Attorney General Todd Rokita seeks execution date for convicted killer of Beech Grove cop
Attorney General Todd Rokita is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to set an execution date for the convicted murderer who fatally shot Beech Grove Police Officer William Toney on Sept. 29, 2000.
“Most Hoosiers and I expect justice without delay, especially when someone murders a police officer, one of the many, many brave men and women we thank and respect daily," Attorney General Rokita said. “This convicted cop killer has been on death row far too long — 22 years — and it's past time for him to pay his debt to society.”
Attorney General Rokita filed a formal motion today asking the Supreme Court to set a date for the execution of Benjamin Ritchie.
For several years, the State of Indiana paused executions due to the Indiana Department of Correction’s difficulty obtaining the drug pentobarbital, which is used to carry out executions. That issue has been resolved.
On Sept. 11, the Indiana Supreme Court set an execution date of Dec. 18 for another convicted murderer, Joseph Corcoran, after Attorney General Rokita filed a motion asking the court to set a date. Corcoran killed four people.
Attached is Attorney General Rokita’s latest motion to the Supreme Court.
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‘Smurf’ culture makes better cartoon than political fundraising tactic, declares letter to ActBlue
Attorneys General Todd Rokita and Brenna Bird co-lead 19-state effort to protect elections from fraudulent, foreign and other illegal interference.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird are co-leading a 19-state letter to ActBlue officials seeking information on whether ActBlue has appropriate safeguards in place to combat improper donation activity, including, among other things, the practice of “smurfing” — a type of money laundering in which large donations are broken up in a way that disguises who the money comes from so that donor can skirt contribution limits.
“Hoosiers deserve to know that the powerful interests funding political campaigns are operating ethically and legally,” Attorney General Rokita said. “They deserve the assurance that elections are being conducted with fairness and integrity rather than rigged in ways that dilute and undermine their own individual votes.”
Recent reporting suggests that individuals identified on Federal Election Commission filings as having made donations through ActBlue (and other affiliated entities) may not have actually made those donations.
ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms for election-related donations, has processed billions of dollars in campaign contributions this election cycle.
To ensure confidence in elections, citizens deserve transparency and assurance that political donations — particularly in such large volumes — are being solicited, made and processed consistent with campaign finance, consumer protection and other state and federal laws.
The full letter is attached.
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Attorney General Todd Rokita co-leads national coalition against FCC inmate rules that could dismantle countless local police investigations
Attorney General Todd Rokita is co-leading a 14-state lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC’s) new rule that could limit phone calls for inmates and prevent local police from performing one of their most basic functions — investigating and preventing crimes by surveilling inmate calls.
By capping the cost for inmates far below any reasonable level, the FCC will impose new costs on taxpayers and deprive state and local authorities of many safety benefits that come from allowing inmates access to audio and video calls. The FCC’s new rule would likely force some jails to eliminate such services altogether — directly undermining the goal of expanding inmate access to calls that the FCC claims it is pursuing.
“Federal bureaucrats at the FCC are trying to dictate to our local sheriffs and state prison administrators how to manage their prison facilities,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Their unlawful tampering runs a very real risk of making our jails and therefore our communities less safe. That’s why we’re stepping forward to protect the interests of sheriffs, correctional officers, the Indiana Department of Correction and all Hoosiers to challenge this rule and defend common sense.”
Attorney General Rokita’s multistate challenge seeks the reversal of unlawful regulations that, among other things, impermissibly intrude into how state and local prisons and jails provide communication services to inmates. The feds’ new inmate phone call rules threaten to dismantle the monitoring of inmate communications — a valuable investigative tool available to local law enforcement.
Granting inmates’ access to communication services — which include both calls and other online services accessible by tablets, such as legal resources and religious materials — helps reduce violence and other disruptive behavior in inmate populations. By monitoring inmate calls, facilities are also able to identify suicide risks and criminal activity and gather information that can help solve crimes. Providing communication services for inmates has become a vital tool that state and local authorities rely on to keep inmates and the public safe.
By issuing this rule, the FCC has far exceeded its statutory authority to regulate inmate communication services and ignored important safety and economic considerations that should have guided the agency’s decision making.
Attorney General Rokita is co-leading this lawsuit with Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. The 14 states will detail their arguments upon filing their opening brief later this year.
Attached is the states’ petition for review.
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Attorney General Todd Rokita offers legal and law enforcement training to combat rising antisemitism in Indiana
Attorney General Todd Rokita hosted a training to combat antisemitism on Sept. 20 designed to educate attorneys, law enforcement officers and others on how to stop harassment, intimidation, threats and other forms of illegal and improper conduct rooted in antisemitism. After overwhelming success, the training will now be offered on-demand for one year.
