Special Agent

A 34-year-old Florida man pleaded guilty late Wednesday to illegally selling night vision goggles and other military style gear online to an undercover federal agent in Baltimore pretending to be an overseas buyer — a charge that could land him in prison for 20 years. Anthony J. Torresi, of Coral Gables, did not have the required U.S. Department of State license to sell the items when he posted them on eBay and then arranged to sell them to a buyer who he believed was in New Zealand, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office of Rod J. Rosenstein.

A 34-year-old Florida man pleaded guilty late Wednesday to illegally selling night vision goggles and other military style gear online to an undercover federal agent in Baltimore pretending to be an overseas buyer — a charge that could land him in prison for 20 years. Anthony J. Torresi, of Coral Gables, did not have the required U.S. Department of State license to sell the items when he posted them on eBay and then arranged to sell them to a buyer who he believed was in New Zealand, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office of Rod J. Rosenstein.

Paul Thomas Baker, a retired FBI special agent who later became a private investigator, died Jan. 1 of pneumonia at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 85. Mr. Baker, the son of a letter carrier and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Irvington. After graduating from Mount St. Joseph High School in 1943, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served in the Pacific as a pharmacist technician and later as personal secretary to Rear Adm. Charles M. Oman of the Navy Medical Corps.

Annapolis Alderman Mathew Silverman resigned Friday, citing time conflicts with his job as a special agent at the U.S. Department of Justice, according to city officials. Silverman, a Democrat, was elected to the City Council in 2009 while he was an Anne Arundel County police officer. He subsequently took what he has called "a dream job" with the justice department. In a Friday letter to his council colleagues and Mayor Joshua Cohen, Silverman, 33, wrote that new job responsibilities require him to be on call 24 hours a day and may conflict with his city work.

Michael Forrest Kirchenbauer, a retired special agent with the FBI, died of cancer Sunday at his home in Newark, Del. The former Baltimore resident was 58. Mr. Kirchenbauer was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson and Parkville. He was a 1963 graduate of Parkville High School and earned a law degree from the University of Baltimore. He joined the FBI in 1969 and held positions in upstate New York and Manhattan before being assigned to the agency's Wilmington, Del., office. He retired in 1996.

Kathleen E. Moran, who worked in real estate sales for more than two decades and earlier had been an FBI special agent, died Sunday of a recurrent meningioma at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Parkville resident was 56. Ms. Moran was born in Baltimore and raised in Lauraville. She was a 1970 graduate of Northern High School and earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1975 from what is now Towson University. After graduating from Towson, where she played lacrosse, volleyball and basketball, she taught and coached at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School and Catholic High School of Baltimore.

When Ava Cooper-Davis took over the Washington division of the Drug Enforcement Administration in March, she became the fourth woman in the region to head a federal law enforcement agency's field office, alongside the "special agents in charge" at the FBI, ATF and the Secret Service. While most of the SACs, as they're known, said it was simply happenstance that the best people qualified for the jobs happen to be female, others see significance in the coincidence. Or, at the very least, they think it's "cool."

Thomas H. Farrow, a retired Baltimore FBI agent who talked a gun-wielding hijacker into a surrender aboard a jet, died of congestive heart failure Monday at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, Va. The former Marriottsville resident was 82. On Jan. 2, 1973, Mr. Farrow was called to Friendship Airport (now Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport) to investigate Flight 928. A hijacker armed with a .45-caliber automatic pistol had hidden in the washroom of a Piedmont jet that had landed after a stop in nearby Washington.

A Department of Justice inspector general report obtained by The Sun found "credible evidence of serious misconduct" by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Baltimore division who investigated the death of federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna two years ago. The previously undisclosed report gives new insight into the frenzied first days of the unsolved Luna investigation - with FBI agents delving into the private life and mysterious death...

Federal agents arrested a 66-year-old Maryland man Tuesday, claiming that his life was a lie. William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education. And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.

The FBI has named Baltimore native Stephen E. Vogt as special agent in charge for its office in the city. Vogt started work in his new position last week, FBI spokesman Rich Wolf said. Richard A. McFeely, who previously headed the Baltimore office, left recently after just under three years to become the FBI's assistant director of criminal and cyber operations. Before coming to Baltimore, Vogt was the legal attache in Afghanistan — the personal representative of the FBI director — and also served in Iraq.

Though his tenure as the special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore field office wasn't long - just under three years - Richard A. McFeely helped oversee investigations that took out high-profile targets that had been on the radar of law enforcement long before he arrived.  As he moves on to FBI headquarters to become assistant director of criminal and cyber operations, McFeely agreed to discuss some of those cases with The Sun, including the...

George K. McKinney, who was the first African-American to be appointed U.S. marshal for the District of Maryland, and whose career in federal service spanned more than four decades, died June 17 of leukemia at his Northwest Baltimore home. He was 77. "It is with deep sadness that I acknowledge the passing of my dear friend, retired U.S. marshal George K. McKinney," Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said in a statement. "George held the distinct honor of being the only African-American appointed U.S. marshal to two different jurisdictions by two different presidents.

A Delaware jewelry store owner is offering $10,000 for information about a November robbery in which an 8,000-carat ruby - shaped like the Liberty Bell and worth $2 million - was stolen, the FBI announced Tuesday. Armed with hammers and a handgun, four suspects took over the Stuart Kingston Galleries in Wilmington on Nov. 1, the FBI said. They tied up employees and “smashed display cases, making off with a large volume of high-end jewelry and diamonds.” They quartet left the scene in a U-Haul can and were last spotted on Interstate 95, heading north toward Pennsylvania.

Baltimore attorney Stanley Needleman, 69, has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison by a U.S. District Court judge.  Needleman pleaded guilty in September, four months after agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided his downtown law office and Pikesville home and found $1.15 million in unreported income inside two safes. Agents found a ledger detailing the cash payments from his legal clients, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said at sentencing that Needleman had funneled cash into family members accounts and on ttwo occasions cashed checks for over $10,000 for convicted drug traffickers at a local liquor store but did not deposit the monies received.  He also used $30,000 in cash of his own money to post bail for a client in violation Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct, prosecutors said.

A top supervisor with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is being reassigned to lead the Baltimore field office as the beleaguered agency attempts to remake itself amid the fallout from a failed gun-tracking operation along the Southwest border called Fast and Furious. Mark Chait, who ran all of the ATFE's field investigations around the country, will take over the Baltimore field office, announced Todd Jones, the U.S. attorney in Minneapolis who was named the acting head of the federal ATFE this year.

George K. McKinney, who was the first African-American to be appointed U.S. marshal for the District of Maryland, and whose career in federal service spanned more than four decades, died June 17 of leukemia at his Northwest Baltimore home. He was 77. "It is with deep sadness that I acknowledge the passing of my dear friend, retired U.S. marshal George K. McKinney," Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said in a statement. "George held the distinct honor of being the only African-American appointed U.S. marshal to two different jurisdictions by two different presidents.

Two weeks ago, I announced my candidacy for the United States Senate. I have been a Maryland resident for nearly a decade and call Severna Park my home. My daughter was born here, my first and only home was purchased here and my wife and I will never leave. From the Catoctin Mountains to the shores of http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/beaches/, my heart is, and will always be, in Maryland. Approximately one month ago, I left a wonderful career as a special agent with the United States Secret Service to enter this race.

Federal agents arrested a 66-year-old Maryland man Tuesday, claiming that his life was a lie. William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education. And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.