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Tuesday 5 October 2021
Idara ya Sheria Inasuluhisha Ukaguzi wa Haki za Kiraia za Mfumo wa Mahakama ya Umoja wa Dakota KusiniRead the Press Release
Kumbuka: Taarifa hii kwa vyombo vya habari imetafsiriwa katika lugha mbalimbali. Angalia viambatisho vilivyo hapa chini.
WASHINGTON – Leo hii Idara ya Sheria imetangaza kwamba imetatua ukaguzi wa haki za kiraia za Mfumo wa Mahakama wa Umoja wa Dakato Kusini (UJS) ambao utawasaidia watu wenye ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza (LEP) ili waweze kuwasiliana katika mahakama ya jimbo.
Ukaguzi wa Idara ya Sheria ulianza baada ya kupokea malalamiko kutoka kwa Huduma za Kisheria za East River ikidai kwamba mahakama za UJS ziliwabagua wafanyakazi wa mahakama wenye ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza (LEP) kulingana na asili yao ya kitaifa ambayo ni kinyume cha Sehemu ya VI ya Sheria ya Haki za Kiraia ya 1964. Sehemu ya VI inakataza wanaopokea usaidizi wa kifedha wa serikali kuwabagua watu kwa sababu ya mbari, rangi au asili yao ya kitaifa. Ukaguzi wa idara ulitambua kwamba vizuizi vya lugha na gharama kubwa kwa mahakama ya UJS zinawazuia watu wenye ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza yani LEP kushiriki katika kesi za kiraia na mashtaka.
“Mahakama ya jimbo ni msingi wa uadilifu wa mfumo wetu wa haki na ni muhimu kwamba vikwazo vyovyote vinavyowazuia watu kufikia taasisi hizi viondolewe,” alisema Msaidizi wa Mwanasheria Mkuu Kristen Clarke wa Idara ya Sheria Kitengo cha Haki za Kiraia. “Tutaendelea kushirikiana na mahakama za jimbo ili tuondoe vizuizi vya lugha vinavyowazuia watu kupata haki na vinavyokiuka sheria ya haki za kiraia ya serikali. Tunashukuru Mfumo wa Mahakama ya Umoja wa Dakota Kusini kwa kushirikiana na Idara ya Sheria ili kutatua jambo hili na kuchukua hatua ya haraka ya kuhakikisha kwamba wafanyakazi wote wa mahakama wanaweza kuelewa na kushiriki katika kesi, bila kujali uwezo wao wa kuzungumza na kuandika Lugha ya Kiingereza.”
Kwa sababu ya ukaguzi wa idara, UJS ilianzisha mswada katika bunge la jimbo wa kuongeza wakalimani na watafsiri kwa ajili ya watu wenye ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza yani LEP katika kesi zote za kiraia. Sheria hiyo iliyotungwa ilikuwa sheria mnamo Julai tarehe 1. Kwa ajili ya kutekeleza sheria hiyo mpya, UJS ilipata fedha za ziada katika bajeti yake za kutoa huduma za wakalimani za bure kwa watu na mashahidi wenye ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza yani LEP. Isitoshe, UJS imesasisha mipango ya kupata huduma za lugha kwa ajili ya safari zote za kutembelea mahakama za jimbo, imeteua mratibu wa kupata huduma za lugha na imeunda mchakato wa malalamiko ya kupata huduma za lugha. Mratibu na taratibu za malalamiko zitasaidia katika kuhakikisha kwamba watu wanaweza kutoa maoni kwa UJS. UJS pia imekubali kuendelea kushirikiana na idara ili iendeleze haki na kutowabagua watu wenye ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza yani LEP katika kufikia mahakama.
Kesi hii ilichunguzwa na mawakili wa Kitengo cha Haki za Kiraia pamoja na Ofisi ya Wakili wa Marekani wa Wilaya ya Dakota Kusini. Utekelezaji wa Sehemu ya VI ni muhimu sana kwa Kitengo cha Haki za Kiraia. Taarifa ya ziada kuhusu Kitengo cha Haki za Kiraia inapatikana kwenye tovuti yake www.justice.gov/crt, na taarifa kuhusu ujuzi finyu wa Kiingereza na Sehemu ya VI inapatikana kwenye www.lep.gov. Watu wanaweza kuripoti mambo yanayoweza kuwa ukiukaji wa haki za kiraia kwenye https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/ au kwa Ofisi ya Wakili wa Marekani wa Wilaya ya Dakota Kusini kwa kujaza fomu ya malalamiko inayopatikana kwenye https://www.justice.gov/usao-sd/civil-rights.
Grant County Man Sentenced to 9 Years in Federal Prison for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and Violating Court SupervisionRead the Press Release
Spokane – Joseph H. Harrington, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Rodolfo Ramirez, Jr., age 36, of Moses Lake, Washington, was sentenced today after having pleaded guilty on June 30, 2021, to Felon in Possession of a Firearm. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Ramirez to an 84-month term of imprisonment, to be followed by a 3-year term of court supervision after he is released from federal prison. Judge Rice also imposed a 24-month term of imprisonment, to run consecutive to the sentence imposed in the firearm case, after finding that Ramirez violated court supervision stemming from a previous conviction for felon in possession of a firearm.
According to information disclosed during court proceedings, on December 21, 2019, law enforcement officers in Moses Lake, Washington responded to a report of a drive-by shooting. At the scene, officers were notified that an individual, subsequently identified as Ramirez, fled the scene after discharging multiple rounds of ammunition at another person. One of the rounds Ramirez discharged pierced the wall of a residence and entered a bedroom where a child was sleeping. When arrested, Ramirez admitted discharging his firearm at the person.
Acting United States Attorney Harrington said, “The actions of Ramirez placed the victim and innocent by-standers in grave danger. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington is dedicated to seeking lengthy prison sentences for anyone involved in acts of violence. I commend the law enforcement officers with Moses Lake Police Department, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who investigated this case.”
This case was prosecuted under the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) program. PSN is a federal, state, and local law enforcement collaboration to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals responsible for violent crimes in our neighborhoods. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is partnering with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement to specifically identify the criminals responsible for violent crime in the Eastern District of Washington and pursue criminal prosecution.
This case was investigated by the Spokane Resident Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Moses Lake Police Department, and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. This case was prosecuted by James A. Goeke and Patrick J. Cashman, Assistant United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Washington.
Fugitive Sex Offender Found in Fayetteville Sentenced for Failing to RegisterRead the Press Release
NEW BERN, N.C. – A California man who was on the run for more than twenty months before being apprehended in Fayetteville was sentenced today to 31 months in prison for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender.
According to court documents, Stephen Robert Bond, 56, was charged with one count of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250. Bond pled guilty on November 9, 2020.
In 1993, Bond was convicted of Forcible Rape in California and his sentence included a requirement to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Bond failed to comply with his registration requirement at least twice previously, resulting in California felony convictions for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in 1999 and 2013. In open court the government explained that Bond was paroled in June 2018 and placed on location monitoring but cut off his location monitoring equipment and went on the run just two months after being paroled. Bond spent approximately a year in Arizona before arriving in Fayetteville, NC in the Fall of 2019. Bond did not, as required, register as a sex offender in North Carolina but in January 2020, he applied for and began receiving food stamps. The U.S. Marshals Service (“USMS”) received the case on May 11, 2020 and a week later, on May 18, 2020, the USMS’ Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force (CRFTF) and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office Sex Offenders Unit apprehended Bond at his residence in Fayetteville.
G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan. The U.S. Marshals Service, Eastern District of North Carolina, Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Stephany prosecuted 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-00360-FL.
Fox Valley Man Sentenced for Arson of Ridgeway VP Gas StationRead the Press Release
Acting United States Attorney Richard G. Frohling of the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced that on October 4, 2021, Christian B. M. Crawford (age: 28) of Menasha, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for arson to a building.
According to court filings, in January of 2021, the Ridgeway VP gas station in Neenah, Wisconsin, was burglarized and set ablaze by Crawford. Prior to setting fire to the building, Crawford stole cigarettes, alcohol, and other items from the premises. Many of these items were later recovered during a search of Crawford’s residence.
Crawford was further linked to a string of burglaries, thefts, property, and drug crimes throughout Winnebago and Outagamie counties. These charges were resolved in conjunction with the federal arson charge.
At sentencing, Senior United States District Judge William C. Griesbach noted the serious nature of the charge, the need for just punishment, and protection of the public. Following his release from prison, Crawford will spend three years on supervised release. He was also ordered to pay over $793,000 in restitution.
This case was investigated by the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, the Neenah Police Department, the Menasha Police Department, the Fox Crossing Police Department, and the Winnebago and Outagamie County District Attorney Offices. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel R. Humble.
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Four Defendants Charged with COVID-19 Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Margaret Garnett, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General (“DOL-OIG”), announced charges against CHANETTE LEWIS, TATIANA BENJAMIN, TATIANA DANIEL, and HEAVEN WEST for participating in a scheme that defrauded New York City’s COVID-19 Hotel Room Isolation Program of more than $400,000. LEWIS was also charged with a second COVID‑19 scheme involving unemployment benefits fraud. LEWIS and DANIEL were arrested today in New York and will be presented before Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker in Manhattan federal court. WEST was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be presented before Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas in the Northern District of Georgia. BENJAMIN remains at large.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, New York City designed a program to provide hotel rooms, free of cost, for qualifying individuals who could not safely self-isolate in their own homes, such as healthcare workers and individuals infected with COVID-19. As alleged, the defendants abused this program by falsely claiming to be healthcare workers and by selling hotel rooms to non-qualifying individuals. When, as alleged here, people illicitly exploit a public health crisis for private gain, they will find themselves facing criminal charges.”
DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett said: “During the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, while this City grappled with soaring transmission and death rates, these defendants exploited the very City-run program meant to provide respite and isolation to healthcare workers and City residents desperately trying to find space to quarantine and stem the spread of the virus, according to the charges. These defendants shamelessly posted their illegal conduct on social media and sold personal identification information of medical professionals to further their scheme, which siphoned more than $400,000 in hotel rooms paid for by the City and federal governments, according to the criminal complaint. DOI issued recommendations to the City Emergency Management to strengthen controls over this program, which has since ended, and thanks the agency for reporting this matter to DOI. I want to also thank our federal law enforcement partners at the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Labor for working in partnership with us to uncover these charged COVID-19-related crimes and holding those involved accountable.”
DOL-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Mellone said: “The Unemployment Insurance Program exists to provide needed assistance to qualified individuals who are unemployed due to no fault of their own. Fraud against the Unemployment Insurance Program distracts state workforce agencies from ensuring benefits go to individuals who are eligible to receive them. The Office of Inspector General will continue to work closely with our many law enforcement partners, to investigate those who exploit the Unemployment Insurance Program.”
According to the allegations contained in the Complaint:[1]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City created the COVID-19 Hotel Room Isolation Program (the “Program”). Funded by New York City and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Program provided free hotel rooms for qualifying individuals throughout New York City. The Program was open to: (1) healthcare workers who needed to isolate because of exposure to COVID-19; (2) patients who had tested positive for COVID-19; (3) individuals who believed, based on their symptoms, that they were infected with COVID-19; and (4) individuals who lived with someone who had COVID-19. As stated on the City’s website describing the Program, such individuals “may qualify to self-isolate in a hotel, free of charge, for up to 14 days if you do not have a safe place to self-isolate.” Those who wished to book a hotel room through the Program could either call a phone number or use an online hotel booking platform.
