Month: April 2021

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

“The exact thing he was getting paid to prevent by the taxpayers of Philadelphia, he was doing himself,” said Special Agent Brian Coughlin, who investigated this case out of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office.

But in 2015, one of Blackwell’s bribery “customers” was actually an FBI confidential source. The source captured Blackwell on tape promising a city permit for a dumpster in exchange for $3,000. The source gave Blackwell $1,700 upfront. He followed up with texts to the source demanding the remaining money—which provided additional evidence in the case.

He never actually provided any service to those who paid him, but simply the offer of a benefit in exchange for a bribe is a crime, Coughlin explained.

“Blackwell took people’s money with the promise of doing things and didn’t do them,” Coughlin said.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

In 1996, a small group of private sector and government officials began working with the FBI’s Cleveland Field Office to help identify cyber threats to the country. The FBI passed along what we knew about cyber intrusions and crime trends to our partners to help them secure their facilities and computer networks. And our partners, in turn, shared their information technology expertise and information they had on possible cyber crimes.

The group became known as InfraGard because of its focus on protecting critical infrastructure components—like utility companies, transportation systems, telecommunication networks, water and food suppliers, public health, and financial services.

The original program proved so successful that we replicated it nationally. And just as the cyber threat has evolved over the last 25 years, so has InfraGard.

Today, InfraGard—managed by the FBI’s Office of Private Sector—has grown to more than 75,000 members representing the private sector, government, and academia. InfraGard has expanded its initial focus on cyber crime to include terrorism, intelligence, criminal, and security matters.

So while the threat is more complex today, the mission remains the same. InfraGard helps the FBI protect the country’s critical infrastructure sectors through partnerships.

InfraGard participants share information, intelligence, training, best practices, and more through a member website and through more than 70 regional chapters, each having a relationship with a local FBI field office.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

No two people write alike.

It was something Terry Turchie, the lead FBI agent on the UNABOM Task Force, remembered a creative writing teacher saying to him in school. Although that advice came many years before Turchie was investigating a serial bomber, it would prove crucial to solving the case.

The Unabomber began his campaign of violence with a package bomb he left in a parking lot of the University of Illinois’ Chicago Circle Campus in 1978. He would go on to place a bomb on an aircraft and leave others in university buildings and by computer stores. He would also mail powerful bombs to a number of university professors and to businesses and executives. He unleashed 16 bombs that killed three people and injured nearly two dozen before he was arrested on April 3, 1996.

Despite being active for nearly 20 years, the Unabomber was meticulous about leaving no evidence that could be traced to him and took pains to avoid being seen.

“He was the most careful serial bomber anyone had ever seen,” said Special Agent Kathleen Puckett, who worked on the UNABOM task force and led efforts to profile the bomber. (Both Puckett and Turchie are now retired from the FBI.)

But when the bomber began communicating, first in letters to some of his victims and then with the media, Turchie said he was also inadvertently communicating with the FBI. Investigators were analyzing his every word.

“We didn’t have any line to him except the letters he started sending in 1993,” said Puckett. “It was a bonanza of information.” The letters pointed investigators to ideas he held, topics he studied, and books that were meaningful to him. To Puckett, who was working toward her Ph.D. in clinical psychology, they revealed things about his education, age, and personality.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Director Christopher Wray has named Raul Bujanda as the special agent in charge of the Albuquerque Field Office in New Mexico. Mr. Bujanda most recently served as a section chief in the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington.

Mr. Bujanda joined the FBI as a special agent in 2002. He was first appointed to the Portland Field Office in Oregon, where he investigated violent crime, gang, and Mexican-based drug trafficking organizations.

He transferred to the El Paso Field Office in Texas in 2008 to work on the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force strike force. He continued to investigate Mexican-based drug trafficking organizations. In 2010, Mr. Bujanda was promoted to supervisory special agent of the El Paso strike force, which also included members from the Drug Enforcement Agency, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Border Patrol, the El Paso Sheriff’s Office, and other agencies.

Mr. Bujanda was promoted in 2013 to unit chief in the Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia. The Online Services and Operations Unit provided technical services, including real-time secure information sharing and crisis information, to the law enforcement community.

In 2015, Mr. Bujanda served as an assistant inspector and team leader in the Inspection Division at Headquarters. He was promoted in 2016 to assistant special agent in charge of the National Security Branch in the Oklahoma City Field Office. He later served as the assistant special agent in charge of Oklahoma City’s Criminal Branch, where he was responsible for criminal violations, administrative matters, and the FBI offices in the western region of the state.

Mr. Bujanda was named section chief of the Criminal Investigative Division’s National Covert Operations Section in 2019. He managed and oversaw all criminal and national security undercover operations for the FBI.

Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Bujanda was a special agent in the Immigration and Naturalization Service and was a fifth-grade teacher.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

FBI Director Christopher Wray issued the following statement regarding today’s attack that left one Capitol Police officer dead and another injured after a vehicle rammed a barricade near the U.S. Capitol.

I am deeply saddened by today’s tragic events at the U.S. Capitol. On behalf of the FBI, I would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the brave officers who were attacked today while doing their jobs, protecting the Capitol and those who work there. The FBI stands ready to support our law enforcement partners in the investigation of this tragedy.