District of Columbia

WASHINGTON – Jessie K. Liu, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, issued the following statement regarding today’s hearing before the Council of the District of Columbia, Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety, entitled “Hate Crimes in the District of Columbia and the Failure to Prosecute by the Office of the United States Attorney.”

           The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia believes that prosecuting bias-related crimes is critical to keeping our community safe. When one member of a group is the victim of a bias-related crime, all members carry with them a fear that they, too, may be targeted because of who they are. The Office, in partnership with law enforcement, uses all appropriate prosecutorial tools to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable. We also work constructively with the community to understand their concerns and to find ways to address those concerns.

           This morning, I sent the Committee a letter regarding the Office’s investigation and prosecution of potential bias-related crimes. Among other things, the letter explains that the Office brings criminal charges in the vast majority of cases presented to us by our law enforcement partners as potential bias-related crimes. Of the 204 potentially bias-related incidents flagged by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in 2018, only 59 resulted in arrests that were presented to the Office for prosecution. Similarly, of the 178 alleged bias-related incidents flagged by MPD in 2017, only 55 were presented for prosecution. In 2018, the Office brought charges for the underlying criminal offense in 52 of the 59 incidents. In 2017, the Office brought charges for the underlying criminal offense in 49 of the 55 incidents. As of June 30, 2019, MPD flagged 23 incidents resulting in arrests as potential bias-related crimes. The Office brought charges for the underlying criminal offense in 19 of the 23 incidents.

           We also continue to engage energetically with the community on this issue, including hosting quarterly meetings of the Hate-Bias Task Force, a collaboration of agency and community partners in the District of Columbia who focus on addressing the needs of affinity groups in the city and combating bias-related crimes. In response to feedback from the community, we also have made several changes to our procedures for reviewing potential bias-related crimes, such as appointing an additional hate-crimes coordinator within the Office to review potential bias-related crimes and assist in their investigation and prosecution.

           We regularly participate in open dialogue about combating bias-related crimes, and we will continue to have those conversations. But we will not testify in person at today’s hearing, as its title shows that the Committee has reached a conclusion – that the Office is failing to prosecute potential bias-related offenses – before a full and fair consideration of the facts. This unjustly maligns the Office’s dedicated career prosecutors, who carefully review every arrest identified as a potential bias-related crime and make principled charging decisions based solely on the law and the facts. We remain eager to work with all of our community partners to seek justice in potential bias-related crimes and to enhance public safety, and we look forward to doing so in a collaborative and open-minded fashion.

Chairman Allen and Members of the Council:

           Thank you for the opportunity to appear today, on behalf of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, to share the Office’s views regarding Bill 23-318, the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019.

           The issue regarding whether to decriminalize prostitution and related criminal statutes is not new.  Indeed, lawmakers and human rights organizations across this country and the world have been considering this issue for some time.  Thus, the United States Attorney’s Office, whose mission is to help ensure public safety, lauds the Council’s efforts to address this issue through a proposal for which the primary stated purpose is “to promote public health and safety.”  However, given the strong interest of our Office and the U.S. Department of Justice in prosecuting sex trafficking and preventing the exploitation of vulnerable persons, we have serious concerns that full decriminalization of prostitution and related offenses would adversely affect the ability of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute sex traffickers and thereby adversely affect the public health and safety of some of the most vulnerable members of our community: sex trafficking survivors.

           To understand why Bill 23-318 would make it more difficult to prosecute human trafficking, it is important to understand the difficulties of detecting human trafficking and obtaining sufficient evidence to charge and successfully prosecute the trafficker as well to understand how the trafficker’s influence on the victim thwarts law enforcement anti-trafficking efforts.

           The U.S. Attorney’s Office aggressively investigates and prosecutes human traffickers.  As the Chair of the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force for the last 15 years, our prosecutors and advocates are highly skilled at working with trafficking victims, investigating these crimes, and prosecuting traffickers.  Based on our experience, it is difficult to uncover evidence of human trafficking, primarily because most victims are extremely reluctant to cooperate in the government’s investigation of their trafficker.  As a result, law enforcement must develop evidence of trafficking through other means, including initially investigating and prosecuting the potential trafficker for lesser offenses. 

           The control that traffickers exert over their victims is well known.  Traffickers of both adults and children frequently employ extensive “grooming” techniques with the goal of making their victims dependent on the traffickers. These grooming techniques include, among other things, targeting vulnerable individuals (who may have a history of sexual abuse); seeking to create a relationship of dependency; punishing the victim for violating the rules of the trafficker; buying gifts for trafficking victims or employing other means to create the illusion of a friendship or caregiving role; and pitting one victim against another.  Once the trafficker has created isolation and dependency, abuse will begin, often with a trafficker demanding that the victim engage in sex with others to obtain money to repay some debt allegedly owed to the trafficker.  The trafficker’s goal is to maintain control of the victim, often through physical, sexual, and/or verbal abuse. Because of the control and dependency dynamic, victims may be loyal to their traffickers and abusers, and may be unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement, including being unwilling to provide information about the scope, manner, and means of the trafficker’s operation.

           As introduced, the Bill would decriminalize the offense of procuring so long as “the arrangement involves no force, fraud, coercion, or any violation of the Prohibition Against Human Trafficking Amendment Act of 2010.”  But as we have indicated, the government may rely on an array of offenses for its trafficking investigation, including relying on potential lesser charges as a basis to obtain search warrants for items yielding information regarding social media platforms used to perpetuate trafficking and information regarding locations where trafficking may occur.

           In addition to affecting investigations and prosecutions of violent traffickers of adults, full decriminalization will affect child trafficking investigations and prosecutions.  As with evidence of violent trafficking of adults, it is similarly extremely difficult to identify and locate child trafficking victims and to develop sufficient evidence to prosecute their traffickers successfully.  Traffickers in children frequently do not promote their victims to potential buyers as children.  Rather, traffickers often advertise these child victims as adults, and some buyers may even believe them to be adults.  Law enforcement may have suspicions that a child is being trafficked, but may not have sufficient proof.  In such scenarios, it is also common for law enforcement to rely on search warrants for offenses other than trafficking.  This is because in order to obtain a search warrant, law enforcement must have probable cause to believe that a perpetrator has committed an offense, and at an early stage of an investigation, the evidence of child sex trafficking may not rise to that level.  Such search warrants allow law enforcement to investigate the charge contemplated by the search warrant, as well as to conduct appropriate additional investigation to ascertain if the perpetrator is procuring a child, or if the perpetrator is involved in trafficking.  The proposed Bill, therefore, would remove an anti-trafficking law enforcement tool.

           The Bill as introduced would decriminalize both the sale and purchase of sex, which likely will increase the demand for commercial sex in the District of Columbia.  If the purchasers of sex can go unpunished and unchecked, the sex marketplace will grow, as will its profits – thereby making the District of Columbia more attractive to traffickers looking to exploit the newly created market.  To support the higher demand, traffickers will need to acquire more supply and exploit new victims.  To meet that demand, traffickers will likely recruit children and adults by use of force, fraud, and coercion.  Further, some victims of sex trafficking report that the buyers of sex can be just as violent and cruel as traffickers.  Normalizing the purchase of sex will convey the message that the purchase of sex is acceptable in the District and embolden sex buyers.  

           Other jurisdictions’ experiences with the decriminalization of prostitution counsel against the approach in the Bill as introduced.  There has been discussion of an alternative approach, often called the “Nordic model,” in which the sale, but not the purchase, of sex would be decriminalized.  The theory underpinning this approach is that individuals have a right to sell their own body, but no right to exploit someone else’s body.  Although the U.S. Attorney’s Office believes that the Nordic model is preferable to full decriminalization, we have concerns about the practical impact of that model as well.  If the sale of sex is decriminalized, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is concerned that more individuals who want to engage in commercial sex will come to the District, which will increase the demand for commercial sex here.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office is concerned that as both supply and demand for commercial sex grow, trafficking will increase steadily as well.  Traffickers will continue to seek out vulnerable individuals and recruit them, and the more people engage in commercial sex work in the District, the more individuals traffickers will recruit.  Again, reducing the demand for the purchase of sex is essential to any strategy to prevent sex trafficking.

           The U.S. Attorney’s Office is concerned foremost about public safety and the wellbeing of all individuals in our community.  We believe that this Bill will undermine public safety, and will significantly impede our ability to investigate and prosecute those who traffic vulnerable members of our community.  We appreciate the opportunity to appear before the Committee, and look forward to working with the Committee, and the various stakeholders who have appeared here today, as we continue to discuss this important issue of public safety in the District.

WASHINGTON – Ronda M. Young, 49, a former Management & Program Analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection (CBP), was sentenced to a two-year probation term for using OPM data breach to falsely claim identity theft to charge-off legitimate debts.

           U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Anthony Triplett, Special Agent in Charge of U. S. Customs and Border Protection, Washington Field Office made the announcement.

           Young pled guilty in August 2019 to one count of making a false statement, and one count of second-degree felony fraud. On October 16, 2019, the Honorable Ellen S. Huvelle sentenced Young to a two-year term of probation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The probationary sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Young was also ordered to pay $14,734.48 in restitution to the victim financial institutions, a $2,000 fine, $200 in special assessment fees, and perform 150 hours of community service. 

           According to court papers, from April 2010, through November 2017, Young obtained and used credit from J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Barclays Bank and FedChoice Federal Credit Union, for, among other things, personal domestic and international travel, furniture, and to register for the CBP Trusted Traveler/Global Entry Program. Young then used the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach to submit a false complaint and affidavit claiming that she was the victim of identity theft and that she neither applied for, obtained, nor used, the credit for her personal benefit, which in turn caused the financial institutions to charge-off approximately $34,664 in legitimate debts. Young admitted to engaging in the scheme to defraud the financial institutions to improve her credit history in anticipation of an upcoming background investigation.

           When CBP conducted Young’s five-year background investigation in March 2018, she made false statements to the agents conducting the interviews on two occasions. First, Young falsely claimed that she paid the debts in full and would provide documentation reflecting the payments. At a subsequent interview, Young claimed that she misspoke and said that she was the victim of identity theft from the OPM breach, the debts were not hers, and that she had disputed the debts, which should have been removed from her credit report.  Young made the false statements to the agents knowing that she had lawfully incurred the debts and that the claims of identity theft were false.  She also knew that her financial background and credit history were material to her background investigation.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Special Agent in Charge Triplett praised the work of Special Agents from Customs and Border Protection, Office of Prodessional Responsibility, who led the investigation. They also acknowledge the work of Assistant United States Attorney Diane Lucas and former Assistant United States Attorney Denise A. Simmonds of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, who investigated and prosecuted this matter, and former Paralegal Specialist Brittany Phillips, who worked on the investigation.

WASHINGTON – Shaun Miller, 39, of Bethesda, Maryland, and Thomas Randolph, 49, of Oakton, Virginia, were charged in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a seven-count indictment today. U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division made the announcement.

           The seven-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury charging Miller and Randolph with conspiracy, mail fraud, and monetary transactions involving criminally derived proceeds; the indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation.

            According to the indictment, from at least October 2014 to June 2015, Shaun Miller was a loan broker earning money by coordinating loans for real estate investors from private mortgage lenders; Thomas Randolph was a settlement agent for a settlement company located in the District of Columbia. The indictment alleges that Miller and Marlon Meade, as well as others, submitted inflated Personal Financial Statements, altered bank account statements, and false IRS Forms 1040 Tax Returns to private mortgage lenders in an attempt to trick the lenders into loaning in excess of $5.6 million in loans for the purchase of multiple real estate properties in the District of Columbia. The indictment further alleges that the conspirators, including Randolph and Meade, also falsely inflated the sales price to obtain excess lender funds in order to illegally recycle the lender’s own money as the borrower’s down-payment and to siphon off funds for their own enrichment. The conspirators and others generally failed to repay the loans and the properties fell into foreclosure for a loss to the lenders.

           U.S. Attorney Liu and Special Agent in Charge Dunham also announced the plea of Marlon Meade, 40, of northeast Washington, D.C. on September 4, 2019. Meade pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and monetary transactions involving criminally derived proceeds; his case is currently pending before the Honorable James E. Boasberg, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

           An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

           U.S. Attorney Liu and Special Agent in Charge Dunham commended the work performed by Special Agents from the FBI. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including: Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Tonya Jones; Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Tasha Harris; Paralegal Specialist Amanda Rohde; Litigation Technology Supervisor Leif Hickling; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Virginia Cheatham who is investigating the case.

WASHINGTON - Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content.  The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action.  Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea.  An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged.  

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

“Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “This Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield.  Today’s announcement demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains firmly committed to working closely with our partners in South Korea and around the world to rescue child victims and bring to justice the perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes.”

“Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by U.S. and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.  “We will continue to pursue such criminals on and off the darknet in the United States and abroad, to ensure they receive the punishment their terrible crimes deserve.”

“Through the sophisticated tracing of bitcoin transactions, IRS-CI special agents were able to determine the location of the Darknet server, identify the administrator of the website and ultimately track down the website server’s physical location in South Korea,” said IRS-CI Chief Don Fort.  “This largescale criminal enterprise that endangered the safety of children around the world is no more.  Regardless of the illicit scheme, and whether the proceeds are virtual or tangible, we will continue to work with our federal and international partners to track down these disgusting organizations and bring them to justice.”

“Children are our most vulnerable population, and crimes such as these are unthinkable,” said HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs.  “Sadly, advances in technology have enabled child predators to hide behind the dark web and cryptocurrency to further their criminal activity.  However, today’s indictment sends a strong message to criminals that no matter how sophisticated the technology or how widespread the network, child exploitation will not be tolerated in the United States. Our entire justice system will stop at nothing to prevent these heinous crimes, safeguard our children, and bring justice to all.”

According to the indictment, on March 5, 2018, agents from the IRS-CI, HSI, National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, and Korean National Police in South Korea arrested Son and seized the server that he used to operate a Darknet market that exclusively advertised child sexual exploitation videos available for download by members of the site.  The operation resulted in the seizure of approximately eight terabytes of child sexual exploitation videos, which is one of the largest seizures of its kind.  The images, which are currently being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contained over 250,000 unique videos, and 45 percent of the videos currently analyzed contain new images that have not been previously known to exist.

Welcome To Video offered these videos for sale using the cryptocurrency bitcoin.  Typically, sites of this kind give users a forum to trade in these depictions.  This Darknet website is among the first of its kind to monetize child exploitation videos using bitcoin.  In fact, the site itself boasted over one million downloads of child exploitation videos by users.  Each user received a unique bitcoin address when the user created an account on the website.  An analysis of the server revealed that the website had more than one million bitcoin addresses, signifying that the website had capacity for at least one million users.

The agencies have shared data from the seized server with law enforcement around the world to assist in identifying and prosecuting customers of the site.  This has resulted in leads sent to 38 countries and yielded arrests of 337 subjects around the world.  The operation has resulted in searches of residences and businesses of approximately 92 individuals in the United States.  Notably, the operation is responsible for the rescue of at least 23 minor victims residing in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, who were being actively abused by the users of the site.