The four defendants defrauded the Program in at least two respects. First, they secured free Program hotel rooms for themselves by falsely claiming to be healthcare workers. Second, they sold fraudulently obtained hotel rooms – including rooms located in Manhattan and the Bronx – to customers who were ineligible for the Program. In total, the defendants collectively diverted more than 2,700 nights’ worth of hotel rooms through this scheme. The defendants charged varying amounts depending on the duration of the customers’ hotel stay (e.g., $150 for one week, or $300 for two weeks). Customers paid the defendants in cash and using electronic payment services. The federal government and New York City paid more than approximately $400,000 for the hotel rooms that were fraudulently diverted as a result of the defendants’ scheme.
LEWIS worked at a call center (“Call Center-1”) that handled phone calls and certain reservations for the Program for several months in 2020. LEWIS was hired specifically for the Program, and as a result of her employment, she had access to legitimate healthcare workers’ identifying information. LEWIS abused her position, including by misappropriating healthcare workers’ identifying information, revealing the Program’s inner workings to co-conspirators, and making unauthorized sales of Program hotel rooms to ineligible individuals. For instance, LEWIS sold BENJAMIN, for $800, personal identifying information of at least five healthcare professionals, as well as certain “codes” to use when booking hotel reservations through the Program, such as the employee ID number and license number. LEWIS admitted, in Facebook messages, that she had stolen doctors’ identifying information in furtherance of the scheme, writing: “I work for 311 oem that how I got doctors licenses and stuff . . . I work in the part that I collect they information and I do and approval the booking . . . I take doctors and stuff certificate numbers and stuff.” LEWIS also advertised to potential customers that, when hotels asked for a healthcare worker’s identification, LEWIS would supply a purported paystub and a letter asserting that the individual was (purportedly) a healthcare worker.
All four defendants used Facebook to advertise the sale of fraudulently obtained Program hotel rooms; communicate with co-conspirators; and communicate directly with customers. LEWIS worked directly with BENJAMIN and DANIEL, while WEST worked with, among others, DANIEL. The defendants made various incriminating statements via Facebook, including the following statements: (1) LEWIS told one hotel customer, “I’m booking it as u a health care worker”; (2) BENJAMIN told a Facebook user, “Friend at 311 gave me the juice for the hotel so I been booking ppl rooms”; (3) DANIEL told LEWIS, “We gotta relocate that bitch they keep asking for employee ID”; and (4) when asked whether she had “rooms” available, WEST replied, “Nah I dead don’t bro / All essential hotels are clipped” and added: “They finding out we was scamming the system lol.” All four defendants were paid by, among other means, Cash App, and their Cash App accounts revealed payments where the memo line said, for instance, “1 month telly”, “Hotel Manhattan 2 week extension for Kenny []”, “for the 2 week room”, “ayo telly”, “2 week stay in Manhattan”, “the room”, and “hotel for july 4-6”.
LEWIS is also charged with a second COVID-19 scheme involving unemployment benefits fraud. LEWIS fraudulently obtained more than $45,000 in unemployment benefits by claiming falsely that she had not been employed since February 2020 due to a lack of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, LEWIS was employed for at least some of that period at Call Center-1, and LEWIS’s employment there ceased not because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but because LEWIS stopped showing up to work.
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The Complaint contains five counts. A chart containing the names, ages, residences, charges for each defendant, and maximum penalties, is set forth below. The statutory maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding efforts of agents, investigators, and analysts from DOI, DOL-OIG, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Strauss also thanked the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Intelligence Analysts for their support and assistance in this investigation. She also expressed gratitude to the New York City Police Department, the New York State Department of Labor, and the DOL-OIG Atlanta Regional Office for their assistance. She added that the investigation is continuing.
This matter is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Neff is in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Defendant, Age, Hometown
Charges, Maximum Penalties
CHANETTE LEWIS, 30
Brooklyn, New York
Wire fraud: 20 years’ imprisonment
Wire fraud conspiracy: 20 years’ imprisonment
Honest services fraud: 20 years’ imprisonment
Aggravated identity theft: mandatory minimum term of 2 years’ imprisonment, consecutive to any other term of imprisonment
Theft of Government funds: 10 years’ imprisonment
TATIANA BENJAMIN, 26
Queens, New York
Wire fraud: 20 years’ imprisonment
Wire fraud conspiracy: 20 years’ imprisonment
Aggravated identity theft: mandatory minimum term of 2 years’ imprisonment, consecutive to any other term of imprisonment
TATIANA DANIEL, 27
Brooklyn, New York
Wire fraud: 20 years’ imprisonment
Wire fraud conspiracy: 20 years’ imprisonment
HEAVEN WEST, 21
Brooklyn, New York
Wire fraud: 20 years’ imprisonment
Wire fraud conspiracy: 20 years’ imprisonment
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth below constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Former West Hazleton Police Chief Sentenced to Two Months’ Imprisonment for Civil Rights ViolationRead the Press Release
WILKES-BARRE- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Brian Buglio, age 46, of Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States Magistrate Judge Joseph F. Saporito, Jr., to two months of imprisonment and a one-year term of supervised release that includes four months of home confinement.
According to Acting United States Bruce D. Brandler, Buglio, the former Chief of Police for the West Hazleton Police Department, pleaded guilty to a deprivation of civil rights, after he threatened a private citizen with felony criminal charges, in retaliation for social media posts created by the private citizen that were critical of Buglio and of the West Hazleton Police Department.
In pronouncing the sentence, Judge Saporito deemed Buglio’s actions an “abuse of power” when he threatened to use the criminal justice system to further his own personal interests. In addition to the term of imprisonment and supervised release, Judge Saporito also ordered Buglio to pay a $5,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Scranton Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Public Corruption Task Force, which consists of members of the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and federal agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo prosecuted the case.
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Former U.S. Military Pilot Charged with Making False Statements on National Security Background Forms Regarding Foreign ContactsRead the Press Release
SAN DIEGO – A former U.S. Army helicopter pilot-turned-civilian-contractor appeared in federal court in San Diego yesterday to face charges that when he was required to make disclosures during national security background checks, he failed to disclose that he repeatedly met with - and received cash payments from - a Chinese national linked to intelligence services.
Shapour Moinian, 66 years of age from Mira Mesa, worked for many years for various defense contractors and also as a civilian contractor for the U.S. Navy and was subjected to multiple national security background checks. According to a complaint and disclosures made at his initial appearance and bond hearing, Moinian made false statements on these questionnaires, asserting repeatedly that he did not have any contact with foreign nationals.
In 2017, Moinian was communicating with a Chinese National, who posed as a recruiter on a job-services platform in a manner that both Germany and France have publicly identified as a technique used by Chinese intelligence services. Thereafter, Moinian traveled to China where in March 2017, while working at a cleared defense contractor on various projects, including a high-altitude, unmanned surveillance aircraft used by the U.S. Military and various allies. Upon returning, Moinian continued to communicate with his Chinese contact and update her on the progress of his work for her. In September 2017, Moinian again traveled overseas and met with his Chinese contact. Following this meeting, Moinian used a relative’s South Korean bank account to receive payment from his Chinese contact, which he then had wired to him in the United States.
In 2017, in the midst of his communications, visits, and working for his Chinese contact, Moinian completed a Questionnaire for National Security Background Investigations, where it is alleged he made knowingly and willfully materially false, fraudulent, and fictitious statements and representations, when he stated that he had not had close or continuing contact with a foreign national and had not been asked to work as a consultant, or consider employment by a foreign national, within the past seven years.
In 2018 after returning from another overseas meeting with his Chinese contact and her associates, where he received a cash payment, Moinian conducted searches using an internet search engine for sabotage, espionage, spying, and selling military information to a foreign country. In June 2019, Moinian requested a $20,000 payment from his Chinese contact, telling her that it was for a friend. In August of that year, Moinian traveled overseas to meet with his Chinese contact and others, where he received a large cash payment.
In 2020, when completing another Questionnaire for National Security Background Investigations, it is alleged Moinian made knowingly and willfully materially false, fraudulent, and fictitious statements and representations, when he reaffirmed that he had not had close or continuing contact with a foreign national and had not been asked to work as a consultant, or consider employment by a foreign national, within the past seven years.
Moinian, a former helicopter pilot for the U.S. Army, continued his work for various defense contractors while communicating and meeting with his Chinese contact and her associates, who provided him with cash payments that he smuggled back into the United States. These meetings, and payments, occurred in multiple overseas locations, including Hong Kong, Macau, Bali, and Taiwan. In addition to cash payments at these meetings, Moinian also received at least one other payment from his Chinese contact that he funneled through his relative’s South Korean bank account.
At the time of his arrest on October 1, 2021, Moinian was working for another cleared defense contractor and was slated to relocate to South Korea to work on a military aircraft being produced for that country. When he was arrested, Moinian had already provided many of his belongings to a company to transport to South Korea, and given notice that he was vacating his apartment the following week. Although these charges have been filed, the investigation is continuing by both the FBI and NCIS.
“The complaint alleges a disturbing failure to reveal information highly relevant to the background clearance process,” stated Acting United States Randy Grossman. “This office is committed to ensuring that individuals in sensitive national security positions are worthy of the trust placed in them.” Grossman commended the work of AUSA Fred Sheppard, DOJ’s National Security Division and the FBI and NCIS agents who diligently pursued this matter.
“This case serves as a stark reminder of the social media exploitation strategies Chinese intelligence agencies will utilize to target, recruit, and maintain contact with valuable foreign assets,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner. “Let this arrest serve as a deterrent to those who may consider hiding their foreign contacts in the hopes they can live a double-life and not get caught.”
“Mr. Moinian’s alleged false statements on security background forms about his contact with foreign nationals posed a significant threat to our national security,” said Special Agent in Charge Michelle Kramer of the NCIS Office of Special Projects. “This arrest should serve as a warning that NCIS and our law enforcement partners remain committed to rooting out any and all criminal attempts to compromise our nation’s national security interests. We sincerely thank our partners for their substantial efforts during this investigation to preserve U.S. warfighter superiority.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
DEFENDANTS Case Number 21MJ3884
Shapour Moinian Age: 66 San Diego
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001 (Materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation)
Maximum penalty: Fine and prison term of up to five years.
INVESTIGATING AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Naval Criminal Investigative Service
*The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Former Trousdale Turner Supervisory Corrections Officer Indicted for Civil Rights Violations and Obstruction ChargesRead the Press Release
NASHVILLE – A federal indictment unsealed today charged former supervisory corrections officer Kenan Lister, 42, of Clarksville, Tennessee, with federal civil rights and obstruction offenses, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Lister is charged with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for using unlawful force on an inmate; one count for being deliberately indifferent to the inmate’s medical needs; and one count of obstructing justice. FBI agents arrested Lister at his home this morning and he will make an initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge later today.
The indictment alleges that, on Aug. 30, 2019, Lister assaulted an inmate in a holding cell at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility in Hartsville, Tennessee. At the time, Lister was on duty as the prison’s security threat group coordinator. The indictment alleges that, while the inmate was sitting in a holding cell and not resisting, Lister punched the inmate in the head, knocking him to the ground, and then kicked, punched and struck the inmate multiple times in his head, chest, and torso after he was on the ground. The inmate sustained bodily injury as a result of the assault. Despite Lister’s knowledge that the inmate needed medical attention, Lister failed to provide medical care or to make the necessary notifications to get the inmate medical care. Lister then obstructed justice by submitting a false report that omitted his use of force entirely.
If convicted, Lister faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the civil rights charges and up to 20 years in prison for the obstruction charge, as well as a maximum of three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers of the Middle District of Tennessee and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer.
An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Former Tennessee Supervisory Corrections Officer Indicted for Civil Rights Violations and Obstruction of JusticeRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment today charging a former Tennessee supervisory corrections officer with federal civil rights and obstruction offenses. The defendant is charged with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for using unlawful force on an inmate; one count for being deliberately indifferent to the inmate’s medical needs; and one count of obstructing justice.
