repository in their state. The state UCR program 

then forwards the data to the FBI’s national UCR 

program, where staff members first review the information for accuracy and reasonableness, then enter it into 

the national UCR database.

The information is then publicly disseminated through 

various reports, including Crime in the United States, Hate 

Crime Statistics, and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and 

Assaulted, as well as through preliminary data reports and 

special reports on particular topics.

As always, the FBI cautions against drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities or 

individual agencies—valid assessments are only possible 

with careful study and analysis of the unique conditions 

that affect each law enforcement jurisdiction.

Preliminary figures released today indicate that the 

number of violent crimes and property crimes reported by 

law enforcement across the nation during 2011 decreased 

when compared to 2010 figures.

According to our Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime 

Report, January-December 2011, violent crimes fell 4.0 

percent, and property crimes dropped 0.8 percent. 

Arson—also a property crime even though its data is 

considered separately because of various levels of participation by reporting agencies—was down 5.0 percent 

overall.

Highlights from the preliminary report include:

▪ In the violent crime category, murder was down 

overall 1.9 percent from 2010 figures, while forcible 

rape, robbery, and aggravated assault all fell 4.0 

percent.

▪ There was, however, an increase in murder in the 

Midwest (0.6 percent) and an 18.3 percent jump in 

murder in cities with populations of less than 10,000.

▪ In the property crime category, motor vehicle theft 

saw the largest decline (3.3 percent) from 2010 

figures, followed by larceny-theft (0.9 percent).

▪ The only overall rise in property crimes was in the 

burglary category, which was up .03 percent overall, 

with increases of 3.2 percent in the Northeast, 1.3 

percent in the Midwest, and 0.7 percent in the West.
50 2012 The FBI Story

Left: A composite sketch of a suspect in a September 2005 sexual 

assault whose DNA is linked to Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder.

June 13, 2012

Help Us Catch a Killer

Unknown Offender Linked by 

DNA in Two Separate Cases

Her remains were discovered the following January in a 

remote field on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia. A 

camera she had that night and a distinctive Swarovski 

crystal necklace she was wearing have not been recovered.

FBI agents in our Charlottesville Resident Agency have 

been assisting state investigators, and profilers from our 

Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) have also provided 

consultation.

“A lot of BAU’s work focused on the location of the body 

and what that told us about the offender,” Cappuzzo said. 

“We believe he was intimately familiar with the farm and 

the surrounding area where the body was recovered. He 

may have been comfortable there and felt he was not at 

risk of getting caught.”

DNA recovered in the Harrington case was linked 

to an unknown offender in a September 2005 sexual 

assault in Fairfax City. A 26-year-old woman was 

attacked at night while walking home from a grocery 

store. The offender was scared away by a passerby—but 

the victim got a good look at him, enabling a Fairfax City 

Police artist to produce a sketch of the attacker.

“It was a remarkable break to get the DNA match,” said 

FBI Special Agent Jane Collins. The forensic evidence 

linked the two cases, so now we have a face to put 

with the suspect in the Harrington case. The suspect is 

described as an African-American male with black hair 

and facial hair (at the time of the 2005 attack). He is 

approximately 6 feet tall and was believed to be between 

the ages of 25 and 35 years old at the time of the Fairfax 

City assault.

Help us catch Morgan Harrington’s killer. If you have 

any information about the Harrington case or the Fairfax 

City assault, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, the 

Virginia State Police Tip line at 434-352-3467, or submit a 

tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov.

On a Saturday night in October 2009, college student 

Morgan Harrington left a Metallica concert at the 

University of Virginia in Charlottesville and disappeared. 

It would be several months before her body was discovered in a field about 10 miles away.

We need your help to find Harrington’s killer. The 

individual we are seeking has also been linked by DNA 

to a sexual assault in Fairfax City, Virginia, a suburb 

of Washington, D.C. Today, the Virginia State Police, 

Fairfax City Police, and the FBI released two enhanced 

sketches of the suspect and are reminding the public there 

is a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to 

an arrest and conviction in the Harrington case.

The multimedia campaign being launched today to draw 

attention to the investigation will include information 

on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, a 

public service announcement by Metallica, and electronic 

billboards in Virginia and along the East Coast.

“Bringing renewed attention to the case will get people 

thinking about it again,” said Virginia State Police Special 

Agent Dino Cappuzzo. “Our hope is that someone will 

come forward and provide a crucial piece of information 

that will help us solve the murder.”

Harrington was a 20-year-old student at Virginia Tech 

when she went to the concert that Saturday, October 

17, at the John Paul Jones Arena on the University of 

Virginia campus. At about 8:30 p.m., she left the building 

and was unable to get back inside. She was last seen 

hitchhiking nearby.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch one of three related videos,

or visit http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
2012 The FBI Story 51

June 18, 2012

Journey Through 

Indian Country

Part 3: Murder on the 

Zuni Reservation

Floyd Yuselew killed his friend in this house on the Zuni Reservation 

during a confrontation after a night of drinking in 2009. The victim’s 

body was found months later, still well-preserved by the winter freeze.

“We have a close relationship with all the tribal police,” 

Fortunato said. “It would be difficult for us to do our jobs 

without that partnership, and they depend on us as well.” 

In the Yuselew case, for example, Fortunato called in the 

Bureau’s Evidence Response Team (ERT) to help work 

the crime scene.

“When ERT processed the scene,” he explained, “there 

was a lot of blood and other evidence, like alcohol cans 

we were able to pull fingerprints from. The blood spatter 

and other evidence inside the house made it clear it was 

not the girlfriend who did the crime.”

In the end, Yuselew pled guilty to second-degree 

murder and is currently serving a 17-year sentence.

The case is one of many senseless crimes Fortunato 

and his colleagues investigate in Indian Country. “We 

invariably see the bad side of things here,” he said. “We 

are constantly seeing tragedy, loss, and people who hurt 

family members. That is the hardest thing for me about 

working in Indian Country.”

Still, Fortunato is pleased that justice was served in the 

Yuselew case, and he believes in the goodness of the vast 

majority of Native Americans. “Anyone who has visited 

the Navajo and Zuni reservations and spent time here 

will tell you that most of the people are terrific, very 

friendly, and welcoming.”

Part 4: Teamwork makes a difficult job easier (page 52)

Special Agent John Fortunato walked behind the abandoned house on the Zuni Reservation in western New 

Mexico and pointed out where Floyd Yuselew dug a grave 

to bury the friend he had murdered with an ax to the 

head.

The two had been drinking, and investigators believe 

the murder was committed because Yuselew thought 

his buddy had been flirting with his girlfriend. When 

tribal police and the FBI learned of the crime in March 

2009, they found the victim still sitting in the chair where 

he had been killed months earlier. Because the house was 

unheated throughout the cold winter, the body—and the 

crime scene—had been perfectly preserved.

Uncertain what to do with the body, and not wishing to 

live in his house with a corpse, Yuselew and his girlfriend 

moved in with friends. Periodically, he returned to dig in 

the frozen backyard to make a grave. Later, Yuselew was 

afraid his girlfriend would turn him in for the murder 

when their relationship ended badly, so he called the Zuni 

police, told them about the body, and tried to pin the 

crime on her.

As unusual as the case may seem, in many ways it 

is a common Indian Country crime: a tragic killing 

successfully investigated and prosecuted thanks to 

the strong relationships between tribal authorities, 

the FBI, and federal prosecutors. Criminal jurisdiction 

in Indian Country is a complicated web of tribal, state, 

and federal rules. The sovereign status of many tribes 

precludes most states from exercising jurisdiction. Instead, 

that authority resides with the tribes, but only for nonfelony offenses. It is the FBI’s responsibility to investigate 

major crimes such as murder, and tribal authorities rely 

on the muscle of the federal judicial system to prosecute 

those crimes to the fullest.

“By law these major crimes are federally prosecuted, and 

the FBI is the vehicle for getting them to federal court,” 

said Special Agent Mike Harrigan, who supervises a 

squad of Indian Country investigators. “But the successful 

investigation of such crimes isn’t just a Bureau role,” he 

added, “it is a tribal and Bureau partnership.”
52 2012 The FBI Story

June 22, 2012

Left: The uninitiated can get lost very quickly on the reservation. 

“When the sun goes down,” said a Navajo criminal investigator, “in 

some places on the reservation you can’t see your hand in front of 

your face.”

Journey Through 

Indian Country

Part 4: Teamwork Makes a

Difficult Job Easier

in 1994 on the Navajo Reservation and has since 

expanded to 15 locations around the country. The idea 

is to unite the Bureau with other federal, local, and tribal 

law enforcement agencies to combat Indian Country 

crime.

Through the task force and other initiatives, the FBI 

provides invaluable training and equipment to tribal law 

enforcement. “It has helped us do our job,” St. Germaine 

said. “We are challenged financially on the Navajo 

Nation. The FBI supplies us with vehicles and other 

equipment. Without that contribution,” he added, “I 

think we would be in real serious trouble.”

“And without our tribal partners,” said Special Agent 

Lenny Johns, who supervises our Santa Fe Resident 

Agency, “it would be virtually impossible for the Bureau 

to accomplish its mission in Indian Country. Many times 

it’s just one FBI agent on the reservation dealing with a 

complex crime scene. The tribal criminal investigators 

and evidence technicians are critical to the process of 

conducting interviews and collecting evidence. Without 

them, we’d get very little traction.”

“The FBI brings resources that we’re in dire need of,” 

added veteran criminal investigator Leslie. “But they also 

bring knowledge.” Leslie has received a variety of FBI 

training, both in the classroom and on the job at crime 

scenes.

Donovan Becenti, a Navajo Nation crime scene technician, has processed many crime scenes with the FBI’s 

Evidence Response Team (ERT) and has benefited from 

FBI training as well.

“The partnership is great,” Becenti said. “ERT out of 

Albuquerque is where I’ve gotten most of my training. 

Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today as far 

as my skill level. And they also provide equipment—

evidence collection supplies and whatever else I need to 

help get the job done.”

Becenti was recently presented with an FBI Director’s 

Certificate for his many years of helping ERT process 

crime scenes on the Navajo reservation. “When you work 

alongside someone for 12 straight hours on a homicide 

scene in freezing fog and sub-zero temperatures,” he said, 

“it builds mutual trust and respect.”

Part 5: A zero-tolerance approach (page 56)

Louis St. Germaine, a long-time criminal investigator for 

the Navajo Nation, has worked closely with FBI agents 

over the years and recalls the surprise many of them 

express when first coming to Indian Country.

“Sometimes agents expect to see street numbers and 

paved roads,” said St. Germaine, who was born and 

raised on the reservation. “Out here, you make one 

wrong turn at an isolated place and go a few hundred feet 

and you can get very lost very quickly.”

“And when the sun goes down,” said Malcolm Leslie, 

another Navajo criminal investigator, “in some places on 

the reservation you can’t see your hand in front of your 

face.”

From the most basic task of finding a crime scene to more 

complicated matters regarding language and cultural 

barriers, FBI agents in Indian Country depend on their 

local, federal, and tribal law enforcement partners. And 

our partners rely equally on us—for expertise, training, 

and other resources.

“I don’t think one can do without the other,” said St. 

Germaine. “Navajo Nation investigators—we’ve been 

here a long time. We are familiar with the area, the 

crimes, and the people. The FBI is well-skilled in doing 

investigations. So we combine our talents, and it works 

well.”

St. Germaine was one of the original members of the 

first Safe Trails Task Force, which the FBI created 
2012 The FBI Story 53

June 25, 2012

Operation Cross Country

Nationwide Sweep Recovers 

Child Victims of Prostitution

In the continuing effort to address the national problem 

of child sex trafficking, the FBI and our partners today 

announced the results of a three-day law enforcement 

action in which 79 child victims of prostitution were 

recovered and more than 100 pimps were arrested.

Operation Cross Country VI, part of the Bureau’s 

Innocence Lost National Initiative, was conducted 

over the past 72 hours in 57 cities around the country 

with the help of state and local law enforcement and 

the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 

(NCMEC).

“Child prostitution remains a major threat to children 

across America,” said Kevin Perkins, acting executive 

assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, 

and Services Branch. “It is a violent and deplorable crime, 

and we are working with our partners to disrupt and put 

behind bars individuals and members of criminal enterprises who would sexually exploit children.”

The Innocence Lost National Initiative was launched in 

2003 by the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division in partnership with NCMEC and the Department of Justice’s 

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

To date, 47 Innocence Lost Task Forces and working 

groups have recovered more than 2,200 children from the 

streets. The investigations and subsequent 1,017 convictions of pimps, madams, and their associates who exploit 

children through prostitution have resulted in lengthy 

sentences—including multiple sentences of 25 years to 

life in prison—and the seizure of more than $3 million in 

assets.

Operation Cross Country national sweeps usually grow 

out of local law enforcement actions—officers and other 

task force members target places of prostitution such as 

truck stops, casinos, street “tracks,” and Internet websites. 

Initial arrests are often for violations of local and state 

laws relating to prostitution or solicitation. Intelligence 

gathered from those arrested can reveal organized efforts 

to prostitute women and children across many states. 

FBI agents further develop this information in partnership with U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Department 

of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section to 

bring federal charges against pimps and other sex traffickers.

“It is clear that child prostitution and sex trafficking 

do not just occur somewhere else on the other side of 

the world,” said Ernie Allen, president of NCMEC. 

“These insidious crimes are occurring in American 

cities, and the victims are American kids.”

At a press conference today at FBI Headquarters in 

Washington, D.C., Allen thanked the FBI for its leadership over the past decade in fighting domestic sex trafficking. The Bureau, in turn, expressed gratitude to the 

more than 8,500 local, state, and federal law enforcement 

officers representing 414 separate agencies who participated in the most recent Operation Cross Country and 

ongoing enforcement efforts.

In addition to its enforcement successes, the Innocence 

Lost National Initiative brings state and federal law 

enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service 

providers from across the country to NCMEC, where the 

groups receive training together.

FBI and law enforcement personnel talk to a victim during the

Operation Cross Country VI sweep.
54 2012 The FBI Story

June 28, 2012

Left: J. Edgar Hoover is seen in a George Washington University Law 

School yearbook picture from 1916.

The Hoover Legacy, 

40 Years After

Part 2: His First Job and the

FBI Files

But were the FBI files modeled on the Library of Congress 

system? Actually, no. The FBI filing system is based on 

the type of case the file covers. Each file is designated 

by a classification number—for example, kidnapping 

cases begin with the number 7, espionage cases with the 

number 65. This is only vaguely similar to the Library’s 

system. Also, these classifications were already being used 

by the Department of Justice; Hoover’s Bureau simply 

adapted them for its own purposes.

What is true, however, is that Hoover’s Library experience did have a significant impact on how the FBI’s 

filing system was used and adapted. In a 1951 letter 

referencing his former position, Hoover wrote, “[T]his job 

...trained me in the value of collating material. It gave me 

an excellent foundation for my work in the FBI where it 

has been necessary to collate information and evidence.”

This ability to synthesize information was key. In 1921, 

as assistant director, Hoover oversaw the reform of the 

Bureau’s files, which were in disarray after several organizational restructurings. For the reform, Hoover took 

something old—the Department of Justice system—and 

something new—indexing the files as they were created. 

And then he used something borrowed—from the 

Library of Congress: the idea of extensive cross-references 

within the card indices that provided access to the 

content of the FBI files. Each cross-reference pointed 

back to the original file and allowed for comparison of 

information across all files. So an agent or clerk could 

find a person’s name, an event, a location, or any number 

of other things, even if it was spread across dozens of 

different files at Headquarters and in the field offices. In 

a profession that requires intelligence at its fingertips and 

the ability to know everything that’s available, this system 

was crucial to the success of Hoover’s Bureau as it grew 

and adapted to its expanding mission.

In the end, Hoover’s work at the Library helped the 

Bureau to create a filing system that—in comparison 

to others of the day—was “unique unto itself,” as one 

records manager noted in 1941 when surveying the state 

of records across the nation.

Part 3: Another side of Hoover (page 62)

J. Edgar Hoover was just 18 years old when he took his 

first job in government—an entry-level position as a 

messenger in the orders department of the Library of 

Congress.

It was October 13, 1913. No one knew it at the time, 

but an important foundation in Hoover’s future career 

as FBI Director (and in the Bureau itself) was being 

laid.

Young Hoover excelled at his work. He impressed his 

supervisors and was awarded multiple raises. His position 

in the orders department—which acquired books, manuscripts, and other items for the Library’s collections—

included working in the cataloging department and the 

loan division. The Library was a half-mile from his house 

and allowed him to attend law school at night, where he 

was studying hard and learning quickly.

On July 25, 1917, Hoover left the Library, and he took a 

job the next day as a clerk in the Department of Justice, 

where his story becomes better known.

Hoover’s experiences with the Library of Congress 

and its innovative organization of knowledge have 

often been credited with influencing the creation of 

the FBI’s own knowledge management system—the 

FBI files. The filing system he helped architect became 

almost legendary for its efficiency and over the years has 

been fodder for books, news stories, movies, and even 

conspiracy theories of all sorts that exaggerate the size 

and scope of the files.
2012 The FBI Story 55

July 2, 2012

Inside the Denver JTTF

Part 1: Vigilance 

Against Terrorism

James Yacone, special agent in charge of our Denver office, discusses 

the role of the Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF. 

case was well publicized, but our squads handle many 

other counterterrorism investigations—international and 

domestic. Protecting the country from terror attacks is 

the FBI’s number one priority.”

The JTTF’s team concept works well, Yacone explained. 

“All the local and state police officers and detectives on 

the task force have the same clearances that our agents 

do. They sit side by side, work together, and have the 

same access to all our resources.” More than 100 FBI-led 

JTTFs located around the country are organized the same 

way.

John Nagengast, a detective with Colorado’s Aurora 

Police Department, is a JTTF task force officer who 

worked on the Zazi case. “I am basically a local cop who 

deals with local crime,” he said. “Working the Zazi case 

opened up my world to the threat of terrorism.”

Nagengast explained that “a lot of entities were involved 

in the investigation, including the military and the intelligence community—and the Denver JTTF was central to 

the operation. We were ground zero for the Zazi investigation.” He added, “I got to see very quickly how the 

Bureau, locals, and state law enforcement came together 

with agencies around the world to prevent this attack. It 

was amazing to be a part of it.”

Part 2: Partners help cast a wide safety net (page 58)

It was September 2009—a few days before the eighth 

anniversary of the 9/11 attacks—when the Denver 

Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) received word that a 

Colorado resident and al Qaeda recruit was about to carry 

out a major terrorist attack. The jihadist needed to be 

located with the utmost urgency.

“We got the call on Labor Day,” recalled Special 

Agent John Scata, who supervises one of Denver’s two 

international terrorism squads, “and we immediately 

began working around the clock.”

Using the JTTF’s multi-agency approach to conducting 

investigations and gathering and sharing intelligence, task 

force members located Najibullah Zazi and helped track 

him to New York City, where he intended to become a 

suicide bomber in the subway system around the time of 

the 9/11 anniversary. “If we hadn’t found him in Denver 

as quickly as we did,” Scata said, “he might have gone 

into the wind and things could have turned out differently.”

Zazi and two of his high school classmates had previously traveled to Pakistan to receive al Qaeda training, 

including how to make bombs. His self-described plot to 

“weaken America” by killing innocent subway riders has 

been characterized as one of the most serious terrorist 

threats to the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks.

“Zazi is part of the spread of homegrown violent extremism in America,” said James Yacone, special agent in 

charge of our Denver office. “He was trained internationally but he became radicalized in the U.S. through the 

Internet. He was planning and facilitating his attack in 

Colorado, but his target was New York City.”

The plot was foiled thanks to an all-out effort by 

law enforcement and intelligence agencies around 

the world. Much of that effort was focused through 

Denver’s JTTF, which is comprised of more than 20 

local, state, and federal agencies. There are actually 

three separate squads that form the task force—two that 

deal with international terrorism and one that concentrates on domestic terrorism.

Created in 1994, Denver’s JTTF is one of the Bureau’s 

oldest (our New York office established the first in 1980). 

“Our task force is very active,” said Yacone. “The Zazi 
56 2012 The FBI Story

July 5, 2012

Left: “We have zero tolerance for drug trafficking in Indian Country,” 

said U.S. Attorney Ken Gonzales. “We’ve made it a priority...to lower, 

if not eliminate, our thresholds to take these cases.”

U.S. Attorney

Kenneth Gonzales

Journey Through 

Indian Country

Part 5: A Zero-Tolerance

Approach

“When you take even one of those bad actors out 

of the community, you’ve made a big impact,” said 

Special Agent Lenny Johns, who supervises our Santa 

Fe Resident Agency. “We have a very close working 

relationship with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the

no-tolerance program—and other programs—and we are 

very proud of the results of that partnership.”

“Having the FBI and federal prosecutors working in a 

side-by-side partnership to identify unique cases that 

impact the community—which we are finding to be gang 

cases and drug trafficking—and targeting those cases for 

fast-track investigation and prosecution has really made a 

difference,” Johns added.

The arrest of a 20-year-old Zuni woman for selling two 

baggies of cocaine that each contained less than one 

gram of the drug might be considered a minor offense 

in many jurisdictions—but in Indian Country, federal 

prosecutors are taking a different approach.

“We have zero tolerance for drug trafficking in Indian 

Country,” said New Mexico U.S. Attorney Ken 

Gonzales. Because alcohol and drugs fuel serious crimes 

on the reservation, and because public safety is at stake, 

Gonzales sees the no-tolerance program as an important 

part of his office’s efforts to fight crime on the reservations.

“If you identify somebody in the community who has 

been causing problems for years and years, has rotated in 

and out of the criminal justice system, and is nevertheless 

out on the street causing big problems,” Gonzales said, 

“we will take that case if the individual is caught trafficking drugs, no matter what the amount. In most instances,” he explained, “we require a certain amount of drugs 

to be able to prosecute a case federally. But we’ve made it 

a priority in Indian County to lower, if not eliminate, our 

thresholds to take these cases.”

The 20-year-old Zuni woman, who was recently sentenced 

to a year in prison for cocaine trafficking, “had a significant tribal court history and was clearly a problem in the 

community,” Gonzales said, which is why the FBI and 

the U.S. Attorney’s Office got involved. Ordinarily, our 

agents investigate major crimes in Indian Country. But 

going after habitual small-time drug offenders is another 

key way to make reservation communities safer.

Coupled with other initiatives such as the Tribal Law 

Enforcement Act—passed 

by Congress in 2010 to 

strengthen law enforcement 

on the reservations and enable 

tribal courts to hand down 

stiffer sentences—Johns and 

Gonzales believe the federal 

justice system is making an 

impact in Indian Country, 

even though they acknowledge 

there are many challenges.

“The Department of Justice can do a lot to prosecute 

crime,” Gonzales said. “With the help of the FBI, the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, and our local tribal law enforcement partners, we can investigate and take troublesome 

people out of the community for extended periods of 

time. In that way, we are also doing a lot to prevent 

crime. It’s all part of our overall anti-violence strategy.”

“There is no question that a serious crime problem exists 

in Indian Country,” Johns said.

“The bottom line in all our efforts,” he added, “is that we 

are dedicated to making sure that innocent people on the 

reservation are not victimized.”

Part 6: Invaluable experience on the reservation (page 60)
2012 The FBI Story 57

July 9, 2012

If It’s Too Good to

Be True...

Massive Ponzi Scheme 

Proves Age-Old Adage

One of the United Kingdom hotel properties that victims of Martin 

Sigillito’s Ponzi scheme thought they were investing in.

take exorbitant fees for himself and his co-conspirators. 

Even though he told investors he would then transmit 

the money to the U.K., Sigillito actually kept most of 

the funds in one or more American bank accounts he 

controlled.

For a while, the scam was self-sustaining: Many investors let their interest payments accrue and rolled their 

loans over every year, plus Sigillito brought in enough 

new investors to make interest and principal payments to 

any previous investor who asked for payment. And all the 

while, he made enough in “fees” to support his affluent 

lifestyle, which included exclusive club memberships, 

expensive vacations, a country home, a chauffeur, private 

school for his kids, and collections of rare and antique 

books, maps, prints, coins, jewelry, and liquor.

How the scam ended. Eventually, an increasing number 

of investors meant increasing payout requirements, which 

resulted in the BLP making late interest payments or 

missing interest payments all together. Then investors 

began clamoring to withdraw their funds. And finally, 

Sigillito’s own assistant became suspicious of his activities 

and contacted the FBI.

The takeaway from this case? Fully investigate any investment opportunity before handing over your hard-earned 

money.

If a respected member of your community offered you an 

investment opportunity, you might consider it. Especially 

if it’s a man of the cloth.

For nearly a decade, Martin Sigillito—a bishop in 

the American Anglican Convocation and a St. Louis 

attorney—convinced 200-plus people to do more than 

just consider it: they actually entrusted him with their 

money to invest in a financial venture. But this venture 

turned out to be an old-fashioned Ponzi scheme, and in 

April of this year, Sigillito was convicted of leading a conspiracy that swindled $52 million from victim investors.

How the scam began. In late 2000, Sigillito opened a 

law office but didn’t actually practice law—instead, he advertised his “international business consulting services.” 

One of the “services” he offered was participation in the 

British Lending Program (BLP), transformed by Sigillito 

into a Ponzi scheme. Through the BLP, investors could 

“loan” money to a real estate developer in the United 

Kingdom for short periods of time, mostly one year, at 

high rates of return—between 10 and 48 percent.

