Latest Records
Newest first across public DOJ and U.S. Attorney press releases.
Friday 21 October 2016
Burke Resident Convicted of Multiple Armed RobberiesRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Larry Pyos, Jr., of Burke, was convicted late yesterday by a federal jury on charges related to multiple armed robberies of businesses in Fairfax County and Falls Church. Pyos will be sentenced on Jan. 13, 2017.
On August 11, 2016, Pyos was charged in an indictment with conspiracy, armed robbery, using firearms in committing those robberies and being a felon in possession of firearms. In two of the robberies he fired shots at employees. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Pyos’ crime spree started on Christmas Eve 2015, when he robbed the Good Fortune Supermarket in Falls Church. Pyos, who was armed with a handgun, fired at a store employee who followed him as he fled. Pyos later robbed the Shri Krishna grocery store, the Dollar Power store, and the Ding How Carryout all in Springfield. Pyos next robbed the Hong Kong Palace Restaurant in Falls Church on April 26, 2016, and was again armed with a handgun that he fired at a pursuing employee as he fled. Pyos’ final robbery was of a Subway sandwich shop in McLean on May 9, 2016. Pyos was arrested on May 11, 2016, and has been in custody since that date. The two handguns Pyos used in committing these robberies were purchased by his girlfriend and co-conspirator, who previously pleaded guilty to charges arising from these robberies and testified at Pyos’ trial.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Paul M. Abbate, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office; and Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., Fairfax County Chief of Police, made the announcement after the verdict was accepted by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tyler McGaughey and Michael Rich are prosecuting the case.
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. 1:16-cr-178.
Buffalo Man Arrested on Cocaine ChargeRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Eli Clark, 25, of Buffalo, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with possession with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of crack cocaine The charge carries a minimum penalty of five years and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $5,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Higgins, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, during the early hours of October 21, 2016, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s house on Crowley Avenue in Buffalo. Police recovered approximately 250 grams of suspected crack cocaine inside Clark’s kitchen.
The defendant made an initial appearance this afternoon before the U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder, Jr. and in being held pending a detention hearing scheduled for October 24, 2016 at 10:30 a.m.
The criminal complaint is the result of an investigation by the Niagara County Drug Task Force, under the direction of Sheriff James Voutour, the Drug Enforcement Administration under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt, the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Timothy Howard and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
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.
Brea Man Who Operated Physical Therapy Clinics Convicted in Scheme that Stole Millions from Medicare ProgramRead the Press Release
SANTA ANA, California – A Brea man who operated rehabilitation clinics in Walnut, Torrance and Los Angeles has been convicted by a federal jury of defrauding Medicare out of millions of dollars.
Simon Hong (who is also known as Seong Wook Hong), 54, was convicted Wednesday of eight counts of healthcare fraud, nine counts of illegal kickbacks related to healthcare referrals and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
The scheme revolved around clinics operated by Hong’s companies called Hong’s Medical Management, Inc., CMH Practice Solution, and HK Practice and Solution, Inc. According to the evidence presented at trial, Hong conspired with others to submit false claims to Medicare. As part of the scheme, Hong recruited Medicare beneficiaries and provided uncovered services like massage and acupuncture for them. Even though the beneficiaries did not receive actual physical therapy, the co-conspirators billed Medicare for physical therapy, and then funneled 56 percent of the reimbursement funds back to Hong.
Through this scheme Hong and his co-conspirators billed Medicare from the spring of 2009 until November 2013 and received approximately $2,929,775 in reimbursements, of which Hong received approximately $1,640,674.
After the jury returned its verdicts, United States District Judge David O. Carter set Hong’s sentencing hearing for January 9, 2017, at which time Hong will face a statutory maximum sentence of 129 years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison.
“Schemes that steal money from the Medicare program harm taxpayers and raise healthcare costs,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “This case is a prime example of the Department of Justice’s focus on protecting the assets of the Medicare program and the health of Americans who participate in it.”
Hong is one of 10 defendants who were charged in 2015 and early 2016 for healthcare fraud related to physical therapy. Eight others have pled guilty, and one, David Y. Kim, 54, of Los Angeles, remains a fugitive. Those previously convicted in the investigation are:
-
Joseff Sales, 39, of Buena park, pleaded guilty last January to one count of healthcare fraud and one count of illegal kickbacks;
-
Danniel Goyena, 39, of Buena Park, pleaded guilty last December to two counts of healthcare fraud;
-
Marlon Sonco, 39, of Sylmar, pleaded guilty in June 2015 to conspiracy;
-
Eddieson Legaspi, 40, of Lomita, an employee of Rehab Dynamics, pleaded guilty in August 2015 to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud;
-
Ohun Kwon, 50, of Fullerton, the owner/operator of E.K. Medical Management, which referred patients to Rehab Dynamics, pleaded guilty in August 2015 to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and was sentenced last week to 27 months in federal prison;
-
Leovigildo Sayat, 39, of Torrance, an employee of RSG Rehab, pleaded guilty in October 2015 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud;
-
Byong Chun “David” Min, 68, of Irvine, co-owner/operator of Glory Rehab Team, which operated as Dream Hospital in Orange County, pleaded guilty in May to healthcare fraud and illegal kickbacks; and
-
Jason S. Min, 35, of Irvine, David Min’s son, who was the other owner/operator of Glory Rehab, pleaded guilty last month to Obstruction of Justice.
“Mr. Hong exploited the Medicare system to generate millions in fraudulent proceeds at the expense of honest taxpayers,” said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This case should serve as a warning to others involved in health care fraud as Mr. Hong faces significant prison time after being found guilty by a jury at trial.”
“Medicare provides legitimate health care services for millions of older Americans,” said Christian J. Schrank, HHS OIG Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Fraudulently billing the program for therapies never provided could cost Mr. Hong years in prison. As this conviction shows, not just providers, but business owners who are partners in these schemes, will pay a price. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will pursue all those involved in stealing from the Medicare trust funds.”
The investigation in these cases was conducted by the FBI and HHS-OIG. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Byron J. McLain and Sarah Heidel of the Major Frauds Section.
-
Arizona man sentenced to 7 years in prison for traveling to Louisiana to have sex with minorRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that an Arizona man was sentenced Thursday to 84 months in prison for traveling from Texas to Louisiana to engage in sexual activity with a minor.
Jonathan Glosch, 26, of Golden Valley, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi on one count of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. He was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender. According to the July 8, 2016 guilty plea, Glosch was traveling with an Arizona family in November of 2015 on their way to Louisiana. The family asked Glosch to leave the trip while in Texas. The mother believed he was having an inappropriate relationship with their 14-year-old daughter. Glosch stayed in contact with the daughter telling her that he had feelings for her and that they would run away together. He stole an automobile while in Texas and followed the family to Morgan City, La. On December 3, 2015, he picked up the daughter without the family’s knowledge and drove to Lafayette Parish. Law enforcement agents used information provided by the parents to track the defendant. The juvenile female was found with Glosch in the back of the vehicle.
The FBI, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office and Morgan City Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert F. Moore prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Those concerned may also leave tips with the FBI at tips.fbi.gov. Tips may be submitted anonymously. The Lafayette FBI office number is (337) 233-2164.
Anchorage Man Convicted of Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Firearms as a FelonRead the Press Release
Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that, on Wednesday, October 19, 2016, a jury in Anchorage found Arnold Wesley Flowers, II, guilty of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of firearms as a felon. The jury also agreed that Flowers should forfeit $19,275 in drug proceeds and two firearms.
Flowers, 41, of Anchorage, was by tried before U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason in Anchorage.
Flowers was convicted of one count of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and one count of being a felon in possession of firearms. Flowers was initially charged by indictment in April 2016, and then charged by a superseding indictment in May 2016, regarding an incident that occurred at his residence located in the Bayshore neighborhood of Anchorage.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Cavanaugh and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Bennett prosecuted the case for the United States.
The evidence established that APD officers arrived at Flowers’ house on March 29, 2016, with a search warrant. When the officers loudly announced their presence and ordered the residents to come out, everyone did except for Flowers. When APD officers went inside to get him, they found him coming from the upstairs master bedroom and bathroom area. In that bathroom, APD Vice Unit detectives found two ounces of cocaine packaged in clear, plastic sandwich baggies clogging the toilet. They also found another four ounces of cocaine – similarly packaged and dripping with water – hidden under the lining of the trashcan next to the toilet.
In Flowers’ adjacent master bedroom, detectives found two portable safes that held a total of $28,000 in cash. Each safe also held a loaded firearm: one Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun and one Glock 9 mm handgun with an extended magazine. One of the safes also smelled distinctly of cocaine. In the top drawer of a dresser in that bedroom, detectives found drug packaging materials: three boxes of sandwich baggies, a bag of rubber bands, and counterweights for balancing digital scales. The jury heard evidence that digital scales are used to weigh illegal drugs for sale. The drawer also had that distinct cocaine smell. In the kitchen, detectives found another box of sandwich baggies next to a digital scale.
The jury also heard evidence that Flowers had $1,275 in cash in the front pocket of his pants during the search. Flowers maintained that the cash in his pocket and his safes derived from sales of high-end watches. However, during the search of the residence, the APD officers did not find any watch inventory or documents that would support that Flowers was actively engaged in the sale of watches.
At the time of the search, Flowers had previously been convicted of a felony crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment and was prohibited from the possession of firearms or ammunition.
Flowers and his wife, Miranda Flowers, await trial on charges of wire fraud. That trial is scheduled to commence in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, on December 5, 2016.
Ms. Loeffler commended the Anchorage Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, the State of Alaska Division of Insurance, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Section for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution and conviction of Flowers. The Municipality of Anchorage has partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office since 2007 to address violent crimes and drug crimes by supplying prosecutorial resources to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Ms. Bennett is an Anchorage municipal prosecutor.
Alleged Architect of $30 Million Mortgage Relief Fraud Scheme and Four Others Indicted in Conspiracy to Defraud Banks and HomeownersRead the Press Release
The alleged architect of a $30 million mortgage relief fraud scheme and four other former employees of a purported mortgage relief company were charged in an indictment unsealed today for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to defraud banks and homeowners.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California, Assistant Director in Charge Deirdre Fike of the FBI’s Los Angeles Division, Acting Special Agent in Charge Charge Anthony J. Orlando of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Leslie P. DeMarco of the Federal Housing Finance Agency-Office of Inspector General’s (FHFA-OIG) Western Region and Sheriff Jim McDonnell of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department made the announcement.
Yun Soon Matsuba, aka Dorothy Matsuba, 65; Thomas Matsuba, 64; Jane Matsuba Garcia, 40; and Jamie Matsuba, 31, all of Chatsworth, California, and Young Park, 53, of Koreatown, California, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, make false statements and commit identity theft. In addition, the 18-count indictment charges Dorothy Matsuba with five counts of wire fraud, five counts of making false statements and six counts of aggravated identity theft; Jane Matsuba Garcia with one count of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements and one count of aggravated identify theft; and Jamie Matsuba with one count of making a false statement.
Dorothy Matsuba, Thomas Matsuba, Jane Matsuba Garcia and Jamie Matsuba were all arrested this morning; Park remains a fugitive. Thomas Matsuba is Dorothy Matsuba’s husband and Jane Matsuba Garcia and Jamie Matsuba are Dorothy Matsuba’s daughters. Young Park is Dorothy Matsuba’s brother.
The indictment alleges that from 2005 to 2014, the defendants operated an interlocking web of companies, primarily under the names of Ownership Management Service LLC and Trust Holding Service LLC, which purported to help homeowners obtain relief from high mortgage debt through short sales, in which lenders agree to sell a mortgaged property for less than the amount owed on the mortgage. In a scheme to defraud both the banks and the homeowners the defendants allegedly convinced homeowners to deed their property to trusts set up and controlled by the Matsubas and also promised to pay their mortgages while negotiating with banks to short sell those properties. In the interim, the homeowners either remained in their properties or were relocated to another Matsuba-controlled property. Instead of performing short sales as promised, Dorothy Matsuba and the other defendants failed to make mortgage payments and submitted false and fraudulent short sale purchase offers to the banks in an effort to delay foreclosure and maximize the time period over which the Matsubas could collect rent from the homeowners and other third parties placed in the properties by the Matsubas, the indictment alleges. The Matsubas also routinely forged signatures, used false and stolen identities and filed fraudulent bankruptcy petitions—all in a scheme to delay foreclosure and maximize their profits at the expense of the homeowners and banks, the indictment alleges.
