U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

THE FBI STORY

2015

The FBI Story 2015 I

During a training exercise, FBI medics prepare a wounded agent for helicopter transport to a hospital. Training scenarios are meant to mimic 

real-world conditions, which can include hostile environments accessible only by helicopter. See story on pages 64-65.

THE FBI STORY

www.fbi.gov 2015
II The FBI Story 2015

A Message from FBI Director James B. Comey

For the FBI, 2015 was an incredible year. We, along with our partners, were at the center of the struggle for security 

in the face of terrorism, crime, and cyber attacks. Together we arrested corrupt public officials and white-collar 

criminals. We dismantled hacker networks and took down transnational syndicates at home and overseas. We 

disrupted human trafficking operations and stopped violent gangs from infiltrating our neighborhoods. And we 

protected Americans from an ever-evolving host of terrorist threats. 

To get a sense of the challenges we faced and what we accomplished in 2015, here is the latest edition of The FBI 

Story. Our annual collection of news and feature articles from the Bureau’s public website highlights some of our 

recent investigations and operations. These include the indictments of more than a dozen high-ranking officials 

of FIFA—the governing body of international soccer—for their roles in a decades-long bribery scheme and a 

nationwide child exploitation sweep that recovered 149 young victims. The FBI Story also tells how we helped 

dismantle a Detroit crime ring responsible for “smash and grab” jewelry store robberies in a half-dozen states and 

how we worked with our partners to take down an underground forum where hackers bought and sold malware, 

personal information, and software to facilitate cyber crimes across the globe. 

This edition of The FBI Story also features some of the Bureau’s unique capabilities. You will read about the Cyber 

Action Team, which can rapidly deploy just about anywhere in the world to quickly and expertly preserve evidence 

after a cyber intrusion. You will learn about how we helped create The Company Man, a film about the threat of 

economic espionage. And you will discover the importance of the National Incident-Based Reporting System, or 

NIBRS, which gives a fuller picture of the circumstances and context surrounding criminal activity. With better 

data, we are better prepared to fight crime and keep people safe, and we can better adapt to changing threats. 

We know 2016 will be difficult. The threats we face are moving faster and becoming harder to anticipate and 

stop. As these stories illustrate, we don’t face these challenges alone. We rely on strong partnerships with law 

enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the private sector. We need everyone to work together to keep us secure, 

both here at home and abroad. 

Thank you for your support of the FBI. Everything we accomplish depends upon the American people believing 

us, trusting us, and seeing us for what we are—honest, competent, and independent. On behalf of the entire FBI, I 

hope you enjoy this latest edition of The FBI Story. We look forward to working for you and with you in 2016.
The FBI Story 2015 III

FBI Director James Comey shares his thoughts on the relationship between law enforcement personnel and the diverse communities they serve 

and protect during a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2015. See story on page 18.
IV The FBI Story 2015
01.05.15 The FBI Story 2015 1

Twenty years ago, the FBI began 

a program to help kids steer clear 

of drugs and gangs while learning 

core values that would make them 

good citizens. Since the Adopt-ASchool Program was established 

in 1994, special agents and other 

FBI employees have volunteered 

thousands of hours to make a 

positive impact on young people 

around the nation.

The Adopt-A-School Program 

identifies schools in disadvantaged 

communities—where kids may 

face greater exposure to gangs, 

drugs, and criminal activity—and 

sends Bureau employees there to be 

tutors and mentors.

“This is a great program that 

can have a profound influence 

on young people,” said Special 

Agent Paul Geiger, chief of the 

Community Relations Unit at 

FBI Headquarters in Washington. 

“We teach students that despite 

any hardships they may be facing 

now, if they work hard and make 

the right decisions, they can 

accomplish anything they want 

with their lives.”

The Adopt-A-School Program 

contains different components 

aimed at specific age groups. The 

Junior Special Agent program, 

for example, is directed at fifthand sixth-graders. A mentorship 

program is aimed at second- and 

fourth-graders, and the Future 

Agents in Training program is for 

high school students between the 

ages of 16 and 18. Depending on 

the component, Bureau employees 

may visit schools once a week for 

several months, or every other week 

for an entire school year.

“It’s all volunteer on the part of FBI 

employees,” Geiger explained, “and 

there is no cost to the taxpayer 

because funds needed for field trips 

and other items are typically raised 

through our Citizens Academy 

Alumni Associations.” 

In the last fiscal year—October 1, 

2013 to September 30, 2014—28 

FBI field offices had active AdoptA-School programs, and more than 

800 students nationwide graduated 

from Junior Special Agent 

programs.

The Washington Field Office, 

located near FBI Headquarters, 

has one of the largest—and 

oldest—Adopt-A-School programs. 

This year, community outreach 

Adopt-A-School Program

Part 1: Bringing a Message of Hope to Students

Left: Junior Special Agents from Bucknell 

Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia 

tour the U.S. Capitol.

specialists there are administering 

the program to six different schools 

in the region, and more than 300 

young people are participating.

“We have a curriculum with 

core blocks of instruction that 

integrates with what the kids are 

learning in the classroom,” said 

Special Agent William Woodson. 

“Students also learn about what 

the men and women of the FBI 

do—from bomb techs and SWAT 

teams to evidence collectors and 

investigators.”

“We teach our Junior Special 

Agents about the dangers of gangs 

and drugs, about cyber-bullying, 

and how to stay safe online,” 

Woodson added. “We teach them 

core values like honesty, integrity, 

and responsibility.” Fitness is also 

an important part of the program, 

and before they graduate and 

become Junior Special Agents, 

students must pass a fit test.

During the school year, youngsters 

in the Washington Field Office 

program are taken on field trips to 

the White House, the U.S. Capitol, 

and nearby Civil War sites. “The 

trips are fun but also educational,” 

Woodson explained. “We are 

not going to an amusement park. 

We are doing things that are 

educational.”

He added that for many of the 

students, who come from difficult 

socioeconomic backgrounds, the 

field trips are a rare privilege. “Even 

though some of these kids live 

only a few miles from downtown 

Washington, they might never see 

the Capitol or the White House if 

not for this program.”
2 The FBI Story 2015 01.13.15

Adopt-A-School Program

Part 2: Becoming a Junior Special Agent

The 22 fifth-graders who 

participated in a Junior Special 

Agent Program last summer 

sponsored by the FBI’s San Diego 

Field Division live in a tough 

neighborhood, and few of them 

have a permanent place to call 

home.

“We chose the Monarch School 

because it’s in one of our 

high-crime areas,” said Cheryl 

Dorenbush, a community outreach 

specialist in our San Diego Office 

who organized the program. “Every 

kid in the class was in some stage 

of homelessness. Most were in 

shelters or temporary housing, and 

some were living out of cars. This 

is where we thought we could have 

the biggest impact.”

The Junior Special Agent 

Program—one component of 

the Bureau’s Adopt-A-School 

Program—aims to give fifth- and 

sixth-graders in disadvantaged 

neighborhoods the information, 

skills, and discipline they need to 

stay away from gangs, drugs, and 

crime. Along the way, students 

learn about the FBI and the 

ways in which law enforcement 

helps to serve and protect their 

communities.

One of the most important pieces 

of information the 10- and 11-yearold San Diego students received 

was simple but powerful: Where 

you start in life doesn’t have to 

dictate where you end up. And one 

FBI employee who took part in the 

program drove that point home 

when she arrived in the classroom.

Special Agent Josie Regula grew 

up two blocks from the Monarch 

School in the Logan Heights 

section of San Diego. Her family 

was poor, and as a young girl, 

Regula saw that gang members 

seemed to have the most power 

and get the most respect in the 

neighborhood. She told her mom 

she wanted to join a gang.

Speaking to the students in 

Spanish, Regula told her story: 

How, thanks to her mom, she didn’t 

join a gang, and despite the odds, 

she eventually went to college and 

later joined the FBI (see sidebar on 

next page).

“A lot of kids’ role models are older 

siblings, and those siblings can turn 

out to be gangsters and criminals 

and drug dealers,” Regula said. “I 

tell the kids, ‘You don’t have to do 

that.’ Many of these kids are never 

told they can be more than their 

older brother.”

“My goal is to make sure they 

understand there is an option 

out there to move forward,” she 

explained. “You can achieve great 

success, as long as you make good 

decisions and don’t let people tell 

you what you can’t do.”
01.13.15 The FBI Story 2015 3

A Positive Role Model

Special Agent Josie Regula grew up 

in a poor San Diego neighborhood 

rife with gangs, drugs, and crime. 

Her mother was a house cleaner and 

her father was a gardener. Her high 

school counselor’s hope was that she 

would become a secretary.

“That would be a good career for you,” 

she remembers being advised. “As a 

little kid, that’s what I was told I could 

do.”

She and her family had no money 

for college, and Regula didn’t even 

entertain the idea of an education 

beyond high school. When she was 

growing up, “the only thing I saw was 

gangs. I wanted to be a gangster, 

because that’s who got respect in 

the neighborhood. I didn’t know any 

better.”

Her mom, who only had a secondgrade education, was smart enough 

to know that joining a gang was the 

wrong thing to do. “I want more for 

you,” she told her daughter, and 

Regula listened.

After graduating from high school, 

she got a job at the U.S. Attorney’s 

Office in downtown San Diego. When 

her mother heard the news, she was 

proud. “You are going to work inside 

an office, not cleaning an office,” her 

mom said.

During three years there, she rose 

through the ranks from student clerk 

to typist and then receptionist. She 

later took a job with an attorney who 

encouraged her to go to college. She 

enrolled, graduated with a teaching 

certificate, and planned on a career 

as a teacher.

By chance, though, she talked with an 

FBI agent at a job fair at San Diego 

State University, who encouraged 

her to consider a language specialist 

position in the Bureau. Regula, who 

speaks Spanish and English, took 

a language test, passed, and was 

offered the job.

Regula joined the Bureau in 1992 and 

was a language specialist for four 

years before becoming an agent. She 

has worked child prostitution cases, 

drug cases, civil rights violations, and 

human trafficking investigations and is 

now a senior polygrapher.

“I can’t believe this is where I’ve 

gotten to,” Regula said. She is happy 

to share her story with students from 

her old neighborhood. “When they see 

me walk in the room, speaking in their 

native tongue, and learn how I got 

to be an FBI agent, you can tell they 

appreciate the message that they can 

do this, too.”

“A lot of these children don’t have 

positive role models,” she added. 

“The neighborhood they live in is a 

very rough area, heavily populated 

by gangs, with drugs and crime. 

Lots of parents are working two 

jobs and don’t have time to be with 

their children. The kids need to 

hear this message.”

During the 11-week program, FBI 

employees and members of other 

law enforcement organizations 

visited the students and taught 

them how to use their brains to 

avoid the dangers of drugs and 

gangs, to stay safe online, and 

to recover and analyze evidence 

from a crime scene. Students also 

learned about the FBI’s core values, 

such as honesty and integrity.

“The agents were amazing,” said 

teacher Kristin Dragomire. “They 

dove in and talked to the kids and 

answered all their questions. It 

wasn’t like they were just coming 

in and giving a lecture about their 

jobs.”

She added, “Most of the students 

have a parent who is incarcerated, 

brothers and sisters who have been 

arrested. Many have experienced 

domestic violence where law 

enforcement has become involved. 

So they are used to seeing law 

enforcement in the context of 

traumatic situations. This was 

a very different and welcoming 

experience for the kids.”

The students—some of whom had 

never exercised in an organized 

way before—also committed to 

an “Agent Boot Camp” three days 

a week that consisted of doing 

sit-ups, push-ups, and running. 

At the end of the program, after 

a tour of the FBI’s San Diego 

headquarters, they were given a 

fitness test before receiving their 

Junior Special Agent badges and 

credentials.

“This was such a unique 

opportunity for kids who are 

so underserved and underrepresented,” Dragomire said. “It 

made a big impact on them.”

“My favorite part was getting 

to meet all the agents—they 

looked like they were a family,” 

said Quethzali Osuna, one of 

the fifth-graders in the program. 

“What I really like is how they 

were protecting us from all the 

dangerous stuff out there. They 

showed us and told us what they 

had to do—to exercise and stay 

healthy.”

Another student, Josh Romero, 

said the program taught him that 

staying away from bad influences 

and making good decisions is key 

to becoming successful in life. 

“Don’t mess up your future,” he 

said.
4 The FBI Story 2015

Adopt-A-School Program

Part 3: ‘I Promise to be a Good Citizen’

03.10.15

The nearly 30 sixth-graders at 

Bucknell Elementary School in 

Alexandria, Virginia stood at their 

desks, raised their right hands, and 

recited in unison a pledge they 

knew well: “I accept the position of 

junior special agent of the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation. I promise 

to be a good citizen. I will obey all 

the laws of my country and do my 

best in school. I will make the right 

choices by remaining drug free, 

staying in school, and practicing 

non-violent behavior in handling 

difficult situations.”

That pledge begins every session 

of the FBI’s Junior Special Agent 

Program, which aims to give fifthand sixth-graders in disadvantaged 

neighborhoods the skills and 

discipline they need to steer clear 

of gangs, drugs, and crime.

Located just outside the District 

of Columbia, Bucknell was one of 

the first schools to embrace the 

Special Agent William Woodson of the FBI’s Washington Field Office leads a Junior Special Agents Program lesson about Internet safety for 

sixth-graders in Alexandria, Virginia. 

FBI’s Adopt-A-School outreach 

program 20 years ago. Now, 

the Washington Field Office 

administers the program to six 

schools in and around the nation’s 

capital, dispatching agents and 

other Bureau employees throughout 

the school year to be tutors and 

mentors to more than 300 young 

people annually.

“During the past two decades 

we have reached thousands of 

kids,” said Special Agent William 

Woodson. “Our goal is to provide 

opportunities for these young 

people who might not have had 

them otherwise.”

The Junior Special Agent Program 

at Bucknell consists of core blocks 

of instruction that integrate with 

classroom curriculum. For example, 

when the students learn about the 

Civil War and the Emancipation 

Proclamation, they take field 

trips to battlefield sites and the 

U.S. Capitol to reinforce what 

they learn. Funds for the trips 

are provided by the local Citizens 

Academy Alumni Association, 

a non-profit organization that 

supports the Adopt-A-School 

Program and uses no taxpayer 

money. The students also meet 

a variety of FBI agents who talk 

to them about gangs and drugs, 

as well as core values such as 

integrity, respect, and honesty. And 

the program requires students to 

exercise on a regular basis.

“We are helping to make sure that 

the kids don’t do drugs and stay in 

school,” Woodson said. “Our agents 

have a positive influence on them.”

“The FBI is teaching our students 

to do the right thing and believe in 

themselves,” said Paul Adams, who 

participated with the Junior Special 

Agent Program for nine years as a 

Bucknell teacher and now serves 

as a liaison between the school and 
03.10.15 The FBI Story 2015 5

the Washington Field Office. “This 

program shows our young people 

that no matter where you come 

from or what your background is, 

you can succeed.”

Sixth-grade teachers Nisreen 

Daoud and Amanda Frank are 

getting their first exposure to the 

Junior Special Agent Program 

this year at Bucknell. “A lot of our 

students go home to empty houses,” 

Daoud explained. “Their parents 

are working all the time. This is 

their safe zone. They feel at home 

when they are at school.” And 

because the Junior Special Agent 

Program has been a fixture at 

Bucknell for so long, the students 

look forward to it. “They can’t 

wait until they get to sixth grade,” 

Daoud said. “The first day of school 

the kids were like, ‘When is the 

FBI program starting?’ ”

“One of our goals is to give these 

elementary students their first 

taste of the FBI,” said Woodson. 

“We want to groom young leaders.” 

He added, “This program teaches 

them core values that we hope 

they will carry into adulthood so 

they can become great community 

ambassadors in whatever they 

choose to do.”
6 The FBI Story 2015 01.08.15

Armenian Criminal Enterprise Dealt Serious Blow

Cooperative Law Enforcement Effort was Key

In May 2008, a massive shootout 

between Armenian Power and 

another California gang on the 

streets of North Hollywood ended 

with the deaths of two rival gang 

members. And while local law 

enforcement and the FBI already 

had Armenian Power on their 

radar, this deadly firefight on the 

streets of a major American city 

raised the group’s profile—and 

resulted in efforts by the FBI and 

its partners to go after Armenian 

Power and its leadership through 

federal racketeering statutes.

The investigation revealed that 

this street gang was actually an 

international organized criminal 

enterprise whose illegal activities 

ranged from bank fraud and 

identity theft to violent extortion 

and kidnappings. It also revealed 

that this enterprise victimized 

its own Armenian community 

in California. By 2011, we had 

enough evidence to charge 90 

Armenian Power leaders, members, 

and associates in two separate 

indictments.

Of those 90 charged, 87 have been 

convicted, including one of the 

enterprise’s primary leaders—Mher 

Darbinyan—who was recently 

sentenced to 32 years in prison. 

(Of the three remaining indicted 

individuals, prosecutors dropped 

the charges against one, and the 

other two are currently fugitives.)

According to Agent Jeremy 

Stebbins, who worked the case 

out of our Los Angeles Office, 

“With the arrests and convictions 

of nearly all senior leadership of 

Armenian Power, we dealt a serious 

blow to their ability to continue 

to operate in the manner they 

were accustomed. We also sent a 

message to the Eurasian organized 

crime community that they are 

being targeted and watched.”

Armenian Power leadership was 

based in California, but the group’s 

operations—particularly its fraud 

schemes—involved the use of 

phony businesses located in cities 

throughout the United States. 

And Armenian Power leaders had 

dealings with organized crime 

figures in places like Armenia and 

Russia.

charge several additional subjects 

with kidnapping, extortion, and 

other violent crimes. We also 

seized more than $3 million in 

fraudulently obtained luxury 

automobiles. And we interfered 

in several violent confrontations 

between rival groups, arresting 

more gang members and seizing 

firearms.

Court-authorized wiretaps on 25 

different phone numbers were a 

key part of the case. Through these 

conversations, we were able to 

obtain a wealth of incriminating 

evidence as defendants spoke about 

targeting wealthy Armenians for 

robbery, planning check fraud 

activity, making illegal firearms 

deals, installing skimmers on 

ATMs, watering illegal marijuana 

plants in a warehouse, mailing 

illegal narcotics to customers, 

planning kidnappings, and 

extorting money from victims using 

threats of violence.

This complicated and multisubject case was investigated by 

the Eurasian Organized Crime 

Task Force, led by the Bureau’s Los 

Angeles Division and the Glendale 

Police Department. Other vital 

task force members include several 

local California police and sheriff’s 

departments and a number of 

federal agencies.

Potentially Dangerous Leak 

Uncovered During Case

During the multi-agency investigation 

into the Armenian Power criminal 

enterprise, we were also able to 

identify the source of an information 

leak within the federal district court 

clerk’s office in Los Angeles. A 

clerk’s office employee and her 

husband were charged and later 

convicted for their roles in a scheme 

to access and disclose information 

contained in sealed court documents 

to tip off organized crime figures 

and gang members prior to their 

arrests. Some of those compromised 

records concerned individuals who 

were members or associates of the 

Armenian Power criminal enterprise 

and subjects of pending federal arrest 

warrants.

This kind of criminal activity 

often threatens the safety of law 

enforcement agents and officers—

particularly during large-scale 

takedowns of violent criminal 

enterprises and their members.

Shown here are some of the firearms seized 

during a multi-agency investigation into the 

activities of the California-based Armenian 

Power criminal enterprise.

Law enforcement was also able to 

uncover ties between Armenian 

Power and the Mexican Mafia, the 

prison gang that controls much of 

the narcotics distribution and other 

criminal activity within California’s 

correctional facilities. The Mexican 

Mafia would protect Armenian 

Power members and associates who 

were behind bars, while Armenian 

Power members and associates on 

the outside would help facilitate 

Mexican Mafia criminal activities.

During the course of the 

investigation, we rescued a 

kidnapped victim and were able to 
01.15.15 The FBI Story 2015 7

As far as witness intimidation 

goes, Philadelphia drug trafficker 

Kaboni Savage and members of 

his criminal enterprise appeared 

to corner the market on how far 

they’d go to silence anyone willing 

to testify against the organization. 

The most horrifying example of 

this was the brutal firebombing 

that resulted in the deaths of six 

members of a federal witness’ family 

in retaliation for his cooperation 

with law enforcement.

But a long-term, multi-agency 

investigation eventually proved 

that Kaboni Savage was responsible 

for those six murders—and at least 

six others—and that he headed 

a drug trafficking enterprise that 

excelled in using violence and 

other criminal tactics against 

anyone who threatened its drug 

trade. Recently, the final defendant 

charged in the firebombing deaths 

was sentenced to 40 years in prison, 

and Savage himself, convicted in 

2013 on murder and racketeering 

charges, eventually received the 

death sentence.

In the late 1990s, Kaboni—then 

a small-time drug dealer—began 

buying cocaine in bulk and 

building his criminal organization. 

He was making a name for himself, 

especially for his often-brutal 

methods of operation— which 

included murders, beatings, 

kidnappings, and threats—

against anyone who crossed him 

(customers, rival gang members, 

his own underlings, even law 

enforcement).

Law enforcement, however, had 

Kaboni in their cross hairs, and he 

and his organization soon became 

the focus of an investigation by 

the Philadelphia FBI’s Safe Streets 

Task Force, made up of local, state, 

and federal agencies. In May 2004, 

Kaboni and others were indicted 

for conspiring to distribute cocaine, 

money laundering, firearms 

offenses, and later on, witness 

intimidation. The perpetrators were 

arrested and held for trial.

It was from jail that Savage 

orchestrated the arson murder of 

six members of Eugene Coleman’s 

family. Coleman, a member of 

Savage’s gang who was among 

those named in the May 2004 

indictment, had agreed to 

cooperate in the case. Through 

visits with family members—

including his sister, Kidada—and 

surreptitious phone calls with other 

gang members, Savage planned 

the murders and solicited the help 

of his sister and two other gang 

members—Lamont Lewis and 

Robert Merritt. Kidada Savage 

passed the plan on to the other 

two and identified the Coleman 

home. Then Lewis and Merritt, in 

the early morning hours of October 

9, 2004, drove to the Philadelphia 

row house, fired warning shots into 

the residence, and threw two full 

gasoline cans with a lit cloth fuse 

into the home.

After extinguishing the flames, 

the fire department found the 

bodies of six victims—Coleman’s 

54-year-old mother, his 15-monthold son, and four other relatives, 

including a 10-year-old girl and 

12- and 15-year-old boys. (Coleman 

was incarcerated at the time of 

the arson.) Through investigative 

techniques like court-authorized 

electronic surveillance and the use 

of informants, members of the task 

force were eventually able to collect 

evidence—some of it in Kaboni 

Savage’s own words—of how the 

plot was hatched and carried out.

Kaboni Savage and four of 

his associates went to trial in 

November 2004 on the initial drug 

trafficking charges—14 others had 

already pled guilty before trial—

and were convicted and sentenced. 

Eventually, though, Kaboni Savage 

and a number of his associates—

including Kidada Savage—were 

indicted and ultimately convicted 

by a federal grand jury looking 

into the arson deaths of Coleman’s 

family.

By the time it was all over, Kaboni 

Savage’s criminal organization was 

dismantled—thanks in part to 

former associates and others willing 

to testify against him. And those 

six innocent people murdered in 

their home—one of many ruthless 

attempts by Savage to keep his 

operations running—finally 

received justice.

Extreme Case of Witness Intimidation

Justice for Six Slain Victims in Philadelphia

Left: This Philadelphia row house was 

firebombed by individuals who worked for 

Philadelphia drug trafficker Kaboni Savage. 

Four children and two adults, family 

members of a federal witness, died in the 

fire. The adjacent row homes were also 

damaged.
8 The FBI Story 2015

Ransomware on the Rise

FBI and Partners Working to Combat This Cyber Threat

Latest Ransomware Threat

A fairly new ransomware variant has 

been making the rounds lately. Called 

CryptoWall (and CryptoWall 2.0, its 

newer version), this virus encrypts 

files on a computer’s hard drive 

and any external or shared drives 

to which the computer has access. 

It directs the user to a personalized 

victim ransom page that contains the 

initial ransom amount (anywhere from 

$200 to $5,000), detailed instructions 

about how to purchase Bitcoins, and 

typically a countdown clock to notify 

victims how much time they have 

before the ransom doubles. Victims 

are infected with CryptoWall by 

clicking on links in malicious e-mails 

that appear to be from legitimate 

businesses and through compromised 

advertisements on popular websites. 

According to the U.S. CERT, these 

infections can be devastating and 

recovery can be a difficult process 

that may require the services of a 

reputable data recovery specialist.

For more information on ransomware 

in general, visit the U.S. CERT 

website at www.us-cert.gov.

Your computer screen freezes with 

a pop-up message—supposedly 

from the FBI or another federal 

agency—saying that because you 

violated some sort of federal law 

your computer will remain locked 

until you pay a fine. Or you get a 

pop-up message telling you that 

your personal files have been 

encrypted and you have to pay to 

get the key needed decrypt them.

These scenarios are examples of 

ransomware scams, which involve 

a type of malware that infects 

computers and restricts users’ 

access to their files or threatens 

the permanent destruction of their 

information unless a ransom—

anywhere from hundreds to 

thousands of dollars—is paid.

Ransomware doesn’t just impact 

home computers. Businesses, 

financial institutions, government 

agencies, academic institutions, 

and other organizations can 

and have become infected 

with it as well, resulting in the 

loss of sensitive or proprietary 

information, a disruption to regular 

operations, financial losses incurred 

to restore systems and files, and/or 

potential harm to an organization’s 

reputation.

Ransomware has been around 

for several years, but there’s been 

a definite uptick lately in its use 

by cyber criminals. And the FBI, 

along with public and private 

sector partners, is targeting these 

offenders and their scams.

When ransomware first hit the 

scene, computers predominately 

became infected with it when 

users opened e-mail attachments 

that contained the malware.

But more recently, we’re seeing 

an increasing number of incidents 

involving so-called “drive-by” 

ransomware, where users can infect 

their computers simply by clicking 

on a compromised website, often 

lured there by a deceptive e-mail or 

pop-up window.

Another new trend involves the 

ransom payment method. While 

some of the earlier ransomware 

scams involved having victims 

pay “ransom” with pre-paid cards, 

victims are now increasingly asked 

to pay with Bitcoin, a decentralized 

virtual currency network that 

01.20.15

attracts criminals because of the 

anonymity the system offers.

Also a growing problem is 

ransomware that locks down 

mobile phones and demands 

payments to unlock them.
The FBI Story 2015 9

Protect Your Computer from 

Ransomware

• Make sure you have updated 

antivirus software on your computer.

• Enable automated patches for your 

operating system and web browser.

• Have strong passwords, and 

don’t use the same passwords for 

everything.

• Use a pop-up blocker.

• Only download software—

especially free software—from 

sites you know and trust (malware 

can also come in downloadable 

games, file-sharing programs, and 

customized toolbars).

• Don’t open attachments in 

unsolicited e-mails, even if they 

come from people in your contact 

list, and never click on a URL 

contained in an unsolicited e-mail, 

even if you think it looks safe. 

Instead, close out the e-mail and 

go to the organization’s website 

directly.

• Use the same precautions on your 

mobile phone as you would on your 

computer when using the Internet.

• To prevent the loss of essential files 

due to a ransomware infection, it’s 

recommended that individuals and 

businesses always conduct regular 

system back-ups and store the 

backed-up data offline.

The FBI and our federal, 

international, and private sector 

partners have taken proactive 

steps to neutralize some of the 

more significant ransomware 

scams through law enforcement 

actions against major botnets that 

facilitated the distribution and 

operation of ransomware.

For example:

• Reveton ransomware, delivered 

by malware known as Citadel, 

falsely warned victims that their 

computers had been identified by 

the FBI or Department of Justice 

as being associated with child 

pornography websites or other 

illegal online activity. In June 

2013, Microsoft, the FBI, and our 

financial partners disrupted a 

massive criminal botnet built on 

the Citadel malware, putting the 

brakes on Reveton’s distribution. 

• Cryptolocker was a highly 

sophisticated ransomware that 

used cryptographic key pairs to 

encrypt the computer files of its 

victims and demanded ransom 

for the encryption key. In June 

2014, the FBI announced—in 

conjunction with the Gameover 

01.20.15

Zeus botnet disruption—that 

U.S. and foreign law enforcement 

officials had seized Cryptolocker 

command and control servers. 

The investigation into the 

criminals behind Cryptolocker 

continues, but the malware is 

unable to encrypt any additional 

computers.

If you think you’ve been a 

victim of Cryptolocker, visit 

the Department of Homeland 

Security’s U.S. Computer 

Emergency Readiness Team 

(CERT) CryptoLocker webpage 

for remediation information.

The FBI—along with its federal, 

international, and private sector 

partners—will continue to combat 

ransomware and other cyber 

threats. If you believe you’ve been 

the victim of a ransomware scheme 

or other cyber fraud activity, please 

report it to the Bureau’s Internet 

Crime Complaint Center at

www.ic3.gov.
10 The FBI Story 2015 01.23.15

When a 300-year-old Stradivarius 

violin valued at more than 

$5 million was stolen from 

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 

concertmaster Frank Almond last 

year, investigators initially believed 

the theft may have been the work 

of sophisticated art thieves. The 

truth turned out to be much less 

glamorous.

Still, the tale of the theft and 

recovery of this rare instrument 

goes down in the annals of the 

FBI’s Art Crime Team as a one-ofa-kind case.

the violin case discarded by the 

side of the road.

“There was an automatic 

assumption the violin would be 

traveling interstate and then 

most likely overseas,” said Special 

Agent Dave Bass, a member of the 

Art Crime Team in the Bureau’s 

Milwaukee Division.

Aware of the cultural significance 

of the violin—and that time was of 

the essence—the Milwaukee Police 

Department swiftly marshaled 

its forces and requested the FBI’s 

assistance tracking down possible 

resident Salah Salahaydn. A 

week after the robbery, Allah 

and Salahaydn were arrested and 

charged locally, but the violin 

and two valuable bows were still 

missing.

“One of my big concerns was 

how the violin was being stored,” 

Bass said. Because the delicate 

instrument might be critically 

harmed by extreme cold or 

humidity, Bass and others were 

worried that it might be irreparably 

damaged.

Art Crime

The Case of the Stolen Stradivarius

When Almond emerged from 

a back door of a concert hall 

at Wisconsin Lutheran College 

last January, where he had just 

performed, he was carrying 

the “Lipinski Strad”—made by 

Antonio Stradivari in 1715 and 

later named for the Polish violinist 

Karol Lipinski who played it. As 

Almond walked to his car, a man 

approached, pulled a Taser from 

his coat, and fired. With Almond 

temporarily incapacitated by the 

stun gun, the thief grabbed the 

Lipinski and fled to a waiting 

vehicle. Hours later, Milwaukee 

Police Department officers found 

leads outside Wisconsin. Special 

Agents Tim Bisswurm and Brian 

Due began gathering information 

about the weapon used in the 

robbery, which led to one of the big 

breaks in the case.

Using evidence found at the crime 

scene, agents were able in a few 

days to trace the weapon from the 

manufacturer to the purchaser—a 

Milwaukee barber named Universal 

Knowledge Allah.

At the same time, with the 

investigation in high gear and a 

$100,000 reward available, police 

received a tip regarding Milwaukee 

Nine days after the robbery, 

Salahaydn led investigators to a 

Milwaukee home. With a borrowed 

ladder from the SWAT team, Bass 

climbed through a crawl space into 

the attic and retrieved the violin 

and the bows wrapped in a baby 

blanket inside an old suitcase.

“I am by no means a violin expert,” 

Bass said, “but because of our 

training, I could make an informed 

opinion that in fact it was the 

Lipinski. And it appeared to be in 

great shape.”

In May 2014, Allah pleaded 

guilty to felony robbery for his 

role in providing the stun gun to 

The Lipinsky Stradivarius, shown here shortly after recovery,

is 300 years old and valued at more than $5 million.

Hours after the Stradivarius was stolen, Milwaukee Police Department

officers found the violin’s case discarded by the side of the road.
01.23.15 The FBI Story 2015 11

Salahaydn. He is currently serving 

a three-and-a-half-year prison term. 

Last November, Salahaydn was 

sentenced to seven years in prison 

after earlier pleading guilty to the 

theft.

“My opinion is that the robbery 

was all about the reward money,” 

Bass said. “I believe Salahaydn’s 

intention was never to sell the 

violin. There are only a handful 

of people in the entire world who 

could do that, and he’s not one of 

them.”

lived. The crime was clearly 

premeditated.

Almond, who has been playing the 

Lipinski since 2008—on loan from 

an anonymous donor—was thrilled 

to get the violin back. “This was 

a fairly violent and traumatic 

event for me and my family,” he 

said recently. “But there were 

silver linings as well, in large part 

because of the unbelievable police 

work and cooperation between the 

Milwaukee Police Department and 

the FBI. I will be indebted to all of 

them for the rest of my life.”

playing the Lipinski for members 

of the Bureau, an FBI Citizens 

Academy group, and special 

guests from the Milwaukee Police 

Department.

Bass, a 10-year veteran of the Art 

Crime Team, explained that the 

Bureau worked “hand in hand” 

with the police department to 

support their case and added 

that he has never seen an armed 

robbery of an instrument of 

this value. “There are plenty of 

examples of theft—breaking into 

And nearly two decades earlier, 

Salahaydn was linked to a 

Milwaukee art theft and was 

later convicted of receiving stolen 

property after he tried to sell the 

stolen $25,000 sculpture back to 

the gallery years after the crime.

In the end, Bass said, the 

Stradivarius robbery scheme was 

anything but sophisticated. The 

Taser was only good for one shot, 

and on a winter night when people 

wear heavy coats, it was more luck 

than skill that the weapon found its 

mark. Still, Salahaydn conducted 

extensive surveillance on Almond 

and knew where he and his family 

When the violin was stolen, 

Almond said, “the community 

really came together and saw what 

kind of cultural treasure was in 

their midst.” Now, with all the 

publicity surrounding the case—

and as the Lipinski celebrates 

its 300th birthday this year—he 

explained, “people want to hear 

the violin. There’s an interest in 

hearing the violin played live, and 

not just locally.”

Almond showed his gratitude 

last month to investigators who 

solved the case by taking part 

in a presentation at the FBI’s 

Milwaukee headquarters and 

a practice room, or the musician 

accidentally leaves the instrument 

somewhere—but there has never 

been an instance I know of where 

someone walks up to one of these 

world-class musicians and forcibly 

takes an instrument. We hope that 

it never happens again.”

Frank Almond thanked investigators in Milwaukee

with a performance in December. 

The stolen violin was recovered in excellent condition.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/stolenstrad.
12 The FBI Story 2015 01.27.15

The young Ukrainian men and 

women—many of them out of 

work and with few prospects—were 

promised good-paying jobs in the 

United States. But instead of living 

the American dream, they were 

thrust into a nightmare of violence, 

threats, and forced servitude.

For years, five brothers who ran 

a human trafficking organization 

victimized dozens of unwitting 

Ukrainians, underscoring the 

reality that modern-day slavery 

exists in the United States and 

around the world—and requires 

a strong response by governments 

and law enforcement.

In recognition of that fact, and to 

speak out for the victims, January 

has been declared National Slavery 

and Human Trafficking Prevention 

Month by the U.S. government. 

Human trafficking can take many 

forms, from forced servitude to 

sexual exploitation of children, and 

the FBI is fighting these crimes on 

every front.

The Botsvynyuk brothers created 

many victims. Based on trial 

transcripts and other public 

records, from approximately 2000 

to 2007, the Ukrainians recruited 

their young countrymen to work 

in the U.S. in their businesses 

cleaning large retail stores at night. 

They promised good jobs, usually 

with salaries of $500 per month. 

The victims were told that room 

and board would be provided as 

well as all travel expenses. They 

were also told that they could earn 

$10,000 after two or three years of 

working.

Many of those who signed up for 

these jobs were uneducated and 

desperate for work. “They believed 

it would be a much better deal than 

what they had in the Ukraine,” said 

Special Agent Ned Conway, who 

has been investigating this case out 

of our Philadelphia Division for 

nearly a decade.

Instead of entering the U.S. legally, 

many of the victims were smuggled 

through Mexico and ended up 

working 10- to 12-hour days, seven 

days a week. They lived up to five 

people in one room, slept on dirty 

mattresses on the floor, and most 

were never compensated—on the 

contrary, they were told they had 

to work for the brothers until their 

debts, ranging from $10,000 to 

$50,000, were paid.

Worse, the Botsvynyuks used 

physical force and sexual assault to 

keep victims enslaved. They also 

threatened violence to victims’ 

families still in the Ukraine.

“Some women were raped on their 

arrival in the U.S., and many of the 

men were beaten,” Conway said. 

“There was an element of fear right 

from the start.” Most of the victims 

didn’t speak English and felt they 

had nowhere to turn. And they 

were afraid for their families back 

home.

Over time, though, some victims 

were detained at the border trying 

to gain entrance into the country, 

and other victims came forward. In 

2010, all five brothers were indicted 

for human trafficking—specifically 

for conspiracy to violate the 

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt 

Organizations (RICO) Act. Stepan 

and Omelyan Botsvynyuk were 

convicted in 2011, and in 2012, 

Stepan was sentenced to 20 years 

in prison. Omelyan received a life 

sentence.

Two other brothers, Mykhaylo and 

Yaroslav, fled to Canada. They 

were extradited in 2013, and their 

trial is set to begin this week in 

a Philadelphia federal court. The 

last brother, Dmytro Botsvynyuk, 

remains a fugitive in the Ukraine.

The damage caused by the 

Botsvynyuk brothers to perhaps 

70 or more Ukrainian victims is 

staggering to contemplate. “The 

sexual assaults on the women were 

brutal,” Conway said, “and some 

of the men were psychologically 

broken. What happened to 

these innocent victims is a real 

tragedy. For some, their lives were 

destroyed.”

But there were a few bright spots 

to the story as well, Conway added. 

Some victims found the courage to 

testify against their abusers. And as 

victims of human trafficking, they 

also qualify for the right to apply 

for visas and stay in the U.S., which 

had been their dream all along.

“Without the brave cooperation of 

some of the victims,” Conway said, 

“it would have been more difficult 

to shut down the Botsvynyuks’ 

operation.”

Human Trafficking Ring Dismantled

Case Highlights FBI’s Commitment to Anti-Trafficking Efforts
01.29.15 The FBI Story 2015 13

New Most Wanted Terrorist

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Born in Somalia Added to FBI List

Liban Haji Mohamed, a naturalized 

U.S. citizen born in Somalia, has 

been named to the FBI’s list of 

Most Wanted Terrorists, and a 

reward of up to $50,000 is being 

offered for information leading 

to his arrest and conviction. 

Mohamed is charged with 

providing material support and 

resources to al Qaeda and al 

Shabaab, a Somali-based terrorist 

organization.

“Al Shabaab has claimed 

responsibility for many bombings 

in Somalia and Uganda and the 

2013 attack on the Westgate Mall 

in Nairobi, Kenya,” said Carl 

Ghattas, special agent in charge of 

the Counterterrorism Division at 

the FBI’s Washington Field Office. 

“Liban Mohamed is believed to 

have left the U.S. with the intent 

to join al Shabaab in East Africa. 

We believe he is currently there 

operating on behalf of that terrorist 

organization.”

Traveling with his U.S. passport, 

Mohamed is thought to have left 

the United States on or about July 

5, 2012. Before his departure, the 

29-year-old lived in the Northern 

Virginia suburbs of Washington, 

D.C., where he worked as a cab 

driver.

“While living in Northern Virginia, 

Mohamed was a recruiter and 

radicalizer for al Shabaab, which 

historically has targeted Westerners 

to go to Somalia and fight for 

them,” Ghattas said. “Not only did 

Mohamed choose to go to Somalia 

and fight with al Shabaab, he 

took a prominent role in trying to 

recruit people and have them train 

with weapons.”

A federal warrant for Mohamed’s 

arrest was unsealed today by the 

U.S. Attorney’s Office in the 

Eastern District of Virginia. In 

addition to today’s announcement 

adding Mohamed to the terrorist 

list and offering a reward for 

information leading to his 

arrest and conviction, the FBI is 

publicizing the case on social media 

channels in Somalia and elsewhere 

to encourage people to come 

forward with information about the 

fugitive.

“It is important for us to locate 

Mohamed because he has 

knowledge of the Washington, 

D.C. area’s infrastructure such as 

shopping areas, Metro, airports, 

and government buildings,” 

Ghattas explained. “This makes 

him an asset to his terrorist 

associates who might plot attacks 

on U.S. soil.”

Shortly after leaving the U.S., the 

international police organization 

Interpol issued a blue notice for 

Mohamed to collect additional 

information about his identity, 

location, and activities. On August 

15, 2014, Interpol issued a red 

notice to seek him as a wanted 

fugitive.

Mohamed speaks English, Somali, 

and Arabic. He is black, 6 feet 

tall, weighs about 194 pounds, and 

has black hair and brown eyes. He 

could be using aliases including 

Abu Ayrow, Shirwa, Shirwac, 

Scan this QR code with your 

smartphone to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/libanmohamed.

Qatiluhum, and Qatil. Mohamed 

was a close associate of convicted 

terrorist Zachary Chesser, who was 

sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in 

prison for attempting to provide 

material support to al Shabaab.

There are currently 31 individuals 

on the FBI’s Most Wanted 

Terrorists list. Those on the list 

have been charged in the U.S. for 

their alleged involvement in various 

terrorist attacks or planned attacks 

around the world against U.S. 

interests or persons.

The FBI also announced today it is 

seeking information about another 

individual, Ghazi Nasr Al-Din, 

regarding fundraising efforts 

on behalf of the terrorist group 

Hizballah.

Anyone with information about 

Liban Haji Mohamed or Ghazi 

Nasr Al-Din should contact the 

FBI or the nearest American 

Embassy or Consulate. Tips can be 

submitted anonymously online.

Note: Liban Haji Mohamed and/or 

Ghazi Nasr Al-Din may have been 

located since this information was 

posted on our website. Please check 

www.fbi.gov/wanted for up-to-date 

information.
14 The FBI Story 2015

Drug Kingpin Dethroned

International Investigation Dismantles Criminal Enterprise

For years, Alvaro Lopez Tardón, 

a Spanish national, was living the 

high life in Miami—fancy cars, 

seaside condos, designer jewelry, 

and expensive leather goods. But 

it all came crashing down in the 

summer of 2011 when he was 

named in a U.S. federal money 

laundering indictment as the 

head of an international narcotics 

trafficking enterprise. His illicit 

enterprise was believed responsible 

for distributing more than 7,500 

kilos of South American cocaine 

in Spain and laundering more than 

$14 million in illegal drug proceeds 

in the United States.

Last fall, after being tried and 

convicted on numerous money 

laundering charges, Tardón was 

sentenced to an astonishing 150 

years—exchanging his spacious 

South Beach penthouse for a small 

federal prison cell where he will 

spend the rest of his life. And in 

addition to the sentence, a $14 

million money judgment and a $2 

million fine were entered against 

him, and his assets are in the 

process of being forfeited.

Tardón made his initial mark in 

the drug trade back in the 1990s, 

when he—along with his brother 

Artemio—worked for a ruthless 

drug trafficker in Spain. By the 

early 2000s, the Tardón brothers 

began a bloody feud with their boss 

and set about building their own 

criminal enterprise. They were 

ultimately successful—Alvardo 

directed the enterprise’s illegal 

activities primarily from Miami, 

where he visited often, and secondin-command Artemio ran things 

from Madrid.

Here’s how the money laundering 

scheme generally worked: the 

Tardóns’ enterprise imported large 

quantities of Colombian cocaine 

from Peru into Spain. The illegal 

proceeds from the distribution and 

sale of the drugs would then be 

sent into the U.S., either carried 

by couriers or wire-transferred into 

any one of the numerous bank 

accounts Alvaro Tardón had set up 

(often not in his own name). He 

and his associates—usually through 

straw buyers or shell companies—

would then launder the money 

through their purchases of luxury 

vehicles and high-end real estate in 

the Miami area.

By early 2011, though, the noose 

began to tighten around the 

Tardón organization. Spanish 

police raided a cocaine lab near 

Madrid run by a woman who 

distributed cocaine for the brothers. 

(Found at the lab were ledgers 

that matched ledgers later found 

in Alvaro’s Miami penthouse.) By 

July 2011, law enforcement in both 

countries had enough evidence to 

charge and arrest 20 members of 

the criminal group—16 individuals, 

including Artemio, in Madrid, and 

four, including Alvaro, in Miami.

Successfully investigating the 

activities of an international 

criminal organization requires the 

collaboration of law enforcement 

agencies at all levels, and that’s 

exactly what happened in this 

case. From the very beginning of 

the investigation in 2010—when 

the Spanish National Police 

shared information about Alvaro 

and Artemio Tardón with the 

FBI through our Madrid Legal 

Attaché—Bureau investigators 

worked side by side with our 

partners internationally, with other 

U.S. federal agencies, and with 

local authorities in Florida.

An essential part of our money 

laundering case against Alvaro 

Tardón was an in-depth analysis 

of U.S. financial, real estate, and 

tax records as well as additional 

records shared with us by Spanish 

authorities. And Tardón’s 

seven-week trial included the 

introduction of more than 36,000 

pages of documents from Spain and 

the United States. Jurors also heard 

testimony from representatives of 

the Spanish National Police as well 

as Spain’s national wiretapping 

agency and its taxing agency.

In the end, it was enough to 

convince a jury to convict Tardón 

and, according to Miami Special 

Agent in Charge George Piro, to 

ensure that “Alvaro Lopez Tardón’s 

days as an international drug 

kingpin were over.”

02.02.15

Left: The view from one of drug kingpin 

Alvaro Lopez Tardón’s Miami condominium 

units, which overlooks another unit he 

owned in a nearby high-rise.
02.05.15 The FBI Story 2015 15

Former Los Alamos Lab Workers Sentenced

Nuclear Scientist and Wife Passed Classified Documents

The reasons why he did it varied—

he carried a grudge against his 

employer, he was frustrated with 

the U.S. government, he needed 

money, and he desired power and 

respect. But motivations aside, 

Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, a 

scientist formerly employed at the 

Los Alamos National Laboratory in 

New Mexico, broke the law when 

he sold some of our nation’s nuclear 

secrets to an individual he thought 

was a foreign government official. 

He also involved his wife—a Los 

Alamos employee at the time—in 

his illegal activities.

Both were charged and eventually 

pled guilty in connection with 

the plot. Last month, Pedro 

Mascheroni was sentenced to 

a federal prison term, while 

his wife—Marjorie Roxby 

Mascheroni—was sentenced last 

summer.

Pedro Mascheroni, a naturalized 

American citizen born in 

Argentina, had a Ph.D. in physics 

when he began working at Los 

Alamos in 1979. Los Alamos 

National Laboratory is one of 

several nuclear weapons labs in 

the country. During the majority 

of his time there, Mascheroni 

held a Department of Energy 

security clearance that allowed 

him access to certain classified 

information, including “restricted 

data,” a specific type of classified 

data dealing with nuclear 

weapons-related material. Marjorie 

Mascheroni, who worked as a 

technical writer and editor, had 

similar access.

In 1988, Pedro Mascheroni left Los 

Alamos as a result of a downsizing 

initiative, but Marjorie continued 

her employment with the lab.

Move ahead to the fall of 2007: 

Mascheroni, by his own admission, 

contacted a Venezuelan official in 

the U.S. and offered his expertise 

and assistance to build a nuclear 

weapons program for that nation. 

That contact ultimately provided 

the FBI an opportunity to engage 

the scientist, in early 2008, through 

an undercover agent posing as a 

Venezuelan government official.

A note here: The indictment in 

this case did not allege that the 

government of Venezuela or anyone 

acting on its behalf sought or was 

passed any classified information, 

nor did it charge any Venezuelan 

government officials or anyone 

acting on their behalf with any 

wrongdoing.

In March 2008, Mascheroni had 

a series of discussions with our 

“Venezuelan government official” 

about his program to develop 

nuclear weapons for Venezuela. 

Among other things, he told 

the official/undercover agent 

that he could help Venezuela 

develop a nuclear bomb within 

10 years and that, under this 

program, Venezuela could use 

a secret, underground nuclear 

reactor to produce and enrich 

plutonium and an open, aboveground reactor to produce nuclear 

energy. Mascheroni also asked our 

undercover agent about obtaining 

Venezuelan citizenship and 

explained how much he expected 

to be paid for his work.

Over the next year-and-a-half—

through e-mail, dead drops, and 

face-to-face meetings—Mascheroni 

passed to our agent documents he 

had written using classified and 

sometimes restricted data. During 

that time, he also received his first 

cash payment of $20,000. Marjorie 

Mascheroni conspired with her 

husband by editing his written 

documents and occasionally 

accompanying him on dead drops 

and face-to-face meetings.

By October 2009, we had obtained 

enough evidence to search the 

Mascheronis’ home, where we 

found several boxes of classified 

documents, sketches, plans, and 

notes—along with classified 

information on his computer—all 

from Los Alamos. Despite the fact 

that Pedro Mascheroni had left Los 

Alamos in 1988, the information, 

particularly the restricted data on 

nuclear weapons, was still relevant, 

still classified, and still harmful to 

U.S. national security if it fell into 

the wrong hands.

Special thanks to the Department 

of Energy and the Los Alamos 

National Laboratory for their 

assistance in this case, which 

serves as an example of the FBI’s 

commitment to its mandate to 

expose, prevent, and investigate 

intelligence activities on U.S. soil.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/mascheroni.

Pedro Mascheroni discusses nuclear weapons with an undercover agent he believed was a 

Venezuelan government official.
16 The FBI Story 2015

Art Crime Team Celebrates 10th Anniversary

A Decade of Successful Investigations and Recoveries

To commemorate the 10th 

anniversary of the FBI’s Art Crime 

Team, FBI.gov recently discussed 

the team’s history, mission, and 

accomplishments with Bonnie 

Magness-Gardiner, who manages 

the Bureau’s art theft program.

Q: How did the Art Crime Team 

get started?

Magness-Gardiner: The FBI has 

always had agents who investigated 

frauds and thefts related to art, 

but in 2003, there was substantial 

looting of Iraq’s National Museum 

in Baghdad. Thousands of works 

were stolen. Because of the U.S. 

presence in Iraq at the time, it was 

clear that somebody would have to 

investigate. It was also clear that 

the agent component has almost 

doubled to 15 men and women. 

One of the great benefits of having 

the agents located in so many cities 

in the U.S. is that we literally cover 

the country.

Q: Describe some of the team’s 

accomplishments over the past 

decade.

Magness-Gardiner: One of our 

earliest successes was the recovery 

of a Rembrandt self-portrait valued 

at $40 million. The painting had 

been stolen from the Swedish 

National Museum in Stockholm 

in 2000. We recovered it during 

an undercover operation in 2005. 

Since the Art Crime Team’s 

creation, we have made more than 

characteristics. Unlike automobiles, 

for example, art does not have a 

serial number on it. So we need 

specific descriptors that allow us to 

positively identify the works. Most 

submissions to the file come from 

local police departments or from 

victims. Currently there are about 

8,000 listings, everything from fine 

art to collectibles—anything that 

has a cultural value that can be 

uniquely identified.

Q: Is there a particular kind of art 

that is more susceptible to being 

stolen or forged?

Magness-Gardiner: Unfortunately, 

it’s an equal opportunity market 

for thieves and fraudsters. Over the 

last 10 years we have dealt with 

Fishing Boats Under the Cliff of Etretat,

Claude Monet (missing)

Manhattan Moonlight,

Ellison Hoover (missing)

Landscape on the Banks of the Seine,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (recovered)

the U.S. government didn’t have a 

team organized, in place, or with 

the expertise required to do that 

kind of investigation. But the need 

for such a team was apparent, and 

the FBI took that on. The Art 

Crime Team was formed a year or 

so later.

Q: What were those early days 

like?

Magness-Gardiner: When I 

first arrived, the team consisted 

of eight agents located in field 

offices around the country, as well 

as three trial attorneys from the 

Department of Justice assigned to 

assist with prosecutions. Today, 

11,800 recoveries, and the value of 

those recovered objects is estimated 

to be more than $160 million. We 

have also helped to convict more 

than 80 individuals for a range of 

art crimes.

Q: The National Stolen Art File 

has also been a success, hasn’t it?

Magness-Gardiner: Yes, and 

particularly since it went online 

on FBI.gov in 2010. The National 

Stolen Art File is a database 

listing art stolen primarily in the 

United States. To be included in 

the file, the art must be valued at 

$2,000 or more, and we require 

a theft report and a description 

of the work providing its unique 

everything from fossils stolen from 

South America to modern art that’s 

been forged and put on the market 

in New York. We have investigated 

cases involving fine art, 

manuscripts, letters, baseball cards, 

and textiles from pre-Colombian to 

modern. Everything that you can 

imagine that has a monetary value 

or cultural significance is subject to 

theft or fakery.

Q: Is investigating art crimes 

different from investigating other 

types of crimes?

Magness-Gardiner: Much of what 

we investigate is art theft, which is 

basically a theft of property. Most 

of our agents have a background 

02.09,18.15
The FBI Story 2015 17

in investigating property theft and 

interstate transportation of stolen 

property. So in one sense they are 

using time-tested investigative 

methods. It’s the objects they are 

dealing with that make these cases 

special. The items are often fragile, 

so if they are recovered they must 

be handled with special techniques. 

We also have to determine if they 

are authentic. Is this actually the 

work we are looking for, or is this a 

forgery?

Q: What kinds of agents are drawn 

to the Art Crime Team and what 

backgrounds do they have?

Magness-Gardiner: Some of our 

agents have a fine art or art history 

background, or are themselves 

we are also a market for illicit 

art that is being brought in from 

other countries. Sometimes the 

works are stolen from collections, 

while much of it—artifacts and 

antiquities—is looted directly out 

of the ground, which complicates 

things because often there is no 

record of it. Objects might come 

from archeological sites or from 

poorly inventoried churches 

and monasteries. These objects, 

whether in museums, other 

collections, or in the ground, can 

be very valuable in a monetary 

sense, and in their countries of 

origin they have an even greater 

value as cultural heritage.

Q: So the Art Crime Team works 

country of origin.

Magness-Gardiner: It is very 

satisfying to return things to 

people, whether to individual 

victims, institutions, or countries. 

Many of these objects have great 

personal significance, and huge 

institutional significance when a 

museum or archive is involved. 

When a country gets something 

returned, of course this has a great 

deal of meaning. People are very 

grateful for our help. We have been 

very successful in these areas.

Q: And to what do you owe that 

success?

Magness-Gardiner: A big part of 

our success is the team approach, 

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

artcrimeteam10years.

Self-Portrait,

Rembrandt H. van Rijn (recovered)

National Stolen Art File (NSAF) Bonnie Magness-Gardiner describes

the FBI’s Art Crime Team.

artists or collectors. But that’s 

fewer than half of the individuals 

on the team. The other members 

have an interest in art, culture, and 

history—and to my point of view, 

that is just as significant—and 

being on the team allows them 

to expand their knowledge while 

doing good by investigating thefts 

or frauds in these areas.

Q: How serious a problem is art 

crime?

Magness-Gardiner: Here in the 

U.S., we are a market for all sorts 

of art. There is a big community 

of collectors, museums, and 

dealers. But because we are such 

a big market for legitimate art, 

closely with international law 

enforcement and other countries?

Magness-Gardiner: Yes. More 

than half of our cases have some 

international element. But we also 

work closely with our domestic law 

enforcement partners and with 

the art community in general. We 

work with foreign governments to 

identify stolen pieces and attempt 

to recover them when we can find 

them in the United States. These 

are usually items that relate to 

the history and ethnicity of that 

culture. When these things are 

lost, a culture is made poorer for it.

Q: It must be gratifying to return 

items of such significance to their 

because it allows us to work 

throughout the entire country 

with a highly trained group of 

individuals who communicate with 

each other and are passionate—

and determined—about the work 

they do.

Note: The art depicted here may have 

been recovered since this information 

was posted on our website. Please 

check the National Stolen Art File 

at www.fbi.gov/nsaf for up-to-date 

information.

02.09,18.15
18 The FBI Story 2015 02.12.15

Law Enforcement and Race

Director Cites ‘Hard Truths’ and Calls for ‘Open Discussion’

FBI Director James B. Comey 

called on the nation’s law 

enforcement personnel and the 

citizens they serve to participate 

in a frank and open conversation 

about the disconnect that exists 

in places like New York City 

and Ferguson, Missouri—and 

many communities across the 

country—between police agencies 

and many citizens, particularly in 

communities of color.

In a speech today at Georgetown 

University, Comey said the lethal 

police encounters involving 

Michael Brown and Eric Garner, 

the ensuing protests across the 

country, and the assassinations 

of New York Police Department 

Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael 

Ramos have put the fundamental 

relationship between police and 

their constituents at a crossroads.

