Our Team

Lonn began his career with the Ankeny Fire Department in 1980. He spent 10 years as the Fire Investigation instructor in the collaborative Fire Science Degree Program through Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College. Lonn served 4 years as the Program Chair of the degree program. Lonn has testified as an expert in fire cause determination in multiple states throughout the Midwest. Additionally, he has qualified and testified as an expert in multiple federal criminal and federal civil courts in various jurisdictions. View CV Here

Chelsea is the Vice President of IFIC and a licensed private investigator in the state Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri. She performs background work, interviews, recorded statements, background checks, and public record inquiries as they relate to our investigations. Chelsea is our company’s evidence technician as well as a digital investigator for IFIC. Utilizing our forensic tools, she can extract data from mobile devices and map cellular records as received from cell phone providers. Lastly, Chelsea handles the marketing for IFIC. You can find her at events and conferences, posting on our social media and coordinating presentations all to educate clients about our highly skilled investigators here at IFIC! View CV Here

Meredith administers the file management, billing and the day-to-day operations that keep IFIC running smoothly. She can help you get an investigation started or put you in touch with one of our investigators.

George Howe specializes in the area of fire origin and cause investigation and also has experience with explosives-related investigations. He has over 35 years of investigative experience. George started his career as a firefighter with the Des Moines Fire Department. He then served nineteen years in the Iowa Department of Public Safety where he held positions as a Trooper in the Iowa State Patrol Division, Special Agent assigned to the Arson and Explosives Bureau of the Iowa State Fire Marshal Division, Assistant State Fire Marshal and Iowa State Fire Marshal. Since 2002 George has conducted fire origin and cause investigations in the private sector. Licensed Private Investigator in Iowa. View CV Here

Kelly LaFollette earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of South Dakota in 1991. He then accepted employment with a large national insurance company, where he worked as a claim representative for more than six years and then joined the Special Investigative Unit where he investigated claims with indicators of insurance fraud for more than seven years. 

Since 2005 Kelly has conducted fire investigations in the private sector. He is a licensed Private Investigator in Iowa and Minnesota. Kelly has the Small Unmanned Aircraft System certificate from the FAA. 

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Cory began his firefighting career as a volunteer firefighter in 2001, he began his career as a professional firefighter with the Ottumwa Fire Department in 2003. After attending the State Fire Marshal’s Fire Investigation Class in 2008 he began actively conducting origin and cause investigations. Cory was promoted to Deputy Chief/Fire Marshal in 2012 and currently holds that rank. Throughout his career as a public sector investigator, he has testified in several criminal trials and been in multiple depositions leading to convictions in arson cases.
Cory has earned an associate’s degree in Fire Science and a bachelor’s degree in Fire Administration/Fire Investigation. He has attended the National Fire Academies Basic Fire Investigation, Courtroom Testimony and Forensic Evidence Collection courses and the Advanced Origin and Cause Courtroom Testimony course offered by the ATF. He is a sworn Peace Officer having completed the 255th Basic Academy of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in 2014.
Cory is a member of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI), National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI), and the Iowa IAAI, Iowa Fire Marshal’s Association.

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Ken has been in the fire service since 1980, having served on three fire departments in Nebraska and attaining the rank of fire chief. He began his fire investigation career with the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office in 1985 and spent seventeen years with that agency, attaining the rank of investigator. In his career, he has investigated more than 4,300 fires, has testified in more than seventy criminal and civil cases in four states and has become nationally certified as a fire and explosion investigator. He has continued his investigation career in the private sector since 2002. Ken is also a licensed Private Investigator in Iowa and Kansas.

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Mark Sloup earned his Associates of Applied Science Degree in Fire Protection Technology from Southeast Community College in 2003. Mark began his career with the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office in 2003 where he performed Life Safety Code inspections before spending nearly eleven years as an investigator with the agency. Mark earned his Nebraska Law Enforcement Certification in 2006 and has since conducted nearly 1,760 fire and explosion scene investigations. Mark has testified in numerous Nebraska Criminal Court cases. Mark is a National and Nebraska Chapter member of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) and a member of the National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI). Mark is also a Licensed Private Investigator in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota. Mark holds Private Investigator licenses in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota and performs fire origin and cause investigations in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota & North Dakota.

