Northern District of Alabama
Press releases recorded for this federal judicial district.
Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Multiple Charges for Stealing from Dead Man’s Retirement FundRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A Texas man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges related to his scheme to steal more than $545,000 from a retirement account after the account owner and his designated beneficiary both died, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
DWAYNE ELLIS BAPTISTE, 43, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler to four counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Baptiste lived in Huntsville in 2011 and was acquainted with Ralph Swinehart, who along with his father, Ronald Swinehart, also lived in Huntsville. Ronald Swinehart was a retired employee of Lockheed Martin Corporation and had a retirement savings account through the company. The retirement account was held at ING Institutional Plan Services.
In September 2011, according to Baptiste’s indictment and plea agreement, Ronald Swinehart signed and executed a durable power of attorney naming his son, Ralph Swinehart, as his agent. Ronald Swinehart died on Oct. 11, 2011; his son died twelve days later, on Oct. 23, 2011.
According to the court documents, Baptiste’s fraud scheme proceeded as follows:
Baptiste filed a fraudulent power of attorney with the Madison County Probate Court in October appointing himself as Ronald Swinehart’s agent. He also fraudulently created a company, Swinehart Investment Solutions, in which he claimed Ronald and Ralph Swinehart — both deceased — were members.
Next, in December 2011, Baptiste opened two commercial accounts in the name of Swinehart Investment Solutions at BBVA Compass Bank. Baptiste also changed the beneficiary designation on Ronald Swinehart’s retirement account from Ralph Swinehart to himself, and the bank account information to one of the BBVA accounts he controlled. Baptiste then contacted ING, pretending to be Ronald Swinehart, and received instructions on how to withdraw money from Ronald Swinehart’s retirement account. Baptiste used Ronald Swinehart’s name, Social Security number, and address — committing mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Baptiste then committed wire fraud by directing four transfers, totaling $545,669, from the retirement account to his BBVA account. Subsequently, Baptiste moved the money through different accounts using withdrawals and cashier’s checks.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud and mail fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The penalty for aggravated identity theft is two years in prison, which must be served after completion of any other sentence imposed for an associated crime.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys John B. Ward and Manu Balachandran are prosecuting.
Anniston Army Depot Employee Charged with Stealing Transmission Oil CoolersRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – Federal prosecutors have charged an Anniston Army Depot employee with stealing more than $175,000 worth of transmission oil coolers from the depot between 2013 and 2015, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday filed a one-count information in U.S. District Court charging ERIC JUSTIN HARDY, 45, of Anniston, with one count of theft of government property for stealing V6 and V8 oil coolers worth $175,537.
In conjunction with the charge, prosecutors also filed a plea agreement with Hardy. As part of that agreement, Hardy pledges to plead guilty to the charge, to consent to a court judgment to forfeit $175,537 to the government, and to pay that same amount in restitution to the Anniston Army Depot. Hardy is scheduled for arraignment on the charge March 9 in federal court in Birmingham.
According to the plea agreement, Hardy stole 70 V6 oil coolers and 28 V8 oil coolers from the Army installation and sold them to various scrap metal dealers for about $25 to $30 each. The Army estimated the V6 oil coolers value at $2,007 each and the V8 oil coolers at $1,250 each.
The maximum penalty for theft of government property is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
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Huntsville Woman Indicted for Illegal Firearms DealingsRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a Huntsville woman for dealing firearms illegally, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Gerido.
A six-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges TALARI STARRLEATTA WILLIAMS, 24, with dealing in firearms without a license between May 30, 2015, and Sept. 18, 2015, in Madison County. The indictment also charges Williams with five counts of providing false information when buying 12 firearms during that time period.
According to the indictment, Williams bought the guns from a licensed dealer, but submitted a false statement to an employee of the gun store representing that she was buying the guns for herself, when she was purchasing them for someone else.
The guns listed in counts two through six as purchased through Williams’ misrepresentation were: a Jimenez .380-caliber pistol on May 30, 2015; a Hi-Point .380-caliber pistol, a Hi-Point .40-caliber pistol and a Hi-Point 9mm pistol on Aug. 8, 2015; a Taurus .45-caliber/.410-gauge revolver, a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol and a Hi-Point .40-caliber pistol on Aug. 25, 2015; a Hi-Point .45-caliber pistol, a Jimenez .380-caliber pistol and a Cobra .380-caliber pistol on Sept. 2, 2015; and a Cobra .380-caliber pistol and a Jimenez .380-caliber pistol on Sept. 18, 2015. All the guns were bought at JC’s Guns and Tackle in Huntsville.
The maximum penalty for dealing in firearms without a license and for providing false information when buying firearms is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The ATF investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Grand Jury Indicts Birmingham Man for Robbing Bank and Taking HostagesRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a Birmingham man for the Jan. 10 robbery of a credit union branch in Tuscaloosa, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
A three-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges CEDRICK LAMAR COLLINS, 18, with one count of bank robbery and two counts of hostage-taking during the robbery of an Alabama Credit Union on Paul Bryant Drive East. The credit union’s deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
One hostage-taking count charges that Collins, while attempting to avoid apprehension for bank robbery, forced 11 people to accompany him without their consent. The second hostage count charges that Collin’s took the 11 credit union employees hostage in order to compel a governmental organization, in this case the Tuscaloosa and University of Alabama police departments, the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, not to take him into custody as an explicit condition for release of the hostages.
Police were able to arrest Collins at the credit union the day of the robbery and released all employees who had been held inside.
The maximum prison penalty for bank robbery is 20 years. The charge of taking a hostage while attempting to flea a bank robbery carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence. The charge of taking someone hostage to force a specific government action carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The FBI investigated the case in conjunction with the Tuscaloosa and University of Alabama police departments and the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Felton is prosecuting the case.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Federal Grand Jury Indicts Two Men in Unrelated Cocaine Distribution CasesRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today returned separate and unrelated indictments against two men for each possessing multiple pounds of cocaine in Greene County, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton.
A one-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges SILVEIIO CANALES-LICONA, 56, of Roosevelt, N.Y., with possessing with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine in Green County on Dec. 22. A second one-count indictment charges ANDRE RICHARD HARRIS, 54, of Detroit, with the same offense on Nov. 21 in Greene County.
Both men were arrested following traffic stops on Interstate 20/59.
The prison penalty for possession with intent to distribute five kilograms (11 pounds) or more of cocaine is 10 years to life. The maximum fine is $10 million.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Austin Shutt is prosecuting both cases.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Alabama Inmate and NE Alabama Woman Charged for Scheme to Defraud SSARead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – An Alabama state inmate and a northeast Alabama woman face federal charges for a scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration by working together to collect disability benefits that the inmate was not entitled to while in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge Margaret Moore-Jackson, Atlanta Field Division.
A federal grand jury today indicted RICHARD EARL STANLEY, 56, of Boaz, on six wire fraud counts and one count of theft of government property for scheming with others to illegally receive $42,870 in Social Security Type II Disability Insurance Benefits payments between January 2013 and September 2015.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Feb. 17 filed an information against KRISTIN BLAIR FOX, 34, of Southside, charging her with four counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government property for helping Stanley collect the disability payments that she knew neither of them was entitled to receive. In conjunction with the charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also filed a plea agreement with Fox.
The wire fraud counts for both defendants are based on ATM cash withdrawals from Stanley’s Comerica Bank account, where the SSA deposited Stanley’s disability benefits, according to the court documents.
Stanley was awarded the Social Security disability benefits in 2002. In June 2007, he was convicted of a felony and incarcerated, according to his indictment. The SSA notified him in September 2007 that he could no longer receive the benefits because he was confined in an institution in connection with a criminal case and that his stay was “being paid for with public funds.”
Stanley was incarcerated again in March 2012, but in July 2012 provided documentation to SSA that he was released from custody in June of that year, so his benefits could be reinstated, according to his indictment. When he was convicted of a felony later in 2012, Stanley did not notify the SSA that he had been re-incarcerated, because he knew he would not be entitled to receive benefits while in custody, the indictment states.
In January 2013, according to his indictment, a fellow inmate referred Stanley to Fox, as someone who might help Stanley access his disability benefits and have money transferred to his prison commissary account.
According to Stanley’s indictment and Fox’s information and plea agreement, their scheme to illegally obtain the disability payments took place as follows:
Stanley contacted Fox by letter in February 2013 and offered to pay her to help him access is disability payments. He arranged for Fox to collect his personal property at the prison, which included his Comerica Bank debit card. Their initial agreement was for Fox to take $175 each month from the SSA funds and deposit $300 monthly into Stanley’s prison commissary account.
In the ensuing months, Fox requested money and complained when Fox failed to send it. Fox continued to withdrew money from the Comerica account for herself, without Stanley’s knowledge.
Stanley’s debit card was to expire in December 2014 and Stanley gave Fox directions on how to renew it through Social Security, but Fox did not attempt to do so. The SSA terminated Stanley’s benefits in September 2015.
The SSA-OIG investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamarra Matthews Johnson is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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U.S. Attorney Charges Inmate Health Consultant with Lying to FBIRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday charged a Vestavia Hills man with making false statements to the FBI in relation to payments from a contractor providing inmate health care at the Jefferson County Jail, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
Prosecutors filed a one-count information in U.S. District Court charging MICHAEL P. GODDARD, 68, a consultant on inmate health at the county jail, with falsely telling FBI agents that payments he received from a Jefferson County contractor were unrelated to a specific contract.
A plea agreement with Goddard filed in conjunction with the charging document, states that Birmingham FBI agents questioned Goddard in August 2016 while they were investigating recurring monthly payments to him from Davis & Associates, a Birmingham consulting firm, and “another entity that were funded by Health Assurance, LLC, a company that from 2007 through 2011 had contracts with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to provide health care to Jefferson County jail inmates.”
According to the plea agreement, the sheriff’s office contracted with Health Assurance in about February 2007 to provide inmate health care, and the contract could be renewed yearly. Soon after Health Assurance began receiving payments from Jefferson County, Goddard began receiving monthly payments from Davis & Associates that were funded by Health Assurance, the plea agreement states.
In July 2011, the payments to Goddard funded by Health Assurance began coming from a different entity, according to the plea agreement. The documents do not name the second entity. The payments to Goddard continued to about October 2011, when Health Assurance’s contract with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office ended, the plea agreement states.
FBI agents interviewed Goddard on Aug. 31 and served him with a grand jury subpoena for records. The agents asked Goddard about the monthly payments he received that were funded by Health Assurance. Goddard told the agents that the monthly payments he received were unrelated to Health Assurance’s contracts with Jefferson County.
Goddard knew that statement was false “in that he knew the payments he received were directly related to the contracts, and he knew that this false statement was material to the FBI’s investigation,” the plea agreement states.
The maximum penalty for making a false statement to the FBI is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI is investigating the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin is prosecuting.
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Accountant for Non-profit Government Contractor Sentenced to Two and a Half Years in Prison for Theft and Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge late Tuesday sentenced a former accountant with a Huntsville non-profit corporation that contracted with the government to place people with disabilities into government jobs to two and a half years in prison for defrauding the organization and the Internal Revenue Service, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced REGGIOUS SANCHESTER BELL, 30, of Madison, on one count of federal program theft for stealing more than $1 million from the Huntsville Rehabilitation Foundation, which does business as Phoenix, and two counts of federal income tax evasion for underreporting his income and underpaying his taxes for 2011 and 2012. Bell pleaded guilty to the charges in October.
He must pay $1.1 million in restitution to Phoenix, and to its insurers, $71,947 to Indemnity Insurance Co. and $75,000 to Hartford Underwriters Insurance Co. Bell also must pay $81,768 to the IRS.
