WOODSTOCK — Jack Richardson’s collection of FBI fliers as a boy led to a 20-year career chasing criminals and checking the backgrounds of high-level government employees, he told listeners Thursday at the Whitman Memorial Library.

“When I was young, and my parents owned an inn in New Hampshire, we would receive fliers from the FBI about the most wanted criminals in the United States,” the Paris resident said. “I must’ve collected over 100 of those fliers. I saved them and kept them underneath the front desk.”

He said he started out as an agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s fugitive squad in Quantico, Va., where he drafted and executed warrants for criminals.

He smiled as he recounted the first arrest of his career, the details spilling out as if it had occurred moments earlier.

“I had to investigate a lead on locating an on-the-run fugitive from West Virginia,” Richardson said. “I’ll always remember it. She was 35 years old, 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighed about 265 pounds.”

Richardson said, “She was wanted on a ‘UFAP’ warrant, which means ‘unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.’ She had fled from West Virginia to avoid being prosecuted for having stabbed her boyfriend to death with a pair of scissors.”

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He said the arrest was made without any drama, and he still remembers exactly how it felt to make his first arrest.

“It was a normal arrest, but it was one of the first cases I was assigned to,” he said.

Richardson later spent years investigating the backgrounds of appointees to high-level government positions and provided security clearances to people who wanted to work in the FBI.

After a year, he moved to the organized crime squad to help prosecute people accused of gambling, prostitution, racketeering and other crimes.

Eventually, he joined a new squad dedicated to tracking down white-collar criminals accused of fraud and other financial crimes. He remained there until he retired in 1995 after 20 years of service.

He has lived in Maine since.

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Richardson said the most high-profile case he ever worked on was investigating the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which pleaded guilty to money laundering in 1990.

One person asked Richardson how things had changed over time at the FBI.

He said besides the way individuals communicate and do business with each other, the biggest change was the way the FBI and other government agencies worked together and shared information in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The former special agent said he still works with the FBI as a contract special investigator, doing background checks on individuals and providing security clearances.

He was asked what he considered to be the most dangerous situation he’s ever faced.

Richardson paused and deadpanned, “Being a little league umpire. I’ve never felt closer to death than I did then.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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