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16 March 2017
Federal Charges Filed Against Illegal Alien in Connection with Fatal ShootingRead the Press Release
BATON ROUGE, LA – Acting United States Attorney Corey Amundson announced that a federal criminal complaint has been filed against OCTAVIO BRINGAS‐POSADAS, 49, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and illegal re‐entry into the United States by a removed alien.
According to the complaint, BRINGAS‐POSADAS was removed from the United States to Mexico, on March 22, 2012, by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sometime thereafter, BRINGAS‐POSADAS unlawfully entered into the United States and found his way back to Baton Rouge. The complaint further alleges that, on March 13, 2017, BRINGAS‐POSADAS was inside his home alone with a 16‐year‐old victim when the victim was fatally wounded by a gunshot. The facts surrounding the fatal shooting remain under investigation.
Acting U.S. Attorney Amundson stated: “Our prayers are with the victim’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time. Be assured that our office will aggressively pursue violators of our federal firearm and immigration laws.”
This investigation is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana; the Louisiana State Police; the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office; the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the assistance and cooperation of the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office. This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin R. Sanchez.
NOTE: The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless adjudicated guilty at trial or through a guilty plea.
Fairfield County Heroin Trafficker Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that WILFREDO GUTIERREZ, also known as “Bean” and “Big Pun,” 40, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 180 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for trafficking heroin.
This matter stems from an investigation headed by the DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, Stamford Police Department, Norwalk Police Department and Connecticut State Police. The investigation included court-authorized wiretaps, controlled purchases of narcotics and physical surveillance.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately September 2015 and May 2016, GUTIERREZ and others, including his brother Bobby Gutierrez, also known as “B.O.,” conspired to distribute at least 10 kilograms of heroin in Fairfield County.
GUTIERREZ’s criminal history dates to 1994 and includes multiple state drug convictions for which he has served a total of more than 16 years in prison In July 2011, GUTIERREZ was sentenced to nine years of incarceration and 11 years of special parole for violating Connecticut’s Corrupt Organizations and Racketeering Activity Act (“CORA”) and sale of a controlled substance. He was released to a halfway house on August 27, 2015. While in the halfway house, GUTIERREZ continued to coordinate the acquisition of heroin from individuals in the Bronx, and the distribution of the drug in Fairfield County. On December 21, 2015, he was returned to custody for a technical violation of his parole, and he continued his involvement in the acquisition and sale of heroin.
On May 26, 2016, a search of B&B Deli in Bridgeport, which was owned by the Gutierrez family and served as a hub for their drug dealing, revealed two digital scales, two large ziplock bags containing what appeared to be cutting agents, and five cellular telephones.
WILFREDO GUTIERREZ, Bobby Gutierrez and seven others were charged as a result of the investigation. All pleaded guilty. Bobby Gutierrez is detained while awaiting sentencing.
On November 22, 2016, WILFREDO GUTIERREZ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.
Judge Bolden ordered GUTIERREZ’s federal sentence to run concurrently with his state sentence.
The DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force includes members from the Bridgeport, Stamford, Stratford, Norwalk, Milford and Trumbull Police Departments, and the Connecticut State Police.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony Kaplan and Heather Cherry.
Former Neighborhood Patrol Leader Sentenced to 32 Months in Prison for Bribing Nypd Police Officers to Approve and Expedite Gun Licenses for ClientsRead the Press Release
Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALEX LICHTENSTEIN, a/k/a “Shaya,” was sentenced in Manhattan federal court today to 32 months in prison for bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with his payment of tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes to New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officers in exchange for the officers’ approval and expediting of gun licenses for LICHTENSTEIN’s paying clients. LICHTENSTEIN, who previously pled guilty, was sentenced today by the United States District Judge Sidney H. Stein.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “By engaging in an egregious scheme to trade cash for gun licenses, Alex Lichtenstein and his co-defendants in the New York City Police Department corrupted the sensitive process of evaluating gun license applications in New York City. Today’s sentence shows that individuals who so brazenly abuse the public’s trust in law enforcement – whether they are the officers receiving bribes or the citizens paying them – will be held to account for their crimes.”
As alleged in the Superseding Indictment against LICHTENSTEIN and established in connection with LICHTENSTEIN’s sentencing proceedings:
LICHTENSTEIN, who previously served as a leader in the Shomrim, a neighborhood patrol in Borough Park, Brooklyn, started a business in 2013 expediting gun license applications for clients. In return for a fee ranging from $10,000 to $16,000 per application, LICHTENSTEIN purportedly assisted his clients in navigating the gun licensing process within the NYPD. However, rather than provide legitimate services for his exorbitant fees, LICHTENSTEIN instead bribed two officers in the NYPD’s Licensing Division to ensure success for nearly all of his clients’ applications. In particular, LICHTENSTEIN paid co-defendant Sergeant David Villanueva of the Licensing Division between hundreds of dollars and $1,000 per application, and Villanueva in turn provided some of the bribe money to co-defendant Richard Ochetal, another NYPD officer in the Licensing Division who participated in the approval of applications submitted by LICHTENSTEIN’s clients. In exchange for this cash, as well as other perks such as liquor and limousine rides, Villanueva and Ochetal approved the gun license applications sought by LICHTENSTEIN’s clients without conducting the requisite diligence on his clients. As a result, Villanueva and Ochetal approved gun licenses for individuals with criminal histories, including at least one with a previous felony conviction, histories of domestic violence, and other factors that would otherwise have resulted in rejections by the Police Department. Villanueva and Ochetal also approved licenses for individuals to carry concealed guns for business-related reasons, when in fact such individuals had no legitimate basis on which to claim the need for such licenses. In total, LICHTENSTEIN made at least between $150,000 and $250,000 from his clients, a portion of which he remitted to Villanueva and Ochetal as bribes.
In April 2016, after having been banned by the Licensing Division due to rumors regarding his significant fees, LICHTENSTEIN attempted to bribe another police officer to help him get his clients’ applications reviewed by the Licensing Division and approved. In a recorded conversation, LICHTENSTEIN offered the NYPD officer $6,000 per application in exchange for the officer’s assistance with the Licensing Division. Rather than accept LICHTENSTEIN’s proposal, the officer reported this contact to the Police Department, ultimately leading to LICHTENSTEIN’s arrest.
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In addition to the prison term, LICHTENSTEIN, 45, of Pomona, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to forfeit $230,000.
Mr. Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Russell Capone, Kan M. Nawaday, Lauren B. Schorr, and Martin Bell are in charge of the prosecution.
Essex County, New Jersey, Man Admits Role in Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A Newark man today admitted to robbing a Valley National bank in Belleville, New Jersey, in April 2016, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
Donald Myer, 60, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of bank robbery.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Myer admitted that during the robbery, he passed a note to a bank employee wherein he threatened to use a gun while demanding money from the bank employees.
The bank robbery charge to which Myer pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for June 27, 2017.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. He also thanked the Belleville, Kearny, and Port Authority police departments for their contributions to the case.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Allende of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton.
Defense counsel: Linda D. Foster Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender
Delaware Man Convicted of Distributing over A Kilo of Heroin in Dauphin and Lycoming CountiesRead the Press Release
HARRISBURG-The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Anthony Rowe, age 55, of Wilmington, Delaware, was convicted by a federal jury of distributing over 1,000 grams (one kilo) of heroin in Dauphin and Lycoming counties. The three-day trial was held before United States District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo in Harrisburg.
According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the jury returned with the guilty verdict after approximately thirty minutes of deliberation. The evidence showed that Rowe travelled from Philadelphia to Dauphin and Lycoming Counties between February and June 2016, and distributed over a kilo of heroin. One kilo of heroin is approximately equal to 40,000 retail bags of heroin.
Rowe was immediately detained following the verdict. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and up to life imprisonment.
This case was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Dauphin County Drug Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Daryl F. Bloom and Chelsea Schinnour prosecuted the case.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a $10,000,000 fine. The offense carries a mandatory term of imprisonment of ten years. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
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Chicago Trader Indicted on Fraud Charges for Allegedly Misappropriating at Least $1.5 Million in Client FundsRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A Chicago trader defrauded more than a dozen clients out of at least $1.5 million by pocketing their money instead of investing it, according to an indictment returned in federal court in Chicago.
RANDALL RYE, the owner of Faster Than Light Trading LLC, told investors that they would earn substantial profits from his proprietary trading program. Rye claimed that he would invest their money in options and futures contracts using a computer algorithm. In reality, Rye misappropriated the investors’ funds for his own personal expenses, such as air and hotel travel costs, including vacations to St. Lucia and Bali, tickets to sporting events, including the World Series and the Masters golf tournament, and on other luxury items and large cash withdrawals, according to the indictment.
As a result of the scheme, Rye fraudulently misappropriated at least $1.5 million from at least 15 investors, the indictment states.
The indictment was returned Wednesday in federal court in Chicago. It charges Rye, 26, of Chicago, with six counts of wire fraud. Arraignment is scheduled for March 21, 2017, at 1:15 p.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason in Chicago.
The indictment was announced by Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the indictment, Rye falsely represented to investors that their money was generating substantial returns from his purported algorithmic trading program. Rye sent his investors numerous false account statements that appeared to be from established financial services companies, stating that all of the investors’ principal and profits were invested and profitable, the indictment states. However, Rye knew when he prepared the bogus statements that the documents were false and that investors’ funds were not actually maintained at the financial services companies.
Rye also used newer investors’ funds to make Ponzi-type payments to earlier investors.
Rye was arrested last month and he remains in federal custody. At the time of the arrest, law enforcement searched his home and office, seizing his business records and several expensive watches.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorney Sunil Harjani.
Carrizozo Woman Sentenced to Prison for Federal Methamphetamine Trafficking ConvictionRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Patricia Kay Portillo, 54, of Carrizozo, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 46 months in prison for her conviction on methamphetamine trafficking charges. Portillo will be on supervised release for three years following her prison sentence.
Portillo was one of 34 individuals charged in December 2015, with federal and tribal drug offenses as the result of an 18-month multi-agency investigation led by the DEA and BIA into methamphetamine trafficking on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. Eighteen defendants, including five members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe and 13 non-Natives were charged in six federal indictments and a federal criminal complaint. Sixteen other members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe were charged in tribal criminal complaints approved by the Mescalero Apache Tribal Court.
The investigation leading to the federal and tribal charges was initiated in May 2014, in response to an increase in violent crime on the Mescalero Apache Reservation perpetrated by methamphetamine users. The investigation initially targeted a drug trafficking organization that was allegedly distributing methamphetamine within the Reservation, and later expanded to include two other drug trafficking organizations in southeastern New Mexico that allegedly served as sources of supply for the methamphetamine distributed within the Reservation. In Aug. 2014, the investigation was designated as part of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, which combines the resources and unique expertise of federal agencies, along with their local counterparts, in a coordinated effort to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations. The investigation is one of the first OCDETF investigations to utilize electronic surveillance (wiretaps) in Indian Country. More than ten kilograms of methamphetamine were seized during the course of the investigation.
Portillo was arrested in Dec. 2015, on an indictment charging her with conspiracy and distributing methamphetamine in Otero County, N.M., on Aug. 23, 2015, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Oct. 6, 2015, and the use of a communication facility in the commission of a drug trafficking crime on Sept. 4, 2015. On May 13, 2016, Portillo entered a guilty plea to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and admitted that on Oct. 6, 2015, she had 41 grams of pure methamphetamine concealed on her person which she planned to distribute to others.
Seventeen of the 18 federal defendants have entered guilty pleas. One federal defendant has entered a not guilty plea. Charges in indictments are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.
The federal and tribal cases were investigated by the Las Cruces office of the DEA, District IV of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services (Mescalero Agency), BIA’s Division of Drug Enforcement, Mescalero Tribal Police Department, Hatch Police Department, FBI and Lea County Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Terri J. Abernathy and Clara Cobos of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office are prosecuting the federal cases, and Mescalero Tribal Prosecutor Melissa Chavez is prosecuting the tribal cases.
Camden, New Jersey, Man Sentenced to 151 Months in Prison for Sex Trafficking of MinorRead the Press Release
TRENTON, N.J. – A Camden, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 151 months in prison for sex trafficking of a minor, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
Aaron J. Gray, 30, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan to an information charging him with one count of sex trafficking of a minor. Gray was originally charged in a criminal complaint with co-defendants Aja M. Easley, 24, of Camden, and Kenneth A. Mertz, 36, of Collingswood.
According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On March 2, 2015, Easley communicated with the victim, a minor, using a popular social media website. Easley told the victim she was “worried about” the victim because of a previous assault by the victim’s ex-boyfriend. She offered the victim money, food, clothing, and shelter, and met the victim at the Camden Transportation Center. There, Easley told the victim about a “dating website,” and said that the victim could make money through the website by going on “dates.”
Easley and the victim later met Gray and Mertz at a residence in Camden. Easley, Mertz, and Gray agreed to advertise the minor online for commercial sex acts for the purpose of earning money. To do so, Gray, Mertz, and Easley drove the minor to a motel in Cherry Hill.
At the motel, Gray and Easley convinced the victim to engage in commercial sex acts. Using her cellular telephone, Easley took provocative photos of the victim, and uploaded them to an online advertisement that she had created advertising the victim for commercial sex acts.
After the advertisement was online, Easley used her cellular telephone to communicate with multiple individuals who responded to the advertisement seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with the minor. Gray gave the victim instructions on what to do when the respondents arrived. Easley instructed the victim to tell the individuals that, regardless of her real age, that she was 21 years old. Easley also instructed the victim how much time each individual could spend with the victim at the motel and how much each individual owed the victim. Easley and Gray also told the victim that if any trouble arose, Gray would be outside the motel with a firearm. While at the motel in Cherry Hill, the victim engaged in sex acts in exchange for money with multiple individuals, which the defendants split between themselves and the victim.
