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Tuesday 1 July 2025
Nigerian National Sentenced to Federal Prison for Role in $8-Million Federal Emergency Assistance Benefits Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Greenbelt, Maryland – Today, U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Newton Ofioritse Jemide, 47, a Nigerian national extradited from France, to 41 months in federal prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain federal benefits. Jemide will also serve three years of supervised release, pay $520,431.83 of restitution, and a forfeiture money judgment was entered against him in the amount of $311,036.64. Jemide executed his part of the criminal scheme from Nigeria where he resided when he committed the offense.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the plea with Joseph V. Cuffari, Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Acting Special Agent in Charge Colleen Lawlor, Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Inspector General – Philadelphia Field Division; and Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool, U.S. Secret Service – Washington Field Office.
As a result of the conspiracy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided emergency benefits and compensation for damages to victims affected by declared national emergency disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires. Among other benefits, an individual in an affected area was immediately eligible for Critical Needs Assistance (CNA) to purchase life-saving or life-sustaining materials. Victims could decide how to receive assistance payments, including deposits on pre-paid debit cards.
According to his guilty plea, in 2016 and 2017, Jemide and others from Nigeria directed co-conspirators living in the United States to purchase hundreds of Green Dot Debit Cards. Co-conspirators living in Nigeria then registered the cards with Green Dot using stolen personal information from identity theft victims around the United States. Jemide and his co-conspirators used an encrypted messaging application and other means to communicate.
In 2017, following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria — and the California wildfires — Jemide and other co-conspirators from Nigeria used stolen personal information to apply online for FEMA and CNA benefits. FEMA dispersed $500 per claim on the Green Dot Debit Cards that the co-conspirators purchased for a total of at least $8 million.
In addition to filing false disaster-assistance claims with FEMA, Jemide and co-conspirators also submitted false online claims for Social Security benefits, IRS tax refunds, and other government benefits using stolen identities of multiple individuals, including names, addresses, Social Security Numbers (SSN), and other personal identifiers.
As a result of fraudulent submissions, FEMA and other federal agencies deposited benefits onto the Green Dot Debit Cards. The funds were deposited on the debit cards using multiple stolen identities, including identities different from the identities used to register the cards. Jemide and select co-conspirators informed other co-conspirators when the fraudulent funds became available on the debit cards and gave them information to cash out the funds from the cards in exchange for a commission. Additionally, the co-conspirators took steps to conceal their identities by enlisting others to make purchases and withdrawals; utilizing multiple store and bank locations and methods of withdrawal; and making money orders payable to other individuals and/or corporate entities.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended DHS OIG, SSA OIG, and the USSS for their work in the investigation and thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Marshals Service for their valuable assistance in securing the extradition of Jemide to the United States. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Wright and Darren Gardner who are prosecuting the federal case.
For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, please visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/report-fraud.
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New York Man Admits Continuing to Sell Counterfeit Xanax on Dark WebRead the Press Release
ST. LOUIS – A man from New York state on Tuesday admitted continuing to sell counterfeit Xanax on the dark web while out on bond after pleading guilty in a similar case.
John Cruz, 31, of Rochester, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of conspiracy to misbrand, introduce misbranded drugs and sell counterfeit drugs.
On Nov. 29, 2023, Cruz pleaded guilty to the same charge and admitted purchasing counterfeit Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, on the darknet and then reselling it from at least October 2019 through May 2021.
As part of his guilty plea Tuesday, Cruz admitted that after pleading guilty and while out on bond, he continued the same conduct, operating a darknet website where he offered four different types of counterfeit/misbranded pills. An FBI Special Agent, acting in an undercover capacity, made several purchases from Cruz using cryptocurrency.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service made an undercover purchase from Cruz’ co-defendant, Jared James. On April 9, 2024, investigators conducted a court-approved search of James’ home and found pills in four colors. The day before, officers observed James take five packages to a post office that were addressed to locations in Little Rock, Arkansas; Burien, Washington; St. Paul, Minnesota; Richmond, Virginia; and Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Each package contained a bag with about 1,000 counterfeit or misbranded pills.
Investigators also seized $145,502 from an account Cruz held in the cryptocurrency Monero, representing the proceeds of his illegal pill sales.
Cruz is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7. Each count Cruz is facing is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison and a fine.
James, 48, of Lexington, Kentucky, was sentenced in May to 32 months in prison after pleading guilty to the same charge.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Ware and Kyle Bateman are prosecuting the case.
New Mexico Man Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison for Sexually Exploiting 12-Year-Old Ohio GirlRead the Press Release
CLEVELAND – Joseph Gunter, 41, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles E. Fleming, after pleading guilty in February to driving more than 1,600 miles from New Mexico to Ohio to sexually exploit a child and to transporting a minor with intent to engage in unlawful sexual activity. Gunter was also ordered to serve lifetime supervised release after imprisonment and to pay restitution in the amount of $5,000 to the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Assistance Act, which was established in 2018 to provide monetary assistance for victims of child sexual abuse. In addition, he was ordered to pay $10,000 to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which was established in 2015 to provide justice for victims of trafficking. Judge Fleming imposed the sentence June 30.
According to court documents, on the morning of Sept. 21, 2023, a 12-year-old female was reported missing to local authorities in Ashtabula County. An interview with one witness revealed that the victim had been communicating with a person from Albuquerque, whom investigators were able to later identify as Gunter. Through a series of intensive and investigative efforts among, state, local, and federal agencies, Gunter’s vehicle was located in Gray County, Texas. Officers there conducted a traffic stop and found the victim in his car. Two firearms were also located inside the vehicle.
In the original complaint and underlying affidavit, investigators learned that Gunter had been communicating with the victim through the Twitter cellphone application for a number of months. At one point, the 12-year-old deleted her account in an attempt to stop all communications with him. However, when she set up a new account, he found her soon thereafter and they became in contact again. The victim indicated that as she was out for a walk on the morning she was reported missing, Gunter had driven up next to her and threatened her with a gun if she didn’t get into his vehicle. He then transported the minor victim out of state with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with her. On the drive back to his home in New Mexico, they stayed in several hotels where he proceeded to physically assault and repeatedly rape her.
This multi-state investigation was conducted by the FBI Cleveland Division, FBI Albuquerque, FBI Dallas, FBI Chicago, FBI Little Rock, Gray County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office, and the Ashtabula (Ohio) County Sheriff’s Office.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Margaret A. Kane and Michael Sullivan.
To report child exploitation, please visit cybertipline.org, or call 1-800-843-5678, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
About the Northern District of Ohio
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio covers the 40 northern-most counties in the state of Ohio, which is home to nearly six million people. The office operates from its main headquarters in Cleveland, with additional branches in Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown. The U.S. Attorney serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the District and oversees the prosecution of federal crimes and protects victims’ rights.
National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 324 Individuals, Including 13 in Northern District of IllinoisRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — Thirteen defendants in the Northern District of Illinois are facing federal criminal charges as part of the largest national health care fraud enforcement action in Department of Justice history–and the largest ever in the Northern District of Illinois. The Administration has identified health care fraud as a top priority for white-collar enforcement.
More than 320 defendants were charged nationwide for allegedly participating in various health care fraud schemes involving more than $14.6 billion in intended losses. The government seized more than $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets as part of the national enforcement effort. The takedown involved federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country and represented an unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit both patients and taxpayers.
In the Northern District of Illinois, the 13 defendants are charged with various crimes related to health care, with some allegedly participating in fraud schemes involving more than $1.83 billion billed to government programs and private health insurers. The fraud schemes caused the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Medicare, and other insurers to pay more than $865 million in fraudulent reimbursements.
The nationwide takedown was led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and its core partners from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The cases were investigated by agents from HHS-OIG, FBI, DEA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies. The cases are being prosecuted by Health Care Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, 48 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, and nine State Attorney Generals’ Offices.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois is proud to partner with the Department of Justice and multiple law enforcement agencies in the largest health care fraud takedown in our District’s history,” said Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “Health care fraud is an insidious crime that siphons off hard-earned tax dollars meant to provide care for people of limited means as well as the vulnerable and disabled. It leads to increased health care costs, including higher insurance premiums and taxes, as well as potentially jeopardizing the quality and safety of treatment. At nearly $2 billion, the alleged combined fraud at issue in these cases is staggering. This type of criminal conduct not only undermines the very fabric of our health care system, but also can lead to mistrust between patient and health care provider, especially when the criminal conduct is committed by medical professionals in a position of trust. Our Office will continue to vigorously pursue those who seek to exploit these critically important health care programs by placing greed and profits above patient care.”
“This record-setting health care fraud takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Make no mistake–this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
The thirteen defendants in northern Illinois were charged in five cases filed in the Northern District of Illinois:
U.S. v. Charolia, et al
RUKNUDDIN “RICK” CHAROLIA, 43, AAMIR ALI ARIF, 32, SHEARYAR ARIF, 28, and FIZZA FARID, 29, all foreign citizens, were indicted for their alleged participation in a $700 million health care fraud scheme in which false and fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans for over-the-counter Covid-19 test kits, durable medical equipment products, and genetic tests that were not requested, not medically necessary, and/or not provided to the beneficiaries. As alleged in the indictment, Charolia and Aamir Ali Arif operated a call center in Pakistan called Hello International Marketing Solutions (“HIMS”), that obtained Medicare beneficiary information, including Medicare beneficiary identification numbers, through theft and deception. HIMS then purportedly contacted beneficiaries to obtain patient consent for the durable medical equipment products, Covid-19 test kits, and genetic tests, even though the products and services were often not requested or medically necessary. The purported consent for the Covid-19 test kits was sometimes even faked through artificial intelligence. Charolia, Aamir Ali Arif, Shearyar Arif, and Farid allegedly caused the durable medical equipment providers and laboratories to submit approximately $703 million in fraudulent claims for products and services that were not requested, not medically necessary, or not provided to beneficiaries, receiving at least approximately $418 million from Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. Additionally, Charolia, Aamir Ali Arif, and FAIZAN SALEEM, 28, also a foreign national, were charged for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the Anti-Kickback Statute for their sale and distribution of Medicare beneficiary information, including Medicare BINs, to durable medical equipment providers and laboratories in the United States.
All five defendants were also charged with participating in a money laundering conspiracy in which fraud proceeds were transferred to various U.S. accounts controlled by the defendants in an effort to conceal the source, location, ownership, and control of the funds. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Kelly M. Warner and Claire Sobczak Pacelli of the Midwest Strike Force, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmina Vajzovic of the Northern District of Illinois.
U.S. v. Ahmed, et al
ANOSH AHMED, 41, formerly of Chicago and Houston, Texas, MOHAMED SIRAJUDEEN, 53, of Chicago, MAHMOOD SAMI KHAN, 36, of Houston, Texas, and SUHAIB AHMAD CHAUDHRY, 34, of Houston, Texas, were indicted for their roles in an alleged $894 million fraudulent Covid-19 testing scheme. As alleged in the indictment, Ahmed, Sirajudeen, and Khan caused clinical laboratories in Illinois and Texas to submit false and fraudulent claims to the U.S. government’s HRSA Covid-19 Uninsured Program seeking reimbursement in the amount of approximately $894 million for Covid-19 testing, of which approximately $293 million was paid.
According to the indictment, Ahmed was a physician who used patient information obtained from a variety of sources, including a patient list from a hospital where he previously worked, to generate false claims that were submitted through a laboratory in Illinois. Dr. Ahmed allegedly falsely represented that the identifiers were associated with uninsured individuals who had submitted biological samples for Covid-19 testing, knowing that the purported patients had not submitted any samples. Ahmed allegedly also submitted false claims through labs in Texas that he owned but which were not operational. According to the indictment, Ahmed, Sirajudeen, Khan, and Chaudhry then laundered the fraud proceeds through various bank accounts to conceal the origin of the funds. Ahmed and Khan were charged with wire fraud and, along with Chaudhry, with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Ahmed was also charged with conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, obtaining individually identifiable health information without authorization and for commercial advantage, and money laundering. Sirajudeen was charged with money laundering.
The government has seized approximately $100 million in assets in this matter. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sheri Mecklenburg and Kelly Guzman of the Northern District of Illinois, and Trial Attorney Claire Sobczak Pacelli of the Midwest Strike Force.
U.S. v. Elkoussa
JAMIL ELKOUSSA, 35, of Orland Park, Ill., was charged with five counts of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the U.S. government’s HRSA Covid-19 Uninsured Program. As alleged in the indictment, Elkoussa operated Meridian Medical Staffing, which purported to collect samples for Covid-19 tests at numerous sites in Illinois and Florida. Elkoussa allegedly caused a laboratory to submit approximately $233 million in fraudulent claims to the HRSA Uninsured Program for Covid-19 test specimens purportedly collected from patients, even though he knew that such test specimens had not been collected from the purported patients, and many of those patients did not exist. According to the indictment, Elkoussa’s fraudulent conduct resulted in approximately $154 million in HRSA payments to the laboratory, for which Elkoussa received more than $60 million.
