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15 July 2015
Jesup Man Sentenced to Fourteen Years for Distributing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
A man who distributed child pornography was sentenced July 14, 2015 to 14 years in federal prison.
William Smith, age 34, of Jesup, Iowa, received the sentence after a March 2, 2015 guilty plea to one count of distribution of child pornography. At the guilty plea hearing, Smith admitted that, in June 2013, he used a cell phone to distribute child pornography.
Smith was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Smith was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and he must also serve an eight-year term of supervised release. He must comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Marion Police Department.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 14-140.
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Jacksonville Tax Return Preparer Sentenced to Federal Prison for Fraudulent Tax ReturnsRead the Press Release
Jacksonville, Florida – Senior United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams has sentenced Thomas Bandzul to 18 months in federal prison for wire fraud. The Court also ordered him to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the amount of $311,824, based on excessive refunds that Bandzul had claimed on behalf of taxpayer clients, as well as excessive refunds that he had claimed on his individual tax returns for 2008 and 2009.
Bandzul pleaded guilty in September 2014.
According to court records, from January 2008 through May 2011, Bandzul was a tax return preparer in Duval and St. Johns counties. He knowingly and willfully made false claims for deductions and credits on 32 tax returns on behalf of his clients, which resulted in additional IRS tax refunds. As part of a scheme to defraud, Bandzul would prepare and furnish one tax return to his taxpayer clients, but would then make separate false and fraudulent claims that he actually filed electronically with the IRS. By prearranged agreement with his clients, Bandzul was to be paid a specified fee out of the anticipated IRS refunds. In many cases, Bandzul caused the additional higher tax refunds to be paid to him without his clients’ knowledge or consent.
In addition, Bandzul also committed tax fraud on his individual federal tax returns for 2008 and 2009.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dale R. Campion.
Investment Executive Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 21 Months in Prison for Multimillion-Dollar Insurance Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ALLEN REICHMAN, a former Executive Director of Investments at a New York investment bank and financial services company, was sentenced today to 21 months in prison and $10 million in restitution for defrauding his employer in connection with the fraudulent purchase of an Oklahoma-based insurance company. REICHMAN pleaded guilty in February 2015 before Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald imposed today’s sentence.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “To line his own pockets, Allen Reichman fraudulently induced his investment firm to enter into a $30 million loan transaction with an Oklahoma insurance company. His dishonest scheme caused the collapse of the insurance company, and has now led to his loss of liberty.”
According to the Information, other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made during court proceedings:
Background
During the relevant time period, REICHMAN was an executive at an investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York, New York (the “Investment Firm”). From July 2008 to November 2009, REICHMAN conspired with Charles J. Antonucci, Sr., and Matthew L. Morris, the President and Senior Vice President, respectively, of Park Avenue Bank, a New York bank, and Wilbur Anthony Huff, a Kentucky businessman who controlled numerous entities located throughout the United States, to defraud the Investment Firm and Oklahoma insurance regulators regarding Antonucci’s purchase of Providence Property and Casualty Insurance Company (“Providence P&C”), an Oklahoma-based insurance company that was owed $5 million by a company Huff controlled. Providence P&C was licensed to operate by the Oklahoma Insurance Department (“OID”), which regulated various practices of Oklahoma insurance companies. Under the OID’s regulations and applicable Oklahoma law, Providence P&C was required to maintain a certain amount of assets to ensure that adequate funds were on hand to pay policyholders’ claims and anticipated claims.
REICHMAN and his co-conspirators schemed to defraud the Investment Firm into providing a $30 million loan to finance Antonucci’s purchase of Providence P&C and to defraud Oklahoma insurance regulators into approving the purchase. Antonucci’s purchase of Providence P&C was financed by a $30 million loan from the Investment Firm, which used Providence P&C’s own assets, including the reserve assets, as collateral for the loan. Because Oklahoma insurance regulators had to approve any sale of Providence P&C, and because Oklahoma law forbade the use of Providence P&C’s assets as collateral for such a loan, REICHMAN, Huff, Morris, and Antonucci made, and conspired to make, a number of material misstatements and material omissions to the Investment Firm and Oklahoma insurance regulators concerning the true nature of the financing for the purchase. Specifically, Investment Firm executives and others warned REICHMAN on several occasions that using Providence P&C’s assets as collateral for the loan was illegal and that he should not cause the loan to be issued.
At his guilty plea, REICHMAN admitted that he attended a meeting where he was advised by Providence P&C’s general counsel that “under Oklahoma regulations Providence's assets could not be pledged to secure a loan.” Reichman “never passed on to [the Investment Firm] what Providence’s lawyers had said at the meeting.” Instead, he provided misleading information to various individuals at the Investment Firm and elsewhere regarding the loan, including directing Antonucci to sign a letter that provided false information regarding the collateral that would be used for the loan. Despite the warnings from Investment Firm executives and others, and REICHMAN’s knowledge that the loan was in fact illegal, on January 30, 2009, REICHMAN caused the Investment Firm to issue the illegal $30 million loan, which was secured by the very assets that were supposed to be unencumbered and maintained in reserve to pay Providence P&C’s policyholder claims.
After deceiving the Investment Firm into issuing the $30 million loan, REICHMAN received at least $200,000 in commissions from the Investment Firm as a result of the illegal loan. Ultimately, in November 2009, encumbered by the $30 million loan, the insurance company became insolvent and was placed in receivership. The Investment Firm incurred losses totalling $10 million as a result of the insurance company’s insolvency. The amount of restitution ordered today as part of the sentencing is based on the $10 million loss.
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In addition to prison, REICHMAN, 54, of Irvington, New York, was sentenced to two years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $200,000 to the United States and to pay $10 million in restitution to the Investment Firm, his former employer.
Wilbur Anthony Huff, who pled guilty to his role in the above-described offense and other interrelated frauds in December 2014, was sentenced by Judge Buchwald on June 4, 2015, to 12 years in prison. Charles Antonucci and Matthew Morris pled guilty for their roles in the criminal conduct on October 8, 2010, and October 17, 2013, respectively. They are scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Buchwald on August 19, 2015, and August 20, 2015, respectively.
Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York State Department of Financial Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the Office of Inspector General of the FDIC.
The charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it is the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Janis Echenberg and Daniel Tehrani and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Tino Lisella are in charge of the criminal case.
Honduran National Sentenced for Illegal ReentryRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that EDIN ANTONIO PLEITES-ZAMORA, age 24, a citizen of Honduras, was sentenced today after pleading guilty today to a one-count indictment charging him with illegal reentry of a removed alien.
U.S. District Judge Sara S. Vance sentenced PLEITES-ZAMORA to time served and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. PLEITES-ZAMORA will be surrendered to the custody of the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings.
According to court documents, PLEITES-ZAMORA reentered the United States on or about November 4, 2014, after having been previously removed on May 25, 2012.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the United States Department of Homeland Security, United States Border Patrol in investigating this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Spiro G. Latsis is in charge of the prosecution.
Four Jefferson City Men Indicted for Distributing MethRead the Press Release
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a fourth Jefferson City, Mo., man has been charged along with three co-defendants who were earlier indicted following a police chase that resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of methamphetamine.
Matthew Raymond Eppenauer, 31, of Jefferson City, was charged in a four-count superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City. Today’s superseding indictment replaces a Feb. 25, 2015, federal indictment and adds Eppenauer as a co-defendant.
Co-defendants David Eugene Rodebaugh, 40, Michael Pearson, 32, and Hernan Hurtado, 24, all of Jefferson City, were charged in the original indictment and remain charged in identical counts in today’s superseding indictment. They have remained in federal custody without bond since their arrest on Feb. 13, 2015.
Today’s indictment alleges that Eppenauer, Rodebaugh, Pearson and Hurtado participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
In addition to the conspiracy, Rodebaugh and Pearson are charged together in one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Hurtado is also charged with one count of distributing methamphetamine. Eppenauer is also charged with one count attempting to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.
According to affidavits filed in support of the original federal criminal complaints that were filed against Rodebaugh, Pearson and Hurtado, law enforcement officers were conducting surveillance of Rodebaugh on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 as part of an ongoing drug-trafficking investigation. Rodebaugh and Pearson met with Hurtado in the parking lot at the Capital Mall in Jefferson City, the affidavit says, where Pearson took a plastic bag from the back cab area of Hurtado’s pickup and placed it in the back seat of the Acura he and Rodebaugh had driven to the mall.
Pearson drove the Acura, with Rodebaugh in the front passenger seat, as they left the mall. Police attempted to stop Pearson, the affidavit says, but he refused to stop and led officers in pursuit. The Acura was eventually rendered inoperable and Pearson fled on foot. Rodebaugh remained inside the Acura and was detained. Pearson was later located and arrested.
According to the affidavit, law enforcement officers found the plastic bag, which Rodebaugh later admitted he had thrown out the vehicle’s window during the pursuit, about 75 yards from where the Acura was stopped. Inside the plastic bag were two large bundles that contained approximately five pounds of methamphetamine.
Later that same afternoon, Hurtado called the Jefferson City, Mo., Police Department to report he had been robbed of $6,000 while at his home in Jefferson City. Hurtado voluntarily came to the police station, where he was questioned and arrested.
Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, MUSTANG (the Mid-Missouri Unified Strike Team and Narcotics Group) and the Jefferson City, Mo., Police Department.
Four Aliens Indicted on Illegal Reentry ChargesRead the Press Release
HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Carlos Hernandez-Mejia, age 29, a citizen of El Salvador, Eduardo Hernandez-Lara, age 32, Anabel Maganda-Marcial age 37, and Miguel Salazar-Gomez, age 33, citizens of Mexico, were indicted separately today by a federal grand jury in Harrisburg on illegal re-entry charges.
According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Hernandez-Mejia was previously convicted of an aggravated felony and removed from the United States in 2008. He was in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania at the time he was taken into custody. The maximum penalty under federal law is 20 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
This matter was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Prosecution has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph J. Terz.
Hernandez-Lara was taken into custody in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania and was allegedly previously deported from the United States in 2007. The maximum penalty under federal law is 2 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
Maganda-Marcial was taken into custody in York, Pennsylvania and was allegedly previously removed from the United States in 2006. The maximum penalty under federal law is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
Both matters were investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and prosecution has been assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Clancy.
Salazar-Gomez illegally re-entered the United States allegedly after having previously been deported in 2004, 2005 and 2014. Salazar was arrested in March of this year in Adams County and taken into the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. The maximum penalty under federal law is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
This matter was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod has been assigned to prosecute the case.
Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilty is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
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Former Texas State Judge in Federal Judicial Corruption Case Sentenced to PrisonRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – A former Texas state district court judge in Bexar County, Texas, was sentenced this afternoon by U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio, Texas, for his conviction on an honest services wire fraud charge. Angus Kelly McGinty, 51, will serve a 24-month term of incarceration followed by a year of supervised release.
Alberto Acevedo, Jr., 61, a San Antonio attorney, who was convicted of bribing McGinty in exchange for favorable judicial rulings that benefited Acevedo and his clients, also was sentenced this afternoon. Noting that Acevedo provided substantial assistance to the United States in its investigation and prosecution of McGinty, Judge Rodriguez sentenced Acevedo to a year and a day in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
“Fairness and impartiality are the cornerstones of our judicial system, and judges are expected to protect the public’s trust in the system. Those who fail to do so will be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez. “We cannot and will not allow the public’s faith in our legal system to be shaken by judicial corruption.”
“Judge Angus McGinty is just one more name on a long list of public officials who have come to realize how committed the FBI is to investigating public corruption,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher H. Combs of the FBI’s San Antonio Division.
