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Wednesday 14 December 2016
KC Man Pleads Guilty, Sentenced for Child PornRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man who photo-shopped images of child pornography to appear as if he was engaged in sexual activity with children pleaded guilty and was sentenced in federal court today.
Patrick O. Chapin, 68, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark and was sentenced to six years and six months in federal prison without parole.
Chapin pleaded guilty today to receiving child pornography over the Internet. On March 17, 2014, Chapin took his desktop computer and a backup external hard drive to a computer repair shop to have work performed on the devices. He requested that the computer’s internal hard drive be replaced with a new one and that data from the external backup hard drive be transferred into the new internal hard drive. The technician working on Chapin’s computer discovered what appeared to be child pornography on the external hard drive and turned the computer and hard drive over to the Kansas City Police Department.
A police detective interviewed Chapin, who said he had been looking at child pornography for the past 14 years. A recurring theme in the images he possessed was the graphic depiction of the rape and sodomy of pubescent and prepubescent girls by adult men. Chapin admitted that his child pornography collection included images of bondage and bestiality.
Investigators found 2,131 photos and 101 videos of child pornography on Chapin’s devices. They also found several files created by Chapin using Photoshop Deluxe, an image-editing software. These files contained images of Chapin that were combined or layered with existing pornographic images of 13-to-14-year-old children downloaded from the Internet. Chapin thus created final images that appeared to depict himself engaged in illegal sexual activity with these child victims.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police 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."
Justice Department Recovers over $4.7 Billion from False Claims Act Cases in Fiscal Year 2016Read the Press Release
The Department of Justice obtained more than $4.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in fiscal year 2016 ending Sept. 30, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, announced today. This is the third highest annual recovery in False Claims Act history, bringing the fiscal year average to nearly $4 billion since fiscal year 2009, and the total recovery during that period to $31.3 billion.
“Congress amended the False Claims Act 30 years ago to give the government a more effective tool against false and fraudulent claims against federal programs,” said Mizer. “An astonishing 60 percent of those recoveries were obtained in the last eight years. The beneficiaries of these efforts include veterans, the elderly, and low-income families who are insured by federal health care programs; families and students who are able to afford homes and go to college thanks to federally insured loans; and all of us who are protected by the government’s investment in national security and defense. In short, Americans across the country are healthier, enjoy a better quality of life, and are safer because of our continuing success in protecting taxpayer funds from misuse.”
Of the $4.7 billion recovered, $2.5 billion came from the health care industry, including drug companies, medical device companies, hospitals, nursing homes, laboratories, and physicians. The $2.5 billion recovered in fiscal year 2016 reflects only federal losses. In many of these cases, the Department was instrumental in recovering additional millions of dollars for state Medicaid programs. This is the seventh consecutive year the Department’s civil health care fraud recoveries have exceeded $2 billion.
The next largest recoveries came from the financial industry in the wake of the housing and mortgage fraud crisis. Settlements and judgments in cases alleging false claims in connection with federally insured residential mortgages totaled nearly $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2016 – the second highest annual recovery in this area.
The False Claims Act is the government’s primary civil remedy to redress false claims for government funds and property under government programs and contracts relating to such varied areas as health care, defense and national security, food safety and inspection, federally insured loans and mortgages, highway funds, small business contracts, agricultural subsidies, disaster assistance, and import tariffs. In 1986, Congress strengthened the Act by amending it to increase incentives for whistleblowers to file lawsuits alleging false claims on behalf of the government.
Most false claims actions are filed under those whistleblower, or qui tam, provisions. If the government prevails in the action, the whistleblower, also known as the relator, receives up to 30 percent of the recovery. Whistleblowers filed 702 qui tam suits in fiscal year 2016, and the Department recovered $2.9 billion in these and earlier filed suits this past year. The government awarded the whistleblowers $519 million during the same period.
Health Care Fraud
The Department recovered $19.3 billion in health care fraud claims from January 2009 to the end of fiscal year 2016 – 57 percent of the health care fraud dollars recovered in the 30 years since the 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act. These recoveries restore valuable assets to federally funded programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, the health care program for service members and their families. But just as important, the Department’s vigorous pursuit of health care fraud prevents billions more in losses by deterring others who might otherwise try to cheat the system for their own gain. The Department’s success is a direct result of the high priority the Obama Administration has placed on fighting health care fraud. In 2009, the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department that administers Medicare and Medicaid, announced the creation of an interagency task force called the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to increase coordination and optimize criminal and civil enforcement. Additional information on the government’s efforts in this area is available at StopMedicareFraud.gov, a webpage jointly established by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
The largest recoveries this past year – $1.2 billion – came from the drug and medical device industry. Drug manufacturers Wyeth and Pfizer Inc. paid $784.6 million to resolve federal and state claims that Wyeth knowingly reported false and fraudulent prices on two drugs used to treat acid reflux, Protonix Oral and Protonix IV. The government alleged that Wyeth (before it was acquired by Pfizer) failed to report deep discounts available to hospitals, as required by the government to ensure that the Medicaid program enjoyed the same pricing benefits available to the company’s commercial customers. Wyeth paid $413.2 million to the federal government and $371.4 million to state Medicaid programs.
In another settlement against a drug company, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. paid $390 million based on claims that the company gave kickbacks to specialty pharmacies in return for recommending Exjade, an iron chelation drug, and Myfortic, an anti-rejection drug for kidney transplant recipients. The settlement includes $306.9 million for the federal government and $83.1 million for state Medicaid programs.
Hospitals and outpatient clinics accounted for $360 million in recoveries. Tenet Healthcare Corp., a major hospital chain in the United States, paid $244.2 million to resolve civil allegations that four of its hospitals engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States by paying kickbacks in return for patient referrals. Tenet paid an additional $123.7 million to state Medicaid programs, and two of its subsidiaries pleaded guilty to related charges and forfeited $145 million, bringing the total resolution to $513 million.
In the medical lab arena, Millennium Health (formerly Millennium Laboratories) paid $260 million to settle allegations that it billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs for excessive and unnecessary urine drug and genetic testing and also that it gave free items to induce physicians to refer expensive and profitable lab tests to Millennium, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. The settlement included $214.8 million in alleged false claims against federal programs, $26 million in alleged false claims against state Medicaid programs, and $19.2 million in related administrative claims.
The nation’s largest contract therapy provider paid $125 million to resolve claims that it had induced skilled nursing homes to submit false claims to Medicare for rehabilitation services that were not reasonable, necessary, and skilled, or that weren’t provided at all. The settlement was with RehabCare Group Inc., RehabCare Group East Inc., and their parent, Kindred Healthcare Inc. Cases involving nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities accounted for more than $160 million in settlements and judgments this past fiscal year.
“These health care recoveries benefit vulnerable citizens in Medicare and Medicaid and the taxpayers who pay for those programs,” said Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Beyond those significant settlements, though, my agency works to improve voluntary observance of federal laws through corporate integrity agreements addressing compliance weaknesses, and self-disclosures that encourage health care providers and other entities to voluntarily report suspected violations.”
Housing and Mortgage Fraud
The Department recovered more than $7 billion in housing and mortgage claims from January 2009 to the end of fiscal year 2016, including settlements and judgments totaling $1.6 billion this past fiscal year – the second highest annual recovery in the history of the federally insured mortgage program. Notable this year were settlements with Wells Fargo for $1.2 billion and Freedom Mortgage Corp. for $113 million.
Wells Fargo and Freedom Mortgage both admitted that they had originated and endorsed residential mortgages as eligible for federal insurance by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet requirements intended to reduce the risk of default. This put consumers at risk of losing their homes in foreclosure and increased the number of claims against the FHA when their loans went into default. The banks also admitted failing to report such deficiencies to the authorities as required under the program, despite internal reports exposing high rates of underwriting deficiencies that would have put the agency on notice so it could prevent continued program violations and mounting losses. By originating and endorsing ineligible loans for FHA insurance, the banks increased their mortgage profits at taxpayer expense while incurring little or no risk of their own.
As part of the Wells Fargo settlement, the bank’s vice president of Credit Risk – Quality Assurance, Kurt Lofrano, admitted that he annually certified Wells Fargo’s compliance with FHA’s Direct Endorsement Lender program and the bank’s continued qualification to remain in the program.
These recoveries are part of the broader enforcement efforts by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency task force in 2009, to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information about the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.
Other Fraud Recoveries
Although health care and mortgage fraud dominated fiscal year 2016 recoveries, the Department has aggressively pursued fraud wherever it is found in federal programs and contracts. For example, the Department recovered $82.6 million in false claims from BP Exploration and Production Inc. (BP) arising from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon/Macondo Well explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The government, through the Department of the Interior, leases portions of the Outer Continental Shelf to companies like BP that operate exploratory oil wells. In exchange for the lease, the operators pay royalties based on the volume of oil extracted from the wells. Program regulations applicable to exploration of the Outer Continental Shelf require well operators to maintain a “safe drilling margin” and to report plans to drill further into an open hole if the margin falls below legal limits. The government alleged that BP provided false reports about its “safe drilling margin” that concealed its improper drilling, which left the well in a fragile state and ultimately resulted in the blowout. The government’s civil fraud claims were part of a $20 billion consent decree reached with the United States and five Gulf states that also included damages and penalties under state and federal environmental laws, mandatory restoration of the area, and other relief.
The government also continued to pursue a variety of procurement fraud matters. For example, L-3 Communications EOTech Inc. and its parent company, L-3 Communications Corp., paid the United States $25.6 million for defective holographic weapon sites EOTech sold to the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and FBI. The defendants, including EOTech’s president, admitted knowing the sights failed to perform as represented in cold temperatures and humid environments, but delayed disclosing the defects to federal authorities for years. Besides compensating the government for critical funds lost through fraud, such settlements ensure that the vital terms of contracts supporting the nation’s defense and security agencies are enforced, and deter other contractors from acting fraudulently or recklessly to increase their profits in the future.
The Department had several settlements with for-profit schools that allegedly participated in illegal schemes to secure federal education funds. For example, the second largest for-profit education company in the country, Education Management Corp., paid the United States $52.6 million to resolve allegations that it unlawfully recruited students, engaged in deceptive and misleading recruiting practices, and falsely certified compliance with Title IV of the Higher Education Act and parallel state laws that prohibited such conduct, as part of a $95.5 million global federal-state settlement.
The Department also recovered $50 million in customs fraud. U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects duties on imports of foreign goods to protect U.S. manufacturers from unfair competition abroad by leveling the playing field for domestic products. Importers who seek an unfair advantage by knowingly evading or reducing their obligation to pay these duties are subject to damages and penalties under the False Claims Act. These recoveries both address lost duties and safeguard U.S. markets.
These suits and settlements illustrate the diversity of cases pursued by the Department and the Department’s quest to root out fraud and false claims against the government wherever it may be found.
Holding Individuals Accountable
On Sept. 9, 2015, the Department issued a memorandum on individual accountability for corporate wrongdoing. This memorandum reinforced the Department’s commitment to use the False Claims Act and other civil remedies to deter and redress fraud by individuals as well as corporations.
Cardiologist Dr. Asad Qamar and his practice, the Institute of Cardiovascular Excellence (ICE), paid $2 million this past fiscal year, and released claims to an additional $5.3 million in suspended Medicare funds, to settle allegations that he and his practice billed Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary procedures and paid kickbacks to patients by waiving Medicare copayments irrespective of financial hardship. Medicare copayments provide beneficiaries with an incentive to be smart health care consumers and avoid unnecessary procedures. The government alleged that by waiving the required copayments indiscriminately, Dr. Qamar and ICE induced patients to undergo unnecessary and invasive procedures. This conduct made Dr. Qamar the highest paid Medicare cardiologist in the United States in 2012 and 2013. Dr. Qamar also agreed to a three-year exclusion from participating in any federal health care program followed by a three-year integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.