The indictment alleges that, on Aug. 30, 2019, Kenan Lister, 42, assaulted an inmate in a holding cell at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility in Hartsville, Tennessee. At the time, Lister was on duty as the prison’s security threat group coordinator. The indictment alleges that, while the inmate was sitting in a holding cell and not resisting, Lister punched the inmate in the head, knocking him to the ground, and then kicked, punched and struck the inmate multiple times in his head, chest and torso after he was on the ground. The inmate sustained bodily injury as a result of the assault. Despite Lister’s knowledge that the inmate needed medical attention, Lister failed to provide medical care or to make the necessary notifications to get the inmate medical care. Lister then obstructed justice by submitting a false report that omitted his use of force entirely.
If convicted, Lister faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the civil rights charges and up to 20 years in prison for the obstruction charge, as well as a maximum of three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee made the announcement.
The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers of the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorney Michael J. Songer of the Civil Rights Division.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Former Priest Pleads Guilty on the First Day of Trial to Coercion and Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Criminal Sexual ActivityRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – Fernando Cristancho, age 65, of Bel Air, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to coercion and enticement of a minor who he met through the church to engage in illegal sexual activity. Cristancho also admitted that he produced nude images of four other minor victims.
The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler; and Harford County State’s Attorney Albert Peisinger.
According to his guilty plea, Cristancho was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in Colombia, South America, in 1985 and moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he worked as an assistant priest from 1994 to 1997. In approximately 1999, Cristancho was granted faculties to work as a priest in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and worked as a priest in Baltimore County, and then at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Harford County. In 2002, the Archdiocese of Baltimore revoked Cristancho’s faculties to work as a priest in the Archdiocese.
John Doe was 11, 12, and 13 years old at the time of the offenses against him. John Doe’s family were members of St. Ignatius. Not long after Cristancho arrived at St. Ignatius in 1999, he began to spend time with John Doe’s family outside of church, including meals at restaurants and the family’s home, and at family gatherings. John Doe also became a lector at the church, with Cristancho working with him and coaching him in that process.
Beginning when John Doe was 11, Cristancho would complain of a bad back and ask John Doe for back rubs; offered John Doe alcohol; took John Doe to dinner, kissed John Doe, acted as if they were in a romantic relationship, and told him that he loved him. Cristancho also showed John Doe pornography including movies of sex acts between males and suggesting they do the same sexual activities.
After Cristancho was no longer working at the church, he arranged to hold religious services in the home of a parishioner, with John Doe performing as a lector or altar server. In the summer of 2002, Cristancho invited himself to attend John Doe’s family’s camping trip and arranged to sleep next to John Doe in a tent. Following the camping trip, Cristancho arranged for John Doe to assist around Cristancho’s house, including with his infant children. Eventually, Cristancho arranged to have John Doe spend the weekend, which John Doe did on a regular basis well into 2003. It was during these weekends that Cristancho sexually abused John Doe. Cristancho sexually abused John Doe from 2002 through at least Fall 2003.
In September 2017, Cristancho went to a retail pharmacy to use the store’s photo printing equipment. While assisting Cristancho, a store employee observed some of the images on Cristancho’s iPhone, including several photos of naked children and an image of what appeared to be a bite mark on a young boy’s buttocks. The employee made a report to police. Law enforcement initiated an investigation, and a search warrant was executed at Cristancho’s residence on September 19, 2017. During the search warrant, investigators seized various digital devices, including an iPhone 6s. A subsequent forensic examination of the phone recovered nude photos and videos of four other minor victims, with most of the images being recorded when the victims were less than five years old.
Cristancho and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Cristancho will be sentenced to between 10 years and 25 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander has scheduled sentencing for December 20, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. As part of his plea agreement, upon his release from prison, Cristancho must register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
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 Attorney’s 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. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "Resources" tab on the left of the page.
Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI, the Maryland State Police, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office and the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution and thanked the Harford County Child Advocacy Center for its assistance. Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul E. Budlow and Colleen E. McGuinn, who are prosecuting the federal case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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Former Postal Employee Pleads Guilty to Mail Theft at Loranger Post OfficeRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans, announced that HAROLD SAINTES, JR. age 52, of Franklin, Louisiana pled guilty as charged to a one count Bill of Information for Theft of Mail, before United States District Court Judge Jay C. Zainey today.
In papers filed with the court and signed by defendant SAINTES, he admitted to taking mis-sent parcels in the amount of $380.00 from the Loranger Post Office from September 1, 2019 through October 19, 2019.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 4, 2022. At that time, SAINTES faces a maximum penalty of five (5) years imprisonment, followed by up to three (3) years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. There is also a $100 mandatory special assessment cost due after conviction.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the U.S Postal Inspection Service, Office of Inspector General in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Julia K. Evans is in charge of the prosecution.
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Former Executive Director of Maryland Environmental Service Facing Federal and State Charges for Allegedly Fraudulently Obtaining More Than $276,731 from His Employer, and State Felony Violations of the Maryland Wiretap StatuteRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – As a result of a collaborative investigation, today a federal grand jury returned an indictment, and a state criminal information has been filed, charging Roy C. McGrath, age 52, of Naples, Florida, for allegedly fraudulently obtaining funds from Maryland Environmental Service corporation. The criminal information also alleges that McGrath illegally recorded private conversations with senior Maryland state officials.
McGrath is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and a state court appearance in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, but no dates have been set for those hearings.
The federal and state charges were announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard III; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.
“It is an honor and privilege to serve one’s community, and public officials are entrusted to place the interests of citizens above their own,” said Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner. “Our federal and state law enforcement team in Maryland will always hold accountable public officials who betray the public trust for their personal gain. Maryland residents should always demand honesty and integrity from those in government, and hopefully this indictment offers the public some level of confidence that we are committed to prosecuting those who violate that trust.”
“Our office will seek to hold accountable any public official who abuses the privileges of their office for corrupt reasons or illicit personal gain. The Office of the State Prosecutor will continue to work collaboratively with our partners to ensure the public’s interests are protected,” said Maryland State Prosecutor Charlton Howard.
“According to this indictment, Roy McGrath misappropriated public money for his own benefit. From personal travel to even obtaining a certificate from one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, McGrath’s alleged actions were self-serving and ultimately self-sabotaging,” said Thomas J. Sobocinski, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners are committed to rooting out public corruption and holding officials like him accountable.”
According to the six-count federal indictment filed today in U.S. District Court and the 27-count criminal information filed in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, on December 27, 2016, McGrath was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve as Executive Director of Maryland Environmental Service (MES), a corporation owned by the State of Maryland to provide environmental services such as water and wastewater management, solid waste management, composting, recycling, dredged material management and other services to state and local government agencies, federal government entities, and private clients. MES, which was headquartered in Millersville, Maryland, generated its operating funds from fees charged to governmental and private clients for its services, as well as from federal grants and funding from federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. MES functioned as an independent state corporation which did not pay its employees according to the state government pay scale, but did require its employees to comply with state travel regulations, annual leave policies, and policies regarding compensatory leave, and time and attendance reporting. McGrath resigned from MES as of May 31, 2020, to become the Governor’s Chief of Staff effective as of June 1, 2020.
The federal and state charges allege that from March 2019 through December 2020, McGrath personally enriched himself by using his positions of trust as the Executive Director of MES and the chief of staff for the Governor of Maryland to cause MES to make payments to McGrath, or on his behalf, to which he was not entitled.
Specifically, the federal indictment and state criminal information allege: that McGrath caused MES funds to be paid to a museum where he was a member of the Board of Directors instead of using his personal funds to pay his pledge to the museum; that McGrath caused the MES Board of Directors to approve paying McGrath a $233,647.23 severance payment—equal to one year’s salary—upon his departure from MES by falsely telling them that the Governor was aware of and approved the payment; that McGrath caused MES to pay tuition benefits for McGrath after he left MES by personally approving reimbursements for payments made by Subordinate Employee #1 on McGrath's behalf; and that McGrath falsified his time sheets, reporting that he was at work while on two separate vacations in 2019.
The state criminal information also alleges that, during his tenure at MES and later as the Governor’s Chief of Staff, McGrath illegally recorded private conversations involving senior state officials without their permission,
The indictment alleges that to conceal the payments and circumstances surrounding the payments from the Governor of Maryland and the MES Board of Directors, McGrath falsely told the MES Board that the Governor was aware of and consented to the severance payment. As detailed in the indictment, when the Governor learned about the severance package and questioned McGrath about it, McGrath falsely stated that the MES Board of Directors had offered him the severance payment in accordance with their usual practice. McGrath also attempted to delete or caused to be deleted from the public minutes of the MES Board of Directors meeting, any mention of compensation of McGrath or the Executive Director of MES, or the amount $233,647.23, or the description of the compensation as a “year’s salary.”
If convicted of the federal charges, McGrath faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of four counts of wire fraud; and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each of two counts of embezzling funds from an organization receiving more than $10,000 in federal benefits. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
In the state case, McGrath faces a maximum penalty of any sentence that is not cruel or unusual for Misconduct by a Public Official, and a maximum of five years in prison for Felony Theft, Felony Theft Scheme, Misappropriation, and for each violation of the Maryland Wiretap Statute.
Criminal charges are not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment or criminal information is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner and State Prosecutor Charlton Howard commended the FBI and Special Agent Daniel Bralove at the Office of the State Prosecutor for their work in the investigation. Mr. Lenzner and Mr. Howard thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce K. McDonald and Deputy State Prosecutor Sarah R. David, who are prosecuting the federal and state cases, respectively.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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Final Defendant Convicted at Trial in “Original Block Hustlaz” Drug Trafficking Case Sentenced to over 16 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA – Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Hans Gadson, 35, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced to sixteen years and four months in prison, and five years of supervised release by United States District Court Judge Michael M. Baylson for his role in the Original Block Hustlaz, or “OBH,” a violent drug trafficking organization that doubled as a group of aspiring rap artists in Philadelphia whose lyrics boasted about their drug dealing and willingness to resort to violence. Three of Gadson’s co-defendants, Jamaal Blanding, 39, and Jameel Hickson, 43, both of Philadelphia, PA, and Abdul West, 38, of Brookhaven, PA, were also recently sentenced and received 25, 20, and 40 years in prison, respectively.
In November 2019, all four defendants were convicted after a two-and-a-half-week trial on charges that included conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and distribution of or possession with intent to distribute cocaine, crack, and methamphetamine. Several other co-defendants pled guilty prior to trial. In total, nine defendants connected to OBH were charged in a 16-count Second Superseding Indictment in August 2019. All nine were convicted or pled guilty.
Between at least March 2017 through June of 2018, OBH poisoned the Philadelphia community by importing dangerous narcotics, including large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine, from California to Philadelphia and then selling those drugs in the Philadelphia area. To further their drug business, OBH employed fear, intimidation, and violence. In September 2017 and May 2018, FBI agents and Philadelphia Police Department officers executed search warrants at residences on North Sydenham Street and Columbus Boulevard, which were properties used by members of OBH to store and sell drugs. During the execution of the search warrant, numerous drugs were seized, including cocaine base (“crack”), heroin, and methamphetamine mixture, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
In a related case, defendant Charles Salley, 39, of Clayton, Delaware, was sentenced in August 2021 to seven and a half years in prison for witness tampering in connection with the above-referenced trial. During the trial, a cooperating witness received a threatening letter from Salley under the pen name “Ron Harvey,” threatening physical violence if the witness testified at trial against his OBH associates. Salley was present in the courtroom during the course of the trial, including on the day of the witness’ scheduled testimony. The threatening letter was investigated by the FBI and the witness ultimately testified during the trial.
