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24 March 2017
Sioux City Man Sentenced for Sex CrimeRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Sioux City, Iowa, man convicted of Attempted Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Minor was sentenced on March 20, 2017 by U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier.
Nathanuel Walter Downs, age 29, was sentenced to 63 months in custody, followed by five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Downs was indicted for Attempted Commercial Sex Trafficking by a federal grand jury on June 2, 2015; a Superseding Information was filed November 5, 2015, charging Attempted Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Minor. He pled guilty to the Superseding Information on October 17, 2016.
On April 10, 2015, Downs responded to an ad placed on Backpage.com by an undercover officer posing as a fifteen-year-old girl. Downs responded to the advertisement and agreed to travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from Sioux City and pay to have sex with the minor. Police arrested Downs after he arrived at the agreed upon location in Sioux Falls and handed cash to an undercover officer.
This case was investigated by South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Sioux Falls Police Department, Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
Downs was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Samuel Velasco Gurrola Sentenced to Life in Federal Prison for Murder-For-Hire Plot Involving His Wife, Her Father and Her SisterRead the Press Release
In El Paso this morning, 41-year-old Samuel Velasco Gurrola was sentenced to life in federal prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Douglas E. Lindquist.
On October 17, 2016, a federal jury convicted Velasco of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and four counts of conspiracy to cause foreign travel for murder for hire. Following his conviction in the murder-for-hire plot, on November 18, 2016, Velasco pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute, namely acts of drug trafficking and money laundering.
Today, Senior United States District Judge David Briones imposed a life-imprisonment sentence on each of the seven murder-related charges—four involving foreign travel to run consecutive, the other three to run concurrent. Judge Briones also imposed a 35-year concurrent prison term for conspiracy to violate the RICO statute. In addition to the prison term, Judge Briones ordered that Velasco pay over $1 million in restitution to the families of his victims; and, a money judgment for $12,480,000, to be paid joint and several with his brother. Judge Briones also ordered that Velasco forfeit to the Government two real estate properties he owned in El Paso as well as $85,000 in U.S. Currency and two vehicles seized by authorities.
“The Velascos perpetrated some of the most diabolical and cruel crimes imaginable. To avoid responsibility for sexually assaulting a child, Samuel enlisted his brother Emanuel and his criminal organization to kill his wife to prevent her from testifying against him. By the time he was he was done, his wife, her father, her sister, and a friend had been slaughtered. The life sentence imposed shows much more mercy than he ever did,” stated United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr.
According to evidence presented during his trial, in 2008, Samuel Velasco was married to Ruth Sagredo Escobedo. At the time, he was under indictment in El Paso County for aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. Evidence further revealed that from September 2008 until November 2008, Samuel initiated a plot, with Emmanuel’s help, to kill Sagredo while in Mexico in order to prevent her from testifying in the State case.
Testimony revealed that with Emmanuel’s help, Samuel also arranged to have Sagredo’s father and sister killed in an attempt to lure Sagredo to Mexico. On October 3, 2008, Francisco Maria Sagredo Villareal, Samuel’s father-in-law, was murdered in his house in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. On November 20, 2008, Francisco’s daughter, Cinthia Sagredo Escobedo, was murdered in Ciudad Juarez. Two days later, while traveling to her sister Cinthia’s funeral, Ruth Sagredo Escobedo and her friend Roberto Martinez were ambushed and murdered.
Yesterday, Judge Briones sentenced Emmanuel to life in federal prison and ordered him to pay over $1 million in restitution to the families of his victims; and, a money judgment for $12,480,000. Judge Briones also ordered that Emmanuel forfeit to the Government various real estate properties he owned in El Paso and Midland counties as well as a condominium located on the Las Vegas Strip.
According to court records, Emmanuel was the leader of a criminal organization that ran a cross-border car theft ring and imported and distributed tons of marijuana. His organization also engaged in an international kidnapping scheme whereby victims were kidnapped and held in Juarez, Mexico, while he and other criminal associates located in El Paso extorted ransom payment from the victims’ families.
“These life sentences sends a clear message to transnational criminal organizations. HSI and its law enforcement partners are committed to ensuring the safety and security of our border community,” said Waldemar Rodriguez, special agent in charge of HSI El Paso.“The Velascos fall into the category of the ‘worst of the worst’ criminals. Their actions have devastated a family on both sides of the U.S. / Mexico border. The DEA is proud to have played a role with our law enforcement partners in bringing them to justice and ensuring that never again will they be able to commit an act of violence in the Borderland,” said Will R. Glaspy, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Division.
“The sentence handed down today is the result of outstanding efforts by the FBI and our partner agencies, DEA and HSI. Two murderers are behind bars. Justice has been served for the victims, their families, and the greater border community,” stated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Douglas E. Lindquist, El Paso Division.
Emmanuel and Samuel’s sister, 44-year-old Dalia Valencia, pleaded guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge prior to jury selection in the above-mentioned trial. Valencia is scheduled for sentencing at 9:30am on April 19, 2017, before Judge Briones. and Samuel’s other sister, 43-year-old Monica Velasco, remains a fugitive in this case. Monica Velasco is charged with conspiracy to violate the RICO statute, two money laundering counts and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and import over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. If you have information as to Monica Velasco’s whereabouts, contact the United States Marshals Service in El Paso at (915) 534-6779.
This investigation was conducted by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the United States Marshals Service and the El Paso Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Daphne Newaz and John Gibson are prosecuting this case on behalf of the Government.
Rosebud Man Charged with Influencing a Federal Officer by Threat and Assaulting a Federal OfficerRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Rosebud, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Influencing a Federal Officer By Threat and Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer.
Ronald Red Tomahawk, age 31, was indicted on February 15, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno on March 20, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction for Influencing a Federal Officer is up to 10 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine, and the maximum penalty for Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer is 8 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine. Both charges could result in 3 years of supervised release, $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and restitution.
The Indictment alleges that on or about September 25, 2016, Red Tomahawk threatened to murder and forcibly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded, intimidated, and interfered with a law enforcement officer employed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, while the officer was engaged in the performance of his official duties.
The charges are merely accusations and Red Tomahawk is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Albertson is prosecuting the case.
Red Tomahawk was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Rosebud Man Charged with Assaulting a Federal Officer and LarcenyRead 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 Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer and Larceny.
Justin Fast Horse, age 20, was indicted on March 15, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Moreno on March 20, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction for Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer charge is up to 20 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine, and the maximum penalty for Larceny is 5 years in custody and/or $250,000 fine. Both charges could result in 3 years of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund and restitution.
The Indictment alleges that on or about March 3, 2017, Fast Horse forcibly assaulted, resisted, opposed, impeded, intimidated, and interfered with a law enforcement officer employed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, while the officer was engaged in the performance of his official duties. The Indictment also charges that on March 3, 2017, Fast Horse unlawfully took and carried away, with intent to steal and purloin, a pickup truck, owned by someone else.
The charges are merely accusations and Fast Horse is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Albertson is prosecuting the case.
Fast Horse was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Redlands Man who Allegedly Sold Firearms Made from Unfinished and Unmarked Lower Receivers Arrested on Federal ChargesRead the Press Release
RIVERSIDE, California – A Redlands man has been arrested after being charged in federal court with selling AR-style rifles without a license.
Scott Everett Coyl, 28, of Redlands, was arrested without incident at his residence yesterday morning. Coyl was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday that charges him with dealing firearms without a license.
Following his initial appearance yesterday afternoon in United States District Court, Coyl was freed on a $20,000 bond.
In conjunction with Coyl’s arrest, special agents from the Los Angeles Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with officers from the Redlands Police Department, seized from Coyl’s residence approximately 40 firearms, including three machine guns and eight silencers. They also seized more than 100 high-capacity magazines and ammunition.
According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, over the past three weeks, Coyl unlawfully sold five .223-caliber AR-type rifles – with no make or model markings, and no visible serial number – to a person he believed was a convicted felon. The purchaser of the rifles told Coyl he had a criminal record and he was buying rifles in order to send them to Mexico to be used in shootings. Despite learning this information, Coyl continued selling firearms to the individual.
The affidavit alleges Coyl built AR-type rifles from unfinished lower receivers, machining out the lower receiver, then adding parts to make a complete firearm. Coyl sold firearms out of the garage in his residence. Coyl told the person he thought was a convicted felon that he could manufacture and sell fully automatic rifles, according to the complaint.
At the court hearing yesterday, a United States Magistrate Judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for April 13 and an arraignment on April 19.
If convicted of the charge of dealing firearms without a license, Coyl would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in court.
This matter is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the assistance of the Redlands Police Department.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bilal A. Essayli of the Riverside Branch Office.
Plano Man Sentenced to Federal Prison in Synthetic Marijuana CaseRead the Press Release
In San Antonio today, 52-year-old Irfan Abdul Ghaffar was sentenced to seven years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a synthetic marijuana distribution scheme announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division, and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division.
On January 4, 2017, Ghaffar pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substance analogues. By pleading guilty, Ghaffar admitted that from March 2013 to June 2013, he managed the affairs of the Jaffer Drug Trafficking Organization (Jaffer DTO) in Dallas, including the illegal storage, distribution and sale of various kinds of synthetic cannabinoids. The San Antonio-based Jaffer DTO, led by Muhammad Jaffer Ali, was responsible for the production and distribution of synthetic marijuana and bath salts in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, and Dallas as well as Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Kansas City. During the course of the enterprise, the Jaffer DTO manufactured, caused to be manufactured, attempted to manufacture, distributed and possessed with intent to distribute over 40,000 pounds (or 18,500 kilograms) of synthetic cannabinoids.
On December 12, 2016, Muhammad Jaffer Ali pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substance analogues. He is scheduled for sentencing in San Antonio on Tuesday at 4:00pm before Senior United States District Judge Royce C. Lamberth.
This prosecution resulted from the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration together with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, Austin, San Antonio and New Braunfels Police Departments, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Attorney General’s Office, Travis County District Attorney’s Office, Travis County Sheriff’s Office, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, Williamson County Constables Office-Precinct 2, Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Live Oak Police Department and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations also assisted with today’s arrests. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Roomberg and Jay Hulings are prosecuting this case.
Physician and Medical Assistant Convicted of Conspiracy to Distribute Large Quantities of Oxycodone for Non-Medical NecessityRead the Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Dr. Henri Wetselaar, MD, 93, and David A. Litwin, 58, were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and distribution of oxycodone and other controlled substances, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre for the District of Nevada.
According to the indictment, Wetselaar was a Nevada physician practicing as a specialist in pain management. Litwin was alleged to be his medical assistant.
According to the indictment, Wetselaar and Litwin conspired with each other and local drug dealers to distribute the prescription drugs in and around Las Vegas. Wetselaar prescribed large amounts of highly addictive prescription drugs, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, Xanax and Soma, to persons for no legitimate medical purpose.
