Eastern District of Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Billie Gene Spears, 47, of Jacksboro, Tennessee, was sentenced today to 300 months (25 Years) in federal prison, by United States District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for crossing a state line with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a person who was under 12 years of age.

Late last year, Spears admitted that, in October of 2017, he traveled from Tennessee to Franklin County, Kentucky, with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor who was less than 12 years old.  Spears had posted an internet ad, to which an undercover investigator with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office responded.  During the ensuing communications between the investigator and Spears, Spears unequivocally indicated that he was intending to have sex with the investigator’s fictitious 9 year-old daughter.  On October 21, 2017, Spears was met by the investigator and other law enforcement officers, at a pre-arranged location in Franklin County, where he was arrested.          

Under federal law, Spears must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for 20 years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Richard F. Ferretti, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service; and Andy Beshear, Kentucky Attorney General, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the Cyber Crimes Branch of the Kentucky Office of Attorney General.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney David A. Marye.

LONDON, Ky. – Kimberly Jones, a Williamsburg pharmacist, was convicted last week, by a federal jury sitting in London, on seven counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances.

Jones, 53, owned and operated Kim’s Hometown Pharmacy in Williamsburg, Kentucky, from approximately 2008 to 2018.  According to the evidence at trial, Jones repeatedly filled prescriptions for significant quantities of Oxycodone and other controlled substances from a variety of out-of-state doctors.  The evidence also established that Jones dispensed controlled substances to certain patients who did not have prescriptions at the time Jones dispensed the drugs.  Following a six-day trial, the jury convicted Jones on seven counts of unlawfully dispensing controlled substances to patients outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.

 Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; Steven D. Davis, Inspector General, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General; and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, jointly announced the jury’s verdict.        

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Inspector General, Drug Enforcement and Professional Practices Branch; and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.  Assistant United States Attorney Andrew E. Smith represented the United States in the case. 

Jones will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove.  Jones faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $1,000,000, and a term of supervision following the service of any sentence.  The Court will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing a sentence.

ASHLAND, Ky. — Leonard Anthony Wright, 33, of Detroit, was sentenced Monday, to 156 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for conspiracy to distribute 40 Grams or more of Fentanyl and conspiracy to distribute 100 Grams of more of Heroin. 

In April 2017, law enforcement members of the Huntington FBI Task Force, in conjunction with the Kentucky State Police and the Ashland Police Department, seized 209 grams of fentanyl, which Wright transported from Detroit to the Tri-State area of Ashland, Huntington, W.Va., and Ironton, Ohio.  In August 2017, the same law enforcement agencies sized 876 grams of heroin, which had also been transported from Detroit to the Tri-State area.   In September 2018, Wright entered a plea of guilty, admitting that he orchestrated the delivery of the fentanyl and heroin.

“The defendant transported significant quantities of the deadly drugs fentanyl and heroin to the Tri-State area, and now he faces a lengthy sentence of imprisonment for his illegal actions,” said United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr.  “I commend law enforcement for their coordination and cooperation during this investigation.  The combined efforts of the law enforcement agencies involved helped remove substantial amounts of dangerous drugs from the streets and likely saved lives.”          

Under federal law, Wright must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for four years.

U.S. Attorney Duncan; Robert Allan Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Pittsburgh; Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police; and Todd Kelley, Chief of the Ashland Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The FBI, KSP, and Ashland Police Department conducted the investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.

LONDON, Ky. – A Tennessee doctor, two clinic owners from the Miami, FL area, and a Woodbine, KY man were convicted today by a federal jury in London on oxycodone-trafficking charges.  Three defendants were also convicted of multiple counts of money laundering.         

After three days of deliberations following a four-week trial, the jury convicted Timothy Gowder, 71, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Anwar Mithavayani, 55, and Pete Tyndale, 47, clinic owners from Florida, of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and oxymorphone. James Bradley Combs, 41, from Woodbine, Kentucky, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. One defendant, Gary Moore, 67, from Chattanooga, Tennessee was acquitted.          

According to testimony at trial, Gowder and the clinic owners worked together to run an illicit pain clinic near Chattanooga, Tennessee, called Tennessee Pain Institute (or “TPI”), which drug addicts and drug traffickers in Kentucky and elsewhere used as their supplier. The evidence further revealed that, after the Tennessee Department of Health investigated TPI’s doctors and federal law enforcement executed a search warrant at TPI, clinic owners Tyndale and Mithavayani opened a new pain clinic in North Carolina to cater to the same Kentucky population.           

Gowder was indicted in May of 2017, while Mithavayani, Tyndale, and Combs were indicted in January of 2018.         

Co-defendant Larry Karr of Keavy, Kentucky, pled guilty to the drug trafficking charge in May of 2018, and was later sentenced to 108 months in federal prison.

“Prosecuting the unlawful distribution of opioids by medical professionals is a foremost priority of the Department of Justice and our Office,” said United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr.  “The defendants contributed to the opioid crisis that is ruining lives in our District and throughout the Nation.  I commend the law enforcement agencies involved for their thorough investigation, which ultimately resulted in the jury’s verdict that holds these defendants accountable for their actions.” 

U.S. Attorney Duncan; Special Agent in Charge D. Christopher Evans of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Matthew Line of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division; Andy Beshear, Kentucky Attorney General; and Richard W. Sanders, Commissioner of Kentucky State Police jointly announced the convictions.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA, the IRS, and the Kentucky Attorney’s General Office and the KSP. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Rosenberg.   

The Court will set a date for the defendants to appear for sentencing. Combs faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, Gowder faces up to 40 years, while Mithavayani and Tyndale face up to 120 and 130 years in prison, respectively.  However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing a sentence.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Brandon Hayden, 37, of Lexington, was found guilty today, by a federal jury, of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana and attempt to possess with the intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana.

The jury returned the verdict after a 2-day trial.  The evidence established that on July 17, 2018, Hayden was at the Love’s truck stop in Richmond, Kentucky to meet an anticipated delivery of 200 pounds of marijuana.   Earlier in the month, Hayden had received multiple photographs of bags and bales of marijuana buds on his cellular telephone, with texts indicating that marijuana was on its way to him.  On July 17, 2018, the marijuana was being hauled in multiple duffle bags, inside the cab of a tractor-trailer that had picked up the marijuana from El Paso, Texas and South Carolina.  Hayden met Vincent Raglin, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, in the parking lot of the truck stop.  Hayden and Raglin then drove to the spot where the tractor-trailer was parked.  After Raglin got out of his vehicle and collected the first duffle bag, the two were arrested.  The total weight of the marijuana was 91.9 kilograms.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; Richard Sanders, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police; and Charles Matthews, Chief of Police, Pineville Police Department, jointly announced the jury’s verdict.

Hayden is currently scheduled to appear for sentencing, in Lexington, on May 13, 2019 at 10:30 a.m.  Hayden faces a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.  However, his sentence will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the United States Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Kentucky State Police, and the Pineville Police Department.

COVINGTON, Ky. - A Youngstown, Ohio, man who previously admitted to striking a flight attendant while in flight on an aircraft was sentenced today to 31 days in custody, followed by seven months of home detention.  U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning sentenced 24-year-old Donald Zuppo, Jr., for interference with a flight attendant. 

According to Zuppo’s plea agreement, he was on a flight, from Phoenix to Cleveland on March 20, 2018, when he became agitated and struck a flight attendant with his fist.  Zuppo’s actions caused the flight crew to divert the aircraft for a landing at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. 

In addition to the terms of imprisonment and home detention, Zuppo was ordered to pay restitution to the flight attendant and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for two years.  

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, jointly announced the sentence.  The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the FBI.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Boone. 

According to court documents unsealed today, 20 people, including 16 foreign nationals, have been charged for their roles in an international organized crime group that defrauded American victims through online auction fraud causing millions of dollars in losses.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr. of the Eastern District of Kentucky, Director Randolph D. Alles of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Commissioner Richard W. Sanders of the Kentucky State Police, Chief of Police Lawrence Weathers of the Lexington Police Department, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation and Inspector in Charge Tommy Coke of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Pittsburgh Division made the announcement.

“The defendants allegedly orchestrated a highly organized and sophisticated scheme to steal money from unsuspecting victims in America and then launder their funds using cryptocurrency,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski.  “As the charges and arrests announced today demonstrate, the Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue cybercriminals who defraud the American public, regardless of where those criminals may reside.”

“This prosecution stems from a multi-year investigation initiated in Kentucky led by the U.S. Secret Service, in cooperation with several local, state, federal, and international law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Duncan.  “Cooperation of this kind is essential, if we are to be effective in disrupting organized cybercrime, which costs victims from across the United States millions of dollars and has become an increasingly prevalent means for criminals to prey on the public.  I commend the exceptional work done by our law enforcement partners, and we are proud to join this cooperative effort to combat cyber fraud schemes.”

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the success of the collaborative efforts of our worldwide network of law enforcement partners.  It sends a powerful message and demonstrates the transnational investigative capabilities of the Secret Service,” said Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles.  “This is a shared win for law enforcement across the globe.  I would like to thank the more than a dozen law enforcement agencies worldwide who helped us investigate this case, each played a vital role in its success.”

On July 5, 2018, a federal grand jury in Lexington, Kentucky returned a 24-count indictment charging 15 foreign nationals with RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.  Those charged include Andrei-Cătălin Stoica, 28, of Romania; Victor-Aurel Grama, 29, of Romania; Liviu-Sorin Nedelcu, 33, of Romania; Ionuţ Ciobanu, 28, of Romania; Marius-Dorin Cernat, 35, of Romania; Alexandru Ion, 30, of Romania; Ştefan-Alexandru Păiuşi, 33, of Romania; Eugen-Alin Badea, 34, of Romania; Cristişor Olteanu, 31, of Romania; Adrian Mitan, 34, of Romania; Bogdan-Ştefan Popescu, 29, of Romania; Florin Arvat, 24, of Romania; Alin-Ionuţ Dobrică, 26, of Romania; Vlad-Călin Nistor, 31, of Romania, and Rossen Iossifov, 51, of Bulgaria.  On Feb. 6, a federal grand jury in Lexington returned an 11-count indictment charging an additional foreign national and four Americans for their roles in the criminal enterprise.  Those charged include Beniamin-Filip Ologeanu, 29, of Alexandria, Romania; Austin Edward Nedved, 27, of Northborough, Massachusetts; Dimitrious Antoine Brown, 37, of Macon, Georgia and Rashawd Lamar Tulloch, 30, of Newnan, Georgia.  Andrew Gilbert Ybarra II, 25, of Patterson, California, was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.  In all, 15 Romanian nationals and one Bulgarian national were charged in these two indictments.  Of these, 12 have been extradited to the United States and are awaiting trials, which are currently set for June 18, 2019 and Aug. 7, 2019.