“Gadson and his OBH co-defendants pumped huge quantities of deadly drugs into our community,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Williams. “As the evidence presented at trial showed, OBH wreaked havoc on the streets of Philadelphia to further their violent drug trafficking operation; their rap lyrics weren’t just about artistic expression or creating an image to sell records, but were about their reality. Our Office is determined to continue doing everything we can by being ‘All Hands On Deck’ to get violent criminals like OBH off the streets.”
This case is part of the FBI’s Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Force, a program through which federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies collaboratively address the violent crime plaguing communities. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Philadelphia Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Everett Witherell and Timothy M. Stengel. The Salley case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Ashenfelter.
Federal Court Permanently Shuts Down Michigan Tax PreparersRead the Press Release
A federal court in the Western District of Michigan has permanently enjoined a married couple from preparing returns for others and from owning, operating, or franchising any tax return preparation business in the future.
The civil complaint filed in the case alleged that Rosa Linda Meyer, aka Rosa Linda Hernandez, and doing business as Su Casa Income Tax Service, prepared federal income tax returns containing false and fraudulent claims. It further alleges that Rosa Linda Meyer’s spouse Stanley Meyer, doing business as I-Tax Services, prepared fraudulent returns in concert with Rosa Linda Meyer after she was investigated by the IRS. In addition, the complaint alleges that Rosa Linda Meyer also prepared and filed returns using Stanley Meyer’s name. According to the complaint, the false and fraudulent claims made in returns prepared by either or both of the Meyers included: (1) false or inflated dependency exemptions and related false or inflated child tax credits; (2) false head of household filing status resulting in a lower tax due (and higher refund); and (3) fictitious or inflated earned income, in order to allow the taxpayer to falsely claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or to claim an inflated EITC.
According to the court’s order, defendants joined in the motion for an injunction, which permits the United States to conduct full post-judgment discovery to monitor compliance. The terms of the order require that the Meyers and their businesses send notice of the injunction to each person for whom they prepared federal tax returns or claims for refund “beginning in 2016 and continuing through this litigation.”
Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
Fayette County Man Indicted on Child Sexual Exploitation ChargeRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH - A resident of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of Possession of Material Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today.
The one-count Indictment, returned on September 28, 2021 and unsealed today, named Karl D. Lutes, age 50, as the sole defendant.
According to the Indictment, on February 11, 2020, Lutes possessed videos and still images in computer graphics files depicting minors, some of whom had not yet attained the age of 12 years, engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation leading to the Indictment in this case.An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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.justice.gov/psc.
Essex County Man Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for His Role in Conspiracy to Defraud Banks of More Than $250,000 Using Stolen Credit Cards and ChecksRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – Alexander Varice, 27, of South Orange, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 21 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud two banks out of more than $250,000 using stolen credit cards and blank checks, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Varice’s conspirators, Allen Varice, 25, of East Orange; Dashawn Duncan, 27, of South Orange; Nasheed Jackson, 24, of Newark; Qshaun Brown-Guinyard, 27, Newark; and Tamir Duval, 22, of Newark; previously pleaded guilty by video before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to Informations charging each with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence on Varice today via video conference. Duncan, Jackson, Brown-Guinyard, Allen Varice have been sentenced by Judge Wigenton. Duval is scheduled to be sentenced in December of this year.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From in and about August 2018 through in or about January 2020, Varice and his coconspirators engaged in a scheme to use stolen credit cards and/or checks to fraudulently make purchases and withdraw money from two banks, leaving the banks to bear the losses of the scheme.
The credit cards and blank checks were stolen from various New Jersey-based United States Postal Service facilities, and never reached their intended recipients. After obtaining the stolen credit cards, Varice and his coconspirators used them to make unauthorized purchases at various retail stores and/or to withdraw cash from automated teller machines (“ATMs”) in New Jersey and elsewhere. With respect to the stolen blank checks, Varice and the coconspirators altered the date, payee, and amount of the stolen checks prior to deposit. Varice and his coconspirators then fraudulently withdrew money at various ATMs from third-party account holders’ accounts.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Wigenton sentenced Varice to three years of supervised release.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, in Newark, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raimundo Marrero, Newark Division, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Blake Coppotelli of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.
Essex County Man Admits Conspiring to Fraudulently Obtain More Than $700,000Read the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man today admitted that he conspired to fraudulently obtain more than $700,000, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Jefferson Robert, 31, of Newark, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals to an information charging him with conspiring to commit wire fraud.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law. The CARES Act created a new temporary federal program unemployment insurance program called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which provides unemployment insurance benefits (UIB) for individuals who are not eligible for other types of unemployment (e.g., self-employed, independent contractors, gig economy workers). The CARES Act also created a new temporary federal program that provides an additional $600 weekly benefit to those eligible for PUA and regular UIB. The Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) administers and manages the regular unemployment and PUA programs in the State of Washington.
Robert opened bank accounts with a fraudulent passport in another individual’s name. He and his conspirators then caused an application to be made to ESD for UIB in the name of Victim 1. In response, ESD caused UIB to be deposited into one of the fraudulent bank accounts. Robert and his conspirators: partook in business email scams, including causing a victim to transfer approximately $28,000 into one of the bank accounts; partook in romance scams, including causing a victim to make five deposits into one of the bank accounts totaling approximately $19,000; and fraudulently obtained money from the IRS by causing the IRS to transfer payments in four victims’ names into one of the bank accounts. Once the fraudulently obtained money was in the bank accounts, Roberts moved the money, including through the purchase of money orders. Robert and his conspirators caused more than $700,000 in losses.
The charge of conspiring to commit wire fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Robert or twice the gross loss suffered by the victims, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2022.
Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raimundo Marrero in Newark; special agents of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Mellone in New York; and special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George M. Crouch Jr. in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Kogan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Cybercrime Unit in Newark.
Elkhart Man Sentenced to 18 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
SOUTH BEND – Lawrence Hansford, age 45, of Elkhart, Indiana was sentenced before United States District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty after being convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm following a two-day jury trial in May of 2021, announced Acting United States Attorney Tina L. Nommay.
Hansford was sentenced to 216 months in prison followed by 4 years of supervised release.
According to documents in this case, in February of 2020, Lawrence Hansford held several people hostage with a machete. When law enforcement responded, Hansford went to his camper and put the machete next to a 12-gauge shotgun inside. Law enforcement found both the 12-gauge shotgun and the machete in Hansford’s camper. Hansford’s prior convictions include battery resulting in bodily injury, second degree assault, burglary, and dealing methamphetamine.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with the assistance of the St. Joseph County Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jerome W. McKeever and Kimberly L. Schultz.
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El Departamento de Justicia resuelve la revisión de los derechos civiles del Sistema Judicial Unificado de Dakota del SurRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON - En el día de la fecha, el Departamento de Justicia anunció que resolvió una revisión de los derechos civiles del Sistema Judicial Unificado de Dakota del Sur (Unified Judicial System, UJS) que les facilitará el acceso a los tribunales estatales a aquellas personas con dominio limitado del inglés (LEP, por sus siglas en inglés).
La revisión del Departamento de Justicia comenzó después de recibir un reclamo de East River Legal Services en el que se alegaba que los tribunales del UJS discriminaban a las personas con dominio limitado del inglés debido a su origen nacional, lo que constituía una violación del Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles [Civil Rights Act] de 1964. En virtud del Título VI, se prohíbe a los receptores de ayuda económica del Gobierno federal discriminar por motivos de raza, color u origen nacional. La revisión del departamento puso de manifiesto la existencia de barreras lingüísticas y costos judiciales más elevados en el UJS que dificultaban la participación de las personas con un dominio limitado del inglés en los casos y procedimientos civiles estatales.
“Los tribunales estatales son fundamentales para la integridad de nuestro sistema de justicia y es importante que se elimine cualquier barrera que les impida a las personas acceder a estas instituciones”, sostuvo la procuradora general adjunta Kristen Clarke, de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. “Seguiremos trabajando con los tribunales estatales para eliminar las barreras lingüísticas que impiden el acceso a la justicia y violan la legislación federal de derechos civiles. Le agradecemos al Sistema Judicial Unificado de Dakota del Sur por trabajar en cooperación con el Departamento de Justicia para resolver este asunto y por tomar medidas rápidas para garantizar que todas las personas que ingresen a los tribunales puedan entender y participar en los casos, independientemente de su nivel de inglés”.
En respuesta a la revisión del departamento, el UJS presentó un proyecto de ley en la legislatura estatal para que las personas con dominio limitado del inglés tengan un mayor acceso a intérpretes y traductores judiciales en todos los casos civiles. Esta ley entró en vigor el 1 de julio. Para aplicar la nueva ley, el UJS consiguió fondos adicionales para su presupuesto a fin de proporcionar servicios de interpretación sin costo a las partes y testigos con dominio limitado del inglés. Asimismo, el UJS actualizó los planes de acceso al idioma para todos los circuitos judiciales del estado, nombró un coordinador y creó un proceso de reclamo de acceso al idioma. El coordinador y los procesos de reclamo ayudarán a garantizar que las personas puedan informar su situación al UJS. El UJS también ha acordado seguir trabajando con el departamento para mejorar la equidad y el acceso no discriminatorio a los tribunales para las personas con dominio limitado del inglés.
Este caso fue investigado de forma conjunta por los abogados de la División de Derechos Civiles y de la Oficina del Procurador de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Dakota del Sur. El cumplimiento de las disposiciones del Título VI es una de las principales prioridades de la División de Derechos Civiles. Para obtener más información sobre la División de Derechos Civiles, visite el sitio web www.justice.gov/crt; además, puede encontrar información sobre el dominio limitado del inglés y sobre las disposiciones del Título VI en www.lep.gov. Los ciudadanos pueden denunciar posibles violaciones de los derechos civiles en https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/ o en la Oficina del Procurador de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Dakota del Sur mediante el formulario de reclamo que está disponible en https://www.justice.gov/usao- sd/civil-rights.
El Departamento de Justicia resuelve la revisión de los derechos civiles del Sistema Judicial Unificado de Dakota del SurRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON - En el día de la fecha, el Departamento de Justicia anunció que resolvió una revisión de los derechos civiles del Sistema Judicial Unificado de Dakota del Sur (Unified Judicial System, UJS) que les facilitará el acceso a los tribunales estatales a aquellas personas con dominio limitado del inglés (LEP, por sus siglas en inglés).
La revisión del Departamento de Justicia comenzó después de recibir un reclamo de East River Legal Services en el que se alegaba que los tribunales del UJS discriminaban a las personas con dominio limitado del inglés debido a su origen nacional, lo que constituía una violación del Título VI de la Ley de Derechos Civiles [Civil Rights Act] de 1964. En virtud del Título VI, se prohíbe a los receptores de ayuda económica del Gobierno federal discriminar por motivos de raza, color u origen nacional. La revisión del departamento puso de manifiesto la existencia de barreras lingüísticas y costos judiciales más elevados en el UJS que dificultaban la participación de las personas con un dominio limitado del inglés en los casos y procedimientos civiles estatales.
“Los tribunales estatales son fundamentales para la integridad de nuestro sistema de justicia y es importante que se elimine cualquier barrera que les impida a las personas acceder a estas instituciones”, sostuvo la procuradora general adjunta Kristen Clarke, de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. “Seguiremos trabajando con los tribunales estatales para eliminar las barreras lingüísticas que impiden el acceso a la justicia y violan la legislación federal de derechos civiles. Le agradecemos al Sistema Judicial Unificado de Dakota del Sur por trabajar en cooperación con el Departamento de Justicia para resolver este asunto y por tomar medidas rápidas para garantizar que todas las personas que ingresen a los tribunales puedan entender y participar en los casos, independientemente de su nivel de inglés”.
