Middle District of Florida

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. has sentenced Kimberly Carnell White, Jr. (28, Orlando) and James Romando Harris, II (28, Orlando) to 72 months and 84 months in prison, respectively, for possession of firearms by convicted felons. Both White and Harris pleaded guilty on August 24, 2016.

According to court documents, a federally licensed firearms dealer in Marion County was burglarized during the morning of May 5, 2016. Later that day, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) received information that White had several firearms to sell from a location he claimed to have “hit.” That same day, undercover agents from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) purchased five firearms from White and Harris. The serial numbers of those firearms matched those of the firearms that had been stolen from the licensed dealer. Both White and Harris have prior felony convictions and are therefore prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition under federal law.

On May 13, 2016, the OCSO, the ATF, and the Orlando Police Department executed federal search warrants at the Orlando residences where the undercover transactions had been conducted, and where other firearms had been seen. During the execution of those warrants, law enforcement recovered seven firearms from one residence and four firearms from the other residence. Of those 4 firearms, four had serial numbers matching those of the firearms reported stolen from the federally licensed dealer. In total, investigators seized 16 firearms, including 9 that had been reported stolen from the firearms dealer.

These arrests were the result of a multi-agency investigation focused on the recovery of the firearms. This case was investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Orlando Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Belleview Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sean P. Shecter.

This is another case prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Program – a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy. Unites States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III, along with Daryl R. McCrary, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza today sentenced Fredy Herney Nieto-Marin (37, Revere, Massachusetts) to 15 years and 8 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute heroin. Because Nieto-Marin (a Columbian citizen) is an illegal alien, he is subject to deportation after serving his prison term. Nieto-Marin pleaded guilty on January 19, 2016.  

According to court documents, Nieto-Marin met with a confidential source (CS) working for the Drug Enforcement Administration regarding potential drug deals. Nieto-Marin met with the CS on Nieto-Marin’s way back to Massachusetts, after dropping off $45,000 for a prior drug deal. During the meeting with the CS, Nieto-Marin told the CS about a large amount of heroin that was hidden inside Nieto-Marin’s car. A police canine subsequently located approximately 453 grams of heroin that had been concealed inside a hidden compartment in Nieto-Marin’s car. 

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Vincent S. Chiu.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the filing of a criminal complaint charging Francisco Obidio Portillo-Fuentes (26, El Salvador) with illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison. Portillo-Fuentes made his initial appearance in federal court today, in Jacksonville, and was ordered temporarily detained. A formal detention hearing is set for November 28, 2016, at 2:00 p.m.

According to the

criminal complaint , Portillo-Fuentes was a passenger in a pick-up truck parked at a Gate gas station in Yulee, Florida on November 22, 2016, when the truck was approached by a uniformed Border Patrol agent. The driver of the pick-up truck was engaged in a conversation with the Border Patrol agent when Portillo-Fuentes exited the truck and fled on foot. Two Nassau County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who were in the area for an unrelated call, gave chase. An extensive search for Portillo-Fuentes was conducted throughout the day on November 22, 2016, and Portillo-Fuentes was located and arrested by the U.S. Marshals and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputies that evening.

After being arrested, Portillo-Fuentes told Border Patrol agents that he had been born in El Salvador and had last entered the United States on or about November 19, 2016, by wading across the Rio Grande river near Laredo, Texas.  Computer database checks confirmed that Portillo-Fuentes had been previously deported from the United States on two separate occasions, in 2011 and 2016.

A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has violated one or more federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by U.S. Border Patrol, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Field Operations. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. today sentenced Joshua Adam Tatro (24, Merritt Island) to 350 years in federal prison for nine counts of producing child pornography, three counts of receiving child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography. The Court also ordered him to forfeit the electronic devices that he used during the commission of the offenses. 

Tatro was found guilty after a bench trial on July 6, 2016.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on nine separate occasions, between October 2014 and March 2015, Tatro produced images and videos depicting him sexually abusing a three-year-old child. He also used a messaging app on his phone to send and receive images depicting child pornography and uploaded images of child pornography onto an online account that he maintained. Law enforcement began investigating Tatro after they learned of his online activity from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

On March 17, 2015, agents from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Tatro’s residence, where he and the child victim were living. During the execution of the warrant, cell phones were recovered from Tatro’s pocket and his bedroom. A forensic examination of those phones led to the recovery of the explicit images and videos that Tatro had produced. During an interview with agents, Tatro admitted to producing the images and videos, and to sending them to others using the messenger app. 

In total, Tatro possessed 76 videos and 692 photographs of child pornography on his cell phones. A search of his online drive account revealed more than 1,000 stored images of child pornography. Several of the images in Tatro’s possession depicted children under the age of 12 being sexually abused and exploited.

“This predator will spend the rest of his life behind bars, where he can no longer harm children,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “The dedicated work of HSI special agents and our Brevard County Sheriff’s Office partners have made our communities a safer place.”

This case was investigated by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew C. Searle.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. 

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich has sentenced Cedric Clark to eight years and six months in federal prison for his role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme in the Tampa Bay area. As part of his sentence, the Court ordered him to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $1,933.862.37. Clark pleaded guilty on June 21, 2016.

According to court documents, between October 2010 and June 2013, Clark engaged in a fraud scheme involving the filing of false and fraudulent income tax returns in the names of living and deceased individuals. Clark and his co-conspirators received approximately $1.9 million in tax refund checks from the IRS. They had filed returns requesting refunds of almost $6 million.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay L. Hoffer.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury today found D. Anda Norbergs (61, Palm Harbor) guilty of 17 counts of receipt and delivery of misbranded drugs, 12 counts of smuggling goods into the United States, 11 counts of health care fraud, and 5 counts of mail fraud. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each mail fraud and smuggling offense, 10 years’ imprisonment for each health care fraud count, and 3 years for each count of receipt and delivery of misbranded drugs. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 16, 2017.

Norbergs was originally indicted on May 28, 2015. A second superseding indictment was returned on July 21, 2016.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Norbergs, a licensed physician in Florida, was the head doctor, owner, and operator of East Lake Oncology (“ELO”), a cancer treatment clinic located in Palm Harbor. Beginning in at least May 2009, she ordered, and directed others at ELO to order, drugs from foreign, unlicensed distributors, including Quality Specialty Products (“QSP”). The drugs sold to ELO by QSP and other foreign, unlicensed distributors were not FDA-approved. In fact, QSP had reportedly sold counterfeit versions of a chemotherapy medication that did not have the key ingredient in the drug. Norbergs learned of this news from other sources yet continued to have QSP drugs administered to patients. When QSP shut down, Norbergs switched to buying drugs from another foreign, unlicensed distributor. Many of the drugs were shipped directly to ELO from a location outside the United States, usually from the United Kingdom. The packaging and documents shipped with the drugs showed that they were manufactured and packaged for distribution in foreign countries, such as Turkey, India, and Germany. Additionally, some of the packaging for the drugs was in foreign languages, without any English translation.

Unbeknownst to patients, these misbranded drugs were then administered at ELO. After administering these drugs to patients, ELO submitted claims for reimbursement to Medicare. In submitting those claims, Norbergs falsely represented that the FDA-approved versions of the drugs had been administered, when she knew that unapproved and misbranded versions had been given to patients.  In so doing, Norbergs intended to generate profits from the difference between the Medicare reimbursement rates for the FDA-approved drugs and the discounted prices of the misbranded versions of those drugs purchased from foreign distributors.

This case was investigated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services –  Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam M. Saltzman and Jay Trezevant.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Justin Laurence McKinley (49, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to sending notices over the Internet soliciting the live molestation of children for online viewing.  He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years, up to 30 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervision.      