The scheme allegedly netted the defendants more than $30 million in rent during the conspiracy period.
An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The FBI’s Los Angeles Division, IRS-CI’s Los Angeles Field Office, FHFA-OIG’s Western Region and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Real Estate Fraud Unit investigated the case. Trial Attorney Niall O’Donnell and Senior Litigation Counsel David A. Bybee of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Senior Trial Attorney Nicholas Acker previously worked on the investigation.
Alleged Architect of $30 Million Mortgage Relief Fraud Scheme and Four Other Los Angeles Residents Indicted in Conspiracy to Defraud Banks and HomeownersRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – The alleged architect of a $30 million mortgage relief fraud scheme and four other former employees of a purported mortgage relief company were charged in an indictment unsealed today for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to defraud banks and homeowners.
Yun Soon Matsuba, aka Dorothy Matsuba, 65; Thomas Matsuba, 64; Jane Matsuba Garcia, 40; and Jamie Matsuba, 31, all of Chatsworth, and Young Park, 53, of Koreatown, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, make false statements and commit identity theft. In addition, the 18-count indictment charges Dorothy Matsuba with five counts of wire fraud, five counts of making false statements and six counts of aggravated identity theft; Jane Matsuba Garcia with one count of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements and one count of aggravated identify theft; and Jamie Matsuba with one count of making a false statement.
Dorothy Matsuba, Thomas Matsuba, Jane Matsuba Garcia and Jamie Matsuba were all arrested this morning and are making court appearances this afternoon; Park remains a fugitive. Thomas Matsuba is Dorothy Matsuba’s husband and Jane Matsuba Garcia and Jamie Matsuba are Dorothy Matsuba’s daughters. Young Park is Dorothy Matsuba’s brother.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California, Assistant Director in Charge Deirdre Fike of the FBI’s Los Angeles Division, Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony J. Orlando of IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Los Angeles Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Leslie P. DeMarco of the Federal Housing Finance Agency-Office of Inspector General’s (FHFA-OIG) Western Region and Sheriff Jim McDonnell of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department made the announcement.
“These defendants are charged with preying upon distressed homeowners with false promises of keeping their homes,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Instead, the defendants callously pocketed tens of millions of dollars for themselves while hastening foreclosure of the victim homeowners’ properties.”
“Today’s arrests illustrate the FBI’s commitment to combat fraud targeting homeowners, as in the case of the Matsuba family, whose members are charged in a scheme that targeted emotionally distraught victims, many of whom were losing their jobs and facing the loss of their homes,” said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “In addition to giving false hope to their victims, the defendants enriched themselves while victims lost their homes and had their credit destroyed.”
The indictment alleges that from 2005 to 2014, the defendants operated an interlocking web of companies, primarily under the names of Ownership Management Service LLC and Trust Holding Service LLC, which purported to help homeowners obtain relief from high mortgage debt through short sales, in which lenders agree to sell a mortgaged property for less than the amount owed on the mortgage. In a scheme to defraud both the banks and the homeowners the defendants allegedly convinced homeowners to deed their property to trusts set up and controlled by the Matsubas and also promised to pay their mortgages while negotiating with banks to short sell those properties. In the interim, the homeowners either remained in their properties or were relocated to another Matsuba-controlled property. Instead of performing short sales as promised, Dorothy Matsuba and the other defendants failed to make mortgage payments and submitted false and fraudulent short sale purchase offers to the banks in an effort to delay foreclosure and maximize the time period over which the Matsubas could collect rent from the homeowners and other third parties placed in the properties by the Matsubas, the indictment alleges. The Matsubas also routinely forged signatures, used false and stolen identities and filed fraudulent bankruptcy petitions—all in a scheme to delay foreclosure and maximize their profits at the expense of the homeowners and banks, the indictment alleges.
The scheme allegedly netted the defendants more than $30 million in rent during the conspiracy period.
An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The FBI’s Los Angeles Division, IRS-CI’s Los Angeles Field Office, FHFA-OIG’s Western Region and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Real Estate Fraud Unit investigated the case. Trial Attorney Niall O’Donnell and Senior Litigation Counsel David A. Bybee of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Senior Trial Attorney Nicholas Acker previously worked on the investigation.
6 Charged with Unlawfully Entering Restricted Grounds Surrounding the Democratic National ConventionRead the Press Release
Name Age City and State of Residence Travis G. Martin 29 Houston, TX Lincoln E. Bohn 24 Manteca, CA Jacob J. Van Buskirk 34 Tacoma, WA Danny E. Nguyen 19 Gaithersburg, MD Natalie M. Fraver 27 Portland, OR Megan T. Munk 27 Forks, WA
The following people were charged by Information today with unlawfully entering restricted grounds
surrounding the Democratic National Convention while the President was in attendance, in violation
of 18 U.S.C. 1752(a)(1), announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of one year imprisonment.
The case was investigated by Department of Homeland Security and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.
An Indictment, Information or Criminal Complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Thursday 20 October 2016
Youngstown man indicted for failing to register as sex offenderRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment charging Todd J. Kniseley, aka Todd J. Kniceley, 27, of Youngstown, with failing to register and update a registration as a sex offender as required by law, said U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon.
The indictment alleges that beginning at least as early as October 22, 2015 until in or about October 5, 2016, Kniseley traveled in interstate commerce and knowingly failed to register and update a registration pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
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 violations. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jason M. Katz following an investigation by the United States Marshal Service.
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.
Woman Sentenced for Unlawful Transfer of Identification DocumentsRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that SILVIA MARIA GARCIA-COYADO, age 34, last residing in Houma, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to a three-count Indictment for unlawful transfer of identification documents.
U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown sentenced GARCIA-COYADO to 7 months imprisonment, followed by 1 year supervised release, and a $100 special assessment. Following GARCIA-COYADO’s release from prison, she will be surrendered to the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings.
According to the court documents, on or about January 20, 2016, GARCIA-COYADO provided a confidential informant with a Texas identification card and a Social Security card in exchange for $120. The documents provided had the name, photograph, and date of birth specified by the informant. The Social Security number on the card was associated with an actual person who was not the person identified on the card. On May 25, 2016, and June 2, 2016, GARCIA-COYADO provided an undercover agent with Texas identification cards and Social Security cards in exchange for money. The documents had the name, photograph, and date of birth specified by the agent. The Social Security numbers on the cards were associated with actual people who were not those identified on the cards.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the Department of Homeland Security and the Louisiana State Police in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Emily K. Greenfield was in charge of the prosecution.
Wisconsin Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISILRead the Press Release
Joshua Van Haften, 34, of Madison, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support and resources, namely himself as personnel, to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord and U.S. Attorney John W. Vaudreuil for the Western District of Wisconsin.
Van Haften admitted that in 2014, he attempted to provide material support to ISIL, knowing that the organization was a designated terrorist organization that has engaged and engages in terrorism.
According to the government’s evidence, Van Haften traveled to Turkey in 2014 and attempted to cross into Syria. He posted online that he had taken an oath of allegiance to the leader of ISIL, and that “The only thing that matters to me is joining my brothers for the war against America [sic] liars.”
Van Haften was arrested at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois in April 2015, after his arrival in custody on an international flight from Turkey. He has been held in federal custody since his arrest.
U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson scheduled sentencing for February 17, 2017 at 1:00pm CDT. Van Haften faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
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.
The charge against Van Haften is the result of an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the members of which include the FBI; Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation; Dane County Sheriff’s Office; and University of Wisconsin Police Department. Assistance was also provided by DHS.
The case is being prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Anderson for the Western District of Wisconsin and Trial Attorney Lolita Lukose of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Williamsport Man Charged with Drug TraffickingRead the Press Release
SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that a grand jury in Scranton returned an Indictment on October 18, 2016, charging Morris Smith, age 33, a resident of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, the Indictment charges Smith with possessing cocaine in March 2016, with the intent to distribute it in the Williamsport area. Smith was also charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of his drug activities, and a separate felony charge for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Williamsport Bureau of Police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sean A. Camoni.
This case was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the heroin initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalties under federal law include 20 years of imprisonment for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, 10 years’ imprisonment for felon in possession of a firearm, a five year mandatory term of imprisonment for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
# # #
West Virginia man indicted for inducing underage girl to engage in illicit conductRead the Press Release
Michael A. Wilt, 56, fo Buckhannon, West Virginia, was charged with enticement and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, said U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon.
Wilt used a compuer and cellular phone from August 8 through September 15, 2016, to attempt to persuade, induce, entice and coerce a 14-year-old girl, to engage in illegal sexual activity with him. The indictment also charges on or about September 15, 2016, Wilt knowingly traveled from West Virginia to Ohio, for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct, as defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 2423(f), with a 14 year‑old girl.
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 by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and 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.
Warren man sentenced to a year in prison for mailing white powder to former employerRead the Press Release
A Warren man was sentenced to one year and one day of incareceration for mailing an envelope containing white powder to his former workplace, said Carole S. Rendon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Office.
Anthony J. Natale, 38, previously pleaded guilty to with one count of conveying false information related to the use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Natale mailed an envelope containing white powder via the United States Postal Service to American Business Center, at 7677 South Avenue, Youngstown, on November 10, 2014. This was done with the intent to convey false and misleading information related to the use of a weapon of mass destruction, according to court documents.
Natale formerly worked at American Business Center. He was terminated on Oct. 6, 2014, according to court documents.
He was ordered to pay $9,834.13 to the victim company, and $14,361.90 to the first responders. He will also serve three years of probation and pay a $100 special assessment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Seabury Gould, and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mahoning County Sheriff's Office.
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.
Vian Man Sentenced to 57 Months for Possession of Stolen FirearmsRead the Press Release
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that CHRISTOPHER JORDAN LEE FOREMAN, age 22, of Vian, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 57 months of imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release, for POSSESSION OF STOLEN FIREARMS, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(j) and 2, punishable by not more than 10 years of imprisonment, up to a $250,000.00 fine or both.
The Indictment alleged that from on or about August 29, 2015, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, FOREMAN did knowingly possess stolen firearms, all of which had been shipped and transported in interstate commerce either before or after being stolen.
The charges arose from an investigation by the Sallisaw Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
The Honorable Ronald A. White, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing. FOREMAN will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending transportation to the designated federal facility at which he will serve his nonparolable sentence.
Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Hammer represented the United States.
Vero Beach Couple Sentenced for Selling Fraudulent Immigration and Identification Documents to Undercover AgentsRead the Press Release
Yesterday, a Vero Beach couple was sentenced for their roles in making and selling homemade immigration and identification documents, by U.S. District Court Judge Robin L. Rosenberg in Ft. Pierce, Florida.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Mark Selby, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), made the announcement.
Leynadier Rodriguez Velasquez, 45, of Vero Beach, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, followed by 2 years’ supervised release. He also faces deportation proceedings upon release. Vanesa Fonseca, 27, of Vero Beach, was sentenced to 12 months’ house arrest and two years’ probation. Rodriguez Velasquez previously pled guilty to possession with the intent to use unlawfully and to transfer unlawfully, five or more false identification documents, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(a)(3); and immigration document fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1546(a). Fonseca previously pled guilty to possession with the intent to use unlawfully and to transfer unlawfully, five or more false identification documents, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(a)(3).