The indictment alleges that these defendants participated in a criminal conspiracy primarily located in Alexandria, Romania that engaged in a large-scale scheme of online auction fraud.  Specifically, Romania-based members of the conspiracy and their associates posted false advertisements to popular online auction and sales websites—such as Craigslist and eBay—for high-cost goods (typically vehicles) that did not actually exist.  According to the indictment, these members would convince American victims to send money for the advertised goods by crafting persuasive narratives, for example, by impersonating a military member who needed to sell the advertised item before deployment.  The members of the conspiracy are alleged to have created fictitious online accounts to post these advertisements and communicate with victims, often using the stolen identities of Americans to do so.  They are alleged to have delivered invoices to the victims bearing trademarks of reputable companies in order to make the transactions appear legitimate.  Once victims were convinced to send payment, the indictment alleges that the conspiracy engaged in a complicated money laundering scheme wherein domestic associates would accept victim funds, convert these funds to cryptocurrency, and transfer proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency to foreign-based associates.  The indictment alleges that these foreign-based money launderers include Vlad-Călin Nistor, who owns Coinflux Services SRL, and Rossen Iossifov, who owns R G Coins.  According to the indictment, Nistor and Iossifov exchanged cryptocurrency into local fiat currency on behalf of the Romania-based members of the conspiracy, knowing that they were exchanging bitcoin that represented the proceeds of fraud.

Some of the fraud schemes alleged in the indictments include:

• Nedelcu persuaded victims to send money for the advertised goods by creating fictitious but legitimate sounding entities through which he purported to sell vehicles.  For example, he used email address, [email protected], belonging to Aol Autos, to communicate with victims by email with subject lines like, “America Online Autos Financial Department [Order # 099106592090].”  The email would contain messages appearing to be legitimate invoices for payment for the advertised item purported to be sold.
• Ciobanu and his coconspirators used the email address [email protected] to communicate with victims about the sale of vehicles, signing the emails as “Sgt. Judith Lane,” and created a Facebook profile for Judith Lane, who was depicted as a member of the Air Force. Ciobanu, acting as “Judith Lane,” also posted two Facebook advertisements for the sale of automobiles.
• Cernat and his coconspirators sent victims invoices that appeared to be from eBay Motors and provided an eBay Motors Support Department phone number and email address of [email protected].  These invoices provided instructions for payment and included reassuring language for secure transactions, such as, “Through OneVanilla Prepaid Visa services we can guarantee you 100 percent protection and insurance in this transaction.  eBay Payments will secure the payment until the buyer receives, inspects, and accepts the item.  Or, if it will be the case, eBay will refund the payment to the buyer.”
• Păiuşi also convinced victims to send money for the advertised goods by sending them invoices for payment that appeared legitimate. … [One such] invoice appeared to be sent from “eBayTM Buyer Protection,” provided the victim with an email address for questions, described the seller as a “certified eBayTM  third-party seller,” and explained that the buyer will be refunded if he or she refuses the merchandise.
• The coconspirators then communicated with the victims via email, often signing their emails by posing as a member of the military, like “Sgt. Logan Burdick.”  Other emails purported to be from the online auction company, like eBay.  The emails often communicated convincing information about the item being sold and the reason payment was required before shipping or viewing the item. 

Adrian Mitan, who was charged in the July 5, 2018 indictment, was also charged in a separate indictment unsealed today with money laundering offenses arising from a credit card phishing and brute-force attack scheme, likewise designed to steal money from Americans.  The indictment explains that phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through electronic communications, and brute force is a cryptological trial-and-error methodology used to obtain information such as personal identification numbers for credit cards.  Mitan allegedly phished for credit/debit card information of U.S. customers, hacked into the electronic systems of American businesses, and then conducted a brute force attack on their point-of-sale systems for the purpose of stealing the remaining credit/debit card information.  According to the indictment, Mitan then directed American money launderers to create “dummy” credit/debit cards with the stolen information, which were used to extract money from the customers’ accounts.  These fraudulent proceeds were then returned to Mitan in the form of bitcoin.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, Lexington Police Department, IRS Criminal Investigation and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and supported by the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2).  Assistance was provided by the Romanian National Police (Service for Combating Cybercrime) and the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (Agency for Prosecuting Organized Crime).  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant support with the defendants’ extradition.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn M. Anderson and Kenneth R. Taylor of the Eastern District of Kentucky and Senior Trial Attorney Timothy Flowers and Senior Counsel Frank Lin of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. 

Individuals believing they may be victims of the advanced fee and online auction fraud or brute-force attack schemes described herein are encouraged to visit the following website to obtain more information: https://justice.gov/usao-edky/information-victims-large-cases.  Tips to avoid becoming a victim of online auction fraud can be found here on the U.S. Secret Service’s website. 

For the RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy charges, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.  The same penalties apply to the money laundering conspiracy charges, except that the fine may be up to $500,000.  Additionally, if convicted of identity theft, Brown faces a term of 15 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release, and if convicted of aggravated identity theft, those charged face a mandatory-minimum sentence of two years in prison, to be served consecutive to any term of imprisonment ordered for the other counts of conviction.  However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statutes.

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

Twelve Foreign Nationals Extradited to the United States

WASHINGTON – According to court documents unsealed today, 20 people, including 16 foreign nationals, have been charged for their roles in an international organized crime group that defrauded American victims through online auction fraud causing millions of dollars in losses.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr. of the Eastern District of Kentucky, Director Randolph D. Alles of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Commissioner Richard W. Sanders of the Kentucky State Police, Chief of Police Lawrence Weathers of the Lexington Police Department, Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation and Inspector in Charge Tommy Coke of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Pittsburgh Division made the announcement.

“The defendants allegedly orchestrated a highly organized and sophisticated scheme to steal money from unsuspecting victims in America and then launder their funds using cryptocurrency,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski.  “As the charges and arrests announced today demonstrate, the Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue cybercriminals who defraud the American public, regardless of where those criminals may reside.”

“This prosecution stems from a multi-year investigation initiated in Kentucky led by the U.S. Secret Service, in cooperation with several local, state, federal, and international law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Duncan.  “Cooperation of this kind is essential, if we are to be effective in disrupting organized cybercrime, which costs victims from across the United States millions of dollars and has become an increasingly prevalent means for criminals to prey on the public.  I commend the exceptional work done by our law enforcement partners, and we are proud to join this cooperative effort to combat cyber fraud schemes.”

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the success of the collaborative efforts of our worldwide network of law enforcement partners.  It sends a powerful message and demonstrates the transnational investigative capabilities of the Secret Service,” said Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles.  “This is a shared win for law enforcement across the globe.  I would like to thank the more than a dozen law enforcement agencies worldwide who helped us investigate this case, each played a vital role in its success.”

On July 5, 2018, a federal grand jury in Lexington, Kentucky returned a 24-count indictment charging 15 foreign nationals with RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.  Those charged include Andrei-Cătălin Stoica, 28, of Romania; Victor-Aurel Grama, 29, of Romania; Liviu-Sorin Nedelcu, 33, of Romania; Ionuţ Ciobanu, 28, of Romania; Marius-Dorin Cernat, 35, of Romania; Alexandru Ion, 30, of Romania; Ştefan-Alexandru Păiuşi, 33, of Romania; Eugen-Alin Badea, 34, of Romania; Cristişor Olteanu, 31, of Romania; Adrian Mitan, 34, of Romania; Bogdan-Ştefan Popescu, 29, of Romania; Florin Arvat, 24, of Romania; Alin-Ionuţ Dobrică, 26, of Romania; Vlad-Călin Nistor, 31, of Romania, and Rossen Iossifov, 51, of Bulgaria. On Feb. 6, a federal grand jury in Lexington returned an 11-count indictment charging an additional foreign national and four Americans for their roles in the criminal enterprise. Those charged include Beniamin-Filip Ologeanu, 29, of Alexandria, Romania; Austin Edward Nedved, 27, of Northborough, Massachusetts; Dimitrious Antoine Brown, 37, of Macon, Georgia and Rashawd Lamar Tulloch, 30, of Newnan, Georgia.  Andrew Gilbert Ybarra II, 25, of Patterson, California, was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.  In all, 15 Romanian nationals and one Bulgarian national were charged in these two indictments.  Of these, 12 have been extradited to the United States and are awaiting trials, which are currently set for June 18, 2019 and Aug. 7, 2019.

The indictment alleges that these defendants participated in a criminal conspiracy primarily located in Alexandria, Romania that engaged in a large-scale scheme of online auction fraud.  Specifically, Romania-based members of the conspiracy and their associates posted false advertisements to popular online auction and sales websites—such as Craigslist and eBay—for high-cost goods (typically vehicles) that did not actually exist.  According to the indictment, these members would convince American victims to send money for the advertised goods by crafting persuasive narratives, for example, by impersonating a military member who needed to sell the advertised item before deployment. The members of the conspiracy are alleged to have created fictitious online accounts to post these advertisements and communicate with victims, often using the stolen identities of Americans to do so.  They are alleged to have delivered invoices to the victims bearing trademarks of reputable companies in order to make the transactions appear legitimate.  Once victims were convinced to send payment, the indictment alleges that the conspiracy engaged in a complicated money laundering scheme wherein domestic associates would accept victim funds, convert these funds to cryptocurrency, and transfer proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency to foreign-based associates. The indictment alleges that these foreign-based money launderers include Vlad-Călin Nistor, who owns Coinflux Services SRL, and Rossen Iossifov, who owns R G Coins. According to the indictment, Nistor and Iossifov exchanged cryptocurrency into local fiat currency on behalf of the Romania-based members of the conspiracy, knowing that they were exchanging bitcoin that represented the proceeds of fraud.

Some of the fraud schemes alleged in the indictments include:

• Nedelcu persuaded victims to send money for the advertised goods by creating fictitious but legitimate sounding entities through which he purported to sell vehicles.  For example, he used email address, [email protected], belonging to Aol Autos, to communicate with victims by email with subject lines like, “America Online Autos Financial Department [Order # 099106592090].”  The email would contain messages appearing to be legitimate invoices for payment for the advertised item purported to be sold.
   
• Ciobanu and his coconspirators used the email address [email protected] to communicate with victims about the sale of vehicles, signing the emails as “Sgt. Judith Lane,” and created a Facebook profile for Judith Lane, who was depicted as a member of the Air Force. Ciobanu, acting as “Judith Lane,” also posted two Facebook advertisements for the sale of automobiles.
   
• Cernat and his coconspirators sent victims invoices that appeared to be from eBay Motors and provided an eBay Motors Support Department phone number and email address of [email protected].  These invoices provided instructions for payment and included reassuring language for secure transactions, such as, “Through OneVanilla Prepaid Visa services we can guarantee you 100 percent protection and insurance in this transaction.  eBay Payments will secure the payment until the buyer receives, inspects, and accepts the item.  Or, if it will be the case, eBay will refund the payment to the buyer.”
   
• Păiuşi also convinced victims to send money for the advertised goods by sending them invoices for payment that appeared legitimate. … [One such] invoice appeared to be sent from “eBayTM Buyer Protection,” provided the victim with an email address for questions, described the seller as a “certified eBayTM  third-party seller,” and explained that the buyer will be refunded if he or she refuses the merchandise.
   
• The coconspirators then communicated with the victims via email, often signing their emails by posing as a member of the military, like “Sgt. Logan Burdick.”  Other emails purported to be from the online auction company, like eBay.  The emails often communicated convincing information about the item being sold and the reason payment was required before shipping or viewing the item. 

