Gardner is an FBI computer agent — a self-described “computer geek” — who helps bust hackers, child molesters and other criminals who prey on people in cyberspace.

She’s also a native of Davie County and a Catawba College graduate. She came back to Catawba recently to talk to a business class.

To catch George Rocha, the 51-year-old Greensboro man who pleaded guilty to bombing two Lowe’s stores, Gardner and other agents stayed right here while tracing him through a number of different countries. The bomber had been using the public library and other sites in Greensboro and Winston-Salem and logging onto the Internet anonymously.

Also, he would e-mail his demands on a Hotmail account, which he kept under an alias. Lowe’s answered the e-mail on its website, and Gardner kept a watch on the site to see who would visit.

Gardner and the FBI team found Rocha and he now awaits his sentence.

After getting a degree in computer science and math at Catawba, Gardner went on to Wake Forest University for a master’s degree in math.

Gardner began at the FBI in 1988 as a computer specialist, traveling and supporting major FBI cases. Within four years she became a special agent in Baltimore, investigating bank fraud and extortion.

Gardner’s first big job came in 1992, when a child was kidnapped. After questioning people in the child’s neighborhood, FBI agents pinpointed a suspect and obtained a search warrant for his home. There, they found computers.

“Being the computer geek that I am, they turned to me to look through the computer files,” Gardner said.

What the agents had found was a child pornography ring that would lure children into sexual meetings. Gardner began an undercover operation, posing as a 12-year-old girl in chat rooms. To date this investigation, dubbed “Innocent Images,” has resulted in more than 300 arrests nationwide.

Gardner is also involved with the National Infostructure Protection Center. Infostructure is so vital that if lost or damaged, it could harm a number of key institutions, including banking, financial, telecommunications and government services.

Charlotte has one of the few National Infostructure Protection centers in the country, currently working out of the 10th floor of the Wachovia building in downtown Charlotte.

But Gardner has been told a new post with better equipment is coming soon.

When she returned to Catawba recently, she spoke to students in the management information systems class, an evening class in the Lifelong Learning program.

“It’s exciting to have a Catawba graduate to have done so well and come back and share her experiences,” said Pam Thompson, an associate professor of business and information systems at Catawba, teacher of the class.

Thompson said there are few women in this line of work and even fewer with the status Gardner has achieved. All her achievements make her a great role model for younger women today, Thompson said.

Gardner cautioned the class that nothing is safe on the Internet. Many people are wary of making purchases on the Internet for fear someone will steal their credit card number, but many do not realize there are other dangers.

“People basically have the power to do anything on the Internet,” she said. “If someone wanted to, they could even tap into the armed services and send a box of toilet paper somewhere rather than missiles.”