In the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, the operation has led to the execution of five search warrants and eight arrests of individuals who both conspired with the administrator of the site and were themselves, users of the website.  Two users of the Darknet market committed suicide subsequent to the execution of search warrants.

Amongst the sites users charged are:

•Charles Wunderlich, 34, of Hot Springs, California, was charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

•Brian James LaPrath, 34, of San Diego, California, was arrested in the District of Columbia, for international money laundering; and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release;

•Ernest Wagner, 70, of Federal Way, Washington, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

•Vincent Galarzo, 28, of Glendale, New York, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

•Michael Ezeagbor, 22, of Pflugerville, Texas, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;

•Nicholas Stengel, 45, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography and money laundering and was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release;

•Eryk Mark Chamberlin, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession  of child pornography and is pending sentencing;

•Jairo Flores, 30, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to receipt and possession of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release;

•Billy Penaloza, 29, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to possession and receipt of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 22, 2019;

•Michael Armstrong, 35, of Randolph, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts, to receipt and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.  Restitution will be determined at a future date;

•Al Ramadhanu Soedomo, 28, of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to serve 12 months and one day followed by five years of supervised release;

•Phillip Sungmin Hong, 24, of Sharon, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to receipt and possession of child pornography and is pending sentencing;

•Eliseo Arteaga Jr., 28, of Mesquite, Texas, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Texas to possession of prepubescent child pornography. He is pending sentencing;

•Richard Nikolai Gratkowski, 40, of San Antonio, Texas, a former HSI special agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas.  Gratkowski pleaded guilty to the indictment charging one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of access with intent to view child pornography.  Gratkowski was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution to seven victims and a $10,000 assessment;

•Paul Casey Whipple, 35, of Hondo, Texas, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas, on charges of sexual exploitation of children/minors, production, distribution, and possession of child pornography.  Whipple remains in custody awaiting trial in San Antonio;

•Michael Lawson, 36, of Midland, Georgia, was arrested in the Middle District of Georgia on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.  He was sentenced to serve 121 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release following his plea to a superseding information charging him with one count of receipt of child pornography;

•Kevin Christopher Eagan, 39, of Brookhaven, Georgia, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in the Northern District of Georgia;

•Casey Santioius Head, 37, of Griffin, Georgia, was indicted in the Northern District of Georgia for distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography;

•Andrew C. Chu, 28, of Garwood, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with receipt of child pornography. Those charges remain pending;

•Nader Hamdi Ahmed, 29 of Jersey City, New Jersey, was arrested in the District of New Jersey, for sexual exploitation or other abuse of children.  Ahmed pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.  He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1, 2019;

•Jeffrey Lee Harris, 32, of Pickens, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in the District of South Carolina for producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography;

•Laine Ormand Clark Jr., 27, of Conway, South Carolina, was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court in South Carolina Division for sexual possession of child pornography;

•Jack R. Dove III, 38, of Lakeland, Florida, was arrested in the Middle District of Florida for knowingly receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct;

•Michael Matthew White, 39, of Miami Beach, Florida, was arrested in the Southern District of Florida for coercion and enticement;

•Nikolas Bennion Bradshaw, 24, of Bountiful, Utah, was arrested in the State of Utah, and charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, and was sentenced to time served with 91 days in jail followed by probation;

•Michael Don Gibbs, 37, of Holladay, Utah, was charged in the District of Utah with receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography;

•Ammar Atef H. Alahdali, 22, of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison and ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution;

•Mark Lindsay Rohrer, 38, of West Hartford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release;

•Eugene Edward Jung, 47, of San Francisco, California, was indicted in the Northern District of California on possession of child pornography and receipt of child pornography;

•James Daosaeng, 25, of Springdale, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the Western District of Arkansas (Fayetteville) to serve 97 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release;

•Alex Daniel Paxton, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested and indicted in Franklin County Ohio Court of Common Pleas for pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor;

•Don Edward Pannell, 32, of Harvey, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Louisiana for receipt of child pornography. He is pending sentencing;

•Ryan Thomas Carver, 29, of Huntsville, Alabama, was arrested and charged under Alabama State Law.  He was charged federally in the Northern District of Alabama with possession of child pornography. His case is pending in Huntsville, Alabama;

•Andrew Buckley, 28, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 10 offences in the UK of possession and distribution of indecent images of children, possession of extreme and prohibited images and possession of a class A drug.  He was sentenced to serve 40 months in prison for the distribution of indecent images and possession of class A drugs. Buckley is also subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order;

•Kyle Fox, 26, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 22 counts including rape, sexual assault, and sharing indecent images, and was sentenced to serve 22 years in prison; and

•Mohammed Almaker, 26, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was arrested in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), charged with KSA Law involving the endangerment of children.  He is awaiting judicial proceedings in furtherance of criminal charges.

A forfeiture complaint was also unsealed today.  The complaint alleges that law enforcement was able to trace payments of bitcoin to the Darknet site by following the flow of funds on the blockchain.  The virtual currency accounts identified in the complaint were allegedly used by 24 individuals in five countries to fund the website and promote the exploitation of children.  The forfeiture complaint seeks to recover these funds and, ultimately through the restoration process, return the illicit funds to victims of the crime.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The international investigations were led by the IRS-CI, HSI and the NCA.  The Korean National Police of the Republic of Korea, the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom and the German Federal Criminal Police (the Bundeskriminalamt), provided assistance and coordinated with their parallel investigations.  The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division provided significant assistance.  

The cases are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zia M. Faruqui, Lindsay Suttenberg, and Youli Lee, Paralegal Specialists Brian Rickers and Diane Brashears, Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick, and Records Examiner Chad Byron of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney C. Alden Pelker of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.  Additional assistance has been provided by Deputy Chief Keith Becker and Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and former U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegal Specialists Toni Anne Donato and Ty Eaton.

 

WASHINGTON – Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content.  The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action.  Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea.  An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged.  

           Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

           “Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “This Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield.  Today’s takedown demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains firmly committed to working closely with our partners in South Korea and around the world to rescue child victims and bring to justice the perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes.”

           “Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by U.S. and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.  “We will continue to pursue such criminals on and off the darknet in the United States and abroad, to ensure they receive the punishment their terrible crimes deserve.”

           Through the sophisticated tracing of bitcoin transactions, IRS-CI special agents were able to determine the location of the Darknet server, identify the administrator of the website and ultimately track down the website server’s physical location in South Korea,” said IRS-CI Chief Don Fort.  “This largescale criminal enterprise that endangered the safety of children around the world is no more.  Regardless of the illicit scheme, and whether the proceeds are virtual or tangible, we will continue to work with our federal and international partners to track down these disgusting organizations and bring them to justice.”

           “Children are our most vulnerable population, and crimes such as these are unthinkable,” said HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs.  “Sadly, advances in technology have enabled child predators to hide behind the dark web and cryptocurrency to further their criminal activity.  However, today’s indictment sends a strong message to criminals that no matter how sophisticated the technology or how widespread the network, child exploitation will not be tolerated in the United States. Our entire justice system will stop at nothing to prevent these heinous crimes, safeguard our children, and bring justice to all.”

           According to the indictment, on March 5, 2018, agents from the IRS-CI, HSI, National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, and Korean National Police in South Korea arrested Son and seized the server that he used to operate a Darknet market that exclusively advertised child sexual exploitation videos available for download by members of the site.  The operation resulted in the seizure of approximately eight terabytes of child sexual exploitation videos, which is one of the largest seizures of its kind.  The images, which are currently being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contained over 250,000 unique videos, and 45 percent of the videos currently analyzed contain new images that have not been previously known to exist.

           Welcome To Video offered these videos for sale using the cryptocurrency bitcoin.  Typically, sites of this kind give users a forum to trade in these depictions.  This Darknet website is among the first of its kind to monetize child exploitation videos using bitcoin.  In fact, the site itself boasted over one million downloads of child exploitation videos by users.  Each user received a unique bitcoin address when the user created an account on the website.  An analysis of the server revealed that the website had more than one million bitcoin addresses, signifying that the website had capacity for at least one million users. 

           The agencies have shared data from the seized server with law enforcement around the world to assist in identifying and prosecuting customers of the site.  This has resulted in leads sent to 38 countries and yielded arrests of 337 subjects around the world.  The operation has resulted in searches of residences and businesses of approximately 92 individuals in the United States.  Notably, the operation is responsible for the rescue of at least 23 minor victims residing in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, who were being actively abused by the users of the site.

           In the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, the operation has led to the execution of five search warrants and eight arrests of individuals who both conspired with the administrator of the site and were themselves, users of the website.  Two users of the Darknet market committed suicide subsequent to the execution of search warrants.

           Amongst the sites users charged are:

• Charles Wunderlich, 34, of Hot Springs, California, was charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
• Brian James LaPrath, 34, of San Diego, California, was arrested in the District of Columbia, for international money laundering; and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release;
• Ernest Wagner, 70, of Federal Way, Washington, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
• Vincent Galarzo, 28, of Glendale, New York, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
• Michael Ezeagbor, 22, of Pflugerville, Texas, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
• Nicholas Stengel, 45, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography and money laundering and was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release;
• Eryk Mark Chamberlin, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession  of child pornography and is pending sentencing;
• Jairo Flores, 30, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to receipt and possession of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release;
• Billy Penaloza, 29, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to possession and receipt of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 22, 2019;
• Michael Armstrong, 35, of Randolph, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts, to receipt and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.  Restitution will be determined at a future date;
• Al Ramadhanu Soedomo, 28, of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to serve 12 months and one day followed by five years of supervised release;
• Phillip Sungmin Hong, 24, of Sharon, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to receipt and possession of child pornography and is pending sentencing;
• Eliseo Arteaga Jr., 28, of Mesquite, Texas, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Texas to possession of prepubescent child pornography. He is pending sentencing;
• Richard Nikolai Gratkowski, 40, of San Antonio, Texas, a former HSI special agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas.  Gratkowski pleaded guilty to the indictment charging one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of access with intent to view child pornography.  Gratkowski was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution to seven victims and a $10,000 assessment;
• Paul Casey Whipple, 35, of Hondo, Texas, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas, on charges of sexual exploitation of children/minors, production, distribution, and possession of child pornography.  Whipple remains in custody awaiting trial in San Antonio;
• Michael Lawson, 36, of Midland, Georgia, was arrested in the Middle District of Georgia on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.  He was sentenced to serve 121 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release following his plea to a superseding information charging him with one count of receipt of child pornography;
• Kevin Christopher Eagan, 39, of Brookhaven, Georgia, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in the Northern District of Georgia;
• Casey Santioius Head, 37, of Griffin, Georgia, was indicted in the Northern District of Georgia for distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography;
• Andrew C. Chu, 28, of Garwood, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with receipt of child pornography. Those charges remain pending;
• Nader Hamdi Ahmed, 29 of Jersey City, New Jersey, was arrested in the District of New Jersey, for sexual exploitation or other abuse of children.  Ahmed pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.  He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1, 2019;
• Jeffrey Lee Harris, 32, of Pickens, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in the District of South Carolina for producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography;
• Laine Ormand Clark Jr., 27, of Conway, South Carolina, was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court in South Carolina Division for sexual possession of child pornography;
• Jack R. Dove III, 37, of Lakeland, Florida, was arrested in the District of Florida for knowingly receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct;
• Michael Matthew White, 39, of Miami Beach, Florida, was arrested in the Southern District of Florida for coercion and enticement;
• Nikolas Bennion Bradshaw, 24, of Bountiful, Utah, was arrested in the State of Utah, and charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, and was sentenced to time served with 91 days in jail followed by probation;
• Michael Don Gibbs, 37, of Holladay, Utah, was charged in the District of Utah with receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography;
• Ammar Atef H. Alahdali, 22, of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison and ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution;
• Mark Lindsay Rohrer, 38, of West Hartford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release;
• Eugene Edward Jung, 47, of San Francisco, California, was indicted in the Northern District of California on possession of child pornography and receipt of child pornography;
• James Daosaeng, 25, of Springdale, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the Western District of Arkansas (Fayetteville) to serve 97 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release;
• Alex Daniel Paxton, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested and indicted in Franklin County Ohio Court of Common Pleas for pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor;
• Don Edward Pannell, 32, of Harvey, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Louisiana for receipt of child pornography. He is pending sentencing;
• Ryan Thomas Carver, 29, of Huntsville, Alabama, was arrested and charged under Alabama State Law.  He was charged federally in the Northern District of Alabama with possession of child pornography. His case is pending in Huntsville, Alabama;
• Alexander Buckley, 28, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 10 offences in the UK of possession and distribution of indecent images of children, possession of extreme and prohibited images and possession of a class A drug.  He was sentenced to serve 40 months in prison for the distribution of indecent images and possession of class A drugs. Buckley is also subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order;
• Kyle Fox, 26, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 22 counts including rape, sexual assault, and sharing indecent images, and was sentenced to serve 22 years in prison; and
• Mohammed Almaker, 26, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was arrested in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), charged with KSA Law involving the endangerment of children.  He is awaiting judicial proceedings in furtherance of criminal charges.         

             A forfeiture complaint was also unsealed today. The complaint alleges that law enforcement was able to trace payments of bitcoin to the Darknet site by following the flow of funds on the blockchain.  The virtual currency accounts identified in the complaint were allegedly used by 24 individuals in five countries to fund the website and promote the exploitation of children. The forfeiture complaint seeks to recover these funds and, ultimately through the restoration process, return the illicit funds to victims of the crime.The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

           The international investigations were led by the IRS-CI, HSI and the NCA.  The Korean National Police of the Republic of Korea, the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom and the German Federal Criminal Police (the Bundeskriminalamt), provided assistance and coordinated with their parallel investigations.  The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division provided significant assistance.

            The cases are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zia M. Faruqui, Lindsay Suttenberg, and Youli Lee, Paralegal Specialists Brian Rickers and Diane Brashears, Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick, and Records Examiner Chad Byron of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney C. Alden Pelker of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.  Additional assistance has been provided by Deputy Chief Keith Becker and Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and former U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegal Specialists Toni Anne Donato and Ty Eaton. 

****View press conference here. 

Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia for his operation of Welcome To Video, the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content.  The nine-count indictment was unsealed today along with a parallel civil forfeiture action.  Son has also been charged and convicted in South Korea and is currently in custody serving his sentence in South Korea.  An additional 337 site users residing in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State and Washington, D.C. as well as the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia have been arrested and charged.   

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), made the announcement.

“Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “This Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield.  Today’s announcement demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains firmly committed to working closely with our partners in South Korea and around the world to rescue child victims and bring to justice the perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes.”

“Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by U.S. and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.  “We will continue to pursue such criminals on and off the darknet in the United States and abroad, to ensure they receive the punishment their terrible crimes deserve.”

“Through the sophisticated tracing of bitcoin transactions, IRS-CI special agents were able to determine the location of the Darknet server, identify the administrator of the website and ultimately track down the website server’s physical location in South Korea,” said IRS-CI Chief Don Fort.  “This large-scale criminal enterprise that endangered the safety of children around the world is no more.  Regardless of the illicit scheme, and whether the proceeds are virtual or tangible, we will continue to work with our federal and international partners to track down these disgusting organizations and bring them to justice.”

