Wednesday, January 01, 2020

Former Assistant United States Attorney Pleads Guilty To Federal Theft Charge. (USDOJ press release, Jackson Sun, Memphis Commercial Appeal)

The President of the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners pled guilty to fraud involving leave time.  She is married to one of my law school classmates, and was long the widely respected Assistant U.S. Attorney for financial crimes with the United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. The case is being heard by a federal judge from another federal district, and in a different federal courthouse than the one in which the defendant practiced.  See below.

In sharp contrast, last week, a St. Augustine, Florida Police Department communications supervisor, LAUREN BOLANTE, was charged with similar theft.

But our State's Attorney, RALPH JOSEPH LARIZZA, has not recused himself and his staff dismissed two of three charges.  Outrageous.   LARIZZA, who is running for re-election in 2020, refuses to adhere to the National District Attorneys Association National Prosecution Standards, refuses to distribute it to 82 attorneys in four counties, and refuses to engage me in a discussion, or even answer why?

Wonder why?

As Thomas Jefferson said, "A public office is a public trust."

People have low expectations of ethics here in Sr. Johns County, where the criminal injustice system is presided over by louche lackeys like State's Attorney RALPH JOSEPH LARIZZA and
Sheriff DAVID SHOAR, who legally changed his name from "HOAR" in 1994.

Their coverups, like the Michelle O'Connell and Eli Washtock homicides, are a national scandal reported in The New York Times and PBS Frontline, among other outlets.

We need the U.S. Attorney, FBI and Justice Department Public Integrity Division here. Now.

From the U.S. Department of Justice website:



U.S. Attorneys » Middle District of Tennessee » News
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Department of Justice
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Middle District of Tennessee
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 21, 2019

Former Assistant United States Attorney Pleads Guilty To Federal Theft Charge

JACKSON, Tenn. – November 21, 2019 – Barbara Zoccola, 58, of Memphis, Tennessee, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to a federal theft charge, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee.  Zoccola was charged in a criminal Information filed on October 9, 2019, which resulted from an investigation by the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General into Zoccola’s time and attendance records. 
Today, Zoccola entered into a plea agreement, in which she admitted to the conduct alleged in the single-count Information – that on October 25, 2018, she certified her time and attendance records for the pay period, falsely reporting that she had worked full 8-hour days on four specific days.  Zoccola failed to report nine hours of leave time that she had taken on the same days.  Zoccola also admitted that between June 2018 and June 2019, she submitted additional certifications in which she failed to report other leave time, which allowed her to accrue additional leave time that she was not entitled to.  Zoccola admitted that the value of the unreported leave time was between $6,500 and $15,000.
The plea agreement required Zoccola to resign her position as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and to pay $10,000 in restitution to the Department of Justice.  She also faces up to one year in prison when she is sentenced next year.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brent A. Hannafan and Chris Suedekum of the Middle District of Tennessee.  U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr., of the Middle District of Tennessee, sitting by special designation, conducted the proceedings in the Jackson Branch of the Western District of Tennessee. 
# # # # #




From the Jackson Sun and Memphis Commercial Appeal (GANNETT newspapers)


Former U.S. assistant attorney pleads guilty to stealing thousands from feds by falsifying time cards

, Jackson SunPublished 1:03 p.m. CT Nov. 21, 2019 | Updated 1:12 p.m. CT Nov. 21, 2019
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A former assistant U.S. attorney pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing more than $6,500 from the federal government by falsifying her time cards.
Barbara Zoccola, 58, of Memphis admitted she intentionally misreported her time at work on several occasions between June 12, 2018 and June 11, 2019. Her charges state Zoccola failed to report 9 hours of leave time she took on Oct. 16, 18, 23 and 25 of 2018, just one example of multiple falsified certifications.
The leave time she illegally accrued is valued between $6,500 and $15,000.
As part of her plea deal, Zoccola resigned from her position and will pay $10,000 in restitution. She faces up to one year in prison with up to one year of supervised release, and may be fined up to $100,000.
Lawn maintenance fraud: Former City of Memphis employee indicted in lawn maintenance fraud scheme
The Department of Justice filed charges against Zoccola in October after the Office of Inspector General investigated her time and attendance records. District Court Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. of the Middle District of Tennessee presided over the "unorthodox" hearing in Jackson Thursday due to Zoccola's connections to federal prosecutors in Memphis, he said.





