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Monday 27 June 2016
Two Men Sentenced in Federal Court for Wildlife OffensesRead the Press Release
United States Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad of the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced today that two Milwaukee area men have pleaded guilty to and been sentenced in federal court for criminal violations of the Lacey Act, Title 16, United States Code, Sections 3372 (a)(2)(A) and 3373(d)(2). The violations related to the unlawful importation into the United States of wildlife that had been killed in Ontario, Canada, in violation of Canadian law.
United States Attorney Haanstad explained that in 2014, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) began an investigation into the illegal hunting activities of Reid Viertel (41) of West Allis, Wisconsin, and various associates, including Terry Schmit (43) of Franklin, Wisconsin. With assistance from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the OMNR determined that despite not having an Ontario license, Viertel had shot and killed a timber wolf in February 2012. Authorities also determined that in August 2013, Schmit traveled to Ontario with Viertel, where he shot and killed a black bear while hunting without a license. In both instances, Viertel falsified export documents from Ontario for the purpose of importing the animal carcasses into the United States.
Schmit pleaded guilty to a single offense on June 16, 2016, and was sentenced to a $1,000 fine, the forfeiture of the black bear, and a ban on hunting, fishing, and/or trapping in North America until January 1, 2019. Viertel pleaded guilty to two offenses on June 21, 2016, and was sentenced to 3 years’ probation to include at least 25 hours per year of environmental community service, forfeiture of the wolf and black bear, and a ban on hunting, fishing, and/or trapping in North America until January 1, 2021. Viertel also was ordered to serve the 2016 dear gun season (November 19 – 27) in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons and to pay the cost of his incarceration. Both Viertel and Schmit also were convicted in Ontario, Canada, for their illegal hunting activities.
United States Attorney Haanstad explained that the prosecution of offenders who intentionally violate wildlife laws helps protect and preserve natural resources both within and outside the United States. United States Attorney Haanstad thanked the OMNR and the USFWS for their work and cooperation on this and similar investigations.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Paul L. Kanter.
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Texas Woman Sentenced to Prison for Tax FraudRead the Press Release
Manager of North Carolina Tax Preparation Business Underreported Net Profits
A Fulshear, Texas, woman was sentenced to 40 months in prison today following her conviction on three counts of filing false federal tax returns and one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Tamny Denise Westbrooks, 53, was convicted in November 2015 after a four-day jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. According to the evidence at trial and court documents, Westbrooks was the day-to-day manager of JATS Tax Service, a tax preparation business located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Westbrooks, who worked for JATS as an independent contractor, underreported her net profits by inflating her business expenses for tax years 2007, 2008 and 2009. She also obstructed and impeded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by filing false tax returns for herself and others and by paying workers in cash while failing to file the required W-2 or 1099 forms reporting their compensation.
In addition to her term of imprisonment, Westbrooks was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $273,460 to the IRS.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case and Trial Attorneys Sean Beaty and Mara Strier of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, who prosecuted the case. Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas for their substantial assistance.
Reality TV Performer Admits Defrauding Bankruptcy Court, Illegally Transporting Cash into the U.S.Read the Press Release
PITTSBURGH – A reality television performer pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of concealing assets from the bankruptcy court and one count of failing to report an international currency transaction, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.
Abigale Lee Miller, 50, formerly Penn Hills, Pa, and presently living in Los Angeles, Calif., pleaded guilty to two counts before Senior United States District Judge Terrence F. McVerry.
In connection with the guilty plea, the court was informed that in 2010, Miller filed a petition in bankruptcy seeking to reorganize debts from the operation of the Abby Lee Miller Dance Studio. The court was advised that during the bankruptcy case, Miller failed to disclose to the bankruptcy court revenue she earned from the sale of merchandise and ticket sales at Master Class dance sessions she hosted in cities in the United States in 2012 and 2013. Additionally, Miller failed to report to customs officials that she transported in excess of $10,000 in foreign currency from Australia into the United States in the summer of 2014, totaling approximately $120,000.
“Today’s guilty plea exemplifies the results that are achieved when law enforcement works collaboratively towards a common goal. IRS-Criminal Investigation, along with our partners at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security-Investigations strive to protect the American public from those who attempt to circumvent the laws of our country and abuse the Bankruptcy process”, said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Akeia Conner.
“Television celebrities are held in high regard by their fan base for the fictional roles they play,” said Gregory C. Nevano, acting special agent in charge of HSI Philadelphia. “But the crimes exposed as a result of this joint investigation were far from fictional and send a very real message about the consequences that await those seeking to defraud the government.”
Judge McVerry scheduled sentencing for Oct. 11, 2016. The law provides for a total sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant United States Attorney Gregory C. Melucci is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Trustee, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Abigale Lee Miller.
Petersburg Man Indicted on Transportation and Possession of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a Petersburg man was indicted for the transportation and possession of child pornography.
Marvin Mitchell Jackson, 28, a resident of Petersburg, Alaska, was arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie C. Longenbaugh on the charges of transporting and possessing child pornography. Jackson pled not guilty to the charges and was ordered detained pending trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack S. Schmidt, who is prosecuting the case, informed the court that Jackson was contacted Jan. 18, 2016, during an unrelated investigation. Jackson was traveling from Washington to Petersburg, Alaska, on a commercial air carrier; his cell phone was seized and subsequently searched pursuant to a search warrant as part of that investigation. During the search, a number of images of child pornography were discovered. Law enforcement obtained additional search warrants and discovered hundreds of images of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including images of known identifiable children obtained from Facebook and other media that had been modified by the defendant to depict the children in those images engaging in sexual explicit conduct. Many of the images were modified by the defendant to depict prepubescent children engaged in sexual explicit conduct, including text stating sexual abuse fantasies related to those children.
Jackson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for the transportation of child pornography and faces a potential maximum sentence on each charge of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine, or both. Jackson also faces up to life on supervised release. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant. Magistrate Judge Longenbaugh set a trial date for August 1, 2016, and ordered Jackson detained pending trial. The defendant is currently awaiting sentencing on the related drug charges in state court.
The charges against Jackson are the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Petersburg Police Department. If the public has any further information, questions, or concerns about the activities of Jackson please contact the FBI at (907) 265-8254.
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In May 2006, DOJ launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Paul Tanaka, Former No. 2 in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Obstructing Federal Investigation into Misconduct at County JailsRead the Press Release
LOS ANGELES – Paul Tanaka, who was the second in command of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced today to 60 months in federal prison for his conviction on obstruction of justice charges stemming from him leading the LASD’s efforts to derail a federal investigation into corruption and civil rights violations by sheriff’s deputies at two downtown jail complexes.
Tanaka, 57, a resident of Gardena who left the LASD in 2013 when he was the undersheriff, was sentenced this morning by United States District Judge Percy Anderson. In addition to the five-year prison term, which Tanaka was ordered to begin serving on August 1, Judge Anderson ordered the defendant to pay a $7,500 fine.
In sentencing Tanaka, Judge Anderson recounted Tanaka’s career at the LASD, his role in the scheme to obstruct justice, and “the incalculable harm you have caused this community.”
While he was the assistant sheriff in charge of the jails, Tanaka “perpetrated an environment of excessive deputy conduct,” according to Judge Anderson, who said Tanaka’s actions led directly to an increased number of use-of-force incidents against inmates at the jails. The obstruction of justice scheme was designed “to derail the federal grand jury investigation” and constituted “a gross abuse of the public trust.”
A federal jury on April 6 found Tanaka guilty of two felony offenses – conspiring to obstruct justice and a substantive count of obstructing justice. After a 10-day trial, a federal jury deliberated for only a few hours before convicting Tanaka of being the head of a broad conspiracy to obstruct the federal investigation, a scheme that started when the LASD learned that an inmate at the Men’s Central Jail (MCJ) was an FBI informant. Tanaka directed a conspiracy that has resulted in the conviction of other former LASD officials who received sentences of up to 41 months in prison.
“Paul Tanaka supervised a scheme to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into corruption and civil rights violations at the jails,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Mr. Tanaka was the ringleader and the driving force behind a plot that concealed an FBI informant, tampered with witnesses and led to the threatened arrest of an FBI agent for doing nothing more than her job. In addition to being a top law enforcement officer who was personally involved in the obstruction of justice, Mr. Tanaka was responsible for a culture that unfortunately led to the widespread abuse of inmates at the jails that he personally oversaw.”
Tanaka was the undersheriff – the number 2 in the LASD – until 2013, and he ran an unsuccessful campaign for sheriff in 2014. As he rose through ranks during a 31-year career with the LASD, Tanaka became well aware of problems with deputies at the jails, allegations of rampant abuse of inmates and insufficient internal investigations into deputy misconduct. “During his time as an executive, defendant threatened to discipline
supervisors who frequently referred deputies to Internal Affairs, transferred captains who tried to reduce deputy abuse and break up cliques, instructed deputies to work in the ‘gray area’ of law enforcement, and expressed his desire to gut Internal Affairs,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. Tanaka’s “actions caused deputies to believe that they could act with impunity, which, unfortunately, they did much too frequently.”
“Mr. Tanaka swore to serve the county of Los Angeles, but disappointed the people through his corrupt actions, as well as many in the department under his command and influence,” said Deirdre Fike, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “As this investigation comes to a close, the department's law-abiding deputies who serve honorably can put this behind them under new leadership at the L.A. Sheriff's Department."
The scheme to disrupt the federal investigation started in August 2011 when deputies recovered a mobile phone from an inmate in MCJ, linked the phone to the FBI, and determined that the inmate was an informant in the FBI’s corruption and civil rights investigation. The phone was given to the inmate as part of an undercover investigation by a corrupt deputy, who subsequently pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge and was recently sentenced to federal prison.
In response to the federal investigation, members of the Tanaka-led conspiracy took steps to hide the cooperator from the FBI and the United States Marshals Service, which was attempting to bring the inmate to testify before a federal grand jury. The evidence presented during Tanaka’s trial showed that the deputies altered records to make it appear that the cooperator had been released from jail, when in fact he had been re-booked into custody under a fake name and moved to an LASD patrol station. Members of the conspiracy prohibited FBI access to the informant, and then told the cooperator that he had been abandoned by the FBI.
Over the course of several weeks, members of the conspiracy sought an order from a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to compel the FBI to turn over information about its investigation to the LASD. After the judge refused to issue the order because he had no jurisdiction over the federal law enforcement agency – and even though it was clear that the FBI was acting legally – two LASD sergeants confronted the lead FBI agent at her residence in an attempt to intimidate her. The sergeants threatened the agent with arrest and later reiterated this threat to her supervisor, stating that the agent’s arrest was imminent.
Tanaka oversaw co-conspirators who told fellow deputies not to cooperate in the federal investigation. Members of the conspiracy engaged in witness tampering by ordering fellow deputies not to speak to the federal government and telling them that the FBI would lie, threaten, manipulate and blackmail them to obtain information about the Sheriff’s Department.
Tanaka was indicted last year along with William Thomas Carey, a former LASD Captain who headed the Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. Carey pleaded guilty last year and is pending sentencing. A total of 10 members of the department – including former Sheriff Leroy Baca – have been convicted in relation to the scheme to obstruct justice. Baca, who pleaded guilty in February pursuant to a plea agreement, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Anderson on July 11.
As a result of the FBI investigation into the LASD, 21 current or former members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have been convicted of federal charges. These include the following former members of the LASD:
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Former Sergeant Eric Gonzalez, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his conviction on civil rights charges related to the beating of a visitor to the Men’s Central Jail;
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Fernando Luviano, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for beating a jail visitor;
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Sussie Ayala, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the beating of a jail visitor;
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Former Lieutenant Gregory Thompson, who was ordered to serve 37 months in prison for obstructing justice;
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Former Lieutenant Stephen Leavins, who received a 41-month prison sentence for obstructing justice;
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Gerard Smith, who was ordered to serve 21 months in prison for obstructing justice;
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Mickey Manzo, who received a two-year prison sentence for obstructing justice;
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Former Sergeant Scott Craig, who was sentenced to 33 months for obstructing justice;
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Former Sergeant Maricela Long, who was sentenced to two years in federal prison for obstructing justice;
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James Sexton, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for obstructing justice;
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Joey Aguiar, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for falsifying reports related to a use-of-force incident;
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Mariano Ramirez, who was sentenced to 13 months in prison, who was convicted with Aguiar;
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Gilbert Michel who was sentenced to six months in prison in the bribery case; and
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Richard Piquette, who was sentenced on a firearms charge.
Six other defendants, including former Sheriff Leroy Baca, are scheduled for sentencing later this year.
The cases against Tanaka and Baca are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brandon D. Fox, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section; Assistant United States Attorney Lizabeth A. Rhodes, Chief of the General Crimes Section; and Assistant United States Attorney Eddie A. Jauregui of the General Crimes Section.
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Oklahoma Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Distribution of Methamphetamine and HeroinRead the Press Release
BISMARCK -US Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on June 27, 2016, Timothy Leroy Sumpter, 31, Sallisaw, Oklahoma, was sentenced before US District Judge Daniel L. Hovland to serve 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance on March 22, 2016. Judge Hovland also sentenced Sumpter to serve 5 years of supervised release and to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victims Fund.
In early 2014, law enforcement officials with the Southwest Narcotics Task Force in Dickinson, North Dakota, were investigating the distribution of methamphetamine and heroin in western North Dakota. On March 23, 2014, related to this investigation, a traffic stop was made near Bowman, North Dakota, and law enforcement officials seized approximately two pounds of methamphetamine and a half pound of heroin that had been transported from California. Three individuals in the vehicle were arrested, including Sumpter. The other occupants of the vehicle, Reyes and Traylor were both sentenced on June 2, 2016, where Reyes was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Traylor was sentenced to time served.
The case was investigated by the Southwest Narcotics Task Force, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
Assistant US Attorney David Hagler prosecuted the case.
