PHOENIX, Arizona — Federal agents arrested a disgruntled tech employee allegedly trying to sell satellite tracking technology to Mexican drug cartels. The sale would have given cartel operatives the ability to track law enforcement aircraft and boats in order to avoid detection, investigators claim.
Undercover agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly posed as cartel buyers and met with Robert Jeremy Miller, a former employee with Honeywell who had access to satellite tracking technology. The agents pretended to purchase the technology from Miller and arrested him on federal fraud charges, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
The case began on July 23 when Honeywell received a tip that someone was trying to sell the company’s technology on the black market.The tipster claimed that the man had “level one” security clearance and the ability to create logins to Honeywell’s tracking technology. The tipster claimed that the man, later identified as Miller, was upset about not receiving a raise from the company. Court records revealed that Miller was terminated earlier this year.
The satellite tracking system created by Honeywell is used by government, military and private entities including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The satellite system would give Mexican cartels the ability to track law enforcement aircraft and surveillance equipment.
Authorities targeted the tipster who was later identified as Brandon Harris. He reportedly tried to extort a cash payment from Honeywell in exchange for not leaking to the media that the company’s systems had been compromised. After meeting with FBI agents, Harris agreed to introduce agents posing as cartel members to Miller. The agent met with Miller in early August and demanded a live demonstration of the tracking capabilities. Once Miller accessed the system and showed it to the agent, authorities arrested him. Soon after, Miller allegedly told authorities that he was trying to gather information in order to become an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle Burns ordered that Miller be held without bond pending a detention hearing at a later date.
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Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)
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