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Thursday 7 November 2019
Lynn Man Pleads Guilty to Role in $1.4 Million Bank Fraud and Money Laundering SchemeRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Lynn man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with receiving and laundering approximately $1.4 million fraudulently obtained from a Korean company.
Chukwuemeka Eze, 37, pleaded guilty to bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft charges. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for Feb. 3, 2020. Eze, 37, of Lynn, was arrested on a criminal complaint in June 2019, and is being held in federal custody.
Eze admitted that he used a victim’s name, date of birth and Social Security number without permission to open bank accounts in the victim’s name and in the name of a fictitious Massachusetts corporation that Eze created, Levistronix GMB Ltd. Eze selected the name for Levistronix because of its similarity to Levitronix GmbH, an actual Swiss company. In May and June 2018, others involved in the scheme sent fake Levitronix invoices totaling approximately $1.4 million to a Korean company that was a Levitronix customer. The fake invoices directed the company to send the $1.4 million to Eze’s deceptively-named Massachusetts bank account.
When Eze received the money, he withdrew cash, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on retail purchases, including Apple laptops and Zales’ jewelry. He also purchased $700,000 in bank checks payable to other fictitious companies that he controlled, which he deposited into bank accounts in those companies’ names. Eze in turn made cash withdrawals, retail purchases, and wire transfers from those bank accounts, all to conceal the fact that the money was the proceeds of the fraud scheme. In doing so, Eze spent or disbursed more than $862,000 of the Korean company’s money.
The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $1 million, forfeiture and restitution. The charges of money laundering provide for sentences of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $500,000, forfeiture and restitution. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a sentence of two years in prison consecutive to any other sentence imposed. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto of Lelling’s Cybercrime Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Loomis Gun Store Crash and Grab Robber Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Aaron Lee Patrick, 30, of Loomis, was sentenced today to five years and 11 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley for crashing a truck into a gun store and stealing at least five guns, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
On October 25, 2018, Patrick pleaded guilty to theft of a firearm from a licensed dealer, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to court documents, Patrick stole his former employer’s flatbed truck and repeatedly rammed it into the wall of a licensed firearms dealer in Loomis, leaving two truck-sized holes in the side of the building. Patrick stole at least five firearms from the store, fled the scene, and went to the home of co-defendant and convicted felon Rocky Gordon, 63, of Colfax, where he sold Gordon four firearms for $1,000 and at least 35 grams of methamphetamine. That afternoon, sheriff’s deputies found and arrested him. In Patrick’s backpack was a fifth firearm that had been stolen from the dealer along with 35 grams of methamphetamine.
Patrick had previously been convicted of five felonies in Amador and Placer Counties including convictions for burglary and illegally possessing an assault weapon. At the time of his arrest, a California state court had issued a no-bail warrant for his arrest because he was on community supervision and had removed his ankle monitor.
Gordon pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
This case was the product of an investigation by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney David W. Spencer prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime. To learn more about Project Safe Neighborhoods, go to www.justice.gov/psn.
Long Island Doctor Indicted for Illegal Distribution of OxycodoneRead the Press Release
An indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Central Islip charging Tameshwar Ammar, a medical doctor in Roslyn, New York, with writing prescriptions for oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, without a legitimate medical purpose. Ammar was arrested this morning, and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Ray Donovan, Special Agent-in-Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division, announced the indictment.
As set forth in the indictment and other court documents, between 2013 and 2019, Ammar illegally prescribed more than 19,000 highly addictive oxycodone pills to two individuals identified in the indictment as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2. According to a review of Ammar’s medical files for the two individuals, Ammar wrote the prescriptions without any diagnostic proof that either had a legitimate medical necessity. Ammar prescribed approximately 8,400 oxycodone pills to John Doe 1, knowing that he intended to sell the pills to others. Ammar prescribed 11,525 30 milligram oxycodone pills to John Doe 2. After learning that John Doe 2 had been admitted to a psychiatric facility in March 2018, Ammar continued to prescribe John Doe 2 with oxycodone and also prescribed methadone.
In July 2019, John Doe 2 died of a drug overdose caused by oxycodone, methadone and ketamine. A search warrant executed at Ammar’s office in October 2017 resulted in the recovery of ketamine.
“As alleged, Ammar prescribed thousands of highly addictive opioids without a legitimate medical purpose, which makes him a drug dealer and, sadly, in this case one of his customers lost their life,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “This Office and our partners at the DEA are working tirelessly to combat the opioid epidemic on Long Island and elsewhere by prosecuting medical professionals who contribute to the crisis.” Mr. Donoghue also thanked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, New York Region, for their assistance during the investigation.
“The illegal and unethical way Dr. Ammar conducted his medical practice paved a way for patients’ opioid addiction and overdoses,” said DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Donovan. “The fact that Dr. Ammar prescribed over 8,000 oxycodone pills to one patient for street resale shows his disregard to public health and safety, which are both a good doctor’s main concerns. I applaud the DEA Long Island Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for their diligent work.”
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Ammar faces up to 20 years in prison.
The government’s investigation was led by the DEA’s Long Island Tactical Diversion Squad, comprising agents and officers of the DEA, Nassau County Police Department (NCPD), Suffolk County Police Department, Port Washington Police Department and Rockville Centre Police Department. The DEA Tactical Diversion Squad also worked in conjunction with officers and agents of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, and New York City Department of Investigation.
This case is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York as part of the Prescription Drug Initiative. In January 2012, this Office and the DEA, in conjunction with the five District Attorneys in this district, the Nassau and Suffolk County Police Departments, the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police and other key federal, state and local government partners launched the Initiative to mount a comprehensive response to what the United States Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control and Preventions called an epidemic increase in the abuse of so-called opioid analgesics. To date, the Initiative has brought over 160 federal and local criminal prosecutions, including the prosecution of 19 health care professionals; taken civil enforcement actions against a hospital, a pharmacy and pharmacy chain; removed prescription authority from numerous rogue doctors, and expanded information-sharing among enforcement agencies to better target and pursue drug traffickers. The Initiative also is involved in an extensive community outreach program to address the abuse of pharmaceuticals.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Bradley T. King and Madeline O’Connor are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
Tameshwar ammar
Age: 51
Amityville, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 19-CR-516 (DRH)
Lengthy Prison Sentences Handed Down to Three Monroe Residents for Illegal Drug TraffickingRead the Press Release
MONROE, La. – A federal judge has sentenced a 37-year old Monroe resident to 42 years in prison following his convictions for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and phencyclidine (PCP), announced United States Attorney David C. Joseph. Thomas J.M. Goodin, 37, was convicted on July 19, 2019, following a four-day jury trial presided over by U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty.
Also sentenced were co-conspirators Meko R. Walker, 37, and Brittany S. Gix, 31, both of Monroe, who were convicted on July 19, 2019 following trial, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and attempted possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Judge Doughty sentenced Meko Walker to 12 years in prison, and Brittany Gix to 10 years in prison.
Judge Doughty handed down the sentences for Goodin and Walker on November 6, 2019, and sentenced Gix today.
Testimony presented during the trial showed that Goodin traveled to California on October 4, 2017, and shipped approximately one pound of pure methamphetamine inside of a gift-wrapped present to Gix. Agents intercepted the package at a Fed Ex processing center in Monroe and conducted a controlled delivery of the package to Gix’s home. After Gix received the package, Walker arrived at the home to pick it up and left with the methamphetamine. At that point, the Metro Narcotics Unit of Ouachita Parish arrested Walker and Gix.
In a second incident on November 30, 2017, a Louisiana State Trooper pulled over Goodin’s vehicle, bearing California license plates, in West Monroe on Interstate 20 traveling eastbound. After a K-9 alerted on the vehicle, the trooper searched it and found additional gift-wrapped presents containing two drink bottles filled with liquid determined to be 92.8 grams of pure PCP and a candle containing a plastic bag determined to be 343.1 grams of pure methamphetamine. During the traffic stop, Goodin attempted to conceal his identity by providing a driver’s license belonging to another individual.
Due to Goodin’s prior serious drug convictions of distribution of cocaine and possession of PCP with intent to distribute, the career offender provision of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines allowed the court to sentence Goodin to an enhanced sentence. Goodin has been a suspect in multiple homicide and armed robbery investigations.
The DEA, Metro Narcotics Unit of Ouachita Parish, Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office and Monroe Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mike O’Mara and Brandon B. Brown, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Anderson Thompson, of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s Office, Criminal Division, prosecuted the case.
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Ledyard Man Sentenced to More Than 5 Years in Federal Prison for Distributing CocaineRead the Press Release
John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JERROD STEELE, 31, of Ledyard, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 70 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing cocaine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2018, the FBI, Norwich Police Department and other law enforcement agencies began investigating a drug trafficking organization that was distributing heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine in southeastern Connecticut. The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases of narcotics, revealed that Steele received cocaine from a co-conspirator and then sold the drug to his own customers.
On March 5, 2019, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Steele and 12 other individuals with narcotics trafficking offenses. Steele has been detained since his arrest on April 25, 2019. On July 31, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, cocaine.
Steele’s criminal history includes state convictions for attempted first degree assault, conspiracy to commit first degree robbery, burglary third degree, assault third degree, and running from police.
This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Connecticut State Police and Norwich, Town of Groton and Waterford Police Departments, with the assistance of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, Baltimore Police Department and Delaware State Police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natasha M. Freismuth and S. Dave Vatti.
Lawrence Man Sentenced to 52 Months for Participating in a Conspiracy to Distribute FentanylRead the Press Release
CONCORD – United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced that Geudin Nivar Baez, a/k/a/ Jhonatan Mateo, 31, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, was sentenced yesterday to 52 months in federal prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
According to court documents and statements make in court, in May of 2018, Nivar Baez’s co-defendant Santo Benito Lara participated in a conspiracy to sell fentanyl to a customer in Salem, New Hampshire. After the DEA received information about the conspiracy, it began an investigation into Lara’s activities. Between May and September of 2018, Nivar Baez and Lara sold fentanyl in Lawrence to a cooperating individual on multiple occasions.
Lara was found guilty by a jury on May 10, 2019 and is awaiting sentencing. Nivar Baez previously pleaded guilty on May 15, 2019.
Nivar faces possible removal to the Dominican Republic after the completion of his prison sentence.
“Interstate fentanyl trafficking is damaging communities in New Hampshire every day,” said U.S. Attorney Murray. “In order to protect the health and safety of our citizens, we will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify, prosecute, and incarcerate those who are selling illegal drugs in the Granite State. This prison sentence demonstrates the severe consequences for drug dealers who choose to introduce lethal fentanyl into our state.”
“Opioid abuse are at epidemic levels in New Hampshire and across New England,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle. “DEA is committed to aggressively pursue Drug Trafficking Organizations and individuals like Mr. Navar Baez who are coming from out of state to distribute fentanyl, in order to profit and destroy people’s lives. This investigation demonstrates the strength of collaborative local, state and federal law enforcement efforts in New Hampshire.”
This matter was investigated by the DEA, with assistance from the New Hampshire State Police and the Essex County (MA) Sheriff’s Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anna Dronzek and Jarad Hodes.
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Kanawha County Woman Sentenced for Federal Drug Trafficking OffenseRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Elkview woman was sentenced to federal prison for a federal drug trafficking offense, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Stephanie Barnett, 36, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and five years of supervised release for possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
“Barnett was acting as a courier for drug dealers,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Just like the dealers, she will be going to federal prison. We will prosecute all those bringing deadly drugs into our communities, from the drug source to the courier.”
On February 6, 2019, Barnett’s vehicle was pulled over in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, by a Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputy. Barnett initially lied to the deputy about her name and age, and the deputy also smelled burnt marijuana inside the car. The deputy retrieved his K-9 partner, who also indicated that there were narcotics inside the car. Inside the console of the car, officers found a small baggie of methamphetamine. When the officers opened the trunk, they found a large, plastic bag that contained three large bricks of methamphetamine. Each brick weighed approximately two pounds. The methamphetamine was sent to the DEA Mid-Atlantic Lab where it tested as being over 93% pure methamphetamine. Barnett had traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, where she received over six pounds of methamphetamine. She had intended to deliver the methamphetamine to local dealers in Charleston.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Senior United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney L. Alexander Hamner is handling the prosecution.
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Justice Department Settles with College to Resolve Disability Discrimination ComplaintRead the Press Release
The Justice Department today announced that it reached an agreement with Lanier Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, to resolve the Department’s lawsuit alleging disability discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The agreement resolves the Department’s complaint alleging that the college terminated an employee, who has multiple sclerosis, on the basis of her disability after years of service to the college. The complaint further alleges that, after the employee took three days of sick leave one summer, the college removed her from the teaching schedule for an entire school semester, thus reducing her hours and pay to zero, due to her multiple sclerosis.
Under the agreement, Lanier Technical College will revise its policies to ensure compliance with the ADA, implement new policies to ensure it does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its scheduling practices, train staff on the ADA, and file periodic reports with the Department on implementation of the agreement. The college will pay $53,000 in back pay and compensatory damages to its former employee. This matter was based on a referral from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Atlanta District Office, which completed the initial investigation of the facts.
“Individuals should not face unlawful barriers to employment because they have a chronic illness or other disability,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. “This agreement is another step towards eliminating discriminatory employment barriers for people with disabilities. We applaud Lanier Technical College for committing to change its policies and practices, and compensating its former employee who was unlawfully terminated from her job.”
“Nearly 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, cases like this demonstrate that there is still work to be done to ensure that the hard-working people in our district do not face disability discrimination at work or otherwise,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak for the Northern District of Georgia. “It is of paramount importance that state institutions like Lanier Tech set the example in rooting out discriminatory policies and practices.”
To read the settlement agreement, please click here, and to read the complaint, please click here. For more information on the Civil Rights Division, please visit www.justice.gov/crt. For more information on the ADA, please call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or visit www.ada.gov.