“As a society, we can choose to 

live our everyday lives, raising 

our families and going to work, 

hoping someone, somewhere, will 

do something to ease the tension,” 

Comey said. “We can turn up 

the music on the car radio and 

drive around these problems. Or 

we can choose to have an open 

and honest discussion about what 

our relationship is today—what it 

should be, what it could be, and 

what it needs to be—if we took 

more time to better understand one 

another.”

The speech, entitled “Hard Truths: 

Law Enforcement and Race,” 

sought to move the ongoing debate 

about race and the character 

of law enforcement officers to a 

more productive footing, where 

police and citizens acknowledge 

a few elemental “truths” in an 

effort to better understand each 

other. The Director began by 

acknowledging law enforcement’s 

own spotty history, including 

police bias a century ago against 

Irish immigrants—from whom 

Comey descended—and the FBI’s 

surveillance of civil rights leader 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“At many points in American 

history, law enforcement 

enforced...a status quo that was 

often brutally unfair to disfavored 

groups,” Comey said. “One 

reason we cannot forget our law 

enforcement legacy is that the 

people we serve cannot forget it 

either. So we must talk about our 

history. It is a hard truth that lives 

on.”

Comey raised the subject of the 

unconscious racial bias within all 

of us, but said it’s how we behave 

in response that defines us. He said 

racial bias is no more prevalent in 

law enforcement than anywhere 

else. “In fact,” he said, “I believe 

law enforcement overwhelmingly 

attracts people who want to do 

good for a living. They don’t 

sign up to be cops in New York 

or Chicago of L.A. because they 

want to help white people or black 

people or Hispanic people or Asian 

people. They sign up because they 

want to help all people.”

That being said, many police over 

time develop different flavors of 

cynicism—lazy mental shortcuts, 

Comey said, that we have to 

resist because they can lead to 

over-generalizing. “We need to 

come to grips with the fact that 

this behavior complicates the 

relationship between police and the 

communities they serve.”

Still another hard truth, Comey 

added, is the recognition and need 

to address the disproportionate 

challenges faced by young black 

men in struggling communities—

inadequate education, jobs, and 

role models. Too often, he said, 

they inherit a legacy of crime 

and prison. “Changing that 

legacy is a challenge so enormous 

and so complicated that it is, 

unfortunately, easier to talk only 

about the cops,” Comey said. “And 

that’s not fair.”

Comey said law enforcement needs 

to better “see” the people they 

serve. And to that end, he is urging 

police departments to provide the 

FBI with better, more complete 

data, such as demographics and 

circumstances, which could shine 

more light on incidents where force 

is used by police or against them.

But the “seeing” needs to flow both 

ways. Citizens need to understand 

the difficult and perilous work of 

law enforcement. “If they take the 

time to do that, what they will see 

are officers who are human, who 

are overwhelmingly doing the right 

thing for the right reasons,” he said.

“We all need to talk and we all 

need to listen,” Comey said in 

closing, “not just about easy things 

but about hard things, too. It is 

time to start seeing one another for 

who and what we really are.”

Director Comey addresses students and 

faculty at Georgetown University. Seated 

is Edward Montgomery, dean of the 

university’s McCourt School of Public 

Policy, which co-hosted the event.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

lawenforcementandrace.
02.23.15 The FBI Story 2015 19

A Ponzi Scheme Collapses

Financial Crime Ring Uncovered, Criminals Brought to Justice

Nearly a dozen fraudsters who 

conspired to operate a $40 million 

Ponzi scheme will be spending 

plenty of time behind bars after a 

joint effort by the FBI, the Internal 

Revenue Service, and the U.S. 

Attorney’s Office in the Western 

District of North Carolina. 

Among those now serving time is 

the scheme’s mastermind, Keith 

Franklin Simmons, who was 

sentenced to 40 years in prison late 

last year. And just last month, the 

11th and final defendant in the 

conspiracy—Jonathan D. Davey—

was sentenced to more than 21 

years.

The federal judge who sentenced 

Davey said the term handed down 

reflected the effects of the fraud 

on its 400 or so victims—mainly 

elderly and vulnerable—and 

that the scheme resulted in 

“life-wrecking damage” and caused 

victims to lose “life savings, trust, 

faith, and their sense of dignity.”

In 2007, Simmons—a North 

Carolina businessman looking 

for a way to make easy money—

formulated an investment scheme 

called “Black Diamond,” which he 

advertised as a legitimate hedge 

fund involved in foreign currency 

trading. Black Diamond, according 

to Simmons, had significant 

safeguards in place to protect 

investors, was independently 

audited, and had consistently high 

rates of return. None of that, of 

course, was true.

To help solicit investors 

from around the country, 

Simmons—through a 

co-conspirator—recruited a 

number of individuals to serve as 

regional managers of his hedge 

fund. Most of these “managers” 

had insurance experience and 

were well versed in selling 

annuity products, often to the 

elderly. So they solicited previous 

customers—as well as friends, 

family, and acquaintances. These 

early investors were promised 

financial compensation for bringing 

new investors on board, so they 

in turn praised Black Diamond 

and its high rate of return to their 

friends, family, and acquaintances. 

Unfortunately, not a single dollar 

of investor funds was actually 

invested.

Also brought on board to oversee 

the various hedge fund managers—

and the money—was Davey, a 

certified public accountant and 

investment manager in Ohio. 

Davey controlled most of the funds 

from the scheme and published a 

website for investors that reflected 

false returns. By the end of the 

scheme, the website showed that 

the value of investor accounts was 

more than $120 million, but in 

reality, all of the accounts totaled 

less than $1 million.

Black Diamond made the 

perpetrators—in particular 

Simmons and Davey—very rich. 

And as long as new money was 

coming in, they were able to keep 

making some payments to their 

early investors while at the same 

time continuing to fund their 

lavish lifestyles, which included 

mansions, luxury vehicles, and 

expensive trips.

But as all Ponzi schemes usually 

do at some point, Black Diamond 

began to collapse in on itself—

there was not enough new money 

coming in to keep the old investors 

satisfied or to continue lining the 

pockets of the criminals running 

the fraud. So around March 2009, 

a new Ponzi scheme was begun, but 

this time some of the money from 

investors in the new scheme went 

to make payments to the investors 

of the old scheme, and the rest 

went to the criminals.

It was the beginning of the end, 

however. Acting on allegations 

of suspicious financial activity, 

the FBI—with its partners—

was already investigating Black 

Diamond. By December 2009, 

ringleader Keith Franklin Simmons 

was in custody, and the arrests 

of his co-conspirators eventually 

followed.

The modest North Carolina office building 

where businessman Keith Franklin Simmons 

orchestrated his $40 million Ponzi scheme.

Don’t Let a Ponzi Schemer 

Victimize You

Today’s financial scams are often 

more sophisticated than ever before. 

Here are a few tips to help you avoid 

becoming the victim of a Ponzi 

scheme:

• Be careful of any investment 

opportunity that makes exaggerated 

earnings claims.

• Don’t be fooled into believing an 

investment is safe just because 

someone you know recommended 

it. So-called “affinity scams” are one 

of the favorite methods used to lure 

people into Ponzi schemes.

• Exercise due diligence in selecting 

investments and the people with 

whom you invest—in other words, 

do your homework.

• Consult an unbiased third party, like 

an unconnected broker or licensed 

financial adviser, before investing.

• Take the time to check out 

investment offers by contacting your 

state’s securities regulator.

• Never put all of your eggs 

(investments) in one basket.
20 The FBI Story 2015 02.27.15

Today, the FBI and its partners 

announced three separate 

indictments filed during the past 

month against 17 individuals from 

the metropolitan Detroit area who 

are believed to be responsible for 

a number of “smash and grab” 

robberies of jewelry stories in a 

half-dozen states. The charges, 

filed in federal court in the Eastern 

District of Michigan, involved 

violations of the Hobbs Act, which 

makes it a crime to obstruct, delay, 

or affect interstate commerce by 

robbery.

The indictments follow a series of 

investigations around the nation 

by various local, state, and federal 

law enforcement agencies involving 

approximately 40 smash and grab 

jewelry store robberies. Authorities 

stunning and frightening anyone 

who witnesses their actions. In 

addition to the constant threat 

of violence from these criminals, 

there have been instances of 

innocent bystanders actually 

getting hurt during these robberies.

And unfortunately, these types of 

robberies around the nation have 

recently increased at an alarming 

rate.

According to the Jewelers’ Security 

Alliance (JSA)—a non-profit group 

that provides crime information 

and assistance to the jewelry 

industry and law enforcement—

there were 110 smash and grabs 

during 2014, nearly twice the 

number (62) reported during 2013.

Joint Effort Takes Down Detroit-Based Robbery Group

But Smash and Grab Jewelry Store Incidents are on the Rise

also announced they are looking 

for the public’s help in identifying 

16 other individuals believed to be 

connected to additional smash and 

grab robberies.

There were 110 smash 

and grabs during 2014, 

nearly twice the

number (62) reported 

during 2013.

Smash and grab robberies are aptly 

named—they involve perpetrators 

who enter a jewelry store and, 

in front of store employees and 

customers alike, threateningly 

whip out tools like sledgehammers, 

smash those hammers through the 

glass displays, and grab expensive 

pieces of jewelry before taking off, 

Shown are the remains of a glass display case after a smash and grab robbery of a jewelry store. According to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, 

the number of smash and grab robberies is on the rise nationwide.
02.27.15 The FBI Story 2015 21

And once the jewelry is stolen, it’s 

relatively easy to transport it to 

whichever fence the criminals do 

business with so it can be quickly 

sold for cash—which can then be 

used to fuel other crimes the groups 

may be committing.

At first glance, these robberies 

seem like local crimes, so why is 

the FBI even involved? For several 

reasons: First, because often 

times, the stolen merchandise 

crosses state—and sometimes 

national—borders, so a federal 

law enforcement agency with 

offices around the nation and even 

overseas is vital; second, because 

the robberies are being increasingly 

committed by organized criminal 

enterprises that operate in 

multiple jurisdictions; and lastly, 

because these crime groups are 

often involved in other kinds of 

organized crime activity that the 

FBI is already investigating.

But of course we can’t—

and don’t—do it alone. The 

investigation that resulted in the 

Detroit indictments was conducted 

by the multi-agency, FBI-led 

Oakland County Gang and Violent 

Crime Task Force and involved 

coordination among multiple 

Bureau field offices, state and local 

law enforcement agencies around 

the country, and our private 

partners in the jewelry industry. 

That coordination—the sharing 

of vital information, methods of 

operation, and evidence—is what 

allowed us to link the robberies to 

the same criminal crew.

Explains John Kennedy, head of 

the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, 

which represents the interests of 

21,000 retail jewelry stores, “It’s 

very difficult for a local agency to 

address the problem by itself, but 

when the FBI—with its national 

and international scope—assists, 

the overall law enforcement 

effort is more effective.” The 

JSA also plays a key role in these 

investigations by offering law 

enforcement agencies access to its 

database of jewelry and gem thefts.

In Their Own Words

Our state and local partners played a vital role in this Detroit investigation into a criminal enterprise allegedly engaging in 

a series of smash and grab jewelry store robberies. But that’s nothing unique—on daily basis, the FBI works with our state 

and local partners around the country on all sorts of criminal and national security cases. Here are some reflections on the 

importance of law enforcement cooperation from several of the agencies involved in the Detroit case.

“When violent acts like these are committed in places where families shop and do other business, it becomes even more 

imperative to get these suspects behind bars. We’re working with other partner agencies to capture these individuals who are 

jeopardizing the safety of Loudoun residents, and to prevent future confrontations with the public.”

- Sheriff Michael L. Chapman, Loudoun County, Virginia

“It’s the goal of the Michigan State Police to work collaboratively with our law enforcement partners, and these types of 

crimes [smash and grabs] have the potential to be violent, which impacts public safety. We are proud to be a part of this 

investigation which will make our citizens feel safe again during their daily routines.”

- Captain Monica Yesh, Michigan State Police

“Joining our resources with those of the FBI has enhanced our effectiveness by allowing their long-arm jurisdictional reach 

to cross state lines in pursuit of these dangerous criminals. Our partnership with the Bureau has resulted in a more effective 

consolidated quest to arrest and prosecute these violent perpetrators.”

- Chief Bart Aguirre, Tupelo (Mississippi) Police Department

The fallout from these smash 

and grab robberies can be seen 

across the board. Obviously, store 

employees and customers are 

traumatized when faced with the 

threat of violence. Jewelry stores 

suffer tremendous losses, as do the 

insurance companies who must 

pay the resulting claims. Stores 

also spend additional money to 

enhance their security measures—

hiring security guards, upgrading 

the strength of their display cases, 

installing or augmenting video 

monitoring equipment, etc. And 

eventually, over time, the fallout 

could hit the public at large, with 

higher insurance costs and higher 

prices at the jewelry store.

But by combining the most 

effective resources, tools, and 

expertise, law enforcement and 

prosecutors—along with our 

private sector partners—are 

teaming up to identify those 

responsible for these violent crimes 

and put them behind bars.
22 The FBI Story 2015 03.02.15

License to Steal

Multi-State Fraudulent Document Ring Dismantled

During the nearly 18-month 

investigation, Fanelli said that 

Park and his associates helped 

hundreds of individuals obtain 

fraudulent driver’s licenses. “He 

would also provide supporting 

paperwork, fabricating documents 

to show proof of residence, bank 

statements—whatever you needed.”

His customers—many were 

arrested and charged with state 

violations—“knew they didn’t have 

legal status,” Fanelli explained, 

adding that state motor vehicle 

offices were exceptionally helpful 

during the investigation.

Park pled guilty to several 

charges, including producing 

false identification documents, 

conspiracy to steal government 

property, and money laundering. 

When his prison term is up, he will 

be deported to South Korea.

“He always claimed that he was 

a Robin Hood of the community, 

helping people who had no 

other alternatives,” Fanelli said. 

“Of course, he was benefiting 

handsomely and living in high 

style.” She added, “Park knew 

what he was doing was illegal. He 

purposely exploited vulnerabilities 

in the immigration and motor 

vehicle process to line his own 

pockets.”

Trejo. The form is used by the 

federal government to convey an 

immigration benefit. For example, 

state agencies that issue driver’s 

licenses rely on the I-797 form 

to verify the authenticity of an 

applicant’s foreign passport and 

lawful presence in the U.S.

“He purposely exploited 

vulnerabilities in the 

immigration and motor 

vehicle process to line 

his own pockets.”

During the investigation into Park, 

it was determined that the I-797 

forms being used illegally were not 

counterfeit. “We knew someone 

on the inside had to be selling the 

forms, because the public has no 

way to access them,” said Special 

Agent Nathan Kim, who, along 

with Fanelli, investigated the case 

out of our Newark Division.

The evidence led to Trejo, who 

was arrested and charged with 

conspiracy to steal government 

property and interstate 

transportation of stolen goods. In 

September 2014, he was sentenced 

to 26 months in prison.

Trejo, who had worked at a USCIS 

warehouse in California for more 

than a decade, estimated that he 

stole about 1,000 forms to make 

extra money, Kim said. “The form 

center has since made numerous 

changes to mitigate the problem 

and secure these forms.”

For the hundreds of individuals 

living in the United States illegally 

who responded to advertisements 

by Young-Kyu Park and his 

associates, the promise of an 

authentic visa or a valid driver’s 

license was well worth the $3,000 

to $4,500 price tag.

Park, who was recently sentenced 

to six years in federal prison, was 

the leader of a multi-state criminal 

organization that fraudulently 

obtained driver’s licenses and other 

documents such as student visas for 

illegal aliens and other ineligible 

individuals.

In New Jersey, New York, 

California, Nevada, Virginia, and 

Georgia between 2010 and 2012, 

“it was open season for driver’s 

licenses,” said Special Agent 

Theresa Fanelli. “Park was willing 

to sell to whoever wanted to buy.” 

In Las Vegas, his associates even 

operated a shuttle service to take 

clients to the Department of Motor 

Vehicles to obtain a license using 

their bogus credentials. And with 

that valid license, individuals 

had a key piece of identification 

that enabled them to access other 

services previously unavailable to 

them.

Park was one of 22 people charged 

in 2012 with providing a range of 

illegal services predominantly to 

South Koreans who were illegally 

residing in the U.S. He was 

assisted in his criminal enterprise 

by brokers he employed around 

the country, along with a contract 

employee of the U.S. Citizenship 

and Immigration Services (USCIS), 

who stole authentic forms that 

turned out to be central to the 

scheme.

Through a third party, Park 

was able to obtain I-797 forms 

from USCIS employee Martin 

Left: Federal I-797 forms—like this 

one—stolen from a U.S. Citizenship and 

Immigration Services facility in California 

helped a criminal organization fraudulently 

obtain driver’s licenses and visas for 

hundreds of individuals living in the United 

States illegally.
03.04.15 The FBI Story 2015 23

The Cyber Action Team

Rapidly Responding to Major Computer Intrusions

It can be a company’s worst 

nightmare—the discovery that 

hackers have infiltrated their 

computer networks and made 

off with trade secrets, customers’ 

personal information, and other 

critical data.

When such intrusions happen—

and unfortunately, they occur 

frequently—the FBI can respond 

with a range of investigative assets, 

including the little-known Cyber 

Action Team (CAT). This rapid 

deployment group of cyber experts 

can be on the scene just about 

anywhere in the world within 

48 hours, providing investigative 

support and helping to answer 

critical questions that can quickly 

move a case forward.

“Our goal is to provide information 

that can be actioned immediately,” 

said Special Agent Chris Lamb, a 

CAT member since 2007. “A lot of 

the evidence in a cyber intrusion 

may only be there for a little while,” 

he said. “The trail can get cold 

pretty quickly.”

Established by the FBI’s Cyber 

Division in 2006 to provide 

rapid incident response on major 

computer intrusions and cyberrelated emergencies, the team has 

approximately 50 members located 

in field offices around the country. 

They are either special agents or 

computer scientists, and all possess 

advanced training in computer 

languages, forensic investigations, 

and malware analysis.

“I call it speaking geek,” said Lamb, 

describing the skills CAT members 

must possess and maintain to be 

on the team. “You could compare 

it to an English speaker trying 

to learn Mandarin Chinese. You 

have to spend years immersing 

yourself in the language to become 

fluent. And then you have to keep 

practicing. But unlike Mandarin, 

which basically stays the same, 

the challenge for us is that the 

language of cyber is constantly 

changing.”

This rapid deployment 

group of cyber experts 

can be on the scene just 

about anywhere in the 

world within 48 hours.

Since the Cyber Action Team’s 

inception, the FBI has investigated 

hundreds of cyber crimes. More 

than 50 of those cases were deemed 

of such significance that the rapid 

response and specialized skills 

of the Cyber Action Team were 

required. Some of those cases 

affected U.S. interests abroad, 

and the team deployed overseas, 

working through our legal attaché 

offices and with our international 

partners.

“Our job is to very quickly 

understand what the bad guy did 

and why,” said Lamb, who works 

out of our Kansas City Division. 

“We make an initial assessment 

to determine what we know and 

what we don’t know. Based on that 

assessment, we then call in other 

experts to fill whatever gaps we 

need to have filled.”

“Using cutting-edge tools, we 

look for a hacker’s signature,” he 

explained. In the cyber world, such 

signatures are called TTPs—tools, 

techniques, and procedures. The 

TTPs usually point to a specific 

group or person. The hackers may 

represent a criminal enterprise 

looking for financial gain or 

state-sponsored entities seeking a 

strategic advantage over the U.S.

Either way, victim companies 

are often surprised by how much 

of their networks have been 

compromised—and for how long. 

Some intrusions are not discovered 

until months or even years after the 

fact.

Hackers have become so 

sophisticated that they can 

overcome even the best network 

security measures, he noted. “We 

tell victims that it sometimes 

doesn’t matter how good your 

security is, the bad guys can still 

get in.”
24 The FBI Story 2015

The sometimes uneasy relationship 

between members of law 

enforcement and the diverse 

communities they serve can be 

a difficult topic to discuss, but 

FBI Director James B. Comey 

today encouraged the National 

Organization of Black Law 

Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) 

to continue that conversation—

and he again called for better 

reporting of incidents where force is 

used by police and against them.

During a speech to the NOBLE 

group in Atlanta, Georgia, Comey 

noted that the organization’s 

members were “uniquely qualified 

as law enforcement leaders who 

are leaders of color” to drive this 

conversation forward, and he 

pledged that the FBI would strive 

to be a more diverse organization to 

reflect the nation it serves.

In the wake of the death of 

Michael Brown in Ferguson, 

Missouri, the assassinations of two 

New York City Police Department 

officers, and other recent racially 

charged police incidents around 

the country, Comey last month 

publicly addressed the contentious 

issue of law enforcement and race, 

acknowledging some “hard truths.” 

“One of my worries is that we 

were drifting to a place where 

we were not having a balanced 

conversation,” Comey said, and 

not being honest about how 

law enforcement and ethnic 

communities “see” one another. 

He called on NOBLE members to 

help “foster a more balanced and 

open-minded discussion.”

One of Comey’s goals is to have 

better reporting of data about 

encounters between police 

and citizens, especially violent 

encounters. Currently, demographic 

data regarding officer-involved 

shootings is not consistently 

reported to the FBI through its 

Uniform Crime Reporting Program 

because reporting is voluntary for 

local police departments. “In the 

absence of that data,” he said, “all 

conversations about policing and 

policy are uninformed, and that’s 

not a good place to be. We can do 

better.”

On the issue of diversity within the 

FBI, Comey acknowledged that the 

number of minority special agents 

has been on a slow but steady 

decline, and he is working on new 

recruiting strategies to hire more 

people of color.

“Diversity must be at the core of 

all of our conversations at the FBI,” 

he said. “Diversity is about doing 

the right thing, but also about 

effectiveness. It’s about being good 

at what we do. We are simply less 

effective when we are less diverse.”

A more diverse workforce allows 

the Bureau to connect better to 

the communities it serves and 

fosters greater trust with witnesses, 

victims, and even potential sources. 

“Diversity gives us credibility,” 

he explained, adding that he 

recently added diversity to the list 

of the FBI’s core values. “I want 

to talk about it and drive it into 

the conversations we have in my 

organization every single day.”

Cedric Alexander, president of 

NOBLE, said he appreciated 

Comey’s candor regarding the issue 

of law enforcement and race. “His 

willingness to be part of change 

in a positive way—and seeking 

out NOBLE to work with him and 

take an active role in creating a 

better public safety environment 

at all levels—is admirable. He has 

obviously given a lot of thought to 

these issues.”

Comey also spoke about the 

changing terrorism threat and why 

partnership between local, state, 

and federal law enforcement is in 

many ways more critical now than 

it was after the 9/11 attacks.

“We have taken the fight to core 

al Qaeda,” he said, and largely 

diminished their capacity to strike 

America. But spinoff groups such 

as ISIL have gotten “very slick at 

social media” and are spreading 

a poisonous message through 

the Internet. “ISIL is issuing a 

siren song to troubled souls,” he 

explained, and these homegrown 

terrorists are more likely to be 

initially noticed by a police officer 

on a neighborhood patrol than a 

federal officer.

The homegrown terror threat 

is occurring everywhere in the 

country, Comey said. “In all 50 

states, there are people who are 

in some stage of consuming this 

propaganda and moving toward 

radicalization. Our task is to find 

them and disrupt them.” The only 

way to succeed at that, he added, is 

through a unified law enforcement 

effort.

Law Enforcement and Race

Continuing the Conversation

03.13.15

Director Comey’s remarks to the National 

Organization of Black Law Enforcement 

Executives touched on diversity, terrorism, 

and the need for better reporting of 

incidents where force is used by police and 

against them. 

Scan this QR code with

your smartphone to

access related information,

or visit www.fbi.gov/

continuingtheconversation.
03.17.15 The FBI Story 2015 25

Financial Fraud

Hollywood Film Scheme Results in Unhappy Ending for Investors

The owners of Gigapix Studios 

told investors they had a sure 

thing: They were going to make an 

animated version of the Wizard of 

Oz called OZ3D, and those who 

got in on the ground floor—and 

the company’s imminent public 

offering—could make a killing.

Unfortunately, the film was a bigger 

fairy tale than investors bargained 

for, and approximately 730 people 

lost millions of dollars. For some, 

the investment represented their 

life savings.

“Potential investors were 

told, ‘You’re going to make so 

much money that your kids 

and grandkids won’t want for 

anything,’” said Special Agent Eric 

Potocek, who investigated the case 

out of our Los Angeles Division. 

“In the end, the movie was never 

made, and it is unlikely investors 

will ever get anything back.”

Between the film and the 

impending public offering, the 

two principal fraudsters behind 

Los Angeles-based Gigapix raised 

some $21 million over a seven-year 

period beginning in 2006. Of the 

$8 million raised for the movie, 

only 5 percent of that amount 

went toward actually producing a 

film. The rest was used to pay big 

salaries, commissions, overhead for 

a fancy office, and other expenses.

Christopher Blauvelt, 59, and 

David Pritchard, 67, were convicted 

in 2014 on a series of federal 

charges including mail fraud, wire 

fraud, and offering unregistered 

securities for sale. Last month, 

Blauvelt was sentenced to eight 

years in prison, and Pritchard 

received a five-year term.

Blauvelt founded Gigapix in 

2002 and brought Pritchard on 

as a partner four years later. The 

two hired telemarketers to solicit 

potential investors, who were told 

that Gigapix was a blockbuster 

animation company waiting 

to happen—similar to Pixar 

Animation Studios—and that 

Gigapix was developing projects 

expected to generate huge profits 

when the company went public.

The telemarketers—known as 

“fronters”—used marketing lists 

to cold call potential investors and 

worked from scripts touting the 

supposed merits of Gigapix. When 

victims expressed an interest in 

investing, they were turned over 

to “closers” who collected their 

money. Two of the company’s 

closers were also convicted in the 

fraud.

While soliciting money for Gigapix 

and OZ3D, the defendants told lies 

and half-truths, suggesting that the 

company was financially successful 

and investors would receive high 

returns on their investments in less 

than 18 months. They claimed that 

investments carried little or no risk.

Some of the victims were “savvy 

investors,” Potocek noted, and 

perhaps could afford to lose what 

they risked. But many victims—

referred by friends or other 

investors and who lived far away 

from Hollywood—were susceptible 

to the sales pitch and the lure of 

being part of the film business.

“Many of the victims were not 

wealthy people,” Potocek said. 

“They were teachers and secretaries 

and folks who worked 30 or 40 

years to save for retirement.” He 

added that Gigapix “took money 

from older people and from others 

who clearly could not afford to lose 

it. People lost their homes and had 

their dreams of retiring evaporate.”

There have been other recent cases 

in Los Angeles involving movie 

fraud, where telemarketers lure 

victims into investing in films that 

never get made. “These criminals 

were selling entertainment,” 

Potocek said, “but it could just as 

easily have been stocks or precious 

metals. When someone promises a 

high rate of return in a very short 

time, and with little or no risk, any 

investor should beware. Those are 

very large red flags.”

Development art depicting characters in the movie OZ3D—an animated version of the Wizard 

of Oz—which was never made by Gigapix Studios even after hundreds of victims were lured 

into investing millions of dollars in the project.
26 The FBI Story 2015

He headed a dangerous criminal 

organization responsible for not 

only a great deal of the gang 

violence occurring on the streets 

of New Haven, Connecticut, but 

also for the large-scale distribution 

of cocaine in and around the city. 

But earlier this month, Donald 

“Main” Ogman was sentenced to 

more than 15 years in prison after 

pleading guilty to federal drug 

charges. Nineteen of his fellow 

gang members and other associates 

have previously pled guilty to 

various federal charges.

And as a result, the streets of New 

Haven are a little safer these days.

Under Ogman’s leadership, his 

criminal enterprise—the Grape 

Street Crips—was a force to 

be reckoned with. Much of the 

violence—a lot of it in the Hill 

neighborhood of New Haven—

was attributed to the turf battle 

occurring between the Crips and 

other gangs. The Grape Street 

Crips wanted to maintain their 

influence over drug trafficking and 

firearms trafficking in the Hill, and 

they used intimidation, threats of 

violence, shootings, assaults, and 

homicides to make sure that they 

did.

But Ogman also had a direct hand 

in the trafficking of drugs—he 

would purchase large quantities of 

cocaine from criminal suppliers, 

and then, after processing the 

cocaine into “crack,” redistribute 

it to gang members and others in 

the Hill and other neighborhoods. 

Ogman often cooked the cocaine 

into crack himself and used drug 

addicts (or “friends,” as he called 

them) to test the batches he made.

Trying to get a handle on the 

drug trafficking and violence 

being perpetrated by the Grape 

Street Crips and other gangs, the 

FBI’s New Haven Safe Streets 

Task Force—which includes 

the Connecticut Department of 

Corrections, the Connecticut 

State Police, and the New Haven, 

Hamden, and Milford Police 

Departments—began to investigate 

and soon honed in on Ogman and 

his associates.

The FBI has 164 Violent Gang Safe 

Streets Task Forces in field offices 

nationwide, staffed by nearly 850 

Bureau agents, more than 1,500 

state and local law enforcement 

personnel, and almost 100 other 

federal law enforcement agents. 

These task forces go after violent 

gangs through sustained, proactive, 

coordinated investigations—

often using federal laws targeting 

racketeering, drug conspiracy, 

and firearms violations to identify 

and prosecute the leadership of 

these gangs and obtain lengthy 

prison sentences. Our Safe Streets 

initiative is the principal federal, 

state, and local partnership 

engaged in reducing violent crime 

throughout the country.

For the investigation into Donald 

Ogman and the Grape Street 

Crips, Bureau agents and task force 

officers working side by side used 

a variety of techniques to uncover 

the extent of the group’s criminal 

activity, including court-authorized 

wiretaps, the execution of search 

and seizure warrants, electronic 

and physical surveillance, and 

confidential informants. Between 

March and September 2011, law 

enforcement also set up a series of 

about 75 controlled drug buys—

using confidential informants to 

purchase cocaine from members 

and associates of the gang, 

including Ogman.

The wiretaps on Ogman’s phone 

were fruitful as well, providing 

evidence of his leadership of 

the Grape Street Crips and his 

involvement in drug trafficking. 

During one particular conversation 

he had with an associate, the two 

discussed a couple of unrelated 

federal drug investigations in New 

Haven and mused on the perils 

of being the target of such an 

investigation.

Ogman soon found out how 

perilous it could be. In March 2012, 

investigators executed a series of 

search warrants, seizing drugs, 

drug paraphernalia, cash, firearms, 

ammunition, and other items. 

Ogman was charged and taken 

into custody, as were a number 

of his fellow gang members and 

associates. In March 2014, he pled 

guilty to drug conspiracy charges 

prior to his sentencing.

And not long after Ogman was 

taken into custody and his criminal 

enterprise was virtually dismantled, 

New Haven police reportedly 

noted a reduction in crime in the 

neighborhood areas where the 

Grape Street Crips operated.

03.20.15

Leader of Violent Street Gang Going to Prison

Multi-Agency Investigation Dismantles Criminal Organization

In March 2012, during an investigation 

into the Grape Street Crips, members of 

the New Haven Safe Streets Task Force 

executed a number of search warrants, 

including one for the above residence of the 

gang’s leader, Donald Ogman. Investigators 

found crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia, 

and other illegal items.
03.25.15 The FBI Story 2015 27

Progress Report

Panel Conducts Review of FBI Since 9/11 Commission Report

A congressionally mandated 

panel charged with reviewing 

the FBI’s implementation of 

recommendations contained in the 

9/11 Commission Report in 2004 

today issued its findings.

The release of the 9/11 Review 

Commission’s report, The FBI: 

Protecting the Homeland in the 21st 

Century, followed 14 months of 

research, interviews, briefings, 

and field visits by commissioners 

and their 13-member staff. The 

commission—which included 

former Attorney General Edwin 

Meese, former Congressman 

Tim Roemer, and Georgetown 

University professor Bruce 

Hoffman—began its review in 

2013 at the FBI’s request after 

Congress called for an appraisal 

of the Bureau’s progress since 

the 9/11 Commission issued its 

recommendations in 2004. A 

classified draft of the Review 

Commission’s report was sent to 

Congress and to other agencies 

mentioned in the report; the FBI 

released the unclassified version for 

the public.

That report, which can be found 

on FBI.gov, concludes that the 

FBI has “transformed itself over 

the last 10 years” and “made 

measurable progress building a 

threat-based, intelligence-driven 

national security organization.” 

The commission also makes 

recommendations on where the 

FBI can improve.

In a press briefing today at FBI 

Headquarters, Director James B. 

Comey was joined by the report’s 

commissioners to discuss the 

findings.

“This has been a tremendously 

valuable thing to me as a new 

Director,” Comey told reporters. 

“My take, I can divide it into 

three buckets: Overwhelmingly, 

I agree with their findings and 

their recommendations; there’s a 

small group that I need to study 

to understand better what it might 

mean for us; and then there’s a very 

small group where I respectfully 

have a different view.”

The Director said the report 

provides an effective roadmap to 

keeping the FBI a premiere law 

enforcement and intelligence 

organization. “I think being worldclass means knowing you are good 

but never being satisfied that 

you are good enough,” he said. “I 

believe the FBI is world-class. [The 

report] shows us ways that we can 

be better.”

The report’s key findings center on 

the Bureau’s transformation since 

the attacks in 2001. Commissioners 

focused on elements of how the 

FBI has adapted over more than a 

decade, such as the creation of a 

cadre of skilled intelligence analysts 

to analyze threats, the retention 

of good leadership, and the 

development of cyber capabilities 

to thwart agile hackers and online 

threats.

“This has been a major 

transformation of the FBI in which 

the intelligence function—which as 

the Director said has always been 

there—has been expanded and 

brought up to date in terms of the 

threat in a way which was almost 

exponential,” said Commissioner 

Edwin Meese. “Some things are 

necessary, we feel, that will keep 

pace with the accelerating threat 

we find around the world.”

The commissioners issued 

12 findings, along with 

recommendations. Topics include 

information-sharing, cyber security, 

technology, the Bureau’s legal 

attaché program, and the FBI’s role 

in countering violent extremism.

“During the decade and a half 

after 9/11, the FBI has changed,” 

said Commissioner Roemer. “It 

is currently changing, but must 

urgently and boldly accelerate 

this change. What we’ve laid out, 

I hope, is a blueprint for the FBI 

over the next quarter-century. Over 

the course of this next century, 

hundreds of Americans’ lives will 

depend on it.”

Comey said the FBI’s progress 

has been extraordinary and that 

the Bureau was up to the task. “I 

think this is a moment of pride 

for the FBI,” he said. “An outside 

group of some of our nation’s most 

important leaders and thinkers 

has stared hard at us and said, 

‘You have done a great job at 

transforming yourself.’ And they’ve 

also said what I’ve said around the 

country: It’s not good enough.”

Director Comey listens as former Attorney General Edwin Meese discusses the findings of the 

9/11 Review Commission. Meese, along with Georgetown University professor Bruce Hoffman 

(far left) and former Congressman Tim Roemer (far right) comprised the commission.
28 The FBI Story 2015 03.30.15

FBI Establishes International Corruption Squads

Targeting Foreign Bribery, Kleptocracy Crimes

foreign officials to obtain or retain 

business overseas. And we take 

these crimes very seriously—foreign 

bribery has the ability to impact 

U.S. financial markets, economic 

growth, and national security. It 

also breaks down the international 

free market system by promoting 

anti-competitive behavior and, 

ultimately, makes consumers pay 

more.

We take these crimes 

very seriously—foreign 

bribery has the ability 

to impact U.S. financial markets, economic 

growth, and national 

security.

We’re seeing that foreign bribery 

incidents are increasingly tied to 

a type of government corruption 

Late last year, Alstom—a 

French power and transportation 

company—pled guilty in U.S. 

federal court to engaging in a 

widespread foreign bribery scheme 

involving tens of millions of dollars. 

The company agreed to pay a 

record-setting $772 million fine to 

resolve the charges.

Alstom’s specific crimes? Violating 

the U.S. Foreign Corrupt 

Practices Act (FCPA) for more 

than a decade by paying bribes 

to government officials around 

the world—falsifying its books 

and records in the process—in 

connection with power, grid, and 

transportation projects for stateowned entities.

The FCPA, passed in 1977, makes 

it illegal for U.S. companies, U.S. 

persons, and foreign corporations 

with certain U.S. ties to bribe 

known as kleptocracy, which is 

when foreign officials steal from 

their own government treasuries at 

the expense of their citizens. (See 

sidebar for more on kleptocracy). 

And that’s basically what these 

foreign officials are doing when 

they accept bribes in their official 

capability for personal gain, 

sometimes using the U.S. banking 

system to hide and/or launder their 

criminal proceeds.

The FBI—in conjunction with 

the Department of Justice’s 

(DOJ) Fraud Section—recently 

announced another weapon in 

the battle against foreign bribery 

and kleptocracy-related criminal 

activity: the establishment of three 

dedicated international corruption 

squads, based in New York City, 

Los Angeles, and Washington, 

D.C.
03.30.15 The FBI Story 2015 29

Kleptocracy 101

Last year, the Department of Justice 

announced it had forfeited more than 

$480 million in corruption proceeds 

hidden in bank accounts around the 

world by former Nigerian dictator Sani 

Abacha and his associates. It was 

the largest forfeiture ever obtained 

through a kleptocracy action.

And earlier this month, DOJ 

announced a settlement of its civil 

forfeiture cases against $1.2 million 

in assets traceable to corruption 

proceeds from Chun Doo Hwan, 

former president of the Republic 

of Korea. DOJ also assisted in 

recovering an additional $27.5 million 

to satisfy an outstanding criminal 

restitution order against the former 

president.

A kleptocracy—loosely translated 

from Greek as “rule by thieves”—is 

a form of political or government 

corruption involving officials who steal 

from their government treasuries to 

enrich their own personal wealth.

Both previously mentioned cases 

were opened under DOJ’s Kleptocracy 

Asset Recovery Initiative, which—in 

coordination with the FBI and other 

federal agencies—seeks to forfeit 

the proceeds of corruption by foreign 

officials and, where appropriate, 

use the recovered assets to benefit 

the people harmed by the acts of 

corruption. Both cases, investigated 

by the FBI, are prime examples of 

kleptocracy-related criminal activity: 

Through bribes and other schemes, 

these “kleptocrats” stole money from 

their own governments and used the 

U.S. banking system, among others, 

to launder the funds.

In addition to impacting the U.S. 

economic sector, kleptocracy and 

international corruption have national 

security implications. According to 

Special Agent Jeffrey Sallet, chief 

of the FBI’s Public Corruption/Civil 

Rights Section, “Corruption leads to 

lack of confidence in government. 

Lack of confidence in government 

leads to failed states. And failed states 

lead to terror and national security 

issues.”

How does the FBI get its kleptocracy 

cases? We may open cases on the 

same foreign officials we identify in 

our Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 

investigations. In addition, our foreign 

law enforcement partners and/or 

new leaders in certain parts of the 

world often seek U.S. assistance in 

identifying and recovering government 

assets stolen by previous corrupt 

regimes.

Special Agent George McEachern, 

who heads up our International 

Corruption Unit at FBI 

Headquarters, explains that the 

squads were created to address 

the national and international 

implications of corruption. “The 

FCPA allows us to target the 

supply side of corruption—the 

entities giving the bribes,” he 

said. “Kleptocracy cases allow us 

to address the demand side—the 

corrupt officials and their illicit 

financial assets. By placing both 

threats under one squad, we 

anticipate that an investigation 

into one of these criminal activities 

could potentially generate an 

investigation into the other.”

Corruption cases in general are 

tough to investigate because much 

of the actual criminal activity is 

hidden from view. But international 

corruption cases are even tougher 

because the criminal activity 

usually takes place outside of the 

U.S. However, members of these 

three squads—agents, analysts, 

and other professional staff—

have a great deal of experience 

investigating white-collar crimes 

and, in particular, following the 

money trail in these crimes. And 

they’ll have at their disposal a 

number of investigative tools 

the Bureau uses so successfully 

in other areas—like financial 

analysis, court-authorized wiretaps, 

undercover operations, informants, 

and sources.

“The FCPA allows us to

target the supply side of 

corruption—the entities 

giving the bribes.”

Partnerships with our overseas 

law enforcement counterparts—

facilitated by our network of legal 

attaché offices situated strategically 

around the world—are an 

important part of our investigative 

arsenal. The FBI also takes part in 

a number of international working 

groups, including the Foreign 

Bribery Task Force, to share 

information with our partners and 

help strengthen investigative efforts 

everywhere. And we coordinate 

with DOJ’s Fraud Section—which 

criminally prosecutes FCPA 

violators—and the Securities and 

Exchange Commission—which 

uses civil actions to go after U.S. 

companies engaging in foreign 

bribery.

Our new squads will help keep the 

Bureau at the forefront of U.S. and 

global law enforcement efforts to 

battle international corruption and 

kleptocracy.
30 The FBI Story 2015

Bomb threats are not a new tactic 

for criminals and terrorists, but 

when scammers used them in a 

ruse in 2013 to fraudulently obtain 

pre-paid money cards from retailers 

around the country, first responders 

needed to know about it. A bulletin 

was sent to public safety officials 

explaining the scheme. The notice 

advised that although no devices 

had been found linked to this 

particular threat, first responders 

should not automatically assume 

any bomb threat is a hoax.

The awareness bulletin was a 

product of the National Explosives 

Task Force (NETF), a multi-agency 

assemblage of bomb technicians, 

analysts, and professional staff that 

formed in 2011 to quickly analyze 

and disseminate intelligence 

related to improvised explosive 

devices (IEDs) and other explosive 

materials in the U.S. The task 

force, located at FBI Headquarters, 

includes personnel from the FBI, 

ATF, DHS, and the Office of the 

Director of National Intelligence. 

The arrangement puts some of 

the nation’s leading bomb experts 

together in the same room.

“We are trying to create a 

common operating picture for 

the government to see what the 

problem set is domestically in terms 

of explosives and IED incidents,” 

said Whitney Barnhart, an FBI 

analyst who has been on the task 

force since its inception.

“And we’re using that information 

to create products to support 

federal, state, and local bomb 

technicians and the work that 

they’re doing.”

The NETF’s main functions 

include gathering and analyzing 

intelligence on explosives, 

integrating the intel into 

investigations, and pushing 

information out to partners—

which include more than 3,100 

public safety bomb technicians 

on more than 400 bomb squads 

around the country. The task force 

is notified every time the FBI or 

the ATF responds to an explosivesrelated incident and also reviews 

explosive incidents reported by 

public safety bomb squads, military 

explosive ordnance disposal teams, 

and other reporting sources.

“It became apparent years ago that 

we needed an interagency task 

force looking at the intelligence 

from these IED incidents and 

quickly pulling together joint 

intelligence products for the bomb 

tech community to make sure 

that everybody is situationally 

aware,” said James Yacone, assistant 

director of the FBI’s Critical 

Incident Response Group, under 

which NETF operates.

Depending on circumstances, 

the task force might push out a 

detailed “Quick Look” report 

(within 24 hours of a major 

incident), an industry advisory, 

or an awareness bulletin like 

the bomb threat scam advisory 

in 2013. The bulletins typically 

contain device information and 

tactics, techniques, and procedures 

used by the perpetrator(s) to raise 

awareness among people who 

most need to know. Last May, for 

example, the task force sent an 

industry advisory about the use 

of chemical reaction bombs after 

four similar incidents occurred 

in the Washington, D.C. area. 

(Fortunately, the perpetrators 

in these incidents were quickly 

arrested.) And last October, an 

advisory sought to bring attention 

to the dangers of unexploded 

munitions at recycling facilities 

after an explosion at one in Illinois 

killed two employees.

“We’re taking information that’s 

coming in to be more proactive 

about what we’re seeing ahead 

of events and incidents,” said 

Barnhart, the NETF analyst.

Another example is a system the 

task force developed to notify key 

personnel in local jurisdictions 

when inmates held on explosivesrelated charges are set to be 

released in their areas. The Bureau 

of Prisons notifies the task force, 

which vets the information and 

distributes it to ATF field offices 

and FBI bomb techs. Bradley 

Cooper, an ATF analyst who 

helped develop the inmate-release 

notification with an FBI partner, 

said the multi-agency approach 

makes sense.

“When everybody comes together 

from different agencies to work 

a common goal, it’s remarkable,” 

said Cooper, whose task force 

experience includes working 

alongside FBI personnel after the 

1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

The full weight of the task force’s 

effectiveness comes into focus 

when a major event occurs. When 

multiple agencies gather in a 

command post, they know each 

other and they know who has the 

critical explosives expertise to work 

an investigation.

“That’s the beauty of NETF,” 

Yacone said. “It brings together all 

the special mission experts.”

National Explosives Task Force

A Multi-Agency Group of Bomb Experts

04.03.15

One role of the National Explosives Task 

Force is to alert partners to potential 

incidents through the use of bulletins and 

advisories, such as the one above regarding 

unexploded munitions at recycling facilities.
The FBI Story 2015 31

When Special Agent Jeff 

Youngblood helped convict a 

corrupt public official from the 

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma last 

year who was demanding bribes 

and kickbacks from contractors 

bidding on tribal construction 

projects, he felt more satisfaction 

than usual bringing a criminal to 

justice. That’s because Youngblood 

is Native American and a member 

of the Choctaw tribe.

“My dad was born and raised 

in this area, and Oklahoma is 

where I was born and raised,” said 

Youngblood, who is assigned to 

the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division 

and works in the southeastern part 

of the state that is home to the 

Choctaw Nation.

“There aren’t many Native 

Americans who are special agents,” 

he said, “and I have yet to meet any 

that are working in Indian Country 

and are enrolled members of the 

tribe where they work. I think mine 

is a unique situation.”

It’s a situation Youngblood 

embraces. The Durant Resident 

Agency, where he is stationed with 

one other agent, has responsibility 

for a six-county area that covers 

much of the Choctaw Nation. With 

a large casino resort complex in 

Durant—located only an hour’s 

drive from Dallas, Texas—the tribe 

is a major economic driver in the 

region, and many residents depend 

on it for their livelihood.

When Youngblood received a tip 

regarding improprieties by the 

executive director of construction 

for the tribe, he began to 

investigate. He soon discovered 

that Jason Merida was running a 

classic “pay to play” system, shaking 

down contractors for cash, trips, 

vehicles, guns, and other items in 

return for lucrative construction 

projects.

“If he didn’t get what he wanted, 

you weren’t going to get the job,” 

Youngblood said. Some of the 

contractors who paid bribes to 

win contracts then padded their 

invoices, Youngblood noted, “which 

cost the tribe additional money.”

Merida was indicted in February 

2014 and charged with conspiracy 

to commit theft or bribery from 

programs receiving federal funds, 

theft by an employee or officer of a 

tribal government receiving federal 

funds, money laundering, and tax 

fraud.

Testimony at trial in November 

2014 revealed that Merida and 

others submitted and approved 

false invoices from subcontractors, 

allowing Merida to steal more 

than $500,000 in funds from 

the Choctaw Nation. He was 

found guilty on a variety of theft 

charges and is currently awaiting 

sentencing.

“Through interviews, analysis 

of bank records, and other 

investigative techniques, we were 

able to identify a lot of assets that 

were fraudulently given to Merida,” 

Youngblood said. “There was an 

excessive waste of the tribe’s money 

because of a few people’s greed.” 

And as the investigation went on, 

Youngblood realized that he, too, 

was a victim.

“I understood what all that money 

could have been used for—

maybe to help with my children’s 

education or the educational needs 

of other members’ children or many 

other worthy tribal causes,” he said. 

“So much good could have been 

done with that money.”

He added that “a lot of honest 

companies got squeezed out” 

because they didn’t pay to play, 

“and those companies’ employees 

have families that live here in 

Southeastern Oklahoma, and they 

were robbed of an opportunity to 

have gainful employment because 

of these individuals.”

Youngblood believes this 

investigation should send a 

message—“not only here in the 

Choctaw Nation but for all the 

tribes in the region: If you’re going 

to do work for the Indians, it better 

be honest and done fairly. If not, we 

will find you and we will prosecute 

you.”

Public Corruption

FBI Agent Helps Protect His Native American Community

04.07.15

FBI Agent Jeff Youngblood works Indian 

Country matters in Oklahoma—including 

cases involving the Choctaw Nation, of 

which he is an enrolled member.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

pcindiancountry.
32 The FBI Story 2015 04.10.15

Violent Gangs

Kidnapping Crew Targeted Criminal Community

The Dominican street gang in 

Lawrence, Massachusetts must 

have thought they had the perfect 

illegal enterprise: kidnap drug 

dealers, bookmakers, and money 

launderers, steal their cash and 

drugs, and then hold them for 

ransom—knowing that since the 

victims were themselves criminals, 

they and their families would likely 

never report the abductions.

The gang members—known as 

joloperros, or stick-up guys—were 

organized, armed, and violent: 

They often tortured their victims, 

sometimes with hot irons.

“They targeted anyone they 

thought they could make large 

sums of money from,” said Special 

Agent Jeff Wood, coordinator of 

the North Shore Gang Task Force, 

one of the FBI’s three Safe Streets 

Task Forces in Massachusetts.

The kidnappings began around 

2010 in and around Lawrence, 

a largely Hispanic city and gang 

stronghold located about 20 miles 

north of Boston. The North 

Shore Gang Task Force—made 

up of the FBI, the Massachusetts 

State Police, the Lawrence Police 

Department, the Massachusetts 

Department of Corrections, and 

other local law enforcement 

agencies—worked with the Drug 

Enforcement Agency to build a 

case against the crew.

“The victims and their families 

would not report the crimes,” 

Wood said, “because they didn’t 

want to admit that, yes, they were 

selling drugs or laundering money. 

And some of the victims were in 

the country illegally.”

The joloperros mainly targeted 

drug dealers, and their methods 

were sophisticated. They used 

GPS devices to track individuals, 

conducted surveillance to learn 

targets’ routes and movements, and 

also tried to identify dealers’ stash 

houses

“They targeted anyone 

they thought they could 

make large sums of 

money from.”

“They weren’t targeting street-level 

dealers, but rather suppliers,” Wood 

said. Some of the victims were 

selling multiple kilos of heroin and 

cocaine on a monthly basis.

When the actual abductions took 

place, the crew would grab the 

victim, duct tape his hands, and 

put a cover over his head. Victims 

were taken to safe houses, where 

they were often tortured, and large 

ransoms were demanded from their 

families.

“When we got word of a 

kidnapping, we would go to 

the family and they wouldn’t 

cooperate,” Wood said. But 

over time, using a variety of 

investigative techniques such as 

confidential sources, controlled 

drug buys, and other means, most 

of the crew was dismantled.

Last month, after previously 

pleading guilty to a violent 2012 

kidnapping in which a $100,000 

ransom was demanded, Edgar 

Acevedo was sentenced to 16 years 

in prison.

Since the task force investigation 

began more than two years ago, 

approximately 20 individuals 

have been charged in federal 

court—including some of the 

gang’s leaders—with kidnappingrelated offenses or for crimes 

associated with the Lawrencebased kidnapping crews. To date, 

nine people have pled guilty to 

conspiracy to commit kidnapping, 

and four others have pled guilty to 

firearm-related offenses. Several 

joloperros are awaiting trial.

“At one point, these kidnapping 

crews had a very large presence 

in Lawrence,” Wood said, “but 

their presence has decreased 

dramatically thanks to law 

enforcement intervention.” He 

noted that many people associate 

violent gangs with Los Angeles 

or the Southwest Border, “but 

gangs are just as violent and just as 

dangerous in upstate Maine as they 

are in Los Angeles. They lower the 

quality of life in the community 

they are operating in, no matter 

where that community is.”
04.19.15 The FBI Story 2015 33

As Oklahoma City and the 

country prepare to mark 

the 20th anniversary 

of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal 

Building bombing on April 19, 

1995, FBI.gov looks back at the 

deadliest act of homegrown 

The Oklahoma City Bombing

20 Years Later

Left: The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah 

Federal Building in Oklahoma City on 

April 19, 1995 was the deadliest act of 

homegrown terrorism in U.S. history, 

resulting in the deaths of 168 people. In 

a matter of seconds, the blast destroyed 

most of the nine-story building, incinerated 

nearby vehicles, and damaged or destroyed 

more than 300 other buildings.

terrorism in the nation’s history 

through the eyes of special agents 

who were there and a survivor who 

continues to honor the victims by 

sharing her remarkable story.

The Ryder truck packed with 

nearly 5,000 pounds of explosives 

that Timothy McVeigh parked 

in front of the Murrah building 

that Wednesday morning killed 

168 people, among them 19 

children—most of whom were in 

the building’s daycare center. The 

youngest victim was 4 months old. 

Hundreds of all ages were injured.

In a matter of seconds, the blast 

destroyed most of the nine-story 

concrete and granite building, and 

the surrounding area looked like 

a war zone. Dozens of cars were 

incinerated, and more than 300 

nearby buildings were damaged 

or destroyed. Immediately, the 

FBI turned its full attention to 

Oklahoma City. The OKBOMB 

investigation, as it became known, 

remains one of the largest and most 

complex cases the FBI has ever 

undertaken.

‘I Never Thought it Was 

a Gas Explosion’

When the bomb went 

off, Special Agent Jim 

Norman was at his 

desk at the FBI’s Oklahoma City 

Field Office, located about five 

miles northwest of the Murrah 

building. “It shook everything 

in the office,” Norman recalled. 

“Files fell off people’s desks where 

they were piled up.” One of the 

Bureau’s senior bomb technicians, 

Norman, now retired, rushed into 

his supervisor’s office. “We looked 

toward downtown Oklahoma City 

and you could see a tan cloud of 

debris rising from that area. I told 

my supervisor, ‘I think a bomb 

detonated downtown. We need to 

go down there.’”

This article is a special extended 

feature commemorating the 20th 

anniversary of the 1995 bombing 

of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal 

Building in Oklahoma City.
34 The FBI Story 2015

In his car on the way to the scene, 

a local radio station was reporting 

that the blast might have been 

caused by a natural gas explosion, 

but in his gut, Norman knew it 

was a bomb from the sound he had 

heard. “I never thought it was a gas 

explosion,” he said. Less than 15 

minutes after the blast, he parked 

two blocks away from the Murrah 

building. It was as close as he could 

get because of all the debris.

“I ran over to where all the smoke 

was,” he said. “As I was heading 

that way, a number of people were 

running in the opposite direction. I 

approached the north entrance and 

couldn’t believe what I was seeing. 

The whole front of the building 

had been torn off. On the left side 

of the building, in some places 

the flooring had been torn away 

all the way to the back wall. That 

building was 200 feet wide and 80 

feet deep.”

‘Where Are You Guys?’

Florence Rogers, head of the 

Federal Employees Credit 

Union, was in her office 

on the third floor of the Murrah 

building that morning. Seated 

around her desk were eight credit 

union employees, some of whom 

Rogers had known and worked 

with for decades. Although they 

were having a business meeting, 

spring was in the air, and there 

was talk of the women’s colorful 

seasonal dresses.

When the bomb went off at 9:02, 

Rogers was thrown backward onto 

the floor, her desk and other office 

items landing all around her. When 

she looked up, every one of her 

colleagues had vanished. “I started 

hollering, ‘Where are you guys? 

Where are you guys?’” 

In the next moments, before 

building and car alarms triggered 

by the blast began to howl, before 

fire engine and police sirens wailed, 

and before cries rang out from 

the trapped and injured, Rogers 

experienced an “eerie silence.” 

Alone on a narrow ledge—all that 

was left of her office floor—below 

which was a deadly, open pit, she 

wondered where her colleagues 

had gone. She wondered why she 

could see daylight where walls and 

ceilings should have been. And 

later, after being helped to safety, 

she would wonder at the miracle of 

her own survival on a day when so 

many had perished.

‘You Immediately 

Snapped Your Head

Toward Town’

Special Agent Barry Black 

was at Tinker Air Force 

Base that morning tracking 

a fugitive in a stock manipulation 

case he had been working on for 

four years. Black was trained as 

an accountant, but since joining 

the Bureau seven years earlier, 

he had become a sniper on the 

SWAT team and had deployed 

to the Waco standoff in 1993—

the event that had galvanized 

Timothy McVeigh’s hatred of the 

federal government. Black was 

also the newest bomb tech in the 

Oklahoma City Division.

Special Agent Jim Norman (seated, left) 

was one of the first FBI agents to arrive at 

the Murrah building after the explosion. He 

was appointed to supervise the OKBOMB 

investigation.

Florence Rogers was head of the Federal 

Employees Credit Union. When the bomb 

went off, she was in her third-floor office at 

the Murrah building holding a meeting with 

eight of her employees. She was the only 

one in her office who survived. (AP Photo)

Special Agent Barry Black in 1995.

Standing before the massive, 

tangled pit of debris and bodies, 

Norman began thinking like 

the seasoned bomb tech and 

investigator that he was. And a 

thought occurred to him: “‘Our 

lives have changed forever,’—

because I knew the magnitude of 

what we were facing.”

