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Friday 13 January 2023
Last Defendant Sentenced to Serve 30 Years in Federal Prison for a Large Drug Distribution Enterprise Targeting the Spirit Lake, Turtle Mountain and Fort Berthold Indian ReservationsRead the Press Release
FARGO – United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that on January 13, 2023, United States District Judge Daniel L. Hovland sentenced 34-year-old Baquan Sledge, a/k/a Rell, a/k/a TJ, a/k/a Matthew Pierce, to serve 30 years in prison followed by three years supervised release.
In June of 2022, following a 12-day trial, a jury returned guilty verdicts on multiple counts against Sledge and another man from Detroit, Michigan, for their leadership in a drug trafficking organization targeting three of North Dakota’s Native American Reservations.
Baquan Sledge was convicted of Continuing Criminal Enterprise, Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Money Laundering Conspiracy, Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone, and Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise. Sledge also forfeited his rights to more than $20,000 in seized United States currency.
Baquan Sledge and his trial co-defendant, Darius Sledge, a/k/a Ace, a/k/a Man Man, a/k/a Frank Love, a/k/a Gary, a/k/a Bill, were the leaders of a criminal enterprise
involving obtaining and transporting oxycodone from Detroit, Michigan to sell in the District of North Dakota in tribal communities.This case is part of “Operation Blue Prairie,” an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation into the multi-state trafficking of oxycodone. The multi-agency investigation led by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement revealed that from 2015 to 2019 the Sledge defendants and their co-conspirators targeted areas with fewer law enforcement resources where they could distribute controlled substances at a premium price. The Sledge defendants and others used local residences and people for distribution and stash houses to further their criminal activities for monetary gain. In total, twenty-six defendants were charged in the case.
Baquan Sledge and others involved in the enterprise came to the attention of law enforcement in 2015. While there were points of contact between the primary defendants and law enforcement throughout the intervening years, it was difficult to track their activities because of their intentional relocation of their distribution efforts and their use of different aliases in different locations. An additional challenge was the complicated myriad of jurisdictions involved, including state, tribal and federal agencies.
Following trial, Darius Sledge was convicted of Continuing Criminal Enterprise, Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Money Laundering Conspiracy, and Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise. Darius Sledge was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison followed by three years supervised release.
“This sentence is a final step in an extensive, successful effort to dismantle a drug trafficking ring that deliberately targeted North Dakota's tribal communities,” said US Attorney Mac Schneider. “It is also a warning: Those who distribute dangerous drugs on reservations will be caught, prosecuted, and sentenced to federal prison.”
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Rolette County Sheriff’s Department, Bottineau County Sheriff’s Department, Ward County Narcotics Task Force, Lake Region Narcotics Task Force, Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Division of Drug Enforcement, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, North Dakota Crime Laboratory, Michigan State Police, Minot Police Department, United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations.
The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office, with Assistant United States Attorneys Dawn Deitz and Lori Conroy assigned with the assistance of lead investigator Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Drug Enforcement Special Agent Isaiah Soldier.
In total, 26 defendants were charged and convicted in the case. The additional 24 defendants were convicted and sentenced as follows:
Dondiago Jones, a/k/a “Ago”, “Dondi”, “Frank”, 34, Detroit Michigan (deceased) 129 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy;
Derrick Walker II, a/k/a Country, a/k/a Kunt, 29, Louisville, Kentucky 94 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy; Possession of Firearms by a Convicted Felon; Distribution of Oxycodone; Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise; Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone;
Terrence Press Johnson Jr, a/k/a “T”, a/k/a Terrance Press Johnson Jr. 30, Detroit Michigan - 96 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy; Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise; Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone; Possession of Firearms in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking Crime; Possession of Firearms by a Convicted Felon;
Deante Edwards, a/k/a “Tay”, 31, Detroit Michigan - 29 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance; Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone;
Anthony Wade, a/k/a “Blue”, 33, Detroit Michigan - 30 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Lillian Lee a/k/a “Chasitiy Smith”, a/k/a “Let Let”, a/k/a “Lele”, 28, Detroit Michigan - 43 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy;
Twon Stepfone Boyd, a/k/a Yo Boy, a/k/a D, 29, Detroit Michigan - 37 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Ira Mae Snell, 33, Fort Totten, North Dakota - 25 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy; Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise; Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone;
Grayson Dye, 38, Fort Totten and New Town, North Dakota - 121 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Martina Whitetail a/k/a Tina Whitetail, 39, Fort Totten and New Town, North Dakota - 93 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Robert Touche, 45, Sheyenne, North Dakota - time served sentence for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Calvin Dubois, 39, Belcourt, North Dakota - 100 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Maintaining a Drug Premise;
Edward Dubois, a/k/a Baby D, 28, Dunseith, North Dakota - time served sentence for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy; Possession with Intent to Distribute Oxycodone;
Chantel Longie, 25, Belcourt, North Dakota - 24 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Kerry Morin, 29, Belcourt, North Dakota - 24 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Kasondra Kaye Grant, a/k/a Kassie, 28, Rolla, North Dakota - 28 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;\
Constance Aiken, 39, Dunseith, North Dakota - 22 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Shanae Dubois, 25, Fargo, North Dakota - time served sentence for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance and Money Laundering Conspiracy;
Faith Liddell, 27, Bottineau, North Dakota - time served sentence for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Cheryl Lilley, 24, Belcourt, North Dakota - time served sentence for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Farron Michelle Delong, 25, Belcourt, North Dakota - 15 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Johnna Goodiron, 36, St. Michael, North Dakota - time served sentence for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance;
Shanel Mudgett, 26, Belcourt, North Dakota - 24 months custody for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance; and,
Carleen Counts, a/k/a Big Car, 41, Mandan, North Dakota - time served sentence (in a related case) for Conspiracy to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance; Maintaining a Drug Premise; and three counts of Distribution of a Controlled Substance – Oxycodone.
######Lake Charles Men Sentenced for Illegally Possessing FirearmsRead the Press Release
LAKE CHARLES, La. - United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that two men from Lake Charles were sentenced by U.S. District Judge James D. Cain, Jr. yesterday for illegally possessing firearms.
Taylor Austin Chiasson, 33, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, was sentenced to 96 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. The charges in this case stem from an incident which occurred on March 9, 2021, when Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a residence in response to a noise complaint. When deputies arrived, they observed Chiasson leaving the residence carrying a small child, several bags, and what appeared to be a pistol in a holster in his hand. Deputies stopped Chiasson to discuss what was going on and had dispatch run a criminal history of him. It was determined that in fact Chiasson had prior felony convictions and was prohibited from possessing any firearm or ammunition. He was subsequently arrested and taken into custody. Chiasson pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon on August 16, 2022. Chiasson’s prior felony convictions were for simple burglary (2009) and distribution of a controlled substance (2012).
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ladonte A. Murphy.
The second case involved Deandrus T. Jones, of Lake Charles. Jones was sentenced to 36 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. Jones was also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and he pleaded guilty on August 29, 2022. On May 13, 2020, detectives with the Jennings Police Department executed a search warrant at Jones’ residence and found a Taurus Millennium 9mm handgun next to his bed along with a loaded magazine and other narcotics and drug paraphernalia. Jones was arrested and the subsequent investigation by law enforcement officers revealed that Jones had previously been convicted on felony charges of attempted simple burglary and possession of alprazolam. Jones knew that he was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition because of his felony convictions.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Jennings Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Vermaelen.
These cases are 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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
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Justice Department Secures Resolution in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Schuylkill County, PennsylvaniaRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, to resolve the department’s claims in Doe et al. v. Schuylkill County et al., a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
The consent decree resolves the department’s allegations that County Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. sexually harassed four female employees and that those employees suffered retaliation when they opposed Halcovage’s sexual harassment. The complaint also alleged multiple incidents of sexual advances, coercion of sexual intercourse and inappropriate sex-based comments occurring over many years.
“All people deserve to go to work each day without fear of sexual harassment and retaliation when they oppose that harassment,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This resolution sends a clear message that the Justice Department will not tolerate sexual harassment and retaliation especially when it is perpetrated by an elected official who abuses the powers of their office.”
“Today, by this consent decree, we emphasize that local governments must have comprehensive policies and training to prevent sexual harassment and retaliation by public servants,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. “No official can abuse their power and position to a workforce they were elected to supervise, and this settlement provides steps the County must take to prevent and address this abusive behavior.”
Under the terms of the consent decree, if approved by the court, the county will, among other things, retain a consultant from a list of consultants approved by the Justice Department. The consultant will conduct a workplace climate survey, propose improvements to the County’s equal employment opportunity policies and develop a new sexual harassment training program. The consent decree also includes restrictions on Commissioner Halcovage, who has refused to resign from his position and who can only be removed, under state law, through impeachment in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and conviction in the Pennsylvania Senate. The four women harassed by Halcovage, who have additional claims under state and federal law against Schuylkill County and several individual defendants, will continue to pursue their claims.
This lawsuit is part of the Civil Rights Division’s Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Initiative. The initiative is aimed at eradicating sexual harassment in state and local government workplaces. It focuses on litigation, outreach and development of effective remedial measures to address and prevent future sex discrimination and harassment.
Trial Attorneys Allan Townsend and Amber Trzinski Fox of the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Butler for the Middle District of Pennsylvania prosecuted this case.
The full and fair enforcement of Title VII is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division and the Employment Litigation Section is available on its websites www.justice.gov/crt and www.justice.gov/crt/employment-litigation-section.
Justice Department Secures Resolution in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Schuylkill County, PennsylvaniaRead the Press Release
SCRANTON – The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, to resolve the department’s claims in Doe et al. v. Schuylkill County et al., a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).
The consent decree resolves the department’s allegations that County Commissioner George F. Halcovage, Jr., sexually harassed four female employees and that those employees suffered retaliation when they opposed Halcovage’s sexual harassment. The complaint also alleged multiple incidents of sexual advances, coercion of sexual intercourse, and inappropriate sex-based comments occurring over many years.
“All people deserve to go to work each day without fear of sexual harassment and retaliation when they oppose that harassment,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This resolution sends a clear message that the Justice Department will not tolerate sexual harassment and retaliation especially when it is perpetrated by an elected official who abuses the powers of their office.”
“Today, by this consent decree, we emphasize that local governments must have comprehensive policies and training to prevent sexual harassment and retaliation by public servants,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam. “No official can abuse their power and position to a workforce they were elected to supervise, and this settlement provides steps the County must take to prevent and address this abusive behavior.”
Under the terms of the consent decree, if approved by the court, the County will, among other things, retain a consultant from a list of consultants approved by the Justice Department. The consultant will conduct a workplace climate survey, propose improvements to the County’s equal employment opportunity policies, and develop a new sexual harassment training program. The consent decree also includes restrictions on Commissioner Halcovage, who has refused to resign from his position and who can only be removed, under state law, through impeachment in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and conviction in the Pennsylvania Senate.
The four women harassed by Halcovage, who have additional claims under state and federal law against Schuylkill County and several individual Defendants, will continue to pursue their claims.
This lawsuit is part of the Civil Rights Division’s Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Initiative. The Initiative is aimed at eradicating sexual harassment in state and local government workplaces. It focuses on litigation, outreach, and development of effective remedial measures to address and prevent future sex discrimination and harassment.