Justice Department Awards $95 Million to Improve Public Safety in the State of TennesseeRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice today announced awards of approximately $95 million to support public safety efforts in the state of Tennessee. The funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) will target violent crime, support law enforcement efforts to combat the manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs, improve officer mental health and wellness, and enhance school safety.
“Supporting our partners in state, local and tribal law enforcement is at the heart of our mission at the Department of Justice,” said COPS Office Director Phil Keith. “These federal investments in the state of Tennessee will help keep kids safe in school, provide peer support services for law enforcement officers and give crime victims critical resources needed to heal in the aftermath of a crime.”
“Tennessee’s brave crime-fighters and compassionate service providers deserve to know that the Department of Justice is doing everything in its power to help them safeguard their communities and protect their fellow citizens,” said OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan. “The Office of Justice Programs is so very pleased to make its resources available to support them in this vital work.”
Director Keith made the announcement in Nashville on Thursday morning along with U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Don Cochran; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee J. Douglas Overbey; U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee D. Michael Dunavant; and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Director David Rausch. Also on hand for the announcement were Metropolitan Nashville Police Deputy Chief John Drake; Memphis Police Deputy Chief Michael Hardy; Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Maggi Duncan; Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs Deputy Director Daina Moran; and Director of the Elizabethton, Tennessee City School District Dr. Corey Gardenhour.
TBI was awarded nearly $2 million from the COPS Office for investigating illicit activities related to heroin distribution and methamphetamine trafficking. In addition, the cities of Memphis and Nashville were both awarded funding through the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act program for their respective officer peer support programs. The well-being and safety of the nation’s law enforcement officers is a top priority for the Department of Justice, and these awards are a step in the direction of helping our men and women in blue get the services they need and deserve. Other awards announced today will assist with violent crime reduction, rapid DNA analysis, school safety, and victim services, and will provide much needed equipment for law enforcement agencies.
“These grant awards make possible programs which would otherwise be impossible to implement and provide our local governments with the necessary resources to make our communities safer,” said U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee. “I’m grateful to Director Keith and his office for the support they continue to provide to our state and local agencies.”
“The Department of Justice is committed to providing meaningful resources to our state and local law enforcement partners, and this announcement of crucial public safety grant funding will fulfill the President’s Executive Orders to reduce crime in America and Back the Blue," said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee. “These grant resources from the COPS Office will allow our state and local partners to focus on the priority areas of violent crime and drug trafficking, as well as the emerging areas of school safety and officer health and wellness.”
“I find the Department of Justice’s continued support of its law enforcement allies very heartening,” said U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey of the Eastern District of Tennessee. “These federal resources will serve to provide better tools to promote safety within our state as well as the well-being of law enforcement officers and victims of crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to support its federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in all endeavors that seek to promote justice and safety within our community.”
“This grant funding will make the difference for our agency, by providing extra resources to help us better address some of the most pressing issues impacting communities across Tennessee,” said TBI Director David Rausch. “We are thankful to our partners at COPS and the Department of Justice for their support and their investment in TBI and agencies across the state to improve public safety and the quality of life for all Tennesseans.”
“The Memphis Police Department appreciates the COPS Office support through the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act funding which will expand Memphis’ Peer Support Program,” said Memphis Police Department Director Michael Rallings. “These funds will allow us to increase the number of Peer Support Officers, enhance opportunities to utilize peer support, and make resources more accessible to officers.”
“Through the support of Justice Department grants, our police department is able to deploy cutting edge technology to better protect our residents, ensure that we are caring for our employees’ mental health and wellness, and ensure that Metro Nashville Police Department personnel receive important specialized training in a number of areas,” Chief Steve Anderson said. “I have often noted that the relationship with our Justice Department partners, including Don Cochran and Phil Keith, is outstanding. I’m grateful for their commitment to Nashville and the state of Tennessee.”
A full list of COPS awards is available online at https://cops.usdoj.gov/grants. OJP awards, organized under specific grant programs, are available online at https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/OJPAwardData.htm. For OVW awards, visit https://www.justice.gov/ovw/awards.
About the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services:
The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 130,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.
About the Office of Justice Programs:
The Office of Justice Programs, directed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan, provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal and juvenile justice systems. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.
About the Office on Violence Against Women:
The Office on Violence Against Women provides leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation. Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. In addition to overseeing federal grant programs, OVW undertakes initiatives in response to special needs identified by communities facing acute challenges. Learn more at www.justice.gov/ovw.
Justice Department Awards $95 Million to Improve Public Safety in State of TennesseeRead the Press Release
Memphis, TN – The Department of Justice today announced awards of approximately $95 million to support public safety efforts in the state of Tennessee. The funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) will target violent crime, support law enforcement efforts to combat the manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs, improve officer mental health and wellness, and enhance school safety.
"Supporting our partners in state, local and tribal law enforcement is at the heart of our mission at the Department of Justice," said COPS Office Director Phil Keith. "These federal investments in the state of Tennessee will help keep kids safe in school, provide peer support services for law enforcement officers and give crime victims critical resources needed to heal in the aftermath of a crime."
"Tennessee’s brave crime-fighters and compassionate service providers deserve to know that the Department of Justice is doing everything in its power to help them safeguard their communities and protect their fellow citizens," said OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katherine T. Sullivan. "The Office of Justice Programs is so very pleased to make its resources available to support them in this vital work."
Director Keith made the announcement in Nashville on Thursday morning along with U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Don Cochran; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee J. Douglas Overbey; U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee D. Michael Dunavant; and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Director David Rausch. Also on hand for the announcement were Metropolitan Nashville Police Deputy Chief John Drake; Memphis Police Deputy Chief Michael Hardy; Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Maggi Duncan; Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs Deputy Director Daina Moran; and Director of the Elizabethton, Tennessee City School District Dr. Corey Gardenhour.
TBI was awarded nearly $2 million from the COPS Office for investigating illicit activities related to heroin distribution and methamphetamine trafficking. In addition, the cities of Memphis and Nashville were both awarded funding through the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act program for their respective officer peer support programs. The well-being and safety of the nation’s law enforcement officers is a top priority for the Department of Justice, and these awards are a step in the direction of helping our men and women in blue get the services they need and deserve. Other awards announced today will assist with violent crime reduction, rapid DNA analysis, school safety, and victim services, and will provide much needed equipment for law enforcement agencies.
"These grant awards make possible programs which would otherwise be impossible to implement and provide our local governments with the necessary resources to make our communities safer," said U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee. "I’m grateful to Director Keith and his office for the support they continue to provide to our state and local agencies."
"The Department of Justice is committed to providing meaningful resources to our state and local law enforcement partners, and this announcement of crucial public safety grant funding will fulfill the President’s Executive Orders to reduce crime in America and Back the Blue," said U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant of the Western District of Tennessee. "These grant resources from the COPS Office will allow our state and local partners to focus on the priority areas of violent crime and drug trafficking, as well as the emerging areas of school safety and officer health and wellness."
"I find the Department of Justice’s continued support of its law enforcement allies very heartening," said U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey of the Eastern District of Tennessee. "These federal resources will serve to provide better tools to promote safety within our state as well as the well-being of law enforcement officers and victims of crimes. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to support its federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in all endeavors that seek to promote justice and safety within our community."
"This grant funding will make the difference for our agency, by providing extra resources to help us better address some of the most pressing issues impacting communities across Tennessee," said TBI Director David Rausch. "We are thankful to our partners at COPS and the Department of Justice for their support and their investment in TBI and agencies across the state to improve public safety and the quality of life for all Tennesseans."
"The Memphis Police Department appreciates the COPS Office support through the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act funding which will expand Memphis’ Peer Support Program," said Memphis Police Department Director Michael Rallings. "These funds will allow us to increase the number of Peer Support Officers, enhance opportunities to utilize peer support, and make resources more accessible to officers."
"Through the support of Justice Department grants, our police department is able to deploy cutting edge technology to better protect our residents, ensure that we are caring for our employees’ mental health and wellness, and ensure that Metro Nashville Police Department personnel receive important specialized training in a number of areas," Chief Steve Anderson said. "I have often noted that the relationship with our Justice Department partners, including Don Cochran and Phil Keith, is outstanding. I’m grateful for their commitment to Nashville and the state of Tennessee."
A full list of COPS awards is available online at https://cops.usdoj.gov/grants. OJP awards, organized under specific grant programs, are available online at https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/OJPAwardData.htm. For OVW awards, visit https://www.justice.gov/ovw/awards.
About the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services:
The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of approximately 130,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.
About the Office of Justice Programs:
The Office of Justice Programs, directed by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Katharine T. Sullivan, provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, assist victims and enhance the rule of law by strengthening the criminal and juvenile justice systems. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.
About the Office on Violence Against Women:
The Office on Violence Against Women provides leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation. Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. In addition to overseeing federal grant programs, OVW undertakes initiatives in response to special needs identified by communities facing acute challenges. Learn more at www.justice.gov/ovw
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Jury Finds Chronic Felon Guilty of Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity TheftRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH, PA - After deliberating one hour, a federal jury of five men and seven women found Frederick H. Banks guilty of five counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
Frederick H. Banks, 52, was tried before Chief United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
According to Assistant United States Attorneys Shaun E. Sweeney and Christopher M. Cook, who prosecuted the case, the evidence presented at trial established that Banks attempted to defraud Forex, a retail foreign exchange company of at least $264,000 in the scheme. The evidence at trial established that, during a four-week period in 2013, Banks submitted false and fraudulent account applications to Forex in an effort to use those money to kite funds from Forex to Banks’ pre-existing personal bank accounts. As part of the scheme, Banks used the identity information of a former friend in an effort to fraudulently open a Forex account.
Judge Hornak has not yet scheduled the sentencing for Banks. The law provides for a total sentence of 22 years in prison, including a mandatory minimum two years in prison for the identity theft conviction, a fine of $1,000,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based on the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Pending sentencing, Banks will remain in custody. Banks has multiple prior felony convictions.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Frederick H. Banks.
Jury Convicts Lebanon CPA of $7 Million Wire Fraud, Money Laundering SchemeRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A certified public accountant in Lebanon, Missouri, was convicted by a federal jury today of a $7 million scheme to defraud his employer and clients.
Douglas A. Richardson, 46, was found guilty of all 10 counts contained in an Aug. 16, 2018, federal indictment. Richardson was found guilty of six counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.
Richardson, a certified public accountant, owned his own company, Douglas A. Richardson, CPA, LLC, since Feb. 2009. He was the former chief financial officer, treasurer, and CPA of Smart Prong Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Dec. 2013, to June 2016. Smart Prong developed technology, and manufactured devices for charging cell phones.
Richardson engaged in a scheme to defraud Smart Prong and several of the clients of his CPA firm from February 2014 to October 2016.
Richardson transferred at least $4.4 million from Smart Prong bank accounts into his personal and business bank accounts. Richardson also solicited loans from several clients and induced them to make investments. Richardson made representations to these clients that he knew were false, in that he told them their loans and investments would be used for a certain purpose. In reality, Richardson used at least part of the money for his personal benefit, and to pay other individuals (including prior investors and others to whom he owed money).
For example, Richardson solicited one of his clients to participate in a promissory note program through which the client could earn money from interest on loans he and Richardson would enter into for the purpose of investments. Richardson claimed the loans would be used to provide funding for a real estate deal and an automobile dealership. The client loaned Richardson $365,000 from his business, which Richardson used to repay $230,000 to another individual for unrelated loans, to pay $72,704 to pay off a Chevrolet Corvette, and to issue a $7,500 check to himself.
Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., deliberated for approximately five hours before returning the guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool, ending a trial that began Monday, Nov. 4.
Under federal statutes, Richardson is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole for each of the wire fraud convictions and a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole for each of the money laundering convictions. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey Clark and Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and the Missouri Securities Division.
Jury Convicts Dallas Drug Dealer of Murdering 19-Year-OldRead the Press Release
A federal jury found a local drug dealer guilty of killing a Dallas teenager following an investigation by the FBI Dallas Field Office, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.
Following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle, a federal jury found Freddie Gilbert, 35, guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, discharging a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, and murder resulting from the use of a firearm in during a drug trafficking crime Thursday afternoon.
“Far too often, drug trafficking spurs horrific acts of violence,” said U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox. “In this case, a known cocaine dealer legally barred from possessing a weapon gunned down an innocent 19-year-old, then shoved her in the trunk like a piece of trash. We will not allow his crimes to go unpunished.”
“The defendant in this case is a dangerous criminal that not only committed murder, but routinely committed acts of violence and sold large quantities of drugs,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the Dallas Field Office. “The FBI will continue working with our law enforcement partners to eradicate drug-related violence and protect the well-being of the communities we serve.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Mr. Gilbert, an avowed cocaine dealer, shot and killed 19-year-old Jacquisha Isaac on Oct. 29, 2017.
Forensic evidence showed that Mr. Gilbert shot Ms. Isaac through the head while she was sitting in the passenger seat of his car. He likely fired the fatal shot through the window, while standing outside the vehicle, then stashed her body in the trunk and took off, prosecutors said.
Hours later, Mr. Gilbert was apprehended driving more than 110 mph down I-20.
Investigators identified Ms. Isaac’s blood inside the car, as well as on the clothing Mr. Gilbert was wearing when he was apprehended and on the revolver he used to kill the young girl.
They also discovered a bullet he had purchased the day before covered in Ms. Isaac’s blood on the floorboard, gun residue on Mr. Gilbert’s hands, and his palm print on the trunk of the car where he’d stashed her body.
Mr. Gilbert faces up to life in federal prison.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Texas Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys P.J. Meitl and Tiffany Eggers prosecuted the case.