Adrian Mitan, who was charged in the July 5, 2018 indictment, was also charged in a separate indictment unsealed today with money laundering offenses arising from a credit card phishing and brute-force attack scheme, likewise designed to steal money from Americans.  The indictment explains that phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through electronic communications, and brute force is a cryptological trial-and-error methodology used to obtain information such as personal identification numbers for credit cards. Mitan allegedly phished for credit/debit card information of U.S. customers, hacked into the electronic systems of American businesses, and then conducted a brute force attack on their point-of-sale systems for the purpose of stealing the remaining credit/debit card information.  According to the indictment, Mitan then directed American money launderers to create “dummy” credit/debit cards with the stolen information, which were used to extract money from the customers’ accounts.  These fraudulent proceeds were then returned to Mitan in the form of bitcoin.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, Lexington Police Department, IRS Criminal Investigation and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and supported by the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2).  Assistance was provided by the Romanian National Police (Service for Combating Cybercrime) and the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (Agency for Prosecuting Organized Crime).  The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant support with the defendants’ extradition.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn M. Anderson and Kenneth R. Taylor of the Eastern District of Kentucky and Senior Trial Attorney Timothy Flowers and Senior Counsel Frank Lin of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. 

Individuals believing they may be victims of the advanced fee and online auction fraud or brute-force attack schemes described herein are encouraged to visit the following website to obtain more information: https://justice.gov/usao-edky/information-victims-large-cases.  Tips to avoid becoming a victim of online auction fraud can be found here on the U.S. Secret Service’s website.            

For the RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy charges, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.  The same penalties apply to the money laundering conspiracy charges, except that the fine may be up to $500,000.  Additionally, if convicted of identity theft, Brown faces a term of 15 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release, and if convicted of aggravated identity theft, those charged face a mandatory-minimum sentence of two years in prison, to be served consecutive to any term of imprisonment ordered for the other counts of conviction. However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statutes. 

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

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Eric D. James, 32, of Lexington, was sentenced yesterday to 188 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and money laundering.  Reeves also ordered James to pay a fine of $2,000 and ordered the forfeiture of his interest in $586,369 in cash.

James previously admitted that, in early January 2017, he engaged in a conspiracy to obtain large quantities of cocaine from the southwest United States.  Shipments of these drugs were made by passenger vehicle, with the drugs concealed in various compartments within the vehicles.    The drugs were then transported to Lexington.   The proceeds from the distribution of these drugs were returned to the source.  On May 18, 2017, the Lexington Police stopped a vehicle carrying approximately 6 kilograms of cocaine.   On June 12, 2017, a search warrant was executed at the residence of James’ co-defendant, Ansar McIver.  Law enforcement seized a quantity of cocaine and approximately $586,369, which were proceeds from the drug distribution.         

James had previously been convicted of a drug trafficking felony, in Indiana, and Possession of Cocaine, in Kentucky.  James was on parole for drug trafficking at the time he committed these offenses.  James pleaded guilty in September 2018.

Under federal law, James must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for ten years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James (Robert) Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police; and Chief Lawrence Weathers, of Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI (Lexington and San Diego), the Kentucky State Police, and the Lexington Police Department. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Roger W. West.

COVINGTON, Ky. – Trontez Mahaffey, a Cincinnati man, was convicted today by a federal jury in Covington for conspiring with Tyra Nelson, also from Cincinnati, and others, to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, which they transported in their luggage from Phoenix, Arizona to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on September 8, 2017.

After slightly under one hour of deliberations following a three day trial, the jury convicted 23 year old Trontez Mahaffey of the conspiracy charge and two substantive charges of possession with the intent to distribute 80 pounds of marijuana and four pounds of crystal methamphetamine.           

According to testimony at trial, Mahaffey and Nelson were drug couriers for a drug organization with connections in Evansville, Indiana and Phoenix, Arizona.  They had made approximately five prior trips transporting controlled substances to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport from Phoenix, Arizona and paid approximately $1,500 each time.  Tyra Nelson, age 21, was charged in the same indictment, and pleaded guilty prior to trial.           

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Shawn Ward, Chief, Airport Police Department jointly announced the conviction.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA and the Airport Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Laura K. Voorhees.

Mahaffey will appear for sentencing on March 9, 2019, and Nelson will appear for sentencing April 4, 2019.  They each face a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison due to the quantity of methamphetamine involved.   However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing a sentence.

LEXINGTON, Ky.  — Dewayne Thomas Farmer, 34, of Richmond, Kentucky, was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in federal prison, by Chief United States District Judge Karen K. Caldwell, for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of firearms in furtherance of the drug distribution, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.

During his guilty plea, Farmer admitted that, on June 27, 2017, law enforcement executed a search warrant at his Richmond apartment.  During the search warrant, officers seized more than 220 grams of methamphetamine, which was in close proximity to two shotguns. 

Farmer confirmed that he had traded drugs for the shotguns located in his apartment, that he kept the shotguns for protection, and that he intended to sell the methamphetamine.  The value of the seized drugs exceeded $20,000.

Under federal law, Farmer must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for eight years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF; Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA; and James Ebert, Chief of the Richmond Police Department jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the ATF, DEA, and Richmond Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Roger W. West.

LEXINGTON, Ky.  — Byron White, 38, of Lexington, was sentenced yesterday to 84 months in federal prison, by Chief United States District Judge Karen K. Caldwell, for conspiracy to distribute Fentanyl.

White previously admitted that he conspired with another person to distribute fentanyl in Lexington, between November 1, 2017 and March 18, 2018.  White further admitted that he distributed heroin and more than 40 grams of fentanyl, in Lexington, during that time.  White has a prior felony conviction for trafficking in cocaine, from Fayette County.  White pleaded guilty to the charges in August. 

Under federal law, White must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for eight years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI; and Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and KSP.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Roger W. West.

COVINGTON, Ky. – Courtney Webster, 34, of Cincinnati; Jonathan Stanley, 34, of Cincinnati; Keith Johnson, 35, of Alexandria, Kentucky; and Michael Boone, 45, of Newport, Kentucky, were sentenced this week, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for conspiring to distribute heroin.  On Tuesday, Webster was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison and Stanley was sentenced to 51 months.  Today, Johnson was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison and Boone was sentenced to 90 months.

Webster was convicted of leading the conspiracy, which included the other defendants and was responsible for distributing over a kilogram of heroin in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, from November 2016 through April 2018.  Court documents established that Webster distributed heroin himself, and directed others who were selling heroin that he supplied.  They also established that, during the course of the investigation, law enforcement agents conducted over 20 controlled buys of heroin from conspiracy members.         

All four were indicted in April 2018 and entered guilty pleas.  Under federal law, each defendant must serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentence; and following their release, they will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for an additional term. 

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Robert Nader, Chief of the Covington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.  The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Covington Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Bracke.

COVINGTON, Ky. – Gregory Sydnor, 30, of Falmouth, Kentucky, was sentenced today to 360 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.  Sydnor was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release, to be served after completion of his prison term. 

Sydnor was convicted of leading a conspiracy that was responsible for distributing more than 1.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, in 2017.  Crystal methamphetamine is an extremely pure form of methamphetamine commonly brought to this area from Mexico and communities along the southwest border of the United States.  Court documents established that Sydnor regularly distributed methamphetamine to other traffickers and sold methamphetamine to minors.  Sydnor, and other members of the conspiracy, also possessed firearms while selling the drugs.  Agents seized ten firearms and a large amount of ammunition during the course of the investigation.  Sydnor had five prior felony convictions.        

Sydnor was indicted in November 2017 along with other members of his conspiracy.  All entered guilty pleas.  William Todd Ramsey was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison and Sterling T. Cole was sentenced to 157 months in prison, in November 2018.  Nathaniel Hughes was sentenced to 37 months in prison in September 2018.  Under federal law, each Defendant must serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentence.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police; and Charles Peoples, Pendleton County Sheriff, jointly made the announcement.  The investigation was conducted by the DEA, the Kentucky State Police, and the Pendleton County Sheriff’s Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Bracke.

LONDON, Ky. — Dr. Werner Grentz, 69, of London, Kentucky, was sentenced on Wednesday by United States District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove to three years in federal prison, for falsely reporting his income as $0 on tax documents presented to the Internal Revenue Service for tax years 2011-2015, and for corruptly interfering with the IRS’ attempts to administer the tax laws.  Dr. Grentz was also sentenced to an additional year in prison, for violations of the terms of his supervised release on a 2013 tax fraud conviction.  This one-year prison term will run consecutively to Dr. Grentz’s three-year sentence, for a total of four years in prison.

Dr. Grentz was convicted in February 2018, following a jury trial in London.  According to the evidence at trial, Dr. Grentz submitted false Form 1040X and Form 1040NR documents to the IRS, claiming to have received $0 in income during the years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, when in fact Dr. Grentz earned $726,148 during that time period.  The IRS determined that Dr. Grentz owed taxes of $237,860 on that income which he failed to report or pay.  Dr. Grentz also took steps to impede collection efforts by the IRS and county clerks.

This was not Dr. Grentz’s first conviction for tax crimes.  In 2014, Dr. Grentz was convicted of tax evasion, for willfully failing to pay more than $900,000 in taxes to the IRS.  He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for that tax offense, and while he was on supervised release for the 2014 offense, committed the new tax crimes that resulted in his 2018 conviction.  It was a violation of the terms of his supervised release to commit new federal crimes, and that violation resulted in the additional year of prison time. 

In addition to his prison sentence, Dr. Grentz was ordered to pay restitution to the IRS of $237,860.  He owes more than a million dollars in unpaid taxes to the IRS.            

Under federal law, Grentz must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for a term of one year.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Ryan Lerner, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation Cincinnati Field Office, jointly made the announcement. 

The investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Paul McCaffrey and Neeraj Gupta.

LONDON, Ky. – Omar Davis, 38, of Moultrie, Georgia, was sentenced yesterday to 276 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, brandishing a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, and kidnapping.

From December 2014 through March 2016, Davis ran a drug-trafficking operation that distributed pound quantities of methamphetamine in and around the Laurel County area.  On March 8, 2016, Davis held two people at gunpoint over a dispute about proceeds from drug sales.  Davis pleaded guilty to the drug-trafficking, firearm, and kidnapping charges.

Under federal law, Davis must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for five years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Special Agent in Charge D. Christopher Evans of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Field Division; and Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State police, jointly announced the sentence.

The DEA and the Kentucky State Police conducted the investigation. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Greg Rosenberg.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Marvin Lee Foxx, 50, of Lexington, was sentenced Friday, to 43 months federal in prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

In April 2018, the Lexington Police Department executed a search warrant at Foxx’s Lexington residence, locating 28 grams of fentanyl, two grams of cocaine, and a firearm.  On September 7, 2018, Foxx entered a guilty plea, admitting to possession with intent to distribute the fentanyl.  Foxx has a prior conviction, for a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, from the United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, from 2008.

Under federal law, Foxx must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for six years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Louisville Field Division; and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The ATF and the Lexington Police Department conducted the investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program 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.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Andre Stackhouse, 47, of Lexington, was sentenced Friday, to 190 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 

In January 2018, detectives with the Lexington Police Department executed a search warrant at Stackhouse’s Lexington residence, locating 244 grams of a heroin/fentanyl mix and two firearms.  Stackhouse was arrested and admitted to the distribution of heroin and to possessing the firearms for protection during his drug trafficking.  Stackhouse has six prior felony convictions, including drug trafficking, from Chicago.             