Trial Attorneys Allan Townsend and Amber Trzinski Fox of the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section and by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Butler of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania prosecuted this case.
The full and fair enforcement of Title VII is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division’s Employment Litigation Section. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division and the Employment Litigation Section is available on its websites www.justice.gov/crt and www.justice.gov/crt/employment-litigation-section.
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Justice Department Announces New Rule to Address Stabilizing Braces, Accessories Used to Convert Pistols into Short-Barreled RiflesRead the Press Release
Today, the Department of Justice announced it has submitted to the Federal Register the “Stabilizing Braces” Final Rule, which makes clear that when manufacturers, dealers, and individuals use stabilizing braces to convert pistols into rifles with a barrel of less than 16 inches, commonly referred to as a short-barreled rifles, they must comply with the laws that regulate those rifles, including the National Firearms Act (NFA). In April 2021, at an event with President Biden, the Attorney General directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to address the issue of stabilizing braces.
“Keeping our communities safe from gun violence is among the Department’s highest priorities,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Almost a century ago, Congress determined that short-barreled rifles must be subject to heightened requirements. Today’s rule makes clear that firearm manufacturers, dealers, and individuals cannot evade these important public safety protections simply by adding accessories to pistols that transform them into short-barreled rifles.”
“This rule enhances public safety and prevents people from circumventing the laws Congress passed almost a century ago. In the days of Al Capone, Congress said back then that short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns should be subjected to greater legal requirements than most other guns. The reason for that is that short-barreled rifles have the greater capability of long guns, yet are easier to conceal, like a pistol,” said ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. “But certain so-called stabilizing braces are designed to just attach to pistols, essentially converting them into short-barreled rifles to be fired from the shoulder. Therefore, they must be treated in the same way under the statute.”
Since the 1930s, the NFA has imposed requirements on short-barreled rifles because they are more easily concealable than long-barreled rifles but have more destructive power than traditional handguns. Beyond background checks and serial numbers, those heightened requirements include taxation and registration requirements that include background checks for all transfers including private transfers. Often, when pistols are converted to rifles by the use of a stabilizing brace covered by the rule, they have barrels less than 16 inches in length and must comply with the same heightened requirements that apply to short-barreled rifles under the NFA.
The rule goes into effect on the date of publication in the Federal Register. The rule allows for a 120-day period for manufacturers, dealers, and individuals to register tax-free any existing NFA short-barreled rifles covered by the rule. Other options including removing the stabilizing brace to return the firearm to a pistol or surrendering covered short-barreled rifles to ATF. Nothing in this rule bans stabilizing braces or the use of stabilizing braces on pistols.
On June 7, 2021, the Department of Justice issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, and during the 90-day open comment period, the ATF received more than 237,000 comments.
The final rule, as submitted to the Federal Register, can be viewed here: https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/factoring-criteria-firearms-attached-stabilizing-braces
To learn more about the rulemaking process, please see: https://www.federalregister.gov/uploads/2011/01/the_rulemaking_process.pdf
Jury Convicts Armed Fentanyl Trafficker Caught in FayettevilleRead the Press Release
WILMINGTON, N.C. – A federal jury convicted Jarrell Raeshon Bordeaux, of Fayetteville, on charges of conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 100 grams or more of heroin, distributing heroin and fentanyl, and possessing five firearms in furtherance of his drug trafficking crimes.
“This defendant was dealing dangerous illicit fentanyl, putting the community, and his own child, in danger, storing potentially deadly fentanyl in the same room where his son played,” said U.S. Attorney Easley. “Our office is partnering with law enforcement at every level to fight the fentanyl epidemic and put armed drug traffickers behind bars.”
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Bordeaux sold ounces of fentanyl and heroin to a confidential informant on 10 separate occasions. During the drug deals, Bordeaux bragged about how successful he was at dealing drugs and how he operated to avoid being caught.
Law enforcement later executed search warrants at two locations that Bordeaux used to distribute drugs. At his house, officers found his seven-year-old son playing video games in the same room as seven ounces of fentanyl and heroin and two loaded handguns that were stolen. At another location, officers seized three more handguns along with tools and packaging Bordeaux used to distribute drugs.
The jury convicted Bordeaux of all 13 counts he was charged with. He now faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years imprisonment when sentenced in April 2023.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the verdict. The Fayetteville Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tyler Lemons and Nick Hartigan are prosecuting the case.
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:20-cr-00428-M.
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Iowa Man Sentenced to 20+ Years in Federal Prison for Production of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
LAKE CHARLES, La. - United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Garrett Michael Faulk, 25, of Iowa, Louisiana, has been sentenced by United States District Judge James D. Cain, Jr. to 262 months (21 years, 10 months) in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, on child pornography charges. Faulk was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,000.
According to evidence presented to the court, investigators with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence in Iowa, Louisiana, regarding a complaint of child exploitation. Through their investigation, law enforcement agents found an explicit video and pictures on Faulk’s cell phone depicting the exploitation of children. Faulk admitted to agents that he had used his cell phone to capture the video and pictures of prepubescent children. He was charged by a federal grand jury with production of child pornography and pleaded guilty to one count on August 23, 2022.
The case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations and Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danny Siefker.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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Informational: Federal Court arraignmentsRead the Press Release
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that the following persons were arraigned or appeared this week before U.S. Magistrate judges on indictments handed down by the Grand Jury or on criminal complaints. The charging documents are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty:
Appearing in Great Falls before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston and pleading not guilty on Jan. 12 was:
Dwain Francis Balch, aka Waldo, 58, on charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute meth. If convicted of the most serious crime, Balch faces a mandatory minimum 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine and at least five years of supervised release. Balch was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI, Fort Peck Law Enforcement, Tri-Agency Drug Task Force and Bureau of Indian Affairs investigated the case. PACER case reference. 23-01.
Appearing on Jan. 10 was:
Walter Louis Badroad Mount, 23, of Harlem, on charges of sexual abuse of a minor. If convicted of the most serious crime, Mount faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Mount was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-103.
Daniel Jacob Werk, 37, of Hays, on charges of sexual abuse of a minor. If convicted of the most serious crime, Werk faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Werk was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-108.
Casey Louis Ream, 36, of California, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Ream faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and three years of supervised release on the drug crimes and a mandatory minimum five years to life in prison, consecutive to any other sentence, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release on the crime of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. Ream was detained pending further proceedings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, Great Falls Police Department and Cascade County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-105.
Babi Alysia Nakai, 30, of Phoenix, Arizona, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. If convicted of the most serious crime, Nakai faces a mandatory minimum of five to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and four years of supervised release. Nakai was released pending further proceedings. The FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Great Falls Police Department and Cascade County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-89.
William Ronald Blackman, 31, of Browning, on charges of attempted sexual abuse and sexual abuse. If convicted of the most serious crime, Blackman faces life in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Blackman was released pending further proceedings. The FBI investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-48.
Appearing in Billings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan and pleading not guilty on Jan. 10 was:
Richard Lamar Rutledge, 49, of Culbertson, on charges of prohibited person in possession of a firearm. If convicted of the most serious crime, Rutledge faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Rutledge was detained pending further proceedings. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. PACER case reference. 19-136.
Lisa Marie Sieler, 35, a transient, on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted of the most serious crime, Sieler faces a maximum of 30 years in prison a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release on the bank fraud crime and a mandatory minimum two years in prison, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the aggravated identity theft crime. Sieler was detained pending further proceedings. The Billings Police Department investigated the case. PACER case reference. 22-151.
Appearing in Missoula before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto for an initial appearance on a criminal complaint on Jan. 12 was:
Kenton Alan Shaull, 59, of Auburn, Washington, on charges of attempted coercion and enticement. If convicted of the most serious crime, Shaull faces 10 years to life in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release. Shaull was detained pending further proceedings. The FBI and Missoula County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. PACER case reference. 23-05.
The progress of cases may be monitored through the U.S. District Court Calendar and the PACER system. To establish a PACER account, which provides electronic access to review documents filed in a case, please visit http://www.pacer.gov/register.html. To access the District Court’s calendar, please visit https://ecf.mtd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/PublicCalendar.pl.
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Indiana Man Sentenced for Drug ConspiracyRead the Press Release
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – John Rice, age 57, of Crawfordsville, Indiana, was sentenced yesterday to serve 63 months in federal prison for his conviction for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.
As part of his previous guilty plea, Rice admitted that he supplied over 50 grams of methamphetamine and a handgun to Cortland, New York-based drug dealer Kyle Leeper as part of a methamphetamine conspiracy that included members in Indiana, Cortland, and Los Angeles, California. Kyle Leeper was sentenced in November 2022 to serve 40 years in federal prison for his murder of a California man during a drug deal there in 2019 as part the conspiracy.
Rice was also ordered to serve a 4-year term of supervised release following the completion of his federal prison sentence. Rice’s federal sentence is consecutive to an Indiana State prison sentence he is serving for unrelated drug charges.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with assistance from the Montgomery County (Indiana) Sheriff’s Department, the Montgomery County (Indiana) District Attorney’s Office, and other Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Clymer, Richard Southwick, and Thomas Sutcliffe prosecuted the case.
Idaho Man Indicted for Distribution of Fentanyl Resulting in DeathRead the Press Release
BOISE — A federal grand jury in Boise returned an indictment on January 11, charging an Idaho man with distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury or death.
The indictment alleges that on May 17, 2022, Tanner Lee Goforth, 36, knowingly and intentionally distributed a substance containing fentanyl and that substance resulted in the death of the victim.
Police officers with the Nampa Police Department arrested Goforth on January 12, 2023. Goforth is scheduled to be arraigned on the charge on January 17, 2023, at 3:00 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora K. Grasham, at the U.S. Courthouse in Boise, Idaho.
If convicted, Goforth faces a sentence of at least twenty years and up to life imprisonment. Under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Congress has eliminated parole for defendants convicted of federal crimes committed after November 1, 1987.
U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit, of the District of Idaho made the announcement and commended the investigation conducted by the Nampa Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Howard Man Sentenced for Production of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Howard, South Dakota, man convicted of Production of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on December 27, 2022.
Lee James Thames, age 26, was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.
Thames was indicted by a federal grand jury in January of 2022. He pleaded guilty on September 30, 2022.
The conviction stemmed from incidents between March 16, 2021, and April 29, 2021, when Thames intentionally used his cellular phone to take sexually explicit photographs and videos of a minor female, who had not attained the age of 12 years, and saved them to his Snapchat Memories account.
This case was investigated by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Thames was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Guatemalan Woman Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced for Illegally Using a Social Security Number to Obtain EmploymentRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that CLAUDIA CAMEY DE PEREZ, a native of Guatemala, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on January 12, 2023 by Chief Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown to one year probation and payment of a $100 mandatory special assessment fee for illegally using a social security number to qualify for employment, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 408(a)(7)(B).
According to court documents, on March 29, 2022, Homeland Security Investigations received information that certain individuals had used fraudulent Social Security cards in an initial application to obtain employment. Prior to finalizing employment with their prospective company, the individuals had to report to the Gulf Coast Safety Council, which provides safety courses to applicants applying for work with companies servicing petrochemical processing plants. On March 30, 2022, CAMEY DE PEREZ arrived at the Gulf Coast Safety Council office in St. Rose, Louisiana to complete the safety course to finalize her employment with Company “A.” On that day, CAMEY DE PEREZ presented a fraudulent United States Social Security card bearing the name and United States Social Security number of a United States citizen, which he represented to be her own, in order to obtain employment.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of Homeland Security Investigations in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Spiro G. Latsis is in charge of the prosecution.
