Steve Neavling

The Justice Department is investigating the high-profile blunders of the ATF in Milwaukee following embarrassing mistakes reported by the the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the newspaper reports.

In letters to two members of Congress, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the sting raised “significant management issues related to the oversight and management” of the ATF, the newspaper wrote.

Journal Sentinel reports detail serious mistakes, including having their guns stolen, losing $40,000 in merchandise and allowing an armed man who had threatened to shoot someone leave the store.

Steve Neavling

ATF agents who were conducting a sting operation in Milwaukee last summer allowed a felon with a violent history to leave a store without taking him into custody or tracking him, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Bobby Ball, who is a felon with a history of violence, never returned to the store to sell guns to agents as promised.

The suspect went missing for four months until he was arrested recently for drunken-driving in Minnesota.

Steve Neavling

The ATF used a brain-damaged man with a low IQ to help to handle drug and gun deals as part of an investigation into a Milwaukee storefront, the AP reports.

The man, Chauncey Wright, was paid in cigarettes, merchandise and money, but was charged with federal drug and gun counts once the operation was done, according to the AP.

Advocates for people with disabilities said the man should be freed.

The ATF has launched an investigation.

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 Steve Neavling

The FBI is investigating the death of a man who died while in police custody in Milwaukee after a newspaper report cast suspicions over the manner of death, the Associated Press reports.

A medical examiner changed the cause of Derek William’s July 6, 2011, death from natural to homicide after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed the last moments of his life.

Williams, 22, died in the back of a squad car after struggling to breathe, the AP reported.

A video shows Williams losing consciousness after he complained he couldn’t breathe.

He was pronounced dead 45 minutes later, following failed efforts to resuscitate him, according to the AP.

Steve Neavling

More than a dozen foreign nationals in Milwaukee have been arrested for alleged ties to the Mexican Posse gang, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

The suspects – 13 from Mexico, one from the Dominican Republic – are in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is cracking down on foreign-born gangs.

All have criminal histories, ranging from narcotics trafficking to theft.

“Violent street gangs account for a burgeoning amount of crime in our communities in the Midwest and across the country,” Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, told the Journal Sentinel.

Shoshanna Utchenik

The Justice Department said it will monitor Milwaukee polling places during Tuesday’ recall election of Governor Scott Walker.

Justice Department personnel presence is supposed to protect voter rights  and make certain the city meets its responsibility to provide voter assistance in Spanish.

The emotionally-charged recall election was demanded in protest of Governor Walker’s budget cuts and elimination of public workers’ rights to collectively bargain. Up to a 100,000 protestors took to Wisconsin streets in February of 2011, according to CBS News.

Today’s election offers voters pro-union Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett as an alternative. The results of the recall election are expected to become a bellwether for partisan fighting to come this election year, particularly in the presidential race.

Read more about the recall election at CBS News.

Teresa Carlson/fbi photo

Teresa L. Carlson, FBI section chief in the Directorate of Intelligence, has been named the new head of the Milwaukee Division.

Carlson, a 19-year veteran of the FBI, started her career in the Chicago Division where she worked violent crimes and public corruption cases.

While in Chicago, she was a case agent for Operation Silver Shovel, an undercover investigation that involved bribery, drug trafficking, and organized crime activity. It resulted in more than 20 convictions, including elected officials, the FBI said.

She went on to the Inspection Division at headquarters before heading south to the Birmingham bureau, where she was a supervisor in the white-collar crime program.

After that, she served as assistant special agent in charge of the white-collar crime and cyber programs in the New York Division.

She returned to FBI headquarters in the  National Security Branch, which is responsible for national security matters, including budget matters and liaison with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Congress, and the White House.

By Allan Lengel

An FBI agent from Milwaukee is credited with taking down the “king of spam”, the Associated Press is reporting. Authorities say he allegedly generated 10 billion unwanted emails a day.

The suspected spam king, Oleg Nikolaenko, 23, of Russia, was arrested last month during a visit to Las Vegas, AP reported. The FBI and the Federal Trade Commission had been tracking him since 2007.

AP reported that Nikolaenko is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee on Friday.

His attorney, Christopher Van Wagner, says he’s prepared to put up “a rigorous defense,” AP reported.

A 13-page affidavit was filed by FBI agent Brett E. Banner, assigned to the Cyber Crimes Squad in Milwaukee (read below).

Read FBI Affidavit