Month: July 2022

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Security News: Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Directs U.S. Attorneys and Law Enforcement Agencies to Prioritize Violent Crime in Indian Country

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Today, during remarks at the Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced a directive to all U.S. Attorneys and law enforcement component heads addressing public safety in Indian country, including violence directed at indigenous women, youth and children.  

In a memorandum, Deputy Attorney General Monaco declared it a priority of the Department of Justice to address the disproportionately high rates of violence experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives, and relatedly, the high rates of indigenous persons reported missing. The memorandum directs each U.S. Attorney with Indian country jurisdiction — along with their law enforcement partners at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) — to update and develop new plans for addressing public safety in Indian country.  

“With this memorandum, we are reaffirming the department’s unwavering commitment to promoting public safety in Indian Country and to respecting Tribal sovereignty,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Tribes know best how to make their communities safer, and Tribal engagement has thus been the cornerstone of the department’s review of its policies and procedures. Federal law enforcement agencies will continue to work diligently with our Tribal partners in support of public safety in Indian Country.”

In November 2021, the department established a Steering Committee dedicated to marshalling the department’s resources and personnel to address public safety and the issues of missing or murdered indigenous persons. The Steering Committee undertook a review — in close consultation with Tribal leaders and stakeholders — of the department’s relevant guidance, policies and practices to improve the law enforcement response in Indian country.  

Today’s memorandum marks the first guidance from the Deputy Attorney General to U.S. Attorneys in Indian country since 2010, when then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden required each U.S. Attorney with Indian country jurisdiction to establish a structure and plan for addressing public safety in Indian country. Deputy Attorney General Monaco’s memorandum sets forth needed updates, which account for significant legal and legislative developments in the intervening decade, including the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, Savanna’s Act, the Not Invisible Act of 2019 and the 2013 and 2022 reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women Act. The memorandum also recognizes that the department’s law enforcement components are essential to investigating crimes in Indian country, and it directs those agencies to adopt their own guidelines, policies and protocols to address the unique public safety challenges in Indian country. 

In particular, the memorandum instructs department prosecutors and law enforcement officers to update their operational plans, policies, and protocols to:

  • Coordinate with Tribal, State and local law enforcement officers, as well as other federal agencies;
  • Support victims, survivors and their families in a victim-centered and culturally-appropriate manner; and
  • Address cases, including unresolved cases, involving missing or murdered indigenous people.

The memorandum also directs U.S. Attorneys Offices and law enforcement agencies to engage with Tribes to better address priority public safety issues, including combatting violence against women, youth and children and addressing the devastating consequences of drug trafficking and substance use disorder in Indian country. 

You can read the Deputy Attorney General’s full remarks to the Trilateral Working Group here and the full text of the memorandum here.

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Security News: Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Delivers Remarks at the Closing Session of the Fourth Convening of the Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon. It is a tremendous honor to be here with you and to reaffirm our shared commitment to prevent and respond to violence against Indigenous women and girls.

I want to give my sincere thanks to all who made this event possible, including the Indigenous leaders here, and to the governments of Canada and Mexico for their commitment to address gender-based violence impacting Indigenous women and girls.

This convening of the Trilateral Working Group is critically important. The testimony we have heard over these two days about three policy priority areas will aid our efforts to address the disproportionately high rates of violence against Indigenous people and, relatedly, the high rates of people reported missing from Native communities.

This is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration. To this end, last fall, President Biden signed an Executive Order that sought not only to strengthen our law enforcement response in Native communities but also to address the broader public safety and health concerns that underlie many incidents of violent crime and missing persons cases.

As the Executive Order recognizes, those issues require focused coordination across the federal government. We are grateful for the strong working partnership among the DOJ, the Department of the Interior, HHS and all our sister agencies. We want to ensure a whole-of-government approach to gender-based violence.

Immediately following the Executive Order, the department launched a Steering Committee at the Department of Justice to address the crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous persons. Over the past several months, the committee has engaged closely with Tribal leaders and other stakeholders on this work, including ways to expand access to justice for women and girls — as well as gender-diverse and Two-Spirit individuals.

Today, I am proud to announce that, following those consultations, I have issued a new directive to all prosecutors and law enforcement agencies operating in Tribal communities. This directive responds to concerns that the department has long heard — and that I have heard directly — from Tribal leaders and stakeholders about addressing violent crime in Indian country. While we have seen spikes in violent crime across the country, generations of American Indians and Alaska Natives — and indigenous women and girls in particular — have endured disproportionate rates of violence. The directive reaffirms that combatting this crisis must be a priority for our prosecutors and law enforcement officers.

The new directive stresses that the department has a duty to investigate and prosecute serious crimes in Indian country, including domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. The directive also sets forth specific steps that U.S. Attorneys and law enforcement officers should take to ensure that their work is victim-centered and culturally and linguistically appropriate. Moreover, the directive reiterates how critical it is for the department to work closely with Tribal partners in supporting their implementation of the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

VAWA 2022 represents a renewed commitment to Tribal sovereignty, as it restores Tribes’ jurisdiction over several offenses committed on Tribal lands, including sexual violence, sex trafficking and child abuse. These provisions were hard-won, with advocates from across the Biden-Harris Administration — as well as Tribal leaders and community members — coming together to ensure their inclusion. The department is committed to supporting Tribes in exercising this authority, which will help remove barriers to justice for countless Indigenous women and children.