Additional examples of individuals held personally liable for alleged false claims include George Hepburn ($10.3 million), founder and president of Dynasplint Systems Inc.; Dr. Jonathan Oppenheimer ($9.35 million), former owner and chief executive officer of a Nashville drug testing laboratory; Gottfried and Mieke Kellermann ($8.5 million), founders of Pharmasan Labs Inc. and NeuroScience Inc.; Jacob (Jake) J. Kilgore ($4 million), former co-owner, vice president, and later president of Orbit Medical Inc.; Dr. David G. Bostwick ($3.75 million), founder and former owner and chief executive officer of Bostwick Laboratories Inc.; Mark T. Conklin ($1.75 million), former owner, operator, and sole shareholder of Recovery Home Care Inc. and Recovery Home Care Services Inc.; Dr. David Spellberg ($1.05 million) and Robert A. Scappa, D.O. ($250,000), urologists with 21st Century Oncology LLC; and Ralph J. Cox III ($1 million), former chief executive officer of Tuomey Healthcare System.
Recoveries in Whistleblower Suits
Of the $4.7 billion the government recovered in fiscal year 2016, $2.9 billion related to lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. During the same period, the government paid out $519 million to the individuals who exposed fraud and false claims by filing a qui tam complaint.
The number of lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the Act has grown significantly since 1986, with 702 qui tam suits filed this past year – an average of 13.5 new cases every week. The growing number of qui tam lawsuits, particularly since 2009, has led to increased recoveries. From January 2009 to the end of fiscal year 2016, the government recovered nearly $24 billion in settlements and judgments related to qui tam suits and paid more than $4 billion in whistleblower awards during the same period.
“The qui tam provisions provide a valuable incentive to industry insiders who are uniquely positioned to expose fraud and false claims to come forward despite the risk to their careers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mizer. “This takes courage, for which they are justly rewarded under the Act.”
In 1986, Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Howard Berman led the successful efforts in Congress to amend the False Claims Act to, among other things, encourage whistleblowers to come forward with allegations of fraud. In 2009, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, along with Senator Grassley and Representative Berman, championed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, which made additional improvements to the False Claims Act and its whistleblower provisions. And in 2010, the passage of the Affordable Care Act provided additional inducements and protections for whistleblowers.
Mizer also expressed his deep appreciation for the many dedicated public servants who investigated and pursued these cases – the attorneys, investigators, auditors, and other agency personnel throughout the Department’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, as well as the agency Offices of Inspector General, and the many federal and state agencies that contributed to the Department’s recoveries this past fiscal year.
“The Department’s lawyers and staff, together with our law enforcement partners in federal and state governments, work tirelessly and often overcome daunting challenges,” said Mizer. “Their efforts continue to pay for themselves many times over, providing substantial benefits to the taxpayers.”
The government’s claims in the matters described above are allegations only; except where indicated, there has been no determination of liability. The numbers contained in this press release may differ slightly from the original press releases due to accrued interest.
Justice Department Enters into Agreement to Reform the Family Court of St. Louis County, MissouriRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has entered into a comprehensive agreement with the St. Louis County Family Court to resolve the department’s findings of serious and systemic violations of juvenile due process and equal protection rights.
The agreement aims to ensure that the family court protects the constitutional rights of children throughout their court proceedings and requires the family court to address racial disparities among youth in different stages of the juvenile justice process. This is the fourth agreement the department has entered into under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to address constitutional violations within a juvenile justice system.
“The harms and inequities in our juvenile justice system threaten to limit the opportunities and derail the futures of America’s youth,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. “We applaud the St. Louis County Family Court for taking these important steps to begin implementing critical reforms. We hope that juvenile courts around the country review this agreement and use it as a model to protect the constitutional rights of all children.”
The agreement provides for comprehensive reforms aimed at remedying the due process and equal protection violations the department found during its investigation, including:
- Court-Appointed Counsel: The agreement requires the court to double the juvenile defense counsel currently available to represent indigent youth and to ensure that defense counsel are timely appointed to all juveniles. The agreement also requires that the court appoint private attorneys in a uniform and transparent fashion and that all juvenile defenders practicing in the court receive training.
- Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: The agreement prohibits police interrogations at the juvenile detention center unless an attorney is present to represent the youth and requires the court to ensure that juveniles understand their rights before waiving them. The agreement prohibits deputy juvenile officers – the court staff responsible for virtually every aspect of family court operations – from discussing with the young person the substance of the allegations and/or using incriminating statements made by the youth in subsequent delinquency proceedings.
- Adversarial Probable Cause Hearings: The agreement requires that during detention hearings the court examine whether there is probable cause to believe that the youth has committed the alleged offense and permits the youth to challenge the evidence admitted to support probable cause.
- Standardized Plea Hearings: The court will adopt a standardized format for hearings to accept juveniles’ pleas to delinquency charges to ensure that pleas are knowing and voluntary.
- Deputy Juvenile Officer Training: Deputy juvenile officers must receive competency-based training that addresses the role and responsibilities of juvenile defense counsel in delinquency proceedings as well as the due process rights of youth. This includes the youth’s right to counsel, privilege against self-incrimination and the potential consequences (including collateral consequences) for a youth who is found to be delinquent.
- Collection, Analysis and Response to Court Data Regarding Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC): The court must collect and analyze data about the gender, race, age and juvenile offense of youth in the system, create bi-annual reports and make changes based on what those reports reveal.
- Public Meetings: The agreement requires that the court advertise and hold public meetings to review and address the biannual DMC reports.
- Training: The agreement requires that court personnel who are directly involved in decision-making processes at the court or the juvenile office focused on juvenile delinquency participate in training addressing DMC.
The investigation, opened in November 2013, was conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section under provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. In July 2015, the department issued a findings letter concluding that the St. Louis County Family Court violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by failing to ensure that juveniles facing delinquency charges receive adequate due process protections and failing to provide black youth in the juvenile justice system with equal protection under the law.
The department has opened four cases examining whether juvenile justice systems comply with children’s rights since 2009. In 2012, the department settled its first investigation of this kind, reaching an agreement with the Juvenile Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, that calls for comprehensive due process, equal protection and facility reforms. In June 2015, the department announced a partial settlement of its lawsuit alleging violations of children’s due process rights in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. In March 2015, the department announced its investigation of due process and disability discrimination issues in the Dallas County, Texas, Truancy Court and Juvenile District Courts.
St. Louis Family Court Agreement Juvenile Justice Fact SheetJustice Department Collects More Than $15.3 Billion in Civil and Criminal Cases in Fiscal Year 2016Read the Press Release
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today that the Justice Department collected more than $15.3 billion in civil and criminal actions in fiscal year (FY) 2016 ending Sept. 30, 2016. The $15,380,130,434 in collections in FY 2016 represents more than five times the approximately $3 billion appropriated budget for the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the main litigating divisions of the Justice Department combined in that same period.
“Every day, the men and women of the Department of Justice work tirelessly to enforce our laws, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used properly and that the American people are protected from exploitation and abuse,” said Attorney General Lynch. “Today’s announcement is a testament to that work, and it makes clear that our actions deliver a significant return on public investment. I want to thank the prosecutors and trial attorneys who made this year’s collections possible, and I want to emphasize that the department remains committed to the well-being of our people and our nation.”
Civil collections account for more than $12 billion of the total collected and were from affirmative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered government money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or corporations for violations of federal health, safety, mortgage, financial, civil rights or environmental laws. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and Department of Education.
Among the largest settlements: the $2.96 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs Group (Goldman Sachs), the $2.6 billion settlement with Morgan Stanley & Company (Morgan Stanley), and the $1.2 billion settlement with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Wells Fargo), all of which related to practices arising from residential mortgage lending activities. In April 2016, the Justice Department announced the settlement with Goldman Sachs related to its conduct in the packaging, securitization, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) between 2005 and 2007.
In February 2016, the Justice Department announced the settlement with Morgan Stanley to resolve claims related to marketing, sale and issuance of RMBS. As part of the agreement, Morgan Stanley acknowledged in writing that it failed to disclose critical information to prospective investors about the quality of the mortgage loans underlying its RMBS, and about its due diligence practices.
In April 2016, the Justice Department announced a settlement of civil mortgage fraud claims against Wells Fargo and Wells Fargo executive Kurt Lofrano, stemming from Wells Fargo’s participation in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Direct Endorsement Lender Program. In the settlement, Wells Fargo acknowledged and accepted responsibility for, among other things, certifying to HUD, during the period from May 2001 through December 2008, that certain residential home mortgage loans were eligible for FHA insurance when in fact they were not, resulting in the government having to pay FHA insurance claims when some of those loans defaulted.
The department also continued to collect monies that will go for penalties and natural resource restoration efforts for the largest environmental case in history, including the landmark $20.8 billion settlement with BP approved by the court earlier this year. The department collected nearly $378 million in FY 2016 scheduled payments to resolve these and other civil claims from the 2010 Macondo well blowout and the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill that followed in the Gulf of Mexico.
More than $3 billion of the total was collected in FY 2016 from criminal cases, including the more than $772 million criminal penalty assessed against Alstom S.A., a French power and transportation company charged by the District of Connecticut in a foreign bribery scheme. The fine was the largest, ever, to resolve a foreign bribery case.
The total includes all monies collected as a result of Justice Department-led enforcement actions and negotiated civil settlements. It includes more than $12 billion in payments made directly to the Justice Department, and more than $3.3 billion in indirect payments made to other federal agencies, states and other designated recipients.
In measuring collections recovered in FY 2016, this figure necessarily includes some cases that were resolved in previous years but the proceeds of which were collected in FY 2016.
Isleta Pueblo Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Federal Child Sexual Abuse ConvictionRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Patrick Carpio, 70, a member and resident of Isleta Pueblo, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to 20 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for his conviction on child sexual abuse and sexual contact charges. Carpio will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.
Carpio was arrested on May 1, 2015, on a four-count indictment charging him with three counts of abusive sexual contact and one count of aggravated sexual abuse. The indictment charged Carpio with sexually abusing an Indian child who had not reached the age of 12 years on three occasions between Jan. 1999 and Nov. 2002. It also charged Carpio with sexually abusing a second Indian child who was between the age of 12 and 16 years in March 2013. According to the indictment, Carpio committed the crimes in Indian Country in Bernalillo County, N.M. A superseding indictment was filed on Feb. 24, 2016, charging Carpio with the same offenses.
On April 28, 2016, Carpio pled guilty to Counts 3 and 4 of the superseding indictment charging him with aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact. In his plea agreement, Carpio admitted engaging in a sexual act with a ten-year-old Indian child in 2002. He also admitted having sexual contact with a 12-year-old Indian child in March 2013. Carpio admitted committing the crimes in the Pueblo of Isleta.
This case was investigated by the Southern Pueblos Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
Iranian National Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Illegally Export Products from the U.S. to IranRead the Press Release
Mansour Moghtaderi Zadeh, 56, an Iranian national, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and one year of supervised release for taking part in a conspiracy involving the purchase and shipment of various products, including aviation parts and aviation supplies, from the U.S. to Iran without a license. Zadeh was also ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $69,159.00.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia, Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. Etre of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston and Special Agent in Charge Michael Imbrogna of the Bureau of Industry and Security at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Boston. The sentence was ordered by Senior Judge Paul L. Friedman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Zadeh, who had been living in Iran, pled guilty on October 27, to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export goods, technology and services to Iran without the required license, and to defraud the U.S. In court documents filed at the time of the plea, Zadeh acknowledged that beginning in October 2005, Iranian companies requested that Zadeh through his company, Barsan, procure products including a fiber optic video transmitter and receiver, and aviation course indicators that would otherwise require a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to be exported to Iran. Members of the conspiracy arranged for the items to be sent from the U.S. to Iran, for which Zadeh received a commission.
In March 2007, Zadeh and co-conspirators attempted to export metal sheets and rods that are used in the aviation manufacturing industry from the U.S. to Iran without the required license from OFAC. Zadeh had arranged for his new corporation, Lavantia, to purchase the items. Zadeh also used an alias in his communications.