McGinty initially was charged with conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, federal programs bribery, extortion under color of official right, and honest services wire fraud in an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in June 2014. In Feb. 2015, a five-count superseding indictment was filed charging McGinty with conspiracy to commit honest service wire fraud, three counts of honest services wire fraud, and extortion under color of official right. At the time of the events underlying the charges in the indictments, McGinty was a state district court judge in the criminal division of the 144th Judicial District Court in Bexar County, Texas. According to the superseding indictment, between Jan. 2013 and Sept. 2013, McGinty solicited and accepted bribes from Acevedo, an attorney who appeared before him, in exchange for favorable rulings for Acevedo’s clients. McGinty resigned from the bench on Feb. 14, 2014.
According to court documents, from Jan. 2013 through Sept. 2013, McGinty solicited and accepted bribes from Acevedo in exchange for favorable judicial rulings that benefited Acevedo and his clients. Acevedo’s bribes to McGinty included cash, car repairs, arranging the sale of McGinty’s vehicle, and registering a vehicle purchased by McGinty. In exchange, McGinty provided the favorable judicial rulings requested by Acevedo, including lenient sentences and less restrictive conditions of release for Acevedo’s clients. According to the indictments, McGinty received gifts, payments and other things of value totaling more than $6,655.00 from Acevedo.
McGinty pled guilty on April 13, 2015, to an honest services wire fraud charge and admitted depriving the State of Texas and citizens of Bexar County of his honest services by soliciting and accepting bribes intended to influence his judicial decisions.
Acevedo pled guilty on March 17, 2014, to a felony information charging him with bribery involving a program receiving federal funds. In entering his guilty plea, Acevedo admitted that he corruptly influenced McGinty by giving him things of value in exchange for favorable judicial rulings that benefitted him and his clients.
U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez praised the investigative work of the San Antonio Division of the FBI. The prosecution of this case in federal court in San Antonio, Texas, was handled by Special Attorneys Mark A. Saltman and Brock E. Taylor of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas was recused.
Former South Congaree Chief of Police SentencedRead the Press Release
Contact Person: Jay Richardson (803) 929-3000
Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Jason Amodio (46) of Lexington, South Carolina was sentenced to eight months of home confinement and four years of probation. Senior United States District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. sentenced Amodio in federal court in Columbia, for Lying to a Federal Grand Jury, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1623. Evidence established that during a joint federal and state investigation into illegal gambling, extortion under color of law, mail and wire fraud, and related public corruption in Lexington County, Amodio appeared before a federal grand jury. Asked about the purpose of a particular check payable to Amodio, Amodio claimed that the check was a loan. In fact, Amodio knew this was false and that the check was an improper payment from an attorney in Lexington. Amodio had assisted in convincing a family to hire that attorney to file a civil lawsuit after a car wreck had left one member of the family dead and one injured. When the attorney received a fee in return for his representation, that attorney then paid Amodio through an intermediary.
United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated, “We must ensure that the public has confidence that officials have integrity and are truthful. Mr. Amodio transported himself from the Chief of Police to a felon because he betrayed this basic tenant.”
The Court arrived at the sentence by factoring in the cooperation that Mr. Amodio has provided and is currently providing in an on-going public corruption probe. Additionally, Mr. Amodio has agreed to plead guilty in state court to a charge of misconduct in office. This case is part of a joint investigation of the FBI, SLED, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, and the United States Attorney’s Office into public corruption and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jay N. Richardson and Jim May and Assistant Deputy Attorney Generals Creighton Waters and Brian Petrano.
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Former NMSU Student Sentenced to Probation for Hindering Investigation into Internet Threats to Shoot up the UniversityRead the Press Release
ALBUQUERQUE – Zachary Milton Hess, 20, of Las Cruces, N.M., was sentenced this afternoon in federal court to five years of probation for his conviction on a misdemeanor charge of being an accessory after the fact to the interstate transmission of an extortionate communication. Hess was also ordered to pay $77,934.00 in restitution to the university.
Hess was arrested on Aug. 25, 2014, on a criminal complaint charging him with sending in interstate commerce a threat to shoot up his college campus. According to the criminal complaint, on May 27, 2014, an individual anonymously threatened to “shoot [his] college campus up in 3 days” and identified his college as New Mexico State University (NMSU) while “chatting” on an Internet website. The threat subsequently was posted on to NMSU’s Facebook page and was passed onto law enforcement, including the FBI. The FBI’s investigation revealed that the IP Address from which the threat was posted was subscribed to Hess’s residence. An examination of Hess’s computer revealed that it had been used to visit the website on the same date and time on which the threat was posted.
The criminal complaint states that NMSU expended significant resources in responding to the threat. Among other things, NMSU officials informed approximately 18,774 students, facility, staff and private citizens about the anonymous threat; advised students, faculty and staff to depart the campus; and shut down its new student registration process. NMSU lost approximately 1,000 staff hours in responding to the threat.
On March 18, 2015, Hess pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the interstate transmission of an extortionate communication. In his plea agreement, Hess admitted that on May 29, 2014, he knew that communications had been sent over the Internet making threats to shoot up NMSU and that he assisted in hindering the investigation into the threats.
This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the NMSU Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Lizarraga of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
Former Joplin Oncologist Sentenced for Dispensing Foreign, Misbranded DrugsRead the Press Release
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an oncologist who operated a clinic in Joplin, Mo., was sentenced in federal court today for dispensing foreign, misbranded drugs to his cancer patients.
Robert L. Carter, 74, of Carthage, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to five years of probation and ordered to pay $971,854 in restitution and a criminal forfeiture judgment of $1.2 million. Carter has already paid the full restitution amount to Medicare, Tri-Care, Missouri Medicaid, Oklahoma Medicaid and Kansas Medicaid. Carter has already paid $228,145 of the forfeiture judgment and still owes $971,854 in criminal forfeiture payment. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Carter must cease practicing medicine in Missouri during the probation period.
On March 30, 2015, Carter pleaded guilty to buying and selling misbranded prescription drugs. Carter was the president and medical practitioner of Robert L. Carter, M.D., in Joplin, from Oct. 23, 1991, to April 2, 2012. As a medical oncologist, Carter provided care and treatment for patients with cancer and blood diseases. The practice purchased prescription drugs, including chemotherapy drugs, which were prescribed by Carter and were administered and dispensed through the practice. Reimbursement for the drugs and their administration was sought from the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Tricare as well as other private health care benefit programs.
In April 2010, Carter began ordering prescription cancer drugs from Quality Specialty Products (QSP) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. QSP sold drugs – which had been obtained from foreign sources and which had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for distribution or use in the United States – to physicians and other health care providers in the United States.
QSP shipped misbranded and FDA-unapproved drugs to Carter at his practice in Joplin. These misbranded and FDA-unapproved drugs were administered to Carter’s cancer patients and Carter was reimbursed by government and private health insurance programs.
The labeling for the prescription drugs that Carter purchased from QSP was different than the versions of the drugs the FDA had approved for distribution in the United States. Among other things, they did not have labels bearing the symbol “Rx only,” and the labeling for some of the drugs was in one or more foreign languages. Some of the prescription drugs lacked mixing and use instructions in the English language.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.
Former Department of Corrections Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing State Restitution FundsRead the Press Release
ATLANTA – Daynna Gregory, the last of three defendants charged with stealing state restitution funds, has pleaded guilty. Earlier this year, Tammi Stephens and Richard Cantrell also entered guilty pleas to theft of public funds and conspiracy stemming from a check fraud scheme to steal from a victims’ restitution fund controlled by the Georgia Department of Corrections where Stephens and Gregory formerly worked as an account paraprofessional and an accounting clerk, respectively.
“The State of Georgia created this fund for the honorable purpose of providing relief to victims of financial crime, and these defendants callously stole from this fund to enrich themselves,” said Acting U.S. Attorney John Horn. “This conduct is all the more disturbing because as Georgia Department of Corrections employees Stephens and Gregory were responsible for issuing restitution checks to the people they preyed upon.”
“When those within the criminal justice system so deliberately choose to engage in such corrupt criminal activity as seen in this case, it is truly disheartening. The FBI will continue to work with its various law enforcement partners, to include the Georgia Department of Corrections, to ensure that this type of criminal conduct is swiftly addressed,” said J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office.
"The guilty plea by these former employees is a reflection of the professional and diligent work by our internal investigations team and their partnership with our colleagues at the FBI,” said Commissioner Homer Bryson. "We remain committed to our zero-tolerance policy for this type of conduct by employees entrusted with public funds," continued Bryson.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges and other information presented in court: From September 2013 to June 2014, Stephens and Gregory were employees in the Georgia Department of Corrections’ banking unit where they were responsible for issuing checks drawn on a restitution fund set up to compensate victims of other crimes. The defendants formed and carried out a plan to steal victim restitution by having Stephens and Gregory use their access to the fund to issue fraudulent checks payable to a flower shop owned by Cantrell, who was not a Department employee. The checks were purposely issued to Cantrell's flower shop to hide the defendants’ involvement in the theft. Cantrell agreed to use his business to launder the stolen money.
After printing the fraudulent checks, Stephens and Gregory altered the Department’s financial records to further disguise their theft. Stephens and Gregory issued twenty-nine fraudulent checks to the flower shop, which were then delivered to Cantrell, who cashed them and split the proceeds with Stephens and Gregory. In total, the defendants stole more than $232,000 in restitution funds, which they then spent on a variety of retail purchases.
Each of the defendants pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones. Richard Cantrell, 54, of Marietta, Georgia, was sentenced by Judge Jones on July 10, 2015, to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Tammi Stephens, 37, of Forsyth, Georgia, will be sentenced on July 31, 2015, at 3:00 p.m. Daynna Gregory, 41, of Lithonia, Georgia, will be sentenced on September 24, 2015 at 2:30 p.m.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Assistant United States Attorney Kurt R. Erskine and Special Assistant United States Attorney Trevor C. Wilmot are prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at [email protected] or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the home page for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Five Defendants Charged in Extensive Tax Refund and Identity Theft Fraud SchemeRead the Press Release
Five defendants were indicted on charges stemming from their participation in an extensive tax refund and identity theft fraud scheme.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement.
Ronald Jerome Scriven, Danesa Latoya Webb, Walter Waitus Pressley, Fritznel Jacques, a/k/a “Glacier,” and Michael Dwight Brown, a/k/a “Big Mike,” were each charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 286. Defendants Scriven, Webb, Jacques, and Brown were also charged with six counts of misusing Social Security numbers, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 408(a)(8), and six counts of aggravated identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1), (c)(11) and 2.
Scriven and Pressley had their initial appearances today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry S. Seltzer.
According to allegations contained in the indictment, Scriven created various tax preparation business entities using his name, the names of co-conspirators, or the names of individuals whose identities were stolen. Scriven and Webb obtained electronic filing identification numbers (EFINs) from the IRS for the purpose of electronically submitting false tax returns. Scriven, Webb, Pressley and Jacques recruited taxpayers and obtained their personal identifying information (PII), such as their names and Social Security numbers, for the purpose of submitting false tax returns to the IRS. Without authorization, the PII of living and deceased individuals was also obtained for the same fraudulent purpose.
The indictment also alleges that Scriven, Webb and Jacques prepared and filed false 2008, 2009 and 2010 federal income tax returns claiming false refunds on behalf of the taxpayers who were recruited or whose identities they had stolen. Tax preparers’ fees and other fees totaling $700,000 were deducted from the tax refunds and were deposited into bank accounts controlled by some of the co-conspirators.
According to allegations contained in the indictment, Scriven and Webb prepared refund checks or prepaid debit cards in the names of taxpayers whose names and Social Security numbers were used to file the false tax returns. Some of the co-conspirators accompanied taxpayers, whose identities they had used to file false tax returns, to cash the refund checks. The defendants would demand a substantial portion of the proceeds obtained from those cashed checks. In the instances where the stolen identities of individuals were used to file false returns, Scriven and Webb cashed the refund checks or negotiated them for reduced values.