Following a 10-week jury trial, Wetselaar and Litwin were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and distribution of controlled substances. In addition, Wetselaar was found guilty of money laundering and structuring of money transactions.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 21, 2017, before U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson. At the time of sentencing, Wetselaar and Litwin each face a mandatory prison sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cristina Silva and Andrew Duncan.
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Philadelphia Man Charged with Bank FraudRead the Press Release
An Indictment[1] was unsealed today charging Mohamed Soukouna, 57, of Philadelphia, with two counts of bank fraud, announced Acting United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen.
The Indictment alleges that Soukouna deposited counterfeit checks into bank accounts at TD Bank and Wells Fargo Bank in the names of other persons, and posed as the account holder of a TD Bank account by using a false passport in order to make cash withdrawals from that account before TD Bank discovered that the checks deposited into the account were fraudulent. The indictment further alleges that Soukouna opened accounts in his own name at TD Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, and used his TD Bank account to receive deposits of counterfeit checks while using his Wells Fargo Bank account to receive deposits of cash as payment for his participation in the schemes to defraud.
Soukouna faces a maximum sentence of 60 years’ imprisonment, a five-year period of supervised release, a $2,000,000 fine, and an $200 special assessment and restitution of $52,892.95.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael S. Lowe.
[1] An Indictment or Information is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
Panamanian Man Sentenced for Role in Cocaine Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
RICHMOND, Va. – A Panamanian businessman was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for his role in an international drug trafficking conspiracy involving the importation of 22 kilograms of cocaine onboard a commercial shipping vessel.
Humberto Beckford, 36, of Panama City, Panama, pleaded guilty on Dec. 22, 2016. According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, in March 2016 a Panamanian drug trafficking organization (DTO) secreted a cocaine load onboard a commercial shipping vessel traveling from Panama to Charleston, South Carolina. On March 11, 2016, Beckford, was directed by a member of the DTO to travel from Miami to Charleston to supervise the distribution of the cocaine load upon its arrival at the Port of Charleston. Unbeknownst to Beckford, law enforcement had intercepted the cocaine load onboard the ship. The next day Beckford met with undercover federal law enforcement agents to coordinate the distribution of a bag containing 22 kilograms of cocaine to a drug courier working for the DTO.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Daniel Salter, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Atlanta Division; Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik Siebert and Peter S. Duffey prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located be found 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-117.
Owner of Sioux Falls Tax Preparation Business IndictedRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for devising and executing a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Jacques Eviglo, owner of Global Income Tax Services, was indicted on ten counts of false claims on March 21, 2017.
According to the Indictment, between February 2015 and March 2016, Jacques Eviglo devised a scheme in which he prepared and filed several false U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns (Form 1040) for clients of his tax preparation business. Specifically, Eviglo filed federal tax returns with false deductions on Schedule A’s, resulting in refunds in which Eviglo knew his clients were not entitled.
The maximum penalties upon conviction for filing false claims against the government is five years in prison.
This case is the result of an investigation by the IRS-Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Haak.
According to the IRS, approximately 60 percent of taxpayers use tax professionals to prepare and file their tax returns. “Tax return preparer fraud” is one of the IRS’s “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams.” For more information about the fight against tax fraud or how to choose a reliable tax return preparer visit https://www.irs.gov/uac/things-to-remember-when-choosing-a-tax-preparer.
Owner of Asbestos Abatement Company Sentenced for Defrauding Union Benefit FundsRead the Press Release
BOSTON – The owner of an asbestos abatement and demolition services company was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for paying employees in cash in order to avoid paying union benefits and employment taxes.
Ronald P. Mulcahey, 53, of Andover, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to one year and one day in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $266,983 in restitution. In October 2016, Mulcahey pleaded guilty to making false statements in documents submitted to benefit plans subject to the provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and tax evasion.
Mulcahey was the owner and sole corporate officer of Wing Inc. Specialty Trades, EWT-Fireproofing, Inc., and Wing Environmental, Inc. Wing Environmental provided asbestos abatement and demolition services. The company had a collective bargaining agreement with Laborer’s International Union of North America, Local 1421. As a union employer, Wing Environmental was required to accurately report to the union benefit funds the number of hours worked by its union employees and to make the corresponding contributions to the funds. Between January 2008 and June 2011, Mulcahey engaged in a scheme through Wing Environmental to defraud the union benefit funds by paying some of the union employees in cash. By keeping the cash payments off-the-books, Mulcahey and Wing Environmental falsely underreported the union workers’ hours in order to avoid making the required hourly payments to the benefit funds. Union benefit funds are used to provide healthcare, pensions and other services to union members.
Wing Specialty Trades and EWT-Fireproofing were non-union companies that provided asbestos abatement, demolition and fireproofing services. All of Mulcahey’s companies were required by federal tax law to accurately report their total payments to employees and to withhold and pay the IRS the applicable employment and income taxes. Between January 2008 and June 2011, Mulcahey defrauded the IRS by paying certain employees of all three of his companies in cash. By keeping the cash payments off-the-books, Mulcahey falsely underreported his workers’ wages to the IRS and avoided paying employment taxes on the unreported wages.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael C. Mikulka, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, New York Regional Office; Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Boston Field Office; and Susan A. Hensley, Regional Director of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristina E. Barclay and Ryan DiSantis of Weinreb’s Public Corruption Unit prosecuted the case.
North Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Charges in Armed Assault at Northwest Washington Pizza RestaurantRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., pled guilty today to charges stemming from an incident in which he carried a loaded AR-15 assault rifle and a revolver into a Northwest Washington pizza restaurant, scattering employees and customers, and fired his assault rifle into a door.
The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Andrew Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Acting Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Welch pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition, and a District of Columbia charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. The federal charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and the District of Columbia charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years. Under sentencing guidelines, the parties have agreed that Welch faces a likely range of 18 to 24 months in prison for the federal charge, and 18 to 60 months for the District of Columbia charge.
The Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson scheduled sentencing for June 22, 2017. Welch has been in custody since his arrest on the day of the incident.
According to the government’s evidence, on Sunday, December 4, 2016, Welch transported three loaded firearms, together with ammunition, from North Carolina to Washington, D.C. The firearms included a 9mm AR-15 assault rifle loaded with approximately 29 rounds of ammunition, a fully-loaded, six-shot, .38-caliber revolver, and a loaded shotgun with additional shotgun shells. He drove directly to the Comet Ping Pong restaurant on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington. According to the government’s evidence, Welch was motivated, at least in part, by unfounded rumors concerning a child sex-trafficking ring that supposedly was being perpetrated at the establishment.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, Welch parked his car and armed himself. At about 3 p.m., he marched inside the restaurant, which was occupied by employees and customers, including children. He was carrying the AR-15 assault rifle and the revolver. He was carrying the AR-15 openly, with one hand on the pistol grip, and the other hand on the hand guard around the barrel, such that anyone with an unobstructed view could see the gun.
The customers and employees fled the building. At one point, Welch encountered a locked room and attempted to force open the door, first using a butter knife and then discharging his assault rifle multiple times into the door.
A few minutes later, an unaware employee entered the restaurant, carrying pizza dough. Welch saw the employee and turned toward the worker with the assault rifle, causing the worker to immediately fear he would be shot. The worker fled. Welch was left alone in the restaurant. After spending more than 20 minutes inside, he left his firearms and exited the restaurant unarmed. He was then arrested. The assault rifle and revolver were recovered inside the restaurant. A shotgun also was recovered from the defendant’s car, along with a box of shotgun ammunition.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips, Assistant Director in Charge Vale, and Acting Chief Newsham commended the work of those who responded to the scene and those who investigated the case. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant, Paralegal Specialist Chela Okonji, and Arvind K. Lal, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, who assisted with forfeiture issues. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Demian S. Ahn and Sonali D. Patel, who are prosecuting the case.
Multiple Individuals Charged in Sweeping Mortgage Fraud ConspiracyRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Methuen attorney and a Methuen loan officer pleaded guilty yesterday in connection with a sweeping conspiracy to defraud banks and mortgage companies by engaging in sham “short” sales of residential properties in Merrimack Valley. Separately, a Methuen real estate broker was arrested on Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on related charges, and a Dunstable attorney was sentenced after pleading guilty to participating in the same conspiracy.
Jasmin Polanco, 37, a real estate closing attorney, and Vanessa Ricci, 40, a mortgage loan officer, each pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. U.S. District Court Senior Judge Douglas P. Woodlock scheduled Ricci’s sentencing for June 22, 2017. Polanco’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Separately, a real estate broker from Methuen, Greisy Jimenez, 49, was indicted this week on two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with the same alleged scheme. In addition, on March 22, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel sentenced Hyacinth Bellerose, 51, a real estate closing attorney from Dunstable, to time served and one year of supervised release to be served in home detention.
The charges arise out of an alleged scheme to defraud various banks via bogus short sales of homes in Haverhill, Lawrence and Methuen in which the purported sellers remained in their homes, with their debt substantially reduced. A short sale is a sale of real estate for less than the value of any mortgage debt on the property. Short sales are an alternative to foreclosure that typically occur only with the consent of the mortgage lender. Generally, the lender absorbs a loss on the loan and releases the borrower from the unpaid balance. By their very nature, short sales are intended to be arms-length transactions in which the buyers and sellers are unrelated, and in which the sellers cede their control of the subject properties in exchange for the short-selling bank’s agreement to release them from their unpaid debt.
The alleged conspiracy began in approximately August 2007 and continued through June 2010, a period that included the height of the financial crisis and its aftermath. Home values in Massachusetts and across the nation declined precipitously, and many homeowners found themselves suddenly “underwater” with homes worth less than the mortgage debt they owed. As part of the alleged scheme, Jimenez, Polanco, Ricci, Bellerose and others submitted materially false and misleading documents to numerous banks in an effort to induce them to permit the short-sales, thereby releasing the purported sellers from their unpaid mortgage debts, while simultaneously inducing the purported buyers’ banks to provide financing for the deals. In fact, the purported sellers simply stayed in their homes, with their debt substantially reduced.
The charging documents allege that as part of the conspiracy:
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The conspirators falsely led banks to believe that the sales were arms-length transactions between unrelated parties, when in fact, the transactions were not arms-length; the buyers and sellers were frequently related, and the sellers retained control of (and frequently continued to live in) the properties after the sale;
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The conspirators submitted phony earnings statements in support of loan applications that they submitted to banks in order to obtain financing for the purported sales; and
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The conspirators submitted phony “HUD-1 Settlement Statements” to banks that did not accurately reflect the disbursement of funds in the transactions. (HUD-1 Settlement Statements are standard forms that are used to document the flow of funds in real estate transactions. They are required for all transactions involving federally related mortgage loans, including all mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration.)
