Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
"Certified Computer Examiner" Pleads Guilty to Lying About Certifications
February 5, 2014
Judith Gosselin is a Rye N.H. private investigator who has received $23,000 from the state since 2006 to do computer forensic investigations for indigent defendants. She pled guilty last week to misrepresenting some of her investigative certifications on her company’s website. According to a Concord Monitor story, Gosselin, owner and sole employee of J.A.G. & Co. in Hampton, claimed to be a “certified computer examiner” and to be trained as an ethical hacking forensic investigator when she wasn’t.
She escaped jail time in exchange for her guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of unfair and deceptive business practices. She did receive a 12-month suspended jail sentence.
She was fined $2,000, ordered to reimburse the state’s indigent defense fund $3,500 for her work on a recent case and to “not ever accept any criminal case in the state of New Hampshire in any capacity,” according to her sentencing order.
While testifying for the defense in a criminal trial in Rockingham County in 2008, Gosselin said she had done 154 computer-related investigations, had been an expert witness in 36 cases and had testified in five trials on criminal and civil matters. She was then charging $254 an hour, according to her trial testimony. She has been doing computer investigations since 2000, according to her resume.
The state’s Judicial Council, which oversees the indigent defense fund and has paid Gosselin $23,000 for her work on 10 cases since 2006, is investigating whether it will seek repayment in all cases. Defense attorney Mark Sisti, who paid Gosselin at least $10,000 for her computer forensic work on a 2008 child pornography case, said he may seek a new trial for his client given Gosselin’s admission to falsifying her credentials.
Gosselin’s sentence does not prohibit her from continuing to do computer forensic investigations in civil cases or insurance and worker compensation cases, and she said in an interview Friday that she intends to continue that work. Her attorney, Dave Ruoff of Manchester, said Gosselin is trained, certified and qualified in a wide range of computer investigations regardless of the specifics of the charge against her.
Gosselin claimed that she was a Certified Computer Examiner and Certified Forensic Computer Examiner, among other certifications.
In June, the Hillsborough County attorney’s office indicted Gosselin on a felony count of falsifying physical evidence for allegedly providing an inaccurate resume in a criminal case; and two misdemeanor counts, one alleging unsworn falsification, the other alleging deceptive business practices.
In a negotiated plea deal, Gosselin pleaded guilty last week to the misdemeanor charge of deceptive business practices, and the other charges were dropped. Gosselin and her attorney described the police investigation as shoddy and personally motivated.
Gosselin said she is a target of various police departments across the state because she has tried to report cases of child sexual abuse against men who are close to police chiefs.
“It’s pretty sexist and definitely an old boys thing,” she said of the computer forensics field and the investigation of her. When asked about the suspect credentials listed on her resume and website, Gosselin and Ruoff said they were meant to describe the nature of the work Gosselin does, not to suggest that she had received a particular certificate from a particular organization. And some credentials, such as the one claiming Gosselin was trained in ethical hacking, meant that she had a “teaming agreement” with other computer experts who could do that kind of work on a case she took."
Depressingly, I think there are a number of people in this field who make false claims of certifications. It sure never hurts to check that certifications on a CV are real.
Hat tip to Bill Menzie and Sean Harrington.
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