If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum of ten years in prison for the conspiracy charge, five years in prison for each count of the misusing a Social Security number, and a mandatory term of two years’ imprisonment, consecutive to any other prison term, for the aggravated identity theft charges.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lois Foster-Steers.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
Financial Advisor Sentenced to 7 ½ Years in Prison for Stealing over $1.1 Million from His ClientsRead the Press Release
NORFOLK, Va. – Joshua Ray Abernathy, 37, of Chesapeake, was sentenced today to 90 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release for mail fraud and unlawful money transactions. The Court also ordered Abernathy to pay $1,181,755.08 in restitution to his victims and to forfeit all of the proceeds from his offense.
Abernathy pleaded guilty on March 13, 2015. According to court documents, Abernathy, a licensed broker and financial advisory, engaged in a six-year Ponzi scheme. Abernathy convinced his clients to transfer funds from legitimate IRA accounts to his company “Omega Investment Group.” Abernathy claimed that he could invest the funds in “puts” and “calls” and reap fantastic returns. In reality, Abernathy invested only a tiny portion of the money in his personal E*Trade account and used the majority of the monies to fund his extravagant lifestyle including paying for living expenses, home furnishings, restaurants, sporting goods, electronics, clothing and entertainment. Abernathy also spent substantial investor funds for traveling including cruises, ski trips, vacations to Texas, Florida, Mexico, New York, and a three-month tour of England. Abernathy also spent over $250,000 of client monies renting luxury automobiles including a bright orange Lamborghini. After spending all of the client funds and with investors asking questions, Abernathy walked in to the FBI and confessed to running the Ponzi scheme.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; David M. McGinnis, Acting Postal Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) – Washington Division, Thomas Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and John S. Adams, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis.
This case was investigated by the Tidewater Complex Financial Crimes Task Force. Members of the Task Force include the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the IRS Criminal Investigations Divisions, and the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa O’Boyle is prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:15-cr-21.
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Felon Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Possessing A FirearmRead the Press Release
TULSA, Okla.—Ray Allen Cook, 31, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced Danny C. Williams Sr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma. United States District Chief Judge Gregory K. Frizzell also sentenced Cook to three years of supervised release following his prison sentence.
On September 13, 2014, Tulsa Police officers attempted to stop Cook for a traffic violation. Cook refused to stop and led the police on a high-speed chase. Eventually, Cook crashed into a parked vehicle, but not before he threw a .22 caliber pistol out the window. Cook then fled on foot; however, Tulsa police officers quickly apprehended him and recovered the firearm. Cook is a multiple-convicted felon, with several violent felonies on his record.
This case was investigated by the Tulsa Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Assistant United States Attorneys Neal C. Hong and Jan S. Reincke prosecuted the case.
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Federal jury finds Ville Platte man guilty of possessing, receiving child pornographyRead the Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a federal jury found a Ville Platte man guilty Tuesday of possessing and receiving thousands of images of child pornography using an internet file sharing program.
Bradley Smith, 60, of Ville Platte, La., was found guilty of two counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of receiving child pornography. United States District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote presided over the trial. The defendant’s trial started Monday and ended Tuesday with the jury returning the guilty verdict after deliberating for 40 minutes. Evidence admitted at trial revealed that in September of 2012 law enforcement detected Smith using an internet file sharing program to download child pornography. The software is used to trade files on the internet among its members. Law enforcement searched Smith’s residence on September 24, 2012 and seized his computer and computer hard drives. After a forensic examination of the hardware was conducted, a total of 40 movies and 1,100 images of child pornography were found. Some of the material included very young children engaged in sexually explicit activities.
Smith faces up to 10 years in prison for the possession of child pornography counts and five to 20 years in prison for the receiving child pornography counts. He also faces five years to life of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing has been set for September 24, 2015.
The FBI and Louisiana State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Luke Walker and Robert C. Abendroth are prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Those concerned may also leave tips with the FBI at tips.fbi.gov. Tips may be submitted anonymously. The Lafayette FBI office number is (337) 232-2164.
Federal Indictments Returned Against Five Individuals for Two Separate Drug-Related HomicidesRead the Press Release
St. Louis, MO – Two separate indictments were returned today by the federal grand jury related to homicides occurring in the City of St. Louis.
The first indictment deals with a much older case and charges WALTER WALLACE JR. and JERRY B. CHAMBERS for their involvement in the December 18, 2010, murder of Michael Hayes. Mr. Hayes was found shot inside his residence located in the City of St. Louis. Each defendant has been charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute marijuana and charged with the possession and use of a firearm in furtherance of their drug trafficking, which resulted in the murder of Michael Hayes.
The second indictment deals with shootings occurring this past spring and charges JACOBI TEMPLE, DEMANTE SYMS and SAMUEL SPIRES for their respective roles in the March 27, 2015, murders of James Lacey, Paige Schaefer and Tammie Thurmond. Mr. Lacey and Ms. Schaefer were shot and killed inside a residence located in the City of St. Louis. Ms. Thurmond was found by police in an alley and died a short time later. Each of the three victims had been shot with the same weapon. In this second indictment, all three men have been charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin; conspiracy to possess a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking; and with the possession and use of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, which resulted in the murder of Tammie Thurmond.
Jacobi Temple has been additionally charged with the possession and use of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking which resulted in the murders of Mr. Lacey and Ms. Schaefer. As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, these various charges carry penalties that include possible life sentences of imprisonment.
United States Attorney Richard Callahan noted that these two indictments represent an on-going coordinated effort between his Office, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to address the rising homicide rate in the City of St. Louis. He also acknowledged federal law enforcement agencies’ broader contributions in responding to the rising violent crime rates and singled out the work of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in these two particular investigations.
Federal Grand Jury IndictmentsRead the Press Release
Contact Person: Beth Drake (803) 929-3000
Columbia, South Carolina----United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that a Federal Grand Jury in Charleston, South Carolina, returned Indictment(s) against the following:
Area Couple Indicted for Manufacturing Counterfeit Gift Cards and Identity Theft
Javon Richardson, age 32, of Ladson, and Latoya Simpson, age 31, of North Charleston, were charged in a 2-count Indictment with Making Counterfeit Gift Cards and Aggravated Identity Theft, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1029 and 1028A. The maximum penalty that Richardson and Simpson could receive is 10 years imprisonment. The case was investigated by agents of the United States Secret Service and the North Charleston Police Department and is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Rhett DeHart of the Charleston office for prosecution.Guatemalans Charged with Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens
Juan Gomez-Calmo, age 30, and Romeo Sales-Lopez, age 32, both of Guatemala, were charged in a 2-count Indictment with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and transportation of illegal aliens within the United States, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Sections 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), (a)(1)(A)(v)(I), and (a)(1)(B)(i). The maximum penalty Gomez-Calmo and Sales-Lopez could each receive is 10 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000 per count. The case was investigated by agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, and is assigned to Assistant United States Attorneys Dean H. Secor and Matt Austin of the Charleston office for prosecution.Mr. Nettles stated that the charges in these Indictments are merely accusations and that the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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Edmond Man to Serve 36 Months for Possession of Child PornRead the Press Release
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma –BRYAN ANDREW POWELL, 45, of Edmond, Oklahoma, was sentenced by United States District Judge Robin Cauthron to serve 36 months in prison for possession of child pornography, followed by five years of supervised release, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Powell was indicted on March 3, 2015, and pleaded guilty on April 13, 2015.
This sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by the Edmond Police Department, Stillwater Police Department, and Moore Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia E. Barry.
Reference is made to court filings for further information.
East St. Louis Man Sentenced to Life Plus 900 Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
An East St. Louis man was sentenced to a term of life in federal prison, to be followed by additional, consecutive terms in prison totaling 900 months (terms of 240 months, 120 months, 240 months and 300 months, all consecutive to each other and to the term of life in prison) on July 15, 2015, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Timothy Collier, 48, will serve the rest of his natural life in federal prison, with no possibility of parole, for robbing the East St. Louis Jewelry and Loan and shooting the owner on April 25, 2013, and for robbing a Belleville liquor store on July 12, 2013. The case was prosecuted as part of the United States Attorney Wigginton’s anti-armed robbery initiative.
"The horrific nature of this crime and its lasting aftermath shows that Collier deserves every day of this sentence. Such wanton and repeated violence can only be met with sentences which permanently remove the offenders from our community. Only in this manner can the public feel safe. I sincerely hope that my message that if you engage in these acts, you will be caught and you will be sent to a federal prison, maybe forever, is having some deterrent effect. For those who choose to ignore my message, I simply note that you do so at your own peril." said United States Attorney Wigginton.
At sentencing, Chief United States District Court Judge Michael J. Reagan noted that Collier had "a dark heart and no conscience" in committing these crimes.
Evidence presented at trial established that on April 25, 2013, Collier entered the East St. Louis Jewelry and Loan armed with a silver revolver and pointed it at the owner of the business. Collier opened fire when the owner of the business resisted. Collier shot the owner in the hand, shoulder and chest. The shot to the chest damaged the victim’s spinal cord causing him to fall onto the counter. As the victim lay motionless and powerless across the counter, Collier climbed on top of him and pressed his revolver to the back of the owner’s head directly behind his ear and fired a point-blank final shot.
As a result of the shooting, the store owner is paralyzed from the chest down and wheelchair-bound for life. Collier stole hundreds of women’s rings and other items of jewelry, as well as cash and a .357 revolver. Although Collier was not immediately apprehended, the entire robbery and shooting was recorded on the store’s video surveillance which captured Collier’s face during the robbery and as he fled the store.
Three months later, on July 12, 2013, Collier conspired with his niece, Charmonequette Reynolds, and another associate, Roderick Taylor, to rob Arena Liquor in Belleville, Illinois. Reynolds, acting as the getaway driver, drove Collier and Taylor in her gold Grand Am to an area near Arena Liquor where the two men entered Arena Liquors armed with a silver revolver and a black and silver .40 caliber handgun. Collier and Taylor entered the store and immediately pointed the firearms at the two individuals working in the store and demanded all of the money from the cash registers. Collier and Taylor left the liquor store with a large sum of United States currency and a cell phone belonging to one of the victims, returned to the getaway vehicle, and the three fled from the scene.
A witness driving near Arena Liquor noticed Collier and Taylor running from the liquor store and followed them as they ran several blocks to the getaway vehicle. The witness recorded the license plates of Reynolds’ gold Grand Am and gave the number to Belleville Police officers. Reynolds was identified and apprehended within hours of the robbery. During a recorded interview, Reynolds admitted her involvement in the planning and participation in the armed robbery of Arena Liquor and identified Collier and Roderick Taylor as the two gunmen. Roderick Taylor was arrested later that same day and also admitted during a recorded interview to his participation in the armed robbery of Arena Liquor and identified Collier as the second gunman.
The silver revolver and the black and silver .40 caliber handgun used to commit the robberies were recovered by law enforcement after Collier’s girlfriend admitted that she gave the two guns to two of Collier’s childhood friends to hide after Collier’s arrest. The silver revolver Collier used in the robbery and shooting of the owner of the East St. Louis pawn shop was turned over to law enforcement officers by Collier’s best friend who admitted during trial that he had been hiding the gun for Collier. Forensic analysis of the silver revolver performed by the Illinois State Police Forensic Crime Laboratory revealed a ballistic match to a bullet recovered from the crime scene of the East St. Louis pawn shop shooting. Analysis of the barrel of the silver revolver also revealed a DNA match to the victim of the shooting, unquestionably linking the firearm to the robbery of the East St. Louis Jewelry and Loan.