The charge of bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Christina Scaringi, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, New York Field Office; and Christy Goldsmith Romero, Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen E. Frank, Deputy Chief of Weinreb’s Economic Crimes Unit is prosecuting the cases.
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Monongalia County man sentenced for oxycodone distributionRead the Press Release
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Shawn Collins, 44, of Morgantown, West Virginia, was sentenced today in federal court to 37 months incarceration for the distribution of oxycodone, Acting United States Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen announced.
Collins admitted that he sold oxycodone in Monongalia County in April 2015. He pled guilty to one count of “Distribution of Oxycodone” on October 4, 2016.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zelda E. Wesley prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the West Virginia State Police investigated.
U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley presided.
Monmouth County, New Jersey, Man Admits Receiving Images of Child Sexual Abuse over the InternetRead the Press Release
TRENTON, N.J. – A Monmouth County, New Jersey, man today admitted using his e-mail and instant messaging accounts to receive images of child sexual abuse, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
Matthew Kaminsky, 50, of Matawan, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of receiving child pornography.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Kaminsky allegedly met various underage girls through online chat applications and sent them naked pictures of himself. In late January of 2015, over the course of several days, he began corresponding with a 13-year-old girl over an online chat application and induced her to take nude pictures of herself and to send them to him. In March 2015 law enforcement officers recovered computer equipment belonging to Kaminsky containing images and videos appearing to be of child sexual abuse. Law enforcement officers located and interviewed the 13-year-old girl Kaminsky had chatted with online in January of 2015, and she confirmed that she had chatted online with Kaminsky and had sent him nude pictures of herself at his request.
The count of receiving child pornography carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison, a minimum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for June 28, 2017.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Terence S. Opiola; and inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge John Walker, Philadelphia Division, with the investigation leading to today’s plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly S. Lorber of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.
Miami Beach Sex Trafficker Sentenced to 30 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
Defendant Lured Foreign Students on False Promises
in Furtherance of Interstate Prostitution and Erotic Massage Enterprise
Chief United States District Court Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida sentenced Jeffrey Jason Cooper, 47, of Miami Beach, Florida, to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking and related violations arising from the defendant’s scheme to recruit foreign students on false promises of legitimate summer jobs, and then to advertise them to customers of his prostitution and erotic massage enterprise. Chief Judge Moore also ordered Cooper to pay $8,640.00 in restitution to the victims.
A jury convicted Cooper on Nov. 17, 2016, of five counts of sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking by fraud, three counts of wire fraud, two counts of importing and attempting to import aliens for prostitution or immoral purposes, and one count of using a facility of interstate commerce to operate a prostitution enterprise. According to evidence presented during the four-day trial, Cooper recruited foreign university students from Kazakhstan through the Department of State’s Summer Work Travel Program, falsely promising them clerical jobs at his fictitious yoga studio. In addition to defrauding the students, Cooper fraudulently induced an educational exchange agency to sponsor the victims’ visas, and caused government officials to issue the victims temporary, non-immigrant “J-1” visas based on Cooper’s false and fraudulent offer of legitimate summer jobs.
After the victims arrived in Miami, Cooper revealed to them for the first time that the yoga studio did not exist and that he expected them to perform erotic massages for customers of his erotic massage and prostitution enterprise. Witnesses testified that the victims, shocked and upset, tried to find work elsewhere but eventually gave up and began working for the defendant.
As established at trial, police began investigating Cooper after neighbors complained he was prostituting women from his apartment complex, and conducted an undercover operation that led to the recovery of the victims, one day before Cooper had scheduled them to travel to Los Angeles, California, where Cooper also operated his prostitution and erotic massage enterprise. When questioned by law enforcement, Cooper claimed that the victims cleaned apartments for him, and characterized his relationship with them as that of an “older brother.”
Evidence at trial included records from Backpage.com advertising the victims’ services, and Facebook communications confirming that Cooper recruited the victims on false and fraudulent pretenses, revealing the true nature of his erotic massage and prostitution enterprise only after the victims arrived in the United States.
“Cooper brazenly manipulated and deceived vulnerable young students so he could profit by selling them for sex, with no regard for their fundamental human dignity,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division and its partners on the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Initiative will continue to vigorously pursue traffickers who operate internationally in order to bring them to justice and vindicate the rights of vulnerable victims.”
“The successful prosecution and decades-long sentence imposed on Jeffrey Cooper illustrate the international impact of law enforcement’s united efforts to combat human trafficking – whether by fraud, force or otherwise,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to bring to justice those individuals who knowingly exploit others for their own personal profit.”
“We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to prevent situations where vulnerable individuals are exploited in human trafficking schemes such as this,” said Christian Schurman, acting director of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). “Because of our global presence, DSS is positioned to work with U.S. and foreign law enforcement to stop those that would manipulate instruments of international travel to profit from selling human beings in this way.”
The case was investigated by HSI and DSS, with assistance from the Prosecutor General’s Office in Kazakhstan; the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Astana, Kazakhstan; the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Miami Dade Police Department and the North Bay Village, Florida, Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth M. Schlessinger, who was previously with the Southern District of Florida and is now with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Trial Attorney Matthew T. Grady of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
The Southern District of Florida was selected as one of six Phase I Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams (ACTeams) through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Labor. Designated ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking, and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.
Miami Beach Sex Trafficker Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for International Trafficking Scheme Targeting Foreign University StudentsRead the Press Release
Defendant Lured Foreign Students on False Promises
in Furtherance of Interstate Prostitution and Erotic Massage Enterprise
Chief United States District Court Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida sentenced Jeffrey Jason Cooper, 47, of Miami Beach, Florida, to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking and related violations arising from the defendant’s scheme to recruit foreign students on false promises of legitimate summer jobs, and then to advertise them to customers of his prostitution and erotic massage enterprise. Chief Judge Moore also ordered Cooper to pay $8,640.00 in restitution to the victims.
A jury convicted Cooper on Nov. 17, 2016, of five counts of sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking by fraud, three counts of wire fraud, two counts of importing and attempting to import aliens for prostitution or immoral purposes, and one count of using a facility of interstate commerce to operate a prostitution enterprise. According to evidence presented during the four-day trial, Cooper recruited foreign university students from Kazakhstan through the Department of State’s Summer Work Travel Program, falsely promising them clerical jobs at his fictitious yoga studio. In addition to defrauding the students, Cooper fraudulently induced an educational exchange agency to sponsor the victims’ visas, and caused government officials to issue the victims temporary, non-immigrant “J-1” visas based on Cooper’s false and fraudulent offer of legitimate summer jobs.
After the victims arrived in Miami, Cooper revealed to them for the first time that the yoga studio did not exist and that he expected them to perform erotic massages for customers of his erotic massage and prostitution enterprise. Witnesses testified that the victims, shocked and upset, tried to find work elsewhere but eventually gave up and began working for the defendant.
As established at trial, police began investigating Cooper after neighbors complained he was prostituting women from his apartment complex, and conducted an undercover operation that led to the recovery of the victims, one day before Cooper had scheduled them to travel to Los Angeles, California, where Cooper also operated his prostitution and erotic massage enterprise. When questioned by law enforcement, Cooper claimed that the victims cleaned apartments for him, and characterized his relationship with them as that of an “older brother.” Evidence at trial included records from Backpage.com advertising the victims’ services, and Facebook communications confirming that Cooper recruited the victims on false and fraudulent pretenses, revealing the true nature of his erotic massage and prostitution enterprise only after the victims arrived in the United States.
“The successful prosecution and decades-long sentence imposed on Jeffrey Cooper illustrate the international impact of law enforcement’s united efforts to combat human trafficking – whether by fraud, force or otherwise,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to bring to justice those individuals who knowingly exploit others for their own personal profit.”
“Cooper brazenly manipulated and deceived vulnerable young students so he could profit by selling them for sex, with no regard for their fundamental human dignity,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division and its partners on the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Initiative will continue to vigorously pursue traffickers who operate internationally in order to bring them to justice and vindicate the rights of vulnerable victims.”
“We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to prevent situations where vulnerable individuals are exploited in human trafficking schemes such as this,” said Christian Schurman, acting director of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). “Because of our global presence, DSS is positioned to work with U.S. and foreign law enforcement to stop those that would manipulate instruments of international travel to profit from selling human beings in this way.”
The case was investigated by HSI and DSS, with assistance from the Prosecutor General’s Office in Kazakhstan; the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Astana, Kazakhstan; the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Miami Dade Police Department and the North Bay Village, Florida, Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth M. Schlessinger, who was previously with the Southern District of Florida and is now with the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Trial Attorney Matthew T. Grady of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
The Southern District of Florida was selected as one of six Phase I Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams (ACTeams) through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Labor. Designated ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking, and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
McLean Man Sentenced for Child Pornography CrimesRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A McLean man was sentenced today to five years in prison for collecting tens of thousands of images and videos of child pornography since 2004.
“For the last 12 years Seth Thornton visited depraved corners of the Internet to hunt for images and videos of young girls being sexually exploited and abused,” said Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “It is beyond dispute that child pornography trafficking crimes are grievous offenses that deserve serious penalties. The distribution and receipt of child pornography fuels a market for further production and abuse, while continuing the victimization of children depicted in the images. While these crimes can be very difficult to talk about, we must continue to bring awareness to these prosecutions with the goal of protecting our children from sexual predators by deterring others from committing similar crimes, online and elsewhere.”
Seth Aaron Thornton, 43, pleaded guilty on Nov. 2, 2016. According to court documents, Thornton, an information technology consultant who has worked for prominent consulting companies as well as the federal government, had been using peer-to-peer networks to amass a collection of tens of thousands of images and videos of minor girls, primarily aged approximately 8 to 14 years old, though many featured even younger children. Some child exploitation files in Thornton’s collection depicted sadistic, masochistic, or other violent imagery.
“Child pornography, in any form, haunts its victims for their entire lifetime,” said Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C. “Our special agents are dedicated to identifying and investigating individuals who prey on children, and we will ensure they’re prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya D. Song and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Burke IV prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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. 1:16-cr-246.
McLaughlin Man Charged with Domestic Assault by an Habitual OffenderRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a McLaughlin, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Domestic Assault by an Habitual Offender.
George Little Eagle, Jr., a/k/a Gaylan Little Eagle, age 31, was indicted on March 15, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William D. Gerdes on March 21, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 5 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 February 13, 2017, Little Eagle unlawfully committed a domestic assault upon his intimate partner, when at the time of the domestic assault, Little Eagle had a final conviction on at least two separate prior occasions for offenses that would have been, if subject to federal jurisdiction, an assault against a spouse of intimate partner.
The charge is merely an accusation and Little Eagle is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Standing Rock Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy R. Morley is prosecuting the case.
