NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, February 26, 2015

INCIDENTS

Pea Ridge NMP

Fraud Investigation Leads To Child Pornography Conviction

On August 5, 2011, Ranger Matt Fry advised the Investigative Services Branch that a credit card assigned to a park employee was being used to make illegal online purchases resulting in "site to store transactions."

An NPS special agent was assigned to the investigation, and in November 2011, information was obtained linking a suspect to the property pickup and utility service in the city. Known computer data was forwarded to an ISB forensic special agent for analysis. Information was received showing possible spoofed and fake IP and email addresses.

During late 2011, Fry reported additional attempts against the employee's new credit card amounting to over $2,000 and in January, 2012, another employee in same park, had fraudulent charges appear on a government credit card.

Linking subpoenaed and other information, a search warrant was obtained by NPS agents and served on the first suspect's residence in February, 2012. During the warrant service, evidence, explosive materials, and weapons were located inside the house, as well as a computer containing suspected child pornography. Five computers and seven cell phones were seized along with paper records and stolen property. The FBI and BATF were brought into the investigation to assist.

An additional search warrant for one of the computers, belonging to the suspect's brother, M.W., 42, of Nixa, Missouri, was obtained and executed. M.W.'s computer contained approximately 139 videos and 23 images of child pornography, including prepubescent victims. M.W. admitted that he used file sharing software to download the images and videos. The software automatically saved the downloaded images and videos to a share folder on his computer and made them available to be downloaded by others using the program.

M.W. was arrested on September 30, 2013, and released on bond in November, which included home detention and location monitoring. In order to avoid prosecution, though, M.W. fled after cashing out his retirement account at Cox Hospital and leaving a note indicating he intended to commit suicide. On August 6, 2014, FBI agents arrested him at a home in Spotsylvania, Virginia.

On February 5th, M.W. was sentenced in US District Court to 11 years and 9 months without parole and 10 years supervised probation, admitting he received child pornography over the internet between May 2010 and February 2012. The remaining suspect in this case awaits charges on conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving the NPS credit card accounts.

The FBI, BATF, Springfield Missouri Police/Fire Departments, the Nixa Missouri Police Department, and Wilson's Creek NB, Ozark NSR and Hot Springs NP all assisted with this investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Steven Mohlhenrich prosecuted this case in the Western District of Missouri, Springfield.

[Investigative Services Branch]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):

Morristown NHP - Morristown National Historical Park celebrated George Washington's birthday by inviting the Continental Army and George and Martha Washington back to Morristown over President's Day weekend.

Brown V. Board of Education NHS - In recognition of President's Day, President and Mrs. Carter spoke to a group of guests and school children in Plains, Georgia. Using distance learning technology, students from rural Kansas were able to join in.

Northeast Region - Northeast Region's 2014 Call to Action report illustrates its focus on collaboration as a key to successful partnerships and shows how the region greatly improved visitors' experiences through these alliances.

Channel Islands NP - Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary honored their volunteers at an annual recognition event in Ventura on January 29th.

NPS Alumni - George E. Briggs, Jr., 56, a longtime NPS employee who worked at parks throughout the country, died in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Saturday, February 7th.

To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:

NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index

Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/

The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).

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