Collier was found guilty on all counts in November 2014, following a six-day jury trial.
In addition to being sentenced to life in prison plus 900 months, Collier was ordered to pay restitution, which will be assessed within ninety days, and a $500 special assessment.
United States Attorney Wigginton’s Anti-Armed Robbery Initiative seeks to identify commercial armed robberies that can be prosecuted in federal court, under the Hobbs Act, to serve as an additional deterrent. United States Attorney Wigginton noted, "My anti-armed robbery initiative was designed for career criminals like Collier. My Office and our partners in Law Enforcement are committed to bringing the full force of the federal government down on those who commit violent crimes."
The investigation was conducted by the Illinois State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Belleville Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the East St. Louis Police Department. The case was tried by Assistant United States Attorneys Ali Summers and Steve Weinhoeft.
Dunn Man Sentenced to Life for Narcotics DistributionRead the Press Release
WILMINGTON – United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced today that JAMES RODREQUIAS PRESSLEY, 43, of Dunn, North Carolina, was sentenced to life imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised release. PRESSLEY was convicted by a federal jury on July 30, 2014 on 13 drug related and money laundering counts including Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute 280 grams or more of Cocaine Base (Crack) and 5 kilograms or more of Cocaine and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering from December 2008 to April 3, 2013. The jury returned its verdict following a trial before Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox.
The defendant was the target of an investigation into distributors of narcotics in the area of Dunn. From at least 1999 to 2012, PRESSLEY was an upper-level drug trafficker who was responsible for possessing and distributing approximately just over 2 kilograms of crack cocaine and 191.5 kilograms of cocaine. PRESSLEY received these narcotics from several suppliers. PRESSLEY used numerous others to distribute his drugs throughout Eastern North Carolina and also converted some of his cocaine into crack cocaine. Between December 12, 2011, and February 1, 2012, investigative agents used a confidential informant (CI) to conduct several controlled purchases of crack cocaine from PRESSLEY. Several of the controlled buys occurred at PRESSLEY’S residence in Dunn.
The IRS determined that PRESSLEY had no verifiable employment history during the time of the offense; however, between June 12, 2009, and August 17, 2010, PRESSLEY purchased several properties on Railroad Avenue in Dunn for a total of $10,500. PRESSLEY subsequently made additions and/or renovations to the properties valued at $12,000. PRESSLEY used these properties to sell and store cocaine and crack cocaine, and store proceeds from his drug-trafficking activities.
During the drug conspiracy, PRESSLEY ostensibly operated a legitimate music business, Blackbird Entertainment (BE), as well as a landscaping business in Dunn. PRESSLEY used drug proceeds to pay for concerts and production costs in an attempt to promote BE. He also used $7,860.35 in drug proceeds to purchase equipment for his landscaping business. In order to conceal the source of illegal proceeds, between January 5, 2009, and November 22, 2011, PRESSLEY made deposits totaling $29,805 to the bank account of his girlfriend, deposits totaling $20,060, to his landscaping account, and deposits totaling $15,000 to his account at Bank of America. Investigators also determined that between September 5, 2009, and February 28, 2011, PRESSLEY used $26,912 in drug proceeds to purchase at least three vehicles.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the Dunn Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer E. Wells.
Dubuque Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child PornographyRead the Press Release
A man who possessed child pornography pled guilty on July 13, 2015, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Joshua Leute, age 28, from Dubuque, Iowa, was convicted of one count of possession of child pornography. At the plea hearing, Leute admitted that, in 2012, he knowingly possessed child pornography.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Leute was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Leute faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and supervised release for 5 years to life following his imprisonment.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, the Davenport Police Department, the Dubuque Police Department, and the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 15-1012.
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Drug Dealer Sentenced to 10 Years in PrisonRead the Press Release
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Jamar Williams, age 28, of Baltimore, Maryland today to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for possession with intent to distribute Dimethylone, a controlled dangerous substance.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William P. McMullan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis of the Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby.
According to his plea agreement, Baltimore Police officers on patrol observed Williams driving a car in the 4000 block of the Alameda. The officers stopped Williams because he was not wearing a seat belt. There was a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle and the occupants. Williams did not provide the officer with a driver’s license and informed the officer that the vehicle was a rental car that had been rented in a relative’s name. Williams could not legally operate the vehicle and the officers asked Williams and the two passengers to get out of the car. Officers recovered a clear bag containing 14.06 grams of Dimethylone, a controlled dangerous substance, from underneath the front passenger seat. Williams admitted that he possessed the Dimethylone with the intent to distribute it.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the ATF, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant United States Attorney H. Brandis Marsh, Jr., a cross-designated Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney, who prosecuted the case.
Department of Justice Announces Designation of New Chairman of U.S. Parole CommissionRead the Press Release
President Barack Obama has designated J. Patricia Wilson Smoot as of the U.S. Parole Commission effective May 29, 2015. Chairman Smoot, who has served as Acting Chairman since the retirement of former Chairman Isaac Fulwood on Jan. 30, 2015, was appointed to the U.S. Parole Commission by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Sept. 16, 2010.
While at the Commission, Chairman Smoot has spearheaded the USPC Mental Health Docket. The USPC Mental Health Docket was established in 2012 as an alternative to incarceration for low-risk, non-violent offenders with mental health disorders and/or co-occurring disorders. Through collaborative efforts with Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, Department of Behavioral Health and Public Defender Service, a multidisciplinary team was formed in an effort to provide swift assistance and administrative sanctions for the targeted population. To date, the USPC Mental Health Docket has connected a multitude of male and female offenders to in-patient and outpatient treatment services, as well as job training and mentoring programs. Additionally, Chairman Smoot also served for several months as Acting General Counsel for the agency.
Before her appointment, Chairman Smoot served as Deputy State's Attorney for Prince George's County, Maryland, one of the largest prosecutor’s offices in the State of Maryland. She was appointed to the position in 2002. As part of her duties, Chairman Smoot oversaw the Sex Offense and Child Abuse Unit, the Domestic Violence Unit, the Juvenile Division and the District Court Division, while serving as an advisor to the state’s attorney.
From 1994 to 2002, Chairman Smoot served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia. She served, with distinction, as a trial attorney and received both the Department of Justice Special Achievement and the Victims of Crime Awards during that time. Chairman Smoot ended her tenure in the U.S. Attorney's Office as Director of Professional Development, where she was responsible for attorney movement and management of the training programs for the 700-person office.
Chairman Smoot also served as a Public Defender in Prince George's County, Maryland, as an associate in a tort defense litigation firm in the district and as a judicial law clerk in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.
Chairman Smoot has served on a number of boards and committees including the National Black Prosecutors Association, National African American Drug Policy Coalition, Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Abuse, the Governor's (Maryland) Sex Offender Advisory Board and Community Advocates for Families and Youth (CAFY).
Because of her work in and outside of the office, Chairman Smoot was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women by the Daily Record for 2008 and again in 2011. She has also been recognized by the PEERS Coalition for Innovative Leadership in Public Service in the District of Columbia and has received the Distinguished Service Award, from the Community Advocates for Families and Youth in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Chairman Smoot holds a B.A. in English and Sociology with a concentration in Legal Studies from Bucknell University and a J.D. from Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America.
DeAngelo Sconiers Charged by Criminal ComplaintRead the Press Release
SOUTH BEND- United States Attorney David Capp announced today that DeAngelo Sconiers, 43, South Bend, Indiana was charged by Criminal Complaint for distribution of cocaine.
According to documents filed in the case, on June 29, 2015 and again on July 10, 2015 undercover agents conducted controlled drug buys of 28 grams of cocaine from Sconiers.
This case was investigated by Drug Enforcement Administration in coordination with the South Bend Metro Special Operations Section of the South Bend Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Frank E. Schaffer.
The United States Attorney's Office emphasized that a Complaint is merely an allegation and that all persons charged are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
If convicted in court, any specific sentence to be imposed will be determined by the judge after a consideration of federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
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David Allen Cutshall Sentenced to Serve Eight Years in Prison for Being A Felon in Possession of A FirearmRead the Press Release
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On July 14, 2015, David Allen Cutshall, 31, of Greeneville, Tenn., was sentenced by the Honorable Pamela L. Reeves, U.S. District Court Judge, to serve eight years in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. There is no parole in the federal system.
Cutshall pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2015. According to the plea agreement on file with U.S. District Court, in December 2014, a Greeneville police officer observed an individual walking around a vehicle sitting at a car wash off Highway 11E in Greeneville. It was drizzling rain, and no one was washing the car. After observing the suspicious situation for a few minutes the officer pulled in behind the vehicle. Cutshall, who was in the driver’s seat, saw the police car and started to pull away, but was stopped by the officer. Upon approaching the vehicle, the officer observed Cutshall “digging at something” in his lap. The officer removed him from the vehicle and ordered the front seat passenger to get out and come around to him. The passenger complied. Drugs and drug paraphernalia scattered out in the vehicle and onto the ground as Cutshall came out of the vehicle. He refused to stand still and was restrained and placed in handcuffs as backup officers arrived.
Before being transported to jail, officers searched Cutshall and found a Hi-Point, P-9 semiautomatic pistol concealed in the front of his pants. Several pills and four small bags containing methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia were found during a search of the vehicle. Cutshall had previous felony convictions, including aggravated burglaries and attempting to introduce suboxone into a penal facility, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm.
Agencies involved in this investigation included the Greeneville Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Shipley and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Reeves represented the United States.
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Dallas-Fort Worth Area Residents Arrested on Heroin, Methamphetamine and Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy and Related ChargesRead the Press Release
DALLAS — Following a law enforcement operation that was led today by the FBI, the Dallas Police Department and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), numerous defendants have been arrested and are in custody on drug distribution conspiracy and related charges outlined in a superseding indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas last month and unsealed this morning, announced John Parker, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Thomas M. Class Sr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Dallas Field Office, David O. Brown, Chief of the Dallas Police Department, and R. Damon Rowe, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI Dallas Field Office.
The arrested defendants will begin making their initial appearances in federal court today. The 46 indicted defendants, most from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, include:
David Silva Garcia, a/k/a “Animo,” 29
David de los Santos, 51
Melvin Ray Williams, a/k/a “Black,” 35
Amber Vasquez, 31
Mia Vasquez
Israel Vasquez, 43
Jose Guerrero, a/k/a “J.D.,” 37
Francisco Gallegos, Jr., a/k/a “Panchito,” “Pan,” 32
Roberto Ramirez, 36
Gerardo Reyes, 34
Jason Eric Stotts, 43
Octavius Donnell Williams, 30
Javier Guerra, a/k/a “Chop,” 32
Tony Ruvalcaba, a/k/a “Lil Tony,” 38
Eusebio Martinez Ramirez, Jr., a/k/a “Sip,” 48
Eduardo Ruvalcaba, a/k/a “Lalo,” 29
Kenneth Johnson, a/k/a “KJ,” 27
Alex Gonzales
Noel Escamilla, 33
Adrian Miramontez, 33
Rolando Benitez, a/k/a “San Luis,” 33
Juan Ayala, 26
Juan Manuel Arellano, 34
Jose Amaya, 41
Funaki Falahola, a/k/a “Noc,” 33
Moniteveti Katoa, a/k/a “Vince,” 51
Mayra Lopez, 21
Luke Lamipeti, 30
David Lopez, 39
Jesse Alcala, 37
Juan Zuniga, a/k/a “Z,” 38
Corey Nelson, 38
Paul Salazar, 32
Demarcus Calhoun, 33
George Guerra, 38
Nicholas Mayes, 31
Rudolpho Mayes, a/k/a “Rudy,” 38
Albert Juarez, 38
Marcus Demon Hardy, 30
Rodney Tilley, 36
Molitoni Katoa, a/k/a “Tony,” 33
Vilisolo Lamipeti, 33
Janelle Isaacs, 40
Rosamaria Blanco, 37
Roberto Vasquez, Jr., 31
Ernest Olivarez, 33
The 17-count superseding indictment charges one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin; five counts of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine; three counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; three counts of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; four counts of money laundering; and one count of making a false statement in a passport application. The indictment also includes a forfeiture allegation that would require each defendant, upon conviction, to forfeit to the U.S. any property involved in, or traceable to property involved in, their offense.
