{"id":4092,"date":"2013-04-10T22:06:30","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T05:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/?p=4092"},"modified":"2015-01-16T23:01:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-17T06:01:39","slug":"fbi-opens-investigation-into-findings-in-new-press-investigative-series-on-rep-lois-capps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4092","title":{"rendered":"FBI-DOJ open probe into findings in investigative series on Rep. Lois Capps"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"FBI-DOJ%20open%20probe%20into%20findings%20in%20investigative%20series%20on%20Rep.%20Lois%20Capps\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong>By Peter Lance \u00a9 June 7<sup>th<\/sup> 2014.<\/strong> On May 27<sup>th<\/sup>, the day before Raymond Victor Morua III was sentenced in the DUI hit-and-run accident that took the life of Mallory Rae Dies, the FBI began an investigation on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department\u2019s Public Integrity Section into possible wrongdoing by Mollie Culver, the District Director for Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA).<\/p>\n<p>The initial focus of the probe was centered around one of the revelations in my five-part series published April 13-17<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0on this website and in The Santa Barbara News-Press: that Ms. Culver may have committed fraud by forging Mr. Morua\u2019s name on two separate Department of Veterans Affairs forms in a scheme to get him out of jail and into a VA-funded treatment facility in the days immediately after the accident December 6<sup>th<\/sup>, 2013.<\/p>\n<p>The Bureau\u2019s investigation commenced after Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley, sent my series to Andr\u00e9 Birotte Jr., the U.S. Attorney for The Central District of California in Los Angeles, and he, in turn, referred the matter to The Public Integrity Section which prosecutes criminal misconduct by public officials.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the 27<sup>th,<\/sup> Marquest J. Meeks, a Public Integrity trial attorney from Washington traveled to Santa Barbara where he interviewed Teresa Montoya, the former fianc\u00e9 of Mr. Morua along with two Special Agents from the Bureau\u2019s Santa Maria Resident Agency (RA) Dieter Willkomm and Marni Barton. <a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.30.17-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-4093\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 9.30.17 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.30.17-PM-254x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.30.17-PM-254x300.png 254w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.30.17-PM.png 264w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In my series I reported that Ms. Montoya, an innocent party, had been induced by Ms. Culver to send in one of the two fraudulent forms to Craig Lea, a re-entry specialist at the VA\u2019s Desert Pacific Network in Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n<p>According to informed sources, Ms. Montoya spent an hour and a half with Mr. Meeks and the special agents, fully cooperating with their investigation. Later that same day Mr. Willkomm and Ms. Barton interviewed Mr. Morua in Santa Barbara County jail in the presence of his attorney Darryl Genis.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning, Mr. Morua, taking full responsibility for the fatal DUI, pled guilty and was sentenced to twenty years to life. He will begin serving out his sentence at Wasco State Prison in Kern County.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutor Meeks was not present for the county jail interview but on Monday, June 2<sup>nd<\/sup> special agents Willkomm and Barton continued their investigation of the alleged VA fraud by interviewing Mr. Morua\u2019s mother Rose Saucedo.<\/p>\n<p>As reported in Part Four of my series, on December 9<sup>th<\/sup>, three days after the accident, Mrs. Saucedo was pressed by Ms. Culver for a series of personal details so that Mrs. Capps\u2019 District Director could fill out the VA forms in Mr. Morua\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>In perpetrating that scheme, the evidence I uncovered demonstrates that Ms. Culver forged Mr. Morua&#8217;s name on two separate VA forms: 10-5345, an authorization to release his medical records to Mrs. Capps local office and 10-10-EZ, an application for health benefits.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.32.51-PM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4116\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 9.32.51 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.32.51-PM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"449\" height=\"537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.32.51-PM1.png 449w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.32.51-PM1-250x300.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The unauthorized release of medical records constitutes a violation of federal law under The Health Insurance Portability &amp; Accountability Act (HIPAA) and carries heavy civil and criminal penalties. At the same time, if convicted of making material misstatements of fact on the VA benefits form, Ms. Culver could face up to five years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>As I reported, Ms. Culver had received the two partially pre-filled VA forms from Mrs. Capps\u2019 Washington office at about 3:30 p.m. on December 9<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Then using blue ink, she reportedly signed Mr. Morua\u2019s name in three places on the two forms and sent in the medical records release form to the VA herself. They next day she suborned Ms. Montoya into sending in the second form to Mr. Lea. Subornation, or inducing another person to commit an unlawful act, can constitute a separate crime.