Neal Hays is a special agent with the United States Secret Service. He is currently assigned to the Los Angeles office of the Secret Service. Neal attended all three of the schools in Arcadia, Baldwin Stocker, First Avenue Middle School and Arcadia High School. After graduating from Arcadia High, Neal attended USC and graduated in 2005 with a B.A. in Political Science. In 2006, he began his training as a Secret Service Agent, attending training camps in preparation for his work. In 2006, he was assigned to the White House safeguarding the president. Subsequently, he was transferred to Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Field Office and is a member of the Electronic Crimes Task Force. Neal is married to Brittany Hays, who is also a Secret Service Agent in the Los Angeles Office. They met in Washington D.C. and were married at her family city of Circleville, Ohio. Brittany and Neal are expecting their first child in September.
Neal brought a DVD, which depicted the origins of the Secret Service from its role in checking for counterfeit currency to safeguarding not only the president, but important dignitaries visiting our country.
Neal recounted two of the cases he has worked on very recently involving financial fraud and hacking of computers and banks. In conjunction with other law enforcements agencies and combining their resources, they have been able to bring a suspect in this matter to justice. This person became a fugitive and located himself in Sweden. With the help of Swedish authorities they were able to bring this hacker back to the States, where he is now going through the court system.
Another case involved a credit card company and fraudulent manufacture of credit cards. Typically, this crime involves multi-million dollar users and famous celebrities. The credit card companies involved in this type of fraud like keeping these matter in a low profile manner, so the information rarely reaches the media. Neal explained that by tracing the type of purchases and uses by the person fraudulently using a card, law enforcement can link suspects together, find residences where they operate and have warrants issued for their arrest. In this instance, they have already captured eight suspects.
Today’s criminals are more sophisticated than in olden days. They operate out of houses, steal plastic cards and create phony credit cards. Bank fraud has become a major problem requiring careful investigation.
The Secret Service today operates out of three major cities, Washington D.C. New York, and Los Angeles. Many experienced agents are located in other cities and foreign offices, ready to prepare for an official visit by this country’s leaders. There are between 2500 to 3000 agents located in all 50 states. Neal answered many questions concerning the service and his participation.