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16 March 2026
Texas Woman Federally Charged with Trafficking over 500 Grams of Meth up I-35Read the Press Release
WACO, Texas – A Roma woman made her initial appearance in a federal court in Waco today after she was arrested for alleged drug trafficking, according to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons.
According to court documents, on March 12, Julie Juarez was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 35 in Hill County by a Texas Highway Patrol trooper. The trooper allegedly observed numerous indicators of deception as well as inconsistent travel itinerary pertaining to Juarez’s trip to Dallas. A canine conducted a free air sniff around Juarez’s minivan and alerted to the odor of narcotics. A vehicle search allegedly resulted in the discovery of approximately 480 lbs. of methamphetamine and approximately 40 lbs. of heroin located in an aftermarket compartment.
A criminal complaint alleges Juarez picked up the narcotics in Mexico, crossed into Texas via the Roma Point of Entry, and was traveling to deliver the narcotics in Dallas.
Juarez is charged with possession with intent to deliver at least 500 grams of methamphetamine. If convicted, she faces a mandatory 10 years in federal prison with a maximum sentence of up to life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Smith-Burris is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Tallahassee Man Indicted for Child Pornography OffensesRead the Press Release
Tallahassee, Florida – Zachary Phillip Larson, 29, of Tallahassee, Florida, has been indicted in federal court on one count of distribution of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced the charges.
Larson appeared for his arraignment in federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Martin A. Fitzpatrick in Tallahassee, Florida. Jury trial is scheduled for May 5, 2026, before Chief District Court Judge Allen C. Winsor.
If convicted, Larson faces a minimum of 5 years’ imprisonment, and up to 20 years’ imprisonment, on the distribution count and receipt counts. Larson also faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment on the possession count.
The case is being jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Tallahassee Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen.
An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
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 and led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), it 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.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.
Second Southern Colorado Funeral Home Operator Sentenced to 18 Years in Federal Prison After Pleading Guilty to Defrauding Grieving Families, COVID-19 FundsRead the Press Release
DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Carie Hallford, 49, of Colorado Springs was sentenced to 216 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and $1,070,413.74 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Hallford, who owned and operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs and Penrose with her then husband and codefendant, Jon Hallford, mishandled at least 190 bodies over four years and defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) through fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications. Jon Hallford was sentenced in June 2025 to 240 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution for his role in the conspiracy.
According to the plea agreement, from as early as September 2019 through October 2023, Hallford and her husband failed to cremate or bury at least 190 bodies, despite having collected more than $130,000 from grieving families for funeral services that were never provided. The defendants failed to provide the basic core service it promised to some of its customers, either a cremation or a burial, and continued to collect payment from victims for funeral services and goods.
The plea agreement further states that Carie Hallford handled much of the banking, invoicing, contracting with customers, filing of required paperwork, bookkeeping and communications with customers. Both defendants routinely prepared death certificates for the deceased and then filed those certificates with the State of Colorado’s Electronic Death Registry. On many of the death certificates for the bodies found at the Penrose location, the defendants falsely stated that the “method of disposition” was by either cremation or burial when in truth there was no disposition as the bodies were left decomposing at the Penrose location. To carry out and execute the above fraud scheme, the defendant and her husband worked together to cause multiple interstate wire communications to occur.
The plea agreement goes on to state that from March 2020 to March 2022, Hallford and her husband conspired to defraud the SBA by submitting loan applications containing false information to obtain COVID-19 relief funds. As a result of this fraud, they received three separate disbursements from the SBA, totaling $882,300. The funds were obtained through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which was established to provide emergency support to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 5, 2023, federal and state officials searched the Penrose location, where they discovered multiple decomposing human remains in hazardous conditions. The toxic environment posed serious health risks to first responders and the public, requiring hazmat suits and strict decontamination protocols. The EPA later condemned and demolished the building, classifying it as a toxic waste site.
“It takes an exceptionally sick person to even think of a fraud scheme like Jon and Carie Hallford’s, let alone carry it out. Their disregard for fundamental human dignity is almost beyond belief,” said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly. “I hope the victims take some solace in the serious sentences handed down to both Hallfords. This case doesn’t right the wrongs the victims have suffered, but it does stand as an unequivocal condemnation of the Hallfords’ horrific criminal conduct.”
"The defendant defrauded grieving families she agreed to serve while deceiving the federal government in order to obtain benefits meant to assist businesses during the pandemic,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski. “She denied families well deserved dignity and showed blatant disregard for government rules. She lied and exploited families and systems to enrich her lifestyle with absolutely zero regard for the great harm she caused to so many."
The District of Colorado’s U.S. Attorney’s Office heads one of five national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force Teams, which is focused on combatting and preventing COVID-19 related financial fraud. The Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who committed multiple instances of pandemic relief fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. 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
United States District Judge Nina Y. Wang presided over the hearing.
The FBI Denver Field Office and the United States Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Several other state and local law enforcement agencies including the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado Springs Police Department, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fremont County Coroner’s Office have made significant contributions to this case.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Tim Neff and Craig Fansler.
Case Number: 1:24-cr-00113-NYW
San Bernardino County Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Coercion and EnticementRead the Press Release
LAS VEGAS – A Barstow, Calif., man was sentenced today by United States District Judge Gloria M. Navarro to 10 years in prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for enticing someone to allow him to engage in sexual acts with the person’s child. While on supervised release, the defendant will be required to undergo sex offender counseling, submit to polygraph testing, submit to computer monitoring, must receive approval before he may work, cannot have knowing contact with minors, and cannot go to or remain at places primarily used by or for children.
According to court documents, between March and May 2023, Clifford Robert Sanchez used Wickr, an online messaging application, as well as text messages and phone calls, to converse with someone he believed had a four-year-old daughter and attempted to arrange a meeting at which he would sexually abuse that child. He described the sex acts that he wished to perform on the child, and he purchased sexual abuse implements that he referred to as “little gifts.” Sanchez also sent child sexual abuse materials to the purported mother and later admitted to moderating a chat room in which child sexual abuse materials were traded. On May 2, 2023, Sanchez met the mother at a restaurant and law enforcement arrested him.
Sanchez pleaded guilty to one count of coercion and enticement. In addition to the prison sentence and supervised release, Sanchez was ordered to pay $41,000 in restitution.
First Assistant United States Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.
This case was investigated by HSI.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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Repeat Drug Trafficker Sentenced to over 4 Years for Cocaine Distribution and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Travis L. Ingram, 38, Mosinee, Wisconsin, was sentenced on March 12, 2026, by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 52 months in federal prison for distributing cocaine, maintaining a drug trafficking premises, and money laundering. Ingram pleaded guilty to these charges on December 16, 2025.
During a two-year investigation, police informants purchased cocaine from Ingram on multiple occasions. At the end of the investigation, police seized over a pound of cocaine, a scale, and other evidence of drug dealing from Ingrams’s home pursuant to a search warrant. Further investigation revealed that Ingram laundered over $ 1 million in illegal drug proceeds during a six-year period through bank accounts and casinos.
At the sentencing, Judge Conley noted that Ingram dealt a substantial amount of cocaine in the Marathon County area. Judge Conley further emphasized that Ingram escalated his drug trafficking activities despite two prior convictions for the same crime. Judge Conley found it disturbing that Ingram conducted drug trafficking in front of minors.
The charges against Ingram were the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Central Wisconsin Narcotics Task Force comprised of agents from the FBI, Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain Bay Police Department, Wausau Police Department and Wisconsin National Guard Counter Drug Program. The Marathon County District Attorney’s Office also assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven P. Anderson prosecuted this case.
Federal prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice involving drugs and guns are part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Take Back America. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the U.S. Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Religious Liberty Commission Hosts Sixth Hearing on Religious Liberty in HealthcareRead the Press Release
Today, the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) held a hearing to discuss religious freedom in healthcare. The hearing included panels with testimony from medical professionals, parents and students impacted by vaccine mandates, human trafficking survivors, and social services providers. The hearing’s objective was to understand the threats to religious liberties in the medical field from ethical and practical perspectives and identify opportunities to secure religious liberty in this context for the future.
“Today, President Trump's Religious Liberty Commission hearing focused on healthcare, including foster care and social work, and it featured heartbreaking testimony from ordinary Americans who courageously and compassionately stood up to tackle problems like homelessness, human trafficking, and drug addiction,” said Chairman Dan Patrick. “Yet, instead of receiving support from their government, they had their God-given religious liberty rights violated, were threatened with long jail sentences and were fired from their jobs. This hearing, yet again, highlighted the need for our Commission and its important work. Unsurprisingly, nearly all of these violations occurred in Democrat states during the Biden Administration. Later this year, the Commission will deliver strong recommendations to President Trump to ensure believers never have their religious liberty rights violated again, whether in healthcare or any other facet of American society.”The witnesses included:
Dr. Eithan Haim – Dr. Eithan Haim is a general surgeon and trauma surgeon at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Texas. During his residency, Dr. Haim served as the anonymous whistleblower that exposed that Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest children’s hospital in the world, was concealing its pediatric transgender medicine program from the public. The Texas Attorney General’s office subsequently opened an investigation into Texas Children’s, with which Dr. Haim assisted in an official whistleblower capacity. Due to his whistleblowing, Dr. Haim was indicted by the Biden DOJ on four felony counts for allegedly violating HIPAA in what was largely seen as a weaponized prosecution. All charges were dismissed with prejudice in January 2025.
Kaley Chiles – Kaley Chiles is a licensed professional counselor practicing in Colorado Springs. She holds a master's degree in clinical mental health and provides talk therapy, specializing in clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality, gender dysphoria, and other mental health concerns. Chiles identifies as a Christian and serves clients who often seek religiously informed care that aligns with traditional biblical understandings of sexuality and gender. Prior to the enactment of a 2019 Colorado law banning conversion therapy for minors, Chiles counseled clients, including minors, in accordance with their self-identified goals, which sometimes included diminishing same-sex attractions or aligning gender identity with biological sex. Since the law’s passage, Chiles has refrained from engaging in discussions with minors that she believes could be interpreted as conversion therapy and alleges that this has hampered her ability to provide full counseling services in line with her and her clients’ religious convictions.
Valerie Kloosterman – The third generation in her family to work in the Michigan health care system, Valerie Kloosterman served her community for 17 years with exemplary performance reviews. After requesting a religious accommodation in 2021 following mandatory diversity training—stating she could not affirm gender-related statements or participate in procedures that conflicted with her Christian beliefs—she was terminated. Valerie filed a federal lawsuit alleging religious discrimination. In 2025, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in her favor, strengthening protections for employees’ constitutional rights.
Dr. Aaron Kheriaty – Dr. Kheriaty is a physician specializing in psychiatry and author of five books. He is a Fellow & Director of the Program in Bioethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He was Professor of Psychiatry at University of California Irvine School of Medicine and Director of the Medical Ethics Program at UCI Health, where he chaired the ethics committee. He also chaired the ethics committee at the California Department of State Hospitals for several years. He was fired from the University of California after challenging the University's covid vaccine mandate in federal court. Dr. Kheriaty is also a plaintiff in the landmark free speech case Missouri v. Biden challenging government censorship on social media.
Nancy & Isabella Costine – Mother and daughter who have been barred from school for almost seven years because of the vaccine mandate
Ismail Royer – Ismail Royer serves as Director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute. Since converting to Islam in 1992, he has studied religious sciences with traditional Islamic scholars and spent over a decade working at non-profit Islamic organizations. Royer has worked with nonprofits to promote peace between faiths. His writing has appeared in multiple publications and he co-authored an article on Islam on Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World.
Karen Amigon – Karen is an advocate for health rights, and for environmental issues affecting our communities today. She began her advocacy journey for health rights in 2019, and continued to build rapport with legislators about the issues that are important to her community. She has a love for empowering the Spanish speaking community of Los Angeles on what calls to action we can take for a better tomorrow.
Jean Marie Davis – Jean Marie Davis is the Executive Director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in Brattleboro, Vermont. She has overcome sex trafficking and is an advocate for those facing trafficking, homelessness, and unplanned pregnancy. She is the mother of a nine-year-old son whose life was saved with the help of a pregnancy center. She led Branches in challenging a Vermont law that allowed fines against pregnancy centers for advertising; the statute was later amended in May 2025 to remove provisions targeting such centers.
Sherrie Laurie – Sherrie Laurie is the Chief Executive Officer of the Downtown Hope Center, a religious non-profit in Anchorage, Alaska; it offers over 500 meals a day to those in need and serves as an overnight shelter for homeless women, most of whom are victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. In January 2018, a biological man, who identifies as a woman, tried to gain overnight access to the women’s shelter. The shelter paid for the individual, visibly drunk and injured, to go to a nearby hospital. A few days later, the individual filed a complaint under Anchorage’s public accommodations law, but a federal court has twice ruled in favor of the Hope Center’s right to uphold its women-only overnight policy.