Zoccola served as an assistant United States attorney for the Western District of Tennessee coordinating its financial litigation unit since 1991, according to her resume. She received an award for outstanding work in the unit in 2013. She is also a past president of the Memphis Bar Association and Memphis Bar Foundation.
She began her second three-year term as president of the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners on January 1, 2017. Her term was meant to end on Dec. 31, but a representative said Thursday that the board's current president is William Harbison, who formerly served as vice president under Zoccola. The representative could not confirm if or when Zoccola resigned her position.
Zoccola's involvement in the Tennessee legal community stretches back decades, including terms of service as president of the Association for Women Attorneys and the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women. She's received mutliple legal accolades over her career, which specialized in bankruptcy law. She is also known for her support of a Memphis Youth Court in the mid-1990s and her appearance as a proctor for the bar exam in the 1993 film, "The Firm." 
Zoccola appeared in court with casts covering both of her feet, extending up to her knees. She sat at the defense council's table for the duration of the hearing, with a yellow legal pad resting on the table in front of her. She kept her hands folded in her lap, and kept her answers to Campbell's questions short. 
Zoccola's attorney Leslie Ballin said she preferred to be sentenced in Jackson so she would not have to face her former colleagues in Memphis.

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"It goes without saying she is totally embarrassed by her conduct," Ballin told Campbell.
Ballin declined further comment.
Zoccola will return to Jackson to be sentenced on March 5 at 10:30 a.m.
Reach Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephens@jacksonsun.com or at (731) 694-7261. 



Updated November 21, 2019
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Dozens of California deputies lied about booking evidence they collected, 2nd audit shows (Sacramento Bee)








Dozens of California deputies lied about booking evidence they collected, 2nd audit shows

 

The department run by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes owned up to “systematic problems” with evidence handling, according to a statement released by the department this week. Barnes was undersheriff during the time a two-year internal audit took place.

The department run by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes owned up to “systematic problems” with evidence handling, according to a statement released by the department this week. Barnes was undersheriff during the time a two-year internal audit took place. CHRIS CARLSON AP
Orange County’s district attorney, blindsided this week by results of an internal audit that showed widespread mishandling of evidence by deputies, is demanding answers from the county’s sheriff after learning a separate audit showed dozens of other deputies lied about booking the evidence they collected, The Sacramento Bee has learned.
The result, Orange County DA Todd Spitzer said, his office’s lawyers may have filed and prosecuted dozens of criminal charges based on deputies’ reports that falsely stated evidence had been booked in the California county of 3.2 million residents.
“I appreciate your understanding that the conduct that you brought forward through your own investigative efforts, which I commend, has now created significant legal and constitutional obligations on my department,” Spitzer wrote at the end of a blistering letter to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes dated Nov. 21.