According to court documents, in 2015, the FBI began an investigation into a website engaging in the exploitation and enticement of children to participate in sexual activity. The FBI identified several individuals located in the United States that were associated with this website. Further investigation revealed that several individuals in a foreign country were engaged in the molestation of young children for the purpose of broadcasting live streaming “sex shows” to online viewers who had paid a fee. The individuals were arrested and McKinley was identified as one of the individuals who paid to view these live streaming “sex shows.” Between January 2014 and December 2015, McKinley sent a total of 100 electronic fund transfers, totaling $31,415, to the individuals who molested the children in the “sex shows.”

On May 27, 2016, law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at McKinley’s residence. During an interview, McKinley admitted that he had solicited others to molest children and live stream video of the conduct to him, and he further admitted that he had recorded many of the sessions. The victims depicted in the streaming videos ranged in age from a newborn to an 8-year-old child.  Forensic analyses of McKinley’s computer media revealed that a particular external hard drive contained at least 613 videos and 6,846 images depicting the sexual abuse of children.    

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and law enforcement authorities in several other countries. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Fort Myers, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Lemon Bay Drugs North, Inc. and Brooksville Drugs, Inc. have agreed to pay a total of $750,000 to the government to resolve allegations that the pharmacies violated the False Claims Act by causing claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for prescription drugs that were never dispensed. 

Lemon Bay Drugs is a pharmacy operating in North Port, Florida and Brooksville Drugs is a pharmacy operating in Brooksville, Florida. Both pharmacies are managed by Benzer Pharmacy Holding LLC and are owned by Alpesh Patel.

The settlement announced today resolves allegations that Lemon Bay Drugs and Brooksville Drugs provided Medicare and Medicaid patients generic versions of certain medications, but charged Medicare and Medicaid for the brand name versions of those medications. The settlement covers allegations that the pharmacies knowingly submitted false claims by billing the government programs for certain drugs they could not have dispensed because they did not have sufficient inventory of those drugs. 

The allegations against the pharmacies were originally brought in a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. The whistleblower, a former pharmacy technician who worked at Lemon Bay Drugs, will receive $142,500 as her share of the recovery. 

“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to protecting Medicare and other federal health care programs from fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Bentley.  “Those who violate the False Claims Act to generate profit will be held accountable.”

This investigation was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle S. Cohen with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the FBI, the Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the North Port Police Department, and the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $31.6 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $19.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.  

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

The lawsuit is captioned United States ex. rel. Vicmary Aguilar-Morales v. Lemon Bay Drugs North, Case No. 2:12-cv-536-FtM-29SPC.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury yesterday found Erick Estrada-Lopez (41, Jacksonville) and Michael Rounsville (48, Callahan) guilty of crimes arising out of a money laundering scheme.  Estrada-Lopez was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Rounsville, an officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, was convicted of accessing a law enforcement database without authorization for financial gain and in furtherance of the money laundering scheme. He faces a maximum penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment. The sentencing hearings have been scheduled for February 27, 2017.

According to evidence presented at trial, Estrada accepted $42,000 in cash from co-defendant Manuel Rodriguez (33, Middleburg), which was part of $200,000 that Rodriguez had agreed to launder for an undercover agent who was posing as a drug dealer. Estrada deposited the cash in his business bank account and obtained a $42,000 cashier’s check that Rodriguez deposited into his bank account the same day. The next day, Rodriguez wired the $42,000, along with an additional $25,000, into the undercover agent’s covert bank account to complete the laundering of the cash.

At the request of his co-conspirators, Rounsville ran the covert name of the undercover agent through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (“NCIC”) database and the Florida’s Driver and Vehicle Information Database (“DAVID”), both of which are accessible to law enforcement only. Rounsville then reported the results of those searches to the conspirators. Rodriguez testified at trial that, at the request of another co-defendant, he had delivered an envelope containing an unknown amount of cash to Rounsville while he was engaged in off-duty work at a road construction site in Jacksonville.

"This is an important victory for the American public,” said Kim Lappin, IRS Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Field Office.  “Rooting out public corruption remains one of IRS-CI’s highest priorities and this verdict underscores our commitment to work in a collaborative effort to promote honest and ethical government at all levels and to prosecute those who have violated the public’s trust.  IRS Criminal Investigation is proud to provide its financial expertise as we work alongside our law enforcement partners to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations and bring criminals to justice."         

Hedar Khlaf (34, Jacksonville), Mollie Bass (32, Jacksonville), Diane Harrison (58, Jacksonville), Christian Magliano (27, Miami), Bruce Childs (47, Jacksonville), and Rodriguez previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the money laundering scheme. Their sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Nevada Highway Patrol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday today sentenced Joe Manuel Gonzalez (66, Tampa) to 10 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for structuring financial transactions to avoid currency reporting requirements. The Court also ordered him to pay a $15,000 fine. Gonzalez pleaded guilty on August 24, 2016.

According to court documents, Gonzalez, an attorney with his own law practice in Tampa specializing in financial and tax matters, established a fictitious trust and bank account for a confidential source (CS) and undercover DEA agent. The CS and the undercover agent posed as brothers seeking to launder proceeds from their marijuana grow house operations. The “brothers” told Gonzalez that they made approximately $30,000-$50,000 per month from their marijuana operation and needed somewhere safe to put their money. Gonzalez advised the “brothers” how to set up and make deposits into bank accounts to avoid detection by law enforcement. Gonzalez established a bank account for the “brothers” in the name of a fictitious trust and made the initial deposits into the bank account with what Gonzalez understood to be proceeds from the marijuana business. On two occasions, Gonzalez structured the cash provided to him by the undercover agent, breaking up the bank deposit into separate transactions to avoid the currency reporting requirements.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Josephine W. Thomas.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell has sentenced Robert Gonzalez (41, Orlando) to 18 months in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with the intent to distribute anabolic steroids, and for violating his supervised release on a previous federal conviction. Gonzalez, who was found guilty by a federal jury on August 19, 2016, was the last of 17 defendants to be sentenced for his role in the operation of an Internet-based anabolic steroid trafficking ring that operated out of Central Florida.

According to court documents, the steroid drug trafficking conspiracy operated from 2012 to 2014. Its members were responsible for shipping illegal steroids throughout the United States and internationally. The members of the conspiracy played various roles in the operation of the Internet-based, steroid trafficking operation - some as organizers, others as manufacturers and shippers, some who sent money to China for the purchase of raw steroids, and some who picked up the proceeds of the steroid sales.  The group sold all types of illegal steroids, including oral capsules and oil-based injectable steroids. The orders were made through web sites maintained in foreign countries, and the steroids were processed and sent to customers from Central Florida via United States Mail.

In October 2016, David Arroyo, the leader of the steroid trafficking ring, was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Fifteen others previously pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for their roles in this case. One other, Steven Groden, was also found guilty by a federal jury.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney E. Jackson Boggs Jr.

The following individuals were previously convicted and sentenced for their respective roles in the conspiracy:

Vincent Sperti, 37, Lake Mary

John Walker, 42, Lake Mary

Jeffrey Berrios, 44, Lake Mary

Hunter Rawls, 37, Heathrow

Jeffrey Walker, 23, Lake Mary

Jason Bergstresser, 27, Longwood

Christopher Eaddy, 44, Winter Springs

Allison Eaddy, 33, Winter Springs

John Erber, 42, Lake Mary

Brea Tato, 41, Lake Mary

Guillermo Otero, 32, Deltona

David Centeno, 30, Sanford

Melissa Sperti, 34, Lake Mary

Eric Boccard, 42, Mount Dora

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury has found Brandon Williams (31, Bradenton) guilty of possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for the firearm count and up to 20 years in federal prison for the heroin count. His sentencing is scheduled for February 17, 2017. Williams was indicted on July 28, 2015. 