Approximately $6 million in assets have been seized in this matter. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Claire Sobczak Pacelli of the Midwest Strike Force and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Guzman of the Northern District of Illinois.
U.S. v. Muhammad, et al
MINHAJ FEROZ MUHAMMAD, 37, and SUFYAN FEROZE, 34, both of Naperville, Ill., were charged in connection with their involvement with FZ Medical Inc., d/b/a Next Labs Inc., which allegedly submitted more than $72 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois for Covid-19 laboratory testing services that were not provided to insureds. According to the indictment, the lab was paid more than $9.7 million for these claims. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kelly M. Warner, with substantial assistance by former Trial Attorney Victor B. Yanz of the Midwest Strike Force.
U.S. v. Farley
CHER FARLEY, 52, of Earlville, Ill., was charged in connection with her acquisition of foreign-sourced drugs labeled as Botox and Sotox, and the subsequent dispensing of those drugs without a prescription. As alleged in a criminal information, Farley caused foreign-sourced Botox and Sotox without proper labeling to be introduced into interstate commerce from China and dispensed without a prescription to multiple victims. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Kelly of the Northern District of Illinois.
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The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which works in partnership with U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide. Prior to the charges announced as part of today’s nationwide takedown and since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which operates in 27 districts, charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers more than $27 billion.
The public is reminded that charges are merely allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
elkoussa_indictment.pdf muhammad_et_al_indictment.pdf farley_information.pdf charolia_et_al_indictment.pdf ahmed_et_al_indictment.pdfNational Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in 324 Defendants Charged in Fraud Scheme Totaling over $14.6 BillionRead the Press Release
Today, Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced criminal charges against four defendants in connection with alleged schemes to defraud Medicare and other government programs. The charges filed in federal court are part of the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown.
“The charges announced yesterday reinforce the combined missions of the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and our law enforcement partners,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson. “Our office, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of fraud, and seek justice for those impacted by Health Care Fraud schemes.”
“This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
The charges announced today by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson are part of a strategically coordinated, nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and illegal drug diversion schemes that involved the submission of over $14.6 billion in alleged false billings and over 15 million pills of illegally diverted controlled substances. The defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled, to line their own pockets. The Government, in connection with the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, and other assets.
The following individuals were charged in the Eastern District of Louisiana:
- Leland Roberts, 46, of Tifton, Georgia, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare for over $30 million for medically unnecessary genetic testing, and to pay and receive kickbacks. As alleged in the indictment, Roberts, co-owner, chief executive officer of, and (later) consultant to Luminus Diagnostics, a diagnostic laboratory located in Tifton, Georgia, conspired with others to procure orders for genetic testing in exchange for kickbacks, including orders acquired through purported telemedicine. To ensure the false and fraudulent claims would be paid, Roberts and his co-conspirators allegedly designed the genetic testing order forms to be “dummy proof”—with prepopulated diagnosis codes and check-the-box panels—and frequently billed the tests through another laboratory where co-conspirators thought the claims were more likely to be approved, which they concealed via a sham contract. Roberts and his co-conspirators caused the submission of over $30 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for genetic testing, and Medicare paid approximately $4.4 million based on those claims. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas D. Moses of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Gulf Coast Strike Force.
- Dr. Marion Lee, 61, of Cordelle, Georgia, was charged by information with conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare approximately $24 million for medically unnecessary genetic testing, and to pay and receive kickbacks. As alleged in the information, Dr. Lee, co-owner of and medical advisor to Luminus Diagnostics, a diagnostic laboratory located in Tifton, Georgia, conspired with others to procure orders for genetic testing in exchange for kickbacks, including orders acquired through purported telemedicine. To ensure the false and fraudulent claims would be paid, Lee and his co-conspirators allegedly designed the genetic testing order forms to be “dummy proof”—with prepopulated diagnosis codes and check-the-box panels—and frequently billed the tests through another laboratory where co-conspirators thought the claims were more likely to be approved, which they concealed via a sham contract, among other deceptive means. Dr. Lee and his co-conspirators caused the submission of over $24 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for genetic testing, and Medicare paid approximately $4 million based on those claims. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas D. Moses of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Gulf Coast Strike Force.
- Steven D. Peyroux, 56, of Canton, Georgia, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and two counts of health care fraud in connection with a scheme to bill Medicare approximately $12.1 million for over-the-counter (“OTC”) COVID-19 tests that were not requested and ineligible for reimbursement. As alleged in the indictment, Peyroux, a chiropractor and purported health care consultant, conspired with others to pay kickbacks in exchange for Medicare beneficiary information nationwide, including names, Medicare identification numbers, and clearly fabricated recordings of individuals posing as beneficiaries and requesting OTC COVID-19 tests, which they used to bill Medicare for OTC COVID-19 tests that were not requested. In an attempt to avoid Medicare scrutiny, the indictment alleged that Peyroux and co-conspirators solicited multiple providers to join the scheme, who they directed to enter into sham agreements and make false statements in response to Medicare audits, to conceal the misconduct. Peyroux and his co-conspirators caused the submission of approximately $12.1 million in false and fraudulent claims, of which Medicare paid approximately $11 million. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas D. Moses of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters of the Gulf Coast Strike Force.
- Zoe Francis, 46, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was charged by information with theft concerning programs receiving federal funds in connection with her role in embezzling funds from the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies (“IWES”), a non-profit organization based in New Orleans that received grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other federal funds. As alleged in the information, Francis, as the chief operating officer of IWES, embezzled the funds for the benefit of herself and family members, including unauthorized expenditures for personal events and Amazon purchases. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas D. Moses of the Eastern District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Gary A. Crosby II of the Gulf Coast Strike Force.
“The scale of this Takedown is unprecedented, and so is the harm we’re confronting. Individuals who attempt to steal from the federal health care system and put vulnerable patients at risk will be held accountable,” said HHS-OIG Acting Inspector General Juliet T. Hodgkins. “Our agents at HHS-OIG work relentlessly to detect, investigate, and dismantle these fraud schemes. We are proud to stand with our law enforcement partners in protecting taxpayer dollars and safeguarding patient care.”
"The FBI will continue working side by side with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana to bring these individuals to justice for their actions," said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Tapp of the FBI New Orleans Field Office.
The Health Care Fraud Unit’s National Rapid Response, Florida, Gulf Coast, Los Angeles, Midwest, New England, Northeast, and Texas Strike Forces; U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Arizona, Central District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California, District of Columbia, District of Connecticut, District of Delaware, Middle, District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Middle, District of Georgia, District of Idaho, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky, Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, District of Maine, District of Massachusetts, Eastern District of Michigan, Northern District of Mississippi, Southern District of Mississippi, District of Montana, District of Nevada, District of New Hampshire, District of New Jersey, Eastern District of New York, Northern District of New York, Southern District of New York, Western District of New York, Eastern District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina, District of North Dakota, Northern District of Ohio, Southern District of Ohio, Northern District of Oklahoma, Western District of Oklahoma, District of Oregon, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of South Carolina, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, District of Vermont, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Washington, and Northern District of West Virginia; and State Attorney Generals’ Offices for Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are prosecuting the cases in the National Health Care Fraud Takedown, with assistance from the Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team.
Descriptions of each EDLA case and others involved in yesterday’s enforcement action are available at website.
The Eastern District of Louisiana, in particular, worked with the Department’s Criminal Division and the following law enforcement organizations to investigate and prosecute the cases filed during the enforcement period: the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the United States Secret Service; and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
An information or indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
*Updated August 21, 2025
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Mississippi Man Sentenced for Impersonating Deputy United States MarshalRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that WILLIAM GILCHRIST (“GILCHRIST”), a resident of Greenville, Mississippi, was sentenced on June 24, 2025, by United States District Judge Susie Morgan to 3 years of probation and a $4,000 fine for impersonating a deputy United States Marshal, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 912.
According to the indictment, on or about June 19, 2024, GILCHRISTfalsely assumed and pretended to be a Fugitive Task Force Officer with the United States Marshals Service.
Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Paul J. Hubbell of the General Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.
Mexican National Sentenced to 37 Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
SOUTH BEND – Daniel Alvarez-Reyes, 30 years old, of Mexico residing in Elkhart, Indiana, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Cristal C. Brisco after pleading guilty to felony reentry of removed alien, announced Acting United States Attorney M. Scott Proctor.
Alvarez-Reyes was sentenced to 37 months in prison.According to documents in the case, Alvarez-Reyes criminal history includes felony convictions for possession of cocaine in Indiana and Ohio and for illegal reentry into the United States in the Western District of Texas. He was previously removed from the United States on two separate occasions, the first time in April 2019, and the second time in January 2020.
This case was investigated by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Luke N. Reilander and former Assistant United States Attorney Frank E. Schaffer.
Mexican National Living Illegally in Charleston Pleads Guilty to Immigration CrimeRead the Press Release
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Federico Montalvo Salas, 22, a Mexican national residing illegally in Charleston, pleaded guilty today to reentry of a removed alien. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has an immigration detainer on Salas so he will be transferred to ICE administrative custody for removal proceedings at the conclusion of any sentence.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on March 28, 2025, Salas was arrested by law enforcement in the South Charleston area. ICE agents confirmed that Salas was a citizen of Mexico in the United States illegally and that he had previously been deported from the United States. Salas had no identification documents permitting him legal status in the United States.
Salas was removed from the United States to Mexico on June 28, 2024, after being found that day near Douglas, Arizona. Salas never obtained the express consent of the Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security to reapply for admission to the United States for either of the prior removals, nor did he seek to reenter the United States through other legal means.
Salas is scheduled to be sentenced on October 23, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison and up to one year of supervised release. Salas will be subject to deportation proceedings at the conclusion of any sentence.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan T. Storage is prosecuting the case, as part of a special unit within the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia focused on the immigration enforcement objectives of Operation Take Back America.
Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:25-cr-82.
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Mexican National Involved in Hartford-Based Drug Ring Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that HUGO IVAN RAMIREZ-BELLOZO, 35, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment for a fentanyl trafficking offense.
According to court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from a DEA Hartford Task Force investigation of a Hartford-based drug trafficking organization involved in the distribution of a large amount of fentanyl and other narcotics, and the transportation and laundering of cash proceeds from their drug trafficking activity. In January 2022, law enforcement coordinated a motor vehicle stop of a minivan and seized $92,000 from a hidden compartment. The investigation revealed that Harold Luis Del Orbe, also known as “Jaro,” was directing the operators of the minivan to conduct narcotics-related transactions on his behalf.
On November 16, 2022, investigators executed a court-authorized search warrant at an apartment on Putnam Heights in Hartford and seized approximately 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl, items used to process and package narcotics, and a loaded .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun. Ramirez-Bellozo, Del Orbe, and others were present in the apartment at the time of the search.
Ramirez-Bellozo has been detained since his arrest on November 16, 2022. On November 21, 2024, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
Ramirez-Bellozo faces removal proceedings when he completes his prison term.
Del Orbe pleaded guilty to related charges and, on May 6, 2025, was sentenced to 120 months of imprisonment.
This investigation has been conducted by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force, which includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Enfield, Manchester, Middletown, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, and Windsor Locks Police Departments.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Geoffrey M. Stone and Robert S. Dearington through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Mexican National Guilty of Re-Entry of a Removed AlienRead the Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that LUIS A. GAMA (“GAMA”), age 38, a native of Mexico, pled guilty on June 26, 2025, to re-entry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a).
According to court documents, GAMA, a Mexican national, was found in Tangipahoa Parish on or around April 10, 2025. He had previously been deported to Mexico on September 10, 2019.
At the sentencing hearing scheduled for July 23, 2025, before United States District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown, GAMA faces a maximum penalty of two years of imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, up to one year of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Paul J. Hubbell of the General Crimes Unit oversees the prosecution.
Maryland Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Possessing with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl and CocaineRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – Today, Judge Matthew J. Maddox sentenced Freddie Anthony Curry, 54, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 10 years in federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Acting Special Agent in Charge Amanda M. Koldjeski, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Ibrar A. Mian, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – Washington Division.
In May 2024, the FBI and DEA began investigating Curry in connection with suspected fentanyl and cocaine trafficking in the Baltimore area. During their investigation, they verified Curry’s vehicle and residence. Authorities then executed federal search warrants on Curry’s residence and vehicle. During the search, investigators recovered approximately 980 grams of fentanyl, 1,040 grams of cocaine, digital scales, drug-packaging materials, and a Glock 19 9-millimeter handgun. Curry is prohibited from possessing a firearm due to prior felony convictions.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
This case is part of a Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. The specific mission of the Baltimore Strike Force is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle violent drug trafficking, money laundering, and transnational criminal organizations to reduce drug-related and/or gang violence in the Baltimore metropolitan and surrounding areas. The Baltimore Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Marshals Service, the United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, the Maryland State Police, the Baltimore Police Department, the Baltimore Sheriff’s Office, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Maryland Transportation Authority, and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. The prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and DEA, for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Simpkins who is prosecuting the case.
