Month: August 2022

Posted on

Security News: First Urology Commits to Changes and Pays to Resolve Justice Department Investigation into Allegations it Violated the ADA with a “Lifting Policy”

Source: United States Department of Justice News

First Urology Refused to Assist Patients with Mobility Disabilities in Transferring to Exam Tables and Diagnostic Equipment

Louisville, KY – First Urology, P.S.C., the largest provider of urologic care in the greater Louisville and Southern Indiana area, has agreed to pay $60,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide individuals with mobility disabilities equal access to its services and facilities.

The allegations involved First Urology’s “Lifting Policy,” which provided it would not assist patients in transferring to examination tables or other diagnostic equipment. First Urology’s policy denied patients full and equal access to the services it provided because it required certain patients with mobility disabilities to bring their own equipment, friends, family, or attendants to help facilitate their transfer, in order to be treated. If the patient did not bring equipment, friends, family, or attendants to help transfer them, First Urology denied that patient treatment. These allegations were raised by three patients who also filed a lawsuit against First Urology, styled Fust et. al, v. First Urology, Case No. 3:20-CV-562 (W.D. Ky.). 

“The ADA is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in everyday activities,” stated Michael A. Bennett, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.  “Everyday activities include medical services, and no patient should be denied health care as a result of a mobility disability.” 

Under the terms of the agreement, First Urology will ensure that accessible medical equipment and rooms are available to patients who need them. This may include use of an accessible exam table, Hoyer lift, gait belt, or transfer board, or rails and other stabilizing equipment. First Urology will also modify its policies and practices, train its staff on the ADA and the terms of the agreement, and will periodically submit reports about its compliance with the terms of the agreement. Of the $60,000 being paid by First Urology, $45,000 will be distributed to three patients who were denied treatment and $15,000 will be paid as a civil penalty to the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Jessica R. C. Malloy, investigated the matter.

For more information on the ADA, please call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov. ADA complaints may be filed online at http://www.ada.gov/complaint.

###

Posted on

Security News: Monmouth County Company Agrees to $7.6 Million Judgment for Violating False Claims Act; Owners and Related Company to Pay $375,000

Source: United States Department of Justice News

NEWARK, N.J. – A Monmouth County, New Jersey, company will pay $7.6 million under a consent judgement for its role in making false statements to obtain government contracts that were set aside for businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

As alleged in the government’s complaint:

VE Source LLC, based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey; the company’s owners, Sherman Barton and Christopher Neary; and a related entity, Vertical Source LLC, defrauded the federal government by falsely claiming that VE Source was eligible for government contracts that were set aside for companies owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. VE Source obtained contracts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), a component of the U.S. Department of Defense, totaling more than $16.5 million. By obtaining contracts for which they were ineligible, the government alleged that VE Source, Neary, and Barton undercut the express Congressional purpose in enacting laws intended to encourage the awards of federal contracts to businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.

In the resolution announced today, VE Source agreed to a consent judgment for $7.6 million in conjunction with its role in the scheme. The United States entered a separate settlement agreement with Neary, Barton, and Vertical Source, under which Neary will pay $120,000, Barton will pay $75,000, and Vertical Source will pay $180,000 to resolve claims made in a civil lawsuit filed by the United States under the False Claims Act.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General, New York Field Investigations Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Dattoria; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Bethanne M. Dinkins; and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office, under the direction Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty, with the investigation leading to this resolution.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David V. Simunovich and Mark C. Orlowski of the Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.

The lawsuit resolved through this agreement is captioned United States v. Neary et al., Civil Action No. 20-14167 (D.N.J.). The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Posted on

Security News: Guatemalan National Indicted for Assaulting a Border Patrol Agent

Source: United States Department of Justice News

TUCSON, Ariz. – Last week, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Jorge Oliverio Moran-Can, 42, of Guatemala, charging him with Assault on a Federal Officer Resulting in Bodily Injury.