This real estate developer, according to Sigillito, had 

a knack for spotting undervalued properties he could 

flip for a profit, had options on land that would become 

valuable when re-zoned, and had inside connections with 

British authorities. It sounded like a win-win for investors.

Unfortunately, this British developer was not the wunderkind Sigillito made him out to be—he was just another 

link in the criminal conspiracy.

How did Sigillito convince his investors to part with 

their money? He exploited his personal ties to people 

and particular groups he was affiliated with—like his 

church, social clubs, professional acquaintances, family, 

and neighbors—in a technique known as affinity fraud. 

He also held himself up as an expert in international 

law and finance and claimed he was a lecturer at Oxford 

University in England (when in reality he had simply 

taken part in a summer legal program at Oxford).

Sigillito, who also conspired with another American 

attorney, insisted that his investors’ funds initially be 

placed into his trust account, from which he would 
58 2012 The FBI Story

July 12, 2012

Left: Steve Garcia, a major in the Colorado State Patrol who oversees 

the Colorado Information Analysis Center, or fusion center, in Denver.

Inside the Denver JTTF

Part 2: Partners Help Cast a

Wide Safety Net

supervises the JTTF. He explained that the fusion center 

not only provides tips and leads, it helps fill intelligence 

gaps.

In the Zazi case (see page 55), investigators needed to 

find out where Zazi had acquired bomb-making chemicals. The fusion center’s 650 terrorism liaison officers 

(TLOs)—consisting of local sheriff, police, and fire 

department personnel—fanned out in their jurisdictions 

to canvass beauty and farm supply stores where those 

chemicals might have been purchased.

“We sent out a request for information through our 

TLO network,” Garcia said, “and they were able to 

talk to local merchants to see if Zazi had been there 

to buy the precursors to TATP, which is what he was 

eventually found guilty of.”

“The TLOs are a significant force multiplier for us,” 

Olson noted. “They can reach parts of the state that we 

can’t readily access.” In addition to gathering intelligence, 

the TLOs can also be tasked with disseminating information. By alerting local merchants that terrorists might 

be seeking certain kinds of chemicals, for example, law 

enforcement can set tripwires so merchants will report 

suspicious activity.

“If somebody comes in your store that you don’t recognize 

and requests a large amount of a precursor chemical, we 

want you to reach out to your local authorities,” Olson 

said. “That tip makes it to the fusion center through a 

TLO, and then it comes to the JTTF for further investigation. That allows us to stay one step ahead of potential 

problems.”

The FBI maintains a full-time intelligence analyst at the 

fusion center, which facilitates the immediate sharing of 

information. “Our motto at the CIAC is that information 

sharing is a contact sport,” Garcia said. “You’ve got to get 

up and talk to someone and share that information rather 

than just sending an e-mail. It’s important to have that 

day-to-day, face-to-face contact.”

Part 3: The JTTF’s WMD coordinator (page 63)

The more than 100 FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces 

(JTTFs) around the country rely on a network of local, 

state, and federal partners to help protect the nation. 

In Denver, one of our key partners is the Colorado 

Information Analysis Center.

Known by its acronym, CIAC—pronounced “kayak”—

was established by the state legislature in the wake of the 

9/11 attacks to bring organizations together to gather, 

analyze, and share information. Working in tandem with 

the JTTF, the CIAC’s multi-agency fusion approach casts 

a wide security net throughout the Colorado region.

“We have representatives from the FBI, the 

Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement, local emergency managers, and local firefighters 

who all come together to share information,” said 

Steve Garcia, a major in the Colorado State Patrol 

who oversees the center’s operations. “That information is fused—hence the term fusion center—to create an 

intelligence-sharing environment.”

The FBI is the fusion center’s investigative arm “and the 

single most important partner we have,” Garcia added, 

explaining how the two organizations work hand in hand. 

“Last year we received over 400 tips and leads that came 

in to our website or 1-800 number regarding suspicious 

activity. The FBI, being the primary agency for counterterrorism, goes out and investigates those leads.”

“Our relationship with the fusion center is as significant 

as any relationship we have,” said Steve Olson, an assistant special agent in charge in our Denver office who 
2012 The FBI Story 59

July 17, 2012

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 2: Two Women 

Blaze a Trail in 1972

Joanne Pierce Misko, in red and lower right, and Susan Roley 

Malone, seen at the FBI Training Academy in 1972 and today, were 

the first women of the modern era to become special agents.

distractions in order to maintain the integrity of training. 

“They wanted us to be like any other agent,” said Malone, 

who was 25 when she entered the FBI Academy. “They 

didn’t want to make this inordinately special or set us 

apart from our fellow agents. I think that was very important at the time. We wanted to be just another agent.”

Despite following wildly divergent paths to Quantico 

and having very little in common, Misko and 

Malone—the nun and the Marine—leaned on each 

other to get through training. “We supported each 

other,” said Malone. “We were complementary. We 

worked together. We would practice the run at night, 

we would go to the gym and work out. We were allies. 

There’s that bond there when you’re someone’s roommate 

and you’re going through the same training. That’s a 

lifelong bond.”

Misko and Malone completed the training in October 

1972 and, like all new agents, received orders to report 

to one of the Bureau’s field offices. Malone was sent to 

Omaha and Misko to St. Louis. Both women recall being 

met with some initial resistance in the ranks, but quickly 

showed they could pull their weight. The former roommates would cross paths occasionally in their successful 

careers. They recognize today they were trailblazers, but 

that was never their goal.

“I honestly didn’t see myself as a pioneer,” said Misko, 

now 71. “It was just a role that I was fortunate enough to 

become a part of.”

Malone, 65, echoed Misko’s comments. “I was an agent 

first and Joanne was an agent first. We wanted to be 

agents first. We just happened to be women.”

Part 3: Early pioneers tell their stories (page 64)

They were known as the nun and the Marine. The 

respective backgrounds of Joanne Pierce Misko and Susan 

Roley Malone could not have been more dissimilar. But 

40 years ago, on July 17, 1972, the two women were drawn 

together by a shared goal—to become FBI special agents.

Up until then, under the leadership of longtime FBI 

Director J. Edgar Hoover, only men could be agents. But 

just weeks after Hoover died in May 1972, the Bureau’s 

acting director—motivated in part by new equal rights 

laws—changed the men-only policy that had been in 

place since the Prohibition Era. So on a balmy Monday 

exactly four decades ago, the two women assembled 

with 43 similarly pressed and starched men at FBI 

Headquarters to take their oath before heading down to 

the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia for 14 

weeks (now 20) of physical and mental conditioning.

The new agent training was tough enough on its 

own—firearms, strength, endurance, self-defense, academics. But for Misko and Malone, who were expected 

to meet the requirements long in place for males, there 

was the added dimension of their novelty, which was 

not universally embraced at first.

“I’m sure when they first saw that there were two women 

in their class it was like, ‘Oh, we got them,’” Misko 

recalled in a recent interview. Malone, who had already 

broken some stereotypes as a Marine, remembers a fellow 

classmate confronting her during a break, brusquely 

asking why she thought she could be an FBI agent. “And 

I sat down and I talked to him,” Malone stated. “I said, 

‘I love my country just like you do. I want to be here for 

the same reasons that you want to be here.’” He heard her 

out. And in the weeks that followed, the two women set 

out to demonstrate that they belonged in their coveted 

slots in New Agent Class 73-1. They won over some of 

the most ardent doubters by rising to every challenge and 

helping their classmates over some hurdles along the way. 

“We got along pretty well and everybody kind of 

pulled together as a class,” said Misko, who was 31 at 

the time. “Because in training I think we were all in the 

same boat. We were all trying to prove ourselves.”

Permitting women into the ranks of special agents was 

a big story at the time, but the Bureau tried to minimize 
60 2012 The FBI Story

July 20, 2012

Left: For agents, the unique experience of working Indian Country 

crimes includes deploying—often by themselves—to remote sites 

within pueblos or reservations.

Journey Through 

Indian Country

Part 6: Gaining Invaluable 

Experience on the Reservation

fully navigating that environment to conduct interviews, 

follow up on leads, collect evidence from a crime scene, 

and build a prosecutable case for the U.S. Attorney’s 

Office.”

“The sheer number of cases we’re handling adds to the 

training experience,” said Fortunato, who worked in our 

New York Field Office on counterintelligence matters 

before coming to Indian Country several years ago. His 

counterintelligence cases spanned months and even years. 

“Here,” he explained, “because we are reacting to crimes, 

we investigate an assault or homicide with our tribal 

partners, and often within a matter of days we are making 

an arrest.”

And where he had only a handful of cases in New York, 

Fortunato—and most of the agents working in New 

Mexico’s Indian Country—have anywhere from 30 to 50 

cases to work at any given time. And they are all major 

crimes such as murder and child sexual assault.

“It’s a 24-7 job,” noted Special Agent Mike Harrigan, 

who supervises an Indian Country squad. “An agent is 

always on call. If something happens, even in the middle 

of the night and the crime scene is two hours away by 

car, the on-call agent responds from home. That’s how it 

works in Indian Country.”

“The agents and professional staff working here in Indian 

Country are as dedicated as any group I have served with 

during my 25 years in the FBI,” said Carol K.O. Lee, 

special agent in charge of our Albuquerque office. “They 

really care about the people on the reservations and 

making those communities the best and safest places they 

can be.”

It wasn’t long after his arrival in Indian Country that 

Special Agent John Fortunato started carrying dog 

biscuits in his FBI vehicle. Some of the wild dogs who 

roam the New Mexico reservations are a lot easier to 

befriend or distract when they are offered food.

That’s just one small example of how investigating 

crimes in Indian Country makes agents resourceful—and provides them with an intensive professional 

experience they may not get anywhere else in the FBI.

“We like to say that six months as an investigator on the 

reservation is like two years at any other Bureau office,” 

Fortunato said. “That’s mainly because of the nature of 

the crimes here and our jurisdictional responsibilities.”

Since 9/11, the FBI has become an intelligence-based, 

threat-driven organization. Regarding terrorism, for 

example, the mission is to prevent acts of terror rather 

than investigate them after they occur. “But in Indian 

Country,” said Special Agent Lenny Johns, who supervises our Santa Fe Resident Agency, “the majority of the 

crimes we have jurisdiction over are still very reactive for 

us.”

That means when the FBI is called to the reservation, 

usually a serious crime has already been committed. “Our 

agents, and particularly new agents,” said Johns, “get a ton 

of experience in Indian Country they can apply in other 

programs later in their careers. That experience includes 

deploying—often by themselves—to a remote site within 

a pueblo or reservation, dealing with folks that have a 

different cultural background than they do, and success-
2012 The FBI Story 61

July 24, 2012

‘Play How You Practice’

FBI’s WMD Training Workshop 

Tests Massive Response

FBI agents and first responders from partner agencies showed some 

of their equipment at a workshop in New Orleans in May that tested 

how well they would respond to a disaster involving weapons

of mass destruction. 

infrastructures like chemical and power plants that would 

set off a disruptive ripple effect if attacked. Workshop 

participants, including attendees from the Department 

of Homeland Security, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the 

Department of Defense, along with scores of state and 

local agencies, said the mock scenario helped them refine 

their preparedness plans.

“It opens everyone’s eyes to what the threats and 

hazards are,” said Lt. Eric Acosta, a fire safety officer 

at a port outside New Orleans. “And everyone knows 

everyone so it’s not like, ‘Who’s he?’ when something 

happens.”

That was a key take-away from the training—having 

strong working relationships in place makes for a 

smoother response to any emergency, whether it’s with 

first-responders or company CEOs. It’s why the FBI has 

designated WMD coordinators in its 56 field offices—to 

knit a fabric of connections in their respective regions.

“You play how you practice,” said Stephanie Viegas, a 

special agent and WMD coordinator in our Miami Field 

Office, who attended the workshop. “The time to get to 

know each other is not when something’s happening. It’s 

having meetings together, going over each other’s operational plans, getting together, and training together so we 

have the opportunity to recognize and address any gaps.”

In the mock terror scenario, each escalating event 

prompted a round of questions over who was supposed to 

do what. Could it have been prevented?

“What keeps me up at night is not what I know—it’s 

what I don’t know,” said Perren. “And that’s why we do 

these things: to establish tripwires to find out what we 

don’t know.”

On May 18, a carrier ship bound for the Port of New 

Orleans left a Caribbean nation weighted with 12,000 

tons of ammonium nitrate. Intelligence later revealed 

that two of the ship’s crew members were on terrorist 

watch lists. Meanwhile, a few miles outside New Orleans, 

police received a report of someone suspiciously circling a 

chemical plant in a car while taking pictures.

What may have appeared at first to be isolated incidents were actually parts of an elaborate drill to test 

how well local, state, federal, and even international 

emergency responders would coordinate and communicate in the fog of an unfolding terror plot. The mock 

scenario, which played out in a day-long tabletop exercise 

in New Orleans last May, was a cascade of escalating 

disasters that involved the revelation of the plot, multiple 

shootings, a chemical leak, hostage-taking, and the 

release of nuclear radiation. The object of the exercise 

was to overwhelm the region’s elaborate web of responders and investigators and force them to turn a critical 

eye to how prepared they are for a real disaster involving 

weapons of mass destruction, or WMD.

“We are training to identify what the WMD threat is 

around the critical infrastructures and around our key 

resources,” said John Perren, assistant director of the 

FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, which 

sponsored the three-day training workshop. “What we do 

is we identify what our roles are, what our responsibilities 

are, and how we bring that to the table as a force-multiplier to handle this WMD.”

The workshop is a prime illustration of the WMD 

Directorate’s mission, which is to prevent a weapon of 

mass destruction—chemical, biological, radiological, 

nuclear, or explosive—while at the same time preparing 

to respond to one. The preventive pieces, or countermeasures, include creating and nurturing relationships with 

experts in the field—scientists, law enforcement partners, 

the private sector—so they know how to recognize suspicious activity and how to report it.

“Together, we form strategic partnerships,” said Perren, 

who attended the training. “We identify the gaps. We 

identify the vulnerabilities. Together, we develop a plan to 

address that vulnerability or that gap.”

New Orleans provided a challenging backdrop—it has 

one of the country’s busiest ports and other critical 
62 2012 The FBI Story

July 27, 2012

Left: Courtney Ryley Cooper rolls J. Edgar Hoover’s fingerprints,

circa 1936. National Archives photo

The Hoover Legacy, 

40 Years After

Part 3: Another Side of J. Edgar

Evidence of this relationship is seen in a February 

1938 letter that Hoover sent to Cooper’s wife, 

Genevieve, or Gen as Hoover called her. Ryley had just 

left D.C. after giving a talk at a joint session of the FBI 

National Academy and the current new agent training 

class. Hoover told Gen he found Ryley “feeling bad” and 

thought his viewpoint was “colored through dark glasses.” 

The Director says he tried unsuccessfully to cheer Ryley 

up.

In what remains of Hoover’s writings, the letter is unique. 

It shows a friendly and personal side of Hoover, who was 

genuinely concerned about an apparent streak of depression in his friend. The Director himself admits to being 

“terribly weary and terribly tired,” with “tremendous and 

almost overwhelming worries pressing in on me,” but 

still committed to carrying forward. He signed the letter 

“Jayee,” a nickname used by very few people in Hoover’s 

life, again suggesting his close ties to the Coopers.

It’s not clear what happened over the next several years. 

In 1940, Ryley Cooper began traveling in Mexico and 

California, digging up information for a story or series on 

Nazi propaganda and espionage in the United States.

Tragically, after returning to New York in September 

1940, Ryley Cooper committed suicide in a hotel room. 

Initial press reports indicated that Mrs. Cooper thought 

Ryley might have been depressed on account of an FBI 

snub. There is no evidence of this, and Hoover thought 

it unlikely, noting that he hadn’t met with Cooper after 

he returned from his travels nor had he discussed his 

recent Nazi research with him. Although the 1938 letter 

hints Ryley’s issues with depression were longstanding, the 

mystery remains as to why he took his own life and what 

Hoover made of the loss of his friend.

The story of Cooper and Hoover is not well known, but 

it does shed important light on both Hoover’s personality 

and the FBI’s evolving image during a pivotal time in FBI 

history.

Part 4: The evolution of U.S. intelligence (page 68)

The mid-1930s were an important turning point for

J. Edgar Hoover’s Bureau. It had just defeated a series 

of dangerous gangsters. Its agents were now heralded as 

“G-Men.” And it was no longer one of several indistinct 

“Divisions of Investigation.” In July 1935, it was given 

a new name to go with its rising success—the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation.

Still, the young FBI faced plenty of criticism, some justified and some not. During this time, it worked closely 

with the Department of Justice (Attorney General 

Homer Cummings was leading a “war on crime” publicity 

campaign with respected reporter Henry Suydam) and 

the news media to tell its story accurately and favorably.

In 1933, Hoover began working with Courtney Ryley 

Cooper. In the early 1930s, Cooper—a veteran author, 

reporter, and publicist—began writing about the problem 

of crime in the U.S. and the FBI’s growing role in addressing it, including a series of articles for American Magazine. 

His FBI-centered books included Ten Thousand Public 

Enemies (on the criminal underworld), Here’s to Crime

(various criminal activities), and Designs in Scarlet (prostitution).

Hoover admired Cooper. The two shared an interest in 

denouncing the scourge of crime and a vision that the 

FBI was performing an important public service. As a 

result, Ryley Cooper (as he was known) came to be a 

good friend of J. Edgar and a key influence in shaping the 

Bureau’s public image during an often trying time.
2012 The FBI Story 63

July 31, 2012

Inside the Denver JTTF

Part 3: WMD Coordinator 

Focuses on Preparedness, 

Partnerships

FBI agents train with local responders during a WMD exercise in May.

A key resource for Autrey is the Colorado Information 

Analysis Center (CIAC)—a multi-agency fusion 

center designed to use intelligence to facilitate 

criminal and other investigations.

Robin Koons, a Ph.D. epidemiologist with the Colorado 

Department of Public Safety, works full-time at the fusion 

center as an analytical supervisor. She is a subject matter 

expert in biological, chemical, and radiological agents. 

Koons works closely with Autrey on WMD matters and 

praises the Bureau’s intelligence-driven, all-inclusive 

approach.

“We have a very solid relationship with the FBI,” she said. 

“The strength of that relationship can especially be seen 

during suspicious powder events. Working together, we 

are able to quickly exchange information on the scene 

between the fire department, health department, and 

other responders, and then the JTTF coordinates the 

information coming in to form a complete picture of the 

threat.”

The exchange of information “absolutely works,” Koons 

added. “And a big part of why it works is because Dave 

puts in a lot of time building relationships.”

“The FBI relies heavily on our state partners,” Autrey explained. “They are the experts in their regions, and they 

know all the players. To effectively deal with the WMD 

threats we face requires everyone to work together.”

A chlorine truck explodes on a major highway and a 

potentially deadly spill occurs. Was it an accident or an 

intentional act? Livestock become ill from an unidentified 

organism. Is it a public health issue or an act of domestic 

terrorism? An official receives a white powder letter. Is it 

a hoax or a serious threat?

Providing answers to such questions is the job of our 

weapons of mass destruction (WMD) coordinators, 

special agents located in each of the FBI’s 56 field 

offices who work with local, state, and federal law 

enforcement; government; academia; and private 

industry to counter the WMD threat.

The FBI created the Weapons of Mass Destruction 

Directorate in 2006 to ensure a coordinated approach 

to incidents involving nuclear, radiological, biological, 

or chemical weapons. Carrying out that mission on the 

ground are the WMD coordinators, whose goal is prevention through preparedness and partnerships.

“When there are potential WMD incidents like a tanker 

spill or industrial accident, we are very good at assessing them,” said Special Agent Dave Autrey, the WMD 

coordinator in our Denver office. “Usually, we can quickly 

discern if there is any link to terrorism.”

Working through the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), 

Autrey relies on a network of organizations in Colorado—

from first responders to executives at the state’s 

Department of Public Health. “I reach out on a regular 

basis to nearly 80 different agencies and departments in 

my area,” he said.

That outreach consists of training—everything from 

threat briefings to tabletop exercises that play out WMD 

scenarios—to building relationships. “You don’t want to 

meet a partner from another agency for the first time on 

the scene of an incident,” Autrey said. “That puts everybody behind the curve.”

“The idea is to get people on the same page,” he added. 

“If everyone is properly prepared and sharing information 

during an emergency response, firefighters and other first 

responders can know exactly what they are dealing with 

before they even get to the scene. And law enforcement 

can rapidly determine if the incident is terrorist-related.”
64 2012 The FBI Story

Left: Agents at firearms training in the 1980s.

August 3, 2012

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 3: Early Pioneers 

Tell Their Stories

Once on the job, some women agents encountered bosses 

who weren’t supportive or an occasional chauvinistic 

man. Many were thrust into the most dangerous undercover work, since criminals didn’t suspect that females 

would be agents. For these early women, the standards of 

success were often higher than that of the men. As former 

Special Agent Nancy Fisher (1978-2004) pointed out, 

“You had to be very good. ... My friends and I, the female 

agents, would always say, ‘Why is it we have to work so 

hard to just to be considered average?’”

For the most part, though, these early female agents 

were given plenty of support and opportunities to 

succeed. During the Quantico training, most men were 

accepting and helpful, going out of their way to run or 

workout with the women, for example. Former Agent 

Yvonne Graham (1978-2001) said, “The guys couldn’t 

have been more supportive, more generous of their 

time...”

Once in their field offices, the women soon proved any 

doubters wrong with their work. They found the support 

of their supervisors and colleagues incredibly helpful. 

Former Special Agent Natalie Gore (1976-1986) said, “My 

first office was Seattle, and that SAC (Special Agent in 

Charge) there was very much in favor of me being there. 

And that made a huge difference in how the entire office 

dealt with women in the field.”

These women agents went on to work some landmark 

cases—the Patty Hearst kidnapping, the Reagan assassination, the Unabomber murders, and the attacks of 9/11, 

to name just a few. Over time, they made lasting contributions, not only by paving the way for their colleagues 

but by becoming leaders at every level of the organization.

Former Special Agent Birdie Pasenelli—the first woman 

special agent in charge and assistant director—summed 

it up by saying, “All I ever asked for is, give me an equal 

shot at doing this, and I’ll prove myself.”

She certainly did, just like all these pioneering women 

agents.

Part 4: Pop culture’s take on women special agents (page 71)

“It was a wonderful experience. I wouldn’t trade any of it for 

the world. And you know, I hope in some small way, maybe I 

made it easier for women after me.”

That sentiment—shared by former Special Agent Linda 

Dunn, who served from 1973 to 1976—was echoed by 

many of the trailblazing women who signed up to be the 

first female agents in the modern era.

Their compelling and often moving stories can be 

found in a series of interviews of retired Bureau 

investigators—both women and men—conducted 

by the Society of Former Special Agents of the 

FBI and posted on the website of the National Law 

Enforcement Museum.

It was in 1972—40 years ago this year—that women 

were allowed to join the ranks of FBI agents, reversing 

a policy that had been in place since the 1920s. Their 

reminiscences several decades later reflect the diversity of 

their motivations, experiences, and achievements. Yet, as 

you read their stories, you can see that these early female 

pioneers wanted the same things—to serve their country, 

to make a difference, to be successful at what they did...

just like the men.

They faced their share of challenges, to be sure. The 

physical requirements of the new agent training, originally 

developed for men, were difficult. Some women struggled 

with pushups or running; for others, it was boxing and 

wrestling. Some said they even faced resentment for 

taking a man’s place at the Academy.
2012 The FBI Story 65

August 6, 2012

A digital camera is documented as evidence in the case.

A Sordid Scam

Two Receive Life Sentences for 

Preying on Aspiring Models

“It was clear the women were drugged and often barely 

conscious,” Carpinteri said.

“Because of their memory loss, a lot of the victims 

swore that nothing had happened,” she added, “until 

we showed them the videos.” Other women woke up in 

their cars the next morning bleeding, covered in vomit, 

and disoriented. Some notified police.

In 2007, Flanders and his partner, Emerson Callum, were 

arrested and charged by the state of Florida with multiple 

counts, including sexual assault and distribution of a 

controlled substance. Released on bond pending trial, the 

pair eventually began victimizing women again.

That’s when Carpinteri and Fletcher began working on 

the case to painstakingly unravel the scam. They identified and interviewed victims from various locations 

and pieced together evidence from police reports, rape 

treatment center examinations, DNA results, and cell 

phone records to help build a case for federal prosecutors. 

The subjects were indicted federally in 2011 and later 

convicted by a jury of sexual battery, human trafficking, 

and other charges.

“This was a difficult case,” Fletcher said, “but it had a 

good outcome. It’s very satisfying to know that these two 

individuals will never do this to anyone again.”

Some of the aspiring young models thought they were 

getting the chance of a lifetime when they showed up in 

South Florida to audition for a man they believed to be 

a legitimate talent scout. Instead, they were drugged and 

raped on camera—and the resulting videos were sold on 

the Internet.

The two men responsible for this depraved scheme—one 

a former police officer and the other a self-described porn 

star—were each sentenced to 12 consecutive life terms in 

prison earlier this year, thanks in part to the investigative 

efforts of Special Agent Alexis Carpinteri, Det. Nikki 

Fletcher of the Miramar Police Department, and the U.S. 

Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

“These are probably two of the worst offenders I have 

ever seen,” said Carpinteri, who works in our Miami 

office. “There were many more victims than the 

multiple women who were represented at trial.”

