ALUMNI PROFILE
Special Agent James Cheeks, FBI
James Cheeks 鈥95 busts drug dealers and corrupt cops, all in a day鈥檚 work.
by Joanie Eppinga
Stay focused on it, and your dream can become your reality.
That鈥檚 the lesson offered by James Earl Cheeks II 鈥95, supervisory special agent for the FBI.
Cheeks鈥 dream was very real on October 6, 2010. On that day, he and other agents arrested 133 subjects in Operation Guard Shack, the largest sting in FBI history.
Police officers throughout Puerto Rico were taking bribes. 鈥淪o we set up drug-selling scenarios the police thought were authentic,鈥 says Cheeks, 鈥渁nd recorded the officers providing protection to drug dealers.鈥 The resulting arrests, which spanned the island, were all high risk. Cheeks received the Attorney General鈥檚 Award and the FBI Director鈥檚 Award for Excellence as a result of his hard work.
It was also dramatic work, the kind Cheeks had dreamed of as a kid.
But at his inner-city Rochester school, kids didn鈥檛 get much support for their dreams. 鈥淚t was all up to you,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he message was basically: 鈥楪raduate if you can.鈥欌
Fortunately, Cheeks could鈥攁nd did. Then he planned to join the military. But his older sister, Monique Bragg 鈥90, told him, 鈥淭he Army will always be there. Get your education first.鈥
Heeding her advice, Cheeks earned his degree in business administration from Nazareth. However, after receiving his diploma, he didn鈥檛 know how to pursue his true career goal. 鈥淭his was before search engines, and I didn鈥檛 know any FBI agents,鈥 he recalls. So he temporarily buried his aspiration, moving into the Army Reserves and the corporate world. Yet the vision of working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation persisted.
Then Cheeks heard the FBI was looking for military personnel with language and intelligence skills, which he had acquired while serving combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He took a polygraph, along with tests in writing, math, and physical fitness, and passed them all. Cheeks received the job offer he had longed for.
As a supervisory special agent with the FBI, Cheeks spent time on the SWAT team and on the Director鈥檚 Protective Detail. He carried out criminal investigations on violent gangs and officials on the take. The work was exciting鈥攁nd hazardous.
鈥淲hen you conduct dangerous arrests,鈥 Cheeks says, 鈥測ou realize you have to keep honing your skills. You have to be ready for the unexpected. For example, once a suspect had an AK-47 assault rifle hidden under the mattress of his child鈥檚 crib.鈥
Cheeks credits the critical-thinking skills he learned at Nazareth with helping him conduct successful criminal investigations. Those skills also help him in his current role as program manager with the Cyber Division. 鈥淲e investigate computer intrusions and cybercrimes committed by foreign actors, criminal organizations, or individuals,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e also educate the private sector, because they may be reluctant to work with law enforcement or unaware of whom to report incidents to. We treat them like victims of any crime.鈥
Whether he鈥檚 catching perpetrators or assisting victims, Cheek鈥檚 work is always varied.
鈥淭he days are never the same,鈥 he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not stuck behind a desk. You have to get out there and do interviews and surveillance.鈥
Above all, working for the FBI requires persistence鈥攂ut that鈥檚 not a problem for Cheeks. It鈥檚 what got him there in the first place.
Joanie Eppinga is a writer and editor in Spokane, Washington.