“Children are our most vulnerable population, and crimes such as these are unthinkable,” said HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs.  “Sadly, advances in technology have enabled child predators to hide behind the dark web and cryptocurrency to further their criminal activity.  However, today’s indictment sends a strong message to criminals that no matter how sophisticated the technology or how widespread the network, child exploitation will not be tolerated in the United States. Our entire justice system will stop at nothing to prevent these heinous crimes, safeguard our children, and bring justice to all.”

According to the indictment, on March 5, 2018, agents from the IRS-CI, HSI, National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, and Korean National Police in South Korea arrested Son and seized the server that he used to operate a Darknet market that exclusively advertised child sexual exploitation videos available for download by members of the site.  The operation resulted in the seizure of approximately eight terabytes of child sexual exploitation videos, which is one of the largest seizures of its kind.  The images, which are currently being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contained over 250,000 unique videos, and 45 percent of the videos currently analyzed contain new images that have not been previously known to exist.

Welcome To Video offered these videos for sale using the cryptocurrency bitcoin.  Typically, sites of this kind give users a forum to trade in these depictions.  This Darknet website is among the first of its kind to monetize child exploitation videos using bitcoin.  In fact, the site itself boasted over one million downloads of child exploitation videos by users.  Each user received a unique bitcoin address when the user created an account on the website.  An analysis of the server revealed that the website had more than one million bitcoin addresses, signifying that the website had capacity for at least one million users. 

The agencies have shared data from the seized server with law enforcement around the world to assist in identifying and prosecuting customers of the site.  This has resulted in leads sent to 38 countries and yielded arrests of 337 subjects around the world.  The operation has resulted in searches of residences and businesses of approximately 92 individuals in the United States.  Notably, the operation is responsible for the rescue of at least 23 minor victims residing in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom, who were being actively abused by the users of the site.

In the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, the operation has led to the execution of five search warrants and eight arrests of individuals who both conspired with the administrator of the site and were themselves, users of the website.  Two users of the Darknet market committed suicide subsequent to the execution of search warrants.

Amongst the sites users charged are:

• Charles Wunderlich, 34, of Hot Springs, California, was charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
   
• Brian James LaPrath, 34, of San Diego, California, was arrested in the District of Columbia, for international money laundering; and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release;
   
• Ernest Wagner, 70, of Federal Way, Washington, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
   
• Vincent Galarzo, 28, of Glendale, New York, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
   
• Michael Ezeagbor, 22, of Pflugerville, Texas, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography;
   
• Nicholas Stengel, 45, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography and money laundering and was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release;
   
• Eryk Mark Chamberlin, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession  of child pornography and is pending sentencing;
   
• Jairo Flores, 30, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to receipt and possession of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release;
   
• Billy Penaloza, 29, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts to possession and receipt of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 22, 2019;
   
• Michael Armstrong, 35, of Randolph, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts, to receipt and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to serve five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release.  Restitution will be determined at a future date;
   
• Al Ramadhanu Soedomo, 28, of Lynn, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to serve 12 months and one day followed by five years of supervised release;
   
• Phillip Sungmin Hong, 24, of Sharon, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts (Boston), to receipt and possession of child pornography and is pending sentencing;
   
• Eliseo Arteaga Jr., 28, of Mesquite, Texas, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Texas to possession of prepubescent child pornography. He is pending sentencing;
   
• Richard Nikolai Gratkowski, 40, of San Antonio, Texas, a former HSI special agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas.  Gratkowski pleaded guilty to the indictment charging one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of access with intent to view child pornography.  Gratkowski was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution to seven victims and a $10,000 assessment;
   
• Paul Casey Whipple, 35, of Hondo, Texas, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, was arrested in the Western District of Texas, on charges of sexual exploitation of children/minors, production, distribution, and possession of child pornography.  Whipple remains in custody awaiting trial in San Antonio;
   
• Michael Lawson, 36, of Midland, Georgia, was arrested in the Middle District of Georgia on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.  He was sentenced to serve 121 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release following his plea to a superseding information charging him with one count of receipt of child pornography;
   
• Kevin Christopher Eagan, 39, of Brookhaven, Georgia, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in the Northern District of Georgia;
   
• Casey Santioius Head, 37, of Griffin, Georgia, was indicted in the Northern District of Georgia for distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography;
   
• Andrew C. Chu, 28, of Garwood, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with receipt of child pornography. Those charges remain pending;
   
• Nader Hamdi Ahmed, 29 of Jersey City, New Jersey, was arrested in the District of New Jersey, for sexual exploitation or other abuse of children.  Ahmed pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.  He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1, 2019;
   
• Jeffrey Lee Harris, 32, of Pickens, South Carolina, pleaded guilty in the District of South Carolina for producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography;
   
• Laine Ormand Clark Jr., 27, of Conway, South Carolina, was arrested and charged in U.S. District Court in South Carolina Division for sexual possession of child pornography;
   
• Jack R. Dove III, 38, of Lakeland, Florida, was arrested in the Middle District of Florida for knowingly receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct;
   
• Michael Matthew White, 39, of Miami Beach, Florida, was arrested in the Southern District of Florida for coercion and enticement;
   
• Nikolas Bennion Bradshaw, 24, of Bountiful, Utah, was arrested in the State of Utah, and charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, and was sentenced to time served with 91 days in jail followed by probation;
   
• Michael Don Gibbs, 37, of Holladay, Utah, was charged in the District of Utah with receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography;
   
• Ammar Atef H. Alahdali, 22, of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve five years in prison and ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution;
   
• Mark Lindsay Rohrer, 38, of West Hartford, Connecticut, pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to receipt of child pornography and was sentenced to serve 60 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release;
   
• Eugene Edward Jung, 47, of San Francisco, California, was indicted in the Northern District of California on possession of child pornography and receipt of child pornography;
   
• James Daosaeng, 25, of Springdale, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced in the Western District of Arkansas (Fayetteville) to serve 97 months in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release;
   
• Alex Daniel Paxton, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, was arrested and indicted in Franklin County Ohio Court of Common Pleas for pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor;
   
• Don Edward Pannell, 32, of Harvey, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Louisiana for receipt of child pornography. He is pending sentencing;
   
• Ryan Thomas Carver, 29, of Huntsville, Alabama, was arrested and charged under Alabama State Law.  He was charged federally in the Northern District of Alabama with possession of child pornography. His case is pending in Huntsville, Alabama;
   
• Alexander Buckley, 28, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 10 offences in the UK of possession and distribution of indecent images of children, possession of extreme and prohibited images and possession of a class A drug.  He was sentenced to serve 40 months in prison for the distribution of indecent images and possession of class A drugs. Buckley is also subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order;
   
• Kyle Fox, 26, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to 22 counts including rape, sexual assault, and sharing indecent images, and was sentenced to serve 22 years in prison; and
   
• Mohammed Almaker, 26, of Fort Collins, Colorado, was arrested in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), charged with KSA Law involving the endangerment of children.  He is awaiting judicial proceedings in furtherance of criminal charges.
   

A forfeiture complaint was also unsealed today.  The complaint alleges that law enforcement was able to trace payments of bitcoin to the Darknet site by following the flow of funds on the blockchain.  The virtual currency accounts identified in the complaint were allegedly used by 24 individuals in five countries to fund the website and promote the exploitation of children.  The forfeiture complaint seeks to recover these funds and, ultimately through the restoration process, return the illicit funds to victims of the crime.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

The international investigations were led by the IRS-CI, HSI and the NCA.  The Korean National Police of the Republic of Korea, the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom and the German Federal Criminal Police (the Bundeskriminalamt), provided assistance and coordinated with their parallel investigations.  The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division provided significant assistance.   

The cases are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zia M. Faruqui, Lindsay Suttenberg, and Youli Lee, Paralegal Specialists Brian Rickers and Diane Brashears, Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick, and Records Examiner Chad Byron of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney C. Alden Pelker of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.  Additional assistance has been provided by Deputy Chief Keith Becker and Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and former U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegal Specialists Toni Anne Donato and Ty Eaton. 

WASHINGTON – Derrick Watson, 42, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 80 months in prison for his role in a three person shooting that took place in Northeast, Washington in July 2017, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Watson was found guilty by a jury of five counts assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, six counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, felon in possession by a jury on July 24, 2019 following a one-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Craig Iscoe.

           According to the government’s evidence, on July 10, 2017, at approximately 8:54pm, Watson engaged in a gun battle with Saheed Salu and Kevin Williams in a small courtyard behind 1341 I Street NE, Washington, DC. During the shooting at least 15 innocent adults and children were in the immediate area and a one-year-old was struck in the crossfire requiring medical attention. Earlier in the evening, Watson was involved in a verbal altercation with Saheed Salu over gambling. Saheed Salu left the area and returned with Kevin Williams both armed. Once Watson noticed Kevin Williams was armed, he walked to his car, retrieved his own firearm, and returned closer to Salu and Williams. Soon after, at least 13 gunshots were fired by the three shooters. Saheed Salu and Kevin Williams pleaded guilty and were sentenced in January 2019.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling, Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin, Victim/Witness Program Specialist Karina Hernandez, former Victim-Witness Advocate Diana Lim, Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington, Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Sabrina Turner, Paralegals Tiffany Fogle and Antoinette Sakamsa, former Criminal Investigator John Marsh, intern Elizabeth Brown, former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Kerkhoff and Louis Manzo.

           Finally, they acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Bohlen who prosecuted the case and Monica Trigoso who investigated and prosecuted the case.

 

WASHINGTON – Thomas Washington, 66, of Northeast, D.C., was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for possessing a loaded firearm in furtherance of his drug trafficking, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Washington pled guilty in July 2019 before the Honorable Randolph D. Moss in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Judge Moss sentenced Washington to 10 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, on July 8, 2018, members of MPD’s Narcotics and Special Investigations Division observed Washington conducting hand-to-hand drug transactions. After arresting Washington, who had a stun gun and $3,067, MPD officers executed a search warrant at Washington’s residence that was located in the 4900 block of Nash Street, Northeast. During the execution of the search warrant, MPD officers recovered a High-Point model CF380 semi-automatic handgun in the dresser of the bedroom. The firearm was loaded with nine rounds of ammunition. Officers also recovered 6.5 grams of crack, a plate with residue, empty ziploc baggies, a digital scale, and $13,253.00.

           When Washington was arrested for trafficking narcotics and possessing a firearm in the present case, he was on supervision with the U.S. Parole Commission following a 2012 D.C. Superior Court felony drug trafficking conviction. Washington now faces formal revocation of his supervised release and an additional sentence, separate from the above-referenced sentence, from the U.S. Parole Commission. Washington also had two additional prior drug trafficking convictions and a prior involuntary manslaughter conviction.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Paralegal Specialist Candace Battle, Legal Assistant Peter Gaboton, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Macchiaroli of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Section, who prosecuted the Defendant.

WASHINGTON – The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia submitted written comments for the record to the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety of the D.C. Council in response to the Committee’s invitation to testify or submit written testimony on the topic of Firearms Trafficking in the Washington Metropolitan Region and Legislative Strategies to Respond to Firearm Violence. In particular, the Office responded to the Committee’s solicitation of comments on interagency efforts to combat gun trafficking.

           The Office looks forward to partnering with D.C. community leaders and its law enforcement partners to enhance public safety in the District of Columbia. Full text of the Office’s comments follows:

           The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia (USAO-DC) commends the Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety for its efforts to convene a discussion on combatting firearms violence in the District of Columbia. As you know, illicit firearms play a role in most forms of the violent crimes that we see here in the District and serve to empower organized criminal groups. Firearms violence, often committed at the hands of repeat offenders, too often shakes our community to its core as innocent bystanders lose their lives. To tackle this intractable issue, we must all work together to devise a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, and multi-jurisdictional set of effective solutions. As a result, my Office has partnered with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in an effort to address a significant source of illegal firearms in the District. As we have indicated previously (most recently in the October 2, 2019, letter of Renata Cooper to the Committee), the ATF stands ready to meet with the Committee and staffers to discuss further the nexus between firearms access and firearms trafficking as well as trends important to trafficking and violent crime reduction.

           Firearms make their way into the District in a variety of ways. Most firearms are produced legally and then diverted into the illicit market. They are frequently stolen and trafficked. Some unlicensed firearms sellers purchase firearms in one state, then transport them to their state of residence and sell, trade, or distribute the firearms, which can end up in the hands of those who commit crimes. Some prohibited purchasers (such as convicted felons) also use "straw purchasers," individuals who buy firearms on behalf of persons who would otherwise be precluded from buying guns themselves. Gun traffickers have also found ways to exploit the loopholes in federal law by purposefully purchasing guns through sales that do not require background checks or sale records.

           Our challenge, therefore, is to determine how can we reduce the number of firearms-related incidents and keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them. One effective strategy is to address the problems of unscrupulous gun dealers, stolen weapons, and illegal purchasers and suppliers. We have sought to do this through increased information sharing and coordination with our federal and local law enforcement partners. This allows us to identify specific incidents and trends, thereby enabling us to move quickly in investigating and prosecuting these offenses in the most appropriate venue.

           Further, our partnership with the ATF, the federal agency tasked with investigating firearms trafficking, has hammered home how essential the ability to track firearms is to the reduction of trafficking and the successful investigation of firearms-related crimes. In fact, through ATF's firearms tracing capabilities and the use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), our collective partnership has been able to gain intelligence regarding specific recovered firearms that assists not only in identifying the firearm's source, but its connection to other shootings, crimes, and violent offenders.

           Working side by side with our partners on this issue has allowed us to prosecute individuals involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms. For example, as recently as April 2019, Isaiah Green of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 50 months in prison for his role in drug trafficking schemes in which he illegally trafficked 31 guns, and Stephon Jeter of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 63 months for his role in a multi-state firearms trafficking conspiracy in which 25 firearms were recovered.

           USAO-DC will continue to prosecute aggressively those who commit criminal offenses using firearms, those who illegally traffic in firearms, and those who illegally possess firearms in our city. The correlation between violent crime and the availability and use of illegal guns is undeniable, and we will continue to work closely with our partners in the law enforcement community in the promotion of public safety and the pursuit of justice. We stand by our message to those who traffic in illegal firearms: You will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And we stand by each and every one of our partners in the District without whose invaluable partnerships we cannot find solutions to the illegal flow of firearms.

 

WASHINGTON – Seven people have been arrested on federal charges stemming from an ongoing investigation into the distribution of narcotics and the possession of firearms in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. To date, large quantities of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base (crack) have been seized as a result of the investigation, along with six firearms.

           The charges are contained in three indictments and a complaint unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Seven defendants were charged with narcotics and firearm offenses: Vontate Talley, 48; Marcus Stackhouse, 37; Kevin Stackhouse, 31; Bayney Pinard Parker, 39; Michael Thomas, 50; Alonzo Weatherspoon, 56; and Dayron Wright, 27, all of Washington, D.C.

