A former federal prosecutor and a Dallas-based criminal defense attorney told a federal judge Wednesday they were guilty of a scheme that involved deleting text messages they had been ordered to produce to the court.
Carlos Lopez, 48, and Barrett Howell, 50, were indicted in September for the deletion of text messages that they were ordered to hand over by a U.S. district judge. Lopez was charged with the unauthorized disposal of a government record, and Howell was charged with aiding and abetting the unauthorized disposal of government records in a case in which Lopez was the lead prosecutor on the case, which indicted three individuals for healthcare fraud, and Howell was representing a client under investigation who was not indicted in the case.
Lopez and Howell entered their guilty pleas Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hal R. Ray.
While Howell was representing his client, two defendants accused Howell of violating a joint defense agreement by providing privileged joint defense information to Lopez. These two defendants filed a motion to compel discovery from Howell and Lopez. The district court granted the discovery request for production of all communications, including text messages, between Howell and Lopez.
In April 2023, Lopez disposed of records belonging to the U.S. by deleting text messages between himself and Howell from his government-issued cell phone. Howell did the same with his own phone.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas recused itself, so the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana was appointed to act as special prosecutors.
Both Lopez and Howell waived their right to appeal. Each faces a maximum term of imprisonment of one year, a fine not to exceed $100,000 and a term of supervised release of up to one year.
A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled yet, according to the docket.
David Gerger of Gerger Hennessy Martin & Peterson is representing Howell. He was unavailable by The Lawbook’s deadline.
Michael Uhl is representing Lopez. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew R. Payne and Megan R. Roberts of the Department of Justice.
The case is USA v. Lopez et al., 4:25-cr-244.