Under federal law, Stackhouse must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for eight years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Louisville Field Division; and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The ATF and the Lexington Police Department conducted the investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program 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.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Trenton A. Shell, 24, of Detroit, was sentenced Friday, to 60 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

In April 2018, detectives with the Lexington Police Department executed a search warrant at Shell’s Lexington residence, locating 49 grams of a fentanyl.  Detectives also located ten grams of fentanyl concealed in Shell’s clothing.  On August 31, 2018, Shell entered a guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute the fentanyl. 

Under federal law, Shell must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for four years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; D. Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Louisville Field Division; and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The DEA and the Lexington Police Department conducted the investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.

LONDON, Ky. — Wilmer Caballero-Lazo, 26, was sentenced Tuesday, to 198 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.  Caballero-Lazo is a citizen of Honduras.

Caballero-Lazo pleaded guilty to the methamphetamine charges in May of 2018.  The investigation began as a search for stolen firearms and revealed that, between May of 2015 and September of 2016, Caballero-Lazo regularly delivered kilogram quantities of methamphetamine to large-scale drug dealers in the Laurel and Whitley County communities, including Brian Ellis, Richard Walker, Dustin Higginbotham, Michael Shane McCormick, Jr., and Lindsey Johnson.  Each of those individuals have previously received federal sentences in connection with their criminal conduct.   

Under federal law, Caballero-Lazo must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Caballero-Lazo will be deported back to Honduras following service of his sentence.     

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Special Agent in Charge for the Louisville Field Division; and Chris Fultz, Manchester Police Chief, jointly made the announcement.  The Drug Enforcement Administration, Kentucky State Police, London Police Department, Laurel County Sheriff’s Office, Corbin Police Department, and the Marietta Cobb Smyrna Task Force in Georgia also assisted in the investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew H. Trimble.

COVINGTON, Ky. — Jamel Clay, 24, of Louisville, Kentucky, was sentenced on Thursday, by United States District Judge David Bunning, to eight years in federal prison, for possession with the intent to distribute Methamphetamine. 

Clay was indicted in May 2018 and pled guilty in August 2018.  According to court documents, Clay supplied approximately ten pounds of methamphetamine to a co-defendant, Michael Hager, over a period of several months.  Hager, a Covington resident, was responsible for distributing the methamphetamine in Northern Kentucky.  Agents arrested Hager in possession of approximately eight ounces of methamphetamine and a loaded firearm, on March 1, 2018.  Agents arrested Clay in possession of approximately 15 ounces of methamphetamine, on March 12, 2018.  Hager was sentenced to 144 months in prison, in November 2018.               

Under federal law, Clay must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for a term of five years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, jointly made the announcement. 

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Bracke.

COVINGTON, Ky. — Donald Conway, 42, of Florence, Kentucky, was sentenced on Thursday, by United States District Judge David Bunning, to 16 years in federal prison for possessing heroin and cocaine with the intent to distribute the drugs. 

Conway was convicted in August 2018, following a bench trial.  According to testimony at trial, Covington Police conducting a traffic stop, finding baggies containing more than 25 grams of cocaine and more than 23 grams of heroin, packaged for sale.  Based upon prior felony convictions for assault and drug trafficking, Conway qualified as a “career offender” under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which subjected him to an increased sentence.               

Under federal law, Conway must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for a term of five years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James (Robert) Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Robert Nader, Chief of the Covington Police Department, jointly made the announcement. 

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Covington Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Bracke.

LONDON, Ky. — Willie Combs has been sentenced to 108 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for illegally possessing a firearm following his prior felony convictions. 

Combs pleaded guilty to the firearms charges in May of 2018.  During his guilty plea, Combs admitted that on May 22, 2017, he brandished a firearm to another individual during an argument.  The firearm was a loaded SKS 7.62x39 caliber rifle.  Combs was prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm, based on three prior felony convictions, including a federal conviction for possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance. 

Under federal law, Combs must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon his release, Combs will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office. 

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Special Agent in Charge for the Louisville Field Division; and Richard Sanders, Kentucky State Police Commissioner, jointly made the announcement.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Jason D. Parman.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program 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.

LONDON, Ky. — Edwin Willis, 44, of Corbin, Kentucky, was sentenced to 300 months (25 years) in federal prison, by United States District Judge Robert E. Wier, for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking offense.  Willis has three prior felony drug convictions and, as a result, qualified for career offender status and an enhanced sentence under federal law.

Willis pled guilty to the charges against him in March of 2018.  Willis is the final defendant to be sentenced in an interstate drug conspiracy led by Marti Payne, through which pound levels of methamphetamine were imported from Georgia to Whitley and Laurel County, Kentucky between April of 2017 and August of 2017.  The conspiracy concluded on August 1, 2017, when law enforcement arrested Payne and Willis.  Willis’s arrest followed a chase during which firearms were discarded from the vehicle.  A subsequent search of that vehicle revealed that Willis was in possession of over 200 grams of methamphetamine.  The investigation confirmed Willis, armed with a firearm, had traveled with Payne to Georgia to obtain methamphetamine.  

Eleven others who participated in the conspiracy to obtain and distribute methamphetamine have previously pled guilty and were sentenced, including Marti Payne (160 months), Whitney Wright (93 months), Brandon Huff (118 months), Courtney Stacy (120 months), Jamieson Taylor Wayne Minton (92 months), Ethan Powers (93 months), Jamie Peters (124 months), David Russell (68 months), Christopher Jonas (160 months), Kenneth Buchanan (125 months), and Ladonna Ping (65 months).  Under federal law, the defendants must serve 85 percent of their prison sentences; and upon their release, they will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Special Agent in Charge for the Louisville Field Division; and Richard Sanders, Kentucky State Police Commissioner, jointly made the announcement.  The Laurel County Sherriff’s Office and the Williamsburg Police Department also assisted in the investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew H. Trimble.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The PSN program 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.

COVINGTON, Ky. — Richard Crawford, Jr., 54, of Cincinnati, was sentenced Tuesday, to 18 years in federal prison for Distribution and Possession of Cocaine in Boone County, Kentucky.  Crawford was sentenced by United States District Judge David Bunning.

Crawford was convicted in August 2018, following a three-day jury trial.  According to evidence at trial, Crawford sold an ounce of cocaine to a confidential informant working with law enforcement, on June 27, 2017 in Florence, Kentucky.  Two days later, law enforcement executed a search warrant on Crawford’s apartment in Florence, Kentucky, finding more than 400 grams of cocaine and crack cocaine, evidence of drug paraphernalia, and cash used by the confidential informant to purchase cocaine.  Crawford has an extensive criminal history, including three prior convictions for trafficking in cocaine.  Based on these prior convictions, Crawford qualified as a “career offender” under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, subjecting him to an increased sentence.               

Under federal law, Crawford must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for six years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), jointly made the announcement. 

The investigation was conducted by the DEA and the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Wade T. Napier, Jennifer K. Weinhold, and Tony Bracke.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Defendants, in three separate indictments, have entered guilty pleas to distributing fentanyl that resulted in a death.  In one case, Kloud Logan Jones, 27, of Mt. Sterling, Ky., pleaded guilty on October 19, 2018.  Jones admitted that on November 23, 2017, he distributed the lethal drug to an individual identified as R.A.S., while both were inmates at the Montgomery County Regional Jail.  Video surveillance from the jail captured the incident.  The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) jointly investigated the death, which led to federal charges.

In a separate case, Garry Sean Ramone Drake, Jr, 26, of Lexington, pleaded guilty on November 26, 2018, to distribution of fentanyl resulting in the death of an individual identified as M.R., on November 30, 2017, in Fayette County.  Drake is the second individual convicted of distribution resulting in M.R.’s death.  Phillip Clayton Jennings, 23, also of Lexington, previously entered a guilty plea to the same charge.  Proof gathered during the investigation showed that both defendants were in the chain of distribution of the fentanyl mixture that led to the death. The Lexington Police Department and the DEA jointly investigated the death, which led to federal charges.

All three defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.  Sentencing for each of the defendants will occur in the United States District Courthouse, in Lexington, before the United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves.             

“The distribution of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs is devastating our community with addiction and death,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “These three convictions demonstrate law enforcement’s continuing commitment to thoroughly investigate and prosecute drug distribution that results in an overdose.  Each of these defendants will be facing a lengthy sentence of imprisonment, based on their decision to distribute fentanyl.  Their conduct resulted in a death and the loss of their freedom is now the consequence.”

United States Attorney Duncan; Darrell Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Louisville; Fred Shortridge, Montgomery County Sheriff; and Lawrence Weathers, Chief of Police, Lexington-Fayette County Division of Police, jointly announced the convictions.  Assistant United States Attorney Todd Bradbury prosecuted the cases on behalf of the United States.

LEXINGTON, Ky.  — Ansar I. McIver, 46, of Lexington, was sentenced last week to 290 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin, and money laundering.  Judge Reeves also ordered McIver to pay a fine and to forfeit more than $586,000 in cash.

McIver previously admitted that, in early January 2017, he engaged in an agreement with others to obtain large quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin from the southwest United States.  Shipments of these controlled substances were made by passenger vehicle, with the substances concealed in various compartments within the vehicles, and were transported into Lexington.   Proceeds from the distribution of the drugs were then returned to the southwest.

On May 18, 2017, the Lexington Police Department (LPD) stopped a vehicle containing approximately 6 kilograms of cocaine.  On June 12, 2017, a search warrant was executed at McIver’s residence.  There, law enforcement agents seized cocaine, approximately 786 grams of fentanyl, heroin, and a combined quantity of drugs, as well as approximately $586,369 in drug proceeds.  At that time, it was the largest seizure of fentanyl in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

“This conspiracy involve the illegal distribution of enormous amounts of illegal drugs, drugs that continue to devastate our community,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “This case represents a stark reminder that much work still needs to be done to combat this epidemic and that effective law enforcement partnerships can – and do – save lives.  Removing these drugs from our community was a team effort that almost certainly prevented overdoses and potential deaths in our community.”             

The Defendant has previously been convicted of several drug trafficking felonies, which qualified him as a Career Offender under federal law.   McIver pleaded guilty to the charges in January 2018.

Under federal law, McIver must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for ten years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James (Robert) Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI; Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police; and Chief Lawrence Weathers, of the Lexington Police Department, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI (Louisville and San Diego Field Offices), the Kentucky State Police, and the Lexington Police Department. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Roger W. West.

LONDON, Ky., — Bobby Green, 42 of London, was sentenced this week to 248 months in prison, by United States District Court Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, four counts of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Green had previously pled guilty to the drug offenses, but went to trial on the firearms charges.  Following a 2-day trial, a federal jury sitting in London found Green guilty of the firearms offenses, in August of 2018.           

Under federal law, Green must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence, and, upon release, will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for five years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowery, Special Agent in Charge, ATF;, and Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the ATF and the KSP.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney W. Samuel Dotson.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  The Attorney General  reinvigorated PSN in 2017, 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, local strategies to reduce violent crime.

LONDON, Ky. — David Lee Davis, 47 of Williamsburg, Ky., was sentenced this week, to 210 months in federal prison, by United States District Court Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and oxymorphone. 

Davis previously admitted that he had obtained controlled substances by purchasing other people’s prescriptions, and then selling the pills.  A search warrant executed in Whitley County, Kentucky uncovered a digital video recorder. The recorder revealed that approximately 100 drug transactions had occurred from within the residence.  Davis was a participant in several of those transactions and pled guilty to the charge in July of 2018.  Davis has multiple prior drug trafficking convictions.

