News Articles

Please review the following news articles pertaining to the National RCFL program, as well as RCFL programs in different cities around the country:

News articles by Location
Click the links below to view News Articles by location or scroll down to view all RCFL News stories and articles.

RCFL Program Informational Video "When law enforcement is called to a crime scene they're not only gathering physical evidence, they are also searching for digital evidence— clues that are just as valuable when it comes to solving 21st century crime." Click here to watch the full video.

National RCFL Program
Chicago RCFL
Greater Houston RCFL
Heart of America RCFL
Intermountain West RCFL
Kentucky RCFL
Miami Valley RCFL
New Jersey RCFL
New Mexico RCFL
North Texas
Northwest RCFL
Orange County RCFL
Philadelphia RCFL
Rocky Mountain RCFL
San Diego RCFL
Silicon Valley RCFL
Western New York RCFL

National RCFL Program

12/26/08: So You Want to Be a Cybersleuth? DETECTIVE AT WORK Rick Ayers probes the contents of handheld devices. Rick Ayers doesn’t look much like the geek he says he has always been. A former golfer and rock guitarist, six feet tall, with a weight lifter’s build, long hair and a soul patch, Mr. Ayers, 37, stands out in the gray corridors of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal agency in suburban Washington that sets standards for the measurement sciences...
11/07/08: BEHIND THE SCENES - FBI Experts Deliver Technical Tools In our early days, our investigative technologies were fairly high-tech…for the time, that is. Like two-way and short-wave radios, still and motion picture cameras, radio monitoring stations, and mobile surveillance command posts (sometimes disguised as refrigerator trucks!)...
05/07/07: DIGITAL FORENSICS - It's a Bull Market When the U.S. went to court against Enron, prosecutors arrived with a virtual mountain of evidence gleaned from data—more than 31 terabytes of data—gathered and analyzed during the FBI’s five-year investigation. To put that into perspective, a terabyte is equivalent to about 250 million pages of text, which would stack 10 miles high if printed on both sides of the page...
04/24/06: DUSTING FOR DIGITAL FINGERPRINTS - Inside the High-Tech World of Regional Computer Forensics Laboratories The FBI launched a pilot program in 1999 to help law enforcement agencies gather digital evidence from computers and various other devices. Now, seven years later, the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory program has quadrupled and aids agencies in 13 states. Here's how it works...
10/05: Evidence Technology Magazine, September/October 2005,Compression Standard: Most forensic video analysts say they would like to see an industry standard for digital video It is obvious to anyone who ventures out in public: The security-camera or surveillance-video industry is in a booming market. There are cameras in every corner of our retail stores, entertainment centers, and office buildings- and it won't be long before they are on every corner of our big-city streets ...
10/05: Evidence Technology Magazine, September/October 2005, Training and certification help video analysts approach their jobs with a new level of confidence Like many people who are just starting out in the field of forensic video analysis, Paul Hartzell initially felt completely alone. He began working as a graphic artist at the Hennepin County Attorney's Office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His main job was preparing crime-scene exhibits for court, although he would occasionally do some video editing. When Hartzell recognized an influx of surveillance and digital video, he urged the Attorney's Office to help set up a forensic video analysis system ...
03/10/2005: Dusting for digital fingerprints EVERY new technology leads to new forms of crime. As a Chicago policeman once put it: “No other section of the population avail themselves more readily and speedily of the latest triumphs of science than the criminal class.” He was speaking in 1888, about the electric telegraph. But he could just have easily been speaking about computers and networks today. As criminals adopt new technologies, crime-fighters must follow suit, devising new ways to gather and analyse evidence. In the case of modern digital technology, the result is the growing field of “forensic computing”...
2004: Building FBI computer forensics capacity: one lab at a time The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is on a mission: to strengthen law enforcement's computer forensic capabilities throughout the United States. How are we fulfilling such a sweeping and ambitious mandate? Through an innovative initiative entitled the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory (RCFL) Program ...

Chicago RCFL

4/2/08: Schaumburg woman indicted in theft of business secrets intended for China: She is accused of attempting to take confidential telecommunications documents from Chicago-area company A Schaumburg woman has been indicted on charges that she stole business trade secrets and attempted to take them to China, which could have cost a suburban telecommunications company more than $600 million over the next three years, federal authorities said Wednesday...