Hoover Criminal Gang Member Lorenzo Jones Indicted for Racketeering ConspiracyRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Ore.—Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, announced today that Lorenzo Laron Jones, 46, a Portland resident and senior member of the Hoover Criminal Gang, has been indicted for his role in a racketeering conspiracy that caused the shooting deaths of two Portland men.
Jones is charged with racketeering conspiracy and two counts each of murder in aid of racketeering, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing death through the use of a firearm.
The superseding indictment alleges that beginning in June 1989, Jones engaged in a 30-year pattern of violent racketeering activity for the purpose of maintaining and increasing his position in the Hoover Criminal Gang, a criminal enterprise engaged in racketeering in California, Oregon, Washington and elsewhere.
Jones is alleged to have murdered Ascensio Genchi Garcia on July 19, 1998 and Wilbert Butler on September 17, 2017, both in Portland. Additionally, he is accused of attempting to murder six other people, possessing stolen firearms, and distributing cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.
Jones made his initial appearance in federal court today and was detained pending a four-week jury trial before U.S. Chief District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman.
Jones is named alongside fellow Hoover gang members Ronald Clayton Rhodes, 34, and Javier Fernando Hernandez, 23, both of Portland, in the superseding indictment unsealed today. Rhodes and Hernandez were previously charged with murder in aid of racketeering, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing death through the use of a firearm for the December 16, 2015 murder of Portland resident Kyle Polk.
Jones, Rhodes and Hernandez will be tried together and each face a maximum sentence of death or life in prison.
According to the indictment, the Hoovers are a criminal street gang operating in Oregon, and are known to engage in acts of violence including murder, assault, robbery, sex trafficking and the distribution of narcotics. The Hoovers originated in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and established a presence in Portland in the early 1980s. The gang has a loose hierarchical structure in which members have different amounts of power and influence based on age and gang activity. To maintain status and increase one’s position in the gang, members are expected to carry out violence on behalf of the enterprise.
This case was investigated by the FBI, the Portland Police Bureau, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, Gresham Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Attached here is a TimelineHonduran National Sentenced for Illegal Re-EntryRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser announced that LORENZO CRUZ NUNEZ-MENA (“MENA”), age 36, was sentenced on October 3, 2019 to time served today to a one-count indictment for illegal reentry of a removed alien in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a). He was initially detained in May 2019 by authorities.
MENA, reentered the United States after he was previously deported on September 19, 2014. MENA faced a maximum term of imprisonment of two years, a fine of $250,000, a term of supervised release of one year, and a mandatory $100 special assessment.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the United States Department of Homeland Security in investigating this matter. Assistant U. S. Carter K. D. Guice, Jr. is in charge of the prosecution.
Honduran National Man Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced for Immigration CrimeRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Honduran national man pled guilty to the felony offense of reentry of a removed alien, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Edilberto Hernandez-Garcia, 43, was then immediately sentenced to “time served,” having spent approximately seven months previously incarcerated. He was immediately remanded to ICE to face administrative removal proceedings. Stuart commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Sophia Police Department, and the Raleigh County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.
“Seven prior removals,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Hernandez-Garcia seems to think our immigration laws do not apply to him. Repeat offenders like Hernandez-Garcia are a drain on critical law enforcement resources.”
On April 26, 2019, Hernandez-Garcia was stopped by the Sophia Police Department where he was charged with and convicted of the felony offense of fleeing with reckless indifference in Raleigh County Circuit Court. Once arrested and incarcerated, ICE agents determined that Hernandez-Garcia was in the United States illegally. ICE agents confirmed his legal status. Hernandez-Garcia admitted to agents that he was in the United States illegally. Hernandez-Garcia was arrested and ICE agents matched his fingerprints to a number of previous removals from the United States. Hernandez-Garcia had no identification documents permitting him legal status in the United States.
Fingerprinting matched Hernandez-Garcia to seven prior removals from the United States in 1994, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, and 2010. His previous removals also included a prior 2010 conviction of illegal reentry into the United States from United States District Court in San Antonio, Texas. In all seven prior removals, Hernandez-Garcia was found by immigration judges to be in the United States illegally and he was subsequently deported to Honduras. He had not obtained permission to legally enter the United States and had not sought legal status or citizenship. Hernandez-Garcia further admitted to ICE agents that he was a Honduran citizen.
United States District Judge Frank W. Volk presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes handled the prosecution.
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Holbrook Man Convicted of Heroin and Cocaine DistributionRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Holbrook man was convicted yesterday in federal court in Boston of distribution of heroin and cocaine base.
Allah Mallory a/k/a “Parod,” 43, was convicted by a federal jury of distribution of heroin and cocaine base. U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel scheduled sentencing for Feb. 11, 2020.
On July 9, 2018, Mallory distributed heroin and cocaine base to an cooperating witness in Brockton. According to the court documents, this case was part of Operation Landshark, a federal investigation that targeted impact players and repeat offenders in Brockton and Boston, each who have prior convictions for acts of violence, firearm offenses and/or drug trafficking.
The charge of distribution of heroin and cocaine base provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years and up to life supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz; Suffolk County District Attorney Rachel Rollins; Boston Police Commissioner William Gross; and Brockton Police Chief John Crowley made the announcement today. The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s North Shore Gang Task Force and Southeastern Massachusetts Gang Task Force. Valuable assistance was provided by the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Plymouth and Essex County Sheriff’s Offices; Massachusetts Department of Corrections; U.S. Parole Commission; U.S. Postal Inspection Services; and the U.S. Secret Service.
Operation Landshark is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Heroin Mixer and Stash House Operator Pleads GuiltyRead the Press Release
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton woman pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
According to court documents, Symphoni V. Wiggins, 38, mixed, prepared, and stored heroin and fentanyl in her home for a kilogram-weight drug distributor on the Peninsula from at least May until December 2018. Co-conspirators would pick up heroin and fentanyl at Wiggins’s house, then take that heroin and fentanyl and deal it to customers on the street, including other drug dealers. In communications with another co-conspirator, Wiggins boasted that she was “the master mixer.”
As part of her plea agreement, Wiggins also has agreed to a $159,000 forfeiture judgment.
Wiggins was charged by indictment along with 38 other defendants as part of Operation Cookout. The 106-count indictment alleges various offenses, including conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, heroin, cocaine base, and fentanyl; conspiracy to launder money; felon in possession of a firearm; maintaining drug-involved premises; use of a communication facility in furtherance of drug trafficking; interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises; and illegal re-entry by a previously deported or removed alien.
The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Operation Cookout. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, created by Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, provides assistance to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States. This grant program is administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). There are currently 28 HIDTAs, which include approximately 18 percent of all counties in the United States and 66 percent of the U.S. population.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Wiggins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 40 grams or more of fentanyl. She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of forty years in prison when sentenced on March 20, 2020. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk; Jesse R. Fong, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division; Colonel Gary T. Settle, Superintendent of Virginia State Police; Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police; and Terry L. Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller accepted the plea. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Cross and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter G. Osyf and Kevin P. Hudson are prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:19-cr-47.
Gregg County Man Convicted of East Texas Drug Trafficking CrimesRead the Press Release
TYLER, Texas – A 44-year-old Longview, Texas, man has been convicted of federal drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown and FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the Dallas Field Office today.
Correy James Rider was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and crack cocaine. The verdict was reached today following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle.
According to information presented in court, Rider was indicted together with several co-defendants on charges related to the distribution of methamphetamine and crack cocaine in the Gregg County area. On different occasions, Rider sold methamphetamine to an informant in 2017 and possessed methamphetamine and crack cocaine with intent to distribute it from a Longview, Texas motel room in 2018.
“Federal law enforcement is active in East Texas,” said United States Attorney Brown. “We are working with our state and local partners to move against drug dealers, large and small. It does not pay in the long run for people to get involved in the drug trade.”
Under the federal statute, Rider faces from 10 years to life in federal prison at sentencing. The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gregg County Organized Drug Enforcement (CODE) Unit and the Texas Department of Public Safety and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lucas Machicek and Ryan Locker.
Greene County Sheriff's Lieutenant Indicted for Stealing FBI MoneyRead the Press Release
LITTLE ROCK— A Greene County Sheriff’s Lieutenant has been charged with stealing government funds related to a ruse money seizure in Paragould.
Cody Hiland, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced today the return of an indictment charging Allen Scott Pillow, 55, of Paragould, with theft of government property, specifically $30,400 of FBI funds. A federal grand jury returned the indictment Wednesday night.
Pillow was arrested on a federal complaint on Tuesday, and was initially arraigned and then released by United States Magistrate Judge Patricia S. Harris on Wednesday. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Billy Roy Wilson, who has set arraignment on the indictment for November 14, 2019 at 2 p.m.
According to the complaint, on Monday the FBI conducted a ruse narcotics investigation which led to the seizure of FBI funds by Pillow, who is in a leadership position within the narcotics unit of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. As part of the ruse, agents left a backpack containing $76,000 in FBI funds in a vehicle left in a Lowe’s parking lot. Believing that he was assisting out-of-state police officers, Pillow arrived in the parking lot and seized the backpack. Pillow told the out-of-state officers that he located $45,600 in the backpack, and later Pillow checked $45,600 into evidence. According to the complaint, on Tuesday, while executing a search warrant, officers located money from the missing $30,400 in Pillow’s pants’ pocket, at which time Pillow was arrested.
The statutory penalty for theft of government property is not more than 10 years’ imprisonment, not more than a $250,000 fine, and not more than three years of supervised release.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Arkansas State Police, and the case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin O’Leary.
A complaint and indictment only contain allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, is available online at
http://www.justice.gov/edar
Twitter:
@EDARNEWS
Great Falls man sentenced for meth traffickingRead the Press Release
GREAT FALLS—A Great Falls man who admitted distributing methamphetamine as part of heroin and meth trafficking ring in the community was sentenced today to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
David Owen Awberry, 31, pleaded guilty in June to possession with intent to distribute meth.
U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
The prosecution said in court records that in September 2018, the Russell Country Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating a meth and heroin distribution ring in Great Falls. Agents learned that Awberry redistributed meth and heroin for the group, which included co-defendants Anthony Beltran and Jacqueline Kirkaldie.
Beltran, who got a large quantity of meth and heroin from a source in California, used numerous individuals, including Awberry, to redistribute the drugs. In March 2019, detectives spoke to a person who said he got his meth from Awberry. In addition, detectives saw a photograph on Awberry’s Facebook account showing him holding a large amount of cash with the word “dope” at the bottom of the picture.
Detectives arrested Awberry in April and searched his home. Awberry admitted he sold drugs, including meth, but declined to identify his source. Detectives found thousands of dollars in cash in his home and confirmed the money was from drug sales.
Kirkaldie was convicted in the case and sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. Beltran has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Betley prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Russell Country Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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Freddie Grant Resentenced to 10 Years in Prison on Federal Ammunition ChargeRead the Press Release
Columbia, South Carolina --- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Freddie Grant, age 59, of Elgin, was resentenced to the statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison after his conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Grant was back before the federal district court for resentencing after a change in the law affected his earlier classification as an armed career criminal. Grant, who was convicted following a federal trial in January 2013, was originally deemed an armed career criminal subject to a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. He was sentenced to 212 months in prison with 5 years of supervision to follow. That conviction and sentence were upheld in 2014 by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In 2016, Grant filed a habeas petition challenging his armed career criminal status. He argued that, based on a change in law, his 1980 military kidnapping court-martial could not subject him to an enhanced federal sentence. The district court agreed based upon an August 2019 Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision and vacated Grant’s sentence. Grant no longer has the requisite three predicate convictions to be classified as an armed career criminal and is now subject to a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years.
Grant’s new advisory sentencing guidelines range was 27 to 33 months in prison. The Government moved for an upward variance from the guidelines range, noting that Grant’s extensive criminal history was underrepresented in the guidelines calculation, and asked the court to impose the statutory maximum 10 years in prison and 3 years of supervision to follow. Grant has prior convictions for assault by inflicting grievous bodily harm, resisting apprehension, assault upon an officer, kidnapping, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine, carrying concealed weapon, resisting arrest, shoplifting, driving under suspension, and criminal domestic violence.
Senior United States District Judge Cameron M. Currie, of Columbia, granted the Government’s motion and sentenced Grant to 10 years’ imprisonment with 3 years of federal supervision to follow. There is no parole in the federal system.
Grant will be returned to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve the remainder of his 10-year federal sentence. After Grant completes his federal sentence, he will be transferred to a state facility to serve the remainder of his 30-year state sentence for the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Gabrielle Swainson. After that state sentence is completed, he will be on federal supervision for 3 years.
Evidence presented during the January 2013 federal trial established that on August 21, 2012, investigators with the Richland County Sheriffs Department executed a search warrant at Grant’s home in Elgin. During the search, investigators located a box of 12 gauge shotgun shells on a table in the living room area and a box of .38 caliber ammunition in a nightstand in a bedroom. Federal law prohibits Grant from possessing firearms and ammunition because of his prior felony convictions. Investigators seized the ammunition and notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which arrested Grant on the federal charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition.
During his original federal sentencing hearing in April 2013, the court found that Grant obstructed justice during his federal trial by suborning perjury by his then 27-year-old daughter Dominique Grant.
The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. It was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Assistant United States Attorney Stacey D. Haynes of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.
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Four Philadelphia Men Charged in Connection with Nearly 50 Burglaries and Attempted Burglaries of Delaware Valley-Area PharmaciesRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that William Limper, 41, Raul Rivera, 42, Michael Dombrowski, 30, and Robert Hopkins, 24, all of Philadelphia, were charged by a Second Superseding Indictment for their roles in a conspiracy to burglarize or attempt to burglarize 49 pharmacies in the City of Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs over the last five years. The charges include 36 counts of pharmacy burglary; 13 counts of attempted pharmacy burglary; one count each of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances; one count each of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; and related conspiracy, drug and gun offenses.