Most of the defendants are charged with at least one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, or cocaine. Eight defendants are charged with at least one count of money laundering or conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Four defendants, who are charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, allegedly used their positions of employment at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), or contacted a person or persons who had a position of employment at DFW, to bypass security in order to transport kilogram quantities of a substance that was represented to be cocaine, in what they did not know was an undercover law enforcement operation. As part of the conspiracy, the substance that was represented to be cocaine was transported on commercial airlines flying from DFW to destinations in Las Vegas, Nevada; Newark, New Jersey; Phoenix, Arizona; Chicago, Illinois, Wichita, Kansas; and San Francisco, California.
A federal indictment is an accusation by a grand jury. A defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. If convicted, however, the statutory maximum penalty for each of the drug trafficking conspiracy charges is life in federal prison and millions of dollars in fines. Each conspiracy to launder monetary instruments count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. Each substantive money laundering count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. The statutory maximum penalty for making a false statement in a passport application is 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI, Dallas Police Department, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation led the investigation with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety; the DFW Department of Public Safety; the U.S. Department of State; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Transportation Security Administration; the U.S. Secret Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations; and the Fort Worth, McKinney, Mesquite, and Plano Police Departments.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Leal and John de la Garza are prosecuting.
Dallas Man Sentenced to 22½ Years for Sex Trafficking of a Minor GirlRead the Press Release
U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TAUREAN JACKSON, age 26, from Dallas, who went by the nickname “Marvelous Rich,” was sentenced today for conspiring to trafficking a minor from the Dallas-area into the New Orleans-area for the purposes of that minor engaging in prostitution and obstruction of a federal investigation into his conduct.
U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan sentenced JACKSON to 270 months incarceration, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, and $1,750 in restitution. JACKSON was also ordered to register as a sex offender.
According to court documents, JACKSON created and distributed a radio program in the Dallas-area called “Cheap Hoes Gotta Go” that addressed the nuances of being a pimp. He also created and operated “Star City Vixens,” an escort agency that was a front for prostitution activity. Star City Vixens advertised “upscale adult entertainment” that would travel around the country to “major social events.” JACKSON initially recruited his “bottom” prostitute, ANDREA BIRDOW, to join “Star City Vixens,” in 2012. JACKSON became BIRDOW’s pimp and arranged for her to engage in sexual acts with others in exchange for money. Judge Morgan sentenced BIRDOW last week for her role in the offense.
JACKSON was responsible for advertising and scheduling prostitution calls with BIRDOW. JACKSON kept all, or most, of the proceeds from the prostitution calls. As a means of controlling BIRDOW’s behavior and ensuring her compliance, JACKSON beat and choked BIRDOW on multiple occasions, often in front of others. On several occasions, JACKSON also burned BIRDOW with lit cigarettes to discipline her.
In mid-June 2013, JACKSON and BIRDOW met the victim, who was then 16-years-old, in the Dallas-area and recruited her to begin working for JACKSON as a prostitute. As part of his recruitment process, JACKSON showed the victim a video he recorded and uploaded to Youtube.com that depicted the purportedly glamorous life of a prostitute and showed JACKSON and BIRDOW in a hotel room, riding in a stretch limousine, drinking champagne, and eating a heaping plate of nachos.
Over the course of the next several weeks, JACKSON drove BIRDOW and the victim throughout Texas and Louisiana for the purpose of BIRDOW and the victim engaging in prostitution, which JACKSON advertised, arranged, and scheduled using an online classified advertisement. JACKSON arranged for the victim to watch BIRDOW engage in prostitution acts as a means of educating her on the best way to perform sexual acts. JACKSON required BIRDOW and the victim to turn over all, or most, of the proceeds she earned from prostitution calls.
JACKSON disciplined BIRDOW in front of the victim and told the victim that he would do the same to her if she ever tried to leave him. JACKSON also beat the victim, including striking her across the legs and buttocks with an extension cord.
Ultimately, BIRDOW and the victim were arrested on July 10, 2013, in a Metairie hotel room by undercover law enforcement officers with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office who responded to an online classified advertisement offering a prostitution date.
“Jackson was a brazen sex trafficker who preyed on a vulnerable women and girls,” stated U.S. Attorney Polite. “Today’s significant sentence finally brings him to justice. It also continues our law enforcement community’s enhanced efforts in fighting human trafficking in our area.”
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office–Vice Division, with assistance from the FBI Dallas Child Exploitation Task Force, and the Dallas Police Department High Risk Victims Unit in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Jordan Ginsberg and Brandon Long were in charge of the prosecution.
DEA Task Force Investigation Dismantles New Haven Heroin Distribution Ring; 18 ArrestedRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, announced that 18 New Haven residents were arrested today on federal heroin distribution charges.
The arrests stem from “Operation Northern Corridor,” a joint investigation headed by the DEA New Haven Task Force, FBI and New Haven Police Department into the distribution of heroin in New Haven. The investigation included the use of court-authorized wiretaps, physical surveillance and controlled purchases of heroin from wholesale and street-level distributors operating in the area of Ferry Street, Grand Avenue and Blatchley Avenue in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood.
“We allege that this organization distributed a significant amount of heroin in Fair Haven,” said U.S. Attorney Daly. “Because heroin is endangering and increasingly taking the lives of so many citizens, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to working with the DEA and our law enforcement partners to target groups and prosecute individuals that traffic this insidious drug.”
“DEA is committed to investigating and dismantling large-scale drug trafficking organizations like this one operating in the New Haven area,” said Special Agent in Charge Ferguson. “Heroin distribution destroys people’s lives and wreaks havoc in our communities. DEA and our law enforcement partners will aggressively pursue any group that distributes these drugs.”
On July 9, 2015, a grand jury in New Haven returned two indictments charging a total of 19 individuals with heroin distribution offenses. The following 18 individuals were arrested today:
WILSON VASQUEZ, a.k.a. “Will” and “Pancho,” 42
FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ, a.k.a. “Franky” and “Bubba,” 49
VICTOR RIVERA, 43
TODD BEILBY, 53
NELSON COLON, 39
ALFREDO COLLAZO, a.k.a. “Indio,” 37
MIGUEL SOTO, a.k.a. “Fat Boy,” 30
FRANK MROWKA, 52
ELIO DELIMA, a.k.a. “Victor Cuevas” and “Ely,” 36
EMMANUEL FLEMING, a.k.a. “Mikey,” 35
JOSE LUGO, a.k.a. “Kiro,” 45
ANTHONY VELEZ, a.k.a. “Tone,” 36
JOSE ALBARRAN, a.k.a. “Ghangi,” 57
LUIS ALBARRAN, a.k.a. “Lulu,” 38
VICTOR AZEVEDO, 43
ROBERTO TORRES, a.k.a. “Tony,” 48
JOSE VASQUEZ, 41
JOSE DAVILA, 26
One defendant is currently being sought.
In association with today’s arrests, law enforcement officers seized approximately 500 grams of raw heroin, three handguns, approximately $40,000 in cash and five vehicles.
WILSON VASQUEZ, RODRIGUEZ, RIVERA, BEILBY, COLON, COLLAZO, SOTO, MROWKA, DELIMA and FLEMING, are charged with conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, an offense that carries mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life.
LUGO, VELEZ, JOSE ALBARRAN, LUIS ALBARRAN, AZEVEDO, TORRES, JOSE VAZQUEZ and DAVILA are charged with conspiracy to distribute a quantity of heroin, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
DELIMA, FLEMING, COLLAZO, DELIMA and LUGO are also charged with one or more counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin.
The 18 individuals who were arrested today appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah A.L. Merriam in New Haven and are currently detained.
U.S. Attorney Daly stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This matter is being investigated by the DEA New Haven Task Force, FBI and New Haven Police Department. The Task Force includes participants from the New Haven, Hamden, West Haven, North Haven, East Haven, Branford, Ansonia, Meriden and Derby Police Departments, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney H. Gordon Hall.
Chicago Man Sentenced on Heroin OffenseRead the Press Release
Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that Dominique A. Burwell, 21, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced on July 13, 2015, to 70 months in federal prison on charges of Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin from September 2012 through October 2014 in Marion County (Count 1); and Distribution of Heroin on July 29, 2014, in Marion County (Count 7). In addition, Burwell was ordered to serve a term of four years’ supervised release following prison, to pay a $500 fine, and to pay a $200 special assessment.
According to court documents, Burwell agreed with his co-defendants, a cousin and a friend, to distribute heroin for profit in Centralia, Marion County, Illinois. Burwell and the others shared a cell phone which customers would contact to order heroin. Burwell often answered the shared cell phone, took the order, and then sent the others to complete the transaction with the customer at whatever location Burwell designated.
Information leading to the charges against Burwell was obtained in an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department. The case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kit Morrissey.
Buffalo Woman Pleads Guilty to Drug ChargesRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Latifah Donaldson, 23, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to maintaining a drug involved premises before Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who is handling the prosecution, stated that between January 2013 and April 3, 2013, the defendant allowed her co-defendants to utilize her apartment, which was located on the grounds of the Perry Housing Projects, to manufacture, possess and distribute crack cocaine. As part of this conspiracy, a co-defendant maintained several locations on the grounds of the Perry Housing Projects in Buffalo, including Donaldson’s apartment.On April 3, 2013, law enforcement officers executed search warrants at 124 Fulton Street and 305 Perry Street during which they recovered over 300 grams of cocaine base and 700 grams of powered cocaine as well as a firearm.
Donaldson was arrested in April 2013 along with 11 others. Defendants Melvin Tucker, Nannette Brown, Brandon Atkins, Eric Ross, David Varner, Phayon Redmond, Tashawn Gay, and Tara Robinson have also been convicted. Charges are pending against Tyshawn Bradley and Dallas McLamore. 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.
“As this case demonstrates, even allowing your home to be used by drug traffickers exposes a person to arrest and jail,” said U.S. Attorney Hohcul. “This office will continue to prosecute all involved in hurting our community through narcotics trafficking or violence.”
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force, the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Matthew Renneman, and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 27, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. before Judge Skretny.
Buffalo Man Pleads Sentenced on Drug ChargesRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051
BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Deandre Sparks, a/k/a Dee Dee, 24, of Buffalo, who was convicted of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of crack cocaine, was sentenced to time served (16 months) by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who handled the case, stated that between June 2013 and February 25, 2014, the defendant possessed and distributed crack cocaine. Specifically, on February 12, 2014, Sparks gave crack cocaine to a co-defendant, who then distributed the drugs to a confidential source working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty to Drug ChargesRead the Press Release
CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX: (716) 551-3051
BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Troy Cooley, 52, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 28 grams or more of crack cocaine, before U.S. Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of 40 years, and a $5,000,000 fine.Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who is handling the case, stated that between June 2013 and February 25, 2014, the defendant conspired with others to buy and sell crack cocaine in the City of Buffalo.
Also charged in this case are co-defendants Anthony McCutcheon, Troy Cooley, Deandre Sparks, William Jefferson, Markiel Hall, Morrell Buster, Alicia Maghett and Carmella Rivera. Sparks, Hall, Maghett, and Owens have also been convicted. Charges are pending against McCutcheon, Jefferson, Buster, and Rivera. 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.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lackawanna Police Department, under the direction of Chief James Michel.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 27, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. before Judge Skretny.