Pastor Brian & Kaitlyn Wuoti – Pastor Brian Wuoti and his wife, Katy, became licensed foster parents through the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) in 2014. Over the years, they fostered numerous children and adopted two brothers, growing their family to five children. Despite a strong record and positive evaluations, their foster license was revoked in April 2022 after they stated during a renewal process that, while they would love and care for any child, they could not affirm beliefs about sexuality that conflict with their Christian faith. In February 2026, Vermont finalized a new policy that will allow the Wuotis to once again qualify.
Bishop Salvatore Cordileone – Salvatore Cordileone is the Archbishop of San Francisco and a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and also of its Committee for Canonical Affairs and Church Governance.
Dr. Kenneth Prager – Dr. Prager is Professor of Clinical Medicine, Director of Clinical Ethics and Chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Prager has been a pulmonologist for over 35 years. He is heavily involved in teaching pulmonology and medical ethics to medical students, house officers and nurses. His writings on medicine and medical ethics have appeared in medical journals and textbooks as well as on the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Prager is a regular guest lecturer in Israel for the Ben Gurion University MD Program in International Health and Medicine in collaboration with Columbia University Health Sciences. He has received honors for his teaching, clinical expertise, contributions to organ donation, and medical humanism.
Dr. Leslee Cochrane – Dr. Cochrane completed his medical education and residency training at the City of Faith Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine with a Certificate of Additional Qualification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the Christian Medical Association. In 2022, Dr. Cochrane joined a lawsuit against California in which the state agreed in a settlement to no longer force doctors to violate their religious beliefs by participating in physician-assisted suicide.
Dr. Susan Bane – Dr. Susan Bane is a board-certified physician who has practiced obstetrics and gynecology for over 28 years, including in private practice at Greenville Obstetrics and Gynecology and serving as a clinical professor at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. She is the founder and CEO of PinkGlasses Consulting, providing health care consulting with a life-affirming vision. After years of helping women deliver babies, she currently serves as the Medical Director for four pregnancy centers in North Carolina, where she oversees the medical aspects of the Centers and sees patients with unintended pregnancies. Dr. Bane serves on the Medical Board for Care Net and Board of Directors for The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, AAPLOG, serving as the vice-chair and advocacy team leader, as well as the chair of Board of Directors for AAPLOG Action.
Abby Sinnett – Abby is a Board-Certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and the Co-Founder and CEO of Bella Health + Wellness, a nonprofit Catholic healthcare clinic in Colorado that offers life-affirming, dignified healthcare to men, women, and children from all backgrounds and faith traditions. Bella’s OB-GYN practice offers progesterone to pregnant women at risk of miscarriage. When a Colorado law made it illegal for religious healthcare clinics to offer women progesterone for the purpose of treating threatened miscarriages caused by the first abortion pill, also known as abortion pill reversal, Bella Health + Wellness filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to stop the state from targeting religious healthcare clinics that offer women care in accordance with their faith. The court found that Colorado likely violated Bella’s free exercise rights in three different ways.
Registered Sex Offender from Uxbridge Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
BOSTON – An Uxbridge man was sentenced on March 13, 2026 in federal court in Worcester for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Scott Morrill, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. In October 2025, Morrill pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. Morrill was arrested and charged in April 2025.
Morrill utilized a Google account to store hundreds of images of CSAM material. Google identified the use of their services to store CSAM and notified the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. A subsequent investigation identified CSAM material stored both in the defendant’s Google account and on a computer that he possessed at his home.
At the time of the offense, Morrill was on federal supervised release for a 2013 conviction of distribution of child pornography, for which he was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Uxbridge Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Noto of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Public Service Alert: Victim Identification in Gift Card Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Public Service Alert: Victim Identification in Gift Card Fraud Scheme
CONCORD – Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire are seeking to identify victims of a sophisticated gift card fraud scheme for potential restitution.
Foreign criminal organizations have stolen millions of dollars in gift cards through elder fraud, romance fraud, sextortion, gift card tampering, and network intrusions. They used these funds to buy high-end electronics and exported them abroad.
Who qualifies for restitution?
You may qualify for restitution if between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 1, 2025, you:
• Had Apple gift card funds stolen;
• Were a victim of fraud or scams and paid scammers with Apple gift cards; or
• Had Apple gift cards that were used without your authorization.
How do I know if I’m a qualifying victim?
You can submit your information using our questionnaire here: Seeking Victim Information Gift Card Fraud Scheme
Your Apple gift card number will be cross referenced with Apple purchases known to be involved in this crime. If matched, HSI will contact you to request proof of purchase of the gift cards. Any identified victims can expect to be contacted within 30 days of the closing of this filing period, which will be open until May 15, 2026.
Do I have to live in New Hampshire to receive restitution?
No, victims in this case can be from anywhere in the U.S.
Any questions can be directed to [email protected].
To learn more about gift card fraud, visit: https://www.ice.gov/hsi/news/hsi-insider/tackling-gift-card-fraud
Portland Man Indicted for Posting Violent Threats OnlineRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Ore.— A federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment last Tuesday charging a Portland man with threatening an elected official and a minor victim online.
Travis William Juhr, 41, has been charged with transmitting interstate threats.
According to court documents, Juhr threatened an elected official in Nevada when he left a threatening voicemail and posted on his X account, “I hope you have your doors and windows locked. Because I love a challenge when hunting my PREY…” along with a photograph of the victim.
Additionally, Juhr threatened a minor victim because the victim attended a counter-protest to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The minor victim received several threatening messages from Juhr from different X accounts after the victim’s personal identifying information was posted online.
Juhr made his first appearance in federal court Friday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. He was arraigned and pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, Juhr faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
The FBI is investigating the case. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan G. Bodell is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Pensacola Member of Outlaws Motorcycle Club Pleads Guilty to ArsonRead the Press Release
Pensacola, Florida – Gregory E. Simonds Jr., 42, of Pensacola, pleaded guilty in federal court to the charge of arson by means of an explosive causing personal injury. John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced the charge.
U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “Targeting, prosecuting, and eliminating transnational criminal organizations, like the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, is one of the principal objectives of Operation Take Back America, which was launched by President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi to devote the full might of the Department of Justice toward keeping our communities safe from violent thugs like this defendant. With yet another successful prosecution under OpTBA, we are one step closer to that goal, and we will continue to aggressively these cases to deliver the safe streets our citizens deserve.”
Court documents reflect that on February 15, 2025, during an altercation with a group of individuals associated with the Pagans Motorcycle Club in the parking lot of Emerald Coast Harley Davidson on Beal Parkway in Fort Walton Beach, the defendant set off an explosive that damaged the adjacent Jimmy John’s restaurant building and injured one of its employees. Although the defendant drove away from the scene, he was quickly identified and arrested by law enforcement. In his car, officers recovered four more explosive devices, two guns, narcotics and drug paraphernalia, and an Outlaws Motorcycle Club vest that the defendant had been identified wearing during the incident. During a subsequent search of his residence, federal agents seized additional explosive devices, explosive making material and equipment, and other evidence that the defendant was making and selling explosives.
Simonds faces a mandatory minimum term of 7 years’ imprisonment, and up to a maximum term of 40 years’ imprisonment.
The case was the result of a joint investigation by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, with assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Alicia H. Forbes.
Simonds’s sentencing is scheduled for June 30, 2026, at 9:00 am at the United States District Courthouse in Pensacola before United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl.
Owners and CEO of Wholesale Pharmaceutical Company Sentenced for Distributing More Than $92M of Black-Market HIV DrugsRead the Press Release
MIAMI – Two owners of a pharmaceutical wholesale company were sentenced Friday to a total of 38 years in prison for orchestrating a complex, nationwide drug diversion scheme that harmed vulnerable HIV-positive patients, placed countless others at risk, and corrupted the supply chain for prescription drugs in the United States.
“Patrick and Charles Boyd did not just commit fraud and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, they preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society: HIV patients who depend on life-saving treatments to manage their disease,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Fraud schemes like this one undermine the integrity of our supply chain for necessary prescription drugs. These defendants will rightly spend years in prison for their reprehensible conduct, which took advantage of people for illicit profit. This case is another example of how the Criminal Division, our United States Attorney partner in the Southern District of Florida, and law enforcement will pursue and seek convictions of those who defraud our systems, endanger our citizens, and seek to line their pockets with fraud proceeds.”
“These defendants treated life-saving HIV medication like street contraband,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “They bought drugs off the street from black-market suppliers, shipped them in dirty boxes and discarded packaging, falsified paperwork, and pushed those medications back into the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain. The consequences were real. HIV patients received bottles containing the wrong drugs, and at least one patient lost consciousness after ingesting medication that should never have been in that bottle. As a former military prosecutor, federal prosecutor, and trial judge, I have seen how greed can drive dangerous schemes. When criminals gamble with patient safety for profit, federal prison is the result.”
“Friday’s sentence underscores the extreme danger these defendants created,” said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS‑OIG). “They took life‑threatening actions that showed an alarming disregard for human life in service of nothing more than a payday. Their criminal scheme endangered vulnerable patients, put entire communities at risk, and undermined the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid. HHS‑OIG will continue working with our law enforcement partners — and using every tool in our arsenal — to pursue and dismantle illegal black‑market rings that seek to corrupt the nation’s drug supply and exploit taxpayer‑funded health care programs.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, brothers Patrick Boyd, 47, and Charles Boyd, 43, of Easton, Maryland, founded and owned Safe Chain Solutions, a wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical medications located in Maryland. Charles Boyd was the CEO, while Patrick Boyd was a Managing Partner who oversaw the company’s sales division. The evidence presented at trial showed that Patrick and Charles Boyd conspired with at least five black-market suppliers to purchase HIV drugs obtained through patient “buyback schemes” at steep discounts. One of their suppliers testified at trial that he purchased HIV drugs from patients on the street, removed the original prescription labels, and packaged the bottles in cardboard boxes — sometimes scavenged from trash on pick-up days — before shipping them to the defendants. On one occasion, this supplier used a diaper box he found on the street to ship the drugs. Many of these bottles were dirty, unsealed, and showed obvious signs they had previously been dispensed, such as the two depicted below:
Trial evidence showed that pharmacies complained to Safe Chain Solutions about their illicit conduct. For example, pharmacies reported to Safe Chain Solutions that they received bottles with entirely different drugs in them as early as August 2020.
In another documented complaint, one of their pharmacy customers sent the defendants a photo of the condition in which he received HIV drugs from them:
The customer informed Patrick and Charles Boyd that these bottles of HIV drugs did not meet “safety standards . . . and may present risk for our patients” and returned the drugs.
Evidence admitted at trial included an article shared between the defendants discussing these serious risks, just days before the customer complained. According to the article, “The schemes hurt individuals with HIV, cost taxpayers millions of dollars and drive up the viral load in communities, exposing others to the illness and spoiling the city and state’s mission to drive the number of new HIV diagnoses to zero.”
Despite these early complaints, Patrick and Charles Boyd continued buying cheap, diverted HIV drugs from the same black-market suppliers for many months, and continued selling the drugs to pharmacies along with falsified paperwork designed to fool their customers and regulatory agencies.
A patient who received a bottle of prescribed HIV medication sold to a pharmacy by the defendants testified at trial that Seroquel, an anti-psychotic drug, was actually in his bottle. He testified that he unwittingly ingested the Seroquel and lost consciousness for 24 hours. Evidence at trial established that missing even a single dose of HIV medication can increase a patient’s viral load and heighten community transmission risk in areas with high HIV infection rates. There was at least one additional documented complaint where another HIV patient unwittingly ingested a different drug that was in his bottle.
The trial evidence established the many elaborate steps Patrick and Charles Boyd took to conceal their criminal conduct from detection. They worked with the black-market suppliers behind the back of their own Director of Compliance, who testified that she repeatedly raised concerns throughout the conspiracy but was ignored. They also enlisted attorneys as part of their cover-up. One of those attorneys testified at trial, describing how the Boyd brothers concealed and misrepresented material information while seeking legal advice about pharmacy complaints and reporting obligations to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the evidence, the defendants failed to report numerous incidents to the FDA involving pharmacies that had received incorrect or tampered medications.
Between April 2020 and September 2021, Patrick and Charles Boyd bought and resold more than 28,000 bottles of these black-market HIV drugs. They paid more than $92.8 million for the drugs, which they sold to pharmacies for a profit. Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers were billed and paid for these illicit drugs.