According to evidence presented at trial, on June 13, 2015, Williams possessed a loaded .40 caliber firearm and approximately 2 grams of heroin. He attempted to dispose of both as law enforcement authorities arrived at the scene. As a previously convicted felon, Williams was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.       

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kaitlin R. O’Donnell and Carlton C. Gammons.

Orlando, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the filing of a criminal complaint charging Ricardo Rodriguez, Jr. (24) and Brandon Mojica (23), both of Deltona, with armed bank robbery. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in federal prison. 

According to the

complaint , on the morning of November 8, 2016, Rodriguez displayed a firearm and forced two bank employees, including Mojica, to provide access to the safe of a bank in Lake Mary, Florida. Rodriguez took approximately $295,000 from the safe and physically restrained both employees before fleeing the bank. Responding officers from the Lake Mary Police Department quickly located, pursued, and apprehended Rodriguez. They also recovered the cash that Rodriguez had stolen from the bank and the firearm used during the robbery.  Further investigation revealed that Mojica had assisted Rodriguez in planning the robbery by providing information concerning the bank and its employees in advance.

Rodriguez and Mojica made their initial appearances in federal court yesterday.  Following a detention hearing, Rodriguez was ordered detained pending further proceedings. Mojica was ordered temporarily detained until his formal detention hearing, which has been scheduled for November 17, 2016.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Lake Mary Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C.L. Chang.

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew has sentenced Alberto Yuniel Garcia (31, Tampa) to six years and two months in federal prison for engaging in the manufacture and use of counterfeit credit cards and identity theft. He pleaded guilty on July 7, 2016.

According to court documents, from as early as 2013, and continuing through 2015, Garcia and others possessed and used counterfeit credit cards to purchase items, including gift cards, at retail stores throughout the Tampa Bay area. They obtained stolen credit and debit card numbers from unsuspecting account holders in a variety of ways, including from skimmers placed on gas station pumps.  They then re-encoded gift cards with the stolen account numbers in order to create counterfeit credit cards, which they used to purchase merchandise and gift cards that they used for their own benefit or sold for cash.  Garcia and those working with him used the stolen account numbers without the account holders’ knowledge or permission and shared in the proceeds of the fraud and identity theft.

On February 19, 2014, law enforcement officers removed four skimmers from gas pumps at a Hess Station in Brooksville.  Members of the U.S. Secret Service’s Financial Investigation Strike Team determined that the Hess Station was a common point of compromise for credit card fraud victims.  Once investigators obtained store surveillance videos and receipts for the fraudulent transactions, they discovered that Garcia and his co-conspirators were the individuals using the counterfeit credit cards that had been re-encoded with the stolen account information skimmed from customers at the Hess Station. 

During yesterday’s sentencing hearing, the Court found that Garcia was involved in various conspiracies to commit credit card fraud and identity theft that affected more than 35 financial institutions and over 1,000 victims.  The government estimates the actual loss to individuals as a result of these conspiracies was over $700,000.

This case was investigated by the Tampa Police Department, the United States Secret Service, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mandy Riedel and Eric Gerard.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Luis Serrano (24, Orlando) to 20 years in federal prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for producing child pornography. The Court also ordered him to register as a sex offender upon his release. Serrano pleaded guilty on August 8, 2016.

According to court documents, Serrano enticed and persuaded a minor victim to engage in sexual activity for the purpose of producing visual depictions of the conduct beginning when the child was 14 years old. Serrano initially befriended the girl on a chat website when she was 13 and, during the next two years, he persuaded and directed her to engage in sexual activity during live video chats that he recorded. He also persuaded the child to record herself engaging in sex acts and to send the images to him over the Internet. When the victim was 16 years old, Serrano convinced her to meet him in person to engage in sex acts, and he took explicit photographs of the conduct. Serrano distributed the pornographic images of the victim to as many as 10 individuals.

On March 4, 2016, federal agents executed a search warrant at Serrano’s home and located the images of the victim on Serrano’s electronic devices. Agents also located 340 images and 175 videos depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of other minors, many of which depicted the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers. Serrano told agents that he had obtained and shared these illicit images with others on the Internet through a file-sharing program. 

“The most important thing a society can protect is our children,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “HSI special agents utilized all of our investigative techniques and authorities to save a young child from further victimization and now this predator will be behind bars unable to harm other children.”

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Christina R. Downes and Assistant United States Attorney Karen L. Gable.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Tampa, Florida– United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury has found Domenico (68) and Rosa Cingari (67) guilty of conspiracy, mail fraud, and making false statements in immigration applications and petitions. They each face up to 5 years in federal prison on the conspiracy count and up to 20 years in federal prison on each of the 6 mail fraud counts. Domenico Cingari was convicted of two counts of making false statements in immigration applications and his wife was convicted of four counts, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.  Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 2, 2016.

The couple was indicted on July 9, 2015.

According to evidence presented at trial, Rosa and Domenico Cingari owned and operated R.E.P.C. Accounting and Translations out of their residence in Lakeland. The Cingaris assisted illegal aliens in obtaining Florida driver’s licenses by filing fraudulent immigration documents. Specifically, they would file I-589 (Applications for Asylum and Withholding of Removal), I-130 (Petitions for Alien Relative), and I-765 (Work Authorization) forms. Most of these applications and petitions submitted to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services by the Cingaris contained materially false information. The Cingaris charged their clients between $500 and $1,300 for the fraudulent immigration applications.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stacie B. Harris and Simon Gaugush.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that David Anthony Moody (28, Fernandina Beach) has pleaded guilty to making hoax bomb threats. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. Moody was arraigned on February 16, 2016.      

According to court documents, between January 30 and February 2, 2016, Moody wrote six bomb threat notes and left them at various public places in Fernandina Beach. Each note stated that a bomb was going to explode in the downtown Fernandina Beach area, killing a multitude of people. One of the notes was signed “The F.B. BOMBER!” In an effort to hide his identity, Moody wore gloves when preparing the notes and later destroyed materials associated with the six bomb threats. Although ultimately determined to be hoax threats, each time a bomb threat note was located, local, state, or federal law enforcement officers responded and conducted a search of the area for explosive devices.     

This case was investigated by the Fernandina Beach Police Department, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Services - Coast Guard Explosive Detection Team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations – Jacksonville Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew has sentenced Alysia N. Algere a/k/a “Coco” (29, Tampa) to 15 years in federal prison for sex trafficking three minors. She pleaded guilty on February 3, 2016.

According to court documents, Algere recruited two minor boys and a minor girl, who were between 14 and 16 years of age, to engage in commercial sex acts. She took sexually explicit photos of the minors and posted advertisements on the Internet, selling them for sex.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stacie B. Harris.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Fort Myers, FL — Yesterday, Thomas Davanzo, of Estero, Florida, and Robert Fedyna, of Naples, Florida, were sentenced to 121 months and 135 months in prison, respectively, for their participation in a multi-state scheme to defraud biodiesel buyers and U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently selling biodiesel credits and fraudulently claiming tax credits, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III of the Middle District of Florida.  Both defendants were also ordered to forfeit ill-gotten gains from the conspiracy of over $46 million and other items to the government, including gold coins, jewelry and Rolex watches, thoroughbred horses, vehicles and properties.