Beginning in 2006, if not before, the subjects used 

Internet modeling sites as their “hunting grounds” to lure 

potential victims, Carpinteri said. They understood the 

industry well enough to impersonate representatives from 

major multinational companies.

The young women, many aged 18 to 22, agreed to come 

to Miami believing they were auditioning for a commercial for a prominent liquor company. They were persuaded 

to come alone because they were told family or boyfriends would be a distraction. The former police officer, 

Lavont Flanders, Jr., “was not stupid,” Det. Fletcher said. 

“He knew how to manipulate people, and he could be 

charming.”

The women were told they would be doing a test shoot 

in which they would have to drink the liquor they would 

be advertising. But the alcohol was laced with a date-rape 

drug that made them extremely compliant and often left 

them with no memories of what had happened to them. 

After the drugs took effect, the women were encouraged 

to sign model release forms.

Based on those consent forms, Carpinteri said, “The 

subjects thought they were going to get away with it.” 

Initially, investigators and prosecutors were “disturbed by 

the videos” because it appeared the victims were willing 

participants. But the raw footage told a different story. 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
66 2012 The FBI Story

August 9, 2012

New Internet Scam

‘Ransomware’ Locks Computers, 

Demands Payment

Left: Example of monitor display when a computer is infected with 

Reveton ransomware.

“While browsing the Internet, a window popped up with 

no way to close it,” one Reveton victim recently wrote to 

the IC3. “The window was labeled ‘FBI’ and said I was in 

violation of one of the following: illegal use of downloaded media, under-age porn viewing, or computer-use negligence. It listed fines and penalties for each and directed 

me to pay $200 via a MoneyPak order. Instructions were 

given on how to load the card and make the payment. 

The page said if the demands were not met, criminal 

charges would be filed and my computer would remain 

locked on that screen.”

The Reveton virus, used by hackers in conjunction 

with Citadel malware—a software delivery platform 

that can disseminate various kinds of computer 

viruses—first came to the attention of the FBI in 

2011. The IC3 issued a warning on its website in May 

2012. Since that time, the virus has become more widespread in the United States and internationally. Some 

variants of Reveton can even turn on computer webcams 

and display the victim’s picture on the frozen screen.

“We are getting dozens of complaints every day,” Gregory 

said, noting that there is no easy fix if your computer 

becomes infected. “Unlike other viruses,” she explained, 

“Reveton freezes your computer and stops it in its tracks. 

And the average user will not be able to easily remove the 

malware.”

The IC3 suggests the following if you become a victim of 

the Reveton virus:

▪ Do not pay any money or provide any personal 

information.

▪ Contact a computer professional to remove Reveton 

and Citadel from your computer.

▪ Be aware that even if you are able to unfreeze your 

computer on your own, the malware may still operate 

in the background. Certain types of malware have 

been known to capture personal information such 

as user names, passwords, and credit card numbers 

through embedded keystroke logging programs.

▪ File a complaint and look for updates about the 

Reveton virus on the IC3 website at www.ic3.gov.

There is a new “drive-by” virus on the Internet, and it 

often carries a fake message—and fine—purportedly 

from the FBI.

“We’re getting inundated with complaints,” said 

Donna Gregory of the Internet Crime Complaint 

Center (IC3), referring to the virus known as Reveton 

ransomware, which is designed to extort money from 

its victims.

Reveton is described as drive-by malware because unlike 

many viruses—which activate when users open a file 

or attachment—this one can install itself when users 

simply click on a compromised website. Once infected, 

the victim’s computer immediately locks, and the monitor 

displays a screen stating there has been a violation of 

federal law.

The bogus message goes on to say that the user’s Internet 

address was identified by the FBI or the Department 

of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property 

Section as having been associated with child pornography sites or other illegal online activity. To unlock their 

machines, users are required to pay a fine using a prepaid 

money card service.

“Some people have actually paid the so-called fine,” said 

the IC3’s Gregory, who oversees a team of cyber crime 

subject matter experts. (The IC3 was established in 

2000 as a partnership between the FBI and the National 

White Collar Crime Center. It gives victims an easy way 

to report cyber crimes and provides law enforcement 

and regulatory agencies with a central referral system for 

complaints.)
2012 The FBI Story 67

August 13, 2012

Insider Trading

Proactive Enforcement Paying Off

using intelligence as well as sophisticated techniques like 

undercover operations to identify the most egregious 

offenders. We’ve been able to link seemingly unrelated 

cases and uncover large criminal rings of insider trading. 

And our new national Fair Markets Initiative will further 

focus our insider trading efforts by prioritizing cases, enhancing collaboration with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (SEC), and increasing our emphasis on intelligence to identify and dismantle insider trading schemes.

Our growing caseload reflects the wisdom of our 

approach—we’ve had a 40 percent increase in insider 

trading cases over the past year.

Coordination with our partners is vital to this success. 

We work very closely with the SEC in a parallel law enforcement and regulatory effort to ensure fairly operated 

financial markets. In fact, we recently embedded an FBI 

agent with the SEC in New York.

The FBI also maintains a relationship with the North 

American Securities Administrators Association—

composed of state and provincial securities regulators in 

the U.S. and Canada—making presentations, offering 

training, exchanging best practices, etc.

Increasing globalization has led some of our insider 

trading investigations overseas, where our legal attachés 

use existing relationships with their partners to follow 

up on leads. Individuals engaged in illicit insider trading 

often funnel money through offshore accounts, and 

overseas employees of American companies with operations abroad could be just as susceptible to the lure of 

insider trading.

Insider trading has been a continuous threat to U.S. 

financial markets and has robbed the investing public of 

some degree of trust that markets operate fairly. Through 

our investigations, the FBI is working hard to curb that 

corruption and help ensure fairness in the marketplace.

Last week, an executive with a global pharmaceuticals 

giant headquartered in the U.S. was arrested for insider 

trading. He allegedly earned “substantial profits” by 

trading stock options using inside information about 

three companies his firm was looking to acquire before 

they were sold.

Insider trading is just that: the trading of securities or 

stocks by “insiders” with material, non-public information 

pertaining to significant, often market-moving developments to benefit themselves or others financially. These 

developments can include pending mergers and acquisitions, anticipated earnings releases, and product line 

developments.

The universe of people with access to this non-public 

information is growing. It includes:

▪ Securities professionals (traders and brokers);

▪ Corporate executives and employees, along with 

employees of banking and brokerage firms and even 

contractors;

▪ Lawyers working with companies on mergers and 

acquisitions;

▪ Government employees who misuse their legitimate 

need-to-know position; and

▪ Even friends, family members, and business associates 

who are tipped off about the information.

In addition to this insider knowledge, all of these individuals have another thing in common: the obligation to 

keep this information in the strictest confidence.

Historically, insider trading cases were usually handled 

as isolated incidents where trading was based on a 

specific instance of material, non-public information 

being provided.

And these cases have been challenging: investigators 

have relied on financial documents, phone records, 

and—more recently—e-mails to determine when and 

how traders receive the non-public details. These criminal 

insiders work hard to thwart law enforcement—including trading through multiple accounts, trading in others’ 

names, and using disposable cell phones and prepaid 

calling cards.

But we’ve become much more proactive these days...
68 2012 The FBI Story

August 17, 2012

The Hoover Legacy, 

40 Years After

Part 4: The Evolution of

U.S. Intelligence

Left: Director Hoover receives the National Security Medal from President Dwight Eisenhower on May 27, 1955, as then-Vice President 

Richard Nixon and others look on. 

a new General Intelligence Division—also called the 

Radical Division—in response to widespread domestic 

terrorist attacks. The purpose of the division was to 

gather intelligence about terrorist threats and determine 

whether or not they were connected to foreign revolutionary movements.

Hoover continued his rise in the department and by 1924 

was leading the Bureau of Investigation, the FBI’s predecessor. But during the 1920s, the U.S. faced few major 

national security threats. And excesses in the Bureau’s 

response to anarchist violence led to a tempering of 

domestic intelligence work during the decade.

In the mid-1930s, though, the security picture was 

changing. Evidence of Japanese and German (and to a 

lesser extent, Soviet) espionage began to accumulate, and 

the FBI was called upon to investigate. With the start of 

World War II, these responsibilities expanded dramatically, with Hoover’s FBI being tapped to handle domestic 

counterintelligence and the collection of foreign intelligence in the Western Hemisphere.

Throughout this time, Hoover dealt with a number of 

challenges. There was no U.S. intelligence community 

of any real size or complexity before the war, so the FBI 

became a key part of a rapidly growing group and Hoover 

a founding father. The number of players in the intelligence realm was large, and inevitable disagreements arose 

in the midst of some remarkable cooperation. Hoover 

played a central role in sorting out jurisdictional issues, 

addressing the inefficiencies of overlapping responsibilities, and helping the FBI and its partners navigate the 

steep learning curve of intelligence.

As the war ended and Soviet espionage became clear, 

Hoover’s FBI took its hard-won knowledge of intelligence 

and its tradecraft and shifted its attention to the new 

threat, uncovering earlier Soviet efforts and moving 

proactively against its current and future operations.

The end result of Hoover’s leadership was not just the 

National Security Medal, but a stronger and more capable 

Bureau that would play a key role in America’s national 

security structure for decades to come.

Part 5: A day in the life (page 79)

Standing outside the White House on a sunny day in May 

1955, President Dwight Eisenhower smiled as he pinned 

the National Security Medal on the lapel of one of its first 

recipients—FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

In the citation, the president recognized Hoover’s “outstanding contribution to the national security of the 

United States” through “his exceptional tact, perceptiveness, judgment, and brilliant leadership in a position of 

great responsibility.”

The medal had been created only two years earlier by 

President Truman to recognize individuals—civilian 

and military—who had made important contributions to national security in the field of intelligence.

The honor has since been supplanted by the National 

Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.

Given that many Americans associate the early Bureau 

with chasing gangsters and solving murders and other 

violent crimes, it might seem unusual for a law enforcement leader to have been given such an award at that 

point in history. But Hoover, as it turns out, had played 

a key role in the evolution of the U.S. intelligence community and the transformation of the FBI into a national 

security organization.

That evolution took place over several decades. Hoover 

joined the Department of Justice two months after the 

U.S. entered World War I, when intelligence issues were a 

top priority. Within two years, he was appointed to head 
2012 The FBI Story 69

August 21, 2012

Angel Puentes—also known as D’Angelo Salvatore—was so influential 

he created his own glossy real estate magazine called House King. 

The publication’s masthead is seen above. 

Mortgage Fraud

‘House King’ was a 

Royal Con Man

from the mortgage, leaving the lender with a toxic asset. 

Meanwhile, he was living large, taking trips to Paris and 

buying a Ferrari.

We began investigating Puentes in 2008. At the time, 

before the real estate market began to collapse in South 

Florida and around the country, many speculators were 

buying properties and trying to flip them for quick profits. 

But Stemen said, “Our investigation focused on the organized group that was falsifying documents to profit from 

the loan origination schemes.”

Puentes was indicted in February 2011 on multiple 

counts of wire and bank fraud and for defrauding 

three lending institutions out of approximately $10.5 

million. Although he fled the country for a time, Puentes 

eventually returned and was arrested. In June 2011, he 

was sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

Because of fraudsters such as Puentes, South Florida real 

estate was artificially inflated and innocent people paid 

too much for their homes. When the market crashed, 

many of those homeowners were left underwater—their 

property worth less than what they paid for it.

“Those are the true victims of this type of mortgage 

fraud,” Soucy said—“the legitimate South Florida residents whose home values were inflated because of these 

fraudulent transactions.”

When most people buy a home they are required to 

submit financial paperwork to banks, title companies, 

and others involved in the mortgage process. The case 

of the “House King” in South Florida illustrates how 

when fraudsters manipulate that system, lenders can lose 

millions—and innocent buyers and sellers also suffer.

“Imagine,” said Special Agent Denise Stemen, “a 

world where buyers don’t fill out any mortgage paperwork—and don’t even read it—because everything on 

the application is a lie.”

The House King, Angel Puentes, used a classic loan 

origination scam, said Stemen, a veteran mortgage fraud 

investigator in our Miami office. “In this scheme, you had 

all the players,” she explained, from straw buyers—who 

were paid to lend their name to documents—to a real 

estate agent, licensed mortgage broker, and title attorney. 

Mortgage applications were falsified to inflate the value 

of properties, defraud lenders, and line the pockets of the 

fraudsters.

Puentes—also known as D’Angelo Salvatore—was so 

influential he created his own glossy real estate magazine 

called House King. “Five or six years ago, he was the 

guru of South Florida real estate,” said Special Agent 

Mark Soucy, who investigated the case, adding that “100 

percent of the funding for the magazine came from the 

fraud he was committing.”

The House King paid straw buyers to sign bogus 

mortgage applications claiming that purchased homes 

would be their primary residences—when in reality, 

they had no intention of living there. The fraud was so 

extensive that some buyers had closings with three different lenders on the same day.

An attorney signed off on the fake documents, and the 

lenders—believing everything was legitimate—made 

the loans. The applications also inflated the value of 

the properties. If a home was appraised at $400,000, for 

example, the bogus loan application might list the value 

at $500,000. Puentes pocketed the extra money and used 

it to pay his accomplices. He then paid the mortgage 

for a number of months until he could flip the property 

for a further profit—or sometimes he rented it out to 

generate more income. But then he stopped paying. After 

taking his ill-gotten profit, Puentes simply walked away 
70 2012 The FBI Story

August 24, 2012

Genocide and 

War Crimes

New Webpage Designed to Raise 

Awareness, Solicit Information

Left: A burial site on the outskirts of Kigali, Rwanda for some of the 

victims of the 1994 genocide. Photo courtesy of The U.S. Holocaust

Memorial Museum

perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and other related 

atrocities—the worst of the worst—and apprehend them.”

These types of investigations are among the most 

complex ones we work. They typically involve piecing 

together fragmentary bits of information, interviewing 

overseas witnesses in conflict zones, collecting evidence 

in other countries, and accommodating language barriers. 

And the key to successfully conducting them—according 

to VanNest—is cooperation.

“The GWCU works shoulder-to-shoulder with our U.S. 

federal partners—most often with the Department 

of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement (ICE)—to determine if there’s a violation of 

U.S. law,” says VanNest. “If so, we envision working many 

of these cases jointly with our partners in ICE’s Homeland 

Security Investigations.”

Internationally—because the bulk of these investigations occur overseas—we work through our network of 

legal attachés who have established relationships with 

our counterparts in foreign nations and who coordinate 

our work with international criminal tribunals. We also 

cooperate with INTERPOL.

On the overview section of our new webpage, you can 

find out more about how we offer additional support—

such as crime scene preservation, interviewing techniques, age-enhancing photos, language services, and 

increasingly, victim/witness services—to foreign authorities and who our primary domestic and international 

partners are.

Members of the GWCU, usually in conjunction with our 

ICE counterparts, coordinate our genocide/war crimes 

investigations. Collectively, GWCU agents and intelligence analysts in the unit are carefully selected for what 

they can bring to the table—subject matter expertise, 

interviewing skills, experience in past critical incident 

response, foreign language ability, and experience working 

with partner agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

“Our ultimate goal,” says VanNest, “is to ensure that 

perpetrators of these heinous crimes find no safe 

haven in the United States, or for that matter, no safe 

haven anywhere in the world.”

Kosovo...Rwanda...Srebrenica. These places will forever 

be associated with unspeakable, brutal acts of genocide 

and war crimes.

The global community has banded together to help 

prevent crimes like these and to bring to justice the 

perpetrators who commit them. The U.S. is part of this 

international effort—most recently through the creation 

of an interagency Atrocities Prevention Board. And the 

FBI supports the government’s efforts through its own 

Genocide War Crimes Program.

Today, in an effort to raise awareness about these crimes 

and the FBI’s part in helping to combat them, we’re 

announcing the launch of our Genocide War Crimes 

Program webpage. In addition to educating the public on 

our role, the website solicits information from victims and 

others about acts of genocide, war crimes, or related mass 

atrocities that can be submitted to us through tips.fbi.gov 

or by contacting an FBI field office or legal attaché office.

Why is the FBI involved, especially since these incidents primarily take place overseas? Take a look at the 

jurisdiction section of our new website, which explains 

the 1998 Presidential Executive Order 13107 and the four 

U.S. laws dealing with genocide, war crimes, torture, and 

recruitment or use of child soldiers.

According to Special Agent Jeffrey VanNest, who heads 

up our Genocide War Crimes Unit (GWCU), our mission 

is to “systematically and methodically help track down 
2012 The FBI Story 71

August 28, 2012

A scene from The X-Files, which featured agents investigating

paranormal phenomenon. Hint: the female agent pictured

here said one of the quotes in the quiz.

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 4: Who Said It? 

Pop Culture’s Take on 

Women Special Agents

a matter of time before women agents are cast as the 

operational leaders they are in real life.

Key to the Quiz

1. Special Agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is an FBI agent in Miss Congeniality

(2000) who isn’t entirely happy about going undercover in the Miss United States beauty 

pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event.

2. Special Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), fresh out of new agent training, verbally 

spars with the perfidious Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs.

3. New Agent Janis Zuckerman (Mary Gross) teams with Ellie DeWitt (Rebecca De 

Mornay) in FEDS (1988) to try to get through the hazing and hazards of FBI new agent 

training.

4. Special Agent Samantha “Sam” Spade (Poppy Montgomery) works on a fictional 

Missing Persons Squad in New York City in the television series Without a Trace, which

ran from 2002 to 2009.

5. In a series with parallel universes, Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is part 

of a multi-agency task force investigating strange crimes with the help of an institutionalized scientist in Fringe: There’s More Than One of Everything (2009).

6. Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) waxes philosophical with her partner 

Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) in the television science fiction drama The X-Files, which 

ran from 1993 to 2002.

7. In Criminal Minds: Cradle to Grave (2009), Special Agent Jennifer “JJ” Jareau gives 

her signature voiceover to an episode featuring the fictional casework of the FBI’s 

Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

8. Special Agent Diana Barrigan (Marsha Thomason) sets Peter Burke straight in the 

“Deadline” episode of White Collar (2009).

Part 5: A diversity of backgrounds and experiences (page 72)

1. “I am in a dress, I have gel in my hair, I haven’t slept 

all night, I’m starved, and I’m armed! Don’t mess with 

me!”

2. “You see a lot, doctor. But are you strong enough to 

point that high-powered perception at yourself?

What about it? Why don’t you—why don’t you look

at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe

you’re afraid to.”

3. “He was kinda of cute...for a sociopath.”

4. “Hey, you think it’s easy being surrounded by guys 

with guns all day?”

Male agent: “I thought you liked guys with guns.”

“I like the guns.”

5. “What are you doing here?”

Male scientist: “We’re trying to plug a hole in the

universe. What are you doing here?”

“Apparently the same thing.”

6. “Sometimes looking for extreme possibilities makes

you blind to the probable explanation right in front of 

you.”

7. “Journalist William D. Tammeus wrote: You don’t 

really understand human nature unless you know why 

a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents 

every time around and why his parents will always 

wave back.”

8. “A cup of tea, a German-English dictionary, and I’ll 

have it translated in a day or two.”

It took a while for Hollywood and television to notice 

that FBI women special agents had come on the scene in 

1972—and to think how they might work into old and 

new storylines. At first, in the early 1990s, the focus was 

on training and new agents...and on comedy—women 

trying by hook or by crook to make it in a man’s profession. Now you find our women agents portrayed in a 

variety of decisive roles in team environments—trying to 

locate missing persons, analyzing evidence, analyzing the 

criminal mind, and, of course, investigating paranormal 

activity and worldwide conspiracies. We think it’s just 
72 2012 The FBI Story

August 31, 2012

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 5: A Diversity of 

Backgrounds and Experiences

Left: Brenda Heck, on competing to be on the FBI Hostage Rescue 

Team in 1993: “I was driven by the challenge. It didn’t even occur to 

me that I was being questioned because I was a female. It just never 

occurred to me. I imagine I probably surprised a few people.”

Their stories, revealed in more than a dozen interviews with female agents past and present, show 

there’s no well-defined template for women agents, 

apart from a desire to serve. Like the first two women 

agents—a nun and a Marine—they arrived at the FBI 

with varied backgrounds and proceeded to have similarly 

varied careers. In video interviews, they talk about what 

brought them to the Bureau, the challenges they faced, 

their unique work experiences, and their reflections on 

careers that broke more than a few glass ceilings.

A common thread is that none aspired to be great women 

agents, just great agents that happened to be women.

Here’s a preview:

▪ A 24-year agent who early in her career competed 

for a spot on the all-male Hostage Rescue Team:

“I was driven by the challenge. It didn’t even occur to 

me that I was a female and that I was being questioned because I was a female.”

▪ A retired agent who rose through a series of 

leadership firsts to the Bureau’s third-highest 

position: “At the time, when women became the first 

at anything, somebody always took notice. And often 

it was the women who took notice because we were 

trying to find our way and make sure that we had the 

opportunities that men who were agents had. And we 

did.”

▪ Special agent in charge of the Anchorage Division:

“I think women coming through today, they benefit 

from the experiences of all the women that have gone 

before and the fact that it’s not considered so unusual 

now.”

The growing ranks of women agents echo the Anchorage agent’s comments—there are more than 2,600 today, 

including 11 in charge of field offices. “As a whole, the 

Bureau is better for having women agents,” she said. “I 

think we make the Bureau more complete.”

Part 6: Working undercover (page 78)

In the 40 years since the FBI began training women to 

be special agents, many have said it was a dream they 

had held since childhood. They played cops and robbers 

as kids, kept their noses clean, and maybe joined the 

military or the local police, consciously burnishing their 

credentials on the road to becoming G-Women.

“I’m not quite sure where the seed got planted,” said 

Katrina G., an agent who now runs the Bureau’s Forensic 

Audio Video and Image Analysis Unit. “But I thought the 

FBI—fidelity, bravery, integrity—you can’t go wrong. I 

always wanted to be someone to do the right thing, to be 

fair and honest, and to stick up for the little guys.”

Others followed a less scripted route. Shelia T., an agent 

at the FBI’s Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory in 

Quantico, Virginia, set out in college to be a research professor and was well on her way when she drove a friend to 

an FBI recruitment event on campus. “We went in and 

sat through the session,” she recalled. “My friend is listening because she’s interested, and I’m in the back waiting 

for her to finish so we can go study.” An agent suggested 

Shelia apply, too. She found herself at the FBI Academy 

for new-agent training on August 16, 1998. A few years 

later, she was in Ken Lay’s office at Enron, collecting 

evidence at the center of the Bureau’s largest-ever whitecollar crime scene.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch one in a series of related videos,

or visit http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
2012 The FBI Story 73

September 4, 2012

A Byte Out of History

Murder and the Dixie Mafia

“Gulf Coast residents were shocked by the murders,” 

Bell said. Local authorities worked the case unsuccessfully for two years. The FBI opened an investigation in 1989, 

and Bell was assisted in the investigation by Capt. Randy 

Cook of the revamped sheriff’s office—Leroy Hobbs was 

convicted of racketeering in 1984 and sentenced to 20 

years in prison.

The federal investigation into the Sherry murders lasted 

eight years. In the final trial in 1997, Pete Halat was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Kirksey McCord Nix—the 

Dixie Mafia kingpin at Angola who ordered the hits—as 

well as the hit man who killed the Sherrys each received 

life sentences.

As a result of the cases, Bell said, “Gulf Coast citizens 

started demanding more professional law enforcement 

and better government.” Bell—who wanted to be an FBI 

agent since he first watched The FBI television series as a 

child—added, “It meant a lot to me to return to my home 

and do something about the corruption that had worked 

its way into government and law enforcement there.” He 

added, “The majority of citizens realized that if the FBI 

had not stepped in, the lawlessness and corruption would 

likely have continued unabated.”

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the murder 

of Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, Margaret, whose 

deaths at the hands of the so-called Dixie Mafia exposed 

the lawlessness and corruption that had overtaken 

Mississippi’s Gulf Coast in the 1980s.

“It was out of control,” said retired Special Agent 

Keith Bell, referring to the level of corruption in 

Biloxi and Harrison County—so much so that in 1983 

federal authorities would designate the entire Harrison 

County Sheriff’s Office as a criminal enterprise.

Special Agent Royce Hignight initiated the investigation 

of the sheriff and was soon joined by Bell.

“They were doing anything and everything illegal down 

here,” said Bell, who grew up on the Gulf Coast. “For 

money, the sheriff and officers loyal to him would release 

prisoners from the county jail, safeguard drug shipments, 

and hide fugitives. Anything you can think of, they were 

involved in.”

Bell is quick to point out that there were plenty of honest 

officers on the force, and some would later help the FBI 

put an end to the culture of corruption in Biloxi. But for 

a long time, Sheriff Leroy Hobbs and his Dixie Mafia 

associates held sway.

The Dixie Mafia had no ties to La Cosa Nostra. They 

were a loose confederation of thugs and crooks who conducted their criminal activity in the Southeastern United 

States. When word got out that Biloxi—with its history 

of strip clubs and illicit gambling—was a safe haven, the 

criminals settled in.

At the same time, members of the organization incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola were 

running a “lonely hearts” extortion scam with associates on the street. The scam targeted homosexuals and 

brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars—money they 

entrusted to their lawyer, Pete Halat.