In October 2025, Patrick and Charles Boyd were convicted at trial of conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs into interstate commerce; conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; two counts of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce; and two counts of wire fraud. Patrick Boyd was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Charles Boyd was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to the prison sentences, the defendants were ordered to pay $21,850,000 in forfeiture.
A third defendant, Adam Brosius, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud with the Boyds and was sentenced to 97 months in prison in connection with his role in the scheme.
HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Thor Pogozelski and Trial Attorney Jacqueline Zee DerOvanesian of the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, with the assistance of Assistant Chief James V. Hayes of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff for the Southern District of Florida handled asset forfeiture.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of eight strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
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 24-cr-20255.
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Owners and CEO of Wholesale Pharmaceutical Company Sentenced for Distributing More Than $92M of Black-Market HIV DrugsRead the Press Release
Two owners of a pharmaceutical wholesale company were sentenced Friday to a total of 38 years in prison for orchestrating a complex, nationwide drug diversion scheme that harmed vulnerable HIV-positive patients, placed countless others at risk, and corrupted the supply chain for prescription drugs in the United States.
“Patrick and Charles Boyd did not just commit fraud and cost taxpayers millions of dollars, they preyed upon some of the most vulnerable members of our society: HIV patients who depend on life-saving treatments to manage their disease,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Fraud schemes like this one undermine the integrity of our supply chain for necessary prescription drugs. These defendants will rightly spend years in prison for their reprehensible conduct, which took advantage of people for illicit profit. This case is another example of how the Criminal Division, our United States Attorney partner in the Southern District of Florida, and law enforcement will pursue and seek convictions of those who defraud our systems, endanger our citizens, and seek to line their pockets with fraud proceeds.”
“These defendants treated life-saving HIV medication like street contraband,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “They bought drugs off the street from black-market suppliers, shipped them in dirty boxes and discarded packaging, falsified paperwork, and pushed those medications back into the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain. The consequences were real. HIV patients received bottles containing the wrong drugs, and at least one patient lost consciousness after ingesting medication that should never have been in that bottle. As a former military prosecutor, federal prosecutor, and trial judge, I have seen how greed can drive dangerous schemes. When criminals gamble with patient safety for profit, federal prison is the result.”
“Friday’s sentence underscores the extreme danger these defendants created,” said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS‑OIG). “They took life‑threatening actions that showed an alarming disregard for human life in service of nothing more than a payday. Their criminal scheme endangered vulnerable patients, put entire communities at risk, and undermined the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid. HHS‑OIG will continue working with our law enforcement partners — and using every tool in our arsenal — to pursue and dismantle illegal black‑market rings that seek to corrupt the nation’s drug supply and exploit taxpayer‑funded health care programs.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, brothers Patrick Boyd, 47, and Charles Boyd, 43, of Easton, Maryland, founded and owned Safe Chain Solutions, a wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical medications located in Maryland. Charles Boyd was the CEO, while Patrick Boyd served as a Managing Partner who oversaw the company’s sales division. The evidence presented at trial showed that Patrick and Charles Boyd conspired with at least five black-market suppliers to purchase HIV drugs obtained through patient “buyback schemes” at steep discounts. One of their suppliers testified at trial that he purchased HIV drugs from patients on the street, removed the original prescription labels, and packaged the bottles in cardboard boxes — sometimes scavenged from trash on pick-up days — before shipping them to the defendants. On one occasion, this supplier used a diaper box he found on the street to ship the drugs. Many of these bottles were dirty, unsealed, and showed obvious signs they had previously been dispensed, such as the two depicted below:
Trial evidence showed that pharmacies complained to Safe Chain Solutions about their illicit conduct. For example, pharmacies reported to Safe Chain Solutions that they received bottles with entirely different drugs in them as early as August 2020.
In another documented complaint, one of their pharmacy customers sent the defendants a photo of the condition in which he received HIV drugs from them:
The customer informed Patrick and Charles Boyd that these bottles of HIV drugs did not meet “safety standards . . . and may present risk for our patients” and returned the drugs.
Evidence admitted at trial included an article shared between the defendants discussing these serious risks, just days before the customer complained. According to the article, “The schemes hurt individuals with HIV, cost taxpayers millions of dollars and drive up the viral load in communities, exposing others to the illness and spoiling the city and state’s mission to drive the number of new HIV diagnoses to zero.”
Despite these early complaints, Patrick and Charles Boyd continued buying cheap, diverted HIV drugs from the same black-market suppliers for many months, and continued selling the drugs to pharmacies along with falsified paperwork designed to fool their customers and regulatory agencies.
A patient who received a bottle of prescribed HIV medication sold to a pharmacy by the defendants testified at trial that Seroquel, an anti-psychotic drug, was actually in his bottle. He testified that he unwittingly ingested the Seroquel and lost consciousness for 24 hours. Evidence at trial established that missing even a single dose of HIV medication can increase a patient’s viral load and heighten community transmission risk in areas with high HIV infection rates. There was at least one additional documented complaint where another HIV patient unwittingly ingested a different drug that was in his bottle.
The trial evidence also established the many elaborate steps Patrick and Charles Boyd took to conceal their criminal conduct from detection. They worked with the black-market suppliers behind the back of their own Director of Compliance, who testified that she repeatedly raised concerns throughout the conspiracy but was ignored. They also enlisted attorneys as part of their cover-up. One of those attorneys testified at trial, describing how the Boyd brothers concealed and misrepresented material information while seeking legal advice about pharmacy complaints and reporting obligations to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the evidence, the defendants failed to report numerous incidents to the FDA involving pharmacies that had received incorrect or tampered medications.
Between April 2020 and September 2021, Patrick and Charles Boyd bought and resold more than 28,000 bottles of these black-market HIV drugs. They paid more than $92.8 million for the drugs, which they sold to pharmacies for a profit. Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers were billed and paid for these illicit drugs.
In October 2025, Patrick and Charles Boyd were convicted at trial of conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs into interstate commerce; conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; two counts of introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce; and two counts of wire fraud. Patrick Boyd was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Charles Boyd was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to the prison sentences, the defendants were ordered to pay $21,850,000 in forfeiture.
A third defendant, Adam Brosius, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud with the Boyds and was sentenced to 97 months in prison in connection with his role in the scheme.
HHS-OIG and FBI investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacqueline Zee DerOvanesian and Alexander Thor Pogozelski for the Southern District of Florida, with the assistance of Assistant Chief James V. Hayes of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Grosnoff for the Southern District of Florida handled asset forfeiture.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of eight strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
Orleans Parish Resident Guilty of Maintaining Residence for Fentanyl DistributionRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LA – RONALD KELLUP, (“KELLUP”), age 77, of New Orleans, pled guilty on March 12, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier to Maintaining a Drug Involved Premises, in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. §§ 856, announced Attorney David I. Courcelle.
At the sentencing, scheduled for June 18, 2026, he faces up to twenty years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, up to three years of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.
According to the indictment, beginning on a time unknown but continuing until at least May 8, 2024, KELLUP and other individuals maintained three residences in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans for the purpose of packaging and distributing narcotics, including fentanyl. Several of these individuals furthered this drug trafficking conspiracy by possessing firearms.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
United States Attorney Courcelle praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Louisiana State Police, and the New Orleans Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Stuart Theriot of the Narcotics Unit.
Nonprofit Exec Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for the Largest Public Assistance Fraud in Missouri HistoryRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on Monday sentenced a former nonprofit executive who stole $19.7 million from a program meant to feed Missouri children to 16 years in prison and ordered her to repay the money.
Connie Bobo, 46, was executive director of New Heights Community Resource Center at the time, which accepted money to provide meals to low-income, school-age children after school and during the summer.
“Connie Bobo’s trial clearly showed that this was the largest public assistance and pandemic fraud in state history,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus. “Hungry children were turned away when Bobo’s distribution events ran out of food, all because she was spending public money on luxury goods, real estate and an extravagant vehicle.”
“Connie Bobo’s greed is beyond reprehensible. She stole millions of dollars meant to feed low-income children in our community,” said Special Agent in Charge Chris Crocker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Instead of helping hungry kids, she used that money to buy a $1 million home, a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, and four additional properties—all of which the FBI has now seized. Those stolen funds from a taxpayer- funded program could have provided meals for children across Missouri.”
“This fraudster egregiously purloined American taxpayer dollars administered by USDA that she spent on personal luxuries including a new home,” said Inspector General John Walk for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General. “This sentencing reflects the seriousness of stealing millions of dollars from a public program intended to provide meals to children in need. I commend Special Agent in Charge Matthew Wilkins and the dedicated USDA OIG special agents who worked on this investigation, as well as our partners at the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office for their efforts to hold the defendant accountable.”
Bobo set out to defraud the state from the very outset of her participation in the state’s meal program for children, a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman says. In 2018, she submitted fraudulent state program enrollment documents and created fake board members, fake trainings and fake bylaws designed to induce Missouri to provide her with meal money, the memo says. Bobo submitted hundreds of fraudulent meal reimbursement claims from 2019-2022 and spent millions of dollars in public meal funds on luxury goods, homes for relatives, a new home for herself, a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz G550 Wagon for a romantic partner and a $2.2 million commercial real estate investment, evidence and testimony showed.
Bobo received a total of $19.7 million in state reimbursement funds and spent just $6.8 million on food and milk, evidence showed. The entire $19.7 million was fraudulently obtained because of Bobo’s fraud in enrolling in the program.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Bobo drastically ramped up her scheme, and her receipt of state meal reimbursement money, the trial showed. Many of the children that should have been fed by Bobo were out of school during Covid-19 and were not receiving regular meals.
The memo points out that Bobo produced fictitious food invoices when she learned of the FBI investigation and attendance logs listing fake children, and lied when she testified at trial.
Bobo, 46, of St. Charles, Missouri, was convicted by a jury of three counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and two counts of obstruction of an official proceeding after a three-day trial in October.
Anyone with information about COVID-19 related fraud should contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud at 866-720-5721.”
This case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Derek Wiseman and Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.
Nicaraguan National Sentenced to Federal Prison for Forcibly Resisting Federal Agents in Extended Struggle During Immigration ArrestRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Denis Napoleon Corea-Miranda (22) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber to one year and six months in federal prison for forcibly resisting, opposing, or impeding federal officers. Corea-Miranda pleaded guilty on December 2, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to court records, on August 26, 2025, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) attempted to arrest Corea-Miranda in connection with a final order of removal from the United States. While being questioned by agents, Corea-Miranda attempted to flee which led to an extended struggle between agents and Corea-Miranda. During the struggle, Corea-Miranda ended up on top of the agents and held them to the ground. An ICE agent suffered a dislocated shoulder during the attempt to arrest Corea-Miranda. Corea-Miranda ultimately fled on foot before later being arrested by deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeff Chang.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Mexican national gets seven years for illegally reentering the U.S.Read the Press Release
HOUSTON – A 44-year-old man who illegally resided in Houston has been ordered to federal prison for unlawfully reentering the country for the fifth time, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.
Fernando Ramirez-Noria pleaded guilty Aug. 12, 2025.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Eskridge has now ordered Ramirez-Noria to serve 84 months in federal prison. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence about his criminal history while illegally present in the country.
Ramirez-Noria has previous convictions for domestic violence, driving while intoxicated and illegal reentry.
Law enforcement first removed Ramirez-Noria in January 2015, and he repeatedly returned. He was last removed in June 2020, but authorities discovered he was again unlawfully in the United States following his DWI arrest in 2023.
He has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Enforcement and Removal Operations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis Batarse prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
McCurtain County Resident Pleads Guilty to Transporting Stolen VehicleRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Chance Allen Cathey, age 36, of Tom, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to one count of Transportation of Stolen Vehicle, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The Indictment alleged that on December 26, 2023, Cathey unlawfully transported a stolen motor vehicle from the State of Oklahoma to the State of Arkansas knowing the vehicle was stolen.
The charge arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Arkansas State Police, and the Little River County (Arkansas) Sheriff’s Office.
The Honorable Gerald L. Jackson, Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.
A U.S. District Court Judge will determine the sentence to be imposed after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Cathey will remain in custody pending sentencing.
Massachusetts Man Sentenced to More Than 9 Years in Federal Prison for Firearm OffensesRead the Press Release
David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that NICHOLAS KINGSLEY, 42, of Agawam, Massachusetts, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 110 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for firearm possession offenses.