Little Eagle was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Marty Man Sentenced on Assault ChargeRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Marty, South Dakota, man convicted of Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury was sentenced on March 20, 2017, by U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier.
Eric Cournoyer, age 33, was sentenced to 39 months in custody, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Cournoyer was indicted for Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury by a federal grand jury on July 12, 2016. He pled guilty on December 28, 2016.
On April 2, 2016, Yankton Sioux Tribal Police were dispatched to the victim’s home in Marty. When they arrived, they found the victim with his face beaten and bloody, and his eyes swollen shut. He was treated for fractures to his nose and eye socket. Cournoyer had been drinking alcohol and attacked the victim while sleeping and defenseless.
This case was investigated by Yankton Sioux Tribal Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
Cournoyer was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Marietta Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Paying for Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ATLANTA - Karl Touset has been sentenced to prison for 10 years for transporting child pornography into the United States. Specifically, Touset paid a woman in the Philippines who provided him with photos of young girls stripping and displaying their genitals. He also watched the girls on webcam and instructed the girls on what sex acts he wanted to see them perform on themselves.
“This defendant preyed on girls as young as nine years old to satisfy his perverse sexual desires,” said U. S. Attorney John Horn. “Unfortunately, extreme poverty in many parts of the world affords individuals like Touset the opportunity to exploit children across national borders. The admirable actions of the money transfer and e-mail companies helped shine a light on this reprehensible conduct, and as a result this case has helped save other vulnerable children from being victimized.”
“Child pornography production is, bluntly, the recording of the graphic sexual abuse of innocent children, and those who encourage its production are directly responsible for promoting and encouraging child sex abuse,” said HSI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Nick S. Annan. “As this case shows, no matter where in the world these criminals may seek out their illegal acts, ICE Homeland Security Investigations is committed to investigating and seeking prosecution of child exploitation cases as one the agency’s highest priorities.”
According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: in September 2014, a money transfer company identified a group of individuals who were sending small amounts of money to countries associated with sex tourism and child pornography, including the Philippines, and reported this information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The company also notified an e-mail provider, which began its own investigation of individuals using e-mail accounts to facilitate sending money to these countries. All of this information was then provided to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). HSI agents obtained additional information from other money transfer companies. Based on its investigation, HSI agents identified Karl Touset as a person who was possibly involved in paying for child pornography.
On December 21, 2014, Touset flew back from the Netherlands to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. He had with him two laptops and two external hard drives, which officers took into their possession. A search of those devices showed that they contained photographs and videos of young girls exposing their genitals and performing sex acts on themselves or with other young girls. On January 28, 2015, HSI agents served federal search warrant on Touset’s home in Marietta, where they obtained additional computers and hard drives.
An analysis of his computers showed that Touset had been communicating for at least four years with a woman in the Philippines who arranged for young girls to provide pornographic images for him. He would negotiate prices with her, paying between $25 and $100 based on the number of images and the poses that the girls would be in. On numerous occasions, the girls were made to perform live for him, where he would instruct them on what he wanted to see and what they should do. Touset kept a spreadsheet showing the girls’ names, their birth dates, and his personal notes about each girl. He often chatted online with the girls and asked if they would have sex with him if he traveled to the Philippines. The girls ranged in age from nine to fifteen years old. From 2012 to 2015, Touset paid more than $55,000 for the production of these images. HSI agents found more than 6,000 child pornography files on his computers.
Karl Touset, 72, of Marietta, Georgia, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison to be followed by lifetime supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Touset was convicted of these charges on November 3, 2016, after he pleaded guilty.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
Assistant United States Attorney Paul R. Jones prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Manderson Man Acquitted of Two Counts of Sexual AbuseRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Manderson, South Dakota, man was acquitted of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Abuse of a Minor as a result of a federal jury trial in Rapid City, South Dakota. The jury returned their verdict on March 23, 2017.
Eugenio White Hawk, Jr., age 35, was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 20, 2016.
The charges related to an alleged incident that occurred in September of 2015, when White Hawk allegedly engaged in a sexual act with a then 15-year-old female acquaintance.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Man found Guilty of Methamphetamine and Money Laundering ConspiraciesRead the Press Release
A man responsible for distributing pounds of ice methamphetamine and sending the proceeds back to Mexico was convicted by a jury on March 23, 2017, after a two-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Aldo Omar Lopez Martinez, 22, from Marshalltown, Iowa, was convicted of conspiring to distribute at least 500 grams of methamphetamine and conspiring to commit money laundering. The verdict was returned yesterday afternoon following about two hours of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed that Lopez Martinez arrived in Marshalltown from Mexico in 2015, and began distributing ice methamphetamine to a network of individuals in Marshalltown, Des Moines, and Waterloo, Iowa. Lopez Martinez received multiple pound quantities of ice methamphetamine from a source of supply in Mexico, remanufactured the ice methamphetamine in Marshalltown, and then distributed the drugs throughout Iowa. Lopez Martinez typically distributed ice methamphetamine in ½ pound to multiple pound quantities. His customers paid him in cash, which he then wired back to Mexico in order to obtain more drugs. On May 5, 2016, police searched Lopez Martinez’s residence and seized approximately $93,000 and over three pounds of 98% pure methamphetamine. Based on the amount of money and its packaging, investigators testified that members of the conspiracy intended to transport the money out of state by hiding it in a car, also known as bulk cash smuggling. In connection with this investigation, police executed 28 related search warrants on May 5, 2016, and seized a total of $250,000 and over six pounds of methamphetamine. To date, 20 individuals have been convicted of criminal charges stemming from this drug conspiracy.
Sentencing before Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Lopez Martinez was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the verdict was returned and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Lopez Martinez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life in prison, a $10,000,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and a lifetime of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisa C. Williams and was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of Federal Bureau of Investigation, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force (Waterloo Police Department; Cedar Falls Police Department; Waverly Police Department; Bremer County Sheriff’s Office; Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office; LaPorte City Police Department; Evansdale Police Department; Hudson Police Department), Mid Iowa Drug Task Force (Marshalltown Police Department; Marshall County Sheriff’s Office; Tama County), Dubuque Drug Task Force (Dubuque Police Department; Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office).
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 16-cr-2028.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
Lubbock Man Sentenced to 121 Months in Federal Prison for Role in Methamphetamine, Cocaine and Marijuana Distribution ConspiracyRead the Press Release
LUBBOCK, Texas — Christopher David Gonzales, aka “Chris,” 41, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 121 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in December 2016 to his role in a methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana distribution conspiracy, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Twelve individuals were arrested and charged with similar federal offenses, stemming from their respective roles in a drug distribution conspiracy that operated in West Texas. Of those arrested, each defendant has pled guilty. Two defendants remain fugitives.
According to plea documents filed in the case, on August 18, 2015, Christopher David Gonzales was observed traveling in a 2009 black Dodge Pickup, from Big Spring, Texas. The vehicle arrived at a residence in Lamesa, Texas. This residence had been identified as being used as a “stash” location. Later that same day a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper conducted a traffic stop on the black Dodge Ram for failure to use signal light during a lane change. The trooper identified the driver as Christopher David Gonzales. When asked if Christopher David Gonzales had anything illegal in his vehicle, he admitted to the trooper that there was methamphetamine in the center console. A search of the vehicle revealed a baggie containing methamphetamine in the center console.
A laboratory analysis was done on the substance seized from Gonzales. The substance weighed 174.2 grams with 92.0% purity level.
The Texas Department of Public Safety and the DEA investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Juanita Fielden and Sean Long prosecuted.
# # #
Lubbock Defendants Affiliated with Crips Criminal Street Gang Sentenced for Roles in Cocaine Distribution ConspiracyRead the Press Release
LUBBOCK, Texas — Four Lubbock residents, who pleaded guilty to their respective roles in cocaine trafficking have been sentenced, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Dequan Deshawn Willard, 22, was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 168 months in federal prison. He pleaded guilty in December 2016 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Brothers, William Emmanuel Spence, 27, Jasmine Jamal Spence, 28, and Antonio Deon Ray Montgomery, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. Judge Cummings sentenced William Spence to 188 months in federal prison, Jasmine Spence was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison and Montgomery was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
All four defendants have been in custody since their arrests in October 2016.
According to documents filed in the case, the defendants are either confirmed or suspected members of the Crips criminal street gang in Lubbock.
As part of a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement executed a search warrant at a residence on East 1st Place Street in Lubbock on June 16, 2016, where officers had made a controlled purchase from co-defendant Dequan Willard a few days earlier. Willard was present during the search in which officers recovered approximately 40 grams of cocaine base.
In September 2016, officers conducted several controlled purchases of cocaine base from Jasmine and William Spence. On October 4, 2016, officers executed search warrants at four residences in Lubbock related to the investigation.
Antonio Montgomery was arrested at a residence on East Cornell where officers recovered approximately 110 grams of cocaine base. Montgomery advised the residence belonged to William Spence. Officers also found items associated with the production and sale of cocaine base as well as a loaded firearm.
William Spence was located at a residence on 40th Street. He had $1,379 in cash on his person and $15,020 in cash in a shoe box in the garage. Officers also located a case matching the firearm found at the East Cornell location.
Officers also searched a location on Knoxville Street in Lubbock known to be the residence of Dequan Willard and William Spence. Dequan Willard was arrested at the residence and a loaded firearm was located in the bed where he had been sleeping. In a shoe box with the name “Tucc”—Willard’s street name—written on the side, officers found approximately 427 grams of cocaine. Officers also found another bag in the residence that contained 427 grams of cocaine and also located $8,900 cash in William Spence’s bedroom. Inside of a red pickup truck parked at the residence, officers recovered an additional 84 grams of cocaine; Willard had been observed driving this pickup and his mail was found in the truck. Officers also located an additional 997 grams of cocaine in a Chevrolet Impala at the residence. Inside the vehicle, officers located documents belonging to William Spence and photos depicting both William and Jasmine Spence.
Jasmine Spence was arrested at a residence on 69th Street, where officers located approximately 40 grams of cocaine base in a kitchen drawer and an additional eight grams of cocaine base in sock in Jasmine Spence’s bedroom. Officers also discovered $7,410 in cash in the residence as well as a loaded handgun.
ICE, HSI, and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Long prosecuted.
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Long Island Mortgage Banker Sentenced to 150 Months Imprisonment for Orchestrating $30 Million Bank Fraud ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Earlier today, Aaron Wider, the former owner and Chief Executive Officer of the mortgage bank HTFC Corporation, was sentenced by United States District Judge Arthur D. Spatt to 150 months imprisonment. Following a four-week jury trial, Wider was convicted on January 25, 2016, of conspiracy to commit bank fraud for defrauding financial institutions out of over $30 million in mortgage proceeds. In addition, as part of the sentence the Court ordered Wider to pay $22,487,799 in forfeiture and restitution and, at the conclusion of his term of incarceration, serve five years’ supervised release.
