GCIS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING: Latest news from the Department of Justice

7/29/2010 03:43:00 PM

Items in the news:

ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center

SOURCE: DOJ Office of Public Affairs

29July2010 12:43pmPDT

GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE:

Former St. Louis, Missouri, Area Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violations

WASHINGTON � The Justice Department announced today that Leon Pullen, 32, of Foley, Mo., pleaded guilty to civil rights violations stemming from several incidents where he sexually assaulted and stole money from women. Pullen was a police officer employed by the Uplands Park Police Department in suburban St. Louis.

According to court documents, on July 15, 2009, Officer Pullen responded to an advertisement placed on the Internet by a woman who posted her picture and contact information as a prostitute.� Pullen contacted the woman via cell phone and identified himself as �Jimmy,� and without identifying himself as a police officer, arranged to meet her at a specific location in Uplands Park. He agreed to pay $400 for sexual acts, and also asked her to bring a friend. When they arrived, a police vehicle pulled behind her car.� Pullen, who was on duty and dressed in full uniform, including a badge and sidearm, approached her, showed her the ad she had posted on the Internet, and demanded to know how much money she had with her. Pullen made her follow him to the police station, where he sexually assaulted her.

In February or March of 2009, Pullen answered another ad from a different woman and arranged to meet her at a hotel room that she had rented in St. Louis. When he arrived, he was wearing a blue jacket over a gray golf shirt that had a police badge embroidered onto the front with the words �Detective Pullen.� Once inside, he identified himself as a police officer and told her that she was under arrest. He displayed his firearm and handcuffs. After he sexually assaulted her, he took $100 in cash and her laptop computer. The victim told the FBI later that she was initially afraid to report the assault when it happened because Pullen identified himself as a police officer.

Pullen sexually assaulted two more women using the same tactics in May and June 2009.

Following his arrest on Sept. 20, 2009, Pullen gave a voluntary statement to the FBI. First, he told the agents that he had never taken money from the victims, and denied to the FBI that he had ever engaged in sexual activity - consensual or otherwise - while on-duty.

�An officer�s badge entrusts him or her with a great deal of power. Officers who abuse that power, as was done in this case, must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,� said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

Pullen pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to deprive individuals of their rights under color of law, four felony counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, one felony count of conspiracy to commit interference with commerce by color of right, one felony count of interference with commerce by color of right, one felony count of tampering with a witness and one felony count of making false statements.�

These charges carry penalty ranges of five years to life in prison. Sentencing has been set for Oct. 15, 2010, before Judge Rodney W. Sippel.

This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Marcus and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Eric Gibson.

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Court Awards Back Pay to Returning Veteran and Injunctive Relief Against Alabama Department of Mental Health

WASHINGTON � A U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Ala., granted judgment in favor of the United States yesterday in a lawsuit brought to enforce the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) against the Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH).

After a trial in June, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark E. Fuller held that ADMH violated USERRA when it failed to promptly reemploy Roy Hamilton when he returned from active duty military service in Iraq. The court awarded Hamilton $23,350.77 in back pay and retirement contributions; $2,997.96 in annual and sick leave; and restoration of his continuous service date to his original hire date, July 13, 1987. The court also found that the United States is entitled to injunctive relief to ensure ADMH�s future compliance with USERRA. The injunctive relief includes amendments to ADMH�s policies and procedures and mandatory training for all ADMH managers and personnel officials.

USERRA was enacted in 1994 to protect service members from being disadvantaged in their civilian careers due to serving in the uniformed services. Subject to certain limitations, USERRA requires that individuals who leave their jobs to serve in the U. S. armed forces be timely reemployed by their civilian employers in the same or similar position that they would have held had they not left to serve in the military.

The complaint alleged that ADMH violated USERRA by failing or refusing to promptly reemploy Hamilton upon his return from military service. Hamilton was deployed to Iraq in July 2004. Upon his completion of active duty in April 2005, Hamilton received an honorable discharge and contacted ADMH to seek immediate reemployment. ADMH did not offer Hamilton reemployment, nor did ADMH contact Hamilton about reemployment. Hamilton was rehired as a new employee in August 2007.