For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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Man’s United States Citizenship Revoked for Naturalization FraudRead the Press Release
GULFPORT, MS – A Mexican national was sentenced to three months in prison and had his U.S. Citizenship revoked for Naturalization Fraud.
According to court documents, Felix Aguilar-Matias, age 51, was convicted of Naturalization Fraud after pleading guilty on February 18, 2025.
In August 2014, Aguilar-Matias submitted an Application for Naturalization to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) and, in March 2015, he was sworn in as a US citizen. However, in October 2019, he was arrested by the Bay St. Louis Police Department in Hancock, County. He subsequently pleaded guilty and was convicted of two felony offenses and admitted that his criminal acts took place between August 2010 and December 2010. He was sentenced to 20 years in custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, and currently is serving that state sentence. Agents determined that Aguilar-Matias knowingly and intentionally made fraudulent representations on his Application for Naturalization to conceal his felony conduct that occurred during a time period prior to his application for US citizenship.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, Patrick A. Lemon and Brian Acuna, Acting Field Office Director of ICE/ERO in New Orleans, made the announcement.
The U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Enforcement & Removal Operations investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stan Harris prosecuted the case.
This case is an example of cases being prosecuted under “Operation Take Back America” (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline). Operation Take Bake America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Man Sentenced to 135 Months in Prison for Sexual Exploitation a MinorRead the Press Release
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On June 23, 2025, United States District Court Judge Camille Vélez-Rivé sentenced Eric Jonuel Collazo-Colón to 135 months (11 years and 3 months) in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for child exploitation charges against a female minor. Collazo-Colón, 34, from Orocovis, PR, was indicted on August 1st, 2024, and plead guilty to the coercion and enticement of a minor on March 24, 2025.
According to court documents, from October 2023, through June 2024, Defendant Eric Jonuel Collazo Colon, used a cellular phone, internet instant text messaging services, and social media, to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a female minor when she was between 14 and 15 years of age to engage in sexual activity, and to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct, for which Collazo Colon could be charged with a criminal offense under the laws of the United States of America and Puerto Rico.
“Our dedicated team of prosecutors, victim witness coordinators, and support personnel will continue to work with our equally dedicated law enforcement partners to combat child exploitation and to bring these offenders to justice,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.
“This sentence brings to justice a teacher who abused his position of public trust to sexually exploit our most vulnerable, our children. Let this case serve as a warning to all individuals in positions of authority: the consequences are severe, and the repercussions are real. This individual does not represent the dedicated educators of Puerto Rico who work tirelessly every day to guide, protect and inspire our youth,” said Rebecca González-Ramos, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations San Juan. “This case also highlights the critical responsibility of parents and guardians to actively monitor digital devices, as predators often use technology to target minors. The parents’ intervention saved this victim from further emotional damage. HSI remains vigilant in safeguarding the mental health and safety of our children, and we continue to dedicate our resources to investigating crimes against minors.”
Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case and Assistant US Attorney Jenifer Y. Hernández-Vega, Chief of the Child Exploitation Unit and Project Safe Childhood Coordinator prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.
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Man Indicted in Federal Court for Allegedly Carjacking Two Vehicles and Robbing Two Credit Unions in ChicagoRead the Press Release
CHICAGO — A federal grand jury has indicted a man for allegedly carjacking two vehicles and robbing two credit unions in Chicago.
MAURICE D. LEE, JR., committed the carjackings and robberies in May of last year, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The first carjacking and robbery occurred on May 10, 2024, when Lee took a Toyota from a driver and robbed a credit union at the University of Illinois Chicago, the indictment alleges. The second carjacking and robbery occurred on May 17, 2024, when Lee took a Toyota and robbed another credit union at the University of Illinois Chicago, the indictment states. Lee allegedly brandished a handgun in all the carjackings and robberies.
The indictment charges Lee, 32, of Chicago, with two counts of carjacking, two counts of robbery, and four counts of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Each firearm count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, resulting in a total mandatory minimum sentence of 28 years in federal prison. Each robbery count is punishable by up to 20 years, while each carjacking count is punishable by up to 15 years.
Lee was arrested two days after the second robbery. He was in state custody until his arrest last month in the federal case. He remains detained without bond awaiting trial in federal court. Arraignment is set for July 7, 2025, at 9:45 a.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. Valuable assistance was provided by the University of Illinois Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Police Department. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Asheeka Desai.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
lee_indictment.pdfMan Indicted for Stabbing a Metro Transit Police Sergeant in the FaceRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Erik Schleehauf, 43, of Washington, D.C., was indicted in Superior Court on felony charges for the assault of a police officer while armed, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with significant bodily injury for the April 15, 2025, attack of a Metro Transit Police Officer, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and Chief Michael Anzallo of the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD).
Schleehauf was indicted by the grand jury on June 25, 2025. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on July 22, 2025.
According to government’s evidence, at around 2:26 p.m., on April 15, 2025, at the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro Station, an MTPD Sergeant observed Schleehauf evade his fare by over the fare machine and jumping over the glass gates on his way out of the Metro Transit System. The MTPD Sergeant followed the defendant as he tried to leave the station using the escalator. After Schleehauf refused to provide his identification and insisted on leaving without paying, The MTPD Sergeant deployed OC spray. Schleehauf pulled out a sharpened, pointed tool and began to stab the MTPD Sergeant in the face, causing puncture wounds. The MTPD Sergeant suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
This case is being investigated by the Metro Transit Police Department.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nickolas Reck.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Louisiana felon sentenced to federal prison for Shelby County firearms violationRead the Press Release
BEAUMONT, Texas –A Bourg, Louisiana man has been sentenced for illegally possessing a firearm in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.
Brad Michael Broussard, 44, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone on July 1, 2025.
According to information presented in court, on January 1, 2024, Broussard was stopped by law enforcement in Shelby County after he struck several construction barrels while traveling down the highway. The smell of marijuana was evident during the traffic stop prompting a search of the vehicle. A search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of four firearms, including a pistol equipped with a homemade silencer. Broussard was also in possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, numerous prescription pills, a methamphetamine pipe, and assorted other drug paraphernalia.
Further investigation revealed Broussard has five felony convictions, all for burglary. Federal law prohibits convicted felons from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
This case was investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald S. Carter.
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Liberty County man sentenced to over 14 years in federal prison for methamphetamine traffickingRead the Press Release
BEAUMONT, Texas – A Cleveland, Texas man has been sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.
John Matthew Goines, 50, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine and was sentenced to 175 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone on July 1, 2025.
According to information presented in court, in 2024, Goines was stopped for traffic violations on two separate occasions in Liberty County each resulting in the discovery of thousands of dollars in cash, drug trafficking paraphernalia, and over 150 grams of methamphetamine.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Cleveland Police Department, and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Quinn.
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Leader of Large-Scale Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to More Than 8 Years in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
CONCORD – A Boston man was sentenced today in federal court in Concord in connection with a large-scale drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine in New Hampshire, Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack announces.
Juan Ramon Soto Baez, 55, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliott to 100 months in federal prison. In February, Soto Baez plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, namely, cocaine and fentanyl. He was charged along with 20 other defendants in April 2023. To date, 15 defendants involved in the conspiracy have been convicted.
“The defendant led a major drug trafficking organization in our region, pumping deadly narcotics into our communities and profiting off of addiction,” said U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack. “Today’s sentence ensures that he can no longer fuel the devastation cause by methamphetamine and fentanyl. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to disrupt these organizations and combat the spread of these narcotics before they claim more lives in the Granite State.”
“As the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking organization, Juan Ramon Soto Baez pumped poison into Granite State neighborhoods for over four years, trafficking fentanyl and cocaine from Massachusetts into New Hampshire at a time when the number of drug related deaths in the state was at an all-time high,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division. “This lengthy prison sentence removes this career criminal from the streets and highlights the FBI’s ongoing commitment to identify and disrupt those seeking to bring dangerous narcotics into our communities.”
According to the plea agreement and statements made in court, the defendant was the leader of a Massachusetts-based drug trafficking organization that distributed large quantities of fentanyl and cocaine in New Hampshire, particularly Manchester, between September of 2019 and April of 2023. The organization was run like a business, operating “dispatch” telephone lines where customers could call in to order narcotics. The defendant or a trusted member of the conspiracy working for him would take customer orders on the phone, and then he would either deliver the order himself or send a runner to conduct the drug sale at an arranged meeting location.
During the timeframe of the conspiracy, law enforcement agents observed and recorded the defendant and his co-conspirators selling fentanyl and cocaine on nineteen occasions. On the day of the defendant’s arrest, a search of a residence associated with the conspiracy yielded $15,000 and drug ledgers. A search of a vehicle used by the drug trafficking organization yielded roughly 94 grams of fentanyl and 196 grams of cocaine packaged in small baggies for distribution.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation. Valuable assistance was provided by the Manchester Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kennedy prosecuted the case.
This effort is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
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Lancaster man who led law enforcement on high speed chase sentencedRead the Press Release
BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Da’Ron Lipscomb, 33, of Lancaster, NY, who was convicted of high speed flight from an immigration checkpoint, was sentenced to serve six months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly, who handled the case, stated that on June 26, 2024, Lipscomb was driving a vehicle that approached the primary inspection booth at the Peace Bridge Port of Entry in Buffalo. At the primary inspection booth, he was directed by a Customs and Border Protection officer to report for secondary inspection. Instead of presenting his vehicle for secondary inspection, Lipscomb drove through the Peace Bridge Port of Entry and onto the I-190, in excess of the posted speed. He was followed by marked CBP vehicles. Lipscomb lost control of, and crashed, his vehicle.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Customs and Border Protection, under the direction of Director of Field Operations Rose Brophy.
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Kemper County woman pleads guilty to Production of child pornographyRead the Press Release
JACKSON, MS – On June 27, 2025, a Kemper County woman pleaded guilty to production of child pornography.
According to court documents, in July 2020, Adreoinna Latoria Hickman, age 25, video recorded herself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a minor. She faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Lemon of the Southern District of Mississippi and Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda R. Haynes is prosecuting the case.
Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in Wyoming Case to Defend Documentary Proof of Citizenship Requirement for Voter RegistrationRead the Press Release
The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a Statement of Interest in the lawsuit Equality State Policy Center v. Chuck Gray, defending Wyoming’s legitimate interest securing its voting process from fraud by requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Longstanding Supreme Court precedent recognizes that states have a significant interest in preventing fraud and safeguarding voter confidence in the election process. Wyoming’s documentary proof of citizenship law is a mechanism to enforce laws that prohibit non-citizen voting and ensure that only eligible voters cast ballots.
“It is a crime for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, and it is important that the American people have confidence in the integrity of our elections.” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Gates of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Requiring documentary proof of citizenship is common sense and ensures that only citizens vote.”
The Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section enforces the civil provisions of federal statutes that protect the integrity of the vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
Justice Department Charges Two Individuals with Acting as Agents of the PRC GovernmentRead the Press Release
Two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, yesterday to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government of the PRC without prior notification to the Attorney General. The defendants, Yuance Chen, 38, a PRC national and legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, a PRC national who traveled from the PRC to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested Friday on a criminal complaint charging them with overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence taskings in the United States on behalf of the PRC Government’s principal foreign intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). These activities included facilitating a “dead drop” payment of cash for information relating to the national security of the United States previously provided to the MSS, gathering intelligence about U.S. Navy service members and bases, and assisting with efforts to recruit other individuals from within the U.S. military as potential MSS assets.
Chen and Lai were arrested on June 27, 2025, by the FBI in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Houston Texas, as part of a coordinated counterintelligence and law enforcement operation across multiple states.
“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country – we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents to account, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security.”
“The FBI arrested two Chinese nationals who were allegedly attempting to recruit U.S. military service members on behalf of the PRC,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The Chinese Communist Party thought they were getting away with their scheme to operate on U.S. soil, utilizing spy craft, like dead drops, to pay their sources. This case was a complex, coordinated effort and is an example of outstanding counterintelligence work done by FBI San Francisco, Portland, Houston, San Diego, and the Counterintelligence Division. The FBI will continue to vigilantly defend the homeland from China’s pervasive attempts to infiltrate our borders.”
“Adverse foreign intelligence services like the PRC’s Ministry of State Security dedicate years to recruiting individuals and cultivating them as intelligence assets to do their bidding within the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Under my leadership, the National Security Division will continue to defend our nation and neutralize our adversaries’ clandestine spy networks.”