Davanzo and Fedyna operated several shell companies that were used to facilitate the scheme.  As part of the scheme, Davanzo and Fedyna operated entities that purported to purchase renewable fuel, on which credits had been claimed and which was ineligible for additional credits, produced by their co-conspirators at Gen-X Energy Group (Gen-X), headquartered in Pasco, Washington, and its subsidiary, Southern Resources and Commodities (SRC), located in Dublin, Georgia.  They then used a series of false transactions to transform the fuel back into feedstock needed for the production of renewable fuel, and sold it back to Gen-X or SRC, allowing credits to be claimed again.  This cycle was repeated multiple times.

“In their pursuit of personal gain, the defendants perpetrated a multi-state conspiracy that defrauded and undermined a federal program intended to further the energy independence of our nation,” said Assistant Attorney General Cruden.  “Today’s sentence is a just punishment for these serious crimes against the American people.”

“We are proud to work with our federal law enforcement partners to identify and investigate individuals that manipulate and utilize federal government programs to line their pockets by fraud,” said Kim Lappin, IRS Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge of the Tampa Field Office. “Today’s sentencings mark the successful result of an investigation that uncovered a complicated fraudulent scheme that generated tens of millions of dollars through false biodiesel tax credits.  IRS-Criminal Investigation will continue to work with the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute all those involved.”

In addition, both Davanzo and Fedyna laundered the proceeds of the scheme through various shell entities. Davanzo and Fedyna established bank accounts in the names of shell entities. Funds were cycled through these shell companies’ bank accounts to perpetuate the fraud scheme and conceal its proceeds.

Davanzo and Fedyna also directed and participated in the generation of false paperwork designed to create the façade that the renewable identification number (or RIN, a serial number used to track biodiesel credits) created and claimed by co-conspirators were legitimate.  The paperwork included false invoices from Gen-X or SRC to shell entities, which purported to show sales of renewable fuel, false invoices from shell entities to Gen-X and SRC, which purported to show the purchase of feedstock and false bills of lading, which purported to show the transportation of fuel and feedstock by tanker truck.

From March 2013 to March 2014, the co-conspirators generated at least 60 million RINs that were based on fuel that was either never produced or was merely re-processed at the Gen-X or SRC facilities.  The co-conspirators received at least $42 million from the sale of these fraudulent RINs to third parties.  In addition, Gen-X received approximately $4,360,724.50 in false tax credits for this fuel.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Environmental Protection Agency -Criminal Investigation Division, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sara C. Sweeney and Megan Kistler and Trial Attorney Adam Cullman of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.

 

Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. today sentenced Michel Lermos-Hernandez (40, Tampa) to 16 years and 7 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Court also ordered him to pay $714,383.51 in restitution to his victims. Lermos-Hernandez pleaded guilty on March 2, 2016.

According to court documents, Lermos-Hernandez ran a credit card fraud ring in which conspirators obtained credit card numbers by placing key loggers on credit card terminals that intercepted and stored swiped credit and debit account information at the International Mall in Tampa, including one at the Haagen-Dazs ice cream store. Lermos-Hernandez and others then created counterfeit credit cards using the stolen account numbers. Lermos-Hernandez obtained blank credit card stock, embossing machines, and magnetic stripe re-encoders from his co-defendant, Viviana Reyes. He also sold stolen account numbers to Reyes and others. 

After making the counterfeit cards, Lermos-Hernandez provided them to his co-conspirators, including his sister, Norma Cabezas-Hernandez, his girlfriend, Danay-Crespo Rodriguez, and at least two other individuals, including Lazaro Rodriguez and Abel Osorio-Cuok, who used the cards to purchase electronics and gift cards at Tampa area retailers. The conspirators then took these items to Reyes, who paid them in cash for the fraudulently obtained merchandise. Reyes then sold the items at a discounted price.

On February 7, 2013, a search warrant was executed at Lermos-Hernandez’s residence. Agents recovered $14,515 in cash, a laptop computer, a credit card embosser, a magnet stripe reader/encoder, a key logger, and multiple counterfeit credit cards and re-encoded gift cards. Also pursuant to his arrest, agents seized a Mercedes-Benz sedan that Lermos-Hernandez had purchased for over $130,000.

The total actual loss identified to date is more than $700,000 and the scheme victimized more than 35 federally insured financial institutions, and over 1,000 individuals, whose account information was compromised.

Reyes was convicted at trial and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison. Crespo-Rodriguez pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Cabezas-Hernandez pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.  Lazaro Rodriguez was sentenced to 37 months’ incarceration. Osoria-Cuok, who was only involved in the conspiracy for approximately three weeks, was sentenced to a term of five years’ probation.

This case was investigated by the Tampa Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), all of which are members of the USSS’s Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mandy Riedel and Suzanne Nebesky.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Candia V. Williams (49, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to nine counts of aiding in the preparation and filing of false tax returns. She faces a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison on each count. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, Williams was the owner and operator of Express Tax Returns, a tax preparation business in Jacksonville that was also known as Taxonville. In the course of preparing and filing income tax returns for customers, Williams reported false information, including inflated business income, to increase the customers’ eligibility for tax credits.  As a result of her actions, the United States Treasury lost more than $300,000 in tax revenue. 

After being indicted on May 27, 2015, and initially released to await trial, Williams fled Florida in violation of the conditions of her bond. On January 6, 2016, a fugitive task force determined that Williams was hiding out in a home in Gulfport, Mississippi. After a standoff with law enforcement, she was found hiding under a pile of clothing in a bathroom closet in the home. She was arrested and returned to Florida.

This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Coolican.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza today sentenced Robin C. Briere (64, Clermont) to 33 months in federal prison for the theft of over $650,000 from the American Legion Auxiliary Department of Florida. She was also ordered to pay $657,441.21 in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release. Briere pleaded guilty to wire fraud on July 18, 2016. 

According to court documents, Brere used her position as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Legion Auxiliary to steal $657,441.21 from the organization over a seven-year period from 2007 to 2014. Briere accomplished her scheme by creating 200 fraudulent transactions, most of which involved writing checks to herself on the American Legion Auxiliary account and then making false entries in the organization’s accounting system. She also wrote checks from the American Legion Auxiliary account to pay her personal credit card bills, and in some instances, used the American Legion Auxiliary credit card to pay her personal expenses.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Nathan W. Hill and Roger B. Handberg.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the filing of a federal criminal complaint charging Oliver Charles Halliday Gee (34, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico), with assault or intimidation of a flight crew. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Gee made his initial appearance in federal court in Jacksonville yesterday. He was ordered temporarily detained until his formal detention hearing, which has been scheduled for November 7, 2016.

According to the criminal complaint, on November 2, 2016, Gee was a passenger on Condor flight 2115 traveling from Cancun, Mexico, to Frankfurt, Germany. Before takeoff, Gee demanded to be served alcohol and was behaving aggressively. Approximately 60-90 minutes into the flight, Gee threatened to kill another passenger aboard the flight and threatened and intimidated a three-year-old child. Gee proceeded to insult flight attendants aboard the flight and at one point began removing his clothes, exposing his penis. 

Gee announced his intention to urinate in the flight cabin and was escorted to the lavatory by the flight’s purser and a passenger who volunteered to assist. While being escorted, Gee slapped both the purser and the volunteer passenger. Gee also threatened to kill the volunteer passenger and stated that he knew people in Mexico who would kill the volunteer passenger for him.

Ultimately, the purser and volunteer passenger were able to restrain Gee in a seat and the flight was diverted to Jacksonville International Airport for an emergency landing. After the plane landed, Gee was arrested and taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The plane was then refueled and continued to its destination.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Ahmid Cecil Lewis (27, Tampa) today pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition while a felon. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, on August 12, 2016, a person called 911 to report a road rage incident on Busch Boulevard, in Tampa. The complainant reported that a man in a car had cut him off and then waved a pistol. An officer with the Tampa Police Department responded to the 911 call, located the car that Lewis was driving, and pulled it over. Lewis was the sole occupant of the vehicle. Upon searching the car, the officer found a loaded .40 caliber pistol under the driver’s seat. At the time, Lewis was a convicted felon and therefore was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Taylor G. Stout.