The initial complaint issued last month, alleged that on July 3, 2022, a United States Border Patrol (USBP) agent responded to a remote location near New Field, Arizona. The agent was tracking a group of suspected undocumented noncitizens in a remote mountainous area when the agent spotted three people hiding near a ledge. When the agent approached them, two of the suspected undocumented noncitizens fled on foot. Moran-Can stayed and initially remained compliant, but when the agent reached out to handcuff him, Moran-Can rammed his shoulder into the agent’s torso causing them both to fall and tumble several yards down a rocky slope. Moran-Can continued to struggle but the agent was able to gain control and handcuff him. The agent sustained abrasions and bruising on his left knee and hip and was treated at a hospital.

A conviction for the crime of assault on a federal officer resulting in bodily injury carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and up to a $250,000 fine, or both. 

An indictment is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border Patrol conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah B. Houston, District of Arizona, Tucson, is handling the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:                   CR-22-01661-SHR-LCK
RELEASE NUMBER:           2022-127_ Moran-Can

Posted on

Security News: Norwich Man Sentenced to 5 Years for Distributing Drugs and Possessing Gun on Supervised Release

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that ANTOINE WALKER, 42, of Norwich, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for drug and firearm offenses, and for violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior federal conviction.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2020, Norwich Police conducting a drug trafficking investigation made two controlled purchases of crack from Walker.  On June 10, 2020, investigators conducted a court-authorized search of Walker’s home and, in the garage, found approximately 114 grams of heroin, nearly two pounds of marijuana, items used to process and package drugs for street sale, and a loaded .38 Special Smith and Wesson revolver.  A search of the residence revealed approximately 15 grams of crack cocaine together with a digital scale.  Walker was arrested on state charges at that time.  He was arrested on federal charges on June 12, 2020.

Walker was on federal supervised release at the time of the offense.  In 2013, Walker was sentenced in the Southern District of New York to 80 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for armed robbery and bank robbery offenses.

Walker has been detained since June 12, 2020.  On May 9, 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine base (“crack”) and marijuana, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Norwich Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret M. Donovan.

Posted on

Security News: New York man whose behavior caused flight to be diverted to St. Louis sentenced to 40 days in jail, $8,000 in restitution

Source: United States Department of Justice News

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Tuesday sentenced a New York man to 40 days in jail for causing a Las Vegas-bound American Airlines flight to be diverted to St. Louis in 2020 and ordered him to pay $8,000 to the airline.

James Patrick Maloney Jr., 37, of Honeoye, in upstate New York, pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of interference with crew members by assault.

The incident on the Sept. 12, 2020 flight from Charlotte to Las Vegas began when a flight attendant spotted Maloney with his mask off, drinking a beer he had not purchased on the plane. Maloney admitted in his plea that he responded to the attendant’s request to put on his mask with expletives and racial epithets. When the flight crew handed the defendant a final written warning, he told them that he would crumple up their warning and throw it their face.

After Maloney returned from a trip to the bathroom, he became very agitated when he did not see his girlfriend, got into an argument with a flight attendant and then lunged at and attempted to strike a flight attendant, his plea says. Maloney’s girlfriend grabbed him before he touched the flight attendant, however.

The plane was then diverted to St. Louis, where Maloney was arrested. Maloney yelled and cursed at airport police when they put him into their car in handcuffs to take him to the station, Maloney’s plea says.

In addition to the jail time, Judge Ross banned Maloney from using alcohol, ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service and ordered him to undergo substance abuse testing and treatment and mental health counseling.

The $8,000 in restitution represents some of the costs and fees the airline incurred due to the delay caused by Maloney’s behavior.

In court Tuesday, Judge Ross called Maloney’s behavior “outrageous” and said passengers could not have known whether his conduct would escalate to endanger their lives. “The terror that people had to feel – it’s inexcusable,” he said.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Lambert Airport Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang prosecuted the case.