Friday’s revelations come days after the Orange County Register uncovered findings of a two-year audit of more than 98,000 reports that showed nearly 30 percent of all evidence collected by deputies was mishandled in violation of department policy; that nearly three-quarters of deputies filed evidence in six to 10 days instead of the end of a deputy’s shift per policy; and that some evidence was not booked for a month or longer. The audit, results of which were obtained by The Bee, spanned Feb. 1, 2016 to Feb. 1, 2018. 
Four deputies lost their jobs; seven others were disciplined and 17 criminal investigations were sent to Spitzer’s office in its wake, but no criminal charges were filed.
But Spitzer’s Nov. 21 letter revealed results of a “secondary audit” of 450 cases and another bombshell: No evidence was booked in nearly half of the 121 reports where deputies said they had collected and booked evidence. In 57 of the reports, deputies failed to book a piece of evidence that they stated they had collected. 
It was not known Saturday whether criminal charges would result from the secondary audit, as detailed in the letter.
Now Spitzer is demanding defendants’ names and case numbers, the dates criminal charges were filed; items of evidence that were not booked and how the cases were resolved. And, the letter indicates, he’s not willing to wait. Spitzer said his office will take information in segments to allow his office to notify defense counsel “as soon as possible.”
“In order to fulfill my legal and ethical obligations as District Attorney, I need to know which cases, if any, were filed by my office where (Orange County Sheriff’s Department) failed to book evidence after collecting it,” Spitzer wrote.
“My goal is to identify any and all cases handled by (Orange County District Attorney’s Office) where a defendant’s due process rights may have been negatively impacted by having evidence collected but not booked,” Spitzer wrote.
Orange County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun reached Friday evening said the department was immediately reserving comment on the letter, but said sheriff’s officials continue to work with DA officials regarding the audit’s findings. 
The newest development adds to rapidly growing tension in the branches of Orange County law enforcement and in Southern California courtrooms where Orange County Public Defender’s officials say potentially thousands of cases could be in play.
Orange County Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders obtained the audits and disclosed them in a Nov. 15 motion on behalf of Raymond Varelas.
Sanders alleged arresting Orange County deputies wrote false reports, hid evidence and trumped up charges against Valeras in July as payback because Varelas would not become their drug informant. 
The audits “revealed that deputies routinely violate this policy, often at an astounding level,” Sanders said in the motion. 
Varelas was arrested on drug charges in July by an Orange County deputy who told Varelas he’d forget about it if he agreed to buy narcotics as a drug informant, according to Orange Superior court records obtained by The Bee.
When Varelas declined, the deputy added a gang enhancement — a charge that could subject Varelas, a 59-year-old career criminal — to life in state prison. Sanders is asking for a Dec. 10 hearing on the motion in Orange Superior Court.
An angered Sanders on Friday said sheriff’s officials were apparently content to hide the audits from public view while Barnes was “applauding his department’s response to the problem” in a Monday news release after the Orange County Register had uncovered its findings of widespread abuse. 
“It now seems abundantly clear that had we not found out about this through an independent source the Sheriff’s Department would have forever hidden the fact that evidence was missing from cases and withheld from defendants,” Sanders told The Bee via email. 
“What makes this more abhorrent and deeply troubling is that after meeting with Mr. Spitzer, Sheriff Barnes issued a press release applauding his department’s response to the problem, while hiding entirely the fact there was a second audit with incredible implications for wrongful convictions,” Sanders said.
Barnes in the news release said his agency had taken “immediate measures” to educate personnel on evidence booking policy and procedure. He added the audits and the discipline that followed showed his department has “no patience for substandard performance or criminal behavior.”
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DARRELL SMITH
Darrell Smith covers courts and California news for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Marysville. A Sacramento Valley native, Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville.

 Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article237694064.html#storylink=cpy



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4 Orange County deputies fired after audit finds systemic abuses in booking evidence. Two-year audit finds 30% of evidence was filed late, some by more than a month. DA declines charges

Even affluent Orange County, California lacks procedural safeguards on criminal evidence, From the Orange County Register:


4 Orange County deputies fired after audit finds systemic abuses in booking evidence

Two-year audit finds 30% of evidence was filed late, some by more than a month. DA declines charges

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes addresses the OC Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 23, 2019.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
By  | tsaavedra@scng.com | Orange County Register
PUBLISHED:  | UPDATED: 
Four Orange County sheriff’s deputies have been fired after a two-year audit by the Sheriff’s Department found systemic abuses in the handling of evidence, the Southern California News Group has learned.
Fifteen deputies were criminally investigated in connection with the probe, but the District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges. Besides the four terminations, seven deputies were disciplined and four cases are pending. Sheriff’s officials offered no further information on the cases, citing a state police confidentiality law.
The explosive audit found that nearly one-third of the evidence collected from February 2016 to February 2018 was booked beyond the agency’s one-day policy. Some bookings were tardy by more than a month, creating questions about chain of custody. One official from the Public Defender’s Office said thousands of criminal cases could be affected.
The audit, obtained by the Southern California News Group, found that 30 percent of the evidence was booked late.






Sheriff’s spokesperson Carrie Braun said the department has improved the booking of evidence, which in most cases was kept by the deputies.
“The department (has taken) immediate measures to ensure personnel were educated on the policy and procedure for booking evidence. The department also developed procedures requiring supervisors to check that all property and evidence has been booked prior to approving any related reports,” Braun said.
District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he was not told of the wide-scale audit until Monday, although his office had been reviewing the individual cases.
Spitzer said defense attorneys were notified in the cases that came to his office. He also has asked the Sheriff’s Department for more information so he can determine if further discovery must be sent to other defense attorneys.
Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who for years has alleged that the Sheriff’s Department was withholding evidence from defense attorneys, criticized the agency for not releasing the results of the audit until contacted by the news group.

