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Friday 21 September 2018
Man Residing in California Convicted of Drug-related Money Laundering in OmahaRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr., sentenced Alberto Martinez-Salcido today to a term of time served following a 13-month period of incarceration. He received a two-year term of supervised release. Martinez-Salcido pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering and Use of Facilities in Interstate Commerce in Aid of Racketeering, both felony offenses.
Defendant, then residing in California, and a co-conspirator residing in Nebraska laundered more than $14,000.00 of funds derived from the sale of controlled substances in Nebraska through bank accounts in the U.S. and Mexico. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has filed a detainer in the case.
This was a joint investigation led by the Omaha Division of Drug Enforcement Administration, Omaha Division, assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, and additional state and local partners.
MS-13 Gang Member Pleads Guilty to April 2017 Quadruple MurderRead the Press Release
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, Freiry Martinez, a member of the Herndon City Locos Salvatruchas clique of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as the MS-13, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection with his participation in the April 11, 2017 murders of Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos. The guilty plea was entered before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), Geraldine Hart, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), and Patrick J. Ryder, Commissioner, Nassau County Police Department (NCPD), announced the guilty plea.
Martinez, who is now 17 years old and was 15 years and 11 months old at the time of the April 11 murders, initially was charged by a juvenile information that was filed under seal in the Eastern District of New York on July 10, 2017. Martinez fled from New York to Virginia and later to Maryland after the April 11 murders, and remained a fugitive until November 21, 2017, when he was arrested in Montgomery County, Maryland. Martinez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, subsequently was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and removed to the Eastern District of New York in custody by the United States Marshals Service. Following the government’s application to transfer Martinez to adult status for prosecution, the motion was granted today by Judge Bianco.
“Prosecution by prosecution, defendant by defendant, we are dismantling the MS-13 through an effort that will not end until they are ended,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “The unwavering resolve of the Eastern District, the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force and all our law enforcement partners will bring justice for the victims and the perpetrators alike.” Mr. Donoghue extended his sincere appreciation to the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Montgomery County Police Department and Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office for assisting in this investigation.
“Most 15-year-olds are worried about a chemistry test at school or making the football team, not plotting a grotesque attack and murder of four other teenagers,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney. “Our work with our law enforcement partners on the FBI Long Island Gang Task Force is proof a combined and concentrated effort to combat the evil that is MS-13 will work to stop more senseless murders. We want to assure the community we won’t let up in our pursuit of rounding up these gang members and stopping them from terrorizing neighborhoods on Long Island.”
“This guilty plea is a result of the dedicated work and collaboration of the Suffolk County Police Department, the Long Island Gang Task Force and the Eastern District,” stated SCPD Commissioner Hart. “We applaud the effort of prosecutors to ensure that Martinez would be tried as an adult to face the stiffest penalties possible. The deaths of these four young men committed at the hands of MS-13 gang members is incomprehensible and we hope today’s plea will send a clear message to gang members that we will not waver or tire from our commitment to dismantle gangs in Suffolk County. It is our hope that holding these perpetrators accountable will bring some measure of comfort and healing to the victims’ friends and families.”
“Due to the exceptional work by all of the law enforcement investigators involved and their agencies, Defendant Freiry Martinez will not be able to terrorize our communities and residents any longer,” stated NCPD Commissioner Ryder. “We have four families that have lost loved ones to the hands of MS-13 in these brutal and senseless killings. Rest assured, we will continue to engage this violence with our zero tolerance approach and will continue to remove these offenders from our streets.”
According to court filings and statements by the defendant at the guilty plea proceeding, on the evening of April 11, 2017, two female associates of the MS-13 lured five young men, including the four victims, to a community park in Central Islip at the direction of Martinez and other MS-13 members. The MS-13 members believed the victims to be members of a rival gang who were disrespectful toward the MS-13. Martinez and several MS-13 members and associates met in a wooded area behind the park where they distributed weapons, discussed the plan to kill the victims and then awaited their arrival. Once the female MS-13 associates arrived at the park, they led the victims to a wooded area and sent the MS-13 members a text message describing their location. Pursuant to their previously devised plan, Martinez and the other MS-13 members and associates surrounded the victims and killed Llivicura, Lopez, Tigre and Villalobos using machetes, knives and wooden clubs. The fifth intended victim escaped. After the attack, Martinez and his associates dragged the victims’ bodies to a more secluded spot and fled. The victims’ bodies were discovered the following evening.
When sentenced, Martinez faces a maximum of life in prison. Upon completion of his sentence, he faces deportation from the United States.
Today’s conviction is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York targeting members of the MS-13, a violent international criminal organization. The MS-13’s leadership is based in El Salvador and Honduras, but the gang has thousands of members across the United States, comprised primarily of immigrants from Central America. With numerous branches, or “cliques,” the MS-13 is the largest and most violent street gang on Long Island. Since 2003, hundreds of MS-13 members, including dozens of clique leaders, have been convicted on federal felony charges in this district. A majority of those MS-13 members have been convicted on federal racketeering charges for participating in murders, attempted murders and assaults. Since 2010, this Office has obtained indictments charging MS-13 members with carrying out more than 45 murders in this district, and has convicted dozens of MS-13 leaders and members in connection with those murders. These prosecutions are the product of investigations led by the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, comprising agents and officers of the FBI, SCPD, NCPD, Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, Suffolk County Probation, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, Rockville Centre Police Department, New York State Police and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys John J. Durham, Paul G. Scotti, Michael T. Keilty and Raymond A. Tierney are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
FREIRY MARTINEZ (also known as “Discreto,” “Sovietico” and “Freddy”)
Age: 17
Brentwood, New YorkE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 17-CR-364 (S-1)(JFB)
MEDIA ADVISORY-- Federal Officials to Hold Press Conference to Make Significant Law Enforcement AnnouncementRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge James C. Langenberg of the Albuquerque Division of the FBI, and Commander Todd J. Turner of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 814, will hold a press conference at 11:00 AM, TODAY, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018, at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, N.M., to make a significant law enforcement announcement.
WHO:
U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson
Special Agent in Charge James C. Langenberg of the FBI’s Albuquerque Division
Commander Todd J. Turner of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 814
WHAT:
Press Conference
WHEN:
TODAY, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
11:00 A.M.
WHERE:
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Mexico
201 Third Street NW
10th Floor Multi-Media Room (Reception on Ninth Floor)
Albuquerque, NM 87102
OPEN PRESS
NOTE: All media representatives must present government-issued photo I.D. (i.e., driver’s license) as well as valid media credentials. Media representatives may begin to arrive at 10:30 a.m. Inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to USAO Media Coordinator Alyssa Ferda, contractor, at 505-224-1480 or [email protected].
Louisville Man Pleads Guilty to Methamphetamine ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Jackson, Miss. – Tray Beamon, 32, of Louisville, pled guilty today before Chief United States District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III, to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Jere T. Miles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans.
On August 31, 2017, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Beamon’s residence. During the search, agents found 2 kilograms of methamphetamine, 30 pounds of marijuana, and 3 firearms. The case is the result of an extensive Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation, dubbed AOperation Highlife,@ which began as an operation targeting illegal narcotics distribution in east central Mississippi area that involved the distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. The distribution network encompasses the States of California, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
"Methamphetamine has devastated countless communities due to the dramatic health and public safety consequences that typically accompany its introduction into an area," said Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations New Orleans Jere T. Miles. "Today’s guilty plea stems from an extensive HSI effort with its federal, state and local partners to dismantle a drug trafficking organization that decimated parts of Mississippi and Alabama with methamphetamine smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. This operation is a testament to the seamless partnership between HSI, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and we are thankful for their assistance as well as the U.S. Attorneys’ to improve the lives of law-abiding residents throughout Mississippi and Alabama."
Beamon will be sentenced by Judge Jordan on December 21, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. and faces a maximum penalty of Life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine.
The OCDETF program is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug
trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations, and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.
This OCDETF case is a result of a joint investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Assisting agencies include the Philadelphia Police Department, Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department, Neshoba County District Attorney’s Office, Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Flowood Police Department, Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, Hinds County Sheriff’s Department, Carthage Police Department, Union Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Louisville Police Department, Mississippi Highway Patrol, United States Attorney=s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and the United States Marshal’s Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Chalk is prosecuting the case.
Louisiana Man Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Possession of Firearms After Conviction of Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic ViolenceRead the Press Release
The United States Attorney, Richard W. Moore, announces that Antoine Q. Washington, a 29 year old resident of Monroe, Louisiana was sentenced to 30 months of incarceration for illegal possession of two firearms after being convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.
According to a factual statement Washington signed in connection with his guilty plea, on February 10, 2017, ALEA Corporal Christen conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Washington for improper lane change. Washington was the sole occupant of the vehicle. During the stop, Corporal Christen smelled marijuana emanating from inside the vehicle. He then asked Washington to exit the vehicle. Corporal Christen then issued Washington a warning citation and detained him to conduct a probable cause search of the vehicle. Seized during the search, was an Arsenal, AK-47 rifle and a Ruger .40 caliber pistol. Also seized was more than 500 rounds of ammunition described as .940 Berdan-primed 7.62 x 39mm, FMJ, lead core Ammunition; .260 Wolf Ammunition 9mm x 19mm and Magtech Ammunition. Washington confessed to possession of the firearms and ammunition saying that he bought them off the street for $400.
At that time, Washington had been convicted of two domestic violence crimes, namely, Domestic Abuse Battery, on September 18, 2012, in the Fourth Judicial District Court, Parish of Ouachita, State of Louisiana case number, 12-M-002036; Assault DV, on July 14, 2009, in the County Criminal Court, Dallas County, Texas, case number MA0833712L.
Officers of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) along with special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the case and presented it to the United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The prosecutor assigned to the case was Assistant United States Attorney Gina S. Vann.
Local Resident Pleads Guilty to Access Device FraudRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that VINCENTIA ROQUES (“ROQUES”), age 40, of New Orleans, Louisiana, pleaded guilty yesterday to access device fraud.
According to documents filed in federal court, ROQUES worked part-time as a bookkeeper and office manager for several businesses located within the Eastern District of Louisiana. As the bookkeeper, ROQUES gained access to passwords and account numbers related to accessing bank accounts associated with each business. ROQUES also obtained direct access to financial account information and identifiers that permitted her to conduct fraudulent and unauthorized financial transactions with the money and credit accounts belonging to her employers.
The maximum penalty for access device fraud is ten years of imprisonment, and/or a fine of $250,000 or the greater of twice the gross gain to the defendant or twice the gross loss to the victims. United States District Judge Carl J. Barbier set the sentencing hearing for December 13, 2018.
United States Attorney Peter Strasser praised the work of the United States Postal Investigative Service Internal Revenue Service in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Richard R. Pickens, II is in charge of the prosecution.
Leader of Lawrence-Based Fentanyl, Heroin Trafficking Organization Sentenced to 135 Months in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
BOSTON – The former leader of a Lawrence-based opioid trafficking organization was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine conspiracy.
Santo Ramon Gonzalez Nival, 41, a Dominican national formerly residing in Lawrence, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release. Gonzalez Nival will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence. In June 2018, Gonzalez Nival pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl and one count of illegal reentry of a deported alien.
On May 30, 2017, a large scale law enforcement operation dismantled two Lawrence-based drug trafficking organizations, one run by Juan Anibal Patrone, and another led by Gonzalez Nival, who was a source of supply for Patrone. Gonzalez Nival and approximately 28 co-conspirators were arrested, including nine members of his drug trafficking organization.
