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20 June 2017
Watertown Man Sentenced for Possession of a Firearm as a Convicted FelonRead the Press Release
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Corey Daniels, 35, of Watertown, New York, was sentenced to serve 92 months in prison (seven years and 8 months) following his guilty plea to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian. In connection with his guilty plea, Daniels admitted to possessing a stolen 40-caliber, semiautomatic pistol after he had been convicted of felony drug charges. Daniels is currently serving a four-and-one-half year sentence on a 2016 drug trafficking conviction. Daniels’s sentence on his federal gun charge will begin to run only after he completes his drug charge sentence. The defendant was also sentenced to a three-year term of supervised release after he is released from federal prison.
Daniels’s co-defendant Loren Woodard, 35, of Calcium, New York, was sentenced on October 20, 2016, to serve 84 months in prison for his role in firearms trafficking.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the New York State Police, and the City of Watertown Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Commandeur.
U.S. Attorney's Office Honors More Than 100 Officers and Agents for Outstanding Work in Law EnforcementRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Attorney’s Office today honored more than 100 law enforcement officers, agents, and investigators for their outstanding work on dozens of cases that led to the convictions of murderers, sexual predators, fraudsters, and other criminals. The event took place at the Great Hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building.
U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips said the Office’s 35th Law Enforcement Awards Ceremony recognized the exceptional work performed by honorees on a wide variety of investigations, including those involving violent crimes, narcotics trafficking, fraud and public corruption, and national security matters. Their efforts led to convictions in 41 cases that had an impact locally, nationally, and internationally.
“The citizens of the District of Columbia, and indeed, people throughout the world, depend upon the dedication shown each day by the thousands of law enforcement officers here in the nation’s capital who protect us from harm,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “Their commitment to public safety and the criminal justice system is a constant, extending 24 hours a day, and today we recognize their outstanding work.”
The ceremony honored the achievements of people from 17 agencies, including the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the FBI, the U.S. Capitol Police, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Metro Transit Police Department, and other partners. The Sex Offender Investigations Squad of the U.S. Marshals Service received special recognition for an array of work, including its efforts to locate and arrest offenders who fail to maintain their sex offender registration.
Among cases highlighted today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office recognized the detective work performed by the Metropolitan Police Department that led to the first-degree murder conviction last year of Joe Anthony Barber for the 1984 slaying of a woman at her apartment in Southeast Washington. Barber was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Other MPD detectives and a Metro Transit Police officer were honored for work leading to the conviction last year of Demetrius Banks for a series of attacks in 2015 in which he assaulted five women at knifepoint who were walking home alone from Metro stations; he sexually assaulted two of the victims. Banks was sentenced in March 2017 to life in prison with no possibility of release, plus 82 years.
In another case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office recognized MPD’s detective work that led to the conviction of Jared Kline, a former emergency room staff nurse who sexually abused three patients in separate incidents at area hospitals. Kline was found guilty by a jury last year and subsequently sentenced to 45 months in prison and must register for life as a sex offender.
A team from the U.S. Capitol Police was recognized for the arrest and conviction of Larry Russell Dawson, a Tennessee man who was caught with a handgun while being screened at the United States Capitol Visitor Center. Dawson brandished the weapon during the March 28, 2016, confrontation with law enforcement, ignored orders to drop it, and was shot by police. Police recovered the gun, a Daisy spring-loaded BB gun. In color, shape, weight, and other outward appearances, the gun resembled a semi-automatic handgun. Dawson pled guilty to a federal offense and was sentenced in March 2017 to 11 months in prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also honored the U.S. Capitol Police the case of Douglas Hughes, a Florida man who flew a gyrocopter onto the West Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on April 15, 2015. He pled guilty to a federal offense and was sentenced to 120 days in jail.
The ceremony also honored the investigators whose work led to the convictions of the owners of a home health care agency for a scheme in which they and others defrauded the District of Columbia Medicaid program of over $80 million. Florence Bikundi was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison. Her husband, Michael D. Bikundi, Sr., was sentenced to a seven-year prison term. The investigative team included the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the U.S. Secret Service, and the Office of the Inspector General for the District of Columbia (D.C. OIG).
The U.S. Marshals Service for the District of Columbia-Superior Court created the Sex Offender Investigations Squad in 2011. Today’s honorees included Deputy U.S. Marshals as well as investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In just over six years, the squad has arrested hundreds of people for violating sex offender registration requirements and other offenses, as well as others accused of various violent offenses
U.N. Employee Charged in Manhattan Federal Court with Fraud Offenses in Connection with Employment of Bangladeshi Domestic WorkerRead the Press Release
UPDATE
The charges against the defendant in this case, Hamidur Rashid, were dismissed on November 20, 2017.
Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Christian Schurman, Acting Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (“DSS”), announced the arrest of HAMIDUR RASHID, an economist working at the United Nations Secretariat in the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, on fraud and theft charges in connection with RASHID’s hiring of, and obtaining a visa for, a Bangladeshi national employed as a domestic worker at RASHID’s home in New York, New York. RASHID was arrested today and will be presented this afternoon in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “Domestic workers brought to our country from abroad find themselves in a vulnerable position, far from home and facing a huge power imbalance relative to their employers. As alleged, Hamidur Rashid, an employee of the United Nations, took cruel advantage of his position of power, grossly overworking his domestic worker while paying her well below the wage he reported to the State Department and to the U.N. Rashid also allegedly obtained the visa for his domestic worker through lies about the wages he intended to pay her, and once she was brought here, he allegedly set up a sham bank account to spend for himself the wages he purported to pay her. In this country, even the most powerless have the same human rights as the most powerful. And everyone is subject, in an equal way, to the rule of law. We thank the Diplomatic Security Service for their commitment to this important principle of justice.”
Acting DSS Director Christian Schurman said: “As the lead agency in this investigation, the Diplomatic Security Service demonstrated its commitment to maintaining the integrity of U.S. travel documents and the rights of visitors to the United States. We pursue those who fraudulently use domestic worker visas, like the G-5, to manipulate and exploit their employees for personal gain. Diplomatic Security Service’s strong relationship with our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, continues to be essential in the pursuit of justice.”
According to the allegations in the Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court[1]:
Employees of international organizations such as the United Nations (the “UN”) may obtain G-5 visas for their domestic workers if they meet the requirements set out in 9 Foreign Affairs Manual (“FAM”) 41.21 and 41.22. As part of the application process, an interview of the domestic worker at the embassy or consulate is required. Proof is required that the applicant will receive a fair wage by U.S. and State Department standards. To apply for a G-5 visa, the visa applicant must submit an employment contract that must include, among other things, the number of hours of work per week and the hourly wage, which must be the greater of the minimum wage under U.S. federal and state law, or the prevailing wage. The employment contract must also state that, after the first 90 days of employment, all wage payments must be made by check or electronic transfer to the domestic worker’s bank account, to which the employer should not have access.
RASHID made false promises to a Bangladeshi national (“Witness-1”), who was to be RASHID’s domestic employee at an address in Manhattan, New York, about Witness-1’s salary in order to procure her employment in the United States. In order to obtain a G-5 visa for Witness-1, RASHID caused false statements about Witness-1’s salary to be transmitted to the State Department in the form of an employment contract (the “First Employment Contract”) that satisfied the State Department’s requirements for payment of a lawful wage. The First Employment Contract stated, among other things, that RASHID would pay Witness-1 $420 per week, which equates to a rate of $10.50 per hour, that the prevailing hourly wage for domestic employees in the New York City metropolitan area is $9.63, and that Witness-1 was not to work in excess of eight hours a day, five days a week.
RASHID then entered into a second employment contract (the “Second Employment Contract”) with Witness-1 with a substantially lower rate of pay, which did not meet State Department requirements for payment of a lawful wage. The Second Employment Contract stated, among other things, that RASHID would pay Witness-1 $290 per week, which equates to a rate of $7.25 per hour.
Witness-1 worked for RASHID as a domestic employee in New York, New York, from approximately January 2013 through approximately October 2013. Notwithstanding the terms of the First Employment Contract, Witness-1 worked far more than 40 hours per week, and Witness-1 was paid substantially less than what was required by both the First Employment Contract and the Second Employment Contract. In order to deceive the UN into believing that RASHID was paying Witness-1 a lawful wage, RASHID created a sham bank account (“Bank Account-1”) purportedly belonging to Witness-1, into which RASHID deposited what would have amounted to a lawful wage. RASHID then provided bank statements to the UN as proof that RASHID was paying Witness-1 as required. However, RASHID never gave Witness-1 access to Bank Account-1 and instead used Bank Account-1 as RASHID’s own account.
* * *
HAMIDUR RASHID, 50, of New York, New York, is charged with one count of visa fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of access device fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison; and one count of fraud in foreign labor contracting, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Kim praised the efforts of DSS in this investigation. He added that the investigation is continuing.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Richard Cooper and Lara Pomerantz are in charge of the prosecution.
The allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint, and the description of the Complaint set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Two International Shipping Companies Pay $1.9 Million for Covering up Vessel PollutionRead the Press Release
Two shipping companies based in Egypt and Singapore pleaded guilty today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice for covering up the illegal dumping of oil-contaminated bilge water and garbage from one of their ships into the sea.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas, announced the plea agreement. The agreement includes a $1.9 million dollar penalty and requires marine and coastal restoration efforts at three National Wildlife Refuges located on the Gulf of Mexico in East Texas, where the offending vessel transited and made port stops.
“This case involved egregious violations of U.S. and international laws that are key to protecting the oceans from pollution, and deliberate efforts to mislead U.S. Coast Guard officials about these criminal acts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood. “The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively prosecute criminal acts that pollute the oceans.”
“Intentional acts of pollution in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas wetlands will not be tolerated, and violators such as defendants, Egyptian Tanker Company and Thome Ship Management, will be held responsible for their conduct,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas. “Our citizens depend on clean water for their recreation and their livelihood. This kind of irresponsible conduct threatens both.”
Defendants Egyptian Tanker Company and Thome Ship Management are the owner and operator of the 57,920 gross ton, 809-foot long, ocean-going, oil tank ship called the M/T ETC MENA. Large ships like the M/T ETC MENA generate oil-contaminated bilge waste when water mixes in the bottom or bilges of the ship with oil that has leaked from the ship’s engines and other areas. This waste must be processed to separate the water from the oil and other wastes by using pollution prevention equipment, including an Oily Water Separator (OWS), before being discharged into the sea. These large ships also generate garbage, including ash from the incinerators, steel, and other non-organic wastes, which are collected in plastic bags and stored onboard until they can be disposed of properly at shore-side facilities. APPS requires that the disposal of the ship’s bilge waste and garbage be fully recorded in the ship’s Oil Record Book and Garbage Record Book.
The investigation began on April 26, 2016, when the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit in Port Arthur, Texas, received information from a crew member on the M/T ETC MENA that the ship had illegally dumped bilge waste overboard into the ocean. The crewmember provided a written statement, photographs, and video of the alleged conduct. During the inspection of the ship that same day, the Coast Guard found a pump covered in oil submerged in the ship’s bilge primary tank that looked similar to the pump that the crew member said was used to pump the bilge waste overboard.
“Environmental crimes put the marine environment and our natural resources at risk,” said Rear Admiral Dave Callahan, Commander, Eighth Coast Guard District. “This case serves as another example that the United States will not tolerate these actions and violators will be held accountable. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, and the Department of Justice should be commended for their tireless efforts and cooperation in investigating and prosecuting this case.”
In pleading guilty, the companies admitted that its crew members bypassed the ships OWS and discharged bilge water into the ocean in March 2016 without it first passing through this pollution prevention equipment. The government’s investigation also revealed that crew members were instructed to throw plastic garbage bags filled with metal and incinerator ash into the sea in March 2016. The discharge of bilge water without using the OWS and of plastic garbage into the ocean was not entered into the ship’s Oil Record Book and Garbage Record Book in violation of APPS. The companies also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for presenting these false documents to the Coast Guard during the inspection in Port Arthur, Texas.
The companies will be placed on a four-year term of probation that includes a comprehensive environmental compliance plan to ensure, among other things, that all of ships operated by Thome Ship Management that come to the United States fully comply with all applicable marine environmental protection requirements established by national and international laws. The compliance plan will be implemented by an independent auditing company and supervised by a court-appointed monitor.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph R. Batte of the Eastern District of Texas, Senior Trial Attorney David P. Kehoe, and Trial Attorney John D. Cashman at the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice prosecuted the case. The case was investigated by the Coast Guard’s Investigative Service.
Toledo one of 12 cities selected to receive additional federal support in combating violent crimeRead the Press Release
Toledo is one of a dozen cities selected to receive additional federal support in combating violent crime, law enforcement officials announced today.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced today that 12 cities are joining the Department’s newly organized National Public Safety Partnership (PSP). The partnership is part of the Department of Justice’s efforts to fulfill President Trump’s commitment to reducing violent crime in America, The announcement came during the opening session of a national summit organized by the Attorney General’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety. The summit convened federal, state and local law enforcement to discuss how to support and replicate successful local violent crime reduction efforts.
More information about the program is available at www.nationalpublicsafetypartnership.org.
“Turning back the recent troubling increase in violent crime in our country is a top priority of the Department of Justice and the Trump Administration, as we work to fulfill the President’s promise to make America safe again,” said Attorney General Sessions. “The Department of Justice will work with American cities suffering from serious violent crime problems. There is no doubt that there are many strategies that are proven to reduce crime. Our new National Public Safety Partnership program will help these communities build up their own capacity to fight crime, by making use of data-driven, evidence-based strategies tailored to specific local concerns, and by drawing upon the expertise and resources of our Department.”
“The Toledo Police Department is pleased to have been selected as one of the twelve cities that will be receiving assistance under the Department of Justice’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety,” Toledo Police Chief George Kral said. “Resources given to the City of Toledo under this program will only add to our already successful Data Driven Policing Strategy and further promote Mayor Hicks-Hudson’s vision of safe and livable neighborhoods throughout the City of Toledo.”
“Federal law enforcement is ready to build on our longstanding partnership with Toledo,” Acting U.S. Attorney David A. Sierleja said. “We will continue to work together to combat violent crime in Northwest Ohio.”
The Justice Department created PSP and the task force in response to President Trump’s February 9, 2017, Executive Order charging the agency with leading a national effort to combat violent crime. The partnership provides a framework for enhancing federal support of state, local and tribal law enforcement officials and prosecutors as they aggressively investigate and pursue violent criminals, specifically those involved in gun crime, drug trafficking and gang violence.
PSP builds on lessons learned from a pilot concept known as the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) and serves as a DOJ-wide program that enables cities to consult with and receive coordinated training and technical assistance and an array of resources from DOJ to enhance local violence reduction strategies. PSP comprises two distinct levels of engagement: diagnostic and operations. These two complementary levels of engagement are offered based on the needs of the jurisdiction. This model enables DOJ to provide American cities of different sizes and diverse needs with data-driven, evidence-based strategies tailored to the unique local needs of participating cities to address serious violent crime challenges tailored to their unique local needs.
Toledo has been selected for operational support, which will last for up to three years.
Twelve sites have been selected to receive this significant assistance:
o Birmingham, Alabama
o Indianapolis, Indiana
o Memphis, Tennessee
o Toledo, Ohio
o Baton Rouge, Louisiana
o Buffalo, New York
o Cincinnati, Ohio
o Houston, Texas
o Jackson, Tennessee
o Kansas City, Missouri
o Lansing, Michigan
o Springfield, Illinois
We anticipate announcing additional sites this calendar year.
The Justice Department agencies involved in PSP are the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Office of Justice Programs; the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Office on Violence Against Women; and the Office of Community Oriented Policing.
Three Sacramento Residents Charged in Scheme to Steal Mail Using Fraudulent Vacation Holds and Address ChangesRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Thursday, June 16, 2017, a grand jury brought an eight-count indictment against Sacramento residents Latomba Bishop, 32; Joshua Yadon, 33, and Norman Thompson, 36, charging them with conspiracy to obtain mail by fraud, access device fraud, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
According to court documents, Thompson, Bishop, and Yadon used stolen personal identifying information to fraudulently obtain credit cards, checks, and merchandise. To avoid detection, the conspirators would often request that the items be mailed to the victims’ real addresses but then filed false vacation holds and change of address forms with the United States Postal Service in order to divert the items into the conspirators’ possession.
This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Service with assistance from the Davis Police Department, Sacramento County Probation, and the Woodland Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy J. Kelley is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Thompson and Yadon face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted of the mail fraud, Bishop faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and if convicted of the aggravated identity theft, she faces a mandatory two-year prison sentence consecutive to any other sentence. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Three Nixa Residents Plead Guilty to Drug Trafficking Resulting in MurderRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that three Nixa, Mo., residents have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, which resulted in the murder of a Mexican national, Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola.
Brooke Danielle Beckley, 20, and Jourdan Ashley McGinnis, 28, both of Nixa, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush. Co-defendant Nathaniel Austin Lee, 19, of Nixa, pleaded guilty on Monday, June 19, 2017, to his role in the conspiracy.
By pleading guilty, Beckley, McGinnis and Lee admitted they participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene County, Dallas County, Webster County and Christian County, Mo., from April 28, 2015, to April 26, 2016.
McGinnis admitted that, on April 8, 2016, he and Beckley possessed at least 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in a hotel room, which they intended to distribute to another person.
In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, Beckley and Lee each pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, resulting in murder. They admitted that the murder of Martinez-Gaxiola on April 25, 2016, in Webster County was willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated. Conspirators carried a Stoeger .40-caliber pistol and discharged a Glock .40-caliber handgun, a Taurus 9mm handgun and an unknown make and model .380-caliber handgun in the act of aiding and abetting each other and others to commit the murder.
Under federal statutes, Beckley, Lee and McGinnis are each subject to sentences of life in federal prison without parole for these crimes. The maximum statutory sentences are prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Garrison. It was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Christian County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Lawrence County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Webster County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Seymour, Mo., Police Department, the Rogersville, Mo., Police Department, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team (COMET).
