Report Corrupt Public Officials in California to U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI
United States Attorney General Eric Holder speaking at a press conference alongside FBI Director Robert Mueller, in the public domain. (Photo credit: U.S. Department of Justice, October 11, 2011)
Elder Abuse Exposed.com urges you to report corrupt public officials in California to United States government and law enforcement agencies
If you have information about a corrupt public official in California who is legally responsible for protecting vulnerable elder abuse victims but who has instead turned his or her back on a victim, disregarded overwhelming evidence of abuse, obstructed justice, and deliberately protected the perpetrator, Elder Abuse Exposed.com urges you to contact some or all of the following United States government and law enforcement agencies. These U.S. agencies, which include the U.S. Department of Justice’s Offices of the United States Attorneys and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have the power and duty to investigate legitimate allegations of corruption by California public officials and to criminally prosecute, or assist other U.S. law enforcement agencies in the prosecution of, corrupt public officials.
United States Attorneys’ Offices in California
- United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California
Headed by U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner (phone: 916-554-2700; fax: 916-554-2900; email; mail: 501 I Street, Suite 10-100, Sacramento, CA 95814), the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California, is “responsible for representing the federal government in virtually all litigation involving the United States in the Eastern District of California. This includes all criminal prosecutions for violations of federal law, civil lawsuits by and against the government, and actions to collect judgments and restitution on behalf of victims and taxpayers.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney John K. Vincent (phone: 916-554-2700; fax: 916-554-2900; email; mail: 501 I Street, Suite 10-100, Sacramento, CA 95814) is the chief of the criminal division in the Sacramento office of the United States attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California. Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Steven Lapham (phone: 916-554-2700; fax: 916-554-2900; email; mail: 501 I Street, Suite 10-100, Sacramento, CA 95814) is chief of the criminal division’s special prosecutions unit, which “handles an array of criminal matters, including public corruption, securities fraud, civil rights violations, hate crimes, arson, and immigration law offenses.” - United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California
Headed by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag (phone: 415-436-7200; fax: 415-436-7234; email; mail: 450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055, San Francisco, CA 94102), the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California, “prosecutes violations of federal law and represents the federal government in virtually all litigation involving the United States in the District. The attorneys who work in the office prosecute criminal violations, civil lawsuits against the government, and litigate actions to collect judgments and restitution on behalf of victims and taxpayers.”
The special prosecutions and national security unit, which is part of the office’s criminal division, is responsible for supporting counterterrorism and counterespionage investigations and prosecutions in the Northern District of California. In addition, the special prosecutions and national security unit prosecutes public corruption, environmental, civil rights, child exploitation, illegal export, and immigration cases. - United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California
Headed by U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. (phone: 213-894-2434; fax: 213-894-2535; email; mail: 312 North Spring Street, Suite 1200, Los Angeles, CA 90012), the United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, “is responsible for representing the federal government in virtually all litigation involving the United States in the Central District of California. This includes criminal prosecutions for violations of federal law, civil lawsuits by and against the government, and actions to collect judgments and restitution on behalf of victims and taxpayers.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale (phone: 213-894-3756; fax: 213-894-0141; email; mail: 312 North Spring Street, Suite 1200, Los Angeles, CA 90012) is the chief of the Los Angeles-based criminal division of the United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California. Lawrence Middleton is chief of the criminal division’s public corruption and civil rights section, which “protect[s] the integrity of public government through the prosecution of public corruption” and “investigates and prosecutes both public officials who seek to use their positions for private benefit and those who seek to corrupt them.” - United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California
Headed by U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy (phone: 619-557-5610; fax: 619-557-5551; email; mail: 880 Front Street, Room 6293, San Diego, CA 92101), the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California, “enforces all violations of federal law occurring in the Southern District of California. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also defends the United States in all civil lawsuits and collects debts owed to the United States.” The criminal division’s general crimes section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting a wide variety of cases, including civil rights violations and public corruption.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ) in California
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Sacramento
Headed by Special Agent in Charge Herbert Brown (email), the FBI’s Sacramento division and its eight satellite offices investigate “violations of federal law by public officials in local, state, and federal government. These violations include bribery, contract and procurement fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes, election fraud, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
The FBI says that public corruption, “a breach of trust by federal, state, or local officials—often with the help of private sector accomplices,” is the “FBI’s top criminal investigative priority.” The FBI takes public corruption seriously because, according to Special Agent Patrick Bohrer, assistant section chief of the FBI’s public corruption/civil rights program at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., “corrupt public officials undermine our country’s national security, our overall safety, the public trust, and confidence in the U.S. government, wasting billions of dollars along the way.”
