OMB gang member pleads guilty; other defendants face prison on drug, weapons, manslaughter, and fraud charges.

A 67-year-old Wilmington man could be sentenced to life in prison for the rape of a child that occurred in 2000. Deputy Attorney General Kelly Sheridan secured no contest plea from Santos Viruet to Rape First Degree. In January 2017, a woman called police to say Viruet had sexually assaulted a child in his care years earlier, prompting an investigation. Viruet faces between 15 years and life in prison when sentenced by a Superior Court judge in February 2019. Officers from the Wilmington Police Department investigated the case, with DOJ social worker Claudia Melton assisting with the prosecution.

A 20-year-old Only My Brothers (OMB) gang member will serve a prison term after a guilty plea. Oliver Henry of Dover pled guilty to four counts of Criminal Contempt in connection with gang activity. In March through June of 2018, Henry met with other OMB members at various locations in and around the City of Wilmington, despite being ordered not to have any contact with his codefendants from a 2015 case in which he pleaded guilty to Illegal Gang participation and Conspiracy Second Degree, and in his subsequent sentences for violations of probation. A Superior Court judge sentenced Henry to 360 days straight jail with no good time credit or suspension for each count, followed by one year of probation. Deputy Attorney General Mark Denney prosecuted the case, along with Deputy Attorneys General Albert J. Roop and Allison Abessinio.

A 36-year-old Newport man faces at least 15 years in prison on drug and weapons charges. Deputy Attorneys General Zachary Rosen and Anna Currier secured a guilty plea from Johnny Dorazio to Drug Dealing of Heroin, Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Resisting Arrest. In January 2018, police executing a search warrant in the home where Dorazio was staying in the 200 block of West Ayre Street found approximately 200 bags of heroin and a .45 caliber handgun. Dorazio is barred from having a gun because of previous felony convictions on weapons and carjacking charges. Sentencing by a Superior Court judge is currently scheduled for February, with Dorazio facing a minimum 15 years in prison. DOJ paralegal Meredith Parkinson assisted with the case.

A 2016 fatal car crash led to a prison sentence for a Wilmington man. Deputy Attorneys General Danielle Brennan and William Leonard secured the sentence for Ternell Henderson, 33. In August 2016, Henderson was driving his vehicle over 80 m.p.h. in a 25 m.p.h. hour zone along Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilmington, and ran multiple red lights before crashing into Brian James’ vehicle, killing James. After the collision, Henderson got into another vehicle near the scene and fled. Henderson pled guilty to Manslaughter in June 2018. He was sentenced by a Superior Court judge to 12 years and 6 months in prison, followed by 6 months of home confinement, then 2 years of probation. Tavis Miller and James Peiffer of the Wilmington Police Department were the detectives on the case, and DOJ social worker Kristen Fluharty-Emory assisted with the prosecution.

A contractor who took a down payment from a client then never returned to do the paid-for work was sentenced in Superior Court. Deputy Attorney General Michael Undorf of the DOJ Consumer Protection Unit secured the sentence for John Carpenter III, 48, of Wilmington. In September 2016, Carpenter took a $1,800 deposit from a woman in the Sparrow Run neighborhood for home improvements, including roof and gutter reinstallations. Carpenter cashed the check the same day but never made the repairs. In May 2018, Carpenter pled guilty to felony Home Improvement Fraud. A Superior Court judge sentenced Carpenter to one year of probation, and ordered any advances or deposits received, directly or indirectly, for any future home improvement contracts shall be used solely to purchase materials for the job. Carpenter paid full restitution to multiple victims as part of the plea deal. The case was prosecuted with the assistance of DOJ special investigator Robert Schreiber, and officers from the Delaware State Police and New Castle County Police Department.

Delaware Department of Justice sponsors LifeSmarts in its 25th year

The Delaware Department of Justice is sponsoring the 2018-2019 season of LifeSmarts, a national scholarship competition and educational program for middle school and high school students that tests knowledge of real-life consumer issues and aims to create a future generation of consumer-savvy adults. Coaches can register and create teams, and students may register and compete online.