Texas Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Meth ConspiracyRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that Rosenberg, Texas man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine.
Nelson Olmeda, also known as “Diego,” 27, of Rosenberg, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Olmeda to forfeit to the government $21,302.
On Dec. 20, 2016, Olmeda pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
Beginning in 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration, assisted by other agencies, investigated one of the largest methamphetamine distribution rings in southwest Missouri. The investigation resulted in the indictment of 28 co-defendants.
In 2013 through 2014, Daniel and Kenna Harmon, 38, of Republic, Mo., distributed in excess of 45 kilograms of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri. Olmeda was a major supplier who distributed large amounts of methamphetamine to the conspiracy. Olmeda was arrested on Nov. 4, 2014, when he delivered approximately two pounds of methamphetamine to a residence in Springfield.
Kenna Harmon was arrested in November 2014. Agents searched various residences and vehicles belonging to Kenna Harmon and her co-conspirators and seized approximately five kilograms of methamphetamine and approximately $128,674. Kenna Harmon has pleaded guilty to being a leader in the drug-trafficking conspiracy as well as a money-laundering conspiracy and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Daniel Harmon was indicted in the Eastern District of Missouri and pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall D. Eggert, Nhan D. Nguyen and Cynthia J. Hyde. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Two International Shipping Companies Pay $1.9 Million for Covering up Vessel PollutionRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Two shipping companies based in Egypt and Singapore pleaded guilty today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice for covering up the illegal dumping of oil-contaminated bilge water and garbage from one of their ships into the sea.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas, announced the plea agreement. The agreement includes a $1.9 million dollar penalty and requires marine and coastal restoration efforts at three National Wildlife Refuges located on the Gulf of Mexico in East Texas, where the offending vessel transited and made port stops.
“This case involved egregious violations of U.S. and international laws that are key to protecting the oceans from pollution, and deliberate efforts to mislead U.S. Coast Guard officials about these criminal acts,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood. “The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively prosecute criminal acts that pollute the oceans.”
“Intentional acts of pollution in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas wetlands will not be tolerated, and violators such as defendants, Egyptian Tanker Company and Thome Ship Management, will be held responsible for their conduct,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas. “Our citizens depend on clean water for their recreation and their livelihood. This kind of irresponsible conduct threatens both.”
Defendants Egyptian Tanker Company and Thome Ship Management are the owner and operator of the 57,920 gross ton, 809-foot long, ocean-going, oil tank ship called the M/T ETC MENA. Large ships like the M/T ETC MENA generate oil-contaminated bilge waste when water mixes in the bottom or bilges of the ship with oil that has leaked from the ship’s engines and other areas. This waste must be processed to separate the water from the oil and other wastes by using pollution prevention equipment, including an Oily Water Separator (OWS), before being discharged into the sea. These large ships also generate garbage, including ash from the incinerators, steel, and other non-organic wastes, which are collected in plastic bags and stored onboard until they can be disposed of properly at shore-side facilities. APPS requires that the disposal of the ship’s bilge waste and garbage be fully recorded in the ship’s Oil Record Book and Garbage Record Book.
The investigation began on April 26, 2016, when the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit in Port Arthur, Texas, received information from a crew member on the M/T ETC MENA that the ship had illegally dumped bilge waste overboard into the ocean. The crewmember provided a written statement, photographs, and video of the alleged conduct. During the inspection of the ship that same day, the Coast Guard found a pump covered in oil submerged in the ship’s bilge primary tank that looked similar to the pump that the crew member said was used to pump the bilge waste overboard.
“Environmental crimes put the marine environment and our natural resources at risk,” said Rear Admiral Dave Callahan, Commander, Eighth Coast Guard District. “This case serves as another example that the United States will not tolerate these actions and violators will be held accountable. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, and the Department of Justice should be commended for their tireless efforts and cooperation in investigating and prosecuting this case.”
In pleading guilty, the companies admitted that its crew members bypassed the ships OWS and discharged bilge water into the ocean in March 2016 without it first passing through this pollution prevention equipment. The government’s investigation also revealed that crew members were instructed to throw plastic garbage bags filled with metal and incinerator ash into the sea in March 2016. The discharge of bilge water without using the OWS and of plastic garbage into the ocean was not entered into the ship’s Oil Record Book and Garbage Record Book in violation of APPS. The companies also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for presenting these false documents to the Coast Guard during the inspection in Port Arthur, Texas.
The companies will be placed on a four-year term of probation that includes a comprehensive environmental compliance plan to ensure, among other things, that all of ships operated by Thome Ship Management that come to the United States fully comply with all applicable marine environmental protection requirements established by national and international laws. The compliance plan will be implemented by an independent auditing company and supervised by a court-appointed monitor.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph R. Batte of the Eastern District of Texas, Senior Trial Attorney David P. Kehoe, and Trial Attorney John D. Cashman at the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice prosecuted the case. The case was investigated by the Coast Guard’s Investigative Service.
St. Lawrence County Man Charged with Clean Water Act CrimesRead the Press Release
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Michael J. Ward, 54, of Gouverneur, New York, appeared yesterday in federal court in Syracuse on an indictment charging him with six felony counts of violating the Clean Water Act, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, Vernesa Jones-Allen, Special Agent in Charge, Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division (“EPA-CID”), New York Area Office, and Director Joe Schneider, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Law Enforcement.
The indictment charges Ward with one count of discharging polluted water into the Raquette River between January 2013 and September 2015, while Ward worked at a paper mill in Norfolk, New York. Ward is alleged to have falsified data as to the amount of biochemical oxygen demand (“BOD”) in the paper mill’s wastewater. The indictment against Ward also alleges five counts of falsifying monthly reports to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the paper mill’s wastewater discharges. Ward appeared yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge Thérèse Wiley Dancks in Syracuse, and was released pending a trial scheduled for August 14, 2017.
The charges filed against Ward carry a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $800,000, and a term of supervised release of up to one year. 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.
The charges in the indictment are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by EPA-CID and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Law Enforcement, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Perry.
Southbridge Man Pleads Guilty to Intent to Distribute OxycodoneRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Southbridge man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Worcester to possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute.
Hector Espola, 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman, who scheduled sentencing for Oct. 13, 2017.
On two occasions in July and August 2016, Espola sold 300 oxycodone pills to an individual cooperating with investigators. Espola was arrested on Feb. 17, 2017, in Massachusetts on a federal arrest warrant as he returned from New York City. Upon his arrest, agents found Espola in possession of 300 oxycodone pills.
The charge of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; and Southbridge Police Chief Shane Woodson, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg A. Friedholm of Weinreb’s Worcester Branch Office.
Somerville Woman Sentenced for Theft of Government FundsRead the Press Release
Memphis, TN – A Somerville woman was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment for theft of government funds. Lawrence J. Laurenzi, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the sentence today.
According to information presented in court, Tenika Finnie-Smith, owner of Elite Tax Service, was a repeat felony offender who stole the identities of tax-payers. Without the knowledge or permission of the taxpayer, Smith used clients’ personal information to file 2011 and 2012 false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. Smith also listed false claims on tax returns and made deposits.
From 2011 and 2012, Smith deposited more than $190,000 in tax refunds into her personal bank account. She would immediately withdraw the funds to use for gambling and other personal benefits without notifying tax-payers. As a result of the theft, some tax-payers never received a refund.
The case was investigated by the United States Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Damon Keith Griffin is prosecuting this case on the government’s behalf.
Smith County Men Sentenced for Drug Trafficking ViolationsRead the Press Release
TYLER, Texas – Two Tyler, Texas men have been sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston today.
Hubert Wright, 60, pleaded guilty on Jan. 9, 2017, to possessing with intent to distribute over 500 grams of cocaine and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. Wright was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison today by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.
Kevin Williams, 38, pleaded guilty on Jan. 10, 2017, to possessing with intent to distribute crack and powder cocaine and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison today by Judge Clark.
According to information presented in court, on May 5, 2016, Williams drove Nyrearae Lewis to the residence of Wright so that Lewis could sell drugs to Wright. Lewis was in possession of approximately 130 grams of powder cocaine when he got into Williams’ vehicle, to go to Wright’s house. Once at Wright’s house, Williams watched while Wright and Lewis converted some of the cocaine to approximately 44 grams of crack cocaine. Wright ultimately declined to purchase any cocaine from Lewis, so Lewis departed the residence with the cocaine he brought to the residence, including the 44 grams of newly converted crack cocaine. Soon after, Williams was pulled over by local law enforcement and the drugs were seized. Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 5, 2016.
On May 19, 2016, federal agents executed a search warrant at Wright’s residence in the 500 block of West 4th Street in Tyler. During the search, agents discovered and seized three handguns, a rifle, a shotgun, multiple rounds of ammunition, $335,095.00 in currency, two computers, and approximately 2.5 kilograms of cocaine. All of the seized property was found in a recording studio within the residence. Agents also discovered plates, utensils, plastic bags, digital scales, and a currency counter inside the recording studio. Wright was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 24, 2016.
