Category: Security

Source: US FBI

Meza-Flores was originally indicted on May 2, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. On November 26, 2019, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Meza-Flores with drug trafficking violations and possession of a firearm. According to the indictment, Meza-Flores allegedly conspired to manufacture and distribute cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana in the U.S. from 2005 to 2019.   

Meza-Flores is 42 years old and has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He is 5’6″ tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He also goes by the nicknames “Chapo Isidro” and “Chapito Isidro.”

Meza-Flores is a Mexican national and likely resides in Mexico. He is considered armed and dangerous and is an international flight risk. 

“The U.S. government is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction, and we encourage anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the FBI and help us add Meza-Flores to the list of dangerous fugitives we’ve brought to justice together,” said Acting Director Driscoll.  

If you have any information concerning Meza-Flores, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate or call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). You can also submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov or contact the FBI via WhatsApp at 571-379-3951. WhatsApp is neither a government-operated nor a government-controlled platform. 

This case is also the result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a partnership that brings together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state, and local enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering organizations and enterprises.

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

Data includes circumstances surrounding law enforcement suicides and suicide attempts, general locations, demographics, occupations, and the methods used.

“We aim to provide agencies with the means to understand and mitigate situations which could eventually lead to a death by suicide,” said Lora Klingensmith, a program manager in the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, which manages the Bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

This year, according to the LESDC, seven law enforcement agencies have reported nine suicides and three attempted suicides. All the suicide victims were males—seven were white, one was Black, and one was Hispanic or Latino. Firearms were used in seven suicides; two were listed as “other.” The collection does not collect information that identifies individuals.

As with crime statistics, the ideal is to have more agencies report to the LESDC so that a more representative picture emerges. Law enforcement agencies are not required to submit suicide information to the FBI; it’s voluntary. But the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, passed in 2020, requires the attorney general and the FBI to report the suicide data annually to Congress. The FBI, which has a nearly century-long history of collecting data from law enforcement agencies, began collecting the information from agencies on January 1, 2022.

Source: US FBI

Source: US FBI

The 2012 Latent Hit of the Year Award was presented last month to two employees of the Omaha Police Department—Detective Douglas Herout and Senior Crime Laboratory Technician Laura Casey—for their efforts to identify the man responsible for a brutal murder more than 30 years ago.

The crime: In 1978, 61-year-old Carroll Bonnet was stabbed to death in his apartment. Police collected evidence, including latent fingerprints and palmprints from the victim’s bathroom (officers believed the killer was trying to wash off blood and other evidence before leaving the apartment). The victim’s car was then stolen.

The investigation: The car was found in Illinois, but after collecting additional latent prints, investigators couldn’t develop any new leads. The crime scene evidence was processed, and latent prints recovered from the scene and the car were searched against local and state fingerprint files. Investigators also sent fingerprint requests to agencies outside Nebraska, but no matches were returned and the case soon went cold.

The re-investigation: In late 2008, the Omaha Police Department received an inquiry on the case, prompting technician Laura Casey to search the prints against IAFIS (which didn’t exist in 1978). In less than five hours, IAFIS returned possible candidates for comparison purposes. Casey spent days carefully examining the prints and came up with a positive identification—Jerry Watson, who was serving time in an Illinois prison on burglary charges.

Source: US FBI

And there was a way. In February 1992, in a memo proposing the creation of a Criminal Justice Information Services Division, a Bureau executive wrote: “The FBI has an opportunity to significantly improve the level of information services provided to the criminal justice community. An all-inclusive CJIS will ensure the needs of our users are met and exceeded well into the 21st century, and the technology advancements gained through the creation of CJIS will ensure that the FBI remains in the forefront of criminal justice information systems worldwide.”

The establishment of this new office—which was, in effect, a one-stop shop for criminal justice information—was quickly approved by the FBI Director.

The CJIS Division initially included the fingerprint identification services from the Identification Division, the UCR Program from the Information Management Division, and the NCIC program from the Technical Services Division. Over the past 25 years, CJIS has successfully overseen the creation of additional criminal justice services to assist our partners. For example:

Source: US FBI

“I love working Indian country,” said Davenport, using the federal government’s designation for Native American lands. “I like catching bad guys. I like the chase. I like helping people. That keeps me going.”

For more than a century, the FBI has had jurisdiction when major crimes are committed against members of federally recognized tribes on reservations. The FBI works alongside the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and local law enforcement partners working on the reservations.

Davenport supervises a small team of agents and staff in the Pinetop-Lakeside Resident Agency, a satellite office of the Phoenix Division. He said strong working relationships are essential given the remoteness of the work. In Arizona, for example, nearly 25% of the state is designated Indian Country; the Navajo Nation alone occupies more than 15,800 square miles in northern Arizona. Davenport’s office covers the Fort Apache, San Carlos Apache, and Tonto Apache reservations in eastern Arizona.

“It’s a big asset to have tribal police and the Bureau of Indian Affairs working with us,” said Davenport. “There are a lot of things on the reservation that … if you didn’t grow up there, you don’t know.” Tribal police and prosecutors, along with local BIA agents, intimately understand the geography, customs, and people on the reservation.

“They are the eyes and ears,” said Davenport, who grew up about an hour away from the Pinetop-Lakeside office. “I will never know as much about the reservation as tribal police. They live there. They grew up there. They know everybody. They’re a huge asset for us.”