02/16/06: Alleged sexual predator arrested outside library A 19-year-old Buffalo Grove man was arrested last week for allegedly soliciting sex on the Internet from someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl...
11/21/05: Digital Forensics: Fighting Crime One Byte at a Time AFTER 7-YEAR-OLD DANIELLE van Dam went missing from her suburban San Diego home in February 2002, circumstantial evidence quickly led police to her neighbor, David Alan Westerfield. Initially, police were stumped by the motive... Web version, PDF version
07/15/04: Will County sheriff lends an officer to fight terrorism, child pornography When it comes to matters of homeland security, the Will County Sheriff's Department is doing its part, lending one of its officers to help fight terrorism as well as child pornography and computer fraud...
4/12/04: News Letter for US Probation and Pretrial Services Program On February 19, Philip Basak of the FBI’s Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory (RCFL) in Chicago traveled to the Northern District of Ohio and provided high-quality training in the use of Image Scan...
11/25/03: Kane County Sheriff's Office Press Release Thomas J. Kneir, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced today that the Kane County Sheriffs office was joining the Chicago Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory (RCFL) as a participating agency...
07/18/03: New FBI lab targets computer crimes The FBI, in partnership with seven state and local law enforcement agencies, this week opened the nation’s third regional computer forensics facility in Chicago, where a 14-person team will examine computers and digital media used in crimes ranging from terrorism to fraud. The Chicago lab, located at 610 N. Canal St., is one of five facilities funded by Congress. An FBI spokesman said Chicago was selected for one of the sites because it’s located in the center of the country and, as a major city, is home to a large FBI office that can devote resources to the new operation ...
07/18/03: High-tech lab helps police tackle crime byte by byte Chief David Peters remembers a time when his University of Illinois at Chicago police force had to ask outside agencies for help with any computer-based evidence. With the recent opening of the Chicago Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, Peters' department and law enforcement agencies throughout northern Illinois can find specially trained researchers with the resources to analyze computer evidence. "The crooks nowadays know how to use a computer and are not afraid of it," Peters said Thursday at news conference offering the first public glimpse at the new high-tech lab ...
02/10/03: Chicago gets FBI lab tuned to computers Computers often leave clues that criminals don't think to hide--and that cops aren't necessarily trained to find. Now the FBI has tapped Chicago to become part of a national network of crime labs dedicated to computer forensics, the country's fastest-growing segment of law enforcement. Six Chicago-area agencies, including the police force of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Illinois attorney general's office, will help the FBI staff the $2.3 million lab scheduled to open March 1 ...

Greater Houston RCFL

07/25/09: SHSU students to work with FBI By Raegen Castillo Two graduate students in Sam Houston State University’s digital forensics program have been chosen to work with the FBI at the Greater Houston Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory this summer. The selected interns are Jeffrey Szczepanski, of Port Neches, and Todd Whiting, of Houston, both recipients of a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science this past May, and are now part of the SHSU digital forensics graduate program...
07/16/08: New FBI digital forensics lab partners with local law enforcement Andrew R. Bland, III, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Houston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the opening of a new state-of-the art digital forensics laboratory which will better serve the region’s law enforcement community. This one-stop, full service forensics laboratory is the new home of the Greater Houston Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (GHRCFL). The GHRCFL is devoted entirely to the examination of digital evidence in support of local, state, and federal criminal investigations...
07/15/08: Houston FBI opens new digital crime lab Video: The opening of the Greater Houston Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (GHRCFL) was held Tuesday...
02/16/06: Today's FBI: Computer forensics, digital fingerprints When you think of crime scenes and gathering evidence, perhaps DNA and fingerprints come to mind. But there's another science which is helping law enforcement agencies like HPD find and convict criminals. It is the growing field of forensic computing...