But Halat, who would later become mayor of Biloxi, spent 

the money. When it came time to hand it over to the 

crooks, he said the cash had been taken by his former law 

partner, Vincent Sherry. So the Dixie mob ordered a hit 

on Sherry, a sitting state circuit judge who had no direct 

ties to the criminals. On September 14, 1987, Sherry and 

his wife were murdered in their home.
74 2012 The FBI Story

September 7, 2012

Infant Abductions

A Violent Trend Emerges

pregnant. Often, they will fake a pregnancy in the hopes 

of keeping a boyfriend or husband.” In most cases, she 

added, the women intend no harm to the infants—and 

maybe not even the mother. “They just want a child to 

raise as their own and will do anything to get one.”

Another emerging trend, Douglas said, is that women 

desperate for a child are turning to social networking websites to locate victims. “We have seen several 

recent cases involving social networking sites,” she 

explained, “and we see how easy it is to use these 

websites to gain access to targets.”

In January, for example, a 32-year-old Florida woman developed a friendship with a younger new mother through 

a social networking site. The woman lied about having 

her own newborn and claimed the child was sick and 

in the hospital. The victim invited the woman to spend 

the night at her house, and the next morning, when 

the victim was in the shower, the woman abducted her 

2-week-old infant. She then deleted her contact information from the victim’s social networking site, thinking 

she would not be found. The baby was recovered and the 

woman was arrested.

“Parents should check their privacy settings on social 

networking sites,” Douglas said, and they should always 

use caution on the Internet. Without the proper settings, 

pictures posted online can contain embedded information 

that allows others to track your movements.

“This information is important to share with parents,” 

Douglas said. “They should be aware of their physical surroundings and how they use the Internet. This can help 

protect mothers and their babies.”

It is relatively rare for infants to be abducted by strangers. But it does happen. And recent analysis of abduction 

cases by the FBI suggests there are new and troubling 

trends for expectant parents to be aware of, including 

women kidnappers using violence to commit their crimes 

and social media to target their victims.

In April, for example, a 30-year-old Texas woman shot 

and killed a 28-year-old mother while kidnapping her 

3-day-old son from a pediatric center. The infant was 

recovered six hours later.

“For the most part, women are no longer going into hospitals and dressing in nurse’s uniforms and walking out with 

children,” said Ashli-Jade Douglas, an FBI intelligence 

analyst who works in our Crimes Against Children Unit 

and specializes in child abduction matters. That’s because 

hospital security has greatly improved over the years.

A recent case illustrates the point: Last month, a woman 

entered a California hospital dressed in medical scrubs 

and abducted a newborn girl, hiding the baby in a bag. 

But when she attempted to walk out of the hospital, the 

baby’s security bracelet triggered an alarm and the woman 

was caught.

Because of heightened hospital security, Douglas said, 

“now women who desperately want a child—and are 

willing to go to extreme lengths to get one—have to gain 

direct contact with their victims, and that’s when things 

can turn violent.”

“The women who commit these crimes are usually 

between the ages of 17 and 33,” said Douglas, who 

provides analytical support to our Child Abduction 

Rapid Deployment Team. “Usually, they are unable to get 
2012 The FBI Story 75

September 11, 2012

A latent thumbprint from the crime scene (inset) was matched to this 

IAFIS record.

30-Year-Old 

Murder Solved

Fingerprint Technology 

Played Key Role

The re-investigation: In late 2008, the Omaha Police 

Department received an inquiry on the case, prompting technician Laura Casey to search the prints against 

IAFIS (which didn’t exist in 1978). In less than five 

hours, IAFIS returned possible candidates for comparison purposes. Casey spent days carefully examining the 

prints and came up with a positive identification—Jerry 

Watson, who was serving time in an Illinois prison on 

burglary charges.

The case was officially re-opened and assigned to the 

cold case squad’s Doug Herout. Working with laboratory 

technicians and analysts, Herout reviewed the original 

evidence from the case, including a classified advertisement flyer with “Jerry W.” scribbled on one of the pages. 

Herout also discovered that Jerry Watson had lived only a 

few blocks from where the victim’s car was recovered.

And the discovery was made just in time—Watson was 

just days away from being released from prison.

Herout traveled to Illinois to question Watson and 

presented him with an order to obtain a DNA sample. 

Subsequent testing determined that Watson’s DNA 

matched DNA recovered at the crime scene, a finding 

that—combined with Watson’s identified prints—resulted 

in murder charges and a conviction. On October 17, 

2011—33 years to the day that Bonnet’s body was discovered—his killer was sentenced to life in prison.

It’s yet another example of the vital role that technology 

plays in getting dangerous criminals off our streets.

A cold case is just that—an investigation of a crime, 

usually a violent one, where all leads have been exhausted 

and the trail has gone cold. But in recent years, the use of 

various technologies has begun heating up many of these 

cold cases, uncovering new leads for investigators and 

providing justice for victims.

One immediate technology example that comes to mind 

is automated fingerprint searching—more precisely, 

searches of latent prints of violent unknown perpetrators left at crime scenes. (Latent prints are impressions—usually invisible to the naked eye—produced 

by the ridged skin on human fingers, palms, or soles of 

the feet.) The FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint 

Identification System (IAFIS), which houses known 

records for approximately 73 million criminal subjects, 

is used daily by local, state, tribal, and international law 

enforcement for current cases, but increasingly for help in 

solving cold cases as well. And once a year, the Bureau’s 

Criminal Justice Information Services Division recognizes 

an outstanding major case solved with help from IAFIS.

The 2012 Latent Hit of the Year Award was presented 

last month to two employees of the Omaha Police 

Department—Detective Douglas Herout and Senior 

Crime Laboratory Technician Laura Casey—for their 

efforts to identify the man responsible for a brutal murder 

more than 30 years ago.

The crime: In 1978, 61-year-old Carroll Bonnet was 

stabbed to death in his apartment. Police collected 

evidence, including latent fingerprints and palmprints 

from the victim’s bathroom (officers believed the killer 

was trying to wash off blood and other evidence before 

leaving the apartment). The victim’s car was then stolen.

The investigation: The car was found in Illinois, but 

after collecting additional latent prints, investigators 

couldn’t develop any new leads. The crime scene evidence 

was processed, and latent prints recovered from the scene 

and the car were searched against local and state fingerprint files. Investigators also sent fingerprint requests to 

agencies outside Nebraska, but no matches were returned 

and the case soon went cold.
76 2012 The FBI Story

September 14, 2012

Teen Prostitution

Gang Used Social Media Sites to

Identify Potential Victims

of his associates would ask for her cell phone number to 

contact her offline and make plans to meet.

After some more flattery about their attractiveness, 

sometimes hits of illegal drugs and alcohol, and even 

mandatory sexual “tryouts” with Strom and other gang 

members, the girls were lured into engaging in commercial sex, often with the help of more senior girls showing 

them the ropes. The girls might be sent to an apartment 

complex with instructions to knock on doors looking for 

potential customers...or driven to hotels for pre-arranged 

meetings...or taken to Strom’s house, where he allowed 

paying customers to have sex with them. 

In addition to using the Internet, Strom and his associates recruited vulnerable young girls from schools and bus 

and rail stops. He also went online to find customers—

postings ads on various websites showing scantily clad 

young women.

Some of the juvenile victims were threatened with 

violence if they didn’t perform as directed, and many were 

given drugs or alcohol to keep them sedated and compliant.

Strom and his associates did not discriminate—their 

victims were from across the socioeconomic spectrum 

and represented different ethnic backgrounds.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office worked the investigation alongside the Fairfax County Police Department, 

with the assistance of the Northern Virginia Human 

Trafficking Task Force.

After the group’s indictment in March 2012, then-Special 

Agent in Charge Ronald Hosko of our Washington 

Field Office reiterated the importance of working with 

our partners and community groups in combating these 

types of despicable crimes. He also said, “Trafficking in 

humans, especially for the purpose of underage prostitution, is among the most insidious of crimes...and the FBI 

will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to track down 

those who exploit our children and engage in human 

trafficking.”

It’s yet another reason why parents need to keep a close 

eye on their kids’ involvement with social networking 

websites—during a three-year period ending in March 

2012, members of a violent Virginia street gang used some 

of these websites to recruit vulnerable high-school age 

girls to work in their prostitution business.

After a multi-agency state and federal investigation, all 

five defendants pled guilty to various federal charges 

related to the sex trafficking conspiracy. The leader of 

the gang—27-year-old Justin Strom—was sentenced on 

September 14 to 40 years in prison, while the sentences 

handed down for the other four defendants totaled 53 

years.

Strom headed up the Underground Gangster Crips 

(UGC), a Crips “set” based in Fairfax, Virginia. The 

Crips originated in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and 

early 1970s, and since then, the gang has splintered into 

various groups around the country. Law enforcement has 

seen a number of Crips sets in the U.S. engaging in sex 

trafficking as a means of making money.

That’s certainly what was happening in Virginia.

Strom and his UGC associates would troll social networking sites, looking for attractive young girls. After identifying a potential victim, they would contact her online 

using phony identities...complimenting her on her looks, 

asking to get to know her better, sometimes offering her 

the opportunity to make money as a result of her looks.

If the victim expressed interest (and many did, being 

young and easily flattered by the attention), Strom or one 
2012 The FBI Story 77

September 18, 2012

Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair

New Top Ten Art Crime

Reward Offered for Stolen 

Renoir Painting

Sgt. Schneider said that while Houston has had its share 

of art crimes, few have been as high-profile as the theft of 

the Renoir. He added that the thief would likely try to sell 

the painting in a larger art community like New York or 

Los Angeles, or possibly overseas.

The FBI established the Top Ten Art Crimes list in 2005. 

Since then, six paintings and one sculpture have been recovered, including a Rembrandt self-portrait and another 

Renoir work titled Young Parisian stolen from Sweden’s 

National Museum. The current list may be found on the 

art theft program page on the FBI Internet website.

We need your help: Anyone with information about the 

stolen Renoir is encouraged to contact their local FBI 

office or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate, or to 

submit a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov. A private insurer 

is offering up to $50,000 for information leading to the 

recovery of the painting.

An oil painting by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste 

Renoir stolen from a Houston home last year—and 

estimated to be worth $1 million—is the newest addition 

to the FBI’s Top Ten Art Crimes list.

The painting, Madeleine Leaning on Her Elbow with 

Flowers in Her Hair, was stolen during an armed 

robbery on September 8, 2011. The homeowner was 

watching television when she heard a loud noise downstairs. When she went to investigate, she was confronted 

by an armed man in a ski mask.

“We hope that adding the Renoir to the FBI’s Top Ten 

list and publicizing the reward of up to $50,000 for 

information leading to the recovery of the painting will 

prompt someone to come forward,” said Peter Schneider, 

a sergeant with the Houston Police Department who 

is a member of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force in 

Houston.

Information about the painting has been included in 

the FBI’s National Stolen Art File, as well as other 

similar online tools—including the Art Loss Register 

and INTERPOL’s Works of Art database—that alert art 

dealers, gallery owners, and auction houses about missing 

and stolen artwork.

“If the thief tries to place the painting with a reputable 

dealer or gallery, or tries to sell it at auction, members of 

the art community here and overseas who regularly check 

these databases will see that the artwork has been stolen 

and will alert the FBI,” said Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, 

who manages the Bureau’s art theft program. “Our goal 

is to provide information about this theft to the widest 

audience possible,” she said.

Renoir, a master Impressionist, painted Madeleine Leaning 

on Her Elbow with Flowers in Her Hair in 1918. The 

canvas size is 50.17 x 41.28 centimeters, and the artist 

signed the oil portrait in the lower right corner. The 

painting was taken with its frame intact from the stairwell 

where it hung.

The masked robber, who forced entry through the 

back door of the home, is described as a white male, 

18 to 26 years old, who weighs about 160 pounds and 

is approximately 5’10” tall. He was armed with a largecaliber, semi-automatic handgun.
78 2012 The FBI Story

September 21, 2012

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 6: Working Undercover

in mortgage fraud, a wealthy investor; in public corruption, a CEO; and in organized crime, a business woman 

in one case and a girlfriend to a male undercover agent in 

another.”

Q. What qualities do you think undercover agents 

need to be successful?

Agent #1: “I think the FBI needs a variety of people with 

different qualities for undercover work...a loner would 

be a great fit for some cases, while a gregarious, outgoing 

person would be perfect for another.”

Agent #3: “Both life and job experiences contribute to 

being a successful undercover agent—being a team player, 

having a good work ethic and a sense of humor, staying 

flexible, and exercising good judgment and common 

sense. I also think that the many roles we play in real 

life—wife, mother, girlfriend, etc.—help us get close to 

our subjects.”

Q. Have the criminals in your investigations ever said 

anything after they learned who you really were?

Agent #1: “Yes. Many times, criminals offer us up (as 

crooked colleagues) when they’re trying to cooperate in 

post-arrest interviews. It’s pretty interesting to see how 

convinced they are that we’re really criminals, too!”

Agent #2: “I think the words that sum it up best are, ‘No 

way, I don’t believe it!’ That makes me feel like I’ve done 

my job well.”

Q. What’s your most memorable experience while 

serving undercover?

Agent #1: “It’s difficult to pick one. I’ve listened to 

domestic extremists talk about how corrupt the U.S. 

is; pretended to befriend a dirty drug-dealing cop; been 

arrested and jailed (twice!); attended high-end poker 

games; and paid kickbacks to corrupt doctors.”

Agent #2: “During a health care fraud case, a target 

doctor was showing me around his office and offered me 

free Botox injections in my forehead. I didn’t want to 

make him suspicious, so I got the injections. I had to do a 

lot of paperwork explaining that one!”

“These women, and others like them,” says the agent 

who currently oversees the Bureau’s Undercover and 

Sensitive Operations Unit, “are a huge asset...many past 

and ongoing undercover operations owe their successes 

to the unique perspectives, expertise, and diversity female 

undercover personnel regularly provide in this elite and 

demanding area.”

Part 7: Two made the ultimate sacrifice (page 90)

They’ve played the part of everyone from a college 

student to a CEO...created and run entire fictitious 

companies...attended motorcycle gang weddings...even 

been “arrested” for the good of the cause.

In the four decades since women have served as FBI 

agents, they’ve taken on one of the most difficult—yet 

vitally important—roles in the Bureau: going undercover.

Our early female pioneers had a lot of fascinating stories 

to tell about this work—how dangerous it was, how they 

gained the trust of criminals, how they used their specialized language and other skills.

Recently, we talked with three current female agents 

about their undercover experiences. Despite the challenges of the job, all are passionate about their work 

and believe that women bring unique perspectives that 

enhance their effectiveness on the job.

Because of obvious sensitivities, we’re keeping the identities of these agents confidential.

Q. What types of cases have you been involved in, and 

what types of roles have you played?

Agent #2: “I’ve worked cases involving outlaw motorcycle 

gangs, espionage, and public corruption, among others. 

I’ve had roles where I was the primary undercover, the 

secondary undercover, and even had cameo undercover 

appearances in other undercover operations.”

Agent #3: “A variety of cases and roles...for instance, in 

health care fraud, a patient seeking prescription medicine; 
2012 The FBI Story 79

September 25, 2012

J. Edgar Hoover at his desk.

Hoover meets with associates in his front office in the 1940s.

The Hoover Legacy, 

40 Years After

Part 5: A Day in the Life

Just before 10 a.m., Hoover moved to his larger, formal 

office and began a series of public meetings. He met 

with Lieutenant Colonel Jose Lukhan, his counterpart 

in the Philippines. Then came a visit with Special Agent 

Robert G. Emond, who was about to become the head of 

security at the U.S. Information Agency.

Promptly a few minutes before noon, Hoover and Tolson 

were driven to the Mayflower Hotel for their regular 

lunch, which lasted an hour. Hoover’s afternoon included 

a meeting with a visiting retired agent and a dental 

appointment. Shortly after 4:30 p.m., Hoover received 

a telephone call from President Kennedy’s chief of staff, 

Kenneth O’Donnel; the two talked for some time. Given 

the developing Cuban Missile Crisis and the impending 

desegregation of the University of Mississippi, the issue of 

the call was clearly of national importance.

At 5:20 p.m., Hoover and Tolson left together and were 

driven to their respective homes. Many days Hoover 

stayed much later.

For the aging Hoover, this day—recreated from previously released office logs, FBI files, and other government documents—was a typical one. The Director 

would pass away in his sleep just under a decade later, 

ending his remarkable 48-year run as head of the FBI. His 

time in office, which represented a period of great cultural 

and technological change for the nation, was not without 

its missteps. But as Director, Hoover’s intelligence and 

organizational skills helped turn a small, largely unknown 

organization into what it is today—a premier national 

security organization with both law enforcement and 

intelligence responsibilities, one that protects the nation 

from a variety of serious threats while providing leadership to its partners around the world.

It’s 50 years ago today, a warm morning in late September 

1962. The 67-year-old J. Edgar Hoover—who by then had 

served as FBI Director for 38 years—woke up, showered, 

and dressed.

Hoover’s long-time housekeeper, Annie Fields, served 

breakfast, and the Director shared a fair amount of it with 

his two Cairn Terriers—Cindy and G-Boy, his third dog 

by that name.

By 8 a.m., a Bureau driver arrived to get Hoover and then 

drove a few blocks away and picked up Associate Director 

Clyde Tolson. Since it was a nice day, the car stopped on 

Virginia Avenue near the National Mall. The two elderly 

gentlemen got out and walked the remaining six or seven 

blocks to the Department of Justice building.

Once inside, Hoover and Tolson took the elevator to the 

fifth floor. Hoover’s office suite was at the corner of the 

building on Pennsylvania Avenue and 9th Street, and 

Tolson’s was across the hall.

For the first hour or so, Hoover worked from his 

private office, reading through the many reports, 

offering his comments, and issuing his orders on 

the Bureau’s large and diverse number of cases and 

administrative matters. His comments—written in blue 

ink—showed a breadth of knowledge of Bureau activities 

and, sometimes, revealed Hoover’s personality and sharp 

wit.
80 2012 The FBI Story

September 28, 2012

FBI National Academy

Celebrating a Milestone

Left: National Academy students who successfully tackle the “Yellow 

Brick Road,” a grueling 6.1 mile run and obstacle course, receive a 

yellow brick to signify their accomplishment.

“The amount of knowledge is so vast among National 

Academy students that there is pretty much no law 

enforcement problem that can’t be solved,” Cappetta tells 

classes when they first arrive at Quantico. “Whatever 

problem you might be having in your police department, 

there is someone in the session who has gone through the 

same thing.”

Michael Connolly, a captain in the San Francisco Police 

Department who graduated with this most recent class, 

agreed. “Now I have nearly 270 new resources,” he said, 

“colleagues and friends who can help me solve the next 

problem, or maybe I can help them.”

Robert Ferrari, a lieutenant with the San Juan County 

Sheriff’s Office in Farmington, New Mexico, added, 

“Being from a small town in New Mexico, I was feeling 

that some of the issues in my organization—tight budgets, 

management challenges—were just our issues. But then 

you come here and find out that a guy from halfway 

across the world in Africa is having the same problems. 

The National Academy gives you the ability to network 

with all these people,” Ferrari said. “This experience has 

given me a lot of encouragement as a leader.”

The program also emphasizes physical fitness, and 

students train with academy fitness instructors during 

their 10 weeks at Quantico to tackle the “Yellow Brick 

Road,” a grueling 6.1 mile run and obstacle course.

Upon completion of the course they receive a yellow brick 

to signify their accomplishment.

“Law enforcement only succeeds if we build global 

partnerships,” Kevin Perkins, the FBI’s associate deputy 

director, told this session’s graduates. “With every brick 

you earned here,” he said, “we are building that foundation.”

“Everybody who has participated in the National 

Academy, whether current students or past graduates—we all have an extreme sense of pride about being 

affiliated with the FBI,” Connolly said. “We aren’t agents, 

but we are now part of the fabric of the FBI. I think 

that’s important, that we have something tangible that 

connects us to the FBI.”

The FBI’s National Academy, known as one of the 

premier law enforcement training programs in the world, 

graduated its 250th class earlier this month, and the 

graduates—like thousands who preceded them—returned 

to their police departments and agencies in the U.S. and 

overseas with new knowledge and many new friends.

“I have made some true friends for life,” said Kenneth 

Armstrong, detective chief inspector of the Strathclyde 

Police in Glasgow, Scotland, referring to his classmates 

from the 10-week program held at the FBI’s training 

facility in Quantico, Virginia.

Established in 1935, the National Academy provides 

advanced investigative, management, and fitness 

training to senior officers who are proven leaders 

within their organizations. In addition to undergraduate 

and graduate-level college courses offered in areas such 

as law, behavioral and forensic science, understanding 

terrorism and terrorists, and leadership development, 

students forge lasting connections that strengthen global 

law enforcement partnerships.

 “If you’re a National Academy graduate,” said Special 

Agent Greg Cappetta, chief of the National Academy 

Unit at Quantico, “it doesn’t matter where you go in the 

world—someone there has gone through the program and 

will be ready to help you.”

To date, more than 46,000 men and women have graduated from the program, and more than 28,500 are still 

active in law enforcement work. The 250th graduating 

class, consisting of 264 officers, came from 49 U.S. states 

and 24 countries.
2012 The FBI Story 81

October 1, 2012

Living a Lie

Identity Theft That 

Lasted Decades

When Blanco realized that he was dealing with a massive 

and long-running case of identity fraud, John Doe was 

arrested. The JTTF opened an investigation, and John 

Doe was eventually indicted federally on numerous 

counts of aggravated identity theft and fraud.

JTTF investigators had to rule out any threat to national 

security, because John Doe had access to the Mayport 

Naval Station as well as JaxPort, the Jacksonville Port 

Authority. Although he was just working at those locations, Special Agent Paxton Stelly, who supervises 

Jacksonville’s JTTF, pointed out that John Doe had 

passed the background checks required to gain access 

there. “He appears to have manipulated the system with 

ease,” Stelly said.

Last month, a jury convicted John Doe—who continues 

to insist he is the real victim in the case—and sentenced 

him to 10 years in prison. Despite DNA testing and 

a thorough investigation, his real identity remains a 

mystery.

“It will continue to be a mystery unless he makes an 

admission to us,” Blanco said, adding, “I don’t know what 

he’s going to do when he gets out of prison, because the 

man doesn’t have an identity.”

When Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Richard 

Blanco—a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task 

Force (JTTF) in Jacksonville—interviewed an individual 

suspected of driver’s license fraud in 2011, he wasn’t 

initially sure if the man was the victim or the perpetrator 

of identity theft.

That’s because the man—now imprisoned and officially known as John Doe—had a stack of governmentissued identification acquired during the 22 years he 

had been using a living victim’s identity. That included 

a passport, driver’s license, birth certificate, Social 

Security card, and identification allowing him unescorted 

access to a port and military installation.

“He was extremely convincing that he was the victim,” 

said Blanco, a veteran trooper with more than 30 years on 

the force. “When you have 20 forms of identification and 

it’s in your possession,” Blanco explained, “it’s hard to not 

believe you are the person you say you are.”

But John Doe was indeed an imposter, and while he 

was living under another man’s name, the real victim 

was living a nightmare. It all started in 1989, when the 

victim’s car was broken into and his wallet was stolen. His 

identity had been compromised.

John Doe began using the victim’s name, even when he 

went to prison for aggravated battery. As a result, Blanco 

said, “if you run John Doe’s fingerprints, even today, they 

will come back with the victim’s name.”

When the victim, a Miami resident, applied to become 

a corrections officer, he had to explain why his records 

showed a felony conviction. He urged officials to compare 

his fingerprints to those of John Doe’s. When the victim 

applied for a passport, he was denied because the passport 

office claimed he already had one—the one that John 

Doe had applied for and received.

When Blanco was able to talk with the real victim, 

he heard two decades worth of frustration. The victim 

had filed a police report years before, but John Doe had 

never been caught or stopped. Blanco remembers the 

victim telling him, “This guy has been living my identity. 

He’s gotten my license suspended, and he’s had kids in my 

name.”
82 2012 The FBI Story

October 3, 2012

Help Us Catch 

a Terrorist

U.S. Citizen Wanted for 

Supporting al Qaeda

adding that both Abousamra and Mehanna were inspired 

by the 9/11 terror attacks. “They celebrated it,” she said.

Abousamra is of Syrian descent and has dual U.S. and 

Syrian citizenship. He is 31 years old, 5’11” tall, and at 

the time of his disappearance weighed about 170 pounds. 

He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He is fluent 

in English and Arabic, has a college degree related to 

computer technology, and was previously employed at a 

telecommunications company. Abousamra last lived in 

the U.S. in a prosperous Boston suburb and has family 

members in the Detroit, Michigan area.

One of his distinguishing characteristics is his higherpitched voice, which can be heard on our website.

Today’s announcement is part of a publicity campaign 

employing traditional and social media to seek the 

public’s assistance. We are using social media to reach an 

overseas audience—information about Abousamra such 

as photos and audio clips can be found on the website and 

our Facebook, You Tube, and Twitter pages.

“Combining the reach and power of multiple media 

platforms is a powerful way to inform the public about 

our search,” DesLauriers said. “We believe publicizing Abousamra’s photo and characteristics will lead 

to a tip about his whereabouts and, ultimately, to his 

arrest.”