 

Orlando, FL – United States District Court Judge Carlos E. Mendoza today sentenced Meghaj Reddy Kuchakulla (49, Orlando) to 12 months in federal prison for theft of $555,561.69 in United States Postal Service (USPS) money orders. Prior to sentencing, he repaid $275,000 to the USPS. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to repay the balance as restitution.

Kuchakulla pleaded guilty on February 10, 2016. 

According to court documents, Kuchakulla was a licensed USPS money order vendor for the four gas stations he owned in Orange and Lake Counties. As a licensed vendor, he had access to create, print, and disburse USPS money orders. From October 2009 through April 2010, Kuchakulla fraudulently created and printed more than 1,100 money orders in his own name, without actually purchasing them. He deposited the funds from the money orders into his personal bank accounts and then used them to pay business expenses, personal expenses, and to pay back the USPS for previous money orders that he had fraudulently created, printed, and deposited.       

“This criminal exploited the postal service financial system and embezzled more than half a million dollars,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “With the partnership of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, he is now being held accountable for his crimes.”

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn P. Napier.

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. today sentenced Jonathan William Lauman (27, Clearwater) to eight years in federal prison for possessing and transporting child pornography. As part of his sentence, he was ordered to serve a 15-year term of supervision and register as a sex offender following his release from prison. The Court also ordered him to pay restitution to several victims. Lauman pleaded guilty in February 2016.

According to court documents, Lauman downloaded and possessed more than 1,500 videos and over 50,000 images of young children, including infants, engaged in sexual acts with adults. The videos depicted, in part, sadistic and masochistic sexual abuse of children and infants. Lauman hoarded and transported these videos and images on his personal laptop. 

“Downloading sexually explicit images and videos of young children creates lifelong scars for victims and enables perpetrators around the globe to continuously exploit those same innocent youths,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) Tampa. “HSI special agents will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to target criminals who prey on the most vulnerable members of society.”

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kristen A. Fiore.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (“CEOS”), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Melissa Hayes has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of government property. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. 

According to the plea agreement, Hayes conspired with others to commit stolen identity refund fraud by depositing United States Treasury checks in the names of others into a business bank account that had been established for her restaurant/food business. Hayes then withdrew the funds the same day or the following day, spent the money on point-of-purchase items, or transferred the money to her personal bank account. The Treasury checks were fraudulently endorsed with the name of the intended recipient (the victim) and the name of Hayes’s business prior to being deposited.  Four of the persons named on the Treasury checks deposited into Hayes’s account were deceased. 

Between January and June 2012, Hayes deposited 22 fraudulent government and tax refund checks, totaling more than $160,000, into her business bank account. She used these fraudulently obtained funds for her personal use and shared them with her co-conspirators.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelley C. Howard-Allen.

 

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Pedro Garcia (34, Manatee County) has pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.  He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has been scheduled for January 26, 2017.

According to court documents, on November 9, 2015, law enforcement officers conducted a compliance search at Garcia’s residence, pursuant to the terms of his probation.  Inside the home, the officers found a loaded 9mm pistol, various types of 9mm and .45 caliber ammunition, and drug paraphernalia. As a previously convicted felon, Garcia was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.   

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Florida Department of Corrections Probation & Parole Field Service Office, and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kaitlin R. O’Donnell.

This is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Program (PSN) - a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy.  United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III, along with Daryl R. McCrary, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew today sentenced Jose Avianeda-Espinoza (44, Hillsborough County) to three years in federal prison for making material false representations to an agency of the United Sates, making false statements as to his citizenship, and aggravated identity theft. He pleaded guilty on August 3, 2016. 

According to court documents, Avianeda, a citizen of Mexico, used a U.S. citizen’s identity for nearly 17 years to obtain a number of government identifications and to avoid deportation.  In December 2015, he gave a false name to deportation officers and falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen.  He subsequently recanted his claim, however, and admitted to being a citizen of Mexico who was illegally present in the United States.  On January 4, 2016, Avianeda appeared before an immigration judge and reasserted his claim to United States citizenship, providing a false name to the court and relying on a stolen birth certificate from Puerto Rico.  He subsequently repeated his false claim to immigration officers.  In March 2016, Avianeda again appeared before an immigration judge for removal proceedings and falsely identified himself to the court. 

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Fugitive Operation Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kaitlin R. O’Donnell.

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Priscilla Ellis (51, Killeen, TX) has been charged by criminal complaint with retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant.  If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison. 

According to the complaint, Ellis was convicted on October 21, 2016, of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit international money laundering following a three-week trial.  The next day, she began soliciting a fellow inmate to help her find a hit man to murder two people in retaliation for testimony given at trial.  One was a key witness for the government, and the other was the mother of another witness who had pleaded guilty and was cooperating against Ellis. During recorded conversations with the inmate and undercover agents posing as co-conspirators, Ellis told the agent posing as the hit man that the first witness’s child should be killed along with the witness, if necessary.  Ellis also described the manner in which she wanted the cooperating witness’s mother to be killed.  Ellis agreed to have her daughter in Texas take money obtained from another fraudulent scheme and give it to the hit man as partial payment for the two murders, which the daughter in fact did at Ellis’s direction.      

A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Eric Gerard and Patrick Scruggs.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Brian Lee Adams (56, Green Cove Springs) today pleaded guilty to theft of government property and aggravated identity theft. He faces a maximum penalty of 12 years in federal prison, including a mandatory two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, Adams admitted to authorities that his mother had died of natural causes in July 2014 and, instead of notifying anyone, Adams buried her in the backyard of her home. Adams confessed to investigators that he had buried his mother after she died in order to continue collecting both her Social Security payments and a pension payment that she received monthly. As part of the theft, Adams used his mother’s name on checks that he would write to transfer money between her accounts. He would then use the funds on himself. The total amount Adams stole was $35,345.

This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, and the United States Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mac D. Heavener, III.

Orlando, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury yesterday found Craig DeMange (62, Oviedo) guilty of one count of knowingly and willfully making a false statement to a federal agency. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 23, 2017.

DeMange was indicted on June 15, 2016.

According to evidence presented at trial, DeMange received Social Security disability benefits for nearly two decades, beginning in 1995. In July 2013, the Social Security Administration requested information about his work and earnings history to assess his continued eligibility for disability benefits. At that time, DeMange knowingly and willfully provided false and fraudulent information about his current work status.  Specifically, DeMange stated that he had not worked since 1996, when in fact he had been running a business since 2010 or 2011.

This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration - Office of the Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.

            

Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis yesterday sentenced Kevin Allen Rose (30, Macclenny) to seven years in federal prison for selling marijuana and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.  He pleaded guilty to all charges on July 13, 2016.           

According to court documents, on multiple occasions, Rose sold marijuana at his home in Macclenny, Florida to a confidential informant. During the sales, he bragged about his ownership of firearms. During one sale, Rose directed a child in the home to assist him. When law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the residence, they discovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun and over 100 rounds of ammunition. Rose is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law because of his multiple, prior felony convictions.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Coolican.

This is another case prosecuted as a part of the Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Neighborhoods” Program - a nationwide, gun-violence reduction strategy.  United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III, along with Daryl R. McCrary, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, is coordinating the Project Safe Neighborhoods effort here in the Middle District of Florida in cooperation with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the unsealing of an indictment charging John R. Biggerstaff (39, Jacksonville) with using a facility of interstate commerce to promote, manage, establish, and carry on a prostitution business. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. 

