NIJ Journal Article Focuses on Ensuring Research Is Relevant to Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is increasingly expected to ground policies and practices in evidence, and evidence-based policing is rightfully encouraged as the new gold standard of practice. Somewhat absent from the discussion, however, has been the reality that most law enforcement agencies lack the capacity to identify and incorporate research results into policy and practice. Through NIJ's innovative Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholars and LEADS Agencies programs, the Institute is helping law enforcement officers produce the research needed to answer their agencies' high-priority questions about what works and what matters in policing. 

To learn more, go to https://nij.gov/journals/280/Pages/research-in-the-ranks.aspx?utm_source=eblast-govdelivery to read "Research in the Ranks: Empowering Law Enforcement to Drive Their Own Scientific Inquiry,” a new NIJ Journal article.

Navajo Man from Shiprock Facing Aggravated Sexual Abuse Charge

Defendant Prosecuted as Part of Federal Initiative to Address the Epidemic Incidence of Violence Against Native Women

ALBUQUERQUE – Wilfred Garcia, 53, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., appeared in federal court today in Albuquerque, N.M., on a criminal complaint charging him with aggravated sexual abuse.  Trial has yet to be scheduled.

Agents from the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety arrested Garcia in Shiprock on November 22, 2018.  According to the criminal complaint, Garcia pulled up to the victim while driving his truck.   He got out, put his arms around the victim, and held a hard object to her back while telling her, “Don’t move.”  Garcia then forcibly placed the victim in his truck and drove to a dirt road where he sexually assaulted her.  The victim eventually got away from Garcia, flagged down a motorist for help, and reported the incident to police, who arrested Garcia later that day.

The maximum penalty upon conviction for aggravated sexual abuse charge is life in federal prison.  Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.

This case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI and the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  Assistant U.S. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick T. Mendenhall, III, is prosecuting the case as part of the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's ongoing efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.

Former Vice President of Insys Pharmaceuticals Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Scheme

Defendant bribed doctors and pharmacists to unnecessarily prescribe fentanyl spray intended for breakthrough cancer pain

BOSTON – The former Vice President of Sales of Insys Therapeutics pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to his role in a nationwide conspiracy to bribe medical practitioners to unnecessarily prescribe a fentanyl-based pain medication and defraud healthcare insurers.

Alec Burlakoff, 44, of West Palm Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to one count of racketeering conspiracy. Burlakoff and his co-conspirators – all former managers and executives at Insys – were initially indicted in December 2016; an October 2017, superseding indictment also charged John Kapoor, the founder and former executive chairman of Insys. Today, Burlakoff pleaded guilty to the second superseding indictment.

Burlakoff, and, allegedly, other Insys employees, used various methods to bribe medical practitioners in various states, many of whom operated pain clinics, to induce them to prescribe Subsys. Subsys is a powerful, fentanyl-based pain medication intended to treat cancer patients suffering intense breakthrough pain.

One method employed by Burlakoff and his alleged co-conspirators was the Insys Speaker Program (ISP), which was used as a vehicle to bribe doctors and other clinicians to prescribe Subsys to their patients. Insys sales representatives targeted and promised medical professionals the opportunity to be paid Insys speakers if they wrote prescriptions for Subsys. The more prescriptions written for Subsys – and the higher the dose – the more speaking opportunities were awarded and more fee paid to the clinicians. However, the speaking opportunities were merely an excuse for the clinician and friends to have a meal and drinks paid for by Insys, and for the speaker to be paid. As a result, insurers were defrauded by paying reimbursements for Subsys, a more expensive drug than its nearest competitor, and often prescribed when medically unnecessary and inappropriate.

Other methods were also used to bribe and induce medical professionals to prescribe Subsys. For example, employees of the practitioner’s office were moved onto the Insys payroll. Additionally, relatives and girlfriends of the medical professionals who were high volume writers were also hired.

As a result of the conspiracy, many patients were inappropriately prescribed and overprescribed Subsys, which is highly addictive and dangerous. 

The charge of RICO conspiracy provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, or twice the amount of pecuniary gain or loss. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Phillip Coyne, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Mark A. McCormack, Special Agent in Charge of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations’ Metro Washington Field Office; Carol S. Hamilton, Acting Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Boston Regional Office; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Northeast Field Office; Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office; and Sean Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nathaniel K. Yeager, Fred M. Wyshak, Jr., and David G. Lazarus, of Lelling’s Office, are prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.