In September 2007, the shipment was detained by the U.S. Department of Commerce pending certification of the end user. In October 2007, the Department of Commerce issued a Temporary Denial Order (TDO) against Lavantia and Zadeh, under his alias. The TDO prohibited Lavantia and Zadeh from participating in any way in exporting commodities from the U.S. Notwithstanding the TDO, Zadeh and other conspirators exported and attempted to export numerous materials from the U.S., including resin, sealant, paint, pneumatic grease, film adhesive and polyurethane coating and thinner. The post-TDO conduct included more than $69,000 of exported goods.
In announcing the sentence, Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord, U.S. Attorney Phillips, Special Agent in Charge Etre and Special Agent in Charge Imbrogna commended the work of the Special Agents who investigated the case. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese, now with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, and Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frederick W. Yette and Jeffrey Pearlman, who prosecuted the case, as well as Trial Attorney Thea Kendler, of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
Iranian National Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Illegally Export Products from the United States to IranRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON—Mansour Moghtaderi Zadeh, 56, an Iranian national, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for taking part in a conspiracy involving the purchase and shipment of various products, including aviation parts and aviation supplies, from the United States to Iran without a license.
The sentencing, which took place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by Mary B. McCord, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Channing D. Phillips, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. Etre, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Boston, and Special Agent in Charge Michael Imbrogna, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, Boston.
Zadeh, who had been living in Iran, pled guilty on Oct. 27, 2016, to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully export goods, technology, and services to Iran without the required license, and to defraud the United States. He was sentenced by Senior Judge Paul L. Friedman. Following completion of his prison term, Zadeh will be placed on a year of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $69,159.
In court documents filed at the time of the plea, Zadeh acknowledged that beginning in October 2005, Iranian companies requested that Zadeh, through his company, Barsan, procure products, including a fiber optic video transmitter and receiver and aviation course indicators that would otherwise require a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to be exported to Iran. Members of the conspiracy arranged for the items to be sent from the United States to Iran, for which Zadeh received a commission.
In March 2007, Zadeh and co-conspirators attempted to export metal sheets and rods that are used in the aviation manufacturing industry from the United States to Iran, without the required license from OFAC. Zadeh had arranged for his new corporation, Lavantia, to purchase the items, and used an alias in his communications. In September 2007, the shipment was detained by the United States Department of Commerce pending certification of the end user. In October 2007, the Department of Commerce issued a Temporary Denial Order (TDO) against Lavantia and Zadeh (under his alias). The TDO prohibited Lavantia and Zadeh from participating in any way in exporting commodities from the United States. Notwithstanding the TDO, Zadeh and other conspirators exported and attempted to export numerous materials from the United States, including resin, sealant, paint, pneumatic grease, film adhesive, and polyurethane coating and thinner. The post-TDO conduct included more than $69,000 of exported goods.
In announcing the sentence, Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord, U.S. Attorney Phillips, Special Agent in Charge Etre, and Special Agent in Charge Imbrogna commended the work of the Special Agents who investigated the case. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese, now with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, and Paralegal Specialist Jorge Casillas. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frederick W. Yette and Jeffrey Pearlman, who prosecuted the case, as well as Trial Attorney Thea Kendler, of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
Indictment: Topeka Man Had a Hand in Two Armed RobberiesRead the Press Release
TOPEKA, KAN. – A grand jury Wednesday returned federal charges against a Topeka man in two armed robberies, one of which ended in a police officer being shot, U.S. Tom Beall said.
Jermaine Tyrell Patton, 28, Topeka, Kan., is charged with two counts of aiding and abetting commercial robbery and two counts of aiding and abetting the brandishing of a firearm during a robbery
The indictment alleges Patton took part in an Oct. 31, 2016, robbery at Goose Express, 2901 S.E. Freemont, and a Nov. 5, 2016, robbery at Oakmart Convenience Store, 2518 N.E. Seward.
Patton and another man, Christopher Curtis Harris, 29, Topeka, were arrested following the Nov. 5 robbery. Harris was charged in Shawnee County District Court with shooting Topeka Police Detective Brian Hill when Hill tried to arrest him.
If convicted, Patton faces a penalty of not less than seven years in federal prison on each of the firearm counts and up to 20 years on each of the robbery counts. The Topeka Police Department and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag is prosecuting.
OTHER GRAND JURY INDICTMENTS
Michael J. Skladzien, 53, owner of S&S Floor Maintenance in Wichita, Kan., is charged with failing to pay more than $250,000 in taxes he withheld from employees’ wages. The crime is alleged to have occurred from 2010 to 2013 in Sedgwick County, Kan.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each of 11 counts. The Internal Revenue Service investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Metzger is prosecuting.
Patrick A. Scott, 32, Topeka, Kan., is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm following a felony conviction and one count of unlawful possession of a sawed off shotgun. The crimes are alleged to have occurred Nov. 17, 2016, in Topeka, Kan.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison on each count. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Slinkard is prosecuting.
Quaton A. Grover, 38, Topeka, Kan., is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm following a felony conviction. The crime is alleged to have occurred Oc. 28, 2016, in Topeka.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Slinkard is prosecuting.
Alvin Acevedo, 27, and Yesena Collazo, 31, are charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin. The crime is alleged to have occurred Nov. 14, 206 in Geary County, Kan.
If convicted, they face a penalty of not less than 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $10 million. The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Skipper Jacobs is prosecuting.
In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictments merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.
INTERPOL Washington Internship Program Featured on Federal News RadioRead the Press Release
On Friday, December 9th, Federal News Radio aired a segment featuring the internship program of INTERPOL Washington, formally known as the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB). In a pre-recorded interview, Acting Director Wayne Salzgaber spoke with Tom Temin, host of the morning Federal Drive show, about the unique experiences and opportunities afforded to the bureau’s interns. To listen to the entire interview, click here: http://federalnewsradio.com/federal-drive/2016/12/wayne-salzgaber-interpol-interns-get-first-hand-experience/.
The INTERPOL Washington internship program gives college age students and recent graduates direct experience working in the law enforcement environment. An internship with INTERPOL Washington offers insight into the growing nexus of transnational crime as well as law enforcement in the United States and around the world. Interns may receive the following opportunities:
- Exposure to a wide variety of law enforcement partners, including law enforcement detailees onsite from agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies
- Knowledge of the criminal justice system and both its domestic and international scope, impact, and mechanisms
- Awareness of issues affecting international criminal investigations
- Ability to analyze and summarize complex criminal activities
- Expansion of network for future job opportunities, including mentorship from active law enforcement officers and INTERPOL Washington personnel
- Field trips to nearby law enforcement headquarters and training sites
- At this time, INTERPOL Washington offers full-time, nonpaid internships for six-month cycles (January-June; July-December). Submission deadlines are:
- For the July 11, 2017 – December 8, 2017 Term: Application is due February 15, 2017
- For the January 9, 2018 – June 29, 2018 Term: Application is due September 15, 2017
Complete requirements and application procedures can be found at: https://www.justice.gov/interpol-washington/internships
Human Trafficking Institute’s 2016 Training Held TodayRead the Press Release
DALLAS – The North Texas Anti-Trafficking Team (NTATT), led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, sponsored a day-long training session today, “Investigating Beneath the Surface,” which was held at the Mac Bernd Professional Development Center in Arlington, Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas, who provided opening remarks at the event.
Nearly 220 attendees from law enforcement and non-government agencies who provide victim services attended the training.
Highlights of the training included presentations by experts on these topics: 1) Pimping: The New Game in Town; 2) Little Girls Lost: Trial of a “John”; 3) State and Federal Trafficking Laws; 4) A panel on Services to Trafficked Persons; 5) Tools and Tactics for Labor Trafficking Investigations; 6) A Case Study on H2A Agricultural Visas and Labor Trafficking; and 7) Understanding and Treating Trauma Bonds in Victims of Human Sex Trafficking.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas launched the NTATT in 2006 to combat human trafficking in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding counties. The NTATT is comprised of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The NTATT has also partnered with non-government agencies to provide necessary services for victims of human trafficking.
The goal of the NTATT is to work with law enforcement and private agencies to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. This goal is achieved through heightened law enforcement and victim service presence in the community, operations to identify victims and traffickers, providing training for law enforcement officers, and outreach awareness campaigns in the community.
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Guatelmalan National Indicted for Assaulting a Border Patrol Agent Near Uvalde, TexasRead the Press Release
In Del Rio today, a federal grand jury indicted a 20-year-old Guatemalan national for assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent last month announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr. and FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, San Antonio Division.
The indictment charges Elias de Jesus Gregorio de Paz with one count of assault on a federal officer.
The indictment alleges, on November 19, 2016, Gregorio de Paz intentionally assaulted a U.S. Border Patrol agent while the agent was engaged in the performance of his duties. According to court records, U.S. Border Patrol agents working in the Uvalde, TX, area encountered a two undocumented aliens on or around a stopped train. One undocumented alien absconded. The other, Gregorio de Paz, engaged in an altercation with the agent causing him to suffer a concussion. Gregorio de Paz fled the scene, but was captured three days later by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio area.
Gregorio de Paz remains in federal custody. No court dates have been scheduled. Upon conviction, Gregorio de Paz faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the assault charge.
“Assaults on our agents will not be tolerated,” said Del Rio Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak. “These types of incidents are a staunch reminder of the dangerous work Border Patrol Agents do.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul Harle.
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Grape Street Crips Gang Member, Two Others Indicted for Alleged Murder During Home-Invasion RobberyRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – Three Newark men were indicted by a federal grand jury today for their alleged roles in an August 2015 home invasion that left one person dead, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Aaron Terrell, a/k/a “Push,” 26, Jahad Lemons, a/k/a “JBird,” 26, and Papayaw Mack, a/k/a “GY,” 25, were each charged by indictment with one count of murder during a crime of violence, one count of Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, one count of Hobbs Act robbery, and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence.
According to the indictment:
On Aug. 18, 2015, Terrell, Lemons, Mack, and two other individuals – referred to in the indictment as “CC-1” and “CC-2” – allegedly used firearms to rob the apartment of an individual referred to in the indictment as “Victim-1” at a residential building in Newark. They targeted Victim-1 because they believed Victim-1was a heroin trafficker whose residence contained narcotics and related proceeds.
At the residential building, Terrell, Lemons, Mack, CC-1, and CC-2 allegedly surrounded Victim-1, forced him into his apartment, and then proceeded to rob at gunpoint Victim-1 – as well as Victim-2 and Victim-3 who were already inside the apartment – of cash and personal affects. During the course of the robbery, Terrell and CC-2 allegedly discharged their firearms, which killed Victim-1 and seriously wounded Victim-2.
All three men were originally charged by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office with murder and robbery. On Aug. 26, 2015, Terrell was arrested by the Newark Police Department, while Lemons was arrested in Georgia on October 26, 2015. Mack remains at large. Terrell is also facing separate federal charges in a sixth superseding indictment for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy related to the New Jersey set of the Grape Street Crips, a violent street gang operating in and around Newark.
Each defendant faces a potential sentence of life in prison for the count of murder during a crime of violence. The count of using a firearm during a crime of violence carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a potential sentence of life, and that sentence must be consecutive to any other sentence imposed. The Hobbs Act robbery and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery counts each carry a potential sentence of 20 years in prison. All four counts carry a potential fine of $250,000.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charges. He also thanked prosecutors and detectives of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray, and police officers and detectives of the Newark Department of Public Safety, under the direction of Director Anthony F. Ambrose, for their assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Osmar J. Benvenuto and Barry A. Kamar of the Criminal Division in Newark.
This case was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, a partnership, a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.
Defense counsel:
Terrell: Michael N. Pedicini Esq.
Lemons: Kathleen M. Theurer Esq.
Geneva man faces child pornography chargesRead the Press Release
A Geneva man was indicted on child pornography charges, said Carole S. Rendon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Christopher W. Smith, 27, was charged with receiving, distributing and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
The indictment charges that Smith knowingly received and distributed numerous computer files which containted visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This took place from June 17 through November 15, 2016. The indictment also charges that on or about November 15, 2016, Smith possessed an HTC cellphone and an RCA Tablet, each of which contained child pornography.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence 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 violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael A. Sullivan following an investigation the Cleveland and London offices of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.
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.
