Latest Features:
- ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER: When Violence Hits Too Close to Home
- Thomas J. Harrington Named FBI�s Associate Deputy Director
- Former New York State Parole Board Member and State Assemblyman Sentenced for Online Enticement of Minors
- Hawaii Man Convicted of Providing Defense Information and Services to People�s Republic of China
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: FBI
16August2010 10:45amPDT
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE:
ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER: When Violence Hits Too Close to Home
Emerging from the port of entry�s administrative offices into a sunny San Diego morning, Special Agent Dean Giboney spoke in fluent Spanish with the man whose temporary U.S. visa he had just helped renew. The man was smiling, happy to be out of Mexico, even though he understood that being on U.S. soil was no guarantee of safety from the Tijuana drug cartel that has put a price on his head.
The kidnappings, beatings, and murders that mark the extreme drug-related violence of Mexican border cities such as Tijuana and Juarez have increasingly spilled over the border. Agent Giboney is hoping the man�we�ll call him Jos� �can provide information that will help in the Bureau�s efforts to dismantle the cartels and the criminal enterprises they fuel.
A few years ago, Jos� started working for the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO) in Tijuana to earn extra money. But when he saw how routine the act of murder was for the cartel�leaders thought nothing of having even their own people killed for real or perceived insubordination�he started to fear for his life and contacted the FBI to help him flee the country.
Sources like Jos� are just one of many ways the Bureau gathers intelligence to combat border crime. Agent Giboney is particularly interested in gaining information regarding fugitives in the Los Palillos case, one of San Diego�s most notorious examples of so-called �spillover violence.�
Los Palillos�the �Toothpicks��was a rogue spinoff from the AFO. From 2004 to 2007, the San Diego street gang carried out a brutal crime spree in which 13 people were abducted and nine were killed. Bodies turned up in cars, on jogging paths, and inside houses in quiet, residential neighborhoods.
The group�s leader, Jorge Rojas-Lopez, is serving a life sentence without parole for the crimes, and several of his henchmen are also in prison. But five members of the gang are still at large.
Rojas-Lopez�a former AFO member�was fighting the cartel for a piece of the billion-dollar drug trade, but he was also fighting for revenge, because the AFO had ordered the murder of his brother.
�This level of extreme violence is very typical of the way the cartels operate south of the border,� Giboney said. Unfortunately, Los Palillos is not an isolated case north of the border, either.
What explains this level of brutality? �The cartels and the gang members they employ want to be Al Pacino in the movie Scarface,� Giboney said. During raids on the homes of cartel members, he has seen movie posters of the machine-gun-wielding Pacino, who played a vicious drug kingpin. �They want to live that lifestyle�the nice cars, going out to clubs, throwing money around. But once you�re in that lifestyle,� he explained, �it�s hard to get out, even if you want to.�
Jos� understands how difficult it is to get away from the cartel. The �narcos,� as he calls AFO members, are powerful as well as ruthless, and their influence is felt at every level of Mexican society. �Whatever they want to know about you they can find out,� he said. �They will stop at nothing to protect their interests, even if it means crossing the border.�
Thomas J. Harrington Named FBI�s Associate Deputy Director
Director Robert S. Mueller, III announced the appointment of Thomas J. Harrington as the FBI�s associate deputy director. Mr. Harrington replaces Timothy P. Murphy, who was recently appointed as the FBI�s deputy director.�
Mr. Harrington most recently served as the executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. He has led the largest operational entity within the FBI that addresses criminal and national security missions, composed of the Criminal, Cyber, and International Operations Divisions as well as the Critical Incident Response Group, the Office of Law Enforcement Coordination, and the Office of Victim Assistance.