The FBI urges the public to contact the FBI with tips about government officials engaged in corruption, including, but not limited to, bribery, kickbacks, racketeering, money laundering, embezzlement, and extortion. In fact, Special Agent Bohrer said, “If anyone out there has any information about potential wrongdoing by a public official, please submit a tip online or contact your local FBI field office. Your help really makes a difference.” - Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Los Angeles
Headed by Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Delaney, the FBI’s criminal division at the Los Angeles field office and its 10 satellite offices investigate “violations of federal law by public officials in local, state, and federal government. These violations include bribery, contract and procurement fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes, election fraud, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
The FBI says that public corruption, “a breach of trust by federal, state, or local officials—often with the help of private sector accomplices,” is the “FBI’s top criminal investigative priority.” The FBI takes public corruption seriously because, according to Special Agent Patrick Bohrer, assistant section chief of the FBI’s public corruption/civil rights program at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., “corrupt public officials undermine our country’s national security, our overall safety, the public trust, and confidence in the U.S. government, wasting billions of dollars along the way.”
The FBI urges the public to contact the FBI with tips about government officials engaged in corruption, including, but not limited to, bribery, kickbacks, racketeering, money laundering, embezzlement, and extortion. In fact, Special Agent Bohrer said, “If anyone out there has any information about potential wrongdoing by a public official, please submit a tip online or contact your local FBI field office. Your help really makes a difference.” - Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) San Francisco
Headed by Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas (email), the FBI’s San Francisco division (email) and its eight satellite offices investigate “violations of federal law by public officials in local, state, and federal government. These violations include bribery, contract and procurement fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes, election fraud, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
The FBI says that public corruption, “a breach of trust by federal, state, or local officials—often with the help of private sector accomplices,” is the “FBI’s top criminal investigative priority.” The FBI takes public corruption seriously because, according to Special Agent Patrick Bohrer, assistant section chief of the FBI’s public corruption/civil rights program at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., “corrupt public officials undermine our country’s national security, our overall safety, the public trust, and confidence in the U.S. government, wasting billions of dollars along the way.”
The FBI urges the public to contact the FBI with tips about government officials engaged in corruption, including, but not limited to, bribery, kickbacks, racketeering, money laundering, embezzlement, and extortion. In fact, Special Agent Bohrer said, “If anyone out there has any information about potential wrongdoing by a public official, please submit a tip online or contact your local FBI field office. Your help really makes a difference.” - Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) San Diego
Headed by Special Agent in Charge Daphne Hearn (email), the FBI’s San Diego division and its two satellite offices investigate “violations of federal law by public officials in local, state, and federal government. These violations include bribery, contract and procurement fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes, election fraud, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
The FBI says that public corruption, “a breach of trust by federal, state, or local officials—often with the help of private sector accomplices,” is the “FBI’s top criminal investigative priority.” The FBI takes public corruption seriously because, according to Special Agent Patrick Bohrer, assistant section chief of the FBI’s public corruption/civil rights program at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., “corrupt public officials undermine our country’s national security, our overall safety, the public trust, and confidence in the U.S. government, wasting billions of dollars along the way.”
The FBI urges the public to contact the FBI with tips about government officials engaged in corruption, including, but not limited to, bribery, kickbacks, racketeering, money laundering, embezzlement, and extortion. In fact, Special Agent Bohrer said, “If anyone out there has any information about potential wrongdoing by a public official, please submit a tip online or contact your local FBI field office. Your help really makes a difference.”
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG)
- Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Headed by Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson (phone: 202-619-3148 and email) since 2004, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is “responsible for audits, evaluations, investigations, compliance initiatives, and law enforcement efforts to combat fraud and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid, and over 300 other public health and human services programs administered by HHS.” - Office of Evaluation and Inspections (OEI) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG)
Headed by Deputy Inspector General Stuart Wright (phone: 202-619-0480 and email), the Office of Evaluation and Inspections (OEI) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) “conducts national evaluations of HHS programs from a broad, issue-based perspective. The evaluations offer practical recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of HHS programs, with a focus on preventing fraud, waste, and abuse.” The OEI publishes their recommendations in reports available online. (See OEI reports on nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities.)
One of the important duties of the OEI is oversight of the state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs), including Attorney General Kamala Harris’ Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (BMFEA) in California, which are responsible for investigating and prosecuting health care providers for Medicaid fraud and elder abuse. The director of OEI’s Medicaid Fraud Unit Oversight Division (MFUOD) is Sharon Colby-Elborn (phone: 202-260-3711 and email).