The next day, at a motel in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, at the defendants’ direction, the victim again engaged in sex acts in exchange for money with multiple individuals who responded to the advertisement. Later that evening, the defendants told the victim that they were taking the victim to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to meet another person who had responded to the advertisement and was willing to pay $1,200 for an entire evening with the victim.
On the way to Atlantic City, the defendants agreed to let the victim stop at a residence in Gloucester City, New Jersey. The victim went inside and contacted the police, leading to the defendants’ arrest.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Sheridan sentenced Gray to 10 years of supervised release.
On Aug. 17, 2016, Easley pleaded guilty before Judge Sheridan to an information charging her with one count of sex trafficking of a minor. Easley is awaiting sentencing.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher, and members of the Mount Laurel Police Department, under the direction of Police Chief Dennis Cribben, and the Gloucester City Police Department, under the direction of Acting Police Chief Brian Morell, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Brendan Day of the Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.
The charges and allegations against Mertz remain merely accusations, and he is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Defense Counsel: Andrea D. Bergman Esq., Federal Public Defender’s Office, Trenton
Cairo Man to Receive Life Sentence for Double Murder During an Attempted Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that James Nathaniel Watts, age 32, of Cairo, Ill., has pleaded guilty to a federal Superseding Indictment regarding the May 2014 attempted robbery of the First National Bank in Cairo, Illinois.
Evidence discussed in court established that on May 15, 2014, at approximately 4:45 p.m., James Watts approached three employees as they left the bank after closing. Watts’ covered his face with a folded white pillowcase and armed himself with a handgun and a hunting knife. Watts forced the three employees back into the bank at gunpoint. Once inside, he bound each of the employees’ hands with zip ties as he attempted to gain entry to the vault. The employees were unable to open the vault because it was equipped with a time lock that could not opened until the next morning. Watts then forced the three employees into the bank’s break room where he killed Anita Grace and Nita Smith and attempted to kill Kaeley Price. Nita Smith died at the bank. Anita Grace died from injuries inflicted by defendant shortly after being transported to the hospital. Defendant believed he had also killed Kaeley Price. While critically injured, Kaeley Price survived and was able to call 911 after defendant had fled the bank. Police captured Watts following a high-speed chase and manhunt. Authorities found him hiding in the structure of a railroad trestle bridge that spans the Ohio River between Illinois and Kentucky.
With respect to Count 1, Watts faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. That count charges that on May 15, 2014, in Alexander County, Watts by force, violence and intimidation, did attempt to take from the person and presence of another, money belonging to and in the care, custody, control, management and possession of the First National Bank in Cairo, Illinois, the deposits of which were then insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and in committing such offense, Watts assaulted and put in jeopardy the life of another person by the use of a dangerous weapon or weapons, that is a knife and a gun; and further, in committing such offense, Watts killed Anita Grace and Nita Smith; all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2113(a), 2113(d), and 2113(e).
Count 2 charges that on May 15, 2014, in Alexander County, Watts, having previously been convicted by a court of a felony punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, did knowingly possess, in and affecting commerce, a firearm, that is: a Colt, Model MK IV Series 80 Mustang, .380 Auto caliber semi-automatic pistol, bearing serial number MU29470, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(l) and 924(a)(2). With respect to Count 2, Watts faces up to an additional 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release to follow any term of incarceration imposed.
The Court scheduled Watts’ sentencing hearing for May 25, 2017, at the United States District Courthouse in Benton. Watts will remain in the custody of the United States Marshal until that time.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jim Cutchin and George Norwood, and CCS Trial Attorney Jeffrey Zick.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Illinois State Police, and numerous other law enforcement agencies in Illinois and Missouri.
Buffalo Man Sentenced on Drug ChargeRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y.-Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Reginald Brown, 49, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of possessing with intent to distribute and distributing cocaine, was sentenced to 84 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who handled the case, stated that on November 9, and November 16, 2011, the defendant sold approximately 13 grams of cocaine to a confidential informant working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Adam S. Cohen, Special Agent-in-Charge.
Bristow Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement of Mail by Postal EmployeeRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that RITA LOUISE FALL, age 37, of Bristow, Oklahoma, pled guilty to EMBEZZLEMENT OF MAIL BY POSTAL EMPLOYEE, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1709, punishable by no more than 5 years imprisonment, and up to a $250,000.00 fine or both.
The Indictment alleged that beginning on or about August 19, 2016, and continuing through on or about August 29, 2016, within the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the Defendant, a United States Postal Service employee, did willfully, knowingly and intentionally embezzle a package entrusted to her and which came into her possession to be conveyed by mail, to wit: an envelope addressed to J.T., while performing her assigned duties as an employee of the United States Postal Service.
The charge arose from an investigation by the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
The Honorable Kimberly E. West, Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. The defendant will remain in custody pending a sentencing hearing.
Assistant United States Attorney Kristin Harrington represented the United States.
Baseball Agent and Trainer Convicted of Conspiring to Make False Statements and Unlawfully Bringing Aliens into the United StatesRead the Press Release
Yesterday afternoon a federal jury convicted two South Florida men for their participation in an alien smuggling ring that moved Cuban-born baseball players and their families to third countries and then the United States, without official authorization from the U.S. Government.
Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, and Mark Selby, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), made the announcement.
Bartolo Hernandez, of Weston, and Julio Estrada, of Miami, were convicted at trial of conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and bringing an alien who has not received official authorization to the United States, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1324(a)(2)(B)(ii). Hernandez faces a mandatory minimum term of 3 years and a maximum term of 15 years’ imprisonment. Estrada faces a mandatory minimum term of 5 years and a maximum term of 35 years’ imprisonment. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams on July 11, 2017 at 10 a.m.
According to the court record, including evidence introduced during the six-week trial, Hernandez and Estrada conspired with a criminal organization involving boat captains, document forgers and illicit transporters to smuggle Cuban baseball players and those players’ family members out of Cuba into other countries, including Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, before then transporting them to the United States. To expedite obtaining permanent residency in these third countries, Hernandez and Estrada procured residency documents by falsifying employment information and bribing foreign officials. After obtaining the fraudulent foreign residency documents, Hernandez and Estrada submitted those documents to the United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Those same fraudulent foreign residency documents were also provided to the United States Department of State, when the Cuban-born baseball players applied for visas to play baseball in the United States.
In some instances, Hernandez and Estrada refused to wait for licenses and visas and instead brought Cuban-born baseball players directly to the United States, without prior official authorization.
Hernandez conspired with alien smugglers to bring Cuban baseball player Leonys Martin Tapanes illegally into the United States across the Texas-Mexico border. Estrada brought Cuban baseball players Omar Luis and Alejandro Piloto into the United States from Haiti, through other countries, into Mexico and then met them after they unlawfully crossed into the United States. Estrada also illegally brought Cuban baseball players Dalier Hinojosa and Jose Abreu into the United States. Hinojosa and Abreu were provided fake passports with fraudulent visas to board flights from Port-au-Prince, Haiti to Miami International Airport by a conspirator of the defendants and were instructed to destroy evidence of those fake passports before arriving in the United States.
Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the FBI and ICE-HSI. Mr. Greenberg also thanked the United States State Department and OFAC for their assistance. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick Sullivan and H. Ron Davidson.
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 at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.
Baltimore Armed Career Criminal Exiled to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Illegal Possession of a FirearmRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Barry Terry, age 39, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to 15 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Daniel L. Board Jr. of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.
According to the evidence presented at his two-day trial, in the summer of 2015 a Baltimore City Watch camera operator saw Terry walking through a Baltimore City park with what appeared to be a gun in the waistband of his pants. The operated directed Baltimore Police officers to the location. When officers approached Terry to investigate, Terry fled, throwing something in the direction of a clothes donation box. Terry was apprehended and police located a loaded pistol where Terry had thrown the object as he was running away.
As a result of seven previous felony convictions, Terry was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the ATF, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia C. McLane and Zachary B. Stendig, who prosecuted the case.
Babysitter Sentenced to 60 Years in Federal Prison for Producing Child Pornography Depicting His Abuse of a ToddlerRead the Press Release
Jason Barber, 39, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced today to a total of 60 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Robert N. Scola Jr in Miami, Florida, for producing child pornography that depicted his abuse of a toddler he was babysitting. Barber previously pled guilty to all counts in the Indictment.
Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Rick Maglione, Chief, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and Alexander Perez, Chief, North Las Vegas Police Department, made the announcement.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on November 25, 2013, the South Florida Internet Crimes against Child Task Force (ICAC), located in Broward County, Florida, received two cyber tips regarding several email accounts suspected of trading dozens of images depicting child pornography. Upon receiving the tip, The South Florida ICAC began their investigation to determine who was responsible for sending and receiving the email. After identifying an IP address used to access one of the email accounts, law enforcement obtained and executed a search warrant at the residence of co-defendant Benedict Shaw, a Lauderhill, Florida resident.
Law enforcement confirmed that Shaw was communicating with Barber, a Nevada resident and boyfriend of the victim’s mother. Barber had convinced the two-year old child’s mother to allow him to babysit the toddler while the mother was at work. Barber had previously met Shaw in an online chatroom for individuals with a diaper fetish. During their month of email communications, Barber requested that Shaw send him a cellphone and diapers. Shaw sent Barber a package containing the requested cellphone, diapers, and other items to use in the child pornography videos. Barber used the cell phone to record himself sexually abusing the child in his care. Barber then sent the video and several still images to Shaw via email.
Shaw previously pled guilty for his involvement with the production of child pornography and was sentenced in October of 2014 to 45 years’ imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Scola (Case No. 14-CR-60011-Scola).
Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, South Florida ICAC, and North Las Vegas Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francis Viamontes and Jodi Anton prosecuted this case.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. 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.
Atoka Man Sentenced to 90 Months for Methamphetamine Distribution, Firearm PossessionRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that DAVID EDWARD AINSWORTH, age 53, of Atoka, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 90 months imprisonment and 4 years supervised release for DISTRIBUTION OF METHAMPHETAMINE, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B); and to 90 months imprisonment and 3 years supervised release for FELON IN POSSESSION OF FIREARM, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2), to run concurrently.
The Indictment alleged that on or about May 27, 2015, within the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant did knowingly and intentionally distribute 5 grams or more of methamphetamine (Actual), a Schedule II controlled substance.
The indictment further alleged that on or about May 27, 2015, within the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant, having been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, did knowingly possess in and affecting commerce, a firearm, One (1) Savage Model 94 Series M, 20 gauge weapon made from a shotgun, which had been shipped and transported in interstate commerce.
The charges arose from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the hearing. The defendant will remain in custody pending transportation to the designated federal facility at which the nonparoleable sentence will be served.
Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Hammer represented the United States.
Athens County Man Sentenced for Receiving Child PornographyRead the Press Release
COLUMBUS, Ohio – James R. Harrah, 51, formerly of Albany, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 60 months in prison for receiving child pornography.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Westerville Police Chief Joseph Morbitzer and other members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force announced the sentence handed down today by Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.
According to court documents, in March 2015, an FBI Task Force Officer received information from a tip submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cyber tipline regarding images of child pornography that had been uploaded through a Gmail account.
Investigators linked Harrah to the activity through computer IP addresses and his phone number. Further investigation revealed additional cyber tipline reports and incident reports from Google, Inc. and Twitter related to the uploading of child pornography of young females.
One of Harrah’s social media profiles used the username “I Luvem Yung” and the description “Luv girls 10-15 if you in Ohio Hmu if U wanna play…let’s make a baby.”
Forensic examination of Harrah’s phones revealed more than 500 images and 80 videos of child pornography. When law enforcement officers submitted the recovered child pornography files to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it was determined that at least 14 identified child victims were depicted.
Harrah was charged by a Bill of Information and pleaded guilty on July 21, 2016 to one count of receiving child pornography in interstate commerce.
The defendant was also sentenced to 15 years of supervised release. During that time, any cell phone or computer that he owns, uses or has access to that is connected to the Internet will be monitored and reviewed.
“The files recovered in this case confirm that child pornography is not a victimless crime,” U.S. Attorney Glassman said. “These were missing child victims who had been sexually abused, and Harrah’s receipt of images of that abuse warrants the sentence he received today.”
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Jessica H. Kim, who is representing the United States in this case.
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Angolan national sentenced to 6 months in prison for resisting deportation ordersRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced today that an Angolan national was sentenced to six months in prison for refusing to leave the country twice after being ordered to depart.
Faustino Ngay, 46, of Cazengo, Angola, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on two counts of failure to depart. The defendant was found guilty after a one-day trial that ended on November 29, 2016. Evidence admitted at the trial revealed that on two occasions U.S. Immigration Enforcement Agents attempted to remove Ngay from the country via the Alexandria International Airport by putting him on a commercial flight. The defendant hampered agents’ ability to remove him by verbally and physically resisting on November 17, 2015. The defendant also hampered attempts to put him on a commercial flight at the Alexandria airport on December 14, 2015. His outbursts prevented him from boarding the flights because of airline and Transportation Security Administration safety policies.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Enforcement and Removal Operations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Rossetti prosecuted the case.
Albuquerque Resident Pleads Guilty to Federal Methamphetamine Trafficking ChargeRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Josue Duarte, 31, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to a methamphetamine trafficking charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Duarte and co-defendant Johnny Flores, 23, were arrested during an ATF-led investigation that resulted in the filing of 59 federal indictments and one federal criminal complaint charging 104 Bernalillo County residents with federal firearms and narcotics trafficking offenses. The investigation began in mid-April 2016, when ATF personnel from throughout the country joined forces with federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies in New Mexico to combat the high rate of violent crime in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. The investigators utilized a number of investigative techniques, including undercover operations, historical investigation and targeting of multi-convicted felons in possession of firearms.
The investigation was undertaken in support of a federal anti-violence initiative that targets “the worst of the worst” offenders for federal prosecution. Under this initiative, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal law enforcement agencies collaborate with New Mexico’s District Attorneys and state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to target violent or repeat offenders for federal prosecution primarily based on their prior criminal convictions with the goal of removing repeat offenders from communities in New Mexico for as long as possible.