           Two sets of defendants were charged in conspiracies to traffic large quantities of narcotics, and all of the defendants were charged with separate offenses of distributing narcotics or possessing narcotics with the intent to distribute them. During the execution of nine search warrants, law enforcement seized packaged narcotics for distribution, drug paraphernalia, U.S. currency, six firearms, multiple replica firearms, magazines, and a large quantity of ammunition.

           Three of the seven defendants had pending narcotics and firearms charges when committing the offenses alleged in the indictments unsealed today.

           “Through this coordinated law enforcement effort, we were able to remove significant quantities of drugs and firearms from the streets,” said U.S. Attorney Liu. “This investigation is another example of our determination to target drug trafficking organizations that bring crack, heroin, fentanyl, and firearms into the District and to make our neighborhoods safer.  

           This case is part of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF specializes in the investigation and prosecution of drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and related criminal enterprises.

           This case was also prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Program (PSN), which is a nationwide crime-reduction strategy aimed at decreasing violent crime in communities. It involves a comprehensive approach to public safety — one that includes investigating and prosecuting crimes, along with prevention and reentry efforts. In the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu coordinates PSN efforts in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

           An indictment or a complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

           In announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney Liu, Special Agent in Charge Benedict, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case, including ATF and MPD. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the United States Secret Service, U.S. Marshals Service, Prince George’s County, Md. Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

           Finally, they cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Macchiaroli and Gregory Rosen of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Section; Paralegal Specialists Teesha Tobias, Kim Hall, and Candace Battle; and Legal Assistant Peter Gaboton.

 

WASHINGTON – Kevin Fields, 38, of Southeast, D.C., was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for possessing multiple firearms in furtherance of his drug trafficking, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office.

           Fields pled guilty in July 2019 before the Honorable Paul L. Friedman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Judge Friedman sentenced Fields to ten years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, on February 9, 2019, MPD officers executed a search warrant at Fields’ residence located in the 1900 block of Naylor Road, Southeast. After entering the apartment, MPD officers located Fields in the back bedroom. In that same room, officers located three loaded firearms, a Glock 21 .45 caliber firearm, a Ruger LC95 9mm caliber firearm, and an Intratec AB-10 firearm. An additional magazine with ammunition was also recovered. Law enforcement also discovered crack cocaine, heroin, multiple digital scales, razor blades, extensive drug packaging material, and U.S. currency in the residence. As part of his plea agreement, Fields acknowledged that all three firearms belonged to him and that he possessed them in furtherance of his drug trafficking. As part of the government’s investigation, the FBI assisted law enforcement by investigating the history of the firearms and their connection to other crimes committed in the District.

           When Fields was arrested for trafficking narcotics and possessing firearms in the present case, he was on supervision with the U.S. Parole Commission following a 2012 D.C. Superior Court felony drug trafficking conviction. Fields now faces formal revocation of his supervised release and additional incarceration, separate from the above-referenced sentence, from the U.S. Parole Commission. Fields also had a prior 2002 D.C. Superior Court conviction for assault with intent to kill, where he was incarcerated for twelve years.

           This case was investigated in support of the Felon in Possession initiative, a joint partnership between MPD and federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI Washington Field Office, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia, in an effort to reduce gun violence within the District of Columbia.  

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, Chief Newsham, and Special Agent in Charge Dunham, commended the work of those who investigated the case. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Paralegal Specialist Candace Battle, Legal Assistant Peter Gaboton, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Macchiaroli of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Section, who conducted the underlying investigation, indicted the case, and prosecuted the defendant.

A Washington, D.C., man pleaded guilty today to advertising child pornography.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

Simon Walker, 33, was charged in July 2018 with one count of advertising child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography.  

According to admissions made in connection with his plea agreement, Walker was the creator and administrator of online chat groups devoted to the trading of child pornography.  In addition to uploading images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, Walker encouraged other members of the groups to distribute child pornography, warning them that they would be removed from the groups if they did not contribute to the online community of offenders.  Forensic examination of his electronic devices, pursuant to a federal search warrant executed at his residence in May 2018, uncovered hundreds of videos and images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Walker was arrested by the FBI on July 12, 2018, was ordered detained by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and has remained in custody since that time.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols scheduled sentencing for Jan. 23, 2020.

The FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, composed of FBI agents and local, state and federal partners, investigated the case.  Trial Attorney Jessica Urban of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jodi Lazarus of the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case. 

This investigation was a 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.

WASHINGTON – Abdul Samuels, 45, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to seven years in prison stemming from drug trafficking and gun possession charges, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Samuels, Anthony Fields, 45, of Washington, D.C., and Lonnell Tucker, 42, of Temple Hills, Md., were found guilty on March 21, 2019, following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Amit P. Mehta. Samuels was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack), and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Judge Mehta sentenced Samuels on October 2, 2019 to seven years in prison. Following his prison term, Samuels will be placed on three years of supervised release.

           In June 2017, ATF began investigating the trafficking of narcotics from the Next Level Cuts barbershop located in the 2400 block of MLK, Jr., Avenue, SE and adjoining property above. Through surveillance, controlled purchases from inside and outside the barbershop, residential search warrants, cellphone searches, arrests, jailhouse calls, pleas, and cooperating witnesses, law enforcement discovered a coordinated drug trafficking operation that was centered at the barbershop and extended into Maryland. The investigation established that drug traffickers used the barbershop and adjoining property as a stash location.

           The investigation led to a series of arrests beginning in February 2018 which led to the recovery of three firearms from the barbershop and one firearm in a residence, the seizure of more than $7,000 in cash, and without packaging, the seizure of more than 300 grams of PCP, more than 150 grams of heroin, more than 100 grams of fentanyl, boxes of suboxone strips, and more than 100 grams of a cutting agents.

           In addition to being convicted of conspiring to distribute heroin and fentanyl from the barbershop, Samuels was also convicted of narcotics trafficking and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition relating to a search of his residence in Southeast, D.C. on May 10, 2018, where ATF recovered a firearm, ammunition, extensive drug paraphernalia, and crack cocaine.

           During the trial, officers from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority testified regarding a separate arrest of Samuels in 2018 in Virginia, in which crack cocaine packaged for distribution was recovered from his vehicle. Samuels’ charges in Virginia for that arrest are still pending and on those charges, he is presumed innocent.

           The Defendant was previously convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon in D.C. Superior Court, following the shooting of a victim in the neck at the victim’s residence. While serving his sentence for that offense, Samuels was subsequently prosecuted and convicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for his role in the murder of a fellow inmate.

           On June 13, 2019, Fields was sentenced to 16 years of incarceration to be followed by eight years of supervised release. On June 14, 2019, Tucker was sentenced to five years of incarceration to be followed by three years of supervised release. On September 25, 2019, Artinis Winston, who was a fugitive for approximately nine months, was sentenced to five years of incarceration to be followed by four years of supervised release for his role in the narcotics conspiracy.

           Three other defendants – Darryl Smith, 41, of Washington, D.C., James Venable, 47, of Fort Washington, Md., and Lacy Hamilton, 42, of Suitland, Md. – pled guilty earlier to federal charges. Smith managed the barbershop and was sentenced to 80 months in prison relating to his possession of narcotics in the barbershop on February 1, 2018, and for his possession of packaged fentanyl and a loaded firearm following an arrest by MPD in December 2017 outside of the barbershop. Venable, another conspirator, was sentenced to a 37-month prison term following his possession of narcotics and a firearm in both Washington, D.C. during a December 2017 arrest by MPD and at his residence in Maryland on February 1, 2018. Venable also acknowledged selling narcotics to an ATF confidential informant in July 2017. Hamilton was sentenced to a 15-month prison term for selling narcotics outside the barbershop and in Maryland as part of the charged narcotics conspiracy.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, Special Agent in Charge Benedict, and Chief Newsham commended the assistance provided by officers and agents of the Prince George’s County Police Department, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Macchiaroli and Gregory Rosen of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, and Paralegal Specialist Candace Battle.

WASHINGTON – Andre Becton, 27, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 25 years in prison stemming from a shooting that took place in Southeast Washington in September 2016, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Becton was found guilty of second-degree murder while armed and related firearms offenses by a jury on April 4, 2019, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Judge Juliet McKenna.

           According to the government’s evidence, on the night of Sept. 15, 2016, the victim, Darnell “Kirk” Peoples, Sr., agreed to help a woman buy drugs. They encountered a group of young men who were playing craps in the 600 block of Mellon Street SE, in front of a neighborhood market. Mr. Peoples made a remark that offended the group, leading to a confrontation with Becton. Mr. Peoples tried to quash the trouble, but Becton pulled out a gun and started counting down. Mr. Peoples unsuccessfully tried to get the gun. Becton shot him two times in front of numerous people and fled the scene. Mr. Peoples, 35, stumbled across the street and collapsed, shot in the neck and the left hip.

           The Metropolitan Police Department arrived within minutes and Mr. Peoples managed to mumble before he died that he was shot by “Dre from Trenton Park.”  Becton was arrested on Oct. 21, 2016, and has been in custody ever since.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Marshals Service. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Lenerz; Criminal Investigator John Marsh; Paralegal Specialists Lornce Applewhite, Stephanie Siegerist, Meridith McGarrity, Alesha Matthews, and Richard Cheatham; Witness Security Specialists Lesley Slade and Tanya Via; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator La June Thames; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin; Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling, and interns Jeremy Kelly and Madison Jansky.

           Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Monica Trigoso and Lindsey Merikas, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Delonte Bridges, 28, of Northwest, D.C., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for his possession of a stolen loaded firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Bridges pled guilty in July 2019 before the Honorable Amy Berman Jackson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. Judge Jackson sentenced Bridges to 36 months in prison to be followed by 36 months of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, on October 21, 2018, at approximately 4:30 p.m., officers of MPD’s Gun Recovery Unit were on patrol in two vehicles in the First Police District. As officers turned south onto the 1100 block of First Place, Northwest, an area known for narcotics and firearms offenses, individuals standing in the street made an announcement that law enforcement was entering the area. In response to the announcement, Bridges initially walked away from law enforcement and then started to run unprovoked. In response, law enforcement officers exited their vehicle, activated their body camera video, and followed in pursuit. Body camera video of responding officers showed that a firearm was visible on the waistband of Bridges after he gave up running from law enforcement and was on the ground. Upon his arrest, officers recovered from Bridges’ waistband a Glock 27 .40 caliber firearm with one round of .40 caliber ammunition in the chamber and five rounds of .40 caliber ammunition in the magazine. MPD officers learned that the firearm was reported stolen during a theft that occurred on July 23, 2018 in the 900 block of Rhode Island Avenue, Northeast.

           In 2011, Bridges was convicted in the D.C. Superior Court of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine at the same location that he was found with the stolen loaded firearm in this case.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham, commended the work of those who investigated the case. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Paralegal Specialist Candace Battle and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Macchiaroli of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Section, who prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Robert E. Little, 25, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to eight and a half years in prison on a charge of voluntary manslaughter in a crash that killed bicyclist, David Salovesh in Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).  

           Little pled guilty on July 23, 2019, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  The plea, which was contingent upon the Court’s approval, called for the eight and a half years prison sentence, which was agreed upon by the government and the defense. The Honorable Craig Iscoe accepted the plea and sentenced Little accordingly. 

           According to the government’s evidence, the fatal crash occurred on Friday, April 19, 2019, at approximately 10:15 a.m. Uniformed MPD officers in a marked cruiser attempted to stop the van that Little was driving earlier near the intersection of Bladensburg Road and Benning Road NE, because the van was reported stolen from Maryland the day before. When officers activated their emergency lights behind Little’s van, he fled from police, turning west onto Florida Avenue NE. For safety concerns, officers discontinued their attempt to stop the van, after realizing that the van was not going to stop.

           Continuing to flee, Little drove at a high rate of speed west in the 1200 block of Florida Avenue NE. He ran a red light at the intersection of Florida Avenue, 12th Street and Montello Avenue, and struck a vehicle that was driving through the intersection with the green light. The collision caused Little’s van to be redirected, and it struck the victim, David Salovesh, who had been riding a bicycle and was stopped at the red light waiting to continue east bound on Florida Avenue. During the crash, Little’s van dragged Mr. Salovesh’s body, struck a tree, a trash can and came to a rest, pinning Mr. Salovesh against a second tree, killing him. 

           The pursuing officers came upon the crash scene while Little was still behind the wheel of the stolen van. Little, who was injured, was taken to a hospital and treated. His blood taken at the hospital was later analyzed and found to contain PCP. The crash data recorder of the van was downloaded and showed that the Little was driving at speeds up to 78 miles per hour, in a 25 mile per hour zone, leading up to the crash.    

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of the officers and detectives who investigated the case from the Major Crash Investigations Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin, Paralegal Specialists Stephanie Siegerist and Lorce Applewhite, and Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker. 

           Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward A. O’Connell, who prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – David A. Hackney, 60, of Southeast, Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a man in Southeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.

             On September 27, 2019, pursuant to Hackney’s guilty plea, the Honorable Milton C. Lee of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia sentenced Hackney to 15 years in prison. Hackney pled guilty to second-degree murder while armed in the killing of Chester Belfield at a prior proceeding on July 11, 2019. Upon completion of his sentence, Hackney will also be placed on five years of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, on April 13, 2019, at approximately 2:30 p.m., members of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) were dispatched to 1039 Southern Avenue, Southeast for a stabbing incident. Upon arrival at the scene, MPD located an adult male victim – later identified as Chester Belfield – unresponsive suffering from stab wounds to the body. Mr. Belfield was then transported to the District’s United Medical Center where he later died from his injuries.

           According to multiple witnesses, Hackney and Mr. Belfield engaged in a verbal confrontation. Witnesses then observed Hackney escalating the verbal fight by chasing Mr. Belfield across Southern Avenue, SE with a knife in his right hand. Mr. Belfield was not armed and tried to run away from Hackney. The witnesses then observed Hackney stab Mr. Belfield at least three times. Hackney fled the scene after killing Mr. Belfield. The witness’s testimony was further confirmed by a cellular telephone video that captured the entire incident from start to finish.

           Hackney was arrested on April 22, 2019, where he remains in custody until his sentencing.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also expressed appreciation for the work of Supervisory Victim Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark and Paralegal Specialist Debra Forte. Finally, she commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nebiyu Feleke and Laura Bach who investigated and prosecuted the case. 

WASHINGTON – El Hadji Toure, 30, formerly of Laurel, Md., was sentenced today to life in prison for murder and other charges stemming from the March 2017 murder of artist Corrina Mehiel, whose body was found in a rowhouse in Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            In March 2019 Toure was found guilty by a jury of a total of 13 charges, including first-degree murder while armed (premeditated and felony), with aggravating circumstances; first-degree sexual abuse while armed, also with aggravating circumstances; kidnapping while armed; first-degree burglary while armed; robbery while armed; first-degree theft; unauthorized use of a vehicle; credit card fraud, and first-degree identity theft. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Juliet McKenna sentenced Toure to life in prison without the possibility of release.

            According to the government’s evidence, on March 21, 2017, at approximately 4:34 p.m., officers with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) found Ms. Mehiel’s body in a rowhouse in the 600 block of 14th Street NE. Ms. Mehiel’s body, which had been bound, showed multiple stab wounds to her neck and side. Ms. Mehiel, 34, of Burnsville, N.C., had been staying in the sublet basement apartment while in Washington for a couple of weeks while working on an art show at the Corcoran Gallery at George Washington University.

