International crime and terrorism-combating organization meets with DHS officials in Washington

Crime Stoppers Global Solutions thwarting Serbian-crime organizations posing threat to American highways

COLUMBIA, SC, UNITED STATES, May 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Crime Stoppers Global Solutions (CSGS), the international iteration of Crime Stoppers here in the U.S., recently met with federal investigators in Washington, D.C. to discuss a looming threat to public safety nationwide.

The meeting followed a nationally televised 60 MINUTES exposé entitled “Chameleon Carriers,” which focused on Serbian-based criminal organizations infiltrating and taking over parts of the U.S. trucking industry: Establishing fake companies, avoiding safety regulations (as well as previous allegations and penalties), skimming money from American drivers through excessive fees, pressuring those same drivers to break safety regulations, and consequently endangering the American public on the road; all with direct links to Russian money according to CSGS officials.

Former U.S. Congressman and King County (Seattle, Washington) Sheriff Dave Reichert immediately went to working laying the groundwork with Congressional leaders. Reichert, named National Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff’s Association in 2004, is today a senior executive advisor with CSGS.

Five days after the April 12 airing of the 60 Minutes segment, CSGS board advisor Dr. Joseph J. Lestrange was on Capitol Hill meeting with federal investigators and presenting a CSGS-prepared finished-intelligence package to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A former DHS official, Dr. Lestrange handed investigators “a complete intel package including names of those running the dangerous trucking schemes, which key players federal law enforcement needs to pursue first, where the digital evidence is sitting, and how fast law enforcement needs to grab it before it disappears,” said CSGS boardmember and retired police officer Justin Insalaco. “Also which U.S. laws apply.”

Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff and CSGS boardmember Leon Lott, who like former Congressman Reichert, was named National Sheriff of the Year (2021) said: “This criminal activity originating in Eastern Europe is a very real physical threat to the public here at home. What CSGS is doing is aggressively going after the threat, threats actually, through sound intelligence.”

Insalaco agrees.

"This is the work we were built for,” said Insalaco. “Our team moved fast because we’ve been doing this work in these communities for years and we care about it. What people will see from us over the next year is an organization that's grown into something much bigger than a tip line. We're just getting started."

CSGS was able to produce and deliver the intelligence in days because the CSGS team has had people on the ground in Serbia for years, “building trust with the community and gathering tips in Belgrade and the smaller cities,” said Insalaco. “That is something the FBI and DHS cannot do from a desk in Washington. They need us for that. And we delivered.”

How? Traditional law enforcement shoe-leather, working on the ground building trust and relationships overseas, not unlike Sheriff Lott’s own culture in central South Carolina of building “unity in the community.” That combined with CSGS’s ramping-up its tip-line technology to aid in the production of finished intelligence for law enforcement agencies worldwide. The organization was (and is) able to gather information, produce and present a complete intelligence package to federal investigators in less than one week.

Still, “this is what ‘we did it well, but we were still reacting’ looks like,” said Insalaco. CBS aired the story, then we moved. The harm was already done. But it’s going to get better.”

CSGS primary focuses are combating crimes specifically known to be the funding mechanism for organized crime and international terrorism, including human trafficking, illicit trade, weapons trafficking, drug smuggling, cybercrime, bank fraud and money laundering. The organization works with foreign law enforcement agencies and INTERPOL and has recently been in discussions overseas regarding more effective means of combating Internet crimes against children.

CSGS, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is also raising money for mine (explosive device) clearing efforts in war-torn areas of Eastern Europe, and the organization’s work and collaboration efforts in Serbia have expanded in recent years with ongoing coordination of effort between CSGS and U.S. Embassy officials in Serbia and neighboring countries.

“CSSG is not simply an anonymous tip-generating non-profit, though it is indeed that,” said CSGS boardmember W. Thomas Smith Jr., an internationally recognized counterterrorism expert and special deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department who reports directly to Sheriff Lott. “In recent years, CSGS has evolved into a top-tier source of vital information and intelligence for international law enforcement agencies who work directly and coordinate efforts with agencies here in the United States.”

CSGS is also reaching beyond Eastern Europe with outreach into Kenya and potential expansion throughout other areas, nations, and regions of Africa.

For more information, please visit – https://thecsgs.org/.

Chris Carter
National Defense Consultants
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