Middle District of Florida
Press releases recorded for this federal judicial district.
Florida Nurse Pleads Guilty to Tampering with Intensive Care Unit Patient’s MedicationRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Jerome W. Clampitt II (42, Saint Johns) has pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product, specifically, injectable fentanyl. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the
plea agreement , on January 30, 2020, Clampitt, a registered nurse, was working a night shift in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Jacksonville. A patient under Clampitt’s care was prescribed and receiving an intravenous dose of fentanyl, along with other medications for anesthesia. Two fellow employees saw Clampitt using a syringe to inject a substance into the device that dispensed fentanyl into the patient, when there was no medically valid reason for Clampitt to do so. Laboratory testing eventually determined that the patient’s dose of fentanyl had been diluted with saline.When interviewed by law enforcement officers, Clampitt eventually admitted that he had diverted drugs from patients at the hospital for personal use. During that interview, however, he denied diluting patient drugs with saline.
An audit of hospital records showed multiple discrepancies in Clampitt’s handling of controlled substances during the time he worked for the hospital. Investigators later learned that in 2019, a separate hospital had employed Clampitt and discovered discrepancies in its records that suggested he might have been diverting drugs for his own use. That hospital fired Clampitt after he refused to submit to a drug test.
As part of his guilty plea, Clampitt admitted that he knew that his activities resulted in one or more critically ill patients receiving diluted fentanyl, which lacked prescribed quantities of active medication necessary to control pain. Having been deprived of medically-necessary medication, such patients would endure pain and suffering and were exposed to increased risks of illness and death, stemming from, among other things, possible infection and respiratory, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal complications.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Coolican.
Tampa Man Pleads Guilty to Two Armed Robberies at Area 7-Eleven StoresRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Giovanni Gort (32, Tampa) has pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each armed robbery count and a minimum mandatory penalty of 7 years’ imprisonment for the firearm offense, to be served consecutive to the armed robbery counts. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, in the early morning of February 10, 2021, Gort entered a 7-Eleven convenience store on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. Gort pulled out a gun, pointed it at the store clerk, and said “give me everything you got. I be back to see you. If you say something, I’m going to come back and shoot you.” The clerk took $435 from her cash register and gave it to Gort, who then fled the scene. The clerk immediately reported the incident to law enforcement and stated she had never been so scared in her life.
Approximately 10 minutes later, Gort entered a 7-Eleven convenience store located on Memorial Highway in Tampa and said, “give me all your money, bro,” before ordering the two store clerks behind the counter at gunpoint. The clerks gave Gort approximately $100 in a plastic bag. While they were collecting the money, the clerks saw Gort rack the slide of the gun. Keeping the employees at gunpoint while he backed out of the store, Gort then fled the scene.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Shauna Hale and Craig Gestring.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Former Alachua County Deputy Pleads Guilty to Lying During Purchases of FirearmsRead the Press Release
Ocala, Florida – Kenyari Devaughnte Brewton (26, Ocala), a former deputy with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, has pleaded guilty to two federal felonies: (1) making a materially false statement during the purchase of a firearm and (2) causing a federal firearms licensee to maintain false information in its official records. Brewton faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. He will also be required to forfeit and/or abandon firearms and ammunition related to the offenses.
According to the plea agreement, between March 2, 2020, and April 26, 2021, Brewton purchased multiple firearms from a Marion County gun dealer, including two handguns and an AK-47 style pistol. While purchasing the firearms, Brewton certified on each ATF Form 4473 (Firearm Transaction Record) that he was the “actual transferee/buyer” of these guns. In actuality, he purchased the firearms on behalf of another person and never intended to keep them. Brewton also used his status as a law enforcement officer to obtain discount prices on some of the firearms.
Specifically, on April 26, 2021, Brewton purchased two Glock pistols (.40 and 9mm calibers). Six days later, on May 2, 2021, the .40 caliber Glock pistol was used by another person during a homicide in Marion County. That firearm was later recovered by the Ocala Police Department during a traffic stop involving four armed men with masks, gloves, and loaded firearms. A few weeks after the homicide, on May 30, 2021, during a DUI traffic stop in Lake County, the Fruitland Park Police Department recovered the 9mm Glock handgun in a glovebox next to $10,000 in cash.
A subsequent search warrant of Brewton’s cellphone revealed numerous text conversations between Brewton and the person for whom he had agreed to purchase the firearms. Brewton also admitted to federal investigators that he had “gotten caught up” in people asking him to buy firearms and in making a profit on the sales.
This case was investigated by the Ocala Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Bodnar, Jr.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Convicted Felon Sentenced to More Than 21 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing Ammunition, Obstructing Justice, and Attempted Witness TamperingRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell has sentenced Sergio Antonio Hood (37, Tampa) to 21 years and 10 months in federal prison for possessing ammunition as a convicted felon, obstruction of justice, and attempted witness tampering. Hood is an Armed Career Criminal, which carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in federal prison. The court also imposed a consecutive sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment for Hood’s violation of federal supervised release based on the same underlying conduct.
A jury had found Hood guilty on June 8, 2021.
According to court documents, on October 27, 2019, one week after meeting and beginning a relationship with a woman, Hood showed up at her home near Ybor City. Finding the woman sitting in a parked car with a friend, Hood pushed his assault-style rifle through the open window, pointed it at the woman’s head, and fired. The bullet missed the woman and went through the other side of the car. At the scene, police officers found one spent 9mm bullet casing on the street. Hood was arrested on state charges the following day.
At the time of the shooting, Hood was on federal supervised release. As a result, he was transferred to federal custody to address his violations of the conditions of his supervised release. While in jail, Hood created a false alibi and asked a witness to testify falsely at a federal court hearing regarding those violations. He was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition, obstruction of justice, and attempted witness tampering.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tampa Police Department, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Risha Asokan.
Convicted Felon Sentenced to More Than 14 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing Firearms and NarcoticsRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew has sentenced Leon Grant, Jr. (40, St. Petersburg) to 14 years and 2 months in federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon. The court also ordered Grant to forfeit the firearms and ammunition he had possessed.
Grant had pleaded guilty on July 27, 2021.
According to court documents, federal agents, along with state and local law enforcement agencies, investigated a series of credit union robberies committed in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties in 2019. As part of the investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a search warrant for Grant’s home in St. Petersburg. On January 22, 2020, state and federal investigators searched Grant’s home and seized more than 36 grams of fentanyl, 26 grams of methamphetamine, and 35 grams of crack cocaine. Investigators also located three firearms and ammunition in Grant’s bedroom, including an AR-15 rifle and two pistols. Grant admitted he was a drug dealer and said he kept the firearms in his home for protection. Grant, having previously been convicted of multiple felonies, was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Pinellas Park Police Department, the St. Petersburg Police Department, and the Clearwater Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Sinacore.
Jacksonville Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Using the Internet to Attempt to Entice and Meet A 12-Year-Old Child for SexRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Wayne Dale Epps, Jr. (36, Jacksonville) to 12 years in federal prison for using the internet to attempt to entice a 12-year-old child to engage in sexual activity. Epps was also ordered to serve a life term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.
Epps had pleaded guilty on June 10, 2021.
According to court documents, on February 14, 2020, an undercover FBI agent who was posing online as the family member of a 12-year-old child was contacted by Epps using the screen name “ksaber2040.” Over the next several days, Epps and the undercover agent engaged in online conversation in which Epps expressed his desire to meet the “child.” Epps confirmed that he wanted to meet the “child” for sexual activity, stating “[t]his is a first for me I’m nervous but I’ve been wanting to try younger.” Epps provided the undercover agent with graphic details about how he intended to sexually abuse the “child.” He offered to use a “flavored condom” and requested pictures of the “child.”
On February 18, 2020, Epps drove to a prearranged location at a shopping center in Jacksonville to meet the “child” for sex and was arrested by FBI agents. During an interview, Epps stated that it was “possible that [he] would have followed through” and engaged in sex with the 12-year-old child, and further that he “should have never made that decision.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
Justice Department Announces New Initiative to Combat RedliningRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Today, the Justice Department announced the launch of the department’s new Combatting Redlining Initiative. Redlining is an illegal practice in which lenders avoid providing services to individuals living in communities of color because of the race or national origin of the people who live in those communities. The new Initiative represents the department’s most aggressive and coordinated enforcement effort to address redlining, which is prohibited by the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
“Lending discrimination runs counter to fundamental promises of our economic system,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “When people are denied credit simply because of their race or national origin, their ability to share in our nation’s prosperity is all but eliminated. “Today, we are committing ourselves to addressing modern-day redlining by making far more robust use of our fair lending authorities. We will spare no resource to ensure that federal fair lending laws are vigorously enforced and that financial institutions provide equal opportunity for every American to obtain credit.”