Heart of America RCFL

Police cracking down on child porn

5/12/2009: Special Victim's Unit Takes On Child Porn Tucked in a corner of the Independence, MO police headquarters, an office hums with activity. Computers are on, evidence bags with DVD's, CD-ROM's, and computer hardware line the desks and shelves. It's not your normal office of detectives. It's the reorganized Special Victim's Unit. And it's working.
09/07/2008: Police cracking down on child porn— Investigators process more than 300 child porn cases at the FBI’s Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Lab every year. The lab and Project Safe Childhood, a federal program, are instrumental in prosecuting people found with the illegal images, said Kim Martin, assistant United States attorney...
06/18/2008: Missouri survey finds an extensive network trading in child pornography Child-exploitation investigators found something unsettling when they recently took a 30-day snapshot of files being shared through computers in Missouri. More than 7,000 computers were trading known images of child pornography. The Kansas City area accounted for more than 700 of those computers, which used peer-to-peer software similar to that used to trade music...
1/24/08: Forensics lab receives national accreditation As digital media play an increasingly prevalent role in everyday life, gathering evidence for criminal cases has become even more challenging for investigators. That's where the individuals at the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory come in. Investigators at the lab, located in an office building near Briarcliff Village, are trained to analyze computers, cell phones and other media for clues that might produce leads in criminal cases. The investigators represent 18 law enforcement agencies from the local, state and federal levels, including the Platte County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas City Police Department...
Spring/Summer 2007: Digital Forensics by Craig M. Goscha and Eileen M. Sanchez Rehrig, The Value of Partnership in Support of Criminal Investigations. E-mail, the Internet, laptops, USBs, MP3 players, cell phones, PDAs, video equipment - today, nearly every crime has the potential to leave digital fingerprints. A scan of the headlines is evidence of this. Everything from white collar crimes to murders has been successfully prosecuted using digital forensics. As crimes become increasingly sophisticated, it is imperative that progressive law enforcement agencies incorporate the collection, preservation, and analysis of digital evidence into their routine investigative efforts...
05/09/07: Blue Springs man faces child abuse, pornography charges As a result of a tip from Internet provider America Online, a 65-year-old Blue Springs man was charged today with multiple counts of child abuse and child pornography. Jerry D. Wilson was arrested at his home and was being held on a $250,000 cash-only bond. According to court documents, AOL informed the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2004 that e-mails linked to Wilson contained pornographic images involving children. The national center gave the information computer-crime authorities in St. Louis...
1/28/07: VIDEO SURVEILLANCE - Usage is multiplying worldwide Cameras gather evidence, help catch criminals A robber grabbed a convenience store’s video surveillance tape and cut it to pieces. An FBI laboratory in Kansas City last year put it back together. A Kansas burglar’s face didn’t give him away on video, but the tattoos on his neck and arms did. The FBI lab froze the frames, photographed the tattoos and identified the man. As more surveillance cameras appear worldwide, police use them more and more to mine evidence and catch criminals. Even more and better cameras are on the way, and so are more technicians called video forensic experts. Kansas City police want to spend $4 million to upgrade their patrol car cameras to higher-quality digital equipment. Police in both Kansas Citys hope to install cameras in high-crime neighborhoods. And some officers on both forces are being trained in forensic video...
10/20/06: Forensic Technology at the Fingers of Investigators You may be surprised by exactly how much information about yourself is stored on your cell phone or computer. Now, law enforcement agencies across Kansas are using those clues to fight crime and accessing forensic evidence, right from their desktops. "Everything from terrorism to child pornography to identity theft to complex theft schemes," says Corporal Thad Winkleman of the types of crimes they work on at the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory...
06/02/06: Sex-Murder Case KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- KMBC's Jim Flink reported that when video images are fuzzy, local law enforcement brings the video to the Heart of America Regional Computer Forensic Lab. This week alone, there have been several high-profile cases in which video has been central to the case. More than 22 tapes in the Richard Davis and Dena Riley case are in the hands of the FBI...
05/06: The Digital Detectives - HIDDEN FOLDERS, "DELETED" FILES AND INTERNET CACHES HIDE CLUES CRIMINALS NEVER KNEW THEY LEFT BEHIND The night Cindy M.* disappeared, she ate dinner with her parents and older brother in the family’s two-story suburban Pittsburgh home, then went to her room and promised to come back for apple-walnut pie. The pretty 13-year-old with dark blond hair and blue-green eyes never returned. When her parents checked her room, they found neither a note nor a sign of forced entry. It was New Year’s Day, 2002, and their daughter was simply gone ...
02/06: Northland lab helps solve major crimes: Computer forensics used to crack high-profile cases throughout area A quick question: What do Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer, Lisa Montgomery, the lady arrested on suspicion of murdering Bobbie Jo Stinnett and removing an unborn baby from her womb, and Thomas Murray, the former Kansas State University professor convicted of murdering his wife, all have to do with Kansas City? ...
12/04: Pregnant-Slay Probe Followed Cyber Trail: Investigators Followed Digital Trail in Pregnant Woman's Killing to Suspect's Cyberspace Address In the end, it wasn't a fingerprint or a blood spatter that led authorities to the woman suspected of strangling a mother-to-be and cutting the baby from her womb. It was an 11-digit computer code ...
12/04: Tip Leads to Baby Internet Used to Search for Suspect A woman in North Carolina tipped off the FBI to the message board where Lisa Montgomery and Bobbie Jo Stinnett may have met. The FBI took that tip and put the Regional Computer Forensics Lab to work in Kansas City, Missouri...
11/03: Article in the Forensic Technology Magazine on the RCFL program This FBI-backed program is the cutting edge for collecting evidence from digital devices ...and it is totally free of charge to law-enforcement agencies in selected regions...
07/17/03: Porn perv tells feds he's guilty During a tour held for the opening last week of the new regional cyber-crime lab in Clay County, Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd, far right, looks over big-screen monitors in the lab's training room. Platte plans to pursue state charges that he sodomized 4-year-old daughter. A Buffalo, N.Y. man blew the whistle after finding his wife used their then 5-year-old son for pornography supplied to a Northland man. The hotline call started an investigation by Platte City Police Sgt. Dennis Trabue, the department's only investigator on the case, on Aug. 4, 2000 ...
07/17/03: Cyber-crime lab in Northland serves west Missouri, Kansas THE U.S. attorney for Missouri's western district, Todd Graves of Platte County, stands within one of several $16,000 computer work stations during the opening of the FBI's cyber-crime lab in southern Clay County on July 9 ...
07/10/03: Law enforcement officials hail opening of new computer forensics lab Local police and prosecutors said Wednesday that a new computer forensics lab would help them put drug dealers and child pornographers in prison. The $2 million lab opened Wednesday in the Briarcliff development of Kansas City, North, as part of a national effort to expand law enforcement's computer investigative capabilities. Its computer experts come from the FBI and other federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies in the Kansas City area. The lab, which received funds through the USA Patriot Act, will help law enforcement agencies in Kansas and western Missouri ...
07/09/03: Lab to help counter computer-using criminals It might not make a graphic television drama, but a new criminal forensics lab will put Kansas City on the front lines of the burgeoning battle against computer crime. The $2 million lab that is to open today in the Briarcliff development of Kansas City, North, is the third of five planned regional computer-forensics centers in the country. They are funded though the USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ...
10/11/02: KC to get computer crimes unit, forensics lab, Ashcroft announces Ashcroft said Kansas City will be one of 13 U.S. districts to get federal money for a special computer crimes unit and will soon be among five cities to have a forensics laboratory for computer investigations ...