According to court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from an investigation into Chinese companies suspected of importing firearms parts, including machinegun conversion devices (“MCDs) and silencers. During the investigation, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) flagged several packages containing MCDs and silencers that were addressed to Kingsley’s residence in Agawam. U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted and searched one of the packages addressed to Kingsley and found three silencers and four MCDs. On April 8, 2024, HSI executed a search warrant at Kingsley’s residence and found a small amount of narcotics, but no firearms. Kingsley was arrested on state drug charges and released on bond.
On April 16, 2024, Enfield Police arrested Kingsley after they stopped a vehicle in which Kingsley was a passenger and found three privately made firearms (“ghost guns”), a silencer, an extended magazine, a Glock MCD, and 45 rounds of ammunition. On April 18, 2024, while Kingsley was detained in state custody, HSI special agents conducted a search of his vehicle in Agawam and seized 14 firearms, several Glock MCDs, magazines, body armor, and approximately 3,000 rounds of various caliber ammunition. A subsequent search of Kingsley’s phones revealed evidence of purchases of MCDs and firearms, including a conversation between Kingsley and a Chinese company discussing an order of MCDs.
Kingsley’s criminal history includes felony convictions for drug, firearm, assault, and larceny offenses. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
Kingsley has been detained since his arrest. On December 22, 2025, he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of firearms by a felon, unlawful possession of a machine gun, and unlawful possession of a weapon in violation of the National Firearms Act.
This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Enfield Police Department, and the Agawam Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Lembo.
Maryland Man Sentenced to over Three Years in Prison for Mailing Threatening Communications to Jewish Institutions, Civil Rights ViolationsRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Clift Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, Maryland, was sentenced this afternoon by United States District Judge Mark A. Kearney to 37 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $40,000 fine, and a $2,200 special assessment for mailing threatening communications targeting Jewish institutions and organizations.
In November of last year, Seferlis pleaded guilty to 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs, arising from threats sent to Jewish organizations and entities.
As detailed in court filings, from at least March 2024 through at least June 2025, the defendant used the United States mail to send at least 40 letters and two postcards to more than 25 Jewish institutions and organizations, including synagogues, Jewish museums, community centers, schools, nonprofit organizations, and a Jewish delicatessen, located in multiple jurisdictions. Many of these written communications threatened to destroy physical buildings and/or injure individuals.
The threatening communications were intended to intimidate recipients and interfere with congregants and others in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs.
“Threats directed at religious institutions are attacks not just on those communities but on the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “Individuals who attempt to intimidate or terrorize others because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”
“This case serves as a stark reminder that members of our community can still face threats because of their beliefs,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office. “No one should have to live in fear because of who they are or what they believe. The FBI and our partners remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting every member of our community and holding those who seek to intimidate or harm others fully accountable.”
This case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia, with assistance from FBI Baltimore, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Montgomery County (Md.) Police Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland’s Greenbelt office. The Anti-Defamation League, Secure Community Network, and Delaware Valley Intelligence Center also provided assistance with this case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dubnoff for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Maryland Man Sentenced for Mailing Threatening Communications to Jewish Institutions and Civil Rights ViolationsRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced that Clift Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, Maryland, was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney to 37 months in prison, 3 years supervised release, $40,000 fine, and a $2,200 special assessment for mailing threatening communications targeting Jewish institutions and organizations.
According to court documents, Seferlis previously pleaded guilty to 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs arising from threats sent to Jewish organizations and entities.
“For more than a year, the defendant terrorized Jewish communities across the country, robbing his victims of their peace and security,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. “The defendant’s sentence should be a warning to all that religious-based terror will not be tolerated in this country.”
“Threats directed at religious institutions are attacks not just on those communities but on the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “Individuals who attempt to intimidate or terrorize others because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”
As admitted in court filings, from at least March 2024 through at least June 2025, the defendant used the United States mail to send at least 40 letters and two postcards to more than 25 Jewish institutions and organizations, including synagogues, Jewish museums, community centers, schools, nonprofit organizations, and a Jewish delicatessen located in multiple jurisdictions. Many of these written communications threatened to destroy physical buildings and/or injure individuals.
The threatening communications were intended to intimidate recipients and interfere with congregants and others in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including FBI Philadelphia and FBI Baltimore, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from additional law enforcement partners. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dubnoff for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Louisville Man Sentenced to 15 years for Drug and Firearms OffensesRead the Press Release
Louisville, KY – A Louisville, Kentucky man was sentenced this week to 15 years in federal prison for trafficking in firearms, distribution of methamphetamine, and illegal possession of firearms.
U.S. Attorney Kyle G. Bumgarner of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge John Nokes of the ATF Louisville Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott of the DEA Louisville Field Division, Special Agent in Charge Karen Wingerd of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Detroit Field Office, and Chief Paul Humphrey of the Louisville Metro Police Department made the announcement.
According to court documents, Sukhjit Bains, 52, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to two counts of trafficking in firearms, two counts of distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, and one count of illegal possession of a machine gun, specifically, a 3D-printed Glock type machine gun conversion device. A Glock switch device allows a semi-automatic handgun to function as an automatic and is defined as a machinegun under federal law.
On November 20, 2024, Bains sold 9 firearms and approximately 2 ounces of methamphetamine to a confidential law enforcement source. On December 12, 2024, Bains sold 6 firearms and approximately to 2 pounds of methamphetamine to a confidential law enforcement source. On January 10, 2025, a search warrant was executed on Bains’ former business, “The Liquor Palace” at 5601 Preston Highway in Louisville. After searching the business and arresting Bains, law enforcement found an additional 31 firearms and smaller amounts of methamphetamine. All together, Bains was held responsible for illegally trafficking 99 firearms. Bains was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of the following felony offenses.
On November 28, 2018, in the United States District Court, Western District of Kentucky, Bains was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
On March 28, 2017, in Jefferson Circuit Court, Bains was convicted of wanton endangerment in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance in the first degree-methamphetamine.
There is no parole in the federal system.
This case was investigated by the ATF, DEA, IRS-CI and LMPD.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua R. Porter prosecuted the case with assistance of paralegal specialist Adela Alic.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative. The HSTF is a United States government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, transnational gangs, and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) worldwide. This initiative identifies TCOs engaged in a wide range of criminal schemes that violate federal law, while dismantling cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks that fuel violence and instability that threatens the safety and security of the United States and its global partners. It also places a particular emphasis on criminal offenses involving children and ensures the use of all available law enforcement tools to prosecute offenders and/or facilitate the removal of criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Nashville is comprised of agents and officers from ATF, LMPD, DEA. IRS-CI, HSI, and FBI and the prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
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Leader of North Shore Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to Nineteen Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Saugus man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for leading a North Shore-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) that distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine and laundered the proceeds.
Lawrence Michael Nagle, Jr., 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 19 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. In April 2025, Nagle pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, involving 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams of more of methamphetamine; five counts of possession with intent to distribute various weights of fentanyl, methamphetamine and oxycodone; one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; one count of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition; and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Nagle, Jr. was one of 27 individuals charged, beginning in October 2022, in connection with a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription pills.
In 2018, law enforcement identified Nagle, Jr. and his brother, Christopher Nagle, as leaders of a DTO distributing various controlled substances throughout the North Shore region of Massachusetts. The Nagle DTO distributed significant quantities of various controlled substances, including, Adderall (both pharmaceutical-grade pills and counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine), methamphetamine, Xanax, Oxycodone (both pharmaceutical-grade and counterfeit pills containing fentanyl), cocaine and marijuana, among others.
The Nagle DTO distributed controlled substances to a network of individuals who would then redistribute the drugs to other traffickers, including separate, but interconnected, organizations.
The investigation resulted in numerous seizures of controlled substances, including: over 74,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing more than 24 kilograms; 591 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine; 1,000 counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl; and 101 counterfeit Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.
In January 2022, a search of Christopher Nagle’s apartment recovered more than 74,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, weighing more than 24 kilograms. On Oct. 25, 2022, a search of Nagle, Jr.’s home in Saugus and two homes he used to store narcotics—one of which was inhabited by Castillo—resulted in the seizure of more than 7.8 kilograms of fentanyl and more than 650 grams of methamphetamine. In addition, two Glock firearms and ammunition were recovered from Nagle, Jr.’s house in close proximity to oxycodone pills. At the time, Nagle, Jr. was a felon who was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
In August 2024, Christipher Nagle was sentenced to 139 months in prison.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Beverly, Everett, Peabody, Revere, Salem, Saugus and Swampscott Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys K. Nathaniel Yeager, and Samuel R. Feldman of the Criminal Division and Annapurna Balakrishna of the Asset Forfeiture Unit prosecuted the case.
This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Boston is comprised of agents and officers from HSI, FBI, DEA, ATF, USMS, IRS-CI, USPIS, DOL-OIG and DSS, as well as several state and local law enforcement agencies, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.Lakeland Man Who Fired Bullets That Killed 70-Year-Old-Grandmother and Injured 13-Year-Old Girl in 2020 Christmas Eve Shootout Pleads GuiltyRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida –Taqiy Lewis (27, Lakeland) has pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon in connection with a shooting. Lewis faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. United States Attorney Gregory Kehoe made the announcement.
According to court documents, on December 24, 2020, 70-year-old M.C. was outside her Lakeland home with her family, including young children. At approximately 5:30 p.m., Lewis and others engaged in a shootout just outside M.C.’s residence. M.C. was struck twice and killed. 13-year-old A.L. was also shot and wounded. More than two years later, on February 9, 2023, during an unrelated investigation, ATF agents and officers from the Lakeland Police Department recovered a Kahr CM9 9mm pistol while executing a search warrant. Forensic testing using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (“NIBIN”) confirmed that this firearm was the one used to kill M.C. and injure A.L. Further investigation revealed that six casings collected from the crime scene, two spent projectiles recovered from a home, and a bullet recovered from M.C.’s body were all fired by Lewis and the Kahr CM9 pistol he possessed. At the time of the shooting, Lewis was a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Lakeland Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Diego F. Novaes.
Jury convicts Kansas City-based music artist of illegal firearm possessionRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal jury convicted a Kansas man of illegally having a firearm as a convicted felon. Federal law enforcement initiated a criminal investigation after seeing photos posted on social media of him holding weapons.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Joseph R. Isaac, 28, of Kansas City, Kansas, was found guilty of one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
Isaac, a rap artist known professionally as SleazyWorld Go, is not legally allowed to possess firearms following a previous conviction for armed robbery in Kent County, Michigan, in 2016. On Friday, March 13, 2026, a jury found him guilty of knowingly possessing a Romarm/Cugir 7.62x39mm pistol.
Isaac is scheduled to be sentenced on June 30, 2026. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zabel and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor Hines are prosecuting the case.
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Jackson Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Attempted Hobbs Act Robbery with FirearmRead the Press Release
Jackson, MS – A Jackson man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday, March 13, for the attempted robbery of a dollar store in Jackson.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 2, 2022, Torrance Stewart, 31, entered a local business with the intent to rob the store with a firearm. Stewart brandished a pistol and threatened the store clerk into retrieving money from the cash register. When the register malfunctioned, Stewart fled on foot. Jackson Police Department (JPD) officers responded and apprehended Stewart in a nearby neighborhood following a foot chase.
United States Attorney Baxter Kruger of the Southern District of Mississippi and ATF Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson made the announcement.
The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is investigating the case with assistance from the Jackson Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Brett Grantham prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Illegal Alien Methamphetamine-Trafficking Cell Leader Sentenced to 40 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Prosecution is part of Homeland Security Task Force effort to combat transnational criminal organizations
An illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for his top leadership role in distributing methamphetamine in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.
In October 2024, Raymundo Bernal Saucedo (“Bernal”), 33, pled guilty to one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and aiding and abetting. He was sentenced on March 11, 2026, to 480 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Ada E. Brown.
“We are dismantling transnational drug trafficking networks in the Northern District of Texas through our indispensable partnership with Homeland Security Task Force agents,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “The lengthy sentence in this case is directly attributable to their diligent efforts, and we will continue to pursue the full measure of justice against those who traffic this poison in our communities."
“This sentence demonstrates that those who traffic dangerous quantities of methamphetamine into North Texas will be held accountable,” said Joseph B. Tucker, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Dallas Field Division. “The DEA, alongside our federal, state, and local partners remain committed to dismantling transnational criminal organizations and protecting our communities from this poison.”
“The Dallas Homeland Security Task Force remains focused on targeting transnational criminal organizations. The collaborative effort of the HSTF resulted in a significant sentence and the reduction of narcotics on our streets,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to combat violent crime and drug trafficking in our communities.”