The Second Superseding Indictment alleges that Limper, Rivera, Dombrowski, and Hopkins were involved in a conspiracy from November 2014 until April 2019 to burglarize pharmacies in order to steal controlled substances – primarily Schedule II opiates such as oxycodone and Percocet tablets – for the purpose of distributing them to others for profit. The defendants allegedly forced entry into the pharmacies at nighttime with burglary tools such as crow bars and Halligan bars (specialized forcible entry tools used by law enforcement and firefighters) when the pharmacies were closed. The defendants concealed their identities with clothing and masks over their faces, and used scanners to monitor police activity and two-way radios to communicate with each other during the burglaries.
As alleged, the defendants thoroughly planned and executed these burglaries in great detail. For example, in order to facilitate quick getaways in the event that they were detected by witnesses or law enforcement, the defendants used stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT sport utility vehicles (SUV) with powerful engines. When they were not using the stolen vehicles to perpetrate burglaries, the defendants concealed the vehicles in garages in a commercial storage lot, where they also hid their tools and the clothing they wore during the burglaries to avoid detection by law enforcement. After each of the burglaries, the defendants divided the stolen narcotics among themselves for the purpose of selling them to others.
“These charges are a huge blow to this sophisticated burglary and drug distribution organization,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “As alleged, these defendants were able to carry out their conspiracy for years – terrorizing communities and small businesses all across the region, and adding to the scourge of the opioid epidemic for their own benefit. I want to thank the large group of law enforcement partners who worked together in a highly coordinated effort using targeted investigative techniques to make this case possible.”
“The FBI remains committed to fighting the opioid crisis on all fronts,” said Michael T. Harpster, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia Division. “Today's indictment makes it clear that the the FBI and or law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to prevent violent drug gangs from terrorizing our communities, and we will bring them to justice when they do.”
If convicted, defendant William Limper faces a maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment, a mandatory-minimum five years’ imprisonment consecutive to any other sentence imposed, a mandatory minimum six years’ supervised release up to lifetime supervised release, a $16,750,000 fine, and a $5,300 special assessment; defendant Raul Rivera faces a maximum 1,010 years’ imprisonment, a mandatory-minimum three years up to lifetime supervised release, a $14,250,000 fine, and a $5,100 special assessment; defendant Michael Dombrowski faces a maximum 310 years’ imprisonment, a mandatory-minimum three years up to lifetime supervised release, a $5,500,000 fine, and a $1,600 special assessment; and defendant Robert Hopkins faces a maximum 470 years’ imprisonment, a mandatory-minimum three years up to lifetime supervised release, a $7,500,000 fine, and a $2,400 special assessment.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Bristol Township Police Department, the Upper Southampton Police Department, the Chester Police Department, the Lower Merion Police Department, the Upper Chichester Township Police Department, the Folcroft Police Department, the Sharon Hill Police Department, the Central Bucks Regional Police Department, the Hatboro Police Department, the Upper Darby Police Department, the Haverford Township Police Department, the Ridley Township Police Department, the Bristol Borough Police Department, the Lower Southampton Township Police Department, the Falls Township Police Department, the Springfield Township Police Department, the Marple Township Police Department, and the Warrington Township Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas M. Zaleski.
An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Four Indicted for Marijuana CultivationRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment today charging four men with marijuana cultivation and firearms offenses in El Dorado County, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
Christopher Garry Ross, 47, of Somerset; Juan Carlos Vasquez, 20, a Mexican national residing in Somerset; Ramiro Bravo Morales, 22, a Mexican national residing in Somerset; and Jorge Lamas, 25, of Yuba City, were charged with conspiring to cultivate marijuana, cultivation of marijuana, and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. In addition, Vasquez and Morales were each charged with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the California Department of Justice. The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office have provided key assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael M. Beckwith, Justin L. Lee, and Shea J. Kenny are prosecuting the case.
The statutory penalty for the marijuana counts is a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence up to 40 years in prison with fines up to $5 million. The discharge of a firearm during a drug crime is a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The alien in possession of a firearm count is a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Four Convicted Felons Receive Federal Prison Sentences This Week for Illegally Possessing Firearms and AmmunitionRead the Press Release
SHREVEPORT, MONROE, ALEXANDRIA, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced the resolution of several cases this week, all of which are separately noted, that were brought pursuant to the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. Project Safe Neighborhoods is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Minden Felon Sentenced for Illegally Possessing 10 Firearms
SHREVEPORT - Alvia D. Martin, 62, of Minden, Louisiana, was sentenced November 6, 2019, by Chief U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr., to 24 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to court documents, Webster Parish Sheriff’s deputies visited Martin’s home to investigate the whereabouts of an armed robbery suspect. His wife let them in, and while there, deputies observed a .22-caliber rifle in the corner of the living room. Deputies questioned Martin and he said there were more firearms in the bedroom. A search of the bedroom uncovered four revolvers, three pistols, an additional rifle, a shotgun and ammunition. In total, deputies found 10 firearms and approximately 1,500 rounds of ammunition. Martin is a felon who was convicted of two counts of possession of illegal drugs on July 11, 2014.
The ATF and Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Cassidy prosecuted the case.
Rayville Man Sentenced for Federal Drug and Firearm Offenses
MONROE - Aaron Mitchell Adcock, 42, of Rayville, Louisiana, was sentenced November 6, 2019, by U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, to two years in prison for possession with intent to distribute marijuana and five years in prison for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, to run consecutively. Judge Doughty also sentenced Adcock to three years of supervised release following his release from prison.
According to court documents, law enforcement agents received a complaint that Adcock was in possession of a large amount of drugs. Agents executed a search warrant at a house in Monroe on December 18, 2018, and found 139 pounds of marijuana, a pistol, three shotguns and 10 rifles. Most of the firearms were loaded and within close proximity to the marijuana. The drugs were recovered from various rooms within the residence and inside of more than 100 heat-sealed bags. They also recovered $701, a digital scale, documentation from a website that sells marijuana seeds, a suspected drug ledger, large amounts of 5.56-caliber ammunition, .223-caliber ammunition and a Louisiana driver’s license issued to Adcock. Agents also found a commercial lease agreement for property in Maine that identified Adcock as tenant, which stated that Adcock shall use the property for “subleasing to state licensed medical marijuana caregivers.”
The DEA and Monroe Metro Narcotics conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica D. Cassidy and Brandon B. Brown prosecuted the case.
Natchitoches Felon Sentenced for Illegal Possession of a Firearm
ALEXANDRIA – Dustin James Aguillard, 29, of Natchitoches, Louisiana, was sentenced November 6, 2019, by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell, to 47 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release, for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to court documents, on August 12, 2018, Glenmora police conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Aguillard. During the course of the traffic stop, Aguillard consented to a search of the vehicle and informed the officer that his sister’s firearm was underneath the passenger seat. The officer found a Taurus pistol and ammunition underneath the passenger seat. Aguillard is a convicted felon, having previously been convicted of simple burglary in November 2016, and knew that as a convicted felon he was prohibited from possessing the Taurus pistol and ammunition.
The ATF and Glenmora Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Cassidy prosecuted the case.
Alexandria Man Sentenced for Illegally Possessing Pistol and Firing it in Neighborhood
ALEXANDRIA - Kerrian Andre Elie, 30, of Alexandria, was sentenced November 6, 2019, by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell, to 92 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to court documents, officers with the Alexandria Police Department responded to a shots-fired call from Elie’s uncle on March 25, 2018, who told police that Elie had shot at him and his girlfriend. After arriving at the scene, officers found two 9 mm shell casings on the street in front of the residence and a black 9 mm H&K pistol, Model P30SK, under the house by the carport door. After further investigation, officers learned that Elie had been involved in an argument with a family member. The relative later returned and resumed the argument with Elie. During that time, Elie entered the home and returned with a firearm. As his family members were leaving, Elie threatened to shoot them and fired the gun into the air.
Elie is a felon who has multiple convictions for possession with intent to distribute controlled substances on February 2, 2011, and for simple burglary on October 14, 2011, and February 18, 2011.
The ATF and Alexandria Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamilla A. Bynog prosecuted the case.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of a firearm or ammunition.
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Former Postal Employee Indicted for Mail TheftRead the Press Release
ALBANY, NEW YORK – John R. Elbayeh, aka Jean Elbayeh, age 43, of Albany, was arraigned today on an indictment charging him with stealing iPhones and other valuable items from mailed packages.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Matthew Modafferi, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Area for the United States Postal Service (USPS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
Elbayeh worked as a lead mail processing clerk at the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Albany, according to a criminal complaint also filed in the case. For approximately 2 years ending in December 2018, he stole valuable items from the mail, including iPhones, other phones, cash, coins, and jewelry, according to the complaint and indictment.
The charges in the indictment and complaint are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Shortly after being interviewed by federal agents in December 2018, Elbayeh took a one-way flight to Beirut, Lebanon, and remained outside the United States until October 17, 2019. On that date, USPS-OIG Agents arrested him at Dulles International Airport, where Elbayeh had just arrived from a flight originating in Cairo, Egypt.
Elbayeh was arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, who ordered him detained pending trial.
If convicted, Elbayeh faces up to 5 years in prison. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.
This case is being investigated by the USPS Office of the Inspector General, with assistance from the United States Postal Inspection Service, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.
Former Genesis Convention Center Employee ChargedRead the Press Release
HAMMOND- Deborah Black, age 62, of Merrillville, Indiana, was charged by Information with one count of theft from a local government entity receiving federal funds, announced U.S. Attorney Kirsch.
According to the Information, between November 2016 and August 2017, Black was employed as the Executive Director of the Genesis Convention Center, a venue owned by the City of Gary, Indiana. The Information alleges that during this time, Black used her position to steal over $10,000 in cash from the Genesis Center.
The parties have entered into a plea agreement to resolve the criminal charge. Under this signed plea agreement, which has been filed with the court, if accepted by the court, Black would be required to pay $16,421.80 in restitution to the City of Gary.
U.S. Attorney Kirsch said, “My office will continue to aggressively prosecute instances of public corruption. Public officials are not above the law. I encourage anyone with information regarding official corruption to contact my office or the FBI”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office recently charged Victoria Wilson, Black’s coworker at the Genesis Center, with one count of theft from a local government entity for stealing money from the Genesis Center. Wilson entered a formal plea of guilty to her charge on September 17 and is awaiting sentencing. In her plea agreement, Wilson agreed to pay $12,727 in restitution to the City of Gary.
The United States Attorney’s Office emphasizes that an Information is merely an allegation and that all persons are presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty in court. If convicted, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of Indiana State Police and the Indiana State Board of Accounts. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Abizer Zanzi.
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Florida Man and Woman Indicted for Trafficking Drugs Through Southeast TexasRead the Press Release
BEAUMONT, Texas – A Florida man and woman have been indicted for federal drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.
Ryan Andrew Davis, 35, of Clearwater, Florida and Erica Ann Lang, 35, of St. Petersburg, Florida, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Nov. 6, 2019, and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
According to information provided in court, on Oct. 24, 2019, Davis and Lang were stopped for a traffic violation on Interstate Highway 10 East in Beaumont, Texas. A certified narcotics detection dog alerted on the car and a search was performed revealing approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine hidden in the trunk of the vehicle.
If convicted, Davis and Lang each face from 10 years to life in federal prison.
This case is being investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ross.
It is important to note that a complaint, arrest, or indictment should not be considered as evidence of guilt and that all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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BEAUMONT, Texas – A Florida man and woman have been indicted for federal drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.
Ryan Andrew Davis, 35, of Clearwater, Florida and Erica Ann Lang, 35, of St. Petersburg, Florida, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Nov. 6, 2019, and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
According to information provided in court, on Oct. 24, 2019, Davis and Lang were stopped for a traffic violation on Interstate Highway 10 East in Beaumont, Texas. A certified narcotics detection dog alerted on the car and a search was performed revealing approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine hidden in the trunk of the vehicle.
If convicted, Davis and Lang each face from 10 years to life in federal prison.
This case is being investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Ross.
It is important to note that a complaint, arrest, or indictment should not be considered as evidence of guilt and that all persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Florida Man Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Acquire Valuable Artworks Fraudulently Using Stolen IdentitiesRead the Press Release
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced that ANTONIO DIMARCO pled guilty in Manhattan federal court today to participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, based on his attempt to fraudulently acquire millions of dollars’ worth of artworks from art galleries, auction houses, and private collectors from around the world. U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni presided over the defendant’s guilty plea.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As he admitted in court today, Antonio DiMarco was a serial swindler, using stolen identities to access auctions, place winning bids on multimillion-dollar artworks, and defraud lenders and insurers into believing that he owned artworks he never actually acquired. Now the self-portrait DiMarco painted has been revealed to be a sham.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “Allegedly preying on an elderly woman, stealing her identity and using her financial information to commit a crime is simply despicable behavior. Mr. DiMarco is accused of trying to get money based on the value of artwork he didn’t own, and in his attempts he is alleged to have caused the victims in this investigation millions of dollars in losses. Whether it’s a scheme to steal a few dollars, or millions in precious works of art, criminals deserve to face justice and pay for their crimes.”
As alleged in the underlying Complaint, Indictment, public filings, and statements made in open court:
From at least as early as November 2017 through and including October 2018, DIMARCO and a co-conspirator attempted to acquire millions of dollars’ worth of artworks from around the world using a variety of methods, including through appropriating the identity and financial information of a particular victim, and creating and presenting a multitude of fraudulent documents.