�Throughout his 25 years with the Bureau, T.J. has distinguished himself as an innovative leader. He has led our efforts to become a more intelligence-led organization and initiated proven management practices to track progress, address gaps, and evaluate successes for our highest priorities and initiatives,� said Director Mueller.�
From late 2007 to January 2009, he served as the associate executive assistant director for the National Security Branch. In December 2002, Director Mueller selected Mr. Harrington to serve as a deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, Operational Support Branch and he played a major role in the establishment of the National Security Branch in 2005. He created the National Threat Center and the 24/7 Counterterrorism Watch Center and oversaw the expansion of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
Mr. Harrington�s FBI career began in November 1984 in the Denver Division. In 1993, Mr. Harrington became the supervisor of the Economic Crimes Unit in the Philadelphia Division and was later promoted as the assistant special agent in charge for organized crime, drugs, and violent crime.
Mr. Harrington is a 1978 graduate of Mount St. Mary�s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland and a 1990 honors graduate of the American Bankers Association�s Stonier Graduate School of Banking.�
Former New York State Parole Board Member and State Assemblyman Sentenced for Online Enticement of Minors
ALBANY, NY�Richard S. Hartunian, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John Melville, Acting Superintendent, New York State Police, announced 
today that GEORGE C. ORTLOFF, age 62, of Plattsburgh, New York, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in federal court in Albany on his guilty plea to a one count Information charging him with the online enticement of minors. ORTLOFF was sentenced to 150 months and ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. He also was ordered to (1) have no unsupervised contact with minors; (2) participate in a sex offender program; (3) register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry Program; and (4) pay a $50,000.00 fine.
ORTLOFF pled guilty on December 24, 2008. In connection with his plea, he admitted the following in a written plea agreement and during his plea proceeding:
At all times relevant herein, the defendant GEORGE C. ORTLOFF resided in Plattsburgh, New York and worked in and around the Albany, New York area, which are located within the Northern District of New York. On or between June of 2008, and October 13, 2008, ORTLOFF communicated with whom he thought was the mother of two minor females, ages 11 and 12 from Albany County, and said �minors� directly... However, he was actually conversing with undercover agents with the New York State Police�s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. While communicating with said individuals, ORTLOFF knowingly misrepresented his identity. During their conversations, ORTLOFF was informed that the �minors� were 11 and 12 years of age. ORTLOFF discussed engaging in various sexual acts with said �minors� while conversing with them online and on the telephone. More specifically, during their conversations, he indicated that he would like to meet these minors for the purpose of engaging in, among other things, vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and masturbation. ORTLOFF eventually communicated that he was interested in meeting said �minors�, in part, for the purposes of engaging in, among other things, said sexual acts. A meeting was arranged by ORTLOFF to occur at a hotel room in Colonie, New York. On October 13, 2008, ORTLOFF drove to Colonie, New York to meet the individuals, who he thought were 11 and 12 year old girls, at a hotel room to engage in said sexual acts. He brought with him to said hotel, two vibrators�one for each of the minors�lubricant, and condoms. He was arrested at that time.
ORTLOFF was arrested by members of the New York State Police on October 13, 2008, at a hotel in Colonie, New York. At the time of his offense, ORTLOFF was a New York State Parole Board member. He previously served as a New York State Assemblyman from 1986 to 2006.
The case was investigated by the New York State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Computer Crimes Unit, with assistance from the New York State Police Special Investigations Unit, New York State Police investigators working in the Ray Brook, Plattsburgh, and Loudonville barracks, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation�s Cyber Predator Task Force.
Hawaii Man Convicted of Providing Defense Information and Services to People�s Republic of China
Former B-2 Bomber Engineer Helped PRC Design a Stealthy Cruise Missile
WASHINGTON�A federal jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii today found Noshir S. Gowadia, age 66, of Maui, guilty of five criminal offenses relating to his design for the People�s Republic of China (PRC) of a low signature cruise missile exhaust system capable of rendering a PRC cruise missile resistant to detection by infrared missiles. The jury also convicted Gowadia of illegally communicating classified information on three other occasions and unlawfully exporting technical information on those three occasions, illegally retaining defense information, and filing false tax returns for the years 2001 and 2002. The jury acquitted Gowadia of three other offenses alleging illegal communication of information to the PRC.