These cases were investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tyler Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety – Law Enforcement Division, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.
Six Indicted in Wichita Identity Theft CaseRead the Press Release
WICHITA, KAN. - Six Wichita area residents were indicted Tuesday on federal identity theft charges, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
The indictment alleges the defendants used stolen mail to produce fraudulent documents including Kansas driver’s licenses, student ID cards and other forms of identification. The fraudulent IDs were used to pass forged checks at stores including Dillons and Walmart.
Named in the superseding indictment were the following:
Chanel K. Wiseman, 28, Wichita, Kan., four counts of possession of fraudulent documents, two counts of receiving stolen mail, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a user of controlled substances.
John C. McMillan, 45, Wichita, Kan., one count of possession of fraudulent documents and one count of receiving stolen mail,
Shane A. Pitman, 31, Wichita, Kan., one count of possession of fraudulent documents, one count of receiving stolen mail, one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Brent A. Slover, 33, Wichita, Kan., one count of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of possession of fraudulent documents and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a user of controlled substances.
Keri A. Tunnell, 41, Wichita, Kan., one count of possession of fraudulent documents and one count of receiving stolen mail.
Raina N. Zeiner, 22, Belle Plain, Kan., one count of possession of fraudulent documents and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Possession of fraudulent documents: Up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Receiving stolen mail: Up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Wire fraud: Up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.
Aggravated identity theft: A mandatory two years (consecutive) and a fine up to $250,000.
Unlawful possession of a firearm: Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Wichita Police Department and the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch is prosecuting.
OTHER INDICTMENTS
Abraham Xavier Lopez, 25, Chino Hills, Calif., is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute approximately eight pounds of methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute approximately 4.4 pounds of marijuana. The crimes are alleged to have occurred May 25, 2017, in Minneola, Kan.
If convicted, he faces not less than 10 years and up to $4 million in fines on the methamphetamine count and up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the marijuana count. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst is prosecuting.
Maurice Pitman, 34, Wichita, Kan., is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. The crimes are alleged to have occurred April 15, 2017, in Wichita, Kan.
If convicted, he faces a penalty of not less than 10 years and a fine up to $10 million on each of the distribution counts, up to five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the other firearm count. The Wichita Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch is prosecuting.
In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictments merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.
Six Defendants Charged in “Card Cracking” Scheme That Targeted U.S. Military MembersRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — Six suburban men have been indicted on fraud charges for their alleged roles in a “card cracking” scheme that targeted members of the U.S. military and defrauded a federally-insured savings bank out of more than $830,000.
The defendants deposited counterfeit checks into accounts at USAA Federal Savings Bank belonging to military members and others who had been recruited to provide their account information, according to the 53-count indictment. After depositing the checks, the defendants withdrew funds from the accounts which the bank had advanced before it learned the checks were counterfeit, the indictment states. The scheme spanned more than two years and defrauded the bank out of more than $830,000, the indictment states.
The indictment was returned June 15, 2017, in federal court in Chicago. Charged with bank fraud are KIERRE PERKINS, 22, of South Holland; STEVEN VANCE, 22, of Calumet City; IAN MYVETT, 23, of South Holland; LAMONTE POWELL, 24, of Calumet City; TOREY MARTIN, 24, of Calumet City; and JERMEL SANDERS, 29, of Matteson. Arraignments in federal court in Chicago have not yet been scheduled.
The indictment was announced by Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and John A. Koleno, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the U.S. Secret Service.
According to the charges, the defendants used postings on social media sites, such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, among other means, to recruit USAA Federal Savings Bank customers to provide their debit cards and PINs. The postings, which featured individuals in camouflage military uniforms holding large amounts of cash, advertised opportunities to earn money in a short amount of time, according to criminal complaints and affidavits previously filed in the case. When a USAA Federal Savings Bank customer responded to a posting, the schemers would falsely reply that the customer could receive money if they provided their account information, including usernames, passwords, PINs and answers to security questions, according to the charges. In some instances the bank customers provided their actual debit cards to the defendants as well, the charges state.
After obtaining the account information, some of the defendants deposited counterfeit checks into the accounts, the charges state. They would then withdraw the portion of the purported funds that the bank had credited shortly after the deposit, leaving the bank to bear the loss, the charges state.
Some of the defendants created the counterfeit checks and used account and routing information from other, unsuspecting bank account holders, the charges state. Others posted pictures and videos on their social media accounts containing bank receipts from victim bank account holders, the charges state.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian S. Wallach and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared C. Jodrey.
Shreveport man pleads guilty to possessing a pistol after being convicted of a felonyRead the Press Release
SHREVEPORT, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Shreveport man pleaded guilty Monday to possessing a pistol even though he was previously convicted of a felony.
Neikedrian Edwards, 27, of Shreveport, La., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark L. Hornsby to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. According to the guilty plea, Edwards pawned a .45 caliber pistol on November 14, 2014 in Shreveport. He had a prior felony conviction and was not lawfully allowed to possess a firearm. Records showed that Edwards had filled out paperwork and used his identification card at the pawnshop.
Edwards faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
This investigation and prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which is a Department of Justice initiative to promote firearm safety and to reduce firearm crimes by preventing the possession and use of firearms by dangerous and persistent felons and others not authorized to possess a firearm.
The ATF and Shreveport Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany E. Fields is prosecuting the case.
Roanoke Man Sentenced on Drug, Gun ChargesRead the Press Release
Roanoke, VIRGINIA – A Roanoke man was sentenced this morning on a pair of federal charges related to cocaine distribution and illegal firearms possession, Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced.
Antonio Maurice Payne, 29, of Roanoke, Va., was sentenced this morning to 84 months in federal prison. Payne previously pled guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and one count of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Roanoke City Police Department conducted the investigation of the case. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Bassford prosecuted the case for the United States.
Rapid City Man Charged with Illegally Possessing FirearmsRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Rapid City, South Dakota, man was charged in federal district court with Possession of an Unregistered Firearm and Possession of a Stolen Firearm.
Vance Layne Woodford, age 46, was charged on February 22, 2017. Woodford appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daneta Wollmann on June 14, 2017, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. The maximum penalty upon conviction is 10 years of imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine, 3 years of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The charges relate to Woodford illegally being in possession of a firearm suppressor and a .223 caliber rifle. The charges are merely an accusation and Woodford is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Patterson is prosecuting the case.
Woodford was released pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Quebec Man Extradited to Vermont on Firearms Smuggling ChargesRead the Press Release
The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Alexis Vlachos, 40, of Montreal, Quebec, was recently extradited from Quebec to the District of Vermont to face multiple federal firearms charges, including exporting firearms from the United States into Canada without a permit.
The Indictment against Vlachos, returned by the grand jury in Burlington, Vermont in February 2015 contains five counts. The first count charges Vlachos with conspiring to export approximately 100 handguns from the United States to Quebec without a munitions permit from the Department of State. Two counts charge Vlachos with exporting specific handguns without a permit and the remaining two counts charge Vlachos with possession of specific firearms in the United States while in alien status.
Specifically, the Indictment alleges that from July 2010 to April 2011, Vlachos, working with Annette Wexler and another co-conspirator, bought approximately 100 handguns from multiple licensed gun dealers in Florida. In purchasing these guns, the Indictment alleges that Annette Wexler and another co-conspirator falsely stated on the ATF forms they were the true owners of the firearms when they were actually purchasing these firearms on behalf of Vlachos with the intention of smuggling the firearms into Quebec. In addition, the Indictment alleges that on March 25, 2011, Wexler and a co-conspirator traveled to Derby Line, Vermont with multiple handguns and hid a small backpack containing these handguns in the bathroom of the Haskell Free Library. Vlachos, who entered the Library after walking from Quebec, went into the bathroom, retrieved the backpack containing the handguns, exited the library, and walked back into Quebec without going through the port-of-entry.
Annette Wexler previously pled guilty to conspiring to make false statements to licensed gun dealers and unlawful exportation. Her sentencing is scheduled for July 25, 2017 in Brattleboro, Vermont before United States District Judge J. Garvan Murtha.
At his initial appearance in the United States on June 5, 2017, Vlachos pled not guilty to the charges and did not contest continued detention until trial. Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy ordered that Vlachos be remanded into the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending trial.
The United States Attorney emphasizes that the charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until she is proven guilty. If he is convicted, Vlachos faces a maximum possible term of imprisonment of twenty years. However, the actual sentence in the event of a conviction will be determined pursuant to the advisory federal sentencing guidelines and the federal statutory sentencing factors.
The United States is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Perella. Vlachos is represented by Paul Volk, Esq. of Burlington. Wexler is represented by Robert Katims, Esq. of Burlington. This case was jointly investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and Homeland Security Investigations of the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Surete du Quebec provided assistance.
Princeton man pleads guilty to obtaining a controlled substance by fraudRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Princeton man pleaded guilty today to a federal drug crime, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Frederick Torrefiel de Mesa, 38, entered his guilty plea to obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge.