The sentence was announced by Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office. In announcing the sentence, Ms. Rohde extended her grateful appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office for their work on this case.
“Aaron Wider perpetrated a massive mortgage fraud scheme, the effects of which are still felt to this day by financial institutions and homeowners,” stated Acting United States Attorney Rohde. “Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who manipulate and abuse the lending process will be held accountable.”
“Wider’s scheme won him millions of dollars in profits and delivered a crushing blow to the financial institutions who became unwitting players in this game. But as we know, banks aren't the only victims in these types of fraud-for-profits scams. A compromised banking system, which threatens both the stability of our economy and the safety of our assets, is a risk to us all. Today's sentence is a reminder of our commitment to put an end to this type of crime,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Sweeney.
Between 2003 and 2008, Wider operated HTFC, a New York State licensed mortgage bank in Garden City, New York, which issued residential mortgages to borrowers. HTFC did not possess assets to fund these loans, but relied on funding from other banks and financial institutions, known as “warehouse lenders.” The warehouse lenders, in turn, relied on Wider and HTFC to ensure that home buyers were financially able to pay the mortgages and that the market value of the homes fully collateralized the loans.
Instead, Wider and his co-defendants engineered a series of same-day sham transactions to artificially inflate the prices of homes. Specifically, they contracted to buy homes in Nassau and Suffolk counties from innocent sellers at market prices. They then submitted fraudulent loan applications and appraisals to the warehouse lenders that nearly doubled the true sales prices of the homes. The defendants also inflated their own personal assets, used straw purchasers and sham trust entities, and concealed significant liabilities to get loan approval, typically obtaining proceeds for 80 to 100-percent more than the actual value of the homes.
HTFC sold each of its mortgages in the secondary market. When HTFC’s mortgages went into foreclosure beginning in 2007 and 2008, the secondary market investors only then discovered that the actual value of the collateral was far less than the amount borrowed for each home.
As a result of this scheme, Wider was able to fraudulently obtain over $100 million in loan proceeds, causing over $30 million in losses to financial institutions.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Artie McConnell and Allen Bode are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
AARON WIDER
Age: 50
Copiague, NY
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14-CR-221
Local Tax Preparer Sentenced to Federal Prison, AgainRead the Press Release
HOUSTON – A local tax return preparer has been ordered to federal prison for a second time for preparing false tax returns and obstructing the IRS in the enforcement of federal income tax laws, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez along with D. Richard Goss, special agent in charge of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (CI). Cedric Keith Oliphant pleaded guilty Dec. 6, 2016.
On March 29, 2017, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison handed Oliphant a 28-month sentence to be immediately followed by one year of supervised release. He was further ordered to pay restitution of $400,457.
According to the factual basis in support of this plea, Oliphant was previously charged and convicted of preparing dozens of false 2006-08 client tax returns though Oliphant Tax Services in Huntsville. He was released on bond in that case under a condition that he have no involvement in the preparation of tax returns other than his own. However, Oliphant resumed tax return preparation and continued to claim the same false deductions for unsuspecting clients while awaiting sentencing in the earlier case.
As part of his continuation of the scheme, Oliphant changed the name of his business to “Tax Services” to make it appear he had stopped preparing client tax returns and that someone else was the owner of his tax preparation business. Oliphant allegedly attributed the fees to the nominal owner of his tax office but manipulated those tax returns to make it appear the tax office had produced almost no taxable income.
Oliphant established a series of bank accounts in the names of others - including minors with custodians other than himself - so the fees could first be deposited to accounts in the names of the nominal owner of his tax office and others. He then transferred those fees through these intermediate accounts to accounts in his own name. This scheme enabled Oliphant to conceal his personal use of the fees generated by the business during the course of the prosecution on the first case according to the plea agreement.
While operating his tax preparation business under other names, Oliphant generated $2 million in fees and a total loss to the IRS of another $400,457. The losses from the false tax returns prosecuted in the earlier case exceeded $325,000.
Oliphant was sentenced to 33 months on the earlier case and was released from prison Aug. 26, 2016. He was denied bond upon his arrest in this case on Sept. 2, 2016, and remains in custody pending transfer again to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Oliphant’s plea agreement requires that he surrender approximately $205,000 in bank accounts linked to the scheme, his personal residence and three automobiles valued at $32,600 as restitution to the IRS in both cases.
The investigation leading to these charges was conducted by IRS-CI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Sledge Jr. has prosecuted both cases.
Little Eagle Man Charged with Receipt of Images Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of Minors and Possession of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Little Eagle, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Receipt of Images Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of Minors and Possession of Child Pornography.
Chavez Spotted Horse, age 39, was indicted on March 15, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William D. Gerdes on March 21, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 20 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine, life of supervised release, and up to $200 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The Indictment alleges that between January 1, 2013, and November 3, 2015, Spotted Horse knowingly received, via a computer device, images depicting minors involved in sexually explicit conducts and images of child pornography.
The charges are merely accusations and Spotted Horse is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy R. Morley is prosecuting the case.
Spotted Horse was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Little Eagle Man Charged with Assaulting a Federal Officer and Domestic Assault by an Habitual OffenderRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Little Eagle, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for two counts of Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer and Domestic Assault by an Habitual Offender.
Charles Eagle Pipe, age 42, was indicted on March 15, 2017. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William D. Gerdes on March 21, 2017, and pled not guilty to the Indictment.
The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 8 years in custody and/or a $250,000 fine, 3 years of supervised release, and up to $300 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.
The Indictment alleges that on March 29, 2015, and January 19, 2017, Eagle Pipe assaulted two different officers with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, when the officers were assigned to perform law enforcement functions, and engaged in the performance of their official duties. The Indictment also alleges that on March 29, 2015, Eagle Pipe unlawfully committed a domestic assault upon his intimate partner, when at the time of the domestic assault, Eagle Pipe had a final conviction on at least two separate prior occasions for offenses that would have been, if subject to federal jurisdiction, an assault against a spouse of intimate partner.
The charges are merely accusations and Eagle Pipe is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The investigation is being conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Standing Rock Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy R. Morley is prosecuting the case.
Eagle Pipe was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. A trial date has not been set.
Lee County Man Convicted of Failing to Register as A Sex OffenderRead the Press Release
Fort Myers, Florida – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces that a federal jury has found Eric David Erdmann (44, Punta Gorda) guilty of failing to register as a sex offender. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 22, 2017; he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Erdmann was required to register as a sex offender following a July 13, 2010, sex offense conviction in Oregon. He registered as a sex offender in Oregon but then absconded, traveling to the Kingdom of Cambodia. In December 2010, Oregon authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.
On April 8, 2016, at the U.S. Embassy in Phenom Penh, Cambodia, the United States Department of State served Erdmann with a notice informing him that his passport was being revoked due to his outstanding arrest warrant. Two weeks later, Cambodian authorities arrested him for being in that country illegally. Erdmann agreed to depart Cambodia voluntarily, and he arrived in Florida on April 28, 2016, where he took up residence in Lee County and failed to register as a sex offender.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael C. Baggé-Hernández.
Lebanese Businessman Tied to Hizballah Arrested for Violating IEEPA and Defrauding the U.S. GovernmentRead the Press Release
Kassim Tajideen, a prominent financial supporter of the Hizballah terror organization, has been arrested and charged with evading U.S. sanctions imposed on him because of his financial support of Hizballah.
Tajideen, 62, of Beirut, Lebanon, was arrested overseas on March 12, 2017, based on an 11-count indictment unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following his arrival to the United States. Tajideen made his initial court appearance today before Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather.
The arrest and indictment are the result of a two-year investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and assisted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The effort is part of DEA’s Project Cassandra, which targets Hizballah’s global criminal support network – dubbed by the DEA as the Business Affairs Component (BAC) that operates as a logistics, procurement and financing arm for Hizaballah.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia, DEA Special Agent in Charge Raymond Donovan of the Special Operations Division, and CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan made the announcement.
“Because of his support for Hizballah, a major international terrorist group, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Kassim Tajideen in 2009 that barred him from doing business with U.S. individuals and companies,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco. “Those sanctions are a powerful tool in our efforts to combat terrorists and those who would support them. Indeed, the sanctions posed such a significant threat to Tajideen’s extensive business interests that he allegedly went to great lengths to evade them by hiding his identity from the U.S. entities he did business with, and from the government agencies responsible for enforcing the sanctions. Thanks to the diligent work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, we broke through the web of intermediaries Tajideen allegedly used to conceal his involvement, and he has been brought to the United States to face justice.”
“Kassim Tajideen is alleged to have willfully flouted U.S. sanctions that were based on his prior support for Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security McCord. “Those sanctions are designed to protect our national security and public safety by limiting terrorists’ access to resources, and this extradition sends a clear message that we are resolved to find and hold accountable those who violate these laws.”
“The investigation of this case and the arrest and extradition of this defendant demonstrates our commitment to enforcing vitally important sanctions laws that are in place to protect our national security and foreign policy interests,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “Because of the hard work of law enforcement here and abroad, Kassim Tajideen will now face charges in an American courtroom.”
“Kassim Tajideen posed a direct threat to safety and stability around the world,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Donovan. “A prominent money man for Hizballah, Tajideen acted as a key source of funds for their global terror network. DEA and our partners are unrelenting in our pursuit of the world’s most dangerous terror and criminal networks and their many facilitators who threaten the rule of law and innocent lives.”
The indictment charges Tajideen with one count of willfully conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, seven counts of unlawful transactions with a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The indictment also indicates that the government will seek a forfeiture money judgment against the defendants equal to the value of any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to these offenses.
According to the indictment, Tajideen allegedly presided over a multi-billion-dollar commodity distribution business that operates primarily in the Middle East and Africa through a web of vertically integrated companies, partnerships and trade names. The indictment further alleges that Tajideen and others engaged in an elaborate scheme to engage in business with U.S. companies while concealing Tajideen’s involvement in those transactions.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control named Tajideen a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on May 27, 2009. This designation prohibits U.S. companies from transacting unlicensed business with Tajideen or any companies which are operated for his benefit – in essence stripping Tajideen’s global business empire of its ability to legally acquire goods from, or wire money into, the U.S. However, the indictment alleges that Tajideen restructured his business empire after the designation in order to evade the sanctions and continue conducting transactions with U.S. entities. Tajideen and others are alleged to have created new trade names and to have misrepresented his ownership in certain entities in order to conceal Tajideen’s association. The scheme allowed Tajideen’s companies to continue to illegally transact business directly with unwitting U.S. vendors, as well as to continue utilizing the U.S. financial and freight transportation systems to conduct wire transfers and move shipping containers despite the sanctions against Tajideen.
