Eyes Pried Open_Rookie FBI Agent Read online

  As we finally arrived at MCC in downtown San Diego, our prisoner was clearly getting uncomfortable. The FBI's prisoner transport policy is always to have an agent seated next to the prisoner in the back seat, with the prisoner handcuffed behind his or her back. We had previously called ahead and received an appointment time to book the subject. I learned that MCC was extremely particular about their allowable times when they would allow prisoners to be dropped off. This was not a twenty-four-hour service prison. If an agent arrested a subject late in the evening, even at seven or eight o'clock at night, he or she was out of luck; agents could not take prisoners to a federal prison after hours. We did have special arrangements with state and local jail facilities for this eventuality, but I was shocked that a large thousand-plus inmate prison facility did not have some type of intake procedures allow prisoners to be booked any time of day or night. This was the first of numerous significant process-related issues that I found myself asking about the justice system. While I had laughed at many corporate “quality improvement” initiatives, I would soon long for the days of a corporate culture of continuous improvement, because the federal government was in dire need of change.

  We waited in our car to enter the prison. And we waited. And waited. After a painful hour, a person finally emerged from the loading ramp at the prison. The intake area was unmarked and looked like an area where a truck might drop off cans of soup for the prisoners. Understandably for security reasons, prisons do not want to advertise their main areas for entering and leaving the facility. I showed my credentials to the prison guard, who advised us to stow all electronics, cell phones, and weapons in the trunk of the car. This was reminiscent of my commercial airline flying experiences before I was an agent, except there were no friendly flight attendants on site. We stripped ourselves of items that were not allowed and finally escorted our prisoner into the federal prison.

  This was another fascinating learning experience as an FBI agent. The federal prison reeked of a smell that I would categorize as “grungy.” The environment was gritty, cold, and clammy. The staff was not at all friendly, and I could see how the years of dealing with criminals in the lower echelon of our society had taken its toll on the guards and workers; the attitude demonstrated by most prison employees mirrored the “Soup Nazi” from Seinfeld. We were whisked through a couple of different checkpoints and secure doors. We helped to stow the prisoner’s possessions in bags, which he would be able to retrieve whenever he got out of prison, which was several years in the future. We signed paperwork, and the guards began to take the prisoner through the remaining steps of the intake process. A doctor had to look at each prisoner and certify that he or she was physically able to be admitted to the prison, which I discovered was far from automatic. If the prisoner was a danger to himself or others from a medical standpoint, he or she was not allowed to enter the prison and had to be taken to a local hospital where he or she would be placed under twenty-four-hour-per-day guard. This clearly was inconvenient and resource intensive for law enforcement, and I felt lucky that our prisoner was admitted with no issues.

  We watched as our prisoner undressed and donned his new prison garb. We wished him good luck and were sincere with our departing words. I did not envy this young man's position.

  We signed out and headed back to our car. I quickly was on the receiving end of a lecture from Mark about making small talk in front of a prisoner; Mark made it clear that he did not want the prisoners to find out where he lived. Being new to the FBI San Diego office and Mark, I had earlier asked what general vicinity of town he lived in. He quickly silenced me, which at the time I felt was ridiculous and rude. But after I learned more about the threats that agents receive from some of the most dangerous criminals in the world, I came to understand not wanting any prisoners to know what part of town I lived in, regardless of how nice they seemed.

  We made it back to the office, where I began to fill out my first stack of reports and paperwork that would credit me for my first arrest. I completed my paperwork, and then wandered over to the mall food court to grab a late lunch. I thought to myself that maybe this FBI agent gig was turning out to be good after all. I was in San Diego, it was a gorgeous afternoon, and I had already arrested somebody. I was not sitting in an office or cube all day. I was out driving on the roads, seeing new scenery, and righting wrongs in the world. It really seemed like maybe I had made the right decision to enter the FBI and leave the comfortable life that I was accustomed to. I figured that for the rest of the afternoon I could continue to familiarize myself with how the San Diego office worked, and with any luck I would be heading home around five o'clock to be with Jennifer. That would be fabulous, since the previous evening's plans had been so suddenly canceled. But as the afternoon drug on, my newly assigned bank robbery pager went off and the agents in the office started scrambling. Another relatively new agent, Laura, who would prove to be a fantastic partner in my FBI endeavors, was chosen to be the case agent for this robbery. She needed help, and I needed experience, so I was drafted to serve as her partner. I cleared my schedule for the evening once again.

  CHAPTER 19

  First Bank Robbery

  Chula Vista, California, is a community with large new subdivisions that have been built in the desert. This region has a mix of gorgeous homes along with more “colorful” areas, the kind that would cause a person to consider driving on a flat tire instead of stopping to put on a spare. Chula Vista also houses the United States Olympic Training Center, which I came to find ironic since the local feel is anything but the America that I grew up with. This area is a beehive of criminal activities ranging from drug smuggling to alien smuggling to kidnappings to bank robberies. The Mexican border proximity helps criminals by providing them a safe escape destination when eluding law enforcement officials. If a bank robber robs a bank in California, he or she only has to travel a few miles for the safety and freedom of Mexico. The Mexican government extradites only thirty to forty criminals per year; only the very worst offenders with the greatest reward for capture tend to be sent back to the United States.