As part of his plea agreement, de Mesa admitted that on February 22, 2016, in Princeton, he presented a forged prescription for zolpidem, a controlled substance more commonly known as Ambien, to a pharmacist at Hickman Rx Druggist. The prescription was filled the same day, and de Mesa admitted that he wrote the prescription himself without the consent of a doctor.
When de Mesa is sentenced on September 26, 2017, he faces up to four years in federal prison.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber is presiding over the case.
This case was brought as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.
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Previously Deported Mexican National Charged with Violating Federal Firearms LawsRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Juan Carlos Quezada-Lara, 31, a previously deported Mexican national illegally residing in Albuquerque, N.M., made his initial appearance today in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with violating federal firearms laws. Quezada-Lara remains in custody pending a preliminary hearing and detention hearing, both of which are scheduled for tomorrow.
Quezada-Lara is charged in a criminal complaint with being a drug addict in possession of a firearm and being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm on June 19, 2017, in Bernalillo County, N.M. According to the complaint, Quezada-Lara allegedly participated in a methamphetamine transaction with an undercover FBI agent in a parking lot in Albuquerque. Following the alleged transaction, Quezada-Lara fled from the scene in a vehicle and allegedly struck an FBI task force officer with his vehicle while attempting to evade arrest.
The criminal complaint further alleges that law enforcement agents located two firearms and ammunition in Quezada-Lara’s residence. According to court documents, Quezada-Lara is a Mexican citizen who has been deported from the United States on three prior occasions and is allegedly addicted to methamphetamine.
If convicted of the charges in the criminal complaint, Quezada-Lara faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison each of the firearms charges. Charges in criminal complaints are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI and the Albuquerque Police Department. Members of the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force including the New Mexico State Police, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations and the New Mexico Corrections Department, assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Letitia C. Simms is prosecuting the case.
Porcupine Man Charged with AssaultRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Porcupine, South Dakota, man was charged in federal district court with Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury.
Olin Janis, age 40, was charged on April 18, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daneta Wollmann on June 14, 2017, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. The maximum penalty upon conviction is 10 years of imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine, 3 years of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The charges relate to Janis assaulting another man at Rockyford, breaking his nose and arm. The charges are merely an accusation and Janis is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Patterson is prosecuting the case.
Janis was released pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Pine Ridge Man Charged in Death of ChildRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Pine Ridge, South Dakota, man was charged in federal district court with First Degree Murder – Felony Murder, Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury of a Minor, Felony Child Abuse-Aggravated Battery of an Infant, and Felony Child Abuse and Neglect.
Zachariah Michael Poor Bear, age 23, was charged on May 23, 2017. Poor Bear appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daneta Wollmann on June 14, 2017, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. The maximum penalty upon conviction is life imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine, 3 years of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The charges relate to Poor Bear abusing a young child, causing her death. The charges are merely an accusation and Poor Bear is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Collins is prosecuting the case.
Poor Bear was detained pending further hearing. A trial date has not been set.
Physician at Veterans Administration Medical Center in Martinsburg indicted on drug chargesRead the Press Release
MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - A Maryland man was arrested today after being indicted on drug charges by a federal grand jury in Wheeling on June 6, 2017, Acting United States Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen announced.
Daniel J. Bochicchio, of Monkton, Maryland, age 59, was indicted on 15 counts of “Acquiring Fentanyl by Misrepresentation, Fraud, Deception, and Subterfuge.” Bochicchio allegedly acquired fentanyl by fraudulently entering patient information at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The crimes are alleged to have occurred from January to March of 2017.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Omps-Botteicher is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General is investigating.
An indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Peter Mendiola Diego Sentenced to Prison in Ice Trafficking CaseRead the Press Release
SHAWN N. ANDERSON, Acting United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendant PETER MENDIOLA DIEGO, age 48, from Tamuning, was sentenced yesterday in District Court to a 63-month term of imprisonment for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. The Court also ordered 3 years of supervised release, 50 hours of community service, and a mandatory $100 assessment fee. In addition, defendants convicted of a federal drug offense may no longer qualify for certain federal benefits.
On February 24, 2016, DIEGO entered a guilty plea to an Information that charged Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1). The investigation revealed that DIEGO and others arranged to have over 831.6 grams of methamphetamine mailed from California to his place of employment in Guam. Forensic analysis determined the drugs were 97.3% pure. Federal agents also seized U.S. currency, including $237,230.00 from defendant’s residence. The money was owed to DIEGO’s source of supply for ice. Defendant agreed to the forfeiture of the seized funds.
U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. case was prosecuted by Belinda Alcantara, an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Guam.
Peter Mendiola Diego Sentenced to Prison in Ice Trafficking CaseRead the Press Release
SHAWN N. ANDERSON, Acting United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, announced that defendant PETER MENDIOLA DIEGO, age 48, from Tamuning, was sentenced yesterday in District Court to a 63-month term of imprisonment for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. The Court also ordered 3 years of supervised release, 50 hours of community service, and a mandatory $100 assessment fee. In addition, defendants convicted of a federal drug offense may no longer qualify for certain federal benefits.
On February 24, 2016, DIEGO entered a guilty plea to an Information that charged Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1). The investigation revealed that DIEGO and others arranged to have over 831.6 grams of methamphetamine mailed from California to his place of employment in Guam. Forensic analysis determined the drugs were 97.3% pure. Federal agents also seized U.S. currency, including $237,230.00 from defendant’s residence. The money was owed to DIEGO’s source of supply for ice. Defendant agreed to the forfeiture of the seized funds.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Belinda Alcantara, an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Guam.
Pensacola Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Tax FraudRead the Press Release
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Christopher Jacob Rankins, 32, of Pensacola, Florida, has pled guilty to twelve counts of aiding or assisting others in the preparation of false tax returns. The guilty plea was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Documents introduced at the time of the guilty plea reflect that, between January 1, 2011, and May 8, 2012, while working as a tax preparer at American Tax Service in Pensacola, Florida, Rankins aided, assisted, counseled, and advised others in the preparation and presentation of fraudulent and false tax returns. The tax returns prepared by Rankins falsely represented the taxpayers’ business expenses and falsely claimed educational credits which resulted in tax payers receiving approximately $356,172 in refunds and credits that the taxpayers were not entitled to receive.
The charges were the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney J. Ryan Love.
As to each of the twelve counts, Rankins faces a maximum of three years in prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 19, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola.
United States Attorney Canova said: “Fraudulent tax returns steal from the millions of honest taxpayers who fulfilled their tax obligations accurately and on time. My office is committed to working with our law enforcement partners, such as the Internal Revenue Service, to ensure that tax dollars are used for their intended purpose.”
“We owe it to honest, hardworking taxpayers to investigate and assist in prosecuting unscrupulous return preparers who steal from the American citizens through the filing of false tax returns,” said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Mary Hammond.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
Parker Woman Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Vehicular AssaultRead the Press Release
PHOENIX – On June 19, 2017, Beatrice Denise Welsh, 40, of Parker, Ariz., a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayes to 42 months in prison. Welsh was found guilty by a federal jury of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.
Welsh was driving on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation, after consuming alcohol. She knew her vehicle had faulty brakes. Welsh took back dirt roads and sped around a ninety degree corner at a speed between fifty-three and fifty-seven miles per hour. The pickup rolled and her passenger, a non-tribal member, was ejected and is permanently paralyzed.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado River Indian Tribal Police. The prosecution was handled by Abbie Broughton Marsh and Ryan Powell, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
CASE NUMBER: CR-16-325-PHX-DLR
RELEASE NUMBER: 2017-055_Welsh
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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.
Orange County Man Arrested on Federal Charges Related to Illegal Importation of Ozone-Depleting Refrigerant R-22Read the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – A Garden Grove man was arraigned this afternoon on an indictment that charges him with illegally importing a large shipment of a highly regulated chemical compound known as R-22 under the pretense that he was actually bringing into the United States a safe refrigerant that does not destroy the ozone layer.
Mahmoud Alkabbani, 63, the owner of USA Car Parts in Garden Grove, pleaded not guilty this afternoon to the nine-count indictment. A trial date was set for August 8.
Alkabbani was arrested Friday evening at Los Angeles International Airport after he returned to the United States from a trip abroad. At today’s arraignment, he was ordered released on a $30,000 bond.
R-22 is R22Chlorodifluoromethane, sometimes known as HCFC-22, a refrigerant gas and class II ozone-depleting substance. Pursuant to international treaty, the use of R-22 is being phased out around the world. In the United States, pursuant to the Clean Air Act, only parties with unexpended “consumption allowances” are allowed to import the chemical.
According to the indictment, Alkabbani entered into an agreement with a Chinese company to purchase R-22, which was packaged in cylinders bearing counterfeit “Glacier” trademarks. The 2013 contract with the Chinese company listed the product as R-134a – which is not regulated by the Clean Air Act and does not deplete the ozone layer – but a second, secret agreement called for the Chinese company to actually sell R-22 to Alkabbani.
The indictment charges Alkabbani with conspiracy, one count of entry of goods by means of false statement, five counts of passing false and fraudulent papers through a customhouse, one count of smuggling and one count of violating the Clean Air Act by improperly selling R-22 to an undercover agent.