According to the indictment, between approximately July of 2013 until the present day, the conspirators illegally completed at least 47 individual wire transfers, totaling over approximately $27 million, to parties in the U.S. During the same time period, the conspirators caused dozens of illegal shipments of goods to leave U.S. ports for the benefit of Tajideen, without obtaining the proper licenses from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Tajideen pleaded not guilty and was ordered held pending a detention hearing set for March 29.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
This investigation was carried out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the DEA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center Counter Network Division, with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas A. Gillice and Deborah Curtis and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline L. Barkett of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Joseph Palazzo from the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.
Participating investigative agencies in DEA’s Project Cassandra include the DEA’s New Jersey Field Division and Special Operations Division and various DEA country offices, as well as the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
2017 03 24 Tajideen IndictmentLebanese Businessman Tied to Hizballah Arrested for Violating IEEPA and Defrauding the U.S. GovernmentRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Kassim Tajideen, a prominent financial supporter of the Hizballah terror organization, has been arrested and charged with evading U.S. sanctions imposed on him because of his financial support of Hizballah.
Tajideen, 62, of Beirut, Lebanon, was arrested overseas on March 12, 2017, based on an 11-count indictment unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following his arrival to the United States. Tajideen made his initial court appearance today before Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather.
The arrest and indictment are the result of a two-year investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and assisted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The effort is part of DEA’s Project Cassandra, which targets Hizballah’s global criminal support network – dubbed by the DEA as the Business Affairs Component (BAC) that operates as a logistics, procurement and financing arm for Hizaballah.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia, DEA Special Agent in Charge Raymond Donovan of the Special Operations Division, and CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan made the announcement.
“Because of his support for Hizballah, a major international terrorist group, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Kassim Tajideen in 2009 that barred him from doing business with U.S. individuals and companies,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Blanco. “Those sanctions are a powerful tool in our efforts to combat terrorists and those who would support them. Indeed, the sanctions posed such a significant threat to Tajideen’s extensive business interests that he allegedly went to great lengths to evade them by hiding his identity from the U.S. entities he did business with, and from the government agencies responsible for enforcing the sanctions. Thanks to the diligent work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, we broke through the web of intermediaries Tajideen allegedly used to conceal his involvement, and he has been brought to the United States to face justice.”
“Kassim Tajideen is alleged to have willfully flouted U.S. sanctions that were based on his prior support for Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security McCord. “Those sanctions are designed to protect our national security and public safety by limiting terrorists’ access to resources, and this extradition sends a clear message that we are resolved to find and hold accountable those who violate these laws.”
“The investigation of this case and the arrest and extradition of this defendant demonstrates our commitment to enforcing vitally important sanctions laws that are in place to protect our national security and foreign policy interests,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “Because of the hard work of law enforcement here and abroad, Kassim Tajideen will now face charges in an American courtroom.”
“Kassim Tajideen posed a direct threat to safety and stability around the world,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Donovan. “A prominent money man for Hizballah, Tajideen acted as a key source of funds for their global terror network. DEA and our partners are unrelenting in our pursuit of the world’s most dangerous terror and criminal networks and their many facilitators who threaten the rule of law and innocent lives.”
The indictment charges Tajideen with one count of willfully conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations, seven counts of unlawful transactions with a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The indictment also indicates that the government will seek a forfeiture money judgment against the defendants equal to the value of any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to these offenses.
According to the indictment, Tajideen allegedly presided over a multi-billion-dollar commodity distribution business that operates primarily in the Middle East and Africa through a web of vertically integrated companies, partnerships and trade names. The indictment further alleges that Tajideen and others engaged in an elaborate scheme to engage in business with U.S. companies while concealing Tajideen’s involvement in those transactions.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control named Tajideen a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on May 27, 2009. This designation prohibits U.S. companies from transacting unlicensed business with Tajideen or any companies which are operated for his benefit – in essence stripping Tajideen’s global business empire of its ability to legally acquire goods from, or wire money into, the U.S. However, the indictment alleges that Tajideen restructured his business empire after the designation in order to evade the sanctions and continue conducting transactions with U.S. entities. Tajideen and others are alleged to have created new trade names and to have misrepresented his ownership in certain entities in order to conceal Tajideen’s association. The scheme allowed Tajideen’s companies to continue to illegally transact business directly with unwitting U.S. vendors, as well as to continue utilizing the U.S. financial and freight transportation systems to conduct wire transfers and move shipping containers despite the sanctions against Tajideen.
According to the indictment, between approximately July of 2013 until the present day, the conspirators illegally completed at least 47 individual wire transfers, totaling over approximately $27 million, to parties in the U.S. During the same time period, the conspirators caused dozens of illegal shipments of goods to leave U.S. ports for the benefit of Tajideen, without obtaining the proper licenses from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Tajideen pleaded not guilty and was ordered held pending a detention hearing set for March 29.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
This investigation was carried out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, the DEA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center Counter Network Division, with assistance from the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas A. Gillice and Deborah Curtis and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline L. Barkett of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Joseph Palazzo from the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.
Participating investigative agencies in DEA’s Project Cassandra include the DEA’s New Jersey Field Division and Special Operations Division and various DEA country offices, as well as the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Leader of Violent Albanian Extortion Crew Targeting Astoria Business Owners Sentenced to 57 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
Earlier today, Redinel Dervishaj was sentenced before Judge Eric N. Vitaliano in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York to 57 years and one day of imprisonment for three counts of Hobbs Act extortion conspiracy, three counts of attempted Hobbs Act extortion, three counts of threatening physical violence in furtherance of an extortion plan, and three counts of brandishing a firearm in connection with these crimes of violence. The charges relate to the defendant’s participation in three schemes to extort small business owners in Astoria, Queens. Dervishaj was convicted after a three-week trial in April 2016. Co-defendants Denis Nikolla and Besnik Llakatura, a police officer with the New York City Police Department at the time of the crimes, previously pled guilty. Nikolla was sentenced on March 10, 2017 to 18 years’ imprisonment. Llakatura is awaiting sentencing.
The sentence was announced by Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.
According to court filings and evidence presented at trial, between May and November 2013, Dervishaj, Llakatura and Nikolla conspired and attempted to extort a Queens restaurant owner, demanding monthly payments in exchange for so-called “protection.” Shortly after the victim opened a restaurant in Astoria, Dervishaj demanded $4,000 per month because the victim had opened it in “our neighborhood.” The victim sought help from his friend Llakatura, at the time an NYPD officer in Staten Island. Unbeknownst to him, Llakatura was already conspiring with Dervishaj and Nikolla in the extortion. Llakatura actively discouraged the victim from reporting the extortion to the police and warned the victim that Dervishaj would hurt him. Llakatura added that Dervishaj had ties to dangerous Albanian organized crime figures, including his brother Plaurent Dervishaj, at the time Albania’s most wanted fugitive. When the victim failed to make the demanded payments, Nikolla – accompanied by Dervishaj – threatened him on a public street in Queens and chased him at gunpoint, ready to fire, before the victim managed to escape in his car. Shortly thereafter, Dervishaj called the victim and told him that he “got lucky this time.” Over the course of five months, each of the three defendants took turns collecting monthly extortion payments totaling $24,000.
Between April 2012 and November 2013, Dervishaj and Nikolla also conspired and attempted to extort a businessman who had opened a new nightclub in Astoria. Nikolla approached this victim with an extortion demand and told him that other businesses in the area were paying him for “protection.” After the victim refused to pay, Dervishaj and Nikolla confronted him at a bar in Queens. Nikolla took a gun from Dervishaj, stuck the gun in the victim’s ribs, and yelled that if he didn’t pay, Nikolla would go to his house and beat him in front of his wife and children, and then beat his wife and children. Dervishaj then gave the victim his phone number so he could make the demanded payments.
Finally, during 2013, Dervishaj, Nikolla, and Llakatura also conspired and attempted to extort a proprietor of two social clubs in Astoria. Accompanied by Dervishaj, Nikolla demanded payments of $1,000 per week, once again for “protection.” The victim refused to make the demanded payments and stopped going to his social clubs out of fear for his safety. Court-authorized wiretaps of the defendants’ telephones revealed that all three defendants worked together to locate the victim and force him to pay. In one instance, the defendants confronted a friend of the victim in an effort to find the victim and send him a message. Dervishaj violently assaulted the victim’s friend, punching him multiple times in the face, while a gun was held to the back of his head. The victim ultimately fled to a foreign country for a period of time to avoid the defendants’ extortionate threats, and later sold his social clubs.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime & Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Nadia Shihata and Patrick Hein are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
REDINEL DERVISHAJ
Age: 40
Queens, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 13-CR-668 (ENV)
Labadie Man Pleads Guilty to False Tax Return ChargesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO – Denver Nichols pled guilty to charges of false tax returns for the tax years 2007-2008. Nichols appeared today before United States District Judge John A. Ross.
According to court documents, Nichols is a roofing contractor located in Labadie, Missouri, who did business under the name of Eagle Roofing Co. Nichols did not file his 2007 federal income tax return until November 7, 2011, and his 2008 federal income tax return until December 12, 2012. The IRS determined that Nichols understated his gross receipts on the Schedule C of his 2007 return in the amount of $959,500, which actual total was $1,584,208. His gross receipts on the Schedule C of his 2008 return in the amount of $794,680, which actual total was $1,111,597. Nichols knew that the reported amounts of the gross receipts of Eagle Roofing for the years 2007 and 2008 were substantially less than the actual amounts of the gross receipts of Eagle Roofing for those years.
Nichols, Labadie, MO, pled guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns. Sentencing has been set for July 7, 2017.
Filing a false tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and/or $250,000 fine for each count. In determining the actual sentences, a Judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Steven Muchnick is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Jury Convicts Former Attorney of Fraud Involving Ponzi SchemeRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051
BUFFALO, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that a federal jury has convicted James A. MacCallum, 46, of Bemus Point, NY, of mail fraud. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael DiGiacomo and Brian J. Counihan, who handled the prosecution of the case, stated between January 2008 and December 2010, the defendant, a practicing attorney at the time, devised a scheme to defraud investors out of approximately $3,400,000. As part of the scheme, MacCallum encouraged some victims to liquidate other investments in order to benefit from his false and fraudulent higher rates of return. The defendant claimed that his investments were secured by real estate and life insurance policies. However, the Government’s evidence demonstrated that the defendant was using victim investments to pay back earlier investors and to pay personal and other expenses such as personal travel and office expenses. MacCallum received $3,423,737.00 from victim investors.
The verdict is the result of investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Adam S. Cohen.
Following today’s verdict, Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford, who presided over the trial, order the defendant detained pending sentencing on July 11, 2017, at 2:00 p.m.