Thomas Daly, a sergeant with the Lowell Police 

Department in Massachusetts and a task force officer on 

the Boston JTTF since 2002, said catching Abousamra 

“will close the chapter on this story. We had two people 

who were planning to harm U.S. soldiers overseas,” Daly 

said, referring to Abousamra and Mehanna. “These two 

were actively radicalizing others. We can only assume 

Abousamra is still on the same path and remains a threat 

to our soldiers overseas.”

We need your help. If you have any information regarding Ahmad Abousamra, please contact your local FBI 

office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate. 

You can also submit a tip electronically on our website at 

https://tips.fbi.gov.

The FBI today announced a reward of up to $50,000 for 

information leading to the arrest of Ahmad Abousamra, a 

U.S. citizen from Massachusetts charged with traveling to 

Pakistan and Yemen to seek military training so he could 

kill American soldiers.

“Knowing that the public is the FBI’s best ally in 

finding fugitives, today we’re requesting your assistance to locate Abousamra,” said Richard 

DesLauriers, special agent in charge of our Boston 

office.

Abousamra is charged with conspiracy to provide 

material support or resources to al Qaeda. He was 

indicted in 2009 for taking multiple trips to Pakistan and 

Yemen in 2002 and 2004 to seek jihad training. He also 

traveled to Iraq with the hope of joining forces fighting 

against Americans overseas. Abousamra left the U.S. in 

2006 and may be living in living in Aleppo, Syria with his 

wife, at least one daughter, and extended family.

Abousamra’s co-conspirator, Tarek Mehanna, was 

convicted of terrorism charges by a federal jury in 

December 2011 and sentenced last April to 17.5 years 

in prison.

“Both men were self-radicalized and used the Internet to 

educate themselves,” said Special Agent Heidi Williams, 

a member of our Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in 

Boston who has been working the case since 2006. “They 

came to it independently, but once they found each other, 

they encouraged each other’s beliefs,” Williams said, 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a video on Abousamra, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.

Left: Ahmad Abousamra is wanted for supporting al Qaeda and

seeking to kill U.S. soldiers.
2012 The FBI Story 83

October 9, 2012

FBI Associate Deputy Director Kevin Perkins, right, is joined by Attorney General Eric Holder at a press conference announcing the results 

of the yearlong Distressed Homeowner Initiative.

Distressed Homeowner 

Initiative

Don’t Let Mortgage 

Fraud Happen to You

FTC issued a rule that prohibited companies that offer 

loan modification or other types of mortgage assistance 

services from asking for fees in advance (some states 

have similar regulations), but with an exemption in some 

instances for lawyers performing legal work. Criminals 

targeting distressed homeowners try to circumvent the 

rules by using attorneys—which by itself adds an air of 

legitimacy to their fraudulent schemes—and calling their 

upfront fees “legal retainers.”

The FBI’s Financial Intelligence Center played a critical 

role at the outset of the initiative by reviewing and 

analyzing thousands of consumer complaints referred 

to us by our partners at the FTC, which helped identify 

where high-priority offenders were operating and allowed 

us to strategically deploy our investigative resources. 

The analysis of information from our partner agencies 

and from our own investigations will continue to be a 

vital part of our efforts to protect homeowners. The FBI 

also remains committed to targeting the most egregious 

criminal offenders with sophisticated investigative techniques—like undercover operations and court-authorized 

electronic surveillance—and through joint efforts with 

our law enforcement and regulatory partners.

If you have been victimized by those who claimed they 

could get you some kind of mortgage relief but didn’t, 

please submit a tip to us online at https://tips.fbi.gov or 

contact your local FBI office.

Talk about going from bad to worse—more than 4,000 

financially strapped homeowners recently lost at least $7 

million to a California business that allegedly operated a 

loan modification scam. Last month, 11 representatives 

of that company were federally indicted, but by that time, 

many of the victims had already lost their homes.

Today, to help protect distressed homeowners around 

the country from a rising tide of fraud schemes—and 

to raise awareness about them—the FBI joined the 

Department of Justice, the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, and the Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC) in announcing the results of the 

Distressed Homeowner Initiative. This initiative was 

launched by the Bureau—co-chair of the Financial 

Fraud Enforcement Task Force’s Mortgage Fraud 

Working Group—in October 2011.

This initiative combines the resources of federal, state, 

and local law enforcement agencies and the efforts of 

regulatory agencies to target perpetrators both criminally 

and civilly. Over 200 companies have been shut down, 

and criminal charges were filed against 530 defendants. 

These cases involved losses of more than $1 billion from 

more than 73,000 victims across the country.

Said Associate Deputy Director Kevin Perkins, “In 

contrast with previous initiatives, where the fraud victims 

primarily were lenders, the focus here is on individual 

homeowners, many times at their most vulnerable point.”

Based on intelligence from multiple sources, schemes 

targeting distressed homeowners have emerged throughout the country, and while the majority of FBI mortgage 

fraud cases involve loan origination fraud, we’ve had a 

300 percent increase over the past three years in cases 

involving distressed homeowner fraud. 

And with current mortgage data showing that 22.3 

percent of residential properties with mortgages are “underwater”—when borrowers owe more than their homes 

are worth—we believe that fraudsters will certainly 

continue to target distressed homeowners.

We’ve also noticed a disturbing trend among these 

cases—an increasing number of lawyers playing 

primary or secondary roles in the fraud. In 2010, the 

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a public service announcement

featuring Tim DeKay of the television

show White Collar, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
84 2012 The FBI Story

October 12, 2012

North to Alaska

Part 1: Smallest FBI Office 

Takes on Big Job

Left: In many cases, getting to remote Alaskan villages and towns 

requires a plane or a boat. 

Few FBI offices require snowmobiles to respond to crime 

scenes, but Anchorage keeps two on hand. The harsh 

Alaskan winters, where temperatures can plummet to 

more than 50 degrees below zero and the sun rises above 

the horizon for only a few hours each day, can make being 

outdoors seem almost otherworldly.

“It can be a challenging place to work,” Rook acknowledged. “But the flip side is that everybody knows it. So 

everybody works together. We work great with each other 

and with our local and federal law enforcement partners. 

Everybody’s got each other’s back, because you just can’t 

survive up here alone.”

Not surprisingly, it takes a certain kind of person 

to work for the FBI in Alaska. “The most successful 

Bureau people here are the ones who come with an idea 

that this is going to be a great adventure,” said Rook, 

whose assignment in Anchorage began in January 2011.

Special Agent Catherine Ruiz, who transferred to 

Anchorage with her husband last year from Chicago, 

agreed. “Every few days you will be driving home and you 

look up at the snowcapped mountains and say, ‘Wow, this 

is a beautiful place.’”

Bureau personnel who come to Alaska tend to be multitalented as well. “We don’t have a lot of resources,” Rook 

said, “so everyone has to do a little bit of everything.” 

One of the office’s three pilots, for example, is also the 

polygraph examiner and a full-time counterintelligence 

agent. “That’s not unusual,” Rook noted.

“I originally thought I would come to Alaska for a few 

years,” said Special Agent Eric Gonzalez. That was 15 

years ago. Gonzalez liked the place and the people—and 

so did his family. He added, “Most of the Bureau folks I 

know who worked here and left wished they would have 

stayed.”

Part 2: An explosive situation in the dead of winter (page 86)

The FBI recently investigated a white powder letter 

incident in Alaska with the help of a partner law enforcement agency. “It took our partners two days to get to 

the place where the white powder letter was,” said Mary 

Frances Rook, special agent in charge of our Anchorage 

Field Office, “because they had to take a ferry and a 

plane and an all-terrain vehicle to get to the school where 

the letter had been sent.”

Welcome to the Anchorage Division—the FBI’s 

smallest field office—whose agents are responsible for 

covering the most territory of any office in the Bureau. 

That’s an area of more than 600,000 square miles, 

twice the size of Texas and packed with natural beauty 

and hard-to-reach places.

Although the Anchorage Division investigates the same 

types of violent crime, public corruption, and national 

security matters as FBI offices in the Lower 48, “there is 

so much that is different here,” said Rook—and she’s not 

just referring to the bears and moose occasionally spotted 

on downtown Anchorage streets.

“If you’re in Anchorage, there are roads to Fairbanks 

and to the Kenai Peninsula, but other than that there 

are no roads,” Rook said. Getting to remote villages and 

towns requires a plane or a boat. Combine the geographical difficulties with extreme weather and one begins to 

understand how the 49th state can pose considerable 

challenges for the agents and support staff in Anchorage 

and our satellite locations in Fairbanks and Juneau.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a related video, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
2012 The FBI Story 85

October 15, 2012

The FBI-SOS site highlights cyber security through games, videos, 

and other interactive features.

Safe Online Surfing

New Cyber Safety Website for

Teachers, Students

▪ A printable teacher’s guide that spells out how 

teachers can sign up their classes and use the site; 

and

▪ Detailed rules and instructions for students.

Can anyone visit the website? Absolutely. Kids of all 

ages—and even adults—can explore the site, play the 

games, watch the videos, and learn all about cyber safety. 

However, the exam can only be taken by third- to eighthgrade students whose classes have been registered by their 

teachers.

An important note: the FBI is not collecting student 

names, ages, or other identifying information through 

the website. Students are identified only by number 

when taking the exams; their teachers alone know which 

number matches which student. And teachers only need 

to provide their name, school, and e-mail address when 

signing up. The e-mail address is needed to verify the 

teacher’s identity for registration purposes.

“FBI-SOS is a fun, free, and effective way to teach kids 

how to use the Internet safely and responsibly,” says Scott 

McMillion, head of the unit that manages the program in 

the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “We encourage 

teachers to check out the site and sign up their classes 

during the school year.”

With school back in session, one topic that’s on many 

class curriculums around the nation is cyber safety. After 

all, it’s a hyper-connected world—with texting, social networking, e-mail, online gaming, chat, music downloading, 

web surfing, and other forms of wired and wireless communication now a regular part of children’s lives.

The FBI has a new program that can help. Today, 

as part of its longstanding crime prevention and public 

outreach efforts, the FBI is announcing a free web-based 

initiative designed to help teachers educate students 

about cyber safety.

It’s called the FBI-SOS (Safe Online Surfing) Internet 

Challenge—and it was developed with the assistance of 

the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 

and with the input of teachers and schools.

FBI-SOS is available through a newly revamped website 

at https://sos.fbi.gov. The site features six grade-specific 

“islands”—for third- through eighth-grade students—

highlighting various aspects of cyber security through 

games, videos, and other interactive features. Each island 

has either seven or eight areas to explore—with a specific 

cyber safety lesson—and its own central character and 

visual theme. For example, fourth grade features Ice 

Island, complete with falling snow and penguins.

To encourage participation and enhance learning, 

FBI-SOS includes both testing for students and 

competition among schools. Each grade level has its 

own exam, which can only be taken after teachers have 

signed up their respective classes and all activities on the 

island have been completed by each student. And once 

all the exams for a class are graded (done electronically 

by the FBI), schools appear on a leader board in three categories based on the number of total participants. During 

each rating period, top-scoring schools in each category 

nationwide are awarded an FBI-SOS trophy and, when 

possible, receive a visit from a local FBI agent. All public, 

private, and home schools are eligible to participate.

For teachers and schools, FBI-SOS provides virtually 

everything needed to teach good cyber citizenship:

▪ A free, ready-made curriculum that meets state and 

federal Internet safety mandates;

▪ Age-appropriate content for each grade level;

Scan this QR code with your

smartphone to watch a public service

announcement on SOS, or visit

http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
86 2012 The FBI Story

October 18, 2012

North to Alaska

Part 2: An Explosive

Situation in the Dead of Winter

Left: The elements can present special challenges for investigators—

in this case, bomb technicians.

After a harrowing drive from Anchorage that took 

more than seven hours, FBI personnel arrived on scene 

along with bomb techs from the Air Force and local law 

enforcement. The meth lab theory was ruled out, “but 

then you almost had to conclude that the guy could be 

a terrorist,” Espeland said. “Everything we saw in the 

house we had seen being used by terrorists in Iraq and 

Afghanistan.”

As it turns out, the 21-year-old was neither a drug maker 

nor a terrorist. He was just fascinated with explosives 

and blowing things up. He had legally purchased all his 

ingredients—of course, our agents didn’t know that at the 

time. And because the house was a public safety threat, 

Espeland said, “we couldn’t just walk away.”

To neutralize the threat, it was decided to employ 

several render-safe techniques using specialized equipment. But that was easier said than done. Robots and 

other battery-powered equipment were inoperable in the 

nearly 60-below temperature because the batteries were 

frozen. Espeland’s evidence camera froze to his face when 

he tried to take a picture—inside the house. Vehicles had 

to be kept running for fear they would freeze if turned off, 

even with warming blankets and engine block heaters. 

An extension cord designed for extreme cold snapped 

and disintegrated.

“The cold was drier than anything I ever felt before,” 

said Vicky Grimes, an ERT member. “It almost took your 

breath away.”

A command post was established at the nearby fire 

station, and after a joint effort, the house was finally 

rendered safe. “Responding to this incident reinforced 

our understanding that we have to rely on our state and 

local partners for assistance, just as they rely on us,” said 

Special Agent Sandra Klein, Anchorage’s JTTF supervisor.

The 21-year-old recovered from his injuries, and—since 

he had committed no federal crimes—was not charged. 

“This was a public safety threat that could have been 

something far more serious,” Espeland said. “That’s why 

we responded, despite the conditions. That’s what we’re 

here for.”

Part 3: A domestic terrorist with a deadly plan (page 92)

The call came in to the Anchorage Field Office early on a 

Sunday morning in January 2010. An explosion had taken 

place at a Fairbanks residence, and a 21-year-old man had 

been seriously injured.

After consulting with local authorities on the scene, 

our weapons of mass destruction (WMD) coordinator 

and other FBI personnel were not sure if the explosion was related to a drug manufacturing operation or 

linked to a terrorism threat. But everyone understood 

that our assistance was required, because the house 

contained a variety of hazardous, unstable materials.

Members of our Evidence Response Team (ERT), the 

Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), and others from the 

Anchorage office gathered their equipment and prepared 

to drive to Fairbanks—365 miles to the north—in the 

middle of a violent winter storm.

“It was 58 degrees below zero, with high winds, blizzard 

conditions, and black ice on the highway,” said Special 

Agent Derek Espeland, the WMD coordinator who is 

also one of Anchorage’s two special agent bomb technicians.

Based on the description of materials in the house, agents 

initially thought the man was making methamphetamine—meth labs are an unfortunate reality in many 

rural communities. The victim, who walked to a nearby 

fire station despite the sub-zero temperature, was burned 

and bleeding. He claimed he was building a rocket when 

it blew up. Before he could be questioned further, he was 

flown to a burn unit in Seattle for treatment.
2012 The FBI Story 87

October 23, 2012

In National Archives footage, Lou Peters talks about his role in the 

FBI’s case against the head of the Bonnano organized crime family. 

Remembering 

Lou Peters

Selfless Actions Brought 

Down Mob Boss

In the end, Peters got what we needed. When he told 

Bonnano—during a recorded call—that he had been 

subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury regarding his 

dealings with the family, the old man directed him to 

destroy any records that could be linked back to him and 

his associates. Peters took the tape to the FBI agent on 

the case. While listening to it, the agent jumped up and 

said, “You got him!”

Thanks to Lou Peters, Joseph Bonnano, Sr. was found 

guilty of obstructing justice and sentenced to five years in 

prison—the first felony conviction in the mob boss’ long 

life of crime.

To show its appreciation, in October 1980 the FBI 

presented Peters with an award for his selfless and valiant 

actions...an award that has been granted annually for 

the past 30 years as the Louis E. Peters Memorial Service 

Award, bestowed upon the citizen who best exemplifies 

the standards set by Peters in providing service to the FBI 

and the nation.

Shortly before his death in 1981, Peters said, “I was very 

proud of what I did for my country.” The country is very 

proud of him, too. Thanks, Lou Peters.

In 1977, things were going well for Lou Peters—he was 

living the American dream with his wife and three 

daughters, running a successful Cadillac dealership in 

Lodi, California. And in June of that year, he got an offer 

he couldn’t refuse.

A man approached Peters expressing interest in buying 

the dealership. When told it wasn’t for sale, the man was 

insistent, telling Peters to “name any price.” Finally, Peters 

said he would sell it for $2 million—nearly twice what the 

business was worth. The man accepted—then told Peters 

that the buyer was none other than Joseph Bonnano, Sr., 

head of the Bonnano organized crime family, who wanted 

the dealership to launder the family’s illegal funds.

Initially taken aback upon learning of mafia involvement, Peters eventually agreed to the sale, recounting, 

“I didn’t understand why these people wanted to come 

into our county. And I wanted to find out.” He then went 

to a local police chief and told him what had happened. 

When the chief asked what he was going to do next, 

Peters replied, “Well, I’m going to the FBI.”

And to the FBI he went, telling all. The FBI saw an 

opportunity to take down Bonnano and asked Peters for 

help. He was on board. “I felt it was the right thing to do, 

and I just did it,” he said.

Over the next nearly two years, Peters played the 

part of a corrupt businessman, gaining remarkable 

access to the Bonnano family and even becoming a 

close companion of Joseph Bonnano, Sr. To gain his 

confidence, Peters recalled saying something to “the old 

man” along the lines of, “Well, this should really bring me 

into the family”—to which Bonnano replied, “Lou, you’re 

already in the family.”

Through it all, Peters never took his eye off the ball—

gathering evidence, secretly recording conversations, and 

debriefing agents on what he had learned. And his efforts 

weren’t without personal sacrifice...besides the risk to his 

life, he had to obtain a (temporary) legal separation from 

his wife not only to protect his family but also to have a 

credible reason to move out of his house—and into an 

apartment that was being monitored by the FBI.

Scan this QR code with your smartphone

to watch a video interview of Lou Peters,

or visit http://www.fbi.gov/news/videos/.
88 2012 The FBI Story

October 26, 2012

Cyber Security

Focusing on Hackers and

Intrusions

Homeland Security and the National Security Agency—

on the FBI-led National Cyber Investigative Joint Task 

Force.

A key aim of the Next Generation Cyber Initiative 

has been to expand our ability to quickly define “the 

attribution piece” of a cyber attack to help determine 

an appropriate response, said Richard McFeely, executive assistant director of the Bureau’s Criminal, Cyber, 

Response, and Services Branch. “The attribution piece is: 

who is conducting the attack or the exploitation and what 

is their motive,” McFeely explained. “In order to get to 

that, we’ve got to do all the necessary analysis to determine who is at the other end of the keyboard perpetrating 

these actions.”

Early last year, hackers were discovered embedding 

malicious software in two million computers, opening a 

virtual door for criminals to rifle through users’ valuable 

personal and financial information. Last fall, an overseas 

crime ring was shut down after infecting four million 

computers, including half a million in the U.S. In recent 

months, some of the biggest companies and organizations in the U.S. have been working overtime to fend off 

continuous intrusion attacks aimed at their networks.

The scope and enormity of the threat—not just to 

private industry but also to the country’s heavily networked critical infrastructure—was spelled out last 

month in Director Robert S. Mueller’s testimony to a 

Senate homeland security panel: “Computer intrusions 

and network attacks are the greatest cyber threat to our 

national security.”

To that end, the FBI over the past year has put in place 

an initiative to uncover and investigate web-based 

intrusion attacks and develop a cadre of specially trained 

computer scientists able to extract hackers’ digital signatures from mountains of malicious code. Agents are 

cultivating cyber-oriented relationships with the technical 

leads at financial, business, transportation, and other 

critical infrastructures on their beats. 

Today, investigators in the field can send their findings 

to specialists in the FBI Cyber Division’s Cyber Watch 

command at Headquarters, who can look for patterns 

or similarities in cases. The 24/7 post also shares the 

information with partner intelligence and law enforcement agencies—like the Departments of Defense and 

Executive Assistant Director 

Richard McFeely

The Cyber Division’s main 

focus now is on cyber intrusions, working closely with 

the Bureau’s Counterterrorism 

and Counterintelligence 

Divisions.

“We are obviously concerned with terrorists using 

the Internet to conduct 

these types of attacks,” 

McFeely said. “As the lead 

domestic intelligence agency 

within the United States, it’s 

our job to make sure that businesses’ and the nation’s 

secrets don’t fall into the hands of adversaries.”

In the Coreflood case in early 2011, hackers enlisted a 

botnet—a network of infected computers—to do their 

dirty work. McFeely urged everyone connected to the 

Internet to be vigilant against computer viruses and malicious code, lest they become victims or unwitting pawns 

in a hacker or web-savvy terrorist’s malevolent scheme.

“It’s important that everybody understands that if 

you have a computer that is outward-facing—that is 

connected to the web—that your computer is at some 

point going to be under attack,” he said. “You need to 

be aware of the threat, and you need to take it seriously.”
2012 The FBI Story 89

October 29, 2012

Latest Crime Stats

Annual Crime in the U.S. 

Report Released

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program 

is one of two statistical programs administered by 

the Department of Justice that measure the magnitude, nature, and impact of crime—the other is the 

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Both were designed to complement each other, providing 

valuable information about aspects of the nation’s crime 

problem, but users should not compare crime trends 

between the two programs because of methodology and 

crime coverage differences. The UCR program provides 

a reliable set of criminal justice statistics for law enforcement administration, operation, and management, as well 

as to indicate fluctuations in the level of crime, while 

the NCVS provides previously unavailable information 

about victims, offenders, and crime...including crimes 

not reported to police. Additional information about the 

differences between the two programs can be found in 

the Nation’s Two Crime Measures section of Crime in the 

United States.

Looking ahead to 2013 and beyond, the UCR program 

is working to complete the automation of its data collection system, which will result in improved data collection 

efforts with new offense categories and revised offense 

definitions...as well as a faster turnaround time to analyze 

and publish the data. And beginning with the 2013 data, 

the new definition for rape will take effect—the FBI is 

developing options for law enforcement agencies to meet 

this requirement, which will be built into the new data 

collection system.

UCR’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 

2011 and Hate Crimes Statistics, 2011 will be available on 

our website later this fall.

According to our just-released Crime in the United States, 

2011 report, the estimated number of violent crimes 

reported to law enforcement (1,203,564) decreased for 

the fifth year in a row, while the estimated number of 

property crimes reported to law enforcement (9,063,173) 

decreased for the ninth year in a row.

You can access the full report on our website, but here are 

a few highlights:

Violent Crime

▪ The South, the most populous region in the country, 

accounted for 41.3 percent of all violent crimes (lesser 

volumes of 22.9 percent were attributed in the West, 

19.5 percent in the Midwest, and 16.2 percent in the 

Northeast).

▪ Aggravated assaults accounted for the highest 

number of estimated violent crimes reported to law 

enforcement at 62.4 percent.

▪ Firearms were used in 67.8 percent of the nation’s 

murders, 41.3 percent of robberies, and 21.2 percent 

of aggravated assaults (data on weapons used during 

forcible rapes is not collected).

▪ In 2011, 64.8 percent of murder offenses, 41.2 percent 

of forcible rape offenses, 28.7 percent of robbery 

offenses, and 56.9 percent of aggravated assault 

offenses were “cleared”—either by the arrest of the 

subject or because law enforcement encountered a 

circumstance beyond its control that prohibited an 

arrest (i.e., death of the subject).

Property Crime

▪ 43.2 percent of the estimated property crimes 

occurred in the South (followed by the West with 

22.8 percent, the Midwest with 21.1 percent, and the 

Northeast with 13 percent).

▪ Larceny-theft accounted for 68 percent of all property 

crimes in 2011.

▪ Property crimes resulted in losses of $156.6 billion.

▪ Also cleared were 21.5 percent of larceny-theft 

offenses, 12.7 percent of burglary offenses, 11.9 

percent of motor vehicle theft offenses, and 18.8 

percent of arson offenses.
90 2012 The FBI Story

November 1, 2012

Celebrating Women 

Special Agents

Part 7: Two Have Made the

Ultimate Sacrifice

Left: The families of fallen agents Robin Ahrens and Martha Dixon 

Martinez were given memorial plaques at a recent meeting of the 

Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.

four decades of women agents—punctuate how a desire 

to serve has led women from all backgrounds to become 

special agents since the position opened to women in 

1972.

“You couldn’t tell her not to do that job because 

we worry about you,” said Christian Ahrens, one 

of Robin’s four brothers. “She would just go forage 

forward. That’s [the decision] she made—to be a 

special agent. I wish I could go back and say, ‘Be 

careful. Watch your back.’ But that’s not possible.”

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Robin was one of six kids 

who thrived outdoors, volunteering as a teenager on 

the National Ski Patrol. As a school teacher in Virginia, 

she led a field trip to 

the U.S. Marine base 

at Quantico—home 

to the FBI Training 

Academy—and 

decided what she 

wanted to do. She 

became an agent in 

June 1985; just four 

months later, she was 

killed.

“It was a tragic event,” said James Ahrens, Robin’s older 

brother. “But when she was joining the FBI, she was 

excited. She was so happy to be in. I keep looking at that 

part of it, too.”

While Robin’s path to the FBI seemed serendipitous, 

Martha Dixon’s journey appeared preordained. A 

chemistry major in college, she worked in the lab of a 

local hospital, determined to one day work at the FBI 

Laboratory. She became an agent in 1987 and quickly 

discovered in her first office in Knoxville that she preferred working on the front lines. “She liked solving the 

problems and closing a case,” her sister Monica said.

Martha transferred to the Washington Field Office, 

where she went to work on a cold case homicide squad. 

On November, 22, 1994, a gunman passed her by as he 

entered the squad room at police headquarters, possibly 

mistaking her for a secretary. Then came the shots.