According to court records, Homeland Security Task Force Group One agents began investigating Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area distribution cells affiliated with Michoacán, Mexico-based brokers, who arranged for an Arlington, Texas-area distribution cell to deliver two kilograms of methamphetamine to a DEA confidential source. After the controlled purchase, surveillance, and the execution of a search warrant at a storage unit, agents seized 77 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine along with multiple firearms and a drug ledger.Court records reflect that agents identified Bernal, a Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States, as the individual overseeing this local distribution cell, whose members were not only involved the distribution of bulk methamphetamine, but also included the conversion of liquid methamphetamine into its finished distributable form. Bernal, himself, was actively involved in the conversion process acquiring pots, chemicals, buckets, and filler in addition to “cooking” the methamphetamine, and two weapons were recovered from his residence, which Bernal admitted in plea documents were used in furtherance of his drug trafficking offense. According to court records, this investigation led to multiple federal wiretaps of Bernal’s and his coconspirators’ telephones. In addition to Bernal’s involvement in the conversion and distribution of methamphetamine in the Dallas area, investigators also learned that Bernal was responsible for smuggling contraband into jail facilities in Tennessee. All told, Bernal was held responsible for 1,946,000 kilograms of methamphetamine calculated as converted drug weight.
This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting, the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Dallas Group One comprises agents and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security Investigations, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas (Dallas Division).
Guatemalan National Sentenced to four Months in Prison for Illegal ReentryRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Guatemalan national has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for unlawfully reentering the United States after deportation.
Jasson Humberto Marroquin Moro, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun to time served (approximately four months in prison) and is now subject to deportation proceedings. Earlier in the hearing the defendant pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry of a deported alien. Marroquin Moro was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2025.
On or about May 6, 2025, Marroquin Moro was found in the United States after having been deported to Guatemala on or about June 3, 2014.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Maynard and Julissa Walsh of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
Guatemalan Illegal Alien Sentenced for Re-EntryRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – A Guatemalan illegal alien received his sentence in federal court today, for illegally re-entering the United States.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Cesar Geovany Gomez, 36, to time served (approximately 130 days) in prison in connection with the charge. Geovany Gomez was deported from the U.S. on two prior occasions, and following his latest illegal re-entry, was convicted for first-degree assault in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Acting Field Office Director Vernon Liggins, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE-ERO) – Baltimore Field Office.
According to court documents, on July 28, 2017, authorities deported Geovany Gomez back to Guatemala, but he never sought, nor obtained, the consent of the Attorney General of the United States or the Secretary of Homeland Security to apply for re-admission. The deportation stemmed from law enforcement detaining Geovany Gomez after he re-entered the U.S. without inspection on June 16, 2017. Geovany Gomez had first illegally entered the U.S. through Mexico on March 5, 2012. Then immigration officials ordered his removal through expedited proceedings 14 days later.
After his second deportation in July 2017, Geovany Gomez re-entered the U.S. again on an unknown date. Then on December 12, 2024, after an incident that occurred in April of the same year, Geovany Gomez pled guilty to first-degree assault in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County. He’s currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, with all but five years suspended in connection to the assault.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended ICE-ERO for its work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Mills who is prosecuting this federal case.
For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit justice.gov/usao-md.
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Guatemalan Illegal Alien Sentenced for Helping Other Illegal Aliens Obtain Counterfeit Identity DocumentsRead the Press Release
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey today announced that Norma Ayala, 35, a citizen of Guatemala present in the U.S. illegally, was sentenced to 8 months in custody for the offense of conspiracy to transfer false United States Social Security cards and Permanent Resident cards to illegal aliens.
In 2024, Homeland Security Investigations learned of a counterfeit identification document scheme operating in the Grand Rapids area. Their investigation determined that Ms. Ayala, together with codefendants Rigoberto Vasquez-Vasquez and Edgidio Vasques-Mencho, were advertising, manufacturing, and selling fraudulent Social Security and Permanent Resident cards to persons unlawfully in the United States. The investigative team identified the defendants engaging in such activities on a number of occasions in 2024 and 2025. Ms. Ayala’s role in the conspiracy was to take orders, obtain biographical data and photographs to be used in the manufacture of the documents, pass the orders and materials to a co-conspirator, deliver the finished documents, and collect payments.
On September 23, 2025, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the three conspirators. Each of the defendants later pled guilty to their role in the conspiracy. The co-conspirators are scheduled for sentencing at a later date. Upon the completion of her sentence, Ms. Ayala, who has been deported from the United States on four prior occasions, will be removed to her native Guatemala.
U.S. Attorney VerHey said, “This case is an example of why the public has lost its tolerance for illegal immigration. Ms. Ayala has been removed from the United States four times, which shows her disregard for our laws. When she came back, for the fifth time, she celebrated her good fortune by starting a fraud ring to enrich herself and to allow others to evade our immigration laws. This conduct is unacceptable, and my office will aggressively prosecute it whenever it occurs.”
“The production and distribution of fraudulent identity documents undermine the security of our nation and enable further criminal activity,” said HSI Detroit acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey. “HSI special agents remain committed to investigating and dismantling document fraud schemes that threaten the integrity of our immigration system. We will continue to pursue those who manufacture and sell counterfeit documents and work with our partners to ensure they are brought to justice.”
The Grand Rapids office of Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Daniels prosecuted it.
This case was investigated and prosecuted by the Michigan Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) as part of Operation Take Back America. HSTFs, which were established by President Trump in Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, are joint operations led by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide federal initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Georgia felon indicted for targeting professional athletes in fraud and sex trafficking schemesRead the Press Release
ATLANTA - Kwamaine Jerell Ford has been charged with targeting professional athletes through a phishing scam and thereafter engaging in a fraud and sex trafficking scheme. In 2019, in the Northern District of Georgia, Ford was convicted of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft for perpetrating similar phishing attacks and spending nearly $325,000 by using his victims’ stolen financial information.
“While serving time for stealing credit card numbers from athletes and celebrities to fund his lifestyle, Ford allegedly engaged in the same conduct again,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Disturbingly, the indictment alleges that Ford went even further and used a fraudulent online persona to traffic a young woman and coerce her to produce hidden camera videos of commercial sex acts with unknowing individuals.”
“Kwamaine Ford clearly did not learn from his prior conviction for a similar scheme. This time, he allegedly escalated his criminal activity—stealing identities and money while also moving into coercion and sex trafficking,” said FBI Georgia Acting Special Agent in Charge Peter Ellis. “The FBI’s dedicated agents remain committed to staying ahead of schemes like this and protecting the public from individuals who exploit and harm others for personal gain.”
According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: beginning in at least November 2020, while in the Federal Bureau of Prisons custody, Ford allegedly obtained login credentials for Apple accounts belonging to NBA and NFL players through a two-pronged approach. First, Ford allegedly posed online as a well-known adult film star and offered to send sexually explicit videos to the athletes. At the same time, Ford spoofed legitimate Apple customer service accounts, posed as an Apple customer support representative, and requested, via text messages, that the victims send their username, password, and/or Multi-Factor Authentication codes in order to access the videos that his fraudulent adult film star persona was purportedly trying to send the victims. Through this phishing scheme, dozens of victims were allegedly tricked into providing their login credentials to Ford. After gaining control of the victims’ Apple accounts, Ford allegedly obtained credit and debit card information belonging to victims and used that information to pay for thousands of dollars in personal spending.
Additionally, in May 2021, Ford allegedly posed as the adult film star and recruited, tricked, and coerced a female victim into engaging in commercial sex acts with the professional athletes based on false promises that the film star would advance the victim’s modeling career. Ford advertised the victim to the athletes, coordinated the victim’s travel to the athletes, and negotiated payments from the athletes for the purpose of purchasing sex with the victim. Ford used additional fraudulent personas to threaten the victim and maintain her continued involvement in commercial sex acts with the athletes. Using false personas, Ford obtained a financial cut from the commercial sex acts, many of which Ford allegedly coerced his victim into filming without the athletes’ knowledge or consent.
On March 13, 2026, Kwamaine Jerell Ford, 34, of Buford, Georgia appeared in federal court and pled not guilty to nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of computer fraud, one count of access device fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of sex trafficking. A U.S. magistrate judge ordered that Ford be held without bail pending trial.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bernita B. Malloy and Phyllis Clerk are prosecuting the case. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha Cooper investigated the case prior to the indictment.
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.
Former Syrian Assad Prison Official Convicted of Torture and Immigration FraudRead the Press Release
A federal jury convicted Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 73, today on one count of conspiracy to commit torture and three counts of torture for his involvement in the torture of prisoners at Adra Prison in Damascus, Syria. The jury also convicted Alsheikh of lying to U.S. immigration authorities about his commission of these crimes, fraudulently obtaining a green card and attempting to naturalize as a U.S. citizen.
“Samir Ousman Alsheikh tortured prisoners and committed human atrocities to punish and silence political dissent in Syria,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva for the Justice Department's Criminal Division. “Then, after committing these heinous offenses for years, he lied to U.S. immigration authorities to live in the United States of America and pursue citizenship. Thanks to the courage of the victims, and the diligence and dedication of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, Alsheikh can no longer escape his past and will be held to account for his brutal crimes.”
“Our country is not a refuge for criminals — especially criminals who engage in brutality of the kind this defendant inflicted on his victims,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “I commend the victims, our agents, and our prosecutors for finally bringing this defendant to justice.”
“Homeland Security Investigations and our partners are dedicated to bringing accountability to criminals like Samir Ousman Alsheikh, who tortured prisoners and then relocated to the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles. “Our Homeland will never serve as a sanctuary for human rights abusers.”
“Today’s convictions serve as a reminder that the FBI will not tolerate acts of violence and torture or attempts to obfuscate those crimes,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “Along with our partners in the United States and throughout the world, we remain committed to defending victims and bringing perpetrators to justice.”
According to the evidence presented at trial, Alsheikh was a Brigadier General in charge of Damascus Central Prison, commonly known as Adra Prison, from about 2005 through 2008, under the regime of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. According to the evidence, Alsheikh inflicted and ordered subordinates to inflict severe physical and mental pain and suffering on prisoners. In particular, Alsheikh ordered certain prisoners to be sent to a section of the prison known as Wing 13, where they were held in tiny isolation cells and tortured.
Victims who refused to harm or kill political dissidents imprisoned with them or who otherwise showed support for the prisoners testified at trial that they witnessed and suffered various forms of torture. For example, guards used manacles to suspend prisoners by their wrists from pipes on the ceiling and then beat them with fists or cables while suspended for extended periods of time. One victim testified that he felt like his limbs would be torn from his body when they suspended him for days.
Witnesses also testified that they were placed on a torture device known as the “Magic Carpet” or “Flying Carpet,” which consisted of two large wooden panels with hinges in the middle. Guards strapped the witnesses to the device on their backs, positioning the prisoners’ waists at the hinges, and then forcing the lower panel together with the upper, folding the upper and lower halves of the prisoners’ bodies together and causing excruciating pain and serious injury. One victim recalled that Alsheikh himself stomped on the Magic Carpet with his foot. One victim testified that as part of his punishment for writing a letter of support to a political prisoner, he was subjected to the Magic Carpet and then forced to wear a red jumpsuit solely assigned to those designated for execution. He testified that he thought he was going to die. Witnesses also testified to being folded into a car tire, restrained, and beaten by guards.
The evidence at trial showed that Alsheikh personally ordered these and other horrific acts of torture and brutality against the three named victims in the indictment. Following his time at Adra Prison, Alsheikh was appointed Governor of the Syrian province of Deir Ez-Zour in 2011. In 2018, he applied for a visa and later applied to become a U.S. Citizen.
Photograph depicting Alsheikh and Bashar al-Assad on or about July 25, 2011, when Assad appointed AlsheikhThe evidence at trial also showed that Alsheikh came to the United States in 2020, after lying about and concealing the torture and violence he ordered and committed at the prison, among other misrepresentations, on his visa application to enter the United States and to become a legal permanent resident. The evidence further proved that Alsheikh continued to lie about and conceal his past conduct in his later application to become a United States citizen.
Alsheikh faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the three torture counts and the count of conspiracy to commit torture; he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each of the immigration and attempted naturalization fraud charges. He will remain in U.S. custody pending his sentencing at a date to be determined by the Court. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
HSI Los Angeles and FBI Chicago investigated the case with support from HSI and FBI Legal Attachés in Germany. HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) also significantly supported the case, along with the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit (IHRU). Established in 2009, the HRVWCC furthers the government’s efforts to identify, locate, and prosecute human rights abusers in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, female genital mutilation, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany.