            On the morning of Monday, March 20, 2017, Ms. Mehiel was packing up her few belongings from the apartment. Toure broke into the residence, kidnapping and sexually assaulting her, stabbing her, and stealing her belongings, including her car and her debit card.  Toure later used her debit card to withdraw cash at several ATMs in nearby Maryland and Virginia from March 20 through March 24, 2017. 

            On the afternoon of March 21, 2017, when no one had heard from Ms. Mehiel, her co-workers entered her apartment and found her body, face down in her bedroom.

            The defendant, who was a stranger to Ms. Mehiel, was arrested on March 27, 2017, in Northeast Washington, and has been in custody ever since.

            The government’s evidence in the case included surveillance video showing Toure using Ms. Mehiel’s debit card at ATMs; he is also visible on surveillance video on Ms. Mehiel’s block shortly before the attack. Additionally, DNA evidence linked him to the crime.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Metro Transit Police Department, the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences, and Signature Science LLC. They acknowledged the efforts of those worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Michael Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Elizabeth Trosman, Chief of the Appellate Division; Chrisellen Kolb, Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division; Stephen R. Prest, Special Counsel for Discovery Policy and Litigation; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julianne Johnston, Silvia Gonzalez Roman, and Lauren Bates; Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator LaJune Thames; Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington; Supervisory Paralegal Specialists Sharon Newman; Paralegal Specialists Tijuana McPhail and Richard Cheatham; Senior Paralegal Specialist Kathryn Hoey; Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin; Criminal Investigator John Marsh, and Forensic Operation/Program Specialist Elizabeth Marrero.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Nestler and Jessi Brooks, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Artinis Winston, 43, of Northeast, D.C. was sentenced today to five years in prison for his role in a large-scale narcotics trafficking conspiracy. U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Ashan M. Benedict, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) made the announcement.

           Winston pled guilty in July 2019 before the Honorable Amit P. Mehta in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. Judge Mehta sentenced Winston to five years in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. As part of his guilty plea to engaging in the conspiracy, Winston accepted responsibility for trafficking 360 grams of heroin and 40 grams of buprenorphine (commonly referred to as suboxone). Winston’s conviction in the case represents his fourth felony conviction.

           According to the Government’s evidence, in June 2017, ATF began investigating the trafficking of narcotics from the Next Level Cuts barbershop located in the 2400 block of MLK, Jr., Avenue, SE and adjoining property above. Law enforcement discovered a coordinated drug trafficking operation that was centered at the barbershop and extended into Maryland through surveillance, controlled purchases from inside and outside the barbershop, residential search warrants, cellphone searches, arrests, jailhouse calls, pleas, and cooperating witnesses. The investigation established that drug traffickers used the barbershop and adjoining property as a stash location.

           The investigation led to a series of arrests beginning in February 2018. These arrests led to the recovery of three firearms from the barbershop, one firearm in a residence, the seizure of more than $7,000 in cash, and without packaging, the seizure of more than 300 grams of PCP, more than 150 grams of heroin, more than 100 grams of fentanyl, boxes of suboxone strips, and more than 100 grams of a cutting agents.

           While multiple conspirators had been arrested in 2018, Winston was a fugitive for approximately nine months. Coconspirators Lonnell Tucker, 42, of Temple Hills, Md., Anthony Fields, 45, of Washington, D.C., and Abdul Samuels, 45, of Washington, D.C., were found guilty on March 21, 2019, following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Mehta.

           During the trial, officers and agents of the Prince George’s County Police Department, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor, testified regarding separate arrests of coconspirators during the course of ATF’s investigation, which resulted in the seizure of narcotics, drug paraphernalia, and U.S. currency.

           On June 13, 2019, Fields was sentenced to 16 years in prison to be followed by eight years of supervised release. On June 14, 2019, Tucker was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Samuels is scheduled to be sentenced on October 2, 2019 and faces up to 20 years in prison. Three other defendants – Darryl Smith, 41, of Washington, D.C., James Venable, 47, of Fort Washington, Md., and Lacy Hamilton, 42, of Suitland, Md. – pled guilty earlier to federal charges. Smith managed the barbershop and was sentenced to 80 months in prison relating to his possession of narcotics in the barbershop on February 1, 2018, and for his possession of packaged fentanyl and a loaded firearm following an arrest by MPD in December 2017 outside of the barbershop. Venable, another conspirator, was sentenced to a 37-month prison term following his possession of narcotics and a firearm in both Washington, D.C. during a December 2017 arrest by MPD and at his residence in Maryland on February 1, 2018. Venable also acknowledged selling narcotics to an ATF confidential informant in July 2017. Hamilton was sentenced to a 15-month prison term for selling narcotics outside the barbershop and in Maryland as part of the charged narcotics conspiracy.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, Special Agent in Charge Benedict, and Chief Newsham commended the assistance provided by officers and agents of the Prince George’s County Police Department, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor, and the United States Marshal Service who assisted in trying to apprehend Winston. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Macchiaroli and Gregory Rosen of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, and Paralegal Specialist Candace Battle.

WASHINGTON- Jesse Nunn, 24, of Maryland, was sentenced yesterday to 120 months in prison for his part in three separate kidnappings over the course of three weeks in Northwest Washington.

           U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) made the announcement.

           Nunn pled guilty on May 10, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to three counts of kidnapping. The Honorable Trevor N. McFadden sentenced Nunn on September 19, 2019, to a 10-year prison term, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, on July 15, 2018, Nunn and his co-defendant lured Complaining Witness (“CW”) #1 into his car in the 1300 block of U Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., with the promise of selling him narcotics. When CW #1 entered the car, Nunn produced a handgun and pointed it at CW #1, demanding the victim’s debit/credit card, cellphone, and U.S. Currency. During the course of the kidnapping, the defendants drove to various financial institutions and other store locations, crossing state lines, in an attempt to use CW #1’s debit/credit cards to obtain U.S. Currency. At one point, Nunn also punched CW #1, causing minor injuries. CW #1 was eventually able to escape from the vehicle and flag-down a passing driver.

           On July 27, 2018, in the 600 block of U Street, N.W., Nunn and two co-defendants lured CW #2 into their car with the promise of selling him narcotics. CW #2 willingly got into the defendants’ vehicle so that the defendants could take him to an ATM to get money for the purchase of the narcotics. The defendants drove CW #2 to a 7-Eleven ATM located in Bladensburg, MD, so that CW #2 could use the ATM machine to withdraw U.S. currency to purchase narcotics from the defendants. When CW #2 and one of the co-defendants returned to the vehicle, Nunn produced a handgun and pointed the weapon at CW #2. The defendants demanded CW #2’s debit/credit card, cellphone, and U.S. currency. The defendants forcibly took CW #2 to various locations, including locations outside of the District of Columbia, to use or attempt to use CW #2’s debit/credit cards for money or other personal property. CW #2 was eventually able to escape from the vehicle in Virginia.

           On August 4, 2018, at approximately 2:30 am, CW #3 left a nightclub located in the 1300 block of U Street, N.W. to catch an Uber home. Believing Nunn’s vehicle to be his Uber, CW #3 entered the vehicle, in which Nunn was seated in the rear seat. Within minutes of CW #3 getting into the vehicle for his ride home, Nunn demanded CW #3’s phone and wallet and then produced and pointed a handgun at CW #3.  Nunn and his co-defendant drove CW #3 around and demanded that CW #3 give them his PIN number for his debit/credit card.  CW #3 was eventually able to escape from the vehicle in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu, Special Agent in Charge Dunham, and Chief Newsham praised the work of the FBI Violent Crime Safe Streets Task Force, which is charged with investigating the most egregious acts of violent crime impacting the Capital Region Task Force, which involved members from the FBI and MPD. They also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Teesha Tobias, former Paralegal Specialist Jeannette Litz, and Victim/Witness Specialist Yvonne Bryant. Finally, they commended the outstanding work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory V. Cole, who indicted and prosecuted the case.

 

WASHINGTON – Justin Quentin Taylor, 20, of the District, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for sexually assaulting a stranger after the two got off a Metrobus, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced today.

           Taylor pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in March 2019, to attempted third degree sexual abuse. He was sentenced by the Honorable Danya A. Dayson to 18 months in prison. Following his prison term, he will be placed on supervised release for seven years and will have to register as a sex offender for ten years.

           According to the government’s evidence at the plea hearing, in the early morning hours of December 10, 2018, both Taylor and the victim were passengers on the same city bus.  They did not know one another. They both got off the bus on 48th Street, N.E. in the District.  While in the 1300 block of 48th Street N.E., the Taylor walked past the victim, then stopped directly in front of her and asked her for directions, asked whether he could use her phone and asked the woman whether she could help him with his “button.” Taylor then grabbed the woman, took down his pants and attempted to sexually assault her. She escaped and immediately notified the police. Taylor was stopped by Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers nearby a short while later, where they arrested him.

           After his arrest, Taylor told detectives from MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit that he had intended to rape the victim. Taylor told the detective that he had done something similar in Prince George’s County, Maryland, when he was 18-years-old, and that he had served time in Maryland for that other incident.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of the Metropolitan Police Department, including MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit.  She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Brenda C. Williams and Victim/Witness Assistance Unit Supervisor Dr. Lorraine Chase.  Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter V. Taylor, who investigated and prosecuted this case. 

WASHINGTON – Victor A. Brown, Jr., 29, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by a jury yesterday of federal firearm and narcotics charges following a law enforcement search that uncovered drugs, a weapon, and ammunition in a residence located in the Petworth Neighborhood in Northwest Washington.

           The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Brown was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year; possession with intent to distribute fentanyl; and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base on September 19, 2019. The verdict followed a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he could face a sentence of up to life in prison. He will be sentenced on December 11, 2019 by the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan.

           According to the government’s evidence, on the evening of March 22, 2019, officers from MPD’s Fourth District Crime Suppression Team executed a search warrant at a rowhouse in the Petworth neighborhood. At the time the officers entered the residence, Brown was flushing marijuana down a toilet in a bathroom on the first floor of the residence. Inside of Brown’s bedroom nightstand, officers located a 9 millimeter pistol with an extended magazine loaded with ammunition. Officers also recovered fentanyl and cocaine base from on top of Brown’s bed and recovered various items used for drug distribution throughout his bedroom (including digital scales, ziplocs, a tray with residue, cutting agents, and razor blades). Officers also recovered more than $2,800 in U.S. currency on Brown.

           “My Office’s top priority is the safety of the people who live in, work in, and visit Washington, D.C., and that means protecting them from the danger posed by illegal firearms. This case shows our commitment to doing just that. This defendant previously had been convicted of a serious crime and had no business possessing a firearm,” said U.S. Attorney Liu.

           In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of the MPD officers involved in the arrest and prosecution of Brown.  They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Wasserman and Laura Crane of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, and Paralegal Specialist Rommel Pachoca.

WASHINGTON – Attorney General William P. Barr today announced the appointment of the following nine U.S. Attorneys to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC): David Anderson, Northern District of California; Scott Brady, Western District of Pennsylvania; Maria Chapa Lopez, Middle District of Florida; Halsey Frank, District of Maine; Erica MacDonald, District of Minnesota; Christina Nolan, District of Vermont; Zach Terwilliger, Eastern District of Virginia; Tom Kirsch, Northern District of Indiana; and Nicholas Trutanich, District of Nevada.

           “I am pleased to appoint these nine outstanding U.S. Attorneys to this key advisory committee. I am confident that they will serve with distinction,” Attorney General William P. Barr said. “The U.S. Attorneys who comprise the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee play a critical role in carrying out the Department of Justice’s important work, including its efforts to reduce violent crime, combat the opioid crisis, protect the most vulnerable, and enforce the rule of law.”

           The Attorney General also thanked the following U.S. Attorneys who have completed their terms and are rotating off the committee: Louis Franklin, Middle District of Alabama; Robert Higdon, Eastern District of North Carolina; John Huber, District of Utah; Rob Hur, District of Maryland; Jeff Jensen, Eastern District of Missouri; Andrew Lelling, District of Massachusetts; Joshua Minkler, Southern District of Indiana; Richard Moore, Southern District of Alabama; Bryan Schroder, District of Alaska; and David Weiss, District of Delaware.  

           Chaired by U.S Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jessie K. Liu, the AGAC represents the voice of the U.S. Attorneys and provides advice and counsel to the Attorney General on policy, management, and operational issues impacting U.S. Attorneys’ Offices.

           Attorney General Barr also announced that U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox, a current member, will replace U.S. Attorney John Huber as the Vice Chair of the AGAC.

           The bios of all U.S. Attorneys are available here.

WASHINGTON – Russell Harrison, 40, of Temple Hills, Md., was sentenced today to nine years in prison for possessing six firearms in furtherance of his participation in a drug trafficking conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division.

           Harrison pled guilty in August 2018 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Judge Richard J. Leon sentenced Harrison to 110 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

           Harrison was arrested with seven other individuals in March 2018 in relation to a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and 280 grams or more of cocaine base. Numerous defendants were also charged with possessing and distributing various narcotics, including cocaine base, cocaine, PCP and fentanyl, during the period of the investigation. The charges followed an investigation into narcotics trafficking in the Washington, D.C. area.

           On March 15, 2018, during the execution of a search warrant on Harrison’s residence, FBI agents and members of the U.S. Marshals Service recovered six separate firearms, multiple rounds of ammunition, a 50-round capacity drum, a firearm silencer, and drug paraphernalia. During his plea hearing, Harrison acknowledged that he possessed the firearms in furtherance of his participation in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

           Harrison’s conviction represents his fourth felony conviction. He was convicted twice before for trafficking narcotics and once for committing an assault with a firearm. Harrison was held without bond following his March 2018 arrest. While incarcerated at the D.C. jail, Harrison stabbed a fellow inmate and was subsequently convicted of assault and attempted possession of a prohibited weapon in the District of Columbia Superior Court.

           Five others have pled guilty to charges in the case. They include Darnell Catlett, 46, of Upper Marlboro, Md; Brian Jenkins, 44, of Brentwood, Md.; Everette Reel, 46, of Upper Marlboro, Md; Jamal Curtis, 41, of Washington, D.C.; and Derek Holmes, 54, of Washington, D.C. Catlett, Reel, Curtis, and Holmes are now serving sentences. Jenkins has not yet been sentenced.  Jenkins faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years of incarceration and up to 40 years of imprisonment for his participation in the drug trafficking conspiracy. As the leader of the conspiracy, Catlett was sentenced on August 9, 2019 to 16 years of incarceration and 5 years of supervised release.

           This case is part of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF specializes in the investigation and prosecution of drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and related criminal enterprises.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Special Agent in Charge Dunham commended the work of those who investigated the case. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Marshals Service. They also cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Paralegal Specialists Candace Battle and Teesha Tobias, Legal Assistant Emma Atlas, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Macchiaroli and Kevin Rosenberg of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Section, who conducted the underlying investigation, indicted the case, and prosecuted the defendants, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shehzad Akhtar, who prosecuted Harrison’s prison assault matter.