�Members of our armed forces deserve the comfort of knowing that they will not be sacrificing their civilian careers when they make the choice to serve our nation in the military,� said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. �Mr. Hamilton will be made whole, and the Department of Justice will continue to seek relief on behalf of other servicemembers for violations of USERRA.�

The Department of Justice brought this case after a referral from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). DOL�s Veterans� Employment and Training Service investigated Mr. Hamilton�s compliant, found that it had merit, and attempted to resolve it before referring it for litigation by the Department of Justice.

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Founding Member of Abu Sayyaf Group Pleads Guilty to 1995 Hostage Taking Involving U.S. and Philippine Citizens

WASHINGTON � The Justice Department announced that Madhatta Haipe, a citizen of the Philippines and founding member of Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyyah, also known as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), pleaded guilty today in federal court in the District of Columbia to four counts of hostage taking in connection with the 1995 abduction of 16 people, including four U.S. citizens, in the Philippines. The guilty plea was announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and Charlene B. Thornton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Honolulu Field Office.

According to the factual proffer in support of the guilty plea, to which Haipe agreed in court, at the time of the hostage taking, Haipe was serving as the General Secretary of the ASG, or second-in-command of the organization, under the Amir. The Amir of the ASG had directed that members of the group engage in kidnappings for ransom in order to raise funds for the group and to raise the public�s awareness of the group�s purpose. The ASG was subsequently designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Secretary of State, and remains so designated today.

As admitted by Haipe as part of his guilty plea, on Dec. 27, 1995, several armed members of the ASG kidnapped 16 individuals, including four U.S. citizens, one U.S. permanent resident alien, and 11 Philippine citizens, in the rugged area around Trankini Falls, near Lake Sebu, in southern Mindanao, in the Philippines. The hostages, including six children, were forced to march up a mountainside. Some of the adult hostages had rope tied around their hands or neck.

Haipe informed the hostages that they were being kidnapped for ransom, and he individually questioned some of the hostages to determine the amount of ransom to be demanded. Later that same day, Haipe decided to release four of the 16 hostages to allow them to collect a ransom totaling at least one million Filipino pesos (equivalent to about $38,000 U.S. dollars, at the time). Haipe threatened that if the released hostages told anyone about the kidnapping, then hostages would be killed.

After releasing the four hostages, Haipe and his group forced the remaining hostages to continue marching up the mountainside to evade capture by the Philippine authorities. Four days later, on December 31, 1995, Haipe and his group released the remaining hostages after a ransom was paid.

"For roughly 15 years, FBI agents, Justice Department prosecutors and authorities in the Philippines relentlessly pursued this matter on behalf of the victims, who were held hostage and threatened with death by this Abu Sayyaf leader. With today�s guilty plea, Mr. Haipe is finally being held accountable for his actions," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

"Today�s guilty plea sends a clear message -- we will never tire in our pursuit of justice for those who seek to harm American citizens, whether at home or abroad," said Ronald C. Machen Jr., United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.� "Today�s guilty plea demonstrates that there will be serious consequences for those who commit such crimes."

"The FBI Honolulu Division has investigated this matter in close coordination with the Philippine authorities for approximately 15 years," said Charlene Thornton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Honolulu. "Through this international cooperation, despite the time and distance, we have managed to bring to justice a defendant who had sought to harm our U.S. citizens abroad."

Haipe, who is now 48 years old, was indicted for this crime by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. in November 2000. In August 2009, he was extradited from the Philippines to face the charges against him. He is now scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Richard Roberts on Dec. 14, 2010. He faces up to life in prison on each of the four counts to which he pleaded guilty. As part of the plea agreement, the government may advocate for a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

The Department of Justice and the FBI, working with their partners in the Philippines, have vigorously pursued this case for years. The investigation was conducted by FBI Honolulu Field Office, with substantial assistance from the Philippines Department of Justice, the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. The Criminal Division�s Office of International Affairs and, in particular, Robert Courtney, the U.S. Justice Department�s Attach� to the Philippines, also provided substantial assistance in this case.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregg Maisel and Anthony Asuncion of the U.S. Attorney�s Office for the District of Columbia, as well as Trial Attorney T. J. Reardon, III, of the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department�s National Security Division.

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Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Defrauding the U.S. Department of Defense of More Than $450,000

WASHINGTON - A Virginia man pleaded guilty today to one count of mail fraud for his participation in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia.�

Jonathan Feeney, 28, of Woodbridge, Va., waived his right to an indictment and pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia before U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema. The information charges Feeney with using the U.S. mails to execute a scheme involving fraudulent invoices to defraud the U. S. Department of Defense.