“Enforcement of our fair lending laws is critical to ensure that banks and lenders are providing communities of color equal access to lending opportunities. Equal and fair access to mortgage lending opportunities is the cornerstone on which families and communities can build wealth in our country,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We know well that redlining is not a problem from a bygone era but a practice that remains pervasive in the lending industry today. Our new Initiative should send a strong message to banks and lenders that we will hold them accountable as we work to combat discriminatory race and national origin-based lending practices.”
“Discriminatory practices such as Redlining rend the fabric of our society by destroying one of our nation’s foundational principles – equal opportunity for all,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Karin Hoppmann for the Middle District of Florida. The deliberate denial of economic and housing opportunities to individuals based upon race, ethnicity, or nationality is strictly prohibited under the law. The U.S. Attorney’s Office works and will continue to work diligently, with its partners, to enforce our nation’s Fair Housing laws and to prosecute those who engage in criminal discriminatory practices.”
Redlining, a practice institutionalized by the federal government during the New Deal era and implemented then and now by private lenders, has had a lasting negative impact. For American families, homeownership remains the principal means of building wealth, and the deprivation of investment in and access to mortgage lending services for communities of color have contributed to families of color persistently lagging behind in homeownership rates and net worth compared to white families. The gap in homeownership rates between white and Black families is larger today than it was in 1960, before the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
This Initiative, which will be led by the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in partnership with U.S. Attorney’s Offices, will build on the longstanding work by the Division that seeks to make mortgage credit and homeownership accessible to all Americans on the same terms, regardless of race or national origin and regardless of the neighborhood where they live. The Initiative will:
- Utilize U.S. Attorneys’ Offices as force multipliers to ensure that fair lending enforcement is informed by local expertise on housing markets and the credit needs of local communities of color.
- Expand the department’s analyses of potential redlining to both depository and non-depository institutions. Non-depository lenders are not traditional banks and do not provide typical banking services, but engage in mortgage lending and now make the majority of mortgages in this country.
- Strengthen our partnership with financial regulatory agencies to ensure the identification and referrals of fair lending violations to the Department of Justice.
- Increase coordination with State Attorneys General on potential fair lending violations.
Individuals may report lending discrimination by calling the Justice Department’s Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-833-591-0291, or submitting a report online.
Jacksonville Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Submitting False Claims for Fema Benefits Involving Hurricane IrmaRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Deontres Javan Taylor (27, Jacksonville) to 24 months in federal prison for disaster assistance fraud involving Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) benefits. As part of the sentence, the Court also ordered Taylor to pay restitution to the United States in the amount of $8,083.19.
According to court documents, on September 4, 2017, Taylor, while in Duval County, Florida, made an application for disaster assistance benefits to FEMA. In the application, he claimed that his primary residence in Jacksonville, Florida had suffered storm damage from Hurricane Irma. Taylor stated that storm surge flooded his residence and lightning caused a power surge which resulted in the residence losing power. As a result of these issues, Taylor claimed that he moved to a hotel and needed housing assistance. Based on the false statements made by Taylor in his application for disaster assistance benefits, FEMA paid $8,038.19 in benefits for Taylor.
Further investigation determined that Taylor did not live at the residence listed in his benefits application since at least 2015, nor was he at that residence in any capacity when Hurricane Irma impacted the Jacksonville area. An inspection of the residence by FEMA also determined that it did not suffer storm surge damage or power loss as a result of Hurricane Irma.
“When criminals commit disaster relief fraud, they are victimizing all taxpayers, but more specifically, those directly impacted by the disaster,” said HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “HSI is proud of our partnership with the DHS, Office of Inspector General, in identifying and prosecuting those who attempt to thwart the integrity of the FEMA disaster assistance program.”
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security - Office of Inspector General, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein. This case is part of the United States Attorney’s Disaster Fraud Task Force, which was announced in September 2017.
Members of the public who suspect fraud, waste, abuse, or allegations of mismanagement involving disaster relief operations, or believe they have been the victim of fraud from a person or organization soliciting relief funds on behalf of disaster victims should contact the National Disaster Fraud Hotline toll free at (866) 720-5721. A live operator is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Information may also be faxed to the Center at (225) 334-4707 or emailed to [email protected].
Federal Jury Convicts Gang Member of Drugs and Gun CrimesRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – A federal jury has found Keon Moore (29, Tampa) guilty of possessing a firearm or ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing controlled substances with the intent to distribute them. Moore faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to, 40 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 6, 2022.
Moore had been indicted on June 4, 2020.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Moore is a convicted felon who stored guns and drugs for use by himself and others, sold guns and drugs, and threatened violence to collect drug debts. In one of Moore’s private Facebook communications, a person to whom Moore provided drugs on consignment, but who failed to pay on time, begged Moore not to kill him via drive-by shooting over the $90 he owed.
The charges and trial revolved around a Public Storage unit rented by Moore, but used by at least one other adult male. After a drug-detecting dog alerted to Moore’s unit, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant of the unit. Inside the otherwise empty 50 square-foot unit, officers found seven guns, including two assault rifles; ammunition; approximately 45 grams of pure methamphetamine; 34 grams of cocaine, 53 grams of Eutylone, and 1.6 kilograms of marijuana, among other drugs; and a clothing item containing Moore’s DNA.
Moore is a previously convicted felon, including multiple state burglary and drug possession convictions. As such, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.
This case was investigated by the FBI, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael M. Gordon.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Fentanyl Dealer Found GuiltyRead the Press Release
Orlando, FL – A federal jury today found Davel Theodore Spady (35, Palm Bay) guilty of three counts of distribution of fentanyl and one count of possession with the intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl. For each of the distribution counts, Spady faces up to 20 years in federal prison. He faces a minimum mandatory of 5 years, and up to 40 years’ imprisonment, for the possession with the intent to distribute offense.
Spady had been indicted on May 5, 2021.
According to evidence presented at trial, between February 18 and March 19, 2021, Spady sold fentanyl to a confidential source (CS) on three occasions from inside his vehicle in a parking lot. During one of the controlled purchases, Spady provided the fentanyl to the CS concealed inside a box of rice.
On April 14, 2021, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) conducted a traffic stop of Spady’s vehicle as he was on his way to deliver 2 ounces of fentanyl to the CS. Later, during a search of Spady’s vehicle, FHP located a box of rice in the trunk with fentanyl concealed inside, similar to that provided during the previous controlled purchase.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the West Melbourne Police Department, and the Florida Highway Patrol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Beatriz Gonzalez and Ranganath Manthripragada.
Debarred Former Defense Contractor Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements Involving Government ContractsRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Billy Micah Sermons (44, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), a federal agency. Sermons faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and payment of restitution to the federal government. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, in May 2015, the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) began investigating the business practices of Excel Components, LLC, a business involving Sermons and others. Excel conducted business with the federal government by contracting with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). These contracts involved supplying various items to be used by members of the United States military throughout the Department of Defense. As a result of their investigation, in September 2015, DLA debarred Sermons from contracting with the federal government due to his involvement with Excel and another business contracting with DLA, East Coast Machine and Tool LLC. DLA debarred Sermons until August 19, 2018.
Also, in May 2015, Sermons, using the identity of another individual, (Person #1), submitted or caused to be submitted a registration for Franklin Southern Manufacturing LLC (FSM) in SAM.GOV, a U.S. government-wide, online portal operated by the GSA. Entities register in SAM.GOV in order to do business with the federal government, to include contracting. Sermons successfully registered FSM in SAM.GOV to do business with the federal government. Thereafter, during the timeframe of his debarment and knowing that he was ineligible for the award of contracts by any federal agency, Sermons used the identity of Person #1 and FSM to circumvent the terms of his debarment. He did this in order to continue bidding on and obtaining federal government contracts involving the DLA. As part of the contracting process, on multiple occasions during his debarment, Sermons falsely certified or caused to be falsely certified within SAM.GOV that none of the principals at FSM were debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, or declared ineligible for the award of contracts by any federal agency.
This case was investigated by the U.S. General Services Administration - Office of Inspector General and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, with assistance from the Defense Logistics Agency. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.
Zephyrhills Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Attempting to Entice 11-Year-Old and 13-Year-Old Children to Engage in Sexual ActivityRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Lavern Lee Renninger (62, Zephyrhills) to 10 years in federal prison for attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Renninger was also ordered to serve a 20-year term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.
