September 3, 2019
N-DEx System Helps Investigators Outwit Offenders

Criminal justice investigators across the nation use the FBI’s National Data Exchange (N-DEx) System in their daily work to connect people, places, things, and events—often across jurisdictional boundaries—that may at first glance seem unrelated. Here are several recent examples of how agencies have used the N-DEx System to identify and locate offenders.
Victim of Child Pornography Case Located
Recently, the FBI’s Columbia Field Office (FO) in South Carolina received a lead from the Detroit FO on a case they were investigating. The Detroit FO discovered nude pictures of a juvenile on the Internet, an apparent victim in a violent crimes against children case. An operations specialist from the Columbia FO searched for the victim in the N-DEx System and found an incident report, which contained the same nude pictures from the Detroit FO’s lead. The report included the name of the victim’s grandmother, who still lived in South Carolina. The grandmother helped investigators locate the victim. The victim, now an adult, has since been identified, located, and interviewed in reference to the lead.
Sex Offender Extradited
An intelligence analyst (IA) with the New Mexico Corrections Department’s Security Threat Intelligence Unit was searching for recent records on absconders through the N-DEx System recently. She discovered one of the absconders had been booked by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPCSO) in Texas for his sixth offense of driving while intoxicated. He had absconded from probation on a previous arrest for sexual assault and assault - family violence and was a registered sex offender. The IA spoke to the EPCSO, and they agreed to have the warrant served once the absconder was cleared of all local charges. He was then extradited back to New Mexico.
