Episode 029: Bea DeFazio – Innocent Images, Child Predators

JERRI WILLIAMS iTUNES

Retired agent Bea DeFazio served in the FBI for 23 years, seven as a member of the Special Surveillance Group (SSG) following spies in New York and 16 as a special agent. In this episode of FBI Retired Case File Review, Bea DeFazio reviews the last half of her agent career, where she worked undercover to ferret out child predators trolling in online chat rooms. She posed as a child or teen and engaged in conversations with child predators in an attempt to identify them and arrest them for exchanging child pornography—more appropriately labeled child sexual exploitation images—and/or soliciting in-person contact for sex. Bea said that this emotionally difficult work was by far the most rewarding she did for the Bureau. She also talked about her collateral duties as a member of the Evidence Response Team (ERT) and, immediately after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Towers, working at the Fresh Kills landfill sifting through debris for evidence, personal items belonging to victims and human body parts.

Special Agent (Retired)

Beatrice A DeFazio

5/7/1984 – 5/12/2007

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Targeting Child Predators

As an investigator working Innocent Images cases, Bea’s mission was to reduce the vulnerability of children to acts of sexual exploitation and abuse facilitated through the use of computers; to identify and rescue child victims; to investigate and prosecute those who used the Internet and other online services to sexually exploit children for personal or financial gain. Here are links to a FBI overview of the Innocent Images program and a newspaper article about one of the many cases on which Bea worked:

Innocent Images National Initiative

Sex charges for Baden police officer detailed

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The Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI), a component of FBI’s Cyber Crimes Program, focuses on crimes against children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bea in scrubs
Bea in her scrubs, while working at the Fresh Kills Land Fill on Staten Island, NY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bea and her ERT teammates were first responders stationed at Fresh Kills Land Fill, Staten Island, where they processed the debris from the World Trade Center Towers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For more than a month immediately after the terrorist attacks, Bea and her ERT teammates shifted through debris looking for plane parts and human body parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bea receiving her FBI credentials from President Bush in May 1991 during her graduation for new agents training at the academy. This was a special visit, presidents don’t normally attend graduation. President Bush was there to discuss his new crime bill and the “battle” against illegal drugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerri Williams

View posts by Jerri Williams
Jerri Williams, a retired FBI agent, author and podcaster, jokes that she writes about the FBI to relive her glory days. After 26 years with the Bureau specializing in major economic fraud and corruption investigations, she calls on her professional encounters with scams and schemers to write police procedurals inspired by true crime FBI cases in her Philadelphia FBI Corruption Squad crime fiction series featuring flawed female FBI agent Kari Wheeler. Jerri’s FBI for Armchair Detectives nonfiction series enables readers to discover who the FBI is and what the FBI does by debunking misconceptions about the FBI in books, TV, and movies. Her books are available as ebooks, paperbacks, and audiobooks wherever books are sold. She’s also the host of FBI Retired Case File Review, a true crime podcast with more than 300 episodes available on all popular podcast apps and YouTube.

6 Comments

  1. Bea DeFazioAugust 7, 2016

    Thank You Jerri for allowing me to share a very important part of my FBI life. BEA

    Reply
    1. Jerri WilliamsAugust 7, 2016

      It was my honor. Thank you.

      Reply
    2. JaneJune 14, 2018

      I just came upon this, Thank you for sharing this. I’m so happy to hear your story.
      Bea is as insightful and eloquent as ever, a great speaker.
      Thank you for all the work you did Bea, wishing you good health.
      From a classmate. 🙂

      Reply
      1. Jerri WilliamsJune 14, 2018

        I will pass along your message to Bea. Thanks for listening!

        Reply
  2. Jeffrey CovingtonAugust 6, 2016

    Hey Jerria! Another dynamite podcast for you! You and Bea were outstanding! I knew about the Innocent Images program, but after your podcast I had a greater understanding of how important the work of Bea, Al Channel, and the other agents assigned to that violation really was!

    Reply
    1. Jerri WilliamsAugust 6, 2016

      I couldn’t have done the important work Bea did. We owe her our gratitude and admiration.

      Reply

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