The Justice Department has reached a $134,000 settlement with a New York woman after federal drug agents used information from her cellphone to set up a fake Facebook page in her name, a tactic that raised privacy concerns and led to a federal government review of the ruse, according to court papers filed Tuesday. The government did not admit wrongdoing as part of its settlement with Sondra Arquiett, which comes months after a judge referred both sides into mediation. But after initially defending the actions, the Justice Department in October said it would review whether the undercover tactic went too far. The settlement settles allegations that the Drug Enforcement Administration took photos and other information from Arquietts cellphone to create a fake Facebook page in hopes of tricking her friends and associates into revealing incriminating drug secrets. A DEA agent created the fake social media page after Arquiett was arrested as part of a drug investigation. Court papers show she pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and was sentenced in 2012 to time served and given a period of home confinement. She sued the federal government last year, saying she suffered fear and great emotional distress and was endangered because the fake page gave the impression that she was cooperating with a federal investigation. The Justice Department initially defended the creation of the page in court filings, saying that Arquiett implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cellphone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in ... ongoing criminal investigations.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:09:54 +0000
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