North Texas Companies and Individuals Pay $1.125 Million to Settle Medicaid AllegationsRead the Press Release
PLANO, Texas – PLANO, Texas – Ten North Texas companies and individuals agreed to pay the United States a total of $1.125 million to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations for causing false claims to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its component agency the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales. The companies and individuals paying the United States under the settlement are:
- Irving Holdings, Inc. (together with its predecessor companies Big Tex Taxi Corporation, Terminal Taxi Corporation, Choice Cab, Inc., Yellow Checker Cab of Dallas, Inc., and Yellow Checker Cab of Fort Worth, Inc.)
- JetTaxi, Inc.
- Dallas Taxi, LLC
- US Cab, LLC
- Terminal Taxi Corporation of Irving
- Classic Shuttle Acquisition Corporation, Inc. d/b/a Go Yellow Checker Shuttle
- Dallas Car Leasing, LLC
- Jackie Bewley
- Jeffrey Finkel
- Elizabeth George
The settlement resolves a portion of a lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Robert Spence, Mike Jones, and Cheryl Jones. The Act permits private citizens (called “relators”) with knowledge of fraud against the Government to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery. Under the civil settlement announced today, the relators will receive $202,500 out of the United States’ recovery. The lawsuit remains pending in the Eastern District of Texas and is captioned United States of America ex rel. Robert Spence, Mike Jones, and Cheryl Jones v. Irving Holdings, Inc., et al., Case Number 4:12-CV-487. The following companies and individuals are also named in the action but are not parties to the settlement announced today:
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- North Texas Opportunity Fund, L.P.
- NTOF Capital Partners, LP
- North Texas Opportunity Fund Capital Partners, LP
- North Texas Investment Advisors, LLC
- Lone Star Investment Advisors, LLC
- William Tauscher
- Arthur Hollingsworth
- Greg Campbell
- Luke Sweetser
The relators were employees of Irving Holdings, Inc. d/b/a Yellow Cab (“Irving Holdings”), one of the largest taxicab companies in the United States. The relators claim in their lawsuit that Irving Holdings and many related or affiliated entities, stockholders, and employees failed to comply with rules and regulations governing Medicaid transportation services provided by Irving Holdings to Texas Medicaid recipients, resulting in false claims being submitted to Texas Medicaid and CMS.
The United States’ contended that certain Defendants misrepresented Irving Holdings’ compliance with the transportation broker requirements contained in 42 C.F.R. § 440.170. Specifically, the United States alleged that Irving Holdings and Jeffrey Finkel submitted a false affidavit to the State of Texas knowing the affidavit would then be provided to CMS. The United States claimed that the false affidavit caused CMS to pay inflated amounts to Texas Medicaid. The settling Defendants have expressly denied the United States’ contentions.
This settlement demonstrates the United States’ continued commitment to pursuing health care providers who misrepresent their compliance with Medicare and Medicaid regulations. Moreover, the settlement illustrates that the Department of Justice will pursue companies as well as individuals whose actions cause the submission of false claims—even if someone else receives the money.
“The public is besieged by fraud, guile, and recklessness every single day,” said U.S. Attorney Bales. “Our office will not tolerate the mistreatment of taxpayer money, whether by corporations or individuals.”
This case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas, the Texas Attorney General’s Office, and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG). The settlement was negotiated by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Russ and James Gillingham. The claims resolved by the settlement and the claims alleged by the relators are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.
New York Man Gets Life in Prison for Production of Child Pornography, Interstate Travel for Illicit Sexual ConductRead the Press Release
NEWARK, N.J. – A Warwick, New York, man was sentenced today to life in prison for coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct and traveling from New York to Passaic County, New Jersey, to have sexual intercourse with another minor, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Clifford W. Wares, 43, was previously convicted of all six counts of an indictment charging him with one count of production of child pornography, one count of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct, two counts of online enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct, and two counts of interstate extortionate threat. Wares was convicted following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, who imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.
According to the documents filed in this case and the evidence presented at trial:
From June 2011 through October 2011, Wares used email, telephone and Facebook to communicate with a 13-year-old girl in Passaic County (“Victim 1”). Wares used a fake Facebook account to pretend to be another minor who was known to Victim 1 and introduce himself as someone with whom Victim 1 should communicate. Afterwards, Wares sent Victim 1 pornographic images and engaged in sexually explicit communications, ultimately asking that she send him images and videos of herself nude or engaging in sex acts, which she did. On occasions when she did not comply, Wares threatened to distribute nude images of Victim 1 to her parents and friends.
In June 2011, Wares met a 14-year-old girl residing in Passaic County (“Victim 2”) via an online social network. From June 2011 through August 2011, Wares regularly engaged in sexually explicit communications with Victim 2, sent her pornographic images and told her that he was interested in “hanging out” with her. Wares then drove from his home in Warwick, New York, to Passaic County where he picked her up in his vehicle. Wares engaged in sex acts with Victim 2 in a nearby park. After a second encounter, Wares threatened to harm Victim 2’s reputation and property when she refused to meet him again.
Wares was ultimately apprehended after a search for him was conducted via land and helicopter in an Orange County, New York park. Among his possessions upon his arrest were a roll of duct tape, a pair of handcuffs, a knife, and a handwritten list of the names of other minors who were known to Victims 1 and 2.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge Salas found that, subsequent to his arrest, Wares also attempted to intimidate his victims into refusing to testify against him by sending anonymous letters threatening their own lives and those of their families. Judge Salas found that this conduct (which was unsuccessful) constituted obstruction of justice by Wares, leading to a two-level increase in Wares’ offense level under the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and further justified the life sentence imposed.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited Special Agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher in Newark, the New Jersey Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, and the New York State Police with the investigation leading to today’s sentence.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danielle Alfonzo Walsman and Meredith J. Williams of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: Thomas Ambrosio Esq., Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
New Hampshire Woman Pleads Guilty to Social Security FraudRead the Press Release
CONCORD, N.H. – Tonya Dailey, 44, of Franklin, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire to Social Security Fraud, announced United States Attorney Emily Gray Rice.
Dailey began receiving Social Security disability benefits in 1999. In June 2010, Dailey returned to self-employment, earning sufficient income to render her ineligible to receive any disability benefits. Although she reported her receipt of nominal earnings from a local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post during a review with the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2014, Dailey did not report her income from self-employment to SSA. In May 2015, Dailey admitted to investigators that she concealed her self-employment from SSA because she knew her earnings would have disqualified her from receiving Social Security disability benefits. As a result of her concealment, Dailey received $30,230.78 in disability benefits that she would not have received if she had properly disclosed her self-employment income.
Dailey is facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 4, 2016. She was released on conditions pending sentencing.
The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General and prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Karen Burzycki.
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Navajo Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Assault ChargesRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Patrick Wadsworth, 46, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Sanostee, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to an assault charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Wadsworth was arrested on Jan. 22, 2016, on an indictment charging him with assaulting a woman resulting in serious bodily injury on Nov. 6, 2014, in San Juan County, N.M.
During today’s proceedings, Wadsworth pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on Nov. 6, 2014, he assaulted the victim by striking her and causing bruising to her face, arms and knees. Wadsworth further admitted that the crime took place as his residence on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County.
This case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI, the Farmington Police Department and the Shiprock Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Y. Ramirez is prosecuting the case as part of the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna. The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both. The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's on-going efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.
Manhattan Energy Investor Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud Schemes Involving Evasion of over $45 Million of Income and Other TaxesRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MORRIS E. ZUKERMAN, a Manhattan businessman who owns companies involved in energy investments, pled guilty today to charges detailing ZUKERMAN’s involvement in multi-year tax fraud schemes pursuant to which he evaded over $45 million in income taxes and other taxes. ZUKERMAN entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As his admissions today made clear, Morris Zukerman took numerous pages from the tax evader’s playbook: he illegally evaded tens of millions of dollars of corporate income taxes from the $130 million sale of an oil company; he prepared personal tax returns for himself and family members that falsely claimed millions of dollars in deductions; he evaded employment taxes for household employees; and he schemed to defraud and obstruct the IRS auditors who were examining his false tax returns. After years of finding every way to avoid his tax obligations, Zukerman has finally been forced to admit to his criminal tax evasion. I thank the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and the New York Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for bringing Zukerman’s breathtaking tax fraud schemes to a just conclusion.”
According to the Indictment, today’s plea proceedings in Manhattan federal court, and other court filings related to this matter:
ZUKERMAN, the principal of M.E. Zukerman & Co. (“MEZCO”), an investment firm located in Manhattan, schemed to evade taxes based on income received from the January 2008 sale of a petroleum products company (the “Oil Company”) he co-owned (through a MEZCO subsidiary) with a public company. ZUKERMAN schemed to evade the reporting of the sale – which resulted in the receipt by the MEZCO subsidiary of $130 million in gross sales proceeds – by falsely telling his accountants in mid-2008 that he had transferred ownership of the MEZCO subsidiary to a family trust in early 2007. In support of the story he gave to the accountants, ZUKERMAN created backdated documents such as promissory notes and a board resolution purporting to show the transfer of the subsidiary to his family trust in 2007. The false documents allowed ZUKERMAN to remove the MEZCO subsidiary from the consolidated tax reporting being handled by the accountants for MEZCO and thereby evade the reporting to the IRS of the sale of the Oil Company, as well as the payment of over $35 million in corporate income taxes.
Following the sale of the Oil Company, ZUKERMAN transferred the proceeds of the sale from the MEZCO subsidiary to his family trust and various corporations he controlled, including a company called Zukerman Investments. Between 2008 and 2013, ZUKERMAN directed that over $50 million of the funds transferred to Zukerman Investments be used to purchase paintings by European artists from the 15th through the 19th centuries (the “Old Master paintings”), which ZUKERMAN used to decorate his Upper East Side apartment and the apartments of two family members – Family Member-1 and Family Member-2.
ZUKERMAN schemed to evade personal income taxes and to obstruct the IRS by (i) causing various tax return preparers to prepare U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns for ZUKERMAN and his wife, and for Family Member-1, Family Member-2, and Family Member-3, that claimed, in the aggregate, millions of dollars of false and fraudulent deductions and expenses, such as phony charitable contributions and investment interest expenses; (ii) diverting, for personal use, corporate assets from MEZCO and other corporate entities ZUKERMAN controlled by directing that hundreds of thousands of dollars of fees be paid between 2007 and 2013 to Family Member-1, Family Member-2, and Family Member-3, for which the family members performed little or no work; (iii) directing that corporate funds be used to pay compensation to, and health care insurance for, a household employee of ZUKERMAN, whom ZUKERMAN also caused to be falsely identified as a MEZCO employee to ZUKERMAN’s corporate health care provider when, in truth and in fact, the household employee worked exclusively out of ZUKERMAN’s homes in New York City and in Maine as a domestic employee; (iv) falsely under-reporting employment taxes through the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash and other wages to ZUKERMAN’s domestic employees; and (v) providing false information to the IRS during audits in an attempt to fraudulently convince IRS auditors and other IRS employees that the fraudulent claims made on his previously filed tax returns were accurate when, in truth, they were not.
The False Charitable Contribution Deductions for the 2009 & 2011 Tax Years
ZUKERMAN’s fraudulent charitable contribution deductions – totaling $1 million – arose out of a real estate transaction in 2009 and 2010, pursuant to which ZUKERMAN purchased approximately 240 acres of property on Black Island, a small island located off the coast of Maine, close to ZUKERMAN’s home on a nearby island. ZUKERMAN was enlisted to purchase the Black Island property by a Maine-based land conservation entity named the Maine Coast Heritage Trust (“MCHT”), which was seeking to orchestrate the purchase for conservation purposes. After considering making a charitable contribution to the MCHT intended to be used to purchase the property, ZUKERMAN decided instead to purchase the land as the outright owner for the benefit of himself and his family for $1 million through a newly formed limited liability company he solely owned. ZUKERMAN, however, falsely told his tax return preparer that the $1 million he paid for the property should be declared on his personal income tax returns as a charitable contribution to the MCHT during the 2008 and 2010 tax years. ZUKERMAN subsequently signed the false 2008 and 2010 tax returns and caused them to be filed with the IRS.
The False Investment Interest Expense Deductions Relating to the Corporate Loans
ZUKERMAN orchestrated the creation of hundreds of thousands of dollars of fraudulent “investment interest expense” deductions on his own tax returns and those of three family members. ZUKERMAN accomplished this by falsely telling his tax preparers that payments made from the personal bank accounts of ZUKERMAN and his family members to a California bank were made to legitimately satisfy loan interest payments owed by one of his California companies. In fact, although the interest payments were initially made from the bank accounts of ZUKERMAN and those of his family members (whose accounts ZUKERMAN controlled), ZUKERMAN secretly took funds from the bank account of the California corporation that owed the interest payments and reimbursed himself and his family members. In addition, because the corporation that owed the interest payments had claimed the interest indebtedness as an expense on its corporate tax returns, ZUKERMAN’s claiming of the same expenses on his own tax returns and those of his family members constituted fraudulent double deductions.
The Audit Fraud
In seeking to obstruct and defraud the IRS during an audit of one of ZUKERMAN’s companies, ZUKERMAN used two attorneys from a law firm in Washington, D.C., to convey a false narrative to an IRS Appeals officer, who was undertaking a review of ZUKERMAN’s challenge to an adverse determination made by an IRS auditor during the corporate audit. Pursuant to a “crime-fraud” ruling by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and affirmed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, ZUKERMAN’s companies were required to disclose to the grand jury all of the communications between ZUKERMAN and the two attorneys that led to the submission to the IRS of the false factual narrative. ZUKERMAN’s two attorneys were also required to provide grand jury testimony about the false information provided by Zukerman, which had been provided to the IRS as part of Zukerman’s efforts to deceive the IRS.
