‘No Background Check’ Category

Son Learns that Mother’s Caregiver Has Elderly Mistreatment Conviction

When his 92-year-old mother needed an in-home caregiver, Richard Laughlin relied on a recommendation from a trusted friend and hired Teresita Lee.  What he did not know was that Lee had a long criminal history including multiple thefts and a recent conviction for mistreating another elderly person to whom she was supposed to be providing care.

According to an article in The Oregonian, Laughlin said that in 2010, Lee claimed that she had to make a trip to California. What he didn’t know at the time was that she didn’t go to California - she was serving 90 days in the county jail related to her criminal mistreatment conviction. She also received three years probation with the condition that she not work for any elderly or dependent person. A condition that she was violating by caring for Laughlin’s mother.

We are waiting on copies of the 2010 case to arrive from the court in hopes of learning more about the kind of mistreatment the victim in that case suffered.

According to the article, another individual complained to police three years ago that Lee had stolen the identity of his mother, for whom Lee was a caregiver.

As the Baby Boom Generation continues to age, there will be increased demand for non-medical home caregivers. There will also be more people who are unfit for those sorts of those positions or, worse yet, who are seeking to prey on their elderly patients. Unfortunately, many people who hire individuals to come into their homes and interact with their families do not exercise due diligence in making sure that they are competent and safe. A part of that due diligence would certainly be a criminal background check. However, references from prior families with whom the individual has worked and verification of their credentials is equally important.

Sex Offender Caught Working As Cookie Monster

QC Characters is (was) a new business startup in Iowa that hoped to provide actors dressed as popular children’s characters for parties and special events.

Unfortunately, one of QC Character’s first hires was James Lester Rogers. The company sent Rogers dressed as the Sesame Street character called Cookie Monster to the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds to drum up a little business. While Rogers was at the entrance to the fairgrounds, he saw an old acquaintance and removed his Cookie Monster head to say hello to him. In the excitement of his new job and being reacquainted with his old friend, Rogers forgot several things:

Clearly, there are no IQ requirements to work as Cookie Monster. (Kermit on the other hand…)

Rogers was previously convicted of committing lascivious acts with a child in Linn County, Iowa and is listed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry. He also had two contempt of court findings against him subsequent to his conviction.

QC Characters’ owner admitted to news sources that he made a serious mistake by not running a background check on Rogers. “I should have took my time, and done a background check but … you learn from your mistakes.” He says that he had intended to send Rogers to children’s parties and other events, which also would have been a violation of the terms of Rogers’ sex offender registration. Fortunately, the business was so new (or ill-conceived) that they had not yet had any customers. Rogers was quickly arrested (imagine having to move through Central Booking in a Cookie Monster outfit) and, we assume, QC Characters has changed its name because of all of the bad publicity.

Many inexperienced employers make the similar mistakes in underestimating the risks associated with hiring people without first conducting a background check. You can bet that the owner of QC-Characters won’t make that mistake again.

Cook County Welfare Director convicted of government theft – AGAIN?!

Aurea Picasso, the former Welfare Director of Hanover Township (Cook County, Illinois) pleaded guilty on August 3, 2011 to stealing more than $193,110 in funds for dental work, car insurance, cell phones and her daughter’s Sweet 16 birthday party. She was sentenced to six years in prison.

This wasn’t, however, Picasso’s first felony conviction. In 2003, when she was hired as the Welfare Director she was awaiting trial on 28 counts of theft, identity theft, official misconduct, computer fraud, state benefits fraud, and forgery – all related to her role as a welfare case manager for the State of Illinois. Shortly after starting her new role as Welfare Director for Hanover Township, she entered a plea deal in that case and was convicted of theft by deception greater than $10,000 but less than $100,000.

None of the news articles we found indicated whether Hanover Township was aware of the pending case against Picasso when they hired her in 2003. One Chicago Tribune story quoted the current township supervisor as saying, “It really baffles me, as the township supervisor and treasurer, that this would slip by.” You think?

It is hard to imagine that a local government would hire someone into what seems to be a career advancement if they knew she likely stole from the state in her previous position. Unfortunately, it is not hard to believe that they didn’t run a background check on her. This blog is full of those kinds of stories.

 

 

 

No Background Check for Accused Sex Offender Working at Lufkin Apartment Complex

Had the owners of the Acadia Arms Apartments in Lufkin, Texas completed a background check on Jose Diaz before hiring him as a handyman, they would have learned that he has convictions for driving while intoxicated, driving while his license was suspended, and a felony conviction for possession of cocaine for which he spent eleven months in prison before being paroled in 2007.
This is definitely not someone you to have keys to your apartment.

According to television station KTRE: The owner says they didn’t check him since he was only contracted for ten days.

A female resident says she awoke in her bedroom on January 6th to find Diaz pulling off her shorts and began screaming, according to The Lufkin Daily News. When her roommate responded with a gun, Diaz left the apartment.

Since the incident, several other residents have made complaints against Diaz, including one, according to television station KLTV, who says he… it’s just too gross – you can read it on their website if you wish. (Warning: It is both graphic and gross.)

Many employers fail to conduct a meaningful criminal background check on contingent or temporary workers, thinking that they will only be around for a short time. That faulty thinking fails to recognize that a temporary worker with ill intent only needs a short amount of time to identify the vulnerabilities of the employer, coworkers, or customers.  Imperative recommends that our clients select temporary employees with the same degree of diligence as regular employees.

