by Frank Perry
three years, then enrolled full time at the University of Alabama on the GI bill, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977. In college, he decided that he wanted a career in the Justice Department and was accepted into law school. He finished his JD degree at the University of Virginia in 1981 and was admitted to the Virginia Bar that same year. He joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October, 1981. He served in field offices in Alexandria, Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Des Moines, Iowa; and the FBI Training Center in Quantico, Virginia. In 1995, Sam was assigned to support war crime investigations following the Bosnian war, resulting in several international indictments. During this period, he investigated crimes for some of the most atrocious human cruelty he could imagine.
Returning from Bosnia in 1996, agent Lee was assigned to the Kansas City office, where his performance earned him a promotion to field supervisor. He served at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 1998 before transferring to the Training and Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters and becoming an Inspector. In December 2000, he was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office.
Sam had a genuine sincerity and kindly nature that attracted people to him. Some would call it charisma, although he wasn’t particularly outgoing and exhibited no egocentric behavior. He enjoyed working with younger agents, helping them advance in their careers. In most social environments, he would be considered reserved and shy, but in the office, he asserted total command of the operation.
After entering Sam’s office and being seated, Luke gave an oral report of their four-day-old investigation and their assumptions thus far that it could lead to violation of RICO or smuggling laws. He was an agent just long enough to sense that something worth federal investigation had occurred. Lee was satisfied, they’d made acceptable progress and he agreed with Luke’s judgment. Actually, he was fond of both agents and saw their future potential with the Bureau.
The two agents ordered a pizza to be delivered for lunch, vegetarian, as a compromise. Two more water bottles were pilfered, but Angela left a note on the fridge that she would supply a case as repayment. Then they began systematically pouring through files and records.
In the midst of eating lunch, Angela’s cell phone rang, “Hello, this is Angela.”
A female voice said, “Agent Kerr?
“Yes.”
“Agent Kerr, this is Rachael Aston from the Defense Department. I believe you requested information about an Army officer, Peter Shields. Is that correct?”
Angela responded, “Yes, we’re engaged in an investigation in Chicago and Mr. Shields is a person of interest.”
Aston asked, “Is he suspected of a crime?”
”No, he’s just one of several people involved as a witness and I’m trying to get background information on him.”
Aston said, “Hum, okay, look, I technically have custody of certain special military files of a highly classified nature. I haven’t read Mr. Shields’s file, nor do I have a “need-to-know” authorization currently. Is there anything you can tell me that would make this of vital national interest?”
Angela said, “Look Ms. Aston, this is incredible. Is the Defense Department refusing to cooperate with the FBI?”
“Certainly not agent Kerr, but this is highly unusual. We don’t have more than a handful of classified personnel records. It’s a pain for all involved, including Mr. Shields. Even if he authorized it, we could not release the file to you. It’s not about privacy, it’s about security.”
Angela said, “Okay, what do I have to do?”
“I’m afraid it’s more red tape. As I said, even I can’t pull his record without authorization, for which there are few circumstances that would allow it. One would be if he were a suspect in a federal crime, which you would submit through the Justice department to the Secretary of Defense. Sorry, I’m not trying to be difficult, but this file seems to contain very sensitive information.”
Angela said, “Okay, thanks for your help, it looks like a dead end for now.”
“Sorry” and the phone went dead.
Angela was no less curious about Mr. Shields, but she wasn’t going to get any more information unless they labeled him as a suspect.
She turned back to the evidence. Curran’s phone record showed calls to Georgia starting around the same time as his weekend travel. Mike Curran, and Eric’s co-workers knew nothing about the calls or his trips. Angela got their technical support people to open Eric’s computer files. Since Eric was also the most computer-literate person at MLC, he was in charge of their network system. No one at MLC knew Eric’s passwords, which prevented Angela from opening the computer files. Michael Curran had given his permission to take the files and the computer without the search warrant.
Examining the charge card bills was easier for Luke because they were in printed form. Eric bought everything on his credit card and arranged for automatic payment from his payroll account. Even small purchases at the grocery store were charged. The last few month’s expenditures were the most interesting.
Luke spent an hour entering transactions for three months, over three hundred lines, into an Excel spread sheet. Eric had been a master at balancing paychecks against outflow. The statements showed zero payment balance each month. But the data also showed larger charges each month than his paychecks covered.
On a duplicate worksheet, Luke separated out all the weekend charges including hotel and transportation expenses along with some sizable ATM cash advances. The result created more suspicion. When the expense level was returned to the same relative rate as it had been before the travels began, Eric’s paycheck inflow covered his charge card expenses, with little to spare. He then copied another spreadsheet and deleted all charges not related to the weekend, and he also eliminated the pay deposits. The data became even more interesting. Eric’s weekend trips and corresponding cash transfers into his account were worth more than his normal income. He wasn’t financing his weekends with take-home pay.
Luke was able to correlate information to one gambling resort he could identify, possibly two. Eric was living high, and his ATM withdrawals were at the limit every day, Friday through Sunday. Angela interrupted his concentration. “Some of Eric’s email messages appear in some kind of code. I’m putting these into a separate file, so our lab can look at them. There are references to position changes and cash flow; things that sound like metaphors for money.”
“Okay, get the e-file to Quantico, and let our own cyber lab guys take a look.”
Luke was able to get the phone number of the main Casino off the Internet. He wanted copies of all receipts from Curran’s stay, and any record of earnings reportable to the IRS. His request took several transfers to different people at the hotel. When he finally got someone in charge, he was curtly told that they wouldn’t release any information, particularly over the phone, unless there was a court order. Luke told the person, Ms. Caruso, that a warrant would be served and someone from the FBI would come to her location. He requested that she have the information copied before then, to save time in a major investigation. She asked him to have them contact her personally when they arrived, and provided her direct phone number.
He had to complete a Support Requested form and send it via email to their closest field office, which was Newark, NJ. He indicated “urgent” need, and checked a box for a warrant. To get the warrant required case information adequate to convince a judge. The whole process took about twenty minutes.
In the morning, they would visit Bank of America to find out anything they could about the sources of non-payroll funds transferred into Eric’s credit account. Late Thursday night, they secured the files and departed.
Money Trail
The following morning, there was nothing received yet from their field requests, so they headed to the bank. Angela did an online search, and there was a main office on 18th Street, a few blocks away. They decided to walk there, through the University of Illinois cam
pus, which took about fifteen minutes.
Inside the bank, a door greeter led them to a private office where the branch manager, Jerry Flynn, joined them almost immediately. After introductions, Luke explained their purpose, but Flynn was hesitant to provide information. Luke explained that the sole client on the account was the victim in a murder investigation. He could get a court order, but hoped they could avoid a formal search of bank records. Flynn agreed.
Flynn turned a computer monitor so they could see Curran’s account. Angela took notes, including his social security number and contact information. Flynn was able to manipulate screens so fast it was hard to follow. He was able to isolate all deposits quickly. Besides his payroll direct deposit and occasional checks for tax refunds, rebates, etc., the information they were seeking started showing up. Eric had opened another account ten months earlier. He’d used his initials and a PO Box. This account was only set up for on-line transactions, no credit cards or checks. It had an initial deposit of one hundred thousand dollars made in August. Another deposit of four hundred thousand followed in January with five hundred thousand more in May. One million dollars.
All the withdrawals were by wire transfer to Curran’s main bank account. They thanked Flynn, who
