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FOIA paper trail: who received David Medeiros's reports

Updated Nov 11, 2026. This page is built only from records: David's sent emails, the receipts that came back, and the offices' own letters. It shows who received what, when, and what came back. It does not say why any office acted as it did. "After" means order in time only.

In short

  • From Dec 6, 2021 to Nov 9, 2026, David sent 1,100 FOIA and records emails to 212 offices (3,357 address copies).
  • 250 of those emails carried his report files.
  • Mail systems sent back 586 read receipts (406 of them tie to the exact email) and 280 delivery receipts.
  • At least 20 federal "no records" emails came back (18 from CMS, 2 from HHS ACL). This counts only emails whose own text says "no records"; some offices put that answer in an attached letter instead, like DOJ Civil Rights (25-00043-F) and OSC (FOIA-2025-067) in the cases below. Before 19 of the 20 emails, David had already sent his report files to that office.
  • 368 notices from 21 government mailboxes said David's email "was deleted without being read".

The 4 strongest cases

In each case below, an office had David's papers, and later said it had no records about them (or only one record). Each case also gives the ordinary explanation the records allow.

1. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), FOIA request 010920247077

  • What David sent: his 63-page "Binder": his FOIA letter, his Nov 21, 2023 Whistleblower Report, 6 grievances and a Dec 16, 2023 complaint letter to the Connecticut CHRO. He emailed it to FOIA_Request@cms.hhs.gov on Dec 17, 2023, and uploaded it on Dec 18, 2023 with HHS portal request 121820237006.
  • Proof it arrived: the CMS FOIA mailbox sent a read receipt on Dec 20, 2023. CMS acknowledged the request on Jan 12, 2024 (E. Nicholson).
  • Jan 25, 2024: CMS released its own intake copies of the Binder (63 pages) and of David's Jan 3, 2024 request, under request 010920247054, in a letter signed by E. Nicholson.
  • Jan 25, 2024, the same day: the letter for request 010920247077, signed by E. Nicholson, said: "we were unable to locate any records responsive to your request."
  • Ordinary explanation: FOIA offices usually treat a requester's own submissions in their FOIA case files as outside the search for agency records, and CMS released those copies the same day. CMS's January 2024 tracking sheet lists 010920247077 as "New" with no action office, so the records do not show which office searched.

2. U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, FOIA request 25-00043-F

  • What David sent: online reports to the Civil Rights Division about Connecticut's Medicaid ABI Waiver program, from April 2023 to August 2024. Each report got a confirmation email.
  • Sep 4, 2024: the Division itself released 291 pages to David (32 of his report files), under request 24-00146-P.
  • Oct 25, 2024: on request 25-00043-F, which asked for all records about the Connecticut Medicaid ABI Waiver Program, including communications, Kilian Kagle wrote: "After a thorough search, I have determined that the Civil Rights Division has no records pertaining to your request."
  • Dec 17, 2024: under request 25-00044-F (Tink Cooper), the Division released "ABI and Waiver Portal Reports.pdf": 90 pages, 26 portal reports, all David's. 19 of them were received before Oct 18, 2024, the date of the 25-00043-F request.
  • Ordinary explanation: the request was a multi-agency template that asked mostly for program records (laws, budgets, contracts, program data) that the Division does not keep. The Division may not have searched complaint files; a requester's own complaints usually go through the Privacy Act track (24-00146-P).

3. U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, report 533252-GXC

  • What David sent: online report 533252-GXC on Nov 9, 2024, about CMS's FOIA handling of HHS OCR transaction 01-25-592844 and ADA barriers. A confirmation email came the same day.
  • Nov 19, 2024: the Disability Rights Section answered that it had "decided not to take any further action".
  • Dec 6, 2024: on request 25-00016-P, Darren Harris wrote: "The only Civil Rights Division document available to you at this time is the one previously provided." The letter re-attached only the Nov 9 automatic confirmation, and it writes the number as 533253-GXC.
  • Jan 17, 2025: under request 25-00025-P, the Division released the 533252-GXC report file and the Nov 19 answer, and withheld unnamed "remaining documents" in full under FOIA exemptions (b)(5) and (b)(6).
  • Ordinary explanation: "available to you at this time" may mean only what was cleared for release so far. Related requests were combined into 25-00025-P, where the report file was released.

