Former Agent Sentenced

WASHINGTON A former special agent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) was sentenced in Tucson in connection with the theft of more than $1 million. Scott Allen Gompert, 43, of Phoenix, was sentenced to 26 months in prison, three years supervised release, and a $5,000 fine. Gompert pleaded guilty on Oct. 30, 2007, to one count of bank fraud and one count of forging the signature of a judge or court officer. As part of the plea agreement and by order of the court, Gompert has forfeited assets equal to the criminally seized amount, including approximately $550,000 in cash, a development property in Peoria, Arizona, and a 2005 Toyota Avalon. Gompert utilized his expertise and connections developed during a more than eight-year career as an OIG investigative agent to identify bank accounts holding funds derived from fraudulent activity. On three occasions in 2005 and 2006, Gompert prepared fraudulent seizure warrants featuring the forged signatures of U.S. magistrate judges, and presented the warrants to federally insured financial institutions. The fraudulent seizure warrants directed the financial institutions holding the funds to prepare cashier's checks made out to a purportedly official U.S. government seizure account, which Gompert had instead established for his personal use. Gompert utilized this scheme to amass $1,109,159 in criminal proceeds from the three fraudulent seizures.