According to court records, including stipulated facts supporting the guilty pleas, in December 2014, Rodriguez arranged to sell an undercover agent five sets of fraudulent immigration documents, each with a Legal Permanent Resident and Social Security card, for a total of ten documents for $1,500 in Vero Beach. The documents were later delivered by Fonseca. In April 2016, an undercover agent purchased four sets of documents, each with a Legal Permanent Resident and a Social Security card, for a total of eight documents for $1,500, directly from Rodriguez in Vero Beach. Pursuant to the investigation, on June 16, 2016, HSI agents executed a federal search warrant at the residence of Rodriguez and Fonseca. An HSI Computer Forensic Agent located over 400 false identification documents on the computer hard drives and cellular phone of Rodriguez, including Social Security, Legal Permanent Resident and Florida identification cards, some of which dated back to 2011. The documents included some of the items that had been sold to the undercover agent. Additionally, law enforcement discovered Rodriguez’s computer, printer, laminating plastic and the machine used to produce the fraudulent documents. Agents also found papers with driver’s licenses and a fraudulent Social Security card with Rodriguez’s name and photo.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of ICE-HSI, Florida Alcohol, Tobacco, and Business Regulation and United States Customs and Border Protection for their work on this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen Lineberger.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
United States Attorneys Jointly Announce Election Day ProgramRead the Press Release
United States Attorneys John W. Vaudreuil of the Western District of Wisconsin and Gregory J. Haanstad of the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced today that they have appointed Assistant United States Attorneys to lead the efforts of their respective offices in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the November 8, 2016 elections.
AUSA Peter Jarosz has been appointed to serve as the Election Officer for the Western District of Wisconsin, which covers Madison and approximately the western 44 counties of the state. AUSAs Zachary Corey and Christopher Ladwig have been appointed to serve as the Election Officers for the Eastern District, which covers Milwaukee and approximately the eastern 28 counties of the state. As Election Officers, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington, these AUSAs are responsible for overseeing the handling of complaints of voting rights abuses and election fraud in their respective districts.
“Wisconsin's proud history is one of expanding the opportunity to vote, and ensuring that every citizen votes without interference or discrimination” said United States Attorney Vaudreuil. “This Department will never yield in its commitment to protecting that most sacred of Americans' rights - the right to vote.”
United States Attorney Haanstad added, “The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy. We all must work to ensure that those who are entitled to vote are free to exercise that right if they choose, and that those who seek to interfere with that right are brought to justice.”
The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring election fraud and discrimination at the polls, and combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur. The Department’s long-standing Election Day Program furthers these goals, and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible election fraud and voting rights violations while the polls are open on Election Day.
Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots or voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law.
Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice.
In order to respond to complaints of voting rights abuses or election fraud on November 8, 2016, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, the Election Officers will be on duty in their districts while the polls are open.
In addition, the FBI will have Special Agents available in each Field Office and Resident Agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The FBI in Madison can be reached by calling (608) 833-4600. The FBI in Milwaukee can be reached by calling (414) 276-4684.
Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington by phone at 1-800-253- 3931 or (202) 307-2767, by fax at (202) 307-3961, by email to [email protected] or by complaint form at http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake/index.php.
# # # # #
Ukrainian National Pleads Guilty to Contraband CigarettesRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Ukrainian national pleaded guilty in federal court today to transporting thousands of cartons of cigarettes from Missouri to Chicago, Ill., in order to avoid paying nearly $160,000 in excise taxes.
Yevhen Sychikov, 32, a citizen of Ukraine residing in Chicago, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to the interstate transportation of contraband cigarettes.
According to today’s plea agreement, Sychikov purchased large quantities of cigarettes at convenience stores in northwest Missouri then transported them back to Chicago, which has a much higher excise tax on cigarettes.
Sychikov purchased cigarettes from Trex Mart in Lathrop, Mo.; Discount Smoke and Liquor Store in Riverside, Mo.; and Tipsy Liquor in Smithville, Mo. On May 10, 2014, Sychikov purchased 20 cases (1,200 cartons) of cigarettes and transported them back to Chicago. On June 14 and 15, 2014, Sychikov purchased 1,395 cartons of cigarettes and transported them back to Chicago.
The tax rate on cigarettes in Missouri is 17 cents per pack. The Illinois state excise tax on cigarettes is $1.98 per package. Cook County, Ill., imposes an excise tax of $3 per package and the city of Chicago imposes an additional tax of $1.18 per package. Therefore, in the city of Chicago, the total excise tax is $6.16 per pack. The tax loss to Illinois, Cook County, and the city of Chicago was a total of $159,852.
Under federal statutes, Sychikov is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives NITRO Task Force.
USP Allenwood Inmate Charged with Assault and Possession of ContrabandRead the Press Release
SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that on October 18, 2016, a grand jury in Scranton charged Robert Stoddard, age 46, an inmate at United States Penitentiary, Allenwood, Pennsylvania, (USP Allenwood) with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of contraband.
According to United States Attorney Bruce Brandler, the Indictment alleges that Stoddard attacked another inmate with a weapon fashioned from a razor blade (commonly known as a “shank”). The victim required over fifty stitches for his wounds.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and officers at USP Allenwood. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sean A. Camoni.
Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalty under federal law is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
# # #
U.S. Attorney’s Office, DEA, and Challenge of Tarrant County Continue Efforts to Raise Awareness of Dangers of Prescription Drug AbuseRead the Press Release
FORT WORTH, Texas – At a press event held this afternoon, U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Calvin Bond of Dallas DEA, and Executive Director Jennifer Gilley of Challenge of Tarrant County discussed their combined and continued efforts in raising awareness of the dangers of prescription drug abuse. October 2016 has been proclaimed National Youth Substance Use and Substance Use Disorder Prevention Month by President Obama.
The press event was held at Cinemark Alliance Town Center in far north Fort Worth. Stay on Track, a program of Challenge of Tarrant County, is sponsoring the theatre campaign in which Cinemark Alliance Town Center will run a public service announcement (PSA) –recently produced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to address the dangers of prescription drug abuse – in advance of its feature films.
Since the home medicine cabinet is the number-one source of prescription pills for teens and young adults, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bond announced that this Saturday, October 22, 2016, is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, and stressed that Take-Back Day provides a safe, convenient and responsible means of disposing of unused prescription drugs. There are numerous collection sites throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex; find the location closest to you here.
Next week is also DEA Red Ribbon Week, the nation’s oldest and largest drug prevention program that reaches millions of Americans during the last week of October each year. By wearing red ribbons and participating in community “Living Drug Free” events, youngsters pledge to live a drug-free lifestyle and pay tribute to DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, whose tragic murder in 1985 by drug traffickers in Mexico, where he was investigating that country’s biggest marijuana and cocaine traffickers, brought needed attention to the dangers of drugs and the international scope of the drug trade.
Challenge of Tarrant County continues its anti-drug efforts with PSAs in movie theatres in Tarrant County as well as during football games at the Keller ISD Athletic complex. It has also sponsored billboards in Tarrant County with the messages “Don’t let a prescription become an addiction. Safe Use/Safe Storage/Safe Disposal,” and “Before it’s prescribed, you decide.” Challenge of Tarrant County also has implemented prescription drug abuse prevention campaigns throughout Keller and Keller ISD.
Last month, Challenge of Tarrant County sponsored two highly successful events that brought community leaders and stakeholders together to address substance abuse prevention priorities, including prescription drug misuse and abuse in adolescents and young adults, underage drinking, and binge drinking. One event, a Prescription Town Hall meeting in Keller was attended by more than 100 members of the Keller Community. The other, a day-long symposium, “When the Prescription Becomes the Problem: A Community Response to the Opiate Epidemic” was attended by more than 800 individuals.
During Saturday’s Take-Back Day, Challenge of Tarrant County will be working with the Keller Police Department and Cook Children’s Pediatric, and their Lock Your Meds Campaign will run in conjunction with DEA’s Red Ribbon Week.
For more information about Stay on Track Challenge of Tarrant County, contact Cynthia Velazquez, program director, at [email protected]
# # #
U.S. Attorney’s Office provides 2016 elections informationRead the Press Release
SHREVEPORT / LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley advises the public today of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s role during the upcoming November 8, 2016 general elections and the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program.
“Early voting begins on Tuesday, October 25th in Louisiana, and I want to provide the public with information regarding the enforcement of laws related to voting,” Finley stated. “Our staff will be available to assist in pursuing complaints of voting fraud and intimidation throughout the election cycle. Free and open elections are an essential part of our democracy, and we want to ensure that everyone’s rights are protected.”
State and local governments have primary responsibility for administering elections. The Justice Department is charged with and committed to protecting the rights of all citizens to access the ballot on Election Day, preventing and prosecuting voter fraud and discrimination at the polls, combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur. The Department’s long-standing Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible election fraud and voting rights violations while the polls are open on election day.
Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law. Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice.
Early voting starts October 25th and continues to November 1st (except Sunday) from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the November 8th general election, and November 26th to December 3rd (except Sunday) from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the December 10th runoff election.
Residents should contact their local Registrar of Voters’ Office to determine their voting location. Voters can download a sample ballot or obtain other election information by visiting the Louisiana Secretary of State’s web page online at www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting. To find out more, call the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office at 225-922-0900.
For those seeking to register to vote, registration is open throughout the year. Registration to be eligible to vote in the November 8th election has ended, but registration is open for subsequent elections throughout the year. In Louisiana, eligibility to register to vote in an election ends 30 days before that election. To find out more, call the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office at 225-922-0900.
Complaints of election fraud or voting rights violations should be directed to the FBI, who will have special agents available in each field office and resident agencies throughout the country to receive allegations. The local FBI field offices can be reached by the public at the following telephone numbers: Shreveport at 318-861-1890, Lafayette at 337-233-2164, Monroe at 318- 387-0773, Alexandria at 318-443-5097 and Lake Charles at 337-433-6353. The U.S. Attorney’s Office can be reached by the public at 318-676-3600 (Shreveport) or 337-262-6618 (Lafayette).
Complaints about ballot access problems or discrimination can also be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, D.C., at 800-253-3931, 202-307-2767 or by fax at (202) 307-3961. The division’s email address is [email protected], and voter complaints can also be filed online at www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake.
The Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section enforces six federal statutes. They are the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and the Help America Vote Act of 2002. For more information on the acts that the division enforces, visit www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/overview.php.
U.S. Attorney's Office and DEA announce collection sites for DEA's National Prescription Drug Take Back DayRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Charleston Regional Office announced today the location of collection sites for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. The event provides safe venues for West Virginians to responsibly dispose of prescription drugs. National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is on Saturday, October 22, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. West Virginians will have the option of visiting several conveniently located sites that are equipped to properly dispose of prescription medication.
“Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, and opioids are the leading cause of overdoses. Sadly, West Virginia leads the nation in drug overdose deaths,” said United States Attorney Carol Casto. “About 50 percent of opioids used for non-medical purposes come from a prescription. These drugs, often legitimately prescribed, are too readily available for abuse. By taking advantage of Prescription Drug Take Back Day, you can help us eliminate a large portion of the opiates that are available for abuse. Clean out your medicine cabinets, and get rid of unnecessary and dangerous prescription medications – you may be saving a life.”
“We encourage everyone to take a look at your existing medication and anything that is not being used or has expired and take it to your local drop off location and get rid of it,” said Acting Resident Agent in Charge David Gourley of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Charleston Regional Office.
Nearby collection sites can be found by visiting www.dea.gov, clicking on the “Got Drugs?” icon, and searching by zip code, county, city, and state. Another option for locating collection sites is to call 800-882-9529. West Virginians have the option of visiting over 100 sites throughout the state to dispose of prescription drugs. Only pills and other solids, such as patches, can be brought to collection sites – liquids, needles, or other sharps will not be accepted.
- Follow us on Twitter: SDWVNews
Three Arrested in Connection with Pharmacy Forgery RingRead the Press Release
Three people involved in an elaborate scheme to obtain narcotic drugs by using forged prescriptions both online and in person now face federal charges, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. The conspirators used stolen DEA registration numbers to create phony prescriptions while using various online tools to make it appear the prescriptions were from legitimate providers. A criminal complaint filed in the case reveals the defendants obtained thousands of pills of narcotic pain medication, such as oxycodone, using the forged prescriptions.
“These investigations are critically important as our country experiences an epidemic of addiction, overdose and death due to the abuse of opioid painkillers,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, eclipsing those from motor vehicle crashes or firearms. I commend the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Tactical Diversion Squad that investigated this scheme to stem the flow of illegally obtained narcotics.”
