District Not Recorded
The source did not name an office we could identify. These records remain unassigned rather than guessed.
DOJ, EPA Team Receive Top Honors for Public ServiceRead the Press Release
Today members of the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will receive one of the most prestigious awards for their achievements in public service.
Senior Trial Attorney Josh Van Eaton of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), Director Phillip Brooks of the EPA’s Air Enforcement Division, and Director Byron Bunker of the EPA’s Compliance Division will be honored with the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) as the Federal Employees of the Year.
“The investigation and trial team in the Volkswagen case, from both the Justice Department and EPA, put forth exemplary efforts and achieved results that are worthy of this prestigious award,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are particularly proud that ENRD attorney Josh Van Eaton is being recognized at the ceremony with this well deserved honor.”
Van Eaton, Brooks, and Bunker headed an interagency and intergovernmental team made up of scientists, engineers, and attorneys that investigated and built the landmark civil case against German automaker Volkswagen for violations of U.S. environmental laws. Volkswagen’s violations included the installation of software used to fool federal and state regulators, and selling diesel vehicles that did not meet U.S. pollution standards.
“Volkswagen’s prolonged deception and subsequent cover-up really offend the moral compass,” Van Eaton said. “This was an opportunity to do something historic and also achieve a just result for the environment and our country and I am proud to say our team did just that.”
With Van Eaton leading civil litigation, Bunker directing EPA’s office that conducts tests for compliance with clean air regulations, and Brooks leading the EPA office of air quality enforcement, their teams were able to develop comprehensive, long term, and environmentally meaningful terms of settlement.
Through their coordination and persistent negotiations, Volkswagen agreed to the largest legal settlement ever secured against a car manufacturer. The settlement includes the largest ever civil penalty under the Clean Air Act and programs to remediate environmental harm, buy back offending cars, and compensate car owners.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions Welcomes Makan Delrahim as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust DivisionRead the Press Release
Attorney General Jeff Sessions today welcomed the confirmation of Makan Delrahim as the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division.
“Makan is an outstanding lawyer with a deep devotion to the integrity of our free market system,” said Attorney General Sessions. “His expertise in antitrust enforcement will enable him to follow legal requirements and effectively promote competition to the benefit of consumers and the American economy.”
Mr. Delrahim’s rich antitrust background covers the full range of industries, issues, and institutions touched upon by the critical work of the Antitrust Division. He previously served in the Antitrust Division from 2003 to 2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, overseeing the Appellate, Foreign Commerce, and Legal Policy sections. During that time, he played an integral role in building the Antitrust Division’s engagement with its international counterparts and was involved in civil and criminal matters. He has also served on the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property and as Chairman of the Merger Working Group of the International Competition Network. Mr. Delrahim also served as a Commissioner on the Antitrust Modernization Commission from 2004 to 2007. Earlier in his career, Mr. Delrahim served as antitrust counsel, and later as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Prior to his nomination by the President to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Mr. Delrahim served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Counsel. He is a former partner in the Los Angeles office of the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Mr. Delrahim received his J.D., with high honors, from the George Washington University School of Law, his M.S. from Johns Hopkins University, and his B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Two Men Charged in Bribery Scheme Related to Korean Base RelocationRead the Press Release
A former contracting officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Far East District (FED) and a former officer in the Korean Ministry of Defense (MOD) were indicted for their roles in a scheme to direct over $400 million in Department of Defense (DOD) construction contracts to a large multinational corporation based in the Republic of Korea in exchange for over $3 million in bribes.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Director Frank Robey, Major Procurement Fraud Unit, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID); and Assistant Director Stephen E. Richardson of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division made the announcement.
Former FED contracting officer Duane Nishiie, 58, of Honolulu, and former Korean MOD officer Seung-Ju Lee, 50, of Seoul, Korea, were charged in a nine-count indictment with mail and wire conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Nishiie was also charged with three counts of making a false statement.
According to the indictment, from 2008 through 2012, Nishiie and Lee solicited bribes from a large Korean engineering and construction company in exchange for Nishiie’s official actions to direct to the company certain contracts relating to the relocation and expansion of Camp Humphreys, a large military installation in Korea. The indictment further alleges that during this time, Nishiie, Lee and others used foreign bank accounts to hide the bribes accepted by Nishiie.
The indictment alleges that in late 2008, Nishiie took official action to steer a contract, valued at over $400 million, involving land development, utilities and infrastructure for the expansion of Camp Humphreys to the Korean company. Nishiie is also alleged to have used his official position in 2009 and 2010 to influence the award of a contract for construction of a project management office at Camp Humphreys, valued at over $6 million to the same Korean company.
In exchange for these actions, the indictment alleges, Nishiie and Lee received over $3 million in cash and other payments. Nishiie concealed these payments by using bank accounts held in the names of Lee and other Korean nationals.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
U.S. Army CID, FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation. Trial Attorneys Richard B. Evans and Peter M. Nothstein of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.
Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Parker-Hannifin Regarding the Company’s Acquisition of CLARCOR’s Aviation Fuel Filtration BusinessRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today against Parker-Hannifin Corporation, challenging its acquisition of CLARCOR Inc. The department said that the $4.3 billion transaction substantially lessened competition in markets for aviation fuel filtration products in the United States, which threatens to result in higher prices, less innovation, and less favorable terms of service.
The department’s lawsuit seeks to restore the competition that this transaction eliminated by asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware to order Parker-Hannifin to divest an aviation fuel filtration business sufficient to replace CLARCOR’s competitive significance in the marketplace.
“Parker-Hannifin bought CLARCOR knowing that this transaction raised serious antitrust concerns under Section 7 of the Clayton Act in the development, manufacture and sale of aviation fuel filtration products,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Donald Kempf of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The Division is committed to vigorous and sound enforcement of the antitrust laws, and will do its job to protect American customers regardless of whether a merger has already been consummated,” he added.
“Parker-Hannifin’s acquisition of its only U.S. rival for these types of aviation fuel filtration products has effectively created a monopoly in these critical safety products, depriving their customers of the benefits of competition,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.Aviation fuel must be filtered properly to remove particulate contaminants and water droplets before such fuel is delivered into commercial or military aircraft. The failure to filter aviation fuel properly can result in engine failure, with potentially catastrophic consequences. To protect public safety, the U.S. airline industry mandates the use of aviation fuel filtration systems and filtration elements that have been subjected to rigorous testing and qualification requirements. Only those aviation fuel filtration products qualified by the Energy Institute (EI) may be used to filter aviation fuel for use in U.S. commercial and military planes.
According to the department’s complaint, Parker-Hannifin and CLARCOR were the only two manufacturers of EI-qualified aviation fuel filtration systems and filter elements in the United States and were engaged in vigorous head-to-head competition. That competition enabled customers to negotiate better pricing and to receive more innovative products and better terms of service. The transaction eliminated this competition.
During the pendency of the department’s investigation, Parker-Hannifin failed to provide significant document or data productions in response to the department’s requests. In addition, the company has not agreed to enter into a satisfactory agreement to hold separate the fuel filtration businesses at issue and to maintain their independent viability pending the outcome of the investigation and, now, this litigation.
Parker-Hannifin Corporation is an Ohio corporation headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. It is a diversified manufacturer of filtration systems, and motion and control technologies for the mobile, industrial and aerospace markets with operations worldwide. In 2016, Parker-Hannifin’s sales revenues were approximately $11.4 billion. Parker-Hannifin sells its aviation fuel filtration products under the Velcon brand.
CLARCOR Inc. was a Delaware corporation headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee. CLARCOR was a leading provider of filtration systems for diversified industrial markets with net sales of approximately $1.6 billion in 2016. CLARCOR manufactured and sold aviation fuel filtration products under the PECOFacet brand.
Justice Department Announces Department-Wide Response to Disaster FraudRead the Press Release
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced today that the Justice Department has issued a memorandum to all 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices (USAO) and heads of the department’s law enforcement agencies providing, for the first time, department-wide guidance relating to the coordination, investigation, and prosecution of disaster fraud allegations.
“The Justice Department is committed to pursuing any fraudsters seeking to capitalize on the tragedy and will devote the necessary resources to do so,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. “It is imperative that the department is able to properly track and manage its response to claims of disaster fraud and that agencies receive timely and relevant investigative leads and other relevant information. By working together, we can ensure that federal emergency relief funds are properly distributed to those who need them most and that taxpayers are not victimized by fraudsters or other criminals.”
The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) has already received hundreds of complaints across the country. The NCDF has remained operational since its inception following Hurricane Katrina and is specifically designed to be ready for situations like Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria. NCDF has an excellent staff of investigators, analysts, call center operators, and managers prepared to handle the anticipated volume.
The memo issued establishes a department-wide policy that stresses the importance of establishing a disaster fraud point-of-contact, directing all disaster fraud complaints to the NCDF, notifying the NCDF about any disaster-related enforcement actions, ensuring proper resources are dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of disaster fraud matters, directing U.S. Attorneys in districts impacted by recent hurricanes to establish regional disaster fraud task forces, as well as including the NCDF hotline in all disaster fraud external communications. The memo can be found here.
U.S. Attorney Offices in the Southern District of Texas, District of Puerto Rico, Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Florida and Northern District of Florida have already established task forces comprised of local, state and federal agencies in their respective areas to combat disaster fraud.
Members of the public are reminded to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before trusting anyone purporting to be working on behalf of disaster victims. Members of the public who suspect fraud involving disaster relief efforts, or believe they have been the victim of fraud from a person or organization soliciting relief funds on behalf of disaster victims, should contact the National Disaster Fraud Hotline toll free at (866) 720-5721. The telephone line is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also fax information to the Center at (225) 334-4707, or email it to [email protected]. Learn more about the National Center for Disaster Fraud at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud.
Department of Justice Files Statement of Interest in Defense of Campus Free SpeechRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today filed a Statement of Interest in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski.
The lawsuit was filed by students at Georgia Gwinnett College to challenge a school policy that limited student expressive activity to two small “free-speech zones” that totaled 0.0015% of the campus. Additionally, these students were required to obtain prior authorization from campus officials, to limit their expressive activity to a specified date and time, and to comply with the Student Code of Conduct’s prohibition of speech that “disturbs the…comfort of person(s).
The Justice Department primarily argues that the plaintiffs’ allegations have adequately represented violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Justice Department argues the college’s speech policies were not content-neutral, established an impermissible heckler’s veto, and were not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.
In filing the Statement of Interest, Attorney General Jeff Sessions provided the following statement:
“A national recommitment to free speech on campus and to ensuring First Amendment rights is long overdue. Which is why, starting today, the Department of Justice will do its part in this struggle. We will enforce federal law, defend free speech, and protect students’ free expression.”
Federal Court Permanently Shuts Down Detroit Tax Preparation BusinessRead the Press Release
On Sept. 25, a federal court in Detroit, Michigan has permanently barred Tax Pioneer Co. and its owner Dieasha Davis from operating a tax return preparation business and preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. Tax Pioneer Co. and Davis agreed to the civil injunction order entered against them.
According to the suit filed in January 2017, Davis, a former manager and tax return preparer for a Liberty Tax Service franchisee, prepared fraudulent tax returns both during her time at Liberty Tax Service and, since 2013, at Tax Pioneer. Davis and Tax Pioneer prepared tax returns with false or inflated income and expenses, bogus dependents, improper filing statuses, and false itemized deductions, all with the purpose of fraudulently maximizing customer refunds and refundable credits, according to the complaint. The government also alleges that Davis advised at least one customer audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to submit false records to the IRS in an effort to convince auditors that bogus expenses claimed on the customer’s tax returns were, in fact, legitimate.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
Federal Agent, Colombian Narcotics Kingpin and Colombian National Indicted for Conspiracy, Corruption and ObstructionRead the Press Release
A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent and two Colombian nationals were charged today by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida with conspiracy, corruption and obstruction of justice charges stemming from their participation in a bribery scheme that resulted in the dismissal of an indictment filed against one of the Colombian nationals in exchange for cash and other things of value, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Moreland of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Southeast Region; and Special Agent in Charge Jay Donly of the Office of Inspector General (OIG), HSI.
According to the indictment, Special Agent Christopher V. Ciccione, II, 52, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was the case agent for Operation Cornerstone, a large-scale Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force case that resulted in indictments of Colombia-based cocaine traffickers from the Cali Cartel, including Jose Piedrahita Ceballos, a Colombian national. The indictment alleges that Piedrahita gave benefits to Ciccione in exchange for official acts that resulted in the dismissal of the indictment against Piedrahita. Juan Carlos Velasco, also a Colombian national, served as the intermediary between Ciccione and Piedrahita. Ciccione ultimately succeeded in getting the Cornerstone indictment dismissed against Piedrahita in exchange for approximately $20,000 in cash, dinner, drinks and prostitution.
The indictment further alleges that while maintaining contact with Piedrahita, Ciccione misled the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HSI management and altered DHS records to represent to decision makers that Piedrahita was “unidentified” and that his case should be dismissed because “all investigative efforts” were “exhausted.” In addition, Ciccone falsified the concurrence of several other federal agents and even attempted to parole Piedrahita into the U.S.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Piedrahita as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act on May 3, 2016.
ICE-OPR, Department of Homeland Security’s OIG and the FBI investigated the case. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and Office of the Judicial Attaché in Colombia, and the Drug Enforcement Administration provided valuable assistance to the investigation. Trial Attorneys Luke Cass and Jennifer A. Clarke of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.
FBI Releases 2016 Report on Crime in the United StatesRead the Press Release
The Federal Bureau of Investigation today released the 2016 edition of its Crime in the United States (CIUS) report, a part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). The report, which covers January-December 2016, reaffirms that the worrying violent crime increase that began in 2015 after many years of decline was not an isolated incident. The violent crime rate increased by 3.4 percent nationwide in 2016, the largest single-year increase in 25 years. The nationwide homicide rate increased by 7.9 percent, for a total increase of more than 20 percent in the nationwide homicide rate since 2014.
“For the sake of all Americans, we must confront and turn back the rising tide of violent crime. And we must do it together,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “The Department of Justice is committed to working with our state, local, and tribal partners across the country to deter violent crime, dismantle criminal organizations and gangs, stop the scourge of drug trafficking, and send a strong message to criminals that we will not surrender our communities to lawlessness and violence.”
The report released today also adjusts and corrects numbers for 2015, showing that the violent crime rate actually increased by 3.3 percent (as opposed to 3.1 percent, as previously reported) in 2015. The violent crime rate increases in 2015 and 2016 each represented the largest single-year increases in the violent crime rate since 1991. These increases were nationwide, with the average violent crime rate increasing in cities over 250,000 in population, in cities under 10,000 in population, in suburban areas, and in every size in-between. In addition to the 7.9 percent homicide rate increase in 2016, the corrected numbers show the homicide rate increased by 11.4 percent in 2015, for a total increase of more than 20 percent from 2014-2016. Rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults also each continued to increase nationwide in 2016.
For the full report click here.U.S. Delegation to Attend 86th INTERPOL General AssemblyRead the Press Release
INTERPOL Washington – the U.S. National Central Bureau – senior leadership and support staff will attend the INTERPOL 86th General Assembly in Beijing, China, September 26th – 29th, 2017. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and INTERPOL Washington Director Wayne Salzgaber are leading the U.S. delegation.