Greensboro Man Sentenced to 15 ½ Years in Federal Prison for Armed Robbery of Greensboro BusinessesRead the Press Release
GREENSBORO, N.C. - On Friday, January 13, 2022, a judge in federal district court sentenced a Greensboro resident, JAMES DENNARD SQUIRE, to seven concurrent 186-month prison terms, announced United States Attorney Sandra J. Hairston of the Middle District of North Carolina.
SQUIRE, age 36, pleaded guilty on July 12, 2022, to all seven Hobbs robberies charged in the Indictment.
Evidence showed that SQUIRE robbed the following Greensboro businesses between October 18, 2020, and November 13, 2020: Circle K, 3700 Groometown Road; Walgreens, 300 E. Cornwallis Drive; CVS, 309 E. Cornwallis Drive; Crossroads Exxon, 5800 W. Market Street; Handy Kwik Shop, 2103 E. Cone Boulevard; Walgreens, 3001 E. Market Street; and Great Stops, 5412 W. Market Street. Amounts taken from store clerks during the robberies ranged from $3,177 to $138. In six of the seven robberies a firearm was brandished.
At sentencing, United States District Judge Catherine C. Eagles imposed a 186-month term of imprisonment for each of the seven robberies, the sentences being ordered to run concurrently. SQUIRE was also ordered to pay $10,674.44 in restitution and to serve concurrent 3-year terms of federal supervised release.
The case was investigated by the Greensboro Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Clifton T. Barrett and former Assistant United States Attorney Veronica L. Edmisten.
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Four Memphis Carjackers Who Shot Law Enforcement Officers SentencedRead the Press Release
Memphis, TN – Julius Armstrong, 20, Adairius Armstrong, 20, Barium Martin, 20, and Malik McCoy, 19, have received significant federal prison sentences after being convicted of carjacking, assaulting a federal officer, and using a weapon during those crimes. United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz announced the sentences today.
According to the information presented in court, in early May 2021, Julius Armstrong, Adairius Armstrong, Barium Martin, and Malik McCoy committed a string of violent armed carjackings in the city of Memphis. On May 7, 2021, the individuals were spotted on a traffic camera crashing out in one of the stolen vehicles. They were confronted by two law enforcement officers: a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and a sergeant with the Memphis Police Department. The individuals, who were armed with a handgun and an assault rifle, fired on the vehicle the officers were in, injuring both officers.
At the time these crimes were committed, Julius Armstrong was 18 years old; Adairius Armstrong and Barium Martin were 19 years old; and Malik McCoy was 17 years old. McCoy was originally charged as a juvenile before being transferred to adult status in federal court.
United States Attorney Ritz stated: “These young men engaged in violent criminal acts, including shooting at and injuring law enforcement officers. Their serious crimes deserved serious sentences. Protecting Americans from gun violence is one of our top priorities, and our efforts in this area will remain robust and unrelenting.”
Julius Armstrong pled guilty to carjacking, brandishing a firearm during a carjacking, assault on a federal officer, and discharging a firearm during the assault. He was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker on November 10, 2022, to 264 months imprisonment.
Adairius Armstrong pled guilty to carjacking and brandishing a firearm during a carjacking. He was sentenced by Judge Parker on November 21, 2022, to 216 months imprisonment.
Barium Martin pled guilty to carjacking, brandishing a firearm during a carjacking, and assault on a federal officer. He was sentenced by Judge Parker on November 18, 2022, to 156 months imprisonment.
Malik McCoy pled guilty to carjacking, brandishing a firearm during a carjacking, and assault on a federal officer. He was sentenced by Judge Parker on January 11, 2023, to 156 months imprisonment.
“Protecting the public from violent criminals who illegally possess firearms is at the core of the mission of the men and women of ATF. In this instance, an act of violence was perpetrated upon law enforcement including an ATF agent. Today’s actions bring that matter to a close and the court’s sentencing reaffirms the commitment to the public of holding violent members of our society accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Marcus Watson of the ATF-Nashville Field Office.
“The FBI and our Federal and State partners will continue to combine our efforts and resources to target those who commit violent crimes in our community,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Bryan McCloskey of the Memphis Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “The law enforcement response and investigation, collaboration by law enforcement and prosecutors, and the sentences imposed serve notice to all that crimes of violence, especially those that threaten the lives of law enforcement, will be met with swift and exacting justice.”
This case was investigated by the ATF and the FBI.
United States Attorney Kevin Ritz thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth Rogers, Dean DeCandia, and Greg Wagner, who prosecuted the case, as well as the law enforcement officers who conducted the investigation.
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For more information, please contact Public Information Officer Cherri Green at 901-544-4231 or [email protected]. Follow@WDTNNews on Twitter for office news and updates.
Former law enforcement officer guilty of sexual assaultRead the Press Release
HOUSTON – A federal jury in Houston has found a 33-year-old former state trooper guilty for assaulting two women while on duty, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
The jury deliberated for three hours before returning a guilty verdict against Lee Ray Boykin Jr. following a four-day trial.
“My office is firmly committed to ensuring the civil rights of every person in the Southern District of Texas,” said U.S. Attorney Hamdani. “We rely on our police officers and federal agents every day to serve and protect. This lone officer, however, used his authority to stalk and prey on his victims for his own sexual gratification. We are pleased the jury agreed that such conduct will not be tolerated in our community.”
The jury determined Boykin had deprived two separate victims of their right to bodily integrity while acting in his capacity as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) in that he committed aggravated sexual abuse as to one victim and kidnapping as to the other victim. He was also found guilty of two counts of destruction, alteration or falsification of records in a federal investigation.
At trial, one of the victims explained how Boykin had taken her to a secluded parking lot after being ordered out of her friend’s car following a traffic stop. Once there, Boykin falsely accused her of being a prostitute, threatened to take her to jail and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterwards, he told her to run while placing his hand on his gun.
The jury heard evidence that showed Boykin’s DNA on the parking lot. The victim’s DNA was also found on Boykin’s underwear.
The second victim testified that Boykin ordered her out of her friend’s car and placed her into Boykin’s vehicle. Boykin falsely told her she had outstanding traffic warrants. He then took this victim to the same secluded parking lot, where she performed oral sex on him. Three days later, Boykin attempted to get her into his trooper car again, but she was able to escape.
The jury heard about statements Boykin had made to authorities. Regarding the sexual assault of the first victim, he said he thought he “got away with it” and knew he should not have done it. He said he “just wanted to try.”
The jury did not believe defense claims and ultimately found him guilty.
U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. presided over trial and set sentencing for April 4. At that time, Boykin faces up to life in federal prison.
Boykin has been and will remain in custody pending sentencing.
The Houston Police Department and Texas Rangers conducted the investigation with the assistance of FBI and DPS. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sebastian A. Edwards and Kate A. Suh are prosecuting the case.
Former San Francisco Building Inspection Commission President Pleads Guilty to Multiple Fraud Schemes, Providing False Documents to FBI, and Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO –Rodrigo Santos pleaded guilty today in federal court to bank fraud, honest services fraud, evading taxes on more than $1.6 million of unreported income, and falsifying records in a federal investigation, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Darren Lian.
Santos, 64, of San Francisco, was originally charged in a federal complaint on May 11, 2020, with bank fraud. Santos, a licensed civil and structural engineer, was the co-founder and a principal of the San Francisco-based company Santos and Urrutia Structural Engineers, Inc (S&U). His business provided engineering services and managed the process of obtaining building permits from municipal authorities for his clients. The complaint described that Santos was appointed in 2000 as a member of the San Francisco Building Inspection Commission by then Mayor Willie Brown and was promoted in 2004 to be the Commission’s President by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Mayor Ed Lee appointed Santos in 2012 to the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees.
An indictment (CR 21-268 SI) followed the complaint and charged Santos with committing bank fraud and with providing false records to the FBI in its investigation, among other charges. A grand jury thereafter issued a second, separate indictment (CR 21-453 SI) against Santos, charging him with honest services fraud for repeatedly soliciting donations from his clients to a favored non-profit athletic association of a San Francisco senior building inspector to obtain favorable treatment for the clients from the building inspector. Santos was most recently further charged by an information (CR 22-345 SI) with five counts of tax evasion for the tax years 2015 through 2019.Today Santos pleaded guilty in indictment (CR 21-268 SI) to ten counts of bank fraud involving the commission of fraud against his own clients and his business. In his plea agreement, Santos described that from 2012 to 2019 he engaged in a scheme in which he collected numerous checks from his clients that they made payable to San Francisco’s municipal agencies, including the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) and the Department of Public Works, to private companies and to individuals. Santos led his clients to believe these checks would be used to pay the fees or costs of their building projects. Santos instead deposited the checks into his personal bank account. To do so, he either fraudulently altered the checks by editing the “pay to the order of” section of the checks to appear as if the checks had been written to him personally or he fraudulently endorsed the checks to himself by signing the back of the check on behalf of the payee. By depositing the checks into his personal bank account, he obtained his clients’ funds for himself. Santos admitted that from 2012 to 2019 he deposited approximately 445 checks of his clients’ checks into his personal bank account and fraudulently obtained more than $775,000 of his clients’ money.
Santos also admitted that from 2012 to 2018 he fraudulently deposited into his personal bank account approximately 378 checks written as “pay to the order” of S&U, his engineering firm. By depositing theses checks into his personal account, Santos admitted that he caused a loss to S&U of more than $718,000.
Santos further pleaded guilty in the same indictment to falsifying records in a federal investigation. Santos described in his plea agreement that on March 2, 2020, two FBI agents served him with a grand jury subpoena requesting documents related to six client checks connected to the above-described fraud schemes. In response, Santos altered S&U invoices to make it falsely appear that his clients had been credited for the checks, though Santos had fraudulently deposited them into his own personal bank account and had never credited his clients for those checks. He admitted that he forwarded the falsified invoices to the FBI knowing they were false and intending to obstruct the FBI’s investigation.
In the second indictment (CR 21-453 SI), Santos pleaded guilty today to one count of honest services wire fraud. In his plea agreement, Santos admitted he engaged in a scheme to defraud the public of the honest services of his co-defendant Bernard Curran, who was a senior building inspector at DBI. Santos knew Curran supported and favored a local non-profit athletic organization. Santos, intending to influence Curran in the performance of his official duties, arranged for his clients to make charitable contributions to the non-profit athletic organization. Santos ensured Curran knew about these donations by either personally delivering the clients’ checks to Curran or by otherwise informing him of the donations. Santos described that his clients received favorable official treatment from Curran on their projects in exchange for the donations. In total, from 2017 to 2020 Santos arranged for 13 of his clients to make a total of $9,600 in donations to the non-profit athletic association, and all 13 clients received at least on one official action from Curran in his capacity as a DBI senior building inspector.