Church and Nursing Home Fall Prey to “He’s a Nice Guy” Syndrome

My friend Greg Love is an attorney who, through his firm Ministry Safe, trains churches and community service organizations on how to keep sex offenders from harming their organizations. In his presentations he often laments that the Church is the last place where someone can show up and get access to kids or other vulnerable populations just by asking.

Greg’s point is that there is a tendency in a religious environment to presume to know someone’s “heart” and give them the benefit of the doubt along with access to kids, the infirm, or others who are vulnerable. The problem is that many deeply troubled and potentially dangerous people know how to talk the talk and appear to walk the walk. By the time their deception is identified, it is often too late.

According to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Porter has been accused of placing a hidden camera in a bathroom used by employees at Harbor Lakes Plaza Nursing and Rehabilitation, where he was acting as a chaplain.

Apparently, only after this investigation began did the nursing home or The Church at Granbury learn that he was convicted in Manatee County, Florida for nine counts of video voyeurism. According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the Florida case, Porter videoed the bathroom activities of members of a juvenille Bible study group he held in his apartment. He was sentenced to 120 days in prison and one year probation, which he was allowed to serve in Texas.

What is even more disconcerting is that while on probation he received counseling at Gateway Community Church in Granbury, and was allowed to volunteer and act as a chaplain by both Granbury churches. “We let him do that because he was in counseling at the same time,” Gateway’s former music minister, who also counseled Porter, is quoted as saying. He added that he now believes that Porter lied to him about the Florida circumstances, though the Star-Telegram article doesn’t say how.

Which brings us to another issue my friend Greg Love often points out. Individuals who act out in this way (Greg often refers to them as predators) know who to cultivate the trust of gatekeepers – parents, church leaders, workplace supervisors – the very people whose job it is to protect vulnerable populations.

When conducting background checks, we often see situations where an employment applicant will admit to a minor criminal offense that, once the background check has been completed, turns out to be a gross reduction of the actual offense(s). Employers are sometimes so impressed that the applicant is forthright about past offenses, particularly minor but emberrasing ones, that they let down their guard and fail to conduct proper due diligence.

Additionally, many organizations seem to equate how much an individual is being compensated with the level of the background check that is conducted. Never mind that a “volunteer pastor” or “chaplain” is automatically given immediate credibility by those he or she encounters and the potential for damage to others and the organization is often greater than many other more highly compensated positions. Organizations need to carefully review the risks associated with a position rather than the compensation level when determining the necessary level of due diligence.

Meanwhile, Hood County Sheriff investigators are still trying to identify Porter’s vicitims from the hidden camera images they found. He is out on $20,000 bond so if you use a public restroom in Granbury… well, I’m just saying.

Texas State Background Check Contractor Hires A Thief on Probation

However, Imperative Information Group conducted our own research on Ms. Cuellar and the results are startling.

Apparently, her former employer failed to conduct a criminal background check on her or, worse yet, chose to ignore the results of the background check. That bad hiring decision resulted in the identity theft scandal unveiled in last month’s indictment, according to the federal indictment.

Integrated Biometrics Technology (IBT) operates a fingerprint collection site for L-1 ID Solutions, the company to which the State of Texas sole-sourced their Live Scan fingerprinting collection network. IBT collects fingerprints of teachers and others who must receive fingerprints as part of the licensing, certification, or employment processes of Texas state agencies.

According to the indictment, Cuellar worked for IBT from March 10, 2008 until July, 27, 2008. What isn’t reflected in the indictment or in any of the press coverage I’ve found to date is that Cuellar was on probation for theft when she was hired by IBT, having plead guilty to theft charges the previous November. 

The federal indictment is interesting reading. During the short time that she worked for IBT, Cuellar allegedly stole “thousands” of applications for fingerprint background checks, each containing the applicant’s “name, address, date of birth, social security number, driver license information, and other identifying information.” Cuellar allegedly “used, gave away, or traded victims’ information so that members of the conspiracy could fraudulently obtain credit cards, goods, and services in victims’ names.”

The “members of the conspiracy caused credit cards and merchandise to be shipped or mailed to various addresses in the Waco area in victims’ names.” According to the indictment, Cuellar and her friends opened JC Penny’s cards, bought Dell computers, and even opened a Green Mountain Energy electricity account at the residence where some of the group was staying.

Several law enforcement agencies are still trying to identify additional victims. The McLennan County Sherrif’s Office has created a webpage and hotline for “Reporting for L-1 ID Solutions Security Breach” in order to aid victims of this easily-preventable data breach.

Sheez. Did I mention that before IBT ever gave Cuellar access to these poor individuals’ identity information, she had already plead guilty and was serving probation for theft on a case out of Waco?

It isn’t clear whether IBT simply failed to conduct a background check on Cuellar, ran an inadequate background check (perhaps only relying on the incomplete state or “national” criminal records databases available online), or ran a background check that included their local county’s records and chose to ignore the resulting records.

That the State of Texas’ background check vendor may have failed to conduct the most basic background check on a potential employee is blindingly ironic. It is no doubt causing blinding headaches for Cuellar’s victims.

By the way, Cuellar was later charged with theft by check in another case, which was dismissed in August of last year after Cuellar presented the DA’s office with…

wait for it…

“forgery affidavits on the checks.”