“She heard the noise and chose not to leave,” said Jan 

Dixon Smith, Martha’s older sister. “She went in. She 

just knew that she might be able to do something. And 

that makes us very proud.”

With eight kids under the roof, the Dixons’ one-bathroom 

house in Pittsburgh had no room for the mitts, hockey 

sticks, and other accoutrements of active all-weather 

children. So everything was kept on the front porch. 

When things went missing, nobody was surprised when 

Martha, the sixth child and a future FBI special agent, 

initiated her own stake-out, sleeping on the porch and 

nabbing the culprit red-handed. It was the paperboy.

“That to me was probably the most revealing thing in her 

childhood of a law enforcement personality,” said Monica 

Dixon Dentino, Martha’s younger sister. “For her to say, 

‘Yep, I’m going to sleep by myself on the front porch to 

confront somebody that’s invading our house’—she was 

tough like that.”

Many years later, in 1994, when a gunman began shooting 

in a squad room at the Metropolitan Police Department 

in Washington, D.C., Martha Dixon Martinez apparently 

chose to confront the attacker rather then retreat. She 

and fellow Special Agent Michael John Miller were killed 

in the exchange, along with a D.C. police officer.

The event, recounted by Martha’s two sisters at a 

recent convention of former special agents recognizing the 40-year anniversary of women agents, marked 

the second time in the Bureau’s history that a woman 

agent was killed in the line of duty. Nine years earlier, 

in 1985, Special Agent Robin L. Ahrens was killed in 

Phoenix during an operation to arrest an armed robber. 

Both agents’ stories—the last part of our series marking 

Robin Ahrens and Martha Dixon 

Martinez
2012 The FBI Story 91

Ramon Fonseca, Orlin M. Tamayo Quinonez, and Juan Carralero are 

wanted for allegedly conspiring in a scheme to defraud the Medicare 

program out of tens of millions of dollars.

November 5, 2012

Operation Universal 

Money Fast

Putting the Brakes on 

Health Care Fraud

“Insurance companies were alerted by their customers to the fraud,” Culp said. “People were getting 

statements and seeing benefits for infusion therapy, 

and they were calling and saying, ‘Hey, I’m not HIVpositive. What’s going on?’”

During the height of the scam, said Special Agent Liz 

Santamaria, who worked on the case, “the subjects were 

submitting Medicare bills at the rate of $100,000 per 

week. They were making easy money and spending it 

as soon as they made it,” she added, explaining that the 

scammers thought nothing of dropping $10,000 in one 

evening for a lavish dinner.

Our Medicare Fraud Strike Force opened an investigation in 2009 and used investigative tools such as sources 

and search warrants to stop the fraud and arrest the 

perpetrators. In 2010, ringleader Michel De Jesus Huarte 

received a record sentence for health care fraud of 22 

years in prison. Nine other defendants received significant 

sentences as well. Three remaining subjects in the case 

remain at large and are believed to be out of the country.

“Large-scale fraud like this undermines the financial 

integrity of the Medicare program,” Culp said. “The FBI 

and our partners are committed to fighting these whitecollar criminal enterprises, and we are gratified that those 

who commit these frauds are getting significant prison 

terms for their actions.”

With its aging, affluent population, South Florida is 

ground zero for the multi-billion-dollar criminal industry 

of health care fraud. Few cases illustrate the depth of 

the problem—and our efforts to fight it—more than 

Operation Universal Money Fast.

The case involved a massive, sophisticated fraud 

against Medicare and private insurance companies by 

scammers who set up more than a dozen fake clinics 

across five states and submitted tens of millions of 

dollars in bogus claims related primarily to HIV 

infusion therapy.

Using stolen identities and bribing physicians to lend 

an air of legitimacy to the fraud, the thieves bilked the 

system for an estimated $70 million before we dismantled 

the enterprise.

Despite the many safeguards built into the Medicare 

reimbursement process—such as audits and on-site visits 

to clinics and providers—the system is largely based 

on trust. If a business believed to be legitimate submits 

claims using proper paperwork and billing codes, those 

claims are paid quickly.

The crooks were counting on that. They knew the fraud 

would eventually be discovered, but they stayed one step 

ahead of authorities by opening shell companies and 

phantom clinics across Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North 

Carolina, and South Carolina. In reality, the clinics were 

empty storefronts—some were nothing more than a postoffice box. No patients were ever seen or treated, and no 

doctors worked there.

“All they needed was a laptop, stolen identities, and 

billing codes,” said Special Agent Randy Culp, who works 

health care fraud investigations out of our Miami office. 

“By the time the insurance companies suspected fraud, 

the fraudsters had already moved on to some new fictitious clinic.”

To conceal their true identities, the subjects registered 

the bogus businesses in the names of nominal owners and 

opened a check-cashing store—called Universal Money 

Fast—to launder more than $50 million in benefits paid 

by Medicare and private insurers.
92 2012 The FBI Story

November 9, 2012

North to Alaska

Part 3: A Domestic

Terrorist with a Deadly Plan

Left: Paul Rockwood, seen here in a surveillance image, lived in the 

small fishing village of King Salmon. He had begun compiling a list of 

targets in the U.S. military he might assassinate in the name of jihad.

spotted, so attempts at surveillance were impractical. “We 

couldn’t use 90 percent of the traditional investigative 

techniques we use in the Lower 48,” Klein explained.

In addition, small, regional airlines in Alaska are not 

regulated by the Transportation Security Administration, 

so anyone can fly with weapons. On Rockwood’s frequent 

trips from King Salmon to Anchorage, Klein said, “he 

could have had a gun or a bomb and we never would have 

known.”

During those Anchorage visits, Rockwood met the 

undercover operative and discussed buying electronics 

and downloading schematics of cell phones to make 

bomb detonators. At one meeting, he said he was getting 

ready to relocate to the mainland and had plans to steal a 

cache of explosives in Boston—where he grew up—that 

would help him go operational.

By early 2010, Rockwood had formalized his hit list to 

include 15 specific targets—all outside Alaska—and 

he gave the list to his wife, Nadia, who was aware of his 

intentions.

Even with no overt acts of terrorism to charge him 

with, it was decided that for the sake of public safety, 

Rockwood could not be allowed to leave Alaska. In May 

2010, JTTF agents questioned Rockwood and his wife as 

they attempted to fly out of Anchorage. Both denied any 

involvement with a hit list or terrorist plot.

The couple was charged with making false statements 

to the FBI in a domestic terrorism investigation, and in 

July, Rockwood was found guilty and sentenced to eight 

years in prison—the maximum sentence under the law. 

His wife was also found guilty and received five years of 

probation.

“We can never be sure if he would have acted,” Klein 

said, “but Rockwood was clearly a threat, not only to the 

individuals on his list but to the entire community.”

Part 4: The shot that pierced the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

(page 96)

By the time he moved to Alaska in 2006, Paul Rockwood, 

Jr. was an ardent follower of the American-born radical 

cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who he met at a Virginia mosque 

in late 2001.

Shortly after he settled with his family in the small 

fishing village of King Salmon to work for the 

National Weather Service, our agents in Anchorage 

were aware that Rockwood had begun compiling a list 

of targets in the U.S. military he might assassinate in 

the name of jihad.

“If you were wearing a U.S. military uniform,” said Special 

Agent Doug Klein, who worked the case from Anchorage, 

“as far as Rockwood was concerned, you were a target.”

A military veteran himself, Rockwood believed it was his 

religious duty to kill those who desecrated Islam. In 2009, 

he began sharing his deadly plans with an individual he 

thought held similar views. But that person was actually 

an undercover operative employed by our Joint Terrorism 

Task Force (JTTF) in Anchorage.

For a time, JTTF personnel wondered how determined 

Rockwood was about his plans. “But one day when he 

was with our undercover in Anchorage, he identified the 

building of a cleared defense contractor and said, ‘This 

is the kind of building I want to blow up,’” Klein said. 

“That’s when we knew he was a serious threat.”

Keeping track of Rockwood was difficult, however, 

because King Salmon is some 300 miles from Anchorage 

and only accessible by airplane. And with only a few 

hundred residents, outsiders would be immediately 
2012 The FBI Story 93

November 14, 2012

Omar Shafik Hammami (left) and Raddulan Sahiron

Two Most Wanted 

Terrorists Named

Third Man Sought for Questioning

The FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list was created in 

October 2001. We subsequently created the Seeking 

Information—Terrorism list to publicize our efforts to 

locate terrorism suspects not yet indicted in the U.S.

In addition to the beneficial aspect of worldwide publicity, individuals named to the Most Wanted Terrorists list 

must:

▪ Have threatened the security of U.S. nationals or 

U.S. national security;

▪ Be considered a dangerous menace to society;

▪ Have indicated a willingness to commit or indicate to 

commit an act to cause death or serious bodily injury, 

prepare or plan terrorist activity, gather information 

on potential targets for terrorist activity, or solicit 

funds or other things of value for terrorist activity;

▪ Have provided material support such as currency or 

financial services or assistance to a terrorist organization but do not necessarily have to belong to that 

organization;

▪ Be subject to lawful detention, either by the U.S. 

government based on an active federal warrant for a 

serious felony offense or by any other lawful authority; 

and

▪ Be the subject of a pending FBI investigation.

Individuals on the Seeking Information—Terrorism list 

are being sought for questioning in connection with terrorist threats against the United States. Unlike those on 

the Most Wanted Terrorists list, these individuals have 

not been indicted by the U.S. government.

If you have information about any of these men, please 

submit a tip at https://tips.fbi.gov or contact the nearest 

FBI office abroad or in the United States.

Two individuals—one a United States citizen who allegedly provided support to a foreign terrorist organization, 

the other wanted for his alleged role in the overseas 

kidnapping of an American—have been added to the 

FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.

A third man wanted for questioning in connection with 

providing material support to terrorists has been added to 

our Seeking Information—Terrorism list.

Most Wanted Terrorists

Omar Shafik Hammami, formerly from Alabama, has reportedly been a senior leader in al Shabaab, an insurgency 

group in Somalia. Al Shabaab was designated a foreign 

terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 

2008; it has since repeatedly threatened terrorist actions 

against America and American interests. Hammami 

allegedly traveled to Somalia in 2006 and joined al 

Shabaab’s military wing, eventually becoming a leader in 

the organization. Hammami—who has been indicted in 

the U.S. on various terrorism charges—is believed to be 

in Somalia.

Raddulan Sahiron, a native of the Philippines, is wanted 

for his alleged involvement in the 1993 kidnapping of an 

American in the Philippines by the Abu Sayyaf Group, 

designated a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. 

Sahiron, believed to be the leader of the Abu Sayyaf 

Group, was indicted on federal hostage-taking charges 

and may currently be in the area of Patikul Jolo, Sulu, 

Philippines.

Seeking Information—Terrorism

Shaykh Aminullah is wanted for questioning in connection with providing material support to terrorists...with 

the aid of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (designated 

a foreign terrorist organization in 2001). Among other 

activities, Aminullah allegedly provided assistance, 

including funding and recruits, to the al Qaeda network; 

provided funding and other resources, including explosive 

vests, to the Taliban; and facilitated the activities of anticoalition militants operating in Afghanistan by raising 

money in support of terrorist activities. He is believed to 

be in the Ganj District of Peshawar, Pakistan.
94 2012 The FBI Story

November 16, 2012

LCD Price Fixing 

Conspiracy

Taiwanese Company, 

Execs Sentenced

During the same time period, senior-level employees of 

AU Optronics Corp. regularly exchanged information 

with its Houston-based subsidiary—AU Optronics Corp. 

America—on sales of LCD panels for the purpose of 

monitoring and enforcing adherence to the prices agreed 

upon by other LCD manufacturers in the U.S.

The end result of all this price-fixing? Artificially inflated 

prices for consumers, and more money into the coffers of 

the conspiracy’s participants.

Change in tactics. These meetings went on until mid2005, when participants learned that one or two of their 

major LCD customers may have become aware of the 

conspiracy, so the top leaders who had been attending 

these meetings began sending lower-level employees.

The meetings were also moved out of hotel rooms and 

into public restaurants and cafes.

And a year later, the co-conspirators became even more 

concerned when they heard about an ongoing price-fixing 

investigation in the U.S. into the dynamic random access 

memory (DRAM) industry. To avoid detection, group 

members decided to meet one-on-one with each other in 

restaurants and cafes.

The FBI became involved in the case in mid-2006 at the 

request of DOJ’s Antitrust Division, and Bureau investigators joined forces with Antitrust Division prosecutors. In antitrust cases, as in many of our white-collar 

crime cases, the FBI uses its full arsenal of investigative 

weapons—executing search warrants, interviewing witnesses and others, analyzing records, conducting lawful 

surveillance, using cooperating witnesses, etc.

Additional sanctions. In addition to the extraordinary 

criminal fine levied on AU Optronics and the sentencing 

of two former executives, the company was also ordered 

to implement an internal compliance program, hire an 

independent corporate compliance monitor, and take out 

ads in U.S. and Taiwanese newspapers publicizing the 

criminal sanctions taken against it.

These actions send a powerful message to would-be 

perpetrators of price-fixing and other antitrust schemes—

the U.S. criminal justice system will uncover your illegal 

activities and hold you accountable.

Did you buy a computer notebook, computer monitor, or 

big-screen TV anytime from late 2001 to 2006? If you did, 

odds are that you paid too much for it because of an international criminal conspiracy to fix the prices of the LCD 

(liquid crystal display) panels used in these products.

Recently, AU Optronics Corportation—the largest 

Taiwanese producer and seller of LCD panels—and two 

of its former top executives were sentenced for their roles 

in this conspiracy. The company was ordered to pay 

a $500 million criminal fine, and the executives each 

received three years in federal prison. AU Optronics is 

the eighth company convicted as a result of a joint FBIDepartment of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division effort to 

uncover this worldwide price-fixing conspiracy.

Anatomy of a conspiracy. A few days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, top-level executives from a number 

of Asian manufacturers of LCD panels met secretly in a 

Taiwan hotel room and agreed to a plan to fix the prices 

of LCDs in the U.S. and elsewhere.

During subsequent monthly meetings, group members 

exchanged production, shipping, supply, demand, and 

pricing information on LCD panels used in computer 

notebooks, monitors, and flat-screen TVs. Participants 

agreed on prices and would then sell their products at 

these prices to some of the world’s largest technology 

companies who used LCD panels in their products.
2012 The FBI Story 95

November 19, 2012

Making the Ultimate 

Sacrifice

Report on Law Enforcement 

Officer Deaths Released

Beyond services provided by the LEOKA program, the 

FBI offers additional training initiatives geared toward 

officer safety to our law enforcement partners.

For example:

▪ Our one-week Law Enforcement Training for Safety 

and Survival program at the FBI Academy is designed 

to teach participants basic survival techniques as well 

as the skills and mindset required to identify and 

handle critical situations in high-risk environments 

(i.e., arrests, low light operations, ballistic shield 

deployment).

▪ Our National Academy curriculum includes a communications course for law enforcement leaders on 

how to incorporate measures into their policies that 

will help ensure the future emotional well-being 

of officers who have survived shootings (as well as 

officers who have shot suspects).

In addition to the above training, the FBI’s National 

Crime Information Center (NCIC)—accessed by more 

than 92,000 agencies—offers a measure of protection for 

law enforcement as well, particularly through its recently 

added Violent Persons File. Once fully populated with 

data from our users, a quick response from an online 

NCIC query can warn officers on the spot if, during a 

routine traffic stop or another type of encounter, they 

come across an individual who has a violent criminal 

history or who has previously threatened law enforcement.

The release of this latest LEOKA report clearly demonstrates what we already know—despite the dangers of law 

enforcement, the profession continues to attract brave 

men and women willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to 

protect their fellow citizens.

Tragically, during 2011, 72 law enforcement officers from 

around the nation were killed in the line of duty, while 

another 53 officers died in accidents while performing 

their duties. And 54,774 officers were assaulted in the line 

of duty...all according to our just-released annual report 

Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2011.

Here’s a look at some of the data collected for this 

report:

▪ While the 72 officers killed in the line of duty came 

from city, university and college, county, state, tribal, 

and federal agencies, the majority (50) were employed 

by city police departments.

▪ The average age of the officers feloniously killed 

was 38, while their average length of service was 12 

years. Forty-nine of these officers were slain while on 

assigned vehicle patrol.

▪ Most of the 72 officers slain were killed with firearms, 

and 51 of these officers were wearing body armor at 

the time of their murders.

▪ Of the 53 officers who died accidentally, 39 were 

killed as a result of vehicle-related accidents.

▪ The rate of officer assaults in 2011 was 10.2 per 100 

sworn officers.

Our Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted

(LEOKA) report is intended to provide law enforcement 

agencies with detailed descriptions of circumstances 

leading to officer fatalities. This data can then be incorporated into police training programs to help officers stay 

safe during similar situations.

The primary goal of our overall LEOKA program is 

to reduce incidents of law enforcement deaths and 

assaults. In addition to its annual report, the program 

also offers an officer safety awareness training course 

that provides potentially life-saving information to help 

law enforcement personnel enhance their situational 

awareness during activities like arrests, traffic stops, foot 

pursuits, ambushes, and other high-risk encounters that 

police face on a daily basis.
96 2012 The FBI Story

November 23, 2012

North to Alaska

Part 4: The Shot That Pierced the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Left: In 2001, a resident of Livengood, Alaska—a town of less than 

two dozen people about 50 miles north of Fairbanks—shot a hole in 

the pipeline with a high-powered rifle.

inside with several inches of high-density insulation. But 

the single shot from Daniel Lewis’ rifle somehow did 

penetrate the pipeline, and oil began streaming out with 

tremendous force. “If you would have put your hand in 

front of the leak,” Milne said, “the pressure would have 

taken it off.”

Lewis, described later in court as a career criminal, had 

been released from jail only weeks before the shooting 

incident. He was detained by troopers after he and his 

brother were spotted near the spill.

Milne and his colleague, Special Agent Mark Terra, were 

called in to investigate. They recovered the rifle—the 

scope had blood on it where it had recoiled against Lewis’ 

face—made plaster foot casts at the crime scene, and 

began interviewing people who knew the Lewis brothers. 

“Alyeska security and local troopers did a tremendous 

amount of work on this case as well,” Milne said.

Meanwhile, oil spewed from the pipeline for days 

before engineers could stop it. More than 285,000 

gallons of crude were spilled as a result of that small 

bullet hole and—according to press reports at the 

time—the cleanup took many months and cost $13 

million.

Lewis was charged with a range of federal and state 

crimes, from weapons offenses to oil pollution, criminal 

mischief, and driving while intoxicated. In 2002 he 

received a 10-year federal sentence; the following year in 

state court, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. His 

sentences are running concurrently.

Coming less than a month after the 9/11 terror attacks, 

the pipeline shooting served as a reminder that protecting 

the country—whether from terrorists or other criminals—requires constant vigilance. “Everyone here recognizes that the stakes are as high in Alaska as anywhere 

else,” Milne said. “That’s why we work so closely with our 

partners to maintain the highest level of security.”

Located less than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle, our 

resident agency in Fairbanks is one of the FBI’s most 

remote offices—but its three investigators cover an 

expansive amount of territory and help safeguard some of 

the country’s most valuable infrastructure.

Within the office’s area of responsibility is the TransAlaska Pipeline, an 800-mile engineering marvel 

that has carried billions of gallons of crude oil from 

Prudhoe Bay to Valdez since it began pumping in 

1977.

“For as long and as exposed as the pipeline is, it is definitely not a soft target on the ground or in the air,” said 

Special Agent Bruce Milne. That’s because the pipeline’s 

owner, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, provides 

extensive security and maintains strong ties with local 

and federal law enforcement.

“We all take the security of the pipeline very seriously,” 

said Milne, a 25-year FBI veteran who was drawn to 

Alaska in part because of his interest in dog sledding. 

“Our Joint Terrorism Task Force coordinates closely 

with Alyeska and Alaska State Troopers to protect the 

pipeline,” he added.

One case that stands out for Milne occurred in October 

2001, when a resident of Livengood—a town of less than 

two dozen people about 50 miles north of Fairbanks—

shot a hole in the pipeline with a high-powered rifle.

A bullet would not ordinarily breach the pipeline’s 

exterior, which is constructed of thick steel and lined 
2012 The FBI Story 97

November 27, 2012

Counterintelligence 

Awareness

Teaching Industry How to

Protect Trade Secrets and

National Security

The threat from inside a company may be employees 

secretly sent by foreign countries to steal secrets. RED 

DART briefings help employees spot suspicious behavior, 

such as a staffer working odd hours, asking inappropriate 

questions, or making frequent trips overseas. Externally, 

foreign agents may pose as potential investors or customers to gain access to technical information that could 

compromise a company’s trade secrets. And weak online 

security is always an invitation to hackers.

Griff Kundahl, executive director of the Center of 

Innovation for Nanobiotechnology in North Carolina, 

a state-funded organization that fosters new technology 

in the region, has worked closely with the RED DART 

program to help educate the center’s members.

“Our core constituents are early-stage companies,” 

Kundahl said. “They developed a product that might treat 

cancer, for example. They are trying to raise money and 

get their product to market. They don’t have much time 

or the resources to consider security risks. If RED DART 

can get them to understand these risks, it helps everybody. When they realize that all their efforts could be for 

naught if their technology is stolen or compromised, it 

can be eye-opening for them.”

“Our challenge is to show how real the threat is,” Velasco 

said. “We arm people with tools so that they can make 

appropriate business decisions.”

Michelle Brody, a special agent with the Defense Security 

Service and a founding member of RED DART, added, 

“When RED DART helps a company protect itself a 

little better, it not only helps them, it helps our national 

security.”

The FBI vigilantly investigates cases of industrial espionage and theft of intellectual property, but the Bureau 

also places great emphasis on preventing such crimes 

by educating industry on ways to keep trade secrets 

safe. One such innovative program in North Carolina’s 

Research Triangle is a collaborative effort with other 

federal partners called RED DART.

The threat to America’s trade secrets—and to our 

national security—is real, whether it comes in the 

form of international spies, hackers probing online 

security systems, or disgruntled employees out for 

revenge. RED DART seeks to mitigate the threat by 

raising counterintelligence awareness.

Through briefings to cleared defense contractors and 

others in technology-rich North Carolina, RED DART 

makes executives and employees aware of how counterintelligence works and how they can spot suspicious activity 

both inside and outside their companies.

“Everybody wants to emulate U.S. technology,” said Brent 

Underwood, a special agent with the Naval Criminal 

Investigative Service who helped create RED DART. “If 

countries can shortcut 10 or 20 years’ worth of research 

and development by stealing our technology, that puts 

them at an obvious advantage.”

Despite the occasional high-profile case where a spy 

accesses highly classified documents, the majority of 

stolen technology is unclassified, said FBI Special Agent 

Lou Velasco, who manages the program out of our 

Charlotte Division. “With the right amount of information,” he explained, “state actors can reverse-engineer our 

products or build them from scratch.”

When that happens, our adversaries can be more competitive on the battlefield as well as in the global marketplace. “A big part of our program is putting information 

out there about the threat so that people understand 

just how serious it is,” Velasco said. “When a company’s 

trade secrets are compromised, it can threaten national 

security, but it can also hurt that company’s bottom line 

and its ability to keep people employed.”
98 2012 The FBI Story

November 30, 2012

Preying on the Weak

Estate Planner Victimized 

Terminally Ill

in several ways: visiting AIDS facilities, putting ads in a 

local religious newspaper offering cash to terminally ill 

individuals, and even looking through his own company 

files.

The ads purchased by Caramadre were especially 

fruitful...in them, he claimed to be a philanthropist and 

offered the terminally ill a few thousand dollars to assist 

with their funeral expenses. The ads also got him access 

to hospice care facilities, nurses, and social workers who 

could spread the word about his offer.

Radhakrishnan would visit patients and their families 

to supposedly determine whether they qualified for the 

donation, but he was actually assessing their life expectancies...the shorter the time, the better for the scheme.

Patients who accepted Caramadre’s cash offer were asked 

to sign a document, ostensibly because the philanthropist 

needed it for tax records, but in reality it was so their 

signatures could be forged later on. Sometimes, they 

were asked to sign signature pages from actual annuity 

and brokerage account applications that were disguised 

as something else. Sometimes, they were told that actual 

accounts would be open, but that all profits would go to 

other terminally ill people. And they were always asked 

for personal information, like Social Security numbers, 

birthdates, driver’s license numbers, etc.

Once armed with the fraudulently obtained identity information, Caramadre purchased annuities and death put 

bonds. And both he and Radhakrishnan took numerous 

steps to deceive the insurance companies and brokerage 

houses to hide Caramadre’s true ownership interest.

Caramadre’s scheme went on for about 15 years—from 

1995 to 2010—until some of the insurance companies 

and brokerage houses he defrauded filed complaints and 

investigators with the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, 

Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Attorney’s Office 

began looking into the matter.

Lesson to be learned. If you or a family member is suffering, physically or financially, don’t make quick business 

decisions...you still need to do your due diligence.

It was a despicable scheme—stealing identities of terminally ill individuals to fraudulently obtain millions of 

dollars from insurance companies and bond issuers.

Attorney Joseph Caramadre, president and CEO of his 

own estate planning company in Rhode Island—along 

with Raymour Radhakrishnan, an employee—pled 

guilty earlier this month in federal court to conspiracy to 

commit identity theft and wire fraud.