The General Assembly is composed of delegates appointed by the governments of member countries. As INTERPOL's supreme governing body, it meets once a year and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy, the resources needed for international cooperation, working methods, finances, and programs of activities.
It also elects the Organization's Executive Committee. Generally speaking, the Assembly takes decisions by a simple majority in the form of resolutions. Each member country represented has one vote.
The INTERPOL General Assembly also hosts an exhibition hall, featuring innovative companies which provide technology and services to the international law enforcement community. It is an exceptional opportunity to network, share knowledge and showcase products to high level representatives from INTERPOL’s 190 member countries. It is a unique occasion to develop partnerships with more than 800 senior officials from diverse law enforcement agencies.
A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, INTERPOL Washington is co-managed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As the designated representative to INTERPOL on behalf of the Attorney General, INTERPOL Washington serves as the national point of contact for all INTERPOL matters, coordinating international investigative efforts among member countries and the more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies in the United States.
SolarCity Agrees to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Violations Arising from Renewable Energy Grant Claims to TreasuryRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that SolarCity Corporation (SolarCity) has agreed to pay $29.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting inflated claims on behalf of itself and affiliated investment funds to the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) pursuant to Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Section 1603). As part of the settlement, SolarCity and its affiliates will also release all pending and future claims against the United States for additional Section 1603 payments. SolarCity was purchased by Tesla Motors Inc. in November of 2016, after the alleged conduct at issue in this case.
“The Section 1603 Program subsidized the renewable energy industry through cash grants to cover legitimate costs of renewable energy properties,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This program expired, but this settlement demonstrates that the government will still hold accountable those who sought to take improper advantage of government programs at the expense of American taxpayers.”
Under the Section 1603 Program, the Treasury paid a cash grant equal to 30 percent of the eligible cost basis to construct or acquire qualified renewable solar energy systems placed in service before Dec. 31, 2016. The Treasury required applicants to certify that each Section 1603 grant application accurately set forth the cost basis of the system, and that all supporting information was true, accurate, and complete.
Beginning in 2009, SolarCity submitted thousands of Section 1603 claims on behalf of itself and affiliated investment funds. The government alleged that SolarCity falsely overstated the cost bases of its solar energy properties in its certified Section 1603 claims to the Treasury and, as a result, SolarCity and its affiliated investment funds received inflated grant payments from the Treasury.
“Treasury’s Office of Inspector General appreciates the hard work of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice in supporting Treasury OIG’s mission to protect the programs and operations of Treasury from fraud, waste and abuse,” said Inspector General Eric Thorson for the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of the Treasury. “Treasury OIG will continue its work to investigate instances of fraud impacting the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act grant programs, that are operated by the Treasury, and paid for by the American taxpayer to ensure that the money distributed by Treasury follows the law and is used for its intended purpose.”
“Treasury appreciates the substantial efforts of the Department of Justice and Treasury’s Office of Inspector General in pursuing this years-long investigation that was initiated following a referral from the Section 1603 Program staff,” said Treasury Fiscal Assistant Secretary David A. Lebryk. “This settlement sends a clear message that, working with the Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General, Treasury will pursue any fraud or abuse in programs that it administers in order to protect the taxpayer.”
As part of the settlement, SolarCity has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit filed in the Court of Federal Claims by two investment funds affiliated with SolarCity arising from allegations that Treasury underpaid certain Section 1603 applications, and to release any other potential claims for additional Section 1603 payments. The lawsuit is captioned Sequoia Pacific Solar I, LLC v. United States, No. 13-139C (Fed. Cl.).
This settlement was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Treasury, the Treasury OIG, and the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch. The claims resolved by the settlement agreement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
Former Clinical Psychologist Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Role in $550 Million Social Security Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A former Kentucky clinical psychologist was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $550 million in federal disability payments from the Social Security Administration (SSA) for thousands of claimants.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Michael McGill of the Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General’s (SSA-OIG) Philadelphia Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Amy S. Hess of the FBI’s Louisville Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Tracey D. Montaño of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Nashville Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Atlanta Regional Office made the announcement.
Alfred Bradley Adkins, 46, of Pikeville, Kentucky, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky, who also ordered Adkins to pay restitution of over $93 million to the SSA and HHS. Adkins was found guilty following a six-day trial in June 2017 of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements.
According to trial evidence, beginning in 2004, David Black Daugherty, an SSA administrative law judge assigned to the SSA Huntington, West Virginia, hearing office, sought out pending disability cases in which Kentucky attorney Eric Christopher Conn represented claimants and often reassigned those cases to himself. Daugherty then contacted Conn and identified the cases he intended to decide the following month and further solicited Conn to provide either physical or mental medical documentation supporting disability determinations, whether or not the claimants were actually disabled. When mental medical documentation was requested, Conn solicited Adkins to sign medical evaluation forms that Conn had previously prepared. Without first reviewing these forms, Adkins signed them; Conn subsequently forwarded the forms to the SSA, primarily to Daugherty, in support of disability determinations. Conn, in turn, paid Daugherty more than $609,000 for granting benefits in his cases, and almost $200,000 to Adkins for signing the fraudulent forms. For his part, Conn received more than $7 million in related attorney’s fees.
As a result of the scheme, Adkins, Conn, Daugherty and others obligated the SSA to pay more than $550 million in lifetime benefits to claimants based upon cases Daugherty approved for which he received payment from Conn.
Adkins was indicted last year, along with Conn and Daugherty. The defendants were charged with conspiracy, fraud, false statements, money laundering and other related offenses in connection with the scheme. Daugherty pleaded guilty in May 2017 to a two-count information charging him with receiving illegal gratuities, and was sentenced on August 25, to 4 years in prison.
Conn pleaded guilty on March 24, to a two-count information charging him with theft of government money and paying illegal gratuities, and was sentenced on July 14 to 12 years in prison. Conn subsequently absconded from electronic monitoring on June 2, and is considered a fugitive. Conn remains charged under the original indictment.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of Eric Christopher Conn. Anyone with information relating to Conn’s whereabouts should contact their local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The SSA-OIG, FBI, IRS-CI and HHS-OIG investigated the case. Trial Attorney Dustin M. Davis of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Elizabeth G. Wright of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are prosecuting the case, with previous co-counsel including Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford of the Western District of Missouri and Investigative Counsel Kristen M. Warden of the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Justice Awards Nearly $59 Million to Combat Opioid Epidemic, Fund Drug CourtsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today announced $58.8 million to strengthen drug court programs and address the opioid epidemic nationwide.
In 2016, nearly 60,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses, an increase from the 52,000 overdose deaths the year before. The majority of these deaths can be attributed to opioids, including illicit fentanyl and its analogues. The opioid epidemic, a public health crisis, is also a growing public safety crisis.
“Today, we are facing the deadliest drug crisis in American history,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “These trends are shocking and the numbers tell us a lot– but they aren’t just numbers. They represent moms and dads, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends. And make no mistake combatting this poison is a top priority for President Trump and his administration, and you can be sure that we are taking action to address it. Today, we are announcing that we will be awarding millions in federal grants to help law enforcement and public health agencies address prescription drug and opioid abuse. This is an urgent problem and we are making it a top priority.”
About $24 million in federal grants will be awarded to 50 cities, counties and public health departments to provide financial and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal governments to create comprehensive diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs for those impacted by the opioid epidemic. These funds, awarded under the Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program, also included funds from the Harold Rogers Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. This program helps regulatory, law enforcement, and public health agencies address prescription drug and opioid misuse; reduce crime; and save lives.
An additional $3.1 million will be awarded by the National Institute of Justice for research and evaluation on drugs and crime. The research priorities are heroin and other opioids and synthetic drugs.
The department is also awarding more than $22.2 million to 53 jurisdictions to support the implementation and enhancement of adult drug courts and Veterans Treatment Courts, which serve as “one-stop-shops” to link veterans with services, benefits and program providers, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Service Organizations and volunteer veteran mentors.
Specific sites and funds awarded can be found online at: https://go.usa.gov/xRJWE.
The department is also awarding more than $9.5 million under several Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant programs, including the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Grant Program and the Family Drug Court Statewide System Reform Implementation Program. These programs helps jurisdictions build effective family drug treatment courts and ensure current juvenile drug treatment courts follow established guidelines.
Specific sites and funds awarded can be found online at: https://go.usa.gov/xRJDf.
Finally, read more about the importance of these programs in a new blog by OJP Acting Assistant Attorney General Alan R. Hanson online at https://go.usa.gov/xRJBp.
The Office of Justice Programs, headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Alan R. Hanson, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART). More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.Acadiana men sentenced for narcotics distributionRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced today that multiple people were sentenced for their roles in distributing illegal drugs in Acadiana. The sentencing came after convictions following a long term investigation into drug trafficking and violent criminal activity in an area near the dead end of Delord Street in Lafayette.
Carroll Griffin, 34, of Lafayette was sentenced to 72 months in prison and three years of supervised release; Joshua Griffin, 35, of Lafayette, was sentenced and 36 months in prison and five years of supervised release; and Ashton Ventroy, 28, of Carencro, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and four years of supervised release. United States District Judge Donald E. Walter sentenced them on one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. According to documents filed in the case, Joshua Griffin, Ventroy and others conspired to distribute crack cocaine in the area known as the “dead end” at the end of Delord Street in Lafayette. Carroll Griffin conspired to distribute methamphetamine. Law enforcement agents investigated the unlawful narcotics activity as well as violence in the area and firearms offenses.
“The defendants in this case were a blight on the Lafayette community who used extreme violence to further their drug trade,” Van Hook stated. “The charges brought and the sentences imposed show our unwavering commitment to protect the community from violent drug traffickers. We appreciate the hard work of our law enforcement partners who helped bring these criminals to justice.”
“Today’s harsh sentences handed down to these three defendants, as well as the lengthy federal sentences given to their co-conspirators within the last several months, should send a clear message to criminals that law enforcement officials in Lafayette will not tolerate narcotics trafficking in their community,” stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeff Sallet of the New Orleans Division. “This case is yet another great example of federal, state and local law enforcement collaboration to identify and eradicate this illicit activity in the Lafayette area.”
As a result of the investigation, multiple defendants were prosecuted and received terms of incarceration including:
Alvontre Griffin, 21, of Lafayette, sentenced on May 5, 2017 to 97 months in prison and four years of supervised release for conspiracy and possession of a stolen firearm.
Jeremy Tyler, 30, of Rayne, La., sentenced on June 17, 2017 to 86 months in prison and four years of supervised release for conspiracy.
Chester Tyler, 20, of Lafayette, sentenced on June 17, 2017 to four years of probation for unlawful use of a communication facility.
Nathan George, 35, of Lafayette, sentenced on June 17, 2017 to 60 months in prison and four years of supervised release for conspiracy.
Ronnie Thomas, 37, of Lafayette, sentenced on June 17, 2017 to 12 months and one day in prison and three years of supervised release for maintaining a premises for the purpose of distribution of controlled substances.
Johnny Huntley, 23, of Duson, sentenced on June 17, 2017 to 24 months in prison and four years of supervised release for possession of a stolen firearm.
These convictions resulted from a multi-agency investigation coordinated by the FBI’s Lafayette Resident Agency Safe Streets Gang Task Force. The FBI, ATF, Lafayette Metro Narcotics Unit, Lafayette Police Department, Lafayette Sheriff’s Office, St. Landry Sheriff’s Office, St. Mary Sheriff’s Office, Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana National Guard Counter Drug Unit participated in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert C. Abendroth and Kelly Uebinger prosecuted the case.
2017 Red Ribbon Campaign CelebrationRead the Press Release
Each year communities nationwide join together to raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse by wearing a red ribbon from October 23rd to 31st, which is the National Red Ribbon Week. However, on Guam, various activities have been scheduled throughout the month of October to celebrate the Red Ribbon Campaign. Guam’s Red Ribbon Committee includes local and federal agencies, and private and non-profit organizations that have partnered to increase awareness of the National Red Ribbon Campaign’s significance and promote a drug-free Guam. This year’s theme is “Your FUTURE is Key, So Stay DRUG FREE.” The campaign provides communities with a forum to bring together parents, schools and businesses to find new and innovative ways to keep kids drug free.
Red Ribbon Week will kick off with a Proclamation Signing by Lt. Governor Raymond Tenorio at Upi Elementary School in Yigo, on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at 9:00 AM and a Resolution Presentation on Friday, September 29, 2017 at Merizo Elementary School at 9:00 AM., hosted by Senator Frank Aguon, Jr. An elementary school drawing contest and island-wide gate/wall decorating contest and video contest is open to all schools. In addition, Committee members are conducting drug awareness presentations at various schools.
The following activities have been scheduled for Red Ribbon Week 2017:
- Tuesday, September 26, 2017, Proclamation Signing by Lt. Governor Raymond Tenorio at Upi Elementary School, Yigo, 9:00am
- Friday, September 29, 2017, Resolution Presentation by Senator Frank Blas Aguon, Jr. at Merizo Elementary School, 9:00am
- Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, Community Outreach at the Micronesia Mall, 10:00am-2:00pm. Photos of Gate/Wall and Drawing contests will be on display and paper votes will be accepted.
- Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, Wear Red Day and Red Ribbon Wave in Hagatna at the Intersection of Route 1 and Route 4, 4:30-5:30pm. Red Ribbon Committee members and schools will wave to demonstrate commitment to the anti-drug campaign.
- Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, Say “Boo!” to Drugs, Agana Shopping Center, 4:00pm-6:00pm, Elementary School Drawing Contest Winners, Gate/Wall Decorating Contest Winners and Video Contest Winners will be announced and awards presented. Red Ribbon Committee will pass out candies to children who attend.
- Oct. 1-Oct. 31, 2017, Various TV, Radio and Print Media
The first Red Ribbon Celebration was organized in 1986 by a grassroots organization of parents concerned about the destruction caused by alcohol and drug abuse. The red ribbon was adopted as a symbol of the movement in honor of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who was kidnapped and killed while investigating drug traffickers. The Campaign has reached millions of children and has been recognized by the U.S. Congress. Red Ribbon Week is a chance to be visible and vocal in our desire for a drug-free community. Research shows that children are less likely to use alcohol and other drugs when parents and other role models are clear and consistent in their opposition to substance use and abuse.
These activities are made possible by the Red Ribbon Campaign Committee, which is comprised of our government agencies, nonprofit and civic organizations, private sector, military counterparts, and our media partners.
For more information about Red Ribbon Week, please contact Corina Andre at 647-6060.
Owner of Washington Produce Business Sentenced to Prison for Filing Fraudulent Federal Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
A Chelan Falls, Washington man was sentenced in absentia to 30 months in prison for filing a fraudulent 2011 federal tax return, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to documents filed with the court, from 2009 through 2012, Jose L. Echeverria, 46, owned and operated a produce sales business in Chelan Falls. Echeverria filed fraudulent individual income tax returns for tax years 2009 through 2012 that underreported the income he received from his business by a total of $564,292, causing a tax loss of approximately $183,191. During this timeframe, Echeverria wired hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported income to an account in Mexico to purchase land, vacation homes and vehicles for his personal use.
In addition to the term of prison imposed, U.S. District Court Judge Lonny R. Suko ordered Echeverria to serve one year of supervised release, and to pay $183,191 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Echeverria pleaded guilty in February. Echeverria is believed to have fled to Mexico and remains a fugitive.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg commended special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Lisa L. Bellamy and former Trial Attorney Gregory Bernstein of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg also thanked Joseph H. Harrington, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, and the members of his office for their assistance.
Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
Justice Department Will Not Challenge Proposed Real Time Payment SystemRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced that at this time it will not challenge a proposal by The Clearing House Payments Company LLC (“TCH”), a joint venture of 24 U.S. banks, to create and operate a new payment system that will enable the real-time transfer of funds between depository institutions, at any time of the day, on any day of the week. The department’s position was stated in a business review letter to counsel for TCH from Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Andrew C. Finch.
According to representations made by TCH, it will create and operate the Real Time Payment system (“RTP”)—a new payment rail that, for the first time in the U.S., will provide for real-time funds transfers between depository institutions—and in turn, RTP will allow depository institutions to enable faster fund transfers for their end-user customers. According to TCH, RTP will not interfere with the continued use and operation of existing payment rails, including automated clearing house, wire, and check clearing houses. RTP will also incorporate additional features that existing payment rails do not offer, such as enhanced messaging capabilities.
The department has reviewed TCH’s currently-proposed rules and conduct for RTP. Based on the information submitted and representations made by TCH, the department has no present intention to challenge the operation of TCH’s proposed new payment rail in light of the possibility that introducing a new, faster payment rail would benefit consumers and competition.
Under the department’s business review procedure, an organization may submit a proposed action to the Antitrust Division and receive a statement as to whether the division currently intends to challenge the action under the antitrust laws based on the information provided. The Department reserves the right to challenge the proposed action under the antitrust laws if the actual operation of the proposed conduct proves to be anticompetitive in purpose or effect.
Copies of the business review request and the department’s response are available on the Antitrust Division’s website at https://www.justice.gov/atr/business-review-letters-and-request-letters, as well as in a file maintained by the Antitrust Documents Group of the Antitrust Division. After a 30-day waiting period, any documents supporting the business review will be added to the file, unless a basis for their exclusion for reasons of confidentiality has been established under the business review procedure. Supporting documents in the file will be maintained for a period of one year, and copies will be available upon request to the FOIA/Privacy Act Unit, Antitrust Documents Group at [email protected].
Two Real Estate Investors Plead Guilty to Bid Rigging in Northern CaliforniaRead the Press Release
Two real estate investors pleaded guilty for their role in conspiracies to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.
Joseph J. Giraudo pleaded guilty to two counts of bid rigging, and Kevin B. Cullinane pleaded guilty to one count of bid rigging. Both were charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on October 22, 2014.
According to court documents, Giraudo and Cullinane participated in conspiracies to rig bids by agreeing to refrain from bidding against other co-conspirators at public real estate foreclosure auctions. Giraudo participated in conspiracies in San Mateo and San Francisco counties, and Cullinane participated in a conspiracy in San Mateo County. The conspiracies began as early as August 2008 and continued until January 2011.
The primary purpose of the conspiracies was to suppress competition in order to obtain selected properties offered at San Mateo County and San Francisco County public foreclosure auctions at noncompetitive prices.
Today’s guilty pleas are the result of the Department’s ongoing investigation into bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties, California. To date, 62 individuals have agreed to plead or have pleaded guilty.
These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Office. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300 or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.
Former Canadian Mountie Sentenced to Money Laundering Charges Stemming from a Conspiracy to Smuggle Ivory TusksRead the Press Release
A retired officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock for the District of Maine to 62 months in prison for 10 money laundering offenses, announced the Justice Department. Gregory R. Logan, 59, of St. John, New Brunswick, was extradited to the United States from Canada on March 11, 2016. He was indicted in the District of Maine in November 2012 and charged with conspiracy, smuggling and money laundering, and pled guilty to 10 money laundering offenses on September 28, 2016.
“This defendant illegally imported hundreds of narwhal tusks into the United States, with a value in the millions of dollars. Unlawful wildlife trade like this undermines efforts by federal, state, and foreign governments to protect and restore populations of species like the narwhal, a majestic creature of the sea with long and spiraled protruding ivory tusks,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Our Division successfully worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, and the Canadian Government to successfully conclude this case.”
“This investigation highlights the best of law enforcement working together. Our special agents, with counterparts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Environment and Climate Change Canada, investigated a complex scheme where illegal narwhal tusks were trafficked across the U.S.-Canada border,” said acting Chief of Law Enforcement Ed Grace for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Wildlife smuggling is a transnational crime that knows no borders and requires an international response. We will continue to work closely with our international, federal, and state partners to investigate and arrest individuals who smuggle and sell protected wildlife for their own financial gain.”
"Today's sentencing brings to a close a long investigation and prosecutorial process that underscores our global commitment to end wildlife trafficking," said Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. "We are grateful for the international cooperation that has lead to this conclusion."
“This case is the result of a successful joint investigation involving partners across Canada and the United States working to stop the illegal commercialization and exploitation of Canadian wildlife, in this case the smuggling of narwhal tusks,” said Glen Ehler, Regional Director, Wildlife Enforcement Directorate, Enforcement Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada. “Today’s sentence and the previous conviction in Canada send a strong message that this type of offence will not be tolerated.”
Logan was involved in a scheme to smuggle narwhal tusks from Canada to the United States for sale to American customers and transfer the proceeds of those sales back to Canada. Logan was arrested in Canada, based on a request from the United States, in December 2013. Logan pleaded guilty to a related wildlife smuggling crime in Canada and the terms of his extradition limited the case against him in the United States to the money laundering offenses. Also charged in the original indictment was Andrew J. Zarauskas of Union, New Jersey. Zarauskas was convicted after a jury trial in Bangor and sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Narwhals are medium-sized toothed whales that are native to the Arctic. They are known for their distinctive ivory tusk, which can grow to more than eight feet in length. Given the threats to their population, narwhals are protected domestically by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and internationally by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – an international treaty to which more than 170 countries, including the United States and Canada, are parties. It is illegal to import narwhals, or their parts, into the United States for commercial purposes. Further, any importation must be accompanied by a permit and must be declared to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
According to the indictment, Logan smuggled more than 250 narwhal tusks into the United States between 2000 and 2010. As part of the plea agreement, Logan agreed that the market value of the narwhal tusks in this case was between $1.5 million and $3 million. Knowing that the tusks were illegal to bring into the United States and sell, Logan transported them across the border in false compartments in his vehicle and trailer. Logan utilized a shipping store in Ellsworth, Maine, to send the tusks to customers throughout the United States, including Zarauskas and others. Logan knew that his customers would re-sell the tusks for a profit and in an attempt to increase that re-sale price, Logan would occasionally provide fraudulent documentation claiming that the tusks had originally belonged to a private collector in Maine who had acquired them legally.
In addition to shipping the tusks from Maine, Logan maintained a post office box the Ellsworth shipping store as well as an account at a bank in Bangor. Logan instructed his customers to send payment in the form of checks to the post office box, or wire money directly to his Maine bank account. Logan then transported the money to Canada by having the shipping store forward his mail to him in Canada, and by using an ATM card to withdraw money from his Maine bank account at Canadian ATM machines. At times, Logan also directed his customers to send funds directly to him in Canada.
The case was investigated by special agents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Law Enforcement; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement; and Wildlife Officers from Environment and Climate Change Canada. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James B. Nelson and Lauren D. Steele.
Statement by Attorney General Sessions on the Confirmation of Solicitor General Noel FranciscoRead the Press Release
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the following statement on the Senate’s confirmation of Noel Francisco to be United States Solicitor General:
“I applaud the Senate for finally confirming Noel Francisco to be the United States Solicitor General.
“Noel is a brilliant and principled lawyer with an excellent record of appellate work. His reputation for skillful analysis and clear, forceful advocacy is indisputable, and he has been a consistent advocate for the rule of law and a steadfast defender of the Constitution.
“I am confident that Noel will continue to be a tireless champion for justice and look forward to him being a central figure in our commitment to the classical understanding of law and jurisprudence.”
Justice Department Settles Employment Discrimination Lawsuit against the State of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of CorrectionsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the State of Rhode Island (the State or Rhode Island) and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) to resolve its lawsuit alleging that the defendants engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination against African American and Hispanic applicants for entry-level correctional officer positions in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Title VII is a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin or religion.
In a joint motion filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, the Justice Department and Rhode Island asked the court for provisional approval and entry of the settlement agreement. Under the agreement, the State will adopt and use Title VII-compliant selection device(s) to hire entry-level correctional officers. The settlement agreement further provides for the priority hire of eighteen (18) eligible African American claimants and nineteen (19) eligible Hispanic claimants who were screened out of the hiring process by the employment tests challenged by the United States. All eligible claimants for priority hire relief must meet the employer’s otherwise lawful hiring criteria. The settlement further provides for an interim hiring process to address the State’s immediate operational needs as well as a monetary relief fund of $450,000 to compensate eligible claimants who were affected by the practices challenged by the United States. The settlement agreement is subject to court approval and the parties have requested, jointly, that the court schedule a fairness hearing so that those persons affected by the settlement agreement are afforded an opportunity to comment on its terms.
The proposed settlement agreement, if approved by the court, will resolve the Title VII complaint filed by the Justice Department on February 10, 2014. In its complaint, the Justice Department alleged that RIDOC’s use of written and video examinations as part of its multi-step selection process unnecessarily screened out African American and Hispanic applicants from further consideration in the hiring process resulting in a disparate impact against these applicants without the requisite showing that the employment practice is job-related and consistent with business necessity.
“This Settlement Agreement is the product of negotiations between the United States and the State of Rhode Island and has resulted in the expansion of equal employment opportunities,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing Title VII to remove unlawful discriminatory barriers.”
The case was brought by Trial Attorneys David Reese, Kunti D. Salazar and Emily Given of the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section. Additional information about Title VII and other federal employment laws is available on the Civil Rights Division’s website at www.justice.gov/crt.
Department of Justice Settles Employment Discrimination Claim on Behalf of U.S. Army ReservistRead the Press Release
The United States Department of Justice has resolved a claim that the Duval County Sheriff’s Department violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by terminating U.S. Army Reservist Jonathan J. Melendez (Melendez) on two occasions and retaliating against him after he pursed his claims in violation of USERRA, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez and Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas represents U.S. Army Specialist Jonathan J. Melendez in this matter and the parties have reached a settlement resolving all of his claims.
“The legal rights of members of our armed forces, who sacrifice their lives every day defending our nation and its freedoms, must be respected,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. “This settlement sends a strong message that the Department of Justice is steadfast in its efforts to protect the rights of our servicemembers, their families, and all veterans of the United States.”
“Members of our armed service’s reserve forces make many sacrifices, including spending months or years away from their jobs and families,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. “When they are deployed in the service of our country, their employment rights must be protected. They are entitled to retain their civilian employment and to the protections of federal law that prevent them from being subject to discrimination based upon their military obligations. My office and the Department of Justice are committed to ensuring that individuals do not lose their rights while they are protecting ours.”
Specialist Melendez was hired as a Deputy Sheriff on March 14, 2014, by the Duval County Sheriff’s Department. On October 8, 2015, Melendez enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves. Martinez alleged that Duval County discriminated against him in violation of USERRA on four occasions. These occasions include Melendez’s termination from the Sheriff’s Department on January 1, 2016 while he was on leave for active military duty, his belated rehire upon his return from military duty in April 2016, and his termination again in October 2016 after he continued to pursue a USERRA lost wages claim against his former employer.
Congress enacted USERRA for three stated purposes: (1) to encourage non-career service in the uniformed services by reducing employment disadvantages; (2) to minimize the disruption to the lives of persons performing military service, their employers, and others by providing for the prompt reemployment of such persons upon their completion of such service; and (3) to prohibit discrimination against persons because of their service in the uniformed services or if they pursue a claim under USERRA.
Under the terms of the settlement, Duval County has agreed to compensate Melendez for his lost wages and benefits, and pay him liquidated damages.
This case stems from a referral by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), pursuant to an investigation by the DOL’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and the Employment Litigation Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division handled this case and continue to work with the DOL to protect the jobs and benefits of all military service members.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Edward Wyatt and Paralegal Specialist Raymond Babauta of the SDTX are handling the investigation along with Assistant Director Andrew Braniff of the Service Members and Veterans Initiative, and Alicia Johnson, Employment Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division, of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Third Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime for Assault Based on Victim’s Sexual OrientationRead the Press Release
Chancler Encalade, 20, pleaded guilty today to assaulting a man because of the victim’s sexual orientation, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Texas, and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Dallas Division announced.
According to the plea agreement, Encalade admitted that he, Nigel Garrett, and Anthony Shelton used Grindr, a social media dating platform for gay men, to arrange to meet the victim at the victim’s home. Upon entering the victim’s home, the defendants restrained the victim with tape, physically assaulted the victim, and made derogatory statements to the victim for being gay. The defendants brandished a firearm during the home invasion, and they stole the victim’s property, including his motor vehicle.
A federal grand jury previously had returned an eighteen-count superseding indictment, against Encalade and three other men, which included charges for hate crimes, kidnappings, carjackings, and the use of firearms to commit violent crimes. The indictment also charged the defendants with conspiring to cause bodily injury because of the victims’ sexual orientation during four home invasions in Plano, Frisco, and Aubrey, Texas, from January 17 to February 7, 2017. Nigel Garrett and Cameron Ajiduah subsequently pleaded guilty to hate crime charges from this indictment, and both await sentencing.
“The Justice Department will not tolerate hate crimes against any individual, for any reason, including sexual orientation,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. “Hate crimes are violent crimes and they attack the fundamental principles of the United States. The Justice Department will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute hate crimes.”
“Crimes of violence are an investigative priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston. “An assault perpetrated because of one’s race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or among other prohibited factors, is an attack on American values. We will leave no stone un-turned to prosecute hate crimes.”
Encalade faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine for his guilty plea to the hate crime charge under federal statutes, the defendant faces up to life in federal prison at sentencing. The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
The investigation is being conducted by the ATF, the Plano Police Department, and the Frisco Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Batson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas and Trial Attorney Saeed Mody of the Civil Rights Division.
Long Island Man Sentenced to Two Years for Trafficking Rhinoceros HornsRead the Press Release
Fengyi Zhou, a resident of Syosset, New York, and the owner of a business specializing in Asian works of art, was sentenced today to two years of imprisonment for one count of information of wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act for illegally trafficking horns from endangered black rhinoceros, the Justice Department announced.
The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Greg Sheehan, Acting Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
According to papers filed in federal court, Zhou admitted to purchasing as many as five uncarved rhinoceros horns from another Asian arts dealer in New York. Along with the horns, Zhou was given an “Endangered Species Bill of Sale,” from which Zhou was made aware that four of the horns were purchased in Texas and unlawfully transported to New York. Immediately after purchasing the rhinoceros horns, Zhou offered to sell and later sold the horns, to an associate who was a Chinese national residing in the People’s Republic of China for more than $130,000.
"Illegal trade in rhino horn and ivory undermines vital efforts to protect imperiled species and is a serious violation of U.S. and international laws,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Justice Department will continue to prosecute those guilty of illegal wildlife trafficking.”
"Today's sentencing sends a strong message to those individuals who choose to exploit and illegally traffic black rhinos and other imperiled wildlife," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Ed Grace. "We appreciate the efforts and dedication of all of our partners involved in this case and will continue to work with the Department of Justice and others to punish these criminals to the fullest extent of the law."