According to the complaint filed in the case, law enforcement began investigating the forgery ring in January 2016 following reports of an attempt to fill a forged prescription for oxycodone tablets at a Walgreens in Tacoma, WA. Investigators determined that the ring had created false profiles for legitimate physicians on websites such as healthgrades.com and patientfusion.com, and by using those profiles they had made it appear the prescriptions had come from those doctors. If a pharmacy questioned the prescription, they would call or email the contact information on the prescription or the websites, where a co-conspirator would assure them the prescription was legitimate.
Evidence uncovered in the investigation revealed that one or more of the conspirators appear to have gained unauthorized access to online-prescription delivery systems, which allowed them to send digital prescriptions to pharmacies in the victim doctors’ names.
Those arrested in connection with the scheme include:
ERIK ROAN, 31, of Tacoma, Washington
CHRISTOPHER LOVATA, 26, of Kent, Washington
LEA ESPY, 49, of Auburn, Washington.
ROAN, LOVATA and ESPY are each charged with three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery deception or subterfuge. Each of the charges is punishable by up to 4 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The charges contained in the complaint are only allegations. A person is presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Tactical Diversion Squad which contains task force officers from Tacoma and Seattle Police Departments and the Washington State Patrol. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Siddharth Velamoor.
Thieves Sentenced for Stealing 30 Firearms in BurglaryRead the Press Release
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Four residents of Newport News have been sentenced for stealing more than 30 firearms from Southern Police Equipment, a federally licensed firearms dealer in Chesterfield County, during a break-in on Aug. 7, 2015.
Xavier Greene, 21, Deshawn Shields, 20, Mariah Walker, 20, and Endyia Washington, 26, all pleaded guilty to the burglary. Greene, the final defendant to plead guilty, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison and, along with his co-defendants, was ordered to pay restitution of $26,582.76 to the victims in this case.
According to court documents, on Aug. 7, 2015, Greene, Shields, Walker and Washington drove from Newport News to Richmond with a plan to steal firearms from a pawn shop. The group abandoned one location due to heavy police presence and went to Southern Police Equipment on Midlothian Turnpike. Washington and Walker dropped off Greene and Shields behind the building while Greene and Shields attempted to disable security measures by ripping the power box off the building. Greene and Shields entered the store causing thousands of dollars in damage and gathered over 30 firearms, including rifles, handguns and a shotgun. Walker and Washington picked the men up and drove back to Newport News. Upon their return, Greene invited multiple gang members from 36th Street Bang Squad to come to Washington’s home to pick up firearms. Additional firearms were given to another 36th Street Bang Squad member in Hampton to sell. The 36th Street Bang Squad is a hybrid criminal street gang on the peninsula responsible for shootings, murders, robberies and other violent crimes, of which Greene was a member. Stolen firearms in this case have been recovered in Hampton, Newport News and Virginia Beach in other jurisdictions.
All four defendants have entered guilty pleas and been sentenced.
Name
Date of Sentencing
Sentence
Endyia Washington
April 20
60 months
Deshawn Shields
April 20
96 months
Mariah Walker
May 6
65 months
Xavier Greene
May 20
120 months
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Michael B. Boxler, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Washington Field Division; Terry Sult, Chief of Hampton Police Division; and Richard Myers, Chief of Newport News Police Department, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy E. Cross prosecuted the case.
The case was investigated by the ATF’s Norfolk and Richmond divisions, with significant assistance from the Hampton Police Division, the Newport News Police Department, and Chesterfield Police Department.
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. 4:15-cr-76.
Tennessee man Sentenced for Thayer Bank RobberyRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Memphis, Tenn., man was sentenced in federal court today for robbing a bank in Thayer, Mo.
Bobby Laughton Yates, 26, of Memphis, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool on Oct. 11, 2016, to five years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Yates to pay $2,325 in restitution.
On March 16, 2016, Yates pleaded guilty to bank robbery. Yates admitted that he stole $2,325 from Great Southern Bank, 323 E. Walnut St., Thayer, on April 22, 2015.
Yates entered the bank on April 22, 2015, and asked for a deposit slip. A teller directed Yates to a kiosk to the right of the teller’s station. Yates went to the kiosk and wrote out a note on a withdrawal slip. Yates presented the slip, and a plastic bag, to the teller. The slip stated, “put ALL the Money in the BAG Dont do anything dumb.” Yates instructed the teller not to draw the attention of the bank manager. The teller noted Yates kept his hand in his left sweater pocket, where she observed a bulge that appeared to be a gun.
Yates told the teller to give him the money from all the drawers; however, the teller informed him she only had access to hers. The teller placed all the bills in her drawer, into the bag and handed it to Yates. As Yates was leaving, he ran into the door jam and dropped what appeared to be a handgun. Yates picked the item up, but part of a broken piece was left behind. The broken piece was later determined to be part of an Airsoft gun.
Yates was later arrested for robbing the Patriot Bank in Millington, Tenn., and has pleaded guilty to that bank robbery in a separate case.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the Thayer, Mo., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI.
Tax Preparer Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for False Federal Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – RICKY COSTELLO WILLIAMS, of Lawton, Oklahoma, was sentenced today to serve 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $240,361 in restitution for tax fraud, announced Mark A. Yancey, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
For a number of years, Williams prepared tax returns for others under the business name W&B Financial. A criminal investigation by the IRS determined that in 2010 and 2011, he knowingly prepared returns with fraudulent deductions and falsified credits in order to illegally obtain refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. Williams had previously been convicted of preparing false tax returns in North Carolina and South Carolina.
On February 18, 2016, Williams pled guilty to assisting in the preparation of a fraudulent federal tax return. He has been in federal custody since May 26, 2016, based on a violation of his conditions of release. Yesterday, United States District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange sentenced Williams to 30 months in federal prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release.
This sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kerry A. Kelly with the assistance of IRS Agent Loy Smith.
Reference is made to court filings for further information.
Tampa Brothers Sentenced to A Total of Seventy Years for Sex Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew has sentenced Antawan Hudson (31, Tampa) to 30 years in federal prison for sex trafficking minors. On September 28, 2016, Hudson’s brother, Maurice Williams (26, Tampa), was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for sex trafficking minors. Hudson pleaded guilty on the first day of trial and a federal jury found Williams guilty on May 20, 2016.
According to evidence presented at trial, Williams conspired with Hudson to traffic underage females by fraud, force, and coercion in the commercial sex trade. Williams and Hudson worked together to post online prostitution ads for the victims and then transported the girls throughout central Florida to have sex with customers. After the victims had sex with the customers, Williams and Hudson took some or all of the money and, in exchange, offered the victims drugs, alcohol, and beauty appointments.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stacie Harris and Daniel George.
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 United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Streetsboro man faces drug and firearms chargesRead the Press Release
A Streetsboro man was indicted in federal court of drug and firearms violations, said Carole S. Rendon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Theodore Elenniss, 39, of Streetsboro, was indicted on one count of maintaining a drug premises and one count of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
Elenniss maintained a place on State Route 303 in Streetsboro, for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing, and using controlled substances, those are: marijuana, amphetamine salts, Xanax, and Alprazolam. On Sept. 28, 2016, Elenniss possessed firearms, those are: a Remington, model 788 rifle; an AMT “Back Up”, .380 caliber pistol; a Mossberg, 12 gauge shotgun; a Savage Mark II, .22 caliber rifle; a Noble Company, model 235, .22 caliber rifle, and ammunition. He had those firearms despite having been previously convicted of a felony in the Portage County Court of Common Pleas in 2005, according to the indictment.
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 violations. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer following an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Portage County Drug Task Force.
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.
St. Louis Man Indicted on Fraud ChargesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO – Syed Tariq Ali, St. Louis, Missouri, was arrested this morning on a two-count indictment alleging false statements with respect to federal housing program and bank fraud.
According to the indictment, Ali accepted illegal payments outside of a HUD lease during 2013 and 2014 and granted his tenant an interest in the rental property, contrary to his landlord certifications. Ali is also accused of falsifying endorsements on checks intended for needy members of his mosque between 2008 and 2010.
If convicted, Ali faces up to five years in prison on the HUD false statement charge, a fine of $250,000 or both. Ali also faces up to 30 years in prison on the bank fraud charge, a fine of up to $1,000,000 or both. In determining the actual sentences, a Judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges. The government will also seek restitution to all victims.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of HUD-Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.Springfield Man Sentenced for $1.1 Million Investment Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Springfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for a more than $1.1 million investment fraud scheme.
Christopher Hanson, 54, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to two years and nine months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Hanson to pay $1,134,500 in restitution to his victims.
On Sept. 14,2015, Hanson pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. Hanson, the owner of Hanson Holdings, LLC, admitted that he was responsible for losses that totaled $1,134,500 for three victims of his Ponzi scheme.
Hanson offered the three victims what he described as “an investment opportunity.” Hanson told two of the victims that he would take their investment monies and purchase a collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO). Hanson claimed that a line of credit would be obtained against the CMO and both victim investors would receive their original investment plus a substantial dividend within months. Hanson told the third victim that he would purchase bonds and securities with his $100,000 investment. Hanson claimed this investment would generate a 250 percent return and that the victim investor would receive double his original investment within 40 weeks.
Financial records revealed that none of the monies obtained by Hanson or Hanson Holdings from these three investors were used to purchase securities or a CMO as Hanson had promised. Agents determined that Hanson authorized the release of the investors’ monies from his Scottrade Account, ETrade Account, or StockCross Account, into his personal bank accounts. Hanson used the money for personal expenses, to pay off parties unrelated to the investment, or he would use the money to pay off earlier investors who were clamoring for a return of their money.
According to court documents, Hanson also engaged in an unrelated ongoing fraud in Apple Valley, Minn., for which he faces a civil suit. Hanson also faces state charges in Greene County Circuit Court for a similar, but unrelated, fraud scheme.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation.
South Florida Tobacco Importer Charged with Failure to Pay over $13 Million in Federal Excise TaxesRead the Press Release
A South Florida tobacco importer was arrested and charged with fraudulently evading $13 million in federal taxes on imported cigars.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Tom Crone, Assistant Administrator for Field Operations, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), and Thomas M. Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Washington, DC Field Office, made the announcement.
Gitano Pierre Bryant, Jr., 55, of Palmetto Bay, was charged by criminal complaint with violations of the Internal Revenue Code, including: keeping or making any false or fraudulent record, return, report, or inventory, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 5762(a)(2); refusing to pay Federal Tobacco Excise Tax on large cigars, and attempting to evade or defeat the tax or payment thereof, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 5762(a)(3); and willfully attempting to evade or defeat Federal Tobacco Excise Tax on large cigars, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201. Each of these offenses carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Bryant was also charged with willfully aiding or assisting in the preparation or presentation of a fraudulent or false document, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(2): an offense punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
According to the complaint, Bryant was the owner of Havana ’59 Cigar Company (“Havana 59”). Between 2008 and 2014, Havana 59 was a licensed importer of tobacco products, including “large cigars” weighing more than three pounds per 1,000 cigars.
The complaint alleges that Bryant consistently underpaid the Federal Tobacco Excise Tax due on imported large cigars and, in an attempt to cover up the scheme, altered documents to conceal the price he paid for foreign-made cigars.
According to the complaint, Bryant continued to underpay taxes on imported cigars after May of 2015, when he was convicted and placed on Federal probation for evading Federal Tobacco Excise Tax due on cigarettes.
The complaint further alleges that, between January of 2012 and June of 2016, Bryant evaded over $13 million in Federal Tobacco Excise Tax.
A pre-trial detention hearing for Bryant, on these charges, is scheduled before United States Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman for October 21, 2016, in Miami.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the TTB and IRS-CI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher B. Browne.
A complaint is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Social Security Administration Employee Indicted for Theft of FundsRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that MICHAELLE MARTINEZ, age 38, of Marrero, was indicted today for Theft of Government Funds.
According to the Superseding Indictment, MARTINEZ identified beneficiaries who were entitled to receive retroactive or back payments from the Social Security Administration (“SSA”). MARTINEZ would change the recipient’s deposit information and would divert the SSA money bank accounts controlled by the defendant. MARTINEZ then changed the deposit information back before the beneficiaries would notice a problem.
