National Roundup

Massachusetts
Former prosecutor accused of stalking women
BALTIMORE (AP) — Nearly 90 criminal charges have been filed against a former Baltimore homicide prosecutor, alleging he subpoenaed phone records to stalk and harass the women he dated over nearly two years, authorities said.

Adam Chaudry, who worked 13 years in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, is charged with dozens of counts of misconduct in office, illegally obtaining phone records, stalking, harassment and extortion, The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.

Zy Richardson, spokeswoman for the office, initially said Chaudry was fired June 18 after officials reviewed the allegations. She later said he resigned in lieu of termination. Defense attorneys maintain Chaudry simply resigned June 18; they provided his resignation letter.

With a 41-page grand jury indictment, prosecutors allege Chaudry subpoenaed phone records of several ex-girlfriends beginning in July 2019 as well as jail calls between one woman and a family member behind bars. He also allegedly requested records from phone companies under the guise of “special investigations.”

Chaudry’s defense attorneys, Steven Silverman and Patrick Seidel, said Chaudry isn’t considered a public official under the law and therefore the state prosecutor has no jurisdiction to charge him, particularly with the crime of misconduct in office.

Massachusetts
Suit alleges company sold bogus hand sanitizer to schools
BOSTON (AP) — An Illinois-based company falsely marketed and sold a fake hand sanitizer to school districts across Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday.

In a complaint filed Monday in Suffolk Superior Court, prosecutors alleged the company claimed the sanitizer could kill the COVID-19 virus and provide a multi-hour barrier against the virus without the need for reapplication.

The complaint alleges that School Health Corporation violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act when it misled school districts in Framingham, Winchester, Nahant, Swampscott and New Bedford, the Bridgewater-Raynham and Wachusett Regional School Districts and the City of Malden, into purchasing more than $100,000 worth of “Theraworx Protect” at the beginning of the pandemic between March and July last year.

The company claimed that the product was an effective alternative to prevent the spread of COVID-19 when, in fact, it did not contain any of the key ingredients in hand sanitizer, according to the complaint.

An email to the company seeking comment was not immediately returned.

“This company exploited fears around a growing public health crisis in order to profit by selling a bogus hand sanitizer to schools looking to stop the spread,” Healey said in a written statement.

According to documents and emails obtained during the attorney general’s investigation, both customers and employees of School Health Corporation questioned the company’s statements about Theraworx Protect’s performance and ingredients.

The complaint also alleges that company staff acknowledged in an email to a client in March 2020 that it had no reliable or scientific evidence to back up claims that the product was effective in combatting the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Despite this, School Health Corporation continued to falsely market the product to public entities as a way to kill the virus, the complaint alleges.

Massachusetts
Facing trial, couple plead guilty in college scam
BOSTON (AP) — A California couple accused of paying $25,000 to cheat on their son’s college admissions test abruptly agreed to plead guilty on Wednes­day, six weeks before they were set to go on trial in federal court.

Dr. Gregory Colburn, 63, and Amy Colburn, 61, of Palo Alto, agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to money laundering and mail fraud conspiracy charges.

The Silicon Valley couple had been scheduled to be tried starting Jan. 13, 2022, in U.S. District Court in Boston. A formal plea hearing was not immediately scheduled.

Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell said in a statement that the Colburns agreed to plead guilty to their roles in a scheme to defraud The College Board by paying William “Rick” Singer $25,000 to bribe Igor Dvorskiy, a corrupt test administrator.

Dvorskiy, in turn, arranged for bogus test proctor Mark Riddell to fraudulently inflate the score on the SAT exam taken by the Colburns’ son, Mendell said.

Singer, Dvorskiy and Riddell all have pleaded guilty to federal charges related to their respective roles in the scheme.

As part of a plea agreement, the Colburns each have agreed — subject to federal court approval — to serve eight weeks in prison, along with a year of supervised release, 100 hours of community service and a $12,500 fine, Mendell’s office said.

The couple are among nearly 60  wealthy parents, athletic coaches and others charged since March 2019 in the case dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.” The scheme led by Singer involved rigging test scores and paying off sports coaches to help students get into top universities across the country, prosecutors say.

New Hampshire
Court rejects appeal of man who sent threatening letters
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld convictions of mailing threatening letters in the case of a man who said he made clear his intent to “wage psychological warfare” against two estranged relatives, not to cause physical harm.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected Matthew Oliver’s appeal on Wednesday.

Oliver was sentenced in New Hampshire last year to 15 months in prison. He mailed the first letter to a woman in Seabrook in January 2017, when he was jailed in Syracuse, New York, on burglary charges.

The letter included the words, “If I were you I’d tread carefully around town . . . and when I am done with you, you wont (sic) be able to walk let alone breathe until you die a moments (sic) notice from the day of my choice ,” according to court documents.

The woman got a protective order against him. That April, her daughter received a similar letter that also had a threat of sexual assault, the documents said.

When he was later interviewed by a deputy sheriff, Oliver said the first woman “should be worried and concerned for her safety.”

Oliver was later indicted, and a jury convicted him.

Oliver said that his letters did not support a true threat of physical violence. The appeals court said the jury had enough proof to convict him.