Duarte and Flores were charged in a four-count indictment filed on Aug. 9, 2016, with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from July 18, 2016 through July 26, 2016, and distribution of methamphetamine on July 22, 2016; Flores with distribution of methamphetamine on July 18, 2016; and Duarte with distribution of methamphetamine on July 26, 2016. According to the indictment, the offenses took place in Bernalillo County.
During today’s proceedings, Duarte pled guilty to a felony information charging him with distribution of methamphetamine. In entering the guilty plea, Duarte admitted that on July 26, 2016, he arranged the sale of and sold methamphetamine to an undercover law enforcement agent. At sentencing, Duarte faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.
To date, 31 of the 104 defendants, including Flores, have entered guilty pleas, and three defendants have been sentenced. The remaining defendants, have entered not guilty pleas. Charges in indictments are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the ATF and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul H. Spiers.
Al Qaeda Operative Convicted of Multiple Terrorism Offenses Targeting Americans OverseasRead the Press Release
Today, a jury returned its verdict convicting al Qaeda operative Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun, 46, of multiple terrorism offenses including conspiracy to murder American military personnel in Afghanistan and conspiracy to bomb the U.S. embassy in Nigeria. Harun traveled to Afghanistan in the weeks before Sept. 11, 2001 where he joined al Qaeda, trained at al Qaeda training camps and participated in attacks on U.S. and Coalition troops in Afghanistan in which two American service members were killed and others were seriously wounded in 2003. Harun also received training in explosives from an al Qaeda weapons expert and traveled from Pakistan to Nigeria intending to attack U.S. government facilities there.
The guilty verdict was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord for National Security, Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Rohde for the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office and Commissioner James P. O’Neill of the NYPD.
“Harun is an al Qaeda operative who targeted U.S. personnel and diplomatic facilities across two continents. The evidence presented at trial established that the defendant and other jihadists attacked a U.S. military patrol in Afghanistan, resulting in the death of two American soldiers and the serious injury of others. Today’s guilty verdict ensures that the defendant will be held accountable for his acts of terrorism,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “I want to thank the many agents, analysts, and prosecutors whose hard work and dedication made this result possible.”
“As demonstrated by this case, the United States will be tireless in its efforts to hold al-Qaeda members accountable when they target American citizens serving their country abroad. We are firmly committed to bringing such terrorists to justice,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Rohde. Ms. Rohde expressed her grateful appreciation to the Department of Defense Army investigators, the Office of Military Commissions, the Italian Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor’s Office in Palermo, Italy, the Italian National Police, Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri authorities for their support and assistance.
“We hope the verdict today shows the public the FBI New York JTTF and our law enforcement partners are still arresting, charging and trying operatives for al-Qaeda 15 years after 9/11 because we won’t give up the obligation to bring terrorists to justice,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Sweeney. “It should also prove to anyone who wishes to harm our country, we will not stop, and we will never forget.”
“Al Qaeda operative Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun pledged allegiance to a known terrorist organization, conspiring to kill coalition soldiers in Afghanistan and even bomb a U.S. embassy in Nigeria,” said Commissioner O’Neill. “Today’s conviction holds the defendant responsible for the terror he waged overseas. I am thankful to the detectives, agents, and more than 50 partner agencies on the Joint Terrorism Task Force here in Manhattan and to the prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York who continue bring rigorous terrorism cases in federal court.”
Harun, also known as “Spin Ghul,” “Abu Tamim,” “Esbin Gol,” “Isbungoul,” “Joseph Johnson” and “Mortala Mohamed Adam,” was convicted on all five counts presented to the jury, which include conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals; conspiracy to bomb a government facility; conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, al Qaeda; providing and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda; and use of explosives in connection with terrorist activities.
During the two-week trial, the government established that Harun, purportedly a citizen of Niger, traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan in late summer of 2001 to join a jihadist group. There, he moved into an al Qaeda guesthouse – a registration center for new al Qaeda recruits – where he was living on Sept. 11, 2001. Immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, al Qaeda military leaders sent Harun to training camps in Afghanistan, in anticipation of an American invasion. At these camps, he learned how to use weapons and explosives, met top al Qaeda leaders and received his “kunya” (nom de guerre) “Spin Ghul,” meaning the, “White Rose.” Harun then traveled to Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas region of Pakistan, where he operated under Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, one of bin Laden’s deputies who was al Qaeda’s top military commander in Afghanistan at that time.
On April 25, 2003, Harun and fellow al Qaeda jihadists ambushed a U.S. military patrol from Firebase Shkin. Harun fired machinegun rounds and threw grenades at American soldiers while shouting “Allahu Akhbar” or “God is Great.” Two U.S. servicemen were killed in the attack, Private First Class Jerod Dennis, 19, of Oklahoma, and Airman First Class Raymond Losano, 24, of Texas. Several other soldiers were seriously wounded. Harun was also wounded but escaped to Pakistan. A pocket-sized Koran recovered at the scene contained Harun’s fingerprints and a journal describing the attacks contained Harun’s alias.
While recovering from his wounds in Pakistan, Harun met with senior al Qaeda officials – including Abu Faraj al-Libi (Abu Faraj), then al Qaeda’s external operations chief – and expressed his desire to engage in acts of terror against U.S. interests outside of Afghanistan, specifically attacks similar to 1998 al Qaeda bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Harun also swore “bayat” – or formal allegiance – to bin Laden through bin Laden’s military commander Abdul Hadi.
In summer of 2003, Harun traveled from Pakistan to Nigeria, where he planned to bomb the U.S. Embassy. He recruited accomplices, scouted the Embassy and other potential Western targets, and sent an accomplice to find explosives. He also met with local terrorist leaders to build up al Qaeda’s network in West Africa.
In 2004, Harun directed a co-conspirator to travel from Nigeria to deliver information and materials to al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. After learning that the co-conspirator had been arrested in Pakistan, Harun fled Nigeria. At approximately the same time, the FBI obtained a hard drive containing a letter written from Harun’s al Qaeda handler to Harun, providing him with detailed instructions on how to attack Americans in Nigeria. The letter specifically instructed Harun to target Americans – whom he described as “the head of the snake” – at “locations where Americans congregate,” such as embassies, hotels and “places where they gather for fun.” The al Qaeda handler also instructed Harun to obtain one ton of explosives for the bombing operation in Nigeria.
Harun then traveled to Libya where he planned to surreptitiously enter Europe to carry out terrorist attacks against Western interests. In early 2005, however, he was arrested by Libyan authorities and held in custody until his release in June 2011. Subsequently, Harun was arrested on June 24, 2011 by Italian authorities.
Harun was indicted in the U.S. on Feb. 21, 2012, and the Italian Minister of Justice ordered his extradition on Sept. 14, 2012 to face the charges pending in the Eastern District of New York.
When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan on June 22, Harun faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. If convicted of any offense, the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shreve Ariail, Melody Wells and Matthew J. Jacobs of the Eastern District of New York, and Trial Attorney Joseph N. Kaster of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Al Qaeda Operative Convicted of Multiple Terrorism Offenses Targeting Americans OverseasRead the Press Release
Earlier today in United States District Court in Brooklyn, a jury returned its verdict convicting al-Qaeda operative Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun of multiple terrorism offenses including conspiracy to murder American military personnel in Afghanistan and conspiracy to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria. Harun traveled to Afghanistan in the weeks before September 11, 2001 where he joined al-Qaeda, trained at al-Qaeda training camps, and in 2003 participated in attacks on U.S. and Coalition troops in Afghanistan in which two American service members were killed and others were seriously wounded. Harun also received training in explosives from an al-Qaeda weapons expert and traveled from Pakistan to Nigeria intending to attack U.S. government facilities there.
The guilty verdict was announced by Bridget M. Rohde, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Mary B. McCord, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) and James O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.
“As demonstrated by this case, the United States will be tireless in its efforts to hold al-Qaeda members accountable when they target American citizens serving their country abroad. We are firmly committed to bringing such terrorists to justice,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Rohde. Ms. Rohde expressed her grateful appreciation to the Department of Defense Army investigators, the Office of Military Commissions, the Italian Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor’s Office in Palermo, Italy, the Italian National Police, Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri authorities for their support and assistance.
“Harun is an al-Qaeda operative who targeted U.S. personnel and diplomatic facilities across two continents. The evidence presented at trial established that the defendant and other jihadists attacked a U.S. military patrol in Afghanistan, resulting in the death of two American soldiers and the serious injury of others. Today’s guilty verdict ensures that the defendant will be held accountable for his acts of terrorism,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “I want to thank the many agents, analysts, and prosecutors whose hard work and dedication made this result possible.”
“We hope the verdict today shows the public the FBI New York JTTF and our law enforcement partners are still arresting, charging and trying operatives for al-Qaeda 15 years after 9/11 because we won’t give up the obligation to bring terrorists to justice. It should also prove to anyone who wishes to harm our country, we will not stop, and we will never forget,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.
“Al-Qaeda operative Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun pledged allegiance to a known terrorist organization, conspiring to kill coalition soldiers in Afghanistan and even bomb a U.S. embassy in Nigeria,” said Police Commissioner O’Neill. “Today’s conviction holds the defendant responsible for the terror he waged overseas. I am thankful to the detectives, agents, and more than 50 partner agencies on the Joint Terrorism Task Force here in Manhattan and to the prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York who continue to bring rigorous terrorism cases in federal court.”
Harun, also known as “Spin Ghul,” was convicted of all five counts presented to the jury, which included conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals; conspiracy to bomb a U.S. government facility; conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, al-Qaeda; providing and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda; and use of explosives in connection with a felony offense.
During the two-week trial, the government established that Harun, purportedly a citizen of Niger, traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan in late summer of 2001 to join a jihadist group. There, he moved into an al-Qaeda guesthouse – a registration center for new al-Qaeda recruits – where he was living on September 11, 2001. Immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, al-Qaeda military leaders sent Harun to training camps in Afghanistan, in anticipation of an American invasion. At these camps, he learned how to use weapons and explosives, and met top al-Qaeda leaders. Harun then traveled to Waziristan in the FATA region of Pakistan, where he operated under Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, one of bin Laden’s deputies who was a senior al-Qaeda’s military commander at that time.
On April 25, 2003, Harun and fellow al-Qaeda jihadists ambushed a U.S. military patrol from Firebase Shkin. Harun fired machinegun rounds and threw grenades at American soldiers while shouting “Allahu Akhbar” or “God is Great.” Two U.S. servicemen were killed in the attack, Private First Class Jerod Dennis, 19, of Oklahoma, and Airman First Class Raymond Losano, 24, of Texas. Several other soldiers were seriously wounded. Harun was also wounded but escaped to Pakistan. A Koran recovered at the scene contained Harun’s fingerprints and a journal describing the attacks contained Harun’s alias.
While recovering from his wounds in Pakistan, Harun met with senior al-Qaeda officials – including Abu Faraj al-Libi (“Abu Faraj”), then al-Qaeda’s external operations chief. Harun expressed the desire to engage in acts of terror against U.S. interests outside Afghanistan, specifically attacks similar to the 1998 al-Qaeda bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Harun also swore “bayat” – or formal allegiance – to bin Laden through bin Laden’s military commander Abdul Hadi al Iraqi.
In the summer of 2003, Harun traveled from Pakistan to Nigeria, where he planned to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. He recruited accomplices, scouted the Embassy and other potential Western targets, and sent an accomplice to find explosives. He also met with local terrorist leaders to build-up al-Qaeda’s network in West Africa.
In 2004, Harun directed a co-conspirator to travel from Nigeria to deliver information and materials to al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. After learning that the co-conspirator had been arrested in Pakistan, Harun fled Nigeria. At approximately the same time, the FBI obtained a hard drive containing a letter written from Harun’s al-Qaeda handler to Harun, providing him detailed instructions regarding how to attack Americans in Nigeria. The letter specifically instructed Harun to target Americans – whom he described as “the head of the snake” – at “locations where Americans congregate,” such as embassies, hotels and “places where they gather for fun.” The al-Qaeda handler also instructed Harun to obtain one ton of explosives for the bombing operation in Nigeria.
Harun then traveled to Libya from where he planned to surreptitiously enter Europe to carry out terrorist attacks against Western interests. In early 2005, however, he was arrested by Libyan authorities and held in custody until his release in June 2011. Subsequently, Harun was arrested on June 24, 2011 by Italian authorities.
Harun was indicted in the United States on February 21, 2012, and the Italian Minister of Justice ordered his extradition on September 14, 2012 to face the charges pending in the Eastern District of New York.
When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan on June 22, 2017, Harun faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s National Security & Cybercrime Section. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shreve Ariail, Melody Wells and Matthew J. Jacobs of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, along with Joseph N. Kaster, Trial Attorney, Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, are in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
IBRAHIM SULEIMAN ADNAN ADAM HARUN
Age: 46E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 12-CR-134
Acting U.S. Attorney and IRS Special Agent in Charge Present Equitable Sharing Funds from Township 37 Marijuana Grow Case to Maine Law Enforcement PartnersRead the Press Release
Contact: Donald E. Clark
Assistant United States Attorney
(207) 780-3257
Bangor, Maine: Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, announced the distribution of more than $1.1 million of criminally forfeited funds to eight Maine law enforcement agencies for their participation in the successful federal prosecution of Malcolm French and Haynes Timberland, Inc. Pursuant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Equitable Sharing Program, the funds have been distributed to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; the Maine State Police; the Maine Warden Service; the Washington County Sheriff; and the Brewer, Biddeford, Scarborough and Gorham police departments.The prosecution arose out of the September 22, 2009 seizure of 2,943 marijuana plants in Township 37, Washington County. On January 24, 2014, following a jury trial, French was convicted of conspiracy to manufacture over 1000 marijuana plants, manufacturing over 1,000 marijuana plants, managing and controlling property used to manufacture marijuana, and harboring illegal aliens. His business, Haynes Timberland, Inc., was found guilty of managing and controlling property used to manufacture marijuana.
