Month: April 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

OKLAHOMA CITY – Yesterday, a criminal complaint was unsealed that charges OSCAR REYNALDO GOMEZ, 54, of Oklahoma City, with arson of the God of No Limits Church located at 7200 South Walker Avenue, in Oklahoma City, announced United States Attorney Robert J. Troester.

Public records reflect that on April 23, 2023, Gomez was charged by criminal complaint with one count of arson.  An affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges that the Oklahoma City Fire Department was dispatched to the God of No Limits (GONL) Church in the early morning hours of April 17, 2023.  Fire crews arrived and observed fire emanating from the GONL, which caused significant damage to its roof.

According to the affidavit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) identified Gomez as the person responsible for setting the fire and thereafter arrested him.

Yesterday, Gomez had his initial appearance on the complaint in federal court.  The court ordered Gomez detained pending further proceedings in the case.  If found guilty of arson, Gomez faces not less than five years and up to twenty years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

This case is the result of an investigation by the National Response Team for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Oklahoma City Fire Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley J. West is prosecuting the case.

The public is reminded that these charges are merely allegations, and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  

Reference is made to public records for more information.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly pledged today to uphold America’s commitment to the core principles of fairness, equality and justice as emerging automated systems, including those sometimes marketed as “artificial intelligence” or “AI,” become increasingly common in our daily lives – impacting civil rights, fair competition, consumer protection and equal opportunity.

“As social media platforms, banks, landlords, employers and other businesses that choose to rely on artificial intelligence, algorithms and other data tools to automate decision-making and to conduct business, we stand ready to hold accountable those entities that fail to address the discriminatory outcomes that too often result,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This is an all hands on deck moment and the Justice Department will continue to work with our government partners to investigate, challenge and combat discrimination based on automated systems.”

“Technology marketed as AI has spread to every corner of the economy, and regulators need to stay ahead of its growth to prevent discriminatory outcomes that threaten families’ financial stability,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Today’s joint statement makes it clear that the CFPB will work with its partner enforcement agencies to root out discrimination caused by any tool or system that enables unlawful decision making.”

“We have come together to make clear that the use of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, must be consistent with federal laws,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “America’s workplace civil rights laws reflect our most cherished values of justice, fairness and opportunity, and the EEOC has a solemn responsibility to vigorously enforce them in this new context. We will continue to raise awareness on this topic; to help educate employers, vendors and workers; and where necessary, to use our enforcement authorities to ensure AI does not become a high-tech pathway to discrimination.”

“We already see how AI tools can turbocharge fraud and automate discrimination, and we won’t hesitate to use the full scope of our legal authorities to protect Americans from these threats,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “Technological advances can deliver critical innovation – but claims of innovation must not be cover for lawbreaking. There is no AI exemption to the laws on the books, and the FTC will vigorously enforce the law to combat unfair or deceptive practices or unfair methods of competition.”

In the statement, the agencies reaffirmed that their existing legal authorities apply equally to the use of new technologies as they do to any other conduct. The joint statement summarizes recent accomplishments, including policy guidance and enforcement actions, the agencies have taken to combat illegal behavior committed through the use of automated systems. The joint statement also explains common problems related to automated systems, including when those systems rely on data and datasets which incorporate historical bias, that many automated systems are “black boxes” whose internal workings are not clear to most people and that the design of automated systems may not fully contemplate their ultimate use. 

Additional information about the Civil Rights Division’s work to uphold and protect civil and constitutional rights is available online at justice.gov/crt. Complaints about discriminatory practices may be reported to the Civil Rights Division through its internet reporting portal at civilrights.justice.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Crystal R. Mathis, the former president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812, was sentenced to 12 months, suspended, and three years of probation for embezzling funds from the union.  The sentence was announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Mark Wheeler, Director of the Washington District Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards.

            Mathis, 51, of Cheverly, Maryland, pleaded guilty in February 2023, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to one count of first-degree theft. She was sentenced by the Honorable Errol R. Arthur, who also ordered her to pay more than $10,000 in restitution to the union and ordered three years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, Mathis used her position as president of a local union of federal employees of the U.S Agency for Global Media to improperly access the union’s bank account between December 17, 2019, and June 21, 2021. During that period, Mathis made more than 35 separate unauthorized purchases, withdrawals or bill payments to fund personal vacations, dinners, and expenses.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and District Director Wheeler commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin D. Bleiberg and Brian P. Kelly, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

A former Colombian military intelligence official was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for his participation in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine for importation into the United States.

According to court documents, from August 2017 through April 2018, Fabian Humberto Tovar Caicedo, 41, a sergeant in the Colombian Army Intelligence, assisted a drug trafficking organization (DTO) and conspired to send multi-thousand-kilogram shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico for eventual importation into the United States. Tovar Caicedo offered various corrupt services to the DTO, including providing police in the Port of Santa Marta willing to facilitate the export of cocaine in exchange for payment, suggesting the use of the same phones that the DEA uses for security, offering his military training to encrypt those phones for additional security, and attempting to sell a list of DEA cooperators to the DTO.

Tovar Caicedo organized multiple meetings in furtherance of the cocaine distribution scheme. He and his co-conspirators plotted to send multiple shipments, starting at 1,000 kilograms of cocaine and moving up to as many as 10,000 kilograms of cocaine per shipment. According to the statement of facts, a member of the DTO traveled to Mexico to negotiate the receipt of the cocaine with a high-ranking Mexican military official.

