New York City Police Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Accessing and Disseminating Information from Terrorist Watch List
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 14, 2009 |
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that New York City Police Department ("NYPD") sergeant HAYTHAM KHALIL pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to a charge stemming from the unauthorized access and dissemination of information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") National Crime Information Center ("NCIC"). According to the criminal Complaint, Information, and statements made during today's guilty plea proceeding:
The FBI maintains sensitive law enforcement data in the NCIC. The NCIC also contains information derived from the FBI's "Terrorist Screening Center" regarding individuals listed on a terrorist watch list. The information is then shared for authorized use by state and local law enforcement authorities throughout the United States.
New York State maintains an electronic database system ("E-Justice") that is designed to give users from qualified law enforcement agencies a single point of access to computerized law enforcement information within and beyond New York State.
Qualified state and local law enforcement personnel in New York have access to various forms of information maintained in EJustice including watch list files, such as the terrorist watch list maintained by the FBI and available in NCIC.
KHALIL exceeded his authorization by accessing the EJustice system through an NYPD computer. KHALIL, who did not have an E-Justice account, used another NYPD officer's E-Justice account and obtained an NCIC document identifying an individualas being on a terrorist watch list. KHALIL then forwarded the NCIC document to an acquaintance involved in a custody dispute in Canada.
KHALIL, 34, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty before United States Magistrate Judge MICHAEL H. DOLINGER to accessing a computer and as a result exceeding his authority by obtaining information belonging to a department and agency of the United States. KHALIL is scheduled to be sentenced on April 14,2009, at 10 a.m. by Magistrate Judge DOLINGER. The charge to which KHALIL pleaded guilty is a misdemeanor under which he faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a fine of the greater of $100,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense,and a maximum term of supervised release of one year.
Mr. DASSIN praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office's Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorney LOYAAN A. EGAL is in charge of this prosecution.