By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A former CBP watch commander who operated an illegal gun-selling business and committed other crimes while serving in law enforcement was sentenced Monday to 31 months in prison.

Wei Xu, 58, pleaded guilty in July to four felonies, including unlawfully dealing in firearms, possessing unregistered firearms, lying to a federal agency, and tax evasion, NBC News reports.

Prosecutors said Xu exploited his position as a law enforcement officer to buy and sell off-roster handguns. He also admitted to selling nearly 100 guns over two decades without a federal license, as required by law.

“Mr. Xu betrayed his oath to uphold the laws of the United States solely to put more money in his pocket,” Nick Hanna, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement.

Xu’s attorney, Mark J. Werksman, said described the sentence as fair and said his CBP service convinced a judge to reduce his prison time by a year.

Xu began working with CBP in 2004 and has been on administrative leave from his position at the Long Beach Seaport in California. He likely will be fired, Werksman said.

Brian C. Turner, via FBI

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Brian C. Turner, who recently served as the special agent in charge of the New Haven Field Office in Connecticut, has been named assistant director of the Operational Technology Division at FBI headquarters in Washington D.C.

The Operational Technology Division “provides technology-based solutions to enable and enhance the FBI’s intelligence, national security, and law enforcement operations,” the FBI said in a news release announcing the appointment.

Turner joined the FBI in 2002 as a special agent. His first assignment was with the Philadelphia Field Office, where he investigated white-collar crimes and criminal enterprises and supported surveillance operations.

Turner was deployed to Iraq in 2008 to support “FBI operational priorities” in the region.

After returning to the U.S. later that year, Turner served with the Fly Team of the Counterterrorism Division at headquarters, where he routinely traveled to Africa as part of the division’s overseas mission to combat global terrorism.

In 2012, Turner transferred to the Tucson Resident Agency of the Phoenix Field Office, supervising a criminal enterprise squad that targeted Mexican drug cartels along the U.S. border. He later supervised the Tucson Joint Terrorism Task Force.

In January 2016, Turner was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of criminal and administrative programs in the Minneapolis Field Office. In 2017, he became section chief in the International Operations Division at headquarters, overseeing the FBI’s legal attaché operations in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.

In 2018, FBI Director Christopher Wray named him SAC of the New Haven Field Office.

Before joining the FBI, Turner earned a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served in the U.S. Army for about a decade. Turner also taught at West Point and earned a master’s degree from Long Island University.