Zhou was identified as part of “Operation Crash,” a nationwide crackdown by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against those who engage in illegal trafficking of rhinoceros horns. A “crash” is the term for a herd of rhinoceros. Operation Crash is an ongoing effort to detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns. As of November 2015, Operation Crash has resulted in the prosecution and sentencing of nearly 32 subjects and recovery of approximately $5.6 million through forfeiture and restitution.
Since 1976, trade in rhinoceros horns has been regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by over 180 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife, and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets. All species of rhinoceros are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act are protected under United States and international law.
The investigation was led by the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and the U.S. Fishery and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement. The attorneys prosecuting the case were Lauren D. Steele and Gary N. Donner of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Justice Department Secures $907,000 from Citifinancial for Illegally Repossessing Active Duty Servicemembers’ VehiclesRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that CitiFinancial Credit Company, as successor to CitiFinancial Auto Corporation, has agreed to pay $907,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by repossessing 164 cars owned by SCRA protected servicemembers without first obtaining the required court orders. During the investigation, the Department learned that CitiFinancial conducted repossessions without court orders even when CitiFinancial had evidence in its own records suggesting that a borrower could be a protected servicemember. In several cases, loan servicing notes indicated that CitiFinancial was informed that the borrower was in military service or had received orders to report for military service. CitiFinancial, nevertheless, continued repossession efforts and eventually succeeded in repossessing the servicemembers’ vehicles.
“Members of our armed forces make extraordinary sacrifices in order to protect and defend our nation, and they should be able to serve actively without fear that their legal rights will be violated,” said Associate Attorney General Rachel L. Brand. “This settlement provides financial relief and credit repair assistance to the servicemembers whose vehicles were repossessed by CitiFinancial. The enforcement of federal laws protecting current members of the Armed Services, veterans, and their families continues to be an important priority for this Department of Justice.”
“The men and women who serve in the armed forces deserve to have us protect their backs while they selflessly protect us,” said U.S. Attorney John Parker. “This conduct clearly fell short of that and I'm grateful we were able to repair some of that harm.”
This settlement resolves a suit filed by the department in the Northern District of Texas and covers vehicle repossessions that occurred between 2007 and 2010. CitiFinancial Auto Corporation originated and serviced these auto loans until 2010, when operations and assets were sold to Santander Consumer USA, Inc. In February 2015, the Department entered a settlement with Santander that provides servicemembers with more than $10.5 million in compensation for repossessions that violated the SCRA. As part of the investigation of Santander’s repossession practices, the Department learned that CitiFinancial sold Santander the right to collect debts owed by servicemembers after their cars had been repossessed by CitiFinancial in violation of the SCRA.
The SCRA protects servicemembers against certain civil proceedings, including vehicle repossessions, affecting their legal rights during active military service. The SCRA requires a court to review and approve any repossession if the servicemember took out the loan and made a payment before entering military service. The court may then delay the repossession or require the lender to refund prior payments before repossessing. The court may also appoint an attorney to represent the servicemember, require the lender to post a bond with the court and issue any other orders it deems necessary to protect the servicemember. By failing to obtain court orders before repossessing vehicles owned by protected servicemembers, CitiFinancial prevented servicemembers from obtaining a court review of whether these repossessions should be delayed or adjusted to account for their military service.
This agreement further compensates servicemembers for their losses by requiring CitiFinancial to pay $5,000 to each impacted servicemember, in addition to the Santander settlement. CitiFinancial must also pay $10,000 to one affected servicemember who did not receive partial compensation through the Santander settlement. In addition, CitiFinancial will pay $500 per account to compensate borrowers for any lost equity, with interest, and must take steps to repair the credit of all affected servicemembers. An independent settlement administrator will contact servicemembers in the coming months to finalize individual settlements at no cost to the servicemembers.
The department’s enforcement of the SCRA is conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section. Since 2011, the division has secured more than $450 million in monetary relief for servicemembers whose SCRA rights have been violated. The SCRA provides protections for active duty servicemembers in areas such as evictions, rental agreements, security deposits, prepaid rent, civil judicial proceedings, installment contracts, credit card interest rates, mortgage interest rates, mortgage foreclosures, automobile leases, life insurance, health insurance and income tax payments. For more information about the Department’s SCRA enforcement, please visit www.servicemembers.gov. Servicemembers and their dependents who believe that their rights under SCRA have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office. Office locations may be found at legalassistance.law.af.mil/content/locator.php.
Essential Oils Company Sentenced for Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act Violations to Pay $760,000 in Fines, Forfeiture, and Community Service, and to Implement a Comprehensive Compliance PlanRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that YOUNG LIVING ESSENTIAL OILS, L.C., (the Company), headquartered in Lehi, Utah, pleaded guilty in federal court to federal misdemeanor charges regarding its illegal trafficking of rosewood oil and spikenard oil in violation of the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act. The Company voluntarily disclosed its rosewood oil violations and has been cooperating with government investigators. Pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, the Company was sentenced to a fine of $500,000, $135,000 in restitution, a community service payment of $125,000 for the conservation of protected species of plants used in essential oils, and a term of five years’ probation with special conditions. The conditions include the implementation of a corporate compliance plan, audits, and the publication of statements regarding its convictions.
“The importation of illegally harvested wood and timber products harms law-abiding American companies and workers and threatens forest resources around the world,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Our Division was proud to work alongside the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Utah, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Homeland Security to bring this case to a positive conclusion.”
“While the natural resource violations by certain employees of Young Living were intentional and substantial, the Company’s decision to conduct an internal investigation, voluntarily disclose the initial violations to government enforcement authorities, and cooperate throughout the ensuing investigation is to be commended,” said U.S. Attorney John W. Huber for the District of Utah. “This sentence reflects both the seriousness of the offenses and the acceptance of responsibility and cooperation by the Company.”
According to the plea agreement, from June 2010 to October 2014, several company employees and contractors harvested, transported, and distilled rosewood (Aniba roseaodora or Brazilian rosewood) in Peru and imported some of the resulting oil into the United States, through Ecuador. Peruvian law prohibits the unauthorized harvest and transport of timber, including rosewood. Neither the Company nor its suppliers, employees, or agents had any valid authorization from the Peruvian government. Peru also prohibits the export of species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), without the required permits. The Company did not obtain any CITES export permits from Peru. Between 2010 and 2014, a few Company employees harvested, transported, and possessed a total of approximately 86 tons of rosewood, all of which was harvested in violation of Peruvian law. The rosewood was intended for distillation and export to the United States and some had already been illegally brought over. The Company lacked an internal compliance program or formal procedures, training, or means to review and resolve problems and identify and stop potential violations. As a result, the Company hired outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation into the violations due to the illegal harvesting and shipping of plants that occurred in Peru and Ecuador. On July 20, 2015, once the internal investigation was complete, the Company made an initial written voluntary disclosure to the Government of various facts indicating their potentially illegal violations.
The investigation revealed that, in addition to the conduct disclosed by the Company, in December 2015, the Company exported spikenard oil harvested in Napal to the United Kingdom, without a CITES permit. The spikenard oil was previously imported from a company in the United Kingdom that had obtained a CITES export permit. The Company found the product to be unsatisfactory and shipped it back to the United Kingdom. On March 23, 2016, a Company employee filed an application for a CITES permit for this shipment after the fact, and without providing the required copy of the permit authorizing its original export from the United Kingdom.
The investigation also revealed that between November 2014 and January 2016, the Company purchased over 1,100 kilograms of rosewood oil from a supplier/importer in the United States without conducting sufficient due diligence to verify lawful sourcing of that oil.
The Government calculates the fair market retail value of the plant products involved in the violations and relevant conduct, including but not limited to product equaling approximately 1,899.75 liters of rosewood oil, to be more than $3.5 million but not more than $9 million.
The investigation was conducted by the Law Enforcement Offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, with assistance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Homeland Security, Investigations. This case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section and the District of Utah’s U.S Attorney’s Office.
Man Charged with Hate Crime for Using Stun Cane During Racially-Motivated Assault of Neighbor in UtahRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City, Utah returned an indictment charging Mark Porter with violating 42 U.S.C. § 3631 by using force and the threat of force to injure, intimidate, and interfere with an African-American man because of his race after moving in nearby, announced John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; John W. Huber, United States Attorney for the District of Utah; and Eric Barnhart, Special Agent in Charge for the Salt Lake City Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The indictment alleges that Mark Porter shouted racial slurs at the victim and his seven-year-old son, and then struck the victim with a stun cane. The indictment further alleges that the stun cane is a dangerous weapon, and that the victim suffered bodily injury.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted on the civil rights charge, Porter faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case is being investigated by the Salt Lake City Field Office of the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Drew Yeates of the United States Attorney’s Office and Trial Attorney Rose E. Gibson of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.
Department of Justice Announces Changes to the Collaborative Reform InitiativeRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today announced significant changes to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance to better align the program with the principles outlined by the Attorney General in support of local law enforcement and the original intent of the authorizing statute. The changes are effective immediately and will provide targeted assistance directly to local law enforcement based on their identified needs and requests.
“Changes to this program will fulfill my commitment to respect local control and accountability, while still delivering important tailored resources to local law enforcement to fight violent crime,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “This is a course correction to ensure that resources go to agencies that require assistance rather than expensive wide-ranging investigative assessments that go beyond the scope of technical assistance and support.”
Earlier this year, the Attorney General released a memorandum stating that all Department of Justice activities would be reviewed by Department of Justice leadership to ensure that they fully and effectively promote the principles outlined in the memo. Today’s announcement is the conclusion of that review for the Collaborative Reform Initiative. These changes will return control to the public safety personnel sworn to protect their communities and focus on providing real-time technical assistance to best address the identified needs of requesting agencies to reduce violent crime.
The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide: www.cops.usdoj.gov.California Man Convicted for Role in the Illegal Sale of Black Rhinoceros HornsRead the Press Release
Edward N. Levine was convicted yesterday for conspiracy to violate the Lacey and Endangered Species Acts and to a violation of the Lacey Act by knowingly selling black rhinoceros horns to an undercover agent from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), announced the Justice Department. Sentencing has been set for December 15. Levine’s co-defendant, Lumsden Quan, was sentenced in December 2015.
Levine was arrested in March 2014 for his role in a conspiracy to knowingly sell black rhinoceros horns across state lines. Levine worked with Quan to transport two horns from California to Nevada, where the men sold them to an undercover agent from Colorado for a sum of $55,000.
This case is part of “Operation Crash,” a nationwide crackdown by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies against those who engage in illegal trafficking of rhinoceros horns. A “crash” is the term for a herd of rhinoceros. Operation Crash is an ongoing effort to detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns. As of November 2015, Operation Crash has resulted in the prosecution and sentencing of nearly 32 subjects and recovery of approximately $5.6 million through forfeiture and restitution.
Since 1976, trade in rhinoceros horns has been regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by over 180 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife, and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets. All species of rhinoceros are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The investigation was handled by the USFWS’s Office of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section. The government is represented by Trial Attorney Ryan Connors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Newman, Paralegal Christopher Kopf, and Paralegal Amanda Backer.
A Message from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Those Impacted by Hurricanes Irma and HarveyRead the Press Release
https://www.justice.gov/opa/video/department-justice-s-response-hurricanes-harvey-and-irmaRemarks of Attorney General Sessions regarding the Department of Justice response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma
Hello. This is Attorney General Jeff Sessions.On behalf of President Trump and the entire Department of Justice, I want to offer my prayers and support to those devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. Having personally lived through hurricanes and their aftermath on the Alabama Gulf Coast, I can understand the challenges you face.
The Justice Department is the lead coordinating agency for federal law enforcement supporting FEMA relief operations in hurricane-impacted areas. More than 600 Department of Justice law enforcement officers from throughout the country are already involved in relief efforts, helping local first responders provide medical assistance, aiding in urban search and rescue operations throughout Florida and the Caribbean, assistance with law enforcement duties and offering support however else they can.
Sadly, I must warn that experience tells us that while thousands come forward to help selflessly, there are a few who use the disaster to enrich themselves or promise expertise but lack competence to do professional work. Be careful. And be sure any contributions you make are only going to reputable aid organizations that have proven to be honest and effective.
In the wake of these disasters, the Justice Department is here with ways to avoid becoming a victim of fraud. Since 2005, the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud has processed over 70,000 complaints. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to take disaster fraud complaints. We’ve already received hundreds of complaints in the last month related to Harvey and Irma and they come from all over the country.
We have also worked with the Federal Trade Commission to release antitrust guidance for businesses that want to rebuild their communities. This guidance will ensure that these businesses can work together to rebuild affected communities without violating the antitrust laws.
Finally, I encourage anyone with information about fraud or other illegal behavior to call the Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721. With your help, we can make sure that the people hurt most by these tragedies are saved from hurting any more.
Stay safe and God bless.
Justice Department Obtains $70,000 Settlement of Fair Housing Lawsuit against Indiana Housing AuthorityRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with the Housing Authority of the City of Anderson, Indiana, which owns and operates 143 public housing units in the city, to resolve allegations that the Housing Authority had discriminated against residents of these units on the basis of sex and disability.
Under the settlement agreement, the Housing Authority will pay $70,000 to compensate the seven victims of discrimination identified by the Justice Department. As part of the agreement, the Housing Authority of the City of Anderson will implement nondiscrimination policies and procedures, provide fair housing training for its employees, refrain from engaging in any prohibited conduct in the future, and make periodic reports to the department confirming compliance.
The lawsuit against the Housing Authority of the City of Anderson alleged that employees of the Housing Authority subjected female tenants to unlawful sexual harassment and discriminated against tenants with disabilities. The disability discrimination included repeatedly denying requests for reasonable accommodations, including requests to be transferred to first floor units and requests for a designated accessible parking space.
“Sexual harassment of women and discrimination against persons with disabilities are unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “We will continue to vigorously combat such discrimination, including in public housing.”
“Enjoying a safe place to live, free of discrimination and sexual harassment is a fundamental right we all are entitled to,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Josh Minkler. “My office remains committed to aggressively pursuing the enforcement of civil rights and fighting discrimination in Indiana.”
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, sex and familial status. More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.justice.gov/crt. Individuals who believe that they may have been victims of housing discrimination can call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, e-mail the Justice Department at [email protected], or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development at 1-800-669-9777 or through its website at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp.
Former Prison Transport Officer Indicted for Sexual Assault and Possessing a Firearm in Furtherance of His Sexual AssaultRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in Little Rock, Arkansas, returned a two-count indictment against Eric Scott Kindley, 49, a former prison transport officer, for crimes related to his sexual assault of a woman in his custody, and using his firearm in furtherance of the assault.
Count One of the indictment charges Kindley with committing civil rights offenses that resulted in bodily injury and includes the use of a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual abuse. Count Two charges Kindley with knowingly possessing a firearm in furtherance of these crimes of violence.
Kindley was indicted on June 29, 2017, in Phoenix, Arizona, for committing similar offenses related to sexual assaults he committed on a different woman in his custody, and as in this indictment, possessing his firearm in furtherance of those assaults.
These indictments stem from Kindley’s arrest in Stockton, California, on June 1, 2017, in connection with a criminal complaint filed in the District of Arizona. According to arrest paperwork, Kindley operated Group 6, LLC doing business as Special Operations Group, a company that local jails throughout the country hire to transport individuals who have been arrested on out-of-state warrants. The probable cause affidavit associated with the criminal complaint alleged that from January through May of this year, Kindley engaged in sexual misconduct in his Dodge Caravan with three different female prisoners during three different transports. The transports were from California to Arizona, Alabama to Arizona, and Mississippi to New Mexico. In each instance, the victim was handcuffed and restrained, and taken to secluded locations where Kindley sexually assaulted her. All the while, Kindley threatened each victim with his firearm and warned her that he will get away with his conduct because no one will believe her.
