District of Utah
Press releases recorded for this federal judicial district.
Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud in Connection with Sovereign Citizen Lien Scheme; Sentenced to 30 Months in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
SALT LAKE CITY – Robert Clifton Tanner, age 45, of Mansura, Louisiana, pleaded guilty to mail fraud Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in connection with a scheme to use the mail to assert false claims of indebtedness totalling billions of dollars against judges and others. U.S. District Judge David Sam imposed a 30-month sentence following the guilty plea.
Tanner and Maria Melody Fuentes Cecil Mobo, age 42, of Spanish Fork, Utah, were indicted in August on four counts of mail fraud. The charges alleged they filed or attempted to file liens and claims against judges, attorneys, and others in Utah by mailing documents and filing fictitious judgments and liens that were intended to create an appearance of indebtedness for the judges, attorneys, and others.
As a part of his plea agreement, Tanner admitted that on April 23, 2012, he used the U.S. Postal Service to send a fraudulent document to Utah County as a part of his fraud scheme. The indictment identified the title of the document as a “Petition for Agreement and Harmony in the Nature of a Notice of International Commercial Claim Administrative Remedy.” He admitted that the mailed documents were designed to support false and fraudulent claims which were filed with the Utah County Clerk’s Office.
Federal prosecutors said other state and federal jurisdictions in Louisiana and Utah had agreed to forego additional charges against Tanner as a part of the plea agreement and 30-month sentence.
Mobo faces a Feb. 25, 2013, trial date on four counts of mail fraud.
Utah Man and Nevada Woman Charged with Tax ConspiracyRead the Press Release
SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City returned an indictment Wednesday afternoon charging Gerrit Timmerman III, 70, of Midvale, Utah, and Carol Sing, 73, of Henderson, Nev., with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The indictment was announced by Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah David B. Barlow.
According to the indictment, from April 23, 2004, through March 5, 2007, Timmerman and Sing conspired to defraud the United States by marketing corporations sole as a part of a scheme to evade the assessment and payment of federal income taxes. Timmerman and Sing falsely told their clients that so-called “corporations sole” were exempt from United States income tax laws, had no obligation to file tax returns, and had no obligation to apply for tax exempt status. They further claimed that individuals could render their own income non-taxable by assigning it to the corporation sole, could draw a tax-free stipend from their corporation sole, and could render property immune from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collection activity by transferring property to the corporation sole. During the life of the conspiracy, Timmerman and Sing were responsible for the creation of approximately 90 corporations sole; at the time their corporation soles were created, these clients had outstanding federal income tax assessments totaling at least $5,000,000.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Individuals charged in indictments are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Timmerman and Sing each face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The case is being investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorneys Michael Romano and Dennis Kihm.
Fugitive James Hector Acala Arrested at California Port of Entry Attempting to Re-Enter the United StatesRead the Press Release
SALT LAKE CITY – James Hector Alcala, age 44, of Salt Lake City, charged in a 2009 federal indictment with alien smuggling and visa fraud, was arrested on a fugitive warrant as he attempted to re-enter the United States on Christmas Day at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in California. The fugitive arrest warrant was issued for Alcala after he violated conditions of his pre-trial release in Utah and fled the United States in December 2010.
Alcala was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service in San Diego and had an initial appearance in federal court in California on Dec. 26, 2012. Alcala waived his removal hearing, which had been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in California, and will be transferred to Utah by the Marshals Service. It may take a few weeks for Alcala to be returned to Utah. An initial appearance will be set once he is back in Utah.
Alcala was charged in a federal indictment unsealed in July 2009. In addition to Alcala, the Alcala Law Firm, Westside Property Management, and seven other individuals were charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and visa fraud; encouraging and inducing illegal aliens to come to, enter, or remain in the United States; and visa fraud. The indictment alleged that the defendants in the case circumvented the law to obtain visas for employers and the foreign national workers they were employing in Utah. The indictment alleged defendants conspired to profit financially by assisting Utah employers in obtaining H-2B visas for their foreign-national workers by fraudulently representing to the federal government that the foreign nationals were eligible for visas when, in fact, they were not.
Charges against two individuals charged in the indictment, Daniel Trigo Villavicencio, age 34, of Orem and Gustavo Ballesteros-Munoz, age 49, of West Jordan, have been dismissed by federal prosecutors. A fugitive warrant remains in place for Carlos Enrique Gomez-Alvarez, age 44, of Salt Lake City, who fled the country in 2009 after his arrest and initial appearance on the charges in New York.
Arrest warrants, issued at the time of indictment, are still in place for Florentino Jose Ayal Villarreal, age 42, and Olga Adriana Garza Muniz, age 50, both Mexican nationals.