“This defendant stole more than $1 million of taxpayer funds from a non-profit company that contracts to provide jobs and counseling to people with disabilities,” Posey said. “He showed no regard for the harm he did the company he worked for or the people it served. He undercut a worthy mission so that he could spend money on personal indulgences, including gambling. I thank the IRS and the FBI for helping this office bring Mr. Bell to justice.”
“Reggious Bell’s actions can be described as greedy, callous, and shallow,” Hyman-Pillot said. “He exploited the community and the government with no regard as he enriched himself with taxpayer funds. With today’s sentence, Bell faces the consequences for his criminal behavior.”
“Stealing money intended to help the disabled is disgraceful and beyond comprehension,” Stanton said. “The FBI will continue to work side by side with our partners to bring individuals like Bell to justice.”
Phoenix provides counseling for and places people with disabilities in administrative, manufacturing and custodial jobs. It received more than $20 million a year from 2011 through 2013 under contracts to perform custodial work at Redstone Arsenal.
According to court documents, Bell went to work for Phoenix in 2008 in its accounting department. He worked in accounts payable, accounts receivable and fixed assets management. As it did with other staff members, Phoenix provided Bell a credit card to use for business expenses only. Bell, however, began using his Phoenix credit card for personal expenses in at least 2009, and continued to do so until he was caught in the summer of 2013, according to his plea.
Bell’s personal charges during that time including $95,228 to Best Buy, $21,969 to Louis Vuitton, $18,945 to American Airlines, $23,823 to Southwest Airlines, $46,345 to Marriott Hotels, $19,268 to Renaissance Hotels and $20,706 to Dillard’s Department Store. Bell also had Phoenix issue a credit card in a fictitious name with a fictitious Social Security number, which he also used for personal expenses.
Bell deleted unauthorized purchases from the credit card monthly statements and manipulated Phoenix’s account ledgers so that they would balance with the bank’s spreadsheet that showed what Phoenix owed for its staff credit cards, according to the plea.
Bell also established an accounting firm, called Bell-Pete Associates. Although Phoenix never did any business with the firm, Bell invoiced Phoenix for $58,133 in accounting services in 2011, and for $235,740 in 2012, according to his plea. Bell did not report the fraudulent income to the IRS, resulting in an underpayment of taxes of $15,132 in 2011, and $66,636 in 2012.
The IRS and FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell E. Penfield prosecuted.
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Four People Charged Federally for Bank Robbery Conspiracy Using Hoax BombRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM –Four people involved in a conspiracy to rob a bank by placing a hoax bomb at an elementary school to divert police were in federal court last week after their January indictment was unsealed, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Gerido.
A four-count indictment filed Jan. 25 in U.S. District Court charges ZACHARY EDWARDS, 35, RALPHEL MAURIE EDWARDS, 34, QUINESE NICOLE NICHOLS, 30, AND WENDELL ROY NICHOLS JR., 27, all of Birmingham, with conspiring in November to take money from a BBVA Compass Bank in Trussville by “force, violence, and intimidation.” The indictment also charges Zachary Edwards and Quinese Nichols with conspiring on Nov. 16 in Jefferson County to carry a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, that being bank robbery. The indictment further charges Zachary Edwards with two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm – a Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol on Nov. 16, and a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun on Nov. 21.
Zachary Edwards was convicted in Jefferson County Circuit Court in April 2000 of assault, first degree, and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, according to the indictment.
Zachary and Ralphel Edwards, who lived together but are not related, are both in the Jefferson County Jail on unrelated charges and are scheduled for arraignment in federal court on Thursday. Quinese and Wendell Nichols, who are siblings, turned themselves in to U.S. Marshals Friday and both were released on bond following court hearings.
The defendants carried out the conspiracy as follows, according to the indictment:
In early November, Zachary and Ralphel Edwards and Quinese Nichols discussed plans to rob a bank. Soon thereafter, Zachary and Ralphel Edwards obtained a cardboard box, a stopwatch, strands of wire, gunpowder, Play-Doh and duct tape, which Zachary Edwards used to construct a hoax explosive device. On Nov. 16, Zachary Edwards and Quinese Nichols drove to Magnolia Elementary School in Trussville, where Zachary Edwards placed the hoax device on the hood of a truck in the school’s parking lot. He then called 911 and, while disguising his voice, falsely reported to Trussville Police that he had just seen a Hispanic male place a suspicious package on a vehicle at the school.
Armed with the Ruger pistol, the two then drove to a parking lot near the Compass Bank on Chalkville Mountain Road, which they had visited two days earlier to familiarize themselves with the location. Ralphel Edwards and Wendell Nichols were parked nearby in separate vehicles to serve as lookouts for their co-conspirators.
Zachary Edwards and Quinese Nichols left Trussville without attempting to rob the bank after seeing what they believed to be a police officer close to where they were parked near the bank.
The maximum penalty for the bank robbery conspiracy is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to possess a firearm during a violent crime is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the maximum penalty for being a felon in possession of a firearm is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The ATF investigated the case in conjunction with Trussville Police and the Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys William G. Simpson and Michael A. Royster are prosecuting the case.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Last of Four Illegal Aliens Involved in Home Invasion Plot Sentenced to Year in PrisonRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – The last of four illegal aliens prosecuted in federal court for their roles in a March 2016 plot to invade a Calhoun County house, take a safe from it and deliver the residence’s occupants to a Dallas-based enforcer for drug organizations was sentenced today to one year and a day in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Raymond R. Parmer Jr., and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger Stanton.
U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced LUIS DIAZ-ZAVALA, 34, of Honduras, on one count of possessing a firearm by an alien illegally in the United States. Diaz-Zavala pleaded guilty to the charge in October. He is already in custody.
“Oxford Police and agents of ICE and the FBI are to be applauded for their cooperative work that prevented what could have been a violent home invasion at the behest of a drug-trafficker,” Posey said. “This office and our law enforcement partners continue our commitment to capture and prosecute people intent on violence who are in the country illegally.”
“Keeping our communities safe from violent criminals remains a priority for HSI,” Parmer said. “Together with our state and federal partners we will continue to target these criminal elements and ensure the safety of our citizens.”
"Thanks to the excellent work by the Oxford Police Department, a potentially deadly violent crime was thwarted,” Stanton said. “This case is an outstanding example of cooperation between local and federal partners, and I am proud of the work done by all involved on this investigation. Diaz Zavala deserves every day of this sentence.”
Diaz-Zavala is one of four men arrested in Oxford last March who have acknowledged they were hired by a putative security company to conduct the home raid in Alabama. Diaz-Zavala and his associates were provided gear for the job, which included firearms, according to his plea agreement with the government.
Diaz-Zavala’s associates, who all pleaded guilty last year to possessing firearms as aliens in the United States illegally, are CAMILO ANTONIO ESPINOZA-MEDRANO, 32, JOSUE LOPEZ-BENEGAS, 24, both of Honduras, and ENRIQUE ECHEVERRIA-BENITEZ, 28, of Mexico. All three men were sentenced last year to two years and three months in prison.
After completing their prison terms, all four men will be delivered to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings.
According to Diaz-Zavala’s plea agreement and other court documents, Oxford Police stopped a vehicle carrying Espinoza-Medrano, Lopez-Benegas and Echeverra-Benitez on March 25 and recovered four pistols: a stolen Smith & Wesson SD9, a loaded Caspian Arms .45-caliber, a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm, and a SIG Sauer SP2022 and loaded magazines. They also recovered a black Airsoft rifle, a tactical vest with attached Bowie knife and .45-caliber and 9mm ammunition in the pockets, handcuffs, a ski mask, rope and a machete.
Oxford Police stopped Diaz-Zavala in a separate vehicle on the same date and recovered a security guard badge, two shirts emblazoned with “FBI,” and a duty belt with handcuffs and a holster. Diaz-Zavala later told law enforcement officers that he had possessed one of the firearms recovered from the vehicle carrying his associates.
Lopez-Benegas told investigators after his arrest that a friend had called him in early March wanting him to travel to Alabama to do a “security job” that would pay him $60,000 once the job was completed, according to Lopez-Benegas’ arrest complaint. The job was supposedly arranged through a security company, owned by the friend's boss, who Lopez-Benegas knew as an enforcer and debt collector for drug organizations. The job involved taking a safe from occupants at an Alabama residence identified by GPS coordinates, and once the residence and safe were secured, Lopez-Benegas and his associates were to turn over the occupants to the boss, according to the arrest complaint.
ICE-HSI, the FBI and Oxford Police investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Austin D. Shutt is prosecuting.
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Huntsville Pill Mill Doctor Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Illegal Prescribing and Health Care FraudRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a former Huntsville physician, who was the nation’s highest Medicare prescriber of opioid painkillers at the height of his practice, to 15 years in prison for illegally prescribing controlled substances and conducting health care fraud involving $9.5 million in unneeded and unused urine tests, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced SHELINDER AGGARWAL, 48, of Huntsville, in accordance with a binding plea agreement the physician entered with the government in September, ordering the 15-year sentence recommended by the government and directing Aggarwal to forfeit $6.7 million and his former clinic on Turner Street Southwest in Huntsville. The judge also ordered Aggarwal to pay $6.7 million in restitution to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama. Aggarwal must report to prison April 12. He will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence.
Aggarwal pleaded guilty in October to one count of distributing a controlled substance outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose in July 2012, and to one count of conspiring to execute a health care fraud scheme against Medicare and BCBS of Alabama between Jan. 1, 2011, and March 31, 2013. Aggarwal earlier repaid $2.8 million to Medicare and $45,843 to BCBS of Alabama following audits.
“Dr. Aggarwal used his medical license to generate tremendous profits by putting hundreds of thousands of pills on the street illegally,” Posey said. “As today’s sentence reflects, we are committed to prosecuting health care fraud and will seek severe penalties against any doctors who knowingly and illegally contribute to the growing epidemic of opioid drug abuse.”
“This defendant directly contributed to the opioid epidemic that is plaguing our nation,” Stanton said. “He also cost taxpayers millions of dollars by fraudulently claiming government reimbursement for thousands of lab tests that he never used to treat patients. I applaud the work of my agents and our partners to shut down Aggarwal’s pill mill and hold him accountable for his actions.”
Aggarwal surrendered his Alabama medical license in 2013, along with his Alabama and federal Drug Enforcement Administration certificates to prescribe controlled substances, after the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners initiated an investigation.
Aggarwal was a pain management doctor who operated a pill mill, Chronic Pain Care Services, in Huntsville. In 2012, about 80 to 145 patients a day visited Aggarwal’s clinic, with him seeing the majority of patients and writing all prescriptions. According to court documents, initial patient visits typically lasted five minutes or less, and follow-ups two minutes or less. Aggarwal did not obtain prior medical records for his patients, did not treat patients with anything other than controlled substances, often asked patients what medications they wanted and filled their requests, prescribed controlled substances to patients who he knew were using illegal drugs, and did not take appropriate measures to ensure that patients did not divert or abuse controlled substances. His plea agreement summarizes an interaction with a patient, which was captured on video. In it, Aggarwal notes that the DEA viewed him as the “biggest pill-pusher in North Alabama” and that many of his patients were “dropping like flies, they are all dying.”
Court documents cite the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program for Alabama, which tracks the dispensing of controlled substances, as well as Medicare data, to document Aggarwal’s prescribing practices.
According to the PDMP, Alabama pharmacies filled about 110,013 of Aggarwal’s prescriptions for controlled substances in 2012. That would equal about 423 prescriptions per day if he worked five days a week, and resulted in about 12.3 million pills. The PDMP rated Aggarwal as the highest prescriber of controlled substances filled in Alabama in 2012, with the next highest prescriber writing a third as many prescriptions.
Medicare data shows Aggarwal was the highest prescriber in the United States of Schedule II controlled substances under Medicare in 2012. Schedule II substances include the opioid painkillers oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone and morphine.