Following Kindley’s arrest in the Eastern District of California, the court ordered that Kindley be detained and transported to the District of Arizona, where he remains in custody.
This investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to call the Phoenix Division of the FBI at (623) 466-1999, or can email the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice at [email protected].
Kindley faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the crimes charged, and a mandatory minimum of five years in prison for possession of the firearm in this indictment. If he is convicted of possession of a firearm in both indictments, he faces a mandatory minimum of twenty-five years in prison.
An indictment is merely a formal accusation of criminal conduct, and Kindley is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the Phoenix Division of the FBI and is being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Fara Gold and Trial Attorney Maura White of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Under Agreement with DOJ and EPA, StarKist to Enhance Environmental and Safety Measures at Facility in American Samoa, Protecting Local Communities and Coastal WatersRead the Press Release
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reached an agreement with StarKist Co. and its subsidiary, Starkist Samoa Co., requiring the companies to make a series of upgrades to reduce pollution, improve safety measures, and comply with important federal environmental laws at their tuna processing facility in American Samoa.
Under the agreement, StarKist will pay a $6.3 million penalty and provide emergency response equipment to the American Samoa Department of Public Safety, Fire Services Bureau, for use in responding to chemical releases.
“The settlement is a significant environmental win for the community of American Samoa,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department will continue to identify violations and enforce federal laws designed to protect the environment and the public. As a result of this action, StarKist has already performed a significant amount of work to correct its violations and we will continue to work together with our partners to bring the facility back into compliance and prevent future violations.”
“Today’s agreement will help prevent hazardous releases at the StarKist facility, protect workers and the local community, and reduce pollution discharged into Pago Pago Harbor by more than 13 million pounds each year,” said Acting Regional Administrator Alexis Strauss with the EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. “Working with our partners at American Samoa EPA, we will monitor the company’s progress toward full compliance with all federal environmental rules.”
In July 2014, the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency informed EPA of a discharge pipeline break at the facility, which was spilling unpermitted wastewater into the inner Pago Pago Harbor. At that time, EPA began investigating the facility after monitoring reports submitted by StarKist revealed wastewater pollutant levels that consistently exceeded permitted levels. EPA’s investigations revealed that StarKist had changed the composition of the facility’s discharged wastewater such that its existing wastewater treatment system was inadequate.
After full implementation of the wastewater treatment system upgrades, the facility’s annual discharge of pollutants into Pago Pago Harbor, including total nitrogen, phosphorus, oil and grease, and total suspended solids, will be reduced by at least 85 percent – a total reduction of more than 13 million pounds of wastewater pollutants each year.
In addition to wastewater violations, EPA also found StarKist was improperly storing ammonia, butane, and chlorine gas, which the facility used on-site for refrigeration, operation of forklifts, and disinfection. The federal Clean Air Act requires companies to operate safely in order to prevent releases of hazardous chemicals that can harm workers and the surrounding community.
Starkist will also perform a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) requiring it to purchase and donate no less than $88,000 worth of specified emergency response equipment to the American Samoa Fire Department, the entity that would respond to a chemical release from the Facility on Tutuila Island. This SEP is an Emergency Planning and Preparedness project, which is a recognized category under EPA’s SEP Policy.
The agreement requires StarKist to improve the facility’s ammonia refrigeration system and discontinue using chlorine gas and butane, which will greatly reduce the risk of hazardous substance releases. In addition, the companies have submitted emergency planning information to local responders and will implement a new system for notifying the public in real time in the event of a release.
To prevent oil spills, the companies are upgrading four large above-ground oil storage tanks containing diesel oil, used petroleum oil, and food-grade oil—a byproduct of fish processing. The four tanks, located only feet from inner Pago Pago Harbor, were found to have inadequate secondary containment structures as required by the Clean Water Act. In its own audit, StarKist identified additional problems, including violations of hazardous waste management and notification regulations, and disclosed them to EPA.
Starkist Samoa Co. owns and operates the tuna processing facility, located at Route 1 on the northwestern side of Pago Pago Harbor in the village of Atu'u on the Island of Tutuila in American Samoa. Starkist Samoa Co. is a wholly owned subsidiary of StarKist Co. which in turn is owned by the Korean company Dongwon Industries. StarKist Co. is the world’s largest supplier of canned tuna. The American Samoa facility processes and cans tuna for human consumption and processes fish byproducts into fishmeal and fish oil.
For more information, please visit https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/starkist-clean-water-act-clean-air-act-resource-conservation-and-recovery-and-emergency.
The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. A copy of the proposed consent decree is available on the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html.
Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission Announce Guidance for Post-Hurricane Relief EffortsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced the release of antitrust guidance for businesses taking part in relief efforts and those involved in rebuilding communities affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
The guidance is intended to help businesses understand how they can work together to rebuild affected communities without violating the antitrust laws. The antitrust laws accommodate procompetitive collaborations among competitors. At the same time, the agencies intend to hold accountable those who enter into anticompetitive agreements that take advantage of hurricane victims or hurricane relief efforts. Among other actions, the Department of Justice will criminally prosecute companies that fix prices, rig bids, or allocate customers, and the Federal Trade Commission will investigate and take action against companies and individuals who violate the consumer protection laws.
Anyone with information on price fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation agreements, or other anticompetitive conduct should call the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations. Consumers or businesses with concerns about fraudulent activity can also call the Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or visit https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/how-report-disaster-related-fraud.
Former Utility Executive Sentenced to 21 Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
BOISE – Kenneth Frank Morehouse, 59, formerly CEO of Intermountain Gas, was sentenced yesterday to 21 months in prison by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Lodge, Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael Gonzalez announced. Judge Lodge also ordered Morehouse to pay a $5,500 fine and imposed three years of supervised release to follow his period of incarceration.
On June 21, 2017, Morehouse pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a firearm during a February 2017 incident in which Ada County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Morehouse’s residence by Morehouse’s wife who feared he was suicidal. A deputy encountered Morehouse in his home holding a firearm and shot Morehouse to temporarily disable him out of fear for officer safety and the safety of Morehouse and his wife. Morehouse was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to a 2015 conviction in Ada County District Court for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and the Ada County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. It was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2001 by the Department of Justice to combat gun violence in the United States. Project Safe Neighborhoods marshals federal, state, and local resources to target and prosecute those who commit gun crimes. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, visit https://www.bja.gov
Federal Officials Decline Prosecution in the Death of Freddie GrayRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that the independent federal investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, Jr., on April 19, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland, found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal civil rights charges against six Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers.
Overview
On May 1, 2015, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) charged BPD Officers Caesar Goodson, William Porter, Garrett Miller, and Edward Nero; Lieutenant Brian Rice; and Sergeant Alicia White with criminal offenses related to Gray’s arrest and death. The charged offenses included reckless endangerment, involuntary manslaughter, and second degree depraved heart murder. Ultimately, four out of the six officers took their cases to trial, and in each instance, the prosecution was unable to secure a conviction. The SAO’s first trial, which was against Porter, resulted in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict. In the next three trials, Nero, Goodson, and Rice were acquitted on all charges following bench trials. After the fourth trial ended in acquittal on July 18, 2016, the SAO dismissed the remaining counts against Porter, Miller, and White, ending all state prosecutions related to Gray’s death.
The Department conducted a comprehensive independent investigation of the events surrounding Gray’s death and carefully reviewed the materials and evidence generated by BPD and the SAO. Career prosecutors examined evidence from numerous sources, including surveillance videos from closed circuit cameras (CCTV) that captured various sites where Gray was taken while in custody; cell phone videos taken by civilian witnesses at the time of Gray’s arrest; numerous witness interviews (transcripts, audio, and video recordings); photos; maps; medical reports; an autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland; police dispatch recordings; reports concerning DNA and blood stain evidence; BPD documents related to Gray’s arrest and the investigation of his death; personnel files and background materials for the subjects; BPD policies and training materials; phone records; demonstrative evidence; the SAO’s investigative file concerning the incident; trial transcripts; and trial court verdicts and findings of fact. Additionally, the FBI and federal prosecutors conducted witness interviews of BPD personnel in order to clarify procedural questions with respect to police investigative practices.
Applicable Law
The Department examined the facts in this case under all relevant criminal statutes. The principal criminal statute applicable to these facts is Title 18, United States Code, Section 242, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law. In order to proceed with a prosecution under Section 242, prosecutors must first establish beyond a reasonable doubt that a law enforcement officer deprived an individual of a constitutional right. Prosecutors considered multiple theories of liability, based on multiple constitutional provisions, including theories of false arrest, excessive force, and deliberate indifference to the risk of serious harm to Gray.
Additionally, to prove that any police encounter violated section 242, the government must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer acted willfully. This high legal standard – one of the highest standards of intent imposed by law – requires proof that the officer acted with the specific intent to do something the law forbids. It is not enough to show that the officer made a mistake, acted negligently, acted by accident, or even exercised bad judgment.
Although Gray’s death is undeniably tragic, the evidence in this case is insufficient to meet these substantial evidentiary requirements. In light of this, and for the reasons explained below, this matter is not a prosecutable violation of the federal civil rights statutes.
Factual Summary
While this summary is based on, and consistent with, all facts known to the government, it does not include or discuss every fact learned or gathered during the thorough investigation.
At approximately 8:39 am on April 12, 2015, Freddie Gray was standing on a street corner with another male when he made eye contact with Lieutenant Brian Rice, a uniformed police officer who was on bicycle patrol in BPD’s Western District. After making eye contact with Lieutenant Rice, Gray ran. In response, Rice chased Gray and radioed that he was pursuing a suspect. Officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero, both of whom were also on bicycle patrol, joined Lieutenant Rice in pursuing Gray. After approximately one minute, near Presbury and Mount Street, Gray surrendered to Officer Miller after Miller drew his Taser and threatened its use. The officers handcuffed and frisked Gray, leading to their discovery of what appeared to be an illegal switchblade knife in Gray’s pocket. Miller placed the knife on the ground, and Gray attempted to move toward it. In response, Officer Miller placed Gray, who was sitting on the ground, on his stomach. Gray began to flail his legs, and Miller placed Gray into a leg lace, which is a leg lock technique designed to stop the legs from moving. Officer Caesar Goodson then arrived with an empty police wagon for the purpose of transporting Gray. Video evidence shows that a small crowd of civilians gathered near the wagon and angrily protested Gray’s arrest. As the officers led Gray to the vehicle, he yelled about his wrists. Also, according to statements the officers later made to investigators, Gray would not walk on his own power, causing his feet to drag on the ground. Nonetheless, video shows that he stood by himself on the ledge of the wagon before entering. Officers Miller and Nero were assisted by another officer in placing Gray on a bench on the right side of the rear cabin. Gray faced a hard partition that completely separated the right and left sides of the wagon. The officers did not seat belt Gray. One of the officers later testified that they did not do so for reasons of officer safety, given the gathering angry crowd.
Once Gray was placed inside of the wagon and the doors were shut, witnesses could hear him banging against the wagon and yelling. At the direction of Lieutenant Rice, Goodson drove Gray in the wagon from the location of the arrest (Stop 1) to a location down the street at Mount and Baker Street (Stop 2), so that the officers could place leg shackles on Gray away from the civilians. Officers Miller, Nero, and Lieutenant Rice met Goodson at Stop 2, along with Officer William Porter and others. While at Stop 2, Gray resisted efforts of the officers to remove him from the wagon and place him into shackles. In response, Miller and Rice pulled Gray out of the wagon while he yelled and flailed. While the officers were placing new restraints on Gray, a crowd of up to nine civilians formed near the wagon and began to angrily yell at the officers about Gray’s arrest. Some yelled that the officers had injured Gray. Officer Porter assisted with crowd control. Lieutenant Rice and Officers Miller and Nero attempted to place Gray back into the rear of the wagon. As they did so, Gray went limp, and according to the officers, refused again to walk on his own power. This prompted Lieutenant Rice to enter the wagon and lift Gray inside head-first by pulling Gray’s shoulders while Nero lifted Gray’s legs. Lieutenant Rice left Gray on the floor of the wagon on his stomach with Gray’s head facing toward the front of the wagon and his hands cuffed to the rear. No officer seat-belted Gray. Once the wagon doors were shut, Rice, Miller, Nero, Porter, and multiple civilian witnesses heard Gray yell and bang against the wagon from the inside, causing it to visibly shake. Lieutenant Rice instructed Goodson to drive Gray to central booking, and at approximately 8:53 am, Goodson left Stop 2 and drove in that direction. Medical experts have agreed that sometime during the approximately 25 minutes that followed, while Gray rode in the rear of the police wagon, he sustained a fatal neck and spinal injury in a manner that is largely unknown.
Video indicates at around 8:56 am, while Officer Goodson was transporting Gray in the back of the wagon from Stop 2 to central booking, he made a wide right turn onto Freemont Avenue from Riggs Street, and briefly crossed over the double yellow line in the roadway. He then made an unannounced stop near Freemont Avenue (Stop 3). While there, Goodson got out of the wagon, walked to the rear of the vehicle, and disappeared from camera view for approximately 10 seconds. Goodson then got back in the van and drove away. It is unclear whether Goodson had any interaction with Gray at the back of the wagon at this stop, or what Goodson might have observed or heard. Goodson declined to provide a statement to state investigators about Gray or about that day. There is no other evidence of what occurred at Stop 3.
At approximately 8:59 am, after leaving Stop 3, Officer Goodson radioed to request that a police unit meet him at Druid Hill Avenue and Dolphin Street (Stop 4) for the purpose of checking on Gray. Officer Porter answered Goodson’s call and later provided two statements to investigators. He also testified at trial about his version of events. As Goodson has never given a statement in the criminal case, and could not legally be compelled to do so, Porter’s accounts offer the only evidence of what occurred at Stop 4. According to Porter, when he arrived at Stop 4, he met Goodson at the rear of the wagon, and Goodson opened the doors without discussion. There, Porter observed Gray lying on his stomach on the floor of the wagon with his head toward the front of the wagon, his feet toward the door, and his hands cuffed behind him. Gray asked for “help,” prompting Porter to ask what was wrong with him. According to Porter, Gray did not immediately reply, and then stated, “Help. Help me up.” In one of his statements to investigators, Porter is alleged to have also heard Gray say “I can’t breathe,” although he later denied having heard that.
After Gray asked for help, Officer Porter entered the wagon, pulled Gray up, and placed him on the bench. According to Porter, Gray used his own legs to assist Porter in placing him on the bench. Once there, Gray sat normally and supported his own head. Porter asked Gray if he wanted to go to the hospital, and Gray replied that he did. Gray did not complain of pain or of a specific injury, and Porter did not see any visible injury. Gray spoke in a regular tone of voice and breathed normally. According to Porter, because there were no signs of genuine medical distress, Porter did not believe that Gray was actually injured, despite Gray’s complaints. Porter allegedly believed that Gray was either lethargic from banging against the wagon, or was feigning a medical issue in order to avoid going to jail. However, because of Gray’s complaints, Porter told Goodson, who was standing at the rear of the wagon, that Gray was not going to “pass medical” at central booking. Goodson agreed, and Porter suggested that Goodson take Gray straight to the hospital. However, at that moment, at approximately 9:07 am, Lieutenant Rice radioed a request for available police units and a police wagon to respond to a different location. In response, Porter left the wagon, got back into his car, and responded to Rice’s dispatch. Goodson responded to Lieutenant Rice’s request as well and did not take Gray to the hospital. Again, neither officer seat-belted Gray.