During the course of the investigation, over 500 grams of fentanyl were seized in connection with the Gonzalez Nival organization. During a wiretap, law enforcement intercepted Gonzalez Nival talking to one of his suppliers, Santo Ramon Nivar, about a “blue one” - believed to be fentanyl - that “was killing people.” Gonzalez Nival discussed wanting more of that fentanyl because his customers liked the strength and it could be cut multiple times, which meant more profit for him.
At the time of his arrest, Gonzalez Nival was illegally in the United States, having reentered after being deported most recently on May 19, 2009. During the investigation, Gonzalez Nival fled after being stopped by police when they took his false identification card to run it. In a subsequent intercepted call, Gonzalez Nival admitted to having been deported from the United States four times previously, and explained that he ran to avoid detectives who might fingerprint him.
Gonzalez Nival and the nine members of his organization have all been convicted: two sources of supply, Robert Frett Sierra and Santo Ramon Nivar; a drug preparer, Julio Baez Gonzalez; two couriers, Geronimo Gonfessor Gonzalez Nivar and Ruddy Rafael Soto Lara; and four redistributors, Bernaldo Rosario Santiago, Carlos Hernandez, Rory Connolly, and Diosmary Burgos.
Patrone pleaded guilty on Sept. 19, 2018, and is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2019.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. The Massachusetts State Police and the Andover, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, and Wilmington Police Departments assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Winkler of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the cases.
Lancaster County Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug and Gun ChargesRead the Press Release
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon stated today that Lamonta Roberts, age 25, of Lancaster, South Carolina, has entered a guilty plea in federal court in Columbia, to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine, a violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). United States District Chief Judge Terry L. Wooten, of Columbia, accepted the guilty plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
Evidence presented at the change of plea hearing established that on May 4, 2017, the Lancaster County SWAT team executed a search warrant at the home that Roberts and his brother shared. The search warrant was for clothing that the brother wore during a robbery. As the officers entered the residence, they saw cocaine in plain view. The officers obtained a second search warrant for the drugs. During their search, the officers found two (2) Glock pistols (one under a pillow on the bed and the other in a safe that also contained cash), narcotics and a digital scale from Roberts’ dresser with his identification. Following his arrest, the police heard Roberts’ state “the police got both of my guns”. Also, Roberts’ girlfriend gave a statement that she later retracted claiming ownership of everything in the house. The drugs were tested and determined to be methamphetamine and cocaine.
Ms. Lydon stated the maximum penalty for these charges is life imprisonment and/or a fine of $1,000,000.
The case was investigated by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Lancaster County Sheriff's Department and was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases. Project CeaseFire is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, Attorney General Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001. Assistant United States Attorney William K. Witherspoon of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case.
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Lafayette green company owner indicted for stealing more than $2 million from investorsRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced today that a Lafayette man who owned a company that purported to sell chemical free disinfection machines was indicted for stealing more than $2 million from investors.
John K. Morrow, 48, of Lafayette, was indicted on four counts of wire fraud. According to the indictment, Morrow was the owner of a Louisiana company called UVC Technologies LLC, which was formed in 2011. UVC Technologies represented itself as providing green, chemical free disinfection machines utilizing ultraviolet germicidal irradiation. Instead of operating the business as represented to investors, he defrauded the investors out of $2,066,923 from 2011 to 2016. Although Morrow told investors that he would use funds for business expenses, he spent their funds on personal expenses.
Morrow faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly P. Uebinger is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Justice Department honors Ohio County Sheriff’s Deputy in Second Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in PolicingRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – United States Attorney Bill Powell joined Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Justice Department leadership this week in announcing the recipients of the Second Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing, recognizing the exceptional work of 25 law enforcement officers and deputies from 12 jurisdictions across the country.
“The Trump Administration supports law enforcement at all levels—and we always will,” said Attorney General Sessions. “The awards honor the incredible work that is being done across this country every day. This Department of Justice takes pride in announcing today’s winners of the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Policing.”
“I was enormously proud to be there when Corporal White received the Attorney General’s Award. He was so deserving, but incredibly humble. Corporal White is a fantastic representative of our law enforcement community. So many members of law enforcement do incredible things every day for our communities without fanfare. It was great to see such a deserving person honored’” said Powell.
Ohio County Sheriff’s Corporal Richard White, III, was one of the honorees. He was recognized for his bravery and quick action in rescuing a 13-year-old girl and an adult female from swift flood waters along Wheeling Creek near Greenwood Cemetery on June 24, 2017. Corporal White put his life at risk to save others, preventing a tragedy.
The Justice Department has been committed to supporting law enforcement and continues to back the “women and men in blue,” as directed by President Trump’s February 2017 Executive Order. The Department has recently awarded grants to assist law enforcement and first responders who supported mass shootings in Las Vegas, Nevada, Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas. In addition, the Department has helped police departments across America to hire hundreds more police officers through the COPS grant program.
The Attorney General’s Award recognizes individual state, local, and tribal sworn rank-and-file police officers and deputies for exceptional efforts in policing. The awarded officers and deputies have demonstrated active engagement with the community in one of three areas: criminal investigations, field operations or innovations in community policing. The Department received 207 nominations for 469 individuals ranging from state police departments, to local police, to campus public safety agencies. This award highlights the work that officers and deputies do to prevent, intervene in, and respond to crime and public safety issues.
Justice Department Seeks to Shut Down Tax Return Preparer Operating Stores in FloridaRead the Press Release
The United States filed a civil injunction suit seeking to bar Phillip Mott Harris II and his Florida-based business, 24/7 Tax Services, LLC from owning, operating, or franchising a tax return preparation business or preparing tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.
The complaint, filed in United States District Court in Florida, also requests that the court require Harris and the LLC to disgorge ill-gotten fees that they obtained from the U.S. Treasury through the alleged false tax return preparation.
According to the complaint, Harris and his tax preparation business prepare and file tax returns to falsely increase their customers’ refunds, and profit through exorbitant, often undisclosed fees, at the expense of their customers and the U.S. Treasury.
The complaint alleges that Harris and the LLC engage in misconduct, including:
- Falsely claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit;
- Claiming improper filing status (e.g., head of household even though the person is not entitled to that status);
- Fabricating businesses and related business income and expenses; and
- Charging deceptive and unconscionable fees.
According to the complaint, Harris previously worked at LBS Tax Services. Since September 2014, the United States has filed over 20 similar lawsuits in Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia, including suits against the franchisor of LBS and numerous former LBS franchisees and managers, many of whom allegedly rebranded and continued to operate tax preparation businesses. Through these lawsuits, the United States has obtained permanent injunctions and money judgments disgorging millions in ill-gotten tax preparation fees.
The IRS has a list of steps on its website that you can take and ten tips for choosing a tax preparer. Each year, the IRS releases the top 12 scams, known as the Dirty Dozen. Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2018, and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some information on its website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division at [email protected] with details.
Iowa Farmer Sentenced to Ten Months in Federal Prison for Using Money He Pledged to the USDARead the Press Release
A man who operated a northern Iowa farm and used farm proceeds for personal expenses, instead of paying off his USDA-backed line of credit, was sentenced today to ten months in federal prison.
David Pitz, age 36, from Elma, Iowa, received the prison term after an April 6, 2018, guilty plea to Conversion of Property Pledged to a Farm Credit Agency.
In a plea agreement, Pitz admitted he received a $125,000 guaranteed line of credit from the United States Department of Agriculture, to facilitate a loan with a local Elma, Iowa, bank. The line of credit was designed to be advanced to Pitz early each year to cover his farming expenses. Pitz was required to apply any crop sale proceeds, or other farm-related income, towards the debt owed on the line of credit. Instead of paying the money towards what he owed to the bank and USDA, Pitz used $117,020.68 in crop proceeds for personal expenses, including his purchase of a non-farm related building. After interest and other fees, Pitz acknowledged owing the bank and USDA over $177,000.
Pitz was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade. Pitz was sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment and was ordered to make $177,269.24 in restitution. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Pitz was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Lightfoot and investigated by United States Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 18-CR-2012.
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Illegal Alien Sentenced to Prison for Document FraudRead the Press Release
A Guatemalan man who used false identification documents to obtain a job was sentenced today to more than four months in federal prison.
Misael Saqueo Lopez-Tubac, age 36, a citizen of Guatemala illegally present in the United States and living in Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after an August 6, 2018, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of identification documents.
In a plea agreement, Lopez-Tubac admitted he used a fraudulent Social Security card and a fraudulent permanent resident card, also known as a “green card,” when he completed employment paperwork and tax forms on July 23, 2015, at a business in Urbana, Iowa. The Social Security number and the Alien Registration number on the “green card” were issued other persons. Lopez-Tubac also used the same fraudulent Social Security card and “green card” when applying for work in Waterloo, Iowa, in September 2015, in Urbana in March 2016, and in Shell Rock, Iowa, in April 2016.
On May 8, 2018, ICE agents encountered Lopez-Tubac during a traffic stop in Waterloo. Lopez-Tubac told the agents that when he illegally entered the United States in March 2005, he was advised to enter the country with a woman and child and falsely claim they were his wife and child so that he would be released by immigration authorities if encountered. Lopez-Tubac and a woman and child were encountered by immigration authorities on March 30, 2005, and were released to maintain family unity pending immigration proceedings. Lopez-Tubac was not related to either the woman or the child.
A warrant was later issued for Lopez-Tubac’s arrest for unlawfully using another person’s social security number at a business in Postville, Iowa, but he was not found during an immigration enforcement action in May 2008. Lopez-Tubac’s whereabouts were unknown to immigration officials until his arrest on May 8, 2018.
Lopez-Tubac was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Lopez-Tubac was sentenced to 124 days’ imprisonment. He must also serve a two-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Lopez-Tubac is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be turned over to immigration officials.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 18-CR-3020-LTS.
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Illegal Alien Sentenced to Five Years on Immigration and Firearm OffensesRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces that Jose Luis Alonso DeLeon was sentenced today by United States District Judge William Steele. DeLeon pled guilty without benefit of a plea agreement to an indictment charging him with possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, a violation of 18 USC Section 922(g), which carried a maximum penalty of up to ten years imprisonment and three years of supervised release; and illegal reentry of a removed alien, which carried a maximum penalty of up to two years imprisonment and one year of supervised release. DeLeon was sentenced to the maximum two years in prison for illegal reentry and five years in prison for possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, both sentences to be served concurrently. Following his sentence, the judge ordered that DeLeon be delivered to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.
The United States argued at the sentencing hearing that the Guidelines, which recommended a sentence of 15-21 months, did not adequately account for several significant facts which should be considered by the Court in determining an appropriate sentence. Instead, the United States recommended that the defendant be sentenced to five years in prison.
First, the United States argued that the Court should consider that in addition to the defendant’s criminal history calculation, it should also consider that DeLeon, a citizen of Mexico, was found in the United States on March 25, 2014 and was ordered removed. He departed on March 27, 2014 from the Laredo, Texas Port of Entry. He had also been encountered previously in the United States by the Border Patrol on May 5, 1999, February 28, 2000, March 19, 2000; March 24, 2014, March 25, 2014 and April 24, 2014.
After the April 24, 2014 encounter he was charged with violating Title 8, U.S.C. 1325, entry without inspection. He pled guilty and served 30 days imprisonment. Despite these continued contacts, DeLeon kept returning to Baldwin County in flagrant disregard of the laws of the United States.
Most significantly, the United States argued that the Guidelines did not consider the devastating consequences of DeLeon’s presence in the United States. The defendant had admitted as part of his guilty plea that the United States could prove that on March 25, 2018, Police Officers of the Fairhope, Alabama, Police Department encountered Jose Luis Alonso DeLeon at the laundromat located at 139 Baldwin Square Shopping Center in Fairhope. Officers were in the area looking for a maroon truck that had just struck and killed a bicyclist moments before.