En respuesta a la revisión del departamento, el UJS presentó un proyecto de ley en la legislatura estatal para que las personas con dominio limitado del inglés tengan un mayor acceso a intérpretes y traductores judiciales en todos los casos civiles. Esta ley entró en vigor el 1 de julio. Para aplicar la nueva ley, el UJS consiguió fondos adicionales para su presupuesto a fin de proporcionar servicios de interpretación sin costo a las partes y testigos con dominio limitado del inglés. Asimismo, el UJS actualizó los planes de acceso al idioma para todos los circuitos judiciales del estado, nombró un coordinador y creó un proceso de reclamo de acceso al idioma. El coordinador y los procesos de reclamo ayudarán a garantizar que las personas puedan informar su situación al UJS. El UJS también ha acordado seguir trabajando con el departamento para mejorar la equidad y el acceso no discriminatorio a los tribunales para las personas con dominio limitado del inglés.
Este caso fue investigado de forma conjunta por los abogados de la División de Derechos Civiles y de la Oficina del Procurador de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Dakota del Sur. El cumplimiento de las disposiciones del Título VI es una de las principales prioridades de la División de Derechos Civiles. Para obtener más información sobre la División de Derechos Civiles, visite el sitio web www.justice.gov/crt; además, puede encontrar información sobre el dominio limitado del inglés y sobre las disposiciones del Título VI en www.lep.gov. Los ciudadanos pueden denunciar posibles violaciones de los derechos civiles en https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/ o en la Oficina del Procurador de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Dakota del Sur mediante el formulario de reclamo que está disponible en https://www.justice.gov/usao- sd/civil-rights.
Danville Man Convicted of Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft, and Money Laundering in Two Different JurisdictionsRead the Press Release
URBANA, Ill. –Jeffery T. Henson, 43, of Danville, Illinois, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering in United States District Court in Urbana, Illinois, on October 4, 2021. Sentencing for Henson has been scheduled on February 7, 2022, at the U.S. Courthouse in Urbana.
According to court documents, in 2016, Henson pretended to be an online job recruiter to obtain the personal identifying information of a job seeker. He then used the stolen personal information to obtain a job in that person’s name as the Director of Accounting at a Schaumburg, Illinois, consulting firm, thereby preventing the firm from learning of Henson’s prior convictions for theft. Once employed, Henson set up fraudulent companies with names similar to legitimate vendors of the consulting firm and used his position to forge company checks and direct them to his fraudulently created companies. Henson defrauded the firm of at least $1,868,765 before he fled the Chicago area and moved to Danville in 2018.
According to court documents, in 2018, Henson then stole the identity of an individual in Indiana with whom he made podcasts. Henson used the stolen identity to open up a fraudulent bank account and to obtain a job in that person’s name as the Comptroller of Watchfire Signs, LLC, in Danville. As the Comptroller, Henson defrauded Watchfire by causing Watchfire’s legitimate payments for tax liabilities to be routed to the fraudulent bank account Henson had opened with the stolen identity. Henson also laundered some of the fraud money by purchasing a $50,000 cashier’s check, which he used to buy a Mercedes-Benz for over $100,000. Watchfire discovered Henson’s scheme in November of 2019, when the victim of Henson’s identity theft contacted Watchfire after discovering that Henson was using his identity. By then, however, Henson had defrauded Watchfire of approximately $330,000.
Authorities arrested Henson on November 25, 2019, at a bank in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he attempted to access the fraudulent account he had set up. At the time, he was in possession of numerous stolen identity documents. Henson has remained in the custody of the United States Marshals Service since that time. At sentencing, Henson faces statutory penalties of up to twenty years of imprisonment for wire fraud; ten years of imprisonment for money laundering; and two years of imprisonment, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft.
The case investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Division, and Danville Police Department. Supervisory Assistant United States Attorney Eugene L. Miller is representing the government in the prosecution.
Cottage Grove Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography via SnapchatRead the Press Release
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Cottage Grove man pleaded guilty today to production, attempted production, and possession of child pornography, announced Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk.
According to court documents, between June 2019 and April 2020, Peter James Monson, 38, engaged in “catfishing” by taking on false personas in order to communicate with children on the internet, including via Snapchat. Monson made a fake Snapchat profile of a 16-year-old girl named “Brianna” and asked minor girls to create sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves to send to Monson so they could be rated by others as “princesses.” In order to participate as a “princess,” Monson used “Brianna’s” profile to instruct the girls to follow certain rules, including creating and sending images and videos of the girls nude or engaging in sex acts.
According to court documents, in April 2020, Monson also used his iPhone to make a secret recording of an eight-year-old while the child was getting dressed.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.
If you know of any child who may have been a victim of exploitation, please call the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or visit NCMEC’s web site at www.missingkids.com.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI Minneapolis Field Office, the FBI Philadelphia Field Office, the Cottage Grove Police Department, and the Pennsylvania State Police.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Miranda E. Dugi.
Companies to Pay for Cleanup of Groundwater at Montrose Superfund Site Following Settlement with Justice Department, EPA and California Department of Toxic Substances ControlRead the Press Release
On Sept. 30, 2021, three settlement agreements were approved by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Under the agreements, Montrose Chemical Corporation of California, Bayer CropScience Inc., TFCF America Inc., and Stauffer Management Company LLC have agreed to pay $77.6 million for cleanup of contaminated groundwater at the Montrose Chemical Corp. Superfund and the Del Amo Superfund Sites in Los Angeles County, California. The companies will also investigate potential contamination of the historic stormwater pathway leading from the Montrose Superfund Site, south of Torrance Boulevard. Another company, JCI Jones Chemicals Inc. will participate in the groundwater cleanup.
The settlements not only provide for cleanup and investigation, but also collectively resolve active litigation in a case that has been pending for over 30 years under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly referred to as Superfund). From 1947 to 1982, Montrose operated the U.S.’s largest manufacturing plant for the pesticide DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane).
“These settlements will enhance groundwater quality in Los Angeles County by requiring the responsible polluters to clean up two major portions of the Montrose Superfund Site and investigate the historic stormwater pathway,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “These settlements demonstrate the Justice Department’s and EPA’s continuing efforts, together with our state partners, to ensure that polluters, not the American public, pay for the investigation and cleanup of Superfund sites.”
“EPA continues its commitment to protecting community health and drinking water sources by cleaning up groundwater impacted by the Montrose and Del Amo Superfund Sites,” said Director Enrique Manzanilla of EPA’s Pacific Southwest Superfund and Emergency Management. “These settlements ensure the long-term operation of the Montrose Superfund Site’s cleanup so that it is not an ongoing source of contamination.”
“For years, people in this area have been impacted by contamination from these former pesticide- and rubber-manufacturing sites, and these settlements bring them one step closer to equity,” said Director Meredith Williams of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). “We stand with the people who live, work, and play near this contamination, and we will continue our efforts to make the polluters pay for their actions.”
The settlements require the companies to pay for and implement cleanup remedies and perform an investigation with federal and state oversight. The companies will also reimburse EPA more than $8 million and California DTSC more than $450,000 for costs already incurred.
Each settlement addresses specific activity to address cleanup of the sites:
- The first settlement requires pumping and treating the groundwater to federal and state cleanup standards and then reinjecting the treated water back into the ground.
- The second settlement will bring about treatment of the soil to address historical releases that are an ongoing source of groundwater contamination. Air monitoring will be performed to ensure there are no impacts to the surrounding community.
- The third settlement requires investigation of potential contaminant releases in the historic stormwater pathway leading from the Montrose Superfund Site, south of Torrance Boulevard. This settlement will be used to determine if there is contamination in the pathway that may require cleanup.
The settlements are memorialized in three consent decrees.
For information on these Superfund sites, visit the Del Amo Los Angeles, CA Superfund site profile web page at https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0901293 and the Montrose Chemical Corp. Torrance, CA Superfund site profile web page at https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0901293.
Learn more about EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region.
Clinton Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography ChargeRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, Iowa – A Clinton man, Joshua Del Chandler, was sentenced on Monday, October 4, 2021 by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to 210 months in prison for Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography. Chandler was ordered to serve seven years of supervised release to follow his prison term and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund and $11,000 in restitution.
Chandler, age 38, was identified as a suspect after a cell phone and laptop belonging to Chandler were turned over to the FBI in April 2020. Officers obtained a search warrant for the devices and located 22 images and three videos depicting child pornography. In February 2021, the FBI executed a search warrant at Chandler’s residence. Multiple electronic devices were seized, revealing an additional 70 images and 131 videos of child pornography. In a post-Miranda statement, Chandler admitted to knowingly possessing, receiving, and distributing child pornography. On May 14, 2021 Chandler pleaded guilty to the charge.
Acting U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the case.
This matter was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the United States Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nation-wide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.
Charlotte Man Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud for Return Scheme Targeting AmazonRead the Press Release
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Hudson Hamrick, 31, of Charlotte, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer today and pleaded guilty to wire fraud, for executing a return scheme that defrauded Amazon of at least $290,000, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, joins Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer in making today’s announcement.
According to plea documents and today’s hearing, from 2016 to 2020, Hamrick executed the return scheme by ordering expensive items through Amazon, such as electronics, guitars, tools, computers and other high-end consumer products, and then obtaining fraudulent refunds from the company by returning items that were significantly cheaper or broken. Hamrick also admitted to defrauding Amazon by obtaining replacement products for items he falsely claimed to have been lost or damaged, and then keeping the new items or reselling them online. Court documents show that Hamrick engaged in more than 300 fraudulent transactions that resulted in losses to the company of more than $290,000.
A sentencing date for Hamrick has not been set. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.
In making today’s announcement, Acting U.S. Attorney Stetzer commended the FBI for their investigation of the case, and thanked Amazon for their cooperation in the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Vento, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, is prosecuting the case.
Canadian Man Going to Prison for Attempting Illegally to Export Firearms from the U.S. to Dubai and ColumbiaRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Aydan Sin a/k/a Hon Chak Gordon Sin a/k/a Andy a/k/a Bullion, 49, of British Columbia, Canada, who was convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act, was sentenced to serve 46 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango and Trial Attorney Beaudre Barnes of the Justice Department's National Security Division, who handled the case, stated that between November 2016 and April 2017, the defendant conspired with others, including Guy Deland and Charan Singh, to export defense articles on the United States Munitions List (USML) in violation of United States law.
In November 2016, Singh began communicating with an undercover law enforcement agent (UCA), inquiring about whether the UCA could export firearms from the United States to the United Arab Emirates. During those communications, Sin, Deland, and Singh were advised by the UCA that a license was required from the United States Department of State in order lawfully to export the firearms. The defendants acknowledged the illegality of the attempted exports, provided an encrypted Blackberry device to the UCA for the purpose of secure, covert communications, and wired approximately $70,000 USD from Canada to the United States as a 50% down payment for the export of the goods.
On December 7, 2016, Sin, through telephone and email, requested the gun order include 9mm handguns and Uzi machine guns. On December 9, 2016, Sin told the UCA that rather than get an export license, he wanted the UCA to export the firearms “the wrong way.”
Subsequently, on January 10, 2017, the UCA emailed two revised invoices to Sin and Deland. One invoice was for the export to Dubai of three new Glock 9mm firearms, six magazines, two used Mini Uzi submachine guns, two suppressors, and 1,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition for the firearms, for a total cost of $20,575. The second invoice was for the export to Colombia (thru Panama) of 37 new Glock 9mm firearms, 74 magazines, 13 used Mini Uzi submachine guns, 13 suppressors, and 3,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition for the firearms, for a total cost of $121,175. Both invoices contained language stating that exporting these products was prohibited by law without an export license.
On February 6 and 7, 2017, an undercover bank account, located in the Western District of New York, received two bank wire transfers from a bank account in Canada, each in the amount of $34,990 USD, representing 50% of the total purchase price of the firearms, suppressors, and ammunition.