“These charges reflect the breadth of the efforts by our foreign adversaries to target the United States — this time by conducting illegal intelligence-gathering operations aimed at our national security information and military service members,” said U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California. “My office and the FBI remain ever vigilant in guarding against these threats to the United States. We will continue to undertake counterespionage investigations and prosecutions, no matter how complex and sensitive, to disrupt attempts to weaken our national security.”
“NCIS and the Department of the Navy take the foreign intelligence gathering threat very seriously, as the PRC has for years attempted through various means to recruit U.S. service members as intelligence assets due to their access to sensitive military information,” said Director Omar Lopez of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). “NCIS and the Department of the Navy (DON) remain committed to working together to root out any attempts to compromise the DON’s critical warfighting and shipbuilding capabilities.”
As alleged in the criminal complaint unsealed yesterday, the PRC Government conducts intelligence activities against the United States through multiple arms, including the MSS. The MSS handles civilian intelligence collection for the PRC and is responsible for counterintelligence and foreign intelligence, as well as political security. The MSS and its bureaus seek to obtain information on political, economic, and security policies that might affect the PRC, along with military, scientific, and technical information of value to the PRC. The MSS and its bureaus are tasked with conducting clandestine and covert human source operations, of which the United States is a principal target.
As alleged in the criminal complaint, Lai recruited Chen to work on behalf of the MSS in or about 2021. While in Guangzhou, China, in January 2022, Lai and Chen worked together to facilitate a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 on behalf of the MSS, working with other individuals located in the United States to leave a backpack with the cash at a day-use locker at a recreational facility located in Livermore, California.
Following the January 2022 dead drop, Lai and Chen continued to work on behalf of the MSS, including by attempting to help identify potential assets for MSS recruitment within the ranks of the U.S. Navy. For example, in 2022 and 2023, Chen was tasked by Lai to visit a U.S. Naval installation in Washington State and a U.S. Navy recruitment center in San Gabriel, California. While in the recruitment center, Chen obtained personal information for recruits that he appears to have transmitted to an MSS intelligence officer in China. The complaint also alleges that Chen received instruction from the MSS on how to engage and recruit future Sailors and methods for minimizing his risk of exposure. Eventually, Chen began contacting a Navy employee over social media and provided information about the employee to the MSS. The complaint alleges that Chen traveled to Guangzhou and met with MSS intelligence officers in April 2024 and March 2025 in order to discuss compensation and specific taskings.
The complaint also alleges that Lai traveled to Houston, Texas, in April 2025, claiming that the purpose of his visit was related to his business as an online retail seller, and that he would be staying in the Houston area for two weeks. However, on May 9, 2025 – more than four weeks after his arrival in the United States – Lai traveled by car with a companion from Houston to Southern California, via New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona, before returning to Texas, on May 15, 2025.
Chen and Lai are charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 951, which makes it a crime for a person to operate or agree to operate within the United States as an agent of a foreign government without notification to the Attorney General of the United States. If convicted, the defendants face a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years.
The FBI San Francisco Field Office is leading the investigation, with valuable assistance provided by the FBI Portland, Houston, and San Diego Field Offices. NCIS also provided valuable assistance during the operation.
The National Security and Special Prosecutions Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are in charge of the prosecution. Significant operational support and assistance is also being provided by the District of Oregon, the Southern District of Texas, and the Southern District of California.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Justice Department Charges Two Individuals with Acting as Agents of the PRC GovernmentRead the Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO — Two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, yesterday to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government of the PRC without prior notification to the Attorney General. The defendants, Yuance Chen, 38, a PRC national and legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, a PRC national who traveled from the PRC to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested Friday on a criminal complaint charging them with overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence taskings in the United States on behalf of the PRC Government’s principal foreign intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). These activities included facilitating a “dead drop” payment of cash for information relating to the national security of the United States previously provided to the MSS, gathering intelligence about U.S. Navy service members and bases, and assisting with efforts to recruit other individuals from within the U.S. military as potential MSS assets.
Chen and Lai were arrested on June 27, 2025, by the FBI in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Houston Texas, as part of a coordinated counterintelligence and law enforcement operation across multiple states.
“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country – we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents to account, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security.”
“These charges reflect the breadth of the efforts by our foreign adversaries to target the United States — this time by conducting illegal intelligence-gathering operations aimed at our national security information and military service members,” said U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California. “My office and the FBI remain ever vigilant in guarding against these threats to the United States. We will continue to undertake counterespionage investigations and prosecutions, no matter how complex and sensitive, to disrupt attempts to weaken our national security.”
“The FBI arrested two Chinese nationals who were allegedly attempting to recruit U.S. military service members on behalf of the PRC,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The Chinese Communist Party thought they were getting away with their scheme to operate on U.S. soil, utilizing spy craft, like dead drops, to pay their sources. This case was a complex, coordinated effort and is an example of outstanding counterintelligence work done by FBI San Francisco, Portland, Houston, San Diego, and the Counterintelligence Division. The FBI will continue to vigilantly defend the homeland from China’s pervasive attempts to infiltrate our borders.”
“This case represents a significant disruption of a covert operation directed by the PRC's Ministry of State Security to penetrate and compromise U.S. national security from within our own borders. These individuals allegedly carried out clandestine taskings on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service, targeting U.S. military personnel and installations, and attempting to recruit others to do the same. Their arrest is the result of an extensive, complex counterintelligence investigation led by the FBI's San Francisco Division and underscores the FBI’s unwavering commitment to detecting, exposing, and neutralizing espionage threats from the PRC and other adversaries. The FBI will not tolerate efforts by foreign intelligence services to operate inside the United States and we will continue to use every lawful tool to defend our country's security and sovereignty,” said FBI San Francisco Field Office Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani.
“Adverse foreign intelligence services like the PRC’s Ministry of State Security dedicate years to recruiting individuals and cultivating them as intelligence assets to do their bidding within the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Under my leadership, the National Security Division will continue to defend our nation and neutralize our adversaries’ clandestine spy networks.”
As alleged in the criminal complaint unsealed yesterday, the PRC Government conducts intelligence activities against the United States through multiple arms, including the MSS. The MSS handles civilian intelligence collection for the PRC and is responsible for counterintelligence and foreign intelligence, as well as political security. The MSS and its bureaus seek to obtain information on political, economic, and security policies that might affect the PRC, along with military, scientific, and technical information of value to the PRC. The MSS and its bureaus are tasked with conducting clandestine and covert human source operations, of which the United States is a principal target.
As alleged in the criminal complaint, Lai recruited Chen to work on behalf of the MSS in or about 2021. While in Guangzhou, China, in January 2022, Lai and Chen worked together to facilitate a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 on behalf of the MSS, working with other individuals located in the United States to leave a backpack with the cash at a day-use locker at a recreational facility located in Livermore, California.
Following the January 2022 dead drop, Lai and Chen continued to work on behalf of the MSS, including to help identify potential assets for MSS recruitment within the ranks of the U.S. Navy. For example, beginning in 2022, Chen was tasked by Lai and other agents of the MSS to contact a Navy employee over social media, and then later, in 2025, arranged for a tour with the employee of the USS Abraham Lincoln and provided information about the employee to the MSS. In 2022 and 2023, Chen was tasked to visit a U.S. Naval installation in Washington State and a U.S. Navy recruitment center in San Gabriel, California. While in the recruitment center, Chen obtained photographs of a bulletin board containing the names, programs, and hometowns of recent Navy recruits, the majority of whom listed their hometown as “China,” which he appears to have transmitted to an MSS intelligence officer in China. The complaint also alleges that Chen received instruction from the MSS on what to say to potential recruits regarding potential payment that could be made by the MSS, preferred Naval job assignments for potential recruits, and methods for minimizing Chen’s risk of exposure. The complaint alleges that in 2023, Lai flew to the United States from the PRC and provided Chen with a cellphone that Chen then used to communicate with the MSS. The complaint also alleges that Chen traveled to Guangzhou and met with MSS intelligence officers in April 2024 and March 2025 in order to discuss compensation and specific taskings.
The complaint also alleges that Lai traveled to Houston, Texas, in April 2025, claiming that the purpose of his visit was related to his business as an online retail seller, and that he would be staying in the Houston area for two weeks. However, on May 9, 2025 – more than four weeks after his arrival in the United States – Lai traveled by car with a companion from Houston to Southern California, via New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona, before returning to Texas, on May 15, 2025.
Chen and Lai are charged with violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 951, which makes it a crime for a person to operate or agree to operate within the United States as an agent of a foreign government without notification to the Attorney General of the United States. If convicted, the defendants face a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years.
The FBI San Francisco Field Office is leading the investigation, with valuable assistance provided by the FBI Portland, Houston, and San Diego Field Offices. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) also provided valuable assistance during the operation.
The National Security and Special Prosecutions Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are in charge of the prosecution. Significant operational support and assistance is also being provided by the District of Oregon, the Southern District of Texas, and the Southern District of California.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Jamestown man sentenced on meth chargeRead the Press Release
BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Raymond Medina, 19, of Jamestown, NY, who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna M. Duncan, who is handling the case, stated that on the evening of February 28, 2024, Jamestown Police were dispatched to a residence for a domestic incident where the resident had a valid order of protection against Medina. When they arrived, officers observed Medina leaving the residence. An officer made contact with Medina, who immediately became argumentative and began to back away. When the officer attempted to detain him, Medina pulled away. The officer advised Medina to stop, but he refused and yelled “I don't got nothing bro.” It appeared to the officer that Medina was reaching towards his waistband. Medina then fled on foot. The officer deployed his taser with negative results. A perimeter was set up and officers used footprints in the snow and a K-9 to track Medina, who was located balled up on the ground behind a shed, attempting to conceal himself. He was taken into custody without further incident. Along the route that Media fled, officers recovered a quantity of suspected methamphetamine, packaged for individual sale.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Jamestown Police Department, under the direction of Jamestown Police Chief Timothy Jackson, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Frank A. Tarentino III, New York Field Division.
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Jamestown man arrested, charged with threatening to kill a Homeland Security AgentRead the Press Release
BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Matthew White, 43, of Jamestown, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with communicating interstate threats, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan K. Glaberson, who is handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, on April 30, 2025, Homeland Security Investigations in Buffalo learned that an “X” account, believed to be operated by White, was engaged in publicly posting threats to federal immigration agents and administrators employed by the Department of Homeland Security. On June 4, 2025, White voluntarily spoke with investigators and allowed them to extract and copy the contents of his phone. Investigators recovered a number of threatening posts on “X” including:
- On April 18, 2025, White posted, “Kill them all, ICE is the new age gestapo, stop them.”
- On April 29, 2025, White shared a video clip of Border Czar Tom Homan posted by an “X” user “America,” and commented, “Then understand that if your ICE agents don’t show proof of identity and a signed warrant, we will kill them.”
- In late April, 2025, White posted multiple threatening and violent public comments in response to coverage of several ICE arrest operations, including an ICE arrest operation inside a Virginia courthouse that occurred in April 2025. White posted, “I can’t wait to put a bullet into this guy’s brain, but first his children.”
White made an initial appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy and was released on conditions.
The complaint is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Jackson Man Pleads Guilty to Two Counts of Attempted Production of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
Jackson, MS – On June 26, 2025, a Hinds County man pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to produce of child pornography images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
According to court documents, beginning in February of 2023, and continuing through December 2023, Joe Lewis, 54, attempted to persuade, induct, entice, and coerce minors into Face Timing him as the minors exposed their nude private area to him, thereby engaging in sexually explicit conduct for Lewis’ live viewing and recording.
Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Lemon of the Southern District of Mississippi and Special Agent in Charge Robert Eikhoff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement. The Jackson Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case.
Lewis is scheduled to be sentenced on October 23, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of thirty years per count in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenda R. Haynes prosecuted the case.
Jackson Man Sentenced to 103 Months for Being a Felon in Possession of a FirearmRead the Press Release
JACKSON, MS – A Jackson, Mississippi man was sentenced on Monday, June 23rd to 103 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm to be served consecutively to 11 years remaining on a state sentence for armed robbery.
According to court documents, Romelo Walker, 27, was found by Capitol Police officers to be in possession of a firearm on August 9, 2024, in Hinds County. Court records indicate that Walker fled a traffic stop in his vehicle at a high rate of speed through a neighborhood before being arrested after a foot chase. Walker had previous state convictions for armed robbery and domestic violence as recently as 2022. As a convicted felon, he is prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm or ammunition.
Walker was indicted by a federal grand jury on November 6, 2024. He pleaded guilty on February 24, 2025.
Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Lemon of the Southern District of Mississippi; and Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives made the announcement.