Carlos Manuel Vorher, age 46, of Tooele; Andres Lorenzo Acosta Parra, age 34, of Salt Lake City; and Westside Property Management have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their involvement in the case. Sentencing hearings are pending.
Westside Property Management, represented by its president, Janet Alcala, pleaded guilty in October 2012 to two counts of visa fraud. According to the plea agreement, Westside Property Management admitted that the company made false representations on immigration forms for several foreign nationals. Westside Property Management falsely stated on the applications that the individuals would be working for the property management company when, in fact, the company knew that the foreign nationals were going to work for a different Utah-based employer that was another client of the Alcala Law Firm. Mrs. Alcala admitted that the company knew that the false statements would be relied on by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to award temporary employment visas to the individuals. Westside Property Management has agreed to forfeit all interests in several pieces of property purchased with proceeds from the criminal offenses.
Parra pleaded guilty in October 2010 to misprison of a felony, charged in a superseding Felony Information. Parra admitted that he worked for the Alcala Law Firm where he assisted clients in obtaining H-2B visas for their foreign-born employees. Parra, who worked for 10 years as a visa assistant in the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and was trained in immigration law, said he quickly learned that the law firm was fraudulently obtaining visas. He admitted he was with law firm employees and associates in Mexico when they instructed foreign nationals to falsify information on forms and to give deceptive answers to questions during the visa interview process. Parra admitted that although he knew the law firm was engaged in fraud, he did not notify the government of the fraud. He also admitted that he knew his presence and comments helped lend support and credibility to the fraudulent scheme.
Vorher pleaded guilty in April 2010 to one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and visa fraud, admitting that he worked with others at the law firm to process H-2B visa petitions for clients he knew did not qualify for the visas. He admitted knowing that clients were looking to get visas for their current workforce, which consisted primarily of Mexican nationals who were not legally in the country. Clients were not looking to fill any employment vacancies as envisioned by the H-2B visa program. Vorher is a former U.S. Border Patrol agent.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. and Citizenship and Immigration Services; the U.S. Department of Labor; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Munoz Sentenced to 41 Months in Federal Prison After Pleading Guilty to Wire Fraud, Money Laundering in Connection with Property Fraud Scheme Near Park CityRead the Press Release
SALT LAKE CITY – Mauricio R. Munoz, age 49, of Sandy, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a construction fraud scheme involving five lots in the Promontory Point development located near Park City, will serve 41 months in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart imposed the sentence Wednesday in federal court in Salt Lake City.
Two other defendants in the case, Daniel Alfonso Blanco, age 41, of West Jordan, and Michael Russell Held, age 48, of Pullman, Washington, were each sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Each defendant was ordered to pay $2,944,760.46 in restitution in connection with other co-defendants and Blanco and Munoz were ordered to forfeit $2,944,760.46 in currency. Held, who Judge Stewart found to be a minimal participant in the scheme, was not included in the forfeiture judgment. Munoz, Blanco, and Held, who will surrender to begin their prison sentences on Feb. 18, 2013, will be on supervised release for 36 months when they complete their prison sentence.
Justin Hatton, age 40, of Salt Lake City, who was charged in a separate indictment in connection with the scheme, has pleaded guilty to bank fraud, money laundering, and filing a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced Friday at 2 p.m. by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell.
The cases were investigated by special agents of the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.
According to documents filed in court, the defendants joined with Hatton in 2007 in falsifying paperwork and making misrepresentations to persuade a father and son living in Park City to lend a substantial portion of their personal savings to place five high-dollar lots ($645,900-$919,000 each) under contract. The defendants misrepresented to the victims that the lots had values of between $1.25 million and more than $1.8 million.
These misrepresentations convinced the victims that they were safe in making bridge loans of $4,414,389 at financial market rates with the understanding that the buyers had paid large down-payments and that the properties, which served as security for the loans, were worth approximately twice what they were lending. Munoz and Hatton asserted that the bridge loans would soon be replaced by a series of construction loans and later, long-term financing. The victims were promised that the construction loans would repay the bridge loans and end their involvement within less than two months.
At the end of the day, court records show, the victims learned that their funds were secured by lots worth less than half the loan. The construction financing that purportedly would pay them off was briefly pursued but not obtained. Hatton, Munoz, and Blanco channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the deals. Approximately $600,000 was laundered through the bank account of Munoz’ mother and divided between Hatton and Munoz. Held, who forged false contracts and documents, appears to have received no more than $300 related to the transactions. A witness reported that Blanco was paid $10,000 for creating essentially double closing documents – one set that reflected the true closing of the loans and diversion of excess loan proceeds to the co-conspirators and another set reflecting a false closing to make the bridge lenders feel comfortable that their loan proceeds had been applied as promised.
The bridge loans were not repaid and the victims suffered substantial losses on each transaction.