If convicted of the nine counts in the indictment, Alkabbani would face a statutory maximum sentence of 132 years in federal prison.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
The investigation into Alkabbani is being conducted by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Cameron L. Schroeder of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section and Assistant United States Attorney Mark Williams of the Environmental and Community Safety Crimes Section.
Operation “Real Time”: Greenville Man Enters Guilty in Federal Court on Firearms ChargeRead the Press Release
Greenville, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Dominick Larenzo Johnson, age 30, of Greenville, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court in Greenville to felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). United States District Court Judge Timothy Cain, of Anderson, accepted the plea and will impose sentence after he has reviewed the presentence report prepared by the United States Probation Office. Due to his prior history of felony convictions, Johnson faces a statutory mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum term of life.
Evidence presented by the government during the plea established that, on September 8, 2016, Johnson bailed out of his vehicle after fleeing an attempted traffic stop initiated by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO). After locating the abandoned vehicle and while canvassing the area looking for Johnson, GCSO deputies learned from eyewitnesses that Johnson had discarded an object in a dumpster as he ran by it. GCSO arrested Johnson shortly thereafter and retrieved that object that Johnson discarded—a backpack containing a loaded 9mm pistol.
Johnson was arrested federally as a part of “Operation Real-Time.” The goal of this program is to identify individuals for federal prosecution with significant criminal histories who continue to actively possess firearms in the Upstate community.
In addition to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Real Time’s core partners include the Greenville Police Department, the Anderson Police Department, the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, United States Probation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Since August of 2015, the initiative has resulted in the expedited federal prosecution of some 115 defendants and seizure of over 130 firearms as well as assorted ammunition from prohibited persons.
U.S. Attorney Beth Drake commended the partnership between the state and federal agencies that led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney’s Office adopting the case. “We work best when we work together. This ‘real time’ identification of high risk offenders is smart policing, and we welcome the opportunity to work alongside our state chiefs and sheriffs in taking violent repeat offenders out of our communities.”
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen in the Greenville U.S. Attorney’s Office is handling the case.
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On “American Eagle Day” the Justice Department Highlights its Longstanding Role in Protecting the Nation’s Eagle PopulationsRead the Press Release
In recognition of June 20, 2017, as American Eagle Day, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) issued the following statement:
“Our Division is proud to play a central role in the protection of the bald eagle, our national symbol and a distinctive emblem of freedom and the sovereignty of the United States. Over the course of many years, the lawyers in our Division have worked to promote conservation of lands and resources across the United States and to enforce federal laws protecting our natural treasures, including wildlife like bald eagles, golden eagles, and other raptors. As we celebrate American Eagle Day, we also honor the work of our client agencies—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service at the U.S. Department of Interior, in particular—as well as state conservation agencies and private citizens around the nation for their vital work in this area.”
On June 15, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution designating June 20, 2017, as “American Eagle Day” and celebrating the recovery and restoration of the bald eagle. By 1963, only an estimated 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles remained in the lower 48 states. Through the extraordinary efforts of American citizens around the country, including state and federal agencies, conservations groups, and private landowners, the bald eagle once again began to flourish. By 2007, the number of nesting pairs of eagles in the lower 48 states increased to approximately 11,000, and the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ultimately determined that the bald eagle is no longer endangered or threatened.
The attorneys in the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice have a key role in efforts related to bald eagle protection under the laws passed by Congress, including the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act. The Division’s Wildlife and Marine Resources Section represents the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other wildlife agencies in litigation involving the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other federal wildlife conservation laws. The Division’s Environmental Crimes Section brings criminal cases against individuals and organizations that break the laws that protect our nation’s ecological and wildlife resources.
The bald eagle is prominently featured in the official seal of the U.S. Department of Justice.
For more information about the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, please visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/enrd.
Nigerian Man Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to Participating in Business Email Compromise ScamsRead the Press Release
Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today that DAVID CHUKWUNEKE ADINDU pled guilty this morning before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan federal court to a superseding Information that charged him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to use a means of identification in connection with a federal crime. These charges stemmed from ADINDU’s participation in fraudulent business email compromise scams that targeted thousands of victims around the world, including the United States. Collectively, the scams attempted to defraud victims of millions of dollars.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “As he has now admitted, David Chukwuneke Adindu participated in thousands of business email compromise scams, trying to trick various businesses into wiring millions of dollars to his overseas bank accounts. Cyber is increasingly becoming a powerful tool for criminals, including those like Adindu who indiscriminately target businesses around the world with scams. We are committed to tracking down and holding these cyber fraudsters accountable.”
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said: “Adindu targeted his victims from afar, but the pain he likely inflicted upon them hit too close to home. Most people assume they won't become a victim of a business email scam, but this case should remind the public that everyone is at risk. Today's guilty plea is yet another example of our efforts to confront cyber crime worldwide.”
According to the Information and statements made at public court proceedings:
Between 2014 and 2016, ADINDU participated in Business Email Compromise scams (“BEC scams”) targeting thousands of victims around the world, including in the United States. As part of the BEC scams, emails were sent to employees of various companies directing that funds be transferred to specified bank accounts. The emails purported to be from supervisors at those companies or third party vendors that did business with those companies. The emails, however, were not legitimate. Rather, they were either from email accounts with a domain name that was very similar to a legitimate domain name, or the metadata in the emails had been modified so that the emails appeared as if they were from legitimate email addresses. After victims complied with the fraudulent wiring instructions, the transferred funds were quickly withdrawn or moved into different bank accounts. In total, the BEC scams attempted to defraud millions of dollars from victims.
ADINDU and others carried out BEC scams by exchanging information regarding: (1) bank accounts used for receiving funds from victims; (2) email accounts for communicating with victims; (3) scripts for requesting wire transfers from victims; and (4) lists of names and email addresses for contacting and impersonating potential victims.
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ADINDU, 29, of Lagos, Nigeria, and Guangzhou, China, was arrested on November 22, 2016. ADINDU pled guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to use a means of identification in connection with a federal crime, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
ADINDU is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Crotty on September 26, 2017 at 3:30 p.m.
Mr. Kim praised the investigative work of the FBI. Mr. Kim also thanked the Yahoo! E-Crime Investigations Team, and noted that the investigation is continuing.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew K. Chan is in charge of the prosecution.
Nicholas County man pleads guilty to attempted enticement of a minorRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Nicholas County man pleaded guilty today to a federal sex crime involving a minor, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. John Marshall Underwood, Jr., 44, of Gilboa, entered his guilty plea to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.
Underwood admitted that from December 14, 2016, through February 1, 2017, he used a cell phone to communicate with a woman he believed to be a prostitute who had custody of two minor nieces. The woman Underwood thought was a prostitute was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Underwood also admitted that he communicated with the woman about engaging in commercial sexual activity with one of the nieces. On at least two occasions, Underwood communicated with an individual he believed to be the niece and attempted to entice her to engage in commercial sexual activity. The individual Underwood thought was the niece was also an undercover law enforcement officer. Underwood admitted that on February 1, 2017, he arranged a meeting with the individuals who were actually undercover officers and was arrested after he arrived at the meeting location. Law enforcement recorded all the calls between Underwood and the undercover officers.
Underwood faces at least 10 years and up to life in federal prison. Underwood will also be required to register as a sex offender. Sentencing is scheduled for September 20, 2017.
The investigation was conducted by the Charleston Police Department, the West Virginia State Police, and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald is in charge of the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr.
This prosecution is being brought as part of an ongoing initiative of the United States Attorney’s Office to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse in the Southern District of West Virginia.
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New Haven Man Who Brandished Gun Outside Nightclub Sentenced to 3 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that EDWARD FULTON, 34, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 36 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally possessing a firearm.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in the early morning hours of March 12, 2016, a New Haven Police detective working an extra duty assignment at a nightclub on Hamilton Street observed FULTON outside the club pointing a handgun at a group of people shortly after the club had closed for the evening. The detective drew his service revolver and ordered FULTON to drop his weapon, at which time FULTON put the gun in his sweatshirt and kept walking. The detective ordered FULTON to stop, FULTON eventually complied and the firearm was seized.
The firearm, a Cobra nine millimeter derringer, was cocked and loaded with two rounds of ammunition. It had been reported stolen in New Haven in 2015.
FULTON’s criminal history includes multiple felony convictions for robbery and firearm offenses. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.
FULTON has been detained since his arrest on March 12, 2016. On March 13, 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.
This matter was investigated by the New Haven Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter D. Markle.
Mission Man Faces Cocaine ChargesRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Mission, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance.
Charles Griffen Spotted Elk, age 20, was indicted on May 16, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno on June 13, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 20 years in custody and/or a $1,000,000 fine, a lifetime of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The Indictment alleges that on November 6, 2016, Spotted Elk possessed cocaine, a Schedule II controlled substance, with the intent to distribute it within the District of South Dakota.
The charge is merely an accusation and Spotted Elk is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services. Assistant U.S. Attorney SaraBeth Donovan is prosecuting the case.
