Former DOJ Trial Attorney and Civilian Criminal Defense Attorney Charged with Unauthorized Disposal of Government Records and Aiding and Abetting Unauthorized Disposal of Government Records

On September 26, 2025, Carlos A. Lopez, a former DOJ Trial Attorney previously assigned to the Criminal Division Health Care Fraud Unit, Dallas, Texas, and Barrett Howell, a non-DOJ attorney, were charged by Information in the Northern District of Texas with one misdemeanor count of unauthorized disposal of government records and one misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting unauthorized disposal of government records. According to the Information, on or about April 11, 2023, Lopez knowingly disposed of his text messages exchanged with Howell from his government issued cellphone, and on or about April 20, 2023, Howell knowingly aided and abetted Lopez by also deleting his text messages with Lopez to conceal the deletions by Lopez. The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Dallas Office.