Of course, as the testimony we’ve heard over the past two days underscores, there is much more work to do to make sure Indigenous women and girls no longer suffer from disproportionate rates of violence. I look forward to our continued work together, as we strengthen our commitments toward preventing and addressing such violence.

Thank you all for your time. It is now my honor to introduce Dr. Juana Majel-Dixon, Chair of the National Congress of American Indian Task Force on Violence Against Women, who will offer a closing prayer.

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Security News: Maryland Man Indicted for Bias-Motivated Assaults of Men in Washington, D.C. Park

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, with five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer, and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement alleging that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their perceived sexual orientation. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono for the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.

The indictment alleges that on five separate dates from 2018 to 2021, Pruden went after dark to Meridian Hill Park, aka Malcolm X Park, which is informally known in the Washington, D.C. community as a meeting place for men seeking consensual sex with other men, and assaulted five men with a chemical irritant. Before spraying the men, Pruden pretended to be a Park Police officer, shined a flashlight in the victims’ faces and gave the victims police-style directives. The indictment alleges that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. 

Pruden was arrested today in Norfolk, Virginia. Pruden faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years for each assault count and a three-year statutory maximum sentence for impersonating a federal officer. The hate crimes sentencing enhancement increases the range of the potential sentence for the assault counts.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Park Police and the FBI Washington Field Office, and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Rebekah J. Bailey of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower for the District of Columbia.

If you believe that you were a victim of, or witnessed, a similar assault in Meridian Hill Park, please call the FBI tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). 

For more information and resources about the department’s work to combat hate crimes, visit www.justice.gov/hatecrimes.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Security News: Georgia Man Sentenced to More Than 19 Years in Prison for Filing False Returns

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A Georgia man was sentenced today to 230 months in prison for charges related to his filing of dozens of fraudulent tax returns on behalf of multiple sham trusts.

Marquet Mattox, of Lilburn, was convicted by a federal jury on Aug. 18, 2021, of wire fraud, false claims and theft of government funds. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from 2016 to 2018 Mattox filed more than 30 fraudulent federal income tax returns with the IRS in the names of approximately 12 different trusts. On those returns, Mattox falsely reported that the trusts had withheld large amounts of taxes on purported interest income, thereby entitling the trusts to refunds. In total, Mattox claimed approximately $165 million in refunds on behalf of the purported trusts. The IRS paid $5 million of the requested refunds. Mattox used those funds to purchase a new house, a luxury automobile and other personal expenses.

“Marquet Mattox secured $5 million in fraudulent refunds by inundating the IRS with dozens of false returns on behalf of phony trusts he owned and controlled,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “His significant prison sentence today makes clear that fraudsters will be identified and prosecuted, no matter how persistent or complicated their schemes.”

“It’s an injustice to all those who rightfully pay their taxes when an individual criminally takes advantage of the system, in this case defrauding taxpayers of millions of dollars,” U.S Attorney Peter D. Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. “Our office and our law enforcement partners will do whatever it takes to hold fraudsters accountable for their crimes.”

“Mattox made multiple attempts to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of over $117 million,” said Special Agent in Charge James E. Dorsey of IRS-Criminal Investigation. “IRS has systems in place to detect and prevent fraud, attempting to file false claims for refunds is a federal crime. Today’s sentencing reflects the seriousness of Mattox’s actions and greed. Taxpayers should be wary of any individuals promoting and using schemes to submit false filings to the IRS. Should you come across such a scheme, please report it to IRS-Criminal Investigation.”

“TIGTA’s statutory mission includes investigating individuals who interfere with the lawful collection of taxes,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). “Attempts to interfere with IRS employees engaged in the performance of their official duties will be aggressively pursued. We appreciate the efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation in working with TIGTA to protect the integrity of federal tax administration.”

In addition to the prison term, Mattox was ordered to pay approximately $3.2 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Jessica Kraft of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyndie Freeman for the Middle District of Georgia prosecuted the case.

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Defense News: Why You Want to be a Submarine Independent Duty Corpsman

Source: United States Navy

Few enlisted jobs in the Navy come with the responsibility and respect of being a Navy submarine independent duty corpsman (IDC).

Their shipmates call them “Doc,” a title that comes with their job, the health care of their crews underway, independent of a medical officer.

Submarine IDC is one of four types of IDCs in the Navy. But because of how they deploy and the culture of the Submarine Force, it’s arguably the most demanding independent duty corpsman job.

Read on to learn about the challenge of a lifetime and a Navy career that can advance you in uniform and beyond.

“The trust that is automatically placed upon you as the IDC when you walk onboard that submarine for the very first time is immeasurable,” said Master Chief Hospital Corpsman (SS/SW/EXW/AW) Amanda McDevitt, Force Medical Master Chief at Submarine Forces in Norfolk, VA. “They expect us to come in and perform to the standard of their last Doc and to be able to do everything that you read about in the history books.”