As to Aggarwal’s health care fraud scheme, he pleaded guilty to requiring patients to undergo unreasonable and unnecessary urine drug tests that he did not need or use in their treatment. Aggarwal acknowledged that the tests he ran depended not on patients’ treatment, but on how much he could bill for tests. He often ignored urine test results showing patients were using illegal drugs.
Between January 2011 and March 2013, urine drug tests accounted for about 80 percent of paid claims Aggarwal submitted to Medicare and Blue Cross, for a total reimbursement of $9.5 million. According to his plea agreement, “Aggarwal’s primary motivation for testing patients’ urine specimens, and submitting those claims for payment, was financial gain.”
The FBI investigated the case, based partly on an investigation conducted by the ABME. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chinelo Dike-Minor and Russell Penfield prosecuted the case.
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Former CWA Local President Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement and Bank FraudRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A former president of the Communications Workers of America, Local 3901, in Oxford, Ala., pleaded guilty today in federal court to a scheme to embezzle more than $69,000 from the local chapter, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, Investigator Hollis Lindley Jr.
MICHAEL LACKEY, 44, of Bremen, Ga., entered his guilty plea to five counts of bank fraud and one count of embezzlement and theft of union funds before U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins. A federal grand jury indicted Lackey in November. As part of his plea, Lackey agreed to repay $69,193 to the union and to forfeit that same amount to the government as proceeds of illegal activity. Lackey is scheduled for sentencing April 25.
Local 3901 members elected Lackey president in October 2008 and he remained in that position until October 2014. As president, Lackey exercised control over the local’s finances, including its accounts at Wells Fargo and Regions banks.
According to his plea agreement with the government, Lackey executed a scheme to defraud the banks and Local 3901 between February 2010 and October 2014 by using his position as Local 3901 president, and acting treasurer, to conduct unauthorized transactions to take money from the CWA local’s bank accounts and use it for his personal benefit. Those transactions included writing checks to himself from Local 3901 accounts for unauthorized or nonexistent travel expenses, using debit cards he obtained on accounts for the local at both Regions and Wells Fargo for personal expenses, and making cash withdrawals from Local 3901 accounts at both banks for his personal use.
The checks he wrote to himself from union funds totaled about $26,519; the cash withdrawals and personal expenditures he made with the union’s debit cards totaled about $14,095; counter cash withdrawals totaled about $16,032; personal power bill payments totaled about $3,092; personal loan payments totaled about $7,201; and accumulated bank fees totaled about $2,251, for a total embezzlement of $69,193, according to the plea agreement.
Lackey attempted to conceal his theft by failing to maintain records of his unauthorized transactions and by failing to seek approval for expenditures, as required by federal law and the Local 3901 constitution and bylaws.
Local 3901 members began to suspect in summer 2014 that Lackey had stolen money from the union when a union check bounced. About the same time, Lackey told a national CWA AFL-CIO representative that he had taken out a personal loan using the union’s bank accounts and assets as collateral, and had failed to make the loan payments, leading the bank to collect from the union’s finances, according to the plea agreement.
The maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for embezzlement is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter Sr. is prosecuting.
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Federal Prosecutors Charge Birmingham CPA in $11 Million EmbezzlementRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – Federal prosecutors today charged a Birmingham man in connection with an $11 million embezzlement scheme from a Shelby County scrap metal brokerage company where he was the chief financial officer, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger Stanton.
In a five-count information filed in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged THOMAS L. HINSON JR., 69, with five counts of wire fraud for depositing checks stolen from Strickland Trading Inc., where he worked as CFO, into the account of Strickland Trading Company, LLC, a company Hinson formed for the purpose of perpetrating his scheme.
The five wire fraud counts represent five of the more than 225 checks totaling more than $11.2 million that were intended for Strickland Trading Inc., but which Hinson deposited into his Strickland Trading Company, LLC, account, between April 2007 and April 2016, according to the information. The defendant used the money he embezzled from Strickland Trading Inc. over the years to pay expenses and purchase real estate, automobiles, and other assets for himself, his family and friends.
In conjunction with the charges, prosecutors filed a plea agreement with Hinson in which he acknowledges the embezzlement and agrees to plead guilty to the fraud charges. He also agrees to pay restitution of $11.2 million and to forfeit his interest in properties in Huntsville, Birmingham, Virginia Beach, Va., Lutz. Fla., and Sevierville, Tenn.
According to the court documents, Hinson conducted his scheme as follows:
Hinson was a certified public accountant in private practice who worked for Strickland Trading Inc. from 1991 to April 2016. In 2000, he began working as Strickland Trading Inc.’s CFO. In April 2007, Hinson filed documents with the State of Alabama creating Strickland Trading Company, LLC, and provided the name and address of a friend in Madison County as its organizer so he could conceal his own association with the new company.
Using the similarity in the names of the two companies, Hinson took checks mailed to Strickland Trading Inc. by its customers and deposited the checks into his Strickland Trading Company, LLC, account for his personal use. He made false entries in the financial records of Strickland Trading Inc., prepared false financial statements and made other false representations to Strickland Trading Inc. corporate officers to conceal his embezzlement.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin is prosecuting.
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Men from Talladega and Franklin Counties Indicted for Distributing MethRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today, in unrelated cases, indicted a Talladega County man and a Franklin County man on charges of distributing methamphetamine, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brett Hamilton.
A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges TAYLOR ALAN PANNETON, 31, of Sylacauga, with distributing methamphetamine and with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine on Nov. 7 in Jefferson County.
Vestavia Hills Police arrested Panneton on drug charges in November at the Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa.
A separate two-count indictment charges JOSHUA CLINT McCARLEY, 34, of Hodges, with distributing methamphetamine on Aug. 12 in Franklin County, and with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine on Jan. 6 in Franklin County.
Marion County Sheriff’s deputies arrested McCarley at his home Jan. 6.
The maximum penalty for both distributing and possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine is 20 years in prison and a $3 million fine.
DEA investigated the case, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Huntsville Man Sentenced to Nearly Four Years in Prison for $600,000 Tax Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
HUNTSVILLE – A federal judge today sentenced a Huntsville man to nearly four years in prison for his scheme to have more than $600,000 in fraudulent federal and Washington, D.C., tax refund checks deposited into his bank accounts.
U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced MARTIN TYRONNE WOODS, 36, to three years and 10 months in prison on one count of theft of government property. Woods pleaded guilty in October. He already is in custody.
Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey, IRS Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot, FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton, District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey S. DeWitt, and D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue Criminal Investigation Division Chief Gilbert R. Garza announced the sentence.
“Tax fraud and attempted tax fraud are an increasingly serious problem and criminals are becoming more skillful at committing this type of crime,” Posey said. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is fortunate to work with law enforcement partners who are adept at identifying and investigating such fraud, and we will continue to prosecute criminals who steal from the government and the taxpayers.”
“Every taxpayer is affected by refund fraud when tax dollars are stolen from the government,” Hyman-Pillot said. “Martin Woods learned the hard way that participating in refund schemes and stealing taxpayer funds will result in punishment.”
“I want to express my appreciation to my agents and to our IRS-Criminal Investigation partners for their hard work in bringing Mr. Woods to justice,” Stanton said. “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to hold accountable those who defraud the government.”
Garza expressed his gratitude to IRS-Criminal Investigation, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama for their partnership in the investigation.
DeWitt said, “The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue will vigorously pursue justice against individuals who commit stolen identity theft and tax fraud. As chief of the Criminal Investigation Division for Washington, D.C., we are committed to tracking down these criminals who steal money from the government and thus harm the honest taxpayers and the communities we serve.”
From September 2012 through April 2013 in Madison County, Woods and others, not named in the court documents, submitted the fraudulent federal and District of Columbia tax refund checks for deposit into Woods’ bank accounts. Many of the refunds were in the names of deceased individuals, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum.
The IRS and FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell E. Penfield prosecuted.
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Former Shelby County Man Agrees to Plead Guilty to Illegally Accessing Women's Computers to Obtain Explicit PhotographsRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – Federal prosecutors today charged a former Shelby County resident with illegally accessing e-mail and cloud storage accounts of at least 50 women to obtain personal data, including explicit photographs, announced acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
In a one-count information filed in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charges KEVIN M. MALDONADO, 35, now living in North Carolina, with intentionally accessing the Gmail account of K.M., and the documents and images therein, without her permission in order to invade her privacy. Maldonado has agreed to plead guilty to the charge. Prosecutors filed a plea agreement, under seal, in conjunction with the charging document.
The information charges that Maldonado was able to get into the accounts of K.M. and the other women by obtaining their logins and passwords through a “phishing” attack, or by using open-source information or information obtained from the victims to determine their login and password information, or to answer security questions necessary to reset their login and password information. Maldonado knew some, but not all of the women victimized, according to the charges.
“Predators use the internet to target innocent victims,” Posey said. “We continue to work with our law enforcement partners to track and prosecute online criminals, but anyone who has an e-mail or other online account should protect themselves by protecting their login and password information. Don’t share it with friends or acquaintances or respond to unsolicited requests for that, or other personal information.”
“This case is a good reminder for all of us to maintain good computer security practices,” Stanton said. “Always be cautious of unsolicited telephone calls, e-mails and text messages, especially those asking you to supply account information. If you feel you have been a victim of a computer crime, please report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint center, www.IC3.gov.”
Maldonado phished for some of the victims’ login and password information by creating fictitious e-mail addresses and posing as an administrator for an e-mail provider, according to the information. Using the fictitious e-mail addresses, he sent the victims e-mails telling them their accounts may have been compromised and requesting their passwords.
Once the defendant accessed the victims’ accounts, he downloaded their data, including personal identifying information and personal photographs and videos, including images of the victims nude, partially nude, or engaged in sexual activity, according to the information.
In at least one instance, Maldonado responded to an e-mail from a victim’s contact, posing as the victim, and requested explicit photographs, according to the information. Maldonado organized and catalogued, by victim, the information he obtained through unauthorized computer access and stored the information on an external hard drive, the information charges.
The maximum penalty for unauthorized computer access in furtherance of an invasion of privacy is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica Barnes is prosecuting.
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Birmingham Man Indicted on Counterfeiting and Firearms ChargesRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a Birmingham man on counterfeiting and firearms charges, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael Williams.
A three-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges HOLLIS NIKIA BULLARD, 22, with making counterfeit $100 bills, dealing in counterfeit $100 bills and possessing a Smith & Wesson Model 10 revolver as a convicted felon, all on Jan. 4.
According to the indictment, Bullard was convicted of a felony burglary offense in Jefferson County Circuit Court in August 2015, and of felony receipt of stolen property in February 2014.
Police arrested Bullard on the federal counterfeiting and firearm possession charges on Jan. 4 at his apartment on Center Point Parkway in Birmingham, where they found counterfeited $100 bills, according to a Jan. 5 arrest complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Secret Service agents recovered counterfeit bills totaling more than $15,000 in the course of the investigation, according to the complaint.
The maximum penalty for both making counterfeit U.S. currency and dealing in counterfeit currency is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Secret Service and the Jefferson County Regional Fraud Task Force investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
U.S. Marshals Arrest Jefferson County Man for Sex Trafficking of a MinorRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – U.S. Marshals late last week arrested a Jefferson County man on a charge of sex trafficking of a minor, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
Marshals arrested TORRVEZ LEMARCUS CALDWELL, 22, on Thursday in Birmingham on one count of sex trafficking of a minor in 2015. A federal grand jury indicted Caldwell on the charge in April. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Ott today for arraignment on the charge against him. He remains in custody.
Caldwell’s arrest comes during National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
The maximum penalty for sex trafficking a minor is life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter is prosecuting.
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Sylacauga Woman Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling from Union LocalRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge last week sentenced a Sylacauga woman to three months in prison, followed by three month’s home detention for embezzling more than $23,000 from a construction trades union local based in Irondale, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, District Director Craig Neel.
