[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 1, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MARSHAL J.C. RAFFETY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 1, 2009

  Mrs. CAPITO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to inform my colleagues of 
the pending retirement of Marshal J.C. Raffety from not only his 
position as United States Marshal for the Northern District of West 
Virginia, but from an exceptional career in law enforcement that spans 
the past five decades.
  Specifically, on January 1, 2010, after nearly eight years of service 
as U.S. Marshal, J.C. will graciously relinquish his duties and begin 
his life anew as a private citizen of the State of West Virginia. 
Raffety will leave this post with an outstanding legacy of achievement. 
During his tenure, Marshal Raffety supported the establishment of the 
Northern District's Mountain State Fugitive Task Force, which has 
components located in Clarksburg, Martinsburg, and Wheeling, West 
Virginia. This Task Force, comprised of local, State and Federal law 
enforcement agencies, is responsible for the apprehension of violent 
fugitive offenders. In addition, this Task Force participates in 
Operation FALCON, Federal And Local Cops Organized Nationally, an 
annual, nationwide fugitive round-up that relies on the combined 
efforts of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and 
departments. Under Raffety's capable leadership, the Northern District 
of West Virginia's efforts involving Operation FALCON netted the 
arrests of hundreds of fugitives from justice, and stands today as a 
shining example of effective interagency cooperation and coordination. 
Additionally, very early into his appointment, Marshal Raffety was 
selected to serve on the then-USMS Director's Advisory Committee, a 
testament to his decades of training and experience in the Federal, 
State, and local law enforcement communities.
  President George W. Bush appointed Raffety to the position of U.S. 
Marshal on March 13, 2002. Prior to that, J.C. served as the Chief of 
Police for the city of Buckhannon, West Virginia, for approximately two 
years. During his tenure, Chief Raffety promoted the established 
concept of community policing and instituted meaningful administrative 
reforms. Additionally, he strengthened ties with the students and 
administrators of West Virginia Wesleyan College and enhanced the 
Neighborhood Watch Program in Buckhannon.
  Before his service as Chief of Police in Buckhannon, Raffety spent a 
remarkable 32-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
FBI, which began in 1966 when, following high school graduation at the 
age of 18, he relocated to Washington, DC, and began working for the 
FBI as a GS-2 Clerk. While employed at the FBI, J.C. attended night 
school full-time towards the attainment of his college degree. After a 
2-year break in service to complete his undergraduate education, 
Raffety was reinstated to the FBI in 1970, and attended the FBI Academy 
at Quantico, Virginia. Early in his career, J.C. served as an FBI 
Special Agent in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Erie, Pennsylvania, 
where his investigative efforts focused on organized crime, 
racketeering, and public corruption. He later served as a Supervisory 
Special Agent at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, assigned to the 
Criminal Investigative Division, Organized Crime Section. Subsequently, 
in 1983, Raffety was assigned to the Clarksburg, West Virginia Resident 
Agency, and later served as Supervisory Senior Resident Agent for that 
office, a position he held until his retirement in 2000. Among the 
highlights of his impressive record in West Virginia, J.C. served as 
the lead case agent in the 1995-1997 West Virginia Mountaineer Militia 
investigation, which resulted in the convictions of militia members 
engaged in a domestic terrorism plot targeting the FBI's Criminal 
Justice Information Services, CJIS, Center in Clarksburg, as well as 
the Internal Revenue Service, IRS, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 
Firearms, and Explosives, BATF, facilities in West Virginia's eastern 
panhandle.
  I am pleased to have had this opportunity to call to the attention of 
my colleagues the extraordinary accomplishments of J.C. Raffety. I 
admire his idealism and lifelong commitment to his community, State, 
and country. I join his wife, Cindy, his two children and two 
grandchildren, and the grateful citizens of West Virginia in thanking 
J.C. for his life of service, and in wishing him continued success as 
he enters this new chapter of his life. Congratulations, Marshal 
Raffety, on a job well done!

                          ____________________