Not a lot is published about what happens onboard submarines during their long and usually solo deployments. But the exploits of submarine corpsmen and the pharmacist’s mates before them are a part of Navy lore.

Two submarine “Docs” are known to have performed appendectomies while submerged during World War II, with both happening in 1942, the first year of the war. Both were successful, performed with makeshift equipment and reading instructions from manuals. One took place inside Japanese territorial waters.

When released to the press, the stories went viral, capturing the entire country’s interest. The surgery was dramatized in the 1943 movie “Destination Tokyo,” starring Cary Grant.

Submarine IDCs are the expert that the commanding officer relies on for straight talk when it comes to the crew’s health, and nearly every submarine IDC has a story where they had to react to a critical situation using their skills to save a shipmate. The legacy continues to the current day.

“You can find yourself out to sea with a sick Sailor you need to get off the ship, but your boat is on a mission and you’re now having a one-on-one conversation with the skipper on whether we can continue the mission or need to pull off station and get that Sailor out of here,” said Chief Hospital Corpsman (SS/FMF/AW) Zac Camechis, a submarine IDC who recently completed a four-year tour onboard the fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota.

“Those are really big conversations that you’re responsible for having and there’s nobody to turn to — it’s just you!”

The chance for this kind of duty and responsibility, along with the tight-knit camaraderie of submarine crews, appealed to Camechis when he picked this fork in the road of his career path. At nearly the 10-year mark in his Navy career, he’d spent most of this time with the Marines and longed to go to sea and be part of a Navy crew underway.

“The job is unique. You fill many roles; you wear a lot of different hats,” Camechis said. “As IDC on the boat, you pretty much have a hand in most of the things that happen on the boat and evolutions that are going on, you typically always have a piece of the puzzle.”

Setting these Sailors up for success starts with the recruiting process. Any Hospital Corpsman E-5 through E-7 can apply to be a submarine IDC. They must pass a submarine physical, be worldwide assignable, have documented superior performance, and be recommended by their triad and a current submarine IDC.

Then, there’s a year-long training pipeline to ensure they’ve got the basic knowledge necessary once they’re on board their boat.

“You get a year of training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute (NUMI) and then you report to your submarine and are expected to continue to hone your skills to perform in the most isolated areas around the world whenever your crew needs you,” McDevitt said.

Upon reporting to NUMI, she said, students start by attending Basic Enlisted Submarine School for eight weeks, where they will learn how to speak submarine language, get basic damage control skills and learn to navigate inside a boat.

The rest of NUMI prepares these fledgling IDCs for their shipboard responsibilities. Among the topics taught are radiation health, submarine medicine and submarine medical administration to name just a few. The course concludes with 12 weeks of clinical rotation split between Groton, CT. and Norfolk, VA.

E-5s who complete the course are automatically advanced to E-6. Those who succeed once on the job have advanced far in the Navy and beyond.

“Like all things related to advancement, it doesn’t necessarily matter what billet a Sailor is assigned to; it’s how well they perform and what they do when they are there,” McDevitt said.

“We’re typically go-getters and want healthy competition with our peers to help drive us, while the job scope, duties and responsibilities of an IDC typically speak to the precepts and career progression of what the advancement boards consider best and fully qualified for advancement.”

In a community of roughly 200 Sailors, McDevitt said, “the Navy says we should have 4 Sub IDC master chiefs. We have historically done so well that we currently have 18!”

Camechis agrees and he’s speaking from his own experience. He was an E-5 meritoriously advanced to E-6 when he graduated from IDC school. He said his first year on the Minnesota was like “drinking through a fire hose” as he worked to handle all the responsibilities his new job entailed.

Towards the end of his second year, he hit his stride, and he decided early to extend onboard for a fourth year.

“Without a shadow of a doubt. I know for a fact that the four years I spent on the boat are why I’m wearing [Chief’s anchors] now,” he said. “As I was doing the job, I didn’t just settle on making sure my job was good; I went above and beyond and qualified as a pilot and co-pilot to drive the boat.”

Stepping outside his traditional boundaries, he was not fulfilling his corpsman role on the boat but helping the team fill the watch bill.

He gives this example to each submarine IDC candidate he helps put in an application package.

“If you want to put on anchors, make sure you’re both efficient and good at your job,” Camechis said. Once you’ve mastered that, start pursuing other qualifications that show your support for the team – that’s what will set you apart from the other first classes on the boat and give you those good evals that directly correlate to putting on anchors.”

It’s not just inside the service where the bevy of skills submarine IDCs are valuable either, McDevitt said.

“The type of management skills that IDCs bring to the table are highly sought after in the civilian sector,” she said. “Just because we do not have a large department of Sailors assigned to us does not mean we don’t lead large groups of Sailors who are both senior and junior to us – we are responsible for every person on that boat.”

Retired IDCs have gone on from the Navy to manage clinics and become physician’s assistants.

“They’re out there running safety and radiation health programs for shipyards and managing programs within the Veterans Administration,’ McDevitt said. “The possibilities are endless solely based on the skills we attain along the way.”