The ATF investigated the case with the assistance of the Capitol Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Brett Grantham prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Huntington Man Sentenced to Prison for Federal Gun CrimeRead the Press Release
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Tairon Jordan Bradley, 25, of Huntington, was sentenced today to two years and nine months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on November 7, 2023, a law enforcement officer conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Bradley in Kenova. As the officer was collecting information, Bradley fled in his vehicle. Bradley drove onto Interstate 64 during the resulting pursuit and struck another vehicle as he entered Cabell County. Bradley’s vehicle came to a stop in the middle of I-64, and Bradley fled on foot across the interstate and into a nearby wooded area where he was found and arrested. Officers found a loaded Weihrauch Hermann Model EA/R .38 Special/.357 magnum revolver in Bradley’s vehicle.
Federal law prohibits a person with a prior felony conviction from possessing a firearm or ammunition. Bradley knew he was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of his prior felony convictions for first-degree robbery and conspiracy in Cabell County Circuit Court on January 17, 2019.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Kenova Police Department, and the Huntington Police Department.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie Taylor prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:24-cr-83.
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Huntington Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Drug CrimeRead the Press Release
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Tayron Jerome Griffin, also known as “Taye,” 24, of Huntington, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on March 4, 2025, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Griffin’s residence. Officers found approximately 617 grams of methamphetamine in his bedroom nightstand, approximately 8 grams of methamphetamine in a kitchen drawer, and drug trafficking paraphernalia and $1,648 in the residence during the search. As part of his guilty plea, Griffin admitted that he possessed the seized methamphetamine and intended to distribute it, and that the cash was drug proceeds. Griffin further admitted to possessing a loaded Romarm Cugir Model Mini Draco 7.62x39mm pistol and a loaded Smith & Wesson Shield .40-caliber pistol found in the nightstand and a loaded Glock 20 10mm pistol found on top of the nightstand during the search.
Griffin also admitted to selling drugs on three occasions at his residence, each time to a confidential informant, as relevant criminal conduct. Griffin sold approximately 28.9 grams of methamphetamine for $200 on February 21, 2025, approximately 27.9 grams of methamphetamine for $210 on February 25, 2025, and approximately 1.59 grams of cocaine for $100 on February 28, 2025.
Griffin is scheduled to be sentenced on October 14, 2025, and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years of supervised release, and a $10 million fine.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Huntington Violent Crime and Drug Task Force, and the Huntington Police Department.
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Courtney L. Finney is prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:25-cr-50.
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High-speed pursuit results in 52-month sentence for alien smugglerRead the Press Release
McALLEN, Texas – A 37-year-old Alamo resident has been ordered to federal prison for transporting illegal aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Margarito Llanes pleaded guilty April 22.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Llanes to serve 52 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence about the risk Llanes created by engaging in a lengthy, high-speed pursuit and how his conduct was consistent with his violent criminal conduct, which includes indecency with a child, robbery and alien smuggling. In handing down the sentence Judge Crane also emphasized the seriousness of Llanes’ conduct and how everyone is lucky the outcome wasn’t more dire.
On Jan. 18, a group of illegal aliens loaded into a vehicle near the Rio Grande River in Granjeno. Llanes was driving. As law enforcement approached, he sped away and engaged in a 1.5-mile pursuit with speeds reaching over 70 mph over unpaved roads.
The chase ended when he crashed the vehicle into a tree, seriously injuring nearly all eight passengers.
Llanes admitted to driving the vehicle, noting he was lucky he did not die from the crash.
He will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Border Patrol conducted the investigation with the assistance of Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Fry prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.
Hertford County Man Sentenced to over 7 Years After Armed Robbery in WintonRead the Press Release
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Trevon Montez Freeman, of Hertford County, was sentenced today to 90 months in prison for interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during the robbery. Freeman, 21, pled guilty to the charges on February 11, 2025.
“Commercial armed robbery not only endangers the lives of victims and bystanders but tears at the fabric of our communities,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Bubar. “This result reflects our commitment to holding violent offenders accountable and providing some justice to the victim in this case.”
According to court documents and other information presented in court, on November 26, 2023, just before 10 p.m., Hertford County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Winton Deli on S. Main Street in Winton. The clerk, who was shaking and in tears, explained that she and her nephew had been closing the store when a black male ran into the store and aimed a tan handgun at them. The robber, who was wearing a black ski mask, Air Force 1 shoes, and a black hoodie, ordered the clerk to the register at gunpoint. He took bills and change, later determined to be $257, from the register and left the store. Deputies attempted a K-9 track, which led to a parking lot where fresh tire marks indicate a car had sped away.
“The professionalism, dedication, and commitment shown by our team reflect our ongoing mission to protect the citizens and businesses of Hertford County,” said Hertford County Sheriff Dexter Hayes. “We remain steadfast in our pledge that anyone who chooses to commit a crime in our county will be held accountable. We will not tolerate those who threaten the safety of our community.”
Surveillance video confirmed that the robber brandished a tan handgun with a light attached under the barrel. He could be heard speaking on the video, and a deputy recognized the voice as belonging to the defendant Trevon Freeman. Deputies began to patrol around Freeman’s house and just after midnight made a traffic stop on Freeman’s car for a speeding violation. Freeman was wearing a black jacket and Air Force 1 shoes, and a black ski mask sat beside him in the passenger seat. Deputies found a roll of bills and hundreds of coins in pocket, totaling nearly $200.
Daniel P. Bubar, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II. The Hertford County Sheriff’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jake D. Pugh and Phil Aubart prosecuted.
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-0018-M.
Hayward Man Sentenced to 7 Years for Methamphetamine TraffickingRead the Press Release
MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Nathanial Johnson, 34, Hayward, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 7 years in federal prison for possessing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine intended for distribution.
On August 5, 2024, law enforcement found Johnson in his camper with multiple drug customers there to purchase methamphetamine. Johnson tripped upon exiting the camper in an unsuccessful attempt to flee and dropped a bag of drugs near his foot. The individuals inside admitted they were at Johnson’s camper to purchase drugs from him. In addition to over 329 grams of methamphetamine, law enforcement found a digital scale, over $1,400 in U.S. currency, and other items consistent with drug distribution. Law enforcement also found 5 bindles of drugs packaged for distribution that contained fentanyl and found additional bags of fentanyl in his camper, making the total weight of fentanyl found approximately 15 grams.
At sentencing, Judge Peterson expressed concern over Johnson’s past criminal history and his repeated failures when placed on supervision within the community. Judge Peterson found that Johnson posed an increased risk to the community when he escalated to pound-level drug dealing in this case. Judge Peterson said that protection of the public was paramount given Johnson’s practice of frequently returning to drug use and fleeing law enforcement.
The charge against Johnson was the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office, City of Hayward Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Ayala prosecuted this case.
Guatemalan National Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Reentry; Faces DeportationRead the Press Release
HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Erikx Soto-Gomez, age 41, a citizen of Guatemala, was sentenced yesterday to time-served (75 days in prison) by United States District Court Judge Julia K. Munley for illegally reentering the country after having previously been removed.
According to Acting United States Attorney John C. Gurganus, Soto-Gomez was indicted by a federal grand jury after being arrested for Driving Under the Influence in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 2025. Soto-Gomez had previously been removed from the United States pursuant to a court order in 2012. Soto-Gomez pleaded guilty to illegal reentry before being sentenced.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Francis P. Sempa and Tatum Wilson prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Soto-Gomez still faces pending state charges in Lebanon County, and an ICE detainer is lodged against him for deportation proceedings.
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Greenville Man Sentenced to over Five Years in Prison for Ponzi SchemeRead the Press Release
WILMINGTON, N.C. – A Greenville man was sentenced Monday to 63 months in prison and three years of supervised release for mail fraud in connection with a multi-year investment fraud scheme. Willard Timothy Sutton, age 64, pled guilty to the charge on February 26, 2025. The court also ordered Sutton to pay $8,986,162 in restitution to the victims of the offense.
“The defendant orchestrated a complex and brazen Ponzi scheme that exploited the trust of hard-working North Carolinians, based upon his own greed,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Bubar. “We are committed to holding those accountable who prey on the citizens in our communities for personal gain.”
"Mr. Sutton ran a local business for many years, purporting to help those with poor or no credit get much needed vehicle loans. When he ran into financial trouble, he chose to commit a federal crime rather than admit his business was failing. The FBI hopes today's sentence and restitution offers some sense of justice to those who trusted him to legitimately invest their hard-earned money," said James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, between at least 2019 and 2023, Sutton conducted a largescale Ponzi scheme in connection with an investment program offered through his business, Greenville Auto World, LLC (GAW). As a result of the scheme, more than 65 victims in Eastern North Carolina suffered net losses totaling approximately $9 million. Federal investigators estimate that Sutton collected more than $63 million in investor funds during the offense period.
GAW was a “buy here pay here” (BHPH) car dealership. BHPH dealerships enable customers with poor or no credit history to finance the purchase of a vehicle directly through the dealership, rather than through a bank or credit union. Such loans typically carry significantly higher interest rates than traditional car loans. Between approximately 2012 and 2023, as part of an investment program sponsored, promoted, and administered by GAW, Sutton sold BHPH finance contracts to outside investors through direct solicitation, referrals, and word-of-mouth advertisement.
Beginning in approximately 2019, Sutton falsely and fraudulently led BHPH investors to believe that their investments were safe and secure, and that GAW was collecting sufficient repayments from loan customers to be able to fully pay the principal and interest owed to them. In truth, GAW was collecting millions from investors, but it did not have the means to service the debt through BHPH revenue or any other legitimate business income.
To conceal GAW’s financial condition, and forestall the collapse of his business, Sutton operated the BHPH program as a Ponzi scheme in which Sutton would (in a typical transaction) sell a legitimate loan contract to one investor and then sell one or more false and fabricated versions of that same contract to other investors without their knowledge. Sutton then used the proceeds of the fraudulent sales to pay off earlier investors. Among other things, the defendant forged loan customer signatures to the fake contracts and provided fake title documents to investors to convince them that their investments were appropriately secured.
In approximately 2022, to generate additional funds to meet GAW’s massive debts to investors, Sutton solicited some BHPH investors to help finance GAW’s vehicle inventory. Sutton falsely and fraudulently represented to these investors that he was using their funds to purchase vehicles when, in fact, the funds were being used to conceal and perpetuate the Ponzi scheme.
Daniel P. Bubar, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after the sentencing concluded. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Charlotte Field Office, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam F. Hulbig prosecuted the case for the government.
Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:24-CR-83-M.
Greene Man Admits Federal Drug and Firearm ChargesRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Maine: A Greene man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to possessing controlled substances with intent to distribute and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a federal drug trafficking crime.
According to court records, in January 2025, Lewiston police officers approached and detained John Labbe, 44, after they observed him operating a vehicle unlawfully. Officers recovered from Labbe a handgun with a laser sight. Inside a backpack he was wearing, officers found quantities of fentanyl and cocaine base. A later search of Labbe’s cell phone revealed communications in which he appeared to be arranging for the distribution of controlled substances.
Labbe faces at least 10 years and up to life in federal prison, a maximum fine of $5 million, and up to life on federal supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated this case, with help from the Lewiston Police Department, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
Project Safe Neighborhoods: This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psn.
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Ghanaian National Extradited to the United States for Participating in Fraud Scheme Targeting the ElderlyRead the Press Release
TUCSON, Ariz. – On June 26, 2025, Joseph Kwadwo Badu Boateng, also known as, “Dada Joe Remix,” a citizen of Ghana, was extradited to the United States to face charges related to a romance and inheritance scheme targeting the elderly. A federal grand jury in Tucson indicted Boateng in May 2023 with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. Boateng was arrested in Ghana on an extradition warrant on May 27, 2025. Boateng had his initial appearance in the District Court of Arizona today.
The indictment alleges that from 2013 through March 2023, Boateng and his co-conspirators engaged in a romance and inheritance fraud scheme that targeted the elderly around the world, to include victims in Arizona and throughout the United States. As part of the scheme, the co-conspirators pretended to be romantically involved with the victims. The co-conspirators also falsely represented that they had gold and jewels and that to release such items to the victims, those individuals had to pay taxes and other costs.
Convictions for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
An indictment is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The FBI Phoenix Division’s Sierra Vista office conducted the investigation in this case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson is handling the prosecution. The following partners provided essential assistance in securing the arrest and extradition: FBI Legal Attaché in Accra, Ghana; the Office of Attorney General and Ministry of Justice; the Republic of Ghana’s Economic and Organized Crime Office, Ghana Police Services – INTERPOL, and the Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs.
CASE NUMBER: CR-23-00695-TUC-AMM-LCK
RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-108_Boateng# # #
For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.Georgia Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Attempted Production of Child Sexual Abuse MaterialRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Chief United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Troy Lyn Everett (63, Georgia) to 15 years in federal prison for attempted production of child sexual abuse material. Everett was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervised release and register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty in March 2025.