Caramadre’s investment strategies depended on lying 

to terminally ill individuals and their loved ones to 

obtain identity information. He abused two financial 

instruments—variable annuities and death put bonds—to 

carry out these strategies. In addition to buying annuities 

from insurance companies listing terminally ill individuals as annuitants, he also purchased bonds of distressed 

companies for significantly below face value listing terminally ill individuals as “co-owners.” When the terminally 

ill person died days or weeks later, he would exercise the 

death benefits associated with the investments.

Caramadre recruited investors by falsely telling them he 

found a loophole that permitted the use of terminally ill 

patients as annuitants on annuities and co-owners on 

brokerage accounts used to purchase death put bonds. 

He then entered into profit-sharing agreements with 

them, but received a significant percentage of the profits 

himself.

In recruiting terminally ill individuals for his scheme, 

Caramadre was only interested in those with a life 

expectancy of six months or less. He looked for victims 
2012 The FBI Story 99

December 4, 2012

Surveillance image of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari

Stopping a WouldBe Terrorist

Who was One Chemical

Away from Building a Bomb

Christmas lights in apparent attempts to fashion timers 

and initiating devices.

“His apartment bedroom was basically a storage 

room where he kept his chemicals and equipment,” 

Thompson said. “He was sleeping in the living room 

on the couch or the floor.”

The investigation revealed troubling things about 

Aldawsari, who had come to the U.S. legally in 2008 

on a student visa. “Based on evidence from the Internet 

and his journal entries,” Thompson said, “Aldawsari was 

radicalized before he ever came to the United States.

It appears he started planning this attack when he was a 

teenager and sought a scholarship to study specifically in 

America.”

By this point, surveillance teams were monitoring 

Aldawsari around the clock. “He was searching online 

for large targets such as dams and electrical plants,” 

Thompson said. He also searched for ways to conceal 

explosives in baby dolls and carriages and even sought the 

Texas address of former President George W. Bush.

On February 23, 2011, after agents were certain that 

Aldawsari was working alone, he was arrested and 

charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. In November, after being convicted by a jury, he was 

sentenced to life in prison.

“Aldawsari wanted to take out a lot of people,” Thompson 

said. “It scares me to think what might have happened if 

we hadn’t stopped him.”

The 20-year-old Saudi Arabian man living in Lubbock, 

Texas was intent on waging jihad against Americans—

possibly even a former U.S. president—and he was one 

ingredient away from being able to build a powerful bomb.

But Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari’s deadly plans began to 

unravel when a shipping company’s suspicions were 

raised—illustrating once again how the FBI relies on 

private industry and the general public in the fight 

against terror.

In early February 2011, a Lubbock shipping firm received 

a package from a North Carolina chemical company 

containing 10 bottles of phenol intended for Aldawsari. 

Combined with just two other chemicals, phenol can be 

used to make a potent explosive. Delivering such poisonous chemicals to an individual’s home is not common, so 

the shipping company contacted the North Carolina firm. 

Both decided that the phenol should not be delivered and 

that local law enforcement should be alerted. A Lubbock 

Police Department officer was called to the scene.

“That officer and his supervisor—because of their relationship with the FBI—decided that this was something 

we needed to know about,” said Special Agent Frazier 

Thompson, who works in our Dallas Division. “Our 

initial focus was to identify Aldawsari to see if he had a 

legitimate reason for purchasing phenol.”

In a matter of days, members of our North Texas Joint 

Terrorism Task Force learned that although Aldawsari 

had once been a chemical engineering student at Texas 

Tech, he was no longer enrolled there and had no affiliation with the university.

“He was trying to pass himself off as a Texas Tech student 

doing research on cleaning products,” said Special Agent 

Mike Orndorff, who worked the investigation. “Those 

credentials, if legitimate, would have allowed him to buy 

the phenol.”

Most alarming was that Aldawsari had already purchased 

the two other chemicals needed to make his bomb, along 

with test tubes, beakers, and protective gear. Through 

covert operations, investigators learned he had disassembled clocks and cell phones and stripped the wires off 
100 2012 The FBI Story

December 7, 2012

Eco-Terrorist Surrenders

Two Operation Backfire 

Fugitives Still at Large

Left: The 1998 arson at a Vail, Colorado ski resort caused more than 

$24 million in damages.

charges. That leaves two Operation Backfire fugitives still 

at large, and there is a reward for information leading to 

their arrest.

“Two years ago we had four fugitives. Now we have two—

so we are halfway there,” said Special Agent Tim Suttles, 

who works in our Portland Division and has been investigating the eco-terrorist group since 2005.

Although Suttles said it is “very satisfying” to see Rubin 

surrender and submit herself to the judicial process, 

the Operation Backfire investigation will not be closed 

until the last two fugitives—Joseph Dibee and Josephine 

Overaker—are in custody.

We need your help to locate these two individuals. A 

reward of up to $50,000 each is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Dibee and Overaker, 

both of whom are believed to be living abroad.

Here is what we know about the two:

▪ Dibee was indicted 

in 2006 on charges 

of arson, conspiracy, 

and animal enterprise terrorism. He 

was believed to be 

living in Syria with 

family members but 

may have fled the 

country due to the recent violence and upheaval 

there.

▪ Overaker was indicted in 2004 and 2006 for her involvement with the 1998 Vail arson and other crimes. 

She is believed to have spent time in Germany and 

may have settled in Spain. She speaks fluent Spanish.

Suttles believes Rubin may have surrendered because 

she was tired of life on the run. “She may have realized 

that being a fugitive meant she could never go home or 

could never have contact with her mom, who she is very 

close to.” Like many long-term fugitives, he added, “she 

may have come to the realization that coming in, admitting what you did, and taking your punishment will allow 

you to move on with your life.”

To date, Operation Backfire investigators have solved 

more than 40 criminal acts ranging from vandalism to 

arson. Seventeen individuals have been indicted, 15 of 

whom pled guilty and were sentenced in 2007 to jail time 

ranging from more than three years to 15 years.

After a decade as an international fugitive, Canadian 

citizen Rebecca Rubin gave up life on the run last week 

when she turned herself over to the FBI at the international border in Washington state.

The 39-year-old alleged member of the domestic 

terrorist cell called “The Family” will face federal 

arson charges for her role in the largest eco-terrorism 

case in U.S. history, known as Operation Backfire.

With Rubin in custody, only two members of The Family 

remain at large.

Along with a dozen other conspirators, Rubin is charged 

with multiple crimes from 1996 through 2001 in the West 

and Pacific Northwest, including in Oregon, Colorado, 

and California. The Family committed an estimated $48 

million worth of arson and vandalism under the names 

of the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation 

Front.

The cell’s most notorious crime was the 1998 arson of 

a Vail, Colorado ski resort that caused more than $24 

million in damages and drew international attention to 

eco-terrorists—those who break the law in the misguided 

attempt to protect the environment and animal rights. 

The FBI took the lead in the Vail investigation, working 

closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement 

partners, and in 2004, multiple eco-terrorism investigations were condensed into Operation Backfire.

In July 2011, one of Rubin’s conspirators, Justin Solondz, 

was turned over to U.S. authorities by the Chinese government. Solondz had been imprisoned in China on drug 

Joseph Dibee and Josephine Overaker
2012 The FBI Story 101

December 10, 2012

Hate Crimes Accounting

Annual Report Released

UCR program’s new system, scheduled to go online in the 

coming months. (The 2013 crime data will be published 

in 2014).

FBI’s Role in Investigating Hate Crimes

Hate crimes continue to be the highest priority of the 

Bureau’s civil rights program because of their heinous 

nature and their impact on victims and communities.

We investigate hate crimes that fall under federal jurisdiction, assist state and local authorities during their 

own investigations, and in some cases—with the U.S. 

Department of Justice Civil Rights Division—monitor 

developing situations to determine if federal action is 

appropriate.

In addition to responding to hate crimes, we’re also taking 

a proactive approach to hate crimes overall. We’re integrating a cadre of analysts with our experienced investigators to not only establish a national threat picture but to 

identify risk factors that can be used by FBI field offices 

to assess the potential for hate crimes at the local level.

Increasing Hate Crime Awareness

Most of all, we’re working to increase awareness of these 

crimes by establishing liaisons with civic and religious 

leaders and credible community organizations. Through 

our UCR program, we offer training to help law enforcement recognize hate crimes and also assist our partners in 

developing their own hate crimes training programs.

In 2011, U.S. law enforcement agencies reported 6,222 

hate crime incidents involving 7,254 offenses, according 

to our just-released Hate Crime Statistics, 2011 report. 

These incidents included offenses like vandalism, intimidation, assault, rape, murder, etc.

The data contained in this report, which is a subset of the 

information that law enforcement submits to the FBI’s 

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, includes the 

following categories: offense type, location, bias motivation, victim type, number of individual victims, number 

of offenders, and race of offenders.

Highlights from the 2011 Report:

▪ Of the 6,222 reported hate crimes, 6,216 were singlebias incidents—46.9 percent were racially motivated, 

20.8 percent resulted from sexual orientation bias, 

19.8 percent were motivated by religious bias, 11.6 

stemmed from ethnicity/national origin bias, and 0.9 

percent were prompted by disability bias.

▪ Law enforcement agencies reported 7,713 victims of 

hate crime—victims can be individuals, businesses, 

institutions, or society as whole. Sixty percent of 

these 7,713 were victims of crimes against persons, 

while 39.8 were victims of crimes against property.

▪ Thirty-two percent of the 6,222 hate crime incidents 

reported took place in or near residences; 18 percent 

took place on highways, roads, and alleys; and 9.3 

percent took place at schools or colleges. The remaining percentage took place at locations like houses of 

worship, parking lots, bars, government and office 

buildings, etc.

New in Hate Crime Reporting

Beginning in 2013, law enforcement agencies reporting 

hates crimes will be able to get even more specific when 

reporting bias motivation.

For example, the new bias categories of gender and gender 

identity—which added four new bias types—were added 

to the FBI’s hate crime data collection as a result of 

the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes 

Prevention Act. Other bias types were modified to 

comply with the race and ethnicity designations specified 

by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Data submitted under these new specifications will be part of the 
102 2012 The FBI Story

December 13, 2012

Homegrown Violent 

Extremism

Dismantling the Triangle 

Terror Group

Left: Multiple long guns were seized in the case of Daniel Patrick 

Boyd, who conspired to kill Americans at home and abroad. He was 

sentenced in August to 18 years in prison.

to get to the front lines to fight. “That’s when we began 

to understand how serious this threat was,” said Special 

Agent Paul Minella, a JTTF member who worked the 

case.

Over the next three years, the JTTF monitored the 

group—with the help of partner agencies and the support 

of the U.S. Attorney’s Office—using a variety of investigative tools, including court-ordered wiretaps and sources 

who infiltrated the group.

During one monitored conversation inside the food 

market Boyd owned, said Maria Jocys, who supervises the 

Raleigh-Durham JTTF, “in an effort to ingratiate himself 

with Boyd, one of the foreign-born co-conspirators 

bragged about his experience as a skilled sniper and 

graphically described how he shot a man overseas.”

“The talk at the market was often about fighting jihad 

and how, in their belief, fighting jihad was an obligation,” added Special Agent Bill Logallo, another JTTF 

member.

Investigators tracked Boyd’s network across the United 

States and six foreign countries. “It became very clear,” 

Jocys said, “that Boyd’s followers wanted to fight on the 

front lines overseas. And if they didn’t have the opportunity to do that, then they would wage jihad here at 

home.”

As the investigation continued, “we saw them buying a 

lot of weapons and ammunition,” Logallo said. Boyd dug 

a hole in his yard to bury a cache of weapons and positioned long guns in every room of his house. He took his 

sons and recruits out to train with weapons and taught 

them military tactics.

Even after Boyd suspected that the FBI was onto his 

group, “they kept going,” Minella said. “That’s how committed they were to jihad and how right they thought 

they were about their obligation to kill non-Muslims.”

After a carefully orchestrated takedown planned months 

in advance, Boyd and the rest of his Triangle Terror 

Group were arrested in July 2009. They had committed 

no acts of violence, but the JTTF was certain it was only 

a matter of time before they did.

“Boyd and his followers wanted to kill people,” Jocys said. 

“We had to stop them.”

To his sons and others in their rural North Carolina 

community, Daniel Patrick Boyd was a charismatic figure. 

But the U.S. citizen used his persuasive powers to no good 

end—he promoted violent jihad against Americans at 

home and abroad.

After a four-year investigation by the Raleigh-Durham 

Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), Boyd and two of 

his sons, along with five other conspirators—known 

as the Triangle Terror Group—were arrested and 

charged with providing material support to terrorists 

and conspiring to murder persons overseas, including U.S. military personnel. Boyd pled guilty and was 

sentenced in August 2012 to 18 years in prison.

Chris Briese, then-special agent in charge of our 

Charlotte office, noted at the time, “People who are 

plotting to harm Americans are no longer a world away 

from us.” The men and women of the JTTF who investigated the Boyd case learned that fact firsthand as they 

worked to unravel the network of homegrown violent 

extremists.

The case began in 2005 with a tip from someone in 

the Muslim community that one of its members was 

becoming radicalized. Boyd was a hero to young MuslimAmericans because at the age of 19 he had traveled to 

Pakistan and Afghanistan to receive military training and 

to fight with the mujahedeen.

In 2006, one of Boyd’s North Carolina jihad recruits 

traveled to Jordan and e-mailed his mentor to ask how 
2012 The FBI Story 103

December 17, 2012

Bankrobbers.fbi.gov features a gallery of suspects and a fully integrated map feature; due to the sensitive nature of these crimes, robbers 

will not always appear on the map if the location is not publicized.

Help Catch Bank 

Robbers

New Website Targets 

Suspects Nationwide

Users of the new website can filter searches of serial and 

non-serial bank robbers. Following are some examples of 

serial cases:

▪ The AK-47 Bandit is sought in California, Idaho, and 

Washington for multiple bank robberies. The suspect 

often wears tactical gear and is armed with an AK47-style assault rifle.

▪ A white male, aged 30-40, is wanted in Washington 

in connection with five armed bank robberies in the 

Seattle area since September.

▪ Two black males, believed to be in their 20s, are 

wanted in Virginia in connection with four armed 

bank robberies in March and April.

The bank crime statistics bear out the Bureau’s emphasis 

on violent cases. While demand notes are bank robbers’ 

most frequently used tools (2,958 times in 2011), they 

are followed by firearms (1,242 times) and the mere 

threat of weapons (2,331 times) or explosive devices (154 

times). Even in cases where weapons have not been used, 

DiJoseph said, the risk of violence increases each time a 

serial bank robber strikes.

Of the 5,086 bank robberies, burglaries, and larcenies 

last year, 201 included acts of violence; 70 involved the 

discharge of firearms. Thirteen people were killed during 

bank robberies last year, though it was usually the perpetrator (10 incidents).

Visit the website to help us solve the most pressing bank 

robbery cases from our 56 field offices.

Bank robbers last year walked away from federally insured 

banks, credit unions, savings and loan associations, and 

armored trucks with more than $38 million in cash, 

according to the last full year of FBI bank crime statistics. 

In one in five cases, the money was recovered. In the 

unsolved cases, surveillance images of suspects were often 

posted online—on FBI wanted posters and elsewhere—to 

enlist the public’s help.

To further that effort, the FBI has launched a new 

Wanted Bank Robbers website at bankrobbers.fbi.gov, 

the first national system of its kind.

The new site features a gallery of unknown suspects and 

a map function that plots robbery locations. Users can 

search by name, location, or other factors. Search results 

deliver a Wanted by the FBI poster that contains more 

images, a suspect’s full description, and a brief narrative 

of the crime.

“This website is an operational tool that will help law 

enforcement identify and prosecute bank robbers more 

quickly, with the public’s help,” says Jason DiJoseph, who 

runs the bank robbery program at FBI Headquarters. 

“The idea is to make it easier for the public to recognize 

and turn in potential suspects and to draw connections 

between robberies in different cities and states.”

The FBI has had a primary role in bank robbery 

investigations since the 1930s, when John Dillinger and 

his gang were robbing banks and capturing the public’s 

imagination. In 1934, it became a federal crime to rob 

any national bank or state member bank of the Federal 

Reserve System. The law soon expanded to include bank 

burglary, larceny, and similar crimes, with jurisdiction 

delegated to the FBI. Today, the Bureau works with local 

law enforcement in bank robbery investigations, but the 

focus is mostly on violent or serial cases.

“Bank robbery sounds like an old-fashioned crime, but 

it is a dangerous and often violent criminal act that still 

results in the loss of lives and takes a significant toll on 

local communities,” says DiJoseph.
104 2012 The FBI Story

December 20, 2012

Bank Fraud Hits Home

Historic Community Credit 

Union Collapses

After the loans were issued, most borrowers made 

little effort to pay them back. To prevent these loans 

from appearing as delinquent on the books, Raguz 

directed the credit union to issue so-called reset loans 

(new loans made to cover delinquent payments on old 

loans) in the names of other SPCFCU members with 

active or even inactive accounts, deceased SPCFCU 

members, and fictitious businesses. Raguz even let some 

of the borrowers of the original fraudulent loans obtain 

additional loans.

The crooked borrowers didn’t get off scot-free: so far, 

16 have been convicted on various fraud charges. Some of 

the more prolific individuals include:

▪ Koljo Nikolovski, of Eastlake and Skopje, Macedonia, 

who fraudulently obtained several loans totaling more 

than $5 million...none of which he paid back. He 

also wired $2.3 million overseas to a bank account 

in Skopje. (At one point, he threatened Raguz if 

he refused to provide a loan or told anyone about 

previous loans.)

▪ Eddy Zai, an Eastlake businessman and the single 

largest recipient of fraudulent loans, who submitted 

false documents to defraud the credit union of approximately $16.7 million.

▪ Arben Alia, of Eastlake, who fraudulently obtained 

several loans totaling approximately $4.5 million, 

which he used—in part—to fund gambling excursions and to buy a bar.

The impact of the credit union failure was significant:

Because the credit union was federally insured, innocent 

investors with accounts of $250,000 or less were fully 

reimbursed. But some members with more money in 

their accounts—including some businesses and other 

institutions—were not reimbursed beyond that amount 

and ended up losing hard-earned dollars. And aside from 

the financial losses, the community lost an invaluable 

resource that had helped so many for so long.

Special thanks to the Cleveland office of the Internal 

Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division and the 

Eastlake Police Department for working this case with 

our Cleveland Field Office.

For years, the St. Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union in 

Eastlake, Ohio—about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland—

had provided financial support to Croatians who had 

settled in the area and to others in the community. 

Through loans and additional services, the credit union 

helped many achieve their dreams of owning a home or 

business.

That all came to an end in April 2010, when the institution was placed into conservatorship and declared 

insolvent by the National Credit Union Administration—

the independent federal body that oversees federal credit 

unions.

The failure of the St. Paul Croatian Federal Credit 

Union, or SPCFCU, was one of the largest credit 

union collapses in American history, but it didn’t have 

to happen. Much of the blame has been placed squarely 

on the shoulders of its chief operating officer, Anthony 

Raguz, who over a 10-year period accepted more than $1 

million worth of bribes, kickbacks, and gifts in exchange 

for issuing a thousand fraudulent loans valued at more 

than $70 million. Last month, Raguz was sentenced to 14 

years in prison on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and bank bribery and was ordered to pay $71.5 

million in restitution.

The fraudulent loans Raguz approved went to conspiring account holders who submitted paperwork listing 

minimal or no assets, income, or employment history. He 

also knowingly allowed borrowers to obtain loans using 

nominee names (family members, friends, business associates, etc.).
2012 The FBI Story 105

December 24, 2012

A Byte Out of History

The Hunt for Roger ‘The 

Terrible’ Touhy and His Gang

east of Chicago. It was their signal to the FBI that they 

didn’t want to take the car across state lines and trigger 

Bureau jurisdiction. But they didn’t realize that they 

would soon run afoul of the Selective Service Act. On 

October 16, one week after the no longer imprisoned 

criminals failed to register for the draft, the FBI entered 

the case.

The FBI had numerous leads to begin its search 

for Touhy and his gang. The Bureau knew Touhy 

well, arresting him nine years earlier on suspicion of 

being involved in the kidnapping of the president of a 

Minnesota brewing company. While in custody, Illinois 

courts convicted Touhy of abducting a rival criminal 

named John “Jake the Barber” Factor. Touhy was sent to 

prison in 1934.

Life on the run was not easy, and the gang began to have 

problems. Two members disobeyed the gang’s rules and 

were nearly beaten to death. The gang moved often and 

was careful to cover its tracks. The Bureau figured that 

Touhy and his cohorts would use IDs stolen through pickpockets and muggings and worked with local police to 

collate these crimes and look for those assuming victims’ 

identities.

It worked, leading to the capture of the first fugitive.

More success followed. On December 16, agents observed 

a known acquaintance of one gang member participating 

in a suspicious meeting with an unknown contact. Agents 

tracked the unknown man, which led them to two more 

gang members (who died in a gunfight with Bureau 

agents) and ultimately to Touhy, Banghart, and Darlak. 

Following the early morning arrest, the gang was quickly 

returned to prison. They were home for the holidays—

well, back in the big house anyway.

The careful plans were laid. In the early morning hours 

of December 29, 1942—70 years ago this month—FBI 

agents surrounded an apartment building on Kenmore 

Avenue in Chicago filled with a dangerous band of 

escaped convicts. With searchlights illuminating the 

building and nearby neighbors evacuated, an agent with 

a loudspeaker called for the men to surrender. Even 

Director J. Edgar Hoover was on hand.

At the time, America was at war—fighting in theaters 

in Europe and the Far East during World War II. The 

FBI was supporting the effort in many ways, protecting 

the homeland from espionage and sabotage and supplying valuable intelligence to its partners and to national 

leaders. One of its other wartime responsibilities was 

enforcing a newly enhanced Selective Service Act, which 

subjected all men of certain ages to either enter or register 

for military service. As it turns out, this law was the legal 

hook enabling the FBI to hunt down these criminals.

The prison break had taken place nearly three months 

earlier, on October 9. A group that included Roger “The 

Terrible” Touhy, Basil “The Owl” Banghart, Edward 

Darlak, and several other violent criminals escaped from 

the Stateville Penitentiary at Joliet, Illinois. They had 

guns smuggled in, cased the prison from all angles, and 

executed a well-planned break out.

Stealing a guard’s car, they sped away. Hours later, they 

abandoned the car openly in the middle of a small suburb 

Roger “The Terrible” Touhy (above) and other violent criminals escaped from a penitentiary in Illinois in 1942.
106 2012 The FBI Story

December 27, 2012

The Year in Review

A Look at FBI Cases, Part 1

Plot to attack Pentagon and U.S. Capitol: Also in 

November, a 27-year-old man was sentenced in Boston to 

17 years in prison for plotting an attack on American soil 

and attempting to provide detonation devices to terrorists. The man built detonators for improvised explosive 

devices and provided them to FBI undercover operatives 

he believed were members of al Qaeda. 

Attempted bombing of New York Federal Reserve 

Bank: A 21-year-old Bangladeshi national was arrested in 

October for attempting to detonate a 1,000-pound bomb 

in Lower Manhattan to strike the U.S. financial system 

on behalf of al Qaeda. The man allegedly traveled to the 

U.S. in January 2012 specifically to conduct a terrorist 

attack. 

Plot to attack U.S. Capitol: A 29-year-old Virginia 

resident was sentenced to 30 years in prison in September 

for attempting to carry out a suicide bomb attack at the 

U.S. Capitol in February 2012. 

Plan to send weapons to Iraqi insurgents: A former 

resident of Iraq residing in Kentucky pled guilty to terrorism charges in August for attempting to send Stinger 

missiles and other weapons to Iraq to be used against U.S. 

soldiers. 

‘Revolution’ leader sentenced: A New York City resident 

was sentenced in June to more than 11 years in prison for 

using his position as a leader of the Revolution Muslim 

organization to promote violent extremism online against 

those he believed to be enemies of Islam. 

Violent extremists in Alaska: Also in June, the leader 

of an Alaska militia was found guilty of conspiring to 

murder federal officials and possessing illegal firearms 

including silencers and grenade launchers. 

Supporting terrorism: A 45-year-old Philadelphia 

resident was arrested in March and charged with 

conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic 

Jihad Union, an extremist organization responsible 

for bombings and attacks against coalition forces in 

Afghanistan.

Part 2: Fraud, fugitives, espionage, and more (page 107)

The FBI worked thousands of investigations during 2012 

involving everything from terror plots to cyber theft, 

financial fraud, and crimes against children. As the year 

comes to a close, we take our annual look back at some of 

the Bureau’s most significant cases.

Part 1 focuses on our top investigative priority—protecting the nation from terrorist attack. Working with 

local, state, federal, and international partners, we 

thwarted a number of potential attacks on U.S. citizens at 

home and abroad.

Here are some of the top terror cases of 2012 in 

reverse chronological order:

Alabama men arrested on terrorism charges: Two U.S. 

citizens living in Alabama were arrested in December and 

charged with planning to travel overseas to wage violent 

jihad. The pair met online and later confided their plans 

to an individual who—unbeknownst to them—was a 

confidential source working for the FBI. 

Plot to destroy Ohio bridge: Four men were sentenced 

to prison in November for their roles in a conspiracy 

to destroy a bridge near Cleveland. The men—all selfproclaimed anarchists—pled guilty to conspiracy to 

use weapons of mass destruction. The group allegedly 

planned a series of crimes in the Cleveland area. 