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ZUKERMAN, 72, of New York, New York, pled guilty to one count of tax evasion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of obstructing the IRS, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Each of the charges also carries a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
As part of Zukerman’s plea agreement with the Government, he agreed to pay a minimum of $37 million to the IRS as a result of his corporate and individual tax fraud activities. Zukerman separately agreed to pay to New York State over $4.6 million based on a related tax fraud scheme he carried out, through his companies, that resulted in the evasion of New York State sales and use taxes owed in connection with Zukerman’s purchase of dozens of 17th and 18th century ‘Old Master’ paintings, as well as jewelry.
Judge Torres set December 5, 2016, as the date for sentencing.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentences for the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the IRS and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Stanley J. Okula and Edward Imperatore are in charge of the prosecution.
Major Drug Trafficking Organization Members Indicted for Methamphetamine and Firearms ChargesRead the Press Release
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On May 10, 2016, a federal grand jury returned an 80-count indictment, charging 27 individuals with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine. Six were charged with possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking offenses.
Fifteen of those charged appeared in U.S. District Court on June 24, 2016, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifton L. Corker and pleaded not guilty to the charges in the indictment.
Individuals charged in the indictment include: Rickey Dale Munsey, 47, Washburn, Tenn.; Jeffery Brian Wills, 27, Greeneville, Tenn.; Joel Hosea Beasley, 36, Morristown, Tenn.; Steven Dwight Hopkins, 46, Mooresburg, Tenn.; Guy Mayns, 31, Morristown, Tenn.; Christopher Allen Williams, 47, Morristown, Tenn.; James Guinn, 36, Morristown, Tenn.; Jenny Louise Musson, 32, Greeneville, Tenn.; Maria Smelcer, 42, Mosheim, Tenn.; Tomasena Miluv Payne, 28, Talbot, Tenn.; David Lee Sicilia, 31, Morristown, Tenn.; Andrew Harville, 28, Morristown, Tenn.; Nathan Carroll, 36, Morristown, Tenn.; Jamie Lee Bray, 24, Morristown, Tenn.; Darinda Sue Beasley, 36, Morristown, Tenn.; Erica Sue Harris, 34, Russellville, TN Tenn.; Jeremy Kane Jones, 30, Morristown, Tenn.; Eric James Reedy, 32, Rogersville, Tenn.; Timothy Shannon Maner, 35, Morristown, Tenn.; Christopher Wayne Munsey, 26, Morristown, Tenn.; Morgan Alan Moore, 30, Morristown, Tenn.; James Calvin Hale, 38, Morristown, Tenn.; Larry Wayne Martin, 52, Russellville, Tenn.; Kellie Hopkins, 23, Mooresburg, Tenn.; Donald Edward Grey, Jr., 40, Bean Station, Tenn.; John Nathaniel Beasley, 19, Mooresburg, Tenn.; and Tim Parvin, 38, Russellville, Tenn.
If convicted as charged on the methamphetamine conspiracy count, the defendants face a mandatory minimum of 10 years up to life in prison, a maximum fine of $10,000,000.00, and a minimum of five years supervised release.
This indictment is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office, Third Judicial District Drug Task Force, Fourth Judicial District Drug Task Force, Morristown Police Department, Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson City Police Department, Grainger County Sheriff’s Office; Johnson City Police Department, Bean Station Police Department and Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Wayne Taylor will represent the United States.
This prosecution is brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s drug supply reduction strategy. OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment constitutes only charges and that every person is presumed innocent until his or her guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Lusby Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for His Role in a Southern Maryland Drug Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Antoine Dewayne Savoy, age 35, of Lusby, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute powder and crack cocaine.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Daniel L. Board, Jr. of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Karl C. Colder of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Washington Field Division; Chief Hank Stawinski of the Prince George’s County Police Department; Chief Stanley Johnson, of the Maryland National Capital Park Police, Prince George’s County Division; Charles County Sheriff Troy Berry; St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron; and Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans.
According to his plea agreement and other court documents, from January through July 2015, Savoy conspired with Colbert Juan Jones, Vincent Leo Fletcher, Troy Taishon Swann, and James Devwan Pixley, to distribute cocaine. Jones sold cocaine to his customers, which included Savoy and Pixley. Savoy and Pixley purchased cocaine from Jones several times a month and used at least half of that cocaine to manufacture crack cocaine, which they sold in smaller distribution quantities. Savoy often retrieved the cocaine from a home in Prince Frederick, Maryland, from which Jones distributed narcotics. Savoy would either meet Jones there and personally exchange money for the cocaine, or retrieve the cocaine from a hiding place known to Savoy and Jones. Savoy would then leave cash in the hiding place, or arrange another time and place to provide money to Jones.
Jones obtained cocaine from Fletcher and other sources. Fletcher obtained cocaine several times a month from Swann and other suppliers. Fletcher distributed the cocaine to his customers for further distribution, and used some of the powder cocaine to manufacture crack cocaine, which he also distributed.
Colbert Juan Jones, age 33, of St. Leonard, Maryland, and Vincent Leo Fletcher, age 29, of Clinton, Maryland, and James Devwan Pixley, age 26, of Waldorf, Maryland, were each previously sentenced to 10 years in prison. Troy Taishon Swann, age 39, of Waldorf, pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 2016 at 11:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the ATF, DEA, Prince George’s County Police Department, Maryland National Capital Park Police, Prince George’s County Division, and the Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert County Sheriffs’ Offices for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael T. Packard and Leah J. Bressack, who prosecuted this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.
Long Island Doctor Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for Sexual Exploitation of A MinorRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that HASSAN KHAN, a Long Island medical doctor, was sentenced on Friday, June 24, 2016, to 17 years in prison for sexual exploitation and enticement of a minor. In January 2016, KHAN pled guilty before United States District Judge Jed S. Rakoff to one count of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. Judge Rakoff imposed Friday’s sentence.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The 17-year sentence imposed on Hassan Khan is a measure of his appalling crime. We will continue to use every resource available to investigate and prosecute those who sexually exploit children.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in related court proceedings:
Starting in 2007, KHAN began to communicate online with a then 11-year-old girl (the “Victim”). Between 2007 and 2013, KHAN, who was aware of the age of the Victim, coerced and enticed her to engage in illegal sexual activity. KHAN engaged in sexual acts with the minor Victim and traveled abroad to do so. KHAN further coerced and enticed the Victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct via live video chats.
At the time of his arrest, on September 3, 2015, KHAN was working as a medical doctor.
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In addition to the 17-year prison term, KHAN, 28, of Mineola, New York, was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Alex Rossmiller is in charge of the prosecution.
Leader of labor trafficking ring sentenced to 15 years in prisonRead the Press Release
The leader of a human trafficking organization and a co-defendant were sentenced to prison today for their roles in luring Guatemalan minors and adults to the United States under false pretenses and then using threats of physical harm to compel them to work on egg farms in Ohio. The sentences were announced by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon of the Northern District of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony of the FBI’s Cleveland Division.
Aroldo Castillo-Serrano, 33, was sentenced to 188 months in prison and Ana Angelica Pedro-Juan, 22, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge James G. Carr of the Northern District of Ohio also ordered the defendants to pay a total of $67,230 in restitution, jointly and severally, to the victims.
Castillo-Serrano pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2015, to conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, witness tampering and alien harboring charges. Pedro-Juan pleaded guilty on Dec. 14, 2015, to conspiracy to commit forced labor.
According to documents filed in the case and admissions made in court in connection with the guilty pleas, the defendants and their associates recruited workers from Guatemala, some as young as 14 or 15 years old, by falsely promising them good jobs and a chance to attend school in the United States. The defendants then smuggled and transported the workers to a trailer park in Marion, Ohio, where they ordered them to live in dilapidated trailers and to work at physically demanding jobs at Trillium Farms for up to 12 hours a day for minimal amounts of money. The work included cleaning chicken coops, loading and unloading crates of chickens, debeaking chickens and vaccinating chickens. Eight minors and two adults were identified in the indictment as victims of the forced labor scheme.
Castillo-Serrano recruited the victims, smuggled them into the United States, oversaw money transfers and issued threats to ensure compliance. Pedro-Juan falsely represented herself to government officials as a family friend of the minor victims in order to have them released to her custody. She also oversaw the trailers where the victims were housed and arranged for their wages to be transferred to co-conspirators in Guatemala and elsewhere.
“These defendants preyed on the hopes of vulnerable young workers, turning their dreams into a nightmare by exploiting their undocumented status and using fear to compel them to work long hours for minimal pay,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta. “This case demonstrates the Justice Department’s firm commitment to combating labor trafficking by holding traffickers accountable and restoring the rights, freedom and dignity of victims. I commend the strong partnerships that contributed to dismantling this human trafficking organization.”
The Northern District of Ohio is one of six districts selected as a Phase II Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam), through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor. Designated ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor; international sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.
“These defendants forced minors to work around the clock and live in inhumane conditions, while threatening them and their relatives,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Rendon. “Today’s prison sentence underscores the severity of these human trafficking cases, but also should serve as a reminder that these cases happen all around us in plain sight.”
“These defendants preyed on the desire of the children and their parents for a better life by offering freedom on American soil only to be imprisoned in servitude,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony. “These actions cannot be tolerated. Law enforcement remains vigilant in detecting and disrupting these human trafficking rings.”
A third co-defendant, Conrado Salgado-Soto, was sentenced on April 11, 2016, to 51 months in prison. Three more defendants, Conrado Salgado-Borbon, Bartolo Dominguez and Pablo Duran Jr., pleaded guilty to immigration offenses in connection with this case and were sentenced to six, 12 and 15 months in prison, respectively.
The investigation is ongoing. The case is being investigated by the FBI Cleveland Division’s Mansfield Resident Agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations, the Marion Police Department and the Marion County Sherriff’s Office. The case is being jointly prosecuted by Trial Attorney Dana Mulhauser of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Rice of the Northern District of Ohio.
Leader of Human Trafficking Organization Sentenced to over 15 Years for Exploiting Guatemalan Migrants at Ohio Egg FarmsRead the Press Release
The leader of a human trafficking organization and a co-defendant were sentenced to prison today for their roles in luring Guatemalan minors and adults to the United States under false pretenses and then using threats of physical harm to compel them to work on egg farms in Ohio. The sentences were announced by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon of the Northern District of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony of the FBI’s Cleveland Division.
Aroldo Castillo-Serrano, 33, was sentenced to 188 months in prison and Ana Angelica Pedro-Juan, 22, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge James G. Carr of the Northern District of Ohio also ordered the defendants to pay a total of $67,230 in restitution, jointly and severally, to the victims.
Castillo-Serrano pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2015, to conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, witness tampering and alien harboring charges. Pedro-Juan pleaded guilty on Dec. 14, 2015, to conspiracy to commit forced labor.
According to documents filed in the case and admissions made in court in connection with the guilty pleas, the defendants and their associates recruited workers from Guatemala, some as young as 14 or 15 years old, by falsely promising them good jobs and a chance to attend school in the United States. The defendants then smuggled and transported the workers to a trailer park in Marion, Ohio, where they ordered them to live in dilapidated trailers and to work at physically demanding jobs at Trillium Farms for up to 12 hours a day for minimal amounts of money. The work included cleaning chicken coops, loading and unloading crates of chickens, debeaking chickens and vaccinating chickens. Eight minors and two adults were identified in the indictment as victims of the forced labor scheme.
Castillo-Serrano recruited the victims, smuggled them into the United States, oversaw money transfers and issued threats to ensure compliance. Pedro-Juan falsely represented herself to government officials as a family friend of the minor victims in order to have them released to her custody. She also oversaw the trailers where the victims were housed and arranged for their wages to be transferred to co-conspirators in Guatemala and elsewhere.
“These defendants preyed on the hopes of vulnerable young workers, turning their dreams into a nightmare by exploiting their undocumented status and using fear to compel them to work long hours for minimal pay,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta. “This case demonstrates the Justice Department’s firm commitment to combating labor trafficking by holding traffickers accountable and restoring the rights, freedom and dignity of victims. I commend the strong partnerships that contributed to dismantling this human trafficking organization.”
The Northern District of Ohio is one of six districts selected as a Phase II Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam), through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor. Designated ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor; international sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.
“These defendants forced minors to work around the clock and live in inhumane conditions, while threatening them and their relatives,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Rendon. “Today’s prison sentence underscores the severity of these human trafficking cases, but also should serve as a reminder that these cases happen all around us in plain sight.”
“These defendants preyed on the desire of the children and their parents for a better life by offering freedom on American soil only to be imprisoned in servitude,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony. “These actions cannot be tolerated. Law enforcement remains vigilant in detecting and disrupting these human trafficking rings."
A third co-defendant, Conrado Salgado-Soto, was sentenced on April 11, 2016, to 51 months in prison. Three more defendants, Conrado Salgado-Borbon, Bartolo Dominguez and Pablo Duran Jr., pleaded guilty to immigration offenses in connection with this case and were sentenced to six, 12 and 15 months in prison, respectively.
The investigation is ongoing. The case is being investigated by the FBI Cleveland Division’s Mansfield Resident Agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations, the Marion Police Department and the Marion County Sherriff’s Office. The case is being jointly prosecuted by Trial Attorney Dana Mulhauser of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Rice of the Northern District of Ohio.
Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Seed CompanyRead the Press Release
The Justice Department reached an agreement today with Crookham Company to resolve the department’s allegations that the company discriminated against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Crookham, which is based in Caldwell, Idaho, is a seed company that produces hybrid sweet corn, popcorn and onions.
The department’s investigation found that Crookham discriminated against non-U.S. citizens by requiring them to produce either a permanent resident card or employment authorization card to prove their work authorization, whereas U.S. citizens were permitted to choose whichever valid documentation they wanted to present to prove their work authorization. Under the INA, all workers, including non-U.S. citizens, can choose whichever valid documentation they would like to present from the lists of acceptable documents to prove their work authorization. It is unlawful for an employer to limit employees’ choice of documentation because of their citizenship or immigration status.
