Samantha Gilstrap reports:
A former officer with the Metropolitan Police Department was sentenced to over a year in prison on Wednesday in connection to a bribery scheme.
Investigators say Vincent Forest, 36, sold crash victim’s confidential information for cash.
On Jan. 11, Forrest was found guilty of conspiracy, bribery, and making false statements following a jury trial. In addition to serving 20 months in prison, he was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and forfeit $15,000.01.
According to evidence, beginning in April 2019, Forrest used his official access to MPD’s law enforcement sensitive database to review and record victim contact information from traffic crash reports that contained the names and contact information of the individuals involved.
Forrest sent this stolen information to Raquel DePaula, 43, of Beltsville, Maryland, using an encrypted communications application. DePaula, who owned RD Legal Solutions, LLC, acted as a “runner,” providing the victims’ information to local attorneys in exchange for referral fees.
Read more at WUSA.
This is certainly not the first time we’ve seen insider wrongdoing of this kind. And this is not the first now-former MPD employee to be prosecuted. Gilstrap also reports that MPD Officers Walter Lee and Kendra Coles and MPD employee Aaron Willis previously pleaded guilty to related charges as well as a business owner and law firm employee.
Not reported in this coverage is how MPD monitored and now monitors access to records in its database to prevent and detect inappropriate access. How long did it take for them to discover insider wrongdoing of this kind, and did they only discover it when they were notified by citizens or did they discover it via internal means?
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. explained the scheme in January 2024 but did not mention how MPD first became aware of it. The complaint notes that MPD orders and systems, below, as well as D.C. law, controls and limits access to traffic accident information:
a. MPD General Order No. 401.03, Traffic Crash Reports, which states, in relevant part, that the only persons permitted to view and/or obtain free copies of a Traffic Crash Report are: (1) A person involved in a crash; their spouse; or if a juvenile, their parent or guardian; the owner of the vehicle; or his or her duly authorized agent; and (2) Investigators, attorneys, and/or their staff representing a party involved in a
crash.
b. COBALT, an online electronic record management system used to manage all MPD incident reports, which is restricted to MPD and other law enforcement agencies, and which contains information about individuals involved in traffic crashes in the District of Columbia, including their names, addresses, telephone numbers, and other identifying information.
The complaint does not reveal how the FBI or MPD first became aware of the bribery scheme.
h/t, Joe Cadillic