04.19.15
04.19.15 The FBI Story 2015 35

“There was a big cloud of smoke 

already blowing to the north,” 

Black said. “We had no idea what 

had happened,” but they knew 

it was a major event. “So the 

emergency part took precedence 

over a white-collar crime,” he 

explained, and they quickly 

returned to the office. The 

fugitive’s arrest would have to wait 

until another day.

After a discussion with his 

supervisors, Black, who is currently 

approaching his 27th year with 

the Bureau, drove to the blast 

site to help determine what had 

happened. When he saw the 

destruction at the Murrah building, 

there was an even greater urgency 

to his mission, because his wife, 

Kelly, was a federal employee who 

worked there. In the days before 

most people had cell phones, he 

said, “I wasn’t sure where she was.”

About 90 minutes later, Black’s 

wife was able to leave a message 

on his pager that she was safe. She 

and two colleagues had emerged 

from the Murrah building garage 

at 9 o’clock and had driven in front 

of the Ryder truck on their way to 

the highway. Black understood that 

had his wife been delayed by a mere 

two minutes, she never would have 

survived.

Misguided Revolutionary

Timothy McVeigh targeted 

the Murrah building largely 

because it was full of U.S. 

government workers like Barry 

Black’s wife. Fourteen federal 

agencies had offices there, and 

98 of the victims worked for the 

federal government. 

McVeigh, a decorated Army 

veteran, believed the government 

was attacking Americans’ personal 

rights and freedoms. His anger 

hardened on April 19, 1993, when 

76 men, women, and children 

died in a fire during an armed 

standoff with federal agents in 

Waco, Texas. Many mistakenly 

believed that federal officers had 

set the fire. McVeigh, who visited 

Waco during the standoff, said that 

the government had declared war 

against the American people. He 

planned to fire the first shot in a 

new American revolution.

He and his partner had received a 

tip that their white-collar fugitive 

was on the military base, and as 

they waited in their car for him, 

the bomb went off.

They were seven linear miles 

from the Murrah building. “I 

remember it was very loud and you 

immediately snapped your head 

toward town,” he said. “It was 

loud enough where you could see 

the people outside hunker down 

because f the noise.” It was later 

determined that the blast registered 

3.2 on the Richter scale–very much 

like an earthquake.

Timothy McVeigh’s hatred of the federal 

government intensified in 1993 after an 

armed standoff in Waco, Texas resulted in 

the deaths of 76 people. McVeigh went to 

Waco during the standoff and handed out 

anti-government literature.

Left: Barry Black, Special Agent, Oklahoma 

City FBI

Members of the OKBOMB Task Force were 

issued special credentials.
36 The FBI Story 2015

‘Jump In and Work as 

Hard as You Could’

Bob Ricks was the special 

agent in charge of the FBI’s 

Oklahoma City Division 

in 1995. On the morning of 

April 19, he and many of his law 

enforcement colleagues were signed 

up for a charity golf event about 40 

miles east of downtown sponsored 

by the Oklahoma State Bureau 

of Investigation. His counterparts 

from the Secret Service and U.S. 

Marshals Service were there as 

well.

“We were just getting ready to tee 

off, and all of a sudden everyone’s 

phones started going off. I got a call 

from my secretary saying that there 

had been some type of a bombing 

down at the Murrah Federal 

Building—didn’t know how bad it 

was.”

Ricks, currently chief of the police 

department in Edmond, a town 

just outside Oklahoma City, had 

a long career with the Bureau and 

had previously helped establish a 

Joint Terrorism Task Force in New 

Jersey. He understood bombing 

incidents, and they usually turned 

out to be small pipe bombs that did 

minor damage. In his experience, 

most individuals who carried out 

such attacks were trying to make a 

statement, not kill anyone.

Ricks got back to Oklahoma City 

in a hurry and remembers one of 

his assistants asking him, “‘Bob, 

you know what today is?’ At first 

I didn’t know what he was talking 

about. And he said, ‘Today is 

April 19,’ which was the last day 

of the standoff at Waco. That 

immediately set off an antenna that 

we probably had a reprisal that had 

taken place as a result of the Waco 

situation.”

With the bomb squad and other 

resources already dispatched to the 

scene, Ricks set about standing up 

a command post. There was never 

a question that the FBI would take 

charge of the case.

“My first job was to get together 

with the leadership of the fire 

department and the police 

department and make sure we had 

a unified command,” Ricks said. 

He arranged a meeting with the 

chiefs of the Oklahoma City police 

and fire departments outside what 

was left of the Murrah building, 

which looked as if it might topple 

at any moment.

Bob Ricks, Former Special Agent in Charge, 

Oklahoma City

Bob Ricks (left) was the special agent in charge of the Oklahoma City Field Office in 1995. 

Former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh (right) visited Oklahoma City after the bombing.

04.19.15
The FBI Story 2015 37

After the meeting, he recalled, 

“We all went back to doing what 

we were doing, and I kind of stood 

there in front of that building by 

myself for a while, and all I could 

do is think to myself, ‘Lord this was 

overwhelming, and where do you 

start?’ And I basically said a prayer. 

‘Obviously I can’t make it right, but 

hopefully we can find justice in this 

process.’”

By mid-afternoon, a telephone 

company provided space near the 

blast site for a command center, 

complete with 190 phone lines. 

The investigation was in full 

swing. FBI photographers took 

pictures, bomb techs looked for 

secondary explosives, SWAT 

provided security, evidence 

technicians fanned out looking for 

evidence, and agents interviewed 

witnesses and began to track down 

information and send leads to other 

FBI offices. At FBI Headquarters 

in Washington, officials began 

diverting resources to help the 120 

special agents based in Oklahoma 

City.

At the command center, Ricks 

said, “The first day or so, it 

really was chaotic. What you 

are trying to do is bring some 

sense of order to the chaos. We 

started immediately trying to 

work together.” The command 

center essentially became another 

FBI field office. “From the basic 

infrastructure of getting telephones 

together, of trying to get together 

a records management system, 

of coordinating with the fire 

department to get our evidence 

response teams on the ground, to 

seal off the inner perimeter, to have 

an outer perimeter, to have control 

of the press as to how we were 

going to handle messaging. And 

so you really start from the ground 

up. Building this infrastructure, 

that was necessary, and at the 

same time integrating all of these 

different agencies—local police, 

local fire, local sheriffs, federal 

agencies—into this process.”

“I think we all understood the 

enormity of what it was,” he added. 

“To keep your sanity, the best thing 

you could do was jump in and work 

as hard as you could to try to get 

this thing solved.”

The Path to McVeigh

Evidence quickly led 

to Timothy McVeigh. 

Investigators determined the 

explosion was caused by a truck 

bomb and collected vehicle parts 

with telltale bomb damage. A 

vehicle identification number led to 

a Ryder rental facility in Junction 

City, Kansas. On April 20, the FBI 

released a sketch of the man who 

rented the truck. The owner of 

the Dreamland Motel in Junction 

City recognized him as a guest 

registered as Timothy McVeigh.

A day after the bombing, the FBI released 

a sketch of a suspect who rented a Ryder 

truck in Kansas. That suspect was Timothy 

McVeigh.

Within hours of the bombing, the FBI established a command center a few blocks from the Murrah building to coordinate recovery and investigative 

efforts and to integrate the local, state, and federal agencies that were assisting. “The first day or so, it really was chaotic,” said Bob Ricks, then 

special agent in charge of the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division. “What you are trying to do is bring some sense of order to the chaos.”

A search of police records showed 

that McVeigh was in the Noble 

County jail in Perry, Oklahoma. 

A state trooper had stopped him 

shortly after the bombing because 

his car was missing a license plate. 

He arrested McVeigh for carrying 

a concealed firearm, and McVeigh 

was still in custody when the FBI 

called.

McVeigh used a Michigan 

address when he checked into the 

Dreamland Motel. He listed the 

same address—which belonged to 

a brother of Terry Nichols—when 

04.19.15
38 The FBI Story 2015

he was arrested shortly after the 

bombing. Terry Nichols was one 

of McVeigh’s Army buddies also 

known for his anti-government 

sentiments, and the investigation 

showed that Nichols helped 

McVeigh buy and steal the material 

for the bomb and helped mix the 

ingredients.

Before the bombing, McVeigh spent 

time in Arizona with Michael 

Fortier, another Army friend, 

where he shared his plans and 

described how he would place 

the barrels of explosives in the 

truck. To help finance the plot, 

Fortier sold guns that McVeigh and 

Nichols had stolen.

Investigators discovered plenty 

of other evidence. The clothes 

McVeigh was wearing when he 

was arrested—along with a set 

of earplugs in his pocket—tested 

positive for chemical residue used 

in the explosive. Jim Norman said 

of McVeigh’s clothes: “When we 

sent that clothing back to the FBI 

Laboratory and they did a chemical 

analysis test, they determined 

that he was basically the explosive 

equivalent of a powdered sugar 

donut.”

McVeigh’s fingerprints were also 

found on a receipt at Nichols’ home 

for 2,000 pounds of fertilizer used 

to make the bomb. Other evidence 

linked McVeigh and Nichols 

to each other and to different 

elements of the crime.

No Stone Unturned

While the OKBOMB 

investigation quickly 

turned to McVeigh, 

Nichols, and Fortier, the FBI 

initially had no idea how many 

people were involved. In 32 

months, the Bureau logged 

more than 1 million hours of 

investigative work through the 

OKBOMB Task Force. During that 

time, investigators conducted more 

than 28,000 interviews, followed 

more than 43,450 investigative 

leads, collected nearly 3.5 tons of 

evidence, searched 1 billion records 

in 26 databases, and reviewed more 

than 13.2 million hotel registration 

records, 3.1 million Ryder truck 

rental records, and 682,000 airline 

reservation records.

In August 1995, McVeigh and 

Nichols were charged with the 

same 11 federal crimes:

• Conspiring to use a weapon of 

mass destruction to kill people 

and destroy federal property;

• Using a weapon of mass 

destruction that caused death 

and injury;

• The malicious destruction of 

federal property by explosives; 

and

• Eight counts of first-degree 

murder of federal law 

enforcement officers.

Timothy McVeigh was arrested 90 minutes after the bombing when an alert trooper noticed that his vehicle (left) did not have a license plate. 

The axle from the truck bomb (center) contained an identifying number (center, inset) that was traced back to the Ryder truck McVeigh rented 

in Kansas. Special Agent Barry Black (right) inspects parts of the Ryder truck that were collected as evidence, which are now archived at the 

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.

Terry Nichols Michael Fortier

Flanked by FBI agents—including Jim 

Norman, left—Timothy McVeigh is taken 

into federal custody.

04.19.15
The FBI Story 2015 39

adding, “If you talk to those in 

the community around here, 

the FBI probably has one of the 

best relationships with any city 

in the country. Part of that is 

us all working together on the 

bombing and feeling a sense of 

accomplishment that we were able 

to put this all together in a very 

successful fashion.”

Jim Norman, one of the first FBI 

agents to arrive at the Murrah 

building after the explosion, was 

assigned as the lead investigator for 

OKBOMB. “I am very proud of the 

work that everybody did,” he said. 

“We had all these people that came 

together, and they did the very best 

they could.” He added that the 

bombing still represents a defining 

moment for Oklahoma citizens. 

“When you try to talk about 

something that happened, that was 

before the bombing or that was 

after the bombing. It’s a measure of 

time like BC and AD.”

The current FBI special agent in 

charge in Oklahoma City, James 

Finch, agrees. “One of the things 

you become acutely aware of,” he 

said, “is that you can talk to a 

small child or a very elderly person 

A federal jury found McVeigh 

guilty of all counts on June 2, 

1997. He was executed on June 

11, 2001. A different jury found 

Nichols guilty of conspiracy and 

eight counts of manslaughter 

on December 23, 1997. He was 

sentenced to life in prison. Fortier 

testified against McVeigh and was 

sentenced to 12 years in prison for 

failing to report the planned attack 

and for lying to the FBI.

‘The System Worked as 

it Should’

“The whole event was 

absolutely senseless,” 

Barry Black said. “I 

James Finch, Special Agent in Charge, Oklahoma City FBI

Special Agent Barry Black is nearing his 

27th year with the FBI.

Bob Ricks is currently the chief of police in 

Edmond, Oklahoma.

Retired Special Agent Jim Norman was the 

lead investigator for OKBOMB.

have given a lot of presentations 

at various schools and universities, 

and depending on the age of the 

folks, they always want to know, 

‘Why did it happen?’ or, ‘Why did 

it happen here?’ If the goal was 

to overthrow the government or 

change the government, well, in 

our country you do that every four 

years—peacefully. Power changes 

hands. This didn’t work out as 

McVeigh and Nichols had hoped it 

would.”

Black is satisfied with the 

soundness of the American judicial 

system. “I’m proud that the system 

worked as it should,” he said. “The 

subjects were caught, the evidence 

was collected and presented. The 

jury heard it and made its decision, 

and the law was carried out. So 

regardless of the scale and size of 

an event, it can be addressed and 

handled appropriately.”

In the end, despite the evil that 

some individuals are capable of, 

Black believes “good folks tend to 

prevail.”

Bob Ricks, too, is proud of the 

OKBOMB investigation. “I think 

it’s one of the finest hours in 

the history of the FBI,” he said, 

04.19.15
40 The FBI Story 2015

in Oklahoma, and what you will 

find, even though their way of 

expressing it will be vastly different, 

is they will have an awareness of 

the bombing. If it’s a child and 

they weren’t born at that time, 

it’s almost like it was passed on.” 

Through school programs and 

visits to the museum and memorial 

site, he explained, “They know 

it’s a part of their existence as 

Oklahomans.”

Finch, originally from Nebraska 

but who now calls Oklahoma 

home, pointed out the resiliency 

of residents who responded to the 

bombing with a can-do attitude 

and heartfelt appreciation and 

support for all those who came 

from out of town to help. That 

collective good will became known 

as the Oklahoma Standard.

‘Enormous Generosity 

and Kindness’

Dr. William Fabbri is a 

medical doctor and the 

director of the operational 

medicine program at the FBI. At 

the time of the bombing, he was 

not an FBI employee. He was 

an emergency medical physician 

working in a trauma center in 

Baltimore, Maryland, and he was 

also a member of the urban search 

and rescue program administered 

by the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency. Fabbri 

and other doctors teamed with 

firefighters to form collapse rescue 

teams.

Although the team’s primary 

mission was to aid with natural 

disasters, not man made ones, they 

were called to Oklahoma City after 

the bombing. “I don’t think any of 

us ever thought we’d be involved 

with a crime scene or an incident 

of this magnitude,” Fabbri said. But 

46 hours after the explosion, he got 

a firsthand look at the devastation 

wrought by domestic terrorism.

“It was an awful, horrific event,” 

he said, “but the response of 

the people of Oklahoma and 

Oklahoma City was absolutely 

phenomenal.” Fabbri’s experience, 

like those of so many first 

responders, speaks volumes about 

the Oklahoma Standard.

“On the first day of working, all 

of sudden we have civilians being 

escorted in by law enforcement, 

offering food, and we have 

representatives from the cellular 

companies handing us these big, 

brick-like cell phones that you had 

back in ‘95—because not everyone 

had one in those days—and 

saying, ‘Use these for whatever 

you need them for, and we will be 

by periodically to change out the 

batteries.’”

After his first 12-hour shift inside 

the Murrah building, Fabbri joined 

many of the responders who were 

walking back to where they were 

staying. “What started to happen 

over a period of the first few days,” 

he said, “is that when we exited the 

security cordon, there were people 

waiting to greet us, talk with us, 

and thank us. And the longer we 

were there, the more of that there 

was.”

The first responders and 

investigators learned they could 

always count on residents preparing 

food for them—available at any 

time of day or night, since work 

went on at the site around the 

clock.

“After a few days,” Fabbri said, 

“you learned to be very careful 

about comments in public about 

things that you didn’t have.” A 

dog handler, for example, was 

approached by a local resident who 

casually asked what kind of food 

the dog ate. “Within a very short 

time, the command post called and 

said, ‘There are 40 bags of dog food 

here for your team.’”

One night waiting in line for 

dinner, Fabbri commented that 

he should have brought a pair of 

sneakers with him—he had only 

packed two pairs of work boots. 

A few hours later, “someone was 

walking around trying to find the 

firefighter who needed sneakers. 

Someone had gone to a shoe store 

and showed up with a bunch of 

sizes, and it was really remarkable. 

The people were so gracious and 

willing to help.” Dr. William Fabbri, Director of Operational Medicine, FBI

04.19.15
The FBI Story 2015 41

Oklahoma City that I suspect still 

exists to this day.”

Until the bombing, Fabbri had 

never considered a career with 

the FBI. Three years later, he 

joined the Bureau. “My first 

day,” he recalled, “my wife gave 

me a photograph of what is now 

called the Survivor Tree, which 

is immediately across the street 

from the north side of where the 

Murrah building stood. If you look 

at video from that time, there is a 

whole parking lot full of cars that 

are on fire, and the tree is actually 

in that parking lot. It was a surprise 

to the locals that the tree wasn’t 

destroyed, and it became a sort of 

talisman. The day I started working 

here, my wife gave me a framed 

picture of the tree with a quotation 

that basically says that experiences 

like this tend to concentrate the 

mind on every good thing. And it’s 

on the wall right next to my desk.”

That fact was all the more amazing 

considering that the majority of 

Oklahoma City residents were 

either victims of the bombing or 

had friends or family who were 

victims. “It was a fascinating 

duality between this enormous 

generosity and kindness of the 

people and this tremendous sadness 

and pain that they were going 

through,” Fabbri said, “and the two 

were connected. Partly as the result 

of that, a bond developed between 

the rescuers and the people of 

Cathy Keating, wife of Oklahoma’s then Governor Frank Keating, visited with investigators and first responders to thank them for their efforts 

after the bombing. The outpouring of support and generosity shown to law enforcement and responders from residents became known as the 

Oklahoma Standard.

04.19.15
42 The FBI Story 2015

A collapse rescue team from Maryland was one of many teams from around the country to offer assistance after the bombing.

Immediately after the explosion, FBI personnel were dispatched to the Murrah building to begin the painstaking process of collecting evidence, 

even as firemen and other first responders worked to recover victims and stabilize the area.

04.19.15
The FBI Story 2015 43

‘It’s About Remembering’

Today, on the site of what 

was once the Murrah 

building, there is a fitting 

memorial and museum honoring 

the significance of that tragic day.

 “The memorial is really built to 

remember those who were killed 

and those who survived and those 

who were changed forever,” said 

Kari Watkins, executive director 

of the Oklahoma City National 

Memorial & Museum. “One of 

our missions was to build a place 

that would teach the moral of the 

story and the tenderness of the 

response.”

The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was dedicated on April 19, 2000, five years to the day after the bombing. “The memorial 

is really built to remember those who were killed and those who survived and those who were changed forever,” said Executive Director Kari 

Watkins. Two towers on either side of a reflecting pool where the Murrah building stood show the time immediately before and after the 

explosion. In the museum, visitors can see a room of twisted metal and concrete fragments left untouched after the bombing, along with a 

variety of interactive exhibits. In the memorial area, there is a chair for each of the 168 victims. Between the memorial and museum stands the 

Survivor Tree, which survived the blast and subsequent fires and symbolizes the notion that good will always triumph over evil.

Kari Watkins, Executive Director, Oklahoma City National Memorial

04.19.15
44 The FBI Story 2015

“A building was attacked to try 

to defeat the government,” she 

explained, “and what happened 

was a unity like none we have 

seen. People came together and 

worked together and said, ‘The 

government will survive.’ And after 

two days, the federal credit union 

reopened and federal agencies 

reopened, and that’s a part of the 

story that we want to retell: Even 

though people try to bring down 

the very government we believe in, 

we will survive, and it will be that 

same government that will defend 

the criminals and prosecute the 

criminals at the same time. And 

that’s a pretty remarkable story.”

Watkins added that the museum 

and memorial teach each new 

generation about the bombing and 

the response to it so that future 

generations are less likely to repeat 

the same mistakes. “This place 

is as relevant today as it was 20 

years ago,” she said. “It’s about 

remembering.”

Survivor Florence Rogers believes she has a responsibility to bear witness to the tragedy so that no one will forget it.

04.19.15

‘The Whole World was 

Touched’

Perhaps as much as anyone, 

Florence Rogers symbolizes 

the need—and the duty—to 

remember.

The former head of the credit 

union, who survived while the 

eight women in her office only a 

few feet away were killed, embodies 

the strength, spirit, and good will 

that give life to the concept of the 

Oklahoma Standard.

She tells her story as way to honor 

the dead and to ensure that people 

will remember the good that came 

from the bombing as well as the 

tragedy. “The whole world was 

touched by what happened in 

Oklahoma,” she said.

 “I had 32 full-time employees. 

I lost 18 of those 32; several of 

the others were seriously injured. 

Those 18 that I lost had worked 

for me 128 years total tenure. 

They were like my daughters, 

some of them,” she said. “It hurts 

to see their families, and here I 

am having great-grandbabies, and 

those families won’t ever have that 

opportunity. I soothe myself, I guess 

you’d say, by saying that God was 

not ready for me that day.”

“There’s not a day goes by that I’m 

not reminded of it,” Rogers said of 

the bombing, but remembering and 

telling her story is a way to give 

back to the community, “and I find 

a lot of healing in doing that.” She 

added that it’s “rewarding to see 

the family members. I remember 

when I got a call from one of the 

mothers who had lost her daughter, 

and she said, ‘Florence, I’m so glad 

that you made it out of there.’ And 

I started sobbing, because she gave 

it all, and she was glad that I had 

made it out.”

One of the most important lessons 

Rogers learned, she said, “is how 

short life can be. My advice is, 

don’t ever miss an opportunity to 

tell those that you love that you 

love them, because you never know 

when you might not come home 

from that ordinary day.”

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/okbomb20.
04.24.15 The FBI Story 2015 45

Justice for Victims

Restitution Ordered in Decade-Long Ponzi Scheme

himself, a potential investor, and 

someone he falsely claimed was a 

VA representative. The purpose 

of these calls was to convince 

investors that he really did have 

a significant business relationship 

with the VA and that their money 

would be safe with him.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t. And while 

Wanakuwatte made payments to 

some of the earlier investors as a 

way of pacifying them, eventually 

the scam began to implode as more 

investors and lenders wanted what 

was owed them and Wanakuwatte 

couldn’t make the payments.

The impact on the victims in this 

case was often devastating. For 

individual investors, Wanakuwatte 

had encouraged them to obtain 

their investment money from the 

equity in their homes or from 

their retirement accounts—as a 

result, many lost everything. Losses 

incurred by the victim financial 

institutions often threatened their 

financial stability and reputations. 

And while his victims suffered, 

Wannakuwatte purchased luxury 

homes, vehicles, airplanes, and 

even a professional tennis team.

The lesson learned from a case 

like this? Do your due diligence 

when thinking about investing your 

hard-earned money.

was able to piece together how the 

scam worked.

Wannakuwatte told his victims 

that his Sacramento-based 

companies—International 

Manufacturing Group (IMG) and 

Relyaid Global Health Care—

were involved in the international 

manufacture and sale of latex 

gloves. He falsely claimed that his 

companies did tens of millions of 

dollars in business with federal 

agencies every year, most notably 

the Department of Veterans 

Affairs.

The impact on the

victims in this case was 

often devastating. 

As an aside, IMG actually had 

been in business for more than 25 

years and actually did sell gloves 

and other supplies to businesses, 

including medical providers. 

And he did a have contract with 

the VA, but it was only for up to 

$25,000 a year. The legitimate part 

of IMG had been losing money for 

years, and Wannakuwatte used 

some of the proceeds of his Ponzi 

scheme to keep the company 

afloat.

Wannakuwatte offered his investors 

several different bogus high-yield 

investment opportunities, most 

of which related to his purported 

relationship with the VA. And to 

prove his bona fides to potential 

investors and to lenders he was 

trying to borrow money from, he 

showed them phony corporate 

documents as well as actual 

personal and corporate tax returns 

where he had reported and paid 

taxes that falsely overstated his 

personal income and annual gross 

receipts and sales for IMG.

At times, Wanakuwatte set up 

fake conference calls between 

For more than decade, up until 

February 2014, Sacramento 

businessman (and Ponzi 

scammer extraordinaire) Deepal 

Wannakuwatte fooled his investors 

and his lenders into believing 

that he and his companies were 

worthy of their trust and their 

money. During that time frame, 

he fraudulently obtained in excess 

of $230 million from more than 

150 victims, including individuals, 

businesses, government agencies, 

and financial institutions. 

Wannakuwatte used this to fund 

other business ventures, make 

adequate payments to his investors 

and lenders to keep the scam going, 

and line his own pockets.

But on the heels of a joint 

investigation with the Internal 

Revenue Service-Criminal 

Investigation (IRS-CI) and the 

Department of Veterans Affairs 

Office of Inspector General 

(VA-OIG), Wannakuwatte—who 

pled guilty last year—got his 

comeuppance: He was ordered 

by a federal judge last month to 

pay millions in restitution to his 

victims. And he’ll be doing that 

from his jail cell, where he’ll be 

serving out his 20-year sentence.

The case began in September 2013, 

when our Sacramento office was 

contacted by a representative of 

one of Wannakuwatte’s business 

associates who thought he might be 

the victim of a Ponzi scheme. The 

FBI joined forces with IRS and VA 

investigators and began looking at 

Wannakuwatte, his businesses, and 

his financials.

And after several months of 

reviewing more than 10 years’ 

worth of business records, analyzing 

tax and other financial documents, 

conducting interviews of employees 

and victims, serving search 

warrants, etc., law enforcement 
46 The FBI Story 2015 04.28.15

Death Notification with Compassion

FBI Teams Up with Penn State to Offer Online Training

At an event held last week at FBI 

Headquarters, the Bureau—in 

conjunction with its partners at 

Penn State University (PSU)—

announced a new, no-cost training 

website for law enforcement 

agencies and other first responders 

responsible for notifying the family 

members of those who have died 

suddenly as a result of a crime, an 

accident, a suicide, or other type of 

incident.

This initiative was developed 

to better equip law enforcement 

personnel, victim advocates, 

coroners, medical examiners, 

chaplains, hospital staff, and others 

who find themselves delivering 

death notifications to do so with 

professionalism, dignity, and 

compassion. Not only because 

it’s the right thing to do, but 

also because the way a death 

notification is made can have a 

significant impact on a family’s 

grieving process and on potential 

future prosecutions. Director 

James Comey, who spoke at the 

event held during National Crime 

Victims’ Rights Week, said, “We 

have to be better when we intersect 

with people at the most painful 

moment in their entire lives.”

The training is entitled “We Regret 

to Inform You...” and can be 

accessed at www.deathnotification.

psu.edu.

Funded under the FBI’s Active 

Shooter Initiative, the 45 minute 

online learning module—available 

to first responders nationally 

and internationally—begins 

with an impact video featuring 

Karen Schmoyer, the mother of a 

Pennsylvania murder victim, who 

shares her personal experiences of 

when and how she was told of her 

15-year-old daughter’s death. The 

training also features descriptions 

of a proper four-step death 

notification process that includes 

extensive planning and preparation 

for the visit to the next of kin, 

the actual visit to deliver the 

notification, and the follow-up with 

the family. And it notes that death 

notifications should always be made 

in person, even if the family doesn’t 

live in the same jurisdiction.

The training—based on best 

practice standards and the latest 

research—covers a variety of 

considerations, including mass 

casualty events, foreign national 

victims living in the U.S. and 

American citizens living abroad, 

language barriers and other cultural 

differences, dealing with children 

and the elderly, the role of victim 

assistance, the media, and the 

impact of social media. It features 

a resource section with web links, 

a pocket guide for the death 

notification team to use, and a 

grief brochure that can be left with 

the family after the notification. 

A second video included in the 

training involves reenactments of 

proper death notifications.

An assessment tool is also part 

of the training, and once users 

receive a passing score, they will 

be issued a certificate. Questions 

on the training can be directed to 

deathnotification@leo.gov.

The FBI’s Critical Incident 

Response Group, Office of Partner 

Engagement, and Office for Victim 

Assistance worked together to 

develop this valuable training with 

representatives of PSU’s Police and 

Public Safety group and WPSU, 

the university’s public broadcasting 

entity.

According to Kathryn Turman, 

head of the FBI’s Office for 

Victim Assistance, there is a 

nationwide need to provide 

training for performing proper 

death notifications so that, echoing 

Comey sentiments, “victims and 

their families have the best of us 

at the worst of times.” She added, 

“We can never underestimate the 

power of carefully chosen words 

delivered compassionately.”

A scene from the demonstration video embedded in the “We Regret to Inform You...” online 

training module developed jointly by the FBI and Pennsylvania State University to provide 

assistance to law enforcement and other first responders charged with providing death 

notifications to victims’ next of kin.

FBI Director James Comey speaks at the 

event announcing the new online death 

notification training, held during National 

Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
The FBI Story 2015 47

Community Partners Recognized

2014 Director’s Community Leadership Awards

05.01.15

department to target violent 

offenders with focused messages 

about the impact of violence and 

offers to help them turn their 

lives around;

• A marketing professional in 

Indiana who uses her expertise to 

help law enforcement solve cold 

cases, bringing justice for victims 

and ensuring closure for families;

• A Florida doctor who works 

to facilitate cooperation and 

goodwill between the Sikh 

community and local law 

enforcement;

• A Kentucky man who works to 

provide a full range of services to 

refugee and immigrant families 

moving into the city to help 

them successfully integrate into 

the community;

• An Oklahoma woman who has 

worked tirelessly on behalf of 

consumers (particularly seniors)

who have been victimized by 

financial fraudsters; and

• A California organization that 

offers a variety of prevention and 

intervention programs to support 

victims of human trafficking.

Comey noted the diversity of the 

Director’s Community Leadership 

Awards recipients—the “diversity 

of good in America,” he called 

it. He added, “I was struck by 

how many different people from 

different backgrounds, with 

different heritages and different 

traditions, were all doing good but 

in so many different ways.”

is to “build partnerships with 

other people who are all about 

the protection of the community.” 

And second, the awards enable the 

Bureau to hold the recipients up as 

role models of “what being a citizen 

really looks like, what being part of 

a community really looks like.”

This year’s DCLA honorees, as in 

past years, were selected by FBI 

field offices and represent many 

different sectors—non-profits, 

business, military, academia, the 

clergy, behavioral sciences, the 

media, sports, and civic groups. 

But while their backgrounds may 

differ, they all have the same goal: 

Change their communities for 

the better and make a positive 

difference in the lives of other 

people.

Among those we honor today for 

their selfless actions:

• A first generation JapaneseAmerican—and Congressional 

Medal of Honor recipient—who 

mentors young students at a 

number of multi-cultural schools 

in New Mexico and inspires 

them to be good citizens;

• An anti-violence group in North 

Carolina that works with a police 

Creating community programs that 

empower at-risk youth. Providing 

support for refugees from war-torn 

countries. Training child protective 

services personnel, health care 

workers, and other professionals 

to provide assistance to victims of 

human trafficking. Strengthening 

the academic experience for 

students in struggling schools.

Today at FBI Headquarters, 57 

individuals and organizations 

from around the nation were 

recognized by Director James 

Comey for making extraordinary 

contributions—like those noted 

above—to education and to the 

prevention of crime and violence.

The Bureau has been presenting its 

Director’s Community Leadership 

Awards (DCLA) for more than 

two decades to ordinary citizens 

and organizations striving to build 

stronger, safer, and more cohesive 

communities.

Comey said that there are two 

reasons for presenting these 

awards every year. First, it’s an 

acknowledgement of the fact 

that part of the FBI’s work of 

contributing to the protection of 

communities around the country 

Left: Recipients of the 2014 Director’s 

Community Leadership Award pose with 

FBI Director James Comey.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/dcla2014.
48 The FBI Story 2015 05.05.15

Next Generation Crime Stats

UCR’s NIBRS Can Offer Fuller Crime Picture

“I believe that NIBRS is the 

pathway to better data—to richer 

data—that we can all use to have 

informed conversations about the 

most important issues we face.”

That statement by FBI Director 

James Comey regarding the 

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting 

Program’s National IncidentBased Reporting System, or 

NIBRS, was part of a speech he 

delivered recently to the National 

Organization of Black Law 

Enforcement Executives on the 

topic of law enforcement and race. 

To help address the issue more 

effectively, Comey called for better 

reporting of incidents where force 

is used by—as well as against—

police. He noted that current 

demographic data regarding 

officer-involved shootings is not 

consistently reported to the FBI’s 

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) 

Program because reporting is 

voluntary for police departments.

The desire to enhance the quality 

and quantity of the crime data 

collected throughout the nation 

is not new. Back in the 1980s, the 

Bureau—working directly with our 

law enforcement partners to help us 

improve UCR—took advantage of 

a rapidly changing data processing 

environment to create a system 

that would capture more detailed 

information on individual crime 

occurrences. All of this additional 

detail would, collectively, paint 

a more comprehensive picture of 

crime on a national level.

The Bureau is 

undertaking a number 

of efforts to educate 

law enforcement and 

others on the benefits of 

NIBRS and to increase 

participation in the 

program.

NIBRS was officially implemented 

in 1989. While there have been 

agencies submitting NIBRS data 

since then—mostly through their 

state UCR programs—still not 

enough do so to report on it from 

a national perspective. Explains 

Assistant Director Stephen Morris, 

who heads up our Criminal Justice 

Information Services (CJIS) 

Division, “The biggest challenge 

for any agency, whether you’re a 

local police department or a state 

program office, is the resources 

needed to convert systems to 

NIBRS and the personnel needed 

to oversee those systems.”

The Bureau is undertaking a 

number of efforts to educate law 

enforcement and others on the 

benefits of NIBRS and to increase 

participation in the program. For 

example, CJIS is in discussions with 

its multi-agency Advisory Policy 

Board about the possible expansion 

of data to include non-fatal line-of-
05.05.15 The FBI Story 2015 49

When used to its full potential, 

NIBRS will be able to identify with 

precision when and where crime 

takes place, the form it takes, and 

the characteristics of its victims 

and perpetrators. Armed with 

this information, law enforcement 

agencies can better define the 

resources they need and apply them 

where they’re needed most. And 

legislators, municipal planners, 

academicians, sociologists, 

advocacy groups, and the public 

gain access to more extensive crime 

data as well.

“And at the end of the day,” said 

Morris, “NIBRS will also be able 

to provide two important elements 

to law enforcement agencies that 

have become so important—

accountability and transparency.”

as the date, time, location, and 

circumstance of the incident as 

well as characteristics of the victim 

and offender—such as age, race, 

sex, ethnicity, and any information 

about their relationship to one 

another. “NIBRS has the ability 

to give you the who, what, when, 

where, and sometimes the why of a 

crime,” added Morris.

Another key difference between 

the SRS—which has been in 

operation since the 1930s—and 

NIBRS is this: Under SRS, during 

an incident involving multiple 

offenses, only the most serious 

crime is reported (i.e., a murder 

that took place during a robbery 

would be counted, but the robbery 

would not). But in NIBRS, both 

the murder and the robbery would 

be reported, giving us a more 

accurate accounting of crime.

duty shootings by law enforcement 

and about transitioning to a 

NIBRS-only data collection. We 

have also partnered with the 

Department of Justice’s Bureau of 

Justice Statistics on the National 

Crime Statistics Exchange, or 

NCS-X, to assist states and 

agencies interested in submitting 

their crime data through NIBRS. 

Said Morris, “You’re never going 

to have 18,000 agencies providing 

data, but if you have most of the 

major organizations and they’re 

geographically dispersed, we’ll be 

statistically sound as far a national 

picture of crime goes.”

Unlike UCR’s traditional Summary 

Reporting System (SRS), which 

is an aggregate monthly tally 

of crimes in just 10 offense 

categories, NIBRS captures—in 

24 categories—specific details 

about crimes and criminals, such 

NIBRS Summary Reporting System

Detailed data collected in 24 categories that include

52 offenses

Aggregate data collected in 10 offense categories

In multi-offense incident, up to 10 crimes are counted In multi-offense incident, hierarchy rule comes into 

play—only the most serious crime is counted

Incident-level details captured include the date, time, 

location and circumstance of the incident as well as 

characteristics of the victim and offender such as the 

age, sex, race, and ethnicity

Limited incident-level detail collected for homicides 

only

Provides a statistical dataset which provides an analysis 

of the attributes of crime, the correlation of crimes with 

other demographic factors, and a source of information 

on a variety of factors affecting crime rates

Does not provide

Detailed data enables agencies to find similarities in 

crime fighting problems across neighboring jurisdictions 

which allows them to work together to develop 

solutions/strategies

Does not enable

Flexible and adaptable to new classifications, 

modifications, and updates

Cumbersome and inflexible for updates and 

modifications

Side by Side UCR Comparison

National Incident-Based Reporting vs. Traditional Summary Reporting
50 The FBI Story 2015 05.08.15

Profits Over Safety

Egg Company’s Fraudulent Practices Put Public at Risk

The 81-year-old owner of an Iowa 

egg production company and 

his son, a top executive in the 

business, are going to prison for 

bribing a federal food inspector and 

distributing eggs that contained 

Salmonella bacteria, which caused 

hundreds of consumers to become 

sick.

A federal judge in Iowa last month 

ordered the Quality Egg company 

to pay a $6.79 million fine and 

sentenced company owner Austin 

“Jack” DeCoster, and his son, Peter 

DeCoster, who was Quality Egg’s 

chief operating officer, to serve 

time in prison.

During the spring and summer of 

2010, adulterated eggs produced 

and distributed by Quality Egg 

were linked to nearly 2,000 

consumer illnesses in a nationwide 

outbreak of salmonellosis that led 

to the recall of millions of eggs 

produced by the defendants.

“This was a classic case of putting 

profits over public safety,” said 

Special Agent Grant Permenter, 

who helped investigate the case 

from the FBI’s Omaha Division.

Quality Egg pled guilty to 

bribing an inspector of the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) to release eggs that had 

been retained for quality issues. 

The eggs had been “red tagged” 

for failing to meet minimum 

USDA quality grade standards. 

The company also pled guilty 

to introducing misbranded eggs 

into interstate commerce with 

the intent to defraud. From 

approximately 2006 until 2010, 

Quality Egg employees affixed 

labels to egg shipments that 

indicated false expiration dates 

with the intent to mislead state 

regulators and retail egg customers 

regarding the true age of the eggs.

In the government’s sentencing 

memorandum prepared for the 

court, it was noted that Quality 

Egg personnel had for years 

disregarded food safety standards 

and misled customers about the 

company’s food safety practices.

“It seems obvious that 

company profits

outweighed other

concerns.”

“As with a lot of fraud cases,” 

Permenter said, “Quality Egg’s 

crimes were committed over and 

over for years, and, eventually, 

these illegal practices caught up 

with them.” But this case was 

not just about deception, he said. 

“People got sick. There was a 

serious public safety issue here. 

Quality Egg’s business practices 

put the public at risk—at times, 

substantial risk.”

Permenter explained that the FBI 

assisted in the investigation led by 

the USDA’s Office of Inspector 

General and the Food and 

Drug Administration’s Office of 

Criminal Investigations. He added 

that the USDA inspector who 

received bribes from Quality Egg 

was in ill health and died before he 

could be charged. “The inspector 

was a federal employee. Had he 

lived,” Permenter said, “he would 

have been charged and, in all 

likelihood, would have gone to jail 

as well.”

In June 2014, Quality Egg and Jack 

and Peter DeCoster pled guilty to 

bribery and other charges related to 

adulterated egg distribution.

In the end, Permenter said, “it 

seems obvious that company 

profits outweighed other concerns.” 

By being able to circumvent the 

inspection process through bribes 

and not having to remove the 

tainted eggs from its inventory, 

the company saved a significant 

amount of money. “When you start 

bending your ethical and moral 

fibers because there are dollar signs 

in front of you,” he said, “a lot of 

bad things are likely to happen.”
05.12.15 The FBI Story 2015 51

Alabama Jeweler Sentenced in Federal Court

Caught Pawning His Own ‘Stolen’ Diamonds

the diamonds he was trying to 

pawn under a microscope and 

selected ones without inscriptions.

Between August and November 

2013, Gandy’s friend pawned two 

more large diamonds: a 3.45-carat 

one and a 2.16-carat one. Both 

stones were on the stolen inventory 

list Gandy had sent to his 

insurance company in 2004.

By November 2013, law 

enforcement had what it needed 

to go after Gandy. Armed with a 

search warrant, the FBI and the 

Vestavia Hills Police Department 

went to his Vestavia Hills home 

and recovered some of the jewelry 

he had previously reported stolen. 

As a bonus, we also found a cache 

of 99 weapons in the home—

Gandy, convicted on a federal 

mail fraud charge years earlier, 

was prohibited from possessing 

firearms.

Last month, as part of a plea 

agreement, Gandy was sentenced 

to a federal prison term on charges 

of money laundering related to the 

pawning of or property worth more 

than $10,000 that he had obtained 

through a criminal act. That 

criminal act? Wire fraud, which he 

committed nine years earlier when 

he submitted his phony insurance 

claim. He was also charged with 

the firearms violation.

We were never able to determine 

why Gandy waited so long to pawn 

the jewelry he had bogusly reported 

as stolen, but we do know that he 

told an acquaintance he wanted to 

open an additional jewelry store. 

However, thanks to the cooperative 

efforts of all the agencies involved, 

and the assistance of the U.S. 

Secret Service, we were able 

to uncover and hold Gandy 

accountable for his illegal and 

dishonest actions.

York and elsewhere for a “loose 

diamond sale” just before the 

holidays.

The total value of the merchandise 

supposedly stolen—reported by 

Gandy to his insurance company—

was $2.8 million. The insurance 

company paid out $2.6 million, the 

policy’s limit.

Investigators from the Mountain 

Brook Village Police Department 

took their suspicions to the 

Birmingham FBI Office and asked 

for assistance. But over time, 

investigative efforts weren’t able 

to uncover any hard evidence of 

what local police suspected. That 

is, until 2013, when we received a 

tip that Gandy had begun pawning 

some of the diamonds he had 

reported stolen nine years earlier.

His first attempt, in July 2013, 

was unsuccessful. Gandy had 

asked a friend to take a one-anda-half carat diamond to another 

jewelry store to pawn it. The very 

conscientious jeweler at that store 

asked for documentation and began 

looking at the stone a little too 

closely. Gandy had concerns that 

the diamond might bear a unique 

laser inscription (certain numbers, 

letters, logos, etc.) that would 

enable the jeweler to trace its 

origins—so the transaction was not 

completed. Going forward, Gandy 

made sure that he first examined 

A warning to criminals: No matter 

how long it takes or how careful 

you are, law enforcement will 

eventually come knocking.

Back in December 2004, local 

police responded to a report of an 

armed robbery at a jewelry store in 

Mountain Brook Village, Alabama. 

The account from the store’s 

owner—Joseph Harold Gandy—

was a frightening one: Two men 

had entered just before closing 

time, first asking to look at an 

expensive watch but then pulling 

out guns and threatening the 

owner and his employee. They tied 

up the employee, forced Gandy to 

empty the contents of the display 

cases into a bag, and then tied up 

the owner and fled the store with 

the stolen merchandise.

After a months-long investigation, 

the Mountain Brook Village 

Police Department began to 

think that the robbery may have 

been an inside job. Even though 

the store was located on a very 

busy street, there were no other 

witnesses to the crime. The 

robbers had conveniently taken 

the store’s security camera. Not 

long before the robbery, the owner 

had increased his insurance 

coverage. And most of the stolen 

jewelry items had recently been 

added to the store’s inventory, on 

consignment from jewelers in New 

Clockwise, from top left: Sapphire and diamond necklace with a 27-carat ceylon blue 

sapphire worth $91,000; pair of 2.5 carat platinum Asscher-cut diamond stud earrings 

and yellow gold jackets worth $75,000; platinum 2.39 carat solitaire diamond ring worth 

$36,500; loose 1.11 carat oval “blue diamond” worth $620,000.
52 The FBI Story 2015

Financial Fraud

Oklahoma Pastor Embezzled Nearly $1 Million from Community Center

05.15.15

The long-time pastor of the Greater 

Cornerstone Baptist Church in 

Tulsa, Oklahoma was recently 

sentenced to 37 months in prison 

for embezzling close to $1 million 

from a community center he 

helped establish to aid the church’s 

struggling neighborhood.

Willard Leonard Jones essentially 

had an “open checkbook” for the 

church and community center 

accounts, said Special Agent Kevin 

Legleiter, who investigated the 

case with Forensic Accountant 

Janetta Maxwell from the FBI’s 

Oklahoma City Division. The two 

have partnered on financial fraud 

investigations for 20 years, and 

after following the paper trail in 

this case, there was no doubt of the 

reverend’s criminal activity.

“People trusted him and assumed 

he was doing the right thing,” 

Legleiter said. Instead, Jones 

used approximately $933,000 

of community center money for 

his personal benefit—to pay his 

mortgage, buy luxury items like a 

Rolex watch, and to live a lavish 

lifestyle that included gambling and 

expensive hotel accommodations.

In 2004, Jones had the idea to build 

a community center not far from 

his church in a disadvantaged West 

Tulsa neighborhood called South 

Haven. The center would bring 

health care, a food and clothing 

bank, and other resources to the 

community. As the executive 

director of the Greater Cornerstone 

Community Development 

Project, Jones solicited donations 

from foundations, corporations, 

churches, and individuals—and 

raised about $7 million.

“It was his vision,” Maxwell said. 

“He started the project and raised 

funds for it.” But as the money 

came in, Jones began transferring 

funds from community center 

bank accounts to church bank 

accounts—and then transferred 

funds into his personal accounts.

After the center was completed in 

2012, Jones went to the board of 

directors and said he needed more 

money. Surprised by the lack of 

funds, the board sought an audit 

and learned about center funds 

being transferred into church 

accounts. Jones said he did that to 

get a tax exempt status for some of 

the contractors. When the board 

asked to audit the church accounts, 

Jones refused, and the board filed a 

police report.

The FBI was asked to assist in 

the investigation. Legleiter and 

Maxwell began a painstaking 

look at the financial transactions 

involved over a six-year period. In 

one account alone, Maxwell said, 

there were 10,000 entries that 

needed to be analyzed.

In 2013, Jones was charged 

federally with three counts of wire 

fraud and one count of filing a false 

tax return. Federal charges were 

brought because in the process of 

transferring funds from the center 

to the church and then to his own 

accounts, the funds were routed 

electronically through another 

state.

“When there is an interstate 

wire transfer that involves fraud,” 

Legleiter explained, “the FBI has 

jurisdiction over that. We also 

partnered with the IRS because if, 

in fact, Jones received money that 

he didn’t claim on his taxes, that 

would be a tax violation.”

Ultimately, Jones admitted 

that from 2007 to 2013, he 

misappropriated the funds and also 

failed to report nearly $400,000 

to the IRS. He was sentenced to 

prison in January.

Legleiter and Maxwell said a lack of 

internal controls on the part of the 

church and the community center 

enabled the embezzlement to go on 

for so long. Today, the community 

center—a beautiful facility that 

sits in the shadow of the Greater 

Cornerstone Baptist Church—is 

largely empty because there are no 

funds to operate it.

The Cornerstone Community Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma sits largely empty due to the 

embezzlement of nearly $1 million in funds meant for the project by the pastor who helped 

establish it.
The FBI Story 2015 53

Leader of Violent California Gang Sentenced

Operations Financed Through Drug and Firearms Trafficking

The jury at Tapia’s trial heard a lot 

about the activities of the Colonia 

Chiques—much of it from Tapia 

himself in the form of audio and 

video recordings captured by law 

enforcement. For instance:

• “I killed a lot of people [with my 

heroin], it was so strong....it was 

good advertisement.”

• “Whatever you need...I’m like 

the black market.”

• “I got good access to a lot of 

[illegal product]....as long as you 

know who you’re messing with.”

Confidential informants provided 

us with a wealth of critical 

information on Tapia. We also used 

undercover scenarios against him 

and his group—one in particular 

where an FBI agent posed as a 

senior member of the Italian Mafia 

and negotiated to have Tapia 

supply the Las Vegas syndicate of 

the Mob with a monthly supply of 

methamphetamine.

By the end of the trial, members of 

the jury were convinced enough to 

convict him on all 26 charges.

The prosecutions of Tapia and 

his associates are part of a larger 

joint effort by law enforcement 

to target the Colonia Chiques 

and other Ventura County street 

gangs affiliated with the Mexican 

Mafia. In 2011, a total of 11 

gang defendants were convicted 

in federal court and received 

sentences of up to 25 years each. 

And in November 2013, 17 more 

gang members were charged with 

drug distribution.

As a result of these actions, the 

streets of Ventura County are a 

little safer these days.

inside and outside prison walls, 

Hispanic gangs like the Colonia 

Chiques who align themselves with 

the Mexican Mafia get a cut of 

the group’s illegal profits and are 

promised protection when their 

members find themselves behind 

bars. Tapia’s relationship with the 

Mexican Mafia helped him import 

high-quality, often deadly drugs 

from Mexico.

In Ventura County and 

surrounding areas, Colonia 

Chiques members were involved 

in a wide variety of violent 

and serious crimes—murders, 

attempted murders, drive-by 

shootings, assaults with deadly 

weapons, drug trafficking, firearms 

trafficking, robberies, burglaries, 

and car thefts. The level of 

violence they perpetrated made 

the public fearful to report crimes 

committed by the gang, testify 

against Colonia Chiques members, 

and visit areas of town frequented 

by gang members.

At the center of it all was 

Tapia, leading, directing, and 

managing his criminal enterprise 

and his crew. Tapia, in an 

acknowledgement of his lynchpin 

role, was once overheard boasting, 

“I know how it feels to be a CEO.” 

But by combining the efforts and 

the expertise of the Bureau, our 

partners on the task force, and 

federal prosecutors, we were able to 

knock Tapia out of his perch and 

do serious harm to his organization.

Luis Manuel Tapia was a 

high-powered leader of one of 

Ventura County’s largest and 

deadliest gangs—the Colonia 

Chiques. He was often heard 

encouraging younger gang members 

to assault rival gang members, kill 

suspected informants, enhance the 

gang’s drug and weapons trafficking 

operations, and maintain territorial 

dominance by any means possible.

But after an extensive investigation 

by the Ventura County Violent 

Crimes Task Force—made up 

of FBI agents and officers from 

the Oxnard and Ventura Police 

Departments—Tapia, 39, was 

convicted by a federal grand jury 

in Los Angeles and sentenced last 

month to six life terms without 

parole plus an additional 55-year 

consecutive term. Four other key 

Colonia Chiques members and 

associates who were charged with 

Tapia previously pled guilty. (A 

fifth person charged is a fugitive 

believed to be in Mexico.)

The Colonia Chiques became 

the focus of the Ventura County 

Violent Crimes Task Force 

because of the vast number 

of violent crimes committed 

by its members and because 

of the group’s alignment with 

the extremely violent Mexican 

Mafia, a powerful gang within 

the California prison system. In 

return for helping the Mexican 

Mafia carry out its illegal activities 

(involving drugs, weapons, etc.) 

05.19.15

Left: The cash, weapons, and drugs seized 

from a hidden compartment in the so-called 

“trap car” used by California drug trafficker 

and gang leader Luis Manual Tapia.
54 The FBI Story 2015 05.22.15

Help Us Find Them

National Missing Children’s Day 2015

On May 25, 1979, 6-year-old Etan 

Patz disappeared while walking to 

his school bus stop in New York. 

Four years later, to honor Etan’s 

memory and the memories of 

other missing children, President 

Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 

25—the anniversary of Etan’s 

disappearance—as National 

Missing Children’s Day.

Tragically, however, children 

continue to disappear, and as 

we approach National Missing 

Children’s Day 2015, the FBI 

would like to ask the public for its 

continued help in locating any of 

the young victims pictured above 

from our Kidnapping and Missing 

Persons webpage.

According to Director James 

Comey, “The FBI remains vigilant 

in its efforts to eradicate predators 

from our communities and to keep 

our children safe.” In addition to 

working with our law enforcement 

partners to publicize the names 

and faces of missing children, 

the Bureau undertakes a variety 

of efforts to help rescue the most 

vulnerable of victims. For example:

• Rapid response teams are 

stationed across the country 

to quickly respond to child 

abductions.

• Our investigators can offer a 

full array of resources such as 

DNA analysis, trace evidence, 

impression evidence, and digital 

forensics tools.

• Through improved 

communication, we can quickly 

share information with law 

enforcement partners around the 

world.

As for Etan Patz—the little 

boy whose name and face have 

become synonymous with this 

issue—he has never been found. 

But as a result of law enforcement 

efforts and the public’s assistance, 

other youngsters have been safely 

recovered and returned to their 

families, or at the very least, their 

families have been given some 

degree of closure.

And we will continue to look for 

these children—seeking justice for 

them and for their families—no 

matter how long it takes. Despite 

the fact that the court proceedings 

of a suspect believed responsible for 

Etan Patz’s disappearance nearly 36 

years ago ended in a mistrial earlier 

this month, prosecutors have 

announced they will retry the case.

Note: The children pictured here 

may have been located since the 

above information was posted on our 

website. Please check

www.fbi.gov/wanted for up-to-date 

information.
International Soccer Officials Indicted

‘Deep-Rooted’ Corruption, Racketeering Alleged

The U.S. government this 

morning unsealed indictments 

in a New York federal court 

against high-ranking officials and 

corporate executives affiliated 

with FIFA, the governing body 

of international soccer, for their 

roles in a decades-long scheme to 

corrupt the sport through bribes, 

kickbacks, and other criminal 

activity aimed at controlling 

lucrative marketing rights to 

international tournaments such as 

the World Cup.

Nine FIFA officials—including 

two current vice presidents—along 

with five corporate executives 

were charged with racketeering, 

wire fraud, and money laundering, 

among other offenses.

“The indictment alleges corruption 

that is rampant, systemic, and 

deep-rooted both abroad and here 

in the United States,” said Attorney 

General Loretta E. Lynch. “It spans 

at least two generations of soccer 

officials who, as alleged, have 

abused their positions of trust.”

Related guilty pleas of an additional 

four individuals and two corporate 

defendants were unsealed today 

as well. The investigation, which 

is ongoing, has also snared U.S. 

sports marketing executives. In all, 

FBI Director James Comey joins other 

federal officials, including Attorney General 

Loretta Lynch (left) at a press conference in 

New York regarding the indictments of nine 

FIFA officials and five corporate executives 

on corruption and racketeering charges.

The FBI Story 2015 55

it is alleged that more than $150 

million in bribes and kickbacks 

were paid or agreed to be paid 

to obtain media and marketing 

rights to international soccer 

tournaments.

“The defendants fostered a culture 

of corruption and greed that 

created an uneven playing field 

for the biggest sport in the world,” 

noted FBI Director James B. 

Comey. “Undisclosed and illegal 

payments, kickbacks, and bribes 

became a way of doing business at 

FIFA,” he said.

FIFA—the Fédération 

Internationale de Football 

Association—is the organization 

responsible for the regulation and 

promotion of soccer worldwide. 

It also oversees officials of other 

soccer governing bodies that 

operate under the FIFA umbrella.

“...Illegal payments, 

kickbacks, and bribes 

became a way of doing 

business at FIFA.” 

The organization is composed of 

209 member associations, including 

six continental confederations 

that assist it in governing soccer 

in different regions of the world. 

The U.S. Soccer Federation is 

one of 41 member associations 

of the confederation known 

as CONCACAF, which has 

been headquartered in the U.S. 

throughout the period charged in 

the indictment.

A key way FIFA makes money is 

by selling media and marketing 

rights associated with flagship 

tournaments such as the World 

Cup. Rights are typically sold 

through multi-year contracts. 

Sports marketing companies, in 

turn, sell the rights downstream to 

TV and radio broadcast networks, 

major corporate sponsors, and 

other sub-licensees who want to 

broadcast the matches or promote 

their brands. According to FIFA, 

70 percent of its $5.7 billion in total 

revenues between 2011 and 2014 

was attributable to the sale of TV 

and marketing rights to the 2014 

World Cup.

The indictment alleges that 

between 1991 and present, 

the defendants and their 

co-conspirators corrupted the 

enterprise by engaging in various 

criminal activities. Two generations 

of soccer officials abused their 

positions of trust for personal 

gain, frequently through alliances 

with sports marketing executives 

who shut out competitors and 

kept highly lucrative contracts for 

themselves through the systematic 

payment of bribes and kickbacks.

The investigation was carried 

out by the FBI’s New York Field 

Office—specifically the Eurasian 

Joint Organized Crime Squad—

in partnership with the Internal 

Revenue Service’s Criminal 

Investigation Division and a variety 

of international partners.

The wide-ranging corruption at 

FIFA, said Lynch, “has profoundly 

harmed a multitude of victims, 

from the youth leagues and 

developing countries that should 

benefit from the revenue generated 

by the commercial rights these 

organizations hold, to the fans at 

home and throughout the world 

whose support for the game makes 

those rights valuable. Today’s 

action,” she added, “makes clear 

that this Department of Justice 

intends to end any such corrupt 

practices, to root out misconduct, 

and to bring wrongdoers to justice. 