Under federal law, Davis must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for six years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and D. Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Jason D. Parman.

ASHLAND, Ky. — Haley Nicole Young, 25, of Flatwoods, Kentucky, was sentenced today, to 24 months federal in prison, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.

In April 2017, Young was arrested in Ashland, and was found in possession of 209 grams of fentanyl.  Young admitted to the transportation of the fentanyl from Detroit, Michigan.  The recovered fentanyl was to be distributed in Kentucky and West Virginia.  Fentanyl is an extremely powerful opioid, which can be lethal in the two-milligram range.           

Under federal law, Young must serve 85 percent of her prison sentence; and upon her release, she will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for four years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, FBI; Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police; Todd Kelley, Chief of the Ashland Police; and Hank Dail, Chief of the Huntington Police, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, Kentucky State Police, the Ashland Police Department, and the Huntington Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Cynthia T. Rieker.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A former Central Kentucky businessman, who currently resides in Austin, Texas, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today.  Kenneth Gravitt, 63, was sentenced, to 36 months, by Chief U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, on convictions relating to the illegal storage, transportation and disposal of hazardous waste. 

In May of this year, Gravitt pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit crimes related to the handling of hazardous waste and one count of illegal storage of hazardous waste.   The hazardous waste in this case consisted of old television and computer monitors that contained Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), which have large amounts of toxic lead.   For a number of years, Gravitt operated Global Environmental Services (GES), in Georgetown, Kentucky, which was in the business of recycling electronic waste. The facts established that beginning around 2013, GES contracted with various businesses and entities to collect and recycle large numbers of devices containing CRTs.  Over time, as GES took in far more of these electronic devices than it could process, it began to send crushed CRTs for disposal, to a Central Kentucky landfill that did not have a license to handle such materials.  On a separate occasion in October 2015, GES illegally buried large quantities of CRT bearing devices behind its Georgetown facility.  Investigators also found large numbers of CRTs in GES managed warehouses in Cynthiana and Winchester.  The estimated costs to clean all the sites was several million dollars.

“The illegal disposal of hazardous waste endangers us all,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “We have these prohibitions for a reason:  they protect the environment, public health, public funds, and the safety of people in our community.  When people endanger the community merely to serve their own interests, that conduct simply has to be prosecuted.”

 "The defendant in this case put human health and the environment at risk by improperly storing and disposing of hazardous wastes," said Special Agent in Charge Andy Castro of EPA's criminal enforcement program in Kentucky.  "This case shows that companies and their top executives who knowingly violate hazardous waste laws will be prosecuted."           

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Andy Castro, Special Agent in Charge, Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Program for Kentucky; and Jon Maybriar, Director, Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Waste Management, jointly made the announcement.  The investigation was conducted by the Office of Inspector General of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Waste Management.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ken Taylor and Erin Roth. 

COVINGTON, Ky. – Ronald Crittenden, 66, of Cincinnati, was sentenced today to 342 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for conspiring to distribute heroin and crack cocaine.  Crittenden was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release, to be served after completion of his prison term. 

Crittenden was convicted of conspiring with others to distribute over 1.4 kilograms of heroin and over 5.8 kilograms of crack cocaine, in 2016 and 2017.  He directed the actions of multiple addicted women, who worked as prostitutes and drug couriers for his benefit.  Crittenden supplied these addicts with heroin and cocaine, each day, to ensure their continued compliance.  Agents seized ten firearms from his residence during the execution of a search warrant.  Court documents showed that Crittenden had been convicted of felony drug trafficking offenses on three prior occasions.           

Crittenden was indicted in November 2017, along with other members of the conspiracy.  All entered guilty pleas.  Tiffany Glass was sentenced to 42 months in prison; Kenneth Eva was sentenced to 21 months in prison; and a third Defendant, Susan Page, is set for sentencing on December 20, 2018.  Under federal law, each Defendant must serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentence.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, jointly made the announcement.  The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cincinnati Police Department, and the Elsmere Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Bracke.

COVINGTON, Ky. – Johnny L. Shelton, 41, of Cincinnati, was sentenced today to life in prison, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for conspiring to distribute carfentanil resulting in death.

Shelton was convicted in June 2018, following a five-day jury trial.  According to testimony at trial, Shelton led a conspiracy to smuggle carfentanil, an extremely powerful opioid, into the Boone County Jail Work Camp, on or about October 15, 2016.  Evidence revealed that Timothy Marcum, a fellow inmate, consumed some of the carfentanil and died.  Jailers found Marcum’s body, in the work camp, during the early morning hours of October 16, 2016. 

Under federal law, Shelton will not be eligible for release from prison.  The life sentence was mandated because Shelton’s conduct caused death and he had a prior conviction for drug trafficking.  Court documents showed that Shelton was convicted of felony drug trafficking offenses on five prior occasions in Ohio.  Other members of the conspiracy have been previously sentenced.  Chad Prodoehl was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 300 months in prison, in May 2018.  Gordon Wanser pled guilty and was sentenced to 43 months in prison, in July 2018.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, jointly made the announcement.  The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Tony Bracke and Wade Napier.

COVINGTON, Ky. – Iseral Jordan Grayson, 24, of Maysville, Ky., was sentenced today to 240 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge David L. Bunning, for drug distribution that resulted in an overdose death.

Grayson pled guilty in March 2018 and admitted that he conspired with others to distribute controlled substances that caused the death of Jazlyn Dudley.  Specifically, Grayson obtained heroin and other drugs in Cincinnati and brought it back to Maysville, Kentucky, to use and distribute on September 29, 2016.  He distributed some of the drugs that evening to multiple individuals, including Jazlyn Dudley.  The drugs contained heroin and fentanyl and caused Ms. Dudley to suffer a fatal overdose. 

Under federal law, Grayson must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for five years.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, jointly made the announcement.  The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Bracke.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Paris man was indicted by a federal grand jury today, and charged with engaging in crop insurance fraud.           

The grand jury, sitting in Lexington, returned a five-count indictment charging 49-year-old Keith A. Foley with four counts of making false statements to influence the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (“FCIC”) and companies the FCIC reinsures, and one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud in the course of defrauding private insurance companies.           

The indictment alleges that as early as crop year 2010, Foley, a tobacco producer in Bourbon and Jessamine Counties, hid his tobacco production from insurance companies, in order to claim damage to his crop sufficient to trigger crop insurance indemnity payments or generate larger indemnity payments, which are funded by the federal government through the FCIC.   The indictment also charges Foley with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, for the purpose of profiting through the filing of false and fictitious insurance claims.  The wire fraud conspiracy count alleges that Foley submitted Tobacco Test Sheets to his private insurance companies that were supposed to accurately reflect the amount of damage to his tobacco crop.  Instead, according to the indictment, Foley, with the help of others, submitted Tobacco Test Sheets that were slightly altered duplicates of those submitted for other producers or that he had already submitted. Additionally, the indictment charges that Foley’s private crop insurance policy claim for crop year 2015 included a duplicated photograph submitted on another producer’s insurance claim. 

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Karen Citizen-Wilcox, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General; Michael A. Christmas, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisville Division; Christopher Altemus, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and Dwayne Depp, Director, Kentucky Department of Insurance Fraud Investigation Division, jointly announced the indictment.

The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, United States Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and Kentucky Department of Insurance.  The indictment was presented to the grand jury by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn M. Anderson and Erin M. Roth. 

A date for Foley to appear in court has not yet been scheduled.  For each charge of making false statements to the FCIC, Foley faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000.  For the conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Foley faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.  However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statutes. 

            Any indictment is an accusation only. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

LONDON, Ky. – Yesterday, London physician Dr. Anis Chalhoub was sentenced, by U.S. District Court Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, to serve 42 months in federal prison for health care fraud.  In April 2018, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict, after hearing evidence that Dr. Chalhoub defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers by implanting medically unnecessary pacemakers in his patients, and causing the unnecessary procedures and follow-up care to be billed to health insurance programs.

Between 2007 and 2011, Dr. Chalhoub implanted approximately 234 pacemakers in patients at St. Joseph London hospital.  The evidence at trial showed that dozens of those patients’ pacemakers were medically unnecessary, under well-established national guidelines and Medicare coverage rules.  A number of patients testified at trial that Dr. Chalhoub pressured them into getting the procedures and told them misleading information about their health conditions.  For instance, several patients recalled Dr. Chalhoub telling them that they might die without a pacemaker.  Sinus node dysfunction, the diagnosis Dr. Chalhoub gave the patients, is a non-fatal condition.  The jury also heard evidence that Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses from Dr. Chalhoub’s unnecessary procedures.

“The evidence established that the defendant violated his medical oath and placed greed over patient care,” said United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr.  “The defendant performed unnecessary medical procedures and needlessly put lives at risk so that  he could submit false claims seeking reimbursement for the unnecessary medical procedures.  Our Office, in conjunction with our law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively pursue medical professionals who are willing to so callously risk the health and safety of others.”  

“This doctor violated his oath to do no harm,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General in Atlanta.  “His reckless behavior has earned him jail time for surgically implanting pacemakers that patients did not need in order to fatten his pocket.”

In addition to his term of imprisonment, Dr. Chalhoub must pay a $50,000 fine and must also repay $257,515 to Medicare, Medicaid, and other private insurers who were financial victims of his scheme.  After Dr. Chalhoub is released from prison, he will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years, and the court has prohibited him from practicing cardiology during that time.  

United States Attorney Duncan; Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Atlanta Division; and Michael A. Christman, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisville Division, jointly announced the sentence. 

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew E. Smith and Paul C. McCaffrey represented the United States in the case. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Taylor will serve as the District Election Officer andwill field calls from the public regarding allegations of fraud or voting rights abuses

LEXINGTON, Ky. – United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr. announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Ken Taylor will lead the efforts of his Office, in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 6, 2018 general election.  AUSA Taylor has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Eastern District of Kentucky; and in that capacity, he will be responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

United States Attorney Duncan said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have their vote counted, without it being stolen or diminished because of fraud or abuse.  The Department of Justice will act promptly and aggressively to protect the integrity of the election process.”

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

Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from acts of intimidation or harassment.  For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law.  Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or illiteracy).

The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice.  In order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses on November 6, 2018, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, United States Attorney Duncan has confirmed that AUSA/DEO Taylor will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.  He can be reached by the public at the following telephone number: 859-685-4874.

In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on Election Day.  For all Kentucky based complaints, FBI personnel can be reached by the public at 1-844-596-6721 or [email protected].

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

United States Attorney Duncan said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the cooperation of the American electorate.  It is imperative that those who have specific information about discrimination or election fraud make that information available immediately to my Office, the FBI, or the Civil Rights Division.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division today announced the formation of the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force (ARPO Strike Force), a joint law enforcement effort that brings together the resources and expertise of the Health Care Fraud Unit in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section (HCF Unit), the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for nine federal districts in five states, as well as law enforcement partners at the FBI, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).  The mission of the ARPO Strike Force is to identify and investigate health care fraud schemes in the Appalachian region and surrounding areas, and to effectively and efficiently prosecute medical professionals and others involved in the illegal prescription and distribution of opioids.

Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski was joined in the announcement by U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr. for the Eastern District of Kentucky; U.S. Attorney Russell M. Coleman for the Western District of Kentucky; U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman for the Southern District of Ohio; U.S. Attorney William J. Powell for the Northern District of West Virginia; U.S. Attorney Michael B. Stuart for the Southern District of West Virginia; U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey for the Eastern District of Tennessee; U.S. Attorney Donald Q. Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee; U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee; U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town for the Northern District of Alabama; Assistant Director Robert Johnson of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Gary L. Cantrell of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and Assistant Administrator John J. Martin of the DEA Diversion Control Division.

“While the opioid epidemic continues to inflict untold pain and suffering on people across the country, the devastation in the Appalachian region and adjacent areas has been particularly staggering,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski.  “It is all the more reprehensible when unscrupulous physicians and pharmacies contribute to the epidemic by illegally supplying dangerous prescription painkillers.  Working with our partners in U.S. Attorney’s Offices and law enforcement, the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force will combat illegal prescription opioids and health care fraud by holding accountable corrupt medical professionals who seek to profit off the crisis of opioid addiction.” 

“The creation of the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force is consistent with the Department’s commitment to combat the opioid crisis with all available tools, said U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “The ARPO Strike Force prosecutors, working in partnership with Assistant United States Attorney’s in our Office and law enforcement officers in our District, will be focused on reducing access to opioids, including by investigating and prosecuting those medical professionals that unlawfully distribute opioids, putting greed over patient care and well being. We will remain diligent in the pursuit of this important mission.”

“The creation of the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force will bring together critical resources from the FBI and our partners to fight health care fraud in this region and the growing opioid epidemic that faces the United States,” said FBI Assistant Director Johnson.  “Healthcare fraud touches every corner of the United States, and through this strike force, the FBI will continue our tireless work to combat illegal opioid prescriptions and bring to justice those medical professionals who put their greed over the health and wellbeing of their patients.”

“The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact on Americans across the country, including the people of the Appalachian region,” said HHS-OIG Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Cantrell. “The Strike Force model is a proven mechanism to target illicit conduct and hold accountable criminals involved in illegal opioid prescription and distribution schemes.  We will continue to work closely with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to curb this damaging epidemic.”

“Our nation’s opioid crisis requires us to work with unprecedented urgency in attacking drug diversion at every level,” said DEA Assistant Administrator Martin.  “These joint strike force efforts will save lives, while allowing us to better target and bring to justice those who facilitate addiction and profit at the expense of the weakest and most afflicted.”

Prior to this announcement, the HCF Unit operated Medicare Fraud Strike Force’s in 12 locations across the United States including Miami, Florida; Los Angeles, California; Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; Brooklyn, New York; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana; Tampa/Orlando, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; and Dallas, Texas, along with a Corporate Strike Force located in Washington, D.C., and the Newark/Philadelphia Regional Medicare Fraud Strike Force.  The Strike Forces represent a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI, HHS-OIG and the DEA.

The ARPO Strike Force will be made up of prosecutors and data analysts with the HCF Unit, prosecutors with the nine U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the region, and special agents with the FBI, HHS-OIG and DEA.  The ARPO Strike Force will operate out of two hubs based in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee, areas, supporting the nine districts that make up the ARPO Strike Force region.  In addition, the APRO Strike Force will work closely with other various federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, and State Medicaid Fraud Control Units. 

The ARPO Strike Force will target criminal conduct associated with the improper prescription and distribution of prescription opioids and other dangerous narcotics throughout the Appalachian region and surrounding areas – focusing on criminal conduct by physicians, pharmacists, and other medical professionals.  The ARPO Strike Force will also investigate and prosecute violations of health care fraud whenever such fraud is detected throughout the region.

In June, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex M. Azar III noted the success of the Strike Force model while announcing the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action involving 601 charged defendants across 58 federal districts, including 165 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving more than $2 billion in false billings.  Of those charged, 162 defendants, including 76 doctors, were charged for their roles in prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics.  More information can be obtained at https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-and-resources-june-28-2018.

In August, Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski announced the Newark/Philadelphia Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which focuses on health care fraud and illegal opioid prescriptions in the Newark/Philadelphia region.

The Strike Force operations are part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.  Since its inception in March 2007, the prosecutors in the 12 Medicare Fraud Strike Force locations have charged over 4,000 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $14 billion.  Since January 2017, the HCF Unit has charged over 85 defendants, including 33 doctors with the illegal prescription of opioids (nearly 30 million pills).

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Robert M. Duncan, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, announces his support and encouragement for the DEA and Lexington Police Department, in their National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, Saturday, October 27th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The DEA and local agencies will be providing the public its 16th opportunity in the past 7 years to take an easy step to help prevent pill abuse and theft, by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. 

Bring your pills for disposal to the following site: 

Lexington - Kentucky American Water, 2300 Richmond Rd.

The DEA cannot accept liquids, needles, or sharps, only pills or patches.  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

“I strongly support the efforts of DEA and our other law enforcement partners in reducing unlawful access to prescription drugs,” stated U.S. Attorney Duncan.  “The DEA and the other agencies involved in Take Back Day provide a vital resource in fighting the opioid problem in the Commonwealth.  Far too often, the path to addiction starts with experimentation with legitimately prescribed prescription opioids found in the home.  By participating in Take Back Day and disposing of unused pills, you can help prevent a loved one from misusing or abusing prescription drugs.”     

For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about the October 27th Take Back Day event, go to www.DEATakeBack.com.

Case involved dozens of pharmacy burglaries across the Southeast and trafficking in the stolen pills

LONDON, Ky. – Two men from Grundy County, Tennessee were convicted Friday, by a federal jury sitting in London, of a conspiracy to break into pharmacies across the southeast United States and subsequently sell the stolen pills, including oxycodone and hydrocodone.           

After a day-and-a-half of deliberations, following a four-day trial, the jury convicted 51-year-old James “Ronnie” Jones and 41-year-old Tony Britton of conspiracy to distribute Schedule II controlled substances.  The jury also convicted Britton of the burglary of Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy in Corbin, on January 26, 2014.             

According to testimony at trial, Jones and Britton worked with others to steal oxycodone and other pills from small, independent pharmacies through nighttime burglaries. The stolen pills would then be sold primarily in central Tennessee.  The evidence revealed that the conspiracy was responsible for many dozens of burglaries across a five-year span, including several in eastern and western Kentucky.             

Both Jones and Britton were indicted in November 2017.           

Co-defendants Robert Nunley, 46, Christopher Land, 56, Anthony Bosio, 45, Randy Stiefel, 54, Kenneth Britton, 40, and Jamie Sweeton, 43, were also indicted and have all pleaded guilty.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; D. Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Field Division; David Rausch, Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and Clint Shrum, Sherriff of Grundy County, Tennessee, jointly announced the convictions.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with several local police departments. The United States was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Rosenberg. 

Jones and Britton will appear for sentencing on February 19, 2019.  Jones faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and Britton faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.  However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes before imposing the sentence.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cooley Medical Equipment, Inc., an Eastern Kentucky medical equipment supplier headquartered in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, has agreed to pay $5,254,912 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false or fraudulent claims that misrepresented the ingredients used in certain compounded medical creams. 

Cooley previously operated a pharmacy in Prestonsburg that in 2015 began making compounded medical creams.  Compounding pharmacies, like Cooley’s, prepare customized medications for individual patients, usually by mixing ingredients in order to create a prescription cream.  Cooley billed these prescriptions to government insurers, including Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (known as CHAMPVA).  Cooley was required by CHAMPVA and Kentucky Medicaid to obtain their prior authorization in order to use bulk powder forms of Lidocaine and Prilocaine as ingredients in its compounded creams. Without such prior authorization, Kentucky Medicaid and CHAMPVA would not reimburse Cooley for the creams.  Medicare, through its Part D program, does not cover bulk powder ingredients at all. 

Rather than go through the prior authorization process, or face limited reimbursement from Medicare Part D, Cooley misrepresented the nature of its Lidocaine and Prilocaine ingredients in its claims to federal insurers, falsely stating that Cooley’s compounded medical creams were made with cream-based Lidocaine and Prilocaine ingredients, instead of the bulk powder Cooley actually used.  This practice led to the submission of thousands of false claims by Cooley between January 2015 and December 2016, and millions of dollars in improper reimbursements.  Cooley did voluntarily self-disclose this misconduct to the United States Attorney’s Office, took proactive steps to resolve the problem, and no longer operates a compounding pharmacy.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Cooley will be allowed to pay back the $5,254,912, plus interest, over a period of 6 years.  Because Cooley self-disclosed the misconduct, it was able to resolve its liability for only 1.5 times the amount of monetary loss caused by its false claims; by statute, the False Claims Act typically imposes liability for 3 times the amount of loss suffered by the government.  In addition, because of Cooley’s self-disclosure, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, has agreed not to pursue any administrative action against Cooley that would exclude it from further participation in those federal programs.

“The Department of Justice, and our Office, take seriously the responsibility to aggressively pursue False Claims Act cases, as payment of false or fraudulent claims reduces the pool of money available to pay legitimate claims,” stated United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr.  “Recovering false or fraudulent payments is an essential component of our Affirmative Civil Enforcement efforts and defends the financial integrity of these government programs.  We will continue to prioritize these important cases.”     

This settlement was a result of an investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the United States Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigation (FDA-OCI).  An investigation of individuals within Cooley who were responsible for this misconduct is ongoing.  Assistant United States Attorney Paul McCaffrey handled the matter for the United States.  Cooley admits the allegations contained in the Settlement Agreement, but there been no judicial determination of liability.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jesse L. Kessler, of Fallbrook, California, was sentenced today, for using an electronic communication service to intimidate or harass another person in another state.

United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced 35-year-old Kessler to 24 months in federal prison, to be followed by six months’ community confinement.  Kessler pleaded guilty, in July of 2018, to one count of cyberstalking.  He admitted that after ending his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, he began sending electronic communications to her, her new boyfriend, and her father, which became increasingly frequent, threatening, and intimidating.  Kessler emailed, texted, called, and otherwise electronically messaged the victim and her family and friends from a period of roughly June of 2017, until his arrest in February of 2018.  Among these messages, Kessler emailed his ex-girlfriend, “You’ll both be seeing me soon but I’m not so stupid as to tell you exactly when. I’m back on the east coast so it will be much easier. For him, I’ll be the last person he ever sees. For you ... It’s you’ll be the last person I ever see.”

Under federal law, Kessler must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for three years, which includes the six months of community confinement.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Michael A. Christman, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisville Division, jointly announced the sentence.  The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Anderson.  

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Colton Grubbs, 21, of Stanford, Kentucky, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, by United States District Judge Joseph M. Hood, for conspiracy to unlawfully access computers in furtherance of a criminal act, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the illegal removal of property to prevent its lawful seizure.

Grubbs previously admitted to designing, marketing, and selling a software, called LuminosityLink, that Grubbs knew would be used by some customers to remotely access and control their victims’ computers without the victims’ knowledge or consent.  Among other malicious features, LuminosityLink allowed Grubbs’ customers to record the keys that victims pressed on their keyboards, surveil victims using their computers’ cameras and microphones, view and download the computers’ files, and steal names and passwords used to access websites.  Directly and indirectly, Grubbs offered assistance to his customers on how to use LuminosityLink for unauthorized computer intrusions through posts and group chats on websites such as HackForums.net.  In his plea agreement, Grubbs admitted to selling this software for $39.99 apiece to more than 6,000 customers.  These customers, and their victims, were located throughout the United States and around the world. 