“We commend Crookham Company for its cooperation throughout the investigation and for its quick action to remove any unnecessary and unlawful barriers to employment for work-authorized non-citizens,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanity Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The company’s approach and this settlement serve as a model for partnerships between the Justice Department and employers who want to do the right thing.”
Under the settlement agreement, Crookham will pay $200,000 in civil penalties to the United States and be subject to monitoring for a three-year period. Prior to the settlement, Crookham proactively underwent department-provided training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA and voluntarily implemented other measures to ensure future compliance.
The Civil Rights Division’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; document abuse; retaliation and intimidation. The investigation was handled by Senior Equal Opportunity Specialist Alexandra A. Vince of OSC.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php; email [email protected] or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.
Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to: different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin; or discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral, should contact the worker hotline above for assistance.
Crookham Company Settlement Agreement
Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Kentucky Courts to Ensure Equal Access for Non-English SpeakersRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts to resolve its review of the provision of language assistance service to limited English proficient (LEP) state court users.
The department began working with the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts after receiving a complaint alleging national origin discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, following a state court judge’s failure to provide interpreter services to LEP parties. Title VI requires recipients of federal financial assistance, such as courts, to provide competent language services to LEP individuals in all court proceedings and operations.
During the course of the department’s review, the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts has strengthened its language access programming. Such efforts include creating and implementing a language services complaint system to be translated into a dozen non-English languages, training court staff on the importance of providing appropriate language services and developing systems to improve the efficiency and quality of interpreter services and translations.
As a condition of the agreement, the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts has agreed to a 12-month monitoring phase, during which it will provide quarterly updates to the department regarding any developments related to providing language services, as well as any new complaints alleging failure to provide appropriate language assistance services.
“I commend the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts for committing to ensure that all individuals, regardless of the language they speak, can fully and fairly access court services and proceedings,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We look forward to working collaboratively to continue these critical efforts and ensure equal access to justice for all.”
The case was handled by Attorney Dylan Nicole de Kervor of the Civil Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance (FCS) Section.
The complaint was resolved as part of the FCS court initiative to ensure that state courts comply with Title VI’s language access requirements. No LEP individual should be denied justice because a court fails to provide language services. The FCS courts team provides policy guidance and technical assistance to state court systems and undertakes enforcement actions across the country.
For further information about FCS and Title VI, please visit https://www.justice.gov/crt/fcs. For additional LEP-related resources, please visit http://www.lep.gov/index.htm.
Kentucky Courts
Individual Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for His Participation in a Carjacking MurderRead the Press Release
SAN JUAN, P.R. –Luis Antonio Crespo-Santos was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his participation in the carjacking and murder of security guard Jorge R. De Jesús-Ayala, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. Defendant Crespo-Santos pled guilty on January 21, 2016.
On June 9, 2012 the defendant and four others planned to assault the victim at his job located at Paseo del Rey Condominium Complex in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The four others were Ashdrian, Yankee, Gamalier and Mikey/Michael, who are still at large. Gamalier had sold the victim a laptop and he still owed money to Gamalier. The individuals planned to go see De Jesús-Ayala to charge him for the laptop but he didn’t have the money.
Gamalier pulled a gun, pointed it at De Jesús-Ayala and told him “you are coming with us.” Ashdrian, Yankee, and Gamalier covered the victim’s head with a t-shirt, bound his hands behind his back with an electrical cord, and forced him into the back seat of his red 2010 Toyota Yaris. They drove to a wooded area in Carolina and stabbed him in the back and slit his throat.
Later that night, the police received information that individuals were dismantling a vehicle fitting the description of De Jesús-Ayala’s vehicle. Police officers responded to the location and observed a minor and the defendant dismantling the vehicle. The body of De Jesús-Ayala was later found near Urbanization Metropolis in Carolina.
“Federal and local law enforcement officers will continue working together to fight violent crime in Puerto Rico,” said US Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. “We will not rest until we find the other co-conspirators involved in this vicious crime and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney José Contreras.
Heroin dealer residing near Marshall University pleads guilty to Federal drug crimeRead the Press Release
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A Huntington drug dealer residing in close proximity to Marshall University pleaded guilty today to a federal heroin crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Carol Casto. Derrick Linwood Thomas, 25, entered his guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute heroin within 1,000 feet of a university.
On March 21, 2016, officers with the Huntington Police Department executed a search warrant at 213 19th Street in Huntington. Thomas admitted this was his residence and that it was located within 1,000 feet of Marshall University. Officers found Thomas in the residence and seized over 15 grams of heroin from his pants. Officers also seized four additional bags of heroin weighing approximately 2 grams, $950 in cash that included $70 in marked currency from a previous controlled drug purchase, a .32 caliber pistol, and a shotgun. Thomas was arrested and admitted that he had been distributing heroin in the Huntington area.
Thomas faces up to 40 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on September 26, 2016.
The Huntington Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Joseph F. Adams is handling the prosecution. The plea hearing was held before Chief United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.
This prosecution was brought as part of an ongoing effort led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to combat the illicit sale and misuse of prescription drugs and heroin. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, joined by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is committed to aggressively pursuing and shutting down illegal pill trafficking, eliminating open air drug markets, and curtailing the spread of opiate painkillers and heroin in communities across the Southern District.
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Hampton-Based Spice Retailer and Wholesaler Pleads GuiltyRead the Press Release
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Jayson Mickle, 31, of Hampton, pleaded guilty today to charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and controlled substance analogues.
According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, from 2008 to 2014, Mickle sold smokable synthetic cannabinoids, commonly known as “spice,” in the Hampton Roads area and, eventually, nationwide. Spice consists of plant material sprayed with ever changing active chemical ingredients often produced in clandestine laboratories in China. These chemicals mimic the effects of THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Mickle sold blends of spice with names like Hampster Purp, HPT Cherry, Bizarro, and Orgazmo. Although the packets of spice were labeled “not for human consumption,” Mickle knew that the spice was to be smoked for its intoxicating properties.
Mickle began sales through retail stores by the name of Hampton Pipe and Tobacco, located in Hampton, Newport News, Gloucester and Norfolk. In 2010, Mickle also began a wholesale operation online called Blazin Herbs. In 2013, the wholesale outfit’s name was changed to 7 City Gifts. At times, Mickle was supplied by Zencense, which was a large-scale spice producer and wholesaler based in Florida. Between January 2012 and April 2013, Mickle’s spice distribution operation purchased in excess of 1,000 kilograms of spice for resale from Zencense. Mickle’s operations also supplied the Red Barn, a convenience store in Newport News, with spice in late 2013 into early 2014. From 2010 to 2012 alone, Mickle’s retail operation, Hampton Pipe and Tobacco, grossed over $9,600,000 in spice sales. On average, Hampton Pipe and Tobacco would retail spice by the gram for about $8.00 per gram.
Mickle was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2016 on a superseding indictment. Mickle faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on October 13. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Michael K. Lamonea, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk; Richard Myers, Chief of Police, Newport News Police Department; Terry L. Sult, Chief of Police, Hampton Police Department; Maria L. Kelokates, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Mark S. McCormack, Special Agent in Charge, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Metro Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric Hurt and Kevin Hudson, as well as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Cross-Rochefort, 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. 4:15-cr-18.
Former Osawatomie Rec Director Sentenced for Embezzling More Than $125,000Read the Press Release
WICHITA, KAN. - The former recreation director for the City of Osawatomie was sentenced Monday to five years on federal supervised probation for embezzling more than $125,000 from the city, Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
Ron Maring, 54, Osawatomie, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud and false statement, and one count of money laundering. In his plea, he admitted the crimes occurred while he was director of the Osawatomie Recreation Commission.
He wrote checks from the recreation commission’s account to himself and to American Legion Baseball. He converted the money for his own use and not for the use of the recreation commission or American Legion Baseball.
As part of the scheme, he persuaded recreation commission board members to sign blank checks, used his own signature as an endorsement and instructed a recreation commission employee to endorse checks.
When he filed his 2010 federal income tax return he failed to report the embezzled income, which would have added $14,902 in taxes owed.
Beall commended the Osawatomie Police Department, the Kansas Department of Revenue, Office of Special Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Smith for their work on the case.
Former Las Cruces Middle School Basketball Coach Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison Followed by Lifetime of Supervised Release for Conviction on Federal Child Pornography ChargesRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Erik Bilal Khan, 36, of Las Cruces, N.M., was sentenced this afternoon in federal court to 20 years of imprisonment to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release for his conviction on federal child pornography charges. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Waldemar Rodriguez of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, Texas, and Chief Jaime Montoya of the Las Cruces Police Department.
Khan also was ordered to pay $12,000 in restitution to the victims of his criminal conduct, and was ordered to forfeit 66 computers, computer-related media, cellular telephones, cameras, and other electronic media seized from his residence during the investigation of the case. Khan will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.
Khan pled guilty in Nov. 2013, to a four-count superseding indictment charging him with distribution of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and attempted production of child pornography. The guilty plea was entered under a plea agreement that permitted Khan to appeal from a court’s order denying Khan’s motion to suppress evidence seized from his residence pursuant to a search warrant. Before his sentencing hearing today, Khan entered a new guilty plea to the four-count superseding indictment under an amended plea agreement that required Khan to waive his right to appeal any aspect of the case, including the order denying his motion to suppress evidence.
Khan was employed as a volunteer basketball coach at a Las Cruces middle school when he was arrested on child pornography charges in May 2012, after law enforcement officers executed a state district court search warrant at Khan’s residence and seized computer and computer-related media from Khan’s bedroom that contained images and videos of child pornography. In Nov. 2012, Khan was federally indicted and charged with distributing, receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. A superseding indictment filed in July 2013, added an attempted production of child pornography charge.
In his amended plea agreement, Khan admitted that from May 2009 to May 2012, he knowingly distributed images and videos of child pornography images. He also admitted knowingly receiving images and videos of child pornography from March 2008 to May 2012. Khan further acknowledged that he knowingly possessed child pornography between July 2008 and May 2012. Finally, Khan admitted that from Sept. 2009 to May 2010, he attempted to persuade a person he believed to be a minor male to produce child pornography for his (Khan’s) use. Khan communicated with the person by email and sent him videos and images of child pornography to induce him to produce child pornography images of himself. Khan committed these crimes in Dona Ana County, N.M.
The case against Kahn was investigated by HSI, the Las Cruces Police Department and the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Lizarraga of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc/.
The case also received support from the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, whose mission is to locate, track, and capture Internet child sexual predators and Internet child pornographers in New Mexico. There are 82 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies associated with the New Mexico ICAC Task Force, which is funded by a grant administered by the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General. Anyone with information relating to suspected child predators and suspected child abuse is encouraged to contact federal or local law enforcement.
Former LCN Member Charged in Connection with Murder of Boston Club OwnerRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A former member of the New England Family of La Cosa Nostra (NELCN) was arrested today in Florida after being indicted in the District of Massachusetts in connection with allegations that he obstructed a federal investigation into the murder of a Boston nightclub owner in the 1990s.
Robert P. DeLuca, 70, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
According to the indictment, DeLuca is charged with lying to federal prosecutors and investigators investigating the 1993 disappearance of Stephen DiSarro who operated The Channel, a South Boston nightclub. In March 2016, the remains of DiSarro were recovered by federal authorities behind a mill in Providence, R.I. The indictment alleges that DiSarro disappeared in May 1993 after the involvement of then LCN boss Frank Salemme and Frank Salemme, Jr. with The Channel became the focus of a federal grand jury investigation.
DeLuca is also charged with lying to federal authorities about his knowledge of other organized crime murders. It is alleged that DeLuca made the false statements in connection with his cooperation with federal authorities in Rhode Island after he was charged with racketeering and arrested in 2011. Despite his cooperation, DeLuca lied about his knowledge of the disappearance of DiSarro and other LCN murders.
The charge of obstruction of justice provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of false statements provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz for the District of Massachusetts; U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha for the District of Rhode Island; and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police, Rhode Island State Police and Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred M. Wyshak, Jr. of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ferland of U.S. Attorney Neronha’s Office.
The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Former LCN Member Charged in Connection with Murder of South Boston Club OwnerRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A former member of the New England Family of La Cosa Nostra (NELCN) was arrested today in Florida after being indicted in the District of Massachusetts in connection with allegations that he obstructed a federal investigation into the murder of a Boston nightclub owner in the 1990s.
Robert P. DeLuca, 70, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
According to the indictment, DeLuca is charged with lying to federal prosecutors and investigators investigating the 1993 disappearance of Stephen DiSarro who operated The Channel, a South Boston nightclub. In March 2016, the remains of DiSarro were recovered by federal authorities behind a mill in Providence, R.I. The indictment alleges that DiSarro disappeared in May 1993 after the involvement of then LCN boss Frank Salemme and Frank Salemme, Jr. with The Channel became the focus of a federal grand jury investigation.
DeLuca is also charged with lying to federal authorities about his knowledge of other organized crime murders. It is alleged that DeLuca made the false statements in connection with his cooperation with federal authorities in Rhode Island after he was charged with racketeering and arrested in 2011. Despite his cooperation, DeLuca lied about his knowledge of the disappearance of DiSarro and other LCN murders.
The charge of obstruction of justice provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of false statements provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz for the District of Massachusetts; U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha for the District of Rhode Island; and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police, Rhode Island State Police and Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred M. Wyshak, Jr. of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ferland of Neronha’s Office.
The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Former Buffalo Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Deprivation of Civil RightsRead 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 Robert Eloff Jr., 41, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 1 year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
“This case is yet another reminder that when individuals take an oath to protect the public, that obligation continues whether on off duty,” said U.S. Attorney Hochul. “This Office will continue to praise and honor those who uphold their pledge of service, while being vigilant to ensure consequences for those who violate it.”