U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor sentenced MICHELLE R. CLIFTON, 49, on one count of embezzling union assets. The judge ordered her to pay $23,014 in restitution to the union. Clifton pleaded guilty in August. She must report to prison Feb. 15.
Clifton stole from the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, Local 78, where she worked as office manager and bookkeeper, according to court records. She carried out the theft between December 2012 and September 2013 by forging 17 checks drawn on four separate union accounts.
The Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Patton Meadows prosecuted.
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U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance Retiring After 25 Years as Federal ProsecutorRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced today that she will retire from the Department of Justice, effective at midnight Jan. 19, after 25 years as a federal prosecutor.
“It has been an honor to serve the Northern District of Alabama as U.S. Attorney for the past 7½ years,” Vance said. “I thank the dedicated men and women in my office, and our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, for their tireless dedication. They serve with competence, integrity and a commitment to public service, and they honored me with their trust in my leadership. Together, we’ve taken on a full spectrum of challenges and have left our communities safer, while protecting the civil rights of all who live here.”
“Since the first year of the Obama Administration, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance has served the people of the Northern District of Alabama – and all of the American people – with compassion and integrity,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “During her tenure, she oversaw the development of a comprehensive initiative to tackle opioid and heroin addiction. She helped lead an ongoing investigation into abuse in Alabama prisons. She fought corruption and brought actions to protect the rights of immigrants. And she has been a valuable partner in the department’s efforts to improve relationships between police officers and the people they serve, including by welcoming me to Birmingham in 2015 during my Community Policing Tour. In these and in so many other ways, Joyce has been a dedicated servant of the law and a tireless champion of justice. I thank her for her outstanding contributions to the Department of Justice, and I wish her well in her future endeavors.”
Vance was one of the first five U.S. Attorneys nominated by President Barack Obama. The Senate unanimously confirmed her nomination on Aug. 7, 2009. Before her appointment as U.S. Attorney, Vance spent 18 years in the federal prosecutor’s office, last serving as chief of its Appellate Division. Before that, she served as both an appellate lawyer and as a criminal prosecutor. Vance served on Attorney General Eric Holder’s Advisory Committee from 2009-2011.
During her seven years as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the 31-county Northern District of Alabama, Vance maintained a keen commitment to protecting civil rights. That commitment was reflected in some of the key civil and criminal cases that the office pursued, including the successful challenge of Alabama’s 2011 HB56 immigration law and the first-ever statewide investigation into conditions and sexual abuse in Alabama’s prisons for men. She also worked with the University of Alabama to develop an action plan to increase diversity of the University’s Greek system and entered into a settlement agreement with Jefferson County that rectified violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at polling places. Vance partnered with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to bring Alabama into compliance with the Motor Voter Act.
In criminal civil rights matters, Vance’s office successfully prosecuted a string of “color of law” cases involving violent police misconduct and prosecuted a hate crime involving a defendant who tried to hire an undercover FBI agent, who he believed was a Ku Klux Klan hitman, to murder his African American neighbor.
Vance developed a community-wide initiative to combat heroin and prescription opiate addiction, based on the belief that it was not a problem we could “arrest our way out of.” She combined prosecutions of significant heroin traffickers with the creation of a Pills to Needles Initiative with the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health and the Jefferson County Department of Health that educated the public about the resurgence of heroin before it was widely recognized, and worked with a broad array of partners to identify and develop prevention and treatment opportunities.
Vance also worked closely with state and local law enforcement, in Birmingham and other cities, to establish violence reduction programs and to improve police-community relationships. Birmingham was one of six pilot cities for the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice.
Recognizing that a smart criminal justice system focuses not only on enforcement work, but also on prevention and successful reentry to the community by former inmates, Vance initiated a project that seeks to identify and remove barriers to successful reentry, in order to reduce recidivism. That work included championing local businesses that successfully adopted ban-the-box employment practices to help people with criminal records find jobs, and creating a legal clinic at the University of Alabama School of Law to help people obtain driver’s licenses and overcome other obstacles to building productive lives.
Among the key criminal prosecutions during Vance’s tenure, the office prosecuted the state’s first material support of terrorism case in 2012. An Uzbek national was convicted and sentenced to more than 15 years in jail for providing material support to terrorism, threatening to kill President Barack Obama and illegally possessing a weapon.
The office also prosecuted Jonathan Dunning who, as the CEO of two non-profit health clinics meant to provide care to low-income individuals, fraudulently diverted $16 million in money and property for his personal benefit. Dunning was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Another of the office’s multi-million-dollar fraud prosecutions saw the conviction of Maurice William Campbell Jr., former state director of a consortium of business development centers, for a scheme to defraud the State of Alabama of more than $7 million. Campbell was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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Gulf Coast HIDTA Provides Friday Training on Opioid Overdose and ReversalRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – The Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area is providing training Friday for first responders and law enforcement and military personnel on opioid overdose treatment and reversal options, including use of the drug, naloxone, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Jefferson State Community College Police Chief Mark Bailey.
The training will be held in the Health and Science Building on Jeff State’s Shelby County Campus, at 4600 Valleydale Road. William T. Robinson, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health, will lead the training.
The training is free and will be offered in two classes, one from 9 a.m. to noon, and a second from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Attendees may register at the door.
Deaths caused by opioid-related overdoses have quadrupled since the turn of the century, and more than half of the deaths are caused by prescription opioid painkillers, according to the HIDTA task force. Fortunately, opportunities for overdose reversal have expanded in terms of both policy and treatment technology.
In Alabama, the state Legislature passed a law in 2015 that allows police officers and people with addiction, as well as their family members and friends, to carry the drug naloxone, also known as Narcan, and administer it to users who have overdosed on opioids. Naloxone, given timely, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and restart the victim’s breathing.
Naloxone is now available, without a prescription, at many Walgreen’s Pharmacies in Alabama and several independent pharmacies in Jefferson County. Naloxone is also available through the Jefferson County Department of Health Central Health Center for those who otherwise have difficulty obtaining it. State Health Officer Dr. Tom Miller has issued standing orders on the Alabama Department of Public Health website, enabling any willing pharmacy in Alabama to sell naloxone without a prescription.
Friday’s training will include a section focused on current federal, state and local policies surrounding the use and availability of naloxone. Attention will be given to “Good Samaritan Laws,” which provide protections for law enforcement personnel and first responders who administer naloxone.
The training also will address the epidemiology of drug use and overdose, the psychopharmacology and mechanisms of drug action on the body and the nervous system, and signs and symptoms of potential overdose, as well as effective and ineffective overdose treatment.
Federal Jury Convicts Walker County Man for Possessing MethamphetamineRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal jury on Wednesday convicted a Walker County man of possessing methamphetamine in Quinton, Ala., announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Donald DeSalvo.
Following a three-day trial before U.S. District Chief Judge Karon O. Bowdre, a jury convicted SHANNON C. GOBER, 42, of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it on Dec. 29, 2015.
According to the evidence at trial, Gober provided approximately one ounce of methamphetamine to a person who was, unbeknownst to Gober, cooperating with the DEA in investigating him. Following the drug transaction, DEA agents executed a search warrant at Gober’s home, finding more than a half-pound of methamphetamine in a car parked next to Gober’s residence.
Gober remains in federal custody. He is scheduled for sentencing May 17.
DEA’s Birmingham office investigated the case with officers of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and Cullman Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mohammad Khatib and Austin Shutt prosecuted the case.
U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance to Receive 2017 Lou Wooster Public Health Hero AwardRead the Press Release
The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health is honoring U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance as the 2017 recipient of its Lou Wooster Public Health Hero award for her leadership in creating a broad-based response to the heroin epidemic in northern Alabama.
UAB School of Public Health announced today that its advisory board, the Broad Street Committee, has selected Vance for the award, which is presented annually to recognize an individual, group or organization that is an unconventional public health hero. The award is named in honor of Louise Wooster, the 19th century Birmingham madam who risked her life during the 1873 cholera epidemic by staying in the city to care for the sick and dying. A devastating cholera epidemic struck the young city that year and most residents, including all the local leadership, fled.
In its announcement, the UAB School of Public Health said Vance was selected for her leadership in comprehensively addressing the heroin epidemic in metropolitan Birmingham and elsewhere across the state. “When few recognized the emerging epidemic of heroin and opioid-related deaths, Joyce Vance, in her role as United States Attorney, convened the first ‘Pills to Needles Summit’ in June 2014 that overnight galvanized community leaders around this new public health threat. Through her leadership and determination, Joyce Vance established a new paradigm to address this threat to the public’s health that linked law enforcement, government, academia, public health, victims, and advocates. Together these institutions, organizations, and individuals have worked a long-term strategy that recognizes the complexities of this epidemic and is sufficiently flexible to adjust to anticipated but unknown changes in the substances, the populations, and the distributors,” the announcement said.
“Vance joins uncommon public health heroes, selected because their work falls outside the traditional boundaries of public health, yet has a great impact on the public’s health,” said Max Michael III, M.D., dean of the UAB School of Public Health.
Vance was one of the first five U.S. Attorneys nominated by President Barack Obama. The Senate confirmed her nomination Aug. 7, 2009. Vance served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee from 2009 to 2011, where she helped to craft Justice Department policy. She presently co-chairs the AGAC’s Criminal Practice Subcommittee, and serves on the Civil Rights Subcommittee.
Vance, like Lou Wooster, is an uncommon public health hero, the UAB announcement said. “Lou Wooster’s grit and determination to stay in Birmingham, along with some of the other girls at her house on Morris Avenue, is credited with assuring that there was a Birmingham for the leadership to come back to.”
Previous winners of the Lou Wooster Public Health Hero Award include State Representative Patricia Todd, the first openly gay elected official in the State of Alabama; American Electric Power, the Western Hemisphere’s largest burner of coal, for its strong and environmentally collaborative efforts to produce clean energy; the VF Corporation for its decision to rebuild the Wrangler Distribution Center in rural Hackleberg, Alabama, which was destroyed in the April 2013 tornados; and Angelou Ezeilo, Founder of the Greening Youth Foundation in Atlanta.
Statement by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on the Departure of Joyce White Vance from the Northern District of AlabamaRead the Press Release
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch released the following statement on the planned departure of Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
“Since the first year of the Obama Administration, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance has served the people of the Northern District of Alabama – and all of the American people – with compassion and integrity,” said Attorney General Lynch.
“During her tenure, she oversaw the development of a comprehensive initiative to tackle opioid and heroin addiction. She helped lead an ongoing investigation into abuse in Alabama prisons. She fought corruption and brought actions to protect the rights of immigrants. And she has been a valuable partner in the department’s efforts to improve relationships between police officers and the people they serve, including by welcoming me to Birmingham in 2015 during my Community Policing Tour. In these and in so many other ways, Joyce has been a dedicated servant of the law and a tireless champion of justice. I thank her for her outstanding contributions to the Department of Justice, and I wish her well in her future endeavors.”
Two Colbert County Men Plead Guilty to Shipping Meth via U.S. MailRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A Colbert County man pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to charges related to an attempt to ship about a pound of methamphetamine from Los Angeles to the Colbert County town of Leighton using the U.S. Mail, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspector in Charge Adrian Gonzalez.
VENNIS MINOSA OATES Jr., 33, of Leighton, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Oates is scheduled for sentencing April 6 in Huntsville.
A second Colbert County man charged in the case, KEELAN SHUNTEZ ROBINSON, 23, of Muscle Shoals, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 26, also in Huntsville.
Oates and Robinson both were arrested in Leighton in January 2016 after they arrived at the U.S. Post Office in Leighton to pick up a suspicious package. Oates drove Robinson to the post office and waited in the car while Robinson went inside and received the package, according to Oates’ plea agreement.