According to the indictment, between June 30, 2016 and July 31, 2016, Biggerstaff promoted, managed, established, and carried on a business enterprise that involved prostitution, in violation of applicable Florida laws. The indictment alleges that Biggerstaff used a facility of interstate commerce, a cellphone, to commit the offenses.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has violated one or more federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Integrity Unit. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mac D. Heavener, III.

Fort Myers, FL – U.S. District Judge Sheri Poster Chappell has sentenced Norris Williams (45, Fort Myers) to 30 years in federal prison for three counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin, and one count of attempting to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin. Williams was found guilty by a federal jury on April 8, 2016. 

According to the trial evidence, Williams, a nine-time convicted felon, sold heroin to an undercover officer on several dates, specifically November 18, 2014; December 17, 2014; and February 11, 2015. In addition, he attempted to purchase a one-kilogram brick of heroin from an undercover officer on October 20, 2015. The attempted purchase occurred after Williams negotiated to receive the kilogram for a price of $75,000, with $50,000 cash up front, and a promise to pay the balance at a later date. Williams met the undercover officer at a parking lot and handed the officer $49,900 in a shoe box to complete the transaction.

This case was investigated by Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Cape Coral Police Department and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charles Schmitz.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Derma Miller (34, Sanford) to seven years in federal prison for conspiracy to steal federal tax refunds and aggravated identity theft. As part of her sentence, the Court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $493,697, the proceeds of her criminal conduct. A federal jury found Miller guilty of these offenses on July 21, 2016.

According to court documents, Derma Miller and her mother, Virginia Miller, conspired to file false federal income tax returns using stolen personal identity information (PII), much of which belonged to individuals who were physically and mentally disabled, to obtain tax refunds from the Treasury Department. Virginia Miller prepared and filed the fraudulent returns using the stolen PII. She then directed the Internal Revenue Service to electronically deposit the fraudulent refunds into a bank account that Derma Miller controlled. The women withdrew the tax refunds in cash and made purchases for their own benefit and the benefit of others. During a two-year period, the Millers filed approximately 226 fraudulent tax returns and obtained $493,697 in fraudulent tax refunds from the Treasury Department.

Virginia Miller was previously sentenced to five years and one month in federal prison for her role in the offenses.

This case was investigated by the Department of the Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Karen L. Gable and Nathan W. Hill.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the return of an indictment charging Eugene Willis (22, Orlando), Sedrick Lamar Hamilton (24, Orlando), and Justin Deontae Crumpton (18, Orlando) with carjacking and firearms offenses. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

According to the indictment, on October 8, 2015, Willis, Hamilton, and Crumpton carjacked a victim at gunpoint in Brandon, FL, taking his 2012 Dodge Charger. The men led law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase, ultimately crashing the stolen car. Willis, Hamilton, and Crumpton then carjacked a second victim at gunpoint, taking her 2013 Kia Optima in Lakeland. After crashing this vehicle, the men fled into a local restaurant. After a several-hour standoff, they were arrested.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has violated one or more federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Lakeland Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton C. Gammons.

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced David H. Stewart (65, Holly Hill) to three years, five months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. As part of his sentence, the Court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $323,636, the proceeds of his criminal conduct, and ordered the forfeiture of his interest in a parcel of real property.

Stewart pleaded guilty on June 28, 2016.

According to court documents, Stewart conspired with Jason Neiman and others to defraud financial institutions and a credit card processor into processing illegal Internet gambling payments for offshore Internet gambling businesses. Stewart duped the financial institutions into processing the Internet gambling payments by disguising the transactions as payments for Internet television and movie subscriptions from DiamondPayTV, a phony Internet merchant. Stewart funneled the illegal gambling proceeds through business bank accounts that he opened in the names of shell companies and transferred the funds to overseas accounts controlled by the Internet casinos. He also lied to bank officials about the nature of these businesses to convince them to open the accounts. During a one-year period, the conspirators processed over 59,000 credit card transactions for illegal Internet gambling, totaling about $4.2 million.

This case was investigated by the Saint Cloud Internal Revenue Service-Secret Service Financial Crimes Task Force, a task force comprised of the following federal, state and local law enforcement agencies: Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation; United States Secret Service; Saint Cloud Police Department; Osceola County Sheriff’s Office; Brevard County Sheriff’s Office; Palm Bay Police Department; Casselberry Police Department; Kissimmee Police Department; Winter Park Police Department; and the Maitland Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Karen L. Gable.

Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury has found Zuleyka Jeanette Colon-Rivera (25, Orlando) guilty of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin, and three counts of distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute heroin. She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. The sentencing has been set for January 5, 2017.

Colon-Rivera was indicted on March 23, 2016, along with co-conspirators Angel Manuel Fontanez, Alexis Fontanez Nieves, Ernesto Cabanas-Torres, Pedro Juan Rivera-Aviles, Wilbert Joel Alequin-Pagan, Robert Sautner, and Emmanuel Verges. All eight have been convicted of a federal drug offense.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Colon-Rivera was part of a drug trafficking organization called “La Compania” or “the Company,” which operated primarily in the Orlando tourist district, near International Drive. Colon-Rivera’s responsibilities in the organization included controlling the telephone that was used to communicate with customers, supplying heroin to the organization’s street-level dealers, and collecting money from the dealers at the end of their shifts. Colon-Rivera also sold large quantities of heroin to undercover agents on two separate occasions during the conspiracy. 

On February 24, 2016, law enforcement agents seized 200 bags of heroin, two firearms, ammunition, and over $10,000 from Colon-Rivera’s residence. Based on the trial testimony and the heroin purchased or seized during the investigation, this organization was responsible for the distribution of approximately one kilogram of heroin every two weeks.

This case is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation entitled “La Compania.” The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Orlando Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Kissimmee Police Department and the Osceola County Investigative Bureau, and the Virginia State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew C. Searle.

The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.

Fort Myers, Florida– U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has sentenced Samer Jamil Rashid (43, Fort Myers) to eight years and one month in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 or more kilograms of marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He pleaded guilty on June 10, 2016.

According to court documents, from approximately 2010 through July 2013, Rashid and others received high-grade marijuana from sources in California and Colorado, usually via UPS. Co-conspirators Jermaine Lewis, Jr., Karam Mehri, Ian Alters, Davan Nieves, and others then distributed the marijuana in the Fort Myers area and elsewhere. The conspirators used multiple bank accounts in California, in the names of nominee account holders, to make payments to the California suppliers for the marijuana. 

Judge Chappell previously sentenced Lewis, Mehri, Alters, and Nieves to 46, 40, 40, and 60 months in federal prison, respectively. 

This case was investigated by the Lee County Sheriff's Office, the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert P. Barclift.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury today found Troy Markeith Griffin (38, Bradenton) guilty of conspiring to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of an armed robbery. He faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 7, 2017.

Griffin was indicted on November 4, 2015, along with four co-conspirators, including his son and nephew. 

According to testimony presented at trial, Griffin and his co-conspirators, all of whom previously pleaded guilty, committed at least four armed robberies before they were apprehended. Three of the robberies occurred at bars in Manatee County, including the Oasis Bar, Bubbas Too, and the Three Oaks Bar. The fourth robbery occurred at the Twin Horse Saloon in Pinellas County, during which the defendants repeatedly held a firearm to the head of the bartender, and beat the patrons with a pool stick.  Following that robbery, Griffin led police on a high-speed chase for several miles in St. Petersburg before the officers disabled Griffin’s vehicle and, with canine assistance, ultimately apprehended all five individuals.

