On August 26th, Richmond, VA Mail Theft Team Leader David McGinnis and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura C. Marshall, Eastern District of Virginia, were presented with the Task Force of the Year Award at this year’s International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI) national conference. This year’s conference took place in Hollywood, California.
The Task Force of the Year award is sponsored by Chase Bank and is selected through nominations received from IAFCI members. The award is presented to the task force that best represents the mission, goals and objectives of the IAFCI. From all of the nominations received nationally, Chase Bank in coordination with the IAFCI selects one task force annually to receive this award.
The Richmond ID Theft Task Force was nominated as a result of conducting several significant identity theft investigations to include: multiple counterfeit check gangs, altered business checks, ATM skimming cases, and embezzlement/bank insider cases. In addition, the task force was also praised for its partnership with the private banking industry and its participation in Victim Rights Week 2007, where US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, Eastern District of Virginia, and Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell discussed the successes of “Operation Reconcile”. This initiative resulted in the indictments of fifty-one individuals in November 2006 for identity theft related offenses. The task force website www.richmondIDtheft.com was also described as a valuable resource to disseminate information to victims of identity theft.
The Metro Richmond Identity Theft Task Force was created in October of 2004 as a partnership with the Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Treasury – Office of Inspector General. Team Leader David McGinnis has been the Task Force Leader of the Metro Richmond Identity Theft Task Force since 2004. In addition to supervising his mail theft team, he supervises all task force agents and any task force cases/operations that take place. In response to receiving the Task Force of the Year Award, McGinnis states that he has seen this task force evolve into a true partnership and has linked Richmond area law enforcement agencies together to share information regarding financial crimes.
Today, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the lead agency of the task force which is located at the Richmond, VA Domicile – Charlotte Division. Inspector in Charge, Keith Fixel has described this task force partnership as a great example of how multiple agencies can work together to investigate and prosecute criminals for identity theft related crimes.
At the Richmond Domicile, all task force agents are provided with office space, computers, network access, supplies, investigative analyst assistance, which is all supported by the Postal Inspection Service. The task force is comprised of the following local, state and federal agencies:
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service (Lead Agency)
- Chesterfield County Police Department
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Henrico County Police Department
- Richmond City Police Department
- U.S. Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of Virginia
- U.S. Secret Service
- U.S. Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General
- Virginia Office of the Attorney General
In addition to these agencies, the task force routinely works with and assists other partnering law enforcement agencies throughout the Metro Richmond area on a case-by-case basis.
Every month, the task force holds a meeting with all task force agencies and partnering agencies present. Approximately one year ago, area bank loss prevention investigators were invited to attend these meetings. This partnership has been extremely beneficial to both law enforcement as well as the bank investigators. Pat Kumper is a loss prevention investigator with Sun Trust Bank and states, “Attending the Task Force meetings has provided us an opportunity to network and partner with a wide range of law enforcement entities. Prior to these meetings, a forum for such diverse interaction did not exist here.”
In addition to the monthly meetings, the local task force agents hold a weekly meeting to discuss current cases, recent scams, and present any arrest or search warrant operations that will take place during the upcoming week.
The Richmond ID Theft Task Force has been a resource for other Postal Inspection Service sponsored task forces throughout the country. In 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Office was required to create either a task force or working group to combat identity theft in their respective districts. One of these working groups was created in Newport News, VA and now the Richmond ID Theft Task Force works closely with this group to discuss identity theft related cases that are taking place in both districts. The task force continues to branch out to assist agencies outside the metro Richmond area and acts as a clearinghouse for identity theft related crimes for all of Central Virginia.