U.S. Attorney Polite reiterated that the Superseding Indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
If convicted, MARTINEZ faces a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment, followed by up to three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General in investigating this matter. Fraud Unit Chief, Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba is in charge of the prosecution.
Sentencings for October 17 - October 19, 2016Read the Press Release
Eddie Ray Rios, 58, of Sacramento, California, was sentenced by Federal District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl on October 19, 2016, for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana and for carrying a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Rios was arrested in Rawlins, Wyoming. He received 180 months of imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $200.00 special assessment and $1,000.00 in restitution. This case was investigated by the Rawlins Police Department and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
Joseph Dustin Buchanan, 25, of Mills, Wyoming, was sentenced by Federal District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl on October 18, 2016, for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and for use of firearms during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. Buchanan was arrested in Casper, Wyoming. He received 108 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $200.00 special assessment and $250.00 in restitution. This case was investigated by the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
William Arthur Curran, II, 32, of Lander, Wyoming, was sentenced by Federal District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson on October 17, 2016, for kidnap, seize, confine and hold. Curran was arrested in Fort Washakie, Wyoming. He received 13 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment and a
$400.00 fine. This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Anissa Rene Maldonado, 24, of Porterville, California, was sentenced by Federal District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson on October 17, 2016, for possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Maldonado was arrested in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She received 46 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $100.00 special assessment and $500.00 in restitution. This case was investigated by the Cheyenne Police Department.
Brad Calvin Titchener, aka Brad Calvin Titchner, 49, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was sentenced by Chief Federal District Court Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal on October 17, 2016, for being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and for possession of equipment used to manufacture a controlled substance. Titchener was arrested in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He received six months of imprisonment, followed by six months of home confinement. He will be placed on two years of supervised release after serving his sentence and was ordered to pay a $200.00 special assessment. This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Seminole County Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking of A MinorRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Rowy De Jesus Vasquez (26, Altamonte Springs) today pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor. He faces a penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. Vasquez was indicted on December 9, 2015.
According to the plea agreement, between April 24, 2015, and June 10, 2015, Vasquez caused a 14-year-old girl to engage in commercial sex acts for his financial gain and profit. He provided the girl with a cellphone to communicate with potential customers and to post advertisements for prostitution services on the Backpage website. Vasquez also set the prices for the sex acts and kept all of the proceeds.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilianys Rivera Miranda.
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 United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Rock Island Man Sentenced for Possessing Firearm as a FelonRead the Press Release
Rock Island, Ill. – Michael Andrew Ford, 22, of Rock Island, Ill., was sentenced today for possessing firearms and ammunition as a felon, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis, Central District of Illinois. U.S. District Judge Sara L. Darrow ordered Young to serve a term of 57 months in federal prison.
Ford entered a plea of guilty on June 16, 2016, to the charge. On Dec. 2, 2015, Rock Island police investigating an apparent drug robbery and shooting sent out an officer safety advisory that Ford and two other individuals might attempt to retaliate against the alleged robber and shooter, an individual residing in Moline, Ill. A few hours later, during the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 2015, Moline police spotted Ford and the two other individuals and stopped their car. Ford and the others were searched. Ford was carrying a loaded .38 caliber handgun with an obliterated serial number. Ford previously had been convicted of felony offenses by courts in the State of Illinois.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Allegro. The charges were investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Moline Police Department, and the Rock Island Police Department.
Repeat Offender Receives Prison Sentence for Identity Theft and Bank FraudRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Ore. – On Wednesday, October 19, 2016, a South Korean native with previous federal convictions was sentenced to 39 months in prison for bank fraud, identity theft, and illegal reentry into the United States. Chae Sun Kim, 62, who pled guilty to the charges in March 2016, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Jones.
According to court records, between April and May of 2015, Kim and an associate created a Republic of Korea passport using a fictitious name to open numerous bank accounts in the Portland metropolitan area. Using the false identities, Kim opened the accounts using his name and the name of his business, King Blackbox. Subsequent activity with these bank accounts by Kim and others resulted in a loss of more than $18,000 to at least six banks. When executing a search warrant at Kim’s Las Vegas residence, agents found equipment and paraphernalia capable of producing hundreds of fraudulent identifications as well as identification documents in other people’s names.
In 2002, Kim was convicted in the Western District of Washington for conspiracy to defraud the United States, Social Security number fraud, and visa fraud, and was sentenced to 63 months in prison. He was deported in 2007.
Judge Jones ordered Kim to pay $48,718.49 in restitution, including $30,000 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Judge Jones concluded the sentencing hearing by calling Kim a “crook” and telling him that he cannot return to the United States. Kim assured the court he would not return.
The case was investigated by DHS, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Helen Cooper, Special Assistant United States Attorney as part of a partnership venture between the SSA Office of the General Counsel, Seattle Region and the United States Attorney’s Office in Portland, Oregon.
Remarks by U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Oct. 20, 2016Read the Press Release
The following are remarks by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, as prepared for delivery at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law's "Opioids: An Interdisciplinary Symposium," on October 20, 2016:
Thank you Professor Geraghty for that kind introduction, and thank you Northwestern for having me. It’s great to be here. I’m grateful that you’re shining your light on this terrible epidemic.
Opiate consumption is a full-on crisis in this country. It is nothing shy of an historic national public health and safety epidemic. Opioids are now killing more people in this country than gun violence. Opioids are now killing more people in this country than car crashes.
Heroin is everywhere. It’s in our cities, suburbs, schools and homes. The good old days of black tar heroin being expensive and hard to obtain, and ugly to use because it’s intravenous – those days are long gone. Now powder heroin is cheap; it can be snorted or smoked; and in some neighborhoods, it’s easier to find than a fresh head of lettuce.
Heroin is rampant in Chicago. You can go buy some right now for $10 on the West Side just off the Eisenhower Expressway, now known to some as the “Heroin Highway.” And it’s all too cheap and easy to find heroin now in our collar counties as well: DuPage County, Lake County, Kane County, Will County and beyond.
In Chicago, about a person a day is dying right now from a heroin overdose. And about one additional person dies every day from an opioid other than heroin. In the collar counties, we’re now seeing about one person every three days, dying from heroin or opioid overdose.
Heroin is an equal-opportunity killer. It is killing men, women, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, friends, neighbors, loved ones. It doesn’t discriminate; young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural, inner city and suburb.
According to the CDC, between 2002 and 2013, the heroin death rate across the country nearly quadrupled – from 0.7 deaths per 10,000 people to 2.7 deaths per 10,000. During that same time frame, heroin use doubled among women, it increased 114% among whites, and it increased 109% among all 18-25 year olds.
The mean age of first use of heroin in this country is now 18 years old. And heroin has one of the highest dependency liability profiles of any drug, licit or illicit. Only nicotine ranks higher. Of those who are offered heroin, about 20% will try it, and of those who do, 25% will become addicted.
And for those who become dependent, the prognosis is not good; mortality rates for heroin addicts are extremely high. Over 50% of heroin addicts will be dead before the age of 50, with the average age of death being 30.
If all of that is not scary enough, here’s the kicker – heroin isn’t necessarily the biggest threat this crisis presents. Heroin now has an even more dangerous cousin on the streets: fentanyl. We are seeing an explosion right now, from a law enforcement perspective, in presence of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues.
Many folks still don’t know what fentanyl is. Fentanyl is made in a lab. Traditionally, it has been a very powerful prescription pain medication used for end of life situations or for those in extreme pain. But now, it’s being cooked up in Mexican super labs run by drug cartels, and it’s being manufactured in China and sold to those cartels, or otherwise smuggled into the U.S. for illicit use.
Drug dealers are using fentanyl to dilute and increase the volume of the heroin they are selling on our streets. While heroin is cheap, fentanyl is even cheaper, and so dealers are juicing their profits by mixing fentanyl into their heroin street products.
And that means more people are dying. Fentanyl is 40 to 50 times stronger than heroin. Fentanyl is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. Fentanyl has the power to kill with the ingestion, inhalation or skin absorption of just two milligrams. By point of reference, that sweetener packet your kids play with at the restaurant table – that contains 1,000 milligrams per packet. Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal.
Fentanyl-laced heroin is increasingly killing people in our area. Cook County has seen at least 124 fentanyl-related deaths since January 2015. Many drug users don’t even know that heroin they are using may be laced with fentanyl. They don’t know until it’s too late.
And because of its potency, fentanyl poses an unwitting risk not only to those heroin users but also to first responders. For cops or agents who are seizing dope or searching a crime scene and unwittingly touch or inhale powder fentanyl, their lives are also at stake.
And fentanyl has analogues. We’ve recently seen one called carfentanil – an analogue literally used in zoos to tranquilize elephants. An elephant tranquilizer. Carfentanil is roughly 100 times stronger than common fentanyl. I mentioned that two milligrams of fentanyl is enough to kill a person. Well, that same two milligrams of carfentanil is enough to knock out a 2,000-pound African elephant.
So it’s no surprise then that carfentanil-laced heroin is a killer. Last month, it was responsible for at least 8 overdose deaths in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area. And unfortunately I can tell you that carfentanil is not limited to Ohio and points east. It is right here in Chicago. Right now.
Another similar analogue that has popped up recently is called W-18, which like carfentanil is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. Earlier this month, the Will County Coroner confirmed that a man who died from an overdose in April of this year had W-18 in his system.
Fentanyl and its analogues are finding their way into heroin powder. By itself, that is frightening. But here’s more: we are now seeing a swell of illicit counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. Hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills – pills made to look like oxycodone or hydrocodone but containing fentanyl -- are now being trafficked in the U.S. Some of these counterfeit pills are manufactured outside the U.S. and smuggled in, principally through Mexico and Canada. But we also now are finding clandestine pill operations domestically.
Just two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a front page story about how two people in San Francisco were charged this summer with manufacturing fentanyl-laced pills. The pills were made to look like oxycodone but actually contained fentanyl. During a search of a San Francisco home, the DEA found fentanyl powder, mixing equipment, and a $1,000 pill press.
On the other coast, in January of this year, DEA, after making undercover purchases of about 6,000 counterfeit pills, arrested a counterfeiter in New York. Again, the pills were made to look like 30 milligram oxycodone pills but contained fentanyl. Just like the couple in San Francisco, this counterfeiter in New York was making those pills in his home.
And there’s a reason we’re seeing more and more of that. It’s called profit. The pill presses are easy to acquire and are fairly cheap. And you can purchase a kilo of fentanyl powder from China for a few thousand dollars. That kilo, plus the press, can generate millions in quick profit.
Let’s say you make a batch at 1.5 milligrams of fentanyl per pill. Then one kilo can generate about 666,666 counterfeit pills. According to DEA, counterfeit pills containing fentanyl are now retailing between $10 and $20 per pill. That means between $6.5 and $13 million in sales from pills made for a few thousand bucks. That is a serious problem.
And these counterfeit pills closely resemble the authentic medications. The presence of fentanyl is often only detected through laboratory analysis. The people taking these pills may have no idea that the pill contains a potentially deadly substance. They may not know until it’s too late.
That is a dire diagnosis. And I’m sorry for the parade of horribles to begin this speech, but I think it’s important that we be honest about the nature and scope of the problem before discussing solutions.
Let me talk now about some of the things we are doing federally to push back against this epidemic. And I’ll start with criminal enforcement, but first let me make this clear up front: while our primary function at the U.S. Attorney’s Office is to investigate and prosecute crimes, criminal enforcement alone cannot solve, and will never solve this crisis. Treatment and prevention are equally if not more important ingredients to any solution. This crisis demands a coordinated response across all elements of government and society. After I talk about criminal enforcement, I’ll offer some thoughts and ideas, from my Office’s perspective, about treatment and prevention.
Enforcement
First, enforcement. Under the leadership of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and other federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we are working harder than ever right now to attack the illicit opioids supply chain.