Video surveillance reveals that the wagon arrived at Lieutenant Rice’s location (Stop 5) at approximately 9:11 am. When Goodson arrived, he parked the wagon near Lieutenant Rice and Officers Miller and Nero, who were standing on the sidewalk with a new handcuffed arrestee. It was decided that the new arrestee would be transported in the wagon back to the Western District police station for questioning. The doors to the rear of the wagon were opened, and at some point, another officer who had arrived at Stop 5 observed Gray kneeling in the wagon in a posture that resembled a praying position while facing the bench. In addition, Sergeant Alicia White arrived in order to investigate a complaint that an anonymous caller had made earlier that day about an altercation in the area. According to a statement later made by Sergeant White, she looked into the wagon, and while she could not see Gray’s face, she saw him kneeling on the wagon floor, facing away from her, and leaning over the bench with his head down. White attempted to question Gray, believing that he might know something about the complaint she was investigating. He gave no verbal response, but made an audible noise. White interpreted Gray’s silence as an indication that he did not want to cooperate with the police. Porter also attempted to speak to Gray at Stop 5, and asked Gray again if he wanted to go the hospital. Gray answered, “Yes.” According to Porter, he told Sergeant White that Gray wanted a medic, and in response, Sergeant White told Porter to follow the wagon back to the Western District to drop off the new arrestee, and then escort Gray to the hospital. At 9:16 am, Goodson left for the Western District station with Gray and the new arrestee in tow. The new arrestee later told investigators that the ride to the police station was smooth and lacked rapid accelerations, decelerations, or turns. The arrestee also stated that he heard loud banging from the other side of the wagon, and that he believed, based on the sound alone, that Gray was knocking his head against the wagon’s middle partition.
Upon Gray’s arrival at the Western District station (Stop 6), at approximately 9:18 am, Officer Porter, Sergeant White, and another BPD officer found Gray to be unconscious. Porter noted that Gray’s eyes were shut, his neck was limp, and he appeared not to be breathing. Sergeant White observed that Gray was drooling. Two officers, one of whom was Sergeant White, called for paramedics. Once the paramedics arrived, they observed that Gray was not breathing, had a small amount of blood coming from his nose, and had frothy vomitus discharge around his mouth. Gray also smelled of feces, indicating incontinence.
The paramedics took Gray to the hospital, where he remained comatose for days. During that time, he underwent multiple rounds of surgery. CT and MRI scans revealed that he suffered from a fractured neck and pinched spinal cord. Medical experts who analyzed the injuries later determined that they were akin to those sustained by a person who dives into a shallow pool and hits his head on the bottom, causing the neck to break when his head rotates forward. Those experts largely concluded that sometime in between Stops 2 and 6, Gray’s head forcefully impacted the interior surfaces of the wagon, such as the walls or doors, causing the injury. On April 19, 2015, Gray died as a result of medical complications accompanying those injuries.
Discussion
Lieutenant Brian Rice, Sergeant Alicia White, Officer William Porter, Officer Garrett Miller, and Officer Edward Nero each provided detailed statements to local investigators offering their version of what happened near the time of Gray’s fatal injury. Officers Porter, Miller, and Nero also testified about the matter in state criminal trials. In order to pursue any prosecution in this case, the government would have to disprove these accounts and establish that the officers’ actions or inactions with respect to Gray constituted a willful violation of Gray’s Fourth Amendment or Fourteenth Amendment rights. During a detailed and thorough investigation, the Department reviewed and analyzed numerous interviews of witnesses to the events surrounding Gray’s injury. In determining whether it was possible to disprove the officers’ statements beyond a reasonable doubt, the Department took into account all of the evidence in the case, including, among other things, all witness statements, any video and audio evidence, medical evidence, and other relevant documents. The Department considered all of the evidence in light of the legal standards for proving criminal cases of false arrest, excessive force, and deliberate indifference.
With respect to a false arrest charge, the Department determined that it could not disprove the officers’ statements regarding the events leading to the arrest. According to the officers, Gray was detained after he made eye contact with Lieutenant Rice and then immediately ran from him. At the time, the bicycle officers were conducting proactive enforcement in an area known for drug sales. Once the officers stopped Gray, they admitted to securing him with handcuffs and then performing a cursory search for weapons, which yielded an illegal knife. A test of that knife later revealed that it opened with a spring-assist, which corroborates Officer Miller’s determination that it was a switchblade knife. In light of the Supreme Court’s decisions regarding the thresholds for reasonable suspicion and probable cause, prosecutors concluded that a false arrest under the Fourth Amendment was not supported by the facts. Gray’s unprovoked flight from Lieutenant Rice, which occurred in an area known for drug sales, gave the officers reasonable suspicion to briefly detain him. Miller’s discovery of a knife that appeared to be an illegal switchblade supplied probable cause to arrest Gray.
In order to fully assess whether the officers used unreasonable force when arresting Gray, the Department closely examined medical evidence, video recordings, and witness accounts. The legal standard for such a prosecution would require the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an officer’s use of force during Gray’s arrest was objectively unreasonable based on all of the surrounding circumstances, and thereby violated the Fourth Amendment. The law requires that the reasonableness of an officer’s use of force on an arrestee be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the added perspective of hindsight.
The evidence in this matter overwhelmingly contradicted reports from some civilian witnesses that Gray was either tased or beaten by the officers. The doctor who performed Gray’s autopsy and testified for the state concluded that there was no medical evidence indicating that Gray’s injuries were caused by excessive force during the arrest, and no medical evidence showing that Gray had been tased. In fact, all medical professionals who testified at the state trials agreed that Gray was injured sometime after Stop 2 while he was being transported in the wagon. BPD investigators analyzed all of the subjects’ Tasers after Gray’s arrest and confirmed that none of the subjects had deployed their Tasers that day. One witness who claimed to have seen Gray tased later recanted that assertion at trial. Additionally, at least two civilian witnesses reported that they did not see any officer strike, punch, or kick Gray, and at least one such witness denied that officers placed Gray into the wagon forcefully. None of the video evidence established that Gray was struck, tased, or otherwise subjected to unreasonable force. Finally, all officers who were present for Gray’s arrest, and gave formal statements, denied ever seeing anyone use excessive force against Gray. To be sure, Officer Miller admitted to using a leg lace on Gray in order to temporarily immobilize Gray’s legs, but Miller’s assertion that he did so in response to Gray’s flailing is unrebutted by the evidence. Based on this assertion, his use of a leg lace cannot be proven unreasonable, and the medical evidence does not establish that the leg lace resulted in injury to Gray.
The Justice Department also considered whether the evidence established that Officer Goodson intentionally gave Freddie Gray a “rough ride” in the back of the wagon, thereby using excessive force in violation of the Due Process Clause. Pursuing this charge would require the government to prove that Officer Goodson gave Gray a ride that objectively harmed him, and that Goodson did so “maliciously and sadistically” in order to cause Gray harm. The evidence could not bear this burden. In spite of the fact that video evidence shows Goodson making a wide right turn and briefly crossing the double yellow line prior to arriving at Stop 3, neither that video, nor the other evidence, conclusively established that Goodson drove recklessly. An expert on retaliatory prisoner transport practices who testified at trial for the state acknowledged that he had seen no evidence that Goodson made abrupt starts, stops, or turns, and that he was not sure whether Goodson had given Gray a “rough ride.” Goodson provided no statement to investigators that would illuminate how he operated the wagon, and an arrestee who was placed in the wagon at Stop 5 described the drive to Stop 6 as a “smooth ride.” In addition, the medical evidence does not conclusively establish that Gray’s injuries were caused by reckless driving, or even by poor driving. There is no evidence that Officer Goodson harbored any animus toward Gray or desired to harm him. Goodson’s failure to seatbelt Gray, without more, does not prove intent to harm. The evidence cannot disprove exculpatory explanations for failing to seatbelt Gray, explanations having nothing to do with intent to harm.
In order to determine whether the officers’ failure to seatbelt Gray constituted deliberate indifference to a serious risk of harm to Gray in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, federal investigators paid particular attention to the law enforcement witness statements, training records, and BPD policies. Under the law, it would not be enough to show that an officer merely had an awareness of some risk of serious harm or that an officer should have had such an awareness. The law would require the government to prove that the officers actually knew that transporting Gray without a seatbelt created a substantial risk of serious harm, and that they actually knew that their actions were inappropriate. The officers made no admissions that would allow us to prove that any of the officers were actually aware that transporting Gray without a seatbelt in back of a police wagon would create a substantial risk of serious harm. The Department also cannot prove that the officers received training regarding substantial risks or harms associated with the transportation of un-seat-belted detainees. The Department reviewed longstanding BPD polices for seat-belting that were in effect until just days before Gray’s arrest, and those polices afforded officers the discretion to refrain from seat-belting detainees if the officers believed there were security risks involved. Given the angry crowds at Stops 1 and 2, and in light of Gray’s combative behavior once inside the wagon, the Department cannot prove that the officers believed that their failure to seatbelt Gray was an inappropriate balancing of the safety risks involved. Accordingly, to the extent that the officers violated department policy in failing to seatbelt Gray, those failures suggest civil negligence rather than the high standard of deliberate indifference.
The Justice Department also considered whether the officers were deliberately indifferent to Gray’s serious need for medical care. The relevant medical evidence does not conclusively establish that Gray had already sustained his fatal neck injury by the time Officers Porter, Goodson, and White observed him at Stops 4 and 5. Medical experts who examined Gray’s death were sharply split during the state trials as to whether Gray suffered this injury sometime between Stops 2 and 4, or sometime between Stops 5 and 6. Experts who testified for the officers maintained that the neck injury Gray suffered would have caused near instantaneous (rather than progressive) paralysis, loss of breathing, and loss of speech. Given that testimony, and Porter’s unrebutted statement that Gray was speaking at Stops 4 and 5, the Department cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gray had already suffered his neck injury by the time officers saw him at those stops. Even if Gray had already been injured, the evidence does not prove that the officers were aware of the serious nature of that injury. At Stop 4, Gray was talking, able to maintain a seated position, and supported his own neck. At Stops 4 and 5, he was breathing and conscious. There is no evidence that he was bleeding or had any other visible injury. He was not drooling, had no liquid discharge around his mouth, and was not incontinent at that point. At Stop 6, Gray exhibited symptoms of medical distress that he did not exhibit earlier. There appears to have been a consensus among the medical experts who testified at the state trials that Gray’s injuries manifested themselves internally and would not have necessarily had visible signs. The Department is mindful of the fact that Gray asked for medical assistance and appeared lethargic at Stops 4 and 5, however, the evidence does not disprove Porter’s statement that he delayed Gray’s requests for a medic because he believed Gray was fatigued after banging himself against the wagon and might have been feigning injury. Regardless of whether Sergeant White or Officer Porter acted negligently by not calling a medic prior to Stop 6, it would be impossible to prove that either deliberately ignored Gray’s needs.
In light of the above analysis, the evidence gathered during this investigation is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers violated Gray’s Fourth Amendment rights against false arrest and unreasonable force, or his Fourteenth Amendment right to be free from excessive force and deliberate indifference.
In analyzing a potential charge under section 242, the Department also considered whether the evidence was sufficient to prove the statutory element of willfulness. To establish that the officers acted willfully, the government would be required both to disprove the officers’ account of their interaction with Gray and to affirmatively establish that the officers instead acted, or failed to act, with the specific intent to violate Gray’s rights. At a minimum, this would require proof that the officers knew that they were treating Gray in a wrongful manner, yet chose to do so anyway. For many of the same reasons described above, the evidence is insufficient to prove willfulness and cannot bear this heavy burden.
Conclusion
After an extensive review of this tragic event, conducted by career prosecutors and investigators, the Justice Department concluded that the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Caesar Goodson, Officer William Porter, Officer Garrett Miller, Officer Edward Nero, Lieutenant Brian Rice, or Sergeant Alicia White willfully violated Gray’s civil rights. Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed without prosecution.
In this case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Maryland, the Civil Rights Division, and the FBI each devoted significant time and resources to investigating the circumstances surrounding Gray’s death and to completing a thorough analysis of the evidence gathered. The Justice Department remains committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources required to ensure that all serious allegations of civil rights violations are thoroughly examined. The Department aggressively prosecutes criminal civil rights violations whenever there is sufficient evidence to do so.
Letter by Attorney General Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Coats Urging Congress to Reauthorize Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ActRead the Press Release
Please see the attached letter signed by Attorney General Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Coats urging Congress to promptly reauthorize, in clean and permanent form, Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to sunset at the end of this year.
View the letter attached or below:
The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer Minority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Speaker Ryan and Leaders McConnell, Pelosi and Schumer:
We are writing to urge that the Congress promptly reauthorize, in clean and permanent form, Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), enacted by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA), which is set to sunset at the end of this year.
Title VII of FISA allows the Intelligence Community, under a robust regime of oversight by all three branches of Government, to collect vital information about international terrorists, cyber actors, individuals and entities engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other important foreign intelligence targets located outside the United States. Reauthorizing this critical authority is the top legislative priority of the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community. As publicly reported by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, information collected under one particular section of FAA, Section 702, produces significant foreign intelligence that is vital to protect the nation against international terrorism and other threats.
Section 702 permits the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, under procedures approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, to authorize the acquisition of foreign intelligence information by targeting non-U.S. persons located outside the United States when such persons possess or are likely to communicate foreign intelligence information. At the same time, Section 702 provides a comprehensive regime of oversight by all three branches of Government to protect the privacy and civil liberties of U.S. persons. Section 702 may not be used to intentionally target a U.S. person located anywhere in the world, nor may the law be used to intentionally target any person, regardless of nationality, who is known to be located in the United States. The law requires the Intelligence Community to follow court approved targeting and minimization procedures designed to ensure compliance with the law's targeting restrictions and the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. The procedures are designed to protect the privacy of U.S. persons whose nonpublic information may be incidentally acquired.
The Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence conduct extensive oversight reviews of Section 702 activities and Title VII requires us to report to Congress on implementation and compliance twice a year. In addition, as demonstrated in numerous declassified court opinions and other materials, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court exercises rigorous independent oversight of activities conducted pursuant to Section 702 to ensure that incidents of non-compliance are addressed through appropriate remedial action.
As you are aware, we have conducted briefings outlining the utility and implementation of Section 702 for both Members and staff this year, and will continue to do so over the course of the next few months. We look forward to working with you to ensure the speedy enactment of legislation reauthorizing Title VII, without amendment beyond removing the sunset provision, to avoid any interruption in our use of these authorities to protect the American people.