U.S. Attorney Hochul stated that the defendant pleaded guilty in connection with an incident at Molly’s Pub in Buffalo in 2014. In the early morning hours of May 11, 2014, William Sager was pushed down a flight of stairs at Molly’s Pub by Jeffrey Basil. Sager later died of his injuries and Basil pleaded guilty in state court to manslaughter.
At the time Sager was pushed by Basil, Eloff was in Molly’s Pub working security for the bar. Eloff had been employed as a Buffalo Police Officer since 2007. While employed at Molly’s Pub, Eloff wore clothing and articles of equipment which identified him as an off-duty police officer.
A victim identified as D.H. was with William Sager the night Sager was pushed down the stairs. D.H saw people carry Sager outside after he was pushed down the stairs, and upon leaving the bar, saw Sager propped up against a wall. When D.H. asked BPD officers what happened, Eloff grabbed D.H. and told him to get out of there. D.H. then walked away and called 911. When other officers arrived, D.H. asked for Eloff’s name and badge number. Eloff, in response arrested and handcuffed D.H. and seated him next to Sager. D.H. was later taken from the scene by other officers.
Eloff told BPD officers that D.H. had physically interfered with Eloff and others inside the bar and had refused to leave the bar when directed to do so. A later review of surveillance video from Molly’s Pub revealed that D.H. never interfered with Eloff in the bar and never refused a command to leave the bar. In essence, Eloff caused D.H. to be falsely arrested for trespassing, a crime D.H. never committed.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation by Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 3, 2016 at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.
Former Attorney Pleads Guilty to Participating in Fraudulent Mortgage Modification Scheme that Cost Victims $6 MillionRead the Press Release
SANTA ANA, California – A former licensed attorney from Irvine pleaded guilty this afternoon to federal charges for his role in a multi-million dollar fraudulent mortgage modification scheme.
Ronald Rodis, 51, of Irvine, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge David O. Carter to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Rodis admitted that he participated in a scheme with several co-conspirators – Bryan D’Antonio, Charles Wayne Farris and others – to induce homeowners to pay between $3,500 and $5,500 for the services of the Rodis Law Group (RLG). Between October 2008 and June 2009, Rodis and his co-conspirators made numerous misrepresentations regarding the RLG’s ability to negotiate loan modifications from the homeowners’ mortgage lenders.
Rodis recorded radio advertisements encouraging struggling homeowners to call RLG. In the ads, Rodis falsely claimed that RLG consisted of “a team of experienced attorneys” who were “highly skilled in negotiating lower interest rates and even lowering your principal balance.” In fact, RLG was a telemarketing operation that never had a team of experienced attorneys. During much of the scheme, Rodis was the only attorney at RLG.
“This defendant posed as an accomplished attorney who could provide quality legal services – and hope – to struggling homeowners,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “But the promises were bogus. Rodis Law Group made few efforts to assist homeowners, who paid thousands of dollars in last-ditch attempts to keep their homes, many of which entered foreclosure.”
When homeowners called RLG, telemarketers made misrepresentations to convince them to hire RLG. For example, telemarketers stated that RLG had been in business for 11 years, when in fact it had only opened in October 2008. They falsely stated that RLG routinely obtained positive results for homeowners, including lower monthly payments, reductions in principal balance and lower interest rates. In fact, positive results were rarely achieved for any RLG clients. Telemarketers also falsely reiterated that homeowners would have a team of attorneys and real estate professionals assigned to their case.
“It is an unfortunate truth that people often take advantage of a crisis for personal gain,” said Assistant Director in Charge Deirdre Fike of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The Rodis Law Group was among the worst type of scammers, trying to take advantage of homeowners already experiencing profound heartache in the face of potential foreclosure. The FBI will not tolerate this kind of criminal behavior. I truly hope that when the next financial crisis arises, members of the public take a moment to look into claims that sound too good to be true, even if those claims are made by attorneys, before would-be clients become victims.”
In a plea agreement filed in federal court, Rodis admitted that the RLG scheme fraudulently obtained approximately $6 million from more than 1,500 victims.
“At the height of the mortgage crisis, this defendant and his co-conspirators preyed on desperate homeowners with a series of lies and false promises,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to prosecute individuals who target vulnerable victims for profit.”
Judge Carter is scheduled to sentence Rodis on February 27, 2017
The two co-defendants in the case – Bryan D’Antonio and Charles Wayne Farris – are each charged with conspiracy and nine counts of wire fraud. Each of these counts carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In addition, D’Antonio is charged with 13 counts of criminal contempt for violating a 2001 federal court order which permanently banned D’Antonio from participating in future telemarketing operations. Criminal contempt of court has no statutory maximum penalty.
D’Antonio and Farris are scheduled to go on trial on September 20.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally and DOJ Trial Attorney John W. Burke of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch.
Former Attorney Pleads Guilty to Participating in Fraudulent Mortgage Modification SchemeRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced that a former California licensed attorney pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, for his role in a multi-million dollar fraudulent mortgage modification scheme.
Ronald Rodis, 51, of Irvine, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter for the Central District of California to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
“At the height of the mortgage crisis, this defendant and his co-conspirators preyed on desperate homeowners with a series of lies and false promises,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to prosecute individuals who target vulnerable victims for profit.”
“This defendant posed as an accomplished attorney who could provide quality legal services – and hope – to struggling homeowners,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker of the Central District of California. “But the promises were bogus. Rodis Law Group made few efforts to assist homeowners, who paid thousands of dollars in last-ditch attempts to keep their homes, many of which entered foreclosure.”
Rodis admitted that, between October 2008 and June 2009, he participated in a scheme with Bryan D’Antonio, Charles Wayne Farris, and others to induce homeowners to pay between $3,500 and $5,500 for the services of the Rodis Law Group (RLG). Rodis and his co-conspirators made numerous misrepresentations regarding the RLG’s ability to negotiate loan modifications from the homeowners’ mortgage lenders. Rodis recorded radio advertisements encouraging struggling homeowners to call RLG. In the radio ads, Rodis falsely claimed that RLG consisted of “a team of experienced attorneys” who were “highly skilled in negotiating lower interest rates and even lowering your principal balance.” In fact, RLG was a telemarketing operation that never had a team of experienced attorneys. During much of the scheme, Rodis was the only attorney at RLG.
When homeowners called RLG, telemarketers made further misrepresentations to convince the homeowners to hire RLG. Telemarketers stated that RLG had been in business for 11 years when in fact it had only opened in October 2008. They falsely stated that RLG routinely obtained positive results for homeowners, including lower monthly payments, reductions in principal balance and lower interest rates. In fact, positive results were rarely achieved for any RLG clients. Telemarketers also falsely reiterated that homeowners would have a team of attorneys and real estate professionals assigned to their case.
“It is an unfortunate truth that people often take advantage of a crisis for personal gain,” said Assistant Director in Charge Deirdre Fike of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The Rodis Law Group was among the worst type of scammers, trying to take advantage of homeowners already experiencing profund heartache in the face of potential foreclosure. The FBI will not tolerate this kind of criminal behavior. I truly hope that when the next financial crisis arises, members of the public take a moment to look into claims that sound too good to be true, even if those claims are made by attorneys, before would-be clients become victims.”
Rodis’s co-defendants, Bryan D’Antonio and Charles Wayne Farris, are each charged with 10 felony counts – nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. Each of these counts carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In addition, D’Antonio is charged with 13 counts of criminal contempt for violating a 2001 federal court order, which permanently banned D’Antonio from participating in future telemarketing operations. Criminal contempt of court has no statutory maximum penalty. D’Antonio and Farris are scheduled for trial beginning Sept. 20.
This case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John W. Burke of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally of the Central District of California.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch, visit its website at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca.
Five Sedalia Gang Members Sentenced for Drug TraffickingRead the Press Release
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that five members of a Sedalia, Mo., street gang were sentenced in federal court today for their roles in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that distributed at least five kilograms of cocaine and crack cocaine in the Sedalia area.
Operation Coin Collector focused on significant violent crime and drug-trafficking activity in the Sedalia area by a street gang called 5 Block. Numerous incidents involving firearms, shootings and murder surrounded members of 5 Block. The two-year-long investigation, which began in April 2010, resulted in six separate but related federal indictments in 2013 for drug-trafficking conspiracies that, in total, distributed more than $1 million worth of cocaine and crack cocaine.
Kenneth C. Kendrick, also known as “Kavi,” 43, Eric T. Hawkins, also known as “Easy,” 35, Kardell E. Sims, also known as “FU,” 37, George E. Buckner, also known as “Jorge,” 53, and Ronald C. Boggs, also known as “Hobbs,” 49, all of Sedalia, were sentenced in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple. Kendrick was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison without parole. Hawkins was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison without parole. Sims was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison without parole. Buckner was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison without parole. Boggs was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison without parole.
Kendrick, Hawkins, Sims, Buckner and Boggs each pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine from Oct. 5, 2011, to July 2, 2013. Under the terms of their plea agreements, they are jointly liable for a money judgment of $500,000, which represents their drug-trafficking proceeds, based on a conservative street price of $100 per gram and distribution during the conspiracy of five kilograms or more of cocaine and crack cocaine.
Between March 2012 and July 2013, numerous purchases of firearms, crack cocaine, and cocaine were made by confidential informants from members of 5 Block while monitored by law enforcement officers. These purchases occurred in Sedalia and focused primarily in the territory 5 Block operates. Five court-ordered wiretaps were authorized in this case. During these wire taps the members of 5 Block were intercepted and overheard discussing various narcotics and firearms transactions.
Kendrick admitted that he was involved in the distribution of approximately 235.95 grams of crack cocaine and 533.855 grams of cocaine. Hawkins admitted that he was involved in the distribution of approximately 613.3 grams of cocaine and approximately 121.3 grams of crack cocaine. Sims admitted that he was involved in the distribution of approximately 23 grams of crack cocaine. Buckner admitted that he was involved in the distribution and/or purchase of approximately 48.2 grams of crack cocaine. Boggs admitted that he was involved in the distribution and/or purchase of approximately 318.8 grams of cocaine and approximately 14 grams of crack cocaine.
Kendrick’s father, Lee A. Kendrick, 68, Marvin D. Spruell, 59, and his wife, Vickey J. Spruell, 58, all of Sedalia, have also pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick C. Edwards and Joseph M. Marquez. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the ATF-led JOLT (Joint Operations Law Enforcement Team) Task Force – comprised of the Sedalia, Warrensburg and Warsaw police departments and the Pettis County, Hickory County, Henry County, Johnson County and Benton County sheriff’s departments – and the Pettis County, Mo., Prosecutor’s Office.
El Departamento de Justicia Realiza un Acuerdo con los Tribunales de Kentucky A Fin de Garantizar el Acceso Igualitario para Todas las Personas Que No Hablen InglésRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – El Departamento de Justicia anunció hoy que ha realizado un acuerdo con la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky (en inglés) para resolver su revisión del suministro de servicios de apoyo lingüístico a usuarios del sistema judicial con conocimientos limitados del inglés [Limited English Proficient (LEP)].
El Departamento comenzó a trabajar con la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky después de recibir una queja que alegaba discriminación por motivos de nacionalidad de origen al amparo el Título VI de la ley de Derechos Civiles de 1964, después de que un juez estatal dejara de brindar servicios de interpretación a partes LEP. El Título VI exige que los beneficiarios de asistencia financiera federal, tales como los tribunales, brinden servicios idiomáticos competentes a personas LEP en todos los procesos y trámites judiciales.
Durante la revisión realizada por el Departamento, la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky ha fortalecido su programación de acceso lingüístico. Dicha iniciativa incluye la creación e implementación de un sistema de quejas relacionadas con los servicios lingüísticos, a ser traducido a una decena de idiomas que no sean el inglés, la capacitación del personal judicial en cuanto a la importancia de proveer servicios lingüísticos adecuados y el desarrollo sistemas que mejoren la eficiencia y calidad de los servicios de interpretación y las traducciones.
Como condición de la resolución, la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky se ha comprometido a una fase de monitoreo de 12 meses de duración, durante la cual proveerá actualizaciones trimestrales al Departamento acerca de cualquier novedad asociada con la provisión de servicios lingüísticos, así como cualquier queja nueva que alegue que se dejaron de brindar servicios de apoyo lingüístico adecuados.
“Felicito a la Oficina Administrativa de Tribunales de Kentucky por comprometerse a asegurar que todas las personas, sin importar el idioma que hablen, puedan tener acceso integral y justo a servicios y procesos judiciales,” señaló la Secretaria de Justicia Auxiliar Adjunta Principal Vanita Gupta, Jefa de la División de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Justicia. “Nos complacerá trabajar en conjunto para continuar con esta labor esencial y garantizar el acceso igualitario a la justicia para todos.”
Estuvo a cargo del caso el Abogado Dylan Nicole de Kervor de la Sección de Coordinación y Cumplimiento Federal [Federal Coordination and Compliance (FCS)] de la División de Derechos Civiles.
La queja fue resuelta como parte de la iniciativa judicial de la FCS para garantizar que los tribunales estatales cumplan con las exigencias de acceso lingüístico del Título VI. No se le debe negar la justicia a ninguna persona LEP porque el tribunal deje de proveer servicios lingüísticos. El equipo judicial de la FCS (en inglés) provee orientación sobre políticas y apoyo técnico a sistemas judiciales estatales e implementa acciones de aplicación de la ley en todo el país.
Para más información sobre la FCS y el Título VI, visite www.justice.gov/crt/fcs (en inglés). Para recursos adicionales relacionados con las personas LEP, visite www.lep.gov/index.htm (en inglés).
