By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — Steven M. Martinez, the head of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division, moves further west where he’ll take over the FBI’s Los Angeles office. He replaces Salvador Martinez, who retired.
“Steve’s breadth of experience in his nearly 23 years of service to the FBI makes him well-suited for this role,” FBI Director Robert Mueller III said in a prepared statement. “After serving as special agent in charge of the Las Vegas Division for more than four years, his leadership will be an asset to the Los Angeles Division, one of the FBI’s largest offices.”
Martinez joined the FBI in 1987 and worked in Phoenix, the Washington field division and El Paso investigating drug and violent crimes cases, the FBI said.
Martinez also worked as an assistant special agent in charge in Los Angeles Division.
He was the FBI’s first on-scene commander at Central Command in Doha, Qatar and in Baghdad “during the staging and commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom”, the FBI said.
In 2003, he was assigned to the Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters and in 2006, he was named special agent in charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office.