U.S. postal inspectors and members of the Colbert County Drug Task Force and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency were monitoring retrieval of the package after a resident at the address listed on the parcel initially refused its delivery. The resident said no one named Jeff Hawkins, the package’s listed recipient, lived at the Marthaler Lane address, according to Oates’ plea agreement. After the refused delivery, a postal inspector determined that neither the sender’s name nor the recipient’s name could be associated with either the California shipping address or the Leighton delivery address, and someone identifying himself as “Jeremy” began calling the Leighton Post Office inquiring about picking up the package, according to the plea agreement.
Following Oates’ and Robinson’s arrests, police obtained a search warrant authorizing them to open the package and found it contained about a pound of methamphetamine and about two pounds of marijuana. Postal inspectors subsequently analyzed inbound and outbound packages with destination addresses similar to the Leighton methamphetamine package and identified 14 inbound and two outbound packages, according to the plea agreement. Oates packaged large amounts of cash and shipped it to California to pay for the illegal drugs, the plea agreement said.
The maximum penalty for the conspiracy and distribution charges are 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
The Postal Inspection Service, Colbert County Drug Task Force and the ALEA State Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Felton is prosecuting.
Stevenson, Alabama, Police Chief Sentenced for Assaulting and Failing to Protect ArresteeRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that the former Chief of Police of Stevenson, Alabama, Daniel Winters, 56, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for beating an arrestee and for standing by while Winters’ friend beat the arrestee.
On July 14, 2016, a federal jury convicted Winters of two counts of violating the individual’s civil rights. Winters was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala of the Northern District of Alabama.
According to evidence presented at trial, on March 22, 2015, Winters and a civilian friend went to a residence to investigate suspicions that property had been stolen from the friend’s business and was located at the residence. Upon arrival, Winters and his friend entered the residence without a search warrant and encountered the victim, identified as D.F. Winters and his friend then began to beat D.F. The beating moved outside where Winters and his friend continued to strike and kick the victim in front of the residence. Over the course of approximately five minutes, Winters not only participated in the beating, but stood by watching his friend beat D.F. and did nothing to stop it. A passing motorist called 911 to report the beating. D.F. was left bloody with wounds to his face, chest and back, and was taken to the jail at the Stevenson Police Department. While at the jail, D.F. began to spit up blood. A jailor requested Winters’ permission to call an ambulance, but Winters refused the request. Eventually, the jailor received permission from another supervisor and D.F. was transported to a hospital, where he received medical attention.
“Our society entrusts law enforcement leaders with the profound responsibility of protecting people from harm,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. “When law enforcement officials abuse the individuals they swore an oath to protect, they threaten the reputation of their colleagues in the profession who do their jobs honorably and with integrity. This sentencing makes clear that no one, not even a police chief, is above the law.”
“Police department leadership must set the example and uphold the integrity of their departments and meet the rightful expectation of every citizen that law enforcement officers will act in accordance with the laws they have sworn to uphold,” said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama. “In this case, a police chief criminally abused his badge in order to benefit a friend and inflict violence on an individual in violation of the Constitution. Our society cannot allow that kind of abuse of power and authority to go unpunished.”
The FBI and Alabama’s State Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. Deputy Chief Laura Hodge of the Northern District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Samantha Trepel of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.
Stevenson Police Chief Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting and Failing to Protect ArresteeRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced former Stevenson, Ala., Police Chief DANIEL WINTERS, 56, to more than two years in prison for beating an arrestee and for standing by while Winters’ friend beat the arrestee, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala sentenced Winters to 27 months in prison and ordered him to pay restitution of $12,970 on two counts of violating an individual’s civil rights. A federal jury convicted Winters on those charges in July 2016. Winters must report to prison March 7.
According to evidence presented at trial, on March 22, 2015, Winters and a civilian friend went to a residence to investigate suspicions that property had been stolen from the friend’s business and was located at the residence. Upon arrival, Winters and his friend entered the residence without a search warrant and encountered the victim, identified as D.F. Winters and his friend then began to beat D.F. The beating moved outside where Winters and his friend continued to strike and kick the victim in front of the residence. Over the course of approximately five minutes, Winters not only participated in the beating, but stood by watching his friend beat D.F. and did nothing to stop it. A passing motorist called 911 to report the beating. D.F. was left bloody with wounds to his face, chest and back, and was taken to the jail at the Stevenson Police Department. While at the jail, D.F. began to spit up blood. A jailor requested Winters’ permission to call an ambulance, but Winters refused the request. Eventually, the jailor received permission from another supervisor and D.F. was transported to a hospital where he received medical attention.
“Our society entrusts law enforcement leaders with the profound responsibility of protecting people from harm,” Gupta said. “When law enforcement officials abuse the individuals they swore an oath to protect, they threaten the reputation of their colleagues in the profession who do their jobs honorably and with integrity. This sentencing makes clear that no one, not even a police chief, is above the law.”
“Police department leadership must set the example and uphold the integrity of their departments and meet the rightful expectation of every citizen that law enforcement officers will act in accordance with the laws they have sworn to uphold,” Vance said. “In this case, a police chief criminally abused his badge in order to benefit a friend and inflict violence on an individual in violation of the Constitution. Our society cannot allow that kind of abuse of power and authority to go unpunished.”
The FBI and Alabama’s State Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation. U.S. Attorney’s Office Deputy Chief Laura Hodge and Trial Attorney Samantha Trepel of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.
Former Controller Arrested for Defrauding Fitness Company and Retail StoreRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – FBI agents in Texas today arrested the former controller for a Birmingham-based fitness center franchise on charges she defrauded that company and a subsequent retail store out of more than $100,000, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
A federal grand jury in Birmingham on Dec. 28 indicted REBECCA FRITH, also known as Rebecca Wilson, 44, on 20 counts of wire fraud between April 2014 and June 2016 while she was controller at Iron Tribe Fitness. It also indicted Frith, now living in Sunset, Texas, on two counts of wire fraud between July 2016 and August 2016 while she was controller at The Pants Store, based in Leeds, Ala.
The indictment seeks to have Frith forfeit $105,309 as proceeds of illegal activity.
Agents arrested Frith without incident at her job in Texas. She was scheduled to go before a federal magistrate judge today in Texas for an initial appearance on the charges against her. She is scheduled for arraignment in U.S. District Court in Birmingham Jan. 19.
According to the indictment, which was unsealed today following her arrest, Frith used her access to Iron Tribe Fitness’ bank and credit card accounts at Servis1st Bank to establish automatic drafts to pay personal monthly utility bills, including cell phone, water, power and cable. She also used Iron Tribe Fitness credit cards to pay unauthorized personal expenses including food, household items, pet care, vehicle maintenance, car payments, taxes, flights, hotels and vacations, the indictment charges.
Frith resigned her position with Iron Tribe Fitness in June 2016 and went to work as controller for The Pants Store. Within her first month of employment there, Frith used her access to The Pants Store’s bank account numbers to set up automatic drafts from the company’s business account at Merrill Lynch to pay her $1,650 apartment rent, according to the indictment.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Huntsville Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Bank Fraud and Identity TheftRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM -- A federal judge today sentenced a Huntsville man to three years in prison and ordered him to forfeit $79,619 for his scheme to steal and counterfeit business checks in 2014, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Postal Inspector Frank Dyer.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn sentenced BERNARD EUGENE MCKINNEY II, 29, on five bank fraud and two aggravated identity theft charges. A federal jury convicted McKinney on the charges in August. He must report to prison Feb. 6.
According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, evidence at trial showed that McKinney’s scheme involved recruiting various friends and acquaintances to cash fraudulent checks around the Huntsville area. The scheme defrauded BBVA Compass Bank of $79,619 in a series of transactions over several days. “The actions of the Defendant were not a ‘one-time’ mistake, but a well-developed plan and scheme in which the Defendant had to make a conscience decision to act each time a fraudulent check was cashed. He involved five other people in the scheme,” the sentencing memorandum said.
Trial evidence showed that McKinney, with the help of his recruits, counterfeited legitimate business checks that had been stolen from the U.S. mail, changed the payee names to himself or others, and then cashed the checks at Compass Bank branches in north Alabama. McKinney also forged the signature of the person who signed the original checks, which he used to manufacture the counterfeits.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney David H. Estes prosecuted.
Cullman County Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography Involving Multiple VictimsRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A Cullman County man pleaded guilty today in federal court to producing child pornography involving seven minor victims, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
Gregory Jerome Lee, 54, pleaded guilty to four counts of production of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins. Sentencing is set for April 12.
- to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, from September 1996 through December 2003, Lee sexually abused at least seven different minors and frequently produced images and videos depicting his exploitation of these children. From approximately September 1996 until August 2007, Lee and his co-conspirators used secret, password-protected chat rooms to discuss their interests in and real-life sexual abuse of children and to trade child pornography, Lee admitted.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune and Trial Attorneys Amy E. Larson and Ralph Paradiso of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Alabama Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography Involving Multiple VictimsRead the Press Release
An Alabama man pleaded guilty today to producing child pornography involving seven minor victims, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama.
Gregory Jerome Lee, 54, formerly of Cullman County, Alabama, pleaded guilty to four counts of production of child pornography before U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins of the Northern District of Alabama. Sentencing is set for April 12, 2017.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, from September 1996 through December 2003, Lee sexually abused at least seven different minors and frequently produced images and videos depicting his exploitation of these children. From approximately September 1996 until August 2007, Lee and his co-conspirators used secret, password-protected chat rooms to discuss their interests in and real-life sexual abuse of children and to trade child pornography, Lee admitted.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Trial Attorneys Amy E. Larson and Ralph Paradiso of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune of the Northern District of Alabama prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Two Atlanta Women Indicted in Counterfeit Credit Card SchemeRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted two Atlanta women on federal charges related to an interstate counterfeit credit card scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael Williams.
A five-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges NENITA CHIFFON BARNES, 40, and ALICIA SHANTE STEWART, 34, with conspiracy to defraud Regions Bank by using stolen credit card numbers to create counterfeit credit cards that they used for purchases and cash advances between October 2015 and April 13, 2016, in north Alabama.
Along with the conspiracy, the indictment charges both women with one count of bank fraud and one count of possessing more than 15 counterfeit credit cards in Calhoun County on April 13. The indictment charges Barnes and Stewart separately with one count each of aggravated identity theft.
According to the indictment, Barnes and Stewart traveled to multiple locations, including the federal Northern District of Alabama, to use the counterfeit cards to make purchases and cash advances. The indictment charges that the women worked together at multiple Regions Bank branches within north Alabama to withdraw or to attempt to withdraw cash using the counterfeit cards.
Barnes is charged with aggravated identity theft for using, without lawful authority, the names and debit or credit card numbers of four specific individuals to commit fraud on April 13 in Calhoun County, and Stewart faces the same charge for unlawfully using the names and card numbers of three other individuals.
The conspiracy and bank fraud charges each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The charge of possessing more than 15 counterfeit credit or debit cards carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of two years, which must be served after completion of any other sentence imposed for an associated crime, and a maximum $250,000 fine.
The U.S. Secret Service and the Jacksonville Police Department investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Birmingham Man Sentenced to 3 ½ Years for Preparing False Tax Returns and Witness TamperingRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Birmingham man to 3½ years in prison for assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns and tampering with a witness the IRS contacted to question about returns he had prepared, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot.
U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon sentenced DONALD E. STEELE, 42, on five counts of assisting in the preparation of a false federal income tax return in 2010 or 2011, and on one count of witness tampering in 2011. At the time, Steele operated Max Tax, a Birmingham tax-return preparation business owned by his wife. A federal jury convicted Steele in August following a three-day trial.
Steele is to report to prison February 21. Judge Kallon imposed three years of supervised release following completion of Steele’s prison term and ordered him to pay restitution of $63,217 to the IRS once he is released from prison.