Individual Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Firearm ViolationsRead the Press Release
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico– Josué Marrero was sentenced to 72 months in prison for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. Marrero had plead guilty on November 28, 2016.
United States District Court Judge Francisco A. Besosa sentenced Josue Marrero to 72 months of imprisonment, which is 26 months higher than the upper end of the applicable guideline range. Marrero fled from the state of Delaware after an arrest warrant for Controlled Substances violations was issued; he was hiding in a house in the municipality of Toa Alta, PR.
The arresting officers executing the arrest warrant found him in possession of two (2) firearms; one (1) Glock pistol, .40 caliber, loaded with nine (9) rounds of ammunition and an extra Glock magazine with nine (9) rounds of .40 caliber ammunition, in addition to one (1) Smith & Wesson pistol, 9MM caliber, loaded with sixteen (16) rounds of 9MM caliber ammunition and an extra magazine with fifteen rounds of 9MM caliber ammunition. In addition, a box with 41 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition were also seized. His term of imprisonment is followed by a three year of supervised release.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Max Pérez-Bouret. The FBI was in charge of the investigation with the collaboration of the Puerto Rico Police Department.
Honduran National Pleads Guilty to Illegal Re-EntryRead the Press Release
Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that CRISTIAN CESRE-PAZ, age 32, pled guilty today to a one-count Indictment charging him with illegal reentry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a) & (b)(1).
According to the Indictment, CESRE-PAZ reentered the United States after previous deportation on December 27, 2006.
CESRE-PAZ faces a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years, a maximum fine of $250,000, a maximum term of supervised release of three years, and a mandatory $100 special assessment. U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon set sentencing on July 7, 2017.
Acting U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the United States Department of Homeland Security in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Spiro G. Latsis is in charge of the prosecution.
Henderson Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Coercion and Enticement of A MinorRead the Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A Henderson, Nevada man was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon to 120 months in prison for coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre for the District of Nevada.
On Nov. 9, 2016, following a two-day trial, Kenneth Gordon Wescott, 55, was convicted by a jury of one count of coercion and enticement of a minor. According to the indictment, on or about Dec. 12, 2013 and Jan. 4, 2014, Wescott knowingly coerced and enticed a minor to engage in sexual activity.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Henderson Police Department; and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kilby C. Macfadden, Cristina D. Silva, and Elham Roohani.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood and for information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
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Hartford Man Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Federal Prison for Drug and Gun OffensesRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that BARRETT RICKETTS, 35, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 78 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for gun and drug offenses.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2016, RICKETTS was wanted for a violation of his state probation. On March 11, 2016, Hartford Police officers encountered RICKETTS in the area of Franklin Avenue and Benton Street and ordered him to stop. RICKETTS ran from the scene. During a foot chase, officers observed RICKETTS removed a handgun from his waist and throw it over a fence. RICKETTS subsequently tripped, fell to the ground and was apprehended. An officer then recovered a Glock 9mm, model 17, handgun on the ground where RICKETTS had thrown it. It was fully loaded with 17 rounds of ammunition.
A search of RICKETTS person revealed 55 wax sleeves containing heroin, 18 small bags of crack cocaine, one bag of marijuana, and five oxycodone pills.
RICKETTS has been detained since his arrest. On December 20, 2016, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack”) and heroin, and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
RICKETTS’ criminal history includes 10 prior convictions, including three weapons convictions, one conviction for first degree assault, and two drug convictions. He also has two pending state cases, one for possession of narcotics with intent to sell, and one for violating his probation.
This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Hartford Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Stolfi Collins.
Georgia Real Estate Investor Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging and Bank Fraud at Public Foreclosure AuctionsRead the Press Release
A Georgia real estate investor pleaded guilty today for his role in a bid-rigging conspiracy and fraud scheme related to public real estate foreclosure auctions in Gwinnett County, Georgia, the Department of Justice announced.
Clifford Wayne Hill pleaded guilty to bid rigging and fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. On Feb. 3, 2016, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment against the defendant.
According to the indictment, from December 2007 to March 2012, Hill and his co-conspirators agreed not to compete for the purchase of selected foreclosed homes so that they could win the auctions for those homes with artificially low bids. Hill made and received payoffs for the agreement not to bid; taking money that otherwise would have gone to mortgage holders and in some cases, to the owners of foreclosed homes.
Including Hill, twenty-three defendants have been charged in connection with the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into bid rigging and fraudulent schemes involving real estate foreclosure auctions in the Atlanta area. Twenty-two real estate investors have pleaded guilty.
Today’s guilty plea is a result of the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal II Section, the FBI’s Atlanta Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Georgia. Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or fraud related to public real estate foreclosure auctions should contact the Washington Criminal II Section of the Antitrust Division at 202-598-4000, call the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, or visit http://www.justice.gov/atr/report-violations.
Fort Worth Man Sentenced to 120 Months in Federal Prison after Pleading Guilty to Felony Offense Stemming from a $5 Million Dollar Cattle SchemeRead the Press Release
FORT WORTH — Tony Eugene Lyon, 52, of Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John McBryde to serve 120 months in federal prison following his guilty plea in November 2016 to a felony offense stemming from a $5 million dollar cattle scheme he orchestrated, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
Specifically, Lyon pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Judge McBryde ordered that he surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on April 14, 2017.
According to documents filed in the case, Lyon worked in the cattle industry in and around the town of Perrin, Texas, and became well-known in the North Texas cattle markets. Lyon engaged in the buying, fattening, and selling of cattle, which included securing and cultivating pastureland for the cattle and transporting them.
Midwestern Cattle Marketing (MCM) was a cattle brokering company located in Sidney, Nebraska. As a cattle brokering company, MCM bought and sold cattle for third party clients.
Lyon became a representative in North Texas for MCM and began buying and selling cattle on behalf of MCM at North Texas cattle sale barns.
In early 2014, Lyon told MCM they could save money if they bypassed the cattle sale barns and purchased directly from him. Lyon was provided with MCM checks and a signature stamp, enabling Lyon to purchase cattle using MCM checks without having to wait for authorization. When Lyon purchased cattle for MCM, he would send, via facsimile, a hand-written invoice containing the details of the sale, a computer-generated MCM invoice to reflect the transaction was then prepared. When Lyon received the MCM invoice, he would write an MCM check to the rancher from whom he purchased the cattle.
From February 4, 2015, and continuing to June 29, 2015, Lyon represented to MCM that George Cattle Company (GCC), located in Fort Worth, Texas and owned by John George, bought cattle from MCM at least 130 times. Lyon maintained control of all aspects of the cattle sales transactions involving GCC, including setting the sales prices and timing of the payments to MCM; thereby, facilitating a check-kiting scheme, in which he used MCM money as his own to pay various loans, debts, family, and other personal concerns. Lyon’s checking account was continually overdrawn as a result of both his personal spending and the additional deficits he caused when he wrote checks from the account as purported payments to MCM for its sales to GCC. To cover the increasing deficit, Lyon wrote and deposited MCM checks into his checking account at ever-increasing amounts causing insufficient funds (NSG) in the account to cover a five-million dollar check that Lyon wrote to purchase cattle from MCM for GCC. When contacted Lyon advised that John George agreed to provide $5.3 million to cover the NSF check, however, the account remained overdrawn. Lyon later admitted that neither John George nor GCC existed. As a result of Lyon's scheme, MCM suffered a loss of approximately $5,137,449, causing it to go out of business.
Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson prosecuted.
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Former Vice President of National Construction Company Pleads Guilty to Stealing over $4.5 Million from EmployerRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – Wendy Collins, age 46, of Woodbine, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud, in connection with a scheme in which she stole more than $4.5 million from her employer.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Postal Inspector in Charge Robert B. Wemyss of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service - Washington Division.
According to her plea agreement, Collins worked at a national construction company (the “Company”) with projects throughout the United States. In 2010, Collins was promoted to the Company’s Vice President of Administration, and was responsible for managing the Company’s finances, including payroll, accounting, petty cash, health reimbursement account (HRA) and overseeing payments to the Company’s subcontractors and employees. Collins also had access to the Company’s bank and credit card accounts, including multiple American Express credit card accounts.
Collins admitted that from April 2012 through September 2016, she stole money from the Company in several different ways. Specifically, Collins caused unauthorized withdrawals from the Company’s petty cash account and HRA account transfers to her personal accounts, totaling at least $367,435.52; used $3,814,578.17 in Company’s funds to pay the credit card bills for herself, family members and others; and caused unauthorized increases to her company bonus checks, totaling at least $164,970. In addition, Collins approved invoices related to payments for construction work to be completed at her residence with Company funds, and signed a $25,000 check from the Company’s funds to be paid to a family member’s business.
In some instances, in order to facilitate and conceal the unauthorized credit card charges, Collins created fraudulent expenses and accounting entries in the Company’s financial ledgers and internal credit card reports, which she then paid with the Company’s funds. To further her scheme, Collins “linked” the personal credit card accounts held by her, her family, and her friends, to the Company’s bank accounts so that automatic payments would be made by the Company’s bank account toward the balances owed on Collins’ personal credit card accounts and those associated with her family and friends. Collins, her family members, and her friends charged luxury items that were paid for with Company funds, including: more than $90,000 at Del Frisco’s Steak House; more than $90,000 at Ethan Allen, William Sonoma and Pottery Barn; more than $55,000 for Washington Redskins tickets; more than $14,500 at a Napa, California Vineyard as well as $1,400 for beauty products at Estee Lauder and Kiehl’s Since 1851. Also purchased with the credit cards were: a Porsche 911 Carrera, a Porsche Macan GTS, a Mercedes-Benz G550, a Dodge Ram Truck, a Mazda CX-3, a Mazda MX-5 race car, as well as a Haulmark Trailer, using the Company’s funds.
Further, Collins admitted that she forged the signature of her longtime employer, the President of the Company, multiple times from 2014 through 2016, in order to conceal and complete the unauthorized increases to her bonus checks.
As part of her plea agreement, Collins will be required to forfeit the vehicles and pay a money judgment of at least $4,273,749.83.
Collins faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis has scheduled sentencing for June 26, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip A. Selden and Evan T. Shea, who are prosecuting the case.
Former Resident of Nevada and Montana Sentenced to Prison for Obstructing the IRSRead the Press Release
A former resident of Nevada and Montana was sentenced to 36 months in prison yesterday for interfering with the internal revenue laws, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Leif Johnson for the District of Montana.
According to documents filed with the court, from March 2010 through September 2014, Steven D. Pjevach filed tax returns seeking refunds using personal identification information that he solicited through phony help-wanted advertisements that he posted on Craigslist. The filings directed the IRS to send the fraudulent refunds to bank accounts in Pjevach’s name and the names of other individuals, who Pjevach supplied with false information in order to permit him to use their accounts.