“Our modern society is dependent on computers, mobile devices, and the use of the internet,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “People simply have to have confidence in their ability to use these modern instruments to transact their business, privately communicate, and securely maintain their information.  It is essential that we vigorously prosecute those who erode that confidence and illicitly gain access to computer systems and the electronic information of others.  Everyone benefits when this deceitful conduct is discovered, investigated, and prosecuted.”

“The sentence announced today would not have been possible without the cooperation of our partners in the private sector and international law enforcement, specifically the Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 and the United Kingdom’s Southwest Regional Cyber Crime Unit,” said Michael A. Christman, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisville Division.  “The FBI is committed to strengthening these relationships and finding innovative ways to counter cybercrime.  Cybercrime is worldwide epidemic, and this case is an example how strong partnerships can hold criminals accountable no matter where they are.”  

Under federal law, Grubbs must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence; and upon his release, he will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for a term of three years.  In addition to his sentence of incarceration, Grubbs must also forfeit the proceeds of his crimes, including 114 bitcoin, presently valued at more than $725,000, which was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

United States Attorney Duncan and Special Agent in Charge Christman jointly made the announcement.  The case was investigated by the FBI and additional assistance was provided by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 the United Kingdom’s Southwest Regional Cyber Crime Unit.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Carl Wayne Bartleson, Jr., 46, of Danville, Kentucky was convicted yesterday, in the U.S. District Court in Lexington, following a three-day jury trial.  Bartleson was convicted on all counts, including one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl and four counts of distribution of heroin and fentanyl.

On February 21, 2017, three people fatally overdosed in Boyle County, Kentucky, from the use of controlled substances, including the powerful opioid fentanyl.  Several others overdosed, but survived, all within a five-day period surrounding the fatalities.  The spike in overdoses led the Boyle County Sheriff’s Office to work with the Drug Enforcement Administration, to determine the source of the drugs.  The joint investigation led to the arrest and indictment of Bartleson, as a local supplier of heroin, fentanyl, and acrylfentanyl, a dangerous analogue of fentanyl that is even more potent.  Sentencing has been set for February 14, 2019, in Lexington, before Chief United States District Judge Karen K. Caldwell.  Bartleson faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.  The sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.

“The opioid epidemic is devastating our community and we remain committed to using every tool available to combat this blight,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “We will continue to prosecute those who callously and indiscriminately peddle this poison and we commend the collaboration and commitment of our law enforcement partners.  Their work in this case lead to the conviction of a dangerous drug trafficker, and helped make our community safer.”

            U.S. Attorney Duncan; Darrell Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Louisville; and Derek Robbins, Boyle County Sheriff, jointly announced the conviction.  Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Bradbury and Francisco Villalobos prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

LONDON, Ky. — Michael Shane McCormick, Sr., 52, of Corbin, Kentucky, was sentenced Tuesday to 23 years in federal prison, by United States District Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, possessing a firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking offense, and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.  McCormick, Sr.’s sentence was enhanced because his criminal history qualified him as a career offender and armed career criminal. 

A man hunt for Michael Shane McCormick, Jr. led federal investigators to the residence of his father, Michael Shane McCormick, Sr., where they found over 100 grams of methamphetamine and eight loaded firearms, located strategically around the residence that McCormick, Sr. shared with his girlfriend Robin Lawson.  Further investigation revealed that McCormick, Jr. and his girlfriend, Lindsey Johnson, had been importing kilogram quantities of methamphetamine from Georgia to Kentucky, to supply other drug dealers, including Joseph Money (McCormick, Sr.’s brother) and Medgitt Koontz Wood, IV.  McCormick, Sr. pled guilty to the indictment. 

Others conspiring with McCormick, Sr., to obtain and distribute methamphetamine,  have also recently pled guilty and been sentenced, including Michael Shane McCormick, Jr. (188 months), Joseph Money (144 months), Lindsey Johnson (108 months), Medgitt Koontz Wood, IV (92 months), and Robin Lawson (46 months).  Under federal law, the defendants must serve 85 percent of their prison sentences; and upon their release, they will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF; Chris Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA; and Richard Sanders, Kentucky State Police Commissioner, jointly made the announcement.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew H. Trimble.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 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.

LONDON, Ky. — April Sizemore Bowling, 31, of Corbin, Kentucky, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in federal prison, by United States District Judge Robert E. Wier, for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. 

A federal investigation revealed that, for more than a year, Bowling lead a drug trafficking organization that was importing kilogram quantities of methamphetamine into the Eastern District of Kentucky, from a source of supply in Georgia.  Bowling worked together with Jeffrey Cole, Jessica Flannery, and Melody LeMar to obtain, transport, and sell that methamphetamine in Laurel, Whitley, and Clay counties.  The conspiracy was responsible for bringing in excess of 45 kilograms of methamphetamine from Georgia to Kentucky. 

Bowling, Cole, LeMar, and Flannery pled guilty to the charges against them earlier this year.  Cole was previously sentenced to 14 years in federal prison, while LeMar and Flannery were each sentenced to 38 months and 33 months, respectively.  Under federal law, the defendants must serve 85 percent of their prison sentence; and upon their release, they will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Michael Christman, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI; Chris Evans, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; Derrick House, Chief of the London Police Department; and John Root, Laurel County Sheriff, jointly made the announcement.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew H. Trimble.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – One year ago, the Department of Justice announced the revitalization and enhancement of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made the centerpiece of the Department’s violent crime reduction strategy.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

“Project Safe Neighborhoods is a proven program with demonstrated results,” Attorney General Sessions said. “We know that the most effective strategy to reduce violent crime is based on sound policing policies that have proven effective over many years, which includes being targeted and responsive to community needs.  I have empowered our United States Attorneys to focus enforcement efforts against the most violent criminals in their districts, and directed that they work together with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners to develop tailored solutions to the unique violent crime problems they face.  Each United States Attorney has prioritized the PSN program, and I am confident that it will continue to reduce crime, save lives, and restore safety to our communities.”  

Throughout the past year, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky has partnered with all levels of law enforcement, local organizations, and members of the community to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone. 

In January 2018, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies created the Fayette County Violent Crime Task Force.  The Task Force focuses investigative and prosecutorial resources on those individuals responsible for violent crime and significant drug trafficking in this area, particularly those who commit acts of violence while armed with a firearm and those who commit armed drug trafficking.  The Agencies participating in this effort include the ATF, DEA, FBI, Lexington Police Department, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the Fayette County Detention Center, the Fayette County Public Schools Law Enforcement Division, the Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, and the United States Attorney’s Office.   

“Combatting violent crime is a cornerstone priority for the Department of Justice and our Office,” said United States Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr.  “As part of the enhanced PSN efforts, federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel are working in partnership to reduce violent crime in Lexington and throughout the Eastern District of Kentucky.  These law enforcement partnerships have been effective and have resulted in innumerous violent offenders being removed from our streets, making our communities safer.  While we are encouraged by the successes thus far, we recognize there is more work to be done.  We are committed to continuing in this important endeavor; it truly benefits us all.”       

“Local, state and federal law enforcement and prosecutors are communicating and coordinating like never before in Fayette County and we are seeing some good results,” stated Lou Anna Red Corn, Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney.

“The partnerships fostered by the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, greatly enhances the total community public safety philosophy of the Lexington Police Department and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government,” said Lawrence Weathers, Lexington Chief of Police.  “Through partnering with the U.S. Attorney, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, the Fayette County Public School Police, as well as other Federal Law Enforcement agencies, concrete plans and actions have been developed that have led to effective and efficient enforcement measures which have had a direct impact on, not just violent crime, but overall crime as well.”

“Working with our law enforcement partners, ATF continues to drive the reduction of violent firearm crimes through technical expertise and by focusing investigations on trigger-pullers and traffickers who pose the greatest threat to our communities,” stated Stuart Lowrey, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Louisville Division.  “ATF remains committed to the continued success of Project Safe Neighborhoods and this comprehensive approach to public safety.”

“The PSN program has a proven track record of bringing together law enforcement agencies to share information, share resources, and work together to apprehend and prosecute the most violent offenders,” said Kathy Witt, Sheriff of Fayette County.  “The revitalization and enhancement of PSN is a positive development for our community and communities across America.” 

“The message should be clear; the FBI is fully committed to eliminating violent crime in the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Michael A. Christman, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Louisville Division, FBI.  “As part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods, the FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners at the federal, state, and local levels to bring those who have not received this message to justice.”

Enforcement Actions 

In marking the one-year anniversary of the revitalized PSN program, here are a few examples of law enforcement successes in Lexington, during the past year:

• Antoine Lamar Burns, 36, of Lexington, was sentenced on June 26, 2018, to 10 years in federal prison, for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.  In his guilty plea, Burns admitted to possessing a .380 caliber pistol, firing shots at someone he believed was cooperating with law enforcement, and pointing the firearm at a former girlfriend.  
• Melvin Mahone, 31, of Lexington, was sentenced on June 29, 2018, to 15 years in federal prison, for trafficking in over 40 grams of fentanyl and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. 
• Michael D. Jackson, 37, and Brandi Stamper, 30, both of Lexington, were sentenced in July 2018, for their roles in conspiring to distribute over 40 grams of fentanyl and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.  Jackson was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, and Stamper was sentenced to 15 years.
• Devvin Anglen, 28, of Lexington, a convicted felon, pled guilty in Fayette Circuit Court to possession of a firearm and Persistent Felony Offender charges, after a traffic stop led to the discovery of a weapon in the car and social media video of him firing two handguns at a local range.
• Billy Lane, 36 of Lexington, pled guilty in Fayette Circuit Court to trafficking in controlled substances and Persistent Felony Offender charges, and was sentenced to serve 15 years in March of 2018.  The execution of a search warrant in hotel room led to the discovery of heroin, cocaine, and other contraband that Lane was trying to destroy. 
• Akeem Lyvers, 22, of Lexington, pled guilty in Fayette Circuit Court to felony trafficking charges, including forfeiture of approximately $3,000 and a handgun with a “drum” magazine that held dozens of rounds, and was sentenced to serve 8 years in prison.

Community Partnerships

“We recognize that enforcement alone is not enough, and sustained success requires a comprehensive approach,” said U.S. Attorney Duncan.  “As part of that approach, Fayette County Violent Crime Task Force participants have engaged neighborhood organizations, to help us deter violent crime and prevent recidivism.  As part of the PSN initiative, Fayette County Violent Crime Task Force participants have also worked in prevention and re-entry efforts, and are working with the Fayette County Public Schools’ after-school programs to provide tutoring and mentorship to children.  This truly community effort is essential to combatting the threat.”

“As a prosecutor, holding offenders accountable is always my first priority, which usually means incarceration in gun violence cases,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Red Corn.  “But my office, and other Task Force participants, are also very involved in PSN’s prevention, intervention, and re-entry work.  Recently, in support of our PSN efforts, I attended a meeting of parolees and probationers who are beginning community supervision.  The Public Library and a local mental health non-profit were also in attendance, sharing information about available education and mental health services.  It is PSN’s comprehensive approach to violent crime reduction that I believe will make a long term difference in public safety in our community.”

