Category: Security

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

For years, he threatened state legislators and police officers and business owners. Some people even had to move to end the harassment. You have a right to free speech in this country, but you do not have the right to threaten and terrorize people. It felt good to be able to identify the person responsible for these threats and bring him into court.

What does it mean to make room at the table? Why does it matter?

Diversity matters in organizations—especially in organizations like the FBI. Several years ago on a search in a crimes against children case, we needed the mother and child to leave the home so we could carry out the warrant. The mother was understandably distraught and unwilling to cooperate. I was able to recognize her fear and speak with her mother to mother. She needed to know that she would be given enough time to pack up what she needed for herself and her child. I was also able to explain to her what was going to happen next. By seeing the why behind her reaction, I was able to de-escalate a tense situation.

Source: US FBI

What is the best career or life advice you have to give?

I’ve had several people who have given me great advice at different points in my career. The biggest thing that helped me was this: It’s not a failure if you get knocked down, it’s a failure if you stay down. I believe that if you work hard, do the right thing, and treat people well, it’s going to show.

What does it mean to make room at the table? Why does it matter?

Diversity is important to the FBI. We all come from different backgrounds and different ways of thinking. I often think about Abraham Lincoln and his decision to choose advisors whose views conflicted with his own. If you engage with the people who disagree with you, it will force you to truly think everything through and find the best way forward.

Source: US FBI

Share the thing you’re most proud of from your FBI career.

I am still as proud and in awe of being part of this organization as I was on the day I received my credentials and badge from Director Louis Freeh. I am proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish in my career. But most importantly I am proud of the people I work with. I’ve been able to see the new agents and supervisors that Icve had the chance to mentor grow and mature in their roles. They are the future, and I am proud to have been part of it—even if in a small way.

What is the best career or life advice you’ve been given?

I’ve been fortunate to have had women in the FBI who provided me with challenges, guidance, and mentorship at different stages of my career. The first such person was my principal firearms instructor at Quantico, Supervisory Special Agent Mary Ann Krauss, whose motto was: attitude.

Looking back, it is such a simple word that means so much and impacts all aspects of life and career. Attitude is how you carry yourself, attitude is how you tackle a case, attitude is how you deal with adversity, attitude is how you treat others. Attitude determines your path. Still to this day, I think of that simple motto. My attitude is to walk with confidence and not let anyone or any situation intimidate me, to be determined and focused on the mission, to always do my best, to be humble—and never forget to laugh.

Source: US FBI

FBI Director Christopher Wray and United Kingdom MI5 Director General Ken McCallum urged business leaders to be aware of the threat from the Chinese government and help the government agencies protect corporate secrets from theft by China.

“By volume, most of what is at risk from Chinese Communist Party aggression is not, so to speak, my stuff. It’s yours,” McCallum said. “The world-leading expertise, technology, research, and commercial advantage developed and held by people in this room, and others like you.”

The Chinese government has a longstanding practice of hacking and stealing proprietary information to try to get an economic advantage.

Wray also spoke about the China threat and emphasized the importance of partnerships to address it. This is the first time the two leaders have gathered to address a global threat with an audience of business and academic leaders. 

“We’re not just in the business of articulating problems, we’re doing something about them, together with MI5, with the private sector itself, with other government partners,” Wray said.

Wray encouraged the business leaders to partner with the FBI and MI5 so they can have the appropriate intelligence about this threat. The information can also help companies decide whether partnering with China is worth the risk of having proprietary information stolen. Companies must take the long view in making decisions about China, just as the FBI and MI5 are approaching the threat from a long-term perspective.

“Maintaining a technological edge may do more to increase a company’s value than would partnering with a Chinese company to sell into that huge Chinese market, only to find the Chinese government and your ‘partner’ stealing and copying your innovation,” Wray said.

Source: US FBI

Director Christopher Wray has named Roman Rozhavsky as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division at the Washington Field Office. Mr. Rozhavsky most recently served as a section chief in the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rozhavsky joined the FBI as a special agent in 2006 and was assigned to work counterintelligence investigations for the Houston Field Office. He also served on the SWAT team.

In 2014, Mr. Rozhavsky was promoted to a supervisory special agent position overseeing the Houston Field Office’s investigations into foreign adversaries’ attempts to acquire critical U.S. technology and information.

In 2017, Mr. Rozhavsky was named unit chief within the Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters. In 2019, he led the formation of the National Counterintelligence Task Force (NCITF). Co-chaired by the FBI, the NCITF combines the capabilities of authorities of federal agencies, as well as hundreds of state, local, and international partners to combat counterintelligence threats.

