The FBI this week appointed a new special agent in charge to its Minneapolis field office, assigning a veteran with international experience to lead an office that covers three states.
FBI director Christopher Wray on Monday named Alvin M. Winston Sr. as the new special agent in charge of the office, which is also responsible for investigating federal crimes in the Dakotas.
Winston comes to Minneapolis from the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he most recently served as deputy assistant director in the International Operations Division.
He has been with the FBI since 2006, starting his career as a special agent at the Miami Field Office before later being deployed to the Republic of Maldives in 2012 to oversee the investigation of a parliament member.
Winston's FBI career includes assignments in the Chicago and Cleveland field offices. He has also overseen the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives program and violent criminal Safe Streets Task Forces in the southeastern United States. Winston's most recent post as assistant director for the International Operations Division involved helping lead a branch responsible for overseas operations and engagement with foreign law enforcement partners.
Winston served in the U.S. Marine Corps on its Fleet Anti-Terrorist Security Team and was a homicide detective in Atlanta and chief investigator at the Fulton County District Attorney's Office before joining the FBI. He has a bachelor's in criminology from Saint Leo University and a master's in criminal justice administration from Bethune-Cookman University in Florida.
Winston replaces Michael Paul, who led the Minneapolis field office from 2020 until 2022 when he was promoted to assistant director of the FBI's operational technology division at its headquarters. Paul's tenure included overseeing the office during a historic federal civil rights prosecution of the four officers involved in George Floyd's murder as well as the still-ongoing $250 million federal food aid fraud case involving Minneapolis nonprofit Feeding Our Future.