 

WASHINGTON – Deontae Britton, 26, of Washington D.C., was sentenced on Friday to 22 years in prison for the murder of Dawud Debruhl near a playground and parking lot in Columbia Heights, Washington. U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) made the announcement today.  

           Britton pled guilty on July 9, 2019, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to one count of murder. He was sentenced on September 13, 2019, by the Honorable Craig Iscoe.

           According to the government’s evidence, on March 28, 2019, Dawud Debruhl was hanging out with friends in the parking lot of the Columbia Heights Village Apartment Complex located in the area of the 2900 block of 13th Street in NW Washington. Britton approached Mr.Debruhl from behind while he was engaged in conversation and shot him in the back. Britton then fled on foot.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division Homicide Branch, the Third Police District of the Metropolitan Police Department, and Evidence Technicians. U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham also expressed appreciation for those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Meridith McGarrity and Victim Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker.

           Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Gauri Gopal for investigating and prosecuting the case.

 

WASHINGTON – Scotlund Haisley, 51, of Montgomery County Maryland, was sentenced today to 46 months in prison for his role in an attempted robbery and robbery of a Subway sandwich shop, on two separate instances in January 2019, in Northwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.

           Haisley pled guilty on February 21, 2019, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to one charge of attempted robbery on January 20, 2019, and one charge of robbery on January 24, 2019. He was sentenced by the Honorable Craig Iscoe.

           According to the government’s evidence, on January 20, 2019, at approximately 6:34 p.m., Haisley entered a Subway sandwich shop on 4401 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., with a cap rolled down over his face. He walked behind the counter, placed an object to the back of a Subway employee’s head, and demanded the money in the register. The employee opened the register, withdrew about $300, and gave it to Haisley.

           On January 24, 2019, at approximately 8:55 p.m., Haisley entered the same Subway shop on Connecticut Avenue wearing a full face mask. With his hand in his pocket, Haisley confronted the same Subway employee, told that employee that he had a gun, and demanded money. The employee opened the register and handed Haisley money who then fled from the Subway.

           A review of security camera footage from the Subway revealed that the robber wore the same clothing, except for his face mask, during both robberies. A review of security footage from the nearby Van Ness Metro station showed that the robber was present in the Van Ness station on January 20 and 24, around the times of each robbery. On January 20, Haisley’s face was concealed by his mask, but on January 24, the mask was removed during at least part of his time in the Metro station, and he used stolen money to reload a SmartTrip card.

           On January 26, Metro Transit Police (MTP) stopped Haisley at the Tacoma Metro Station. He was wearing the same clothing depicted in all of the Subway and Metro videos, and had two SmartTrip cards in his possession. One of those cards was the card that Haisley reloaded on January 24, 2019, after robbing the Subway. The other card was used to exit Metro at the Van Ness Station about 10 minutes before the January 20, 2019 robbery.

           After he was stopped on January 26, 2019, two people who knew the defendant, called MPD to identify him as the person depicted in the video that MPD released.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Romano, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

 

WASHINGTON – Patricia Driscoll, the former executive director of the Armed Forces Foundation, was sentenced yesterday to 12 months and a day in prison for her role in a scheme in which she stole from a non-profit charity, defrauded donors, and lied to the Internal Revenue Service and the public about her salary and benefits.

           U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Timothy Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington D.C. Field Office made the announcement today.

           Driscoll, 41, of Ellicott City, Maryland, was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion, all federal offenses, and one count of first-degree fraud, a District of Columbia offense, in November 2018. The verdict followed a trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In addition to the period of incarceration, the Honorable Richard J. Leon ordered Driscoll to serve 36 months supervised release, a period of home confinement, 360 hours of community service, and to pay $154,289 in restitution and $81,779 in a money judgment forfeiture.

           According to the government’s evidence, until July 2015, Driscoll was the executive director of the Armed Forces Foundation, a tax-exempt non-profit charity based in Washington, D.C.  The foundation’s stated mission was to protect and promote the physical, mental, and emotional wellness of military service members, veterans, and their families.

           “The mission of the Armed Forces Foundation was to protect and promote the physical, mental, and emotional wellness of military service members, veterans, and their families,” said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu. “Patricia Driscoll lied and decided to use the foundation for her own personal gain and schemes such as these undermine the work of non-profit organizations.”

           While Driscoll was the executive director, in its promotions and requests for money, the Armed Forces Foundation claimed that 95% of all donations went directly to military members and their families through the charity’s programs. As a “highly compensated individual,” Driscoll’s salary and benefits were required to be disclosed on annual reports (called “Form 990”) to be filed each year with the IRS. These publicly available documents are often used by charity watch groups and donors to judge worthiness of the charity and by the IRS to determine whether the organization was operating with IRS law and regulations.

           According to the evidence, Driscoll caused false reports to be filed on the Form 990s in a number of ways. For example, she failed to include the fact that she received commissions from fundraising, the amounts of commissions that she received from fundraising, and the other benefits that she received. Driscoll also falsely categorized and caused others to falsely categorize expenses in the Armed Forces Foundation’s books and records as being for the benefit of the veterans, troops, and their families, when, in fact, they were for her own private benefit. Driscoll also concealed from the foundation’s accountants the money she took from the charity, such as rent that was paid for the use of office space in a building that she co-owned.

           Additionally, Driscoll falsely reported and caused others to falsely report the amount of donations received by the foundation on Forms 990, by inflating the amounts of donations and incorrectly listing the types of donations. According to the evidence, she sent false and fraudulent Forms 990 to members of the foundation’s Board of Directors and to the IRS, and caused to be published Forms 990, containing false and fraudulent information.

           The jury found that Driscoll took the foundation’s money for her own personal use and to pay her for-profit business expenses.  The tax evasion charges are for tax years 2012 and 2013.

           In announcing the verdicts, U.S. Attorney Liu, Special Agent in Charge Dunham, and Special Agent in Charge Jackson commended the work performed by Special Agents from the FBI and Revenue Agents from the IRS. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant; Victim/Witness Services Coordinators Tonya Jones and Katina Adams-Washington; Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Tasha Harris; Paralegal Specialists Diane Brashears and Amanda Rohde; Forensic Accountant Bryan Snitselaar; Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Lucas; former Paralegal Specialists Christopher Toms, Corinne Kleinman, and Kaitlyn Kruger; Litigation Technology Supervisor Leif Hickling; former Litigation Technology Supervisor Josh Ellen, and David Goodhand, Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney, who provided midtrial legal research and writing.

           Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Virginia Cheatham, Kathryn Rakoczy, and Derrick Williams, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Bilal Ahmed, 47, of Potomac, Maryland, pled guilty on September 6, 2019, to a federal charge of health care fraud stemming from a scheme in which he and others caused the District of Columbia’s Medicaid program to be defrauded out of more than $5 million.

           The announcement was made today by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Timothy Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, Maureen R. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, for the region that includes Washington, D.C., and Daniel W. Lucas, District of Columbia Inspector General.

           Ahmed was indicted in January 2019, along with his former office manager, on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of health care fraud, and five counts of wire fraud.  Ahmed pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to Count II of the Indictment and the remaining charges will be dismissed at sentencing.  The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and potential financial penalties.  Under federal sentencing guidelines, Ahmed faces a likely range of 57 to 71 months in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.  The plea agreement calls for Ahmed to pay $5,421,227 in restitution and $3,978,879.93 in a forfeiture money judgment.  While the government has agreed to join in Ahmed’s request for a sentence that runs concurrently with the 16-year sentence that he currently is serving for sexually assaulting patients, that request is not binding on the Court.  The Honorable Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for January 17, 2020.

           According to the statement of offense submitted to the Court, Ahmed was a practicing dentist who owned and operated Universal Smiles, a dental practice, in Northwest, Washington, D.C.  When Ahmed’s dental license was suspended by the D.C. Dentistry Board, and subsequently was surrendered by him, Ahmed opened and operated Dental Equipment and Services (“DES”).  DES was a Maryland company that employed dentists on contract to work at Universal Smiles’ former business location in the District of Columbia.  Through Universal Smiles and DES, Ahmed and his office manager, engaged in a scheme to enrich themselves by defrauding D.C. Medicaid, a health care benefits program jointly funded by the federal government and the District of Columbia to provide health care services to residents who meet the income qualifying requirements.  As part of the scheme, Ahmed with the assistance of the office manager, applied to be a Medicaid provider.   Once approved to bill Medicaid, Ahmed and the office manager sought to increase the dental practice’s profits by recruiting Medicaid recipients as patients.  Ahmed and the office manager then billed D.C. Medicaid for thousands of provisional crowns that were not provided to the Medicaid patients and shared the fraud proceeds.  From August 9, 2012, through February 26, 2014, D.C. Medicaid paid Universal Smiles approximately $12.4 million; and it paid DES approximately $1.2 million from November 17, 2014, though February 1, 2016.  Of the more than $13 million that D.C. Medicaid paid to Universal Smiles and DES, approximately $5.4 million was for provisional crowns.   Of the $5.4 million that D.C. Medicaid paid for provisional crowns, Ahmed obtained approximately $4 million from the fraudulent scheme and the office manager obtained approximately $1.4 million.

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu, Special Agent in Charge Dunham, and Special Agent in Charge Dixon commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the District of Columbia’s Office of the Inspector General. They also expressed appreciation for the work of Paralegal Specialists Aisha Keys and Brittany Phillips, Forensic Financial Analyst Bryan Snitselaar, and the DC OIG MFCU investigations team. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise A. Simmonds, and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Bradford and Lionel Andre, who prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – A 39-year-old man, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 20 years in prison following a jury trial for sexually abusing his 13-year-old stepdaughter, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.

           The man, who is not identified here to protect the privacy of the victim, was found guilty on May 21, 2019, following a jury trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a lifetime term of supervised release by the Honorable Ronna Beck. The defendant was sentenced on four counts related to the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter including first-degree sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances. Following his prison term, the man will be required to register for life as a sex offender.

           According to the government’s evidence, one night in the early summer months of 2017, the victim was on a futon with her stepfather’s nephew in her family home. The defendant, angry to find the victim with his nephew, pulled his nephew into the bathroom and scolded him. The defendant then walked toward the victim where she lay hiding under the covers on the futon. The defendant forcefully pinned the victim down while he groped her breasts and penetrated her vagina with his finger. The victim disclosed the sexual abuse to family members several months later.

           In sentencing the defendant, the court made remarks on the familial relationship between the defendant and his young stepdaughter and credited the evidence presented during trial and the sentencing hearing that the defendant had sexually abused the victim in the past.

           In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth and Family Services Division. She also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Children’s Advocacy Center. She acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Tiffany Fogle; and Victim/Witness Advocate Juanita Harris.

           Finally, she commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa S. West, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Bradley Lane, 30, a former background investigator for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), was sentenced today to 36 months of probation, including 6 months of GPS Electronic Monitor on one false statements charge in connection with his falsification of work on background investigations of federal employees and contractors.

           U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Thomas W. South, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Office of Personnel Management made the announcement today.

           Lane, of Virginia, pled guilty on May 15, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of making false statements. He was sentenced by the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan. As part of his sentence, he is required to pay $212,407.03 in restitution to OPM.

           According to court papers, Lane was an investigator tasked with conducting background investigations on behalf of OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB). NBIB conducts background investigations to determine suitability for federal positions of public trust, including positions having access to classified information and impacting national security. NBIB also conducts investigations for federal employees and contractors seeking security clearances.

           Lane admitted that, in conducting these investigations between November 23, 2015 and October 24, 2016, he falsely claimed to have interviewed a source or reviewed a record regarding the subject of the background investigation in at least 94 instances on 57 different background investigations.

           Lane acknowledged at his guilty plea hearing that his false representations required OPM’s NBIB to reopen and rework background investigations that were assigned to him during the time period in which he falsified reports. The government estimated the cost of the recovery effort at more than $212,000 to the U.S. government.

           NBIB, through its workforce of approximately 5,400 field investigators, is responsible for conducting background investigations for numerous federal agencies and their contractors, on individuals either employed by or seeking employment with those agencies or contractors.  NBIB conducted more than 2.6 million investigations during the 2018 fiscal year.  More than  787,557 of these investigations involved applicants for access or continued access to classified information. 

           NBIB has a robust integrity assurance program, which utilizes a variety of methods to ensure the accuracy of reported information. The falsification of investigative case work by Lane was detected through the program.  This is one of numerous cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia since 2008 involving false representations by background investigators and record checkers working on federal background investigations.  Approximately 25 other background investigators and record checkers have been convicted of charges similar to those brought against Lane.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations South praised the efforts of those who worked on the case from OPM’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), as well as the Special Investigations Branch, and Executive Program Director of Integrity Assurance of OPM-NBIB. They also acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney David Misler of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, who investigated and prosecuted this matter, and former OPM OIG Special Agent Samuel Peyton, who previously worked on the investigation of the matter.

 

WASHINGTON – Michael Wells, 48, of Southeast, D.C., was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for a federal firearms charge stemming from his possession of a loaded firearm on March 23, 2018, in the 600 block of Raleigh Place, Southeast, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Wells pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year and one count of possession of phencyclidine (PCP) on May 23, 2019. The Honorable Richard J. Leon sentenced Wells today and required an additional 36 months of supervised release after Wells’ incarceration.

           According to the government’s evidence, on March 23, 2018, at approximately 5:00 p.m., MPD was conducting drug enforcement operations in the 600 block of Raleigh Place, Southeast. Officers observed Wells purchase PCP from another individual. Wells, along with others, were stopped by police. In Wells’ left jacket pocket, law enforcement recovered a wet PCP cigarette, and inside of Wells’ backpack, they located a RG14 six-cylinder loaded revolver as well as 23 .22 caliber bullets.

           At the time of his arrest, Wells had previously been convicted of a number of felonies, including the same charge—Unlawful Possession of a Firearm—out of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2000. Wells had also previously been convicted of several narcotics trafficking offenses out of D.C. Superior Court.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham, commended the work of the MPD officers who investigated the case. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Rosen.

WASHINGTON – Three former security guards for Blackwater USA were sentenced September 5, 2019, for their roles in the Sept. 16, 2007, shooting at Nisur Square in Baghdad, Iraq, that resulted in the killing of 14 unarmed civilians and the wounding of numerous others. 

           The sentencing, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced today by U.S. Attorney Liu and Timothy R. Slater, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

           Paul Alvin Slough, 39, of Keller, Texas, was sentenced to 180 months; Evan Shawn Liberty, 36, of Rochester, N.H., was sentenced to 168 months; and Dustin Laurent Heard, 37, of Maryville, Tenn., was sentenced to 151 months. All were found guilty by a jury on Oct. 22, 2014, following a 2 ½-month trial.  On August 4, 2017, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia remanded the case to the district court for re-sentencing.  The defendants were sentenced by the Honorable Senior Judge Royce C. Lamberth.   

           The jury found Slough guilty of 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 17 counts of attempted manslaughter, and one firearms offense. Liberty was found guilty of eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, 12 counts of attempted manslaughter, and one firearms offense. Heard was found guilty of six counts of voluntary manslaughter, 11 counts of attempted manslaughter, and one firearms offense.