(Warning: Before you contact Ms. Colby-Elborn to complain about California Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (BMFEA), which is headed by its director, Mark Geiger, and its chief of prosecutions, Mark Zahner, see Ms. Colby-Elborn’s finding after investigating allegations of mismanagement and misconduct in Minnesota’s Medicaid fraud unit. - Office of Investigations (OI) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG)
Headed by Deputy Inspector General Gary Cantrell (phone: 202-205-4081 and email), the Office of Investigations (OI) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a federal health care law enforcement agency that “conducts criminal, civil and administrative investigations of fraud and misconduct related to HHS programs, operations and beneficiaries.”
The OI operates an OIG hotline (online, email, and via telephone) for the public and industry insiders to report health care providers’ fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims, kickbacks for referrals by health care providers, grossly negligent care by hospital emergency rooms, elder abuse in nursing homes, and other crimes and misconduct.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- San Francisco Regional Office (Region IX) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
David Sayen (phone: 415-744-3501, email, website, Facebook, and Twitter) is the regional administrator of the San Francisco regional office (Region IX), one of the 10 regional offices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS is the federal agency within HHS that administers and oversees Medicare, which is the U.S. health insurance program for seniors and some disabled Americans, and Medicaid, which is the joint federal-state health insurance program for certain low-income individuals of all ages, including elderly nursing home residents. The San Francisco regional office (Region IX) serves Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific territories.
CMS’ Division of Survey and Certification Operations, which is a part of one of CMS’ four consortia, the Consortium for Quality Improvement and Survey and Certification Operations (CQISCO), is responsible for oversight of state agencies (e.g., the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) Licensing and Certification Program) that inspect, license, and certify Medicare providers, including nursing homes. CMS’ Division of Survey and Certification Operations is also responsible for investigating complaints against Medicare providers about quality of care, ensuring quality of care in Medicare-certified health care facilities, certifying new Medicare providers, and recertifying existing providers under new ownership.
(Warning: When an Elder Abuse Exposed.com member contacted David Sayen in 2011 to report well-documented violations of law and official misconduct by a supervisor and inspector who were working for CDPH’s Licensing and Certification Program and were investigating video-recorded elder abuse and neglect at a California nursing home, the Elder Abuse Exposed.com member never received a response from Mr. Sayen. The member received no response, even though the member sent Mr. Sayen incontrovertible and overwhelming evidence of the official misconduct, including video recordings, court documents, declarations, and correspondence with Pam Dickfoss, the then-acting deputy director and current assistant deputy director of CDPH’s Center for Health Care Quality.) - Western Consortium Division of Survey and Certification of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Division of Survey and Certification Operations
Steven Chickering (phone: 415-744-3682 and email) is the associate regional administrator of the Western Consortium Division of Survey and Certification in the San Francisco regional office (Region IX) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Paula Perse, RN (phone: 415-744-3746 and email), is the long-term care branch manager for the Western Consortium Division of Survey and Certification in the San Francisco regional office (Region IX) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Ms. Perse, who has worked in CMS’ San Francisco regional office since the early 1990s, was previously a health facilities inspector and supervisor for the State of California in Orange County, California.
The Western Consortium Division of Survey and Certification, which is part of CMS’ Division of Survey and Certification Operations, is responsible for oversight of state agencies (e.g., the California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) Licensing and Certification Program) that inspect, license, and certify Medicare providers, including nursing homes, in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific territories. The Western Consortium Division of Survey and Certification is also responsible for investigating complaints against Medicare providers about quality of care, ensuring quality of care in Medicare-certified health care facilities, certifying new Medicare providers, and recertifying existing providers that are under new ownership in the four western states and territories listed above.
(Warning: When an Elder Abuse Exposed.com member contacted Steven Chickering and Paula Perse in 2011 to report well-documented violations of law and official misconduct by a supervisor and inspector who were working for CDPH’s Licensing and Certification Program and were investigating video-recorded elder abuse and neglect at a California nursing home, the Elder Abuse Exposed.com member never received a response from Mr. Chickering or Ms. Perse. The member received no response, even though the member sent Mr. Chickering and Ms. Perse incontrovertible and overwhelming evidence of the official misconduct, including video recordings, court documents, declarations, and correspondence with Pam Dickfoss, the then-acting deputy director and current assistant deputy director of CDPH’s Center for Health Care Quality.)
