Federal Reports

USDA OIG assessed whether dog breeders corrected previous noncompliances and whether the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service carried out enforcement actions for substantiated Animal Welfare Act violations.

In May 2024, we conducted on-site, unannounced inspections at five U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the Tucson area, specifically four U.S. Border Patrol (Border Patrol) facilities and one Office of Field Operations port of entry. At the time of our on-site inspections, Border Patrol held 1,381 detainees in custody in the Tucson Coordination Center, Tucson Soft-sided Facility, Nogales Processing Facility, and Ajo station. In all four facilities, we found Border Patrol held detainees longer than specified in the National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search, which generally limits detention to 72 hours. Overall, Border Patrol met other applicable standards to provide or make available amenities such as food, water, and medical care to detainees. However, we found Border Patrol did not follow standard procedures for managing detainee property in one holding facility, instances where agents did not document welfare checks for detainees with medical conditions, holding cells that were over capacity, and insufficient medical staffing. In addition, we found data integrity issues with information in Border Patrol’s electronic system of record, e3.

Kevin Leonard, a Tennessee resident, was sentenced on January 31, 2025, in U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, for health care fraud. Leonard was sentenced to 5 years of probation and ordered to forfeit $234,000. Leonard was a patient broker who unlawfully brokered patients to clinical treatment facilities owned and operated by Paragon Recovery LLC. In exchange, Leonard and others received kickback payments. The scheme resulted in the inflated fraudulent billing of insurance providers, including Amtrak’s.
 

In addition, Casimiro Bojorquez, a California resident, pleaded guilty on January 14, 2025, to conspiracy related to the health care fraud scheme. Our investigation found that Bojorquez and others conspired to solicit, offer, and receive illegal remunerations for referrals to clinical treatment facilities owned and operated by Paragon Recovery. Amtrak’s insurance providers were billed approximately $1,152,000 by facilities owned and operated by Paragon Recovery over the course of the scheme.

Bojorquez and two other codefendants will be sentenced at a future date.

Amtrak uses operational technology (OT) systems to manage equipment that controls train operations, such as communications and dispatching. Disruptions to these systems resulting from a disaster—whether caused by human or technical error, natural disasters, cybersecurity attacks, or physical attacks—could cause train delays and cancellations, revenue losses, and safety risks. Accordingly, our objective was to assess the company’s disaster recovery practices for its OT systems. Given the sensitive nature of the report’s information, we summarized the results in this public version of the report. Our assessment of the company’s disaster recovery practices for its OT systems resulted in three recommendations. Company executives agreed with our recommendations and described ongoing and planned actions to address them.