           At the sentencing hearing, Judge Lamberth explained, “We have 13 Iraqi citizens who were all innocent victims who were killed and 17 more who were injured.  The defendants' orders were for self-defense, and they were firing wildly into cars.  [Some of the victims were] turning around in the other direction. There was just wild shooting that could never be condoned by any court.”  Judge Lamberth said that the sentences reflect “what kind of country is the United States. We hold our Armed Forces and our contractors accountable for their actions.”  And he noted that “the government found and exposed and delivered to the world a trial where the truth of what happened in Nisur Square came out and was there for the world and the public to see, and I think the government of the United States deserves great credit for how the truth came out in this case and in this trial.”  Judge Lamberth emphasized that he “squarely reject[s] any notion … that there is any question as to the factual guilt of each of the three defendants . . .”

           The case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Northern Virginia Violent Crime Squad, which has extraterritorial investigative responsibilities, and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

WASHINGTON – Antoine Little, 26, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison for the 2018 murder of Southeast resident Curtis Barnum, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Little pled guilty in April, 2019, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to second-degree murder while armed. He was sentenced by the Honorable Danya Dayson on September 6, 2019, to 17 years in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. 

            According to the government’s evidence, on October 9, 2018, the defendant, Antoine Little, approached the Valero gas station at 3710 Minnesota Avenue, Northeast, where he encountered the decedent, Curtis Barnum, who had stopped to put gas in his white pickup truck.  After shouting at the decedent, the defendant walked over to the decedent’s pickup truck and entered it through the passenger side door. Within moments, the defendant stabbed the decedent in the chest with a knife.  The defendant then opened the driver’s side door and pushed the decedent out of the truck. While the decedent lay on the ground, the defendant rifled through the decedent’s pockets and robbed the decedent of some of his belongings.  The defendant then kicked the decedent’s feet out of the truck, closed the driver’s side door, and fled the scene.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Meridith McGarrity; Victim Advocates Karina Hernandez and Jennifer Allen; and Supervisory IT Specialist Leif Hickling. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Gilead Light, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Donte Watson, 33, of Washington, DC, pleaded guilty on Friday in a case where he was charged with 38 counts of armed burglary, armed robbery, armed kidnapping, and other violent crimes that he committed in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Watson pleaded guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on August 30, 2019 to burglary while armed and kidnapping while armed. As part of the plea agreement he will serve between 15 and 27 years in prison. He will be sentenced on November 12, 2019, by the Honorable Robert Salerno. 

           According to the government’s evidence, over 11 days in November and December 2018, Watson committed 10 different home invasions and attempted home invasions in the Trinidad neighborhood of Washington D.C. All of the incidents occurred during nighttime hours when people were at home. In the instances where he successfully entered homes, he mostly confronted and robbed the occupants, usually with a weapon.  In one case, he kidnapped two victims, taking them from their bedroom at knifepoint to go to ATM machines. Watson was on parole for a prior burglary conviction, where he likewise broke into an occupied Trinidad residence at night and robbed the victims, as well as two other convictions for attempted robbery. 

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of the officers and detectives who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Palmer-Ball, who prosecuted the case.

 

WASHINGTON – Gerard D. James, 46, of Baltimore, MD, pled guilty today to two counts of negligent homicide stemming from a traffic collision last December where he struck and killed two pedestrians, including the Mayor of Skagway, Alaska, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).  

           James pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia this morning. The plea calls for a sentence of up to two years in prison for causing each of the two deaths, for a total of up to four years. He will be sentenced on November 15, 2019, by the Honorable Danya Dayson. 

           The fatal traffic collision occurred on Thursday, December 19, 2018, at approximately 9:40 p.m.  The victims, Skagway, Alaska mayor Monica Carlson, 61, and her 85-year-old mother, Cora Adams, had come to Washington to tour the White House Christmas decorations.  Video from a DC Department of Transportation camera showed Mayor Carlson and Ms. Adams waiting to cross Pennsylvania Avenue NW at the corner of 7th Street near the National Archives.  As the pedestrian signal changed, allowing the victims to cross, they walked north across Pennsylvania Avenue in the marked crosswalk. As the two were crossing, an Eyre Bus Company tour bus being driven north on 7th Street by the defendant, turned left onto Pennsylvania Avenue. The bus struck both pedestrians as they crossed. Both Mayor Carlson and Ms. Adams were taken to area hospitals where they died from their injuries. 

           The Eyre tour bus that the defendant was driving was equipped with cameras that captured video from two angles of the bus, a forward facing camera on the bus’s windshield and another mounted over the operator’s compartment. The forward position camera showed that as the bus traveled north towards the Pennsylvania Avenue intersection, southbound 7th Street traffic traveled through the intersection, indicating that when James executed the left turn onto Pennsylvania Avenue, the signal controlling his progress showed a left red arrow. The other camera, mounted over the operator’s compartment, showed that as James was turning left from 7th Street onto Pennsylvania Avenue, his cell phone rang and lit up. Simultaneously as James was turning left, he picked up the ringing cell phone with his left hand and transferred it to his right hand. As the video showed this, the impact of the striking of the two pedestrians could be heard on the video. 

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of the officers and detectives who investigated the case from the Major Crash Investigations Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin, Paralegal Specialist Stephanie Siegerist and Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark. 

           Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward A. O’Connell, who prosecuted the case.

 

WASHINGTON – A 49-year-old man, formerly of Washington, D.C., was sentenced on Friday to 86 months in prison on multiple charges for sexually abusing his niece when she was 11 and 12 years old, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced today.

           The defendant, who is not identified here to protect the privacy of the victim, recently resided in Northwest Washington with his wife and children. He was found guilty by a jury on April 3, 2019, of four counts of second-degree child sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, misdemeanor sexual abuse of a child with aggravating circumstances, and assault. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Honorable Craig Iscoe sentenced him to 86 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release with sex offender registration for 10 years.

            According to the government’s evidence at trial, the victim lived in Florida with her mother during the year, but visited her father and his family in the District of Columbia every summer. When she visited the District of Columbia, she spent part of her time with the defendant and his family.

           In the summer of 2016, when the victim was 11 years old, the defendant began sexually abusing her during these visits. The nature of his abuse escalated over time. The defendant pressured the victim not to tell, and she was afraid to disclose the abuse for fear of not being believed and of causing stress within the family.

           Following the defendant’s final act of abuse in June 2017, the victim could not keep the abuse a secret anymore, and she disclosed the abuse to her aunt, the defendant’s wife. The victim later disclosed to her father, as well, and the abuse was then reported to the Metropolitan Police Department. The defendant was arrested in July 2017.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu praised the work of members of the Youth and Family Services Division of the Metropolitan Police Department. She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenechukwu Okocha, who investigated and indicted the case; Appellate Division Deputy Chief John Mannarino; Victim/Witness Assistance Unit Chief Sarah McClellan; Paralegal Specialists Brenda C. Williams and D’Yvonne Key; Victim/Witness Advocate Lezlie Richardson; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator La June Thames; and Litigation Technology Specialist Jeanie Latimore-Brown.

           Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Loeb, who prosecuted the case at trial.

WASHINGTON – John Woods, a consultant and independent contractor for a company that did business with the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources, pled guilty to charges that he paid more than $140,000 in bribes to a former D.C. government employee and that he stole payments on city contracts that should have gone to his employer.

           John Woods, 57, of Sterling, Va., pleaded guilty on August 23 to one count of wire fraud in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. As part of his guilty plea, Woods agreed to pay restitution to the victim in the amount of $564,910.23. The Honorable Dabney L. Friedrich scheduled sentencing for December 16, 2019.

           The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Timothy M. Dunham, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, and District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.

            According to the statement of offense submitted at the plea hearing, Woods worked as a consultant for a firm identified in the court documents as “Company A.”  The firm had agreements with the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources (DCHR) to provide organizational skills training courses and human resources consulting to various D.C. government agencies. Woods was Company A’s main point of contact with DCHR and handled the submission of invoices.

           According to the statement of offense, beginning in April 2013, and continuing through August 2017, Woods schemed to defraud “Company A” and the D.C. government.

            As noted in the statement of offense, between April 2013 and February 2015, Woods stole $214,910 in D.C. government checks that were issued to “Company A.” Beginning in March 2015, Woods began usurping “Company A’s” role under the contracts by purposefully failing to submit Company A’s invoice to DCHR for payment.  This led Company A to believe the D.C. government was negligent in paying its invoices, and Company A stopped seeking to perform work under its agreements with DCHR.  Woods then secretly performed the agreements without Company A’s knowledge by hiring and retaining contractors to provide the necessary work to DCHR and by submitting fraudulent invoices to DCHR, purportedly on behalf of Company A, for payment under the agreements.  DCHR would then issue payments in the form of D.C. government checks made payable to Company A, which Woods deposited into a bank account he controlled.  In all, according to the statement of offense, Woods fraudulently deposited approximately 27 checks issued by the D.C. government to “Company A”, totaling approximately $1,040,023, from March 2015 through August 2017.

            According to the statement of offense, in order to keep his scheme in place, Woods paid more than $140,000 in bribes to Latasha Moore, then a DCHR employee. As a resource allocation analyst for DCHR, Moore was the main point of contact for “Company A” and in a position to ensure that no complaints or suspicions about the contracts reached others in the government. For example, Moore failed to report problems that arose while Woods was managing the work, including complaints of contractors arriving late, leaving early or failing to show up at all for training.

            Moore, 38, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty on Oct. 11, 2018, to a federal bribery charge. She is awaiting sentencing.

            This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and Office of the Inspector General of the District of Columbia.

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Marando, who prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Ronda M. Young, 50, a former Management & Program Analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs & Border Protection (CBP), pleaded guilty on August 12, 2019, before the Honorable Ellen S. Huvelle, to one count of making a false statement, and one count of second degree felony fraud. 

           U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu made the announcement on August 12, 2019.

           According to court papers, from April 2010, through November 2017, Young obtained and used credit from J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Barclays Bank and FedChoice Federal Credit Union, for, among other things, personal domestic and international travel, furniture, and to register for the CBP Trusted Traveler/Global Entry Program. Young then used the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach to submit a false complaint and affidavit claiming that she was the victim of identity theft and that she neither applied for, obtained, nor used, the credit for her personal benefit, which in turn caused the financial institutions to charge-off approximately $34,664 in legitimate debts. Young admitted to engaging in the scheme to defraud the financial institutions to improve her credit history in anticipation of an upcoming background investigation.

           When CBP conducted Young’s five-year background investigation in March 2018, she made false statements to the agents conducting the interviews on two occasions. First, Young falsely claimed that she paid the debts in full and would provide documentation reflecting the payments. At a subsequent interview, Young claimed that she misspoke and said that she was the victim of identity theft from the OPM breach, the debts were not hers, and that she had disputed the debts, which should have been removed from her credit report.  Young made the false statements to the agents knowing that she had lawfully incurred the debts and that the claims of identity theft were false.  She also knew that her financial background and credit history were material to her background investigation.

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those agents who investigated the case from U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Professional Responsibility. She also acknowledge the work of Assistant United States Attorney Denise A. Simmonds of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, who investigated and prosecuted this matter, as well as Paralegal Specialist Brittany Phillips, who worked on the investigation.

WASHINGTON – Maxim R. Smith, 25, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for assault with a dangerous weapon, and for beating a man approximately 12 months ago in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced today.

           Smith was found guilty on June 19, 2019, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Smith was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with significant injury while armed. He was sentenced by the Honorable Judge Kimberley S. Knowles.

           “Today’s sentence holds Maxim Smith accountable for brutally beating a man,” said U.S. Attorney Liu. “This prosecution vindicates the principle that everyone in our community deserves the protection of the law.”

           According to the government’s evidence, on August 6, 2018, the victim was driving in his vehicle through Georgetown after a friend’s gathering. As he drove toward Wisconsin Avenue NW on M Street NW, he encountered Smith stopped on his bicycle in the middle of the right turn lane. The victim honked his horn, and Smith yelled expletives at the victim and did not move. The victim then passed the defendant on the left side in his vehicle, and at that point heard a loud thump on the back of his car. Assuming the defendant had hit his car with an object, the victim turned right onto Wisconsin Avenue NW and pulled his car to the side of the road. The victim got out of his car to inspect for damage and to call the police. Smith also turned right onto Wisconsin Avenue NW and rode his bike to Prospect Street. As soon as Smith turned back and saw the victim on the phone, he shouted to the victim, “Are you really calling the police?” and directed a racial slur at him. The victim is a black male from Cameroon, and the defendant is a white male. Smith then rode aggressively back toward the victim and got into a physical altercation with him. Smith then struck the victim on the head with a metal u-lock while yelling racial slurs at him. The victim required 21 stiches to his head as a result of the assault.

           This was a brutal attack accompanied by explicit racial slurs. The Office charged the hate-bias enhancement, the jury hung on that charge, and the Honorable Judge Knowles was asked to consider the hate motivation at sentencing.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also acknowledged the work of those who handled the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jack Korba and Alyse Constantinide.

WASHINGTON – Garland Goddard, 35, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 19 years in prison for shooting a man in October 2017 near the busy intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Clay Place, in NE, Washington, D.C.

           The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Goddard was found guilty by a jury of assault with intent to kill while armed and related assault and firearms charges following a May 2019 trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Juliet McKenna. 

           According to the government's evidence, on October 21, 2017, just before 9:00 p.m., Goddard walked over to the unarmed victim while he was sitting and talking with another person in the 3800 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE. Goddard pulled out a 9-millimeter semi-automatic handgun and fired seven shots at the victim, who got up and ran for his life. The victim was hit twice, but managed to get away until collapsing on the street in the next block. He was taken to Prince Georges County Hospital, where he underwent surgery and remained hospitalized for weeks. 

           Shortly after the shooting, MPD arrived at the scene. The victim was unable to identify the shooter, but investigators recovered video surveillance footage from several local establishments that captured the shooting. Footage showed the shooter entering and exiting a black SUV shortly before and after the shooting. Investigators later identified the driver of the black SUV, and a search of the driver's apartment uncovered a 9-millimeter handgun that matched shell casings found at the scene of the shooting. 

           Goddard was arrested on a separate charge in November 2017, and has been in custody since that time.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences.  They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney's Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sitara Witanachchi and Ahmed Baset, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond Hulser; Paralegal Specialists Antoinette Sakamsa and Debra Joyner; and Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling.

 

WASHINGTON – Jamal Blocker, 18, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Friday August 23, 2019 for a shooting that killed a man as he stepped out his doorstep to walk to the store, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.

           Blocker pled guilty in April 2019, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to a charge of second degree murder while armed. He was sentenced by the Honorable Ronna  Beck. Following his prison term, he will be placed on five years of supervised release.

           According to the government’s evidence, around 4 p.m., on Monday September 24, 2018, the victim, a 24-year-old- man, who had just finished basic training in the U.S. Army, was walking to the store with a 17-year-old relative. Just steps outside of their doorstep, Blocker shot four times at the young men – striking the victim in the chest.  The victim succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead a short while later.

           Blocker was arrested on October 2, 2018, after being caught with an illegal firearm in Maryland. 