Spotted Elk was released on bond pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Mexican Man Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Drug Distribution, Illegal Weapons PossessionRead the Press Release
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Mexican man to nine years in prison for distributing methamphetamine and illegally possessing firearms, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Gerido.
U.S. District Court Judge R. David Proctor sentenced OSCAR ADRIAN CASTILLO, 25, on one count of illegally distributing more than 50 grams of methamphetamine in Jefferson County on Sept. 15, and on one count of possessing firearms on Sept. 20 while an illegal resident in the United States. Castillo possessed a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol at the Bessemer home where he was living at the time of his arrest. Castillo pleaded guilty to the charges in November.
According to Castillo’s plea agreement with the government, Castillo sold 84.5 grams of methamphetamine to a confidential informant on Sept. 15 in the parking lot of the Walmart in Bessemer. ATF agents, Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies and officers with the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant at Castillo’s Bessemer residence five days later and recovered the firearms.
ATF, WANTF and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney John B. Felton prosecuted.
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Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Bank and Credit Card Fraud and Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
Bangor, Maine: Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy announced that Steven Nygren, 50, of Salem, Massachusetts, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to bank fraud, credit card fraud and tax evasion charges.
According to court records, from June 2014 through August 2015, Nygren used his position as financial officer of a Brooklin, Maine business to forge and embezzle 63 checks worth over $732,000. In 2015, he charged $62,000 to business credit cards for unauthorized personal purchases. Finally, from 2010 through 2016, he evaded federal unemployment and income taxes.
Nygren faces up to 30 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine, and five years of supervised release for bank fraud; up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release for access device fraud; and up to five years, a $100,000 fine, and three years of supervised release for tax evasion. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The investigation was conducted by the Maine State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service.
Lexington Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Failing to Pay $1.4 Million in Payroll TaxesRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Lexington, Mo., business owner pleaded guilty in federal court today to failing to pay over to the IRS more than $1.4 million in payroll taxes.
Randy K. Small, 50, of Lexington, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to a federal information that charges him with failure to pay over to the IRS the payroll taxes of his employees.
Small is the owner of RSB Leasing, a transportation business that provides school bus service to multiple school districts in Missouri (including the Buchanan County R-IV School District, the Lexington, Mo., R-5 School District and the Hardin-Central C-2 School District). Small operated the business under three different names, and failed to fully pay employment taxes for each of the three businesses, resulting in an aggregate tax loss of at least $1,457,483.
Small operated the business under the name Hill Transportation, Inc., from 2005 through February 2010. After accruing over $300,000 in employment tax liability, Small discontinued operations under Hill Transportation and began operating under the name SPYKE, LLC. After accruing over $1 million in employment tax liability, Small discontinued operations under SPYKE in 2012. Finally, Small operated under the name RSB Leasing which has continued to accrue tax liability.
Small admitted that he did not deposit the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and Medicare (FICA) taxes or the income taxes that he withheld from his employees’ wages, nor did he pay the employer portion of FICA.
While accruing employment tax liabilities, Small withdrew significant amounts of cash, purchased new buses and maintained a personal collection of cars. From 2009 through 2011, Small withdrew $286,052 from the business bank account in the form of cash and cashier’s checks payable to himself. Small spent an additional $147,000 to purchase new buses for the business.
Under federal statutes, Small is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole and must pay restitution to the IRS. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Venneman. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.
Leader of Drug Organization Sentenced to 27 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
BATON ROUGE, LA – Acting United States Attorney Corey R. Amundson announced today that U.S. District Judge Shelly D. Dick sentenced Wilbert Mathes, 40, to twenty seven (27) years in federal prison, as the leader of a large scale drug trafficking network operating in the Baton Rouge region. Mathes was also ordered to forfeit to the United States $593,000, representing the drug proceeds generated during the conspiracy.
At the conclusion of a four-day jury trial on September 22, 2016, Mathes was convicted of conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and cocaine base, distribution of cocaine, possession with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, and unlawful use of a communications facility.
The defendant and his seven co-conspirators were charged in a multi-count superseding indictment on October 29, 2015, with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and cocaine base, distribution of cocaine, possession of firearms by a convicted felon, unlawful use of communications facilities and forfeiture. The co-conspirators have previously been found guilty of the charges against them.
The investigation, deemed Operation Roadblock, was another effort by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Program which was established in 1982 to mount a comprehensive attack against organized drug traffickers. Today, the OCDETF Program is the centerpiece of the United States Attorney General’s drug strategy to reduce the availability of drugs by disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations and money laundering organizations and related criminal enterprises. The OCDETF Program operates nationwide and combines the resources and unique expertise of numerous federal, state, and local agencies in a coordinated attack against major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.
Acting U.S. Attorney Amundson stated, “My office, together with our federal, state, and local partners, will continue to focus our energies and resources on prosecuting the members of these large scale drug trafficking organizations to the full extent of the law. These organizations must be eradicated to protect the citizens of Baton Rouge from the crime and violence associated with their operations.”
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Brad L. Byerley stated, “The sentencing today of Wilbert Mathes sends a message to all who engage in the distribution of illegal drugs - we will work together to see that you are brought to justice. Federal and local law enforcement successfully collaborated in order to put Mathes in federal prison for 27 years as a result of his desire to supply the citizens of Baton Rouge with cocaine.”
This operation was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Baton Rouge City Police Department, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). This matter was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Kleinpeter, who also serves as a Deputy Criminal Chief, and Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Thornhill.
Justice Department and the State of New York Settle Claims over Voter Registration OpportunitiesRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that it has entered an agreement with the State of New York to resolve claims it failed to provide voter registration opportunities required by Section 5 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
Section 5 of the NVRA requires states to provide voter registration opportunities for federal elections when eligible citizens apply for or seek to renew their driver’s license or other identification documents through state motor vehicle offices. Section 5 also requires states to update voter registration records when registrants update the address associated with a driver’s license or other identification document, unless the registrant indicates otherwise.
Justice Department’s investigation found noncompliance with these NVRA requirements in New York State. Applications for New York driver’s licenses, learner’s permits, and identification cards did not consistently serve as applications for voter registration with respect to elections for federal office, as required by the NVRA. Moreover, the procedures by which citizens notified motor vehicle authorities that their address had changed did not consistently serve as notification of a change of address for voter registration purposes, as the NVRA requires.
“Our democracy is strengthened when voter registration is accessible to all eligible citizens,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division commends the State of New York for working with the Division to ensure that New York’s citizens have the opportunity to register to vote and update their voting information easily and conveniently through motor vehicle agencies, as envisioned by the National Voter Registration Act.”
Under the terms of the settlement, New York will fully integrate a voter registration opportunity into all applications for a driver’s license and other identification documents, including in-person and online renewal applications. New York will also ensure that all change of address information submitted for driver’s license purposes will be used to update voters’ address information unless voters decline to update their voter registration. The State has worked diligently throughout the settlement process to bring about NVRA compliance.
“The Motor Voter provision of the NVRA critically supports and enhances our citizens’ access to the democratic process,” said U.S. Attorney Rick Hartunian of the Northern District of New York. “I commend our many state officials for their hard work in reaching this agreement and for their commitment to protecting and promoting voting rights in New York.”
More information about the National Voter Registration Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice website at https://www.justice.gov/crt/voting-section. Complaints about voter registration practices may be reported to the Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.
Judge Sentences FCI-Loretto Inmate to Additional 9 Months in Prison for Attempting to Obtain SuboxoneRead the Press Release
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – An inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pa., has been sentenced in federal court to 9 months in prison and three years’ supervised release, consecutive to the 120 months sentence and supervised release provision he is serving currently from the District of Maryland, on his conviction of attempting to obtain contraband in prison, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.
United States District Judge Kim R. Gibson imposed the sentence on Douglas Vines, 45.
According to information presented to the court, on July 20, 2015, Vines attempted to obtain a quantity of suboxone.
Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie L. Haines prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Ms. Song commended the Laurel Highlands Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Correctional Institution, Special Investigative Staff, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Vines.
Henrico Heroin Dealer Sentenced to 10 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
RICHMOND, Va. – A Henrico man was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for distribution of heroin.
Arlando Harris, 35, pleaded guilty on Dec. 29, 2016. According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Henrico Police executed a search warrant at Harris’ mother’s residence in Henrico on March 16, 2016. Police found two large bags of suspected heroin, two large bags of suspected cocaine, didgital scales, baking soda, cell phones, a handgun, ammunition, and approximately $73,000 in cash. After searching Harris’ residence, police discovered another handgun, ammunition, digital scales, numerous baggies with the corners missing, and $460 in cash. During an interview with Henrico Police officers, Harris admitted to selling drugs to support himself, and was found in possession of 152 grams of heroin, or more than 1,500 individual doses. After being released on bond pending trial for drug distribution, Harris was again arrested by Henrico Police for selling cocaine.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Virginia Attorney General; Humberto I. Cardounel, Jr., Chief of Henrico County Police Division; and Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Jagels 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. 3:16-cr-132.
Hazleton Woman Charged with Making False Statements in the Purchase of Six FirearmsRead the Press Release
SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Jasmine T. Wing, a resident of Hazleton, PA, was charged on June 16, 2017 in a criminal information with making false statements in the purchase of six firearms in Luzerne County.