Founder of Heroes Academy Pleads Guilty to $1.9 Million FraudRead the Press Release
RICHMOND, Va. – Larry Jay Horsey, 41, of Chesterfield, pleaded guilty today to charges related to his role in an investment fraud scheme that caused a loss of $1.9 million to nine investors.
According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Horsey, a licensed insurance agent, was the founder and operator of “Heroes Academy,” a business that marketed itself as both a non-profit financial education school and a financial management company. Horsey represented himself to the public as a financial advisor, conducting financial planning seminars in Virginia and North Carolina. Between October 2012 and May 2016, Horsey targeted nine separate individuals, convincing those individuals to open what they believed would be investment or savings vehicles, such as an annuity or a Roth IRA, through Horsey’s Heroes Academy business. Instead of using those individuals’ savings as promised, however, Horsey instead spent the funds on various personal or business expenses. In total, Horsey defrauded those nine investors of a combined $1.9 million, and today pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and engaging in monetary transactions derived from specified unlawful activities.
Horsey faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when sentenced on March 17, 2017. 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.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office; Thomas Holloman, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and Terrence P. McKeown, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Garnett is prosecuting the case.
The case was investigated by the Fraud Task Force, including the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, IRS-CI, and USPIS, with assistance from the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:16cr153.
Former Top Generic Pharmaceutical Executives Charged with Price-Fixing, Bid-Rigging and Customer Allocation ConspiraciesRead the Press Release
First Charges Brought By Antitrust Division Involving Generic Drugs
Two former senior generic pharmaceutical executives were charged by Information for their roles in conspiracies to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers for certain generic drugs, the Department of Justice announced today.
Separate two-count felony charges were unsealed today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. According to the Informations, Jeffrey Glazer, the former CEO of a generic pharmaceutical company, and Jason Malek, the former president of the same company, conspired to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers for an antibiotic, doxycycline hyclate. Additionally, the Informations allege Glazer and Malek conspired to fix prices and allocate customers for glyburide, a medicine used to treat diabetes. The doxycycline hyclate conspiracy took place from as early as April 2013 until at least December 2015; the glyburide conspiracy took place from as early as April 2014 until at least December 2015.
“Millions of Americans rely on prescription medications to treat acute and chronic health conditions. By entering into unlawful agreements to fix prices and allocate customers, these two executives sought to enrich themselves at the expense of sick and vulnerable individuals who rely upon access to generic pharmaceuticals as a more affordable alternative to brand-name medicines,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “These charges are an important step in correcting that injustice and in ensuring that generic pharmaceutical companies compete vigorously to provide these essential products at a price set by the market, not by collusion.”
“Conspiring to fix prices on widely-used generic medications skews the market, flouts common decency – and very clearly breaks the law,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “It’s a sad state of affairs when these pharmaceutical executives are determined to further pad their profits on the backs of people whose health depends on the company’s drugs. The FBI stands ready to investigate and hold accountable those who willfully violate federal antitrust law.”
Today’s charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the generic pharmaceutical industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section with the assistance of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Anyone with information on market allocation, price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to the generic pharmaceutical industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Philadelphia Division at 215-418-4000.
Glazer Information
Malek Information
Former Minister of Mines for the Republic of Guinea Charged with Receiving and Laundering $8.5 Million in Bribes from Chinese CompaniesRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Leslie R. Caldwell, the Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, and William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced that MAHMOUD THIAM was arrested in Manhattan this morning on money laundering charges stemming from his scheme to launder $8.5 million in bribes that THIAM received from senior representatives of a Chinese conglomerate. The charges allege that THIAM used his official position as Minister of Mines for the Republic of Guinea to facilitate the award to the Chinese conglomerate of exclusive and highly valuable investment rights in various sectors of the Guinean economy. THIAM was presented today in Manhattan federal court before Magistrate Judge James C. Francis.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Mahmoud Thiam, a former high-ranking official of Guinea, allegedly used his position to accept millions in bribes from a Chinese conglomerate and laundered the money through New York. Thiam, a U.S. citizen, will now face justice.”
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said: “Former Minister Thiam is accused of enriching himself at the expense of the people of the Republic of Guinea. We cannot allow the United States to be a safe haven for the spoils of official corruption. The department is committed to pursuing both those who pay bribes, and also the corrupt officials who receive them.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney, Jr. said: “Today’s action shows that the FBI, along with our partners, is committed to investigating all levels of corruption. The United States will be relentless in its efforts to uphold fair, equal and competitive markets. The actions of a few who use corruption for personal gain will not be tolerated.”
According to the Complaint[1] unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
MAHMOUD THIAM, a United States citizen who was Minister of Mines and Geology of the Republic of Guinea in 2009 and 2010, engaged in a scheme to accept bribes from senior representatives of a Chinese conglomerate and to launder that money into the United States and elsewhere. In exchange for these multimillion-dollar bribe payments, THIAM used his position as Minister of Mines to facilitate the award to the Chinese conglomerate of exclusive and highly valuable investment rights in a wide range of sectors of the Guinean economy, including near total control of Guinea’s significant mining sector.
In order to receive the bribes covertly, THIAM opened a bank account in Hong Kong (the “Hong Kong Account”) and misreported his occupation to the Hong Kong bank to conceal his status as a public official in Guinea. Upon receiving the bribes, THIAM transferred millions of dollars in bribe proceeds from the Hong Kong Account to, among other things, THIAM’s bank accounts in the United States; a Malaysian company that facilitated and concealed THIAM’s purchase of a $3,750,000 estate in Dutchess County, New York; private preparatory schools in Manhattan attended by THIAM’s children; and at least one other West African public official.
To further conceal the unlawful source of the bribery proceeds that THIAM transferred from the Hong Kong Account to banks in the United States, THIAM lied to two banks based in Manhattan and on tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service regarding the bribe payments, his position as a foreign public official, and the source of the funds in the Hong Kong Account. In total, THIAM received approximately $8.5 million in bribes from the Chinese conglomerate.
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THIAM, 50, of Manhattan, is charged with two counts of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.
The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Elisha J. Kobre and Assistant Chief Tarek Helou, Senior Trial Attorney Jason Linder and Trial Attorney Sarah Edwards of the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division are in charge of the prosecution.
[1] As the introductory phase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint, and the description of the Complaint set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Former Internal Revenue Service Employee Sentenced for Disclosing Tax Return InformationRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A former IRS employee was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with a conspiracy to abuse her position as an Internal Revenue Service customer representative to disclose tax return information to her boyfriend.
Nicole Johnson, 41, of Lawrence, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf to two years of probation and termination of her employment at the IRS. In March 2016, Martin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit unauthorized access to a government computer and one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax return information.
From January 2011 through April 2014, Johnson, an IRS customer service representative, disclosed tax return information to her boyfriend, Stephen Marshall, a debt collector. Johnson illegally used IRS systems to access tax return information belonging to her boyfriend’s former girlfriends, work colleagues and debtors from whom Marshall was assigned to collect debts, and provided the information to Marshall.
On Nov. 8, 2016, Marshall, of Lawrence, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to two years of probation.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William Kalb, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, New York Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dustin Chao of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit and Giselle J. Joffre of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
Former Bank President Indicted in Connection with $100,000,000 Bank FailureRead the Press Release
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Yesterday, a federal grand jury returned a 23-count indictment against JOHN ARNOLD SHELLEY, 66, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in connection with the failure of the Bank of Union, announced Mark A. Yancey, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. The counts include conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank, misapplication of bank funds, false bank entries, wire fraud, and making false statements to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Shelley was the President, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, and a loan officer at The Bank of Union (BOU) in El Reno, Oklahoma, from approximately 1997 until his resignation on November 30, 2013. In January 2014, state banking regulators closed BOU due to the bank’s loan losses, and the FDIC was appointed as the bank’s receiver. According to the indictment, the estimated loss amount stemming from BOU’s failure as of December 2016 was in excess of $100,000,000.
The 23-count indictment charges Shelley with defrauding BOU in several ways: (1) by issuing loans with under- or unsecured collateral and falsifying financial statements for several high-dollar bank borrowers; (2) by originating nominee loans to circumvent the bank’s legal lending limit; (3) by concealing the bank’s true financial condition from the Board of Directors (Board); (4) by soliciting a fraudulent investment; and (5) by falsely representing the bank’s true status to the FDIC.
According to the indictment, Shelley conspired with four BOU borrowers from approximately 2009 through November 2013 to defraud BOU by issuing them millions of dollars in BOU loan proceeds secured by collateral that they did not actually have, allowing Shelley to justify his unusually high annual earnings to the BOU Salary Committee. It is alleged that, though these borrowers had already accumulated significant debt that they could not repay, Shelley continued to issue them new loans to cover their outstanding loan balances, and "rolled" or capitalized the principal and accrued interest on their existing loans into the new loans that he authorized. At monthly meetings held by the BOU Board, it is alleged that Shelley failed to disclose the true status of these delinquent loan accounts; instead, he advised the Board that the borrowers were continuing to pay down their loans. The indictment further alleges that in October 2012 and again in 2013, Shelley directed three of the borrowers to prepare inflated cattle inventory reports falsely representing that they had sufficient collateral, in the form of cattle, to repay their loans to the bank. It also alleges that Shelley conspired with these three borrowers to issue loans in one of their names for transfer to the others, thereby avoiding the bank’s legal lending limit. The indictment includes 17 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering, and false statements related to this scheme.
The indictment also alleges Shelley issued new loans to these borrowers in order to keep them off of BOU’s monthly overdraft reports. According to the indictment, BOU’s lending policy directed that overdrafts generally should not be granted, particularly where a borrower’s loans were 30 days or more past due. In June 2011 and again in August 2011, Shelley, knowing that two of these borrower accounts were more than 30 consecutive days overdrawn by hundreds of thousands and, at times, millions of dollars, allegedly caused BOU to issue new loans to cover these account overdrafts just before the Board’s monthly meetings at which the reports were reviewed. Shelley is charged with four counts of misapplication of bank funds and false bank entries for his fraudulent overdraft concealment.
Further, the indictment alleges Shelley executed a scheme to defraud a partial owner and investor in BOU in October 2012. According to the indictment, Shelley persuaded the investor to wire $40,000,000.00 to BOU by falsely representing that BOU was growing rapidly and performing well. The indictment alleges that, though Shelley knew that the bank was on the brink of failure and needed an immediate capital infusion to ensure its solvency, he advised the investor that there was "zero" risk that he would lose his $40,000,000.00 investment. The indictment charges Shelley with wire fraud for executing this scheme.
Finally, it is alleged that Shelley falsely represented the bank’s loan status to the FDIC. According to the indictment, between September 2012 and September 2013, Shelley continued to renew several unpaid borrower loans by issuing new loans to cover the outstanding loan balances, then capitalizing the unpaid interest on the previously unpaid loans into the balance of the new loans. Pursuant to an October 2013 FDIC safety and soundness examination, it is alleged that Shelley falsely represented that he had not renewed or extended any loans without full collection of the interest due between that September 2012 to September 2013 time period. He is charged with making a false statement to the FDIC for this conduct.
With regard to the bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, false statement, misapplication of funds, and false entry charges of the indictment, Shelley faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000 on each count. He also faces up to 20 years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud count, along with up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine as to money laundering. Furthermore, the indictment seeks forfeiture from Shelley in the amount of the proceeds of the fraudulent schemes and in the amount of the property involved in the offenses.
This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia E. Barry.
Reference is made to the indictment and other public filings for further information. An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innnocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Five Men Sentenced to Federal Prison for Distributing Methamphetamine Throughout the Treasure ValleyRead the Press Release
BOISE – Jose Reynaldo Cardenas, Jr., 29, of Porterville, California; Angelo Angel Rivas, 41, of Nampa, Idaho; Lance Ryan Ward, 44, of Boise, Idaho; Joshua James Alford, 34, of Garden Valley, Idaho; and Rodolfo Hernandez Gonzalez, 33, of Nampa, Idaho, were all sentenced to federal prison today for their role in a large scale methamphetamine trafficking ring, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Rivas, Ward, Alford and Gonzalez were sentenced by visiting Senior U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb from the Eastern District of California, sitting by special designation. The sentencings in four of these cases were delayed until a visiting judge could travel to the District of Idaho. Cardenas was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge.