We look forward to continuing to 

work with other countries in this 

effort.”

05.27.15
56 The FBI Story 2015

Taken for a Ride

Travel Agent Scammed Marching Bands Out of Trips

05.29.15

The trip to Hawaii for 270 high 

school band members and their 

chaperones was supposed to 

be the crescendo of months of 

performances, fundraisers, and 

saving to book the arrangements. 

But the music stopped when the 

band’s travel agent admitted he’d 

duped them to the tune of more 

than $272,000.

In August 2011, a high school 

band in Arkansas contracted with 

Utah-based travel agent Calliope 

R. Saaga to arrange the once-ina-lifetime trip. The school wired 

the funds in multiple installments, 

but rather than booking the band’s 

Hawaii excursion, Saaga spent 

the money himself—on his own 

trips to Disneyland, Samoa, and 

Las Vegas—all the while offering 

assurances the band’s trip was on 

schedule. It wasn’t until Saaga 

stopped answering calls after the 

last payment in February 2012 

that school officials got suspicious. 

Soon after, just months before 

their scheduled departure, Saaga 

admitted he’d lost all their money.

“I made some terrible decisions 

with the money,” Saaga said in a 

2012 e-mail to the band’s assistant 

director, who had booked two 

trips previously with Saaga so was 

shocked by the turn of events.

“They thought they had someone 

they could trust,” said Special 

Agent Tim Akins of the FBI’s 

Little Rock Division, which opened 

a wire fraud case against Saaga. 

“Now all of a sudden they don’t 

have money to go anymore.”

It got worse. During Akins’ 

investigation, he learned that the 

FBI’s Kansas City Division had 

opened its own case on Saaga after 

a Missouri high school said the 

travel agent had bilked its band 

boosters out of more than $360,000 

for a Hawaii trip. The Bureau’s 

Springfield (Missouri) Division 

was also looking into Saaga. Then 

emerged still another scheme by 

Saaga to cheat an Arkansas school 

district. Forensic accounting in the 

Kansas City case showed Saaga 

spent at least 47 days gambling in 

Las Vegas when he should have 

been booking the schools’ outings.

“Saaga is a thief who stole from 

hard-working citizens and their 

children,” said FBI Little Rock 

Special Agent in Charge David T. 

Resch.

During the course of the 

investigation, Saaga fled to Samoa, 

where he is from. In his e-mail 

admission to the band director, he 

said he was trying to sell his assets 

there to repay the group. “It will 

be a slow process so I beg of your 

patience,” he wrote.

Parents who had been duped 

hoped Saaga would face justice 

and expressed frustration on social 

media. In a May 2012 message on 

a Samoa news outlet’s Facebook 

page, the mother of a band member 

said families had worked hard to 

fund their summer trip. “Some of 

the kids took on part time jobs to 

pay for this trip,” the mother said, 

“others even borrowed money from 

the bank.”

Saaga ultimately returned to the 

U.S. to face multiple wire fraud 

and money laundering charges for 

schemes that resulted in more than 

$700,000 in losses. He was indicted 

in May 2014. Among his scams:

• Stealing $360,000 from Willard 

High School Band Boosters 

(Springfield, Missouri), forcing 

the cancellation of a trip to 

Hawaii for more than 300 

students and chaperones.

• Stealing $272,500 from 

Southside High School (Fort 

Smith, Arkansas), forcing the 

cancellation of a Hawaii trip for 

270 marching bands students and 

their families.

• Stealing $149,000 from a school 

district in West Memphis, 

Arkansas.

Saaga was sentenced March 12 

to five years in federal prison in 

the Willard High school case. On 

March 31, he was sentenced to 63 

months for swindling Southside 

High School’s band. The sentences 

are to run concurrently. He was 

also ordered to pay $780,000 in 

restitution.
06.02.15 The FBI Story 2015 57

Financial Fraud

Lengthy Prison Term for Advance Fee Fraudster

advance fee fraud and the gold 

mine investment schemes. Other 

co-conspirators have already been 

convicted or pled guilty in related 

cases, Williamson said, “but clearly 

Lange was the mastermind behind 

these crimes.”

Both Williamson and Brown are 

pleased that Lange received a 

lengthy jail term, but they also 

remember the hundreds of victims 

in the case.

One individual who lost nearly 

$100,000 in the HFGI scheme 

wrote in a victim impact statement 

for the court, “Our life savings 

have gone—we have nothing. Life 

financially has been horrific for us.” 

Another HFGI victim wrote, “We 

live in England, and this property 

investment opportunity was widely 

publicized here as a way to make a 

positive contribution to rebuilding 

the Katrina affected area as well as 

making a financial return.”

“We are glad that Lange is off the 

streets,” Brown said, “and unable to 

victimize anyone else.”

In reality, HFGI had neither 

lenders nor funds. And as soon as 

the money was placed in escrow, 

Lange took it to finance his own 

lavish lifestyle.

That advance fee scheme netted 

more than $9 million, which 

Lange spent on salaries, fishing 

and hunting trips, landscaping for 

his new house, Harley-Davidson 

motorcycles, and other business 

ventures. After the money was 

gone, Lange set up another sham 

business—Black Sand Mine, 

Inc. (BSMI)—with the supposed 

intention of mining gold and other 

precious metals on an Alaskan 

island.

Beginning in 2009, Lange 

convinced investors—through 

lies and misrepresentations—to 

purchase BSMI stock. Almost $1 

million was collected, but instead 

of using it to mine for gold, the 

money was spent on salaries and 

other personal expenses for Lange 

and his crew.

The FBI began to receive 

complaints about Lange’s business 

dealings, and in 2009 partnered 

with the U.S. Postal Inspection 

Service, which had also begun 

looking into his activities. During 

the investigation, countless 

financial documents were reviewed, 

victims were interviewed, and 

cooperating witnesses were engaged 

to help unravel the frauds. Lange 

was arrested in 2011.

In September 2014, Lange pled 

guilty to conspiracy to commit wire 

and securities fraud and admitted 

his leadership role in both the 

Like many successful con men, 

William C. Lange made people 

believe that he really cared about 

them—even as he looked them in 

the eye and took their money.

The 67-year-old Washington 

state businessman was sentenced 

in March to 22 years in federal 

prison for swindling more than 

300 investors in the U.S. and 

overseas out of $10 million. 

He had befriended some of his 

victims at Rotary Club functions. 

Many thought they would be 

getting loans to rebuild after the 

devastation of Hurricane Katrina 

in 2005.

“Unfortunately, this type of 

white-collar crime is all too 

common,” said Special Agent Ben 

Williamson, who investigated the 

case with Special Agent Mike 

Brown from the FBI’s Seattle Field 

Office. “Some investors lost their 

life savings.”

Lange and his co-conspirators, 

including his son, operated two 

companies that were “based 

entirely on lies,” Brown said. Lange 

founded the Harbor Funding 

Group, Inc. (HFGI) in 2006, and 

not long after began to target real 

estate developers and their clients 

seeking to rebuild after Hurricane 

Katrina. The pitch was that HFGI 

had access to lenders and millions 

of dollars in funds to finance real 

estate projects. To get that money, 

however, HFGI required investors 

to place 10 percent of the loan 

amount in an escrow account.

How to Avoid Becoming a Victim

FBI agents who specialize in financial 

fraud stress that investors need 

to exercise common sense before 

giving someone their money. “There 

are no quick ways to get rich,” said 

Special Agent Ben Williamson. “If an 

investment opportunity seems too 

good to be true, it probably is.”

Before investing your money, it’s 

always a good idea to:

• Do your research. Who are you 

dealing with? Check for complaints 

with the Better Business Bureau 

and elsewhere online.

• Talk to as many people as you can 

about the investment. Get second 

opinions.

• Don’t rush into any decisions.

• If you are engaging in risky 

investments, be willing to lose what 

you put in.

Left: William Lange’s Harbor Funding 

Group, Inc. placed ads such as this to target 

real estate developers and their clients 

seeking to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. 

Instead of financing their projects, however, 

Lange swindled hundreds of people out of 

millions of dollars.
58 The FBI Story 2015

Serial Armed Robber Gets Substantial Prison Term

Joint Law Enforcement Effort Pays Off

06.05.15

It was a highly effective 

combination of local and federal 

resources. A 38-year-old man was 

identified by local police as the 

suspect in a series of frightening 

armed robberies of businesses 

in the Birmingham, Alabama 

area, one of which ended with 

a customer getting shot. Local 

authorities contacted the FBI’s 

Birmingham Field Office with 

a request for assistance—they 

wanted to see if their suspect could 

be charged under the federal Hobbs 

Act, taking advantage of its harsher 

penalties. 

The multi-agency investigation 

that followed led to this particular 

suspect—Jamey Lee Matthews—

pleading guilty to four counts of 

robbery under the Hobbs Act. 

And just last month, he received 

a 25-year federal prison term. The 

judge also ordered him to pay 

$208,000 in restitution to the man 

he shot and to the stores he robbed.

The series of robberies Matthews 

was charged with took place 

during October 2012, and among 

the businesses he robbed were a 

convenience store, a dollar store, 

a supermarket, a pharmacy, and 

a gas station. His first job was 

the convenience store, which he 

entered just after 4 a.m. on October 

11, 2012, with a shotgun. He 

threatened the female clerk, who 

complied with his order to open 

the register. Subsequent robberies 

were similar—he would enter the 

store with a firearm, often wore 

a Halloween mask, threatened 

employees and customers, and 

demanded money.

At the pharmacy he robbed, he 

varied his routine—rather than 

demanding money, he demanded 

prescription medication and ended 

up with more than 3,000 pills 

containing controlled substances.

But things took a potentially 

deadly turn the night of October 

19, 2012, when Matthews entered 

a gas station with the intent to rob 

it. After brandishing a gun and 

threatening violence, employees 

gave him the money and he left. 

Several employees and a customer 

chased him, though, and Matthews 

fired at them, hitting the customer 

five times and severely wounding 

him.

The story took another turn the 

next morning, when a seriously 

injured man was found beneath a 

remote bluff outside of Birmingham 

and taken to a hospital. Local law 

enforcement responding to the 

scene found a pickup truck a short 

distance away with various firearms 

leaning up against the vehicle and 

others on the ground nearby, as 

well as evidence inside the truck 

seemingly tied to the series of 

Birmingham robberies. The truck 

was registered to a Birmingham 

woman who was the mother of the 

man found under the bluff. That 

man was Jamey Lee Matthews, and 

police soon honed in on Matthews 

as their suspect.

The federal investigation was led by 

the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, 

Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 

(ATF), ably assisted by the 

Birmingham Police Department, 

the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, 

and our partners on the Northern 

Alabama Safe Streets Task Force, 

the Jefferson County Sheriff’s 

Office.

According to the FBI Birmingham 

case agent, the investigation 

had complicating factors: the 

necessity of meeting the Hobbs Act 

threshold, the shooting during the 

gas station robbery, the pharmacy 

theft (also a federal offense), etc.

But working in investigators’ favor 

was the fact that Matthews wore 

memorable Halloween masks 

during most of the robberies—

including one of a devil—and that 

the firearms he used stood out—

one gun had a clear ammunition 

magazine, some had different 

colored tape, another was a silver 

sawed-off rifle, and another 

was an Uzi-style weapon. The 

distinguishing masks and firearms 

made it easier for eyewitnesses to 

describe what they had seen, and 

their accounts were often supported 

by store surveillance video.

And among the items seized 

from the pickup truck and from 

Matthews’ mother’s house were 

some of those firearms and masks 

matching eyewitness descriptions, 

clothing similar to what the robber 

had worn, a customer’s check 

written out to the victim gas 

station, and prescription bottles 

from the victim pharmacy.

In the face of such overwhelming 

evidence, Matthews agreed to plead 

guilty. And a joint law enforcement 

endeavor resulted in getting 

another dangerous criminal off the 

streets for a very long time.

Left: Shown is a clear ammunition 

magazine for one of the firearms seized 

from Birmingham armed robber Jamey Lee 

Matthews. The unique attributes of some 

of the weapons Matthews used during the 

robberies—like a clear magazine—helped 

eyewitnesses to better identify them.
The FBI Story 2015 59

The Case of the Corrupt Coin Dealer

Fraudster Targeted Elderly Victims

06.09.15

they were elderly and he thought 

he could get away with it,” Ball 

said. For their part, the victims had 

all done business with Nicholas in 

the past with no problems. “They 

had every reason to suspect that 

this was another business deal that 

would go well,” Ball added. “But 

Nicholas used the trust he had 

built up over the years to steal from 

them.”

Meanwhile, Nicholas sold the 

coins and used the money for 

his personal benefit. When he 

was charged with mail fraud in 

July 2014, nothing remained of 

his victims’ collections. At his 

sentencing last month, a federal 

judge ordered Nicholas to pay 

nearly $250,000 in restitution to 

his victims after he completes his 

jail term.

Although the money Nicholas 

stole from his clients is small 

compared to some financial 

frauds, Ball is quick to point out 

that it represented a great deal 

to the victims—it was one man’s 

life savings. “Our goal is always 

to seek justice for victims,” he 

said, “whether they are corporate 

shareholders or individuals from 

small-town America.” 

the men, “he promptly stopped 

returning their calls,” Ball said. “He 

completely dropped off the radar.”

In one case, according to court 

documents, Nicholas entered into 

a contract with a client in rural 

Minnesota to evaluate, store and 

sell the client’s coins. In 2010, 

at Nicholas’ direction, the client 

mailed his coins—valued at more 

than $130,000—to Nicholas in 

Southold, New York.

Later, after Nicholas stopped 

answering or returning the client’s 

calls, the victim went to his 

local sheriff’s office and made a 

complaint. Because the coin dealer 

lived outside of Minnesota, the 

sheriff’s deputy called the FBI for 

assistance. Ball, a 20-year veteran 

of the Bureau, explained that 

agents regularly offer assistance 

to local law enforcement in these 

types of matters that cross state 

lines.

Ball, in turn, requested assistance 

from the FBI’s New York Field 

Office, and Special Agent Zacharia 

Baldwin was dispatched to 

interview Nicholas.

“My belief is that Nicholas picked 

these particular victims because 

Financial fraud comes in all shapes 

and sizes. And while corporate 

criminals, inside traders, and Ponzi 

schemers often cause their victims 

to lose millions of dollars, the case 

of the crooked coin dealer from 

New York illustrates that even 

relatively small-time fraudsters 

must answer for their crimes.

Chrysanthos Nicholas, a 55-yearold rare coin and precious metals 

dealer, will be spending the next 

27 months in federal prison for 

stealing more than $260,000 from 

some of his elderly customers.

Nicholas had been a coin dealer 

for a number of years and had 

developed relationships with 

collectors around the country. He 

persuaded three elderly clients—all 

well into their 80s—to send him 

coins with the promise that he 

would value them, hold them, and 

sell them for the clients on their 

request.

“Such arrangements are not 

uncommon in the coin collector 

world,” said Special Agent Shane 

Ball, who investigated the case 

from the FBI’s Minneapolis 

Division. But after the dealer had 

received coin collections from 
60 The FBI Story 2015

FBI Safe Online Surfing Internet Challenge

Cyber Safety for Young Americans

06.12.15

In April, the Pew Research Center 

published a study saying that 

92 percent of teens report going 

online daily—including 24 percent 

who say they go online “almost 

constantly.” According to the 

study, nearly three-fourths of teens 

have or use a smartphone.

Considering the many dangers that 

lurk on the Internet—from child 

predators to cyber bullies, from 

malicious software to a multitude 

of scams—it’s imperative that our 

young people learn the ins and outs 

of online safety from an early age.

That is precisely why the Bureau 

launched the FBI Safe Online 

Surfing (SOS) Internet Challenge 

in October 2012 with a dedicated 

new website. FBI-SOS is a free, 

fun, and informative program 

that promotes cyber citizenship 

by educating students in third to 

eighth grades on the essentials 

of online security. For teachers, 

the site provides a ready-made 

curriculum that meets state and 

federal Internet safety mandates, 

complete with online testing and a 

national competition to encourage 

learning and participation. A 

secure online system enables 

teachers to register their schools, 

manage their classes, automatically 

grade their students’ exams, and 

request the test scores.

FBI-SOS just finished its third 

school year, with record results. A 

total of 275,656 students completed 

the exams—more than triple the 

previous year. The competition 

included 5,053 schools in 49 

states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the 

Northern Mariana Islands.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with 

how teachers and students are 

responding to the program and 

how participation is growing in 

such leaps and bounds,” said Scott 

McMillion of the FBI Criminal 

Investigative Division’s Violent 

Crimes Against Children Section, 

which runs the program in concert 

with our Office of Public Affairs 

and field offices nationwide. 

“FBI-SOS is helping to turn our 

nation’s young people into a more 

cyber savvy generation and to 

protect them from online crime 

now and in the future.”

“We couldn’t be more 

pleased with how

teachers and students 

are responding to the 

program and how

participation is

growing in such leaps 

and bounds.”

The FBI-SOS website features six 

islands—one for each grade level—

with age appropriate games, videos, 

and other interactive materials in 

various portals. The site covers 

such topics as cell phone safety, the 

protection of personal information, 

password strength, instant 

messaging, social networking, and 

online gaming safety. The videos 

include real-life stories of kids who 

have faced cyber bullies and online 

predators.

After navigating through the 

appropriate island, students take 

The FBI-SOS website features gradespecific islands with age appropriate games, 

videos, and other interactive materials in 

various portals.

The popularity of our SOS online cyber 

program has grown over the past several 

school years. The number of students 

who have completed the training went 

from 24,475 in 2012-2013, to 75,377 in 

2013-2014, to 275,656 in 2014-2015. 

That’s a grand total of 375,508 students.

a timed quiz. The test scores for 

each school are aggregated by 

the FBI and appear on a national 

leaderboard on the website each 

month from September through 

May. Schools compete in one of 

three categories, determined by the 

number of students participating: 

Starfish (5-50 participants); 

Stingray (51-100); and Shark 

(100+). The top-scoring school 

in each category at the end of 

the month receives a national 

FBI-SOS award. When possible, 

the winning schools are visited by 

representatives of their local FBI 

field office.

Anyone—young or old, in the U.S. 

or worldwide—can complete the 

activities on the FBI-SOS website. 

The testing and competition, 

however, are only open to students 

in grades 3-8 at public, private, 

or home schools in the U.S. or its 

territories.

We’d like to congratulate the 26 

schools that won the competition 

this past year and thank the 

many teachers and students who 

participated. We hope you will join 

us again in September.
The FBI Story 2015 61

Ten Sentenced in Hate Crime Case

Murdered Man Among Multiple Victims

Rights Division, and a Special 

Assistant U.S. Attorney appointed 

from the Hinds County District 

Attorney’s Office. The extensive 

investigation involved hundreds of 

interviews, the execution of search 

warrants, search and evidence 

collection by the FBI Evidence 

Response team, video forensic 

analysis by the FBI Laboratory, 

cell phone examinations by the 

FBI Computer Analysis Response 

Team, and analysis of telephone 

records.

Tragically, one of our law 

enforcement partners in this 

investigation—Jackson Police 

Department Detective Eric 

Smith—was shot and killed by a 

murder suspect in an unrelated 

April 2013 incident. Detective 

Smith was able to uncover a great 

deal of information in this case in 

a very short period of time, and his 

work formed a solid basis for the 

start of the federal investigation.

Hate crimes have a devastating 

impact on communities, which is 

why the FBI remains committed to 

working with our state and local 

partners—with the help of the 

public—to bring to justice those 

who perpetrate them.

their vehicle and—after using 

cell phones to contact several 

other subjects who were nearby in 

another vehicle—got out of the 

car to distract their victim until 

their co-conspirators arrived. Once 

the second vehicle arrived, one 

individual struck Anderson in the 

face, knocking him to the ground. 

A second individual straddled the 

victim and struck him repeatedly 

in the face and head with a closed 

fist. Leaving Anderson lying there, 

they got back into their vehicles 

and, urged on by two of the female 

subjects and yelling a racial epithet, 

Dedmon ran over the victim on his 

way out of the parking lot.

Among the other hate crime 

incidents the subjects were charged 

with:

• Chasing down and physically 

assaulting an African-American 

man walking near a golf course 

by punching and kicking the 

victim in the body, head, and 

face until he begged for his life.

• After locating an AfricanAmerican man in an empty 

strip mall parking lot, quickly 

accelerating their vehicle in an 

attempt to hit him (fortunately, 

the man was able to jump out of 

the way in time).

• Hurling glass beer bottles at 

targeted victims, in one instance 

actually knocking a man down 

with the force.

• Using a sling shot to launch 

metal ball bearings at various 

individuals, including a teenage 

boy riding a bicycle.

After Anderson’s death, FBI 

personnel from the Jackson Field 

Office formed an investigative 

team with prosecutors from the 

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the 

Southern District of Mississippi, 

the Department of Justice’s Civil 

In Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 

morning hours of June 26, 2011, 

a 47-year-old African-American 

man—James Craig Anderson—

was severely beaten and then 

intentionally run over with a 

pickup truck in an unprovoked 

attack by a group of white teenagers 

from nearby suburbs. Some of the 

teens yelled racial epithets during 

this horrific incident, a random act 

of hate crime violence that resulted 

in Anderson’s death.

The FBI’s Jackson Field Office 

opened an investigation, and it 

wasn’t long before we were able 

to piece together a conspiracy 

among at least 10 individuals 

who—on a half-dozen or so 

different occasions—made and 

carried out plans to target, harass, 

and hurt African-Americans in 

Jackson, specifically those they 

believed were homeless or under 

the influence of alcohol because 

they thought that such individuals 

would be less likely to report the 

assault.

All 10 were eventually charged 

with federal hate crimes. And 

all 10 have pled guilty and were 

sentenced to federal prison terms 

ranging from four years to 50 years. 

The 50-year term went to Deryl 

Paul Dedmon, the pickup truck 

driver who ran over Anderson. 

Dedmon was also charged in state 

court with murder and received 

two life sentences.

These hate crime incidents, which 

began in the spring of 2011 and 

occurred while the subjects were 

driving through Jackson—often 

after an evening of partying—

culminated in the June 2011 death 

of Anderson, an auto plant worker.

Several of the subjects saw 

Anderson alone in the parking lot 

of a Jackson hotel. They stopped 

06.16.15

The pickup truck that was used to run over 

and kill James Craig Anderson. The driver 

of the truck was sentenced to 50 years in 

federal prison.
62 The FBI Story 2015

Health Care Fraud Takedown

243 Arrested, Charged with $712 Million in False Medicare Billings

06.18.15

More than 240 individuals—

including doctors, nurses, and 

other licensed professionals—were 

arrested this week for their alleged 

participation in Medicare fraud 

schemes involving approximately 

$712 million in false billings.

The arrests, which began Tuesday, 

were part of a coordinated 

operation in 17 cities by Medicare 

Fraud Strike Force teams, which 

include personnel from the FBI, the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS), the Department 

of Justice (DOJ), and local law 

enforcement. The Strike Force’s 

mission is to combat health care 

fraud, waste, and abuse.

At a press conference today at DOJ 

Headquarters in Washington, D.C., 

officials said the arrests constituted 

the largest-ever health care fraud 

takedown in terms of both loss 

amount and arrests.

“These are extraordinary figures,” 

said Attorney General Loretta 

Lynch. “They billed for equipment 

that wasn’t provided, for care that 

wasn’t needed, and for services that 

weren’t rendered.”

The charges are based on a variety 

of alleged fraud schemes involving 

medical treatments and services. 

According to court documents, the 

schemes included submitting claims 

to Medicare for treatments that 

were medically unnecessary and 

often not provided. In many of the 

cases, Medicare beneficiaries and 

other co-conspirators were allegedly 

paid cash kickbacks for supplying 

beneficiary information so 

providers could submit fraudulent 

bills to Medicare. Forty-four of 

the defendants were charged in 

schemes related to Medicare Part 

D, the prescription drug benefit 

program, which is the fastest 

growing component of Medicare 

and a growing target for criminals.

“There is a lot of money there, so 

there are a lot of criminals,” said 

FBI Director James B. Comey. 

He described how investigations 

leveraged technology to collect 

and analyze data, and rapid 

response teams to surge where 

the data showed the schemes 

were operating. “In these cases, 

we followed the money and found 

criminals who were attracted to 

doctors offices, clinics, hospitals, 

and nursing homes in search of 

what they viewed as an ATM.”

Since their inception in 2007, 

Strike Force teams in the nine cites 

where they operate have charged 

more than 2,300 defendants who 

collectively falsely billed Medicare 

more than $7 billion. Today’s 

announcement marked the first 

time that districts outside Strike 

Force locations have participated in 

a national takedown; those districts 

accounted for 82 of the arrests this 

week.

Here’s a look at some of the cases:

• In Miami, 73 were charged in 

schemes involving about $263 

million in false billings for 

pharmacy, home health care, and 

mental health services.

• In Houston and McAllen, 22 

were charged in cases involving 

more than $38 million. In one 

case, the defendant coached 

beneficiaries on what to tell 

doctors to make them appear 

eligible for Medicare services and 

then received payment for those 

who qualified. The defendant 

was paid more than $4 million in 

fraudulent claims.

• In New Orleans, 11 people 

were charged in connection 

with home health care and 

psychotherapy schemes. In one 

case, four defendants from two 

companies sent talking glucose 

monitors across the country to 

Medicare beneficiaries regardless 

of whether they were needed or 

requested. The companies billed 

Medicare $38 million and were 

paid $22 million.

“We will not stop here,” said HHS 

Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. 

“We will work tirelessly to prevent 

these programs from becoming 

targets and fight fraud wherever we 

find it.”

More than 900 law enforcement 

officials participated in the 

three-day sweep. Those arrested 

include 46 licensed medical 

professionals, including 19 doctors. 

Since 2007, the Medicare Fraud 

Strike Force has prosecuted more 

than 200 doctors and more than 

400 medical professionals.

In fiscal year 2014, DOJ and HHS 

health care fraud and prevention 

efforts recovered nearly $3.3 

billion. Over the past five years, 

DOJ specifically has recovered 

more than $15 billion in cases 

involving health care fraud. The 

average prison sentence in Strike 

Force cases in fiscal year 2014 

was more than four years, though 

some prosecutions in recent years 

resulted have in sentences of 50 

years. 

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is joined 

by HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell 

(left) and FBI Director James B. Comey at a 

press conference on the takedown.
06.23.15 The FBI Story 2015 63

Multi-State Chop Shop Operation Disrupted

Criminal Enterprise Leader Among Those Convicted

Once back in Toledo with the 

stolen property, Wymer would 

take the truck to one of his two 

chop shop locations, where he had 

everything he needed—from heavy 

moving equipment and floor jacks 

to blow torches and chain saws. 

And he moved quickly—he could 

remove the parts from the truck 

(to sell them), and then “chop” the 

rest of the truck, the trailer, and 

the trailer’s contents into scrap 

metal within a couple of hours. He 

would then load the material into 

one of his trucks and transport it to 

various businesses and/or recycling 

companies interested in buying 

scrap metal.

How did we get the evidence we 

needed to convict Wymer and his 

crew? Much of it came from video 

surveillance cameras, one placed 

by law enforcement on utility poles 

outside each of Wymer’s chop 

shop locations, and several more 

placed by Wymer himself inside 

his chop shops to keep an eye on 

his merchandise. So we were able 

to see the stolen trucks and trailers 

being driven into these shops—and 

those same vehicles being taken 

apart by Wymer and his employees.

Because of the interstate nature 

of the case, there were a number 

of law enforcement agencies both 

inside and outside Ohio that 

played a role in the investigation. 

Special thanks to the Ohio State 

Highway Patrol—who joined our 

new Organized Crime Task Force 

shortly after the investigation—and 

the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles 

for their efforts.

As for Michael Wymer, his lengthy 

sentence in the federal system 

almost guarantees that he will not 

get a third opportunity to break the 

law.

Wymer and several others involved 

in the enterprise went out on the 

road “shopping” for semi-trucks 

and trailers, often at truck stops or 

other locations where trucks might 

converge that were fairly close 

to interstate highways. But they 

wouldn’t hesitate to stop virtually 

anywhere if an opportunity 

presented itself.

They would usually be in Wymer’s 

personally owned semi-truck 

(minus a trailer) or in a car that 

belonged to Wymer. If they were 

in the semi, they would back the 

truck onto the trailer they wanted 

and then tow it away. If in the 

car, one or two of the perpetrators 

would break into an empty 

semi-truck with an attached trailer, 

manipulate the ignition to get it 

started, and drive the entire vehicle 

onto the closest interstate highway.

In terms of the cargo these stolen 

trucks were carrying, Wymer 

preferred items that could be 

chopped into scrap metal—so 

he stole things like motorcycles, 

all-terrain vehicles, copper wire, 

spools of metal, even actual loads 

of scrap metal. How did he know 

what the trucks were hauling? 

By breaking into the trailers and 

taking a look.

In the early 1990s, a Toledo, Ohio 

man—Michael Wymer—was 

sentenced to a lengthy term in 

state prison for heading up an 

extensive truck theft and chop 

shop operation.

Wymer, however, apparently never 

learned his lesson. Upon his release 

from prison several years ago, he 

picked up where he left off, setting 

up another criminal enterprise to 

steal trucks, disassemble them in 

his chop shop, and sell them as 

scrap metal. But this time, Wymer’s 

activities—which crossed state 

lines—garnered the attention 

of the FBI, and last month, the 

56-year-old was sentenced in 

federal court to 27 years in prison. 

And Wymer’s 13 co-conspirators—

including his son, two brothers, and 

two nephews—have all either pled 

guilty or been convicted at trial for 

their roles in the illegal enterprise.

At Wymer’s sentencing appearance, 

the federal judge ordered that all of 

the defendants in the case share in 

paying restitution to the victims of 

their crimes—mostly independent 

truck owners/operators—to the 

tune of nearly $2.3 million. That 

figure, according to the judge, is 

likely a low estimate and doesn’t 

take into account the emotional 

harm suffered by the victims, 

whose trucks were often their 

livelihoods.

According to the charges brought 

against Wymer and the others 

in the case, the scheme ran from 

at least August 2012 through 

February 2013. Wymer and his 

cohorts usually traveled outside 

of the Toledo area—including to 

Michigan and Indiana—to steal 

the trucks so they could avoid 

detection by one single jurisdiction.

Here’s how the scheme worked: 

A surveillance image shows members of 

Michael Wymer’s Ohio chop shop operation 

emptying scrap aluminum cargo out of a 

stolen trailer so the trailer could be chopped 

up and sold as scrap metal.
64 The FBI Story 2015 06.26.15

Behind the Scenes with Operational Medics

A Look Inside Our Washington Field Office’s OpMed Program

paramedics, they are all referred 

to as medics.) They deploy with 

SWAT, accompany agents on 

high-risk arrests, and often are part 

of Rapid Deployment Teams that 

travel the world to support Bureau 

investigations and operations.

Because agents and critical 

response professionals may find 

themselves in harm’s way—in war 

zones, for example, or responding 

to the potential use of chemical or 

biological agents—the possibility 

of injury or illness is real, and 

sometimes appropriate medical 

facilities are not close by. That’s 

why OpMed personnel are highly 

valued and why they train to keep 

their skills sharp, even though it’s a 

collateral duty.

“Everybody on the team is an FBI 

agent first,” Mohl explained. “They 

work their cases, but when they 

emergencies,” said Special Agent 

Doug Mohl, who coordinates the 

Washington Field Office (WFO) 

program. “This work is great,” 

he explained, “because usually 

agents are protecting the public 

by putting bad guys in jail. But 

operational medicine personnel 

get to take care of people. We may 

meet an individual on one of the 

worst days of his life—or one of 

our fellow agents on the worst day 

of his career—and we render care 

to them and try to make sure they 

stay healthy.”

“Everybody on the team 

is an FBI agent first.”

There is at least one medic in 

each of the FBI’s 56 field offices. 

(Regardless of whether agents are 

trained as Emergency Medical 

Technicians—EMTs—or 

The wounded man needed to be 

airlifted to a hospital immediately, 

and in the shadow of deafening 

helicopter blades whose wash was 

strong enough to knock a person 

over, special agents worked quickly 

to secure the patient to a stretcher 

and prepare to care for him in the 

close quarters of the aircraft.

Although this was only an exercise, 

the highly trained members of 

the FBI’s Operational Medicine 

(OpMed) Program were focused 

on their mission—to provide care 

under the most stressful situations. 

Whether for a fellow agent engaged 

in a SWAT operation or a violent 

criminal injured during a high-risk 

arrest, the “medics,” as they are 

known, don’t distinguish between 

who needs treatment.

“We are on hand during tactical 

situations to take care of medical 

During a training exercise, medics prepare a wounded agent for helicopter transport to a hospital. Training scenarios are meant to mimic 

real-world conditions, which can include hostile environments accessible only by helicopter.
06.26.15 The FBI Story 2015 65

have a mission, they step away 

from their investigations, step into 

their role as medics, deal with the 

situation, and then come back to 

their regular duties.”

Mohl, a paramedic, added that 

agents who are drawn to the 

OpMed program put in the extra 

time and effort because they are 

dedicated, “and they like helping 

people.” The WFO team is the 

largest of any FBI office, with more 

than 20 members trained as EMTs 

and paramedics.

On this day at the Bureau’s 

Quantico, Virginia training facility, 

the WFO team will work through 

a number of patient scenarios that 

require thoughtful assessment and 

quick treatment.

“We want to make this feel like 

real-life situations,” Mohl said, so 

the medics rotate through stations 

and are required to assess and treat 

someone with chest pains, a car 

crash victim, and an agent injured 

during a tactical operation, among 

others.

In tactical situations, Mohl said, 

medics have a different set of 

challenges than typical EMTs and 

paramedics. Besides the stress of 

being in a potentially threatening 

environment, they must carry all 

the gear they need.

“Sometimes medics won’t have 

the support of an ambulance,” 

he explained, “so they have to 

carry what they need medically in 

addition to what’s required as an 

agent. Your kit might include a belt 

with firearms and ammunition, 

you may have a long gun, a 

ballistic vest, helmet, goggles, 

and hearing protection, so it can 

be hard to hear. There may be a 

lot of distractions from a physical 

standpoint—lugging all that stuff 

around that weighs an extra 30 

pounds, kneeling over a patient 

or sitting in the backseat of a car 

trying to render care.”

The Washington Field Office 

team has a diverse background, 

to include past careers as flight 

paramedics, EMS supervisors, 

EMT instructors, and volunteer 

firefighters. Still, they all share 

one thing in common, Mohl said. 

“They are motivated to go above 

and beyond what is normally 

expected of them, to deal with 

pressure and stressful situations, 

and to be able to adapt.”

Members of the FBI’s Operational Medicine Program are trained to provide care under the most stressful situations, such as SWAT operations 

and high-risk arrests. The Washington Field Office, with more than 20 special agents trained as EMTs and paramedics, has the largest 

“OpMed” program of any FBI office.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/opmeds.
66 The FBI Story 2015 06.30.15

The FBI Website at 20

Two Decades of Fighting Crime and Terrorism

convinced Rogge to surrender to an 

FBI agent at the U.S. Embassy in 

Guatemala City on May 18, 1996.

For the Bureau, Rogge’s capture 

was a milestone. The FBI.gov 

website was launched on June 

30, 1995—20 years ago today—

populated with digital versions of 

the organization’s signature wanted 

flyers. Less than 11 months later, 

the site played a direct role in 

reeling in its first fugitive, a Top 

Tenner no less. Most likely, the 

itinerant bank robber represented 

the first cyberspace capture in the 

history of U.S. law enforcement.

Rogge’s arrest served as something 

of a proof of concept for the FBI’s 

use of the Internet as a crimefighting tool. It has been full 

steam ahead ever since. FBI.gov 

now features hundreds of fugitives 

and missing persons in multiple 

categories of crime and terrorism. 

The Bureau dipped its first toe 

In the spring of 1996, a 14-yearold American living in Guatemala 

happened to visit the less-thanyear-old FBI website, apparently out 

of curiosity.

To his great surprise, the teen 

immediately recognized a Top Ten 

fugitive featured on FBI.gov. It was 

“Uncle Bill”—a family friend and 

handyman who, ironically, had 

helped hook up the boy’s computer 

a few weeks earlier.

In reality, Uncle Bill was Leslie 

Ibsen Rogge, a prolific bank robber 

who is believed to have pocketed 

an estimated $2 million from 

about 30 bank heists across the 

United States. Rogge landed on the 

FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives 

list in January 1990 and fled to 

Guatemala about two years later. 

He had been on the run more than 

a decade when the teen made his 

shocking discovery. The ensuing 

manhunt and media exposure 

Left: The FBI.gov homepage as it appeared 

in June 1997.

Former Top Ten Fugitive Leslie Ibsen 

Rogge was the first fugitive captured 

as a result of appearing on the FBI.

gov website, which launched on June 

30, 1995.

in social media in 2008; today, a 

steady stream of pictures, podcasts, 

and videos are broadcast on various 

channels, including via a specific 

Most Wanted Twitter feed set up 

three years ago. In December 2012, 

the Bureau built the first national 

electronic repository of its wanted 

bank robbers on a dedicated 

website that includes a gallery of 

nearly 500 searchable suspects and 

a map that plots robbery locations.

The collective result of all these 

efforts has been a rising tide of 

digitally driven captures. Over 

two decades, a total of 71 fugitives 

and missing persons have been 

located as a direct result of the 

FBI’s web presence, an average of 

one every three-and-a-half months. 

Hundreds—if not thousands—

more cases involving fugitives 

and missing persons have been 

supported by web publicity. There 

is no longer a need for wanted 

posters to be tacked to the walls of 

American post offices when they 

can be put right at the fingertips 

of the three billion Internet users 

around the world.

From its earliest days, the FBI 

website has sought information 

from the public on high-profile 

cases—including the search for 

the infamous “Unabomber” in the 

mid-1990s. But it was the terrorist 
06.30.15 The FBI Story 2015 67

FBI Web Technology Timeline

• June 30, 1995: FBI.gov website 

launched

• 1996: First websites for FBI field 

offices

• May 18, 1996: First fugitive caught 

as a result of FBI.gov publicity

• January 1998: Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) webpage 

set up

• September 11, 2001: Electronic tip 

line established

• February 8, 2002: First Internetbased special agent application

• October 2006: E-mail alerts started

• September 2007: FBI “widgets” 

launched

• May 2008: First FBI podcasts on 

iTunes

• November 2008: FBI Twitter site 

set up

• May 2009: FBI Facebook and 

YouTube sites established

• October 2010: National Stolen Art 

File goes online

• April 1, 2011: Electronic FOIA 

library—The Vault—established

• August 5, 2011: FBI Child ID App 

announced, Bureau’s first mobile 

application

• October 15, 2012: FBI Safe Online 

Surfing website established

• December 2012: Wanted Bank 

Robbers website launched

• April 2013: Dedicated Boston 

Marathon tips page set up to accept 

videos and images

Top Ten Tools of FBI.gov

People visit FBI.gov for all kinds of 

reasons. The following are among the 

features and tools used most often by 

the public.

1. Report Threats and Crimes

2. Find a Fugitive

3. Research Crime Statistics

4. Explore FBI Careers

5. Request a Background Check

6. Learn About Our Cases

7. Read Actual FBI Files

8. Get Educated on Scams

9. Check Sex Offender Registries

10.Subscribe and Share

attacks of September 11, 2001 

that by necessity propelled FBI.

gov forward as an operational 

tool. That day, as the massive 

investigation got underway, the 

Bureau quickly stood up an 

electronic form to gather tips 

on the attacks from the public. 

Information came pouring in, 

and the tip line has been going 

strong ever since, now expanded 

to any criminal or national 

security investigation. This April, 

it logged its four millionth tip. 

The submissions have provided 

vital intelligence in terrorism and 

espionage cases and prevented a 

number of shootings and attacks 

on U.S. soil, including imminent 

threats to everyone from soldiers to 

schoolchildren.

This April, FBI.gov 

logged its four millionth 

tip. The submissions 

have provided vital 

intelligence in terrorism 

and espionage cases 

and prevented a number 

of shootings and attacks 

on U.S. soil, including 

imminent threats to 

everyone from soldiers 

to schoolchildren. 

Increasingly in recent years, FBI.

gov also has been integrated into 

publicity campaigns to reignite cold 

cases and to aid high profile probes. 

To support the investigation into 

the attacks on the U.S. Special 

Mission in Benghazi in September 

2012, for instance, the Bureau 

set up a special Facebook page 

in Arabic seeking information 

from people in Libya and nearby 

countries.

Along with its investigative 

value, FBI.gov—as well as the 

various other specialized Bureau 

websites that have emerged over 

the years—supports the needs of 

many different customers, from the 

researchers who pore over crime 

statistics to the police professionals 

around the world who read the 

regular FBI Law Enforcement 

Bulletin. Among other things, 

these websites enable the public to 

electronically read Bureau records, 

explore Bureau careers, and learn 

about cyber safety.

Over the past 20 years, the FBI’s 

web presences have become 

effective crime-fighting and 

customer service tools, increasingly 

vital to protecting the public and 

carrying out the Bureau’s daily 

work. FBI.gov has been viewed 

an estimated one billion times 

since 1995, with traffic to its more 

than 180,000 pages now averaging 

around 10 million visits a month. 

The Bureau’s online presence 

today also includes 54 social media 

sites or pages; the agency’s main 

Facebook and Twitter pages alone 

have a combined following of 2.2 

million people, while its videos on 

YouTube have nearly 40 million 

views.

FBI.gov has been viewed 

an estimated one billion 

times.

Back in 1996, a single poster on 

what was then a sparse FBI.gov 

website forced an international 

fugitive to turn himself in. Today, 

thanks to the growing capabilities 

of the Bureau’s websites, there is 

less and less room for criminals and 

terrorists to hide.
68 The FBI Story 2015

Sextortion

Help Us Locate Additional Victims of an Online Predator

07.07.15

herself to record it in her diary—or 

speak about it to anyone.

She had become the victim of 

sextortion, a growing Internet 

crime in which young girls and 

boys are often targeted. Her life 

was being turned upside down 

by an online predator who took 

Ashley Reynolds was a happy 

14-year-old who loved sports, did 

well in school academically and 

socially, and enjoyed keeping a 

journal she intended her “future 

self” to read. But what happened 

in the summer of 2009 was so 

devastating that she couldn’t bring 

advantage of her youth and 

vulnerability to terrorize her by 

demanding that she send him 

sexually explicit images of herself.

After several months, Ashley’s 

parents discovered what was 

happening and contacted the 

National Center for Missing & 

Exploited Children (NCMEC). 

Ashley and her parents later 

supported the FBI investigation 

that led to the arrest of 26-year-old 

Lucas Michael Chansler, who last 

year pled guilty to multiple counts 

of child pornography production 

and was sent to prison for 105 

years—but not before he used 

the Internet to victimize nearly 

350 teenage girls. The majority of 

those youngsters have not yet been 

identified.
07.07.15 The FBI Story 2015 69

That’s why the FBI is requesting 

the public’s help—and why Ashley 

has come forward to tell her 

story—so that Chansler’s victims 

can be located and will know, as 

Special Agent Larry Meyer said, 

“that this dark period of their lives 

is over.”

Meyer, a veteran agent in the 

FBI’s Jacksonville Division who 

investigates crimes against children, 

explained that 109 of Chansler’s 

victims have been identified 

and contacted so far, leaving 

approximately 250 teens “who have 

not had closure and who probably 

haven’t obtained counseling and 

other help they might need.” He 

noted that Ashley is a brave person 

with a supportive family “and has 

been able to use this experience to 

make her stronger.” Unfortunately, 

that has not been the case for 

all the girls, some of whom have 

dropped out of school and tried to 

end their lives.

Chansler, who was studying to 

become a pharmacist, used multiple 

personas and dozens of fake screen 

names—such as “HELLOthere” 

and “goodlookingguy313”—to dupe 

girls from 26 U.S. states, Canada, 

and the United Kingdom. And he 

used sophisticated techniques to 

keep anyone from learning his true 

identity.

Pretending to be 15-year-old 

boys—all handsome and all 

involved in skateboarding—he 

trolled popular online hangouts to 

strike up relationships with teenage 

girls. In one instance on Stickam, 

a now-defunct live-streaming video 

website, evidence seized from his 

computer showed four girls all 

exposing their breasts. “The girls 

are apparently having a sleepover, 

and Chansler contacted one of 

them through a random online 

chat,” Meyer said. “These girls 

thought they were having a video 

chat session with a 15-year-old boy 

that they would never see or hear 

from again, so they are all exposing 

themselves, not realizing that he 

is doing a screen capture and then 

he’s coming back later—very often 

in a different persona—saying, 

‘Hey I’ve got these pictures of you, 

and if you don’t want these sent to 

all your Myspace friends or posted 

on the Internet, you are going to do 

all of these naked poses for me.’”

“It went from what would be 

relatively benign pictures to 

fulfilling Chansler’s perverted 

desires,” Meyer said, adding that 

while adults know that a young 

Part of an online chat between Lucas Michael Chansler and one of his victims.

Don’t Become a Victim of 

Sextortion

Special Agent Larry Meyer and other 

investigators experienced in online 

child sexual exploitation cases offer 

these simple tips for young people 

who might think that sextortion could 

never happen to them:

• Whatever you are told online may 

not be true, which means the 

person you think you are talking to 

may not be the person you really 

are talking to.

• Don’t send pictures to strangers. 

Don’t post any pictures of yourself 

online that you wouldn’t show to 

your grandmother. “If you only 

remember that,” Meyer said, “you 

are probably going to be safe.”

• If you are being targeted by an 

online predator, tell someone. If 

you feel you can’t talk to a parent, 

tell a trusted teacher or counselor. 

You can also call the FBI, the local 

police, or the National Center for 

Missing & Exploited Children’s 

CyberTipline.

• You might be afraid or embarrassed 

to talk with your parents, but most 

likely they will understand. “One 

of the common denominators in 

the Chansler case,” Meyer noted, 

“was that parents wished their 

daughters had told them sooner. 

They were very understanding and 

sympathetic. They realized their 

child was being victimized.”

person’s life is only beginning in 

high school, “to a 13- or 14-year-old 

girl, thinking that all her friends or 

her parents might see a picture of 

her exposing her breasts, the fear 

was enough to make them comply 

with Chansler’s demands, believing 

they had no better options.”

When FBI agents interviewed 

Chansler after his arrest, they 
70 The FBI Story 2015

asked why he selected that age 

group. “One of the comments he 

made,” Meyer said, “was that older 

girls wouldn’t fall for his ploy.”

Ashley fell for Chansler’s ploy in 

late 2008 when she was 14 years 

old. She was contacted online 

by someone who claimed to be a 

teenage boy with embarrassing 

sexual pictures of her. His screen 

name was CaptainObvious, and 

he threatened to send Ashley’s 

pictures to all her Myspace 

friends if she didn’t send him a 

topless image of herself. Without 

considering the consequences, she 

sent it. She didn’t think the boy 

knew who she was or anything else 

about her. Nothing more happened 

until the summer of 2009, when 

Chansler’s persona messaged again, 

threatening to post her topless 

picture on the Internet if she didn’t 

send him more explicit images.

“I never thought this 

would happen to me, but 

it did.”

She ignored him at first, but then 

he texted her on her cell phone. 

He knew her phone number 

and presumably where she lived. 

Somehow he must have hacked 

information from her social media 

pages. Chansler was relentless. 

He badgered her for pictures 

and continued to threaten. The 

thought of her reputation being 

ruined—and disappointing her 

parents—made Ashley finally give 

in to her tormenter.

The next few months were a 

nightmare as Ashley complied 

with Chansler’s demands. She was 

trapped and felt she couldn’t talk 

to anyone. She kept thinking if she 

sent more pictures, the monster 

at the other end of the computer 

would finally leave her alone. But it 

only got worse—until the day her 

mother discovered the images on 

her computer.

“I just remember breaking down 

and crying, trying to get my dad 

not to call the police,” Ashley said, 

“because I knew that I would end 

up in jail or something because 

I complied and I sent him the 

Ashley Reynolds, who was a victim of Lucas Michael Chansler’s sextortion scheme, hopes her story helps prevent other teens from falling for 

similar ploys.

07.07.15
The FBI Story 2015 71

Special Agent Larry Meyer led the FBI’s investigation of Lucas Michael Chansler.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/sextortion.

pictures even though I didn’t want 

to. I tried to think rationally, like 

this guy was threatening me. But 

I sent him the pictures, so that’s 

breaking the law, isn’t it? I am 

under age and I am sending him 

naked pictures of me. I didn’t want 

to go to jail.”

Still, she was relieved that she 

didn’t have to keep her secret 

any longer. And her parents were 

supportive.

Ashley’s mother did some research 

and contacted the NCMEC’s 

CyberTipline. An analyst 

researching the case was able to 

tie one of the screen names used 

to sextort Ashley to another case 

in a different state and realized 

the predator most likely had 

multiple victims. Eventually, FBI 

and NCMEC analysts were able 

to pinpoint an Internet account 

in Florida where the threats were 

originating, and that information 

was passed to FBI agents who work 

closely with NCMEC in child 

exploitation investigations.

When investigators executed 

a search warrant at Chansler’s 

Jacksonville house and examined 

his computer, they found 

thousands of images and videos 

of child pornography. They also 

found folders labeled “Done” and 

“Prospects” that contained detailed 

information about the nearly 350 

teens he had extorted online.

Meyer and the Jacksonville 

Crimes Against Children Task 

Force analyzed the images of the 

girls to identify and locate them. 

One victim was located through 

a picture of her and her friends 

standing in front of a plate glass 

window at their school. Reflected 

in the glass was the name of 

the school, which led to her 

identification. Another victim 

was found through a radio station 

banner seen in a video hanging on 

her bedroom wall. The station’s 

call letters led to a city and, 

eventually, to the victim. More 

than 250 investigators, analysts, 

victim specialists, child forensic 

interviewers, and community child 

advocacy centers were involved 

in locating and interviewing the 

known victims.

But approximately 250 victims are 

still unidentified and may have no 

idea that Chansler was arrested and 

sent to jail.

“It’s important that we find these 

girls so that they don’t have to 

be looking over their shoulder, 

wondering if this guy is still out 

there and is he looking for them 

and is he going to be coming back,” 

Meyer explained, adding that 

“some of these girls, now young 

women, need assistance. Many 

probably have never told anyone 

what they went through.”

Ashley, now 20, is doing what 

she can to get the word out about 

sextortion so that all of Chansler’s 

victims can be identified and other 

girls don’t make the mistakes that 

she made. “This ended for me,” 

she said, but for many of Chansler’s 

victims, “this never ended for 

them.”

When Meyer began working 

crimes against children cases eight 

years ago, he visited freshman and 

sophomore high school classes to 

talk about Internet safety. “Now,” 

he said, “we are going to fourth and 

fifth grade because kids are getting 

on the Internet at younger ages.”

He added, “We know that 

youngsters don’t always make 

sound decisions. Today, with a 

smartphone or digital camera, 

an individual can take an 

inappropriate picture of themselves 

and 10 seconds later have it sent 

to someone. Once that picture is 

gone,” he said, “you lose all control 

over it, and what took 10 seconds 

can cause a lifetime of regret.”

For her part, Ashley hopes that 

talking about what she went 

through will resonate with young 

girls. “If it hits close to home, 

maybe they will understand. High 

school girls never think it will 

happen to them,” she said. “I never 

thought this would happen to me, 

but it did.”

07.07.15
72 The FBI Story 2015 07.10.15

Five years ago, nearly a dozen 

former soldiers who served during 

the Bosnian civil war in the early 

‘90s before settling in Arizona 

were sentenced for lying on their 

applications for refugee status 

when they came to the U.S. Last 

year, a Bosnian-born Minnesota 

man was arrested on fraud charges 

for not disclosing crimes—

including murder, kidnapping, and 

robbery—he allegedly committed 

during his military service in 

Bosnia-Herzegovina. In January, a 

Bosnian-born Vermont man was 

found guilty of lying to get into the 

U.S. and obtain his naturalized 

citizenship.

These cases illustrate efforts across 

multiple agencies and international 

borders to hold accountable any 

individuals who committed war 

crimes or atrocities overseas 

before entering and settling in the 

United States. And Bosnian war 

criminals represent just a sampling 

of the subjects being sought. The 

U.S. Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland 

Security Investigations (HSI) is 

pursuing more than 1,900 leads 

and cases on individuals from 

about 96 countries. The FBI, which 

works alongside HSI and special 

prosecutors at the Human Rights 

Violators and War Crimes Center 

in Northern Virginia, has pending 

investigations in nearly a third of 

our 56 field offices.

The FBI is seeking tips 

on the whereabouts of 

suspected war criminals 

and human rights

violators.

Managing the FBI’s role in 

identifying, locating, and 

investigating these cases is the 

Bureau’s International Human 

Rights Unit (IHRU), which works 

closely with partner intelligence 

agencies and the Department 

of State to identify subjects and 

gather leads. Agents in the unit 

then coordinate the FBI’s approach 

in the field—whether it’s collecting 

intelligence, developing sources, 

or just meeting leaders in diaspora 

communities to make them aware 

that the FBI is seeking tips on 

the whereabouts of suspected 

war criminals and human rights 

violators.

“We are asking those communities, 

‘If you know somebody or if you 

have heard of somebody who has 

done those things, let us know 

and then we’ll go from there,’” 

said Thomas Bishop, head of 

the IHRU. “I think in a lot of 

these communities, people know 

someone who was involved with 

something—or they hear about 

somebody being involved—but 

Investigating Human Rights

Reaching Out to Diaspora Communities in U.S. for War Crimes Tips

The FBI’s International Human Rights Unit, working with agents in the field and partner agencies, is reaching out to diaspora communities in 

the U.S. for leads on war criminals who may be residing among them.
07.10.15 The FBI Story 2015 73

they may not know what to do with 

it. All we need is a tip so we can 

see if there’s anything to it.”

The FBI has had an expanding role 

investigating human rights crimes 

since 1988, when Congress added 

genocide to the U.S. criminal code. 

Torture was included in the code in 

1994 and war crimes in 1996. The 

most recent addition, in 2008, was 

the recruitment of child soldiers—

an offense exemplified at the time 

by fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph 

Kony, who famously recruited 

children into his notorious Lord’s 

Resistance Army.

Following the Presidential Study 

Directive on Mass Atrocities 

in 2011, the FBI formalized 

an international human rights 

program to leverage its intelligence 

capabilities and vast network of 

field agents and analysts. The 

genocide and war crimes program, 

as it was then called, was originally 

part of the FBI’s Counterterrorism 

Division, but last fall it was 

reorganized under the Criminal 

Division’s Civil Rights Program 

and given its current name. Jeffrey 

Sallet, head of the Bureau’s Public 

Corruption/Civil Rights Section, 

which includes IHRU, said the 

shift creates a one-stop shop of 

experts on human rights and public 

corruption matters, which often go 

hand-in-hand.

“Corruption leads to lack of 

confidence in government,” he 

said. “Lack of confidence in 

government leads to failed states. 

And failed states lead to terror and 

human rights abuses. The people 

who are kleptocrats and robbing 

their countries are often the same 

people who are committing these 

abuses.”

Agents in the IHRU have 

territories they manage—Africa, 

Latin America, for example—

and work directly with agents in 

the field when they need a lead 

covered.

“...The people who are 

kleptocrats and robbing 

their countries are often 

the same people who 

are committing these 

abuses.”

“We’re going to go out to the field 

office and say, ‘We have a file, we 

have these requirements, will you 

go out and talk to your sources 

and collect this information?’” said 

Vanya Voivedich, a special agent 

in the unit. When the information 

comes back, it is shared and 

analyzed to either build a case or 

close a lead.

In some cases, when crimes 

occurred before the U.S. war 

crimes statutes were in place, 

subjects can still be prosecuted 

on lesser violations. Subjects who 

lied about their refugee status 

are subject to deportation to 

their home countries. One of the 

defendants in the Phoenix case 

in 2010, Mladen Blagojevic, was 

Contact the FBI

The FBI seeks information from 

diaspora members, refugees, and 

asylum seekers here in the U.S. with 

knowledge of human rights violations 

committed abroad.

If you have any information about 

perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, 

or other related mass atrocities, 

please submit it to us at 

tips.fbi.gov or contact your local FBI 

office, domestically or internationally.

International Human Rights Unit webpage

ultimately sent back to BosniaHerzegovina, where he was tried 

and sentenced to seven years in 

prison for crimes against humanity.

Pointing to the 20-year anniversary 

of the July 1995 genocide in the 

Bosnian town of Srebenica, in 

which around 8,000 men and boys 

were killed or taken prisoner, the 

FBI is renewing its plea for tips to 

bring to justice anyone involved in 

human rights violations.