According to court documents, BAE Systems Training Services Inc. (BAE) maintained a procurement contract with the Defense Department during 2005 and 2006. Under the terms of the contract, BAE would purchase surveillance equipment and subsequently bill the U.S. government for those purchases. According to court documents, Feeney worked as a logistics engineer at BAE and was responsible for purchasing the items needed under the contract.

According to court documents, Feeney started making secret purchases in BAE�s name beginning in August 2005. He admitted that he used his position to authorize the purchase of camera lenses and video equipment, intending to keep the equipment for his personal use but to bill BAE for the purchases. This would in turn cause BAE to use the mail to bill those purchases to the United States. Between Aug. 6, 2005, and June 30, 2006, Feeney admitted he made 15 illicit purchases, totaling $476,424 in fraudulent charges, of which $464,819 was billed to the U.S. government. According to court documents, Feeney subsequently sold many of the purchases on an Internet auction site for profit.

The mail fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, as well as three years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 18, 2010, at 2:00 p.m.

The case is being prosecuted by Fraud Section Trial Attorney Liam Brennan and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve A. Linick, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division�s Fraud Section. The investigation is being conducted by Defense Criminal Investigative Service and members of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force.

Today�s charges are an example of the Department of Justice�s commitment to protect U.S. taxpayers from procurement fraud through the National Procurement Fraud Task Force. The National Procurement Fraud Initiative, announced in October 2006, is designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs.

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Third Chi Mei Executive Agrees to Plead Guilty and Serve Jail Time for Participating in Global LCD Price-Fixing Conspiracy

WASHINGTON � A former executive from Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corporation (Chi Mei) has agreed to plead guilty and to serve jail in the United States for participating in a global conspiracy to fix the price of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, the Department of Justice announced today.

According to a one-count felony charge filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Wen-Hung �Amigo� Huang conspired with others to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices of TFT-LCD panels. Huang, a resident of Taiwan and the former director of sales of Chi Mei, participated in the conspiracy from on or about Sept. 14, 2001, to on or about Dec.1, 2006.

Under his plea agreement which is subject to court approval, Huang, who was charged today, has agreed to serve 9 months in jail, to pay a $25,000 criminal fine and to assist the department in its ongoing TFT-LCD investigation.

TFT-LCD panels are used in computer monitors and notebooks, televisions, mobile phones and other electronic devices. By the end of the conspiracy period, the worldwide market for TFT-LCD panels was valued at $70 billion. Companies directly affected by the LCD price-fixing conspiracy are some of the largest computer and television manufacturers in the world, including Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard.

The department charged that Huang participated in a conspiracy in which the participants met and agreed to charge prices of TFT-LCD panels at predetermined levels. The participants in that conspiracy also issued price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached and exchanged information on the sales of TFT-LCD panels for the purpose of monitoring adherence to the agreed-upon prices, the department said.

As a result of this investigation, more than $890 million in criminal fines have been obtained to date.� Including today�s filing, 18 executives and eight companies have been charged in the department�s ongoing investigation into price fixing in the LCD industry.

Huang is charged with violating the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

Today�s charge is the result of a joint investigation by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division�s San Francisco Field Office and the FBI in San Francisco.

Anyone with information concerning illegal conduct in the TFT-LCD industry is urged to call the Antitrust Division�s San Francisco Field Office at 415-436-6660 or visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm .

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Former Army Contractor Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter and Assault After Collision in Kuwait Kills One Sailor and Seriously Injures Another

WASHINGTON � A former U.S. Army contractor was arrested today in Newport News, Va., for allegedly killing one sailor and seriously injuring another in a vehicular collision in Kuwait, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia and Brigadier General Colleen McGuire, Provost General of the Army and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.

Morgan Hanks, 25, of Newport News, was arrested on charges contained in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury on July 13, 2010, and unsealed today in the Eastern District of Virginia. The indictment charges Hanks with one count of involuntary manslaughter for the death of Brian Patton, and one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury for injuring David Morgan.

