- Child Abuse“You know how everyone fears the nosy neighbor? Well, I like the nosy neighbor. Someone looking out his or her window sees something. We’ve developed cases from situations like that,” he says. In addition, as with child abuse and neglect, there is a list of mandated reporters for elder abuse, including doctors, nurses, nursing home staff, patient advocates, and clergy.
- Sex Crimes“Obviously we live in a small town that was turned upside down,” said a 47-year-old woman whose name was withheld to protect her identity. “Being single and living by myself, you never know.” The women are students in the Cheshire Police Department’s Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) Systems course, launched by the department in March. The nationally recognized, women-only course is free to anyone 18 and over who lives or works in the town. The department received a $15,000 federal grant to cover expenses.
- RobberyShumaker’s first assignment was with foreign counterintelligence in the Phoenix office. However, she quickly discovered that her interests lay with another squad. “The bank robbery squad was like the run and gun, kick in the door type of fun,” she said. “I loved that work so much that I used to take vacation time so I could work cases with the bank robbery guys. If I knew something was coming up, I would work my normal day and then go back and work with them. It was just the best work around.” Needless to say, Shumaker was soon transferred to the bank robbery squad.
- Burglary
- Embezzlement
- Murder“Horrific Case” It was a rape and murder case, however, that stays with her from her years in Phoenix. “It was probably in my second year,” recalls Shumaker. “We were called up to Flagstaff on a kidnapping, and the girl that had gone missing was on vacation with her parents. The girl had gotten up in the morning and told her mom she was riding her bike over to the stables. And mom says, ‘I’ll meet you over there.’ So mom gets in her truck, waves to her daughter, and drives to the stables. Well, the girl never makes it there. Mom comes back and sees the bike lying in the grass.”
- Identity TheftThe Justice Journal explores topics such as identity theft, Internet scams, terrorism, street crimes and other threats to our civil liberties including controversial components of law enforcement.
- Money LaunderingThe case made a huge impact on Shumaker. “It was horrific,” she said. “The mom hadn’t done anything wrong. It just turned out that day that somebody had gotten up and said, ‘I’m going to rape and murder a little girl.’ And that’s what he did. The girl didn’t ask to be targeted, and that parent did som ething any of us would have done. There was nothing she could have done to prevent that.” In 1991, Shumaker was routinely transferred to Chicago, where she worked on domestic terrorism, money laundering, undercover drugs, bank robberies, and violent crimes. It was there she encountered a kidnapping that was probably her most bizarre case. A 13-year-old boy who didn’t show up for school had gotten on a bus with a stranger. It was subsequently learned that the boy had been talking to the subject online for about nine months.
- Kidnapping
- Internet CrimesShumaker is also humble. She does not like to advertise her achievements, which include several United State’s Attorney’s awards for cases she has successfully investigated. Additionally, Shumaker reaches out to the community to help educate children, parents, and schools about Internet crime. For example, she addresses parent-teacher organizations, and she was a participant in a 2007 seminar to encourage Fairfield County educators to teach students to steer clear of Internet predators.
- ProstitutionWhere Shumaker recently landed was back in Meriden, focusing on child prostitution cases. Shumaker said she made the move in the fall of 2007 to take a break from the pace of eight years with the Computer Crimes Task Force. “I tend to get extremely emotionally tied to the cases, and I think you sometimes have to,” Shumaker said. “If you don’t have any sense of emotion toward the cases, I don’t think you should be doing them. But I think you need to take a break every now and then because you can become ineffective if you’re always in the panic mode.” She says she looks forward to the different pace and cases in her newest role with the Bureau.
- Power of Attorney“Sadly…about 75 percent of the time it’s a family member and usually involves embezzlement,” DeMattia said. “They have power of attorney or conservatorship and they end up taking the money for their own use…leaving the parents destitute. It’s almost insulting because it tends to be people in my age bracket, 45, and they tell me, ‘I didn’t steal the money…my parents are leaving it to me in their will, and it’s mine.’ They justify it as their inheritance.”