According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Wing, age 25, falsely represented that she was the actual buyer of six firearms purchased from Bob’s Sporting Goods in Hazleton, PA, and from Dave’s Gun Shop in Drums, PA between September 19, 2014 and April 14, 2015. The firearms were:
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a Glock 19 9mm;
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a Glock 23 .40 caliber;
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a Taurus PT745Pro .45acp;
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an Extar EXP556 5.56;
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a CAI/Romarm Micro Draco 7.62x39; and
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a Ruger P91DC .40acp.
The CAI/Romarm Micro Draco is a semiautomatic firearm that is capable of accepting a large capacity magazine.
The government simultaneously filed a plea agreement with Wing to the alleged charge, which is subject to approval of the court. As part of the plea agreement, Wing stipulated that she knew that her offense would result in the transfer of firearms to a person prohibited from possessing them. A date for Wing’s arraignment has not been set.
The matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Phillip J. Caraballo.
This case was brought as part of the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership (“VCRP”), a district wide initiative to combat the spread of violent crime in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the VCRP consists of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies whose mission is to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit violent crimes with firearms.
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 penalties under federal law for the charge are 10 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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Harrisonburg Man Pleads Guilty to Submitting Fraudulent Voter Registration FormsRead the Press Release
Harrisonburg, VIRGINIA – Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced today that a former staffer with Harrisonburg Votes, a political organization affiliated with the Democratic Party, who was paid to register area voters during the weeks leading up to the 2016 National Election, admitted in federal court that he caused 18 fraudulent Virginia Voter Registration Forms to be submitted to the local registrar’s office.
Andrew J. Spieles, 21, Harrisonburg, pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg to a one-count Information charging him with knowingly transferring false Virginia Voter Registration Forms. As part of the plea agreement, Spieles agreed to a prison sentence of 100 to 120 days.
According to evidence presented at today’s guilty plea hearing by Assistant United States Attorney Jeb Terrien, in July 2016 Spieles’ job was to register as many voters as possible and reported to Democratic Campaign headquarters in Harrisonburg.
In August 2016, Spieles was directed to combine his registration numbers with those of another individual because their respective territories overlapped. After filling out a registration form for a voter, Spieles entered the information into a computer system used by the Virginia Democratic Party to track information such as name, age, address and political affiliation. Every Thursday an employee/volunteer hand-delivered the paper copies of the registration forms to the Registrar’s Office in Harrisonburg.
On August 15, 2016, an employee of the Registrar’s Office contacted law enforcement after another employee in the office recognized a registration form submitted in the name of the deceased father of a Rockingham County Judge. The Registrar’s Office discovered multiple instances of similarly falsified forms when it reviewed additional registrations. Some were in the names of deceased individuals while others bore incorrect middle names, birth dates, and social security numbers. The Registrar’s Office learned that the individuals named in these forms had not in fact submitted the new voter registrations. The assistant registrar’s personal knowledge of the names of some of the individuals named in the falsified documents facilitated the detection of the crime.
Spieles admitted that he prepared the false voter registration forms by obtaining the name, age, and address of individuals from “walk sheets” provided to him by the Virginia Democratic Party, fabricating a birth date based on the ages listed in the walk sheet, and fabricating the social security numbers. Spieles admitted that he created all 18 fraudulent forms himself and that no one else participated in the crime.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Harrisonburg Police Department. The Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office also assisted in the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jeb Terrien prosecuted the case for the United States.
Greenville Man, Charged in Federal Court for Conspiracy to Commit Six Armed Robberies of Local Businesses, Pleads GuiltyRead the Press Release
Greenville, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Delmar Deshion Jackson, age 39, of Greenville, South Carolina, pled guilty in federal court in Greenville. Jackson pled guilty to conspiracy to commit six armed robberies in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951(a). United States District Judge Henry M. Herlong, Jr., of Greenville, accepted the plea and will impose a 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 Jackson conspired with Demiriao Trione Bonds, between October 26, 2015 and November 26, 2015, including on Thanksgiving day, to rob six area businesses. An investigation into the activity of the two men revealed that Jackson would provide transportation to the target businesses for Bonds. Bonds committed five of the six robberies with a firearm, which he brandished during the course of each, and a sixth, under threat of a firearm. During the course of the six robberies, the co-conspirators took from the targeted businesses cash, retail inventory, personal effects, and store cellular devices. At the time of his arrest, Jackson was found in possession of various items connected with the robberies, including one of the firearms, stolen pharmaceuticals, and a piece of distinctive winter apparel.
Ms. Drake stated that the maximum penalty the defendant can receive is a fine of $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 20 years, plus a special assessment of $100. Bonds had previously pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement, which stipulated to a sentence of 32 years.
The case was investigated by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) working in conjunction with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney D. Josev Brewer of the Greenville office handled the case.
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Grant County Man convicted of meth trafficking and firearm chargesRead the Press Release
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – A Petersburg, West Virginia, man was convicted today of methamphetamine distribution and illegal possession of a firearm, Acting United States Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen announced.
Joseph Nathaniel Hartman, age 33, pled guilty to one count of “Distribution of Methamphetamine” and one count of “Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.” The crimes occurred in August 2015 in Grant County.
Hartman faces up to 20 years incarceration and a fine of up to $1,000,000 for the first count and 10 years incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000 for the second count. 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 Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, The West Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office investigated.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.Grand Jury Returns Indictment Charging Felon with Illegal ReentryRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging an El Salvadorian man with illegally reentry into the United States.
According to allegations in the indictment, Jose Amilcar De Leon Garcia, 44, was found in the United States on or about July 5, 2016, after having been removed on two separate occasions, and without having obtained the express consent of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security to reapply for admission to the United States.
De Leon Garcia, a native and citizen of El Salvador, was removed from the United States in November 2012 and again in July 2014. On or about July 5, 2016, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement became aware of his presence in the United States when De Leon Garcia was charged in Fairfax County for felony assault and battery on a police officer, an offense for which he was convicted on February 7.
De Leon Garcia has been charged with illegal reentry and faces a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison if convicted. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Russell Hott, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Washington, D.C. Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office, made the announcement. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca A. Caruso is prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:17-cr-142.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
Georgetown woman pleads guilty to copying U.S. money, printing counterfeit versionsRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Georgetown woman pleaded guilty last week to making fake U.S. $20 bills.
Gena Armstrong, 20, of Georgetown, La., pleaded guilty Friday before U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell to one count of manufacturing counterfeit U.S. securities. According to the guilty plea, Armstrong bought a copy machine and paper on March 29, 2016 from an Alexandria office supply business. She then entered a vehicle driven by a friend. While driving around the city, Armstrong copied a genuine $20 bill (Federal Reserve Note) and began printing counterfeit money. In total, she printed a two-sided cut $20 bill, 30 two-sided uncut $20 bills and nine one-sided uncut $20 bills. While driving through the city, the friend stopped at a convenience store. Armstrong gave the friend the counterfeit $20 bill to make his purchase while there.
Armstrong faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The court set the sentencing date for September 13, 2017.
The U.S. Secret Service and the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Grady A. Crooks is prosecuting the case.
Franklin, Tennessee Man Pleads Guilty to Transporting Illegal AlienRead the Press Release
Ronald Edward Strickland, 70, of Franklin, Tenn., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court, to transporting an illegal alien, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jack Smith of the Middle District of Tennessee.
Strickland, a retired Tennessee Highway Patrol sergeant, was arrested on a criminal complaint on August 1, 2016, and indicted on August 31, 2016.
According to court documents, in early 2016, Strickland devised a plan to smuggle a 22- year-old female from Honduras into the United States. Strickland texted the woman on January 7, 2016, about uniting with him and engaging in a sexual relationship. Strickland then began a series of text communications with an individual in Honduras and others, in which he discussed smuggling the woman into the Unites States. Strickland maintained the text communications, monitoring the progress of the woman’s journey, until he was notified that the woman had arrived in Houston, Texas.
In July 2016, Strickland drove to Houston, Texas, where he picked up the woman and drove her to his home in Franklin, Tenn.
Acting on a tip, on July 22, 2016, HSI agents went to Strickland’s Franklin home, where they located the 22-year-old female. The subsequent investigation determined that the woman had been illegally smuggled into the United States and that Strickland had paid a coyote $8,000 to smuggle her from Honduras to the United States. The investigation also determined that Strickland maintained an apartment in Honduras and travelled there on a regular basis.
Strickland faces up to 5 years in prison when he is sentenced on October 17, 2017.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Henry Leventis and Lynne T. Ingram.
Fort Thompson Man Charged with Voluntary ManslaughterRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Fort Thompson, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Voluntary Manslaughter.
Zachery Lee Ziegler, age 31, was indicted on June 14, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno on June 14, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 15 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine, 3 years of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The Indictment alleges that on May 23, 2017, Ziegler, upon a sudden quarrel and heat of passion, unlawfully killed another human being.
The charge is merely an accusation and Ziegler is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges is prosecuting the case.
Ziegler was released on bond. A trial date has not been set.