DeLeon was still sitting behind the steering wheel in the maroon truck. Officers observed a Glock model 26 9mm pistol on the floorboard of the truck. The Glock had one round in the chamber and had been reported stolen.
Judge Steele noted that both illegal reentry and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person were serious crimes, and both were crimes frequently prosecuted in federal court. Before imposing sentence, the judge pointed out that what made this case different from others was that the defendant came to the attention of law enforcement officers as a result of their investigation into three serious felonies under Alabama law: manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, and receiving stolen property.
Although the federal charges arose on the same date as DeLeon’s pending charges with District Attorney Bob Wilters in Baldwin County, they are separate from the Alabama state charges of manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident, and receiving stolen property. DeLeon is charged in state court with causing the death of Amy Hawkins who was riding her bicycle in the northbound lane of County Road 13 in Fairhope, Alabama on March 25, 2018.
The United States Attorney, Richard W. Moore, said, “Federal law in this case is inadequate to fully address the defendant’s criminal conduct and we will support fully our law enforcement partner Baldwin County District Attorney Bob Wilters in his state court prosecution on manslaughter charges. As our prosecutor Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Murphy argued to Judge Steele, the federal sentencing guidelines do not adequately capture the totality of the defendant’s criminal activity while he was in the United States illegally. Judge Steele today recognized the inadequacy of the federal sentencing guidelines (15-21 months) and gave the defendant a much higher sentence (60 months) to more properly address the defendant’s criminal conduct. No one, however, can believe that even this enhanced sentence can begin to assuage the grief of losing a wife and mother under these tragic circumstances. I am under no such illusion.
This case dramatically demonstrates the folly of having an open border with Mexico. There are real consequences to not enforcing border security. Amy Hawkins and her family paid the price of our failed immigration policies of the past. We have to do better for the American people.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has previously stated that: “The American people made clear their desire to secure our borders and prioritize the public safety and national security of our homeland. …….They want us to seize this opportunity that we have right now….The United States will not stand by as our immigration laws are ignored and our nation’s safety is jeopardized.”
This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives; the Fairhope Police Department; and ALEA. This case was prosecuted by AUSA Maria E. Murphy.
Hampshire County woman admits to drug chargeRead the Press Release
ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA –Ashley N. Rohrbaugh, of Purgitsville, West Virginia, has admitted to a heroin distribution charge, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
Rohrbaugh, age 31, pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin.” Rohrbaugh admitted to conspiring with another to distribute heroin in Hardy County from January to April 2017.
Rohrbaugh faces up to 20 years incarceration and a fine of up to $1,000,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci M. Cook is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Hardy County Sheriff’s Office investigated.
U.S. Magistrate Michael John Aloi presided.
Hagerstown Man Pleads Guilty to Charges Related to Managing a Fentanyl Distribution Conspiracy that Resulted in at Least Two Fatal OverdosesRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – Antoine Jamel Henderson age 35, of Hagerstown, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute 40 or more grams of fentanyl—as little as 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose. In his plea agreement, Henderson admitted that he and others distributed at least 280 grams of fentanyl in the area of Washington County, Maryland—enough fentanyl to kill most of the residents of Washington County. As part of his plea, Henderson admitted that the drug trafficking organization that he supervised sold fentanyl that resulted in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses, including the fatal overdoses of two Pennsylvania men.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; the Washington County Narcotics Task Force, led by Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore; and Washington County State’s Attorney Charles P. Strong, Jr.
U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur stated, “Working together with our local, state, and federal partners, we will reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths in Maryland. We’re particularly targeting those who sell fentanyl, the drug that is killing the most of our citizens. Drug traffickers are on notice that dealing in fentanyl increases their odds of federal prosecution.”
According to his plea agreement, from at least 2017 through January 2018, Henderson conspired with others to distribute at least 280 grams of fentanyl in the area of Washington County, Maryland. Henderson knew that the fentanyl that was distributed during the conspiracy resulted in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses, including the fatal overdoses of Marc Brumbaugh, age 27, and Nathan Bolden, age 31, both from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.
Between August and September 2017, investigators conducted at least six controlled purchases of either fentanyl or crack cocaine from Henderson or his co-defendant. According to the plea agreement, the controlled purchases were supposed to be heroin, but lab results showed that the substances provided by Henderson and his co-defendant were in fact fentanyl, not heroin.
On January 17, 2018, search warrants were executed at two locations and three vehicles involved in the Henderson Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO). At Henderson’s stash house, located on Atlantic Drive in Hagerstown, agents recovered 80.22 grams of fentanyl. The fentanyl was located in the bottom compartment of a Coca-Cola vending machine in the garage. The agents also recovered 9 mm ammunition, a drug press, digital scales, drug packaging equipment, plastic bags containing fentanyl residue, cellular phones, and other drug paraphernalia.
At Henderson’s primary residence, located on Lantern Lane in Hagerstown, the agents recovered additional cellular phones, a currency counter, jewelry, and a garage opener that opened the garage at the stash house. Search warrants were obtained for the 28 cellular phones that were recovered from the houses and cars, as well as for the DVD from the surveillance system located at the stash house. Also on Henderson’s iPhone, agents found iPhone “notes” tracking law enforcement surveillance.
Henderson and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement, Henderson will be sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for January 10, 2019, at 3:00 p.m.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the DEA; the Washington County Narcotics Task Force, led by Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore; and Washington County State’s Attorney Charles P. Strong, Jr. for their work in the investigation. U.S Attorney Hur thanked Franklin County (PA) District Attorney Matt Fogal, the Waynesboro (PA) Police Department, the Franklin County Drug Task Force, the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, the Washington County Special Response Team, and the Maryland Natural Resources Police for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joan C. Mathias and Michael C. Hanlon, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.
Guilty Pleas Entered in Inver Grove Heights Cell Phone Store RobberyRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced the guilty plea of JAMAAL MARQUIE MAYS, 33, for the armed robbery of an Inver Grove Heights business. MAYS and his co-defendant, JAQUON KESHAWN MOMAN, 26, were charged in a superseding indictment on February 7, 2018. MAYS entered his guilty plea today before Chief Judge John R. Tunheim in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MOMAN pleaded guilty on August 1, 2018.
According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, on August 17, 2017, MAYS and MOMAN entered a Verizon Wireless store in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, armed with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. After waiting for customers to leave the store, MAYS and MOMAN held the store employee at gunpoint while demanding money and cell phones. The employee pretended to comply, but then shot MAYS in self-defense with a firearm the employee was licensed to carry. MAYS’ firearm was also discharged. During the exchange of gunfire, a stray bullet grazed a worker in an adjacent restaurant. MAYS was wounded and remained at the scene, while MOMAN fled on foot.
The Hobbs Act, passed by Congress in 1946, allows federal prosecutors to prosecute individuals who commit armed robberies of businesses engaged in interstate commerce.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Inver Grove Heights Police Department. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative that brings together federal, state and local law enforcement to combat violent crime.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Steinkamp is prosecuting the case.
Defendant Information:
JAMAAL MARQUIE MAYS, 33
Unknown
Convicted:
- Hobbs Act robbery, 1 count
- Discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, 1 count
JAQUON KESHAWN MOMAN, 26
Unknown
Convicted:
- Hobbs Act robbery, 1 count
- Discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, 1 count
###
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United States Attorney’s Office, District of Minnesota: (612) 664-5600
Guatemalan Who Used Fake Documents to Get a Job Sentenced to PrisonRead the Press Release
A Guatemalan man who used false identification documents to obtain a job was sentenced today to more than two months in federal prison.
Rudi Zamora-Samol, age 18, a citizen of Guatemala illegally present in the United States and living in Postville, Iowa, received the prison term after an August 21, 2018, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of identification documents.
At the guilty plea, Zamora-Samol admitted he used a fraudulent Social Security card and a fraudulent permanent resident card, also known as a “green card,” when he completed an employment form on May 2, 2018, at a business in Independence, Iowa. The Social Security number was invalid and the Alien Registration number on the “green card” had been issued to another person. Zamora-Samol also used the same fraudulent Social Security card and “green card” when applying for work in Garnavillo, Iowa, in April 2017.
Zamora-Samol was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Zamora-Samol was sentenced to 73 days’ imprisonment. He must also serve a one-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Zamora-Samol is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be turned over to immigration officials.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 18-CR-2036-LTS. Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA
Greenfield Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Hide $486,000 from Federally Insured Financial InstitutionRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Greenfield woman pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield yesterday in connection with concealing nearly half a million dollars from a federally insured financial institution.
Marlene Borer, 68, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a federally insured financial institution and one count of false statements to a federally insured financial institution. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Dec. 19, 2018.
According to the plea agreement, in August 2011, Borer’s brother and his then-wife owed Wells Fargo Bank approximately $1.32 million in outstanding loans. In March 2012, Borer, who was acting as her brother’s bookkeeper, received approximately $1.1 million, which related to a judgment from a Honduran court, in her Massachusetts bank account. $486,000 of the $1.1 million judgment belonged to Borer’s brother and his then-wife. A few days after Borer received the money, her brother e-mailed her to “keep [the] bulk” of their funds in her account because “Wells Fargo might be conducting an asset search on us to try and recover the judgments. Just transfer what is needed to pay bills as they arrive.” Borer distributed their funds from her account as he requested.
On or about May 24, 2012, Borer prepared a false personal financial statement for her brother and his then-wife, stating that they only had $4,200 in the bank. Borer’s brother provided the personal financial statement to Wells Fargo, which relied upon it to negotiate their debt. On Oct. 31, 2012, Borer’s brother and his then-wife executed a settlement agreement with the bank, in which Wells Fargo agreed to forgive their personal obligations in exchange for a payment of $50,000. Wells Fargo would not have settled for $50,000 had it known that Borer’s brother and then-wife had received $486,000 in cash from the Honduran judgment.
The conspiracy charge provides for sentence of no greater than five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. The false statements charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, New England Field Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
Green Island Man Indicted for Intending to Distribute Crack and CocaineRead the Press Release
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Richard Thomas, age 53, of Green Island, New York, was arraigned yesterday on a charge that he possessed and intended to distribute crack cocaine and cocaine.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and James N. Hendricks, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
According to the indictment, on September 10, 2018, Thomas possessed and intended to distribute more than 28 grams of cocaine base (a/k/a crack cocaine) and cocaine. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Thomas is in custody pending trial. If convicted, Thomas faces at least 10 years and up to 40 years in prison, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 8 years and up to life. 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 FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Alicia Suarez.
Grass Valley Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Unlawfully Manufacturing Ghost Guns and Selling Them on Dark WebRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Michael Paul Grisham Smith, 44, of Grass Valley, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. to five years in prison for unlawful manufacturing and dealing in firearms, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
According to court documents, Smith contacted a firearms vendor on the dark web seeking to sell AR-15-style “ghost” guns. Firearms without serial numbers are sometimes referred to as ghost guns. The firearms vendor was in fact an undercover agent. Between December 1, 2017, and February 15, 2018, Smith manufactured and sold eight AR‑15‑style firearms without serial numbers to the undercover agent in exchange for payment in bitcoin.
This case was the product of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Quinn Hochhalter and Justin Lee are prosecuting the case.
Former Rite Aid Vice President and Atlanta Business Owners Charged in $5.7 Million Vendor Kick-Back SchemeRead the Press Release
HARRISBURG –The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a former Rite Aid Vice President and the two owners of an Atlanta based company have been charged for their role in a $5.7 million vendor kick-back scheme.