According to court records, from August 22 through October 25, 2024, Everett communicated with an undercover detective from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office who was posing as a 14-year-old child on an online messaging application. Everett engaged the detective in a variety of sexually explicit messages and expressed a desire to have sex with the child. Everett asked the undercover officer multiple times for sexually explicit photos and videos of who Everett believed to be a 14-year-old girl. Additionally, Everett discussed traveling to meet the minor for sex. Everett biked more than an hour from his residence in Georgia to an Atlanta bus station where he purchased a bus ticket to Jacksonville. Upon his arrival in Jacksonville, he was arrested and admitted to traveling for sex and making repeated requests for sexually explicit photos and videos from a person who he believed to be a 14-year-old child.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Nassau County Sherriff’s Office, and the Northeast Florida Intercept Task Force. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Cannizzaro.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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.
Genesee County man pleads guilty to multiple charges, including possession of machine gunsRead the Press Release
BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Timothy Tundo, 62, of Bethany, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo to possession with intent to distribute LSD, possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, and unlawful possession of machine guns. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum of life.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua A. Violanti and Stacey Jacovetti, who are handling the case, stated that in February 2021, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Tundo’s residence in Bethany, which he maintained to manufacture and distribute controlled substances. During the search they seized quantities of LSD, oxycodone, and marijuana, two machine guns, three assault weapons, 12 long guns, five pistols, a cap gun, ammunition, magazines, $2,500 in cash, and drug paraphernalia.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the Genesee County Sherriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Joseph Graff, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Bryan Miller, New York Field Division.
Sentencing is scheduled for November 14, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Vilardo.
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Franklin Driver's Education Company Agrees to Settle Allegations It Violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by Discriminating Against a Hearing-Impaired StudentRead the Press Release
NASHVILLE – The United States has reached an agreement with Spanky’s Driving Academy, Inc., located at 120 Holiday Court, Suite 5, Franklin, Tennessee, and its owner Chris Medina (collectively, the “Academy”) to resolve allegations that the Academy violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), announced Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee. The Academy is alleged to have had impermissible eligibility criteria and failed to provide an auxiliary aid or service where necessary to provide effective communication to a person with a disability.
“This settlement shows that the Department of Justice is committed to assisting those with disabilities in having equal access to services offered in our community,” said Acting United States Attorney Robert E. McGuire. “Not only is it inappropriate to stereotype members of our community who are deaf or hearing impaired, it is against federal law to discriminate against them when it comes to offering services such as drivers education classes and lessons.”
According to the settlement agreement, the Complainant is a parent of a minor child who had registered their child to attend the Academy’s series of driver’s education sessions and driving lessons starting in September 2024. The child is now deaf and was hearing impaired at the time of the incident and had (and still has) a cochlear implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the other ear. The Complainant alleged that in August and September 2024, the Academy had impermissible eligibility criteria and failed to provide an auxiliary aid or service where necessary to provide effective communication to the minor. At the time of the incident, the minor was hearing impaired and relied upon American Sign Language as their primary means of communication during high school. After the Complainant had registered their child to attend the Academy’s series of driver’s education sessions and driving lessons, the Complainant emailed Chis Medina and stated that the minor is hard of hearing and uses a sign language interpreter at school. The Complainant asked Chris Medina to assist the minor with effective communication. The Complainant ultimately provided a method for the Academy to use to allow their child to effectively communicate and participate in the classes, but Chris Medina allegedly refused to use it during class. The Complainant further alleges that Chris Medina declined to conduct the in-car driving component of the class, based on myths, fears, and stereotypes about persons with hearing impairments. As a result of not having effective communication, the Complainant alleges that that they withdrew their child from the Academy’s class.
The ADA prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against an individual on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of its goods, services, privileges, advantages, or accommodations, and requires public accommodations to take those steps and make reasonable modifications that may be necessary to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services, unless the public accommodation can demonstrate that taking those steps or making reasonable modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of its goods and services or would result in an undue burden. The ADA also prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against an individual on the basis of disability by imposing eligibility criteria that screen out an individual with a disability from fully and equally enjoying any goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations, unless such criteria can be shown to be necessary for the provision of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations being offered.
As part of the settlement, the Academy has agreed to not discriminate against any individual, including students, on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the Academy’s goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations by excluding or providing unequal treatment to persons with disabilities. The Academy will provide to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing reasonable modifications and appropriate auxiliary aids and services, where necessary, to ensure effective communication unless it can demonstrate that taking the steps would result in a fundamental alteration to the nature of its goods and services or would result in an undue burden.
The Academy also will pay the Complainant $4,000 as part of the settlement and will pay a civil penalty to the United States in the amount of $2,000 to vindicate the public interest.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kimberly Veirs and Ellen Bowden McIntyre in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee investigated the complaint and negotiated the Settlement Agreement.
The civil claims settled by this resolution are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
The ADA was passed on July 26, 1990. The Act reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities have the right to live, work, and fully participate in the community alongside their fellow citizens.
More information about the ADA is available at the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA Information line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TTY) and via the ADA website at http://www.ada.gov or through contacting the U.S. Attorney’s civil rights hotline at 313-226-9151. ADA complaints may be filed by email to [email protected].
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Fourth of Five Sentencings in Burglary of Dozens of Firearms from a Maryland Pawn ShopRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Tyjuan McNeal, 28, of the District of Columbia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 84 months in federal prison for participating in the December 2023 burglary of 34 firearms from a Maryland pawn shop. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
McNeal pleaded guilty on March 12, 2025, to one count of conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking. In addition to the 84-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered McNeal to serve three years of supervised release.
According to the court documents, on December 13, 2023, McNeal and at least four co-conspirators drove from Washington, D.C. to the A&D Pawn Shop, a Federal Firearms Licensee in Glen Burnie, Maryland. McNeal was wearing an ankle monitor that he had wrapped in aluminum foil.
At the pawn shop, one of the co-conspirators used a portable saw to cut the locks on a pull-down security gate. Another co-conspirator then used a crowbar-type tool to pry open the main door. Once inside, the quintet grabbed an array of rifles, shotguns, and pistols from the shelves and display racks and fled with at least 34 of the firearms. They later used social media to advertise the sale of the stolen guns.
McNeal was arrested on March 22, 2024, with a Glock 29 pistol and has been detained since.
Co-defendant Juwon Markel Anderson, 22, was sentenced to 84 months in prison. Vincent Lee Alston, aka “Vedo,” 23, was sentenced to 84 months. Niquan “Stickz” Odum, 23, was sentenced to 48 months. Sentencing is pending for Cy'juan Hemsley, 20, who pleaded to conspiracy to commit theft from a firearms licensee and to possession of stolen firearms.
This case was investigated by the ATF Washington Division and the Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from the ATF Baltimore Field Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shehzad Akhtar with valuable assistance from former Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Lipes.
Four-Years in Prison for Prior Felon on Supervised Release Found in Possession of a GlockRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Robert Varez Williams, 28, of the District of Columbia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 48 months in federal prison for being a previously convicted felon in possession of a loaded Glock 23, a semiautomatic pistol fitted with an extended capacity magazine, while he was on supervised release for a prior violent firearm offense, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Williams pleaded guilty March 25 before the Honorable Dabney L. Friedrich to being a felon in unlawful possession of a firearm. In addition to the 48-month prison term, Judge Friedrich ordered Williams to serve three years of supervised release.
According to court documents, on Jan. 10, 2024, officers from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Robbery Suppression Unit were on patrol when they spotted Williams driving erratically in a silver Volkswagen. Williams fled as the officers attempted a traffic stop. A short while later the officers located the VW on the 900 block of R Street, NW. Williams jumped out of the car and sprinted away on foot. An officer caught Williams in an alley off R Street.
Another officer who remained with the car, saw a gun on the front driver’s seat where Williams had been sitting. Police later identified the firearm as a Glock, Model 23, .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol loaded with 21 rounds of ammunition. An additional officer pulled a passenger from the car as another conducted a search of the vehicle. That officer found a second Glock pistol outfitted with a machine gun conversion device, under a coat on the front passenger seat, 44 pills that tested positive for MDMA, suspected PCP in a vial, additional rounds of ammunition, and a bottle of alcohol on the car’s center consol.
At the time he was arrested in this case, Williams was on supervised release in the District for attempted assault with a deadly weapon and an unlawful possession of a firearm.
This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI Washington Field Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shehzad Akhtar and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Haley M. Pennington of the District of Columbia.
Investigators recovered a Glock 23, .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, loaded with 21 rounds, from Williams’ car.
An officer found a second Glock pistol outfitted with a machine gun conversion in Williams’ Volkswagen under a coat.
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Four Tax Preparers Sentenced to Combined 105 Months in Federal PrisonRead the Press Release
Four tax preparers convicted of defrauding the IRS of nearly $8 million have been sentenced to a combined 105 months in federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson.
According to court documents, Festus Adenisimi, 65, of Mansfield, Texas, was the owner of FA Tax, a tax preparation business located in Grand Prairie, where he and other tax preparers prepared fraudulent tax returns for their clients, often causing the IRS to issue refunds to those clients. The estimated loss to the IRS from these false tax returns totaled more than $7.5 million.
Adenisimi pled guilty in September 2024 to falsely preparing tax returns. As part of his plea agreement, Adenisimi also admitted to fraudulently obtaining two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans totaling $760,415 under the Small Business Administration’s COVID -19 relief program.
In March 2025, Adenisimi was sentenced to 57 months in prison by U.S. Senior District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn and ordered to pay $10,283,737.65 in restitution.
Three additional tax preparers who worked for FA Tax also pled guilty to falsely preparing tax returns. Last week, on June 26, 2025, they were each sentenced by Judge Lynn:
• Sunshyne Endurance Ogungbemi, 37, of Waxahachie, Texas, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April and ordered to pay $7,533,550.84 in restitution.
• Chris Mary Tijerina, 40, of Crandall, Texas, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in April and ordered to pay $7,560,661.69 in restitution.
• Cynthia Bradley, 45, of Belleville, Illinois, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in June and ordered to pay $5,768,106.28 in restitution.
“The defendants orchestrated a multi-year tax fraud scheme that caused substantial loss to the government,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson. “We will continue to track down those who attempt to cheat the American people, and we will hold them accountable with prison time.”
“I'm proud of the women and men of IRS-CI for their commitment to protect our tax system and their resolve to ensure that those who engage in fraudulent activities face the full extent of the law,” said Gerardo Gomez, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Dallas Field Office. “The 105 months of federal prison time for the members of FA Tax who falsified tax returns illustrate that tax fraud is not a victimless crime.”
IRS-Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marty Basu prosecuted the case.
Four Individuals Charged in Northern District of Texas with Health Care Fraud Schemes Totaling over $210 Million as part of National TakedownRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department today announced the results of its 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the United States, for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving over $14.6 billion in intended loss. The Takedown involved federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country and represents an unprecedented effort to combat health care fraud schemes that exploit patients and taxpayers.
Demonstrating the significant return on investment that results from health care fraud enforcement efforts, the government seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets as part of the coordinated enforcement efforts. As part of the whole-of-government approach to combating health care fraud announced today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also announced that it successfully prevented over $4 billion from being paid in response to false and fraudulent claims and that it suspended or revoked the billing privileges of 205 providers in the months leading up to the Takedown. Civil charges against 20 defendants for $14.2 million in alleged fraud, as well as civil settlements with 106 defendants totaling $34.3 million, were also announced as part of the Takedown.
Today’s Takedown was led and coordinated by the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and its core partners from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The cases were investigated by agents from HHS-OIG, FBI, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies. The cases are being prosecuted by Health Care Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, 50 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide, and 12 State Attorneys General Offices.
“This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
“These individuals lined their own pockets, egregiously stealing beneficiaries’ identities and pillaging the coffers of federal programs,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson. “We will never tolerate this behavior and will relentlessly pursue prosecution of these offenders to the fullest extent possible. We applaud the tremendous work of our law enforcement partners in this National Takedown, whose diligent efforts dismantled layers of complex financial transactions created by these bad actors attempting to conceal their fraudulent conduct.”
“As part of making healthcare accessible and affordable to all Americans, HHS will aggressively work with our law enforcement partners to eliminate the pervasive health care fraud that bedeviled this agency under the former administration and drove up costs,” said Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“The scale of today’s Takedown is unprecedented, and so is the harm we’re confronting. Individuals who attempt to steal from the federal health care system and put vulnerable patients at risk will be held accountable,” said HHS-OIG Acting Inspector General Juliet T. Hodgkins. “Our agents at HHS-OIG work relentlessly to detect, investigate, and dismantle these fraud schemes. We are proud to stand with our law enforcement partners in protecting taxpayer dollars and safeguarding patient care.”