On February 10, 2016, Haynes Timberland was sentenced to pay a $100,000 fine. On April 21, 2016, French was sentenced to 175 months in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Haynes Timberland and French were also ordered to forfeit $1,550,000, a warehouse compound in Township 31, and a hunting camp in LaGrange that facilitated drug trafficking. The funds shared today were from the forfeiture of the $1,550,000.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim Statement on the Investigation into City Hall FundraisingRead the Press Release
“In response to allegations of misconduct, this Office, along with the FBI, has been investigating fundraising by and on behalf of Mayor Bill de Blasio for his 2013 election campaign, the Campaign for One New York, and the 2014 State Senate effort. We have conducted a thorough investigation into several circumstances in which Mayor de Blasio and others acting on his behalf solicited donations from individuals who sought official favors from the City, after which the Mayor made or directed inquiries to relevant City agencies on behalf of those donors. In considering whether to charge individuals with serious public corruption crimes, we take into account, among other things, the high burden of proof, the clarity of existing law, any recent changes in the law, and the particular difficulty in proving criminal intent in corruption schemes where there is no evidence of personal profit. After careful deliberation, given the totality of the circumstances here and absent additional evidence, we do not intend to bring federal criminal charges against the Mayor or those acting on his behalf relating to the fundraising efforts in question. Although it is rare that we issue a public statement about the status of an investigation, we believe it appropriate in this case at this time, in order not to unduly influence the upcoming campaign and Mayoral election.”
Acting U.S. Attorney AppointedRead the Press Release
BATON ROUGE, LA – Corey R. Amundson has been appointed as the Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana following the resignation of Walt Green who had served as the United States Attorney since 2014.
Acting U.S. Attorney Amundson stated: “I am deeply honored and humbled to lead an office of outstanding career professionals through this period of transition. Our office has a long history of commitment and dedication to the cause of justice that will be steadfastly maintained and honored on my watch. Crime has not stopped and neither will we. Our aggressive pursuit of criminals and our efforts to resolve pending matters will continue without pause. I look forward to continuing to work with our excellent federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and the communities we serve.”
Mr. Amundson has been a federal prosecutor in the Middle District of Louisiana for the past 15 years. He previously served as First Assistant United States Attorney (2014‐ 2017), Chief of the Criminal Division (2013‐2017), Senior Deputy Criminal Chief (2010‐ 2013), Deputy Criminal Chief in charge of the white collar crime section and the healthcare fraud strike force (2007‐2010), and line prosecutor in the white collar crime section and the violent crimes and narcotics section (2002‐2007). He has prosecuted more than 100 individuals and corporations, handling many significant and complex prosecutions and trials involving virtually all areas of federal criminal law.
Mr. Amundson frequently serves as an instructor for federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents at the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center and the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Louisiana State University Law Center, where he teaches a course entitled Corporate and White Collar Crime.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Mr. Amundson practiced at the law firm of King & Spalding LLP in its Washington, D.C. office, where he was assigned to the Special Matters and Government Investigations Group led by former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell. He also served for two years as a judicial law clerk for U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker in Indianapolis. Mr. Amundson received his J.D. from Emory University and his B.A. from Indiana University.
65-Year Old Repeat Bank Robber Sentenced to 130 Months in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
MEDFORD, Ore. – On Thursday, March 16, 2017, U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane sentenced Gerald Thomas Schram, 65, of Medford, to 130 months in prison for bank robbery and interference with commerce by robbery. Following his prison sentence, Schram will be on supervised release for three years. Schram was also ordered to pay $9,177 in restitution.
On January 20, 2014, Schram robbed a Minute Market in Medford, Oregon. Wearing a mask and hooded sweatshirt, Schram shouted at the clerks and threatened to pull a gun while reaching for his waistband. Schram fled the scene with $605.
On September 29, 2014, Schram robbed a U.S. Bank in Medford, Oregon, fleeing on a bicycle with $8,572. The same day, he was found hiding in his girlfriend’s home with most of the stolen money. Schram was arrested and, based in part on DNA found at the Minute Market, charged in federal court with both robberies.
Following a jury trial on September 27, 2016, Schram was convicted of the Minute Market robbery. He later pleaded guilty to the U.S. Bank robbery. Schram has seven prior felony convictions in California and Oregon between 1970 and 2014. He has served two prior federal prison sentences of 170 and 37 months for separate bank robbery and robbery convictions.
This case was investigated by the Medford Police Department and the FBI’s Medford Resident Agency Office and prosecuted by Jeffrey Sweet, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.
15 March 2017
Woman Sentenced in Robbery ConspiracyRead the Press Release
St. Croix, USVI B Senior District Court Judge Raymond Finch on March 14, 2017, sentenced, Ketisha Iles, 25, to 70 months in prison for conspiracy to interfere and interference with commerce by robbery, Acting United States Attorney Joycelyn Hewlett announced. Judge Finch also sentenced Iles to three years of supervised release and a special monetary assessment of $200.
On March 6, 2015, after a five-day trial, a federal jury on St. Croix convicted Iles of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and interference with commerce by robbery. Evidence presented at trial established that on June 17, 2013, after Iles was buzzed into Perfection Jewelry Store, she held the door open for three masked gunmen to enter. Once in the store, one of the gunmen hit an employee several times with a gun. Another gunman stood at the door while the others broke the display case and stole approximately $100,000 worth of 14-carat gold jewelry. The evidence also showed that Iles knew of the robbery before it happened and agreed to hold the door open for the gunmen.
This case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rhonda Williams-Henry.
Woman Found Guilty of Mail Fraud, Using Fire to Commit Mail Fraud, and Money Laundering in Connection with 2013 House Fire in MartelleRead the Press Release
A woman who participated in a scheme to submit a fraudulent insurance claim when her boyfriend intentionally set fire to his vacant house was convicted by a jury today after a three-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Beth Galloway, age 42, from Camanche, Iowa, and formerly of Olin, was convicted of one count of mail fraud, one count of using fire to commit mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The jury returned the verdicts this afternoon following about two hours of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed that, between Spring 2013 and Spring 2014, Galloway and her boyfriend, James Plower, made up and participated in a scheme to defraud Plower’s insurance company. The evidence showed that Galloway, as part of the scheme, twice drove a minor to Plower’s vacant home in Martelle, Iowa, to attempt to set fire to the home, but that both attempts failed. Further evidence showed that Plower then deliberately set fire to his vacant home and then submitted an insurance claim in which he falsely claimed the fire was accidental. As a result of the fraudulent insurance claim, the insurance company mailed Plower a check for $66,497.46. Evidence also showed that Galloway and Plower agreed to launder the proceeds from the fraudulent insurance claim in February and March of 2014 when, after learning that law enforcement was investigating the cause of the fire, the two agreed to take $10,000 of the proceeds from Plower’s bank account. They then gave the $10,000 to a friend to hold for them to prevent law enforcement from seizing the money.
Plower had previously pled guilty to charges of mail fraud and use of fire to commit mail fraud. He also had previously been sentenced to 13 years’ in federal prison.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Galloway remains free on conditions of release pending sentencing. Galloway faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 50 years’ imprisonment, a $750,000 fine, $300 in special assessments, and nine years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ravi Narayan and Tony Morfitt and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Iowa State Fire Marshal Division, and the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 16-CR-68.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
Virginia Man Charged with Robbing Two New Jersey BanksRead the Press Release
CAMDEN, N.J. – A Virginia man appeared in federal court today to face charges that he robbed a TD Bank in Ocean City, New Jersey, and a Wells Fargo Bank in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.
Bruce Wayne Higgins, 43, of Herndon, Virginia, is charged by complaint with two counts of bank robbery. Higgins appeared this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden federal court and was detained.
According to the complaint:
On Dec. 15, 2016, a man entered a TD Bank in Ocean City and presented a teller with a note that read: “GUN IN Pocket, MONEY NOW or –BANG-.” He then took cash from the teller and fled on foot. Afterwards, law enforcement officers issued a bulletin with a bank surveillance photograph. The robber was later identified as Higgins.
On Dec. 16, 2017, a man fitting Higgins’s description walked into a TD Bank in Atlantic City. After recognizing Higgins from the police bulletin, a bank employee triggered the bank’s “hold-up” alarm, and Higgins left the bank and got into a taxicab. Officers from the Atlantic City Police Department (ACPD) arrived at the TD Bank and, following up on information provided by witnesses, issued a bulletin describing the taxicab’s number and direction of travel.
Having received the bulletin describing the taxicab, another ACPD officer located the taxicab near a Wells Fargo Bank in Atlantic City while Higgins was allegedly in the process of robbing that bank. Higgins entered the Wells Fargo Bank and presented a teller with a note that read, “Gun in Pocket, Money Now or Bang now.” After Higgins took the money and fled the bank, ACPD officers arrested him.
Higgins had been detained at the Atlantic County Jail on state charges relating to the bank robberies.
Each bank robbery count carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark; the Ocean City Police Department, under the direction of Chief Chad Callahan; the Atlantic City Police Department, under the direction of Chief Henry White; the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor; and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Damon Tyner, with the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Vondra Carrig of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.
Defense Counsel: Lori Koch Esq., Assistant Federal Public Defender, Camden
United States Attorney's Office Names Eric Day as New Public Information OfficerRead the Press Release
Steven Butler, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, announces today that Eric Day, who also serves as the Victim Witness Coordinator for the United States Attorney’s Office, will now serve as the office’s Public Information Officer.
Eric was born and raised in Mobile, and graduated from Toulminville High School in 1971. After serving in the U.S. Army, he received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice Administration and his Masters of Education in Counseling from the University of South Alabama.
Eric started his Criminal Justice career working for the Alabama State Department of Pardons and Parole in 1975, and stayed until he was employed by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office in 1977. While there, he served as a Deputy Sheriff, Corrections Officer, Assistant Warden of the Mobile County Jail, Assistant Planning Officer, Director of the Victim Witness Program, Evaluator and Director of the Mobile County Work Release Program.
In May of 1988, Eric was hired by the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama, as the Law Enforcement /Victim Witness Coordinator.
We are honored to have Eric Day serve in the capacity, and request that all media inquiries be directed to Eric Day, who can be reached at [email protected] and 251-415-7120.
U.S. Charges Russian FSB Officers and Their Criminal Conspirators for Hacking Yahoo and Millions of Email AccountsRead the Press Release
A grand jury in the Northern District of California has indicted four defendants, including two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), for computer hacking, economic espionage and other criminal offenses in connection with a conspiracy, beginning in January 2014, to access Yahoo’s network and the contents of webmail accounts. The defendants are Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, a Russian national and resident; Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, a Russian national and resident; Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka “Magg,” 29, a Russian national and resident; and Karim Baratov, aka “Kay,” “Karim Taloverov” and “Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov,” 22, a Canadian national and a resident of Canada.
The defendants used unauthorized access to Yahoo’s systems to steal information from about at least 500 million Yahoo accounts and then used some of that stolen information to obtain unauthorized access to the contents of accounts at Yahoo, Google and other webmail providers, including accounts of Russian journalists, U.S. and Russian government officials and private-sector employees of financial, transportation and other companies. One of the defendants also exploited his access to Yahoo’s network for his personal financial gain, by searching Yahoo user communications for credit card and gift card account numbers, redirecting a subset of Yahoo search engine web traffic so he could make commissions and enabling the theft of the contacts of at least 30 million Yahoo accounts to facilitate a spam campaign.
The charges were announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions of the U.S. Department of Justice, Director James Comey of the FBI, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary McCord, U.S. Attorney Brian Stretch for the Northern District of California and Executive Assistant Director Paul Abbate of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.
“Cyber crime poses a significant threat to our nation’s security and prosperity, and this is one of the largest data breaches in history,” said Attorney General Sessions. “But thanks to the tireless efforts of U.S. prosecutors and investigators, as well as our Canadian partners, today we have identified four individuals, including two Russian FSB officers, responsible for unauthorized access to millions of users’ accounts. The United States will vigorously investigate and prosecute the people behind such attacks to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Today we continue to pierce the veil of anonymity surrounding cyber crimes,” said Director Comey. “We are shrinking the world to ensure that cyber criminals think twice before targeting U.S. persons and interests.”
“ The criminal conduct at issue, carried out and otherwise facilitated by officers from an FSB unit that serves as the FBI’s point of contact in Moscow on cybercrime matters, is beyond the pale,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “Once again, the Department and the FBI have demonstrated that hackers around the world can and will be exposed and held accountable. State actors may be using common criminals to access the data they want, but the indictment shows that our companies do not have to stand alone against this threat. We commend Yahoo and Google for their sustained and invaluable cooperation in the investigation aimed at obtaining justice for, and protecting the privacy of their users.”
“This is a highly complicated investigation of a very complex threat. It underscores the value of early, proactive engagement and cooperation between the private sector and the government,” said Executive Assistant Director Abbate. “The FBI will continue to work relentlessly with our private sector and international partners to identify those who conduct cyber-attacks against our citizens and our nation, expose them and hold them accountable under the law, no matter where they attempt to hide.”
“Silicon Valley’s computer infrastructure provides the means by which people around the world communicate with each other in their business and personal lives. The privacy and security of those communications must be governed by the rule of law, not by the whim of criminal hackers and those who employ them. People rightly expect that their communications through Silicon Valley internet providers will remain private, unless lawful authority provides otherwise. We will not tolerate unauthorized and illegal intrusions into the Silicon Valley computer infrastructure upon which both private citizens and the global economy rely,” said U.S. Attorney Stretch. “Working closely with Yahoo and Google, Department of Justice lawyers and the FBI were able to identify and expose the hackers responsible for the conduct described today, without unduly intruding into the privacy of the accounts that were stolen. We commend Yahoo and Google for providing exemplary cooperation while zealously protecting their users’ privacy.”
