Tag: FBI

W.Va. Police Ask FBI if Teen's Death was Hate Crime

Police in West Virginia say a 62-year-old white man killed a black 15-year-old after they bumped into each other and exchanged words. The case is under review as a possible hate crime.

A complaint signed by Charleston Police Detective C.C. Lioi says William Pulliam confessed and described the teen as “another piece of trash off the street.”

Court officials say Pulliam was arraigned on a murder charge and jailed Tuesday. He has requested a court-appointed lawyer.

According to city police, the teen was shot Monday evening at an intersection and taken by ambulance to a Charleston hospital, where he was pronounced dead from two gunshot wounds.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby says authorities are “in the early stages” of reviewing whether the shooting falls within the federal hate crimes statute.

USDA Offices Reopening After Closure Due to Security Threat

The Agriculture Department says all its offices will be open Thursday after facilities in five states were briefly closed due to an unspecified email threat.

USDA spokesman Matthew Herrick says offices in Hamden, Connecticut, and Leetown, West Virginia, will reopen Thursday with security enhancements. Offices in Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina and Kearneysville, West Virginia, reopened Wednesday after being closed Tuesday.

Herrick said Tuesday that several USDA employees had received an email that raised concerns about the safety of personnel and facilities.

He says the department is continuing to work with the FBI and other law enforcement to investigate the threat.

The facilities that were closed include offices for eight USDA agencies, including the Forest Service and the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

USDA Closes 2 W.Va. Offices, 4 Others after Threats

Updated at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 30:

Six U. S. Department of Agriculture offices were closed Tuesday after receiving anonymous threats. Two of those six facilities are located in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.     

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department first got the news about the threats Monday afternoon. Jefferson County Sheriff Pete Dougherty says the threats were made through email, but did not release any more information about those threats. Dougherty did say it was clear that the person who sent the email intended to do bodily harm to personnel at the six USDA facilities.

One of the six is a fruit research center in Kearneysville, West Virginia, just outside of Shepherdstown. It’s down the street from both the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and a state police detachment.

“It’s probably as safe a facility from a law enforcement standpoint as any – if anything started, it would take us about 15 seconds to be there,” Dougherty said.

Employees at a USDA building in Leetown, just down the road, were also threatened Monday.

Both West Virginia facilities are part of the Agriculture Research Service. The FBI is investigating the credibility of the threats, and the buildings remain closed until further notice.

Original Post:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has closed six offices nationwide, including two in West Virginia, after receiving anonymous threats Monday.  

USDA Director of Communications Matt Herrick said in a statement the offices in five states will be closed until further notice after concerns for the safety of agency personnel.

Those offices are located in Kearneysville and Leetown, West Virginia; Fort Collins, Colorado; Hamden, Connecticut; Beltsville, Maryland; and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Herrick said the USDA is working closely with the Federal Bureau for Investigations and other federal and local law enforcement to determine whether the threats are credible. 

The closures affect the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), Forest Service (FS), National Agricultural Library (NAL), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Office of the Inspector General, and USDA Departmental Management.

FBI to Add More Than 230 Jobs at Clarksburg Facility

The FBI says it will add more than 230 jobs at its Clarksburg facility over the next two years.

The Exponent Telegram reports that FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer confirmed the news.

It currently has about 2,500 employees and several hundred contractors.

Fischer says the additional hiring will help address an increase in workload volume. He says the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System has seen a steady increase over the past 17 years. Fischer says the hiring of additional NICS examiners and other staff will help assist with processing mandatory background checks.

Fischer says the FBI hopes to begin hiring as soon as possible with new positions occurring between now and June 2017.

The local FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division is located in Harrison County.

FBI to Investigate Death of Arrested Woman

The FBI plans to investigate the death of a Mercer County woman who died at a Charleston hospital several days after being briefly held at the Bluefield City Jail.

Supervisory Special Agent Chris Courtright told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph there’s no timeline for when the investigation will end.

Bluefield resident Connie Hambrick was arrested by police June 4 on an outstanding warrant from Tazewell County, Virginia. That night, she complained about a bad headache and was taken by to Bluefield Regional Medical Center. Hospital personnel told police Hambrick had a stroke and needed to be transferred to another hospital. She was taken to the Charleston Area Medical Center the next day and died June 17. The cause of death is under investigation.

FBI's Black Friday Gun Sales Checks Set Record

An FBI official says the federal background check system set a record for processing Black Friday gun purchases.
Stephen G. Fischer with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division says the system processed 175,754 gun transactions on Friday.

It also was the second-highest day overall for transactions in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System’s history. The highest day was Dec. 21, 2012, when the system processed 177,170 gun transactions.

 
Fischer says about 74 percent of the federal checks were conducted through a secure Internet connection called E-Check. He says that’s also a record.
 

The system is run from the FBI’s criminal justice center just outside Bridgeport.

 
 

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