Trial Attorney Patrick Jasperse of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and Assistant United States Attorney Joshua O. Mausner prosecuted the case, with significant assistance from HRSP Historian/Analyst Philip Hoffman and HRSP Trial Attorney Alexandra Skinnion, and support from HRSP Trial Attorney Detailee Spencer M. Perry. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided critical assistance.
Members of the public who have information about former human rights violators in the United States are urged to contact U.S. law enforcement through the HSI tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email [email protected] or complete its online tip form at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp.
Former Sacramento Man Sentenced to over 4 years in Prison for Filing False Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
Christopher Eugene Guilford, 54, formerly of Sacramento, was sentenced today to four years and three months in prison for making a false claim against the United States and filing false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.
“Filing false tax returns is not a shortcut to easy money; it’s a federal crime,” U.S. Attorney Grant said. “By submitting nine fraudulent returns and stealing more than $1.17 million in refunds, the defendant tried to cheat the American taxpayer. Today’s sentence shows that those who abuse our tax system for personal gain will be held accountable.”
On Oct. 30, 2025, a jury found Guilford guilty of one count of making a false claim against the United States and eight counts of filing a false tax return. Guilford had filed nine false tax returns with the IRS in which he reported false income and false tax withholdings. For one of the tax return filings, Guilford received a refund of $1,172,446. The charges against Guilford stem from his use of a convoluted “redemption” scheme, used by tax protestors and sovereign citizens that has been repeatedly rejected by the courts.
“Mr. Guilford’s sentencing underscores the serious consequences for those who attempt to exploit the tax system through fraudulent schemes, including so‑called ‘redemption’ tactics,” said Linda Nguyen, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS‑CI) Oakland Field Office. “By fabricating income, falsifying withholdings, and seeking more than a million dollars in illegitimate refunds, Guilford not only violated federal law but also undermined the integrity of programs designed to serve honest taxpayers. IRS‑CI will continue to pursue individuals who seek to enrich themselves through deceit and hold them fully accountable.”
IRS-CI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittany M. Gunter and Arelis M. Clemente prosecuted the case.
Former Manager of Lafayette Medical Clinic Pleads Guilty to Embezzling More Than $500k from EmployerRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE– On March 16, 2026, Brooke Miller Duck (formerly “Brooke Miller Tauzin”), a 31-year-old resident of Midland, Texas (and former resident of Arnaudville, Louisiana), pled guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 from her medical clinic employer to make personal purchases. Duck now faces up to 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud.
“Brooke Duck now faces justice after spending years betraying the trust of her employer and treating that employer’s bank accounts like her own personal slush fund,” said United States Attorney Zachary A. Keller. “Frauds perpetrated by people like Mrs. Duck erode the trust that our Louisiana small businesses need to perform their critical work, and our Office stands ready to prosecute those abuses.”
According to court documents, Duck was employed by two medical clinics with offices in Lafayette and Baton Rouge and had access to the clinics’ credit cards and bank accounts. Between May 2020 and October 2023, Duck used the clinics’ credit cards for unauthorized, personal expenses and purchases, including a $15,000 payment for a time-share vacation property. She then used funds drawn from the clinics’ bank accounts to pay the credit card balances associated with those purchases. Over the course of her scheme, Duck caused $539,451.41 in unauthorized transactions on the clinics’ credit cards for her personal use and financial gain.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, and the Lafayette Police Department investigated the case. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Daniel Siefker, Jr., with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Denise Duhon.
U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller for the Western District of Louisiana made the announcement.
You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana at www.justice.gov/usao-wdla.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana at www.lawd.uscourts.gov or at https://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/cmecf-pacer, under Case Number 6:26-cr-00096.
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Former L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Sentenced to More Than 5 Years in Federal Prison for Extorting, Falsely Arresting Rivals of Crypto FraudsterRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – A former deputy and helicopter pilot with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) was sentenced today to 63 months in federal prison for helping a now-jailed, self-styled cryptocurrency businessman extort a rival and arrange the sham illegal drug possession arrest of another adversary in Paramount in 2021.
Michael David Coberg, 44, of Eastvale, was sentenced by United States District Judge Percy Anderson, who also ordered him to pay $127,000 in restitution.
Coberg pleaded guilty in September 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion and one count of conspiracy against rights.
Coberg – then employed as an LASD deputy and helicopter pilot – worked on the side with Adam Iza, 25, formerly of Beverly Hills and Newport Coast. Iza, a self-proclaimed “Godfather,” was engaged in fraudulent marketing and cryptocurrency schemes and has been in federal custody since September 2024. He has pleaded guilty to federal charges and is expected to be sentenced in the coming months.
Coberg’s contract with Iza allowed him to work as a business partner and advisor, as opposed to simply working security shifts. Coberg and Iza at one point planned to start a business selling anabolic steroids. Iza paid Coberg at least $20,000 per month for his services.
“Coberg swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “Instead, [he] betrayed that oath and those he swore to protect, abusing the awesome power of his badge. And he did so for an all-too-common reason: greed.”
Participation in Extortion
In October 2021, Coberg accompanied other security guards to pick up a victim whose business partner was having a financial dispute with Iza. After transporting the victim – identified in court documents as “L.A.” – to Iza’s residence, Iza placed a firearm on the desk and displayed an assault rifle, which was placed on the ground near the desk.
Coberg informed the victim that he was an active-duty law enforcement officer and interrogated the victim about the financial dispute Iza had with L.A.’s business partner. While Coberg stood watch over the victim, Iza demanded – and recorded a video of – the victim transferring $127,000 to a bank account Iza controlled. Iza then directed his security guards to take away the victim’s passport and told them to drive the victim back to the victim’s hotel.
The next day, Coberg continued to interrogate the victim about the financial dispute and the location of the victim’s business partner. Later that day, Coberg took Iza and the victim to a shooting range in Iza’s residence and left the two individuals alone. Iza then held the victim at gunpoint and demanded the victim’s business partner transfer money to him, which the victim’s business partner did later that day.
False Traffic Stop and Arrest
In September 2021, Coberg conspired with Iza and others to lure another victim – identified in court documents as “R.C.” – from Miami to Los Angeles to set up the victim and cause him to be arrested with illegal narcotics. During the previous month, Coberg learned of a dispute between Iza and the victim and that Iza and two corrupt LASD deputies working for Iza forced the victim at gunpoint to transfer $25,000 from the victim’s bank account to an account Iza controlled.
Coberg and other co-conspirators set up a plan in which the victim’s ex-girlfriend called the victim and pretended to be interested in pursuing a romantic relationship to convince the victim to fly to Los Angeles to meet with her to use drugs together. At Coberg’s advice and counseling, the co-conspirator purchased the airplane ticket for the victim, picked him up at Los Angeles International Airport in a white Tesla, drove the victim to obtain drugs, and later traveled to a location in Paramount where an LASD deputy would make the traffic stop and arrest.
Christopher Michael Cadman, 34, of Fullerton, a corrupt LASD deputy who had participated in the intimidation of the victim in August 2021 resulting in the $25,000 payment to Iza, also helped set up the false arrest. Cadman pleaded guilty in August 2025 to federal criminal charges and is expected to be sentenced in the coming months.
With Cadman’s assistance, Coberg lied to a fellow LASD deputy that a confidential informant was driving a white Tesla with an individual who had an outstanding arrest warrant and possessed illegal drugs. That deputy later conducted the traffic stop, searched the Tesla, found cocaine in the car and psilocybin mushrooms inside the victim’s backpack, and arrested the victim.
During the arrest, Coberg slowly drove past the scene in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV – with the window rolled down – as Iza watched from the back passenger seat. Iza took videos and photographs of the victim’s arrest.
After the arrest, Coberg texted Cadman to thank him for facilitating the traffic stop and stated, “the kid enjoyed it,” referencing Iza. Iza later taunted the victim by sending him a photograph of the victim’s arrest in progress and the victim’s booking photo, and texting him, “[f]or a drug dealer, you [expletive] with the wrong people.”
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department provided assistance.
Assistant United States Attorney Maxwell K. Coll of the National Security Division prosecuted this case.
Former Assad-Era Syrian Prison Chief and Governor Found Guilty of Torturing Inmates then Lying About It to U.S. Immigration OfficialsRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – A former Syrian government official who was the head of one of that nation’s major prisons was found guilty by a jury today of torturing Syrian inmates at Adra Prison in Damascus then later lying about it to United States immigration officials, fraudulently obtaining a green card and attempting to naturalize as a U.S. citizen.
Samir Ousman Alsheikh, 73, formerly of Lexington, South Carolina, but who has been in federal custody in Los Angeles since July 2024, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit torture, three counts of torture, one count of fraud in the possession and use of an immigration document, and one count of attempted naturalization fraud.
“Our country is not a refuge for criminals – especially criminals who engage in the brutality of the kind this defendant inflicted on his victims,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “I commend the victims, our agents, and our prosecutors for finally bringing this defendant to justice.”
“Samir Ousman Alsheikh ordered, directed, and directly participated in heinous acts of torture designed to inflict excruciating mental and physical pain with the goal of punishing and silencing political dissent,” said Tysen Duva, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “For many years, he evaded responsibility for his crimes in Syria, including by lying to U.S. immigration authorities in order to reside in the U.S. with the hope of obtaining citizenship. Thanks to the courage and perseverance of the victims and the dedication of Department of Justice prosecutors, along with their law enforcement partners, justice has prevailed and Alsheikh can no longer run from his past.”
“Homeland Security Investigations and our partners are dedicated to bringing accountability to criminals like Samir Ousman Alsheikh, who tortured prisoners and then relocated to the United States,” said HSI Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang. “Our Homeland will never serve as a sanctuary for human rights abusers.”
“Today’s convictions serve as a reminder that the FBI will not tolerate acts of violence and torture or attempts to obfuscate those crimes,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “Along with our partners in the United States and throughout the world, we remain committed to defending victims and bringing perpetrators to justice.”
According to evidence presented at a nine-day trial, Alsheikh was a brigadier general in charge of Damascus Central Prison, commonly known as Adra Prison, from about 2005 through 2008, under the regime of then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Alsheikh inflicted and ordered subordinates to inflict severe physical and mental pain and suffering on prisoners. In particular, Alsheikh ordered certain prisoners to be sent to a section of the prison known as Wing 13, where they were held in tiny isolation cells and tortured.
Victims who refused to harm or kill political dissidents imprisoned with them or who otherwise showed support for the prisoners testified at trial that they witnessed and suffered various forms of torture. For example, guards used manacles to suspend prisoners by their wrists from pipes on the ceiling and then beat them with fists or cables while suspended for extended periods of time. One victim testified that he felt like his limbs would be torn from his body when they suspended him for days.
Witnesses also testified that they were placed on a torture device known as the “Magic Carpet” or “Flying Carpet,” which consisted of two large wooden panels with hinges in the middle. Guards strapped the witnesses to the device on their backs, positioning the prisoners’ waists at the hinges, and then forcing the lower panel together with the upper, folding the upper and lower halves of the prisoners’ bodies together and causing excruciating pain and serious injury.
One victim recalled that Alsheikh himself stomped on the Magic Carpet with his foot. One victim testified that as part of his punishment for writing a letter of support to a political prisoner, he was subjected to the Magic Carpet and then forced to wear a red jumpsuit solely assigned to those designated for execution. He testified that he thought he was going to die. Witnesses also testified to being folded into a car tire, restrained, and beaten by guards.
Alsheikh personally ordered these and other horrific acts of torture and brutality against the three named victims in the indictment. Following his time at Adra Prison, Alsheikh was appointed governor of the Syrian province of Deir Ez-Zour in 2011. In 2018, he applied for a visa and later applied to become a U.S. citizen.
Alsheikh came to the United States in 2020, after lying about and concealing the torture and violence he ordered and committed at the prison, among other misrepresentations, on his visa application to enter the United States and to become a legal permanent resident. Alsheikh continued to lie about and conceal his past conduct in his later application to become a United States citizen.
United States District Judge Hernán D. Vera will schedule a sentencing hearing for a later date, at which time Alsheikh will face up to 20 years in federal prison for the conspiracy to commit torture charge, up to 20 years in federal prison for each torture charge, and up to 10 years in federal prison for each immigration fraud-related charge.
HSI Los Angeles and FBI Chicago investigated the case with support from HSI and FBI legal attachés in Germany. HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) also significantly supported the case, along with the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit (IHRU). Established in 2009, the HRVWCC furthers the government’s efforts to identify, locate, and prosecute human rights abusers in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, female genital mutilation, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany.
Assistant United States Attorney Joshua O. Mausner of the National Security Division and Justice Department Trial Attorneys Patrick Jasperse of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) are prosecuting this case with significant assistance from HRSP Historian/Analyst Philip Hoffman and HRSP Trial Attorney Alexandra Skinnion, and support from HRSP Trial Attorney Detailee Spencer M. Perry. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided critical assistance.