“People in diaspora communities 

know each other,” said Voivedich, 

“they’ll know if someone in their 

community committed atrocities 

and are now here enjoying the 

benefits of starting a new life. And 

they see how that may not be fair.”
Cyber Criminal Forum Taken Down

Members Arrested in 20 Countries

It was, in effect, a one-stop, 

high-volume shopping venue for 

some of the world’s most prolific 

cyber criminals. Called Darkode, 

this underground, passwordprotected, online forum was a 

meeting place for those interested 

in buying, selling, and trading 

malware, botnets, stolen personally 

identifiable information, credit 

card information, hacked server 

credentials, and other pieces of 

data and software that facilitated 

complex cyber crimes all over the 

globe.

Unbeknownst to the operators 

of this invitation-only, Englishspeaking criminal forum, though, 

the FBI had infiltrated this 

communication platform at the 

highest levels and began collecting 

evidence and intelligence on 

Darkode members.

And today, the Department of 

Justice and the FBI—with the 

assistance of our partners in 19 

countries around the world—

announced the results of Operation 

Shrouded Horizon, a multi-agency 

investigation into the Darkode 

forum. Among those results were 

charges, arrests, and searches 

involving 70 Darkode members and 

associates around the world; U.S. 

indictments against 12 individuals 

associated with the forum, 

including its administrator; the 

serving of several search warrants 

in the U.S.; and the Bureau’s 

seizure of Darkode’s domain and 

servers.

Said FBI Deputy Director Mark 

Giuliano, “Cyber criminals should 

not have a safe haven to shop 

for the tools of their trade, and 

Operation Shrouded Horizon 

shows we will do all we can to 

disrupt their unlawful activities.”

Left: This message was displayed on the 

Darkode homepage after the FBI seized its 

web domain and servers.

74 The FBI Story 2015 07.15.15

During the investigation, the 

Bureau focused primarily on the 

Darkode members responsible 

for developing, distributing, 

facilitating, and supporting the 

most egregious and complex cyber 

criminal schemes targeting victims 

and financial systems around the 

world, including in the United 

States.

The Darkode forum, which 

had between 250-300 members, 

operated very carefully—not just 

anyone could join. Ever fearful of 

compromise by law enforcement, 

Darkode administrators made sure 

prospective members were heavily 

vetted.

Similar to practices used by the 

Mafia, a potential candidate for 

forum membership had to be 

sponsored by an existing member 

and sent a formal invitation to join. 

In response, the candidate had 

to post an online introduction—

basically, a resume—highlighting 

the individual’s past criminal 

activity, particular cyber skills, 

and potential contributions to the 

forum. The forum’s active members 

decided whether to approve 

applications.

Once in the forum, members—in 

addition to buying and selling 

criminal cyber products and 

services—used it to exchange 

ideas, knowledge, and advice on 

any number of cyber-related fraud 

schemes and other illegal activities. 

It was almost like think tank for 

cyber criminals.

What’s the significance of this 

case, believed to be the largestever coordinated law enforcement 

effort directed at an online cyber 

criminal forum? In addition to 

shutting down a major resource for 

cyber criminals, law enforcement 

infiltrated a closed criminal 

forum—no easy task—to obtain 

the intelligence and evidence 

needed to identity and prosecute 

these criminals. And this action 

paid off with a treasure trove of 

information that ultimately led to 

the dismantlement of the forum 

and law enforcement actions 

against dozens of its worst criminal 

members around the world.

The case was led by the FBI’s 

Pittsburgh Field Office, with 

assistance from our offices in 

Washington, San Diego, and 

a number of others around the 

country. But it wouldn’t have 

happened without the support of 

Europol and other partners in 19 

countries. And in addition to the 

FBI obtaining enough evidence for 

search warrants and indictments 

in the U.S., we shared information 

with our foreign partners to help 

them make their own cases against 

the Darkode perpetrators residing 

in their jurisdictions.

Operation Shrouded Horizon is 

a prime example of why the most 

effective way to combat cyber 

crime—which operates globally—is 

a law enforcement response that 

also transcends national borders.
07.17.15 The FBI Story 2015 75

American law enforcement 

celebrated a milestone today in 

Budapest, Hungary: the 20th 

anniversary of an international 

training program whose success 

continues to prove that despite 

diverse cultures, politics, and 

religions, police officers everywhere 

share many more similarities than 

differences.

The FBI was instrumental in 

establishing the International Law 

Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in 

Budapest in 1995, and since that 

time, instructors from a variety of 

U.S. federal agencies have provided 

expert training to more than 

21,000 law enforcement officers 

from more than 85 countries. 

Just as importantly, the program 

encourages officers of different 

nationalities to build lasting 

professional relationships to better 

fight crimes that increasingly spill 

across borders. The concept has 

worked so well that other ILEAs—

all funded and run by the U.S. 

Department of State—have been 

opened in Thailand, Botswana, El 

Salvador, and America.

“It’s one of the program’s biggest 

strengths,” said FBI Special 

Agent John Terpinas, director 

of ILEA Budapest. “Beyond 

the classroom instruction, we 

help to build relationships, and 

those relationships—that ILEA 

network—have opened a lot of 

doors over the last 20 years that 

might otherwise have been closed.”

“From the perspective of the U.S. 

government and particularly the 

FBI, I can’t emphasize enough how 

important ILEA is for the entire 

international law enforcement 

community,” noted Robert 

Anderson, Jr., executive assistant 

director of the FBI’s Criminal, 

Cyber, Response, and Services 

Branch. Anderson was on hand 

at events in Budapest to celebrate 

the anniversary, along with foreign 

dignitaries and U.S. Ambassador to 

Hungary Colleen Bell.

Also in attendance was former 

FBI Director Louis Freeh, who 

in 1994—only a few years after 

the fall of the Berlin Wall—led 

a U.S. delegation to meet with 

representatives from 11 nations 

International Law Enforcement Training

Celebrating 20 Years of Partnership and Excellence

The FBI’s John Terpinas is director of ILEA 

Budapest.

János and Márk Wodala are a father-son 

interpreting team.

Lt. Colonel Hajni Gősi has been with ILEA 

Budapest since 1997.

FBI Special Agent John Terpinas, director of the International Law Enforcement Training 

Academy (ILEA) in Budapest, Hungary, speaks at a July 17, 2015 event there celebrating 

the organization’s 20th anniversary and the graduation of its 100th core class.

Máté Németh is a Hungarian police detective 

and ILEA student.

Colonel István Farkas oversees Hungarian staff 

at ILEA Budapest.

Retired FBI Special Agent Skip Stites taught 

tactical classes.
76 The FBI Story 2015

in Russia, Eastern Europe, and 

Central Europe. The mission was 

to determine if new joint programs 

with these emerging democracies 

could be created to fight the 

growing threat of transnational 

crime.

The former Soviet countries had 

little experience with Western 

methods of policing and operating 

a criminal justice system under the 

rule of law, and they asked Freeh 

for FBI training.

“Many newly appointed police 

chiefs were democratically minded 

but had little previous police 

experience and no experience 

in Western law enforcement 

leadership and methodology,” said 

Miles Burden, a retired FBI special 

agent and former ILEA director 

who was on the 1994 trip. “They 

had no experience in things as 

basic as serving a warrant. You 

couldn’t wave a magic wand and 

change that without extensive 

training.”

“No country by itself, no 

matter how strong it may 

be, can face all of this 

crime alone and hope to 

succeed.”

A little more than a year later, 

ILEA Budapest was offering 

instruction to its first class, and in 

the spring of 1996, Freeh was there 

for the first graduation ceremony. 

“The reasons for the academy’s 

success are apparent to anyone who 

looks in realistic ways at the world 

around us,” he said at the time. 

“Crime of all kinds has grown to 

alarming levels on an international 

scale. No country by itself, no 

matter how strong it may be, can 

face all of this crime alone and 

hope to succeed.”

While most of the Eastern 

European countries that participate 

in ILEA Budapest today are no 

longer emerging democracies, 

the need for joint training and 

partnerships is as important as ever.

“ILEA is more relevant now in 

the world that we live, particularly 

with law enforcement challenges, 

than when it was established 20 

years ago,” Freeh said this week, 

adding that he was “extremely 

proud” of what the program 

has accomplished and the 

dividends it is paying. Early ILEA 

participants, for example, have now 

assumed leadership roles in their 

organizations.

“Some of our students have risen 

all the way to the ministerial level 

in their governments,” Terpinas 

explained. “We hope that their 

ILEA experience will help them 

influence their government’s policy 

and decision making toward good 

ILEA Budapest’s instruction covers various disciplines including counterfeiting (center), and forensics.

ILEA was established in Budapest, Hungary in 1995. Right: Dignitaries, including then-FBI Director Louis Freeh and former U.S. Attorney 

Janet Reno, congratulated the first graduating class, which consisted of 33 students from Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

07.17.15
The FBI Story 2015 77

governance and shared values that 

promote democracy.”

ILEA Budapest owes much of 

its success to the Hungarian 

government that hosts the academy 

and the Hungarian staff who take 

care of the day-to-day operations—

tending to students who speak 

different languages and may have 

never traveled across their own 

border or met an American law 

enforcement officer before.

“We are really lucky here in ILEA 

Budapest because we have an 

outstanding relationship with our 

Hungarian partners,” Terpinas said. 

“The staff here is spectacular. Some 

have been here since the day the 

door opened.”

Police Colonel István Farkas, who 

oversees the Hungarian staff at 

ILEA Budapest, explained that the 

Americans who serve as director 

and deputy director of the academy 

usually rotate every three years, 

while the Hungarian staff remains 

constant. “What makes this 

academy function at high quality 

is that its staff has been almost 

the same during the course of all 

these years,” Farkas said through an 

interpreter.

“Our classrooms are like 

a mini United Nations.”

Farkas, who has been a senior 

leader at ILEA Budapest for 

16 years, added that the U.S. 

government takes the international 

training program very seriously. 

“The American law enforcement 

professionals are not conducting a 

marketing activity here,” he said. 

“What they do is they transfer true 

knowledge.”

ILEA’s core course of instruction—

based on the FBI’s National 

Academy program for U.S. law 

enforcement personnel—is a 

seven-week program with blocks of 

instruction in various disciplines. 

Each class consists of about 50 

mid-career officers from three or 

four different countries.

FBI instructors teach blocks 

on public corruption, 

counterterrorism, and tactics, while 

the U.S. Secret Service teaches 

about counterfeiting, and the 

Drug Enforcement Agency teaches 

about drug trafficking. “Everybody 

comes and teaches their expertise,” 

Terpinas said. The instructors are 

among U.S. law enforcement’s most 

experienced members.

In addition to the classroom and 

tactical instruction, students are 

encouraged to exercise and are 

required to participate in a variety 

of team-building activities—which 

help them form bonds intended to 

last a lifetime.

Left: Sándor Pintér, the Hungarian Minister of the Interior. Center: ILEA Budapest core countries. Right: The U.S. Department of State’s 

William R. Brownfield, and the FBI’s Robert Anderson, Jr.

Left: Fitness at ILEA Budapest. Center and right: Firearms, tactics, and street survival skills.

07.17.15
78 The FBI Story 2015

Located in a Ministry of Interior 

facility consisting of historic 

buildings that have been 

refurbished with state of the 

art equipment, ILEA Budapest 

overcomes the language barrier 

for students through the use of 

seasoned interpreters.

“Our classrooms are like a mini 

United Nations,” Terpinas said. 

“The students are all wearing 

headsets, and we can translate up 

to four languages simultaneously. 

So the instruction is in English, 

the materials that the students 

are looking at on their laptops 

are in their language, and then 

they are receiving the instruction, 

simultaneously, in their language 

from our interpreters.”

János Wodala, a longtime ILEA 

interpreter, likened his role to a 

soccer referee. “If it’s a good game,” 

he said, “you don’t even notice 

that the referee is on the field. So 

if interpretation goes well, and if 

it goes smoothly, you don’t even 

notice that there’s an interpreter.”

Máté Németh, a Hungarian police 

detective who was part of the 

100th core class that graduated 

today to coincide with the 20th 

anniversary, spent the past seven 

weeks with fellow Hungarian 

officers and classmates from 

Macedonia and Bulgaria. Prior to 

his ILEA experience, he had never 

encountered police officers from 

those countries.

ILEA Budapest students who speak different languages wear headsets and receive simultaneous translations.

07.17.15

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with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/ilea20.

“The criminals don’t 

stop at our borders, so 

we shouldn’t stop there 

either.”

“I never met Macedonians or 

Bulgarians,” he said, “not on the 

professional level. So it was a really 

good time to get to know some 

colleagues from the surrounding 

and neighboring countries.” He 

added, “The biggest point of the 

whole ILEA is networking—getting 

to know these people. Because the 

criminals don’t stop at our borders, 

so we shouldn’t stop there either.”
Financial Fraud

The Hair Show That Never Was

Tamira Fonville’s job might be 

described as “recruiter.” For a 

time, she profited substantially 

by enlisting college-age women 

to participate in a hair show. The 

problem was, there never was 

any show, and everything about 

Fonville’s line of work was a fraud.

She and her partner—both of 

whom are now in prison—regularly 

traveled the Interstate 95 corridor 

from New York to Washington, 

D.C., visiting shopping malls and 

other places where young women 

were known to spend time.

Using a series of phony names, 

Fonville would interest the women 

in the hair show, offering to pay 

for their services. But to pay them, 

she said, she needed their debit 

card numbers and access to their 

accounts.

With that access, she would not 

simply clean out their accounts. 

Instead, her partner and 

mastermind of the scam, Ricardo 

Falana, would deposit bogus checks 

into the legitimate accounts, 

and then immediately begin 

withdrawing funds before the bank 

realized the fraud.

“It was a crazy, hit or miss scheme,” 

said Special Agent Sean Norman, 

who investigated the case from 

the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. 

“But they did it at such a high 

volume that they made a lot of 

money for several years. There was 

approximately $600,000 in actual 

losses to banks and other financial 

institutions.”

On a typical recruiting trip, 

Fonville might talk with 20 or 30 

women and would follow up with 

text messages using disposable 

phones whose numbers could not 

be traced. If she ended up with 

three or four willing participants, 

that was enough.

“Some took the hair show bait and 

handed over their debit cards and 

PINs,” Norman said. “Others who 

were skeptical got a different pitch,” 

he explained. “They were told: ‘I 

can make money appear in your 

account. You will get some money, 

I will get some money, and the 

bank won’t lose anything.’”

With access to legitimate accounts 

not tied to him, Falana deposited 

forged checks of up to $10,000 and 

then withdrew money before the 

bank realized the checks were bad. 

Many of the victims were coached 

to tell bank investigators that their 

debit cards had been stolen and 

their PINs were written on the 

cards.

“The majority of the account 

holders knew they were doing 

something fraudulent,” Norman 

said. “They thought they were 

going to get something out of it, but 

they got nothing.”

For a time, the money rolled in, 

and Fonville “got addicted to the 

lifestyle,” Norman said. According 

to court documents, between 2008 

and 2013, Fonville personally 

benefited from the scheme to the 

tune of more than $230,000. She 

used some of the proceeds to pay 

for plastic surgery, the car loan on 

her $30,000 Chevrolet Camaro, 

and the $2,100 monthly rent on her 

New York apartment. She would 

later tell investigators she viewed 

the scam as a career.

Fonville also fraudulently obtained 

food stamps, Medicaid, and 

benefits from a New York child 

care program, and she received 

deferments on almost $100,000 in 

student loans because she claimed 

she had no income. But then she 

lied on her car loan application, 

stating she was an employee of 

Mesa Airlines and had a salary of 

$65,000 per year.

Eventually, some of the women 

whose accounts had been used 

came forward and told the 

truth. Norman was able to trace 

withdrawn funds to Fonville 

and Falana, and Falana was 

identified on surveillance video 

depositing what turned out to be 

bogus checks. Norman also used 

E-ZPass toll receipts to link the 

pair’s recruiting trips to account 

holders and subsequent fraudulent 

transactions on their accounts.

“After the pieces all fit together,” 

said Norman, who is a certified 

public account and specializes in 

financial fraud investigations, “their 

actions were highly predictable.”

Fonville was arrested in August 

2014. She pled guilty the following 

month to conspiracy to commit 

bank fraud and three counts of 

bank fraud and was sentenced 

in April to 15 months in prison. 

Falana pled guilty to similar bank 

fraud charges in October 2014 and 

in February received an 80-month 

sentence.

In the end, Norman said, “they 

blew all the money and had 

nothing to show for it.”

07.21.15 The FBI Story 2015 79

Two criminals were sentenced for a scheme 

that involved enlisting young women 

at shopping malls and other places to 

participate in a “hair show,” gaining access 

to their bank accounts, depositing phony 

checks in the accounts, and withdrawing 

funds before the banks realized the fraud.
80 The FBI Story 2015

Economic Espionage

FBI Launches Nationwide Awareness Campaign

07.23.15

Industries in the United States 

spend more on research and 

development than any other 

country in the world. The amount 

of effort and resources put into 

developing a unique product 

or process that can provide an 

edge in the business world is not 

unsubstantial. But what happens if 

someone comes in and steals that 

edge—a company’s trade secrets—

for the benefit of a foreign country? 

The damages could severely 

undermine the victim company 

and include lost revenue, lost 

employment, damaged reputation, 

lost investment for research and 

development, interruption in 

production—it could even result in 

the company going out of business.

It’s called economic espionage, 

and it’s a problem that costs the 

American economy billions of 

dollars annually and puts our 

national security at risk. While it 

is not a new threat, it is a growing 

one, and the theft attempts by our 

foreign competitors and adversaries 

are becoming more brazen and 

more varied in their approach.

Historically, economic espionage 

has been leveled mainly at defenserelated and high-tech industries. 

But recent FBI cases have shown 

that no industry, large or small, 

is immune to the threat. Any 

company with a proprietary 

product, process, or idea can be a 

target; any unprotected trade secret 

is ripe for the taking by those who 

wish to illegally obtain innovations 

to increase their market share at a 

victim company’s expense.

To raise awareness of the issue, 

the FBI, in collaboration with the 

National Counterintelligence and 

Security Center, has launched a 

nationwide campaign and released 

a short film aimed at educating 

businesses, industry leaders, and 

anyone with a trade secret about 

the threat and how they can help 

mitigate it. Based on an actual 

case, The Company Man: Protecting 

America’s Secrets illustrates how 

one U.S. company was targeted 

by foreign actors and how that 

company worked with the FBI to 

resolve the problem and bring the 

perpetrators to justice.

The Bureau has provided more 

than 1,300 in-person briefings on 

the economic espionage threat to 

Defining the Crime

Theft of trade secrets occurs when 

someone knowingly steals or 

misappropriates a trade secret for the 

economic benefit of anyone other than 

the owner.

Similarly, economic espionage occurs 

when a trade secret is stolen for 

the benefit of a foreign government, 

foreign instrumentality, or foreign 

agent.

Proving the foreign nexus in court is 

difficult, and cases that start out as 

economic espionage often end up 

prosecuted as theft of trade secrets. 

Both crimes are covered by the 

Economic Espionage Act of 1996, 

Title 18, Sections 1831 and 1832 of 

the U.S. Code.

Left: Based on an actual case, The 

Company Man: Protecting America’s Secrets 

is part of a nationwide FBI campaign to 

raise awareness of the economic espionage 

threat.
07.23.15 The FBI Story 2015 81

companies and industry leaders 

over the past year, using The 

Company Man as a training tool. 

But through this campaign, the 

FBI hopes to expand the scope of 

the audience to include a wider 

range of industry representatives, 

trade associations, and smaller 

companies and encourage them to 

come forward if they suspect they 

are a victim of economic espionage.

Understandably, companies are 

often hesitant to reach out for 

help when faced with a potential 

threat of this nature, usually 

because they don’t want to risk 

their trade secrets being disclosed 

in court or compromised in any 

Protect Your Trade Secrets

Any company that has invested time 

and resources into developing a 

product or idea needs to protect it. 

The FBI recommends the following 

methods for economic protection:

• Recognize the threat.

• Identify and value trade secrets.

• Implement a definable plan for 

safeguarding trade secrets.

• Secure physical trade secrets and 

limit access to trade secrets.

• Provide ongoing security training to 

employees.

• Develop an insider threat program.

• Proactively report suspicious 

incidents to the FBI before 

your proprietary information is 

irreversibly compromised.

Case Examples

• In May 2015, two Chinese professors were among six defendants charged 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 universities 

and companies controlled by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). 

• In January 2015, a computer science engineer was sentenced for stealing 

sensitive trade secrets from a trading firm in New Jersey and a Chicago-based 

financial firm. 

• In July 2014, a California man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on multiple 

economic espionage-related charges in connection with his theft of trade 

secrets from DuPont regarding its chloride-route titanium dioxide (TiO2) 

production technology and the subsequent selling of that information to stateowned companies of the PRC. 

• In May 2014, five Chinese military hackers were indicted on charges of 

computer hacking, economic espionage, and other offenses directed at six 

victims in the U.S. nuclear power, metals, and solar products industries. 

• In March 2013, a New Jersey-based defense contractor was sentenced for theft 

of trade secrets and exporting sensitive U.S. military technology to the PRC. 

• In December 2011, a Massachusetts man was sentenced on a charge of 

foreign economic espionage for providing trade secrets to an undercover 

federal agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. 

• In February 2010, a former Boeing engineer was sentenced to nearly 16 years 

in prison for stealing aerospace secrets for the benefit of the PRC. This was the 

first economic espionage trial in U.S. history.

Below: The targeted company’s corporate 

attorney and the FBI’s lead investigator in 

the real-life version of The Company Man

share their perspectives on the case, and 

corporate executives discuss the importance 

of protecting trade secrets and how their 

collaboration with the FBI has helped them 

in that endeavor in videos on our website.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

thecompanyman.

way. But the FBI will do all it can 

to minimize business disruption 

and safeguard privacy and data 

during its investigation and 

will seek protective orders to 

preserve trade secrets and business 

confidentiality whenever possible. 

The Department of Justice also has 

a variety of protections in place to 

ensure that sensitive information is 

protected throughout any criminal 

prosecution.

Each of the FBI’s 56 field offices 

has a strategic partnership 

coordinator (SPC) whose role is to 

proactively develop relationships 

with local companies, trade groups, 

industry leaders, and others so that 

if an incident occurs, a liaison has 

already been established. To report 

suspected economic espionagerelated activity, please contact the 

SPC at your local FBI field office or 

submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.

Corporate Attorney

at Targeted Company

FBI Special Agent

Jeremiah Crabtree

Ed Montooth,

DuPont Corporation

Bob Trono,

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Andy Ubel,

Valspar Corporation
82 The FBI Story 2015

International Parental Kidnapping Case

Partnerships, Publicity Key to 9-Year-Old’s Rescue

The FBI-led Seattle Safe Streets 

Task Force, which includes the 

Seattle Police Department and 

other law enforcement agencies, 

was called for assistance. Task 

force members who went to the 

marina and elsewhere to conduct 

interviews learned that 46-year-old 

Jeff Hanson had given away some 

of his personal belongings, that 

he had previously sailed the Draco

around the world, and—most 

significantly—that he had a six-day 

head start on investigators. In other 

words, he was likely on the open 

sea and could be headed anywhere. 

Investigators also learned another 

troubling fact, Woodbury said: “We 

were told that Billy didn’t know 

how to swim.”

On September 12, 2014, a federal 

warrant was issued for Jeff 

Hanson, and Woodbury and task 

force members worked quickly 

Johanna Hanson had agreed to 

let her son spend that July and 

August living with his father, Jeff 

Hanson, aboard a 30-foot sailboat 

named the Draco. But after Billy 

arrived in Washington, she began 

receiving text messages from her 

estranged husband suggesting that 

Billy would not be returning in 

the fall—a clear violation of their 

court-approved custody agreement.

Johanna called the Hazelton 

Pennsylvania Police Department, 

who, in turn, contacted the Port 

of Seattle Police Department. 

In August, a welfare check was 

conducted, which showed that Billy 

and his father were on the boat in 

Seattle, and all seemed to be well. 

A week later, however, the airplane 

ticket Billy’s grandfather had 

purchased for his return to the East 

Coast was never used—and the 

Draco was nowhere to be found.

When 9-year-old Billy Hanson 

didn’t return to Pennsylvania after 

spending the summer with his 

father in Seattle, the boy’s mother 

called her local police department, 

setting in motion an international 

kidnapping investigation that led 

FBI agents halfway around the 

world to a tiny island in the South 

Pacific.

What would eventually bring the 

case to a successful conclusion was 

the extraordinary collaboration 

between local, federal, and 

international law enforcement 

and other agencies. But on that 

September day in 2014 when 

Billy was not on the flight he was 

supposed to be on, his mother “was 

obviously very concerned,” said 

Special Agent Carolyn Woodbury, 

who led the investigation from the 

FBI’s Seattle Division.

07.27.15

International parental kidnapper Jeff Hanson’s boat, the Draco, is seen at a dry dock on the South Pacific island of Niue, where Hanson was 

located with his 9-year-old son in October 2014.
The FBI Story 2015 83

to “get the word out” about 

the kidnapping. FBI offices up 

and down the West Coast were 

alerted, along with the National 

Center for Missing & Exploited 

Children. The Coast Guard and 

U.S. Navy were notified, and 

hourly announcements about the 

kidnapping were made on maritime 

radio channels. In addition, the 

FBI’s investigative publicity team 

distributed posters online and on 

social media networks showing 

pictures of Billy, his father, and the 

Draco.

“Our investigation suggested 

that Jeff Hanson would likely sail 

either to Mexico, South America, 

or the South Pacific,” Woodbury 

said. The FBI’s legal attaché 

offices—known as legats—were 

contacted, and in Australia, Legat 

Canberra disseminated fliers and 

other information to the Pacific 

Transnational Crime Coordination 

Centre, an organization of police, 

customs and immigrations, and 

other agencies whose goal is to 

gather and share intelligence to 

stop transnational crime in the 

South Pacific. Meanwhile, news 

reports about Billy’s kidnapping 

were being broadcast everywhere.

On October 29, 2014, Legat 

Canberra reported that Billy and 

his father had been seen on the 

remote island nation of Niue, 

located about 1,500 miles northeast 

of New Zealand. The island has 

fewer than 1,200 residents, but 

a woman recognized Billy and 

his father from news reports and 

contacted the local chief of police.

Jeff Hanson was detained on 

immigration charges, and FBI 

agents from Seattle began the long 

trip to Niue, which is said to be one 

of the least visited places on the 

planet. There are only two flights 

on and off the island per week.

“The irony for Jeff Hanson,” said 

Woodbury, “was that he was 

immediately recognized in one 

of the most remote places in the 

world. For law enforcement,” 

she added, “it illustrates that 

collaboration and asking for the 

public’s help were the absolute keys 

to solving this case.” Woodbury 

had particular praise for the 

international assistance provided 

by the Niue Police Department, 

the New Zealand Police, and New 

Zealand Customs Service.

After his harrowing odyssey, Billy 

was reunited with his mother. 

“This was no carefree adventure 

for him,” Woodbury explained. 

“It was a traumatic experience.” 

Investigators learned that shortly 

after the Draco left Seattle, the 

dinghy that carried most of the 

food and water for the trip was lost 

at sea. By the time Billy and his 

father reached Niue after 60 days 

aboard the Draco, the 9-year-old 

had lost 30 pounds.

On November 11, Jeff Hanson 

appeared in federal court in Seattle 

to face international kidnapping 

charges. He pled guilty in March 

2015 and was sentenced last week 

to time served, which was about 

seven months in prison. As for 

the Draco, which was Hanson’s 

residence, it remains in Niue in 

dry dock—some 5,500 miles from 

Seattle—accumulating dock fees.

07.27.15
Sexual Predator Sentenced to 29 Years

Targeted Young Victims Through Social Media

This joint investigation made 

good use of an FBI child forensic 

interviewer, the FBI’s Computer 

Analysis Response Team, and 

the Paradise Police Department’s 

familiarity with the town’s young 

people.

Earlier this year, Kirby pled guilty 

in federal court to six criminal 

counts involving victims between 

the ages of 10 and 15. And this 

past May, he was sentenced to 29 

years in prison.

A key aspect of the case, according 

to the FBI agent who worked it, 

was the willingness of that one 

victim’s parents to immediately 

come forward to the FBI with their 

concerns—and computer devices, 

potentially containing evidence—

when they suspected their daughter 

may have been victimized. Their 

action not only led to the eventual 

identification of Kirby, which 

protected their daughter from 

further contact with him, but also 

protected an unknown number of 

young girls who could have been 

victimized by him in the future.

duped by Kirby or enticed by the 

money and ultimately sent him the 

photos he requested.

Of course, once Kirby got the 

photos, he never sent the money. 

Instead, he would up the ante—

threatening to send the photos to 

the girls’ parents or release them on 

the Internet unless they sent him 

yet more pictures, or, in some cases, 

met up with him for sex acts.

Kirby’s illicit activities became 

known when the parents of one 

of his victims—after discovering 

information on a home computer—

contacted the FBI’s Chico Resident 

Agency out of our Sacramento 

Field Office. Our case agent then 

contacted a detective with the 

Paradise Police Department for 

assistance with identifying local 

suspects. After the execution of 

several search warrants on Internet 

service providers, investigators 

identified and arrested Kirby 

in May 2014 on state criminal 

charges. In the meantime, the 

federal case was being built against 

him.

Social media is a great vehicle for 

keeping up with friends and family, 

networking with colleagues, and 

sharing common interests with 

others—and it’s an especially 

popular way for young people to 

communicate with one another. 

But, like a car that’s stolen by a 

bank robber to be used as a getaway 

vehicle, social media accounts can 

be hijacked by criminals and others 

for nefarious purposes. And it’s 

often a young victim at the other 

end of the computer.

Which is why parents need to be 

aware of what could happen if their 

child unknowingly comes across 

someone on social media who poses 

a threat—and should talk to their 

kids about it. (See sidebar.)

Case in point: a 23-year-old 

California man who was recently 

sentenced to 29 years in federal 

prison for attempting to produce 

child pornography and enticing a 

minor. Jordan James Kirby used 

Facebook to solicit juvenile girls (as 

well as women) for sexually explicit 

photos, which he would then use 

to extort the victims for additional 

pictures and/or for sex acts with 

him.

Kirby, who lived in Paradise, 

California, created several bogus 

Facebook profiles through which 

he contacted hundreds of victims, 

many of whom were minor females. 

He would sometimes claim to be 

an agent for a modeling company 

and, after complimenting them on 

their looks, would offer the girls 

thousands of dollars for photos 

of themselves in various stages of 

undress. To tempt them, he posted 

pictures of himself holding large 

amounts of cash and photos of 

money spread out on top of his 

computer. Unfortunately, some of 

the girls he contacted were either 

Help Protect Your Kids from Online Sexual Predators

In addition to talking to your kids about the dangers of being sexually exploited 

online and offline, here are some concrete ways you can help them protect 

themselves on social media:

• Make sure the privacy settings on your kids’ social media accounts are high, 

but also keep in mind that information can inadvertently be leaked by friends 

and family, so remind kids they should still be careful about posting certain 

information about themselves—like street address, phone number, Social 

Security number, etc.

• Remind your kids they should post only what they’re comfortable with others 

seeing. Encourage them to think about the language they use online and to 

think before posting pictures and videos. And remind them that once they post 

something, they can’t take it back.

• Be aware of who your kids’ online friends are, and advise them to accept friend 

requests only from people they know personally.

• Encourage your kids to tell you if they feel threatened by someone or 

uncomfortable because of something online.

• Report inappropriate activity to the website or to law enforcement.

• Know that teens are not always honest about what they are doing online. Some 

will let their parents “friend” them, for example, but will then establish another 

space online that is hidden from their parents.

84 The FBI Story 2015 07.30.15
08.03.15 The FBI Story 2015 85

Tonya Hughes was just shy of her 

21st birthday on a spring day in 

1990 when she was struck by a 

hit-and-run driver in Oklahoma 

City. She died five days later, but 

the investigation into her suspicious 

death led to a mystery—and a 

murder—that took decades to fully 

unravel.

That’s because Tonya Hughes 

was not who anyone thought she 

was—and neither was her husband, 

Clarence Hughes, who now sits on 

death row in a Florida prison.

“The FBI has been chipping away 

at this one,” said Special Agent 

Scott Lobb, who began working 

the cold case investigation in 2013 

out of the Bureau’s Oklahoma 

City Division. “There were a lot of 

peculiar twists to this case.”

Tonya left behind a child, Michael 

Hughes. Her husband claimed he 

was Michael’s biological father, but 

shortly after Tonya died, Clarence 

gave Michael to Oklahoma state 

welfare officials and promptly 

disappeared. “He knew the truth 

would come out,” Lobb said, “and 

so he fled.”

The truth—discovered during the 

hit-and-run investigation—was 

that Clarence Hughes was actually 

Franklin Delano Floyd, a federal 

fugitive from Georgia wanted since 

1973.

Floyd was arrested in Georgia 

two months later and sent back 

to prison to serve the rest of his 

sentence. A blood test revealed 

that he was not Michael’s biological 

father. That fact apparently didn’t 

matter to Floyd, because when 

he got out of prison in 1993, he 

was determined to get custody 

of Michael. And he did—by 

kidnapping the 6-year-old from 

elementary school on September 

12, 1994.

When authorities caught up with 

him in Kentucky two months 

later, Michael was nowhere to be 

found, and Floyd would not say 

what happened to the boy. Floyd 

was later found guilty of a federal 

kidnapping charge and sent to 

prison.

During the kidnapping 

investigation, photos were found 

taped to the gas tank of Floyd’s 

pickup truck that showed a young 

woman who appeared to be 

bound and beaten. Years later, the 

woman—Cheryl Ann Comesso—

was identified and matched to 

remains that had previously been 

discovered near a freeway on-ramp 

near Tampa, Florida. Floyd was 

charged with her 1989 murder, 

convicted, and sentenced to death 

in 2002.

The investigation into Michael’s 

kidnapping also determined that 

Tonya Hughes, too, had been 

Cold Case Investigation

Solving a Decades-Old Mystery

Two decades after the murder of 6-year-old Michael Hughes, the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and anthropologists from the University of 

Oklahoma searched an area near the Oklahoma-Texas border where Franklin Delano Floyd said he had dumped the boy’s body after shooting 

him twice in the back of the head.
86 The FBI Story 2015

kidnapped by Floyd—sometime 

between 1973 and August 1975—

and when he surfaced in Oklahoma 

City, he began introducing his 

future wife as his daughter.

In 2013, the FBI and the National 

Center for Missing & Exploited 

Children conducted a cold case 

review of the Hughes kidnapping 

and reopened the investigation. 

A year later, Lobb and Special 

Agent Nate Furr spent several 

days interviewing Floyd in prison 

regarding Tonya and Michael 

Hughes.

“We were able to find 

her birth parents and 

give them some closure 

about their daughter.”

The death row inmate was 

generally uncooperative, Lobb 

said, but during the course of 

many hours of conversation, he 

told the agents that in 1974, under 

the name Brandon C. Williams, 

he married a woman in North 

Carolina who had three daughters, 

and the new family made its 

way to Texas. He identified the 

oldest daughter as Suzanne Marie 

Sevakis, born September 6, 1969, 

in Michigan. Floyd said that after 

the mother was jailed for minor 

charges in Dallas, he took Suzanne 

and moved to Oklahoma City, 

dropping the other two daughters 

at a children’s home.

Lobb later confirmed the marriage 

through court records, and, using 

DNA samples, concluded that 

Tonya Hughes was indeed Suzanne 

Marie Sevakis. It had taken 24 

years to learn her true identity. 

“We were able to find her birth 

parents and give them some closure 

about their daughter,” he said.

Eventually, Floyd told the 

investigators what happened to 

Michael Hughes: He murdered the 

first-grader on the same day he 

kidnapped him.

They were driving from Oklahoma 

City to Dallas, and “Michael was 

being a typical 6-year-old. He was 

out of control, and that pushed 

Floyd over the edge,” Lobb said. 

“Floyd felt the pressure and he just 

ran out of patience.” Lobb vividly 

remembers the moment Floyd 

confessed. “He turned and looked 

at me and said, ‘I shot him twice in 

the back of the head to make it real 

quick.’”

Why did Floyd finally confess? “I 

think he just ran out of excuses,” 

Lobb said, adding that Floyd is now 

72 and has serious health issues. 

With no date set for his execution, 

Lobb believes it is likely Floyd will 

die of natural causes on death row.

On the day of Michael’s murder, 

someone called the police and 

described a suspicious man with 

a young boy at an Oklahoma 

interstate rest area near the Texas 

border. That fit with Floyd’s 

story—he told Lobb he had buried 

the boy near the last interstate exit 

leaving Oklahoma.

With the help of the FBI’s 

Evidence Response Team and 

anthropologists from the University 

of Oklahoma, Lobb narrowed 

down a search area. After 20 

years, nothing would likely remain 

of Michael’s body—even his 

bones would have been eaten by 

feral animals—but investigators 

thought they might find the two 

shell casings, or possibly metal 

eyelets from Michael’s sneakers. 

After two days of sifting dirt in a 

2,000-square-foot area, though, no 

evidence was found.

In the end, Floyd’s confession put 

to rest a 20-year-old murder case 

and revealed the true identity of 

Tonya Hughes, whose suspicious 

death remains unsolved. “That’s 

the one thing Floyd won’t talk 

about,” Lobb said.

The veteran investigator with more 

than two decades of experience 

hopes to interview Floyd again. 

Maybe more mysteries will be 

unraveled. “There is still a great 

deal we can learn from him,” 

Lobb said. “Maybe now that he is 

nearing the end of his life he will 

want to make a full accounting, 

to set the record straight about 

everything he has done.” For now, 

though, Lobb is content. “This has 

been one of the most fascinating 

cases I have ever worked.”

This childhood picture shows Suzanne 

Marie Sevakis near the time she was 

kidnapped by Franklin Delano Floyd. It took 

more than two decades for investigators 

to discover that the victim who died 

in a suspicious hit-and-run accident in 

Oklahoma City in 1990 was actually 

20-year-old Sevakis.

08.03.15
08.06.15 The FBI Story 2015 87

Byte Out of History

FBI Involvement in Early Election Fraud Case in Kansas City

Impartial and fair elections are 

the cornerstone of any democracy, 

and the FBI has a long history of 

investigating illegal activities that 

harm the elective process.

One of our earliest investigations 

involved Kansas City political 

fixer Tom Pendergast, who was 

threatened by the basic workings 

of democratic elections—in 

particular, by any election that 

didn’t go his way. In the 1920s 

and 1930s, Pendergast, a former 

alderman, ran the political 

machine that controlled the 

electoral choices in Kansas City, 

Missouri, and he got rich in the 

process. Because of Pendergast’s 

corrupt activities—including voter 

fraud and bribery—Kansas City 

became known as an open city 

where gangsters moved freely and 

prostitution, gambling, and drug 

enterprises flourished.

And, of course, election fraud 

flourished as well, along with its 

accompanying scare tactics. The 

1934 primary election in Kansas 

City had been so violent that it 

became known as the “Bloody 

Election,” with thugs connected 

to the Pendergast machine 

committing acts of violence and 

intimidation against opponents 

and voters across the city. The 

fraudulent reporting of election 

results was even more damaging to 

the democratic process—precincts 

returned astronomical participation 

rates. Vote totals for machine 

candidates (Pendergast’s picks) 

even exceeded the total population 

in several wards and precincts.

Tired of Pendergast’s tight-fisted 

control of their city, a coalition 

of his opponents banded together 

for 1936 municipal elections and 

attempted to throw Pendergast’s 

supporters out of office. But that 

was not to be, at least not right 

away.

For the spring primary, fraud 

appeared to be the order of the day. 

U.S. Attorney Maurice Milligan of 

the Western District of Missouri 

later wrote that in one city ward, 

the vote ratio was 1,045 to 1, and 

in another, the ratio was 1,469 to 

1—both in favor of the machine 

candidates. The sheer size of 

the margins suggested a serious 

problem.

In anticipation of the 1936 general 

election in the fall, Milligan called 

for a grand jury to convene and 

began to gather information. A 

federal judge from the district 

agreed, saying that there was “a 

crying need for the purification 

of the ballot in America” and 

authorizing Milligan to seize 

electoral records after the counts 

were submitted to investigate 

possible fraud. It would be the U.S. 

Marshals’ job to gather and secure 

the evidence and the FBI’s job 

to help analyze this voluminous 

material and collect additional 

evidence in the case.

On election morning, the 

Pendergast political machine was 

out in full force. Voting proceeded 

throughout the day and election 

officials tallied, recorded, reported, 

and sealed the records as they were 

supposed to. But at that point, 

the U.S. Marshals stepped in and 

claimed the records under grand 

jury warrant. By 8 p.m. that night, 

truckloads of ballots and other 

records—12 tons worth—were 

carted to the federal building in 

Kansas City and FBI agents began 

to examine them.

FBI Agent Charles Appel, the 

founder of the Bureau’s Technical 

Laboratory, was point man, as his 

expertise was forensic document 

examination. The first bag opened 

revealed that at least 95 ballots 

had been tampered with. Further 

analysis showed such fraud and 

other tinkering were systemic.

The first federal indictments for 

voter fraud were leveled in January 

1937, and by the middle of 1938, 

242 people had either pled guilty 

or been convicted at trial. Of those 

who chose to go to trial, they 

were convicted by juries of their 

peers—who perhaps were sending a 

message that corruption would no 

longer be tolerated in Kansas City.

Of course, Pendergast himself 

appeared unscathed at first, but 

his political machine was severely 

damaged. And these first cracks 

in his organization led to other 

challenges to his rule. Eventually, 

agents of the Internal Revenue 

Service were able to gather 

evidence against Pendergast on tax 

evasion charges related to a large 

kickback he had received, and the 

boss’ rule was ended by a guilty 

plea and a stint in the Leavenworth 

federal penitentiary.

U.S. Attorney Maurice Milligan, Western 

District of Missouri, played a critical role 

in helping to uncover the crimes of Kansas 

City political fixer Tom Pendergast and his 

organization in the 1930s.
88 The FBI Story 2015 08.10.15

Attacks on Arkansas Power Grid

Perpetrator Sentenced to 15 Years

On August 21, 2013, the FBI’s 

Little Rock Field Office was 

notified by a local energy provider 

about a downed 500,000-volt 

power line near an active railroad 

track in Cabot, Arkansas. A power 

outage ensued. Company officials 

and local law enforcement believed 

earlier that day, someone had 

climbed a 100-foot tall support 

tower and intentionally sawed off 

the shackles that held up the power 

line, which then fell across the 

railroad tracks. A short time later, a 

train struck the line and severed it.

The FBI was called into the 

matter because sabotaging an 

energy facility and causing more 

than $100,000 in damage is a 

federal crime. According to energy 

company officials, the damage in 

this instance was $550,000.

A search of the crime scene and 

subsequent investigative activity by 

FBI Little Rock’s Joint Terrorism 

Task Force—aided by our local law 

enforcement partners and power 

company officials—revealed much 

about what had happened.

In addition to the power line’s 

support tower shackles being cut 

with a hacksaw, someone had 

loosened most of the bolts holding 

the support tower to its cement 

base. Investigators believed that 

in a previous attempt to damage 

the support tower and take down 

the power line, the perpetrator 

had taken a steel cable—insulated 

in blue plastic hosing that’s often 

used for pool maintenance—and 

tied one end to the bottom of the 

support tower and the other end to 

a tree across the railroad tracks in 

the hopes that a train would run 

into the cable, pulling down the 

entire support tower and possibly 

toppling several nearby towers. 

Instead, the cable simply snapped 

when hit by the train, and the 

tower—and power line—remained 

in place. Pieces of the cable and 

the blue hosing from that attempt 

were found at the crime scene.

But then there were two more 

seemingly related incidents:

On September 29, 2013, an energy 

provider received an intruder alert 

at an extra-high voltage switching 

station in Scott, Arkansas, 

which was soon followed by a 

series of other alarms. Local law 

enforcement officers responded to 

find the station on fire. Damages in 

this instance exceeded $4 million.

And on October 6, 2013, an 

energy provider near Jacksonville, 

Arkansas lost power for several 

hours, impacting thousands. Soon 

after, investigators found that a 

115,000-volt transmission line had 

fallen after someone cut into two 

power poles and pulled one down 

using a tractor. Damages were close 

to $50,000.

A few days later, on October 

11, 2013, local law enforcement 

responded to reports of an 

explosion in a Jacksonville 

neighborhood and determined that 

it occurred under the power lines 

that ran alongside the residence of 

Jason Woodring, a self-employed 

pool maintenance worker who lived 

there with his mother. Because 

Woodring’s residence was close 

to the location of the October 6 

sabotage incident and because the 

tractor used to cut into the power 

poles in that incident was stolen 

from a location directly across the 

street from Woodring’s home, local 

police suspected this particular 

explosion might be related to the 

previous acts of sabotage. They 

reached out to Bureau agents, who 

had noticed discarded blue hose at 

Woodring’s house similar to that 

found at the August 21 incident.

During an interview with federal 

agents, Woodring confessed to 

all three incidents, as well as 

the explosion that brought law 

enforcement to his house (using a 

fishing pole, he had cast a piece of 

wire over the power lines near his 

home, which caused the blast). He 

later pled guilty.

While Woodring’s motives for his 

activities were not clear, he did 

leave some vague anti-government 

messages at two of the crime 

scenes, and at his recent sentencing 

hearing, he told the judge that 

he was trying to help society. He 

also pled guilty to being an illegal 

drug user in possession of various 

firearms and ammunition.

Woodring was ordered by the judge 

to pay more than $4 million in 

restitution to one energy company 

and nearly $50,000 to another.

The power grid attacks, according 

to Eastern District of Arkansas 

U.S. Attorney Christopher Thyer, 

“had the potential to put many 

lives at risk. When we depend 

on electrical power not only 

for comfort and convenience 

but also for safety, security, and 

life-sustaining equipment, not 

knowing where the next attack 

would occur held the public 

hostage to an unknown attacker.”

But thanks to the collaboration 

between the FBI and its partners, 

that “unknown” attacker was 

identified and brought to justice.

An electrical station fire in Arkansas was 

intentionally set by Jason Woodring. (Photo 

courtesy of Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office.)
08.13.15 The FBI Story 2015 89

Loan Sharks Sentenced

Albanian Crime Group Used Violence, Intimidation in Business Dealings

Loan sharking. It’s a term that 

might conjure up historical images 

of shadowy organized crime 

figures handing out questionable 

loans at exorbitant interest rates 

to desperate customers, usually 

followed by threats of violence if 

the loans aren’t paid off.

Unfortunately, loan sharks are alive 

and well in 2015 and continue 

to benefit from the financial 

misfortunes of others. Last month, 

the two top leaders of an Albanian 

criminal organization operating 

in the Philadelphia area were 

sentenced to lengthy federal prison 

terms for running a violent loan 

sharking and illegal gambling 

ring. Ylli Gjeli, the boss, and 

Fatimir Mustafaraj, the muscle, 

were convicted late last year 

after a six-week trial. Two other 

defendants were convicted at the 

same trial.

From 2002 to 2013, Gjeli and 

Mustafaraj led the multi-milliondollar criminal enterprise with 

two primary sources of income: 

loan sharking and illegal gambling. 

The illegal gambling arm of the 

operation included an online sports 

betting website that contributed 

more than $2.9 million in gross 

profits to the group’s criminal 

coffers. There was often crossover 

between the two arms of the 

organization—when customers 

couldn’t cover their gambling 

losses, bookies would refer them to 

the loan sharking side of the house.

The illegal activity took place 

in Philadelphia bars and coffee 

houses owned or controlled by the 

organization. Besides the gambling 

operation, Gjeli, Mustafaraj, and 

company generated money by 

making loans to customers at 

interest rates that ranged from 

104 percent to 395 percent and 

demanding weekly repayments.

These repayment demands were 

almost always accompanied by acts 

of intimidation. Customers were 

menaced with firearms, hatchets, 

and threats of physical harm to 

themselves or family members. In 

a number of instances, perhaps to 

create the false impression that 

the Albanians were part of a larger 

and more powerful organization, 

customers were told that “people 

from New York” were willing to 

cause bodily harm to anyone who 

didn’t pay up.

Gjeli and Mustafaraj not only 

directed the criminal activities of 

their underlings—who included 

debt collectors and bookies—

they also got their own hands 

dirty by directly financing loans, 

intimidating and threatening 

violence against customers to 

collect loan payments, and 

physically assaulting subordinates 

and associates who stole from the 

organization or who didn’t collect 

their debts on time.

According to Philadelphia FBI 

Special Agent in Charge Edward 

Hanko, Gjeli and Mustafaraj took 

advantage of their victims twice. 

“They provided loans at outrageous 

interest rates to those unable to 

obtain loans from traditional 

sources,” he explained, “and then 

used threats and violence to collect 

on those illegal loans.”

The investigation revealed that 

the Lion Bar, an establishment 

owned by Gjeli, served as the main 

hub of the organization’s criminal 

activities—it was where Gheli, 

Mustafaraj, and their associates 

met with current and prospective 

borrowers. What they didn’t realize 

was that one of their borrowers 

was actually an FBI undercover 

agent, and during one particular 

meeting, details of a $50,000 loan 

were worked out with him. Gjeli 

informed our undercover agent that 

his limbs would be broken if he 

didn’t pay back what he owed in a 

timely manner.

Also during the investigation, law 

enforcement was able to make 

more than 400 audio recordings 

and numerous surveillance videos 

of the criminal activity. By August 

2013, arrests were made, including 

those of Gjeli and Mustafaraj. 

And the FBI executed a series 

of search warrants at related 

businesses, homes, vehicles, and a 

storage locker. Law enforcement 

recovered guns, cash, computers, 

phones, video surveillance, loan 

applications, loan ledgers, and 

gambling records. Fortunately, 

the group kept good records of its 

criminal activities, and much of 

the evidence seized in August was 

presented at trial.

That evidence, plus trial testimony 

from many of Gjeli’s and 

Mustafaraj’s customers—and even 

members of their own criminal 

organization—was enough to 

convince a jury of the defendants’ 

guilt.

And as with many successful 

investigations, the FBI didn’t do 

it alone: Our Philadelphia Field 

Office worked closely with the 

Pennsylvania State Police, New 

Jersey State Police, Montgomery 

County Detective Bureau, and 

the Internal Revenue Service to 

dismantle a very dangerous and 

prolific criminal enterprise.

Members and associates of an Albanian 

criminal enterprise conducted much of their 

illegal activity in this Philadelphia bar they 

owned and in their pizza eatery next door.
90 The FBI Story 2015 08.17.15

Former DuPont Employee Sentenced

Involved in Foreign Conspiracy to Steal Trade Secrets

A second former DuPont 

employee—Edward Schulz—was 

recently sentenced for his role in a 

conspiracy led by a South Korean 

company to steal trade secrets 

related to Kevlar, a trademarked 

product developed and sold by 

DuPont.

Kevlar, an incredibly strong 

synthetic fiber developed by 

the U.S.-based DuPont 50 years 

ago, is used around the world in 

body armor, fiber optic cables, 

automotive and industrial products, 

and a variety of other applications. 

Soon after its development, 

DuPont trademarked Kevlar, 

mass-produced it, and put it on 

the market. But none of this 

was easy—the company had 

expended untold resources on 

Kevlar’s research and development, 

ground-breaking manufacturing 

processes, and innovative business 

plans (collectively known as “trade 

secrets”) before the product became 

a success.

DuPont’s hard work and ingenuity 

paid off. But there are companies 

who believe that their road to 

success can be paved with someone 

else’s hard work and ingenuity. 

That was the case with executives 

from a South Korean company 

called Kolon Industries who, 

interested in developing their own 

Kevlar-like product to compete 

with DuPont, put a plan in motion 

to steal proprietary information 

related to Kevlar—primarily 

by going after former DuPont 

employees who might be in a 

position to have such information.

Stealing another company’s trade 

secrets is a federal crime, and, 

after an FBI investigation by our 

field office in Richmond (where 

DuPont has a large plant)—with 

the assistance of the Department 

of Commerce’s Export Enforcement 

Office—Kolon Industries and 

five of its executives were indicted 

on theft of trade secrets charges. 

The company pled guilty to the 

charges in April of this year and 

was ordered to pay $85 million in 

criminal fines and $275 million in 

restitution.

Edward Schulz—who worked 

for DuPont for just over 30 years 

before he left around 2000—was 

responsible for technical research 

and development relating to Kevlar. 

Despite a signed agreement barring 

him from disclosing DuPont’s secret 

or confidential information during 

or after employment, he held on 

to numerous DuPont documents 

when he left the company. So 

when Kolon came calling and 

Schulz accepted their offer of a 

consulting job, they soon began 

questioning him about Kevlar, and 

he willingly turned over some of 

the proprietary information he had 

in his possession.

Another long-time former DuPont 

employee—engineer and salesman 

Michael David Mitchell—was also 

caught up in the conspiracy and 

was charged with and pled guilty to 

theft of trade secrets several years 

ago. Mitchell, fired by DuPont for 

performance reasons in 2007, had 

signed the same non-disclosure 

agreement as Schulz, but he 

also held on to some proprietary 

information when he left. While 

looking for another job, he met 

with Kolon representatives and 

eventually was hired by them as a 

consultant.

Mitchell shared with Kolon some of 

the proprietary information he had, 

but when Kolon representatives 

began asking him extremely 

technical questions on Kevlar, he 

reached out to former and current 

DuPont employees for answers. 

Word of his activities, however, got 

back to DuPont management, who 

reached out to the FBI with their 

concerns.

Eventually, Mitchell agreed to 

cooperate with law enforcement 

and made numerous recorded 

phone calls and exchanged e-mails 

with Kolon representatives. He 

also hosted a face-to-face meeting 

with representatives in a Richmond 

hotel, which was audiotaped and 

videotaped by the Bureau.

This case would have been nearly 

impossible to make without the 

assistance of DuPont. In addition 

to the company coming to us 

initially about the attempts to 

steal their trade secrets, DuPont 

worked with us to understand 

and organize more than a million 

pages of Kevlar-related documents 

and hundreds of hours of audio 

recordings, which enabled the case 

to move forward quickly. And the 

FBI and the Department of Justice 

worked to ensure that DuPont’s 

proprietary information—much 

of which was used as evidence—

wasn’t disclosed publicly.

As a result of its experience, 

DuPont enhanced efforts to protect 

its proprietary information. Other 

American companies, if they 

haven’t already done so, need to 

follow suit—the desire to steal U.S. 

business trade secrets continues 

unabated.

Shown above are some of the DuPontrelated items seized by the FBI during a 

search of former DuPont employee Michael 

David Mitchell’s residence.
08.20.15 The FBI Story 2015 91

Medicare Fraud

Hospice Owner Falsified Numerous Claims

in the state. And to make matters 

worse, she gave falsified documents 

to the Medicare subcontractor 

performing the audit when asked to 

provide records of patient files and 

Medicare claims.

A pivotal point in the investigation 

came during the first interview 

with one of the two nurses charged 

in the case—she made a full 

confession and helped provide the 

necessary probable cause to obtain 

search warrants.

Kluding had pocketed a substantial 

portion of the Medicare payments 

she received, using Prairie View 

Hospice’s account as well as two 

other medical business accounts as 

her personal checkbook. A review 

of her banking records showed 

that she moved money between 

her business accounts and personal 

account whenever she needed 

additional money to fund her 

lavish lifestyle—which included 

a 6,000-square-foot home on 

hundreds of acres of land.

But that lavish lifestyle is over: 

In addition to the $2.5 million 

in restitution, Kluding owes an 

additional $5.4 million to Medicare 

for overpayments.

actually conceal the true medical 

conditions of hospice patients and 

the true quality and quantity of 

their care in order to continue 

receiving payments from Medicare. 

(The general manager and both 

nurses were later charged in the 

scheme and ultimately pled guilty.)

How did Kluding conceal the true 

medical conditions of her patients? 

For one, she directed certain 

medical documents be changed 

or written a certain way to make 

it appear as if nurses had visited 

patients or conducted assessments 

at the regular intervals required 

by Medicare—when, in fact, they 

hadn’t. She also directed that 

nursing notes be falsified to make it 

appear that patients were in worse 

health than they actually were.

Typically, hospice care is offered for 

those with a life expectancy of six 

months or less. Our investigation 

revealed that many Prairie View 

Hospice patients received care for 

five, six, even seven years.

Making Kluding’s criminal activity 

seem even riskier was the fact 

that at the time, Prairie View 

Hospice was part of a broader 

Medicare audit being conducted 

The overwhelming majority of 

people who go into the health care 

industry do it because they want 

to help people. Unfortunately, 

there are also some unscrupulous 

individuals who do it because they 

think they can take advantage of 

the health care system for their 

own financial gain.

That’s just what happened in the 

case of an Oklahoma hospice 

executive. Paula Kluding, owner 

of Prairie View Hospice, Inc., 

located in Chandler, Oklahoma, 

submitted millions of dollars’ worth 

of fraudulent claims to the federal 

Medicare program. But after a 

thorough investigation by the 

FBI and our partners at the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human 

Services’ Office of Inspector 

General, Kluding was convicted of 

Medicare fraud and other related 

charges at trial and was recently 

sentenced to a federal prison term. 