Renninger had pleaded guilty on July 19, 2021.
According to court documents, from March 3 through March 18, 2020, Renninger engaged in chats through an online classified advertising site and through text messaging with an individual he believed to be the mother of two children, ages 11 and 13. Unbeknownst to Renninger, the “mother” was an undercover law enforcement officer. During online conversation, Renninger provided the “mother” with graphic details of the sexual activity that he wanted to engage in with these children. Renninger said he had “90,000 visions of this” during a phone call with the “mother” of the children. During text conversations that he believed he was having directly with the children, Renninger detailed what he wanted to do to them sexually and stressed the importance of keeping their interactions secret. Renninger was arrested on March 18, 2021, when he traveled to meet the “mother” to engage in sexual activity with the children.
“Child predators prey on our most vulnerable, our children,” said HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “HSI and our partners at the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office are now making sure he is held accountable for those crimes.”
This case was investigated by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
Valrico Man Charged with CyberstalkingRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann announces the unsealing of a criminal complaint charging Dominique Jade Dragan (28, Valrico) with cyberstalking. If convicted, Dragan faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. He made his initial appearance in federal court on October 19, 2021, and ordered detained pending trial.
According to the
criminal complaint , from approximately January 2020 through July 2021, Dragan engaged in a course of conduct with the intent to harass and intimidate three victims. Using Instagram, Dragan cyberstalked, harassed, and threatened the victims with a series of continuous messages. He made specific threats to kill the victims, including by stating, “I can’t wait to hear the bones in your neck break,” “I’m gonna put a bullet in your forehead,” and “I can’t wait to murder you.” Dragan also included racially charged language and threatened the victims with violence if they reported him to law enforcement. Dragan’s conduct placed the victims in reasonable fear of serious injury and death.This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilyssa M. Spergel.
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.
Fentanyl Trafficker Convicted at TrialRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – A federal jury has found Clifford Edward Albritton, III (44, Lakeland) guilty of conspiracy to possess 400 grams or more of fentanyl with the intent to distribute it and possession of 40 grams or more of fentanyl with the intent to distribute it. Albritton faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 14, 2022.
Albritton had been indicted on August 4, 2020.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, in July 2020, Albritton arrived at a purported deal with his supplier, Donovan Holmes. Albritton had more than 300 grams of fentanyl and a scale hidden in his pants. Both men were subsequently arrested. Holmes, who testified at trial after previously pleading guilty, described how Albritton was a part of a larger fentanyl conspiracy encompassing multiple dealers. The sentencing hearing for Holmes is scheduled for October 28, 2021.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Tampa Police Department, and the Florida Highway Patrol. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Callan Albritton (no relation).
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Tampa Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Access Device Fraud and Aggravated Identity TheftRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington has sentenced Antoinette Thomas (32, Tampa) to three years in federal prison for access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of her sentence, the court also ordered Thomas to pay $27,885.58 in restitution.
Thomas had pleaded guilty on June 21, 2021.
According to court documents, between February 1, 2016, and May 8, 2019, Thomas produced and used counterfeit access devices, such as component parts of multiple victims’ retail store credit accounts, with the specific intent to defraud the stores, credit card companies, and individuals. In doing so, Thomas knowingly used, transferred, and possessed the means of identifications of other real people without lawful authority. During this period, Thomas was captured several times on store surveillance video making fraudulent retail purchases using someone else’s store credit account.
Later, in July and October 2018, Thomas used the identity of another person to lease two apartments in Tampa. At the time, Thomas knew the person was a real person and that she did not have permission or authorization to use that person’s personally identifying information to lease the apartments.
In October 2019, law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at Thomas’s residence and recovered: a) multiple notebooks of handwritten personal identification information, including more than 100 sets of names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers; b) information on multiple credit accounts held in the names of others, including several credit card numbers; and c) multiple fraudulent or fictitious documents including altered copies of Social Security cards, Florida identification cards, and pay stubs. Thomas’s fingerprints were on several of the pages of the notebooks containing victims’ information.
This case was investigated by the Tampa Police Department and the United States Secret Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Craig Gestring.
Longwood Man Sentenced to 60 Years in Federal Prison for Producing Images and Videos of Himself Sexually Abusing A ChildRead the Press Release
Orlando, FL – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Mikel Wayne Nunnally (44, Longwood) to 60 years in federal prison for using a minor child to produce sexual abuse images and videos. The court also sentenced Nunnally to a lifetime of supervised release and ordered him to register as a sex offender.
Nunnally had pleaded guilty on April 29, 2021.
According to court documents, between 2018 and 2020, Nunnally produced several videos that depicted a minor child engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In some of these videos, Nunnally can be seen as he sexually abused the child victim. Nunnally then distributed images and videos depicting this sexual abuse to others over the internet, including to an undercover law enforcement officer. Images from one of these videos showed Nunnally touching and digitally penetrating the child. Nunnally told the undercover officer that he had previously filmed the child victim in the bathroom and that he touched the child in a sexual manner whenever he could. Nunnally also stated that he sometimes gave the child victim pain pills mixed with sleeping pills to help facilitate his molestation of the child.
In December 2020, Nunnally was identified by law enforcement and interviewed by FBI agents. Nunnally admitted that he had used the child victim to produce the child sex abuse images and videos and had distributed these materials online. He also estimated that he had been filming his sexual abuse of the child victim for four or five years.
FBI agents conducted a forensic review of two of Nunnally’s electronic devices and located 79 videos and 12 images depicting the sexual abuse of children on these devices. These videos and images depicted children who ranged from infants to teenagers. Some of this material depicted the sadistic abuse, bondage, and torture of the child victims.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt.
St. Petersburg Man Pleads Guilty to 2014 Robbery and 2018 Murder Relating to Nightclub Drug ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Corey Small (43, St. Petersburg) has pleaded guilty to interfering with commerce by robbery and to using and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, as well as to conspiring to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony offense, and possessing, brandishing, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, causing death by murder. He faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.
Regarding the robbery and the use and brandishing offenses listed above, according to court documents, in 2014 Small robbed a dry-cleaning business in St. Petersburg. During the robbery, he pointed a gun at the clerk and stole $51.41.
Regarding the three other offenses listed above, which are unrelated to the 2014 crimes, court documents show that in 2018 Small conspired with an employee of a night club to sell cocaine for him. Later that year, the victim, who was a friend of the nightclub employee, attempted to persuade the employee to leave the club and stop selling drugs for Small. In response to this attempted interference with his drug business, Small argued with the victim and then shot him four times, killing him. Small, a previously convicted felon, was later arrested and found to be in possession of a firearm.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pinellas Park Police Department, the St. Petersburg Police Department, and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Natalie Hirt Adams.
California Man Known as “icloudripper4you” Pleads Guilty to Hacking into Hundreds of Apple iCloud Accounts and Stealing Nude Photographs and ImagesRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Hao Kuo Chi (40, La Puente, CA) today pleaded guilty to conspiracy and computer fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, for years Chi and others conspired to—and in fact did—gain unauthorized access to the Apple iCloud accounts of hundreds of individuals across the country. Using the online moniker “icloudripper4you,” Chi marketed himself as capable of hacking into iCloud accounts and stealing the content stored therein. Chi created email accounts for the purpose of impersonating Apple customer support representatives, and Chi’s conspirators sent Apple IDs and passwords of unsuspecting victims to these email accounts.
During the conspiracy, Chi hacked into more than 300 iCloud accounts belonging to victims from across the United States. Chi and his conspirators specifically sought out nude photographs and videos of young women, which the conspirators referred to as “wins.” Chi kept hundreds of thousands of stolen images for his personal collection and maintained a terabyte of cloud storage for this purpose. Chi also shared and traded these images with his conspirators, using a foreign-based, end-to-end encrypted email service. Some of those conspirators subsequently released the images into the public sphere.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton C. Gammons.
Lake County Convicted Felon Indicted for Illegal Firearm Possession and Destruction of AircraftRead the Press Release
Ocala, Florida – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Wendell Doyle Goney (51, Mount Dora) with possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and destruction of aircraft. If convicted of both counts, Goney faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Goney that the United States intends to forfeit a rifle and ammunition allegedly used in the commission of the offenses.
According to court documents, on July 11, 2021, deputies from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded to a burglary at a 10-acre business property in Mount Dora. Deputies deployed a law enforcement drone to assist with the outdoor search, only to have the drone destroyed by gunfire from a neighboring property. When deputies responded to that location, they confronted Goney, who acknowledged that he had just shot down the drone with a .22 caliber rifle. He claimed that drones had been “harassing” him. Goney also admitted to the deputies that he could not lawfully possess a firearm—he has 29 prior felony convictions in Florida. As a convicted felon, Goney is prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition under federal law.
An indictment is merely an allegation and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Transportation-Office of Inspector General, and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Bodnar, Jr.
Cape Coral Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced to 20 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has sentenced David Levon Massey (32, Cape Coral) to 20 years in federal prison for possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute. Massey had pleaded guilty on July 7, 2021.
According to court documents, in February 2020, Massey was released from federal prison after serving more than nine years for organizing a prescription pill distribution ring. Shortly after his release, law enforcement received several tips that Massey was again distributing drugs. In October 2020, during the execution of a search warrant at Massey’s residence, law enforcement officers recovered nearly 100 grams of fentanyl, two firearms, and thousands of dollars in cash.
This case was investigated by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the Cape Coral Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael V. Leeman.
South Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Consecutive Health Care Fraud ConspiraciesRead the Press Release
Tampa, FL – Patsy Truglia (53, Parkland) has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of making a false statement in a matter involving a health care benefit program. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement and other court documents, beginning in January 2018 and continuing into April 2019, Truglia and other conspirators, including co-defendant Ruth Bianca Fernandez (who worked under Truglia’s supervision), generated medically unnecessary physicians’ orders via their telemarketing operation for certain orthotic devices—i.e., knee braces, back braces, wrist braces, and other braces—referred to as durable medical equipment (“DME”). Through the telemarketing operation, federal health care program beneficiaries’ (i.e., Medicare beneficiaries’) personal and medical information was harvested to create the unnecessary DME brace orders.
The brace orders were then forwarded to purported “telemedicine” vendors that, in exchange for a fee, paid illegal bribes to physicians to sign the orders, often without ever contacting the beneficiaries to conduct the required telehealth consultations. The fraudulent, illegal brace orders were then returned to Truglia’s telemarketing operation, which used the orders as support for millions of dollars in false and fraudulent claims that were submitted to the Medicare program. To avoid Medicare scrutiny, Truglia and Fernandez spread the fraudulent claims across five DME storefronts operated under Truglia’s ownership and control, and Fernandez’s day-to-day management. In all, through their five storefronts, Truglia, Fernandez, and other conspirators caused approximately $25 million in fraudulent DME claims to be submitted to Medicare, resulting in approximately $12 million in payments.
On April 9, 2019, multiple federal law enforcement agencies participated in a nationwide action referred to as “Operation Brace Yourself.” The Operation targeted ongoing schemes, such as Truglia’s, in which companies were paying illegal bribes to secure signed physicians’ DME brace orders for use as support for fraudulent claims that were submitted to the federal programs. In the Middle District of Florida, the Operation included, among other efforts, the execution of search warrants at several of Truglia’s DME storefronts and a civil action which, among other ramifications, enjoined Truglia and (by extension) his five storefronts from engaging in any further health care fraud conduct. Undeterred by this action, beginning in or around April 2019, and continuing into July 2020, Truglia and other conspirators—some who had worked with Truglia in the earlier conspiracy, as well as some new conspirators—carried out a similar conspiracy using three new DME storefronts and different “telemedicine” vendors. Through this conspiracy, Truglia and his conspirators caused an additional approximately $12 million in fraudulent DME claims to be submitted to Medicare, resulting in approximately $6.3 million in payments.
This case was investigated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Tampa Field Office. The criminal case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jay G. Trezevant, Tiffany E. Fields, and James A. Muench. The civil action is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Carolyn B. Tapie and Sean P. Keefe.
Former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Emergency Dispatcher Indicted for Producing and Distributing Materials Depicting Children Being Sexually AbusedRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Scott Matthew Yotka (47, Jacksonville) with producing and distributing materials depicting young children being sexually abused. Yotka faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years, and up to 80 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. Yotka was arrested at his residence by FBI agents on September 17, 2021, and is currently detained awaiting trial.
According to court documents, on September 15, 2021, Yotka, using the name “Scottnjax44,” utilized a particular social media application (app) to engage in online private conversations with an undercover FBI task force officer in Washington, D.C., who was posing as the parent of a child. Yotka and the undercover officer discussed, in detail, the sexual exploitation of children. Yotka stated that he was sexually active with two young children, both of whom were unable to talk. Yotka sent the undercover officer several photos and a video that depicted two children being sexually abused. Yotka also stated that he was employed as an “emergency dispatcher” and worked “12 hour shifts.”
The FBI’s investigation traced the online messaging activity to Yotka’s residence in Jacksonville and determined that the same “Scottnjax44” user account was also accessed from the City of Jacksonville facility at the Ed Ball Building located in downtown Jacksonville. FBI agents coordinated with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) and confirmed that Yotka was employed by JSO as a Police Emergency Communications Officer and that he routinely worked a 12-hour night shift.
On the morning of September 17, 2021, the FBI, assisted by JSO, executed a federal search warrant at Yotka’s residence and arrested Yotka. Following his arrest, Yotka resigned his position with JSO.
An indictment is merely an allegation and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and Washington, D.C., and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation should contact the FBI Jacksonville office at 904-248-7000.
Dual United States-Colombian Citizen Indicted for Producing and Possessing Child Sex Abuse Materials and Engaging in Child Sex TourismRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Hugo Espinosa Chavez (58, Tampa) with the production and possession of child sex abuse materials as well as foreign travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor child. If convicted on all counts, Espinosa faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. On October 5, 2021, Espinosa made his initial appearance in Tampa and was ordered detained pending trial.
According to the indictment, from May until December 2020, Espinosa employed, used, persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced a minor victim to produce depictions of the minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Moreover, on December 12, 2020, Espinosa traveled from the United States to the Republic of Colombia for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with this minor.
An indictment 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 Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa, with substantial assistance from HSI Bogota, the Colombian National Police, the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin Claire Favorit.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
Macclenny Man Pleads Guilty to Escaping from Jacksonville Halfway HouseRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Kevin Allen Rose (35, Macclenny) has pleaded guilty to escaping from a residential reentry center (halfway house) where he was completing a prior federal prison sentence. He faces a maximum penalty of five additional years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, in 2016, a federal judge found Rose guilty of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and two counts of distributing marijuana. Rose was committed to the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to serve 84 months in federal prison. In September 2020, the BOP transferred Rose into the custody of Keeton Corrections, Inc. Jacksonville Residential Reentry Center, a halfway house, to complete the remainder of his sentence.
On April 21, 2021, Rose escaped from Keeton and never returned. On September 16, 2021, Deputy U.S. Marshals arrested Rose in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
This case was investigated by U.S. Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Coolican.
Lakeland Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Theft of Public Money and Aggravated Identity TheftRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge William F. Jung has sentenced Julio Gonzales (45, Lakeland) to 2 years and 10 months in federal prison for theft of public money and aggravated identity theft. As part of his sentence, the court also ordered Gonzalez to pay $110,102.90 in restitution and, separately, entered a forfeiture money judgment against him in the amount of $28,527, the proceeds of the offense of conviction.
Gonzalez had pleaded guilty on June 22, 2021.
According to court documents, from February 2014 through February 2018, Gonzales stole Social Security benefit payments made by the Social Security Administration on behalf of four individuals. In total, Gonzalez knowingly and willfully stole approximately $110,102 in benefits to which he was not entitled. In addition, Gonzales used the identity of an unsuspecting U.S. citizen to commit Social Security fraud.
This case was investigated by the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Huyler.
Fort Myers Man Sentenced to More Than 22 Years for Firearms Offense and for Receiving Illegal Drugs Through the MailRead the Press Release
Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has sentenced Bradleigh Wayne Carter (32, Fort Myers) to 22 years and 6 months in federal prison for attempted possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams of methamphetamine and for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The court also ordered Carter to forfeit firearms and ammunition that were related to the offense.
Carter had pleaded guilty on October 6, 2020.
According to court documents, Carter agreed to have a United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail parcel shipped to his residence in Fort Myers, knowing that the package contained approximately one pound of methamphetamine. During the execution of a search warrant at Carter’s residence, law enforcement located additional quantities of controlled substances, including methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine. Agents also seized several firearms and ammunition that Carter, a convicted felon, knowingly possessed in furtherance of his drug trafficking activity.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jesus M. Casas.
Convicted Rapist and Armed Robber Who Assumed Another’s Identity for More Than 40 Years Pleads Guilty to Federal ChargesRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Douglas Edward Bennett (77, Clearwater) has pleaded guilty to passport fraud, aggravated identity theft, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He faces a maximum penalty of 22 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, in 1975 a Connecticut jury convicted Bennett of several violent felony and sex offenses, including robbery, kidnapping, sexual contact, rape, and two counts of deviate sexual intercourse, pursuant to which he was sentenced to 9 to 18 years in state prison. After his conviction, Bennett was permitted to remain out of custody pending appeal. But after his conviction was affirmed, Bennett never surrendered to begin serving his sentence, and instead assumed the identity of Gordon Ewen, under which he lived for more than 40 years. According to Massachusetts death records, the real Gordon Ewen died in 1945.
Around July 2016, Bennett submitted a passport application that used Gordon Ewen’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number and failed to disclose Bennett’s true identity.
On November 4, 2020, Bennett was arrested on the federal charges and on a warrant from the State of Connecticut. A fingerprint comparison confirmed that he was the same person convicted in Connecticut in 1975. That same day, federal agents executed a search warrant at Bennett’s house and discovered handwritten notes detailing the first time Bennett used Ewen’s identity and details on how he originally obtained Ewen’s identification documents. Additionally, inside Bennett’s home, investigators discovered and seized five firearms and nearly five thousand rounds of ammunition. As a convicted felon, Bennett is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
While in jail, family members visited Bennett. During a video visitation, Bennett stated to a family member, “I would have explained to him [the Federal Judge] the entirety of things, said ‘yes I started out as Douglas Bennett, but Douglas Bennett ceased to exist in 1977…and from that time forward, I’ve spent forty-three years being Gordon Ewen.’”
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the Social Security Administration – Office of Inspector General, with substantial support from the Department of State’s National Passport Center, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Connecticut U.S. Marshals Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin Claire Favorit.
Armed Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington has sentenced Johnny Ordaz (32, Bradenton) to 12 years in federal prison for possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The court also ordered Ordaz to forfeit two firearms, 121 rounds of ammunition, and $588 in cash, which are traceable to proceeds of the offenses.
A federal jury had found Ordaz guilty on July 8, 2021.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, in September 2019, law enforcement officers stopped Ordaz’s car because he failed to stop at a stop sign and because the car’s window tint was illegally dark. During the traffic stop, officers discovered a firearm with an extended magazine, loaded with 31 rounds of ammunition, wedged between the driver’s seat and the center console. They also seized a bag containing fentanyl from the driver’s side door handle, as well as a digital scale and small clear plastic baggies. The officers also found a bag in the passenger seat that contained another firearm with an extended magazine loaded with 27 rounds of ammunition, 63 rounds of additional ammunition, another digital scale, sandwich bags, and more small clear plastic baggies. They also recovered $588 from Ordaz’s front pocket.
Ordaz was previously convicted of multiple felony offenses, including possession of an unregistered short barrel shotgun, fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. As such he is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition under federal law.
This case was investigated by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Charlie D. Connally.
This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Ocoee Man Sentenced to More Than Six Years in Federal Prison for Identity Theft and Wire Fraud Scheme Targeting Elected Officials in FloridaRead the Press Release
Orlando, FL – U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell has sentenced Michael T. Watters (51, Ocoee) to six years and five months in federal prison for aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. Watters had pleaded guilty on July 12, 2021.
According to court documents, Watters created approximately 35 counterfeit driver licenses using the stolen identities of current or former local, state, and federal legislators. Between December 9, 2018, and May 1, 2019, Watters used those counterfeit driver licenses to successfully present approximately 265 counterfeit checks as payment at various stores in the Orlando area. When Watters presented a victim’s driver license number, he caused interstate wire communications to be transmitted from the store to a third-party payment provider to ascertain whether the driver license number previously had been associated with fraudulent payments. Watters caused total losses to the affected businesses in the amount of $53,156.43.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Winter Garden Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Chauncey A. Bratt.
United States Files Suit Against Tampa Doctor for Allegedly Taking Kickback Payments in Return for Fraudulent Fentanyl Spray PrescriptionsRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – The United States has filed a civil lawsuit against Dr. Edward Lubin, a pain management doctor practicing in Tampa, alleging that he issued patients medically unnecessary prescriptions for Subsys, a fentanyl-based spray manufactured by Insys Therapeutics, Inc., and used to treat breakthrough cancer pain. Dr. Lubin allegedly participated in Insys’ sham speaker program, through which it paid doctors in exchange for them writing such unnecessary prescriptions for Subsys.
In its complaint, the government alleges Dr. Lubin violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by repeatedly accepting payments of up to $3,700 from Insys for attending sham speaking events and, in exchange for these payments, prescribed Subsys to patients for whom the drug was either not medically necessary or otherwise inappropriate. These prescriptions were submitted to and paid through the Medicare and TRICARE federal healthcare programs. As further alleged in the complaint, between 2014 and 2016, Dr. Lubin prescribed Subsys to 61 patients, only nine of whom actually had cancer. In total, the United States alleges Dr. Lubin received more than $159,000 in payments from Insys and, in return, wrote Subsys prescriptions for which Medicare paid more than $2.8 million in claims.
The United States previously prosecuted Insys under a criminal information filed in the District of Massachusetts, and Insys agreed to a global resolution of the government’s separate civil and criminal investigations. As part of the civil resolution, Insys agreed to pay $195 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act and, as part of the criminal resolution, it entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government, its operating subsidiary pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, and the company was subject to a $2 million fine and $28 million in forfeiture.
Additionally, the United States criminally prosecuted the founder and four former executives of Insys. A federal jury in Boston previously found those defendants guilty of, among other things, using Insys’ speaker program to bribe medical practitioners to prescribe Subsys.
The claims asserted against Dr. Lubin are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
This case was investigated by the Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, and Department of Defense Office of Inspector General – Defense Criminal Investigative Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy Bloor.
Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477) and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General at 1-800-424-9098.
Tampa Accountant Charged with Murder-For-HireRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida– DeAnna Marie Stinson (50, Tampa) has been arrested and charged by federal criminal complaint with soliciting a crime of violence and murder-for-hire. If convicted on all counts, Stinson faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
According to the criminal complaint, on June 24, 2021, Stinson created an account on a dark web website (“The Website”) that purported to provide murder-for-hire services to its customers. On June 25, 2021, Stinson submitted an “order” requesting that a hitman be assigned to complete a “quick hit in southern Florida” to kill the spouse of Stinson’s former significant other. In the order, Stinson provided the Victim’s name, address, and a photograph of the Victim. Between June and July 2021, Stinson sent four additional orders and over $12,000 in Bitcoin to effect the hit. During this time, Stinson repeatedly messaged administrators of The Website and purported hitmen, requesting that the “job” be completed as soon as possible, and even offered a “bonus” if the hit was completed by a specific date. When Stinson had not received a status update from administrators of The Website, on July 31, 2021, Stinson requested that the administrators “reassign the job to someone who has a history of getting jobs done” because she “need[ed] th[e] job done ASAP.”
Law enforcement agents received information regarding Stinson’s criminal activity and obtained records from her virtual currency exchange account. The records showed that Stinson had paid Bitcoin to The Website. An agent contacted Stinson while acting in an undercover capacity as a hitman for The Website. In a recorded phone call, Stinson confirmed that she wanted the Victim killed and agreed to send additional money to the undercover agent via Bitcoin so that the transaction could not be traced. On September 13, 2021, Stinson sent $350 in Bitcoin to the undercover agent so that the agent could purchase a revolver to commit the murder.
A criminal complaint is only an allegation 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 Attorney Lisa M. Thelwell.
White Supremacist Gang Member Pleads Guilty to Violent Crime in Aid of RacketeeringRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Daniel Donofrio a/k/a “Q-Ball” (46, Chipley) has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit an aggravated assault in aid of racketeering. He faces up to three years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, Donofrio was a member of The Unforgiven, a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of murder, kidnapping, robbery, obstruction of justice, and other offenses, including the use of “Florida Department of Corrections Officials to smuggle. . . controlled substances.”
According to Donofrio’s plea agreement, victim B.L. violated the code of conduct of The Unforgiven and was considered a “rat.” The leadership of The Unforgiven authorized Donofrio “to order B.L. killed, or merely assaulted.” Donofrio ordered an “S.O.S.,” meaning “stab on sight,” for B.L., who was later stabbed.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the St. Petersburg Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Natalie Hirt Adams.
This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Putnam County Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Possessing Child Sexual Abuse ImagesRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Jasen Michael Anderson (30, Crescent City) to 10 years in federal prison for possessing images depicting the sexual abuse of children on his cell phone and ordered him to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. He was also sentenced to a 2-year prison term, to be served concurrently, for violating the terms of his supervised release from a prior conviction and incarceration.
According to court documents, in 2011, while living in Port Orange, Anderson possessed and distributed images and videos of children being sexually abused; in May 2012, he was convicted on federal charges for those offenses. After serving a 7-year prison sentence, Anderson was released and placed under the supervision of the United States Probation Office.
On March 16, 2020, Anderson admitted to his probation officer that he had used his cellphone to access the internet and search a particular Russian website for sexually explicit images of children. The probation officer then confiscated Anderson’s cellphone.
Later, Anderson met with his probation officer and admitted that he had accessed child sex abuse images over the internet using a second cellphone. The probation officer also seized the second phone. Subsequently the United States Marshals Service arrested Anderson for violating the terms of his supervised release. Forensic examination of his cellphones revealed that one of these devices contained 110 images depicting children, including some as young as six years old, being sexually abused.
“Unfortunately, this previously convicted child predator did not learn his lesson the first time,” said HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “HSI special agents, working with our partners at the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service, have made sure he will have another opportunity to re-evaluate his actions from behind bars.”
This case was investigated by the United States Probation Office in Ocala and Tampa, the United States Marshals Service, and Homeland Security Investigations. It was 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 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.justice.gov/psc.
Miami Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Federal Prison for Committing $650,000 in Credit Card FraudRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber today sentenced Andre Moore (37, Miami) to eight years in federal prison for credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Court also ordered Moore to pay $650,145.03 in restitution and to forfeit $3,110.55, related to the counts on which he was convicted.
Moore had pleaded guilty on June 8, 2021.
According to court documents, Moore stole the identities of more than 100 individuals. Between September 2019 and May 2020, Moore used those stolen identities to make more than $650,000 in purchases at retail stores in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. Moore used fraudulent driver licenses and ID cards to open store credit card accounts under the stolen identities and to re-open dormant store credit card accounts. Moore took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic, making thousands of dollars in purchases while people were in lockdown, including using the stolen accounts to purchase items that were scarce early on in the pandemic. Further, Moore committed the fraud while living under a fake identity and, upon his federal arrest, lied about his name and identity to both federal agents and the Court.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, and the Winter Park Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer L. Peresie and Suzanne C. Nebesky.
Former Nassau County Fire Rescue Employee Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Federal Prison for Receiving Child Sexual Abuse Images and Videos over the InternetRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida –Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan has sentenced Robert Arthur Ginder (35, Callahan) to seven years and six months in federal prison for receipt of child sex abuse images. The Court also ordered Ginder to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.
Ginder had pleaded guilty on April 22, 2021.
According to court documents, an investigation was initiated by law enforcement agents after they had gained access to an online cloud platform and a group chat in which users actively distributed images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. The agents observed that, when any user joined the group chat, various members of the group would share numerous image and video files depicting child exploitation .
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) identified Ginder’s residence as the source of the internet protocol (IP) addresses used by this particular account on the cloud platform and, further, determined that Ginder worked for Nassau County Fire Rescue as a logistics officer.
On October 20, 2020, HSI agents executed a federal search warrant at Ginder’s residence and authorities arrested Ginder later that day. Ginder admitted to receiving a link to the cloud platform and joining the group chat of the online cloud platform that contained child exploitation material. He also admitted to viewing and sharing child exploitation materials using the cloud platform. Ginder acknowledged that he had received an image depicting the sexual abuse of a child from this cloud platform over the internet.
A subsequent search and forensic review of Ginder’s electronic devices revealed that Ginder’s cellphone contained thousands of images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of young children.
“The sexual exploitation of children has no place in our communities,” said HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge K. Jim Phillips. “HSI special agents and our partners at the Clay County Sheriff’s Office will continue to pursue anyone involved in the production, distribution or possession of child pornography, or who target children in our communities in any way.”
This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Washington.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
Two Tampa Men Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Access Device Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft Related to COVID Unemployment Insurance BenefitsRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Kary Stevenson (47) and Corey Quinn (35), both of Tampa, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. Each faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count and a consecutive two years’ imprisonment for the aggravated identity count.
According to the plea agreements, from approximately May 2020 and continuing until August 12, 2020, Stevenson and Quinn obtained the personal identifying information of others and used that information to submit, or caused to be submitted, false and fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) claims to various state workforce agencies to obtain UI benefits. These UI benefits were then transferred to bank accounts or loaded onto debits cards issued in the names of other persons. Stevenson and Quinn then used, and attempted to use, the fraudulently obtained debit cards to withdraw money from ATMs and to purchase items from retail establishments. The U.S. Department of Labor calculated the total intended loss from Stevenson and Quinn’s fraudulent UI claims was approximately $1,010,353.
In March 2020, the President signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which expanded states’ ability to provide UI for many workers impacted by COVID-19, including for workers who were not ordinarily eligible for benefits.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gregory D. Pizzo and John Cannizzaro.
Melbourne Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Producing Child Sex Abuse Videos and Distributing Them over the InternetRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger has sentenced Lisa Vaughn (23, Melbourne) to 15 years in federal prison for producing and distributing videos depicting the sexual abuse of a child. Vaughn was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender.
Vaughn had pleaded guilty on June 21, 2021.
According to court documents, on or about May 29, 2016, Person One contacted Vaughn through an online social media application. At the time, Vaughn was 18 years old and resided in Melbourne, Florida. Person One portrayed himself as a 19-year-old male living in Florida named “David Brown.” The two began, what Vaughn believed to be, an online romance that continued through 2017. Person One, in reality, was approximately 41 years old and lived in Oregon. Throughout the conversations between Person One and Vaughn, Person One requested that Vaughn engage in sexual acts with a particular minor child (the “Child”) and Vaughn agreed. In total, Vaughn produced and distributed to Person One approximately 8 videos and 5 images of child sexual abuse material depicting Vaughn as she sexually abused the pre-teen Child.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer M. Harrington.
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.
Local High School Janitor Sentenced to 60 Years in Federal Prison for Secretly Filming Students in Girls’ BathroomRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida – United States District Judge Wendy W. Berger has sentenced Derremy Jerrell Walker (31, Sanford) to 60 years in federal prison for two counts of using, or attempting to use, children to produce sexually explicit videos. A federal jury had found Walker guilty of the offenses on June 29, 2021. Walker was also ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.
According to evidence admitted during the trial and at sentencing, Walker was a contracted janitor at Oviedo High School in November 2019 when two 15-year-old female students discovered an actively recording cellphone hidden under the sink in a student bathroom stall. The girls took the phone to school administrators, who contacted the Oviedo Police Department.
Forensic analysis of the cellphone revealed that Walker had placed the phone in the same location on two prior dates in November 2019, each time creating a one-hour video of students in that stall. On the date the girls found the phone, it had been recording for approximately 15 minutes before they discovered it. In each of the three instances, Walker had angled the cellphone’s camera in an effort to capture images of the genitalia of those in the stall. School administrators and law enforcement officials were able to identify 8 of the 12 students unknowingly captured in the videos that Walker recorded.
Further analysis revealed that Walker had also set up a surreptitious cellphone camera to record in the school’s faculty bathroom earlier that month.
“Mr. Walker did more than just produce horror; he stole the innocence and trust of these young victims. We are pleased with the sentence handed down in this case and will continue efforts to protect the children in our communities from sexual exploitation and abuse,” said FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge Michael McPherson.
This case was investigated by the Oviedo Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn P. Napier.
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.
Defendants Charged in Connection with Multi-State Racketeering Conspiracy Involving the Forced Labor of Mexican Agricultural H-2A WorkersRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Florida has returned a six-count indictment against three defendants for their alleged roles in a federal racketeering conspiracy that victimized Mexican H-2A workers who, between 2015 and 2017, had worked in the United States harvesting fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products.
The indictment alleges that from 2015 through 2017, the defendants participated in running a labor contracting company for H-2A agricultural workers called Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), which functioned as a criminal enterprise. LVH subjected multiple Mexican H-2A agricultural workers employed in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina to forced labor. LVH also harbored H-2A workers in the United States after their visas had expired for financial gain and committed visa fraud and fraud in foreign labor contracting.
The indictment charges Bladimir Moreno, a permanent resident of the United States and citizen of Mexico who owned and managed LVH, and Christina Gamez, a citizen of the United States who worked for LVH as a bookkeeper, manager and supervisor, with conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, and conspiracy to obstruct proceedings before departments, agencies and committees. Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza, a citizen of Mexico who worked as a manager and supervisor for LVH, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct proceedings before agencies.
The indictment alleges that the defendants charged with committing the RICO conspiracy operated LVH as a criminal scheme. They obtained hundreds of hours of physically demanding agricultural labor from the victimized H-2A workers through coercive means, such as imposing debts on workers; confiscating the workers’ passports; subjecting workers to crowded, unsanitary and degrading living conditions, as well as to yelling and verbal abuse; threatening workers with arrest, jailtime and deportation; isolating workers and limiting their ability to interact with anyone other than LVH employees; and suggesting to workers that if they failed to comply with the defendants’ demands, they or their family members could be physically harmed.
This case was investigated by the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force (to include the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office), with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor - Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of State - Diplomatic Security Service. It will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Murray and Trial Attorneys Avner Shapiro and Maryam Zhuravitsky of the Civil Rights Division.
An indictment 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.
American Ex-Pat Pleads Guilty to Panamanian Wire Fraud ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Jeffrey Jedlicki (51, Panama City, Panama) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the operation of international boiler rooms which defrauded victims via the sale of worthless investments. Jedlicki faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not been set.
According to the plea agreement, Jedlicki and his co-conspirators operated international boiler rooms in Panama and elsewhere that used high-pressure sales techniques to defraud individuals who invested substantial amounts of money in what they believed were regulated financial products or markets, such as options in commodities and stocks. The majority of the victims that the boiler rooms targeted were located in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
Jedlicki and his co-conspirators then transferred fraud proceeds generated by the boiler rooms through several money laundering rings, and then on to overseas accounts, with the launderers receiving a percentage of the funds they had moved. Jedlicki himself received a 2% referral fee for referring victims’ funds to a money laundering ring. Jedlicki used the funds to perpetuate the conspiracy, and for his own personal enrichment. In total, Jedlicki and his co-conspirators wired or caused to be wired approximately $3,244,592 (U.S. Dollars) in victims’ funds to money laundering accounts in furtherance of the wire fraud conspiracy.
This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations, and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David W.A. Chee.
Tampa Man Sentenced to More Than 12 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin and FentanylRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Steven Echevarria (35, Tampa) to 12 years and 6 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl.
Echevarria had pleaded guilty on March 18, 2021.
According to court documents, between January 1, 2016, and September 1, 2020, Echevarria conspired with others to distribute heroin and fentanyl in the Middle District of Florida. The conspiracy involved at least one kilogram of heroin. Echevarria obtained heroin from a source in the Orlando area and provided it to co-conspirators to distribute in Hillsborough County. Echevarria was arrested on other charges and incarcerated during the conspiracy. While Echevarria was in custody, a co-conspirator took over his role in the conspiracy and obtained heroin and fentanyl from the source in the Orlando area. After Echevarria was released from jail in July 2020, he resumed working with his co-conspirators and distributed heroin and fentanyl to a confidential source.
The investigation in this case is the result of a partnership between the United States Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Tampa Police Department, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Sinacore.
St. Augustine Registered Sex Offender Indicted for Attempting to Entice A 10-Year-Old Child to Engage in Sex and Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Video over the InternetRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann announces that a grand jury has returned an indictment charging Christopher Lee Smith (39, St. Augustine) with attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sex and online distribution of a video depicting the sexual abuse of a child. Smith faces a minimum mandatory penalty 15 years, and up to life, in federal prison, a $500,000 fine, and a potential life term of supervised release. Smith is a registered sex offender, having been convicted of a prior child sex offense in January 2012. Smith was arrested by FBI agents on September 2, 2021, and is in federal custody awaiting his arraignment on September 23, 2021.
According to court documents, on June 28 and August 30, 2021, Smith utilized a particular social media application (app) to engage in online conversations with an undercover federal agent who was posing as the parent of a 10-year-old child. On June 28, 2021, Smith advised the undercover agent that he (Smith) wanted to have sex with the “child” and discussed in detail the sexual acts that he wished to perform on the “child.” On August 30, 2021, Smith and the undercover agent engaged in another online conversation. Smith advised, among other things, that he had engaged in sexual activity with another minor child; Smith also used the internet to send a video to the undercover agent depicting an adult male sexually abusing the minor. FBI agents were subsequently able to identify the child.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville and Tampa. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
An indictment 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 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.justice.gov/psc.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation should contact the FBI Jacksonville office at 904-248-7000.
Owner of Jacksonville Tax Preparation Business Sentenced to Federal Prison for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Paul Berkins Moise to 35 months in federal prison for aiding and assisting others with the filing of fraudulent tax returns and for filing fraudulent tax returns on his own behalf. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the United States for a tax loss of $77,929.
Moise was found guilty on April 29, 2021, after a jury trial.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Moise owned and operated a tax preparation business in Jacksonville. Between February 2013 and March 2017, Moise defrauded the IRS by filing returns for his clients in which he grossly inflated deductions for state and local sales taxes, unreimbursed employee expenses, and gifts to charity by cash or check.
For example, on one tax return, Moise claimed a sales tax deduction of $5,883 for a client who had a gross income of $43,476. In order for that client to claim a sales tax deduction that large, the client would have had to have made taxable purchases totaling $89,926 (including the tax) – or more than twice the client’s claimed gross income.
Trial evidence also showed that Moise grossly underreported his own income on tax returns he filed for himself for the years 2013, 2014, and 2015. On his 2013 return, Moise reported $10,160 in income when he had actually earned at least $83,848 that year. On his 2014 return, Moise reported $2,695 in income when he had actually earned $252,652 that year. On his 2015 return, Moise reported $10,255 in income when he had actually earned $234,936 that year.
“Moise ran a tax preparation business that filed fraudulent returns on behalf of his clients grossly inflating deductions and gifts to charity, while at the same time, significantly under reporting his own income,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne. “He cheated all Americans, since we all pay our fair share for the government services and protections that we enjoy. Now he will pay the price in prison.”
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.
Fort Myers Career Criminal Sentenced to Fifteen Years for Firearm OffenseRead the Press Release
Fort Myers, Florida – U.S. District Judge John L. Badalamenti has sentenced Larry Lynn Gary (29, Fort Myers) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a previously convicted felon. Gary had pleaded guilty on May 6, 2021.
According to court documents, on August 6, 2020, Gary was a passenger in a vehicle that had been pulled over for a routine traffic infraction by an officer from the Fort Myers Police Department. After exiting the vehicle at the officer’s request, Gary ran from the traffic stop leaving behind a blue bag in the car. A search of the bag revealed a loaded Glock 19 firearm and a bag of fentanyl. Gary was later apprehended by officers with the help of a police K-9. At the time, Gary had multiple prior felony convictions and had recently been released from prison. He is prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Fort Myers Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Simon R. Eth.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Dispatcher Arrested and Charged with Distributing Photos and A Video Depicting the Sexual Abuse of Young ChildrenRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann announces that Scott Matthew Yotka (37, Jacksonville) has been arrested and charged with distributing images and a video over the internet depicting the sexual abuse of young children. Yotka faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to 20 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervised release. Yotka was arrested by FBI agents at his home on September 17, 2021, and he remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on September 22, 2021.
According to court documents, on September 15, 2021, Yotka, using the name “Scottnjax44,” utilized a particular social media application (app) to engage in online private conversations with an undercover FBI task force officer in Washington, D.C., who was posing as the parent of a child. Yotka was acting as the administrator of a public chat room on this app. During a private message conversation, Yotka engaged in an explicit conversation with the undercover officer regarding the sexual exploitation of children. Additionally, Yotka sent the undercover officer several photos and one video that depicted young children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Yotka also stated that he was employed as an “emergency dispatcher” and worked “12 hour shifts.”
The FBI sought emergency disclosure information from the app and AT&T that revealed internet protocol login activity by the “Scottnjax44” account resolved, in part, to Yotka’s residence in Jacksonville and the subscriber listed on that account was “Scott Yotka.” This information also indicated that the app company listed frequent login activity from a second IP address used by the “Scottnjax44” user account, which activity resolved to the City of Jacksonville at the Ed Ball Building located in downtown Jacksonville. On September 16, 2021, FBI agents coordinated with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) and confirmed that Yotka was at that time employed by JSO as a dispatcher and that he routinely worked a 12-hour night shift.
On the morning of September 17, 2021, the FBI, assisted by the JSO, executed a federal search warrant at Yotka’s residence and arrested Yotka.
A complaint is merely a 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 in Jacksonville and Washington, D.C. and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
This 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.justice.gov/psc.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation should contact the FBI Jacksonville office at 904.248.7000.
Career Criminal Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison in Connection with Fort Myers Night Club ShootingRead the Press Release
Fort Myers, FL – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell has sentenced Jonathan Anthony Reid (32, Gibsonton) to life in federal prison for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a previously convicted felon, in connection with the shooting of two men outside a Fort Myers night club in January 2020.
Reid was found guilty by a federal jury on March 11, 2021.
According to evidence presented at trial, in the early morning hours of January 29, 2020, Reid shot two men who were standing in front of the entrance of a night club on Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers then fled the scene in a silver sedan with a stolen license plate. Reid made efforts to conceal his identity during the shooting by wearing a hooded sweatshirt, gloves, and a ski mask, but he later crashed and abandoned his getaway car while fleeing from the shooting scene. From his wrecked getaway car, law enforcement recovered a Glock .45 caliber handgun, nine rounds of .45 caliber ammunition, a camouflage ski mask, a hooded sweatshirt, and blue latex gloves. DNA analysis later revealed that Reid’s DNA profile matched DNA extracted from the ski mask, the sweatshirt, a ripped latex glove, and the firearm that was recovered from the vehicle. Three cellphones were also found in the car, all of which were later connected to Reid.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Fort Myers Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Simon R. Eth and Shannon Laurie.
This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Federal Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against Florida Compounding Pharmacy and its Owner to Prevent Distribution of Adulterated DrugsRead the Press Release
Tampa, FL – A federal judge today ordered a Weeki Wachee, Florida compounding pharmacy and its owner to stop distributing adulterated and unapproved new drugs in violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Sept. 9, the government alleged that Premier Pharmacy Labs Inc. and its owner, Vern A. Allen, failed to adequately address insanitary conditions and violations of current good manufacturing practice requirements at their drug compounding facility. For example, the complaint alleged that the defendants failed to conduct adequate investigations into discrepancies that may have had an impact on the quality and safety of their sterile drug products; failed to conduct sterility testing, endotoxin testing and visual checks for particles before releasing products; and failed to ensure that aseptic processing areas provided adequate conditions to prevent contamination of sterile products. The defendants agreed to a consent decree of permanent injunction that was filed with the complaint. The Department of Justice filed the case at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Compounding pharmacies must follow applicable laws and regulations so that patients and doctors can rely on the safety of the drugs they produce,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with FDA to enforce the FDCA’s critical public health provisions.”
“The quality and safety of compounded medications is vitally important to the residents of our district,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Karin Hoppmann of the Middle District of Florida. “This injunction will ensure that pharmacies comply with the requirements of law in manufacturing products regulated by the FDA.”
“Premier Pharmacy and its owner placed patients at significant risk. Outsourcing facilities must follow good manufacturing practice to ensure patients are not exposed to poor quality, potentially harmful drugs,” said Director Donald D. Ashley, J.D. of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “We will continue to take appropriate enforcement actions to ensure that companies follow important safety requirements to avoid putting patients’ health at risk.”
Premier stopped manufacturing drugs following an FDA inspection in June 2019. Under the permanent injunction, Premier cannot resume operations unless and until it completes corrective actions to ensure that its drugs are manufactured in compliance with the FDCA. According to the complaint, Premier has stated that it does not intend to resume operations.
Premier previously received a warning letter after a 2014 FDA inspection found that the facility operated under insanitary conditions and violated current good manufacturing practice requirements. After a 2016 follow-up inspection and a related January 2018 regulatory meeting with FDA, the company recalled affected sterile injectable drugs in April 2018 due to a potential lack of sterility assurance. Premier recalled all unexpired drugs intended to be sterile in June 2019 following another FDA inspection.
The case was handled by Trial Attorney Raquel Toledo of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Harwell from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida and Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement James Allred of the FDA’s Office of the Chief Counsel.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.
Federal Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against Florida Compounding Pharmacy and its Owner to Prevent Distribution of Adulterated DrugsRead the Press Release
A federal judge today ordered a Weeki Wachee, Florida compounding pharmacy and its owner to stop distributing adulterated and unapproved new drugs in violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Sept. 9, the government alleged that Premier Pharmacy Labs Inc. and its owner, Vern A. Allen, failed to adequately address insanitary conditions and violations of current good manufacturing practice requirements at their drug compounding facility. For example, the complaint alleged that the defendants failed to conduct adequate investigations into discrepancies that may have had an impact on the quality and safety of their sterile drug products; failed to conduct sterility testing, endotoxin testing and visual checks for particles before releasing products; and failed to ensure that aseptic processing areas provided adequate conditions to prevent contamination of sterile products. The defendants agreed to a consent decree of permanent injunction that was filed with the complaint. The Department of Justice filed the case at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Compounding pharmacies must follow applicable laws and regulations so that patients and doctors can rely on the safety of the drugs they produce,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with FDA to enforce the FDCA’s critical public health provisions.”
“The quality and safety of compounded medications is vitally important to the residents of our district,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Karin Hoppmann of the Middle District of Florida. “This injunction will ensure that pharmacies comply with the requirements of law in manufacturing products regulated by the FDA.”
“Premier Pharmacy and its owner placed patients at significant risk. Outsourcing facilities must follow good manufacturing practice to ensure patients are not exposed to poor quality, potentially harmful drugs,” said Director Donald D. Ashley, J.D. of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “We will continue to take appropriate enforcement actions to ensure that companies follow important safety requirements to avoid putting patients’ health at risk.”
Premier stopped manufacturing drugs following an FDA inspection in June 2019. Under the permanent injunction, Premier cannot resume operations unless and until it completes corrective actions to ensure that its drugs are manufactured in compliance with the FDCA. According to the complaint, Premier has stated that it does not intend to resume operations.
Premier previously received a warning letter after a 2014 FDA inspection found that the facility operated under insanitary conditions and violated current good manufacturing practice requirements. After a 2016 follow-up inspection and a related January 2018 regulatory meeting with FDA, the company recalled affected sterile injectable drugs in April 2018 due to a potential lack of sterility assurance. Premier recalled all unexpired drugs intended to be sterile in June 2019 following another FDA inspection.
The case was handled by Trial Attorney Raquel Toledo of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Harwell from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida and Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement James Allred of the FDA’s Office of the Chief Counsel.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl.
Treatment Facility Owner Sentenced to Federal Prison for Health Care FraudRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven has sentenced Marcus Lloyd Anderson (36, St. Petersburg) to one year and a day in federal prison for health care fraud. As part of his sentence, the court also entered a money judgment in of $323,248, which were the proceeds of the offense.
Anderson had pleaded guilty on April 30, 2020.
According to court documents, Anderson submitted bogus claims to the Florida Medicaid program and related managed care organizations for services that were never provided to patients. Anderson falsely claimed that patients had received counseling at his treatment facility when, as he knew, they were not there. In fact, some patients were hospitalized or placed in assisted living facilities elsewhere when Anderson lied, claiming they were in his care. Anderson also stole and misused the billing credentials of multiple doctors by billing for services he claimed they had rendered to patients at his facility, when those doctors had left his employment many months before. By lying about the services rendered and misusing billing credentials, Anderson stole more than $300,000 from these programs.
“Stealing from Medicaid, a taxpayer-funded safety net program, is a reprehensible crime that diverts funds intended to serve some of the most vulnerable individuals in our country,” said Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “Such greed-fueled scams will not be tolerated. Thanks to our hardworking investigators and our law enforcement partners, fraudsters are being held accountable for engaging in these illicit activities.”
“We are thankful that this matter has been resolved and Mr. Anderson is being held accountable for his actions,” said Anthony Holloway, Chief of St. Petersburg Police. “We appreciate our partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and their continued commitment to seek justice for those who are victimized by schemes to defraud.”
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “This fraudster misused billing credentials of physicians and charged the government for services not rendered to steal from taxpayers. Thankfully, our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigators, working with federal authorities, uncovered the scheme and now, this fraudster will serve time in a federal prison.”
The case was investigated by Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Florida Office of Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the St. Petersburg Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Fiore.
Vero Beach Woman Pleads Guilty to Possessing More Than 500 Grams of MethamphetamineRead the Press Release
Orlando Florida – Amanda Gailene Paul (38, Vero Beach) has pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. She faces up to life in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
According to the plea agreement, on or about November 3, 2020, at the direction of federal agents, a confidential source contacted Paul to purchase three pounds of methamphetamine. Prior to the delivery, investigators located Paul in her vehicle. A subsequent search of Paul’s vehicle revealed three individually packaged plastic bags that contained approximately three pounds of methamphetamine.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Palm Bay Police Department, the City of Cocoa Police Department, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Terry B. Livanos.