Summary of Allegations
According to the allegations of the Indictment:
The FSB officer defendants, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, protected, directed, facilitated and paid criminal hackers to collect information through computer intrusions in the U.S. and elsewhere. In the present case, they worked with co-defendants Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov to obtain access to the email accounts of thousands of individuals.
Belan had been publicly indicted in September 2012 and June 2013 and was named one of FBI’s Cyber Most Wanted criminals in November 2013. An Interpol Red Notice seeking his immediate detention has been lodged (including with Russia) since July 26, 2013. Belan was arrested in a European country on a request from the U.S. in June 2013, but he was able to escape to Russia before he could be extradited.
Instead of acting on the U.S. government’s Red Notice and detaining Belan after his return, Dokuchaev and Sushchin subsequently used him to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network. In or around November and December 2014, Belan stole a copy of at least a portion of Yahoo’s User Database (UDB), a Yahoo trade secret that contained, among other data, subscriber information including users’ names, recovery email accounts, phone numbers and certain information required to manually create, or “mint,” account authentication web browser “cookies” for more than 500 million Yahoo accounts.
Belan also obtained unauthorized access on behalf of the FSB conspirators to Yahoo’s Account Management Tool (AMT), which was a proprietary means by which Yahoo made and logged changes to user accounts. Belan, Dokuchaev and Sushchin then used the stolen UDB copy and AMT access to locate Yahoo email accounts of interest and to mint cookies for those accounts, enabling the co-conspirators to access at least 6,500 such accounts without authorization.
Some victim accounts were of predictable interest to the FSB, a foreign intelligence and law enforcement service, such as personal accounts belonging to Russian journalists; Russian and U.S. government officials; employees of a prominent Russian cybersecurity company; and numerous employees of other providers whose networks the conspirators sought to exploit. However, other personal accounts belonged to employees of commercial entities, such as a Russian investment banking firm, a French transportation company, U.S. financial services and private equity firms, a Swiss bitcoin wallet and banking firm and a U.S. airline.
During the conspiracy, the FSB officers facilitated Belan’s other criminal activities, by providing him with sensitive FSB law enforcement and intelligence information that would have helped him avoid detection by U.S. and other law enforcement agencies outside Russia, including information regarding FSB investigations of computer hacking and FSB techniques for identifying criminal hackers. Additionally, while working with his FSB conspirators to compromise Yahoo’s network and its users, Belan used his access to steal financial information such as gift card and credit card numbers from webmail accounts; to gain access to more than 30 million accounts whose contacts were then stolen to facilitate a spam campaign; and to earn commissions from fraudulently redirecting a subset of Yahoo’s search engine traffic.
When Dokuchaev and Sushchin learned that a target of interest had accounts at webmail providers other than Yahoo, including through information obtained as part of the Yahoo intrusion, they tasked their co-conspirator, Baratov, a resident of Canada, with obtaining unauthorized access to more than 80 accounts in exchange for commissions. On March 7, the Department of Justice submitted a provisional arrest warrant to Canadian law enforcement authorities, requesting Baratov’s arrest. On March 14, Baratov was arrested in Canada and the matter is now pending with the Canadian authorities.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
The FBI, led by the San Francisco Field Office, conducted the investigation that resulted in the charges announced today. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, with support from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Defendants: At all times relevant to the charges, the Indictment alleges as follows:
-
- Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, was an officer in the FSB Center for Information Security, aka “Center 18.” Dokuchaev was a Russian national and resident.
-
- Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, was an FSB officer, a superior to Dokuchaev within the FSB, and a Russian national and resident. Sushchin was embedded as a purported employee and Head of Information Security at a Russian investment bank.
-
- Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka “Magg,” 29, was born in Latvia and is a Russian national and resident. U.S. Federal grand juries have indicted Belan twice before, in 2012 and 2013, for computer fraud and abuse, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft involving three U.S.-based e-commerce companies and the FBI placed Belan on its “Cyber Most Wanted” list. Belan is currently the subject of a pending “Red Notice” requesting that Interpol member nations (including Russia) arrest him pending extradition. Belan was also one of two criminal hackers named by President Barack Obama on Dec. 29, 2016, pursuant to Executive Order 13694, as a Specially Designated National subject to sanctions.
-
- Karim Baratov, aka “Kay,” “Karim Taloverov” and “Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov,” 22. He is a Canadian national and a resident of Canada.
Victims: Yahoo; more than 500 million Yahoo accounts for which account information about was stolen by the defendants; more than 30 million Yahoo accounts for which account contents were accessed without authorization to facilitate a spam campaign; and at least 18 additional users at other webmail providers whose accounts were accessed without authorization.
Time Period: As alleged in the Indictment, the conspiracy began at least as early as 2014 and, even though the conspirators lost their access to Yahoo’s networks in September 2016, they continued to utilize information stolen from the intrusion up to and including at least December 2016.
Crimes:
Count(s)
Defendant(s)
Charge
Statute 18 U.S.C.
Conduct
Maximum Penalty
1
All
Conspiring to commit computer fraud and abuse
§ 1030(b)
Defendants conspired to hack into the computers of Yahoo and accounts maintained by Yahoo, Google and other providers to steal information from them.
First, Belan gained access to Yahoo’s servers and stole information that allowed him, Dokuchaev, and Sushchin to gain unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
Then, Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with gaining access to individual user accounts at Google and other Providers (but not Yahoo) and paid Baratov for providing them with the account passwords. In some instances, Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with targeting accounts that they learned of through access to Yahoo’s UDB and AMT (e.g., Gmail accounts that served as a Yahoo user’s secondary account).
10 years
2
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Conspiring to engage in economic espionage
§ 1831(a)(5)
Starting on Nov. 4, 2014, Belan stole, and the defendants thereafter transferred, received and possessed the following Yahoo trade secrets:
- the Yahoo UDB, which was proprietary and confidential Yahoo technology and information, including subscriber names, secondary accounts, phone numbers, challenge questions and answers;
- the AMT, Yahoo’s interface to the UDB; and
- Yahoo’s cookie “minting” source code, which enabled the defendants to manufacture account cookies to then gain access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
15 years
3
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Conspiring to engage in theft of trade secrets
§ 1832(a)(5)
See Count 2
10 years
4-6
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Economic espionage
§§ 1831(a)(1), (a)(4), and 2
See Count 2
15 years (each count)
7-9
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Theft of trade secrets
§§ 1832(a)(1), and 2
See Count 2
10 years (each count)
10
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Conspiring to commit wire fraud
§ 1349
The defendants fraudulently schemed to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network through compromised Yahoo employee accounts and then used the Yahoo trade secrets to gain unauthorized access to valuable non-public information in individual Yahoo user accounts.
20 years
11-13
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Accessing (or attempting to access) a computer without authorization to obtain information for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.
§§ 1030(a)(2)(C), 1030(c)(2)(B)(i)-(iii), and 2
The defendants gained unauthorized access to Yahoo’s corporate network and obtained information regarding Yahoo’s network architecture and the UDB.
5 years
(each count)
14-17
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Transmitting code with the intent to cause damage to computers.
§§ 1030(a)(5)(A), 1030(c)(4)(B), and 2
During the course of their unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network, the defendants transmitted code on Yahoo’s network in order to maintain a persistent presence, to redirect Yahoo search engine users and to mint cookies for individual Yahoo accounts.
10 years (each count)
18-24
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Accessing (or attempting to access) a computer without authorization to obtain information for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.
§§ 1030(a)(2)(C), 1030(c)(2)(B)(i)-(iii), and 2
Defendants obtained unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
5 years
(each count)
25-36
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Counterfeit access device fraud
§§ 1029(a)(1), 1029(b)(1), and 2
Defendants used minted cookies to gain unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
10 years (each count)
37
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Counterfeit access device making equipment
§§ 1029(a)(4)
Defendants used software to mint cookies for unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
15 years
38
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Baratov
Conspiring to commit access device fraud
§§ 1029(b)(2)
Defendants Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with gaining unauthorized access to individual user accounts at Google and other Providers and then paid Baratov for providing them with the account passwords. In some instances, Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with targeting accounts that they learned of through access to Yahoo’s UDB and AMT (e.g., Gmail accounts that served as a Yahoo user’s secondary account).
7 ½ years.
39
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Baratov
Conspiring to commit wire fraud
§ 1349
See Count 38
20 years
40-47
Dokuchaev
Baratov
Aggravated identity theft
§ 1028A(a)(1)
See Count 38
2 years
The language of this release was updated to reflect the current citizenship of Karim Baratov.
Dmitri Dokuchae et al Indictment Redacted-
U.S. Charges Russian FSB Officers and Their Criminal Conspirators for Hacking Yahoo and Millions of Email AccountsRead the Press Release
Watch the press conference
Remarks by U.S. Attorney Brian StretchSAN FRANCISCO – A grand jury in the Northern District of California has indicted four defendants, including two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), for computer hacking, economic espionage and other criminal offenses in connection with a conspiracy, beginning in January 2014, to access Yahoo’s network and the contents of webmail accounts. The defendants are Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, a Russian national and resident; Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, a Russian national and resident; Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka “Magg,” 29, a Russian national and resident; and Karim Baratov, aka “Kay,” “Karim Taloverov” and “Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov,” 22, a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada.
The defendants used unauthorized access to Yahoo’s systems to steal information from about at least 500 million Yahoo accounts and then used some of that stolen information to obtain unauthorized access to the contents of accounts at Yahoo, Google and other webmail providers, including accounts of Russian journalists, U.S. and Russian government officials and private-sector employees of financial, transportation and other companies. One of the defendants also exploited his access to Yahoo’s network for his personal financial gain, by searching Yahoo user communications for credit card and gift card account numbers, redirecting a subset of Yahoo search engine web traffic so he could make commissions and enabling the theft of the contacts of at least 30 million Yahoo accounts to facilitate a spam campaign.
The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Director James Comey of the FBI, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord of the National Security Division, and Executive Assistant Director Paul Abbate of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.
“Silicon Valley’s computer infrastructure provides the means by which people around the world communicate with each other in their business and personal lives. The privacy and security of those communications must be governed by the rule of law, not by the whim of criminal hackers and those who employ them. People rightly expect that their communications through Silicon Valley internet providers will remain private, unless lawful authority provides otherwise. We will not tolerate unauthorized and illegal intrusions into the Silicon Valley computer infrastructure upon which both private citizens and the global economy rely,” said U.S. Attorney Stretch. “Working closely with Yahoo and Google, Department of Justice lawyers and the FBI were able to identify and expose the hackers responsible for the conduct described today, without unduly intruding into the privacy of the accounts that were stolen. We commend Yahoo and Google for providing exemplary cooperation while zealously protecting their users’ privacy.”
“Cyber crime poses a significant threat to our nation’s security and prosperity, and this is one of the largest data breaches in history,” said Attorney General Sessions. “But thanks to the tireless efforts of U.S. prosecutors and investigators, as well as our Canadian partners, today we have identified four individuals, including two Russian FSB officers, responsible for unauthorized access to millions of users’ accounts. The United States will vigorously investigate and prosecute the people behind such attacks to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Today we continue to pierce the veil of anonymity surrounding cyber crimes,” said Director Comey. “We are shrinking the world to ensure that cyber criminals think twice before targeting U.S. persons and interests.”
“The criminal conduct at issue, carried out and otherwise facilitated by officers from an FSB unit that serves as the FBI’s point of contact in Moscow on cybercrime matters, is beyond the pale,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “Once again, the Department and the FBI have demonstrated that hackers around the world can and will be exposed and held accountable. State actors may be using common criminals to access the data they want, but the indictment shows that our companies do not have to stand alone against this threat. We commend Yahoo and Google for their sustained and invaluable cooperation in the investigation aimed at obtaining justice for, and protecting the privacy of their users.”
“This is a highly complicated investigation of a very complex threat. It underscores the value of early, proactive engagement and cooperation between the private sector and the government,” said Executive Assistant Director Abbate. “The FBI will continue to work relentlessly with our private sector and international partners to identify those who conduct cyber-attacks against our citizens and our nation, expose them and hold them accountable under the law, no matter where they attempt to hide.”
Summary of Allegations
According to the allegations of the Indictment:
The FSB officer defendants, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, protected, directed, facilitated and paid criminal hackers to collect information through computer intrusions in the U.S. and elsewhere. In the present case, they worked with co-defendants Alexsey Belan and Karim Baratov to obtain access to the email accounts of thousands of individuals.
Belan had been publicly indicted in September 2012 and June 2013 and was named one of FBI’s Cyber Most Wanted criminals in November 2013. An Interpol Red Notice seeking his immediate detention has been lodged (including with Russia) since July 26, 2013. Belan was arrested in a European country on a request from the U.S. in June 2013, but he was able to escape to Russia before he could be extradited.
Instead of acting on the U.S. government’s Red Notice and detaining Belan after his return, Dokuchaev and Sushchin subsequently used him to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network. In or around November and December 2014, Belan stole a copy of at least a portion of Yahoo’s User Database (UDB), a Yahoo trade secret that contained, among other data, subscriber information including users’ names, recovery email accounts, phone numbers and certain information required to manually create, or “mint,” account authentication web browser “cookies” for more than 500 million Yahoo accounts.
Belan also obtained unauthorized access on behalf of the FSB conspirators to Yahoo’s Account Management Tool (AMT), which was a proprietary means by which Yahoo made and logged changes to user accounts. Belan, Dokuchaev and Sushchin then used the stolen UDB copy and AMT access to locate Yahoo email accounts of interest and to mint cookies for those accounts, enabling the co-conspirators to access at least 6,500 such accounts without authorization.
Some victim accounts were of predictable interest to the FSB, a foreign intelligence and law enforcement service, such as personal accounts belonging to Russian journalists; Russian and U.S. government officials; employees of a prominent Russian cybersecurity company; and numerous employees of other providers whose networks the conspirators sought to exploit. However, other personal accounts belonged to employees of commercial entities, such as a Russian investment banking firm, a French transportation company, U.S. financial services and private equity firms, a Swiss bitcoin wallet and banking firm and a U.S. airline.