Troy Markeith Griffin, Jr., Tevin Jamar Marketh Major, Craig Demetrio Koonce, and Juwaan Roberts previously pleaded guilty for their roles in this case and are currently awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Natalie Adams and Carlton Gammons.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Dario Renteria-Garcia (41, Colombia, South America) has pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison.

According to the plea agreement, on multiple occasions between 2010 and 2013, Renteria-Garcia organized maritime cocaine shipments. Among other things, he recruited mariners to smuggle cocaine from Colombia by sea in September 2010 and January 2013. Those mariners were subsequently interdicted by the U.S. Coast Guard in the eastern Pacific Ocean with over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine.

Renteria-Garcia was arrested in Colombia, and subsequently extradited to the United States, first arriving at a place in the Middle District of Florida.

This case was investigated by the Panama Express Strike Force, a standing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation comprised of agents and analysts from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and U.S. Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force South. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher F. Murray. The Office of International Affairs, Department of Justice, assisted with Renteria-Garcia’s extradition from Colombia.

Tampa, FL - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Robert Mosakowski will lead the efforts of his Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 8, 2016, general elections. AUSA Mosakowski has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Middle District of Florida. In that capacity, he is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

United States Attorney Bentley said, “Every citizen should be free to vote without interference and to have his or her vote count, without the fear that it will be stolen because of fraud. The Department of Justice will act promptly and aggressively to protect the integrity of the electoral process.”

The Department of Justice plays an important role in deterring election fraud and discrimination at the polls, and combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur. The Department’s long-standing Election Day Program furthers these goals, and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact for the public to report possible violations on Election Day.

Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. Such acts may include questioning, challenging, photographing, or videotaping voters at polling places, under the pretext of uncovering violations of federal voting rights laws. Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice.

In order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses on November 8, 2016, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, United States Attorney Bentley stated that AUSA/DEO Mosakowski will be on duty in this District while the polls are open. Public complaints may be reported to him at (813) 274-6129.

In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on Election Day. Local FBI field offices can be reached by the public at either (813) 253-1000 (Tampa Division) or (904) 248-7000 (Jacksonville Division).

Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws also may be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, DC either by phone at 1-800-253-3931 or (202) 307-2767, by fax at (202) 307-3961, by email to [email protected], or by complaint form at www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake.

“Ensuring free and fair elections depends, in large part, on the cooperation of the American public,” said U.S. Attorney Bentley. “It is imperative that anyone with specific information about discrimination or election fraud immediately contact my Office, the FBI, or the Civil Rights Division.”

Tampa, FL - Life Care Centers of America Inc. (Life Care) and its owner, Forrest L. Preston, have agreed to pay $145 million to resolve a government lawsuit alleging that Life Care violated the False Claims Act by knowingly causing skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to submit false claims to Medicare and TRICARE for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary or skilled, the Department of Justice announced today.  Life Care, based in Cleveland, Tennessee, owns and operates more than 220 skilled nursing facilities across the country, including the Middle District of Florida.

“This resolution is the largest settlement with a skilled nursing facility chain in the department’s history,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “It is critically important that we protect the integrity of government health care programs by ensuring that services are provided based on clinical rather than financial considerations.”

This settlement resolves allegations that between Jan. 1, 2006 and Feb. 28, 2013, Life Care submitted false claims for rehabilitation therapy by engaging in a systematic effort to increase its Medicare and TRICARE billings.  Medicare reimburses skilled nursing facilities at a daily rate that reflects the skilled therapy and nursing needs of their qualifying patients.  The greater the skilled therapy and nursing needs of the patient, the higher the level of Medicare reimbursement.  The highest level of Medicare reimbursement for skilled nursing facilities is for “Ultra High” patients who require a minimum of 720 minutes of skilled therapy from two therapy disciplines (e.g., physical, occupational, speech), one of which has to be provided five days a week.   

The United States alleged in its complaint that Life Care instituted corporate-wide policies and practices designed to place as many beneficiaries in the Ultra High reimbursement level irrespective of the clinical needs of the patients, resulting in the provision of unreasonable and unnecessary therapy to many beneficiaries.  Life Care also sought to keep patients longer than was necessary in order to continue billing for rehabilitation therapy, even after the treating therapists felt that therapy should be discontinued.  Life Care carefully tracked the minutes of therapy provided to each patient and number of days in therapy to ensure that as many patients as possible were at the highest level of reimbursement for the longest possible period.  The settlement also resolves allegations brought in a separate lawsuit by the United States that Forrest L. Preston, as the sole shareholder of Life Care, was unjustly enriched by Life Care’s fraudulent scheme.

As part of this settlement, Life Care has also entered into a five-year chain-wide Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) that requires an independent review organization to annually assess the medical necessity and appropriateness of therapy services billed to Medicare. 

“This settlement addresses troubling conduct by a nationwide provider of rehabilitation services,” said United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III. “We will not tolerate this kind of fraud and abuse in skilled nursing facilities in our district.”

“Therapy provided in skilled nursing facilities must be medically reasonable and necessary, and we will continue to vigorously investigate companies that subject their residents to needless and unreasonable therapy,” said HHS Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson.  “The corporate integrity agreement with Life Care is designed to ensure that it only provides therapy based on the individual needs of each resident.”

The settlement, which was based on the company’s ability to pay, resolves allegations originally brought in lawsuits filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by Tammie Taylor and Glenda Martin, former Life Care employees.  The act permits private parties to sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery.  The government may intervene and file its own complaint in such a lawsuit, as it has done in this case.  The whistleblower reward in this case will be $29 million.

The settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $31.6 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $19.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

This matter was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Southern District of Florida, and the HHS-OIG, with assistance from the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Colorado, the Middle District of Florida, the Northern District of Georgia, the District of Massachusetts and the District of South Carolina and NCI/AdvanceMed, a Medicare Zone Program Integrity Contractor. In the Middle District of Florida, Assistant United States Attorneys Randy Harwell and Michael Kenneth assisted with the case.

The two qui tam cases are docketed as United States ex rel. Taylor v. Life Care Centers of America, Inc., No. 1:12-cv-64 (E.D. Tenn) and United States ex rel. Martin v. Life Care Centers of America, Inc., No. 1:08-cv-251 (E.D. Tenn).  The case against Forrest L. Preston is captioned United States v. Preston, No. 1:16-cv-113 (E.D. Tenn).  The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the arrest and filing of a criminal complaint charging Michael Eugene Williams (59, Jacksonville) with publishing a notice seeking child pornography, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. If convicted on all counts, Williams faces a minimum mandatory term of 20 years, up to 60 years, in federal prison.

According to the complaint, on July 7, 2016, officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Williams’s residence after receiving information that he was uploading child pornography for sharing to Google Drive.  During the execution of the warrant, agents seized electronic devices, including a cellphone and a tablet that had been identified as belonging to Williams. The forensic examination of these devices revealed that Williams had been communicating by text message with a woman in Texas who had a 3-year-old daughter. The woman was producing pornographic images of her daughter and sending them to Williams in exchange for money that Williams sent to her via Western Union.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was able to identify the woman in Texas and agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Jacksonville and Dallas coordinated with the Cleburne Police Department (Texas) to obtain a search warrant for the woman’s residence. During an interview with her, she admitted to sending sexually explicit images of her daughter to Williams in exchange for money. She also stated that she had recent contact with Williams using a messaging app.

Law enforcement officers obtained a federal search warrant for Williams’s residence and seized a cellphone that belonged to him. A preliminary examination of the phone revealed additional images of child pornography received from the woman in Texas, as well as explicit chats of sexual conduct Williams wished to engage in with the child.