Army Soldier indicted for criminal sexual activity with a minorRead the Press Release
EVANSVILLE - United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today federal charges against Guangyu Ai, 32, of Arcadia, California. Ai, a Soldier in the United States Army, was previously stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Ai was indicted on one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and four counts of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
“Protecting our children from sexual predators is a top priority of my office,” said Minkler. “Anyone who crosses state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity with a minor, should plan to spend many years in federal prison.”
According to the criminal complaint, Ai met the minor through a social media application and continued to communicate with her via text messages. After continued text messaging, the two met and knowing that the minor girl was only 13 years old, Ai pursued a sexual relationship with her. Ai travelled from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to the minor’s residence in Southern Indiana multiple times intending to have a sexual relationship. It is alleged that on one occasion, Ai picked up the minor and took her to a hotel in Kentucky.
Ai had his initial appearance in federal court in Evansville today and was detained. His trial scheduled for September 15, 2015.
This investigation was a collaborative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Spencer County Sheriff’s Department, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command.
According to Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Sawa, who is prosecuting this case for the government, Ai faces not less than 10 years and up to life for the count involving transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, if convicted. In addition, Ai faces up to 30 years for each count for traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, if convicted.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Bulk Cash Smuggling and Theft of Government Property While Serving in AfghanistanRead the Press Release
A Fort Buchanan Army Reserve Staff Sergeant pleaded guilty today to bulk cash smuggling of $113,050 and theft of government property worth $6,302 while serving in Afghanistan.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rose Emilia Rodriguez-Velez of the District of Puerto Rico, Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI’s San Juan Division Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Gary J. Hartwig of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) Chicago Field Office, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko, Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s (CID) Major Procurement Fraud Unit, Acting Special Agent in Charge Paul Sternal of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office and Brigadier General Keith M. Givens, Commander of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) made the announcement.
Luis Ramon Casellas, 42, of Canovanas, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille L. Velez-Rive of the District of Puerto Rico to three counts of bulk cash smuggling and one count of theft of government property. Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Carmen Consuelo Cerezo of the District of Puerto Rico will be scheduled at a later date.
Since 2009, Casellas has been an Army Reservist Staff Sergeant on active status based at Fort Buchanan in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. In April 2013, Casellas was deployed by the Army to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. As part of his duties, Casellas was responsible for helping to break down smaller bases in preparation for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. These duties included retrieving U.S. government property for future use and selling unsuitable material as scrap to Afghan contractors.
Between June 17 and Aug. 9, 2013, Casellas was the leader of a three-person Army team that went to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Afghanistan to help break down that base. In connection with his plea, Casellas admitted that, while this team was at the FOB, he stole tools and equipment, including laptops, belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense. Casellas also admitted that, in July 2013, Casellas sent approximately eight boxes from the FOB through the U.S. Postal Service addressed to his wife in Puerto Rico, and that the boxes contained some of the stolen government property and undeclared U.S. currency totaling $50,500.
In addition, in August 2013, Casellas sent two boxes from Kandahar through UPS, again addressed to his wife, that were marked as “gifts for family.” In connection with his plea, Casellas admitted that, although he declared that the items inside the boxes were valued at $700 and $400, respectively, one box contained some of the stolen government property as well as $41,750 in U.S. currency, and the other box contained $20,800 in U.S. currency. These boxes were intercepted by U.S. Customs in Louisville, Kentucky.
This case was investigated by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the FBI, ICE-HSI, Army CID, DCIS and AFOSI. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Daniel P. Butler of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia M. Meconiates of the District of Puerto Rico.
Casellas Plea Agreement
Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Bulk Cash Smuggling and Theft of Government Property While Serving in AfghanistanRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – A Fort Buchanan Army Reserve Staff Sergeant pleaded guilty today to bulk cash smuggling of $113,050 and theft of government property worth $6,302 while serving in Afghanistan.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rose Emilia Rodriguez-Velez of the District of Puerto Rico, Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI’s San Juan Division Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Gary J. Hartwig of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) Chicago Field Office, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko, Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s (CID) Major Procurement Fraud Unit, Acting Special Agent in Charge Paul Sternal of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office and Brigadier General Keith M. Givens, Commander of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) made the announcement.
Luis Ramon Casellas, 42, of Canovanas, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille L. Velez-Rive of the District of Puerto Rico to three counts of bulk cash smuggling and one count of theft of government property. Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Carmen Consuelo Cerezo of the District of Puerto Rico will be scheduled at a later date.
Since 2009, Casellas has been an Army Reservist Staff Sergeant on active status based at Fort Buchanan in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. In April 2013, Casellas was deployed by the Army to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. As part of his duties, Casellas was responsible for helping to break down smaller bases in preparation for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan. These duties included retrieving U.S. government property for future use and selling unsuitable material as scrap to Afghan contractors.
Between June 17 and Aug. 9, 2013, Casellas was the leader of a three-person Army team that went to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Afghanistan to help break down that base. In connection with his plea, Casellas admitted that, while this team was at the FOB, he stole tools and equipment, including laptops, belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense. Casellas also admitted that, in July 2013, Casellas sent approximately eight boxes from the FOB through the U.S. Postal Service addressed to his wife in Puerto Rico, and that the boxes contained some of the stolen government property and undeclared U.S. currency totaling $50,500.
In addition, in August 2013, Casellas sent two boxes from Kandahar through UPS, again addressed to his wife, that were marked as “gifts for family.” In connection with his plea, Casellas admitted that, although he declared that the items inside the boxes were valued at $700 and $400, repectively, one box contained some of the stolen government property as well as $41,750 in U.S. currency, and the other box contained $20,800 in U.S. currency. These boxes were intercepted by U.S. Customs in Louisville, Kentucky.
This case was investigated by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the FBI, ICE-HSI, Army CID, DCIS and AFOSI. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Daniel P. Butler of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia M. Meconiates of the District of Puerto Rico.
Angelina County Individuals Arrested on Federal Drug Trafficking ChargesRead the Press Release
LUFKIN, Texas - U.S. Attorney John M. Bales announced today that five individuals are in custody following a lengthy investigation into drug trafficking in the Eastern District of Texas.
On July 14, 2015, a combined task force of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies began executing federal arrest warrants for defendants indicted following a two year investigation into the distribution of methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Texas and elsewhere. The agencies also executed three search warrants in Diboll and one in Lufkin.
Two separate indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on July 1, 2015 charging 10 individuals with federal drug and firearms violations. Of those, five defendants were arrested on July 14th and the indictment was unsealed by a federal magistrate late that night. Those defendants in custody are:
Ruben Enriquez, 42 of Diboll, Texas;
Agustin Enriquez, 48 of Diboll, Texas;
Alonso Enriquez, 33 of Diboll, Texas;
Jorge Enriquez, 33, of Lufkin, Texas; and
Douglas Wayne Williams, 40 of Lufkin, Texas
Law enforcement officers seized eight firearms, approximately 26 pounds of methamphetamine, $20,000 cash and eight vehicles during the arrests. The remaining five defendants are being sought by law enforcement at this time.
According to the first indictment, beginning in 2013, Ruben Enriquez, Agustin Enriquez, Alonso Enriquez, and Jorge Enriquez are alleged to have conspired with each other and others to possess with the intent to distribute over 50 grams of methamphetamine. Nine of the defendants are charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance. One defendant is charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to the second indictment, on Jan. 15, 2015, Douglas Wayne Williams is alleged to have possessed with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possessed a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
If convicted of the drug conspiracy charges, the defendants face a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison. If convicted of the drug possession charges, Douglas Wayne Williams faces a minimum of five years and up to 40 years in federal prison. If convicted of the weapons violations, those defendants face at least 5 years in federal prison. The indictments also seek forfeiture of any property used to commit or facilitate the crimes or derived from proceeds of the conspiracy.
The cases are being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Texas Department of Public Safety – Criminal Investigation Division. The U.S. Marshals Service, DEA Aviation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, Texas Department of Public Safety-Highway Patrol Division, Texas Department of Public Safety-Aircraft Division, Angelina County Constable Precinct 1 and Precinct 4, Angelina County Sheriff’s Office, Lufkin Police Department, Diboll Police Department, Houston Police Department, Conroe Police Department and the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the execution of the arrest warrants and search warrants in the Eastern District of Texas. The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Gaston.
A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Additional Charge Filed Against Columbia Man Indicted for Distributing Heroin to a MinorRead the Press Release
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an additional charge was brought today against a Columbia, Mo., man who previously was indicted by a federal grand jury for distributing heroin to a 16-year-old minor who died of a suspected heroin overdose.
Jon Patrick Washington, also known as “Doom,” 29, of Columbia, was charged in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City, Mo. Today’s superseding indictment replaces a May 21, 2014, federal indictment and adds one additional count. Washington has been in federal custody since his arrest in 2014.
Today’s indictment alleges that Washington maintained a drug-involved premise.
Washington allegedly rented a room at the Providence Inn and Suites Motel, 1718 Providence Road in Columbia (now closed), for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing or using heroin from April 1 to April 3, 2014.The superseding indictment also contains the original charge against Washington for distributing heroin to a minor on April 2, 2014.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, Columbia police officers responded to a suspected heroin overdose death at the Providence Inn and Suites Motel on April 3, 2014. The victim was a 16-year-old female.
Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller. It was investigated by the Columbia, Mo., Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
14 July 2015
Woodbridge Man Pleads Guilty to Receipt of Child PornographyRead the Press Release
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Jon McClellan, 55, of Woodbridge, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to charges of receipt of child pornography.
According to court documents, McClellan used a peer-to-peer file sharing program to receive and collect child pornography videos and images, including numerous videos of children between 5 and 12 years old being sexually abused. In total, McClellan’s child pornography collection included over 1,500 images and 1,800 videos of children being sexually exploited.
McClellan faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 2, 2015. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee. This case was investigated by HSI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Dougherty Russell is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:15-CR-182.
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White Swan Man Sentenced to One Year Probation and Ordered to Pay a Fine and Restitution Totaling $33,500Read the Press Release
Spokane – Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that United States District Court Judge Stanley A. Bastian sentenced Delbert Loren Wheeler, age 56, of White Swan, Washington, to a one-year term of probation as an alternative to imprisonment for using a motor vehicle on non-designated routes within the National Wildlife Refuge System, in violation of 50 CFR § 27.31 and 16 U.S.C. § 668dd(f). Wheeler was convicted of this Class A misdemeanor following a jury trial that began on January 7, 2015. Judge Bastian ordered Wheeler to pay a fine of $1,500. Judge Bastian also ordered Wheeler to pay, within 120 days, $32,000 in restitution for damage caused to the ALE.
Wheeler’s conviction stemmed from an incident that occurred on October 7, 2011. Federal and state wildlife agents found him driving a truck cross-country within the Fitzner / Eberhardt Arid Lands Ecological Reserve (ALE), which location is part of the Hanford Reach National Monument. At the time, the agents were on the ALE investigating the circumstances surrounding an elk that had been previously shot and its carcass left on the reserve. During their investigation, the agents observed a herd of elk running from the direction of gunshots. Soon thereafter the agents observed Wheeler driving cross-country in a pick-up truck together with three passengers. Three freshly killed elk were in the bed of the truck. Evidence produced at trial showed that Wheeler had entered the ALE at a location where a section of fence had been knocked over. Wheeler, a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, asserted that treaty rights granted him the authority to enter the ALE in order to hunt and gather plants.
