More fallout for computer forensics expert accused of misrepresenting his record

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Mark Lanterman, a former Hopkins police officer and investigator who built a computer forensics company into an expert career in cybersecurity, has had his photograph and biography stripped from the firm’s website as FOX 9 learns more about the lengths Lanterman went to protect his record and reputation.

Lanterman’s son, an employee at Computer Forensic Services, said the decision was made because the company is about more than its founder and to prevent his father’s situation from distracting from ongoing work at CFS.

Expert accused of misrepresenting his record

What we know:

Mark Lanterman admits he traveled to suburban Philadelphia recently to retrieve his personnel file from an early job he held decades ago at a suburban police department. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has launched an investigation into Lanterman’s credentials, writing in a letter that prosecutors are unable to fully verify education and employment claims Lanterman has previously made on his resume.

Lanterman’s record has also come under heavy scrutiny in a number of federal cases where he was hired as a computer forensics expert. In one such case, attorneys who are looking to have Lanterman’s expert witness testimony tossed out of an ongoing lawsuit, write that there is "overwhelming evidence" that Lanterman did not attend or graduate from now-defunct Upsala College in New Jersey. Lanterman has previously claimed he has an undergraduate and computer science masters degree from Upsala, but attorneys in the case insist they have found no evidence to support that claim.

Following a February deposition in the case challenging Lanterman as an expert in digital investigations, the attorneys claim Lanterman traveled from Minnesota to suburban Philadelphia to retrieve his old personnel file in the belief it may contain foundational proof of his educational background from when he was first hired in law enforcement. The filing claims Lanterman allegedly obtained his records by saying he had a grave heart condition and needed "to get his affairs in order."

In a written response to the FOX 9 Investigators, Lanterman claims he only went to the Springfield Township, Pa. police department to get his records after receiving permission from the police chief. He made the trip to protect his personal information he thought might have been destroyed under the department’s five-year records retention policy, and Lanterman claims the police chief told him, "It’s your information, it’s your file. You can have it."

Lanterman insists he has since mailed the records back to Pennsylvania.

The backstory:

The FOX 9 Investigators first obtained a copy of a letter sent to local defense attorneys involved in at least nine cases where Lanterman or his firm provided expert witness testimony or investigative work, notifying them that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had launched an investigation into Lanterman’s background.

At this point, prosecutors have not been able to "fully verify Mr. Lanterman’s educational and employment background," the letter stated.

The letter is signed by Michael Radmer, managing attorney in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, and was distributed last week.

Radmer writes that a member of the Wisconsin Bar notified the county attorney’s office about concerns regarding "misrepresentations" Lanterman had made.

Website bio scrubbed

What they're saying:

Over the weekend, Mark Lanterman’s photograph and biography were removed from the Computer Forensic Services website, the company Lanterman built from scratch over the last 20 years.

Lanterman’s son, Sean, an employee at CFS, wrote in a statement to the FOX 9 Investigators, "It would be a mistake to think that CFS consists solely of Mark Lanterman. For this reason, I made the decision to remove him from the company’s webpage, in an effort to not have this situation distract from the high-quality work that CFS, and its employees, perform for its clients. Our team is laser-focused on continuing that important work."

Mark Lanterman added that he does not believe it is a permanent decision, but agreed, "the change is appropriate in so far as this situation unfairly affects the excellent staff at CFS."

Dig deeper:

Before it was removed, Lanterman’s biography described him as a former "member of the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Taskforce" with over 30 years of security and forensic experience.

He claimed to have testified in over 2,000 cases and to have provided training in digital evidence, computer forensics and cyber security to the United States Supreme Court.

What we don't know:

It is unclear the total number of cases in Hennepin County court that may be impacted by the investigation into Lanterman’s credentials. The county attorney’s office has said at least nine.

Radmer, the county’s managing attorney, said prosecutors are continuing "to examine the allegations made, the evidence revealed, and the impact on cases, both current and past."

The county will not rely on Lanterman’s work or testimony in pending cases, according to the letter.

"Further disclosures are anticipated as this analysis proceeds," Radmer added.