According to U.S. Attorney David J. Freed, James W. Pilsner, age 60, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was charged in a criminal information filed on September 20, 2018, with one count of wire fraud and one count of federal income tax evasion. The criminal information alleges that Pilsner, a former Vice President for Advertising for Rite Aid, engaged in a kick-back scheme with Larry Nuckols and Vance Taylor, the owners of Nuvision, Inc., an Atlanta, Georgia based company, between 1995 and August of 2017.
According to the criminal information, Pilsner entered into an agreement with Nuckols and Taylor whereby Pilsner would approve Nuvision’s invoices, some of which were false and inflated, for payment. In exchange, Nuckols and Taylor would “kick-back” a significant portion of Rite Aid’s payments to Pilsner.
The criminal information alleges that between 2001 and August of 2017, Rite Aid paid Nuvision approximately $45.3 million dollars. Pilsner allegedly received no less than $5,124,862 in kick-backs over that time period, with another $634,300 paid to other Rite Aid employees designated by Pilsner.
The criminal information also charges Pilsner with Income Tax Evasion for tax year 2013. In March of 2014, Pilsner allegedly filed an income tax return with the IRS that did not report his receipt of $411,500 in kick-back money during 2013, thereby avoiding approximately $157,648, in federal income taxes. The information also seeks the forfeiture of Pilsner’s interests in $5,743,162 and his Harrisburg, PA residence.
Larry D. Nuckols, age 69 of Valdosta, Georgia, is also charged in the same criminal information as Pilsner with one count of wire fraud. The information seeks the forfeiture of Nuckols’ interests in nine properties located in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Costa Rico, plus Nuckols’ half interest in a $1.3 million yacht, to the government.
Vance Taylor, age 71, of Acworth, Georgia, also owner of Nuvision, was indicted on September 19, 2018, by a federal grand jury and charged with 40 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and unlawful monetary transactions. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $1,239,058 in U.S. Currency, eight cash/investment accounts, 73 tracts of real estate in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, and Taylor’s half interest in the $1.3 million yacht.
No date yet has been scheduled for the defendants’ initial appearances and arraignments on their charges before the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg.
The case is being investigated by the Harrisburg offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel is prosecuting the case.
Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalty under federal law for Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud is 20 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. The maximum penalty for Unlawful Monetary Transactions is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. The maximum penalty for Income Tax Evasion is 5 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
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Former Priest Extradited from Morocco to Face Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charges in New MexicoRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson for the District of New Mexico, Special Agent in Charge James C. Langenberg of the FBI Albuquerque Division and Special Agent in Charge Nicholas J. Dorval of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 814, announced today that Arthur Perrault has been extradited from Morocco to the United States to face federal child sexual abuse charges in New Mexico.
Perrault, 80, a former Catholic priest who served in New Mexico under the Archdiocese of Santa Fe from 1973 to 1992, is charged in a seven-count indictment with engaging in acts constituting aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact with a minor under the age of 12. The indictment alleges that Perrault repeatedly sexually abused the minor victim in 1991 and 1992 while on federally-protected land, Kirtland Air Force Base in Bernalillo County, N.M., and the Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe County, N.M.
“The indictment alleges a profound breach of trust by an individual who was widely perceived as a mentor to young people and a respected figure in the community,” said U.S. Attorney Anderson. “Although the indictment charges acts allegedly committed many years ago, this indictment should make clear that the U.S. Attorney’s Office will pursue justice for victims despite the passage of time or the many miles this defendant sought to put between himself and these alleged offenses.”
“Bringing Arthur Perrault back to New Mexico took a lot of patience and perseverance, but the FBI and our partners were determined to make sure he faced justice, no matter how long it took or how far we had to go to get him,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Langenberg. “We also owed it to this victim. The FBI would like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations for their support during this long investigation, and also extend our gratitude to the Moroccan government and our staff in that country for helping make this day possible.”
“The involvement of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in this investigation was predicated on its role as the primary federal investigative agency for serious criminal issues affecting U.S. Air Force installations and personnel worldwide, and its responsibility to advise senior Air Force military and civilian leadership on all criminal issues affecting the Air Force,” said AFOSI Special Agent in Charge Dorval. “Our partnership with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office brought key capabilities to this investigation that were essential to filing charges in this case.”
Moroccan law enforcement authorities arrested Perrault on Oct. 12, 2017, in Morocco on a provisional arrest warrant issued based on the charges in the indictment, which was filed under seal on Sept. 21, 2017. The FBI assumed custody of Perrault from Moroccan authorities on Sept. 20. The indictment was unsealed earlier today after the U.S. Attorney’s Office notified the Court that the FBI had arrested Perrault and transported him from Morocco to the United States, and was in the process of transporting him to the District of New Mexico. Perrault is scheduled to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen B. Molzen later this afternoon.
If convicted of the aggravated sexual abuse charges in the indictment, Perrault faces a statutory maximum penalty of a lifetime term of imprisonment. The abusive sexual contact charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment. Charges in indictments are merely accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This case was investigated by the FBI Albuquerque office with assistance from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 814, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean J. Sullivan and Holland S. Kastrin of the District of New Mexico. The extradition of Perrault is the result of close cooperation between these investigating agencies and prosecutors, the Morocco Ministry of Justice, Moroccan law enforcement authorities, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and the FBI Legal Attaché in Morocco.
Perrault is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
Starting today, information about the federal prosecution of Perrault, including the indictment, will be available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/priest-prosecution. Also starting today, individuals may inquire about the pending charges or provide information about other conduct by Perrault by emailing the U.S. Attorney’s Office at [email protected] or calling the FBI’s Albuquerque Division at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Perrault IndictmentFormer Marine Receives 33 Months for Embezzling over $500,000 from Marine Corps and over $20,000 from Toys for TotsRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announces today that Senior United States District Judge Callie V.S. Granade sentenced former United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Christopher Aragon, 32, a resident of Mobile, Alabama, to 33 months imprisonment for conspiring with his wife, co-defendant Teneshia Aragon, and co-defendant Dana Davis to commit wire fraud. As part of the sentence, the judge also ordered that Christopher Aragon undergo three years of supervised release after finishing his term of imprisonment, pay a $100 mandatory special assessment, receive mental health treatment, undergo credit restrictions, pay restitution totaling $534,044.08 to the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, and pay restitution totaling $20,044.70 to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Moreover, the judge ordered that a residence traceable to criminal proceeds be subject to forfeiture to the United States for disposition in accordance with the law.
According to documents filed with the court as part of his guilty plea, Christopher Aragon’s offense conduct consisted of two conspiracies to defraud. First, between October 2014 and August 2016, Mr. Aragon, a former Staff Sergeant and Unit Supply Chief for 3d Force Reconnaissance Company (3d Force Recon) in the Marine Corps in Mobile, Alabama, conspired with Teneshia Aragon and Dana Davis, owner and sole proprietor of the Runway Café, a restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, to achieve personal financial gain by defrauding the Marine Corps. Christopher Aragon made unauthorized, fraudulent charges to a unit travel card assigned to 3d Force Recon. The card was a government credit card used to pay for food and lodging expenses for reservists performing drill functions with 3d Force Recon. Christopher Aragon was the authorizing official for the unit travel card and approved fraudulent charges from Runway Café. He prepared false documents, such as invoices and personnel rosters, and submitted them to the Marine Corps, which later conducted an audit and noticed excessive discrepancies in food expenditures. For example, the Marine Corps noticed that (1) many Runway Café invoices did not match official 3d Force Recon activities and, therefore, did not support a legitimate need for food services, (2) Runway Café’s invoices were for more meals than could be consumed by the number of Marines assigned to 3d Force Recon, (3) the personnel rosters, which contained the names of 3d Force Recon Marines who supposedly consumed the meals, were fabricated, and (4) Runway Café’s invoices contained unauthorized service fees. The criminal conspiracy caused a financial loss to the Marine Corps of around $554,044.08. Since Runway Café issued a $20,000 refund to the Marine Corps during the conspiracy, the Marine Corps is owed $534,044.08.
Second, between December 2013 and December 2014, Christopher and Teneshia Aragon conspired to achieve personal financial gain by defrauding the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, a tax exempt, not-for-profit public charity that serves as the fundraising and support organization for the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. Christopher Aragon served as 3d Force Recon’s Toys for Tots program coordinator and possessed a credit card issued linked to funds in 3d Force Recon’s local Toys for Tots account. With the card, he could buy toys and pay for expenses associated with the Toys for Tots Foundation. Unbeknownst to the foundation, Christopher Aragon used the credit card to make unauthorized payments to himself. As part of the conspiracy with his wife, Christopher Aragon prepared fraudulent documents, such as invoices, and submitted them to the Toys for Tots Foundation, which ultimately lost around $23,044.70 due to the criminal conduct. The Aragons later credited $3,000 back to the foundation, leaving a balance of $20,044.70.
On March 29, 2018, a federal grand jury for the Southern District of Alabama charged Dana Davis with one count of conspiracy for seeking to defraud the Marine Corps, and the Aragons with two counts of conspiracy for seeking to defraud the Marine Corps and the Toys for Tots Foundation. In May 2018, all three defendants pleaded guilty before Senior Judge Granade to conspiring to defraud the Marine Corps. On August 20, 2018, Dana Davis was sentenced to six months imprisonment and ordered to make full restitution to the Marine Corps. On September 10, 2018, Teneshia Aragon was sentenced to five years of probation with the first six months in home confinement, and ordered to make full restitution to the Marine Corps and the Toys for Tots Foundation.The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Defense Criminal Investigative Service investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Sinan Kalayoglu prosecuted the case.
Former Kossuth County Farmer Sentenced to a Year in Federal Prison for Lying to Bank to Secure a Farm Loan and CreditRead the Press Release
A former farmer who lied to his bank about how much land he was farming and how much crop he had in storage in order to secure a loan and a line of credit was sentenced September 20, 2018, to a year in federal prison.
Mark Laubenthal, age 36, from Bancroft, Iowa, received the prison term after a March 30, 2018 guilty plea to one count of making a false statement to a bank.
In a plea agreement, Laubenthal admitted he was farming land in north Iowa in 2015. He received a farm operating loan worth $160,000 and a line of credit worth $750,000 from a bank in the area. In order to get the loan and line of credit, Laubenthal had to fill out a financial statement listing his assets. Laubenthal admitted he provided false information to the bank on the financial statement he completed. Laubenthal told the bank he had $432,040 of crops in storage, when he actually had a substantially lower amount of crops in storage. In the plea agreement, Laubenthal also admitted he made other false statements to the bank over the course of 2015, including telling the bank he was farming 1,100 acres of land when he was only farming less than 300 acres and that he had a number of pieces of farm equipment that he did not actually have or own.
Evidence at sentencing showed that when Laubenthal failed to make payments on the loans, the bank declared him to be in default in 2016. During mediation meetings with the bank, Laubenthal made additional false statements. He told the bank that he had 120,000 bushels of corn in storage and had planted nearly 300 acres of crops for 2016. In fact, at the time he made those statements, Laubenthal had no crop in storage and had not planted any crops for 2016. Laubenthal defaulted on the entirety of the $160,000 loan and on $731,401.58 from the line of credit.
Laubenthal was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Chief United States District Court Leonard T. Strand. Laubenthal was sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison. He was ordered to make $1,044,881.82 in restitution to the victim bank. He must also serve a two-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Laubenthal was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on October 11, 2018.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 18-cr-3007.
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Former Investigator with District Attorney’s Office for the 22nd Judicial District Charged with Making False Statements to Federal AuthoritiesRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that JEFFERY B. MONTALBANO, age 58, a resident of Mandeville, Louisiana, was charged yesterday in a one-count bill of information with making false statements to federal authorities, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ' 1001(a)(2).