During the conspiracy, the FSB officers facilitated Belan’s other criminal activities, by providing him with sensitive FSB law enforcement and intelligence information that would have helped him avoid detection by U.S. and other law enforcement agencies outside Russia, including information regarding FSB investigations of computer hacking and FSB techniques for identifying criminal hackers. Additionally, while working with his FSB conspirators to compromise Yahoo’s network and its users, Belan used his access to steal financial information such as gift card and credit card numbers from webmail accounts; to gain access to more than 30 million accounts whose contacts were then stolen to facilitate a spam campaign; and to earn commissions from fraudulently redirecting a subset of Yahoo’s search engine traffic.
When Dokuchaev and Sushchin learned that a target of interest had accounts at webmail providers other than Yahoo, including through information obtained as part of the Yahoo intrusion, they tasked their co-conspirator, Baratov, a resident of Canada, with obtaining unauthorized access to more than 80 accounts in exchange for commissions. On March 7, the Department of Justice submitted a provisional arrest warrant to Canadian law enforcement authorities, requesting Baratov’s arrest. On March 14, Baratov was arrested in Canada and the matter is now pending with the Canadian authorities.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
The FBI, led by the San Francisco Field Office, conducted the investigation that resulted in the charges announced today. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, with support from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Defendants: At all times relevant to the charges, the Indictment alleges as follows:
- Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, was an officer in the FSB Center for Information Security, aka “Center 18.” Dokuchaev was a Russian national and resident.
- Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, was an FSB officer, a superior to Dokuchaev within the FSB, and a Russian national and resident. Sushchin was embedded as a purported employee and Head of Information Security at a Russian investment bank.
- Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, aka “Magg,” 29, was born in Latvia and is a Russian national and resident. U.S. Federal grand juries have indicted Belan twice before, in 2012 and 2013, for computer fraud and abuse, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft involving three U.S.-based e-commerce companies and the FBI placed Belan on its “Cyber Most Wanted” list. Belan is currently the subject of a pending “Red Notice” requesting that Interpol member nations (including Russia) arrest him pending extradition. Belan was also one of two criminal hackers named by President Barack Obama on Dec. 29, 2016, pursuant to Executive Order 13694, as a Specially Designated National subject to sanctions.
- Karim Baratov, aka “Kay,” “Karim Taloverov” and “Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov,” 22. He is a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada.
Victims: Yahoo; more than 500 million Yahoo accounts for which account information about was stolen by the defendants; more than 30 million Yahoo accounts for which account contents were accessed without authorization to facilitate a spam campaign; and at least 18 additional users at other webmail providers whose accounts were accessed without authorization.
Time Period: As alleged in the Indictment, the conspiracy began at least as early as 2014 and, even though the conspirators lost their access to Yahoo’s networks in September 2016, they continued to utilize information stolen from the intrusion up to and including at least December 2016.
Crimes:
Count(s)
Defendant(s)
Charge
Statute 18 U.S.C.
Conduct
Maximum Penalty
1
All
Conspiring to commit computer fraud and abuse
§ 1030(b)
Defendants conspired to hack into the computers of Yahoo and accounts maintained by Yahoo, Google and other providers to steal information from them.
First, Belan gained access to Yahoo’s servers and stole information that allowed him, Dokuchaev, and Sushchin to gain unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
Then, Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with gaining access to individual user accounts at Google and other Providers (but not Yahoo) and paid Baratov for providing them with the account passwords. In some instances, Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with targeting accounts that they learned of through access to Yahoo’s UDB and AMT (e.g., Gmail accounts that served as a Yahoo user’s secondary account).
10 years
2
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Conspiring to engage in economic espionage
§ 1831(a)(5)
Starting on Nov. 4, 2014, Belan stole, and the defendants thereafter transferred, received and possessed the following Yahoo trade secrets:
- the Yahoo UDB, which was proprietary and confidential Yahoo technology and information, including subscriber names, secondary accounts, phone numbers, challenge questions and answers;
- the AMT, Yahoo’s interface to the UDB; and
- Yahoo’s cookie “minting” source code, which enabled the defendants to manufacture account cookies to then gain access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
15 years
3
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Conspiring to engage in theft of trade secrets
§ 1832(a)(5)
See Count 2
10 years
4-6
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Economic espionage
§§ 1831(a)(1), (a)(4), and 2
See Count 2
15 years (each count)
7-9
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Theft of trade secrets
§§ 1832(a)(1), and 2
See Count 2
10 years (each count)
10
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Conspiring to commit wire fraud
§ 1349
The defendants fraudulently schemed to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network through compromised Yahoo employee accounts and then used the Yahoo trade secrets to gain unauthorized access to valuable non-public information in individual Yahoo user accounts.
20 years
11-13
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Accessing (or attempting to access) a computer without authorization to obtain information for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.
§§ 1030(a)(2)(C), 1030(c)(2)(B)(i)-(iii), and 2
The defendants gained unauthorized access to Yahoo’s corporate network and obtained information regarding Yahoo’s network architecture and the UDB.
5 years
(each count)
14-17
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Transmitting code with the intent to cause damage to computers.
§§ 1030(a)(5)(A), 1030(c)(4)(B), and 2
During the course of their unauthorized access to Yahoo’s network, the defendants transmitted code on Yahoo’s network in order to maintain a persistent presence, to redirect Yahoo search engine users and to mint cookies for individual Yahoo accounts.
10 years (each count)
18-24
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Accessing (or attempting to access) a computer without authorization to obtain information for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.
§§ 1030(a)(2)(C), 1030(c)(2)(B)(i)-(iii), and 2
Defendants obtained unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
5 years
(each count)
25-36
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Counterfeit access device fraud
§§ 1029(a)(1), 1029(b)(1), and 2
Defendants used minted cookies to gain unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
10 years (each count)
37
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Belan
Counterfeit access device making equipment
§§ 1029(a)(4)
Defendants used software to mint cookies for unauthorized access to individual Yahoo user accounts.
15 years
38
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Baratov
Conspiring to commit access device fraud
§§ 1029(b)(2)
Defendants Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with gaining unauthorized access to individual user accounts at Google and other Providers and then paid Baratov for providing them with the account passwords. In some instances, Dokuchaev and Sushchin tasked Baratov with targeting accounts that they learned of through access to Yahoo’s UDB and AMT (e.g., Gmail accounts that served as a Yahoo user’s secondary account).
7 ½ years.
39
Dokuchaev
Sushchin
Baratov
Conspiring to commit wire fraud
§ 1349
See Count 38
20 years
40-47
Dokuchaev
Baratov
Aggravated identity theft
§ 1028A(a)(1)
See Count 38
2 years
Two members of Indiana family sentenced to federal prison for pain pill conspiracyRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Two members of a family from Indiana were sentenced today for their involvement in an oxycodone conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Linda Vannatter, 74, of Hammond, was sentenced to three years and a month in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. Vannatter’s son-in-law, Steven Jurick, 57, of Valparaiso, was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
Vannatter and Jurick admitted to conspiring with each other from approximately January 2016 until April 13, 2016, to provide oxycodone to an individual who distributed the pain pills in Logan County. That individual contacted either Vannatter or Jurick on several occasions and met with either or both of them in Indiana to obtain oxycodone. Vannatter admitted that on March 15, 2016, she sold 231 thirty milligram and 17 twenty milligram oxycodone pills to that individual, who on that occasion was acting as a confidential informant. Jurick admitted that on April 13, 2016, he sold 150 thirty milligram oxycodone pills to that individual, who on that occasion was again acting as a confidential informant. The drug deals both took place in Indiana.
The Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney John J. Frail is responsible for the prosecution. United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentences.
This case is being prosecuted as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.
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Two Defendants Plead Guilty in Multi-Million Dollar Health Care Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme Involving Sober Homes and Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment CentersRead the Press Release
Two owners of sober homes and alcohol and drug addiction treatment centers pled guilty for their participation in a multi-million dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme that involved the filing of fraudulent insurance claim forms and defrauded health care benefit programs.
Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Dave Aronberg, State Attorney, Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, Jeff Atwater, Florida Chief Financial Officer, William D. Snyder, Sheriff Martin County Sheriff's Office, Robert Koons, Special Agent in Charge, Amtrak Office of Inspector General, Rafiq Ahmad, Special Agent in Charge, United States Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG), Isabel Colon, Regional Director, United States Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL-EBSA), Dennis Russo, Director of Operations, National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), Ric Bradshaw, Sheriff, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO), Sarah Mooney, Chief, West Palm Beach Police Department, Jeffrey S. Goldman, Chief, Delray Beach Police Department, Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General, and Scott Rezendes, Special Agent in Charge, Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General (OPM-OIG), made the announcement.
Kenneth Chatman, a/k/a “Kenny,” 46, of Boynton Beach, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h); and one count of sex trafficking conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1594(c). Laura Chatman, 44, of Boynton Beach, pled guilty to two counts of making a false statement related to a health care matter, in violation ofTitle18, United States Code, Section 1035(a)(1). Sentencings for the Chatmans are scheduled for May 17, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks.
According to court documents, defendant Kenneth Chatman established a series of sober homes, including Stay’n Alive, Inc., Total Recovery Sober Living LLC, and several other multi-bed residences operating as sober homes in Palm Beach and Broward Counties. These sober home facilities were purportedly in the business of providing safe and drug-free residences for individuals suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. Kenneth Chatman conspired with others to obtain patients who would receive ineffective and medically unnecessary substance abuse treatment and testing that could be billed to the patients’ insurance in order to enrich Chatman and the members of the conspiracy.
To achieve this goal, defendant Kenneth Chatman paid kickbacks and bribes to the sober home owners for referring their residents to Reflections Treatment Center LLC in Margate, Florida and Journey to Recovery LLC in Lake Worth, Florida for treatment, and disguised these kickbacks and bribes as “case management fees,” “consulting fees,” “marketing fees,” and “commissions.” The co-defendants met with Kenneth Chatman on a weekly basis to collect their kickbacks and bribes, which were based on the number of insured patients that received treatment each week.
To obtain residents for the sober homes, defendant Kenneth Chatman and others involved in the conspiracy provided kickbacks and bribes, in the form of free or reduced rent and other benefits, to individuals with insurance who agreed to reside at the sober homes, attend drug treatment, and submit to regular drug testing that members of the conspiracy could bill to the residents’ insurance plans. Although the sober homes were purportedly drug-free residences, some of the defendants permitted the residents to continue using drugs as long as they attended treatment and submitted to drug testing.
Defendants Kenneth and Laura Chatman submitted to the Florida Department of Children and Families fraudulent applications for licensure for Journey to Recovery and Reflections Treatment Center, stating that Laura Chatman was the sole owner of those entities and hiding the fact that Kenneth Chatman owned and operated the treatment centers and was a convicted felon and therefore unable to operate the facilities in his own name.
Defendant Laura Chatman appeared at Reflections and Journey for audits and inspections by DCF and other accrediting agencies to make it seem that she was the sole owner and officer of the companies. Defendant Laura Chatman also filed corporate documents and opened bank accounts in the name of Reflections and Journey to allow co-defendant Kenneth Chatman access to deposit proceeds from the health care fraud scheme and to conduct transactions meant to promote the scheme. Defendant Kenneth Chatman managed all aspects of these facilities including the hiring and firing of personnel; admitting and discharging patients and making financial decisions.
Defendant Kenneth Chatman dictated which patients were admitted and discharged and the type and frequency of different types of lab testing that would be performed based the kickbacks and bribes that he was receiving from different clinical laboratories rather than based upon the individual patients’ needs. Kenneth Chatman dictated that confirmatory urine drug testing; duplicative saliva drug testing, DNA and allergy testing regardless of whether patients complained of allergies. These tests were medically unnecessary and not used to direct the treatment of patients. Many of the test results were never reviewed and new samples were submitted before older tests were received and reviewed.
Defendant Kenneth Chatman also recruited and coerced female patients and residents into prostitution, telling them that they would not have to pay rent or participate in treatment or testing so long as they would allow him to continue to bill their insurance companies for substance abuse treatment and testing that the patients did not receive.
Defendants Kenneth Chatman and other co-conspirators recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, obtained, and maintained some female patients into performing commercial sex acts. The defendant provided housing for the female patients, who would be made to perform sex acts in exchange for money that would then have to be paid to defendant Kenneth Chatman as “rent.” The commercial sex activity occurred at some of the sober homes controlled by the defendant or at hotels and motels. Kenneth Chatman provided condoms and advertised and caused the advertisement of the commercial sexual activity. Kenneth Chatman and other co-conspirators provided controlled substances to these addicted patients to induce them to perform sexual acts.
Kenneth Chatman also used intimidation tactics and threats of legal process, including evicting the patients from his sober homes to maintain their compliance. These patients were not required to attend treatment at Reflections or provide bodily fluid samples for testing but he submitted and caused the submission of claims to the patients’ Insurance Plans for substance abuse treatment and testing that they did not receive.
Kenneth Chatman further maintained control over patients who attended Reflections and Journey by threats and confiscating their belongings, car keys, telephones, medications, and food stamps, in order to maintain the ability to continue billing their Insurance Plans.
The proceeds of the health care fraud scheme were deposited into bank accounts that Kenneth Chatman and co-defendant Laura Chatman opened at Wells Fargo Bank in the name of Reflections and Journey. Kenneth Chatman and the co-conspirators agreed to use the proceeds to promote the ongoing fraud scheme including the making of kickback and bribe payments in the form of checks to sober home owners. These checks were for the referral of insured clients to Reflections for treatment and often noted that they were for “case management.” Kenneth Chatman, Laura Chatman and their co-conspirators also made payments to the medical directors, clinical directors, employees and others to continue their involvement with the fraud. Monies from these accounts were also used to pay kickbacks and bribes to patients, including providing prescription and illicit drugs to patients and potential patients.