“The Criminal Division is intensely committed to rooting out health care fraud schemes and prosecuting the criminals who perpetrate them because these schemes: (1) often result in physical patient harm through medically unnecessary treatments or failure to provide the correct treatments; (2) contribute to our nationwide opioid epidemic and exacerbate controlled substance addiction; and (3) do all of that while stealing money hardworking Americans contribute to pay for the care of their elders and other vulnerable citizens,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Division’s Health Care Fraud Unit and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices stand united with our law enforcement partners in this fight, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect the integrity of our health care programs for the American people.”
“Health care fraud drains critical resources from programs intended to help people who truly need medical care,” said Director Kash Patel of the FBI. “Today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to pursuing those who exploit the system for personal gain. With more than $13 billion in fraud uncovered, this is the largest takedown for this initiative to date. Together, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to hold those accountable who steal from the American people and undermine our health care systems.”
“The perpetrators of this fraud used deceptive tactics and their access to beneficiary information to personally profit off government-sponsored health insurance programs. These programs provide critical care and services to individuals in our communities that need it most,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to identify and investigate the pervasive health care fraud schemes that cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars annually.”
Cases Charged in the Northern District of Texas
As part of the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, four defendants were charged by indictment in the Northern District of Texas with collective fraudulent billing of approximately $210 million submitted to federally-funded programs and other insurers, announced Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy E. Larson. Those charged include:
• Demitrious Gilmore, 46, of Lubbock, Texas, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with the submission of false and fraudulent medical claims for various benefits, items, and services that were ineligible for reimbursement, not medically necessary, not performed, or not provided. As alleged in the indictment, Gilmore, the owner of WM Wellness, LLC and Gilmorehands, Inc. d/b/a Work-Med, submitted the claims to the Department of Labor Office of Workers Compensation Program ("DOL-OWCP"), which administers workers’ compensation benefits to federal employees who suffered an injury, disease, or death in the performance of duty. Gilmore is alleged to have conspired with another physician and a former United States Postal Service employee and union official to submit the false and fraudulent claims. The alleged false claims include claims for knee braces, including several instances where "DOL-OWCP" was billed for multiple expensive custom knee braces for a single claimant; physical therapy, including an instance where "DOL-OWCP" was billed for multiple hours of physical therapy while the claimant was having knee surgery; as well as platelet rich plasma treatments and at-home ultrasonic devices that were not medically necessary, never provided, and/or not provided as represented. In all, Gilmore and his co-conspirators submitted approximately $19 million in false and fraudulent claims to "DOL-OWCP", of which at least approximately $17 million was paid. Over $1 million was seized from bank accounts controlled by Gilmore. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and DOL-OIG investigated the case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Renee Hunter of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
• Gary Martin, 62, of McKinney, Texas, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to solicit or receive kickbacks for referrals to a federal health care program and solicitation and receipt of kickbacks in connection with the submission of over $73 million in false and fraudulent medical claims to Medicare for over-the-counter COVID-19 (“OTC COVID-19”) tests in 2023. As alleged in the indictment, Martin, the owner of medical clinics, conspired with health care providers and other individuals to pay and receive kickbacks based on Medicare reimbursements for OTC COVID-19 tests. In order to bill Medicare for the claims, Martin and his co-conspirators are alleged to have provided Medicare patient information, to which they had access, to co-conspirators without the Medicare beneficiaries’ knowledge or consent and/or notwithstanding that they had not requested any OTC COVID-19 tests. In fact, as alleged in the indictment, in numerous instances the beneficiary was deceased. Once Medicare paid the claim, Martin’s co-conspirator allegedly paid a kickback based on the reimbursement. Martin’s co-defendant, Damon Heath Roberts, previously pled guilty to conspiracy to pay or offer to pay kickbacks for referrals to a federal health care program in connection with the scheme and is awaiting sentencing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office and Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Renee Hunter of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
• Khadeer Khan Mohammed, 44, a citizen of India, was charged by indictment with health care fraud in connection with a scheme to submit false and fraudulent medical claims to Medicare for genetic testing that was allegedly never requested, ordered and/or performed. As alleged in the indictment, Mohammed, the owner of American Premier Labs LLC, located in Richardson, Texas, used the personal identifying information of physicians with no relationship to the Medicare beneficiaries, and without the physicians’ knowledge or consent, to submit the false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. In all, Mohammed caused the submission of approximately $93 million in false and fraudulent claims, of which approximately $65 million was paid, including payment of approximately $13 million over a single ten-day period in 2023. Nearly $6 million was seized from bank accounts controlled by Mohammed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office and Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Renee Hunter of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
• Olatunbosun Osukoya, 67, of Plano, Texas, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with the submission of over $25 million in false and fraudulent medical claims to Medicare, TRICARE, and other insurers for electroencephalogram (EEG) testing. As alleged in the indictment, Osukoya, the owner of Ayo Biometrics, LLC d/b/a Cambridge Diagnostics, sought out individuals with insurance plans to undergo expensive EEG testing and recruited and paid kickbacks and bribes to physicians and others to refer patients to Cambridge Diagnostics. To conceal the scheme and to make it appear that the services were necessary, Osukoya and his co-conspirators allegedly falsified diagnoses and falsely labeled kickback payments as loans, medical directorships, and consultation fees, among other things. Osukoya, through Cambridge Diagnostics, was paid over $5 million for the claims and is alleged to have paid out over $450,000 in illegal kickbacks. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office and Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Renee Hunter of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
Additional charges across the country involved a variety of fraudulent medical billing schemes, as noted below:
Transnational Criminal Organizations
29 defendants were charged for their roles in transnational criminal organizations alleged to have submitted over $12 billion in fraudulent claims to America’s health insurance programs.
For instance, a nationwide investigation known as Operation Gold Rush resulted in the largest loss amount ever charged in a health care fraud case brought by the Department. These charges were announced in the Eastern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, the Central District of California, the Middle District of Florida, and the District of New Jersey against 19 defendants. Twelve of these defendants have been arrested, including four defendants who were apprehended in Estonia as a result of international cooperation with Estonian law enforcement and seven defendants who were arrested at U.S. airports and the U.S. border with Mexico, cutting off their intended escape routes as they attempted to avoid capture.
The organization allegedly used a network of foreign straw owners, including individuals sent into the United States from abroad, who, acting at the direction of others using encrypted messaging and assumed identities from overseas, strategically bought dozens of medical supply companies located across the United States. They then rapidly submitted $10.6 billion in fraudulent health care claims to Medicare for urinary catheters and other durable medical equipment by exploiting the stolen identities of over one million Americans spanning all 50 states and using their confidential medical information to submit the fraudulent claims. As alleged, the organization exploited the U.S. financial system by laundering the fraudulent proceeds and deploying a range of tactics to circumvent anti-money laundering controls to transfer funds into cryptocurrency and shell companies located abroad. The arrests announced today also include a banker who facilitated the money laundering of fraud proceeds on behalf of the organization through a U.S.-based bank.
The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team and its partners detected the anomalous billing through proactive data analytics, and HHS-OIG and CMS successfully prevented the organization from receiving all but approximately $41 million of the approximately $4.45 billion that was scheduled to be paid by Medicare. HHS and CMS intend to seek to return the $4.41 billion in escrow to the Medicare trust fund for needed medical care. The scheme nonetheless resulted in payments of approximately $900 million from Medicare supplemental insurers. To date, law enforcement has seized approximately $27.7 million in fraud proceeds as part of Operation Gold Rush.
In another action involving foreign influence, charges were filed in the Northern District of Illinois against five defendants, including two owners and executives of Pakistani marketing organizations, in connection with a $703 million scheme in which Medicare beneficiaries’ identification numbers and other confidential health information were allegedly obtained through theft and deceptive marketing. The defendants allegedly used artificial intelligence to create fake recordings of Medicare beneficiaries purportedly consenting to receive certain products. According to court documents, the beneficiaries’ confidential information was then illegally sold to laboratories and durable medical equipment companies, which used this unlawfully obtained and fraudulently generated data to submit false claims to Medicare. Certain defendants controlled dozens of nominee-owned durable medical equipment companies and laboratories that allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for products and services the beneficiaries did not request, need, or receive. Certain defendants also allegedly conspired to conceal and launder the fraud proceeds from bank accounts they controlled in the United States to bank accounts overseas. In total, the defendants caused approximately $703 million in alleged fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans, which paid approximately $418 million on those claims. The government seized approximately $44.7 million from various bank accounts related to this case.
Finally, a defendant based in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates who owned a billing company allegedly orchestrated a scheme to prey upon vulnerable individuals in need of addiction treatment by conspiring with treatment center owners to fraudulently bill Arizona Medicaid approximately $650 million for substance abuse treatment services. According to court documents, some of the services billed were never provided, while other services were provided at a level that was so substandard that it failed to serve any treatment purpose. As part of the conspiracy, treatment center owners allegedly paid illegal kickbacks in exchange for the referral of patients recruited from the homeless population and Native American reservations. The defendant received at least $25 million of ill-gotten Arizona Medicaid funds as a result of the conspiracy and is charged with a money laundering offense for his alleged use of those funds to purchase a $2.9 million home located on a golf estate in Dubai.
Fraudulent Wound Care
Charges were filed in the District of Arizona and the District of Nevada against seven defendants, including five medical professionals, in connection with approximately $1.1 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare and other health care benefit programs for amniotic wound allografts. As alleged, certain defendants targeted vulnerable elderly patients, many of whom were receiving hospice care, and applied medically unnecessary amniotic allografts to these patients’ wounds. Many of the allografts allegedly were applied without coordination with the patients’ treating physicians, without proper treatment for infection, to superficial wounds that did not need this treatment, and to areas that far exceeded the size of the wound. Certain defendants allegedly received millions in illegal kickbacks from the fraudulent billing scheme.
“Today's unprecedented enforcement action demonstrates that CMS and our federal partners are united in our mission to protect the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid by crushing waste, fraud, and abuse," said Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz of CMS. "Every dollar we prevent from going to fraudsters is a dollar that stays in the system to serve legitimate beneficiaries. Through advanced data analytics, real-time monitoring, and swift administrative action, CMS is leading the fight to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and the trust Americans place in these vital programs. We're not waiting for fraud to happen—we're stopping it before it starts."
Prescription Opioid Trafficking
74 defendants, including 44 licensed medical professionals, were charged across 58 cases in connection with the alleged illegal diversion of over 15 million pills of prescription opioids and other controlled substances. For example, five defendants associated with one Texas pharmacy were charged with the unlawful distribution of over 3 million opioid pills. As alleged, the defendants conspired to distribute massive quantities of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and carisoprodol, which were subsequently trafficked by street-level drug dealers, generating large profits for the defendants. This coordinated action is a continuation of the Health Care Fraud Unit’s systematic approach to stopping drug trafficking organizations and their pharmaceutical wholesale suppliers, which together have fueled an epidemic of prescription opioid abuse for nearly a decade.
DEA also announced today that in the last six months, DEA charged 93 administrative cases seeking the revocation of pharmacies, medical practitioners, and companies authority to handle and/or prescribe controlled substances.
“Health care fraud isn’t just theft — it’s trafficking in trust. Today’s announcement shows that when doctors become drug dealers and treatment centers become profit-driven fraud rings, DEA will act,” said Acting Administrator Robert Murphy of the DEA. “We’re targeting the entire ecosystem of fraud — from pill mills in Texas to kickback clinics exploiting Native communities. If you abuse your medical license to push poison or pad your pockets, we will hold you accountable.”
Telemedicine and Genetic Testing Fraud
In today’s Takedown, 49 defendants were charged in connection with the submission of over $1.17 billion in allegedly fraudulent claims to Medicare resulting from telemedicine and genetic testing fraud schemes. For example, in the Southern District of Florida, prosecutors charged an owner of telemedicine and durable medical equipment companies with a $46 million scheme in which Medicare beneficiaries were allegedly targeted through deceptive telemarketing campaigns and then fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare for durable medical equipment and genetic tests for these beneficiaries. The Department continues to focus on eliminating health care fraud schemes that depend on telemedicine, including schemes involving fraudulent claims for genetic testing, durable medical equipment, and COVID-19 tests.
Other Health Care Fraud Schemes
The other cases announced today charge an additional 170 defendants with various other health care fraud schemes involving over $1.84 billion in allegedly false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies for diagnostic testing, medical visits, and treatments that were medically unnecessary, provided in connection with kickbacks and bribes, or never provided at all. For example, in the Western District of Tennessee, prosecutors charged three defendants, including business owners and a pharmacist, with a $28.7 million scheme to defraud the Federal Employees’ Compensation Fund by allegedly billing for medications for injured United States Postal Service employees that were never prescribed by a licensed practitioner and largely were not dispensed as claimed. And in the Western District of Washington and the Northern District of California, prosecutors charged medical providers with allegedly stealing fentanyl and hydrocodone, respectively, that was meant for the providers’ patients, including child patients in need of anesthesia.