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League (NCL), the nation’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, and operated at the state level by volunteer coordinators, led in Delaware by Deputy Attorney General Gillian Andrews of the DOJ’s Consumer Protection Unit.

This year, the program, now live online at LifeSmarts.org., celebrates its 25th anniversary season.

“We are thrilled that Delaware is part of LifeSmarts’ 25th year of bringing invaluable consumer literacy lessons and scholarship opportunities to teens in our state,” said DAG Andrews. “I am consistently impressed with the level of knowledge and information the competitors gain, as well as the resounding sportsmanship of the students.”

LifeSmarts focuses on five main content areas: consumer rights and responsibilities, personal finance, technology, health and safety, and the environment, with students quizzed on their knowledge of these subject areas during the online competition, which runs through February 16, 2019. Top-performing state teams then advance to the National LifeSmarts Championship taking place in 2019 from April 13-16 in Orlando, Florida. Winning team members receive scholarships and other prizes.

Last year, students answered more than 3.5 million consumer questions about credit reports, recycling, nutrition, social media, state lemon laws, and everything in between, including:

• What is the proper way to dispose of used motor oil?
• Your creditor may say you are in arrears if you fail to do what?
• What holiday is celebrated on the third Monday in January, and honors one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders?

In addition to online, state, and national competitions, LifeSmarts recognition and awards occur throughout the program year:

• Teams of students vie for cash prizes in the online TeamSmarts quiz, which focuses on a specific LifeSmarts content area each month through January.
• Classroom mentor programs: Throughout the year, ten $1,000 scholarships are awarded to winning LifeSmarts students who become Safety Smart Ambassadors, using LifeSmarts content to present safety messages to younger children in their communities.
• Partnering with FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America), LifeSmarts offers special competitive events for student members of both student leadership organizations. FBLA and FCCLA team members have the opportunity to compete for cash prizes, trophies, and other honors.

LifeSmarts is active in all states and the District of Columbia, where NCL is headquartered.

For more information, and to learn how to register, visit LifeSmarts.org.

Ride-sharing company Uber Technologies, Inc. will change its security practices and make payments that will be shared with affected Uber drivers in order to resolve an investigation into Uber’s delay in reporting a data breach to its drivers, violating Delaware’s and others states’ data privacy laws.

The settlement, which includes Delaware and the attorneys general of the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, was announced on Wednesday.

Uber learned in November 2016 that hackers had gained access to some personal information that Uber maintains about its drivers, including drivers’ license information pertaining to approximately 600,000 drivers nationwide. Uber tracked down the hackers and obtained assurances that the hackers deleted the information. However, even though the improper acquisition of some of that information, namely driver’s license numbers for Uber drivers, triggered Delaware’s data breach law requiring them to notify affected Delaware residents, Uber failed to report the breach in a timely manner, waiting until November 2017 to report it.

“It is critically important that companies protect the sensitive personal information of the people using their services, and that they inform those people in a timely fashion when that information is improperly acquired,” Attorney General Matt Denn said. “This settlement will ensure that Uber improves its data security efforts, and holds Uber accountable for not informing drivers that their information was breached.”

The settlement between Delaware and Uber requires the company to:

• Comply with Delaware data breach and consumer protection laws regarding protecting Delaware residents’ personal information and notifying them in the event of a data breach concerning their personal information;
• Take precautions to protect any user data Uber stores on third-party platforms outside of Uber;
• Use strong password policies for its employees to gain access to the Uber network;
• Develop and implement a strong overall data security policy for all data that Uber collects about its users, including assessing potential risks to the security of the data and implementing any additional security measures beyond what Uber is doing to protect the data;
• Hire an outside qualified party to assess Uber’s data security efforts on a regular basis and draft a report with any recommended security improvements. Uber will implement any such security improvement recommendations; and
• Develop and implement a corporate integrity program to ensure that Uber employees can bring any ethics concerns they have about any other Uber employees to the company, and that it will be heard.