In the third case against Santos (CR 21-345 SI), Santos today pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion. Santos admitted that from 2012 to 2019 he deposited more than $1.6 million into his personal account and that he deliberately omitted this income on his tax returns for the tax years 2012 to 2019, thereby evading taxes. Santos admitted the source of the $1.6 million in unreported income was the above-described bank fraud scheme through which Santos fraudulently deposited 823 client checks into his personal bank account. Santos further admitted that he willfully submitted false and fraudulent tax forms for each year from 2012 to 2019, resulting in a tax avoidance of more than $564,000.
Santos entered his guilty pleas today before United States District Judge Susan Illston, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for Santos on June 30, 2023. Santos remains out of custody pending his sentencing hearing.
In summary, Santos pleaded guilty to ten counts of bank fraud, one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation, and five counts of tax evasion. Each count of bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344 carries a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The count of honest services wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1346 carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years. The count of falsifying records in a federal investigation in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519 carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Each count of tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 carries a maximum sentence of 5 years. However, any sentence following conviction imposed by the court will occur only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
As part of his guilty plea, Santos agreed to pay more than $1 million in restitution to victims.
The Special Prosecutions Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and IRS-CI. The San Francisco City Attorney has also alleged in a state civil lawsuit unsealed in March 2020 that Santos engaged in check fraud.
This case is part of a larger federal investigation targeting public corruption in the City and County of San Francisco. To date, twelve individuals have been charged, including high-ranking San Francisco public officials Harlan Kelly and Mohammed Nuru. Nuru was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in August 2022. Multiple city contractors and facilitators have also been charged and several have been sentenced to prison.
Former Payroll Manager for Chicago Museum Charged with Misappropriating More Than $2 MillionRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — The former payroll manager for a Chicago museum has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly misappropriating more than $2 million in museum funds.
An indictment returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago accuses MICHAEL MAURELLO of fraudulently obtaining the museum funds from 2007 to 2020. Maurello caused the museum to deposit money into his personal bank accounts by designating the payments in the payroll system as having been made to other employees or former employees, the indictment states. When the museum’s assistant controller asked Maurello in January 2020 about one of the payments, Maurello falsely stated that the transaction had been a test of the payroll system, the indictment states. Maurello then edited and altered a report from the museum’s payroll system to conceal information about the misappropriated funds, including by falsely changing the employees’ names and the dates and dollar amounts of the payments, the indictment states.
The indictment charges Maurello, 56, of Beach Park, Ill., with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. Arraignment in federal court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.
The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey B. Rubenstein.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Each count of bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison, while each count of wire fraud carries a maximum of 20 years. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
Former Owner of Orange County Wastewater Treatment Company Pleads Guilty to Federal Environmental Criminal ChargeRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – The former owner of a wastewater treatment facility in Orange County and his company each pleaded guilty today to a federal environmental criminal charge for discharging untreated industrial wastewater into the county’s sewer system.
Tim Miller, 65, of Kewaskum, Wisconsin, and his company, Klean Waters Inc., pleaded guilty to one felony count of knowingly violating a requirement of an approved pretreatment program.
According to their plea agreements, from 2013 to April 2015, Miller was the owner and president of Klean Waters, a wastewater treatment facility in Orange. Klean Waters was permitted to receive non-hazardous industrial wastewater, treat it for pollutants if needed, and then discharge the water into the Orange County Sanitation District’s (OCSD) sewer.
OCSD runs a pretreatment program that was approved under federal law and that implements and enforces the national pretreatment standards established under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Pursuant to the CWA, any violation of any requirement imposed in OCSD’s local pretreatment program is a violation of federal law.
In 2013, Miller applied for and received a permit from OCSD for Klean Waters to discharge wastewater into the sewer. Klean Waters’ permit from OCSD required defendant to, among other things, test and, if necessary, treat wastewater so that the level of pollutants in it remained below permitted levels when it was discharged to the sewer.
In April 2015, without testing the wastewater, Miller knowingly caused Klean Waters to discharge wastewater into the sewer, so that the type and concentration of pollutants in the wastewater remained unknown.
United States District Judge Josephine L. Staton scheduled an April 14 sentencing hearing, at which time Miller will face a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison and Klean Waters will face a statutory maximum sentence of three years’ probation and $50,000 in fines.
The FBI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Rosalind Wang of the Santa Ana Branch Office and James A. Santiago of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section are prosecuting this case.
Former Judith Gap teacher sentenced to 78 months in prison for possessing child pornographyRead the Press Release
BILLINGS — A former Judith Gap School teacher who admitted to possessing child pornography after Facebook submitted a tip to authorities was sentenced today to 78 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.
Jayson Gayo, 28, of Harlowton, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to possession of child pornography as charged in an indictment.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. Judge Watters also ordered $3,000 restitution.
The government alleged in court documents and in statements in court that in August 2020, Facebook submitted a number of Cybertips indicating that child pornography was likely being transmitted from an account associated with Gayo. Gayo was a teacher at Judith Gap School at the time. There was no indication that the images or Gayo’s conduct involved students at the school.
An investigation led to the execution of a search warrant of Gayo’s residence, where law enforcement collected multiple electronic media items. A separate warrant was served on Facebook concerning Gayo’s account. In total, law enforcement determined that Gayo’s media contained 209 images and 146 videos of child pornography. The videos showed children as young as that of a toddler being sexually abused by adults. The government further alleged that Gayo not only possessed child pornography but also was an administrator of a group involving those with an interest in pornography.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno B. Baucus prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Through a network of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, Project Safe Childhood attempts to protect children by investigating and prosecuting offenders involved in child sexual exploitation. It is implemented through partnerships including the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The ICAC Task Force Program was created to assist state and local law enforcement agencies by enhancing their investigative response to technology facilitated crimes against children.
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Former Fresno-Area Auto Dealer Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Prison for Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity TheftRead the Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. — Scott Radtke, 60, of Clovis, was sentenced on Thursday to four and a half years in prison for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, Radtke owned California Motoring Company, a car dealership in Clovis. Beginning as early as Jan. 1, 2016, and continuing through June 2017, Radtke executed a scheme to defraud banks. When customers wanted to buy vehicles that Radtke’s dealership did not have in its inventory, Radtke offered customers the opportunity to buy them from other dealerships. Radtke received up-front payments from the customers or their banks, but did not give that money to the other dealerships. Instead, he spent it on business and personal expenses. Radtke then signed the customers’ names on sale documents and loan applications, which led banks to issue loans without the customers’ knowledge or authorization. Radtke’s actions involved at least 48 vehicles and over $2 million in fraudulently obtained goods and funds.
This case was the product of an investigation by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Clovis Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael G. Tierney and Alexandre M. Dempsey prosecuted the case.
Radtke was ordered to surrender himself on March 10, 2023 to begin serving his sentence.
Former District Resident Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute and Receive Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Man Apprehended After Trading Child Sex Abuse Material in Internet Chat Rooms
WASHINGTON – Ian Fried, 57, formerly of D.C., has been sentenced to seven years in prison for Conspiracy to Distribute and Receive Child Pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Acting Special Agent in Charge Derek W. Gordon of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C. Field Office.
Fried was arrested in Arizona on November 23, 2021, and he has remained in custody ever since. He pled guilty on July 28, 2022, and was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, by the Honorable Christopher R. Cooper. Upon completion of his prison term, he will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years following his release from prison. Fried was ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his criminal offense.
According to the government’s evidence, in May of 2017, Homeland Security
Investigations began investigating a group of individuals who were trading child pornography on an Internet-based client-server chatting protocol. Numerous individuals located across the country were using the targeted networks to discuss, view and trade child pornography and child exploitation files. Fried frequently used these chat networks between November 2018 through at least March 2020. During these chat conversations, Fried shared links containing files depicting the sexual abuse of young children. He also discussed with other offenders where to view and locate child pornography on the Internet. On October 21, 2021, law enforcement obtained a warrant, authorizing the search of Fried’s residence. Numerous electronic devices, including laptops, a tablet, and hard drives were recovered. A forensic review of these devices revealed that they contained hundreds of images and videos depicting the sexual assault and exploitation of very young children.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Acting Special Agent in Charge Gordon, commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Larson, who prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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Former Adelanto Mayor Agrees to Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud Charge for Accepting Bribes in Support of Commercial Marijuana ActivityRead the Press Release
SANTA ANA, California – The former mayor of Adelanto has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge for accepting more than $57,000 in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for approving ordinances authorizing commercial marijuana activity within the city, and ensuring his co-schemers obtained city licenses or permits for their commercial marijuana activities, the Justice Department announced today.
Richard Allen Kerr, 65, of Adelanto, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud, a crime that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
United States District Judge John W. Holcomb scheduled a February 17 change of plea hearing for Kerr.
According to his plea agreement filed on Thursday afternoon in United States District Court, Kerr served as Adelanto mayor from 2015 to 2018. Based on his employment and duties, Kerr owed a duty of honest services to the city and its residents. Among other things, Kerr voted on ordinances governing zoning regulations in the city, and served on the city’s Cannabis Dispensary Permit Committee, which determined the number of dispensary permits that would be issued, and determined which applicants would receive a dispensary permit.
From at least November 2015 to June 2018, Kerr executed a scheme to deprive the city of the honest performance of his duties as mayor. Kerr secretly used his official position to enrich himself and his co-schemers by passing ordinances authorizing various types of commercial marijuana activities, including marijuana cultivation, marijuana distribution and transportation, and retail sales of marijuana via a dispensary.
Kerr also drafted zones for commercial marijuana activities to include locations used by his supporters, ensured his supporters obtained the licenses or permits they sought; all in violation of conflict-of-interest prohibitions applying to Kerr, in exchange for bribes, kickbacks, gifts, payments, and other things of value.
Kerr’s co-schemers were a lawyer who specialized in plaintiffs’ tort litigation – identified in court documents as “Person A” – and an individual labeled “Person C” who had business interests in the city, including those involving marijuana cultivation.
The bribes and kickbacks were disguised by Kerr and his co-schemers as gifts, donations to a charitable fund, donations to Kerr’s election campaign, or advance payments for the proceeds of planned litigation associated with a motorcycle accident.
In exchange for the bribes and kickbacks, Kerr provided favorable official action on behalf of the city to Person A, Person C, and other co-schemers with business interests in the city by authorizing various types of commercial marijuana activities, ensuring his supporters obtained the licenses or permits they sought, and interfering with enforcement activities by city officials.
From December 2016 to April 2018, Kerr – who did not publicly disclose his financial relationship with his co-schemers while he was mayor – accepted multiple payments totaling at least $57,500, in bribes and kickbacks from Person A, Person C, and other co-schemers.
The FBI investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Sean D. Peterson, Chief of the Riverside Branch Office, and Julius J. Nam of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, are prosecuting this case.
Folsom Man Arrested After Indictment for Child ExploitationRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — William James Fitzgerald, 22, of Folsom, was arrested today after a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Fitzgerald charging him with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of distribution of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
The indictment, brought on Jan. 12, was unsealed today following his arrest.
According to court documents, between October 2020 and May 2022, Fitzgerald exploited two minor victims for the purpose of producing visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct. In January 2022, Fitzgerald distributed child pornography using Snapchat.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Folsom Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alstyn Bennett is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Fitzgerald faces a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. Click on the “resources” tab for information about internet-safety education.
Florida Woman Sentenced to Prison for False Statement to Investigator Related to Pediatric Asthma Drug StudyRead the Press Release
A federal judge sentenced a Florida woman to prison for making a false statement to a government investigator related to a clinical trial that studied the effectiveness of asthma drugs in children.
