Day One at Advanced CDI Training at the VRS Interpreting Institute
First internship class then zoom to Sky Harbor for flight to Utah. Uneventful trip except the shuttle bus took me to the wrong hotel. Another 2 hours before I finally got to the right one and be able to hit the sack only I wasnt able to sleep! It’s 5:30 an hour before I can venture out for breakfast. I look forward to my first day of Performance training and seeing all the cool people I know! Awesome room! My own suite with kitchenette even! Talk about luxury!
Utah Here I come! 01.25.10 – 01.29.10
January 13, 2010
Welcome to the VRS Interpreting Institute
Hello,
The VRS Interpreting Institute would like to invite you to attend Advanced CDI training. This course is designed to develop the fundamental skills of interpreting, including cognitive processes and intra-lingual language development in American Sign Language. Reviews process models of interpreting and application to the work. Introduces principles and practices of interpreting, focusing the NAD-RID Code of Professional Conduct. Develops team interpreting techniques.
The training will be offered January 25th-29th at the VRS Interpreting Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. Airfare, lodging, meals, and ground transportation between airport, hotel, and the Institute will be arranged and provided by the VRS Interpreting Institute. The training will begin on Tuesday, January 26th at 9:00 a.m., ends at 4:00 p.m. daily, and is completed at noon on Friday, January 29th.
Quilty to Defrauding FCC Program!
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Two Former Executives of Indicted Video Relay Services Company Plead Guilty to Defrauding FCC Program
Anthony Mowl, the former assistant vice president of business development for Viable Communications Inc. (Viable), and Donald Tropp, the former human resources manager for Viable, pleaded guilty today to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program of more than $2.5 million, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.
Today, Mowl, 25, and Tropp, 25, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton, N.J., to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Mowl and Tropp were indicted on Nov. 19, 2009, along with Viable’s president, John T.C. Yeh; Viable’s vice president of corporate strategy, Joseph Yeh; and the Viable corporate entity.
In pleading guilty, Mowl and Tropp admitted that beginning in approximately fall of 2007 and continuing through approximately January 2009, they conspired with others to pay individuals to make fraudulent VRS phone calls using Viable’s VRS service. According to the pleas, John and Joseph Yeh paid Mowl and Tropp who would then pay people for using Viable’s VRS service. Mowl and Tropp kept a portion of the payments for themselves and distributed the remainder to the paid callers. Viable then caused the submission of fraudulent call minute claims to the FCC, causing the FCC to pay those claims at a rate of approximately $390 per hour for each of the VRS calls that it processed.
According to the indictment, VRS is an online video translation service that allows people with hearing disabilities to communicate with hearing individuals through the use of interpreters and web cameras. A person with a hearing disability who wants to communicate with a hearing person can do so by contacting a VRS provider through an audio and video Internet connection. The VRS provider, in turn, employs a video interpreter to view and interpret the hearing disabled person’s signed conversation and relay the signed conversation orally to a hearing person. VRS is funded by fees assessed by telecommunications providers to telephone customers, and is provided at no cost to the VRS user.
According to information contained in the plea documents, Mowl and Tropp admitted that their role in defrauding the FCC’s VRS program led to a total of between $2.5 million and $7 million in fraudulent billing to the program. At sentencing, both Mowl and Tropp face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, as well as mandatory restitution and forfeiture. A sentencing date has not yet been set by the court.
Co-defendants John T.C. Yeh, Joseph Yeh and Viable are scheduled to stand trial on the charges in the indictment on May 24, 2010. An indictment is merely an accusation, and defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.
In addition to the indictment charging the Yehs, Mowl, Tropp and Viable, five indictments were unsealed on Nov. 19, 2009, charging an additional 22 people with engaging in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the FCC’s VRS program. The indictments charge owners and employees of the following six companies with engaging in a scheme to defraud the FCC’s VRS program:
- Master Communications LLC, of Las Vegas;
- KL Communications LLC, of Phoenix;
- Mascom LLC of Austin, Texas;
- Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Interpreting Services Inc. (DHIS), of New York and New Jersey;
- Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf Corp. (ICSD), of Miami Lakes, Fla.; and
- Deaf Studio 29 of Huntington Beach, Calif.
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and Trial Attorney Brigham Cannon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The cases are being investigated by FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FCC Office of Inspector General.