Members of the public who have information about former human rights violators in the United States are urged to contact U.S. law enforcement through the HSI tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email [email protected] or complete its online tip form at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp
Federal Firearms Prosecutions Result in 11 Convictions, 23 Guns RecoveredRead the Press Release
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA- The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana has secured prison sentences for eleven convicted felons who illegally possessed firearms, removing twenty‑three unlawfully held guns from the streets of Indianapolis and Evansville. Each prosecution stemmed from a separate investigation and was individually resolved in January and February 2026.
DefendantSentencePrior ConvictionsLanel Marvis Wimberly, 33, of Evansville4 years, 3 months’ imprisonment
2 years supervised release
Domestic Battery; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon; RobberyChristopher Jackson, 46, of Indianapolis4 years, 4 months’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
Operating a Vehicle while Intoxicated x2; Battery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury x2; Criminal ConfinementZachary Daniels, 32 of Indianapolis9 years’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon; Resisting Law Enforcement; Criminal Recklessness; Unlawful Possession of a Syringe; Dealing in a Narcotic Drug and MethamphetamineDarrin Powell, 56, of Evansville6.5 years’ imprisonment
2 years supervised release
Aggravated BatteryJames Montgomery Jr., 21, of Indianapolis2 years, 5 months’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
TheftAnthony Bricest, 23, of Jeffersonville, IN5 years, 3 months’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
Possession of an altered firearm; Battery x3; Invasion of Privacy x2;Jake Fuchs, 31, of Evansville6 years, 8 months’ imprisonment
2 years supervised release
Possession of Methamphetamine; Unlawful Carrying a Firearm after a Felony ConvictionAntonio Harrell, 27, of Evansville3 years, 10 months’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
Burglary; Theft; Theft of a FirearmCornelius Cooper III, 24, of Carlisle, IN11 years, 8 months’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
Armed Robbery; Battery Resulting in Moderate Bodily InjurySamuel Paige, 40, of Indianapolis3 years, 4 months’ imprisonment
3 years supervised release
Attempted Robbery; Attempted Assault and Criminal Possession of a WeaponThomas Michael Kirsch, 45, of Reed, KY6 years’ imprisonment
3 years’ supervised release
Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon; Felon in Possession of a Firearm; Dealing MethamphetamineAs part of these investigations, the following firearms were seized and forfeited by law enforcement:
- Smith & Wesson SD40
- Canik 9 mm semiautomatic pistol
- Glock model 30 .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol
- Del-Ton Sport rifle
- Mossberg International 715T .22 long rifle
- Mossberg Maverick Model 88 12-gauge shotgun
- (2) Century Arms, Micro Draco, one with extended magazine
- Springfield Armory 9mm pistol
- Rossi RS22 rifle
- Mossberg 500A shotgun
- Eagle Arms EA-15 rifle
- (2) 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistols, one with extended magazine
- Freedom Ordinance, FX-9, 9mm pistol
- Smith and Wesson, 9mm semiautomatic
- Taurus, Model G2C, 9mm semi-automatic
- Glock 9mm handgun with an extended magazine (stolen)
- Lorcin 9 mm handgun
- Sig Sauer P320 handgun
- Sig Sauer P365 handgun
- SCCY CPX-1 handgun
- Taurus G3 9mm handgun
- Assorted ammunition and magazines
According to federal law, individuals with prior felony convictions are prohibited from legally possessing a firearm.
“Felons who illegally arm themselves are far more likely to use those guns to hurt someone or to escalate everyday conflicts into deadly violence,” said Tom Wheeler, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “When we remove firearms from people with violent criminal histories, we are preventing future shootings, protecting families, and strengthening the safety of every neighborhood in this district. These convictions send a clear message: if you are a prohibited person and you pick up a gun, federal prison will follow.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FBI Indianapolis, Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Forest Service, Indiana State Police, IMPD, and the Evansville Police Department investigated these cases. The sentences were imposed by U.S. District Court Judges Matthew P. Brookman, Tanya Walton Pratt, Richard L. Young, Sarah Evans Barker, and Chief Judge James R. Sweeney II.
U.S. Attorney Wheeler thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy Kemper, Kelsey Massa, Pamela Domash, Nate Walter, Todd Shellenbarger, and Lauren Wheatley, who prosecuted these cases.
These cases are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Crossroads of America comprises agents and officers from FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Services, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indiana National Guard, Indiana State Police, HIDTA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and Plainfield Police Department, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana.
Edinburg man gets 18 years for distributing child sexual abuse material to a minorRead the Press Release
McALLEN, Texas – A 36-year-old South Texas resident has been sent to prison after sexting with a young girl and sending child pornography involving minors as young as newborns, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.
Jaime Christian Flores pleaded guilty June 2, 2025.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now imposed a 216-month federal prison term. At the hearing, the court heard from a victim via letter explaining how she feels scarred and traumatized and wanted the judge to make sure Flores doesn’t hurt anyone else. Flores was further ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to each of 28 victims and will serve five years on supervised release following completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.
In April 2024, authorities discovered Flores was part of an online group dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material. He shared 30 images and one video of CSAM while in the chat room.
Flores later admitted to using his cellphone to download and distribute CSAM. He also stated he had been communicating with a 17-year-old minor for the past year and regularly sent CSAM and sexted with her. The investigation revealed Flores sent approximately 292 videos depicting minors ranging from newborn to 13 years of age engaged in sexual conduct or depicting their genital areas.
A forensic examination of Flores’s cellphone revealed a total of 7,647 images and 4,019 videos of CSAM.
Flores was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Alexis Garcia prosecuted the case, which was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative the Department of Justice launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section leads PSC, which marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identifies and rescues victims. For more information about PSC, please visit DOJ’s PSC page. For more information about internet safety education, please visit the resources tab on that page.
Detroit Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Federal Drug CrimeRead the Press Release
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Timothy D. Luckett, also known as “Fetty” and “Jack Boi,” 33, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced today to 14 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and a quantity of fentanyl.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 21, 2025, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a Rotary Road residence in Huntington where they encountered Luckett. On a kitchen counter in the residence, officers found approximately 454 grams of methamphetamine on one digital scale, approximately 2.5 grams of fentanyl on a second digital scale, and approximately 50 grams of fentanyl in a backpack. Under a dresser, officers found a loaded Ruger .45-caliber pistol, a loaded Sig Sauer Mosquito .22-caliber pistol, a Feather Industries .22-caliber rifle, and ammunition. Officers also found $7,278 in the residence and $380 on Luckett’s person during the search. As part of his guilty plea, Luckett admitted that he used the residence to store and conduct distributions of controlled substances, and that the seized cash was proceeds from his distribution of methamphetamine.
Luckett also admitted to additional criminal conduct. On November 8, 2023, Luckett sold approximately 7.6 grams of fentanyl to a confidential informant in Huntington in exchange for $800.
United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Cabell County Sheriff's Office.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph F. Adams and Courtney L. Finney prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:25-cr-105.
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Department of Justice Reveals Seizure of $14.9 Million from Cartel-Linked Money Laundering OperationRead the Press Release
DETROIT – On Friday, the Department of Justice unsealed a civil case aiming to forfeit over $14.9 million seized from an international drug money laundering scheme, United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. announced.
The lawsuit—originally filed in 2024—details the seizure of the funds and alleges a complex pattern of trade-based drug money laundering. Trade-based money laundering involves depositing U.S. cash drug proceeds into American bank accounts—using real or shell companies—which can then transfer the wealth to Colombia or elsewhere by delivering products or services that can be sold in local currencies.
The suit alleges that the $14.9 million seized came from tracking drug money deposits into the bank accounts of companies with connections to international commerce. These include a successful Latin American musician whose accountant said the cash deposits were related to concerts in Colombia, and many import-export businesses. The investigation into this scheme continues.
Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Joseph O. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration-Detroit.
“Drug trafficking and money laundering go hand-in-hand,” U.S. Attorney Gorgon said. “Cartels need money to poison our American communities. We will eliminate these threats and protect our country.”
“The cartel and it criminal networks are fueled by profit. Seizing their drug proceeds strikes at the core of their poisonous operations, the DEA and our partners will be relentless in pursuing these bad actors and will hold them accountable for the violence, destruction, and misery they cause. No distance will shield them,” said Special Agent in Charge Dixon.
The lawsuit is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime, human and drug trafficking.
Defendants indicted in multi-state firearms trafficking caseRead the Press Release
ATLANTA - Mikellen Clements, Kemith Calvin, and Laytayah Gross have been charged with firearms trafficking and conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking. Clements has also been charged with 42 counts of making false statements during firearms purchases and aiding and abetting the same.
“These defendants allegedly coordinated dozens of fraudulent gun purchases in Georgia and directly or indirectly put guns in the hands of out-of-state criminals,” said U.S Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “The Department of Justice is committed to fighting violent crime across the country and will continue to aggressively pursue and prosecute the gun traffickers who facilitate it.”
“This case highlights the critical partnership between federal and local law enforcement agencies. Together, we are working tirelessly to dismantle trafficking networks that threaten the safety of our neighborhoods,” said ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ryan Todd.
According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: From at least May 2023 continuing through August 2024, the defendants allegedly conspired to straw purchase firearms in Georgia and trafficked the firearms to the Maryland/Washington, D.C. area. As part of the conspiracy, at least 68 firearms were straw purchased from federally licensed dealers in the Northern District of Georgia. At least 15 of those firearms have been recovered by police in the Maryland/D.C. area. Several of the firearms were recovered in connection with suspected drug trafficking activities, and multiple firearms are also under investigation in connection with drive-by shootings.
In May 2025, one of the Micro Draco pistols allegedly straw purchased at Clements’s direction was recovered from a juvenile at a Maryland high school. The weapon was loaded with 17 rounds in the magazine at the time.
On March 5, 2026 and March 10, 2026, respectively, Laytayah Gross, a/k/a Tayah, 27, and Kemith Calvin, a/k/a Black, 28, appeared in federal court and pleaded not guilty to firearms trafficking and conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking. Mikellen Clements, a/k/a Snee, 27, is currently detained in Washington, D.C. on local charges, and will be arraigned before a federal magistrate judge on a later date.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains 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 case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cathelynn Tio and Matthew S. Carrico are prosecuting the case.
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.
D.C. Man Sentenced to 14 Months in Prison for Strangling Romantic PartnerRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Myron Caldwell, 31, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 14 months incarceration on charges stemming from strangling his romantic partner in November 2025, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Caldwell pleaded guilty on January 8, 2026, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to one count of strangulation. On March 16, 2026, the Honorable Judge Andrea Hertzfeld sentenced Caldwell to the 14-month prison term.
“This is a case where the defendant, not only attacked his girlfriend, but terrorized her. Caldwell strangled his girlfriend, pinned her to the ground, and then held her prisoner in her own home,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Domestic violence will not be tolerated. For any woman in a violent relationship please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE."
According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2025, Caldwell and the victim, his girlfriend, were involved in a verbal altercation at the latter’s home in Southeast Washington, D.C. When the dispute became physical and the victim fell onto the ground, Caldwell got on top of her and put the victim in a chokehold, applying pressure to her neck and restricting her ability to breathe. The victim retreated to her apartment bathroom once Caldwell released her, but Caldwell then followed her into the bathroom and refused to let her leave for several hours.
Joining in the announcement was Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Pirro and Interim Chief Carroll commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Elias Feldman, who prosecuted the case.
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D.C. Man Sentenced to 14-Month Prison Term for Strangling Romantic PartnerRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Myron Caldwell, 31, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 14 months incarceration on charges stemming from strangling his romantic partner in November 2025, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Caldwell pleaded guilty on January 8, 2026, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to one count of strangulation. On March 16, 2026, the Honorable Judge Andrea Hertzfeld sentenced Caldwell to the 14-month prison term.
“This is a case where the defendant, not only attacked his girlfriend, but terrorized her. Caldwell strangled his girlfriend, pinned her to the ground, and then held her prisoner in her own home,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Domestic violence will not be tolerated. For any woman in a violent relationship please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE."
According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2025, Caldwell and the victim, his girlfriend, were involved in a verbal altercation at the latter’s home in Southeast Washington, D.C. When the dispute became physical and the victim fell onto the ground, Caldwell got on top of her and put the victim in a chokehold, applying pressure to her neck and restricting her ability to breathe. The victim retreated to her apartment bathroom once Caldwell released her, but Caldwell then followed her into the bathroom and refused to let her leave for several hours.
