http://www.tampabaycfe.org

November 2004

Happy Holidays

AMAZING STORIES FROM THE FBI LAB
The Survivability of Human Scent

09/29/04

We thought you'd like to know that the new issue of Forensic Science Communications has just been published on our site. And it's full of fascinating stuff.

Take the article on the Survivability of Human Scent by Rex Stockham, Dennis Slavin, and William Kift. Rex is an examiner in our Explosives Unit; Dennis and Bill are bloodhound handlers for the South Pasadena PD and the Long Beach PD in California, respectively. These three worked together to develop a new approach to identify bombmakers and arsonists through human-scent evidence recovered from post-blast debris. Their feasibility study shows that human-scent evidence left by bomb handlers lasts...and can be used to identify them even after undergoing the extreme mechanical and thermal effects of an explosion or burning.

All you need is a good scent-recovery process and a team of highly trained bloodhounds and handlers.

A little background. Human-scent evidence is, by its very nature, fragile and easy to compromise. But just last year Jeff and Lisa Harvey demonstrated that technology can reduce its fragility by using Scent Transfer Units to transport the components of human scent onto sterile surgical pads. They then proved that trained bloodhounds could identify that scent and match it to a suspect, even days later and on contaminated trails through an urban environment.

This study takes those results one step further. Here's a simplified overview: four pipe bombs and two gas containers were handled by six test subjects for one to two minutes. The explosives were detonated or burned; the debris collected; and this evidence was processed by a Scent Transfer Unit onto sterile surgical pads, which were then aged for anywhere between two and 16 days. Each bloodhound handler was then arbitrarily given a scent pad to present to a dog.

Now the test. The bomb handlers and six innocent "decoys" were sent out onto trails in an urban public park. The bloodhounds were placed at the start of a trail, given a good sniff of a scent pad, and off they went--using their specially trained "yes" or "no" response to signify a match or no match.

The results? Overall, the dogs correctly identified the target person in 53 of the 80 bomb-debris experiments and 31 of the 40 arson-debris experiments with no false identifications. These are good results, supporting the general reliability of the procedure and indicating potential use in criminal investigations.

Interested in the details? Go straight to the Survivability of Human Scent.

Source: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/sept04/bloodhound093004.htm

TRAINING

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Fraud Prevention

December 13, 2004

 Auditing for Internal Fraud

December 14-15, 2004

Course Location
Hilton in the Walt Disney
World Resort
1751 Hotel Plaza Blvd.
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
(407) 827-4000
Room Rate: $159.00

CPE Credit
Up to 24 hours

Both Courses - BEST VALUE!
ACFE Member: US $674
Non-Member: US $844

Tampa Bay Chapter

Chapter dinner meetings are a great way to network while enjoying a meal. At $15, it is also an easy and affordable way to obtain an hour of CPE.

Dinner Meetings

January 11, 2005
"Mail Fraud"

February 8, 2005
"White Collar/Economic Crime"

March 8, 2005
"Consumer Fraud"

April 12, 2005
"Auditing for Financial Fraud"

6th Annual Fraud & Computer Crimes Seminar

May 10 - 11, 2005
FDLE Headquarters
4211 N. Lois Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33614

2004 - 2005
OFFICERS &
DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT
Penny Borjas, CFE, CIA
TriCenturion
(727) 786-8840 x15718

VICE PRESIDENT
Steve Hooper, CIA, CFE, CCSA
Clerk of the Circuit Court
Hillsborough County, FL
(813) 276-2029 x7648

SECRETARY
Roland Rodriguez, CFE, CBA
Bank of America
(813) 224-5211

TREASURER
Laura Krueger Brock, CFE, CPA
Cherry, Bekaert, Holland, LLP
(727) 822-8811

DIRECTOR
Mark Dubina, CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(813) 878-7366

DIRECTOR
Ellen Wilcox, CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(727) 298-2482

CHAPTER TRAINING
Wayne Boytim, CFE
City of Tampa
Internal Audit
(813) 274-7167

JOIN THE TAMPA BAY CHAPTER

Membership in the Tampa Bay Chapter costs only $20 to $25. There are four categories of members: CFE, ACFE Associate, Chapter Affiliate and Student. For more info, visit our web site.

ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS or JOB OPPORTUNITY

We have two pages of our web site devoted to publicizing members' businesses and career opportunities. If you are interested in advertising with us, visit the pages to see what is offered and send your copy to TampaCFE@ TampaBayCFE.org.

Avoid Holiday Fraud

Typical scams include:

Pitches claiming consumers can turn high profits with little risk by taking advantage of seasonal changes in the demand for commodities like heating oil.

• Offers of loans or credit cards to help with holiday purchasing—provided the consumer sends a "processing fee" in advance.
• Telemarketers using high-pressure tactics to offer fraudulent investments.

  To avoid having your holiday season turned into a holiday hassle - or worse:

• Make sure the company you're dealing with is legitimate.
  If you've never heard of a seller, check it out by calling the Comptroller's Hotline at 1-800-848-3792, the Better Business Bureau or the state Attorney General's office.
• Protect your privacy.
  Provide personal information only if you know who's collecting it, why, and how it's going to be used. Never give out your credit card number, social security number, or bank account information unless you're sure the company you're dealing with is legitimate.
• Guard your passwords.
  If you're shopping on-line, use different passwords when you're making a purchase than when you log on to your computer or network, and order only on a secure server. Look for an unbroken key or padlock at bottom of the browser window to ensure that your transmission is protected.

Office of the Comptroller • Department of Banking and Finance • State of Florida

http://www.dbf.state.fl.us

A BYTE OUT OF HISTORY
The Case of the Yachted Terrorist

It was a bright, clear September day in the international waters of the eastern Mediterranean. A motorboat carrying a suspected terrorist -- who was distinctly hung over from too much partying the night before -- approached an 80-foot sailing yacht. From the yacht's deck, two women in shorts and halter tops beckoned him to come aboard. He eyed them appreciatively, thinking ahead to his imminent meeting with Joseph, an international drug dealer, who was promising him an opportunity to begin a lucrative new career.

Was he ever about to be surprised.

The women and Joseph were undercover FBI agents. Once on deck, he was arrested and taken aboard a U.S. Navy munitions ship, the USS Butte, where he was read his rights and interrogated. As the Butte steamed toward a rendezvous with the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, the suspect confessed to his involvement in several acts of terrorism. From the Saratoga, he was flown for a record-breaking thirteen hours in a Navy Viking S-3 jet to be arraigned in Washington, D.C., and ultimately was tried, convicted, and sentenced in a U.S. court. Case closed.

What's the significance of this remarkable operation? This was the first international terrorist to be apprehended overseas and brought back to the United States to stand trial.

When did it happen? Seventeen years ago this week, on September 13, 1987.

Who was the terrorist? Fawaz Younis, one of the individuals implicated in the 1985 hijacking of a Royal Jordanian airliner. After taking the passengers hostage – including two Americans – and making several demands that were not met, the hijackers ordered the airplane's crew to land first in Cyprus, then Sicily, and finally Beirut. There they released the hostages, held a press conference, blew up the plane on the tarmac, and fled.

What Younis did not know was that his actions triggered a law passed by Congress just the year before -- the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 -- that gave the FBI jurisdiction over terrorist acts in which Americans were taken hostage – no matter where the acts occurred. That authority was expanded in 1986 with the passage of the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act.

Thus "Operation Goldenrod"-- the first time those new authorities were used, sending a message to terrorists that we would pursue them no matter where they tried to hide.

What was the outcome? Younis was convicted of conspiracy, aircraft piracy, and hostage-taking. In October 1989, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Source: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/sept04/yachted091504.htm

Chapter News

ACFE Training
Fraud Prevention & Auditing for Internal Fraud

Local Chapter Members Provide Learning Opportunities

Several local chapter members agreed to provide fraud presentations to University of South Florida students. The students are enrolled in Rich Brody's Fraud Examination class on USF's St. Petersburg campus. Rich brought his students to our last chapter meeting (see below). The Board thanks all of you who volunteered for this community service project. Below are the highlights of the presentations.

