The Albany Times Union reports that Thomas Relford, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany field office, has retired.
Relford did not lead the Albany bureau until after the arrest of the Albany-based teacher of ethics and executive successes, Keith Alan Raniere.
Relford is the fourth top FBI agent to depart from the Albany field office since early 2017.
It is not known if the embarrassment of having the NYC FBI steal their thunder and investigate their hometown Vanguard had anything to do with the bureau’s inability to find anybody to stick to the job.
Relford became agent in charge in May 2020, almost a year after Raniere’s conviction, and it would be unfair to pin any blame on his leadership for a failure often laid at the doorstep of this bureau – that of not investigating the man who informed his followers and anyone else who might believe him that he was the world’s smartest man – and his allies, who pranced about the Capitol Region allegedly committing crimes two-by-two and not paying for a single one.
Though Raniere was headquartered in their district, the Albany bureau never could get around to pinning anything on him and it was the NYC FBI that finally put the hammer down on the Vanguard, leader of a movement meant to awaken humanity and create a more noble civilization.
Relford, 52, who is from Missouri, completed 25 years with the FBI.
“I’m incredibly proud of my 25-year career with the FBI, and especially lucky to end it on such a high note as the head of the Albany field office,” Relford said in a statement.
According to the Times Union, “Relford came to Albany from Washington, D.C., where he was in the FBI’s inspector division. He had previously served as the assistant special agent in charge – second in command – of the FBI’s Kansas City office. His previous FBI assignments included New Orleans and stints in the West African nation of Senegal and Nairobi, Kenya, two of the 60 foreign locations where the bureau has a presence.
“Relford took over an office in Albany which covers 32 upstate counties – including the entire Capital Region – and the state of Vermont. In an interview last fall, Relford told the Times Union his priorities included terrorism and counterintelligence, violent gangs and public corruption but that at the time, his office’s immediate top concern was a ‘safe and secure election.’
“‘My work has taken me all over the world, but I truly believe I was meant to spend this last year serving the amazing people of the Capital Region, Central New York, Upstate New York, the Southern Tier and Vermont,’ Relford said.
Relford’s predecessor was James Hendricks, who was the subject of several stories in Frank Report.
Ousted FBI Agent in Charge at FBI Albany – James Hendricks – Is There More to the Story?
Investigative reporter and senior editor Brendan Lyons for the Times Union broke the story that an FBI internal investigation found that Hendricks sexually harassed eight subordinate employees and created a hostile work environment for another employee with whom he had a relationship.
Some readers thought that maybe Hendricks did not go after Raniere because he was a kindred spirit. But even that notion doesn’t hold up. This allegedly randy FBI agent was not appointed to be in charge of FBI Albany until July 2018 – after Raniere was arrested.
Hendricks seems to have argued that he was innocent and that the people who alleged harassment conspired against him to successfully oust him. All Hendricks wanted to do, he said, was instill the efficiency and good investigative skills that he believed the bureau was capable of.
Hendricks was keenly aware of the embarrassment of the bureau after the Raniere indictment coming out of NYC.
As top agent, Hendricks followed Janelle Miller, who followed Vadim Thomas, who followed Andrew Vale, who held the position for more than three years and, though he may not have done anything to slow down Raniere and his operations, Vale was able to leave Albany and be promoted to a higher position in the FBI.
Raniere’s Supporter’s View
This failure or success, if you prefer, of the Albany bureau gives us a chance to raise a fairly interesting point made by supporters of Raniere:
The Albany bureau received numerous complaints of criminality against Raniere and NXIVM over the years – from Kristin Keeffe to Barbara Bouchey to Joe O’Hara and others before that – and they never charged him with a single crime, not even a misdemeanor.
This means Raniere is innocent, his supporters say.
His supporters say that the FBI NYC did a foul deed upon him and created crimes where none existed and the proof is that the local bureau in Albany, whose responsibility it truly is to investigate potential criminal deeds done on their turf, failed to do so – not through incompetence but through lack of evidence of criminality.
NYC, operating under someone’s strings – be it the Illuminati or other foul and perfervid interests – wanted Raniere out of the way – and so they did whatever it took to get the job done.