She was also ordered to pay $2.5 

million in restitution to Medicare.

Hospice care, by definition, 

consists of health care, medication, 

certain medical equipment, and 

other goods and services provided 

to terminally ill patients. Prairie 

View Hospice was ostensibly in 

the business of doing just that 

and advertised its services for 

patients in nursing care facilities 

and at home. And as a Medicareapproved provider of hospice care, 

Prairie View agreed that it would 

comply with all Medicare-related 

laws and regulations, including 

those that required submissions of 

truthful and accurate claims for 

reimbursement.

But from July 2010 until July 2013, 

Kluding did not comply with 

those laws and regulations in her 

dealings with Medicare. In fact, 

she conspired—with her general 

manager and two nurses—to 

Shown is the Chandler, Oklahoma office of Prairie View Hospice, Inc., whose owner—Patricia 

Kluding—was convicted of running a Medicare fraud scheme.
92 The FBI Story 2015 08.26.15

The FBI is alerting art collectors 

and dealers to be particularly 

careful trading Near Eastern 

antiquities, warning that artifacts 

plundered by terrorist organizations 

such as ISIL are entering the 

marketplace.

“We now have credible reports that 

U.S. persons have been offered 

cultural property that appears to 

have been removed from Syria 

and Iraq recently,” said Bonnie 

Magness-Gardiner, manager of the 

FBI’s Art Theft Program.

The Bureau is asking U.S. art and 

antiquities market leaders to spread 

the word that preventing illegally 

obtained artifacts from reaching 

the market helps stem the transfer 

of funds to terrorists.

In a single-page document titled 

ISIL Antiquities Trafficking, the 

FBI asks leaders in the field to 

disseminate the following message:

• Please be cautious when 

purchasing items from this 

region. Keep in mind that 

antiquities from Iraq remain 

subject to Office of Foreign 

Assets Control sanctions under 

the Iraq Stabilization and 

Insurgency Sanctions Regulations 

(31 CFR part 576).

• Purchasing an object looted and/

or sold by the Islamic State may 

provide financial support to a 

terrorist organization and could 

be prosecuted under 18 USC 

233A.

• Robust due diligence is necessary 

when purchasing any Syrian or 

Iraqi antiquities or other cultural 

property in the U.S. or when 

purchasing elsewhere using U.S. 

funds.

In February, the United Nations 

Security Council unanimously 

passed Resolution 2199, which 

obligates member states to take 

steps to prevent terrorist groups 

in Iraq and Syria from receiving 

donations and from benefiting 

from trade in oil, antiquities, and 

hostages.

As part of a broad U.S. government 

response, the Department of State 

this spring published satellite 

imagery showing industriallevel looting at Syrian and Iraqi 

archaeological sites. In a May raid 

against the now deceased ISIL 

finance chief Abu Sayyaf in Syria, 

U.S. Special Operations Forces 

ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking

FBI Warns Dealers, Collectors About Terrorist Loot

Satellite imagery of Dura Europos, a 150-acre site in Syria dating to 300 B.C., shows how it looked in 2012 (left) and as it appeared in 2014 

covered by looters’ pits.
08.26.15 The FBI Story 2015 93

recovered a significant cache 

of archaeological and historical 

objects and fragments. According 

to the State Department’s Bureau 

of Educational and Cultural 

Affairs, “The cache represents 

significant primary evidence of 

looting at archaeological sites in 

Syria and Iraq, theft from regional 

museums, and the stockpiling of 

these spoils for likely sale on the 

international market.”

The looted materials, which were 

returned to the Iraq National 

Museum, included coins, pottery, 

glass, ivory, stone, jewelry, figurines, 

bowls, and manuscripts. Types of 

objects subject to looting appear 

in the International Council of 

Museums’ (ICOM) Red Lists of 

antiquities at risk posted on the 

State Department website. Here, 

collectors and dealers can view 

and learn to recognize the kinds 

of objects that have been looted 

from cultural sites, stolen from 

museums and churches, and illicitly 

trafficked. Syria and Iraq each have 

emergency Red Lists.

The significance of valuable 

cultural antiquities as currency to 

ISIL was brought into sharp relief 

earlier this month in Palmyra, 

Syria—a UNESCO World 

Heritage site dating to the second 

millennium B.C.—with the public 

execution of a Syrian art scholar 

who reportedly refused to reveal 

to ISIL the location of valuable 

antiquities.

In the U.S., meanwhile, buyers may 

want to consult the Red Lists and 

should pay special attention to an 

object’s origin. Buyers should ask 

many questions such as: Where did 

this come from? When did it come 

into the country? Does it have an 

export license from the country of 

origin?

“Check and verify provenance, 

importation, and other documents,” 

said Magness-Gardiner. “You have 

to be very careful when you’re 

buying. We don’t want to say don’t 

buy anything at all. There’s a lot of 

legitimate material circulating in 

the marketplace. What we’re trying 

to say is, don’t allow these pieces 

that could potentially support 

terrorism to be part of the trade.”

The FBI released a flyer requesting help from art and antiquities market leaders in halting trade in looted and stolen artifacts 

from Syria and Iraq.
94 The FBI Story 2015 08.28.15

The accountant for a U.S. company 

recently received an e-mail from 

her chief executive, who was 

on vacation out of the country, 

requesting a transfer of funds on 

a time-sensitive acquisition that 

required completion by the end of 

the day. The CEO said a lawyer 

would contact the accountant to 

provide further details.

“It was not unusual for me to 

receive e-mails requesting a 

transfer of funds,” the accountant 

later wrote, and when she was 

contacted by the lawyer via 

e-mail, she noted the appropriate 

letter of authorization—including 

her CEO’s signature over the 

company’s seal—and followed the 

instructions to wire more than 

$737,000 to a bank in China.

The next day, when the CEO 

happened to call regarding another 

matter, the accountant mentioned 

that she had completed the wire 

transfer the day before. The CEO 

said he had never sent the e-mail 

and knew nothing about the 

alleged acquisition.

The company was the victim of 

a business e-mail compromise 

(BEC), a growing financial fraud 

that is more sophisticated than 

any similar scam the FBI has seen 

before and one—in its various 

forms—that has resulted in actual 

and attempted losses of more 

than a billion dollars to businesses 

worldwide.

“The FBI takes the BEC 

threat very seriously.” 

“BEC is a serious threat on a global 

scale,” said FBI Special Agent 

Maxwell Marker, who oversees the 

Bureau’s Transnational Organized 

Crime–Eastern Hemisphere 

Section in the Criminal 

Investigative Division. “It’s a prime 

example of organized crime groups 

engaging in large-scale, computerenabled fraud, and the losses are 

staggering.”

Since the FBI’s Internet Crime 

Complaint Center (IC3) began 

tracking BEC scams in late 2013, 

it has compiled statistics on more 

than 7,000 U.S. companies that 

have been victimized—with 

total dollar losses exceeding $740 

million. That doesn’t include 

victims outside the U.S. and 

unreported losses.

The scammers, believed to be 

members of organized crime groups 

from Africa, Eastern Europe, and 

the Middle East, primarily target 

businesses that work with foreign 

suppliers or regularly perform 

wire transfer payments. The 

scam succeeds by compromising 

legitimate business e-mail accounts 

through social engineering or 

computer intrusion techniques. 

Businesses of all sizes are targeted, 

and the fraud is proliferating.

According to IC3, since the 

beginning of 2015 there has been 

a 270 percent increase in identified 

BEC victims. Victim companies 

have come from all 50 U.S. states 

and nearly 80 countries abroad. 

The majority of the fraudulent 

transfers end up in Chinese banks.

Not long ago, e-mail scams were 

fairly easy to spot. The Nigerian 

Business E-Mail Compromise

An Emerging Global Threat
08.28.15 The FBI Story 2015 95

lottery and other fraud attempts 

that arrived in personal and 

business e-mail inboxes were 

transparent in their amateurism. 

Now, the scammers’ methods are 

extremely sophisticated.

“They know how to perpetuate the 

scam without raising suspicions,” 

Marker said. “They have excellent 

tradecraft, and they do their 

homework. They use language 

specific to the company they 

are targeting, along with dollar 

amounts that lend legitimacy to 

the fraud. The days of these e-mails 

having horrible grammar and being 

easily identified are largely behind 

us.”

To make matters worse, the 

criminals often employ malware 

to infiltrate company networks, 

gaining access to legitimate 

e-mail threads about billing and 

invoices they can use to ensure 

the suspicions of an accountant 

or financial officer aren’t raised 

when a fraudulent wire transfer is 

requested. 

Instead of making a payment to 

a trusted supplier, the scammers 

direct payment to their own 

accounts. Sometimes they succeed 

at this by switching a trusted 

bank account number by a single 

digit. “The criminals have become 

experts at imitating invoices and 

accounts,” Marker said. “And when 

a wire transfer happens,” he added, 

“the window of time to identify the 

fraud and recover the funds before 

they are moved out of reach is 

extremely short.”

In the case mentioned above—

reported to the IC3 in June—after 

the accountant spoke to her CEO 

on the phone, she immediately 

reviewed the e-mail thread. “I 

noticed the first e-mail I received 

from the CEO was missing one 

letter; instead of .com, it read 

.co.” On closer inspection, the 

attachment provided by the 

“lawyer” revealed that the CEO’s 

signature was forged and the 

company seal appeared to be cut 

and pasted from the company’s 

public website. Further assisting 

the perpetrators, the website also 

listed the company’s executive 

officers and their e-mail addresses 

and identified specific global media 

events the CEO would attend 

during the calendar year.

The FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, and 

International Operations Divisions 

are coordinating efforts to identify 

and dismantle BEC criminal 

groups. “We are applying all our 

investigative techniques to the 

threat,” Marker said, “including 

forensic accounting, human source 

and undercover operations, and 

cyber aspects such as tracking 

IP addresses and analyzing the 

malware used to carry out network 

intrusions. We are working with 

our foreign partners as well, who 

are seeing the same issues.” He 

stressed that companies should 

make themselves aware of the BEC 

threat and take measures to avoid 

becoming victims (see sidebar).

If your company has been 

victimized by a BEC scam, it 

is important to act quickly. 

Contact your financial institution 

immediately and request that they 

contact the financial institution 

where the fraudulent transfer was 

sent. Next, call the FBI, and also 

file a complaint—regardless of 

dollar loss—with the IC3.

“The FBI takes the BEC threat 

very seriously,” Marker said, “and 

we are working with our law 

enforcement partners around the 

world to identify these criminals 

and bring them to justice.”

How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of 

a BEC Scam

In October 2013, the Internet Crime 

Complaint Center (IC3) began 

receiving complaints from businesses 

about trusted suppliers requesting 

wire transfers that ended up in banks 

overseas—and turned out to be bogus 

requests. Since then, losses from the 

business e-mail compromise (BEC) 

scam have been significant.

“For victims reporting a monetary 

loss to the IC3, the average individual 

loss is about $6,000,” said Ellen 

Oliveto, an FBI analyst assigned to 

the center. “The average loss to BEC 

victims is $130,000.” IC3 offers the 

following tips to businesses to avoid 

being victimized by the scam (a more 

detailed list of strategies is available at 

www.ic3.gov):

• Verify changes in vendor payment 

location and confirm requests for 

transfer of funds.

• Be wary of free, web-based 

e-mail accounts, which are more 

susceptible to being hacked.

• Be careful when posting financial 

and personnel information to social 

media and company websites.

• Regarding wire transfer payments, 

be suspicious of requests for 

secrecy or pressure to take action 

quickly.

• Consider financial security 

procedures that include a two-step 

verification process for wire transfer 

payments.

• Create intrusion detection system 

rules that flag e-mails with 

extensions that are similar to 

company e-mail but not exactly the 

same. For example, .co instead of 

.com.

• If possible, register all Internet 

domains that are slightly different 

than the actual company domain.

• Know the habits of your customers, 

including the reason, detail, and 

amount of payments. Beware of any 

significant changes.
96 The FBI Story 2015

Jewelry Store Robberies

Dallas Task Force Helps Put Violent Criminals Behind Bars

09.01.15

This stolen jewelry from several armed robberies—much of it with price tags still on—was found in the Texas residence of Mark D. Whitfield, 

who, along with Michael Demon Jackson, was later convicted of the crimes.
09.01.15 The FBI Story 2015 97

Two Texas men who committed 

violent jewelry store robberies 

in the Dallas/Fort Worth area 

were recently sentenced to 

lengthy prison terms thanks to 

an FBI-led task force that helped 

bring them to justice. The case 

is a classic example of local and 

federal law enforcement officers 

working together to make their 

communities safer.

For a seven-month period between 

2013 and 2014, Michael Demon 

Jackson and Mark D. Whitfield 

robbed numerous jewelry stores 

at gunpoint, in part to feed their 

heroin habits. Last May, after 

pleading guilty to the crimes, 

Jackson was sentenced to 594 

months in federal prison, just shy 

of 50 years. In June, Whitfield 

received a 309-month prison term.

“Being able to bring 

federal charges in violent 

criminal cases is one of 

the strengths of the task 

force.” 

“Jackson had a previous murder 

conviction, and the judge took 

that into consideration,” said 

FBI Special Agent Gil Balli, 

who supervises the Dallas 

Violent Crimes Task Force that 

investigated the case. The fact that 

both men were charged federally 

resulted in stiffer sentences and no 

chance of parole.

“Being able to bring federal charges 

in violent criminal cases is one of 

the strengths of the task force,” 

Balli said. Established two years 

ago, the task force consists of FBI 

agents and officers from the Dallas 

Police Department and other local 

police departments from Garland 

and Carrollton, Texas. When 

necessary, the task force partners 

with other state and federal 

agencies.

“Our mission,” Balli said, “is 

to target criminal groups and 

individuals, including fugitives, 

who commit the worst violent 

crimes in our area.”

“It was very traumatic for 

the victims.”

Balli receives daily updates about 

robberies that have occurred in 

the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the 

previous 24 hours. He consults with 

Dallas Police Department officials 

and other task force members 

about which crimes might rise to 

the level of task force involvement. 

“We all exchange intelligence on 

a daily basis,” he said, adding, “We 

are looking at the most violent 

offenders in our communities, who 

often commit serial robberies.”

Jackson and Whitfield fit that 

description. The pair targeted 

jewelry stores in shopping malls 

without good security and where 

female sales clerks worked alone. 

Whitfield would enter the store 

pretending to be a customer 

interested in making a purchase. 

When the clerk opened the display 

case, Jackson came in brandishing 

a gun.

“He would push the clerks to the 

ground, put the gun to the back 

of their heads, and threaten to kill 

them,” said Noe Camacho, a Dallas 

Police Department detective on the 

task force. “It was very traumatic 

for the victims.”

After several robberies, 

investigators had surveillance 

video from inside the stores, and 

not much else. But during an 

April 2014 robbery in Lewisville, 

Texas, a person saw two men 

running out of the mall and took 

a picture of the car they drove 

away in—a red Mitsubishi Galant. 

The license plate was not visible, 

but investigators noticed that the 

passenger-side mirror was missing.

Camacho spent the next five 

days going through every traffic 

ticket issued in the area involving 

Mitsubishi Galants. Crossreferencing any tickets to drivers 

with criminal records, he found 

that Whitfield had recently been 

stopped by an officer who noted in 

his report that there was another 

man in the car and that they had 

a number of new watches in the 

vehicle.

“Whitfield’s criminal record had 

a long history of jewelry theft,” 

Camacho said. “We knew we were 

on the right track.” Task force 

members conducted surveillance 

and saw that Whitfield’s car was 

missing a passenger-side mirror.

“It was very satisfying 

to get these guys off the 

street. They were

dangerous individuals, 

and now they are no

longer a threat to the 

community.”

A search warrant was obtained, 

and when Whitfield’s house was 

searched and the pair was arrested, 

stolen jewelry from the robberies—

much of it with price tags still 

on—was found in the residence.

“It was very satisfying to get these 

guys off the street,” Camacho said. 

“They were dangerous individuals, 

and now they are no longer a threat 

to the community.”
Steroids Dealer Sentenced

Advertised Products Online

Customers from more than 30 

states contacted Macchiarulo 

by e-mail to place orders; they 

followed up by mailing him cash 

or prepaid money cards. He then 

packaged his products and, using a 

fictitious name and return address, 

took his parcels to the local U.S. 

post office.

But his plan was not as foolproof 

as he thought: As a result of 

investigative tips, USPIS and 

CPB eventually seized several 

of Macchiarulo’s incoming and 

outgoing packages and, through 

testing, identified their primary 

contents as anabolic steroids.

Investigators from the FBI 

Richmond Field Office and 

the USPIS, after conducting 

surveillances of Macchiarulo and 

undertaking other investigative 

measures, had enough to obtain 

a search warrant for his home in 

September 2014.

Once inside, they found a treasure 

trove of evidence—thousands of 

tablets, pills, and liquid ampules 

containing anabolic steroids; 

equipment used in the manufacture 

of finished anabolic steroid 

products; printed copies of e-mails 

containing order and payment 

information from Macchiarulo’s 

customers; envelopes and packages 

used to send the steroids; and more 

than $100,000 in cash, some from 

the proceeds of the business.

Macchiarulo later surrendered 

to the government an additional 

$57,000 in criminal proceeds.

As a result of this multi-agency 

effort, law enforcement successfully 

shut down an operation that made 

a potentially dangerous substance 

available—without restriction—to 

anyone willing to pay for it.

various raw anabolic steroid 

powders and pills to manufacture 

them into finished products and 

sell them.

Using phony names, Macchiarulo 

usually e-mailed his orders to 

his overseas suppliers and sent 

payments through money transfer 

services, keeping individual 

payments low so he wouldn’t have 

to show identification. And he had 

his purchases sent either to his 

residence or to post office boxes 

opened under fictitious business 

names.

To avoid detection by CBP 

officials, suppliers usually sent their 

products to Macchiarulo in decoy 

packaging—looking like food or 

beverage products, toys, etc.

Once Macchiarulo received the 

steroids, he manufactured the raw 

products into a finished product 

for distribution under the CK 

Labs name. He even had his own 

logo—a bulldog. To market his 

merchandise, he bought ads and 

promoted his fake company—and 

its very real product—on websites 

known for advertising anabolic 

steroids.

Anabolic steroids, according to the 

National Institute on Drug Abuse, 

are the common name for synthetic 

variants of the male sex hormone 

testosterone. While these drugs are 

legally prescribed to treat certain 

medical conditions, they are also 

abused by some athletes, body 

builders, and others in attempts to 

enhance performance.

Because of their potential for 

abuse and the possibility of them 

causing serious health problems if 

misused, anabolic steroids have also 

been classified as a Schedule III 

drug under the federal Controlled 

Substances Act, which regulates 

the manufacture, possession, 

distribution, and use of certain 

substances. Recently, after a joint 

FBI/U.S. Postal Inspection Service 

(USPIS) investigation, a 43-year-old 

Virginia man, who had no license 

to distribute anabolic steroids and 

no prescription for the drug, pled 

guilty in federal court to his role in 

a steroid distribution conspiracy. 

This past July, that individual—

Carl Macchiarulo—was sentenced 

to serve four years in prison.

During the investigation, FBI 

and USPIS investigators were 

assisted by the Drug Enforcement 

Administration and U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection (CBP).

Between December 2012 and 

September 2014, Macchiarulo 

owned and operated an illegal 

anabolic steroid business known 

as CK Labs out of the Midlothian 

home he shared with his wife and 

children. The lab was located in a 

room that only he had access to.

Not licensed to run a lab, 

Macchiarulo was also not a medical 

professional nor a chemistry 

expert. But despite all that, he 

purchased—from suppliers in 

China, Europe, and elsewhere—

One of the ampules of anabolic steroids 

seized by law enforcement during a search 

of Carl Macchiarulo’s home in Midlothian, 

Virginia.

98 The FBI Story 2015 09.04.15
09.08.15 The FBI Story 2015 99

La Cosa Nostra

Lengthy Prison Terms for Lucchese Crime Family Members

In a world inhabited by 

international cyber criminals and 

violent terrorists, it would be easy 

to think of La Cosa Nostra—the 

Mafia—as a throwback to a bygone 

era. But a recent New Jersey case 

involving the Lucchese crime 

family is proof that traditional 

organized crime can still be a 

potent threat.

Members and associates of the 

Lucchese organized crime family—

one of the families traditionally 

associated with La Cosa Nostra 

(LCN)—were recently sentenced 

to lengthy prison terms in New 

Jersey for a financial fraud scheme 

that illegally netted millions of 

dollars.

Nicodemo “Nicky” Scarfo, Jr., 

whose imprisoned father was an 

LCN crime boss in Philadelphia, 

was sentenced in July to 30 years in 

prison for racketeering, securities 

and wire fraud, and other charges 

related to the 2007 illegal takeover 

of FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. 

(FPFG), a publicly held company 

in Texas. His associate, Salvatore 

Pelullo, also received a 30-year 

term. Brothers William and John 

Maxwell received 20- and 10-year 

terms, respectively.

“Essentially, Scarfo and Pelullo 

used extortion and other illegal 

means to gain control of the 

company,” said Special Agent 

Joe Gilson, who investigated the 

case from the FBI’s Atlantic City 

Resident Agency in New Jersey. 

“And then they systematically 

looted the company.”

FPFG, once a billion-dollar 

financial organization that 

specialized in mortgages, had filed 

for bankruptcy. The company 

was dormant, said Special Agent 

Bill Hyland, who assisted in the 

investigation, “but still had assets, 

thanks to the continued proceeds 

from all the mortgages it had 

financed.”

In 2007, Pelullo and Scarfo used 

threats and other tactics to 

intimidate and remove FPFG’s 

management and board of 

directors. They were replaced with 

Mafia associates, including the 

Maxwell brothers—William was 

named special counsel to FPFG, 

while John became the company’s 

CEO.

“Within several weeks of gaining 

control,” Gilson said, “Pelullo and 

Scarfo had lined their pockets 

with $7 million. Before they were 

arrested in 2011, more than $12 

million was illegally funneled 

to them—money that rightfully 

belonged to the company’s 

stockholders.

The investigation revealed that 

between 2007 and 2008, Scarfo 

received $33,000 per month from 

FPFG as a “consultant”—at a time 

when he was on home detention in 

New Jersey for violating his parole 

from a previous conviction. The 

money was being paid to a shell 

company controlled by Scarfo. 

Pelullo, using a different shell 

company, had a similar deal. With 

their ill-gotten gains, the mobsters 

purchased an airplane, a yacht, and 

expensive jewelry.

“Complicated financial crimes are 

not normally the strong suit of 

LCN,” Gilson noted. But Pelullo, 

who had two previous federal fraud 

convictions, “was a persuasive con 

man. He could maintain an air of 

legitimacy, but behind the scenes 

everything was a fraud.”

Using a variety of investigative 

techniques, including a courtordered wiretap (monitored 

by retired FBI agents, some of 

whom had helped put Scarfo’s 

father behind bars), investigators 

unraveled the scam with the 

help of federal partners including 

the Department of Labor and 

the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

Firearms, and Explosives. 

During the more than five-year 

investigation, a million pages of 

paper documents were analyzed 

and the contents of more than 100 

computers were searched.

Scarfo, Pelullo, the Maxwells, and 

others associated with the fraud 

were convicted in 2014. “We feel 

great that our team was able to put 

a stop to these crimes and bring 

the subjects to justice,” Gilson 

said. “The FBI remains vigilant 

against all types of organized crime, 

including LCN.”

Nicodemo “Nicky” Scarfo, Jr. and his La Cosa Nostra associate Salvatore Pelullo used some 

of the millions they illegally siphoned from FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. to buy this airplane.
100 The FBI Story 2015 09.11.15

Community Outreach

Director Comey Praises Citizens Academy Alumni Association

work hard to get people to try and 

know us, and there is nothing as 

important in that effort as the 

Citizens Academy. We invite in 

leaders from all walks of life, and 

we say, ‘Take a look at us, form 

your own conclusions, and then 

participate in conversations about 

us with the American people.’”

Tammy Denbo is a case in point. 

Despite being a former assistant 

state attorney near Tampa Bay, 

Florida, Denbo said, “I had no idea 

about the inner workings of the FBI 

and how the organization works 

to keep the country safe. I found 

the Citizens Academy to be an 

incredibly rewarding experience.”

“You are part of a community 

that includes all of us inside the 

FBI and a lot of people who are 

doing community service outside 

the FBI,” Comey said, describing 

alumni association members as 

indispensable to the Bureau.

“Everything the FBI tries to 

accomplish depends upon the 

American people believing us, 

trusting us, and seeing us for what I 

believe we are—honest, competent, 

and independent,” he explained. 

“The problem we face is that most 

people don’t get a clear look at us. 

Most people see us only as what 

they see on TV and in the movies.”

Through the Bureau’s community 

outreach efforts, Comey said, “We 

The Citizens Academy—one of the 

FBI’s most successful community 

outreach programs—is designed to 

give civic, business, and religious 

leaders around the country a 

firsthand look at how the Bureau 

investigates crimes and deals with 

national security threats.

More than 18,000 people have 

graduated from the program, and 

many then join one of the 60 

non-profit alumni associations 

nationwide whose mission is 

to support the FBI through 

volunteer community action. Last 

week in San Francisco, at the 

alumni group’s annual leadership 

conference, Director James Comey 

commended participants for their 

efforts.

Citizens Academy class members receive hands-on training from agents and experts from the FBI Laboratory and Training Divisions.

Alumni Association President Tammy 

Denbo describes the essential mission of 

the organization and the role of FBI Citizens 

Academies. 
09.11.15 The FBI Story 2015 101

After she graduated from the 

program, Denbo joined her local 

alumni association chapter and 

eventually became its president. 

At last week’s conference, she was 

installed as the National Citizens 

Academy Alumni Association 

president.

“I wanted to find a way to give 

back to the FBI for everything 

they have given to me,” she said, 

noting that alumni association 

members reflect the country’s 

diverse communities and represent 

a direct conduit between those 

communities and the FBI.

From a national perspective, the 

alumni association undertakes 

initiatives such as distributing child 

Participants receive instruction on shooting firearms, taking fingerprints, collecting evidence, and more.

safety information and educating 

the public about human trafficking. 

In addition, individual chapters are 

free to pursue their own projects, 

depending on the needs of the 

community.

“We also try to inform people that 

the FBI is not just coming to knock 

on the door and make arrests,” she 

said. “We help people understand 

that the FBI is actively engaged 

in trying to prevent crime and 

making neighborhoods safer.” She 

added that each of the 60 Citizens 

Academy Alumni Association 

chapters are distinct entities from 

the FBI and receive no taxpayer 

dollars. Operating funds are raised 

through sponsorships and dues.

“What you are engaged in is 

public service,” Comey told the 

group in San Francisco, “and 

your commitment is incredibly 

important to the FBI.” He added, 

“I just flew all the way across the 

country for no other reason than 

to thank you. You are making 

a tremendous difference for the 

Bureau and for the entire nation.”

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

caaaconference.

FBI Director James Comey addresses 

members of the National Citizens Academy 

Alumni Association at the group’s annual 

leadership conference in San Francisco on 

September 3, 2015.
102 The FBI Story 2015 09.15.15

Man Sentenced for Orchestrating ‘Cramming’ Scheme

Unauthorized Charges Placed on Victims’ Phone Bills

It’s a problem that has bedeviled 

landline telephone users for a while 

now, but is increasingly causing 

headaches for mobile phone users 

as well. It’s called cramming, 

and it involves a third party 

placing unauthorized charges on 

your wired, wireless, or bundled 

services telephone bill. The Federal 

Communications Commission 

(FCC) estimates that cramming 

has impacted tens of millions of 

American households.

Cramming practitioners take 

advantage of what’s known as 

local exchange carrier (LEC) 

billing, which allows users of 

particular electronic products or 

services—like ringtones, cell phone 

wallpaper, premium text messages 

of sports scores or daily horoscopes, 

etc.—to be billed through their 

local telephone company accounts 

rather than directly from the 

providers of the product or service. 

LEC billing is lawful, as long as the 

customer is aware of and has agreed 

to these charges. But when extra 

charges are placed on customers’ 

bills without their knowledge or 

consent, it’s cramming.

The FCC and the Federal Trade 

Commission (FTC) routinely 

undertake civil enforcement 

actions to punish those responsible 

for cramming and to provide 

financial relief for the victims. But 

occasionally, a cramming scheme is 

so egregious—in terms number of 

victims, how much money is lost, 

and how widespread it is—that the 

FBI pursues a criminal fraud case 

against the accused. That’s what 

happened in the joint FBI/Internal 

Revenue (IRS) investigation of a 

Montana man—Steven Vincent 

Sann—who was recently sentenced 
09.15.15 The FBI Story 2015 103

to a federal prison term for 

orchestrating a nationwide scheme 

involving approximately $70 

million in unauthorized fees being 

charged to phone bills associated 

with more than one million 

landline phone numbers.

Sann first came to the attention 

of the FBI during the course of a 

drug investigation. An analysis of 

his bank accounts revealed that 

he was receiving large amounts 

of money from billing aggregators 

known for working with phone 

companies to facilitate the placing 

of charges on phone bills by third 

parties. Investigators, following 

the money trail, found that Sann 

was using LEC billing to charge 

for a standalone voicemail and fax 

service he was marketing through 

several companies he managed.

After looking through Sann’s 

business records, investigators 

determined that he was actually 

running a cramming operation. His 

companies had received numerous 

cramming complaints, but Sann 

didn’t report them to the billing 

aggregators, as he was contractually 

obligated to do, because that would 

have jeopardized his scheme. 

Additional details and evidence of 

the cramming operation came out 

in interviews with victims, billing 

aggregators, phone companies, 

Sann’s employees, and others.

Citing the size and complexity of 

the case, the FBI agent who worked 

the investigation acknowledged the 

contributions of his counterpart 

at the IRS. “We worked together 

every step of the way—formulating 

strategy, conducting interviews, 

and analyzing financial records,” he 

explained.

How did the scheme work? Sann 

contracted with various billing 

aggregators and provided them 

with the consumer telephone 

numbers to be billed. The 

aggregators, in turn, provided 

the information to the phone 

companies, which placed the 

charges for Sann’s product on the 

bills associated with each telephone 

number. When the customers 

paid their bills, the phone 

companies—after taking out their 

fees—forwarded the remainder 

of the money to the billing 

aggregators, who took out their 

fees. The remaining funds were 

deposited into Sann’s accounts.

Crammers rely on a

number of tricks to

confuse consumers into 

paying for services they 

didn’t authorize. 

The primary ingredient in any 

cramming scheme is a working 

phone number. Investigators 

believed that Sann could have 

obtained his numbers from lists 

he bought from marketers and/or 

from victims entering their phone 

numbers on misleading website 

advertisements.

Crammers like Sann rely on 

a number of tricks to confuse 

consumers into paying for services 

they didn’t authorize or that 

cost more than they were led to 

believe. For instance, unauthorized 

charges are usually given general 

and innocuous-sounding names, 

like service fee, service charge, 

voicemail, mail server, and calling 

plan. And the charges, usually 

monthly, are often relatively small, 

anywhere from $9.95 to $24.95.

Consumer awareness is the key to 

minimizing the financial damages 

caused by crammers (see sidebar). 

And if you think you’ve been the 

Tips to Protect Yourself Against 

Cramming

• Carefully review your telephone bill 

every month for unfamiliar charges 

(they could be monthly or one-timeonly charges). Some telephone 

companies mail out abbreviated 

bills with few details, but may offer 

more detailed bills online or upon 

request.

• Keep an eye out for genericsounding services and fees listed 

on your phone bill, like Min. Use 

Fee, Activation, Member Fee, or 

Subscription.

• Keep a record of the services you 

have authorized, even for small 

charges.

• Don’t enter your telephone number 

on unsecured websites.

• Be on the lookout for unsolicited 

text messages. A text message 

from someone you don’t know could 

be a signal that you might be signed 

up for a service you didn’t order.

• Carefully read all forms and 

promotional materials—including 

the fine print—before signing up for 

telephone or other services to be 

charged on your bill.

• Ask your telephone carrier about 

any services it may offer that block 

third-party charges.

• When in doubt, ask questions. If you 

don’t know what a charge listed on 

your bill is for, ask your telephone 

company to explain it before you 

pay it.

More information on cramming can be 

found on the websites of the Federal 

Communications Commission and the 

Federal Trade Commission.

victim of cramming, contact your 

telephone service provider and file 

a complaint online with the FCC 

or the FTC.
104 The FBI Story 2015 09.18.15

Preparing for the Pope

FBI Part of Well-Rehearsed Security Effort

Pope Francis’ visit to three 

major metropolitan areas during 

his first visit to the United 

States presents special security 

challenges. But federal agencies—

working closely with state and 

local law enforcement—have a 

well-rehearsed template to follow.

The pope’s six-day visit to 

Washington, D.C., New York 

City, and Philadelphia—which 

begins September 22—has been 

designated a national special 

security event (NSSE) by the 

Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS). An NSSE is a significant 

national or international event 

determined by DHS to be a 

potential target for terrorism 

or criminal activity. Under the 

designation, the U.S. Secret 

Service is placed in charge of event 

security and the FBI has the lead 

on collecting intelligence and—

should a crisis occur—managing 

the response. Examples of past 

NSSEs include State of the Union 

addresses, party conventions, 

United Nations General Assembly 

meetings, inaugural events, and the 

Winter Olympics and Super Bowl 

in 2002.

Agencies have been coordinating 

and training together for months 

for the pope’s visit, including 

holding tabletop exercises in each 

of the cities. Agency leaders briefed 

the media a week before the pope’s 

arrival after a dry-run exercise in 

New York City.

“Preparations for events such as 

this are a cooperative effort,” said 

Diego Rodriguez, assistant director 

in charge of the FBI’s New York 

Field Office. “No one federal, state, 

or local agency alone can carry out 

the measures necessary to secure 

the event.”

While the pope’s visit in itself 

would merit high security, his 

packed itinerary includes meeting 

A banner in Washington, D.C. welcomes Pope Francis. The FBI is part of the highly orchestrated security effort surrounding the pope’s six-day 

visit to D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia.
09.18.15 The FBI Story 2015 105

President Obama at the White 

House, addressing a joint session 

of Congress, and speaking at the 

70th session of the U.N. General 

Assembly in New York City—

where more than 170 heads of 

state from around the world are 

expected to convene.

For the FBI, preparations for 

the pope’s visit come down to 

relying on the close relationships 

established during dozens of prior 

national security events with 

partner agencies. The Bureau 

has round-the-clock intelligence 

operations centers and joint 

operations centers in all three cities 

Pope Francis will visit. Liaison 

agents are embedded with local 

police at their operations centers 

and with the Secret Service at their 

multi-agency coordination center.

“Liaison officers will have 

collaborated closely to make sure 

information and intelligence is 

moving freely,” said James Yacone, 

assistant director of the FBI’s 

Critical Incident Response Group, 

which is leading the Bureau’s efforts 

during the pope’s visit. Yacone 

said the FBI’s national tactical 

assets—such at the Hostage Rescue 

Team—are staged to respond if 

needed. He described the level 

of coordination for security as 

unprecedented.

“This is going to be one of the 

largest lifts in the nation’s history 

for national security events. There 

are three major metropolitan 

areas that are going to all have to 

seamlessly receive and send off the 

pope,” Yacone said. “That all has to 

be very skillfully thought out—how 

we’re going to protect him, allow 

access of the public at different 

venues, and do it in such a manner 

that law enforcement can screen as 

many people as possible to keep it 

secure.”

The heaviest lifting, Yacone said, 

falls on the uniformed officers who 

put the plans into action. For weeks 

now, police departments in D.C., 

New York, and Philadelphia have 

put out the word that security will 

be tight when Pope Francis is in 

town, with road closures, screening 

checkpoints, and restrictions on 

items like bicycles, backpacks and 

“selfie” sticks.

“From a capacity standpoint, 

nothing is more important than the 

participation of our state and local 

partners,” Yacone said. “Neither the 

FBI nor the Secret Service could 

do our jobs effectively without 

them because they are bringing the 

capacity.”

The agencies involved also rely 

heavily on the public to increase 

their capacity to ensure security 

at the papal-related events and 

other large gatherings. To submit 

tips or information about potential 

threats, visit tips.fbi.gov.

Procedures for NSSEs were 

established in 1998 under a 

presidential directive. The 

Presidential Threat Protection Act, 

which codified the Secret Service’s 

role as the lead agency for security, 

was signed into law in 2000. Since 

then, participating agencies have 

jointly managed nearly 50 such 

events.

Although security can present 

challenges, Rodriguez said there 

is a bright side. “While an event 

this size has the potential to cause 

inconveniences, I ask you to enjoy 

this wonderful time...as we prepare 

for the many historic events that 

will take place.”

Left: Multiple law enforcement agencies 

participated in a tabletop exercise at NYPD 

Headquarters Monday, September 14, as 

part of security preparations for the pope’s 

arrival.

Submit Tips

Agencies involved in ensuring the 

safety of national security special 

events—such as Pope Francis’ visit to 

the U.S.—rely heavily on the public to 

increase their capacity. To submit tips 

or information about potential threats, 

visit tips.fbi.gov.
106 The FBI Story 2015 09.24.15

Con Man Sentenced in Fraud Case

Promised Luxury Cars But Rarely Delivered

It’s a cautionary consumer tale 

that’s been around forever: In an 

attempt to get a deal on something 

that sounds too good to be true, 

the customer gets the shaft instead.

That’s just what happened in the 

case of a luxury car salesman in 

Tennessee who used a website to 

advertise below-market prices on a 

variety of expensive vehicles. Not 

only did he not deliver the vehicles 

ordered by many of his customers, 

he also kept all or part of the fees 

they paid him in advance.

The perpetrator’s scam, however, 

eventually caught up with him—as 

did law enforcement—and this 

summer, Memphis resident Michael 

Brown was sentenced to more than 

six years in federal prison after 

pleading guilty to mail and wire 

fraud.

Brown was the sole owner 

and chief executive officer of 

Valkry Corporation, a company 

incorporated in the state of 

Georgia in 2009 that maintained 

a website selling luxury cars—it 

had no showroom. The FBI began 

looking into Brown’s operation in 

2011 on the heels of a more than 

$1 million civil lawsuit filed by one 

of his customers—an international 

luxury car seller based in China—

for failing to deliver 16 vehicles 

the company had paid for by 

transferring funds into Valkry bank 

accounts in the U.S.

A significant portion of the 

investigation, which was conducted 

by the FBI’s Memphis Field Office, 

was spent analyzing Brown’s 

personal and business financial 

records. And by reviewing these 

records, investigators were able to 

identify some of Brown’s victims, 

conduct interviews with them, and 

collect additional evidence. For 

example:

• In late 2012, a luxury car 

dealership in the United 

Kingdom placed an order with 

Valkry for multiple vehicles, with 

the understanding that the cars 

would be delivered to them. The 

company wired more than half 

a million dollars to a U.S. bank 

account in Maine under Brown’s 

control. He transferred the 

funds to his company account 

in Memphis and then used the 

money for personal expenses 

and to buy and trade vehicles 

which he sold or leased to other 

customers. Not a dime was spent 

on behalf of the U.K. company 

that ordered the vehicles.

• In the summer of 2013, a 

Tennessee man who had seen 

Valkry’s website negotiated 

with Brown about the price of a 

luxury car. The man financed a 

loan through a credit union and 

paid Brown for the full amount 

of the car. Needless to say, the 

customer never got the car. 

And Brown used the check for 

personal and business expenses.

How was Brown able to carry 

on the scam for several years? 

According to the Memphis FBI 

agent who investigated the case, 

he was a likeable con man and 

very smart. To make a money 

trail harder to follow, he set up 

a number of bank accounts in 

different parts of the country, 

using third parties to open the 

accounts and to purchase some 

of his vehicles for him. Said the 

agent, “He was extremely clever 

in his movement of funds and 

assets. I often didn’t find out about 

new accounts he opened until the 

money was gone.”

But eventually, investigators were 

able to piece together what Brown 

was doing, which our agent likened 

to a Ponzi scheme: Brown used 

money from newer customers to 

issue partial or full refunds to 

previous customers, or to purchase 

cars to sell to other customers, all 

while using a large portion of his 

customers’ money to support his 

own lavish lifestyle.

Even the possibility of going to 

jail didn’t slow Brown’s criminal 

activities down: Advised that 

he was the focus of a federal 

investigation in July 2012, he 

continued to ply his trade. For his 

last criminal act, committed shortly 

after his guilty plea in February 

2015, Brown managed to swindle 

a quarter of a million dollars from 

a well-known former National 

Basketball Association player who 

was looking for a deal on a luxury 

car.

Left: Law enforcement seized this 2008 

Mercedes-Benz from Memphis luxury 

car salesman Michael Brown during the 

investigation into allegations that Brown 

was defrauding customers who ordered 

luxury cars through his company’s website.
The FBI Story 2015 107

Latest Crime Stats Released

Decrease in 2014 Violent Crimes, Property Crimes

09.28.15

Today, the FBI is releasing the 2014 

edition of its annual report Crime 

in the United States, a statistical 

compilation of offense, arrest, and 

police employee data reported by 

law enforcement agencies that 

participate in the Bureau’s Uniform 

Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. 

This latest report reveals that 

the estimated number of violent 

crimes reported by law enforcement 

to UCR’s Summary Reporting 

System during 2014 decreased 0.2 

percent when compared with 2013 

data. And the estimated number 

of property crimes decreased 4.3 

percent from 2013 levels.

Here are some highlights from 

Crime in the United States, 2014:

• There were an estimated 

1,165,383 violent crimes (murder 

and non-negligent homicides, 

rapes, robberies, and aggravated 

assaults) reported by law 

enforcement.

• Aggravated assaults accounted 

for 63.6 percent of the violent 

crimes reported, while robberies 

accounted for 28.0 percent, rape 

7.2 percent, and murders 1.2 

percent.

• There were an estimated 

8,277,829 property crimes 

(burglaries, larceny-thefts, and 

motor vehicle thefts) reported 

by law enforcement. Financial 

losses suffered by victims of 

these crimes were calculated at 

approximately $14.3 billion.

• Larceny-theft accounted for 70.8 

percent of all property crimes 

reported, burglary for 20.9 

percent, and motor vehicle theft 

for 8.3 percent

• Police made an estimated 

11,205,833 arrests during 

2014—498,666 for violent 

crimes, and 1,553,980 for 

property crimes. More than 73 

percent of those arrested during 

2014 were male.

• The highest number of arrests 

was for drug abuse violations 

(1,561,231), followed by larcenytheft (1,238,190) and driving 

under the influence (1,117,852).

What’s new this year? For one, 

the 2014 publication includes the 

inaugural Federal Crime Data 

report, which contains traditional 

UCR data from a handful of federal 

agencies, as well as FBI arrest data 

on human trafficking, hate crimes, 

and criminal computer intrusions.

Also included for the first time in 

Crime in the United States is UCR’s 

second report of human trafficking 

data submitted by state and local 

law enforcement.

It is expected that law enforcement 

participation in data collection for 

both reports will expand over time, 

which will help provide a more 

complete picture of those crimes.

Message from the FBI Director.

Included in the report is a message 

from Director James Comey, who 

said that UCR plans to begin 

collecting data about non-fatal 

shootings between law enforcement 

and civilians, and he encouraged 

all law enforcement agencies 

to submit their data about fatal 

shootings and justifiable homicide 

data, which is currently collected. 

Once the FBI begins collecting the 

expanded data, UCR plans to add 

a special publication that will focus 

on law enforcement’s use of force in 

shooting incidents. That report will 

outline facts about what happened, 

who was involved, whether there 

were injuries or deaths, and the 

circumstances surrounding the 

incidents.

Explains Comey, “We hope this 

information will become part of a 

balanced dialogue in communities 

and in the media—a dialogue that 

will help to dispel misperceptions, 

foster accountability, and 

promote transparency in how law 

enforcement personnel relate to the 

communities they serve.”

In his message, Comey also 

encourages law enforcement 

agencies to participate in UCR’s 

National Incident-Based Reporting 

System (NIBRS), created to 

improve the quantity and quality 

of crime data collected by law 

enforcement by capturing more 

detailed information on each single 

crime occurrence.

Recently, the International 

Association of Chiefs of Police—

with the Major Cities Chiefs 

Association, National Sheriffs’ 

Association, and the Major County 

Sheriffs’ Association—released a 

joint position paper supporting the 

adoption of the NIBRS to replace 

the Summary Reporting System. 

The group says that the NIBRS 

“provides a more comprehensive 

view of crime in the United States 

and offers greater flexibility in data 

compilation and analysis.”

Looking ahead. Beginning in 

January 2016, data collection 

will begin for the newest UCR 

Program initiative—animal 

cruelty offenses—requested by the 

National Sheriffs’ Association and 

the Animal Welfare Institute.
108 The FBI Story 2015

National Cyber Security Awareness Month

Securing Cyberspace is a Shared Responsibility

so-called “dark web” or “dark 

market” websites that offer 

a range of illegal goods and 

services for sale on a network 

designed to conceal the true IP 

addresses of the computers on it.

The FBI—working in conjunction 

with its many partners at the local, 

state, federal, and international 

levels, as well as with industry—

takes its own role in cyber security 

very seriously. That role involves 

operational efforts—including 

investigating and disrupting cyberrelated national security threats 

and cyber crimes and collecting, 

analyzing, and disseminating cyber 

threat intelligence. It also involves 

outreach efforts to industry.

Here are just a few examples of how 

we’re doing all of that:

devices, the “bot” is particularly 

pervasive, allowing attackers 

to take control remotely of 

compromised computers. Once 

in place, these “botnets” can be 

used in distributed denial-ofservice attacks, proxy and spam 

services, additional malware 

distribution, and other organized 

criminal activity.

• Cyber criminals perpetrate a 

wide variety of crimes online, 

including theft of intellectual 

property, Internet fraud, identity 

fraud, and any number of 

financial fraud schemes.

• Sexual predators use the Internet 

and social media to target the 

youngest and most vulnerable 

victims.

• And many criminals use the 

October is National Cyber Security 

Awareness Month, administered 

by the Department of Homeland 

Security. This is the perfect time 

of year for individuals, businesses, 

and other organizations to reflect 

on the universe of cyber threats 

and to do their part to protect their 

networks, their devices, and their 

data from those threats.

Consider this:

• Within the past year, personally 

identifiable information has been 

stolen in a number of significant 

cyber data breaches, impacting 

industries like health care, 

government, finance, corporate, 

and retail.

• The use of malware by online 

criminals continues unabated, 

and of the available intrusion 

10.01.15
The FBI Story 2015 109

• The FBI-led National Cyber 

Joint Investigative Task Force 

serves as the national focal point 

for coordinating cyber threat 

investigations. The work of the 

NCJITF includes a national 

public/private initiative to 

mitigate the use of botnets and 

malware by criminals, which has 

emerged as a global cyber security 

threat.

• Cyber task forces in all 56 field 

offices coordinate domestic 

cyber threat investigations in 

local communities through 

information sharing, incident 

response, and joint enforcement 

and intelligence actions.

• InfraGard—an informationsharing and analysis effort with 

private sector partners who own, 

operate, and hold key positions 

10.01.15

Cyber Tips

As part of National Cyber Security 

Awareness Month, we will be 

providing weekly cyber tips through 

our News Blog and adding them to 

this page. Check back throughout the 

month for the latest.

• Cyber Tip #1: Protect Yourself 

with Two-Factor Authentication 

(10/05/15)

• Cyber Tip #2: Be Vigilant with Your 

Internet of Things (IoT) Devices 

(10/13/15)

• Cyber Tip #3: Defense in Depth for 

the Every Day User (10/20/15)

Recent Cyber Successes

In May 2015, the owner and operator of the original Silk Road website—an 

online black market designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs 

and other unlawful goods and services anonymously—was sentenced to 

life in prison. The Silk Road site had previously been taken down by law 

enforcement in November 2013. In November 2014, the owner and operator 

of a resurrected Silk Road—Silk Road 2.0—was arrested and charged, 

and law enforcement took down that site as well, along with dozens of other 

so-called “dark market” websites. The investigation involved the cooperative 

efforts of the FBI and numerous local, state, federal, and international 

partners.

In April 2015, a multi-national law enforcement effort was responsible for 

taking down a cyber criminal forum that served as a one-stop, high-volume 

shopping venue for some of the world’s most prolific cyber criminals. 

Darkode was an underground password-protected meeting place for those 

interested in buying, selling, and trading malware, botnets, stolen personally 

identifiable information, credit card information, hacked server credentials, 

and other pieces of data and software. The FBI was able to infiltrate the 

forum at the highest levels and collect evidence and intelligence on Darkode 

members. During the takedown, charges, arrests, and searches involved 70 

members and associates around the world.

In April 2015, a coordinated international law enforcement and private sector 

cyber effort resulted in the takedown of a botnet known as Beebone—a 

“downloader” that allowed other forms of malware to be installed on victims’ 

computers without their knowledge or consent. The secondary infections 

installed by Beebone included software that steals banking logins and 

passwords as well as fraudulent anti-virus software and ransomware.

within some 85 percent of the 

nation’s critical infrastructure—

equips its members to identify 

and mitigate vulnerabilities, 

develop incident response plans, 

and enact security best practices.

• The Internet Crime Complaint 

Center (IC3) accepts online 

submissions for Internet-related 

crime complaints, often involving 

fraudulent claims to consumers. 

These complaints can not only 

lead to culprits getting caught, 

but also help identify regional, 

national, or international trends 

to educate the public about 

constantly evolving cyber threats 

and scams.

• The FBI’s Safe Online Surfing 

website, an online program that 

promotes cyber citizenship by 

educating young students in the 

essentials of online security in 

an effort to help protect them 

from child predators, cyber 

bullies, malware, a multitude of 

schemes, and other dangers on 

the Internet.

The Bureau will continue to work 

jointly with our national security 

and law enforcement partners to 

address threats to the nation’s cyber 

security from nation-states, terrorist 

organizations, transnational 

criminal enterprises, and child 

predators. But government can’t do 

it alone—assistance and vigilance 

from the public is vital.

Stay tuned to our website during 

the month of October—we’ll 

be providing you with tips that 

will help keep your families and 

your businesses safe from cyber 

criminals.
Insurance Broker Sentenced for Fraud

Hundreds of Companies Victimized in Multi-State Scheme

coverage serves as an official 

agreement between the insurance 

provider and the insured party to 

provide insurance coverage.

For a small percentage of his 

clients, Kill bound cargo insurance 

policies through insurance 

companies that actually offered less 

extensive coverage than what the 

trucking companies thought they 

had purchased. But most of his 

clients received no policies at all—

despite the premium payments they 

paid to Kill.

“This case was about 

theft and greed. Mr. Kill 

displayed a complete 

disregard for his client 

companies, leaving them 

legally and fiscally

vulnerable while allowing 

them to believe that they 

had appropriate

insurance coverage.”

In addition to using the premiums 

sent to him by the trucking 

companies for his own benefit, Kill 

used a portion of the funds to pay 

off insurance claims that were filed 

with his office. Since most of his 

customers had no actual insurance 

coverage, he paid their claims so 

he wouldn’t raise their suspicions—

he wanted to prolong the life of 

his illegal scheme for as long as 

possible.

At one point, though, a concerned 

insurance agent sent Lloyd’s of 

London a copy of a contract 

supposedly bound by John Paul Kill 

but which was actually fraudulent. 

Lloyd’s then contacted Georgia’s 

Insurance Commissioner’s Office 

to file a complaint. That office 

investigated, and subsequent search 

warrants uncovered bank ledgers 

showing that Kill, through AIA, 

deposited the illegal proceeds of 

his fraud into his own personal 

bank accounts. Kill later admitted 

to putting insurance premium 

checks into his accounts and also 

to creating insurance policy cover 

sheets for insurance agents and 

customers to make them believe 

they had purchased cargo theft 

insurance.

In addition to the actual trucking 

companies, Kill’s victims included 

the insurance agents and insurance 

agencies who wrote the policies—

many were significantly affected by 

Kill’s actions in terms of monetary 

losses, harm to their reputations, 

and civil lawsuits filed by the 

trucking companies.

At the time of Kill’s guilty plea, 

FBI Atlanta Special Agent in 

Charge J. Britt Johnson said, “This 

case was about theft and greed. Mr. 

Kill displayed a complete disregard 

for his client companies, leaving 

them legally and fiscally vulnerable 

while allowing them to believe that 

they had appropriate insurance 

coverage. The FBI is pleased with 

the role it played in bringing this 

case forward for prosecution and 

holding Mr. Kill accountable for his 

actions.”

And if a prison term and an order 

to pay more than a million dollars 

in restitution weren’t bad enough 

for John Paul Kill, the state of 

Georgia also revoked his license to 

sell insurance.

Special thanks to our colleagues in 

Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner’s 

Office, whose expert investigative 

work laid the foundation for this 

successful federal prosecution.

More than 800 commercial 

trucking companies in nearly a 

dozen states paid Atlanta-area 

insurance broker John Paul Kill 

approximately $3.7 million in 

premiums from 2013 to mid-2014 to 

purchase insurance that protected 

their livelihoods: their cargo and 

the trailers that carried it.

There was only one problem—for 

the most part, Kill didn’t purchase 

the insurance requested by his 

customers. Investigators with 

Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner’s 

Office discovered that Kill 

pocketed the premiums for his 

personal use.

Once Georgia officials realized the 

extent of Kill’s activities—millions 

of dollars in stolen premiums 

from customers in multiple 

jurisdictions—the office requested 

the assistance of the FBI. And 

as a result of the ensuing joint 

investigation, Kill pled guilty in 

federal court earlier this year to the 

nationwide cargo insurance scam. 

This past August, he was sentenced 

to four years in a federal prison 

and was also ordered to pay $1.23 

million in restitution to his victims.

How did the scheme work?

In 2013, Kill, through his company, 

Appeals Insurance Agency 

(AIA)—which was actually housed 

in the basement of his home—

began offering cargo insurance. 

He advertised his services mostly 

through word of mouth and by 

making cold calls to commercial 

trucking companies. Kill would 

solicit insurance agents to write 

policies for trucking companies and 

then, in his capacity as a broker, 

would claim to “bind” the policies 

written for those companies to 

recognized insurance companies, 

including Lloyd’s of London. In 

the insurance industry, binding 

110 The FBI Story 2015 10.05.15
10.08.15 The FBI Story 2015 111

Identity Theft

Fake Hospice Nurse Treated More Than 200 Patients

Imagine the emotional difficulty 

of arranging in-home hospice care 

for a terminally ill family member. 

Now imagine learning after the fact 

that your loved one had been cared 

for not by a nurse but by a medical 

imposter.

That is exactly what happened in 

more than 200 cases in the Dallas/

Fort Worth area over nearly a 

three-year period when a woman 

who had stolen the identity of 

a registered nurse used those 

credentials to gain employment 

with multiple hospice companies.

“Jada Necole Antoine had 

absolutely no nursing experience 

or medical training,” said Special 

Agent Brian Marlow, who 

investigated the case out of the 

FBI’s Dallas Division. “The thought 

of having someone who is not a 

nurse taking care of your parent or 

loved one is not only criminal, it is 

morally outrageous.”

The Bureau’s investigation began 

in 2013 as a result of a local traffic 

stop in Texas. When the patrol 

officer asked for identification, 

Antoine produced her own driver’s 

license, and it turned out there 

was a warrant for her arrest on 

another matter. She also had other 

identification in the car—including 

documents belonging to the victim 

nurse—along with a number of 

medical records. That information 

was forwarded to the Medicare 

Fraud Strike Force team in Texas, 

which consists of the FBI, the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services, the Texas State Attorney 

General’s office, and local law 

enforcement. The strike force is 

part of a larger, nationwide effort 

aimed at combating health care 

fraud and abuse.

As the strike force team began to 

investigate the paperwork found 

in Antoine’s car, “we learned 

about the hospice companies 

Antoine had been associated with,” 

Marlow said. “In all, we found 

eight different hospices she had 

worked for using the nurse’s stolen 

identity.”

During the time she was carrying 

on this fraud—from approximately 

January 2009 through April 20, 

2012—Antoine was paid more 

than $100,000 from the various 

companies who unwittingly 

employed her. She had direct 

responsibility for patient care 

and submitted documents to the 

hospice companies that falsely 

indicated care was provided by 

a registered nurse. Those false 

statements caused the hospice 

companies to submit false claims 

to Medicare and Medicaid totaling 

approximately $800,000.

Antoine victimized 243 hospice 

patients by depriving them of 

legitimate health care from a 

properly licensed individual, 

Marlow said. Court records show 

that Antoine treated patients who 

were mentally ill, comatose, asleep, 

and otherwise unresponsive to 

sound and touch, and in those 

instances, she made her own 

assessments of the patient’s pain 

and comfort levels, digestive 

function, and breathing.

She also had access to patients’ 

medical charts and detailed 

personal information, which, said 

Marlow, “was greatly concerning 

because of her history of identity 

theft crimes.”