On March 10, 2017, Sin contacted the UCA and asked if the shipment of guns to Columbia would occur in a few days. On March 20, 2017, the UCA used existing sea freight shipment tracking numbers and told Sin and Deland that the firearms, suppressors, and ammunition were shipped to Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates, and the shipment of guns to Columbia would occur on March 29, 2017. The UCA also provided them with the tracking information.
The firearms, suppressors, magazines, and ammunitions listed above are defense articles listed on the USML. Prior to the attempted export and export of these defense items from the United States, Sin was aware that an export license was required and at no time did he, or the actual exporter apply for, receive, or possess a license to export the items from the United States.
Charges remain pending against defendants Guy Deland and Charan Singh. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly. Additional assistance was provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
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Burlington Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Firearm ChargeRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, Iowa – A Burlington man, Valentino Giovanni McCampbell, was sentenced on Monday, October 4, 2021 by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to 64 months in prison for Drug User in Possession of Firearms and Ammunition. McCampbell was ordered to serve three years of supervised release to follow his prison term and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.
Law enforcement began investigating McCampbell, age 22, after he was observed at a shooting range in Des Moines County while on state probation for firearms offenses. Following one of McCampbell’s visits to the range in May 2020, law enforcement seized two firearms from him and continued their investigation. In July 2020, law enforcement executed a search warrant at McCampbell’s residence, where they seized a loaded .45 caliber Glock 30 handgun; a stolen, loaded, Anderson Arms AR-15 rifle; numerous rounds of ammunition; marijuana; and drug paraphernalia. McCampbell provided a urine sample, which was positive for THC. McCampbell admitted being a daily user of marijuana, as well as selling marijuana to friends. On May 24, 2021, McCampbell pleaded guilty to this offense.
Acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
Buffalo Man Charged with International Email Scam Targeting Businesses and Defrauding Victims Out of Hundreds of Thousands of DollarsRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Eric Iwu aka James, 32, a Nigerian citizen currently residing in Buffalo, NY, was charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant is accused of facilitating a “Business Email Compromise” (BEC) scam, a type of scam typically targeting companies that conduct wire transfers and have suppliers and vendors abroad. BEC scammers typically use techniques, such as key-loggers and phishing attacks, to compromise or spoof the corporate or publicly available email accounts of executives or high-level employees who are involved in a company’s finances or wire transfer payments to vendors. BEC attackers impersonate the CEO or any executive authorized to do wire transfers. Once access has obtained access to a victim’s email account, the scammer can then alter the victim company’s payment invoices so that vendor payments will be directed to a bank account controlled by the scammer, rather than a bank account controlled by the legitimate, intended payee.
In October 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Buffalo received information that a victim (Victim 1) in Dubai, UAE, was the subject of a BEC fraud utilizing a Wells Fargo checking account. Wells Fargo Bank stated that Victim 1, a power construction company, sent a wire transfer in the amount of $461,612.00 to the bank account of Zeeco Inc. Within days of receiving the wire transfer, two outgoing wire transfers totaling $300,000 were sent to bank accounts at Bank of America in Washington, DC, and Northwest Bank in Buffalo. Subsequently, a checking account was opened at a Citizens Bank in West Seneca, NY, under the name Krispy Kreme Doughnut Company LLC. Two wire transfers, one for $35,000.00, and another for $4,950.00, were subsequently sent from the Bank of America account in Washington, DC. The registered owner of the Citizens Bank account is the defendant Eric Iwu. Wells Fargo eventually received a wire recall at the request of Victim 1.
In April 2019, HSI Buffalo received information from Northwest Bank stating that a victim (Victim 2) in the United Kingdom was the subject of a BEC fraud utilizing a Northwest Bank checking account. On February 8, 2019, Victim 2, a tooling and automation company, sent a wire transfer in the amount of $55,242.36 to the Northwest Bank account of Gunes Dinamik LLC. Shortly thereafter, Northwest Bank received a wire recall at the request of Victim 2, who claimed the wire transfer was a fraudulent payment and not intended for the beneficiary account. The wire recall was denied because the funds were depleted from the account. The account was traced to the defendant.
In February 2020, HSI Buffalo received information from Citizens Bank stating that a business account opened in June 2019, in Buffalo, was the subject of a suspected BEC fraud. The account was registered to Jasa Cipta Rembaka LLC, (Victim 3) alleged to be operating as an insurance carrier specializing in accident and health insurance. Citizens Bank stated that on June 26, 2019, Victim 3 sent a wire transfer in the amount of $131,636.39 to Jasa Cipta Rembaka LLC, Citizens Bank account. In September 2020, an attorney for Victim 3, located in Singapore, confirmed that the wire transfer of $131,636.39 was re-directed to the Citizens Bank account based on a fraudulent email received by a representative at the company in Singapore. On December 6, 2019, a winery in California (Victim 4) sent a second wire transfer in the amount of $112,912.02 to the Citizens Bank account. Victim 4 also confirmed that the winery was a victim of the wire fraud for $112,912.02. The account was also traced to Iwu.
The defendant appeared today at a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer and was remanded pending further proceedings.
The complaint is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Bronx Man Who Possessed Five “Ghost Guns” Charged with Possessing A Firearm and AmmunitionRead the Press Release
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, John B. DeVito, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”), and Dermot Shea, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the arrest of DOMINGO VALLE for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. VALLE was arrested yesterday and was presented in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Katharine H. Parker today.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “Domingo Valle, despite being a felon, allegedly possessed six firearms, including two privately made AR-style rifles and three privately made pistols, and ammunition. As alleged, for years, Valle purchased firearm tools, parts, and accessories online in order to create privately manufactured firearms, also known as ‘ghost guns,’ which are difficult to detect and trace. Thanks to the ATF and NYPD, these dangerous weapons are out of the hands of a felon and will no longer pose a threat to the community.”
ATF Special Agent-in-Charge John B. DeVito said: “Privately manufactured firearms (PMFs) are an increasing source of weapons for criminals and pose an emerging threat to public safety. ATF will continue to partner with NYPD and other agencies to identify, rigorously investigate, and apprehend those involved in the illegal manufacture and possession of firearms that endanger our communities.”
According to the allegations in the Complaint[1]:
For at least the past seven years, at least over 50 times, VALLE purchased online firearm parts, tools, and accessories that allow an individual to assemble a working firearm from component parts. For example, in 2020, VALLE purchased online a replacement part for an Easy Jig, which an individual can use to create an assembled firearm from component parts, such as an 80% AR-15 lower receiver. That same year, VALLE purchased online an 80% AR-15 lower receiver.
On October 4, 2021, agents from the ATF and NYPD recovered a pistol and five rounds of ammunition from VALLE’s residence in the Bronx, New York. Inside the residence, agents also found two privately made AR-style rifles, three privately made pistols, body armor, which was loaded with rifle and pistol magazines, and numerous bullets. In an effort to conceal the firearms, VALLE stored three of the privately made firearms in a concealed wall-mounted shelf in the residence.
* * *
VALLE, 51, of Bronx, New York, is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the ATF and the NYPD. Ms. Strauss also thanked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Office of the Inspector General for its assistance in the investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Rebecca T. Dell is in charge of the prosecution.
The charge contained in the Complaint is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint, and the description of the Complaint set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Boston Man Pleads Guilty to Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Boston man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston in connection with a November 2020 bank robbery.
Angel Robles, 36, pleaded guilty to one count of armed bank robbery. U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young scheduled sentencing for Jan. 27, 2022. Robles was indicted on Jan. 14, 2021.
On Nov. 9, 2020, Robles entered a Citizen’s Bank in Concord, gave the teller a note that read, “ROBBERY, ONLY READY TO DIE ON A DEATH WISH,” stole approximately $358 and fled the bank. Robles also admitted to committing three additional robberies. On Aug. 3, 2020, Robles robbed a Metro PCS in Lynn, holding a gun against the clerk’s back before stealing $4,000 from a safe and fleeing the store. On Oct. 17, 2020, Robles robbed a clothing store in the Northgate Shopping Plaza in Revere with another individual, stealing five North Face jackets valued at $1,500. When a clerk attempted to stop Robles he said, “If anyone comes at me I’m going to shoot s*** up.” When the clerk made an additional attempt to stop Robles, he told the clerk “Back up before I stab you.” On Oct. 28, 2020, Robles robbed a Citizen’s Bank inside a Stop & Shop in Lynn, stealing $5,000. Surveillance video from the robbery showed that Robles brandished what appeared to be a handgun.
The charge of bank robbery provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three 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 other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Lynn Chief of Police Christopher P. Reddy; Concord Police Chief Joseph F. O’Connor; and Saugus Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan Gotlob and Kenneth G. Shine of Mendell’s Major Crimes Unit are prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
Boise Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Social Security FraudRead the Press Release
BOISE – A Boise woman was sentenced to eight months in federal prison for theft of government funds.
According to court records, Lavella A. Williams, 54, of Boise, was a joint account holder on the bank account where her mother-in-law’s social security benefits were deposited. After her mother-in-law passed away, Williams and her former husband continued to spend the benefits. Williams knew the social security payments were not hers and that she was not entitled to the money. Between April 2016 and June 2019, over $55,000 of social security benefits were deposited and spent.
Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Williams to pay $55,422 in restitution to the Social Security Administration and to serve three years of supervised release following her prison sentence. Williams pleaded guilty to the charge on June 28, 2021.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr., of the District of Idaho made the announcement and commended the cooperative efforts of the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, the Ada County Sheriff's Office, and the Nampa Police Department, which led to charges.
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Beaver County Man Pleads to Fraud ChargesRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH - A resident of Midland, PA, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of access device fraud and identity theft, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today.
Danel Cordero, age 35, pleaded guilty to two counts before United States District Judge David S. Cercone.
In connection with the guilty plea, the court was advised that Cordero purchased stolen credit card numbers through the dark web and encoded them onto the magnetic strips of gift cards, which he then used to make unauthorized purchases from businesses in and around the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Judge Cercone scheduled sentencing for January 26, 2022 at 11:30 a.m. The law provides for a total sentence of not more than twelve years in prison, a fine not to exceed $500,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
The Court ordered that Cordero remain on bond pending sentencing.
Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey R. Bengel is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
This case resulted from the investigations of multiple agencies, including the Beaver Borough Police Department, the United States Secret Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
Beaumont Career Felon Sentenced for Federal Firearms ViolationRead the Press Release
BEAUMONT, Texas – A Beaumont man has been sentenced to prison for a federal firearms violation in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei today.
Benjamin Bernard Garrett, 40, pleaded guilty on May 4, 2021, to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield.
According to court documents, on Sep. 6, 2020, Beaumont police responded to a call of shots fired and was told the suspect was leaving in a white Chevy Malibu. Officers located the vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The car did not stop until it pulled into a driveway. The driver, identified as Garrett, was taken into custody for evading with a motor vehicle. A search of the vehicle revealed two handguns. Further investigation revealed Garrett had been previously convicted of four felony offenses prohibited from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition. Garrett was indicted by a federal grand jury on Dec. 2, 2020, and charged with federal firearms violations.
“This defendant did more than just illegally possess a firearm, he discharged the weapon,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. “Thankfully, no one was hurt, and we were able to take someone with a history of violent behavior off the streets of Beaumont.”
This case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
This case was investigated by the Beaumont Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Grove.
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Bartlesville Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing a MinorRead the Press Release
A 25-year-old Bartlesville man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court for sexually abusing a minor starting when she was 14.
Caleb Lewis Witte pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact with a minor in Indian Country and sexual abuse of a minor in Indian Country.
Witte admitted that on Nov. 11, 2020, he had sex with a minor who was 15 years of age. He further admitted that from June 1, 2020, to Nov. 11, 2020, he engaged in sexual contact with the victim. The victim was 14 years old when the majority of the abuse occurred.