Intermountain West RCFL

10/28/08: The Regional Crime Forensics Lab— It's kind of like the Geek Squad meets James Bond meets Law and Order
This morning I took a tour of the Intermountain West Regional Crime Forensics Lab, in Salt Lake City. They just received international accreditation, and have been here for three years...
10/28/08: Forensics lab receives accreditation
Law enforcement's newest technology tool got a boost today. The regional computer forensics lab received international accreditation. The secure evidence room has shelves and shelves of computers, hard drives, cell phones, PDAs and video cameras. Any electronic tool connected to a crime is analyzed there.
07/06/05: New High - Tech Crime Lab Targets Cyberspace Criminals A new, high-tech crime lab in Salt Lake, will be a real tool, in solving crimes. The FBI's Regional Computer Forensics Lab ... might be here ... but, it will serve Utah, Montana and Idaho. It targets high- tech criminals, cyber crooks, who steal ID's, sell pornography and commit other crimes with the help of computers ...
07/06/05: New High Tech Crime Lab Opening A new, high-tech crime lab opens today. It's specifically designed to catch a new generation of high-tech criminals. Traditional crime forensics are not glamorous, but the investigations are a key part of solving crime, as well as a key plot element on shows like Law and Order: SVU. But in an age of 'high-tech crime' --child pornography, Identity theft, fraud, even terrorism-- high tech tools are required. That's why the FBI's Regional Computer Forensics Lab in Salt Lake City is significant...
07/06/05: FBI Opens New Crime Lab The FBI has opened a new crime lab to deal with crimes involving computers. The Regional Computer Forensics Lab will analyze computers that are seized in connection with a crime. Holding up a notebook computer, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says computers are involved in nearly every crime. “This is the weapon of choice for probably the fastest group of criminals there are in the world today.” The lab will analyze all kinds of electronics ...
10/07/03: Salt Lake City home to new FBI forensics lab The FBI selected Salt Lake City as the newest site for a Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory. The lab will provide the most advanced technological resources and pool trained forensic examiners to investigate and analyze information on a variety of national and international criminal cases ...

Kentucky RCFL

10/26/06: FBI News—RCFL Opened in Kentucky The new Kentucky Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory—located on the University of Louisville, Shelby Campus—provides high-quality digital forensics services to any law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in the state of Kentucky. There are currently 14 FBI-sponsored RCFLs around the nation, serving more than 4,000 agencies in 17 states...
10/20/06: Crime-fighting in the electronic age FBI setting up lab to track digital data Office will help agencies statewide Crime scenes aren't just about fingerprints and blood samples anymore. Increasingly, criminals are leaving behind digital traces of their activities -- on computers, cell phones, BlackBerries and other electronic devices...
10/20/06: Kentucky now has a new forensics lab equipped to zero in on digital clues Fingerprints, fibers, and weapons. Those used to be the key pieces of evidence needed to solve crimes. But these days a computer or cell phone may contain crutial evidence. Kentucky now has a new forensics lab equipped to zero in on digital clues. The RCFL, Regional Computer Forensics Labratory, is located on U of L's Shelby Campus...
10/19/06: New Crime Lab Opens In Louisville LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A new state-of-the-art crime lab opened in Louisville Thursday. The Kentucky Regional Computer Forensic Lab is one of only 14 in the country. Experts at the lab will focus on digital evidence –- extracting it, preserving it and enhancing it. "Today the smoking gun that every investigator hopes to find might take the form of a time computer chip hidden in an ordinary electronic device," Kerry Haines, executive director of the FBI's science and technology branch said...
10/19/06: Louisville home to digital forensic investigation center LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new digital forensics center opened Thursday in Louisville, a move Kentucky law enforcement said will help them catch and prosecute criminals. The Kentucky Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory will serve as a central place for law enforcement officers to seek help in crimes involving computers and other technology used to store or hide information, said Tracy Reinhold, the FBI's special agent in charge for Kentucky...
10/19/06: Digital Forensic Investigation Center Opens In Louisville (LOUISVILLE, Oct. 19th, 2006) -- FBI Agents were in Louisville this week to unveil a new state-of-the art crime lab. Located on UofL's Shelby campus, the new Kentucky Regional Computer Forensics Lab is one of only 14 in the nation, with the goal of analyzing digital evidence from crime scenes, and training future crime fighters. As WAVE 3's Caton Bredar reports, law enforcement agencies from across the state believe the new lab will help the Commonwealth stay one step ahead of the criminals...