Cardenas pleaded guilty on September 13, 2016, to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, and two counts of distributing methamphetamine. Cardenas admitted to distributing 221.5 grams of pure methamphetamine to an undercover officer in Caldwell, Idaho on November 23 and again on December 21, 2015. Cardenas was arrested on February 23, 2016, and was found to be in possession of a loaded firearm. Cardenas advised law enforcement that he was part of a large scale drug trafficking organization which was responsible for the transportation of twenty to thirty pounds of methamphetamine every three days for the past two years. Judge Lodge sentenced him to serve 12 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $100,000 in cash proceeds. Cardenas had previously been convicted of possession of cocaine and unlawful possession of an AK-47 assault rifle.
Rivas pleaded guilty on August 31, 2016, to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin. Rivas was arrested in Boise after he traveled to Mexico to pick up a shipment of methamphetamine and heroin. Law enforcement found one and a half pounds of methamphetamine and one pound of heroin hidden in the gas tank of his vehicle. Judge Shubb sentenced Rivas to serve ten years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $15,000 in cash proceeds. Rivas had previously been convicted of felony aggravated assault in 1999 after shooting an individual for failure to pay a debt. He had also been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon on two occasions, battery, domestic battery, and possession of a controlled substance.
Ward and Alford pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine. Both admitted to purchasing a pound of methamphetamine from a co-conspirator and then selling half of that pound to an undercover officer. Ward was sentenced to serve 11 years in prison. Alford was sentenced to serve ten years in prison. Both were sentenced to five years of supervised release. They were also ordered to forfeit $100,000 in cash proceeds. Ward had previously been convicted of felony controlled substance offenses in 2005, July of 2015, and October of 2015. Alford had previously been convicted of felony possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in January of 2005, possession of a controlled substance in August of 2005, and felony domestic battery in 2007.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine on August 30, 2016. He admitted to selling two ounces of methamphetamine to an undercover detective in Nampa, Idaho. Gonzalez was sentenced to serve five years in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $1,200 in cash proceeds.
These cases are the result of a joint investigation by the Boise Police Department Narcotics Unit and the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), includes the cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; and U.S. Marshals Service. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.
Federally Licensed Firearms Dealer Sentenced to Six Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
WICHITA, KAN. - A federally licensed firearms dealer from Parsons, Kan., was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison followed by a year on probation for knowingly selling a firearm to a convicted felon, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
Charles A. Black, 36, Parsons, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of selling a firearm to a convicted felon. In his plea, Black admitted the crime occurred while he owned Triple B Sporting Goods, 2530 Main Street in Parsons. Black arranged for a man who Black had known since they were teenagers to buy a gun even though Black knew the man was a convicted felon. Black allowed the convicted felon to use another man’s identity in order to pass a background check and purchase a Keltec 9 mm pistol.
Beall commended the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Treaster for their work on the case.
Federal Prosecutors Recognized for ExcellenceRead the Press Release
CEDAR RAPIDS – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa announced today that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) honored law enforcement heroes for major successes in the fight against domestic and international terrorism, genocide, and war crimes at the seventh annual presentation of the ADL SHIELD Awards at the end of September. The ceremony was held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Assistant United States Attorneys Richard Murphy and Ravi Narayan from the Northern District of Iowa were honored at the ceremony, along with Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents Michael Fischels, Andrew Lund, and Frank Hunter; a representative of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center; and Homeland Security legal counsel.
The SHIELD Awards annually recognize law enforcement for major achievements in cases related to ADL’s mission and work, including the fight against hate crimes and terrorism and protecting civil rights. It has become one of the premier events honoring law enforcement heroes in the nation.
The award name reflects law enforcement’s role as protectors, and is also an acronym for the core values of the profession: Service, Honor, Integrity, Excellence, Leadership, and Dedication.
“The SHIELD Awards give us an opportunity to publicly recognize some of law enforcement’s greatest successes,” said Elise Jarvis, ADL’s Associate Director for Law Enforcement Outreach and Communal Security. “The Awards are a way for us to honor and express our appreciation to those who have protected our nation and its values, and guarded our lives and freedoms.”
United States Attorney Kevin W. Techau stated, “I am very pleased to congratulate Rich and Ravi and the federal partners involved in this significant case. This recognition stems from multiple federal partners working together to ensure justice was achieved.”
The recipients were honored for the investigation and successful prosecution of Gervais (Ken) Ngombwa, formerly of Rwanda and now of Cedar Rapids. Ngombwa was convicted by a jury of naturalization fraud and conspiracy in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa earlier this year.
Evidence presented at trial showed Ngombwa fled Rwanda with relatives during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The evidence also showed Ngombwa knowingly made several material false statements to procure entry into the United States as a refugee from Rwanda in 1998. Notably, Ngombwa falsely claimed to be the brother of Faustin Twagiramungu, a former Prime Minister of Rwanda, who lives in exile in Belgium.
In evidentiary hearings in advance of formal imposition of sentence, the United States presented the testimony of multiple witnesses, including agents from the Department of Homeland Security who conducted extensive investigation in Rwanda. The testimony included evidence about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of people from the Tutsi ethnic group were killed. The evidence showed that Ngombwa was charged and convicted in two local “gacaca” courts in Rwanda for his involvement in the genocide. Ngombwa was implicated by numerous witnesses interviewed in Rwanda as a political leader in his community who actively directed and participated in the commission of genocidal acts. Ngombwa was also named in an Indictment brought in 2010 against Jean Uwinkindi by the United Nations Joint Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, as a co-participant in a “joint criminal enterprise whose common purpose was the commission of genocide against the Tutsi racial or ethnic group and persons identified as Tutsi or presumed to support the Tutsi[.]” Uwinkindi was convicted of genocide and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2015.
Ngombwa’s U.S. citizenship has been revoked and he faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and eventual removal to Rwanda to face further incarceration and prosecution there. A date for formal imposition of sentence has not been set.
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Federal Grand Jury Indicts Colleyville Businessman on Mail Fraud Stemming from Ponzi Oil and Gas Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Colleyville, Texas, businessman, James VanBlaricum, who operated an oil and gas exploration company, was indicted today by a federal grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, on one count of mail fraud, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.
VanBlaricum, 77, has been in custody since his arrest in mid-August 2016 by U.S. Postal Inspectors on a related federal criminal complaint. In ordering the detention, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton noted that VanBlaricum’s extensive travel and ties to numerous foreign countries made him a risk of flight or nonappearance unless detained.
According to the complaint, Signal Oil and Gas Company (SOG) was incorporated by VanBlaricum in 2000; he was the registered agent and sole incorporator. The Land Lease Program (LLP) was one of several oil and gas investment programs offered for purchase to SOG investors. Texas Energy Management and Texas Energy Mutual (TEM) are the names of SOG’s follow-on companies that VanBlaricum and other coconspirators began operating in 2008. SOG initially operated from an Airport Freeway address in Fort Worth, but in 2004, it also began receiving mail at a commercial mail receiving agency on Northwest Highway in Grapevine, Texas. The name on this mail box was changed in November 2010 to TEM.
The investigation began when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service was contacted by the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) after it began receiving complaints about VanBlaricum related to various programs he promoted and misrepresentations made to them by SOG salespeople. One of the main complaints was lack of investment payments. In fact, an investigation disclosed that from January 21, 2006, through January 31, 2009, 53 victims of a mail fraud scheme involving SOG’s LLP were identified with investments totaling $2,633,090.
According to the indictment, VanBlaricum formed SOG and TEM, ostensibly for the purpose of investing in mineral leases, and oil and gas production and earning a profit from those investments. The indictment alleges that he ran the fraud scheme from approximately January 2007 to August 2016, from his residence and home office located on Sapphire Circle in Colleyville, where many of the acts and transactions alleged in the indictment took place. VanBlaricum raised millions of dollars from investors by various means, including selling securities in the form of limited partnerships interests in “programs” offered by COG and TEM.
VanBlaricum employed sales agents who worked on his behalf to raise money, including selling securities in the form of limited partnership interests in “programs” offered by SOG and TEM. Both personally and through investors, VanBlaricum deceived investors and potential investors by misrepresenting material facts. For example, he represented that investors would earn an “assured” rate of return on their initial investment, and they would receive a full refund of their initial investment amount after a defined period of time. He also represented that he intended to use a certain percentage of investors’ money to purchase mineral leases, and oil and gas well projects, when in fact, he intended to spend a substantially smaller percentage on the leases and oil and gas well projects and use a substantial part of investors’ money for purposes they did not authorize or even know about, including paying purported investment returns to other investors, commissions to sales agents, and paying his personal expenses as well as personal expenses for family members, friends, and business associates.
VanBlaricum also represented that he had purchased certain assets, or was in the process of purchasing them, when in fact, he had not purchased the assets and was not in the process of purchasing them. He also represented that the oil and gas well projects were productive and profitable, when in fact, most were “dry holes,” produced oil for a short period of time, or had not been drilled.
When VanBlaricum made promises about the use of investor funds, he failed to state that he had made the same promises to other investors and then used those investors’ funds for purposes they did not authorize or even know about, including paying purported investment returns to other investors, commissions to sales agents, and payment of personal expenses for VanBlaricum and his family, friends, and business associates.
According to the indictment, VanBlaricum also identified himself to investors using a false name. VanBlaricum deposited investors’ funds into, and withdrew and expended investors’ funds, from accounts he controlled in the names of entities he controlled. He caused funds to be transferred to, withdrawn from, and deposited into various accounts to create the appearance of business operations and revenue that he knew did not exist. He also caused “lulling” payments to be paid to investors, ostensibly as returns on investment, when he knew the funds came from other investors rather than from business operations.
VanBlaricum, according to the indictment, secretly, and without authorization, took and spend money entrusted to him by investors for advertising; vacations and international travel; escort and dating services; rent payments; automobile purchases; and payroll and commissions for employees and sales agents.
The indictment includes a forfeiture allegation that would require VanBlaricum, upon conviction, to forfeit a money judgment in the amount constituting the proceeds traceable to the offense. He will also be required to forfeit 10 vehicles, two $25,000 surety bonds, and proceeds in eight Frost Bank and Chase Bank accounts.
An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury, and a defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, the maximum statutory penalty for mail fraud is 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
The investigation is being led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas A. Allen is in charge of the prosecution.
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Federal Grand Jury IndictmentsRead the Press Release
Contact Person: Nancy Wicker (803) 929-3000
Acting United States Attorney Beth Drake stated that yesterday a Federal Grand Jury in Greenville, South Carolina, returned Indictments against the following:
Two Men Arrested and Charged with Illegal Re-Entry into the United States
Luis Enrique Bedoya and Melvin Flores were each charged in separate indictments with illegal re-entry to the United States, a violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326. The maximum penalty each could receive, depending on their prior criminal history, is two to twenty years imprisonment. The cases were investigated by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Investigations (DHS). The cases are assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen of the Greenville office for prosecution.
“Real Time”: Spartanburg Man Arrested and Indicted in South Carolina for Felon in Possession of Firearm
Fred Deshawn Edwards, age 22, was charged in a one-count indictment with being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g). The maximum penalty Edwards could receive is 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000. The case was investigated by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Spartanburg Police Department and is prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local “Real Time” initiative. The goal of this program is to identify individuals for federal prosecution with significant criminal histories who continue to actively possess firearms in the community. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen of the Greenville office is handling prosecution of this case.
“Real Time”: Greenville Man Arrested and Indicted in South Carolina for Felon in Possession of Firearm
Joshua Matthew Garrett, age 26, was charged in a one-count indictment with being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g). The maximum penalty Garrett could receive is 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000. The case was investigated by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office and is prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local “Real Time” initiative. The goal of this program is to identify individuals for federal prosecution with significant criminal histories who continue to actively possess firearms in the community. Assistant United States Attorney Max Cauthen of the Greenville office is handling prosecution of this case.