Laura's program went from start to finish of how an investigator uncovered a pump and dump investment scheme promoted through a message board on the Internet. The case began with a complaint for $33.00 which led to uncovering a $3 million fraud of a company in Sarasota. The investigation process, bank record analysis, investigative resources, witnesses, the Internet message board and the bogus press releases were all discussed. Laura also explained what it takes to conduct a search warrant and arrest and prepare for trial.

Business Fraud 101 - Rande Matteson, U.S. Food & Drug Administration

The Fraud Examination class was completely wowed by Rande Matteson’s presentation. His presentation was entitled Business Fraud 101 and it was a fantastic overview of several different types of frauds, legal (civil and criminal) issues, and many real world experiences. Most of the students wanted to know how they could get a job just like Rande’s. They could have kept Rande in class for much longer as his varied experience allowed him to cover a wide spectrum of crimes and investigative techniques.

Dinner Meeting News

October 19th Dinner Meeting

Lieutenant Phil Mickel spoke at our October 19th dinner meeting on Medicaid Fraud. Phil works for the Office of Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) in Tampa. He has been with the MFCU four years. Prior to that, Phil worked for the City of Tampa Police Department for twenty-five years. Over half of that time was spent investigating or supervising organized and white collar crime investigations. He was a Supervisor in Criminal Intelligence, Narcotics, Selective Enforcement and Uniform Patrol. Also present with Lt. Mickel was Scott Flint, an attorney assigned to the unit.

Lt. Mickel began his presentation with an overview of the unit’s structure and mission. The unit is a department within the Office of the Attorney General and has three districts, in Florida. The Tampa district, like the other two, has a mix of sworn and support officers to include, attorneys, auditors, analysts and a cadre of investigators. The Tampa office handles 13 counties and is headed up by a Chief and a Lieutenant.

Lt. Mickel went on to relate that the federal government funds about 75% of the Medicaid program, with the state of Florida picking up the remainder. He related that all states with the exception of North Dakota and Idaho field similar fraud units and work similar types of fraud. Thrown into the mix are various agencies that interact with the unit. Those include the state’s DCF unit, which determines applicant eligibility, the AHCA that oversees the program, ACS acting as the fiscal agent and the various State’s attorneys who provide resources for prosecution of program offenders.

MFCU’s mission is to conduct fraud and abuse investigations of Medicaid, investigate patient abuse or exploitation in health care facilities and investigate other violations of state statute as encountered. The unit can precede either civilly or criminally in the investigation of fraud.

Lt. Mickel then detailed the numerous ways people or companies could defraud the program, to include:

• Upcoding
• Unbundling of services
• Billing for services not rendered
• Double billing
• Billing for ineligible recipients
• Non-Medicaid providers using another provider’s number
• Drug diversions
• Short-filling of prescriptions
• Drug substitution
• Advance billing for drugs not delivered, and
• Medically unnecessary services.

Lt. Mickel then went on to describe a recent case involving a private provider billing the state of Florida for medications afforded jailed inmates. The brunt of the investigation took place in Marion County. As background, the Lt. Cited state statutes precluding providers for billing the state for jailed inmates. However, his unit’s investigation found abuses of the system wherein, pharmacies, ambulance companies and others routinely forwarded bills for payment to the program and Medicaid paid them. The investigation documented the overcharges and settled civilly with a payment of $5 million tendered to the state, representing two times the amounts involved.

January 11th Dinner Meeting

Our next dinner meeting is scheduled for January 11, 2005. Linda Walker, U.S. Postal Inspection Services, is scheduled to speak on "Mail Fraud." Our next edition of CFE NEWS will provide additional information.

A Message from our President

What a good turn out we had at our October dinner meeting. Thank you everyone that attended. As for those of you who did not attend there will be several more opportunities this year for you to participate. Our next dinner meeting will be on January 11th, after the holidays. So please make plans to join us.

All the Officers and Directors of the Chapter want to wish you a safe and joyous holiday season.

See you in the New Year.

Penny Borjas