EOIR Swears in 15 Immigration JudgesRead the Press Release
FALLS CHURCH, VA – The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) today announced the investiture of 15 immigration judges. Acting Chief Immigration Judge Michael C. McGoings presided over the investiture during a ceremony held June 17, 2016, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.
After a thorough application process, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Nathan N. Aina, John B. Carle, Barbara J. Cigarroa, John G. Crews II, John P. Ellington, Justin W. Howard, Alison R. Kane, James M. Left, Clay N. Martin, Donald C. O’Hare, Jeannette L. Park, Ana L. Partida, Georgina M. Picos, Jayme Salinardi, and Sandra J. Santos-Garcia to their new positions.
“We are pleased to welcome these 15 appointees to the immigration judge corps,” said McGoings. “Their arrival brings our immigration judge corps to 273 adjudicators, our highest level to date.”
Biographical information follows.
Nathan N. Aina, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Nathan N. Aina to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Aina earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1997, and a Master of Public Administration and a Juris Doctor in 2001, all from Brigham Young University. From 2002 to May 2016, Judge Aina served as an assistant chief counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Aina is a member of the Utah State Bar.
John B. Carle, Immigration Judge, Philadelphia Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed John B. Carle to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Carle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990 from the State University of New York at Binghamton and a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. From 2007 to May 2016, Judge Carle served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2000 through 2007, Judge Carle served as an assistant district attorney for the City of Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. From 1995 through 2000, Judge Carle served as an assistant district attorney for the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, in Buffalo, N.Y. From 1993 through 1995, Judge Carle served as an associate attorney for Magner, Love & Morris PC, in Buffalo, N.Y. In 2013, Judge Carle joined the faculty of the Villanova University School of Law where he serves as an adjunct professor. Judge Carle is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.
Barbara Cigarroa, Immigration Judge, Port Isabel Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Barbara Cigarroa to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Cigarroa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978 from Harvard University, a Master of Social Work degree in 1993 from Washington University, and a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the Washington University School of Law. From 2008 to May 2016, Judge Cigarroa served as a senior attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2003 through 2008, Judge Cigarroa served as an assistant chief counsel for ICE, DHS. From 1993 through 2003, Judge Cigarroa served as a trial attorney for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Cigarroa is a member of the State Bar of Texas.
John G. Crews II, Immigration Judge, Port Isabel Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed John G. Crews II to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Crews earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree in 1981 from Boston University and a Juris Doctor in 1985 from Southern Methodist University. From 1997 to May 2016, Judge Crews served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Mexico, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice (DOJ). From 1987 through 1997, Judge Crews served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office, DOJ. From 1985 through 1987, Judge Crews served as a judicial law clerk for the late-Honorable Sam B. Hall Jr., U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas. Judge Crews is a member of the State Bar of New Mexico.
John P. Ellington, Immigration Judge, York Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed John P. Ellington to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Ellington earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1990 from Georgia State University, a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the Dickinson School of Law, and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in 2014 from the University of Pennsylvania. From 2014 to May 2016, Judge Ellington served as general counsel and from 2002 to 2014 as government trial counsel, for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2000 through 2002, Judge Ellington served as deputy attorney general for the Fraud Section, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, in Norristown, Pa. From 1997 through 2000, Judge Ellington served as an assistant district attorney for the Office of the Berks County District Attorney, in Reading, Pa. Since 1991, Judge Ellington has served in various capacities for the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, including: from 2014 through 2018, as a military judge; from 2012 through 2014, as senior judge advocate for investigations and inspections; and from 2009 through 2012, and previously from 2003 through 2006, as a staff judge advocate. Judge Ellington is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.
Justin W. Howard, Immigration Judge, Kansas City Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Justin W. Howard to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Howard earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 from Kansas State University and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from American University, Washington College of Law. From 2008 to May 2016, Judge Howard served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2006 through 2008, Judge Howard served as an associate attorney for Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, in Kansas City. From 2002 through 2005, Judge Howard served as an assistant state’s attorney for the Miami-Dade Office of the State Attorney, in Miami. Judge Howard is a member of the Florida, Kansas and Missouri Bars.
Alison R. Kane, Immigration Judge, Denver Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Alison R. Kane to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Kane earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997 from Syracuse University and a Juris Doctor in 2003 from the Boston College Law School. From 2010 to May 2016, Judge Kane served as an assistant chief counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From January 2010 through June 2010, and previously from 2005 through 2007, Judge Kane served as an associate for Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP, in New York City and Philadelphia. From 2003 through 2005, Judge Kane served as an attorney advisor for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. From 1997 through 1999, Judge Kane served in the Peace Corps, in Guinea, Africa. Judge Kane is a member of the New York State Bar.
James M. Left, Immigration Judge, Adelanto Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed James M. Left to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Left earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988 from Pacific Lutheran University and a Juris Doctor in 1994 from the Pepperdine University School of Law. From 2013 to May 2016, and previously from 2008 through 2009, Judge Left served as a senior attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2009 through 2013, and previously from 2007 through 2008, Judge Left served as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in Los Angeles. From 2004 through 2007, Judge Left served as an assistant chief counsel for ICE, DHS. From 2002 through 2004, Judge Left served as an associate legal advisor for the National Security Law Division, ICE, DHS. From 1997 through 2002, Judge Left served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Left is a member of the State Bar of California.
Clay N. Martin, Immigration Judge, Pearsall Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Clay N. Martin to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Martin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from Hendrix College and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from the St. Mary’s University School of Law. From 2008 through May 2016, Judge Martin served as a senior attorney for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2002 through 2007, Judge Martin served as an assistant chief counsel for OCC, ICE, DHS. From 1995 through 2002, Judge Martin served as chief deputy prosecuting attorney for the 18th West Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, in Polk and Montgomery counties, Ark. From 1992 through 1995, Judge Martin served as an assistant district attorney for the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, in San Antonio. From 1989 through 1991, Judge Martin served as an attorney for Riddle and Brown, in Dallas. From 1988 through 1989, Judge Martin served as an attorney for Soules and Wallace, in San Antonio. From 1987 through 1988, Judge Martin served as an attorney for Hill, Heard, Oneal, Gilstrap & Goetz, in Arlington, Texas. Judge Martin is a member of the Arkansas Bar and the State Bar of Texas.
Donald C. O’Hare, Immigration Judge, Denver Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Donald C. O’Hare to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge O’Hare earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984 from Macalester College, a Master of Arts degree in 1987 from the University of Minnesota, a Juris Doctor in 1992 from the California Western School of Law, and a Master of Laws degree in 1994 from the University of Virginia School of Law. From 2003 to May 2016, Judge O’Hare served in several capacities, including as deputy chief counsel, assistant chief counsel, and a senior attorney for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 1997 through 2003, Judge O’Hare served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. From 1992 through 1993, Judge O’Hare was a staff attorney for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., in Washington, D.C. Judge O’Hare is a member of the State Bar of California.
Jeannette L. Park, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Jeannette L. Park to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Park earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996 from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor in 2000 from the Boston College Law School. From 2003 to May 2016, Judge Park served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 2000 through 2003, Judge Park served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Park is a member of the State Bar of California.
Ana L. Partida, Immigration Judge, Los Angeles Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Ana L. Partida to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Partida earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996 from San Diego State University, a Master of Forensic Sciences degree in 1998 from National University, and a Juris Doctor in 2002 from the New England School of Law. From 2003 to May 2016, Judge Partida served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2002 through 2003, Judge Partida served as an assistant district counsel for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice. Judge Partida is a member of the New Jersey State Bar.
Georgina M. Picos, Immigration Judge, Houston Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Georgina M. Picos to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Picos earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1987 from Florida International University and a Juris Doctor in 1991 from St. Thomas University School of Law. From 1994 to May 2016, Judge Picos served as an assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security. From 1992 through 1994, Judge Picos served as an associate attorney for the Law Offices of Magda Montiel Davis PA, in Miami. From 1991 through 1992, Judge Picos served as a judicial law clerk for the Miami Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice, entering on duty through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. Judge Picos is a member of the Florida Bar.
Jayme Salinardi, Immigration Judge, Kansas City Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Jayme Salinardi to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Salinardi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994 from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Juris Doctor in 1999 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. From 2012 to May 2016, Judge Salinardi served as deputy chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2003 through 2012, Judge Salinardi served as assistant chief counsel and senior attorney for OCC, ICE, DHS. From 2000 through 2003, Judge Salinardi served as an immigration attorney for Fallon, Bixby, Cheng & Lee, in San Francisco. In 2011, Judge Salinardi joined the faculty of the University of Missouri School of Law where he serves as an adjunct professor of law. Judge Salinardi is a member of the State Bar of California.
Sandra J. Santos-Garcia, Immigration Judge, Adelanto Immigration Court
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Sandra J. Santos-Garcia to begin hearing cases in June 2016. Judge Santos-Garcia earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998 and a Juris Doctor in 2001, both from the University of California, Berkeley. From 2010 through 2016, Judge Santos-Garcia served as a senior attorney for the Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2001 through 2010, Judge Santos-Garcia served as assistant chief counsel for OCC, ICE, DHS. Judge Santos-Garcia is a member of the State Bars of Arizona and California.
- EOIR -
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is an agency within the Department of Justice. Under delegated authority from the Attorney General, immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals interpret and adjudicate immigration cases according to United States immigration laws. EOIR's immigration judges conduct administrative court proceedings in immigration courts located throughout the nation. They determine whether foreign-born individuals—whom the Department of Homeland Security charges with violating immigration law—should be ordered removed from the United States or should be granted relief from removal and be permitted to remain in this country. The Board of Immigration Appeals primarily reviews appeals of decisions by immigration judges. EOIR's Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer adjudicates immigration-related employment cases. EOIR is committed to ensuring fairness in all of the cases it adjudicates.
Drug Dealer Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Trafficking Oxycodone After Being Convicted at TrialRead the Press Release
BATON ROUGE, LA – United States Attorney Walt Green announced the results of another federal prosecution related to the trafficking of opiates. U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles sentenced KENDRICK D. ALEXANDER, age 43, of Baton Rouge and New Iberia, Louisiana, to serve 10 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. ALEXANDER was also ordered to forfeit $60,000 in drug-trafficking related proceeds and pay a $25,000 fine.
On March 12, 2015, following a four-day jury trial, ALEXANDER was convicted of possession with the intent to distribute oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846 and 841(a)(1). Evidence at trial showed ALEXANDER to be a significant drug trafficker who served as a supplier for lower-level dealers. To illustrate, the evidence showed that, from August 5, 2014 to August 14, 2014, in a series of recorded conversations, ALEXANDER negotiated a price of $60,000 for 5,000 30-mg oxycodone tablets and, in addition, had agreed to weekly drug deals at the same terms. At trial, the evidence showed that ALEXANDER intended to sell the oxycodone pills to other drug dealers for further distribution. Following the aforementioned negotiations, when stopped by law enforcement officers on August 14, 2014, ALEXANDER had $60,000 in a white paper bag, which monies were intended for the drug deal.
U.S. Attorney Green stated: “The opiate and heroin epidemic is an increasing national problem perpetuated by wholesale traffickers, like this defendant, who seek to exploit the addicted for profit. This sentencing should serve as a reminder of the significant prison terms and monetary penalties that await such offenders. I appreciate the efforts of the DEA and BRPD who continue to work together with our office and others in the law enforcement community to aggressively battle opiates and heroin.”
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Baton Rouge Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Cam Le and Ryan Crosswell.
District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against Sacramento Tofu Company and Senior Officers to Stop Distribution of Adulterated and Misbranded ProductsRead the Press Release
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Wa Heng Dou-Fu & Soy Sauce Corporation doing business as Wa Heng Dou-Fu & Soy Sauce International Enterprises (Wa Heng) and the firm’s co-owners, Peng Xiang “Martin” Lin and Yuexiao “Opal” Lin, to prevent the distribution of adulterated and misbranded soy products, the Department of Justice announced today.
The Department filed a complaint in the Eastern District of California on June 17, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The complaint alleged that the defendants violated the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by causing food that is held for sale after shipment of one or more of its components in interstate commerce to become adulterated and misbranded. According to the complaint, the defendants have an extensive history of operating their food manufacturing facility under insanitary conditions, failing to follow current good manufacturing practice requirements and misbranding their food products.
“The American public deserves to be assured that companies and individuals preparing and distributing food subject to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act are complying with federal law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work aggressively with the FDA to ensure a safe food supply.”
As detailed in the complaint, the company receives, prepares, processes, manufactures, packs, labels, holds and distributes soy products including fried tofu, firm tofu, seasoned tofu and soy drinks. The complaint alleged that Martin Lin’s responsibilities include the firm’s daily operations, raw material purchases, facility and equipment maintenance and production schedule and that Opal Lin’s responsibilities include training employees and overseeing employee performance.
In conjunction with the filing of the complaint, the defendants agreed to settle the case and to be bound by a permanent injunction that requires Wa Heng to cease all food preparation, manufacturing and distribution. If the defendants seek to resume preparing, manufacturing and distributing food, they must implement remedial measures set forth in the injunction, notify FDA of the measures taken, and receive written notification from FDA that they appear to be in compliance with the remedial requirements set forth in the injunction and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
According to the complaint, the defendants had a history of repeated violations. A 2015 inspection by FDA documented that the defendants failed to take reasonable precautions to ensure that production procedures do not contribute to contamination from any source. For example, as alleged in the complaint, FDA observed at least three employees spraying pressurized water from a water hose onto the production area floor, where FDA isolated Salmonella Havana, causing water to splash from the floor onto uncovered tofu and onto food contact surfaces, such as tofu presses and a filtration table. This was a repeat observation from the FDA’s 2012 inspection. In addition, FDA observed employees touching the bottoms of buckets and crates that had been on the floor and then touching tofu. The hand wash sink in the production room had no hot water because the valve had been turned off and the sink was inaccessible due to crates in front of it. This was also a repeat observation from the 2012 inspection.