Jessica Palacio, 37, of Miami, was convicted by a jury on Sept. 13, 2022, for lying to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigator during a 2017 regulatory inspection of the firm conducting the drug trial. On January 12, U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles sentenced Palacio to 36 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
According to evidence presented at trial, Palacio worked from 2013 to 2015 as a clinical research coordinator at a clinical trial firm in Miami called Unlimited Medical Research (UMR). UMR was one of many companies hired to conduct a clinical trial designed to investigate the safety of an asthma medication in children. The drug manufacturer identified issues in the trial performed by the company based on a review of data and notified the FDA.
In May 2021, a grand jury in Miami returned a two-count indictment against Palacio alleging a scheme to falsify medical records to make it appear as though pediatric subjects made scheduled visits to UMR, received physical exams from a clinical investigator, and took study drugs as required, when in fact these events had not occurred. The indictment alleged that when Palacio was confronted by an FDA regulatory investigator about her role in the clinical trial conducted by UMR, she submitted a false affidavit claiming that she had performed a screening visit of a child subject when she had not.
Following trial, the jury found Palacio guilty of both conspiring to commit wire fraud and with making a false statement. The court subsequently granted a defense motion for a judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy charge but denied a motion for judgment of acquittal as to the false statement charge.
“Clinical trials play a critical role in establishing drug safety and efficacy,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will work closely with its law enforcement partners to protect the integrity of this important process.”
“Reliable and accurate data from clinical trials is the cornerstone of FDA’s evaluation of a new drug,” said Special Agent in Charge Justin C. Fielder in the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office. “Compromised clinical trial data could impact the agency’s decisions about the safety and effectiveness of the drug under review. Today’s sentencing demonstrates that those who attempt to subvert the regulatory functions of the FDA by making false statements to the agency to cover up falsified data will be held accountable for their actions.”
Four co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced for their roles in the scheme at UMR. Yvelice Villaman Bencosme, M.D., 66, of Miami, was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment, and Lisett Raventos, 48, also of Miami, was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment. In addition, Maytee Lledo, 52, of Hialeah, Florida, was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment, which the court later modified to time served, and Olga Torres, 50, of Miami, was sentenced to 3 years’ probation.
The FDA Office of Criminal Investigations investigated the case.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel David A. Frank and Trial Attorney Marilee L. Miller from the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Associate Chief Kyrsten Melander for Enforcement at FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel.
Federal Jury Convicts McAlester Resident of Committing Child Abuse in Indian CountryRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced today that to Paula Amber Chisholm, age 37, of McAlester, Oklahoma, was found guilty by a federal jury of Child Abuse in Indian Country.
The jury trial began with testimony on Monday, January 9, 2023 and concluded on Thursday, January 12, 2023 with the guilty verdict.
During the trial, the United States presented evidence that on December 3, 2019, a five-year-old child was rushed to the hospital after school officials became concerned about the child's physical state and demeanor at school. During a medical evaluation it was revealed the child had multiple wounds, abrasions, and bruises from head to toe and was extremely malnourished. Chisholm was the primary caregiver at the time the abuse. During the subsequent investigation, the child and another witness named the defendant as the person responsible for causing the injuries.
The guilty verdict was the result of an investigation by the McAlester Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crime occurred in Pittsburg County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, and within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma in Muskogee, presided over the trial and ordered the completion of a presentence report. Sentencing will be scheduled following completion of the report. Chisholm was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal pending the imposition of sentencing.
Assistant United States Attorney Morgan Muzljakovich and Assistant United States Attorney Hannah Jones represented the United States.
Fayette County Man Sentenced to 32 Years for Cocaine and Fentanyl TraffickingRead the Press Release
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Lexington man, Maurice A. Taylor, 44, was sentenced on Thursday to 385 months in federal prison, by Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, for two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine (five kilograms and 500 grams) and one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams of fentanyl.
According to Taylor’s plea agreement, law enforcement was conducting an investigation into a residence that was being used to unload large shipments of illegal drugs. On or about October 19, 2020, a trailer arrived at the residence and was pulled into the garage. Shortly thereafter, Taylor had a woman come to the residence, where Taylor placed an item in her vehicle. When she was stopped by police, she was in possession of approximately three kilograms of cocaine. Inside the residence, police also found approximately 182 grams of a substance containing fentanyl.
Later, law enforcement was conducting a similar investigation, at a second residence, also involving the unloading of large shipments of drugs from a trailer. On or about August 19, 2021, Taylor was followed to this second residence, where he waited for the resident to arrive. Upon her arrival, they went into the residence and stayed for a few minutes. Taylor then exited the residence with something under his shirt. When he was apprehended, he was in possession of approximately one kilogram of cocaine and $18,166 in cash. After his arrest, a search warrant was executed at the second residence, where law enforcement found an additional 7.9 kilograms of fentanyl.
Taylor pleaded guilty in July 2022.
“The defendant was dealing in massive amounts of illicit drugs, including more than eight kilograms of fentanyl, ” said Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “Fentanyl can be deadly in very small amounts – as little as two milligrams – meaning he had millions of potentially lethal doses of this incredibly dangerous drug. For that reason, there can be little question that this investigation and arrest saved countless lives and dodged a massive impact on our community. He unquestionably deserves the sentence imposed and I commend the dedicated work of all our law enforcement partners, whose efforts made this prosecution possible – and this community safer.”
"For years, Mr. Taylor has trafficked illicit drugs throughout the Lexington community wreaking havoc on countless families," said Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Office. "Through steadfast collaboration with the Lexington Police Department, DEA, U.S. Attorney 's Office - EDKY, he will now spend the better part of the rest of his life incarcerated. Today's sentence should send a clear message to those dealing illegal drugs, you will be held accountable."
“Individuals who cause harm and misery in their community through the sale of illicit drugs should bear the full brunt of the justice system,” said J. Todd Scott, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Louisville Field Division. “Mr. Taylor preyed on vulnerable people and he must now account for his misdeeds by spending decades housed in a federal prison.”
“It takes all of us to keep our communities safe. I want to thank all of our federal partners who worked with the Lexington Police Department to apprehend and prosecute Mr. Taylor, said Chief Lawrence Weathers, Lexington Police Department. “Because of these efforts, we were able to stop an individual from supplying dangerous narcotics in our community.”
Under federal law, Taylor must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. He will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for eight years after his release from prison.
United States Attorney Shier; FBI SAC Cohen; DEA SAC Scott; and Lexington Police Chief Weathers, jointly announced the sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, DEA, and Lexington Police Department. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West.
This case was prosecuted as part of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (SOS), a Department of Justice initiative designed to target trafficking of dangerous synthetic opioids.
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Elizabethtown Man Sentenced to 151 Months in Federal Prison for Distributing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Louisville, KY – An Elizabethtown man was sentenced yesterday to 151 months in prison followed by a 10-year term of supervised release for distributing and possessing child pornography. There is no parole in the federal system.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the FBI Louisville Field Office made the announcement.
According to court documents, Martin Hoag, 43, used the internet on two occasions to send child pornography to an undercover agent and possessed, on two separate hard drives, child pornography that involved a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.
In addition to the 151-month prison sentence, Hoag was ordered to pay the following: restitution to three victims in the amount of $3,000 each, a $15,000 special assessment, and a $5,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Spencer McKiness prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
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East Bay Resident Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Selling Child PornographyRead the Press Release
OAKLAND – Tariq Lamont Johnson was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for using private social media to sell and distribute child sex abuse materials, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Tatum King. The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Jon S. Tigar, U.S. District Judge.
Johnson, 24, of Richmond, Calif., pleaded guilty on June 3, 2022, to the charge. According to the plea agreement Johnson admitted to using the social media site Telegram to sell visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct to another person in exchange for a $45 Amazon gift card. Specifically, Johnson admitted that he operated numerous Instagram accounts that were linked together, and to his Telegram account, which he would use to post images; he then offered access to Telegram groups where he would provide child sexual abuse material in exchange for money.
According to the plea agreement, on November 5, 2021, Johnson was contacted by a person he later learned to be a government agent. Johnson admitted that he agreed to sell the undercover agent access to a Telegram chatroom, as well as a link to child sexual abuse material saved on a cloud-storage site, in exchange for a $25 Amazon gift card. Further, Johnson admitted that at about the same time he sold the agent a second link to child sexual abuse material saved on a cloud-storage site in exchange for a $45 Amazon gift card. Johnson admitted that the second link contained more than 600 depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and that these included depictions of infants and/or toddlers engaged in sexual acts.
Johnson was charged by Information on March 4, 2022, with one count of distribution of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2) and (b)(1). Pursuant to his plea agreement, Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Tigar sentenced Johnson to a 10-year period of supervised release that will commence after the prison term is concluded. The defendant was immediately remanded into custody. Judge Tigar ordered that a hearing to determine restitution to Johnson’s victims will be held on April 6, 2023.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan M. Mateer is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Karina Ruiz. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations.
EDNC Forfeits 280 Illegal Firearms and Prosecutes 278 Illegal Firearms Offenders in 2022Read the Press Release
RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, Michael Easley, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina (EDNC), announced that over the course of 2022, EDNC’s litigative efforts have resulted in the forfeiture of at least 280 illegally owned, possessed, used, or obtained firearms. Firearms that are criminally forfeited are removed from the possession of a convicted criminal defendant and relinquished to the government for disposal, including potentially the return of the firearm to a rightful owner.
“Getting illegal guns out of the hands of the most dangerous felons helps make our communities safer,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “I am proud of the strong partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement to get these guns off the street, so they are not used to commit future crimes.”
Since the start of 2022, EDNC charged approximately 278 defendants with federal firearms offenses, including possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and straw purchasing of a firearm. These prosecutions are a result of close cooperation between prosecutors and partners at federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). EDNC also partners with the State Bureau of Investigation, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, and local police and sheriffs across the District.
EDNC’s efforts to seize and forfeit illegal firearms in 2022 was the result of multiple investigative and prosecutorial efforts, including the Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) and the Violent Crime Action Plan (VCAP) initiative which are both collaborative efforts with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, working with the community, to identify and address the most significant drivers of violent crime, and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), whose purpose is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
“ATF’s top priority is preventing firearms from falling into the wrong hands,” stated Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Bennie Mims. “That effort is strongly supported by our local and state law enforcement partners and our federal prosecutors. Through our collaborative efforts, we’re working hard to prevent illegal purchases, firearms trafficking, and firearms thefts. Keeping firearms out of the hands of prohibited individuals is key to building and maintaining safer communities.”
"Every day, the FBI works tirelessly with law enforcement partners across North Carolina to combat violent crime. Seizing guns from convicted felons is one step closer to making our communities safer," said Michael C. Scherck, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Charlotte.
“DEA and its law enforcement partners want to send a stern warning that the distribution of dangerous drugs in association with gun violence presents a clear and present danger to the community,” said Robert J. Murphy, the Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Field Division. “This dangerous lifestyle has led many to face serious prison time as a consequence.”
“Finding and confiscating illegal weapons from dangerous criminals not only protects our communities, but it also protects the law enforcement community as we do our jobs,” said Ronnie Martinez, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Charlotte that covers North and South Carolina. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect our communities.”
