Category: FBI

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

PHOENIX, AZ—The FBI Phoenix Field Office, in commemoration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW), April 18–24, 2021, joins its federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners in taking this opportunity to raise awareness about crime victims’ issues and rights. NCVRW is celebrated each year in communities across the nation to honor, acknowledge, and support crime victims.

The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States. When a scammer victimizes the elderly, a predator targets a child online, or terror strikes a community, the FBI works to bring the perpetrators to justice. But our job doesn’t stop there. One of the most important additional roles we play is assisting victims of federal crime through our victim services division. The FBI Phoenix Field Office has Victim Specialists in Phoenix and in each of our seven Resident Agencies across the state to include: Tucson, Sierra Vista, Yuma, Flagstaff, Pinetop-Lakeside, Lake Havasu, and Gallup.

The victim services mission is to inform, support, and assist victims in navigating the aftermath of crime and the criminal justice process with dignity and resilience. That includes, but is not limited to, working with elderly couples who lost their savings to a scam, providing emotional support to a child victim, and providing all assistance a family may need after the loss of a loved one.

“Our compassion for victims of crime is at the core of who we are and why we do what we do,” said Sean Kaul, special agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix Field Office. “This week, we remember and honor the millions of Americans who have been impacted by a devastating crime. The FBI and our victim specialists stand with them and recognize their strength and courage.”

For additional information about the FBI victim specialist program, visit: https://www.fbi.gov/resources/victim-services. For additional information on how the FBI helps victims of crime, visit: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/vsd-ensures-crime-victims-get-support-041921.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

To further the victim service capabilities of domestic and international partner agencies, VSD provides training and support to law enforcement and other professionals to enhance their victim assistance programs. These trainings include how to build victim services programs, enhance child/adolescent forensic interviewing skills, deliver death notifications without further traumatizing family members, and conduct victim and family briefings following mass casualty events.

Many of the services and resources VSD provides are used in tandem—especially when the need arises to surge support for a particular case or area. This includes the FBI’s response to last summer’s Supreme Court ruling that a large segment of the eastern portion of the state of Oklahoma would return to federal/tribal reservation land, which added many additional cases under the FBI’s jurisdiction. For VSD, this led to approximately a 1,130% increase in victims requiring FBI assistance in that area. The FBI has responded by surging resources, to include victim services assets, to Oklahoma to support the local communities. VSD has been providing services, resources, and forensic interviews to victims as well as training law enforcement personnel on providing culturally sensitive death notifications and assisting in setting up multi-disciplinary teams to coordinate across local agencies during investigations.

As the country marks National Crime Victims’ Rights Week this week, take a moment to learn more about the assistance and services the FBI provides victims of crime and their families.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Director Christopher Wray has formally appointed Scott McMillion as the FBI’s first chief diversity officer. In this role, Mr. McMillion will direct the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which the FBI established in 2012.

“As our chief diversity officer, Scott is the right person to ensure that the FBI fosters a culture of diversity and inclusion, and that our workforce reflects all the communities we serve,” Director Wray said. “I’m grateful he has agreed to bring his talent, experience, and dedication to our Office of Diversity and Inclusion, where he will build upon the important work that others started.”

Mr. McMillion has served for several years as the chair of the Black Affairs Diversity Committee, which helps the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to advance objectives that affect African American employees and enhance minority recruitment, employment, and retention at FBI.

Mr. McMillion began his FBI career as a special agent in 1998 in the Omaha Field Office in Nebraska. He worked on several criminal investigative squads and was the senior team leader of the Evidence Response Team. In 2006, Mr. McMillion transferred to the Gallup Resident Agency of the Phoenix Field Office, where he investigated crimes in Indian Country.

He was promoted to supervisory special agent in 2008 and was assigned to the Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington. He was promoted to unit chief in 2010 and oversaw the Innocent Images National Initiative and Digital Analysis Research Center.