***
As for who is in charge now – in Albany – the answer is no one locally and that the bureau is being overseen from DC until a new special FBI agent in charge is named.
As for who is in charge of Raniere – the warden at USP Tucson is. He or she is an individual whose name is not readily available from an online search [If anybody can find this somehow secretive information, please share it] but who arguably does have a higher IQ than Raniere for he or she managed to get a higher rank on the stripe path than Raniere.
For these dark and shadowy leaders of the new world-order knew for years that Raniere was a formidable foe, a man whose brain could set off radar detectors, make computers go haywire, unleash the snows from the heavens when he concocted a new module for an intensive, and make rain know enough to fall on sinners and avoid the saint. They knew he must be stopped before he made the world a kind and loving civilization where all women would be branded equally and no one’s collateral would ever be released unless it was truly necessary to do so.
For those who think that Raniere was guilty as sin – and that the FBI did good investigative work in getting the evidence to stop him from committing further atrocities – the special agent in charge of the New York Field Office is Michael J. Driscoll.
The survey ads here today are curiously linking Camila Harris to Dr. Fauci. Not so sure that’s a bad thing for Harris but I seem to recall Fauci appearing most often behind Trump admin officials and what troubles me is that this ceaseless DIVISIVENESS being propagated so deftly and fervently on FR and elsewhere will someday land on our children’s heads, if not our own.
Really, what is wrong with you people in leadership roles that you selfish war mongers refuse to see the peril that serving the worst of both masters is putting Democracy and humanity itself in?
Who or what is now sponsoring FR? It’s not just Shadow or the restrained LOL ghost aka Bangturd Schlock getting spookier by second.
Frank, who posted that “going in for the kill” comment on here? And the Mackie the knife tricodyte characters? VPN’s please.
And if this is now a dedicated, far-right White Supremicist, pedo-friendly place, sorry, I’m out.
Dr. Oz calls, much as I wanted to avoid another photo ID enemy opportunity with my new look and all, don’t make me go there of necessity in all good conscience.
You really don’t know who your friends are starting with the only true one there is. Sad.
Frank,
I loved the Illuminanuto (Raniere) humor! 😉
Just learned Illuminato is the singular of Illuminati, and like you, I don’t give a rat’s ass.
Oh, Frank! Thanks for the laugh!
“They knew he must be stopped before he made the world a kind and loving civilization where all women would be branded equally and no one’s collateral would ever be released unless it was truly necessary to do so.”
Your depiction of the stripe path was kinda sad but kinda funny too.
If there is such a thing as the illuminati, I’m pretty sure the mission statement includes a pledge to control as much of the world’s wealth as possible.
Thank you, Frank, for all you do.
Frank is kind of evil mocking out the Illuminati.
Everyone knows it exists. Your just in denial to even doubt it.
It’s true. We exist.
You like to mock us. But the Illuminati is real. They wanted Keith Raniere and others out of the way and they succeeded.
This article is 100 percent true. I have a lot of proof.
Catalina, I’d love to see your proof.
Please explain how an organization with a mandate to control as much as the world’s wealth as possible that also branded, blackmailed and trafficked in human slavery was the innocent party.
Post your proof, then, Ms. Gaza. (Is that your Arab stripper name?)
So long as Kristin Keefe is not mentioned, Frank will run it.
Btw, NX has been spinning that sham to spook you all into sympathy and submission – if not paranoia – and to cover their own illegal surveillance, cyber stalking, gas lighting and intellectual property theft activities since my little sister was alive.
It was suggested as part of the movie Keith & Co. insisted my Ex and I should produce about him back in 1997, following our success with “In the Line of Fire.”
This false construct may have been part of Gina’s ultimate mental breakdown and untimely death.
Not to mention her alleged full induction into the CIA Monarch program where she and Kris Snyder are apparently now assigned to seek and destroy Roger Stone by drone strike. (If I don’t get him first. 😉)
Heidi – I am not opposed to mention of Kristin Keeffe’s name, but I cannot let you make seriously libelous statements about her without evidence.
Well then—provide it, abfnt 1.
I have proof that the Illuminati exists in England
http://wearetheilluminati.com/
Poor Keith when that bar owner in Burnley gets a hold of him—grrrr!!
It’s not nice to mock the Illuminati.
