By Steve Neavling

Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, has formally recused himself from an investigation into a lawyer who has ties to his family. 

Alway’s recusal comes several days after The Los Angeles Times revealed his ties to Tom Girardi, a disgraced lawyer who is accused of misappropriating his clients’ settlement money to enrich himself.

The Los Angeles Times reported on the recusal on Saturday.

In a statement, Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the field office, said Alway “requested recusal and has not and will not be involved in this or any related FBI matter.” 

Eimiller added that the Girardi investigation “largely predates (Alway’s) time in the Los Angeles Division.” Girardi began his current role on Aug. 29.

Alway’s mother, Michelle Alway, was Girardi’s former girlfriend and secretary. During the 1990s, she received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Girardi and his law firm, court records states. 

Girardi also contributed more than $131,000 towards the mortgage of her home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, which Donald Alway co-owns, records show. The property is now worth more than $1.2 million. 

By Steve Neavling

As the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office investigates disgraced legal legend Tom Girardi, questions are being raised about his connections to one of the office’s leaders. 

Donald Alway, the assistant director in charge of the field office, has family ties to Girardi, who is accused of misappropriating his clients’ settlement money to enrich himself, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Alway’s mother, Michelle Alway, was Girardi’s former girlfriend and secretary. During the 1990s, she received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Girardi and his law firm, court records states. 

Girardi also contributed more than $131,000 towards the mortgage of her home in Carmel-by-the-Sea, which Donald Alway co-owns, records show. The property is now worth more than $1.2 million. 

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement that Alway “has not been involved in this investigation, which largely predates his time in the Los Angeles Division.”

The bureau, however, declined to say whether Alway has recused himself. 

Alway became assistant director in charge of the field office in July.

By Steve Neavling

Robert K. Tripp has been named special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office. 

Before the appointment, Tripp was a supervisory inspector in the Inspection Division at FBI headquarters.

Tripp’s career with the FBI began in 1998, when he became an intelligence research specialist and worked transnational organized crime in the Criminal Investigative Division at headquarters. 

After being chosen as a special agent in 2003, he was assigned to the St. Louis Field Office to investigate public corruption and white-collar crime.

In 2006, Tripp went to the Washington Field Office, where he worked international mass marketing fraud through the Department of Justice Fraud Section. Toward the end of his assignment at the Washington Field Office, he investigated corporate and securities fraud.

In 2012, Tripp became supervisory special agent and worked in the director’s Research Group at headquarters. 

Tripp transferred to the Sacramento Field Office in California in 2014 and supervised a public corruption and civil rights squad. He later supervised a squad responsible for violent crime and violent crimes against children.

Tripp was promoted to assistant special agent in charge of the Sacramento office in 2018 and was responsible for all investigations of criminal and cyber threats. He was also responsible for the criminal squads in all seven of Sacramento’s resident agencies. In addition, as assistant special agent in charge, he served as the acting commander of the newly established Sacramento Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

In 2021, Tripp was promoted to inspector and returned to headquarters. 

Mr. Tripp received a bachelor’s degree in history from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y, and a master’s degree and doctorate in history from Washington University in St. Louis.

By Steve Neavling

Authorities have captured one of the U.S. Marshals’ 15 most wanted fugitives in El Salvador after he was on the run for six years. 

Raymond McLeod, a 37-year-old former Marine, was wanted for the 2016 murder of his girlfriend Krystal Mitchell, who was found strangled to death in an apartment in San Diego. 

In April 2021, the Marshals placed McLeod on their “Most Wanted” list of top 15 fugitives and issued a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his arrest. 

At the time, U.S. Marshals and the San Diego Police Department believed McLeod had fled through Mexico to Central America following Mitchel’s death. 

El Salvadoran law enforcement arrested McLeod without incident on Monday. 

“I am extremely gratified to hear the news of Raymond McLeod’s arrest without incident,” said U.S. Marshals Director Ronald Davis. “It is our sincere hope that his capture brings some sense of relief to Krystal Mitchell’s family, especially her mother, Josephine Wentzel, who has worked so diligently with law enforcement these past years to see this day of justice arrive.”

By Steve Neavling

A convicted California drug trafficker was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for paying bribes to a corrupt DEA agent, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

Francisco Gonzalez Benitez, 37, pleaded guilty in April 2021 to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of methamphetamine, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. 

Between 2016 and 2019, Benitez operated multi-state conspiracies to distribute large quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine from California to Florida and Arkansas and launder the proceeds. 

Benitez also worked as an informant for DEA Agent Nathan Koen and paid him thousand of dollars in bribes to provide protection for his drug operation. 

In May, Koen was sentenced to 135 months in prison. He provided sensitive law enforcement information that helped Benitez run his drug operation and avoid detection by authorities. 

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the IRS, FBI and DEA. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Coolican prosecuted the case. 

By Steve Neavling

Roque Caza has been named the new port director at the CBP’s Calexico Port of Entry.

“I am excited and humbled to lead the men and women at the Port of Calexico, and I look forward to working closely and collaboratively with our local stakeholders to ensure the region remains prosperous while also protecting the public we are proud to serve,” Caza said in a statement.

Caza previously served as the director of CBP’s Counter Network Division within the National Targeting Center in Sterling, Va. 

He also served as the assistant director within CND. 

Caza’s career with CBP began in 2000 at the former U.S. Customs Service at the Port of Nogales, Ariz. He also served as the acting port director and an assistant port director at the Port of San Luis, Ariz.

At the Calexico Port of Entry, CBP officers at the two passenger crossings process more than 5.7 million vehicles and 11.4 million travelers a year. 

Calexico is third busiest border crossing within the San Diego Field Office. It includes six land border crossings between California and Mexico. 

In his new role, Caza also will oversee the Andrade port of entry. 

“Mr. Caza is a strong, proven leader that will serve us well as the Port Director in Calexico,” Anne Maricich, acting director of field operations for CBP in San Diego, said.  “We look forward to how Port Director Caza will use his experience as he takes on this new role to support our mission to keep legitimate trade and travel flowing while securing the U.S. border.”

By Steve Neavling

Three armed men in camouflaged clothing and face masks posed as U.S. Marshals officials and broke into a home in Arizona before assaulting two people inside the house. 

Just before 5 a.m. on Aug. 10, the suspects identified themselves as U.S. Marshals officers and demanded to be let inside the Golden Valley home, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The occupants of the home refused to let the suspects inside after they failed to show identification. 

Armed with a shotgun, rifle, two handguns, and a baseball bat, the men barged into the home with force and began beating two occupants. 

The suspects eventually fled. 

The two victims were taken to a hospital with blunt force trauma and broken bones. 

Three suspects have been arrested, and the weapons were recovered.

By Steve Neavling

A COVID-19 outbreak has hit Los Angeles International Airport, infecting at least 233 TSA employees and more than 150 workers at American and Southwest airlines, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

The outbreak comes three months after the TSA stopped reporting the number of its employees who are actively infected with the coronavirus.

The TSA and LAX told The Los Angeles Times that the outbreak has not impacted services.

“There has not been any effect to security lines at LAX,” said Daniel D. Velez, a spokesperson for TSA.

As of March, when the TSA was still posting the number of positive cases among TSA employees, nearly 23,000 of its workers had been infected by COVID-19 and 36 had died, more than any other federal agency.