“VA’s Integrated Veteran Care Programs provide critical community-based health care to our nation’s disabled veterans and their dependents,” said Acting Inspector General David Case of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG). “Robust oversight of VA’s health care system is one of VA-OIG’s highest priorities. VA-OIG is committed to holding accountable those who defraud government benefits programs intended to care for our nation’s heroes.”
Breaking Down Silos in the Fight Against Health Care Fraud
In connection with the coordinated nationwide law enforcement operation, the Department is announcing that it is working closely with HHS-OIG, FBI, and other agencies to create a Health Care Fraud Data Fusion Center to bring together experts from the Department’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section, Health Care Fraud Unit Data Analytics Team; HHS-OIG; FBI; and other agencies to leverage cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to identify emerging health care fraud schemes. The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team was established in 2018 to enhance the Unit’s ability to detect, investigate, and prosecute complex health care fraud schemes. Joining forces with data analysts from HHS-OIG, FBI, and other partners will increase efficiency, detection, and rapid prosecution of emerging health care fraud schemes. It will also implement the President’s Executive Order Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos (Exec. Order No. 14243, 3 C.F.R. 294 (2025)) by reducing duplicative data teams, increasing operational efficiency through a whole-of-government approach, and leveraging cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other agency resources.
Principal Assistant Deputy Chief Jacob Foster, Assistant Deputy Chief Rebecca Yuan, Trial Attorney Miriam L. Glaser Dauermann, and Data Analyst Elizabeth Nolte, all of the Health Care Fraud Unit of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, led and coordinated this year’s Takedown. Four cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, in addition to those handled by the Health Care Fraud Unit’s National Rapid Response, Florida, Gulf Coast, Los Angeles, Midwest, New England, Northeast, and Texas Strike Forces; U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Arizona, Central District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California, District of Columbia, District of Connecticut, District of Delaware, Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Georgia, District of Idaho, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Kentucky, Western District of Kentucky, Eastern District of Louisiana, Middle District of Louisiana, District of Maine, District of Massachusetts, Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan, Northern District of Mississippi, Southern District of Mississippi, District of Montana, District of Nevada, District of New Hampshire, District of New Jersey, Eastern District of New York, Northern District of New York, Southern District of New York, Western District of New York, Eastern District of North Carolina, Western District of North Carolina, District of North Dakota, Northern District of Ohio, Southern District of Ohio, Northern District of Oklahoma, Western District of Oklahoma, District of Oregon, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of South Carolina, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee, Southern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, District of Vermont, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Washington, and Northern District of West Virginia; and State Attorneys General’s Offices for California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. The Health Care Fraud Unit’s Data Analytics Team used cutting-edge data analytics to identify and support the investigations that led to these charges.
In addition to FBI, HHS-OIG, DEA, and CMS, HSI, VA-OIG, IRS Criminal Investigation, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Department of Labor, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the operation. The Medicaid Fraud Control Units of California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin also participated in the investigation of many of the federal and state cases announced today.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Forces. Prior to the charges announced as part of today’s nationwide Takedown and since its inception in March 2007, the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, which operates in 27 districts, charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers more than $27 billion.
An indictment, information, or complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The following materials related to today’s announcement are available on the Health Care Fraud Unit’s website:
• Court Documents
Four Family Members Charged in Multimillion-Dollar Tax Refund Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, returned an indictment on June 11, unsealed yesterday, charging four family members with conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing tax returns that sought millions of dollars in false refunds.
The following is according to the indictment: beginning in 2016, David Hunt, of Arlington, Texas, his twin sons Brandon Hunt and Baylon Hunt, also of Arlington, and Brandon and Baylon’s half-brother Corey Burt, of Mississippi, allegedly conspired to file false tax returns in the name of purported trusts that sought over $8.5 million in tax refunds that the trusts were not entitled to receive. Brandon Hunt also filed a false return in his own name. Collectively, the defendants allegedly received over $1 million from the IRS based on those false tax returns.
Brandon and Baylon Hunt also allegedly submitted additional fake documents to the IRS as part of their scheme, including falsified financial instruments and altered money orders. The indictment further alleges that they shared in the proceeds of their fraud by transferring money between themselves. The defendants also allegedly used the refunds to purchase luxury goods, cryptocurrency, and real estate.
Each defendant was charged with conspiracy as well as aiding and assisting in the preparation of tax returns. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. The defendants also face a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson of the Northern District of Texas made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Melissa Siskind and Daniel Lipkowitz of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Weybrecht for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Four Family Members Charged in Multimillion-Dollar Tax Refund Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
A federal grand jury in Fort Worth, Texas, returned an indictment on June 11, unsealed yesterday, charging four family members with conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing tax returns that sought millions of dollars in false refunds.
The following is according to the indictment: beginning in 2016, David Hunt, of Arlington, Texas, his twin sons Brandon Hunt and Baylon Hunt, also of Arlington, and Brandon and Baylon’s half-brother Corey Burt, of Mississippi, allegedly conspired to file false tax returns in the name of purported trusts that sought over $8.5 million in tax refunds that the trusts were not entitled to receive. Brandon Hunt also filed a false return in his own name. Collectively, the defendants allegedly received over $1 million from the IRS based on those false tax returns.
Brandon and Baylon Hunt also allegedly submitted additional fake documents to the IRS as part of their scheme, including falsified financial instruments and altered money orders. The indictment further alleges that they shared in the proceeds of their fraud by transferring money between themselves. The defendants also allegedly used the refunds to purchase luxury goods, cryptocurrency, and real estate.
Each defendant was charged with conspiracy as well as aiding and assisting in the preparation of tax returns. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. The defendants also face a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson of the Northern District of Texas made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Melissa Siskind and Daniel Lipkowitz of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Weybrecht for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Four Defendants Charged with Various Offenses Including Arson, Assaulting a Federal Officer, and Depredation of Federal Property During Protests Near Local ICE OfficeRead the Press Release
PORTLAND, Ore.—Four defendants made their first appearances in federal court Monday after committing various offenses—including arson and willful depredation of government property—during ongoing protest gatherings near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in South Portland.
Nadya Malinowska, 33, of Portland, has been charged by information with the misdemeanor offense of failing to obey a lawful order.
David Pearl, 35, also of Portland, has been charged by information with the misdemeanor offenses of failing to obey a lawful order and creating a disturbance.
August Dean Gordon, 31, of Beaverton, Oregon, has been charged by criminal complaint with the misdemeanor offenses of willful depredation of government property and assaulting a federal officer.
Trenten Edward Barker, 34, of Portland, has been charged by criminal complaint with the felony offenses of arson of federal property and depredation against federal property.
According to court documents and information shared in court, on June 29, 2025, several individuals gathered near an ICE office in South Portland where, for weeks, individuals have repeatedly targeted the building and federal law enforcement officers.
At approximately 3:14am, federal officers observed an individual, later identified as Gordon, pulling a proximity card reader from a stanchion located on the ICE facility’s driveway. During his arrest, Gordon kicked and grabbed the officers, injuring five officers as they placed him into custody.
Later that evening, after federal officers directed the crowd to disperse, Malinowska refused to leave the premises. Malinowska was also charged with failing to comply with an officer’s orders to leave the premises on June 17, 2025, and on June 21, 2025.
The same evening, while officers were arresting an individual, Pearl attempted to interfere with the officers as they placed the individual into custody.
On June 11, 2025, during related gatherings at the ICE office, federal officers observed a group of individuals attempting to construct a barricade against the vehicle gate of the ICE building using a range of materials. At approximately 9:51pm, federal officers observed an individual, later identified as Barker, retrieve a flare from his backpack which he lit and tossed onto the pile of materials stacked against the vehicle gate, igniting the materials. Officers observed other individuals adding items to the pile of materials as the flames grew. The officers fully extinguished the fire within minutes. Barker was arrested on June 27, 2025.
All four defendants made their first appearances in federal court Monday before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. They were released on conditions pending future court proceedings.
Felony arson of federal property is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. Misdemeanor assault of a federal officer and misdemeanor willful depredation of government property are punishable by up to one year in federal prison. Failure to obey a lawful order and creating a disturbance are Class C misdemeanors and carry a maximum penalty of 30 days in prison.
These cases were investigated by the FBI, Federal Protective Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
A criminal complaint and an information are only accusations of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Former Rochester area teacher pleads guilty to child pornography chargeRead the Press Release
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Kevin Burns, 45, of Irondequoit, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Meredith A. Vacca to possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, who is handling the case, stated that on November 5, 2024, the New York State Police executed a search warrant at the Burns’ residence in Irondequoit, because of a child pornography file he uploaded to Bing Image. During the search, electronic devices were seized, including a computer. More than 450 images of child pornography were found on the computer. Some of the images depicted violence against children and the sexual exploitation of an infant or toddler.
The plea is the result of an investigation by the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Kevin Sucher and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Mark Grimm.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 29, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Vacca.
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Former Federal Correctional Officer Pleads Guilty to Engaging in a Sexual Act with a Federal PrisonerRead the Press Release
JACKSON, MS – A former Federal Bureau of Prisons Correctional Officer pled guilty to Engaging in a Sexual Act with a Federal Prisoner at the Federal Correctional Complex in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
Parker M. Triplett, age 25, was immediately taken into federal custody of the United States Marshal Service until her sentencing, which is scheduled for September 24, 2025. She faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Lemon of the Southern District of Mississippi made the announcement. The Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kabah S. Ealy is prosecuting the case.
Former D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services Employee Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing a 17-Year-Old WardRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON—Kelvin Powell, 63, of Temple Hills, Maryland, was found guilty on all counts by a D.C. Superior Court jury today in connection with the sexual abuse of a 17-year-old minor who was in the custody of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
The jury deliberated for one day following an eight-day trial, and found Powell guilty of sixteen counts, that is, committing four counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a ward, four counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, four counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a ward, and four counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. D.C. Superior Court Associate Judge Rainey Brandt scheduled sentencing for September 5, 2025.
According to evidence presented over the course of the trial, Powell served as a Youth Development Representative (YDR) at the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS)’s Youth Services Center (YSC). DYRS is the District of Columbia government agency responsible for the supervision, custody, and care of young people detained while pending charges for a delinquent act. As a YDR, Powell was responsible for the care, custody, and control of the juvenile residents being detained at YSC.
“The Defendant used his position of authority to repeatedly sexually abuse a minor who was in his care and more than four decades younger than him,” said United States Attorney Pirro. “The power imbalance allowed him to repeatedly victimize a young girl who was under his protection. These crimes were reprehensible. As shown here, prosecutors in my office and our partners at the FBI and MPD will go to every length to uncover such acts, prove them in court, and hold the offenders accountable.”
“Powell used his position of trust to prey upon a minor who counted on him for care and protection," said Assistant Director in Charge Steven Jensen of the FBI's Washington Field Office. "Today’s verdict is the next step in bringing the full measure of justice to those who would abuse their authority to harm vulnerable children.”
Between December 2021 through February 2022, Powell used his position and his authority to repeatedly sexually abuse a then-seventeen-year-old minor ward residing at YSC. During that time, Powell repeatedly isolated the minor in areas of YSC that were not covered by video surveillance cameras. In those areas, Powell repeatedly sexually abused the minor by committing sexual acts and sexual contacts to her. In an incident captured by surveillance cameras, Powell sexually abused the minor by groping her clothed buttocks in a hallway at YSC.
Powell faces a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years for first degree sexual abuse of a minor, seven and ½ years for second degree sexual abuse of a minor, 10 years for first degree sexual abuse of a ward, and five years for second degree sexual abuse of a ward.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office with valuable assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tim Visser, Jessica Wash, and Niki Holmes. Former Assistant United States Attorneys Risa Berkower and Cara Gardner provided critical assistance.
Felon Indicted for Illegal Possession of a Firearm Following Arrest in NortheastRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – Ronald Aiken, 48, of the District of Columbia, has been charged in an indictment, unsealed today in U.S. District Court, on a federal firearms charge as part of the "Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful" initiative.
The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Aiken is charged federally with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon.
According to court documents, on June 10, 2025, members of the MPD’s Fifth District Crime Suppression Team were on patrol following two shootings in the area. As officers drove on the 1700 block of D Street NE, they observed a gray Audi sedan without a front registration plate driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Officers stopped the Audi on the 1700 block of Gales Street NE, and approached the driver, later identified as Ronald Aiken.
Through the window, officers observed an open can of beer in an unzipped backpack on the rear passenger seat. Officers searched the backpack and discovered a live round of ammunition. During a further search of the vehicle, officers discovered a firearm wedged behind the rear driver-side seat. Officers identified the firearm as a black Taurus G3 9x19 pistol, loaded with one round in the chamber and three additional rounds in the magazine.
Aiken is prohibited from possession a firearm and ammunition due to multiple prior felony convictions, including a 2024 Arlington County, Virginia Circuit Court conviction for the possession/transport of a firearm by a convicted felon.
This case is being investigated by the ATF Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Sussler and Brendan Horan are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.