Towamencin detective to join FBI cyber task force

 A Towamencin detective could soon give the department a stronger presence in cyberspace.

Township officials have approved an assignment for Detective Chris Bluem to join an FBI cyber task force specializing in online crimes.

“Some people, you hear ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘cyber fraud,’ and we’re frowning and trying to run away. And he’s got a big smile on his face, and he’s like, ‘Let me dive into this’,” said police Chief Tim Troxel.

A member of the department since 2018, Bluem brought a background in finance and fraud to the department, and has recently worked on a case involving financial dealings that had an international scope, Troxel told the township supervisors on Jan. 22.

“Thanks to his work on a case, it went international, and the FBI got involved. And they actually caught one of the people, involved in this group that had defrauded one of our residents — they picked him up in L.A., coming in from London,” Troxel said.

Based in part on his work in that case, the chief told the supervisors, Bluem has been invited to join the FBI’s cyber crime task force based out of the Philadelphia field office.

“It basically connects us into that network, to not only provide training and equipment that we would never be able to see here, and tie-ins to some of the the things the FBI has access to — to not only use while he’s helping them with investigations, but to also help us with anything we may have that goes on in the township,” Troxel said, adding that he was “very proud” of the detective.

Bluem told the board that the case involved a township resident who had a crypto currency account compromised, and “through coordination with several different law enforcement agencies, we were able to arrest somebody.”

Currently, about 50 percent of his police investigations are related to cyber crimes, Bluem told the board, and of those about 60 percent involve criminal enterprises victimizing residents; about 80 percent of his investigations use cyber skills like digital forensics, cellphone downloads, cell records, and research of online usernames and accounts.

“Online fraud is going up about 22 percent per year, so it’s only getting more and more significant,” Bluem said.

Partnering with the federal task force would allow the local detective to join larger cases that affect victims in Towamencin, and could increase the likelihood of prosecution and/or restitution for those victims, the detective told the board. The task force could also provide reimbursement for equipment and software used on those cases, “which we probably otherwise wouldn’t be able to purchase,” and access to specialists for help with investigations.

“We don’t have a full breakdown on exactly what would be included and what wouldn’t, but so long as he participates on the task force for two years, that equipment that they give us, we are allowed to then keep, at no expense to us, based on the fact that he’s given us a work product using that equipment for two years,” Troxel said.

The time commitment would be similar to that experienced by other officers on prior FBI task forces, the detective said, and Troxel added that Bluem would still largely be based in Towamencin.

“He’s still a Towamencin detective. He’s not loaned out to the FBI, where he’s going to the Philadelphia field office to work every day. There may be times where there’s hearings because they’ve arrested people, or case work that can only be done at the office,” he said, that could require part of a day outside of Towamencin to attend.

“Basically, any work he does, including cases of our own that he’s handling here, which typically have a cyber tie-in — he’s still going to be here, doing that,” Troxel said, estimating that is roughly 70 to 80 percent of the detective’s workload.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Feb. 12 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.

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