Feds charge 8 with stealing, selling FBI records

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Federal authorities Wednesday charged eight people, including some law enforcement officials, with stealing and selling FBI records to criminal defendants and lawyers.

Those accused Wednesday included an investigator for the Nevada attorney general's office, a Las Vegas court employee and a New York lawyer.

"Members of law enforcement who peddle confidential law enforcement information for their own profit will be caught, arrested and vigorously prosecuted, as will those who buy that information for their own criminal advantage," said Alan Vinegrad, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

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The announcement follows the June 14 arrest of an FBI security analyst in Las Vegas who was charged with selling classified records and documents on criminal cases and grand jury investigations involving organized crime, illegal aliens and white-collar crime.

The cases that James Hill, 51, allegedly sold information about were centered in New York, and Wednesday's announcement appeared to stem from that earlier arrest.

According to prosecutors, a private investigator in New York -- identified only as "CI" in the complaint -- bought the information from Hill and passed it on. He also was arrested June 14.

Two of those charged Wednesday had access to an FBI-run crime information database. Prosecutors said the two sold records from the database to suspects and to lawyers through the investigator.

The charges announced Wednesday include conspiracy to steal government property, conspiracy to receive stolen government property, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The private investigator arrested earlier was described in this latest criminal complaint as a conduit for the documents.

The sale of FBI records had been going on since 1999, according to prosecutors.

"Today's charges signal the federal government's commitment to thoroughly and promptly investigate and prosecute acts of official corruption, wherever they may arise," Vinegrad said in a statement.

Hill's arrest and the charges that followed are the latest in a number of high-profile FBI gaffes. Last month, the bureau revealed it had failed to turn over thousands of pages of documents to attorneys during the trial of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. That development led to the postponement of McVeigh's execution for a month.

The agency was also shaken by the arrest this year of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, charged with spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia for 15 years without being detected.