Performance Test on Feb 5 2010 at UA
Booked and confirmed to take performance test on Feb 5th 2010 9am at UofA. Will leave at 5am to for Tucson! Wish me luck!
DIPProgram Last Semester to start today!
Although school doesnt officially start until Jan 16 we started today with Deaf/Hearing Team Interpreting Workshop with Julie Simons and Nigel Howard. 6pm Friday 8th. On Saturday Afternoon 1:30 p we will have hearing interpreters join us.
Tis Da Season To Be Jolly!
I got lucky! I am going to SLC Utah! Jan 25-29 for Advanced CDI Training in performance! My Christmas present from VRSII, Salt Lake City, Utah Thank you!
I also send in paper work for CDI Performance test! I should hear back January 4 2009 about the exact date!
Signed up for Internship, Ethical Decision Making, and Intro to Legal Interpreting for next semester!
Not Guilty? No Way in HE!!
From Maryland Community Newspapers Online
John T.C. Yeh, president of Rockville deaf-services company Viable, along with three other company executives, pleaded not guilty Monday in a New Jersey federal court to charges that include conspiracy to defraud the government.
A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 22, with pretrial motions due Jan. 11, according to court documents. A motion hearing is slated for Feb. 8.
In mid-November, federal authorities charged the Viable executives and leaders of six other companies nationwide in a six-count indictment. Charges include conspiracy to defraud the federal government out of tens of millions of dollars, submitting false claims and mail fraud.
The executives fraudulently billed the Federal Communications Commission about $390 an hour to interpret calls between deaf and hearing people, federal prosecutors said. The calls, generally referred to as “r calls,” “rest calls” or “run calls,” were illegitimate calls often made by friends or relatives that would be billed to the FCC’s video relay service fund, officials said.
Authorities called Viable the central company in the alleged scheme, directly linked via business arrangements to five of the six other companies involved.
Other Viable executives who also pleaded not guilty this week are vice president of corporate strategy Joseph Yeh, a brother of John Yeh; assistant vice president for business development Anthony Mowl; and human relations manager Donald Tropp.
Stanley Reed, a principal with Lerch, Early and Brewer in Bethesda who is representing Joseph Yeh, said this week that his client is “presumed innocent,” and he was waiting to read discovery materials from the government before commenting further.
Reed’s areas of practice include white collar crime, complex civil litigation and professional responsibility.
Paul Kemp, a partner in the Rockville office of Venable, is representing John Yeh. He could not be reached this week for comment.
Kemp’s areas of practice include white collar crime, commercial litigation and SEC investigations.
Reed and Kemp have worked on cases together for many years, Reed said.
Attorneys for Mowl and Tropp could not be reached this week for comment.
Viable has been under a cloud since a June visit by federal investigators. The company also has been hit with lawsuits in federal and state courts by employees seeking back payment of wages.
Great Weekend w/ Eileen Forestal
What an awesome and fabulous weekend of Ethical Decision Making with Legend Eileen Forestal. First time ever to have group picture with *all* 10 students! Veronica Kozlowski, Ena Williams, Shelley Herbold, Sean Furman, Ricardo Camacho, Beca Bailey, Juliann Wasisco, Tamara Schmidt-Henner, Kim Minard and Lee Ann Zahnen
Her bios below is from http://www.laslicenter.com/E_Forestal.htm this is also a good link to check out.
Eileen Forestal is in her 30th year as Coordinator of ASL-English Interpreting Programs at Union County College, New Jersey. She is a doctoral candidate, specializing in Postsecondary Education and Adult Learning at Capella University, and is now doing her dissertation related to Deaf interpreting. A RID-certified Deaf interpreter with RSC, Eileen teaches and consults on ASL, Deaf Culture, Deaf Interpreting, Deaf/Hearing teaming/partnering, mentoring and interpreting-related topics. Eileen wrote “Emerging Professionals: Deaf Interpreters and Their Views and Experiences on Training” in Interpreting and Interpreter Education: Directions for Research and Practice (2005), co-authored “Teaching and Learning Using the Demand Control Schema” (Proceedings of RID pre-conference meeting, 2008), and co-authored and co-directed Deaf Interpreting: Team Strategies [DVD] (Gallaudet University, 2006).