According to the bill of information, on January 23, 2018, MONTALBANO met with a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at 3601 Highway 190, Mandeville, Louisiana, within the Eastern District of Louisiana and said that neither he, nor an associate (Person 1), had ever received money from a particular individual (Defendant A), and that he had no idea federal agents visited the Office of the District Attorney for the 22nd Judicial District to investigate whether MONTALBANO had received money from Defendant A. MONTALBANO knew that both of these statements were false because, as MONTALBANO knew, in November and December 2013, Person 1 received payments from Defendant A, half of which he then gave to MONTALBANO, and that Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation visited the Office of the District Attorney for the 22nd Judicial District on about October 8, 2015, to investigate MONTALBANO’S conduct during the prosecution of Defendant A.
If convicted, MONTALBANO faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, a fine of up to $250,000.00, three years supervised release after imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment.
District Attorney Warren Montgomery also commended the F.B.I. and U.S. Attorney’s Office for their work. “My office has been cooperating and continues to cooperate with federal authorities,” stated D.A. Montgomery. “Mr. Montalbano no longer is employed at the District Attorney’s Office, having resigned on April 9, 2018.”
U. S. Attorney Strasser reiterated that a bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.
Former Clay County High School Teacher Arrested and Charged with Distribution of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces that Christopher Shawn Potter (age 49, Jacksonville) has been arrested and charged by criminal complaint with distributing child pornography. Potter faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to 20 years in federal prison. He had been detained pending a hearing on September 26, 2018.
According to the
complaint , in February 2018, Potter, utilizing the username “Catsfan1987” and the screenname “Mr. Fireball,” responded to a notice posted online by an undercover officer with the Orange Park Police Department who was using the persona of a 14-year-old child. Potter engaged in online conversations with the undercover officer during which Potter requested photos of the “child” and discussed meeting the “child” for sex. Potter sent the undercover officer a video clip depicting a young child being sexually abused and a video of Potter performing a sexual act.On September 20, 2018, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, along with other law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Potter’s home and seized several computer devices and smart phones. Potter told the agents that he had worked as a teacher at Clay High School in Green Cove Springs from 2016-2017, and that he was a teacher at Orange Park High School from 1997-2004.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Orange Park Police Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the Palatka Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
A criminal complaint 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.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Former Athens County Assistant Prosecutor Sentenced for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Michael (also known as Mickey) A. Prisley, 53, of Columbus, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 12 months and one day in prison for participating in a conspiracy to file hundreds of false income tax returns and assisting co-conspirators in obtaining a quarter of a million dollars in false refunds.
Prisley pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to submit false claims for income tax refunds with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As part of the plea, Prisley agreed to pay more than $250,000 in restitution to the IRS.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Ryan L. Korner, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, announced the sentence imposed today by U.S District Judge James L. Graham.
According to court documents, Prisley was an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio and had served as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Athens County, Ohio from approximately August 2011 through January 2014.
Between the fall of 2009 and September 2015, Prisley conspired with others to defraud the IRS by filing hundreds of false income tax returns in an attempt to obtain fraudulent income tax refunds.
Prisley deposited fraudulently obtained income tax refund checks into his bank accounts and withdrew the funds in cash in order to pay his co-conspirators their share. Prisley also received controlled substances in exchange for cashing the fraudulently obtained income tax refund checks.
In addition, Prisley provided his co-conspirators with false power of attorney forms so that his co-conspirators could cash fraudulently obtained income tax refund checks without the listed taxpayer's knowledge.
As a result of the fictitious income tax return filings, a total of $466,842 in fraudulent income tax refunds was released by the IRS, of which Prisley assisted his co-conspirators in obtaining $250,220.99.
“As a former assistant prosecuting attorney, Mr. Prisley knows that stealing from the government is a serious crime,” said Ryan L. Korner, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office. “No one is entitled to an undeserved windfall and those who try to steal the taxpayers’ money face severe consequences, including incarceration and having to pay back all the stolen refund money.”
Co-defendants Tawnya Writesel (also known as Tawnya Rutan), Amy K. France and Denard T. Nelson were also charged in relation to this case.
France pleaded guilty in June 2016 to one count of conspiracy to submit false claims and one count of identity theft and was sentenced in January to 37 months in prison. France was also ordered to pay nearly $467,000 in restitution. Nelson pleaded guilty in September 2015 to one count of identity theft and was sentenced in May 2016 to five years of probation. He was also ordered to pay more than $87,000 in restitution.
Writesel was indicted in November 2017 on one count of conspiracy to submit false claims for income tax refunds and four counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds. She pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to submit false claims. Her sentencing date is yet to be scheduled.
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the IRS Criminal Investigation, and Assistant United States Attorney Jessica H. Kim, who is prosecuting the case.
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First of Three Atlanta Men Charged with Theft of Mail Pleads GuiltyRead the Press Release
St. Louis - The first of three Atlanta-area men charged last month with stealing mail as part of an identity theft ring pleaded guilty this morning. Willie Joe Trice, 28, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal mail and faces up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine of $250,000 or both.
According to court documents, Trice admitted that, when he was stopped by St. Charles County police late in the evening of August 6, 2018, he had stolen mail from a business in the area and intended to acquire personally identifiable information from the mail and use that information on counterfeit checks and access devices. Trice also admitted he had traveled to the St. Louis area from Atlanta for the purpose of obtaining personal information to be used in the conspiracy.
Trice appeared before U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry who accepted his plea and deferred sentencing until December 20, 2018. Trice remains in federal custody pending sentencing.
“It is rare to apprehend an identity thief in the act of stealing personal information. Too often, these offenders are not identified until they have stolen information and successfully exploited it many times. Thanks to the good work of this federal-local investigation, that will not be the case here,” said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Jensen.
The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with assistance from the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Tom Albus is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Fifth Defendant in the Armed Robbery of A Federally Licensed Firearms Dealer Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced David Wise, a/k/a Rambo and Rampage, age 23, of Baltimore, to 13 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the armed robbery of a federally licensed firearms dealer.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Rob Cekada of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Terrence B. Sheridan of the Baltimore County Police Department.
“David Wise and his co-defendants targeted a gun dealer in order to steal and resell the guns on the street. Through the coordinated efforts of our law enforcement partners, many of the guns were recovered, and a group of armed robbers has been put behind bars,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.
“These five felons terrorized innocent employees, they victimized a law-abiding business owner, and they stole these firearms with purely criminal intentions in mind,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Cekada. “Federal firearms licensees are more than businesses—they are the livelihood of the FFL owner and their employees. Violent acts like this are a threat to public safety and we will do everything in our power to bring offenders like these to justice.”
According to his plea agreement and other court documents, on August 5, 2016, Wise and four co-conspirators robbed a bait, tackle, and gun store in Dundalk, Maryland, that was a federally licensed firearms dealer. Specifically, Raymond McCullough, the principal planner and orchestrator of the robbery, drove the co-conspirators in a stolen pick-up truck to the store to conduct the robbery. The group had specifically targeted the store in order to pilfer firearms for subsequent sale and use, and brought firearms to force the victims to submit and zip-ties to bind the victims. Wise and Lerron Sheppard entered the store, pointed guns at the store owners, and demanded money and guns. Fearing for their lives, the victims complied. Wise and Sheppard bound one victim with zip-ties, then ordered the second victim to assist them in getting the cash and firearms. While Wise stood guard over the victims, Sheppard unlocked the front door of the store (which had automatically locked) so that Smith and Hawkins could enter. McCullough backed the pick-up truck to the front of the store and waited outside. Wise, Smith, Hawkins, and Sheppard then proceeded to plunder the store of cash and 37 firearms, including three assault rifles and a silencer. The men packed the firearms in duffel bags and backpacks and carried them outside to the pick-up truck. Sheppard then pushed the second victim in a safe and locked her inside. The men then fled to an apartment in Baltimore, where they divided the cash and firearms among themselves. Wise received several guns, including one of the assault rifles.
The victims reported that Wise had removed a shotgun from the safe before Sheppard locked the second victim inside. Wise did not take the shotgun, but left it in the store next to the earbuds he had worn during the robbery. Investigators were able to obtain a fingerprint from the shotgun which matched Wise’s fingerprint. A search warrant was subsequently executed at Wise’s residence. Law enforcement recovered several items stolen in the robbery, including firearms with the sales tags still attached. Officers also recovered the loaded pistol that Wise pointed at the victims during the robbery.
During the investigation of this robbery, law enforcement recovered many of the firearms taken during the robbery and learned that the defendants had committed additional robberies in the weeks before the robbery of the firearms dealer. As part of their plea agreements and/or at their sentencing hearings, David Wise, Raymond McCullough, and Lerron Sheppard admitted committing these additional robberies.
Wise is the fifth, and final, defendant to be sentenced to federal prison in this case.
Co-defendants:
Raymond McCullough, a/k/a Troop, age 35, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to an armed commercial robbery and admitted committing another robbery with David Wise. Sentenced to 20 years in federal prison;
Reginald Smith, a/k/a Young Loc and Loc, age 25, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to an armed commercial robbery. Sentenced to 115 months in federal prison;
Tavon Hawkins, a/k/a G and Tay, age 36, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to an armed commercial robbery. Sentenced to 17 years in federal prison; and
Lerron Sheppard, a/k/a D-Loc, age 25, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to an armed commercial robbery and admitted committing another robbery. Sentenced to 17 years in federal prison.
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. Attorney General Jeff Sessions 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.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the ATF, FBI and Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Metcalf and Patricia C. McLane, who prosecuted the case.
Federal Jury Convicts St. John Parish Resident of Narcotics Distribution and Firearms OffensesRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced yesterday that a federal jury convicted TROY KENDRICK, JR., a St. John Parish resident, for violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act and the Federal Gun Control Act. Following a four-day trial, the jury found KENDRICK guilty of conspiring to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, and of possessing a firearm after being convicted of a prior felony.
According to the evidence presented at trial, from January to August of 2016, KENDRICK and his co-conspirators distributed cocaine in Reserve, Louisiana. KENDRICK sold cocaine to lower-level drug dealers, who in turn sold both powder cocaine and crack cocaine to other dealers and to users. In June of 2016, while federal agents had a wiretap on KENDRICK’s telephone, KENDRICK was involved in a shootout in LaPlace, Louisiana. On August 17, 2016, when law enforcement officers arrested KENDRICK and searched his home pursuant to a search warrant, they found five firearms, a digital scale, over $10,000 cash, a money counter, body armor, ammunition, and a ski mask.
KENDRICK faces up to 30 years in prison for the charge of conspiring to distribute cocaine, and he will be sentenced as a career offender, because of his two prior felony convictions for drug distribution. KENDRICK faces up to 10 years in prison for the charge of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. He faces at least 6 years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. Sentencing will take place before Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Nicholas D. Moses and Edward Rivera were responsible for the prosecution.
Executive Director of RARES Sentenced for Filing False Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that John Brian Mount, 60, of Pittsford, NY, who was convicted of filing a false tax return, was sentenced to serve five months in prison followed by five months of home confinement by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who handled the case, stated that Mount was the executive director of Regional Area Recreation and Employee Services (RARES), a non-profit business located at 312 West Commercial Street in East Rochester. The non-profit provides discounted tickets and services to subscribing companies. The defendant received salary and commissions from RARES that he failed to report on his 2010 through 2013 federal tax returns. In total, Mount failed to report approximately $227,835.77 in additional income on his tax returns, which resulted in the defendant failing to pay $60,977 in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
Today’s sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of James D. Robnett, Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Office.