By all means, please post it.
I’ve read all Icke’s ick myself, out of curiousity, and all he’s got apart from obvious mental illness is the family trees of royal and monied family lineages, so what?! (Not to mention the shape shifting lizards, from a bad acid trip.)
We already know many super rich people are, historically, greedy NPD’s who obtained their wealth through fraud, at best, and pass it all on down the line along with their psycho in-bred genetics.
In fact, not long ago Congress nixed inheritance tax an don’t ypu know the last Bush is still burning for a seat in Texas with, yee-haw, DJT’s support!
Oligarchy, Monarchy, kind or cruel, is very old news. And so is this “Illuminati” business.
Plus, if there were a way to shed sun damaged skin by simply shifting to alien lizard form, dermatologists would be out of business.
On a more serious note, to be fair (and Joe please correct me if mistaken), I don’t recall anyone contacting the FBI directly until Kristin Keefe allegedly did so in 2014.
It was Cuomo’s office (when he was AG) and the Albany DA’s office under P. David Soares that gave us the run-around back in 2010ish, before any Fed Agencies were on NX’s case to my knowledge.
Also, and I do tend to find fault with [redacted]
Not that Cuomo is automatically among we blood-drinking child molesters, mind you. The youth enzyme only works on full-blood reptilian shape-shifters and Cuomo’s a half breed at best. Plus, unlike our ex-POTUS, all Cuomo’s accusers are wrinkled up old hags past 25 years old with no anti-aging enzymes in them. (As you can tell by just by looking at Cuomo’s unmasked, old hound dog mug, alone.)
Hmm, but there IS Driscoll’s Inc., makers of the ever-suspect “Abuelita” hot cocoa and other Mexican imports – all of which may contain cocaine derivates and cinnamon.
Observe that of all the racially offensive, brainwashing characters that abound, that sly old Mexican prune has managed to survive impunity.
ABUELITA must be exposed and stricken! She worships the devil!
Boycott Abuelita, rip the old Cholla from the labels of American history, stone her, gas her, light the witch on fire!
Can I get an Amen!
There is little doubt in my mind that Keith was targeted. It may not have been the Illuminati. It might have been the Clintons or the Deep State but they were after him. People who believe in freedom must stand together to free him because HE IS INNOCENT!
The sign of their conspiracy is that they all wear the same plain reddish ties.
Er, Trump’s wearing a red tie in the ad shot I’m getting but I love the one where it looks like Pelosi’s giving him a hand job.
Yeah, gonna Meme the hell outta that one. …Satan get behind me!
Nope.
No one but the cult members really cared about Keith the weenie Raniere.
Vanguard was not a target for outsiders.
The call came from inside the house.
The NDNY FBI bureau did not have the benefit of the EDNY’s DOJ prosecutors Moira Penza and Tonya Hajjar.
Penza and Hajjar are the largely unsung heroes who opened the investigation and finished off NXIVM (well, almost) despite, no doubt, some very formidable obstacles from on high that continue to thwart efforts to fully expose and prosecute all its leaders and crimes, some of which (child molestation) had to be referred back to the corrupt NDNY on orders of the main DOJ due to “jurisdictional issues (ah hem).”
Leapin’ Lizards! Frank, Penza and Hajjar are about the furthest from Illuminati you can get in this story. Clearly, they are not of elite reptilian blue blood but of the meager, more pedestrian monkey lineage.
Get your facts straight.
So then you are saying they are not part of the Illuminati? What a relief.
I think we can safely rule those two chimps out. Plus, Illuminati Dames wear pumps not tell-tale stilettos to work so their claws don’t show when they shape shift at Starbucks.
Her Empressness is missing her rebuttals and does not appreciate such pathetic, apparent attempts – as left unchallenged and unmocked – to ascribe her as an Illuminati conspiracy theorist of any sort.
Surely, you Jest.
Are you saying the Illuminati is a conspiracy theory? I’ve heard that before. I’m glad to have it verified.
“Verified” stems from “Truth” in Latin. And that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you ask or answer anything about that. As much verification aka proof as I’ve thrown at you since the day I met you before coming to any conclusion myself about what it meant in view of all the other missing pieces that fit like a glove and discarding all the gruesomely mishappened ones deliberately thrown in my (and yours, too, Frank if you’re honest) oft gaslit path.