“Caleb Witte violated the trust placed in him when he took advantage of a vulnerable victim by sexually abusing her. A school counselor became aware of the abuse and immediately contacted authorities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Protecting children from harm takes an entire community. Behind every sexual abuse case we pursue, there is a long line of personal and professional advocates who play key roles in supporting victims and seeking justice on their behalf. Their support is critical.”
U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell set sentencing for Feb. 22, 2022.
The FBI and Bartlesville Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey P. Todd is prosecuting the case.
Assault on Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation sends Ashland man to prisonRead the Press Release
BILLINGS — An Ashland man who admitted to assaulting a man, causing multiple head injuries while brandishing a rifle on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, was sentenced today to 48 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.
Channing Lee Ziler, 34, pleaded guilty in April to assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.
In court documents filed in the case, the government alleged that on Dec. 31, 2017, Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officers responded to a 911 call at a residence in Ashland, on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, where people were drinking, including Ziler. Witnesses described Ziler as being violent that night. The victim, identified as John Doe, arrived at the residence with other individuals. Witnesses described Ziler as holding a rifle when Doe arrived and saying, “this looks like someone I can slap around.” Ziler assaulted Doe, resulting in multiple head lacerations.
Ziler took Doe’s truck and left with Doe and another person. Law enforcement received another 911 call that the truck had run out of gas and that the occupants had set it on fire to stay warm in below zero temperatures. Ziler left the scene with the other individual, and law enforcement found Doe by the truck. Doe was taken to a Billings hospital for treatment of injuries.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan T. Dake prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
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Armed felons charged under the U.S. Attorney and Fulton County District Attorney’s Offices’ enforcement operation targeting repeat violent offendersRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – Deuntrae Meshari Colley, Antonio Cooper, also known as “Antoine Cooper,” Dexter Hancock, Daeqwan Ray Jackson, also known as “Daequan Ray Jackson,” Donald Johnson, and Drashawn Mitchell, all convicted felons, have been charged with federal offenses, including possessing a firearm while being a convicted felon. These arrests resulted from coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies as part of an operation under the Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) Program. This operation, named “Operation Phoenix Summer Surge,” focused on the arrest and prosecution of individuals who illegally used or possessed firearms in violation of federal law and are responsible for driving violence in the City of Atlanta.
“Federal law enforcement is building on strong partnerships with state and local law enforcement to focus on those individuals who are the drivers of violent crime in the City of Atlanta,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “Through this district’s PSN program, and in collaboration with the Office of the Fulton County District Attorney, these partnerships helped to ensure that the individuals federally charged as part of this operation will remain in custody pending trial and be prevented from continuing to pose a danger to members of our community.”
“These convictions are an excellent example of how cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement partners can make our community safer by bringing dangerous offenders to justice. We are cooperating closely with the Acting U.S. Attorney, ATF and other federal partners to make sure felons who break the law by possessing a firearm receive a substantial prison sentence,” said Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis.
“Operation Phoenix Summer Surge is the continuation of a sustained, systematic, and coordinated law enforcement initiative begun in August 2020 to fight violent crime in the City of Atlanta,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI is committed to working together with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Fulton County District Attorney and all of our federal, state and local partners to make these arrests because the threats we face are too diverse, too dangerous, and too all-encompassing for any of us to tackle alone.”
“ATF and our outstanding local, state and federal law enforcement partners have ensured the law-abiding citizens of this community are safer as a result of Operation Phoenix Summer Surge,” said Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Atlanta Field Division Special Agent in Charge Ben Gibbons. “The law enforcement community has reduced a dangerous and pervasive threat to the local community of Atlanta by arresting these individuals.”
“Getting criminals off of our streets is a priority for the Atlanta Police Department. Our work with Operation Phoenix has proven time and time again that our partnerships are effective and making a difference,” said APD Chief Rodney Bryant. “Just knowing that these repeat offenders will be hold accountable for their actions, sends a strong message that we will find you and we will not tolerate criminal activity in our city.”
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Erskine, the charges and other information presented and alleged in court:
- On August 6, 2021, Atlanta Police Department (APD) officers encountered Deuntrae Colley, 38, of Atlanta, Georgia, who was wanted in connection with an aggravated assault. He attempted to flee from the officers and discard a backpack. Colley was apprehended and the backpack was searched, where they recovered a loaded .22 caliber revolver and a spent shell casing. Colley’s criminal history includes a robbery conviction and an incident in which he’s accused of shooting a man on MLK Drive on July 11, 2021. On September 7, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Colley for the offense of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.
- On July 3, 2021, Dexter Hancock, 35, Atlanta, Georgia, was driving in the parking lot of Lenox Mall in Atlanta when he nearly collided with another motorist. Hancock pointed a loaded 9mm Taurus G2c handgun at the other motorist and members of the motorist’s family. APD officers responded to the scene and arrested Hancock. At the time of his arrest, Hancock was already on supervised release for a federal fraud offense and had been previously convicted of burglary and charged with possessing a weapon during the commission of a crime. On September 21, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Hancock for the offense of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.
- On August 5, 2021, officers with the APD and Georgia State Patrol responded to a shooting that occurred on Cleveland Avenue in Atlanta. Officers on the scene encountered Daeqwan Jackson, 22, of Lithonia, Georgia, who appeared injured. Jackson informed the officers that he accidentally shot himself with a loaded Glock 30 .45 caliber firearm, loaded with a magazine, that he was carrying. While conducting a background check of Jackson, investigators discovered that recently, in 2019, Jackson was convicted of two counts of Robbery by Sudden Snatching. On August 9, 2021, Jackson was charged via a federal criminal complaint with the offense of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.
- On July 22, 2021, APD officers arrived at an apartment on Center Street in Atlanta in response to a 911 call from a woman who reported that someone had threatened her with a gun. The officers met with the victim and saw injuries to the victim’s left eye, mouth, and left jaw. The victim reported that Donald Johnson, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia, struck her in the left eye and mouth and later pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her. The victim was subsequently hospitalized with a broken jaw. Johnson was eventually taken into local custody. APD officers recovered a loaded Smith and Wesson 38 Special revolver from a wooded area near the victim’s residence. The victim had reported to officers that they would find the gun in that area where Johnson attempted to hide it. At the time of his arrest, Johnson had been convicted of nine felony offenses and a misdemeanor offense of domestic violence. On August 24, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Johnson for the offense of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.
- On May 12, 2021, APD officers, while on routine patrol in the New Town residential area in Atlanta, encountered Drashawn Mitchell, 26, of Atlanta, Georgia, who had an active warrant in Fulton County for committing a burglary while on probation. After initially resisting arrest, Mitchell was taken into custody. During a post-arrest search of Mitchell’s vehicle, the officers recovered a loaded Taurus G2C 9mm pistol, an extended 9MM magazine, a digital scale, and illegal drugs, including heroin and cocaine. On September 14, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Mitchell for the offenses of drug trafficking and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that trafficking offense, and possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.
- On November 28, 2020, an APD officer encountered Antonio Cooper, 35, of Atlanta, Georgia, at a supermarket in Atlanta. Cooper attempted to conceal a black Ruger 9mm pistol by tossing the firearm near an ATM machine in the store. Cooper’s prior criminal history includes 2020 convictions for aggravated assault and aggravated battery, and numerous drug trafficking offenses. On September 21, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Cooper for the offense of possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony offense.
All of these defendants have been federally detained pending trial. Members of the public are reminded that the indictments only contain charges. The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the Government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This operation was part of the district’s PSN program and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.
Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most serious violent crime problems in the community and to develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As a part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders, and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, local community leaders, and locally-based prevention and reentry programs – all to prevent and deter future criminal conduct and to achieve sustainable reductions in crime.
These cases are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Atlanta Police Department, and Georgia State Patrol.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natasha Cooper, Stephanie Gabay-Smith, Lauren Macon, Amy Palumbo, Erin Sanders, and Erin Spritzer are prosecuting these cases.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Alexandria Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Fentanyl and Illegally Possessing a FirearmRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, La. - Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that Dustin O. Thompson, 36, of Alexandria, Louisiana, has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearm charges. The hearing was held before United States District Judge Dee D. Drell in Alexandria.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment on August 28, 2019 charging Thompson with two drug trafficking offenses and two additional counts involving the illegal possession of firearms. On October 4, 2021, Thompson pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The charges in this case stem from an incident on March 12, 2018 when Thompson distributed a controlled substance to an individual in Alexandria and represented to him that the substance was heroin, when in truth and in fact, it was fentanyl. After consuming what he thought to be heroin, but in fact was fentanyl, the individual became unconscious and crashed his vehicle into the Alexandria, Louisiana Police Department. Law enforcement officers administered NARCAN in order to revive him. He was then taken to a local hospital where a NARCAN drip was administered to him for an extended period of time.
Later that day following the crash, law enforcement officers searched Thompson’s residence and found three loaded firearms, 54 grams of fentanyl, and a large sum of cash. In pleading guilty to the charges, Thompson admitted that he intended to distribute the fentanyl to other individuals.
Thompson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the narcotics conviction and not less than 10 years for the firearm conviction. He also faces not less than three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $1,000,000.
The FBI, ATF and Alexandria Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Seth D. Reeg and J. Aaron Crawford prosecuted the case.
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Monday 4 October 2021
Wyoming Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of Idaho ChildRead the Press Release
POCATELLO – A Wyoming man pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor child.
According to court records, James Colton Giannell, 23, of Sheridan, Wyoming, admitted that he asked Andrew John Jemmett, over the Internet, to produce child pornography for him in April 2019, while Jemmett was in Idaho. Jemmett used an eight-year-old child to create pornographic videos that he sold online to Giannell for $150. The videos were produced in a public restroom in Pocatello. Jemmett later used Snapchat to share the videos with Giannell. Law enforcement interviewed Giannell following his arrest and after waiving his Miranda rights, Giannell admitted to requesting and paying for the videos to be produced.
Giannell was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pocatello on August 25, 2020. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 4, 2022 and faces a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr., of the District of Idaho made the announcement and commended the cooperative efforts of Homeland Security Investigations in Idaho Falls, the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Pocatello Police Department, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which led to charges.
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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal 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.justice.gov/psc.
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Wayne County Man Charged with Enticement of A MinorRead the Press Release
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that on October 1, 2021, Michael Jacob Walczyk, age 41, of Beach Lake, Pennsylvania, was charged by a criminal information with enticement of a minor.
According to Acting United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the information alleges that between July 10, 2019 and September 2020, Walczyk knowingly persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced a victim under the age of 18 to engage in sexual activity for the purposes of producing child pornography.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean A. Camoni is prosecuting 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."
Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
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Tulsa Man Sentenced for 2019 MurderRead the Press Release
A Tulsa man was sentenced today in federal court for shooting and killing a man as he tried to flee from the defendant, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.
“Anthony Ahaisse was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of Gregory Collins. I am thankful to the team of agents, officers and federal prosecutors whose work led to Ahaisse’s conviction and sentence,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “This malicious crime has forever changed the lives of the victim’s family. I hope today’s sentence will bring some form of closure to his friends and family as they continue in the healing process.”
U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan sentenced Anthony Drake Ahaisse, 31, to 420 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
Ahaisse pleaded guilty on June 15, 2021, to second degree murder.
Ahaisse admitted to murdering Gregory Collins on March 23, 2019, just after 12 am. According to a criminal complaint initially filed in the case, a witness to the crime reported that the victim heard a loud noise outside the home and went to investigate. The victim then ran back to a bedroom and tried to hide under the bed. The witness saw Ahaisse, her ex-boyfriend, enter the room and shoot twice under the bed, striking the victim. The defendant then exited the room.