"Our office is passionately committed to ending antisemitism and after the recent attacks by Iran where at least 180 missiles were fired at Israel, we stand with our closest ally and the Jewish people now more than ever,” Attorney General Rokita said. “This training is just one more step we can take to end antisemitism.”
Attorney General Rokita has always been a strong advocate for the Jewish community. Throughout his years as a public servant — as Secretary of State, a member of Congress and now as Attorney General — he has stood in solidarity with Israel and will continue fighting to preserve religious freedom in the Hoosier state.
After the horrific events on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents increased across the US, including in Indiana — especially on college campuses — and they remain at troubling levels as colleges resume classes for the fall semester. Therefore, Attorney General Rokita took two additional, important actions.
On Sept. 10, the Attorney General’s Office issued an official advisory opinion explaining how the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Indiana Civil Rights Act provide 1) statutory protections protecting students and employees in educational settings and 2) the authority and obligations of schools and universities to combat antisemitism in educational settings.
On Sept. 20, Attorney General Rokita organized a training seminar to combat antisemitism for attorneys and law enforcement officials to stop these terrible trends in Indiana. Due to its overwhelming success, the Attorney General’s Office is now offering this training virtually, on-demand for one year. Attorneys and law enforcement can receive up to 3 CLE and LE credit hours.
The Attorney General’s Office extends its thanks to everyone who attended and to the distinguished speakers: James Barta, Indiana Solicitor General; Dr. Lorenzo Vidino, Director of the Program on Extremism at the George Washington University; and Dr. Allon Friedman, President of the Jewish American Affairs Committee of Indiana.
Access the training module and presentation materials here.
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Home improvements: Dishonest concrete company deconstructed by Attorney General Todd Rokita for ripping off Hoosier consumers
Home improvement contractor ordered to pay nearly $350K in restitution
Attorney General Todd Rokita has taken down another group of businesses engaged is shady practices that violate the standards that Hoosier consumers have a right to expect.
This time, it’s a home-improvement contractor who allegedly tried running off with hundreds of thousands of dollars collected from hard-working homeowners without providing the anticipated services.
“Here in Indiana, we won’t tolerate businesses that collect payment and then fail to do the work they promised,” Attorney General Rokita said. “We will always work to hold accountable businesses that violate the trust placed in them by hard-working Hoosiers.”
Attorney General Rokita and his Consumer Protection team won a combination judgment of both civil penalties and restitution totaling $341,006.81 on behalf of numerous Hoosiers duped by Quest Concrete LLC and Cobraro & Company LLC — doing business as Quest Exteriors. These are an intertwining network of “home improvement” contractors that allegedly improved nothing but the businesses’ own financial situations.
Rokita commends Deputy Attorney General Tamara Weaver for her hard work in removing Quest Concrete and their affiliates from the Indiana marketplace and for helping to win the nearly $350,000 restitution order from the court.
The filed copy is attached.
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Attorney General Todd Rokita announces $52 million multistate settlement with Marriott over data breach which targeted guests’ reservation info
Attorney General Todd Rokita announced today that a coalition of 50 attorneys general has reached a settlement with Marriott International Inc., the result of a multi-year investigation into a massive data breach which targeted one of its guest reservation databases.
Under the settlement with the attorneys general, Marriott has agreed to strengthen its data security practices using a dynamic risk-based approach, to provide certain consumer protections, and to make a $52 million payment to states.
Indiana will receive over $900,000 from the settlement.
“Protecting Hoosiers’ personal data, whether they are checking into a hotel or just checking out potential travel plans, is an important priority of our office,” Attorney General Rokita said. “That’s why we hold corporations accountable if they don't handle consumers’ information responsibly. This settlement shows once again our resolve to make sure corporations are vigilant in following security protocols.”
The Federal Trade Commission, which has coordinated closely with the states throughout this investigation, has reached a parallel settlement with Marriott.
Marriott acquired Starwood in 2016 and took control of the Starwood computer network in 2016. However, from July 2014 until September 2018, intruders in the system went undetected. This led to the breach of 131.5 million guest records pertaining to customers in the United States. The impacted records included contact information, gender, dates of birth, legacy Starwood Preferred Guest information, reservation information, and hotel stay preferences, as well as a limited number of unencrypted passport numbers and unexpired payment card information.
