Nomination For A Hero Badge

The Rest of the Story….

There are two types of Federal investigations. One is when the Feds find a bad guy. The goal is to gather evidence, arrest the bad guy and put him in jail. Then there are “career cases.” In career cases putting a bad guy in jail is incidental to the true goal. Career cases are all about self aggrandizement of the investigators and bosses involved in the investigation. Justice is also trampled in the rush to get onto the “career case bus.”

Every federal investigator with visions of greatness needs a career case. A career case on one’s resume indicates that the fed has mastered the essential skills. Such as, shameless self promotion, bureaucratic infighting, double dealing, and never losing sight of the main thing, career advancement. It doesn’t matter which agency or what the crime is the game is the same.

I was once invited to an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDEFT) planning session. A DEA agent was making the pitch for OCDEFT funding and a Title III (wiretap) investigation targeting a crack cocaine dealer I was targeting. He estimated that the OCDEFT application and Title III approval process would take three months, minimum. During that time I was supposed to lay off the target to give DEA time to catch up. I summed up the proposal by stating, “in other words you want me to let this guy continue dealing dope unmolested while you try and get your shit together?” I wasn’t invited back for the second meeting.

DEA never got the funding or the wiretap. I got the crook and fifty codefendants the old fashioned way busting dopers flipping snitches and serving search warrants. One crook out of fifty beat the rap, everybody else went to prison.

Read the stories below. Each is reported as an isolated incident. The crook, crimes and locations have nothing in common. There is a common thread. The feds got to drive the prosecution and that’s when everything turned to shit.

Larry Nassar was a girls gymnastic coach and trainer who turned out Olympic hopefuls. He had a sideline as an amateur gynecologist. The FBI fielded complaints about his activities for two years, but couldn’t be bothered to open an investigation. Over 70 women were abused by Nassar, after allegations to the FBI were made. A University police department forced the investigation after seizing his collection of kiddie porn.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/20/senators-demands-answers-on-how-the-fbi-botched-larry-nassar-investigation/

Here is a follow-up story the Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot.

I used to joke that a conspiracy, under federal law, occurred when one had an impure thought and shared it with another person. The MSM went wild reporting the misguided efforts of a group of ne’re-do-wells who got together with the intent to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. Find this follow up story on the MSM.

Why does Henny Youngman’s plaintive cry resonate here? “Take my wife…..please!”

I have worked undercover. Sometimes I found myself being “arrested” with my fellow conspirators. I can’t imagine what goes through a crook’s mind when all his coconspirators are giving the cops hi-fives as he is led away in handcuffs. It must be a lonely feeling.

It turns out damn near everybody involved in the kidnap plot was either a cop or an informant. The FBI paid bus fare, suggested potential recruits and facilitated meetings. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/michigan-kidnapping-gretchen-whitmer-fbi-informant

Then there is Fast and Furious, no not the movie franchise. The ATF screw up. One way for an agent to make “career case bones” is to be creative. Contrary to popular belief, this does not require original thought. Fast and Furious (Phoenix). Was a rip off of an operation originated in Tampa. Attempts to duplicate it were abandoned after other investigators determined the technology designed to support the operation was not reliable.

In total, over 2,000 weapons—mostly AK-47s, which are civilian versions of military assault rifles—were allowed to “walk” into Mexico as part of Operation Fast and Furious.

John Malcom, Vice President, Institute for Constitutional Government

The genius who came up with the Phoenix idea ripped it off. He couldn’t very well go back and ask the originators about lessons learned. The premise of Fast and Furious was that crooks were purchasing guns legitimately and then funneling them into drug trafficking and other illegal operations. Agents observed questionable sales, followed the crooks and watched the guns disappear into the underworld.

Been there done that, got the T-shirt. An inviolate rule is that contraband doesn’t walk. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hijacker backing out a 7-11, a mule hauling dope, or a crook with an illegal gun. When it is safe to do so the police move in.

The only way that ATF had to tie Fast and Furious weapons to the cartels was by matching serial numbers. Most times the serial numbers became available only after the guns were found discarded at crime scenes.

https://www.heritage.org/courts/report/operation-fast-and-furious-how-botched-justice-department-operation-led-standoff-over

Ace of Spades reports that one of the lead FBI agents in the Whitmer case has been arrested for beating up his wife. It seems he stepped down from his high moral ground and dragged his wife to a swingers party. She didn’t like it and objected. She claims he beat her up. He will probably claim he was introducing her to S&M. Three, two, one…. can you say PTSD, you don’t know the trouble I’ve seen, and disability pension.

FBI agent in Whitmer kidnap case arrested following domestic incident Robert Snell
The Detroit News
The arrest of an FBI agent credited with helping thwart a plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer complicates one of the most closely watched cases of violent extremism that is becoming increasingly focused on allegations of wrongdoing by investigators.
FBI Special Agent Richard Trask, 39, of Kalamazoo, was charged Monday with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than murder following a domestic incident with his wife Sunday. He was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond following an arraignment in 8th District Court in Kalamazoo and faces a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Trask, 39, has worked for the FBI since 2011 and served as the FBI’s public face in the Whitmer case, testifying in federal court about the investigation. He has worked on cases involving espionage, terrorism and domestic extremism investigations.