At approximately 12:20 am, a Tulsa police officer observed a white pickup traveling at a high rate of speed. When the officer attempted to stop the pickup, the driver continued recklessly. Eventually, the driver stopped and was taken into custody and identified as Anthony Ahaisse. The officer observed blood on the defendant’s clothing and discovered a loaded Glock 22 and a shotgun. The Glock recovered from the vehicle was later found to match the ballistics from the crime scene.
The Tulsa Police Department and FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dennis A. Fries and Richard M. Cella prosecuted the case.
Thibodaux Man Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Violations 0f the Federal Gun Control ActRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that DONOVAN DIRON JOHNSON (“JOHNSON”), age 27, of Thibodaux, Louisiana was sentenced to imprisonment on September 29, 2021 in federal court before U.S. District Court Judge Jay C. Zainey for being a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence found in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(9).
According to court documents, on February 1, 2017, JOHNSON was found in possession of a Glock Model 22, .40 caliber pistol with an extended magazine.
Judge Zainey sentenced JOHNSON to 24 months imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Thibodaux Police Department.
The prosecution of the case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn McHugh.
Takedown of Lane County Drug Trafficking Cell Leads to Largest Seizure of Methamphetamine in Oregon State HistoryRead the Press Release
EUGENE, Ore.—On September 15, 2021, a coordinated law enforcement operation targeting the leader and several associates of a Lane County drug trafficking cell led to the seizure of 384 pounds of methamphetamine, the largest single methamphetamine seizure in Oregon State history and valued at over a million dollars.
The operation, led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with assistance from the Springfield Police Department, Eugene Police Department, and Linn Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team (LINE) came after the cell’s leader, Martin Manzo-Negrete aka Javier Cardenas-Manzo, a 47-year-old Eugene resident, was charged by federal criminal complaint with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Manzo-Negrete has a long history of drug trafficking and previously served 14 years in federal prison.
Manzo-Negrete was arrested during the operation and made his first appearance in federal court on September 16, 2021. He was ordered detained pending further court proceedings.
Four of Manzo-Negrete’s associates were also arrested and are facing federal drug charges. They include Eugene residents Gustavo Manzo-Mares, 45; Candice L. Barrett, 52; John C. Willis, 59; and Nathan Lee Daniels, 46. A fifth associate, Frank Buehler, 52, also of Eugene, has been charged, but remains at large.
As part of the operation, law enforcement executed federal search warrants at multiple locations in Lane County. In addition to methamphetamine, they seized 14 firearms—some of which were stolen—and more than $76,000 in cash.
DEA and the Eugene Police Department Street Crimes Unit began investigating the Manzo-Mares cell in October 2020 for its role in trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine from California to Oregon for resale in and around Lane County. The drug trafficking organization transported large quantities of methamphetamine by car from Southern California to Oregon. Once in Oregon, the drugs were stored, divided, and then distributed into the community.
Acting U.S. Attorney Scott Erik Asphaug of the District of Oregon made the announcement.
This case was investigated by the DEA with assistance from Springfield Police Department, Eugene Police Department Street Crimes Unit, and LINE. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Huynh is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Bags of seized methamphetamine. Seized firearms. Bags of seized cash.St. Paul Man Indicted for Shipping Heroin into Minnesota Correctional FacilityRead the Press Release
MINNEAPOLIS – A St. Paul man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for attempted distribution and possession with intent to distribute heroin, and for illegally possessing firearms as a felon, announced Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk.
According to court documents, on April 12, 2021, Walter Davis, a/k/a “Disney,” 39, attempted to distribute a substance containing heroin by depositing it into the United States mail, addressed to one or more recipients at a Minnesota state correctional facility. On April 16, 2021, Davis also possessed a Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver, a Rossi .357 Magnum revolver, and over 100 grams of heroin. Davis has multiple prior felony convictions in Ramsey and Hennepin Counties and therefore is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.
Davis is charged with one count of attempted distribution of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and two counts of possessing a firearm as a felon.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruth S. Shnider is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
South Florida School Teacher Sentenced to Federal Prison Term for Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Miami, Florida – A federal district judge in Miami has sentenced 27-year-old Hialeah resident Roberto Ortiz to 78 months’ imprisonment, followed by eight years of supervised release, for possessing approximately 1,700 images and 40 videos of child pornography.
From 2019 until his arrest on July 30, 2020, Ortiz worked as a mathematics teacher at American Senior High School, a public school in South Florida. Prior to that, Mr. Ortiz served as a teacher at Jose Marti High School in Miami and at Youth Co-Op Preparatory Charter School in Hialeah, a school which includes students as young as five.
Based on information presented to the court, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant for Ortiz’s home after their investigation determined that a computer user at the residence was downloading and sharing child pornography by means of peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Pursuant to their search, agents seized several electronic devices from the home, including a laptop belonging to Ortiz. A forensic analysis of that laptop revealed over 1,700 files of child pornography.
On April 13, Ortiz pled guilty to possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke imposed the sentence.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami, announced the sentence.
FBI Miami investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sajjad Matin prosecuted it.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 20-cr-20206-MGC.
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Skaneateles Man Arraigned on Child Pornography ChargeRead the Press Release
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Marc L. Leonardis, age 49, of Skaneateles, New York, was arraigned today on an indictment filed by a federal grand jury charging him with Receipt of Child Pornography, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon, Janeen DiGuiseppi, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen.
An indictment unsealed in federal court charges that from April through June of 2021 Leonardis used an instant messaging application to knowingly receive image and video files of child pornography.
If convicted, Leonardis faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years, and a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, a term of supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life, and will have to register as a sex offender. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.
Leonardis is detained in federal custody pending a detention hearing scheduled before United States Magistrate Miroslav Lovric on Thursday, October 7, 2021.
The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Capital Area and Mid-State Child Exploitation Task Forces, in cooperation with the New York State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa M. Fletcher, Project Safe Childhood Coordinator for the Northern District of New York.
Seal Cove Man Pleads Guilty to Multiple Child Pornography OffensesRead the Press Release
BANGOR, Maine: A Seal Cove man pleaded guilty today in federal court to three counts of producing child pornography, one count of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark announced.
According to court records, on July 6, 2020, Keegan T. Richardson, 28, entered a private chat group on the internet and began communicating with an FBI undercover agent. This chat group was known to the agent as a place where people met, discussed and traded original images of underage children and links containing child pornography. Richardson confirmed that he had access to a female minor and shared multiple sexually explicit images of the minor with the agent. Shortly afterwards, a search warrant was obtained for Richardson’s residence and phone, and he was arrested. Investigators later learned that he had access to two other minors. On his phone, a forensic examiner found multiple sexually explicit images of all three minors. Richardson had taken the images with his phone. The forensic examiner also found multiple additional images of sexually explicit conduct involving different minors on the phone.
Richardson faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison for each production count, a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for the transportation count, and up to 20 years in prison for the possession count. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 for each count, and a term of supervised release of between five years and life. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, the Maine State Police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigated the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.
Seal Cove Man Pleads Guilty to Multiple Child Pornography OffensesRead the Press Release
BANGOR, Maine: A Seal Cove man pleaded guilty today in federal court to three counts of producing child pornography, one count of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark announced.
According to court records, on July 6, 2020, Keegan T. Richardson, 28, entered a private chat group on the internet and began communicating with an FBI undercover agent. This chat group was known to the agent as a place where people met, discussed and traded original images of underage children and links containing child pornography. Richardson confirmed that he had access to a female minor and shared multiple sexually explicit images of the minor with the agent. Shortly afterwards, a search warrant was obtained for Richardson’s residence and phone, and he was arrested. Investigators later learned that he had access to two other minors. On his phone, a forensic examiner found multiple sexually explicit images of all three minors. Richardson had taken the images with his phone. The forensic examiner also found multiple additional images of sexually explicit conduct involving different minors on the phone.
Richardson faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison for each production count, a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for the transportation count, and up to 20 years in prison for the possession count. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 for each count, and a term of supervised release of between five years and life. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI, the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, the Maine State Police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigated the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.
San Gabriel Valley Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison for Role in Conspiracy to Sell Counterfeit Laptop Computer BatteriesRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – A Chinese national who participated in a multimillion-dollar scheme to manufacture, ship and market counterfeit laptop computer batteries and other electronics made in China was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison.
Zoulin “Allen” Cai, 30, of La Puente, was sentenced this morning by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered the defendant to pay $9,227,543 in restitution and a $25,000 fine.
Cai pleaded guilty on June 29 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Cai was a member of a conspiracy that imported batteries, labels for batteries in laptop computers, cellphones and other electronics from China to the United States. Cai then sold and shipped the counterfeit batteries to unsuspecting buyers via eBay and Amazon, falsely advertising them as brand name, genuine, original or OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products. Those batteries bore counterfeit trademarks of companies such as Apple, Dell, HP and Toshiba, as well as counterfeit certification marks of UL, a company that tests and certifies the safety of electronic products.
“Counterfeit lithium-ion batteries have significant safety risks,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. “The batteries…distributed by [Cai] frequently lacked internal safeguards, resulting in a significant risk of fire, explosion, and danger to human life and safety.”
Co-conspirators in China packaged counterfeit batteries and electronics and shipped them to the United States, sometimes covering the trademarks with black tape or a similar material, so that a quick inspection of the items by customs officials would not reveal the trademark. The counterfeit batteries were imported, sold, and shipped from Cai-controlled warehouses in La Puente.
When federal authorities executed a search warrant at Cai’s warehouse In December 2019, they discovered approximately 44,000 batteries, as well as approximately 175,000 labels bearing the counterfeit marks of multiple companies.
Judge Walter today found that the loss resulting from Cai’s conduct was more than $9.5 million.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated this matter and was assisted in this investigation by the brand-holding companies.
Assistant United States Attorneys Khaldoun Shobaki of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section and Julia S. Choe of the General Crimes Section prosecuted this case.
San Antonio Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Covid HoaxRead the Press Release
SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for perpetrating a hoax related to COVID-19 in April 2020.
According to court records, a federal jury found Christopher Charles Perez, aka Christopher Robbins, 40, guilty of two counts of 18 U.S.C. § 1038, which criminalizes false information and hoaxes related to biological weapons.
Evidence presented during trial revealed that Perez posted two threatening messages on Facebook in which he claimed to have paid someone who was infected with COVID-19 to lick items at grocery stores in the San Antonio area to scare people away from visiting the stores. On April 5, 2020, a screenshot of the initial posting was sent by an online tip to the Southwest Texas Fusion Center (SWTFC), which then contacted the FBI office in San Antonio for further investigation. The threat was false. Perez did not pay someone to intentionally spread coronavirus at grocery stores, according to investigators and Perez’s own admissions.
In addition to the sentence, Perez was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
“Trying to scare people with the threat of spreading dangerous diseases is no joking matter,” said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff. “This office takes seriously threats to harm the community and will prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”
“Those who would threaten to use COVID-19 as a weapon against others will be held accountable for their actions, even if the threat was a hoax,” said FBI San Antonio Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs. “Perez’s actions were knowingly designed to spread fear and panic and today’s sentencing illustrates the seriousness of this crime. The FBI would like to thank our law enforcement partners for their help in this case.”
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, along with Weapons of Mass Destruction personnel, conducted this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys William R. Harris, Kelly Stephenson and Mark Roomberg prosecuted the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
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Rockford Man Arrested on Child Pornography ChargeRead the Press Release
ROCKFORD — A Rockford man has been arrested on a charge of possessing child pornography.
GREGORIO JOSEPH BACINO, 24, was arrested Friday. A federal indictment charged him with possessing child pornography in June 2021.
The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Angie Salazar, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Ladd.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and 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.
Possession of child pornography carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, and a $250,000 maximum fine. If Bacino is convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.