Potential victims should call (561) 822-5114 or submit complaints through the IC3 Complaint Form - https://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx and use the key word “Chatman Reflections” in the “Description of the Incident” field when submitting complaints related to this case.
Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the Greater Palm Beach Health Care Fraud Task Force. Agencies of the task force include the FBI, IRS-CI, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office Sober Homes Task Force, Florida Division of Investigative and Forensic Services, Martin County Sheriff's Office, Amtrak OIG, DOL-OIG, DOL-EBSA, National Insurance Crime Bureau, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, West Palm Beach Police Department, Delray Beach Police Department, Florida Attorney General Office of Statewide Prosecution, and OPM-OIG. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney A. Marie Villafaña.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.
Three indicted for shipping methamphetamine from California to AkronRead the Press Release
An Akron man and two from California were indicted for a methamphetamine conspiracy, said David A. Sierleja, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Jonathan Dowdell, 32, of Akron, Dwan Dowdell, 31, and Justin Jones, 26, both of San Bernardino, California were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute approximately 900 grams of methamphetamine.
They were arrested by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Feb. 15 for shipping approximately 900 grams of methamphetamine from California to Akron, according to court documents.
If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
This case was investigated the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigation/ICE, Cleveland Police Department, Akron Police Department and Summit County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. States Attorney Teresa Riley.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Three Heroin Dealers Arrested on Federal Drug Charges in Connection to the Overdose Death of a Farmers Branch WomanRead the Press Release
DALLAS — A Dallas-area man has been charged by federal criminal complaint stemming from his role in selling the heroin that caused a young woman’s overdose death at a McDonald’s restaurant in Farmers Branch in June 2016. Two other men were charged by federal criminal complaints stemming from their trafficking of illegal narcotics. The announcement was made today by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
“Tragically, heroin deaths like this are not isolated events anymore,” said U.S. Attorney Parker. “We obviously can’t bring this life back, but we can, together with our state and local partners, bring the full weight of law enforcement to bear on finding and prosecuting those who sell this poison. We will find you.”
Specifically, the complaint charges Rogelio Bernal, 20, of Dallas, Texas, and Zakariah Michael Wolf, 29, of Greenville, Texas, with conspiracy to distribute heroin in November of 2016, and separately charges Bernal with conspiracy to distribute heroin in June of 2016. Bernal and Wolf made appearances in federal court this week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver, who ordered that Bernal remain in custody pending the detention hearing set for March 20, 2017, and Wolf remain in custody pending his detention hearing set for March 22, 2017.
In a separate complaint, Steven Gomez, 18, of Dallas, Texas, was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on March 9, 2017, after having been found sharing a residence with Rogelio Bernal. Gomez made his initial appearance in federal court on March 9, 2017, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver who ordered that he remain in custody pending trial.
According to the affidavit filed with the federal complaint for Bernal and Wolf, on November 9, 2016 investigators learned that Bernal distributed heroin in the Farmers Branch, Texas, area. Bernal had been the source of supply of heroin in the area since at least April 2016, and supplied Nancy Pineda, who was previously charged in a separate complaint for her role in the conspiracy. Investigators discovered Bernal had several text conversations with co-conspirators coordinating meetings to conduct illegal drug transactions.
On November 17, 2016, Farmers Branch Police Department observed Bernal arrive at a shopping center parking lot in Dallas, Texas. Officers observed a white male get into the front passenger seat of Bernal’s vehicle. The white male was later identified as Wolf. Approximately five to ten minutes later, Wolf exited Bernal’s vehicle and Bernal departed the location.
In the early morning hours of November 18, 2016, a Greenville Police officer observed a green 1994 Chrysler Concord, traveling east on Templeton Street in Greenville, Texas. The vehicle was stopped after committing multiple traffic violations, and the driver was identified as Wolf. Wolf was eventually arrested and the Greenville Police Department located a safe in the vehicle containing digital scale, several small clear zip lock style baggies, a syringe, a spoon with possible heroin residue, Suboxone sublingual packs, a half pill of Alprozolam, a plastic baggie containing suspected cocaine, a plastic baggie containing suspected methamphetamine, and a plastic baggie containing suspected heroin. Texas Department of Public Safety Laboratory Analysis of the drugs seized from the safe revealed 11.20 gross grams of heroin and 1.77 gross grams of methamphetamine. Two glass pipes, a wood stick, and 50 packaged syringes were also found in the vehicle.
According to the affidavit filed with the Gomez complaint, a federal search warrant was executed on March 9, 2017, at the residence of Bernal and Gomez. A search of Gomez’s room revealed a number of weapons, crack cocaine, and methamphetamine. Specifically, 490 gross grams of crack cocaine, 2,036 gross grams of suspected methamphetamine, and multiple firearms were located.
A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offense charged, and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The U.S. Attorney’s office has 30 days to present the matter to a grand jury for indictment. The penalty for the offenses charged in these criminal complaints is not more than 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine.
The Farmers Branch Police Department, Greenville Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration are investigating the case. The Grand Prairie Police Department and Dallas Police Department provided assistance for the operation on March 9, 2017. Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Calvert and Assistant U.S. Attorney Myria Boehm are prosecuting.
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Sumter Drug Traffickers Sentenced over Two Days in Federal CourtRead the Press Release
Contact Person: JD Rowell (803) 929-3000
Columbia, South Carolina---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Shan Hill, age 36, of Sumter, SC; Tywon Blackwell, age 35, of Alcolu, SC; George “Tech” McDowell, age 45, of Sumter, SC; Shawn Green, age 38, of Sumter, SC; Quanta Lewis, age 23, of Sumter, SC; and Keenan McDowell-Gregg, age 22, of Sumter, SC; were sentenced yesterday and today in federal court in Columbia for conspiracy to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine and/or cocaine base in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 846. Chief United States District Judge Terry L. Wooten of Columbia sentenced the defendants to the following terms of imprisonment and supervised release: • Shan Hill: 56 months imprisonment followed by 6 years supervised release; • Tywon Blackwell: 192 months imprisonment followed by 4 years of supervised release; • George “Tech” McDowell: 130 months imprisonment followed by 5 years supervised release; • Shawn Green: 188 months imprisonment followed by 4 years supervised release; • Quanta Lewis: 60 months imprisonment followed by 5 years supervised release; and
• Keenan McDowell-Gregg: 32 months imprisonment followed by 4 years of supervised release.Evidence presented at each defendant’s guilty plea and sentencing hearing established that the defendants were members of a cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking conspiracy that was operating in Sumter from 2013 through the summer of 2015. These six defendants were charged along with over fifty others in connection with the investigation into armed drug trafficking in Sumter. The case was based largely on evidence obtained via court-authorized wiretaps that ran from late 2014 through the summer of 2015. Evidence presented at plea and sentencing hearings showed that the above defendants dealt in quantities that ranged from multi-kilograms of cocaine down to street-level crack sale quantities.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Sumter Police Department investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney JD Rowell of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.
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St. Mary’s County Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Possession of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Christopher Zane Ordiway, age 43, of Drayden, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison, followed lifetime supervised release, for possession of child pornography. Ordiway admitted to engaging in sexual activity with a minor victim and possessing photos of that sexually explicit conduct. Judge Titus also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Ordiway must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
In U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Santos Jovany Quintanilla, age 37, of Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to two counts of sexually abusing a minor to produce child pornography.
The sentence and guilty plea were 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; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Chief Terrence B. Sheridan of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
According to Ordiway’s plea agreement, from 2012 through 2014, Ordiway engaged in sexual activity with a minor female and possessed digital photographs documenting the abuse. The photos were found on Oridway’s cellular telephone on January 21, 2016, during a forensic analysis of the phone by an HSI examiner. Even though Ordiway had attempted to delete the photographs, the forensic analysis was able to recover thumbnails of the photographs that remained on the phone.
According to Quintanilla’s plea agreement, from 2010 through 2015, beginning when the victim was five years old, Quintanilla sexually abused a young girl, producing images of himself and the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Multiple instances of abuse occurred when Quintanilla visited the home of the victim’s father. On several occasions, Quintanilla was left alone to watch the victim and her younger sister when their father left the house. During these times, Quintanilla sexually abused the victim and, on at least one occasion, took photographs documenting the abuse.
Quintanilla admitted that in 2015 he sent text messages to the victim asking her to take off her clothes and send Quintanilla photographs of her body. On March 30, 2015, Quintanilla contacted the victim, who was 10 years old at that time, via Facebook. Quintanilla sent the victim a photograph of a $50 bill, along with the message: “Do you want it? Do you want me to come over?”
In addition to photographs of the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct, Quintanilla also took and possessed 40 images of child pornography, including pictures of a pre-pubescent male’s genitalia.
As part of his plea agreement, Quintanilla will be required to register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
Quintanilla faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison for each of two counts of production of child pornography. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has scheduled sentencing for May 31, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. Quintanilla remains detained pending sentencing.
These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "resources" tab on the left of the page.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended HSI Baltimore, and the Maryland State Police for their work in the Oridway case; and the FBI, HSI-Baltimore, Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the Quintanilla investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph R. Baldwin and Daniel C. Gardner who prosecuted the Ordiway case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron S. J. Zelinsky and Paul E. Budlow, who are prosecuting the Quintanilla case.
Springfield Woman Pleads Guilty to Stolen Mail, FraudRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Springfield, Mo., woman responsible for mail thefts from at least 40 victims in three counties, pleaded guilty in federal court today.
Lisa Beatrice Gee, 29, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to passing a forged check, credit card fraud and stealing mail.
By pleading guilty today, Gee admitted that she was in possession of stolen mail between Jan. 8 and March 17, 2016. When Gee was arrested on March 17, 2016, she was in possession of mail stolen by herself, or others at her direction, from at least 40 different individuals in Greene, Christian and Polk Counties. Gee admitted that she took checks, credit cards, Social Security cards and personal identification cards belonging to those mail theft victims. Gee used the contents of the stolen mail to engage in fraudulent criminal acts.
Gee admitted that she fraudulently conducted financial transactions with credit cards, debit cards, identification cards and personal identification numbers. Gee also passed a forged check on Jan. 23, 2016. Gee altered the check, which had been mailed from one person to another, to make it payable to a third person and deposited the check in that person’s bank account. Shortly thereafter, Gee withdrew the same amount of money from the account in the form of ATM cash withdrawals.
Under federal statutes, Gee is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department, the Nixa, Mo., Police Department and the Ozark, Mo., Police Department.
Springfield Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to Child PornRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a registered sex offender in Springfield, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court today to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.
Frank A. Kuhn, 52, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to the charge contained in a Jan. 18, 2017, federal indictment. Kuhn was convicted of the deviate sexual assault of a 15-year-old victim in 1994 in Newton County, Mo.
According to court documents, investigators received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding four images of child pornography reported by Yahoo! employees. Kuhn was identified as the user responsible for transmitting the images.
On Nov. 29, 2016, officers executed a search warrant at Kuhn’s residence and seized computers, digital storage media and phones. Investigators found multiple images of child pornography on the digital storage devices.
Under federal statutes, Kuhn is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 40 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the Greene County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.
Project Safe Childhood
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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
Seven from Cleveland indicted for stealing nearly $750,000 worth of cell phones from stores across 11 statesRead the Press Release
Seven people from Cleveland were indicted in federal court for a conspiracy in which they stole nearly $750,000 worth of cell phones and other electronics from shopping malls and kiosks in several states, law enforcement officials said.
Melvin Swinney, 21, Tyron Hicks, 30, Adolph Boyd III, 24, Jerome Goins, 21, Delante Hudson-Frost, 22, Dennis McKenzie, 20, and Padra Graves, 38, were indicted on charges of conspiring to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce. The indictment also charges 13 counts of transporting stolen goods in interstate commerce.
The seven co-defendants and others targeted shopping malls, kiosks, and retailers of cellular telephones and electronic devices. They broke into these stores or locked storage areas in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio, including Summit Mall in Fairlawn and SouthPark Mall in Strongsville, according to the indictment,
The defendants stole the electronic devices, and returned to the Cleveland area to sell the stolen merchandise to individuals, gas stations and independent phone stores, according to the indictment.
The conspirators stole approximately $738,500 worth of cell phones and other electronic devices between April 24 and July 24, 2016, according to the indictment.
An eighth man, Darnell Foster, 20, also of Cleveland, was charged in a related case with one count of transporting stolen goods in interstate commerce.
“This group roamed the eastern half of the United States stealing phones and merchandise worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Acting U.S. Attorney David A. Sierleja. “Our partners at the FBI and Cleveland Police are to be commended for breaking up this sophisticated crime ring.”
“This gang-affiliated group traveled to numerous states to break into retail stores to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in electronic devices,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony said. “Due to law enforcement's collaborative efforts, we are able to hold these criminals accountable for their unlawful acts.”
“The criminals named in this indictment have victimized multiple local businesses, causing significant damage and loss,” said Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams. “In addition, their crimes spread to multiple states and even overseas, showing what a damaging effect organized crime has on society. I am proud of the work done by the officers and agents in this case and grateful for the strong partnership the Cleveland Division of Police has with the Cleveland Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Assistant United States Attorneys Megan R. Miller and Elliot D. Morrison are prosecuting the case following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cleveland Division of Police.
If convicted, the court will determine the defendants’ sentences after a review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal records, if any, the defendants’ roles in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum. In most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sandusky man indicted for trafficking cocaine and marijuanaRead the Press Release
A Sandusky man was indicted on charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, said David A. Sierleja, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Deonte Graves, 34, had more than two kilograms of cocaine and more than a kilogram of marijuana, according to the indictment.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after reviewing factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
The investigating agency in this case is the Drug Enforcement Administration in Toledo. It is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael J. Freeman and Thomas P. Weldon.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Defendants are entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Randolph County man pleads guilty to illegally possessing a gunRead the Press Release
ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA –Jason Randall Howard, 38, of Elkins, West Virginia, was convicted of illegally possessing a firearm, Acting United States Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen, announced.