According to evidence at trial, Steele made false claims and fabricated tax deductions on federal tax returns for three different taxpayers.
Multiple taxpayer witnesses testified that they were not given a copy of their tax return when they were prepared. When investigators later presented them their returns, they saw fraudulent claims that included false filing status, false dependents, false itemized expenses including medical and dental deductions and charitable contributions, false business expenses and deductions, and false disability claims and education expenses and credits.
The jury found Steele guilty of tampering with a witness for whom he had prepared a fraudulent 2010 return. The woman testified that she tried unsuccessfully many times to get a copy of her return from Steele, but once the investigation began, he showed up at her workplace and handed her a $200 check, which she considered a bribe not to talk to the IRS.
IRS-CI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Patton Meadows and Manu Balanchandran prosecuted.
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North Alabama U.S. Attorney’s Office Collects $5.09 Million in Civil and Criminal Actions for U.S. Taxpayers in Fiscal Year 2016Read the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM -- U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced today that the Northern District of Alabama collected $5.09 million in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2016. Of this amount, about $3.7 million was collected in criminal actions and $1.4 million in civil actions.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for north Alabama worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $1.1 million in civil actions pursued jointly.
“Seeking justice is the primary objective of the U.S. Attorney's Office," Vance said. "The people in my office pursue that goal every day, working to put criminals behind bars and to ensure that money taken through wrongful action is returned to the federal government and to victims of crime. In addition, we are dedicated to being good stewards of the public trust and the funding our office is given to do our work.”
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department collected nearly $15.4 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The FY 2016 collections represent more than five times the appropriated $2.93 billion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the main litigating divisions of the Justice Department combined for the fiscal year.
“Every day, the men and women of the Department of Justice work tirelessly to enforce our laws, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used properly and that the American people are protected from exploitation and abuse,” Lynch said. “Today’s announcement is a testament to that work, and it makes clear that our actions deliver a significant return on public investment. I want to thank the prosecutors and trial attorneys who made this year's collections possible, and I want to emphasize that the department remains committed to the well-being of our people and our nation.”
One of the largest single collections by the Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney’s Office this past year was $1.5 million received as part of the $5.9 million court-ordered restitution in the case of William Maurice Campbell Jr. and three co-defendants. Campbell, at the time of the crime, was state director of a college consortium of business development centers. A federal jury convicted him in 2011 on 96 counts related to his scheme to defraud the State of Alabama of more than $7 million. In 2012, a federal judge sentenced Campbell to more than 15 years in prison and ordered the restitution. Campbell appealed the conviction and sentence, which were upheld by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2014.
The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the department’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the United States and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims’ Fund, which distributes the funds to state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
The largest civil collections were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmental laws. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for north Alabama, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $934,607 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2016. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
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Former Army Contracting Official Sentenced to Prison for Filing False Tax ReturnRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a former contracting official for the U.S. Army at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville to five months in prison and five months’ home confinement for filing a false income tax return, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot.
U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala sentenced WILLIS EPPS, 61, on one count of filing a false tax return. A federal jury convicted Epps on the charge in June. Judge Haikala ordered Epps’ home detention as a condition of the year of supervised release she imposed following his prison sentence. She also ordered Epps to pay $16,470 in restitution to the IRS.
Before Epps’ retirement in January 2013, he was a high-level contracting official assigned to Army Contracting Command-Redstone. Beginning in 2010, Epps provided contracting support to the Army’s Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft office and was named its director of contracts.
The jury convicted Epps of willfully filing an IRS tax return for 2013 that he knew was false. According to the evidence, Epps knowingly omitted $56,250 in income when he filed a return stating his joint taxable income for 2013 was $182,541.
The facts leading to the IRS-CI investigation of Epps arose during a separate multi-agency investigation into the Army’s NSRWA. Those investigating agencies were the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the FBI.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ramona C. Albin and Henry Cornelius prosecuted the case.
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Tuscaloosa Man Indicted for Trafficking Cocaine and Using FedEx to Promote Drug-trafficking ActivitiesRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a Tuscaloosa man as part of a conspiracy to traffic cocaine in Tuscaloosa County, and with using an express delivery service to illegally distribute drugs, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Steven Gerido.
A four-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges THOMAS BLANKS II, 39, with conspiracy to distribute cocaine from March through May of this year in Tuscaloosa County. The indictment further charges Blanks with distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine on May 17 in Tuscaloosa County, being a twice-convicted felon in possession of a .390-caliber pistol and 9mm ammunition on May 18, and with using FedEx, a corporation involved in interstate commerce, to promote illegal distribution of the drugs on May 17.
According to the indictment, Blanks was convicted in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court in March 2015 for unlawful possession of marijuana, first degree, and was convicted in federal court in the Northern District of Alabama in January 2009 for unlawful receipt of firearms.
The minimum penalty for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and for distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine is five years in prison. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and for distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine is 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The maximum penalty for being a convicted felon in possession of firearms is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the maximum penalty for using a facility in interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Today’s indictment supersedes an August indictment that charged Blanks with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
ATF and the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force investigated the case, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Texas Man Faces Multiple Charges for Stealing from Dead Man’s Retirement FundRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a Texas man in connection to a scheme to steal more than $545,000 from a retirement account after the account owner and his designated beneficiary both died, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
An 11-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges DWAYNE ELLIS BAPTISTE, 43, with four counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, four counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated identity theft.
According to the indictment, Baptiste lived in Huntsville in 2011 and was acquainted with Ralph Swinehart, who along with his father, Ronald Swinehart, also lived in Huntsville. Ronald Swinehart was a retired employee of Lockheed Martin Corporation and had a retirement savings account through the company. The retirement account was held at ING Institutional Plan Services.
In September 2011, Ronald Swinehart signed and executed a durable power of attorney naming his son Ralph Swinehart as his agent. Ronald Swinehart died on Oct. 11, 2011. His son died on Oct. 23, 2011.
Baptiste filed a fraudulent power of attorney in Madison County Probate Court in October appointing himself as Ronald Swinehart’s agent, according to the indictment. In December 2011, Baptiste opened two commercial accounts, which he controlled, in the name of Swinehart Investment Solutions at BBVA Compass Bank. Baptiste also changed the beneficiary designation on Ronald Swinehart’s retirement account from Ralph Swinehart to himself, according to the indictment.
Baptiste then changed the bank account information on Ronald Swinehart’s retirement account, directing any distributions to be made to one of the BBVA accounts.
Baptiste committed four counts of wire fraud when he directed four transfers, totaling $545,669, from the retirement account to a BBVA account, the indictment charges.
Baptiste committed aggravated identity theft when he used Ronald Swinehart’s name, Social Security number and address, to conduct the wire fraud and mail fraud, according to the indictment.
Baptiste committed mail fraud when, on Dec. 9, 2011, he mailed to ING a package containing a fraudulent “spousal consent form,” required for making withdrawals from the ING retirement account, the indictment charges. The form purported to bear Ronald Swinehart’s signature and noted that his wife, Rosalie Swinehart, was deceased.
According to the indictment, Baptiste laundered money as follows:
On Dec. 28, 2011, he withdrew $496,085 from the BBVA account he had directed the retirement funds into, then deposited $375,000 into a new account he opened at BBVA in the name of Baptiste Inc. On Jan. 27, 2012, Baptiste drew a $225,000 check to “cash” on the new BBVA account, and three days later opened a “Baptiste Inc.” account at Regions Bank and deposited into it a $225,000 BBVA cashier’s check.
On Feb. 7, 2012, according to the indictment, Baptiste withdrew $225,000 from the Regions account.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud and mail fraud is 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The maximum penalty for money laundering is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The penalty for aggravated identity theft is two years in prison, which must be served after completion of any other sentence imposed for an associated crime.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Manu Balachandran and John B. Ward are prosecutingAn indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Former CWA Local President Indicted for Embezzlement and Bank FraudRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted the former president of the Communications Workers of America, Local 3901, in Oxford, Ala., for a scheme to embezzle more than $69,000 from the local chapter, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, Investigator Hollis Lindley Jr.
A nine-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges MICHAEL LACKEY, 43, of Bremen, Ga., with bank fraud, embezzlement of labor union funds and failure to maintain labor union records.
Local 3901 members elected Lackey president in October 2008 and he remained in that position until October 2014. As president, Lackey held sole responsibility and control over the local’s finances, including its accounts at Wells Fargo and Regions banks.
According to the indictment, Lackey executed a scheme to defraud the banks between February 2010 and October 2014 by using his position as Local 3901 president to conduct unauthorized transactions to take money from the local’s bank accounts and use it for his personal benefit. Those transactions included writing checks to himself from Local 3901 accounts for unauthorized or nonexistent travel expenses, using debit cards he obtained on accounts for the local at both Regions and Wells Fargo for personal expenses, and making cash withdrawals from Local 3901 accounts at both banks for his personal use, the indictment charges.
Lackey embezzled about $69,194 from Local 3901 and attempted to conceal the theft by failing to maintain records of his unauthorized transactions and by failing to seek approval for expenditures, as required by federal law and the Local 3901 constitution and bylaws, according to the indictment.
The maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for embezzlement is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and the maximum for failure to maintain labor union records is one year and a $10,000 fine.
The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter Sr. is prosecuting.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Former Madison County Deputy Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Lying Under Oath to Obstruct Investigation into BeatingRead the Press Release
HUNTSVILLE – A federal judge today sentenced former Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Watson to three years in prison for lying under oath with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced Watson, 32, on the charge, which he pleaded guilty to in January.
According to his plea agreement, Watson, while off-duty, got into a bar fight with a handyman. Watson searched for the man over the next several weeks, and when he observed the man driving down the highway, Watson pulled him over and ordered him out of his truck. Watson proceeded to strike the man in the face, hit him with a baton and choke him until he was unconscious. At a criminal proceeding arising out of those charges, Watson knowingly and falsely claimed, under oath, that he had never seen the man before the traffic stop and that he had not gotten into a bar fight with the man.
“Watson lied under oath to obstruct an investigation into his allegedly flagrant abuse of power and violent assault,” Gupta said. “When officers deliberately try to impede rather than cooperate with federal investigations, their actions violate the law.”
“Although the vast majority of police officers perform their duties with integrity, Justin Watson did not, using his badge to interfere with an investigation into police misconduct,” Vance said. “Communities must be able to expect fair treatment from law enforcement. Watson violated the community’s trust and will now go to prison as a result.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell and Trial Attorney Christopher J. Perras of the Criminal Section of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
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U.S. Attorney Names New Coordinator to Human Trafficking Task Force for the Northern District of AlabamaRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama has named a new coordinator for its Human Trafficking Task Force, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier Carter will lead the Northern District’s task force, which works with law enforcement agencies and state and local task forces to combat human trafficking.
“Human trafficking is modern day slavery,” Vance said. “It preys on the world’s most vulnerable people ? abandoned children, runaways, illegal immigrants afraid to speak out ? forcing them into prostitution or physical labor. Mr. Carter will lead our task force as it continues to coordinate with federal and state law enforcement to raise awareness of the problem and focus resources on investigating and prosecuting human trafficking crimes.”
One of the local task forces that the U.S. Attorney’s Office task force works closely with is Cullman County’s. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a leading federal agency in the fight against human trafficking, recently announced a partnership with Cullman County in the department’s Blue Campaign, which DHS conducts to raise awareness of human trafficking. Cullman County is only the second county in the state of Alabama to partner with DHS. Jefferson County is also a partner.
Through the partnership, Blue Campaign materials, co-branded for the county and DHS, will be posted throughout the county as part of a public awareness campaign to educate local residents on how to recognize and report potential instances of human trafficking.