“The Project Safe Neighborhoods partnership initiative has helped remove several violent offenders from our streets, while also helping to improve existing community relationships and create new ones,” said Chief Weathers.  “This helps build community trust and government accountability by letting everyone in the community know that Project Safe Neighborhoods and its partners are serious about public safety.”

Improvements to Community Safety

Statistically, both nationally and locally, the PSN program is achieving positive results.  For example:

• The FBI’s official crime data for 2017 reflects that, after two consecutive, historic increases in violent crime, in the first year of the Trump Administration the nationwide violent crime rate began to decline.  The nationwide violent crime rate decreased by approximately one percent in 2017, while the nationwide homicide rate decreased by nearly one and a half percent.
• The preliminary information we have for 2018 gives reason for optimism and evidences that our efforts are continuing to pay off.  Specifically, public data from 60 major cities shows that violent crime was down by nearly five percent in those cities in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period a year ago.
• According to publicly available crime data from the Lexington Police Department, for the period of January 1 – August 31, 2018, robberies, aggravated assaults, breakings and entering, larcenies, and auto thefts are all down, when compared to January 1 – August 31, 2017. 
• Through September 15, 2018, there have been 62 assaults with firearms reported in Lexington.  There were 94 assaults with firearms reported in 2017.
• In 2018 through, August 31, there have been 19 homicides in Lexington.  In 2017, there were 28 homicides. 

“The PSN program is based on strong partnerships,” said U.S. Attorney Duncan.  “We will strive to build on our shared successes, recognizing there is still work to be done,” said U.S. Attorney Duncan.  “We look forward to continued partnerships, to developing new ones, and to making further progress.  This endeavor truly advances everyone’s interests.”

Learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods.

NOTE: The Revised FY 2018 PSN Funding Allocation Amounts can be found here. 

 WASHINGTON – Attorney General Sessions today commemorated the reinvigoration of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  In support of the Department’s PSN programs throughout the country, the Attorney General also announced awards of almost $28 million in grant funding to combat violent crime through PSN and another $3 million for training and technical assistance to develop and implement violent crime reduction strategies and enhance services and resources for victims of violent crime. Over the past year, the Department has partnered with all levels of law enforcement, local organizations, and members of the community to reduce violent crime and make American neighborhoods safer.

The Eastern District of Kentucky received $185,994 in grant funding to support PSN efforts. 

“Project Safe Neighborhoods is a proven program with demonstrated results,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “We know that the most effective strategy to reduce violent crime is based on sound policing policies that have proven effective over many years, which includes being targeted and responsive to community needs. I have empowered our United States Attorneys to focus enforcement efforts against the most violent criminals in their districts, and directed that they work together with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners to develop tailored solutions to the unique violent crime problems they face.  Each United States Attorney has prioritized the PSN program, and I am confident that it will continue to reduce crime, save lives, and restore safety to our communities.”  

PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Through the enhanced PSN, the Department is targeting the most violent criminals in the most violent areas, utilizing policing tools that did not exist even a few years ago. Tools like crime gun intelligence centers (CGIC), which combine intelligence from gunshot detection systems, ballistics, gun tracing, and good old-fashioned police work, help to develop real-time leads on the “traffickers and trigger pullers” who are fueling the violence in their communities. By using modern technologies and cutting-edge police work, the Justice Department is deploying resources strategically to provide the greatest return on our community-based anti-violence efforts. 

United States Attorneys across the country are using powerful federal laws against the criminals driving the violent crime in their communities. In fiscal year 2018, the Department brought cases against more violent criminals than ever before—increasing by approximately 15 percent than the Department’s previous record set just last year. Additionally, in 2018 the Department set another record by charging approximately 20 percent more criminals with federal firearms offenses than it had in 2017, which is the most in the Department’s history. 

The Department has already started to observe positive signs of progress. The FBI’s official crime data for 2017 reflects that, after two consecutive, historic increases in violent crime, in the first year of the Trump Administration the nationwide violent crime rate began to decline. The nationwide violent crime rate decreased by approximately one percent in 2017, while the nationwide homicide rate decreased by nearly one and a half percent. The preliminary information for 2018 shows that the Department’s efforts are continuing to pay off. Public data from 60 major cities show that violent crime decreased by nearly five percent in those cities in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period one year earlier. 

The grants announced today build on Attorney General Sessions’ commitment to reducing violent crime in America, as directed by President Trump’s February 2017 Executive Order. The Department has distributed additional resources and built up strong partnerships with local law enforcement in communities plagued by violent crime. Since the announcement of the reinvigoration of the PSN program in October 2017, the Department of Justice has increased the number of federal prosecutors focused on violent crime by over 300, directed its resources to improving cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies, restored local control of police agencies by reining in excessive use of consent decrees, reformed civil asset forfeiture and restored asset-sharing with state and local law enforcement, and helped fund over 800 hundred officers in police departments across America.

Awards in Kentucky include substantial grants to the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, the Kentucky State Police, Whitley County, and the City of Beattyville

WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan, Jr. joined the Department of Justice today in announcing more than $70 million in grant funding, to bolster school security, educate and train students and faculty, and support law enforcement officers and first responders who arrive on the scene of a school violence incident.  In Kentucky $200,000 was awarded to the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, $496,803 to the Kentucky State Police,  $339,004 to Whitley County, and $358,485 to the City of Beattyville. 

These grants are in addition to the funding to the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO), announced by Attorney General Sessions last week, to expand and update their curriculum to better support training programs. These grants combined will better protect students, teachers, faculty, and first responders across the United States. Additionally, the Department is awarding more than $64 million to state agencies to improve the completeness, quality, and accessibility of the nation’s criminal record systems, which will help law enforcement and increase the effectiveness of background checks.

“President Trump and his administration will ensure the safety of every American school," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. "Earlier this year he signed into law the STOP School Violence Act, which provides grant funding to develop anonymous school threat reporting systems, to implement school building security measures, and to train students, school personnel, and law enforcement on how to prevent school violence. Today I am announcing $70 million in these grants to hundreds of cities and states across America. These grants will go a long way toward giving young people and their families both safety and peace of mind.”

“The grant funds provided by the Department of Justice will assist our state and local partners in the Commonwealth,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “These funds evidence the Department’s strong commitment to helping find solutions to the problems associated with school violence.” 

The Office of Justice Program’s (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) together are making more than 220 awards to jurisdictions across the country to help make schools more secure. The awards, granted through three funding streams, will provide new technology for reporting systems and other threat deterrent measures and create school safety training and education programs for school administrators, staff, students, and first responders. This includes the support for existing crisis intervention teams and the creation of new ones.

• BJA’s STOP School Violence Threat Assessment and Technology Reporting Program will provide 68 awards valued at more than $19 million. This funding supports training to create and operate threat assessment and crisis intervention teams and to develop technology for local or regional anonymous reporting systems. This technology may be in the form of a mobile phone application, hotline, or website.
• The STOP School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training Program, also managed by BJA, will provide training and education on preventing violence and effectively responding to related mental health crises. This program will fund 85 awards at nearly $28 million.
• The COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) will provide nearly $25 million to 91 jurisdictions for school safety measures including coordination with law enforcement, training for law enforcement to prevent student violence against others and self, target hardening measures, and technology for expedited notification of law enforcement during an emergency.

The grants are authorized by the STOP School Violence Act, which are intended to improve school security by helping students and teachers reduce exposure to risks, prevent acts of violence, and quickly recognize and respond to violent attacks.

The Department also announced that it has awarded more than $64 million to state agencies to improve the completeness, quality, and accessibility of the nation’s criminal record systems. These grants are administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, part of OJP. Approximately $43 million in funding will be administered through the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), and nearly $21 million will be awarded under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Act Record Improvement Program.  These grant programs help states automate and upgrade records accessed by the firearms background check system.  This year, at the direction of the Attorney General, the Department prioritized funding for projects that improve accessibility of criminal history records, domestic violence convictions, and information on persons who are prohibited from possessing firearms for mental-health related reasons.

The Department is also investing over $1 million in research to better understand the factors behind mass shooting incidents. The grant awards, made by the Department’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ), part of OJP, support scientific investigations that will examine factors that contribute to mass violence, identify any patterns in mass shootings, analyze psychological and social life histories of mass shooters and community-level predictors of mass violence, and will examine firearm purchasing patterns of known mass shooters in order to create a risk prediction tool.  

For addition information on today’s grant announcements, visit www.bja.gov or www.cops.usdoj.gov. 

NOTE: The breakdown of the STOP School Violence Grants can be found here: STOP School Violence Threat Assessment and Technology Reporting Program, STOP School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training Program, and COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program

Co-Conspirators also convicted and sentenced to federal prison

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ciro Macias Martinez, a citizen of Mexico illegally residing in Georgetown, Kentucky, was sentenced on Friday, in the U.S. District Court in Lexington by Judge Danny C. Reeves, to serve 31 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  Macias, 32, had previously pleaded guilty to both offenses.

In August 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration in Lexington began its investigation of Macias, and multiple other individuals, for their roles in a sophisticated drug trafficking and money laundering organization operating in Central Kentucky, which was tied to Mexican drug cartels.  Macias was the local head of the organization, responsible for distributing kilogram quantities of numerous drugs, including a very pure form of methamphetamine – commonly referred to as “ice” – cocaine, and heroin.  The extensive investigation established that, in addition to distributing kilograms of the drugs, Macias was also responsible for collecting the proceeds and returning the money back to Mexico, to the larger drug trafficking organization.  Macias admitted in his plea agreement that the organization used contract couriers to pick up large sums of bulk cash that constituted the drug proceeds, supporting larger criminal organization’s ongoing drug trafficking activities.  During the investigation, DEA, in conjunction with the Lexington Police Department and the Kentucky State Police, seized and forfeited approximately $1.2 million.

Macias and the larger criminal organization also laundered money through the banking system, by making deposits at multiple banks in increments less than $10,000 per transaction, commonly referred to as “structuring deposits,” attempting to avoid certain federal and state bank reporting requirements.  Several other individuals pleaded guilty to their roles in the money laundering, which involved banks in Tennessee and North Carolina and deposits totaling $100,000 or more on each trip.  Arlenne Sosa, 23, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in federal prison; Laura Ortiz, 23, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years; and Smirna Ortiz, 21, was convicted at trial, in July 2018, and will be sentenced on November 2, 2018.  She faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

The defendants must serve 85% of their respective prison sentences; and upon their release, they will each be under supervision by federal probation officers for additional terms. Macias, after serving his sentence, will face deportation to Mexico.  

“Ciro Macias Martinez led a large scale drug trafficking and money laundering cell operating in central Kentucky, and the sentence imposed by the court underscores the severity of his criminal conduct,” stated Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  “Macias and his co-conspirators were responsible for distributing significant quantities of dangerous drugs, making millions of dollars, and engaging in a sophisticated money laundering scheme to use those ill-gotten proceeds to further their criminal enterprise.  I commend the efforts of the law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation, and thank the agents, officers, and prosecutors for their dedicated service.  Without their hard work, Macias and his associates would still be in business and our community less safe.” 

United States Attorney Duncan; Darrell Christopher Evans, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Louisville; Lawrence Weathers, Chief of Police, Lexington-Fayette County Division of Police; and Richard Sanders, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, jointly made the announcement. Assistant United States Attorney Todd Bradbury represented the United States in the case.