4. U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), FOIA request FOIA-2025-067

  • What David sent: a disclosure filing through OSC's portal on Dec 19, 2024 (portal receipt DI-12192024714). OSC's own 40-page "Filing Details" PDF says "Date Received by OSC: 12/19/2024" and lists 9 attachments.
  • Dec 30, 2024: OSC's FOIA Team (Jennifer Wheeler) wrote: "DI-12192024714 is not an OSC case file number."
  • Feb 24, 2025: OSC's determination letter (Shelsea Ramirez) said: "OSC conducted a search of its indices and found no documents responsive to your request."
  • Ordinary explanation: DI-12192024714 is the portal's receipt number, not a case file number (case numbers look like DI-25-000379), so a search of case indices by that number would find nothing. Still open: OSC's portal receipts said a case number and contact person would be emailed, and no case-number notice for David's Dec 11, 19 or 20, 2024 filings is in his mailbox.

What David sent

  • 1,100 emails, Dec 6, 2021 to Nov 9, 2026, to 212 offices: 3,357 address copies (one email to 3 addresses counts as 3 copies). 163 of the offices are government offices (.gov, .mil or .us).
  • 250 emails carried at least one attachment whose file name shows a report (report, whistleblower, complaint, grievance, evidence, exhibit, timeline, affidavit, declaration, notice, or a .zip file).
  • Two reports went the widest: "09.24.2024 Federal_Intervention_HHS_OIG_CMS_GAO_DOJ_OCR_Whistleblower_Report_2024.pdf" (45 emails to 46 offices, first sent Sep 24, 2024) and "Comprehensive Grievance Report and Request for Clarity Whistleblower Report Mediciad ABI Waiver Programs.pdf" (42 emails to 40 offices, first sent Dec 15, 2023).

What came back

  • 586 address copies came back with a read receipt, and 280 with a delivery receipt. 406 of the read receipts tie to that exact email (238 emails, 46 offices).
  • 2,266 copies had no bounce (no bounce does not prove delivery). 225 bounced; a bounce affects only that one address.
  • A receipt shows only that a mail system reported the email opened or delivered. It does not show who opened it, whether attachments were opened, or that anyone acted.

"No records" messages

  • At least 20 federal emails, Oct 18, 2023 to Jun 10, 2026, used "no records" words in their own text: 18 from CMS addresses and 2 from HHS's Administration for Community Living (ACL). This is a floor, not a total: offices that answered in an attached letter, like DOJ Civil Rights and OSC in the 4 cases above, are not in this count.
  • Before 19 of the 20, David had sent his report files to that office's email domain. Before 18, a read receipt tied to the exact email had come back from that domain.
  • Example: on Jan 24, 2024, three CMS cover emails (controls 101720237012, 102320237015 and 111920237006) each said a no-records letter was attached. By then David had sent 53 emails to cms.hhs.gov addresses, 14 of them with report files, and 31 of the 53 had a tied read receipt.
  • A "no records" answer conflicts with receipt only if that request covered records that would include David's own files. That is checked request by request, as in the 4 cases above.

"Deleted without being read" notices

  • 368 notices from 21 government mailboxes said an email from David "was deleted without being read" (2023: 30; 2024: 160; 2025: 61; 2026: 117).
  • 139 came from dedra.morris@ct.gov. All of them concern 3 emails in one thread, "Re: 2410220 Service of CHRO Complaint", sent Feb 3, Feb 4 and Feb 16, 2024.
  • Next largest: ocrmail@hhs.gov 54, chro.eastern@ct.gov 51, kellye.hudson@ct.gov 30, susan.stange@ct.gov 29, mcare@cms.hhs.gov 27.
  • A notice shows what that mail system reported. It does not show who deleted the email, why, or whether another copy was read.

How these numbers were made

  • One row per email per address. The same email saved in several folders counts once. Drafts are not counted. Copies bulk-loaded on Dec 9 and Dec 22, 2025 count only with send proof.
  • Read receipts were tied to the exact email by its message ID or its printed send time.
  • "Office" means the email domain (every cms.hhs.gov address is one office), except Connecticut @ct.gov addresses, where each address is its own office.
  • David's phone number and any birth dates are masked. No Medicaid participant is named.
  • Sources: David's mailbox records and the FOIA files the offices released to him. Each case above gives the office's request number and letter dates, so anyone can check them with that office.

Explore the underlying request records

Email request previews grouped by office · MuckRock requests and their source files