In addition to the term of prison imposed, Pjevach was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $239,337.10 in restitution to the IRS.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Johnson commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney John T. Mulcahy of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad C. Spraker, who prosecuted the case.
Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.
Former Police Officer, Police Union President Arraigned on Fraud ChargeRead the Press Release
PROVIDENCE – Christopher Hayes, 49, of Middletown, R.I., a former Newport, R.I., Police Department Sergeant and former President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Newport Lodge No. 8, made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Providence today on an information charging him with wire fraud. A not guilty plea was entered during his initial appearance and arraignment before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond. Hayes was released on $10,000 unsecured bond.
It is alleged in court documents that between August 2009 and December 2014, Hayes used an FOP debit card to pay for his own personal expenses; wrote checks payable to himself from the FOP bank account; withdrew cash from the FOP bank account for personal use; and made online payments to his personal credit card from the FOP bank account. It is alleged that Hayes fraudulently converted approximately $71,523 in FOP funds for his own personal use.
Hayes’ initial appearance and arraignment are announced by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island; U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General and Office of Labor Management Standards; and the Rhode Island State Police.
An information and plea agreement in this matter were filed with the U.S. District Court on March 20, 2017.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.
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Contact:
Jim Martin (401) 709-5357
email: [email protected]
on Twitter @USAO_RI
Former Physician Assistant Charged in Healthcare Kickback SchemeRead the Press Release
Concord, N.H.—Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced that Christopher Clough, 43, of Dover, New Hampshire, was arrested today on charges that he received kickbacks in exchange for prescribing a powerful fentanyl spray to patients in violation of federal law.
According to the indictment, Clough worked as a physician assistant in New Hampshire. He was a frequent prescriber of a fentanyl spray that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat breakthrough cancer pain. From approximately mid-2013 through Fall 2014, Clough wrote more than 700 prescriptions for the fentanyl spray in New Hampshire, including more than 200 prescriptions for Medicare patients. During that time, the manufacturer of the drug paid Clough purportedly to serve as a speaker at more than 40 programs at a rate of approximately $1,000 per event. In many instances, the programs were merely sham events where Clough was paid to have dinner with employees or representatives of the pharmaceutical company. In other instances, the programs were attended by individuals, including colleagues and friends, who were not authorized to prescribe controlled substances. For the majority of these dinner programs, the indictment alleges that Clough did not give any kind of presentation about the drug at all. Clough and others often forged signatures of attendees on sign-in sheets in an effort to make the dinners appear to be legitimate. The indictment alleges that the speaking program payments existed primarily to reward Clough for writing substantial numbers of prescriptions and to create an incentive for him both to issue new prescriptions and to increase dosages on existing prescriptions. From August 2013 until October 2014, Clough was paid more than $41,000 by the drug manufacturer.
Clough was charged with conspiracy and the receipt of kickbacks in relation to a federal healthcare program. Each charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000. Clough will appear before United States Magistrate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone today at 3:45 p.m..
Farley stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Commenting on the indictment, said, “When health care providers make prescribing decisions based upon financial incentives rather than the best interests of the patient, it has the potential to put patients at risk. I commend the hard work of the law enforcement agents who have investigated this matter and look forward to proving this case in court.”
"As alleged, Dr. Clough was the top prescriber of a powerful fentanyl spray in the state of New Hampshire,” said Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Boston Division. “He is alleged to have received kickbacks for issuing those prescriptions. The FBI will continue to attack the opioid epidemic from all angles, including rooting out individuals who place profit before patient safety."
“We take all allegations of kickbacks extremely seriously,” said Special Agent in Charge Phillip Coyne of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General. “Working closely with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to protect the health of Medicare beneficiaries and the integrity of the nation’s healthcare system.”
This matter is being jointly investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Diversion Control Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles L. Rombeau and Seth R. Aframe.
Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Former Pharmaceutical Salesman Sentenced to More than 5 Years in Prison for Role in $13 Million Dollar Conspiracy Involving OxycodoneRead the Press Release
A former pharmaceutical salesman was sentenced today to 70 months in prison for his role in a $13 million dollar money laundering conspiracy involving more than 2 million dosage units of oxycodone.
Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Adolphus P. Wright, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Ric L. Bradshaw, Sheriff, Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, Albert Arenal, Chief, Coconut Creek Police Department, and Daniel C. Alexander, Chief, Boca Raton Police Department, made the announcement.
Jonathan Sendor, 60, of Aurora, Colorado, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering involving criminally derived property valued greater than $10,000, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1956(h) and 1957.
According to court documents, between March 2010 and June 2011, Sendor’s co-conspirators operated six pain clinics in Broward and Palm Beach counties with the purpose of unlawfully dispensing oxycodone that had not been prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose. Approximately 2,007,695 oxycodone 30 mg pills were dispensed and distributed through the pain clinics before they were closed following the execution of search warrants in June 2011. The co-conspirators operated the clinics to ensure that the maximum amount of oxycodone would be prescribed without regard to a legitimate medical need, and purely for the sake of profit. The pain clinics failed to comply with Florida standards for the use of controlled substances. The pain clinics generated approximately $13,466,598 from the unlawful prescribing and dispensing of oxycodone.
For his role in the scheme, Sendor created multiple companies, building upon the connections he had formed as a pharmaceutical salesman, to act as a quasi-broker between the doctors of the pain clinics needing oxycodone and the wholesalers. Sendor misled the wholesale pharmaceutical companies and told them that he would function as an inspector and check whether any prospective customer pain clinic was operating a pill mill by conducting site visits and by requiring the clinic manager/doctor to complete a site survey. Sendor misrepresented the results of the site survey and directed the doctors, pain clinic managers, owners and other coconspirators to lie on the survey form.
In October 2010 the law changed and clinics were prohibited from dispensing oxycodone on-site. Sendor then assisted in opening two pharmacies – one in Boca Raton, Florida and another pharmacy in Orlando, Florida. Patients of the pain clinics were then directed to these pharmacies for oxycodone.
This case is the result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) a partnership that brings together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, dismantle and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations and enterprises.
Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI, the DEA, PBSO, Coconut Creek Police Department, and Boca Raton Police Department. Mr. Greenberg also recognized the South East Regional Task Force (SERTF) and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Diversion Task Force (PBSO MAADTF). SERTF is headed by the DEA and includes representatives from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, Pembroke Pines Police Department, Hallandale Beach Police Department, Lauderhill Police Department, Margate Police Department, and Coconut Creek Police Department. PBSO MAADTF is headed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and includes representatives from the Boca Raton Police Department, Boynton Beach Police Department, DEA, Delray Beach Police Department, Florida Department of Health, Greenacres Police Department, IRS-CI, Jupiter Police Department, Riviera Beach Police Department, Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, PBSO, Palm Beach Gardens Police Department and West Palm Beach Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald F. Chase, II.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Former Milstadt Business Owner Sentenced to Prison for Illegal StructuringRead the Press Release
Dean Kreher, 51, of Milstadt, Illinois, was sentenced to two months in prison followed by three years supervised release as a result of his conviction for two counts of structuring financial transactions to avoid cash transaction reports, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Donald S. Boyce, announced today.
Financial institutions are required by federal law to report cash transactions that exceed $10,000. It is illegal to structure financial transactions in smaller amounts with the purpose of causing a financial institution to fail to file a cash transaction report. Dean Kreher’s conviction is the result of structuring cash deposits into multiple financial transactions at multiple financial institutions totaling over $230,000.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service/Criminal Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Norman R. Smith.
Former Federal Corrections Officer IndictedRead the Press Release
Jackson, Miss - James P. Cheatham III, a former federal corrections officer, has been charged with accepting bribes to introduce contraband into the federal correctional facility in Yazoo County, Mississippi, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Harold Brittain, Special Agent in Charge Robert Bourbon of the DOJ OIG’s Miami Field Office, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Freeze.
Cheatham, age 24, of Brandon, Mississippi was charged in a one-count federal indictment with a violation of Title 18 USC 201(b)(2)(C) – being a public official providing to an inmate a prohibited object.
"Greed and corruption have no place in our criminal justice system," stated Special Agent in Charge Robert Bourbon of the DOJ OIG’s Miami Field Office. "We want to thank our law enforcement partners for their continued efforts to ensure that individuals who abuse their position are vigorously investigated, prosecuted, and punished."
Cheatham made his initial appearance in Jackson on Thursday, March 23, 2017, before United States Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball. The case is set for trial on May 2, 2017, before U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III. If convicted, Cheatham faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000.00 fine.
The case was investigated by the Department of Justice-Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin Chalk.
The public is reminded that an indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
Former Employee of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility Sentenced on Firearms and Extortion ChargesRead the Press Release
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Louis Elmy, age 53, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on March 23, 2017, by United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion, to 72 months imprisonment on firearms and extortion charges.
According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Elmy pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and extortion in July 2016. Elmy is a former employee of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, and a former President of the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board.
Between November 2013 and February 2016, Elmy, while acting in his official capacity as the work release counselor at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, extorted money and other items of value from work release inmates in exchange for affording them special privileges and unauthorized furloughs. In order to have documentation that appeared to be legitimate, Elmy created court orders and then physically cut and pasted a Luzerne County Judge’s signature from an older order onto the fraudulent order, and then photocopied the document in order to have a finished product for the file.
The drug trafficking crime involves the possession of and intent to distribute crack cocaine while in possession of a Hi-Point .380 caliber handgun.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Mannion also ordered that Elmy be supervised by a probation officer for two years following his release from prison.
The case was investigated by the Scranton Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski prosecuted the case.
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.
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Former East Windsor Priest Sentenced to Prison for Explosives and Firearms OffensesRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that PAUL GOTTA, 58, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to nine months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for explosives and firearms offenses.
According to court documents and statements made in court, GOTTA was a Catholic priest who resided at the rectory of St. Philip Church in East Windsor. In July 2012, GOTTA provided $350 in cash to a 17-year-old male and asked the teenager to purchase a handgun for him in Arizona. GOTTA knew that it was illegal for the teen to purchase firearms, but that he had obtained fake identification to do so. In November 2012, GOTTA aided the teen in the purchase of thousands of rounds of handgun ammunition.
GOTTA also helped the teen to build a pipe bomb. On two occasions in December 2012, GOTTA purchased two pounds of explosives powder at Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor and distributed it to the teen. He also purchased other component parts for a pipe bomb in the following months.
In addition, in May and June 2013, GOTTA provided false information to law enforcement regarding alleged criminal offenses being committed by the teen, and failed to acknowledge his own role in the acquisition of the handgun, ammunition and pipe bomb parts.
GOTTA was arrested on July 19, 2013. On March 8, 2016, he pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly and willfully distributing an explosive material to an individual who was under 21 years of age.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the East Windsor Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Spector.