WASHINGTON — A former D.C. patrol officer was found guilty of selling the confidential information of crash victims to attorneys for "referral fees."
According to the Department of Justice, 35-year-old Vincent Forrest was found guilty Thursday for his role in a bribery scheme in which he would use his position as a Metropolitan Police patrol officer to get information and sell it for cash.
Forest was indicted in June 2021 for the scheme, along with 43-year-old Raquel DePaula, of Beltsville, Maryland. A jury found Forest guilty Thursday of conspiracy, bribery, and making false statements.
Evidence showed the scheme began as far back as April 2019, when Forrest accessed confidential information from MPD Traffic Accident Reports, or “PD Form 10s.”
Forest used his job to access MPD’s law enforcement sensitive database to review and record victim contact information from Traffic Accident Reports, including names and contact information for those involved.
The former patrolman would then send the victims' contact information to DePaula using an encrypted messaging app called WhatsApp.
DePaula owned RD Legal Solutions, LLC, and acted as a “runner." She used the victims' information to solicit the victims for local attorneys in exchange for referral fees. She would reach out to the victims within days of their traffic accidents, violating the 22 D.C. Code Section 3225.14.
DePaula admitted to paying Forest between between approximately $600 and $1,300 per week in exchange for the victim contact information. Prosecutors say in total she paid Forrest more than $15,000 and received contact information for more than 2,300 traffic crash victims.
DePaula later pleaded guilty on October 6, 2021, to one count of bribery of a public official. She will be sentenced on March 15.
The pair are the sixth and seventh defendants to be convicted in connection to the illegal sale of crash reports by MPD officers. Previously MPD employees who were convicted of selling information include MPD Officer Walter Lee, who accessed the confidential police database 11,000 times and resigned in 2019, and employee Kendra Coles was sentenced to 78 days in jail in 2021 after accepting more than $40,000 in bribes for personal information.
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