“We cannot combat human trafficking alone,” said Blue Campaign Chairwoman Maria Odom, who signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of DHS with Cullman County Chairman Kenneth Walker. “The Blue Campaign works closely with our partners across the nation to help ensure that our communities know how to recognize and report the signs of human trafficking. We are honored to be working with Cullman County to bring an end to this heinous crime.”
Cullman County Presiding District Court Judge Kim Chaney said he is “extremely pleased and proud that, through the efforts of the Cullman Human Trafficking Task Force, Cullman County has been chosen to partner with the United States Department of Homeland Security, through the Blue Campaign, to bring awareness and education about human trafficking to our county and state.”
“This partnership will allow the Cullman County Human Trafficking Task Force to access world-class resources to inform and educate area law enforcement, medical providers, attorneys, educators, business leaders and the community about human exploitation for profit,” Chaney said.
Earlier this year, the Cullman County Human Trafficking Task Force held a free public training with the DHS Blue Campaign and partnered with the Human Trafficking Task Force for the Northern District of Alabama to provide free internet safety training. This latest partnership will build on previous training in the county by spreading public awareness materials to members of the Cullman County community, to include more targeted materials to attorneys, juveniles, and members of the trucking industry in the county.
The Blue Campaign works in partnership with law enforcement, government, non-governmental and private organizations to protect the basic right of freedom and to bring those who exploit human lives to justice.
For more information, visit https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign, or contact Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier Carter at (205) 244-2001.
Former Madison County, Alabama, Deputy Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Lying Under Oath to Obstruct Investigation into BeatingRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that Justin Watson, 32, a former deputy with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office in Huntsville, Alabama, was sentenced today to three years in prison for lying under oath with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
According to his plea agreement, Watson, while off-duty, got into a bar fight with a handyman. Watson searched for the man over the next several weeks, and when he observed the man driving down the highway, Watson pulled him over and ordered him out of his truck. Watson proceeded to strike the man in the face, hit him with a baton and choke him until he was unconscious. At a criminal proceeding arising out of those charges, Watson knowingly and falsely claimed, under oath, that he had never seen the man before the traffic stop and that he had not gotten into a bar fight with the man.
“Watson lied under oath to obstruct an investigation into his violent assault of a motorist,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “When officers deliberately try to impede federal investigations, their actions violate the law.”
“Although the vast majority of police officers perform their duties with integrity, Justin Watson did not, using his badge to interfere with an investigation into police misconduct,” said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance of the Northern District of Alabama. “Communities must be able to expect fair treatment from law enforcement. Watson violated the community’s trust and will now go to prison as a result.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Stuart Burrell of the Northern District of Alabama and Trial Attorney Christopher J. Perras of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division.
Former Bibb County Bank President Charged with Bank Fraud for Creating Fraudulent Loans for HimselfRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM –Federal prosecutors today charged a former Bibb County bank president with bank fraud for issuing 31 fraudulent loans in the names of other people or businesses and using the proceeds for himself, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and the U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael Williams.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a 31-count information in U.S. District Court charging JOHN KEVIN VANN, 55, of Tuscaloosa, with devising a scheme to defraud his employer, BankTrust Bank, which became Trustmark National Bank, of more than $100,000 between Oct. 11, 2011, and March 7, 2014.
In a plea agreement filed in conjunction with the information, Vann agrees to plead guilty to one count of bank fraud, pay $120,774 in restitution to Trustmark National Bank, and consent to forfeit the same amount to the government as proceeds of illegal activity. Vann acknowledges in the plea agreement that he has worked in the banking industry for more than 20 years and served as the community bank president of Bibb County, or in an equivalent position, between 2011-2014. In that role, Vann had access to customer names, addresses and other personal information, and used that information to execute his fraud, according to the plea agreement.
Vann took out 31 loans from the bank using the names of other individuals or business entities without their permission, and forged bank paperwork in his capacity as community president, he acknowledges in his plea agreement. Vann redirected the proceeds of the loans to himself, to businesses he controlled, and to his creditors, according to the plea agreement.
The maximum penalty for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica Williamson Barnes is prosecuting.
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Tuscaloosa Men Sentenced to Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana through the U.S. MailRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced two Tuscaloosa men to prison for conspiring to distribute marijuana through the U.S. mail and bribing U.S. Postal Service employees to deliver the drug, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton, U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge Adrian Gonzalez and West Alabama Narcotics Squad Capt. Wayne Robertson.
U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced MANUEL JOHNSON Jr., 36, to nearly five years in prison for the drug conspiracy, plus three years in prison for violating federal probation, which he was on for a 2001 conviction for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The judge ordered that those sentences be served consecutively, for a total sentence of seven years and 10 months. Johnson must serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.
Judge Coogler sentenced QUINCY TERRELL DOSS, also 36, to four years and three months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Both Johnson and Doss remain in custody.
“Employees of the U.S. Postal Service cannot be allowed to compromise our faith in the integrity of the U.S. mail,” Vance said. “My office is committed to prosecuting anyone who would attempt to bribe postal workers to help them carry out criminal deeds, as well as prosecuting corrupt postal workers.”
“This case is another example of the FBI’s commitment to addressing bribery and corruption at every level,” Stanton said. “I applaud the sentences handed down today and trust it will send a clear message to others who may be considering engaging in similar conduct.”
“The Postal Service is in the business of moving the U.S. mail. It has no interest in being an unwitting accomplice to anyone using the U.S. mail to distribute illegal drugs, and is committed to root out such conspiracies,” Gonzalez said.
“Our team is focused on stopping illegal drugs from coming onto Tuscaloosa County streets, whether those drugs come here by traditional means, or through mail and package services,” Robertson said. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to stem that flow.”
Both Johnson and Doss pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to bribe public officials. The two men recruited three Tuscaloosa postal employees to deliver drugs – Lenard Pompey, 39, a supervisor, and two mail carriers, Lyle Jones, 36, and Jocelin Latrice Betts, 28. All three postal employees pleaded guilty to the bribery and conspiracy to distribute marijuana charges. Pompey and Jones acknowledged that they accepted money from Doss to deliver packages containing marijuana. Betts acknowledged that she provided addresses where packages of marijuana could be delivered and that she accepted money from Johnson to retrieve the packages and take them to Johnson or to a man Johnson had introduced her to, who turned out to be an FBI informant.
According to court records, Johnson and Doss ran the conspiracy in Tuscaloosa County between August 2014 and July 30, 2015.
The FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and West Alabama Narcotics Squad investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Felton prosecuted.
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Nine People Indicted for Trafficking Heroin, Fentanyl and CocaineRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury last month indicted nine people as part of an illegal drug ring trafficking heroin, fentanyl and cocaine in Jefferson County, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam.
A 57-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges ANTHONY LEVY WARD, 35, of Chelsea, FERLANDO CARMISE MIMS, 19, ONANDAS CARMECE BEARD, 19, ANTHONY LEVY ALEXANDER, 56, BETTY LEVY ALEXANDER, 50, and COREY DARNELLE HAYNES, 36, all of Birmingham, and JOSE AGUSTIN GUTIERREZ, 31, JESUS UBALDO MONTOYA, 22, and MARAHAI ARDIZO ENRIQUEZ, 24, all of Phoenix, Ariz., with conspiracy to distribute the drugs between September 2015 and October 2016.
The indictment seeks a $1.7 million monetary judgment against the defendants as proceeds of illegal activity. A federal judge unsealed the indictment today after Betty Alexander was taken into federal custody.
“These defendants are charged as part of a drug-trafficking ring that brought large quantities of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, into the Birmingham area,” Vance said. “All of those drugs are dangerous and highly addictive, but heroin and fentanyl are also deadly, and fentanyl profoundly so. A few salt-sized grains of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid about 50 times more potent than heroin, can kill, and most heroin users have no idea whether the drug they are using has been cut with fentanyl or whether the heroin they purchased is actually diluted fentanyl. DEA and its law enforcement partners have saved lives by taking these people off the streets and bringing them forward for prosecution.”
“Even a small amount of fentanyl can be lethal,” Azzam said. “There is a disturbing trend across the nation, including here in the Birmingham area, of heroin dealers adding fentanyl to their heroin to increase the potency. As a result, we have seen an alarming increase in overdoses, many of which have resulted in death. DEA will continue to work with our law enforcement partners, as shown in this investigation, to aggressively pursue those who ruthlessly traffic these and other dangerous drugs.”
The indictment includes special findings of the grand jury regarding the amount of cocaine or heroin attributable to various defendants as part of the drug-trafficking conspiracy.
Ward, his father Anthony Alexander and his aunt Betty Alexander, along with Mims and Gutierrez, are charged with conspiring to traffic 1,000 grams or more of heroin. That charge carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence and a maximum prison penalty of life. Ward, having previously been convicted in state and federal court for drug trafficking, could face a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison if convicted on the current charges.
Ward, Gutierrez, Montoya and Enriquez are charged with conspiring to traffic five kilograms or more of cocaine, which also carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $10 million fine.
Haynes and Beard are charged with conspiring to traffic 100 grams or more of heroin, which carries a minimum prison sentence of five years and a maximum of 40, plus a $5 million fine.
In underlying distribution charges in the indictment, Mims faces two counts of distributing fentanyl in September 2015, and a third count of possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute it, along with Beard, in April 2016. Mims also faces five counts of possessing with the intent to distribute or distributing heroin between December 2015 and August 2016.
Beard also faces a separate count of distributing heroin in October 2015.
Haynes faces two counts of possessing with the intent to distribute or distributing heroin, one in November 2015 and one in June 2016.
The indictment charges Gutierrez, Montoya, and Enriquez with possessing with the intent to distribute at least five kilograms, or more than 11 pounds, of cocaine between Aug. 9, 2016, and Aug. 11, 2016.
Betty Alexander faces one count of possessing with the intent to distribute at least one kilogram of heroin on Sept. 28, 2016.
Ward and Anthony Alexander are charged with attempted possession with intent to distribute fentanyl on Sept. 30, 2016.
Ward also faces two counts of illegal gun possession, one for using an FN 5.7x28mm pistol in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, and one for being a convicted felon in possession of the pistol on Oct. 13, 2016. Ward was convicted in Jefferson County Circuit Court in August 2011 for trafficking illegal drugs and was convicted in federal court in the Northern District of Alabama in February of 2011 for distributing cocaine.
Mims faces one illegal gun count for using a Ruger pistol during a drug-trafficking crime on April 26, 2016.
Thirty-eight counts of the indictment charge various defendants with using telephones to facilitate a drug-trafficking crime.
The charges of distributing five kilograms or more of cocaine and distributing a kilogram or more of heroin both carry a minimum 10-year prison sentence and a maximum of life, plus a maximum $10 million fine. The minimum prison term is 20 years if previously convicted of a drug-trafficking crime.
The remaining distribution charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
The maximum penalty for using a gun during a drug-trafficking crime is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and the maximum penalty for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Each count of using a telephone in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Today’s indictment supersedes a September indictment that charged Ward, Mims, Beard, Gutierrez, Montoya and Enriquez with one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine and fentanyl between April 2016 and August 2016.
The DEA investigated the case in conjunction with the Birmingham and Hoover police departments and the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama is prosecuting the case.
Property Manager Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Condominium AssociationsRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM –A Birmingham woman pleaded guilty today in federal court to stealing more than $350,000 from condominium homeowner associations, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
JILL ROUSE, formerly Jill Rouse Boothby, 43, entered her plea before U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala to one count of wire fraud. Rouse’s sentencing is scheduled Feb. 17. In a plea agreement with the government, Rouse has agreed to pay $375,750 in restitution.
According to Rouse’s guilty plea, she was employed as a property manager at Boothby Realty from 2008 through January 2015. Boothby Realty is a real estate and property management company located in Birmingham. Rouse also owned and operated an interior design business called Jill Boothby Designs. The design company is a separate and independent company from Boothby Realty and is run solely by Rouse.