For example, in November 2017, DIMARCO attempted to purchase artworks by Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt at an auction house located in New York, New York. DIMARCO obtained access to the auction through the use of an elderly victim’s identity documents, including her passport, and bank account information showing that the victim held liquid assets in excess of $7,000,000. DIMARCO and his co-conspirator further presented false information indicating that the victim had authorized DIMARCO to bid on her behalf, when in reality, the victim knew nothing about DIMARCO’s plan to purchase artworks in her name. DIMARCO won the auction, bidding close to $6,500,000 for the Rothko work, and $1,155,000 for the Reinhardt work. However, because DIMARCO in fact lacked funds to pay for the art, the auction house suffered a loss of close to $1,400,000.
Continuing throughout late 2017 through at least May 2018, DIMARCO and his co-conspirator attempted to purchase artworks from approximately 20 galleries and collectors throughout the world. Indeed, DIMARCO and his co-conspirator entered into completed sales agreements for more than 60 artworks totaling in excess of $150,000,000. Among other works, DIMARCO entered into a contract for a $16,500,000 Matisse painting. None of these works was ever paid for, yet to entice the galleries and collectors to continue to hold the artwork for DIMARCO and his co-conspirator, they provided strings of false excuses for non-payment. This caused galleries and collectors to suffer monetary losses.
Having failed to obtain valuable artworks that he had contracted to buy but never paid for, DIMARCO then began to seek out ways to monetize artworks that he had not acquired. DIMARCO created a series of false documents designed to deceive financiers and insurers into believing that in fact he owned the artworks. DIMARCO did this in hopes of obtaining funds based on the value of those artworks. DIMARCO was arrested in the course of executing this scheme, after having arranged a showing of high-value artwork he convinced others that he owned.
Through his plea today, DIMARCO further acknowledged two additional frauds conducted in the midst of the art scheme: a ploy to deprive a victim of hundreds of thousands of dollars through false representations concerning the purposes for providing the funds, and a scheme to purchase a high-end property in Manhattan using a fraudulently altered bank statement.
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DIMARCO, 43, of Florida, was arrested on December 6, 2018, by law enforcement authorities in Florida, and subsequently transferred to federal custody. DIMARCO pled guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
DIMARCO is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Caproni on February 7, 2020.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
These cases are being handled by the Office’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Noah Falk, Tara M. La Morte, and Abigail S. Kurland are in charge of the prosecution.
Filipino National Indicted for Aggravated Sexual Abuse on Board a Cruise Ship Bound for the USVIRead the Press Release
St. Thomas, USVI – United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands announced today the return of an indictment charging a Filipino national, Louis Isom Mangampat, with aggravated sexual abuse. Mangampat was arraigned in federal court today in St. Thomas.
According to the indictment, Mangampat sexually assaulted a woman while on board a cruise ship bound for the Virgin Islands.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and the Virgin Islands Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Blecher.
An indictment is merely a formal charging document, and it is not evidence of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Fernandina Beach Woman Charged with FEMA Fraud Involving Hurricane IrmaRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Jessica Ann Smothers (35, Fernandina Beach) with disaster assistance fraud involving Hurricane Irma. If convicted, Smothers faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison, plus payment of restitution to the United States. Smothers was arrested on November 4, 2019. She has been detained pending her January 6, 2020 trial.
According to the indictment, Smothers made a fraudulent application for assistance from FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program from Hurricane Irma, in which she falsely represented that she was in need of rental assistance due to storm damage to her primary residence.
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 Department of Homeland Security - Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Fernandina Beach Police Department. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.
Felon with Ammunition Sentenced to 108 Month ImprisonmentRead the Press Release
GREENSBORO, N.C. - A Lee County resident was sentenced today in federal court in Greensboro for knowingly possessing ammunition after previously being convicted of a felony, announced United States Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin of the Middle District of North Carolina.
JAMAR LACOBLY ALSTON, age 33, of Sanford, North Carolina, was sentenced to a 108 month term of imprisonment by Senior United States District Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr. In addition to prison time, ALSTON was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to pay a special assessment of $100.00. ALSTON pleaded guilty on August 1, 2019, to knowing possession of CBC and Winchester .45 caliber ammunition after having previously been convicted of a felony offense punishable by imprisonment for more than one year.
Court records show that at approximately 1:48 a.m. on January 1, 2018, ALSTON fired three shots from a .45 caliber handgun during an altercation at the Elks Lodge in Sanford, North Carolina. The handgun was never recovered. However, a high-resolution surveillance video of the incident shows ALSTON instigated a fistfight with a person in the bar area, and during that altercation, grab an object from the right-side pocket of his coat. Moments later, while ALSTON’s back was to the surveillance camera, he fired three shots toward the man with whom he was fighting. All three shots missed. The video shows three shell casings hit the ground. Sanford Police were called to the scene and recovered the shell casings, but not the handgun used in the incident.
At sentencing, after reviewing the surveillance video of the shooting, Judge Tilley applied a cross reference under the sentencing guidelines for attempted first-degree murder and sentenced ALSTON to 108 months.
ALSTON has a 2010 conviction in Lee County for felony conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon causing serious injury, which resulted in a term of imprisonment of 15 to 18 months.
The case was investigated by the Sanford Police Department and the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tanner L. Kroeger.
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Federal Jury Finds Charleston Man Guilty of Gun CrimeRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A federal jury convicted a Charleston man today after a two day trial, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. The jury found Michael Q. Cottrell, 23, guilty of being a felon in possession of firearms on August 25, 2018.
“Guilty as determined by a jury of twelve of his peers,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Federal law is clear -- Cottrell’s prior felony conviction prohibits him from possessing guns. It is really pretty simple. If you are prohibited from possessing firearms, don’t possess firearms. I want to thank the entire team of investigators and prosecutors that worked on this case.”
Cottrell was previously indicted for possessing two firearms, a revolver and a pistol, while being a person prohibited from possessing firearms due to a 2018 felony conviction in Roane County. At trial, evidence revealed that Cottrell possessed these firearms on the same night that he crashed a car on Garrison Avenue in Charleston and fled the scene.
Cottrell faces up to ten years in prison when sentenced on March 29, 2020.
The Charleston Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted the investigation.
Senior United States Judge David A. Faber presided over the trial. Assistant United States Attorneys Kristin F. Scott and Joshua C. Hanks handled the prosecution.
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Federal Jury Convicts Chicago Man of Robbing ATM Technician at GunpointRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A federal jury has convicted a Chicago man of robbing an ATM technician at gunpoint in the city’s Little Village neighborhood.
On July 27, 2018, IVAN PARKER pointed a handgun to the technician’s head in the vestibule of a Chase Bank branch in the 3800 block of West 26th Street. The robbery occurred shortly before 7:00 a.m. as the technician was loading an ATM with cash. The technician tried to push away the gun and a struggle ensued. Parker used pepper spray on the technician before grabbing a bag containing $106,335 in cash and running from the scene. Parker was arrested the following month and has remained in custody since then.
Evidence at trial revealed that proceeds from the robbery were used to purchase a Buick sedan, jewelry, furniture, a television, and a PlayStation console.
The jury in federal court in Chicago on Wednesday convicted Parker of the single robbery count against him. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis set sentencing for May 27, 2020.
The conviction was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tobara S. Richardson and Christine M. O’Neill.
Enough of this Nonsense: Restoring Respect for the Rule of Law with Prosecution that Serves Law-Abiding Citizens and Victims, Not CriminalsRead the Press Release
PHILADELPHIA – On October 15, 2019, United States Attorney William M. McSwain was invited to speak at the Quarterly Luncheon of the Executive Board of the Citizens’ Crime Commission of the Greater Delaware Valley. U.S. Attorney McSwain addressed the current state of criminal justice in Philadelphia, highlighting in particular the defense-oriented litigation tactics on display in several cases handled by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office during Larry Krasner’s tenure. Among the cases analyzed, U.S. Attorney McSwain dissected Krasner’s litigation maneuvers in the latest Mumia Abu-Jamal appeal and explained how Krasner is attempting to position the case to free the unrepentant cop killer.
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Thank you, John [Appledorn], for that introduction and for your work as President of the Citizens’ Crime Commission of the Delaware Valley. And thank you for inviting me to speak to this distinguished group of law enforcement and citizens who appreciate the sacrifices that those serving in law enforcement make every day. My heart feels good to be among a group such as this. It is an honor to be here and to support this group’s mission: to improve the quality of life of citizens in the Delaware Valley with ongoing outreach, community programs, and the latest safety and security initiatives. It is a worthy mission, and one that my Office shares.
As U.S. Attorney, I have the privilege of working with thousands of dedicated police officers, detectives, case agents, and prosecutors across the nine counties of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Working side-by-side with those who are willing to sacrifice for the greater good is one of the best things about my job. I felt that way when I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney earlier in my career, and it holds true today.
The brave men and women in law enforcement in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania serve and protect a broad swath of communities. Our District is comprised of large metropolitan cities, rural areas, and every type of community in between, and the issues that the police encounter in the District are as diverse as the communities they serve. But law enforcement officers are cut from the same cloth – they are honorable, courageous, selfless, and resilient. These values bind them together, serve as an inspiration to me, and provide a source of strength when the going gets tough.
Unfortunately for those brave men and women, times are tough for law enforcement these days – in Philadelphia and beyond. For one thing, police work is not getting any safer. Gun violence continues to plague the City; just this past weekend, there were six different reported shooting incidents. Two men were killed, and a total of 13 people were injured in the span of only two days. Through October 12, the number of homicide victims this year has reached 266, which is an increase over the number of victims during the same time frame last year, which was already a terrible year.
Times are also tough for law enforcement because their jobs are made all the more difficult by a culture of disrespect for law enforcement championed by the words and actions of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, or as he refers to himself, the City’s “public defender with power.” Or perhaps we should refer to him as Uncle Larry, which is the nickname that the City’s violent criminals have affectionately bestowed upon him. Uncle Larry’s antics are especially dangerous because he is a prosecutor – and as such, he’s supposed to be on the side of law enforcement and community safety. He took an oath to uphold the rule of law, to protect public safety, and to represent victims and the people of this City in our criminal justice system. Instead, through the policies he has put in place and through his various courtroom maneuvers, he has done just the opposite. This reality often makes Krasner as dangerous as the criminals that he’s looking out for.
This conclusion – that Krasner’s policies endanger the public – is buttressed by the data collected and displayed on his “Public Data Dashboard,” a website Krasner announced a few weeks ago that tallies up information on key metrics that include the number of incidents, arrests, charges, case outcomes, and “years of future incarceration imposed.” The data from the dashboard serves as a scoreboard of sorts – one that collects wins for criminals and losses for the law-abiding public.
The dashboard touts some stunning statistics. To highlight just a few that compare this year to five years ago: (1) the DA’s Office has charged 26 percent fewer cases this year than through the same date in 2014; (2) it has charged 268 people for retail theft this year, down from 1,900 five years ago; (3) the conviction rate for homicides is down as compared to 2014; and (4) in a City full of gun violence, the number of illegal gun possession cases diverted into the Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition program (which amounts to a free first offense) has skyrocketed – there were 10 in 2014 and 78 in 2018. None of this is good news for law enforcement, for the rule of law, or for the communities we serve.
The effect of Krasner’s policies and his culture of disrespect were on full display in front of a national audience this past August when Maurice Hill, a convicted felon with a long rap sheet, opened fire on Philadelphia police officers as they attempted to execute a search warrant. This confrontation left six officers wounded and a neighborhood traumatized. It is a miracle that the officers survived the attack and that the chaos ended with Maurice Hill in custody.
The Maurice Hill incident and these stunning statistics raise some obvious questions: Are criminals emboldened by Larry Krasner? And do some segments of the community take their cues from the District Attorney’s slander against law enforcement and then pile on with even more disrespect? The answers are: yes and yes. When the City’s top local prosecutor talks about the police as if they are the enemy, criminals take heart and the community takes note. And the rule of law takes a huge hit.
Which brings me to the message I want to deliver to you today – it’s reflected in the title of my remarks and it’s the same message that I’ve delivered to Larry Krasner and others who feed the culture of disrespect: Enough of this nonsense already. Since the day I was sworn in as U.S. Attorney, it has been my mission to restore a culture of respect for law enforcement and for the rule of law, to stop violent crime and to advocate for victims and the law-abiding members of our community. And the way to do that is to challenge those, like Krasner, who have a warped value system, to call out this nonsense, and to aggressively prosecute dangerous criminals in this City and in our District. This is what prosecutors are supposed to do, and it’s what I intend to do every minute of every day that I have this job.
Larry Krasner’s approach to prosecution elevates politics over public safety and puts police in danger. We’ve seen this, not only in his policies that discourage arrests, prosecution, and meaningful prison sentences for serious offenders, but also in the effect that his various litigation maneuvers have had on the integrity of the judicial system. In short, Krasner is hard at work trying to take decisionmaking power out of the hands of judges and juries and into his own – because judges and juries, unlike Krasner, cannot always be trusted to be cheerleaders for violent defendants.
For example, take the case of Jouvan Patterson, who shot Philadelphia shop owner Li (“Mike”) Poeng, with a military-style assault rifle during an attempted robbery of Mr. Poeng’s convenience store in May 2018. Mr. Poeng, a refugee from Cambodia, fought with Patterson on the sidewalk in front of his store, with his wife and children inside the store, terrified. Poeng is now confined to a wheelchair as a result of the shooting.
The DA’s Office originally charged Patterson with multiple crimes, including attempted murder and aggravated assault, but then quietly dropped the attempted murder charges and agreed to a ridiculously lenient plea deal of 3 1/2 to 10 years imprisonment. My Office stepped in once we learned of this miscarriage of justice and charged Patterson federally with one count of attempted robbery which interferes with interstate commerce and one federal firearms charge. On the gun charge alone, he faces a statutory maximum of life imprisonment and a statutory minimum of ten years’ imprisonment, which must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed on the attempted robbery count – with no parole. Mr. Patterson’s trial is scheduled for next year. And I can promise you this – at that court proceeding, the prosecutor from my Office will be acting like a prosecutor and not a public defender. The prosecutor will represent the interests of the public and the victim. There is no “Uncle Bill” waiting for Mr. Patterson in federal court.
