Longtime Erie FBI agent targets relationship building in new role as supervisory senior agent

An FBI agent who has spent his entire career working cases and building relationships in Erie is now at the helm of the agency's local office.

Jason T. Crouse, 47, a 19-year veteran of the FBI, was recently promoted to supervisory senior resident agent of the FBI offices in Erie and New Castle. Crouse fills a seat in Erie that was vacated this past summer by the retirement of Supervisory Special Agent Mark Beneski.

The Erie FBI office covers seven counties in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Beneski said Crouse is a great choice for the office, noting his skills, drive and enthusiasm for the job.

"He's definitely a hard-working guy, definitely dedicated to the Erie area," Beneski said. "He's been here a long time, and in that time he's made a lot of great relationships throughout the whole area."

Crouse, a Pennsylvania native, earned an undergraduate degree in criminal justice at the University of Maryland, where he joined the U.S. Army Reserves, and a law degree from the School of Law at Wake Forest University. He worked as a public defender in Maryland for two years before joining the FBI, fulfilling a childhood dream.

"Law enforcement was always in the back of my mind, something I always wanted to do," he said. "As I progressed through college and law school, I always viewed the FBI as the pinnacle of law enforcement, so that's what I set my sights on."

Crouse started his career with the FBI in Erie as coordinator of the Erie Area Gang Law Enforcement task force, or E.A.G.L.E., a position he held for seven years. The task force, in place since the 1990s, involves representatives of various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who work to combat violent crime, including drug and gun crime.

Crouse said he later transitioned to violent crimes against children, which he did for about 10 years.

"While that was my primary focus, based on small number agents we have here and the broad spectrum of investigations we have to undertake, I've had experience in all those violations. So I've worked counterterrorism investigations, bank robbery, white collar fraud, health care fraud. And not always as a case agent in charge of an investigation but certainly in a supporting role here," he said.

Crouse said that while the number one priority of the Erie FBI office, as well as the entire agency, is on national security and counterterrorism, the big issues that the FBI is focusing on in the region include an increase in violence, an increase in shootings and the fentanyl epidemic.

"We also have the crimes against children threat that is rapidly expanding," he said.

Crouse said the COVID pandemic put children at home more and online more, and it put adults inside more and online more.

"So the perpetrators had more access to a greater pool of victims," he said. "The victims are on their devices for longer periods of time, so those cases increased dramatically."

Another aspect to that is when children are at home and have less exposure to the community, there are "less red flags to see," Crouse said.

"Teachers don't observe it, coaches don't observe it, church members don't observe it. All that combined made them very vulnerable in a very dangerous time," he said. "With the increase in social media platforms and the technology, all of that is leading to a significant threat in our area and across the country."

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Crouse said his key focus as head of the Erie FBI office is on strengthening its partnerships with other law enforcement agencies by enhancing those relationships that exist and building them where they don't.

"I believe everyone is more effective when we work together on projects," he said. "There are things that state and local law enforcement do better than we can, and I think there is some expertise that we can bring to investigations that maybe state and local law enforcement either don't have or don't have readily accessible to them. So I'm always looking for avenues to apply what we can bring to the table to enhance the investigations and form those partnerships."

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Crouse said he likes working in the Erie FBI office for a variety of reasons. One is for the quality of work, as agents in a smaller office such as Erie work every FBI investigative program.

"So the diversity of work is fantastic. It gives us all opportunities to explore things," he said.

Crouse, who is married and has six children, said he also enjoys the quality of life in the Erie area.

"It's a great place to work. The community is very supportive, state and local law enforcement is very supportive. So all of those things combined make this a very sought after office, in my opinion," he said.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County crime: Longtime Erie FBI agent tapped to head local office