Williams has been arrested and is being held pending a detention hearing scheduled before United States Magistrate Judge Monte C. Richardson on Friday, October 28, 2016, at 2:30 pm. 

A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelly S. Karase.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.

Jacksonville, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces today that Mark Gilmore has agreed to pay the government $4.25 million to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act.

The United States contends that QMedRx, a compound pharmacy in Maitland, Florida, knowingly billed federal healthcare programs for services that were not reimbursable.  Specifically, the government contends that from January 1, 2013, until January 22, 2014, QMedRx submitted to federal healthcare programs, compounded prescriptions that were tainted within the meaning of the Anti-Kickback Statute. Because Gilmore was a partial owner of QMedRx, the government sought penalties and fines from the owners who participated in the fraud. The government is still pursuing penalties and fines from other participants within QMedRx. 

“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to taking the steps necessary to protect TRICARE and other federal health care programs from fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Bentley.  “When health care practitioners violate the Anti-Kickback Statute in order to generate business, they will be held accountable.” 

This case was developed through an initiative to track and prosecute compound pharmacies that submitted millions of dollars in improper claims to the TRICARE program.  The government estimates that up to $2 billion of tainted and unnecessary compound prescriptions had been submitted to and paid by the government. In the Middle District of Florida, the government has recovered almost $70 million in fines and penalties over the past 18 months. 

"This settlement is yet another example of the continuing commitment of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and its law enforcement partners to protect the integrity of the Department of Defense (DoD) health care program," said Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, Southeast Field Office. "As one of our top priorities, DCIS aggressively investigates health care fraud that harms the DoD, to ensure the best use of precious taxpayer dollars needed to provide critical care for our Warfighters, their family members, and military retirees."

“The FBI remains vigilant in protecting federal health care programs from fraud,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Paul Wysopal. “Agents will continue to identify and investigate individuals who target these programs for personal gain.”

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered more than $30.9 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $18.6 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

This matter was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jason Mehta.

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

Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Alexis Fontanez Nieves (29, Orlando) today pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin.  He faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison.

Nieves was indicted on March 23, 2016, along with co-conspirators Angel Manuel Fontanez, Ernesto Cabanas-Torres, Zuleyka Jeanette Colon-Rivera, Pedro Juan Rivera-Aviles, Wilbert Joel Alequin-Pagan, Robert Sautner, and Emmanuel Verges. To date, seven of the eight defendants have been convicted of a federal drug offense. A trial date for the remaining individual, Colon-Rivera, is currently set for October 24, 2016.

According to court documents, a drug trafficking organization whose members referred to themselves as “La Compania” or “the Company” used a telephone number (“the heroin line”) that frequently changed to sell heroin to customers primarily in the Orlando tourist district, near International Drive. Customers would call the heroin line and arrange to purchase heroin from a member of the organization. The heroin line changed hands from one member of the organization to the next, as heroin was sold during two 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.  The organization distributed approximately one kilogram of heroin every two weeks.

Nieves’ brother, Angel Manuel Fontanez, was the leader of the organization.  During the conspiracy, Nieves helped his brother re-package bulk heroin into smaller baggies for street-level sales, inside hotel rooms in Orlando.  Nieves also supplied cocaine to the organization’s sellers, who would then sell it using the same methods they used to sell heroin.  After Fontanez was arrested by officers from the Orlando Police Department for trafficking heroin, Nieves became more involved in the organization’s day-to-day activities by controlling the heroin line, providing heroin to the organization’s low-level sellers, and collecting money from the sellers at the end of their shifts.      

This case is the result of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation entitled “La Compania.” The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Orlando Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew C. Searle.

The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury today found Perry Don Cortese (53, Little River, Texas), Priscilla Ann Ellis (51, Killeen, Texas), and Kenietta Rayshawn Johnson (35, Leavenworth, Kansas) guilty of conspiracy to commit international money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.  Each faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison.  Their sentencing hearings will be scheduled at a later date.

Cortese, Ellis, and Johnson were named in a superseding indictment on September 24, 2015.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Cortese, Ellis, and Johnson were members of an international criminal organization that defrauded dozens of victims across the United States and then laundered the funds, much of which were sent overseas.  The fraud schemes took several forms.  Many victims were law firms solicited online to perform legal work, provided counterfeit cashier’s checks for deposit into the firms’ trust accounts, and then directed to wire money to third-party shell businesses controlled by the conspirators.  Others were title companies defrauded in phony real estate transactions.  Other victims were targeted and defrauded by fake suitors on dating websites.  The conspiracy also employed hackers who compromised both individual and corporate e-mail accounts, ordering wire transfers from brokerage and business accounts to shell accounts controlled by conspirators.

Victims were instructed to wire money into funnel accounts held by conspirators, known as “money mules.” The funds were then quickly moved to other accounts in the United States and around the world before the victims could discover the fraud.  Bank records presented at trial indicate that, from 2012 to 2015, several millions dollars’ worth of wires were received in such accounts to be laundered.  Conspirators in Canada, Nigeria, South Korea, Senegal, and elsewhere helped coordinate the fraud and money laundering activity from abroad. 

Cortese, a licensed attorney in Texas, worked for the conspirators by laundering victim money through his interest on lawyers trust accounts (“IOLTAs”).  He also met with individuals in person to retrieve cash withdrawn from receiver accounts. Cortese recruited his paralegal and others to open such accounts to launder funds.  The evidence further showed that Johnson, then a bank employee at Capital One, helped create counterfeit checks and monitor money flows between accounts controlled by conspirators. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from various federal and local law enforcement partners throughout the country, including the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Toronto Police Service in Ontario, Canada.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick Scruggs and Eric Gerard.

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Shaquana Quenella Brookins (31, Jacksonville) today pleaded guilty to sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion; conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine base; and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon.  She faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, from the summer of 2013 through late 2015, Brookins was trafficking illegal drugs, including crack cocaine, heroin, and flakka, in Jacksonville and routinely carried firearms for intimidation purposes. She also engaged in commercial sex trafficking.

Around March 2014, Brookins met a woman with the initials D.C., who began working for Brookins in the commercial sex industry.  D.C. was addicted to crack cocaine, and Brookins controlled D.C. by exploiting her addiction.  Brookins repeatedly beat D.C. in order to cause her to engage in commercial sex and to punish her if she stole drugs or withheld money.  On several occasions, D.C. attempted to escape from Brookins, but was forced by Brookins to return. 

Brookins’s criminal enterprise included a driver who would take D.C. and others to commercial sex “dates” in exchange for crack cocaine.  Brookins also used crack cocaine to compensate an attorney who represented D.C. and another sex trafficking victim in various criminal cases brought against the victims.  Additionally, Brookins obtained a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver from the attorney, which she paid for with crack cocaine.  Brookins was previously convicted of four felonies, and therefore was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.

Brookins and several co-conspirators distributed at least 200 grams of crack cocaine as part of their conspiracy during this time.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew has sentenced Antawan Hudson (31, Tampa) to 30 years in federal prison for sex trafficking minors. On September 28, 2016, Hudson’s brother, Maurice Williams (26, Tampa), was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for sex trafficking minors. Hudson pleaded guilty on the first day of trial and a federal jury found Williams guilty on May 20, 2016. 

According to evidence presented at trial, Williams conspired with Hudson to traffic underage females by fraud, force, and coercion in the commercial sex trade. Williams and Hudson worked together to post online prostitution ads for the victims and then transported the girls throughout central Florida to have sex with customers. After the victims had sex with the customers, Williams and Hudson took some or all of the money and, in exchange, offered the victims drugs, alcohol, and beauty appointments. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stacie Harris and Daniel George.     

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.