“Defendants had the right to know that this audit concluded that nearly all of the deputies in the field and jails during those two years kept … evidence in their cars, homes, desks or wherever else they wanted to store rather than booking it,” Sanders said. “God only knows how much evidence has been lost, mixed into other cases, kept, given to informants or concealed because it helped the defendant.”
Braun said the audit was initiated in January 2018 after the department learned that some evidence was not booked according to policy, which is at the end of the deputy’s shift. Investigators reviewed more than 27,000 evidence bookings and more than 1,500 deputies.
The audit showed a “lack of consistent and accurate entries,” “no system of accountability” and “insufficient booking software.” The audit also found that nearly 85 percent of the evidence was booked within five days, with 2 percent — or 418 pieces of evidence — booked after 20 to 30 days, and 1.5 percent — or 296 items of evidence — booked after 31 days.
The study also showed that 27 percent of the deputies had held onto evidence for 31 days or longer.
Among the worst offenders were deputies assigned to the north part of the county, averaging 4.3 days to book evidence.
The property held by deputies the longest were photos and videos, with 3.3 percent held longer than a month; and currency, with 2.6 percent held longer than a month. Less than 1 percent of the drug evidence — 37 items — was booked after a month.
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Not Voting is Not A “Statement” (OCTOBER 22, 2019 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ)




I usually avoid small talk, as it’s an introvert’s kryptonite, but yesterday at the pharmacy I made eye contact with the woman in line behind me and started up a conversation—which quickly morphed into much bigger talk.

She began complaining about the stratospheric cost of her medications, to which I interjected with a smile and great optimism, “We’ll, hopefully be able to change that in the 2020 election!”

“Oh, I’m not voting.” she replied matter-of-factly.

She must have seen the color drain from my face, my jaw tighten, and my spirits visibly fall violently to their death on the linoleum floor, because she immediately followed with an unsolicited explanation.

“All these politicians are the same and I’m sick of all the negativity—and so I’m sending a message. I’m making a statement. I’m out.”

I forced a smile and suddenly felt the need to use the blood pressure monitor I’d been casually leaning on a few seconds earlier.

“This is why I avoid small talk,” I thought to myself.

Just as I was trying to retrieve a fitting response from among the hundreds of words swirling inside my head, the pharmacist called my name. I hurriedly approached him, finished the transaction and left, nodding quickly at the woman behind me without saying anything else.

On the way home I began replaying the brief interaction with the stranger in my mind and wishing I’d had said something. She represents a person I simply can’t comprehend: someone who chooses silence in the most important moments of their lives, when they have the ability to speak.

I suppose this is what I would say to her if I had the opportunity to rewind and replay the conversation, and what I’d say to those of you out there who feel like her:

Not voting is not a “statement.”

It’s rendering yourself invisible.
It’s silencing your own voice.
It’s self-marginalization.
It’s allowing your future to be determined by other people and pretending that’s a moral victory.
Not voting essentially gives someone else a blank they get to fill-in on your behalf—since you aren’t present to tell anyone exactly what your values are, what boils your blood and keeps you up at night, what matters most to you. Whatever message you imagine you’re sending by opting out, remains unspoken in your head—and you end up saying nothing.

If there’s any statement choosing not to vote makes, it’s “I don’t care if I count.”

Generations of people spent their entire lives here unseen and voiceless, millions of others have braved bruises and bullets for the right to speak, a right that you have been handed upon arrival here and now so casually decline.

Participating in the electoral process is one of the greatest responsibilities one has as a citizen in a democracy, and to simply opt out speaks to a privilege that imagines you are not impacted by your own silence. You are. We all are. The volume from other places will ensure this.

People who are fine with white nationalism will be voting.
People who are OK with kids in cages will be.
People who are good with Kurds being murdered will be.
People who are terrified of LGBTQ people will be.
People who believe FoxNews is objective truth will be.
People who think Trump was sent by God will be.

The people who believe the opposite of you; those you are frustrated with and disgusted by; the hateful and the small-minded and the cruel who drive you to tears and to hopelessness? They will be voting. They will be explicit. They will not allow someone else to interpret what their silence means.

They will speak clearly and loudly, and unless you cast your vote—you will offer no dissenting opinion in a time when it is desperately needed.

In that way you will be a willing accomplice to them.

Don’t relinquish the microphone to the bigots and the fear mongers.

I don’t know what twists you up inside or what terrifies you.

I don’t know the dreams you hold or the future you hope to see.

I don’t know what you want your life to say—and no one will unless you actually say it: explicitly, clearly, loudly.

Register.
Vote.
Make a real statement.

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