Federal Inmate Sentenced for Selling Information

Federal Inmate Sold Information About Crimes to a Federal Defendant Who Used the Information to Seek a Reduced Sentence from Federal Prosecutors

ATLANTA—SANDEO DYSON, 48, of Gainesville, Georgia, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Richard W. Story to federal prison on charges of aiding and abetting false statements.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “The foundation of our criminal justice system is truthful testimony. This inmate’s scheme to sell information to those who would pass it off as information about which they had personal knowledge had the potential to undermine this foundation and corrupt the justice system.”

DYSON was sentenced to 18 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. DYSON was convicted of these charges on November 29, 2011, upon his plea of guilty.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: From February 20, 2008 through June 1, 2010, DYSON was an inmate at the Atlanta City Detention Center (“ACDC”) in Atlanta, Georgia. During that period, he obtained information about crimes being committed in Georgia and North Carolina from various sources, including other inmates. DYSON then sold the information to defendants who had criminal cases pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Between June 15 and July 3, 2009, one of DYSON’s customers paid $20,000 for three “packages” of information. The customer met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal agents twice—on July 14 and October 21, 2009—and conveyed the information in the packages to federal prosecutors and federal agents as information that the customer knew firsthand, in the hopes of having his sentence reduced. DYSON had instructed the customer to conceal the fact that the customer had no personal knowledge of the proffered information and had actually purchased it from DYSON.

In addition, three other criminal defendants purchased information from DYSON at a cost of five to ten thousand dollars each, for a total of $50,000. These customers never had the opportunity to proffer their purchased information to the U.S. Attorney’s Office or federal agents, because DYSON’s scheme was discovered before the customers could meet with the government.

The money that DYSON received for the information went to DYSON, his relatives and associates, and to other federal inmates who had assisted him with the scheme.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Shanya J. Dingle prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Information Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is Justice.gov/usao/gan.