Some of the major firearms-related cases prosecuted by EDNC in 2022 are as follows:
Jury Convicts Man for Federal Firearms Charge Following Shootout with Nash County Deputies on I-95: Ford, 35, of Florida, was convicted by a federal jury. He is a convicted felon who engaged in a shoot-out with Nash County deputies during a traffic stop. One of the deputies assisting with the traffic stop was hit multiple times while another deputy returned fire striking Ford and incapacitating him. Ford was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release. USA v. Jarred Ford, (No. 5:21-CR-105-BO)
Jury Convicts Wendell Man of Armed Robberies: Robinson, 43, of Wendell, was convicted by a federal jury following a string of robberies of grocery stores in eastern and central North Carolina. Robinson held employees at gun point after pretending to be a delivery driver so employees would let him in the backdoor. He is subject to the Armed Career Criminal enhancement and faces a maximum sentence of Life on the gun convictions. His sentencing is scheduled for the March 2023 term of court. USA v. Lionel Robinson, (No. 5:21-CR-17-BO)
Fayetteville Man Convicted of Kidnapping, Drug and Gun Offenses – Faces at Least 20 Years in Prison: Busbee, 38, of Fayetteville was convicted by a federal jury for being a violent pimp and drug dealer in Fayetteville who physically and sexually assaulted his victims, including three adult women and a two-year child, after kidnapping them. Busbee and others kidnapped the victims and held them for several hours after he believed the victims stole money from him. Busbee faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison and up to life when he is sentenced on January 30, 2023. USA v. Yomere Busbee, (No. 5:20-CR-393-M)
Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Shooting Rampage on I-95 in North Carolina: Dangerfield, 35, of South Carolina was sentenced to 20 years after a shooting rampage along the I-95 corridor. Franklin Dangerfield randomly fired at several vehicles across multiple counties while driving on I-95, striking at least one person and several vehicle. Dangerfield then led law enforcement on a high-speed chase reaching a top speed of 110 mph before crashing. USA v. Franklin Dangerfield, (No. 5:20-CR-439-M)
LaGrange Man Sentenced to 45 Years for Carjacking Resulting in Serious Injury: Dawson, 31, of LaGrange, violently assaulted and carjacked an 83-year-old man leaving him permanently disabled. Dawson was sentenced to 45 years in prison on February 4, 2022. US v. Anthony Dawson, (No. 5:20-CR-180-D)
U.S. v. Christopher Baker, (No. 5:21-CR-434-M-1): Baker, 49, of Zebulon, was convicted by a federal jury of charges including methamphetamine trafficking and firearm possession charges, including possession of machine guns. Baker was the third-ranking leader of the violent Pagan Motorcycle Gang in the country. He faces a 55-year mandatory minimum when he is sentenced on February 2, 2023.
Drug Trafficker Who Operated Fayetteville Daycare Sentenced to 40 Years in Federal Prison: Everett, 36, of Cumberland County was an armed, high-volume cocaine and marijuana trafficker in Fayetteville, North Carolina and was convicted by a jury for six felony drug trafficking and firearms related charges. He trafficked drugs and kept loaded, powerful firearms at the home daycare that he ran with his wife. After he was arrested, he engaged on a campaign of falsely claiming law enforcement planted the evidence against him, and he threatened witnesses. He was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment on August 25, 2022. U.S. v. Reshod Everett, (No. 5:20-CR-333-D-1)
California Man Responsible for Distributing Methamphetamine Receives 26 Years in Prison: Willie, 31, of California was sentenced to 312 months’ imprisonment for trafficking more than 100 kilograms of highly pure methamphetamine. Willie was a high-ranking leader of a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking organization that was associated with the Grape Street Crips gang. Willie received more than $1,000,000 in proceeds from the drug sales. U.S. v. Joseph Willie, (No. 4:21-CR-0021-FL-1)
Rocky Mount Gang Leader and Others Indicted on Drug and Fraud Charges: Foreman, 33, of Rocky Mount pled guilty to drug and fraud charges. Foreman was the leader of an armed heroin and fentanyl trafficking conspiracy operating in Nash and Edgecombe Counties. The drug trafficking organization was associated with the United Blood Nation street gang, and the group was involved in several gang related shootings. Foreman’s sentencing is scheduled for January 23, 2023. U.S. v. Tyrone Foreman, a/k/a “Ty Nitty” (No. 5:21-CR-289-D-1)
Violent Bloods Gang Drug Dealer and Weapons Trafficker Sentenced to 50 Years in Federal Prison: Rouse, 26, of Sampson County, was convicted at a federal trial was sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment. Rouse was the violent leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization who was responsible for large quantities of hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine, as well as heroin, pills, cocaine, and cocaine base (crack). Rouse also engaged in threats and violence in furtherance of the drug trafficking organization. U.S. v. Jimmy Rouse, (No. 7:19-CR-194-D-1)
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for the case number.
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Duluth Man Indicted for Drug Trafficking and Illegal Possession of FirearmsRead the Press Release
DULUTH, Minn. – A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment against a Duluth felon for methamphetamine trafficking and firearms violations, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
According to court documents, on May 7, 2022, John Robert Rieck, 66, was caught with more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and a Bersa .380 caliber pistol. Months later, Rieck was found with more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and an unregistered short-barreled shotgun bearing no serial number.
Because Rieck has multiple prior felony convictions dating back to 1975, he is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.
Rieck is charged with two counts of possessing a firearm as a felon, two counts of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and one count of possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. He made his initial appearance on January 11, 2023, in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Duluth Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Roso is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
DOT employee admits to extortionRead the Press Release
HOUSTON – A 54-year-old Lyford man had entered a guilty plea to extortion under color of law, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Patrick Gorena was a border investigator for Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
As part of his plea, Gorena admitted that when auditing a trucking company, he did not report safety violations that would have exposed the company to potential fines and the loss of their DOT license. In return, Gorena demanded $3,500.
However, he ultimately accepted $2,000 from an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a representative of the trucking company.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner will impose sentencing April 18. At that time, Gorena faces up to 20 years in prison.
He was permitted to remain on bond pending that hearing.
The Department of Transportation - Office of the Inspector General and FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hanes is prosecuting the case along with Trial Attorney Lauren Castaldi of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section.
Conehatta Man Sentenced in Voluntary Manslaughter CaseRead the Press Release
Jackson, Miss. – A Conehatta man was sentenced to 78 months in prison for voluntary manslaughter involving the stabbing of another man in the Conehatta Community of the Choctaw Indian Reservation, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to court documents, Vandel Jim, 54, of Conehatta, began to argue with the victim at a tribal home in the Conehatta Community which resulted in an altercation between the two men. After the altercation ceased, Jim armed himself with a knife and stabbed the unarmed victim in the arm multiple times causing the victim’s death.
Jim was sentenced to a prison term of 78 months, to be followed by a term of 36 months supervised release. The sentencing took place in the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi.
U.S. Attorney LaMarca commended the work of the Choctaw Police Department of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who investigated the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin J. Payne and Special Assistant United States Attorney Brian K. Burns.
Conehatta Man Sentenced in Reservation ShootingRead the Press Release
Jackson, Miss. – A Conehatta man was sentenced to 148 months in prison for the use of a firearm during the aggravated assault of another man, announced U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to court documents, Mike Austin Anderson, 36, of Conehatta, used a handgun to shoot the victim multiple times at a tribal home in the Conehatta Community of the Choctaw Indian Reservation which resulted in injury to the victim.
In June of 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Anderson on charges of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with intent to do bodily harm, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and the use of a firearm during a crime of violence. On October 5, 2022, Anderson was found guilty of assault with intent to do bodily harm, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and the use of a firearm during a crime of violence. During the trial, the jury heard testimony that, following a verbal altercation, Anderson used a handgun to shoot the victim multiple times in the legs and hand.
A U.S. District Judge sentenced Anderson to a prison term of 148 months, followed by a term of 60 months supervised release. The sentencing took place in the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi.
U.S. Attorney LaMarca commended the work of the Choctaw Police Department of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation who investigated the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin J. Payne and Special Assistant United States Attorney Brian K. Burns.
Columbia Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Conspiracy to Distribute MethamphetamineRead the Press Release
Hattiesburg, Miss. – A Columbia man was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Darren LaMarca and Special Agent in Charge Brad Byerley of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Alfredric James, 37, of Columbia, was sentenced on January 12, 2023, in U.S. District Court in Hattiesburg.
According to court documents and trial testimony, on December 9, 2020, James retrieved a pound of pure methamphetamine hidden by two of his conspirators in a barbecue grill at a residence in Hattiesburg. Having been alerted to the transaction, agents attempted to stop James’s vehicle. James fled but was apprehended with the meth after a short pursuit. James was responsible for distributing over 8 kilograms of methamphetamine to the Hattiesburg area in a two month period in the fall of 2020.
James was charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was subsequently found guilty by a jury in U.S. District Court following a three-day trial in Hattiesburg.
The case is the result of an extensive investigation, dubbed “Don’t Tell On Me Bro,” which began as an operation targeting illegal drug trafficking in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi area. “Don’t Tell On Me Bro” is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Lamar County Sheriff’s Office, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Hattiesburg Police Department, Forrest County Sheriff’s, and Columbia Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Keesha Middleton and Shundral Cole
Cedar Rapids Drug Dealer Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Maintaining Drug HousesRead the Press Release
A Cedar Rapids man that maintained residences in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the purpose of distributing controlled substances was sentenced January 12, 2023, to 20 years in federal prison.
Corey Lamar Cullar, Sr., age 44, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 17, 2022 guilty plea to one count of maintaining a drug‑involved premises.
Evidence at sentencing showed that, in February 2016, Cullar was released from federal prison. Starting in the fall of 2017, and continuing until his arrest in August 2021, Cullar rented a series of residences in Cedar Rapids to be used to distribute controlled substances. Cullar and his associates, including family members, distributed marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, and ecstasy pills from these residences. Cullar involved minors in the distribution of controlled substances, including his children; he exercised a leadership role over several individuals; and he possessed firearms and provided them to others. Cullar obstructed justice by intimidating or attempting to intimidate a witness during his prosecution.
Cullar was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Cullar was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment, which is the statutory maximum sentence allowed for his offense, and he must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Cullar is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-CR-00052-CJW.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
Brooklyn Man Indicted for Distributing Fentanyl and Cocaine BaseRead the Press Release
Burlington, Vermont - The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Demetrius Thompson, aka “Tone,” 44, of Brooklyn, New York was arrested yesterday in Rutland, Vermont. On December 14, 2022, Thompson had been indicted by the federal grand jury for distributions of fentanyl and cocaine base. Thompson is scheduled to be arraigned later today before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle.
According to court records, Thompson is alleged to have distributed controlled substances on three occasions during the month of September 2022. Last night, Rutland City Police, with the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations, executed a state search warrant at a residence in Rutland City. During the execution of that warrant, Thompson was located inside the residence. Also located inside the residence was approximately $4,000 of cash, a quantity of controlled substances, and a firearm.
The United States Attorney’s Office emphasizes that an Indictment contains allegations only and that Thompson is presumed innocent until and unless he is convicted of a crime. Thompson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment on each count of distributing controlled substances.
United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the investigatory efforts of the Rutland City Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations.