In 2013, Mr. McMillion transferred to the Criminal Investigative Division as a unit chief in the Strategic Initiatives Unit, Violent Crimes Against Children Section. He later moved to the Jacksonville Field Office in Florida, overseeing the Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, and Panama City Resident Agencies. Mr. McMillion transferred to the Inspection Division at Headquarters in 2018. He was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Columbia Field Office in South Carolina, in charge of the National Security Branch, in 2019.

Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. McMillion was a special agent for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminology from Florida State University and a Master of Forensic Science from Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

MEMPHIS, TN—The FBI is asking for the public’s assistance in seeking potential victims and additional information about two over the road truck drivers who kidnap females and demand ransom of the females for their release.

Brian T. Summerson, 25, of Dillon, South Carolina, was arrested in Daytona Beach, Florida, for Battery Cause Bodily Harm, False Imprisonment, and Tampering with a Witness Calling 911. Summerson is an over the road trucker with a primary route of I-95 from New Jersey to Miami, as well as Chicago, Illinois, and Kansas City, Missouri. When meeting potential victims, he tells them his name is Von or Vaughn.

Pierre L. Washington, 35, of Chicago, Illinois, owns a trucking company, God Got Me LLC. Washington is also an over the road trucker, but at this time, his routes are unknown. Washington was arrested in Chicago, Illinois, in March 2021 by the FBI in reference to an ongoing investigation.

The investigation is ongoing and has revealed photographs, videos, and text communications of additional women on Summerson’s electronic devices and electronic accounts.

The FBI places a priority on protecting victims of crime. If you have any information concerning this case, or if you believe you are a victim or may have been affected by these alleged crimes, please provide your contact information via email to truckervictims@fbi.gov so that an investigator can contact you. Your responses are voluntary but would be useful in the federal investigation and to identify you as a potential victim.

The FBI is legally mandated to identify victims of federal crimes that it investigates and provide these victims with information, assistance, services, and resources.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

Press release available in both English and Spanish.

SAN JUAN, PR—SAC Rafael A. Riviere Vázquez announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking information which may result in the location, arrest, and conviction of Ángel González Ramírez (González Ramírez).

González Ramírez, born in Aguada, Puerto Rico, is wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting several young female victims in New Jersey between 1999 and 2006. For all of these assaults, González Rámirez has been charged multiple times in the Newark Municipal Court, Newark, New Jersey, with First Degree Aggravated Sexual Assault, Second Degree Sexual Assault by Sexual Contact, and Second Degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

On February 8, 2010, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Gonzalez Ramírez in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, after he was charged with Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution.

The FBI asks that anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of González Ramírez contact any of the following: the FBI San Juan Field Office at 787-987-6500 or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. The public is reminded that all individuals are innocent until proven guilty.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cac/angel-gonzalez/@@download.pdf

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Buscado Por el FBI

SAN JUAN, PR—El Agente Especial a Cargo de la Oficina de San Juan del Negociado Federal de Investigación (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés), Rafael A. Riviere Vázquez, anunció la búsqueda de información que conduzca a la localización, arresto y convicción de Ángel González Ramírez (González Ramírez).

González Rivera, oriundo de Aguada, es buscado por alegadamente incurrir en múltiples casos de agresión sexual de jovencitas en New Jersey entre los años 1999 y 2006. La Corte Municipal de Newark, New Jersey presentó múltiples cargos en su contra por Agresión Sexual Agravada en Primer Grado, Agresión Sexual en Segundo Grado por Contacto Sexual y cargos en Segundo Grado por Poner en Riesgo el Bienestar de un/a Menor. 

El 8 de febrero de 2010, se emitió una orden de arresto en contra de González Ramírez a nivel federal en el Distrito de New Jersey, por Huída Ilegal Para Evitar Enjuiciamiento.

El FBI solicita que cualquier persona con información sobre el paradero de este individuo llame inmediatamente a la Oficina de San Juan del FBI al 787-987-6500, o lo reporte en línea a través de Tips.FBI.Gov Los querellantes podrán permanecer anónimos.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cac/angel-gonzalez/@@download.pdf