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Ex-Sacerdote Extraditado De Marruecos Para Hacer Frente A Cargos Federales De Abuso Sexual De Menores En Nuevo MéxicoRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE - John C. Anderson, Fiscal Federal de los EE. UU. por el Estado de Nuevo México, James C. Langenberg, Agente Especial Encargado, División de Albuquerque del Negociado Federal de Investigaciones (FBI por sus siglas en inglés) y Nicholas J. Dorval, Agente Especial Encargado, Oficina de Investigaciones Especiales de la Fuerza Aérea, Destacamento 814, anunciaron hoy que Arthur Perrault ha sido extraditado de Marruecos a los Estados Unidos para hacer frente a cargos federales de abuso sexual de menores en Nuevo México.
Perrault (80), un exsacerdote católico que cumplió con sus funciones de sacerdote bajo la Arquidiócesis de Santa Fe del 1973 at 1992, ha sido imputado en una acusación formal de siete cargos, de haber tomado parte en actos que constituyen abuso sexual con agravantes y conducta sexual abusiva con un menor de 12 años de edad. La acusación formal alega que Perrault repetitivamente abusó sexualmente de la víctima, un menor de edad, en 1991 y 1992, estando en propiedad federal protegida, la Base Aérea de Kirkland en el Condado de Bernalillo, N.M., y en el Cementerio Nacional de Santa Fe, en el Condado de Santa Fe, N.M.
“La acusación formal supone un gran abuso de confianza por parte de un individuo mayormente considerado consejero de gente joven y una figura respetada en la comunidad”, dijo Anderson, Fiscal Federal de los EE. UU. “Aunque la acusación formal imputa actos que supuestamente fueron cometidos hace muchos años, esta acusación formal deberá dejar claro que la Oficina del Fiscal Federal buscará justicia para las víctimas a pesar del paso del tiempo y las distancia que este acusado intentó poner entre él y las presuntas ofensas”.
“Traer a Arthur Perrault de regreso a Nuevo México tomó mucha paciencia y perseverancia, pero el FBI y nuestros compañeros estábamos decididos a asegurarnos que se enfrentaría a la justicia, sin importar la distancia ni el tiempo que tomara capturarlo”, dijo Langenberg, Agente Especial Encargado. “También se lo debíamos a la víctima. El FBI quisiera dar las gracias a la Oficina del Fiscal Federal de los EE. UU., y a la Oficina de Investigaciones Especiales de la Fuerza Aérea por su apoyo durante esta larga investigación y también extender nuestra gratitud al gobierno de Marruecos, así como a nuestro personal en ese país, por ayudar a que este día fuera posible”.
“La participación de la Oficina de Investigaciones Especiales de la Fuerza Aérea en ésta investigación se basó en el papel que desempeña como agencia federal que investiga asuntos criminales serios que afectan instalaciones de la Fuerza Aérea de los EE. UU. y a su personal en todo el mundo, y en su responsabilidad de asesorar al liderazgo mayor militar y civil de la Fuerza Aérea sobre asuntos criminales afectando a la Fuerza Aérea”, dijo Dorval, Agente Especial a cargo de la Oficina de Investigaciones Especiales de la Fuerza Aérea, (AFOSI por sus siglas en inglés). “Nuestra asociación con el FBI y con la Oficina del Fiscal Federal trajo a la luz partes claves a la investigación, mismas que fueron esenciales en la presentación de cargos”.
Autoridades policiacas Marroquíes arrestaron a Perrault en 12 de octubre, 2017 en Marruecos bajo una orden de arresto provisional basada en los cargos de la acusación formal que había sido presentada bajo sello el 21 de septiembre, 2017. El FBI asumió custodia de Perrault de autoridades Marroquíes el 20 de septiembre. La acusación formal se abrió oficialmente hoy, después que la oficina del fiscal federal le notificara al tribunal que el FBI había arrestado a Perrault y lo había transportado de Marruecos a los Estados Unidos, y estaba en proceso de transportarlo al Distrito de Nuevo México. Perrault está programado para hacer su comparecencia inicial ante la Juez Magistrada de los Estados Unidos, Karen B. Molzen esta tarde.
De ser encontrado culpable de los cargos de abuso sexual con agravantes tal como se le imputa, Perrault enfrenta una pena legal máxima de cadena perpetua. El cargo de contacto sexual abusivo conlleva una pena máxima de diez años de prisión. Cargos en acusaciones formales son simplemente acusaciones, y los acusados se presumen inocentes hasta ser hallados culpables más allá de duda razonable.
Este caso fue investigado por la oficina del FBI de Albuquerque con la ayuda de la Oficina de Investigaciones Especiales de la Fuerza Aérea, Destacamento 814, y está siendo encausado por los Fiscales Federales Auxiliares Sean J. Sullivan y Holland S. Kastrin del Distrito de Nuevo México. La extradición de Perrault es el resultado de la cooperación estrecha entre estas agencias investigativas y fiscales, el Ministerio de Justicia de Marruecos, autoridades policiacas de Marruecos, la Oficina de Asuntos Internacionales del Departamento de Justicia y el agregado legal del FBI en Marruecos.
Perrault está siendo procesado como parte del Proyecto Niñez Segura (Project Safe Childhood), una iniciativa nacional que comenzó en Mayo de 2006 y fue creada por el Departamento de Justicia para combatir la creciente epidemia de explotación y abuso sexual de menores. Encabezado por oficinas de los Fiscales Federales de los Estados Unidos, la Sección de Obscenidad y Explotación de Menores de la División Criminal del Departamento de Justicia, alguaciles federales del Proyecto Niñez Segura y recursos locales y estatales para localizar, arrestar y procesar a individuos que explotan a los niños a través de la Internet, así como también para identificar y rescatar a víctimas. Para información sobre el Proyecto Niñez Segura, por favor visite http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
A partir de hoy, información sobre el procesamiento federal de Perrault, incluyendo la acusación formal, estará disponible en http://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/priest-prosecution. También a partir de hoy, personas pueden obtener información sobre los cargos pendientes o dar información acerca de otra conducta de Perrault, enviando un correo electrónico a la oficina del Fiscal Federal de los Estados Unidos por el Distrito de Nuevo México a [email protected] o llamando al FBI, División de Albuquerque at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Perrault Acusacion FormalEl Paso Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison in Kidnapping CaseRead the Press Release
In El Paso today, a federal judge sentenced 36–year-old Norma Juarez Taha to 151 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for her role in connection with the kidnapping of a 20-year-old female in El Paso in February 2017, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie, Jr.
On March 16, 2018, a federal jury convicted Taha on one count of kidnapping and one count of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Evidence presented during trial revealed that on February 13, 2017, the defendant, known to her victim as Sister Norma, went into the victim’s house at approximately 3:30 A.M. and lured the victim out of the house by telling her that her family was in danger and that immigration authorities were attempting to deport them. The defendant drove the victim to a remote residence on the east side of El Paso that belonged to Taha’s mother. At the residence, the victim saw that Taha was in possession of a firearm. Subsequently, Taha placed the victim in her mother’s truck and injected her with a mixture of drugs. Taha’s mother then drove the victim across the border to a residence in Juarez. Taha and her mother left the victim at that residence and never returned. At approximately 10:30 P.M. on February 13, 2017, two individuals at the residence transported the victim to the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry. The victim was then transported to an El Paso hospital where she received medical attention.
Further investigation by FBI agents revealed that Taha agreed to kidnap the victim on the ground that her lifestyle brought embarrassment to her family. During a search of the defendant’s vehicle and residence, authorities discovered the firearm possessed by Taha, as well as the medication used by Taha to inject the victim during the kidnapping.
Based on a recent legal precedent, U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo granted the defendant’s request to dismiss the firearm charge prior to sentencing. Judge Montalvo will determine restitution in this case at a later date.
The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia Acosta and Shane Wagman prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.
Eighth Member of “Manche Boy Mafia” Gang Sentenced to Nearly Seven Years in Credit Card Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington has sentenced Aeon L. Graham (23, Tampa) to six years and nine months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. Graham pleaded guilty on June 12, 2018.
According to court documents and statements made in open court, between at least 2015 and 2017, Graham and others affiliated with “Manche Boy Mafia” or “MBM” organization conspired to commit credit card fraud and identity theft in the Tampa Bay area. To facilitate the scheme, the conspirators purchased stolen credit and debit card account numbers online from various websites, some of which used bitcoin as their currency. They then purchased or stole reloadable gift cards and used machines to emboss the stolen account numbers and their own names on to the front of these altered gift cards, thereby producing counterfeit credit cards. The conspirators then used these counterfeit credit cards at various retailers around the Tampa Bay area to purchase gift cards and electronics, which they either kept or sold for cash.
Investigators determined that these individuals had engaged in hundreds of successful transactions with counterfeit credit cards, and had possessed and used thousands of stolen account numbers from individuals across the United States. In total, Graham was held responsible for more than $600,000 in intended or attempted purchases with counterfeit credit cards and stolen account information.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tampa Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mandy Riedel.
Dominican National Convicted by Federal Jury of Trafficking HeroinRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Dominican national was convicted of trafficking heroin today in federal court in Boston.
Elin Robinson Mejia Romero, 52, a Dominican national formerly residing in Hyde Park, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to possess heroin and more than 40 grams of fentanyl, two counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin, one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl. Romero previously pleaded guilty to a separate federal charge of illegally re-entering the country after being deported.
On five occasions between January 2017 and June 2017, Romero sold a total of over 100 grams of heroin and/or fentanyl to a cooperating witness. Federal agents recorded each transaction and laboratory results confirmed that the drugs were heroin and fentanyl. An additional 300 grams of fentanyl and other drug distributing paraphernalia were recovered during the search of a stash location in Hyde Park.
In 2008, Romero was convicted in federal court in Boston of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and five kilograms or more of cocaine. He was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and was deported to the Dominican Republic after completing his sentence.
Romero faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, a minimum of eight years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $8 million. Romero will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence. 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; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistance was also provided by Customs and Border Protection and the Attleboro Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley and Lauren Graber of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit are prosecuting the case.
District Men Sentenced to Prison Terms for Violence at Northeast Washington Housing ComplexRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Juan Love and Antwon Holley, both 24 and from Washington, D.C., were sentenced today to prison terms for their roles in crew-related shootings at a housing complex in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.
Love and Holley pled guilty to charges in June 2018, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Love pled guilty to aggravated assault while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit assault. Holley pled guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm, attempted assault with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit assault. They were sentenced by the Honorable Milton C. Lee.
Love was sentenced to a 7 ½-year prison term and Holley was sentenced to a 2 ½-year term of incarceration. Following their prison terms, Love will be placed on five years of supervised release and Holley will be placed on three years of supervised release.
A third defendant, Darius Johnson, 21, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty in June 2018 to charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, attempted assault with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy to commit assault. He is to be sentenced on Oct. 12, 2018.
According to the government’s evidence, Love, Holley and Johnson were associated with a group known by, among other names, as “Cruddy Islands.” Members of “Cruddy Islands” conspired to assault anyone whose interests were contrary to those of the group. They also posted branded music videos on YouTube in which threats were voiced against non-members.
On the afternoon of May 1, 2017, Love, Holley and Johnson were gathered in a housing complex in the 3700 block of Hayes Street NE, in the Paradise neighborhood. Johnson and Holley were armed with paintball guns they used to shoot at various people and objects. Holley shot one man with a paintball gun, leading to a follow-up confrontation. During this confrontation, Holley, Love, Johnson and the other man were all armed with firearms. Love and Johnson fired their guns several times and the man fired back at least once. As a result of this crossfire, an innocent bystander, who was standing near a playground, was shot in the hand. Moments before the shooting, a little girl rode her bike past Love, Holley and Johnson.