Sincerely,
Jefferson B. Sessions III
Attorney General
Daniel R. Coats
Director of National Intelligencecc:
The Honorable Devin Nunes, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
The Honorable Adam B. Schiff, Ranking Member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
The Honorable Richard Burr, Chairman, Select Committee on Intelligence
The Honorable Mark Warner, Vice Chairman, Select Committee on Intelligence The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, Chairman, Judiciary Committee
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee
The Honorable Chuck Grassley, Chairman , Committee on the Judiciary
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, Ranking Member, Committee on the JudiciaryTennessee Case Protecting the Rights of Persons with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities Reaches Successful ConclusionRead the Press Release
Today, in Nashville, Tennessee, Chief District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. granted the parties’ motion to dismiss a civil rights case after the State of Tennessee reshaped services for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. People with intellectual or developmental disabilities are now eligible to receive services in community-integrated housing throughout the state. This case was filed under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.
“We applaud the State’s efforts—and the efforts of families, caregivers, and advocates throughout this case—to develop services that help assure safety and appropriate care for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities who were in the State’s care,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “We also recognize and appreciate the continued collaboration of important stakeholders in resolving this case, including People First of Tennessee and the Parent Guardian Associations of Clover Bottom and Greene Valley Developmental Centers. Together, we have pursued this case to enforce the important rights of people with disabilities and to treat these individuals with dignity.”
“This case demonstrates the United States Attorney’s Office’s commitment to safeguard the civil rights of all Tennesseans, especially those of its most vulnerable citizens,” said United States Attorney Mark H. Wildasin. “Because of the concerted efforts of many, the State has fulfilled its obligation to train physicians and other professionals who care for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, provided access to healthcare through the State’s Medicaid program, and moved its residents to community-based care facilities.”
United States originally brought this case, United States v. Tennessee, No. 3:95-1227 (E.D. Tenn.), to address conditions of care for residents of Clover Bottom Developmental Center, Greene Valley Developmental Center, and Nat. T. Winston Center and the right to receive care in integrated settings. The State and the United States, along with two intervenors, settled the case through an agreement that called for both improved conditions within the centers and the integration of residents into community settings. Shortly after the initiation of the suit, the State closed Nat T. Winston Center. The State closed Clover Bottom Center in November 2015 and Greene Valley Developmental Centers in May 2017. In 2015, the Court approved an Exit Plan designed to resolve this litigation by bringing to fruition planned community improvements in respite care, individual support planning, and other areas. The State has now completed that Exit Plan and thereby met its requirements to dismiss the case.
For more information on the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt.
Texas Restaurant Owners Indicted for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
An indictment charging the owners of several Austin, Texas area restaurants with federal tax crimes was unsealed today, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
The indictment charges Michael Herman and his wife, Cynthia Herman, with conspiring to defraud the United States by impairing the legitimate functions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and filing false individual income tax returns for tax years 2010 through 2012. Michael Herman is also charged with filing false corporate tax returns for 2010 through 2012.
According to the indictment, the Hermans owned Cindy’s Gone Hog Wild, a restaurant and bar in Travis County, Texas, which filed corporate tax returns, and two restaurants in Bastrop County, Texas, Cindy’s Downtown and Hasler Brothers Steakhouse, which reported their income and expenses on the Hermans’ personal tax returns. The indictment alleges that the Hermans deposited only a portion of the restaurants’ cash receipts into their business bank accounts and reported only those deposits to their tax return preparer. The Hermans also allegedly paid for personal expenses out of the business accounts, including repair of their swimming pool, utilities for their home and the salary of a household employee. The indictment charges that the Hermans filed false tax returns that underreported their income and falsely deducted personal expenses paid out of the corporate account as business expenses.
If convicted, the Hermans face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and three years in prison on each of the false return charges. They also face a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Robert A. Kemins and David Zisserson, who are prosecuting the case. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas for their substantial assistance.
Additional information about the Tax Division’s enforcement efforts can be found on the division’s website.
Federal Officials Close the Investigation into the Death of Michael MooreRead the Press Release
The Justice Department will not pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against the Mobile Police Department officer (the Officer) involved in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Michael Moore, the Department announced today.
Officials from the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spoke today with representatives of the Moore family to inform them of this determination. The Department makes this decision because the evidence obtained through the course of a rigorous investigation is insufficient to prove that the Officer willfully used excessive force resulting in Moore’s death.
The Department devoted significant time and resources to investigating the events surrounding Moore’s death on June 13, 2016, in Mobile, Alabama. A team of experienced career federal prosecutors from the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office reviewed evidence obtained by the FBI and state investigators to determine whether the Officer violated any federal laws, focusing on the application of 18 U.S.C. § 242, a federal criminal civil rights statute that prohibits certain types of official misconduct. They conducted a detailed and lengthy analysis of numerous materials, including police reports, law enforcement accounts, witness statements, affidavits of witnesses, dispatch logs, physical evidence reports, the autopsy report, photographs, videos of some portions of the incident, and conducted additional witness interviews.
The evidence developed during the investigation indicated that on June 13, 2016, the Officer conducted a traffic stop after Moore made an erratic turn. Moore had two passengers in the vehicle at the time of the traffic stop. Moore was unable to produce a driver’s license and instead provided the Officer with a license number. After running the information, the Officer learned that Moore provided him with a false driver’s license number and that the vehicle Moore was driving was reported stolen. The Officer asked Moore to step out of the car and Moore complied.
There are conflicting eyewitness accounts as to what happened once Moore exited the vehicle and these critical events were not captured on any video. The eyewitnesses to the shooting included residents and motorists traveling through the area in their vehicles. Both passengers inside Moore’s vehicle acknowledged that they saw Moore with a firearm prior to the shooting. One passenger observed a firearm in Moore’s car seat before encountering the Officer, and the other saw a firearm in Moore’s waistband once he stepped outside the vehicle. Some eyewitnesses describe Moore pulling up his pants or having his hands by his waist immediately prior to the shooting. Others describe Moore “snatching” his hand downward or “flinching” at the time of the shooting. Still others only saw Moore’s hands for a portion of the encounter or could not see them at all.
According to the Officer, Moore exited the vehicle with a cell phone in his right hand. The Officer asked Moore to put the cell phone down and when Moore bent down to place the phone on the ground, the Officer saw a gun in Moore’s waistband. The Officer commanded Moore not to reach for the gun, but Moore did so, at which time the Officer shot Moore causing Moore to fall to the ground. While on the ground, the Officer again commanded Moore not to reach for the gun. However, Moore reached for the gun, and the Officer shot him again.
Moore was transported to the University of South Alabama Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. At the hospital, emergency personnel recovered a firearm under Moore’s right hip in the waistband of his clothing. The serial number of the firearm recovered from Moore’s body matched the serial number of a firearm reported stolen earlier that day. An autopsy was conducted and determined that Moore died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
Under the applicable federal criminal civil rights laws, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that an officer “willfully” deprived an individual of a Constitutional right, meaning that the officer acted with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids. This is the highest standard of intent imposed by the law. Neither accident, mistake, fear, negligence, nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish a willful federal criminal civil rights violation.
Given the totality of the circumstances, and conflicting eye-witness testimony, the government cannot disprove the Officer’s claim that he believed that Moore was reaching for a firearm, that he feared for his life, and that he made the split-second decision to defend it. Therefore, after a careful and thorough review, a team of experienced career federal prosecutors determined that insufficient evidence exists to prove the Officer willfully violated any federal criminal civil rights statutes. Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed.
Department of Justice Announces Priority Consideration Criteria for COPS Office GrantsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today announced additional priority consideration criteria for FY 2017 Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) grants. Jurisdictions for FY 2017 were notified that their applications would receive additional points in the application scoring process if their agencies cooperate with federal law enforcement to address illegal immigration, ensuring that federal immigration authorities have the full ability to enforce immigration laws and keep our communities safe.
“Cities and states that cooperate with federal law enforcement make all of us safer by helping remove dangerous criminals from our communities,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “This cooperation is supported by the vast majority of the American people, and jurisdictions with these policies in place should be acknowledged for their commitment to ending violent crime, including violent crime stemming from illegal immigration. Today, the Justice Department announced it will recognize jurisdictions that commit to the rule of law by awarding additional points in the application scoring process for COPS Office grants. My hope is that this recognition will further incentivize every jurisdiction in America to collaborate with federal law enforcement and help us make this country safer.”
Compensation Remains Available to 9-11 Responders and Survivors Affected by Their Exposure; Fund Tops $3 Billion in AwardsRead the Press Release
Each year, as the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, the country is reminded of the unprecedented losses suffered. The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) acknowledges the important milestones reached in providing support to victims and families and is especially aware of the lives that continue to be affected. The anniversary is a time for the VCF to reaffirm its commitment to the important work that still lies ahead, and to maintain strong and steady progress as the VCF seeks to award compensation to those who continue to suffer. Today, the VCF releases its statistics report and informs the community on its outreach efforts.
The VCF’s statistics report details the enormous strides the VCF has made since its reopening in 2011 and its reauthorization in 2015. As of Aug. 31, the VCF has rendered over 14,000 compensation determinations, including initial awards on new claims, and revised awards on claims with amendments or appeals. These determinations total over $3 billion awarded to VCF claimants, which exceeds the original $2.775 billion authorized by Congress when the VCF reopened in 2011. In all, the VCF has compensated claims from more than 11,500 responders to the attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and at the Shanksville site, as well as more than 2,400 others who lived, worked, or traveled through areas of lower Manhattan and suffered physical health conditions as a result of their exposure to debris and toxins generated by the attacks and their aftermath.
“I am keenly aware that each and every one of these claims represents a life forever-changed,” said VCF Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya. “I am also aware of the tremendous need for compensation that exists in the 9/11 community. We are committed to making improvements wherever possible in order to process claims as quickly and efficiently as possible, without compromising accuracy, thoroughness, or fairness. I am pleased to report that we continue to make progress in rendering decisions on the oldest claims, and are now issuing awards on claims filed in the later part of 2015. Our efforts to accelerate the speed of claims processing are ongoing and an absolute priority.”
The VCF is also increasing its efforts to identify those who may be eligible for compensation because they suffer physical health effects as a result of their exposure but are not aware of the VCF, and is working with partners in the community to extend its reach. Information regarding the VCF was recently mailed to the enrolled membership of the World Trade Center Health Program. The VCF is participating in several events this week to increase awareness of and answer questions regarding the VCF. These include a Facebook Live Event hosted by 9/11 Health Watch, meetings of the WTC Health Program Responder and Survivor Steering Committees, a town hall hosted by United We Stand of New York and the Voices of 9/11 16th Annual Day of Remembrance Information Forum.
VCF Special Master Bhattacharyya added, “The anniversary is always a time to look back and commemorate the lives lost or forever changed by 9/11. It is also a time to look forward and assure the members of the 9/11 community that they are not forgotten, and that as a nation, we are committed to providing help to those who need it. I’m honored to be in a position to so directly serve this community, and, along with my dedicated and talented team, remain deeply committed to ongoing progress.”
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was created to provide compensation for any individual (or a personal representative of a deceased individual) who suffered physical harm or was killed as a result of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of Sept. 11, 2001 or the debris removal efforts that took place in the immediate aftermath of those crashes. The original VCF operated from 2001 to 2004. On Jan. 2, 2011, President Obama signed into law the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (Zadroga Act). Title II of the Zadroga Act reactivated the Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The reactivated VCF opened in October 2011 and was authorized to operate for a period of five years, ending in October 2016. On Dec. 18, 2015, President Obama signed into law a bill reauthorizing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. This included the reauthorization of the VCF. The new law extends the VCF for five years, allowing individuals to submit their claims until Dec. 18, 2020. The law also includes some important changes to the VCF’s policies and procedures for evaluating claims and calculating each claimant’s loss.
For additional information about how to file a claim, please visit the “How to File a Claim” page on the VCF’s website at www.vcf.gov and information on policies and procedures can be obtained at https://www.vcf.gov/pdf/VCFPolicy.pdf. If you have any questions about the claim form, the website, or the VCF process, please contact the VCF’s toll-free Helpline at 1-855-885-1555.
The Civil Rights Division Celebrates 60th AnniversaryRead the Press Release
Saturday is the 60th anniversary of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, creating the Civil Rights Division. The 1957 Act was the first civil rights law passed since Reconstruction, and was a first step leading to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act the following year, and numerous other civil rights laws enacted in the years since that are enforced by the Civil Rights Division.
“Since its founding, the Civil Rights Division’s efforts have helped transform the social landscape of our country and touched the lives of millions of Americans,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “Today, the Division remains at the center of the effort to achieve equal justice and opportunity for all and to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.”
At its inception, the Division focused on protecting the voting rights of African-American voters and prosecuting cases of criminal interference with civil rights. Division attorneys prosecuted the defendants accused of murdering three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964, and were involved in the investigations of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Medgar Evers.
The Division today enforces dozens of federal statutes that prohibit discrimination in employment, education, housing, credit, voting, access to public accommodations and public facilities, and access to government-funded services. While racial discrimination was the motivating purpose and central focus of the first civil rights laws enacted by Congress, Congress has included in statutes enforced by the Division protections against many types of discrimination, including not only race and color but national origin, sex, disability, religion, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and military status.
The Division has a leading role in combatting hate crimes, human trafficking, and excessive use of force by law enforcement or prison officers. The Division’s role also encompasses preserving the right to vote; protecting students and employees against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; protecting the rights of persons with disabilities to equal access to public accommodations and services; upholding the rights of persons in institutions to constitutional and humane treatment; protecting the rights of religious communities to construct places of worship; and enforcing other important civil rights protections.
“Several generations of dedicated attorneys and employees of the Civil Rights Division have built an institution that all Americans can be proud of,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “But this work is far from finished. We will continue to work tirelessly towards a country that fulfills its promise of equal justice, equal opportunity, and human dignity for every single American.”
More information about the Civil Rights Division, including its history, how it is organized, and its recent cases and activities, are available at https://www.justice.gov/crt/about-division-overview.
Northern California Real Estate Investor Sentenced to Prison for Rigging Bids at Public Foreclosure AuctionsRead the Press Release
After being convicted at trial, a Northern California real estate investor was sentenced today for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions, the Department of Justice announced.
Glenn Guillory was charged on Dec. 3, 2014, in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California. Guillory was convicted on April 17, 2017, of conspiring to rig bids at real estate foreclosure auctions in Contra Costa County. Today, Guillory was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison and to serve three years of supervised release. In addition to his term of imprisonment, Guillory was ordered to pay a criminal fine of $20,000.
Between June 2008 and January 2011, Guillory conspired with others not to bid against one another for selected properties, instead designating a winning bidder to win the property at the auction. The members of the conspiracy then held second, private auctions to award the properties to members of the conspiracy and determine payoffs for those who had agreed not to bid against one another at the public auctions. The private auctions often took place at or near the courthouse steps where the public auctions were held.
The sentence is a result of an ongoing investigation into bid rigging at public real estate foreclosure auctions in California’s San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. These investigations are being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office and the FBI’s San Francisco Office.
Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Office at 415-934-5300 or call the FBI tip line at 415-553-7400.
Justice Department Settles Lawsuit with Edmonds, Washington, Landlords for Discriminating Against Families with ChildrenRead the Press Release
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement with the owners and manager of three Edmonds, Washington, apartment buildings to resolve a lawsuit filed earlier this year alleging that those landlords refused to rent their apartments to families with children, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
“The Fair Housing Act prohibits apartment owners and managers from denying housing to families because they have children,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will continue to vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition of discrimination against families with children.”
“Equal access to housing is essential for all Americans, including families with young children,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes of the Western District of Washington. “Particularly in our tight housing market, landlords must follow the law and make units available without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or familial status.”
