Daniel Alfin Wiki – Daniel Alfin Biography
Daniel Alfin started as a special agent in 2009 and was formerly based at FBI headquarters, where he handled major cases of violent crimes against children. In 2015, he was involved in the arrest of a man in Naples, Fla., who was running what the bureau believed to be “the world’s largest child pornography website.” The site, known as Playpen, had more than 150,000 users worldwide.
Daniel Alfin Age
Daniel Alfin was 36 years old.
Family
Alfin, who was born in New York, is survived by his wife and a child.
Cause of Death
FBI Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger arrived at an apartment complex in South Florida early Tuesday to continue the work to which they had devoted their careers — nearly three decades between them: fighting the abuse and exploitation of children.
The two were killed around 6 a.m. as they tried to serve a search warrant for a “violent crimes against children” case in what appears to be one of the deadliest shootings in bureau history. Details of the shooting in Sunrise, Fla., remain hazy, but law enforcement officials said the suspected gunman apparently killed himself. Three other agents were wounded, with two of them hospitalized.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, who identified Alfin and Schwartzenberger, said the two agents “exemplified heroism today in defense of their country.”
“The FBI will always honor their ultimate sacrifice and will be forever grateful for their bravery,” Wray said.
Each had a record of investigating child por**nography and arresting its suspected perpetrators. Sometimes their work made headlines. But often, it played out in the shadowy corners of the dark Web or in legal briefings and courtrooms. They gave presentations to schoolchildren and carried out sweeping inquiries into the abuse of minors. It is high-stakes work, and they were fiercely devoted to it.
“It’s the same with any criminal violation: As they get smarter, we adapt, we find them,” Alfin said of investigating child pornography and abuse, in a 2017 article on the FBI’s website. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game, except it’s not a game. Kids are being abused, and it’s our job to stop that.”
David Alfin, Daniel Alfin’s father, told The Washington Post that his son came from a family dedicated to public service. Daniel’s older brother works in law enforcement in South Florida, and his younger brother teaches at the U.S. Military Academy in New York.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Daniel and his brothers,” David Alfin said. “I think that they were incredibly great kids that were interested in helping others, and they found a way to do that through their service commitments.”
In 2018, Schwartzenberger spoke to a local CBS affiliate about a sextortion scam in which criminals pretended they had hacked into people’s computers to get explicit photos of them. “It is very traumatizing for the victim,” Schwartzenberger told the station in that interview. “Their reputation is on the line.”
She warned, “There has been cases where they’ve hacked into the victim’s computer and hacked the person’s camera. That is where they got images or videos.”