Reporters from WHYY stopped by the Day on the INLETS program held on May 15th in Wilmington, DE. They interviewed members of the Philadelphia and Delaware chapters on InfraGard, as well as FBI Baltimore ASAC Jerry Roberts on the importance of contacting the authorities when you see something suspicious.
Click though to watch the interviews, which start at 10:00.
As the World Cup approaches, Brazil is facing an increase in child sex workers in areas that are undergoing development. With the influx of workers, there’s also been an influx of men looking for sex. One in four sex workers is believed to be underage and multiple non-profit organizations have been started to help combat the issue. Read more on BBC.
Recife’s red light district includes girls barely in their teens
There will be multiple presentations on trafficking and child exploitation at out upcoming 4th Annual Conference. Thompson Reuters Special Services & the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children will be presenting their research on BitCoins and their use in child exploitation. Representatives from Fairfax County Police Department & the FBI will be presenting a case study on gangs and human trafficking. To register for the event, click here.
Eight men have come forward claiming to be the victims of a cyber sextortion scheme according to the West Midlands Police in an article published by the Guardian. Eight men have claimed they were lured into online video sex chats where screenshots were taken and then used to blackmail them into sending money to offshore accounts.
IP addresses are often traced back to foreign countries, making further investigation and prosecution more difficult. Police warn that the moment you reveal yourself on video chat, you open the opportunity for this kind of extortion.
Crane Hassold of the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI will be joining us at our 4th annual conference to present his work on the Miss Teen USA sextortion case that was recently adjudicated. To register for this event, please click here.
The National September 11 Memorial Hall and Museum opened last week, with President Obama and other leaders speaking at the dedication.
“Here, at this memorial, this museum, we come together,” Obama said. “We stand in the footprints of two mighty towers graced by the rush of eternal waters. We look into the faces of nearly 3,000 innocent souls, men and women and children of every race, every creed, from every corner of the world.”
“And we can touch their names and hear their voices and glimpse the small items that speak to the beauty of their lives — a wedding ring, a dusty helmet, a shining badge,” he continued. “Here we tell their story so that generations yet unborn will never forget.” (Washington Post)
The museum opening coincided with National Police Week, a week filled with numerous events to honor those who have fallen in the line of duty. The INLETS team wants to recognize all current and former law enforcement officers and thank them for their service.
In late August, two high schools sent nearly forty students to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on a class field trip. Shortly after they left the museum, they were asked to write letters to a loved one about their experience. The students expressed sadness and confusion about how this could happen.
One student wrote to her father: “When you mentioned the room of shoes to me and said that it’s really hard to even begin to fathom that all of those shoes belonged to someone at some point … you were completely right. I hope we can go there together someday. While I was there I felt sadness overtake my whole being. It was just so sad. Why did this have to happen to our people?”(Cleveland Jewish News)
Visitors pass beneath a cast taken from the original entrance to the Auschwitz death camp, inscribed with the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes One Free). (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
Since 2000, the FBI has sent every class of new Special Agents to the museum as part of their ethics training while at Quantico. This year we are pleased to present the same opportunity to our conference attendees. Wednesday afternoon, attendees will take a bus to Washington DC and go through the museum with time afterwards to explore more of our Nation’s Capitol. Our Thursday morning general session will be led by David Friedman of the Anti-Defamation League. Mr. Friedman will talk with attendees about what separates them from the law enforcement officers that worked with the Nazis.
For more information about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, please visit their website here.
Multiple new agencies have been reporting about criminals targeting people online for large payouts. A woman was scammed out of nearly $86,000 by someone she met on Match.com (story here). And it was reported today that organized crime groups have been approaching businesses as legitimate business partners and scamming companies out of thoughts, sometimes even millions, of dollars (story here).
Online safety has become more and more important as we conduct more of our personal and professional lives on the internet. Special Agent Jess Cugno of the FBI will be joining us in June to discuss the Campus Online Safety Tips (C.O.S.T.) initiative. This working group focuses specifically on academia, but could provide useful information for those in other fields as well.
To register for our annual conference, click here.
Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine, died in his cell before his case went to trial for the 2-month killing spree he allegedly conducted. In late March, his family was allowed to bury him in a small, private ceremony.
Anaheim police Lt. Julian Harvey speaks at the podium before several police chiefs for a news conference to announce the arrest of Itzcoatl Ocampo as the serial killer of four homeless men, the latest Friday night, where Ocampo was caught in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
Accused of killing six people, Ocampo was described by prosecutors as a “monster”, while his father argued that the time his son spent in the military broke him. While the investigation into his death is ongoing, it is believed he poisoned himself on Thanksgiving with Ajax, a cleaning agent given to inmates in small quantities.
Last year, FBI Special Agent Jeff Cugno and Sergeant Daron Wyatt of the Anaheim Police Department briefed attendees on the case. This year they return to conduct a 3-day long workshop on homicide task forces. They’ll cover lessons learned and what worked for their agencies to bring a stop to the homeless homicides in Orange County, California.
Register now at Eventbrite.
Jared James Abrahams was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hacking into 12 victim’s computers and surreptitiously taking nude images of them while they were dressing. He threatened to release the images on social media if the victims did not send additional images. One of his victims included 2013 Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf. Abrahams was facing up to 11 years in prison on extortion and cyber crime charges.
Crime Analyst Crane Hassold of the FBI’s BAU will present this case study at our 4th Annual Mid-Atlantic INLETS conference in June. To register, click here.
Between 2008 and 2010, autism diagnoses climbed 30% according to the CDC. It is believed now that 1 in 68 children have an autism spectrum disorder, up from 1 in 88 as previously reported. Many argue that this increase is the result of increased awareness and better diagnostic tools, rather than an increase in the number of children with the condition. Read more about it in this USA Today article.
Sawyer Whitely, left, and Michael Mendoza, both 10 and autistic, play selected video games at Steuart W. Weller Elementary School in Ashburn, Va. (Photo: Paul J. Richards, AFP)
It is incredibly important to know how to identify when you may be dealing with a special needs child, especially when the numbers suggest there’s one in every elementary school grade. Wayne Sheppard of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is joining us for our Day on the INLETS programs to discuss high risk behaviors of these children. We are pleased to announce the rescheduled date for our Wilmington, DE training session. We will be returning to Delaware on May 15th to offer this program. To register, click here. We will be offering the program in Quantico, VA on April 10th, as scheduled. To register for that date, click here.
For more info on the CDC’s research on autism, click here.