The Acting United States Attorney stated that all charges in these Indictments are merely accusations and that all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.#####
Farmington Woman Sentenced to 13 Years for Distributing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Tristalyn Valencia, 30, of Farmington, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 13 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for her conviction on a distribution of child pornography charge. Valencia will be required to register as a sex offender upon her release from prison.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, 11th Judicial District Attorney Robert P. “Rick” Tedrow, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Tex., and San Juan County Sheriff Ken Christesen.
Valencia was arrested on Dec. 24, 2015, on an indictment charging her with nine counts of producing visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. According to the indictment, Valencia committed the crimes between May 2012 and Aug. 2012 in San Juan County, N.M.
On April 13, 2016, Valencia pled guilty to a felony information charging her with distribution of child pornography. In entering the guilty plea, Valencia admitted that from June 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012, she distributed nine images containing child pornography. Each image depicted the same victim, who was under the age of 12 years, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the images depicted the victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct with an adult male.
This case was investigated by the Albuquerque and Phoenix offices of HSI and the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the 11th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Farmington.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
Edmond Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Producing Child Pornography and Using it to Engage in Sextortion of 14-Year Old GirlRead the Press Release
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – CARLOS ALEXANDER DAVILA, 23, of Edmond, was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge David L. Russell to serve 15 years in federal prison for producing child pornography in connection with a sextortion scheme, announced Mark A. Yancey, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
According to court records and information from court proceedings, Davila sent a Facebook friend request to a 14-year-old Florida girl in March of 2016, after seeing her post a comment that her friend had committed suicide. Davila and the girl began communicating via Facebook and later texted and used the smartphone application Kik. Davila told the girl that he was studying to become a psychologist and he would help her deal with her friend’s suicide. Eventually, Davila asked the girl for nude photos in exchange for his assistance. The girl told Davila that she was only 14, but he said it did not matter. The girl eventually sent Davila nude pictures and videos. The girl reported that Davila became very possessive and threatened to post her nude images online when she tried to end their online relationship. According to text messages described in court records, the girl begged Davila to delete her images, but he said he would "keep every single pic and video" and would "leak everything" about her "to everyone," especially his "hungry friends in need of fresh meat." Davila texted her, saying, "The more you ignore me the more I’ll expose you without a care in the world." He texted that if she did not respond to him in five minutes he would post her nude images—alongside a request that listed her contact information and asked for pictures of men’s penises. Davila then used a spoofing app to send the girl text messages that appeared to be coming from unknown phone numbers, giving her the impression that her images had in fact been posted and that men were contacting her in response to them. The girl reported that Davila also threatened to physically harm her.
Davila’s actions came to light when the girl reported his conduct to a law enforcement officer assigned to her school. Davila was arrested and charged in May of 2016. He pled guilty to producing child pornography on June 19, 2016.
In a victim impact statement, the girl reported that Davila’s actions caused her to have a negative self-image and that she still cries sometimes about her experience with him. She said that Davila’s actions made "the phase of losing someone to suicide" much harder to cope with, and she still has concerns about him harming her.
According to court records, when Edmond Police Department officers examined Davila’s electronic devices, they found child pornography depicting not only the Florida girl, but also other images of child pornography, some depicting children as young as eight or nine years old.
After completion of his 15-year prison term, Davila will have to register as a sex offender and be placed on supervised release by the United States Probation Office for the rest of his life.
This case was being investigated by the Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriff’s Department and the Edmond Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Hale.
District Man Pleads Guilty to Carjacking in Northeast WashingtonRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Donald Thompson, 23, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to charges stemming from a carjacking that took place earlier this year in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.
Thompson pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to charges of carjacking, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. The plea, which is contingent upon the Court’s approval, calls for a sentence of seven years in prison. The Honorable Zoe Bush scheduled sentencing for March 24, 2017.
According to the government’s evidence, on March 26, 2016, at approximately 11 p.m., Thompson and an accomplice approached the victim in the area of 16th and Gales Streets NE. The victim was waiting for a friend just outside a 2016 Dodge Ram truck that he rented earlier that day. The victim’s dirt bike was strapped into the back of truck. Thompson and his accomplice asked about the dirt bike and then walked away.
Moments later, however, Thompson and his accomplice returned to the scene. The accomplice pointed what appeared to be a dark-colored semiautomatic handgun at the victim, and Thompson snatched an iPhone from the victim’s hands. Thompson then entered the Dodge Ram and drove away, making a right onto Gales Street. The accomplice stayed with the victim, holding him at gunpoint and robbing him of approximately $1,000.
Minutes after the robbery and carjacking, Thompson and his accomplice met up in the 2000 block of D Street NE, where they attempted to remove the dirt bike from the Dodge Ram, leaving their fingerprints on the truck’s tailgate. After attempting, unsuccessfully, to remove the dirt bike, Thompson and his accomplice abandoned the Dodge Ram and the dirt bike.
Thompson was arrested on July 12, 2016 after his fingerprints were found on the Dodge Ram. He has remained in custody ever since.
Thompson’s alleged accomplice, 24, is awaiting trial on multiple counts, including conspiracy, armed carjacking, and armed robbery.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Barker, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
Davenport Man Sentenced to Six Months in Prison for EscapeRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, IA - On December 14, 2016, Keith Nelson, age 28, of Davenport, Iowa, was sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey to six months in prison for escape from federal custody, announced United States Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Nelson was ordered to serve a two-year term of supervised release following his imprisonment.
On September 9, 2016, Nelson pleaded guilty to this charge. Nelson was serving a term of 120 months in federal prison when he was released in December 2015, to the residential re-entry center (RRC) in Davenport to complete that term. In June 2016, Nelson left the RRC without permission and was arrested by the United States Marshal Service (USMS) approximately three days later.
This investigation was conducted by the USMS and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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Media Contact for this release is Rachel Scherle at 515-473-9300, or [email protected]
Davenport Man Sentenced to Prison for Making False Statements When Purchasing FirearmsRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, IA - On December 14, 2016, Michael D’Shon Aguilar, age 23, of Davenport, Iowa, was sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey to one year and one day in prison for three counts of making False Statements During the Purchase of a Firearm, announced United States Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Aguilar was ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his imprisonment.
On July 25, 2016, Aguilar pleaded guilty to the charges and admitted that on three occasions, he made false statements regarding his current residence when filling out the mandatory Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ form when purchasing the guns. Two of the three guns ended up in the possession of prior felons.
This investigation was conducted by the Davenport Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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Media Contact for this release is Rachel Scherle at 515-473-9300, or [email protected]
Davenport Man Sentenced to Prison for Illegally Possessing a FirearmRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, IA - On December 13, 2016, Kaylo O’Neal Roelandt, age 22, of Davenport, Iowa, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to three years in prison for Felon in Possession of a Firearm, announced United States Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Roelandt was ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his imprisonment.
On August 1, 2016, Roelandt pleaded guilty to the charge and admitted he had previously been convicted of a drug felony in 2012, and then possessed a firearm on December 16, 2014.
This investigation was conducted by the Davenport Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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Media Contact for this release is Rachel Scherle at 515-473-9300, or [email protected]
Davenport Man Sentenced to 292 Months in Prison for Production of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, IA - On December 13, 2016, Eric Nathan Hans, age 46, of Davenport, Iowa, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose to 292 months in prison for Production of Child Pornography, announced United States Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Hans also will be required to serve a ten-year term of supervised release following his imprisonment.
On June 13, 2016, Hans pleaded guilty to this charge and admitted that in December 2010, he used his cellular phone to produce child pornography by taking multiple pictures of a 12-year-old child. Additionally, Hans had downloaded child pornography onto his computer in June of 2014.
The investigation was conducted by the Davenport Police Department and the Child Protection Response Center. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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Media Contact for this release is Rachel Scherle at 515-473-9300, or [email protected]
Davenport Man Sentenced for Conspiracy to Distribute Crack and for Illegally Possessing a FirearmRead the Press Release
DAVENPORT, IA - On December 14, 2016, Antonio Deshawn Thomas, age 38, of Davenport, Iowa, was sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey to 188 months in prison on the charge of Conspiracy to Distribute Crack Cocaine and to 120 months for the charge of Felon in Possession of a Firearm, announced United States Attorney Kevin VanderSchel. The two sentences will run concurrently with one another. Thomas was ordered to serve four years of supervised release following his imprisonment and to pay $200 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.
On July 25, 2016, Thomas pleaded guilty to the charges and admitted that between September 1, 2015, and November 7, 2015, he was part of a conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine in the Quad Cities area, and that on November 6, 2015, he was in possession of a firearm. The charges were the result of an investigation by the Davenport Police Department, which resulted in the execution of search warrants at two Davenport residences. At one residence, officers found approximately 40 grams of crack cocaine, 32 grams of powder cocaine and a .38 caliber handgun. At the other, officers found approximately 56 grams of crack cocaine. Thomas was prohibited from possessing a firearm due to multiple prior felony convictions from Rock Island County, Illinois.
This matter was investigated by the Davenport Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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Media Contact for this release is Rachel Scherle at 515-473-9300, or [email protected]
Cumberland County Man Guilty of Receiving Child PornographyRead the Press Release
HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that John Alexander Driscoll, age 60, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, pled guilty on December 13, 2016, before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson to receiving child pornography.
According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Driscoll admitted to receiving images depicting the sexual exploitation of children. After obtaining a search warrant, federal law enforcement officers located thousands of images and movies containing child pornography in Driscoll’s possession.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daryl Bloom.
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."
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.
Driscoll was a 1987 subject of a United States Postal Inspection Service child exploitation operation where he was arrested and convicted of mailing and receiving child pornography. As such, the maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 40 years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a $250,000 fine. In addition, this offense carries a mandatory term of imprisonment of 15 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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Council Bluffs Man Sentenced for Illegally Possessing FirearmRead the Press Release
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA - On December 13, 2016, Jonathan S. Featherstone, a 23 year-old resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced by Chief United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey, to 33 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person, announced United States Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel.
Featherstone entered a guilty plea on July 14, 2016, to the charge of Felon in Possession of a Firearm as a result of his possession of a Walter P38 9mm pistol. Featherstone was contacted on February 17, 2016, by Council Bluffs Police Department officers following a traffic stop, where it was discovered Featherstone had a loaded 9mm pistol in his backpack. Featherstone had been convicted of a prior felony offense in July of 2015.
This investigation was conducted by the Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
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Media Contact for this release is Rachel Scherle at 515-473-9300, or [email protected]
Connecticut Man Sentenced to More Than 15 Years in Prison for Sexual Exploitation of 3 MinorsRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DANIEL JESSE CONRAD, 32, formerly of New Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 186 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for producing child pornography.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between October 2013 and June 2014, CONRAD sexually exploited three different minor females. CONRAD met one of the minor females in February 2014 through Omegle, an internet video chatting service. The minor was 15 years old at the time and lived in Connecticut. After their initial conversation, CONRAD and the minor female began communicating regularly through the Kik text messaging and photo sharing application on their cell phones. On March 1, 2014, the two met in person, and CONRAD drove the minor to Massachusetts where they engaged in sexual activity. Subsequently, on five or six occasions between March and June 2014, CONRAD picked up the minor and drove her to his residence in Connecticut where they engaged in sexual intercourse. During some of the encounters, CONRAD used his iPhone to take videos and pictures of the minor engaged in sexual activity.
In addition to meeting the minor in person, CONRAD had several online video conversations with the minor over Skype and Omegle. During some of these video conversations, the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, which CONRAD recorded and saved on his computer. CONRAD also repeatedly persuaded the minor to take sexually explicit pictures of herself at her home and send them to him via Kik.
CONRAD similarly communicated with two other minors, who were also 15 years old at the time, over Skype and Omegle. One of the minors lived in New York and the other minor lived in Nebraska. As with the first victim, during several of the video conversations, CONRAD persuaded them to engage in sexually explicit conduct, which CONRAD recorded and saved on his computer. CONRAD also repeatedly persuaded the minors to take sexually explicit pictures of themselves at their homes and send them to him via Kik.