The verdict was announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Florence T. Nakakuni, U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii. The verdict followed six days of deliberation and a 40-day trial in the District of Hawaii.
�Mr. Gowadia provided some of our country�s most sensitive weapons-related designs to the Chinese government for money. Today, he is being held accountable for his actions. This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation�s military secrets for profit. I commend the many prosecutors, analysts, and agents�including those from the FBI and the Air Force�who were responsible for this investigation and prosecution,� said Assistant Attorney General Kris.
�The United States entrusts people with important and sensitive information critical to our nation�s defense. Today�s verdict demonstrates that there is a serious consequence to betraying that trust,� said U.S. Attorney Nakakuni.
�The FBI will continue to pursue anyone who treats America's national security as a commodity to be sold for personal enrichment,� said Charlene Thornton, Special Agent in Charge of the Honolulu Field Office of the FBI.
�This case is a superb example of interagency cooperation with one single goal in mind: to protect Americans from harm. The successful prosecution of Mr. Gowadia for espionage and other crimes highlights the many contributions of AFOSI personnel and our partner organizations worldwide,� said Colonel Keith Givens, Vice Commander, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Gowadia was first arrested in October 2005 on a criminal complaint alleging that he willfully communicated national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it. He was charged with additional violations in a 2005 indictment, a 2006 superseding indictment and a 2007 second superseding indictment.
According to information produced during the trial, Gowadia was an engineer with Northrop Grumman Corporation from approximately 1968 to 1986, during which time he contributed to the development of the unique propulsion system and low observable capabilities of the B-2 Spirit bomber, sometimes referred to as the �Stealth� bomber. Gowadia also continued to work on classified matters as a contractor with the with the U.S. government until 1997, when his security clearance was terminated.
Evidence at the trial revealed that from July 2003 to June 2005, Gowadia took six trips to the PRC to provide defense services in the form of design, test support and test data analysis of technologies for the purpose of assisting the PRC with its cruise missile system by developing a stealthy exhaust nozzle and was paid at least $110,000 by the PRC. The jury convicted Gowadia of two specific transmissions of classified information: a PowerPoint presentation concerning the exhaust nozzle of a PRC cruise missile project and an evaluation of the effectiveness of a redesigned nozzle, and a computer file providing his signature prediction of a PRC cruise missile outfitted with his modified exhaust nozzle and associated predictions in relation to a U.S. air-to-air missile.
The prosecution also produced evidence which documented Gowadia�s use of three foreign entities he controlled, including a Liechtenstein charity purportedly for the benefit of children, to disguise the income he received from foreign countries. In addition to demonstrating that Gowadia under-reported his income and falsely denied having control over foreign bank accounts for the two tax years involved in his convictions, the evidence at trial revealed that Gowadia had not paid any income tax since from at least 1997 until 2005 when he was arrested.
Chief U.S. States District Judge Susan Oki Mollway set sentencing for Nov. 22, 2010. At that time, Gowadia faces the following maximum terms of imprisonment.
- Life imprisonment for each of two counts of willfully communicating classified national defense information to the PRC with the intent that it be used to the advantage of the PRC or to the injury of the United States.
- Ten years� imprisonment for each of three counts of willfully communicating classified national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it in the PRC and elsewhere, and one count of illegally retaining defense systems information at his Maui residence.
- Ten years� imprisonment for each of four counts of exporting technical data related to a defense article without an export license (in violation of the Arms Export Control Act).
- Five years� imprisonment for one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act.
- Ten years� imprisonment for one money laundering charge based on proceeds from the Arms Export Control Act violations.
- Three years� imprisonment for each of two counts of filing false tax returns for the years 2001 and 2002.
This case was investigated by FBI, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service�s Criminal Investigation Division, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department�s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson of the U.S. Attorney�s Office for the District of Hawaii and Senior Trial Attorney Robert E. Wallace Jr., of the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department�s National Security Division.