All three men pled guilty to charges stemming from the May 1, 2017 incident.
Love also pled guilty to a second shooting at the apartment complex that took place weeks later, on June 21, 2017. Shortly after 8 p.m., Love opened fire on a victim who was less than five feet away, in the 3700 block of Hayes Street NE. The victim required multiple surgeries to repair injuries of the upper right chest, side of his body and pelvis, as well as a punctured bladder.
Following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Love was arrested in July of 2017, and Holley and Johnson were arrested in April of 2018. Each of them has remained in custody ever since.
In announcing the sentences, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. She also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who handled the case for the U.S Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Tiffany Fogle, Victim/Witness Advocate James Brennan, and Victim/Witness Security Specialist Tanya Via. Finally, she commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Ahmed Baset, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.
District Man Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for 2014 Murder in Southeast WashingtonRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Michael Hight, 26, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 45 years in prison on murder and other charges stemming from the slaying of a man in Southeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Hight and a co-defendant, James Young, were found guilty in April 2018 of first-degree felony murder while armed, second-degree murder while armed, armed robbery, first-degree burglary while armed, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, and related weapons offenses. The verdicts followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Hight was sentenced by the Honorable Milton C. Lee.
Young, 25, also of Washington, D.C., was sentenced by Judge Lee on June 22, 2018, also to a 45-year prison term.
According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 7 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2014, the victim, Willard Carlos Shelton, drove to the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road SE to purchase narcotics. About10 minutes after Mr. Shelton arrived, Hight and Young produced firearms, attempted to rob him, and then pistol-whipped him. Hight and Young then fired several shots at Mr. Shelton, who attempted to escape the onslaught of bullets.
One of the bullets struck Mr. Shelton in the abdomen, knocking him to the ground. Once the gunshots ended, Young went over to Mr. Shelton and took his personal effects, including his wallet and keys. Young then pointed a gun at Mr. Shelton’s head, but this time he did not fire. Mr. Shelton, 38, of Alexandria, Va., later died from his injuries.
Following the shooting, Hight and Young fled the scene, broke into a nearby apartment, and hid the firearms used to shoot Mr. Shelton. Young later attempted to obstruct justice by making threatening statements directed at a government witness. Hight later attempted to obstruct justice by convincing someone who was not a witness to the shooting to make false statements to law enforcement about the murder.
Hight and Young were arrested in September 2014 and have been in custody ever since.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Liaison and Operations Manager Linda McDonald; Paralegal Specialists Debra Joyner, Sharon Newman, and Kelly Blakeley; Criminal Investigators John Marsh and Zachary McMenamin; Litigation Technology Specialists Leif Hickling, Anisha Bhatia, and Jeanie Latimore-Brown; Victim/Witness Services Coordinators La June Thames and Katina Adams-Washington; Witness Security Specialists M. Laverne Perry, Wanda Queen, and Tanya Via, and Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker.
Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Barker and Laura Crane, who investigated and prosecuted the case, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kendra Briggs, Jeffrey Nestler, Thomas Saunders, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Eckert, who investigated and indicted the case.
Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
A resident of Colorado pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to four counts of filing a false income tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to court documents, Jason Tammen falsified his income tax returns for tax years 2012, through 2015, by fraudulently inflating his federal and state tax withholdings. By claiming inflated federal and state withholding amounts, Tammen received tax refunds he was not entitled to and avoided paying taxes that he owed.
Sentencing is scheduled for November 29, 2018. Tammen faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison on each count, as well as a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman thanked special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Sarah A. Kiewlicz and Lee F. Langston, who are prosecuting the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.
Colonie Man Charged with Sexually Exploiting a ChildRead the Press Release
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Douglas Fountain, age 29, of Colonie, New York, was ordered detained yesterday after being charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and transporting child pornography over the internet.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Kevin M. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge of the Buffalo Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
A criminal complaint filed against Fountain alleges that he took sexually explicit photographs of a child and posted them on a website where other members of the site could view the photographs. The charges in the complaint are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
If convicted, Fountain faces at least 20 years and up to 50 years in prison, mandatory registration as a sex offender, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of post-release supervision of at least 5 years and up to life. 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 HSI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alicia Giglio Suarez.
This case is prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
Camden Resident Enters Guilty Plea in Federal Court for Felon in Possession of a FirearmRead the Press Release
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon stated today that Darrin Paul George, age 30, of Camden, South Carolina, has entered a guilty plea in federal court in Columbia, to possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony, a violation of Title 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(a)(1), 924(a)(2) and 924(e). United States District Cameron McGowan Currie of Columbia accepted the guilty plea and will impose sentence after she has reviewed the presentence report, which will be prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
Evidence was presented at the change of plea hearing established that on July 2, 2017, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office was operating a traffic safety check point in Bishopville when Deputies saw George throw something out of his car as he approached the checkpoint. Further investigation revealed that George had thrown a loaded pistol out of his car. George is prohibited from possessing firearms because he was convict for Armed Robbery in 2008 and Distribution of Cocaine in 2010 and 2011.
U.S. Attorney Lydon stated the maximum penalty for Felon in Possession of a Firearm is imprisonment for a minimum of 15 years up to life imprisonment, supervised release of 5 years and/or a fine of $250,000.
This case was investigated by Agents of the Lee County Sherriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases. Project CeaseFire is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority. In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, Attorney General Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001. Assistant United States Attorney William E Day, II of the Columbia is prosecuting the case.
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Cabot Man Sentenced to Six Years for Stolen GunsRead the Press Release
The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Jeremy A. Churchill, 38, of Cabot, Vermont, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Court Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford to six years in federal prison for possessing stolen handguns. Churchill pleaded guilty to the stolen firearms charge in May 2018.
According to court filings, on May 16, 2017 Churchill burglarized two residences in East Montpelier, Vermont, stealing handguns and ammunition from one of them. The Vermont State Police stopped Churchill’s vehicle that same day, seized it, and obtained a State of Vermont search warrant. Executing the warrant, they found items stolen from both residences, including two Smith & Wesson handguns and ammunition. Between May and August 2017, Churchill was implicated in four home burglaries. He faces pending charges in State court based upon those other offenses.
At sentencing before Judge Crawford today, Churchill urged that he was a drug addict with a poor childhood, warranting a lesser sentence. The government responded that he had 35 State of Vermont and New Hampshire convictions, and past leniency had failed to deter him. Churchill has 20 pending State of Vermont charges.
The U.S. Attorney thanked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Vermont State Police, for their work on the case.The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Darrow. Churchill was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender David McColgin.
Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Multiple Drug and Gun 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 Shane Corter, 32, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $10,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Astorga, who is handling the case, stated that on Friday, March 3, 2017, members of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence at 39 Greenfield Street in Buffalo. Law enforcement officers recovered numerous vacuum-sealed packages of cocaine; methamphetamine; and butyryl fentanyl; along with a quantity of marijuana, a scale, a .40 caliber handgun loaded with nine rounds of ammunition, and a magazine loaded with 10 live rounds of ammunition.
On Thursday, June 8, 2017, members of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the Chateau Motor Lodge at 1810 Grand Island Boulevard on Grand Island, NY, in a hotel room that was registered to the defendant. Officers recovered a .357 caliber handgun, one round of ammunition, a digital scale with white powder residue, cocaine, and suspected marijuana. The search warrant was conducted following a traffic stop of a car being driven by Corter. During the traffic stop, several hypodermic needles loaded with butyryl fentanyl were located, and the defendant stated he and two passengers in the car had just come from his hotel room at the Chateau Motor Lodge.
In January 2006, Corter was convicted of multiple drug offenses in Iredell County District Court, in Statesville, North Carolina, and is legally prohibited from possessing a gun.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Loeffert, and the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Sheriff Timothy Howard.
Sentencing is scheduled for December 13, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. before Judge Geraci
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Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl ConspiracyRead 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 Jose Alvarez, 26, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, butyryl fentanyl. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan T. Cullinane, who is handling the case, stated that on July 27, 2017, Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents executed a search warrant on Alvarez’s vehicle. During the search, agents recovered 20 bags of butyryl fentanyl, a Schedule I controlled substance. The investigation determined that the defendant, along with his co-defendants, were staying at a hotel and casino located in Salamanca. Subsequently, a search warrant was executed in their hotel room, where agents recovered another 196 bags of butyryl fentanyl. Alvarez also admitted selling butyryl fentanyl on three prior occasions in Salamanca in May and July of 2017.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt; Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly; the NYS State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Major Edward Kennedy; and the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force, under the direction of Cattaraugus County Sheriff Timothy Whitcomb.
Sentencing is scheduled before Judge Vilardo for January 31, 2019, at 10:30 a.m.
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Australian Woman Sentenced to 70 Days for Encouraging and Inducing Illegal Entry into United StatesRead the Press Release
Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced Sarah Louise Branch, 37, of New South Wales, Australia was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to 70 days in prison for encouraging and inducing illegal entry of Benigno Godinez-Cortez into the United States on July 10, 2018. Ms. Branch and M. Godinez-Cortez pled guilty on August 14, 2018 in U.S. District Court to immigration felony offenses.
According to court records, a Mexican passport, male clothing and photographs of Benigno Godinez-Cortez were discovered in the van of Sarah Branch when she sought admission to the United States at a Port of Entry in Calais, Maine. Upon questioning by Customs and Border Protection Officers, Ms. Branch admitted she knew her boyfriend, a citizen of Mexico, would not be admitted into the United States and that she therefore dropped him off “somewhere” near the border of Canada and the United States. She then confessed she told Godinez-Cortez she would cross at the nearest port of entry and then would pick him up after he contacted her by cell phone.
U.S. Attorney Frank stated that the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security are committed to securing the international border and ensuring that each person who seeks to enter our country present himself or herself at a designated crossing point or port of entry.
The investigation was conducted by Customs and Border Protection, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Arson Conspirator Sentenced to Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew today sentenced Rashica Shaguana Ford (39, Sarasota) to nine years and two months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit arson. A federal jury found Ford guilty on June 8, 2018.
Ford’s co-conspirators, Jodarin Marquis Whitfield and Herbert Adelphus Pinckney, previously pleaded guilty for their roles in this case. Whitfield was sentenced to eight years and three months in federal prison. Pinckney was sentenced to two years and six months in federal prison.
According to testimony presented at trial, in the early morning hours of March 11, 2015, Whitfield and Pinckney set fire to an individual’s home by attempting to throw a Molotov cocktail through the victim’s bedroom window. In addition to the homeowner, one adult and six children were inside the home at the time of the arson. The Molotov cocktail did not break the window and only damaged the exterior of the home. All occupants of the home escaped safely.
The arson was orchestrated by Ford (Whitfield’s girlfriend/Pinckney’s sister) as retaliation stemming from an altercation between Ford and the victim.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigations; the Bradenton Police Department; the Bradenton Fire Department; the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office; and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton C. Gammons.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In October 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to develop districtwide crime reduction strategies, incorporating the lessons learned since the program’s inception in 2001. In the Middle District of Florida, U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez coordinates PSN efforts in cooperation with various federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.
Ancien Prêtre Extradé Du Maroc Pour Répondre À Des Accusations Fédérales D’abus Sexuels Sur Une Personne Mineure Au Nouveau-MexiqueRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Aujourd’hui, le procureur fédéral John C. Anderson du district du Nouveau-Mexique et l’agent spécial en charge James C. Langenberg de l’antenne régionale du FBI à Albuquerque, avec l’agent spécial en charge Nicholas J. Dorval du Bureau d’enquêtes spéciales des Forces aériennes des États-Unis, détachement no 814, ont annoncé qu’Arthur Perrault a été extradé du Maroc vers les États-Unis pour répondre à des accusations fédérales d’abus sexuel d’un enfant au Nouveau-Mexique.