Miami Valley RCFL

5/4/09: KETTERING, Ohio -- FBI agents said they arrested Kettering attorney, Marc Norman Greenberg, 32, at his law office on Monday morning. Greenberg was charged in a federal complaint filed at the U.S. District Court, with 12 counts of violating obscenity laws by transferring obscene images to minors. Greenberg is the girls basketball coach at Chaminade-Julienne High School. The complaint charging Greenberg alleged that between February and April of 2009, he used computers at his home and office to engage in graphic sexual conversations and to transmit obscene images. The images were allegedly sent to individuals who Greenberg believed were underage females.
I-Team: Inside An FBI Probe The email came in the dead of winter and was chilling indeed. A man calling himself Abdul Yohanish said he was about to bomb the major local bridges connecting Ohio to Kentucky, the local international airport, and Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Just who was Abdul Yohanish? And was the threat real?...
FBI center in Centerville examines computers, other electronics DAYTON — When the FBI started investigating computer crimes, the focus was mainly on child pornography. Now, agents find that computers are used in all sorts of crimes, from terrorism and identity theft to fraud and murder. "Crimes are committed with the click of a mouse," said Keith Bennett, special agent in charge of the Cincinnati Field Office. "Now we have crimes crossing continents. You could have a criminal in Europe committing a crime in southern Ohio."
Man pleads guilty in child porn case - DAYTON — A Sidney man who hoarded more than 12,000 illicit images of children on his home computer pleaded guilty Thursday, Sept. 18, to one count of child pornography possession. Carson Trader, 61, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, along with at least five years and up to lifetime supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sexual offender. U.S. Senior District Judge Walter H. Rice set Trader's sentencing for Dec. 12.
Ex-city worker faces child porn charges - A federal indictment names Charles Evans, former deputy director of the city's IT department. DAYTON — A former city employee suspected of possessing child pornography now faces a two-count federal indictment on those allegations. Charles Evans, the former deputy director of Dayton's information technology department, is charged with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, Fred Alverson, spokesman for Gregory G. Lockhart, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said Wednesday night.
FBI arrest Miamisburg woman in child porn case FBI agents arrested a Miamisburg woman Tuesday morning accused of enticing a teenage boy to make child pornography. Kendra L. Sasser, 30, of 28 S. Ninth St., was arrested at her home without incident, said J. Mark Batts, acting special agent in charge of the Cincinnati FBI office. FBI agents also executed a federal search warrant at the home, Batts said. Sasser had been in contact with a 16-year-old boy in Yuma, Ariz. for several weeks, and the two had exchanged explicit photos, according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Scott W. Warren...
25 Years For Webcam Hacking Mark Wayne Miller, age 47, of Dayton, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to a total of 300 months imprisonment followed by supervised release for the rest of his life. Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and J. Mark Batts, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Field Division; announced the sentence handed down today by Senior United States District Judge Walter H. Rice...
Former administrator jailed for child porn Ex-Washington Twp. official sentenced to 20 months in prison, five years probation and a $2,500 fine. DAYTON — — Former Washington Twp. Deputy Administrator Tom Toberen was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 20 months in prison, five years probation and fined $2,500 for possession of child pornography. He also will have to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison, said U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose. Toberen, 51, will be allowed to surrender to U.S. marshals, who will notify him when and where to report in about 30 days, Rose said...
Georgia man who had sex with girl, 15, gets 6 years in prison A Georgia man who picked up his 15-year-old Internet girlfriend from the Dayton Mall and had sex with her in a Tennessee motel has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison. Following his release, Keith Alan Hanshaw will be ordered to register with the proper state sex offender agency and will not be allowed to own or use a computer, according to the sentence U.S. District Court Judge Walter H. Rice ordered Monday...

New Jersey RCFL

7/29/08: Ex-mayor Sentenced - The once powerful ex-mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Sharpe James, was sentenced to 27 months in prison, and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for fraud and conspiracy. His ex-girlfriend, Tamika Riley was sentenced to 15 months in prison. The New Jersey RCFL supported the federal investigation and examined several computers related to the case...
4/23/08: Teacher charged with distributing child porn A teacher in the township middle school was arrested today on charges that he received and distributed child pornography from his home computer, authorities said...
11/15/07: School staffer accused of child porn - Lebanon Boro man an aide at Phillipsburg Middle School A Lebanon Borough resident employed as a teacher's aide at Phillipsburg Middle School has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography...
February 2nd 2006: Rita Cosby Live & Direct ...LIVE & DIRECT with us tonight is Larry Depew. He is the director of the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory. Larry, thank you so much for giving sort of a little bit of a tour. You know, before the show, you were showing us the evidence room. Tell us what kind of evidence, you know, in general terms comes into you? And how does it get to you? ... (View web version or PDF
February/March 2006: State-of-the-Science Crime Lab Blooms in Garden State The smell of fresh paint and sawdust is still strong in some corners of the new State Police Technology Center in New Jersey. The Technology Center opened in May 2004, next door to the equally new Troop C Headquarters and Communications Center. Sprawled over 38 acres just outside Hamilton on Route 130, the complex is the new home of the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Forensic Science Center, one of the most preeminent forensic laboratories in the country...
02/12/06: Parents key to Internet safety North Caldwell seminar offers tips for children's computer usage There are ways to protect children from Internet predators, but it's a matter of parents getting involved with their children's online usage, according to federal and county law enforcement officials. "You never know who is online on the other end," FBI Special Agent Dave Freyman told a group of parents last week at West Essex Junior High in North Caldwell...
10/24/05: Computer forensics: On the cutting edge A few miles outside Hamilton, N.J., in a sparkling facility that still smells of fresh paint and sawn wood, Larry Depew flips a switch and a blue light starts flashing overhead ...
01/28/05: Child-porn sweep nets 39 arrests State authorities have arrested 39 people, including a pediatric neurologist and a high school hockey coach, in a child-pornography sweep across New Jersey that traced movies and pictures being traded over the Internet ...
02/23/04: 'CSI' in Jersey: FBI to build high-tech lab Federal and state authorities yesterday announced plans to create a state-of-the-art digital forensics lab in Hamilton, one of nine FBI-sponsored sites nationally where detectives will extract electronic evidence from hard drives, cell phones, digital cameras, Palm Pilots and other high-tech gear that have become everyday tools for the modern criminal ...
02/23/04: Forensics computer lab to open HAMILTON - Investigators across the state will have a new tool to pursue computer criminals through a new forensic computer lab announced yesterday by the FBI and state officials ...
02/23/04: NJ Fights Cyber Crime The FBI has selected the state as one of only two sites on the east coast to house a high tech laboratory where agencies will work together fighting cyber crime (Video report included) ...