And then there’s the case of Michael White, the man accused of stabbing and killing Philadelphia resident Sean Schellenger last summer. Krasner’s pretrial maneuvers – dropping first degree murder charges in favor of third degree, and then more recently his motion to dismiss even the third-degree murder charge against White – framed the factual issues in the defendant’s favor by limiting the jury’s options and paving the way for the defendant to put the victim’s character on trial. The pretrial motion Krasner submitted claimed that his office would fare better with a jury arguing voluntary manslaughter rather than third degree murder. But let’s face it: the only person who fares better with that maneuver is the defendant, Michael White.
Then of course, there’s Krasner’s newly expanded Conviction Integrity Unit, which to date, is responsible for reversing murder convictions of 10 defendants (or five percent of the cases it has reviewed) since Krasner came into office. That’s more than three times the number of convictions reversed in just over a year under Krasner than had been reversed in the previous four years since the unit was formed in 2014. In these cases, a pattern has emerged: Krasner shamelessly substitutes his own judgment for the jury’s, further victimizing the families.
In the latest of these 10 cases – that of Willie Veasy, a convicted murderer – Krasner’s office joined forces with Veasy’s lawyers and filed a joint motion seeking Veasy’s release, which the trial court granted earlier in October. This was a case with both a confession and an eyewitness that the jury had chosen to believe, after weighing the evidence in a court of law, including Veasy’s claimed alibi defense. But Uncle Larry, many, many years after the murder and the trial, decided that what the jury concluded after weighing the evidence didn’t matter; all that matters is what Krasner, the public defender with power, thinks. So he used that power and decided that the police detectives on the case had coerced the confession. Mind you, no court ever ruled that Veasy’s confession was coerced or that the detectives on the case acted improperly. That’s because the DA’s Office didn’t ask any court to do so; it conveniently skipped over the part of the process where the prosecutor seeks an evidentiary hearing during which it could test the defendant’s allegations of coercion. It did so in part because Krasner has had it out for the two detectives on the case for some time, but no court ever had to consider that bias. Equally troubling is the fact that in joining forces with the defendant’s lawyers, the DA’s office also conveniently discounted the eyewitness testimony – that was never recanted – pointing to Veasy as the shooter.
The result: Veasy is freed and Uncle Larry puts up a big number – 10 convicted murderers freed – on his new dashboard. Is this an “exoneration” of a convicted murderer? Is this a finding of innocence? Hardly. It is, instead, the ugly manifestation of Krasner’s hatred for law enforcement – and his affection for convicted murderers – that causes him to usurp the roles of the judge and jury and thereby make a mockery of our criminal justice system. In the aftermath, Mr. Veasy summed up the situation nicely: “Th[ings] are going to change with who we have in office today, and if we continue to keep people in office like him, things will definitely turn around for a lot of people.” Yes, Mr. Veasy, you have that exactly right.
And if Krasner has his way, things are only going to get worse. Which brings me to the never-ending, complicated Mumia Abu-Jamal saga. The District Attorney’s Office’s handling of this case since Krasner took office in 2018 has paved the way for what I believe is Krasner’s long-term play in this case – to become this unrepentant cop killer’s savior and add another tally to his dashboard by freeing yet another convicted murderer. Krasner’s response to a series of defense moves during the most recent phase of this litigation shows an alarming pattern – one showing Krasner’s office backing away, every chance it gets, from its obligation to fight to preserve the jury’s guilty verdict. Even though Krasner technically represents the Commonwealth – that is, the people of Pennsylvania and the victim’s family – his actions confirm that he does so in name only. Instead, he is using his power to side with Abu-Jamal and his lawyers rather than fight for those whom he is supposed to represent.
In the most recent chapter of this case, Abu-Jamal is now pursuing his fifth round of post-conviction review in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Broadly speaking, post-conviction review is the judicial process separate from the direct appeals process that gives defendants another avenue to raise legal challenges to their convictions. Convicted criminals first file Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”) petitions at the trial court level – in the Pennsylvania system, that is the Court of Common Pleas sitting as a “PCRA court” – and then those petitions make their way through the normal appellate process. But let’s be clear: a convicted defendant is not entitled to file PCRA petitions in perpetuity; at some point, both state and federal law, duly enacted by the legislature, place clear limits on convicted criminals’ PCRA rights.
Those limits should have been applied in Abu-Jamal’s case, but they clearly were not. He received this fifth proverbial “bite at the apple” because a trial-court level judge – in fact, the same judge who sided with Krasner in the Veasy case – took up Abu-Jamal’s fifth PCRA petition and found in December 2018 that his four previous proceedings were tainted by the mere appearance of bias stemming from then-Justice Castille’s involvement in the case. The court reasoned that because Castille was the Philadelphia District Attorney when Abu-Jamal was convicted, that was enough to raise concerns about the fairness of the judicial process overall.
This PCRA court finding was a big win for this cop killer, as it allowed him to immediately file an appeal to the Superior Court in which he could relitigate multiple issues he previously raised unsuccessfully many years ago. And that is exactly what Abu-Jamal did when he filed an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in January 2019.
Fortunately for Abu-Jamal, Krasner has been more than willing to lay down in the course of the current Pennsylvania Superior Court appeal rather than fight to defend the jury’s finding of guilt. There’s not one, or two, but three instances to point to, in just this phase of the litigation alone, where Krasner decided to take a dive rather than oppose Abu-Jamal’s various litigation maneuvers.
The first example is seen in how the District Attorney’s Office handled Abu-Jamal’s request in the Superior Court for immediate transfer of his appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. On March 11, 2019, when the Superior Court asked the parties to show cause why the case should not be transferred, Abu-Jamal advocated to bypass the Superior Court altogether. Rather than opposing that procedure, the District Attorney’s Office stood by and decided not to object to it. Though there are instances (death penalty cases being one of them) when a direct appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is appropriate, this is no longer a death-penalty case, and Krasner knows that. So why not fight? This is the first move where Krasner’s approach – an utter refusal to engage on the issues – is on full display.
The second instance in the Superior Court involves how the District Attorney handled his office’s appeal of the ruling on Justice Castille’s previous involvement in the Abu-Jamal case. Initially, Krasner’s office appealed the PCRA court’s adverse ruling, but then Krasner’s office withdrew its appeal altogether. That left only Abu-Jamal’s appeal – again raising claims that have been previously raised and rejected – in place. The import of Krasner’s inaction is obvious: it clears the path for a future court to rule differently on one or more of these previously rejected claims. It does not matter than multiple courts have already ruled against Abu-Jamal. It does not matter that the law prohibits endless PCRA petitions and appeals. When advocating for murderous defendants, finality is not of any concern to this public defender with power.
Finally, on the very same day that Abu-Jamal filed his appellate brief in the Superior Court, raising all of those previously rejected claims, he filed a motion for remand based on a whole new theory of relief that he had conjured up. He now claimed there was new factual evidence, disclosed for the first time in January 2019, that raised serious questions about the integrity of his conviction. He further claimed that the new evidence should be reviewed and evaluated by the very same judge that had revived his appellate rights in the first place – the Court of Common Pleas judge that had granted Abu-Jamal’s PCRA petition in December 2018.
By now, you can probably guess what happened: the District Attorney’s Office chose again to take a dive and not oppose remand. From Abu-Jamal’s point of view, this is a far better result than having the Superior Court rule on his case or obtaining an immediate transfer to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The reason why is obvious: it sets the stage for the case to go back to the same friendly judge to decide whether this “new evidence” warrants a new trial. Abu-Jamal only has to convince one judge to rule in his favor rather than a panel of Superior Court judges or a majority of Justices sitting on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. By not opposing remand, Krasner just increased Abu-Jamal’s chances of winning a new trial by knocking out two levels of appellate review and cutting multiple judges out of the deliberative process. All in a day’s work.
The Superior Court has not ruled on the remand issue, but it doesn’t have to because we can already see where this case is headed. Krasner’s pattern of behavior, his decision to take not one dive, not two, but three, in the Abu-Jamal Superior Court appeal alone, has the same feel as what happened in the Veasy case. It’s classic Krasner-style prosecution, which is marked by inaction rather than action; silence rather than opposition; defense-oriented tactics rather than prosecutorial zeal. It is yet another example of how Philadelphia’s public defender with power tries to use that power to manufacture his desired results with as little judicial oversight as possible. And here, what Krasner wants is to see Abu-Jamal walk out of prison.
As horrifying as that sounds, here is how it could happen. It’s not hard to predict how this plays out on remand once you look at Krasner’s shameful pattern of conduct in this and other recent cases. The first pathway to freeing Abu-Jamal is if, on remand, Krasner signals that the trial court judge should grant a new trial based on this newly discovered evidence and the judge obliges; Krasner’s office can then simply take another dive and not appeal that ruling. That is not an unlikely possibility when you consider his past maneuvers.
An alternative path to the same result is if the trial court judge denies Abu-Jamal’s request for a new trial on this newly discovered evidence, but then Krasner waits for the inevitable appeal and takes yet another dive in the Superior Court (it would not be the first time), which will mean procedurally that the Superior Court could remand the case for a retrial without objection from the District Attorney’s Office.
Either outcome would then pave the way for Krasner to conclude that a retrial, almost 40 years after the murder, is an impossible feat for his office to pull off – a conclusion that would be utterly indefensible when you consider how the District Attorney’s Office got there in the first place. And then out walks the cop-killer Abu-Jamal, a free man. Criminal justice, Krasner-style.
* * * *
So what are the takeaways from all of this? What can we do about the sorry state of criminal justice in Philadelphia? We can all stand up for those left behind as a result of Krasner’s upside-down approach to prosecution. We can all say “thank you” to our law enforcement community and encourage a culture of respect for law enforcement and for the rule of law. And as federal prosecutors, my Office will continue to serve as the adversaries against crime that the City deserves. In short, we can fight back with all our energy and resolve to do the right thing. That’s a choice that I’ve made, and I will never, ever back down from it. And neither will you. Let’s go forward together and do justice. Thank you, and God Bless you all.
Delhi Farmer Sentenced for Lying to Various Business and Government Entities to Steal Nearly $18 MillionRead the Press Release
MONROE, La. – A Delhi, Louisiana, farmer was sentenced today to 10 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, for lying to more than seven financial institutions, insurance providers and government entities in an effort to obtain over $18 million illegally, announced United States Attorney David C. Joseph.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty also ordered Thomas A. Dickerson to pay $18,048,304.71 in restitution to the victims for the money he stole during the course of the scheme. Dickerson pled guilty on July 15, 2019.
According to court documents and information provided to the court, Dickerson was a Franklin Parish Louisiana farmer who, during the 2015 crop year, used at least 13 farming entities he was either a part of or was the sole owner of to certify farming acreage in Catahoula, Franklin, Tensas, Richland, Madison and Morehouse parishes in Louisiana, as well as Ashley, Chicot and Drew Counties in Arkansas. He applied for crop production and grain storage loans from AG Resource Management, farm operating loans from various FDIC insured banking entities, credit from seed and chemical dealers such as Greenpoint AG, LLC and Jimmy Sanders Seed, advances on contracts with Kennedy Rice Dryers, insurance policies and claims from Producers Agriculture Insurance Company and CGB Insurance Company, and several marketing assistance loans from the Commodity Credit Corporation. Dickerson lied on many of these applications in order to obtain loans and other compensation by overstating or understating the amount of crops produced or claiming crops as collateral when he’d already sold the crops or didn’t possess them.
“The sentence imposed today should serve as a warning to those who engage in fraudulent practices and schemes,” U.S. Attorney Joseph stated. “Mr. Dickerson’s conduct in this case caused significant financial loss to victims throughout northeast Louisiana. This type of behavior will not be tolerated in the Western District of Louisiana.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, investigated the case. U.S. Attorney David C. Joseph and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany E. Fields prosecuted the case.
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Dwyon Moore Sentenced to More Than 26 Years in Prison for Multiple Armed Robberies of Cleveland BusinessesRead the Press Release
Dwyon Moore was sentenced to 322 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for the armed robberies of five separate businesses in Cleveland, Ohio.
“This defendant robbed five area businesses, including four in the span of only six hours, while pointing his gun at employees, patrons and a mother with her young child,” said United States Attorney Justin Herdman. “This sentence of more than 26 years is an important message to our community that those who terrorize our neighbors will be held accountable. We are grateful for the quick action of law enforcement, especially the Cleveland Division of Police officers who apprehended the defendant before he could commit yet another armed robbery that night.”
“Small businesses like restaurants and commercial shops are the backbone of a community, and they deserve to operate without a fear of violence,” said Jonathan McPherson, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Columbus Field Division. “ATF is proud to have such strong collaborative relationships with our partners at the Cleveland Division of Police, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office Crime Strategy Unit, the FBI, and the United States Attorney’s Office. Through all of us working together, we were able to identify and prosecute this individual and remove a violent person from our community.”
According to evidence presented at sentencing, on December 12, 2018, Dwyon Moore (50), of Cleveland, OH, began his crime spree at Wonton Gourmet on Payne Avenue when he used a firearm to rob the restaurant. Moore approached the counter wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face and pointed a firearm at employees and customers, ordering them to the ground. After stealing approximately $1,000 from the register, Moore fled on foot.
Continuing on December 14, 2018, at approximately 5:45 PM, Moore used a firearm to rob D.O. Summers Cleaners and Laundry on Carnegie Avenue. Wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face, Moore pointed a gun at an employee and said “Don’t try to be a hero, ill be back, give me the money.” Moore then stole from the register, stole a coat from the dry cleaner, and fled on foot.