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Bret earned his Associates Degree in Fire Science from Hutchinson Community College in 2009. He has served as a Firefighter/Paramedic in the City of Papillion, Nebraska since 2014, attaining the rank of Fire Apparatus Engineer.

He is NAFI Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator and an IAAI Fire Investigation Technician. He holds certifications in Firefighter I & II, Fire Service Instructor, and Hazardous Materials. Bret is licensed as a Part 107 Remote Pilot by the Federal Aviation Administration and is an experienced aerial photographer.

Bret is a member of the National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI) the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). Bret is a licensed Private Investigator in Iowa.

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Roseanne began her career in the fire service in Nebraska in 1985 as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. She retired after 18 years with the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Training Division as a part-time instructor having taught all subjects related to the fire service. She was an adjunct instructor at Southeast Community College in the Fire Protection Technology Program for 7 years. She is a member of the Nebraska Chapter of the IAAI. Roseanne is an Investigator with IFIC and her responsibilities include assisting fire investigators at fire scenes and with background checks, financial checks, as well as theft and fraud investigations.

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Gary Hong is a Professional Electrical Engineer and has been involved in Forensic Engineering since 1999.  Gary received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska. Gary has a diverse amount of forensic experience including electrical fire /explosion investigation, product failure analysis, interpreting electrical code issues, product testing, and reviewing of engineering protocols and processes.  Gary also teaches an advanced forensic electrical investigations class for the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s office.

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For over 24 years, Ghattas has been serving the insurance, legal and corporate communities in matters of high-technology, electrical fire analysis, equipment failure, scope of damage and cause of loss analysis. Ghattas has acquired extensive knowledge regarding lightning and power surge damage to HVAC equipment, industrial/manufacturing equipment and telephone/computer systems. He earned his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Wichita State University, Kansas.

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Mark has been in the fire service since 1998 where he started as a volunteer firefighter before being employed by the City of Bloomington Fire Department in 2003.  He currently holds the rank of Captain with the department and is the Supervisor of their investigation team.  He obtained his Fire Investigation Certificate through the Illinois State Fire Marshal Office in 2008 and holds his CFI Certificate from the International Association of Arson Investigators.  He began his career in the private sector in 2011 and since then, has investigated nearly 800 fires for both the public and private sectors.  Mark also has an Applied Associates Degree in Fire Science Technology. View CV Here

Mike has been in the fire service for 12 years and a fire investigator for the last 7 years. He is currently an active fire investigator, conducting cause and origin investigations for both the public and private sectors. Mike is also an ASE certified Master Automobile Technician, who holds a Certificate in Automotive Technology and has an Associate Degree in EMS-Paramedic. He is certified as a Fire Investigator by the State of Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal. He also holds certification from the National Association of Fire Investigators as a Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI) and Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator (CVFI). He has also been certified through the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) as a Certified Fire Investigator (CFI). View CV Here

Mike began his career in law enforcement for the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office in 1977 serving 8 years responding and investigating numerous crimes and incidents. He then began his Fire Service career volunteering with the Edge-Scott Fire Protection District, which led into him leaving the Sheriff’s Dept. for a fulltime career in the Fire Service. He spent over 30 years with the Urbana Fire Department holding several positions from Firefighter, Company Officer, Division Chief and eventually as Fire Chief. Mike first became involved in Fire Investigation as a Deputy Sheriff in 1980 and continued attending training and investigating fires throughout his career. He is still both conducting Fire Investigations and Training Fire Investigators. Mike was the Division Chief in Prevention and Education where he conducted and supervised various code enforcement activities and inspections of Commercial, Industrial, Business, and Residential Facilities. He conducted and supervised Fire Investigations during his tenure at Urbana. Mike then continued his career serving as a shift commander where he was the Incident Commander on numerous fire and emergency scenes. He also helped develop and managed Urbana’s Technical Rescue Team. He began and developed the MABAS 28 Fire Investigation Team. He is currently a member of the Sidney Fire Protection District as an Assistant Chief, Investigator, and currently is training Department members. Mike has also been a licensed Private Investigator for over 20 years, owning and operating his own Origin and Cause Investigation business, conducting investigations in the private sector. Mike has been a field staff instructor for the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute Training Academy, conducting fire investigation classes and other related fire science fields. He has taught fire investigation, leadership, and fire management courses at his local community college and with Public Agency Training Council. Mike has testified as an expert witness in Federal, State, and Local cases both in criminal and civil liabilities. The National Association of Fire Investigators recognizes him as a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator and a Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator. He holds the certification of Fire and Arson Investigator with the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office. He is also a graduate of the Northwestern Traffic Institute Accident Investigation I and II. View CV Here