Perrault, âgé de quatre-vingt (80) ans et un ancien prêtre catholique ayant servi au Nouveau-Mexique dans l’archidiocèse de Santa Fe de 1973 à 1992, est inculpé de sept chefs d’accusations relatives à des abus sexuels qualifiés et au contact sexuel abusif avec un mineur qui n’avait pas encore atteint l’âge de douze (12) ans. L’acte d’accusation soutient que Perrault a abusé sexuellement de la victime mineure à plusieurs reprises en 1991 et en 1992 pendant qu’il se trouvait sur la base aérienne Kirtland dans le comté de Bernalillo et au cimetière national Santa Fe dans le comté de Santa Fe, lesquels sont des territoires protégés par le gouvernement fédéral.
Selon le procureur fédéral Anderson, « L’acte d’accusation soutient un abus de confiance grave par un individu généralement considéré comme un mentor pour les jeunes et une personne respectée dans la communauté ». Il continue : « Bien que l’acte d’accusation l’accuse d’actes qui auraient étés commises il y a longtemps, cette accusation devrait indiquer clairement que le Bureau du procureur fédéral demandera justice pour les victimes malgré le passage du temps ou la grande distance que l’accusé a essayé d’établir entre lui et ces infractions alléguées ».
Il a fallu beaucoup de patience et de détermination pour ramener Arthur Perrault au Nouveau-Mexique, mais le FBI et nos partenaires étaient résolus à le traduire en justice, quelle que soit la durée des affaires ou la distance parcourue pour le trouver », a remarqué l’agent spécial en charge Langenberg. « En outre, nous le devions à la victime. Le FBI souhaite remercier le Bureau du procureur fédéral et le Bureau d’enquêtes spéciales des Forces aériennes des États-Unis pour leur soutien durant cette longue enquête. Nous souhaitons également remercier vivement le gouvernement du Maroc et notre personnel sur place sans lesquels rien de tout cela n’aurait été possible ».
Le Bureau d’enquêtes spéciales des Forces aériennes des États-Unis a participé dans cette enquête, compte tenu de leur rôle en tant qu’agence fédérale principale chargée d’enquêter sur les affaires pénales graves ayant lieu sur les installations des Forces aériennes ou impliquant du personnel des Forces aériennes au niveau mondial, et leur responsabilité de conseiller la haute direction militaire et civile des Forces aériennes sur toute affaire pénale touchant les Forces aériennes », a ajouté l’agent spécial en charge Nicholas J. Dorval. « Les capacités clés issues de notre partenariat avec le FBI et le Bureau du procureur fédéral ont permis de déposer lesdites accusations dans cette affaire ».
Des autorités des forces de l’ordre marocaines ont arrêté Perrault le 12 octobre 2017 au Maroc sur base d’un mandat d’arrestation provisoire délivré comme résultat des chefs figurant sur l’acte d’accusation, lequel a été déposé sous scellé le 21 septembre 2017. Les autorités marocaines ont délivré Perrault aux autorités du FBI le 20 septembre. Le scellé a été levé plus tôt aujourd’hui après que le Bureau du procureur fédéral a avisé la Cour de l’arrestation de Perrault par le FBI et le transport de l’accusé du Maroc aux États-Unis, et que le FBI était en train de le transporter vers le district du Nouveau-Mexique. Il est prévu que Perrault comparaîtra pour la première fois devant le juge d’instruction fédéral Karen B. Molzen cet après-midi.
S’il est condamné des accusations d’abus sexuel qualifié figurant sur l’acte d’accusation, Perrault est passible d’une peine statutaire maximale d’emprisonnement à vie. L’accusation de contact sexuel abusif est passible d’une peine maximale de dix (10) ans de prison. Les chefs dans un acte d’accusation ne sont que des allégations et les accusés sont présumés innocents jusqu’à ce que leur culpabilité soit établie au-delà de tout doute raisonnable devant un tribunal.
L’antenne régionale du FBI à Albuquerque, avec l’aide du Bureau d’enquêtes spéciales des Forces aériennes des États-Unis, détachement no 814, a mené cette enquête, et les procureurs fédéraux adjoints Sean J. Sullivan et Holland S. Kastrin du district du Nouveau-Mexique engagent les poursuites. L’extradition de Perrault est le résultat d’une étroite collaboration entre ces agences d’enquête, les procureurs, le Ministère de la Justice du Maroc, des autorités des forces de l’ordre marocaines, le Bureau des affaires internationales du Département de la Justice des États-Unis et l’Attaché juridique près l’ambassade des États-Unis au Maroc.
Perrault sera poursuivi en justice dans le cadre du projet « Project Safe Childhood », un effort national initié en mai 2006 par le Département de la Justice pour combattre l’épidémie croissante de l’exploitation et abus sexuel des enfants. Mené par les bureaux des procureurs fédéraux et la Branche sur l’exploitation infantile et l’obscénité au sein de la Division contre la criminalité du Département de la Justice, le « Project Safe Childhood » a pour objet de localiser, interpeller et poursuivre en justice les individus qui exploitent les enfants en utilisant l’Internet, et d’identifier et sauver les victimes en rassemblant les ressources de l’État, des régions et des localités. Pour plus de renseignements sur « Project Safe Childhood », veuillez consulter le site Web http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
À partir d’aujourd’hui, des informations sur les poursuites fédérales contre Perrault, y compris l’acte d’accusation, seront disponibles sur https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/priest-prosecution. En outre, pour demander des renseignements sur les accusations contre lui ou pour fournir des informations sur d’autres activités de Perrault, on vous invite désormais à contacter le Bureau du procureur fédéral par courriel à l’adresse [email protected] ou de téléphoner à l’antenne régionale du FBI à Albuquerque au 1-800-2255-324.
Perrault Acte D' Accusation33 charged in methamphetamine distribution operations in Harrison, Marion, and Monongalia CountiesRead the Press Release
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Thirteen were arrested this week after a federal grand jury returned indictments against 33 individuals from Florida, Mississippi, Maryland, and West Virginia on charges involving methamphetamine distribution and firearms, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.
“This is yet another example of the team effort to combat dangerous drugs coming into our state from other states to be distributed by our residents to poison our communities. We will not tolerate any drug traffickers in our communities, nor will we tolerate them setting up shop near playgrounds, schools, and our children. The message is getting louder and louder that if you choose to sell drugs in our district, you will be prosecuted to fullest extent of the law,” said Powell.Nineteen individuals were named in a 40-count indictment, alleging a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Harrison County and elsewhere from the fall of 2017 to September 2018. Those indicted are:
• Kedric Pearson, age 34, of Waynesboro, Mississippi
• Paul Casto, age 55, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Stormy Hawkins, age 25, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• William Koch, age 33, of Anmore, West Virginia
• Jacob Wright, age 36, of West Union, West Virginia
• Donald Hickman, Jr., age 43, of Reynoldsville, West Virginia
• Cody Boley, age 24, of Wallace, West Virginia
• Byron Higginbotham, age 36, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Jodi Denkenberger, age 28, of Mount Claire, West Virginia
• Erica Herron, age 37, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• David Weaver, age 33, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Taylor Espinoza, age 21, of Bridgeport, West Virginia
• Stephen Richards, age 40, of Fairmont, West Virginia
• Solomon Cottrill, age 32, of Salem, West Virginia
• Nathan Crites, age 34, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Russell Clark, age 64, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Faith Martin, age 20, of Shinnston, West Virginia
• Jesse Pack, age 23, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Justin Jackson, age 40, of Baltimore, MarylandIn a separate case, a federal grand jury indicted 14 individuals on methamphetamine charges. The men and women are accused of conspiring with one another to distribute methamphetamine in Harrison County and elsewhere from October 2017 to September 2018. Those charged in the 27-count indictment are:
• Juwan Floyd, age 26, of Tallahassee, Florida
• Kareem Sampson, age 29, of Morgantown, West Virginia
• Ramiro Pimentel Jr., age 31, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Kelly Wright, age 36, of West Union, West Virginia
• Teressa Hall, age 33, of Bristol, West Virginia
• Nicholle Knotts, age 24, of Philippi, West Virginia
• Chance Ward, age 19, of Buckhannon, West Virginia
• Ashley Wagner, age 27, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Brittany Miles, age 28, of Clarksburg, West Virginia
• Brandon Mays, age 30, of Fairmont, West Virginia
• Joshua Langbien, age 28, of Buckhannon, West Virginia
• Ann Marie Stankus, age 24, of Buckhannon, West Virginia
• Rodney Rowan, age 23, of Buckhannon, West Virginia
• Chris Conley, age 35, of Clarksburg, West VirginiaThe government is also seeking forfeiture of four vehicles, a house on Winding Way in Clarksburg, and more than $33,000 seized as a part of the investigation. Law enforcement has also seized 15 firearms.
Of the 33 defendants, 25 were detained. Those wanted are:
Donald Hickman
Faith Martin
William Koch
Erica Herron
Ashley Wagner
Russel Clark
Jesse Pack
Nichole Knotts
Kendric Pearson
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley is prosecuting the cases on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Greater Harrison Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated. The United States Marshal Service assisted in the arrests.The investigation was funded in part by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Thursday 20 September 2018
Worcester Man Charged with Lying to Firearm DealersRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Worcester man was indicted today by a federal grand jury for lying to firearm dealers in connection with his purchase of seven guns.
Ruben Ramos, 23, was indicted on five counts of knowingly making false statements to federally licensed firearm dealers. Ramos was previously charged by complaint in July 2018.
According to charging documents, Ramos, who was licensed in Massachusetts to possess a firearm, purchased 16 guns between May 2017 and May 2018. On at least five occasions – during which he purchased seven firearms – Ramos provided a false address to the federally licensed firearm dealer. When agents interviewed Ramos in June 2018 about his purchase of a large number of guns over a short period, Ramos was unable to account for nine of the 16 guns, first claiming that he had sold the missing guns and later claiming that some of the guns had been stolen.
Ramos faces a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Worcester Police Chief Stephen Sargent made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg A. Friedholm of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Woman Sentenced to 15 Years for Multiple Bank RobberiesRead the Press Release
RICHMOND, Va. – A Vermont woman was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for committing multiple armed bank robberies in Virginia and Vermont.
According to court documents, Amber R. Fusco, 30, drove from Vermont to Virginia in December 2017 with two other individuals. On the way to Virginia, the three stopped in New York City where Fusco stole a $35,000 Rolex watch from a jewelry store. The watch was recovered, but Fusco and her associates managed to get away. Once in Virginia, Fusco robbed a BB&T Bank in Henrico on Dec. 20, 2017. She entered the bank armed with a revolver and handed the teller a demand note. Fusco then displayed the firearm to the teller demanding that she hurry up. After receiving the money, Fusco fled the bank returning to where her associates were waiting. On Dec. 23, 2017, Fusco went into a Wells Fargo Bank in Richmond and handed a teller a note demanding money. After receiving the money, Fusco fled the bank, and managed to elude capture. Fusco returned to Vermont on Christmas Eve and committed three more bank robberies in January 2018. As part of her plea, Fusco admitted to committing all five bank robberies, and to brandishing a weapon during the BB&T robbery.
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. Attorney General Jeff Sessions 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.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, Alfred Durham, Chief of Richmond Police, and Humberto I. Cardounel, Jr., Chief of Henrico County Police Division, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne. Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Mastandrea-Miller prosecuted 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 is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:18-cr-67.