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Former FBI Agent Dies at 76
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com James Thomas Blasingame, a former FBI agent who worked in numerous offices across the country and investigated fraud, a mass murder and the Ku Klux Klan, died Tuesday, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. He was 76. Blasingame joined the FBI in 1954 and served as a special agent in Buffalo, N.Y., Newark, N.J.,…
Feds Suspect Ex-University of Georgia Coach of Ponzi Scheme
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Former University of Georgia football coach Jim Donnan faces financial penalties and potential criminal charges in connection with a business venture, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “He capitalized on his influence over one former player by telling him, ‘Your Daddy is going to take care of you’ … ‘if you weren’t my son,…
FBI: Court Clerk Tipped Off Gang Members Before Arrests
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A federal court clerk in Los Angeles is accused of revealing confidential court files and tipping off gangs, the FBI said Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nune Gevorkyan, 35, and her husband were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice after federal authorities say they tipped off more than 70 people…
Judge Rules FBI Must Release Dotcom Evidence
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com U.S. federal authorities cannot extradite the founder of the Megaupload online file-sharing site without evidence supporting charges of copyright breaches and internet piracy, a New Zealand court ruled Thursday, Reuters reports. “Without access to materials relevant to the extradition hearing phase, the person sought will be significantly constrained in his or her…
Janice Fedarcyk, First Woman to Head N.Y. FBI, Retiring to Join Private Sector
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Janice Fedarcyk, the fist woman to head the N.Y. FBI office, who oversaw some major terrorists, mob and Wall Street probes, is retiring to enter the private sector, the Wall Street Journal reports. Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director in charge of the New York bureau, plans to start a consulting firm in Washington…
ICE Chief of Staff on Leave Amid Complaints Including Sexual Harassment
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com ICE Chief of Staff Suzanne Barr is on leave while the agency investigates claims that she treated men poorly, the New York Daily News reports. Barr voluntarily placed herself on leave Tuesday, said ICE spokesman Brian Hale. New accusers are speaking out after a lawsuit was filed on behalf of ICE Special…
Too Much Evidence Prompts Dismissal of Prescription Drug Case
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Is it possible to have too much evidence against someone? It appears so after a federal judge in Iowa dropped a case involving the nation’s largest prosecution of Internet pharmacies, the Associated Press reports. The evidence against former Miami doctor, Armando Angulo, included more than 400,000 documents and two terabytes of electronic data,…
A Bird’s Eye View of Baltimore’s High-Flying Pot Conspiracy
By Van Smith Baltimore City Paper BALTIMORE — The Lancair IV-P airplane is a sleek four-seater, capable of flying 330 miles per hour and more than 1,500 miles on a tank of gas. The one that was seized in June 2009 from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, near Denver, had been purchased the previous summer for…