According to the indictment, in November 2009, Hanks was employed in Kuwait as a canine handler by Combat Support Associates and Combat Support Associates Ltd. (CSA). CSA provided site security and force protection at U.S. Army bases in Kuwait. The indictment alleges that on approximately Nov. 19, 2009, Hanks was operating a motor vehicle in excess of the posted speed limit on Alternate Supply Route Aspen in Kuwait. The indictment alleges that Hanks attempted to pass an eight-vehicle convoy on the two-lane road while traveling uphill and caused a collision with another vehicle in which Patton and Morgan were traveling. The collision killed Patton and left Morgan with a serious brain injury and multiple fractures.

Hanks is charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), a statute that gives U.S. courts jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside the United States by, among others, contractors or subcontractors of the Department of Defense. If convicted, Hanks faces up to 10 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Army�s Criminal Investigative Division and is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorneys Micah D. Pharris and Steven C. Parker of the Criminal Division�s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Hurt for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The Criminal Division announced the formation of HRSP on March 30, 2010.� The new section represents a merger of the Criminal Division�s Domestic Security Section (DSS) and the Office of Special Investigations (OSI).

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

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Former CEO of the Morgan Crucible Co. Found Guilty of Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

WASHINGTON � A federal jury in Philadelphia today convicted Ian P. Norris, the former CEO of The Morgan Crucible Company plc, a United Kingdom corporation, of conspiring with others to obstruct justice, the Department of Justice announced.

In 2004, a federal grand jury indicted Norris, a citizen of the United Kingdom, on one count of fixing prices of carbon brushes and other carbon products, one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, and two counts of obstructing justice in connection with the Department of Justice�s antitrust investigation of price fixing in the carbon products industry. Norris was extradited to the United States in March 2010 on the three obstruction charges. The jury returned a guilty verdict today on the conspiracy to obstruct justice count and not guilty verdicts on the witness tampering count and the count of corruptly persuading others to destroy or conceal documents. Sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 2, 2010.

The department said that Norris conspired with his subordinates to obstruct the grand jury�s investigation. Morgan Crucible employees conspired with Norris to create a false script that employees of both Morgan Crucible and a competitor were to follow when questioned in the investigation. Also, a document destruction task force was formed to collect and destroy or conceal documents from the grand jury, the department said.

"The Antitrust Division uncovered this elaborate and egregious obstruction of justice scheme," said Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice�s Antitrust Division. "Today�s verdict holds Norris accountable for his actions and sends a message that corporate leaders must promote a culture of law abiding conduct within their companies or be prepared to face stiff prison sentences. The Antitrust Division will remain vigilant in protecting the integrity of its criminal investigations from obstruction in order to effectively carry out its mandate to protect American businesses and consumers from price-fixing cartels."

Carbon products are used to transfer electrical current in automobiles, trains, public transit vehicles and consumer products and are used in pumps and compressors to contain liquids and gases.

Including today�s conviction, more than $11 million in criminal fines have been obtained and four executives and two companies have pleaded guilty or have been convicted as a result of the department�s antitrust investigation of price fixing in the carbon products industry.

The Morgan Crucible Company plc, based in Windsor, England, pleaded guilty in 2002 to one count of tampering with witnesses and one count of document destruction. The company paid a $1 million criminal fine.

A former subsidiary of the company, Morganite Inc., which was based in Dunn, N.C., pleaded guilty in 2002 to fixing prices of carbon brushes and other carbon products and paid a $10 million fine.

In addition, three subordinates of Norris previously pleaded guilty to obstruction charges. Jacobus Johan Anton Kroef, the former Chairman of the Industrial and Traction Division of The Morgan Crucible Company plc, pleaded guilty in 2003 to witness tampering. Robin D. Emerson, former pricing coordinator at Morganite Electrical Carbon Ltd. of Swansea, U.K., pleaded guilty in 2003 to corruptly persuading another person to destroy or conceal documents in connection with the investigation. F. Scott Brown, the former Global President and a member of the Board of Directors of Morgan Advanced Materials and Technology Inc. (MAMAT), now headquartered in Greenville, S.C., pleaded guilty in 2003 to aiding and abetting document destruction in connection with the investigation. Morganite Electrical Carbon Ltd. and MAMAT are subsidiaries of The Morgan Crucible Company plc.

The conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Trial attorneys Lucy McClain, Richard Rosenberg, and Kimberly Justice of the Antitrust Division�s Philadelphia Field Office prosecuted the case.