With investigators on her trail, 

Antoine fled Texas but was 

apprehended in Georgia in 2014 

and charged with fraud and 

identity theft. She pled guilty, and 

this past August, a federal judge 

sentenced the 34-year-old to four 

years in prison.

“Many of the patients she allegedly 

cared for were completely at her 

mercy,” Marlow said. “Now that 

she is behind bars,” he added, “she 

will not be able to victimize anyone 

else.”
112 The FBI Story 2015

Operation Cross Country

Recovering Victims of Child Sex Trafficking

10.13.15

Operation Cross Country, a 

nationwide law enforcement 

action that took place last week 

and focused on underage victims 

of prostitution, has concluded 

with the recovery of 149 sexually 

exploited children and the arrests 

of more than 150 pimps and other 

individuals.

The FBI, in partnership with local, 

state, and federal law enforcement 

agencies and the National Center 

for Missing & Exploited Children 

(NCMEC), conducted the annual 

action—the ninth and largest 

such enforcement to date—as part 

of the Bureau’s Innocence Lost 

National Initiative.

“Our mission is to protect the 

American people—especially our 

children—from harm,” said FBI 

Director James Comey.” When 

kids are treated as a commodity in 

seedy hotels and on dark roadsides, 

we must rescue them from their 

nightmare and severely punish 

those responsible for that horror. 

We simply must continue to work 

with our partners to end the 

scourge of sex trafficking in our 

country.” 

“Human trafficking is a monstrous 

and devastating crime that steals 

lives and degrades our nation,” 

said Attorney General Loretta 

Lynch. “As a result of the FBI’s 

outstanding coordination and 

exemplary efforts alongside 

state and local partners during 

Operation Cross Country, more 

children will sleep safely tonight, 

and more wrongdoers will face the 

judgment of our criminal justice 

system.”

Since its creation in 2003, the 

Innocence Lost program has 

resulted in the identification and 

recovery of approximately 4,800 

sexually exploited children. And 

prosecutors have obtained more 

than 2,000 convictions of pimps 

and others associated with these 

An officer with the Alexandria (Virginia) Police Department 

monitors an undercover sting operation in a hotel room during 

Operation Cross Country.

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/occ9.
10.13.15 The FBI Story 2015 113

trafficking crimes, including at 

least 15 cases that have resulted in 

life sentences.

This year’s enforcement action, 

coordinated through 73 of the FBI’s 

Child Exploitation Task Forces—

which include federal, state, and 

local law enforcement agencies—

was conducted nationwide in 

135 cities. More than 500 law 

enforcement officials took part in 

sting operations in hotels, casinos, 

truck stops, and other areas 

frequented by pimps, prostitutes, 

and their customers. The youngest 

recovered victim was 12 years old.

“We are proud to partner with 

the FBI and provide support to 

both law enforcement and victim 

specialists in the field as they work 

to locate and recover survivors of 

child sex trafficking,” said Linda 

Krieg, NCMEC’s acting chief 

executive officer. “The number 

of children recovered and pimps 

arrested in this year’s operation 

highlights the importance of these 

efforts today and every day in 

protecting our children.”

During Operation Cross Country, 

nearly 100 victim specialists 

from the FBI’s Office for Victim 

Assistance provided on-scene 

services to recovered young 

victims. Services included crisis 

intervention as well as resources for 

basic needs such as food, clothing, 

shelter, and medical attention.

“From an investigative standpoint, 

Operation Cross Country targets 

the individuals and criminal 

enterprises responsible for the 

commercial sex trafficking of 

children,” said one of the Bureau’s 

victim specialists. “But our main 

goal is to provide support and 

services for these young victims—

to help stabilize them and get 

them moving forward in a positive 

direction.”

Following Operation Cross Country, digital billboards such as 

this were featured nationwide as part of the FBI’s continuing 

efforts to stop the sex trafficking of children.

Operation Cross Country actions in Alexandria, Virginia. Operation 

Cross Country is a weeklong, FBI-led enforcement action to address 

commercial child sex trafficking throughout the United States.
114 The FBI Story 2015 10.16.15

Race and Law Enforcement

Director Urges Closer Ties Between Police, Communities

FBI Director James Comey 

is continuing to urge police 

agencies and their constituents—

particularly in communities of 

color—to take steps to better 

understand one another to help 

stem what he sees as a growing 

disconnect.

“I imagine two lines,” Comey 

said Thursday during a forum at 

Cuyahoga Community College 

in Cleveland, Ohio that included 

local law enforcement, community 

leaders, prosecutors, and high 

school students. “One [line] is us 

in law enforcement and the other is 

the folks we serve and protect. And 

I think those two lines are arcing 

away from each other.”

The Director’s remarks echoed a 

speech he delivered on the subject 

of race and law enforcement last 

February at Georgetown University 

in Washington, D.C. The speech 

followed lethal police encounters 

that occurred the previous summer 

in Ferguson, Missouri and New 

York City—sparking protests and 

intense public debate—and the 

apparent retribution killings of 

two uniformed New York Police 

Department officers in December 

2014.

At the time, Comey suggested his 

remarks were only the beginning 

of a broader and much-needed 

exchange on the subject. “These 

are only conversations in the true 

sense of that word if we are willing 

not only to talk but to listen, too.”

In the months since then, the 

Director has continued to talk on 

the subject and FBI field offices 

around the country have reached 

out to their own communities to 

further that conversation as well.

In Cleveland, where violent crime 

rates have risen dramatically 

this year, Director Comey joined 

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin 

Williams, Cuyahoga County 

Sheriff Clifford Pinkney, and more 

than 200 members of the local 

community to talk and to listen.

“I’m here because I think Cleveland 

is a place of great pain that is in 

a way illustrative of that crisis of 

those bending arcs,” Comey said.

It was in Cleveland that a 12-yearold African-American boy, Tamir 

Rice, was fatally shot by a police 

officer while holding a pellet gun 

in November 2014. The city is 

implementing a federal agreement 

following a Department of Justice 

determination last year that city 

police officers too often used 

excessive force and violated 

people’s civil rights. A provision 

of the settlement is to better train 

officers in community engagement.

FBI Director Comey (center) joins Cleveland Police Department Chief Calvin Williams (left) and Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney (right) 

at a forum in Cleveland, Ohio on October 15, 2015. 
The FBI Story 2015 115

During the question-and-answerstyle forum, moderated by FBI 

Cleveland Special Agent in Charge 

Stephen Anthony, the panelists 

agreed that a major step forward 

would be for police to get out of 

their cars and get better acquainted 

with people in their communities. 

But the hard work has to be shared, 

they said.

“For law enforcement to be 

successful—to make a better 

community—we need your help,” 

Sheriff Pinkney told attendees, 

including some 40 young students 

seated in the front rows. “We need 

your support, whether it’s publicly 

or anonymously—we need you to 

be a part of this team.”

Comey said the answer to finding 

more common ground was 

“unscientific.”

“It’s simply understanding that it’s 

hard to hate up close,” Comey said. 

“We must see each other more 

clearly.”

In the audience, Ryan Hurley, a 

humanities teacher at St. Martin de 

Porres High School, listened with 

interest, alongside a dozen of his 

students.

“We’re having this conversation 

in our classes, we’re having this 

conversation in our school because 

it’s important,” Hurley said 

following the event. “I think the 

big takeaway is that it’s sort of a 

shared responsibility. And they’re 

okay taking on that responsibility if 

they feel like they have trust in the 

people at the top.”

After the forum, Hurley asked 

students what they thought.

“Their first response was, ‘They 

seem a lot different here than they 

do on the news.’”

Cleveland Police Chief Williams 

was optimistic that things 

were beginning to change. His 

department, along with the FBI, 

recently held a “Safety in Your 

Sanctuary” program for about 40 

local clergy members. Another 

recent community event focused on 

police use of force.

“I think that right now, this 

moment, we’re at a point where 

we’re going up,” Williams said. “I 

think we’re at a point where people 

are actually coming together to 

really talk sensible solutions about 

things that are happening.”

The Director said Cleveland was 

an ideal location to continue 

the discussion of race and law 

enforcement. “This is a place of 

tremendous promise,” he said. 

“Given the quality of the leadership 

you have here and the folks here 

in this room, you actually have the 

best chance of arcing those lines 

back together and showing this 

country how it can be done.”

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams mingles with students from a local high school following a forum on race and law enforcement.

10.16.15

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

comeycleveland.
116 The FBI Story 2015 10.19.15

In the Line of Duty

Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, 2014 Report Released

On May 29, 2014, a 42-year-old 

trooper with the New York State 

Police made a traffic stop on 

an interstate highway north of 

Binghamton. The veteran trooper 

parked behind the stopped car 

and approached the driver’s side 

window. In that fleeting moment, 

a truck traveling in the same 

direction at about 90 miles per 

hour suddenly swerved, sideswiping 

the car and striking the trooper, 

killing him instantly. The truck’s 

driver, a 60-year-old male with a 

criminal record, admitted after 

his capture that he intentionally 

veered to hit the trooper.

The chilling account of the 

unprovoked attack is just one 

of dozens of detailed narratives 

recounting the felonious deaths 

of law enforcement officers 

in the United States in 2014. 

The accounts are a central 

component of the latest Law 

Enforcement Officers Killed and 

Assaulted (LEOKA) report, issued 

today, which shows that 96 law 

enforcement officers were killed 

in the line of duty last year—51 

as a result of felonious acts and 45 

in accidents. The annual report, 

released by the FBI’s Uniform 

Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, 

also shows that 48,315 officers were 

victims of line-of-duty assaults in 

2014.

In addition to the narratives, 

the online-only report includes 

comprehensive data tables 

that provide a closer look at 

the incidents: officer profiles, 

circumstances, weapons, locations, 

and identified suspects.

The felonious deaths of the 51 

officers—all males—occurred in 24 

states and Puerto Rico. The figure 

represents a significant increase 

over the number that occurred in 

2013, when 27 officers were killed, 

but is lower than the numbers from 

2009 (56 officers) and 2005 (55 

officers).

Among the report’s findings:

• The average age of the officers 

who were feloniously killed was 

39, and they had served for an 

average of 13 years.

• Offenders used firearms to kill 46 

of the 51 victim officers: 33 were 

slain with handguns, 10 with 

rifles, and three with shotguns.

• 59 alleged assailants (54 of 

them males) were identified in 

connection with the line-of-duty 

deaths; 50 had prior criminal 

arrests.

• 39 of the officers feloniously 

killed with firearms were wearing 

body armor at the time of the 

incidents.

• The largest percentage (30.8) 

of assaults on police officers 

occurred while they were 

responding to disturbance calls.

The LEOKA publication contains 

data on duly-sworn city, university/

college, county, state, tribal, and 

federal law enforcement officers. 

The information in the report 

comes from various sources: 

the law enforcement agencies 

participating in the UCR Program, 

FBI field offices, and several 

non-profit organizations, such as 

the Concerns of Police Survivors 

and the National Law Enforcement 

Officers Memorial Fund.

In addition to collecting details 

about the critical aspects of fatal 

confrontations and assaults, the 

FBI’s LEOKA Program conducts 

extensive research on the data that 

eventually gets incorporated into 

officer safety awareness training the 

FBI provides for partner agencies.

Left: This chart provides a breakdown of 

the circumstances under which 51 officers 

were feloniously killed in the line of duty in 

2014; an additional 45 officers were killed 

in accidents during the same time period.
10.23.15 The FBI Story 2015 117

Operation Northern Spotlight

American-Canadian Partnership Combats Human Trafficking

The FBI joined law enforcement 

officials from across Canada in 

Toronto yesterday to announce 

the results of Operation Northern 

Spotlight, a human trafficking 

investigation that led to the 

recovery of 20 sexually exploited 

juveniles and the arrests of 

numerous individuals.

The Canadian operation—carried 

out by 40 police agencies and 

hundreds of law enforcement 

officers—was conducted as a 

parallel action with the FBI’s 

Operation Cross Country, the 

results of which were announced 

earlier this month.

“Human trafficking investigations 

are complex and labor intensive, 

but entirely necessary,” said Scott 

Tod, deputy commissioner of the 

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). 

He noted that human trafficking 

victims are often from susceptible 

populations, including immigrants, 

migrant workers, and at-risk youth. 

“And human trafficking victims 

rarely identify themselves to 

authorities,” he said.

“Human trafficking is a very 

serious criminal threat that often 

targets the most vulnerable—our 

children,” added Joseph Campbell, 

assistant director of the FBI’s 

Criminal Investigative Division. 

The collaboration between U.S. 

and Canadian law enforcement to 

fight trafficking, he explained, is 

essential.

Operation Cross Country is part of 

the FBI’s Innocence Lost National 

Initiative. Since its creation in 

2003, the Innocence Lost program 

has resulted in the identification 

and recovery of approximately 

4,800 sexually exploited children. 

And prosecutors have obtained 

more than 2,000 convictions of 

pimps and others associated with 

these trafficking crimes.

During last year’s Operation 

Cross Country, Campbell said, 

“I met with our Canadian law 

enforcement partners, and we 

agreed that this mission was so 

critical and important that it 

should be a unified effort between 

our two countries.”

“It is vitally important that 

we continue to mobilize 

to raise awareness about 

human trafficking and to 

enhance public safety at 

the community level.” 

That collaboration resulted in 

parallel enforcement actions that 

took place across the U.S. and 

Canada in early October, with both 

countries sharing intelligence and 

best practices to run successful 

operations that led to the recovery 

of child victims from truck stops, 

hotels, clubs, and casinos. The 

Canadian effort led to charges 

against 47 individuals and the 

recovery of victims who were 

mostly under the age of 19—some 

as young as 14.

Yesterday’s press conference in 

Toronto included law enforcement 

personnel from OPP, the Royal 

Canadian Mounted Police, Ottawa 

Police Service, and numerous 

other Canadian law enforcement 

agencies. Also on hand were 

representatives from a child 

advocacy center and a recovered 

victim of the sex trade who now 

advocates on behalf of those 

who are trafficked and sexually 

exploited.

“It is vitally important that we 

continue to mobilize to raise 

awareness about human trafficking 

and to enhance public safety at the 

community level,” Tod said.

Campbell agreed. “Operation Cross 

Country and Operation Northern 

Spotlight are so important because 

they maximize the impact in 

combating the threat and they 

draw attention to this serious 

problem. I am proud to stand here 

today with my Canadian partners.”

Law enforcement officials from across Canada announced the results of Operation Northern 

Spotlight, a human trafficking investigation carried out earlier this month in conjunction with 

the FBI’s Operation Cross Country efforts. Joseph Campbell (center), assistant director of the 

FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, took part in the press conference, held in Toronto on 

October 22, 2015.
118 The FBI Story 2015

“The rule of law in the 

Constitution is our spine, it’s who 

we are, it’s part of our fiber...and 

we want humane, effective, lawful 

encounters with every human 

being.”

Those words were spoken last 

week by FBI Director James 

Comey as he was discussing the 

efforts of the U.S. government’s 

High-Value Detainee Interrogation 

Group (HIG) during the HIG’s 

fifth annual research symposium, 

held October 23 at the National 

Academy of Sciences in 

Washington, D.C.

Comey, who briefed symposium 

participants on the evolving terror 

threat, also said that the HIG’s 

work “is valuable beyond national 

security cases” and that the group’s 

research and training efforts benefit 

law enforcement interviewers as 

well.

The HIG, established in 2009, 

brings together personnel from 

the U.S. Intelligence Community 

to conduct interrogations that 

strengthen national security 

and that are consistent with the 

rule of law. But in addition to 

its operational role in eliciting 

accurate and actionable intelligence 

from high-value terrorism subjects, 

the HIG plays another vital role as 

well—serving as the government’s 

focal point for interrogation best 

practices, training, and scientific 

research. And during its yearly 

research symposium—coordinated 

by the Center for Law & Human 

Behavior at the University of Texas 

at El Paso—scientists from the 

U.S. and abroad who work with 

the HIG have the opportunity 

10.27.15

Symposium Facilitates Research on Lawful Interrogations

Event Sponsored by Government’s High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group

to share with policy makers and 

intelligence professionals groundbreaking research that can impact 

the effectiveness of interview and 

interrogation methods.

All HIG-sponsored research is 

unclassified—researchers who 

work with the HIG are free to 

publish their findings, and most 

do. At this year’s symposium, 

participants presented research on 

topics like the dynamic nature of 

interrogations, the challenges of 

interviewing through interpreters, 

the use of rapport rather than 

tough tactics, negotiations 

across cultures, subtle elicitation 

approaches, and priming disclosure 

and cooperation.

Background on the HIG: The 

director of the HIG is an FBI 

representative and is assisted 

Director Comey addresses the audience at the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group’s fifth annual research symposium, held October 23, 

2015 in Washington, D.C.
The FBI Story 2015 119

by two deputies—one from the 

Department of Defense and the 

other from the Central Intelligence 

Agency. Full-time HIG members 

are augmented part-time by 

HIG-trained professionals from 

FBI field offices and other U.S. 

Intelligence Community agencies.

HIG responsibilities fall under 

three primary areas, all of which 

feed into one another:

• Interrogations: The HIG deploys 

expert Mobile Interrogation 

Teams (MITs) to collect 

intelligence that will prevent 

terrorist attacks and protect 

national security. Since the 

HIG’s creation, MITs have 

been deployed within the U.S. 

and abroad. Deployment teams 

generally consist of a team 

leader, interrogators, analysts, 

subject matter experts, linguists, 

and other personnel as needed. 

HIG interrogators are chosen 

for—among other attributes—

their extensive interviewing and 

interrogation experience and 

their willingness to adapt to 

evolving interrogation techniques 

based on the latest scientific 

research.

• Research: The goal of the 

HIG’s research program is 

to study the effectiveness of 

interrogation approaches and 

techniques by identifying and 

validating existing techniques 

that work—and by developing 

new lawful techniques that 

may work even better. The 

HIG identifies research gaps 

in the interrogations field and 

commissions research products 

to fill in these gaps. To carry out 

the research, the HIG contracts 

with Ph.D.-level scientists from 

all over the world known for 

their expertise in interrogations 

and other related fields. Since its 

founding, the HIG has funded 

nearly 80 interrogation research 

projects, some of which have 

covered interviews with expert 

interrogations interrogators, 

social influence tactics, the 

impact of interpreters, the 

cognitive interview, the strategic 

use of evidence, and sciencebased methods of detecting 

deception. A side note: All HIG 

research is done in complete 

compliance with international 

laws and U.S. laws concerning 

the protection of human research 

subjects.

• Training: The HIG works to 

develop and disseminate best 

practices for training purposes 

for its own interrogators and 

part-time personnel and for other 

U.S. Intelligence Community 

and law enforcement partners 

and allies abroad. Over the 

past year, HIG trainers—who 

are FBI-certified training 

instructors—have worked with 

more than 500 students from 

multiple agencies, including 90 

foreign partner participants. And 

some of the HIG’s interrogation 

techniques have been added 

to the curricula of the 

Department of Defense’s human 

intelligence training facility in 

Arizona and the Federal Law 

Enforcement Training Centers 

in Georgia, among others. HIG 

interrogations are primarily 

terrorism-related, but the lawful 

interrogation techniques can 

also be used when questioning 

criminal suspects, which is why 

we share best practices with 

and conduct training sessions 

for select state and local law 

enforcement partners.

Has the HIG been effective? 

According to HIG Director 

Frazier Thompson, “Much of our 

operational work is necessarily 

classified, but I can tell you this—

as a result of the HIG, plots to 

harm the U.S. and its allies have 

been disrupted, dangerous people 

have been put behind bars, and 

gaps in U.S. intelligence collection 

have been bridged.”

10.27.15

The Truth About the HIG

There are several misconceptions about the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) that we’d like to clear up. Here is 

the truth:

• The HIG does NOT use torture. HIG personnel do not engage in any unlawful interrogation practices—they use authorized, 

lawful, non-coercive techniques based on the best science available that are designed to elicit voluntary statements and 

that do not involve the use of force, threats, or promises.

• The HIG does NOT select its own intelligence targets. With U.S. intelligence requirements in mind, targets are nominated 

by a U.S. intelligence agency and must be approved by appropriate partner agency leadership.

• The HIG is NOT the FBI. Even though the HIG is administratively housed within the FBI, it is a multi-agency organization 

whose principal function is intelligence gathering—not law enforcement—and it is subject to oversight through the National 

Security Council, the Department of Justice, and Congress. That being said, the actions of HIG teams are carefully 

documented and evidence preserved in the event of a criminal prosecution, and its members are prepared to testify in 

court if necessary.
120 The FBI Story 2015

Financial Fraud

Inside the Investigation of a Las Vegas Construction Boss

10.29.15

When a federal judge sentenced 

former Las Vegas construction boss 

Leon Benzer to nearly 16 years 

in prison in August, it marked a 

final chapter in a $58 million fraud 

scheme that took investigators 

nearly a decade to unravel.

Over a period of many years, 

Benzer brazenly sought to gain 

control of numerous condominium 

homeowners associations (HOAs) 

in the Las Vegas area to secure 

lucrative construction and 

other contracts for himself and 

additional conspirators. To date, 

44 individuals, including numerous 

state officials, have been convicted 

of crimes in connection with the 

fraud—which has been described 

as one of the largest public 

corruption cases in Nevada history.

“This case represented an 

incredibly complicated financial 

fraud with a significant public 

corruption component,” said 

Special Agent Michael Elliott, who 

spent nearly eight years working 

on the investigation from the FBI’s 

Las Vegas Division. “It involved so 

many people over so long a period 

of time, it was like an intricate 

spider web of crime that kept 

expanding.”

The scheme was nothing if not 

grandiose. In attempting to 

control dozens of Nevada HOAs 

between approximately 2002 and 

2009, Benzer, an attorney, and 

other conspirators recruited straw 

buyers to purchase condominiums 

and then secure positions on 

HOA boards of directors. Benzer 

rigged HOA board elections 

and paid board members to 

take actions favorable to his 

interests—including hiring his 

co-conspirator’s law firm to handle 

construction-related litigation and 

awarding profitable construction 

contracts to Benzer’s company, 

Silver Lining Construction.

Benzer manipulated and bribed 

HOA boards in a variety of 

ways—he often claimed he had 

local judges and law enforcement 

in his pocket; in other cases, he 

During one phase of the lengthy investigation into Leon Benzer and his associates, an undercover operative received a $20,000 bribe in a Las 

Vegas parking lot from one of the subjects in the case—while the FBI secretly recorded the transaction.

fooled unwitting homeowners into 

thinking his actions were legitimate 

and they were simply making wise 

investment choices.

In September 2008, investigators 

executed a search warrant—one of 

nine that would take place during 

the investigation—and found 

that Benzer was in the process of 

targeting well over 20 different 

HOAs for illegal takeovers. “There 

were boxes and boxes of folders 

with information about different 

HOAs,” Elliott said. “He was 

deliberately attempting to identify 

board members along with other 

information to target what he 

believed were HOAs vulnerable 

to takeover through bribery, 

extortion, or whatever illegal means 

could be used.”

One of the HOAs had more than 

700 units, with each owner paying 

community fees, Elliott said. “In 

some cases, HOA boards had 

operating budgets larger than some 

small Nevada cities. There was lots 

of money at stake,” he added.
10.29.15 The FBI Story 2015 121

Evidence in the case against Leon Benzer included a $20,000 cash bribe that was concealed in this baby wipes container.

The FBI, along with investigators 

from the Las Vegas Metropolitan 

Police Department and Internal 

Revenue Service-Criminal 

Investigations, used a variety of 

investigative techniques—including 

confidential sources, multiple 

undercover operatives, and forensic 

accountants—and conducted 

hundreds of interviews to piece 

together the extent of the crimes 

committed by Benzer and his 

co-conspirators.

In January 2015, Benzer pled guilty 

to multiple counts of conspiracy 

to commit mail and wire fraud 

and tax evasion. In addition to 

his 188-month jail term, he was 

ordered to pay more than $13 

million in restitution. “This was 

a very sophisticated scam that 

evolved over time and generated 

millions of dollars for Benzer,” 

Elliott said, adding that when 

Benzer was riding high, the 

charismatic fraudster employed “an 

army of lawyers, had bodyguards, 

and had an entourage that included 

three armored SUVs. He had 

no problem spending money to 

maintain his lavish lifestyle.”

But like many high-flying scam 

artists, it was only a matter of 

time before Benzer was brought 

to justice. “Now he is in jail and 

penniless,” Elliott said. “He has 

nothing.”
122 The FBI Story 2015 11.02.15

Public Corruption Fugitive Extradited to U.S.

State Official Returns to Face Justice

Public corruption is the FBI’s top 

criminal priority, and the recent 

return of a convicted public official 

who had fled overseas demonstrates 

the lengths the Bureau will go to 

ensure that those who betray the 

public trust are brought to justice.

The investigation into Amer 

Ahmad, former deputy treasurer 

for the state of Ohio, began with 

allegations of corruption involving 

that office’s awarding of lucrative 

contracts to manage state-owned 

securities. It ended with guilty 

pleas and subsequent federal prison 

sentences for Ahmad and his three 

co-conspirators, but Ahmad was 

sentenced in absentia because he 

had fled to Pakistan, the birthplace 

of his parents.

How it all started. The Ohio 

treasurer is the state’s cash 

manager and chief investment 

officer with the duty of collecting 

and overseeing public funds, 

and the treasurer’s office has an 

investments department responsible 

for actively handling the state’s 

multi-billion investment portfolios. 

Amer Ahmad became the chief 

financial officer for the treasurer’s 

office in 2008, and the following 

year, he was also appointed deputy 

treasurer.

But by 2010, following allegations 

of corruption with the treasurer’s 

office, the FBI’s Columbus Resident 

Agency opened a case (and was 

later assisted by its partners at 

the Ohio Bureau of Criminal 

Investigation—members of the 

newly formed Central Ohio Public 

Corruption Task Force).

As the case unfolded, investigators 

identified Ahmad and three other 

individuals as the primary players 

in the corruption scheme. Ahmad’s 

co-conspirators included:

• Douglas Hampton, a high 

school classmate of Ahmad’s 

who worked as a broker and 

financial adviser (and in whose 

financial firm—Hampton Capital 

Management—Ahmad and 

his wife maintained a personal 

investment account);

• Joseph Chiavaroli, a Columbus 

businessman who co-owned 

a landscaping company with 

Ahmad; and

• Mohammed Noure Alo, a close 

friend of Ahmad’s who was a 

lawyer in a Columbus-based law 

firm and registered as a lobbyist 

in the state of Ohio.

The scheme. From January 2009 

to January 2011, Ahmad used his 

position to direct official state 

business to the financial firm run 

by Hampton in return for more 

than $500,000 in bribe payments. 

Records showed that Hampton 
11.02.15 The FBI Story 2015 123

Capital Management became 

an approved Ohio treasurer’s 

office broker in 2009 through a 

process personally overseen by 

Ahmad and had received the most 

trades—360—of any broker for the 

state of Ohio in 2009 and 2010. 

Hampton made approximately $3.2 

million in commissions from those 

trades.

Ahmad conspired with Chiavaroli 

to conceal the illegal payments 

from Hampton by passing them 

through the accounts of their 

landscaping company. (In late 

2009, Chiavaroli had executed a 

bill of safe transferring 46 percent 

ownership of his landscaping 

company to Ahmad.)

Hampton also funneled a number 

of payments to Ahmad through 

Alo, who profited from the scheme 

by keeping some of the money 

himself.

Investigators were able to obtain 

evidence of the corruption—and of 

the conspiracy—from a variety of 

sources, including e-mails, financial 

records, and interviews.

All four subjects were indicted on 

corruption charges in August 2013. 

At the time of his indictment, 

Ahmad had already left his job in 

Ohio to take another government 

position, this one with the city 

of Chicago. After guilty pleas by 

Hampton, Chiavaroli, and Alo, 

Ahmad pled guilty in December 

2013.

The flight. In April 2014, while 

awaiting sentencing, Ahmad fled 

the country and eventually flew 

to Pakistan. But upon his arrival 

at the airport, he was arrested by 

Pakistani authorities for attempting 

to enter the country using false 

documentation and taken into 

custody.

Partnership Against Corrupt 

Officials Pays Off in Central Ohio 

In 2013, to more effectively address 

corruption in the state capital of 

Columbus, the FBI created the Central 

Ohio Public Corruption Task Force. In 

addition to the Bureau, the task force 

includes numerous agents from the 

Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation 

and investigators from the U.S. 

Department of Transportation-Office 

of Inspector General, U.S. Department 

of Labor-Office of Inspector General 

for Labor Racketeering and Fraud, 

and Internal Revenue ServiceCriminal Investigation.

In its short existence, the task force 

has been extremely successful. 

Besides assisting with the 

convictions of Amer Ahmad and 

his co-conspirators, it has worked 

toward convictions of four members 

of the Ohio General Assembly and 

numerous corrupt law enforcement 

officers, lobbyists, public officials, and 

businesspersons.

Immediately upon discovering 

that Ahmad was in Pakistan, 

U.S. authorities began extradition 

proceedings. In the meantime, 

in December 2014, Ahmad was 

sentenced—without physically 

being in court—to 15 years in 

federal prison. His co-conspirators 

also received prison terms.

And by August 2015, Ahmad was 

on another plane—this time in the 

company of FBI agents and U.S. 

marshals—bound for Ohio.

Corrupt public officials can 

undermine our security, our safety, 

and public trust and confidence 

in our government, while wasting 

billions of dollars along the way. 

That’s why the FBI will continue to 

investigate these types of cases so 

strenuously.
124 The FBI Story 2015

Navy Engineer Sentenced for Attempted Espionage

Passed Information on Latest Aircraft Carrier to Undercover Agent

11.05.15

In the fall of 2014, civilian engineer 

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad provided 

schematics of the U.S. Navy’s 

newest nuclear aircraft carrier—

the USS Gerald R. Ford—to an 

individual he thought was an 

Egyptian intelligence officer. At 

the time, Awwad was an employee 

of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 

Portsmouth, Virginia, and had 

access to naval nuclear propulsion 

information.

His actions could have potentially 

compromised the safety of some 

4,000 American sailors who will 

be serving on the USS Gerald R. 

Ford after it joins the fleet of Navy 

vessels sometime next year—and 

the security of our nation in 

general. Fortunately, Awwad’s 

Egyptian contact turned out to be 

an undercover FBI agent. And last 

month, Awwad was sentenced to 

11 years in prison after pleading 

guilty earlier this year to attempted 

espionage.

After joint investigative efforts 

between the FBI and the Naval 

Criminal Investigative Service 

(NCIS), an undercover Bureau 

agent reached out to Awwad by 

telephone in September 2014 and, 

speaking Arabic, asked to meet 

with him. Without asking any 

questions, Awwad agreed.

The pair met the next day in a 

park in nearby Hampton, Virginia. 

During the meeting, which was 

audio and video recorded, our 

agent identified himself as being 

a representative of the Egyptian 

government. Awwad told our agent 

that he wanted to use his position 

at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to 

obtain military technology for use 

by Egypt, including the designs of 

the USS Gerald R. Ford. The two 

discussed how they would remain 

in future contact—through coded 

e-mail communications and dead 

drops in a concealed location in 

the park.

In October 2014, at Awwad’s 

request, the two men met in a 

hotel room in Norfolk. During 

that meeting, which was also 

recorded, Awwad gave the 

undercover agent electronic copies 

of schematic drawings of the USS 

Gerald R. Ford, which clearly 

contained numerous markings 

warning against disseminating the 

information publicly. Awwad said 

he planned to obtain additional 

information concerning the tools 

and the technology necessary to 

build the carrier and also pointed 

out on the schematics vulnerable 

areas where a strike could cause 

an explosion significant enough to 

sink the carrier.

The dead drop area in a Virginia park that was used by Navy civilian engineer Mostafa Ahmed Awwad to pass sensitive information on the USS 

Gerald R. Ford, a new aircraft carrier currently under construction.
11.05.15 The FBI Story 2015 125

During this same meeting, Awwad 

described for the agent his plans 

to circumvent Navy computer 

security by installing software on 

his restricted computer that would 

enable him to copy documents 

without triggering a security alert. 

He also asked for money to buy a 

pinhole camera, which he intended 

to use throughout the shipyard to 

take pictures of restricted material.

And finally, Awwad told the agent 

that going forward, the two would 

communicate primarily through 

e-mail. The engineer, admittedly 

fearful of being caught by the FBI, 

instructed the agent to create 24 

fake e-mail accounts that should be 

used only once and then deleted. 

He also asked for an escape plan 

in the event his activities were 

detected by the FBI.

Over the next month or so, Awwad 

and the undercover agent e-mailed 

numerous times and met again in 

a hotel. Awwad was also recorded 

servicing the dead drop location 

in the Hampton park, picking up 

$3,000 left by the agent at Awwad’s 

request so he could purchase a 

laptop and dropping off an external 

hard drive of additional schematic 

drawings and two photos to be 

used for producing a fraudulent 

passport.

All the while, there was no doubt 

that Awwad understood that the 

“Egyptian representative” he was 

dealing with would be passing the 

stolen information to the Egyptian 

government.

Why did he do it? Awwad told 

our undercover agent that he was 

motivated to use his position to 

steal nuclear and defense secrets 

from the U.S. to aid Egypt in 

building a more robust defense. 

And at one point, he said he 

wanted to go to Egypt to meet 

personally with high-ranking 

intelligence and military officials 

to get a better idea on exactly what 

information they would want him 

to collect.

But he never got the chance. 

Awwad was taken into custody 

on December 5, 2014, following 

another meeting with our 

undercover agent.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is still 

under construction, but when 

completed, it will be the most 

advanced aircraft carrier in the 

world and the first in a new class 

of carriers. As a result of the joint 

FBI/NCIS efforts in this case, 

according to FBI Assistant Director 

Randall Coleman, “We prevented 

the loss of billions of dollars in 

research costs and the exposure 

of potential vulnerabilities to 

our newest generation of nuclear 

aircraft carrier.”

This surveillance photo shows Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, left, meeting with an FBI undercover 

agent he believed was an Egyptian intelligence officer.
126 The FBI Story 2015 11.09.15

Solving Homicides

FBI Forms Unique Partnership with Oakland Police Department

On a peaceful, sunny morning in 

downtown Oakland, California, 

it is difficult to comprehend that 

the city across the bay from San 

Francisco is one of the most violent 

places in the country, with a 

murder occurring on average every 

three days. Inside the headquarters 

of the Oakland Police Department 

(OPD)—where homicide detectives 

and FBI agents were meeting—that 

reality is all too clear.

Seventeen months ago, the FBI 

dedicated 10 special agents to 

work alongside OPD detectives to 

investigate active homicides and 

more than 2,000 cold case murders 

that have taxed the department’s 

historically understaffed homicide 

detective squad.

On this morning, agents and 

detectives comprising the 

Homicide Task Force were 

discussing their most pressing 

investigations—almost all related 

to gangs and drugs—and how best 

to solve them. An OPD detective 

mentioned that a key witness in 

one of his cases had fled to Texas. 

FBI Special Agent Russ Nimmo, 

who leads the partnership effort, 

said agents in Texas could locate 

the witness there and arrange for 

an interview. “We can help with 

that,” he said.

It’s just one example of how the 

FBI adds value and depth to OPD 

murder investigations. Not only 

does the Bureau assist by pursuing 

leads in other states but agents 

also conduct interviews, execute 

warrants, and, when necessary, 

deploy specialized resources such as 

the SWAT team and the Evidence 

Response Team. The FBI can also 

collect and process critical firearms 

and DNA evidence, which may 

be too time-consuming and costly 

for OPD to take on alone. This 

real-time partnership gives local 

detectives a federal reach they did 

not have before—and in many 

cases that means violent offenders 

are also charged federally, which 

can result in stiffer sentences.

“This effort with OPD is designed 

to be sustained and ongoing,” 

Nimmo says. “It is important to 

solve every murder, whether it 

occurs in a wealthy neighborhood 

or a poor one. We are showing 

the community that the FBI is 

not just something you see on TV 

While searching for shell casings from a weapon that gang members used to kill an Oakland, California man in September 2015, FBI agents 

and Oakland Police Department detectives on the Homicide Task Force came across a marijuana grow operation in the warehouse where the 

victim was tortured before his murder.
11.09.15 The FBI Story 2015 127

or read about in newspapers. We 

are working to provide justice in 

communities where many people 

feel that nobody cares about them.”

“This is a valuable partnership,” 

added Lt. Roland Holmgren of the 

OPD Homicide Unit, “and we are 

seeing the fruits of our combined 

labors.”

Since the FBI-OPD effort officially 

began in June 2014, the task force 

has cleared twice as many murders 

as had been cleared in the past—a 

rate that increased from about 30 

percent of homicides to 60 percent. 

And the task force is actively 

working its backlog of cold cases as 

well.

At OPD headquarters, a dedicated 

workspace for the task force was 

set aside and is being renovated 

using funds from both the Bureau 

and the city. Detectives and agents 

are expected to occupy their new, 

permanent quarters by the end of 

the year. The space will feature 

state-of-the-art equipment to 

aid in recording and reviewing 

subject interviews. Agents and 

detectives will also have access to 

FBI computer systems to aid their 

investigations.

Nimmo explained that the Bureau 

has many Safe Streets Task Forces 

around the country—consisting 

of local, state, and federal law 

enforcement partners—working 

to fight violent crime. The effort 

to embed FBI agents with OPD 

detectives represents an additional 

commitment. “And it sends a 

message,” he said: “If you kill 

someone in Oakland, we will catch 

you.”

One case the FBI worked jointly 

with OPD was a December 2013 

drug-related murder in East 

Oakland that occurred in the 

parking lot of a large chain store a 

few days before Christmas. Damion 

Sleugh had arranged to buy five 

pounds of marijuana from 24-yearold Vincent Muzac. The deal 

went bad, and Sleugh shot Muzac, 

dumping his body in the parking 

lot before driving off.

With the FBI’s assistance, Sleugh 

was indicted federally in March 

2014 on first-degree murder and 

other charges. A jury convicted 

him in July 2015, and last week the 

28-year-old was sentenced to life in 

prison.

Nimmo has been working to help 

OPD detectives since 2010. “The 

Sleugh case, along with several 

others, made us realize the greater 

federal impact we could have if 

more agents were fully staffed with 

OPD detectives,” he said. “The 

results so far are not surprising, 

given the quality of agents and 

detectives assigned to the task 

force.” He added, “This level of 

partnership over this length of time 

is making a real difference, but 

there is still much more work to be 

done.”

Cold Case 

One of the more than 2,000 cold cases being worked by the FBI-OPD Homicide 

Task Force is the 2013 murder of Aya Nakano, who was gunned down an hour 

before his 23rd birthday after a traffic incident in Oakland. In September, the 

FBI announced a reward of up to $25,000—in addition to a separate significant 

reward offered by Nakano’s family—for information leading to arrests and 

prosecutions.

The FBI and the Oakland Police Department are asking for the public’s help to 

identify the two individuals responsible for the murder, which occurred around 11 

p.m. on June 12, 2013. The Bureau’s National Digital Billboard Initiative is also 

featuring the case as part of the public awareness campaign.

Nakano was driving home to Emeryville, California, when his car was involved 

in a minor accident with a silver, four-door sedan with tinted windows. The 

accident occurred at the intersection of Stanford Avenue and Market Street. After 

the accident, Nakano pulled over near the intersection, as did the sedan. Two 

suspects emerged from the sedan and fatally shot Nakano before driving away.

Anyone with information regarding the case should contact the Oakland Police 

Department at (510) 238-7950, their local FBI office, or the nearest American 

Embassy or Consulate.

Note: This case may have been resolved since it was posted on our website. 

Please check www.fbi.gov/wanted for up-to-date information.
A collaboration between the 

Bureau and the museum, “Inside 

Today’s FBI” will display evidence 

and artifacts never before seen 

by the public, including the blue 

Toyota Corolla abandoned by 

terrorist hijackers prior to the 9/11 

attacks and the explosives-laden 

Nissan Pathfinder used in a failed 

attempt to bomb New York City’s 

Times Square in 2010. Parts of 

the homemade bomb—propane 

tanks, alarm clocks, and a pressure 

cooker—can be seen inside the 

vehicle. Also on display will 

Some of the FBI’s biggest terrorism 

cases since 9/11—along with 

headline-grabbing espionage and 

cyber investigations—are featured 

in an exhibit that opens today in 

the nation’s capital.

“Inside Today’s FBI: Fighting 

Crime in the Age of Terror” is an 

updated and expanded version of 

a popular, long-running exhibit at 

the Newseum, a museum devoted 

to news and journalism located a 

few blocks from FBI Headquarters 

in Washington, D.C.

be items from the 2013 Boston 

Marathon bombing, including the 

handcuffs that restrained bomber 

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

More than 45 new artifacts have 

been added to the exhibit, which 

focuses on terrorism as well as 

recent espionage cases—such 

as the Russian spy investigation 

known as Operation Ghost 

Stories—and cyber cases, like Silk 

Road, in which the FBI dismantled 

a secret website that allowed 

individuals to buy and sell illegal 

drugs anonymously online.

128 The FBI Story 2015

Newseum Goes “Inside Today’s FBI”

D.C. Museum Updates Popular Exhibit

11.13.15

This diagram shows the layout inside an SUV that was rigged to 

explode in New York’s Times Square in 2010. The homemade 

bomb—which failed to explode—included this gas can, propane 

tank, pressure cooker, and these alarm clocks. The items are on 

display along with the vehicle.
“The FBI has had a long and 

successful partnership with the 

Newseum,” said Mike Kortan, FBI 

assistant director of public affairs. 

“We are pleased that the expanded 

exhibit provides even more 

opportunity for people to learn 

about the FBI and our mission to 

protect the country.”

The Newseum’s original Bureaurelated exhibit, “G-Men and 

Journalists: Top News Stories of 

the FBI’s First Century,” debuted 

in 2008 and was updated in 2011. 

In July 2015, the exhibit closed for 

renovations and opens today in a 

larger space with more than 160 

artifacts, most of which are on loan 

from the FBI.

The “G-Men and Journalists” 

exhibit was intended to be 

temporary but was so popular its 

run was extended indefinitely. 

Millions of people have seen it. 

Other items still on display from 

the original exhibit include the 

Unabomber’s cabin; engine parts 

and landing gear from United 

Airlines Flight 175, which crashed 

into the World Trade Center South 

Tower on 9/11; and the hiking 

boots worn by “shoe bomber” 

Richard Reid, who received al 

Qaeda training to blow up an 

American Airlines flight from Paris 

to Miami in December 2001. The 

belts passengers used to restrain 

Reid are also on display.

“After 9/11, the FBI’s mission 

changed substantially to prevent 

another terrorism attack,” Kortan 

said. “The Newseum exhibit 

captures a fascinating part of that 

transformation.”

“Inside Today’s FBI: Fighting Crime in the Age of Terror” is an updated and expanded version of a popular, long-running FBI exhibit at the 

Newseum, a museum devoted to news and journalism located a few blocks from FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The exhibit features 

some of the Bureau’s biggest cases since 9/11.

11.13.15 The FBI Story 2015 129
130 The FBI Story 2015

Latest Hate Crime Statistics Available

Report Contains Info on Offenses, Victims, and Offenders

11.16.15

Of the 5,479 hate crime incidents reported in 2013, 5,462 were single-bias incidents, as detailed in the chart above.
11.16.15 The FBI Story 2015 131

According to the FBI’s latest 

report, law enforcement agencies 

reported 5,479 hate crime 

incidents involving 6,418 offenses 

to our Uniform Crime Reporting 

(UCR) Program in 2014. And 

these crimes—which often have 

a devastating impact on the 

communities where they occur—

left 6,727 victims in their wake.

The latest figures are down 

from 2013, when 5,928 criminal 

incidents involving 6,933 offenses 

were reported.

Hate Crime Statistics, 2014 provides 

information about the offenses, 

victims, and offenders. Among 

some of the highlights:

• Of the 5,462 single-bias incidents 

reported in 2014, 47 percent 

were racially motivated. Other 

motivators included sexual 

orientation, religion, ethnicity, 

gender identity, disability, and 

gender. (See above chart.)

• Of the 6,418 reported hate crime 

offenses, 63.1 percent were crimes 

against persons and 36.1 percent 

were crimes against property. 

The remaining offenses were 

crimes against society, like illegal 

drug activity or prostitution.

• The majority of the 4,048 

reported crimes against persons 

involved intimidation (43.1 

percent) and simple assault (37.4 

percent).

• Most of the 2,317 hate crimes 

against property were acts 

of destruction, damage, and 

vandalism (73.1 percent).

• Individuals were overwhelmingly 

the most common victim 

of a single-bias hate crime, 

accounting for 82.4 percent of 

the reported 6,418 offenses. The 

remaining victim types were 

businesses, financial institutions, 

religious organizations, 

government, and society or the 

public.

• Also during 2014, law 

enforcement agencies reported 

5,192 known offenders in 5,479 

bias-motivated incidents. (In 

the UCR Program, “known 

offender” does not imply that the 

suspect’s identity is known, only 

that some aspect of the suspect 

was identified by a victim or 

witness—such as race, ethnicity, 

or age.)

In addition to releasing 

annual Hate Crime

Statistics reports, which 

give the nation a clearer 

picture of the overall 

crime problem, the FBI 

also investigates

incidents of hate 

crimes—as a matter of 

fact, it’s the number one 

priority within our civil 

rights program.

And while 15,494 law enforcement 

agencies contributed to UCR’s 

Hate Crime Statistics report in 2014, 

only 1,666 agencies reported hate 

crimes within their jurisdiction (the 

remaining agencies reported zero 

hate crimes).

To enhance the accuracy of hate 

crime reporting, representatives 

from the UCR Program 

participated in five hate crime 

training sessions provided jointly 

by the Department of Justice 

(DOJ) and the FBI. Since 

April 2015, DOJ and the FBI 

provided the training sessions to 

law enforcement agencies and 

community groups in several 

different areas of the county. UCR 

personnel also worked with states 

to ensure proper data submission 

and met with police agencies to 

provide training and discuss crime 

reporting issues.

In addition to releasing annual 

Hate Crime Statistics reports, which 

give the nation a clearer picture of 

the overall crime problem, the FBI 

also investigates incidents of hate 

crimes—as a matter of fact, it’s the 

number one priority within our 

civil rights program. We investigate 

hate crimes that fall under 

federal jurisdiction, assist state 

and local authorities during their 

own investigations, and in some 

cases—with the DOJ’s Civil Rights 

Division—monitor developing 

situations to determine if federal 

action is appropriate.

The 2016 release of the Hate 

Crimes Statistics report, which will 

contain 2015 data, will feature even 

more information—expanded bias 

types in the religion category and 

the added bias type of anti-Arab 

under the race/ethnicity/ancestry 

category. The collection of both 

types of data began in January 

2015.
132 The FBI Story 2015

International Operations

Building Partnerships in the Americas

11.19.15

Members of the FBI’s International 

Operations Division who work 

in North, Central, and South 

America carry out their mission in 

some of the most violent countries 

in the world and face criminal 

threats—such as drug cartels and 

transnational gangs—that spill 

across borders and threaten the 

safety of Americans at home and 

abroad.

Some of the most potent weapons 

against these threats are strong 

and lasting partnerships—not only 

among U.S. federal agencies but 

also with international allies.

“In the Americas, the drug dealers, 

gangs, and human traffickers do 

not recognize borders,” explained 

Special Agent David Brassanini, 

chief of the Americas Unit in the 

FBI’s International Operations 

Division. “That is why partnerships 

with our host countries and 

fellow federal agencies are so 

important. We can only fight these 

violent criminals through strong 

alliances,” he said, adding that 

while many Americans think of 

the FBI as primarily a domestic 

law enforcement organization, “our 

presence abroad is strong, as it must 

be to protect the homeland.”

At a recent conference at the 

United States Southern Command 

(SOUTHCOM) military 

headquarters in Florida were the 

FBI’s legal attachés—or legats—

who cover the Americas: the 

Bureau has offices in Argentina, 

Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, 

Colombia, Dominican Republic, El 

Salvador, Mexico, and Panama.

Holding the conference at a 

Department of Defense (DOD) 

facility was fitting, because the 

military is a key FBI partner in the 

Americas. Both organizations have 

personnel cross-assigned in liaison 

roles so that intelligence can be 

shared seamlessly and operations 

can be carried out jointly.

“The Bureau and the DOD tend to 

look at threats the same way and 

seek to disrupt and dismantle them 

by working together,” said an FBI 

agent stationed at SOUTHCOM, 

one of nine combatant commands 

within the DOD.

“SOUTHCOM’s most important 

mission is to protect the southern 

approaches to the United 

States,” said Gen. John F. Kelly, 

SOUTHCOM commander. 

“We do not and cannot do this 

mission alone. We work side by 

side with the FBI and other law 

enforcement professionals to 

defend the U.S. homeland against 

transnational criminal networks, 

illicit trafficking, and the threat of 

terrorism.”

Participants at the conference—

including other federal law 

enforcement agencies—were 

briefed on recent investigations and 

a variety of criminal trends relating 

to terrorism, cyber intrusions, 

espionage, and more. The 

overwhelming crime issues in the 

Americas stem from transnational 

gangs and criminal organizations 

that traffic in drugs and people. 

These groups routinely murder, 

extort, and commit other crimes in 

the region, and those crimes have 

an impact inside the United States.

“The gang violence in Central 

America, particularly in El 

Salvador, has really taken off 

lately,” Brassanini said, “and we 

have seen an influx of that violence 

to the U.S. In many cases, Central 

American gang leaders are ordering 

crimes and murders committed in 

the U.S.”

Being vigilant about crime in the 

Americas is important because the 

countries there are U.S. “touch 

points,” Brassanini said. “The 

Americas touch us by land and by 

sea,” he explained. “That is why we 

work so closely with our partners 

to share intelligence, provide 

training, and bring these criminals 

to justice.”

The partnerships are working. “Our 

accomplishments are significant,” 

Brassanini said. “Almost on a daily 

basis we are able to identify and 

track down violent criminals, and 

that makes all our countries safer.”

David Brassanini, chief of the Americas Unit, discusses the FBI’s operational role working 

with partners in countries stretching from Canada to Argentina. 

Scan this QR code with 

your smartphone to access 

related information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/iodamericas.
2015 Biometric Identification Award

Virginia Police Investigator Honored for Role in Identifying Violent Perpetrator

The 2015 recipient of the FBI’s 

Biometric Identification Award 

(formerly known as the Latent Hit 

of the Year Award) is a member 

of Virginia’s Norfolk Police 

Department (NPD) who played 

a key role in the identification 

of a dangerous serial offender. 

Congratulations to Melvin Grover 

III, an investigator with the forensic 

section of the NPD’s detective 

division.

This Criminal Justice Information 

Services (CJIS) Division award 

is traditionally given to a latent 

print examiner or law enforcement 

officer who solves a major 

violent crime using the FBI’s 

Integrated Automated Fingerprint 

Identification System, or IAFIS. 

But IAFIS—our longstanding 

fingerprint repository—was 

replaced last year by the Next 

Generation Identification (NGI) 

system, developed to expand the 

Bureau’s biometric identification 

capabilities and services, and future 

awards will involve the use of the 

NGI system.

The case Grover eventually became 

involved with started in August 

2008, when the NPD received 

an emergency call from a private 

residence and responding officers 

found a female tied up in a locked 

bathroom. The victim, a U.S. Navy 

officer, said that she had been 

sleeping and was awakened by an 

unknown male brandishing a knife. 

The man raped her, bound her legs 

with the cord of an iron, and stole 

items from the home before fleeing.

Investigator Wade Stalker of 

the NPD processed evidence 

from the scene, including latent 

fingerprints from the iron and 

a door. Grover searched all the 

latent print evidence against 

Virginia’s Automated Fingerprint 

Identification System but got no 

results.

In September 2008, the victim 

and her daughter returned home 

one day and were confronted by 

the same attacker. He tied them 

both up with duct tape and raped 

the daughter before fleeing the 

scene. Once again, investigators 

collected evidence, including 

latent fingerprints and DNA. 

The prints were compared against 

Virginia’s system, which didn’t 

produce any known suspects 

but did confirm that the same 

individual committed both crimes. 

Investigators also searched the 

collected DNA evidence against 

the FBI’s Combined DNA Index 

System, or CODIS, with no results. 

The case remained unsolved.

In the spring of 2010, a female 

service member stationed in 

Kuwait was attacked while in a 

shower. An unknown male with a 

shirt covering his face went after 

the victim with a box cutter, but 

she fought back and the suspect ran 

off. Personnel from the U.S. Army 

Criminal Investigation Command 

collected blood samples from the 

shower and from a secondary crime 

scene where a blood-stained shirt 

was recovered from the trash. DNA 

isolated from the blood samples 

was searched against CODIS and 

positively linked to the two 2008 

attacks in Norfolk. But the actual 

identity of the attacker remained 

unknown.

In January 2012, representatives 

from the Naval Criminal 

Investigative Service (NCIS) met 

with Investigator Grover of the 

NPD to discuss the cases, and 

latent fingerprint evidence from 

both crimes scenes was searched 

against the Bureau’s IAFIS, with 

negative results. Later on, NCIS 

contacted the CJIS Division’s 

Latent and Forensic Support Unit 

(LFSU) to coordinate investigative 

efforts with the NPD. LFSU 

personnel conducted an internal 

search of the latent fingerprints 

collected against the Bureau’s 

repository of civil prints—at that 

time, IAFIS—and forwarded 

possible candidates to Investigator 

Grover. Grover was able to 

determine that the prints matched 

those of Amin Garcia, who had 

served in a Navy reserve unit and 

whose time in duty stations in 

Norfolk and Kuwait coincided with 

the attacks.

NCIS was then able to obtain a 

sample of Garcia’s DNA, which 

matched the DNA evidence left 

at the Norfolk and Kuwait crime 

scenes. In January 2014, Garcia 

was arrested in New York City and 

extradited to Virginia.

Garcia was convicted after a 

three-day trial for his crimes in 

Norfolk, and in December 2014, he 

was sentenced to life in prison plus 

120 years. For the Kuwait attack, 

he was indicted in October 2014 by 

a federal grand jury, and that case 

is still pending.

Thanks to the skills and dedication 

of a Norfolk Police Department 

investigator—and technology—a 

violent predator was identified and 

taken off the streets.

11.23.15 The FBI Story 2015 133
134 The FBI Story 2015 11.25.15

Agents of Asian Ancestry

‘Historical Marker’ Celebrates 50 Years of Service

When William Wang joined the 

FBI as a special agent in 1966, 

the number of known agents of 

Asian ancestry could be counted 

on one hand. There was no official 

tally, Wang said, because Director 

J. Edgar Hoover didn’t find it 

necessary to keep count.

“Under Mr. Hoover, you are either 

a special agent or not a special 

agent,” said Wang, who was born 

in China, immigrated to the 

United States in 1956, and became 

the Bureau’s fifth known agent 

of Asian ancestry. “As far as he 

was concerned, we’re all special 

agents—period.”

Over the years, Wang took it 

upon himself to keep track of 

the number, and he reached out 

personally to new agents of Asian 

descent as they came through 

training at the FBI Academy 

in Quantico, Virginia. “It was 

important to me to just let them 

know that I’m here,” he said.

The role of agents of Asian 

ancestry over the past 50 years—

since Edwin Yee and Calvin 

Shishido were sworn in as agents 

in 1965—was a centerpiece of this 

year’s annual national conference 

of the Society of Former Special 

Agents of the FBI. Retired Special 

Agent Ellen Glasser, who was 

president of the society during 

the September gathering in Reno, 

Nevada, said it was a fitting time to 

honor them for the “special value 

and needed diversity” they brought 

to the FBI’s ranks.

“We decided this was an 

opportunity to do something 

really important and to create a 

historical marker for their 50 years 

of service,” Glasser said, speaking 

to hundreds of former agents, but 

specifically addressing the cadre of 

Asian former agents in attendance. 

“By celebrating your achievements 

and your loyalty, we here in the FBI 

family want to publicly say thank 

you and job well done.”

In conversations, many recalled 

being recruited into the Bureau 

specifically because of their 

backgrounds, both professional and 

ethnic.

Kingman Wong, who served 

from 1988 to 2012, said the 

San Francisco Field Office was 

looking for agents with Chinese 

language skills when he was 

recruited. He landed on an Asian 

organized crime squad there, which 

propelled him to other undercover 

assignments in Hong Kong and 

Thailand.

“In terms of infiltrating these 

groups, you have to know the 

culture, you have to know the 

language,” he said. “It would be 

very difficult if the Bureau sent in a 

Caucasian agent.”

Chris Loo also worked in the San 

Francisco office, from 1978 to 1999. 

He remembered his boss assigning 

him to applicant recruitment, 

specifically to reach out into the 

Asian community. He did that 

successfully for two years—hiring 

a number of future legal attachés 

to run our overseas offices—before 

returning to an organized crime 

squad, where he helped launch 

the office’s Asian organized crime 

program.

