The success of the case meant a promotion for Pierce, who was sent to FBI headquarters and ultimately put in charge of supervising all of its undercover probes nationally and helping train agents in the special craft of going undercover. Next, the West Coast, with Pierce assigned to Sacramento, Calif., beginning in 1991 to supervise a newly created public corruption and government fraud squad. Some targets were crooked state legislators. And there were hundreds of lawyers and doctors engaged in all manner of insurance fraud. Hearing her talk about her career, from a conservatively-furnished downtown office looking west to a broad cityscape, it's difficult to imagine Pierce stuck in a high school classroom or gym.
Paperwork is one.
Another is the criminal justice system. Occasionally you get frustrated with the system. You've spent four times that investigating him, and he's out of jail in six months time. Santimauro, who retired from the FBI earlier this year to work for a Big 6 accounting firm in Chicago, says 10 candidates applied and he interviewed each. He submitted his three top picks to an FBI Career Board at headquarters, with Pierce heading the pack.