Darrin has been on the Galesburg Fire Department Since 2010, where is currently serves as the rank of Captain. Darrin also volunteers on his local volunteer fire department. He is the supervisor for Galesburg Fire investigation team. He earned his associate degree from Illinois Central College in 2006 in Fire Science along with his bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University in Business Administration in 2008. Darrin began his investigation career in 2014 with the Galesburg Fire Department. Darrin trained at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD earning his “Certified Fire Investigator” through the International Association of Arson Investigators in 2020 along with his “Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator through (NAFI) in 2021. He has been working in the private sector since 2021. View CV Here

Todd Mutchler has 27 years of law enforcement experience, including 10 years of criminal investigation experience and 9 years of digital/internet crimes investigation experience.  He is a Certified Mobile Device Examiner by the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists, and a Magnet Certified Computer Examiner.  Mr. Mutchler is able to acquire and analyze data from mobile devices.  Services available include: Call History Log Recovery, Text Message (SMS, MMS) Recovery, Contact Extraction, Image and Video Recovery, Social Network and Internet Data Recovery, E-Mail Recovery, Location/GPS Information Recovery, Router Interrogation, WiFi Connections Recovery, Bluetooth Connections Recovery, Ability to Analyze and Explain Call Detail Records/Cell Tower Data, Ability to Analyze and Map Cell Phone Provider Records, Other Miscellaneous Data Recovery from Mobile Devices, and Examination of Previously Acquired Data.  Todd has expert testimony experience related to Digital Forensics and Cell Phone Analysis. View CV Here

Roger provides technical support to the engineers on their case files both in the field and in the laboratory. Roger is also co-responsible for the Oakdale, MN office artifact and laboratory management. He graduated from Augsburg College with a degree in Business Administration. He has the ECT (Evidence Collection Technician) and FIT (Fire Investigator Technician) Certifications. View CV Here

Kent has 40 years of experience as a fire investigator, having worked both for the Wichita Fire Department and in the private sector. During his time as a WFD investigator, Kent also worked closely with investigators from other agencies including the bureau of ATF and the FBI. Prior to joining the WFD Investigations Unit where he worked for 17 years, Kent worked as a WFD firefighter for six years. Kent has investigated nearly 4,000 fires in his 33 years working as a fire origin and cause investigator.

Kent is a Certified Fire Investigator (CFI) as well as a Certified Fire and Explosions Investigator (CFEI). He is a NFPA 1033 Qualified Fire Investigator, as certified by the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications. He is a member of both the National Association of Fire Investigators and the International Association of Arson Investigators, both Kansas and Colorado chapters.

Prior to working in the fire fighting and fire investigations fields, he spent several years studying medical sciences at Wichita State University.  His goal was to work in the field of anesthesia following the conclusion of his studies in Nursing.  However, the firefighting bug bit him and he joined the fire department in 1979.  He continued working in a large hospital environment for several years while working his 24 hours shifts with the fire department.  Kent feels his study of medical sciences helped him tremendously in the field of Fire Investigations, giving him a better feel at utilizing the scientific approach.

In 1999, Kent was named the Kansas Arson Investigator of the Year, as awarded by the Kansas chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators. This award was presented to him in relation to him solving a large Church Fire that occurred in Wichita, Kansas.

Prior to coming to IFIC, Kent owned and operated KGFI, Inc. for 17 years.  Kent enjoys an impeccable reputation as to both his accuracy and integrity in determining the cause of fires and explosions. Kent earned an Associate’s degree with emphasis in fire science from Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from Friends University in Wichita. Kent has taught fire science at the college level including Fire Investigations courses.  These courses were taught at both Wichita State University and Butler County Community College.

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