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of the detectives, officers, and mobile crime technicians who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Lornce Applewhite and Victim Witness Specialist Jennifer Clark.

           Finally, she commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Jackson, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Quincy Green a/k/a Wayne Wright, 37, of Washington, D.C. pled guilty today to a charge stemming from an incident in May 2016 in which he shot another man multiple times, causing the victim’s death. Green also pled guilty to another charge, in which he solicited the murder of the girlfriend of a potential witness for the trial of the May 2016 murder, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

           Green pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to one count of second-degree murder while armed and one count of solicitation of murder. The plea, which is contingent upon the Court’s approval, calls for a prison sentence of 17 years. The Honorable Craig Iscoe scheduled sentencing for November 1, 2019.

           According to the government’s evidence, during the early evening hours of May 19, 2016, in the 800 block of Southern Avenue, S.E., the defendant followed behind the decedent, Dana Hamilton, as he walked down the street.  As he approached Mr. Hamilton, the defendant retrieved a firearm from his person and shot the decedent multiple times. The defendant then fled the area. 

           Members of the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene, and Mr. Hamilton was taken to a local hospital, where he subsequently succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead a short while later.

           Following jury selection in the trial related to Green’s murder of Mr. Hamilton, on November 17, 2018, the Government disclosed the identity and plea and cooperation agreement of a witness expected to testify against the defendant.  Upon learning this information. Green wrote a letter to another individual in which he solicited the murder of the cooperating witness’s girlfriend.   

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of the detectives, officers, and mobile crime technicians who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team. She acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Sharon Newman; Paralegal Specialists Kelly Blakeney and Lashone Samuels; Victim Witness Specialist Jennifer Clark; M. Laverne Perry, Lesley Slade, Tanya Via and all of the Victim/Witness Assistance Unit; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin; and Litigation Technology Specialists Leif Hickling, and William Henderson.

           Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles J. Willoughby, Jr. and Kevin Flynn, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.

 

WASHINGTON – Astriane Horton, 37, pled guilty today before the Honorable Danya Dayson in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia to second-degree murder while armed and two counts of obstructing justice, in the killing of his best friend, Deon Coleman, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           According to the government’s evidence, Horton kept a gun behind his grandmother’s house, on Halley Terrace, SE, the location of which was known only to Horton, Coleman, and a mutual friend.  When the gun went missing on June 19, 2008, Horton became upset and believed that Coleman had stolen the gun, and in so doing, had disrespected him. At that point, Horton began searching for Deon Coleman, eventually tracking him to Brandywine Street, SW, where Coleman lived.

           Shortly before 10pm that night, Astriane Horton arrived at the Coleman’s home and confronted him in the street about the missing gun. After initially appearing to part on good terms, the two men had a brief exchange of words, during which, Horton accused Coleman of taking the gun, and Coleman denied taking it. Horton then reached through the driver’s side window of the car in which Coleman sat, threw punches, then pulled out a gun and fired four close range shots, striking Coleman in the face, neck, back and forearm, injuries from which Deon Coleman would not survive. 

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department, and also expressed appreciation for the assistance of law enforcement in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. 

           They further expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Chrisellen Kolb, Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division; Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Sharon Newman, Paralegal Specialists Alesha Matthews Yette, Meridith McGarrity, and Kelly Blakeney; Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator LaJune Thames; Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington; Supervisory Budget Analyst Nikiya Burnette, Budget Officer Natalie Hope; Litigation Technology Specialists Paul Howell, and William Henderson; Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling, and  Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin.

           Finally, they praised the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Vinét Bryant, who investigated and indicted the case and secured the guilty plea. 

WASHINGTON – A Tennessee man was arrested today for allegedly posting threats online to “shoot up” a Planned Parenthood facility in Washington D.C. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee, and Timothy Slater, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

           Jacob Cooper, 20, of Clarksville, Tennessee, was charged with unlawfully, knowingly, and intentionally transmitted in interstate or foreign commerce a communication containing a threat to injure another located in D.C. and elsewhere. Cooper made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alistair E. Newbern in the United States District Court, Middle District of Tennessee. A preliminary and detention hearing is set for August 26, 2019. 

           According to the criminal complaint, Cooper went by the username “Jacco” on iFunny, a website where people can share photos, videos, and discussion topics. On August 13, 2019, in response to a post made by another user, Cooper allegedly left a comment stating, “Make sure you tell them about how I plan to shoot up a planned parenthood facility in Washington D.C., on August 19th at 3pm.” Cooper allegedly left a separate post on August 13, 2019 stating, “If you are a member of the FBI, CIA, whatever, and are on my profile I will trace your IP address and kill you if the opportunity arises. And I am dead serious about this. I’ll do it with ricin, a bomb, or .308. Whatever it takes, then end result will be the same. I am serious about this. If I am personally contacted by any federal agents, I will do this. I will kill you. Again, I am serious. Sic semper tyrannis.”

           Cooper faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted.

           The charges contained in the complaint are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

           The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Rosenberg is prosecuting the case with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron Jones from the Middle District of Tennessee.

WASHINGTON – Luke Hillier, the majority owner and former Chief Executive Officer of Virginia-based defense contractor ADS, Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $20 million to settle allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by fraudulently obtaining federal set-aside contracts reserved for small businesses that his company was ineligible to receive, the Department of Justice announced today. 

           “Small businesses serve a vital role in our communities and in the American economy,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “We will not hesitate to take action against those who fraudulently obtain contracts intended for small businesses.”

           “This action reflects the government’s steadfast commitment to hold individuals accountable who knowingly participate in schemes that take advantage of small businesses and set-aside contracts to which they are not entitled under the law,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu.  “The government expects people to be truthful in their dealings with the government, and the United States will investigate and pursue those that fail to live up to that expectation.”

           In order to qualify as a small business, companies must satisfy defined eligibility criteria, including requirements concerning size, ownership, and operational control.  The government alleged that Hillier caused ADS to falsely represent that it qualified as a small business concern when it failed to do so, including due to its alleged affiliations with a number of other entities.  The United States alleged that, as a result of Hillier’s representations, his company was awarded numerous small business set-aside contracts for which it was ineligible.      

           The government previously resolved related claims against ADS for $16 million, and Charles Salle, the former general counsel of ADS, has agreed to pay $225,000 to resolve claims arising from his role in the alleged scheme.  The government has also obtained recoveries from other related entities that were involved in the alleged fraudulent scheme.  The combined settlements, totaling more than $36 million, rank as the largest False Claims Act recovery based on allegations of small business contracting fraud. 

           “The settlements in this matter demonstrate the excellent results stemming from the joint efforts of federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration, working with the Department of Justice in responding to allegations of fraud perpetrated by participants in SBA’s procurement programs,” said SBA General Counsel Christopher M. Pilkerton.

           "When individuals knowingly make misrepresentations to gain access to federal contracts set aside for small businesses, they will be held accountable,” said Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware.  “These settlements send a strong message that allegations of wrongdoing will find their way into the open and will be investigated.  I want to thank the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners for their support and dedication in this case.”

           “GSA contractors must be honest and forthcoming when doing business with the federal government,” said GSA Inspector General Carol Fortine Ochoa.  “GSA OIG and its partners will aggressively pursue those who fraudulently obtain government contracts intended for truly small businesses.”

           The settlement announced today resolves a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the government’s recovery.  The lawsuit was filed by Ameliorate Partners LLP in federal district court in the District of Columbia and is captioned United States ex rel. Ameliorate Partners, LLP v. ADS Tactical, Inc. et al., Case No. 13-cv-1880 (D.D.C.).  Ameliorate Partners will receive $3.6 million from the settlement with Hillier.

           This matter was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Columbia and for the Eastern District of Virginia, with assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General and the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General. 

           The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Luke Hillier, the majority owner and former Chief Executive Officer of Virginia-based defense contractor ADS, Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $20 million to settle allegations that he violated the False Claims Act by fraudulently obtaining federal set-aside contracts reserved for small businesses that his company was ineligible to receive, the Department of Justice announced today. 

“Small businesses serve a vital role in our communities and in the American economy,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “We will not hesitate to take action against those who fraudulently obtain contracts intended for small businesses.”

“This action reflects the government’s steadfast commitment to hold individuals accountable who knowingly participate in schemes that take advantage of small businesses and set-aside contracts to which they are not entitled under the law,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu.  “The government expects people to be truthful in their dealings with the government, and the United States will investigate and pursue those that fail to live up to that expectation.”

In order to qualify as a small business, companies must satisfy defined eligibility criteria, including requirements concerning size, ownership, and operational control.  The government alleged that Hillier caused ADS to falsely represent that it qualified as a small business concern when it failed to do so, including due to its alleged affiliations with a number of other entities.  The United States alleged that, as a result of Hillier’s representations, his company was awarded numerous small business set-aside contracts for which it was ineligible.       

The government previously resolved related claims against ADS for $16 million, and Charles Salle, the former general counsel of ADS, has agreed to pay $225,000 to resolve claims arising from his role in the alleged scheme.  The government has also obtained recoveries from other related entities that were involved in the alleged fraudulent scheme.  The combined settlements, totaling more than $36 million, rank as the largest False Claims Act recovery based on allegations of small business contracting fraud.  

“The settlements in this matter demonstrate the excellent results stemming from the joint efforts of federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration, working with the Department of Justice in responding to allegations of fraud perpetrated by participants in SBA’s procurement programs,” said SBA General Counsel Christopher M. Pilkerton.

“When individuals knowingly make misrepresentations to gain access to federal contracts set aside for small businesses, they will be held accountable,” said Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware.  “These settlements send a strong message that allegations of wrongdoing will find their way into the open and will be investigated.  I want to thank the Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners for their support and dedication in this case.”

“GSA contractors must be honest and forthcoming when doing business with the federal government,” said GSA Inspector General Carol Fortine Ochoa.  “GSA OIG and its partners will aggressively pursue those who fraudulently obtain government contracts intended for truly small businesses.”

The settlement announced today resolves a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the government’s recovery.  The lawsuit was filed by Ameliorate Partners LLP in federal district court in the District of Columbia and is captioned United States ex rel. Ameliorate Partners, LLP v. ADS Tactical, Inc. et al., Case No. 13-cv-1880 (D.D.C.).  Ameliorate Partners will receive $3.6 million from the settlement with Hillier.  

This matter was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Columbia and for the Eastern District of Virginia, with assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General and the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General. 

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

WASHINGTON – Jordan Lassiter, 21, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to six years in prison for robbing commuters on the Metro Transit system in two separate incidents in February and March 2019, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced today.

           Lassiter was sentenced by the Honorable J. Michael Ryan, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Once Lassiter is released from prison, he will be placed on supervised release for three years. Judge Ryan denied the defendant’s request to be sentenced under the District’s Youth Rehabilitation Act. Lassiter also received an additional 30-day sentence for committing a domestic violence assault.

           Lassiter pleaded guilty in May 2019 to one count of attempted robbery. He subsequently pleaded guilty on his sentencing date to one count of assault with intent to rob. According to the government’s evidence, on February 19, 2019, at approximately 10:37 pm, Lassiter and an accomplice boarded a Metro Bus heading northbound on Georgia Avenue, NW. Lassiter and his accomplice sat near the victim, a commuter returning home from work in downtown Washington, D.C., near the front of the bus. A few minutes later, the victim got off the bus at the intersection of Georgia Avenue, NW, and Webster Street, NW, and Lassiter and his accomplice followed. After following the victim on foot to the back of his residence, Lassiter and his accomplice ran up behind the victim, punched him in the right eye, and delivered at least four knee strikes to the victim’s head. The victim stumbled into the rear of his residence, but Lassiter and his accomplice pursued, continuing to punch and kick the victim as he fell to the ground. Lassiter and his accomplice stole the victim’s wallet, cell phone, ear buds, and jacket, then fled the scene.

           A month later, on March 16, 2019, at approximately 3:42 p.m., the second commuter victim was standing alone on the outdoor platform of the Fort Totten Metro station, at 550 Galloway Street, NW, waiting for a northbound Red Line Metro train. Lassiter and two accomplices approached and confronted the victim, with Lassiter standing so close to the victim that their bodies were nearly touching. Lassiter asked the victim if he was scared, and then demanded the victim’s cell phone. After obtaining the cell phone, Lassiter forced the victim to tell Lassiter the phone’s passcode. Lassiter then told the victim to get on the next train and not to call the police. Lassiter pointed at the next Red Line train arriving at the station, which was going in the opposite direction as the victim intended to travel, and ordered the victim to board. One of Lassiter’s accomplices held the train’s door open while Lassiter escorted the victim onto the train. Lassiter and his accomplices remained at Fort Totten while the train with the victim on it left the station.

           In announcing the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD).  She also acknowledged the efforts of those who investigated and prosecuted the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Hobel of the Major Crimes Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emma McArthur of the Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section, who prosecuted Lassiter’s domestic violence case.

WASHINGTON – A seizure warrant and forfeiture complaint were unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that Oil Tanker “Grace 1,” all petroleum aboard it and $995,000.00 are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), bank fraud statute, and money laundering statute, as well as separately the terrorism forfeiture statute.

           John Demers, Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Jessie K. Liu, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Steven W. Cagen, Special Agent in Charge, Denver, Colorado, Homeland Security Investigations; and Jill Sanborn,  Special Agent in Charge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement.

           The documents allege a scheme to unlawfully access the U.S. financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization.  The scheme involves multiple parties affiliated with the IRGC and furthered by the deceptive voyages of the Grace 1.  A network of front companies allegedly laundered millions of dollars in support of such shipments. 

           A seizure warrant and a forfeiture complaint are merely allegations. The burden to prove forfeitability in a civil forfeiture proceeding is upon the government.

           In announcing the forfeiture complaint and seizure warrant, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from HSI and FBI. They also expressed appreciation for the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in this case. Finally, they acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zia Faruqui and Brian Hudak and National Security Division Trial Attorney David Lim who are handling this matter, with assistance from Paralegal Elizabeth Swinec and Brian Rickers, and Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick from the U.S. Attorney’s Office from the District of Columbia.

A seizure warrant and forfeiture complaint were unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that Oil Tanker “Grace 1,” all petroleum aboard it and $995,000.00 are subject to forfeiture based on violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), bank fraud statute, and money laundering statute, as well as separately the terrorism forfeiture statute.

John Demers, Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, Jessie K. Liu, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Steven W. Cagen, Special Agent in Charge, Denver, Colorado, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Jill Sanborn, Special Agent in Charge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, FBI, made the announcement.

The documents allege a scheme to unlawfully access the U.S. financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization.  The scheme involves multiple parties affiliated with the IRGC and furthered by the deceptive voyages of the Grace 1.  A network of front companies allegedly laundered millions of dollars in support of such shipments. 

A seizure warrant is merely an allegation.  Every criminal defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty, and the burden to prove forfeitability in a civil forfeiture proceeding is upon the government.

In announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from HSI and FBI. They also expressed appreciation for the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in this case. Finally, they acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Faruqui and Hudak and National Security Division Trial Attorney David Lim who are handling this matter, with assistance from Paralegal Liz Swinec and Brian Rickers, and Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick.