Southern District of Florida

Miami, Florida – A former police officer with the Sewall’s Point, Florida Police Department has pled guilty in Ft. Pierce federal court to attempting to sexually entice a 15-year-old boy and produce child pornography.

According to court records, Juan Antonio Garcia, 30, of Stuart, met the 15-year-old victim at a local park.  Garcia befriended the boy and communicated with him in person and by text message.  During one meeting, Garcia gave the boy condoms.  Through text messages, Garcia taught the boy how to put on a condom, then directed the boy to masturbate, ejaculate into the condom, and send Garcia a photograph of the used item.  Garcia also asked the boy to send him a video of the boy masturbating.  In another text message, Garcia asked the minor to meet him at a local park for oral sex.  When Garcia arrived at the park, law enforcement officers arrested him.

United States District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon will sentence Garcia on June 13, at 11:00 a.m., in Fort Pierce.  Garcia faces between 15 years to life in prison.  

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office made the announcement.

HSI Fort Pierce investigated the case, with assistance from Martin County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey Bergstrom is prosecuting the case.  

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14044.

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Miami, Florida - A Florida man was sentenced today in the Southern District of Florida to 200 months in prison for illegally distributing opioids at his pain management clinic in Miami.

Habib Geagea Palacios, 40, of Miami, owned General Care Center Inc., a cash-only pain management clinic. At General Care, Palacios paid doctors to prescribe opioids to nearly all patients who visited the clinic, resulting in the illegal distribution of more than three million oxycodone pills and generating $9 million in cash. Seven doctors who worked at General Care have been charged in connection with their unlawful prescribing practices at the clinic, and six have pleaded guilty to date.    

Palacios pleaded guilty on Nov. 9, 2021, to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and one count of distributing a controlled substance. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Palacios was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release. 

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez of the Southern District of Florida; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter of the DEA’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Brian Swain of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

HHS-OIG, FBI, DEA, and USSS investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin J. Larsen for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Alexander Thor Pogozelski of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section  prosecuted the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff is handling asset forfeiture.

This prosecution was part of Operation General Care-Less (FC/FLS/2227), which is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and other priority transnational criminal organizations that threaten the citizens of the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence driven, multi-agency approach to combat transnational organized crime.  The OCDETF program facilitates complex, joint operations by focusing its partner agencies on priority targets, by managing and coordinating multi-agency efforts, and by leveraging intelligence across multiple investigative platforms.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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Miami, Florida – U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith sentenced Steven Dexter Gangoo, 20, to 15 years in federal prison followed by 25 years of supervised release for enticing and coercing young girls, as young as 13-years-old, into producing and transmitting sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves.  Making good on a threat to one of his victims, Gangoo shared nude photographs of the 16-year-old girl with her Instagram friends.

According to court records, Gangoo contacted his victims on social media.  Gangoo’s tactic with the young girls was to “friend” them on social media, tell them they were pretty, and have the girls send him suggestive photographs of themselves.  Gangoo initially offered the victims money to perform such acts.  However, once the victims sent the requested images and or videos, Gangoo would extort them by using initial images and videos as leverage to gain compliance into taking and sending additional nude photographs, in poses that he selected.  If the victims refused to comply with his demands, he would threaten the victims by sharing their nude images and videos with their family and friends.  As the chats progressed, the demands became more sexually explicit.  When one of his victims stopped communicating with Gangoo, he did just that.  He sent nude pictures of the minor to her school friends, whom he identified through the victim’s social media contacts.

One of Gangoo’s victims told her parents about Gangoo’s demands.  This prompted a South Florida law enforcement investigation.  Officers located Gangoo in Broward County and arrested him.  On January 11, 2022, Gangoo pled guilty to producing child pornography. 

It should be noted that Gangoo was actively trading Child sex abuse material with other like-minded subjects using various online social media platforms. 

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez commended the investigative efforts of FBI, and, in particular, FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force who worked in partnership with the Plantation Police Department and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department on the matter. The U.S. Attorney also thanks the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

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

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 19-cr-60385.

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The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has ordered Florida company, Windows Service Center LLC, and its owner and operator, Erica Herson, 41, of Miami, to stop operating a technical-support fraud scheme that is alleged to have defrauded elderly and vulnerable U.S. victims out of over $1 million.

In a complaint filed on March 30, the United States alleges that Herson operated a scheme through Windows Service Center, as well as through her prior company USEL Support LLC, in which she contacted individuals over the phone and convinced them to purchase overpriced and unnecessary technical support services and anti-virus software by falsely claiming that their computers were infected with viruses or malware or were accessed by hackers. The complaint alleges that, in reality, Herson had no specific knowledge of the security of the victims’ computers prior to making the calls.

The complaint also alleges that Herson charged victims thousands of dollars for the installation of software that is available online for free or for a low cost. In addition, the complaint alleges that once a victim had made a purchase from USEL Support, Herson and USEL Support contacted that same victim repeatedly to try to obtain further payments by falsely claiming that the victim’s computer had additional security problems. The complaint alleges that Herson is continuing the same technical support fraud scheme through her new company, Windows Service Center.

“Technical support fraud schemes often prey on America’s seniors, exploiting their fear of online threats to steal their hard-earned savings,” said Principal Deputy Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice is committed to using all tools available to protect seniors from telemarketing fraud, whether those fraudulent phone calls are coming from call centers abroad, or from right here in the United States.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will hold accountable anyone engaging in schemes to defraud our seniors,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “We urge the public to avoid giving computer access to unsolicited callers claiming a computer needs repair, to use caution before clicking on links in emails or on social media and to report suspected fraud to the appropriate authorities.” 

“Schemes of this nature target our elderly citizens under the guise of helping them,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division. “The FBI works hand-in-hand with our law enforcement partners to dismantle crimes and scams like these, and we will bring to justice those fraudsters who commit them. Protecting our nation’s senior and vulnerable citizens is of the utmost importance to the FBI.”

The temporary restraining order entered March 31 prohibits Herson and Windows Service Center from engaging in telemarketing activity related to computer or software technical support and from accepting consumer payments related to any computer or software technical support service.

This case is being handled by Trial Attorneys Amy Kaplan and Ann Entwistle of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney James A. Weinkle for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.

The department’s extensive and broad-based efforts to combat elder fraud seeks to halt the widespread losses seniors suffer from fraud schemes. The best method for prevention, however, is by sharing information about the various types of elder fraud schemes with relatives, friends, neighbors and other seniors who can use that information to protect themselves.

The public can report suspected fraud to law enforcement and file a complaint at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/ and/or www.ic3.gov/Home/FileComplaint.

If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud, and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is staffed seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET. English, Spanish and other languages are available.

Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Information about the Department of Justice’s Elder Fraud Initiative is available at www.justice.gov/elderjustice.

Miami, Florida – A 46-year-old Miami man who bought child pornography on the Dark Web using cryptocurrency has been sentenced to 151 months in federal prison, to be followed by 30 years of supervised release.  

Adolfo Fernandez stored the child exploitation material on various electronic devices that he kept at his home, including over 2,000 pictures and 300 videos of minors being sexually abused.  In addition to the purchased items, Fernandez also stored digital images that showed him in his living room, engaged in explicit sex acts with a minor.    

On December 13, 2021, Fernandez pled guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, HSI, Miami Field Office, announced the sentence that U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom imposed.   

HSI Miami investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Hapner prosecuted it.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Klco is handling asset forfeiture. 

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

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20337.

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Miami, Florida – In one of the largest cryptocurrency forfeiture actions ever filed by the United States, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida successfully forfeited approximately $34 million worth of cryptocurrency tied to illegal Dark Web activity.  

According to the U.S. Government’s civil forfeiture complaint, law enforcement agents identified a South Florida resident raking in millions by using an on-line alias to make over 100,000 sales of illicit items and hacked online account information on several of the world’s largest Dark Web marketplaces.  For example, the South Florida resident sold hacked online account information for popular services such as HBO, Netflix, and Uber, among others, and accessed the Dark Web by utilizing the TOR (The Onion Router) Network. The Onion Router Network is a special network of computers distributed around the world designed to anonymize a user’s internet traffic by concealing computers’ IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. 

As detailed in the complaint, records analyses revealed that the South Florida resident utilized so-called “tumblers” and illegal Dark Web money transmitter services to launder one cryptocurrency for another—a technique called “chain hopping”—in violation of federal money laundering statutes.  A tumbler is a Dark Web mixing service that pools together multiple cryptocurrency transactions. Then, the tumbler distributes the cryptocurrency to a designated cryptocurrency wallet at random times, and in random increments. The goal is to obscure the original source of funds. Law enforcement agents seized various cryptocurrency wallets associated with the illegal Dark Web conduct.   

This forfeiture action is the result of Operation TORnado, a joint investigation that stems from the ongoing efforts by OCDETF, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and other priority transnational criminal organizations that threaten the citizens of the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence driven, multi-agency approach to combat transnational organized crime.  The OCDETF program facilitates complex, joint operations by focusing its partner agencies on priority targets, by managing and coordinating multi-agency efforts, and by leveraging intelligence across multiple investigative platforms.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Matthew D. Line, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office; George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami; Deanne L. Reuter, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Miami; Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge, Miami Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), made the announcement.

IRS-CI, FBI, DEA, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) investigated the case.

Asset Forfeiture Division Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch Hyman and Deputy Chiefs Nicole Grosnoff and Nalina Sombuntham prosecuted this asset forfeiture action. Monique Botero, Chief of the Southern District of Florida’s International Money Laundering and Narcotics Section, is the lead prosecutor on Operation TORnado.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cv-62182.

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Miami, Florida – A 34-year-old Palm Beach Gardens man who hurled a chair at, and threatened to kill, an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) after receiving an unfavorable jury verdict has been sentenced to 80 months in federal prison.  

On November 7, 2019, a South Florida federal jury found Christopher Tavorris Wilkins guilty of committing various firearms and witness tampering crimes.  As members of the jury left the courtroom after delivering their verdict, Wilkins picked up a chair close to him and flung it at the AUSA prosecuting his case, barely missing the prosecutor.  While Deputy United States Marshals worked to restrain the defendant, Wilkins yelled at the AUSA that Wilkins would kill him.

Wilkins was charged in a separate case with assaulting and threatening to kill a federal prosecutor.  A jury found Wilkins guilty, and U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon sentenced him to 80 months in prison. This sentence will run consecutive to the 210-month sentence that Wilkins received on the underlying gun and witness tampering convictions. In short, Wilkins can expect to spend the next 24 years in federal prison.  

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Gadyaces S. Serralta, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Florida; and Christopher A. Robinson, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service for the Southern District of Florida and Miami ATF investigated this matter.  Assistant United States Attorneys Ajay J. Alexander and Brooke E. Latta prosecuted the case.  

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-60037. 

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Miami, Florida – Raidel Figueroa, the former CEO and co-owner of Pharmatech, LLC, a drug and dietary supplement manufacturer that operated in Broward County, Florida, has made his initial appearance in Fort Lauderdale federal magistrate court to face charges that he conspired to manufacture and distribute drugs outside the regulatory oversight of the FDA, to interfere with and obstruct the FDA. 

The unsealed indictment charges Figueroa with conspiracy to defraud the United States, falsification of records in a federal investigation, obstruction of proceedings before an agency of the United States, and distribution of adulterated drugs in interstate commerce.   

The indictment alleges the following: From 2016 to 2017, Pharmatech manufactured and distributed Diocto Liquid, a drug used to treat constipation.  In July 2016, FDA initiated an inspection at Pharmatech as part of an investigation into an outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia (“B. cepacia”) infections.  B. cepacia is the name for a group or “complex” of bacteria typically found in soil and water. These bacteria pose little medical risk to healthy people, but people who have certain health problems like weak immune systems or chronic lung diseases may be more susceptible to B. cepacia infections.  The effects of B. cepacia can include serious respiratory infections and other types of infections.  Contaminated medicines can transmit B. cepacia, and the bacteria are often resistant to common antibiotics.

At the close of the FDA’s Pharmatech inspection in August 2016, the FDA notified Figueroa that a water sample taken from Pharmatech’s system had tested positive for B. cepacia.  In response, Figueroa advised the FDA that Pharmatech was re-engineering its purified water system to prevent future contaminations, according to the allegations. 

In March 2017, the FDA started another inspection at Pharmatech. FDA investigators asked Figueroa to disclose all products that Pharmatech had manufactured after it resumed manufacturing.  It is alleged that Figueroa lied to the FDA investigators by, among other things, knowingly excluding Diocto Liquid from its products list (even though Pharmatech shipped over 7,000 units of the drug earlier that month) and by falsely stating to the FDA that Pharmatech’s new water system had met “acceptance criteria,” which was not true.

According to the indictment, in July 2017, the CDC notified the FDA of multiple cases of B. cepacia infections in pediatric patients at Stanford Children’s Health Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Maryland.  FDA investigated and collected bottles of Diocto Liquid from these medical centers.  It is alleged that the collected bottles were from the same lot that Pharmatech distributed in March 2017 – the same one that Pharmatech failed to disclose to the FDA.  Several of the bottles contained total aerobic microbial counts and total yeast and mold counts over acceptable limits and some of the bottles also tested positive for the presence of B. cepacia, says the indictment.   

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Justin C. Fielder, Special Agent in Charge, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office, made the announcement. 

The FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Deric Zacca is prosecuting this case, with assistance from Laura Akowuah, from FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel.   

An indictment contains mere allegations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-60033.

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Miami, Florida – A federal jury in Fort Pierce, Florida has found Zachary S. Spiegel, 38, of Jensen Beach, guilty of attempted on-line enticement of a minor.

According to evidence presented at trial, for several weeks in January of this year, Spiegel communicated online and by text message with someone whom he believed was a 14-year-old girl named Shayla. In reality, “Shayla” was a fictional persona created by a 16-year-old boy who was trying to identify child predators in the area. On January 9, Spiegel attempted to persuade Shayla to meet him in the parking lot of a Fort Pierce shopping plaza for sex in his car.  Spiegel sent Shayla graphic descriptions of the sex acts he would perform on her, as well as photos of his erect penis. They agreed on a time and place to meet, but Spiegel did not make it. Spiegel later explained to Shayla that while on his way to their rendezvous, law enforcement officers pulled him over for speeding and he decided to return home. After this incident, the 16-year-old boy contacted law enforcement.

Spiegel kept communicating with a person he believed was the 14-year-old Shayla. As he had done before, Spiegel made sexually explicit comments, sent several more photos of his face and penis, and talked about meeting Shayla in person.

A law enforcement investigation led officers to Spiegel.  They executed a search warrant at his Jensen Beach home on January 20, where they found him in possession of the cellular phone he had used to communicate with “Shayla.”

U.S. District Court Judge Paul C. Huck will sentence Spiegel on May 23, at 9:30 a.m., in Fort Pierce federal court. Spiegel faces 10 years to life in federal prison.

(Photograph of Spiegel, Government’s Trial Exhibit 5).

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, announced the guilty verdict.

HSI Miami and the Fort Pierce Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stacey Bergstrom and Justin Hoover are prosecuting it.  

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14017.

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Miami, Florida – A South Florida grand jury has charged a 38-year-old felon from Lauderhill, Florida with illegally possessing a cache of firearms and ammunition, as well as sensitive identity and financial information belonging to others.

According to the indictment, an earlier-filed criminal complaint affidavit, and government exhibits filed with the court, a narcotics investigation led law enforcement officers to Deshawn Lemonte Wheeler. On March 3, officers executed a search warrant at Wheeler’s home, where they recovered 10 firearms (including pistols, revolvers, and a rifle), multiple high-capacity-drums and other magazines, and a vast amount of multiple caliber ammunition.  They also recovered numerous credit and debit card account numbers, bank account numbers, driver’s license identification numbers, and a Department of Defense identification number, all belonging to other people, say the court filings. 

On March 3, Wheeler was a felon, having been previously convicted in federal court of conspiring to commit a Hobbs Act robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence.

The indictment charges Wheeler with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition, one count of possessing 15 or more unauthorized access devices, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.  If convicted on all counts, Wheeler faces up to 26 years in federal prison.

Wheeler is scheduled for arraignment on Monday, April 4, at 11:00 a.m., in federal magistrate court in Ft. Lauderdale.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the charges.

FBI Miami investigated the case, with assistance from Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Lauderhill Police Department, and Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph A. Cooley is prosecuting the case.

This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

Indictments and criminal complaints contain mere allegations.  A defendant is innocent unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-60063.

Note: Included photograph from Court docket: entry #8, exhibit #1.

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Miami, Florida – A Florida tax return preparer was sentenced in March 2022 to 97 months in prison for preparing false tax returns for his clients.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Fred Pickett Jr., of Belle Glade, owned and operated a tax return business he used to prepare false individual income tax returns. From 2013 to 2016, Pickett prepared tax returns for some of his clients claiming they owned fictitious businesses that lost tens of thousands of dollars each year. Pickett included these nonexistent companies, as well as other false deductions and tax credits, on his clients’ returns to generate refunds they were not entitled to receive. In December 2021, Pickett was convicted at trial of 22 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg ordered Pickett to serve one year of supervised release and pay approximately $169,639 in restitution to the IRS.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Parker Tobin and Patrick Elwell of the Tax Division prosecuted the case. Southern District of Florida Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Osborne indicted Pickett.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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Miami, Florida – A 52-year-old Hialeah man with a prior felony conviction who went on a four-month bank robbery spree was federally indicted yesterday on 11 counts of bank robbery.

According to the criminal complaint, Jorge Ariel Cabrera (“Cabrera”) robbed 11 banks in Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.  During each robbery, Cabrera approached the teller window and pressed a handwritten note to the window, demanding money and threatening that he had a gun.  The victims complied with Cabrera’s demands, at which point Cabrera grabbed the money and fled the banks.  Cabrera was successful in stealing $65,950. 

On the day of his arrest, leaving the last bank that he had robbed, Cabrera fled from officers in his vehicle, led them to his apartment complex, and was found hiding in the apartment complex’s fitness center, after discarding the clothes he was wearing in the robbery.

After taking Cabrera into custody, Cabrera admitted to law enforcement that he robbed each of the 11 banks. 

Cabrera faces a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the 11 counts in the indictment.  

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the indictment. 

FBI Miami investigated this case, with assistance from Hialeah Police Department and Miami-Dade Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Brooke Latta is prosecuting this case.  

Criminal complaints, informations, and indictments contain mere allegations and defendants are innocent unless and until found guilty in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-60056.

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Miami, Florida – Jorge Aponte Figueroa (“Aponte Figueroa”), 25, of Miami, Florida, was found guilty by a Miami jury of one count of carjacking resulting in death and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence after a trial presided by United States District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke. 

According to trial evidence, in May 2017, Aponte Figueroa, along with two co-conspirators, carjacked, at gunpoint, an Uber driver who was sleeping in his minivan.  The evidence at trial showed that, after driving the victim throughout Miami-Dade County, Aponte Figueroa and his co-conspirators stole the victim’s wallet at gunpoint, after which Aponte Figueroa shot the victim seven times, including several shots at close range to the victim’s head while Aponte Figueroa straddled the victim’s body, to prevent the victim from serving as a witness. 

Sentencing has been set for June 15, 2022.  Aponte Figueroa still faces more charges in the Southern District of Florida for his participation in a serial Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy. That trial is set for August of 2022.  As to those charges, Aponte Figueroa is innocent unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Miami Field Office, and George A. Perez, Interim Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, made the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Gonzalez commended the investigatory efforts of the FBI Miami and the Miami-Dade Police Department in this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alejandra L. López and Jodi Anton. 

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 17-cr-20487.

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Miami, Florida – On March 23, 2022, following a week and half-long trial, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida found Jimika I. Williams, a/k/a Jimika Mason, guilty of two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and 18 counts of wire fraud.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Williams was the President of Advancement of Education in Scholars Corporation (AESC), a Florida non-profit corporation that operated Paramount Charter School (PCS), a charter school located in Broward County.  PCS received federal funding through Title 1, which is only paid to a school if more than 50% of the students are eligible for free or reduced cost lunches.  PCS also received state funding, and all funding was paid through the School Board of Broward County. 

The trial evidence also established that Williams was the President of another Florida corporation, Florida Scholars Educational Services Corporation (FSESC).  Between 2015 through and including June of 2017, Williams unlawfully enriched herself by making payments totaling approximately $389,857 from AESC’s business account, which was used to operate PCS, for no services to the charter school.  The funds were transferred/deposited into an FSESC account and used for Williams’ personal purchases including payments for a vehicle, a private school, rent, and other personal expenses, and not for the benefit of PCS.  

On June 7, 2022, the Honorable United States District Court Judge Rodney Smith will impose a sentence.  Williams faces a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment for each of the theft of government programs charge and 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the wire fraud charges, as well as substantial monetary penalties and restitution.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, and Reginald J. France, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, Southeastern Regional Office made the announcement.

FBI Miami and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, Southeastern Regional Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cynthia Wood and Eric Morales prosecuted the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Zloch is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-60135.

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Miami, Florida – Samantha Johnson, 57, of Pompano Beach, and her wife, Sandra Shea, 56, of Cooper City, were sentenced on Tuesday by the Honorable United States District Court Judge Roy K. Altman to 30 and 24 months’ imprisonment, respectively.  Both defendants must serve a term of supervised release of 3 years and pay a fine of $10,000.  A restitution hearing is set for June 15, 2022.

In January, Johnson and Shea pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States.  Both defendants admitted that they conspired to obtain and utilize patient information from a large local healthcare provider in Hollywood, Florida, where Shea was employed.  According to the factual proffer, Shea improperly accessed 22 patient files from the healthcare provider.  In court documents, the defendants admitted that they intended to use the personal information of these patients to acquire distressed, abandoned, foreclosed and probated real property.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge, Miami Division, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and Gregory Tony, Sheriff, Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO), made the announcement.

The case against Johnson and Shea is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Broward County Property Appraisers Office.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Thomas P. Lanigan and Matthew J. Feeley.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-60184.

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Miami, Florida – A Key West man was sentenced yesterday to 180 months’ imprisonment for laundering approximately $1 million of victim funds that were illegally obtained from romance and investment fraud scams that targeted elderly victims.

After a three-day trial before the Honorable United States District Court Judge K. Michael Moore, a jury found Sean Kerwin Bindranauth, 45, guilty of one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, six counts of substantive money laundering, and one count of conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business.  According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Bindranauth’s conspirators contacted the victims (who were generally lonely older women) via social media, developed on-line relationships with the victims, and convinced them to send money to Bindranauth via wire transfer, personal checks, or cash.  

The trial evidence showed that, once Bindranauth received the money, he sent it from the United States to Nigeria by using international money transfer companies, initiating direct bank transfers, purchasing gift cards and relaying the gift card information, and other means.  Over a dozen seniors and other victims were tricked into sending Bindranauth and his co-conspirators approximately $1 million.  Evidence at trial demonstrated that other victims sent Bindranauth cash via USPS.  A forensic analyst testified that the total loss to victims was impossible to ascertain because of untraceable funds.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

HSI Miami investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman and Yisel Valdes prosecuted the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniele Croke handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 19-cr-10016-KMM.

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Miami, Florida – Today, U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith sentenced 40-year-old Antony Junior Harris, a prolific drug dealer living in Boynton Beach, Florida to 380 months in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.  The sentence comes after a federal jury sitting in Fort Lauderdale found Harris guilty of attempting to, and conspiring to, possess with the intent to distribute over 400 grams of fentanyl and 500 grams of methamphetamine.

South Florida Law enforcement officers arrested Harris in July 2020, after the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Interdiction Unit seized about two kilograms of fentanyl and four kilograms of methamphetamine in a mail package that was on its way to Harris.  Federal prosecutors introduced evidence at trial showing that Harris was obtaining multiple kilograms of fentanyl and methamphetamine via FedEx and UPS from California.  The parcels were shipped to the addresses of Harris’ associates.  Harris obtained the narcotics from his associates and then distributed the drugs to street-level dealers operating in and around Palm Beach County.

Prior to committing these crimes, Harris had served 38 months in prison for drug trafficking.  Harris was on federal supervised release when he committed some of the offenses here.

The following co-conspirators of Harris have been convicted and sentenced in this case: David Andrew Romario Chin pled guilty to the narcotics offenses and was sentenced to 151 months in prison.  Marcello Marquise Jeter pled guilty to the narcotics offenses and was sentenced to 186 months in federal prison.  Ryan Tyler Khan pled guilty to the narcotics offenses and was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Deanne L. Reuter, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, Miami Field Office; Christopher Robinson, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Division; and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO), made the announcement.

DEA Miami, ATF Miami, and PBSO investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rinku Tribuiani and Brian Ralston prosecuted this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Zloch handled the asset forfeiture aspects of the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-80088.

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Miami, Florida – A 24-year-old Daytona Beach, Florida man has been sentenced to 125 months in federal prison for distributing crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl in Martin County, Florida.  

On July 2, 2021, Maxwell A. Vega traveled from Daytona Beach to a hotel in Martin County, where he had prearranged a meeting to sell methamphetamine.  While arranging that drug deal, Vega offered to sell the buyer an additional drug: fentanyl.  The buyer initially declined the fentanyl offer, saying it was too dangerous a drug.  Vega encouraged the sale, and offered to bring a sample of fentanyl to the meeting.  At the meeting, Vega sold the buyer over 54 grams of 98% pure methamphetamine.  As for the fentanyl that Vega brought with him, Vega told the buyer that it was the “real deal” and warned the buyer not to touch it.

On July 7, 2021, Vega again traveled from Daytona Beach to the same hotel in Martin County, where he had prearranged a second meeting to sell illegal narcotics.  During that meeting, Vega sold one ounce of fentanyl and 1.170 grams of 99% pure methamphetamine to the buyer.  Vega was arrested shortly after this transaction.

On December 3, 2021, Vega pled guilty to one count of distribution of over 50 grams of methamphetamine, one count of distribution of methamphetamine and one count of distribution of fentanyl.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez.

HSI Miami and Martin County Sheriff’s Office, investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Luisa Honora Berti is prosecuting this case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14030.

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Today, the Department of Justice announced that it has settled the 40 civil cases arising out of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

This settlement resolves all of the cases for $127.5 million. The settlement does not amount to an admission of fault by the United States. The parties have been in litigation since late 2018, when the survivors of the shooting, and the families of 16 people killed, sued the government for damages.

On Feb. 14, 2018, a former student walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School armed with a rifle and ammunition concealed in a rifle bag, and opened fire with his semi-automatic weapon, killing 17 and injuring 17 more.  In October 2021, the shooter pleaded guilty to 17 counts of premeditated first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder. This was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.

This case was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Miami, Florida – A 69-year-old Florida man made his first appearance in federal court in Fort Pierce today to face charges that he forged a United States Coast Guard Merchant Mariner’s License and provided it to a yacht insurance company.  

A criminal complaint charges Ralph Casler with one count of misuse of a federal certificate, license, or document, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2197.  Casler, who has never held a Coast Guard merchant mariner license or credential, faces up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Zinnia James, United States Coast Guard Investigative Service (USCGIS), Southeast Region made the announcement.

USCGIS Southeast Region investigated the case, with assistance from United States Coast Guard Sector, Miami Investigations.  Assistant United States Attorney Diana Acosta is prosecuting the matter.

A complaint is only an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-mj-00016-SMM.

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Miami, Florida – A federal district judge in West Palm Beach, Florida has sentenced 33-year-old Eric Leon Nelms to 180 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm and distributing fentanyl as an armed career criminal.

Nelms was prosecuted under the Federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), which provides for an enhanced sentence for persons with at least three prior felony convictions for violent felonies or serious drug trafficking crimes.

On February 21, 2020, Nelms sold a stolen firearm, identified as a Smith & Wesson, Model Bodyguard, .380 Caliber pistol, and a second firearm, a Kel-Tec, Model P3AT, .380 Caliber pistol.  On May 26, 2020, Nelms sold a third firearm, a Taurus, Model G2C 9 mm pistol.  He also trafficked twenty-five (25) capsules of fentanyl.  Prior to his commission of the offenses, Nelms had two prior separate felony convictions for robbery, and one prior felony conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to sell.  Nelms was therefore subject to the enhanced sentencing provisions of the ACCA.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Christopher Robinson, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Division; and Chief Frank Adderley, West Palm Beach Police Department, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon O’Shea Darsch prosecuted the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Zloch is handling asset forfeiture.

This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This prosecution is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, and other priority transnational criminal organizations that threaten the citizens of the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence driven, multi-agency approach to combat transnational organized crime.  The OCDETF program facilitates complex, joint operations by focusing its partner agencies on priority targets, by managing and coordinating multi-agency efforts, and by leveraging intelligence across multiple investigative platforms.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-80118.

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Miami, Florida – Two former senior Venezuelan prosecutors have been charged with money laundering for their receipt of bribes in exchange for agreeing not to pursue criminal charges against certain individuals in Venezuela. 

According to the indictment, Daniel D’Andrea Golindano (D’Andrea), 43, and Luis Javier Sanchez Rangel (Sanchez), 35, both of Venezuela, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property.

The indictment alleges that, in or around 2017, D’Andrea and Sanchez, in their official roles as prosecutors within the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office, were investigating an individual, identified as Contractor 1 in the indictment, for alleged corruption relating to contracts obtained with subsidiaries of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company (PDVSA).  D’Andrea and Sanchez discussed and agreed to receive bribes of more than $1 million in exchange for not pursuing criminal charges against Contractor 1 and others. 

According to the indictment, D’Andrea caused a co-conspirator to create false invoices seeking payment, purportedly for medical diagnostic equipment, from Contractor 1.  In or around 2017, Contractor 1 caused the payment of over $1 million dollars to an account in the Southern District of Florida for the benefit of D’Andrea and Sanchez.  As a result of this payment, D’Andrea and Sanchez caused the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office not to seek criminal charges against Contractor 1 and others.  D’Andrea and Sanchez used the proceeds from these bribes for their personal benefit. 

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and up to 10 years in prison for each count of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.  The defendants are in Venezuela and remain at large.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami office made the announcement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael N. Berger of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Alexander Kramer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. 

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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Miami, Florida – A Miami man who forced a woman and a 16-year-old girl into selling themselves for sex was sentenced today in Miami, Florida to 25 years’ imprisonment.

According to court documents, Julius Dwight Mozie met the minor after she had run away from home.  Mozie coerced the minor into taking lewd photographs and then subsequently posted the photographs on a website to advertise the minor victim for commercial sex acts.  Then, Mozie forced the minor to perform commercial sex acts.  Around the same time, Mozie also forced an adult victim to perform commercial sex acts for several months.  If the victims failed to comply with Mozie’s instructions, he would subject them to his “Torture Chamber” to punish them.  In the “Torture Chamber,” Mozie handcuffed, beat, raped, and waterboarded his victims.  He also urinated and defecated on them.

United States Senior District Court Judge Beth Bloom imposed the 25-year sentence, which also included a term of 15 years of supervised release following incarceration.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami; Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office; W. Howard Harrison, Chief of Plantation Police Department; and George A. Perez, Interim Director of the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) announced the sentence.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Human Trafficking Task Force, in partnership with Homeland Security Investigations, Plantation Police Department, MDPD’s Human Trafficking Squad, the South Florida Human Trafficking Task Force, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lacee Monk and Manolo Reboso.

To report suspected human trafficking or to obtain resources for victims, please call 1-888-373-7888; text “BeFree” (233733), or live chat at HumanTraffickingHotline.org.  The toll-free phone, SMS text lines, and online chat function are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  Help is available in English, Spanish, Creole, or in more than 200 additional languages.  The National Hotline is not managed by law enforcement, immigration or an investigative agency.  Correspondence with the National Hotline is confidential and you may request assistance or report a tip anonymously.

To learn more about the National Resource Hotline visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org.  To learn more about the U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking visit www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case no. 20-cr-20087.

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Miami, Florida – On February 24, 2022, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon sentenced Javon Travis Thomas, 32, of Fort Pierce, to 46 months in federal prison for his possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.

According to court records, a 911 call led Fort Pierce police officers to Thomas’ residence on July 5, 2021.  The caller reported that Thomas was threatening to shoot someone.  When officers arrived at the home, they observed Thomas arguing with someone.  While on the scene, officers learned that Thomas had an open warrant and arrested him.  Officers found a fully loaded Glock 23, 22-round extended magazine semi-automatic firearm in Thomas’ bedroom.  They also confiscated three fully loaded magazines and 100 rounds of ammunition. 

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Christopher Robinson, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Miami Field Office made the announcement. 

This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime. 

ATF Miami and the Fort Pierce Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Luisa Honora Berti prosecuted it.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14037.

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Miami, Florida – A former Hialeah Police Department Sergeant has pleaded guilty to three counts of depriving women of their civil rights under color of law by sexually abusing them.

As part of his change of plea, Jesus Manuel Menocal Jr., 34, of Miami admitted that he kissed a woman and caused her to touch his exposed penis; had a second woman, who was in psychiatric crisis, perform oral sex on him; and coerced a third woman, who was walking alone at night, into submitting to oral and vaginal sex.  While not directly related to the offenses to which he pleaded guilty, Menocal also admitted to bringing a fourth female into a Hialeah Police Department building and ordering her to remove her shorts and underwear, causing her to expose her buttocks to him.  Menocal admitted that he was on-duty and in uniform during all of these acts, abusing his official authority.

“Menocal sexually exploited the very people he swore to protect,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez of the Southern District of Florida. “He betrayed his oath as a police officer and cast a dark shadow over the outstanding work done by the fine law enforcement professionals who serve our communities. Such egregious civil rights violations will not be tolerated.”

“We will not stand by idly when law enforcement officials abuse their power and position to sexually exploit and harm women,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute government officials who use the power of their office to sexually abuse and harm vulnerable people in their communities. We hope that this conviction sends a strong message to survivors of law enforcement sexual misconduct, that their allegations will be investigated and taken seriously.”

“Jesus Menocal is a predator who disgraced the badge he once wore by using his status as a police officer to sexually abuse women,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge John J. Bernardo of FBI Miami. “His actions are depraved and serve only to diminish the hard work and professionalism of the vast majority of South Florida law enforcement officers who follow their oath of office and whose conduct is above reproach.”

Menocal is scheduled for sentencing on May 12, at 2:00 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams.  He faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Hialeah Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward N. Stamm and Monica K. Castro of the Southern District of Florida, and Trial Attorney Kyle Boynton and Special Litigation Counsel Samantha Trepel of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 19-cr-20822.

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Miami, Florida – Two South Florida tax preparers were sentenced to prison yesterday for conspiring to defraud the United States and preparing false tax returns.

Nikency Alexis, the owner and operator of Unity Tax & Financial Services (Unity Tax), a Broward County tax preparation business, was sentenced to 45 months in prison, and Thony Guillaume, who worked as a return preparer at Unity Tax, was sentenced to 40 months in prison.  According to court documents, from 2011 through 2016 Alexis and Guillaume conspired to defraud the IRS by preparing returns for clients that claimed fictitious business and education expenses the clients never incurred.  After learning about the criminal investigation, Alexis and Guillaume continued to file false returns and concealed their involvement in the filing of those returns by listing other individuals as the paid preparers.  In total, Alexis and Guillaume sought more than $2.8 million in fraudulent refunds from the IRS.

In addition to the terms of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal ordered Alexis to serve 3 years of supervised release and to pay approximately $464,006 in restitution to the IRS.  The judge ordered Guillaume to serve 3 years of supervised release and to pay approximately $221,823 in restitution to the IRS.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida; Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; and Matthew D. Line, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

IRS-CI Miami investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Deric Zacca for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Matthew Hicks of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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Miami, Florida – A 29-year-old Georgia man who redirected the benefits of veterans and social security beneficiaries to accounts that his co-conspirators set up and controlled has been sentenced to 78 months in prison by a South Florida federal district judge. In addition, the man must pay more than $900,000 in restitution to his victims.

Defendant Ronaldo Green was a member of a conspiracy that obtained the personal information (including names, dates of birth and social security numbers) of disabled veterans and social security beneficiaries.  The co-conspirators used this information to fraudulently open bank accounts and prepaid debit cards in the victims’ names.  They also forged documents in the victims’ names that directed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration to deposit benefit payments into those fraudulent accounts, instead of the victims’ legitimate bank accounts. Green and his co-conspirators withdrew the diverted money from ATMs and banks in South Florida and Georgia. They used it on personal expenses.  Much of the money was ultimately funneled to architects of the scheme, located in Jamaica. 

From 2012 to 2017, members of the conspiracy attempted to redirect over $1.8 million in benefits from more than 100 disabled veterans and social security beneficiaries.  Although several of the attempts failed, the defendants’ actually stole more than $1 million. The victims have been reimbursed for their losses. 

Green’s co-defendants, Omar Bailey and Jamare Mason, were sentenced during prior hearings. Bailey received 24 months’ imprisonment.  Mason received 78 months’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution.  U.S. District Judge James Cohn, who sits in Ft. Lauderdale, imposed the sentences.  

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; David Spilker, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General’s (VA-OIG) Southeast Field Office; and Rodregas Owens, Special Agent in Charge, Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General (SSA-OIG), made the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez commended the investigative efforts of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, including partners from VA-OIG, SSA-OIG, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lois Foster-Steers and Sajjad Matin. 

Combatting elder abuse and financial fraud targeted at seniors is a key priority of the Department of Justice. The mission of the Department’s Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target our nation’s seniors. To learn more visit https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice.  The public is encouraged to report suspected elder victimization and fraud by  visiting https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/roadmap or calling the victim connect hotline at 1-855-484-2846.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 19-cr-60313.

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Miami, Florida – Today, a South Florida federal grand jury indicted a 21-year-old Miami man, James Robert Mills, Jr., with attempting to murder, and using a deadly weapon to forcibly assault, two federal agents and one local police officer, and with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.  According to the indictment and an earlier-filed criminal complaint affidavit, Mills discharged a hail of gunfire at a vehicle occupied by two FBI task force officers and a City of Homestead police officer earlier this year. 

The charging documents allege the following: On January 31, the three officers were on duty, driving an unmarked white sports utility vehicle (SUV) in the Homestead-Miami area.  At about 8:30 p.m., as they drove north on S.W. 116th Avenue, an officer noticed a gun pointed at them from an open backseat window of a parked car.  According to the allegations, it was defendant Mills pointing the gun, which he then fired at the SUV as it drove by.  The officers’ SUV accelerated, trying to evade the gunshots.  The three officers in the SUV managed to lose the suspects’ vehicle without being wounded or firing their weapons. Crime scene investigators recovered approximately 24 nine-millimeter (9 mm) bullet casings and one projectile from the scene, says the affidavit.

An investigation into the shooting led law enforcement officers to Mills, whom they arrested following a search of a Miami residence where he was staying.  According to the charging documents, officers recovered a Glock 17, 9 mm pistol with an extended magazine from the attic of the house, where Mills stashed it after the January 31 shooting.

If convicted of all the offenses charged in the indictment, Mills faces a mandatory minimum term of ten years in federal prison for each of the three counts charging him with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; and those sentences must run consecutively to all other sentences.  Therefore, if convicted on all counts, Mills faces a mandatory minimum term of 30 years’ imprisonment for the firearm counts, consecutive to any sentences imposed for attempted murder and forcible assault.  Moreover, the court may impose a maximum term of life imprisonment if Mills is convicted of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

Yesterday, following a pre-trial detention hearing, a federal magistrate judge ordered that Mills remain in detention, without bond, pending his trial.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the charges.   

FBI Miami investigated the case, with assistance from Homestead Police Department and Miami-Dade Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwayne E. Williams is prosecuting the case.

Indictments contain mere allegations and defendants are innocent unless and until found guilty in a court of law.

This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.  It is also part of the Miami-Dade Chiefs of Police Operation Community Shield Initiative.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

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WASHINGTON – Ten Florida residents were charged in an indictment unsealed today in the Southern District of Florida for their alleged roles in a $67 million health care fraud, wire fraud, kickback, and money laundering scheme involving the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary genetic tests and durable medical equipment.

Daniel M. Carver, 35, of Coral Springs; Thomas Dougherty, 39, of Royal Palm Beach; and John Paul Gosney Jr., 39, of Parkland, the owners and managers of independent clinical laboratories and marketing companies, were each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks and bribes, paying and receiving kickbacks and bribes, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering offenses. 

Galina Rozenberg, 39, and Michael Rozenberg, 58, both of Hollywood, were arrested on Feb. 6, attempting to board a flight to Moscow. Each were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Galina Rozenberg was also charged with additional money laundering offenses.

Louis Carver, 30, of Delray Beach; Timothy Richardson, 29, of Lantana; Ethan Macier, 22, of Coral Springs; and Jose Goyos, 35, of West Palm Beach were each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering offenses. Ashley Cigarroa, 29, of North Lauderdale was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and committing health care fraud.

The indictment alleges that, between January 2020 and July 2021, the defendants referred Medicare beneficiaries for medically unnecessary genetic tests and durable medical equipment. In exchange for doctors’ orders for such tests and equipment, the defendants allegedly paid kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies. The indictment further alleges that the defendants falsified Medicare enrollment forms to conceal the true owners and managers of certain laboratories, and submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. 

The defendants are anticipated to make their initial appearances in federal court beginning the week of Feb. 28. Federal charges for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering are each punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Health care fraud and anti-kickback violations are each punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.

The HHS-OIG Miami Region and FBI’s Miami Field Office investigated the case. 

Trial Attorneys Patrick J. Queenan and Reginal Cuyler Jr. of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Michele Klco of the Southern District of Florida is handling asset forfeiture matters.

The Fraud Section leads the Health Care Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 15 strike forces operating in 24 federal districts, has charged more than 4,600 defendants who have collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers for approximately $23 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

Any doctors or medical professionals who have been involved with alleged fraudulent telemedicine or genetic testing marketing schemes should call to report this conduct to the FBI hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

An indictment and an information are merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Miami, Florida – A 67-year-old Pahokee, Florida man was sentenced yesterday in West Palm Beach federal court to 25 years in prison for enticing poor children in the Philippines to send him pornographic images of themselves in exchange for money and other child exploitation crimes, some of which involved toddlers.

Dennis Pollard used a social media messenger application in 2020 to find young girls in the Philippines whom he could groom for the purpose of producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).  Pollard offered, and sometimes provided, money through wire services in exchange for pornographic images of the girls.  Over nearly six-weeks, Pollard convinced a 13-year-old girl, living in poverty, to record herself performing sexual acts in exchange for money.  Pollard also directed a woman in the Philippines to record herself sexually abusing her two toddler-aged children.  Pollard distributed CSAM of his victims to groom others and obtain more CSAM.  In 2015, Pollard attempted to produce CSAM through a different account on the same social media messenger application.  The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s (PBSO) Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed a search warrant at Pollard’s Pahokee residence.  Pollard was found to have dozens of child sexual abuse images and videos on his phone, as well as on CDs that he had possessed for nearly a decade.  

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), Miami Field Office, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg.

HSI Miami’s West Palm Beach Office investigated the case, with assistance from the PBSO and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Schiller prosecuted the case.

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

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-80107.

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Miami, Florida – Miami-Dade resident Elisa Rivera, 50, pled guilty yesterday before Senior U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham to a felony Information charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to file fraudulent applications to the U.S. Small Business Administration to COVID-19 relief advance grants and low-interest COVID-19 relief loans.

According to the facts admitted at the change of plea, Elisa Rivera, during 2019 and 2020, was employed on a full-time basis by the Miami-Dade Police Department (“MDPD”) as an Administrative Officer.  As an MDPD employee, Rivera suffered no loss of salary due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Despite this, on July 3, 2020, Rivera authorized a co-conspirator (identified as “Individual 1” in the Information) to electronically submit an EIDL application on her behalf stating that Rivera was the 100% owner of a for-profit business operating under the name “Elisa Rivera.”  That application falsely and fraudulently certified that the business named “Elisa Rivera” was established on or about March 1, 2017, and that during the twelve (12) month period prior to January 31, 2020, that business had gross revenues of $325,446 and twelve (12) employees.  In reality, the defendant did not own any business, was not an independent contractor, and had no business gross revenues or employees.

After having Individual 1 submit the fraudulent EIDL application on her behalf, Rivera offered to, and did, submit fraudulent EIDL applications to the SBA on behalf of a limited group of other individuals (referred to as “the Applicants” in the Information) who also did not own small businesses and did not qualify for EIDL relief.  These applications contained false representations as to the existence of their small businesses, their gross revenues, and the number of employees each business had.  It was the intent of Rivera and the Applicants to obtain for the Applicants the $10,000 EIDL advances from the SBA, but not to obtain any additional loan amount.  As a result of these fraudulent applications, certain Applicants received the $10,000 advances from SBA.  In exchange for submitting these fraudulent EIDL applications to the SBA, Rivera charged Applicants a fee of up to $1,000 each. 

Rivera is scheduled for sentencing on May 3, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. before Judge Graham, where she faces a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Amaleka McCall-Brathwaite of the Small Business Administration, Investigations Division (SBA-OIG), made the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Gonzalez commended the investigative efforts of the FBI’s Miami Area Corruption Task Force, which includes task force officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Professional Compliance Bureau - Criminal Conspiracy Unit, and SBA-OIG in this matter, and thanked the Miami-Dade County Office of Inspector General for their invaluable assistance with this case.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward N. Stamm and the forfeiture matters are being handled by AUSA Gabrielle Charest-Turken.

In March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act was enacted. It was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other sources of relief, the CARES Act authorized and provided funding to the SBA to provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans (“EIDLs”) to eligible small businesses, including sole proprietorships and independent contractors, experiencing substantial financial disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow them to meet financial obligations and operating expenses that could otherwise have been met had the disaster not occurred.  EIDL applications were submitted directly to the SBA via the SBA’s on-line application website, and the applications were processed and the loans funded for qualifying applicants directly by the SBA.

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.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-20028.

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Miami, Florida – A U.S. District Court Judge in South Florida has sentenced a 26-year-old Fort Pierce man to 121 months in federal prison for trafficking nearly 400 grams of fentanyl.

On November 16, 2020, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office Deputies observed Dakaree Deval Brown conducting a drug deal.  Brown entered the back passenger seat of a parked vehicle while carrying a blue backpack.  When one of the officers activated his vehicle’s emergency lights, Brown ran from the car he was in, taking the backpack with him.  Deputies caught Brown after a short foot chase.  They searched his backpack and found over 700 pills that, based on the pills’ markings, appeared to be Oxycodone.  Later testing revealed, however, that the pills were actually pressed tablets of fentanyl, made to look like Oxycodone.  Inside the backpack, the officers also discovered multiple baggies containing white powder, a digital scale, a loaded gun magazine, and over $7,000 cash.

Brown pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance on September 24, 2021.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Deanne L. Reuter, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; and Ken J. Mascara, Sheriff, Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore.

DEA Miami and St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Luisa Honora Berti prosecuted it.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Zloch is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14013.

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Miami, Florida – Following a three-day trial, a South Florida federal jury found 31-year-old Miami resident William Gross Jr. guilty of distributing child pornography.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Gross spent a year on a social media messenger application chatting and sharing videos and images of children being sexually abused.  In the chats, Gross boasted about his sexual exploits with young girls, asked for explicit videos of young girls having sex, and sent a picture of his penis to ask if a young girl could “handle” it.

The jury found Gross guilty of seven counts of distributing child pornography.  He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.  Sentencing is set for April 27, at 2:30 p.m. before U.S. Senior District Judge Paul C. Huck.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the jury’s verdict.

FBI Miami -- in particular FBI Miami’s Child Exploitation Task Force -- investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Egozi and Abbie D. Waxman.

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

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20532.

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Miami, Florida – A Miami federal jury found David Franklin Lee, 60, of Miami, guilty of attempted bank robbery, following a three-day trial, before U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke.

According to the evidence admitted at trial, on November 17, 2020, Lee entered a Bank of America branch, located on Washington Avenue in Miami Beach.  Lee passed a handwritten note to the bank teller, demanding all the money in the bank.  Upon receiving the note, the teller activated the bank’s silent alarm and retreated to a back room.  Police arrived on the scene and arrested Lee.

U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke will sentence Lee on May 4, at 10:00 a.m., in Miami.  Lee faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Richard Clements, Chief, Miami Beach Police Department, made the announcement.

FBI Miami and the Miami Beach Police Department investigated this case.  AUSA Stacey Bergstrom prosecuted it.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20034.

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Miami, Florida – A South Florida grand jury has indicted a veteran police officer from Jamaica with importing cocaine into the United States with the intent to distribute it here.

The indictment and a previously filed criminal complaint affidavit allege the following: On February 3, 42-year-old Shelian Cherine Allen, a Jamaican citizen, arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on a flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica.  An inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed that Allen had a package of cocaine inside her vagina and a package of cocaine inside each of her bra cups.  Allen also had 90 pellets of packaged cocaine inside her stomach, which she had swallowed.  CBP officers took Allen to a local hospital, where she expelled the 90 pellets.  In total, Allen had approximately 1,350 grams of cocaine on or inside her body when she entered the United States: about 234 in her vagina, about 174 grams in her bra, and about 942 grams inside her stomach.

At the time of her arrest, Allen was a law enforcement officer employed by the Jamaica Constabulary Force for the last 18 years.

The indictment charges Allen with two counts: importation of five hundred (500) grams or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute five hundred (500) grams or more of cocaine.  If convicted, she faces up to 40 years in prison on each count.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Anthony Salisbury, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Filed Office, and Vernon T. Foret, Director of Field Operation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

HSI Miami and CBP Miami investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Shockley is prosecuting it.

An indictment merely contains allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-60024.

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Miami, Florida – Today, the former Executive Director of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program made her first appearance in federal court in Miami to face a seven-count indictment charging her with defrauding corporate and individual program donors, including the Children’s Miracle Network and the Everglades Foundation.   

Seventy-six-year-old Mary Wickersham (also known as Mary Sullivan and Mary Harvey) served as the Executive Director of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that raises money to provide scholarships to young women through pageants.  Wickersham had access to the pageant program’s financial information, as well as its sponsors and donors.  

The indictment alleges the following: While serving as the Executive Director, and without notifying the Board of Directors of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program, Wickersham opened a company under the name “Miss Florida,” which she then used to open a business account at Bank of America.  Wickersham solicited donations and contributions on behalf of the Miss Florida Scholarship Program from sponsors and donors.  Rather than depositing donations into the organization’s legitimate bank account, Wickersham altered donor checks and deposited money into her “Miss Florida” account at Bank of America.  Wickersham used the money to pay for her personal expenses, including utilities, shopping, home goods, maid cleaning service, online dating fees, and dining out, it is alleged.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Rick Swearingen, Commissioner for Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE); and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Miami Division, made the announcement.

FDLE and USPIS Miami investigated the matter.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Yara Klukas is prosecuting the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Klco is handling asset forfeiture.

Charges contained in an indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 22-cr-20057.

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Miami, Florida – A South Florida federal district judge has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 156 months in prison for pointing a gun at two people at a Miami gas station and jacking their car on April 6, 2021. 

Law enforcement officers located the stolen car the next day.  Carlos Junior Senecharles was driving; his girlfriend was in the passenger seat.  Officers witnessed Senecharles run a red light, crash into another car, careen into a fence and a tree, and flee from the scene towards an abandoned apartment building.  Officers arrested Senecharles and found a loaded firearm inside the stolen car.  

Senecharles pled guilty on December 1, 2021, to carjacking, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. 

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman.  

FBI Miami investigated the case, with assistance from Miami Dade Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Bailyn prosecuted Senecharles.  Assistant U.S. Attorney William T. Zloch is handling asset forfeiture.

This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime. 

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20286.

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Miami, Florida – Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, 36, a Mexican citizen who had resided in Singapore, has pled guilty to acting within the United States on behalf of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General.

Fuentes is Mexican citizen who has spent significant time in Russia.  According to court documents, since 2019, Fuentes acted under the direction and control of someone he believed to be a Russian government official.  Instructed by this Russian official, Fuentes arranged for an intermediary to lease a unit in a residential building in Miami-Dade County where a U.S. person, who had previously provided information about the Russian government to the United States Government, resided.

Furthermore, at the direction of the same Russian official, Fuentes traveled to Miami in February 2020 to obtain the license plate number and parking location of the U.S. person’s car to provide this information to the Russian official upon his next trip to Russia.

Fuentes’s travel companion, at his request, took a photo of the U.S. person’s car.  A WhatsApp message from Fuentes’s travel companion to Fuentes contained a close-up photograph of the specified U.S. person’s car.  The manner in which Fuentes communicated with the Russian government official and his undertakings in this case are consistent with the tactics of the Russian intelligence services for spotting, assessing, recruiting, and handling intelligence assets and sources.

Fuentes had not notified the United States Attorney General, as required by law, that he was acting in the United States as an agent of the Russian government.

Fuentes’s sentencing is scheduled for May 17, in Miami, Florida in front of U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Vernon T. Foret, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Miami Field Office, made the announcement. 

Assistant Attorney General Olsen and U.S. Attorney Gonzalez commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and CBP. 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thakur of the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Matt McKenzie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-20129.

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A Mexican national, who was residing in Singapore, pleaded guilty yesterday to acting within the United States on behalf of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General.

According to court documents, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, 36, acted under the direction and control of an individual he believed to be a Russian government official. Instructed by this Russian official, Fuentes, a Mexican citizen who has spent significant time in Russia, arranged for an intermediary to lease a unit in a specific residential building in Miami-Dade County, Florida, where a specified U.S. person, who had previously provided information about the Russian government to the U.S. government, resided.

Furthermore, at the direction of the same Russian official, Fuentes traveled to Miami in February 2020 to obtain the license plate number and parking location of the specified U.S. person’s car, and to provide this information to the Russian official upon his next trip to Russia.

Fuentes’s travel companion, at his request, took a photo of the specified U.S. person’s car. A WhatsApp message from Fuentes’s travel companion to Fuentes contained a close-up photograph of the specified U.S. person’s car. The manner in which Fuentes communicated with the Russian government official and his undertakings in this case are consistent with the tactics of the Russian intelligence services for spotting, assessing, recruiting and handling intelligence assets and sources.

Fuentes had not notified the U.S. Attorney General, as required by law, that he was acting in the United States as an agent of the Russian government.

Fuentes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 17, in Miami, and faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida, and Director of Field Operations Vernon T Foret of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Miami Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI and CBP are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thakur for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Matthew J. McKenzie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

Two Peruvian nationals responsible for operating a series of call centers in Peru that defrauded and threatened Spanish-speaking U.S. residents were sentenced to serve prison time in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. On Feb. 9, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. sentenced Josmell Espinoza Huerta (Josmell Espinoza), 32, to serve 88 months in prison. Earlier today, Judge Scola ordered Carlos Alberto Espinoza Huerta (Carlos Espinoza), 40, to be imprisoned for 102 months.  

Josmell Espinoza and his brother Carlos Espinoza pleaded guilty in late 2021 to conspiring to commit mail fraud and wire fraud through several Peruvian call centers that they owned and operated. According to court documents, Josmell Espinoza and Carlos Espinoza co-owned and operated the JFC Peru call center in Peru. In addition, Josmell Espinoza owned and operated the Camino Al Progreso and Latin Shop call centers, and Carlos Espinoza separately owned and operated the Latinos en Accion and Latin Force call centers in Peru.

From April 2011 until July 2019, the Espinoza brothers and their co-conspirators in Peru called victims — many of whom were recent immigrants from Central America, Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries — and fraudulently threatened them with legal consequences if they did not make payments for purportedly delivered products and settlement fees for English-language classes. The defendants and their co-conspirators used false statements and threats to obtain money from victims across the United States by falsely telling the victims that they were required to accept and pay for English-language courses and other educational products and that failure to do so placed them in legal jeopardy. The defendants and their co-conspirators then falsely threatened to have their victims arrested and deported in order to collect payments from them.

In pleading guilty, both defendants admitted that they and their employees falsely claimed to be lawyers, court officials, federal agents and representatives of a so-called “minor crimes court,” which does not exist. The callers falsely threatened victims with court proceedings, negative marks on their credit reports, imprisonment and immigration consequences if they did not immediately pay for the purportedly delivered products and settlement fees. Carlos Espinoza caused victims to lose over $1.3 million, and Josmell Espinoza caused victims to lose over $700,000.

“The Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch will pursue and prosecute transnational criminals who defraud vulnerable U.S. consumers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “These two sentences demonstrate that defendants who use threats to prey upon our immigrant communities will be brought to justice and held accountable in U.S. courts.”

“This case demonstrates that the long arm of justice has no limits when it comes to reaching fraudsters who prey on our nation’s most vulnerable populations,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “We will continue to bring American justice to transnational criminals who use fear tactics and intimidation to steal money from immigrants, seniors and others who live in this country.”   

“For many years, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and their law enforcement partners have investigated and prosecuted international criminal rings targeting U.S. consumers to steal their hard-earned money,” said Inspector in Charge Joseph Cronin of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Miami Division. “We will continue to aggressively pursue these criminals to ensure that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

With Carlos Espinoza’s sentencing in Miami today, all seven defendants indicted in this matter have now pleaded guilty and been sentenced to serve terms of incarceration. Five defendants were arrested by Peruvian authorities based on a U.S. extradition request and were extradited to the Southern District of Florida in October 2020. Each of those defendants was sentenced to serve a prison sentence earlier this year. Henrry Milla was sentenced to 110 months in prison, Jerson Renteria was sentenced to 100 months in prison, and Evelyng Milla, Fernan Huerta and Omar Cuzcano were each sentenced to serve 90 months in prison. Carlos Espinoza and Josmell Espinoza evaded arrest at the time of their co-defendants’ arrests.  They were subsequently located in Peru and were extradited to the United States on June 25, 2021.  

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch investigated the case. Senior Trial Attorney Phil Toomajian and Trial Attorney Max Goldman of the Consumer Protection Branch prosecuted the case. The Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and the Peruvian National Police provided critical assistance. 

Information about the Department of Justice’s Elder Fraud Initiative is available at www.justice.gov/elderjustice. Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its elder fraud enforcement efforts may be found at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is available at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).

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En Español

Dos ciudadanos peruanos responsables de operar una serie de centros de llamadas en Perú que estafaban y amenazaban a residentes de habla hispana en los Estados Unidos fueron sentenciados en el Tribunal de Distrito de EE.UU. del Distrito Sur de Florida a cumplir condena de cárcel. El 9 de febrero de 2022, el Juez de Distrito de EE.UU., Robert N. Scola Jr., condenó a Josmell Espinoza Huerta (Josmell Espinoza), de 32 años, a cumplir 88 meses en prisión. Hoy mismo, el Juez Scola ordenó que Carlos Alberto Espinoza Huerta (Carlos Espinoza), de 40 años, fuera encarcelado durante 102 meses. 

Josmell Espinoza y su hermano Carlos Espinoza se declararon culpables a finales de 2021 de conspirar para cometer fraude postal y fraude electrónico a través de varios centros de llamadas peruanos de los que eran propietarios y operadores. Según los documentos del Tribunal, Josmell Espinoza y Carlos Espinoza eran copropietarios y operaban el centro de llamadas JFC Peru en Perú. Además, Josmell Espinoza era propietario y operador de los centros de llamadas Camino Al Progreso y Latin Shop, y Carlos Espinoza era propietario y operador por separado de los centros de llamadas Latinos en Acción y Latin Force en Perú.

Desde abril de 2011 hasta julio de 2019, los hermanos Espinoza y sus cómplices en Perú llamaban a las víctimas, muchas de las cuales eran inmigrantes recientes de Centroamérica, México y otros países de habla hispana. Amenazaban a las víctimas fraudulentamente con consecuencias legales si no hacían pagos por productos supuestamente entregados y honorarios de liquidación para clases de inglés. Los demandados y sus cómplices usaban declaraciones falsas y amenazas para obtener dinero de las víctimas de todos los Estados Unidos. Les decían falsamente que estaban obligadas a aceptar y pagar cursos de inglés y otros productos educativos, y que no hacerlo las pondría en una situación legal riesgosa. Los demandados y sus cómplices entonces amenazaban falsamente con procurar que sus víctimas fueran arrestadas y deportadas para que les pagaran.

Al declararse culpables, ambos demandados admitieron que ellos y sus empleados afirmaron falsamente ser abogados, funcionarios del tribunal, agentes federales y representantes de un supuesto "tribunal de delitos menores", que no existe. Las personas que llamaban amenazaban falsamente a las víctimas con procedimientos judiciales, calificaciones negativas en sus informes de crédito, encarcelamiento y consecuencias migratorias si no pagaban inmediatamente los productos supuestamente entregados y los honorarios de liquidación. Carlos Espinoza causó a las víctimas una pérdida de más de 1.3 millones de dólares, y Josmell Espinoza causó a las víctimas una pérdida de más de 700 mil dólares.

"La sección de Protección al Consumidor del Departamento de Justicia investigará y procesará a los delincuentes transnacionales que defrauden a los consumidores vulnerables de los Estados Unidos", declaró el fiscal general adjunto interino Brian M. Boynton, de la División Civil del Departamento de Justicia. "Estas dos sentencias demuestran que los demandados que usen amenazas para aprovecharse de nuestras comunidades de inmigrantes serán enjuiciados y rendirán cuentas en los tribunales de los Estados Unidos".

"Este caso demuestra que la justicia no tiene límites cuando se trata de alcanzar a los defraudadores que se aprovechan de las poblaciones más vulnerables de nuestra nación", dijo el Fiscal Federal del Distrito Sur de Florida, Juan Antonio Gonzalez. "Seguiremos trayendo ante la justicia estadounidense a los delincuentes transnacionales que usen tácticas de miedo e intimidación para robar el dinero de los inmigrantes, personas mayores y otras personas que viven en este país".   

"Durante muchos años, el Servicio de Inspección Postal de EE. UU. y sus colaboradores en la aplicación de la ley han investigado y procesado a redes delictivas internacionales que tienen como objetivo a los consumidores estadounidenses para robarles el dinero que tanto les ha costado ganar", declaró el inspector encargado Joseph Cronin, de la División de Miami del Servicio de Inspección Postal de EE. UU. "Seguiremos investigando de forma diligente a estos delincuentes para asegurarnos de que sean procesados con todo el peso de la ley".

Al incluir la sentencia de Carlos Espinoza en Miami hoy, los siete acusados en este caso se han declarado culpables y han sido condenados a penas de cárcel. Cinco acusados fueron detenidos por las autoridades peruanas con base en una solicitud de extradición presentada por los Estados Unidos y fueron extraditados al Distrito Sur de Florida en octubre de 2020. Cada uno de estos acusados fue condenado a cumplir una sentencia de prisión a principios de este año. Henrry Milla fue condenado a 110 meses en prisión, Jerson Renteria fue condenado a 100 meses en prisión y Evelyng Milla, Fernan Huerta y Omar Cuzcano fueron sentenciados cada uno a 90 meses en prisión. Carlos Espinoza y Josmell Espinoza evadieron el arresto cuando sus cómplices fueron arrestados.  Posteriormente fueron localizados en Perú y extraditados a los Estados Unidos el 25 de junio de 2021. 

El Servicio de Inspección Postal de EE.UU. y la sección de Protección al Consumidor de la División Civil investigaron el caso. El fiscal principal Phil Toomajian y el fiscal Max Goldman, de la sección de Protección al Consumidor, estuvieron a cargo del caso penal. La Comisión Federal de Comercio, la Oficina de Asuntos Internacionales del Departamento de Justicia, la Fiscalía de EE.UU. del Distrito Sur de Florida, el Servicio de Seguridad Diplomática del Departamento de Estado y la Policía Nacional del Perú brindaron ayuda esencial. 

La información sobre la Iniciativa contra el Fraude a Personas Mayores del Departamento de Justicia está disponible en https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice-espanol. Hay más información sobre la sección de Protección al Consumidor y sus medidas para combatir el fraude contra las personas mayores en www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. Si usted o alguien que conoce tiene 60 años o más y ha sido víctima de un fraude financiero, puede recibir ayuda si llama a la línea telefónica nacional contra el fraude a personas mayores: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).

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In English

Miami, Florida – A U.S. District Judge in South Florida has sentenced a prior convicted felon from Fort Pierce to 120 months in prison for possessing a firearm last Memorial Day.

On the night of May 31, 2021, 28-year-old Everette Jerome Jackson, Jr. arrived at a Fort Pierce park and exited a vehicle with a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol.  The park was filled with people celebrating the holiday.  After some fighting and commotion among parkgoers, Jackson brandished the Smith & Wesson and fired at a vehicle 13 times, hitting a bystander -- the owner of the vehicle.  After the shooting, Jackson tried to dispose of the firearm by throwing it into the Intracoastal Waterway, but dive-team officers from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office recovered it.

When he possessed the firearm on May 31, 2021, Jackson had a prior felony drug conviction and a prior felony conviction for illegal firearm possession. 

Jackson also faces state charges for shooting the victim.  The defendant is presumed innocent of the state charges unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, and Ken J. Mascara, Sheriff, Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon.  

FBI Miami and Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana M. Acosta prosecuted it.

This case stems from Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In 2017, PSN was reinvigorated as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-14033.

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Miami, Florida – Yesterday, a federal district judge in Fort Lauderdale sentenced Isaac Grossman, 47, of Parkland, Florida, to 87 months in federal prison for directing an elder fraud scheme in which he sold stock in his South Florida-based technology company to elderly investors across the country, and then misappropriated the investors’ funds for his own personal use.

From September 2014 through April 2018, Grossman raised approximately $2.4 million in investor funds for his company, Dragon-Click Corp., by soliciting investments from elderly retirees nationwide.  Grossman told potential investors that Dragon-Click was developing an internet application that would revolutionize internet shopping by allowing a user to upload a photograph of any item the user wanted to purchase, identify all retailers offering that item for sale, provide price comparisons for that item across retailers, and provide a link to retailers’ websites where the user could purchase the item.  Grossman solicited funds by falsely telling potential investors they would double, triple, or quadruple their investments, and that Dragon-Click was on the verge of being sold to a large technology company, such as Google, Apple, or Amazon, for over $1 billion.  He concealed from investors that, prior to raising funds for Dragon-Click, he had been permanently barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) from acting as a broker-dealer or associating with any broker-dealer firm, and that he had been permanently banned from commodities trading by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). 

Grossman falsely told investors that their investment money would be used to complete the technological development of the Dragon-Click internet application, to pay legal fees related to the patent application process, and to close the sale of the application to a large technology company.  But rather than using investors’ money for any legitimate business purpose, Grossman misappropriated investors’ funds for his own personal use.  Specifically, Grossman spent $1.3 million of investors’ money on gambling, diamond jewelry, luxury cars, home mortgage payments, tuition payments for his children’s private school education, and other personal expenditures.  For example, Grossman’s unlawful expenditures included a McLaren MP4-12C, a Chevrolet Corvette, and a 4.81 carat diamond ring.

Grossman previously pled guilty to wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering charges.  The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, made the announcement.  

United States Attorney Gonzalez commended the investigative efforts of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and also thanked the SEC’s Miami Regional Office for their assistance, as they had filed a parallel civil enforcement action against Grossman.  See SEC v. Isaac Grossman, et al., Case No. 18-61234-CV-BB (S.D. Fla.).

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael B. Homer.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 19-cr-60300.

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Miami, Florida – A federal jury convicted a Florida doctor yesterday in the Southern District of Florida for a health care fraud scheme that billed private health insurance companies approximately $110 million for addiction treatment services that were not medically necessary.  This is the second trial conviction to arise out of the Justice Department’s Sober Homes Initiative.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mark Agresti, M.D., 59, of Palm Beach, unlawfully billed approximately $110 million of urinalysis (UA) drug testing services that were medically unnecessary for patients at a sober living facility, Good Decisions Sober Living (GDSL).  GDSL was paid kickbacks for providing patients to addiction treatment facilities in the West Palm Beach area, in violation of Florida state law.

“This defendant used his medical license to facilitate an egregious, multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that exploited vulnerable substance abusers,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “This office and its law enforcement partners are committed to holding accountable the unscrupulous sober homeowners, doctors and others who carry out these fraudulent and abusive practices to satisfy their personal greed.”

Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that after Agresti became the Medical Director for GDSL, he agreed to provide standing orders for UA drug tests for GDSL patients in exchange for a monthly fee. Agresti also had GDSL patients sent to his medical office so he could fraudulently bill for services for these patients from his own medical practice. Patients at GDSL were required to submit to excessive, medically unnecessary urine drug tests as a condition of residency approximately three or four times per week. This added up to hundreds of UA drug tests per week and thousands per month. These UA drug tests cost as much as $6,000 to $9,000 per test. Agresti did not review the UA drug test results and did not use the UA drug tests to treat the GDSL patients. The evidence at trial showed that Agresti did the same thing at other addiction treatment facilities in the West Palm Beach area throughout the time of the charged conspiracy, resulting in hundreds of additional patients and thousands of additional fraudulent UA drug tests.

“This defendant, a medical doctor, was trusted to provide care to vulnerable patients,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Instead, he abused his position of trust in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. He took advantage of people seeking addiction treatment. His conviction further illustrates our commitment to protecting patients and prosecuting the owners, directors and operators of facilities that seek to exploit them, and underscores the importance of the work of the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative.”

“The defendant in this case exploited patients seeking treatment for addiction and pocketed the profits for years,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “This conviction is a warning that fraudulent practices like billing for medically unnecessary services come at a high cost. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to protecting the integrity of America’s health care system and the people who rely on it.”

“Patients place their faith and trust on industry professionals to care for their wellbeing,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office. “Instead, in this case, they were taking advantage of, and submitted to unnecessary procedures to defraud insurance companies. IRS-CI is committed to combatting health care and other financial fraud, and we will hold criminals accountable for their unlawful actions.”

“The defendant exploited people in treatment for substance use disorders,” said Atlanta Regional Director Isabel Culver of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). “The U.S. Department of Labor is working to end unconscionable schemes like this and hold those who commit health care fraud against employee benefit plan participants and their beneficiaries accountable.”

Three other defendants, including GDSL’s owner, were previously indicted and pleaded guilty to related charges in connection with this scheme.

Agresti was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, as well as 11 counts of health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy count, and 10 years for each count of health care fraud. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI, IRS-CI and the EBSA investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Perwin for the Southern District of Florida, and Senior Litigation Counsel Jim Hayes of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Daren Grove is handling asset forfeiture.

The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section leads the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative, which was announced in the 2020 National Health Care Fraud Takedown to prosecute defendants who exploit vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 18-cr-80124.

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A federal jury convicted a Florida doctor yesterday in the Southern District of Florida for a health care fraud scheme that billed private health insurance companies approximately $110 million for addiction treatment services that were not medically necessary. This is the second trial conviction to arise out of the Justice Department’s Sober Homes Initiative.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mark Agresti, M.D., 59, of Palm Beach, unlawfully billed approximately $110 million of urinalysis (UA) drug testing services that were medically unnecessary for patients at a sober living facility, Good Decisions Sober Living (GDSL). GDSL was paid kickbacks for providing patients to addiction treatment facilities in the West Palm Beach area, in violation of Florida state law.

“This defendant, a medical doctor, was trusted to provide care to vulnerable patients,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Instead, he abused his position of trust in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. He took advantage of people seeking addiction treatment. His conviction further illustrates our commitment to protecting patients and prosecuting the owners, directors and operators of facilities that seek to exploit them, and underscores the importance of the work of the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative.”

Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that after Agresti became the Medical Director for GDSL, he agreed to provide standing orders for UA drug tests for GDSL patients in exchange for a monthly fee. Agresti also had GDSL patients sent to his medical office so he could fraudulently bill for services for these patients from his own medical practice. Patients at GDSL were required to submit to excessive, medically unnecessary urine drug tests as a condition of residency approximately three or four times per week. This added up to hundreds of UA drug tests per week and thousands per month. These UA drug tests cost as much as $6,000 to $9,000 per test. Agresti did not review the UA drug test results and did not use the UA drug tests to treat the GDSL patients. The evidence at trial showed that Agresti did the same thing at other addiction treatment facilities in the West Palm Beach area throughout the time of the charged conspiracy, resulting in hundreds of additional patients and thousands of additional fraudulent UA drug tests.

“This defendant used his medical license to facilitate an egregious, multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that exploited vulnerable substance abusers,” said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “This office and its law enforcement partners are committed to holding accountable the unscrupulous sober homeowners, doctors and others who carry out these fraudulent and abusive practices to satisfy their personal greed.”

“The defendant in this case exploited patients seeking treatment for addiction and pocketed the profits for years,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “This conviction is a warning that fraudulent practices like billing for medically unnecessary services come at a high cost. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are dedicated to protecting the integrity of America’s health care system and the people who rely on it.”

“Patients place their faith and trust on industry professionals to care for their wellbeing,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office. “Instead, in this case, they were taking advantage of, and submitted to unnecessary procedures to defraud insurance companies. IRS-CI is committed to combatting health care and other financial fraud, and we will hold criminals accountable for their unlawful actions.”

“The defendant exploited people in treatment for substance use disorders,” said Atlanta Regional Director Isabel Culver of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). “The U.S. Department of Labor is working to end unconscionable schemes like this and hold those who commit health care fraud against employee benefit plan participants and their beneficiaries accountable.”

Three other defendants, including GDSL’s owner, were previously indicted and pleaded guilty to related charges in connection with this scheme.

Agresti was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, as well as 11 counts of health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy count, and 10 years for each count of health care fraud. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI, IRS-CI and the EBSA investigated the case.

Senior Litigation Counsel Jim Hayes of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Perwin for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section leads the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative, which was announced in the 2020 National Health Care Fraud Takedown to prosecute defendants who exploit vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction.

Miami, Florida – A St. Lucie County man who made death threats to a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Florida was sentenced today in Tampa, Florida to five years’ imprisonment.

The sentence of 73-year-old Lawrence F. Curtin follows his conviction after a two-day trial in November 2021.  In that trial, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alejandra L. López and Will Rosenzweig of the Southern District of Florida presented evidence that in August 2020, Curtin filed written objections to a U.S. Magistrate Judge’s report recommending dismissal of Curtin’s civil lawsuit.  In the written objections that he filed in court, Curtin listed a link to a video he had posted on YouTube, “Road to Glory,” which showed a younger Curtin at a church service, shaking the hand of a pastor, who was a member of a minority group.  Curtin stated in the written objections that the video made clear that he was threatening the Judge with “death and bodily harm” and that shaking the hand of the pastor further emphasized his threat to the Judge, a member of the same minority group. 

The evidence also showed that the inclusion of personal details about the Judge in the written objections and other court filings were meant to threaten the Judge since Curtin had never had an in-person hearing with the Judge and had to have researched the Judge to obtain the information.  Moreover, the evidence showed that Curtin’s anger at the Judge was compounded by the Judge’s previous recommendations to dismiss four of his earlier-filed civil lawsuits.  At sentencing, it was also shown that Curtin had engaged in a pattern of threatening federal and state judges with seriously bodily injury or death since 2005.

United States District Court Judge William F. Jung of the Middle District of Florida imposed the sentence, which also includes a supervised release term of three years following incarceration.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Gadyaces S. Serralta, the United States Marshal for the Southern District of Florida announced the sentence.

The Southern District of Florida’s U.S. Marshal’s Office investigated the case.  St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office assisted.  The Victim Witness Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida also assisted.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case no. 21-cr-20102.

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Miami, Florida – Yesterday, a federal district judge in Miami sentenced Bradley Jason Kantor, 49, of Key Largo, Florida, to 10 years in federal prison for submitting approximately $42 million in fraudulent health care claims to United Healthcare.

From April 2013 to March 2017, Kantor owned and operated Mobile Diagnostic Imaging, Inc. (“MDI”), a medical clinic in Davie, Florida that purported to provide antigen therapy and other allergen immunotherapy services, such as allergy testing and allergy shots, to commercial insurance beneficiaries.  Kantor offered and paid kickbacks to co-conspirators to induce them to refer beneficiaries to MDI, so that MDI could bill commercial insurers for services that it never provided.  MDI submitted approximately $42 million in false and fraudulent claims to United Healthcare, and United paid MDI more than $12 million in reimbursement for services that beneficiaries never received.  Kantor purchased a $3 million home in the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida, two Winnebago motor coaches, and a 37’ yacht with the ill-gotten proceeds.

Kantor previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Miami Field Office, announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke.   

FBI Miami and U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration investigated this case.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gilfarb and Michael B. Homer.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20243.

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Miami, Florida – On January 31, 2022, a former federal law enforcement officer was sentenced for stealing over $75,000 in social security benefits paid to his deceased father while serving as a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Officer in Miami.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Carlos Avila, 54, of Pembroke Pines, was collecting and receiving Social Security Retirement Insurance Benefits for his father, who died in Ecuador in 2010.  Because the Social Security Administration was unaware that Avila’s father died, the benefit payments did not stop.  Over the course of the next nine years, Avila controlled his deceased father’s bank account so that Avila could continue to withdraw the monthly overpayment of benefits that the SSA intended for his father while he was alive.  Even after a temporary payment freeze due to internal checks that indicated Avila’s father was no longer alive, Avila again updated his father’s bank account address seven years after his death and caused the SSA to release a back payment of $22,074, which Avila quickly spent.  Avila was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment (home confinement), one year of probation, and mandatory restitution.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Rodregas W. Owens of the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General (SSA-OIG), Atlanta Field Division made the announcement.

U.S. Attorney Gonzalez commended the work of the SSA-OIG.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trevor Jones.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Brown is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case no. 21-cr-60109.

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Miami, Florida – Today, William Clero, 45 and Cesar Armando Perez Amador, 52, residents of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Miami for their participation in a $9 million scheme to defraud prescription drug cost-saving coupon programs offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers.  At sentencing, which will be scheduled before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, Clero and Perez each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

According to court documents, beginning in 2014 through April 2021, Clero and Perez established numerous retail pharmacies in Miami-Dade County that purported to provide prescription drugs to individuals with private health insurance plans or without health insurance coverage.  In court, Clero and Perez admitted that they and others conspired to defraud prescription drug cost-saving coupon programs by causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims to those programs resulting in more than $9 million in payments.  The government tied 21 pharmacies to the defendants’ scheme, which pharmacies existed only to transmit the false and fraudulent claims.  The pharmacies did not have real customers or prescriptions, and did not dispense medications.

To conceal their involvement in the scheme, Clero and Perez recruited nominee or “straw” owners for each pharmacy and listed them on corporate records, bank records, and other business documents.  Clero and Perez also admitted that they transferred most of the proceeds of the scheme to shell companies they controlled and diverted large amounts of money for their personal use and benefit.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Anthony Salisbury, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Filed Office, announced the guilty plea.

HSI Miami investigated the case.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aimee C. Jimenez and Ana Maria Martinez.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Annika Miranda is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-cr-20112.

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Miami, Florida – Two Miami men were each sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment for stealing 192 medical ventilators worth approximately $3 million.  The ventilators were owned by the United States Agency for International Development (“USAID”), and were bound for a COVID-19 intensive care facility in El Salvador as part of a United States COVID-19 aid program.  The ventilators were stolen in South Florida while in transit to El Salvador.

Yoelvis Denis Hernandez, a/k/a “Guajiro,” 42, and Luis Urra Montero, a/k/a “Flaco,” 25, previously pled guilty to theft of government property.  Montero was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment this week; Hernandez was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment in December 2021.

According to court documents, on August 9, 2020, Hernandez and Montero stole a tractor trailer loaded with 192 medical ventilators during its transport by truck to Miami International Airport.  USAID had acquired the ventilators and was sending them to the Government of El Salvador as part of an aid program to treat critically ill COVID-19 El Salvadorian patients.  Hernandez and Montero stole the trailer from a lot where the driver had left it overnight.  Following an investigation, federal law enforcement agents recovered most of the stolen ventilators.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Miami Field Office, and Thomas J. Ullom, Acting Inspector General, United States Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General (“USAID-OIG”), announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke.

FBI Miami, FBI Miami’s Major Theft Task Force, and USAID-OIG investigated this case, with assistance from Boynton Beach Police Department, Miami Dade Police Department, Medley Police Department, City of Miami Gardens Police Department, and Broward Sheriff’s Office.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman and Michael B. Homer.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Stone is handling asset forfeiture.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-20252.

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