New Mexico

07/27/2009: Interview with Darrin Jones, Director of New Mexico RCFL The Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL) Program is a partnership between the FBI and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. The Program provides forensics resources and advanced techniques that can be brought to bear on cases being worked by participating agencies. The first RCFL was established in 1999 in San Diego, California. This successful partnership between FBI and Southern California law enforcement led to fifteen more centers over the ten years that followed. One of the most recent is in Albuquerque, New Mexico...
Computer Forensics Lab Awarded to New Mexico - UNM anchors regional bid The FBI announced recently that the state of New Mexico, in conjunction with the UNM Police Department, UNM Information Technology Services Department (ITS) and the NSA-certified UNM Anderson School of Management’s Center for Information Assurance Research and Education (CIARE), has been awarded the nation’s 15th Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (RCFL)...

North Texas

Identity Theft Case should be Largest so far A Florida man was indicted Wednesday in an alleged scheme to steal vast amounts of personal information, and the Justice Department said it might be the largest illegal invasion and theft of personal data to date ...

Northwest RCFL

07/21/2009: DCJ Partners with FBI on Computer Forensics The Department of Community Justice (DCJ) is the only parole and probation department in the nation to have a full-time examiner assigned with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) forensic laboratory. DCJ staff are using these cutting edge approaches to help break the cycle human trafficking, foiling sex crimes, identity theft, drug and gang activity and fraud cases...
02/11/2009: FBI Lab Clues Police In — Portland center trains local officers on investigating in digital age PORTLAND — Police investigators have been digging into computers for years, but now a digital crime scene can include a cell phone, a GPS unit, an Xbox game system ... or a teddy bear. That's why the FBI has established a regional laboratory to assist more than 100 police agencies in Oregon and Southwest Washington...
02/11/2009: Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Lab Receives Accreditation The only regional computer forensics laboratory in the Pacific Northwest received accreditation Wednesday. The lab – which is in Portland – is one of only fourteen accredited computer forensic labs in the country. It's operated by the FBI in partnership with local and state police. Police say accreditation is the best way to make sure evidence stands up in court...
06/15/2008: Lab decodes ecoterrorists' e-mail files Once the evidence arrives at the heavily secured lab, it is bagged in bright pink plastic bags, sealed and assigned to a forensic examiner. The examiners aren't looking for fingerprints, blood patterns or DNA profiles. They are combing through computer hard drives, extracting call lists, text messages and photos from suspects' cell phones, or enhancing screen grabs from videotapes of crime scenes...
09/09/05: RCFL Network Launches 9 th Laboratory The Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory (NWRCFL) officially opened today in Portland, Oregon. The NWRCFL will supply digital forensics expertise and training to hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout all of Oregon and southwestern Washington ...

Orange County

07/22/2009: FBI lab to open in O.C. to nab cyber criminals SANTA ANA – Orange County law-enforcement agencies will deploy a new, $5 million FBI digital forensics lab in the central part of the county when it opens in February. It will be the 16th such lab in the country. Its location has not been unveiled. Representatives of the participating agencies of the FBI-sponsored Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory signed a Memorandum of Understanding Wednesday to formalize their commitment to pony up forensic examiners and other resources...

07/22/2009: Cyber Crime Crackdown (VIDEO) Tonight we know that Orange County will soon be the home to a $5 million state-of-the-art FBI digital forensic lab. Click here to watch the video.

07/22/2009: Computer Crime Lab (VIDEO) A new regional lab was inaugurated in Orange County today to fight computer crime. Click here to watch the video.

07/22/2009: FBI Teaming up with Local Law Enforcement for the Orange County Regional Computer Lab (AUDIO) SSA Jason Weiss say the new $5M headquarters will help solve a variety of crimes. Click here to hear the complete story.

Philadelphia RCFL

04/7/09: Local forensics lab gets national recognition RADNOR, Pa. April 7, 2009 (WPVI) -- A Delaware County forensics lab is officially going national. With the help of the latest high-tech gadgets and a little intuition, authorities are making a science out of solving crime.

04/7/09: FBI's high-tech forensics lab in Radnor is accredited A high-tech FBI laboratory in Delaware County recently was accredited by an independent national forensic science organization, lab officials announced today. The Philadelphia Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in Radnor received accreditation in digital and multimedia evidence from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. The organization reviews procedures used in labs.

02/11/09: Who Nailed Bonnie & Clyde, Ft. Dix 6 and Larry Mendte? NBC10 Investigative Reporter Harry Hairston goes behind the scenes of a special federal task force to show you how they closed in on 3 big local cases that all involved computer forensics. Click here for the video clip.

08/23/07: Probing the criminal mind's memory - A regional lab in Radnor analyzes computer data to catch lawbreakers Not surprisingly, one just can't stroll into the Philadelphia Regional Computer Forensic Lab in the Radnor Financial Center. In the office lobby, a friendly if not guarded face greets you behind a plate of bulletproof glass, high-security doors surround you and cameras silently survey you. It is in that office in Radnor where digital information technologies like computers and cell phones are taken apart and searched for information as part of law-enforcement investigations and legal cases from all of Eastern Pennsylvania...