The prosecutor is Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan A. Ophardt. Thompson is represented by Katina Ready, Esq.Brookings Man Sentenced for Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the InternetRead the Press Release
SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Brookings, South Dakota, man convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet. The sentencing took place on January 9, 2023.
Zachary Scott Murray, age 36, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.
Murray was indicted by a federal grand jury in April of 2022. He pleaded guilty on October 14, 2022.
The conviction stemmed from an incident on March 6, 2022, when Murray used his cell phone to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, and coerce an undercover agent posing as a 14 year-old female, to engage in sexual activity.
This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Sioux Falls Police Department, Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Murray was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
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Boston Man Indicted for Sex Trafficking and Transporting a Minor with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual ActivityRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment yesterday charging a Boston man with sex trafficking a young adult victim and transporting a minor to New York and Connecticut to engage in commercial sex.
Leon Blount III, 30, of Boston, was charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and three counts of transportation of minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Blount has been in state custody since September 2022. He will appear in federal court in Boston on Jan. 19, 2023.
“Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. Whether labor or sex trafficking, if someone is profiting off of a person they control through threat, force or coercion, they are committing a felony. We allege that Mr. Blount targeted two victims – one of whom was a minor – whom he groomed and trafficked to engage in commercial sex across multiple states and used extreme violence to keep one of his victims under his control,” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. “January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and, with the perseverance and bravery of the victims, our dedicated Civil Rights & Human Trafficking Unit will spare no expense or resource to protect our communities, our children, and our Commonwealth from this growing public health threat.”
“HSI New England, and our law enforcement partners, are constantly watching closely for indicators of human trafficking and child exploitation throughout our community,” said Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England. “Today’s indictment is a result of those partnerships and the watchful eyes of all of the dedicated agents and officers involved in this case. HSI New England will continue to work tirelessly to identify, arrest and prosecute those involved human trafficking enterprises in order to keep our communities safe.”
According to the charging documents, beginning in the Fall of 2021, Blount began grooming a young adult victim, Jane Doe 1, to engage in commercial sex. First, Blount allegedly pressured Jane Doe 1 to create pornographic videos that were distributed online. Later, he allegedly insisted that Jane Doe 1 earn money for him by performing commercial sex acts. Jane Doe 1 was posted on websites that advertise commercial sex and Blount allegedly drove her throughout Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut to perform sex acts for his financial benefit.
It is further alleged that, to maintain control, Blount threatened to harm Jane Doe 1 if she ever left his trafficking operation. In September 2022, when Blount learned that Jane Doe 1 was trying to leave his control, Blount allegedly threw a rock through the window of the car Jane Doe 1 was sitting in and tried to pull her out of the car while spraying her in the face with pepper spray. Blount allegedly then got into the car and drove over Jane Doe 1’s leg, severely injuring her, as she tried to flee. It is alleged that after Jane Doe 1 was taken to the hospital, Blount broke into her apartment and wrote, “B**** ya not safe” on the wall. Shortly thereafter, Lowell Police arrested Blount, and he has remained in custody since that time.
Additionally, according to the charging documents, between July and August 2022, Blount transported a 17-year-old victim, Jane Doe 2, to New York and Connecticut to engage in commercial sex for his financial benefit. Blount allegedly met Jane Doe 2 while she was living at a group home for transitional age adolescents. He gave her alcohol and marijuana, and quickly recruited Jane Doe 2 to travel out-of-state to engage in commercial sex. While in New York, Blount allegedly directed Jane Doe 2 to solicit sex buyers in an area of Brooklyn known for commercial sex. It is further alleged that Blount caused Jane Doe 2’s photo to be posted on websites that advertise commercial sex and put her in hotel rooms in Woburn and Hartford, where he directed her to perform sex acts to earn money for him.
The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to life in prison, at least five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Each count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Members of the public who have questions, concerns or information regarding this case should call 617-748-3274 or contact [email protected]. If you or someone you know may be impacted or experiencing commercial sex trafficking, please visit https://polarisproject.org/ for information and resources.
U.S. Attorney Rollins and HSI SAC Millhollin made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian A. Fogerty of Rollins’ Human Trafficking & Civil Rights Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Bigelow Arkansas Woman Sentenced to over 12 Months in Federal Prison for Assaulting a Federal OfficerRead the Press Release
FORT SMITH – A Bigelow, Arkansas woman was sentenced yesterday to 12 months and one day in prison followed by two years of supervised release on one count of Assaulting, resisting, and impeding a Federal Officer. The Honorable Judge P.K. Holmes, III, presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.
According to court documents, on June 24, 2021, two United States Park Rangers with the National Park Service, at Buffalo National River, contacted Kristie Leigh Hudson, age 30, who was involved in an apparent verbal domestic altercation with her partner in the Spring Creek Campground in Searcy County, after a citizen complaint to the officers. Upon making contact with Hudson and her partner, the officers determined Hudson appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance(s) and had been fighting with her male companion.
Rangers attempted to identify Hudson who refused to cooperate with the investigation, and she began fighting with the officers after which she was detained.
Based on the statements of her traveling companion and her extreme erratic behavior, officers attempted to take her into custody at which time she began fighting with NPS Officers and an officer of the Marion County Sheriff's Department. During the contact and custodial arrest, one of the NPS Officers sustained injury. She was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail where she was restrained and later taken for medical evaluation and subsequently tried to escape the officers.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
The National Park Service, Investigative Services Branch and Buffalo National River investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyler Williams prosecuted the case.
Ashland Man Convicted of Distributing and Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ASHLAND, Ky.- An Ashland, Ky., man was convicted on Friday by a federal jury in Ashland for charges related to child pornography.
After one hour of deliberations, following a three-day trial, the jury convicted 70-year-old Adam Fonso Childers of distributing and possessing child pornography.
According to testimony at trial, Childers was identified as being in the top 10 list of individuals sharing child pornography in Kentucky via a peer-to-peer file sharing program. An investigation was initiated and, between October 5-6, 2020, Childers was found to have distributed multiple files of child pornography using the peer-to-peer file sharing network. A search warrant was then obtained for Childers’ home. The search revealed that, over decades, Childers had acquired multiple forms of media found to contain child pornography. This media included magazines he acquired in the 1970s, binders of printed materials, multiple disks, seven external hard drives, and a desktop computer. In total, Childers possessed hundreds of thousands of images and videos of child pornography, include depictions of minors under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit activity.
Childers was indicted in March 2022.
“Not only did the defendant possess thousands of images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, but he was also prolific in sharing them with others,” said Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “Combatting this despicable conduct is a core priority for our office and is critical to protecting our communities’ vulnerable youth. We commend the dedicated efforts of our law enforcements partners; without it, this prosecution would not have been possible.”
"Children are one of the Commonwealth’s most precious resources, yet one of its most vulnerable. Every year, thousands of minors fall victim to online predators seeking to exploit their innocence," said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Louisville Field Office. "Through dedicated work by FBI Louisville and our law enforcement partners, Mr. Childers’ conviction ensures that at least one predator will no longer cause irreparable harm to our society."
“Children are amongst the most valuable assets in our community, the Ashland Police Department will continue to proudly stand in defense of children and pursue those persons who foolishly attempt to exploit them,” said Chief W. Todd Kelley, Ashland Police Department.
U.S, Attorney Shier; FBI Special Agent in Charge Cohen; Col. Phillip Burnett, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police; and Chief W. Todd Kelley, Ashland Police Department, jointly announced the conviction.
The investigation was conducted by FBI, KSP, and the Ashland Police Department. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erin Roth and Mary Melton.
Childers will appear for sentencing on May 8, 2023. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count of conviction. However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal sentencing statutes before imposing a sentence.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
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Arizona Man Sentenced for Threats Made over CellphoneRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Andrew Isaac Abrams, 42, of Tucson, Arizona, was sentenced today in Omaha, Nebraska, for transmitting a threat to injure the person of another through an interstate communication. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Abrams to 18 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Abrams will begin a three-year term of supervised release.
On or about April 23, 2021, Abrams contacted multiple Omaha-based locations using a phone number originating in Tucson, Arizona. The first call went to Union Pacific Railroad Security, stating that a moving truck loaded with two tons of explosive material was parked near their building. As a precaution the building was evacuated, and Union Pacific Railroad sent their employees home for the day. Then Abrams contacted Douglas County Civic Center and Courthouse from the same phone number and stated that he had parked a Ryder truck filled with explosives in front of Union Pacific and that, “You guys are killing us, that’s why I’m going to blow up the civic center too!” Abrams placed a call to Eppley Airfield, located in Omaha, referencing “blowing up airplanes”, and mentioning several of the airlines. Finally, Abrams called Central High School in Omaha and left a voicemail on the school’s voicemail stating that there would be bombs and shooters in the Elkhorn, Westside, Central and Millard Schools in Omaha and mentioning the Union Pacific Railroad Headquarters.
Law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Abrams’s apartment in Tucson on May 13, 2021 and seized his cellphone. Investigators reviewed the call records for the cellphone, and verified that the calls made on April 23, 2021 to the four affected locations were made from Abrams’s cellphone located in Tucson. Abrams was arrested on May 14, 2021.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Omaha Police Department, and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Arizona Man Indicted for Smuggling 173 Pounds of Methamphetamine Across U.S.-Mexico BorderRead the Press Release
PHOENIX, Ariz. – On January 3, 2023, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against Isrrael Millan, 19, of San Luis, Arizona, for Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and Importation of Methamphetamine.
The indictment alleges that, on December 9, 2022, Millan applied for entry into the United States from Mexico, at the San Luis Port of Entry near Yuma, Arizona. At the Port, Customs and Border Protection officers conducted a search of Millan’s vehicle and discovered 170 cellophane-wrapped packages concealed in the quarter panels, doors, rocker panels, firewall, and dashboard. In total, the officers found over 175 pounds of methamphetamine in Millan’s vehicle.
A conviction on each charged offense carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine.
An indictment is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Courchaine, District of Arizona, Phoenix, is handling the prosecution.
CASE NUMBER: CR-23-00006-PHX-SPL
RELEASE NUMBER: 2023-005_Millan# # #
For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.
Alabama Medical Billing Company Pays $153K to Resolve False Claims AllegationsRead the Press Release
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Phillip Coyne, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and Jean Pierre Njock, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that AMVIK SOLUTIONS, LLC (“Amvik”) has entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal government and has paid $153,300 to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims for payment to the Connecticut Medicaid program for applied behavior analysis (“ABA”) services.
Amvik, based in Birmingham, Alabama, offers billing, claims, and collections services for healthcare providers. Amvik uses its proprietary WebABA software to perform these services for ABA providers throughout the United States. Helping Hands Academy, LLC (“Helping Hands”) was a Bridgeport-based ABA services provider that provided ABA services to children with autism. In 2018, Helping Hands retained Amvik to handle the billing and claims for those ABA services. The government alleges that when submitting claims for payment to Connecticut Medicaid on behalf of Helping Hands, Amvik falsely identified the incorrect Board Certified Behavior Analyst (“BCBA”) as the rendering provider on the claims. This caused Connecticut Medicaid to pay claims that it would not have otherwise paid.
To resolve the allegations under the federal False Claims Act, Amvik has paid $153,300 to the federal government for conduct occurring between October 3, 2019, through October 1, 2020.
This matter was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Kaczmarek.
People who suspect health care fraud are encouraged to report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS or the Health Care Task Force at (203) 777-6311.