Shortly after the breach of the Starwood database was announced, a coalition of 50 attorneys general launched a multi-state investigation into the breach. Today’s settlement resolves allegations by the attorneys general that Marriott violated state consumer protection laws, personal information protection laws, and, where applicable, breach notification laws by failing to implement reasonable data security and remediate data security deficiencies, particularly when attempting to use and integrate Starwood into its systems.
Under the terms of the settlement, Marriott has agreed to strengthen and continually improve its cybersecurity practices. Some of the specific measures include:
- Implementation of a comprehensive Information Security Program. This includes new overarching security program mandates, such as incorporating zero-trust principles, regular security reporting to the highest levels within the company, including the Chief Executive Officer, and enhanced employee training on data handling and security.
- Data minimization and disposal requirements, which will lead to less consumer data being collected and retained.
- Specific security requirements with respect to consumer data, including component hardening, conducting an asset inventory, encryption, segmentation to limit an intruder’s ability to move across a system, patch management to ensure that critical security patches are applied in a timely manner, intrusion detection, user access controls, and logging and monitoring to keep track of movement of files and users within the network.
- Increased vendor and franchisee oversight, with a special emphasis on risk assessments for “Critical IT Vendors,” and clearly outlined contracts with cloud providers.
- In the future, if Marriott acquires another entity, it must timely further assess the acquired entity’s information security program and develop plans to address identified gaps or deficiencies in security as part of the integration into Marriott’s network.
- An independent third-party assessment of Marriott’s information security program every two years for a period of 20 years for additional security oversight.
As part of the settlement, Marriott will give consumers specific protections, including a data deletion option, even if consumers do not currently have that right under state law. Marriott must offer multi-factor authentication to consumers for their loyalty rewards accounts, such as Marriott Bonvoy, as well as reviews of those accounts if there is suspicious activity.
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In latest welfare fraud win, Attorney General Todd Rokita secures six-figure settlement & criminal conviction against Highland home health provider
A years-long investigation into a home health care provider in Highland, Indiana, has resulted in a $217,000 settlement and criminal conviction obtained through the hard work of Attorney General Todd Rokita’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
Following a tip, MFCU investigators discovered that Allpoints Home Health Care Inc. billed the Medicaid program for thousands of hours not actually worked. In all, the business was found to have submitted 1,055 false claims.
“Week after week, our nationally renowned Medicaid Fraud Control Unit does outstanding and incredibly thorough work on behalf of Hoosiers,” Attorney General Rokita said. “And of all the types of fraud committed, what is more sinister than stealing money which was intended to help low-income sick people pay their health care bills?”
In some instances, the perpetrators were particularly sloppy in their falsification of records — such as claiming to provide home health care to one patient during a time when that individual was hospitalized and not even at home to receive the purported home services.
As part of the investigation, MFCU staff analyzed claims submitted to Medicaid, interviewed Allpoints employees, reviewed medical records and perused Electronic Visit Verification sheets.
By the time all the facts were gathered, investigators had enough evidence not only to pursue a settlement but also to work with the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office to achieve a criminal conviction as well.
Mohammad Adnan Satti — the employee who prepared and submitted the majority of the false claims — was convicted for felony theft and sentenced to 18 months suspended jail time as part of a plea agreement.
Allpoints agreed to pay Indiana $217,019.61 in exchange for escaping civil liability for violations of the Indiana Medicaid False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act. That’s three times the overpayments identified by our team’s analysis of the claims data.
Attorney General Rokita thanked MFCU Director Matt Whitmire, Deputy Attorney General Jeremy Johnson and former Deputy Attorney General Jordan Stover for their work on this case.
The Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a federal grant. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the State of Indiana.
The settlement agreement is attached.
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Autumn leaves are falling, time to harvest recalls
Attorney General Todd Rokita raises awareness for consumers of harmful household products recalled in September
Attorney General Todd Rokita is alerting Hoosiers of important consumer protection concerns for products recalled in September. The office encourages consumers to take advantage of opportunities available for those who purchase recalled items that could be harmful to their families.
“Hoosiers deserve protection from products that don’t work and should not have to tolerate them,” Attorney General Todd Rokita said. “If you purchased an item in September that has been recalled, you should immediately stop using the product and see what forms of reimbursement the company that sold or manufactured the product is offering.”
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, click here to see all of the consumer products that were recalled in September.
If you believe you recently purchased a recalled product, stop using it, and check its recall notice (linked above for all products). Then follow the notice’s instructions, including where to return the product, how to get the product fixed, how to dispose of the product, how to receive a refund for the product, or what steps must be taken to receive a replacement product.
To view recalls issued prior to June visit the Consumer Protection Safety Commission website.
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