One of Tovar Caicedo’s co-conspirators, Fabian Andres Leyton Vargas, used his position as a Colombian Air Force officer in the Colombian Ministry of Defense to identify and contact security and law enforcement officials in the Port of Santa Marta for bribes. Once these officials received their corrupt payments, they would ensure that cocaine-laden cargo containers passed uninspected through the port. Using this method, Leyton Vargas, along with co-conspirators Antonio Aldemar Avila Acevedo and Jose Mauricio Castaneda Garzon, attempted to ship 1,773 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Guatemala en route to the United States in July 2017, as well as 2,081 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico en route to the United States in March 2018. Colombian law enforcement seized both shipments before they could depart the port.

A related defendant, Jose Maria Fragoso D’Acunti, used his former position in the Colombian National Police, along with personal connections, to identify and bribe security and law enforcement officials in the port of Cartagena in Columbia to aid his organization’s cocaine trafficking. Fragoso D’Acunti and his co-conspirators planned to traffic multi-hundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine, valued at millions of United States dollars, to Europe by causing such cocaine to be secreted aboard commercial shipping containers. In November 2018, in the port of Savannah, Georgia, U.S. law enforcement seized 516 kilograms of cocaine sent by Fragoso D’Acunti’s DTO from Cartagena that were destined for Antwerp, Belgium. The cocaine was comingled with pineapples in a shipping container. In December 2018, again in the port of Savannah, Georgia, U.S. law enforcement seized an additional 205 kilograms of cocaine sent by Fragoso D’Acunti’s DTO from Cartagena, that were also destined for Belgium. The cocaine was comingled with limes in a shipping container. In support of the conspiracy, Fragoso D’Acunti paid 1 billion Colombian pesos, equivalent to more than $300,000 U.S., in bribe money to a port security officer.

Fragoso D’Acunti, Fabian Andres Leyton Vargas, and Antonio Aldemar Avila Acevedo were sentenced to 12 years in prison. Co-conspirator José Mauricio Castaneda Garzon was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.

The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) supported these cases. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, and multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Special Agent in Charge J. Todd Scott of the DEA Louisville Division made the announcement.

The DEA Louisville Division and Cartagena Resident Office investigated the case, with substantial assistance from the DEA’s Office of Special Intelligence’s Document and Media Exploitation Unit and Special Operations Division’s Bilateral Investigations Unit, as well as the DEA’s offices in Bogota, Panama, Guatemala City, San Jose (Costa Rica), Brussels, Mexico City, Madrid, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome, The Hague, Vienna, Hong Kong, Islamabad, Savannah, Detroit, Tampa – PANEX, and New Orleans. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Targeting Center also provided substantial assistance. The Colombian National Police, the Belgian Federal Police, the German Zolfahndungsamt, the National Police of the Netherlands, and the Italian Guardia di Finanza also provided critical support.

Trial Attorneys Douglas Meisel and Janet Turnbull of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony T. Aminoff for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.

NDDS Trial Attorneys Meisel and Teresita Mutton and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aminoff for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case against Fragoso D’Acunti.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aminoff (then with NDDS), Katie Rumbaugh, and Dave Peters for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case against Leyton Vargas, Avila Acevedo, and Castaneda Garzon.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Judicial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota provided substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of the defendants.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Memphis, TN – Five former Methodist Hospital Employees and Roderick Harvey, 41, of Memphis, have pled guilty to unlawfully disclosing patient information in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as “HIPAA.” United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz announced the guilty pleas today.

According to United States Attorney Ritz and the information presented in court, between November 2017 and December 2020, Harvey paid Kirby Dandridge, 38, Sylvia Taylor, 43, Kara Thompson, 31, Melanie Russell, 41, and Adrianna Taber, 26, to provide him with names and phone numbers of Methodist patients who had been involved in motor vehicle accidents. After obtaining the information, Harvey sold the information to third persons including personal injury attorneys and chiropractors.

HIPAA was enacted by Congress in 1996 to create national standards to protect sensitive patient information from being disclosed without a patient’s knowledge or consent. HIPAA’s provisions make it a crime to disclose patient information, or to obtain patient information with the intent to sell, transfer or use such information for personal gain.

On April 21, 2023, Harvey appeared before United States District Judge Thomas L. Parker and entered a guilty plea to conspiring with Dandridge, Taylor, Taber, Thompson, and Russell to violate HIPAA. Harvey faces a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release. Sentencing for Harvey is set for August 1, 2023.

Dandridge, Taylor, Taber, Thompson, and Russell previously entered guilty pleas to disclosing the information to Harvey in violation of HIPAA. Each of those violations carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment, a $50,000 fine, and one-year of supervised release.

Sentencing hearings for Dandridge, Taylor, Taber, Thompson, and Russell are scheduled before United States District Judge Thomas L. Parker as follows:

• Dandridge – April 25, 2023

• Taylor – May 17, 2023

• Taber – May 25, 2023

• Thompson – May 2, 2023

• Russell – June 21, 2023

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Carroll L. André III is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government.

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For more information, please contact Public Information Officer Cherri Green at (901) 544-4231 or cherri.green@usoj.gov. Follow @ WDTNNews on Twitter for office news and updates.