The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has sued a DEA agent and his wife, who duped people into thinking she was dying of cancer.
The federal lawsuit against Jeffrey Clark and Tania Clark charges that the couple lied to DEA officials in getting the government to pay for a medical-hardship transfer from Texas to Utah, where both defendants have family.
In the the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, DEA officials said they shelled out $47,806 to relocate the couple after Jeffrey Clark wrote a letter pleading with his supervisors to move them closer to family in Utah while his wife underwent chemotherapy treatments and planned to seek treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Tania Clark was sentenced last year to serve 30 days in jail and over 400 hours of community service from two cases of felony theft by deception for using her cancer story to seek donations from people in Salt Lake and Utah counties.
"Over the past year and a half, I have had to exhaust my sick leave to care for Tania and my two sons during her ongoing illness," Jeffrey Clark wrote in a transfer request dated March 21, 2001. "This has created a tremendous emotional and physical strain for me during these time periods. I have always placed a priority on my family's welfare, along with my dedication to my career as a Special Agent."
The lawsuit said that Clark, who was born and raised in Ogden, worked as a police officer for the Ogden Police Department before being hired as a DEA special agent on Aug. 4, 1997. Clark and his family moved to Houston when he was assigned to the DEA's field office there.
In his transfer request, Clark cites mounting medical bills from his wife's treatments at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and said his wife intended to seek treatment at the Huntsman Institute. Attached to the request was also a letter from a Dr. Robert Bates of the Texas center, expressing concern for Tania Clark's well-being. The letter states that she had a 5 percent chance of remission and was expected to die unless new treatments could save her.
"When it was found that I had cancer, life changed for our family suddenly and dramatically," Tania Clark wrote in a letter to DEA officials. "Jeff was left to pick up the pieces dropped by the rest of us when my illness was diagnosed."
She credits her husband's strength to "pick up the pieces" and look after the meals, shopping and kids. The rambling letter touches on her "blessings" and support from friends and hospital workers. "Our family has been crying, hugging, laughing and healing since all this started," she wrote.
The ruse took on a different form, authorities say, when the Clarks moved to the southern part of Salt Lake County. It was there that Tania Clark used her cancer story to seek donations from people. Clark and her husband were both charged with felony theft by deception.
Police estimate Tania Clark received almost $16,000 in donations, including from children from her two sons' hockey team. She was ordered to pay the money back plus restitution.
State prosecutors found there was no evidence that Jeffrey Clark knew of his wife's lies and dismissed charges against him.
According to DEA's lawsuit, the agency's own investigation revealed that there is no Dr. Robert Bates who works at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, nor is there a Robert Bates licensed to practice medicine in Texas.
"Tania Clark has never been a patient or received treatment at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center," the lawsuit said. "Tania Clark has never been a patient at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Center."
A call to the couple's attorney, Colleen Coebergh, was not returned Thursday.
The agency's lawsuit accuses the couple of making false claims, conspiracy, fraud, unjust enrichment and mistaking facts. Under the first two claims, the DEA is seeking treble damages plus civil penalties for a total of $306,834. The remaining two claims each call for a reimbursement of the $47,806 relocation costs, bringing the total claims to $402,446.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com