Senior Special Agent John Buehler Garcia is, aside from being an experienced federally trained investigator,  fluent in English, Spanish and Arabic.

John was born of overseas missionaries in Costa Rica and lived in both Costa Rica and Mexico for the first part of his life.  Here as a part of his parent’s work he was exposed to aspects of culture and work ethic uncommon in the United States.  He participated in all manner of work from farming and collecting mague cactus to raising farm animals to building churches and schools.   He came to the United States when his parents undertook a mission to the Sioux Indians in South Dakota again learning and assimilating a culture and experiences much different than that of the “average American.”

 John’s educational background involves various courses of study, including biomedical engineering, chemistry, pre-med, emergency services, social sciences and criminal justice.  He obtained Associates Degrees in Fire Science, Medical Technologies and Criminal Justice.  He obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Administration and Criminal Justice from California Baptist University.   He has undergone various USAF Training curriculum  which included: Leadership and Management, Managerial Communications, Total Quality Management (TQM), NCO/Superintendents Courses, Federal and Military Law, Investigations Techniques, Crime Scene Investigations, Forensic Science Equipment, Evidence Collection and Custody, Counterintelligence Investigations, Counterintelligence Collections, Protective Service Operations, Threat and Vulnerability Assessment, Information Security Management, Economic Crime Investigations, Environmental Crimes Investigations, Medical Assisting, Human Anatomy/Physiology, Emergency Medicine, and Professional Military Studies

His investigative career began when he Graduated from the AFOSI academy in 1987, fifth in a class of 95, and recognized as an “honor graduate” of the course.

He was first assigned to Davis Monthan AFB, AZ where he successfully resolved a contracting fraud case involving a missile contract resulting in the recovery of $17 Million from the contractor.  He was next assigned to Panama where he was involved in various criminal investigations including the successful resolution of a homicide of an Army sergeant by an Air Force NCO, both of which were involved in smuggling cocaine into the United States on military aircraft.  The Air Force NCO was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.  During the US Operation Just Cause which toppled the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega, John was recognized for his counterintelligence work in which he had developed a source network with at least two confidential informants in each of the eighteen political parties in the capital.   His reporting improved the counterintelligence reporting of the division by 300%.  He also was recognized by the US Drug Enforcement Administration for his intelligence collection work in countering smuggling from Colombia and other South American drug cartels.

His next assignment was to Nellis AFB, NV where he again developed a network of confidential sources for work in criminal and counterintelligence work.  He successfully resolved a technology transfer case which involved applied specific computer chips which were being smuggled into China via Japan. His fraud work resulted in the recovery of over $200,000 on construction fraud.  He was also critical in the resolution and conviction of a thief who was taking over $5,000 per day in salable metals from the Nellis gunnery ranges.  He then attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, CA where he studied Arabic for a year.  This resulted in various trips to the middle east where he was recognized with various awards in counterintelligence and anti-terrorism work.  John was critical in the intercept of terrorists who intended to bomb a number of bases in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  He then graduated into supervisory levels of the field and served as the Resident Agent at Enid, OK where he was the sole agent for a training base of over 700 US and NATO pilots and over 5,000 support personnel.  After a short tour as the Resident Agent for a military base in Kuwait, he then moved on to the Special Agent in Charge at March Air Reserve Base in California where he supervised seven special agents performing all three missions (fraud, criminal and counterintelligence) and managed the budget for the AFOSI detachment.  Here he was recognized for improvements to the counterintelligence reporting from the base which increased fivefold during his tenure.  He initiated an ad-hoc group of state, and local investigators to break up a ring of thieves which were stealing war readiness material from the base.  This investigation involved concurrent searches at nine different locations in two counties.  Evidence of the crimes were discovered at each location and over $40,000 in military equipment was recovered.  A second robbery, of the Army and Air Force Exchange was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” as a result of John’s diligence and coordination.  After the crime was featured on the show, enough leads were generated to resolve the case.  The Army reservist responsible for the theft of over $200,000.00 was identified, convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.