The vast majority of heroin that’s flooding our Chicago region is brought here by international drug cartels and specifically Mexican-based cartels like the Sinaloa Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, the New Generation Cartel, the Zetas and others. While it is impossible to know exactly how much heroin the cartels are smuggling into the Chicago area, based on recent seizure and source information, I think it’s safe to say that thousands of kilograms are now being imported here every year.
Why is the heroin problem particularly acute in Chicago? Because we are a transshipment hub for cartels; because our location and transportation networks - air, rail and road – make Chicago an ideal transshipment point. So we have a profound supply problem, and of course that eases distribution to street gangs that plague so many of our communities.
So we are committing more and more federal resources here to investigating and prosecuting suppliers - heroin traffickers from the cartel leaders to the street gangs. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of heroin-related arrests by DEA surged more than 200 percent. 2014 was the first year ever that DEA arrested more defendants for heroin trafficking than cocaine. And that trajectory has only escalated since then. DEA Chicago has proclaimed combatting heroin and opioid crime its number 1 priority for our district.
At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I’ve instructed all of our prosecutors who work narcotics cases that investigating heroin and opioid trafficking is now our number one narcotics enforcement priority. As little as three years ago, the majority of new case initiations in our office involved cocaine trafficking. Since the beginning of this year, over 75% of the major narcotics investigations we’ve logged in at the U.S. Attorney’s Office are heroin, fentanyl or other illicit opioid trafficking cases.
One recent example is Operation Over the Top. In the spring of this year, DEA agents, working with Assistant U.S. Attorneys in my office, identified a heroin trafficking organization that was responsible for transporting, in the hollowed out axles of tractor-trucks, 20-30 kilograms of heroin every week into the Chicago area. We made multiple seizures resulting in the recovery of almost 100 kilos of heroin. Until we made those seizures and stopped this particular distribution line, this group had been smuggling all of this heroin into our city for at least two years. And that’s just one organization and one investigation. We have many more charged and in the investigative pipeline.
Last year, in an Operation titled G.I. Joe, DEA agents and the Chicago Police Department took down what may have been the largest open-air heroin market in Chicago history, at Grenshaw and Independence on the West Side. CPD and DEA made over 70 undercover purchases of heroin from gang members operating the drug spot, and seized over two kilos of heroin. Before we took it down, conservative estimates based on the volume of customer traffic indicate heroin sales were in excess of $2.6 million per year at that spot alone.
So we’re going after the gangs and drug trafficking organizations that are moving heroin into our communities. We’re also committing significant resources to going after the cartels bringing the dope here in the first instance.
I hope most of you have heard something about the Sinaloa Cartel prosecutions we have brought recently in my Office. The Sinaloa Cartel is perhaps the single biggest transnational criminal organization in the world, responsible for the distribution of hundreds of tons of illegal drugs, including heroin, to virtually every corner of the world. Because Sinaloa has decided to use Chicago as one of its principal transshipment points in the United States, my office together with our law enforcement partners, have targeted the cartel with every resource and tool at our disposal.
And we have been successful. We have brought indictments against all levels of the cartel and its infrastructure – from the cartel’s command and control based in Mexico, to its Chicago-based distribution cells, and all the way down to the street gangs who push the cartel’s dope onto the streets of Chicago and the surrounding communities. We’ve indicted over 70 individuals, including Sinaloa leader Chapo Guzman, his sons and a slew of the other highest-ranking Sinaloa members in Mexico and here in Chicago. Of those, we have convicted all but 18, and among the rest some are awaiting trial and others are fugitives from justice, including some now in custody awaiting extradition from Mexico. And we have seized over eleven tons of Sinaloa cocaine, 80 kilograms of heroin, and $30 million in cartel assets – the lifeblood of their organization. Because Sinaloa is the number 1 importer of heroin into our district, we have, and will continue to, take the fight directly to them.
Our fentanyl enforcement activities here in Chicago are also a focus of my Office right now. We are working closely and constantly with our partners to track and prosecute fentanyl distributors. About a month ago, we joined the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, DEA, CPD and others, to announce new charges against more than 30 defendants for distributing fentanyl and heroin on the West Side of Chicago.
In addition to cartels and gangs and fentanyl, we’re also focused federally on diversion – which is a different kind of supply-side problem. Abuse of prescription medications like hydrocodone and oxycodone are a gateway to heroin use. According to the CDC, 45% of people who use heroin are also addicted to prescription painkillers. And nearly 80% of new heroin users previously used prescription medications. Just last month, HHS released new stats showing that at least 3.8 million Americans age 12 years and older are misusing prescription medications. That is, sadly, our future heroin and fentanyl overdose population.
To beat the heroin and fentanyl problem, we have to stem the tide of prescription medications diverted for unlawful use. To that end, my office and DEA are ramping up our investigations of doctors, pharmacists, and pharmacy employees who illegally prescribe and dispense hydrocodone and oxycodone. To give one recent example, at the end of last year, we brought federal charges against a doctor in Lockport, Illinois, who wrote an astounding 500-plus prescriptions to one person for both oxycodone and Adderall. From these prescriptions, 37,000 oxy and Adderall pills were illegally diverted from their intended pharmaceutical use to those who suffer from opioid addiction.
Because research shows that abuse of prescription opioids is a gateway to heroin use, it is vital that law enforcement identify and prosecute those in the medical field who abuse their oath by illegally diverting opioids for their own financial gain. That’s another important piece of our long-term strategy for success.
Treatment
So those are some of the things we’re doing on the enforcement front. Let me say a few words about treatment. Enforcement is all about supply side. Treatment flips the script; it’s about demand.
Cartels wouldn’t be importing heroin into our district if there wasn’t a market. The hard truth is that demand for heroin in our district appears to be at an all-time high.
According to an August 2015 study, admissions for heroin treatment in Illinois are significantly higher than the nation as a whole. Nationally, heroin-treatment admissions comprise about 16% of total state-funded treatment admissions, whereas in Illinois, heroin caused about 25% of all such treatment admissions. Heroin is now the second most common reason for citizens in our state to enter state-funded treatment programs, only behind alcohol addiction.
And the growing heroin addiction problem is not just an adult problem. It’s now affecting our kids, and that situation is rapidly getting worse. In 2013, 3.8% of Illinois youth reported using heroin in the past year. 3.8% of all kids in this state said ‘yes, I’ve used heroin within the last year.’ That is a disturbing reality and trend.
So, with this seemingly endless flow of heroin into our area, what can we in law enforcement do about demand and addiction? Here are a few quick thoughts and ideas.
First, from a criminal justice perspective, we have to make sure we are separating users and addicts from traffickers and profiteers. When we catch users in the act, or with heroin in their pocket, and we arrest and incarcerate that user without any attention to the underlying problem, we’ve not only ignored the problem, we’ve made it worse. Those addicts, without help, will use again upon release (if not while in jail). And meanwhile we are straining our jails and our budgets by locking up people who are sick and no risk to society.
This issue is principally a state and local justice systems issue. And across the state, I have seen many courts and prosecutors' offices recognize this dilemma and respond to it. In Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane, McHenry Counties and others, there are now drug courts and diversion programs designed to separate drug users from other defendants and put those users on a pathway not of incarceration but of treatment and rehabilitation. Those efforts are laudable, and critical. And while a lot has been done on that front, we do need to make sure those kinds of efforts are being duplicated across our local justice systems, including in rural areas.
One great example is the partnership between the Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA, and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where they have established a program under which individuals caught distributing heroin or other drugs but who themselves are substance abusers or addicts and have minor, non-violent criminal histories, those individuals are immediately evaluated by addiction treatment professionals and given the option of entering treatment. If the addict decides to avail himself of the treatment opportunity, then the arrest for distribution is dismissed. This is the type of forward-thinking approach to addiction and treatment that can make a real difference.
More broadly, inside and outside of our justice systems, we have to do a better job of providing addiction treatment for those who are in the throes of abuse. Whether public, private or philanthropic, we need to stretch and find ways to fund treatment for those who don’t have insurance or otherwise can’t afford it. While I realize that presents enormous challenges - and I also realize that I may be swimming outside my lane - the truth is that the alternative won’t work. If we don’t improve treatment, we will pay more in the end – more in connection with medical emergency responses to increasing overdoses, more through enforcement, arrests, and incarceration, and more as measured by lives lost. So, however we do it, we have to improve our game statewide on the treatment front.
As a component of that, we need to make sure our educators and community leaders understand the nature of opioid addiction and are prepared to help those who are opioid dependent. Rather than responding to someone’s heroin or opioid abuse as a crime, we need folks to respond to it as a threshold matter for what it is: an illness that requires medical treatment and a pathway to rehabilitation.
Lastly on the treatment front, I’d like to make a related but different point. I want to make a strong plug for the continued proliferation, particularly to our first responders, including fireman and patrol officers, of naloxone, most commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan. Narcan is an easy-to-use, lifesaving antidote for heroin and opioid overdoses. Used in hospitals for decades, the medication has no abuse potential, is not that expensive, and is easy to administer. Well over a hundred lives in the Chicagoland area have been saved already this year by use of Narcan, and that number will only increase as the heroin crisis continues.
I have heard some concerns and criticism that naloxone emboldens addicts to push their limits. If they believe they can be brought back from overdose, then the risk/reward analysis of that higher dosage arguably can change. I get that. But I also know that people are dying right now. And with the increased presence of fentanyl, more of those overdoses than ever are unexpected. So, for now, I don’t think we as a society have a next best responsible choice. We need to embrace training and investment in naloxone as a way to save lives. We have to keep spreading the word and making those investments.
Prevention
So that’s enforcement and treatment. Let me, as promised, say something briefly about prevention. I start from this base point: as I said earlier, we have to be honest and recognize that prosecutions alone will not solve this problem. Until we stem demand, the supply chain will continue to fight and find a way. So we have to get every bit as aggressive about education and prevention as we are already about enforcement.
One of the great attributes of this conference today is that it has brought together professionals from so many different disciplines that touch on this crisis. It is not every day that lawyers, doctors, economists, and law enforcement are all together under the same roof talking about the same problem. And having you all here together gives me the opportunity to mention a phenomenon that I worry contributes significantly to the heroin and opioid problem in this country. And that is the over-prescription of pain medications.
I have attended too many events where I hear the same story told, over and over. How a teenager or young adult playing sports is injured and goes to a doctor for treatment, receives a multi-week course of prescription opioid pain medications, and even though he or she may not need all of those meds to manage the pain, they take them and become dependent, leading to a crippling downward spiral of abuse that eventually leads to heroin.
And I’ve heard about parents who received a large prescription for pain medications after a surgery and took some, but nowhere near all, of those pills. And the pills then sat forgotten in the medicine cabinet, until one day they were found by a teenager living in the house. And so the downward spiral begins.
These stories, which are real and are happening every day across this country, give color to the sobering statistic that the United States, with roughly 5% of the world’s population, consumes more than 75% of the world’s prescription drugs. There is something wrong there.
When I say I love doctors, it’s literal. I am the son of an orthopedic surgeon. I know that the issue of prescribing pain medications is a difficult and complex balance. And I also know that the lions’ share of doctors work hard every day, patient by patient, to get that balance right.
But the system as a whole is not working; 75% consumption of the world’s opioids reflects a problem, an imbalance in our health care system in this country. And so I ask our physicians and health care providers to work even harder to come up with ideas and solutions for the underlying issue of over-prescription. It’s imperative that you stretch. It’s imperative that we all stretch.
Every one of us has to do more and do better at teaching our citizens and kids that pain medications can begin dependency that can lead to downward spiral into heroin use and death. We have to be open and honest about how common opioid addiction is in this country, about the stark realities of that downward spiral, about the ravages heroin reeks on the body, and the devastation it brings on an addict’s friends and family.
Everyone has to own this. We need to leverage every medium we can think of – from print to TV to internet and social media. We need to talk and educate in our schools, our churches, our businesses, and our community organizations. And maybe most importantly, we need to talk in our homes. No parent can any longer afford to wait and hope the opportunity to try heroin never finds your kid. It will. So let’s talk to our kids about it now, so they will be ready when that day soon comes.