  After being notified of a robbery and the location of the crime, Laura and I rolled up to my first bank robbery scene. I would find that almost every day offered significant opportunities for on-the-job training. I still saw a policeman in uniform, driving a car with flashing lights and a siren, as an authority figure that I had no right to question, let alone work with as an equal or provide direction to. But in the FBI, the agents are expected to have a professional appearance, have confidence, and demonstrate leadership. The role of an FBI agent is to confidently stroll into a crime scene, quickly ascertain the situation, and in some cases take control of the investigation, which will typically involve uniformed police officers.

  A dynamic that troubled me as a rookie agent was that Chula Vista had a strong police presence comprised of dedicated officers who tend to not trust others outside of their department, including the FBI. With high instances of police corruption on both sides of the border, it is understandable that the good guys only trusted those who they know with 100% certainty were also playing for the right team. Many crimes that I worked were technically both federal and state offenses, including bank robberies. So in this case, there was immediately a confrontational feeling in the air between the FBI and Chula Vista PD regarding who would ultimately drive the investigation. The Chula Vista officers numbered at least a dozen, complete with flashing lights and sirens on marked patrol cars, while the FBI had only responded with Laura and me, with less than a year of combined street experience between us.

  I grabbed my notepad as I exited the car, and we briskly walked up to the entrance of the bank. I felt for my credentials inside my coat pocket several times, as if it were my weapon and as if I were walking into battle. I probably felt for that badge about as many times as an anxious skydiver who checks to make sure his or her rip-cord is pres
ent, and I was probably in a similar state of mind. I knew that this was my moment to truly play the role of an FBI agent; I wanted everyone on scene to know that I was not just a businessman visiting the bank to do business or a curious bystander. As we approached a uniformed officer who was blocking the door, we pulled out our credentials and badges and revealed the famous blue FBI letters, which showed that we were there on official federal business and belonged at the scene. The officer did not closely scrutinize our evidence of FBI employment; he made a quick and assuming nod, and we made our way into the bank.

  This was my first exposure to a real robbery scene, or for that matter any crime scene of any type (with the exception of the time my brother and I became stuck in sand in our truck on a beach on Padre Island, and were informed that our truck was an “environmental crime scene”; how innocent that offense now seemed!). Laura quickly assumed control of the investigation at the scene. She spoke with the local law enforcement officers, who informed her that they were pursuing a lead at a nearby house where they believed the bank robber to be residing. There was still plenty of confusion and chaos to sort through at the bank, so we focused our efforts initially on talking to witnesses and victims at the bank, and we deferred to the Chula Vista PD to pursue the lead about the robber’s location.

  Typically, FBI agents pair up for interviews of victims, witnesses, and subjects. This helps to ensure that the facts in the case are accurately recorded and understood. Ultimately one report that summarizes the interview is written, and both agents sign off on it. Fortunately, most bank robberies, including this one, are non-violent “note jobs” and are much preferable to deal with rather than crime scenes with dead victims. However, for a robbery, the victim’s mental anguish and suffering cannot be understated. Over time I would interview dozens of victims who would not even be mentioned in the newspaper, but their lives were forever impacted by facing potential death in the form of looking down a robber’s gun barrel. Some victims would appear calm, even after a bank robbery. Others would be visibly upset, with tears flowing. Some were in need of some professional psychological assistance, which the FBI can provide. Generally the law enforcement community considers victims to be anyone who was in the vicinity of a robbery or crime who may have had direct interaction with the criminal. Witnesses are considered to be people who saw an event happen but were not directly impacted by the criminal’s actions. With most investigations, the FBI puts an immediate focus on speaking with the victims, which for bank robberies would frequently consist of only a single bank teller who gave the money to the bank robber. After interviewing anyone directly affected by the crime, investigators turn to interviewing any witnesses who may have seen the crime occur or who may have an indirect piece of information that would help solve a crime.

  Helpful information from victims or witnesses usually consists of something that paints an accurate description of the subject, and often includes details such as the make and model of a getaway vehicle, unusual speech patterns, unique clothing, tattoos, sunglasses, or even the way a subject walks. These all become important individual factors in not only identifying the subject for that given robbery, but often in helping to link a criminal to multiple robberies.

  For example, a subject might rob three or four banks and not get caught. Bank robbers are notorious for robbing repeatedly, since the dollar amounts they walk away with are typically less than $1,000. That amount will barely last a week in San Diego even if managed frugally, let alone if it is managed by a criminal who splurges on drugs or prostitutes. A bank robbery of over $10,000 is incredibly rare. An observant witness might comment to an investigator, for example, that a robber had a silver ring on his or her middle finger. An agent can go back and examine surveillance photos from prior robberies, and can link those together for the pictures in which the robber has a silver ring on his or her middle finger, even if completely different disguises and getaway vehicles are used. Criminals often are not smart and almost always will unknowingly reveal some minor detail that will lead to their capture. It is the job of the FBI to flush out as many details as possible and then link those together.