07/14/07: Pa. man convicted of terror bomb plot - Jurors took only an hour to reject his defense that he tried to snare al-Qaeda members. SCRANTON - Apparently agreeing with the government that Michael Curtis Reynolds is a terrorist and not a terrorist-hunter, a federal jury took little more than an hour yesterday to convict the Wilkes-Barre "loner" of trying to help al-Qaeda destroy fuel pipelines and ruin the U.S. economy...

06/26/07: “Fort Dix Six” On May 8, 2007, six foreign-born Muslim men were arrested and faced charges in federal court for plotting to attack Fort Dix and murder American soldiers serving at the Army installation in New Jersey. They are currently being held without bail...

05/02/07: Philadelphia RCFL Supporting Investigation Involving Threats Against Colleges The Philadelphia RCFL (PHRCFL) is assisting state and local authorities in an investigation involving a series of threatening e-mails against five college campuses outside Philadelphia. The campuses are part of Delaware County Community College, which comprises 16 campuses serving approximately 10,000 students. School officials were forced to close the schools for several days, and according to a statement from Jerome S. Parker, President, on the college’s Web site, classes will remain closed while the police investigation continues...

02/09/07: Pennsylvania State Senator Indicated One of the most powerful lawmakers in Pennsylvania, State Senator Vincent J. Fumo, was recently indicted on a slew of federal charges. The Philadelphia RCFL is providing U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan’s office expert digital forensics expertise in support of this investigation...

07/07/06: Lab turns to cyberspace to solve crimes Go ahead and argue that you were nowhere near the bank that got robbed. Investigators have evidence that suggests otherwise. Even if you deleted those Internet driving directions to the crime scene, forensic experts can find them - and a whole lot more. "Computers are the crime scene of the new millennium," U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said yesterday, adding that evidence increasingly surfaces in the cyber world...
05/24/06: FBI Combating Digital Crime The digital age has brought us serious digital crime, and the FBI is getting up to speed to combat it. An FBI lab is so new, it hasn't even open yet, not scheduled to open until July. But we got an exclusive sneak peak of the FBI's new weapon on crime in the Delaware Valley...

Rocky Mountain RCFL

1/7/2007: Dialogue Denver DA - Computer Crime, Denver 8 Online Hardly a day goes by that you don't hear about some time of computer crime. As cases increase, so has the law enforcement response. The FBI has opened a regional computer forensic lab to help investigate and prosecute these crimes. FBI Special Agency Chris Buechner joins Denver DA Mitch MOrrissey on Dialogue Denver DA...
06/18/06: Danger just a click away: Experts warn of Internet predatorsIt's possible to buy a new car for sale thousands of miles away, find a date, network for business, research any topic at the touch of a few buttons and above all, communicate with virtually anyone, anywhere in chat rooms, topic-specific blogs and popular profile sites ...
2006: ABC 7 News story about the Rocky Mountain RCFL
01/19/06: FBI-funded lab unlocks digital clues to crimes As criminals rely more on the newest technology, law enforcement is keeping pace with high-tech sleuthing. And Colorado is in the forefront. Federal and local officials are heralding the opening of a new computer forensics laboratory where stored, digital information from an array of devices - including cellphones, iPods, digital cameras and computers - can be unlocked by experts and presented as evidence ...
01/19/06: Lab to turn technology against crime The folks at the new regional computer forensics lab here say they're going to take a byte out of crime. They led journalists on a tour of the facility on Wednesday, showing off the high-tech gear they say will help crack more child pornography and enticement crimes, identity thefts, eBay cheats and even murders and terrorist plots ...

San Diego RCFL

07/12/09: REGION: Escondido joins regional computer forensics lab When Escondido teen Amber Dubois disappeared in February, detectives sent the family's computer to the Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in San Diego. Forensic experts there quickly determined that the household's Internet use had spiked in the week before Amber went missing, leading detectives to seek her e-mails and chat records from Yahoo. While Amber's case was given a quick turnaround ---- the search for the missing Escondido High School student continues ---- local police detectives say that computer forensic examinations are not just for high-profile cases...
05/24/07: 2 girls testify that man tied them up, molested them - Suspect dated their mothers CHULA VISTA – Two girls told a judge yesterday that they were tied up and molested by an Imperial Beach man their mothers dated between 1998 and 2002. Neither of the mothers knew each other, and they dated Robert Samuel Kircher at different times, but their daughters gave strikingly similar accounts in graphic detail of what happened to them. At the end of the hearing in Chula Vista Superior Court, Judge Esteban Hernandez ordered Kircher held in jail without bail pending a hearing June 7 to set a trial date...