In total, CONRAD had saved on his computer and iPhone approximately 200 images and 52 videos of the three minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
On May 17, 2016, CONRAD waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography.
After his arrest on September 10, 2015, CONRAD was released on bond and placed on electronic monitoring. At the conclusion of today’s sentencing proceeding, he was remanded to custody to begin serving his sentence.
This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Connecticut State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.
This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.
Clearfield County Man Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Social SecurityRead the Press Release
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - A resident of Morrisdale, Pa., has been sentenced in federal court to six months in prison, followed by six months’ home detention with electronic monitoring, and three years’ supervised release, on his conviction of conversion of government funds, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.
United States District Judge Kim R. Gibson imposed the sentence on Glenn Allen English, 58, of Morrisdale, Pa.
According to information presented to the court, from Jan. 1, 2008, to Oct. 31, 2015, English did receive and convert falsely to his own use a total of $210,802.30, which represents approximately 210 separate Social Security Administration benefit payments made to him to which he was not entitled.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Haines prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Ms. Song commended the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of English.
City of Chicago Alderman Charged with Using Money from Charitable Fund to Pay Gambling Expenses and Daughter’s TuitionRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A federal grand jury has indicted City of Chicago Alderman WILLIE B. COCHRAN on charges he pocketed money from a charitable fund that was intended to help families and children in his South Side ward.
The 15-count indictment alleges that Cochran used money from the 20th Ward Activities Fund to pay his daughter’s college tuition and to finance his gambling expenses, as well as to purchase items for use in his home. The indictment also charges Cochran with extorting money from a lawyer and a liquor store owner in exchange for Cochran’s aldermanic support.
The indictment was returned Tuesday in federal court in Chicago. It charges Cochran, 64, of Chicago, with eleven counts of wire fraud, two counts of federal program bribery, and two counts of extortion. An arraignment date has not yet been set.
The indictment was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, 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. The FBI initiated the investigation after receiving information from the former City of Chicago Legislative Inspector General’s Office, which was headed at that time by Faisal Khan.
“When an elected official uses public power for personal gain, the average citizen pays and our democratic system suffers,” said U.S. Attorney Fardon. “We will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute any elected official who attempts to use their office to enrich themselves.”
According to the indictment, Cochran corruptly solicited and demanded $1,500 from an Illinois attorney who represented real estate developers with properties in Cochran’s ward. Cochran solicited and obtained the money for his continued and future aldermanic support of the developments, which included a property developed under the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, according to the indictment.
The indictment also charges Cochran with corruptly soliciting and demanding payment from a 20th Ward liquor store owner who sought an amendment to the Municipal Code of Chicago to allow package goods licenses on the store’s side of South Cottage Grove Avenue. Shortly after soliciting the payment, the City Council of Chicago in April 2015 passed a Cochran-sponsored amendment that allowed for issuance of the licenses on that block, according to the indictment.
The indictment alleges that Cochran was the sole signatory on a bank account for the 20th Ward Activities Fund, a charitable endeavor that purported to host ward events such as a summer back-to-school picnic, a Valentine’s Day party for senior citizens, and events during the holiday season. In reality, Cochran used a portion of the money contributed by donors for his own personal use, the indictment states. These expenses included $5,000 toward his daughter’s college tuition, and approximately $25,000 that Cochran withdrew from automated teller machines in or near casinos where he gambled, according to the indictment.
The public is reminded that an indictment 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.
The charges in the indictment are punishable by a total maximum sentence of 280 years in prison. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Heather McShain and Christopher Stetler.
Chief of St. Paul’s Fire District and Two Others Charged in Fraud and Kickback SchemeRead the Press Release
Contact Person: Nancy Wicker (803) 929-3000
Columbia, South Carolina---- Acting United States Attorney Beth Drake today announced that a Charleston Grand Jury has returned a two-count indictment charging St. Paul’s Fire District Chief Doc McNeil Matthews, age 47, of Hollywood; Assistant Chief Charles Riddle, age 44, of Goose Creek; and Mary Jo Thomas-Delaney, age 67, of Summerville, with fraud and embezzlement from a federally funded organization. Count 1 of the Indictment alleges that Chief Matthews embezzled money from the District by, among other things, inflating his leave balances and cashing in the leave. In Count 2, the indictment alleges that Matthews, Riddle and Thomas-Delaney participated in a scheme to secretly inflate contract payments from the District to Thomas-Delaney’s company, Grant Services LLC, and then split the inflated proceeds with each other. Each count carries a maximum prison term of ten years, and a fine of up to $250,000.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division. The investigation was initiated at the request of the St. Paul’s Fire District Commission after audits disclosed financial irregularities.
Assistant United States Attorney Eric Klumb is prosecuting the case.
The Acting United States Attorney stated that the charges alleged in the Indictment are merely accusations and that all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Charleston crack dealer sentenced to over five years in federal prison for drug crimeRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston man who violated his federal supervised release by selling crack was sentenced to prison today, announced United States Attorney Carol Casto. Terrance Wilson, 27, previously pleaded guilty to distribution of crack. In today’s hearing, he was sentenced to four years in federal prison for that offense. He was also sentenced to an additional one and a half years in prison for violating his federal supervised release. The sentences will be served consecutively.
Wilson admitted that on January 25, 2016, he sold crack to a confidential informant working with law enforcement authorities. The drug deal took place at a local business on Bigley Avenue in Charleston. Wilson further admitted that he also sold crack to a confidential informant on January 26 and 27, 2016.
The Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Timothy D. Boggess is in charge of the prosecution. United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., imposed the sentence.
This prosecution was brought as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat illegal drugs in our communities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of illegal drugs in communities across the Southern District.
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Centralia Resident Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Firearms OffensesRead the Press Release
Brandon Hoskins, 32, of Centralia, Illinois, was sentenced to sixty months in federal prison on December 13, 2016, for possession of a firearm in connection with a drug offense, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Donald S. Boyce, announced today. Hoskins was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment and to serve three years of supervised release after he is released from prison.
On November 29, 2014, the Buchheit of Centralia farm and home supply store was burglarized and thirty-nine firearms were stolen, along with at least one thousand rounds of ammunition. Evidence established that two of the guns stolen during the Buchheit’s burglary were eventually transferred to Brandon Hoskins. When agents went to Hoskins’ home on December 5, 2014, to search for the stolen firearms, they discovered a separate Glock pistol in his bedroom, along with an amount of heroin, a drug log book, and drug packaging materials. Hoskins admitted that he kept that firearm as protection related to his drug dealing. The two stolen firearms were eventually recovered by law enforcement officials. Hoskins pleaded guilty on August 11, 2016, in United States District Court.
Centralia Police and agents from the ATF identified the suspects soon after the burglary and have recovered thirty-seven of the thirty-nine stolen guns as of this date. Anyone with knowledge of the remaining stolen firearms or the ammunition is encouraged to call law enforcement.
The investigation is being conducted by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Centralia Police Department, along with the Clinton County State’s Attorney’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.
Buffalo Man Charged with Distributing Fentanyl and HeroinRead 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 Steven Paschell, 47, of Buffalo, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with possessing with intent distribute heroin and fentanyl. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Higgins, who is handling the case, stated that on November 1, 2016, Paschell sold a quantity of a substance containing heroin and fentanyl.
The defendant, who made an initial appearance before Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy, is being held pending a detention hearing on Friday, December 16, 2016, at 1:30 p.m.
The criminal complaint is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Buffalo Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge John Flickinger.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Berkeley Wine Shop Owner Sentenced to Six and A Half Years in Prison for Running Wine Ponzi SchemeRead the Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO – John E. Fox, the former owner of Premier Cru, a now-bankrupt wine shop based in Berkeley, has been sentence to 78 months in prison for wire fraud, announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John F. Bennett. The sentence follows a guilty plea entered August 11, 2016, in which Fox admitted to using his wine shop to run a multi-million-dollar wine Ponzi scheme.
Fox, 66, of Concord, Calif., co-founded Premier Cru in 1980, and eventually moved it to University Avenue in Berkeley. In his plea agreement, Fox acknowledged that, beginning in the 1990s, he orchestrated a massive scheme to defraud customers of the business.
As part of his plea agreement, Fox admitted that, in many instances, he falsified purchase orders for wine he had never contracted to purchase, entered the phantom wine into Premier Cru’s inventory for sale, and then sold or caused Premier Cru’s salespeople to sell the phantom wine. He also acknowledged that, between 2010 and 2015, he sold or attempted to sell approximately $20 million worth of phantom wine that he had never actually purchased prior to entering them onto Premier Cru’s inventory.
In addition, in instances where Fox actually did contract with foreign suppliers on behalf of Premier Cru to purchase wine, he generally promised to pay the foreign suppliers within 30 days. Fox admitted that he knew Premier Cru would not be able to make payment within 30 days, or in some cases, ever, because he embezzled money from Premier Cru’s business accounts and diverted money coming in from current customers to obtain wine for prior customers who had never received their wine.
According to the plea agreement, Fox embezzled funds from the Premier Cru accounts by both using Premier Cru’s business account to make payments for personal expenses and by making substantial cash transfers from the Premier Cru business accounts to personal accounts in his own name and in fake names. Fox used the embezzled funds to pay for personal credit cards; memberships to private golf clubs; the purchase or lease of expensive cars including Corvettes, Ferraris, a Maserati, and various Mercedes-Benzes; and a variety of additional personal expenses, including more than $900,000 on women he met online.
Premier Cru eventually filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. At the time of Premier Cru’s bankruptcy, customers were owed approximately $45 million for wine that they had not received. On June 28, 2016, Fox was charged with a single count of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343. Pursuant to his plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to the charge.
The sentence was handed down by the Honorable James Donato, U.S. District Judge. In sentencing Fox, Judge Donato referred to Fox’s conduct as, “a long running empire of deception.” In addition to the prison term, Judge Donato ordered Fox to serve three years of supervised release. He also found that restitution would be ordered, and scheduled a hearing on Wednesday, January 18, 2017, at 10:30 a.m., to determine a specific restitution amount. Fox is in custody and will begin serving his sentence immediately.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Kingsley is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Bridget Kilkenny. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Bay Area Doctor Pleads Guilty to Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO – Dr. John Compagno pleaded guilty today to tax evasion announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Batdorf.
According to the plea agreement, Compagno, 70, of Napa, Calif., is a medical physician specializing in Pathology. Compagno is the owner and operator of three corporations located in Hercules, Calif., including John Compagno, M.D., Inc., West Coast Pathology Laboratory, Inc., and Histopathology Reference Laboratory, Inc. In his plea agreement, Compagno admitted he submitted both corporate and individual tax returns that understated his liability to the IRS.
For the tax years 2005 through 2011, Compagno caused a corporate tax return preparer to overstate the amount of expenses on the corporate tax return by including non-deductible expenses. Because the amounts of non-deductible expenses were overstated, the amount of income taxes due were understated. Compagno approved and signed the corporate tax returns. The amounts of non-deductible expenses included during each year are as follows:
Tax Year
Amount of
Non-Deductible
Expenses Included
Additional Tax Due
2005
$407,714
$138,623
2006
$722,644
$248,814
2007
$1,712,621
$601,235,
2008
$2,511,211
$737,848
2009
$2,640,726
$916,547
2010
$1,090,799
$646,063
2011
$1,593,365
$569,930
Total
$10,679,080
$3,859,060
In addition, Compagno omitted constructive dividends from his 2006 through 2011 individual income tax returns. This resulted in additional tax due as follows:
Tax Year
Amount of
Constructive Dividends Omitted
Additional Tax Due
2006
$706,736
$118,812
2007
$1,657,324
$264,449
2008
$2,359,000
$307,732
2009
$2,411,547
$345,827
2010
$1,833,674
$287,558
2011
$1,536,810
$242,801
Total
$10,505,091
$1,567,179
In sum, Compagno acknowledged in his plea agreement he owes over $5.4 million in unpaid taxes. Compagno was charged by Information filed November 16, 2016, with one count of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. In today’s plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to knowingly and willfully filing with the IRS a false 2010 corporate tax return.
