UNITED STATES ATTORNEY JOYCE WHITE VANCE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE			CONTACT: PEGGY SANFORD
	OCTOBER 29, 2009			PHONE: (205) 244-2020
	www.usdoj.gov/usao/aln			FAX: (205) 244-2171

LAWYER AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY TO OBSTRUCTION CHARGES

            BIRMINGHAM - Tari Devon Williams, 39, has agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes involving obstruction of justice and making a false statement to a law enforcement officer, United States Attorney Joyce White Vance announced today.

            From April 2009 until June 2009, TARI DEVON WILLIAMS, of Pleasant Grove, who at the time was employed as assistant dean for the University of Alabama School of Law’s Public Interest Institute, provided false information and concealed assets from federal investigators who were investigating the criminal activity of her husband. Williams committed these acts in order to assist her husband to conceal the monetary proceeds and assets derived from his criminal activity and to conceal certain evidence from federal investigators and the grand jury, according to a plea agreement filed this week in U.S. District Court. 

            Williams faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

            William’s husband, ISAAC SMITH, of Pleasant Grove, entered a plea agreement in August acknowledging he had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to commit health care fraud between about September 2008 and April 2009. Smith and a co-defendant, ANNETRA POOLE-MOORE, both entered pleas of guilty to health care fraud, aggravated identity theft and disclosure prohibited by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).

            The separate August plea agreements in that case showed Moore had used her position as a claims representative with United Healthcare, Inc., to illegally access personal information of customers in the company’s database who had Flexible Spending Accounts and were covered by a prescription drug plan sponsored by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP).

             Poole-Moore provided the information to Smith, who created counterfeit prescriptions. Those fake prescriptions were presented to pharmacies to obtain controlled substances, which were then illegally sold to third parties.

            By using the stolen identities on the prescriptions, Smith and Moore caused FEHBP’s prescription drug plan to pay for the controlled substances, resulting in a loss to FEHBP of $72,746.

            The United States Postal Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the United States Secret Service, the federal Office of Personnel Management, and the Montevallo Police Department investigated this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Lloyd Peeples is prosecuting the matter on behalf of the United States.