As a property manager at Boothby Realty, Rouse was personally responsible for the management of 11 condominium associations within the Birmingham metropolitan area. Rouse attended homeowner association meetings, assisted with the use and accounting of the homeowner association funds, coordinated maintenance services at the properties, helped bid contracts for maintenance and improvements to the properties, and assisted the associations with budgeting. As expenses were incurred by the various associations, Rouse would advise Boothby Realty’s accounting personnel of the invoices and expenses to be paid from the homeowner associations’ funds.
Rouse acknowledged in her plea agreement that, beginning in late 2012 and continuing to about January 2015, she created false and fraudulent invoices for goods and services in the name of her company, Jill Boothby Designs, and submitted the various invoices to the 11 condominium associations that she managed. The Jill Boothby Designs invoices contained descriptions of items billed to the various associations, however, neither Rouse nor her design company actually purchased the items. Rouse submitted the fraudulent invoices to her employer, Boothby Realty, with a copy to the homeowner associations for payment out of the homeowner associations’ funds. The realty company paid the fraudulent invoices to Rouse out of those funds. To further conceal the fraud, Rouse altered the monthly financial statements that were submitted to Boothby Realty to be mailed or emailed to the associations.
The maximum punishment for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
U.S. Attorney’s Office-Jefferson County Reach ADA SettlementRead the Press Release
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama today announced a settlement with Jefferson County under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to improve physical accessibility at the county’s polling places for individuals who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids, and for individuals who are blind or have vision impairments.
“The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy,” said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance. “With today’s agreement, Jefferson County makes a commitment to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunities to exercise their right to vote in person at their assigned polling place, just like their neighbors.”
Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by a state or local government in any of its programs or services, including its voting program. The ADA requires public entities, such as Jefferson County, to select and use polling places that are accessible. Jefferson County is working collaboratively with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to make all polling places accessible. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the county will use an evaluation form for each current and prospective polling place based on ADA architectural standards. The settlement requires the county to either relocate inaccessible polling places to new, accessible facilities, or to use temporary measures such as portable ramps, signs, traffic cones and doorbells, where appropriate, to ensure accessibility on Election Day.
Those interested in finding out more about the ADA can access the ADA website at www.ada.gov. To make complaints about potential civil-rights violations, including complaints about discrimination based on race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status, please call or e-mail the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Intake Specialist at (205)244-2178 or [email protected]. To file a written complaint, mail the complaint to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, 1801 Fourth Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203.
Please find attached below a press release on the office’s settlement agreement with Jefferson County, as well as the agreement, itself.
Jasper Car Dealership Executive Charged in Conspiracy to Steal Near $1M from BusinessesRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a Jasper man for stealing more than $900,000 from Maloy Ford Lincoln and Maloy Automotive Group, which does business as Maloy Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton and Internal Revenue Service Special Agent in Charge Veronica Hyman-Pillot.
A 15-count indictment filed in the U.S. District Court, charges ROBERT EDWIN MALOY, 59 with one count of conspiracy, eleven counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud.
According to the indictment, Maloy was the general manager and president of the Maloy Ford and Maloy Chrysler dealerships from 2010 until December 2013. Maloy held a minority ownership interest in Maloy Ford and Maloy Chrysler. Prior to holding the executive positions, Maloy operated a used-car dealership known as Maloy Automotive.
As general manager and president, Maloy was responsible for the day to day operations of Maloy Ford and Maloy Chrysler, which included overseeing the monthly financial statements and entering into contracts and agreements with outside vendors on behalf of the dealerships.
According to the indictment, Maloy agreed with an individual employed by Premium Dealer Products, a broker that sold vehicle service products, to inflate the cost of various items. The inflated cost, referred to as an “over remittance,” was included in the amount charged to the customer, then paid to the vehicle service provider via the monthly Maloy Ford or Maloy Chrysler dealership checks. The overage then was passed back from the vehicle service providers to Premium Dealer Products, and finally was hand delivered to Maloy in the form of a check payable to Maloy Automotive. Maloy caused the checks to be deposited into the Maloy Automotive bank account, an account Maloy held that was unaffiliated with either dealership. Maloy concealed the over remittance checks payable to Maloy Automotive from the owners of Maloy Ford and Maloy Chrysler.
Additionally, in 2009 Maloy, on behalf of Maloy Automotive, borrowed $250,000 from Access Insurance Services. The principal of Premium Dealer Products helped Maloy obtain the loan. Between April 2011 and April 2013, Premium Dealer Products withheld some of the over remittance funds from Maloy Ford and Maloy Chrysler and used the funds to make loan payments on behalf of Maloy for the Access Loan.
The maximum punishment for wire fraud and bank fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum punishment for conspiracy is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Beardsley Mark is prosecuting.
Huntsville Pill Mill Doctor Pleads Guilty to Illegal Prescribing and Health Care FraudRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A former Huntsville physician, who was the nation’s highest Medicare prescriber of opioid painkillers at the height of his practice, pleaded guilty today in federal court to illegally prescribing controlled substances and to health care fraud involving $9.5 million in unneeded and unused urine tests, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in September charged SHELINDER AGGARWAL, 48, of Huntsville, with one count of distributing a controlled substance outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose in July 2012, and with one count of conspiring to execute a health care fraud scheme against Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama between Jan. 1, 2011, and March 31, 2013. Aggarwal pleaded guilty to those charges before U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor. Aggarwal’s sentencing date has not been set.
As part of a plea agreement Aggarwal reached with the government, he will forfeit his former clinic on Turner Street Southwest in Huntsville, along with $6.7 million. Aggarwal earlier repaid $2.8 million to Medicare and $45,843 to Blue Cross following audits, according to the plea agreement. The agreement stipulates a 15-year prison sentence. Judge Proctor accepted Aggarwal’s guilty plea today, but reserved his decision on whether to accept the 180-month prison sentence until Aggarwal’s sentencing hearing. The agreement between Aggarwal and the government is a binding plea agreement, so either party may withdraw from it if the court does not accept the stipulated sentence.
Aggarwal surrendered his Alabama medical license in 2013, along with his Alabama and federal Drug Enforcement Administration certificates to prescribe controlled substances, after the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners initiated an investigation.
Aggarwal was a pain management doctor who operated Chronic Pain Care Services in Huntsville. His medical practice was a pill mill, according to Aggawal’s plea agreement. It states that in 2012, about 80 to 145 patients a day visited Aggarwal’s clinic, with him seeing the majority of patients and writing all prescriptions. Initial patient visits typically lasted five minutes or less, and follow-ups two minutes or less. Aggarwal did not obtain prior medical records for his patients, did not treat patients with anything other than controlled substances, often asked patients what medications they wanted and filled their requests, prescribed controlled substances to patients who he knew were using illegal drugs, and did not take appropriate measures to ensure that patients did not divert or abuse controlled substances. The plea agreement summarizes an interaction with a patient, which was captured on video. In it, Aggarwal notes that the DEA viewed him as the “biggest pill-pusher in North Alabama” and that many of his patients were “dropping like flies, they are all dying.”
The agreement cites the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program for Alabama, which tracks the dispensing of controlled substances, as well as Medicare data, to document Aggarwal’s prescribing practices.
According to the PDMP, Alabama pharmacies filled about 110,013 of Aggarwal’s prescriptions for controlled substances in 2012. That would equal about 423 prescriptions per day if he worked five days a week, and resulted in about 12.3 million pills. The PDMP rated Aggarwal as the highest prescriber of controlled substances filled in Alabama in 2012, with the next highest prescriber writing a third as many prescriptions.
Medicare data shows Aggarwal was the highest prescriber in the United States of Schedule II controlled substances under Medicare in 2012. Schedule II substances include the opioid painkillers oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone and morphine.
As to Aggarwal’s health care fraud scheme, he pleaded guilty to requiring patients to undergo unreasonable and unnecessary urine drug tests that he did not need or use in their treatment. According to his plea, the tests he ran depended not on patients’ treatment, but on how much he could bill for tests. Aggarwal often ignored urine test results showing patients were using illegal drugs.
Between January 2011 and March 2013, urine drug tests accounted for about 80 percent of paid claims Aggarwal submitted to Medicare and Blue Cross, for a total reimbursement of $9.5 million. According to his plea agreement, “Aggarwal’s primary motivation for testing patients’ urine specimens, and submitting those claims for payment, was financial gain.”
The FBI investigated the case, based partly on an investigation conducted by the ABME. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chinelo Dike-Minor and Russell Penfield are prosecuting.
South Carolina Attorney Sentenced to Prison for Fraud in UA Sorority House Furnishing SchemeRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a South Carolina attorney to six months in prison, followed by 18 months in home detention, for a scheme that involved submitting false invoices for furnishings and equipment for a University of Alabama sorority house and receiving payment without providing the items, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Craig Caldwell, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspector in Charge Adrian Gonzalez.
JENNIFER ELIZABETH MEEHAN, 39, pleaded guilty in July to bank fraud before U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala. Today, Judge Haikala imposed the prison time and home custody, to be followed by 40 months of supervised release. The judge also ordered Meehan to perform eight hours of community service each week during her home confinement and her supervised release, for a total of 58 months, or four years and 10 months. Judge Haikala fined Meehan $50,000.
Meehan already had returned more than $233,000 as part of her plea agreement with the government. Today she paid about $38,000 in restitution to Greek Resource Services.
Meehan, a former member of Gamma Phi Beta at Alabama, was acting in her position as president of the House Corporation Board of the Epsilon Lambda Chapter of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority in an unpaid, volunteer capacity when she carried out the fraud.
According to Meehan’s plea agreement, Gamma Phi Beta was building a $14 million sorority house and Meehan was responsible for coordinating and purchasing all furniture and associated implements for the house between September 2013 and March 2015.
Meehan executed a bank fraud scheme to illegally obtain money from First Citizens Bank & Trust Company and the Bank of Tuscaloosa, according to her plea agreement. Gamma Phi Beta Sorority’s account was at the Bank of Tuscaloosa. Meehan opened an account at First Citizens Bank under a fraudulent business name.
In September and November of 2014, Meehan submitted fraudulent furniture invoices totaling about $375,000 to Greek Resource Services, a contract company that handles the finances for fraternities and sororities at UA. GRS drew money from Gamma Phi Beta’s account at Bank of Tuscaloosa and gave Meehan two checks totaling about $375,000. She deposited that money into the newly opened First Citizens account.
In January 2015, Meehan entered a First Citizens Bank & Trust branch in Anderson, S.C., and wired $175,000 from the fraudulent business account into her personal business account at Bank of America for her personal use, according to her plea agreement.
The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney David H. Estes prosecuted.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, SPLC Hold Student Success ConferenceRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama and the Southern Poverty Law Center will host a day-long conference Thursday, Oct. 27, that will explore strategies to keep children in schools and out of the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
The Student Success Summit will be held at the Harbert Center, 2019 Fourth Ave. North, in Birmingham, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Educators, law enforcement personnel, elected officials and stakeholders from across the state are expected to take part in the event. Members of the state’s Prison Reform Task Force and At-risk Youth Task Force have also been invited.
Panels will focus on successful school discipline models; pitfalls that cause children to engage in negative behavior; strategies to limit youth court-involvement; and access to educational services for youth held in detention and correctional facilities.
Speakers will include representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Justice, the Southern Poverty Law Center, state and local education agencies, law enforcement and social services.
The conference will focus on curtailing the use of suspensions, expulsions, school-based arrests and excessive-force practices that too often, particularly among African-American students, lead to the school-to-prison pipeline. It will also include a discussion about what to do about children who are trapped in the criminal justice system, as well as the needs of youth held in detention.
For more information, contact Ashley Levett, Southern Poverty Law Center, (334) 296-0084, or at [email protected], or Jeremy Sherer at [email protected].