For many decades the ALE has served as a buffer zone and control site for Hanford and was relatively untouched by humans. As a result, the original shrub-steppe ecosystem was preserved intact within its boundaries. The Atomic Energy Commission designated the area as the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve in 1967. Control over the area passed to the Department of Energy in 1977 and to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1997. Many features of the shrub-steppe ecosystem found in the ALE are fragile and may be lost through introduction of invasive species and human activity. In 2000, President Clinton created the Hanford Reach National Monument in order to preserve these features. The Proclamation creating the Monument included the following description:
The monument contains one of the last remaining large blocks of shrub-steppe ecosystems in the Columbia River Basin, supporting an unusually high diversity of native plant and animal species. A large number of rare and sensitive plant species are found dispersed throughout the monument. A recent inventory resulted in the discovery of two plant species new to science . . . . Fragile microbiotic crusts, themselves of biological interest, are well developed in the monument and play an important role in stabilizing soils and providing nutrients to plants.
The Presidential Proclamation directed the creation of regulations that would prohibit all off-road use of vehicles within the Monument with limited exceptions for emergencies and other federally authorized purposes.
Michael C. Ormsby said, “The ALE is an extremely unique, environmentally sensitive reserve – it is truly a public treasure. As evidenced by the sentence, fine, and significant amount of restitution imposed in this case, the ALE demands protection. The United States Attorney’s Office, together with its law enforcement partners, will investigate and prosecute aggressively those individuals, like Wheeler, who wantonly choose to ignore the ALE’s inimitable characteristics and importance to future generations.”
This investigation was conducted by agents with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The case was prosecuted by Timothy J. Ohms, an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.
Waterloo Man Pleads Guilty to Being a Felon and Unlawful Drug User in Possession of a FirearmRead the Press Release
A man who was found in possession of a handgun in relation to a shooting pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Dameon Harris, age 23, from Waterloo, Iowa, was convicted of being a felon and unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm. In a plea agreement, Harris admitted that on April 7, 2015, he was outside his girlfriend’s apartment complex when someone in a white vehicle drove by and shot at him. Defendant was, at the time, armed with a .22 caliber Mossberg firearm. Before the police arrived to investigate the shooting, Harris tried to hide his firearm in his girlfriend’s apartment. At the time Harris possessed the firearm, he was an unlawful user of marijuana. Harris had previously been convicted in 2013 of the felony offense of Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon in Chicago, Illinois.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Harris in the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Harris faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and up to three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and was investigated by the Waterloo Police Department and the Blackhawk County Sheriff’s Office.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 15-CR-2016-LRR.
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Waterbury Man Involved in Armed Robbery of Undercover ATF Agent Sentenced to 70 Months in PrisonRead the Press Release
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that CALRISSIAN SMITH, also known as “Cali,” 33, of Waterbury, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 70 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for his role in the armed robbery of an undercover ATF special agent.
This matter stems from “Operation Samson,” an initiative headed by the ATF and the Bridgeport and New Haven Police Departments that targeted violent criminals, illegal firearm possession and firearm trafficking. In the spring of 2014, approximately 40 ATF special agents and personnel from Connecticut and across the country were deployed with New Haven and Bridgeport Police to conduct numerous covert operations.
According to court documents and statements made in court, a confidential informant and an ATF special agent working in an undercover capacity arranged to purchase an ounce of crack cocaine from two individuals identified as “Cali” and “Orlando” in Waterbury. On June 3, 2014, the informant and the undercover agent traveled to a location on West Farm Street in Waterbury to conduct the transaction. At the location, “Orlando,” who was subsequently identified as Kevin Rodriguez, pointed a gun at the undercover agent, “racked” the slide of the pistol thereby readying it to fire, and demanded that the agent give him all of his money. The agent handed Rodriguez his wallet, which contained $1,300 in government funds that was to be used to conduct the controlled purchase of narcotics.
Rodriguez then entered a vehicle being driven by SMITH. Other ATF agents who had been monitoring the transaction immediately arrived at the scene. After colliding with an ATF vehicle, SMITH and Rodriguez fled the scene at a high rate of speed.
Rodriguez was apprehended in Waterbury on June 5, 2014, and SMITH was apprehended in Virginia on June 13, 2014.
SMITH has been detained since his arrest. On April 20, 2015, he pleaded guilty to one count of attempted distribution of 28 grams or more of cocaine base (“crack cocaine”).
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and, on July 2, 2015, he was sentenced to 84 months of imprisonment.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Dayton.
Vietnamese National Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Operating a Massive International Hacking and Identity Theft SchemeRead the Press Release
A Vietnamese national was sentenced to 13 years in prison for hacking into U.S. businesses’ computers, stealing personally identifiably information (PII), and selling to other cybercriminals his fraudulently-obtained access to PII belonging to approximately 200 million U.S. citizens.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald Feith of the District of New Hampshire and Director Joseph P. Clancy of the U.S. Secret Service made the announcement.
Hieu Minh Ngo, 25, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. Barbadoro of the District of New Hampshire. Ngo previously pleaded guilty to federal charges brought in the District of New Hampshire and the District of New Jersey, including wire fraud, identity fraud, access device fraud and four counts of computer fraud and abuse.
“From his home in Vietnam, Ngo used Internet marketplaces to offer for sale millions of stolen identities of U.S. citizens to more than a thousand cyber criminals scattered throughout the world,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Criminals buy and sell stolen identity information because they see it as a low-risk, high-reward proposition. Identifying and prosecuting cybercriminals like Ngo is one of the ways we're working to change that cost-benefit analysis.”
“This case demonstrates that identity theft is a worldwide threat that has the potential to touch every one of us,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Feith. “I want to acknowledge the excellent work of the United States Secret Service in identifying and capturing Mr. Ngo. This case proves that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire will work with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute identity thieves, even if they are halfway around the world.”
“The sentencing of this transnational cybercriminal illustrates another example of Secret Service success in the disruption and dismantling of global criminal networks,” said Director Clancy. “This investigation and the resulting prosecution and sentencing should serve as a warning to criminals that we will relentlessly investigate, detect, and defend the Nation’s financial infrastructure. This sentencing joins a long list of successes in combating financial crimes over our 150 year history.”
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, from 2007 to 2013, Ngo operated online marketplaces from his home in Vietnam, including “superget.info” and “findget.me,” to sell packages of stolen PII. These packages, known as “fullz,” typically included a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, bank account number and bank routing number. Ngo also admitted to acquiring and offering for sale stolen payment card data, which typically included the victim’s payment card number, expiration date, CVV number, name, address and phone number. Ngo admitted that he obtained some of the stolen PII by hacking into a New Jersey-based business and stealing customer information.
In addition to selling the “fullz,” Ngo admitted to offering buyers the ability to query online databases for the stolen PII of specific individuals. Specifically, Ngo admitted that he offered access to PII for 200 million U.S. citizens, and that more than 1,300 customers from around the world conducted more than three million “queries” through the third-party databases maintained on his websites.
Ngo made nearly $2 million from his scheme. The Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that 13,673 U.S. citizens, whose stolen PII was sold on Ngo’s websites, have been victimized through the filing of $65 million in fraudulent individual income tax returns.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service’s Manchester Resident Office. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.
The case out of the District of New Jersey was investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey.
Vietnamese National Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Operating A Massive International Hacking and Identity Theft SchemeRead the Press Release
WASHINGTON – A Vietnamese national was sentenced to 13 years in prison for hacking into U.S. businesses’ computers, stealing personally identifiably information (PII), and selling to other cybercriminals his fraudulently-obtained access to PII belonging to approximately 200 million U.S. citizens.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald Feith of the District of New Hampshire and Director Joseph P. Clancy of the U.S. Secret Service made the announcement.
Hieu Minh Ngo, 25, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Paul J. Barbadoro of the District of New Hampshire. Ngo previously pleaded guilty to federal charges brought in the District of New Hampshire and the District of New Jersey, including wire fraud, identity fraud, access device fraud and four counts of computer fraud and abuse.
“From his home in Vietnam, Ngo used Internet marketplaces to offer for sale millions of stolen identities of U.S. citizens to more than a thousand cyber criminals scattered throughout the world,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Criminals buy and sell stolen identity information because they see it as a low-risk, high-reward proposition. Identifying and prosecuting cybercriminals like Ngo is one of the ways we're working to change that cost-benefit analysis.”
“This case demonstrates that identity theft is a worldwide threat that has the potential to touch every one of us,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Feith. “I want to acknowledge the excellent work of the United States Secret Service in identifying and capturing Mr. Ngo. This case proves that the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire will work with law enforcement to investigate and prosecute identity thieves, even if they are halfway around the world.”
“The sentencing of this transnational cybercriminal illustrates another example of Secret Service success in the disruption and dismantling of global criminal networks,” said Director Clancy. “This investigation and the resulting prosecution and sentencing should serve as a warning to criminals that we will relentlessly investigate, detect, and defend the Nation’s financial infrastructure. This sentencing joins a long list of successes in combating financial crimes over our 150 year history.”
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, from 2007 to 2013, Ngo operated online marketplaces from his home in Vietnam, including “superget.info” and “findget.me,” to sell packages of stolen PII. These packages, known as “fullz,” typically included a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, bank account number and bank routing number. Ngo also admitted to acquiring and offering for sale stolen payment card data, which typically included the victim’s payment card number, expiration date, CVV number, name, address and phone number. Ngo admitted that he obtained some of the stolen PII by hacking into a New Jersey-based business and stealing customer information.
In addition to selling the “fullz,” Ngo admitted to offering buyers the ability to query online databases for the stolen PII of specific individuals. Specifically, Ngo admitted that he offered access to PII for 200 million U.S. citizens, and that more than 1,300 customers from around the world conducted more than three million “queries” through the third-party databases maintained on his websites.
Ngo made nearly $2 million from his scheme. The Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that 13,673 U.S. citizens, whose stolen PII was sold on Ngo’s websites, have been victimized through the filing of $65 million in fraudulent individual income tax returns.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service’s Manchester Resident Office. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.
The case out of the District of New Jersey was investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey.
Vermont Man Sentenced to 87 Months for Failing to Register as Sex Offender and Violating Supervised Release ConditionsRead the Press Release
The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Gregory Dean Gotchie, age 36, of Caledonia County, Vermont, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro to 87 months in jail, for failing to register as a sex offender, and for violating federal conditions of supervised release.
In 2011 Gotchie was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha in Brattleboro for failing to register as a sex offender. The court imposed a sentence of 51 months in jail, with 10 years of supervised release, after finding that he sexually assaulted a woman while in non-registration status. Gotchie was required to register as a sex offender based upon his 2006 statutory rape conviction in the State of Maine.
After serving his 51 month sentence, in 2014 Gotchie absconded from supervised release and relocated to upstate New Hampshire. At sentencing yesterday in Brattleboro, Judge Murtha sentenced Gotchie to another 63 months in prison for the failure to register offense (aggravated based on the finding that he sexually assaulted a woman), along with a consecutive 24-month term for violating the 2011 supervised release conditions.
Gotchie has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshal’s service since his July, 2014, arrest in New Hampshire. The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the New Hampshire State Police. Gotchie was represented by Federal Public Defender Micheal Desautels. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Darrow.
U.S. Seeks to Recover $12.5 Million Obtained from High-Level Corruption in the PhilippinesRead the Press Release
The Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint today seeking to recover approximately $12.5 million in assets found in the United States that derive from bribery and kickback schemes in the Philippines spanning nearly a decade.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge David Bowdich of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office made the announcement.
“Over nearly a decade, Janet Napoles allegedly stole millions of dollars in funds entrusted to her for development assistance and disaster relief for the people of the Philippines,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “In an effort to disguise and enjoy her ill-gotten gains, Napoles purchased properties and other assets in the United States for herself and her family members, including a condominium at the Ritz and a Porsche. The Justice Department will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt or a place to hide and invest stolen riches.”
