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UCI police named Investigator of the Year
The Orange County Financial Crimes Investigators Association honored two of the school's sergeants.
By Kristen SchottPublished: December 03, 2008 02:24 PM
UC Irvine Police Sgts. Tony Frisbee and Shaun Devlin received Investigator of the Year awards from the Orange County Financial Crimes Investigators Association, a nonprofit agency investigating financial crimes in the region.
The two were recognized during a Nov. 25 OCFCIA luncheon for their five-month investigation into identity thefts and submission of false IRS tax returns.
The examination began in March when a number of UCI graduate students were notified by the IRS that someone had filed tax returns under their Social Security Numbers. Detectives, Internet technology specialists and staff members at the university worked to fix the problem, but it remained unchanged until June.
The investigators began to link the UCI cases to addresses in Texas and identified possible suspects. Frisbee and Devlin, Detective Caroline Altamirano, Sgt. Manse Sinkey and Internet Technology Manager Isaac Straley traveled to the Dallas area, and with help from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, they found that the students' identities were stolen in United Healthcare offices in Dallas.
This led to the arrest of Michael Tyrone Thomas in July. Through the work of Frisbee and Devlin, along with the support from other UCI investigators, Thomas is awaiting trial. He and five others were indicted for their criminal actions by a federal grand jury in Texas.
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UC Irvine Police Sgts. Tony Frisbee and Shaun Devlin received Investigator of the Year awards from the Orange County Financial Crimes Investigators Association, a nonprofit agency investigating financial crimes in the region. The two were recognized during a Nov. 25 OCFCIA luncheon for their five-month investigation into identity thefts and submission of false IRS tax returns. The examination began in March when a number of UCI graduate students were notified by the IRS that someone had filed tax returns under their Social Security Numbers. Detectives, Internet technology specialists and staff members at the university worked to fix the problem, but it remained unchanged until June. The investigators began to link the UCI cases to addresses in Texas and identified possible suspects. Frisbee and Devlin, Detective Caroline Altamirano, Sgt. Manse Sinkey and Internet Technology Manager Isaac Straley traveled to the Dallas area, and with help from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, they found that the students' identities were stolen in United Healthcare offices in Dallas. This led to the arrest of Michael Tyrone Thomas in July. Through the work of Frisbee and Devlin, along with the support from other UCI investigators, Thomas is awaiting trial. He and five others were indicted for their criminal actions by a federal grand jury in Texas. |
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