Compagno is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., before the Honorable William Alsup, U.S. District Judge. The maximum sentence for tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201, is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Moore is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Bank Employee Charged with Embezzling from EmployerRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH – A resident of Indiana, Pennsylvania, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of embezzling from a federally insured bank, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.
The one-count indictment, returned on Dec. 13, named Madeline Isenberg, 36, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, as the sole defendant.
According to the indictment, from in or around February 2012 until in or around August 2015, Isenberg, while employed as an Assistant Manager for First Commonwealth Bank, embezzled approximately $88,000.
The law provides for a maximum total sentence of thirty years 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 offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Lee J. Karl is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.
An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Antique Bookbinder Sentenced to Prison for False Invoices in Gutenberg Bible Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – Michael Chrisman, an Ohio bookbinder, has been sentenced to one year and nine months in federal prison for stealing nearly $500,000 from his Atlanta business partner in a bookbinding project. The defendant sent false invoices claiming that he completed more than 70 sets of replica Gutenberg Bibles, but he failed to complete all but a handful of sets and instead pocketed the victim’s money to pay for personal expenses.
"Mr. Chrisman tricked the victim into paying false invoices for hand-bound Gutenberg Bible facsimiles that were never completed, and the defendant repeatedly lied to cover up his fraud," said U. S. Attorney John Horn.
"Today’s sentencing in federal court holds the defendant, Michael Chrisman, fully accountable for his criminal actions. Fraud schemes involving such high loss amounts can do irreparable harm to many businesses, and the FBI remains committed toward assisting and protecting these businesses from those individuals, such as Mr. Chrisman," stated David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office.
According to United States Attorney Horn, the charges, and other information presented in court: Michael Chrisman, a bookbinder and rare books restorer, was the owner of Bookbinders Workshop, Inc. in New York. In 2010, Chrisman entered a bookbinding contract with the victim, who had obtained replica loose-leaf pages of the Gutenberg Bible. The original Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed in Western Europe using movable metal type, and the few remaining original copies are among the most valuable books in the world. Chrisman agreed to bind the replica Gutenberg Bible pages using traditional 15th century binding techniques, including hand-binding the pages in pigskin leather with brass clasps. The victim agreed to pay Chrisman’s invoices for each completed set, and the victim planned to sell each replica two-volume set for $12,500 when the entire project was complete.
From October 2010 through June 2013, the defendant sent approximately two dozen invoices to the victim falsely charging him up to $5,500 for each completed Gutenberg Bible set, in addition to bills for supplies. In reality, Chrisman completed binding for only five of the more than seventy sets billed to the victim, resulting in a loss to the victim of over $480,000. Chrisman lied to the victim repeatedly about his progress and only later confessed that he had falsely billed for sets he never completed and that he used the fraudulently obtained money to pay his own living expenses.
Michael Chrisman, 53, of Columbus, OH, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones to one year and nine months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $483,403 in restitution to the victim. Chrisman was convicted on a wire fraud charge on September 6, 2016, after he pleaded guilty.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney Nathan P. Kitchens prosecuted the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao/gan/.
Anchorage Husband and Wife Convicted of Wire Fraud for Faking BurglaryRead the Press Release
Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a jury in Anchorage found Arnold Wesley Flowers, II, and his wife, Miranda May Flowers, guilty of 12 counts of wire fraud as part of their scheme to defraud State Farm Insurance.
Arnold Wesley Flowers, II, age 41, and Miranda May Flowers, age 31, both of Anchorage, were tried before U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason. Both Mr. and Mrs. Flowers were convicted of all 12 charged counts of wire fraud.
The evidence established that on the night of January 17, 2016, the Flowers moved several items from their home into a storage unit located at Best Storage on Tudor Road in Anchorage. These items included several big screen television sets, jewelry, clothing, shoes, designer handbags and sunglasses, video games, computers, and other electronics. On January 18-19, the Flowers staged a burglary at their home on Larkspur Circle and claimed in their report to the Anchorage Police that the items they previously put in storage had been stolen in a burglary of their home. The Flowers held a renter's insurance policy with State Farm Insurance. On January 25, the Flowers contacted State Farm Insurance and made a formal claim for reimbursement of the replacement cost of the items they had hidden in the storage unit on January 17, and that they claimed had been stolen on January 18-19.
The Flowers valued the falsely stolen or intentionally damaged property at over $82,000. The Flowers communicated this claim for loss to State Farm Insurance through multiple telephone calls and emails that originated in Alaska and were sent to claim investigators located at State Farm Insurance offices in the Lower 48 states and Hawaii.
Mr. Flowers was recently found guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and felon in possession of firearms, by another jury on October 19, 2016, in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Cavanaugh and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Barkeley prosecuted the case for the United States. The State of Alaska Division of Insurance also dedicated an investigator to both the investigation and trial. Director Lori Wing-Heier of the State of Alaska Division of Insurance said: “This case demonstrates the Alaska Division of Insurance and its fraud investigation partners are dedicated to protecting Alaska consumers and investigating fraudulent activities.”
Ms. Loeffler commends the Anchorage Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, and the State of Alaska Division of Insurance for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution and conviction of Mr. and Mrs. Flowers. These agencies were also assisted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative Division.
7-Eleven Employee Sentenced to 48 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud, Alien Harboring, and Identity Theft SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, Malik Yousaf was sentenced to 48 months in prison following his September 22, 2014, guilty plea to committing wire fraud and concealing and harboring illegal aliens employed at 7-Eleven, Inc. (7-Eleven) franchise stores located throughout Long Island and Virginia.
The sentence was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Mr. Capers expressed his grateful appreciation to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, New York Field Office (HSI); New York State Police; Suffolk County Police; United States Department of Labor; and the New York Office of Inspector General for the Social Security Administration.
According to court filings and facts presented in court, the defendant acted as the chief manager of five 7-Eleven franchise stores during the course of the conspiracy, hired dozens of illegal aliens, equipped them with more than 20 identities stolen from United States citizens, housed them at residences his coconspirators owned, and stole substantial portions of his workers’ wages. During the scheme, the defendant generated over $182 million in proceeds from the 7-Eleven franchise stores.
In addition to the sentence of imprisonment, the court entered an order forfeiting the defendant’s rights to eight 7-Eleven stores in New York and ten 7-Eleven stores in Virginia, as well as a Long Island residence worth over $150,000. The court also ordered the defendant to pay $2.5 million in restitution for the back wages that he stole from his workers.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Amatruda is in charge of the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorneys Brian Morris and Elliot M. Schachner of the Office’s Civil Division are responsible for the forfeiture of assets.
The charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory, and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
For questions or concerns about immigrant workers and job seekers, contact the New York State Department of Labor Division Policies and Affairs (DIPA) at its toll-free worker hotline (1-877-466-9757).
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14-CR-351(SJF)
The Defendant:
MALIK YOUSAF
Age: 55
South Setauket, New York2nd Person Sentenced in Sex Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Mackenzy Scott, 20, of Providence, was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for sex trafficking two young teenagers, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha; Matthew J. Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for New England; Warwick Police Chief Colonel Stephen M. McCartney; and Seekonk, Mass., Police Chief Craig A. Mace.
At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., also ordered Scott to serve 5 years supervised release upon completion of his prison term. Scott pleaded guilty on September 20, 2016, to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
A co-defendant in this matter, Cristian Garcia, 21, of Providence, pleaded guilty in May 2016 to his role in the conspiracy. He was sentenced on October 27, 2016, to 24 months in federal prison to be followed by 5 years supervised release.
According to court records and information presented to the court, beginning in December 2014, Scott and Garcia conspired to take provocative photographs of a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old girl. The photographs were posted in advertisements on Backpage.com, offering the teenagers for commercial sex. Numerous individuals responded to the ads. Scott and Garcia either drove or arranged for the teenagers to be driven to various locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to engage in commercial sexual activity.
United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha commented, “The defendant sold children for sex, plain and simple. The thought of anyone engaging in such conduct, and of children being victimized in this way, is almost unimaginable, and yet we see it over and over again. We must continue to aggressively pursue those who, like this defendant, view children, and in some instances, adults, not as people, but as a means to satisfy their own greed.”
Mackenzy Scott was arrested on February 6, 2015. Cristian Garcia was arrested on March 14, 2016. Both have been detained since their arrests.
The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker.
The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, and the Warwick and Seekonk Police Departments.
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Tuesday 13 December 2016
Woodbridge Woman Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug ChargeRead the Press Release
Lynchburg, VIRGINIA – A Woodbridge woman, who conspired with others to traffic methamphetamine in and around the Lynchburg, Virginia region, pled guilty yesterday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Lynchburg, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced.
Christiana Hudgins, 33, of Woodbridge, Virginia, pled guilty yesterday to one count of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute and to distribute methamphetamine. At sentencing, Hudgins faces a maximum possible penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison.
“Methamphetamine abuse and addiction is one of the most pressing matters we in the law enforcement community are dealing with today,” United States Attorney Fishwick said today. “We will continue to devote the resources needed to combat this problem across the Western District.”
According to evidence presented to the court, Hudgins admitted to facilitating drug sales for other members of a larger methamphetamine conspiracy. She also admitted to, at times, conducting sales of methamphetamine herself, as well as traveling out-of-state to bring methamphetamine back to Virginia for distribution.
The investigation of the case was conducted by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office and the Roanoke City Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Donald R. Wolthuis and Special Assistant United States Attorney Kari Munro prosecuted the case for the United States.
Woman Who Owned Business in Basehor Sentenced for Not Paying Employment TaxesRead the Press Release
TOPEKA, KAN. - A woman who owned a home health care business in Basehor, Kan., was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in custody for failing to pay more than $856,000 in federal taxes, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
Elizabeth Lucero, 53, Basehor, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to collect or pay over employment tax. In her plea, she admitted the crime occurred while she owned Sunshine Home Health Care in Basehor. The company had 65 to 70 employees and 1,400 patients.
From 2007 to 2011, Lucero’s company withheld payments from employee’s paychecks including federal income taxes, Medicare and Social Security taxes. Even though the company was growing and profitable, it made no payments to the Internal Revenue Service as required. Furthermore, against her accountant’s advice, Lucero had the company pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars of her personal expenses, including cash withdrawals at casinos for gambling and a $50,000 Cadillac Escalade.
In her plea, Lucero agreed to pay restitution of $856,784.
Beall commended the Internal Revenue Service and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble for their work on the case.
Washington County Man Sentenced to Prison for Selling Heroin/Fentanyl that Caused OverdosesRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH - A resident of Washington, Pa., has been sentenced in federal court to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervision, on his conviction of federal heroin and fentanyl offenses, Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced today.
United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the seven-year federal sentence on 24-year-old Ronald Douglas McMillian, Jr.
According to information presented to the court, McMillian sold fentanyl-laced heroin on August 16, 2015 and a woman overdosed on it. The next day, McMillian sold more of the drug to two males who also overdosed. Quick work by civilians, medics and police kept all three alive until they were revived by Narcan, a drug that specifically counteracts the effects of heroin and its much more potent and lethal synthetic cousin fentanyl.
Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Schwab indicated that seven years in prison was sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to help deter others from similar crimes and to punish McMillian.
Assistant United States Attorney Ross E. Lenhardt and Assistant United States Attorney Katie A. King are the federal prosecutors with the Violent Crimes Section who prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Acting United States Attorney Song commended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for leading the investigation that has resulted in the successful prosecution of McMillian and many other Washington County drug dealers.
The DEA has joined forces with many other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute the alarming number of recent overdoses in Washington County and the rest of the Western District of Pennsylvania. These agencies include the Canonsburg Police Department, the Monessen Police Department, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County District Attorney Drug Task Force, the Washington County Coroner’s Office, the Allegheny County Department of Laboratories, and the Pennsylvania State Police. Federal authorities have helped to create a “Fusion Center” where heroin and fentanyl seizures from law enforcement agencies, along with overdose information, can be gathered and disseminated. This permits law enforcement to share information obtained during individual incidents to obtain investigative leads and visualize the overall picture of heroin use, sales, overdoses and deaths.