“The FBI is committed to ensuring that the U.S. financial system is not used to launder the proceeds of foreign bribery schemes,” said Assistant Director in Charge Bowdich. “Nor is the United States a safe haven for the fruits of corruption.”
As alleged in the complaint, from approximately 2004 to 2012, Philippine businesswoman Janet Napoles, 51, paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to Philippine politicians and other government officials in exchange for over $200 million in funding for purported development assistance and disaster relief. Napoles’ non-governmental organizations (NGOs), however, then either failed to provide, or under-delivered on, the promised support. The complaint further alleges that Napoles also diverted NGO funds for her own personal use and benefit, often draining accounts within days of government disbursements. For this conduct, the Philippines’ Office of the Ombudsman has charged Napoles, two of her children and numerous current and former Philippine politicians and other government officials in connection with what has been nicknamed the “pork barrel scam.”
The complaint alleges that Napoles transferred over $12 million in Philippine government-awarded funds to bank accounts in the United States in the names of, or controlled by, her family members. According the complaint, Napoles used the money to purchase numerous assets, including a condominium at the Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles for her 21-year-old daughter. The complaint seeks to forfeit the proceeds from the sale of the Los Angeles condominium, along with several other assets, including a motel near Disneyland in Anaheim, California; properties in Covina and Irvine, California; a 19 percent stake in a California-based consulting company; and a Porsche Boxster that was purchased for another daughter.
Napoles is currently serving a sentence of life in prison in the Philippines for her role in the kidnapping and detention of her cousin, Benhur Luy, who served as Napoles’s finance officer and tracked her schemes.
The complaint was brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, in which a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section work in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, return those proceeds to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office. Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to [email protected].
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. The case is being handled by Trial Attorney Alexis J. Loeb of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, with substantial support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. The Justice Department also thanks the Philippines’ Office of the Ombudsman, Anti-Money Laundering Council, National Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice for their cooperation in this matter.
Napoles Complaint
Two Clarksburg men sentenced for heroin traffickingRead the Press Release
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Jason Grant, 30, and Douglas Dustin Lish, 30, both of Clarksburg, were each sentenced in federal court on heroin trafficking charges, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced.
Grant was discovered in possession of heroin and a 9mm pistol in December 2014 near the Clarksburg City Park – Monticello Avenue Playground in Harrison County, West Virginia. He pled guilty in March 2015 to one count of “Aiding and Abetting Distribution of Heroin within 1,000 Feet of a Protected Location,” and one count of “Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.” He was sentenced to 46 months in prison on the distribution charge and 60 months in prison on the firearms charge, for a total sentence of 106 months. He was also ordered to forfeit his interest in $1,156.50 in United States currency and the 9mm pistol.
Lish, also known as “D-Fresh,” was discovered in possession of heroin and a 9mm pistol in Harrison County, West Virginia in October 2014. He pled guilty in February 2015 to one count of “Aiding and Abetting the Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin,” and one count of “Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.” He was sentenced to 18 months in prison on the possession charge and 60 months in prison on the firearms charge, for a total sentence of 78 months. He was further ordered to forfeit his interest in $5,030.95 in United States currency and the 9mm pistol.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Morgan prosecuted the cases on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Greater Harrison County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative, investigated both defendants.
U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley presided.
Twelve Members and Associates of Brooklyn Gang Indicted for Committing Bank Fraud Involving More Than 350 Bank Accounts and More Than $1.5 Million in LossRead the Press Release
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), Robert J. Sica, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Office of the United States Secret Service (“USSS”), Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), and William J. Bratton, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), today announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging twelve defendants, all of whom are members or associates of the Van Dyke Money Gang, with committing bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Eight defendants were taken into custody today. The eight defendants who were arrested today will be presented and arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis later today. Four defendants remain at large. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Today’s allegations suggest that members of street gangs, like the Van Dyke Money Gang, have expanded their criminal repertoire to include white collar crimes like bank fraud and identity theft. I want to thank our law enforcement partners at HSI, the Secret Service, the Postal Inspection Service and the NYPD for the great work in this case.”
HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., stated: “Today’s arrests dismantle a gang that allegedly used bank fraud and identity theft to line their pockets with cash using a scheme that cost New York banks over $1.5 million dollars. HSI will continue to use every tool at our disposal to combat financial crimes that support gangs and their illegal activity.”
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent-in-Charge Robert J, Sica stated: “This case demonstrates the effectiveness of multijurisdictional partnerships in the dismantling of criminal enterprises that inflict damage to our nation’s financial infrastructure and the safeguarding of our citizens’ identity. This investigation and the resulting indictment should serve as a warning to criminals that law enforcement will not cease to pursue them.”
USPIS Inspector in Charge Philip R. Bartlett said, “This was a straight up larceny scheme where fraudsters allegedly used stolen Postal Money Orders to steal from financial institutions through the use of hundreds of bank accounts. Gang members underestimated the resolve of federal law enforcement working together to bring those responsible before the court to answer for their crimes.”
Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said: “Through collaboration with our partners, an organization whose alleged purpose was to lie, cheat and steal was dismantled and taken off the streets of New York this morning. I want to thank the investigators, agents and prosecutors involved in this long term investigation for bringing those responsible to justice. ”
As alleged in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]
The Van Dyke Money Gang (“VDMG”) is an organization composed of principally young men aged 20 to 30 years old. The VDMG operates primarily out of a housing project called the Van Dyke Houses, located at 370 Blake Avenue, in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
From in or about December 2013 up to and including in or about June 2015, the VDMG conducted a fraudulent money order scheme (the “Money Order Scheme”) at banks in the New York area, specifically, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, and along the east coast, as far north as Boston, Massachusetts, and as far south as Washington, D.C. Other individuals who were not members of the VDMG also participated in the Money Order Scheme.
In furtherance of the Money Order Scheme, members of the VDMG and others recruited bank account holders and then used the accounts of those individuals to deposit fraudulent money orders. Members of the VDMG and others then withdrew the money from the bank accounts. The Money Order Scheme entailed, among other things, fraudulently obtaining blank Postal Money Orders and Western Union Money Orders. Members of the VDMG and others printed a specific dollar amount, usually under $1,000, onto the money orders and then deposited those fraudulent money orders into bank accounts.
ANGEL VILLALBA, a/k/a “Ace,” ANTHONY FABERS, a/k/a “Ant,” CURTIS CONGRESS, a/k/a “Murda,” MELIEK SANDERS, a/k/a “Mickey,” JUNIOR ANTWI, a/k/a “OG Rob,” GEORGE FANDAL, a/k/a “Panama,” ISAAC GONZALEZ, a/k/a “K-Tone,” TYRONE BAKER, a/k/a “Pumpkin,” STANLEY CURRIE, a/k/a “Stan,” LEROY SMITH, a/k/a “Pops,” ERIC BALLINGER, a/k/a “Boogs Von Swavy,” and TERELL STEWART, a/k/a “Lil Biscuit,” the defendants, are members of the VDMG and/or participated in the Money Order Scheme.
In furtherance of the Money Order Scheme, the defendants and others have used more than 350 bank accounts. The loss amount to the banks affected by the Money Order Scheme exceeds $1.5 million.
* * *
The defendants are each charged with one count of conspiring to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum term of 30 years in prison, as well as one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison. The Indictment also seeks forfeiture of crime proceeds.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.
A chart containing the names, ages, and residence information of the defendants who were arrested today is below.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI, the USSS, the USPIS, and the NYPD, and also thanked the New York City Department of Investigation’s Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Housing Authority for their assistance.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Jessica Lonergan and Rebekah Donaleski are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
NAME
AGE
RESIDENCE
Angel Villalba, a/k/a “Ace”
28
Brooklyn
Anthony Fabers, a/k/a “Ant”
32
Brooklyn
Meliek Sanders, a/k/a “Mickey”
30
Brooklyn
George Fandal, a/k/a “Panama”
32
Brooklyn
Isaac Gonzalez, a/k/a “K-Tone”
27
Brooklyn
Leroy Smith, a/k/a “Pops”
24
Brooklyn
Eric Ballinger, a/k/a “Boogs Von Swavy”
26
Brooklyn
Terell Stewart, a/k/a “Lil Biscuit”
23
Brooklyn
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment, and the description of the Indictment set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
Three sentenced for oxycodone traffickingRead the Press Release
WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – Three individuals were sentenced in federal court today for oxycodone trafficking, United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced.
Georgia native Terrence D. Brawner, 33, was sentenced today to 77 months in prison for oxycodone trafficking in Wetzel County, West Virginia. He pled guilty in January 2015 to one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Oxycodone,” following an investigation by the West Virginia State Police and the Ohio Valley Drug & Violent Crime Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative.
Benjamin P. McGee, 30, of Bellaire, Ohio, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for oxycodone trafficking in Wetzel County, West Virginia. He pled guilty in August 2014 to one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Oxycodone,” following an investigation by the West Virginia State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Alisha Letts, 31, of Moundsville, West Virginia, was sentenced today to three years of probation for her role in an oxycodone distribution operation in which prescription pills were shipped from California into Marshall County, West Virginia for redistribution and sale. She pled guilty to one count of “Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Oxycodone,” following an investigation by the Marshall County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Bernard prosecuted Letts while Robert McWilliams prosecuted McGee and Brawner on behalf of the government.
U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.
Third Defendant Arraigned in Child Exploitation CaseRead the Press Release
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA – Ranell Carter Jr., 24, the last of three defendants charged in a federal sex trafficking indictment, was arraigned yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Gainesville. The indictment was announced by Pamela C. Marsh, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
The indictment alleges that, between August and December 2014, Carter, Hal Bernard Black, 20, and Tawanda LaKaye Burkett, 39, all of Gainesville, Florida, knowingly enticed a person less than 18 years of age to engage in a commercial sex act and that they financially benefited from a sex trafficking venture. Carter was arrested on Saturday as a result of a traffic stop, and Black and Burkett were arrested in June.
This case resulted from investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Gainesville Police Department, and Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frank Williams.
An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. The office strives to protect and serve the citizens of the Northern District of Florida through the ethical, vigorous, and impartial enforcement of the laws of the United States, to defend the national security, to improve the safety and quality of life in our communities through the protection of civil rights, and to protect the public funds and financial assets of the United States. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.
For more information, contact: Amy Alexander, Public Information Officer
(850) 216-3854, [email protected]Tennessee Hospital Agrees to Pay $510,000 to Settle Allegation of Improper Medicare, Medicaid BillingRead the Press Release
Jackson, TN - Regional Hospital of Jackson has agreed to pay the United States $510,000 to resolve allegations that it billed Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary cardiac procedures over an eight-year period.
The hospital agreed to the half-million dollar settlement on Friday, July 10th. According to the allegations, from January 2004 to May 2012, Regional Hospital defrauded Medicare and Medicaid in connection with the placement of unnecessary cardiac stents and other needless cardiac procedures. Stents are mesh tubes placed in coronary arteries to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease. The other related procedures included angioplasty and catheterization.
Medicare is a federally funded and administered health care program serving people aged 65 and older and others with disabilities. Furthermore, Medicaid is a federal program that provides health care services to qualifying indigent individuals. Under federal law, both Medicare and Medicaid reimburse hospitals only for procedures that are medically necessary.
"Billing Medicare for cardiac procedures that are not necessary or appropriate contributes to the soaring costs of health care and harms patients," said Edward L. Stanton III, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. "Settlements like this protect public funds and safeguard the beneficiaries of federal health care programs."
The allegations resolved by the settlement were raised in a lawsuit filed against the hospital under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. The act allows private citizens with knowledge of fraud to bring civil actions on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. As part of the settlement, the whistleblower, Dr. Wood M. Deming, received a share of the settlement amount.
The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.