As part of the settlement, Uber has also agreed to pay $148 million total to the states. Delaware will receive $643,000 and the Delaware Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit will use a portion of Delaware’s share to provide each Uber driver impacted in Delaware with a $100 payment. Eligible drivers will be those Delaware Uber drivers whose driver’s license numbers were accessed during the 2016 breach – there are estimated to be 639 such drivers. Some of those drivers may not still be driving for Uber today.

The rest of Delaware’s share of the settlement proceeds will go into the Consumer Protection Fund, which pays for the Attorney General’s work on consumer fraud and deceptive trade practice matters and other consumer-oriented investigations and legal actions.

Deputy Attorneys General Christian Douglas Wright and Stephen McDonald led Delaware’s efforts in this investigation.

The Consumer Protection Unit (CPU) of the Delaware Department of Justice is pursuing criminal charges against a Sussex County-based contractor accused of defrauding multiple Delaware homeowners.

Charges currently pending against Sergio Izzo, Jr., 32, of Lewes, include 4 counts of Theft, 2 counts of Issuing a Bad Check, 2 counts of Home Improvement Fraud, 2 counts of Unlawful Use of a Payment Card, 2 counts of Forgery Second Degree, 2 counts of Criminal Impersonation, and 1 count of Providing False Statements to Hinder an Investigation. Izzo conducted business as Izzo & Son Turf Company, LLC, based in Long Neck.

Allegations in the cases are the Izzo accepted payment from several different victims for home improvement work that he then did not substantially complete, and did not provide refunds. The charges also related to allegations that unauthorized charges were made to customer credit cards, and that he accepted delivery of materials from a building supply company and failed to pay for them.

DOJ Consumer Protection urges other homeowners who believe they may have a similar complaint about Izzo or Izzo & Son Turf Company, LLC, or have information to share with authorities, to contact DOJ Special Investigator Dan Daly at (302)752-3215.

Generally, DOJ Consumer Protection advises Delawareans hiring a contractor for home improvement work to be alert for scams, and help avoid them by doing homework before hiring a contractor:

• Contractors should always be bonded and maintain all required licenses for mechanical work
• Get references and follow up on them
• Talk to friends and neighbors about a contractor’s reputation
• Never pay for the work in cash or in full up front

If consumers suspect they are a victim of home improvement fraud, they should contact their local law enforcement agency to make a police report.

In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The Delaware Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit is alerting residents that a phone scam regarding missed jury duty service is again making its way through Delaware, including recently in Kent County.

In the most recent scam, consumers receive a call from a live person claiming to be calling from a court office (such as the “Kent County Civil Processing Unit”) and that bench warrants have been issued for the consumer’s arrest due to their failure to appear for jury duty. Consumers have reported that were told that, in order to avoid arrest, they must to pay a fine via a money order or gift card purchased at a convenience store or pharmacy. The scam has included someone who refers to themselves as a major and who provides a number with a (302) area code to call back when they are ready to provide the payment.

According to Delaware’s courts, Delawareans eligible for jury duty are always notified about their obligation to serve jury duty by mail; never by telephone. If you do receive a call about jury duty, you can check to see if you have been summoned by calling Delaware Superior Court Jury Services at 302-255-0800 for New Castle County, 302-735-1901 for Kent County, and 302-855-7055 for Sussex County.

DOJ also reminds residents to be extra diligent about this or other telephone scams by:

• Never agreeing to pay any fine or other money over the phone, including by purchasing a money order or gift card at a store and providing the number to someone over the phone or by email. Government agencies do not take payments this way.
• Not answering calls from unknown numbers or unfamiliar persons. Scams can be “spoofed” to appear to be coming from a local number, even though the call is originating from out of state or overseas.
• Hanging up on aggressive callers, particularly those who threaten arrest.

The Attorney General encourages consumers who believe they may have been scammed to call the toll-free Consumer Hotline at 1-800-220-5424 or email the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit at consumer.protection@delaware.gov. If you receive a call but have not paid any money to the scammers, you can report the phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry and file a complaint, www.donotcall.gov.