Investigators of the Year
Special Agents Maria L. Ricci & Matthew J. Miraglia
FBI , New York Field Office, Counterintelligence Division
Special Agents (SAs) Ricci and Miraglia are nominated for the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation Investigator of the Year for their exceptional accomplishments relating to their investigation of a Hostile Foreign Intelligence Service (HFIS). During the past year, they have exhibited exemplary investigative abilities, resulting in truly pioneering results, to include the most significant technical success against that particular HFIS in the past six years. These results have had a direct impact on counterintelligence investigations throughout the FBI and have played a pivotal role in diminishing the effectiveness of the HFIS in the United States. Further, the liaison and cooperation developed by SAs Ricci and Miraglia with the Department of Justice and other members of the U.S. Intelligence Community has been a model on which other counterintelligence cases have been based. The dedication, technical competence, and professionalism shown by SAs Ricci and Miraglia during this investigation was outstanding and earned them respect from throughout the FBI and USIC. For their efforts during the past year in this counterintelligence matter, SAs Ricci and Miraglia were selected as the recipients of the 2006 Federal Law Enforcement Foundation Investigator of the Year Award.
SSA John L. Stubing, Det. Robert Goldrick, SA Andrew Leithead, Det. Stephen Toth, SA Thomas King, Det. Lt. John McAndrew and Lt. Terence Hutmacher
On the morning of Wednesday, May 18, 2005, two robbers accosted a credit union employee at gun point as she was entering the credit union and forced their way into the institution. A third man remained outside as the getaway car driver and called out to the two inside the credit union via walkie-talkie as other employees were arriving for work. As each of the remaining ten employees arrived, they were flex-cuffed with plastic cable ties and forced to lie face down on the floor. Once the two vault combinationholders were identified, the two robbers stole approximately $219,000. Then on June 16, 2005, the same modus operandi was attempted at the Bank of New York in New Hyde Park, New York. Fortunately, the manager thwarted the attempted takeover by alerting her fellow co-workers and fleeing the scene. After a foot chase, two robbers were apprehended. Following their capture, the two robbers confessed to their involvement in the Bank of New York attempt, as well as an attempted kidnapping and bank takeover at the First National Bank of Jeffersonville in Loch Sheldrake, New York. The FBI hosted a meeting on July 7, 2005, inviting officials from the Orangetown Police Department, Nassau County Police Department, New York State Police, Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York. As the Sullivan County District Attorney had already agreed to waive prosecution, the FBI and Orangetown asked the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office to waive prosecution and allow the matter to be tried federally as a conspiracy case. They concurred and the two robbers were remanded to federal custody. Subsequent interviews and investigation by the above investigators and others have yielded five additional violent crimes perpetrated by both the robbers in custody and nine other conspirators. Thanks to the work by the above individuals with investigators from other agencies outside Rockland County, five persons were arrested. One arrest was based on a three count federal indictment, another on a federal complaint. One suspect subject has already pleaded guilty to participating in all eight crimes. Other conspirators may be arrested in the near future as the investigation continues. Most importantly, the crime spree perpetrated by the conspirators was halted, preventing further violence against the residents of Rockland County and the metropolitan area.
Special Agent Richard Moczydlowski
Newark Field Office of the United States Secret Service
Special Agent Richard Moczydlowski, assigned to the Newark Field Office Fraud Squad, recently coordinated an investigation with local municipal Police Departments, as well as multiple Federal Agencies to include, ICE and Postal Inspection Service. The operation yielded the arrest of five suspects conspiring in a fictitious identity theft ring that has been operational for five years. The co-conspirators supplied countless illegal immigrants with fraudulent documents throughout the northeast. The main targets in this case were manufacturing and selling false resident alien cards (green cards), as well as false social security cards. The case was conducted over the course of 8 months and included multiple undercover purchases, as well as numerous consensually monitored telephone calls. The main target of the investigation was arrested in Morristown, NJ. Within hours the suspects were cooperating with Agents of this Service and identified the location of the counterfeit ID plant in Queens, NY. Agent Moczydlowski coordinated with agents of the US Secret Service, New York Field Office, to conduct multiple surveillances, in whereas buy/bust operations occurred. The success of the aforementioned investigative techniques resulted in the suppression of a fraudulent identity theft plant. Due to the extreme diligence and intuitiveness of Agent Moczydlowski, this case was a success for the Secret Service as well as America.