  For the Chula Vista bank robbery that I was investigating, victims informed me that the subject had used a machete to rob the bank. He had stuck a machete down his pants, partially pulled it out, and brandished it to the teller while instructing her to give him money. Unbelievably, to make it look like he was a normal banking customer, the subject brought his expired Bank of America ATM card and placed it on the counter. In his rush to rob the bank, and with a mixture of nerves and what we suspected were powerful drugs, he managed to forget his bank card, leaving it sitting directly on the counter in front of the robbed teller. The card had his name printed in raised letters, which made for a distinctive clue and piece of evidence. I had previously heard a story about a criminal who had written a demand note on the back of a deposit slip with his name on it and left it at the scene. Here I was at my first bank robbery seeing first-hand what was possibly the dumbest bank robber in history. Figuring out who robbed the bank was going to be a slam dunk; it reminded me of how video games will commonly have an incredibly easy “tutorial mode” level to begin a game. It certainly felt like the difficulty level of my case was set to “incredibly easy.”

  I worked with Laura to conduct additional interviews, which were held one by one with each bank teller and with pedestrian witnesses. I was quite comfortable with this role, because I was good at talking with people and being empathetic, easily have able to put myself in other’s shoes. The overall stress, pressure, and uncertainty surrounding the other aspects of the investigation were not my cup of tea, but I could interview witnesses and victims all day long without breaking a sweat. FBI agents all have their strengths and weaknesses, and I was happy to have finally found a role that I could perform well and that would add real value to the investigation.

  Working my first bank robbery was quite satisfying in that I was able to see the practical application of tools that I learned at the FBI Academy, from interviewing techniques to evidence collection to the paperwork that is required to document an agent’s activity in the field. But as I would continue to find throughout my time in the FBI, as soon as I began to feel some level of comfort with a task, I would suddenly find myself immersed in a new nightmare of trying to navigate a high pressure situation of critical importance. In the FBI, if an agent somehow makes an error that results in a known criminal slipping through the cracks and not being arrested, then his or her next crime is tagged unofficially as “your fault.” It is not anything like working in the typical corporate world where a serious error could mean someone will not be receiving email, or worst case, a big sale could fall through. In the FBI it is up to the agents to make sure everything is done right, and one minor mistake can ultimately result in fatalities. That is a heavy burden for agents to carry.

  I heard over my radio that the subject had already been arrested just a few blocks away by the Chula Vista Police Department, and that the FBI needed to arrive immediately to help with interviews, evidence collection, and next steps for the investigation. Since Laura was completely occupied at the bank, I had to travel to the arrest scene by myself. As I pulled up to the curb of an unkept house, I saw swarms of uniformed police officers, and people in handcuffs out on the lawn. My training at the FBI Academy, which had seemed never-ending at the time, suddenly felt woefully inadequate. I knew that the cops on the scene had been doing their jobs for a long time, and without a doubt held a wide array of experience with all types of criminals and arrest scenarios. And here I was, the lone FBI agent showing up, in theory with the authority to assume control of the scene, despite only having one real day of experience on the job. Once again I put on my poker face, stepped out of the car, and vowed to do my best to represent the FBI in a positive manner.

  I used my people skills, which have always been one of my best assets, to the best of my abi
lity. I was friendly and agreeable, and I deferred decisions to the CVPD Sergeant who was in charge at that scene. Sergeant David Eisenberg had the demeanor of a seasoned cop, and was sharply dressed in his uniform. I later learned that he holds a Ph.D., and is the author of an illuminating paper regarding border-related crime (“Crime, Disorder, and Public Safety in Border Communities,” published through the University of Texas at El Paso). I told him that I had very recently joined the FBI, and that I was only on my second day of the job in the field. This case had both federal and state jurisdiction, and it seemed that CVPD officers were chomping at the bit to run with this case through the state criminal prosecution route. After all, they were the ones who first responded to the scene and had located and arrested the bank robber; their seemingly territorial stance was justified. I saw no reason to step on their toes or insert myself unnecessarily into their investigation.

  The FBI always works as a team, including making operational decisions in working with other law enforcement agencies. I discussed the specifics of this case with Laura, who relayed that information back to our bank robbery coordinator and our squad supervisor. Due to the criminal’s relatively clean history, he would not qualify for the “three strikes” California state law which puts repeat offenders behind bars for life. Therefore, it appeared that directing the case through the federal system was likely to result in a stiffer penalty for the robber. This was the direction my management passed back to us, leaving me as the messenger to an unreceptive crowd of cops who wanted to see the robber brought up on State of California charges.