BIA agent Auggie Belvado, an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, said the relationship is symbiotic. He has worked with Davenport and the Bureau’s agents for 16 years and says the different agencies bring unique strengths to bear.

Source: US FBI

“The work this agency does in Indian country territory is among our organization’s highest priorities,” said Michael Rivers, who leads the FBI’s Indian Country and International Violent Crime Unit. “We are proud of and committed to the support and resources we devote to these investigations and the victims. Our hope is that this surge of resources and prioritized action will let people and communities know they are not forgotten.”

Working closely with BIA agents and Tribal police—as well as other federal agencies with responsibilities to serve Tribal communities—is nothing new for the Bureau. The FBI has had jurisdiction over major crimes in Indian country since its earliest days, and it has always relied on partner agencies on reservations, particularly since they know the terrain and the people there better than anyone.

“It’s a big asset to have Tribal police and BIA working with us,” said Special Agent Sam Davenport, who supervises an FBI office in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona that borders the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. In the summer of 2023, his office received multiple rotations of agents during the first Operation Not Forgotten. He said they worked closely with the BIA, Tribal police, and local prosecutors to generate leads on cold cases.

Across the country, the FBI has 26 Safe Trails Task Forces made up of federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement partners. Davenport said having local trusted connections is essential, given the remoteness of most Tribal lands and the established rapport Native American authorities have within their communities.

“They are the eyes and ears,” he said. “They live there. They grew up there. I will never know as much about the reservation as Tribal [police].”

Source: US FBI

Special Agents Durant and O’Hare relied heavily on the Mobile Biometrics Application (MBA) and Special Processing Center (SPC) teams to expedite the identification of victims. These specialized units, operating out of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia, provided agents in the field with real-time support, often pulling fingerprints and running them through reference files within minutes. In some cases, results were returned in as little as 15 to 20 minutes, streamlining the identification process during critical moments.

The MBA team, in particular, played a vital role by swiftly processing prints, actively monitoring quality control, and troubleshooting more difficult cases. When automated systems didn’t yield a match, the SPC team took over, applying manual processes to assist with identification. This seamless coordination between field agents and the FBI’s lab-based experts highlights the Bureau’s ability to deploy advanced technology in disaster zones, ensuring that victims’ families receive answers as quickly as possible.

While working to bring closure to grieving families, the agents have also felt the storm’s personal impact. O’Hare’s daughter and grandchildren evacuated from North Carolina to stay with her in Upper East Tennessee after being displaced by power loss. “I joined the FBI to help people,” O’Hare said. “In situations like this, that’s why I am doing my very small part to try to provide some closure for the families of the victims.”

As the FBI and its partners work to support communities impacted by Hurricane Helene, the Bureau issued a warning about scammers looking to exploit survivors and mislead charitable donors. Learn to spot the red flags of disaster fraud at fbi.gov/DisasterFraud.

Source: US FBI

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lawrencium Germaine Martin, a/k/a Germaine Martin, 47, of Chester, has been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and making false statements to federal investigators.

According to evidence presented in court, from 2019 through 2021, Martin operated a business known as Lancaster Tactical Supply (LTS) through the website LTacticalSupply.com. Martin presented LTS as if it were a legitimate business that sold firearm accessories and parts, including 80% build kits, firearm slides, imitation suppressors, optics, and body armor. He also modified and customized firearms.  Build kits are products that include the component parts of an operable firearm with some parts disassembled. When the parts are combined, the product is converted into a fully functioning firearm, often without a manufacturer or serial number, making the firearm more difficult to trace.  

At least 380 customers from 43 states complained that they were defrauded by LTS, generally reporting that LTS took their money and failed to ship the products they purchased. Martin generated substantial revenue through LTS, including more than $2 million in 2020 alone.  Although Martin personally operated LTS and deposited its proceeds into his personal bank accounts, Martin failed to pay state or federal income tax any year from 2015 through 2022. 

Martin also evaded federal income tax by using the identity of a former employee without authorization to set LTS payment systems up in a way that caused the IRS to identify the former employee as the person who owed income tax for the business, rather than Martin.

When agents searched Martin’s residence and business in Chester, pursuant to a federal search warrant, he was found in possession of numerous firearms – including a 5.56 x 45 mm “80%” rifle; a 9 x 19 mm “80%” pistol, with a stabilizer brace and muzzle attachment; a 9mm pistol; and another 9mm pistol loaded with 16 rounds. Only one of the firearms had a serial number. Martin had 15 prior criminal convictions at the time, many of which are felonies, which made firearm possession illegal for Martin under federal law.

As for false statements, when agents searched his house and business, Martin told FBI agents that he had never heard of LTS, that he had never received money from LTS, and that he did not know how his name became associated with the businesses, all of which Martin knew were untrue.

United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. sentenced Martin to 57 months in federal prison, the high end of the advisory guidelines, with 3 years supervision by U.S. Probation to follow. Martin was also ordered to pay $215,374.00 in restitution to the IRS.

The case was investigated by the FBI Columbia field office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and IRS Criminal Investigation, with critical assistance from the Chester County Sheriff’s Department and the Rock Hill Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott B. Daniels is prosecuting the case.

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