Joining in the announcement was Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Pirro and Interim Chief Carroll commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Elias Feldman, who prosecuted the case.
Convicted Rapist Who Committed Armed Robberies in Tampa While on Parole for New Jersey Robberies Sentenced to 27 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – Jose Rodriguez (63) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday to 27 years in federal prison for robbery and use of a firearm during the commission of those robberies. United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to court documents, on August 4, 2024, Rodriguez entered a pizza shop in Tampa, approached the employees, pointed a pistol at them, and demanded money. The three employees fled through the back of the store.
A month later, on September 11, 2024, Rodriguez returned to the same shopping plaza. This time, he went inside a cellphone store, pointed a firearm at its employees and told them, “don’t move or I’ll shoot you.” Rodriguez ultimately made out with little money and fled. Detectives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office immediately responded to the scene. Working alongside ATF agents, they canvassed the scene, collected surveillance footage from nearby businesses, and identified the vehicle used by Rodriguez during the robbery.
Two days later, investigators found Rodriguez, his car, and executed a federal search warrant at his home. Agents recovered the two-tone .45 caliber Kahr pistol Rodriguez had used to commit the robberies. A National Crime Information Center query revealed that Rodriguez had stolen the firearm from a terminally ill man in Pennsylvania. Rodriguez also robbed that man of his car, cash, and personal items.
Rodriguez had previously been convicted of three different robberies, as well as rape. At the time he committed these offenses, Rodriguez was on parole out of the state of New Jersey for robbery.
This case was investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Diego F. Novaes.
Chicago Man Sentenced to More Than Four Years in Prison for Fraudulently Obtaining $1.5 Million in SNAP BenefitsRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for fraudulently obtaining more than $1.5 million in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
SNAP is a federal benefit program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to supplement the food budgets of eligible individuals. Retail stores authorized to participate in the program can accept SNAP benefits through EBT cards, also known as Link cards, although it is illegal for stores or individuals to exchange the cards for cash or other items.
From 2018 to 2023, DAVID QUINONES gave cash or other items to SNAP recipients in exchange for access to their Link cards. Quinones used the cards to purchase various goods at authorized retail stores, fraudulently representing himself as the authorized user of the cards. He then re-sold most of the goods, keeping the proceeds for himself. In total, Quinones used more than 1,200 cards and fraudulently caused the USDA to pay out approximately $1,554,804 in SNAP benefits.
Quinones, 45, of Chicago, pleaded guilty last year to a federal wire fraud charge. On March 9, 2026, U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger sentenced Quinones to four years and four months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $1,554,804 in restitution to the government.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Shantel R. Robinson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, and Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Kelly.
Brooks County man convicted of meth traffickingRead the Press Release
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A 45-year-old Falfurrias resident has pleaded guilty to conducting multiple narcotics transactions in the Corpus Christi area, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.
The investigation into Rodolfo Alvarado began in March 2025. Authorities were able to extract numerous text messages and financial transactions that indicated widespread drug trafficking. In the following months, law enforcement conducted controlled buys from Alvarado and other co-conspirators.
On Aug. 8, 2025, authorities executed a search warrant at Alvarado’s residence and located items commonly used in narcotics distribution, including digital scales and plastic baggies. They also discovered a wooden board covering a hole in the ground beneath a shaded structure. Inside the hole, they located a plastic bag containing approximately 303.73 grams of meth.
U.S. District Judge David S. Morales will impose sentencing June 18. At that time, Alvarado faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Lamont and Ashley Pruitt are prosecuting the case.
Brazilian National Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Obtain Driver’s Licenses for Illegal AliensRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Brazilian national illegally residing in Boston pleaded guilty on March 6, 2026, to conspiring to obtain driver’s licenses for ineligible applicants, principally illegal aliens.
Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents. U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman scheduled sentencing for April 9, 2026. In December 2024, Nascimento De Andrade was charged along with four co-conspirators.
From in or about November 2020 through in or about September 2024, Nascimento De Andrade and his alleged co-conspirators fraudulently procured driver’s licenses for illegal alien customers who resided in states that prohibited illegal aliens from obtaining driver’s licenses. Prior to July 2023, illegal aliens residing in Massachusetts were not permitted to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses. Beginning in 2019, illegal aliens residing in New York became eligible to obtain New York driver’s licenses.
Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade and his alleged co-conspirators conspired to fraudulently obtain New York driver’s licenses for illegal alien customers who did not reside in New York, including Massachusetts residents, and after July 2023 to fraudulently obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses for illegal alien customers who did not reside in Massachusetts. The co-conspirators collected money from the customers in exchange for fraudulently obtaining the driver’s licenses for them. In one instance, on April 24, 2024, Nascimento De Andrade requested and accepted $450 in cash from a customer in the parking lot of a Plymouth RMV branch location, in return for providing the customer with a fake cable bill to provide to the RMV, falsely showing that the customer lived at an address in Massachusetts.
In New York, before obtaining a driver’s license, applicants were required to pass a written permit test and complete driver’s education coursework from a New York driving school. Online permit test-takers were required by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) to take a picture of themselves with a web camera during the test. This was to ensure that the test-taker was indeed the applicant and that there was not a person sitting with and helping the applicant with the test.To avoid the customers having to take the permit tests, Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade and his alleged co-conspirators conspired to obtain several pictures of the customers sitting down, making it look as if the customers were taking the tests. They also allegedly conspired to complete the permit tests for the customers online and, when prompted by the NY DMV to take pictures during the tests, and to upload the pictures that the customers previously provided – purporting to show that it was the customers who were taking the tests, not the defendants. The co-conspirators allegedly conspired to create fraudulent driver’s education certificates of completion, purportedly from New York driving schools, and they conspired to forge the signatures of driving school staff on the fake certificates and to give these documents to the customers to provide to the NY DMV.
The NY DMV also required that applicants appear at a NY DMV location and provide documents to prove their identity and residence in New York. The co-conspirators allegedly conspired to meet Massachusetts-based customers at locations in Massachusetts – typically several customers at a time – and drive them to NY DMV branch locations. When they arrived at the NY DMV locations, the defendants allegedly gave the customers fraudulent documents falsely purporting to demonstrate that the customers resided in New York. The NY DMV relied on the misrepresentations to issue New York driving permits to the customers. The co-conspirators allegedly conspired to arrange for the NY DMV to mail the permits to locations in New York that were controlled by the defendants and provided the permits to the customers in-person. The defendants then allegedly conspired to schedule road driving license tests for the customers with the NY DMV and, again, drive the customers to New York for them to take the road tests. If the customers passed the tests, the NY DMV sent the driver’s licenses to mailing addresses in New York that the defendants allegedly controlled, and the defendants then provided the licenses to the customers.
The defendants allegedly conspired to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses for out-of-state residents, in generally the same manner as they allegedly obtained the New York licenses for Massachusetts residents. Collectively, the co-conspirators allegedly fraudulently applied for licenses for more than 1,000 customers, obtained licenses for more than 600 of the customers, and collected at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Nascimento De Andrade is the third defendant to plead guilty in this case. For their roles in the conspiracy, in September 2025, defendant Cesar Agusto Marin Reis was sentenced to 290 days in prison, and in October 2025, Helbert Costa Generoso was sentenced to 9 months in prison.
The charge of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents carries up to five 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 statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case. Nascimento De Andrade will be subject to deportation upon completion of any sentence imposed.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Kelly Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the NY DMV Division of Field Investigation; the Boston, Danbury (Conn.) and Waterbury (Conn.) Police Departments; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut; and the New York State Inspector General’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan O’Shea of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Azerbaijani National Indicted for $1 Million Wire Fraud and Money Laundering Offense Against the United States Postal ServiceRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida – Khayyam Arif Oglu Farajov (age 40) has been charged by indictment with five counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each count. The indictment also notifies Farajov that the United States intends to forfeit two personal investment accounts, seized by the United States, which were involved in the money laundering and are alleged to contain the proceeds of the offenses. United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to the indictment, Farajov owned and operated a freight brokerage company called Talishco LLC. In May 2022, Farajov enrolled in the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Freight Auction program. Through Freight Auction, Farajov bid on and was awarded hundreds of contracts to transport U.S. Mail across the country on behalf of the USPS. For the majority of these contracts, Farajov failed to transport the mail or hire anyone else to do so, making false excuses to the USPS about why his trucks had not arrived on schedule. Despite failing to deliver the loads, Farajov would then log back into Freight Auction, manually enter bogus delivery information, and get paid.
Farajov obtained more than $1 million from this scheme between June 2022 and January 2023. After he received the money, he funneled it through a series of bank accounts belonging to shell companies he owned. After reconsolidating the fraud proceeds into two personal investment brokerage accounts, he invested the fraud proceeds in the stock market for his personal enrichment.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the USPS Office of Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard Varadan. Assistant United States Nicole Andrejko is handling the forfeiture.
Armed Career Criminal Sentenced to over 15 Years in Prison for Possession of a FirearmRead the Press Release
Memphis, TN – A Memphis man, Derrick Richard, 36, has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. D. Michael Dunavant, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence today.
According to information presented in court, on December 22, 2022, an officer with the Memphis Police Department arrested Richard and discovered a Jimenez .25 caliber pistol in Richard’s pocket.
A trial jury made a special finding that Richard had previously been convicted of three violent felonies on different occasions, therefore designating Richard as an Armed Career Criminal (ACC). Due to this designation, Richard was facing a mandatory statutory minimum of fifteen years in prison.
On March 12, 2026, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl H. Lipman sentenced Richard to 188 months in federal prison for one count of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. There is no parole in the federal system.
U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said: "This case targets and removes a dangerous person from the community BEFORE he pulls the trigger again. Richard has spent years sowing a culture of criminality in Memphis, and he will now reap a long prison sentence without the sanctuary of parole.”
This case was investigated by the Memphis Police Department (MPD) and the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorneys Jermal Blanchard and Jennifer Musselwhite prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
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Arkansas man sentenced to 17+ years for robbing Maryville motelRead the Press Release
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A district judge sentenced an Arkansas man to 210 months’ imprisonment after he admitted to robbing a motel in Maryville at gunpoint.
Rickey Martin, Jr., 36, pleaded guilty in November to one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of brandish and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. Following imprisonment, he will serve three years of supervised release. The judge also ordered Martin to pay $1,440 in restitution.
“Gun violence will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “All thieves lack honor, but armed robbers embody a special evil, because they use violence and intimidation to take what they have neither earned, created, nor deserved, from the innocent people who have.”
According to court documents, Martin admitted to robbing the owner of a motel in Maryville in May 2023. He brandished a firearm loaded with an extended magazine and forcefully stole the victim’s wallet and cash from the motel.
“The Maryville Police Department is grateful for the strong partnership between us and our local and federal law enforcement partners that helped bring this case to a successful conclusion,” said Maryville Police Chief Tony Manley. “Investigations like this show that when agencies work together and share information, we can hold offenders accountable and protect our community.”
Shortly after the robbery, Martin used the victim’s credit cards at a gas station and a fast-food restaurant.
“The sentence imposed in this case reflects the serious consequences violent offenders face when they commit violent crimes using firearms,” said ATF Chicago Field Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amon. “ATF, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and our law enforcement partners remain steadfast in ensuring that those who commit acts of violence are held accountable.”
ATF and the Maryville Police Department led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Burns prosecuted the case.
Apollo Beach Businessman Charged with COVID-19 FraudRead the Press Release
Tampa, FL – Caleb Walsh (36, Apollo Beach) has been charged by federal indictment with bank fraud, wire fraud, and illegal monetary transactions. If convicted on all counts, Walsh faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Walsh that the United States intends to forfeit a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon, a hotel, and cryptocurrency, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offense. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to the indictment, between March 2020 and March 2021, Walsh devised a scheme to defraud multiple federally-insured financial institutions and another lender by submitting false and fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications in the names of companies that he controlled. Walsh misrepresented the number of employees, average monthly payroll costs, and falsely certified that the PPP funds would be used for permissible expenses. In furtherance of his scheme, Walsh also submitted false and fraudulent IRS tax forms showing his companies had purportedly paid millions of dollars in payroll as well as submitting altered and/or fictitious bank statements in the names of his companies. PPP loans were one of the sources of economic relief provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Walsh used the fraudulently obtained PPP proceeds to illegally purchase a luxury vehicle, invest in a hotel in Nebraska, purchase cryptocurrency, and purchase private jet flights to Mexico for him and his family.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
In May 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 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.
This case was investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Small Business Administration – Office of Inspector General. It will be prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Chris Poor.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by contacting the Justice Department’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.