Do Not Talk to Them, Instead, Consult an Attorney
Video Transcribed: The FBI is knocking on your door, giving you a call. What do you do? My name’s Ted Hasse. I’m a Federal Criminal Defense Attorney in Oklahoma at Wirth Law Office. We frequently get calls from people who are the target of an investigation or someone how otherwise in contact with some federal agency.
It can sometimes be IRS, Secret Service, ATF, FBI. More and more frequently here in Oklahoma now, given McGirt and we being, throughout much of Eastern Oklahoma now being Indian country, FBI has a lot more agents here that are working with the US Attorney’s office. Those are the federal prosecutors, and they’re building cases against people. They’re moving very quickly and they’re very good at their jobs.
I want to say upfront, for the most part, these agents that people are coming into contact with, the vast, vast majority of these people are ethical, responsible, and they are generally not breaking the law, but just like with… They have an awful lot of power and just like with one bad cop, one bad agent, can not only ruin your day, but they can ruin your life.
Also, it’s sort of like once the federal government is putting all its resources, like the Eye of Sauron, focusing down on you, they’re going to look and look. And for lots of people, they’re going to turn up things that maybe weren’t involved in what they were initially investigating.
There’s an awful lot of danger to talking to federal agents. So let me just quickly say the most important thing to do is if you are… doesn’t matter whether you’re under arrest, non-under arrest, you don’t have to talk to them.
People make the mistake over and over again of talking to these federal agents, thinking that they’re going to help themselves. Essentially, you cannot help yourself in this situation. They are building a case against you. They are not looking for ways to get you off. They’re looking for ways to put together evidence to hand over to the US Attorney’s office, the federal prosecutor, and to prosecute you for a federal crime.
Once the federal government is focusing its resources on investigating you, you need to get in touch with a lawyer, and most importantly, you never talk to them without a lawyer present. It’s just absolutely critical. Now, there are certain circumstances where it might make sense.
If you were the victim of some crime and the feds are wanting to talk to you about whatever happened to you, that can be a different situation, but that can also potentially be dangerous. You may want to talk to a lawyer. If you’re being contacted and they’re investigating somebody else, well, it may not be true entirely.
They may be investigating you as well. But most importantly, once they start examining everything, you could become the subject of an investigation. Certainly, if I were in the shoes of somebody who’s being contacted by the feds and they say they’re investigating somebody and something else, but they want to talk to you, pick up the phone and you call a lawyer.
Please feel free to give us a call if you need a Federal Criminal Defense Attorney, or If you any have questions, call (918) 932-2800.