<\/p>\n<p>When I questioned Mr. Lea during the research phase of my series he initially agreed to talk with me and then VA officials stonewalled, refusing to make him available. It\u2019s not clear at this point whether the Bureau has questioned him or any other VA personnel.<\/p>\n<p>On June 2<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0the day of Mrs. Saucedo\u2019s interview, I called Laura Eimiller, the FBI\u2019s press liaison in Los Angeles. Conforming to standard Bureau protocol she refused to \u201cconfirm or deny,\u201d the existence of the probe.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mr. Meeks sent a letter to Mr. Genis on June 5<sup>th<\/sup> thanking him for \u201ccoordinating the interview\u201d with Mr. Morua at the County Jail. He also noted that he would contact him if \u201cwe need anything further.\u201d At this point it\u2019s unclear what other interviews, if any, the FBI has conducted and whether the scope of the probe will widen beyond the VA fraud issue.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.33.05-PM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-4115\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 9.33.05 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.33.05-PM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"465\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.33.05-PM1.png 797w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.33.05-PM1-300x125.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 465px) 100vw, 465px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>ORIGIN OF THE FBI INVESTIGATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The path from the News-Press series to the investigation by The Public Integrity Section actually hinged on a second major revelation in my series: the evidence that Mary Beth Walker, the lawyer for the U.S. House of Representative Office of General Counsel, who is representing Mrs. Capps &amp; Ms. Culver, may have obstructed justice in asking Mrs. Dudley to \u201csequester\u201d what Ms. Walker termed \u201csensitive official information\u201d from Mr. Morua\u2019s office iPhone 4 seized by the Santa Barbara Police Department after his arrest.<\/p>\n<p>When I asked Mrs. Dudley about that request she gave me this reply:\u00a0\u201cTo answer your question, and to my knowledge, the DAs office has not done anything with the cellphone records. I can\u2019t speak to what the SBPD may have done or will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since any tampering with the content of that office iPhone 4 and Mr. Morua&#8217;s second personal iPhone 3s (also seized by the SBPD) could constitute a crime or crimes and since Mrs. Dudley couldn&#8217;t be sure that the police department had maintained the integrity of the evidence, she was not in a position to investigate this scandal objectively.<\/p>\n<p>So on May 1st, under pressure from Matt Dies, the father of the victim, whose non-profit Vow4Mal.org had collected more than 1,000 signatures asking for the D.A. to call for an outside Special Prosecutor, Mrs. Dudley sent my series to Mr. Birotte.<\/p>\n<p>After I informed Mr. Dies that the U.S. Attorney had been nominated by President Obama to a federal judgeship, making it unlikely that he would commence an investigation of Mrs. Capps on his own, Mr. Dies pressed Mrs. Dudley who placed a phone call to Mr. Birotte.<\/p>\n<p>On May 16<sup>th<\/sup>, she emailed Mr. Dies: \u201cI just got off the phone with Andr\u00e9,\u201d she wrote. \u201cMr. Birotte informed me that the Matter has now been referred to the Public Integrity Division for their analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>REACTION FROM THE DIES FAMILY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that the FBI and Justice Department are taking these matters seriously is a great comfort to my wife and me,\u201d said Mr. Dies in an interview. \u201cI only hope they go all the way and leave no stone unturned in trying to get at the truth. At this point Lois Capps, who just got nominated for a 9<sup>th<\/sup> term, has been morally bankrupt, first in falsely claiming that Raymond Morua wasn\u2019t working for her at the time of the accident and second in claiming that the News-Press series was \u201cfull of inaccuracies\u201d but not providing any specifics \u2013 just hiding behind repeated \u2018no comments.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.47.14-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4098\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 9.47.14 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.47.14-PM-300x240.