Silicon Valley RCFL

08/15/07: Cybercrime forensics lab cinches high-profile cases From the BALCO steroids scandal to last year's contaminated spinach case, the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory has been in involved in nearly every high-profile investigation in the Bay Area...
01/12/07: Local crime lab gets national credit Silicon Valley high-tech crime fighters are helping maintain the valley's reputation by earning an accreditation as one of the country's elite computer forensic laboratories. The FBI announced Thursday that the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory in Menlo Park has been accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board...
01/11/07: SILICON VALLEY COMPUTER FORENSIC LAB EARNS ELITE STATUS Silicon Valley high tech crime fighters are helping maintain the valley's reputation by earning an accreditation as one of the country's elite computer forensic laboratories. The FBI announced today that the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory in Menlo Park has been accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board. The Silicon Valley lab becomes one of only 16 in the United States and only three in the FBI's network of 14 such labs to earn the board's stamp of approval, the FBI reported ...
01/07/05: MENLO PARK FBI opens Silicon Valley lab— Electronic devices a boon for forensics When forensic examiner Tim Weaver looks at the computers, cell phones and PDAs that aid and entertain people, he sees yet another purpose: evidence. "People rely on electronic devices a lot more than they used to," said Weaver, who works for the Santa Clara County district attorney's office ...
01/06/05: FBI Opens New Bay Area Forensics Lab— Regional Lab In Menlo Park They are the types of evidence now linking virtually every case the FBI investigates -- high-tech devices used by criminals. Now the FBI is sharing its high-tech tools with Bay Area law enforcement by opening a new forensics lab here. ABC7's Thuy Vu takes us on a tour ...
01/06/05: FBI Computer Forensics Lab Opens As many as three-fourths of Americans are surfing the internet— that includes criminals— so is law enforcement. The FBI today opened a state of the art computer forensic laboratory here in the Bay Area, all designed to fight crime ...
01/06/05: New FBI Computer Crime Lab Opens on Peninsula When the evidence of a crime is hidden on a computer, the new FBI computer crime lab in Menlo Park will sniff it out.
"Little did we know how much of a forward-thinking McGruff the Crime Dog was when he said, 'Take a bite out of crime,'" said Michael Gilmore of the FBI. "We'll be doing that, byte by byte." ...
10/15/02: FBI plans computer lab in the valley The FBI is creating a $3 million computer forensics lab in Silicon Valley, using the latest imaging software and high-end computers to sleuth for cyber-clues of child pornography, corruption, murder and more ...

Western New York RCFL

06/19/2008: Rape charges shock NH neighbors Brian Knippers had a career in the New England software industry, a Newmarket condo he shared with a girlfriend and a passion for fishing that included posting his trophies on-line. And if police charges prove to be true, the 35-year-old is a serial rapist who stalked prostitutes in Massachusetts and brutally attacked and raped them over the past 2 1/2 years. After two days of testimony in a Massachusetts courtroom this week, a judge ordered him held for 90 days, according to the Enterprisenews.com, the Web site of the Brockton (Mass.) Enterprise newspaper....
06/12/2008: Gasport man accused of child porn charges GASPORT — A Gasport man was indicted Monday in federal court on charges that he possessed child pornography. Jason Willis, 36, was charged Monday with unlawful possession, distribution and receipt of child pornography that had been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce by means of a computer, U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn announced Wednesday...
11/14/07: Digital DNA A Look Inside the FBI's Computer Crime Lab Buffalo is home to one of the FBI's 14 Regional Computer Forensics Labs, or RCFLs. It's here local, state and federal examiners team up to break down computers, cell phones, and iPods in search of evidence from a crime...
11/28/2006: Online love triangle led to Dynabrade worker's death A middle-aged West Virginia woman posing as an attractive young female on the Internet became the apex of a love triangle that sparked a fatal ambush in Clarence in September, Erie County sheriff's officials said Monday after arresting the man suspected of the killing...
09/08/2006: High-tech Crime Lab Officially Opens in Buffalo A lot has changed over the years when it comes to criminal investigations. Nowadays, digital evidence can be just as important as physical evidence when it comes to solving a case. A brand new, state-of-the-art forensics lab has just opened in Buffalo...providing high-tech crime fighting techniques to law enforcers throughout Western New York. The Ralph Phillips case could be one that they've been working on...
09/08/2006: New laboratory to help FBI, local police; BUSTED: Forensic laboratory helps recover erased hard-drive files and catch criminals Criminals around the region will have to think twice about computer-based identity theft. The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the opening of its new Western New York Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory Thursday. The lab’s primary purpose is to aid criminal investigations by recovering files on a computer that a user thought was deleted, said Detective Scott Sheehan of the City of Tonawanda Police Department...
09/08/2006: High-tech Crime Lab Officially Opens in Buffalo Sep 07, 2006 - A lot has changed over the years when it comes to criminal investigations. Nowadays, digital evidence can be just as important as physical evidence when it comes to solving a case. A brand new, state-of-the-art forensics lab has just opened in Buffalo...providing high-tech crime fighting techniques to law enforcers throughout Western New York. The Ralph Phillips case could be one that they've been working on...
09/08/2006: High-tech lab fights crime of digital age: FBI's $1.5 million facility can recover data, zero in on such offenses as child pornography Imagine a laboratory filled with equipment advanced enough to locate deleted child pornography on a hard drive, recover old e-mails sent on a cell phone and trace the owner of a camera used to download photographs onto a laptop...
10/13/03: Public Safety facility to house computer forensics lab (Buffalo NY) FBI said Tuesday that Buffalo has been selected to host one of five Regional Computer Forensic Laboratories. RCFLs are described as highly specialized laboratories that provide forensic examinations of digital media, such as computers, in support of law enforcement investigations...

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