Within 45 minutes of the D.O. Summers robbery, Moore robbed Dark and Lovely Hair and Beauty on Cedar Avenue. Moore, again wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face, pointed a firearm at customers, including a small child and his mother while ordering them to the ground, and demanded money from the register. Moore stole approximately $21 from a customer and approximately $100 from the register, then fled on foot.
Shortly after the Dark and Lovely robbery, Moore then robbed Bo Loong restaurant on St. Clair Avenue. While pointing a firearm, Moore told an employee to come to the counter, and demanded for the employee to give him all the money on his person. The employee removed $100 from his pocket and handed the money to the defendant. The defendant instructed the employee to lie down, and the employee complied. Moore stated, “It’s not personal. It’s just business.” Moore stole $50 from another employee, $250 from other customers, and approximately $350 from the register, then fled on foot. Moore was wearing the same dark colored hooded sweatshirt as seen in all of the previous robberies.
Finally, again wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt pulled tightly around his face, Moore robbed the Good Times Café on East 55th Street. Using a firearm, Moore robbed multiple bar patrons, as well as the Good Times Café register, then fled on foot. Patrons flagged down Cleveland Police Patrol Officers who quickly apprehended Moore nearby. Moore attempted to flee and resisted while officers attempted to handcuff him. CPD officers recovered a large amount of cash, items stolen during the various robberies, drug paraphernalia, and a loaded .38 caliber revolver. Moore was wearing the same clothing visible on surveillance from the prior four robberies. All told, Moore robbed four (4) separate businesses in the span of six (6) hours on December 14, 2018, in addition to the robbery he committed on December 12, 2018.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. PSN was reinvigorated in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime
This case was investigated by the Cleveland Division of Police, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office’s Crime Strategies Unit. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Hanley.
Crime Stoppers tip leads to heavy federal sentence for armed robberRead the Press Release
HOUSTON – A Houston man has been ordered to prison following his conviction related to his theft of guns from two local pawn shops during armed robberies, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.
Jacoby West, 27, pleaded guilty in February 2019.
Today, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake handed West a 168-month sentence for the robberies. He also received an additional 84 months for using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence which must be served consecutively to the other sentence imposed. The 21-year sentence will be immediately followed by five years of supervised release. West was also ordered to pay restitution for the cash he stole and unrecovered firearms in addition to victims’ counseling expenses.
At the hearing today, the court heard West had recruited juvenile co-conspirators and organized the robberies which involved the carjacking of a truck to use as a getaway vehicle. The court also considered victim impact statements as well as dog bite injuries a Pearland Police Department (PPD) officer had sustained as he pursued West’s co-conspirators. The officer required 48 stitches.
A Crime Stoppers tip led to West’s arrest for his involvement in the Dec. 22, 2016, armed robbery of Cash America Pawn #66 on South Wilcrest Drive in Houston and June 26, 2017, robbery of Money Mart Pawn & Jewelry on Broadway Street in Pearland.
West and others stole a total of 40 firearms in the two robberies as well as a significant amount of cash. T0 date, authorities have recovered 25 of those weapons.
West has been and will remain in custody.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Pearland Police Department and Houston Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Wirsing prosecuted the case which was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a nationwide program to reduce gun and gang crime in America and the Houston Law Enforcement Violent Crime Initiative which seeks to proactively fight violent crime across the Greater Houston area.
Compound Ingredient Supplier Fagron Holding USA LLC to Pay $22.05 Million to Resolve Allegations of False and Inflated Average Wholesale Prices for Ingredients Used in Compounded PrescriptionsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that Fagron Holding USA LLC (Fagron) has agreed to pay $22.05 million to resolve allegations concerning the establishment of false and inflated Average Wholesale Prices (AWPs) by its wholly owned subsidiary Freedom Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Freedom) for active pharmaceutical ingredients used in compound prescriptions. Freedom’s pricing scheme caused pharmacies that purchased Freedom’s compound ingredients to submit false prescription claims to the Defense Health Agency, which administers the TRICARE Program for the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Programs (federal healthcare programs).
“We will not allow the systematic abuse of federal healthcare programs through pricing schemes designed to enrich a few at the expense of federal taxpayers,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “Our commitment to protect these programs extends not only to the pursuit of those that submit fraudulent claims but also those who cause others to submit such claims.”
Compounding pharmacies purchase ingredients or chemicals from ingredient suppliers such as Freedom to prepare and fill compound prescriptions for patients who require a specially made prescription that is not generally available in the marketplace. Freedom knew that compound prescription reimbursement under these federal programs was based in part on the AWPs it reported to various price listing agencies for its ingredients. Freedom knowingly inflated the AWPs for its ingredients in order to increase the reimbursement that its pharmacy customers received from federal healthcare programs for using Freedom’s ingredients. For example, Freedom established an AWP for the ingredient Fluticasone Propionate at $3,500 per gram even though it typically sold the Fluticasone Propionate for approximately $160 per gram.
Freedom promoted its high AWPs and the resulting profit potential from the reimbursement of compound prescriptions as an inducement to pharmacies to purchase its ingredients. Freedom’s fraudulent pricing scheme for its ingredients enabled its pharmacy customers to bill federal healthcare programs thousands of dollars per prescription for some compound formulations.
“We have no tolerance for the abuse of federal healthcare programs, especially where it impacts the healthcare program for our veterans and their families,” said U.S. Attorney John Bash of the Western District of Texas.
“Deception and avarice have no place in our healthcare system,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez of the Middle District of Florida. “Taxpayers expect that the programs they fund be administered according to the law and utilized for the purposes that they were intended. We will continue to guard against abuse of healthcare programs to ensure that patients receive the care they deserve.”
The settlement also resolves allegations that Fagron’s wholly owned pharmacy subsidiary, Pharmacy Services Inc. (PSI) and its pharmacy affiliates, submitted fraudulent compound prescription claims to federal healthcare programs, used sham insurance programs to manipulate pricing, paid kickbacks to physicians for bogus consulting agreements, and illegally waived copays. It also addresses allegations against another Fagron subsidiary, B&B Pharmaceuticals Inc. (B&B), for setting an inflated AWP for Gabapentin.
The settlement resolves allegations contained in two separate actions filed against Freedom, PSI, and B&B under the whistleblower or qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the False Claims Act, private parties may sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery. The whistleblowers will receive a combined total of $3,749,000 plus accrued interest from the proceeds of the settlement. The two lawsuits are captioned United States ex rel. Hueseman v. PSI et al., (WDTX) and United States ex rel. Sten v. Midwest Compounders, et al., (NDIA).
The case was handled by the Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Texas and the Middle District of Florida, with investigative support from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Postal Service, Department of Labor, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Compound Ingredient Supplier Fagron Holding USA LLC to Pay $22.05 Million to Resolve Allegations of False and Inflated Average Wholesale Prices for Ingredients Used in Compounded PrescriptionsRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that Fagron Holding USA LLC (Fagron) has agreed to pay $22.05 million to resolve allegations concerning the establishment of false and inflated Average Wholesale Prices (AWPs) by its wholly owned subsidiary Freedom Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Freedom) for active pharmaceutical ingredients used in compound prescriptions. Freedom’s pricing scheme caused pharmacies that purchased Freedom’s compound ingredients to submit false prescription claims to the Defense Health Agency, which administers the TRICARE Program for the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Programs (federal healthcare programs).
“We will not allow the systematic abuse of federal healthcare programs through pricing schemes designed to enrich a few at the expense of federal taxpayers,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “Our commitment to protect these programs extends not only to the pursuit of those that submit fraudulent claims but also those who cause others to submit such claims.”
Compounding pharmacies purchase ingredients or chemicals from ingredient suppliers such as Freedom to prepare and fill compound prescriptions for patients who require a specially made prescription that is not generally available in the marketplace. Freedom knew that compound prescription reimbursement under these federal programs was based in part on the AWPs it reported to various price listing agencies for its ingredients. Freedom knowingly inflated the AWPs for its ingredients in order to increase the reimbursement that its pharmacy customers received from federal healthcare programs for using Freedom’s ingredients. For example, Freedom established an AWP for the ingredient Fluticasone Propionate at $3,500 per gram even though it typically sold the Fluticasone Propionate for approximately $160 per gram.
Freedom promoted its high AWPs and the resulting profit potential from the reimbursement of compound prescriptions as an inducement to pharmacies to purchase its ingredients. Freedom’s fraudulent pricing scheme for its ingredients enabled its pharmacy customers to bill federal healthcare programs thousands of dollars per prescription for some compound formulations.
“We have no tolerance for the abuse of federal healthcare programs, especially where it impacts the healthcare program for our veterans and their families,” said U.S. Attorney John Bash of the Western District of Texas.
“Deception and avarice have no place in our healthcare system,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez of the Middle District of Florida. “Taxpayers expect that the programs they fund be administered according to the law and utilized for the purposes that they were intended. We will continue to guard against abuse of healthcare programs to ensure that patients receive the care they deserve.”
The settlement also resolves allegations that Fagron’s wholly owned pharmacy subsidiary, Pharmacy Services Inc. (PSI) and its pharmacy affiliates, submitted fraudulent compound prescription claims to federal healthcare programs, used sham insurance programs to manipulate pricing, paid kickbacks to physicians for bogus consulting agreements, and illegally waived copays. It also addresses allegations against another Fagron subsidiary, B&B Pharmaceuticals Inc. (B&B), for setting an inflated AWP for Gabapentin.
The settlement resolves allegations contained in two separate actions filed against Freedom, PSI, and B&B under the whistleblower or qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the False Claims Act, private parties may sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery. The whistleblowers will receive a combined total of $3,749,000 plus accrued interest from the proceeds of the settlement. The two lawsuits are captioned United States ex rel. Hueseman v. PSI et al., (WDTX) and United States ex rel. Sten v. Midwest Compounders, et al., (NDIA).
The case was handled by the Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Texas and the Middle District of Florida, with investigative support from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Postal Service, Department of Labor, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Compound Ingredient Supplier Fagron Holding USA LLC to Pay $22.05 Million to Resolve Allegations of False and Inflated Average Wholesale Prices for Ingredients Used in Compounded PrescriptionsRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that Fagron Holding USA LLC (Fagron) has agreed to pay $22.05 million to resolve allegations concerning the establishment of false and inflated Average Wholesale Prices (AWPs) by its wholly owned subsidiary Freedom Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Freedom) for active pharmaceutical ingredients used in compound prescriptions. Freedom’s pricing scheme caused pharmacies that purchased Freedom’s compound ingredients to submit false prescription claims to the Defense Health Agency, which administers the TRICARE Program for the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Programs (federal healthcare programs).
“We will not allow the systematic abuse of federal healthcare programs through pricing schemes designed to enrich a few at the expense of federal taxpayers,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “Our commitment to protect these programs extends not only to the pursuit of those that submit fraudulent claims but also those who cause others to submit such claims.”
Compounding pharmacies purchase ingredients or chemicals from ingredient suppliers such as Freedom to prepare and fill compound prescriptions for patients who require a specially made prescription that is not generally available in the marketplace. Freedom knew that compound prescription reimbursement under these federal programs was based in part on the AWPs it reported to various price listing agencies for its ingredients. Freedom knowingly inflated the AWPs for its ingredients in order to increase the reimbursement that its pharmacy customers received from federal healthcare programs for using Freedom’s ingredients. For example, Freedom established an AWP for the ingredient Fluticasone Propionate at $3,500 per gram even though it typically sold the Fluticasone Propionate for approximately $160 per gram.
Freedom promoted its high AWPs and the resulting profit potential from the reimbursement of compound prescriptions as an inducement to pharmacies to purchase its ingredients. Freedom’s fraudulent pricing scheme for its ingredients enabled its pharmacy customers to bill federal healthcare programs thousands of dollars per prescription for some compound formulations.
“We have no tolerance for the abuse of federal healthcare programs, especially where it impacts the healthcare program for our veterans and their families,” said U.S. Attorney John Bash of the Western District of Texas.
“Deception and avarice have no place in our healthcare system,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez of the Middle District of Florida. “Taxpayers expect that the programs they fund be administered according to the law and utilized for the purposes that they were intended. We will continue to guard against abuse of healthcare programs to ensure that patients receive the care they deserve.”
The settlement also resolves allegations that Fagron’s wholly owned pharmacy subsidiary, Pharmacy Services Inc. (PSI) and its pharmacy affiliates, submitted fraudulent compound prescription claims to federal healthcare programs, used sham insurance programs to manipulate pricing, paid kickbacks to physicians for bogus consulting agreements, and illegally waived copays. It also addresses allegations against another Fagron subsidiary, B&B Pharmaceuticals Inc. (B&B), for setting an inflated AWP for Gabapentin.
The settlement resolves allegations contained in two separate actions filed against Freedom, PSI, and B&B under the whistleblower or qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the False Claims Act, private parties may sue on behalf of the government for false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery. The whistleblowers will receive a combined total of $3,749,000 plus accrued interest from the proceeds of the settlement. The two lawsuits are captioned United States ex rel. Hueseman v. PSI et al., (WDTX) and United States ex rel. Sten v. Midwest Compounders, et al., (NDIA).
The case was handled by the Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Texas and the Middle District of Florida, with investigative support from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Postal Service, Department of Labor, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Columbia Man Pleads Guilty to Illegal Firearms Following Police Chase, CrashRead the Press Release
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Columbia, Missouri, man who was arrested after crashing his car in a high-speed chase pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally possessing firearms.
James Earl Sanders Jr., 31, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps Jr. to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Sanders was arrested on two separate occasions – once, while riding a stolen scooter, and again, following a pursuit by police officers that ended when he crashed into a tree. On both occasions, Sanders was illegally in possession of a firearm.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Sanders has two prior felony convictions for burglary and a prior felony conviction for attempted robbery.
