El Paso Attorney - Raymond Telles - Guilty of Fraud!

Some things in life are obvious - one such thing is don’t bribe elected officials. Apparently Mr. Telles was absent from class in law school the day that was taught. On March 14, 2008 Raymond Telles, age 51, former city representative and unsuccessful mayoral candidate plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and deprivation of honest services - all of the above is basically - bribery.

Telles admitted to conspiring with others to devise a scheme to defraud the Socorro Independent School District (SISD) and the citizens of El Paso living in the SISD of the right to honest services of elected SISD Trustees in the affairs of the SISD. It further alleges that the defendant attempted to bribe the elected Trustees of SISD, in exchange
for their support and vote in their official capacity as SISD Trustees, in violation of their fiduciary duty as elected SISD Trustees, for agreements between SISD and vendors seeking business with the SISD.

Telles also admitted to conspiring with others to devise a scheme to defraud the County of El Paso and the citizens of the County of El Paso of the right to the honest services of elected members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court, in the affairs of El Paso County by also attempting to bribe members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court for their support and vote in their official capacity as members of the El Paso County Commissioner’s Court.

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is - no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Telles might have thought that he could unrightly influence outcomes, there is one fact. You do reap what you sow.

White Collar Crime Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - signing off…

Child Porn - The Internet - A Sheriff’s Deputy and PRISON!

Most people might look at the title and assume the Sherriff’s Deputy was the one who saved the day. WRONG! He was the one guilty. As I’ve said before, Child Pornographers come from all walks of life.

MICHAEL PAUL KENNEDY, 32, pleaded guilty to transporting or shipping child pornography, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography on October 3, 2007. On March 12, 2008, KENNEDY was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison for his choices.

On October 7, 2006, law enforcement officers acting on information received from a federal investigation into on-line child pornography sites, interviewed KENNEDY in Nacogdoches and subsequently took possession of his personal computer. The computer was found to contain over a thousand images of child pornography. At the time of the investigation, KENNEDY was employed as a Lieutenant with the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office. He is no longer employed with the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office.

In February 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. The playground is dramatically different today than when most parents today were reared.

“He (Kennedy) stood up and took responsibility for his actions and apologized to his friends, family and his community,” Heath said. “It’s an unfortunate and tragic thing, and he has recognized that there are absolutely victims even if all you are doing is viewing a picture.

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and teen ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is - no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Kennedy avoided the consequences for a time - they are not avoided forever. You do reap what you sow.

White Collar Crime Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - signing off…

Former Healthcare CEO - Angela Edwards - Sentenced to Prison for Health Care Fraud!

To some it is easy to cheat the government. Years ago I taught courses on proper coding of medicare and medicaid billing. The courses were successful, but often, I would get people following the course to tell me an “inside” tip about how to circumvent the system in order to maximize the return - fraudulent coding in effect. My response - You’ll go to jail for that.

The former Chief Executive Officer of Oasis Medical Clinic in Plainview, Texas, Angela Michelle Edwards, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for health care fraud. Edwards admitted that from January 2002 through August 2005, she caused “up-coded” and improperly coded claims and diagnosis codes to be submitted to Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies in order to receive higher payments than those authorized by the payors. Even though she knew that only clinicians were authorized to make diagnoses and determine the level of a patient visit for payment purposes, Edwards personally changed bills submitted by the clinicians and taught her billing staff to routinely change bills by submitting claims for visits that were marked at higher levels than the ones indicated by the clinician and by adding patient diagnoses and procedures to the claims before they were submitted to the payors.

According to the US Attorney’s news release: Edwards admitted that she is personally responsible for the restitution in this case because: she caused Oasis to be overpaid; she caused poor banking and accounting records to be kept; she unlawfully took money f rom Oasis’ accounts for personal expenses during her tenure as CEO; and Oasis is now in bankruptcy. As a result of her actions, health care payors, including Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and commercial insurance companies, paid Oasis $370,657 for fraudulent billings.

Not only did this fraud cost Edwards her freedom, but she also lost her license as a nurse since she was a convicted felon.

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is - no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While Edwards avoided the consequences for a time - they are not avoided forever. You do reap what you sow.

Perhaps Edwards will find her time in prison reflective so that she can use her talents in a productive way to help others upon her release.  Every choice has a consequence and good choices can yield positive results - even for convicted felons!

White Collar Crime Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - signing off…

Carl Riley, Jr. and Paul Emile Ntahonkiriye Sentenced - PRISON - False Income Tax Return Scheme!

Preparing false tax returns is a crime - subject to prison. The principles of PNT Tax Service have just found that out - as now all three involved have been sentenced to time in federal prison.

From October 2004 through April 2005, Paul Emile Ntahonkiriye began operating an income tax return preparation business in Abilene, Texas, by the name of PNT Tax Service (PNT). Beginning in January 2005, Mandengu, Ntahonkiriye and Riley began preparing tax returns through PNT. For the 2005 tax filing season, PNT prepared approximately 100 income tax returns. Approximately 57 of those returns were fraudulent and claimed false income tax refunds.

