Former U.S. Attorney’s Office Contractor Paralegal Charged with and Pleaded Guilty to Misuse of a Government Computer

On November 6, 2020, a former contractor paralegal assigned to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa pleaded guilty to an Information charging her with one count of fraud and related activity in connection with computers.  Danielle Taff was charged and pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Iowa.  According to the factual statement in support of the guilty plea, on or about May 16, 2018, Taff utilized her government computer to access non-public information without authorization and took photographs of the information with her cell phone.  On the same date, Taff allegedly allowed another individual to photograph the images on her cell phone, and that individual allegedly later disseminated some or all of the photographs to several other individuals.  In addition, on or about October 7, 2018, and on or about October 25, 2018, two individuals allegedly posted the photographs on a social media platform.  The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Chicago Field Office and the Cyber Investigations Office.