FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009
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FORMER DRUG TASK FORCE ANALYST PLEADS GUILTY TO HARASSING FORMER GIRLFRIEND AND FALSELY IMPLICATING HER IN A DRUG INVESTIGATION
BOSTON, MA - A former DEA Task Force analyst pleaded guilty today in federal court of illegally accessing driver’s license records, wire fraud, and lying and altering records in a federal investigation.
Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks and Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, announced today that EARL S. HOFFMAN, Jr., age 41, formerly of Lowell, MA pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to wire fraud, violating the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, making false statements, and creating false and altered records in a federal investigation.
At today’s plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proved that in 2007, HOFFMAN was assigned by the Massachusetts National Guard to work at a United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Worcester. His job was to collect and analyze information for drug-related criminal investigations by a task force.
In late May 2007, HOFFMAN used his job to access the driver’s license and criminal history records for a woman identified as “B.P.”, whose relationship with HOFFMAN had ended approximately two years earlier when she had taken out a restraining order against him. After accessing B.P.’s records, HOFFMAN sent B.P.’s son an e-mail containing B.P.’s driver’s license photograph and an insult to B.P. HOFFMAN made the e-mail look as if it had been sent by B.P.’s then-current boyfriend. In late August 2007, HOFFMAN pretended again to be B.P.’s current boyfriend and sent an electronic message that included B.P.’s driver’s license photograph and a pornographic picture of an unidentified female body.
When the DEA inquired into the matter, HOFFMAN falsely justified his access to B.P.’s records as part of a legitimate drug investigation. HOFFMAN pointed to a telephone company report from an ongoing investigation that he had altered to falsely link B.P.’s telephone number to a drug suspect. HOFFMAN also entered information about B.P. into a local DEA database. HOFFMAN did all this to falsely implicate B.P. and justify his accesses to B.P.’s records.
Judge Saylor scheduled sentencing for January 4, 2010. On the wire fraud and false records charges, HOFFMAN faces up to 20 years of imprisonment to be followed by up to 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. On the false statement charge, HOFFMAN faces 5 years of imprisonment, to be followed by up to 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. In addition, the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act violation carries a $5,000 fine.
This is believed to be one of the first criminal convictions under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act in the country.
The case was investigated by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott L. Garland and Jeffrey M. Cohen of Loucks’ Computer Crime and Public Corruption Units.
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