New York Paralegal Blog

HUNTSVILLE—A Rainbow City woman pleaded guilty today to health care fraud totaling more than $330,000 for illegal prescription reimbursements she received while working as a pharmacy technician at a discount department store in East Gadsden, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick Maley announced. CHARLOTTE TURLEY, 52, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. to four counts of health care fraud and agreed to forfeit at least $331,118 to the government as proceeds of illegal activity. A federal grand jury indicted TURLEY on the fraud charges in April.

BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Timothy Reed, age 45, of Beltsville, Maryland, today to 51 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for mail fraud arising from the fraudulent purchase of 25 properties in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia using false mortgage and settlement documents. Judge Motz also ordered that Reed pay $4,196,967 in restitution. The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Postal Inspector in Charge Daniel S. Cortez of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division; Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy and his Economic Crimes Unit; and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Irvine of the United States Secret Service - Washington Field Office.

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Five Arkansas residents were sentenced Friday for conspiring to harbor, transport and employ illegal aliens, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents. Leoncio Amador-Villanueva, 42, was sentenced 18 months in prison and Jose Amador-Villanueva, 39, both of Alma, Ark., was sentenced to 12 months; Juan Amador-Villanueva, 43, of Batesville, Ark., was sentenced to 15 months; and Luis Felipe Martinez, 32, of Lowell, Ark., was sentenced to 30 months. All four were also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following their release from prison. Kelle Stubbs-Amador, 32, of Alma, Ark., was sentenced to time already served and three years probation.

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that U-Haul and its parent company invited its main competitor to fix prices on truck rentals. The settlement order against U-Haul and its parent company AMERCO bars them from colluding or inviting collusion. The FTC vote approving the final order was 5-0. (FTC File No. 081-0157; the staff contact is Dana Abrahamson, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2906. See press release dated June 9, 2010 at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/06/uhaul.shtm.) Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP. MEDIA CONTACT: Office of Public Affairs 202-326-2180 (FYI 30.2010.wpd)

Construction Company Fired Black Employee Because He Complained About Racial Harassment, Federal Agency Charged BECKLEY, W.V. – A South Point, Ohio-based construction company condoned egregious racial harassment and illegally fired an employee who complained about the abusive treatment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it announced on 07/19/2010. The EEOC charges in its lawsuit that Mike Enyart & Sons, Inc. subjected Mareo R. Allen, who is African-American, to a hostile work environment based on his race, when he worked for the company on a sewer line installation project in White Sulphur Springs, W.V. Co-workers and a foreman repeatedly used racially offensive slurs and epithets to Allen and other black persons, including “n----r,” “black boy” “and colored boy,” the EEOC said in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of West Virginia, Civil Action No. 5:10-cv-0921. The EEOC alleges that the harassment also included...

Defendants Each Stole More Than $100,000 from Chase Bank; Impersonated & Stole Personal Information from at least 15 People Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced a 106-count indictment against NEFERTITI GARNETT and an 80-count indictment against ZOE WALMSLEY, on charges of Grand Larceny, Identity Theft, Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument , Scheme to Defraud, and Attempted Grand Larceny.[1] Each defendant is charged with stealing more than $100,000 from Chase Bank by impersonating victims using stolen personal identifying information and bank account numbers at various bank branches in New York State and New Jersey. GARNETT was arraigned on June 25, 2010, and WALMSLEY was arraigned on July 19, 2010. “For more than a year, the defendants brazenly used stolen personal information from unsuspecting victims to steal money from Chase Bank,” said District Attorney Vance. “Fortunately, an astute employee discovered the fraudulent transactions and prom...

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against the owner, management company and former manager of Summerhill Place Apartments, a 268-unit apartment complex in Renton, Wash., for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin and familial status in the rental of apartments. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Summerhill Place LLC (the owner of Summerhill Place Apartments), GRAN Inc. (the management company) and Rita Lovejoy (the former on site manager). The suit alleges, among other things, that the defendants steered Indian tenants away from one of the five buildings at Summerhill, treated tenants from India less favorably than other tenants, and discouraged African Americans, Hispanics and families with children from living at Summerhill.

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; GEORGE VENIZELOS, the Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"); and MARJORIE FRANZMAN, the Special Agent-in-Charge for the New York Region of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General ("DOL-OIG"), announced today that JOHN GREANEY, the former president and business manager of Local 608 of the Carpenters Union, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge HENRY B. PITMAN to all 13 counts against him. The superseding Indictment charged GREANEY and other officials within the District Council of New York City and Vicinity (the "District Council") of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (the "Carpenters Union") with engaging in a 15-year labor racketeering scheme involving the receipt of illegal payments from multiple contractors. GREANEY ...

UPDATE: NYPD SERGEANT PLEADS GUILTY TO PERJURY AND CONDUCTING UNLAWFUL SEARCHES Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today announced the indictments of Sergeant WILLIAM EISEMAN, 41, and Officer MICHAEL CARSEY, 29, of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) for lying under oath and falsifying paperwork to conceal their involvement in the unlawful searches and seizures in various incidents in Northern Manhattan. EISEMAN has been charged with Perjury, Offering a False Instrument for Filing, Tampering With Evidence, and Official Misconduct. CARSEY has been charged with Perjury, Offering a False Instrument for Filing, and Official Misconduct. [1] “Members of the New York City Police Department take an oath to protect and serve,” said District Attorney Vance. “We expect all of our partners in law enforcement to uphold that pledge to the highest standards of their profession, and the overwhelming majority of them do. However, these officers crossed the line and viola...

Three Trustees Abused Bartenders, Federal Agency Charged EAST ST. LOUIS , Ill. – Elks Lodge No. 954 in Jerseyville, Ill., will pay $107,500 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged that the lodge violated federal law by sexually harassing three female bartenders and then taking reprisals against them when they complained. In its lawsuit (Case No. 3:09-cv-00200), filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis, Illinois, the EEOC claims that Vicki Vickers, Elizabeth Stemm, and Jackie Davidson (formerly Jackie Atteberry at the time of her employment) were subjected to unlawful sexual harassment while working at Elks Lodge No. 954 by three members of the Elks’ board of trustees on numerous occasions in 2005 and 2006. The abuse included repeated unwelcome sexual advances and touching, and sexually explicit comments. The suit alleged tha...