Sanders was arrested on July 24, 2018, when a Columbia police officer saw him riding a Yamaha Zuma 50cc scooter that had been reported stolen. When Sanders pulled into a Steak and Shake restaurant, the officer contacted him and learned there was a warrant for his arrest. The officer grabbed Sanders’ wrist, but Sanders pulled away and ran. Sanders ran approximately 10 feet before the officer grabbed him by his shoulders and placed him on the ground. Another officer pointed his Taser at Sanders, who complied from that point and placed his hands behind his back.
Sanders had a loaded Taurus semi-automatic handgun in his front pocket at the time of his arrest. The handgun had been reported stolen. He also had what appeared to be 37 counterfeit $5 bills, all with the same serial number.
Sanders was arrested again on Sept. 30, 2018, when a Jefferson City, Missouri, police officer attempted to stop him for speeding. Rather than stopping when the officer activated his emergency lights, however, Sanders accelerated the Mercury Cougar he was driving. The Cougar reached a speed of approximately 67 miles per hour on Chestnut Street. Sanders attempted to turn east onto Fairmount Boulevard, but lost control of the car and struck a tree at the intersection of Chestnut Street and Fairmount Boulevard.
Sanders threw a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol out of the window as the officer approached. Sanders and a passenger were ordered to get out of the vehicle and Sanders was placed under arrest. Sanders had seven arrest warrants, including a federal arrest warrant for the indictment following the July 24, 2018, arrest.
Under federal statutes, Sanders is subject to a sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison without parole on each of the two convictions. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the Columbia, Mo., Police Department, the Jefferson City, Mo., Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Project Safe Neighborhoods
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is partnering with federal, state, and local law enforcement to specifically identify criminals responsible for significant violent crime in the Western District of Missouri. A centerpiece of this effort is Project Safe Neighborhoods, a program that brings together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone. Project Safe Neighborhoods is an evidence-based program that identifies the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develops comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, Project Safe Neighborhoods focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.Columbia Gang Member Sentenced to Four Years in Federal Prison on Gun ChargeRead the Press Release
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Donald Benson, 30, of Columbia, was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Evidence presented to the court showed that on October 5, 2018, an officer with the Columbia Police Department, who knew Benson and knew he had a suspended driver’s license and outstanding warrants, approached Benson. Benson fled on foot as the officer attempted to make contact with him. During this flight, Benson tossed a loaded firearm from his jacket and continued to flee before the officer finally apprehended Benson. Evidence was also presented of Benson’s status as a validated gang member.
Federal law prohibits Benson from possessing firearms and ammunition because he has numerous state felony convictions, including attempted murder; assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature; unlawful carry of a pistol; and participating in a riot while in prison.
United States District J. Michelle Childs, of Columbia, sentenced Benson to 50 months in federal prison, to be followed by a three-year term of court-ordered supervision. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case was investigated by the Midlands Gang Task Force, a team of federal and local law enforcement agencies committed to identifying violent gang members. The Task Force agencies involved in this investigation include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Columbia Police Department. The case was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
Assistant United States Attorney Alyssa Leigh Richardson of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.
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Chicago Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Robbing Suburban Stores at GunpointRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A federal judge today sentenced a Chicago man to 15 years in prison for robbing suburban retail stores at gunpoint.
REGINALD TAYLOR, 53, committed three armed robberies and one attempted armed robbery in the fall of 2012. Taylor terrorized store employees by brandishing a handgun and threatening to shoot them if they did not comply with his demands. In one of the heists, Taylor physically restrained store employees with their shoelaces. The robberies netted him more than $54,000 in cash and hundreds of cell phones.
Taylor was arrested in Oak Lawn on Nov. 7, 2012, after attempting to rob a RadioShack. He has remained in federal custody since then.
Taylor pleaded guilty earlier this year to robbery and firearm charges. U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo imposed the sentence in federal court in Chicago.
“Our office will continue to be vigilant in investigating and prosecuting armed robbers,” said John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “We will advocate for substantial prison sentences – like the 15-year sentence imposed in this case – in order to keep our communities safe.”
U.S. Attorney Lausch announced the sentence along with Timothy Jones, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Substantial assistance was provided by Police Departments in Elgin, Frankfort, Palos Heights, and Oak Lawn. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeannice W. Appenteng and Lindsay Jenkins.
Taylor admitted in a plea agreement that he committed three armed robberies:
Sept. 20, 2012: T-Mobile store, 200 block of South Randall Road, Elgin.
Nov. 1, 2012: RadioShack store, 21100 block of South LaGrange Road, Frankfort.
Nov. 7, 2012: RadioShack store, 11900 block of South Harlem Avenue, Palos Heights.
Taylor admitted in the plea agreement that he committed one attempted robbery:
Nov. 7, 2012: RadioShack store, 4800 block of West 95th Street, Oak Lawn.
Cedar Rapids Man Pleads Guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin Laced with FentanylRead the Press Release
A man who intended to distribute nearly 60 grams of heroin laced with fentanyl pled guilty on November 4, 2019, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Lashon M. Jefferson, age 22, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance containing heroin and fentanyl.
In a plea agreement, Jefferson admitted that on July 25, 2019, and again on July 30, 2019, he was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. On both occasions, Jefferson entered the Linn County Correctional Center in possession of heroin laced with fentanyl. On July 30, Jefferson possessed nearly 56 grams of the fentanyl-laced heroin. Jefferson admitted that he intended to distribute some or all of the drugs to another person.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Jefferson remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Jefferson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $5,000,000 fine, and at least 4 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA; the Linn County Sheriff's Office; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Marion Police Department; and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 19-CR-91-LTS.
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Carnegie Man Charged with Premeditated Murder in Indian CountryRead the Press Release
OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal grand jury has charged ISAIAH WHITEFOX REDBIRD, 34, of Carnegie, Oklahoma, with premeditated murder and assault with the intent to commit murder, announced U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Downing.
According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury yesterday, Redbird deliberately killed a person by striking him on the head with a blunt force instrument on September 11, 2018, in Indian Country. He is charged in a separate count with assaulting a person identified as K.R. on the same day with the intent to commit murder.
An affidavit filed in federal court on November 28, 2018, alleges the Chief of the Carnegie Police Department discovered K.R. walking on a street in Carnegie on the morning of September 12, 2018, with severe head injuries. K.R. could not remember how she sustained her injuries. According to the affidavit, law enforcement discovered the body of K.R.’s boyfriend, Byron Tongeamah Jr., also known as "Subee," later that morning in the carport of an abandoned residence in which they had been sleeping. The abandoned residence is in Indian Country, and Tongeamah and K.R. are both Indians.
Two witnesses reported they had seen Redbird near the abandoned residence on the night of September 11. Further investigation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation led to a residence at which Redbird allegedly attempted to burn and then buried his clothing soon after Tongeamah’s death.
Redbird was arrested in Arizona on September 26, 2018, for an unrelated probation violation. He has been in federal custody since that time.
If found guilty of premeditated murder, Redbird faces a mandatory punishment of life in prison. If convicted of assault with intent to commit murder, he could be sentenced to up to twenty years in prison and up to five years of supervised release. He could also be fined up to $250,000 on each count.
This case is a result of an investigation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation—Oklahoma City Field Office, and the Carnegie Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon Hale and Jason Harley are prosecuting the case.
The public is reminded that these charges are merely allegations and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Reference is made to public filings for more information.
California man convicted for trafficking meth in Kalispell areaRead the Press Release
MISSOULA – A jury on Wednesday convicted a California man on methamphetamine trafficking crimes after he was accused of bringing the drug to the Kalispell area for distribution, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
The jury found Jeremy David Medbery, 34, of Riverside, CA, guilty of possession with intent to distribute meth and distribution of meth. Medbery faces a minimum mandatory five years to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and at least four years of supervised release.
The three-day trial began on Monday.
Chief U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen presided and set sentencing for Feb. 20, 2020. Medbery was detained.
“Mr. Medbery pushed this highly-addictive drug in our community for distribution. Drug traffickers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I want to thank Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bartleson and the prosecution team, along with the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations, for their work on this case,” U.S. Attorney Alme said.
The prosecution presented evidence at trial that in January 2016, law enforcement agents in the Kalispell area began getting tips about two men, Medbery and co-defendant Christopher George Nomura, who had arrived from California to distribute meth. A confidential informant told agents that Medbery had stayed in a Lakeside home and had showed the informant a container with meth.
In February 2016, the informant made a controlled purchase of meth from Medbery at a casino in Kalispell. Medbery was under surveillance before the deal. After the transaction, police officers followed Medbery, made a traffic stop on Highway 93 and arrested Medbery. Agents executed search warrants on Medbery’s truck and residence. In the truck was a plastic bag with meth residue. A safe in the bedroom where Medbery was staying contained a plastic bag with meth and another bag with residue.
Medbery told officers that there was meth in a safe in the room where he stayed. He also admitted he drove from California with Nomura and brought meth for his personal use. Several days later, Nomura was arrested. Nomura told officers that he and Medbery drove up from California with about a pound of meth to distribute. Medbery stranded Nomura and gave him money to return to California. Nomura got more meth in California and returned to Montana. A pound of meth is the equivalent of about 3,624 doses. Nomura was convicted in the case and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bartleson prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations.
The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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Buffalo Man Indicted on Multiple Cocaine ChargesRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y.—U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Kasan Alkafi, 39, of Buffalo, NY, with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, maintaining a drug-involved premises, and possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, cocaine. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin G. Bish, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, between July 2016 and November 3, 2017, the defendant conspired with others to sell cocaine in the Buffalo area. During the course of the conspiracy, Alkafi used 13 Minton and 592 Genesee Streets in Buffalo for drug trafficking purposes.
The defendant was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer and released on conditions.
The indictment is result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan; the Erie County Sheriff’s office, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard; and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Byron Lockwood.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Buffalo Man Indicted for Selling Butyryl Fentanyl and Heroin That Caused the Deaths of Two PeopleRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y.—U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a nine-count superseding indictment charging Nino Buggs, a/k/a Rico, 23, of Buffalo, NY, with distributing butyryl fentanyl, U-47700, fentanyl, possession and distribution of heroin, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Two of the counts specifically allege that the defendant distributed controlled substances which resulted in the death of another. These counts each carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $20,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles J. Volkert, Jr. and Justin G. Bish, who are handling the case, stated that according to the superseding indictment, the defendant is accused of distributing butyryl fentanyl, U-47700, and fentanyl on March 21, 2017, which resulted in the death of an individual identified as M.B. In addition, Buggs is also accused of distributing heroin on August 21, 2017, which resulted in the death of an individual identified as H.W. The indictment alleges that defendant distributed butyryl fentanyl, U-47700, fentanyl, and heroin in the Western New York area on a regular basis in 2017 and that on four occasions he sold drugs to individuals working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the New York State Police.
On August 24, 2017, the New York State Police and Buffalo Police Department executed a search warrant at the defendant’s apartment on Roesch Avenue in Buffalo. During the search, officers recovered nearly 40 grams of heroin, over 100 grams of cocaine, and several items of drug paraphernalia, including packaging, scales, multiple cell phones, and over $26,000 cash.
The defendant was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and was released on conditions. A detention hearing is scheduled for November 12, 2019, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy.
The superseding indictment is result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan; the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Edward Kennedy; the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Byron Lockwood; the Tonawanda Police Department, under the direction of Chief James P. Stauffiger; and the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Bronx Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Theft of Government Property and Aggravated Identity TheftRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A Bronx, New York, man was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for his role in a scheme to obtain and ultimately cash more than $1 million in fraudulent income tax refund checks issued by the United States, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Wellington Feliz, 36, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to two counts of an indictment charging him with theft of government property and aggravated identity theft. Judge Arleo imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) schemes generally share a number of hallmarks. Perpetrators obtain personal identifying information, including Social Security numbers and dates of birth, from unwitting individuals, who often reside in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. They complete IRS-1040 tax return forms using the fraudulently obtained information and falsifying wages earned, taxes withheld and other data, always ensuring that fraudulent tax return generates a refund. The perpetrators then direct the U.S. Treasury Department to mail the refund checks to locations they control or can access. In some cases, they bribe mail carriers to remove the refund checks from their mail routes. With the fraudulently obtained refund checks in hand, the perpetrators generate cash proceeds by depositing the checks into bank accounts they control.
At his plea hearing, Feliz admitted that he knew that the approximately 180 tax refund checks that he and others deposited into bank accounts under his direct control did not belong to him or the company named on the bank account. He admitted to personally withdrawing funds from these accounts and profiting from his role in the scheme. He also admitted that he knew that the checks were issued by the IRS and the U.S. Treasury, and that it was illegal to deposit the tax refund checks and use the proceeds for his own benefit. Feliz admitted that he and his conspirators deposited over $1 million in fraudulently obtained income tax refund checks into bank accounts controlled by him.
Feliz was initially charged with six co-defendants (Luis Pena, Lourdes Ortiz, Raymundo Hernandez, Isaias Hernandez, and Gloria Rivera of the Bronx, New York; and Fausto Bernard of Newark) in a criminal complaint alleging conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, relating to a SIRF scheme that caused more than $2.6 million in losses to the United States government. Feliz and Isaias Hernandez were later charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, theft of government funds, and aggravated identity theft. After being charged by complaint, Feliz violated the terms of his pretrial release conditions and fled to the Dominican Republic. In April 2019, Feliz was extradited to the District of New Jersey.
All six co-defendants have pleaded guilty to and have been sentenced for their roles in the scheme. One additional conspirator, Angel Fernandez of Newark, has also pleaded guilty to charges regarding his participation in the conspiracy. All have been ordered to pay restitution to victims and forfeiture to the United States.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Arleo sentenced Feliz to three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John R. Tafur; special agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Mark McKevitt; special agents of the U.S. Postal Service – Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Matthew Modafferi; and inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Inspector in Charge James Buthorn, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francesca Liquori and Sara F. Merin of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: Laurie M. Fierro Esq., Kinnelon, New Jersey