Bio – Allen L. Stidger

Allen L. Stidger – Chief Investigator

Licensed Private Investigator, Licensed Attorney at Law, Retired FBI Special Agent

Opening Statement

Mr. Allen L. Stidger is a highly skilled and successful veteran investigator of twenty-two (22) years in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and two years in Iraq as a contract investigator, first with the Department of Defense (DOD) and then with the Department of State (DOS). Mr. Stidger is also an attorney (having graduated from Law School and been admitted to practice Law) whose legal knowledge, coupled with his vast investigative experience and hundreds of appearances as a primary prosecution witness in the United States Federal and State courts, as well as the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, give him a deep understanding of the importance of the professional collection of evidence and subsequent presentation at trial.

Presentation of Facts

Military Experience:

After graduation from college, Mr. Stidger was commissioned as an Army Officer and was trained as a Military Intelligence officer and received specialized training as a Foreign Counter Intelligence Special Agent. In addition to serving overseas as an intelligence officer, Mr. Stidger received training in the Army as a Paratrooper, Ranger and Special Forces Officer, receiving Army awards and qualifications for all three. Mr. Stidger eventually achieved the rank of Captain and was the commander of an elite Special Forces Alpha Detachment for two years in 5th Special Forces Group.

Legal Education:

Upon completion of military service, Mr. Stidger attended Texas Tech Law School and received a Doctorate of Jurisprudence and admission to the Texas Bar Association. While in Law School, Mr. Stidger developed a high level of expertise regarding the admissibility of evidence at trial by participating in two National Mock Trial teams. Upon graduation, Mr. Stidger received his Law School’s highest award for trial excellence, being named the “Outstanding Oralist” and was admitted to the prestigious National Order of Barristers.

FBI Experience:

Upon completion of the bar examination and admission to the bar, Mr. Stidger attended the FBI Academy and became an FBI Special Agent. Mr. Stidger’s first assignment in the FBI was the Denver Field Office where Mr. Stidger was assigned to the Rocky Mountain Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force where he conducted numerous complex investigations of Narcotics and Organized Crime figures which lead to dozens of successful prosecutions. While in the Denver office of the FBI, Mr. Stidger was specially trained as an FBI Special Agent Photographer and qualified to conduct Crime Scene Photography and participated in the investigation of numerous crimes involving Bank Robberies, Kidnappings and General Crimes.

Mr. Stidger’s second assignment in the FBI was to the Miami field office where he investigated Organized Crime. While in the Miami FBI office Mr. Stidger spent one year on the Special Operations Group (SOG) where he further developed his photographic skills and also learned special techniques for surveillance. Mr. Stidger’s last assignment in the Miami FBI office was to investigate major international con artists. He performed as the case agent on a large complex fraud case that resulted in numerous convictions. During this time Mr. Stidger honed his ability to conduct and manage complex financial investigations and trace money.

The Dallas office of the FBI was Mr. Stidger’s last assignment in the FBI where he further developed his broad based skills as an investigator by conducting numerous successful investigations of financial frauds, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, weapons violations, violent crime, terrorism, and terrorism finance. During this time Mr. Stidger gained considerable experience at working with other investigators from different branches of government and the private sector as well by participating in three joint agency task forces to include the North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force (HIDTA), the Violent Crime (VC) Task Force, and Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

On the HIDTA task force, Mr. Stidger was detailed from the FBI to a squad of agents from the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service where he was assigned to conduct Money Laundering investigations of major narcotics traffickers. On the Violent Crime Task Force Mr. Stidger participated in numerous investigations of bank robberies, kidnappings, extortions and other violent crimes. After the events of “9-11″ Mr. Stidger worked on the Joint Terrorism Task Force to conduct investigations of terrorism. During this period Mr. Stidger was twice the Acting Assistant Legal Attach at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.

Contract Investigator Experience in Iraq:

Upon retirement from the FBI, Mr. Stidger became a Department of Defense (DOD) contractor working as an investigator for the the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Office (JIEDDO) and was deployed to Iraq where he was embedded with the Third Brigade of the First Cavalry Division and assigned to the 6-9 Cavalry Recon Squadron where he participated in every combat operation conducted by his unit during the “Surge” of 2007. Accompanying troops on dozens of operations Mr. Stidger collected physical and documentary evidence of insurgent activity.

As a JIEDDO investigator, Mr. Stidger responded to the scene of major incidents in which Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) had caused casualties or major destruction in order to analyze the scene and collect physical and biometric evidence. Mr. Stidger submitted the evidence for analysis and reported the results to support the prosecution of insurgents in Iraqi Criminal Court. In one such case, Mr. Stidger personally presented the evidence in Iraqi court against an Al Qaeda insurgent leader. The documentary evidence seized by Mr. Stidger was found to link the insurgent leader to the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.

In 2008, Mr. Stidger returned to Iraq as a contract investigator for the Department of State Regional Security Office of the Diplomatic Security Service after being selected to be a member of a hand picked team of experienced investigators to comprise a new unit called the Iraq Force Investigative Unit (FIU). The new DOS FIU unit had the mission of investigating shooting incidents and other criminal acts involving Department of State contractors, such as the now infamous September 17, 2007 shooting by Blackwater contract employees that resulted in the deaths of seventeen Iraqi civilians.

Closing Argument

As a result of his legal education, twenty-two years experience as a criminal investigator for the FBI, and two years of experience in Iraq as a contract investigator, Mr. Stidger has a long and proven track record as a highly successful investigator with a demonstrated ability to conduct the most complex and challenging investigation, even those in a hostile and dangerous environment. Finally, Mr. Stidger’s highly developed oral and written communication skills, coupled with his legal education and practical experience as an FBI Special Agent, give him the ability to clearly articulate the results of an investigation in writing or orally through testimony.