And maybe most fundamentally, it’s time to de-stigmatize heroin addiction. For decades, heroin was linked in our public consciousness with dirty needles, dark alleys, and perforated forearms. That’s no longer our reality. Heroin and opioid abuse is all around us. It’s in our poorest communities and our wealthiest enclaves. It no longer knows socioeconomic bounds. It’s happening under city bridges, and at suburban high school proms.
Heroin is not a rich or poor issue, not a black or white issue, it’s not a man or woman issue. It’s a human issue. So let’s lift the shadows. No more hushed silence and whispering in shame. This not shameful. It’s tragic. We are all impacted, and we all are in this together.
Today’s event is an important step. We at the U.S. Attorney’s Office look forward to continuing this discussion and working with each and all of you until we reach a solution. Thanks for having me and for listening.
Queens Man Charged in New York City “Vermin Control” Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced the arrest and charges against MYONG HWAN HAN, a/k/a “David Han,” for mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in connection with a scheme that sought to defraud thousands of victims out of more than $1 million. From April 2016 through September 2016, HAN and a co-conspirator (“CC-1”) allegedly created and mailed thousands of fraudulent notices of violation, which purported to be official communications from New York City related to vermin control violations. The notices directed the recipients to make immediate payments to a sham entity created by HAN and CC-1. In response, victims mailed checks to the sham entity based on their mistaken belief that the notices of violation were legitimate. HAN was presented today before Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman.
According to the Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court[1]:
In April 2016, CC-1 hired a print shop to print approximately 10,000 copies of a fraudulent notice (the “Fraudulent Notice”). The Fraudulent Notice, which included a New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (“NYC Health”) logo and was purportedly signed by the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, directed immediate payment of $120 to be mailed to an entity called “Vermin Control of New York,” under threat of additional penalties, including fees and property liens. In response to the Fraudulent Notice, approximately 101 victims mailed checks to Vermin Control of New York.
In fact, NYC Health did not authorize the Fraudulent Notice or use of the NYC Health logo. HAN and CC-1 created Vermin Control of New York as part of their scheme and used the location of CC-1’s post office box as the organization’s mailing address. HAN created a bank account for Vermin Control of New York and agreed with CC-1 to share any proceeds from their scam.
* * *
HAN, 31, of Queens, New York, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of mail fraud. Each of the charges carries a maximum term of 20 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 work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and thanked the New York City Department of Investigation for its assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy V. Capozzi is in charge of the prosecution.
The charges and allegations contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Plattsburgh Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography ChargesRead the Press Release
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Michael Kimball, age 28, of Plattsburgh, New York, pled guilty today to distributing, transporting, and possessing child pornography.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Andrew W. Vale, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
As part of his guilty plea, Kimball admitted that he distributed child pornography to others over the Internet, downloaded child pornography, and saved it to electronic devices.
Kimball was ordered held in custody pending his sentencing on February 21, 2017 in Syracuse, New York, by Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue. He faces at least 5 years and up to 20 years in prison, and a term of post-imprisonment supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life, when he is sentenced. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors. Kimball would also have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the New York State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Kopita.
Pittsburgh Man Admits Defrauding Citizens and First Niagara BanksRead the Press Release
PITTSBURGH - A resident of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has plead guilty in federal court to a charge of bank fraud, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Alvin R. Simmons, 56, of Pittsburgh, PA, pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose.
In connection with the guilty plea, Simmons used fraudulent personal checks to buy postage stamps at Post Offices in western Pennsylvania, and committed bank fraud upon Citizens and First Niagara banks.
The law provides for a total sentence of 30 years in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, or both at each count. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Gregory C. Melucci is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Alvin R. Simmons.
Palm Beach County Resident Pleads Guilty to Production of Child Pornography and Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Unlawful Sexual ActivityRead the Press Release
Palm Beach County resident pleads guilty to production of child pornography and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
Frank Earle Noyes, III, 51, of Palm Beach County, pled guilty on October 19, 2016, before U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, Florida, to one count of production of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251 and one count of enticing a minor to engage in an illegal sexual activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422(b). Noyes is scheduled to be sentenced on January 20, 2017. At sentencing, Noyes faces a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum term of up to 30 years in prison on the production of child pornography count and a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum term of up to life in prison on the enticement of a minor count.
According to documents filed with the court, Noyes entered into an online chat with a 12-year old minor female who lived in Minnesota. During the chat, Noyes sent the minor child pornographic images that he produced of a 5-year old minor engaged in illegal sexual conduct. Noyes was arrested and law enforcement found additional child pornographic images that he produced on his phone of a 3-year old minor female engaged in illegal sexual conduct. During the chat session with the 12-year old child, Noyes repeatedly enticed her to send him pornographic images of herself.
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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, Plymouth Police Department, Minnesota, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the South Florida Minor Vice Task Force. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lothrop Morris and Ellen Cohen.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov
O'Fallon man sentenced to federal prision for heroin offensesRead the Press Release
Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that Alfred Vernon Reeves, Jr., 43, of O’Fallon, Illinois, was sentenced to 67 months in federal prison for distribution of heroin and conspiracy to distribute heroin.
Reeves was charged in a superseding indictment on December 16, 2015, along with two co-defendants: Lacy Snead, 52, of Chicago, Ill. and Ciera McNeal, 29 of East St. Louis, Ill. Reeves was charged with distributing heroin on March 5, 2013, and for participating in an ongoing conspiracy to distribute heroin over a three-year period of time.
Records filed in court established that Reeves sold heroin to a confidential informant on March 5, 2013, and continued to be involved in heroin distribution thereafter. Evidence showed that on June 18, 2015, Reeves traveled from Chicago with Lacy Snead and Ciera McNeil transporting approximately 150 grams of heroin that was intended to be distributed in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
Snead was charged with participating in the same heroin deal that occurred on March 5, 2013, and also for conspiracy to distribute heroin. Snead pled guilty to both counts on September 19, 2016, and he faces a minimum of 5 to 40 years in prison. It is expected that Snead will be sentenced in March of 2017.
McNeil was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on October 11, 2016, for her role in transporting the 150 grams of heroin from Chicago on June 18, 2015.
The investigation was conducted by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft.
November 2016 ElectionsRead the Press Release
WILMINGTON, Del. – United States Attorney Charles M. Oberly, III announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Patricia C. Hannigan will lead the efforts of his Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 8, 2016 general elections. AUSA Hannigan has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer for the District of Delaware, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.
U.S. Attorney Oberly said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted without it being stolen because of fraud. The Department of Justice will act promptly and aggressively to protect the integrity of the election process.”
The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring election fraud and discrimination at the polls, and combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur. The Department’s long-standing Election Day Program furthers these goals, and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible election fraud and voting rights violations while the polls are open on election day.
Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law. Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice.
The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy. We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice. In order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses on November 8, 2016, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, United States Attorney Oberly stated that AUSA Hannigan will be on duty in this District while the polls are open. She can be reached by the public at the following telephone numbers: (O) 302-573-6117 or (C) 302-507-1607.
In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The local FBI field office can be reached at 302-658-4391.
Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, DC by phone at 1-800-253-3931 or (202) 307-2767, by fax at (202) 307-3961, by email to [email protected] or by complaint form at http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake/index.php.
U.S. Attorney Oberly said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the cooperation of the American electorate. It is imperative that those who have specific information about discrimination or election fraud make that information available immediately to my Office, the FBI, or the Civil Rights Division.”
Northampton County Man Charged with Possession of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Jeffrey Curtis Drexler, age 27, of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, was charged today by Indictment with one count of Possession of Child Pornography, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. The defendant was previously convicted in Northampton County Court of Common Pleas of Sexual Abuse of Children, and was registered as a sex offender under Megan’s Law at the time that he is charged with committing these federal offenses.
If convicted the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment with a 10-year minimum mandatory term of incarceration, a $250,000 fine, 5 years up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.
An Indictment, Information or Criminal Complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto Indicted for Federal Program Bribery, Honest Services Wire Fraud, Conspiracy, and Related CrimesRead the Press Release
A 13-count indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in Central Islip charging Edward Mangano and John Venditto with conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and honest services fraud, as well as the related substantive counts, and charging Mangano with extortion. The indictment also charges Edward Mangano, Linda Mangano, and Venditto with obstructing justice, and Linda Mangano and Venditto with making false statements. Since January 2010, Edward Mangano has served as the Nassau County Executive. Since January 1998, Venditto has served as the Town of Oyster Bay (the TOB or Town) Supervisor.
The defendants were arrested this morning and will be arraigned today before the Hon. Sandra J. Feuerstein, United States District Judge, at the United States Courthouse, 100 Federal Plaza, Central Islip, New York. Earlier today, federal agents also executed two search and seizure warrants at the Manganos’ residence in Bethpage, New York, and at the County Executive’s Office in Mineola, New York.
The charges were announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Shantelle P. Kitchen, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, New York Field Office (IRS-CI).
“Yet again, we announce a breach of trust by two of our public officials. In 2010, Nassau County voters granted Edward Mangano the opportunity to serve by electing him their highest ranking official in the County. Similarly, in 1998, Town of Oyster Bay voters granted John Venditto the honor of electing him their chief elected official. Yet, as alleged in the indictment, both of these men undermined the very system of laws they promised to uphold by furthering their personal interests rather than the best interests of their constituents. Sadly, Mangano also enlisted the assistance of his wife in an attempt to shield his wrongdoing from public scrutiny,” stated United States Attorney Capers. “However, no one is above the law, and the defendants will now be held to account for their actions.” Mr. Capers extended his grateful appreciation to the FBI, IRS-CI, the agencies responsible for leading the government’s investigation, and thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office for their valuable assistance.
“As detailed in the indictment, Edward Mangano and John Venditto abused their positions as the highest ranking elected officials in Nassau County and the Town of Oyster Bay, respectively – at least, until today. Those involved in this scheme allegedly lied about their conduct to investigators, fanning the flames of a fire that became too large to contain. Public corruption wastes countless tax dollars every year, threatens the credibility of governmental institutions, and opens the door for further criminal activity,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.
“The public expects its elected officials to serve them honestly and honorably,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Kitchen. “When public officials abuse the power they have been entrusted for their own personal benefit, they violate the public trust and betray their constituents. As a law enforcement agency, IRS Criminal Investigation takes allegations of public corruption very seriously, and we are always ready to contribute to an investigation when the allegation has a financial component.”
I. Background
As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, between January 2010 and February 2015, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, TOB Supervisor John Venditto, and others, engaged in a scheme to receive bribes and kickbacks from a businessman and restaurateur, identified in the indictment as Co-Conspirator #1, in exchange for performing official actions to benefit Co-Conspirator #1 in connection with that individual’s businesses in Nassau County and the TOB. The official actions included: (a) the TOB’s guarantee of certain loans that Co-Conspirator #1 received from a bank and lender in connection with Co-Conspirator #1’s status as a TOB concessionaire (the “TOB Loan Scheme”); and (b) Nassau County’s award of certain contracts to Co-Conspirator #1’s businesses (the “Nassau County Contracts Scheme”). In connection with these schemes, Mangano and Venditto are each charged with conspiring to commit federal program bribery and honest services wire fraud and related substantive counts, and Mangano is charged with extortion under color of official right.
II. The TOB Loan Scheme
The indictment charges that Co-Conspirator #1 paid bribes and kickbacks to Edward Mangano and John Venditto in exchange for, among other things, the officials’ assistance in obtaining the Town’s guarantee of four loans totaling approximately $20 million that two of Co-Conspirator #1’s businesses received from a bank (identified in the indictment as the Bank) and from a private corporate financing company (identified in the indictment as the Lender). As detailed in the government’s bail letter filed today, the first loan, which closed on June 9, 2010, was a $1,500,000 line of credit from the Bank. The second loan, which closed on May 25, 2011, was a $3,400,000 loan from the Bank. The third loan, which closed on November 18, 2011, was a $7,843,138 loan from the Lender. The fourth loan, which closed on June 22, 2012, was a $12,273,748 loan from the Lender. In late 2012 and 2013, Co-Conspirator #1 sought an additional loan of approximately $12 million from the Lender in connection with improvements to be made to Co-Conspirator #1’s facilities at two Town beaches – this loan was not ultimately extended.