2 guilty in $1 million COVID fraud schemeRead the Press Release
HOUSTON – A 30-year-old Orlando, Florida, man has admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the United States of COVID related disaster loan proceeds, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Dylan Kinlock entered his plea of guilty today. Co-defendant Felicia Garza, 36, Houston, pleaded guilty to the same charge Jan. 9.
Kinlock and Garza admitted they devised a scheme to solicit others to fraudulently apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided. The two utilized victims’ personal information to create falsified documents and applied for a PPP loan on their behalf.
The fraud scheme resulted in at least 241 fraudulent PPP loans which led to the distribution of more than $1 million Kinlock received at least $709,665 in fee income from individuals he assisted in securing the fraudulent PPP Loans.
Numerous individuals residing in the Southern District of Texas applied for PPP loans through Kinlock. They all reported that Kinlock attached fraudulent documents to their application without their knowledge, and that the applications contained false statements about the number of employees their business had.
The false documents included fictitious Schedule C tax forms reporting profit or loss from a business, 1099-MISC forms and invoices reporting incorrect income to qualify for the loans. Kinlock solicited each of his victims to execute a contract with him in which they agreed to share a portion of their PPP loans.
After Kinlock’s clients received their PPP loan funds, Kinlock directed the client to send him his fee through various means including direct deposit into his bank account or electronic payment methods Zelle, CashApp or Venmo. Kinlock’s fee ranged from $3000 to $4,000 per loan or 20% of the amount his client received.
He used the monies to pay off his home in Florida. As part of his plea, he has agreed to forfeit that residence.
The CARES Act is a federal law enacted March 27, 2020, to provide emergency financial assistance to the millions of Americans who suffered the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner accepted the pleas and set sentencing for April 11. At that time, each faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000.
Kinlock was permitted to remain on bond pending sentencing. Garza also remains on bond.
IRS - Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman is prosecuting the case.
Thursday 12 January 2023
Woodstock Man Sentenced to Another Year for Failing to Report to PrisonRead the Press Release
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANDRE SMITH, also known as “Dre,” 43, of Woodstock, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 12 months and one day of imprisonment for failing to surrender for service of his sentence.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on January 12, 2022, Smith was sentenced in Hartford federal court to 41 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute cocaine and crack in eastern Connecticut. Smith, who was released on bond, was ordered to report to prison on March 23. 2022. On March 19, 2022, Smith cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet, and he subsequently failed to report to his designated Bureau of Prisons facility as ordered.
Smith turned himself in to the U.S. Marshals Service in Bridgeport on June 14, 2022, and has been detained since that date. He pleaded guilty on October 11, 2022.
This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha M. Freismuth.
Woman Arrested for Voter Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
An Iowa woman was arrested today in Sioux City for her role in an alleged voter fraud scheme during the Iowa 2020 primary and general elections.
Kim Phuong Taylor, 49, of Sioux City, made her initial court appearance today. According to court documents, Taylor allegedly perpetrated a scheme to generate votes in the primary election in June 2020, when her husband was an unsuccessful candidate for Iowa’s 4th U.S. Congressional District, and subsequently in the 2020 general election, when her husband was a successful candidate for Woodbury County Supervisor. Taylor allegedly submitted or caused others to submit dozens of voter registrations, absentee ballot request forms, and absentee ballots containing false information. For example, although these documents required the signer to affirm that he or she was the person named in them, Taylor signed them for voters without their permission and told others that they could sign on behalf of relatives who were not present.
Taylor is charged by indictment with 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration, and 23 counts of fraudulent voting. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Timothy T. Duax for the Northern District of Iowa, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel of the FBI Omaha Field Office, and Acting Inspector in Charge Brad Mahs of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Denver Division made the announcement.
The FBI Omaha Field Office and USPIS Denver Division are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Timmons for the Northern District of Iowa are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Waterloo Man Sentenced to over Seven Years in Federal Prison for Unlawfully Possessing Four GunsRead the Press Release
An unlawful user of drugs who possessed four guns was sentenced today to more than seven years in federal prison.
Shamar Robertson, age 20, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after an August 18, 2022 guilty plea to one count of being an unlawful user of drugs in possession of firearms.
Information at the sentencing showed that, between April 2020 and February 2021, Robertson posted dozens of videos on social media showing him with what appeared to be guns and marijuana. On February 26, 2021, law enforcement officers searched the home where Robertson lived in Waterloo. During the search, the officers found four guns that had Robertson’s DNA on them. The guns consisted of three handguns, two of which had partially obliterated serial numbers, and one semiautomatic rifle. Three of the guns were loaded. Officers also found a distribution quantity of marijuana in Robertson’s bedroom.
Robertson was charged in federal court and was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on April 13, 2022. However, he did not appear for the hearing. Robertson remained on the lam until he was arrested on June 21, 2022. At the time of his arrest, Robertson was in a car with other individuals. Officers found a gun in the car and Robertson was in possession of marijuana. Because of his failure to appear and having his whereabouts unknown for over two months, the District Court found Robertson had obstructed justice, which increased his sentence.
Robertson was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda Reade. Robertson was sentenced to 87 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Robertson is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa Williams and Anthony Morfitt and investigated by a Federal Task Force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and Cedar Falls Police Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-cr-2054.
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Waseca Travel Agency Owner Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Wire FraudRead the Press Release
MINNEAPOLIS – A Waseca man has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for wire fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
According to court documents, from August 2016 to January 2019, Matthew Harold Schumacher, 46, owned and operated Travel Troops, LLC. Schumacher misappropriated commission payments meant for travel agents for his own personal use. After customers booked their travel arrangements with travel agents, the travel suppliers provided Schumacher with the commission payments due to respective independent travel agents who booked the travel. However, as part of Schumacher’s scheme to obtain and retain travel agents’ money for himself without their knowledge or consent, Schumacher routinely provided his travel agents with materially false and fraudulent information. Schumacher lied to travel agents that their commission money would be paid to them, when, in fact, he kept all of the victims’ money or, in other instances, despite refund requests, he provided some victims with commission payments that were late, incomplete, or both.
According to court documents, Schumacher defrauded at least 36 travel agents nationwide of their primary income source. Schumacher deposited at least $160,000 in victims’ funds to his personal account which he used for personal travel expenses, cash withdrawals, retail purchases, car payments, credit card bills, entertainment tickets, and loan payments. He also withdrew thousands of dollars in cash and spent at least $150,000 in victims’ money on his own travel expenses.
On June 30, 2021, Schumacher pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Schumacher was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Senior Judge Ann D. Montgomery.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew S. Ebert.
Virginia Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Transportation of Child Sex Abuse Images Aboard International Cruise ShipRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton has sentenced Christopher Michael Ratten (32, Stafford, VA) to seven years in federal prison for transportation of child sex abuse images. Ratten had pleaded guilty on October 17, 2022.
According to court documents, on September 4, 2021, Ratten flew from Washington, D.C. to Florida. He then traveled to Port Canaveral where he boarded a commercial cruise ship. The cruise made stops in the Bahamas before returning to Port Canaveral on September 9, 2021. Upon Ratten’s reentry to the United States, an agent from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted a border search of Ratten’s cellphone and located child sex abuse images on the phone. Further forensic investigation revealed that Ratten had more than 4,500 images and videos of child sex abuse on his phone, a number of which depicted the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers and bestiality.
“This deviant fed his perversion through a vast and rapidly growing collection of explicit images and videos of children and animals being sexually abused,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Orlando Assistant Special Agent in Charge David J. Pezzutti. “Thanks to the dedication of our partners at U.S. Customs and Border Protection who initially discovered the imagery, we were able to fully investigate and prosecute this predator’s abhorrent behavior.”
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Amanda Daniels.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Victims of BitConnect Scheme to Receive More than $17 Million to Compensate for LossesRead the Press Release
For Further Information, Contact:
Assistant U. S. Attorneys Carl Brooker, Lisa Sanniti, and Mark W. Pletcher
SAN DIEGO — A federal judge has ordered Glenn Arcaro - one of the leaders of a massive cryptocurrency investment scheme that defrauded investors worldwide - to pay $17,646,801 dollars in restitution to approximately 800 victims from over 40 countries.Arcaro, 45, the top U.S.-based promoter for BitConnect, pleaded guilty in September of 2021, admitting that he conspired with others to exploit investor interest in cryptocurrency by fraudulently marketing BitConnect’s proprietary coin offering and digital currency exchange as a lucrative investment.
Arcaro and others misled investors about BitConnect’s “Lending Program.” Under this program, Arcaro touted BitConnect’s purported proprietary technology, known as the “BitConnect Trading Bot” and “Volatility Software,” as being able to generate substantial profits and guaranteed returns by using investors’ money to trade on the volatility of cryptocurrency exchange markets.
In truth, however, BitConnect operated a textbook Ponzi scheme by paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors. Arcaro and others ensured up to 15 percent of the money invested into BitConnect went directly into a slush fund to be used for the benefit of its owner and promoters. Arcaro was sentenced in September of 2022 to 38 months in prison.
On February 25, 2022, the founder of BitConnect, Satish Kumbhani, was indicted for his central role in the multibillion-dollar fraud. He remains a fugitive from justice and anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact the FBI at 216-522-1400.
"Hundreds suffered devastating financial losses as a result of this terrible deception, and we hope today’s ruling will provide some relief to the victims," said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman.
Grossman thanked the prosecution team as well as the FBI’s Cleveland Cyber Crime and White Collar Crime teams, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the Financial Investigations and Border Crimes Task Force - a multiagency task force based in San Diego and Imperial counties that is funded by the Treasury Executive Office of Asset Forfeiture, for their excellent work on this case.
“To perpetrate a massive fraud scheme that intentionally deceived hundreds of people around the globe is horrendous,” said Cleveland FBI Special Agent in Charge Gregory Nelsen. “Today’s hearing serves as a blunt warning to others who plot to trick investors that we will uncover the truth and seek restitution. The FBI is committed to protecting investors from sophisticated cryptocurrency scammers that seek to capitalize on the novelty of digital currency. We applaud the collaborative work with our federal, state, and local partners to bring justice to the victims.”
“Glenn Arcaro and his co-conspirators took advantage of innocent investors worldwide utilizing cyberspace to reach victims from over 40 countries. Investors believed they were investing in cryptocurrency, but BitConnect’s proprietary coin and digital coin exchange were indeed fraudulent,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Today’s order of restitution will return over $17 million to those that were misled and invested in BitConnect. IRS Criminal Investigation, our law enforcement partners and the USAO in the Southern District of California worked hard to assist both foreign and domestic victims of this Ponzi scheme.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carl Brooker, Lisa Sanniti, and Mark W. Pletcher of the Southern District of California and Trial Attorney Kevin Lowell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case. The Department of Justice Office of International Affairs and United States Postal Inspection Service provided indispensable assistance to the investigation.
DEFENDANT Case Number 21CR2542-TWR
Glenn Arcaro Los Angeles, CA Age: 45
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud—Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1349
Criminal Forfeiture—Title 18, U.S.C., Section 982
Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison, $250,000 fine or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater; forfeiture and restitution
AGENCIES
FBI
IRS Criminal Investigation—Financial Investigations and Border Crimes Task Force
United States Postal Inspection Service