Steve Neavling

The FBI is investigating one of its own after he allegedly used his badge to avoid arrest for drunken driving in Georgia, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

Fort Oglethorpe police say Special Agent Ken Hillman received special treatment after getting pulled over for drinking and driving.

For the first time, the FBI acknowledged its investigating Hillman, who also is under fire for allowing a civilian to work on the Northwest Georgia Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Free Press wrote.

“The FBI is aware of the allegations made against one of our special agents and we have launched an investigation into those allegations,” agency spokesman Stephen Emmett told the Free Press.

Steve Neavling

FBI Special Agent Ken Hillman was leaving a bar with the wife of a local millionaire last year when he avoided arrest by convincing the responding officer to take him home, the Times Free Press reports. 

The article does not say that Hillman was drinking but implies that.

On top of that,  the  woman, Angela Russell, who is not a certified law enforcement officer in Georgia, says she worked on a task force that cracks down on online offers for underage sex, the Times Free Press wrote.

Some defense attorneys are now questioning whether Russell compromised any of the dozens of cases.

“[These allegations] definitely damage the credibility of this task force and everything it’s doing,” said defense attorney Shawn Bible, who represents several suspects arrested recently by the FBI task force.

Steve Neavling

A judge believes Aubrey Lee Price, a Georgia banker accused of embezzling more than $20 million, is dead.

The FBI, however, doesn’t buy into a written confession and note that said he planned to drown himself off the Florida coast after he disappeared in June, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.

The FBI has seized all of Price’s cars, the Chronicle wrote.

Now agents are looking for his missing boat, a 17-foot 2004 Sea Ray Boats.

Steve Neavling

Police in Georgia are prepared to start enforcing the state’s controversial “show-me-your-papers law” after a federal judge lifted an injunction on it, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The law allows police to check the immigration status of suspects. Anyone believed to be in the country illegally can be detained, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Aimed at pushing illegal immigrants out of the state, critics say the law is unconstitutional and would lead to racial profiling, the Journal-Constitution wrote.

Immigration rights groups said they will be on the lookout for abuse.

“Any type of violations of individuals’ rights — including prolonged detention — is something we will be looking for, documenting and will bring back to court,” Karen Tumlin, a managing attorney for the National Immigration Law Center, told the Journal-Constitution.

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Steve Neavling

The Justice Department filed suit against Georgia and its chief election official to ensure that residents who are in the military overseas can vote in the state’s Aug. 21 federal primary election, the federal government announced today.

The suit was filed because Georgia wasn’t planning to send absentee ballots to service members within the required 45 day before an election, the Justice Department said in a press release.

“Our uniformed service members and overseas citizens deserve a full opportunity to participate in all elections of our nation’s leaders including runoff elections for federal office in states where they are held” Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said in a press release.

To meet the deadline, Georgia officials must send the ballots before July 7.

Shoshanna Utchenik

It’s unclear what would make a Georgia man strut around a convenience store pretending to be an undercover agent, but his days of make-believe appear to be over — at least for now.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Charles Roger Gamble was indicted by a grand jury in Clarke County, Georgia this week for allegedly impersonating an FBI agent.

Gamble supposedly told a store clerk he was an undercover agent while displaying badges and carrying one to two guns in holsters on multiple occasions, according to AJC. The clerk became suspicious and the owner contacted police after Gamble offered his real name, a fishy move for an undercover agent.

The cop on the scene ran Gamble’s name and came up with a 2005 domestic violence conviction, which would prohibit him from carrying weapons.

The clerk found Gamble’s badges believable, but on closer inspection they read “national concealed permit.” The badges can be purchased online.

To read more click here.

By Danny Fenster

More than 100 people were busted for a host of gun, drug and burglary charges in an operation run by ATF and local Macon, Ga.  authorities known as “Operation Smoke Screen”, reports reports WJBF.

The federal indictments charged  24 individuals with firearms offenses and another 85 defendants with with burglary, theft, firearm and drug charges.   The indictment capped a seven month operation.

The operation, which began in August of 2011 , resulted in the seizure of about $500,000 in property and the identification of individuals related to 104 burglaries, 12 car break-ins and 16 thefts.

“Operation Smoke Screen is a great example of the successes that can be accomplished through the collaborative efforts of federal and local law enforcement agencies working together to protect the public.  This operation serves as notice to the criminal element that if you traffic in stolen guns and other stolen items, law enforcement is watching and you will be prosecuted,” said US Attorney Edward J. Tarver.

To read more click here.

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• LifeLock and FBI-LEEDA Present Training in Michigan (WSJ)
• Feds: Most School Shooters Tip Off Their Plans (CBS)
• FBI: Mossad Chief Set AIPAC Founder’s PR Priorities (PR Newswire)
• FBI Finds Fugitive in 1996 Chicago Slaying (Press-Enterprise)
• SEC More Likely than FBI to Reward Insider Trading Tips (Washington Post)

By Danny Fenster

The FBI is alleging that  a Georgia cop tipped off drug dealers about an upcoming raid by the bureau, charges that the cop says are untrue, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Gabriel Hoskins III, the police officer, plead not guilty to the charges on Thursday, but was placed on supervised release with a $10,000 unsecured bond, according to the Journal-Constitution. The accusation claims Hoskins was looking up names and identifying information of suspected drug dealers in the FBI’s criminal database, then used the information to tip the drug dealers off.

“It’s very disturbing when law enforcement reveals to criminals that other law enforcement will be conducting a search warrant,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It endangers the officers doing the search warrant, and it makes it very likely that whatever evidence might have been in that apartment … like drugs, guns, ledgers … might be destroyed.”

Hoskins is said to have befriended a couple of drug dealers who lived in his apartment complex. He was a volunteer officer  for about a year, working just 16 hours a week.

To read more click here.