Services:

Michael Templeton is the President and Principal Consultant for Templeton Strategic Group LLC, licensed in the State of Tennessee to provide investigations and strategic consulting for criminal defense attorneys practicing in state and federal courts in Tennessee. He has long-standing relationships with a plethora of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, agents, and prosecutors throughout East Tennessee. Michael’s investigative expertise includes serious felonies to include complex drug trafficking conspiracies, weapons charges, money laundering, Drug-Induced Homicides, Homicide and a variety of other serious criminal matters.

Federal Law Enforcement Experience:

Michael is a recently Retired Special Agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) where he served for 25 years from 1997 -2021. He has served in domestic offices in Louisiana, Tennessee, and South Florida. Of the past 25 years, Michael served 10 years here in the Eastern District of Tennessee (EDTN) in the DEA Johnson City Office where he conducted dozens of complex conspiracy drug investigations which were prosecuted in the U.S. District Court in Greeneville, TN.

Michael served 2.5 years (2018-2021) as DEA’s Liaison to U.S. Special Operations Forces in Kabul, Afghanistan and previously served 2 years (2010-2012) with DEA in Islamabad, Pakistan attacking global drug trafficking networks linked to terrorism. While serving DEA in Afghanistan, he led a small cell charged with investigating ISIS-K, Taliban, and al-Qaeda narco-terrorist financiers throughout the war-torn country. In 2020, his team culminated a 9-month operation dubbed ‘Green Kandahar’ resulting in the arrest of an individual known by Interpol as “The Taliban’s Bank” along with five of his sons. His team uncovered proof of the patriarch having moved money directly for Usama Bin Laden and Taliban founder Mullah Omar, and laundered approximately $5 Billion USD over a 20-year period.

Michael has been a guest speaker for Homeland Security Today magazine and the Johnson City Press during the 20th Anniversary of 9/11. He is recognized as a subject matter expert (SME) in Global Counter-Terrorist Financing and Anti-Money Laundering (CFT/AML).

State and Local Law Enforcement Experience:

For four years (1992-1996) Michael served as a Police Officer with the Johnson City, Tennessee Police Department (JCPD) with one year assigned to the State of Tennessee First Judicial Drug Task Force (DTF). During the recruitment process with the JCPD, he ranked #1 of 110 applicants. Upon selection, Michael graduated First in his Class at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy outside Nashville, TN.

Accolades:
In 2000 Michael was awarded the DEA Administrators Award, DEA’s highest award for Investigative Excellence. He is also the recipient of two OCDETF cases of the year in the EDTN and the SDFL.

Education:
Michael holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (Cum Laude) from East Tennessee State University and has completed thousands of hours of training in multiple disciplines with the U.S. Government.

Licenses:
State of Tennessee Private Investigator License #9039