“No family should be denied a place to live simply because they have a child,” said Anna Maria Farias, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD will continue to work with the Justice Department to ensure that property owners comply with their obligations under the nation’s fair housing laws.”
The three apartment buildings that are the subject of the settlement are located at 201 5th Ave. N., 621 5th Ave. S., and 401 Pine Street in Edmonds, Washington. They are owned and managed by defendants Debbie A. Appleby, Apple One, LLC, Apple Two, LLC, and Apple Three, LLC, of Stanwood, Washington. Under the settlement, the defendants will:
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Pay a total monetary settlement of $95,000, comprised of:
$35,000 in damages to a family that they turned away because the family had a small child;
$35,000 that will be used to compensate other families that were harmed by defendants’ practices; and
$25,000 as a civil penalty to the United States;
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Adopt non-discriminatory policies and practices that ensure compliance with Fair Housing Act; and
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Submit to record keeping and monitoring requirements for the three-year period of the settlement agreement.
Today’s settlement resolves a complaint filed by the department in March 2017 which alleged that in March 2014 defendant Appleby told a woman seeking an apartment for herself, her husband and their one-year-old child that the apartment buildings were “adult only.” The complaint also alleged that defendants advertised their apartments as being in “adult buildings.” The family filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), which conducted an investigation, issued a charge of discrimination against the defendants, and referred the case to the Justice Department
Any individuals who believe they were discriminated against by the defendants because they have children should contact the Civil Rights Division at 1-800-896-7743, Option 96.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability. More information about the
Civil Rights Division and the civil rights laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt and https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/civil-rights. Individuals who believe that they have been victims of housing discrimination may call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, email the Justice Department at [email protected], or contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 or through its website at www.hud.gov.
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Federal Court Shuts Down Louisiana Tax Return PreparersRead the Press Release
A federal district court in Shreveport, Louisiana has permanently barred defendants Angelina Adams aka Angelina Morris and Angie’s Tax Service LLC from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The defendants consented to the permanent injunction after the government filed a complaint.
The complaint alleged that Adams of Princeton, Louisiana and her tax preparation business, Angie’s Tax Service LLC, located in Ringgold, Louisiana, repeatedly and continually prepared tax returns that understated liabilities and overstated refunds. Their alleged schemes included fabricating Schedule Cs, Profit or Loss from Business, to secure bogus earned income tax credits; deducting false employee business expenses and moving expenses on Schedule As, Itemized Deductions; and claiming unsupported education credits.
In one example cited in the complaint, Angie’s Tax Service prepared a customer’s returns to report over $25,000 and $20,000 in Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business, losses for an electrician business in the 2013 and 2014 tax years, respectively. The complaint alleged that the customer had no such business. In another example, the complaint alleged that Adams prepared a customer’s return to report $24,484 in unreimbursed employee business expenses although the customer incurred no out-of-pocket expenses for her job. As alleged in the complaint, the use of fraudulent unreimbursed business expenses by the defendants may have generated more than $10 million in fraudulent deductions.
Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
Another Former Correctional Officer Pleads Guilty to Beating of Handcuffed and Shackled Inmate at Louisiana State Penitentiary at AngolaRead the Press Release
Officer Conspired to Cover Up Beating By Falsifying Records and Lying to Investigators
Acting United States Attorney Corey Amundson and Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced that a former supervisory correctional officer at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today to participating in the beating of a handcuffed and shackled inmate, conspiring to cover up his misconduct by falsifying official records and lying to internal investigators about what happened.
John Sanders, 30, of Marksville, Louisiana, admitted during his plea hearing that he punched the inmate repeatedly in the head in retaliation for an earlier incident; that he witnessed other officers use excessive force against the inmate and failed to intervene; that he conspired with other officers to cover up the beating by engaging in a variety of obstructive acts; and that he personally falsified official prison records in order to cover up the beating.
Scotty Kennedy, 48, of Beebe, Arkansas, pled guilty in November 2016 for his role in the beating and cover up. Two co-defendants, Daniel Davis and James Savoy, remain scheduled for trial in January of 2018.
“A former correctional supervisor has admitted abusing a person in state custody and then lying to cover up his on-duty misconduct,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute correctional officers who use their official position to commit and to cover up violations of federal criminal law.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson stated, “Our office remains committed to prosecuting violations of the federal criminal civil rights laws whenever sufficient evidence exists to do so. No one is above the law.”
This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Baton Rouge Resident Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Menner, Jr. of the Middle District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Christopher J. Perras of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.
Novo Nordisk Agrees to Pay $58 Million for Failure to Comply with FDA-Mandated Risk ProgramRead the Press Release
Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Novo Nordisk Inc. will pay $58.65 million to resolve allegations that the company failed to comply with the FDA-mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for its Type II diabetes medication Victoza, the Justice Department announced today. The resolution includes disgorgement of $12.15 million for alleged violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) from 2010 to 2012 and a payment of $46.5 million for alleged violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) from 2010 to 2014. Novo Nordisk is a subsidiary of Novo Nordisk U.S. Holdings Inc., which is a subsidiary of Novo Nordisk A/S of Denmark. Novo Nordisk’s U.S. headquarters is in Plainsboro, New Jersey.
“Today’s resolution demonstrates the Department of Justice’s continued commitment to ensuring that drug manufacturers comply with the law,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “When a drug manufacturer fails to share accurate risk information with doctors and patients, it deprives physicians of information vital to medical decision-making.”
In a civil complaint filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asserting claims under the FDCA, the government alleged that, at the time of Victoza’s approval in 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required a REMS to mitigate the potential risk in humans of a rare form of cancer called Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) associated with the drug. The REMS required Novo Nordisk to provide information regarding Victoza’s potential risk of MTC to physicians. A manufacturer that fails to comply with the requirements of the REMS, including requirements to communicate accurate risk information, renders the drug misbranded under the law.
As alleged in the complaint, some Novo Nordisk sales representatives gave information to physicians that created the false or misleading impression that the Victoza REMS-required message was erroneous, irrelevant, or unimportant. The complaint further alleges that Novo Nordisk failed to comply with the REMS by creating the false or misleading impression about the Victoza REMS-required risk message that violated provisions of the FDCA and led some physicians to be unaware of the potential risks when prescribing Victoza.
As alleged in the government’s complaint, after a survey in 2011 showed that half of primary care doctors polled were unaware of the potential risk of MTC associated with the drug, the FDA required a modification to the REMS to increase awareness of the potential risk. Rather than appropriately implementing the modification, the complaint alleges that Novo Nordisk instructed its sales force to provide statements to doctors that obscured the risk information and failed to comply with the REMS modification. Novo Nordisk has agreed to disgorge $12.15 million in profits derived from its unlawful conduct in violation of the FDCA.
“Novo Nordisk’s actions unnecessarily put vulnerable patients at risk,” said U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia. “We are committed to holding companies accountable for violating the integrity of the FDA’s efforts to ensure that doctors and patients have accurate information that allows them to make appropriate decisions about which drugs to use in their care. Working with the FDA and other law enforcement partners, we have sent a strong signal to the drug industry today.”
“Novo Nordisk Inc. sales representatives misled physicians by failing to accurately disclose a potential life threatening side effect of a prescription drug, and needlessly increased risks to patients being treated with this drug,” said Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “The FBI is committed to ensuring that the private industry provides honest and accurate risk information to the public and will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate companies who do not comply with FDA-mandated policies.”
“We need to trust that pharmaceutical companies truthfully represent their products’ potential risks,” said Special Agent in Charge Nick DiGiulio for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We will continue to work with our partners to ensure federal health care dollars are spent only on drugs that are marketed honestly.”
Novo Nordisk will pay an additional $46.5 million to the federal government and the states to resolve claims under the FCA and state false claims acts. This portion of the settlement resolves allegations that Novo Nordisk caused the submission of false claims from 2010 to 2014 to federal health care programs for Victoza by arming its sales force with messages that could create a false or misleading impression with physicians that the Victoza REMS-required message about the potential risk of MTC associated with Victoza was erroneous, irrelevant, or unimportant and by encouraging the sale to and use of Victoza by adult patients who did not have Type II diabetes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved Victoza as safe and effective for use by adult patients who do not have Type II diabetes.
As a result of today’s FCA settlement, the federal government will receive $43,129,026 and state Medicaid programs will receive $3,320,963. The Medicaid program is funded jointly by the state and federal governments.
The FCA settlement resolves seven lawsuits filed under the whistleblower provision of the federal FCA, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the government’s recovery. The civil lawsuits are captioned as follows: United States, et al. ex rel. Kennedy, v. Novo A/S, et al., No. 13-cv-01529 (D.D.C.), United States, et al. ex rel. Dastous, et al. v. Novo Nordisk, No. 11-cv-01662 (D.D.C), United States, et al., ex rel. Ferrara and Kelling v Novo Nordisk, Inc., et al., No. 1:11-cv-00074 (D.D.C.), United States, et al., ex rel. Myers v. Novo Nordisk, Inc., No. 11-cv-1596 (D.D.C.), United States, et al. ex rel Stepe v. Novo Nordisk, Inc., No. 13-cv-221 (D.D.C.), United States et al. ex rel Doe, et al. v. Novo Nordisk, Inc., et al., No. 1:17-00791 (D.D.C.), and United States ex rel. Smith, et al. v. Novo Nordisk, Inc., Civ. Action No. 16-1605 (D.D.C.). The amount to be recovered by the private parties has not been determined.
The settlements were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Commercial Litigation Branch, with assistance from the FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel. The investigation was conducted by the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the FBI, HHS-OIG, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Office of Personnel Management, Office of the Inspector General.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information on the Commercial Litigation Branch’s Fraud Section, visit https://www.justice.gov/civil/fraud-section. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc.
Justice Department and Bensalem Township Settle Lawsuit over Alleged Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ViolationsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced an agreement with Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania, to resolve allegations that the Township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when the Township denied zoning approval to allow the Bensalem Masjid to build a mosque on three adjoining parcels of land in the Township.
“Federal law protects the rights of all religious communities to build places of worship free from discrimination,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement ensures that all citizens of Bensalem Township may freely exercise this important civil right.”
The agreement resolves a lawsuit that the Department filed in July 2016. A separate agreement resolving a similar lawsuit brought by the Bensalem Masjid against Bensalem Township has also been reached.
The United States’ complaint alleged that the Bensalem Township’s denial of a variance imposed a substantial burden on the Bensalem Masjid’s religious exercise, treated the Bensalem Masjid less favorably than the township treated nonreligious assemblies and discriminated against the Bensalem Masjid on the basis of religion. The complaint also alleged that the township placed unreasonable limitations on religious assemblies generally through its land use regulations.
As part of the agreement, the Bensalem Masjid will be permitted to use the three adjoining properties for the purpose of building a mosque. The Township has also agreed to review and amend its zoning ordinance to comply with the requirements of RLUIPA. Additionally, the Township has agreed that it will advise its officials and employees about the requirements of RLUIPA, among other remedial measures.
RLUIPA contains multiple provisions prohibiting religious discrimination and protecting against unjustified burdens on religious exercise. Persons who believe they have been subjected to discrimination in land use or zoning decisions may contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Hotline at (855) 281-3339 or the Civil Rights Division Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at (800) 896-7743.
More information about RLUIPA, including questions and answers about the law and other documents, may be found at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/rluipaexplain.php.
Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC. Convicted of Worker Safety and Clean Water Act Violations in Connection to Offshore ExplosionRead the Press Release
Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC (BEE), a privately held limited liability company headquartered in Houston, Texas, was sentenced today on eight felony violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and one misdemeanor count of violating the Clean Water Act before the Honorable U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
The charges stemmed from events causing an explosion in November 2012 on an offshore oil production platform that resulted in the deaths of three workers and injuries to several others. This case is also related to the recent conviction of Wood Group PSN in the Western District of Louisiana for their role in operations on the platform.
In accordance with a plea agreement, the Court ordered BEE to pay a $4.2 million monetary penalty. However, due to BEE’s bankruptcy, the $4.2 million agreed monetary penalty will be a general unsecured claim against BEE’s bankruptcy estate entitled to a pro rata distribution from the trust with other allowed unsecured claims against BEE. On Aug. 11, 2015, four of BEE’s creditors filed an involuntary chapter 7 bankruptcy case against BEE in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The case converted to a voluntary chapter 11 case shortly thereafter. Under a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation confirmed on July 13, 2016, BEE’s assets were transferred into two trusts, and a trustee will administer distributions to creditors from funds in one of the trusts.
According to the court documents, beginning on Nov. 3, 2012, after pipeline repairs, BEE undertook platform repairs to include replacing equipment and installing a divert valve on the platform’s Lease Automatic Custody Transfer (LACT) unit and tying it into the sump line piping. The LACT system was the last point in the production process prior to the oil leaving West Delta 32 and entering the sales transmission pipeline.
Some of the construction projects on West Delta 32 required “hot work,” or welding, grinding, and/or any other activity that may produce a spark. Hot work on an oil production facility is a hazardous activity capable of causing injury or death. Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires that written permission, commonly referred to as a “hot work permit,” be issued by the welding supervisor or designated person in charge (PIC) before any hot work on a production platform begin. At a maximum, a hot work permit is valid for 12 hours. Once a hot work permit expires, all the precautionary steps should be complete before a new hot work permit is issued.
Starting on or about Nov. 8, 2012, Christopher Srubar, a co-defendant and Wood Group PSN employee and West Delta 32 PIC, issued hot work permits for the construction work related to the West Delta 32 projects. However, Srubar stopped issuing hot work permits and conducting all-hands safety meetings and instead delegated the permitting to the Wood Group PSN “C” operator. Neither Srubar nor the “C” operator conducted a daily pre-work inspection with the construction crew, staffed by Grand Isle Shipyards (GIS), nor did they designate a fire watch for the hot work areas.
On or about Nov. 15, 2012, hot work commenced on the LACT unit with the knowledge of co-defendants Don Moss and Curtis Dantin. Moss and Dantin did not ask Srubar if he completed a safety check of the area. In addition, they did not complete a pre-work inspection or issue a warning to the GIS crews to step welding on the sump line piping. Instead, Dantin instructed some of the crew to begin the welding of the sump line piping for the LACT unit upgrade. The single hot work permit the “C” operator issued for Nov. 16 did not state that the LACT unit or sump line piping as areas that were safe for hot work.
Workers started to make cuts to the sump line piping leading to the Wet Oil Tank, causing liquid to spill from the piping. At approximately 9:00 a.m., hydrocarbon vapors that escaped from the Wet Oil Tank ignited, causing a series of explosions in the three oil tanks on the platform. The fire and explosions resulted in the deaths of GIS employees Avelino Tajonera, Elroy Corporal, and Jerome Malagapo. Other workers were seriously burned and physically injured.
BEE admitted that its employees and agents were negligent in the manner in which they planned and executed the hot work on West Delta 32 platform, and that the acts of their agents and employees violated the regulations in 30 C.F.R. § 250.113 promulgated under the OCSLA.
Co-defendant GIS faces manslaughter charges, and Dantin, Srubar, and Moss face criminal violations of the Clean Water Act in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The OCSLA charges against GIS, Moss, Srubar, and Dantin, were dismissed by the district court and are pending an interlocutory appeal by the government to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, argued on May 1, 2017.
The U.S. Department of the Interior-Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-CID conducted the investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emily Greenfield and Nicholas Moses, and Senior Trial Attorney Kenneth Nelson of the Environment and Natural Resources Division prosecuted the case.