James Hendricks, the former FBI Albany SAC epitomizes the FBI – Famous But Incompetent. SMH.
IMHO, Fucked-up Beyond Imagination is the apropos acronym for the FBI.
Her Highness has, however, always been partial to the Secret Service (before this shitshow started with Sullivan’s shocking appearance at Raniere’s initial bail hearing offering armed protection against someone supposedly out to kill him or Clare to avenge the murder of her sister).
Her Higness’ current spook agency scandle preferences run toward the CIA, second only to the supreme master crime stoppers of the Universe: the IRS.
Ruuuuuuuuun-eeeeeeeerie! Off with their heads!
Seeing Keith in cuffs never gets old.
How sadistic you are. Don’t you ever get your fill of Keith’s pain?
The sadism is all yours—qwerty8761, may your well of poison never run dry!
Can the FBI find the pedophile in this recent news headline?
VIDEO: Biden Wanders Away From Podium To Promise Two Small Girls He’ll Give Them ‘Ice Cream’ Later
22 minutes ago
He’s done this again and again, year after year, singling out any little girl around him for special attention.. It’s obviously an obsession. It’s not cute. It’s not grandfatherly. It’s not endearing. It’s alarming.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/video-biden-wanders-away-from-podium-to-promise-two-small-girls-hell-give-them-ice-cream-later/
Biden is a false President installed by the Swamp. He’s been a pedophile & criminal for years just like his depraved son Hunter.
How stupid can people be? This stupid:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1269197
“A retired FBI agent is accused of conning a Texas woman out of more than $800,000 by convincing her she was under “secret probation” for drug crimes, federal prosecutors said.
William Roy Stone Jr., 62, was indicted last week on seven counts of wire fraud and one count each of wire fraud conspiracy, false impersonation of a federal officer, engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, and false statements to law enforcement… “
The article goes on to state that William Roy Stone also claimed to be the woman’s mentor. Sound familiar?
He faces over 170 years of prison time, which would eclipse Raniere’s sentence by half a century.
I gotta laugh. I bet there was plenty of laughter in the prosecutor’s office as well. How could anyone be so spectacularly stupid as to fall for this scam?
Which perhaps explains why the Albany FBI and other law enforcement never went after Nxivm and Raniere. Or cults in general. The utter stupidity of the victims beggars belief.
Wait, that wasn’t Bangkok’s imaginary friend Retired FBI Agent Gary DiLaura using an alias was it?!
“Never Had Chance to Investigate NXIVM”
The FBI in Albany New York could not find Saratoga County on the map.
Hey, on that stripe path picture, isn’t that Keith Raniere on the middle? I think this photo may have been photoshopped which is unethical.
I demand that Frank tell the truth about the photo of yen stripe path. Was it photoshopped or is it an authentic untouched photo?
And is that Keith in the photo?
Ha! Of course photoshopped, can’t you appreciate a witty reference to NXIVM’s stripe path?
Another solid whack on the old bat, Mr. Parlato. You know that sound? Like no other? Twice this week already with the unmistakable ka-boom you are packing.
Also soaring out of sight rapidly, if not entirely invisibly, is Mr. Relford’s “high note” of departure from FBI Albany New Yawk. Too much dressing on this salad, too awkward to pass for soft-shoe. So sneezy.
Ah-choo! Got any Clinton rags?
Hanker-Chief for potus? Why not?
Nothing else has worked so far.
About this retirement gathering, though. The Missouri man from Washington, acdc and Albany, via Nola, etc. & blah blah. How geographic. Nairobi, even. How lucky.
Was the high note merely pharmaceutical, like perhaps nembutal? Was it all just a course in How to Sleep and to still stay uptight all night?
Thicker than a plucked Grey Goose, and more ramshackle than Grey Gardens. The FBI Shuffle, hootenanny, hoe-down.
It does not go down any throat, shallow or deep? All performed ineptly and in plain sight, and a gentleman being quite self-congratulatory about all of its official ineffectiveness and its obsolescence. Until the end.
Would you care for some more ratatouille, dear Officer Krupke? Pass out some blinders before anyone eats, okay?