In preparing the fraudulent returns, Mandengu, Ntahonkiriye, and Riley would tell their clients that in order to get a larger refund, one or two false dependents could be listed on the return as either a nephew or niece, and in some instances the wages earned were increased to increase the earned income tax credit. Using fraudulent dependents and inflated wages created a fraudulent income tax refund to which each of the co-defendants knew that the client was not entitled. Ntahonkiriye would add the names of the false dependants from a list he obtained from Burundi.

Mandengu, Riley, and Ntahonkiriye would not have the clients sign any documents and often would not furnish them with copies of the return or any documents or forms he used in the preparation and filing of theft tax return. Mandengu, Riley, and Ntahonkiriye would prepare the returns and then Ntahonkiriye would electronically file the client’s return with the Internal Revenue Service. The preparation fee for each return varied from approximately $20 to more than $900 and was electronically deposited by HSBC Taxpayer Financial Services, located at New Castle, Delaware, into Mandengu’s savings account at the First Financial Bank, in Abilene, Texas. When the refund was received, an additional fee was requested from some of the clients; often clients did not know about the first fee being deducted.

The total amount of the fraudulent income tax refunds claimed by Mandengu, Ntahonkiriye, and Riley on the false returns was $100,725.

Martin Fungai Mandegu was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison. On Friday March 14, 2008 - Carl Riley, Jr. was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison and Paul Ntahonkiriye was sentenced to 18 months. In addition the the prison sentences - all were ordered to make complete restitution of $100,725.

Rick Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation for the Dallas Field Office, said, “While most return preparers provide excellent service to their clients, a few unscrupulous tax preparers file false and fraudulent returns to defraud the government, the tax paying public and their own clients. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation always strives to ensure that attorneys, accountants and other tax practitioners adhere to professional standards and follow the law.”

Every choice has a consequence. As a white collar crime and business ethics speaker, I speak from first hand experience about the truth about consequences. Reality is - no one escapes the consequences of their choices. While the these three avoided the “tax man” for a time - they did not avoid the consequences. You do reap what you sow.

White Collar Crime Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - signing off…

SWATTER - Guadalupe Santana Martinez Swatted into Federal Prison - Doubt He’ll Find That Fun!

SWATTER? Just what I was wondering as I heard the news report while driving. Then the point became clear - a “swatter” is a person who makes a false emergency report to police to cause a SWAT team to be some of the first responders.

Guadalupe Santana Martinez and others made phone calls to 911 while spoofing the caller I.D. of someone for the purpose of harassment, intimidation or extortion. “Spoofing” refers to the modification of caller I.D. information to conceal the true identity of a caller. Calls to 911 were made with spoofed caller I.D. information by using commercial spoof cards and other means to convince first responders that the emergency call was really coming from the victim’s residence.

Other members of the conspiracy have pled guilty to their roles. In June 2007, four coconspirators of Martinez were indicted in a separate case. The lead defendant in that case, Stuart Rosoff, a/k/a “Michael Knight,” of Cleveland, Ohio, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to use access devices to modify telecommunications instruments and to access protected telecommunications computers. Rosoff’s co-defendants, Jason Trowbridge, a/k/a “Jason from California” and “John from California,” and Angela Roberson, a/k/a “Amber” and “Lil Miss Angela,” were arrested in June in Houston, Texas. Co-defendant Chad Ward, a/k/a “Dark Angel,” was also arrested in June, in Syracuse, New York.

On October 1, 2006, Martinez called the 911 non-emergency services telephone number of the Fort Worth, Texas, Police Department and identified himself as he did on June 12, 2006, when he called the Alvarado, Texas, Police Department. He stated that he had shot and killed members of the family, that he was holding hostages, that he was using hallucinogenic drugs, and that he was armed. Martinez told the dispatcher that he would kill the remaining hostages if his demands were not met. Martinez placed the call using a combination of a VoIP phone and a spoof card to conceal his true identity and make it appear as if the 911 calls were true emergency call placed from the family’s residence.

According to documents filed in the cases, as a result of the swatting telephone calls, at least two victims received injuries. Rosoff admitted knowing that injuries were received by an infirm, elderly male who resided in New Port Richey, Florida, and a male who lived in Syracuse, New York, and that as a result of the swatting activities resulting in a SWAT response, i.e., road closings, etc., normal municipal activities were disrupted in Yonkers, New York, Snohomish County, Washington, and other locations due to the false emergency calls.

So for the “fun” of SWATTING Martinez will spend 30 months in federal prison. And, he was the first to be sentenced for this crime.

Doubt he’ll find that fun. He’ll get up at 6:00 a.m. each day - eat when told to - then go to work - cleaning toilets, etc. for 12 cents per hour. He will be a nobody when he enters and unless he finds prison a place to go within and learn, he will leave a nobody.

How do I know this - not proud to say - but I’ve been there. Prison was the lowest point of my life. Yet, it was one of the best experiences I have had in that it helped me go within and found out what it means to be somebody. Today, I speak to groups - especially young people about choices and consequences. Perhaps, Martinez will learn more about himself and leave his prison confines a person who will use his skills to better others. Perhaps!