Former FBI Task Force Officer And Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Pleads Guilty To Making Materially False Statements In Official FBI Reports

West Palm Beach, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces that Lorenzo Gatti (52, Delray Beach) yesterday pleaded guilty to one count of making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements in official FBI reports. Gatti faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, on July 27, 2013, Gatti, who at the time was a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy, assigned to the FBI as a task force officer, was involved in an automobile accident at an intersection in Boynton Beach, Florida. A few days later, in two separate FBI reports, Gatti stated that he was on official business at the time of the accident. Specifically, he claimed that the accident occurred after he had conducted a 24-mile surveillance on a target of a federal investigation.   

At the time Gatti made these statements, he knew that his claims about conducting surveillance were false. In particular, records indicate that the target of the federal investigation did not, on the date of the accident, drive anywhere near the surveillance route that Gatti said he had followed.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice - Office of the Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sean P. Shecter and Ilianys Rivera Miranda.