| Customs shines at TOP COPS Awards
|
The stars came out for the nation’s TOP COPS Award recipients on October 25, 2001, and U.S. Customs was well represented among those honored. Michael Woodworth, Customs Attaché, Moscow; Marshall Heeger, formerly Assistant Attaché in Moscow and now with Internal Affairs in Fairfax, Va.; and Senior Special Agent Eric Andreucci of the Cyber Smuggling Center in Fairfax, Va.; received the first ever International Category TOP COPS Award. They were recognized for dismantling the "Blue Orchid" Internet child pornography production/trafficking organization through a complex investigation leading to enforcement actions in Russia, the United States, and several other countries. Senior Special Agent Chuck Mazzilli, now with Headquarters Financial Division, received "Honorable Mention" for a multi-agency herbicides smuggling/money laundering investigation in Great Falls, Mont. Special Agent Ryan Spradlin also received "Honorable Mention" for a case in Jackson, Miss., which resulted in the successful prosecution of three dangerous violators as well as the seizure of several motels notorious for all sorts of criminal activity including laundering of narcotics proceeds. | | Photo Credit: James Tourtellotte |
| Pictured clockwise from top left: Marshall Heeger, Michael Woodworth, Ryan Spradlin, Chuck Mazzilli, and Eric Andreucci.
|
|
The TOP COPS Awards are sponsored by the National Association of Police Organizations and are patterned after the Motion Picture Industry's "Oscars" and TV's "Emmy's." The competition is national in scope and very tough. There are only eleven TOP COPS Awards (ten for domestic cases and, this year for the first time, one for an international case). Only 48 agents or officers were recognized for "Honorable Mention." The Awards were presented in Washington, D.C. at the historic Warner Theatre. The Master of Ceremony was John Walsh of America's Most Wanted, ably assisted by Richard Belzer of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit. Presenters included stars from several other prominent TV law enforcement programs. The entire event was taped for future airing on a special edition of America's Most Wanted. |
|
