FBI's Tichenor bagged crooked financial adviser
By Yolanda Jones, Memphis Commercial Appeal
January 5, 2004

For FBI agent Wayne Pierson Tichenor, making the case against a crooked Memphis financial adviser was the biggest investigation during his 32-year career in law enforcement.

Even as he battled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, Mr. Tichenor never missed a day of court during the seven-week trial in 2002. He showed up in a wheelchair as part of the prosecution team ready to testify in one of the largest securities fraud cases ever tried in the federal court district in Memphis.

"That's just the type of person he was. He wanted to see it through to the end," said his son, Brian Wayne Tichenor of Cabot, Ark.

Mr. Tichenor died Sunday at his Cordova home from ALS. He was 58.

A Marine Corps veteran, Mr. Tichenor joined the FBI after he graduated from the University of Memphis.

In November, he received the Director's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement from the Department of Justice. The award recognized his work in making the case against financial adviser David Namer.

Convicted in 2002 of conspiracy, securities and mail fraud, tax evasion and money laundering, Namer is serving a 29-year prison sentence.

Mr. Tichenor spent five years putting together a paper trail of 250,000 documents. More than 200 witnesses around the world were interviewed. "Dad was proud of the case and wanted to see it through to the end," said Brian Tichenor, an FBI agent in Little Rock.

Mr. Tichenor, the husband of Glenda Joy Tichenor, also leaves a daughter, Hallie Tichenor Dunn of Cordova; his father, Charles Harry Tichenor, and three brothers, Steve Tichenor, David Tichenor and Gene Tichenor, all of Memphis, and two grandchildren.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Germantown United Methodist Church, where Mr. Tichenor was a member. Burial will be in West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel has charge. The family requests that any memorials be sent to the ALS Association's MidSouth chapter.

Memphis Commercial Appeal - http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/obituaries/article/0,1426,MCA_443_2552802,00.html



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FBI agent Tichenor receives high honor
(Memphis, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, November 7, 2003)

An FBI agent who worked for five years on the largest securities fraud case ever tried in Memphis federal court while battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease was honored Thursday with the Director’s Award from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wayne Tichenor investigated the case against Memphis financial adviser David Namer.

Namer was convicted in August 2002 of 94 counts of conspiracy, securities and mail fraud, tax evasion and money laundering and is serving a 29-year prison sentence.

Name swindled hundreds of investors out of an estimated $34 million.

The case was based on Tichenor’s work assembling a paper trail of 250,000 documents detailing transactions and communications among the conspirators. More than 200 witnesses who lived across the country and in foreign countries were also interviewed as part of the case.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------