Man who stole chart of Detroit gang while cleaning FBI office sentenced

A man who posted FBI agents' organizational chart on a Detroit gang was given a year of probation Tuesday by a federal judge in Detroit.

Anthony Cassani, 22, was hired to help clean the Detroit office of the FBI as part of COVID-19 precautions. Instead, authorities said, he helped himself to valuable information the Detroit FBI had gathered on one of the city's major street gangs and posted it online.

Cassani was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker. He was accused of photographing with his cell phone the chart displayed in an agent's office cubicle that outlined the rank and hierarchy of members of a violent street gang in Detroit, according to a government pre-sentencing memo in the case.

The theft occurred during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 while Cassani was part of an emergency cleaning crew hired to sanitize the FBI's work space.

Federal prosecutors said the chart contained "proprietary information" — photos, facial images and names of individuals under investigation for alleged gang activity — about the Detroit gang.

The name of the gang was not disclosed in court records.

Federal authorities said the chart ended up in the hands of members of multiple street gangs within days of appearing online, "thereby depriving the FBI of the full benefit of its use."

They said despite the post, the FBI's investigation was not compromised, and no agents were injured.

"However, this providential outcome does not diminish the seriousness of Cassani’s crime," according to the presentencing federal memo.

Cassani was charged with theft of government property less than $1,000, a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty as charged on June 29.