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.47.14-PM-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.47.14-PM-800x641.png 800w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.47.14-PM.png 868w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\u201cShe got national media exposure by visiting the vigil for the IV victims \u2013 which was certainly appropriate \u2013 but she hasn\u2019t once visited the vigil for Mal on the corner of Anacapa and Haley that remains to this day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLois Capps has never spoken to us, which is reprehensible, since she has repeatedly said that her heart \u2018goes out\u2019 to us. As far as we\u2019re concerned, after first having her staff go to the extreme of getting Raymond out of jail \u2013 proof that he was working for her \u2013 she then did a 180 degree turn after Mallory was taken off life support and Mollie Culver went so far as to tell the police that Raymond wasn\u2019t authorized to go to the (Santa Barbara) Independent\u2019s party that night where he drank six vodkas and got into his car with a .17 BAC. All of this is beyond the pale, especially since the evidence Peter Lance had in his series proved that Mollie encouraged Raymond to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Walker, who represents Mrs. Capps and her staff, has taken the position that Mr. Morua attended the Indy\u2019s Holiday Bash \u201cin his personal capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In civil legal terms that means that if the Congresswoman prevails in court, the Dies family will have no chance of recovering for the loss of their daughter or the hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills incurred during the five days Mallory clung to life in the Cottage Hospital ICU.<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.38.51-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4099\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 9.38.51 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.38.51-PM-151x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"151\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.38.51-PM-151x300.png 151w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.38.51-PM.png 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 151px) 100vw, 151px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>NO RESPONSE FROM MRS. CAPPS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I made multiple attempts to get Ms. Culver\u2019s side of the story including talking to her by phone and sending her a series of questions as early as March 20<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0nearly a month before the series ran. She never responded.<\/p>\n<p>As to Mrs. Capps and her press secretary Chris Meagher, a former reporter for The Indy who attended the party with Mr. Morua the night of the accident, he has ignored a series of questions which I sent to the Congresswoman on her website. I sent the same questions to him via email.<\/p>\n<p>Further, Mr. Meagher refuses to be specific about the so-called \u201cinaccuracies\u201d he told <a title=\"FoxNews.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/04\/24\/california-rep-sued-over-dui-death-questions-raised-about-ties-to-driver\/\">FoxNews.com<\/a> were in my series. Mrs. Capps, who made the same claim to <a title=\"Indy full of inaccuracies\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2014\/apr\/15\/morua-pleads-guilty-dui-and-fatal-hit-and-run-char\/\">The Independent,<\/a> has also stood mute on that issue, refusing to provide any proof of a single inaccuracy in the series.<\/p>\n<p><strong>HOW FAR WILL THE FBI GO?<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cThe biggest unanswered question of all at this point,\u201d says Mr. Genis, \u201cis how far is the FBI willing to go in investigating these criminal allegations? After all, Lois Capps is an eight-term Member of Congress, from the same party as the President who controls the Justice Department. It\u2019s widely rumored that her daughter Laura plans to seek her seat after Lois serves a final term; thus ensuring a Capps dynasty on the Central Coast.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.39.07-PM4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4102\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-06-06 at 9.39.07 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.39.07-PM4-234x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.39.07-PM4-234x300.png 234w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen-Shot-2014-06-06-at-9.39.07-PM4.png 497w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><\/a>\u201cJust how far will a federal prosecutor like Marquest Meeks go in ferreting out the truth in Peter Lance\u2019s series? At this point my client and his family have fully cooperated. But who else will the Bureau agents question? And if news of the investigation prompts other witnesses, previously reluctant to talk, to come forward now, will the FBI agents pursue those leads? Only the Department of Justice can answer those questions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"FBI-DOJ%20open%20probe%20into%20findings%20in%20investigative%20series%20on%20Rep.%20Lois%20Capps\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>By Peter Lance \u00a9 June 7th 2014. On May 27th, the day before Raymond Victor Morua III was sentenced in the DUI hit-and-run accident that took the life of Mallory Rae Dies, the FBI began an investigation on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department\u2019s Public Integrity Section into possible wrongdoing by Mollie Culver, the District [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[526,1211,531,193,527,577,529,579,189,540,511,109,518,513,519,533,517,541,201,542,508,522,580,578,534,523,510,532,538,539,535,126,528,576,509,536,520,512,525,1221,516,524,515,521,530,537,514],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4092"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5775,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4092\/revisions\/5775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}