Bio: Joe Konefal is a retired Supervising Bomb/Arson Investigator for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Office of the State Fire Marshal. Joe has investigated fires and explosions for over 22 years and has conducted over 1,000 fire/explosion scene investigations. Joe was a member of the SLO-FIST investigation and instructor cadre for several years and has participated in the forensic examination of fire fatalities on over 80 case scenarios. Joe is the Lead Instructor for California State POST’s Homicide Fire Death Course and the Arson and Explosives Course. Joe has been known internationally for instructing fire and arson investigations courses.

Class: Joe will present a detailed and graphic course on the unique effects fire and heat have on the human body. He will cover common misconceptions along with the correct interpretation of the effects by fire death scene investigators.

Bio: Detective Ed Nordskog is a full time arson/bomb investigator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). He has investigated over 1,900 arson cases, over 50 fire death scenes, and been personally involved in 40 serial arson investigations. He is a former IAAI “Investigator of the Year” and IASIU “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year” for his work in the arson investigation field. He is an active instructor for the State of California POST in the subjects of arson and explosives investigation and Homicide Investigation-Fire Deaths. He has a Master’s Degree from Cal State University-Long Beach and is the author of the books “Torchered Minds-Case Histories of Notorious Serial Arsonists” and “Fireraisers, Freaks and Fiends-Obsessive Arsonists in the California Foothills.” He is set to release his third book on Profiling Arson.

Books by Ed Nordskog

Class: Detective Nordskog will present a class on how to analyze, evaluate, document, and investigate a fire death scene. He will focus in part on the analysis and profiling aspects that take place within the arson/murder scene. Factors to be considered include victimology, the ignition scenario, and the sophistication of the event. Fire death scenes discussed through recent case histories include mass murder scenes, suicides, staged suicides, and death penalty cases

Bio: Detective Michael Digby is a recently retired 34-year veteran of the LASD. For the last 17 years, he was assigned as a fire investigator/bomb technician on the LASD Arson-Explosives Detail. During his assignment, he attended more than 1000 fire scenes for the purpose of determining origin and cause. He was also the primary investigating officer on a number of high profile arson-for-profit and serial arson cases, some of which he will highlight in his presentation. Mike has provided law enforcement, military and fire service training courses and lectures around the world

Class: Detective Digby will present a class on how to recognize and process a massive arson-for-profit scene and will illustrate how to build a case patiently and through cooperation between law enforcement agencies, the State Department of Insurance, and the NICB. Mike will use a variety of investigative techniques and strategies to illustrate how he ran a professional fraud artist to ground.

Bio: Detective George Elwell is a detective with the Beverly Hills Police Department. He has been a law enforcement officer for 24 years. Detective Elwell is currently assigned to the Crimes Against Persons Detail and has a collateral duty of Arson/Explosive investigations. George has worked numerous high profile cases including murders, kidnappings, and major criminal conspiracies.

Class: Detective Elwell will present a detailed case history of the four-year-long investigation of a series of attempted murders and kidnapping surrounding a group of medical marijuana dispensaries in the Hollywood and Beverly Hills areas. Highlighting this ongoing series of attacks were over a dozen fire bombings of the shops, along with the owner’s homes and vehicles. The attacks, hidden within the cloak of black street gang violence, in fact have a much more common motive-Revenge!

Bio: Sergeant Derek Yoshino has been with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 27 years and is presently assigned as an Arson Investigator and Bomb Technician at the Arson/Explosives Detail. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Science. Sgt. Yoshino concurrently is a task force member with the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) Counter-Terrorism CT-7 Team which is solely responsible for dealing with nuclear and radiological dirty bombs. He also is an instructor for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Federal program and teaches courses on booby traps and explosive devices investigations.

Class: Sgt. Yoshino was the Lead Investigator of a multi-agency Task Force which investigated the $14 million St. John Vianney church arson. The case was a true whodunit, and was only solved through the intense implementation of basic investigation techniques along with a few very sophisticated strategies. He will illustrate techniques on managing a major incident scene and scene safety/security. Sgt. Yoshino will discuss both successful and unsuccessful investigative strategies, along with the positive and negative aspects of working with other agencies.

Bio: Sean M. Carney is a Deputy District Attorney with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. He received a B.A. from UC Irvine, and a J.D. from USC Law School where he graduated Order of the Coif and received the Hon. Dorothy Wright Nelson Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice. He has been a deputy district attorney for 17 years. In the District Attorney's Office he has worked in a number of specialized units including the Major Narcotics Division, the Organized Crime Division, and for the past six years the Arson and Explosives Unit. He has been the lead prosecutor in a number of high profile arson cases including the North Hollywood Arsonist (People v. Kurt Billie), as well as the Hollywood Arsonist (People v. Harry Burkhart), the DaVinci Apartment Complex Fire (People v. Abdulwali), and others.