Conspiracy to provide support to terrorists: Four men 

were charged in Los Angeles in November with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists after they 

allegedly made arrangements to join al Qaeda and the 

Taliban in Afghanistan to kill Americans, among others. 
2012 The FBI Story 107

December 31, 2012

The Year in Review

A Look at FBI Cases, Part 2

With our partners in the law enforcement and intelligence communities, the FBI worked thousands of investigations during 2012, from cyber crimes to economic 

espionage and multi-million-dollar fraud schemes. As 

the year draws to a close, we take a look back at some of 

2012’s most significant cases.

Part 1 focused on terrorism. This segment highlights 

some of the year’s top cases from the FBI’s other 

investigative priorities:

Insider trading: Charges against seven investment professionals were announced in New York in January alleging 

an insider trading scheme that netted nearly $62 million 

in illegal profits. 

California gang takedown: A total of 119 defendants 

were charged in San Diego in January with federal 

racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking violations, and 

federal firearm offenses in one of the largest single gang 

takedowns in FBI San Diego history. The target was the 

Mexican Mafia gang and its affiliates. 

Economic espionage: In February, a federal grand jury 

in San Francisco charged five individuals and five companies with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets 

in connection with their roles in a long-running effort 

to obtain U.S. trade secrets for the benefit of companies 

controlled by the People’s Republic of China. 

Cyber hackers charged: Several hackers in the U.S. and 

abroad were charged in New York in March with cyber 

crimes affecting over a million victims. Four principal 

members of the hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec 

were among those indicted; another key member previously pled guilty to similar charges. 

Anchorage man indicted for murder: In April, Israel 

Keyes was charged with the kidnapping and murder of an 

Anchorage barista. Keyes is believed to have committed 

multiple kidnappings and murders across the country 

between 2001 and March 2012. In December, after Keyes 

committed suicide in jail, the FBI requested the public’s 

help regarding his other victims. 

Financial fraudster receives 110-year sentence: In 

June, Allen Stanford—the former chairman of Stanford 

International Bank—was sentenced in Houston to 110 

years in prison for orchestrating a 20-year investment 

fraud scheme in which he misappropriated $7 billion to 

finance his personal businesses. 

Nationwide sweep recovers child victims of prostitution: The FBI and its partners announced the results of 

Operation Cross Country, a three-day law enforcement 

action in June in which 79 child victims of prostitution 

were recovered and more than 100 pimps were arrested. 

International cyber takedown: Also in June, a two-year 

FBI undercover cyber operation culminated in the arrest 

of 24 individuals in eight countries. The investigation 

focused on “carding” crimes—offenses in which the 

Internet is used to steal victims’ credit card and bank 

account information—and was credited with protecting 

over 400,000 potential cyber crime victims and preventing over $205 million in losses. 

Health care fraud: In July, global health care company 

GlaxoSmithKline pled guilty to fraud allegations and 

failure to report safety data and agreed to pay $3 billion in 

what officials called the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history. 

Russian military procurement network: In October, 

11 members of a Russian military procurement network 

operating in the United States and Russia, as well as a 

Texas-based export company and a Russia-based procurement firm, were indicted in New York and charged with 

illegally exporting high-tech microelectronics from the 

U.S. to Russian military and intelligence agencies.
108 2012 The FBI Story

2012: The FBI Story Index

Genocide and War Crimes: New Webpage Designed to

Raise Awareness, Solicit Information, page 70

Living a Lie: Identity Theft That Lasted Decades,

page 81

Help Us Catch a Terrorist: U.S. Citizen Wanted for

Supporting al Qaeda, page 82

North to Alaska: Part 2: An Explosive Situation in the

Dead of Winter, page 86

North to Alaska: Part 3: A Domestic Terrorist with a

Deadly Plan, page 92

Two Most Wanted Terrorists Named: Third Man Sought

for Questioning, page 93

Stopping a Would-Be Terrorist: Who was One Chemical

Away from Building a Bomb, page 99

Eco-Terrorist Surrenders: Two Operation Backfire

Fugitives Still at Large, page 100

Homegrown Violent Extremism: Dismantling the

Triangle Terror Group, page 102

The Year in Review: A Look at FBI Cases, Part 1,

page 106

CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN

A Mother’s Worst Nightmare: Fusion Center Key in

Rescue of Abducted Infant, page 5

Cyber Alerts for Parents & Kids: Tip #2: Beware of

‘Sextortion,’ page 12

Operation Atlantic: Taking International Aim at Child

Predators, page 18

New Top Ten Fugitive: Child Pornographer Added to the

List, page 29

Child Forensic Interviewers: Part 1: Providing Critical

Skills on Sensitive Investigations, page 32

Child Forensic Interviewers: Part 2: Training Our Law

Enforcement Partners, page 33

Looking for Our Children: National Missing Children’s

Day 2012, page 44

Operation Cross Country: Nationwide Sweep Recovers

Child Victims of Prostitution, page 53

ART THEFT

New Top Ten Art Crime: Reward Offered for Stolen

Renoir Painting, page 77

CIVIL RIGHTS

MLK Parade Bomber: Horrific Hate Crime Prevented;

Case Solved, page 4

Human Trafficking Prevention: Help Us Identify

Potential Victims, page 6

Protecting Civil Rights: Part 1: Memphis Agent Seeks

Justice for Victims, page 10

Protecting Civil Rights: Part 2: Closing a Memphis

Murder Case, page 11

Domestic Threat: White Supremacy Extremism, page 43

Teen Prostitution: Gang Used Social Media Sites to

Identify Potential Victims, page 76

Hate Crimes Accounting: Annual Report Released,

page 101

COUNTERTERRORISM

On Guard Against WMD: Inside the Biological

Countermeasures Unit, Part 1, page 15

On Guard Against WMD: Inside the Biological

Countermeasures Unit, Part 2, page 16

Help Us Bring Bob Levinson Home: $1 Million Reward

Offered for Missing Retired FBI Agent, page 19

Eco-Terrorist Sentenced: Help Us Find Remaining

Operation Backfire Fugitives, page 23

Domestic Threat: White Supremacy Extremism, page 43

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 1: Vigilance Against

Terrorism, page 55

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 2: Partners Help Cast a

Wide Safety Net, page 58

‘Play How You Practice’: FBI’s WMD Training Workshop

Tests Massive Response, page 61

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 3: WMD Coordinator

Focuses on Preparedness, Partnerships, page 63
2012 The FBI Story 109

2012: The FBI Story Index

Infant Abductions: A Violent Trend Emerges, page 74

Teen Prostitution: Gang Used Social Media Sites to

Identify Potential Victims, page 76

Safe Online Surfing: New Cyber Safety Website for

Teachers, Students, page 85

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION SERVICES

Police Week: FBI Honors Law Enforcement’s Sacrifices,

page 40

Crimes Rates are Down: According to 2011 Preliminary

Report, page 49

30-Year-Old Murder Solved: Fingerprint Technology

Played Key Role, page 75

Latest Crime Stats: Annual Crime in the U.S. Report

Released, page 89

Making the Ultimate Sacrifice: Report on Law

Enforcement Officer Deaths Released, page 95

CYBER CRIMES

Malware Targets Bank Accounts: ‘Gameover’ Delivered

via Phishing E-Mails, page 2

Cyber Alerts for Parents & Kids: Tip #2: Beware of

‘Sextortion,’ page 12

Looking for Love?: Beware of Online Dating Scams,

page 13

Operation Atlantic: Taking International Aim at Child

Predators, page 18

The Cyber Threat: Part 1: On the Front Lines with

Shawn Henry, page 25

The Cyber Threat: Part 2: Shawn Henry on Partnerships,

Challenges, page 26

New Internet Scam: ‘Ransomware’ Locks Computers,

Demands Payment, page 66

Safe Online Surfing: New Cyber Safety Website for

Teachers, Students, page 85

Cyber Security: Focusing on Hackers and Intrusions,

page 88

DIRECTOR/FBI LEADERSHIP

Help Us Bring Bob Levinson Home: $1 Million Reward

Offered for Missing Retired FBI Agent, page 19

Community Leaders Recognized: Their Actions Improve

Lives, page 22

The Cyber Threat: Part 1: On the Front Lines with

Shawn Henry, page 25

The Cyber Threat: Part 2: Shawn Henry on Partnerships,

Challenges, page 26

Major Financial Crime: Using Intelligence and

Partnerships to Fight Fraud Smarter, page 28

A Byte Out of History: The Alvin Karpis Capture,

page 35

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 1: The End of

an Era, page 36

Police Week: FBI Honors Law Enforcement’s Sacrifices,

page 40

Remembering Giovanni Falcone: Italian Judge

Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago, page 42

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 2: His First Job

and the FBI Files, page 54

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 3: Another Side

of J. Edgar, page 62

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 4: The

Evolution of U.S. Intelligence, page 68

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 5: A Day in the

Life, page 79

FIELD CASES

Closing a ‘Crime Superstore’: Not-So Garden Variety

Fraud in the Garden State, page 3

MLK Parade Bomber: Horrific Hate Crime Prevented;

Case Solved, page 4

A Mother’s Worst Nightmare: Fusion Center Key in

Rescue of Abducted Infant, page 5

Human Trafficking Prevention: Help Us Identify

Potential Victims, page 6
110 2012 The FBI Story

Cargo Theft: How a Memphis Task Force Combats a

Costly Problem, page 8

Protecting Civil Rights: Part 1: Memphis Agent Seeks

Justice for Victims, page 10

Protecting Civil Rights: Part 2: Closing a Memphis

Murder Case, page 11 

Cyber Alerts for Parents & Kids: Tip #2: Beware of

‘Sextortion,’ page 12

Trying to Sell That Timeshare?: Beware of Fraudsters,

page 14

Help Us Bring Bob Levinson Home: $1 Million Reward

Offered for Missing Retired FBI Agent, page 19

New Top Ten Fugitive: Child Pornographer Added to the

List, page 29

‘Booster’ Behind Bars: Professional Shoplifter Gets Prison

Term, page 31

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us Find Adam Mayes,

page 38

The Case of the Misbranded Drug: Leads to Massive Fine

and Penalties, page 45

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 1: Fighting Crime

on Tribal Lands, page 46

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us Find a Rapist and

Murderer, page 47

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 2: Making an

Impact on the Reservation, page 48

Help Us Catch a Killer: Unknown Offender Linked by

DNA in Two Separate Cases, page 50

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 3: Murder on the

Zuni Reservation, page 51

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 4: Teamwork

Makes a Difficult Job Easier, page 52

Operation Cross Country: Nationwide Sweep Recovers

Child Victims of Prostitution, page 53

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 1: Vigilance Against

Terrorism, page 55

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 5: A ZeroTolerance Approach, page 56

If It’s Too Good to Be True: Massive Ponzi Scheme Proves 

Age-Old Adage, page 57

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 2: Partners Help Cast a

Wide Safety Net, page 58

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 6: Gaining

Invaluable Experience on the Reservation, page 60

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 3: WMD Coordinator

Focuses on Preparedness, Partnerships, page 63

A Sordid Scam: Two Receive Life Sentences for Preying

on Aspiring Models, page 65

Mortgage Fraud: ‘House King’ was a Royal Con Man,

page 69

A Byte Out of History: Murder and the Dixie Mafia,

page 73

Living a Lie: Identity Theft That Lasted Decades, page 81

Help Us Catch a Terrorist: U.S. Citizen Wanted for

Supporting al Qaeda, page 82

North to Alaska: Part 1: Smallest FBI Office Takes on

Big Job, page 84

North to Alaska: Part 2: An Explosive Situation in the

Dead of Winter, page 86

Remembering Lou Peters: Selfless Actions Brought Down

Mob Boss, page 87

Operation Universal Money Fast: Putting the Brakes on

Health Care Fraud, page 91

North to Alaska: Part 3: A Domestic Terrorist with a

Deadly Plan, page 92

LCD Price Fixing Conspiracy: Taiwanese Company,

Execs Sentenced, page 94

North to Alaska: Part 4: The Shot That Pierced the

Trans-Alaska Pipeline, page 96

Preying on the Weak: Estate Planner Victimized

Terminally Ill, page 98

Stopping a Would-Be Terrorist: Who was One Chemical

Away from Building a Bomb, page 99

2012: The FBI Story Index
2012 The FBI Story 111

2012: The FBI Story Index

Homegrown Violent Extremism: Dismantling the

Triangle Terror Group, page 102

The Year in Review: A Look at FBI Cases, Part 1,

page 106

The Year in Review: A Look at FBI Cases, Part 2,

page 107

FOREIGN COUNTERINTELLIGENCE

Economic Espionage: How to Spot a Possible Insider

Threat, page 39

Counterintelligence Awareness: Teaching Industry How

to Protect Trade Secrets and National Security,

page 97

GENERAL

Helping Victims of Crime: Therapy Dog Program a First

for the Bureau, page 34

HISTORY

A Byte Out of History: Closing in on the Barker/Karpis

Gang, page 7

Investigating Financial Crime: A Retrospective, page 21

A Byte Out of History: The Alvin Karpis Capture,

page 35

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 1: The End of

an Era, page 36

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 1: May 12,

1972—A New Chapter is Opened, page 41

Remembering Giovanni Falcone: Italian Judge

Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago, page 42

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 2: His First Job

and the FBI Files, page 54

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 2: Two Women

Blaze a Trail in 1972, page 59

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 3: Another Side

of J. Edgar, page 62

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 3: Early

Pioneers Tell Their Stories, page 64

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 4: The

Evolution of U.S. Intelligence, page 68

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 4: Who Said It?

Pop Culture’s Take on Women Special Agents, page 71

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 5: A Diversity

of Backgrounds and Experiences, page 72

A Byte Out of History: Murder and the Dixie Mafia,

page 73

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 6: Working

Undercover, page 78

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 5: A Day in the

Life, page 79

Remembering Lou Peters: Selfless Actions Brought Down

Mob Boss, page 87

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 7: Two Have

Made the Ultimate Sacrifice, page 90

A Byte Out of History: The Hunt for Roger

‘The Terrible’ Touhy and His Gang, page 105

INTELLIGENCE

Overcoming the Language Barrier: Translation Center at

the Ready to Assist U.S. Intelligence, page 1

FBI Financial Intelligence Center: Getting Ahead of

Crime, page 24

Economic Espionage: How to Spot a Possible Insider

Threat, page 39

The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After: Part 4: The

Evolution of U.S. Intelligence, page 68

Counterintelligence Awareness: Teaching Industry How

to Protect Trade Secrets and National Security,

page 97

INTERNATIONAL

Operation Atlantic: Taking International Aim at Child

Predators, page 18

Help Us Bring Bob Levinson Home: $1 Million Reward

Offered for Missing Retired FBI Agent, page 19
112 2012 The FBI Story

2012: The FBI Story Index

Eco-Terrorist Sentenced: Help Us Find Remaining

Operation Backfire Fugitives, page 23

Economic Espionage: How to Spot a Possible Insider

Threat, page 39

Remembering Giovanni Falcone: Italian Judge

Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago, page 42

Genocide and War Crimes: New Webpage Designed to

Raise Awareness, Solicit Information, page 70

FBI National Academy: Celebrating a Milestone, page 80

Help Us Catch a Terrorist: U.S. Citizen Wanted for

Supporting al Qaeda, page 82

Two Most Wanted Terrorists Named: Third Man Sought

for Questioning, page 93

LCD Price Fixing Conspiracy: Taiwanese Company,

Execs Sentenced, page 94

Eco-Terrorist Surrenders: Two Operation Backfire

Fugitives Still at Large, page 100

LINGUIST/TRANSLATION PROGRAM

Overcoming the Language Barrier: Translation Center at

the Ready to Assist U.S. Intelligence, page 1

MAJOR THEFTS/VIOLENT CRIME

A Mother’s Worst Nightmare: Fusion Center Key in

Rescue of Abducted Infant, page 5

Cargo Theft: How a Memphis Task Force Combats a

Costly Problem, page 8

Looking for Love?: Beware of Online Dating Scams,

page 13

‘Booster’ Behind Bars: Professional Shoplifter Gets Prison

Term, page 31

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us Find Adam Mayes,

page 38

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 1: Fighting Crime

on Tribal Lands, page 46

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us Find a Rapist and

Murderer, page 47

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 2: Making an

Impact on the Reservation, page 48

Crimes Rates are Down: According to 2011 Preliminary

Report, page 49

Help Us Catch a Killer: Unknown Offender Linked by

DNA in Two Separate Cases, page 50

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 3: Murder on the

Zuni Reservation, page 51

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 4: Teamwork

Makes a Difficult Job Easier, page 52

Operation Cross Country: Nationwide Sweep Recovers

Child Victims of Prostitution, page 53

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 5: A ZeroTolerance Approach, page 56

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 6: Gaining

Invaluable Experience on the Reservation, page 60

A Sordid Scam: Two Receive Life Sentences for Preying

on Aspiring Models, page 65

Infant Abductions: A Violent Trend Emerges,

page 74

30-Year-Old Murder Solved: Fingerprint Technology

Played Key Role, page 75

New Top Ten Art Crime: Reward Offered for Stolen

Renoir Painting, page 77

Latest Crime Stats: Annual Crime in the U.S. Report

Released, page 89

Making the Ultimate Sacrifice: Report on Law

Enforcement Officer Deaths Released, page 95

Hate Crimes Accounting: Annual Report Released,

page 101

Help Catch Bank Robbers: New Website Targets Suspects

Nationwide, page 103

ORGANIZED CRIME/DRUGS

Closing a ‘Crime Superstore’: Not-So Garden Variety

Fraud in the Garden State, page 3
2012 The FBI Story 113

2012: The FBI Story Index

Human Trafficking Prevention: Help Us Identify

Potential Victims, page 6

A Byte Out of History: Closing in on the Barker/Karpis

Gang, page 7

Cargo Theft: How a Memphis Task Force Combats a

Costly Problem, page 8

Remembering Giovanni Falcone: Italian Judge

Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago, page 42

Operation Cross Country: Nationwide Sweep Recovers

Child Victims of Prostitution, page 53

Teen Prostitution: Gang Used Social Media Sites to

Identify Potential Victims, page 76

Remembering Lou Peters: Selfless Actions Brought Down

Mob Boss, page 87

PARTNERSHIPS

Overcoming the Language Barrier: Translation Center at

the Ready to Assist U.S. Intelligence, page 1

MLK Parade Bomber: Horrific Hate Crime Prevented;

Case Solved, page 4

A Mother’s Worst Nightmare: Fusion Center Key in

Rescue of Abducted Infant, page 5

Cargo Theft: How a Memphis Task Force Combats a

Costly Problem, page 8

Protecting Civil Rights: Part 1: Memphis Agent Seeks

Justice for Victims, page 10

Protecting Civil Rights: Part 2: Closing a Memphis

Murder Case, page 11

Trying to Sell That Timeshare?: Beware of Fraudsters,

page 14

Operation Atlantic: Taking International Aim at Child

Predators, page 18

Police Week: FBI Honors Law Enforcement’s Sacrifices,

page 40

Remembering Giovanni Falcone: Italian Judge

Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago, page 42

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 1: Fighting Crime

on Tribal Lands, page 46

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 2: Making an

Impact on the Reservation, page 48

Crimes Rates are Down: According to 2011 Preliminary 

Report, page 49

Help Us Catch a Killer: Unknown Offender Linked by

DNA in Two Separate Cases, page 50

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 3: Murder on the

Zuni Reservation, page 51

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 4: Teamwork

Makes a Difficult Job Easier, page 52

Operation Cross Country: Nationwide Sweep Recovers

Child Victims of Prostitution, page 53

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 1: Vigilance Against

Terrorism, page 55

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 5: A ZeroTolerance Approach, page 56

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 2: Partners Help Cast a

Wide Safety Net, page 58

Journey Through Indian Country: Part 6: Gaining

Invaluable Experience on the Reservation, page 60

‘Play How You Practice’: FBI’s WMD Training Workshop

Tests Massive Response, page 61

Inside the Denver JTTF: Part 3: WMD Coordinator

Focuses on Preparedness, Partnerships, page 63

Insider Trading: Proactive Enforcement Paying Off,

page 67

Genocide and War Crimes: New Webpage Designed to

Raise Awareness, Solicit Information, page 70

30-Year-Old Murder Solved: Fingerprint Technology

Played Key Role, page 75

FBI National Academy: Celebrating a Milestone, page 80

Living a Lie: Identity Theft That Lasted Decades, page 81

Cyber Security: Focusing on Hackers and Intrusions,

page 88

Latest Crime Stats: Annual Crime in the U.S. Report

Released, page 89
114 2012 The FBI Story

2012: The FBI Story Index

North to Alaska: Part 3: A Domestic Terrorist with a

Deadly Plan, page 92

Making the Ultimate Sacrifice: Report on Law

Enforcement Officer Deaths Released, page 95

North to Alaska: Part 4: The Shot That Pierced

the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, page 96

Counterintelligence Awareness: Teaching Industry How

to Protect Trade Secrets and National Security, page 97

Preying on the Weak: Estate Planner Victimized

Terminally Ill, page 98

Hate Crimes Accounting: Annual Report Released,

page 101

Homegrown Violent Extremism: Dismantling the

Triangle Terror Group, page 102

Help Catch Bank Robbers: New Website Targets Suspects

Nationwide, page 103

Bank Fraud Hits Home: Historic Community Credit

Union Collapses, page 104

PUBLIC/COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Cyber Alerts for Parents & Kids: Tip #2: Beware of

‘Sextortion,’ page 12 

Looking for Love?: Beware of Online Dating Scams,

page 13 

The State of Financial Crime: Our Latest Accounting,

page 17 

Community Leaders Recognized: Their Actions Improve

Lives, page 22 

The Grandparent Scam: Don’t Let It Happen to You,

page 27

Safe Online Surfing: New Cyber Safety Website for

Teachers, Students, page 85

Help Catch Bank Robbers: New Website Targets Suspects

Nationwide, page 103

PUBLIC CORRUPTION

A Byte Out of History: Murder and the Dixie Mafia,

page 73

RECRUITING/DIVERSITY

Overcoming the Language Barrier: Translation Center at

the Ready to Assist U.S. Intelligence, page 1

FBI Forensic Accountants: Following the Money, page 20

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 1: May 12,

1972—A New Chapter is Opened, page 41

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 2: Two Women

Blaze a Trail in 1972, page 59

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 3: Early

Pioneers Tell Their Stories, page 64

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 4: Who Said It?

Pop Culture’s Take on Women Special Agents, page 71

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 5: A Diversity

of Backgrounds and Experiences, page 72

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 6: Working

Undercover, page 78

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 7: Two Have

Made the Ultimate Sacrifice, page 90

TRAINING

Child Forensic Interviewers: Part 1: Providing Critical

Skills on Sensitive Investigations, page 32

Child Forensic Interviewers: Part 2: Training Our Law

Enforcement Partners, page 33

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 1: May 12,

1972—A New Chapter is Opened, page 41

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 2: Two Women

Blaze a Trail in 1972, page 59

‘Play How You Practice’: FBI’s WMD Training Workshop

Tests Massive Response, page 61

Celebrating Women Special Agents: Part 3: Early

Pioneers Tell Their Stories, page 64

FBI National Academy: Celebrating a Milestone, page 80

Making the Ultimate Sacrifice: Report on Law

Enforcement Officer Deaths Released, page 95
2012 The FBI Story 115

2012: The FBI Story Index

WHITE-COLLAR CRIME

Closing a ‘Crime Superstore’: Not-So Garden Variety

Fraud in the Garden State, page 3

Investigating Insurance Fraud: A $30-Billion-a-Year

Racket, page 9

Trying to Sell That Timeshare?: Beware of Fraudsters,

page 14

The State of Financial Crime: Our Latest Accounting,

page 17

FBI Forensic Accountants: Following the Money, page 20

Investigating Financial Crime: A Retrospective, page 21

FBI Financial Intelligence Center: Getting Ahead of

Crime, page 24

The Grandparent Scam: Don’t Let It Happen to You,

page 27

Major Financial Crime: Using Intelligence and

Partnerships to Fight Fraud Smarter, page 28

Bankruptcy Fraud: Creditors and Consumers Pay the

Price, page 30

Nursing Home Abuse: Owner Cheats Government and

Neglects Residents, page 37

The Case of the Misbranded Drug: Leads to Massive

Fine and Penalties, page 45

If It’s Too Good to Be True: Massive Ponzi Scheme Proves

Age-Old Adage, page 57

Insider Trading: Proactive Enforcement Paying Off,

page 67

Mortgage Fraud: ‘House King’ was a Royal Con Man,

page 69

Living a Lie: Identity Theft That Lasted Decades, page 81

Distressed Homeowner Initiative: Don’t Let Mortgage

Fraud Happen to You, page 83

Operation Universal Money Fast: Putting the Brakes on

Health Care Fraud, page 91

LCD Price Fixing Conspiracy: Taiwanese Company,

Execs Sentenced, page 94

Counterintelligence Awareness: Teaching Industry How

to Protect Trade Secrets and National Security, page 97

Preying on the Weak: Estate Planner Victimized

Terminally Ill, page 98

Bank Fraud Hits Home: Historic Community Credit

Union Collapses, page 104
FBI OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20535

Insulated in a full-blast suit, a bomb technician

demonstrates equipment used to neutralize

an improvised explosive device.