FBI investigates misuse of medical records after alleged sexual abuse of child by classmate

The FBI has launched a criminal investigation after a counselor at a premier Louisiana pediatric hospital accessed the medical records of a girl whose parents reported that she was sexually abused by a classmate at her preschool – and then shared information from the child’s file with the school’s principal, her sister-in-law, according to court documents.

Recent court filings related to civil litigation being pursued by the girl’s parents, Jana and Roger Williams, against Kehoe-France school in suburban New Orleans revealed the existence of the FBI investigation into a potential breach of health privacy laws.

A 15 October memorandum filed into the case’s public record mentioned that “plaintiffs’ counsel were contacted by the FBI and met with agents who were ‘asking for certain documents and depositions relative to potential Hipaa violations’”, invoking an acronym for the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Furthermore, a 14 October email from an attorney representing the preschool principal that was also filed into the public court record referred to a “plaintiffs’ meeting with the FBI”. That email to the plaintiffs’ attorneys said the sender’s client would not be appearing at a deposition planned for the next day because she had not been served with a subpoena.

The FBI can investigate allegations of Hipaa violations because they can carry criminal penalties depending on their nature.

Word of the FBI investigation followed a 1 October report in the Guardian that Manning Family children’s hospital in New Orleans fired licensed professional counselor Claire Beaumont Poché over an impermissible disclosure of information from Jana and Roger Williams’ daughter’s chart.

The Guardian also reported that Claire Poché’s termination had occurred shortly before the abrupt departure of her sister-in-law, Emily France Poché, as preschool principal at Kehoe-France.

Jana and Roger Williams brought their daughter to Manning Family children’s hospital to be examined in connection with her allegedly being fondled in a sexually abusive manner by another preschooler while in the care of Kehoe-France in March 2024.

The ensuing litigation that the couple brought against Kehoe-France surfaced documents and texts which established that Claire Poché had discussed aspects of the plaintiffs’ daughter’s chart with Emily Poché, including that the girl had an appointment at the hospital and who her provider was.

Claire Poché was not a member of the girl’s treatment team, she acknowledged at a 31 August deposition taken as part of Jana and Roger Williams’ lawsuit. The hospital ultimately determined that there had been “an impermissible disclosure … in violation of … express training, policies and procedures”, according to a letter obtained and reviewed by the Guardian.

And at her deposition, Claire Poché said under oath that she had been dismissed from her job at the children’s hospital because of code of conduct violations.

Kehoe-France sent a message to its campus community five days later which announced that Emily France Poché – the granddaughter of the school’s founders – “would no longer serve in the role of preschool principal” there.

Neither Claire nor Emily Poché are named defendants in Jana and Roger Williams’ lawsuit. Nonetheless, they are considered fact witnesses in the case, which is tentatively set for trial on the week of 26 October.

The Guardian obtained a transcript of Claire Poché’s deposition and reported on it for the outlet’s 1 October report.

Attorneys for both Pochés have contended that Claire’s deposition was subject to a protective order. They maintained the same about text messages between the women that Claire was confronted about during her deposition – including ones in which Emily called Roger Williams “a narcissist” and said, without offering evidence, her boss at Kehoe-France “thinks [he] is abusing” his daughter.

Williams family attorney Richard Trahant countered that the protective order provided 20 days for Claire’s deposition to be designated confidential, a step no one ever took. Portions of that deposition were also filed into the public court record without any confidentiality designation.

Trahant and his co-counsel, Bobby Truitt, wrote the memo that was filed in court on 15 October, which noted that “the FBI has not yet contacted Claire Poché or Emily France Poché” in the course of what the filing described as a “criminal investigation”.

A statement from one of Emily Poché’s attorneys, Renee Culotta, on Monday said her client “has not been accused of any wrongdoing” and asserted, “Plaintiff counsel’s unsubstantiated disclosure of FBI involvement in the case before the court should be seen for what it is: a blatant attempt to utilize a willing news outlet to color public opinion just days before trial.”

Trahant said in a separate statement that Culotta and her co-counsel “apparently don’t know the meaning of the word ‘unsubstantiated’”.

“What they call an ‘unsubstantiated disclosure of FBI involvement’ is the exact reason Mrs France-Poché did not show up for her deposition,” Trahant’s statement said.

An attorney for Claire Poché did not immediately respond when given the opportunity to comment on the investigation on Monday. Neither did the FBI.

Kehoe-France and its proprietor – International Schools Partnership (ISP) of London – have denied allegations made in Jana and Roger Williams’ lawsuit that the school was negligent while it had care of the couple’s daughter.

The school has also said “the safety and well-being of our students are Kehoe-France’s highest priorities” – and that it has “policies and procedures designed to protect student safety and address concerns when they arise”.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has learned that Claire Poché had gained employment at the New Orleans district attorney’s office after her dismissal from Manning Family children’s hospital. But she later stopped working at the district attorney’s office, where she had previously been employed prior to her time at the hospital.

The DA’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Jana and Roger Williams are, respectively, a certified registered nurse anesthetist and a US army veteran who in 2023 earned a bronze star medal for “exceptionally meritorious wartime service” in Iraq.

The couple successfully championed a new early-childhood education safety law in Louisiana amid their litigation against Kehoe-France. However, Louisiana’s legislature later eased some aspects of what is known as Charlie’s law after private schools across the state vehemently argued that complying with it was unfairly financially burdensome.