Edward Mangano and John Venditto used their official positions to influence and reach a particular outcome, i.e., the Town’s guarantee of the loans for Co-Conspirator #1. As a result of the guarantees, were Co-Conspirator #1’s entities to default on the loans, the Town would be responsible for repaying the Bank and/or the Lender the entire amount of the loans. In or about November 2015, Co-Conspirator #1 defaulted on the repayment of the two loans with the Lender and the loans’ holder, which had previously been assigned the loans from the Lender, demanding that the TOB remit payment on the outstanding money due under the loan documents.
III. The Nassau County Contracts Scheme
As set forth in the indictment, beginning in approximately late 2011 through December 2012, Co-Conspirator #1, through certain business entities, was awarded lucrative contracts by Nassau County, including certain contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide food services to Nassau County agencies. Specifically, as detailed in the government’s bail letter, Nassau County awarded two contracts to business entities of Co-Conspirator #1: a 2012 Nassau County contract to supply bread and rolls to the Nassau County Correctional Center (the Bread and Rolls Contract), and November/December 2012 daily purchase orders with the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to supply emergency food services to OEM following Hurricane Sandy (the OEM Emergency Food Services Contract). The Bread and Rolls contract was valued at approximately $200,000 and the OEM Emergency Food Services Contract was valued at approximately $237,000. Edward Mangano used his official position to effectuate a specific outcome, i.e., the award of these contracts to Co-Conspirator #1.
IV. The Receipt of Bribes and Kickbacks
As set forth in the indictment and, in greater detail, in the government’s bail letter, Co-Conspirator #1 provided Linda Mangano with a “no-show” job for approximately three and one-half years, from April 2010 to August 2014, at a restaurant owned and operated by Co-Conspirator #1, identified in the indictment as Restaurant #2. The payments from Co-Conspirator #1 to Linda Mangano in connection with her “no-show” job totaled over $450,000. In addition, Co-Conspirator #1 paid for various hotel and travel expenses for the Mangano family, including vacations to Niagara Falls in 2010, Marco Island Florida in December 2011, St. Thomas in July 2012, Turks and Caicos in July 2013, and Amelia Island, Florida in July 2014, as well as an ergonomic office chair in January 2010 ($3,371.90), massage chair from Brookstone in September 2012 ($3,623.73), a Panerai Luminor watch in November 2012 ($7,304), and hardwood flooring and its installation in the Manganos’ bedroom in January 2013 ($3,701.81). Co-Conspirator #1 also provided free meals to Edward Mangano and his family and associates.
From July 2011 to December 2013, Co-Conspirator #1 additionally provided Venditto and his family members and associates with free limousine service. Co-Conspirator #1 also allowed Venditto to hold fundraisers at Co-Conspirator #1’s restaurants at a discounted rate and permitted Venditto to use a conference room in the basement of one of Co-Conspirator #1’s restaurants.
V. The Obstruction of Justice
The indictment further alleges that Edward Mangano, Linda Mangano, and Venditto engaged in obstruction of justice in connection with their attempts to cover-up their wrongdoing, and Linda Mangano and Venditto are also charged with making false statements to federal law enforcement authorities.
As alleged in the indictment, between January 2015 and the present, the Manganos engaged in a conspiracy intended to obstruct a grand jury investigation. Specifically, they repeatedly met with Co-Conspirator #1, and fabricated stories in an attempt to explain Linda Mangano’s employment by Co-Conspirator #1 and Co-Conspirator #1’s payments of gifts and vacation expenses to the Mangano family.
On January 13, 2015, FBI agents interviewed Linda Mangano at her residence. On May 20 and 24, 2015, prosecutors and FBI and IRS agents interviewed her at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Central Islip. On all three occasions, Linda Mangano was advised that lying to federal officials was a federal crime. Nevertheless, on each occasion, when asked about her employment by Co-Conspirator #1, Linda Mangano fabricated examples of work she allegedly did for Co-Conspirator #1.
On October 23, 2016 and December 18, 2015, prosecutors and FBI and IRS agents interviewed Venditto at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Central Islip. At the beginning of each interview, Venditto was advised that lying to federal officials constituted a federal crime. During the December 18, 2015 interview, Venditto stated that he had not received anything of value, including the payment for limousine services, from Co-Conspirator #1. Records from the limousine company, bank records for Co-Conspirator #1, and interviews with numerous witnesses, establish that Co-Conspirator #1 paid for the limousine service.
If convicted, Edward Mangano and John Venditto each face a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years for each honest services wire fraud charge, the conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud charge, up to 10 years for the federal program bribery charge, up to five years for the conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. Edward Mangano faces a term of up to 20 years for the extortion charge. Edward Mangano, Linda Mangano, and John Venditto each face a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years for each obstruction of justice charge, and up to five years for each false statement charge. The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Catherine M. Mirabile, Raymond A. Tierney, and Lara Treinis Gatz are in charge of the prosecution. Assistant United States Attorney Madeline O’Connor of the Office’s Civil Division is responsible for the forfeiture of assets.
The Defendants:
EDWARD MANGANO
Age: 54
Bethpage, NYLINDA MANGANO
Age: 54
Bethpage, NYJOHN VENDITTO
Age: 67
North Massapequa, NYE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16-CR-540 (SJF)
Morgantown couple pleads guilty to failure to pay taxesRead the Press Release
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Jeffrey D. Dawson, 59, and Katherine M. Dawson, 40, of Morgantown, West Virginia pled guilty to failing to pay $8,505.41 in taxes for their Morgantown business, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced.
They each pled guilty to one count of “Failure to Pay Over Employment Taxes.” They face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew R. Cogar prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Internal Revenue Service investigated.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.
Milton Truck Driver Sentenced to 15 ½ Years for Federal Child Pornography CrimesRead the Press Release
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Andre M. Straughn, 40, of Milton, Florida, was sentenced late yesterday to 15 ½ years in prison for receipt and transportation of child pornography, as well as making a false statement to a federal agent. After incarceration, Straughn will serve 10 years of supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender. The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
In July 2015, law enforcement agents became aware of online child pornography files that were linked to Straughn’s online activities. Law enforcement agents conducted an investigation and determined that Straughn was a truck driver who traveled to other states with his cellular device and laptop and used multiple electronic platforms to engage in online child pornography. After Straughn returned home from a trip, agents searched Straughn’s residence. Straughn told law enforcement agents that he did not have an online storage account, did not use the social media application Kik, and could not remember the password to his cellular telephone. A forensic review of Straughn’s electronic devices revealed that Straughn did maintain online storage accounts and a Kik account. In total, Straughn’s online storage account, laptop, and other electronic devices revealed more than 50,000 images and videos of child pornography, dating back approximately 10 years. Straughn pled guilty on June 2, 2016.
“Protecting our children from exploitation is a top priority of my office and the Department of Justice,” said United States Attorney Canova. “I commend the hard work of our prosecutors and law enforcement professionals who protect our communities and bring child predators to justice.”
“Our communities are safer today now that this criminal will spend the next 15 ½ years behind bars,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “HSI special agents will continue to relentlessly pursue those who want to do harm to our children.”
The case was investigated by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Pensacola Police Department, and the other agencies in the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney David L. Goldberg prosecuted the case.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
For more information, contact:
Amy Alexander, Public Information Officer
(850) 216-3854, [email protected]Manhattan U.S. Attorney and NYPD Commissioner Announce Charges Against Narcotics Dealer Responsible for Heroin and Fentanyl Overdose DeathRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James P. O’Neill, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the arrest and filing of charges against DASHAWN HAWKINS, a/k/a “Jhonny Cash,” for narcotics dealing that resulted in the overdose death of a 29-year-old man.
On October 19, 2016, the United States Attorney’s Office secured an indictment against HAWKINS, charging HAWKINS with distribution of heroin and fentanyl and conspiracy to distribute heroin. The indictment alleges that heroin and fentanyl distributed by HAWKINS resulted in the death of Colin Cameron, age 29, of New York, New York, on September 2, 2016.
HAWKINS will be presented in federal court in Manhattan before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman later today. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods. HAWKINS faces a mandatory minimum term of 20 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated: “Far too often now, we are seeing the devastating effects of opioid abuse on our communities. We must work to stop these dangerous drugs from reaching our streets and killing our citizens. Dashawn Hawkins allegedly dealt in heroin, including the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed Colin Cameron. We thank the New York City Police Department for their outstanding investigative efforts and their collaboration that made the bringing of these federal charges possible.”
NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill stated: “The deadly effects of heroin are real. Look no further than the overdose of Colin Cameron last month in New York City. We will continue to investigate every single overdose and attempt to find and arrest those responsible, as alleged in today's charges against Dashawn Hawkins.”
As alleged in the Indictment against HAWKINS[1]:
From at least in or about August 2016 up to and including in or about October 2016, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, DASHAWN HAWKINS, a/k/a “Jhonny Cash,” and others conspired to sell heroin. In addition, on or about September 1, 2016, HAWKINS distributed and possessed with the intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl. The use of controlled substances distributed by HAWKINS resulted in the death of Colin Cameron, on or about September 2, 2016.
In a search of HAWKINS’s apartment pursuant to a search warrant executed at the time of his arrest, the NYPD recovered, among other things, quantities of heroin, cutting agent, packaging for fentanyl, a 9mm firearm with high-capacity magazines loaded with hollow-point bullets, and what appears to be a silencer.
* * *
DASHAWN HAWKINS, 26, faces a maximum of life in prison, and a mandatory term of 20 years in prison.
The statutory maximum sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for information purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the NYPD.
This matter is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Jason M. Swergold is in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment, and the description of the Indictment set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Manager of A Cocaine Importation Conspiracy Sentenced to Eight Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Orlando, Florida – Senior United States District Judge G. Kendall Sharp has sentenced Lakisha Abney (33, Washington, D.C.) to eight years and one month in federal prison for conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. She pleaded guilty on July 20, 2016.
According to court documents, in May 2016, Abney and her co-conspirators, Shawnta Aiken, Ciera Bryant, and Shenique Milbourne, traveled to Jamaica aboard a commercial cruise ship. Upon arriving in Jamaica, Abney coordinated a meeting with an individual who provided the four women with more than six kilograms of cocaine concealed in bras and underwear. Abney paid the individual for the cocaine and the four women returned to the cruise ship with the cocaine concealed under their dresses in the bras and underwear. The women then concealed the drugs in the cabin they shared aboard the cruise ship for the remainder of the cruise. When the ship returned to Port Canaveral, Abney and her co-conspirators departed the ship and entered the customs area of the port, with the cocaine concealed in their bras and underwear. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers identified the cocaine during screenings and searches of the four passengers.
Aiken, Bryant, and Milbourne previously pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for their roles in this case. Aiken was sentenced to two years in federal prison, Bryant was sentenced to one year and ten months in federal prison, and Milbourne was sentenced to two years and six months in federal prison.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew C. Searle.
Media Advisory – Press ConferenceRead the Press Release
Thursday, October 20, 2016, at 1:00 p.m.
Cinemark Alliance Town Center
9228 Sage Meadow Trail
Fort Worth, Texas
John Parker, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas
Calvin Bond, Assistant Special Agent in Charge DEA Dallas
Jennifer Gilley, Executive Director at Challenge of Tarrant County
During October 2016, proclaimed National Youth Substance Use and Substance Use Disorder Prevention Month, by President Obama, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, DEA Dallas, and Challenge of Tarrant County are joining together to announce their combined and continued efforts in raising awareness of the dangers of prescription painkillers, including:
- As an introduction, U.S. Attorney John Parker’s Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the dangers of opioid abuse will be shown. Cinemark Theatre at Alliance Town Center will show the PSA prior to each feature film during the upcoming month.
- DEA’s National Prescription Take-Back Day on Saturday, October 22, 2016
-
DEA’s Red Ribbon Week Campaign, October 23-31, 2016
For logistical information, please contact Cynthia Velazquez, program director for Stay on Track Challenge of Tarrant County at [email protected]
# # #