Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2006 Annual Report

Criminal Division (continued)
Unit prosecutes white-collar
crime and fraud by individuals
and organized criminal groups
and organizations. The Unit
prosecutes criminal fraud in
areas such as securities,
insurance, real estate, banking,
taxes, government, telemarketing,
computers and welfare.
The Unit also focuses on gangrelated
crimes and handles
conflict matters from other
counties.
• The Drug Unit combats drug
trafficking and money-laundering
organizations operating within
Arizona. The Unit’s attorneys
provide legal advice and training
statewide.
• The Medicaid Fraud Control
Unit is a federally-funded unit
charged with investigating and
prosecuting Medicaid (AHCCCS)
fraud and abuse, neglect or
financial exploitation occurring in
Medicaid facilities.
• The Tucson Criminal Trials Unit
prosecutes crimes occurring in
the Tucson area. The Unit also
works with multi-jurisdictional
groups in southern Arizona to
prosecute abuse and financial
exploitation of the elderly and
vulnerable adults.
Highlights
• The Fraud and Public Corruption
Unit charged 731 criminal
defendants with felony offenses
that included fraudulent schemes
and artifices, illegal enterprise,
participating in criminal syndicates,
money laundering and
numerous violent crimes due to
conflicts referred from various
county attorneys’ offices. A
number of these cases involved
the prosecution of human
smuggling, which were investigated
by the Financial Crimes
Task Force comprised of
investigators and detectives from
the Department of Public Safety,
Phoenix Police Department and
Attorney General’s Office. The
fraudulent schemes cases
involved losses to victims in the
tens of millions of dollars. The
Unit handled approximately 50
foreign prosecutions. All of these
cases pertain to pending Arizona
criminal cases against Mexican
citizens who fled to Mexico to
avoid prosecution.
• A Border Trafficking Team was
established to prosecute cases
relating to human smuggling and
drug importation, especially
methamphetamine produced in
Mexico’s so-called “super-labs.”
This nine-member team,
comprised of investigators,
prosecutors and asset forfeiture
attorneys, handled the prosecution
of more than a dozen
coyotes under a new state
human trafficking law. The team
also prosecutes cases involving
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Terry Goddard with award recipients at the
Attorney General’s Office Victims’ Rights Week
Commemoration in April 2006
identity theft and false identifications.
By targeting the
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