According to the complaint, the most recent inspection also found that the defendants failed to maintain equipment and utensils in an acceptable fashion through appropriate cleaning and sanitizing. FDA observed spray hose nozzles, air valves, water valves and light switches that contained heavy residue, as well as a tofu cutting knife that was placed on top of a tofu press with greenish-brown buildup and then used to slice tofu.
Further, the complaint alleged that during the 2015 inspection, FDA conducted environmental sampling of the facility and five subsamples tested positive for pathogenic Salmonella Havana. According to the complaint, the positive samples were taken from, among other places, a floor drain near a cooking tank, a caster wheel on a cart carrying tofu and the floor between the packing and processing rooms. As noted in the complaint, FDA isolated a nearly identical strain of Salmonella Havana during its 2011 and 2012 inspections.
During the 2015 inspection, FDA also collected samples of the defendants’ product labeling. The complaint alleges that the defendants’ products are misbranded because, among other things, some of the firm’s soy products fail to include a label containing an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count.
“Firms and individuals that violate federal food safety regulations pose a danger to public health,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert of the Eastern District of California. “The Department will not hesitate to hold companies and individuals accountable in order to protect the American people from adulterated food.”
The government is represented by Trial Attorney Raquel Toledo of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Kennedy of the Eastern District of California and Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement Charlotte Hinkle of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel’s Food and Drug Division.
Additional information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts may be found at http://www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, visit its website at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca.
District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against Sacramento Tofu Company and Senior Officers to Stop Distribution of Adulterated and Misbranded ProductsRead the Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Wa Heng Dou-Fu & Soy Sauce Corporation doing business as Wa Heng Dou-Fu & Soy Sauce International Enterprises (Wa Heng) and the firm’s co-owners, Peng Xiang “Martin” Lin and Yuexiao “Opal” Lin, to prevent the distribution of adulterated and misbranded soy products, the Department of Justice announced today.
The Department filed a complaint in the Eastern District of California on June 17, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The complaint alleged that the defendants violated the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by causing food that is held for sale after shipment of one or more of its components in interstate commerce to become adulterated and misbranded. According to the complaint, the defendants have an extensive history of operating their food manufacturing facility under insanitary conditions, failing to follow current good manufacturing practice requirements and misbranding their food products.
“The American public deserves to be assured that companies and individuals preparing and distributing food subject to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act are complying with federal law,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work aggressively with the FDA to ensure a safe food supply.”
As detailed in the complaint, the company receives, prepares, processes, manufactures, packs, labels, holds and distributes soy products including fried tofu, firm tofu, seasoned tofu and soy drinks. The complaint alleged that Martin Lin’s responsibilities include the firm’s daily operations, raw material purchases, facility and equipment maintenance and production schedule and that Opal Lin’s responsibilities include training employees and overseeing employee performance.
In conjunction with the filing of the complaint, the defendants agreed to settle the case and to be bound by a permanent injunction that requires Wa Heng to cease all food preparation, manufacturing and distribution. If the defendants seek to resume preparing, manufacturing and distributing food, they must implement remedial measures set forth in the injunction, notify FDA of the measures taken, and receive written notification from FDA that they appear to be in compliance with the remedial requirements set forth in the injunction and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
According to the complaint, the defendants had a history of repeated violations. A 2015 inspection by FDA documented that the defendants failed to take reasonable precautions to ensure that production procedures do not contribute to contamination from any source. For example, as alleged in the complaint, FDA observed at least three employees spraying pressurized water from a water hose onto the production area floor, where FDA isolated Salmonella Havana, causing water to splash from the floor onto uncovered tofu and onto food contact surfaces, such as tofu presses and a filtration table. This was a repeat observation from the FDA’s 2012 inspection. In addition, FDA observed employees touching the bottoms of buckets and crates that had been on the floor and then touching tofu. The hand wash sink in the production room had no hot water because the valve had been turned off and the sink was inaccessible due to crates in front of it. This was also a repeat observation from the 2012 inspection.
According to the complaint, the most recent inspection also found that the defendants failed to maintain equipment and utensils in an acceptable fashion through appropriate cleaning and sanitizing. FDA observed spray hose nozzles, air valves, water valves and light switches that contained heavy residue, as well as a tofu cutting knife that was placed on top of a tofu press with greenish-brown buildup and then used to slice tofu.
Further, the complaint alleged that during the 2015 inspection, FDA conducted environmental sampling of the facility and five subsamples tested positive for pathogenic Salmonella Havana. According to the complaint, the positive samples were taken from, among other places, a floor drain near a cooking tank, a caster wheel on a cart carrying tofu and the floor between the packing and processing rooms. As noted in the complaint, FDA isolated a nearly identical strain of Salmonella Havana during its 2011 and 2012 inspections.
During the 2015 inspection, FDA also collected samples of the defendants’ product labeling. The complaint alleges that the defendants’ products are misbranded because, among other things, some of the firm’s soy products fail to include a label containing an accurate statement of the quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count.
“Firms and individuals that violate federal food safety regulations pose a danger to public health,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert of the Eastern District of California. “The Department will not hesitate to hold companies and individuals accountable in order to protect the American people from adulterated food.”
The government is represented by Trial Attorney Raquel Toledo of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Kennedy of the Eastern District of California and Associate Chief Counsel for Enforcement Charlotte Hinkle of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel’s Food and Drug Division.
Destin Business Entrepreneur Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison for 7 Years of Tax EvasionRead the Press Release
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Trenton S. Sommerville, 48, of Destin, Florida, was sentenced Friday afternoon to 51 months in prison for wire fraud and tax evasion. The sentence was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
During his guilty plea in January 2016, Sommerville admitted that he obtained funds from investors for ventures he controlled, including that of an insurance provider and companies involved in gambling initiatives in the Caribbean. At Sommerville’s direction, investors wired funds or sent checks to Sommerville’s bank accounts in Destin, Florida, held in the names of these companies.
Sommerville concealed from investors that he would take a salary and pay for personal expenses with investment funds. He also did not invest any of his own capital in his ventures. As a result, between January 2011 and December 2014, Sommerville embezzled investment funds by making personal expenditures directly from corporate accounts, transferring investment funds to his personal account, and writing corporate checks to a family member. In addition, when certain investors asked to have their investments refunded, Sommerville used investment funds from other investors to pay refunds.
As of May 2012, Sommerville owed approximately $549,789.56 in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service for the tax years 2004 through 2010. He tried to evade paying taxes by concealing income and assets from the IRS through the use of nominee names and accounts, by using a cashier’s check to pay off the mortgage on his residence, and by selling his personal shares and instructing the buyer to wire the money into another bank account. Sommerville failed to file federal income tax returns for the tax years 2011 through 2013, despite earning approximately $585,214 in income and owing approximately $103,279 in taxes for those years.
This case resulted from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Assistant United States Attorney Alicia H. Kim 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]Department of Justice Announces New Department-Wide Implicit Bias Training for PersonnelRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice announced today that it will train all of its law enforcement agents and prosecutors to recognize and address implicit bias as part of its regular training curricula. The new training, based on the latest social science research and best practices in law enforcement, will begin across the department in the next few weeks. Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates sent a memo to all law enforcement agents and prosecutors today informing them of the new Implicit Bias Training Program and its importance to a strong and fair criminal justice system.
“Our officers are more effective and our communities are more secure when law enforcement has the tools and training they need to address today’s public safety challenges,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “At the Department of Justice, we are committed to ensuring that our own personnel are well trained in the core principles and best practices of community policing. Today’s announcement is an important step in our ongoing efforts to promote fairness, eliminate bias and build the stronger, safer, more just society that all Americans deserve.”
“The Department of Justice has a responsibility to do everything we can to ensure that our criminal justice system is fair and impartial,” said Deputy Attorney General Yates. “Given that the research is clear that most people experience some degree of unconscious bias, and that the effects of that bias can be countered by acknowledging its existence and utilizing response strategies, it is essential that we provide implicit bias training to all of our prosecutors and law enforcement agents. Along with the heads of our law enforcement agencies, I’m looking forward to participating in DOJ’s very first training session tomorrow morning.”
Through the new training, over 28,000 department employees will learn how to recognize and address their own implicit bias, which are the unconscious or subtle associations that individuals make between groups of people and stereotypes about those groups. Implicit bias can affect interactions and decisions due to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion and socio-economic status, as well as other factors. Social science has shown that all individuals experience some form of implicit bias but that the effects of those biases can be countered through training.
In the coming weeks, the department will begin rolling out the training to the more than 23,000 agents employed by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), as well as the approximately 5,800 attorneys working in the 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country. As the project continues, the department will expand training to other personnel, including prosecutors in the department’s litigating components and agents of the Office of the Inspector General.
Since 2010, the department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services has worked with state and local law enforcement to train over 2,600 law enforcement officers at both the line and supervisor level in its implicit bias program known as Fair and Impartial Policing. For the department’s new internal training, curricula have been created to address the work of prosecutors and federal law enforcement and the different missions of the law enforcement components. Each law enforcement component’s curriculum includes three levels of training based on how implicit bias may affect the duties for line personnel, supervisors and managers, and executive personnel.
In order to lead by example, on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Yates will be joined by the leadership of FBI, ATF, DEA and USMS to participate in the first part of the executive training under the new curricula. Over the coming months, training will begin with executive personnel, followed by supervisors and managers, and later line personnel, including agents and attorneys.
Daytona Beach Resident Sentenced to Federal Prison for Tax Fraud and Identity TheftRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan today sentenced Shawne Butler (51, Daytona Beach) to 42 months in federal prison for filing fraudulent tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service and for aggravated identity theft. He pleaded guilty on March 4, 2016.
According to court documents and facts presented at his sentencing hearing, Butler devised a scheme whereby he stole identities from state prison inmates and used them to file fraudulent tax refunds. Over the course of approximately two years, Butler filed 188 fraudulent tax returns and received $207,908 in refunds, which he deposited into his bank account.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay Taylor.
Convicted Indiana Child Molester Sentenced for Failing to Register as A Sex OffenderRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Senior United States District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger has sentenced Ricardo Lamont Irvine (43, Evansville, IN) to 41 months in federal prison for failing to register as sex offender after traveling from Indiana to Florida. He pleaded guilty on December 10, 2015.
According to court documents, on November 4, 1996, Irvine was convicted of child molestation in Evansville, Indiana. Subsequent to his conviction, Irvine traveled from Indiana to Florida but failed to register as a sex offender as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
On September 22, 2015, officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) responded to a Walmart store in Jacksonville in reference to a disturbance. Officers made contact with Irvine, who advised the officers that he had been in Jacksonville for about two weeks and was living in a wooded area. Records checks revealed that Irvine was a registered sex offender from Indiana and that he had failed to register in Florida.
The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The Adam Walsh Act also provides for the use of federal law This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Columbus Tax Preparers SentencedRead the Press Release
United States Attorney G. F. “Pete” Peterman, III, today announced the impositions of sentences on two former Columbus tax preparers for obtaining stolen identity information and filing fraudulent income tax returns. The sentences were handed down in Columbus, Georgia, by the Honorable Clay D. Land, Chief United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia.
Michelle Simmons, 36, of Columbus, Georgia, was sentenced on June 21, 2016, to serve 51 months in prison. Larae Townsend, 35, also of Columbus, was sentenced on June 27, 2016 to serve 75 months’ imprisonment. They are jointly ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $419,139 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Ms. Simmons and Ms. Townsend entered guilty pleas to the charges on February 2, 2016. Evidence showed that Ms. Simmons worked for Gattison & Associates, a tax preparation business in Columbus with Danielle Wallace. Beginning tax year 2011 and continuing through tax year 2014, Ms. Townsend supplied Ms. Simmons and Ms. Wallace with stolen identity information, including names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. At least 557 fraudulent tax returns were filed using the stolen information. As a result, over $400,000 in illegally obtained tax refunds from the IRS were issued. Ms. Wallace was sentenced to 65 months in prison on July 28, 2015.
“Identity theft continues to be an ongoing problem in the United States,” stated Veronica Hyman-Pillot, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. “Michelle Simmons, Larae Townsend, and Danielle Wallace stole our identities, stole government money and preyed upon innocent citizens. Our agents are determined to keep up the fight to eradicate identity theft and to protect honest taxpayers.”
“The years to be served in prison, without parole under federal law, constitute a fit punishment for the fraud and theft committed by these defendants and will hopefully serve as a warning to others who might be tempted to try to do the same. These women defrauded not only the individual taxpayers whose identities they stole, but the people and government of the United States, whose money they stole,” said United States Attorney Pete Peterman.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melvin E. Hyde, Jr prosecuted the case for the government.
Questions concerning this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.
Clovis Woman Pleads Guilty to Money LaunderingRead the Press Release
FRESNO, Calif. — Natalie Middleton, 30, of Clovis, pleaded guilty today to laundering proceeds from the sale of synthetic drugs, commonly known on the street as “spice,” Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
“Spice” refers to a smokable organic plant leaf that is laced with a synthetic cannabinoid, which is often a controlled substance or a controlled substance analogue. Public health and law enforcement agencies have seen the emergence of synthetic drug use. State and local public health departments note that synthetic cannabinoids cause serious adverse health effects, including agitation, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, tachycardia, elevated blood pressure, tremor, seizures, hallucinations, paranoid behavior, and even death.
According to court documents, Middleton purchased a Lake Tahoe time share with proceeds she obtained from the sales of smokable synthetic cannabinoids. According to her plea agreement, from January through March 2013, Middleton was employed as a national sales representative for ZenBio LLC (ZenBio). ZenBio was a “spice” manufacturing and distribution business that started in Pensacola, Florida in November 2012. It continued the operations of another “spice” company known as Zencense IncenseWorks LLC that processed the drug in warehouses in Stockton and Millbrae. The drugs were sold under the brand names “Bizarro,” “Orgazmo,” “Headhunter,” “Defcon,” “Neutronium,” “Sonic Zero,” “Sonic Boom,” “Sonic Blast,” “Shockwave,” “Hampster,” and “Posh.” ZenBio distributed these drugs during its approximate five-month life span. ZenBio generated in excess of $33 million from the sale of at least 24 tons of synthetic drugs. During the investigation of this case, law enforcement officers seized over $6 million in cash and assets derived from drug proceeds.