In 2021, Mr. Rozhavsky was promoted to serve as assistant special agent in charge within the New York Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.

Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Rozhavsky served as a police officer outside Seattle, Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in international relations.

Source: US FBI

Director Christopher Wray has named B. Chad Yarbrough as assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Mr. Yarbrough most recently served as special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office.

Mr. Yarbrough joined the FBI as a special agent in 2006 and was assigned to the Dothan Resident Agency of the Mobile Field Office in Alabama, where he investigated violent crime and crimes against children. In 2010, Mr. Yarbrough transferred to the Chicago Field Office. As a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, he investigated domestic terrorism matters.

In 2012, Mr. Yarbrough was promoted to supervisory special agent and worked in the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 2014, Mr. Yarbrough was named supervisory special agent of the Mobile Field Office’s Violent Criminal Threats squad. In 2017, Mr. Yarbrough was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office, overseeing the criminal, crisis-management, and SWAT programs.

In 2020, Mr. Yarborough was promoted to section chief of the National Threat Operations Section. In 2021, he was named deputy assistant director in the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters, overseeing the Transnational Organized Crime, Violent Crime, and Operational Support sections. 

In 2023, Mr. Yarbrough was named special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Office. 

Mr. Yarbrough holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Sam Houston State University in Texas. Prior to joining the FBI, Mr. Yarbrough served as a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Source: US FBI

The FBI released detailed data on over 14 million criminal offenses for 2023 reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by participating law enforcement agencies. More than 16,000 state, county, city, university and college, and tribal agencies, covering a combined population of 94.3% inhabitants, submitted data to the UCR Program through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and the Summary Reporting System.

The FBI’s crime statistics estimates, based on reported data for 2023, show that national violent crime decreased an estimated 3.0% in 2023 compared to 2022 estimates:  

• Murder and non-negligent manslaughter recorded a 2023 estimated nationwide decrease of 11.6% compared to the previous year.  
• In 2023, the estimated number of offenses in the revised rape category saw an estimated 9.4% decrease.  
• Aggravated assault figures decreased an estimated 2.8% in 2023. 
• Robbery showed an estimated decrease of 0.3% nationally.  

In 2023, 16,009 agencies participated in the hate crime collection, with a population coverage of 95.2%. Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 11,862 criminal incidents and 13,829 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity.  

To publish a national trend, the FBI’s UCR Program used a dataset of reported hate crime incidents and zero reports submitted by agencies reporting six or more common months or two or more common quarters (six months) of hate crime data to the FBI’s UCR Program for both 2022 and 2023. According to this dataset, reported hate crime incidents decreased 0.6% from 10,687 in 2022 to 10,627 in 2023.  

The complete analysis is located on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer.   

Source: US FBI

A federal jury in North Carolina convicted a man today for his role in orchestrating a years-long telemarketing scheme that defrauded victims in the United States from a call center in Costa Rica.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Roger Roger, 40, of Costa Rica, led a fraudulent telemarketing scheme in which co-conspirators, who falsely posed as U.S. government officials, contacted victims in the United States to tell them that that they had won a substantial “sweepstakes” prize. After convincing victims, many of whom were elderly, that they stood to receive a significant financial prize, the co-conspirators told victims that they needed to make a series of up-front payments before collecting their supposed prize, purportedly for items such as taxes, customs duties, and other fees. Co-conspirators used a variety of means to conceal their true identities, including Voice over Internet Protocol technology, which made it appear as though they were calling from Washington, D.C., and other locations in the United States. Roger personally called victims from Costa Rica, using fake names and documents to trick the victims into believing they had won a sweepstakes prize. He also recruited and directed co-conspirators to mislead victims on the phone and to transmit victims’ payments from the United States to Costa Rica. The evidence at trial showed that Roger and his co-conspirators stole over $4 million from victims.

Roger was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of international money laundering. The defendant faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison on each of the conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and the wire fraud counts, because the jury found that these counts involved telemarketing that victimized at least 10 people over the age of 55, and 20 years in prison on each of the conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering counts. Sentencing will occur at a later date. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina; Inspector in Charge Tommy Coke of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Atlanta Division; Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Cincinnati Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Robert DeWitt of the FBI Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.

The USPIS Atlanta Division, IRS-CI Cincinnati Field Office, and FBI Charlotte Field Office investigated the case. The La Grande, Oregon Police Department and Union County District Attorney Victim Assistance Office provided valuable assistance. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Costa Rica to secure Roger’s arrest and extradition.

Trial Attorneys Andrew Jaco and Amanda Fretto Lingwood of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This U.S. Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud, and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is staffed 7 days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish and other languages are available.