“Your ethnicity certainly helps 

open doors in the community,” said 

Loo, recalling an interview with a 

potential witness who was Chinese. 

“He was very hesitant to speak to 

me, and his sponsor said, ‘Don’t 

be afraid to speak to Mr. Loo. He’s 

with the FBI and he’s Chinese.’ 

I found the ethnicity a plus in 

helping to get the foot in the door.”

The former agents also 

encountered some strains of 

Left: Fred Wong, seen here taking the FBI 

oath, became a special agent in 1982. He 

played a key role in the arrest of a Top Ten 

fugitive in 1984, and served as head of FBI 

offices in Belgium and Indonesia before 

retiring in 2007.
11.25.15 The FBI Story 2015 135

discrimination but generally 

brushed it off and rose above it. 

JoAnn Sakato, who served from 

1978 to 2002 and was the first 

Asian woman agent in the FBI, 

chalked up any racist or sexist 

slights to ignorance.

“As a Japanese female, I think 

some of the agents expected a 

geisha,” she said. “Well, that’s not 

what they got when they hired me. 

A funny story is that in the Los 

Angeles Field Office they would 

call me Dragon Lady. I suppose 

in some contexts it could be a 

derogatory term. I decided to adopt 

that as my moniker and made it my 

own. I guess I established certain 

reputation for taking no prisoners. 

I adopted that, and that was my 

persona.”

Today there are nearly 600 active 

special agents of Asian ancestry, 

a figure roundly regarded as too 

low. Director Comey frequently 

cites the FBI’s diversity statistics in 

public remarks about how the FBI 

needs to better reflect the people it 

serves.

“Diversity is about doing the right 

thing, but also about effectiveness,” 

Comey said at the National 

Organization of Black Law 

Enforcement Executives annual 

meeting last March. “It’s about 

being good at what we do. We are 

simply less effective when we are 

less diverse.”

The earliest Asian agents largely 

dismiss the descriptive modifier 

in their title—much as the first 

women agents did in 1972. Like 

his colleagues, Joe Louie, the third 

known Asian to be hired as an 

agent in 1966, just wanted to be 

called an agent—period. “I don’t 

think they really cared if you were 

black, white, or purple,” he said. 

“If you were selected for being an 

agent, that was a prime job.”

Frederick Wong’s career, from 1982 

to 2007, may best illustrate the 

point. He was one of Chris Loo’s 

hires who went on to become a 

legal attaché, not once but twice. 

His first overseas office was in 

Belgium. “I remember some of 

my colleagues in Belgium, the 

Netherlands, and Luxembourg, 

they were quite surprised, but 

pleasantly surprised that ‘you aren’t 

all white agents,’” he said. “It was a 

big plus. It helped me open doors.”

Left: Retired agents of Asian ancestry 

reflect on their experiences and 

perspectives in videos on our website.

Changing Perceptions 

In his 30 years as an FBI agent, 

from 1982 to 2012, Weysan Dun 

worked his way up the management 

ladder. He was a special agent in 

charge (SAC) of three field offices 

and saw firsthand, repeatedly, how 

important it is to reflect the people you 

serve. In an interview, he described 

the evolving perception of law 

enforcement in the Asian community 

and why it’s important to have senior 

agents of Asian ethnicity in the 

Bureau.

“Some of 

the ethnic 

communities 

with which I had 

to deal, I think 

were partly 

disarmed by the 

fact that they 

never expected 

to see an Asian 

guy as the head of the FBI office.

“When I was an SAC in Newark, the 

local Asian community there actually 

was so enthralled that there was 

an FBI executive of Asian ethnicity 

because they never even dreamed 

that was a possibility...they actually 

did an article for me in a Chinese 

language periodical (above). They 

were just amazed that there was an 

Asian executive in the FBI. Frankly, 

as a result of that, it caused them 

to say, ‘We really need to be a little 

more open and welcoming when we 

do run across the FBI.’ ”

Scan this QR code 

with your smartphone 

to access related 

information, or visit

www.fbi.gov/

asianagents50.
136 The FBI Story 2015

Want to Obtain FBI Records a Little Quicker?

Try New eFOIA System

11.30.15

Note: eFOIA open beta testing ended 

December 21, 2015. Submissions will 

be accepted after system updates are 

made.

The FBI recently began open beta 

testing of eFOIA, a system that 

puts Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) requests into a medium 

more familiar to an ever-increasing 

segment of the population. This 

new system allows the public to 

make online FOIA requests for 

FBI records and receive the results 

from a website where they have 

immediate access to view and 

download the released information.

Previously, FOIA requests have 

only been made through regular 

mail, fax, or e-mail, and all 

responsive material was sent to 

the requester through regular mail 

either in paper or disc format. 

“The eFOIA system,” says David 

Hardy, chief of the FBI’s Record/

Information Dissemination 

Section, “is for a new generation 

that’s not paper-based.” Hardy 

also notes that the new process 

should increase FBI efficiency and 

decrease administrative costs.

The eFOIA system continues in an 

open beta format to optimize the 

process for requesters. The Bureau 

encourages requesters to try eFOIA 

and to e-mail foipaquestions@

ic.fbi.gov with any questions or 

difficulties encountered while 

using it. In several months, the 

FBI plans to move eFOIA into full 

production mode.

Here’s what you need to know to 

assist the FBI in testing the eFOIA 

system:

• You are limited to one request 

per day.

• So the FBI is confident in the 

identity of the requester, you will 

need to provide a valid e-mail 

address and a government-issued 

form of identification in one of 

the following formats: .pdf, .doc, 

.png, .gif, .jpg, or .jpeg.

• Your requests are limited to 

information about organizations, 

events, or deceased individuals.

• If you are requesting information 

on a deceased individual, you 

will need to upload proof of 

death unless the deceased 

individual is more than 100 

years old. Acceptable proof of 

death includes obituaries, death 

certificates, recognized sources 

that can be documented, written 

media, Who’s Who in America, an 

FBI file that indicates a person 

is deceased, or a Social Security 

Death Index page.

• The maximum combined size of 

all attachments in a request is 30 

megabytes.

• Regulatory FOIA fee schedules 

remain in effect for eFOIA 

requests.

• Audio and video files, because of 

their large size, must be sent to 

requesters through standard mail.

A quick note: If you want to make 

what’s called a “first party” request 

asking for information about 

yourself or another living person—

which falls under the U.S. Privacy 

Act (PA)—you will need to mail, 

fax, or e-mail the U.S. Department 

of Justice’s Certification of Identity 

Form DOJ-361, plus any additional 

information that may help in 

locating the records you’re looking 

for, to the FBI. 

Submissions to the FBI’s overall 

FOIA/PA program continue to 

trend upward, according to Hardy. 

“Requests have increased over 

the past decade by as much as 

a third,” he said. “Over the past 

year, we’ve received approximately 

18,500 requests and, thanks to a 

skilled workforce and increasing 

automation, we were able to review 

for release 1.1 million pages.”

And while many of the requests 

that come in are from the media, 

authors, academia, organizations, 

and the like, Hardy noted that 40 

percent of FOIA/PA requests come 

from individuals looking for records 

on themselves.

The original purpose of the 

decades-old Freedom of 

Information Act and the Privacy 

Act was to promote openness 

in government. “Our belief in 

the concept of government 

transparency and the public’s right 

to access certain records held 

by government agencies is what 

continues to drive us to this day,” 

said Hardy, “and eFOIA represents 

another step by the FBI to enhance 

that access.”
The FBI Story 2015 137

FBI Celebrates 75th Anniversary of Legat in Mexico City

Milestone Marks Longstanding Crime-Fighting Alliance

12.04.15

The FBI’s office in Mexico 

City—the Bureau’s largest and 

oldest overseas post—marked 

its 75th anniversary yesterday, 

commemorating the longstanding 

alliance between the U.S. and 

Mexico in the fight against crime.

The FBI and Mexican authorities 

have been working together since 

the early 20th century, with the 

Bureau’s legal attaché office in 

Mexico City officially opening in 

1940. The FBI maintains more 

than 60 legal attaché offices—or 

legats—around the world, where 

Bureau personnel work closely with 

host countries to share information 

and to coordinate investigations 

that help safeguard American 

citizens and protect U.S. interests.

Applauding the 75-year milestone 

in a recorded video shown during 

yesterday’s ceremony in Mexico 

City, FBI Director James Comey 

called it “a testament to the 

strength of our partnership.” He 

added that today’s criminals and 

terrorists “no longer recognize 

borders or boundaries. We face 

truly global threats, and we 

must confront these challenges 

as a global law enforcement 

community.”

The U.S. and Mexico “share a 

common vision toward tackling 

crime,” said Special Agent Eric 

Drickersen, who heads the FBI’s 

Mexico City Legat. In the 1940s, 

during World War II, the Bureau’s 

efforts in Mexico and South 

America largely involved locating 

Nazis who had infiltrated North 

America, but even then, agents and 

Mexican authorities collaborated 

on a variety of criminal matters.

“The FBI was very forwardthinking in those days, when 

evidence of the impact of 

international crime first surfaced,” 

Drickersen said. “The Bureau 

recognized early on the necessity 

to collaborate with international 

partners. Mexico was one of our 

natural initial partners because we 

share a border and because crimes 

impacted both nations.”

Over the years, those crimes have 

evolved. Today, multi-national 

criminal organizations traffic drugs 

and people, and violent gangs carry 

out kidnappings and extortions on 

both sides of the border. “Without 

collaboration between the U.S. and 

Mexico,” Drickersen explained, “it 

would be virtually impossible to 

deal with the level of crime we now 

face.”

The crime-fighting coalition 

between the two countries has 

resulted in many successes, 

perhaps none more apparent than 

the FBI’s fugitive program. With 

the assistance of Mexican law 

enforcement, a total of 18 of the 

FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives 

have been captured in Mexico and 

returned to the U.S.—more than 

from anywhere else in the world. 

The most recent example is Top 

Ten fugitive Jose Manuel Garcia 

Guevara, who was apprehended in 

Mexico last year and returned to 

Louisiana to face rape and murder 

charges.

Another important aspect of the 

U.S.-Mexican law enforcement 

alliance is training. From the 

outset, police officers from both 

countries have trained together. 

The FBI’s internationally respected 

National Academy—a professional 

development course for U.S. 

and overseas law enforcement 

personnel—has counted nearly 

50 Mexican officers among its 

graduates since the 1940s.

“The Bureau continues to provide 

training to our Mexican law 

enforcement partners on topics 

ranging from managing crime 

scenes and interviewing subjects to 

complex cyber investigations,” said 

Drickersen.

“Today’s anniversary recognizes 

the importance of all aspects of the 

FBI’s partnership with Mexico,” 

he added. “For three-quarters of a 

century, we have built a coalition 

that has grown and continues to 

grow. The FBI is very proud of 

that.”

During a ceremony in Mexico City on December 3, 2015, Legal Attaché Eric Drickersen, 

Criminal Investigative Division Assistant Director Joseph Campbell, and International 

Operations Division Deputy Assistant Director Robert Johnson (left to right) marked the 75th 

anniversary of the Bureau’s official presence in Mexico.
138 The FBI Story 2015 12.08.15

Model Partnership

New York Joint Terrorism Task Force Celebrates 35 Years

It was a spring afternoon in 1980 

when a special agent from the 

FBI’s New York Field Office and a 

New York City Police Department 

official met for lunch to discuss 

how to combine their expertise to 

track down terrorist organizations 

responsible for a wave of violent 

attacks in the city.

That meeting led to the pooling 

of both agencies’ resources into a 

group that became known as the 

Joint Terrorism Task Force, or 

JTTF. And last week in New York, 

the FBI and NYPD celebrated the 

work the JTTF has been doing ever 

since.

In a December 1 ceremony 

at the FBI’s New York Field 

Office marking the JTTF’s 35th 

anniversary, FBI Director James 

Comey described the New York 

JTTF as the “granddaddy of them 

all” in a recorded video message 

shown at the event. “This was the 

one that started the model, that 

helped bring the NYPD and the 

FBI together in ways that people 

never thought possible,” said 

Comey.

The JTTF concept has expanded 

from its roots in New York to 

104 cities nationwide. Now 

approximately 4,000 members from 

more than 500 state and local 

agencies and 55 federal agencies 

work together to investigate and 

prevent domestic and international 

terrorism. Made up of highly 

trained investigators, analysts, 

SWAT team experts, and other 

specialists, these groups of law 

enforcement and intelligence 

personnel are the front line in the 

fight against terrorism.

Since its inception in 1980, 

the New York JTTF has been 

instrumental in this fight. It has 

aggressively investigated criminal 

activity, including a 2007 plot to 

bomb John F. Kennedy Airport, 

a 2009 plot to attack New York’s 

subway system, and a 2010 

attempted bombing in Times 

Square. The New York JTTF 

also took part in investigating 

international events like the U.S. 

Embassy bombings in East Africa 

in 1998 and the 2000 terrorist 

attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

Lethal attacks like the 1993 

bombing of the World Trade 

Center and the tragic events of 

9/11 created a need for JTTFs 

nationwide to increase their 

investigative resources and 

collaborative efforts to combat 

terrorism on a national and 

international scale. The New York 

JTTF has provided an effective 

framework for other task forces to 

follow.

“Here in New York, we have the 

largest JTTF in the country and 

we could not expect to thrive 

without the support of our local, 

state, and federal agencies,” said 

FBI New York Assistant Director 

in Charge Diego Rodriguez at last 

week’s ceremony. “It’s through 

partnerships like this that we 

continue to explore a multifaceted 

approach to fighting crime.”

Today, these interagency teams 

of experts are working across the 

country to prevent terrorism. 

JTTFs are responding to 

leads, gathering evidence, and 

sharing intelligence amongst 

numerous local and state law 

enforcement agencies as well as 

federal organizations such as the 

Department of Homeland Security, 

the U.S. military, Immigration 

and Customs Enforcement, and 

the Transportation Security 

Administration.

“The JTTF brings together the 

resources that have made us 

successful in fighting terrorism,” 

said Director Comey. “The threat 

that we face today is one that the 

JTTFs were made for. It’s a threat 

that’s dispersed and very hard 

to see. We need the help with 

resources and surveillance. We 

especially need the eyes and ears of 

our local partners. Our being knit 

together through the JTTF is the 

strength of our response.”

Members of the FBI New York’s JTTF in the Joint Operations Center immediately following a 

May 2010 attempted bombing in Times Square.
The FBI Story 2015 139

Human Trafficking

Prison Time for Men Who Attempted to Buy Sex Slaves

12.11.15

During the course of an 

international human trafficking 

investigation, FBI agents uncovered 

disturbing information: American 

men were making what appeared 

to be serious inquiries about buying 

kidnapped women from Asia to 

serve as sex and domestic slaves.

“This case opened people’s eyes 

to a much darker side of human 

trafficking than we were previously 

aware of,” said Special Agent Ryan 

Blay, who worked the investigation 

from the FBI’s Phoenix Division.

The case started in 2012, 

when agents were alerted to an 

advertisement from Malaysia on 

the now-defunct bondage website 

collarme.com, purporting to sell 

kidnapped Asian women “who are 

naturally very obedient.”

The online solicitation turned 

out to be a money-making scam, 

Blay said, but the response 

from potential customers in 

the U.S.—nearly 200 inquiries 

during a two-month period—was 

“alarming.” After the fraudulent 

advertisement was removed from 

the website and the FBI referred 

the matter to Malaysian authorities, 

Blay and his team devised an 

undercover operation targeting the 

same clientele.

“The idea was to be proactive, to 

identify these individuals and stop 

them before they could actually 

victimize anyone,” he said. The FBI 

created an undercover platform 

advertising kidnapped women for 

sale as sexual and domestic slaves.

“Almost immediately there were 

responses,” Blay said. “We weren’t 

interested in individuals who were 

just pursuing some sort of fantasy,” 

he explained. “The only people 

we wanted were those who were 

serious about buying kidnapped 

women.”

The undercover operative posing 

as the seller “actually tried to talk 

people out of it,” Blay said. “He 

stressed that these women would 

be taken against their will and 

the transaction would be illegal in 

every possible way.”

More than 100 people responded, 

and most dropped out quickly. 

But four individuals were anxious 

to proceed—and willing to pay 

thousands of dollars for a sex 

slave. “All of them said this was 

something they had wanted to do 

for a long time,” Blay said.

The undercover operative told the 

four buyers he was connected to 

a human trafficking group that 

would identify foreign females 

in the U.S. on temporary visas, 

kidnap them, and sell them into 

a life of slavery. The operative 

also said his organization held a 

biannual auction, where the women 

would be sold to the highest 

bidders.

The four individuals—two from 

Arizona, one from Montana, and 

one from California—were in their 

50s and 60s. One was an engineer 

with a Top Secret government 

clearance. Another was a financial 

analyst. The Montana man was 

going to pay $10,000 for two 

women. When he flew to Phoenix 

in May 2014 to make the purchase, 

he was carrying u-bolts to bind 

the women’s wrists and gags to 

keep them quiet. He planned to 

transport them back to Montana 

in a recreational vehicle. The man 

told the undercover operative he 

had a fully functional dungeon in 

the basement of his home.

“When we eventually conducted 

searches,” Blay said, “all the 

subjects had basically manufactured 

rooms in their homes to be prison 

cells. There were bars on windows, 

obscured glass, and insulation so no 

one could see or hear the women 

from the outside. One guy bolted 

chains in the floorboards of a 

room.”

The four men were indicted 

on human trafficking charges 

between December 2013 and May 

2014. They all pled guilty, and 

in September 2015, an Arizona 

federal judge sentenced them to 

prison terms ranging from seven to 

nine years.

“We are extremely pleased that we 

were able to intervene before any 

of these individuals was able to 

hurt anyone,” Blay said. “We didn’t 

want to wait until there were actual 

victims.”

Evidence seized in the human trafficking case, such as these restraints, revealed that the 

subjects were fully prepared to buy kidnapped women and hold them against their will.
140 The FBI Story 2015

Today, the FBI’s Uniform Crime 

Reporting (UCR) Program released 

details on more than 5.4 million 

criminal offenses reported by law 

enforcement through the National 

Incident-Based Reporting System 

(NIBRS) during 2014. According 

to NIBRS, 2014, 6,520 law 

enforcement agencies—charged 

with protecting more than 93 

million U.S. inhabitants—reported 

4,759,438 incidents involving 

5,489,485 offenses, 5,790,423 

victims, and 4,414,016 known 

offenders.

Among the report’s highlights:

• Of the offenses reported during 

2014, 63.6 percent involved 

crimes against property, 23 

percent involved crimes against 

persons, and 13.4 percent 

included crimes against society 

(so-called “victimless” crimes like 

gambling).

• There were 4,414,016 known 

offenders, meaning that at 

least one characteristic of the 

suspect—such as age, sex, or 

race—was known. Of these 

offenders, nearly a third (32.3 

percent) were between 16 and 25 

years of age, the majority (63.9 

percent) were male, and more 

than half (57.1 percent) were 

white.

• Concerning the relationship of 

victims to known offenders, 52.7 

percent of the 1,273,602 victims 

knew the individual perpetrating 

the crime but were not related 

to them. Nearly a quarter of 

the victims (24.8 percent) were 

related to their offenders.

In addition to the standard data 

tables, this year’s NIBRS report 

includes a brand new feature: an 

interactive map that allows users to 

click on a state, view map pins for 

each agency, select a pin, and get 

a dropdown listing of that agency’s 

offense data for 2014.

NIBRS, 2014 also includes a 

monograph on sex offenses 

previously reported by law 

enforcement that demonstrates the 

benefit of NIBRS data in allowing 

a more granular examination of a 

topic.

Unlike data reported through 

UCR’s traditional Summary 

Reporting System (an aggregate 

monthly tally of crimes) and 

published annually in Crime in the 

United States, NIBRS data goes 

much deeper because of its ability 

to provide circumstances and 

context for crimes. It includes all 

offenses within a single incident 

as well as additional aspects about 

each event, like location, time of 

day, relationship between victim 

and offender, and whether the 

incident was cleared. NIBRS 

also includes data on 23 offense 

categories made up of 49 offenses, 

as opposed to the Summary 

Reporting System’s 10 Part I 

offenses. Ultimately, NIBRS will 

improve the detail and overall 

quality of crime data, which 

will help law enforcement and 

communities around the country 

use resources more strategically and 

effectively.

However, only about a third of 

all U.S. law enforcement agencies 

currently participate in NIBRS. 

Transitioning to the new system 

can be somewhat costly, and—

because of the greater level of 

reporting specificity in NIBRS—it 

can initially appear that an agency 

has higher levels of crime after 

switching to NIBRS.

But because NIBRS can provide 

more useful statistics that will 

promote constructive discussion, 

measured planning, and informed 

policing, FBI Director James 

Comey has made across-the-board 

implementation of NIBRS one 

of his top priorities. At a recent 

International Association of Chiefs 

of Police (IACP) conference in 

Chicago—a video excerpt of his 

remarks is included in this latest 

NIBRS report—he talked about 

the importance of this program: 

“We face a data shortage on the 

violent crime front. We can’t 

tell you on a national level how 

many shootings there were in 

any particular city last weekend,” 

Comey said. “How can we 

address a rise in violent crime 

without good information? And 

without information, every single 

conversation in this country about 

policing and reform and justice is 

uninformed, and that is a very bad 

place to be.”

And influential organizations like 

the IACP, the National Sheriffs’ 

Association, the Major City Chiefs 

Association, and the Major County 

Sheriffs’ Association agree—all 

have pledged their support for 

NIBRS. 

12.14.15

2014 Expanded Crime Statistics Released

National Incident-Based Reporting System Includes More Detailed Data
12.17.15 The FBI Story 2015 141

New Top Ten Fugitive

Help Us Find a Violent Criminal

Myloh Jaqory Mason—wanted for 

a series of violent crimes, including 

attempted murder—has been 

named to the Ten Most Wanted 

Fugitives list.

A reward of up to $100,000 is being 

offered for information leading 

directly to the arrest of the 25-yearold fugitive, who is being sought 

on federal and state charges for 

his alleged involvement in recent 

violent bank robberies and two 

separate shootings in Lakewood, 

Colorado.

“Myloh Mason is a very violent 

felon. It’s important for the safety of 

the community that we apprehend 

him as soon as possible,” said 

Special Agent Russ Humphrey, 

fugitive coordinator for the FBI 

Denver Field Office’s Rocky 

Mountain Safe Streets Task Force.

Along with two accomplices—

who are in custody—Mason is 

believed to have robbed at least two 

Lakewood banks within the last 

four months, and his tactics have 

become more aggressive. The first 

robbery took place on September 

30, 2015. Mason and two others 

wearing costumes allegedly shoved 

guns in the faces of bank employees 

and said the tellers would be killed 

unless they opened the bank vault.

The crew struck again in 

November. Mason and two others 

allegedly wore green and white 

skeleton masks when they staged a 

takeover robbery, shoving guns in 

the faces of tellers to gain access 

to the vault. During that robbery, 

Mason—a convicted felon—was 

wearing a ballistic vest. Pursued 

by police after fleeing the bank, 

Mason and his partners shot two 

innocent citizens during a home 

invasion and a carjacking.

“The robbers clearly seemed 

desperate,” Humphrey said. “It 

was lucky that the two injured 

civilians, one of whom was shot 

four times, weren’t killed.” He 

added that the scenes played out 

near schools—which were locked 

down for hours—and a community 

recreation center frequented by 

parents with young children.

“We do not accept this kind 

of ruthless violence in our 

communities,” Humphrey said. 

“Adding Mason to the Ten 

Most Wanted Fugitives list is an 

indication of how serious we are 

about apprehending him.”

Mason is the 505th

person to be placed 

on the FBI’s Ten Most 

Wanted Fugitives list, 

which was established

in 1950. 

Mason is 6-foot-2 and weighs 

approximately 155 pounds. He has 

black hair, brown eyes, and tattoos 

on his chest, both arms, and hands. 

He has ties to Colorado, Florida, 

and Nevada. Investigators say 

that he uses a variety of aliases 

and caution that he should be 

considered armed and extremely 

dangerous.

“Mason and his gang have 

committed some of the most 

violent bank robberies we’ve 

seen in Colorado,” said Thomas 

Ravenelle, special agent in charge 

of the FBI’s Denver Division. “We 

believe he’s not going to stop and 

is a real danger to the community.” 

Ravenelle urged the public to help 

the FBI catch Mason and noted the 

substantial reward for cooperation.

If you have any information 

concerning the whereabouts of 

Mason, please call the FBI at 

1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), or 

contact your nearest FBI office, 

law enforcement agency, or U.S. 

Embassy or Consulate. You can 

also submit a tip online.

Mason is the 505th person to be 

placed on the FBI’s Ten Most 

Wanted Fugitives list, which was 

established in 1950. Since then, 473 

fugitives have been apprehended or 

located, 156 of them as a result of 

citizen cooperation.

Note: Myloh Jaqory Mason was 

taken into custody without incident 

on January 15, 2016.
142 The FBI Story 2015 12.21.15

Violent Carjackers Sentenced

Law Enforcement Partnerships Have an Impact

From late December 2012 to 

mid-January 2013, a series 

of violent carjackings in and 

around the Atlanta metro area 

shook the region and caused a 

significant violent crime spike. 

But a partnership between the FBI 

and law enforcement authorities 

in Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and 

DeKalb Counties resulted in the 

dismantlement of the dangerous 

gang of criminals responsible.

And seven of those criminals were 

recently sentenced to federal prison 

terms, including the leaders of 

the so-called Bandits street gang, 

Ladarious Gibbs and Derek C. 

Turner.

The defendants were charged in 

connection with at least seven 

carjackings. During these crimes, 

the victims were typically accosted 

as they were entering or exiting 

their vehicles. Using a particularly 

frightening modus operandi, one 

gang member would approach 

from the victim’s right side while 

the other would approach from 

the left, both pointing firearms 

and demanding the car. The 

carjackers were brazen—many 

of the incidents took place in 

daylight and at locations where 

the victims—young, middle-aged, 

and elderly—were going about 

their daily lives, such as libraries, 

shopping malls, gyms, bars, etc.

Accounts from the victims were 

harrowing. For example, a young 

woman who was eight months 

pregnant ended up going into 

pre-term labor and had to be 

hospitalized. In another case, 

shortly after one carjacking 

incident, the criminals raced onto 

a nearby interstate and crashed the 

stolen vehicle into a median—but 

when a couple of good Samaritans 

stopped to help, they themselves 

were carjacked. And during 

another carjacking that took place 

in front of a department store, a 

passerby—who happened to be a 

store employee—was shot in the 

leg and suffered serious, long-term 

medical issues.

Eventually, local law enforcement 

agencies were able to link several 

of the vehicles that the suspects 

traveled in as well as bullet shell 

casings found at the crime scenes. 

Some of the suspects also bragged 

about their exploits in a video 

posted on a social media website. 

And one individual took picture 

of himself with a victim’s cell 

phone—unbeknownst to him, the 

photos were saved to the victim’s 

cloud computing account.

In February 2013, six individuals 

were charged at the state level—of 

those, five were taken into custody 

by the Atlanta Police Department. 

But because of the multijurisdictional nature of the crimes, 

the fact that some of the suspects 

were repeat offenders, and because 

the federal carjacking statutes 

provided for harsher penalties, 

local authorities began looking into 

the possibility of federal charges 

and asked for the assistance of the 

Atlanta FBI Office.

Bureau investigators—working 

hand in hand with the U.S. 

Attorney’s Office for the 

Northern District of Georgia, 

the Cobb County and Atlanta 

Police Departments, and local 

prosecutors—conducted additional 

interviews, sent DNA evidence 

and latent fingerprint evidence to 

the FBI Laboratory, and analyzed 

suspects’ phones. An additional 

suspect was identified, and there 

was enough evidence gathered 

against Bandit gang members to 

convince a federal grand jury to 

begin handing down indictments 

in July 2013. A final superseding 

indictment was filed in May 2014.

After the sentencing of Gibbs, 

Turner, and three other 

co-conspirators, FBI Atlanta 

Special Agent in Charge J. Britt 

Johnson said that cases like this 

one require “the combined efforts 

and resources of law enforcement 

working together and across 

jurisdictional boundaries to get 

these violent offenders off our 

streets and into prison.”

This same sentiment is echoed in 

communities around the country 

wherever FBI investigators and 

state and local law enforcement 

personnel join together to target 

violent criminals who threaten 

public safety.

Shown above is one of the vehicles stolen by members of the Atlanta-area “Bandits” street 

gang during a series of violent carjackings over a three-week period beginning in late 

December 2012.
12.31.15 The FBI Story 2015 143

Drug Trafficking

Aryan Brotherhood Methamphetamine Operation Dismantled

When a federal judge recently 

sentenced the last two of 34 

Aryan Brotherhood of Texas 

gang members to prison for their 

roles in a methamphetamine drug 

distribution network, it marked 

the end of the gang’s foothold 

in Central Texas—and also 

highlighted the extraordinary 

partnership between local, state, 

and federal law enforcement that 

brought the criminals to justice.

Methamphetamine—also known 

as “meth” and “ice” because it is 

usually sold in crystallized form—

can devastate communities. In 

a 60-square-mile area of rural 

Central Texas where the Aryan 

Brotherhood gang was selling as 

much as four kilos of the drug each 

month, meth was taking a toll.

“The area was being tormented,” 

said Special Agent Dan Snow, 

who supervises a violent gangs 

and criminal enterprise squad in 

the FBI’s San Antonio Division. 

“When you’re addicted to meth, 

you will steal anything that’s not 

bolted down to get money to feed 

your habit.”

In multiple Central Texas counties 

near Waco and Fort Hood, crime 

was spiking—burglaries, property 

crimes, arsons, assaults, firearms 

thefts, even homicides—and when 

local authorities compared notes, 

they realized that a significant part 

of the crime problem resulted from 

the meth trade.

In late 2013, the FBI participated 

in a meeting with the Texas 

Department of Public Safety, the 

Drug Enforcement Agency, and 

local police departments. “We were 

hearing from our local counterparts 

about the issues related to the 

Aryan Brotherhood,” said Special 

Agent Dan Tichenor, who 

investigated the case from the FBI’s 

regional office in Waco. “From the 

outset, this investigation was a true 

partnership between local, state, 

and federal agencies.”

Through good police work, 

approximately 30 Aryan 

Brotherhood gang members 

central to the drug distribution 

operation were identified. “The 

main targets intentionally lived 

in very rural areas,” Tichenor 

said, “so law enforcement couldn’t 

do drive-bys of their houses or 

conduct surveillance. For a time,” 

he explained, “they were operating 

under the radar.”

During the course of the 

three-year investigation, the FBI 

developed confidential sources and 

administered court-ordered wire 

taps. Controlled drug buys were 

made, and evidence was compiled 

against the gang members. 

Eventually, investigators learned 

the source of the gang’s cartelaffiliated supplier in Dallas.

In September 2014, 20 members 

of the gang were arrested and 

charged with drug distribution 

related to the methamphetamine 

operation. Since then, all 34 Aryan 

Brotherhood of Texas members 

who have been charged and 

convicted for their roles in the 

drug network are now serving time 

in federal prison. On December 

9, 2015, Chris Voerhis, 51, was 

sentenced to 14 years in prison, 

and Derrick Cooper, 35, received a 

seven-year term.

“We dismantled their entire 

organization, from the leadership to 

suppliers to distributors,” Tichenor 

said. “This case has had a big 

impact on the community,” he 

added. “Local police departments 

reported a significant drop in 

crime—especially property 

crimes—after the drug operation 

was stopped.”

At the time of Voerhis’ and 

Cooper’s sentencings, Special 

Agent in Charge Christopher 

Combs of the San Antonio Field 

Office noted that “these sentences 

resulted from unprecedented 

collaboration of federal, state, and 

local law enforcement.” He added, 

“This effort not only exemplifies 

our commitment to prevent gang 

violence and criminal activity from 

poisoning our communities, it 

sends a clear message that we will 

relentlessly pursue and prosecute 

the leaders and members of these 

violent criminal enterprises 

regardless of where they lay their 

heads.”
Index

144 The FBI Story 2015

ART CRIME

Art Crime: The Case of the Stolen 

Stradivarius, pages 10-11

Art Crime Team Celebrates 10th 

Anniversary: A Decade of 

Successful Investigations and 

Recoveries, pages 16-17

ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking: 

FBI Warns Dealers, Collectors 

About Terrorist Loot, pages 

92-93

CIVIL RIGHTS

Human Trafficking Ring 

Dismantled: Case Highlights 

FBI’s Commitment to 

Anti-Trafficking Efforts, page 12

Ten Sentenced in Hate Crime 

Case: Murdered Man Among 

Multiple Victims, page 61

Investigating Human Rights: 

Reaching Out to Diaspora 

Communities in U.S. for War 

Crimes Tips, pages 72-73

Latest Hate Crime Statistics 

Available: Report Contains 

Info on Offenses, Victims, and 

Offenders, pages 130-131

Human Trafficking: Prison Time 

for Men Who Attempted to Buy 

Sex Slaves, page 139

COUNTERTERRORISM

New Most Wanted Terrorist: 

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Born in 

Somalia Added to FBI List, page 

13

The Oklahoma City Bombing: 20 

Years Later, pages 33-44

Attacks on Arkansas Power Grid: 

Perpetrator Sentenced to 15 

Years, page 88

ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking: 

FBI Warns Dealers, Collectors 

About Terrorist Loot, pages 

92-93

Preparing for the Pope: FBI Part of 

Well-Rehearsed Security Effort, 

pages 104-105

Symposium Facilitates Research 

on Lawful Interrogations: Event 

Sponsored by Government’s 

High-Value Detainee 

Interrogation Group, pages 

118-119

Model Partnership: New York Joint 

Terrorism Task Force Celebrates 

35 Years, page 138

CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN

Help Us Find Them: National 

Missing Children’s Day 2015, 

page 54

Sextortion: Help Us Locate 

Additional Victims of an Online 

Predator, pages 68-71

International Parental Kidnapping 

Case: Partnerships, Publicity Key 

to 9-Year-Old’s Rescue, pages 

82-83

Sexual Predator Sentenced to 29 

Years: Targeted Young Victims 

Through Social Media, page 84

Cold Case Investigation: Solving 

a Decades-Old Mystery, pages 

85-86

Operation Cross Country: 

Recovering Victims of Child Sex 

Trafficking, pages 112-113

Operation Northern Spotlight: 

American-Canadian Partnership 

Combats Human Trafficking, 

page 117

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

INFORMATION SERVICES

Next Generation Crime Stats: 

UCR’s NIBRS Can Offer Fuller 

Crime Picture, pages 48-49

Latest Crime Stats Released: 

Decrease in 2014 Violent Crimes, 

Property Crimes, page 107

In the Line of Duty: Law 

Enforcement Officers Killed and 

Assaulted, 2014 Report Released, 

page 116

Latest Hate Crime Statistics 

Available: Report Contains 

Info on Offenses, Victims, and 

Offenders, pages 130-131

2015 Biometric Identification 

Award: Virginia Police 

Investigator Honored for Role in 

Identifying Violent Perpetrator, 

page 133

2014 Expanded Crime Statistics 

Released: National IncidentBased Reporting System Includes 

More Detailed Data, page 140

CYBER CRIMES

Ransomware on the Rise: FBI and 

Partners Working to Combat 

This Cyber Threat, pages 8-9

The Cyber Action Team: Rapidly 

Responding to Major Computer 

Intrusions, page 23

FBI Safe Online Surfing Internet 

Challenge: Cyber Safety for 

Young Americans, page 60

Cyber Criminal Forum Taken 

Down: Members Arrested in 20 

Countries, page 74

Business E-Mail Compromise: An 

Emerging Global Threat, pages 

94-95

National Cyber Security Awareness 

Month: Securing Cyberspace is 

a Shared Responsibility, pages 

108-109

DIRECTOR/FBI LEADERSHIP

Law Enforcement and Race: 

Director Cites ‘Hard Truths’ and 

Calls for ‘Open Discussion’, page 

18

Law Enforcement and Race: 

Continuing the Conversation, 

page 24
Index

The FBI Story 2015 145

Progress Report: Panel Conducts 

Review of FBI Since 9/11 

Commission Report, page 27

Race and Law Enforcement: 

Director Urges Closer Ties 

Between Police, Communities, 

pages 114-115

Symposium Facilitates Research 

on Lawful Interrogations: Event 

Sponsored by Government’s 

High-Value Detainee 

Interrogation Group, pages 

118-119

FBI Celebrates 75th Anniversary of 

Legat in Mexico City: Milestone 

Marks Longstanding CrimeFighting Alliance, page 137

Model Partnership: New York Joint 

Terrorism Task Force Celebrates 

35 Years, page 138

FIELD CASES

Armenian Criminal Enterprise 

Dealt Serious Blow: Cooperative 

Law Enforcement Effort was Key, 

page 6

Extreme Case of Witness 

Intimidation: Justice for Six Slain 

Victims in Philadelphia, page 7

Art Crime: The Case of the Stolen 

Stradivarius, pages 10-11

Human Trafficking Ring 

Dismantled: Case Highlights 

FBI’s Commitment to 

Anti-Trafficking Efforts, page 12

New Most Wanted Terrorist: 

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Born in 

Somalia Added to FBI List, page 

13

Drug Kingpin Dethroned: 

International Investigation 

Dismantles Criminal Enterprise, 

page 14

Former Los Alamos Lab Workers 

Sentenced: Nuclear Scientist 

and Wife Passed Classified 

Documents, page 15

A Ponzi Scheme Collapses: 

Financial Crime Ring 

Uncovered, Criminals Brought to 

Justice, page 19

Joint Effort Takes Down DetroitBased Robbery Group: But 

Smash and Grab Jewelry Store 

Incidents are on the Rise, pages 

20-21

License to Steal: Multi-State 

Fraudulent Document Ring 

Dismantled, page 22

Financial Fraud: Hollywood Film 

Scheme Results in Unhappy 

Ending for Investors, page 25

Leader of Violent Street Gang 

Going to Prison: Multi-Agency 

Investigation Dismantles 

Criminal Organization, page 26

Public Corruption: FBI Agent 

Helps Protect His Native 

American Community, page 31

Violent Gangs: Kidnapping Crew 

Targeted Criminal Community, 

page 32 

The Oklahoma City Bombing: 20 

Years Later, pages 33-44

Justice for Victims: Restitution 

Ordered in Decade-Long Ponzi 

Scheme, page 45

Profits Over Safety: Egg Company’s 

Fraudulent Practices Put Public 

at Risk, page 50

Alabama Jeweler Sentenced in 

Federal Court: Caught Pawning 

His Own ‘Stolen’ Diamonds, 

page 51

Financial Fraud: Oklahoma Pastor 

Embezzled Nearly $1 Million 

from Community Center, page 52

Leader of Violent California Gang 

Sentenced: Operations Financed 

Through Drug and Firearms 

Trafficking, page 53

International Soccer Officials 

Indicted: ‘Deep-Rooted’ 

Corruption, Racketeering 

Alleged, page 55

Taken for a Ride: Travel Agent 

Scammed Marching Bands Out 

of Trips, page 56

Financial Fraud: Lengthy Prison 

Term for Advance Fee Fraudster, 

page 57

Serial Armed Robber Gets 

Substantial Prison Term: Joint 

Law Enforcement Effort Pays Off, 

page 58

The Case of the Corrupt Coin 

Dealer: Fraudster Targeted 

Elderly Victims, page 59

Ten Sentenced in Hate Crime 

Case: Murdered Man Among 

Multiple Victims, page 61

Health Care Fraud Takedown: 

243 Arrested, Charged with 

$712 Million in False Medicare 

Billings, page 62

Multi-State Chop Shop Operation 

Disrupted: Criminal Enterprise 

Leader Among Those Convicted, 

page 63

Behind the Scenes with 

Operational Medics: A Look 

Inside Our Washington Field 

Office’s OpMed Program, pages 

64-65

Sextortion: Help Us Locate 

Additional Victims of an Online 

Predator, pages 68-71

Cyber Criminal Forum Taken 

Down: Members Arrested in 20 

Countries, page 74

Financial Fraud: The Hair Show 

That Never Was, page 79

International Parental Kidnapping 

Case: Partnerships, Publicity Key 

to 9-Year-Old’s Rescue, pages 

82-83

Sexual Predator Sentenced to 29 

Years: Targeted Young Victims 

Through Social Media, page 84
Index

146 The FBI Story 2015

Cold Case Investigation: Solving 

a Decades-Old Mystery, pages 

85-86

Byte Out of History: FBI 

Involvement in Early Election 

Fraud Case in Kansas City, page 

87

Attacks on Arkansas Power Grid: 

Perpetrator Sentenced to 15 

Years, page 88

Loan Sharks Sentenced: Albanian 

Crime Group Used Violence, 

Intimidation in Business 

Dealings, page 89

Former DuPont Employee 

Sentenced: Involved in Foreign 

Conspiracy to Steal Trade 

Secrets, page 90

Medicare Fraud: Hospice Owner 

Falsified Numerous Claims, page 

91

Jewelry Store Robberies: Dallas 

Task Force Helps Put Violent 

Criminals Behind Bars, pages 

96-97

Steroids Dealer Sentenced: 

Advertised Products Online, 

page 98

La Cosa Nostra: Lengthy Prison 

Terms for Lucchese Crime Family 

Members, page 99

Man Sentenced for Orchestrating 

‘Cramming’ Scheme: 

Unauthorized Charges Placed 

on Victims’ Phone Bills, pages 

102-103

Preparing for the Pope: FBI Part of 

Well-Rehearsed Security Effort, 

pages 104-105

Con Man Sentenced in Fraud 

Case: Promised Luxury Cars But 

Rarely Delivered, page 106

Insurance Broker Sentenced for 

Fraud: Hundreds of Companies 

Victimized in Multi-State 

Scheme, page 110

Identity Theft: Fake Hospice Nurse 

Treated More Than 200 Patients, 

page 111

Operation Cross Country: 

Recovering Victims of Child Sex 

Trafficking, pages 112-113

Financial Fraud: Inside the 

Investigation of a Las Vegas 

Construction Boss, pages 120-121

Public Corruption Fugitive 

Extradited to U.S.: State Official 

Returns to Face Justice, pages 

122-123

Navy Engineer Sentenced for 

Attempted Espionage: Passed 

Information on Latest Aircraft 

Carrier to Undercover Agent, 

pages 124-125

Solving Homicides: FBI Forms 

Unique Partnership with 

Oakland Police Department, 

pages 126-127

Human Trafficking: Prison Time 

for Men Who Attempted to Buy 

Sex Slaves, page 139

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us 

Find a Violent Criminal, page 

141

Violent Carjackers Sentenced: Law 

Enforcement Partnerships Have 

an Impact, page 142

Drug Trafficking: Aryan 

Brotherhood Methamphetamine 

Operation Dismantled, page 143

FOREIGN 

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE

Former Los Alamos Lab Workers 

Sentenced: Nuclear Scientist 

and Wife Passed Classified 

Documents, page 15

Economic Espionage: FBI 

Launches Nationwide Awareness 

Campaign, pages 80-81

Former DuPont Employee 

Sentenced: Involved in Foreign 

Conspiracy to Steal Trade 

Secrets, page 90

Navy Engineer Sentenced for 

Attempted Espionage: Passed 

Information on Latest Aircraft 

Carrier to Undercover Agent, 

pages 124-125

HISTORY

The Oklahoma City Bombing: 20 

Years Later, pages 33-44

The FBI Website at 20: Two 

Decades of Fighting Crime and 

Terrorism, pages 66-67

Cold Case Investigation: Solving 

a Decades-Old Mystery, pages 

85-86

Byte Out of History: FBI 

Involvement in Early Election 

Fraud Case in Kansas City, page 

87

Newseum Goes “Inside Today’s 

FBI”: D.C. Museum Updates 

Popular Exhibit, pages 128-129

Agents of Asian Ancestry: 

‘Historical Marker’ Celebrates 50 

Years of Service, pages 134-135

FBI Celebrates 75th Anniversary of 

Legat in Mexico City: Milestone 

Marks Longstanding CrimeFighting Alliance, page 137

Model Partnership: New York Joint 

Terrorism Task Force Celebrates 

35 Years, page 138

INTELLIGENCE

National Explosives Task Force: A 

Multi-Agency Group of Bomb 

Experts, page 30

Symposium Facilitates Research 

on Lawful Interrogations: Event 

Sponsored by Government’s 

High-Value Detainee 

Interrogation Group, pages 

118-119
Index

The FBI Story 2015 147

INTERNATIONAL

New Most Wanted Terrorist: 

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Born in 

Somalia Added to FBI List, page 

13

Drug Kingpin Dethroned: 

International Investigation 

Dismantles Criminal Enterprise, 

page 14

FBI Establishes International 

Corruption Squads: Targeting 

Foreign Bribery, Kleptocracy 

Crimes, pages 28-29

International Soccer Officials 

Indicted: ‘Deep-Rooted’ 

Corruption, Racketeering 

Alleged, page 55

Investigating Human Rights: 

Reaching Out to Diaspora 

Communities in U.S. for War 

Crimes Tips, pages 72-73

Cyber Criminal Forum Taken 

Down: Members Arrested in 20 

Countries, page 74

International Law Enforcement 

Training: Celebrating 20 Years 

of Partnership and Excellence, 

pages 75-78

Economic Espionage: FBI 

Launches Nationwide Awareness 

Campaign, pages 80-81

International Parental Kidnapping 

Case: Partnerships, Publicity Key 

to 9-Year-Old’s Rescue, pages 

82-83

ISIL and Antiquities Trafficking: 

FBI Warns Dealers, Collectors 

About Terrorist Loot, pages 

92-93

Business E-Mail Compromise: An 

Emerging Global Threat, pages 

94-95

Operation Northern Spotlight: 

American-Canadian Partnership 

Combats Human Trafficking, 

page 117

International Operations: Building 

Partnerships in the Americas, 

page 132

FBI Celebrates 75th Anniversary of 

Legat in Mexico City: Milestone 

Marks Longstanding CrimeFighting Alliance, page 137

MAJOR THEFTS/VIOLENT 

CRIME

Extreme Case of Witness 

Intimidation: Justice for Six Slain 

Victims in Philadelphia, page 7

Art Crime: The Case of the Stolen 

Stradivarius, pages 10-11

Joint Effort Takes Down DetroitBased Robbery Group: But 

Smash and Grab Jewelry Store 

Incidents are on the Rise, pages 

20-21

Leader of Violent Street Gang 

Going to Prison: Multi-Agency 

Investigation Dismantles 

Criminal Organization, page 26

Violent Gangs: Kidnapping Crew 

Targeted Criminal Community, 

page 32

Alabama Jeweler Sentenced in 

Federal Court: Caught Pawning 

His Own ‘Stolen’ Diamonds, 

page 51

Leader of Violent California Gang 

Sentenced: Operations Financed 

Through Drug and Firearms 

Trafficking, page 53

Serial Armed Robber Gets 

Substantial Prison Term: Joint 

Law Enforcement Effort Pays Off, 

page 58

Multi-State Chop Shop Operation 

Disrupted: Criminal Enterprise 

Leader Among Those Convicted, 

page 63

Cold Case Investigation: Solving 

a Decades-Old Mystery, pages 

85-86

Business E-Mail Compromise: An 

Emerging Global Threat, pages 

94-95

Jewelry Store Robberies: Dallas 

Task Force Helps Put Violent 

Criminals Behind Bars, pages 

96-97

Latest Crime Stats Released: 

Decrease in 2014 Violent Crimes, 

Property Crimes, page 107

Identity Theft: Fake Hospice Nurse 

Treated More Than 200 Patients, 

page 111

In the Line of Duty: Law 

Enforcement Officers Killed and 

Assaulted, 2014 Report Released, 

page 116

Solving Homicides: FBI Forms 

Unique Partnership with 

Oakland Police Department, 

pages 126-127

2015 Biometric Identification 

Award: Virginia Police 

Investigator Honored for Role in 

Identifying Violent Perpetrator, 

page 133

2014 Expanded Crime Statistics 

Released: National IncidentBased Reporting System Includes 

More Detailed Data, page 140

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us 

Find a Violent Criminal, page 

141

Violent Carjackers Sentenced: Law 

Enforcement Partnerships Have 

an Impact, page 142

ORGANIZED CRIME/DRUGS

Armenian Criminal Enterprise 

Dealt Serious Blow: Cooperative 

Law Enforcement Effort was Key, 

page 6z

Human Trafficking Ring 

Dismantled: Case Highlights 

FBI’s Commitment to 

Anti-Trafficking Efforts, page 12
Index

148 The FBI Story 2015

International Operations: Building 

Partnerships in the Americas, 

page 132

2015 Biometric Identification 

Award: Virginia Police 

Investigator Honored for Role in 

Identifying Violent Perpetrator, 

page 133

FBI Celebrates 75th Anniversary of 

Legat in Mexico City: Milestone 

Marks Longstanding CrimeFighting Alliance, page 137

Model Partnership: New York Joint 

Terrorism Task Force Celebrates 

35 Years, page 138

Violent Carjackers Sentenced: Law 

Enforcement Partnerships Have 

an Impact, page 142

PUBLIC/COMMUNITY 

OUTREACH

Adopt-A-School Program, Part 1: 

Bringing a Message of Hope to 

Students, page 1

Adopt-A-School Program, Part 

2: Becoming a Junior Special 

Agent, pages 2-3

Adopt-A-School Program, Part 3: 

‘I Promise to be a Good Citizen’, 

pages 4-5

New Most Wanted Terrorist: 

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Born in 

Somalia Added to FBI List, page 

13

Law Enforcement and Race: 

Director Cites ‘Hard Truths’ and 

Calls for ‘Open Discussion’, page 

18

Law Enforcement and Race: 

Continuing the Conversation, 

page 24

Community Partners Recognized: 

2014 Director’s Community 

Leadership Awards, page 47

Help Us Find Them: National 

Missing Children’s Day 2015, 

page 54

Drug Kingpin Dethroned: 

International Investigation 

Dismantles Criminal Enterprise, 

page 14

License to Steal: Multi-State 

Fraudulent Document Ring 

Dismantled, page 22

Leader of Violent Street Gang 

Going to Prison: Multi-Agency 

Investigation Dismantles 

Criminal Organization, page 26

Leader of Violent California Gang 

Sentenced: Operations Financed 

Through Drug and Firearms 

Trafficking, page 53

International Soccer Officials 

Indicted: ‘Deep-Rooted’ 

Corruption, Racketeering 

Alleged, page 55

Multi-State Chop Shop Operation 

Disrupted: Criminal Enterprise 

Leader Among Those Convicted, 

page 63

Loan Sharks Sentenced: Albanian 

Crime Group Used Violence, 

Intimidation in Business 

Dealings, page 89

Steroids Dealer Sentenced: 

Advertised Products Online, 

page 98

La Cosa Nostra: Lengthy Prison 

Terms for Lucchese Crime Family 

Members, page 99

Drug Trafficking: Aryan 

Brotherhood Methamphetamine 

Operation Dismantled, page 143

PARTNERSHIPS

National Explosives Task Force: A 

Multi-Agency Group of Bomb 

Experts, pages 30-31 

Death Notification with 

Compassion: FBI Teams Up 

with Penn State to Offer Online 

Training, page 46

Serial Armed Robber Gets 

Substantial Prison Term: Joint 

Law Enforcement Effort Pays Off, 

page 58

Health Care Fraud Takedown: 

243 Arrested, Charged with 

$712 Million in False Medicare 

Billings, page 62

Investigating Human Rights: 

Reaching Out to Diaspora 

Communities in U.S. for War 

Crimes Tips, pages 72-73

Cyber Criminal Forum Taken 

Down: Members Arrested in 20 

Countries, page 74

International Law Enforcement 

Training: Celebrating 20 Years 

of Partnership and Excellence, 

pages 75-78

International Parental Kidnapping 

Case: Partnerships, Publicity Key 

to 9-Year-Old’s Rescue, pages 

82-83

Preparing for the Pope: FBI Part of 

Well-Rehearsed Security Effort, 

pages 104-105

Operation Cross Country: 

Recovering Victims of Child Sex 

Trafficking, pages 112-113

Operation Northern Spotlight: 

American-Canadian Partnership 

Combats Human Trafficking, 

page 117

Symposium Facilitates Research 

on Lawful Interrogations: Event 

Sponsored by Government’s 

High-Value Detainee 

Interrogation Group, pages 

118-119

Solving Homicides: FBI Forms 

Unique Partnership with 

Oakland Police Department, 

pages 126-127

Newseum Goes “Inside Today’s 

FBI”: D.C. Museum Updates 

Popular Exhibit, pages 128-129
Index

The FBI Story 2015 149

FBI Safe Online Surfing Internet 

Challenge: Cyber Safety for 

Young Americans, page 60

The FBI Website at 20: Two 

Decades of Fighting Crime and 

Terrorism, pages 66-67

Community Outreach: Director 

Comey Praises Citizens Academy 

Alumni Association, pages 

100-101

National Cyber Security Awareness 

Month: Securing Cyberspace is 

a Shared Responsibility, pages 

108-109

Race and Law Enforcement: 

Director Urges Closer Ties 

Between Police, Communities, 

pages 114-115

Newseum Goes “Inside Today’s 

FBI”: D.C. Museum Updates 

Popular Exhibit, pages 128-129

Want to Obtain FBI Records a 

Little Quicker?: Try New eFOIA 

System, page 136

New Top Ten Fugitive: Help Us 

Find a Violent Criminal, page 

141

PUBLIC CORRUPTION

Public Corruption: FBI Agent 

Helps Protect His Native 

American Community, page 31

Profits Over Safety: Egg Company’s 

Fraudulent Practices Put Public 

at Risk, page 50

Byte Out of History: FBI 

Involvement in Early Election 

Fraud Case in Kansas City, page 

87

Financial Fraud: Inside the 

Investigation of a Las Vegas 

Construction Boss, pages 120-121

Public Corruption Fugitive 

Extradited to U.S.: State Official 

Returns to Face Justice, pages 

122-123

RECRUITING/DIVERSITY

Agents of Asian Ancestry: 

‘Historical Marker’ Celebrates 50 

Years of Service, pages 134-135

TECHNOLOGY

Want to Obtain FBI Records a 

Little Quicker?: Try New eFOIA 

System, page 136

TRAINING

Death Notification with 

Compassion: FBI Teams Up 

with Penn State to Offer Online 

Training, page 46

Behind the Scenes with 

Operational Medics: A Look 

Inside Our Washington Field 

Office’s OpMed Program, pages 

64-65

International Law Enforcement 

Training: Celebrating 20 Years 

of Partnership and Excellence, 

pages 75-78

WHITE-COLLAR CRIME

A Ponzi Scheme Collapses: 

Financial Crime Ring 

Uncovered, Criminals Brought to 

Justice, page 19

Financial Fraud: Hollywood Film 

Scheme Results in Unhappy 

Ending for Investors, page 25

FBI Establishes International 

Corruption Squads: Targeting 

Foreign Bribery, Kleptocracy 

Crimes, pages 28-29

Justice for Victims: Restitution 

Ordered in Decade-Long Ponzi 

Scheme, page 45

Profits Over Safety: Egg Company’s 

Fraudulent Practices Put Public 

at Risk, page 50

Financial Fraud: Oklahoma Pastor 

Embezzled Nearly $1 Million 

from Community Center, page 52

International Soccer Officials 

Indicted: ‘Deep-Rooted’ 

Corruption, Racketeering 

Alleged, page 55

Taken for a Ride: Travel Agent 

Scammed Marching Bands Out 

of Trips, page 56

Financial Fraud: Lengthy Prison 

Term for Advance Fee Fraudster, 

page 57

The Case of the Corrupt Coin 

Dealer: Fraudster Targeted 

Elderly Victims, page 59

Health Care Fraud Takedown: 

243 Arrested, Charged with 

$712 Million in False Medicare 

Billings, page 62

Financial Fraud: The Hair Show 

That Never Was, page 79

Medicare Fraud: Hospice Owner 

Falsified Numerous Claims, page 

91

La Cosa Nostra: Lengthy Prison 

Terms for Lucchese Crime Family 

Members, page 99

Man Sentenced for Orchestrating 

‘Cramming’ Scheme: 

Unauthorized Charges Placed 

on Victims’ Phone Bills, pages 

102-103

Con Man Sentenced in Fraud 

Case: Promised Luxury Cars But 

Rarely Delivered, page 106

Insurance Broker Sentenced for 

Fraud: Hundreds of Companies 

Victimized in Multi-State 

Scheme, page 110

Identity Theft: Fake Hospice Nurse 

Treated More Than 200 Patients, 

page 111

Financial Fraud: Inside the 

Investigation of a Las Vegas 

Construction Boss, pages 120-121


FBI OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20535

The FBI’s Office for Victim Assistance (OVA) introduced two new Crisis Response K-9s to its team in October 2015. Gio and Wally (seen in 

background on left), with their docile temperaments, can help calm and comfort victims during emotionally trying situations. The dogs, both 

Labrador retrievers, are part of OVA’s efforts to help victims cope with the impact of crime.