Court documents also reveal that, prior to her position with ZenBio, Middleton worked as a manager at the Stuffed Pipe, a chain of smoke shops in Fresno, Visalia, and Bakersfield. The Stuffed Pipe previously sold ZenBio and Zencense “spice” products.
Middleton is scheduled for sentencing on October 11, 2016. She faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain from the crime. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
Last month, a co-conspirator, Timothy New, 33, of Pensacola, Florida pleaded guilty to the fraudulent interstate shipments of misbranded drugs. Co-defendants, Douglas Jason Way, 41, of Evanston, Illinois, and Timothy Ortiz, aka Michael Fitton, 45, of Waukegan, Illinois, have pleaded not guilty to various drug charges and are scheduled for a status conference on September 12, 2016. They face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $10 million. The charges against them are only allegations; they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case is the product of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The OCDETF Program was established in 1982 to mount a comprehensive attack against organized drug traffickers. Today, the OCDETF Program is the centerpiece of the United States Attorney General's drug strategy to reduce the availability of drugs by disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations and money laundering organizations and related criminal enterprises. This OCDETF investigation was also part of a nationwide law enforcement effort coordinated by the DEA’s Special Operations Division. Assistant United States Attorney Karen A. Escobar is prosecuting the case.
Chicago Resident Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Participating in Multi-State Heroin Trafficking ConspiracyRead the Press Release
SCRANTON-The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 40-year-old Mexican national who resided in Chicago at the time of his arrest, was sentenced today to serve 10 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani in Scranton, for his role in a drug conspiracy that was responsible for distributing large quantities of heroin during a four-year time period in Monroe, Carbon, Montgomery, and Berks Counties in Pennsylvania.
According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, the defendant, Romualdo Hermosillo-Avendano, also known as “Flaco,” previously admitted to distributing more than one kilogram of heroin via courier from Chicago to Pennsylvania during December 2013-January 2014. A kilogram of heroin is equivalent to more than 33,000 retail bags of heroin.
Hermosillo-Avendano was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2014, as a result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Berks County Detectives and Montgomery County Detectives.
Judge Mariani also ordered the defendant to serve five years on supervised release following his prison sentence. The defendant also faces possible deportation.
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.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.
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Charlotte Man Sentenced to 11 Years on Child Pornography ChargesRead the Press Release
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Charlotte man was sentenced today to 11 years in prison for possession and transportation of child pornography, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney ordered David Lee Young, II, 24, to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to register as a sex offender upon release from prison. Young pleaded guilty in March 2016 to three counts of transportation and one count of possession of child pornography.
Nick Annan, Special Agent in Charge of ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas and Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department join U.S. Attorney Rose in making today’s announcement.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea and to information introduced at sentencing, in October 2014, Young shared child pornography at least three times with an undercover agent over the Internet via a peer-2-peer network. During a subsequent search of Young’s residence, agents seized a desktop computer and a laptop. Forensic analyses of those devices revealed that Young possessed 29 videos of child pornography, some of which depicted prepubescent minors engaging in sadistic and masochistic conduct. Court records show that the child pornography in Young’s possession included at least 13 different children already identified by law enforcement as victims of child pornography.
Young is currently in custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
U.S. Attorney Rose thanked HSI and CMPD for their investigation of this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cortney Randall of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte was in charge of the prosecution.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice, aimed at combating the growing online sexual exploitation of children.By combining resources, federal, state and local agencies are better able to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue those victims.For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov
California Registered Broker Pleads Guilty to Participating in A $20 Million Market Manipulation SchemeRead the Press Release
Earlier today, Darren Goodrich, a registered broker at a brokerage firm in El Segundo, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud for manipulating the stock of Cubed, Inc. (Cubed), which traded under the ticker symbol CRPT. The guilty plea was entered before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York. When sentenced, Goodrich faces up to five years in prison, as well as restitution, criminal forfeiture, and a fine.
The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Diego Rodriguez, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office.
According to court filings and facts presented at the plea hearing, between March 2014 and July 2014, Goodrich and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud investors and potential investors in Cubed by artificially controlling the price and volume of traded shares in the company through fraudulent concealment of the defendants’ and their co-conspirators’ ownership interests and engineering price movements and trading volume in the stock. In March 2014, Goodrich’s co-conspirators took Cubed public through an asset purchase agreement. On April 22, 2014, Cubed’s stock began trading in earnest. Between April 22, 2014 and April 30, 2014, Goodrich and his co-conspirators concocted trading volume in this stock by purchasing more than 50% of the total number of Cubed shares purchased during this period.
Between May 2, 2014 and June 29, 2014, law enforcement authorities conducted a judicially-authorized wiretap of one of Goodrich’s co-conspirator’s cellular telephone. The wiretap revealed that Goodrich and his co-conspirators fraudulently manipulated Cubed’s stock by artificially controlling the price and volume of that stock through orchestrated trading. Rather than generating significant market interest and causing a quick pump and dump that would elicit regulators’ scrutiny, the conspirators gradually increased the price of Cubed’s stock to give it the appearance of a legitimate company with genuine and steady market demand for the security. For example, on May 5, 2014, while Cubed was in a period of gradual increase from $5.20 on April 22, 2014 to $5.42 on May 22, 2014, a co-conspirator called Goodrich, and stated, “Can you buy a 100 and see if [the other market maker] moves?” Goodrich complied and then responded, “Yeah, they’re going.”
Goodrich and his co-conspirators used an attorney escrow account to successfully control the price and volume of Cubed’s stock. On June 23, 2014, Cubed reached its highest closing price of $6.75 per share, resulting in a market capitalization of approximately $200 million. Previously, Cubed filed with the SEC a Form 10-Q and reported less than $1,500 in cash, zero revenue, negative stockholders’ equity, a net loss of $15,000, and accrued professional fees of $131,824.
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The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Business and Securities Fraud Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Shannon C. Jones, Christopher L. Nasson, and Patrick Hein are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance provided by Assistant United States Attorney Claire S. Kedeshian of the Office’s Civil Division, which is responsible for the forfeiture of assets.
The charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory, and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions, and other organizations. Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit ww.StopFraud.gov.
The Defendant:
DARREN GOODRICH
Age: 37
Residence: Manhattan Beach, CaliforniaE.D.N.Y. Docket No. 14-CR-399 (S-1) (ENV)
Bridgeport Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Federal Prison for Selling Heroin and CrackRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CEWELL SHARPE, also known as “C.C.,” 33, of Bridgeport, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 48 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release for distributing heroin and crack cocaine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in November 2015, the Connecticut State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Force, working with the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, conducted a series of controlled purchases of heroin and crack cocaine from SHARPE in the P.T. Barnum housing complex.
SHARPE has been detained in federal custody since January 26, 2016. On March 11, 2016, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, heroin.
SHARPE’s criminal history includes multiple felony convictions, and he committed this most recent offense while he was on state probation.
This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, Connecticut State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Force and Bridgeport Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alina P. Reynolds.
Bradenton Pastor Convicted of Mortgage FraudRead the Press Release
Fort Myers, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that a federal jury has found Nelson Cristiano Machado, Jr. (50, Bradenton) guilty of three counts of wire fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison on each count. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 26, 2016.
According to evidence presented at trial, Machado knowingly participated in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders. He entered into a sale contract for the purchase of two residences in Cape Coral, one for $509,900, and another for $249,900. In his loan applications, Machado falsely represented his employment, the balance of his bank account, and that each of the homes would be his primary residence. He also failed to disclose to his second mortgage lender that he had already obtained a first mortgage in the amount of $343,000 and second mortgage in the amount of $147,000. Machado also failed to disclose the purchase of another residence located in Fort Myers for which he had obtained a mortgage in the amount of $189,050. Relying upon Machado’s false representations, the mortgage lenders approved his loan applications and wired the funds to the designated title agencies for closing.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Yolande G. Viacava.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Whole Woman’s Health V. HellerstedtRead the Press Release
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch released the following statement today on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt:
"For many years, the Supreme Court has maintained that regulations with the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion constitute an undue burden on women trying to exercise their reproductive freedom, and are contrary to principles enshrined in the Constitution. I am pleased that the Supreme Court has reaffirmed this longstanding principle in its decision today.
"When we filed a brief in this case, the Department of Justice made clear that we believe laws like the one at issue here unfairly restrict women's rights, negatively impact women's health, and undermine the state's interest in protecting the safety and welfare of its people. In the days ahead, the Department of Justice will continue fighting against laws like this one. And we will continue to defend the constitutional rights of women across America - including the right to reproductive freedom."
Arsonist Sentenced to 15 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Eddie L. Vaughn a/k/a Elbow, 36, of Rochester, who was convicted of arson of a commercial building and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, was sentenced today to 188 months in prison and 3 years supervised release, by U.S. Chief District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. Vaughn was also ordered to pay $45,548 in restitution for the arson.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Marangola, who handled the case, stated that on September 22, 2013, Vaughn threw a Molotov cocktail into the Miami Deli Grocery at 176 Genesee Street in the City of Rochester. The Molotov cocktail exploded upon impacting the store floor, spreading fire throughout the store. The interior and exterior of the store was burned and extensively damaged. The Miami Deli Grocery was a business which routinely purchased and sold goods from suppliers within and outside the state of New York and the United States. As such, at the time of the arson, the building was used in interstate and foreign commerce, giving rise to the federal arson investigation and prosecution.
Vaughn was arrested on June 26, 2014 in connection with the execution of a search warrant at his residence at 5 Woodrow Street in the City of Rochester. During the search, a sawed-off .20 gauge shotgun was recovered as well as multiple rounds of .20 gauge shotgun ammunition. The shotgun was ballistically matched to a spent shotgun round recovered by RPD on June 20, 2014 at the scene of a shooting that night on Woodrow Street. As part of his plea agreement, Vaughn admitted possessing that firearm and ammunition, which were manufactured outside of New York State, after having been previously convicted of four felonies. Vaughn was ordered to forfeit the seized shotgun and rounds of ammunition as part of his sentence.
The conviction was the culmination of an investigation conducted by the Arson Task Force, which is comprised of Investigators of the Rochester Fire Department under the direction of Fire Chief John Schreiber, Rochester Police Department under the Direction of Michael L. Ciminelli, and Special Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under the direction of Delano A. Reid.
Armed Robber Sentenced to over 15 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Darrell Lee, age 48, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, today to184 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for robbery, and for carrying and brandishing a gun during a robbery. Judge Grimm also ordered Lee to pay restitution of $24,791.50 and forfeit $19,987.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron; and Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
According to his plea agreement, on June 18, 2014, Lee and Furman Troy entered a jewelry store in Charlotte Hall. Lee brandished a gun at the store owner and Troy bound the victim with duct tape. After obtaining the key to the jewelry counter from an employee, they stole jewelry worth approximately $8,890, cash, a laptop computer valued at approximately $2,100 and other items.
On June 22, 2014, Lee and Troy robbed a pharmacy in Mechanicsville, Maryland. Again, Lee brandished a gun and Troy bound the employee with duct tape. They stole cash and prescription bottles containing oxycodone, methadone, hydrocodone and endocet, valued at approximately $8,997.
Furman Troy, age 45, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, pleaded guilty to his participation in the scheme and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In addition, Michael Burgess, age 54, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Abdelrahim Ayyad, a/k/a Sahid, age 50, of White Plains, Maryland previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the robberies and await sentencing.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation, and recognized the St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office for its assistance in the case. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney Leah J. Bressack, who prosecuted the case.
Accountant Charged with Stealing $3.4 Million from EmployerRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A former accountant for an investment advising company was charged and arrested today in connection with embezzling nearly $3.4 million from employer.
Gary Tiffany II, 32, was arrested today and charged in a criminal complaint with bank fraud, wire fraud, and engaging in illegal monetary transactions. Tiffany had an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell this afternoon.
According to the complaint, from June 2010 to November 2015, Tiffany was employed as an accountant and office manager by an investment advisor company which has domestic offices in Boston and New York City. During that time, Tiffany obtained a total of more than $3,380,000 from the company by wiring funds from its accounts to his personal accounts and forging checks from the company’s accounts payable to himself. As alleged in the complaint, Tiffany concealed the scheme by, among other things, making false entries in the company’s electronic accounting system and by manipulating the company’s bank statements to remove references to wire transfers he had made into his personal accounts. The company allegedly discovered Tiffany’s theft of funds after he was downsized in the fall of 2015. When he was later confronted by the company’s executives, Tiffany admitted to transferring about $1 million from the company to himself and spending it.
The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $1 million, and restitution. The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and restitution. The charge of engaging in illegal monetary transactions provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and restitution. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
The details contained in the criminal complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Accountant Admits to Filing False Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
BOSTON – A Granby, Mass. accountant pleaded guilty Friday, June 24, 2016, in U.S. District Court in Worcester in connection with filing false tax returns.
James Lowe, 53, pleaded guilty to three counts of filing false corporate tax returns for his accounting business and three counts of filing false personal income tax returns from 2011 to 2013. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Oct. 17, 2016.
Lowe was the owner of an accounting and tax return preparation business in Chicopee. Lowe under-reported his income on both his corporate and personal income tax returns by not disclosing certain checks generated from his accounting business. Lowe cashed some of these checks and he deposited some of them into his personal bank account, rather than the business bank account. The false tax returns resulted in more than $118,000 in tax loss.
The charging statutes provides a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Grant of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Unit.