Howard, having previously been convicted in Randolph County of Domestic Battery, admitted to possessing a 9mm pistol in Randolph County in August 2016.
Howard pled guilty to one count of “Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.” He faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen D. Warner prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Mountain Region Drug and Violent Crime Task Force and the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office investigated.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.
Pittsburgh Man Charged with Violating Federal Drug and Gun LawsRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh resident has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of violating federal firearms and narcotics laws, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.
The five-count superseding indictment, returned yesterday, named Eric Clancy, age 30, as the sole defendant.
According to the superseding indictment, on May 13, 2015, Eric Clancy possessed with the intent to distribute a quantity of heroin and fentanyl. Clancy, a convicted felon, is also charged with illegally possessing a firearm on March 26, 2016. The superseding indictment further charges that on August 25, 2016, Clancy possessed with the intent to distribute a quantity of heroin, possessed a firearm as a convicted felon, and possessed that firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking crime. Federal law prohibits an individual who has been convicted of a felony from possessing a firearm.
The law provides for a maximum total sentence of not less than 5 years and up to life in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Timothy M. Lanni is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a collaborative effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and communities to prevent, deter, and prosecute gun crime.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and the Mount Oliver Police Department conducted the investigation leading to the superseding indictment in this case.
A superseding indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Pastor Pleads Guilty to Fraud ChargesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO – Mark Q. Stafford of O’Fallon, Missouri, pled guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return in connection with a large-scale investment fraud arising out of his company, the Stafford Financial Firm. Stafford appeared before United States District Judge Henry E. Autrey, who set sentencing for June 13, 2017.
Stafford, who was also a minister at New Birth Powerplex Ministries in North St. Louis, admitted in open court that he falsely represented to clients of the Stafford Financial Firm that their funds would be placed with Quest Financial Holdings or Gain Capital Group, which Stafford sometimes misspelled “Gain Capitol Group.” In truth and in fact, Stafford did not open any accounts at Quest Financial Holdings or Gain Capital Group in his clients’ names. Instead, Stafford in some cases did not deposit the clients’ funds with either Quest Financial Holdings or Gain Capital Group, and in others he deposited their funds into his own accounts at Gain Capital Group, where he then used those funds for his own personal benefit. Stafford obtained approximately $1.26 million in proceeds from approximately 31 victims, and caused an actual loss to those victims in the approximate amount of $1.08 million.
Stafford also pled guilty to filing a false tax return in 2011 that failed to disclose the income he had illegitimately taken from his investors. Stafford also admitted to failing to file any tax return in 2012 and 2014.
Mail fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. Filing a false tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and/or fines up to $100,000. In determining the actual sentences, a judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges. Restitution is mandatory under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. Additionally, Stafford agreed to a forfeiture allegation that will result in a money judgment against him equal to the amount he swindled from investors.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Richard E. Finneran is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Pain Management Physician Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud and Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Dover, Mass., pain management physician pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with his scheme to defraud Medicare and other health care insurers, and then using the proceeds of his illegal activity to support his extravagant lifestyle.
Fathallah Mashali, 62, pleaded guilty to 27 counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and 16 counts of money laundering. U.S. District Court Senior Judge Rya W. Zobel scheduled sentencing for June 21, 2017. Judge Zobel ordered Mashali released on GPS monitoring pending sentencing.
Mashali was a licensed physician in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mashali operated New England Wellness & Pain Management, P.C., a/k/a New England Pain Associates, P.C., of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a/k/a Greystone Pain Management, Inc., a/k/a New England Pain Institute, P.C. (NEPA). He also employed Egyptian doctors in Cairo, Egypt, who entered false information into U.S. patients’ medical records. Many of the patients at NEPA were Medicare beneficiaries.
From approximately October 2010 through March 2013, Mashali falsely billed Medicare for extensive medical services that he did not provide. He treated patients with chronic pain conditions and frequently gave his patients large doses of prescription medications, including powerful opiates. Mashali falsely stated in patients’ medical records and representations to Medicare and private insurance companies that he had seen patients for twenty-five minutes per appointment or longer, when in fact, Mashali often saw his patients for less than five minutes. In his brief interactions with his patients, Mashali did not perform any physical examinations and barely inquired into the patient’s medical status or history. In addition, he overbooked his patient appointments and arrived to work sometimes as late as four hours after his first scheduled appointment. His scheduling practices caused significant overcrowding at his offices and left him with no meaningful ability to assess each individual patient. Mashali then falsely documented that he conducted extensive physical exams, when he most often did not even touch his patients. As a result of his false statements, he obtained substantial reimbursement from Medicare and private insurance companies.
Mashali also routinely billed Medicare and private insurers for urine drug test results that were false and fraudulent. He caused patients’ urine samples to be stored for weeks and up to three months unrefrigerated in a heated, sunlit space in his laboratory in Holbrook, Mass., which left them degraded and worthless. The decomposition caused a significant stench of stale urine throughout the lab. Mashali nevertheless made his lab technicians test all the old urine, while well aware that his practice of urine sample storage was wrong. When inspectors showed up at his lab, he directed his staff to move the unrefrigerated urine out of sight.
Mashali mandated that his staff run every patients’ urine sample on two machines, each of which used the same scientific testing methodology, which Mashali knew was contrary to Medicare billing rules. He caused every patients’ urine specimen to be chemically confirmed, despite the fact that he did not even know the result of the initial urine drug screening test, knowing that this was also contrary to Medicare billing rules. Moreover, Mashali ran tests on chemical analyzers that had not been properly calibrated and validated.
When Medicare began to inquire about Mashali’s unlawful billing practices and initiated an audit of Mashali’s medical services, requesting 40 patient medical files, Mashali caused his staff both in the United States and in Egypt to falsely alter patient records. This included falsifying patient encounters which had taken place sometimes one or more years earlier, and faking and backdating the results of patients’ urine drug tests. Mashali knew that his patient records would not pass muster with Medicare’s auditors and thus ordered his staff to make these changes.
Mashali used the proceeds derived from his fraudulent billing to fund a lavish lifestyle, spending money on his extravagant Dover residence and a condominium in Florida. For example, he ordered the construction of a carriage house, outfitted with a squash court and movie theater, at his Dover home.
“Dr. Mashali failed his patients and deceived Medicare,” said Acting U.S. Attorney William D. Weinreb. “He billed Medicare for patient visits and urine drug testing that he did not perform. He exposed his vulnerable patient population to significant medical risks, by refusing to properly examine them and by paying no attention to the results of their drug tests. A physician who knowingly defrauds Medicare and other health care insurers compromises patient care and squanders precious health care resources.”
“The FBI will continue to target those providers in the medical community who operate under the cover of legitimacy to commit criminal acts,” said Harold Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division. “Today’s plea highlights the ongoing work the FBI is doing to investigate providers who exploit patients by submitting fraudulent medical claims for services they never provided.”
“Dr. Mashali violated the fundamental trust that taxpayers and patients have in medical professionals. Such health care fraud scams increase health care costs, threaten patient health and well-being, and undermine the public’s trust in the health care profession,” said Special Agent in Charge Phillip Coyne of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. “Working together with our law enforcement partners to stop fraud, as we did today, will ensure that Americans’ hard-earned dollars are used to provide quality care for patients — not to line the pockets of criminals.”
“This matter illustrates the commitment of all agencies to combat medical billing fraud which affects all citizens,” said Anthony M. DiPaolo, Chief of Investigations for the Insurance Fraud Bureau. “The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts places a high priority on fighting this type of insurance fraud. The collaboration in this matter is unprecedented.”
“Fraud schemes of this magnitude undermine the integrity of our health care system and contribute to its rising cost,” said Special Agent in Charge Joel P. Garland, of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation. “Ultimately, Dr. Mashali’s patients were deprived of quality health care while he was unjustly enriched. We are proud of our law enforcement partnership in this important investigation, and IRS will continue to offer our forensic accounting skills to combat health care fraud in all forms.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Weinreb; FBI SAC Shaw; HHS-OIG SAC Coyne; Massachusetts IFB Chief DiPaolo; IRS-CI SAC Garland; and Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maxim Grinberg and Abraham R. George of Weinreb’s Office are prosecuting the case.
Orrville man indicted for selling fentanylRead the Press Release
An Orrville man was indicted on fentanyl trafficking charges, said David A. Sierleja, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Kenneth L. Johnson was indicted on one count of possession with the intent to distribute and distribution of fentanyl.
Johnson, originally from Chicago, sold two packages containing fentanyl to a person in Orrville, Ohio on Dec. 3, 2016, according to the indictment.
The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron P. Howell following an investigation by the Orville Police Department, Medway Drug Enforcement Agents and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove each defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
If convicted, a defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal record, if any, the defendants’ roles in the offense and the characteristics of the violations.
New York man pleads guilty to student loan fraudRead the Press Release
MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Shiftan Shagabaev, 42, of Brooklyn, New York was convicted today for committing student loan fraud, Acting United States Attorney Betsy Steinfeld Jividen announced.
Shagabaev admitted to making a fraudulent statement on a student loan application in Jefferson County, West Virginia in December 2012.
Shagabaev pled guilty to one count of “Student Loan Fraud.” He faces up to one year in prison and a fine up to $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul T. Camilletti prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The United States Department of Education investigated.U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Trumble presided.
New Orleans Couple Sentenced for Drugs, Firearms and Obstruction ChargesRead the Press Release
Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that GROSS WILLIAMS, age 49, and his wife, KATHLEEN WILLIAMS, age 47, both of New Orleans, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt.
GROSS WILLIAMS had previously pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute a kilogram or more of heroin and five kilograms or more of cocaine, as well as illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. GROSS WILLIAMS was sentenced to 276 months imprisonment on the drug conspiracy and 120 months on the gun charge, to run concurrently. He was also fined $20,000 and placed on ten years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment.
KATHLEEN WILLIAMS had previously pled guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying a cellular phone used by GROSS WILLIAMS in his drug dealing activity. KATHLEEN WILLIAMS was sentenced to four years of probation, with the initial nine months to be on house arrest.
According to court documents, GROSS WILLIAMS was a large-scale narcotics dealer. He operated a used car business in Arabi that served as a cover and means of laundering his drug proceeds. Law enforcement officers seized over $425,000 in cash and a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol from the WILLIAMS’ bedroom during a search, and later discovered another $240,000 in cash in a safe deposit box that KATHLEEN WILLIAMS had opened in her name. Through a detailed financial investigation, law enforcement was able to show that GROSS WILLIAMS deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash into the bank accounts of his used car business despite selling only a few midrange models each year. KATHLEEN WILLIAMS also admitted that she destroyed her husband’s “dope phone” the day that he was arrested.
Acting U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office, the New Orleans Police Department, and Louisiana Probation and Parole, in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys David Haller and Hayden Brockett were in charge of the prosecution.
New Iberia man pleads guilty to transporting obscene material of minorsRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced today that a man from New Iberia pleaded guilty to transporting obscene material.
Lance Robert LeMaire, 36, of New Iberia, La., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst to one count of transporting obscene material. The plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge Robert G. James. According to the guilty plea, law enforcement agents identified LeMaire as possibly possessing obscene material. An agent obtained LeMaire’s tablet computer on May 5, 2015, and a forensic examination found 161 images involving sexual exploitation of a minor on the device.
LeMaire faces five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The court set a sentencing date of July 10, 2017.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative 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 combines federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Those concerned may also leave tips with the FBI at tips.fbi.gov. Tips may be submitted anonymously. The Lafayette FBI office number is (337) 233-2164.
The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert C. Abendroth and John Luke Walker are prosecuting the case.
New Iberia man pleads guilty to sending threatening letters to government agencies in South LouisianaRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a New Iberia man pleaded guilty Tuesday to sending threatening letters to government agencies across South Louisiana, including the governor’s office.
Kyle Dore, 33, of New Iberia, La., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna to five counts of mailing threatening communications and four counts of false information and hoaxes. The plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter. According to the guilty plea, Dore sent a series of letters in December 2015 and January 2016 threatening agencies and persons working at offices in local, state and federal government. In four of the nine letters, he sent a white powder with the implication that it was toxic. The substance was later tested and found not dangerous. He sent letters to the Louisiana State Capitol to the attention of Governor John Bel Edwards, the Vermilion Parish Courthouse, the Lafayette Parish Courthouse, and U.S. Post Offices in New Iberia, Delcambre, Abbeville and Lake Charles.
Dore faces five years in prison, three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine for each count. The court set a June 9, 2017 sentencing date.
The FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Louisiana State Police investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Rossetti is prosecuting the case.
Neenah, Wisconsin Woman Sentenced to 4 Years for Tax Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on March 14, 2017, Billie Jo Bottine (age 39) of Neenah, Wisconsin, was sentenced in Federal Court in Green Bay to 4 years in prison to be followed by 3 years on supervised release. The sentence follows her guilty plea to charges of filing numerous false federal income tax returns using other peoples’ identities, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 287, 1028A, and 1343. Ms. Bottine was also ordered to pay $186,414 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to the plea agreement and other court documents, Bottine filed more than 70 false federal income tax returns in the names of 32 different people between 2009 and 2014. To prepare these false returns, Bottine unlawfully used the names, dates of birth, and social security numbers of various individuals and children. She created fake W2 forms and fake Schedule C forms that she attached to the filings in an effort to obtain fraudulent tax refunds. In all, Bottine sought more than $340,000 in tax refunds from the IRS through these false federal income tax return filings.
While handing down the sentence, Chief United States District Judge William C. Griesbach noted the extended period over which the scheme occurred, the fact that Bottine stole the identities of several individuals, the large dollar amount of the fraud, and Bottine’s history of fraudulent conduct. Judge Griesbach stated that these types of tax fraud offenses are very serious crimes that call for significant sentences.
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin W. Proctor.
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For further information contact:
Public Information Officer Dean Puschnig at (414) 297-1700