Fbi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - In a tiny room on the fourth floor of Brown University's student center, Sunil Tripathi's family is waiting for him to come home. The Brown student and Radnor native went missing a month ago, and the Tripathis have been plastering the town with photos ever since. Nicknamed "Sunny," the 22-year-old smiles from the windows of campus eateries and downtown businesses. In the student center, his family has been running Facebook and Twitter campaigns, looking for any clues into his disappearance.

BOSTON - Minutes before the bombs blew up in Boston, Jeff Bauman looked into the eyes of the man who tried to kill him, his brother says. Just before 3 p.m. Monday, Bauman, who has deep family roots in Philadelphia and South Jersey, was waiting among the crowd for his girlfriend to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon. A man wearing a cap, sunglasses, and a black jacket over a hooded sweatshirt looked at Bauman and dropped a bag at his feet, his brother, Chris Bauman, said in an interview Thursday.

CORINTH, Miss. - A Mississippi man was arrested Wednesday, accused of sending letters to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker that tested positive for the poisonous substance ricin. Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested at 5:15 p.m. at his apartment in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line about 100 miles east of Memphis, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen. It wasn't immediately known where he was being held. Authorities still waited for definitive tests on the letters to Obama and Wicker, R-Miss.

For more than a year, the system worked flawlessly. Containers of counterfeit cigarettes shipped from China to the ports of Newark, N.J., and New York City moved easily through customs and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security without inspection. From the docks, the cigarettes, falsely labeled as Marlboros and Marlboro Lights, made their way to a nondescript warehouse in South Jersey, where they were readied for the final leg of their trip, to California. The transport crew, responsible for smoothing the way through Homeland Security and making sure the cigarettes - nearly 2.3 million packs - got to California safely was none other than the FBI. The elaborate logistics operation was part of a sting to stem the flow of contraband cigarettes into the United States, according to court documents filed this week in U.S. District Court in Camden.

A Kentucky Democrat said Thursday that two activists connected to a local political group were responsible for recording a private conversation between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and his senior campaign staff. The recording was disclosed earlier this week by Mother Jones magazine, prompting McConnell to request an FBI investigation and accuse liberals of bugging his office. On the tape, McConnell's campaign staffers discuss using comments made by actress Ashley Judd about her faith and her mental health against her in a possible Senate run. Judd has since decided not to run for Senate.

The FBI is searching for a man suspected of robbing at least four banks in Bucks and Montgomery Counties during the last 10 months. Most recently, he hit a PNC Bank on Bethlehem Pike in Ambler, officials said. He is also believed to be responsible for robberies Jan. 18 at a Wells Fargo in Yardley, Sept. 28 at a First Federal in Wrightstown, and June 8 at a Colonial American in Horsham. The suspect usually carries a handgun and wears a suit and tie. He covers his face with a ski mask or a sack or pillowcase with eyeholes cut out, and has also worn green disposable gloves and a straw hat. The FBI described him as white, about 6 feet tall, with a stocky build.

The FBI is searching for a man suspected of robbing at least four banks in Bucks and Montgomery Counties over the last 10 months. Most recently, he hit a PNC Bank on Bethlehem Pike in Ambler, officials said. He is also believed to be responsible for robberies Jan. 18 at a Wells Fargo in Yardley, Sept. 28 at a First Federal in Wrightstown, and June 8 at a Colonial American in Horsham. The man usually carries a handgun and wears a suit and tie. He covers his face with a ski mask or a sack or pillowcase with eyeholes cut out, and has also worn green disposable gloves and a straw hat. The FBI described him as white, about 6 feet tall, with a stocky build.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge will seek to unravel an art mystery and determine the rightful owner of a napkin-size painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir that a Virginia woman says she bought at a flea market for $7. The ownership is in dispute after documents were uncovered showing that a Baltimore museum reported the painting stolen more than 60 years ago. The painting has been seized by the FBI, and the federal government...

Among the first decisions Ed Hanko faced as he settled into his office last week as the FBI's top agent in Philadelphia was where to put the photo. The weathered black-and-white print shows about 60 helmeted coal miners at a plant in Ashley, Pa., just outside Hanko's hometown of Wilkes-Barre. Near the middle stands his father, Joseph, a second-generation Polish immigrant who never made it to high school. When Hanko was 12, his father took him to the mine for the first time. They boarded an elevator and disappeared into the earth, dropping into darkness until the boy could no longer see his hand in front of his face.