Class: DDA Carney will present a class for investigators on the many issues surrounding the filing and prosecution of fire and arson crimes. Sean will use several recent case histories from his own files and pull from them some successful and unsuccessful investigative/prosecution tactics. He will provide arson investigators with the tools on how to take their investigations up to the next level.

Bio: Vic Massenkoff began his public safety career with Cal Fire in 1976 assigned to the San Luis Obispo, San Benito/Monterey, Santa Clara and Lake/Napa Ranger Units with various assignments in suppression, Emergency Command Center, Fire Prevention/Law Enforcement Bureau and Arson Investigations Unit. He joined the Vallejo Police Department in 1995 and worked in various investigative units, Training Division and Internal Affairs. Vic joined the Contra Costa Fire Protection District in 2008 and is currently an investigator in the Fire Investigative Unit.

Class: Investigator Massenkoff will present his compelling class on one of the most dangerous trends in narcotics, the Butane Butane Hash Oil lab. Vic will provide current photos, video, and analysis of this ever-evolving, dangerous technique of attempting to purify marijuana. Vic will stress the many safety concerns these events pose for neighbors and first responders. Vic will also present a class on indoor marijuana grows and the hundreds of illegal fires they have spawned. This class is a must-see for arson/bomb investigators, supervisors, and all first responders.

Bio: Lorie Velarde is a Geographic Information System (GIS) Analyst with the Irvine Police Department in Irvine, California and an instructor in the spatial analysis of crime.  During her 29-year law enforcement career, she has designed and implemented a department-wide geographic information system (GIS), instructed over 30 law enforcement courses, and is published in the subject of geographic profiling.  She holds a Master of Science degree in Criminology, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Ecology, a California State Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, and California Department of Justice Certification in Crime and Intelligence Analysis.  Lorie has received several awards for her work, including the prestigious International Association of Chiefs of Police/ChoicePoint Award for Criminal Investigative Excellence and 2011 Southern California Crime and Intelligence Analyst Association’s Crime Analyst of the Year.

Class: Geographic profiling is a crime analysis technique that uses the locations of a crime series to focus the search for the offender.  Combined with the proper strategies, a geographic profile can be used to produce a prioritized list of suspects so that investigators can solve a case sooner rather than later.  This presentation outlines the geographic profiling process from start to finish and includes discussion on series identification, spatial and temporal patterns, production of a geographic profile, innovative investigative strategies, and multi-parameter suspect prioritization.  Some of the latest techniques are introduced and illustrated with actual case examples.

Bio: Jim Engel is a Deputy Chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), assigned as a law enforcement officer/investigator. Chief Engel has over 25 years of service with Cal Fire, the last 17 years as a full time investigator. Chief Engel currently serves as Cal Fires Northern region Law enforcement/fire protection program manager and is responsible for overseeing major law enforcement operations and fire/serial arson investigations. Jim has investigated numerous wildland fires during his career and is an instructor for both the Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination training program and the Wildland Fire Case Development training. Chief Engel is the current Chair of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Wildland Fire Investigation Subcommittee and also teaches basic and advanced wildfire investigation courses for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Class: Deputy Chief Engel will present a class on recent wildland and serial wildland arson investigations in California. He will highlight such techniques as time and spatial pattern analysis, incendiary device analysis, and the use of surveillance and tracking systems. He will present case histories of recent significant investigations.

Bio: ​Sgt. Tobin ​been ​a member of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department for over 25 years. ​For many years he was a detective in the Gang Enforcement ​Detail. Sgt. Tobin is currently assigned to the Arson/Explosives Detail where ​we serve​s​ as an arson investigator and bomb technician. ​He supervise​s​ a team of five arson investigators/bomb technicians.

Class: Sgt. Tobin was called in to assist in the arson investigation of an Assistant Chief of the Compton Fire Department. Besides investigating the arson scene, Sgt. Tobin was asked to closely examine the lifestyle and past actions of the Chief prior to the fire. This detailed look by Sgt. Tobin exposed a secret, hidden side to the suspect’s behavior which led him to the almost predictable act of arson. This case history is an excellent example of combining fire scene behavior with the past suspicious behavior of the suspect. It is a text book case of offender analysis.